OUT IN THE WORLD.
When Jessie reached her eighteenth year, Mrs. Lee became more languid
than usual, and early in the season her physician suggested a few weeks
at the sea-side.
I think the dear lady was induced to follow his advice from a desire to
give our girl a glimpse of the life which should have been opened to her
about that time, rather than from any hopes of benefit from sea-bathing.
She entered into the project at once, and brightened visibly under the
influence of Jessie's openly expressed enthusiasm. The dear girl had in
reality seen nothing of life, and she was happy as a bird at the
prospect of entering what seemed to her like an enchanted land.
Late in June, that year, we went to Long Branch upon the Jersey shore,
and there among the crowd of fashionables from Philadelphia and New
York, a new life opened to our Jessie, whose wealth and exceeding beauty
soon made her an object of general admiration.
I cannot tell you how we first became acquainted with Mrs. Dennison. She
was a Southern woman, about whom there was a vague reputation of wealth
inherited from an old man, whom she had married in his dotage, and of a
very luxurious life which had commenced so soon after the funeral as to
create some scandal. She was certainly a very beautiful woman, tall,
exquisitely formed, lithe and graceful as a leopardess. Her manners were
caressing, her voice sweetly modulated, and her powers of conversation
wonderfully varied. At first I was fascinated by the woman. She occupied
rooms that opened on the same veranda with ours, and had stolen so
completely into our companionship by a thousand little attentions to
Mrs. Lee, before we really knew anything about her, that afterward it
seemed unnecessary to make further inquiry. It would have proved of
little avail had our research been ever so rigid, for no one seemed
really to have any positive knowledge about her. Even the gossip I have
mentioned could always be traced back to a remarkably bright mulatto
lady's-maid, who was generally in attendance upon her, and who conversed
freely with every one who chose to question her. But all the
intelligence so gathered was sure to add to the power and wealth of a
mistress whom the mulatto pronounced to be one of the most distinguished
and beautiful women of the South. All this rather interested Mr. Lee,
who found this lady so often bestowing little attentions upon his wife,
that he came to recognize her as a friend, and, after a time, seemed to
take great pleasure in her conversation. All this troubled me a little.
Why? surely the feeling which turned my heart from that woman was not
jealousy. Had I indeed so completely identified myself with my friends,
that the approach to confidential relations with another person gave me
pain? I could not understand the feeling, but, struggle against it as I
would, the presence of that woman made me restless. She never touched
Mrs. Lee that I did not long to dash her hand away.
Jessie, like the rest, was fascinated with her new friend. They would
walk together for hours on the shore, where a crowd of admirers was sure
to gather around them, while I sat upon the veranda with my
benefactress, anxious and disturbed.
After a time, another person was introduced into our party. He first
became acquainted with Mrs. Lee, and seemed to drop into our
companionship in that way without any connection with Mrs. Dennison; but
I learned afterward that Mr. Lawrence had been very attentive to her
from her first appearance at the Branch, and that a rumor had for a time
prevailed that they were engaged.
All this might not have interested me much but for something that I
observed in Jessie, who was evidently far better acquainted with the man
than any of us; for it seems he had been in the habit of joining her and
Mrs. Dennison in their walks long before he attained an introduction to
Mrs. Lee. Lawrence was a tall, powerful man, very distinguished and
elegant in his bearing, wonderfully brilliant in conversation, and one
who always would be a leader for good or evil among his fellow-men. He
had been a good deal connected with the politics of the country, and at
one time was considered a power in Wall Street, from which he had
withdrawn, it was impossible to say whether penniless, or with a large
fortune.
This man was soon on terms of cordial intimacy with our family, but I
watched him with distrust. He was just the person to dazzle and
fascinate an ardent, inexperienced girl like our Jessie, and I saw with
pain that her color would rise and fade beneath his glances, and that a
look of triumph lighted up his eyes when he remarked it.
Here was another source of anxiety. This man of the world, who had spent
half his life in the struggles of Wall Street and a tangle of politics,
was no match for a creature so pure and true as our Jessie. Yet I
greatly feared that her heart was turning to him at the expense of that
brave, honorable young man whose very existence seemed to have been
forgotten among us.
But young Bosworth came at last, and I was more at rest. Jessie was
certainly glad to see him, and, much to my surprise, he dropped at once
into intimate relations with Lawrence, and recognized him as an old
friend whom he had met during the few months that he had spent abroad.
I have not said that Lottie was one of the attendants whom we brought
from the Ridge. This girl had grown somewhat in stature, but was still
very small. Her light-yellow hair was wonderfully abundant, and she had
a dozen fantastic ways of dressing it, which added to the singularity
of her appearance. At times, her eyes were clear and steady in their
glances; but, if a feeling of distrust came over her, both eyes would
cross ominously, and she seemed to be glancing inward with the sharp
vigilance of a fox.
There always had been a remarkable sympathy between me and this strange
girl. From the day I first saw her, she seemed to divine my feelings,
conceal them as I would, and to share all my dislikes almost before they
were formed. At first, she had kept aloof from the servants of the
hotel. This was not strange, for Lottie was, in fact, better educated
than some of their mistresses. She had managed to pick up a great deal
of knowledge as she sat by while Jessie took her lessons, and I had
found pleasure in teaching her such English branches as befitted her
station in life. In fact, Lottie had become more like a companion than a
servant with us all.
To my surprise, after keeping aloof for a whole week, Lottie fell into
the closest intimacy with Cora, Mrs. Dennison's maid, and I could see
that she lost no opportunity of watching the mistress and Mr. Lawrence.
What all this might have ended in I cannot tell, for just as our
intimacy became closest, the strong sea-air began to have an unfavorable
effect on our patient.
A sudden longing for home seized upon her one day, after Lottie had been
with her talking about the Ridge, and it was decided that we should
leave the Branch at once, though the season was at its height, and
Jessie had entered into its gayeties with all the zest of her ardent
nature.
I think Mr. Lee was rather reluctant to go away so suddenly. He had been
so long excluded from this form of social life that it had all the charm
of novelty to him; but the least wish of his wife was enough to change
all this, and he became only anxious to get her safely home again.
I do not know how it happened, or who really gave the invitation, but
on the night before I left we learned from Mrs. Dennison herself, that
she had promised to make us an early visit; and half an hour later, as I
sat alone in the lower veranda, young Bosworth and Mr. Lawrence passed
me, talking earnestly. "Of course, my dear fellow, I shall come if a
careless person like me will be acceptable to that fine old lady, your
grandmother. That promise of partridge-shooting is beyond my powers of
resistance."
It was Mr. Lawrence who spoke, and I knew by this fragment of
conversation that he too was coming into our neighborhood.