Meanwhile, how had the time sped to the nominal head of the Hunt
household--the solitary, toiling father and husband? The servants were
dismissed when "the family" left town, although Mr. Hunt continued
to sleep at home. A peripatetic maid-of-all-work--what the English
denominate a charwoman--was engaged to come early every morning to
clear up the only room in the establishment that was used before the
cashier went out for his breakfast, which he procured at a restaurant
pretty far down town. The same quiet coffee-house furnished him with
dinner and an early tea, after which last refreshment he was at
liberty to pass the evening in whatever manner he liked best. There
was nothing in the city worth seeing at this season, even if he had
not lost all taste for shows and gayety. Those of his acquaintances
who were not absent with their wives and daughters were living like
himself, furniture in overalls, carpets covered, apartments closed,
with the exception, perhaps, of one bedroom, and had no place in which
to receive him if he had been in the habit of visiting, which he was
not. He was very tired, moreover, by the time night came on, and as the
heat increased and the days grew longer, his strength waned more and
more, and his spirits with it. Meekly and uncomplainingly he plodded
through his routine of bank duties, so steady and so faithful that
his fellow-workers and customers had come to regard him as a reliable
fixture, a piece of machinery, whose winding up was self-performed and
whose accuracy was infallible.
When, therefore, on a sultry August afternoon, he turned to leave his
desk at the close of business hours, grew terribly pale and dropped
upon the floor in a fit of death-like faintness, there was great
consternation, and as much wonder as if no human clock-work had ever
given out before, under a like process of exhausting demands.
Clumsily, but with the best of intentions, they brought him to his
senses, and in half an hour or so he was sufficiently recovered to be
taken home. There was a twitching of the lips that might have passed
for a sarcastic smile, as he heard the proposal to convey him to his
house; but he only gave his street and number, and lay silently back
in the carriage, supported by his friends, two of whom insisted upon
seeing him safely to his own abode.
"Is this the place? Why, it is all shut up!" exclaimed one of these
gentlemen as the driver drew up before the dusty steps.
Mrs. Hunt's orders were that the entrance to her mansion should
present the most desolate air possible during her absence. It had "an
aristocratical look in the summer time, when everybody but nobodies was
rusticating."
Again that singular contortion of the mouth, and the master (?) of the
forlorn-looking habitation prepared to descend, fumbling in his pocket
for his pass-key.
"I am obliged to you, gentlemen, for your great kindness, and
will--not--trouble--you--longer."
In trying to raise his hand to his hat for a bow, the ghastly hue again
overspread his face, and he staggered. Without further parley his two
aids laid hold of him, one on each side, and supported him into the
house, up one, two flights of linen-draped stairs, to a back bedroom.
Mrs. Hunt would have let her husband faint on the sidewalk before she
would have received company in that chamber in its present condition;
for the handsomest articles of furniture stood covered up in another
apartment, and their place was supplied by a plain bureau, wash-stand
and bed belonging to the boys' room, a story higher up. The wisdom of
this precaution was manifest in the signs of neglect and slovenliness
displayed on all sides. One could have written his name in the dust
upon the glass; there was dirt in every corner and under each chair and
table; the wash-basin was partly full of dirty suds, and the towels
and counterpane shockingly dingy.
These things were not remarked by the intruders until they had got
their charge to bed, resisted no longer by him, for he began to
comprehend his inability to help himself.
"There is no one besides ourselves on the premises, not even a
servant," one of them said apart to his associate, after a brief
absence from the room. "If you will stay with him until I come back I
will go for a doctor."
The invalid caught the last word.
"Indeed, Mr. Hammond, there is no need for you to do anything more--no
necessity for calling in a physician. I am quite comfortable now, and
shall be well by morning."
Mr. Hammond, who was a director in the bank, and sincerely honored the
honest veteran now prostrated by his devoted performance of duty, took
the hot, tremulous hand in his.
"I cannot allow you to peril your valuable health, my dear sir. Unless
you positively forbid it, I shall not only call your physician, but
drop in again myself this evening, and satisfy my mind as to whether
you require my presence through the night."
