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@@ -0,0 +1,9523 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From Home, by +Bayard Taylor + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From Home + +Author: Bayard Taylor + +Release Date: June 29, 2008 [EBook #292] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AND *** + + + + +Produced by Mike Lough + + + + + +BEAUTY AND THE BEAST + +AND TALES OF HOME + +By Bayard Taylor. + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + BEAUTY AND THE BEAST + THE STRANGE FRIEND + JACOB FLINT'S JOURNEY + CAN A LIFE HIDE ITSELF? + TWIN-LOVE + THE EXPERIENCES OF THE A. C. + FRIEND ELI'S DAUGHTER + MISS BARTRAM'S TROUBLE + MRS. STRONGITHARM'S REPORT + + + + +BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. + +A STORY OF OLD RUSSIA. + + + + +I. + +We are about to relate a story of mingled fact and fancy. The facts are +borrowed from the Russian author, Petjerski; the fancy is our own. Our +task will chiefly be to soften the outlines of incidents almost too +sharp and rugged for literary use, to supply them with the necessary +coloring and sentiment, and to give a coherent and proportioned shape +to the irregular fragments of an old chronicle. We know something, from +other sources, of the customs described, something of the character of +the people from personal observation, and may therefore the more freely +take such liberties as we choose with the rude, vigorous sketches of the +Russian original. One who happens to have read the work of Villebois can +easily comprehend the existence of a state of society, on the banks of +the Volga, a hundred years ago, which is now impossible, and will soon +become incredible. What is strangest in our narrative has been declared +to be true. + + + + +II. + + +We are in Kinesma, a small town on the Volga, between Kostroma and +Nijni-Novgorod. The time is about the middle of the last century, and +the month October. + +There was trouble one day, in the palace of Prince Alexis, of Kinesma. +This edifice, with its massive white walls, and its pyramidal roofs of +green copper, stood upon a gentle mound to the eastward of the town, +overlooking it, a broad stretch of the Volga, and the opposite shore. On +a similar hill, to the westward, stood the church, glittering with +its dozen bulging, golden domes. These two establishments divided the +sovereignty of Kinesma between them. + +Prince Alexis owned the bodies of the inhabitants, (with the exception +of a few merchants and tradesmen,) and the Archimandrite Sergius owned +their souls. But the shadow of the former stretched also over other +villages, far beyond the ring of the wooded horizon. The number of his +serfs was ten thousand, and his rule over them was even less disputed +than theirs over their domestic animals. + +The inhabitants of the place had noticed with dismay that the +slumber-flag had not been hoisted on the castle, although it was half an +hour after the usual time. So rare a circumstance betokened sudden wrath +or disaster, on the part of Prince Alexis. Long experience had prepared +the people for anything that might happen, and they were consequently +not astonished at the singular event which presently transpired. + +The fact is, that in the first place, the dinner had been prolonged full +ten minutes beyond its accustomed limit, owing to a discussion between +the Prince, his wife, the Princess Martha, and their son Prince Boris. +The last was to leave for St. Petersburg in a fortnight, and wished to +have his departure preceded by a festival at the castle. The Princess +Martha was always ready to second the desires of her only child. Between +the two they had pressed some twenty or thirty thousand rubles out +of the old Prince, for the winter diversions of the young one. The +festival, to be sure, would have been a slight expenditure for a noble +of such immense wealth as Prince Alexis; but he never liked his wife, +and he took a stubborn pleasure in thwarting her wishes. It was no +satisfaction that Boris resembled her in character. That weak successor +to the sovereignty of Kinesma preferred a game of cards to a bear hunt, +and could never drink more than a quart of vodki without becoming dizzy +and sick. + +"Ugh!" Prince Alexis would cry, with a shudder of disgust, "the whelp +barks after the dam!" + +A state dinner he might give; but a festival, with dances, dramatic +representations, burning tar-barrels, and cannon,--no! He knitted +his heavy brows and drank deeply, and his fiery gray eyes shot such +incessant glances from side to side that Boris and the Princess Martha +could not exchange a single wink of silent advice. The pet bear, Mishka, +plied with strong wines, which Prince Alexis poured out for him into +a golden basin, became at last comically drunk, and in endeavoring to +execute a dance, lost his balance, and fell at full length on his back. + +The Prince burst into a yelling, shrieking fit of laughter. Instantly +the yellow-haired serfs in waiting, the Calmucks at the hall-door, and +the half-witted dwarf who crawled around the table in his tow shirt, +began laughing in chorus, as violently as they could. The Princess +Martha and Prince Boris laughed also; and while the old man's eyes were +dimmed with streaming tears of mirth, quickly exchanged nods. The sound +extended all over the castle, and was heard outside of the walls. + +"Father!" said Boris, "let us have the festival, and Mishka shall +perform again. Prince Paul of Kostroma would strangle, if he could see +him." + +"Good, by St. Vladimir!" exclaimed Prince Alexis. "Thou shalt have +it, my Borka! [1] Where's Simon Petrovitch? May the Devil scorch that +vagabond, if he doesn't do better than the last time! Sasha!" + +A broad-shouldered serf stepped forward and stood with bowed head. + +"Lock up Simon Petrovitch in the southwestern tower. Send the tailor and +the girls to him, to learn their parts. Search every one of them +before they go in, and if any one dares to carry vodki to the beast, +twenty-five lashes on the back!" + + +Sasha bowed again and departed. Simon Petrovitch was the court-poet of +Kinesma. He had a mechanical knack of preparing allegorical diversions +which suited the conventional taste of society at that time; but he had +also a failing,--he was rarely sober enough to write. Prince Alexis, +therefore, was in the habit of locking him up and placing a guard over +him, until the inspiration had done its work. The most comely young +serfs of both sexes were selected to perform the parts, and the +court-tailor arranged for them the appropriate dresses. It depended very +much upon accident--that is to say, the mood of Prince Alexis--whether +Simon Petrovitch was rewarded with stripes or rubles. + +The matter thus settled, the Prince rose from the table and walked out +upon an overhanging balcony, where an immense reclining arm-chair of +stuffed leather was ready for his siesta. He preferred this indulgence +in the open air; and although the weather was rapidly growing cold, +a pelisse of sables enabled him to slumber sweetly in the face of the +north wind. An attendant stood with the pelisse outspread; another held +the halyards to which was attached the great red slumber-flag, ready to +run it up and announce to all Kinesma that the noises of the town must +cease; a few seconds more, and all things would have been fixed in their +regular daily courses. The Prince, in fact, was just straightening his +shoulders to receive the sables; his eyelids were dropping, and his +eyes, sinking mechanically with them, fell upon the river-road, at the +foot of the hill. Along this road walked a man, wearing the long cloth +caftan of a merchant. + +Prince Alexis started, and all slumber vanished out of his eyes. He +leaned forward for a moment, with a quick, eager expression; then a loud +roar, like that of an enraged wild beast, burst from his mouth. He gave +a stamp that shook the balcony. + +"Dog!" he cried to the trembling attendant, "my cap! my whip!" + +The sables fell upon the floor, the cap and whip appeared in a +twinkling, and the red slumber-flag was folded up again for the first +time in several years, as the Prince stormed out of the castle. The +traveller below had heard the cry,--for it might have been heard half a +mile. He seemed to have a presentiment of evil, for he had already set +off towards the town at full speed. + +To explain the occurrence, we must mention one of the Prince's many +peculiar habits. This was, to invite strangers or merchants of the +neighborhood to dine with him, and, after regaling them bountifully, to +take his pay in subjecting them to all sorts of outrageous tricks, with +the help of his band of willing domestics. Now this particular merchant +had been invited, and had attended; but, being a very wide-awake, shrewd +person, he saw what was coming, and dexterously slipped away from +the banquet without being perceived. The Prince vowed vengeance, on +discovering the escape, and he was not a man to forget his word. + +Impelled by such opposite passions, both parties ran with astonishing +speed. The merchant was the taller, but his long caftan, hastily +ungirdled, swung behind him and dragged in the air. + +The short, booted legs of the Prince beat quicker time, and he grasped +his short, heavy, leathern whip more tightly as he saw the space +diminishing. They dashed into the town of Kinesma a hundred yards apart. +The merchant entered the main street, or bazaar, looking rapidly to +right and left, as he ran, in the hope of espying some place of refuge. +The terrible voice behind him cried,-- + +"Stop, scoundrel! I have a crow to pick with you!" + +And the tradesmen in their shops looked on and laughed, as well they +might, being unconcerned spectators of the fun. The fugitive, therefore, +kept straight on, notwithstanding a pond of water glittered across the +farther end of the street. + +Although Prince Alexis had gained considerably in the race, such +violent exercise, after a heavy dinner, deprived him of breath. He again +cried,-- + +"Stop!" + +"But the merchant answered,-- + +"No, Highness! You may come to me, but I will not go to you." + +"Oh, the villian!" growled the Prince, in a hoarse whisper, for he had +no more voice. + +The pond cut of all further pursuit. Hastily kicking off his loose +boots, the merchant plunged into the water, rather than encounter +the princely whip, which already began to crack and snap in fierce +anticipation. Prince Alexis kicked off his boots and followed; the pond +gradually deepened, and in a minute the tall merchant stood up to +his chin in the icy water, and his short pursuer likewise but out of +striking distance. The latter coaxed and entreated, but the victim kept +his ground. + +"You lie, Highness!" he said, boldly. "If you want me, come to me." + +"Ah-h-h!" roared the Prince, with chattering teeth, "what a stubborn +rascal you are! Come here, and I give you my word that I will not hurt +you. Nay,"--seeing that the man did not move,--"you shall dine with me +as often as you please. You shall be my friend; by St. Vladimir, I like +you!" + +"Make the sign of the cross, and swear it by all the Saints," said the +merchant, composedly. + +With a grim smile on his face, the Prince stepped back and shiveringly +obeyed. Both then waded out, sat down upon the ground and pulled on +their boots; and presently the people of Kinesma beheld the dripping +pair walking side by side up the street, conversing in the most cordial +manner. The merchant dried his clothes FROM WITHIN, at the castle table; +a fresh keg of old Cognac was opened; and although the slumber-flag was +not unfurled that afternoon, it flew from the staff and hushed the town +nearly all the next day. + + + + +III. + + +The festival granted on behalf of Prince Boris was one of the grandest +ever given at the castle. In character it was a singular cross between +the old Muscovite revel and the French entertainments which were then +introduced by the Empress Elizabeth. + +All the nobility, for fifty versts around, including Prince Paul and the +chief families of Kostroma, were invited. Simon Petrovitch had been so +carefully guarded that his work was actually completed and the parts +distributed; his superintendence of the performance, however, was still +a matter of doubt, as it was necessary to release him from the tower, +and after several days of forced abstinence he always manifested a +raging appetite. Prince Alexis, in spite of this doubt, had been assured +by Boris that the dramatic part of the entertainment would not be a +failure. When he questioned Sasha, the poet's strong-shouldered guard, +the latter winked familiarly and answered with a proverb,-- + +"I sit on the shore and wait for the wind,"--which was as much as to say +that Sasha had little fear of the result. + +The tables were spread in the great hall, where places for one hundred +chosen guests were arranged on the floor, while the three or four +hundred of minor importance were provided for in the galleries above. +By noon the whole party were assembled. The halls and passages of the +castle were already permeated with rich and unctuous smells, and a +delicate nose might have picked out and arranged, by their finer or +coarser vapors, the dishes preparing for the upper and lower tables. One +of the parasites of Prince Alexis, a dilapidated nobleman, officiated +as Grand Marshal,--an office which more than compensated for the +savage charity he received, for it was performed in continual fear and +trembling. The Prince had felt the stick of the Great Peter upon his own +back, and was ready enough to imitate any custom of the famous monarch. + +An orchestra, composed principally of horns and brass instruments, +occupied a separate gallery at one end of the dining-hall. The guests +were assembled in the adjoining apartments, according to their rank; and +when the first loud blast of the instruments announced the beginning of +the banquet, two very differently attired and freighted processions of +servants made their appearance at the same time. Those intended for the +princely table numbered two hundred,--two for each guest. They were +the handsomest young men among the ten thousand serfs, clothed in loose +white trousers and shirts of pink or lilac silk; their soft golden +hair, parted in the middle, fell upon their shoulders, and a band of +gold-thread about the brow prevented it from sweeping the dishes +they carried. They entered the reception-room, bearing huge trays of +sculptured silver, upon which were anchovies, the finest Finnish caviar, +sliced oranges, cheese, and crystal flagons of Cognac, rum, and kummel. +There were fewer servants for the remaining guests, who were gathered +in a separate chamber, and regaled with the common black caviar, onions, +bread, and vodki. At the second blast of trumpets, the two companies set +themselves in motion and entered the dining-hall at opposite ends. Our +business, however, is only with the principal personages, so we will +allow the common crowd quietly to mount to the galleries and satisfy +their senses with the coarser viands, while their imagination is +stimulated by the sight of the splendor and luxury below. + +Prince Alexis entered first, with a pompous, mincing gait, leading the +Princess Martha by the tips of her fingers. He wore a caftan of green +velvet laced with gold, a huge vest of crimson brocade, and breeches +of yellow satin. A wig, resembling clouds boiling in the confluence of +opposing winds, surged from his low, broad forehead, and flowed upon +his shoulders. As his small, fiery eyes swept the hall, every servant +trembled: he was as severe at the commencement as he was reckless at +the close of a banquet. The Princess Martha wore a robe of pink +satin embroidered with flowers made of small pearls, and a train and +head-dress of crimson velvet. + +Her emeralds were the finest outside of Moscow, and she wore them all. +Her pale, weak, frightened face was quenched in the dazzle of the green +fires which shot from her forehead, ears, and bosom, as she moved. + +Prince Paul of Kostroma and the Princess Nadejda followed; but on +reaching the table, the gentlemen took their seats at the head, while +the ladies marched down to the foot. Their seats were determined +by their relative rank, and woe to him who was so ignorant or so +absent-minded as to make a mistake! The servants had been carefully +trained in advance by the Grand Marshal; and whoever took a place above +his rank or importance found, when he came to sit down, that his chair +had miraculously disappeared, or, not noticing the fact, seated himself +absurdly and violently upon the floor. The Prince at the head of the +table, and the Princess at the foot, with their nearest guests of equal +rank, ate from dishes of massive gold; the others from silver. As soon +as the last of the company had entered the hall, a crowd of jugglers, +tumblers, dwarfs, and Calmucks followed, crowding themselves into the +corners under the galleries, where they awaited the conclusion of the +banquet to display their tricks, and scolded and pummelled each other in +the mean time. + +On one side of Prince Alexis the bear Mishka took his station. By order +of Prince Boris he had been kept from wine for several days, and his +small eyes were keener and hungrier than usual. As he rose now and then, +impatiently, and sat upon his hind legs, he formed a curious contrast to +the Prince's other supporter, the idiot, who sat also in his tow-shirt, +with a large pewter basin in his hand. It was difficult to say whether +the beast was most man or the man most beast. They eyed each other and +watched the motions of their lord with equal jealousy; and the dismal +whine of the bear found an echo in the drawling, slavering laugh of +the idiot. The Prince glanced form one to the other; they put him in a +capital humor, which was not lessened as he perceived an expression of +envy pass over the face of Prince Paul. + +The dinner commenced with a botvinia--something between a soup and a +salad--of wonderful composition. It contained cucumbers, cherries, salt +fish, melons, bread, salt, pepper, and wine. While it was being served, +four huge fishermen, dressed to represent mermen of the Volga, naked to +the waist, with hair crowned with reeds, legs finned with silver tissue +from the knees downward, and preposterous scaly tails, which dragged +helplessly upon the floor, entered the hall, bearing a broad, shallow +tank of silver. In the tank flapped and swam four superb sterlets, their +ridgy backs rising out of the water like those of alligators. Great +applause welcomed this new and classical adaptation of the old custom +of showing the LIVING fish, before cooking them, to the guests at the +table. The invention was due to Simon Petrovitch, and was (if the truth +must be confessed) the result of certain carefully measured supplies of +brandy which Prince Boris himself had carried to the imprisoned poet. + +After the sterlets had melted away to their backbones, and the roasted +geese had shrunk into drumsticks and breastplates, and here and there a +guest's ears began to redden with more rapid blood, Prince Alexis judged +that the time for diversion had arrived. He first filled up the idiot's +basin with fragments of all the dishes within his reach,--fish, stewed +fruits, goose fat, bread, boiled cabbage, and beer,--the idiot grinning +with delight all the while, and singing, "Ne uyesjai golubchik moi," +(Don't go away, my little pigeon), between the handfuls which he crammed +into his mouth. The guests roared with laughter, especially when a +juggler or Calmuck stole out from under the gallery, and pretended to +have designs upon the basin. Mishka, the bear, had also been well fed, +and greedily drank ripe old Malaga from the golden dish. But, alas! he +would not dance. Sitting up on his hind legs, with his fore paws hanging +before him, he cast a drunken, languishing eye upon the company, lolled +out his tongue, and whined with an almost human voice. The domestics, +secretly incited by the Grand Marshal, exhausted their ingenuity in +coaxing him, but in vain. Finally, one of them took a goblet of wine in +one hand, and, embracing Mishka with the other, began to waltz. The +bear stretched out his paw and clumsily followed the movements, whirling +round and round after the enticing goblet. The orchestra struck up, and +the spectacle, though not exactly what Prince Alexis wished, was comical +enough to divert the company immensely. + +But the close of the performance was not upon the programme. The +impatient bear, getting no nearer his goblet, hugged the man violently +with the other paw, striking his claws through the thin shirt. The +dance-measure was lost; the legs of the two tangled, and they fell to +the floor, the bear undermost. With a growl of rage and disappointment, +he brought his teeth together through the man's arm, and it might have +fared badly with the latter, had not the goblet been refilled by some +one and held to the animal's nose. + +Then, releasing his hold, he sat up again, drank another bottle, and +staggered out of the hall. + +Now the health of Prince Alexis was drunk,--by the guests on the floor +of the hall in Champagne, by those in the galleries in kislischi and +hydromel. The orchestra played; a choir of serfs sang an ode by Simon +Petrovitch, in which the departure of Prince Boris was mentioned; the +tumblers began to posture; the jugglers came forth and played their +tricks; and the cannon on the ramparts announced to all Kinesma, and far +up and down the Volga, that the company were rising from the table. + +Half an hour later, the great red slumber-flag floated over the castle. +All slept,--except the serf with the wounded arm, the nervous Grand +Marshal, and Simon Petrovich with his band of dramatists, guarded by the +indefatigable Sasha. All others slept,--and the curious crowd outside, +listening to the music, stole silently away; down in Kinesma, the +mothers ceased to scold their children, and the merchants whispered to +each other in the bazaar; the captains of vessels floating on the Volga +directed their men by gestures; the mechanics laid aside hammer and axe, +and lighted their pipes. Great silence fell upon the land, and continued +unbroken so long as Prince Alexis and his guests slept the sleep of the +just and the tipsy. + +By night, however, they were all awake and busily preparing for the +diversions of the evening. The ball-room was illuminated by thousands of +wax-lights, so connected with inflammable threads, that the wicks could +all be kindled in a moment. A pyramid of tar-barrels had been erected +on each side of the castle-gate, and every hill or mound on the opposite +bank of the Volga was similarly crowned. When, to a stately march,--the +musicians blowing their loudest,--Prince Alexis and Princess Martha led +the way to the ball-room, the signal was given: candles and tar-barrels +burst into flame, and not only within the castle, but over the landscape +for five or six versts, around everything was bright and clear in the +fiery day. Then the noises of Kinesma were not only permitted, but +encouraged. Mead and qvass flowed in the very streets, and the castle +trumpets could not be heard for the sound of troikas and balalaikas. + +After the Polonaise, and a few stately minuets, (copied from the court +of Elizabeth), the company were ushered into the theatre. The hour of +Simon Petrovitch had struck: with the inspiration smuggled to him by +Prince Boris, he had arranged a performance which he felt to be his +masterpiece. Anxiety as to its reception kept him sober. The overture +had ceased, the spectators were all in their seats, and now the curtain +rose. The background was a growth of enormous, sickly toad-stools, +supposed to be clouds. On the stage stood a girl of eighteen, (the +handsomest in Kinesma), in hoops and satin petticoat, powdered hair, +patches, and high-heeled shoes. She held a fan in one hand, and a bunch +of marigolds in the other. After a deep and graceful curtsy to the +company, she came forward and said,-- + +"I am the goddess Venus. I have come to Olympus to ask some questions of +Jupiter." + +Thunder was heard, and a car rolled upon the stage. Jupiter sat therein, +in a blue coat, yellow vest, ruffled shirt and three-cornered hat. One +hand held a bunch of thunderbolts, which he occasionally lifted and +shook; the other, a gold-headed cane. + +"Here am, I Jupiter," said he; "what does Venus desire?" + +A poetical dialogue then followed, to the effect that the favorite of +the goddess, Prince Alexis of Kinesma, was about sending his son, Prince +Boris, into the gay world, wherein himself had already displayed all the +gifts of all the divinities of Olympus. He claimed from her, Venus, like +favors for his son: was it possible to grant them? Jupiter dropped his +head and meditated. He could not answer the question at once: Apollo, +the Graces, and the Muses must be consulted: there were few precedents +where the son had succeeded in rivalling the father,--yet the father's +pious wishes could not be overlooked. Venus said,-- + +"What I asked for Prince Alexis was for HIS sake: what I ask for the son +is for the father's sake." + +Jupiter shook his thunderbolt and called "Apollo!" + +Instantly the stage was covered with explosive and coruscating +fires,--red, blue, and golden,--and amid smoke, and glare, and fizzing +noises, and strong chemical smells, Apollo dropped down from above. He +was accustomed to heat and smoke, being the cook's assistant, and was +sweated down to a weight capable of being supported by the invisible +wires. He wore a yellow caftan, and wide blue silk trousers. His yellow +hair was twisted around and glued fast to gilded sticks, which stood out +from his head in a circle, and represented rays of light. He first bowed +to Prince Alexis, then to the guests, then to Jupiter, then to Venus. +The matter was explained to him. + +He promised to do what he could towards favoring the world with a second +generation of the beauty, grace, intellect, and nobility of character +which had already won his regard. He thought, however, that their gifts +were unnecessary, since the model was already in existence, and nothing +more could be done than to IMITATE it. + +(Here there was another meaning bow towards Prince Alexis,--a bow in +which Jupiter and Venus joined. This was the great point of the evening, +in the opinion of Simon Petrovitch. He peeped through a hole in one +of the clouds, and, seeing the delight of Prince Alexis and the +congratulations of his friends, immediately took a large glass of +Cognac). + +The Graces were then summoned, and after them the Muses--all in hoops, +powder, and paint. Their songs had the same burden,--intense admiration +of the father, and good-will for the son, underlaid with a delicate +doubt. The close was a chorus of all the deities and semi-deities in +praise of the old Prince, with the accompaniment of fireworks. Apollo +rose through the air like a frog, with his blue legs and yellow arms +wide apart; Jupiter's chariot rolled off; Venus bowed herself back +against a mouldy cloud; and the Muses came forward in a bunch, with a +wreath of laurel, which they placed upon the venerated head. + +Sasha was dispatched to bring the poet, that he might receive his +well-earned praise and reward. But alas for Simon Petrovitch? His legs +had already doubled under him. He was awarded fifty rubles and a new +caftan, which he was not in a condition to accept until several days +afterward. + +The supper which followed resembled the dinner, except that there were +fewer dishes and more bottles. When the closing course of sweatmeats had +either been consumed or transferred to the pockets of the guests, +the Princess Martha retired with the ladies. The guests of lower rank +followed; and there remained only some fifteen or twenty, who were +thereupon conducted by Prince Alexis to a smaller chamber, where he +pulled off his coat, lit his pipe, and called for brandy. The others +followed his example, and their revelry wore out the night. + +Such was the festival which preceded the departure of Prince Boris for +St. Petersburg. + + + + +IV. + + +Before following the young Prince and his fortunes, in the capital, we +must relate two incidents which somewhat disturbed the ordered course of +life in the castle of Kinesma, during the first month or two after his +departure. + +It must be stated, as one favorable trait in the character of Prince +Alexis, that, however brutally he treated his serfs, he allowed no other +man to oppress them. All they had and were--their services, bodies, +lives--belonged to him; hence injustice towards them was disrespect +towards their lord. Under the fear which his barbarity inspired lurked a +brute-like attachment, kept alive by the recognition of this quality. + +One day it was reported to him that Gregor, a merchant in the bazaar at +Kinesma, had cheated the wife of one of his serfs in the purchase of a +piece of cloth. Mounting his horse, he rode at once to Gregor's booth, +called for the cloth, and sent the entire piece to the woman, in the +merchant's name, as a confessed act of reparation. + +"Now, Gregor, my child," said he, as he turned his horse's head, "have +a care in future, and play me no more dishonest tricks. Do you hear? I +shall come and take your business in hand myself, if the like happens +again." + +Not ten days passed before the like--or something fully as bad--did +happen. Gregor must have been a new comer in Kinesma, or he would not +have tried the experiment. In an hour from the time it was announced, +Prince Alexis appeared in the bazaar with a short whip under his arm. + +He dismounted at the booth with an ironical smile on his face, which +chilled the very marrow in the merchant's bones. + +"Ah, Gregor, my child," he shouted, "you have already forgotten my +commands. Holy St. Nicholas, what a bad memory the boy has! Why, he +can't be trusted to do business: I must attend to the shop myself. Out +of the way! march!" + +He swung his terrible whip; and Gregor, with his two assistants, darted +under the counter, and made their escape. The Prince then entered the +booth, took up a yard-stick, and cried out in a voice which could be +heard from one end of the town to the other,--"Ladies and gentlemen, +have the kindness to come and examine our stock of goods! We have silks +and satins, and all kinds of ladies' wear; also velvet, cloth, cotton, +and linen for the gentlemen. Will your Lordships deign to choose? Here +are stockings and handkerchiefs of the finest. We understand how to +measure, your Lordships, and we sell cheap. We give no change, and take +no small money. Whoever has no cash may have credit. Every thing sold +below cost, on account of closing up the establishment. Ladies and +gentlemen, give us a call?" + +Everybody in Kinesma flocked to the booth, and for three hours Prince +Alexis measured and sold, either for scant cash or long credit, until +the last article had been disposed of and the shelves were empty. There +was great rejoicing in the community over the bargains made that day. +When all was over, Gregor was summoned, and the cash received paid into +his hands. + +"It won't take you long to count it," said the Prince; "but here is a +list of debts to be collected, which will furnish you with pleasant +occupation, and enable you to exercise your memory. Would your Worship +condescend to take dinner to-day with your humble assistant? He would +esteem it a favor to be permitted to wait upon you with whatever his +poor house can supply." + +Gregor gave a glance at the whip under the Prince's arm, and begged to +be excused. But the latter would take no denial, and carried out the +comedy to the end by giving the merchant the place of honor at his +table, and dismissing him with the present of a fine pup of his favorite +breed. Perhaps the animal acted as a mnemonic symbol, for Gregor was +never afterwards accused of forgetfulness. + +If this trick put the Prince in a good humor, some thing presently +occurred which carried him to the opposite extreme. While taking his +customary siesta one afternoon, a wild young fellow--one of his noble +poor relations, who "sponged" at the castle--happened to pass along a +corridor outside of the very hall where his Highness was snoring. Two +ladies in waiting looked down from an upper window. The young fellow +perceived them, and made signs to attract their attention. Having +succeeded in this, he attempted, by all sorts of antics and grimaces, to +make them laugh or speak; but he failed, for the slumber-flag waved +over them, and its fear was upon them. Then, in a freak of incredible +rashness, he sang, in a loud voice, the first line of a popular ditty, +and took to his heels. + +No one had ever before dared to insult the sacred quiet. The Prince was +on his feet in a moment, and rushed into the corridor, (dropping his +mantle of sables by the way,) shouting.-- + +"Bring me the wretch who sang!" + +The domestics scattered before him, for his face was terrible to look +upon. Some of them had heard the voice, indeed, but not one of them +had seen the culprit, who al ready lay upon a heap of hay in one of the +stables, and appeared to be sunk in innocent sleep. + +"Who was it? who was it?" yelled the Prince, foaming at the mouth with +rage, as he rushed from chamber to chamber. + +At last he halted at the top of the great flight of steps leading into +the court-yard, and repeated his demand in a voice of thunder. + +The servants, trembling, kept at a safe distance, and some of them +ventured to state that the offender could not be discovered. The Prince +turned and entered one of the state apartments, whence came the sound +of porcelain smashed on the floor, and mirrors shivered on the walls. +Whenever they heard that sound, the immates of the castle knew that a +hurricane was let loose. + +They deliberated hurriedly and anxiously. What was to be done? In his +fits of blind animal rage, there was nothing of which the Prince was not +capable, and the fit could be allayed only by finding a victim. No one, +however, was willing to be a Curtius for the others, and meanwhile the +storm was increasing from minute to minute. Some of the more active +and shrewd of the household pitched upon the leader of the band, a +simple-minded, good-natured serf, named Waska. They entreated him +to take upon himself the crime of having sung, offering to have his +punishment mitigated in every possible way. He was proof against their +tears, but not against the money which they finally offered, in order to +avert the storm. The agreement was made, although Waska both scratched +his head and shook it, as he reflected upon the probable result. + +The Prince, after his work of destruction, again appeared upon the +steps, and with hoarse voice and flashing eyes, began to announce that +every soul in the castle should receive a hundred lashes, when a noise +was heard in the court, and amid cries of "Here he is!" "We've got him, +Highness!" the poor Waska, bound hand and foot, was brought forward. +They placed him at the bottom of the steps. The Prince descended until +the two stood face to face. The others looked on from courtyard, door, +and window. A pause ensued, during which no one dared to breathe. + +At last Prince Alexis spoke, in a loud and terrible voice-- + +"It was you who sang it?" + +"Yes, your Highness, it was I," Waska replied, in a scarcely audible +tone, dropping his head and mechanically drawing his shoulders together, +as if shrinking from the coming blow. + +It was full three minutes before the Prince again spoke. He still held +the whip in his hand, his eyes fixed and the muscles of his face rigid. +All at once the spell seemed to dissolve: his hand fell, and he said in +his ordinary voice-- + +"You sing remarkably well. Go, now: you shall have ten rubles and an +embroidered caftan for your singing." + +But any one would have made a great mistake who dared to awaken Prince +Alexis a second time in the same manner. + + + + +V. + + +Prince Boris, in St. Petersburg, adopted the usual habits of his class. +He dressed elegantly; he drove a dashing troika; he played, and lost +more frequently than he won; he took no special pains to shun any +form of fashionable dissipation. His money went fast, it is true; but +twenty-five thousand rubles was a large sum in those days, and Boris did +not inherit his father's expensive constitution. He was presented to the +Empress; but his thin face, and mild, melancholy eyes did not make much +impression upon that ponderous woman. He frequented the salons of +the nobility, but saw no face so beautiful as that of Parashka, the +serf-maiden who personated Venus for Simon Petrovitch. The fact is, he +had a dim, undeveloped instinct of culture, and a crude, half-conscious +worship of beauty,--both of which qualities found just enough +nourishment in the life of the capital to tantalize and never satisfy +his nature. He was excited by his new experience, but hardly happier. + +Although but three-and-twenty, he would never know the rich, vital glow +with which youth rushes to clasp all forms of sensation. + +He had seen, almost daily, in his father's castle, excess in its most +excessive development. It had grown to be repulsive, and he knew not +how to fill the void in his life. With a single spark of genius, and a +little more culture, he might have become a passable author or artist; +but he was doomed to be one of those deaf and dumb natures that see the +movements of the lips of others, yet have no conception of sound. No +wonder his savage old father looked upon him with contempt, for even his +vices were without strength or character. + +The dark winter days passed by, one by one, and the first week of Lent +had already arrived to subdue the glittering festivities of the court, +when the only genuine adventure of the season happened to the young +Prince. For adventures, in the conventional sense of the word, he was +not distinguished; whatever came to him must come by its own force, or +the force of destiny. + +One raw, gloomy evening, as dusk was setting in, he saw a female figure +in a droschky, which was about turning from the great Morskoi into the +Gorokhovaya (Pea) Street. He noticed, listlessly, that the lady +was dressed in black, closely veiled, and appeared to be urging the +istvostchik (driver) to make better speed. The latter cut his horse +sharply: it sprang forward, just at the turning, and the droschky, +striking a lamp-post was instantly overturned. The lady, hurled with +great force upon the solidly frozen snow, lay motionless, which the +driver observing, he righted the sled and drove off at full speed, +without looking behind him. It was not inhumanity, but fear of the knout +that hurried him away. + +Prince Boris looked up and down the Morskoi, but perceived no one near +at hand. He then knelt upon the snow, lifted the lady's head to his +knee, and threw back her veil. A face so lovely, in spite of its deadly +pallor, he had never before seen. Never had he even imagined so perfect +an oval, such a sweet, fair forehead, such delicately pencilled brows, +so fine and straight a nose, such wonderful beauty of mouth and chin. It +was fortunate that she was not very severely stunned, for Prince Boris +was not only ignorant of the usual modes of restoration in such cases, +but he totally forgot their necessity, in his rapt contemplation of +the lady's face. Presently she opened her eyes, and they dwelt, +expressionless, but bewildering in their darkness and depth, upon his +own, while her consciousness of things slowly returned. + +She strove to rise, and Boris gently lifted and supported her. She would +have withdrawn from his helping arm, but was still too weak from the +shock. He, also, was confused and (strange to say) embarrassed; but he +had self-possession enough to shout, "Davei!" (Here!) at random. The +call was answered from the Admiralty Square; a sled dashed up the +Gorokhovaya and halted beside him. Taking the single seat, he lifted her +gently upon his lap and held her very tenderly in his arms. + +"Where?" asked the istvostchik. + +Boris was about to answer "Anywhere!" but the lady whispered in a voice +of silver sweetness, the name of a remote street, near the Smolnoi +Church. + +As the Prince wrapped the ends of his sable pelisse about her, he +noticed that her furs were of the common foxskin worn by the middle +classes. They, with her heavy boots and the threadbare cloth of her +garments, by no means justified his first suspicion,--that she was a +grande dame, engaged in some romantic "adventure." She was not more than +nineteen or twenty years of age, and he felt--without knowing what +it was--the atmosphere of sweet, womanly purity and innocence which +surrounded her. The shyness of a lost boyhood surprised him. + +By the time they had reached the Litenie, she had fully recovered her +consciousness and a portion of her strength. She drew away from him as +much as the narrow sled would allow. + +"You have been very kind, sir, and I thank you," she said; "but I am now +able to go home without your further assistance." + +"By no means, lady!" said the Prince. "The streets are rough, and +here are no lamps. If a second accident were to happen, you would be +helpless. Will you not allow me to protect you?" + +She looked him in the face. In the dusky light, she saw not the peevish, +weary features of the worldling, but only the imploring softness of his +eyes, the full and perfect honesty of his present emotion. She made no +further objection; perhaps she was glad that she could trust the elegant +stranger. + +Boris, never before at a loss for words, even in the presence of +the Empress, was astonished to find how awkward were his attempts at +conversation. She was presently the more self-possessed of the two, and +nothing was ever so sweet to his ears as the few commonplace remarks she +uttered. In spite of the darkness and the chilly air, the sled seemed to +fly like lightning. Before he supposed they had made half the way, she +gave a sign to the istvostchik, and they drew up before a plain house of +squared logs. + +The two lower windows were lighted, and the dark figure of an old man, +with a skull-cap upon his head, was framed in one of them. It vanished +as the sled stopped; the door was thrown open and the man came forth +hurriedly, followed by a Russian nurse with a lantern. + +"Helena, my child, art thou come at last? What has befallen thee?" + +He would evidently have said more, but the sight of Prince Boris caused +him to pause, while a quick shade of suspicion and alarm passed over his +face. The Prince stepped forward, instantly relieved of his unaccustomed +timidity, and rapidly described the accident. The old nurse Katinka, had +meanwhile assisted the lovely Helena into the house. + +The old man turned to follow, shivering in the night-air. Suddenly +recollecting himself, he begged the Prince to enter and take some +refreshments, but with the air and tone of a man who hopes that his +invitation will not be accepted. If such was really his hope, he was +disappointed; for Boris instantly commanded the istvostchik to wait for +him, and entered the humble dwelling. + +The apartment into which he was ushered was spacious, and plainly, +yet not shabbily furnished. A violoncello and clavichord, with several +portfolios of music, and scattered sheets of ruled paper, proclaimed the +profession or the taste of the occupant. Having excused himself a moment +to look after his daughter's condition, the old man, on his return, +found Boris turning over the leaves of a musical work. + +"You see my profession," he said. "I teach music?" + +"Do you not compose?" asked the Prince. + +"That was once my ambition. I was a pupil of Sebastian Bach. +But--circumstances--necessity--brought me here. Other lives changed the +direction of mine. It was right!" + +"You mean your daughter's?" the Prince gently suggested. + +"Hers and her mother's. Our story was well known in St. Petersburg +twenty years ago, but I suppose no one recollects it now. My wife was +the daughter of a Baron von Plauen, and loved music and myself better +than her home and a titled bridegroom. She escaped, we united our lives, +suffered and were happy together,--and she died. That is all." + +Further conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Helena, +with steaming glasses of tea. She was even lovelier than before. Her +close-fitting dress revealed the symmetry of her form, and the quiet, +unstudied grace of her movements. Although her garments were of +well-worn material, the lace which covered her bosom was genuine point +d'Alencon, of an old and rare pattern. Boris felt that her air +and manner were thoroughly noble; he rose and saluted her with the +profoundest respect. + +In spite of the singular delight which her presence occasioned him, +he was careful not to prolong his visit beyond the limits of strict +etiquette. His name, Boris Alexeivitch, only revealed to his guests the +name of his father, without his rank; and when he stated that he was +employed in one of the Departments, (which was true in a measure, for he +was a staff officer,) they could only look upon him as being, at best, +a member of some family whose recent elevation to the nobility did not +release them from the necessity of Government service. Of course he +employed the usual pretext of wishing to study music, and either by that +or some other stratagem managed to leave matters in such a shape that a +second visit could not occasion surprise. + +As the sled glided homewards over the crackling snow, he was obliged +to confess the existence of a new and powerful excitement. Was it the +chance of an adventure, such as certain of his comrades were continually +seeking? He thought not; no, decidedly not. Was it--could it be--love? +He really could not tell; he had not the slightset idea what love was +like. + + + + + +VI. + +It was something at least, that the plastic and not un-virtuous nature +of the young man was directed towards a definite object. The elements +out of which he was made, although somewhat diluted, were active enough +to make him uncomfortable, so long as they remained in a confused state. +He had very little power of introversion, but he was sensible that his +temperament was changing,--that he grew more cheerful and contented with +life,--that a chasm somewhere was filling up,--just in proportion as +his acquaintance with the old music-master and his daughter became more +familiar. His visits were made so brief, were so adroitly timed and +accounted for by circumstances, that by the close of Lent he could feel +justified in making the Easter call of a friend, and claim its attendant +privileges, without fear of being repulsed. + +That Easter call was an era in his life. At the risk of his wealth and +rank being suspected, he dressed himself in new and rich garments, and +hurried away towards the Smolnoi. The old nurse, Katinka, in her scarlet +gown, opened the door for him, and was the first to say, "Christ is +arisen!" What could he do but give her the usual kiss? Formerly he had +kissed hundreds of serfs, men and women, on the sacred anniversary, with +a passive good-will. But Katinka's kiss seemed bitter, and he secretly +rubbed his mouth after it. The music-master came next: grisly though +he might be, he was the St. Peter who stood at the gate of heaven. Then +entered Helena, in white, like an angel. He took her hand, pronounced +the Easter greeting, and scarcely waited for the answer, "Truly he has +arisen!" before his lips found the way to hers. For a second they warmly +trembled and glowed together; and in another second some new and sweet +and subtle relation seemed to be established between their natures. + +That night Prince Boris wrote a long letter to his "chere maman," in +piquantly misspelt French, giving her the gossip of the court, and such +family news as she usually craved. The purport of the letter, however, +was only disclosed in the final paragraph, and then in so negative a way +that it is doubtful whether the Princess Martha fully understood it. + +"Poing de mariajes pour moix!" he wrote,--but we will drop the +original,--"I don't think of such a thing yet. Pashkoff dropped a hint, +the other day, but I kept my eyes shut. Perhaps you remember her?--fat, +thick lips, and crooked teeth. Natalie D---- said to me, 'Have you ever +been in love, Prince?" HAVE I, MAMAN? I did not know what answer to +make. What is love? How does one feel, when one has it? They laugh at it +here, and of course I should not wish to do what is laughable. Give me a +hint: forewarned is forearmed, you know,'"--etc., etc. + +Perhaps the Princess Martha DID suspect something; perhaps some word +in her son's letter touched a secret spot far back in her memory, and +renewed a dim, if not very intelligible, pain. She answered his question +at length, in the style of the popular French romances of that day. She +had much to say of dew and roses, turtledoves and the arrows of Cupid. + +"Ask thyself," she wrote, "whether felicity comes with her presence, +and distraction with her absence,--whether her eyes make the morning +brighter for thee, and her tears fall upon thy heart like molten +lava,--whether heaven would be black and dismal without her company, and +the flames of hell turn into roses under her feet." + +It was very evident that the good Princess Martha had never felt--nay, +did not comprehend--a passion such as she described. + +Prince Boris, however, whose veneration for his mother was unbounded, +took her words literally, and applied the questions to himself. Although +he found it difficult, in good faith and sincerity, to answer all of +them affirmatively (he was puzzled, for instance, to know the sensation +of molten lava falling upon the heart), yet the general conclusion was +inevitable: Helena was necessary to his happiness. + +Instead of returning to Kinesma for the summer, as had been arranged, he +determined to remain in St. Petersburg, under the pretence of devoting +himself to military studies. This change of plan occasioned more +disappointment to the Princess Martha than vexation to Prince Alexis. +The latter only growled at the prospect of being called upon to advance +a further supply of rubles, slightly comforting himself with the +muttered reflection,-- + +"Perhaps the brat will make a man of himself, after all." + +It was not many weeks, in fact, before the expected petition came to +hand. The Princess Martha had also foreseen it, and instructed her son +how to attack his father's weak side. The latter was furiously jealous +of certain other noblemen of nearly equal wealth, who were with him +at the court of Peter the Great, as their sons now were at that of +Elizabeth. Boris compared the splendor of these young noblemen with his +own moderate estate, fabled a few "adventures" and drinking-bouts, and +announced his determination of doing honor to the name which Prince +Alexis of Kinesma had left behind him in the capital. + +There was cursing at the castle when the letter arrived. Many serfs felt +the sting of the short whip, the slumber-flag was hoisted five minutes +later than usual, and the consumption of Cognac was alarming; but no +mirror was smashed, and when Prince Alexis read the letter to his poor +relations, he even chuckled over some portions of it. Boris had boldly +demanded twenty thousand rubles, in the desperate hope of receiving half +that amount,--and he had calculated correctly. + +Before midsummer he was Helena's accepted lover. Not, however, until +then, when her father had given his consent to their marriage in the +autumn, did he disclose his true rank. The old man's face lighted up +with a glow of selfish satisfaction; but Helena quietly took her lover's +hand, and said,-- + +"Whatever you are, Boris, I will be faithful to you." + + + + +VII. + + +Leaving Boris to discover the exact form and substance of the passion of +love, we will return for a time to the castle of Kinesma. + +Whether the Princess Martha conjectured what had transpired in St. +Petersburg, or was partially informed of it by her son, cannot now +be ascertained. She was sufficiently weak, timid, and nervous, to be +troubled with the knowledge of the stratagem in which she had assisted +in order to procure money, and that the ever-present consciousness +thereof would betray itself to the sharp eyes of her husband. Certain it +is, that the demeanor of the latter towards her and his household began +to change about the end of the summer. He seemed to have a haunting +suspicion, that, in some way he had been, or was about to be, +overreached. He grew peevish, suspicious, and more violent than ever in +his excesses. + +When Mishka, the dissipated bear already described, bit off one of the +ears of Basil, a hunter belonging to the castle, and Basil drew his +knife and plunged it into Mishka's heart, Prince Alexis punished the +hunter by cutting off his other ear, and sending him away to a distant +estate. A serf, detected in eating a few of the pickled cherries +intended for the Prince's botvinia, was placed in a cask, and pickled +cherries packed around him up to the chin. There he was kept until +almost flayed by the acid. It was ordered that these two delinquents +should never afterwards be called by any other names than "Crop-Ear" and +"Cherry." + +But the Prince's severest joke, which, strange to say, in no wise +lessened his popularity among the serfs, occurred a month or two later. +One of his leading passions was the chase,--especially the chase in his +own forests, with from one to two hundred men, and no one to dispute his +Lordship. On such occasions, a huge barrel of wine, mounted upon a +sled, always accompanied the crowd, and the quantity which the hunters +received depended upon the satisfaction of Prince Alexis with the game +they collected. + +Winter had set in early and suddenly, and one day, as the Prince and his +retainers emerged from the forest with their forenoon's spoil, and found +themselves on the bank of the Volga, the water was already covered with +a thin sheet of ice. Fires were kindled, a score or two of hares and +a brace of deer were skinned, and the flesh placed on sticks to broil; +skins of mead foamed and hissed into the wooden bowls, and the cask of +unbroached wine towered in the midst. Prince Alexis had a good appetite; +the meal was after his heart; and by the time he had eaten a hare and +half a flank of venison, followed by several bowls of fiery wine, he was +in the humor for sport. He ordered a hole cut in the upper side of the +barrel, as it lay; then, getting astride of it, like a grisly Bacchus, +he dipped out the liquor with a ladle, and plied his thirsty serfs until +they became as recklessly savage as he. + +They were scattered over a slope gently falling from the dark, dense +fir-forest towards the Volga, where it terminated in a rocky palisade, +ten to fifteen feet in height. The fires blazed and crackled merrily in +the frosty air; the yells and songs of the carousers were echoed back +from the opposite shore of the river. The chill atmosphere, the lowering +sky, and the approaching night could not touch the blood of that wild +crowd. Their faces glowed and their eyes sparkled; they were ready for +any deviltry which their lord might suggest. + +Some began to amuse themselves by flinging the clean-picked bones +of deer and hare along the glassy ice of the Volga. Prince Alexis, +perceiving this diverson, cried out in ecstasy,-- + +"Oh, by St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, I'll give you better sport than +that, ye knaves! Here's the very place for a reisak,--do you hear me +children?