For three days Philip Benson lingered near his beautiful enslaver; on
the fourth, he carried a sad, yet trustful heart upon his Southern
journey. Sarah had not seen him once since the evening of his coming.
Through Lucy, she received his adieux and wishes for her speedy
recovery. On the next day but one she left her room, and appeared again
in the family circle--now complete in all its parts.
In that short season of bodily prostration, the work of years had been
wrought upon her inner life. Outwardly there was little alteration
save that effected by physical weakness; but in her views of existence
and character, of affections and motives, the doubter had become the
skeptic; the dreamer the misanthrope. To the gentle and more womanly
aspirations that had for a season supplanted the somewhat masculine
tendencies of her mind and tastes had succeeded a stoicism, like the
frozen calm of a winter's day, uniform as relentless. This was the
surface that locked and concealed the lower depths she had sworn should
be forever covered. Others could and did live without hearts. She could
thrive as well upon the husks and Sodom apples of this world's goods as
did they; holding as Life's chief good, complete and final subjugation
of all genuine emotion, which, at the best, was but the rough ore--fit
for nothing until purged, refined, and polished in its glitter. She
found no other creed that suited her present desperate mood so well as
the heartless code of the thorough worldling--the devotee to show, and
fashion, and wealth.
Such was her mother, whose domestic virtues were extolled by all who
knew her; such, behind her mask of tender grace and amiability, the
sister who had won, by these factitious attractions, the heart for
which Sarah would have perilled life, sacrificed ease and inclination,
bowed her proud spirit to the estate of bond-servant to his every
caprice, become the willing slave to his tyrannical behest. Yet Philip
Benson was a professed judge of character; a man of sense, education,
and experience, and, knowing both girls as he did, he had made his
choice; set the stamp of his approval upon the shining, rather than the
solid metal. The world, as its young would-be disciple believed she had
at length learned, was made up of two classes; those who floated, and
those who sank. To the latter she determined that she would not belong.
These and kindred thoughts were rife in her mind, and stirring up many
a spring of gall within her bosom, one morning as she lay back in
an armchair in the sitting-room, listening with secret scorn to the
prattle of the pair of betrothed maidens--Lucy and her friend. Lucy's
engagement ring was a diamond, or, rather, a modest cluster of these
precious stones, whose extreme beauty did not strike the casual eye
with the startling effect of Victoria's more showy gage d'amour. This
apparent difference in the value of the two was the source of many
discussions and considerable heart-burning, disguised, of course, and
threatened in time to produce a decided coolness between the attached
wearers of the articles under debate.
On this particular day, Victoria, after some adroit skirmishing,
brought out as a "poser" the fact that, to lay the question to rest
without more ado, she had, since their last interview, been to
Tiffany's, and had her ring valued. Lucy's face was all aglow as her
soul-sister named the price of her treasure. She clapped her hands
joyously.
"Isn't that the joke of the season, mother?"--as that personage
entered. "Don't you think that Vic. was as cunning as we were? She
carried her ring to Tiffany's yesterday, too. Wouldn't it have been too
funny if we had met there? Mine came from there, they said, and it cost
a cool fifty dollars more than yours did, dear!"
Victoria flashed hotly; but further controversy being useless and
dangerous to her, she acquiesced with assumed carelessness in Lucy's
proposal that, since both were suited, the rival brilliants should not
be again referred to as a disputed matter. They accordingly turned to
the safer and endless conferences upon the trousseaux, whose purchase
must be commenced immediately.
Their incomplete lists were produced, compared, and lengthened--Mrs.
Hunt suggesting and amending; Sarah surveying the busy group with the
same intense disdain she had experienced throughout the conversation.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you! Margaret Hauton called on me yesterday!"
exclaimed Victoria. "Did she come here, too?"
"Yes; but we were out. What did she say?" queried Lucy, breathlessly.
"Why, the stupid creature never alluded to my engagement; and when I
mentioned yours, pretended not to have heard of it before. I took care
she should not go away as ignorant on the subject as she had come,
and--I know it was wicked in me, but she deserved it--all the time I
was praising your Goldfinch, and telling how handsome and liberal he
was, I sat looking at my new ring, slipping it up and down my finger,
as if I were not thinking of it, but of the giver. She could not help
seeing it, and, to save her life, she could not keep from changing
countenance."