He was as good as his word; but no amount of persuasion could induce
Mr. Hunt to accept his offered watch. He would be "uneasy, unhappy,
if his young friend sacrificed his own rest so uselessly," and loath
as he was to leave him to solitude and suffering, Mr. Hammond had to
yield. At his morning visit, he found the patient more tractable. After
tedious hours of fevered wakefulness, he had endeavored to rise, only
to sink back again upon his pillow--dizzy, sick, and now thoroughly
alarmed at the state of his system. He did not combat his friend's
proposal to obtain a competent nurse, and to look in on him in person
as often as practicable; still, utterly refused to allow his wife to be
written to on the subject of his indisposition.
"I shall be better in a day or two, probably before she could reach me.
I have never had a spell of illness. It is not likely that this will
be anything of consequence. I greatly prefer that she should not be
apprised of this attack."
Mr. Hammond was resolute on his part--the more determined, when the
physician had paid another visit, and pronounced the malady a low
fever, that would, doubtless, confine the sick man to his bed for
several days, if not weeks.
"It is not just to your wife and children, Mr. Hunt, to keep them in
ignorance of so important a matter!" he urged. "They will have cause to
feel themselves aggrieved by you, and ill-treated by me, if we practice
this deception upon them."
Mr. Hunt lay quiet for some minutes.
"Perhaps you are in the right," he said. "Sarah would be wounded, I
know. I will send for her!" he concluded, with more animation. "She
will come as soon as she receives the letter."
"Of course she will!" rejoined Mr. Hammond, confidently; "you are not
able to write. Suffer me to be your amanuensis." He sat down at a
stand, and took out his pen. "Where is Mrs. Hunt at present?"
"I am not sure. Either at Saratoga or Newport."
Mr. Hammond looked surprised. "But it is necessary, sir, that we should
know with some degree of certainty, or the letter may miscarry. Perhaps
it would be well to write to both places."
"The letter! Both places!" repeated Mr. Hunt, with perplexity. "I
alluded to my daughter Sarah, sir, my second child, who is spending the
summer with her aunt in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. May I take the liberty
of asking you to write her a short note, mentioning my sickness in as
guarded terms as you can use, and requesting her to come up to the city
for a few days? She has my youngest child--a little girl--with her. If
she can be contented to remain with her aunt, Sarah had better leave
her there. She would be an additional burden to her sister if she were
here."
Whatever Mr. Hammond thought of the marked preference shown to the
daughter above the wife, he said nothing, but proceeded to indite the
desired epistle, adding, in a postscript, on his own account, that he
would take pleasure in meeting Miss Hunt at the wharf, on her arrival,
and for this purpose would be at the boat each day, until she made her
appearance in New York.
He went, accordingly, the next afternoon, although very confident that
she could not have received his letter in season to take that boat. Mr.
Hunt had proved to him and to himself the utter impossibility of her
coming, yet his eyes brightened with expectancy as his friend entered,
and faded into sadness as he reported the ill-success of his errand.
"He is evidently extremely partial to this one of his children,"
thought Mr. Hammond, as he paced the wharf on the second evening,
watching, amid noisy hack-drivers and expressmen, for the steamer. "I
have seen the girls at parties, but do not remember their names. One of
them is very pretty. I wonder if she is 'Sarah!'"
It was growing dusk as the boat touched the pier. So dim was the light,
that Mr. Hammond was obliged to station himself close beside the
gangway, and inspect the features of each lady passenger more narrowly
than politeness would, in other circumstances, have warranted. They
hurried across, men and women, tall and short, stout and slender, until
there tripped towards him the figure of a young girl, attired in a gray
dress and mantle, and carrying a small traveling bag in her hand. She
would have passed him, had he not stepped forward and spoken.
"Miss Hunt, I believe!"
In the uncertain twilight, he could see that she grew very pale.
"How is my father?"
There was no preamble of civility or diffidence; no reserve in
addressing him, a mere stranger; no trembling, preparatory queries; but
a point-blank question, in a tone whose impatient anguish moved his
kind heart; a piercing look, that would know the truth then and there!
"He is better, to-day"--and he led her out of the press of the onward
stream. "He has not been dangerously ill. We hope and believe that he
will not be."
"Is that true?" Her fingers tightened upon his arm.
"It is! I would not, for the world, deceive you in such a matter."
"I believe you! Thank Heaven! I feared the worst!" She covered her
face with her hands, and burst into tears.
Hammond beckoned a hackman, close by, and when the short-lived reaction
of overwrought feeling subsided so far as to allow Sarah to notice
surrounding objects, she was seated in the carriage, screened from
curious or impertinent gazers, and her escort was nowhere to be seen.
