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ISHMAEL
Or, In the Depths
by
Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
Author of
_Self-Raised_, _The Hidden Hand_, _Capitola's Peril_,
_The Bride's Fate_, _The Changed Brides_, etc.
A.L. Burt Company, Publishers
New York
"Light was his footstep in the dance
And firm his stirrup in the lists,
And O! he had that merry glance
That seldom lady's heart resists."
* * * * * *
POPULAR BOOKS
By MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH
In Handsome Cloth Binding
Price per volume 60 Cents
Beautiful Fiend, A
Brandon Coyle's Wife
Sequel to A Skeleton in the Closet
Bride's Fate, The
Sequel to The Changed Brides
Bride's Ordeal, The
Capitola's Peril
Sequel to the Hidden Hand
Changed Brides, The
Cruel as the Grave
David Lindsay
Sequel to Gloria
Deed Without a Name, A
Dorothy Harcourt's Secret
Sequel to A Deed Without a Name
"Em"
Em's Husband
Sequel to "Em"
Fair Play
For Whose Sake
Sequel to Why Did He Wed Her?
For Woman's Love
Fulfilling Her Destiny
Sequel to When Love Commands
Gloria
Her Love or Her life
Sequel to The Bride's Ordeal
Her Mother's Secret
Hidden Hand, The
How He Won Her
Sequel to Fair Play
Ishmael
Leap in the Dark, A
Lilith
Sequel to the Unloved Wife
Little Nea's Engagement
Sequel to Nearest and Dearest
Lost Heir, The
Lost Lady of Lone, The
Love's Bitterest Cup
Sequel to Her Mother's Secret
Mysterious Marriage, The
Sequel to A Leap in the Dark
Nearest and Dearest
Noble Lord, A
Sequel to The Lost Heir
Self-Raised
Sequel to Ishmael
Skeleton in the Closet, A
Struggle of a Soul, The
Sequel to The Lost Lady of Lone
Sweet Love's Atonement
Test of Love, The
Sequel to A Tortured Heart
To His Fate
Sequel to Dorothy Harcourt's Secret
Tortured Heart, A
Sequel to The Trail of the Serpent
Trail of the Serpent, The
Tried for Her Life
Sequel to Cruel as the Grave
Unloved Wife, The
Unrequited Love, An
Sequel to For Woman's Love
Victor's Triumph
Sequel to A Beautiful Fiend
When Love Commands
When Shadows Die
Sequel to Love's Bitterest Cup
Why Did He Wed Her?
Zenobia's Suitors
Sequel to Sweet Love's Atonement
For Sale by all Booksellers or will be sent postpaid on receipt of price,
A.L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
52 Duane Street New York
* * * * * *
PREFACE.
This story, in book form, has been called for during several years past,
but the author has reserved it until now; not only because she considers
it to be her very best work, but because it is peculiarly a national
novel, being founded on the life and career of one of the noblest of our
countrymen, who really lived, suffered, toiled, and triumphed in this
land; one whose inspirations of wisdom and goodness were drawn from the
examples of the heroic warriors and statesmen of the Revolution, and who
having by his own energy risen from the deepest obscurity to the highest
fame, became in himself an illustration of the elevating influence of
our republican institutions.
"In the Depths" he was born indeed--in the very depths of poverty,
misery, and humiliation. But through Heaven's blessing on his
aspirations and endeavors, he raised himself to the summit of fame.
He was good as well as great. His goodness won the love of all who knew
him intimately. His greatness gained the homage of the world. He became,
in a word, one of the brightest stars in Columbia's diadem of light.
His identity will be recognized by those who were familiar with his
early personal history; but for obvious reasons his real name must be
veiled under a fictitious one here.
His life is a guiding-star to the youth of every land, to show them that
there is no depth of human misery from which they may not, by virtue,
energy and perseverance, rise to earthly honors as well as to eternal
glory.
Emma D. E. N. Southworth.
Prospect Cottage,
Georgetown, D.C.
CONTENTS.