"Good!" said Lucy. "Do tell me how she is looking now?"
"Common enough! She had on that everlasting lilac silk, with the
embroidered flounces, although the style is as old as the hills--and
that black lace mantle, which, happening to be real, she never leaves
off until near Christmas. But her hat! black and corn-color. Think
of it! corn-color against her saffron skin. When I pretend to lead
society, I hope to dress decently. But I had my revenge for her
supercilious airs. Mr. Bond--George--called in the afternoon to take
me to ride. I told you of the handsome span of fast horses he has been
buying. Well! we concluded to try the Bloomingdale road, and just as
we were sailing along, like the wind, whom should we overtake but my
Lady Hauton, lounging her lazy way (she thinks it aristocratic!) on
the back seat of her father's heavy, clumsy barouche--not a soul in it
but her mother and herself. Didn't I bow graciously to her as we flew
by! and again, as we met them creeping along, when we were coming back?
I wouldn't have missed the chance of mortifying her for a thousand
dollars."
Lucy laughed, with no sign of disapprobation at the coarse, vindictive
spirit displayed in this petty triumph of a small soul.
"How many evening dresses have you put down on your paper, Vic.?"
"Half a dozen only. I will get others as I need them. The styles in
these change so often that I do not care to have too many at a time."
"There you will have the advantage of me," said Lucy, ingenuously. "It
will not be so easy a matter to replenish my stock of wearable dresses.
I wish I had asked Philip about the Savannah stores. I wonder if he
knows anything about them?"
"He ought to--being such a connoisseur in ladies' dress. I declare
I have been absolutely afraid of him since I heard him say that he
considered a lady's apparel a criterion of her character."
"He has exquisite taste!" said Lucy, with pardonable pride in her
lover. "It is a positive pleasure to dress for him. He sees and
appreciates everything that I could wish to have him notice. He has
often described to me what I wore, and how I looked and acted the
evening he fell in love. How little we can guess what is before us! I
did not care to go to the hop that night, for Mr. Finch was to wait
on me, and he was so stupid, you know, after we discovered that it
was a mistake about his being rich. I think I see him now, with his
red face and short neck! Oh, dear! the fun we had over that poor man!
I told you--didn't I, Sarah--that we named him Bullfinch, because
he looked so much like one? When Phil came we called him Goldfinch,
and the two went by these names among us girls. The Bullfinch heard
of it, and he was ridiculously angry! So I put on a white tarlatan,
that one with the double jupe, you know, Vic., festooned with white
moss rosebuds, and I had nothing but a tea-rose in my hair. I danced
once with the Bullfinch--one of those solemn quadrilles that are only
fit for grandmothers--and vowed to myself that I would not stand up
again, except for a polka or the lancers. While I was sitting down by
the window, saying 'Yes' and 'No,' when Bullfinch spoke, Mr. Newman
introduced 'Mr. Benson' to 'Miss Hunt,' and the work was done!"
"No more waltzing, then!" was Victoria's slyly malicious sequel.
"I did not care so much for that as I thought I should!" replied
easy-tempered Lucy. "You cannot find a man who has not some drawback.
Before I had a chance for another round, mother there managed to
telegraph me that my fresh acquaintance was worth catching. She had
gotten his whole story out of Mrs. Newman. He let me know pretty soon,
that he had some queer scruples about fancy dances, and I thought it
best to humor him for one evening, or until I should ascertain whether
he was really 'taken' or not. I have never repented my self-denial,
although I grant that it cost me a struggle to give up 'the german.'"
"George lets me waltz to my heart's content," said Victoria. "He is
the very soul of indulgence. As to laces--I have not a thing fit to
wear. I must get everything new. I am glad of it! I enjoy shopping for
them. If I have a passion, it is for laces!"
A sneer curled Sarah's lips, and Victoria happening to glance that way,
could not mistake its application, whatever she might surmise as to its
origin.
"I suppose you despise us as a couple of lovesick girls, Sarah?" she
said, with a simper designed to be sentimental, whereas it was spiteful
instead.
"I think love the least dangerous of your complaints," was the
rejoinder.