--a reisak! Could there be better ice? and then the rocks to +jump from! Come, children, come! Waska, Ivan, Daniel, you dogs, over +with you!" + +Now the reisak was a gymnastic performance peculiar to old Russia, and +therefore needs to be described. It could become popular only among a +people of strong physical qualities, and in a country where swift rivers +freeze rapidly from sudden cold. Hence we are of the opinion that +it will not be introduced into our own winter diversions. A spot is +selected where the water is deep and the current tolerably strong; the +ice must be about half an inch in thickness. The performer leaps head +foremost from a rock or platform, bursts through the ice, is carried +under by the current, comes up some distance below, and bursts through +again. Both skill and strength are required to do the feat successfully. + +Waska, Ivan, Daniel, and a number of others, sprang to the brink of the +rocks and looked over. The wall was not quite perpendicular, some large +fragments having fallen from above and lodged along the base. It would +therefore require a bold leap to clear the rocks and strike the smooth +ice. They hesitated,--and no wonder. + +Prince Alexis howled with rage and disappointment. + +"The Devil take you, for a pack of whimpering hounds!" he cried. "Holy +Saints! they are afraid to make a reisak!" + +Ivan crossed himself and sprang. He cleared the rocks, but, instead of +bursting through the ice with his head, fell at full length upon his +back. + +"O knave!" yelled the Prince,--"not to know where his head is! Thinks +it's his back! Give him fifteen stripes." + +Which was instantly done. + +The second attempt was partially successful. One of the hunters broke +through the ice, head foremost, going down, but he failed to come up +again; so the feat was only half performed. + +The Prince became more furiously excited. + +"This is the way I'm treated!" he cried. "He forgets all about finishing +the reisak, and goes to chasing sterlet! May the carps eat him up for +an ungrateful vagabond! Here, you beggars!" (addressing the poor +relations,) "take your turn, and let me see whether you are men." + +Only one of the frightened parasites had the courage to obey. On +reaching the brink, he shut his eyes in mortal fear, and made a leap +at random. The next moment he lay on the edge of the ice with one leg +broken against a fragment of rock. + +This capped the climax of the Prince's wrath. He fell into a state +bordering on despair, tore his hair, gnashed his teeth, and wept +bitterly. + +"They will be the death of me!" was his lament. "Not a man among them! +It wasn't so in the old times. Such beautiful reisaks as I have seen! +But the people are becoming women,--hares,--chickens,--skunks! Villains, +will you force me to kill you? You have dishonored and disgraced me; I +am ashamed to look my neighbors in the face. Was ever a man so treated?" + +The serfs hung down their heads, feeling somehow responsible for their +master's misery. Some of them wept, out of a stupid sympathy with his +tears. + +All at once he sprang down from the cask, crying in a gay, triumphant +tone,-- + +"I have it! Bring me Crop-Ear. He's the fellow for a reisak,--he can +make three, one after another." + +One of the boldest ventured to suggest that Crop-Ear had been sent away +in disgrace to another of the Prince's estates. + +"Bring him here, I say? Take horses, and don't draw rein going or +coming. I will not stir from this spot until Crop-Ear comes." + +With these words, he mounted the barrel, and recommenced ladling out the +wine. Huge fires were made, for the night was falling, and the cold had +become intense. Fresh game was skewered and set to broil, and the tragic +interlude of the revel was soon forgotten. + +Towards midnight the sound of hoofs was heard, and the messengers +arrived with Crop-Ear. But, although the latter had lost his ears, he +was not inclined to split his head. The ice, meanwhile, had become +so strong that a cannon-ball would have made no impression upon it. +Crop-Ear simply threw down a stone heavier than himself, and, as it +bounced and slid along the solid floor, said to Prince Alexis,-- + + +"Am I to go back, Highness, or stay here?" + +"Here, my son. Thou'rt a man. Come hither to me." + +Taking the serf's head in his hands, he kissed him on both cheeks. Then +he rode homeward through the dark, iron woods, seated astride on the +barrel, and steadying himself with his arms around Crop-Ear's and +Waska's necks. + + + + +VIII. + +The health of the Princess Martha, always delicate, now began to fail +rapidly. She was less and less able to endure her husband's savage +humors, and lived almost exclusively in her own apartments. She never +mentioned the name of Boris in his presence, for it was sure to throw +him into a paroxysm of fury. Floating rumors in regard to the young +Prince had reached him from the capital, and nothing would convince him +that his wife was not cognizant of her son's doings. The poor Princess +clung to her boy as to all that was left her of life, and tried to prop +her failing strength with the hope of his speedy return. She was now +too helpless to thwart his wishes in any way; but she dreaded, more +than death, the terrible SOMETHING which would surely take place between +father and son if her conjectures should prove to be true. + +One day, in the early part of November, she received a letter from +Boris, announcing his marriage. She had barely strength and presence of +mind enough to conceal the paper in her bosom before sinking in a swoon. +By some means or other the young Prince had succeeded in overcoming +all the obstacles to such a step: probably the favor of the Empress was +courted, in order to obtain her consent. The money he had received, he +wrote, would be sufficient to maintain them for a few months, though not +in a style befitting their rank. He was proud and happy; the Princess +Helena would be the reigning beauty of the court, when he should present +her, but he desired the sanction of his parents to the marriage, before +taking his place in society. He would write immediately to his father, +and hoped, that, if the news brought a storm, Mishka might be on hand to +divert its force, as on a former occasion. + +Under the weight of this imminent secret, the Princess Martha could +neither eat nor sleep. Her body wasted to a shadow; at every noise in +the castle, she started and listened in terror, fearing that the news +had arrived. + +Prince Boris, no doubt, found his courage fail him when he set about +writing the promised letter; for a fortnight elapsed before it made its +appearance. Prince Alexis received it on his return from the chase. He +read it hastily through, uttered a prolonged roar like that of a wounded +bull, and rushed into the castle. The sound of breaking furniture, of +crashing porcelain and shivered glass, came from the state apartments: +the domestics fell on their knees and prayed; the Princess, who heard +the noise and knew what it portended, became almost insensible from +fright. + +One of the upper servants entered a chamber as the Prince was in the +act of demolishing a splendid malachite table, which had escaped all his +previous attacks. He was immediately greeted with a cry of,-- + +"Send the Princess to me!" + +"Her Highness is not able to leave her chamber," the man replied. + +How it happened he could never afterwards describe but he found himself +lying in a corner of the room. When he arose, there seemed to be a +singular cavity in his mouth: his upper front teeth were wanting. + +We will not narrate what took place in the chamber of the Princess. + +The nerves of the unfortunate woman had been so wrought upon by her +fears, that her husband's brutal rage, familiar to her from long +experience, now possessed a new and alarming significance. His threats +were terrible to hear; she fell into convulsions, and before morning her +tormented life was at an end. + +There was now something else to think of, and the smashing of porcelain +and cracking of whips came to an end. The Archimandrite was summoned, +and preparations, both religious and secular, were made for a funeral +worthy the rank of the deceased. Thousands flocked to Kinesma; and when +the immense procession moved away from the castle, although very few +of the persons had ever known or cared in the least, for the Princess +Martha, all, without exception, shed profuse tears. Yes, there was +one exception,--one bare, dry rock, rising alone out of the universal +deluge,--Prince Alexis himself, who walked behind the coffin, his eyes +fixed and his features rigid as stone. They remarked that his face was +haggard, and that the fiery tinge on his cheeks and nose had faded into +livid purple. The only sign of emotion which he gave was a convulsive +shudder, which from time to time passed over his whole body. + +Three archimandrites (abbots) and one hundred priests headed the solemn +funeral procession from the castle to the church on the opposite hill. +There the mass for the dead was chanted, the responses being sung by +a choir of silvery boyish voices. All the appointments were of the +costliest character. Not only all those within the church, but the +thousands outside, spared not their tears, but wept until the fountains +were exhausted. Notice was given, at the close of the services, that +"baked meats" would be furnished to the multitude, and that all beggars +who came to Kinesma would be charitably fed for the space of six weeks. +Thus, by her death, the amiable Princess Martha was enabled to dispense +more charity than had been permitted to her life. + +At the funeral banquet which followed, Prince Alexis placed the Abbot +Sergius at his right hand, and conversed with him in the most edifying +manner upon the necessity of leading a pure and godly life. His remarks +upon the duty of a Christian, upon brotherly love, humility, and +self-sacrifice, brought tears into the eyes of the listening priests. He +expressed his conviction that the departed Princess, by the piety of her +life, had attained unto salvation,--and added, that his own life had now +no further value unless he should devote it to religious exercises. + +"Can you not give me a place in your monastery?" he asked, turning to +the Abbot. "I will endow it with a gift of forty thousand rubles, for +the privilege of occupying a monk's cell." + +"Pray, do not decide too hastily, Highness," the Abbot replied. "You +have yet a son." + +"What!" yelled Prince Alexis, with flashing eyes, every trace of +humility and renunciation vanishing like smoke,--"what! Borka? The +infamous wretch who has ruined me, killed his mother, and brought +disgrace upon our name? Do you know that he has married a wench of no +family and without a farthing,--who would be honored, if I should allow +her to feed my hogs? Live for HIM? live for HIM? Ah-R-R-R!" + +This outbreak terminated in a sound between a snarl and a bellow. The +priests turned pale, but the Abbot devoutly remarked-- + +"Encompassed by sorrows, Prince, you should humbly submit to the will of +the Lord." + +"Submit to Borka?" the Prince scornfully laughed. "I know what I'll +do. There's time enough yet for a wife and another child,--ay,--a dozen +children! I can have my pick in the province; and if I couldn't I'd +sooner take Masha, the goose-girl, than leave Borka the hope of stepping +into my shoes. Beggars they shall be,--beggars!" + +What further he might have said was interrupted by the priests rising +to chant the Blajennon uspennie (blessed be the dead),--after which, +the trisna, a drink composed of mead, wine, and rum, was emptied to +the health of the departed soul. Every one stood during this ceremony, +except Prince Alexis, who fell suddenly prostrate before the consecrated +pictures, and sobbed so passionately that the tears of the guests flowed +for the third time. There he lay until night; for whenever any one dared +to touch him, he struck out furiously with fists and feet. Finally he +fell asleep on the floor, and the servants then bore him to his sleeping +apartment. + +For several days afterward his grief continued to be so violent that the +occupants of the castle were obliged to keep out of his way. The whip +was never out of his hand, and he used it very recklessly, not always +selecting the right person. The parasitic poor relations found their +situation so uncomfortable, that they decided, one and all, to detach +themselves from the tree upon which they fed and fattened, even at the +risk of withering on a barren soil. Night and morning the serfs prayed +upon their knees, with many tears and groans, that the Saints might send +consolation, in any form, to their desperate lord. + +The Saints graciously heard and answered the prayer. Word came that a +huge bear had been seen in the forest stretching towards Juriewetz. The +sorrowing Prince pricked up his ears, threw down his whip, and ordered a +chase. Sasha, the broad-shouldered, the cunning, the ready, the untiring +companion of his master, secretly ordered a cask of vodki to follow the +crowd of hunters and serfs. There was a steel-bright sky, a low, yellow +sun, and a brisk easterly wind from the heights of the Ural. As the +crisp snow began to crunch under the Prince's sled, his followers saw +the old expression come back to his face. With song and halloo and blast +of horns, they swept away into the forest. + +Saint John the Hunter must have been on guard over Russia that day. + +The great bear was tracked, and after a long and exciting chase, fell by +the hand of Prince Alexis himself. Halt was made in an open space in the +forest, logs were piled together and kindled on the snow, and just at +the right moment (which no one knew better than Sasha) the cask of vodki +rolled into its place. When the serfs saw the Prince mount astride of +it, with his ladle in his hand, they burst into shouts of extravagant +joy. "Slava Bogu!" (Glory be to God!) came fervently from the bearded +lips of those hard, rough, obedient children. They tumbled headlong over +each other, in their efforts to drink first from the ladle, to clasp +the knees or kiss the hands of the restored Prince. And the dawn was +glimmering against the eastern stars, as they took the way to the +castle, making the ghostly fir-woods ring with shout and choric song. + +Nevertheless, Prince Alexis was no longer the same man; his giant +strength and furious appetite were broken. He was ever ready, as +formerly, for the chase and the drinking-bout; but his jovial mood no +longer grew into a crisis which only utter physical exhaustion or the +stupidity of drunkenness could overcome. Frequently, while astride the +cask, his shouts of laughter would suddenly cease, the ladle would drop +from his hand, and he would sit motionless, staring into vacancy for +five minutes at a time. Then the serfs, too, became silent, and stood +still, awaiting a change. The gloomy mood passed away as suddenly. He +would start, look about him, and say, in a melancholy voice,-- + +"Have I frightened you, my children? It seems to me that I am getting +old. Ah, yes, we must all die, one day. But we need not think about it, +until the time comes. The Devil take me for putting it into my head! +Why, how now? can't you sing, children?" + +Then he would strike up some ditty which they all knew: a hundred voices +joined in the strain, and the hills once more rang with revelry. + +Since the day when the Princess Martha was buried, the Prince had not +again spoken of marriage. No one, of course, dared to mention the name +of Boris in his presence. + + + + +IX. + + +The young Prince had, in reality, become the happy husband of Helena. +His love for her had grown to be a shaping and organizing influence, +without which his nature would have fallen into its former confusion. If +a thought of a less honorable relation had ever entered his mind, it was +presently banished by the respect which a nearer intimacy inspired; +and thus Helena, magnetically drawing to the surface only his best +qualities, loved, unconsciously to herself, her own work in him. Ere +long, she saw that she might balance the advantages he had conferred +upon her in their marriage by the support and encouragement which she +was able to impart to him; and this knowledge, removing all painful +sense of obligation, made her both happy and secure in her new position. + +The Princess Martha, under some presentiment of her approaching death, +had intrusted one of the ladies in attendance upon her with the secret +of her son's marriage, in addition to a tender maternal message, and +such presents of money and jewelry as she was able to procure without +her husband's knowledge. These presents reached Boris very opportunely; +for, although Helena developed a wonderful skill in regulating his +expenses, the spring was approaching, and even the limited circle of +society in which they had moved during the gay season had made heavy +demands upon his purse. He became restless and abstracted, until his +wife, who by this time clearly comprehended the nature of his trouble, +had secretly decided how it must be met. + +The slender hoard of the old music-master, with a few thousand rubles +from Prince Boris, sufficed for his modest maintenance. Being now free +from the charge of his daughter, he determined to visit Germany, and, if +circumstances were propitious, to secure a refuge for his old age in his +favorite Leipsic. Summer was at hand, and the court had already removed +to Oranienbaum. In a few weeks the capital would be deserted. + +"Shall we go to Germany with your father?" asked Boris, as he sat at a +window with Helena, enjoying the long twilight. + +"No, my Boris," she answered; "we will go to Kinesma." + +"But--Helena,--golubchik, mon ange,--are you in earnest?" + +"Yes, my Boris. The last letter from your--our cousin Nadejda convinces +me that the step must be taken. Prince Alexis has grown much older since +your mother's death; he is lonely and unhappy. He may not welcome us, +but he will surely suffer us to come to him; and we must then begin the +work of reconciliation. Reflect, my Boris, that you have keenly wounded +him in the tenderest part,--his pride,--and you must therefore cast away +your own pride, and humbly and respectfully, as becomes a son, solicit +his pardon." + +"Yes," said he, hesitatingly, "you are right. But I know his violence +and recklessness, as you do not. For myself, alone, I am willing to +meet him; yet I fear for your sake. Would you not tremble to encounter a +maddened and brutal mujik?--then how much more to meet Alexis Pavlovitch +of Kinesma!" + +"I do not and shall not tremble," she replied. "It is not your marriage +that has estranged your father, but your marriage with ME. Having been, +unconsciously, the cause of the trouble, I shall deliberately, and as +a sacred duty, attempt to remove it. Let us go to Kinesma, as humble, +penitent children, and cast ourselves upon your father's mercy. At the +worst, he can but reject us; and you will have given me the consolation +of knowing that I have tried, as your wife, to annul the sacrifice you +have made for my sake." + +"Be it so, then!" cried Boris, with a mingled feeling of relief and +anxiety. + +He was not unwilling that the attempt should be made, especially since +it was his wife's desire; but he knew his father too well to anticipate +immediate success. All threatening POSSIBILITIES suggested themselves to +his mind; all forms of insult and outrage which he had seen perpetrated +at Kinesma filled his memory. The suspense became at last worse than any +probable reality. He wrote to his father, announcing a speedy visit +from himself and his wife; and two days afterwards the pair left St. +Petersburg in a large travelling kibitka. + + + + +X. + +When Prince Alexis received his son's letter, an expression of fierce, +cruel delight crept over his face, and there remained, horribly +illuminating its haggard features. The orders given for swimming +horses in the Volga--one of his summer diversions--were immediately +countermanded; he paced around the parapet of the castle-wall until near +midnight, followed by Sasha with a stone jug of vodki. The latter had +the useful habit, notwithstanding his stupid face, of picking up the +fragments of soliloquy which the Prince dropped, and answering them as +if talking to himself. Thus he improved upon and perfected many a hint +of cruelty, and was too discreet ever to dispute his master's claim to +the invention. + +Sasha, we may be sure, was busy with his devil's work that night. +The next morning the stewards and agents of Prince Alexis, in castle, +village, and field, were summoned to his presence. + +"Hark ye!" said he; "Borka and his trumpery wife send me word that they +will be here to-morrow. See to it that every man, woman, and child, for +ten versts out on the Moskovskoi road, knows of their coming. Let it be +known that whoever uncovers his head before them shall uncover his back +for a hundred lashes. Whomsoever they greet may bark like a dog, meeouw +like a cat, or bray like an ass, as much as he chooses; but if he speaks +a decent word, his tongue shall be silenced with stripes. Whoever shall +insult them has my pardon in advance. Oh, let them come!--ay, let them +come! Come they may: but how they go away again"---- + +The Prince Alexis suddenly stopped, shook his head, and walked up +and down the hall, muttering to himself. His eyes were bloodshot, and +sparkled with a strange light. What the stewards had heard was plain +enough; but that something more terrible than insult was yet held in +reserve they did not doubt. It was safe, therefore, not only to fulfil, +but to exceed, the letter of their instructions. Before night the whole +population were acquainted with their duties; and an unusual mood of +expectancy, not unmixed with brutish glee, fell upon Kinesma. + +By the middle of the next forenoon, Boris and his wife, seated in +the open kibitka, drawn by post-horses, reached the boundaries of +the estate, a few versts from the village. They were both silent and +slightly pale at first, but now began to exchange mechanical remarks, to +divert each other's thoughts from the coming reception. + +"Here are the fields of Kinesma at last!" exclaimed Prince Boris. +"We shall see the church and castle from the top of that hill in the +distance. And there is Peter, my playmate, herding the cattle! + +"Peter! Good-day, brotherkin!" + +Peter looked, saw the carriage close upon him, and, after a moment of +hesitation, let his arms drop stiffly by his sides, and began howling +like a mastiff by moonlight. Helena laughed heartily at this singular +response to the greeting; but Boris, after the first astonishment was +over, looked terrified. + +"That was done by order," said he, with a bitter smile. "The old bear +stretches his claws out. Dare you try his hug?" + +"I do not fear," she answered, her face was calm. + +Every serf they passed obeyed the order of Prince Alexis according +to his own idea of disrespect. One turned his back; another made +contemptuous grimaces and noises; another sang a vulgar song; another +spat upon the ground or held his nostrils. Nowhere was a cap raised, or +the stealthy welcome of a friendly glance given. + +The Princess Helena met these insults with a calm, proud indifference. +Boris felt them more keenly; for the fields and hills were prospectively +his property, and so also were the brutish peasants. It was a form of +chastisement which he had never before experienced, and knew not how to +resist. The affront of an entire community was an offence against which +he felt himself to be helpless. + +As they approached the town, the demonstrations of insolence were +redoubled. About two hundred boys, between the ages of ten and fourteen, +awaited them on the hill below the church, forming themselves into files +on either side of the road. These imps had been instructed to stick +out their tongues in derision, and howl, as the carriage passed between +them. At the entrance of the long main street of Kinesma, they were +obliged to pass under a mock triumphal arch, hung with dead dogs and +drowned cats; and from this point the reception assumed an outrageous +character. Howls, hootings, and hisses were heard on all sides; bouquets +of nettles and vile weeds were flung to them; even wreaths of spoiled +fish dropped from the windows. The women were the most eager and +uproarious in this carnival of insult: they beat their saucepans, threw +pails of dirty water upon the horses, pelted the coachman with rotten +cabbages, and filled the air with screeching and foul words. + +It was impossible to pass through this ordeal with indifference. Boris, +finding that his kindly greetings were thrown away,--that even his old +acquaintances in the bazaar howled like the rest,--sat with head bowed +and despair in his heart. The beautiful eyes of Helena were heavy with +tears; but she no longer trembled, for she knew the crisis was yet to +come. + +As the kibitka slowly climbed the hill on its way to the castle-gate, +Prince Alexis, who had heard and enjoyed the noises in the village from +a balcony on the western tower, made his appearance on the head of the +steps which led from the court-yard to the state apartments. The dreaded +whip was in his hand; his eyes seemed about to start from their sockets, +in their wild, eager, hungry gaze; the veins stood out like cords on his +forehead; and his lips, twitching involuntarily, revealed the glare +of his set teeth. A frightened hush filled the castle. Some of the +domestics were on their knees; others watching, pale and breathless, +from the windows: for all felt that a greater storm than they had ever +experienced was about to burst. Sasha and the castle-steward had taken +the wise precaution to summon a physician and a priest, provided +with the utensils for extreme unction. Both of these persons had been +smuggled in through a rear entrance, and were kept concealed until their +services should be required. + +The noise of wheels was heard outside the gate, which stood invitingly +open. Prince Alexis clutched his whip with iron fingers, and +unconsciously took the attitude of a wild beast about to spring from its +ambush. Now the hard clatter of hoofs and the rumbling, of wheels echoed +from the archway, and the kibitka rolled into the courtyard. It stopped +near the foot of the grand staircase. Boris, who sat upon the farther +side, rose to alight, in order to hand down his wife; but no sooner +had he made a movement than Prince Alexis, with lifted whip and face +flashing fire, rushed down the steps. Helena rose, threw back her veil, +let her mantle (which Boris had grasped, in his anxiety to restrain her +action,) fall behind her, and stepped upon the pavement. + +Prince Alexis had already reached the last step, and but a few feet +separated them. He stopped as if struck by lightning,--his body still +retaining, in every limb, the impress of motion. The whip was in his +uplifted fist; one foot was on the pavement of the court, and the other +upon the edge of the last step; his head was bent forward, his mouth +open, and his eyes fastened upon the Princess Helena's face. + +She, too, stood motionless, a form of simple and perfect grace, and met +his gaze with soft, imploring, yet courageous and trustful eyes. The +women who watched the scene from the galleries above always declared +that an invisible saint stood beside her in that moment, and surrounded +her with a dazzling glory. The few moments during which the suspense of +a hundred hearts hung upon those encountering eyes seemed an eternity. + +Prince Alexis did not move, but he began to tremble from head to foot. +His fingers relaxed, and the whip fell ringing upon the pavement. The +wild fire of his eyes changed from wrath into an ecstasy as intense, and +a piercing cry of mingled wonder, admiration and delight burst from his +throat. At that cry Boris rushed forward and knelt at his feet. Helena, +clasping her fairest hands, sank beside her husband, with upturned +face, as if seeking the old man's eyes, and perfect the miracle she had +wrought. + +The sight of that sweet face, so near his own, tamed the last lurking +ferocity of the beast. His tears burst forth in a shower; he lifted and +embraced the Princess, kissing her brow, her cheeks, her chin, and her +hands, calling her his darling daughter, his little white dove, his +lambkin. + +"And, father, my Boris, too!" said she. + +The pure liquid voice sent thrills of exquisite delight through his +whole frame. He embraced and blessed Boris, and then, throwing an arm +around each, held them to his breast, and wept passionately upon their +heads. By this time the whole castle overflowed with weeping. Tears fell +from every window and gallery; they hissed upon the hot saucepans of the +cooks; they moistened the oats in the manger; they took the starch out +of the ladies' ruffles, and weakened the wine in the goblets of the +guests. Insult was changed into tenderness in a moment. Those who had +barked or stuck out their tongues at Boris rushed up to kiss his boots; +a thousand terms of endearment were showered upon him. + +Still clasping his children to his breast, Prince Alexis mounted the +steps with them. At the top he turned, cleared his throat, husky from +sobbing, and shouted-- + +"A feast! a feast for all Kinesma! Let there be rivers of vodki, wine +and hydromel! Proclaim it everywhere that my dear son Boris and my +dear daughter Helena have arrived, and whoever fails to welcome them to +Kinesma shall be punished with a hundred stripes! Off, ye scoundrels, ye +vagabonds, and spread the news!" + +It was not an hour before the whole sweep of the circling hills +resounded with the clang of bells, the blare of horns, and the songs +and shouts of the rejoicing multitude. The triumphal arch of unsavory +animals was whirled into the Volga; all signs of the recent reception +vanished like magic; festive fir-boughs adorned the houses, and the +gardens and window-pots were stripped of their choicest flowers to make +wreaths of welcome. The two hundred boys, not old enough to comprehend +this sudden bouleversement of sentiment, did not immediately desist from +sticking out their tongues: whereupon they were dismissed with a box +on the ear. By the middle of the afternoon all Kinesma was eating, +drinking, and singing; and every song was sung, and every glass emptied +in honor of the dear, good Prince Boris, and the dear, beautiful +Princess Helena. By night all Kinesma was drunk. + + + + +XI. + +In the castle a superb banquet was improvised. Music, guests, and rare +dishes were brought together with wonderful speed, and the choicest +wines of the cellar were drawn upon. Prince Boris, bewildered by this +sudden and incredible change in his fortunes, sat at his father's right +hand, while the Princess filled, but with much more beauty and dignity, +the ancient place of the Princess Martha. The golden dishes were set +before her, and the famous family emeralds--in accordance with the +command of Prince Alexis--gleamed among her dark hair and flashed around +her milk-white throat. Her beauty was of a kind so rare in Russia +that it silenced all question and bore down all rivalry. Every one +acknowledged that so lovely a creature had never before been seen. +"Faith, the boy has eyes!" the old Prince constantly repeated, as he +turned away from a new stare of admiration, down the table. + +The guests noticed a change in the character of the entertainment. The +idiot, in his tow shirt, had been crammed to repletion in the kitchen, +and was now asleep in the stable. Razboi, the new bear,--the successor +of the slaughtered Mishka,--was chained up out of hearing. The jugglers, +tumblers, and Calmucks still occupied their old place under the gallery, +but their performances were of a highly decorous character. At the +least-sign of a relapse into certain old tricks, more grotesque than +refined, the brows of Prince Alexis would grow dark, and a sharp glance +at Sasha was sufficient to correct the indiscretion. Every one found +this natural enough; for they were equally impressed with the elegance +and purity of the young wife. After the healths had been drunk and the +slumber-flag was raised over the castle, Boris led her into the splendid +apartments of his mother,--now her own,--and knelt at her feet. + +"Have I done my part, my Boris?" she asked. + +"You are an angel!" he cried. "It was a miracle! My life was not worth +a copek, and I feared for yours. If it will only last!--if it will only +last!" + +"It WILL," said she. "You have taken me from poverty, and given me rank, +wealth, and a proud place in the world: let it be my work to keep the +peace which God has permitted me to establish between you and your +father!" + +The change in the old Prince, in fact, was more radical than any one who +knew his former ways of life would have considered possible. He stormed +and swore occasionally, flourished his whip to some purpose, and rode +home from the chase, not outside of a brandy cask, as once, but with +too much of its contents inside of him: but these mild excesses were +comparative virtues. His accesses of blind rage seemed to be at an end. +A powerful, unaccustomed feeling of content subdued his strong nature, +and left its impress on his voice and features. He joked and sang +with his "children," but not with the wild recklessness of the days of +reisaks and indiscriminate floggings. Both his exactions and his favors +diminished in quantity. Week after week passed by, and there was no sign +of any return to his savage courses. + +Nothing annoyed him so much as a reference to his former way of life, +in the presence of the Princess Helena. If her gentle, questioning eyes +happened to rest on him at such times, something very like a blush rose +into his face, and the babbler was silenced with a terribly significant +look. It was enough for her to say, when he threatened an act of cruelty +and injustice, "Father, is that right?" He confusedly retracted his +orders, rather than bear the sorrow of her face. + +The promise of another event added to his happiness: Helena would +soon become a mother. As the time drew near he stationed guards at +the distance of a verst around the castle, that no clattering vehicles +should pass, no dogs bark loudly, nor any other disturbance occur which +might agitate the Princess. The choicest sweetmeats and wines, flowers +from Moscow and fruits from Astrakhan, were procured for her; and it was +a wonder that the midwife performed her duty, for she had the fear +of death before her eyes. When the important day at last arrived the +slumber-flag was instantly hoisted, and no mouse dared to squeak in +Kinesma until the cannon announced the advent of a new soul. + +That night Prince Alexis lay down in the corridor, outside of +Helena's door: he glared fiercely at the nurse as she entered with the +birth-posset for the young mother. No one else was allowed to pass, that +night, nor the next. Four days afterwards, Sasha, having a message to +the Princess, and supposing the old man to be asleep, attempted to step +noiselessly over his body. In a twinkle the Prince's teeth fastened +themselves in the serf's leg, and held him with the tenacity of a +bull-dog. Sasha did not dare to cry out: he stood, writhing with pain, +until the strong jaws grew weary of their hold, and then crawled away to +dress the bleeding wound. After that, no one tried to break the Prince's +guard. + +The christening was on a magnificent scale. Prince Paul of Kostroma was +godfather, and gave the babe the name of Alexis. As the Prince had paid +his respects to Helena just before the ceremony, it may be presumed that +the name was not of his own inspiration. The father and mother were +not allowed to be present, but they learned that the grandfather had +comported himself throughout with great dignity and propriety. The +Archimandrite Sergius obtained from the Metropolitan at Moscow a very +minute fragment of the true cross, which was encased in a hollow bead +of crystal, and hung around the infant's neck by a fine gold chain, as a +precious amulet. + +Prince Alexis was never tired of gazing at his grandson and namesake. + +"He has more of his mother than of Boris," he would say. "So much the +better! Strong dark eyes, like the Great Peter,--and what a goodly leg +for a babe! Ha! he makes a tight little fist already,--fit to handle a +whip,--or" (seeing the expression of Helena's face)--"or a sword. He'll +be a proper Prince of Kinesma, my daughter, and we owe it to you." + +Helena smiled, and gave him a grateful glance in return. She had had her +secret fears as to the complete conversion of Prince Alexis; but now she +saw in this babe a new spell whereby he might be bound. Slight as was +her knowledge of men, she yet guessed the tyranny of long-continued +habits; and only her faith, powerful in proportion as it was ignorant, +gave her confidence in the result of the difficult work she had +undertaken. + + + + +XII. + + +Alas! the proud predictions of Prince Alexis, and the protection of the +sacred amulet, were alike unavailing. The babe sickened, wasted away, +and died in less than two months after its birth. There was great and +genuine sorrow among the serfs of Kinesma. Each had received a shining +ruble of silver at the christening; and, moreover, they were now +beginning to appreciate the milder regime of their lord, which this blow +might suddenly terminate. Sorrow, in such natures as his, exasperates +instead of chastening: they knew him well enough to recognize the +danger. + +At first the old man's grief appeared to be of a stubborn, harmless +nature. As soon as the funeral ceremonies were over he betook himself to +his bed, and there lay for two days and nights, without eating a morsel +of food. The poor Princess Helena, almost prostrated by the blow, +mourned alone, or with Boris, in her own apartments. Her influence, +no longer kept alive by her constant presence, as formerly, began to +decline. When the old Prince aroused somewhat from his stupor, it was +not meat that he demanded, but drink; and he drank to angry excess. +Day after day the habit resumed its ancient sway, and the whip and the +wild-beast yell returned with it. The serfs even began to tremble as +they never had done, so long as his vices were simply those of a strong +man; for now a fiendish element seemed to be slowly creeping in. He +became horribly profane: they shuddered when he cursed the venerable +Metropolitan of Moscow, declaring that the old sinner had deliberately +killed his grandson, by sending to him, instead of the true cross of the +Saviour, a piece of the tree to which the impenitent thief was nailed. + +Boris would have spared his wife the knowledge of this miserable +relapse, in her present sorrow, but the information soon reached her in +other ways. She saw the necessity of regaining, by a powerful effort, +what she had lost. She therefore took her accustomed place at the table, +and resumed her inspection of household matters. Prince Alexis, as if +determined to cast off the yoke which her beauty and gentleness had laid +upon him, avoided looking at her face or speaking to her, as much as +possible: when he did so, his manner was cold and unfriendly. During her +few days of sad retirement he had brought back the bear Razboi and the +idiot to his table, and vodki was habitually poured out to him and his +favorite serfs in such a measure that the nights became hideous with +drunken tumult. + +The Princess Helena felt that her beauty no longer possessed the potency +of its first surprise. It must now be a contest of nature with nature, +spiritual with animal power. The struggle would be perilous, she +foresaw, but she did not shrink; she rather sought the earliest occasion +to provoke it. + +That occasion came. Some slight disappointment brought on one of the old +paroxysms of rage, and the ox-like bellow of Prince Alexis rang through +the castle. Boris was absent, but Helena delayed not a moment to venture +into his father's presence. She found him in a hall over-looking the +court-yard, with his terrible whip in his hand, giving orders for the +brutal punishment of some scores of serfs. The sight of her, coming thus +unexpectedly upon him, did not seem to produce the least effect. + +"Father!" she cried, in an earnest, piteous tone, "what is it you do?" + +"Away, witch!" he yelled. "I am the master in Kinesma, not thou! Away, +or--" + +The fierceness with which he swung and cracked the whip was more +threatening than any words. Perhaps she grew a shade paler, perhaps her +hands were tightly clasped in order that they might not tremble; but she +did not flinch from the encounter. She moved a step nearer, fixed her +gaze upon his flashing eyes, and said, in a low, firm voice-- + +"It is true, father, you are master here. It is easy to rule over those +poor, submissive slaves. But you are not master over yourself; you are +lashed and trampled upon by evil passions, and as much a slave as any of +these. Be not weak, my father, but strong!" + +An expression of bewilderment came into his face. No such words had ever +before been addressed to him, and he knew not how to reply to them. The +Princess Helena followed up the effect--she was not sure that it was +an advantage--by an appeal to the simple, childish nature which she +believed to exist under his ferocious exterior. For a minute it seemed +as if she were about to re-establish her ascendancy: then the stubborn +resistance of the beast returned. + +Among the portraits in the hall was one of the deceased Princess Martha. +Pointing to this, Helena cried-- + +"See, my father! here are the features of your sainted wife! Think that +she looks down from her place among the blessed, sees you, listens to +your words, prays that your hard heart may be softened! Remember her +last farewell to you on earth, her hope of meeting you--" + +A cry of savage wrath checked her. Stretching one huge, bony hand, as if +to close her lips, trembling with rage and pain, livid and convulsed in +every feature of his face, Prince Alexis reversed the whip in his right +hand, and weighed its thick, heavy butt for one crashing, fatal blow. +Life and death were evenly balanced. For an instant the Princess became +deadly pale, and a sickening fear shot through her heart. She could not +understand the effect of her words: her mind was paralyzed, and what +followed came without her conscious volition. + +Not retreating a step, not removing her eyes from the terrible picture +before her, she suddenly opened her lips and sang. Her voice of +exquisite purity, power, and sweetness, filled the old hall and +overflowed it, throbbing in scarcely weakened vibrations through +court-yard and castle. The melody was a prayer--the cry of a tortured +heart for pardon and repose; and she sang it with almost supernatural +expression. Every sound in the castle was hushed: the serfs outside +knelt and uncovered their heads. + +The Princess could never afterwards describe, or more than dimly recall, +the exaltation of that moment. She sang in an inspired trance: from the +utterance of the first note the horror of the imminent fate sank out of +sight. Her eyes were fixed upon the convulsed face, but she beheld it +not: all the concentrated forces of her life flowed into the music. She +remembered, however, that Prince Alexis looked alternately from her face +to the portrait of his wife; that he at last shuddered and grew +pale; and that, when with the closing note her own strength suddenly +dissolved, he groaned and fell upon the floor. + +She sat down beside him, and took his head upon her lap. For a long time +he was silent, only shivering as if in fever. + +"Father!" she finally whispered, "let me take you away!" + +He sat up on the floor and looked around; but as his eyes encountered +the portrait, he gave a loud howl and covered his face with his hands. + +"She turns her head!" he cried. "Take her away,--she follows me with her +eyes! Paint her head black, and cover it up!" + +With some difficulty he was borne to his bed, but he would not rest +until assured that his orders had been obeyed, and the painting covered +for the time with a coat of lamp-black. A low, prolonged attack of fever +followed, during which the presence of Helena was indispensable to his +comfort. She ventured to leave the room only while he slept. He was like +a child in her hands; and when she commended his patience or his good +resolutions, his face beamed with joy and gratitude. He determined (in +good faith, this time) to enter a monastery and devote the rest of his +life to pious works. + +But, even after his recovery, he was still too weak and dependent on his +children's attentions to carry out this resolution. He banished from the +castle all those of his poor relations who were unable to drink vodki in +moderation; he kept careful watch over his serfs, and those who +became intoxicated (unless they concealed the fact in the stables and +outhouses) were severely punished: all excess disappeared, and a reign +of peace and gentleness descended upon Kinesma. + +In another year another Alexis was born, and lived, and soon grew strong +enough to give his grandfather the greatest satisfaction he had ever +known in his life, by tugging at his gray locks, and digging the small +fingers into his tamed and merry eyes. Many years after Prince Alexis +was dead the serfs used to relate how they had seen him, in the bright +summer afternoons, asleep in his armchair on the balcony, with the rosy +babe asleep on his bosom, and the slumber-flag waving over both. + +Legends of the Prince's hunts, reisaks, and brutal revels are still +current along the Volga; but they are now linked to fairer and more +gracious stories; and the free Russian farmers (no longer serfs) are +never tired of relating incidents of the beauty, the courage, the +benevolence, and the saintly piety of the Good Lady of Kinesma. + + + + + +TALES OF HOME. + + + + +THE STRANGE FRIEND. + + +It would have required an intimate familiarity with the habitual +demeanor of the people of Londongrove to detect in them an access of +interest (we dare not say excitement), of whatever kind. Expression with +them was pitched to so low a key that its changes might be compared to +the slight variations in the drabs and grays in which they were clothed. +Yet that there was a moderate, decorously subdued curiosity present in +the minds of many of them on one of the First-days of the Ninth-month, +in the year 1815, was as clearly apparent to a resident of the +neighborhood as are the indications of a fire or a riot to the member of +a city mob. + +The agitations of the war which had so recently come to an end had +hardly touched this quiet and peaceful community. They had stoutly +"borne their testimony," and faced the question where it could not be +evaded; and although the dashing Philadelphia militia had been stationed +at Camp Bloomfield, within four miles of them, the previous year, these +good people simply ignored the fact. If their sons ever listened to the +trumpets at a distance, or stole nearer to have a peep at the uniforms, +no report of what they had seen or heard was likely to be made at home. +Peace brought to them a relief, like the awakening from an uncomfortable +dream: their lives at once reverted to the calm which they had breathed +for thirty years preceding the national disturbance. In their ways they +had not materially changed for a hundred years. The surplus produce of +their farms more than sufficed for the very few needs which those farms +did not supply, and they seldom touched the world outside of their sect +except in matters of business. They were satisfied with themselves and +with their lot; they lived to a ripe and beautiful age, rarely "borrowed +trouble," and were patient to endure that which came in the fixed course +of things. If the spirit of curiosity, the yearning for an active, +joyous grasp of life, sometimes pierced through this placid temper, +and stirred the blood of the adolescent members, they were persuaded +by grave voices, of almost prophetic authority, to turn their hearts +towards "the Stillness and the Quietness." + +It was the pleasant custom of the community to arrive at the +meeting-house some fifteen or twenty minutes before the usual time of +meeting, and exchange quiet and kindly greetings before taking their +places on the plain benches inside. As most of the families had lived +during the week on the solitude of their farms, they liked to see their +neighbors' faces, and resolve, as it were, their sense of isolation into +the common atmosphere, before yielding to the assumed abstraction +of their worship. In this preliminary meeting, also, the sexes were +divided, but rather from habit than any prescribed rule. They were +already in the vestibule of the sanctuary; their voices were subdued and +their manner touched with a kind of reverence. + +If the Londongrove Friends gathered together a few minutes earlier on +that September First-day; if the younger members looked more frequently +towards one of the gates leading into the meeting-house yard than +towards the other; and if Abraham Bradbury was the centre of a larger +circle of neighbors than Simon Pennock (although both sat side by +side on the highest seat of the gallery),--the cause of these slight +deviations from the ordinary behavior of the gathering was generally +known. Abraham's son had died the previous Sixth-month, leaving a widow +incapable of taking charge of his farm on the Street Road, which +was therefore offered for rent. It was not always easy to obtain a +satisfactory tenant in those days, and Abraham was not more relieved +than surprised on receiving an application from an unexpected quarter. A +strange Friend, of stately appearance, called upon him, bearing a letter +from William Warner, in Adams County, together with a certificate from +a Monthly Meeting on Long Island. After inspecting the farm and making +close inquiries in regard to the people of the neighborhood, he accepted +the terms of rent, and had now, with his family, been three or four days +in possession. + +In this circumstance, it is true, there was nothing strange, and the +interest of the people sprang from some other particulars which had +transpired. The new-comer, Henry Donnelly by name, had offered, in place +of the usual security, to pay the rent annually in advance; his +speech and manner were not, in all respects, those of Friends, and he +acknowledged that he was of Irish birth; and moreover, some who had +passed the wagons bearing his household goods had been struck by the +peculiar patterns of the furniture piled upon them. Abraham Bradbury +had of course been present at the arrival, and the Friends upon the +adjoining farms had kindly given their assistance, although it was +a busy time of the year. While, therefore, no one suspected that the +farmer could possibly accept a tenant of doubtful character, a general +sentiment of curious expectancy went forth to meet the Donnelly family. + +Even the venerable Simon Pennock, who lived in the opposite part of the +township, was not wholly free from the prevalent feeling. "Abraham," he +said, approaching his colleague, "I suppose thee has satisfied thyself +that the strange Friend is of good repute." + +Abraham was assuredly satisfied of one thing--that the three hundred +silver dollars in his antiquated secretary at home were good and lawful +coin. We will not say that this fact disposed him to charity, but will +only testify that he answered thus: + +"I don't think we have any right to question the certificate from Islip, +Simon; and William Warner's word (whom thee knows by hearsay) is that of +a good and honest man. Henry himself will stand ready to satisfy thee, +if it is needful." + +Here he turned to greet a tall, fresh-faced youth, who had quietly +joined the group at the men's end of the meeting-house. He was +nineteen, blue-eyed, and rosy, and a little embarrassed by the grave, +scrutinizing, yet not unfriendly eyes fixed upon him. + +"Simon, this is Henry's oldest son, De Courcy," said Abraham. + +Simon took the youth's hand, saying, "Where did thee get thy outlandish +name?" + +The young man colored, hesitated, and then said, in a low, firm voice, +"It was my grandfather's name." + +One of the heavy carriages of the place and period, new and shiny, in +spite of its sober colors, rolled into the yard. Abraham Bradbury and De +Courcy Donnelly set forth side by side, to meet it. + +Out of it descended a tall, broad-shouldered figure--a man in the prime +of life, whose ripe, aggressive vitality gave his rigid Quaker garb +the air of a military undress. His blue eyes seemed to laugh above the +measured accents of his plain speech, and the close crop of his hair +could not hide its tendency to curl. A bearing expressive of energy and +the habit of command was not unusual in the sect, strengthening, but +not changing, its habitual mask; yet in Henry Donnelly this bearing +suggested--one could scarcely explain why--a different experience. +Dress and speech, in him, expressed condescension rather than fraternal +equality. + +He carefully assisted his wife to alight, and De Courcy led the horse to +the hitching-shed. Susan Donnelly was a still blooming woman of forty; +her dress, of the plainest color, was yet of the richest texture; and +her round, gentle, almost timid face looked forth like a girl's from the +shadow of her scoop bonnet. While she was greeting Abraham Bradbury, +the two daughters, Sylvia and Alice, who had been standing shyly by +themselves on the edge of the group of women, came forward. The latter +was a model of the demure Quaker maiden; but Abraham experienced as much +surprise as was possible to his nature on observing Sylvia's costume. +A light-blue dress, a dark-blue cloak, a hat with ribbons, and hair in +curls--what Friend of good standing ever allowed his daughter thus to +array herself in the fashion of the world? + +Henry read the question in Abraham's face, and preferred not to answer +it at that moment. Saying, "Thee must make me acquainted with the rest +of our brethren," he led the way back to the men's end. When he had +been presented to the older members, it was time for them to assemble in +meeting. + +The people were again quietly startled when Henry Donnelly deliberately +mounted to the third and highest bench facing them, and sat down beside +Abraham and Simon. These two retained, possibly with some little inward +exertion, the composure of their faces, and the strange Friend became +like unto them. His hands were clasped firmly in his lap; his full, +decided lips were set together, and his eyes gazed into vacancy from +under the broad brim. De Courcy had removed his hat on entering the +house, but, meeting his father's eyes, replaced it suddenly, with a +slight blush. + +When Simon Pennock and Ruth Treadwell had spoken the thoughts which had +come to them in the stillness, the strange Friend arose. Slowly, with +frequent pauses, as if waiting for the guidance of the Spirit, and with +that inward voice which falls so naturally into the measure of a chant, +he urged upon his hearers the necessity of seeking the Light and walking +therein. He did not always employ the customary phrases, but neither did +he seem to speak the lower language of logic and reason; while his tones +were so full and mellow that they gave, with every slowly modulated +sentence, a fresh satisfaction to the ear. Even his broad a's and the +strong roll of his r's verified the rumor of his foreign birth, did not +detract from the authority of his words. The doubts which had preceded +him somehow melted away in his presence, and he came forth, after the +meeting had been dissolved by the shaking of hands, an accepted tenant +of the high seat. + +That evening, the family were alone in their new home. The plain +rush-bottomed chairs and sober carpet, in contrast with the dark, solid +mahogany table, and the silver branched candle-stick which stood upon +it, hinted of former wealth and present loss; and something of the same +contrast was reflected in the habits of the inmates. While the father, +seated in a stately arm-chair, read aloud to his wife and children, +Sylvia's eyes rested on a guitar-case in the corner, and her fingers +absently adjusted themselves to the imaginary frets. De Courcy twisted +his neck as if the straight collar of his coat were a bad fit, and +Henry, the youngest boy, nodded drowsily from time to time. + +"There, my lads and lasses!" said Henry Donnelly, as he closed the book, +"now we're plain farmers at last,--and the plainer the better, since it +must be. There's only one thing wanting--" + +He paused; and Sylvia, looking up with a bright, arch determination, +answered: "It's too late now, father,--they have seen me as one of +the world's people, as I meant they should. When it is once settled as +something not to be helped, it will give us no trouble." + +"Faith, Sylvia!" exclaimed De Courcy, "I almost wish I had kept you +company." + +"Don't be impatient, my boy," said the mother, gently. "Think of the +vexations we have had, and what a rest this life will be!" + +"Think, also," the father added, "that I have the heaviest work to do, +and that thou'lt reap the most of what may come of it. Don't carry the +old life to a land where it's out of place. We must be what we seem to +be, every one of us!" + +"So we will!" said Sylvia, rising from her seat,--"I, as well as the +rest. It was what I said in the beginning, you--no, THEE knows, father. +Somebody must be interpreter when the time comes; somebody must remember +while the rest of you are forgetting. Oh, I shall be talked about, and +set upon, and called hard names; it won't be so easy. Stay where you +are, De Courcy; that coat will fit sooner than you think." + +Her brother lifted his shoulders and made a grimace. "I've an +unlucky name, it seems," said he. "The old fellow--I mean Friend +Simon--pronounced it outlandish. Couldn't I change it to Ezra or +Adonijah?" + +"Boy, boy--" + +"Don't be alarmed, father. It will soon be as Sylvia says; thee's right, +and mother is right. I'll let Sylvia keep my memory, and start fresh +from here. We must into the field to-morrow, Hal and I. There's no need +of a collar at the plough-tail." + +They went to rest, and on the morrow not only the boys, but their father +were in the field. Shrewd, quick, and strong, they made available what +they knew of farming operations, and disguised much of their ignorance, +while they learned. Henry Donnelly's first public appearance had made +a strong public impression in his favor, which the voice of the older +Friends soon stamped as a settled opinion. His sons did their share, by +the amiable, yielding temper they exhibited, in accommodating themselves +to the manners and ways of the people. The graces which came from a +better education, possibly, more refined associations, gave them an +attraction, which was none the less felt because it was not understood, +to the simple-minded young men who worked with the hired hands in their +fathers' fields. If the Donnelly family had not been accustomed, in +former days, to sit at the same table with laborers in shirt-sleeves, +and be addressed by the latter in fraternal phrase, no little +awkwardnesses or hesitations betrayed the fact. They were anxious to +make their naturalization complete, and it soon became so. + +The "strange Friend" was now known in Londongrove by the familiar +name of "Henry." He was a constant attendant at meeting, not only on +First-days, but also on Fourth-days, and whenever he spoke his words +were listened to with the reverence due to one who was truly led towards +the Light. This respect kept at bay the curiosity that might still have +lingered in some minds concerning his antecedent life. It was known +that he answered Simon Pennock, who had ventured to approach him with a +direct question, in these words: + +"Thee knows, Friend Simon, that sometimes a seal is put upon our mouths +for a wise purpose. I have learned not to value the outer life except +in so far as it is made the manifestation of the inner life, and I +only date my own from the time when I was brought to a knowledge of the +truth. It is not pleasant to me to look upon what went before; but +a season may come when it shall be lawful for me to declare all +things--nay, when it shall be put upon me as a duty. + +"Thee must suffer me to wait the call." + +After this there was nothing more to be said. The family was on terms +of quiet intimacy with the neighbors; and even Sylvia, in spite of her +defiant eyes and worldly ways, became popular among the young men +and maidens. She touched her beloved guitar with a skill which seemed +marvellous to the latter; and when it was known that her refusal to +enter the sect arose from her fondness for the prohibited instrument, +she found many apologists among them. She was not set upon, and called +hard names, as she had anticipated. It is true that her father, when +appealed to by the elders, shook his head and said, "It is a cross to +us!"