TO WED THE EARLIEST LOVED.
“Joy circles round, and fancy plays,
And hearts are warmed, and faces bloom,
As drinking health to bride and groom,
We wish them stores of happy days.
Nor count me all to blame if I
Conjecture of a _stiller guest_,
Perchance, perchance, among the rest,
And, though in silence, wishing joy.”—_Tennyson._
And where, during all these years, was India, the once fair, though
faulty “Pearl of Pearl River?” Alas! how many a ship-wrecked voyager
there is upon the strands of life—still making what stand he can against
the overwhelming waves of despair that, in every advancing tide,
threaten to sweep him to utter destruction! Oh life! oh mystery of life!
when and where shall be found thy true solution?
When India had administered upon the estate of her deceased father, who
had survived the discovery of his guilt but a few months,—when she had
settled every just claim upon it,—she found herself, as she had
predicted, very poor. When the last debt was paid, the surplus fund was
so small that it would not have met even her moderate expenses for one
year.
And the once haughty India, haughty now no longer, found it necessary to
do something for her own support. In a legal point of view, it was not
by any means obligatory upon India to impoverish herself to pay her
father’s or her husband’s debts. A portion of the property, sufficient
for her own comfortable and even elegant maintenance, she might still
have withheld from the creditors; but with a late though noble sense of
justice—emulative of Mark’s own strict rectitude—she resolved to pay the
uttermost farthing, and clear, as much as possible, from blame the
memory of the dead, by cancelling, at least, their pecuniary
obligations; even though by doing so she should leave herself quite
penniless. In vain her friends and neighbours remonstrated. India, once
so obstinate in wrong, could be equally firm in right.
The estate settled, the creditors all paid off, all other claims of
justice satisfied, and India, with a small surplus, turned to consider
what next she should do.
In the South, luxurious houses enough were open to her. All—even those
who would fain, out of kindness, have persuaded her to reserve a portion
of her fortune from the claims of justice—were eloquent in the praise of
that high sense of honour that led her to disregard alike her own
self-interest and their benevolent counsel. And many among the wealthy
families of her acquaintance, with true Southern hospitality, invited
and pressed her to come and make their house her home for as long as she
liked. And there is no doubt but that the high-born, beautiful, and
accomplished young widow, would have been considered a great acquisition
in the drawing-room of any country house. But at no time of her life
would India have endured such a life of luxurious dependence—and even
now, when her heart had been disciplined and chastened by sorrow, she
much preferred the honest independence of labour. Therefore she
gratefully and somewhat proudly, withal, declined the invitations of her
friends, bade them kindly adieu, and left the neighbourhood.
Something of the old haughty reserve remaining, perhaps, induced her to
cover her retreat. And so—many of her friends—Mark among others—had
quite lost trace of her.
And she, also, had lost sight of _all_, except of Mark Sutherland, whose
rising star she watched from afar, with mingled emotions of pride, joy,
and passionate regret.
She had effectually hidden herself in the great city of New York, where,
as a teacher of music and drawing, she lived in strict retirement, and
whence she watched the upward progress of the successful statesman.
At the close of his first senatorial term, Mark Sutherland had been set
up as the candidate of the liberal party for one of the highest offices
in the gift of the people. Political business, about this time, called
Mr. Sutherland to New York. He was received with enthusiasm by the
friends of his party, and when his business was dispatched, he entered
freely into the fashionable society of the city.
India had seen his arrival announced with the usual flourish of the
press trumpets. And every day she saw his honours and his triumphs
chronicled in the morning and evening papers. She could not bear the
thought of meeting him in her poverty now. But in that extensive
wilderness of crowded buildings, called New York, she believed herself
as completely screened from observation and discovery as though she had
been away in London or in Paris, or in a desert or a forest. And she
also felt assured that he had not the slightest clue to her dwelling
place.
But it happened that, during his sojourn in New York, Mr. Sutherland had
consented, with feelings partly of amusement and partly of annoyance, to
sit for his portrait, to adorn some lyceum or lecture room. And the
painting had been finished and hung up, and had attracted crowds of his
friends and admirers—for a few days—and then had been left “alone in its
glory.”