Several minutes elapsed before he again showed himself at the window.
"I must trouble you for your checks, Miss Hunt, in order to get your
baggage."
Already ashamed of her emotion, she obeyed his demand without speaking.
"You have given me but one," he said, turning it over in his hand.
"That is all, sir."
"Indeed! You are a model traveler! I thought no young lady, in these
days, ever stirred from home without half a dozen trunks." To himself
he added, "A sensible girl! An exception to most of her sex, in one
thing, at any rate!"
Sarah sat well back into her corner, as they drove up lighted Broadway,
and was almost rudely taciturn, while her companion related the
particulars of her father's seizure and subsequent confinement to his
room. Yet, that she listened with intense interest, the narrator knew
by her irregular breathing and immovable attitude. As they neared their
destination, this fixedness of attention and posture was exchanged for
an eager restlessness. She leaned forward to look out of the window,
and when they turned into the last street, quick as was Mr. Hammond's
motion to unfasten the door of the vehicle, her hand was first upon
the lock. It was cold as ice, and trembled so much as to be powerless.
Gently removing it, he undid the catch, and assisted her to alight.
The hired nurse answered their ring, and while Sarah brushed past
her, and flew up the stairway, Mr. Hammond detained the woman to make
inquiries and issue directions.
"It is all very dreary-like, sir," she complained. "Everything is
packed away and locked up. There's no getting at a lump of sugar
without a hunt for the key, and all he's seemed to care for this
blessed day, was that his daughter should be made comfortable. He sent
me out this afternoon to buy biscuits, and sardines, and peaches for
her tea, and told me where I'd find silver and china. It is not at all
the thing for him to be worrying at such a rate. He'll be worse for it
to-morrow, and so I've told him, Mr. Hammond."
"Perhaps not, Mrs. Kerr. His daughter's coming will cheer him and quiet
him, too, I doubt not. I will not go up now. Please present my regards
to Mr. Hunt, and say that I will call to-morrow."
He purposely deferred his visit until the afternoon, supposing that
Miss Hunt might object to his early and unceremonious appearance in
the realms now under her control; nor when he went did he ascend at
once to the sick-chamber, as was his custom before the transfer of its
superintendence. Sending up his name by the nurse, he awaited a formal
invitation, among the shrouded sofas and chairs of the sitting-room.
"You'll please to walk up, sir!" was the message he received; and the
woman subjoined, confidentially, "Things is brighter to-day, sir."
They certainly were. With wonderfully little noise and confusion,
Sarah, assisted by the nurse, had wrought an utter change in the
desolate apartment. With the exception of the bureau, which had
been drawn out of sight into the adjoining dressing-room, and the
bedstead, the common, defaced furniture had disappeared, and its place
was supplied by more comfortable and elegant articles. The windows
were shaded, without giving an aspect of gloom to the chamber; the
bed-coverings were clean and fresh; and the sick man, supported by
larger and plumper pillows than those among which he had tossed for
many a weary night, greeted his visitor with a cordial smile and
outstretched hand.
"I thank you for your kind care of my daughter last evening, sir.
Sarah, my dear, this is my friend, Mr. Hammond, to whose goodness I am
so much indebted."
"The debt is mine no less," was the frank reply, as she shook hands
with her new acquaintance. "We can never thank you sufficiently, Mr.
Hammond, for all you have done for us, in taking care of him."
"A genuine woman! a dutiful, affectionate daughter!" was now Hammond's
comment, as he disclaimed all right to her gratitude. "None of your
sentimental, affected absurdities, with nothing in either head or
heart!"
This impression was confirmed by daily observation; for politeness
first, then inclination, induced him to continue his "professional"
calls, as Sarah styled them. He seemed to divide with her the
responsibility of her position. Its duties were onerous; but for this
she did not care. She was strong and active, and love made labor
light--even welcome to her. A competent cook was inducted into office
below stairs, and household matters went forward with system and
despatch. The eye of the mistress, pro tem., was over all; her hand
ever ready to lift her share of the load, yet her attendance at her
father's bedside appeared unremitting. His disease, without being
violent, was distressing and wearing, destroying sleep and appetite,
and preying constantly upon the nerves. To soothe these, Sarah read and
talked cheerfully, and often, at his request, sang old-time ballads and
childish lullabys to court diversion and slumber.