--but he had been known to remain in the room while she sang "Full +high in Kilbride," and the keen light which arose in his eyes was +neither that of sorrow nor anger. + +At the end of their first year of residence the farm presented evidences +of much more orderly and intelligent management than at first, although +the adjoining neighbors were of the opinion that the Donnellys had +hardly made their living out of it. Friend Henry, nevertheless, was +ready with the advance rent, and his bills were promptly paid. He +was close at a bargain, which was considered rather a merit than +otherwise,--and almost painfully exact in observing the strict letter of +it, when made. + +As time passed by, and the family became a permanent part and parcel +of the remote community, wearing its peaceful color and breathing +its untroubled atmosphere, nothing occurred to disturb the esteem and +respect which its members enjoyed. From time to time the postmaster at +the corner delivered to Henry Donnelly a letter from New York, always +addressed in the same hand. The first which arrived had an "Esq." added +to the name, but this "compliment" (as the Friends termed it) soon +ceased. Perhaps the official may have vaguely wondered whether there was +any connection between the occasional absence of Friend Henry--not at +Yearly-Meeting time--and these letters. If he had been a visitor at the +farm-house he might have noticed variations in the moods of its inmates, +which must have arisen from some other cause than the price of stock or +the condition of the crops. Outside of the family circle, however, they +were serenely reticent. + +In five or six years, when De Courcy had grown to be a hale, handsome +man of twenty-four, and as capable of conducting a farm as any to the +township born, certain aberrations from the strict line of discipline +began to be rumored. He rode a gallant horse, dressed a little more +elegantly than his membership prescribed, and his unusually high, +straight collar took a knack of falling over. Moreover, he was +frequently seen to ride up the Street Road, in the direction of Fagg's +Manor, towards those valleys where the brick Presbyterian church +displaces the whitewashed Quaker meeting-house. + +Had Henry Donnelly not occupied so high a seat, and exercised such +an acknowledged authority in the sect, he might sooner have received +counsel, or proffers of sympathy, as the case might be; but he heard +nothing until the rumors of De Courcy's excursions took a more definite +form. + +But one day, Abraham Bradbury, after discussing some Monthly-Meeting +matters, suddenly asked: "Is this true that I hear, Henry,--that thy son +De Courcy keeps company with one of the Alison girls?" + +"Who says that?" Henry asked, in a sharp voice. + +"Why, it's the common talk! Surely, thee's heard of it before?" + +"No!" + +Henry set his lips together in a manner which Abraham understood. +Considering that he had fully performed his duty, he said no more. + +That evening, Sylvia, who had been gently thrumming to herself at the +window, began singing "Bonnie Peggie Alison." Her father looked at De +Courcy, who caught his glance, then lowered his eyes, and turned to +leave the room. + +"Stop, De Courcy," said the former; "I've heard a piece of news about +thee to-day, which I want thee to make clear." + +"Shall I go, father?" asked Sylvia. + +"No; thee may stay to give De Courcy his memory. I think he is beginning +to need it. I've learned which way he rides on Seventh-day evenings." + +"Father, I am old enough to choose my way," said De Courcy. + +"But no such ways NOW, boy! Has thee clean forgotten? This was among +the things upon which we agreed, and you all promised to keep watch and +guard over yourselves. I had my misgivings then, but for five years I've +trusted you, and now, when the time of probation is so nearly over--" + +He hesitated, and De Courcy, plucking up courage, spoke again. With +a strong effort the young man threw off the yoke of a self-taught +restraint, and asserted his true nature. "Has O'Neil written?" he asked. + +"Not yet." + +"Then, father," he continued, "I prefer the certainty of my present life +to the uncertainty of the old. I will not dissolve my connection with +the Friends by a shock which might give thee trouble; but I will slowly +work away from them. Notice will be taken of my ways; there will be +family visitations, warnings, and the usual routine of discipline, so +that when I marry Margaret Alison, nobody will be surprised at my being +read out of meeting. I shall soon be twenty-five, father, and this thing +has gone on about as long as I can bear it. I must decide to be either a +man or a milksop." + +The color rose to Henry Donnelly's cheeks, and his eyes flashed, but he +showed no signs of anger. He moved to De Courcy's side and laid his hand +upon his shoulder. + +"Patience, my boy!" he said. "It's the old blood, and I might have known +it would proclaim itself. Suppose I were to shut my eyes to thy ridings, +and thy merry-makings, and thy worldly company. So far I might go; but +the girl is no mate for thee. If O'Neil is alive, we are sure to hear +from him soon; and in three years, at the utmost, if the Lord favors +us, the end will come. How far has it gone with thy courting? Surely, +surely, not too far to withdraw, at least under the plea of my +prohibition?" + +De Courcy blushed, but firmly met his father's eyes. "I have spoken +to her," he replied, "and it is not the custom of our family to break +plighted faith." + +"Thou art our cross, not Sylvia. Go thy ways now. I will endeavor to +seek for guidance." + +"Sylvia," said the father, when De Courcy had left the room, "what is to +be the end of this?" + +"Unless we hear from O'Neil, father, I am afraid it cannot be prevented. +De Courcy has been changing for a year past; I am only surprised that +you did not sooner notice it. What I said in jest has become serious +truth; he has already half forgotten. We might have expected, in the +beginning, that one of two things would happen: either he would become +a plodding Quaker farmer or take to his present courses. Which would be +worse, when this life is over,--if that time ever comes?" + +Sylvia sighed, and there was a weariness in her voice which did not +escape her father's ear. He walked up and down the room with a troubled +air. She sat down, took the guitar upon her lap, and began to sing +the verse, commencing, "Erin, my country, though sad and forsaken," +when--perhaps opportunely--Susan Donnelly entered the room. + +"Eh, lass!" said Henry, slipping his arm around his wife's waist, "art +thou tired yet? Have I been trying thy patience, as I have that of +the children? Have there been longings kept from me, little rebellions +crushed, battles fought that I supposed were over?" + +"Not by me, Henry," was her cheerful answer. "I have never have been +happier than in these quiet ways with thee. I've been thinking, what if +something has happened, and the letters cease to come? And it has seemed +to me--now that the boys are as good farmers as any, and Alice is such a +tidy housekeeper--that we could manage very well without help. Only for +thy sake, Henry: I fear it would be a terrible disappointment to thee. +Or is thee as accustomed to the high seat as I to my place on the +women's side?" + +"No!" he answered emphatically. "The talk with De Courcy has set my +quiet Quaker blood in motion. The boy is more than half right; I am sure +Sylvia thinks so too. What could I expect? He has no birthright, and +didn't begin his task, as I did, after the bravery of youth was over. +It took six generations to establish the serenity and content of our +brethren here, and the dress we wear don't give us the nature. De Courcy +is tired of the masquerade, and Sylvia is tired of seeing it. Thou, my +little Susan, who wert so timid at first, puttest us all to shame now!" + +"I think I was meant for it,--Alice, and Henry, and I," said she. + +No outward change in Henry Donnelly's demeanor betrayed this or any +other disturbance at home. There were repeated consultations between the +father and son, but they led to no satisfactory conclusion. De Courcy +was sincerely attached to the pretty Presbyterian maiden, and found +livelier society in her brothers and cousins than among the grave, +awkward Quaker youths of Londongrove. + +With the occasional freedom from restraint there awoke in him a desire +for independence--a thirst for the suppressed license of youth. His +new acquaintances were accustomed to a rigid domestic regime, but of a +different character, and they met on a common ground of rebellion. Their +aberrations, it is true, were not of a very formidable character, and +need not have been guarded but for the severe conventionalities of both +sects. An occasional fox-chase, horse-race, or a "stag party" at some +outlying tavern, formed the sum of their dissipation; they sang, danced +reels, and sometimes ran into little excesses through the stimulating +sense of the trespass they were committing. + +By and by reports of certain of these performances were brought to +the notice of the Londongrove Friends, and, with the consent of +Henry Donnelly himself, De Courcy received a visit of warning and +remonstrance. He had foreseen the probability of such a visit and +was prepared. He denied none of the charges brought against him, and +accepted the grave counsel offered, simply stating that his nature was +not yet purified and chastened; he was aware he was not walking in the +Light; he believed it to be a troubled season through which he must +needs pass. His frankness, as he was shrewd enough to guess, was +a source of perplexity to the elders; it prevented them from +excommunicating him without further probation, while it left him free +to indulge in further recreations. + +Some months passed away, and the absence from which Henry Donnelly +always returned with a good supply of ready money did not take place. +The knowledge of farming which his sons had acquired now came into play. +It was necessary to exercise both skill and thrift in order to keep up +the liberal footing upon which the family had lived; for each member of +it was too proud to allow the community to suspect the change in their +circumstances. De Courcy, retained more than ever at home, and bound +to steady labor, was man enough to subdue his impatient spirit for the +time; but he secretly determined that with the first change for the +better he would follow the fate he had chosen for himself. + +Late in the fall came the opportunity for which he had longed. One +evening he brought home a letter, in the well-known handwriting. His +father opened and read it in silence. + +"Well, father?" he said. + +"A former letter was lost, it seems. This should have come in the +spring; it is only the missing sum." + +"Does O'Neil fix any time?" + +"No; but he hopes to make a better report next year." + +"Then, father," said De Courcy, "it is useless for me to wait longer; I +am satisfied as it is. I should not have given up Margaret in any case; +but now, since thee can live with Henry's help, I shall claim her." + +"MUST it be, De Courcy?" + +"It must." + +But it was not to be. A day or two afterwards the young man, on his +mettled horse, set off up the Street Road, feeling at last that the +fortune and the freedom of his life were approaching. He had become, in +habits and in feelings, one of the people, and the relinquishment of the +hope in which his father still indulged brought him a firmer courage, a +more settled content. His sweetheart's family was in good circumstances; +but, had she been poor, he felt confident of his power to make and +secure for her a farmer's home. To the past--whatever it might have +been--he said farewell, and went carolling some cheerful ditty, to look +upon the face of his future. + +That night a country wagon slowly drove up to Henry Donnelly's door. The +three men who accompanied it hesitated before they knocked, and, when +the door was opened, looked at each other with pale, sad faces, before +either spoke. No cries followed the few words that were said, but +silently, swiftly, a room was made ready, while the men lifted from the +straw and carried up stairs an unconscious figure, the arms of which +hung down with a horrible significance as they moved. He was not dead, +for the heart beat feebly and slowly; but all efforts to restore his +consciousness were in vain. There was concussion of the brain the +physician said. He had been thrown from his horse, probably alighting +upon his head, as there were neither fractures nor external wounds. +All that night and next day the tenderest, the most unwearied care was +exerted to call back the flickering gleam of life. The shock had been +too great; his deadly torpor deepened into death. + +In their time of trial and sorrow the family received the fullest +sympathy, the kindliest help, from the whole neighborhood. They had +never before so fully appreciated the fraternal character of the society +whereof they were members. The plain, plodding people living on the +adjoining farms became virtually their relatives and fellow-mourners. +All the external offices demanded by the sad occasion were performed for +them, and other eyes than their own shed tears of honest grief over De +Courcy's coffin. All came to the funeral, and even Simon Pennock, in +the plain yet touching words which he spoke beside the grave, forgot the +young man's wandering from the Light, in the recollection of his frank, +generous, truthful nature. + +If the Donnellys had sometimes found the practical equality of life in +Londongrove a little repellent they were now gratefully moved by the +delicate and refined ways in which the sympathy of the people sought to +express itself. The better qualities of human nature always develop a +temporary good-breeding. Wherever any of the family went, they saw the +reflection of their own sorrow; and a new spirit informed to their eyes +the quiet pastoral landscapes. + +In their life at home there was little change. Abraham Bradbury had +insisted on sending his favorite grandson, Joel, a youth of twenty-two, +to take De Courcy's place for a few months. He was a shy quiet creature, +with large brown eyes like a fawn's, and young Henry Donnelly and he +became friends at once. It was believed that he would inherit the +farm at his grandfather's death; but he was as subservient to Friend +Donnelly's wishes in regard to the farming operations as if the latter +held the fee of the property. His coming did not fill the terrible gap +which De Courcy's death had made, but seemed to make it less constantly +and painfully evident. + +Susan Donnelly soon remarked a change, which she could neither clearly +define nor explain to herself, both in her husband and in their daughter +Sylvia. The former, although in public he preserved the same grave, +stately face,--its lines, perhaps, a little more deeply marked,--seemed +to be devoured by an internal unrest. His dreams were of the old times: +words and names long unused came from his lips as he slept by her side. +Although he bore his grief with more strength than she had hoped, he +grew nervous and excitable,--sometimes unreasonably petulant, sometimes +gay to a pitch which impressed her with pain. When the spring came +around, and the mysterious correspondence again failed, as in the +previous year, his uneasiness increased. He took his place on the high +seat on First-days, as usual, but spoke no more. + +Sylvia, on the other hand, seemed to have wholly lost her proud, +impatient character. She went to meeting much more frequently than +formerly, busied herself more actively about household matters, +and ceased to speak of the uncertain contingency which had been so +constantly present in her thoughts. In fact, she and her father had +changed places. She was now the one who preached patience, who held +before them all the bright side of their lot, who brought Margaret +Alison to the house and justified her dead brother's heart to his +father's, and who repeated to the latter, in his restless moods, "De +Courcy foresaw the truth, and we must all in the end decide as he did." + +"Can THEE do it, Sylvia?" her father would ask. + +"I believe I have done it already," she said. "If it seems difficult, +pray consider how much later I begin my work. I have had all your +memories in charge, and now I must not only forget for myself, but for +you as well." + +Indeed, as the spring and summer months came and went, Sylvia evidently +grew stronger in her determination. The fret of her idle force was +allayed, and her content increased as she saw and performed the possible +duties of her life. Perhaps her father might have caught something +of her spirit, but for his anxiety in regard to the suspended +correspondence. He wearied himself in guesses, which all ended in the +simple fact that, to escape embarrassment, the rent must again be saved +from the earnings of the farm. + +The harvests that year were bountiful; wheat, barley, and oats stood +thick and heavy in the fields. No one showed more careful thrift or more +cheerful industry than young Joel Bradbury, and the family felt that +much of the fortune of their harvest was owing to him. + +On the first day after the crops had been securely housed, all went +to meeting, except Sylvia. In the walled graveyard the sod was already +green over De Courcy's unmarked mound, but Alice had planted a little +rose-tree at the head, and she and her mother always visited the spot +before taking their seats on the women's side. The meeting-house was +very full that day, as the busy season of the summer was over, and the +horses of those who lived at a distance had no longer such need of rest. + +It was a sultry forenoon, and the windows and doors of the building were +open. The humming of insects was heard in the silence, and broken lights +and shadows of the poplar-leaves were sprinkled upon the steps and +sills. Outside there were glimpses of quiet groves and orchards, and +blue fragments of sky,--no more semblance of life in the external +landscape than there was in the silent meeting within. Some quarter of +an hour before the shaking of hands took place, the hoofs of a horse +were heard in the meeting-house yard--the noise of a smart trot on the +turf, suddenly arrested. + +The boys pricked up their ears at this unusual sound, and stole glances +at each other when they imagined themselves unseen by the awful faces in +the gallery. Presently those nearest the door saw a broader shadow fall +over those flickering upon the stone. A red face appeared for a moment, +and was then drawn back out of sight. The shadow advanced and receded, +in a state of peculiar restlessness. Sometimes the end of a riding-whip +was visible, sometimes the corner of a coarse gray coat. The boys who +noticed these apparitions were burning with impatience, but they dared +not leave their seats until Abraham Bradbury had reached his hand to +Henry Donnelly. + +Then they rushed out. The mysterious personage was still beside the +door, leaning against the wall. He was a short, thick-set man of fifty, +with red hair, round gray eyes, a broad pug nose, and projecting mouth. +He wore a heavy gray coat, despite the heat, and a waistcoat with +many brass buttons; also corduroy breeches and riding boots. When they +appeared, he started forward with open mouth and eyes, and stared wildly +in their faces. They gathered around the poplar-trunks, and waited with +some uneasiness to see what would follow. + +Slowly and gravely, with the half-broken ban of silence still hanging +over them, the people issued from the house. The strange man stood, +leaning forward, and seemed to devour each, in turn, with his eager +eyes. After the young men came the fathers of families, and lastly the +old men from the gallery seats. Last of these came Henry Donnelly. +In the meantime, all had seen and wondered at the waiting figure; its +attitude was too intense and self-forgetting to be misinterpreted. The +greetings and remarks were suspended until the people had seen for whom +the man waited, and why. + +Henry Donnelly had no sooner set his foot upon the door-step than, +with something between a shout and a howl, the stranger darted forward, +seized his hand, and fell upon one knee, crying: "O my lord! my lord! +Glory be to God that I've found ye at last!" + +If these words burst like a bomb on the ears of the people, what was +their consternation when Henry Donnelly exclaimed, "The Divel! Jack +O'Neil, can that be you?" + +"It's me, meself, my lord! When we heard the letters went wrong last +year, I said 'I'll trust no such good news to their blasted mail-posts: +I'll go meself and carry it to his lordship,--if it is t'other side o' +the say. Him and my lady and all the children went, and sure I can go +too. And as I was the one that went with you from Dunleigh Castle, I'll +go back with you to that same, for it stands awaitin', and blessed be +the day that sees you back in your ould place!" + +"All clear, Jack? All mine again?" + +"You may believe it, my lord! And money in the chest beside. But where's +my lady, bless her sweet face! Among yon women, belike, and you'll help +me to find her, for it's herself must have the news next, and then the +young master--" + +With that word Henry Donnelly awoke to a sense of time and place. He +found himself within a ring of staring, wondering, scandalized eyes. He +met them boldly, with a proud, though rather grim smile, took hold of +O'Neil's arm and led him towards the women's end of the house, where the +sight of Susan in her scoop bonnet so moved the servant's heart that he +melted into tears. Both husband and wife were eager to get home and +hear O'Neil's news in private; so they set out at once in their plain +carriage, followed by the latter on horseback. As for the Friends, they +went home in a state of bewilderment. + +Alice Donnelly, with her brother Henry and Joel Bradbury, returned +on foot. The two former remembered O'Neil, and, although they had not +witnessed his first interview with their father, they knew enough of the +family history to surmise his errand. Joel was silent and troubled. + +"Alice, I hope it doesn't mean that we are going back, don't you?" said +Henry. + +"Yes," she answered, and said no more. + +They took a foot-path across the fields, and reached the farm-house +at the same time with the first party. As they opened the door Sylvia +descended the staircase dressed in a rich shimmering brocade, with +a necklace of amethysts around her throat. To their eyes, so long +accustomed to the absence of positive color, she was completely +dazzling. There was a new color on her cheeks, and her eyes seemed +larger and brighter. She made a stately courtesy, and held open the +parlor door. + +"Welcome, Lord Henry Dunleigh, of Dunleigh Castle!" she cried; "welcome, +Lady Dunleigh!" + +Her father kissed her on the forehead. "Now give us back our memories, +Sylvia!" he said, exultingly. + +Susan Donnelly sank into a chair, overcome by the mixed emotions of the +moment. + +"Come in, my faithful Jack! Unpack thy portmanteau of news, for I +see thou art bursting to show it; let us have every thing from +the beginning. Wife, it's a little too much for thee, coming so +unexpectedly. Set out the wine, Alice!" + +The decanter was placed upon the table. O'Neil filled a tumbler to the +brim, lifted it high, made two or three hoarse efforts to speak, and +then walked away to the window, where he drank in silence. This little +incident touched the family more than the announcement of their good +fortune. Henry Donnelly's feverish exultation subsided: he sat down with +a grave, thoughtful face, while his wife wept quietly beside him. Sylvia +stood waiting with an abstracted air; Alice removed her mother's bonnet +and shawl; and Henry and Joel, seated together at the farther end of the +room, looked on in silent anticipation. + +O'Neil's story was long, and frequently interrupted. He had been Lord +Dunleigh's steward in better days, as his father had been to the old +lord, and was bound to the family by the closest ties of interest +and affection. When the estates became so encumbered that either an +immediate change or a catastrophe was inevitable, he had been taken +into his master's confidence concerning the plan which had first been +proposed in jest, and afterwards adopted in earnest. + +The family must leave Dunleigh Castle for a period of probably eight or +ten years, and seek some part of the world where their expenses could be +reduced to the lowest possible figure. In Germany or Italy there would +be the annoyance of a foreign race and language, of meeting of tourists +belonging to the circle in which they had moved, a dangerous idleness +for their sons, and embarrassing restrictions for their daughters. On +the other hand, the suggestion to emigrate to America and become Quakers +during their exile offered more advantages the more they considered it. +It was original in character; it offered them economy, seclusion, +entire liberty of action inside the limits of the sect, the best +moral atmosphere for their children, and an occupation which would not +deteriorate what was best in their blood and breeding. + +How Lord Dunleigh obtained admission into the sect as plain Henry +Donnelly is a matter of conjecture with the Londongrove Friends. The +deception which had been practised upon them--although it was perhaps +less complete than they imagined--left a soreness of feeling behind +it. The matter was hushed up after the departure of the family, and one +might now live for years in the neighborhood without hearing the story. +How the shrewd plan was carried out by Lord Dunleigh and his family, +we have already learned. O'Neil, left on the estate, in the north of +Ireland, did his part with equal fidelity. He not only filled up the +gaps made by his master's early profuseness, but found means to move the +sympathies of a cousin of the latter--a rich, eccentric old bachelor, +who had long been estranged by a family quarrel. To this cousin he +finally confided the character of the exile, and at a lucky time; for +the cousin's will was altered in Lord Dunleigh's favor, and he died +before his mood of reconciliation passed away. Now, the estate was not +only unencumbered, but there was a handsome surplus in the hands of the +Dublin bankers. The family might return whenever they chose, and there +would be a festival to welcome them, O'Neil said, such as Dunleigh +Castle had never known since its foundations were laid. + +"Let us go at once!" said Sylvia, when he had concluded his tale. "No +more masquerading,--I never knew until to-day how much I have hated it! +I will not say that your plan was not a sensible one, father; but I wish +it might have been carried out with more honor to ourselves. Since De +Courcy's death I have begun to appreciate our neighbors: I was resigned +to become one of these people had our luck gone the other way. Will they +give us any credit for goodness and truth, I wonder? Yes, in mother's +case, and Alice's; and I believe both of them would give up Dunleigh +Castle for this little farm." + +"Then," her father exclaimed, "it IS time that we should return, and +without delay. But thee wrongs us somewhat, Sylvia: it has not all been +masquerading. We have become the servants, rather than the masters, of +our own parts, and shall live a painful and divided life until we get +back in our old place. I fear me it will always be divided for thee, +wife, and Alice and Henry. If I am subdued by the element which I only +meant to assume, how much more deeply must it have wrought in your +natures! Yes, Sylvia is right, we must get away at once. To-morrow we +must leave Londongrove forever!" + +He had scarcely spoken, when a new surprise fell upon the family. +Joel Bradbury arose and walked forward, as if thrust by an emotion so +powerful that it transformed his whole being. He seemed to forget every +thing but Alice Donnelly's presence. His soft brown eyes were fixed on +her face with an expression of unutterable tenderness and longing. He +caught her by the hands. "Alice, O, Alice!" burst from his lips; "you +are not going to leave me?" + +The flush in the girl's sweet face faded into a deadly paleness. A +moan came from her lips; her head dropped, and she would have fallen, +swooning, from the chair had not Joel knelt at her feet and caught her +upon his breast. + +For a moment there was silence in the room. + +Presently, Sylvia, all her haughtiness gone, knelt beside the young man, +and took her sister from his arms. "Joel, my poor, dear friend," she +said, "I am sorry that the last, worst mischief we have done must fall +upon you." + +Joel covered his face with his hands, and convulsively uttered the +words, "MUST she go?" + +Then Henry Donnelly--or, rather, Lord Dunleigh, as we must now call +him--took the young man's hand. He was profoundly moved; his strong +voice trembled, and his words came slowly. "I will not appeal to thy +heart, Joel," he said, "for it would not hear me now. + +"But thou hast heard all our story, and knowest that we must leave these +parts, never to return. We belong to another station and another mode of +life than yours, and it must come to us as a good fortune that our time +of probation is at an end. Bethink thee, could we leave our darling +Alice behind us, parted as if by the grave? Nay, could we rob her of the +life to which she is born--of her share in our lives? On the other hand, +could we take thee with us into relations where thee would always be a +stranger, and in which a nature like thine has no place? This is a case +where duty speaks clearly, though so hard, so very hard, to follow." + +He spoke tenderly, but inflexibly, and Joel felt that his fate was +pronounced. When Alice had somewhat revived, and was taken to another +room, he stumbled blindly out of the house, made his way to the barn, +and there flung himself upon the harvest-sheaves which, three days +before, he had bound with such a timid, delicious hope working in his +arm. + +The day which brought such great fortune had thus a sad and troubled +termination. It was proposed that the family should start for +Philadelphia on the morrow, leaving O'Neil to pack up and remove such +furniture as they wished to retain; but Susan, Lady Dunleigh, could not +forsake the neighborhood without a parting visit to the good friends who +had mourned with her over her firstborn; and Sylvia was with her in this +wish. So two more days elapsed, and then the Dunleighs passed down the +Street Road, and the plain farm-house was gone from their eyes +forever. Two grieved over the loss of their happy home; one was almost +broken-hearted; and the remaining two felt that the trouble of the +present clouded all their happiness in the return to rank and fortune. + +They went, and they never came again. An account of the great festival +at Dunleigh Castle reached Londongrove two years later, through an Irish +laborer, who brought to Joel Bradbury a letter of recommendation signed +"Dunleigh." Joel kept the man upon his farm, and the two preserved the +memory of the family long after the neighborhood had ceased to speak +of it. Joel never married; he still lives in the house where the great +sorrow of his life befell. + +His head is gray, and his face deeply wrinkled; but when he lifts the +shy lids of his soft brown eyes, I fancy I can see in their tremulous +depths the lingering memory of his love for Alice Dunleigh. + + + + +JACOB FLINT'S JOURNEY. + + +If there ever was a man crushed out of all courage, all self-reliance, +all comfort in life, it was Jacob Flint. Why this should have been, +neither he nor any one else could have explained; but so it was. On the +day that he first went to school, his shy, frightened face marked him as +fair game for the rougher and stronger boys, and they subjected him to +all those exquisite refinements of torture which boys seem to get by +the direct inspiration of the Devil. There was no form of their bullying +meanness or the cowardice of their brutal strength which he did not +experience. He was born under a fading or falling star,--the inheritor +of some anxious or unhappy mood of his parents, which gave its fast +color to the threads out of which his innocent being was woven. + +Even the good people of the neighborhood, never accustomed to look below +the externals of appearance and manner, saw in his shrinking face and +awkward motions only the signs of a cringing, abject soul. + +"You'll be no more of a man than Jake Flint!" was the reproach which +many a farmer addressed to his dilatory boy; and thus the parents, one +and all, came to repeat the sins of the children. + +If, therefore, at school and "before folks," Jacob's position was always +uncomfortable and depressing, it was little more cheering at home. His +parents, as all the neighbors believed, had been unhappily married, and, +though the mother died in his early childhood, his father remained a +moody, unsocial man, who rarely left his farm except on the 1st of April +every year, when he went to the county town for the purpose of paying +the interest upon a mortgage. The farm lay in a hollow between two +hills, separated from the road by a thick wood, and the chimneys of the +lonely old house looked in vain for a neighbor-smoke when they began to +grow warm of a morning. + +Beyond the barn and under the northern hill there was a log +tenant-house, in which dwelt a negro couple, who, in the course of years +had become fixtures on the place and almost partners in it. Harry, +the man, was the medium by which Samuel Flint kept up his necessary +intercourse with the world beyond the valley; he took the horses to the +blacksmith, the grain to the mill, the turkeys to market, and through +his hands passed all the incomings and outgoings of the farm, except +the annual interest on the mortgage. Sally, his wife, took care of the +household, which, indeed, was a light and comfortable task, since the +table was well supplied for her own sake, and there was no sharp eye +to criticise her sweeping, dusting, and bed-making. The place had a +forlorn, tumble-down aspect, quite in keeping with its lonely situation; +but perhaps this very circumstance flattered the mood of its silent, +melancholy owner and his unhappy son. + +In all the neighborhood there was but one person with whom Jacob felt +completely at ease--but one who never joined in the general habit of +making his name the butt of ridicule or contempt. This was Mrs. Ann +Pardon, the hearty, active wife of Farmer Robert Pardon, who lived +nearly a mile farther down the brook. Jacob had won her good-will +by some neighborly services, something so trifling, indeed, that the +thought of a favor conferred never entered his mind. Ann Pardon saw that +it did not; she detected a streak of most unconscious goodness under his +uncouth, embarrassed ways, and she determined to cultivate it. No little +tact was required, however, to coax the wild, forlorn creature into +so much confidence as she desired to establish; but tact is a native +quality of the heart no less than a social acquirement, and so she did +the very thing necessary without thinking much about it. + +Robert Pardon discovered by and by that Jacob was a steady, faithful +hand in the harvest-field at husking-time, or whenever any extra labor +was required, and Jacob's father made no objection to his earning +a penny in this way; and so he fell into the habit of spending his +Saturday evenings at the Pardon farm-house, at first to talk over +matters of work, and finally because it had become a welcome relief from +his dreary life at home. + +Now it happened that on a Saturday in the beginning of haying-time, the +village tailor sent home by Harry a new suit of light summer clothes, +for which Jacob had been measured a month before. After supper he tried +them on, the day's work being over, and Sally's admiration was so loud +and emphatic that he felt himself growing red even to the small of his +back. + +"Now, don't go for to take 'em off, Mr. Jake," said she. "I spec' you're +gwine down to Pardon's, and so you jist keep 'em on to show 'em all how +nice you KIN look." + +The same thought had already entered Jacob's mind. Poor fellow! It was +the highest form of pleasure of which he had ever allowed himself to +conceive. If he had been called upon to pass through the village on +first assuming the new clothes, every stitch would have pricked him as +if the needle remained in it; but a quiet walk down the brookside, by +the pleasant path through the thickets and over the fragrant meadows, +with a consciousness of his own neatness and freshness at every step, +and with kind Ann Pardon's commendation at the close, and the flattering +curiosity of the children,--the only ones who never made fun of +him,--all that was a delightful prospect. He could never, NEVER forget +himself, as he had seen other young fellows do; but to remember himself +agreeably was certainly the next best thing. + +Jacob was already a well-grown man of twenty-three, and would have made +a good enough appearance but for the stoop in his shoulders, and the +drooping, uneasy way in which he carried his head. Many a time when he +was alone in the fields or woods he had straightened himself, and looked +courageously at the buts of the oak-trees or in the very eyes of the +indifferent oxen; but, when a human face drew near, some spring in his +neck seemed to snap, some buckle around his shoulders to be drawn three +holes tighter, and he found himself in the old posture. The ever-present +thought of this weakness was the only drop of bitterness in his cup, as +he followed the lonely path through the thickets. + +Some spirit in the sweet, delicious freshness of the air, some voice in +the mellow babble of the stream, leaping in and out of sight between the +alders, some smile of light, lingering on the rising corn-fields beyond +the meadow and the melting purple of a distant hill, reached to the +seclusion of his heart. He was soothed and cheered; his head lifted +itself in the presentiment of a future less lonely than the past, and +the everlasting trouble vanished from his eyes. + +Suddenly, at a turn of the path, two mowers from the meadow, with their +scythes upon their shoulders, came upon him. He had not heard their feet +on the deep turf. His chest relaxed, and his head began to sink; then, +with the most desperate effort in his life, he lifted it again, and, +darting a rapid side glance at the men, hastened by. They could not +understand the mixed defiance and supplication of his face; to them he +only looked "queer." + +"Been committin' a murder, have you?" asked one of them, grinning. + +"Startin' off on his journey, I guess," said the other. + +The next instant they were gone, and Jacob, with set teeth and clinched +hands, smothered something that would have been a howl if he had given +it voice. Sharp lines of pain were marked on his face, and, for the +first time, the idea of resistance took fierce and bitter possession of +his heart. But the mood was too unusual to last; presently he shook his +head, and walked on towards Pardon's farm-house. + +Ann wore a smart gingham dress, and her first exclamation was: "Why, +Jake! how nice you look. And so you know all about it, too?" + +"About what?" + +"I see you don't," said she. "I was too fast; but it makes no +difference. I know you are willing to lend me a helping hand." + +"Oh, to be sure," Jacob answered. + +"And not mind a little company?" + +Jacob's face suddenly clouded; but he said, though with an effort: +"No--not much--if I can be of any help." + +"It's rather a joke, after all," Ann Pardon continued, speaking rapidly; +"they meant a surprise, a few of the young people; but sister Becky +found a way to send me word, or I might have been caught like Meribah +Johnson last week, in the middle of my work; eight or ten, she said, +but more may drop in: and it's moonlight and warm, so they'll be mostly +under the trees; and Robert won't be home till late, and I DO want help +in carrying chairs, and getting up some ice, and handing around; and, +though I know you don't care for merry makings, you CAN help me out, you +see--" + +Here she paused. Jacob looked perplexed, but said nothing. + +"Becky will help what she can, and while I'm in the kitchen she'll have +an eye to things outside," she said. + +Jacob's head was down again, and, moreover, turned on one side, but his +ear betrayed the mounting blood. Finally he answered, in a quick, husky +voice: "Well, I'll do what I can. What's first?" + +Thereupon he began to carry some benches from the veranda to a grassy +bank beside the sycamore-tree. Ann Pardon wisely said no more of the +coming surprise-party, but kept him so employed that, as the visitors +arrived by twos and threes, the merriment was in full play almost before +he was aware of it. Moreover, the night was a protecting presence: the +moonlight poured splendidly upon the open turf beyond the sycamore, but +every lilac-bush or trellis of woodbine made a nook of shade, wherein he +could pause a moment and take courage for his duties. Becky Morton, Ann +Pardon's youngest sister, frightened him a little every time she came +to consult about the arrangement of seats or the distribution of +refreshments; but it was a delightful, fascinating fear, such as he had +never felt before in his life. He knew Becky, but he had never seen her +in white and pink, with floating tresses, until now. In fact, he had +hardly looked at her fairly, but now, as she glided into the moonlight +and he paused in the shadow, his eyes took note of her exceeding beauty. +Some sweet, confusing influence, he knew not what, passed into his +blood. + +The young men had brought a fiddler from the village, and it was not +long before most of the company were treading the measures of reels or +cotillons on the grass. How merry and happy they all were! How freely +and unembarrassedly they moved and talked! By and by all became involved +in the dance, and Jacob, left alone and unnoticed, drew nearer and +nearer to the gay and beautiful life from which he was expelled. + +With a long-drawn scream of the fiddle the dance came to an end, and the +dancers, laughing, chattering, panting, and fanning themselves, broke +into groups and scattered over the enclosure before the house. Jacob was +surrounded before he could escape. Becky, with two lively girls in her +wake, came up to him and said: "Oh Mr. Flint, why don't you dance?" + +If he had stopped to consider, he would no doubt have replied very +differently. But a hundred questions, stirred by what he had seen, were +clamoring for light, and they threw the desperate impulse to his lips. + +"If I COULD dance, would you dance with me?" + +The two lively girls heard the words, and looked at Becky with roguish +faces. + +"Oh yes, take him for your next partner!" cried one. + +"I will," said Becky, "after he comes back from his journey." + +Then all three laughed. Jacob leaned against the tree, his eyes fixed on +the ground. + +"Is it a bargain?" asked one of the girls. + +"No," said he, and walked rapidly away. + +He went to the house, and, finding that Robert had arrived, took his +hat, and left by the rear door. There was a grassy alley between the +orchard and garden, from which it was divided by a high hawthorn hedge. +He had scarcely taken three paces on his way to the meadow, when the +sound of the voice he had last heard, on the other side of the hedge, +arrested his feet. + +"Becky, I think you rather hurt Jake Flint," said the girl. + +"Hardly," answered Becky; "he's used to that." + +"Not if he likes you; and you might go further and fare worse." + +"Well, I MUST say!" Becky exclaimed, with a laugh; "you'd like to see me +stuck in that hollow, out of your way!" + +"It's a good farm, I've heard," said the other. + +"Yes, and covered with as much as it'll bear!" + +Here the girls were called away to the dance. Jacob slowly walked up +the dewy meadow, the sounds of fiddling, singing, and laughter growing +fainter behind him. + +"My journey!" he repeated to himself,--"my journey! why shouldn't I +start on it now? Start off, and never come back?" + +It was a very little thing, after all, which annoyed him, but the +mention of it always touched a sore nerve of his nature. A dozen years +before, when a boy at school, he had made a temporary friendship with +another boy of his age, and had one day said to the latter, in the +warmth of his first generous confidence: "When I am a little older, +I shall make a great journey, and come back rich, and buy Whitney's +place!" + +Now, Whitney's place, with its stately old brick mansion, its avenue of +silver firs, and its two hundred acres of clean, warm-lying land, was +the finest, the most aristocratic property in all the neighborhood, +and the boy-friend could not resist the temptation of repeating Jacob's +grand design, for the endless amusement of the school. The betrayal hurt +Jacob more keenly than the ridicule. It left a wound that never ceased +to rankle; yet, with the inconceivable perversity of unthinking +natures, precisely this joke (as the people supposed it to be) had been +perpetuated, until "Jake Flint's Journey" was a synonyme for any absurd +or extravagant expectation. Perhaps no one imagined how much pain he was +keeping alive; for almost any other man than Jacob would have joined +in the laugh against himself and thus good-naturedly buried the joke in +time. "He's used to that," the people said, like Becky Morton, and they +really supposed there was nothing unkind in the remark! + +After Jacob had passed the thickets and entered the lonely hollow in +which his father's house lay, his pace became slower and slower. + +He looked at the shabby old building, just touched by the moonlight +behind the swaying shadows of the weeping-willow, stopped, looked again, +and finally seated himself on a stump beside the path. + +"If I knew what to do!" he said to himself, rocking backwards and +forwards, with his hands clasped over his knees,--"if I knew what to +do!" + +The spiritual tension of the evening reached its climax: he could bear +no more. With a strong bodily shudder his tears burst forth, and the +passion of his weeping filled him from head to foot. How long he wept +he knew not; it seemed as if the hot fountains would never run dry. +Suddenly and startlingly a hand fell upon his shoulder. + +"Boy, what does this mean?" + +It was his father who stood before him. + +Jacob looked up like some shy animal brought to bay, his eyes full of a +feeling mixed of fierceness and terror; but he said nothing. + +His father seated himself on one of the roots of the old stump, laid one +hand upon Jacob's knee, and said with an unusual gentleness of manner, +"I'd like to know what it is that troubles you so much." + +After a pause, Jacob suddenly burst forth with: "Is there any reason why +I should tell you? Do you care any more for me than the rest of 'em?" + +"I didn't know as you wanted me to care for you particularly," said the +father, almost deprecatingly. "I always thought you had friends of your +own age." + +"Friends? Devils!" exclaimed Jacob. "Oh, what have I done--what is there +so dreadful about me that I should always be laughed at, and despised, +and trampled upon? You are a great deal older than I am, father: what do +you see in me? Tell me what it is, and how to get over it!" + +The eyes of the two men met. Jacob saw his father's face grow pale in +the moonlight, while he pressed his hand involuntarily upon his heart, +as if struggling with some physical pain. At last he spoke, but his +words were strange and incoherent. + +"I couldn't sleep," he said; "I got up again and came out o' doors. +The white ox had broken down the fence at the corner, and would soon +have been in the cornfield. I thought it was that, maybe, but still +your--your mother would come into my head. I was coming down the edge of +the wood when I saw you, and I don't know why it was that you seemed so +different, all at once--" + +Here he paused, and was silent for a minute. Then he said, in a grave, +commanding tone: "Just let me know the whole story. I have that much +right yet." + +Jacob related the history of the evening, somewhat awkwardly and +confusedly, it is true; but his father's brief, pointed questions kept +him to the narrative, and forced him to explain the full significance +of the expressions he repeated. At the mention of "Whitney's place," a +singular expression of malice touched the old man's face. + +"Do you love Becky Morton?" he asked bluntly, when all had been told. + +"I don't know," Jacob stammered; "I think not; because when I seem to +like her most, I feel afraid of her." + +"It's lucky that you're not sure of it!" exclaimed the old man with +energy; "because you should never have her." + +"No," said Jacob, with a mournful acquiescence, "I can never have her, +or any other one." + +"But you shall--and will I when I help you. It's true I've not seemed to +care much about you, and I suppose you're free to think as you like; but +this I say: I'll not stand by and see you spit upon! 'Covered with as +much as it'll bear!' THAT'S a piece o' luck anyhow. If we're poor, your +wife must take your poverty with you, or she don't come into MY doors. +But first of all you must make your journey!" + +"My journey!" repeated Jacob. + +"Weren't you thinking of it this night, before you took your seat on +that stump? A little more, and you'd have gone clean off, I reckon." + +Jacob was silent, and hung his head. + +"Never mind! I've no right to think hard of it. In a week we'll have +finished our haying, and then it's a fortnight to wheat; but, for that +matter, Harry and I can manage the wheat by ourselves. You may take a +month, two months, if any thing comes of it. Under a month I don't mean +that you shall come back. I'll give you twenty dollars for a start; if +you want more you must earn it on the road, any way you please. And, +mark you, Jacob! since you ARE poor, don't let anybody suppose you are +rich. For my part, I shall not expect you to buy Whitney's place; all I +ask is that you'll tell me, fair and square, just what things and what +people you've got acquainted with. Get to bed now--the matter's settled; +I will have it so." + +They rose and walked across the meadow to the house. Jacob had quite +forgotten the events of the evening in the new prospect suddenly opened +to him, which filled him with a wonderful confusion of fear and desire. +His father said nothing more. They entered the lonely house together at +midnight, and went to their beds; but Jacob slept very little. + +Six days afterwards he left home, on a sparkling June morning, with +a small bundle tied in a yellow silk handkerchief under his arm. His +father had furnished him with the promised money, but had positively +refused to tell him what road he should take, or what plan of action he +should adopt. The only stipulation was that his absence from home should +not be less than a month. + +After he had passed the wood and reached the highway which followed +the course of the brook, he paused to consider which course to take. +Southward the road led past Pardon's, and he longed to see his only +friends once more before encountering untried hazards; but the village +was beyond, and he had no courage to walk through its one long street +with a bundle, denoting a journey, under his arm. Northward he would +have to pass the mill and blacksmith's shop at the cross-roads. Then he +remembered that he might easily wade the stream at a point where it was +shallow, and keep in the shelter of the woods on the opposite hill until +he struck the road farther on, and in that direction two or three miles +would take him into a neighborhood where he was not known. + +Once in the woods, an exquisite sense of freedom came upon him. There +was nothing mocking in the soft, graceful stir of the expanded foliage, +in the twittering of the unfrightened birds, or the scampering of the +squirrels, over the rustling carpet of dead leaves. He lay down upon the +moss under a spreading beech-tree and tried to think; but the thoughts +would not come. He could not even clearly recall the keen troubles and +mortifications he had endured: all things were so peaceful and beautiful +that a portion of their peace and beauty fell upon men and invested them +with a more kindly character. + +Towards noon Jacob found himself beyond the limited geography of his +life. The first man he encountered was a stranger, who greeted him with +a hearty and respectful "How do you do, sir?" + +"Perhaps," thought Jacob, "I am not so very different from other people, +if I only thought so myself." + +At noon, he stopped at a farm-house by the roadside to get a drink of +water. A pleasant woman, who came from the door at that moment with a +pitcher, allowed him to lower the bucket and haul it up dripping with +precious coolness. She looked upon him with good-will, for he had +allowed her to see his eyes, and something in their honest, appealing +expression went to her heart. + +"We're going to have dinner in five minutes," said she; "won't you stay +and have something?" + +Jacob stayed and brake bread with the plain, hospitable family. Their +kindly attention to him during the meal gave him the lacking nerve; +for a moment he resolved to offer his services to the farmer, but he +presently saw that they were not really needed, and, besides, the place +was still too near home. + +Towards night he reached an old country tavern, lording it over +an incipient village of six houses. The landlord and hostler were +inspecting a drooping-looking horse in front of the stables. Now, if +there was any thing which Jacob understood, to the extent of his limited +experience, it was horse nature. He drew near, listened to the views of +the two men, examined the animal with his eyes, and was ready to answer, +"Yes, I guess so," when the landlord said, "Perhaps, sir, you can tell +what is the matter with him." + +His prompt detection of the ailment, and prescription of a remedy which +in an hour showed its good effects, installed him in the landlord's best +graces. The latter said, "Well, it shall cost you nothing to-night," +as he led the way to the supper-room. When Jacob went to bed he was +surprised on reflecting that he had not only been talking for a full +hour in the bar-room, but had been looking people in the face. + +Resisting an offer of good wages if he would stay and help look after +the stables, he set forward the next morning with a new and most +delightful confidence in himself. The knowledge that now nobody knew him +as "Jake Flint" quite removed his tortured self-consciousness. When +he met a person who was glum and ungracious of speech, he saw, +nevertheless, that he was not its special object. He was sometimes asked +questions, to be sure, which a little embarrassed him, but he soon hit +upon answers which were sufficiently true without betraying his purpose. + +Wandering sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, he slowly +made his way into the land, until, on the afternoon of the fourth day +after leaving home, he found himself in a rougher region--a rocky, hilly +tract, with small and not very flourishing farms in the valleys. Here +the season appeared to be more backward than in the open country; the +hay harvest was not yet over. + +Jacob's taste for scenery was not particularly cultivated, but something +in the loneliness and quiet of the farms reminded him of his own home; +and he looked at one house after another, deliberating with himself +whether it would not be a good place to spend the remainder of his month +of probation. He seemed to be very far from home--about forty miles, in +fact,--and was beginning to feel a little tired of wandering. + +Finally the road climbed a low pass of the hills, and dropped into +a valley on the opposite side. There was but one house in view--a +two-story building of logs and plaster, with a garden and orchard on the +hillside in the rear. A large meadow stretched in front, and when the +whole of it lay clear before him, as the road issued from a wood, his +eye was caught by an unusual harvest picture. + +Directly before him, a woman, whose face was concealed by a huge, +flapping sun-bonnet, was seated upon a mowing machine, guiding a span +of horses around the great tract of thick grass which was still uncut. +A little distance off, a boy and girl were raking the drier swaths +together, and a hay-cart, drawn by oxen and driven by a man, was just +entering the meadow from the side next the barn. + +Jacob hung his bundle upon a stake, threw his coat and waistcoat over +the rail, and, resting his chin on his shirted arms, leaned on the +fence, and watched the hay-makers. As the woman came down the nearer +side she appeared to notice him, for her head was turned from time to +time in his direction. When she had made the round, she stopped the +horses at the corner, sprang lightly from her seat and called to the +man, who, leaving his team, met her half-way. They were nearly a furlong +distant, but Jacob was quite sure that she pointed to him, and that +the man looked in the same direction. Presently she set off across the +meadow, directly towards him. + +When within a few paces of the fence, she stopped, threw back the flaps +of her sun-bonnet, and said, "Good day to you!" Jacob was so amazed to +see a bright, fresh, girlish face, that he stared at her with all his +eyes, forgetting to drop his head. Indeed, he could not have done so, +for his chin was propped upon the top rail of the fence. + +"You are a stranger, I see," she added. + +"Yes, in these parts," he replied. + +"Looking for work?" + +He hardly knew what answer to make, so he said, at a venture, "That's as +it happens." Then he colored a little, for the words seemed foolish to +his ears. + +"Time's precious," said the girl, "so I'll tell you at once we want +help. Our hay MUST be got in while the fine weather lasts." + +"I'll help you!" Jacob exclaimed, taking his arms from the rail, and +looking as willing as he felt. + +"I'm so glad! But I must tell you, at first, that we're not rich, and +the hands are asking a great deal now. How much do you expect?" + +"Whatever you please?" said he, climbing the fence. + +"No, that's not our way of doing business. What do you say to a dollar a +day, and found?" + +"All right!" and with the words he was already at her side, taking long +strides over the elastic turf. + +"I will go on with my mowing," said she, when they reached the horses, +"and you can rake and load with my father. What name shall I call you +by?" + +"Everybody calls me Jake." + +"'Jake!' Jacob is better. Well, Jacob, I hope you'll give us all the +help you can." + +With a nod and a light laugh she sprang upon the machine. There was +a sweet throb in Jacob's heart, which, if he could have expressed it, +would have been a triumphant shout of "I'm not afraid of her! I'm not +afraid of her!" + +The farmer was a kindly, depressed man, with whose quiet ways Jacob +instantly felt himself at home. They worked steadily until sunset, when +the girl, detaching her horses from the machine, mounted one of them and +led the other to the barn. At the supper-table, the farmer's wife said: +"Susan, you must be very tired." + +"Not now, mother!" she cheerily answered. "I was, I think, but after I +picked up Jacob I felt sure we should get our hay in." + +"It was a good thing," said the farmer; "Jacob don't need to be told how +to work." + +Poor Jacob! He was so happy he could have cried. He sat and listened, +and blushed a little, with a smile on his face which it was a pleasure +to see. The honest people did not seem to regard him in the least as a +stranger; they discussed their family interests and troubles and hopes +before him, and in a little while it seemed as if he had known them +always. + +How faithfully he worked! How glad and tired he felt when night came, +and the hay-mow was filled, and the great stacks grew beside the barn! +But ah! the haying came to an end, and on the last evening, at supper, +everybody was constrained and silent. Even Susan looked grave and +thoughtful. + +"Jacob," said the farmer, finally, "I wish we could keep you until wheat +harvest; but you know we are poor, and can't afford it. Perhaps you +could--" + +He hesitated; but Jacob, catching at the chance and obeying his own +unselfish impulse, cried: "Oh, yes, I can; I'll be satisfied with my +board, till the wheat's ripe." + +Susan looked at him quickly, with a bright, speaking face. "It's hardly +fair to you," said the farmer. + +"But I like to be here so much!" Jacob cried. "I like--all of you!" + +"We DO seem to suit," said the farmer, "like as one family. And that +reminds me, we've not heard your family name yet." + +"Flint." + +"Jacob FLINT!" exclaimed the farmer's wife, with sudden agitation. + +Jacob was scared and troubled. They had heard of him, he thought, and +who knew what ridiculous stories? Susan noticed an anxiety on his face +which she could not understand, but she unknowingly came to his relief. + +"Why, mother," she asked, "do you know Jacob's family?" + +"No, I think not," said her mother, "only somebody of the name, long +ago." + +His offer, however, was gratefully accepted. The bright, hot summer days +came and went, but no flower of July ever opened as rapidly and richly +and warmly as his chilled, retarded nature. New thoughts and instincts +came with every morning's sun, and new conclusions were reached with +every evening's twilight. Yet as the wheat harvest drew towards the end, +he felt that he must leave the place. The month of absence had gone by, +he scarce knew how. He was free to return home, and, though he might +offer to bridge over the gap between wheat and oats, as he had already +done between hay and wheat, he imagined the family might hesitate to +accept such an offer. Moreover, this life at Susan's side was fast +growing to be a pain, unless he could assure himself that it would be so +forever. + +They were in the wheat-field, busy with the last sheaves; she raking and +he binding. The farmer and younger children had gone to the barn with a +load. Jacob was working silently and steadily, but when they had reached +the end of a row, he stopped, wiped his wet brow, and suddenly said, +"Susan, I suppose to-day finishes my work here." + +"Yes," she answered very slowly. + +"And yet I'm very sorry to go." + +"I--WE don't want you to go, if we could help it." + +Jacob appeared to struggle with himself. He attempted to speak. "If I +could--" he brought out, and then paused. "Susan, would you be glad if I +came back?" + +His eyes implored her to read his meaning. No doubt she read it +correctly, for her face flushed, her eyelids fell, and she barely +murmured, "Yes, Jacob." + +"Then I'll come!" he cried; "I'll come and help you with the oats. Don't +talk of pay! Only tell me I'll be welcome! Susan, don't you believe I'll +keep my word?" + +"I do indeed," said she, looking him firmly in the face. + +That was all that was said at the time; but the two understood each +other tolerably well. + +On the afternoon of the second day, Jacob saw again the lonely house of +his father. His journey was made, yet, if any of the neighbors had seen +him, they would never have believed that he had come back rich. + +Samuel Flint turned away to hide a peculiar smile when he saw his son; +but little was said until late that evening, after Harry and Sally +had left. Then he required and received an exact account of Jacob's +experience during his absence. After hearing the story to the end, he +said, "And so you love this Susan Meadows?" + +"I'd--I'd do any thing to be with her." + +"Are you afraid of her?" + +"No!" Jacob uttered the word so emphatically that it rang through the +house. + +"Ah, well!" said the old man, lifting his eyes, and speaking in the air, +"all the harm may be mended yet. But there must be another test." Then +he was silent for some time. + +"I have it!" he finally exclaimed. "Jacob, you must go back for the oats +harvest. You must ask Susan to be your wife, and ask her parents to let +you have her. But,--pay attention to my words!