Mr. Hunt was able to resume his place in the bank several days before
his wife returned. Uncle Nathan had brought Jeannie home as soon as her
father could leave his room, and the boys had likewise been written
for; so that the family reunion was apparently near at hand.
Weak as he was, Mr. Hunt met his spouse and daughter at the depot, and
the noise of their entrance in the lower hall first apprised Sarah of
their arrival. To the bound of pleasurable excitement her heart gave at
the certainty that they had come, succeeded a sigh at the termination
of the free, yet busy life she had led of late--the probability that
she would be compelled to resume her old habits of feeling and action.
Driving back the selfish regret, she ran down to welcome the travellers.
"How well you're looking, Sarah!" said Mrs. Hunt, after kissing her. "I
declare, if you was to arrange your hair different, and study dress a
bit, you would come near being right down handsome."
"'Handsome is as handsome does!'" quoted Mr. Hunt, stoutly. "According
to that rule, she is a beauty."
"Thank you, sir!" said Sarah, bowing low. And she tried to forget,
in her sister's affectionate greeting, the chill and heart-sickness
produced by her mother's business-like manner and compliment.
"Having disposed of one daughter, she means to work the other into
merchantable shape!" was her cynical deduction from the dubious praise
bestowed upon herself.
Mrs. Hunt pursued her way up the steps, examining and remarking upon
everything she saw.
"Them stair-rods ain't so clean as they had ought to be, Sarah. I'm
afraid your girls are careless, or shirks. When did you uncover the
carpet?"
"Some time ago, mother, while father was sick. There were gentlemen
calling constantly, and the cover looked shabby, I thought."
"It couldn't be helped, I s'pose; but the carpet is more worn than I
expected to see it. With the heavy expenses that will be crowding on
us this fall and winter, we can't afford to get any new things for the
house."
Lucy, who preceded her sister, glanced back and laughed meaningly. And
Sarah was very glad that her father had not overheard the observation,
which confirmed her belief that the beauty's hand was disposed of
without the form of consultation with her natural and legal guardian.
Dinner was announced by the time the traveling habiliments and dust
were removed. Sarah had spared no pains to provide a bountiful and
tasteful repast, at the risk of incurring her mother's reproof for her
extravagant proclivities. But the dame was in high good-humor, and the
youthful purveyor received but a single sentence of deprecation.
"I hope you have not been living as high as this all the time, Sarah!"
"No, ma'am. Father's wants and mine were very few. I foresaw that you
would need substantial refreshment after your journey."
"You was very thoughtful. We both have good appetites, I guess. I know
that I have."
"Mine will speak for itself," said Lucy.
"You have no idea how that girl has enjoyed everything since she has
been away," observed Mrs. Hunt to her husband. "There was Vic. West,
who took it into her head that she ought to look die-away and peaking,
and refuse food, when her beau was by; but Lu., she just went right
along and behaved natural, and I'm sure that somebody thought more of
her for it."
Mr. Hunt's face darkened for a moment; but he could not find fault with
his eldest child on her first evening at home.
"So you have been quite a belle, Lucy," he said, pleasantly.
"Better than that, Mr. H.!" Mrs. Hunt checked her triumphant
announcement as the butler re-entered the room. "I shouldn't wonder,"
she resumed, rather mysteriously, "if Lucy was disposed to settle down
into a steady, sedate matron after her holiday."
"Don't deceive yourself with that hope!" laughed Lucy.
She was evidently pleased by these not over-delicate allusions to her
love-affairs, and, like her mother, extremely complacent over the
result of her recent campaign. Sarah felt that, were she in her place,
she would shrink from this open jesting upon a sacred subject; still
she had not expected that her sister would behave differently. Lucy's
nature was gentle without being fine; affectionate but shallow. She
would have had no difficulty in attaching herself to any man whom her
friends recommended as "a good match," provided he were pleasing in
exterior, and her most devoted servitor.
The sisters had no opportunity of private converse until they adjourned
to the parlor for the evening. Lucy was very beautiful in a blue silk,
whose low corsage and short sleeves revealed her superb shoulders and
rounded arms. Her complexion was a rich carmine, deepening or softening
with every motion--one would have said, with every breath. Her blue
eyes fairly danced in a sort of subdued glee, very charming and very
becoming but altogether unlike the tender, dewy light of "Love's first
young dream."
