BEN'S VISIT.
The next morning, as Mrs. Van Vechten was slowly making her toilet
alone, there came a gentle rap at her door, and Rosamond Leyton
appeared, her face fresh and blooming as a rose-bud, her curls brushed
back from her forehead, and her voice very respectful, as she said--"I
have come to ask your pardon for my roughness yesterday. I can do
better, and if you will let me wait on you while you stay, I am sure I
shall please you."
Mrs. Van Vechten could not resist that appeal, and she graciously
accepted the girl's offer, asking her the while what had made the
change in her behavior. Always frank and truthful, Rosamond explained
to the lady that Mr. Browning's kindness had filled her with gratitude
and determined her to do as she had done. To her Mrs. Van Vechten said
nothing, but when she met her brother at the breakfast table, there
was an ominous frown upon her face, and the moment they were alone,
she gave him her opinion without reserve. But Mr. Browning was firm.
"He should have something to live for," he said, "and Heaven only knew
the lonely hours he passed with no object in which to be interested.
Her family, though unfortunate, are highly respectable," he added,
"and if I can make her a useful ornament in society, it is my duty to
do so."
Mrs. Van Vechten knew how useless it would be to remonstrate with him,
and she gave up the contest, mentally resolving that "Ben should not
pass his college vacations there."
When the villagers learned that Mr. Browning intended to educate
Rosamond and treat her as his equal, they ascribed it wholly to the
influence of his sister, who, of course, had suggested to him an act
which seemed every way right and proper. They did not know how the
lady opposed it, nor how, for many days, she maintained a cold reserve
toward the young girl, who strove in various ways to conciliate her,
and at last succeeded so far that she not only accepted her services
at her toilet, but even asked of her sometimes to read her to sleep in
the afternoon, a process neither long nor tedious, for Mrs. Van
Vechten was not literary, and by the time the second page was reached
she usually nodded her full acquiescence to the author's opinions, and
Rosamond was free to do as she pleased.
One afternoon when Mrs. Van Vechten was fast asleep, and Rosamond deep
in the "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," (the former having selected
that poem as an opiate because of its musical jingle,) there was the
sound of a bounding step upon the stairs, accompanied by the stirring
notes of Yankee Doodle, which some one whistled at the top of his
voice. Rosamond was about going to see who it was, when the door
opened and disclosed to view a long, lank, light-haired, good-natured
looking youth, dressed in the extreme of fashion, with a huge gold
chain dangling across his vest, and an immense diamond ring upon his
little finger. This last he managed to show frequently by caressing
his chin, where, by the aid of a microscope, a very little down might
possibly have been found! This was Ben! He had just arrived, and
learning that his mother was in her room, had entered it
unceremoniously. The unexpected apparition of a beautiful young girl
startled him, and he introduced himself to her good graces by the very
expressive exclamation, "_Thunder!_ I beg your pardon, Miss," he
continued, as he met her surprised and reproving glance. "You scared
me so I didn't know what else to say. It's a favorite expression of
mine, but I'll quit it, if you say so. Do you live here?"
"I wait upon your mother," was the quiet answer, which came near
wringing from the young man a repetition of the offensive word.
But he remembered himself in time, and then continued, "How do you
know she's my mother? You are right, though. I'm Ben Van Vechten--the
veriest dolt in school, they say. But, as an offset, I've got a heart
as big as an ox; and now, who are you? I know you are not a waiting-
maid!"
Rosamond explained who she was, and then, rather pleased with his off-
hand manner, began to question him concerning his journey, and so
forth. Ben was delighted. It was not every girl who would of her own
accord talk to him, and sitting down beside her, he told her twice
that she was handsome, was cautiously winding his arm around her
waist, when from the rosewood bedstead there came the sharp, quick
word, "Benjamin!" and, unmindful of Rosamond's presence, Ben leaped
into the middle of the room, ejaculating, "Thunder! mother, what do
you want?"