"What do you mean?"
"Just what I said."
"She means that people do not die of love in these days," exclaimed
Lucy, whose pleasure-loving nature always shuddered at the idea of
altercation in her presence; her sensations, during the occasional
sparrings of her sister and her friend, bearing a strong resemblance
to those of an innocent white rabbit, into whose burrow a couple of
belligerent hedgehogs have forced their way.
"You will understand us better one day, when your turn comes," said
Victoria, with magnanimous condescension. "I shall remind you then of
your good opinion of us."
"You may."
"I would give anything to have you engaged, just to see how you would
behave. Would not you, Lucy?"
"Yes; if she were likely to do as well as we are doing. Philip says
that you have many fine qualities, Sarah. He quite admires you."
The complacent betrothed had none but the most amiable intentions in
making this patronizing speech; therefore, the angry blood that surged
over her sister's face at hearing it would have been to her but the
blush of gratified vanity, had not the sparkle of her eye and the
contemptuous contortion of her mouth undeceived her.
"Indeed he did say so!" she hastened to repeat. "And he was in earnest!
He said something else which I don't mind telling, now that he belongs
to me fast and sure. He said that he sat up until twelve o'clock one
night after you had been out boating deliberating whether he should be
smitten with you or not. There!"
The color retreated as quickly as it had come. But for the
consciousness of Victoria's malicious scrutiny, Sarah could not have
summoned strength to utter a word.
"An equivocal compliment, I must say!" she retorted, sarcastically.
"Your gallant Georgian's confessions must have been ample and minute
indeed, if they comprised such distant approaches to love affairs as
the one you honor me by mentioning. I do not think that I have ever
heard of another case where a gentleman considered it necessary to
enumerate to his fiancee, not merely the ladies he had loved, but those
whom he had not!" She arose and left the room.
Poor Lucy, rebuffed and overwhelmed, caught her astonished breath with
a sigh. "Can anybody tell me what I have done now to fret Sarah? She is
so cross since she was sick!"
"And before, too!" mutely added Victoria's shrug and lifted eyebrows.
"We must bear with her, my dear!" said the prudent mother. "Her nerves
are affected, the doctor says."
Victoria made random pencillings upon the important list--her thoughts
in fast pursuit of a notion that had just struck her. She was neither
witty nor intelligent; but she possessed some natural shrewdness and
a great deal more acquired cunning. She detested Sarah Hunt, and
the prospect of obtaining an engine that should humble her arrogant
spirit was scarcely less tempting than her own chance of effecting an
advantageous matrimonial settlement.
While she was engaged in defining her suspicion to herself, and
concerting measures for gathering information with regard to it, Mrs.
Hunt went out on some household errand, and Lucy was obliged to descend
to the parlor to see callers.
"Don't go until I come back, Vic.. It is the Dunhams, and they never
stay long," she said, at quitting her associate.
"Oh, I always make myself at home here, you know, my dear!" was the
reply.
Jeannie was sitting on a cushion near the chair Sarah had occupied,
dressing her doll.
"It won't fit!" she cried, fretfully, snatching off a velvet basque she
had been endeavoring to adjust to the lay-figure.
"Bring it to me! I can fix it!" offered Victoria, winningly. "It's too
tight just here, you see. I will rip open the seam and alter it. Who
makes your dolly's clothes?"
She was well aware that but one member of the family ever had leisure
to bestow upon such follies; but it suited her plan for Jeannie to
introduce the name.
"Sister Sarah."
"This is a pretty basque. When did she make it?"
"Yesterday."
"Oh! I thought perhaps she did it while you were in the country, and
that the doll had fattened as much as you did there."
Jeannie laughed heartily.
"You had a nice time there, I suppose?" pursued Victoria.
"I guess we did!" Her eyes danced at the recollection. "A splendid
time! I wish we lived at Aunt Sarah's! There isn't room for me to move
in this narrow house."
"Mr. Benson was there a day or two, was he not?"
"Yes, ma'am--a great many days! He took us all around the country in
Uncle Nathan's carriage. I love him very dearly."
"Did you ever go sailing with him?"