"How lovely you have grown, sister!" said Sarah, earnestly. "Oh, Lucy,
I don't believe you rightly value the gift of beauty--as I would do if
it were mine!"
"Nonsense!" The dimples, that made her smile so bewitching, broke her
blushes into rosy waves as the conscious fair one turned her face
towards the mirror. "I am pleased to hear that I am passable to-night.
We may have visitors. A friend of ours has expressed a great desire to
see me in my home--'in the bosom of my family.' Ahem!"
She smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle in her bodice, an excuse for
tarrying longer before the glass.
"He came to town with you, then?" ventured Sarah.
Lucy nodded.
"And promised to call this evening?"
"Right again, my dear!"
She was graver now, for she had conceived the happy notion of
appropriating to her own use a cluster of white roses and buds she
discovered in the vase on the marble slab under the mirror. If anything
could have enhanced the elegance of her figure and toilet, it was
the coiffure she immediately set about arranging. The flowers were a
present to Sarah from Lewis Hammond; but she thought little of him or
of them, as Lucy laid them first on one, then on the other side of
head, to try the effect.
"And you really care for him, sister?" came forth in such a timid,
anxious tone, that Lucy burst into a fit of laughter.
"You dear little modest piece of romantic simplicity! One would suppose
that you were popping the question yourself, from your behavior. Care
for him? Why shouldn't I? I need not say 'yes' unless I do, need I?"
"But you take it so coolly! A betrothal is, to me, such a solemn thing."
"And to most other girls, perhaps. (There! if I only had a hair-pin.
Don't rob yourself! thank you! Isn't that an improvement?) As I was
saying, why should I pretend to be pensive and doleful, when I am as
merry as a lark? or lovesick, when I have never lost a meal or an
hour's sleep from the commencement of the courtship until now? That
is not my style, Sarah. I am very practical in my views and feelings.
Not that I don't play talking sentiment in our genuine lovescenes, and
I really like unbounded devotion on the other side. It is decidedly
pleasant to be adored. I was surprised to find how I enjoyed it."
"Oh, sister! sister!" Sarah leaned her forehead on the mantel, repelled
and well-nigh disgusted by this heartless trifling--this avowed
counterfeit--so abhorrent to her feelings. But Lucy was as much in
earnest as she could be on such a theme. She went on, unheeding her
sister's ejaculation.
"You must understand, of course, that we are not positively engaged.
I gave him--Goldfinch--a good scolding for violating the rules of
etiquette by addressing me while I was away from home; but it was just
like him. He is as impulsive as he can live. To punish him I refused to
answer him until after our return to New York, and his interview with
father. He would have written to him on the spot, had I not forbidden
him. He behaved so beautifully, that I consented to his taking charge
of us to the city, and I suppose the rest must follow in good time. How
melancholy your face is! Are you very much afflicted at the thought of
losing me? Why, Sarah! my dear child, are those tears in your eyes? If
she isn't crying in good earnest!"
And Lucy's musical laugh rolled through the rooms in her enjoyment
of the joke. What else could it be to her, elate with her success in
achieving the chief end of woman--the capture of a rich and handsome,
in every respect an unexceptionable lover?
"Hist!" she said, raising her finger. "He has come! Your eyes are red!
Run, and make yourself presentable!"
The door opening from the hall into the front parlor, swung on its
hinges as Sarah gained the comparative obscurity of the third and rear
room. A strong impulse of interest or curiosity there arrested her
flight to enable her to get a glimpse of her destined brother-in-law.
Lucy had not mentioned his proper name, since her earliest letter from
Newport had eulogized a certain George Finch, a Bostonian, wealthy, and
attentive to herself. Sarah's backward glance fell upon the visitor as
he met his queenly bride-elect directly under the blazing chandelier.
It was Philip Benson!
Chained to the spot by weakness or horror, the looker-on stood
motionless, while the suitor raised the lily fingers he held to his
lips, and then led Lucy to a seat. His voice broke the spell. As the
familiar cadences smote her ear, the sharp pain that ran through every
fiber of her frame awakened Sarah from her stupor.