"I want _her_ to leave the room," said Mrs. Van Vechten, pointing
toward Rosamond, who, wholly ignorant of the nature of her offence,
retreated hastily, wondering how she had displeased the capricious
lady.
Although Ben Van Vechten would not have dared to do a thing in direct
opposition to his mother's commands, he was not ordinarily afraid of
her, and he now listened impatiently, while she told him that Rosamond
Leyton was not a fit associate for a young man like himself, "She was
a sort of nobody, whom her brother had undertaken to educate," she
said, "and though she might be rather pretty, she was low-born and
vulgar, as any one could see."
Ben confessed to a deficiency of eye-sight on that point, and then, as
his mother showed no signs of changing the conversation, he left her
abruptly, and sauntered off into the garden, where he came suddenly
upon Rosamond, who was finishing the Ancient Mariner in the summer-
house, her favorite resort.
"So we've met again," said he, "and a pretty lecture I've had on your
account."
"Why on my account?" asked Rosamond; and Ben, who never kept a thing
to himself, told her in substance all his mother had said.
"She always wakes in the wrong time," said he, "and she saw me just as
I was about to give you a little bit of a hug--so"--and he proceeded
to demonstrate.
Rosamond's temper was up, and equally indignant at mother and son, she
started to her feet, exclaiming, "I'd thank you, sir, to let me
alone."
"Whew-ew," whistled Ben. "Spunky, ain't you. Now I rather like that.
But pray don't burst a blood vessel. I've no notion of making love to
you, if mother does think so. You are too small a girl."
"Too small a girl," repeated Rosamond, scornfully. "I'm _fourteen_ to-
morrow--quite too old to be insulted," and she darted away, followed
by the merry laugh of the good-humored Ben.
Two hours before, Rosamond would not have been so excited, for though
nearly fourteen, she was in thought and feeling a very child, as was
proved by her asking to kiss her benefactor's hand; but Mrs. Van
Vechten's remarks, repeated to her by Ben, had wrought in her a
change, and, in some respects, transformed her into a woman at once.
She did not care so much for the liberties Ben had attempted to take,
but his mother's words rankled in her bosom, awakening within her a
feeling of bitter resentment; and when, next day, the lady's bell rang
out its summons for her to come, she sat still upon the doorsteps and
gave no heed.
"Rosamond," said Mrs. Peters, "Mrs. Van Vechten is ringing for you."
"Let her ring, I'm not going to wait on her any more," and Rosamond
returned to the book she was reading.
Meantime, flurried and impatient, the lady above stairs pulled at the
bell-rope, growing more nervous and angry with every pull, until at
last, as she heard her brother's step in the hall, she went out to him
and said, "I wish you'd send that girl to me. I've rung at least fifty
times; and dare say she's enticing Ben again. I knew it would be so."
Going hurriedly down the stairs, Mr. Browning sought out Rosamond and
said to her, "My sister is ringing for you."
"I know it, sir;" and the brown eyes, which heretofore had seemed so
soft and gentle, flashed upon him an expression which puzzled him.
"Then why do you not go?" he asked; and the young girl replied, "I
shall not wait upon, her any more."
"_Rosamond!_" said Mr. Browning. There was severity in the tone of his
voice, and Rosamond roused at once.
"She says I am _vulgar_, and _low-born_, and have designs upon Ben,"
said she, "and it's a falsehood. My mother was as much a lady as she.
I am _not_ vulgar, and I hate Ben, and I won't stay here if I must
wait on _her_. Shall I go away?"
If Rosamond left, the life of the house went with her. This Mr.
Browning knew; but man-like, he did not wish to be conquered by a
woman, and after questioning her as to the nature of Mrs. Van
Vechten's offence, he answered, "My sister says some foolish things, I
know, but it is my request that you attend to her while she stays, and
I expect to be obeyed."
That last word was unfortunate, for Rosamond had a strong will of her
own, and tapping her little foot upon the ground, she said saucily,
"And suppose you are not obeyed?"
