CONCLUSION.
How saidst thou!-Labor:-why his work is pleasure;
His days are pleasantness, his nights are peace;
He drinks of joys that neither cloy, nor cease,
A well that gushes blessings without measure;
Yea, and to crown the cup of peace with praise,
Both God and man approve his works and ways.
--_Martin F. Tupper._
Early in the spring of the following year a great distinction
awaited Ishmael Worth. Young as he then was, he had won the
admiration and confidence of the greatest statesmen and politicians
of the day. And there were statesmen as well as politicians then.
"There were giants in those days." And from among all the profound
lawyers and learned judges of the country, young Ishmael Worth was
selected by our government as their especial ambassador to the Court
of France, to settle with the French ministry some knotty point of
international law about which the two countries were in danger of
going to war.
Ishmael was to sail in May. His marriage with Bee had been deferred
upon different pretexts by her family; for not very willingly do
parents part with such a daughter as Bee, even to a husband so well
beloved and highly esteemed as Ishmael; and Ishmael and Bee had
reluctantly, but dutifully, submitted to their wishes, but not again
would Ishmael cross the Atlantic without Bee. So, on the 1st of May
they were very quietly married in the parish church that the family
attended. Judge Merlin and his daughter were, of course, invited to
be present at the ceremony; but both sent excuses, with best wishes
for the happiness of the young pair. Not yet could Claudia look
calmly on the marriage of Ishmael and Bee.
On the 7th of May Ishmael and his bride sailed from New York to
Havre, for Paris. There he satisfactorily concluded the important
business upon which he had been sent, and it is supposed to have
been owing to his wise diplomacy alone, under Divine Providence,
that a war was averted, and the disputed question settled upon an
amicable and permanent basis. Having thus performed his mission, he
devoted himself exclusively to his bride. She was presented at the
French court, where her beauty, resplendent now with perfect love
and joy, made a great sensation, even in that court of beauties. She
went to some of the most select and exclusive of the ambassadors'
balls, and everywhere, without seeking or desiring such distinction,
she became the cynosure of all eyes. When the season was over in
Paris they made the tour of Europe, seeing the best that was to be
seen, stopping at all the principal capitals, and, through our
ministers, entering into all the court circles; and everywhere the
handsome person, courtly address, and brilliant intellect of
Ishmael, and the beauty, grace, and amiability of Bee, inspired
admiration and respect. They came last to England. In London they
were the guests of our minister. Here also Bee was presented at
court, where, as elsewhere, her rare loveliness was the theme of
every tongue.
Meanwhile, Claudia, living in widowhood and seclusion, learned all
of Bee's transatlantic triumphs through the "court circulars" and
"fashionable intelligence" of the English papers; and through the
gossiping foreign letter writers of the New York journals; all of
which in a morbid curiosity she took, and in a self-tormenting
spirit studied. In what bitterness of soul she read of all these
triumphs! This was exactly what she had marked out for herself, when
she sold her soul to the fiend, in becoming the wife of Lord
Vincent! And how the fiend had cheated her! Here she was at an
obscure country house, wearing out the days of her youth in hopeless
widowhood and loneliness. This splendid career of Bee was the very
thing to attain which she had sacrificed the struggling young
lawyer, and taken the noble viscount. And now it was that very young
lawyer who introduced his bride to all these triumphs; while that
very viscount had left her to a widowhood of obscurity and reproach!
In eagerly, recklessly, sinfully snatching at these social honors
she had lost them all, while Bee, without seeking or desiring them,
by simply walking forward in her path of love and duty, had found
them in her way. But for her own wicked pride and mental short-
sightedness, she might be occupying that very station now so
gracefully adorned by Bee.
What a lesson it was! Claudia bowed her haughty head and took it
well to heart. "It is bitter, it is bitter; but it is just, and I
accept it. I will learn of it. I cannot be happy; but I can be
dutiful. I have but my father left in this world. I will devote
myself to him and to God," she said, and she kept her word.
There is one incident in the travels of Ishmael and Bee that should
be recorded here, since it concerns a lady(?) that figured rather
conspicuously in this history. The young pair were at Cameron Court,
on a visit to the Countess of Hurstmonceux and Mr. Brudenell, whom
they found enjoying much calm domestic happiness. Making Cameron
Court their headquarters, Ishmael and Bee went on many excursions
through the country and visited many interesting places. Among the
rest, they inspected the model Reformatory Female Prison at
Ballmornock. While they were going through one of the workrooms, Bee
suddenly pressed her husband's arm and whispered:
"Ishmael, dear, observe that poor young woman sitting there binding
shoes. How pretty and lady-like she seems, to be in such a place as
this, poor thing!"