"Every evening, when it was clear, in a pretty rowboat. He used to take
his guitar along, and sing for us. He sings beautifully! Did you ever
hear him?"
"Oh, yes! Did your sister always go boating with you?"
The spy, with all her hardihood, lowered her voice, and felt her face
warm as she put this leading question.
"Yes, ma'am, always. Mr. Benson would not have gone without her, I
guess."
"Why do you guess so?"
The little girl smiled knowingly. "Because--you won't tell, will you?"
"Why no! Of course I will not."
"Charley said it was a secret, and that I mustn't say anything to
sister or Mr. Benson about it, for they would be angry."
"Who is Charley?"
"Don't you know? He is Aunt Sarah's son. He is deaf and dumb; but he
showed me how to spell on my fingers. He is a nice boy"--
"Yes; but what was the secret?"
"He said that Mr. Benson--Cousin Phil I call him when I am talking to
him--was sister's beau; and he would take me off with him when we went
to drive or walk, because, you know, they might not like to have me
hear what they were talking about. They used to talk, and talk, and
talk! and sister had a great deal more to say, and looked prettier than
she does at home. I will tell you something else, if you won't ever let
anybody know it. I never told Aunt Sarah even, only Charley. Sister
cried ever so long the night after Cousin Phil went away. She woke me
up sobbing; but I made believe that I was asleep; and in the morning
her pillow was right wet. Charley said that all ladies that he had read
about in his books did so when their beaux left them."
"See here, my little lady!" said the dissembler, with a startling
change of tone. "You are altogether mistaken--you and Charley both!
Mr. Benson is going to marry your sister Lucy, and never was a beau
of Sarah's. Be very careful not to talk about Charley's wicked story
to your father, or mother, or sisters, for they would be very much
displeased, and maybe punish you for repeating such fibs. Little girls
ought never to hear or know anything about courting or beaux--it's
naughty! I won't tell on you, if you will promise never to do so again.
I am shocked at you! Now take your doll and go!"
The frightened child encountered Lucy at the door. Miss West had
calculated her time to a minute. Her eyes swimming in tears, her
features convulsed with the effort to keep back sob and outcry, Jeannie
started up to her attic playroom. Sarah's door was ajar, and engaged
as she was with thoughts of her own troubles and insults, she could
not but remark the expression of her darling's face, in the momentary
glimpse she had as it passed.
"Jeannie! come back!" she called.
The child hesitated, half way up the next flight. Sarah repeated the
summons, and seeing that it was not obeyed, went up and took the rebel
by the hand.
"What is the matter with you?"
A reddening and distortion of visage, and no reply. Her sister led her
back to her chamber, shut the door, and put her arms around her.
"Tell me what ails you, dear!"
Jeannie fell upon her comforter's neck--the repressed torrent breaking
through all restraint. "Oh, sister, I can't help crying! Miss Vic. West
has been scolding me!"
"Scolding you! She! I will go down and speak to her this instant! How
dared she?"
"No, no! please don't! She told me not to say anything about it."
"The contemptible coward!" said Sarah, between her teeth. "How came you
to have anything to do with her?"
"Mother and sister Lucy went downstairs, and she said she would alter
my doll's basque and--and--and"--a fresh burst of lamentation.
"There, that will do, pet! I see that she only made it worse!" soothed
Sarah, believing that, in the unfinished state of dolly's wardrobe, she
had discovered the root of the trouble. "Never mind, dear! I will set
all that to rights directly. Now wipe your eyes, and let me tell you
something. This afternoon father is to take me to ride, and you shall
go, too. As for Miss Victoria, we will let her pass, and keep out of
her way, hereafter."
Secretly, she was very angry--far more so than she was willing to
have the child suspect. As the patient fingers repaired the effects
of the original bad fit, and Miss West's meddling, Jeannie stood by,
thankful and interested, yet ashamed to look her wronged sister in the
eyes. Not that she had the remotest conception of the mischief that
might grow out of her imprudent disclosures; but she had broken faith
with Charley, been accused of tattling and indelicacy, and warned too
stringently against repeating the offence to suffer her to relieve her
conscience by a full confession to the being she most loved and honored.
At four o'clock Sarah and her charge were ready, according to Mr.
