"Gabriella,--is it you? How glad I am to see you!"
That clear, distinct, ringing voice!--I knew it well, though a year had
passed since I had heard its sound. The three years which made me, as I
said before, a _wiser child_, had matured my champion, the boy of
fifteen, into a youth of eighteen, a collegian of great promise and
signal endowments. I felt very sorry when he left the academy, for he
had been my steadfast friend and defender, and a great assistant in my
scholastic tasks. But after he entered a college, I felt as if there
were a great gulf between us, never more to be passed over. I had very
superb ideas of collegians. I had seen them during their holidays, which
they frequently came into the country to spend, dashing through the
streets like the wild huntsmen, on horses that struck fire as they flew
along. I had seen them lounging in the streets, with long, wild hair,
and corsair visages and Byronian collars, and imagined them a most
formidable race of beings. I did not know that these were the
_scape-goats_ of their class, suspended for rebellion, or expelled for
greater offences,--that having lost their character as students, they
were resolved to distinguish themselves as dandies, the lowest ambition
a son of Adam's race can feel. It is true, I did not dream that Richard
Clyde could be transformed into their image, but I thought some
marvellous change must take place, which would henceforth render him as
much a stranger to me as though we had never met.
Now, when I heard the clear, glad accents of his voice, so natural, so
unchanged, I looked up with a glance of delighted recognition into the
young student's manly face. My first sensation was pleasure, the
pleasure which congenial youth inspires, my next shame, for the
homeliness of my occupation. I was standing by a beautiful bubbling
spring, at the foot of a little hill near my mother's cottage. The
welling spring, the rock over which it gushed, the trees which bent
their branches over the fountain to guard it from the sunbeams, the
sweet music the falling waters,--all these were romantic and
picturesque. I might imagine myself "a nymph, a naiad, or a grace." Or,
had I carried a pitcher in my hand, I might have thought myself another
Rebecca, and poised on my shoulder the not ungraceful burden. But I was
dipping water from the spring, in a tin pail, of a broad, clumsy,
unclassic form,--too heavy for the shoulder, and extremely difficult to
carry in the hand, in consequence of the small, wiry handle. In my
confusion I dropped the pail, which went gaily floating to the opposite
side of the spring, entirely out of my reach. The strong, bubbling
current bore it upward, and it danced and sparkled and turned its sides
of mimic silver, first one way and then the other, as if rejoicing in
its liberty.
Richard laughed, his old merry laugh, and jumping on the rock over which
the waters were leaping, caught the pail, and waved it as a trophy over
his head. Then stooping down he filled it to the brim, gave one spring
to the spot where I stood, whirled the bucket upside down and set it
down on the grass without spilling a drop.
"That is too large and heavy for you to carry, Gabriella," said he.
"Look at the palm of your hand, there is quite a red groove there made
by that iron handle."
"Never mind," I answered, twisting my handkerchief carelessly round the
tingling palm, "I must get used to it. Peggy is sick and there is no one
to carry water now but myself. When she is well, she will never let me
do any thing of the kind."
"You should not," said he, decidedly. "You are not strong enough,--you
must get another servant.--I will inquire in the village myself this
morning, and send you one."
"O no, my mother would never consent to a stranger coming into the
family. Besides, no one could take Peggy's place. She is less a servant
than a friend."
I turned away to hide the tears that I could not keep back. Peggy's
illness, though not of an alarming character, showed that even her iron
constitution was not exempt from the ills which flesh is heir to,--that
the strong pillar on which we leaned so trustingly _could_ vibrate and
shake, and what would become of us if it were prostrated to the earth;
the lonely column of fidelity and truth, to which we clung so
adhesively; the sheet anchor which had kept us from sinking beneath the
waves of adversity? I had scarcely realized Peggy's mortality before,
she seemed so strong, so energetic, so untiring. I would as soon have
thought of the sun's being weary in its mighty task as of Peggy's strong
arm waxing weak. I felt very sad, and the meeting with Richard Clyde,
which had excited a momentary joy, now deepened my sadness. He looked so
bright, so prosperous, so full of hope and life. He was no longer the
school-boy whom I could meet on equal terms, but the student entered on
a public career of honor and distinction,--the son of ambition, whose
gaze was already fixed on the distant hill-tops of fame. There was
nothing in his countenance or manner that gave this impression, but my
own morbid sensitiveness. The dawning feelings of womanhood made me
blush for the plainness and childishness of my dress, and then I was
ashamed of my shame, and blushed the more deeply.
