THE SPOTTED PAPER.
What Master Gridley may have said to Myrtle Hazard that served to calm
her after this exciting scene cannot now be recalled. That Murray
Bradshaw thought he was inflicting a deadly injury on her was plain
enough. That Master Gridley did succeed in convincing her that no great
harm had probably been done her is equally certain.
Like all bachelors who have lived a lonely life, Master Gridley had his
habits, which nothing short of some terrestrial convulsion--or perhaps,
in his case, some instinct that drove him forth to help somebody in
trouble--could possibly derange. After his breakfast, he always sat and
read awhile,--the paper, if a new one came to hand, or some pleasant old
author,--if a little neglected by the world of readers, he felt more at
ease with him, and loved him all the better.
But on the morning after his interview with Myrtle Hazard, he had
received a letter which made him forget newspapers, old authors, almost
everything, for the moment. It was from the publisher with whom he had
had a conversation, it may be remembered, when he visited the city, and
was to this effect:--That Our Firm propose to print and stereotype the
work originally published under the title of "Thoughts on the Universe";
said work to be remodelled according to the plan suggested by the
Author, with the corrections, alterations, omissions, and additions
proposed by him; said work to be published under the following title, to
wit: ---- ----; said work to be printed in 12mo, on paper of good
quality, from new types, etc., etc., and for every copy thereof printed
the author to receive, etc., etc.
Master Gridley sat as in a trance, reading this letter over and over, to
know if it could be really so. So it really was. His book had
disappeared from the market long ago, as the elm seeds that carpet the
ground and never germinate disappear. At last it had got a certain value
as a curiosity for book-hunters. Some one of them, keener-eyed than the
rest, had seen that there was a meaning and virtue in this unsuccessful
book, for which there was a new audience educated since it had tried to
breathe before its time. Out of this had grown at last the publisher's
proposal. It was too much: his heart swelled with joy, and his eyes
filled with tears.
How could he resist the temptation? He took down his own particular copy
of the book, which was yet to do him honor as its parent, and began
reading. As his eye fell on one paragraph after another, he nodded
approval of this sentiment or opinion, he shook his head as if
questioning whether this other were not to be modified or left out, he
condemned a third as being no longer true for him as when it was
written, and he sanctioned a fourth with his hearty approval. The reader
may like a few specimens from this early edition, now a rarity. He shall
have them, with Master Gridley's verbal comments. The book, as its name
implied, contained "Thoughts" rather than consecutive trains of
reasoning or continuous disquisitions. What he read and remarked upon
were a few of the more pointed statements which stood out in the
chapters he was turning over. The worth of the book must not be judged
by these almost random specimens.
"_The best thought, like the most perfect digestion, is done
unconsciously._--Develop that--Ideas at compound interest in the
mind.--Be aye sticking in _an idea_,--while you're sleeping it'll be
growing. Seed of a thought to-day,--flower to-morrow--next week--ten
years from now, etc.--Article by and by for the....
"_Can the Infinite be supposed to shift the responsibility of the
ultimate destiny of any created thing to the finite? Our theologians
pretend that it can. I doubt._--Heretical. _Stet._
"_Protestantism means None of your business. But it is afraid of its own
logic._--_Stet._ No logical resting-place short of None of your
business.
"_The supreme self-indulgence is to surrender the will to a spiritual
director._--Protestantism gave up a great luxury.--Did it, though?
"_Asiatic modes of thought and speech do not express the relations in
which the American feels himself to stand to his Superiors in this or
any other sphere of being. Republicanism must have its own religious
phraseology, which is not that borrowed from Oriental despotisms._
"_Idols and dogmas in place of character; pills and theories in place of
wholesome living. See the histories of theology and medicine_
passim.--Hits 'em.
"'_Of such is the kingdom of heaven.' Do you mean to say, Jean Chauvin,
that_
_'Heaven_ LIES _about us in our infancy'?_
"_Why do you complain of your organization? Your soul was in a hurry,
and made a rush for a body. There are patient spirits that have waited
from eternity, and never found parents fit to be born of._--How do you
know anything about all that? _Dele._
"_What sweet, smooth voices the negroes have! A hundred generations fed
on bananas.--Compare them with our apple-eating-white folks!_--It won't
do. Bananas came from the West Indies.