How she gained her room she never knew; but she had sense enough left
to direct her flight to this refuge--and, when within, to lock the
door. Then she threw up her arms with a piteous, wailing cry, and fell
across the bed, dead for the time to further woe.
Alone and painfully she struggled back to consciousness. Sitting
upright, she stared wonderingly around her, unable to recollect what
had stricken her down. The chamber was imperfectly lighted by the rays
of the street lamp opposite, and with the recognition of objects within
its narrow limits there crept back to her all that had preceded her
retreat thither. For the next hour she sat still--her head bowed upon
her knees, amid the wrecks of her dream world.
Dreary and loveless as had been most of her previous life, she had
never endured anything like this, unless one miserable hour upon the
Deal Beach, when Philip broke the tidings of his intended departure,
were a slight foretaste of the agony, the utter despair, that claimed
her now for its victim. Since then, she had been hopeful. His promise
of a visit, the tokens of remembrance he had transmitted to her
every week, had kept alive memory and expectation, and this was his
coming! this the occasion she had pictured so fondly, painted with
the brightest hues Love could borrow from imagination! She had heard
again the voice that had haunted her dreams, from their parting until
now--heard it in deeper, softer tones than it had ever taken in speech
with her; heart-music which told that his seekings and yearnings for
the one and only beloved were over. And was not her quest of years
ended likewise? Truly, there are two senses in which every search,
every combat may be said to be closed; one when the victor grasps his
prize, or waves aloft his sword in the moment of triumph; the other,
when, bleeding, maimed, or dying, the vanquished sinks to the earth
without power to rise!
A tap at her door startled Sarah. She did not stir until it was
repeated, and her father called her name. A stream of light from the
hall fell upon her face as she admitted him.
"Daughter, what ails you?" was his exclamation.
"I am not very well, father."
"I should think not, indeed! Come in here and lie down!" He led her to
the bed, and, lighting the gas in the chamber, came back to her and
felt her pulse.
She knew what was the direction of his fears; but to correct his
misapprehension was to subject herself to further questioning.
Passively she received the pressure of his hand upon her head, the
gentle stroking of the disordered hair; but when he stooped to kiss
her, he felt that she trembled.
"Dear child! I shall never forgive myself if you have taken the fever
from me!"
"I do not fear that, father. My head aches, and I am very tired. I have
been so busy all day, you know."
"Yes, and for many other days. You are, without doubt, overworked. I
hope this may prove to be all the matter with you. A night's rest may
quite cure you."
"Yes sir," she answered, chokingly. "You will excuse me to ----,
downstairs?"
"Certainly. Would you like to have your mother come up to you?"
"Oh, no, sir! Please tell her there is no need of it. I shall be better
to-morrow."
"Your sister"--and he looked more serious, instead of smiling--"has a
visitor. Her friend is an acquaintance of yours, also, it appears--the
Mr. Benson whom you met at your aunt's in July."
"Yes, sir. I know it."
"I understood you to say that Lucy had never said positively who her
lover was; but this was not the name you told me of, as the person whom
you imagined him to be."
"I was misled for a time myself, sir," replied the poor girl, pressing
her temples between her palms.
"I see that I am tiring you. Forgive me! but it is so natural to
consult you in everything. I must trouble you with some questions,
which it is important should be answered to-night, before this
gentleman and myself have any conversation. Is Mr. Benson a man
whom you consider worthy of trust? Your mother represents him to be
enormously wealthy--a reputation I had concluded he possessed, from
Lucy's pet name for him. It is well that your sister has a prospect
of marrying advantageously in this respect, for she would never be
happy in an humble sphere; but antiquated people like myself regard
other things as of greater consequence in concluding a bargain for a
lifetime. Is your opinion of Mr. Benson favorable as to disposition,
principles, and conduct?"
Sarah's head rested on the foot-board of her couch, in weariness or
pain, as she rejoined: "I saw and heard nothing of him, during our
intercourse in the country, that was not creditable. His uncle and aunt
are very partial to him, and speak of his character in high terms.
Their testimony ought to have weight with you, for they have known him
from his boyhood up."