--you must tell her that +you are a poor, hired man on this place, and that she can be engaged as +housekeeper. Don't speak of me as your father, but as the owner of +the farm. Bring her here in that belief, and let me see how honest and +willing she is. I can easily arrange matters with Harry and Sally while +you are away; and I'll only ask you to keep up the appearance of the +thing for a month or so." + +"But, father,"--Jacob began. + +"Not a word! Are you not willing to do that much for the sake of having +her all your life, and this farm after me? Suppose it is covered with +a mortgage, if she is all you say, you two can work it off. Not a word +more! It is no lie, after all, that you will tell her." + +"I am afraid," said Jacob, "that she could not leave her home now. She +is too useful there, and the family is so poor." + +"Tell them that both your wages, for the first year, shall go to them. +It'll be my business to rake and scrape the money together somehow. Say, +too, that the housekeeper's place can't be kept for her--must be filled +at once. Push matters like a man, if you mean to be a complete one, and +bring her here, if she carries no more with her than the clothes on her +back!" + +During the following days Jacob had time to familiarize his mind with +this startling proposal. He knew his father's stubborn will too well +to suppose that it could be changed; but the inevitable soon converted +itself into the possible and desirable. The sweet face of Susan as she +had stood before him in the wheat-field was continually present to his +eyes, and ere long, he began to place her, in his thoughts, in the old +rooms at home, in the garden, among the thickets by the brook, and in +Ann Pardon's pleasant parlor. Enough; his father's plan became his own +long before the time was out. + +On his second journey everybody seemed to be an old acquaintance and an +intimate friend. It was evening as he approached the Meadows farm, but +the younger children recognized him in the dusk, and their cry of, "Oh, +here's Jacob!" brought out the farmer and his wife and Susan, with the +heartiest of welcomes. They had all missed him, they said--even the +horses and oxen had looked for him, and they were wondering how they +should get the oats harvested without him. + +Jacob looked at Susan as the farmer said this, and her eyes seemed to +answer, "I said nothing, but I knew you would come." Then, first, he +felt sufficient courage for the task before him. + +He rose the next morning, before any one was stirring, and waited until +she should come down stairs. The sun had not risen when she appeared, +with a milk-pail in each hand, walking unsuspectingly to the cow-yard. +He waylaid her, took the pails in his hand and said in nervous haste, +"Susan, will you be my wife?" + +She stopped as if she had received a sudden blow; then a shy, sweet +consent seemed to run through her heart. "O Jacob!" was all she could +say. + +"But you will, Susan?" he urged; and then (neither of them exactly knew +how it happened) all at once his arms were around her, and they had +kissed each other. + +"Susan," he said, presently, "I am a poor man--only a farm hand, and +must work for my living. You could look for a better husband." + +"I could never find a better than you, Jacob." + +"Would you work with me, too, at the same place?" + +"You know I am not afraid of work," she answered, "and I could never +want any other lot than yours." + +Then he told her the story which his father had prompted. Her face grew +bright and happy as she listened, and he saw how from her very heart +she accepted the humble fortune. Only the thought of her parents threw +a cloud over the new and astonishing vision. Jacob, however, grew bolder +as he saw fulfilment of his hope so near. They took the pails and seated +themselves beside neighbor cows, one raising objections or misgivings +which the other manfully combated. Jacob's earnestness unconsciously ran +into his hands, as he discovered when the impatient cow began to snort +and kick. + +The harvesting of the oats was not commenced that morning. The children +were sent away, and there was a council of four persons held in the +parlor. The result of mutual protestations and much weeping was, that +the farmer and his wife agreed to receive Jacob as a son-in-law; the +offer of the wages was four times refused by them, and then accepted; +and the chance of their being able to live and labor together was +finally decided to be too fortunate to let slip. When the shock and +surprise was over all gradually became cheerful, and, as the matter +was more calmly discussed, the first conjectured difficulties somehow +resolved themselves into trifles. + +It was the simplest and quietest wedding,--at home, on an August +morning. Farmer Meadows then drove the bridal pair half-way on their +journey, to the old country tavern, where a fresh conveyance had been +engaged for them. The same evening they reached the farm-house in the +valley, and Jacob's happy mood gave place to an anxious uncertainty as +he remembered the period of deception upon which Susan was entering. +He keenly watched his father's face when they arrived, and was a little +relieved when he saw that his wife had made a good first impression. + +"So, this is my new housekeeper," said the old man. "I hope you will +suit me as well as your husband does." + +"I'll do my best, sir," said she; "but you must have patience with me +for a few days, until I know your ways and wishes." + +"Mr. Flint," said Sally, "shall I get supper ready?" Susan looked up in +astonishment at hearing the name. + +"Yes," the old man remarked, "we both have the same name. The fact is, +Jacob and I are a sort of relations." + +Jacob, in spite of his new happiness, continued ill at ease, although +he could not help seeing how his father brightened under Susan's genial +influence, how satisfied he was with her quick, neat, exact ways and the +cheerfulness with which she fulfilled her duties. At the end of a week, +the old man counted out the wages agreed upon for both, and his delight +culminated at the frank simplicity with which Susan took what she +supposed she had fairly earned. + +"Jacob," he whispered when she had left the room, "keep quiet one more +week, and then I'll let her know." + +He had scarcely spoken, when Susan burst into the room again, crying, +"Jacob, they are coming, they have come!" + +"Who?" + +"Father and mother; and we didn't expect them, you know, for a week +yet." + +All three went to the door as the visitors made their appearance on +the veranda. Two of the party stood as if thunderstruck, and two +exclamations came together: + +"Samuel Flint!" + +"Lucy Wheeler!" + +There was a moment's silence; then the farmer's wife, with a visible +effort to compose herself, said, "Lucy Meadows, now." + +The tears came into Samuel Flint's eyes. "Let us shake hands, Lucy," he +said: "my son has married your daughter." + +All but Jacob were freshly startled at these words. The two shook hands, +and then Samuel, turning to Susan's father, said: "And this is your +husband, Lucy. I am glad to make his acquaintance." + +"Your father, Jacob!" Susan cried; "what does it all mean?" + +Jacob's face grew red, and the old habit of hanging his head nearly +came back upon him. He knew not what to say, and looked wistfully at his +father. + +"Come into the house and sit down," said the latter. "I think we shall +all feel better when we have quietly and comfortably talked the matter +over." + +They went into the quaint, old-fashioned parlor, which had already been +transformed by Susan's care, so that much of its shabbiness was hidden. +When all were seated, and Samuel Flint perceived that none of the others +knew what to say, he took a resolution which, for a man of his mood and +habit of life, required some courage. + +"Three of us here are old people," he began, "and the two young ones +love each other. It was so long ago, Lucy, that it cannot be laid to my +blame if I speak of it now. Your husband, I see, has an honest heart, +and will not misunderstand either of us. The same thing often turns +up in life; it is one of those secrets that everybody knows, and that +everybody talks about except the persons concerned. When I was a young +man, Lucy, I loved you truly, and I faithfully meant to make you my +wife." + +"I thought so too, for a while," said she, very calmly. + +Farmer Meadows looked at his wife, and no face was ever more beautiful +than his, with that expression of generous pity shining through it. + +"You know how I acted," Samuel Flint continued, "but our children must +also know that I broke off from you without giving any reason. +A woman came between us and made all the mischief. I was considered +rich then, and she wanted to secure my money for her daughter. I was an +innocent and unsuspecting young man, who believed that everybody else +was as good as myself; and the woman never rested until she had turned +me from my first love, and fastened me for life to another. Little by +little I discovered the truth; I kept the knowledge of the injury to +myself; I quickly got rid of the money which had so cursed me, and +brought my wife to this, the loneliest and dreariest place in the +neighborhood, where I forced upon her a life of poverty. I thought it +was a just revenge, but I was unjust. She really loved me: she was, if +not quite without blame in the matter, ignorant of the worst that had +been done (I learned all that too late), and she never complained, +though the change in me slowly wore out her life. I know now that I +was cruel; but at the same time I punished myself, and was innocently +punishing my son. But to HIM there was one way to make amends. 'I will +help him to a wife,' I said, 'who will gladly take poverty with him +and for his sake.' I forced him, against his will, to say that he was a +hired hand on this place, and that Susan must be content to be a hired +housekeeper. Now that I know Susan, I see that this proof might have +been left out; but I guess it has done no harm. The place is not so +heavily mortgaged as people think, and it will be Jacob's after I am +gone. And now forgive me, all of you,--Lucy first, for she has most +cause; Jacob next; and Susan,--that will be easier; and you, Friend +Meadows, if what I have said has been hard for you to hear." + +The farmer stood up like a man, took Samuel's hand and his wife's, and +said, in a broken voice: "Lucy, I ask you, too, to forgive him, and I +ask you both to be good friends to each other." + +Susan, dissolved in tears, kissed all of them in turn; but the happiest +heart there was Jacob's. + +It was now easy for him to confide to his wife the complete story of +his troubles, and to find his growing self-reliance strengthened by her +quick, intelligent sympathy. The Pardons were better friends than +ever, and the fact, which at first created great astonishment in the +neighborhood, that Jacob Flint had really gone upon a journey and +brought home a handsome wife, began to change the attitude of the +people towards him. The old place was no longer so lonely; the nearest +neighbors began to drop in and insist on return visits. Now that Jacob +kept his head up, and they got a fair view of his face, they discovered +that he was not lacking, after all, in sense or social qualities. + +In October, the Whitney place, which had been leased for several years, +was advertised to be sold at public sale. The owner had gone to the city +and become a successful merchant, had outlived his local attachments, +and now took advantage of a rise in real estate to disburden himself of +a property which he could not profitably control. + +Everybody from far and wide attended the sale, and, when Jacob Flint and +his father arrived, everybody said to the former: "Of course you've +come to buy, Jacob." But each man laughed at his own smartness, and +considered the remark original with himself. + +Jacob was no longer annoyed. He laughed, too, and answered: "I'm afraid +I can't do that; but I've kept half my word, which is more than most men +do." + +"Jake's no fool, after all," was whispered behind him. + +The bidding commenced, at first very spirited, and then gradually +slacking off, as the price mounted above the means of the neighboring +farmers. The chief aspirant was a stranger, a well-dressed man with +a lawyer's air, whom nobody knew. After the usual long pauses and +passionate exhortations, the hammer fell, and the auctioneer, turning to +the stranger, asked, "What name?" + +"Jacob Flint!" + +There was a general cry of surprise. All looked at Jacob, whose eyes and +mouth showed that he was as dumbfoundered as the rest. + +The stranger walked coolly through the midst of the crowd to Samuel +Flint, and said, "When shall I have the papers drawn up?" + +"As soon as you can," the old man replied; then seizing Jacob by the +arm, with the words, "Let's go home now!" he hurried him on. + +The explanation soon leaked out. Samuel Flint had not thrown away his +wealth, but had put it out of his own hands. It was given privately to +trustees, to be held for his son, and returned when the latter should +have married with his father's consent. There was more than enough to +buy the Whitney place. + +Jacob and Susan are happy in their stately home, and good as they are +happy. If any person in the neighborhood ever makes use of the phrase +"Jacob Flint's Journey," he intends thereby to symbolize the good +fortune which sometimes follows honesty, reticence, and shrewdness. + + + + +CAN A LIFE HIDE ITSELF? + + +I had been reading, as is my wont from time to time, one of the many +volumes of "The New Pitaval," that singular record of human crime and +human cunning, and also of the inevitable fatality which, in every +case, leaves a gate open for detection. Were it not for the latter fact, +indeed, one would turn with loathing from such endless chronicles +of wickedness. Yet these may be safely contemplated, when one has +discovered the incredible fatuity of crime, the certain weak mesh in +a network of devilish texture; or is it rather the agency of a power +outside of man, a subtile protecting principle, which allows the +operation of the evil element only that the latter may finally betray +itself? Whatever explanation we may choose, the fact is there, like a +tonic medicine distilled from poisonous plants, to brace our faith in +the ascendancy of Good in the government of the world. + +Laying aside the book, I fell into a speculation concerning the mixture +of the two elements in man's nature. The life of an individual is +usually, it seemed to me, a series of RESULTS, the processes leading to +which are not often visible, or observed when they are so. Each act +is the precipitation of a number of mixed influences, more or less +unconsciously felt; the qualities of good and evil are so blended +therein that they defy the keenest moral analysis; and how shall we, +then, pretend to judge of any one? Perhaps the surest indication of evil +(I further reflected) is that it always tries to conceal itself, and +the strongest incitement to good is that evil cannot be concealed. The +crime, or the vice, or even the self-acknowledged weakness, becomes +a part of the individual consciousness; it cannot be forgotten or +outgrown. It follows a life through all experiences and to the uttermost +ends of the earth, pressing towards the light with a terrible, demoniac +power. There are noteless lives, of course--lives that accept obscurity, +mechanically run their narrow round of circumstance, and are lost; but +when a life endeavors to lose itself,--to hide some conscious guilt or +failure,--can it succeed? Is it not thereby lifted above the level of +common experience, compelling attention to itself by the very endeavor +to escape it? + +I turned these questions over in my mind, without approaching, or indeed +expecting, any solution,--since I knew, from habit, the labyrinths into +which they would certainly lead me,--when a visitor was announced. It +was one of the directors of our county almshouse, who came on an errand +to which he attached no great importance. I owed the visit, apparently, +to the circumstance that my home lay in his way, and he could at once +relieve his conscience of a very trifling pressure and his pocket of a +small package, by calling upon me. His story was told in a few words; +the package was placed upon my table, and I was again left to my +meditations. + +Two or three days before, a man who had the appearance of a "tramp" had +been observed by the people of a small village in the neighborhood. He +stopped and looked at the houses in a vacant way, walked back and forth +once or twice as if uncertain which of the cross-roads to take, and +presently went on without begging or even speaking to any one. Towards +sunset a farmer, on his way to the village store, found him sitting at +the roadside, his head resting against a fence-post. The man's face was +so worn and exhausted that the farmer kindly stopped and addressed him; +but he gave no other reply than a shake of the head. + +The farmer thereupon lifted him into his light country-wagon, the man +offering no resistance, and drove to the tavern, where, his exhaustion +being so evident, a glass of whiskey was administered to him. He +afterwards spoke a few words in German, which no one understood. At the +almshouse, to which he was transported the same evening, he refused to +answer the customary questions, although he appeared to understand +them. The physician was obliged to use a slight degree of force in +administering nourishment and medicine, but neither was of any avail. +The man died within twenty-four hours after being received. His pockets +were empty, but two small leathern wallets were found under his pillow; +and these formed the package which the director left in my charge. They +were full of papers in a foreign language, he said, and he supposed I +might be able to ascertain the stranger's name and home from them. + +I took up the wallets, which were worn and greasy from long service, +opened them, and saw that they were filled with scraps, fragments, and +folded pieces of paper, nearly every one of which had been carried for +a long time loose in the pocket. Some were written in pen and ink, +and some in pencil, but all were equally brown, worn, and unsavory in +appearance. In turning them over, however, my eye was caught by some +slips in the Russian character, and three or four notes in French; +the rest were German. I laid aside "Pitaval" at once, emptied all +the leathern pockets carefully, and set about examining the pile of +material. + +I first ran rapidly through the papers to ascertain the dead man's name, +but it was nowhere to be found. There were half a dozen letters, written +on sheets folded and addressed in the fashion which prevailed before +envelopes were invented; but the name was cut out of the address in +every case. There was an official permit to embark on board a Bremen +steamer, mutilated in the same way; there was a card photograph, from +which the face had been scratched by a penknife. There were Latin +sentences; accounts of expenses; a list of New York addresses, covering +eight pages; and a number of notes, written either in Warsaw or Breslau. +A more incongruous collection I never saw, and I am sure that had it not +been for the train of thought I was pursuing when the director called +upon me, I should have returned the papers to him without troubling my +head with any attempt to unravel the man's story. + +The evidence, however, that he had endeavored to hide his life, had been +revealed by my first superficial examination; and here, I reflected, +was a singular opportunity to test both his degree of success and my own +power of constructing a coherent history out of the detached fragments. +Unpromising as is the matter, said I, let me see whether he can conceal +his secret from even such unpractised eyes as mine. + +I went through the papers again, read each one rapidly, and arranged +them in separate files, according to the character of their contents. +Then I rearranged these latter in the order of time, so far as it +was indicated; and afterwards commenced the work of picking out and +threading together whatever facts might be noted. The first thing I +ascertained, or rather conjectured, was that the man's life might be +divided into three very distinct phases, the first ending in Breslau, +the second in Poland, and the third and final one in America. Thereupon +I once again rearranged the material, and attacked that which related to +the first phase. + +It consisted of the following papers: Three letters, in a female hand, +commencing "My dear brother," and terminating with "Thy loving sister, +Elise;" part of a diploma from a gymnasium, or high school, certifying +that [here the name was cut out] had successfully passed his +examination, and was competent to teach,--and here again, whether by +accident or design, the paper was torn off; a note, apparently to a +jeweller, ordering a certain gold ring to be delivered to "Otto," and +signed "B. V. H.;" a receipt from the package-post for a box forwarded +to Warsaw, to the address of Count Ladislas Kasincsky; and finally +a washing-list, at the bottom of which was written, in pencil, in a +trembling hand: "May God protect thee! But do not stay away so very +long." + +In the second collection, relating to Poland, I found the following: Six +orders in Russian and three in French, requesting somebody to send by +"Jean" sums of money, varying from two to eight hundred rubles. These +orders were in the same hand, and all signed "Y." A charming letter in +French, addressed "cher ami," and declining, in the most delicate and +tender way, an offer of marriage made to the sister of the writer, of +whose signature only "Amelie de" remained, the family name having been +torn off. A few memoranda of expenses, one of which was curious: "Dinner +with Jean, 58 rubles;" and immediately after it: "Doctor, 10 rubles." +There were, moreover, a leaf torn out of a journal, and half of a note +which had been torn down the middle, both implicating "Jean" in some way +with the fortunes of the dead man. + +The papers belonging to the American phase, so far as they were to be +identified by dates, or by some internal evidence, were fewer, but even +more enigmatical in character. The principal one was a list of addresses +in New York, divided into sections, the street boundaries of which were +given. There were no names, but some of the addresses were marked +, and +others?, and a few had been crossed out with a pencil. Then there were +some leaves of a journal of diet and bodily symptoms, of a very singular +character; three fragments of drafts of letters, in pencil, one of +them commencing, "Dog and villain!" and a single note of "Began work, +September 10th, 1865." This was about a year before his death. + +The date of the diploma given by the gymnasium at Breslau was June 27, +1855, and the first date in Poland was May 3, 1861. Belonging to the +time between these two periods there were only the order for the ring +(1858), and a little memorandum in pencil, dated "Posen, Dec., 1859." +The last date in Poland was March 18, 1863, and the permit to embark at +Bremen was dated in October of that year. Here, at least, was a slight +chronological framework. The physician who attended the county almshouse +had estimated the man's age at thirty, which, supposing him to have been +nineteen at the time of receiving the diploma, confirmed the dates to +that extent. + +I assumed, at the start, that the name which had been so carefully cut +out of all the documents was the man's own. The "Elise" of the letters +was therefore his sister. The first two letters related merely to +"mother's health," and similar details, from which it was impossible to +extract any thing, except that the sister was in some kind of service. +The second letter closed with: "I have enough work to do, but I keep +well. Forget thy disappointment so far as _I_ am concerned, for I never +expected any thing; I don't know why, but I never did." + +Here was a disappointment, at least, to begin with. I made a note of it +opposite the date, on my blank programme, and took up the next letter. +It was written in November, 1861, and contained a passage which keenly +excited my curiosity. It ran thus: "Do, pray, be more careful of thy +money. It may be all as thou sayest, and inevitable, but I dare not +mention the thing to mother, and five thalers is all I can spare out +of my own wages. As for thy other request, I have granted it, as thou +seest, but it makes me a little anxious. What is the joke? And how can +it serve thee? That is what I do not understand, and I have plagued +myself not a little to guess." + +Among the Polish memoranda was this: "Sept. 1 to Dec. 1, 200 rubles," +which I assumed to represent a salary. This would give him eight hundred +a year, at least twelve times the amount which his sister--who must +either have been cook or housekeeper, since she spoke of going to market +for the family--could have received. His application to her for money, +and the manner of her reference to it, indicated some imprudence or +irregularity on his part. What the "other request" was, I could +not guess; but as I was turning and twisting the worn leaf in some +perplexity, I made a sudden discovery. One side of the bottom edge had +been very slightly doubled over in folding, and as I smoothed it out, I +noticed some diminutive letters in the crease. The paper had been worn +nearly through, but I made out the words: "Write very soon, dear Otto!" + +This was the name in the order for the gold ring, signed "B. V. H."--a +link, indeed, but a fresh puzzle. Knowing the stubborn prejudices of +caste in Germany, and above all in Eastern Prussia and Silesia, I should +have been compelled to accept "Otto," whose sister was in service, +as himself the servant of "B. V. H.," but for the tenderly respectful +letter of "Amelie de----," declining the marriage offer for her sister. +I re-read this letter very carefully, to determine whether it was really +intended for "Otto." It ran thus: + + + "DEAR FRIEND,--I will not say that your letter was entirely + unexpected, either to Helmine or myself. I should, perhaps, have + less faith in the sincerity of your attachment if you had not + already involuntarily betrayed it. When I say that although I + detected the inclination of your heart some weeks ago, and that I + also saw it was becoming evident to my sister, yet I refrained from + mentioning the subject at all until she came to me last evening + with your letter in her hand,--when I say this, you will understand + that I have acted towards you with the respect and sympathy which + I profoundly feel. Helmine fully shares this feeling, and her poor + heart is too painfully moved to allow her to reply. Do I not say, + in saying this, what her reply must be? But, though her heart + cannot respond to your love, she hopes you will always believe her + a friend to whom your proffered devotion was an honor, and will + be--if you will subdue it to her deserts--a grateful thing to + remember. We shall remain in Warsaw a fortnight longer, as I think + yourself will agree that it is better we should not + immediately return to the castle. Jean, who must carry a fresh + order already, will bring you this, and we hope to have good news + of Henri. I send back the papers, which were unnecessary; we never + doubted you, and we shall of course keep your secret so long as you + choose to wear it. + "AMELIE DE----" + + +The more light I seemed to obtain, the more inexplicable the +circumstances became. The diploma and the note of salary were grounds +for supposing that "Otto" occupied the position of tutor in a noble +Polish family. There was the receipt for a box addressed to Count +Ladislas Kasincsky, and I temporarily added his family name to the +writer of the French letter, assuming her to be his wife. "Jean" +appeared to be a servant, and "Henri" I set down as the son whom Otto +was instructing in the castle or family seat in the country, while the +parents were in warsaw. Plausible, so far; but the letter was not such +a one as a countess would have written to her son's tutor, under similar +circumstances. It was addressed to a social equal, apparently to a man +younger than herself, and for whom--supposing him to have been a tutor, +secretary, or something of the kind--she must have felt a special +sympathy. Her mention of "the papers" and "your secret" must refer to +circumstances which would explain the mystery. "So long as you choose to +WEAR it," she had written: then it was certainly a secret connected with +his personal history. + +Further, it appeared that "Jean" was sent to him with "an order." What +could this be, but one of the nine orders for money which lay before my +eyes? I examined the dates of the latter, and lo! there was one written +upon the same day as the lady's letter. The sums drawn by these orders +amounted in all to four thousand two hundred rubles. But how should a +tutor or secretary be in possession of his employer's money? Still, this +might be accounted for; it would imply great trust on the part of the +latter, but no more than one man frequently reposes in another. Yet, if +it were so, one of the memoranda confronted me with a conflicting +fact: "Dinner with Jean, 58 rubles." The unusual amount--nearly fifty +dollars--indicated an act of the most reckless dissipation, and in +company with a servant, if "Jean," as I could scarcely doubt, acted in +that character. I finally decided to assume both these conjectures as +true, and apply them to the remaining testimony. + +I first took up the leaf which had been torn out of a small journal or +pocket note-book, as was manifested by the red edge on three sides. +It was scribbled over with brief notes in pencil, written at different +times. Many of them were merely mnemonic signs; but the recurrence of +the letters J and Y seemed to point to transactions with "Jean," and the +drawer of the various sums of money. The letter Y reminded me that I +had been too hasty in giving the name of Kasincsky to the noble family; +indeed, the name upon the post-office receipt might have no connection +with the matter I was trying to investigate. + +Suddenly I noticed a "Ky" among the mnemonic signs, and the suspicion +flashed across my mind that Count Kasincsky had signed the order with +the last letter of his family name! To assume this, however, suggested +a secret reason for doing so; and I began to think that I had already +secrets enough on hand. + +The leaf was much rubbed and worn, and it was not without considerable +trouble that I deciphered the following (omitting the unintelligible +signs): + +"Oct. 30 (Nov. 12)--talk with Y; 20--Jean. Consider. + +"Nov. 15--with J--H--hope. + +"Dec. 1--Told the C. No knowledge of S--therefore safe. Uncertain of---- +C to Warsaw. Met J. as agreed. Further and further. + +"Dec. 27--All for naught! All for naught! + +"Jan. 19, '63--Sick. What is to be the end? Threats. No tidings of Y. +Walked the streets all day. At night as usual. + +"March 1--News. The C. and H. left yesterday. No more to hope. Let it +come, then!" + + +These broken words warmed my imagination powerfully. Looking at them in +the light of my conjecture, I was satisfied that "Otto" was involved +in some crime, or dangerous secret, of which "Jean" was either the +instigator or the accomplice. "Y.," or Count Kasincsky,--and I was more +than ever inclined to connect the two,---also had his mystery, which +might, or might not, be identical with the first. By comparing dates, I +found that the entry made December 27 was three days later than the date +of the letter of "Amelie de----"; and the exclamation "All for naught!" +certainly referred to the disappointment it contained. I now guessed +the "H." in the second entry to mean "Helmine." The two last suggested +a removal to Warsaw from the country. Here was a little more ground to +stand on; but how should I ever get at the secret? + +I took up the torn half of a note, which, after the first inspection, +I had laid aside as a hopeless puzzle. A closer examination revealed +several things which failed to impress me at the outset. It was written +in a strong and rather awkward masculine hand; several words were +underscored, two misspelled, and I felt--I scarcely knew why--that it +was written in a spirit of mingled contempt and defiance. Let me give +the fragment just as it lay before me: + + +"ARON! + + It is quite time + be done. Who knows + is not his home by this + CONCERN FOR THE + that they are well off, + sian officers are + cide at once, my + risau, or I must + t TEN DAYS DELAY + money can be divi- + tier, and you may + ever you please. + untess goes, and she + will know who you + time, unless you carry + friend or not + decide, + ann Helm." + + +Here, I felt sure, was the clue to much of the mystery. The first thing +that struck me was the appearance of a new name. I looked at it again, +ran through in my mind all possible German names, and found that it +could only be "Johann,"--and in the same instant I recalled the frequent +habit of the Prussian and Polish nobility of calling their German valets +by French names. This, then, was "Jean!" The address was certainly +"Baron," and why thrice underscored, unless in contemptuous satire? +Light began to break upon the matter at last. "Otto" had been playing +the part, perhaps assuming the name, of a nobleman, seduced to the +deception by his passion for the Countess' sister, Helmine. This +explained the reference to "the papers," and "the secret," and would +account for the respectful and sympathetic tone of the Countess' letter. +But behind this there was certainly another secret, in which "Y." +(whoever he might be) was concerned, and which related to money. The +close of the note, which I filled out to read, "Your friend or not, as +you may decide," conveyed a threat, and, to judge from the halves of +lines immediately preceding it, the threat referred to the money, as +well as to the betrayal of an assumed character. + +Here, just as the story began to appear in faint outline, my discoveries +stopped for a while. I ascertained the breadth of the original note by a +part of the middle-crease which remained, filled out the torn part +with blank paper, completed the divided words in the same character of +manuscript, and endeavored to guess the remainder, but no clairvoyant +power of divination came to my aid. I turned over the letters again, +remarking the neatness with which the addresses had been cut off, and +wondering why the man had not destroyed the letters and other memoranda +entirely, if he wished to hide a possible crime. The fact that they were +not destroyed showed the hold which his past life had had upon him even +to his dying hour. Weak and vain, as I had already suspected him to +be,--wanting in all manly fibre, and of the very material which a keen, +energetic villain would mould to his needs,--I felt that his love for +his sister and for "Helmine," and other associations connected with his +life in Germany and Poland, had made him cling to these worn records. + +I know not what gave me the suspicion that he had not even found the +heart to destroy the exscinded names; perhaps the care with which they +had been removed; perhaps, in two instances, the circumstance of their +taking words out of the body of the letters with them. But the suspicion +came, and led to a re-examination of the leathern wallets. I could +scarcely believe my eyes, when feeling something rustle faintly as I +pressed the thin lining of an inner pocket, I drew forth three or four +small pellets of paper, and unrolling them, found the lost addresses! +I fitted them to the vacant places, and found that the first letters of +the sister in Breslau had been forwarded to "Otto Lindenschmidt," while +the letter to Poland was addressed "Otto von Herisau." + +I warmed with this success, which exactly tallied with the previous +discoveries, and returned again to the Polish memoranda The words +"[Rus]sian officers" in "Jean's" note led me to notice that it had +been written towards the close of the last insurrection in Poland--a +circumstance which I immediately coupled with some things in the note +and on the leaf of the journal. "No tidings of Y" might indicate that +Count Kasincsky had been concerned in the rebellion, and had fled, or +been taken prisoner. Had he left a large amount of funds in the hands +of the supposed Otto von Herisau, which were drawn from time to time by +orders, the form of which had been previously agreed upon? Then, when he +had disappeared, might it not have been the remaining funds which Jean +urged Otto to divide with him, while the latter, misled and entangled in +deception rather than naturally dishonest, held back from such a step? +I could hardly doubt so much, and it now required but a slight effort of +the imagination to complete the torn note. + +The next letter of the sister was addressed to Bremen. After having +established so many particulars, I found it easily intelligible. "I have +done what I can," she wrote. "I put it in this letter; it is all I have. +But do not ask me for money again; mother is ailing most of the time, +and I have not yet dared to tell her all. I shall suffer great anxiety +until I hear that the vessel has sailed. My mistress is very good; she +has given me an advance on my wages, or I could not have sent thee any +thing. Mother thinks thou art still in Leipzig: why didst thou stay +there so long? but no difference; thy money would have gone anyhow." + +It was nevertheless singular that Otto should be without money, so soon +after the appropriation of Count Kasincsky's funds. If the "20" in +the first memorandum on the leaf meant "twenty thousand rubles," as I +conjectured, and but four thousand two hundred were drawn by the Count +previous to his flight or imprisonment, Otto's half of the remainder +would amount to nearly eight thousand rubles; and it was, therefore, not +easy to account for his delay in Leipzig, and his destitute condition. + +Before examining the fragments relating to the American phase of +his life,--which illustrated his previous history only by occasional +revelations of his moods and feelings,--I made one more effort to guess +the cause of his having assumed the name of "Von Herisau." The initials +signed to the order for the ring ("B. V. H.") certainly stood for the +same family name; and the possession of papers belonging to one of +the family was an additional evidence that Otto had either been in the +service of, or was related to, some Von Herisau. Perhaps a sentence in +one of the sister's letters--"Forget thy disappointment so far as _I_ am +concerned, for I never expected any thing"--referred to something of the +kind. On the whole, service seemed more likely than kinship; but in that +case the papers must have been stolen. + +I had endeavored, from the start, to keep my sympathies out of the +investigation, lest they should lead me to misinterpret the broken +evidence, and thus defeat my object. It must have been the Countess' +letter, and the brief, almost stenographic, signs of anxiety and +unhappiness on the leaf of the journal, that first beguiled me into a +commiseration, which the simple devotion and self-sacrifice of the poor, +toiling sister failed to neutralize. However, I detected the feeling at +this stage of the examination, and turned to the American records, in +order to get rid of it. + +The principal paper was the list of addresses of which I have spoken. I +looked over it in vain, to find some indication of its purpose; yet it +had been carefully made out and much used. There was no name of a person +upon it,--only numbers and streets, one hundred and thirty-eight in all. +Finally, I took these, one by one, to ascertain if any of the houses +were known to me, and found three, out of the whole number, to be the +residences of persons whom I knew. One was a German gentleman, and the +other two were Americans who had visited Germany. The riddle was read! +During a former residence in New York, I had for a time been quite +overrun by destitute Germans,--men, apparently, of some culture, who +represented themselves as theological students, political refugees, +or unfortunate clerks and secretaries,--soliciting assistance. I found +that, when I gave to one, a dozen others came within the next fortnight; +when I refused, the persecution ceased for about the same length of +time. I became convinced, at last, that these persons were members of an +organized society of beggars, and the result proved it; for when I +made it an inviolable rule to give to no one who could not bring me an +indorsement of his need by some person whom I knew, the annoyance ceased +altogether. + +The meaning of the list of addresses was now plain. My nascent +commiseration for the man was not only checked, but I was in danger of +changing my role from that of culprit's counsel to that of prosecuting +attorney. + +When I took up again the fragment of the first draught of a letter +commencing, "Dog and villain!" and applied it to the words "Jean" or +"Johann Helm," the few lines which could be deciphered became full of +meaning. "Don't think," it began, "that I have forgotten you, or the +trick you played me! If I was drunk or drugged the last night, I know +how it happened, for all that. I left, but I shall go back. And if you +make use of" (here some words were entirely obliterated).... "is true. +He gave me the ring, and meant".... This was all I could make out. The +other papers showed only scattered memoranda, of money, or appointments, +or addresses, with the exception of the diary in pencil. + +I read the letter attentively, and at first with very little idea of +its meaning. Many of the words were abbreviated, and there were some +arbitrary signs. It ran over a period of about four months, terminating +six weeks before the man's death. He had been wandering about the +country during this period, sleeping in woods and barns, and living +principally upon milk. The condition of his pulse and other physical +functions was scrupulously set down, with an occasional remark of "good" +or "bad." The conclusion was at last forced upon me that he had been +endeavoring to commit suicide by a slow course of starvation and +exposure. Either as the cause or the result of this attempt, I read, in +the final notes, signs of an aberration of mind. This also explained +the singular demeanor of the man when found, and his refusal to take +medicine or nourishment. He had selected a long way to accomplish his +purpose, but had reached the end at last. + +The confused material had now taken shape; the dead man, despite his +will, had confessed to me his name and the chief events of his life. +It now remained--looking at each event as the result of a long chain of +causes--to deduce from them the elements of his individual character, +and then fill up the inevitable gaps in the story from the probabilities +of the operation of those elements. This was not so much a mere venture +as the reader may suppose, because the two actions of the mind test +each other. If they cannot, thus working towards a point and back again, +actually discover what WAS, they may at least fix upon a very probable +MIGHT HAVE BEEN. + +A person accustomed to detective work would have obtained my little +stock of facts with much less trouble, and would, almost instinctively, +have filled the blanks as he went along. Being an apprentice in such +matters, I had handled the materials awkwardly. I will not here retrace +my own mental zigzags between character and act, but simply repeat the +story as I finally settled and accepted it. + +Otto Lindenschmidt was the child of poor parents in or near Breslau. His +father died when he was young; his mother earned a scanty subsistence +as a washerwoman; his sister went into service. Being a bright, +handsome boy, he attracted the attention of a Baron von Herisau, an old, +childless, eccentric gentleman, who took him first as page or attendant, +intending to make him a superior valet de chambre. Gradually, however, +the Baron fancied that he detected in the boy a capacity for better +things; his condescending feeling of protection had grown into an +attachment for the handsome, amiable, grateful young fellow, and he +placed him in the gymnasium at Breslau, perhaps with the idea, now, of +educating him to be an intelligent companion. + +The boy and his humble relatives, dazzled by this opportunity, began +secretly to consider the favor as almost equivalent to his adoption as +a son. (The Baron had once been married, but his wife and only child had +long been dead.) The old man, of course, came to look upon the growing +intelligence of the youth as his own work: vanity and affection became +inextricably blended in his heart, and when the cursus was over, he took +him home as the companion of his lonely life. After two or three +years, during which the young man was acquiring habits of idleness and +indulgence, supposing his future secure, the Baron died,--perhaps too +suddenly to make full provision for him, perhaps after having kept up +the appearance of wealth on a life-annuity, but, in any case, leaving +very little, if any, property to Otto. In his disappointment, the latter +retained certain family papers which the Baron had intrusted to his +keeping. The ring was a gift, and he wore it in remembrance of his +benefactor. + +Wandering about, Micawber-like, in hopes that something might turn up, +he reached Posen, and there either met or heard of the Polish Count, +Ladislas Kasincsky, who was seeking a tutor for his only son. His +accomplishments, and perhaps, also, a certain aristocratic grace of +manner unconsciously caught from the Baron von Herisau, speedily won for +him the favor of the Count and Countess Kasincsky, and emboldened him to +hope for the hand of the Countess' sister, Helmine ----, to whom he was +no doubt sincerely attached. Here Johann Helm, or "Jean," a confidential +servant of the Count, who looked upon the new tutor as a rival, +yet adroitly flattered his vanity for the purpose of misleading and +displacing him, appears upon the stage. "Jean" first detected Otto's +passion; "Jean," at an epicurean dinner, wormed out of Otto the secret +of the Herisau documents, and perhaps suggested the part which the +latter afterwards played. + +This "Jean" seemed to me to have been the evil agency in the miserable +history which followed. After Helmine's rejection of Otto's suit, and +the flight or captivity of Count Kasincsky, leaving a large sum of money +in Otto's hands, it would be easy for "Jean," by mingled persuasions and +threats, to move the latter to flight, after dividing the money still +remaining in his hands. After the theft, and the partition, which took +place beyond the Polish frontier, "Jean" in turn, stole his accomplice's +share, together with the Von Herisau documents. + +Exile and a year's experience of organized mendicancy did the rest. + +Otto Lindenschmidt was one of those natures which possess no moral +elasticity--which have neither the power nor the comprehension +of atonement. The first real, unmitigated guilt--whether great +or small--breaks them down hopelessly. He expected no chance of +self-redemption, and he found none. His life in America was so utterly +dark and hopeless that the brightest moment in it must have been that +which showed him the approach of death. + +My task was done. I had tracked this weak, vain, erring, hunted soul to +its last refuge, and the knowledge bequeathed to me but a single duty. +His sins were balanced by his temptations; his vanity and weakness +had revenged themselves; and there only remained to tell the simple, +faithful sister that her sacrifices were no longer required. I burned +the evidences of guilt, despair and suicide, and sent the other +papers, with a letter relating the time and circumstances of Otto +Lindenschmidt's death, to the civil authorities of Breslau, requesting +that they might be placed in the hands of his sister Elise. + +This, I supposed, was the end of the history, so far as my connection +with it was concerned. But one cannot track a secret with impunity; +the fatality connected with the act and the actor clings even to the +knowledge of the act. I had opened my door a little, in order to look +out upon the life of another, but in doing so a ghost had entered in, +and was not to be dislodged until I had done its service. + +In the summer of 1867 I was in Germany, and during a brief journey +of idlesse and enjoyment came to the lovely little watering-place of +Liebenstein, on the southern slope of the Thuringian Forest. I had no +expectation or even desire of making new acquaintances among the gay +company who took their afternoon coffee under the noble linden trees on +the terrace; but, within the first hour of my after-dinner leisure, I +was greeted by an old friend, an author, from Coburg, and carried away, +in my own despite, to a group of his associates. My friend and his +friends had already been at the place a fortnight, and knew the very +tint and texture of its gossip. While I sipped my coffee, I listened +to them with one ear, and to Wagner's overture to "Lohengrin" with +the other; and I should soon have been wholly occupied with the fine +orchestra had I not been caught and startled by an unexpected name. + +"Have you noticed," some one asked, "how much attention the Baron von +Herisau is paying her?" + +I whirled round and exclaimed, in a breath, "The Baron von Herisau!" + +"Yes," said my friend; "do you know him?" + +I was glad that three crashing, tremendous chords came from the +orchestra just then, giving me time to collect myself before I replied: +"I am not sure whether it is the same person: I knew a Baron von Herisau +long ago: how old is the gentleman here?" + +"About thirty-five, I should think," my friend answered. + +"Ah, then it can't be the same person," said I: "still, if he should +happen to pass near us, will you point him out to me?" + +It was an hour later, and we were all hotly discussing the question of +Lessing's obligations to English literature, when one of the gentlemen +at the table said: "There goes the Baron von Herisau: is it perhaps your +friend, sir?" + +I turned and saw a tall man, with prominent nose, opaque black eyes, and +black mustache, walking beside a pretty, insipid girl. Behind the +pair went an elderly couple, overdressed and snobbish in appearance. A +carriage, with servants in livery, waited in the open space below the +terrace, and having received the two couples, whirled swiftly away +towards Altenstein. + +Had I been more of a philosopher I should have wasted no second thought +on the Baron von Herisau. But the Nemesis of the knowledge which I had +throttled poor Otto Lindenschmidt's ghost to obtain had come upon me at +last, and there was no rest for me until I had discovered who and what +was the Baron. The list of guests which the landlord gave me whetted +my curiosity to a painful degree; for on it I found the entry: "Aug. +15.--Otto V. Herisau, Rentier, East Prussia." + +It was quite dark when the carriage returned. I watched the company into +the supper-room, and then, whisking in behind them, secured a place at +the nearest table. I had an hour of quiet, stealthy observation before +my Coburg friend discovered me, and by that time I was glad of his +company and had need of his confidence. But, before making use of him in +the second capacity, I desired to make the acquaintance of the adjoining +partie carree. He had bowed to them familiarly in passing, and when the +old gentleman said, "Will you not join us, Herr ----?" I answered my +friend's interrogative glance with a decided affirmative, and we moved +to the other table. + +My seat was beside the Baron von Herisau, with whom I exchanged the +usual commonplaces after an introduction. His manner was cold and +taciturn, I thought, and there was something forced in the smile which +accompanied his replies to the remarks of the coarse old lady, who +continually referred to the "Herr Baron" as authority upon every +possible subject. I noticed, however, that he cast a sudden, sharp +glance at me, when I was presented to the company as an American. + +The man's neighborhood disturbed me. I was obliged to let the +conversation run in the channels already selected, and stupid enough I +found them. I was considering whether I should not give a signal to my +friend and withdraw, when the Baron stretched his hand across the table +for a bottle of Affenthaler, and I caught sight of a massive gold ring +on his middle finger. Instantly I remembered the ring which "B. V. H." +had given to Otto Lindenschmidt, and I said to myself, "That is it!" +The inference followed like lightning that it was "Johann Helm" who sat +beside me, and not a Baron von Herisau! + + +That evening my friend and I had a long, absorbing conversation in my +room. I told him the whole story, which came back vividly to memory, and +learned, in return, that the reputed Baron was supposed to be wealthy, +that the old gentleman was a Bremen merchant or banker, known to be +rich, that neither was considered by those who had met them to be +particularly intelligent or refined, and that the wooing of the daughter +had already become so marked as to be a general subject of gossip. +My friend was inclined to think my conjecture correct, and willingly +co-operated with me in a plan to test the matter. We had no considerable +sympathy with the snobbish parents, whose servility to a title was +so apparent; but the daughter seemed to be an innocent and amiable +creature, however silly, and we determined to spare her the shame of an +open scandal. + +If our scheme should seem a little melodramatic, it must not be +forgotten that my friend was an author. The next morning, as the Baron +came up the terrace after his visit to the spring, I stepped forward and +greeted him politely, after which I said: "I see by the strangers' list +that you are from East Prussia, Baron; have you ever been in Poland?" At +that moment, a voice behind him called out rather sharply, "Jean!" The +Baron started, turned round and then back to me, and all his art +could not prevent the blood from rushing to his face. I made, as if by +accident, a gesture with my hand, indicating success, and went a step +further. + +"Because," said I, "I am thinking of making a visit to Cracow and +Warsaw, and should be glad of any information--" + +"Certainly!" he interrupted me, "and I should be very glad to give it, +if I had ever visited Poland." + +"At least," I continued, "you can advise me upon one point; but excuse +me, shall we not sit down a moment yonder? As my question relates to +money, I should not wish to be overheard." + +I pointed out a retired spot, just before reaching which we were joined +by my friend, who suddenly stepped out from behind a clump of lilacs. +The Baron and he saluted each other. + +"Now," said I to the former, "I can ask your advice, Mr. Johann Helm!" + +He was not an adept, after all. His astonishment and confusion were +brief, to be sure, but they betrayed him so completely that his +after-impulse to assume a haughty, offensive air only made us smile. + +"If I had a message to you from Otto Lindenschmidt, what then?" I asked. + +He turned pale, and presently stammered out, "He--he is dead!" + +"Now," said my friend, "it is quite time to drop the mask before us. You +see we know you, and we know your history. Not from Otto Lindenschmidt +alone; Count Ladislas Kasincsky--" + +"What! Has he come back from Siberia?" exclaimed Johann Helm. His face +expressed abject terror; I think he would have fallen upon his knees +before us if he had not somehow felt, by a rascal's instinct, that we +had no personal wrongs to redress in unmasking him. + +Our object, however, was to ascertain through him the complete facts of +Otto Lindenschmidt's history, and then to banish him from Liebenstein. +We allowed him to suppose for awhile that we were acting under the +authority of persons concerned, in order to make the best possible use +of his demoralized mood, for we knew it would not last long. + +My guesses were very nearly correct. Otto Lindenschmidt had been +educated by an old Baron, Bernhard von Herisau, on account of his +resemblance in person to a dead son, whose name had also been Otto. + +He could not have adopted the plebeian youth, at least to the extent +of giving him an old and haughty name, but this the latter nevertheless +expected, up to the time of the Baron's death. He had inherited a +little property from his benefactor, but soon ran through it. "He was +a light-headed fellow," said Johann Helm, "but he knew how to get +the confidence of the old Junkers. If he hadn't been so cowardly and +fidgety, he might have made himself a career." + +The Polish episode differed so little from my interpretation that I need +not repeat Helm's version. He denied having stolen Otto's share of the +money, but could not help admitting his possession of the Von Herisau +papers, among which were the certificates of birth and baptism of +the old Baron's son, Otto. It seems that he had been fearful of +Lindenschmidt's return from America, for he managed to communicate with +his sister in Breslau, and in this way learned the former's death. Not +until then had he dared to assume his present disguise. + +We let him go, after exacting a solemn pledge that he would betake +himself at once to Hamburg, and there ship for Australia. (I judged that +America was already amply supplied with individuals of his class.) The +sudden departure of the Baron von Herisau was a two days' wonder at +Liebenstein; but besides ourselves, only the Bremen banker knew +the secret. He also left, two days afterwards, with his wife and +daughter--their cases, it was reported, requiring Kissingen. + +Otto Lindenschmidt's life, therefore, could not hide itself. Can any +life? + + + + +TWIN-LOVE. + + +When John Vincent, after waiting twelve years, married Phebe Etheridge, +the whole neighborhood experienced that sense of relief and satisfaction +which follows the triumph of the right. Not that the fact of a true love +is ever generally recognized and respected when it is first discovered; +for there is a perverse quality in American human nature which will not +accept the existence of any fine, unselfish passion, until it has been +tested and established beyond peradventure. There were two views of the +case when John Vincent's love for Phebe, and old Reuben Etheridge's hard +prohibition of the match, first became known to the community. The girls +and boys, and some of the matrons, ranged themselves at once on the side +of the lovers, but a large majority of the older men and a few of the +younger supported the tyrannical father. + +Reuben Etheridge was rich, and, in addition to what his daughter would +naturally inherit from him, she already possessed more than her lover, +at the time of their betrothal. This in the eyes of one class was a +sufficient reason for the father's hostility. When low natures live +(as they almost invariably do) wholly in the present, they neither +take tenderness from the past nor warning from the possibilities of the +future. It is the exceptional men and women who remember their youth. +So, these lovers received a nearly equal amount of sympathy and +condemnation; and only slowly, partly through their quiet fidelity and +patience, and partly through the improvement in John Vincent's +worldly circumstances, was the balance changed. Old Reuben remained an +unflinching despot to the last: if any relenting softness touched his +heart, he sternly concealed it; and such inference as could be drawn +from the fact that he, certainly knowing what would follow his death, +bequeathed his daughter her proper share of his goods, was all that +could be taken for consent. + +They were married: John, a grave man in middle age, weather-beaten +and worn by years of hard work and self-denial, yet not beyond the +restoration of a milder second youth; and Phebe a sad, weary woman, +whose warmth of longing had been exhausted, from whom youth and its +uncalculating surrenders of hope and feeling had gone forever. They +began their wedded life under the shadow of the death out of which +it grew; and when, after a ceremony in which neither bridesmaid nor +groomsman stood by their side, they united their divided homes, it +seemed to their neighbors that a separated husband and wife had come +together again, not that the relation was new to either. + +John Vincent loved his wife with the tenderness of an innocent man, +but all his tenderness could not avail to lift the weight of settled +melancholy which had gathered upon her. Disappointment, waiting, +yearning, indulgence in long lament and self-pity, the morbid +cultivation of unhappy fancies--all this had wrought its work upon her, +and it was too late to effect a cure. In the night she awoke to weep at +his side, because of the years when she had awakened to weep alone; +by day she kept up her old habit of foreboding, although the evening +steadily refuted the morning; and there were times when, without any +apparent cause, she would fall into a dark, despairing mood which her +husband's greatest care and cunning could only slowly dispel. + +Two or three years passed, and new life came to the Vincent farm. One +day, between midnight and dawn, the family pair was doubled; the cry of +twin sons was heard in the hushed house. The father restrained his happy +wonder in his concern for the imperilled life of the mother; he guessed +that she had anticipated death, and she now hung by a thread so slight +that her simple will might snap it. But her will, fortunately, was as +faint as her consciousness; she gradually drifted out of danger, taking +her returning strength with a passive acquiescence rather than with joy. +She was hardly paler than her wont, but the lurking shadow seemed to +have vanished from her eyes, and John Vincent felt that her features +had assumed a new expression, the faintly perceptible stamp of some +spiritual change. + + +It was a happy day for him when, propped against his breast and gently +held by his warm, strong arm, the twin boys were first brought to be +laid upon her lap. Two staring, dark-faced creatures, with restless +fists and feet, they were alike in every least feature of their +grotesque animality. Phebe placed a hand under the head of each, and +looked at them for a long time in silence. + +"Why is this?" she said, at last, taking hold of a narrow pink ribbon, +which was tied around the wrist of one. + +"He's the oldest, sure," the nurse answered. "Only by fifteen minutes or +so, but it generally makes a difference when twins come to be named; +and you may see with your own eyes that there's no telling of 'em apart +otherways." + +"Take off the ribbon, then," said Phebe quietly; "_I_ know them." + +"Why, ma'am, it's always done, where they're so like! And I'll never +be able to tell which is which; for they sleep and wake and feed by the +same clock. And you might mistake, after all, in giving 'em names--" + +"There is no oldest or youngest, John; they are two and yet one: this is +mine, and this is yours." + +"I see no difference at all, Phebe," said John; "and how can we divide +them?" + +"We will not divide," she answered; "I only meant it as a sign." + +She smiled, for the first time in many days. He was glad of heart, but +did not understand her. "What shall we call them?" he asked. "Elias and +Reuben, after our fathers?" + +"No, John; their names must be David and Jonathan." + +And so they were