"_To tell a man's temperament by his handwriting. See if the dots of his
i's run ahead or not, and if they do, how far._--I've tried that--on
myself.
"_Marrying into some families is the next thing to being
canonized._--Not so true now as twenty or thirty years ago. As many
bladders, but more pins.
"_Fish and dandies only keep on ice._--Who will take? Explain in note
how all warmth approaching blood-heat spoils fops and flounders.
"_Flying is a lost art among men and reptiles. Bats fly, and men ought
to. Try a light turbine. Rise a mile straight, fall half a mile
slanting,--rise half a mile straight, fall half a mile slanting, and so
on. Or slant up and slant down._--Poh! You ain't such a fool as to think
that is new,--are you?
"Put in my telegraph project. Central station. Cables with insulated
wires running to it from different quarters of the city. These form the
centripetal system. From central station, wires to all the livery
stables, messenger stands, provision shops, etc., etc. These form the
centrifugal system. Any house may have a wire in the nearest cable at
small cost.
"_Do you want to be remembered after the continents have gone under, and
come up again, and dried, and bred new races? Have your name stamped on
all your plates and cups and saucers. Nothing of you or yours will last
like those. I never sit down at my table without looking at the china
service, and saying, 'Here are my monuments. That butter-dish is my urn.
This soup-plate is my memorial tablet.'--No need of a skeleton at my
banquets! I feed from my tombstone and read my epitaph at the bottom, of
every teacup._--Good."
* * * * *
He fell into a revery as he finished reading this last sentence. He
thought of the dim and dread future,--all the changes that it would
bring to him, to all the living, to the face of the globe, to the order
of earthly things. He saw men of a new race, alien to all that had ever
lived, excavating with strange, vast engines the old ocean-bed, now
become habitable land. And as the great scoops turned out the earth they
had fetched up from the unexplored depths, a relic of a former simple
civilization revealed the fact that here a tribe of human beings had
lived and perished.--Only the coffee-cup he had in his hand half an hour
ago.--Where would he be then? and Mrs. Hopkins, and Gifted, and Susan,
and everybody? and President Buchanan? and the Boston State-House? and
Broadway?--O Lord, Lord, Lord! And the sun perceptibly smaller,
according to the astronomers, and the earth cooled down a number of
degrees, and inconceivable arts practised by men of a type yet undreamed
of, and all the fighting creeds merged in one great universal--
A knock at his door interrupted his revery. Miss Susan Posey informed
him that a gentleman was waiting below who wished to see him.
"Show him up to my study, Susan Posey, if you please," said Master
Gridley.
Mr. Penhallow presented himself at Mr. Gridley's door, with a
countenance expressive of a very high state of excitement.
"You have heard the news, Mr. Gridley, I suppose?"
"What news, Mr. Penhallow?"
"First, that my partner has left very unexpectedly to enlist in a
regiment just forming. Second, that the great land-case is decided in
favor of the heirs of the late Malachi Withers."
"Your partner must have known about it yesterday?"
"He did, even before I knew it. He thought himself possessed of a very
important document, as you know, of which he has made, or means to make,
some use. You are aware of the artifice I employed to prevent any
possible evil consequences from any action of his. I have the genuine
document, of course. I wish you to go over with me to The Poplars, and I
should be glad to have good old Father Pemberton go with us; for it is a
serious matter, and will be a great surprise to more than one of the
family."
They walked together to the old house, where the old clergyman had lived
for more than half a century. He was used to being neglected by the
people who ran after his younger colleague; and the attention paid him
in asking him to be present on an important occasion, as he understood
this to be, pleased him greatly. He smoothed his long white locks, and
called a grand-daughter to help make him look fitly for such an
occasion, and, being at last got into his grandest Sunday aspect, took
his faithful staff, and set out with the two gentlemen for The Poplars.