I. THE SISTERS
II. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
III. PASSION
IV. THE FATAL DEED
V. LOVE AND FATE
VI. A SECRET REVEALED
VII. MOTHER- AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
VIII. END OF THE SECRET MARRIAGE
IX. THE VICTIM
X. THE RIVALS
XI. THE MARTYRS OF LOVE
XII. HERMAN'S STORY
XIII. THE FLIGHT OF HERMAN
XIV. OVER NORA'S GRAVE
XV. NORA'S SON
XVI. THE FORSAKEN WIFE
XVII. THE COUNTESS AND THE CHILD
XVIII. BERENICE
XIX. NOBODY'S SON
XX. NEWS FROM HERMAN
XXI. ISHMAEL'S ADVENTURE
XXII. ISHMAEL GAINS HIS FIRST VERDICT
XXIII. ISHMAEL'S PROGRESS
XXIV. CLAUDIA TO THE RESCUE
XXV. A TURNING POINT IN ISHMAEL'S LIFE
XXVI. THE FIRE AT BRUDENELL HALL
XXVII. ISHMAEL'S FIRST STEP ON THE LADDER
XXVIII. ISHMAEL AND CLAUDIA
XXIX. YOUNG LOVE
XXX. ISHMAEL AND CLAUDIA
XXXI. ISHMAEL HEARS A SECRET FROM AN ENEMY
XXXII. AT HIS MOTHER'S GRAVE
XXXIII. LOVE AND GENIUS
XXXIV. UNDER THE OLD ELM TREE
XXXV. THE DREAM AND THE AWAKENING
XXXVI. DARKNESS
XXXVII. THE NEW HOME
XXXVIII. ISHMAEL'S STRUGGLES
XXXIX. ISHMAEL IN TANGLEWOOD
XL. THE LIBRARY
XLI. CLAUDIA
XLII. ISHMAEL AT TANGLEWOOD
XLIII. THE HEIRESS
XLIV. CLAUDIA'S PERPLEXITIES
XLV. THE INTERVIEW
XLVI. NEW LIFE
XLVII. RUSHY SHORE
XLVIII. ONWARD
XLIX. STILL ONWARD
L. CLAUDIA'S CITY HOME
LI. HEIRESS AND BEAUTY
LII. AN EVENING AT THE PRESIDENT'S
LIII. THE VISCOUNT VINCENT
LIV. ISHMAEL AT THE BALL
LV. A STEP HIGHER
LVI. TRIAL AND TRIUMPH
LVII. THE YOUNG CHAMPION
LVIII. HERMAN BRUDENELL
LIX. FIRST MEETING OF FATHER AND SON
LX. HERMAN AND HANNAH
LXI. ENVY
LXII. FOILED MALICE
LXIII. THE BRIDE ELECT
LXIV. CLAUDIA'S WOE
LXV. ISHMAEL'S WOE
LXVI. THE MARRIAGE MORNING
LXVII. BEE'S HANDKERCHIEF
ISHMAEL
OR,
"IN THE DEPTHS."
CHAPTER I.
THE SISTERS.
But if thou wilt be constant then,
And faithful of thy word,
I'll make thee glorious by my pen
And famous by my sword.
I'll serve thee in such noble ways
Was never heard before;
I'll crown and deck thee all with bays,
And love thee evermore.
--_James Graham_.
"Well, if there be any truth in the old adage, young Herman Brudenell
will have a prosperous life; for really this is a lovely day for the
middle of April--the sky is just as sunny and the air as warm as if it
were June," said Hannah Worth, looking out from the door of her hut upon
a scene as beautiful as ever shone beneath the splendid radiance of an
early spring morning.
"And what is that old adage you talk of, Hannah?" inquired her younger
sister, who stood braiding the locks of her long black hair before the
cracked looking-glass that hung above the rickety chest of drawers.
"Why, la, Nora, don't you know? The adage is as old as the hills and as
true as the heavens, and it is this, that a man's twenty-first birthday
is an index to his after life:--if it be clear, he will be fortunate; if
cloudy, unfortunate."
"Then I should say that young Mr. Brudenell's fortune will be a splendid
one; for the sun is dazzling!" said Nora, as she wound the long sable
plait of hair around her head in the form of a natural coronet, and
secured the end behind with--a thorn! "And, now, how do I look? Aint you
proud of me?" she archly inquired, turning with "a smile of conscious
beauty born" to the inspection of her elder sister.
That sister might well have answered in the affirmative had she
considered personal beauty a merit of high order; for few palaces in
this world could boast a princess so superbly beautiful as this peasant
girl that this poor hut contained. Beneath those rich sable tresses was
a high broad forehead as white as snow; slender black eyebrows so well
defined and so perfectly arched that they gave a singularly open and
elevated character to the whole countenance; large dark gray eyes, full
of light, softened by long, sweeping black lashes; a small, straight
nose; oval, blooming cheeks; plump, ruddy lips that, slightly parted,
revealed glimpses of the little pearly teeth within; a well-turned chin;
a face with this peculiarity, that when she was pleased it was her eyes
that smiled and not her lips; a face, in short, full of intelligence and
feeling that might become thought and passion. Her form was noble--being
tall, finely proportioned, and richly developed.
Her beauty owed nothing to her toilet--her only decoration was the
coronet of her own rich black hair; her only hair pin was a thorn; her
dress indeed was a masterpiece of domestic manufacture,--the cotton from
which it was made having been carded, spun, woven, and dyed by Miss
Hannah's own busy hands; but as it was only a coarse blue fabric, after
all, it would not be considered highly ornamental; it was new and clean,
however, and Nora was well pleased with it, as with playful impatience
she repeated her question:
"Say! aint you proud of me now?"
"No," replied the elder sister, with assumed gravity; "I am proud of
your dress because it is my own handiwork, and it does me credit; but as
for you--"
"I am Nature's handiwork, and I do her credit!" interrupted Nora, with
gay self-assertion.
"I am quite ashamed of you, you are so vain!" continued Hannah,
completing her sentence.
"Oh, vain, am I? Very well, then, another time I will keep my vanity to
myself. It is quite as easy to conceal as to confess, you know; though
it may not be quite as good for the soul," exclaimed Nora, with merry
perversity, as she danced off in search of her bonnet.