called. And they grew, not less, but more alike, in +passing through the stages of babyhood. The ribbon of the older one had +been removed, and the nurse would have been distracted, but for Phebe's +almost miraculous instinct. The former comforted herself with the hope +that teething would bring a variation to the two identical mouths; but +no! they teethed as one child. John, after desperate attempts, which +always failed in spite of the headaches they gave him, postponed the +idea of distinguishing one from the other, until they should be old +enough to develop some dissimilarity of speech, or gait, or habit. +All trouble might have been avoided, had Phebe consented to the least +variation in their dresses; but herein she was mildly immovable. + +"Not yet," was her set reply to her husband; and one day, when he +manifested a little annoyance at her persistence, she turned to him, +holding a child on each knee, and said with a gravity which silenced +him thenceforth: "John, can you not see that our burden has passed into +them? Is there no meaning in this--that two children who are one in body +and face and nature, should be given to us at our time of life, after +such long disappointment and trouble? Our lives were held apart; theirs +were united before they were born, and I dare not turn them in different +directions. Perhaps I do not know all that the Lord intended to say to +us, in sending them; but His hand is here!" + +"I was only thinking of their good," John meekly answered. "If they +are spared to grow up, there must be some way of knowing one from the +other." + +"THEY will not need it, and I, too, think only of them. They have taken +the cross from my heart, and I will lay none on theirs. I am reconciled +to my life through them, John; you have been very patient and good with +me, and I will yield to you in all things but in this. I do not think I +shall live to see them as men grown; yet, while we are together, I feel +clearly what it is right to do. Can you not, just once, have a little +faith without knowledge, John?" + +"I'll try, Phebe," he said. "Any way, I'll grant that the boys belong to +you more than to me." + +Phebe Vincent's character had verily changed. Her attacks of +semi-hysterical despondency never returned; her gloomy prophecies +ceased. She was still grave, and the trouble of so many years never +wholly vanished from her face; but she performed every duty of her life +with at least a quiet willingness, and her home became the abode of +peace; for passive content wears longer than demonstrative happiness. + +David and Jonathan grew as one boy: the taste and temper of one was +repeated in the other, even as the voice and features. Sleeping or +waking, grieved or joyous, well or ill, they lived a single life, and +it seemed so natural for one to answer to the other's name, that they +probably would have themselves confused their own identities, but for +their mother's unerring knowledge. Perhaps unconsciously guided by her, +perhaps through the voluntary action of their own natures, each quietly +took the other's place when called upon, even to the sharing of praise +or blame at school, the friendships and quarrels of the playground. They +were healthy and happy lads, and John Vincent was accustomed to say +to his neighbors, "They're no more trouble than one would be; and yet +they're four hands instead of two." + +Phebe died when they were fourteen, saying to them, with almost her +latest breath, "Be one, always!" Before her husband could decide whether +to change her plan of domestic education, they were passing out of +boyhood, changing in voice, stature, and character with a continued +likeness which bewildered and almost terrified him. He procured garments +of different colors, but they were accustomed to wear each article in +common, and the result was only a mixture of tints for both. They were +sent to different schools, to be returned the next day, equally pale, +suffering, and incapable of study. Whatever device was employed, they +evaded it by a mutual instinct which rendered all external measures +unavailing. To John Vincent's mind their resemblance was an accidental +misfortune, which had been confirmed through their mother's fancy. He +felt that they were bound by some deep, mysterious tie, which, inasmuch +as it might interfere with all practical aspects of life, ought to be +gradually weakened. Two bodies, to him, implied two distinct men, and +it was wrong to permit a mutual dependence which prevented either from +exercising his own separate will and judgment. + +But, while he was planning and pondering, the boys became young men, and +he was an old man. Old, and prematurely broken; for he had worked much, +borne much, and his large frame held only a moderate measure of vital +force. A great weariness fell upon him, and his powers began to give +way, at first slowly, but then with accelerated failure. He saw the end +coming, long before his sons suspected it; his doubt, for their sakes, +was the only thing which made it unwelcome. It was "upon his mind" (as +his Quaker neighbors would say) to speak to them of the future, and at +last the proper moment came. + +It was a stormy November evening. Wind and rain whirled and drove among +the trees outside, but the sitting-room of the old farm-house was bright +and warm. David and Jonathan, at the table, with their arms over each +other's backs and their brown locks mixed together, read from the same +book: their father sat in the ancient rocking-chair before the fire, +with his feet upon a stool. The housekeeper and hired man had gone to +bed, and all was still in the house. + +John waited until he heard the volume closed, and then spoke. + +"Boys," he said, "let me have a bit of talk with you. I don't seem to +get over my ailments rightly,--never will, maybe. A man must think of +things while there's time, and say them when they HAVE to be said. I +don't know as there's any particular hurry in my case; only, we never +can tell, from one day to another. When I die, every thing will belong +to you two, share and share alike, either to buy another farm with the +money out, or divide this: I won't tie you up in any way. But two of you +will need two farms for two families; for you won't have to wait twelve +years, like your mother and me." + +"We don't want another farm, father!" said David and Jonathan together. + +"I know you don't think so, now. A wife seemed far enough off from me +when I was your age. You've always been satisfied to be with each other, +but that can't last. It was partly your mother's notion; I remember her +saying that our burden had passed into you. I never quite understood +what she meant, but I suppose it must rather be the opposite of what WE +had to bear." + +The twins listened with breathless attention while their father, +suddenly stirred by the past, told them the story of his long betrothal. + +"And now," he exclaimed, in conclusion, "it may be putting wild +ideas into your two heads, but I must say it! THAT was where I did +wrong--wrong to her and to me,--in waiting! I had no right to spoil the +best of our lives; I ought to have gone boldly, in broad day, to her +father's house, taken her by the hand, and led her forth to be my wife. +Boys, if either of you comes to love a woman truly, and she to love you, +and there is no reason why God (I don't say man) should put you asunder, +do as I ought to have done, not as I did! And, maybe, this advice is the +best legacy I can leave you." + +"But, father," said David, speaking for both, "we have never thought of +marrying." + +"Likely enough," their father answered; "we hardly ever think of what +surely comes. But to me, looking back, it's plain. And this is the +reason why I want you to make me a promise, and as solemn as if I was on +my death-bed. Maybe I shall be, soon." + +Tears gathered in the eyes of the twins. "What is it, father?" they both +said. + +"Nothing at all to any other two boys, but I don't know how YOU'll take +it. What if I was to ask you to live apart for a while?" + +"Oh father!" both cried. They leaned together, cheek pressing cheek, and +hand clasping hand, growing white and trembling. John Vincent, gazing +into the fire, did not see their faces, or his purpose might have been +shaken. + +"I don't say NOW," he went on. "After a while, when--well, when I'm +dead. And I only mean a beginning, to help you toward what HAS to be. +Only a month; I don't want to seem hard to you; but that's little, in +all conscience. Give me your word: say, 'For mother's sake!'" + +There was a long pause. Then David and Jonathan said, in low, faltering +voices, "For mother's sake, I promise." + +"Remember that you were only boys to her. She might have made all this +seem easier, for women have reasons for things no man can answer. Mind, +within a year after I'm gone!" + +He rose and tottered out of the room. + +The twins looked at each other: David said, "Must we?" and Jonathan, +"How can we?" Then they both thought, "It may be a long while yet." Here +was a present comfort, and each seemed to hold it firmly in holding the +hand of the other, as they fell asleep side by side. + +The trial was nearer than they imagined. Their father died before the +winter was over; the farm and other property was theirs, and they might +have allowed life to solve its mysteries as it rolled onwards, but for +their promise to the dead. This must be fulfilled, and then--one thing +was certain; they would never again separate. + +"The sooner the better," said David. "It shall be the visit to our uncle +and cousins in Indiana. You will come with me as far as Harrisburg; +it may be easier to part there than here. And our new neighbors, the +Bradleys, will want your help for a day or two, after getting home." + +"It is less than death," Jonathan answered, "and why should it seem to +be more? We must think of father and mother, and all those twelve years; +now I know what the burden was." + +"And we have never really borne any part of it! Father must have been +right in forcing us to promise." + +Every day the discussion was resumed, and always with the same +termination. Familiarity with the inevitable step gave them increase +of courage; yet, when the moment had come and gone, when, speeding on +opposite trains, the hills and valleys multiplied between them with +terrible velocity, a pang like death cut to the heart of each, and the +divided life became a chill, oppressive dream. + +During the separation no letters passed between them. When the neighbors +asked Jonathan for news of his brother, he always replied, "He is well," +and avoided further speech with such evidence of pain that they spared +him. An hour before the month drew to an end, he walked forth alone, +taking the road to the nearest railway station. A stranger who passed +him at the entrance of a thick wood, three miles from home, was +thunderstruck on meeting the same person shortly after, entering the +wood from the other side; but the farmers in the near fields saw two +figures issuing from the shade, hand in hand. + +Each knew the other's month, before they slept, and the last thing +Jonathan said, with his head on David's shoulder, was, "You must know +our neighbors, the Bradleys, and especially Ruth." In the morning, +as they dressed, taking each other's garments at random, as of old, +Jonathan again said, "I have never seen a girl that I like so well +as Ruth Bradley. Do you remember what father said about loving and +marrying? It comes into my mind whenever I see Ruth; but she has no +sister." + +"But we need not both marry," David replied, "that might part us, and +this will not. It is for always now." + +"For always, David." + +Two or three days later Jonathan said, as he started on an errand to the +village: "I shall stop at the Bradleys this evening, so you must walk +across and meet me there." + +When David approached the house, a slender, girlish figure, with her +back towards him, was stooping over a bush of great crimson roses, +cautiously clipping a blossom here and there. At the click of the +gate-latch she started and turned towards him. Her light gingham bonnet, +falling back, disclosed a long oval face, fair and delicate, sweet brown +eyes, and brown hair laid smoothly over the temples. A soft flush rose +suddenly to her cheeks, and he felt that his own were burning. + +"Oh Jonathan!" she exclaimed, transferring the roses to her left hand, +and extending her right, as she came forward. + +He was too accustomed to the name to recognize her mistake at once, and +the word "Ruth!" came naturally to his lips. + +"I should know your brother David has come," she then said; "even if I +had not heard so. You look so bright. How glad I am!" + +"Is he not here?" David asked. + +"No; but there he is now, surely!" She turned towards the lane, where +Jonathan was dismounting. "Why, it is yourself over again, Jonathan!" + +As they approached, a glance passed between the twins, and a secret +transfer of the riding-whip to David set their identity right with +Ruth, whose manner toward the latter innocently became shy with all its +friendliness, while her frank, familiar speech was given to Jonathan, +as was fitting. But David also took the latter to himself, and when they +left, Ruth had apparently forgotten that there was any difference in the +length of their acquaintance. + +On their way homewards David said: "Father was right. We must marry, +like others, and Ruth is the wife for us,--I mean for you, Jonathan. +Yes, we must learn to say MINE and YOURS, after all, when we speak of +her." + +"Even she cannot separate us, it seems," Jonathan answered. "We must +give her some sign, and that will also be a sign for others. It will +seem strange to divide ourselves; we can never learn it properly; rather +let us not think of marriage." + +"We cannot help thinking of it; she stands in mother's place now, as we +in father's." + +Then both became silent and thoughtful. They felt that something +threatened to disturb what seemed to be the only possible life for them, +yet were unable to distinguish its features, and therefore powerless +to resist it. The same instinct which had been born of their wonderful +spiritual likeness told them that Ruth Bradley already loved Jonathan: +the duty was established, and they must conform their lives to it. There +was, however, this slight difference between their natures--that David +was generally the first to utter the thought which came to the minds of +both. So when he said, "We shall learn what to do when the need comes," +it was a postponement of all foreboding. They drifted contentedly +towards the coming change. + +The days went by, and their visits to Ruth Bradley were continued. +Sometimes Jonathan went alone, but they were usually together, and the +tie which united the three became dearer and sweeter as it was more +closely drawn. Ruth learned to distinguish between the two when they +were before her: at least she said so, and they were willing to believe +it. But she was hardly aware how nearly alike was the happy warmth +in her bosom produced by either pair of dark gray eyes and the soft +half-smile which played around either mouth. To them she seemed to be +drawn within the mystic circle which separated them from others--she, +alone; and they no longer imagined a life in which she should not share. + +Then the inevitable step was taken. Jonathan declared his love, and was +answered. Alas! he almost forgot David that late summer evening, as they +sat in the moonlight, and over and over again assured each other how +dear they had grown. He felt the trouble in David's heart when they met. + +"Ruth is ours, and I bring her kiss to you," he said, pressing his lips +to David's; but the arms flung around him trembled, and David whispered, +"Now the change begins." + +"Oh, this cannot be our burden!" Jonathan cried, with all the rapture +still warm in his heart. + +"If it is, it will be light, or heavy, or none at all, as we shall bear +it," David answered, with a smile of infinite tenderness. + +For several days he allowed Jonathan to visit the Bradley farm alone, +saying that it must be so on Ruth's account. Her love, he declared, must +give her the fine instinct which only their mother had ever possessed, +and he must allow it time to be confirmed. Jonathan, however, insisted +that Ruth already possessed it; that she was beginning to wonder at his +absence, and to fear that she would not be entirely welcome to the home +which must always be equally his. + +David yielded at once. + +"You must go alone," said Jonathan, "to satisfy yourself that she knows +us at last." + +Ruth came forth from the house as he drew near. Her face beamed; she +laid her hands upon his shoulders and kissed him. "Now you cannot doubt +me, Ruth!" he said, gently. + +"Doubt you, Jonathan!" she exclaimed with a fond reproach in her eyes. +"But you look troubled; is any thing the matter?" + +"I was thinking of my brother," said David, in a low tone. + +"Tell me what it is," she said, drawing him into the little arbor of +woodbine near the gate. They took seats side by side on the rustic +bench. "He thinks I may come between you: is it not that?" she asked. +Only one thing was clear to David's mind--that she would surely speak +more frankly and freely of him to the supposed Jonathan than to his real +self. This once he would permit the illusion. + +"Not more than must be," he answered. "He knew all from the very +beginning. But we have been like one person in two bodies, and any +change seems to divide us." + +"I feel as you do," said Ruth. "I would never consent to be your wife, +if I could really divide you. I love you both too well for that." + +"Do you love me?" he asked, entirely forgetting his representative part. + +Again the reproachful look, which faded away as she met his eyes. She +fell upon his breast, and gave him kisses which were answered with equal +tenderness. Suddenly he covered his face with his hands, and burst into +a passion of tears. + +"Jonathan! Oh Jonathan!" she cried, weeping with alarm and sympathetic +pain. + +It was long before he could speak; but at last, turning away his head, +he faltered, "I am David!" + +There was a long silence. + +When he looked up she was sitting with her hands rigidly clasped in her +lap: her face was very pale. + +"There it is, Ruth," he said; "we are one heart and one soul. Could he +love, and not I? You cannot decide between us, for one is the other. If +I had known you first, Jonathan would be now in my place. What follows, +then?" + +"No marriage," she whispered. + +"No!" he answered; "we brothers must learn to be two men instead of one. +You will partly take my place with Jonathan; I must live with half my +life, unless I can find, somewhere in the world, your other half." + +"I cannot part you, David!" + +"Something stronger than you or me parts us, Ruth. If it were death, +we should bow to God's will: well, it can no more be got away from than +death or judgment. Say no more: the pattern of all this was drawn long +before we were born, and we cannot do any thing but work it out." + +He rose and stood before her. "Remember this, Ruth," he said; "it is no +blame in us to love each other. Jonathan will see the truth in my face +when we meet, and I speak for him also. You will not see me again until +your wedding-day, and then no more afterwards--but, yes! ONCE, in some +far-off time, when you shall know me to be David, and still give me the +kiss you gave to-day." + +"Ah, after death!" she thought: "I have parted them forever." She was +about to rise, but fell upon the seat again, fainting. At the same +moment Jonathan appeared at David's side. + +No word was said. They bore her forth and supported her between them +until the fresh breeze had restored her to consciousness. Her first +glance rested on the brother's hands, clasping; then, looking from one +to the other, she saw that the cheeks of both were wet. + +"Now, leave me," she said, "but come to-morrow, Jonathan!" Even then she +turned from one to the other, with a painful, touching uncertainty, and +stretched out both hands to them in farewell. + +How that poor twin heart struggled with itself is only known to God. All +human voices, and as they believed, also the Divine Voice, commanded the +division of their interwoven life. Submission would have seemed easier, +could they have taken up equal and similar burdens; but David was +unable to deny that his pack was overweighted. For the first time, their +thoughts began to diverge. + +At last David said: "For mother's sake, Jonathan, as we promised. She +always called you HER child. And for Ruth's sake, and father's last +advice: they all tell me what I must do." + +It was like the struggle between will and desire, in the same nature, +and none the less fierce or prolonged because the softer quality foresaw +its ultimate surrender. Long after he felt the step to be inevitable, +Jonathan sought to postpone it, but he was borne by all combined +influences nearer and nearer to the time. + +And now the wedding-day came. David was to leave home the same evening, +after the family dinner under his father's roof. In the morning he said +to Jonathan: "I shall not write until I feel that I have become other +than now, but I shall always be here, in you, as you will be in me, +everywhere. Whenever you want me, I shall know it; and I think I shall +know when to return." + +The hearts of all the people went out towards them as they stood +together in the little village church. Both were calm, but very pale and +abstracted in their expression, yet their marvellous likeness was still +unchanged. Ruth's eyes were cast down so they could not be seen; she +trembled visibly, and her voice was scarcely audible when she spoke the +vow. It was only known in the neighborhood that David was going to make +another journey. The truth could hardly have been guessed by persons +whose ideas follow the narrow round of their own experiences; had it +been, there would probably have been more condemnation than sympathy. +But in a vague way the presence of some deeper element was felt--the +falling of a shadow, although the outstretched wing was unseen. Far +above them, and above the shadow, watched the Infinite Pity, which was +not denied to three hearts that day. + +It was a long time, more than a year, and Ruth was lulling her first +child on her bosom, before a letter came from David. He had wandered +westwards, purchased some lands on the outer line of settlement, and +appeared to be leading a wild and lonely life. "I know now," he wrote, +"just how much there is to bear, and how to bear it. Strange men come +between us, but you are not far off when I am alone on these plains. +There is a place where I can always meet you, and I know that you have +found it,--under the big ash-tree by the barn. I think I am nearly +always there about sundown, and on moonshiny nights, because we are then +nearest together; and I never sleep without leaving you half my blanket. +When I first begin to wake I always feel your breath, so we are never +really parted for long. I do not know that I can change much; it is not +easy; it is like making up your mind to have different colored eyes +and hair, and I can only get sunburnt and wear a full beard. But we are +hardly as unhappy as we feared to be; mother came the other night, in a +dream, and took us on her knees. Oh, come to me, Jonathan, but for one +day! No, you will not find me; I am going across the Plains!" + +And Jonathan and Ruth? They loved each other tenderly; no external +trouble visited them; their home was peaceful and pure; and yet, every +room and stairway and chair was haunted by a sorrowful ghost. As a +neighbor said after visiting them, "There seemed to be something lost." +Ruth saw how constantly and how unconsciously Jonathan turned to see +his own every feeling reflected in the missing eyes; how his hand sought +another, even while its fellow pressed hers; how half-spoken words, +day and night, died upon his lips, because they could not reach the +twin-ear. She knew not how it came, but her own nature took upon itself +the same habit. She felt that she received a less measure of love than +she gave--not from Jonathan, in whose whole, warm, transparent heart no +other woman had ever looked, but something of her own passed beyond him +and never returned. To both their life was like one of those conjurer's +cups, seemingly filled with red wine, which is held from the lips by the +false crystal hollow. + +Neither spoke of this: neither dared to speak. The years dragged out +their slow length, with rare and brief messages from David. Three +children were in the house, and still peace and plenty laid their signs +upon its lintels. But at last Ruth, who had been growing thinner and +paler ever since the birth of her first boy, became seriously ill. +Consumption was hers by inheritance, and it now manifested itself in a +form which too surely foretold the result. After the physician had +gone, leaving his fatal verdict behind him, she called to Jonathan, +who, bewildered by his grief, sank down on his knees at her bedside and +sobbed upon her breast. + +"Don't grieve," she said; "this is my share of the burden. If I have +taken too much from you and David, now comes the atonement. Many things +have grown clear to me. David was right when he said that there was no +blame. But my time is even less than the doctor thinks: where is David? +Can you not bid him come?" + +"I can only call him with my heart," he answered. "And will he hear me +now, after nearly seven years?" + +"Call, then!" she eagerly cried. "Call with all the strength of your +love for him and for me, and I believe he will hear you!" + +The sun was just setting. Jonathan went to the great ash-tree, behind +the barn, fell upon his knees, and covered his face, and the sense of +an exceeding bitter cry filled his heart. All the suppressed and baffled +longing, the want, the hunger, the unremitting pain of years, came upon +him and were crowded into the single prayer, "Come, David, or I die!" +Before the twilight faded, while he was still kneeling, an arm came upon +his shoulder, and the faint touch of another cheek upon his own. It was +hardly for the space of a thought, but he knew the sign. + +"David will come!" he said to Ruth. + +From that day all was changed. The cloud of coming death which hung over +the house was transmuted into fleecy gold. All the lost life came back +to Jonathan's face, all the unrestful sweetness of Ruth's brightened +into a serene beatitude. Months had passed since David had been heard +from; they knew not how to reach him without many delays; yet neither +dreamed of doubting his coming. + +Two weeks passed, three, and there was neither word nor sign. Jonathan +and Ruth thought, "He is near," and one day a singular unrest fell upon +the former. Ruth saw it, but said nothing until night came, when she +sent Jonathan from her bedside with the words, "Go and meet him?" + +An hour afterwards she heard double steps on the stone walk in front of +the house. They came slowly to the door; it opened; she heard them along +the hall and ascending the stairs; then the chamber-lamp showed her the +two faces, bright with a single, unutterable joy. + +One brother paused at the foot of the bed; the other drew near and bent +over her. She clasped her thin hands around his neck, kissed him fondly, +and cried, "Dear, dear David!" + +"Dear Ruth," he said, "I came as soon as I could. I was far away, among +wild mountains, when I felt that Jonathan was calling me. I knew that I +must return, never to leave you more, and there was still a little work +to finish. Now we shall all live again!" + +"Yes," said Jonathan, coming to her other side, "try to live, Ruth!" + +Her voice came clear, strong, and full of authority. "I DO live, as +never before. I shall take all my life with me when I go to wait for one +soul, as I shall find it there! Our love unites, not divides, from this +hour!" + +The few weeks still left to her were a season of almost superhuman +peace. She faded slowly and painlessly, taking the equal love of the +twin-hearts, and giving an equal tenderness and gratitude. Then first +she saw the mysterious need which united them, the fulness and joy +wherewith each completed himself in the other. All the imperfect past +was enlightened, and the end, even that now so near, was very good. + +Every afternoon they carried her down to a cushioned chair on the +veranda, where she could enjoy the quiet of the sunny landscape, the +presence of the brothers seated at her feet, and the sports of her +children on the grass. Thus, one day, while David and Jonathan held her +hands and waited for her to wake from a happy sleep, she went before +them, and, ere they guessed the truth, she was waiting for their one +soul in the undiscovered land. + +And Jonathan's children, now growing into manhood and girlhood, also +call David "father." The marks left by their divided lives have long +since vanished from their faces; the middle-aged men, whose hairs are +turning gray, still walk hand in hand, still sleep upon the same pillow, +still have their common wardrobe, as when they were boys. They talk of +"our Ruth" with no sadness, for they believe that death will make them +one, when, at the same moment, he summons both. And we who know them, to +whom they have confided the touching mystery of their nature, believe so +too. + + + + +THE EXPERIENCES OF THE A. C. + + +"Bridgeport! Change cars for the Naugatuck Railroad!" shouted the +conductor of the New York and Boston Express Train, on the evening of +May 27th, 1858. Indeed, he does it every night (Sundays excepted), +for that matter; but as this story refers especially to Mr. J. Edward +Johnson, who was a passenger on that train, on the aforesaid evening, +I make special mention of the fact. Mr. Johnson, carpet-bag in hand, +jumped upon the platform, entered the office, purchased a ticket for +Waterbury, and was soon whirling in the Naugatuck train towards his +destination. + +On reaching Waterbury, in the soft spring twilight, Mr. Johnson walked +up and down in front of the station, curiously scanning the faces of the +assembled crowd. Presently he noticed a gentleman who was performing +the same operation upon the faces of the alighting passengers. Throwing +himself directly in the way of the latter, the two exchanged a steady +gaze. + +"Is your name Billings?" "Is your name Johnson?" were simultaneous +questions, followed by the simultaneous exclamations--"Ned!" "Enos!" + +Then there was a crushing grasp of hands, repeated after a pause, +in testimony of ancient friendship, and Mr. Billings, returning to +practical life, asked-- + +"Is that all your baggage? Come, I have a buggy here: Eunice has heard +the whistle, and she'll be impatient to welcome you." + +The impatience of Eunice (Mrs. Billings, of course,) was not of long +duration, for in five minutes thereafter she stood at the door of her +husband's chocolate-colored villa, receiving his friend. + +While these three persons are comfortably seated at the tea-table, +enjoying their waffles, cold tongue, and canned peaches, and asking +and answering questions helter-skelter in the delightful confusion of +reunion after long separation, let us briefly inform the reader who and +what they are. + +Mr. Enos Billings, then, was part owner of a manufactory of metal +buttons, forty years old, of middling height, ordinarily quiet and +rather shy, but with a large share of latent warmth and enthusiasm in +his nature. His hair was brown, slightly streaked with gray, his eyes +a soft, dark hazel, forehead square, eyebrows straight, nose of no very +marked character, and a mouth moderately full, with a tendency to +twitch a little at the corners. His voice was undertoned, but mellow and +agreeable. + +Mrs. Eunice Billings, of nearly equal age, was a good specimen of +the wide-awake New-England woman. Her face had a piquant smartness of +expression, which might have been refined into a sharp edge, but for her +natural hearty good-humor. Her head was smoothly formed, her face a full +oval, her hair and eyes blond and blue in a strong light, but brown and +steel-gray at other times, and her complexion of that ripe fairness into +which a ruddier color will sometimes fade. Her form, neither plump nor +square, had yet a firm, elastic compactness, and her slightest movement +conveyed a certain impression of decision and self-reliance. + +As for J. Edward Johnson, it is enough to say that he was a tall, +thin gentleman of forty-five, with an aquiline nose, narrow face, and +military whiskers, which swooped upwards and met under his nose in a +glossy black mustache. His complexion was dark, from the bronzing of +fifteen summers in New Orleans. He was a member of a wholesale hardware +firm in that city, and had now revisited his native North for the +first time since his departure. A year before, some letters relating +to invoices of metal buttons signed, "Foster, Kirkup, & Co., per Enos +Billings," had accidentally revealed to him the whereabouts of the old +friend of his youth, with whom we now find him domiciled. The first +thing he did, after attending to some necessary business matters in New +York, was to take the train for Waterbury. + +"Enos," said he, as he stretched out his hand for the third cup of tea +(which he had taken only for the purpose of prolonging the pleasant +table-chat), "I wonder which of us is most changed." + +"You, of course," said Mr. Billings, "with your brown face and big +mustache. Your own brother wouldn't have known you if he had seen you +last, as I did, with smooth cheeks and hair of unmerciful length. Why, +not even your voice is the same!" + +"That is easily accounted for," replied Mr. Johnson. "But in your case, +Enos, I am puzzled to find where the difference lies. Your features seem +to be but little changed, now that I can examine them at leisure; yet it +is not the same face. But, really, I never looked at you for so long +a time, in those days. I beg pardon; you used to be so--so remarkably +shy." + +Mr. Billings blushed slightly, and seemed at a loss what to answer. + +His wife, however, burst into a merry laugh, exclaiming-- + +"Oh, that was before the days of the A. C!" + +He, catching the infection, laughed also; in fact Mr. Johnson laughed, +but without knowing why. + +"The 'A. C.'!" said Mr. Billings. "Bless me, Eunice! how long it is +since we have talked of that summer! I had almost forgotten that there +ever was an A. C." + +"Enos, COULD you ever forget Abel Mallory and the beer?--or that scene +between Hollins and Shelldrake?--or" (here SHE blushed the least bit) +"your own fit of candor?" And she laughed again, more heartily than +ever. + +"What a precious lot of fools, to be sure!" exclaimed her husband. + +Mr. Johnson, meanwhile, though enjoying the cheerful humor of his hosts, +was not a little puzzled with regard to its cause. + +"What is the A. C.?" he ventured to ask. + +Mr. and Mrs. Billings looked at each other, and smiled without replying. + +"Really, Ned," said the former, finally, "the answer to your question +involves the whole story." + +"Then why not tell him the whole story, Enos?" remarked his wife. + +"You know I've never told it yet, and it's rather a hard thing to do, +seeing that I'm one of the heroes of the farce--for it wasn't even +genteel comedy, Ned," said Mr. Billings. "However," he continued, +"absurd as the story may seem, it's the only key to the change in my +life, and I must run the risk of being laughed at." + +"I'll help you through, Enos," said his wife, encouragingly; "and +besides, my role in the farce was no better than yours. Let us +resuscitate, for to-night only, the constitution of the A. C." + +"Upon my word, a capital idea! But we shall have to initiate Ned." + +Mr. Johnson merrily agreeing, he was blindfolded and conducted into +another room. A heavy arm-chair, rolling on casters, struck his legs in +the rear, and he sank into it with lamb-like resignation. + +"Open your mouth!" was the command, given with mock solemnity. + +He obeyed. + +"Now shut it!" + +And his lips closed upon a cigar, while at the same time the +handkerchief was whisked away from his eyes. He found himself in Mr. +Billing's library. + +"Your nose betrays your taste, Mr. Johnson," said the lady, "and I +am not hard-hearted enough to deprive you of the indulgence. Here are +matches." + +"Well," said he, acting upon the hint, "if the remainder of the +ceremonies are equally agreeable, I should like to be a permanent member +of your order." + +By this time Mr. and Mrs. Billings, having between them lighted the +lamp, stirred up the coal in the grate, closed the doors, and taken +possession of comfortable chairs, the latter proclaimed-- + +"The Chapter (isn't that what you call it?) will now be held!" + +"Was it in '43 when you left home, Ned?" asked Mr. B. + +"Yes." + +"Well, the A. C. culminated in '45. You remember something of the +society of Norridgeport, the last winter you were there? Abel Mallory, +for instance?" + +"Let me think a moment," said Mr. Johnson reflectively. "Really, it +seems like looking back a hundred years. Mallory--wasn't that the +sentimental young man, with wispy hair, a tallowy skin, and big, sweaty +hands, who used to be spouting Carlyle on the 'reading evenings' at +Shelldrake's? Yes, to be sure; and there was Hollins, with his clerical +face and infidel talk,--and Pauline Ringtop, who used to say, 'The +Beautiful is the Good.' I can still hear her shrill voice, singing, +'Would that _I_ were beautiful, would that _I_ were fair!'" + +There was a hearty chorus of laughter at poor Miss Ringtop's expense. +It harmed no one, however; for the tar-weed was already thick over her +Californian grave. + +"Oh, I see," said Mr. Billings, "you still remember the absurdities of +those days. In fact, I think you partially saw through them then. But I +was younger, and far from being so clear-headed, and I looked upon those +evenings at Shelldrake's as being equal, at least, to the symposia of +Plato. Something in Mallory always repelled me. I detested the sight of +his thick nose, with the flaring nostrils, and his coarse, half-formed +lips, of the bluish color of raw corned-beef. But I looked upon these +feelings as unreasonable prejudices, and strove to conquer them, seeing +the admiration which he received from others. He was an oracle on the +subject of 'Nature.' Having eaten nothing for two years, except +Graham bread, vegetables without salt, and fruits, fresh or dried, he +considered himself to have attained an antediluvian purity of health--or +that he would attain it, so soon as two pimples on his left temple +should have healed. These pimples he looked upon as the last feeble +stand made by the pernicious juices left from the meat he had formerly +eaten and the coffee he had drunk. His theory was, that through a body +so purged and purified none but true and natural impulses could find +access to the soul. Such, indeed, was the theory we all held. A Return +to Nature was the near Millennium, the dawn of which we already beheld +in the sky. To be sure there was a difference in our individual views +as to how this should be achieved, but we were all agreed as to what the +result should be. + +"I can laugh over those days now, Ned; but they were really happy while +they lasted. We were the salt of the earth; we were lifted above those +grovelling instincts which we saw manifested in the lives of others. +Each contributed his share of gas to inflate the painted balloon to +which we all clung, in the expectation that it would presently soar +with us to the stars. But it only went up over the out-houses, dodged +backwards and forwards two or three times, and finally flopped down with +us into a swamp." + +"And that balloon was the A. C.?" suggested Mr. Johnson. + +"As President of this Chapter, I prohibit questions," said Eunice. "And, +Enos, don't send up your balloon until the proper time. Don't anticipate +the programme, or the performance will be spoiled." + +"I had almost forgotten that Ned is so much in the dark," her obedient +husband answered. "You can have but a slight notion," he continued, +turning to his friend, "of the extent to which this sentimental, or +transcendental, element in the little circle at Shelldrake's increased +after you left Norridgeport. We read the 'Dial,' and Emerson; we +believed in Alcott as the 'purple Plato' of modern times; we took +psychological works out of the library, and would listen for hours to +Hollins while he read Schelling or Fichte, and then go home with a +misty impression of having imbibed infinite wisdom. It was, perhaps, +a natural, though very eccentric rebound from the hard, practical, +unimaginative New-England mind which surrounded us; yet I look back upon +it with a kind of wonder. I was then, as you know, unformed mentally, +and might have been so still, but for the experiences of the A. C." + +Mr. Johnson shifted his position, a little impatiently. Eunice looked at +him with laughing eyes, and shook her finger with a mock threat. + +"Shelldrake," continued Mr. Billings, without noticing this by-play, +"was a man of more pretence than real cultivation, as I afterwards +discovered. He was in good circumstances, and always glad to receive us +at his house, as this made him, virtually, the chief of our tribe, +and the outlay for refreshments involved only the apples from his +own orchard and water from his well. There was an entire absence of +conventionality at our meetings, and this, compared with the somewhat +stiff society of the village, was really an attraction. There was a +mystic bond of union in our ideas: we discussed life, love, religion, +and the future state, not only with the utmost candor, but with a warmth +of feeling which, in many of us, was genuine. Even I (and you know how +painfully shy and bashful I was) felt myself more at home there than in +my father's house; and if I didn't talk much, I had a pleasant feeling +of being in harmony with those who did. + +"Well, 'twas in the early part of '45--I think in April,--when we were +all gathered together, discussing, as usual, the possibility of leading +a life in accordance with Nature. Abel Mallory was there, and Hollins, +and Miss Ringtop, and Faith Levis, with her knitting,--and also Eunice +Hazleton, a lady whom you have never seen, but you may take my wife at +her representative--" + +"Stick to the programme, Enos," interrupted Mrs. Billings. + +"Eunice Hazleton, then. I wish I could recollect some of the speeches +made on that occasion. Abel had but one pimple on his temple (there was +a purple spot where the other had been), and was estimating that in two +or three months more he would be a true, unspoiled man. His complexion, +nevertheless, was more clammy and whey-like than ever. + +"'Yes,' said he, 'I also am an Arcadian! This false dual existence which +I have been leading will soon be merged in the unity of Nature. Our +lives must conform to her sacred law. Why can't we strip off these +hollow Shams,' (he made great use of that word,) 'and be our true +selves, pure, perfect, and divine?' + +"Miss Ringtop heaved a sigh, and repeated a stanza from her favorite +poet: + + "'Ah, when wrecked are my desires + On the everlasting Never, + And my heart with all its fires + Out forever, + In the cradle of Creation + Finds the soul resuscitation! + + +"Shelldrake, however, turning to his wife, said-- + +"'Elviry, how many up-stairs rooms is there in that house down on the +Sound?' + +"'Four,--besides three small ones under the roof. Why, what made you +think of that, Jesse?' said she. + +"'I've got an idea, while Abel's been talking,' he answered. 'We've +taken a house for the summer, down the other side of Bridgeport, right +on the water, where there's good fishing and a fine view of the Sound. +Now, there's room enough for all of us--at least all that can make it +suit to go. Abel, you and Enos, and Pauline and Eunice might fix matters +so that we could all take the place in partnership, and pass the summer +together, living a true and beautiful life in the bosom of Nature. There +we shall be perfectly free and untrammelled by the chains which still +hang around us in Norridgeport. You know how often we have wanted to be +set on some island in the Pacific Ocean, where we could build up a +true society, right from the start. Now, here's a chance to try the +experiment for a few months, anyhow.' + +"Eunice clapped her hands (yes, you did!) and cried out-- + +"'Splendid! Arcadian! I'll give up my school for the summer.' + +"Miss Ringtop gave her opinion in another quotation: + + "'The rainbow hues of the Ideal + Condense to gems, and form the Real!' + + +"Abel Mallory, of course, did not need to have the proposal repeated. He +was ready for any thing which promised indulgence, and the indulgence of +his sentimental tastes. I will do the fellow the justice to say that +he was not a hypocrite. He firmly believed both in himself and his +ideas--especially the former. He pushed both hands through the long +wisps of his drab-colored hair, and threw his head back until his wide +nostrils resembled a double door to his brain. + +"'Oh Nature!' he said, 'you have found your lost children! We shall obey +your neglected laws! we shall hearken to your divine whispers I we +shall bring you back from your ignominious exile, and place you on your +ancestral throne!' + +"'Let us do it!' was the general cry. + +"A sudden enthusiasm fired us, and we grasped each other's hands in the +hearty impulse of the moment. My own private intention to make a summer +trip to the White Mountains had been relinquished the moment I heard +Eunice give in her adhesion. I may as well confess, at once, that I was +desperately in love, and afraid to speak to her. + +"By the time Mrs. Sheldrake brought in the apples and water we were +discussing the plan as a settled thing. Hollins had an engagement to +deliver Temperance lectures in Ohio during the summer, but decided to +postpone his departure until August, so that he might, at least, spend +two months with us. Faith Levis couldn't go--at which, I think, we were +all secretly glad. Some three or four others were in the same case, and +the company was finally arranged to consist of the Shelldrakes, Hollins, +Mallory, Eunice, Miss Ringtop, and myself. We did not give much thought, +either to the preparations in advance, or to our mode of life when +settled there. We were to live near to Nature: that was the main thing. + +"'What shall we call the place?' asked Eunice. + +"'Arcadia!' said Abel Mallory, rolling up his large green eyes. + +"'Then,' said Hollins, 'let us constitute ourselves the Arcadian Club!'" + +"Aha!" interrupted Mr. Johnson, "I see! The A. C.!" + +"Yes, you can see the A. C. now," said Mrs. Billings; "but to understand +it fully, you should have had a share in those Arcadian experiences." + +"I am all the more interested in hearing them described. Go on, Enos." + +"The proposition was adopted. We called ourselves The Arcadian Club; but +in order to avoid gossip, and the usual ridicule, to which we were all +more or less sensitive, in case our plan should become generally known, +it was agreed that the initials only should be used. Besides, there was +an agreeable air of mystery about it: we thought of Delphi, and Eleusis, +and Samothrace: we should discover that Truth which the dim eyes of +worldly men and women were unable to see, and the day of disclosure +would be the day of Triumph. In one sense we were truly Arcadians: no +suspicion of impropriety, I verily believe, entered any of our minds. In +our aspirations after what we called a truer life there was no material +taint. We were fools, if you choose, but as far as possible from +being sinners. Besides, the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Shelldrake, who +naturally became the heads of our proposed community were sufficient +to preserve us from slander or suspicion, if even our designs had been +publicly announced. + +"I won't bore you with an account of our preparations. In fact, there +was very little to be done. Mr. Shelldrake succeeded in hiring the +house, with most of its furniture, so that but a few articles had to +be supplied. My trunk contained more books than boots, more blank paper +than linen. + +"'Two shirts will be enough,' said Abel: 'you can wash one of them any +day, and dry it in the sun.' + +"The supplies consisted mostly of flour, potatoes, and sugar. There was +a vegetable-garden in good condition, Mr. Shelldrake said, which would +be our principal dependence. + +"'Besides, the clams!' I exclaimed unthinkingly. + +"'Oh, yes!' said Eunice, 'we can have chowder-parties: that will be +delightful!' + +"'Clams! chowder! oh, worse than flesh!' groaned Abel. 'Will you +reverence Nature by outraging her first laws?' + +"I had made a great mistake, and felt very foolish. Eunice and I looked +at each other, for the first time." + +"Speak for yourself only, Enos," gently interpolated his wife. + +"It was a lovely afternoon in the beginning of June when we first +approached Arcadia. We had taken two double teams at Bridgeport, and +drove slowly forward to our destination, followed by a cart containing +our trunks and a few household articles. It was a bright, balmy day: +the wheat-fields were rich and green, the clover showed faint streaks +of ruby mist along slopes leaning southward, and the meadows were yellow +with buttercups. Now and then we caught glimpses of the Sound, and, far +beyond it, the dim Long Island shore. Every old white farmhouse, with +its gray-walled garden, its clumps of lilacs, viburnums, and early +roses, offered us a picture of pastoral simplicity and repose. We passed +them, one by one, in the happiest mood, enjoying the earth around us, +the sky above, and ourselves most of all. + +"The scenery, however, gradually became more rough and broken. Knobs +of gray gneiss, crowned by mournful cedars, intrenched upon the arable +land, and the dark-blue gleam of water appeared through the trees. Our +road, which had been approaching the Sound, now skirted the head of a +deep, irregular inlet, beyond which extended a beautiful promontory, +thickly studded with cedars, and with scattering groups of elm, oak and +maple trees. Towards the end of the promontory stood a house, with white +walls shining against the blue line of the Sound. + +"'There is Arcadia, at last!' exclaimed Mr. Shelldrake. + +"A general outcry of delight greeted the announcement. And, indeed, the +loveliness of the picture surpassed our most poetic anticipations. The +low sun was throwing exquisite lights across the point, painting the +slopes of grass of golden green, and giving a pearly softness to the +gray rocks. In the back-ground was drawn the far-off water-line, over +which a few specks of sail glimmered against the sky. Miss Ringtop, who, +with Eunice, Mallory, and myself, occupied one carriage, expressed her +'gushing' feelings in the usual manner: + + "'Where the turf is softest, greenest, + Doth an angel thrust me on,-- + Where the landscape lies serenest, + In the journey of the sun!' + + +"'Don't, Pauline!' said Eunice; 'I never like to hear poetry flourished +in the face of Nature. This landscape surpasses any poem in the world. +Let us enjoy the best thing we have, rather than the next best.' + + +"'Ah, yes!' sighed Miss Ringtop, ''tis true! + + "'They sing to the ear; this sings to the eye!' + + +"Thenceforward, to the house, all was childish joy and jubilee. All +minor personal repugnances were smoothed over in the general exultation. +Even Abel Mallory became agreeable; and Hollins, sitting beside Mrs. +Shelldrake on the back seat of the foremost carriage, shouted to us, in +boyish lightness of heart. + +"Passing the head of the inlet, we left the country-road, and entered, +through a gate in the tottering stone wall, on our summer domain. A +track, open to the field on one side, led us past a clump of deciduous +trees, between pastures broken by cedared knolls of rock, down +the centre of the peninsula, to the house. It was quite an old +frame-building, two stories high, with a gambrel roof and tall chimneys. +Two slim Lombardy poplars and a broad-leaved catalpa shaded the southern +side, and a kitchen-garden, divided in the centre by a double row of +untrimmed currant-bushes, flanked it on the east. For flowers, there +were masses of blue flags and coarse tawny-red lilies, besides a huge +trumpet-vine which swung its pendent arms from one of the gables. +In front of the house a natural lawn of mingled turf and rock sloped +steeply down to the water, which was not more than two hundred yards +distant. To the west was another and broader inlet of the Sound, out of +which our Arcadian promontory rose bluff and bold, crowned with a +thick fringe of pines. It was really a lovely spot which Shelldrake had +chosen--so secluded, while almost surrounded by the winged and moving +life of the Sound, so simple, so pastoral and home-like. No one doubted +the success of our experiment, for that evening at least. + +"Perkins Brown, Shelldrake's boy-of-all-work, awaited us at the door. +He had been sent on two or three days in advance, to take charge of the +house, and seemed to have had enough of hermit-life, for he hailed +us with a wild whoop, throwing his straw hat half-way up one of the +poplars. Perkins was a boy of fifteen, the child of poor parents, +who were satisfied to get him off their hands, regardless as to what +humanitarian theories might be tested upon him. As the Arcadian Club +recognized no such thing as caste, he was always admitted to our +meetings, and understood just enough of our conversation to excite a +silly ambition in his slow mind. His animal nature was predominant, and +this led him to be deceitful. At that time, however, we all looked upon +him as a proper young Arcadian, and hoped that he would develop into a +second Abel Mallory. + +"After our effects had been deposited on the stoop, and the carriages +had driven away, we proceeded to apportion the rooms, and take +possession. On the first floor there were three rooms, two of which +would serve us as dining and drawing rooms, leaving the third for the +Shelldrakes. As neither Eunice and Miss Ringtop, nor Hollins and Abel +showed any disposition to room together, I quietly gave up to them the +four rooms in the second story, and installed myself in one of the attic +chambers. Here I could hear the music of the rain close above my head, +and through the little gable window, as I lay in bed, watch the colors +of the morning gradually steal over the distant shores. The end was, we +were all satisfied. + +"'Now for our first meal in Arcadia!' was the next cry. Mrs. Shelldrake, +like a prudent housekeeper, marched off to the kitchen, where Perkins +had already kindled a fire. We looked in at the door, but thought it +best to allow her undisputed sway in such a narrow realm. Eunice was +unpacking some loaves of bread and paper bags of crackers; and Miss +Ringtop, smiling through her ropy curls, as much as to say, 'You see, +_I_ also can perform the coarser tasks of life!' occupied herself with +plates and cups. We men, therefore, walked out to the garden, which we +found in a promising condition. The usual vegetables had been planted +and were growing finely, for the season was yet scarcely warm enough +for the weeds to make much headway. Radishes, young onions, and lettuce +formed our contribution to the table. The Shelldrakes, I should explain, +had not yet advanced to the antediluvian point, in diet: nor, indeed, +had either Eunice or myself. We acknowledged the fascination of tea, we +saw a very mitigated evil in milk and butter, and we were conscious of +stifled longings after the abomination of meat. Only Mallory, Hollins, +and Miss Ringtop had reached that loftiest round on the ladder of +progress where the material nature loosens the last fetter of the +spiritual. They looked down upon us, and we meekly admitted their right +to do so. + +"Our board, that evening, was really tempting. The absence of meat was +compensated to us by the crisp and racy onions, and I craved only a +little salt, which had been interdicted, as a most pernicious substance. +I sat at one corner of the table, beside Perkins Brown, who took an +opportunity, while the others were engaged in conversation, to jog my +elbow gently. As I turned towards him, he said nothing, but dropped his +eyes significantly. The little rascal had the lid of a blacking-box, +filled with salt, upon his knee, and was privately seasoning his onions +and radishes. + +I blushed at the thought of my hypocrisy, but the onions were so much +better that I couldn't help dipping into the lid with him. + +"'Oh,' said Eunice, 'we must send for some oil and vinegar! This lettuce +is very nice.' + +"'Oil and vinegar?' exclaimed Abel. + +"'Why, yes,' said she, innocently: 'they are both vegetable substances.' + +"Abel at first looked rather foolish, but quickly recovering himself, +said-- + +"'All vegetable substances are not proper for food: you would not taste +the poison-oak, or sit under the upas-tree of Java.' + +"'Well, Abel,' Eunice rejoined, 'how are we to distinguish what is best +for us? How are we to know WHAT vegetables to choose, or what animal and +mineral substances to avoid?' + +"'I will tell you,' he answered, with a lofty air. 'See here!' pointing +to his temple, where the second pimple--either from the change of air, +or because, in the excitement of the last few days, he had forgotten +it--was actually healed. 'My blood is at last pure. The struggle between +the natural and the unnatural is over, and I am beyond the depraved +influences of my former taste. My instincts are now, therefore, entirely +pure also. What is good for man to eat, that I shall have a natural +desire to eat: what is bad will be naturally repelled. How does the cow +distinguish between the wholesome and the poisonous herbs of the meadow? +And is man less than a cow, that he cannot cultivate his instincts to +an equal point? Let me walk through the woods and I can tell you every +berry and root which God designed for food, though I know not its name, +and have never seen it before. I shall make use of my time, during our +sojourn here, to test, by my purified instinct, every substance, animal, +mineral, and vegetable, upon which the human race subsists, and to +create a catalogue of the True Food of Man!' + +"Abel was eloquent on this theme, and he silenced not only Eunice, +but the rest of us. Indeed, as we were all half infected with the same +delusions, it was not easy to answer his sophistries. + +"After supper was over, the prospect of cleaning the dishes and putting +things in order was not so agreeable; but Mrs. Shelldrake and Perkins +undertook the work, and we did not think it necessary to interfere with +them. Half an hour afterwards, when the full moon had risen, we took +our chairs upon the sloop, to enjoy the calm, silver night, the soft +sea-air, and our summer's residence in anticipatory talk. + +"'My friends,' said Hollins (and HIS hobby, as you may remember, Ned, +was the organization of Society, rather than those reforms which apply +directly to the Individual),--'my friends, I think we are sufficiently +advanced in progressive ideas to establish our little Arcadian community +upon what I consider the true basis: not Law, nor Custom, but the +uncorrupted impulses of our nature. What Abel said in regard to dietetic +reform is true; but that alone will not regenerate the race. We must +rise superior to those conventional ideas of Duty whereby Life is warped +and crippled. Life must not be a prison, where each one must come and +go, work, eat, and sleep, as the jailer commands. Labor must not be +a necessity, but a spontaneous joy. 'Tis true, but little labor is +required of us here: let us, therefore, have no set tasks, no fixed +rules, but each one work, rest, eat, sleep, talk or be silent, as his +own nature prompts.' + +"Perkins, sitting on the steps, gave a suppressed chuckle, which I think +no one heard but myself. I was vexed with his levity, but, nevertheless, +gave him a warning nudge with my toe, in payment for the surreptitious +salt. + +"'That's just the notion I had, when I first talked of our coming here,' +said Shelldrake. 