Years, many years had passed since the conversation narrated in the
previous chapter, and Andrew Gordon was no longer the sole tenant of the
sweetest valley that slept beneath the shadow of the Green Mountains. A
small, but pleasant village had sprung up around the site of his old
log-house; and, upon the very spot where that had once stood, arose an
imposing brick mansion, that seemed to look haughtily down upon the
humbler dwellings around it. A small church—of simple, yet tasteful
architecture—lifted its spire a few paces farther on; two
merchants—rivals, of course—display their gilded signs on either side
of the street just below, and numerous little heads might have been seen
peeping from the windows of the schoolhouse over the river.
Andrew Gordon was a rich man. He had added acre to acre, and farm to
farm. The factory—whose machinery moved so steadily from morning till
night; and the grist-mill—whose wheels whirled round so incessantly,
belonged to him; and it was more than hinted, that one of the
stores—although managed in the name of another—was, in reality, his
property.
Yes, Andrew Gordon was a rich man; but was he satisfied? Was that
craving thirst for the “gold that perisheth” quenched at last? Ah! no;
it raged more fiercely than ever. Amy—his pure and gentle Amy, slept in
the little church-yard, where the white tombstones contrasted so
beautifully with the deep-green turf, and where the willow-trees made a
cool, refreshing shade even at noon-day.
She had pleaded and reasoned with him in vain. Day by day he became more
and more deeply engrossed in the pursuit of wealth. With a mind capable
of the highest things—with an intellect that might have soared above
the stars—with eloquence at his command, by which he might have swayed
the hearts of men, and led them captive at his will, he yet preferred to
hover near the earth, and offer up genius, talent, even love itself,
upon the altar of mammon.
Had any one told him that he had almost ceased to love his wife, he
would have spurned the idea, and have laid the “flattering unction to
his soul,” that he was indeed a pattern husband. Were not all his wife’s
wants most liberally supplied? Was not money ever at her command? In
short, did he ever deny her any thing?
Yes, Andrew Gordon! You denied her what was of more worth to her than
the gold and silver of Peru. You denied her a little of your precious
time. So absorbed were you in your own pursuits, so fearful were you
that every hour would not add something to your store, that you had no
time to devote to her whose happiness was in your hands. You had no time
for that sweet interchange of thought and feeling that she so valued;
you had no time for those little attentions that woman so dearly prizes;
you had no time for an occasional caress or word of endearment that
would have cheered her in many a long, lonely hour, and the mere memory
of which would have sustained her through suffering and through
weariness. No, you had no time for trifles like these; and you could not
remember—proud man that you were—that her nature was not like your
nature, and that those things were as necessary to her existence as dew
is to the drooping flower—as the warm sunlight to the ripening
grain—as the draught of cool water to the pilgrim, fainting in the
wilderness. You could not remember all this, and Amy pined day by day:
her cheek grew pale and her step more languid. Do you say she should
have had more strength of mind than to have been affected by such slight
causes? I tell you she could not help it. Talk of strength of mind to a
neglected wife! Woman’s true strength lies in her affections; and if
wounded there she will droop and wither, just as surely as does the
vine, when rudely torn from the tree to which it clung. She may struggle
against it long and, for a while, successfully; the eye of man may mark
no change upon lip or brow; but—_it will come at last!_
Amy slept in the church-yard; and the daughter who was cradled on her
breast that winter evening when we saw her last, slept beside her.
Frederick alone was left to Andrew Gordon, and he loved him with all the
love he had to spare from his coffers. Had the son learned the lesson
that the father was to teach him? We shall see.
One evening, at the close of a long, bright summer day, about sixteen
years from the date when our story commences, a young man—who appeared
as if he might be just entering the fifth lustrum of his life—might
have been seen loitering along by the banks of a stream that came
laughing and leaping down the mountain side, at some distance from the
dwelling of Andrew Gordon. He had a gun upon his shoulder, but his
game-bag was empty; and the pretty gray-squirrels hopped from tree to
tree, rabbits stared curiously at him with their bright, saucy eyes, and
even the wild partridge fluttered around him—unharmed, while he
wandered on, wrapped in a somewhat moody reverie.
His thoughts seemed to be very variable—partly sad and partly glad;
for, at one moment there would be a cloud upon his brow, a look of doubt
and irresolution—and the next, a smile would break over his face,
making it remarkably pleasing in its transient expression. His figure
was tall and graceful; and his hair—that was black as night—fell over
a forehead that would have been almost too white, had not the sun kissed
it rather warmly.
It would have been difficult to have recognized in him our old friend
Frederick Gordon, the hero of the cob-house—yet when that transient
smile, of which we have before spoken, played over his features, the
light in his dark eyes was the same as that which beamed there,
when—pleading for a story—he sprung joyfully to his mother’s side.
