THE BIRTH OF THE AGONY.
It was now generally understood in Charlemont that Margaret Cooper had
made a conquest of the handsome stranger. We have omitted--as a matter
not congenial to our taste--the small by-play which had been carried on
by the other damsels of the village to effect the same object. There had
been setting of caps, without number, ay, and pulling them too, an the
truth were known among the fair Stellas and Clarissas, the Daphnes and
Dorises, of Charlemont, but, though Stevens was sufficiently considerate
of the claims of each, so far as politeness demanded it, and contrived
to say pleasant things, pour passer le temps, with all of them, it was
very soon apparent to the most sanguine, that the imperial beauties and
imperious mind of Margaret Cooper had secured the conquest for herself.
As a matter of course, the personal and intellectual attractions of
Stevens underwent no little disparagement as soon as this fact was
known. It was now universally understood that he was no such great
things, after all; and our fair friend the widow Thackeray, who was not
without her pretensions to wit and beauty, was bold enough to say that
Mr. Stevens was certainly too fat in the face, and she rather thought
him stupid. Such an opinion gave courage to the rest, and pert Miss
Bella Tompkins, a romp of first-rate excellence, had the audacity to say
that he squinted!--and this opinion was very natural, since neither of
his eyes had ever rested with satisfaction on her pouting charms.
It may be supposed that the discontent of the fair bevy, and its
unfavorable judgment of himself, did not reach the ears of Alfred
Stevens, and would scarcely have disturbed them if it did. Margaret
Cooper was more fortunate than himself in this respect. She could not
altogether be insensible to the random remarks which sour envy and
dark-eyed jealousy continued to let fall in her hearing; but her scorn
for the speakers, and her satisfaction with herself, secured her from
all annoyance from this cause. Such, at least, had been the case in the
first days of her conquest. Such was not exactly the case now. She had
no more scorn of others. She was no longer proud, no longer strong. Her
eyes no longer flashed with haughty defiance on the train which, though
envious, were yet compelled to follow. She could no longer speak in
those superior tones, the language equally of a proud intellect, and
a spirit whose sensibilities had neither been touched by love nor
enfeebled by anxiety and apprehension. A sad change had come over her
heart and all her features in the progress of a few days. Her courage
had departed. Her step was no longer firm; her eye no longer uplifted
like that of the mountain-eagle, to which, in the first darings of her
youthful muse, she had boldly likened herself. Her look was downcast,
her voice subdued; she was now not less timid than the feeblest damsel
of the village in that doubtful period of life when, passing from
childhood to girlhood, the virgin falters, as it were, with bashful
thoughts, upon the threshold of a new and perilous condition. The
intercourse of Margaret Cooper with her lover had had the most serious
effect upon her manners and her looks. But the change upon her spirit
was no less striking to all.
“I'm sure if I did love any man,” was the opinion of one of the damsels,
“I'd die sooner than show it to him, as she shows it to Alfred Stevens.
It's a guess what he must think of it.”
“And no hard guess neither,” said another; “I reckon there's no reason
why he should pick out Margaret Cooper except that he saw that it was no
such easy matter any where else.”
“Well! there can be no mistake about it with them; for now they're
always together--and Betty, her own maid, thinks--but it's better not to
say!”
And the prudent antique pursed up her mouth in a language that said
everything.
“What!--what does she say?” demanded a dozen voices.
“Well! I won't tell you that. I won't tell you all; but she does say,
among other things, that the sooner John Cross marries them, the better
for all parties.”
“Is it possible!”
“Can it be!”
“Bless me! but I always thought something wrong.”
“And Betty, her own maid, told you? Well, who should know, if she
don't?”
“And this, too, after all her airs!”
“Her great smartness, her learning, and verse-making! I never knew any
good come from books yet.”
“And never will, Jane,” said another, with an equivocal expression,
with which Jane was made content; and, after a full half-hour's
confabulation, in the primitive style, the parties separated--each,
in her way, to give as much circulation to Betty's inuendoes as the
importance of the affair deserved.