'Here we're alone and unhindered; and if the plan +shouldn't happen to work well (I don't see why it shouldn't though), +no harm will be done. I've had a deal of hard work in my life, and I've +been badgered and bullied so much by your strait-laced professors, +that I'm glad to get away from the world for a spell, and talk and do +rationally, without being laughed at.' + +"'Yes,' answered Hollins, 'and if we succeed, as I feel we shall, for I +think I know the hearts of all of us here, this may be the commencement +of a new Epoch for the world. We may become the turning-point between +two dispensations: behind us every thing false and unnatural, before us +every thing true, beautiful, and good.' + +"'Ah,' sighed Miss Ringtop, 'it reminds me of Gamaliel J. Gawthrop's +beautiful lines: + + "'Unrobed man is lying hoary + In the distance, gray and dead; + There no wreaths of godless glory + To his mist-like tresses wed, + And the foot-fall of the Ages + Reigns supreme, with noiseless tread.' + + +"'I am willing to try the experiment,' said I, on being appealed to by +Hollins; 'but don't you think we had better observe some kind of order, +even in yielding every thing to impulse? Shouldn't there be, at least, a +platform, as the politicians call it--an agreement by which we shall +all be bound, and which we can afterwards exhibit as the basis of our +success?' + +"He meditated a few moments, and then answered-- + +"'I think not. It resembles too much the thing we are trying to +overthrow. Can you bind a man's belief by making him sign certain +articles of Faith? No: his thought will be free, in spite of it; and I +would have Action--Life--as free as Thought. Our platform--to adopt your +image--has but one plank: Truth. Let each only be true to himself: BE +himself, ACT himself, or herself with the uttermost candor. We can all +agree upon that.' + +"The agreement was accordingly made. And certainly no happier or more +hopeful human beings went to bed in all New England that night. + +"I arose with the sun, went into the garden, and commenced weeding, +intending to do my quota of work before breakfast, and then devote the +day to reading and conversation. I was presently joined by Shelldrake +and Mallory, and between us we finished the onions and radishes, stuck +the peas, and cleaned the alleys. Perkins, after milking the cow and +turning her out to pasture, assisted Mrs. Shelldrake in the kitchen. +At breakfast we were joined by Hollins, who made no excuse for his +easy morning habits; nor was one expected. I may as well tell you now, +though, that his natural instincts never led him to work. After a week, +when a second crop of weeds was coming on, Mallory fell off also, and +thenceforth Shelldrake and myself had the entire charge of the garden. +Perkins did the rougher work, and was always on hand when he was wanted. +Very soon, however, I noticed that he was in the habit of disappearing +for two or three hours in the afternoon. + +"Our meals preserved the same Spartan simplicity. Eunice, however, +carried her point in regard to the salad; for Abel, after tasting and +finding it very palatable, decided that oil and vinegar might be classed +in the catalogue of True Food. Indeed, his long abstinence from piquant +flavors gave him such an appetite for it that our supply of lettuce was +soon exhausted. An embarrassing accident also favored us with the use of +salt. Perkins happening to move his knee at the moment I was dipping an +onion into the blacking-box lid, our supply was knocked upon the floor. +He picked it up, and we both hoped the accident might pass unnoticed. +But Abel, stretching his long neck across the corner of the table, +caught a glimpse of what was going on. + +"'What's that?' he asked. + +"'Oh, it's--it's only,' said I, seeking for a synonyme, 'only chloride +of sodium!' + +"'Chloride of sodium! what do you do with it?' + +"'Eat it with onions,' said I, boldly: 'it's a chemical substance, but I +believe it is found in some plants.' + +"Eunice, who knew something of chemistry (she taught a class, though you +wouldn't think it), grew red with suppressed fun, but the others were as +ignorant as Abel Mallory himself. + +"'Let me taste it,' said he, stretching out an onion. + +"I handed him the box-lid, which still contained a portion of its +contents. He dipped the onion, bit off a piece, and chewed it gravely. + +"'Why,' said he, turning to me, 'it's very much like salt.' + +"Perkins burst into a spluttering yell, which discharged an onion-top he +had just put between his teeth across the table; Eunice and I gave way +at the same moment; and the others, catching the joke, joined us. But +while we were laughing, Abel was finishing his onion, and the result was +that Salt was added to the True Food, and thereafter appeared regularly +on the table. + +"The forenoons we usually spent in reading and writing, each in his or +her chamber. (Oh, the journals, Ned!--but you shall not see mine.) +After a midday meal,--I cannot call it dinner,--we sat upon the stoop, +listening while one of us read aloud, or strolled down the shores on +either side, or, when the sun was not too warm, got into a boat, and +rowed or floated lazily around the promontory. + +"One afternoon, as I was sauntering off, past the garden, towards the +eastern inlet, I noticed Perkins slipping along behind the cedar knobs, +towards the little woodland at the end of our domain. Curious to find +out the cause of his mysterious disappearances, I followed cautiously. +From the edge of the wood I saw him enter a little gap between the +rocks, which led down to the water. Presently a thread of blue smoke +stole up. Quietly creeping along, I got upon the nearer bluff and looked +down. There was a sort of hearth built up at the base of the rock, with +a brisk little fire burning upon it, but Perkins had disappeared. I +stretched myself out upon the moss, in the shade, and waited. In about +half an hour up came Perkins, with a large fish in one hand and a +lump of clay in the other. I now understood the mystery. He carefully +imbedded the fish in a thin layer of clay, placed it on the coals, and +then went down to the shore to wash his hands. On his return he found me +watching the fire. + +"'Ho, ho, Mr. Enos!' said he, 'you've found me out; But you won't say +nothin'. Gosh! you like it as well I do. Look 'ee there!'--breaking open +the clay, from which arose 'a steam of rich distilled perfumes,'--'and, +I say, I've got the box-lid with that 'ere stuff in it,--ho! ho!'--and +the scamp roared again. + +"Out of a hole in the rock he brought salt and the end of a loaf, and +between us we finished the fish. Before long, I got into the habit of +disappearing in the afternoon. + +"Now and then we took walks, alone or collectively, to the nearest +village, or even to Bridgeport, for the papers or a late book. The few +purchases we required were made at such times, and sent down in a cart, +or, if not too heavy, carried by Perkins in a basket. I noticed that +Abel, whenever we had occasion to visit a grocery, would go sniffing +around, alternately attracted or repelled by the various articles: now +turning away with a shudder from a ham,--now inhaling, with a fearful +delight and uncertainty, the odor of smoked herrings. 'I think herrings +must feed on sea-weed,' said he, 'there is such a vegetable attraction +about them.' After his violent vegetarian harangues, however, he +hesitated about adding them to his catalogue. + +"But, one day, as we were passing through the village, he was reminded +by the sign of 'WARTER CRACKERS' in the window of an obscure grocery +that he required a supply of these articles, and we therefore entered. +There was a splendid Rhode Island cheese on the counter, from which the +shop-mistress was just cutting a slice for a customer. Abel leaned over +it, inhaling the rich, pungent fragrance. + +"'Enos,' said he to me, between his sniffs, 'this impresses me like +flowers--like marigolds. It must be--really--yes, the vegetable element +is predominant. My instinct towards it is so strong that I cannot be +mistaken. May I taste it, ma'am?' + +"The woman sliced off a thin corner, and presented it to him on the +knife. + +"'Delicious!' he exclaimed; 'I am right,--this is the True Food. Give me +two pounds--and the crackers, ma'am.' + +"I turned away, quite as much disgusted as amused with +this charlatanism. And yet I verily believe the fellow was +sincere--self-deluded only. I had by this time lost my faith in him, +though not in the great Arcadian principles. On reaching home, after +an hour's walk, I found our household in unusual commotion. Abel was +writhing in intense pain: he had eaten the whole two pounds of cheese, +on his way home! His stomach, so weakened by years of unhealthy +abstinence from true nourishment, was now terribly tortured by this +sudden stimulus. Mrs. Shelldrake, fortunately, had some mustard among +her stores, and could therefore administer a timely emetic. His life was +saved, but he was very ill for two or three days. Hollins did not fail +to take advantage of this circumstance to overthrow the authority which +Abel had gradually acquired on the subject of food. He was so arrogant +in his nature that he could not tolerate the same quality in another, +even where their views coincided. + +"By this time several weeks had passed away. It was the beginning of +July, and the long summer heats had come. I was driven out of my attic +during the middle hours of the day, and the others found it pleasanter +on the doubly shaded stoop than in their chambers. We were thus thrown +more together than usual--a circumstance which made our life more +monotonous to the others, as I could see; but to myself, who could at +last talk to Eunice, and who was happy at the very sight of her, this +'heated term' seemed borrowed from Elysium. + +"I read aloud, and the sound of my own voice gave me confidence; many +passages suggested discussions, in which I took a part; and you may +judge, Ned, how fast I got on, from the fact that I ventured to tell +Eunice of my fish-bakes with Perkins, and invite her to join them. After +that, she also often disappeared from sight for an hour or two in the +afternoon." + +----"Oh, Mr. Johnson," interrupted Mrs. Billings, "it wasn't for the +fish!" + +"Of course not," said her husband; "it was for my sake." + +"No, you need not think it was for you. Enos," she added, perceiving the +feminine dilemma into which she had been led, "all this is not necessary +to the story." + +"Stop!" he answered. "The A. C. has been revived for this night only. +Do you remember our platform, or rather no-platform? I must follow my +impulses, and say whatever comes uppermost." + +"Right, Enos," said Mr. Johnson; "I, as temporary Arcadian, take the +same ground. My instinct tells me that you, Mrs. Billings, must permit +the confession." + +She submitted with a good grace, and her husband continued: + +"I said that our lazy life during the hot weather had become a little +monotonous. The Arcadian plan had worked tolerably well, on the whole, +for there was very little for any one to do--Mrs. Shelldrake and Perkins +Brown excepted. Our conversation, however, lacked spirit and variety. We +were, perhaps unconsciously, a little tired of hearing and assenting to +the same sentiments. But one evening, about this time, Hollins struck +upon a variation, the consequences of which he little foresaw. We +had been reading one of Bulwer's works (the weather was too hot for +Psychology), and came upon this paragraph, or something like it: + +"'Ah, Behind the Veil! We see the summer smile of the Earth--enamelled +meadow and limpid stream,--but what hides she in her sunless heart? +Caverns of serpents, or grottoes of priceless gems? Youth, whose soul +sits on thy countenance, thyself wearing no mask, strive not to lift the +masks of others! Be content with what thou seest; and wait until Time +and Experience shall teach thee to find jealousy behind the sweet smile, +and hatred under the honeyed word!' + +"This seemed to us a dark and bitter reflection; but one or another of +us recalled some illustration of human hypocrisy, and the evidences, +by the simple fact of repetition, gradually led to a division of +opinion--Hollins, Shelldrake, and Miss Ringtop on the dark side, and +the rest of us on the bright. The last, however, contented herself with +quoting from her favorite poet, Gamaliel J. Gawthrop: + + "'I look beyond thy brow's concealment! + I see thy spirit's dark revealment! + Thy inner self betrayed I see: + Thy coward, craven, shivering ME!' + + +"'We think we know one another,' exclaimed Hollins; 'but do we? We see +the faults of others, their weaknesses, their disagreeable qualities, +and we keep silent. How much we should gain, were candor as universal +as concealment! Then each one, seeing himself as others see him, would +truly know himself. How much misunderstanding might be avoided--how +much hidden shame be removed--hopeless, because unspoken, love made +glad--honest admiration cheer its object--uttered sympathy mitigate +misfortune--in short, how much brighter and happier the world would +become if each one expressed, everywhere and at all times, his true and +entire feeling! Why, even Evil would lose half its power!' + +"There seemed to be so much practical wisdom in these views that we were +all dazzled and half-convinced at the start. So, when Hollins, turning +towards me, as he continued, exclaimed--'Come, why should not this +candor be adopted in our Arcadia? Will any one--will you, Enos--commence +at once by telling me now--to my face--my principal faults?' I answered +after a moment's reflection--'You have a great deal of intellectual +arrogance, and you are, physically, very indolent' + +"He did not flinch from the self-invited test, though he looked a little +surprised. + +"'Well put,' said he, 'though I do not say that you are entirely +correct. Now, what are my merits?' + +"'You are clear-sighted,' I answered, 'an earnest seeker after truth, +and courageous in the avowal of your thoughts.' + +"This restored the balance, and we soon began to confess our own private +faults and weaknesses. Though the confessions did not go very deep,--no +one betraying anything we did not all know already,--yet they were +sufficient to strength Hollins in his new idea, and it was unanimously +resolved that Candor should thenceforth be the main charm of our +Arcadian life. It was the very thing _I_ wanted, in order to make +a certain communication to Eunice; but I should probably never have +reached the point, had not the same candor been exercised towards me, +from a quarter where I least expected it. + +"The next day, Abel, who had resumed his researches after the True Food, +came home to supper with a healthier color than I had before seen on his +face. + +"'Do you know,' said he, looking shyly at Hollins, 'that I begin to +think Beer must be a natural beverage? There was an auction in the +village to-day, as I passed through, and I stopped at a cake-stand to +get a glass of water, as it was very hot. There was no water--only beer: +so I thought I would try a glass, simply as an experiment. Really, the +flavor was very agreeable. And it occurred to me, on the way home, that +all the elements contained in beer are vegetable. Besides, fermentation +is a natural process. I think the question has never been properly +tested before.' + +"'But the alcohol!' exclaimed Hollins. + +"'I could not distinguish any, either by taste or smell. I know that +chemical analysis is said to show it; but may not the alcohol be +created, somehow, during the analysis?' + +"'Abel,' said Hollins, in a fresh burst of candor, 'you will never be +a Reformer, until you possess some of the commonest elements of +knowledge.' + +"The rest of us were much diverted: it was a pleasant relief to our +monotonous amiability. + +"Abel, however, had a stubborn streak in his character. The next day he +sent Perkins Brown to Bridgeport for a dozen bottles of 'Beer.' Perkins, +either intentionally or by mistake, (I always suspected the former,) +brought pint-bottles of Scotch ale, which he placed in the coolest part +of the cellar. The evening happened to be exceedingly hot and sultry, +and, as we were all fanning ourselves and talking languidly, Abel +bethought him of his beer. In his thirst, he drank the contents of the +first bottle, almost at a single draught. + +"'The effect of beer,' said he, 'depends, I think, on the commixture of +the nourishing principle of the grain with the cooling properties of the +water. Perhaps, hereafter, a liquid food of the same character may be +invented, which shall save us from mastication and all the diseases of +the teeth.' + +"Hollins and Shelldrake, at his invitation, divided a bottle between +them, and he took a second. The potent beverage was not long in acting +on a brain so unaccustomed to its influence. He grew unusually talkative +and sentimental, in a few minutes. + +"'Oh, sing, somebody!' he sighed in a hoarse rapture: 'the night was +made for Song.' + +"Miss Ringtop, nothing loath, immediately commenced, 'When stars are in +the quiet skies;' but scarcely had she finished the first verse before +Abel interrupted her. + +"'Candor's the order of the day, isn't it?' he asked. + +"'Yes!' 'Yes!' two or three answered. + +"'Well then,' said he, 'candidly, Pauline, you've got the darn'dest +squeaky voice'-- + +"Miss Ringtop gave a faint little scream of horror. + +"'Oh, never mind!' he continued. 'We act according to impulse, don't we? +And I've the impulse to swear; and it's right. Let Nature have her +way. Listen! Damn, damn, damn, damn! I never knew it was so easy. Why, +there's a pleasure in it! Try it, Pauline! try it on me!' + +"'Oh-ooh!' was all Miss Ringtop could utter. + +"'Abel! Abel!' exclaimed Hollins, 'the beer has got into your head.' + +"'No, it isn't Beer,--it's Candor!' said Abel. 'It's your own proposal, +Hollins. Suppose it's evil to swear: isn't it better I should express +it, and be done with it, than keep it bottled up to ferment in my mind? +Oh, you're a precious, consistent old humbug, you are!' + +"And therewith he jumped off the stoop, and went dancing awkwardly +down towards the water, singing in a most unmelodious voice, ''Tis home +where'er the heart is.' + +"'Oh, he may fall into the water!' exclaimed Eunice, in alarm. + +"'He's not fool enough to do that,' said Shelldrake. 'His head is a +little light, that's all. The air will cool him down presently.' + +"But she arose and followed him, not satisfied with this assurance. Miss +Ringtop sat rigidly still. She would have received with composure the +news of his drowning. + +"As Eunice's white dress disappeared among the cedars crowning +the shore, I sprang up and ran after her. I knew that Abel was not +intoxicated, but simply excited, and I had no fear on his account: I +obeyed an involuntary impulse. On approaching the water, I heard their +voices--hers in friendly persuasion, his in sentimental entreaty,--then +the sound of oars in the row-locks. Looking out from the last clump of +cedars, I saw them seated in the boat, Eunice at the stern, while Abel, +facing her, just dipped an oar now and then to keep from drifting with +the tide. She had found him already in the boat, which was loosely +chained to a stone. Stepping on one of the forward thwarts in her +eagerness to persuade him to return, he sprang past her, jerked away the +chain, and pushed off before she could escape. She would have fallen, +but he caught her and placed her in the stern, and then seated himself +at the oars. She must have been somewhat alarmed, but there was only +indignation in her voice. All this had transpired before my arrival, and +the first words I heard bound me to the spot and kept me silent. + +"'Abel, what does this mean?' she asked + +"'It means Fate--Destiny!' he exclaimed, rather wildly. 'Ah, Eunice, ask +the night, and the moon,--ask the impulse which told you to follow me! +Let us be candid like the old Arcadians we imitate. Eunice, we know that +we love each other: why should we conceal it any longer? The Angel of +Love comes down from the stars on his azure wings, and whispers to our +hearts. Let us confess to each other! The female heart should not be +timid, in this pure and beautiful atmosphere of Love which we breathe. +Come, Eunice! we are alone: let your heart speak to me!' + +"Ned, if you've ever been in love, (we'll talk of that after a while,) +you will easily understand what tortures I endured, in thus hearing +him speak. That HE should love Eunice! It was a profanation to her, an +outrage to me. Yet the assurance with which he spoke! COULD she love +this conceited, ridiculous, repulsive fellow, after all? I almost gasped +for breath, as I clinched the prickly boughs of the cedars in my hands, +and set my teeth, waiting to hear her answer. + +"'I will not hear such language! Take me back to the shore!' she said, +in very short, decided tones. + +"'Oh, Eunice,' he groaned, (and now, I think he was perfectly sober,) +'don't you love me, indeed? _I_ love you,--from my heart I do: yes, I +love you. Tell me how you feel towards me.' + +"'Abel,' said she, earnestly, 'I feel towards you only as a friend; +and if you wish me to retain a friendly interest in you, you must never +again talk in this manner. I do not love you, and I never shall. Let me +go back to the house.' + +"His head dropped upon his breast, but he rowed back to the shore, drew +the bow upon the rocks, and assisted her to land. Then, sitting down, he +groaned forth-- + +"'Oh, Eunice, you have broken my heart!' and putting his big hands to +his face, began to cry. + +"She turned, placed one hand on his shoulder, and said in a calm, but +kind tone-- + +"'I am very sorry, Abel, but I cannot help it.' + +"I slipped aside, that she might not see me, and we returned by separate +paths. + +"I slept very little that night. The conviction which I chased away from +my mind as often as it returned, that our Arcadian experiment was taking +a ridiculous and at the same time impracticable development, became +clearer and stronger. I felt sure that our little community could not +hold together much longer without an explosion. I had a presentiment +that Eunice shared my impressions. My feelings towards her had reached +that crisis where a declaration was imperative: but how to make it? It +was a terrible struggle between my shyness and my affection. There was +another circumstance in connection with this subject, which troubled me +not a little. Miss Ringtop evidently sought my company, and made me, as +much as possible, the recipient of her sentimental outpourings. I was +not bold enough to repel her--indeed I had none of that tact which is +so useful in such emergencies,--and she seemed to misinterpret my +submission. Not only was her conversation pointedly directed to me, but +she looked at me, when singing, (especially, 'Thou, thou, reign'st in +this bosom!') in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable. What +if Eunice should suspect an attachment towards her, on my part. What +if--oh, horror!--I had unconsciously said or done something to impress +Miss Ringtop herself with the same conviction? I shuddered as the +thought crossed my mind. One thing was very certain: this suspense was +not to be endured much longer. + +"We had an unusually silent breakfast the next morning. Abel scarcely +spoke, which the others attributed to a natural feeling of shame, after +his display of the previous evening. Hollins and Shelldrake discussed +Temperance, with a special view to his edification, and Miss Ringtop +favored us with several quotations about 'the maddening bowl,'--but +he paid no attention to them. Eunice was pale and thoughtful. I had +no doubt in my mind, that she was already contemplating a removal from +Arcadia. Perkins, whose perceptive faculties were by no means dull, +whispered to me, 'Shan't I bring up some porgies for supper?' but I +shook my head. I was busy with other thoughts, and did not join him in +the wood, that day. + +"The forenoon was overcast, with frequent showers. Each one occupied his +or her room until dinner-time, when we met again with something of the +old geniality. There was an evident effort to restore our former flow of +good feeling. Abel's experience with the beer was freely discussed. He +insisted strongly that he had not been laboring under its effects, and +proposed a mutual test. He, Shelldrake, and Hollins were to drink it +in equal measures, and compare observations as to their physical +sensations. The others agreed,--quite willingly, I thought,--but I +refused. I had determined to make a desperate attempt at candor, and +Abel's fate was fresh before my eyes. + +"My nervous agitation increased during the day, and after sunset, +fearing lest I should betray my excitement in some way, I walked down +to the end of the promontory, and took a seat on the rocks. The sky +had cleared, and the air was deliciously cool and sweet. The Sound was +spread out before me like a sea, for the Long Island shore was veiled in +a silvery mist. My mind was soothed and calmed by the influences of the +scene, until the moon arose. Moonlight, you know, disturbs--at least, +when one is in love. (Ah, Ned, I see you understand it!) I felt +blissfully miserable, ready to cry with joy at the knowledge that I +loved, and with fear and vexation at my cowardice, at the same time. + +"Suddenly I heard a rustling beside me. Every nerve in my body tingled, +and I turned my head, with a beating and expectant heart. Pshaw! It was +Miss Ringtop, who spread her blue dress on the rock beside me, and shook +back her long curls, and sighed, as she gazed at the silver path of the +moon on the water. + +"'Oh, how delicious!' she cried. 'How it seems to set the spirit free, +and we wander off on the wings of Fancy to other spheres!' + +"'Yes,' said I, 'It is very beautiful, but sad, when one is alone.' + +"I was thinking of Eunice. + +"'How inadequate,' she continued, 'is language to express the emotions +which such a scene calls up in the bosom! Poetry alone is the voice of +the spiritual world, and we, who are not poets, must borrow the language +of the gifted sons of Song. Oh, Enos, I WISH you were a poet! But you +FEEL poetry, I know you do. I have seen it in your eyes, when I quoted +the burning lines of Adeliza Kelley, or the soul-breathings of Gamaliel +J. Gawthrop. In HIM, particularly, I find the voice of my own nature. +Do you know his 'Night-Whispers?' How it embodies the feelings of such a +scene as this! + + "Star-drooping bowers bending down the spaces, + And moonlit glories sweep star-footed on; + And pale, sweet rivers, in their shining races, + Are ever gliding through the moonlit places, + With silver ripples on their tranced faces, + And forests clasp their dusky hands, with low and sullen moan!' + + +"'Ah!' she continued, as I made no reply, 'this is an hour for the soul +to unveil its most secret chambers! Do you not think, Enos, that love +rises superior to all conventionalities? that those whose souls are in +unison should be allowed to reveal themselves to each other, regardless +of the world's opinions?' + +"'Yes!' said I, earnestly. + +"'Enos, do you understand me?' she asked, in a tender voice--almost a +whisper. + +"'Yes,' said I, with a blushing confidence of my own passion. + +"'Then,' she whispered, 'our hearts are wholly in unison. I know you are +true, Enos. I know your noble nature, and I will never doubt you. This +is indeed happiness!' + +"And therewith she laid her head on my shoulder, and sighed-- + + "'Life remits his tortures cruel, + Love illumes his fairest fuel, + When the hearts that once were dual + Meet as one, in sweet renewal!' + + +"'Miss Ringtop!' I cried, starting away from her, in alarm, 'you don't +mean that--that--' + +"I could not finish the sentence. + +"'Yes, Enos, DEAR Enos! henceforth we belong to each other.' + +"The painful embarrassment I felt, as her true meaning shot through my +mind, surpassed anything I had imagined, or experienced in anticipation, +when planning how I should declare myself to Eunice. Miss Ringtop was +at least ten years older than I, far from handsome (but you remember her +face,) and so affectedly sentimental, that I, sentimental as I was then, +was sick of hearing her talk. Her hallucination was so monstrous, and +gave me such a shock of desperate alarm, that I spoke, on the impulse of +the moment, with great energy, without regarding how her feelings might +be wounded. + +"'You mistake!' I exclaimed. 'I didn't mean that,--I didn't understand +you. Don't talk to me that way,--don't look at me in that way, Miss +Ringtop! We were never meant for each other--I wasn't----You're so much +older--I mean different. It can't be--no, it can never be! Let us go +back to the house: the night is cold.' + +"I rose hastily to my feet. She murmured something,--what, I did not +stay to hear,--but, plunging through the cedars, was hurrying with all +speed to the house, when, half-way up the lawn, beside one of the rocky +knobs, I met Eunice, who was apparently on her way to join us. + +"In my excited mood, after the ordeal through which I had passed, +everything seemed easy. My usual timidity was blown to the four winds. I +went directly to her, took her hand, and said-- + +"'Eunice, the others are driving me mad with their candor; will you let +me be candid, too?' + +"'I think you are always candid, Enos,' she answered. + +"Even then, if I had hesitated, I should have been lost. But I went on, +without pausing-- + +"'Eunice, I love you--I have loved you since we first met. I came here +that I might be near you; but I must leave you forever, and to-night, +unless you can trust your life in my keeping. God help me, since we have +been together I have lost my faith in almost everything but you. +Pardon me, if I am impetuous--different from what I have seemed. I have +struggled so hard to speak! I have been a coward, Eunice, because of my +love. But now I have spoken, from my heart of hearts. Look at me: I can +bear it now. Read the truth in my eyes, before you answer.' + +"I felt her hand tremble while I spoke. As she turned towards me her +face, which had been averted, the moon shone full upon it, and I saw +that tears were upon her cheeks. What was said--whether anything was +said--I cannot tell. I felt the blessed fact, and that was enough. That +was the dawning of the true Arcadia." + +Mrs. Billings, who had been silent during this recital, took her +husband's hand and smiled. Mr. Johnson felt a dull pang about the region +of his heart. If he had a secret, however, I do not feel justified in +betraying it. + +"It was late," Mr. Billings continued, "before we returned to the house. +I had a special dread of again encountering Miss Ringtop, but she was +wandering up and down the bluff, under the pines, singing, 'The dream +is past.' There was a sound of loud voices, as we approached the stoop. +Hollins, Shelldrake and his wife, and Abel Mallory were sitting together +near the door. Perkins Brown, as usual, was crouched on the lowest step, +with one leg over the other, and rubbing the top of his boot with a +vigor which betrayed to me some secret mirth. He looked up at me from +under his straw hat with the grin of a malicious Puck, glanced towards +the group, and made a curious gesture with his thumb. There were several +empty pint-bottles on the stoop. + +"'Now, are you sure you can bear the test?' we heard Hollins ask, as we +approached. + +"'Bear it? Why to be sure!' replied Shelldrake; 'if I couldn't bear it, +or if YOU couldn't, your theory's done for. Try! I can stand it as long +as you can.' + +"'Well, then,' said Hollins, 'I think you are a very ordinary man. I +derive no intellectual benefit from my intercourse with you, but +your house is convenient to me. I'm under no obligations for your +hospitality, however, because my company is an advantage to you. Indeed +if I were treated according to my deserts, you couldn't do enough for +me.' + +"Mrs. Shelldrake was up in arms. + +"'Indeed,' she exclaimed, 'I think you get as good as you deserve, and +more too.' + +"'Elvira,' said he, with a benevolent condescension, 'I have no doubt +you think so, for your mind belongs to the lowest and most material +sphere. You have your place in Nature, and you fill it; but it is not +for you to judge of intelligences which move only on the upper planes.' + +"'Hollins,' said Shelldrake, 'Elviry's a good wife and a sensible woman, +and I won't allow you to turn up your nose at her.' + +"'I am not surprised,' he answered, 'that you should fail to stand the +test. I didn't expect it.' + +"'Let me try it on YOU!' cried Shelldrake. 'You, now, have some +intellect,--I don't deny that,--but not so much, by a long shot, as you +think you have. Besides that, you're awfully selfish in your opinions. +You won't admit that anybody can be right who differs from you. You've +sponged on me for a long time; but I suppose I've learned something from +you, so we'll call it even. I think, however, that what you call acting +according to impulse is simply an excuse to cover your own laziness.' + +"'Gosh! that's it!' interrupted Perkins, jumping up; then, recollecting +himself, he sank down on the steps again, and shook with a suppressed +'Ho! ho! ho!' + +"Hollins, however, drew himself up with an exasperated air. + +"'Shelldrake,' said he, 'I pity you. I always knew your ignorance, but +I thought you honest in your human character. I never suspected you +of envy and malice. However, the true Reformer must expect to be +misunderstood and misrepresented by meaner minds. That love which I bear +to all creatures teaches me to forgive you. Without such love, all plans +of progress must fail. Is it not so, Abel?' + +"Shelldrake could only ejaculate the words, 'Pity!' 'Forgive?' in his +most contemptuous tone; while Mrs. Shelldrake, rocking violently in +her chair, gave utterance to that peculiar clucking, 'TS, TS, TS, TS,' +whereby certain women express emotions too deep for words. + +"Abel, roused by Hollins's question, answered, with a sudden energy-- + +"'Love! there is no love in the world. Where will you find it? Tell me, +and I'll go there. Love! I'd like to see it! If all human hearts were +like mine, we might have an Arcadia; but most men have no hearts. The +world is a miserable, hollow, deceitful shell of vanity and hypocrisy. +No: let us give up. We were born before our time: this age is not worthy +of us.' + +"Hollins stared at the speaker in utter amazement. Shelldrake gave a +long whistle, and finally gasped out-- + +"'Well, what next?' + +"None of us were prepared for such a sudden and complete wreck of our +Arcadian scheme. The foundations had been sapped before, it is true; but +we had not perceived it; and now, in two short days, the whole edifice +tumbled about our ears. Though it was inevitable, we felt a shock of +sorrow, and a silence fell upon us. Only that scamp of a Perkins Brown, +chuckling and rubbing his boot, really rejoiced. I could have kicked +him. + +"We all went to bed, feeling that the charm of our Arcadian life was +over. I was so full of the new happiness of love that I was scarcely +conscious of regret. I seemed to have leaped at once into responsible +manhood, and a glad rush of courage filled me at the knowledge that +my own heart was a better oracle than those--now so shamefully +overthrown--on whom I had so long implicitly relied. In the first +revulsion of feeling, I was perhaps unjust to my associates. I see +now, more clearly, the causes of those vagaries, which originated in a +genuine aspiration, and failed from an ignorance of the true nature +of Man, quite as much as from the egotism of the individuals. Other +attempts at reorganizing Society were made about the same time by men of +culture and experience, but in the A. C. we had neither. Our leaders had +caught a few half-truths, which, in their minds, were speedily warped +into errors. I can laugh over the absurdities I helped to perpetrate, +but I must confess that the experiences of those few weeks went far +towards making a man of me." + +"Did the A. C. break up at once?" asked Mr. Johnson. + +"Not precisely; though Eunice and I left the house within two days, +as we had agreed. We were not married immediately, however. Three long +years--years of hope and mutual encouragement--passed away before that +happy consummation. Before our departure, Hollins had fallen into his +old manner, convinced, apparently, that Candor must be postponed to a +better age of the world. But the quarrel rankled in Shelldrake's mind, +and especially in that of his wife. I could see by her looks and little +fidgety ways that his further stay would be very uncomfortable. Abel +Mallory, finding himself gaining in weight and improving in color, had +no thought of returning. The day previous, as I afterwards learned, he +had discovered Perkins Brown's secret kitchen in the woods. + +"'Golly!' said that youth, in describing the circumstance to me, 'I had +to ketch TWO porgies that day.' + +"Miss Ringtop, who must have suspected the new relation between Eunice +and myself, was for the most part rigidly silent. If she quoted, it was +from the darkest and dreariest utterances of her favorite Gamaliel. + +"What happened after our departure I learned from Perkins, on the +return of the Shelldrakes to Norridgeport, in September. Mrs. Shelldrake +stoutly persisted in refusing to make Hollins's bed, or to wash his +shirts. Her brain was dull, to be sure; but she was therefore all the +more stubborn in her resentment. He bore this state of things for about +a week, when his engagements to lecture in Ohio suddenly called him +away. Abel and Miss Ringtop were left to wander about the promontory in +company, and to exchange lamentations on the hollowness of human hopes +or the pleasures of despair. Whether it was owing to that attraction of +sex which would make any man and any woman, thrown together on a desert +island, finally become mates, or whether she skilfully ministered to +Abel's sentimental vanity, I will not undertake to decide: but the fact +is, they were actually betrothed, on leaving Arcadia. I think he would +willingly have retreated, after his return to the world; but that was +not so easy. Miss Ringtop held him with an inexorable clutch. They were +not married, however, until just before his departure for California, +whither she afterwards followed him. She died in less than a year, and +left him free." + +"And what became of the other Arcadians?" asked Mr. Johnson. + +"The Shelldrakes are still living in Norridgeport. They have become +Spiritualists, I understand, and cultivate Mediums. Hollins, when I +last heard of him, was a Deputy-Surveyor in the New York Custom-House. +Perkins Brown is our butcher here in Waterbury, and he often asks +me--'Do you take chloride of soda on your beefsteaks?' He is as fat as a +prize ox, and the father of five children." + +"Enos!" exclaimed Mrs. Billings, looking at the clock, "it's nearly +midnight! Mr. Johnson must be very tired, after such a long story. + +"The Chapter of the A. C. is hereby closed!" + + + + +FRIEND ELI'S DAUGHTER. + + + + +I. + +The mild May afternoon was drawing to a close, as Friend Eli Mitchenor +reached the top of the long hill, and halted a few minutes, to allow his +horse time to recover breath. He also heaved a sigh of satisfaction, +as he saw again the green, undulating valley of the Neshaminy, with its +dazzling squares of young wheat, its brown patches of corn-land, its +snowy masses of blooming orchard, and the huge, fountain like jets +of weeping willow, half concealing the gray stone fronts of the +farm-houses. He had been absent from home only six days, but the time +seemed almost as long to him as a three years' cruise to a New Bedford +whaleman. The peaceful seclusion and pastoral beauty of the scene did +not consciously appeal to his senses; but he quietly noted how much the +wheat had grown during his absence, that the oats were up and looking +well, that Friend Comly's meadow had been ploughed, and Friend Martin +had built his half of the line-fence along the top of the hill-field. +If any smothered delight in the loveliness of the spring-time found +a hiding-place anywhere in the well-ordered chambers of his heart, it +never relaxed or softened the straight, inflexible lines of his face. As +easily could his collarless drab coat and waistcoat have flushed with a +sudden gleam of purple or crimson. + +Eli Mitchenor was at peace with himself and the world--that is, so much +of the world as he acknowledged. Beyond the community of his own sect, +and a few personal friends who were privileged to live on its borders, +he neither knew nor cared to know much more of the human race than if +it belonged to a planet farther from the sun. In the discipline of the +Friends he was perfect; he was privileged to sit on the high seats, +with the elders of the Society; and the travelling brethren from other +States, who visited Bucks County, invariably blessed his house with +a family-meeting. His farm was one of the best on the banks of the +Neshaminy, and he also enjoyed the annual interest of a few thousand +dollars, carefully secured by mortgages on real estate. His wife, +Abigail, kept even pace with him in the consideration she enjoyed +within the limits of the sect; and his two children, Moses and Asenath, +vindicated the paternal training by the strictest sobriety of dress and +conduct. Moses wore the plain coat, even when his ways led him among +"the world's people;" and Asenath had never been known to wear, or +to express a desire for, a ribbon of a brighter tint than brown or +fawn-color. Friend Mitchenor had thus gradually ripened to his sixtieth +year in an atmosphere of life utterly placid and serene, and looked +forward with confidence to the final change, as a translation into a +deeper calm, a serener quiet, a prosperous eternity of mild voices, +subdued colors, and suppressed emotions. + +He was returning home, in his own old-fashioned "chair," with its heavy +square canopy and huge curved springs, from the Yearly Meeting of the +Hicksite Friends, in Philadelphia. The large bay farm-horse, slow and +grave in his demeanor, wore his plain harness with an air which made him +seem, among his fellow-horses, the counterpart of his master among +men. He would no more have thought of kicking than the latter would of +swearing a huge oath. Even now, when the top of the hill was gained, and +he knew that he was within a mile of the stable which had been his +home since colthood, he showed no undue haste or impatience, but waited +quietly, until Friend Mitchenor, by a well-known jerk of the lines, +gave him the signal to go on. Obedient to the motion, he thereupon +set forward once more, jogging soberly down the eastern slope of the +hill,--across the covered bridge, where, in spite of the tempting level +of the hollow-sounding floor, he was as careful to abstain from trotting +as if he had read the warning notice,--along the wooded edge of the +green meadow, where several cows of his acquaintance were grazing,--and +finally, wheeling around at the proper angle, halted squarely in front +of the gate which gave entrance to the private lane. + +The old stone house in front, the spring-house in a green little hollow +just below it, the walled garden, with its clumps of box and lilac, and +the vast barn on the left, all joining in expressing a silent welcome to +their owner, as he drove up the lane. Moses, a man of twenty-five, left +his work in the garden, and walked forward in his shirt-sleeves. + +"Well, father, how does thee do?" was his quiet greeting, as they shook +hands. + +"How's mother, by this time?" asked Eli. + +"Oh, thee needn't have been concerned," said the son. "There she is. Go +in: I'll tend to the horse." + +Abigail and her daughter appeared on the piazza. The mother was a woman +of fifty, thin and delicate in frame, but with a smooth, placid beauty +of countenance which had survived her youth. She was dressed in a +simple dove-colored gown, with book-muslin cap and handkerchief, so +scrupulously arranged that one might have associated with her for six +months without ever discovering a spot on the former, or an uneven fold +in the latter. Asenath, who followed, was almost as plainly attired, +her dress being a dark-blue calico, while a white pasteboard sun-bonnet, +with broad cape, covered her head. + +"Well, Abigail, how art thou?" said Eli, quietly giving his hand to his +wife. + +"I'm glad to see thee back," was her simple welcome. + +No doubt they had kissed each other as lovers, but Asenath had witnessed +this manifestation of affection but once in her life--after the burial +of a younger sister. The fact impressed her with a peculiar sense of +sanctity and solemnity: it was a caress wrung forth by a season of +tribulation, and therefore was too earnest to be profaned to the uses +of joy. So far, therefore, from expecting a paternal embrace, she would +have felt, had it been given, like the doomed daughter of the Gileadite, +consecrated to sacrifice. + +Both she and her mother were anxious to hear the proceedings of the +meeting, and to receive personal news of the many friends whom Eli had +seen; but they asked few questions until the supper-table was ready and +Moses had come in from the barn. The old man enjoyed talking, but it +must be in his own way and at his own good time. They must wait until +the communicative spirit should move him. With the first cup of coffee +the inspiration came. Hovering at first over indifferent details, he +gradually approached those of more importance,--told of the addresses +which had been made, the points of discipline discussed, the testimony +borne, and the appearance and genealogy of any new Friends who had taken +a prominent part therein. Finally, at the close of his relation, he +said-- + +"Abigail, there is one thing I must talk to thee about. Friend +Speakman's partner,--perhaps thee's heard of him, Richard Hilton,--has +a son who is weakly. He's two or three years younger than Moses. His +mother was consumptive, and they're afraid he takes after her. His +father wants to send him into the country for the summer--to some place +where he'll have good air, and quiet, and moderate exercise, and Friend +Speakman spoke of us. I thought I'd mention it to thee, and if thee +thinks well of it, we can send word down next week, when Josiah Comly +goes" + +"What does THEE think?" asked his wife, after a pause + +"He's a very quiet, steady young man, Friend Speakman says, and would be +very little trouble to thee. I thought perhaps his board would buy the +new yoke of oxen we must have in the fall, and the price of the fat ones +might go to help set up Moses. But it's for thee to decide." + +"I suppose we could take him," said Abigail, seeing that the decision +was virtually made already; "there's the corner room, which we don't +often use. Only, if he should get worse on our hands--" + +"Friend Speakman says there's no danger. He is only weak-breasted, as +yet, and clerking isn't good for him. I saw the young man at the store. +If his looks don't belie him, he's well-behaved and orderly." + +So it was settled that Richard Hilton the younger was to be an inmate of +Friend Mitchenor's house during the summer. + + + + +II. + + +At the end of ten days he came. + +In the under-sized, earnest, dark-haired and dark-eyed young man of +three-and-twenty, Abigail Mitchenor at once felt a motherly interest. +Having received him as a temporary member of the family, she considered +him entitled to the same watchful care as if he were in reality an +invalid son. The ice over an hereditary Quaker nature is but a thin +crust, if one knows how to break it; and in Richard Hilton's case, it +was already broken before his arrival. His only embarrassment, in fact, +arose from the difficulty which he naturally experienced in adapting +himself to the speech and address of the Mitchenor family. The greetings +of old Eli, grave, yet kindly, of Abigail, quaintly familiar and tender, +of Moses, cordial and slightly condescending, and finally of Asenath, +simple and natural to a degree which impressed him like a new revelation +in woman, at once indicated to him his position among them. His city +manners, he felt, instinctively, must be unlearned, or at least laid +aside for a time. Yet it was not easy for him to assume, at such short +notice, those of his hosts. Happening to address Asenath as "Miss +Mitchenor," Eli turned to him with a rebuking face. + +"We do not use compliments, Richard," said he; "my daughter's name is +Asenath. + +"I beg pardon. I will try to accustom myself to your ways, since you +have been so kind as to take me for a while," apologized Richard Hilton. + +"Thee's under no obligation to us," said Friend Mitchenor, in his strict +sense of justice; "thee pays for what thee gets." + +The finer feminine instinct of Abigail led her to interpose. + +"We'll not expect too much of thee, at first, Richard," she remarked, +with a kind expression of face, which had the effect of a smile: "but +our ways are plain and easily learned. Thee knows, perhaps, that we're +no respecters of persons." + +It was some days, however, before the young man could overcome his +natural hesitation at the familiarity implied by these new forms of +speech. "Friend Mitchenor" and "Moses" were not difficult to learn, +but it seemed a want of respect to address as "Abigail" a woman of such +sweet and serene dignity as the mother, and he was fain to avoid either +extreme by calling her, with her cheerful permission, "Aunt Mitchenor." +On the other hand, his own modest and unobtrusive nature soon won the +confidence and cordial regard of the family. He occasionally busied +himself in the garden, by way of exercise, or accompanied Moses to +the corn-field or the woodland on the hill, but was careful never to +interfere at inopportune times, and willing to learn silently, by the +simple process of looking on. + +One afternoon, as he was idly sitting on the stone wall which +separated the garden from the lane, Asenath, attired in a new gown of +chocolate-colored calico, with a double-handled willow work-basket on +her arm, issued from the house. As she approached him, she paused and +said-- + +"The time seems to hang heavy on thy hands, Richard. If thee's strong +enough to walk to the village and back, it might do thee more good than +sitting still." + +Richard Hilton at once jumped down from the wall. + +"Certainly I am able to go," said he, "if you will allow it." + +"Haven't I asked thee?" was her quiet reply. + +"Let me carry your basket," he said, suddenly, after they had walked, +side by side, some distance down the lane. + +"Indeed, I shall not let thee do that. I'm only going for the mail, +and some little things at the store, that make no weight at all. Thee +mustn't think I'm like the young women in the city, who, I'm told, if +they buy a spool of Cotton, must have it sent home to them. Besides, +thee mustn't over-exert thy strength." + +Richard Hilton laughed merrily at the gravity with which she uttered the +last sentence. + +"Why, Miss--Asenath, I mean--what am I good for; if I have not strength +enough to carry a basket?" + +"Thee's a man, I know, and I think a man would almost as lief be thought +wicked as weak. Thee can't help being weakly-inclined, and it's only +right that thee should be careful of thyself. There's surely nothing in +that that thee need be ashamed of." + +While thus speaking, Asenath moderated her walk, in order, unconsciously +to her companion, to restrain his steps. + +"Oh, there are the dog's-tooth violets in blossom?" she exclaimed, +pointing to a shady spot beside the brook; "does thee know them?" + +Richard immediately gathered and brought to her a handful of the nodding +yellow bells, trembling above their large, cool, spotted leaves. + +"How beautiful they are!" said he; "but I should never have taken them +for violets." + +"They are misnamed," she answered. "The flower is an Erythronium; but +I am accustomed to the common name, and like it. Did thee ever study +botany?" + +"Not at all. I can tell a geranium, when I see it, and I know a +heliotrope by the smell. I could never mistake a red cabbage for a +rose, and I can recognize a hollyhock or a sunflower at a considerable +distance. The wild flowers are all strangers to me; I wish I knew +something about them." + +"If thee's fond of flowers, it would be very easy to learn. I think a +study of this kind would pleasantly occupy thy mind. Why couldn't thee +try? I would be very willing to teach thee what little I know. It's not +much, indeed, but all thee wants is a start. See, I will show thee how +simple the principles are." + +Taking one of the flowers from the bunch, Asenath, as they slowly walked +forward, proceeded to dissect it, explained the mysteries of stamens and +pistils, pollen, petals, and calyx, and, by the time they had reached +the village, had succeeded in giving him a general idea of the Linnaean +system of classification. His mind took hold of the subject with a +prompt and profound interest. It was a new and wonderful world which +suddenly opened before him. How surprised he was to learn that there +were signs by which a poisonous herb could be detected from a wholesome +one, that cedars and pine-trees blossomed, that the gray lichens on +the rocks belonged to the vegetable kingdom! His respect for Asenath's +knowledge thrust quite out of sight the restraint which her youth and +sex had imposed upon him. She was teacher, equal, friend; and the simple +candid manner which was the natural expression of her dignity and purity +thoroughly harmonized with this relation. + +Although, in reality, two or three years younger than he, Asenath had +a gravity of demeanor, a calm self-possession, a deliberate balance of +mind, and a repose of the emotional nature, which he had never before +observed, except in much older women. She had had, as he could well +imagine, no romping girlhood, no season of careless, light-hearted +dalliance with opening life, no violent alternation even of the usual +griefs and joys of youth. The social calm in which she had expanded had +developed her nature as gently and securely as a sea-flower is unfolded +below the reach of tides and storms. + +She would have been very much surprised if any one had called her +handsome: yet her face had a mild, unobtrusive beauty which seemed +to grow and deepen from day to day. Of a longer oval than the Greek +standard, it was yet as harmonious in outline; the nose was fine and +straight, the dark-blue eyes steady and untroubled, and the lips calmly, +but not too firmly closed. Her brown hair, parted over a high white +forehead, was smoothly laid across the temples, drawn behind the ears, +and twisted into a simple knot. The white cape and sun-bonnet gave her +face a nun-like character, which set her apart, in the thoughts of "the +world's people" whom she met, as one sanctified for some holy work. She +might have gone around the world, repelling every rude word, every bold +glance, by the protecting atmosphere of purity and truth which inclosed +her. + +The days went by, each bringing some new blossom to adorn and illustrate +the joint studies of the young man and maiden. For Richard Hilton +had soon mastered the elements of botany, as taught by Priscilla +Wakefield,--the only source of Asenath's knowledge,--and entered, +with her, upon the text-book of Gray, a copy of which he procured from +Philadelphia. Yet, though he had overtaken her in his knowledge of the +technicalities of the science, her practical acquaintance with plants +and their habits left her still his superior. Day by day, exploring the +meadows, the woods, and the clearings, he brought home his discoveries +to enjoy her aid in classifying and assigning them to their true places. +Asenath had generally an hour or two of leisure from domestic duties +in the afternoons, or after the early supper of summer was over; and +sometimes, on "Seventh-days," she would be his guide to some locality +where the rarer plants were known to exist. The parents saw this +community of interest and exploration without a thought of misgiving. +They trusted their daughter as themselves; or, if any possible fear had +flitted across their hearts, it was allayed by the absorbing delight +with which Richard Hilton pursued his study. An earnest discussion as to +whether a certain leaf was ovate or lanceolate, whether a certain plant +belonged to the species scandens or canadensis, was, in their eyes, +convincing proof that the young brains were touched, and therefore NOT +the young hearts. + +But love, symbolized by a rose-bud, is emphatically a botanical emotion. +A sweet, tender perception of beauty, such as this study requires, or +develops, is at once the most subtile and certain chain of communication +between impressible natures. Richard Hilton, feeling that his years were +numbered, had given up, in despair, his boyish dreams, even before he +understood them: his fate seemed to preclude the possibility of love. +But, as he gained a little strength from the genial season, the pure +country air, and the release from gloomy thoughts which his rambles +afforded, the end was farther removed, and a future--though brief, +perhaps, still a FUTURE--began to glimmer before him. If this could +be his life,--an endless summer, with a search for new plants every +morning, and their classification every evening, with Asenath's help +on the shady portico of Friend Mitchenor's house,--he could forget his +doom, and enjoy the blessing of life unthinkingly. + +The azaleas succeeded to the anemones, the orchis and trillium followed, +then the yellow gerardias and the feathery purple pogonias, and finally +the growing gleam of the golden-rods along the wood-side and the red +umbels of the tall eupatoriums in the meadow announced the close of +summer. One evening, as Richard, in displaying his collection, brought +to view the blood-red leaf of a gum-tree, Asenath exclaimed-- + +"Ah, there is the sign! It is early, this year." + +"What sign?" he asked. + +"That the summer is over. We shall soon have frosty nights, and +then nothing will be left for us except the asters and gentians and +golden-rods." + +Was the time indeed so near? A few more weeks, and this Arcadian life +would close. He must go back to the city, to its rectilinear streets, +its close brick walls, its artificial, constrained existence. How could +he give up the peace, the contentment, the hope he had enjoyed through +the summer? The question suddenly took a more definite form in his mind: +How could he give up Asenath? Yes--the quiet, unsuspecting girl, sitting +beside him, with her lap full of the September blooms he had gathered, +was thenceforth a part of his inmost life. Pure and beautiful as she +was, almost sacred in his regard, his heart dared to say--"I need her +and claim her!" + +"Thee looks pale to-night, Richard," said Abigail, as they took their +seats at the supper-table. "I hope thee has not taken cold." + + + + +III. + + +"Will thee go along, Richard? I know where the rudbeckias grow," said +Asenath, on the following "Seventh-day" afternoon. + +They crossed the meadows, and followed the course of the stream, under +its canopy of magnificent ash and plane trees, into a brake between +the hills. It was an almost impenetrable thicket, spangled with tall +autumnal flowers. The eupatoriums, with their purple crowns, stood like +young trees, with an undergrowth of aster and blue spikes of lobelia, +tangled in a golden mesh of dodder. A strong, mature odor, mixed alike +of leaves and flowers, and very different from the faint, elusive +sweetness of spring, filled the air. The creek, with a few faded leaves +dropped upon its bosom, and films of gossamer streaming from its bushy +fringe, gurgled over the pebbles in its bed. Here and there, on its +banks, shone the deep yellow stars of the flower they sought. + +Richard Hilton walked as in a dream, mechanically plucking a stem of +rudbeckia, only to toss it, presently, into the water. + +"Why, Richard! what's thee doing?" cried Asenath; "thee has thrown away +the very best specimen." + +"Let it go," he answered, sadly. "I am afraid everything else is thrown +away." + +"What does thee mean?" she asked, with a look of surprised and anxious +inquiry. + +"Don't ask me, Asenath. Or--yes, I WILL tell you. I must say it to +you now, or never afterwards. Do you know what a happy life I've been +leading since I came here?--that I've learned what life is, as if I'd +never known it before? I want to live, Asenath,--and do you know why?" + +"I hope thee will live, Richard," she said, gently and tenderly, her +deep-blue eyes dim with the mist of unshed tears. + +"But, Asenath, how am I to live without you? But you can't understand +that, because you do not know what you are to me. No, you never guessed +that all this while I've been loving you more and more, until now I +have no other idea of death than not to see you, not to love you, not to +share your life!" + +"Oh, Richard!" + +"I knew you would be shocked, Asenath. I meant to have kept this to +myself. You never dreamed of it, and I had no right to disturb the peace +of your heart. The truth is told now,--and I cannot take it back, if +I wished. But if you cannot love, you can forgive me for loving +you--forgive me now and every day of my life." + +He uttered these words with a passionate tenderness, standing on +the edge of the stream, and gazing into its waters. His slight frame +trembled with the violence of his emotion. Asenath, who had become very +pale as he commenced to speak, gradually flushed over neck and brow +as she listened. Her head drooped, the gathered flowers fell from her +hands, and she hid her face. For a few minutes no sound was heard but +the liquid gurgling of the water, and the whistle of a bird in the +thicket beside them. Richard Hilton at last turned, and, in a voice of +hesitating entreaty, pronounced her name-- + +"Asenath!" + +She took away her hands, and slowly lifted her face. She was pale, +but her eyes met his with a frank, appealing, tender expression, which +caused his heart to stand still a moment. He read no reproach, no +faintest thought of blame; but--was it pity?