THE SLEIGH-RIDE.
“How the wild crowd goes swaying along,
Hailing each other with humor and song,
How the gay sledges like meteors flash by,
Bright for a moment, then lost to the eye;
Ringing, swinging, dashing they go,
Over the crust of the beautiful snow.”
It snows hard and fast until noon, then the whirling white element
thins, decreases, stops.
A pale wintry sunshine softens the keenly cold atmosphere.
Vivian remains at the window, watching the joyous people dashing past
to the music of sleigh-bells, and it is late noon before Charlton and
his host make their appearance.
Both look ashamed, but at luncheon all their cheerfulness returns, and
when Mr. Essex has tossed off a glass of brandy and soda he feels quite
himself again. He welcomes the “coming of beautiful snow” with eager
pleasure, and proposes a sleigh-ride instanter.
Charlton negatives the proposal, for himself, at least. He is sleepy
yet, and meditates a nap on the library sofa. Judge Leigh declines
leaving an interesting book.
“You will come with me, my darling,” Earle exclaims, bending over his
wife, and caressing her dark hair with a loving hand.
“I do not wish to go, Earle. I am not well to-day, and sleigh-riding in
the keen air will only make me worse. But I do not wish to deprive you
of the pleasure. Go after Eve--she will be delighted to accompany you.”
“I want you, not Eve, my darling. It is only a fancy that you are not
well. The fresh air will help you. Put on your furs, while I go and
order the sleigh brought around.”
“Pray excuse me, Earle.”
“Excuses are not admissible in this case, dear.” His eyes look so
pleadingly into hers that she relents against her better judgment. “Get
ready, that’s a dear, while I hurry up the sleigh.”
“I will go,” she answers, quietly, and is soon wrapped snugly in her
sealskin cloak and cap.
Soon she is whirled away by the beautiful prancing white horses to the
joyous tinkle of the silver bells, and Earle beams with pride at her
grace and beauty.
“How stupid I feel,” mutters Charlton, in a tone of vexation and
regret. “I wish I had not gone and made such a simpleton of myself last
night.”
“I am glad you have the grace to feel ashamed of it, Charlton. I felt
much mortified at your reckless drinking, and Vivian was distressed
beyond measure. I should feel like censuring you severely, had I not
observed that it was through Diana’s urging that you took more wine
than was good for you before she left the table. _En passant_, she is
rather more fond of wine herself than is suitable for a lady. I never
saw you really drunk before, Charlton, and I hope this will never occur
again.”
“It shall not, sir,” Charlton replies, flushing deeply. “Like Diana, I
have a fondness for wine, but I also have a will strong enough, when
exerted, to keep my taste within proper bounds. You need not fear for
me, sir.”
“I am glad you think so, Charlton; but I should not like to see you
thrown habitually among such wild young men as those you were with last
night. You are much too easily led into error by bad examples.”
“Yet you use wine habitually on your table, sir.”
“Through habit, my son, not through any conviction that it is necessary
or right. My ancestors handed down the custom to me along with their
silver plate and decanters. It is an old custom, but whether a wise
one I doubt, though I never really questioned it until something my
daughter said to me this morning set me seriously thinking.”
“What, Viva? Has my little sister gone over to the abstinence side? She
is the last person I expected to advocate temperance--she who affronted
my best friend because she could not tempt him to drink,” Charlton
ended, rather bitterly.
“My poor little girl! I suspect she is learning the wisdom of
abstinence by a first actual knowledge of intemperance,” Judge Leigh
observes with unwonted gravity. “I fear that Essex is acquiring rather
fast habits--is too fond of his glass.”
“Always was, sir, and the set he effects is not likely to reform his
bad habits; but I hoped marriage would sober him down. If he keeps on
this way much longer, Viva’s marriage will turn out a terrible mistake.”
He pauses, but, receiving no reply from the judge, goes on thoughtfully:
“Perhaps you ought to advise Earle about this matter. Although he
laughs at Viva’s girlish fears, he must respect your mature judgment
and experience. It is a pity his parents died just as he came of age,
and left him this large property to dissipate as he is doing. There is
no question but he will soon make ducks and drakes of it if he keeps on
with that Frenchman and his set.”
“But, surely his love for Vivian will influence him for good,” Judge
Leigh says uneasily.
“Time will tell,” Charlton answers, with a ring of despondency in his
tone. But he knows Earle Essex’s weak nature better than his father,
and has no faith in Vivian’s influence for good over such a headstrong
nature.