"I am glad to see you again," I said, stooping to raise my brimming
pail,--"I suppose I must not call you Richard now."
"Yes, indeed, I hope and trust none of my old friends will begin to Mr.
Clyde me for a long time to come, and least, I mean most of all, you,
Gabriella. We were always such exceedingly good friends, you know. But
don't be in such a hurry, I have a thousand questions to ask, a thousand
things to tell."
"I should love to hear them all, Richard, but I cannot keep my mother
waiting."
Before I could get hold of the handle of the pail, he had seized it and
was swinging it along with as much ease as if he had a bunch of roses in
his hand. We ascended the little hill together, he talking all the time,
in a spirited, joyous manner, laughing at his awkwardness as he stumbled
against a rolling stone, wishing he was a school-boy again in the old
academy, whose golden vane was once an object of such awe and admonition
in his eyes.
"By the way, Gabriella," he asked, changing from subject to subject with
marvellous rapidity, "do you ever write poetry now?"
"I have given that up, as one of the follies of my childhood, one of the
dreams of my youth."
"Really, you must be a very venerable person,--you talk of the youthful
follies you have discarded, the dreams from which you have awakened, as
if you were a real centenarian. I wonder if there are not some incipient
wrinkles on your face."
He looked at me earnestly, saucily; and I involuntarily put up my hands,
as if to hide the traces of care his imagination was drawing.
"I really do feel old sometimes," said I, smiling at the mock scrutiny
of his gaze, "and it is well I do. You know I am going to be a teacher,
and youth will be my greatest objection."
"No, no, I do not want you to be a teacher. You were not born for one.
You will not be happy as one,--you are too impulsive, too sensitive, too
poetic in your temperament. You are the last person in the world who
ought to think of such a vocation."
"Would you advise me, then, to be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water,
in preference?"
"I would advise you to continue your studies, to read, write poetry,
ramble about the woods and commune with nature, as you so love to do,
and not think of assuming the duties of a woman, while you are yet
nothing but a child. Oh! it is the most melancholy thing in the world to
me, to see a person trying to get beyond their years. You must not do
it, Gabriella. I wish I could make you stop _thinking_ for one year. I
do not like to see a cheek as young as yours pale with overmuch thought.
Do you know you are getting very like your mother?"
"My mother!" I exclaimed, with a glow of pleasure at the fancied
resemblance, "why, she is the most beautiful person I have yet
seen,--there is, there can be no likeness."
"But there is, though. You speak as if you thought yourself quite ugly.
I wonder if you do. Ugly and old. Strange self-estimation for a pretty
girl of fifteen!"
"I suppose you learn to flatter in college," said I, "but I do not care
about being flattered, I assure you."
"You are very much mistaken if you think I am trying to flatter you. I
may do so a year or two hence if I chance to meet you in company, but
here, in this rural solitude, with the very element of truth in my hand,
I could not deceive, if I were the most accomplished courtier in the
world."
We had reached the top of the green acclivity which we bad been
ascending, I fear with somewhat tardy steps. We could see the road
through an opening in the trees,--a road little travelled, but leading
to the central street of the town. The unusual sound of carriage wheels
made me turn my head in that direction, and a simultaneous exclamation
of Richard's fixed my attention.
A very elegant carriage, drawn by a pair of large shining bay horses was
rolling along with aristocratic slowness. The silver-plated harness
glittered so in the sun, it at first dazzled my eyes, so that I could
discern nothing distinctly. Then I saw the figures of two ladies seated
on the back seat in light, airy dresses, and of two gentlemen on
horseback, riding behind. I had but a glimpse of all this, for the
carriage rolled on. The riders disappeared; but, as a flash of lightning
reveals to us glimpses of the cloud cities of heaven which we remember
long after the electric gates are closed, so the vision remained on my
memory, and had I never again beheld the youthful form nearest to us, I
should remember it still. It was that of a young girl, with very fair
flaxen hair, curling in profuse ringlets on each side of her face, which
was exquisitely fair, and lighted up with a soft rosiness like the
dawning of morning. A blue scarf, of the color of her eyes, floated over
her shoulders and fluttered from the window of the carriage. As I gazed
on this bright apparition, Richard, to my astonishment, lifted his hat
from his brow and bowed low to the smiling stranger, who returned the
salutation with graceful ease. The lady on the opposite side was hidden
by the fair-haired girl, and both were soon hidden by the thick branches
that curtained the road.
"The Linwoods!" said Richard, glancing merrily at the tin pail, which
shone so conspicuously bright in the sunshine. "You must have heard of
them?"