Ishmael looked as desired; and at the same moment the female
prisoner raised her head; and their eyes met.
"Come away, Bee, my darling," said Ishmael, suddenly turn his wife
around and leading her from the room.
"She really seemed to know you, Ishmael," said Bee, as they left the
prison.
"She did, love; it was Mrs. Dugald."
Bee's blue eyes opened wide, in wonder and sorrow, and she walked on
in silence and in thought.
Yes, the female prisoner, in the coarse gray woolen gown and close
white linen cap, who sat on the wooden bench binding shoes, was
Katie's "whited sepulcher." She had been sent first to the
Bridewell, where for a few days she had been very violent and
ungovernable, but she soon learned that her best interests lay in
submission; and for months afterwards she behaved so well that at
length she was sent to the milder Reformatory, to work out her ten
years of penal servitude. Here she was supplied with food, clothing,
and shelter--all of a good, coarse, substantial sort. But she was
compelled to work very steadily all the week, and to hear two good
sermons on Sunday, and as she had never in her life before enjoyed
such excellent moral training as this, let us hope that the
Reformatory really reformed her.
Ishmael and Bee returned home in the early autumn. Almost
immediately upon his arrival in Washington, Ishmael was made
district attorney. The emoluments of this office, added to the
income from his private practice, brought him in a revenue that
justified him in taking an elegant little suburban villa, situated
within its own beautiful grounds and within an easy distance from
his office. Here he lived with Bee, as happy, and making her as
happy, as they both deserved to be.
It was in the third winter of Claudia's widowhood that the health of
her father began to fail. A warmer climate was recommended to him as
the only condition of his prolonged life. He went to Cuba, attended
by Claudia, now his devoted nurse. In that more genial atmosphere
his health improved so much that he entered moderately into the
society of the capital, and renewed some of his old acquaintance. He
found that Philip Tourneysee had succeeded at last in winning the
heart of the pretty Creole widow, Senora Donna Eleanora Pacheco, to
whom he had been married a year. He met again that magnificent old
grandee of Castile, Senor Don Filipo Martinez, Marquis de la Santo
Espirito, who at first sight became an ardent admirer of Claudia,
and the more the Castilian nobleman of this pale pensive beauty, the
more he admired her; and the more he observed her devotion to her
father, the more he esteemed her. At length he formally proposed to
her and was accepted. And at about the same time the marquis
received the high official appointment he had been so long
expecting. Claudia, in marrying him, became the wife of the Captain
General of Cuba, and the first lady on the island. But, mark you!
she had not sought nor expected this distinction. She simply found
it in the performance of her duties; and if she did not love her
stately husband with the ardor of her youth, she admired and revered
him. In his private life she made him a good wife; in his public
career an intelligent counselor; in everything a faithful companion.
Judge Merlin spent all his winters with them in Havana; and all his
summers at Tanglewood, taken care of by Katie.
A few words about the other characters of our story.
Old Mrs. Brudenell and her daughters vegetated on at Brudenell Hall,
in a monotony that was broken by only three incidents in as many
years. The first was the death of poor Eleanor, whose worthless
husband had died of excess some months before; the second incident
was the marriage of Elizabeth Brudenell to the old pastor of her
parish, who repented of his celibacy because he had become infirm,
and took a wife because he required a nurse; and the third was the
visit of the Countess of Hurstmonceux and Mr. Brudenell, who came
and spent a few months among their friends in America, and then
returned to their delightful home in Scotland.
The Middletons continued to live at The Beacon, but every winter
they spent a month at The Bee-Hive, which was the name of the
Worths' villa; and every summer Ishmael, Bee, and their lovely
little daughter, Nora, passed a few weeks amid the invigorating sea-
breezes at The Beacon.
The professor lived with Ishmael, in the enjoyment of a vigorous and
happy old age.
Reuben and Hannah Gray continued to reside at Woodside, cultivating
the Tanglewood estate and bringing up their two children.
Alfred Burghe was cashiered for "conduct unworthy of an officer and
a gentleman," as the charge against him on his trial set forth; and
he and his brother have passed into forgetfulness.
Sally and Jim were united, of course, and lived as servants at
Tanglewood, where old Katie, as housekeeper, reigned supreme.
What else?
Ishmael loved, prayed, and worked--worked more than ever, for he
knew that though it was hard to win, it was harder to secure fame.
He went on from success to success. He became illustrious.
THE END