"It ought and does. I am relieved to hear all this! very much pleased!"
said Mr. Hunt, enthusiastically. "I have all confidence in Nathan
Benson's judgment and integrity. I hope his nephew is as sterling a
man. Thus far," he continued, playfully, "I have learned but one thing
to his discredit, and that is, having seen this one of my daughters, he
could afterwards fall in love with the other."
"I am not beautiful and good like Lucy, father."
"Very dear and lovely in my eyes, my child! Again forgive me for having
worried your poor head with my inquiries. I was unwilling to decide
a matter where Lucy's happiness was involved, without obtaining your
evidence in the case. A last good-night! and God bless you, my dearest,
best daughter!"
Sarah held up her face for his kiss without attempting to speak. This
burning ordeal, the harder to endure because unexpected, was over. She
was as weak as a child with conflicting passions when she arose and
endeavored to undress. After stooping several times to regain breath
and strength, she was at last ready to creep into bed, there to lie
until morning broke, sleepless and suffering.
Her sharpened senses could discern her father's and mother's voices
in the sitting-room, in confidential talk--interrupted, by-and-by, by
Lucy's pure, mellow tones, apparently conveying some message to the
former. Its import was easily surmised, for his step was then heard in
the hall and on the stairs, until he reached the parlor where Philip
awaited him. Their conference did not occupy more than twenty minutes,
which time Lucy spent with her mother--how gayly, Sarah could judge by
the laugh that, again and again, reached her room. Mr. Hunt returned,
spoke a few sentences in his calm, grave way, and the closing door was
followed by a flutter of silk and fall of gliding footsteps, as Lucy
went down to her now formally and fully betrothed husband.
"Husband!" Yes! it was even so! Henceforth the lives of the pair
were to be as one in interest, in aims, in affection. Ere long, they
would have no separate outward existence in the eyes of the world.
Was his chosen love, then, in a truer and higher sense, his other
self--the being sought so long and carefully? The pretty fiancee
would have stretched her cerulean orbs in amazed wonder at the
ridiculous doubt, and asked, in her matter-of-fact way, how the thing
could have happened, if it had not been intended? Philip's indignant
affirmative would have gained fervor from his exultant consciousness of
possession--so novel and sweet. But one above stairs, taught sagacity
by the depth of her grief, looked further into the future than did
they, and read there a different reply.
She heard the clang of the front door as it shut after the young
lover, and in the still midnight, the echoes, faint and fainter, of
his retreating footsteps--the same free, light tread she used to
hearken for in porch and hall of that riverside farm house; and as the
remembrance came over her she turned her face to the wall, murmuring
passionately: "Oh! if I could never, never see him again!"
This feeling, whether born of cowardice or desperation, was the ruling
one, when her mother looked in upon her before breakfast, and expressed
her concern at finding her still in bed.
"I am not well enough to get up, mother," Sarah said sincerely, and
Mrs. Hunt, reading in the parched lips and bloodshot eyes proof of the
justice of the fears her husband had expressed to her the preceding
evening, resolved that the doctor should see her "before she was two
hours older."
In vain Sarah entreated that this should not be done, and prophesied
her recovery without his assistance. For once her parents were a unit
in sentiment and action, and the physician was summoned to his second
patient.
"All febrile symptoms were to some extent contagious," he affirmed;
"and while Mr. Hunt's malady was not generally classed with such,
it was very possible that his daughter had contracted an analogous
affection, in her constant attendance upon him."
This decision Sarah dared not overthrow, much as she wished to do so,
when she saw how it afflicted her father.
Undaunted by any fears of infection, Lucy repaired to her sister's
chamber when she had despatched her breakfast.