Scandal travels along the highways, seen by all but the victim. Days and
nights passed; and in the solitude of lonely paths, by the hillside or
the rivulet, Margaret Cooper still wandered with her lover. She heard
not the poisonous breath which was already busy with her virgin fame.
She had no doubts, whatever might be the event, that the heart of Alfred
Stevens could leave her without that aliment which, in these blissful
moments, seemed to be her very breath of life. But she felt many fears,
many misgivings, she knew not why. A doubt, a cloud of anxiety, hung
brooding on the atmosphere. In a heart which is unsophisticated, the
consciousness, however vague, that all is not right, is enough to
produce this cloud; but, with the gradual progress of that heart to the
indulgence of the more active passions, this consciousness necessarily
increases and the conflict then begins between the invading passion and
the guardian principle. We have seen enough to know what must be
the result of such a conflict with a nature such as hers, under the
education which she had received. It did not end in the expulsion of her
lover. It did not end in the discontinuance of those long and frequent
rambles amid silence, and solitude, and shadow. She had not courage
for this; and the poor, vain mother, flattered with the idea that her
son-in-law would be a preacher, beheld nothing wrong in their nightly
wanderings, and suffered her daughter, in such saintly society, to go
forth without restraint or rebuke.
There was one person in the village who was not satisfied that Margaret
Cooper should fall a victim, either to the cunning of another, or to her
own passionate vanity. This was our old friend Calvert. He was rather,
inclined to be interested in the damsel, in spite of the ill treatment
of his protege, if it were only in consequence of the feelings with
which she had inspired him. It has been seen that, in the affair of the
duel, he was led to regard the stranger with an eye of suspicion. This
feeling had been further heightened by the statements of Ned Hinkley,
which, however loose and inconclusive, were yet of a kind to show that
there was some mystery about Stevens--that he desired concealment in
some respects--a fact very strongly inferred from his non-employment
of the village postoffice, and the supposition--taken for true--that he
employed that of some distant town. Ned Hinkley had almost arrived at
certainty in this respect; and some small particulars which seemed
to bear on this conviction, which he had recently gathered, taken
in connection with the village scandal in reference to the parties,
determined the old man to take some steps in the matter to forewarn
the maiden, or at least her mother, of the danger of yielding too much
confidence to one of whom so little was or could be known.
It was a pleasant afternoon, and Calvert was sitting beneath his
roof-tree, musing over this very matter, when he caught a glimpse of
the persons of whom he thought, ascending one of the distant hills,
apparently on their way to the lake. He rose up instantly, and, seizing
his staff, hurried off to see the mother of the damsel. The matter was
one of the nicest delicacy--not to be undertaken lightly--not to be
urged incautiously. Nothing, indeed, but a strong sense of duty could
have determined him upon a proceeding likely to appear invidious,
and which might be so readily construed, by a foolish woman, into an
impertinence. Though a man naturally of quick, warm feelings,
Calvert had been early taught to think cautiously--indeed, the modern
phrenologist would have said that, in the excess of this prudent organ
lay the grand weakness of his moral nature. This delayed him in the
contemplated performance much longer than his sense of its necessity
seemed to justify. Having now resolved, however, and secure in the
propriety of his object, he did not scruple any longer.
A few minutes sufficed to bring him to the cottage of the old lady, and
her voice in very friendly tenor commanded him to enter. Without useless
circumlocution, yet without bluntness, the old man broached the subject;
and, without urging any of the isolated facts of which he was possessed,
and by which his suspicions were awakened, he dwelt simply upon the
dangers which might result from such a degree of confidence as was given
to the stranger. The long, lonely rambles in the woods, by night as well
as day, were commented on, justly, but in an indulgent spirit; and the
risks of a young and unsuspecting maiden, under such circumstances, were
shown with sufficient distinctness for the comprehension of the mother,
had she been disposed to hear. But never was good old man, engaged in
the thankless office of bestowing good advice, so completely confounded
as he was by the sort of acknowledgments which his interference
obtained. A keen observer might have seen the gathering storm while
he was speaking; and, at every sentence, there was a low, running
commentary, bubbling up from the throat of the opinionated dame,
somewhat like rumbling thunder, which amply denoted the rising tempest.