Hunt's appointment. The carriage was likewise punctual; but from it
stepped, not the parent of the expectant girls, but a younger and
taller man--in short, Mr. Hunt's particular favorite--Lewis Hammond.
Jeannie, who had stationed herself at an upper window to watch for her
father's appearance, was still exclaiming over this disappointment, and
wondering why "Mr. Hammond must call just now to keep sister at home,"
when the footman brought up a note to Sarah.
It was from Mr. Hunt, explaining the cause of his unlooked-for
detention at the bank, and stating that Mr. Hammond, whom he had
met earlier in the day, and acquainted with his design of giving
his daughter this ride, happened to drop in, and seeing him engaged
with business, had asked leave to officiate as his substitute in the
proposed airing. He urged Sarah to take Jeannie along, and not hesitate
to accept Mr. Hammond's polite attendance, adding, in phrase brief, but
sincere, how lightly he should esteem his hour of extra labor, if he
knew that she was not a sufferer by it.
Sarah passed the note to her mother, and drew her shawl about her
shoulders.
"Of course you'll go!" said Mrs. Hunt, radiant with gratification. "It
is perfectly proper, and Mr. Hammond is very kind, I'm sure."
She was hurrying towards the door to convey in person her thanks for
his gallantry, when Sarah spoke firmly and very coolly:
"I will say whatever is necessary to Mr. Hammond, if you please,
mother. I shall go because father wishes it, and for no other reason.
Come, Jeannie!"
"Won't she be in your way?" asked Mrs. Hunt, awed, but not extinguished.
"No, madam."
Sarah suffered Mr. Hammond to place her in the carriage, and himself
opposite to her; and keeping before her mind carefully the fact that he
was her father's friend, perhaps the savior of his life, she unbent,
as much as she could, from her distant, ungracious bearing, to sustain
her part of the conversation. She must have been purblind not to see
through her mother's wishes, and manoeuvres for their accomplishment;
but to these views she was persuaded that Mr. Hammond was no party.
She saw in him a sedate, rather reserved gentleman of thirty-two or
three, who had passed the heyday of youthful loves and joy; sensible
and cultivated to an uncommon degree for a man of business--for such he
emphatically was.
A poor boy in the beginning, he had fortunately attracted the regard
of a thriving New York merchant, and retained that favor through the
years that had elevated him from the lowest clerkship to a partnership
in the now opulent firm. For probity and punctuality no man in the city
had a higher reputation; but his virtues were of that quiet nature
which, while they inevitably retain regard once won, are slow to gain
admiration. To matrimonial speculators, as in financial circles, he
was known as a "safe chance," and many a prudent mamma on his list
of acquaintances would have rejoiced had he selected her daughter as
mistress of his heart and fortune. Whether he was aware of this or not
could not have been determined by his modest, but dignified deportment.
He did not avoid company; went whither he was invited, and, when there,
comported himself like a conscientious member of society, talking,
dancing, or listening, with as due regard to law and order as he
manifested in his daily business life. Fast girls called him "awfully
matter-of-fact," and "terribly sensible"; fast youths of the other sex
put him down among the "old fogies," and wondered what he did with his
money. "Could it be possible that he saved it!" He was intimate nowhere
except in the household of his whilom employer and present partner,
whose daughters were all married and settled in houses of their own. If
he had ever cared to look twice at the same lady, the watchful world
had not yet laid hold of this marvellous departure from his fixed
habits.
His intercourse with Mr. Hunt's family was, as we know, purely
accidental in its commencement, and in its earlier stages might have
been induced by humanity or friendship for the sick father. In Sarah's
brain there had never arisen a suspicion of any ulterior motives in the
pointed attentions directed of late to herself. Before Lucy's return,
the care of her invalid parent and her day-dreams had engrossed heart
and thought to an extent that precluded much inquiry into other themes.
Since that memorable night, inward torture had abstracted her mind
still more from outward impressions.
This afternoon she talked calmly and indifferently to Mr. Hammond,
without an idea that he made any greater effort to please her. To
Jeannie she was tender beyond her usual showing, in remembrance of the
wrong done the sensitive child in the forenoon. Mr. Hammond emulated
her in kindness to the third member of their party; and in the course
of their ride, raised himself unwittingly to the rank of rivalship with
"Cousin Philip," her model gentleman.