On the way, Mr. Penhallow explained to him the occasion of their visit,
and the general character of the facts he had to announce. He wished the
venerable minister to prepare Miss Silence Withers for a revelation
which would materially change her future prospects. He thought it might
be well, also, if he would say a few words to Myrtle Hazard, for whom a
new life, with new and untried temptations, was about to open. His
business was, as a lawyer, to make known to these parties the facts just
come to his own knowledge affecting their interests. He had asked Mr.
Gridley to go with him, as having intimate relations with one of the
parties referred to, and as having been the principal agent in securing
to that party the advantages which were to accrue to her from the new
turn of events. "You are a second parent to her, Mr. Gridley," he said.
"Your vigilance, your shrewdness, and your--spectacles have saved her. I
hope she knows the full extent of her obligations to you, and that she
will always look to you for counsel in all her needs. She will want a
wise friend, for she is to begin the world anew."
What had happened, when she saw the three grave gentlemen at the door
early in the forenoon, Mistress Kitty Fagan could not guess. Something
relating to Miss Myrtle, no doubt: she wasn't goin' to be married right
off to Mr. Clement,--was she,--and no church, nor cake, nor anything?
The gentlemen were shown into the parlor. "Ask Miss Withers to go into
the library, Kitty," said Master Gridley. "Dr. Pemberton wishes to speak
with her." The good old man was prepared for a scene with Miss Silence.
He announced to her, in a kind and delicate way, that she must make up
her mind to the disappointment of certain expectations which she had
long entertained, and which, as her lawyer, Mr. Penhallow, had come to
inform her and others, were to be finally relinquished from this hour.
To his great surprise, Miss Silence received this communication almost
cheerfully. It seemed more like a relief to her than anything else. Her
one dread in this world was her "responsibility"; and the thought that
she might have to account for ten talents hereafter, instead of one, had
often of late been a positive distress to her. There was also in her
mind a secret disgust at the thought of the hungry creatures who would
swarm round her if she should ever be in a position to bestow patronage.
This had grown upon her as the habits of lonely life gave her more and
more of that fastidious dislike to males in general, as such, which is
not rare in maidens who have seen the roses of more summers than
politeness cares to mention.
Father Pemberton then asked if he could see Miss Myrtle Hazard a few
moments in the library before they went into the parlor, where they were
to meet Mr. Penhallow and Mr. Gridley, for the purpose of receiving the
lawyer's communication.
What change was this which Myrtle had undergone since love had touched
her heart, and her visions of worldly enjoyment had faded before the
thought of sharing and ennobling the life of one who was worthy of her
best affections,--of living for another, and of finding her own noblest
self in that divine office of woman? She had laid aside the bracelet
which she had so long worn as a kind of charm as well as an ornament.
One would have said her features had lost something of that look of
imperious beauty which had added to her resemblance to the dead woman
whose glowing portrait hung upon her wall. And if it could be that,
after so many generations, the blood of her who had died for her faith
could show in her descendant's veins, and the soul of that elect lady of
her race look out from her far-removed offspring's dark eyes, such a
transfusion of the martyr's life and spiritual being might well seem to
manifest itself in Myrtle Hazard.
The large-hearted old man forgot his scholastic theory of human nature
as he looked upon her face. He thought he saw in her the dawning of that
grace which some are born with; which some, like Myrtle, only reach
through many trials and dangers; which some seem to show for a while and
then lose; which too many never reach while they wear the robes of
earth, but which speaks of the kingdom of heaven already begun in the
heart of a child of earth. He told her simply the story of the
occurrences which had brought them together in the old house, with the
message the lawyer was to deliver to its inmates. He wished to prepare
her for what might have been too sudden a surprise.
But Myrtle was not wholly unprepared for some such revelation. There was
little danger that any such announcement would throw her mind from its
balance after the inward conflict through which she had been passing.
For her lover had left her almost as soon as he had told her the story
of his passion, and the relation in which he stood to her. He, too, had
gone to answer his country's call to her children, not driven away by
crime and shame and despair, but quitting all--his new-born happiness,
the art in which he was an enthusiast, his prospects of success and
honor--to obey the higher command of duty. War was to him, as to so many
of the noble youth who went forth, only organized barbarism, hateful
but for the sacred cause which alone redeemed it from the curse that
blasted the first murderer. God only knew the sacrifice such young men
as he made.