It was a sort of religious effort which kept the old lady quiet till
Calvert had fairly reached a conclusion. Then, rising from her seat,
she approached him, smoothed back her apron, perked out her chin, and,
fixing her keen gray eyes firmly upon his own, with her nose elongated
to such a degree as almost to suggest the possibility of a pointed
collision between that member and the corresponding one of his own face,
she demanded--
“Have you done--have you got through?”
“Yes, Mrs. Cooper, this is all I came to say. It is the suggestion of
prudence--the caution of a friend--your daughter is young, very young,
and--”
“I thank you! I thank you! My daughter is young, very young; but she is
no fool, Mr. Calvert--let me tell you that! Margaret Cooper is no fool.
If you don't know that, I do. I know her. She's able to take care of
herself as well as the best of us.”
“I am glad you think so, Mrs. Cooper, but the best of us find it a
difficult matter to steer clear of danger, and error and misfortune;
and the wisest, my dear madam, are only too apt to fall when they place
their chief reliance on their wisdom.”
“Indeed! that's a new doctrine to me, and I reckon to everybody else. If
it's true, what's the use of all your schooling, I want to know?”
“Precious little, Mrs. Cooper, if--”
“Ah! precious little; and let me tell you, Mr. Calvert, I think it's
mighty strange that you should think Margaret Cooper in more need of
your advice, than Jane Colter, or Betsy Barnes, or Susan Mason, or
Rebecca Forbes, or even the widow Thackeray.”
“I should give the same advice to them under the same circumstances,
Mrs. Cooper.”
“Should you, indeed! Then I beg you will go and give it to them, for if
they are not in the same circumstances now, they'd give each of them an
eye to be so. Ay, wouldn't they! Yes! don't I know, Mr. Calvert,
that it's all owing to envy that you come here talking about Brother
Stevens.”
“But I do not speak of Mr. Stevens, Mrs. Cooper; were it any other young
man with whom your daughter had such intimacy I should speak in the same
manner.”
“Would you, indeed? Tell that to the potatoes. Don't I know better.
Don't I know that if your favorite, that you made so much of--your
adopted son, Bill Hinkley--if he could have got her to look at him, they
might have walked all night and you'd never have said the first word.
He'd have given one eye for her, and so would every girl in the village
give an eye for Brother Stevens. I'm not so old but I know something.
But it won't do. You can go to the widow Thackeray, Mr. Calvert. It'll
do her good to tell her that it's very dangerous for her to be thinking
about young men from morning to night. It's true you can't say anything
about the danger, for precious little danger she's in; but, lord,
wouldn't she jump to it if she had a chance. Let her alone for that.
You'd soon have cause enough to give her your good advice about the
danger, and much good would come of it. She'd wish, after all was said,
that the danger was only twice as big and twice as dangerous.”
Such was the conclusion of Mr. Calvert's attempt to give good counsel.
It resulted as unprofitably in this as in most cases; but it had
not utterly fallen, like the wasted seed, in stony places. There was
something in it to impress itself upon the memory of Mrs. Cooper; and
she resolved that when her daughter came in, it should be the occasion
of an examination into her feelings and her relation to the worthy
brother, such as she had more than once before meditated to make.
But Margaret Cooper did not return till a comparatively late hour; and
the necessity of sitting up after her usual time of retiring, by making
the old lady irritable, had the effect of giving some additional force
to the suggestions of Mr. Calvert. When Margaret did return, she came
alone. Stevens had attended her only to the wicket. She did not expect
to find her mother still sitting up; and started, with an appearance of
disquiet, when she met her glance. The young girl was pale and haggard.