--was it pardon?--or---- + +"We stand before God, Richard," said she, in a low, sweet, solemn tone. +"He knows that I do not need to forgive thee. If thee requires it, I +also require His forgiveness for myself." + +Though a deeper blush now came to cheek and brow, she met his gaze with +the bravery of a pure and innocent heart. Richard, stunned with the +sudden and unexpected bliss, strove to take the full consciousness of +it into a being which seemed too narrow to contain it. His first impulse +was to rush forward, clasp her passionately in his arms, and hold her in +the embrace which encircled, for him, the boundless promise of life; but +she stood there, defenceless, save in her holy truth and trust, and his +heart bowed down and gave her reverence. + +"Asenath," said he, at last, "I never dared to hope for this. God bless +you for those words! Can you trust me?--can you indeed love me?" + +"I can trust thee,--I DO love thee!" + +They clasped each other's hands in one long, clinging pressure. No kiss +was given, but side by side they walked slowly up the dewy meadows, in +happy and hallowed silence. Asenath's face became troubled as the old +farmhouse appeared through the trees. + +"Father and mother must know of this, Richard," said she. "I am afraid +it may be a cross to them." + +The same fear had already visited his own mind, but he answered, +cheerfully-- + +"I hope not. I think I have taken a new lease of life, and shall soon +be strong enough to satisfy them. Besides, my father is in prosperous +business." + +"It is not that," she answered; "but thee is not one of us." + +It was growing dusk when they reached the house. In the dim candle-light +Asenath's paleness was not remarked; and Richard's silence was +attributed to fatigue. + +The next morning the whole family attended meeting at the neighboring +Quaker meeting-house, in the preparation for which, and the various +special occupations of their "First-day" mornings, the unsuspecting +parents overlooked that inevitable change in the faces of the lovers +which they must otherwise have observed. After dinner, as Eli was taking +a quiet walk in the garden, Richard Hilton approached him. + +"Friend Mitchenor," said he, "I should like to have some talk with +thee." + +"What is it, Richard?" asked the old man, breaking off some pods from a +seedling radish, and rubbing them in the palm of his hand. + +"I hope, Friend Mitchenor," said the young man, scarcely knowing how +to approach so important a crisis in his life, "I hope thee has been +satisfied with my conduct since I came to live with thee, and has no +fault to find with me as a man." + +"Well," exclaimed Eli, turning around and looking up, sharply, "does +thee want a testimony from me? I've nothing, that I know of, to say +against thee." + +"If I were sincerely attached to thy daughter, Friend Mitchenor, and she +returned the attachment, could thee trust her happiness in my hands?" + +"What!" cried Eli, straightening himself and glaring upon the speaker, +with a face too amazed to express any other feeling. + +"Can you confide Asenath's happiness to my care? I love her with +my whole heart and soul, and the fortune of my life depends on your +answer." + +The straight lines in the old man's face seemed to grow deeper and more +rigid, and his eyes shone with the chill glitter of steel. Richard, not +daring to say a word more, awaited his reply in intense agitation. + +"So!" he exclaimed at last, "this is the way thee's repaid me! I didn't +expect THIS from thee! Has thee spoken to her?" + +"I have." + +"Thee has, has thee? And I suppose thee's persuaded her to think as +thee does. Thee'd better never have come here. When I want to lose my +daughter, and can't find anybody else for her, I'll let thee know." + +"What have you against me, Friend Mitchenor?" Richard sadly asked, +forgetting, in his excitement, the Quaker speech he had learned. + +"Thee needn't use compliments now! Asenath shall be a Friend while _I_ +live; thy fine clothes and merry-makings and vanities are not for +her. Thee belongs to the world, and thee may choose one of the world's +women." + +"Never!" protested Richard; but Friend Mitchenor was already ascending +the garden-steps on his way to the house. + +The young man, utterly overwhelmed, wandered to the nearest grove and +threw himself on the ground. Thus, in a miserable chaos of emotion, +unable to grasp any fixed thought, the hours passed away. Towards +evening, he heard a footstep approaching, and sprang up. It was Moses. + +The latter was engaged, with the consent of his parents and expected +to "pass meeting" in a few weeks. He knew what had happened, and felt a +sincere sympathy for Richard, for whom he had a cordial regard. His face +was very grave, but kind. + +"Thee'd better come in, Richard," said he; "the evenings are damp, and I +v'e brought thy overcoat. I know everything, and I feel that it must be +a great cross for thee. But thee won't be alone in bearing it." + +"Do you think there is no hope of your father relenting?" he asked, in a +tone of despondency which anticipated the answer. + +"Father's very hard to move," said Moses; "and when mother and Asenath +can't prevail on him, nobody else need try. I'm afraid thee must make up +thy mind to the trial. I'm sorry to say it, Richard, but I think thee'd +better go back to town." + +"I'll go to-morrow,--go and die!" he muttered hoarsely, as he followed +Moses to the house. + +Abigail, as she saw his haggard face, wept quietly. She pressed his hand +tenderly, but said nothing. Eli was stern and cold as an Iceland rock. +Asenath did not make her appearance. At supper, the old man and his son +exchanged a few words about the farm-work to be done on the morrow, but +nothing else was said. Richard soon left the room and went up to +his chamber to spend his last, his only unhappy night at the farm. A +yearning, pitying look from Abigail accompanied him. + +"Try and not think hard of us!" was her farewell the next morning, as +he stepped into the old chair, in which Moses was to convey him to the +village where he should meet the Doylestown stage. So, without a word +of comfort from Asenath's lips, without even a last look at her beloved +face, he was taken away. + + + + +IV. + + +True and firm and self-reliant as was the nature of Asenath Mitchenor, +the thought of resistance to her father's will never crossed her mind. +It was fixed that she must renounce all intercourse with Richard Hilton; +it was even sternly forbidden her to see him again during the few hours +he remained in the house; but the sacred love, thus rudely dragged to +the light and outraged, was still her own. She would take it back into +the keeping of her heart, and if a day should ever come when he would be +free to return and demand it of her, he would find it there, unwithered, +with all the unbreathed perfume hoarded in its folded leaves. If +that day came not, she would at the last give it back to God, saying, +"Father, here is Thy most precious gift, bestow it as Thou wilt." + +As her life had never before been agitated by any strong emotion, so it +was not outwardly agitated now. The placid waters of her soul did not +heave and toss before those winds of passion and sorrow: they lay in +dull, leaden calm, under a cold and sunless sky. What struggles +with herself she underwent no one ever knew. After Richard Hilton's +departure, she never mentioned his name, or referred, in any way, to the +summer's companionship with him. She performed her household duties, if +not cheerfully, at least as punctually and carefully as before; and her +father congratulated himself that the unfortunate attachment had struck +no deeper root. Abigail's finer sight, however, was not deceived by this +external resignation. She noted the faint shadows under the eyes, the +increased whiteness of the temples, the unconscious traces of pain which +sometimes played about the dimpled corners of the mouth, and watched her +daughter with a silent, tender solicitude. + +The wedding of Moses was a severe test of Asenath's strength, but +she stood the trial nobly, performing all the duties required by her +position with such sweet composure that many of the older female Friends +remarked to Abigail, "How womanly Asenath has grown!" Eli Mitchenor +noted, with peculiar satisfaction, that the eyes of the young +Friends--some of them of great promise in the sect, and well endowed +with worldly goods--followed her admiringly. + +"It will not be long," he thought, "before she is consoled." + +Fortune seemed to favor his plans, and justify his harsh treatment +of Richard Hilton. There were unfavorable accounts of the young man's +conduct. His father had died during the winter, and he was represented +as having become very reckless and dissipated. These reports at last +assumed such a definite form that Friend Mitchenor brought them to the +notice of his family. + +"I met Josiah Comly in the road," said he, one day at dinner. "He's +just come from Philadelphia, and brings bad news of Richard Hilton. He's +taken to drink, and is spending in wickedness the money his father left +him. His friends have a great concern about him, but it seems he's not +to be reclaimed." + +Abigail looked imploringly at her husband, but he either disregarded +or failed to understand her look. Asenath, who had grown very pale, +steadily met her father's gaze, and said, in a tone which he had never +yet heard from her lips-- + +"Father, will thee please never mention Richard Hilton's name when I am +by?" + +The words were those of entreaty, but the voice was that of authority. +The old man was silenced by a new and unexpected power in his daughter's +heart: he suddenly felt that she was not a girl, as heretofore, but a +woman, whom he might persuade, but could no longer compel. + +"It shall be as thee wishes, Asenath," he said; "we had best forget +him." + +Of their friends, however, she could not expect this reserve, and she +was doomed to hear stories of Richard which clouded and embittered her +thoughts of him. And a still severer trial was in store. She accompanied +her father, in obedience to his wish, and against her own desire, to the +Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia. It has passed into a proverb that the +Friends, on these occasions, always bring rain with them; and the period +of her visit was no exception to the rule. The showery days of "Yearly +Meeting Week" glided by, until the last, and she looked forward with +relief to the morrow's return to Bucks County, glad to have escaped a +meeting with Richard Hilton, which might have confirmed her fears and +could but have given her pain in any case. + +As she and her father joined each other, outside the meeting-house, at +the close of the afternoon meeting, a light rain was falling. She took +his arm, under the capacious umbrella, and they were soon alone in the +wet streets, on their way to the house of the Friends who entertained +them. At a crossing, where the water pouring down the gutter towards +the Delaware, caused them to halt a man, plashing through the flood, +staggered towards them. Without an umbrella, with dripping, disordered +clothes, yet with a hot, flushed face, around which the long black hair +hung wildly, he approached, singing to himself with maudlin voice a +song that would have been sweet and tender in a lover's mouth. Friend +Mitchenor drew to one side, lest his spotless drab should be brushed by +the unclean reveller; but the latter, looking up, stopped suddenly face +to face with them. + +"Asenath!" he cried, in a voice whose anguish pierced through the +confusion of his senses, and struck down into the sober quick of his +soul. + +"Richard!" she breathed, rather than spoke, in a low, terrified voice. + +It was indeed Richard Hilton who stood before her, or rather--as she +afterwards thought, in recalling the interview--the body of Richard +Hilton possessed by an evil spirit. His cheeks burned with a more than +hectic red, his eyes were wild and bloodshot, and though the recognition +had suddenly sobered him, an impatient, reckless devil seemed to lurk +under the set mask of his features. + +"Here I am, Asenath," he said at length, hoarsely. "I said it was death, +didn't I? Well, it's worse than death, I suppose; but what matter? You +can't be more lost to me now than you were already. This is THY doing, +Friend Eli," he continued, turning to the old man, with a sneering +emphasis on the "THY." "I hope thee's satisfied with thy work!" + +Here he burst into a bitter, mocking laugh, which it chilled Asenath's +blood to hear. + +The old man turned pale. "Come away, child!" said he, tugging at her +arm. But she stood firm, strengthened for the moment by a solemn feeling +of duty which trampled down her pain. + +"Richard," she said, with the music of an immeasurable sorrow in +her voice, "oh, Richard, what has thee done? Where the Lord commands +resignation, thee has been rebellious; where he chasteneth to purify, +thee turns blindly to sin. I had not expected this of thee, Richard; I +thought thy regard for me was of the kind which would have helped and +uplifted thee,--not through me, as an unworthy object, but through the +hopes and the pure desires of thy own heart. I expected that thee would +so act as to justify what I felt towards thee, not to make my affection +a reproach,--oh, Richard, not to cast over my heart the shadow of thy +sin!" + +The wretched young man supported himself against the post of an awning, +buried his face in his hands, and wept passionately. Once or twice he +essayed to speak, but his voice was choked by sobs, and, after a look +from the streaming eyes which Asenath could scarcely bear to meet, he +again covered his face. A stranger, coming down the street, paused out +of curiosity. "Come, come!" cried Eli, once more, eager to escape from +the scene. His daughter stood still, and the man slowly passed on. + +Asenath could not thus leave her lost lover, in his despairing grief. +She again turned to him, her own tears flowing fast and free. + +"I do not judge thee, Richard, but the words that passed between us give +me a right to speak to thee. It was hard to lose sight of thee then, but +it is still harder for me to see thee now. If the sorrow and pity I feel +could save thee, I would be willing never to know any other feelings. I +would still do anything for thee except that which thee cannot ask, as +thee now is, and I could not give. Thee has made the gulf between us so +wide that it cannot be crossed. But I can now weep for thee and pray for +thee as a fellow-creature whose soul is still precious in the sight of +the Lord. Fare thee well!" + +He seized the hand she extended, bowed down, and showered mingled tears +and kisses upon it. Then, with a wild sob in his throat, he started up +and rushed down the street, through the fast-falling rain. The father +and daughter walked home in silence. Eli had heard every word that was +spoken, and felt that a spirit whose utterances he dared not question +had visited Asenath's tongue. + +She, as year after year went by, regained the peace and patience which +give a sober cheerfulness to life. The pangs of her heart grew dull and +transient; but there were two pictures in her memory which never blurred +in outline or faded in color: one, the brake of autumn flowers under the +bright autumnal sky, with bird and stream making accordant music to the +new voice of love; the other a rainy street, with a lost, reckless man +leaning against an awning-post, and staring in her face with eyes whose +unutterable woe, when she dared to recall it, darkened the beauty of the +earth, and almost shook her trust in the providence of God. + + + + +V. + +Year after year passed by, but not without bringing change to the +Mitchenor family. Moses had moved to Chester County soon after his +marriage, and had a good farm of his own. At the end of ten years +Abigail died; and the old man, who had not only lost his savings by +an unlucky investment, but was obliged to mortgage his farm, finally +determined to sell it and join his son. He was getting too old to manage +it properly, impatient under the unaccustomed pressure of debt, and +depressed by the loss of the wife to whom, without any outward show +of tenderness, he was, in truth, tenderly attached. He missed her +more keenly in the places where she had lived and moved than in a +neighborhood without the memory of her presence. The pang with which he +parted from his home was weakened by the greater pang which had preceded +it. + +It was a harder trial to Asenath. She shrank from the encounter with new +faces, and the necessity of creating new associations. There was a quiet +satisfaction in the ordered, monotonous round of her life, which might +be the same elsewhere, but here alone was the nook which held all the +morning sunshine she had ever known. Here still lingered the halo of the +sweet departed summer,--here still grew the familiar wild-flowers which +THE FIRST Richard Hilton had gathered. This was the Paradise in which +the Adam of her heart had dwelt, before his fall. Her resignation and +submission entitled her to keep those pure and perfect memories, though +she was scarcely conscious of their true charm. She did not dare to +express to herself, in words, that one everlasting joy of woman's heart, +through all trials and sorrows--"I have loved, I have been beloved." + +On the last "First-day" before their departure, she walked down the +meadows to the lonely brake between the hills. It was the early spring, +and the black buds of the ash had just begun to swell. The maples were +dusted with crimson bloom, and the downy catkins of the swamp-willow +dropped upon the stream and floated past her, as once the autumn leaves. +In the edges of the thickets peeped forth the blue, scentless violet, +the fairy cups of the anemone, and the pink-veined bells of the +miskodeed. The tall blooms through which the lovers walked still slept +in the chilly earth; but the sky above her was mild and blue, and +the remembrance of the day came back to her with a delicate, pungent +sweetness, like the perfume of the trailing arbutus in the air around +her. In a sheltered, sunny nook, she found a single erythronium, lured +forth in advance of its proper season, and gathered it as a relic of the +spot, which she might keep without blame. As she stooped to pluck it, +her own face looked up at her out of a little pool filled by the spring +rains. Seen against the reflected sky, it shone with a soft radiance, +and the earnest eyes met hers, as if it were her young self, evoked from +the past, to bid her farewell. "Farewell!" she whispered, taking leave +at once, as she believed, of youth and the memory of love. + +During those years she had more than once been sought in marriage, but +had steadily, though kindly, refused. Once, when the suitor was a +man whose character and position made the union very desirable in Eli +Mitchenor's eyes, he ventured to use his paternal influence. Asenath's +gentle resistance was overborne by his arbitrary force of will, and her +protestations were of no avail. + +"Father," she finally said, in the tone which he had once heard and +still remembered, "thee can take away, but thee cannot give." + +He never mentioned the subject again. + +Richard Hilton passed out of her knowledge shortly after her meeting +with him in Philadelphia. She heard, indeed, that his headlong career +of dissipation was not arrested,--that his friends had given him up as +hopelessly ruined,--and, finally, that he had left the city. After +that, all reports ceased. He was either dead, or reclaimed and leading +a better life, somewhere far away. Dead, she believed--almost hoped; for +in that case might he not now be enjoying the ineffable rest and peace +which she trusted might be her portion? It was better to think of him +as a purified spirit, waiting to meet her in a holier communion, than to +know that he was still bearing the burden of a soiled and blighted +life. In any case, her own future was plain and clear. It was simply a +prolongation of the present--an alternation of seed-time and harvest, +filled with humble duties and cares, until the Master should bid her lay +down her load and follow Him. + +Friend Mitchenor bought a small cottage adjacent to his son's farm, in a +community which consisted mostly of Friends, and not far from the large +old meeting-house in which the Quarterly Meetings were held. He at once +took his place on the upper seat, among the elders, most of whom he knew +already, from having met them, year after year, in Philadelphia. The +charge of a few acres of ground gave him sufficient occupation; the +money left to him after the sale of his farm was enough to support him +comfortably; and a late Indian summer of contentment seemed now to have +come to the old man. He was done with the earnest business of life. +Moses was gradually taking his place, as father and Friend; and Asenath +would be reasonably provided for at his death. As his bodily energies +decayed, his imperious temper softened, his mind became more accessible +to liberal influences, and he even cultivated a cordial friendship +with a neighboring farmer who was one of "the world's people." Thus, at +seventy-five he was really younger, because tenderer of heart and more +considerate, than he had been at sixty. + +Asenath was now a woman of thirty-five, and suitors had ceased to +approach her. Much of her beauty still remained, but her face had become +thin and wasted, and the inevitable lines were beginning to form around +her eyes. Her dress was plainer than ever, and she wore the scoop-bonnet +of drab silk, in which no woman can seem beautiful, unless she be very +old. She was calm and grave in her demeanor, save that her perfect +goodness and benevolence shone through and warmed her presence; but, +when earnestly interested, she had been known to speak her mind so +clearly and forcibly that it was generally surmised among the Friends +that she possessed "a gift," which might, in time, raise her to honor +among them. To the children of Moses she was a good genius, and a word +from "Aunt 'Senath" oftentimes prevailed when the authority of the +parents was disregarded. In them she found a new source of happiness; +and when her old home on the Neshaminy had been removed a little farther +into the past, so that she no longer looked, with every morning's sun, +for some familiar feature of its scenery, her submission brightened into +a cheerful content with life. + +It was summer, and Quarterly-Meeting Day had arrived. There had been +rumors of the expected presence of "Friends from a distance," and not +only those of the district, but most of the neighbors who were not +connected with the sect, attended. By the by-road, through the woods, +it was not more than half a mile from Friend Mitchenor's cottage to the +meeting-house, and Asenath, leaving her father to be taken by Moses in +his carriage, set out on foot. It was a sparkling, breezy day, and the +forest was full of life. Squirrels chased each other along the +branches of the oaks, and the air was filled with fragrant odors of +hickory-leaves, sweet fern, and spice-wood. Picking up a flower here +and there, Asenath walked onward, rejoicing alike in shade and sunshine, +grateful for all the consoling beauty which the earth offers to a lonely +heart. That serene content which she had learned to call happiness had +filled her being until the dark canopy was lifted and the waters took +back their transparency under a cloudless sky. + +Passing around to the "women's side" of the meeting-house, she mingled +with her friends, who were exchanging information concerning the +expected visitors. Micajah Morrill had not arrived, they said, but Ruth +Baxter had spent the last night at Friend Way's, and would certainly +be there. Besides, there were Friend Chandler, from Nine Partners, and +Friend Carter, from Maryland: they had been seen on the ground. Friend +Carter was said to have a wonderful gift,--Mercy Jackson had heard him +once, in Baltimore. The Friends there had been a little exercised about +him, because they thought he was too much inclined to "the newness," +but it was known that the Spirit had often manifestly led him. Friend +Chandler had visited Yearly Meeting once, they believed. He was an old +man, and had been a personal friend of Elias Hicks. + +At the appointed hour they entered the house. After the subdued rustling +which ensued upon taking their seats, there was an interval of silence, +shorter than usual, because it was evident that many persons would +feel the promptings of the Spirit. Friend Chandler spoke first, and was +followed by Ruth Baxter, a frail little woman, with a voice of exceeding +power. The not unmelodious chant in which she delivered her admonitions +rang out, at times, like the peal of a trumpet. Fixing her eyes on +vacancy, with her hands on the wooden rail before her, and her +body slightly swaying to and fro, her voice soared far aloft at the +commencement of every sentence, gradually dropping, through a melodious +scale of tone, to the close. She resembled an inspired prophetess, an +aged Deborah, crying aloud in the valleys of Israel. + +The last speaker was Friend Carter, a small man, not more than forty +years of age. His face was thin and intense in its expression, his hair +gray at the temples, and his dark eye almost too restless for a child of +"the stillness and the quietness." His voice, though not loud, was clear +and penetrating, with an earnest, sympathetic quality, which arrested, +not the ear alone, but the serious attention of the auditor. His +delivery was but slightly marked by the peculiar rhythm of the Quaker +preachers; and this fact, perhaps, increased the effect of his words, +through the contrast with those who preceded him. + +His discourse was an eloquent vindication of the law of kindness, as the +highest and purest manifestation of true Christian doctrine. + +The paternal relation of God to man was the basis of that religion which +appealed directly to the heart: so the fraternity of each man with his +fellow was its practical application. God pardons the repentant sinner: +we can also pardon, where we are offended; we can pity, where we cannot +pardon. Both the good and the bad principles generate their like in +others. Force begets force; anger excites a corresponding anger; but +kindness awakens the slumbering emotions even of an evil heart. Love may +not always be answered by an equal love, but it has never yet created +hatred. The testimony which Friends bear against war, he said, is but a +general assertion, which has no value except in so far as they manifest +the principle of peace in their daily lives--in the exercise of pity, of +charity, of forbearance, and Christian love. + +The words of the speaker sank deeply into the hearts of his hearers. +There was an intense hush, as if in truth the Spirit had moved him to +speak, and every sentence was armed with a sacred authority. Asenath +Mitchenor looked at him, over the low partition which divided her and +her sisters from the men's side, absorbed in his rapt earnestness and +truth. She forgot that other hearers were present: he spake to her +alone. A strange spell seemed to seize upon her faculties and chain them +at his feet: had he beckoned to her, she would have arisen and walked to +his side. + +Friend Carter warmed and deepened as he went on. "I feel moved to-day," +he said,--"moved, I know not why, but I hope for some wise purpose,--to +relate to you an instance of Divine and human kindness which has come +directly to my own knowledge. A young man of delicate constitution, +whose lungs were thought to be seriously affected, was sent to the +house of a Friend in the country, in order to try the effect of air and +exercise." + +Asenath almost ceased to breathe, in the intensity with which she gazed +and listened. Clasping her hands tightly in her lap to prevent them from +trembling, and steadying herself against the back of the seat, she +heard the story of her love for Richard Hilton told by the lips of +a stranger!--not merely of his dismissal from the house, but of that +meeting in the street, at which only she and her father were present! +Nay, more, she heard her own words repeated, she heard Richard's +passionate outburst of remorse described in language that brought his +living face before her! She gasped for breath--his face WAS before her! +The features, sharpened by despairing grief, which her memory recalled, +had almost anticipated the harder lines which fifteen years had made, +and which now, with a terrible shock and choking leap of the heart, she +recognized. Her senses faded, and she would have fallen from her +seat but for the support of the partition against which she leaned. +Fortunately, the women near her were too much occupied with the +narrative to notice her condition. Many of them wept silently, with +their handkerchiefs pressed over their mouths. + +The first shock of death-like faintness passed away, and she clung to +the speaker's voice, as if its sound alone could give her strength to +sit still and listen further. + +"Deserted by his friends, unable to stay his feet on the evil path," he +continued, "the young man left his home and went to a city in another +State. But here it was easier to find associates in evil than tender +hearts that might help him back to good. He was tired of life, and the +hope of a speedier death hardened him in his courses. But, my friends, +Death never comes to those who wickedly seek him. The Lord withholds +destruction from the hands that are madly outstretched to grasp it, and +forces His pity and forgiveness on the unwilling soul. Finding that it +was the principle of LIFE which grew stronger within him, the young +man at last meditated an awful crime. The thought of self-destruction +haunted him day and night. He lingered around the wharves, gazing into +the deep waters, and was restrained from the deed only by the memory of +the last loving voice he had heard. One gloomy evening, when even this +memory had faded, and he awaited the approaching darkness to make his +design secure, a hand was laid on his arm. A man in the simple garb of +the Friends stood beside him, and a face which reflected the kindness of +the Divine Father looked upon him. 'My child,' said he, 'I am drawn to +thee by the great trouble of thy mind. Shall I tell thee what it is thee +meditates?' The young man shook his head. 'I will be silent, then, but +I will save thee. I know the human heart, and its trials and weaknesses, +and it may be put into my mouth to give thee strength.' He took the +young man's hand, as if he had been a little child, and led him to his +home. He heard the sad story, from beginning to end; and the young man +wept upon his breast, to hear no word of reproach, but only the largest +and tenderest pity bestowed upon him. They knelt down, side by side, +at midnight; and the Friend's right hand was upon his head while they +prayed. + +"The young man was rescued from his evil ways, to acknowledge still +further the boundless mercy of Providence. The dissipation wherein he +had recklessly sought death was, for him, a marvellous restoration to +life. His lungs had become sound and free from the tendency to disease. +The measure of his forgiveness was almost more than he could bear. +He bore his cross thenceforward with a joyful resignation, and was +mercifully drawn nearer and nearer to the Truth, until, in the fulness +of his convictions, he entered into the brotherhood of the Friends. + +"I have been powerfully moved to tell you this story." Friend Carter +concluded, "from a feeling that it may be needed, here, at this time, to +influence some heart trembling in the balance. Who is there among you, +my friends, that may not snatch a brand from the burning! Oh, believe +that pity and charity are the most effectual weapons given into the +hands of us imperfect mortals, and leave the awful attribute of wrath in +the hands of the Lord!" + +He sat down, and dead silence ensued. Tears of emotion stood in the +eyes of the hearers, men as well as women, and tears of gratitude and +thanksgiving gushed warmly from those of Asenath. An ineffable peace and +joy descended upon her heart. + +When the meeting broke up, Friend Mitchenor, who had not recognized +Richard Hilton, but had heard the story with feelings which he +endeavored in vain to control, approached the preacher. + +"The Lord spoke to me this day through thy lips," said he; "will thee +come to one side, and hear me a minute?" + +"Eli Mitchenor!" exclaimed Friend Carter; "Eli! I knew not thee was +here! Doesn't thee know me?" + +The old man stared in astonishment. "It seems like a face I ought to +know," he said, "but I can't place thee." They withdrew to the shade +of one of the poplars. Friend Carter turned again, much moved, and, +grasping the old man's hands in his own, exclaimed-- + +"Friend Mitchenor, I was called upon to-day to speak of myself. I +am--or, rather, I WAS--the Richard Hilton whom thee knew." + +Friend Mitchenor's face flushed with mingled emotions of shame and joy, +and his grasp on the preacher's hands tightened. + +"But thee calls thyself Carter?" he finally said. + +"Soon after I was saved," was the reply, "an aunt on the mother's side +died, and left her property to me, on condition that I should take her +name. I was tired of my own then, and to give it up seemed only like +losing my former self; but I should like to have it back again now." + +"Wonderful are the ways of the Lord, and past finding out!" said the +old man. "Come home with me, Richard,--come for my sake, for there is a +concern on my mind until all is clear between us. Or, stay,--will thee +walk home with Asenath, while I go with Moses?" + +"Asenath?" + +"Yes. There she goes, through the gate. Thee can easily overtake her. I +'m coming, Moses!"--and he hurried away to his son's carriage, which was +approaching. + +Asenath felt that it would be impossible for her to meet Richard Hilton +there. She knew not why his name had been changed; he had not betrayed +his identity with the young man of his story; he evidently did not wish +it to be known, and an unexpected meeting with her might surprise him +into an involuntary revelation of the fact. It was enough for her that a +saviour had arisen, and her lost Adam was redeemed,--that a holier light +than the autumn sun's now rested, and would forever rest, on the one +landscape of her youth. Her eyes shone with the pure brightness of +girlhood, a soft warmth colored her cheek and smoothed away the coming +lines of her brow, and her step was light and elastic as in the old +time. + +Eager to escape from the crowd, she crossed the highway, dusty with its +string of returning carriages, and entered the secluded lane. The breeze +had died away, the air was full of insect-sounds, and the warm light +of the sinking sun fell upon the woods and meadows. Nature seemed +penetrated with a sympathy with her own inner peace. + +But the crown of the benignant day was yet to come. A quick footstep +followed her, and ere long a voice, near at hand, called her by name. + +She stopped, turned, and for a moment they stood silent, face to face. + +"I knew thee, Richard!" at last she said, in a trembling voice; "may the +Lord bless thee!" + +Tears were in the eyes of both. + +"He has blessed me," Richard answered, in a reverent tone; "and this +is His last and sweetest mercy. Asenath, let me hear that thee forgives +me." + +"I have forgiven thee long ago, Richard--forgiven, but not forgotten." + +The hush of sunset was on the forest, as they walked onward, side by +side, exchanging their mutual histories. Not a leaf stirred in the +crowns of the tall trees, and the dusk, creeping along between their +stems, brought with it a richer woodland odor. Their voices were low +and subdued, as if an angel of God were hovering in the shadows, and +listening, or God Himself looked down upon them from the violet sky. + +At last Richard stopped. + +"Asenath," said he, "does thee remember that spot on the banks of the +creek, where the rudbeckias grew?" + +"I remember it," she answered, a girlish blush rising to her face. + +"If I were to say to thee now what I said to thee there, what would be +thy answer?" + +Her words came brokenly. + +"I would say to thee, Richard,--'I can trust thee,--I DO love thee!'" + +"Look at me, Asenath." + +Her eyes, beaming with a clearer light than even then when she first +confessed, were lifted to his. She placed her hands gently upon his +shoulders, and bent her head upon his breast. He tenderly lifted it +again, and, for the first time, her virgin lips knew the kiss of man. + + + + +MISS BARTRAM'S TROUBLE. + + + + +I. + +It was a day of unusual excitement at the Rambo farm-house. On the farm, +it is true, all things were in their accustomed order, and all growths +did their accustomed credit to the season. The fences were in good +repair; the cattle were healthy and gave promise of the normal increase, +and the young corn was neither strangled with weeds nor assassinated +by cut-worms. Old John Rambo was gradually allowing his son, Henry, to +manage in his stead, and the latter shrewdly permitted his father to +believe that he exercised the ancient authority. Leonard Clare, the +strong young fellow who had been taken from that shiftless adventurer, +his father, when a mere child, and brought up almost as one of the +family, and who had worked as a joiner's apprentice during the previous +six months, had come back for the harvest work; so the Rambos were +forehanded, and probably as well satisfied as it is possible for +Pennsylvania farmers to be. + +In the house, also, Mrs. Priscilla Rambo was not severely haunted by +the spectre of any neglected duty. The simple regular routine of the +household could not be changed under her charge; each thing had its +appropriate order of performance, must be done, and WAS done. If +the season were backward, at the time appointed for whitewashing or +soap-making, so much the worse for the season; if the unhatched goslings +were slain by thunder, she laid the blame on the thunder. And if--but +no, it is quite impossible to suppose that, outside of those two +inevitable, fearful house-cleaning weeks in each year, there could have +been any disorder in the cold prim, varnish-odored best rooms, sacred to +company. + +It was Miss Betty Rambo, whose pulse beat some ten strokes faster than +its wont, as she sat down with the rest to their early country dinner. +Whether her brother Henry's participated in the accelerated movement +could not be guessed from his demeanor. She glanced at him now and then, +with bright eyes and flushed cheeks, eager to speak yet shrinking +from the half magisterial air which was beginning to supplant his old +familiar banter. Henry was changing with his new responsibility, as +she admitted to herself with a sort of dismay; he had the airs of an +independent farmer, and she remained only a farmer's daughter,--without +any acknowledged rights, until she should acquire them all, at a single +blow, by marriage. + +Nevertheless, he must have felt what was in her mind; for, as he cut out +the quarter of a dried apple pie, he said carelessly: + +"I must go down to the Lion, this afternoon. There's a fresh drove of +Maryland cattle just come." + +"Oh Harry!" cried Betty, in real distress. + +"I know," he answered; "but as Miss Bartram is going to stay two weeks, +she'll keep. She's not like a drove, that's here one day, and away the +next. Besides, it is precious little good I shall have of her society, +until you two have used up all your secrets and small talk. I know how +it is with girls. Leonard will drive over to meet the train." + +"Won't I do on a pinch?" Leonard asked. + +"Oh, to be sure," said Betty, a little embarrassed, "only Alice--Miss +Bartram--might expect Harry, because her brother came for me when I went +up." + +"If that's all, make yourself easy, Bet," Henry answered, as he rose +from the table. "There's a mighty difference between here and there. +Unless you mean to turn us into a town family while she stays--high +quality, eh?" + +"Go along to your cattle! there's not much quality, high or low, where +you are." + +Betty was indignant; but the annoyance exhausted itself healthfully +while she was clearing away the dishes and restoring the room to its +order, so that when Leonard drove up to the gate with the lumbering, +old-fashioned carriage two hours afterwards, she came forth calm, +cheerful, fresh as a pink in her pink muslin, and entirely the good, +sensible country-girl she was. + +Two or three years before, she and Miss Alice Bartram, daughter of the +distinguished lawyer in the city, had been room-mates at the Nereid +Seminary for Young Ladies. Each liked the other for the contrast to her +own self; both were honest, good and lovable, but Betty had the stronger +nerves and a practical sense which seemed to be admirable courage in +the eyes of Miss Alice, whose instincts were more delicate, whose tastes +were fine and high, and who could not conceive of life without certain +luxurious accessories. A very cordial friendship sprang up between +them,--not the effusive girl-love, with its iterative kisses, tears, and +flow of loosened hair, but springing from the respect inspired by sound +and positive qualities. + +The winter before, Betty had been invited to visit her friend in the +city, and had passed a very excited and delightful week in the stately +Bartram mansion. If she were at first a little fluttered by the manners +of the new world, she was intelligent enough to carry her own nature +frankly through it, instead of endeavoring to assume its character. +Thus her little awkwardnesses became originalities, and she was almost +popular in the lofty circle when she withdrew from it. It was therefore, +perhaps, slightly inconsistent in Betty, that she was not quite sure how +Miss Bartram would accept the reverse side of this social experience. +She imagined it easier to look down and make allowances, as a host, than +as a guest; she could not understand that the charm of the change might +be fully equal. + +It was lovely weather, as they drove up the sweet, ever-changing +curves of the Brandywine valley. The woods fairly laughed in the clear +sunlight, and the soft, incessant, shifting breezes. Leonard, in his +best clothes, and with a smoother gloss on his brown hair, sang to +himself as he urged the strong-boned horses into a trot along the +levels; and Betty finally felt so quietly happy that she forgot to be +nervous. When they reached the station they walked up and down the +long platform together, until the train from the city thundered up, +and painfully restrained its speed. Then Betty, catching sight of a +fawn-colored travelling dress issuing from the ladies' car, caught hold +of Leonard's arm, and cried: "There she is!" + +Miss Bartram heard the words, and looked down with a bright, glad +expression on her face. It was not her beauty that made Leonard's heart +suddenly stop beating; for she was not considered a beauty, in society. +It was something rarer than perfect beauty, yet even more difficult +to describe,--a serene, unconscious grace, a pure, lofty maturity of +womanhood, such as our souls bow down to in the Santa Barbara of Palma +Vecchio. Her features were not "faultlessly regular," but they were +informed with the finer harmonies of her character. She was a woman, +at whose feet a noble man might kneel, lay his forehead on her knee, +confess his sins, and be pardoned. + +She stepped down to the platform, and Betty's arms were about her. After +a double embrace she gently disengaged herself, turned to Leonard, gave +him her hand, and said, with a smile which was delightfully frank and +cordial: "I will not wait for Betty's introduction, Mr. Rambo. She +has talked to me so much of her brother Harry, that I quite know you +already." + +Leonard could neither withdraw his eyes nor his hand. It was like a +double burst of warmth and sunshine, in which his breast seemed to +expand, his stature to grow, and his whole nature to throb with some new +and wonderful force. A faint color came into Miss Bartram's cheeks, as +they stood thus, for a moment, face to face. She seemed to be waiting +for him to speak, but of this he never thought; had any words come to +his mind, his tongue could not have uttered them. + +"It is not Harry," Betty explained, striving to hide her embarrassment. +"This is Leonard Clare, who lives with us." + +"Then I do not know you so well as I thought," Miss Bartram said to him; +"it is the beginning of a new acquaintance, after all." + +"There isn't no harm done," Leonard answered, and instantly feeling the +awkwardness of the words, blushed so painfully that Miss Bartram felt +the inadequacy of her social tact to relieve so manifest a case of +distress. But she did, instinctively, what was really best: she gave +Leonard the check for her trunk, divided her satchels with Betty, and +walked to the carriage. + +He did not sing, as he drove homewards down the valley. Seated on the +trunk, in front, he quietly governed the horses, while the two girls, on +the seat behind him, talked constantly and gaily. Only the rich, steady +tones of Miss Bartram's voice WOULD make their way into his ears, and +every light, careless sentence printed itself upon his memory. They came +to him as if from some inaccessible planet. Poor fellow! he was not the +first to feel "the desire of the moth for the star." + +When they reached the Rambo farm-house, it was necessary that he should +give his hand to help her down from the clumsy carriage. He held it but +a moment; yet in that moment a gentle pulse throbbed upon his hard palm, +and he mechanically set his teeth, to keep down the impulse which made +him wild to hold it there forever. "Thank you, Mr. Clare!" said +Miss Bartram, and passed into the house. When he followed presently, +shouldering her trunk into the upper best-room, and kneeling upon the +floor to unbuckle the straps, she found herself wondering: "Is this +a knightly service, or the menial duty of a porter? Can a man be both +sensitive and ignorant, chivalrous and vulgar?" + +The question was not so easily decided, though no one guessed how much +Miss Bartram pondered it, during the succeeding days. She insisted, from +the first, that her coming should make no change in the habits of the +household; she rose in the cool, dewy summer dawns, dined at noon in the +old brown room beside the kitchen, and only differed from the Rambos +in sitting at her moonlit window, and breathing the subtle odors of a +myriad leaves, long after Betty was sleeping the sleep of health. + +It was strange how frequently the strong, not very graceful figure of +Leonard Clare marched through these reveries. She occasionally spoke to +him at the common table, or as she passed the borders of the hay-field, +where he and Henry were at work: but his words to her were always few +and constrained. What was there in his eyes that haunted her? Not merely +a most reverent admiration of her pure womanly refinement, although she +read that also; not a fear of disparagement, such as his awkward speech +implied, but something which seemed to seek agonizingly for another +language than that of the lips,--something which appealed to her from +equal ground, and asked for an answer. + +One evening she met him in the lane, as she returned from the meadow. +She carried a bunch of flowers, with delicate blue and lilac bells, and +asked him the name. + +"Them's Brandywine cowslips," he answered; "I never heard no other name. + +"May I correct you?" she said, gently, and with a smile which she meant +to be playful. "I suppose the main thing is to speak one's thought, but +there are neat and orderly ways, and there are careless ways." Thereupon +she pointed out the inaccuracies of his answer, he standing beside her, +silent and attentive. When she ceased, he did not immediately reply. + +"You will take it in good part, will you not?" she continued. "I hope I +have not offended you." + +"No!" he exclaimed, firmly, lifting his head, and looking at her. The +inscrutable expression in his dark gray eyes was stronger than before, +and all his features were more clearly drawn. He reminded her of a +picture of Adam which she had once seen: there was the same rather low +forehead, straight, even brows, full yet strong mouth, and that broader +form of chin which repeats and balances the character of the forehead. +He was not positively handsome, but from head to foot he expressed a +fresh, sound quality of manhood. + +Another question flashed across Miss Bartram's mind: Is life long enough +to transform this clay into marble? Here is a man in form, and with +all the dignity of the perfect masculine nature: shall the broad, free +intelligence, the grace and sweetness, the taste and refinement, which +the best culture gives, never be his also? If not, woman must be content +with faulty representations of her ideal. + +So musing, she walked on to the farm-house. Leonard had picked up one +of the blossoms she had let fall, and appeared to be curiously examining +it. If he had apologized for his want of grammar, or promised to reform +it, her interest in him might have diminished; but his silence, his +simple, natural obedience to some powerful inner force, whatever it +was, helped to strengthen that phantom of him in her mind, which was now +beginning to be a serious trouble. + +Once again, the day before she left the Rambo farmhouse to return to the +city, she came upon him, alone. She had wandered off to the Brandywine, +to gather ferns at a rocky point where some choice varieties were to +be found. There were a few charming clumps, half-way up a slaty cliff, +which it did not seem possible to scale, and she was standing at the +base, looking up in vain longing, when a voice, almost at her ear, said: + +"Which ones do you want?" + +Afterwards, she wondered that she did not start at the voice. Leonard +had come up the road from one of the lower fields: he wore neither +coat nor waistcoat, and his shirt, open at the throat, showed the firm, +beautiful white of the flesh below the strong tan of his neck. Miss +Bartram noticed the sinewy strength and elasticity of his form, yet when +she looked again at the ferns, she shook her head, and answered: + +"None, since I cannot have them." + +Without saying a word, he took off his shoes, and commenced climbing the +nearly perpendicular face of the cliff. He had done it before, many a +time; but Miss Bartram, although she was familiar with such exploits +from the pages of many novels, had never seen the reality, and it quite +took away her breath. + +When he descended with the ferns in his hand, she said: "It was a great +risk; I wish I had not wanted them." + +"It was no risk for me," he answered. + +"What can I send you in return?" she asked, as they walked forwards. "I +am going home to-morrow." + +"Betty told me," Leonard said; "please, wait one minute." + +He stepped down to the bank of the stream, washed his hands carefully +in the clear water, and came back to her, holding them, dripping, at his +sides. + +"I am very ignorant," he then continued,--"ignorant and rough. You are +good, to want to send me something, but I want nothing. Miss Bartram, +you are very good." + +He paused; but with all her tact and social experience, she did not know +what to say. + +"Would you do one little thing for me--not for the ferns, that was +nothing--no more than you do, without thinking, for all your friends?" + +"Oh, surely!" she said. + +"Might I--might I--now,--there'll be no chance tomorrow,--shake hands +with you?" + +The words seemed to be forced from him by the strength of a fierce will. +Both stopped, involuntarily. + +"It's quite dry, you see," said he, offering his hand. Her own sank upon +it, palm to palm, and the fingers softly closed over each, as if with +the passion and sweetness of a kiss. Miss Bartram's heart came to her +eyes, and read, at last, the question in Leonard's. It was: "I as man, +and you, as woman, are equals; will you give me time to reach you?" What +her eyes replied she knew not. A mighty influence drew her on, and a +mighty doubt and dread restrained her. One said: "Here is your lover, +your husband, your cherished partner, left by fate below your station, +yet whom you may lift to your side! Shall man, alone, crown the humble +maiden,--stoop to love, and, loving, ennoble? Be you the queen, and love +him by the royal right of womanhood!" But the other sternly whispered: +"How shall your fine and delicate fibres be knit into this coarse +texture? Ignorance, which years cannot wash away,--low instincts, +what do YOU know?