He sauntered along for an hour or two, deeply buried in thought. At
length—
“She is very lovely,” he murmured to himself, as if unconsciously. “She
is, indeed, very lovely! What a pity it is that Dame Fortune has not
added a few money bags to the list of her charms; for portionless as she
is, she sorely tempts one to play the fool. I came very near committing
myself last night at that boating party. What with the slow, dreamy
motion of the boat, the moonlight sparkling on the waters, the heavy
shadows on the opposite shore, in short, the exquisite beauty of the
whole scene, combined with Lily’s almost ethereal loveliness, all the
romance of my nature—and I really believe I possess a tolerable
share—was aroused, and I nearly lost sight of my fixed purpose to marry
a rich wife, if any. Yet, after all, does she not possess the truest
wealth?” he added, “and I am almost sure she loves me. Pshaw! I wonder
what my good father would say to nonsense like this?” and again he
became lost in thought.
For nearly an hour he remained sitting upon the stump of a large oak,
that had—together with many others—fallen a victim to the progress of
civilization, with his head resting upon his hand, and his eyes fixed on
a vacancy.
Suddenly, he was startled by the report of a gun—a moment, and a faint
scream fell upon his ear; there was the quick tread of bounding feet,
the crashing of branches, and a large deer rushed franticly through the
thicket, and paused a moment, panting and breathless, almost at his
side. He had only time to perceive that it was terribly wounded, when
the antlered head was raised for an instant, the quick ear caught the
distant baying of the hounds, and the poor creature again dashed onward,
with all the energy of despair.
Frederick Gordon immediately sprung toward the thicket from which the
deer had emerged; and with much difficulty succeeded in making his way
through the tangled underbrush and reaching the cleared space beyond.
But what a sight there greeted his vision! A sight that blanched his
cheek, and made him cling involuntarily for support to a wild vine, that
drooped over him, and nearly impeded his progress. Lily Grey—the
subject of his recent reverie, the being who had awakened the first
thrill of love that he had ever known, for he did love her, in spite of
himself—lay before him, with not the faintest shade of color upon cheek
or lip, and the blood slowly oozing from a wound upon her temple.
For a moment, Frederick gazed upon her as if spell-bound; then stealing
softly forward, as if she were sleeping, and he feared that he might
waken her, he knelt upon the green sward by her side. At first, he had
no thought but the dread one of death. She lay there so still, so pale,
so like death, that the idea of attempting to revive her did not even
occur to him; and, in truth, it would have been hard to have told whose
cheek was the palest—his, or that of sweet Lily Grey.
But, presently he fancied that her lips quivered a little, a very
little: and that there was the slightest perceptible tremor of the
deeply-fringed eyelids. Perhaps it was nothing but the dancing shadow of
the leaves that were frolicking in the sunlight above him; but it gave
him hope, and with that came the effort to restore her. He bound up the
wound upon her temple; he chafed her cold, moist hands, and raised her
in his arms, and bore her out from the shadow of the trees, that the
cool breeze might play upon her cheek.
A world of pure, warm emotions crept over his soul, as she lay there so
quietly in his embrace; he forgot the lessons of worldly wisdom that had
been impressed upon him from his very childhood; he forgot, for the
moment, all save his love—love, whose very existence he had hardly
admitted before; and when he saw by the slight flush that mounted to her
brow, that consciousness was returning, he murmured—
“Lily dear—dearest Lily—thank God that you are safe!”
The young girl started wildly, and he gently laid her upon the grass
again, speaking low, soothing words, such as a brother might breathe in
the ear of a younger and beloved sister, until she opened her eyes, and
raising her hands to her brow, said—
“Frederick—Mr. Gordon—where am I? How came I here?”
“That you can best tell yourself, Lily,” replied Frederick gaily, for he
wished to dispel all her fears. “I found you here in the woods, like the
‘faire ladyes’ we read of in the old romances, pale and breathless, with
the blood flowing from your temple; and, of course, as a good and loyal
knight should do, I did my best to restore you—that is all.”
“O, I remember now,” was the answer. “I had been to see old Mrs.
Forster, in the cottage yonder: she is very lame this week. It was very
warm, and I sat down under the shade of that maple to rest myself. I
suppose I must have fallen asleep, for I was suddenly aroused by the
report of a gun. In an instant, I felt a sharp blow upon my temple—a
large deer went bounding past me; and I must have fainted, for I
remember nothing more, until, until—”
Lily paused, and a burning blush overspread her neck and face, as she
recalled the words that had greeted her ear as consciousness returned.
Frederick drew her more closely to him, as he said—
“Go on, Lily—or shall I finish the sentence for you? Until you heard
words that must have convinced you—of what, indeed, you could not have
been ignorant before—that Frederick Gordon loves you. Was not that what
you would have said, Lily?”
There was no reply: but, although Lily’s lip trembled, and her eyes were
heavy with unshed tears, she did not shrink from his embrace, and
Frederick Gordon felt that he was beloved.
“Forgive me, Lily, you are growing pale again—you are still weak. I
should not have troubled you. Are you strong enough to walk home now,
think you—dear one?”
“O, yes,” replied Lily, rallying herself. “I am quite strong now. I
imagine my temple must have been cut by a sharp stone thrown up by the
hoof of the deer, as it rushed past me.”
Few words were spoken by the young pair as they walked through the
woods, in the dim twilight. Lily’s home—at least, her home for the time
being—was but a short distance off, and with a mute pressure of the
hand they parted at the gate.