She had not far to look; for the one poor room contained all of the
sisters' earthly goods. And they were easily summed up--a bed in one
corner, a loom in another, a spinning-wheel in the third, and a
corner-cupboard in the fourth; a chest of drawers sat against the wall
between the bed and the loom, and a pine table against the opposite wall
between the spinning-wheel and the cupboard; four wooden chairs sat just
wherever they could be crowded. There was no carpet on the floor, no
paper on the walls. There was but one door and one window to the hut,
and they were in front. Opposite them at the back of the room was a wide
fire-place, with a rude mantle shelf above it, adorned with old brass
candlesticks as bright as gold. Poor as this hut was, the most
fastidious fine lady need not have feared to sit down within it, it was
so purely clean.
The sisters were soon ready, and after closing up their wee hut as
cautiously as if it contained the wealth of India, they set forth, in
their blue cotton gowns and white cotton bonnets, to attend the grand
birthday festival of the young heir of Brudenell Hall.
Around them spread out a fine, rolling, well-wooded country; behind them
stood their own little hut upon the top of its bare hill; below them lay
a deep, thickly-wooded valley, beyond which rose another hill, crowned
with an elegant mansion of white free-stone. That was Brudenell Hall.
Thus the hut and the hall perched upon opposite hills, looked each other
in the face across the wooded valley. And both belonged to the same vast
plantation--the largest in the county. The morning was indeed delicious,
the earth everywhere springing with young grass and early flowers; the
forest budding with tender leaves; the freed brooks singing as they ran;
the birds darting about here and there seeking materials to build their
nests; the heavens benignly smiling over all; the sun glorious; the air
intoxicating; mere breath joy; mere life rapture! All nature singing a
Gloria in Excelsis! And now while the sisters saunter leisurely on,
pausing now and then to admire some exquisite bit of scenery, or to
watch some bird, or to look at some flower, taking their own time for
passing through the valley that lay between the hut and the hall, I must
tell you who and what they were.
Hannah and Leonora Worth were orphans, living alone together in the hut
on the hill and supporting themselves by spinning and weaving.
Hannah, the eldest, was but twenty-eight years old, yet looked forty;
for, having been the eldest sister, the mother-sister, of a large
family of orphan children, all of whom had died except the youngest,
Leonora,--her face wore that anxious, haggard, care-worn and prematurely
aged look peculiar to women who have the burdens of life too soon and
too heavily laid upon them. Her black hair was even streaked here and
there with gray. But with all this there was not the least trace of
impatience or despondency in that all-enduring face. When grave, its
expression was that of resignation; when gay--and even she could be gay
at times--its smile was as sunny as Leonora's own. Hannah had a lover as
patient as Job, or as herself, a poor fellow who had been constant to
her for twelve years, and whose fate resembled her own; for he was the
father of all his orphan brothers and sisters as she had been the mother
of hers. Of course, these poor lovers could not dream of marriage; but
they loved each other all the better upon that very account, perhaps.
Lenora was ten years younger than her sister, eighteen, well grown, well
developed, blooming, beautiful, gay and happy as we have described her.
She had not a care, or regret, or sorrow in the world. She was a bird,
the hut was her nest and Hannah her mother, whose wings covered her.
These sisters were very poor; not, however, as the phrase is understood
in the large cities, where, notwithstanding the many charitable
institutions for the mitigation of poverty, scores of people perish
annually from cold and hunger; but as it is understood in the rich lower
counties of Maryland, where forests filled with game and rivers swarming
with fish afford abundance of food and fuel to even the poorest hutters,
however destitute they might be of proper shelter, clothing, or
education.
And though these orphan sisters could not hunt or fish, they could buy
cheaply a plenty of game from the negroes who did. And besides this,
they had a pig, a cow, and a couple of sheep that grazed freely in the
neighboring fields, for no one thought of turning out an animal that
belonged to these poor girls. In addition, they kept a few fowls and
cultivated a small vegetable garden in the rear of their hut. And to
keep the chickens out of the garden was one of the principal occupations
of Nora. Their spinning-wheel and loom supplied them with the few
articles of clothing they required, and with a little money for the
purchase of tea, sugar, and salt. Thus you see their living was good,
though their dress, their house, and their schooling were so very bad.
They were totally ignorant of the world beyond their own neighborhood;
they could read and write, but very imperfectly; and their only book was
the old family Bible, that might always be seen proudly displayed upon
the rickety chest of drawers.
Notwithstanding their lowly condition, the sisters were much esteemed
for their integrity of character by their richer neighbors, who would
have gladly made them more comfortable had not the proud spirit of
Hannah shrunk from dependence.
They had been invited to the festival to be held at Brudenell Hall in
honor of the young heir's coming of age and entering upon his estates.
This gentlemen, Herman Brudenell, was their landlord; and it was as his
tenants, and not by any means as his equals, that they had been bidden
to the feast. And now we will accompany them to the house of rejoicing.
They were now emerging from the valley and climbing the opposite hill.
Hannah walking steadily on in the calm enjoyment of nature, and Nora
darting about like a young bird and caroling as she went in the
effervescence of her delight.