Her eye had a dilated, wild expression. Her step faltered; her voice was
scarcely distinct as she remarked timidly--
“Not yet abed, mother?”
“No! it's a pretty time for you to keep me up.”
“But why did you sit up, mother? It's not usual with you to do so.”
“No! but it's high time for me to sit up, and be on the watch too, when
here's the neighbors coming to warn me to do so--and telling me all
about your danger.”
“Ha! my danger--speak--what danger, mother?”
“Don't you know what danger? Don't you know?”
“Know!” The monosyllable subsided in a gasp. At that moment Margaret
Cooper could say no more.
“Well, I suppose you don't know, and so I'll tell you. Here's been that
conceited, stupid old man, Calvert, to tell me how wrong it is for you
to go out by night walking with Brother Stevens; and hinting to me that
you don't know how to take care of yourself with all your learning; and
how nobody knows anything about Brother Stevens; as if nobody was wise
for anything but himself. But I gave him as good as he brought, I'll
warrant you. I sent him off with a flea in his ear!”
It was fortunate for the poor girl that the light, which was that of a
dipped candle, was burning in the corner of the chimney, and was too dim
to make her features visible. The ghastly tale which they told could not
have been utterly unread even by the obtuse and opinionated mind of the
vain mother. The hands of Margaret were involuntarily clasped in her
agony, and she felt very much like falling upon the floor; but, with
a strong effort, her nerves were braced to the right tension, and she
continued to endure, in a speechless terror, which was little short
of frenzy, the outpourings of her mother's folly which was a frenzy of
another sort.
“I sent him off,” she repeated, “with a flea in his ear. I could see
what the old fool was driving after, and I as good as told him so. If it
had been his favorite, his adopted son, Bill Hinkley, it would have been
another guess-story--I reckon. Then you might have walked out where you
pleased together, at all hours, and no harm done, no danger; old Calvert
would have thought it the properest thing in the world. But no Bill
Hinkley for me. I'm for Brother Stevens, Margaret; only make sure of
him, my child--make sure of him.”
“No more of this, dear mother, I entreat you. Let us go to bed, and
think no more of it.”
“And why should we not think of it? I tell you, Margaret, YOU MUST THINK
OF IT! Brother Stevens soon will be a preacher, and a fine speck he will
be. There'll be no parson like him in all west Kentucky. As for John
Cross, I reckon he won't be able to hold a candle to him. Brother
Stevens is something to try for. You must play your cards nicely,
Margaret. Don't let him see too soon that you like him. Beware of that!
But don't draw off too suddenly as if you didn't like him--that's worse
still; for very few men like to see that they ain't altogether pleasing
even at first sight to the lady that they like. There's a medium in all
things, and you must just manage it, as if you wa'n't thinking at all
about him, or love, or a husband, or anything; only take care always to
turn a quick ear to what he says, and seem to consider it always as if
'twas worth your considering. And look round when he speaks, and smile
softly sometimes; and don't be too full of learning and wisdom in what
you say, for I've found that men of sense love women best when they seem
to talk most like very young children--maybe because they think it's a
sign of innocence. But I reckon, Margaret, you don't want much teaching.
Only be sure and fix him; and don't stop to think when he asks. Be
sure to have your answer ready, and you can't say 'yes' too quickly
now-a-days, when the chances are so very few.”
The mother paused to take breath. Her very moral and maternal counsel
had fallen upon unheeding ears. But Margaret was sensible of the pause,
and was desirous of taking advantage of it. She rose from her chair,
with the view of retiring; but the good old dame, whose imagination had
been terribly excited by the delightful idea of having a preacher for
her son-in-law who was to take such precedence over all the leaders of
the other tribes, was not willing to abridge her eloquence.