How brief Myrtle's dream had been! She almost doubted, at some moments,
whether she would not awake from it, as from her other visions, and find
it all unreal. There was no need of fearing any undue excitement of her
mind after the alternations of feeling she had just experienced. Nothing
seemed of much moment to her which could come from without,--her real
world was within, and the light of its day and the breath of its life
came from her love, made holy by the self-forgetfulness on both sides
which was born with it.
Only one member of the household was in danger of finding the excitement
more than she could bear. Miss Cynthia knew that all Murray Bradshaw's
plans, in which he had taken care that she should have a personal
interest, had utterly failed. What he had done with the means of revenge
in his power,--if, indeed, they were still in his power,--she did not
know. She only knew that there had been a terrible scene, and that he
had gone, leaving it uncertain whether he would ever return. It was with
fear and trembling that she heard the summons which went forth, that the
whole family should meet in the parlor to listen to a statement from Mr.
Penhallow. They all gathered as requested, and sat round the room, with
the exception of Mistress Kitty Fagan, who knew her place too well to be
sittin' down with the likes o' them, and stood with attentive ears in
the doorway.
Mr. Penhallow then read from a printed paper the decision of the Supreme
Court in the land-case so long pending, where the estate of the late
Malachi Withers was the claimant, against certain parties pretending to
hold under an ancient grant. The decision was in favor of the estate.
"This gives a great property to the heirs," Mr. Penhallow remarked,
"and the question as to who these heirs are has to be opened. For the
will under which Silence Withers, sister of the deceased, has inherited,
is dated some years previously to the decease, and it was not very
strange that a will of later date should be discovered. Such a will has
been discovered. It is the instrument I have here."
Myrtle Hazard opened her eyes very widely, for the paper Mr. Penhallow
held looked exactly like that which Murray Bradshaw had burned, and,
what was curious, had some spots on it just like some she had noticed on
that.
"This will," Mr. Penhallow said, "signed by witnesses dead or absent
from this place, makes a disposition of the testator's property in some
respects similar to that of the previous one, but with a single change,
which proves to be of very great importance."
Mr. Penhallow proceeded to read the will. The important change in the
disposition of the property was this. In case the land-claim was decided
in favor of the estate, then, in addition to the small provision made
for Myrtle Hazard, the property so coming to the estate should all go to
her. There was no question about the genuineness and the legal
sufficiency of this instrument. Its date was not very long after the
preceding one, at a period when, as was well known, he had almost given
up the hope of gaining his case, and when the property was of little
value compared to that which it had at present.
A long silence followed this reading. Then, to the surprise of all, Miss
Silence Withers rose, and went to Myrtle Hazard, and wished her joy with
every appearance of sincerity. She was relieved of a great
responsibility. Myrtle was young and could bear it better. She hoped
that her young relative would live long to enjoy the blessings
Providence had bestowed upon her, and to use them for the good of the
community, and especially the promotion of the education of deserving
youth. If some fitting person could be found to advise Myrtle, whose
affairs would require much care, it would be a great relief to her.
They all went up to Myrtle and congratulated her on her change of
fortune. Even Cynthia Badlam got out a phrase or two which passed muster
in the midst of the general excitement. As for Kitty Fagan, she could
not say a word, but caught Myrtle's hand and kissed it as if it belonged
to her own saint, and then, suddenly applying her apron to her eyes,
retreated from a scene which was too much for her, in a state of
complete mental beatitude and total bodily discomfiture.
Then Silence asked the old minister to make a prayer, and he stretched
his hands up to Heaven, and called down all the blessings of Providence
upon all the household, and especially upon this young handmaiden, who
was to be tried with prosperity, and would need all aid from above to
keep her from its dangers.
Then Mr. Penhallow asked Myrtle if she had any choice as to the friend
who should have charge of her affairs.
Myrtle turned to Master Byles Gridley, and said, "You have been my
friend and protector so far,--will you continue to be so hereafter?"
Master Gridley tried very hard to begin a few words of thanks to her for
her preference, but, finding his voice a little uncertain, contented
himself with pressing her hand and saying, "Most willingly, my dear
daughter!"