"Isn't it too provoking that you should be sick just at this time?"
she began, perching herself, school-girl fashion on the foot of the
bed. "I really admired your staying upstairs last night; but I did not
dream that you really were not well. I promise you that I made capital
of your absence. I told Philip (how odd it sounds, doesn't it?) that
you ran away when he rang the bell, because you had made a fright of
yourself by crying over the prospect of my leaving you, and that I had
no doubt that you had grieved yourself into a headache. He wanted to
know forthwith if you objected to my marrying him; but I said 'No';
that you were charmed with the match, and preferred him to any other
admirer I had ever had; but that we--you and I--were so devoted to one
another, that it was acute agony to us to think of parting. About ten
o'clock he asked to see father, and they soon settled affairs. When I
went down again, he tried a little ring on my finger that he always
wears, and it fitted nicely. So I knew what it meant when he put it
back upon his own hand, and that with that for a measure he could
not go wrong in getting the engagement ring. I do hope it will be a
diamond. Vic. West declares that she would not accept anything else.
I considered for a while whether I couldn't give him a delicate hint
on the subject, but I did not see how I could manage it. And don't you
think, while I was studying about this, he fancied I was sober over
'the irrevocable step I had taken,' and became miserable and eloquent
at the suspicion! I wish I could remember all he said! It was more in
your line than mine! But he is a good, sensible fellow, with all his
romantic notions. He has a handsome fortune, independent of his father,
left him by his grandfather, and we are to live in Georgia part of the
year only, and travel every summer. Mother says his account of his
prospects and so forth to father was very satisfactory, but she has
not got at all the particulars yet. Father is so worried about your
sickness that he cannot spare a thought for anything or anybody else.
The light from that window hurts your eyes--doesn't it? I will let down
the shade."
But Sarah lay with her hand protecting her eyes, when her sister
resumed her position and narration.
"We are to be married in December. He begged hard for an earlier day,
but I was sure that I could not be ready before then. As it is, we
shall have to hurry when it comes to the dresses, for, in order to
get the latest fashions, we must wait until the eleventh hour. Won't
I 'astonish the natives' down South? I couldn't state this to Philip,
you know; so I referred him to mother, who is to say, when he asks
her, that her preference would be to keep me just as long as she
possibly can. Entre nous, my dear, our good mamma has said truer things
than this bit of sentiment--but n'importe! These embellishments are
necessary to such transactions."
Miss West's friendship or curiosity could not endure longer suspense,
and the intelligence that she was below checked the monologue.
"I will run up again whenever I can," promised Lucy, by way of
compensation for her abrupt departure, "and keep up your spirits by
telling you all that I can about our concerns. But Philip is to take me
to ride this afternoon. I forbade him to come here before then, but I
don't much think he can stay away. Don't be vexed if you don't see me
again in some hours. Vic. and I are about to settle our trousseaux. If
you believe me, we have never been able yet to decide upon the wedding
dresses!"
And she vanished, warbling delicious roulades from a duet she had
engaged to sing that evening with her betrothed. She showed herself
upstairs again, when she was ready for her ride, and the carriage at
the door--very fair, very bright, and very happy. She was exquisitely
dressed, and called on her sister to admire her toilet and envy her her
escort.
Sarah listened to the cheerful exchange of cautions and promises
between her mother and Philip, at the door beneath her open window, and
to the rolling wheels that bore them away.
Mrs. Hunt received none of her friends that day, being busy "getting
things to rights"; and for a like reason she absented herself from
her child's sickroom, content with sending up Jeannie, now and then,
to inquire how she was getting on. In the abject loneliness that
oppressed her, when the first violence of passions had spent itself,
Sarah would have been relieved in some measure by the society of this
pet sister, the sole object upon earth, besides her father, that had
ever repaid her love with anything like equal attachment. But the child
shrank, like most others of her age, from the quiet dark chamber of
illness, and longed to follow her mother through the house, in her tour
of observation and renovation. Sarah detected her restlessness and
ill-concealed dislike of the confinement imposed upon her by compliance
with her humble petition--
"Please, Jeannie, stay a little while with your poor sister!" And her
sensitive spirit turned upon itself, as a final stroke of torture, the
conviction that here, also, love and care had been wasted.
"Go, then!" she said, rather roughly, as Jeannie wavered, "and you need
not come up again to-day. I know it is not pleasant for you to be here.
Tell mother I want nothing but quiet."
"I have had a splendid drive!" said Lucy, rustling her many flounces
into the door at dusk.
The figure upon the bed made no response by motion or word.
"I do believe she is asleep!" added the intruder, lowering her voice.
"I suppose she is tired and needs rest." And she went out on tiptoe.