“Why, you're in a great hurry now, Margaret. Where was your hurry when
you were with Brother Stevens? Ah! you jade, can't I guess--don't I
know? There you were, you two, under the trees, looking at the moon, and
talking such sweet, foolish nonsense. I reckon, Margaret, 'twould puzzle
you to tell what HE said, or what YOU said, I can guess he didn't talk
much religion to you, heh? Ah! I know it all. It's the old story. It's
been so with all young people, and will be so till the end. Love is the
strangest thing, and it does listen to the strangest nonsense. Ain't it
so, Margaret? I know nothing but love would ever dumbfounder you in this
way; why, child, have you lost your tongue? What's the matter with you?”
“Oh, mother, let me retire now, I have such a headache.”
“Heartache, you mean.”
“Heartache it is,” replied the other desperately, with an air of
complete abandonment.
“Ah! well, it's clear that he's got the heartache quite as much as you,
for he almost lives with you now. But make him speak out, Margaret--get
him to say the word, and don't let him be too free until he does. No
squeezing of hands, no kissing, no--”
“No more, no more, I entreat you, mother, if you would not--drive me
mad! Why do you speak to me thus--why counsel me in this manner? Leave
me alone, I pray you, let me retire--I must--I must sleep now!”
The mother was not unaccustomed to such passionate bursts of speech from
her daughter, and she ascribed the startling energy of her utterance
now, to an excited spirit in part, and partly to the headache of which
she complained.
“What! do you feel so bad, my child? Well, I won't keep you up any
longer. I wouldn't have kept you up so long, if I hadn't been vexed by
that old fool, Calvert.”
“Mr. Calvert is a good man, mother.”
“Well, he may be--I don't say a word against that,” replied the mother,
somewhat surprised at the mildly reproachful nature of that response
which her daughter had made, so different from her usual custom:--“he
may be very good, but I think he's very meddlesome to come here talking
about Brother Stevens.”
“He meant well, mother.”
“Well or ill, it don't matter. Do you be ready when Brother Stevens
says the word. He'll say it before long. He's mighty keen after you,
Margaret. I've seen it in his eyes; only you keep a little off, till he
begins to press and be anxious; and after that he can't help himself.
He'll be ready for any terms; and look you, when a man's ready none
of your long bargains. Settle up at once. As for waiting till he gets
permission to preach, I wouldn't think of it. A man can be made a
preacher or anything, at any time, but 'tain't so easy in these times,
for a young woman to be made a wife. It's not every day that one can get
a husband, and such a husband! Look at Jane Colter, and Betsy Barnes,
and Rebecca Forbes, and Susan Mason; they'll be green again, I reckon,
before the chance comes to them; ay, and the widow Thackeray--though
she's had her day already. If 'twas a short one she's got no reason to
complain. She'll learn how to value it before it begins again. But, go
to bed, my child, you oughtn't to have a headache. No! no! you should
leave it to them that's not so fortunate. They'll have headaches and
heartaches enough, I warrant you, before they get such a man as Brother
Stevens.”
At last, Margaret Cooper found herself alone and in her chamber. With
unusual vigilance she locked and doublelocked the door. She then flung
herself upon the bed. Her face was buried in the clothes. A convulsion
of feeling shook her frame. But her eyes remained dry, and her cheeks
were burning. She rose at length and began to undress, but for this she
found herself unequal. She entered the couch and sat up in it--her
hands crossed upon her lap--her face wan, wild, the very picture of
hopelessness if not desperation! The words of her weak mother had
tortured her; but what was this agony to that which was occasioned by
her own thoughts.
“Oh God!” she exclaimed at length, “can it be real? Can it be true? Do
I wake? Is it no dream? Am I, am I what I dare not name to myself--and
dread to hear from any other? Alas! it is true--too true. That shade,
that wood!--oh, Alfred Stevens! Alfred Stevens! What have you done! To
what have you beguiled me!”