He did not tell her she must leave Riverside, but he said, "You must
answer for your disobedience to me, who have certainly some right to
control you;" then, fearing that his own high temper might be tried
more than he chose to have it, he walked away just in time to avoid
hearing her say, "she cared less for him than for his sister!"
Rosamond was too impulsive not to repent bitterly of her conduct; and
though she persisted in leaving Mrs. Van Vechten to herself, and
refused to speak to Ben, whose face, in consequence, wore a most
melancholy expression, she almost cried herself sick, and at last,
startled Mrs. Peters, just as that lady was stepping into bed, by
declaring that she must see Mr. Browning before she slept.
Mr. Browning sat in his library, alone. He did not usually retire
early, but this night he had cause for wakefulness. The burst of
passion he had witnessed in his protegee, had carried him back to a
time when another than little Rosamond Leyton had laughed his wishes
to scorn.
"And is it ever thus with them?" he said. "Are all women furies in
disguise?--and Rosamond seemed so gentle, so good."
He did not hear the low knock on his door, for his thoughts were far
away in the south-land, where he had learned his first lesson of
womankind. Neither did he hear the light footfall upon the floor, but
when a sweet, tearful voice said to him, "Mr. Browning, are you
feeling so badly for me?" he started, and on a hassock at his feet saw
Rosamond Leyton. The sight of her was unexpected, and it startled him
for a moment, but soon recovering his composure, he said gently: "Why
are you here? I supposed you were in bed."
Rosamond began to cry, and with her usual impetuosity replied, "I came
to tell you how sorry I am for behaving so rudely to you. I do try to
govern my temper so hard, but it sometimes gets the mastery. Won't you
forgive me, sir? It wasn't Rosamond that acted so--it was a vile,
wicked somebody else. Will you forgive me?" and in her dread that the
coveted forgiveness might be withheld, she forgot that he was only
_twenty-four_, and laid her head upon his knee, sobbing like a little
child.
"Had _she_ done like this, how different would my life have been,"
thought Mr. Browning, and involuntarily caressing the curly head, he
was about to speak, when Rosamond interrupted him, saying,
"I won't deceive you, Mr. Browning, and make you think I'm better than
I am. I am sorry I acted so to you, but I don't believe I'm sorry
about Mrs. Van Vechten. I don't like her, for she always treats me as
though I were not near as good as she, and I can't wait on her any
more. Must I? Oh, don't make me," and she looked beseechingly into his
face.
He could not help respecting her for that inborn feeling, which would
not permit herself to be trampled down, and though he felt intuitively
that she was having her own way after all, he assured her of his
forgiveness, and then added: "Mrs. Van Vechten will not require your
services, for she received a letter to-night, saying her presence was
needed at home, and she leaves us to-morrow."
"_And Ben?_" she asked--"does he go, too?"
"He accompanies his mother to New York," Mr. Browning said, "and I
believe she intends leaving him there with a friend, until his school
commences again."
In spite of herself, Rosamond rather liked Ben, and feeling that she
was the cause of his banishment from Riverside, her sympathy was
enlisted for him, and she said, "If I were not here, Ben would stay.
Hadn't you rather send me away?"
"No, Rosamond, no;--I need you here," was Mr. Browning's reply, and
then as the clock struck eleven, he bade her leave him, saying it was
time children like her were in bed.
As he had said, Mis. Van Vechten was going away, and she came down to
breakfast next morning in her traveling dress, appearing very
unamiable, and looking very cross at Rosamond, with whom she finally
parted without a word of reconciliation. Ben, on the contrary, was all
affability, and managed slyly to kiss her, telling her he should come
there again in spite of his mother.
After their departure the household settled back into its usual
monotonous way of living, with the exception that Rosamond, being
promoted to the position of an equal, became, in many respects, the
real mistress of Riverside, though Mrs. Peters nominally held the
reins, and aside from superintending her work, built many castles of
the future when her protegee would be a full grown woman and her
master still young and handsome!