Occasionally Lewis Hammond paused without the door until the strain was
concluded, drinking in the notes with more pleasure than he was wont to
feel in listening to the bravuras and startling, astonishing cadenzas
that were warbled in his ears by the amateur cantatrices of the "best
circles;" then, when the sounds from within ceased, he delayed his
entrance some moments longer, lest the songstress should suspect his
eavesdropping. He ceased to speculate upon the reasons of Mrs. Hunt's
protracted absence at a time when no true-hearted wife could, from
choice, remain away from her rightful post. When, at the expiration
of a fortnight from the day of the attack, the physician declared his
patient feebly, but surely convalescent, his young friend had decided,
to his entire satisfaction, that things were best as they were. Mr.
Hunt had made a most judicious selection from the female portion of his
family, and what need of more nurses when this one was so efficient
and willing? He caught himself hoping that the fussy dame he had met
in society would not abridge her summer's recreation on account of
an ailing husband. He had designed going to Saratoga himself, for ten
days or two weeks; but he was very well. It was difficult to get away
from business, and this affair of Mr. Hunt's enlisted his sympathies
so deeply, that he could not resolve upon leaving him. If he had never
before enjoyed the bliss that flows from a disinterested action, he
tasted it now.
Mrs. Hunt was not kept in total ignorance of what was transpiring at
home. Sarah had written, cautiously and hopefully, of her father's
sickness and her recall; repeating Mr. Hunt's wish that his consort
should not hurry back through mistaken solicitude for his health and
comfort; and they were taken at their word. A week elapsed before an
answer arrived--a lengthy missive, that had cost the writer more pains
and time than the preparation for her annual "crush" generally did. She
was an indifferent penman, and sadly out of practice; but there was
much to be said, and "Lucy, of course, circumstanced as she was, could
not spare time to be her scribe."
This significant phrase quickened Sarah's inborn curiosity; but there
was nothing for the next three pages that fed or quieted it. They were
filled with minute directions about housewifery--economical details,
that would have served as capital illustrations of "Poor Richard's"
maxims; injunctions, warnings, and receipts sufficient in quantity to
last a young, frugally-disposed housekeeper for the remainder of her
natural existence. It was a trial to this exemplary wife and mother,
she confessed, to absent herself so long from her home duties; but
circumstances had compelled her to stay at Saratoga. Of their nature,
Sarah had already been informed in her sister's last letter.
"Which I cannot have received, then"--Sarah interrupted herself to say,
as she read to her father: "I have not heard from Lucy in four weeks. I
have thought hard of her for not writing."
"But," concluded Mrs. Hunt, "matters looks well just now, and I know
your father will aggree, when he heers all about our season's work,
that our labor and Money has been a good investment. Take care of the
keys yourself, Sarah. Be pruedent, keep a sharp Lookout on the cook,
and don't negleck your poor father.
"Your Affectionate mother,
"E. Hunt."
"P. S. Your kitchen Girl must have a Great deel of spair Time. Set her
to work cleening the House, for you may expeckt us home in two weeks,
or maybe Less.
"E. H."
Lucy had slipped a note in the same envelope--a thin, satiny sheet,
hardly larger than the little hand that had moved over its perfumed
page. Her chirography was very running, very light, very ladylike, and,
we need not say, very italical.
"Mamma tells me, Sarah dear, that she has given you a hint of how
matters are progressing between your humble servant and our particular
friend, of whom I wrote in my last. The poor, dear woman flatters
herself that it is all her work; but somebody else may have his
own opinion, and I certainly have mine. I have had to caution her
repeatedly, to prevent her from showing her delight too plainly to my
'Goldfinch,' as Vic. and I have dubbed him. Don't be in a hurry with
your congratulations, ma chere. 'There's many a slip 'twixt the cup
and the lip;' and although the season is so near over, I may yet see
some one whom I like better than His Highness. Vic. has a beau, too--a
rich widower, less fascinating than my devoted; but a very agreeable
man, without encumbrance, and very much smitten. So we pair off nicely
in our rides and promenades, and, entre nous, are quite the talk. You
are a good little thing to nurse papa so sweetly--a great deal better
than I am. I told my knight of this proof of your excellence the other
day, and he said it was only what might have been expected from my
sister! Don't you feel flattered? Poor fellow! Love is blind, you know.
"Love to papa. I am sorry he has been so unwell. I do not imagine
that I shall have time to write again before we leave this paradise.
We will telegraph you when to expect us. Perhaps I may have an escort
home--some one who would like to have a private conference with my
respected father. Nous verrons!