Mr. Hunt came out to assist his daughter to alight, upon their
return. There was a heartiness in his acknowledgment of his deputy's
politeness, and invitation to enter the house and pass the evening with
them, which Sarah had seldom heard him employ towards any visitor.
Mr. Hammond may have remarked it likewise, for his declinature was
evidently against his inclination, and coupled with a promise to
call at an early day. His visits were not altogether so agreeable as
formerly, for he was received in the spacious parlors on a footing
with other callers, and in the presence of several members of the
family; still he came repeatedly, with pretext and without, until his
sentiments and design were a secret to no one except their object.
Wrapped in the sad thoughts that isolated her from the rest of the
world, even while she made a part of its show, Sarah omitted to mark
many things that should have been significant signs of undercurrents,
and tokens of important issues to her and those about her. Lucy had
ceased to harp perpetually upon her lover's perfections and idolatrous
flattery to herself, and while the wedding arrangements went vigorously
forward, the disengaged sister was rarely annoyed by references to
her taste and demands for her sympathy. There had never existed
much congeniality between the two, and their common ground was now
exceedingly narrow. Lucy was gentle and pleasant, peacefully egotistic
as ever, and Sarah understood her too well to expect active affection
or disinterestedness. The only part of her behavior to herself to
which she took mental exception was a certain pitying forbearance, a
compassionate leniency with respect to her faults and foibles, that had
grown upon her of late. Once or twice the younger sister had become
so restive under this gratuitous charity as to reply sharply to the
whey-like speeches of the mild elder, and, without any appearance of
wounded feeling, yet with not a word of apology or reason for so doing,
Lucy had left the apartment, and never hinted at the circumstances
afterwards.
Lucy was certainly the soul, the very cream of amiability. It
was unaccountable to her admirers--and they included most of her
associates--that Lewis Hammond, with his peculiar habits and tastes,
should prefer that severe-looking, strong-minded Sarah. But, be
it remembered, that he had learned this love under far different
influences; in circumstances wholly unlike those in which he now beheld
its object. His respect for unobtrusive intent and feeling; his longing
for a home which should be the abode of sacred domestic virtues; and
the sweet peace that had fled from the habitations frequented only by
the frivolous, heartless, and vain--these found in the sick-room of
the father, and the affectionate fidelity of the daughter, something
so like the embodiment of his fancy of earthly happiness, that he
accepted as a benignant fate the accident which had admitted him to the
arcana of their private life. Sarah's temporary illness had taught him
the meaning of his dreams, by seeming to peril the chances of their
fulfilment; and from that hour he strove patiently and sedulously, as
it was his habit, to seek all great ends for the acquisition of the
heart whose depth he perhaps, of all who knew her, best understood.
The most impatient person of those directly or indirectly concerned
in the progress of this wooing was Mrs. Hunt. Her husband, with
unwonted firmness, had forbidden that anyone of the household should
speak a word in raillery or otherwise to Sarah touching Mr. Hammond's
intentions. "However earnestly I may desire his success," he said to
his wife--"and there is no man living whom I would rather call 'son'--I
would not influence her by the weight of a single syllable. Hers is the
happiness or the misery of a life with her husband--whomsoever she may
choose, and hers shall be the entire choice. If she can love and marry
Lewis Hammond, I shall be gratified; if not, she shall never guess at
my disappointment."
"La, Mr. H.! you are as foolish and sentimental as the girl herself!
For my part, I ain't such a saint, and I do say, that if Sarah Hunt
allows such a catch as this to slip through her fingers, she shall hear
a piece of my mind!"
"I insist," said Mr. Hunt, with immovable resolution, "that Sarah shall
be allowed to follow the guidance of her own will in this matter. It is
not often that I interfere with your plans; but in this one instance I
must be obeyed!"
With which astounding declaration of equal rights, if not of
sovereignty, he left his consort to her reflections.
Ignorant of the delicate watchfulness maintained over her by this
best of friends, Sarah walked on her beclouded way--without hope,
without one anticipation of any future dissimilar to her present,
until awakened with a shock by a formal declaration of love from Lewis
Hammond.