"A perfect woman, nobly planned;
To warn, to counsel, to command,
The reason firm, the temperate will,
Prudence, foresight, strength, and skill."
WORDSWORTH.
The beautiful ideal of Wordsworth seemed realized in Mrs. Carlton. She
was by nature impetuous, and even irritable; but the careful training
of her deeply pious mother early eradicated these seeds of discord and
future misery. She reared her "in the way she should go," and taught
her to "remember her Creator in the days of her youth." Crushing
vanity, which soon rose hydra-headed in her path, she implanted in her
daughter's heart a sense of her own unworthiness, and led her to the
"fountain of light and strength."
Under her judicious care, Ellen's character was molded into perfect
beauty. She became a Christian, in the purest sense of the term. Hers
were not the gloomy tenets of the anchorite, which, with a sort of
Spartan stoicism, severs every tie enjoined by his great Creator, bids
adieu to all of joy that earth can give, and becomes a devotee at the
shrine of some canonized son of earth, as full of imperfections as
himself. Neither did she hold the lighter and equally dangerous creed
of the latitudinarian. Her views were of a happy medium; liberal, yet
perfectly orthodox.
Ellen married early in life, and many were the trials which rose up
to test her fortitude, and even her reliance on almighty God. Of six
beautiful children that blessed her union, four went down to an early
tomb. Though bowed to the earth by the weight of her affliction, she
murmured not against the hand that chastened her; but as one by one
was snatched from her warm embrace, she poured out the depth of a
mother's love on the remaining two.
One stroke of fortune reduced her, in a day, from affluence to
comparative penury; and leaving his luxurious home, Mr. Carlton
resolved to seek his fortune in the Western World. Hither she
had accompanied him, encountering, without a murmur, the numerous
hardships, which those who have not endured can never fully realize.
They had preceded Mr. Hamilton but a few months, and joyfully welcomed
him as an agreeable acquisition to their little circle.
Mrs. Carlton found in Mary a real friend; one who sympathized with,
and assisted her in her many benevolent plans for ameliorating the
condition of the destitute Mexicans around them.
With Florence, the former had little affinity, and, consequently,
little intercourse. Their tastes were directly opposite, and though
they often met, there was no interchange of the deep and holier
feelings of the heart.
Frank Bryant was the orphan-brother of Mrs. Carlton, and almost as
dearly loved by her as her own darling Elliot. A few months before
St. ----'s day, he reached San Antonio, on a visit to the sister, from
whom he had been separated several years. Soon after his arrival, an
epidemic made its appearance among the lower order of Mexicans; and as
there was no resident physician at that early time, his services
were speedily in requisition. The Padre, who numbered among his
many acquirements a tolerable knowledge of medicine, viewed with
indifference the suffering around him; and was only roused from his
lethargy by discovering the flattering estimation in which Frank was
held. Fearing so formidable a rival in the affections of his people,
he left no means untried to undermine the popularity so deservedly
acquired. But gratitude is a distinguishing trait of Indian character;
and though apparently obeying the injunctions of their Padre, to
follow no directions save his own, they reverenced Dr. Bryant as a
being of superior order.
It was beside the bed of a dying friend that Inez first met him. One
long weary night they watched together, and when at last death freed
the sufferer, with mingled emotions of admiration and gratitude she
thanked him for the attentions conferred with such disinterested
benevolence. She could not avoid contrasting the conduct of the cold
and calculating Jesuit with the warm-hearted kindness of the noble
stranger.
In a few days it became evident that she had herself imbibed the
disease, and her terrified father brought the young physician to
restore her. With unwearied patience he watched over the beautiful
Señorita, whom Mrs. Carlton and Mary most carefully nursed, and was
rewarded by the glow of returning health.
The idols of her youth were neglected and forgotten; one image filled
Inez's heart, and before it she poured out all the passionate love of
her ardent nature; hence her aversion to a union with Mañuel Nevarro.
Dr. Bryant early perceived her attachment; and knowing full well
that he could never return it, avoided her society with a delicacy
peculiarly his own. When thrown accidentally into her presence, his
manner was frank, kind, and brotherly.
Inez did not deceive herself for a moment by supposing that he would
ever return her love. She knew too well the nature of the barrier
which intervened. To remain unfettered, to see, to love, and one day
to serve him, was her dearest wish; and for its gratification she
dared the rage of her father, and the hatred of her Padre. She fancied
he loved another, and with the characteristic jealousy of her nation,
an aversion to that object settled on her heart.
Dr. Bryant had nursed the last patient into convalescence: still he
lingered, and at the close of St. ----'s day, announced his intention
of remaining until the difficulties with Mexico were either amicably
arranged, or war declared. Mary and Florence he often met, for he was
a constant visitor at Mr. Hamilton's. His manner toward them was
very different; with Mary he ever assumed the light bantering tone
of brotherly freedom; with Florence he was always grave and earnest.
Their conversation was generally upon literary topics, of which she
was fond. Many were their discussions for and against their favorite
authors and philosophers. In these arguments Mary seldom took part,
though fully qualified to do so. Occasionally her cousin asked her
opinion on various topics; at such times she gave them clearly, yet
modestly, and with a gentle dignity peculiar to herself. The earnest
attention with which Frank listened to her views, and his happy smile,
when they coincided with his own, somewhat puzzled Mary; yet she
welcomed his repartees with the same bright smile, and allowed
distrust and jealousy no room in her heart.