TWO MONTHS.
Of the every-day lives of the three young people, Beatrice, Everard, and
Rosamond, I wish to say a few words before hurrying on to the tragedy
which cast so dark a shadow over them all. But there was no sign of the
storm now in the rose-tinted sky, and Everard never forgot that bright
summer and autumn which followed his return from college,—when he was so
happy in the society of Beatrice and Rossie. It is true he never forgot
that he was bound fast, with no hope of ever being free, but here in
Rothsay, miles and miles away from the chain which bound him, it did not
hurt so much or seem quite so hard to bear.
Josephine was not very troublesome; in fact, she had only written to him
twice, and then she did not ask for money, and seemed quite as anxious
as himself that their secret should be kept from his father until some
way was found to reconcile him to it. Possibly her reticence on the
subject of money arose from the fact that he sent her fifty dollars in
his first letter written after his return to Rothsay. This large sum he
had got together by the most rigid economy in his own expenses, and by
the interest on a few shares of railroad stock which a relative had left
to him as her godson. This stock for a time had been good for nothing,
but recently it had risen in value, so that a dividend had been
declared, and Everard had sent the first proceeds to Josephine; but his
boyish love was dead, and he did not try to resuscitate it, or build
another love where that had been; he was content with the present as it
was. His father, who was very kind to him, and seemed trying to make
amends for his former severity and harshness, had said he was not to
enter the office to study until October. Looking in his boy’s face, he
had seen something which he mistook for weariness, and too close
application to books, and he said, “You do not seem quite well. Your
mother’s family were not strong; so rest till October. Have a good time
with Rossie and Bee, and you will be better fitted to bone down to work
when the time for it comes.”
This was a great deal for Judge Forrest to say, but he felt very
indulgent toward his son, who had graduated with so much honor, and who
seemed to be wholly upright and steady; and in a fit of wonderful
generosity he went so far as to present him with a fine mustang, as a
fitting match to Beatrice’s fleet riding-horse. This was just what
Everard wanted, and he and Miss Belknap rode miles and miles together
over the fine roads and through the beautiful country in the vicinity of
Rothsay. Rosamond sometimes accompanied them, but she was not fond of
riding, and old Bobtail, the gray mare, sent her up so high, and seemed
so out of place beside Bee’s shining black pony, and Everard’s
white-faced mustang, that she preferred remaining at home; and so the
two were left to themselves, and people talked knowingly of what was
sure to be, and hinted it to Rosamond, who never contradicted them, but
by her manner gave credence to the story. She believed implicitly that
Beatrice was coming to be mistress of the Forrest House, and was very
happy in the prospect, for next to Mr. Everard she liked Bee Belknap
better than any person in the world. Many were the castles she built of
the time when Everard should bring his bride home. Since Mrs. Forrest’s
death so many rooms had been shut up, and the house had seemed so lonely
and almost dreary, especially in the winter, but with Bee there all
would be changed, and Rossie even indulged in the hope that possibly the
furniture in her own little room might be replaced by better, or at
least added to. The judge, too, watched matters with an immense amount
of satisfaction. Years ago he had settled it that Everard would marry
Bee, and he was sure of it now. That girl with the yellow hair, as he
always called Josephine to himself, was not anything to his son, as he
had once feared she might be. Everard could never stoop to her; Everard
would marry Bee, and it might as well take place at once; there was no
need to wait, and just as soon as his son was established in the office
he meant to speak to him, and if it were not already settled it should
be, and Christmas was the time fixed in his own mind as a fitting season
for the bridal festivities. He would fill the house with guests all
through the holidays, and when they were gone the young couple might
journey as far as Washington, or even Florida, if they liked. Then in
the spring Bee could fit up the south side of the house as expensively
as she chose, and Rossie should have the large corner room next his own
on the north side, thus leaving the newly-married pair as much to
themselves as possible.
And so the wires were being laid, and Everard stepped over and around
them all unconsciously, and took the goods the gods provided for him,
whether in the shape of Beatrice, or Rosamond, or his father’s uniform
kindness toward him; and the September days went by, and October came,
and found him a student at last in his father’s office, where he bent
every energy to mastering the law and gaining his profession. There were
no more long rides with Beatrice, and his mustang chafed and fretted and
grew unmanageable for want of exercise. There were no more strolls in
the leafy woods with Rossie, who gathered the nuts, and ferns and
grasses alone, and rarely had Everard’s society except at meal-time,
when she managed to post him with regard to all the details of her
quiet, every-day life. She was reading Chateaubriand’s “Atala” in
French, and found it rather stupid; or she was learning a new piece of
music she knew he would like; or old Blue had six new kittens in his
trunk up in the garret, and she wished him to go and see them.
Everard was always interested in what interested Rosamond, and on no one
did his glance rest so kindly as on this little old-fashioned girl, in
whom there seemed to be no guile; but he had no leisure time to give
her. It was his plan to get his profession as soon as possible, and
then, taking Josephine, go to some new place in the far West, where he
could grow up with the town, and perhaps be comparatively independent
and happy. But his future had been ordered otherwise, and suddenly,
without a note of warning, his house of cards came down, and buried him
in its ruins.