"Lovingly,
"Lucie."
Mr. Hunt twisted himself uneasily in his arm-chair as his daughter,
by his desire, reluctantly read aloud the double letter. A shade of
dissatisfaction and shame clouded his countenance when she finished,
and he sighed heavily.
"I am glad they are still enjoying themselves," said Sarah, forcing a
smile. "Lucy has secured a captive too, it appears--one whom she is
likely to bring home at her chariot wheels."
"In my day daughters were in the habit of consulting their fathers
before giving decided encouragement to any admirers, strangers
especially," said Mr. Hunt, with displeasure. "In these times there are
no parents! There is the 'old man' and 'the Governor,' who makes the
money his children honor him by wasting, and the 'poor, dear woman,'
who plays propriety in the belle's flirtations, and helps, or hinders,
in snaring some booby 'Goldfinch.' It is a lying, cheating, hollow
world! I have been sick of it for twenty years!"
"Father! my dear father," exclaimed Sarah, kneeling beside him, and
winding her arms about his neck. "You misjudge your children, and their
love for you!"
"I believe in you, child! I cannot understand how you have contrived
to grow up so unlike your sister and your"--The recollection of the
respect his daughter owed her mother, checked the word.
"You do not deal fairly with Lucy's character, father. She has one of
the kindest hearts and most amiable dispositions in the world. I wish
I had caused you as little anxiety as she has. Remember her obedience
and my wilfulness; her gentleness and my obstinacy, and blush at your
verdict, Sir Judge!"
She seated herself upon his foot-cushion and rested her chin upon his
knee, looking archly up in his face. She was surprised and troubled at
this degree of acrimony in one whose habitual manner was so placid, and
his judgment so mild; but, for his sake, she was resolute not to show
her feeling. He laid his hand caressingly upon her shoulder, and sank
into a revery, profound, and seemingly not pleasant.
Sarah took advantage of his abstraction to remove the wrapper of a
newspaper received by the same mail that had brought her letters.
The operation was carefully performed, so as not to invite notice,
and the envelope laid away in her work-box. She knew well who had
traced the clear, bold superscription, and what initials composed the
mysterious cipher in one corner of the cover; nor was this the only
token of recollection she had from this source. The article marked in
the number of the literary journal he had selected as the medium of
correspondence, was an exquisite little poem from an author whose works
Philip had read to her in the vine-covered porch at Shrewsbury. Slowly,
longingly she perused it; gathering sweetness from every word, and
fancying how his intonations would bring out beauties she could not of
herself discover. Then she took out the wrapper again, and studied the
postmark. On the former papers he had sent the stamp was illegible, but
this was easily deciphered--"Albany."
"So near! He is returning homewards!" was the glad reflection that
flooded her face with joy.
"Sarah!" said her father, abruptly. "Do you ever think of marriage?"
"Sir?" stammered the girl, confused beyond measure.
"I mean, have you imbibed your sister's ideas on this subject? the
notions of ninety-nine hundredths of girls in your walk of life.
Do you intend to seek a husband, boldly and unblushingly, in all
public places? to degrade yourself by practising the arts they
understand so well to catch an 'eligible' partner, who may repay your
insincerity and mercenary views by insult and infidelity--at best by
indifference! Child! you do not know the risk match-making mothers
and husband-hunting daughters run; the terrible retribution that
may be--that often is in store for such! I had rather see you and
your sister dead, than the victims of that most hateful of heartless
shows--a fashionable marriage! Poor Lucy! poor Lucy!"
"I hope you are distressing yourself without reason, sir. Mother is
not the person to surrender her child to one whose character and
respectability are not indisputable. Nor is Lucy sentimental. I do not
fear her suffering very acutely from any cause."
"I grant that. You would be more to be pitied as an unloved or unloving
wife, than she. I tremble for you sometimes, when I think of this
chance. My daughter, when you marry, look beyond the outside show. Seek
for moral worth and a true heart, instead of dollars and cents!"
"I will! I promise!" said Sarah, her amazement at his earnestness and
choice of topics combining to shake her voice and constrain her smile.
"But there is time enough for that, father dear. When the man of heart
and worth sues for my poor hand, I will refer him to you, and abide
entirely by your decision."
"Mr. Hammond is downstairs," said the servant at the door. And Sarah,
gathering up her papers, escaped from the room before he entered.