"Never."
"Not heard of the new-comers! Haven't you heard that Mrs. Linwood has
purchased the famous old Grandison Place, that has stood so long in
solitary grandeur, had it fitted up in modern style, and taken
possession of it for a country residence? Is it possible that you are
such a little nun, that you have heard nothing of this?"
"I go nowhere; no one comes to see us; I might as well be a nun."
"But at school?"
"I have not been since last autumn. But that fair, beautiful young lady,
is she a daughter of Mrs. Linwood?"
"She is,--Edith Linwood. Rather a romantic name, is it not? Do you think
her beautiful?"
"The loveliest creature I ever looked upon. I should be quite miserable
if I thought I never should look upon her again. And you know her,--she
bowed to you. How sorry I am she should see you performing such an
humble office for a little rustic like me!"
"She will think none the worse of me for it. If she did, I should
despise her. But she is no heartless belle,--Edith Linwood is not. She
is an angel of goodness and sweetness, if all they say of her be true. I
do not know her very well. She has a brother with whom I am slightly
acquainted, and through him I have been introduced into the family. Mrs.
Linwood is a noble, excellent woman,--I wish you knew her. I wish you
knew Edith,--I wish you knew them all. They would appreciate you. I am
sure they would."
"_I_ know them!" I exclaimed, glancing at our lowly cottage, my simple
dress, and contrasting them mentally with the lordly dwelling and costly
apparel of these favorites of nature and of fortune. "They appreciate
_me_!"
"I suppose you think Edith Linwood the most enviable of human beings.
Rich, lovely, with the power of gratifying every wish, and of dispensing
every good, she would gladly exchange this moment with you, and dip
water from yon bubbling spring."
"Impossible!" I cried. "How can she help being happy?"
"She does seem happy, but she is lame, and her health is very delicate.
She cannot walk one step without crutches, on which she swings herself
along very lightly and gracefully, it is true; but think you not she
would not give all her wealth to be able to walk with your bounding
steps, and have your elastic frame?"
"Crutches!" said I, sorrowfully, "why she looked as if she might have
wings on her shoulders. It _is_ sad."
"She is not an object of pity. You will not think she is when you know
her. I only wanted to convince you, that you might be an object of envy
to one who seems so enviable to you."
I would gladly have lingered where I was, within the sound of Richard
Clyde's frank and cheerful voice, but I thought of poor Peggy thirsting
for a cooling draught, and my conscience smote me for being a laggard in
my duty. It is true, the scene, which may seem long in description,
passed in a very brief space of time, and though Richard said a good
many things, he talked very fast, without seeming hurried either.
"I shall see you again at the spring," said he, as he turned from the
gate. "You must consider me as the Aquarius of your domestic Zodiac. I
should like to be my father's camel-driver, if that were Jacob's well."
I could not help smiling at his gay nonsense,--his presence had been so
brightening, so comforting. I had gone down to the spring sad and
desponding. I returned with a countenance so lighted up, a color so
heightened, that my mother looked at me with surprise.
As soon as I had ministered to Peggy, who seemed mortified and ashamed
because of her sickness, and distressed beyond measure at being waited
upon. I told my mother of my interview with Richard, of his kindness in
carrying the water, the vision of the splendid carriage, of its
beautiful occupants, the fitting up of the old Grandison Place, and all
that Richard had related to me.
She listened with a troubled countenance. "Surely, young Clyde will not
be so inconsiderate, so officious, as to induce those ladies to visit
us?"
"No, indeed, mother. He is not officious. He knows you would not like to
see them. He would not think of such a thing."
"No, no," I repeated to myself, as I exerted myself bravely in my new
offices, as nurse and housekeeper, "there is no danger of that fair
creature seeking out this little obscure spot. She will probably ask
Richard Clyde who the little country girl was, whose water-pail he was
so gallantly carrying, and I know he will speak kindly of me, though he
will laugh at being caught in such an awkward predicament. Perhaps to
amuse her, he will tell her of my flight from the academy and the scenes
which resulted, and she will ask him to show her the poem, rendered so
immortal. Then merrily will her silver laughter ring through the lofty
hall. I have wandered all over Grandison Place when it was a deserted
mansion. No one saw me, for it is far back from the street, all
embosomed in shade, and it reminded me of some old castle with its
turreted roof and winding galleries. I wonder how it looks now." I was
falling into one of my old-fashioned dreams, when a moan from Peggy
wakened me, and I sprang to her bedside with renewed alarm.