--all the servile side of life, which is turned from +you,--what madness to choose this, because some current of earthly +magnetism sets along your nerves? He loves you: what of that? You are +a higher being to him, and he stupidly adores you. Think,--yes, DARE to +think of all the prosaic realities of life, shared with him!" + +Miss Bartram felt herself growing dizzy. Behind the impulse which bade +her cast herself upon his breast swept such a hot wave of shame and pain +that her face burned, and she dropped her eyelids to shut out the +sight of his face. But, for one endless second, the sweeter voice spoke +through their clasped hands. Perhaps he kissed hers; she did not know; +she only heard herself murmur: + +"Good-bye! Pray go on; I will rest here." + +She sat down upon a bank by the roadside, turned away her head, and +closed her eyes. It was long before the tumult in her nature subsided. +If she reflected, with a sense of relief, "nothing was said," +the thought immediately followed, "but all is known." It was +impossible,--yes, clearly impossible; and then came such a wild longing, +such an assertion of the right and truth and justice of love, as made +her seem a miserable coward, the veriest slave of conventionalities. + +Out of this struggle dawned self-knowledge, and the strength which is +born of it. When she returned to the house, she was pale and weary, but +capable of responding to Betty Rambo's constant cheerfulness. The next +day she left for the city, without having seen Leonard Clare again. + + + + +II. + + +Henry Rambo married, and brought a new mistress to the farm-house. +Betty married, and migrated to a new home in another part of the +State. Leonard Clare went back to his trade, and returned no more in +harvest-time. So the pleasant farm by the Brandywine, having served its +purpose as a background, will be seen no more in this history. + +Miss Bartram's inmost life, as a woman, was no longer the same. The +point of view from which she had beheld the world was shifted, and she +was obliged to remodel all her feelings and ideas to conform to it. But +the process was gradual, and no one stood near enough to her to remark +it. She was occasionally suspected of that "eccentricity" which, in +a woman of five-and-twenty, is looked upon as the first symptom of a +tendency to old-maidenhood, but which is really the sign of an earnest +heart struggling with the questions of life. In the society of cities, +most men give only the shallow, flashy surface of their natures to the +young women they meet, and Miss Bartram, after that revelation of the +dumb strength of an ignorant man, sometimes grew very impatient of the +platitudes and affectations which came to her clad in elegant words, and +accompanied by irreproachable manners. + +She had various suitors; for that sense of grace and repose and sweet +feminine power, which hung around her like an atmosphere, attracted +good and true men towards her. To some, indeed, she gave that noble, +untroubled friendship which is always possible between the best of the +two sexes, and when she was compelled to deny the more intimate appeal, +it was done with such frank sorrow, such delicate tenderness, that +she never lost the friend in losing the lover. But, as one year after +another went by, and the younger members of her family fell off into +their separate domestic orbits, she began to shrink a little at the +perspective of a lonely life, growing lonelier as it receded from the +Present. + +By this time, Leonard Clare had become almost a dream to her. She had +neither seen him nor heard of him since he let go her hand on that +memorable evening beside the stream. He was a strange, bewildering +chance, a cypher concealing a secret which she could not intelligently +read. Why should she keep the memory of that power which was, perhaps, +some unconscious quality of his nature (no, it was not so! something +deeper than reason cried:), or long since forgotten, if felt, by him? + +The man whom she most esteemed came back to her. She knew the ripeness +and harmony of his intellect, the nobility of his character, and the +generosity of a feeling which would be satisfied with only a partial +return. She felt sure, also, that she should never possess a sentiment +nearer to love than that which pleaded his cause in her heart. But her +hand lay quiet in his, her pulses were calm when he spoke, and his face, +manly and true as it was, never invaded her dreams. All questioning was +vain; her heart gave no solution of the riddle. Perhaps her own want +was common to all lives: then she was cherishing a selfish ideal, and +rejecting the positive good offered to her hands. + +After long hesitation she yielded. The predictions of society came to +naught; instead of becoming an "eccentric" spinster, Miss Bartram was +announced to be the affianced bride of Mr. Lawrie. A few weeks and +months rolled around, and when the wedding-day came, she almost hailed +it as the port of refuge, where she should find a placid and peaceful +life. + +They were married by an aged clergyman, a relative of the bridegroom. +The cross-street where his chapel stood, fronting a Methodist +church--both of the simplest form of that architecture fondly supposed +to be Gothic,--was quite blocked up by the carriages of the party. The +pews were crowded with elegant guests, the altar was decorated with +flowers, and the ceremony lacked nothing of its usual solemn beauty. +The bride was pale, but strikingly calm and self-possessed, and when +she moved towards the door as Mrs. Lawrie, on her husband's arm, many +matrons, recalling their own experience, marvelled at her unflurried +dignity. + +Just as they passed out the door, and the bridal carriage was summoned, +a singular thing happened. Another bridal carriage drew up from the +opposite side, and a newly wedded pair came forth from the portal of the +Methodist church. Both parties stopped, face to face, divided only by +the narrow street. Mrs. Lawrie first noticed the flushed cheeks of the +other bride, her white dress, rather showy than elegant, and the heavy +gold ornaments she wore. Then she turned to the bridegroom. He was tall +and well-formed, dressed like a gentleman, but like one who is not +yet unconscious of his dress, and had the air of a man accustomed to +exercise some authority. + +She saw his face, and instantly all other faces disappeared. From the +opposite brink of a tremendous gulf she looked into his eyes, and their +blended ray of love and despair pierced her to the heart. + +There was a roaring in her ears, followed a long sighing sound, like +that of the wind on some homeless waste; she leaned more heavily on her +husband's arm, leaned against his shoulder, slid slowly down into his +supporting clasp, and knew no more. + +"She's paying for her mock composure, after all," said the matrons. + +"It must have been a great effort." + + + + +III. + + +Ten years afterwards, Mrs. Lawrie went on board a steamer at +Southampton, bound for New York. She was travelling alone, having been +called suddenly from Europe by the approaching death of her aged father. +For two or three days after sailing, the thick, rainy spring weather +kept all below, except a few hardy gentlemen who crowded together on the +lee of the smoke-stack, and kept up a stubborn cheerfulness on a very +small capital of comfort. There were few cabin-passengers on board, but +the usual crowd of emigrants in the steerage. + +Mrs. Lawrie's face had grown calmer and colder during these years. There +was yet no gray in her hair, no wrinkles about her clear eyes; each +feature appeared to be the same, but the pale, monotonous color +which had replaced the warm bloom of her youth, gave them a different +character. The gracious dignity of her manner, the mellow tones of her +voice, still expressed her unchanging goodness, yet those who met her +were sure to feel, in some inexplicable way, that to be good is not +always to be happy. Perhaps, indeed, her manner was older than her face +and form: she still attracted the interest of men, but with a certain +doubt and reserve. + +Certain it is that when she made her appearance on deck, glad of the +blue sky and sunshine, and threw back her hood to feel the freshness of +the sea air, all eyes followed her movements, except those of a forlorn +individual, who, muffled in his cloak and apparently sea-sick, lay upon +one of the benches. The captain presently joined her, and the gentlemen +saw that she was bright and perfectly self-possessed in conversation: +some of them immediately resolved to achieve an acquaintance. The dull, +passive existence of the beginning of every voyage, seemed to be now at +an end. It was time for the little society of the vessel to awake, stir +itself, and organize a life of its own, for the few remaining days. + +That night, as Mrs. Lawrie was sleeping in her berth, she suddenly awoke +with a singular feeling of dread and suspense. She listened silently, +but for some time distinguished none other than the small sounds of +night on shipboard--the indistinct orders, the dragging of ropes, +the creaking of timbers, the dull, regular jar of the engine, and the +shuffling noise of feet overhead. But, ere long, she seemed to catch +faint, distant sounds, that seemed like cries; then came hurry and +confusion on deck; then voices in the cabin, one of which said: "they +never can get it under, at this rate!" + +She rose, dressed herself hastily, and made her way through pale and +excited stewards, and the bewildered passengers who were beginning +to rush from their staterooms, to the deck. In the wild tumult which +prevailed, she might have been thrown down and trampled under foot, had +not a strong arm seized her around the waist, and borne her towards the +stern, where there were but few persons. + +"Wait here!" said a voice, and her protector plunged into the crowd. + +She saw, instantly, the terrible fate which had fallen upon the vessel. +The bow was shrouded in whirls of smoke, through which dull red flashes +began to show themselves; and all the length and breadth of the deck was +filled with a screaming, struggling, fighting mass of desperate human +beings. She saw the captain, officers, and a few of the crew working +in vain against the disorder: she saw the boats filled before they were +lowered, and heard the shrieks as they were capsized; she saw spars and +planks and benches cast overboard, and maddened men plunging after them; +and then, like the sudden opening of the mouth of Hell, the relentless, +triumphant fire burst through the forward deck and shot up to the +foreyard. + +She was leaning against the mizen shrouds, between the coils of rope. +Nobody appeared to notice her, although the quarter-deck was fast +filling with persons driven back by the fire, yet still shrinking +from the terror and uncertainty of the sea. She thought: "It is but +death--why should I fear? The waves are at hand, to save me from all +suffering." And the collective horror of hundreds of beings did not so +overwhelm her as she had both fancied and feared; the tragedy of each +individual life was lost in the confusion, and was she not a sharer in +their doom? + +Suddenly, a man stood before her with a cork life-preserver in his +hands, and buckled it around her securely, under the arms. He was +panting and almost exhausted, yet he strove to make his voice firm, and +even cheerful, as he said: + +"We fought the cowardly devils as long as there was any hope. Two boats +are off, and two capsized; in ten minutes more every soul must take to +the water. Trust to me, and I will save you or die with you!" + +"What else can I do?" she answered. + +With a few powerful strokes of an axe, he broke off the top of the +pilot-house, bound two or three planks to it with ropes, and dragged the +mass to the bulwarks. + +"The minute this goes," he then said to her, "you go after it, and I +follow. Keep still when you rise to the surface." + +She left the shrouds, took hold of the planks at his side, and they +heaved the rude raft into the sea. In an instant she was seized and +whirled over the side; she instinctively held her breath, felt a shock, +felt herself swallowed up in an awful, fathomless coldness, and then +found herself floating below the huge towering hull which slowly drifted +away. + +In another moment there was one at her side. "Lay your hand on my +shoulder," he said; and when she did so, swam for the raft, which they +soon reached. While she supported herself by one of the planks he so +arranged and bound together the pieces of timber that in a short time +they could climb upon them and rest, not much washed by the waves. The +ship drifted further and further, casting a faint, though awful, glare +over the sea, until the light was suddenly extinguished, as the hull +sank. + +The dawn was in the sky by this time, and as it broadened they could +see faint specks here and there, where others, like themselves, clung to +drifting spars. Mrs. Lawrie shuddered with cold and the reaction from an +excitement which had been far more powerful than she knew at the time. + +Her preserver then took off his coat, wrapped it around her, and +produced a pocket-flask, saying; "this will support us the longest; it +is all I could find, or bring with me." + +She sat, leaning against his shoulder, though partly turned away from +him: all she could say was: "you are very good." + +After awhile he spoke, and his voice seemed changed to her ears. "You +must be thinking of Mr. Lawrie. It will, indeed, be terrible for him to +hear of the disaster, before knowing that you are saved." + +"God has spared him that distress," she answered. "Mr. Lawrie died, a +year ago." + +She felt a start in the strong frame upon which she leaned. After a +few minutes of silence, he slowly shifted his position towards her, yet +still without facing her, and said, almost in a whisper: + +"You have said that I am very good. Will you put your hand in mine?" + +She stretched hers eagerly and gratefully towards him. What had +happened? Through all the numbness of her blood, there sprang a strange +new warmth from his strong palm, and a pulse, which she had almost +forgotten as a dream of the past, began to beat through her frame. She +turned around all a-tremble, and saw his face in the glow of the coming +day. + +"Leonard Clare!" she cried. + +"Then you have not forgotten me?" + +"Could one forget, when the other remembers?" + +The words came involuntarily from her lips. She felt what they implied, +the moment afterwards, and said no more. But he kept her hand in his. + +"Mrs. Lawrie," he began, after another silence, "we are hanging by a +hair on the edge of life, but I shall gladly let that hair break, since +I may tell you now, purely and in the hearing of God, how I have tried +to rise to you out of the low place in which you found me. At first you +seemed too far; but you yourself led me the first step of the way, and +I have steadily kept my eyes on you, and followed it. When I had learned +my trade, I came to the city. No labor was too hard for me, no study too +difficult. I was becoming a new man, I saw all that was still lacking, +and how to reach it, and I watched you, unknown, at a distance. Then I +heard of your engagement: you were lost, and something of which I had +begun to dream, became insanity. I determined to trample it out of my +life. The daughter of the master-builder, whose first assistant I was, +had always favored me in her society; and I soon persuaded her to love +me. I fancied, too, that I loved her as most married men seemed to love +their wives; the union would advance me to a partnership in her father's +business, and my fortune would then be secured. You know what happened; +but you do not know how the sight of your face planted the old madness +again in my life, and made me a miserable husband, a miserable man of +wealth, almost a scoffer at the knowledge I had acquired for your sake. + +"When my wife died, taking an only child with her, there was nothing +left to me except the mechanical ambition to make myself, without you, +what I imagined I might have become, through you. I have studied and +travelled, lived alone and in society, until your world seemed to be +almost mine: but you were not there!" + +The sun had risen, while they sat, rocking on their frail support. Her +hand still lay in his, and her head rested on his shoulder. Every word +he spoke sank into her heart with a solemn sweetness, in which her whole +nature was silent and satisfied. Why should she speak? He knew all. + +Yes, it seemed that he knew. His arm stole around her, and her head was +drawn from his shoulder to the warm breadth of his breast. + +Something hard pressed her cheek, and she lifted her hand to move it +aside. He drew forth a flat medallion case; and to the unconscious +question in her face, such a sad, tender smile came to his lips, that +she could not repress a sudden pain. Was it the miniature of his dead +wife? + +He opened the case, and showed her, under the glass, a faded, pressed +flower. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"The Brandywine cowslip you dropped, when you spoke to me in the lane. +Then it was that you showed me the first step of the way." + +She laid her head again upon his bosom. Hour after hour they sat, and +the light swells of the sea heaved them aimlessly to and fro, and the +sun burned them, and the spray drenched their limbs. At last Leonard +Clare roused himself and looked around: he felt numb and faint, and he +saw, also, that her strength was rapidly failing. + +"We cannot live much longer, I fear," he said, clasping her closely in +his arms. "Kiss me once, darling, and then we will die." + +She clung to him and kissed him. + +"There is life, not death, in your lips!" he cried. "Oh, God, if we +should live!" + +He rose painfully to his feet, stood, tottering? on the raft, and looked +across the waves. Presently he began to tremble, then to sob like a +child, and at last spoke, through his tears: + +"A sail! a sail!--and heading towards us!" + + + + +MRS. STRONGITHARM'S REPORT. + +Mr. Editor,--If you ever read the "Burroak Banner" (which you will find +among your exchanges, as the editor publishes your prospectus for six +weeks every year, and sends no bill to you) my name will not be that of +a stranger. Let me throw aside all affectation of humility, and say that +I hope it is already and not unfavorably familiar to you. I am informed +by those who claim to know that the manuscripts of obscure writers are +passed over by you editors without examination--in short, that I must +first have a name, if I hope to make one. The fact that an article of +three hundred and seventy-five pages, which I sent, successively, to the +"North American Review," the "Catholic World," and the "Radical," was in +each case returned to me with MY knot on the tape by which it was tied, +convinces me that such is indeed the case. A few years ago I should not +have meekly submitted to treatment like this; but late experiences have +taught me the vanity of many womanly dreams. + +You are acquainted with the part I took (I am SURE you must have seen +it in the "Burroak Banner" eight years ago) in creating that public +sentiment in our favor which invested us with all the civil and +political rights of men. How the editors of the "Revolution," to which +I subscribe, and the conventions in favor of the equal rights of women, +recently held in Boston and other cities, have failed to notice our +noble struggle, is a circumstance for which I will not try to account. I +will only say--and it is a hint which SOME PERSONS will understand--that +there are other forms of jealousy than those which spring from love. + +It is, indeed, incredible that so little is known, outside the State of +Atlantic, of the experiment--I mean the achievement--of the last eight +years. While the war lasted, we did not complain that our work was +ignored; but now that our sisters in other States are acting as if in +complete unconsciousness of what WE have done--now that we need their +aid and they need ours (but in different ways), it is time that somebody +should speak. Were Selina Whiston living, I should leave the task to +her pen; she never recovered from the shock and mortification of her +experiences in the State Legislature, in '64--but I will not anticipate +the history. Of all the band of female iconoclasts, as the Hon. Mr. +Screed called us in jest--it was no jest afterwards, HIS image being the +first to go down--of all, I say, "some are married, and some are dead," +and there is really no one left so familiar with the circumstances as I +am, and equally competent to give a report of them. + +Mr. Spelter (the editor of the "Burroak Banner") suggests that I must +be brief, if I wish my words to reach the ears of the millions for +whom they are designed; and I shall do my best to be so. If I were not +obliged to begin at the very beginning, and if the interests of Atlantic +had not been swallowed up, like those of other little States, in the +whirlpool of national politics, I should have much less to say. But if +Mr. George Fenian Brain and Mrs. Candy Station do not choose to inform +the public of either the course or the results of our struggle, am I to +blame? If I could have attended the convention in Boston, and had been +allowed to speak--and I am sure the distinguished Chairwoman would have +given me a chance--it would have been the best way, no doubt, to set our +case before the world. + +I must first tell you how it was that we succeeded in forcing the men to +accept our claims, so much in advance of other States. We were indebted +for it chiefly to the skill and adroitness of Selina Whiston. The matter +had been agitated, it is true, for some years before, and as early as +1856, a bill, drawn up by Mrs. Whiston herself, had been introduced into +the Legislature, where it received three votes. Moreover, we had held +meetings in almost every election precinct in the State, and our Annual +Fair (to raise funds) at Gaston, while the Legislature was in session, +was always very brilliant and successful. So the people were not +entirely unprepared. + +Although our State had gone for Fremont in 1856, by a small majority, +the Democrats afterwards elected their Governor; and both parties, +therefore, had hopes of success in 1860. The canvass began early, and +was very animated. Mrs. Whiston had already inaugurated the custom of +attending political meetings, and occasionally putting a question to the +stump orator--no matter of which party; of sometimes, indeed, taking the +stump herself, after the others had exhausted their wind. She was very +witty, as you know, and her stories were so good and so capitally told, +that neither Democrat nor Republican thought of leaving the ground while +she was upon the stand. + +Now, it happened that our Congressional District was one of the closest. +It happened, also, that our candidate (I am a Republican, and so is Mr. +Strongitharm) was rather favorably inclined to the woman's cause. It +happened, thirdly--and this is the seemingly insignificant pivot upon +which we whirled into triumph--that he, Mr. Wrangle, and the opposing +candidate, Mr. Tumbrill, had arranged to hold a joint meeting at +Burroak. This meeting took place on a magnificent day, just after the +oats-harvest; and everybody, for twenty miles around, was there. Mrs. +Whiston, together with Sarah Pincher, Olympia Knapp, and several other +prominent advocates of our cause, met at my house in the morning; and +we all agreed that it was time to strike a blow. The rest of us +magnanimously decided to take no part in the concerted plan, though very +eager to do so. Selina Whiston declared that she must have the field to +herself; and when she said that, we knew she meant it. + +It was generally known that she was on the ground. In fact, she spent +most of the time while Messrs. Wrangle and Tumbrill were speaking, +in walking about through the crowds--so after an hour apiece for the +gentlemen, and then fifteen minutes apiece for a rejoinder, and the +Star Spangled Banner from the band, for both sides, we were not a +bit surprised to hear a few cries of "Whiston!" from the audience. +Immediately we saw the compact gray bonnet and brown serge dress (she +knew what would go through a crowd without tearing!) splitting the wedge +of people on the steps leading to the platform. I noticed that the two +Congressional candidates looked at each other and smiled, in spite of +the venomous charges they had just been making. + +Well--I won't attempt to report her speech, though it was her most +splendid effort (as people WILL say, when it was no effort to her at +all). But the substance of it was this: after setting forth woman's +wrongs and man's tyranny, and taxation without representation, and an +equal chance, and fair-play, and a struggle for life (which you know all +about from the other conventions), she turned squarely around to the two +candidates and said: + +"Now to the practical application. You, Mr. Wrangle, and you, Mr. +Tumbrill, want to be elected to Congress. The district is a close one: +you have both counted the votes in advance (oh, I know your secrets!) +and there isn't a difference of a hundred in your estimates. A +very little will turn the scale either way. Perhaps a woman's +influence--perhaps my voice--might do it. But I will give you an equal +chance. So much power is left to woman, despite what you withhold, that +we, the women of Putnam, Shinnebaug, and Rancocus counties, are able to +decide which of you shall be elected. Either of you would give a great +deal to have a majority of the intelligent women of the District on your +side: it would already be equivalent to success. Now, to show that we +understand the political business from which you have excluded us--to +prove that we are capable of imitating the noble example of MEN--we +offer to sell our influence, as they their votes, to the highest +bidder!" + +There was great shouting and cheering among the people at this, but the +two candidates, somehow or other, didn't seem much amused. + +"I stand here," she continued, "in the interest of my struggling +sisters, and with authority to act for them. Which of you will bid +the most--not in offices or material advantages, as is the way of your +parties, but in the way of help to the Woman's Cause? Which of you +will here publicly pledge himself to say a word for us, from now until +election-day, whenever he appears upon the stump?" + +There was repeated cheering, and cries of "Got 'em there!" (Men are so +vulgar). + +"I pause for a reply. Shall they not answer me?" she continued, turning +to the audience. + +Then there were tremendous cries of "Yes! yes! Wrangle! Tumbrill!" + +Mr. Wrangle looked at Mr. Tumbrill, and made a motion with his head, +signifying that he should speak. Then Mr. Tumbrill looked at Mr. +Wrangle, and made a motion that HE should speak. The people saw all +this, and laughed and shouted as if they would never finish. + +Mr. Wrangle, on second thoughts (this is my private surmise), saw that +boldness would just then be popular; so he stepped forward. + +"Do I understand," he said, "that my fair and eloquent friend demands +perfect political and civil equality for her sex?" + +"I do!" exclaimed Selina Whiston, in her firmest manner. + +"Let me be more explicit," he continued. "You mean precisely the +same rights, the same duties, the same obligations, the same +responsibilities?" + +She repeated the phrases over after him, affirmatively, with an emphasis +which I never heard surpassed. + +"Pardon me once more," said Mr. Wrangle; "the right to vote, to hold +office, to practise law, theology, medicine, to take part in all +municipal affairs, to sit on juries, to be called upon to aid in the +execution of the law, to aid in suppressing disturbances, enforcing +public order, and performing military duty?" + +Here there were loud cheers from the audience; and a good many voices +cried out: "Got her there!" (Men are so very vulgar.) + +Mrs. Whiston looked troubled for a moment, but she saw that a moment's +hesitation would be fatal to our scheme, so she brought out her words as +if each one were a maul-blow on the butt-end of a wedge: + +"All--that--we--demand!" + +"Then," said Mr. Wrangle, "I bid my support in exchange for the women's! +Just what the speaker demands, without exception or modification--equal +privileges, rights, duties and obligations, without regard to the +question of sex! Is that broad enough?" + +I was all in a tremble when it came to that. Somehow Mr. Wrangle's +acceptance of the bid did not inspire me, although it promised so much. +I had anticipated opposition, dissatisfaction, tumult. So had Mrs. +Whiston, and I could see, and the crowd could see, that she was not +greatly elated. + +Mr. Wrangle made a very significant bow to Mr. Tumbrill, and then sat +down. There were cries of "Tumbrill!" and that gentleman--none of us, +of course, believing him sincere, for we knew his private views--came +forward and made exactly the same pledge. I will do both parties +the justice to say that they faithfully kept their word; nay, it was +generally thought the repetition of their brief pleas for woman, at some +fifty meetings before election came, had gradually conducted them to +the belief that they were expressing their own personal sentiments. The +mechanical echo in public thus developed into an opinion in private. +My own political experience has since demonstrated to me that this is a +phenomenon very common among men. + +The impulse generated at that meeting gradually spread all over the +State. We--the leaders of the Women's Movement--did not rest until we +had exacted the same pledge from all the candidates of both parties; and +the nearer it drew towards election-day, the more prominence was given, +in the public meetings, to the illustration and discussion of the +subject. Our State went for Lincoln by a majority of 2763 (as you will +find by consulting the "Tribune Almanac"), and Mr. Wrangle was elected +to Congress, having received a hundred and forty-two more votes than his +opponent. Mr. Tumbrill has always attributed his defeat to his want of +courage in not taking up at once the glove which Selina Whiston threw +down. + +I think I have said enough to make it clear how the State of Atlantic +came to be the first to grant equal civil and political rights to women. +When the Legislature of 1860-'61 met at Gaston, we estimated that we +might count upon fifty-three out of the seventy-one Republican Senators +and Assemblymen, and on thirty-four out of the sixty-five Democrats. +This would give a majority of twenty-eight in the House, and ten in +the Senate. Should the bill pass, there was still a possibility that +it might be vetoed by the Governor, of whom we did not feel sure. We +therefore arranged that our Annual Fair should be held a fortnight later +than usual, and that the proceeds (a circumstance known only to the +managers) should be devoted to a series of choice suppers, at which we +entertained, not only the Governor and our friends in both Houses, but +also, like true Christians, our legislatorial enemies. Olympia Knapp, +who, you know, is so very beautiful, presided at these entertainments. +She put forth all her splendid powers, and with more effect than any of +us suspected. On the day before the bill reached its third reading, +the Governor made her an offer of marriage. She came to the managers in +great agitation, and laid the matter before them, stating that she was +overwhelmed with surprise (though Sarah Pincher always maintained that +she wasn't in the least), and asking their advice. We discussed the +question for four hours, and finally decided that the interests of +the cause would oblige her to accept the Governor's hand. "Oh, I am so +glad!" cried Olympia, "for I accepted him at once." It was a brave, a +noble deed! + +Now, I would ask those who assert that women are incapable of conducting +the business of politics, to say whether any set of men, of either +party, could have played their cards more skilfully? Even after the +campaign was over we might have failed, had it not been for the suppers. +We owed this idea, like the first, to the immortal Selina Whiston. +A lucky accident--as momentous in its way as the fall of an apple to +Newton, or the flying of a kite to Dr. Franklin--gave her the secret +principle by which the politics of men are directed. Her house in +Whittletown was the half of a double frame building, and the rear-end of +the other part was the private office of--but no, I will not mention the +name--a lawyer and a politician. He was known as a "wirepuller," and the +other wire-pullers of his party used to meet in his office and discuss +matters. Mrs. Whiston always asserted that there was a mouse-hole +through the partition; but she had energy enough to have made a hole +herself, for the sake of the cause. + +She never would tell us all she overheard. "It is enough," she would +say, "that I know how the thing is done." + +I remember that we were all considerably startled when she first gave us +an outline of her plan. On my saying that I trusted the dissemination of +our principles would soon bring us a great adhesion, she burst out with: + +"Principles! Why if we trust to principles, we shall never succeed! We +must rely upon INFLUENCES, as the men do; we must fight them with their +own weapons, and even then we are at a disadvantage, because we cannot +very well make use of whiskey and cigars." + +We yielded, because we had grown accustomed to be guided by her; and, +moreover, we had seen, time and again, how she could succeed--as, for +instance, in the Nelson divorce case (but I don't suppose you ever heard +of that), when the matter seemed nigh hopeless to all of us. The history +of 1860 and the following winter proves that in her the world has lost +a stateswoman. Mr. Wrangle and Governor Battle have both said to me that +they never knew a measure to be so splendidly engineered both before the +public and in the State Legislature. + +After the bill had been passed, and signed by the Governor, and so had +become a law, and the grand Women's Jubilee had been held at Gaston, +the excitement subsided. It would be nearly a year to the next State +election, and none of the women seemed to care for the local and +municipal elections in the spring. Besides, there was a good deal of +anxiety among them in regard to the bill, which was drawn up in almost +the exact terms used by Mr. Wrangle at the political meeting. In fact, +we always have suspected that he wrote it. The word "male" was simply +omitted from all laws. "Nothing is changed," said Mrs. Whiston, quoting +Charles X., "there are only 201,758 more citizens in Atlantic!" + +This was in January, 1861, you must remember; and the shadow of the +coming war began to fall over us. Had the passage of our bill been +postponed a fortnight it would have been postponed indefinitely, for +other and (for the men) more powerful excitements followed one upon +the other. Even our jubilee was thinly attended, and all but two of the +members on whom we relied for speeches failed us. Governor Battle, who +was to have presided, was at Washington, and Olympia, already his wife, +accompanied him. (I may add that she has never since taken any active +part with us. They have been in Europe for the last three years.) + +Most of the women--here in Burroak, at least--expressed a feeling of +disappointment that there was no palpable change in their lot, no sense +of extended liberty, such as they imagined would come to transform them +into brighter and better creatures. They supposed that they would at +once gain in importance in the eyes of the men; but the men were now +so preoccupied by the events at the South that they seemed to have +forgotten our political value. Speaking for myself, as a good Union +woman, I felt that I must lay aside, for a time, the interests of my +sex. Once, it is true, I proposed to accompany Mr. Strongitharm to a +party caucus at the Wrangle House; but he so suddenly discovered that +he had business in another part of the town, that I withdrew my +proposition. + +As the summer passed over, and the first and second call for volunteers +had been met, and more than met, by the patriotic men of the State (how +we blessed them!) we began to take courage, and to feel, that if our +new civil position brought us no very tangible enjoyment, at least it +imposed upon us no very irksome duties. + +The first practical effect of the new law came to light at the August +term of our County Court. The names of seven women appeared on the list +of jurors, but only three of them answered to their names. One, the wife +of a poor farmer, was excused by the Judge, as there was no one to look +after six small children in her absence; another was a tailoress, with +a quantity of work on hand, some of which she proposed bringing with her +into Court, in order to save time; but as this could not be allowed, +she made so much trouble that she was also finally let off. Only one, +therefore, remained to serve; fortunately for the credit of our sex, +she was both able and willing to do so; and we afterward made a +subscription, and presented her with a silver fish-knife, on account of +her having tired out eleven jurymen, and brought in a verdict of $5,000 +damages against a young man whom she convicted of seduction. She told +me that no one would ever know what she endured during those three days; +but the morals of our county have been better ever since. + +Mr. Spelter told me that his State exchanges showed that there had been +difficulties of the same kind in all the other counties. In Mendip (the +county-town of which is Whittletown, Mrs. Whiston's home) the immediate +result had been the decision, on the part of the Commissioners, to build +an addition at the rear of the Court-House, with large, commodious and +well-furnished jury-rooms, so arranged that a comfortable privacy was +secured to the jury-women. I did my best to have the same improvement +adopted here, but, alas! I have not the ability of Selina Whiston +in such matters, and there is nothing to this day but the one vile, +miserable room, properly furnished in no particular except spittoons. + +The nominating Conventions were held in August, also, and we were +therefore called upon to move at once, in order to secure our fair +share. Much valuable time had been lost in discussing a question of +policy, namely, whether we should attach ourselves to the two parties +already in existence, according to our individual inclinations, or +whether we should form a third party for ourselves. We finally accepted +the former proposition, and I think wisely; for the most of us were so +ignorant of political tricks and devices, that we still needed to learn +from the men, and we could not afford to draw upon us the hostility of +both parties, in the very infancy of our movement. + +Never in my life did I have such a task, as in drumming up a few women +to attend the primary township meeting for the election of delegates. It +was impossible to make them comprehend its importance. Even after I had +done my best to explain the technicalities of male politics, and fancied +that I had made some impression, the answer would be: "Well, I'd go, +I'm sure, just to oblige you, but then there's the tomatoes to be +canned"--or, "I'm so behindhand with my darning and patching"--or, +"John'll be sure to go, and there's no need of two from the same +house"--and so on, until I was mightily discouraged. There were just +nine of us, all told, to about a hundred men. I won't deny that our +situation that night, at the Wrangle House, was awkward and not entirely +agreeable. To be sure the landlord gave us the parlor, and most of +the men came in, now and then, to speak to us; but they managed the +principal matters all by themselves, in the bar-room, which was such a +mess of smoke and stale liquor smells, that it turned my stomach when I +ventured in for two minutes. + +I don't think we should have accomplished much, but for a 'cute idea of +Mrs. Wilbur, the tinman's wife. She went to the leaders, and threatened +them that the women's vote should be cast in a body for the Democratic +candidates, unless we were considered in making up the ticket. +THAT helped: the delegates were properly instructed, and the County +Convention afterward nominated two men and one woman as candidates for +the Assembly. That woman was--as I need hardly say, for the world knows +it--myself. I had not solicited the honor, and therefore could not +refuse, especially as my daughter Melissa was then old enough to +keep house in my absence. No woman had applied for the nomination for +Sheriff, but there were seventeen schoolmistresses anxious for the +office of County Treasurer. The only other nomination given to the +women, however, was that of Director (or rather, Directress) of the +Poor, which was conferred on Mrs. Bassett, wife of a clergyman. + +Mr. Strongitharm insisted that I should, in some wise, prepare +myself for my new duties, by reading various political works, and I +conscientiously tried to do so--but, dear me! it was much more of a task +than I supposed. We had all read the debate on our bill, of course; but +I always skipped the dry, stupid stuff about the tariff, and finance, +and stay laws and exemption laws, and railroad company squabbles; and +for the life of me I can't see, to this day, what connection there is +between these things and Women's Rights. But, as I said, I did my best, +with the help of Webster's Dictionary; although the further I went the +less I liked it. + +As election-day drew nearer, our prospects looked brighter. The +Republican ticket, under the editorial head of the "Burroak Banner," +with my name and Mrs. Bassett's among the men's, was such an evidence, +that many women, notably opposed to the cause, said: "We didn't want the +right, but since we have it, we shall make use of it." This was exactly +what Mrs. Whiston had foretold. We estimated that--taking the +County tickets all over the State--we had about one-twentieth of the +Republican, and one-fiftieth of the Democratic, nominations. This was +far from being our due, but still it was a good beginning. + +My husband insisted that I should go very early to the polls. I could +scarcely restrain a tear of emotion as I gave my first ballot into the +hands of the judges. There were not a dozen persons present, and the +act did not produce the sensation which I expected. One man cried +out: "Three cheers for our Assemblywoman!" and they gave them; and I +thereupon returned home in the best spirits. I devoted the rest of the +day to relieving poorer women, who could not have spared the time to +vote, if I had not, meanwhile, looked after their children. The last +was Nancy Black, the shoemaker's wife in our street, who kept me waiting +upon her till it was quite dark. When she finally came, the skirt of her +dress was ripped nearly off, her hair was down and her comb broken; but +she was triumphant, for Sam Black was with her, and SOBER. "The first +time since we were married, Mrs. Strongitharm!" she cried. Then she +whispered to me, as I was leaving: "And I've killed HIS vote, anyhow!" + +When the count was made, our party was far ahead. Up to this time, I +think, the men of both parties had believed that only a few women, here +and there, would avail themselves of their new right--but they were +roundly mistaken. Although only ten per cent. of the female voters went +to the polls, yet three-fourths of them voted the Republican ticket, +which increased the majority of that party, in the State, about eleven +thousand. + +It was amazing what an effect followed this result. The whole country +would have rung with it, had we not been in the midst of war. Mr. +Wrangle declared that he had always been an earnest advocate of the +women's cause. Governor Battle, in his next message, congratulated +the State on the signal success of the experiment, and the Democratic +masses, smarting under their defeat, cursed their leaders for not having +been sharp enough to conciliate the new element. The leaders themselves +said nothing, and in a few weeks the rank and file recovered their +cheerfulness. Even Mrs. Whiston, with all her experience, was a little +puzzled by this change of mood. Alas! she was far from guessing the +correct explanation. + +It was a great comfort to me that Mrs. Whiston was also elected to the +Legislature. My husband had just then established his manufactory of +patent self-scouring knife-blades (now so celebrated), and could not +leave; so I was obliged to go up to Gaston all alone, when the session +commenced. There were but four of us Assemblywomen, and although the +men treated us with great courtesy, I was that nervous that I seemed +to detect either commiseration or satire everywhere. Before I had even +taken my seat, I was addressed by fifteen or twenty different gentlemen, +either great capitalists, or great engineers, or distinguished lawyers, +all interested in various schemes for developing the resources of our +State by new railroads, canals or ferries. I then began to comprehend +the grandeur of the Legislator's office. My voice could assist in making +possible these magnificent improvements, and I promised it to all. Mr. +Filch, President of the Shinnebaug and Great Western Consolidated Line, +was so delighted with my appreciation of his plan for reducing the +freight on grain from Nebraska, that he must have written extravagant +accounts of me to his wife; for she sent me, at Christmas, one of the +loveliest shawls I ever beheld. + +I had frequently made short addresses at our public meetings, and +was considered to have my share of self-possession; but I never could +accustom myself to the keen, disturbing, irritating atmosphere of the +Legislature. Everybody seemed wide-awake and aggressive, instead of +pleasantly receptive; there were so many "points of order," and what +not; such complete disregard, among the members, of each other's +feelings; and, finally--a thing I could never understand, indeed--such +inconsistency and lack of principle in the intercourse of the two +parties. How could I feel assured of their sincerity, when I saw the +very men chatting and laughing together, in the lobbies, ten minutes +after they had been facing each other like angry lions in the debate? + +Mrs. Whiston, also, had her trials of the same character. Nothing ever +annoyed her so much as a little blunder she made, the week after the +opening of the session. I have not yet mentioned that there was already +a universal dissatisfaction among the women, on account of their being +liable to military service. The war seemed to have hardly begun, as +yet, and conscription was already talked about; the women, therefore, +clamored for an exemption on account of sex. Although we all felt +that this was a retrograde movement, the pressure was so great that we +yielded. Mrs. Whiston, reluctant at first, no sooner made up her mind +that the thing must be done, than she furthered it with all her might. +After several attempts to introduce a bill, which were always cut off by +some "point of order," she unhappily lost her usual patience. + +I don't know that I can exactly explain how it happened, for what +the men call "parliamentary tactics" always made me fidgetty. But the +"previous question" turned up (as it always seemed to me to do, at the +wrong time), and cut her off before she had spoken ten words. + +"Mr. Speaker!" she protested; "there is no question, previous to this, +which needs the consideration of the house! This is first in importance, +and demands your immediate--" + +"Order! order!" came from all parts of the house. + +"I am in order--the right is always in order!" she exclaimed, getting +more and more excited. "We women are not going to be contented with the +mere show of our rights on this floor; we demand the substance--" + +And so she was going on, when there arose the most fearful tumult. +The upshot of it was, that the speaker ordered the sergeant-at-arms to +remove Mrs. Whiston; one of the members, more considerate, walked across +the floor to her, and tried to explain in what manner she was violating +the rules; and in another minute she sat down, so white, rigid and +silent that it made me shake in my shoes to look at her. + +"I have made a great blunder," she said to me, that evening; "and it may +set us back a little; but I shall recover my ground." Which she did, +I assure you. She cultivated the acquaintance of the leaders of +both parties, studied their tactics, and quietly waited for a good +opportunity to bring in her bill. At first, we thought it would pass; +but one of the male members presently came out with a speech, which +dashed our hopes to nothing. He simply took the ground that there must +be absolute equality in citizenship; that every privilege was balanced +by a duty, every trust accompanied with its responsibility. He had no +objection to women possessing equal rights with men--but to give them +all civil rights and exempt them from the most important obligation +of service, would be, he said, to create a privileged class--a female +aristocracy. It was contrary to the spirit of our institutions. The +women had complained of taxation without representation; did they now +claim the latter without the former? + +The people never look more than half-way into a subject, and so this +speech was immensely popular. I will not give Mrs. Whiston's admirable +reply; for Mr. Spelter informs me that you will not accept an article, +if it should make more than seventy or eighty printed pages. It is +enough that our bill was "killed," as the men say (a brutal word); and +the women of the State laid the blame of the failure upon us. You may +imagine that we suffered under this injustice; but worse was to come. + +As I said before, a great many things came up in the Legislature which I +did not understand--and, to be candid, did not care to understand. But +I was obliged to vote, nevertheless, and in this extremity I depended +pretty much on Mrs. Whiston's counsel. We could not well go to the +private nightly confabs of the members--indeed, they did not invite us; +and when it came to the issue of State bonds, bank charters, and such +like, I felt as if I were blundering along in the dark. + +One day, I received, to my immense astonishment, a hundred and more +letters, all from the northern part of our county. I opened them, one +after the other, and--well, it is beyond my power to tell you what +varieties of indignation and abuse fell upon me. It seems that I had +voted against the bill to charter the Mendip Extension Railroad Co. +I had been obliged to vote for or against so many things, that it +was impossible to recollect them all. However, I procured the printed +journal, and, sure enough! there, among the nays, was "Strongitharm." +It was not a week after that--and I was still suffering in mind and +body--when the newspapers in the interest of the Rancocus and Great +Western Consolidated accused me (not by name, but the same thing--you +know how they do it) of being guilty of taking bribes. Mr. Filch, of the +Shinnebaug Consolidated had explained to me so beautifully the superior +advantages of his line, that the Directors of the other company took +their revenge in this vile, abominable way. + +That was only the beginning of my trouble. What with these slanders +and longing for the quiet of our dear old home at Burroak, I was +almost sick; yet the Legislature sat on, and sat on, until I was nearly +desperate. Then one morning came a despatch from my husband: "Melissa +is drafted--come home!" How I made the journey I can't tell; I was in an +agony of apprehension, and when Mr. Strongitharm and Melissa both met me +at the Burroak Station, well and smiling, I fell into a hysterical fit +of laughing and crying, for the first time in my life. + +Billy Brandon, who was engaged to Melissa, came forward and took her +place like a man; he fought none the worse, let me tell you, because +he represented a woman, and (I may as well say it now) he came home a +Captain, without a left arm--but Melissa seems to have three arms for +his sake. + +You have no idea what a confusion and lamentation there was all over the +State. A good many women were drafted, and those who could neither +get substitutes for love nor money, were marched to Gaston, where the +recruiting Colonel was considerate enough to give them a separate +camp. In a week, however, the word came from Washington that the Army +Regulations of the United States did not admit of their being received; +and they came home blessing Mr. Stanton. This was the end of drafting +women in our State. + +Nevertheless, the excitement created by the draft did not subside at +once. It was seized upon by the Democratic leaders, as part of a plan +already concocted, which they then proceeded to set in operation. It +succeeded only too well, and I don't know when we shall ever see the end +of it. + +We had more friends among the Republicans at the start, because all the +original Abolitionists in the State came into that party in 1860. Our +success had been so rapid and unforeseen that the Democrats continued +their opposition even after female suffrage was an accomplished fact; +but the leaders were shrewd enough to see that another such election +as the last would ruin their party in the State. So their trains were +quietly laid, and the match was not applied until all Atlantic was +ringing with the protestations of the unwilling conscripts and the +laments of their families. Then came, like three claps of thunder +in one, sympathy for the women, acquiescence in their rights, and +invitations to them, everywhere, to take part in the Democratic caucuses +and conventions. Most of the prominent women of the State were deluded +for a time by this manifestation, and acted with the party for the sake +of the sex. + +I had no idea, however, what the practical result of this movement +would be, until, a few weeks before election, I was calling upon Mrs. +Buckwalter, and happened to express my belief that we Republicans were +going to carry the State again, by a large majority. + +"I am very glad of it," said she, with an expression of great relief, +"because then my vote will not be needed." + +"Why!" I exclaimed; "you won't decline to vote, surely?" + +"Worse than that," she answered, "I am afraid I shall have to vote with +the other side." + +Now as I knew her to be a good Republican, I could scarcely believe my +ears. She blushed, I must admit, when she saw my astonished face. + +"I'm so used to Bridget, you know," she continued, "and good girls are +so very hard to find, nowadays. She has as good as said that she won't +stay a day later than election, if I don't vote for HER candidate; and +what am I to do?" + +"Do without!" I said shortly, getting up in my indignation. + +"Yes, that's very well for you, with your wonderful PHYSIQUE," said Mrs. +Buckwalter, quietly, "but think of me with my neuralgia, and the pain in +my back! It would be a dreadful blow, if I should lose Bridget." + +Well--what with torch-light processions, and meetings on both sides, +Burroak was in such a state of excitement when election came, that most +of the ladies of my acquaintance were almost afraid to go to the polls. +I tried to get them out during the first hours after sunrise, when I +went myself, but in vain. Even that early, I heard things that made +me shudder. Those who came later, went home resolved to give up their +rights rather than undergo a second experience of rowdyism. But it was +a jubilee for the servant girls. Mrs. Buckwalter didn't gain much by her +apostasy, for Bridget came home singing "The Wearing of the Green," and +let fall a whole tray full of the best china before she could be got to +bed. + +Burroak, which, the year before, had a Republican majority of three +hundred, now went for the Democrats by more than five hundred. The +same party carried the State, electing their Governor by near twenty +thousand. The Republicans would now have gladly repealed the bill giving +us equal rights, but they were in a minority, and the Democrats refused +to co-operate. Mrs. Whiston, who still remained loyal to our side, +collected information from all parts of the State, from which it +appeared that four-fifths of all the female citizens had voted the +Democratic ticket. In New Lisbon, our great manufacturing city, with +its population of nearly one hundred thousand, the party gained three +thousand votes, while the accessions to the Republican ranks were only +about four hundred. + +Mrs. Whiston barely escaped being defeated; her majority was reduced +from seven hundred to forty-three. Eleven Democratic Assemblywomen and +four Senatoresses were chosen, however, so that she had the consolation +of knowing that her sex had gained, although her party had lost. She was +still in good spirits: "It will all right itself in time," she said. + +You will readily guess, after what I have related, that I was not only +not re-elected to the Legislature, but that I was not even a candidate. +I could have born the outrageous attacks of the opposite party; but the +treatment I had received from my own "constituents" (I shall always hate +the word) gave me a new revelation of the actual character of political +life. I have not mentioned half the worries and annoyances to which I +was subjected--the endless, endless letters and applications for office, +or for my influence in some way--the abuse and threats when I could +not possibly do what was desired--the exhibitions of selfishness and +disregard of all great and noble principles--and finally, the shameless +advances which were made by what men call "the lobby," to secure my vote +for this, that, and the other thing. + +Why, it fairly made my hair stand on end to hear the stories which the +pleasant men, whom I thought so grandly interested in schemes for +"the material development of the country," told about each other. Mrs. +Filch's shawl began to burn my shoulders before I had worn it a half a +dozen times. (I have since given it to Melissa, as a wedding-present). + +Before the next session was half over, I was doubly glad of being safe +at home. Mrs. Whiston supposed that the increased female representation +would give her more support, and indeed it seemed so, at first. But +after her speech on the Bounty bill, only two of the fifteen Democratic +women would even speak to her, and all hope of concord of action in +the interests of women was at an end. We read the debates, and my blood +fairly boiled when I found what taunts and sneers, and epithets she was +forced to endure. I wondered how she could sit still under them. + +To make her position worse, the adjoining seat was occupied by an +Irishwoman, who had been elected by the votes of the laborers on the +new Albemarle Extension, in the neighborhood of which she kept a grocery +store. Nelly Kirkpatrick was a great, red-haired giant of a woman, very +illiterate, but with some native wit, and good-hearted enough, I am +told, when she was in her right mind. She always followed the lead of +Mr. Gorham (whose name, you see, came before hers in the call), and +a look from him was generally sufficient to quiet her when she was +inclined to be noisy. + +When the resolutions declaring the war a failure were introduced, the +party excitement ran higher than ever. The "lunch-room" (as they called +it--I never went there but once, the title having deceived me) in the +basement-story of the State House was crowded during the discussion, and +every time Nelly Kirkpatrick came up, her face was a shade deeper red. +Mr. Gorham's nods and winks were of no avail--speak she would, and speak +she did, not so very incoherently, after all, but very abusively. To +be sure, you would never have guessed it, if you had read the quiet and +dignified report in the papers on her side, the next day. + +THEN Mrs. Whiston's patience broke down. "Mr. Speaker," she exclaimed, +starting to her feet, "I protest against this House being compelled +to listen to such a tirade as has just been delivered. Are we to be +disgraced before the world--" + +"Oh, hoo! Disgraced, is it?" yelled Nelly Kirkpatrick, violently +interrupting her, "and me as dacent a woman as ever she was, or ever +will be! Disgraced, hey? Oh, I'll larn her what it is to blaggard her +betters!" + +And before anybody could imagine what was coming, she pounced upon Mrs. +Whiston, with one jerk ripped off her skirt (it was silk, not serge, +this time), seized her by the hair, and gave her head such a twist +backwards, that the chignon not only came off in her hands, but as her +victim opened her mouth too widely in the struggle, the springs of her +false teeth were sprung the wrong way, and the entire set flew out and +rattled upon the floor. + +Of course there were cries of "Order! Order!" and the nearest +members--Mr. Gorham among the first--rushed in; but the mischief was +done. Mrs. Whiston had always urged upon our minds the necessity of +not only being dressed according to the popular fashion, but also as +elegantly and becomingly as possible. "If we adopt the Bloomers," she +said, "we shall never get our rights, while the world stands. Where it +is necessary to influence men, we must be wholly and truly WOMEN, not +semi-sexed nondescripts; we must employ every charm Nature gives us and +Fashion adds, not hide them under a forked extinguisher!" I give her +very words to show you her way of looking at things. Well, now imagine +this elegant woman, looking not a day over forty, though she was--but +no, I have no right to tell it,--imagine her, I say, with only her +scanty natural hair hanging over her ears, her mouth dreadfully fallen +in, her skirt torn off, all in open day, before the eyes of a hundred +and fifty members (and I am told they laughed immensely, in spite of the +scandal that it was), and, if you are human beings, you will feel that +she must have been wounded to the very heart. + +There was a motion made to expel Nelly Kirkpatrick, and perhaps it +might have succeeded--but the railroad hands, all over the State, made a +heroine of her, and her party was afraid of losing five or six thousand +votes; so only a mild censure was pronounced. But there was no end +to the caricatures, and songs, and all sorts of ribaldry, about the +occurrence; and even our party said that, although Mrs. Whiston was +really and truly a martyr, yet the circumstance was an immense damage +to THEM. When she heard THAT, I believe it killed her. She resigned her +seat, went home, never appeared again in public, and died within a year. +"My dear friend," she wrote to me, not a month before her death, "I have +been trying all my life to get a thorough knowledge of the masculine +nature, but my woman's plummet will not reach to the bottom of that +chaotic pit of selfishness and principle, expedience and firmness +for the right, brutality and tenderness, gullibility and devilish +shrewdness, which I have tried to sound. Only one thing is clear--we +women cannot do without what we have sometimes, alas! sneered at as THE +CHIVELRY OF THE SEX. The question of our rights is as clear to me as +ever; but we must find a plan to get them without being forced to share, +or even to SEE, all that men do in their political lives. We have +only beheld some Principle riding aloft, not the mud through which her +chariot wheels are dragged. The ways must be swept before we can walk in +them--but how and by whom shall this be done?" + +For my part, _I_ can't say, and I wish somebody would tell me. + +Well--after seeing our State, which we used to be proud of, delivered +over for two years to the control of a party whose policy was so +repugnant to all our feelings of loyalty, we endeavored to procure, at +least a qualification of intelligence for voters. Of course, we didn't +get it: the exclusion from suffrage of all who were unable to read and +write might have turned the scales again, and given us the State. After +our boys came back from the war, we might have succeeded--but their +votes were over-balanced by those of the servant-girls, every one of +whom turned out, making a whole holiday of the election. + +I thought, last fall, that my Maria, who is German, would have voted +with us. I stayed at home and did the work myself, on purpose that she +might hear the oration of Carl Schurz; but old Hammer, who keeps the +lager-beer saloon in the upper end of Burroak, gave a supper and a +dance to all the German girls and their beaux, after the meeting, and +so managed to secure nine out of ten of their votes for Seymour. Maria +proposed going away a week before election, up into Decatur County, +where, she said, some relations, just arrived from Bavaria, had settled. +I was obliged to let her go, or lose her altogether, but I was comforted +by the thought that if her vote were lost for Grant, at least it could +not be given to Seymour. After the election was over, and Decatur +County, which we had always managed to carry hitherto, went against +us, the whole matter was explained. About five hundred girls, we were +informed, had been COLONIZED in private families, as extra help, for a +fortnight, and of course Maria was one of them. (I have looked at +the addresses of her letters, ever since, and not one has she sent +to Decatur). A committee has been appointed, and a report made on the +election frauds in our State, and we shall see, I suppose, whether any +help comes of it. + +Now, you mustn't think, from all this, that I am an apostate from the +principle of Women's Rights. No, indeed! All the trouble we have had, +as I think will be evident to the millions who read my words, comes from +THE MEN. They have not only made politics their monopoly, but they have +fashioned it into a tremendous, elaborate system, in which there is +precious little of either principle or honesty. We can and we MUST "run +the machine" (to use another of their vulgar expressions) with them, +until we get a chance to knock off the useless wheels and thingumbobs, +and scour the whole concern, inside and out. Perhaps the men themselves +would like to do this, if they only knew how: men have so little talent +for cleaning-up. But when it comes to making a litter, they're at home, +let me tell you! + +Meanwhile, in our State, things are about as bad as they can be. +The women are drawn for juries, the same as ever, but (except in +Whittletown, where they have a separate room,) no respectable woman +goes, and the fines come heavy on some of us. The demoralization among +our help is so bad, that we are going to try Co-operative Housekeeping. +If that don't succeed, I shall get brother Samuel, who lives in +California, to send me two Chinamen, one for cook and chamber-boy, and +one as nurse for Melissa. I console myself with thinking that the end of +it all must be good, since the principle is right: but, dear me! I had +no idea that I should be called upon to go through such tribulation. + +Now the reason I write--and I suppose I must hurry to the end, or you +will be out of all patience--is to beg, and insist, and implore my +sisters in other States to lose no more time, but at once to coax, or +melt, or threaten the men into accepting their claims. We are now so +isolated in our rights that we are obliged to bear more than our proper +share of the burden. When the States around us shall be so far advanced, +there will be a chance for new stateswomen to spring up, and fill Mrs. +Whiston's place, and we shall then, I firmly believe, devise a plan to +cleanse the great Augean stable of politics by turning into it the river +of female honesty and intelligence and morality. But they must do this, +somehow or other, without letting the river be tainted by the heaps of +pestilent offal it must sweep away. As Lord Bacon says (in that play +falsely attributed to Shakespeare)--"Ay, there's the rub!" + +If you were to ask me, NOW, what effect the right of suffrage, office, +and all the duties of men has had upon the morals of the women of our +State, I should be puzzled what to say. It is something like this--if +you put a chemical purifying agent into a bucket of muddy water, the +water gets clearer, to be sure, but the chemical substance takes up some +of the impurity. Perhaps that's rather too strong a comparison; but if +you say that men are worse than women, as most people do, then of course +we improve them by closer political intercourse, and lose a little +ourselves in the process. I leave you to decide the relative loss and +gain. To tell you the truth, this is a feature of the question which +I would rather not discuss; and I see, by the reports of the recent +Conventions, that all the champions of our sex feel the same way. + +Well, since I must come to an end somewhere, let it be here. To quote +Lord Bacon again, take my "round, unvarnished tale," and perhaps the +world will yet acknowledge that some good has been done by + +Yours truly, + +JANE STRONGITHARM. + + + + + +[Footnote 1: Little Boris.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From +Home, by Bayard Taylor + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AND *** + +***** This file should be named 292.txt or 292.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/292/ + +Produced by Mike Lough + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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