Sarah was awake a minute later, when her father came in to see her.
She smiled at him, as he "hoped she was better," and asked whether she
might not get up on the morrow. Mr. Hunt thought not. The doctor's
opinion was that perfect repose might ward off the worse features of
the disease. She had better keep to her bed for a couple of days yet,
even should she feel well enough to be about. He sent up her dinner to
her room with his own hands; and when she learned this, she strove to
do some feeble justice to the viands, but without success.
Philip dined with the family that day by special appointment; and,
shortly after his arrival, Lucy again presented herself in that small
third-story bedroom.
"Choose! which hand will you take?" she cried, hiding both behind her.
Sarah would make no selection; and, after a little more trifling, the
elder sister brought into sight two elegant bouquets, and laid them
beside the invalid.
"This is Philip's present--'a fraternal remembrance,' he told me to
say. Here is his card. Doesn't he write a lovely hand? The other is
from your admirer, Mr. Hammond. What a sly puss you were to make such
a catch as he is, without dropping us a hint! He is rather too sober
for my notions; but he is getting rich fast, they say. He left those
flowers at the door himself, and insisted upon seeing father for a
moment, to know exactly how you were. Cannot you hurry up somewhat, and
let us have a double wedding? I showed the bouquet to Philip, and told
him of your conquest, and he was as much pleased at your prospects as
I was. Did you ever see such magnificent roses? your beau paid five
dollars, at the lowest computation, for these flowers. I congratulate
you upon these signs of liberality."
Sarah had heard only a portion of this speech. Her eyes were fixed upon
the card her sister had put into her hand: "Will Miss Sarah accept this
trifling token of regard from one who is her stanch friend, and hopes,
in time, to have a nearer claim upon her esteem?"
"Very neatly turned, is it not?" said Lucy, satisfiedly. She had read
it on her way upstairs. "What shall I say to him from you?"
"Thank him, and explain that I am not able to write a reply."
This meagre return of compliments assumed a tone both grateful and
sisterly as Lucy rehearsed it to the donor of the fragrant offering.
The barest phrase of civility came gracefully and meaningly from her
tongue. Serene in mind and countenance, she seated herself at the
piano, and, as Philip took his stand at her side, he wondered if the
world held another couple more entirely adapted each to the peculiar
soul-needs of the other, more perfectly happy in the knowledge of
mutual affection. Like the generality of theorists, your student of
human nature is prone to grievous error when he reduces his flawless
system to practice.
In one respect, the two certainly harmonized well. Both loved music;
both sang finely, and their voices accorded without a jarring note.
Mr. Hunt read the evening papers in Sarah's room; turning and folding
them with great circumspection, lest their rattling might annoy her,
and detract from her enjoyment of the music. How could he guess the
infatuation that caused her to listen greedily to sounds, under whose
potent spell feeling was writhing and brain reeling? In every pause
between the songs there arose in her memory two lines of a poem read
long ago, when or where she knew not:
"Seek not to soothe that proud, forsaken heart
With strains whose sweetness maddens as they fall!"
The performers had just completed a duet, in which each voice supported
and developed, while blending with the other, when Lucy took up
the prelude to a simpler lay; repeating it twice over with skilful
variations, as if she were, meantime, carrying on a colloquy with her
companion, that delayed the vocal part. This was ended by Philip's
raising alone the burden of the plaintive German air Sarah remembered
so truly--"The long, long, weary day."
As his voice, full and strong, with its indescribable and
irresistible undercurrent of pathos--flowing out here into passionate
melancholy--swelled and floated through the quiet house, Sarah sat
upright.
"Father! father!" she whispered, huskily, "I cannot bear that! Shut the
doors!--all of them, or I shall go mad!"
She was obeyed; Mr. Hunt hurrying down to the parlor to silence the
lovers, with the representation that Sarah was too nervous to endure
the excitement of music. For the remainder of the evening, a profound
stillness pervaded the upper part of the mansion--a silence that,
to Sarah, throbbed with the melody she had tried to hush; and look
where she might, she gazed into that rainy, ghastly night--the pale,
comfortless watcher, the shadowy type of her deeper, more blighting
sorrow.