One morning, at an hour so early that it was highly improbable he should
find any other visitors there, Mr. Sutherland went to the lyceum to
procure a rare volume on jurisprudence. The librarian was in his stall,
but otherwise the room seemed deserted.
Perhaps Mr. Sutherland’s foot was light in stepping—perhaps the carpet
was thick and soft, or it might be that the lady he presently saw
standing before his portrait was so abstracted that she could not hear
the entrance of another visitor. At all events, she did not perceive his
approach, and Mr. Sutherland went past, selected his volume, and had
turned to go back, when a casual glance at the lady, and a flutter of
her brown veil, disclosed to his astonished eyes the face of India.
He could scarcely suppress an exclamation of joy. His first impulse was
to spring forward and greet her. Had he been some years younger, he
would have done so on the spur of the moment; but age brings caution and
teaches self-restraint; and it was well he refrained, for a second
glance at that pale, impassioned face, with those dark, burning eyes,
fixed with such a fascinated gaze upon the picture before her, warned
him that by no rude shock must that colourless, motionless woman be
approached.
Softly and silently he drew away towards the other extremity of the long
room, where the librarian sat in his stall.
“Mr. Ferguson, do you know the lady at the other end of the room?” he
inquired of that gentleman.
“No, I do not,” answered the librarian, after taking a look at India.
“Nor where she lives, of course?”
“Nor where she lives,” said the librarian, looking up in some surprise.
“I supposed her to be a lady that I once knew, but I did not like to
speak to her in uncertainty—that is all,” said Mr. Sutherland,
evasively.
The librarian was a grave man, as it befitted a custodian of grave books
to be, and Mr. Sutherland’s reputation for unvarying propriety of
deportment was beyond cavil, so there was no quizzing, and their talk
ended there.
Mark Sutherland went down into the lobby, considering how best to
introduce himself, without startling Mrs. Ashley. He might wait until
she should come down, and then follow her home, ascertain her address,
and call upon her the next day; but there appeared to him to be
something about such a course as that he did not approve, something
romantic, absurd, yet verging upon treachery. Besides, it was most
probable that she would take an omnibus, when he should lose sight of
her, unless, indeed, he should get into the same omnibus; to which there
was the same great objection of presenting himself suddenly before her,
which, after seeing the expression of her face, he dared not do; while,
at the same time, it was the recollection of that very look that made
him doubly anxious to meet her. After considering a while, he determined
to address a letter to her through the city post-office. That would
certainly reach her sooner or later.
He went home and put his purpose into execution.
He was unfit for study or for society that day. That sudden meeting with
India, the revelation made by that look upon her worn but still lovely
face, had stricken the rock in his bosom, and the long-sealed fountain
of memory and affection was set free.
That motionless, colourless, most beautiful face—it haunted him all the
day.
That afternoon he dressed to go to a dinner party, at a house on Fifth
Avenue. On arriving at the place, just as he entered the hall, a lady
closely veiled went out. That form and air! he could not be mistaken!
Again, with a start of irrepressible pleasure, he had recognised India.
“Who is that lady?” he inquired of the “Jeemes” of that hall.
“The music mistress, yer honour,” answered “Jeemes,” who happened in
this case to be “Patrick.”
“Do you know where she lives?”
“I’ll inquire, yer honour,” replied Patrick, opening the drawing-room
door to admit the guest, and then departing on his errand. In a few
moments he returned, with Mrs. Ashley’s address.
It was in a distant part of the city. Yet gladly would Mark have sought
out her retreat that night, had he been free to do so; but nothing but
the most urgent necessity could now have excused him from the dinner got
up in his own honour. So he was forced to restrain his impatience for
that evening. Nay, more; having found out her residence and mentally
fixed the hour that he should see her the next morning, he gave himself
up to the festivities of the evening, and was once more the brilliant
conversationist he was reputed to be. At dinner, he led in and sat next
one of the most charming women in New York, and no doubt did his devoirs
with equal grace and pleasure.
Yet neither is there any doubt that he was well satisfied when the
evening’s hospitality was over.
And he was still better pleased when the night was passed, and the
morning came, and the sun arose, and he at last had leave to dress
himself, dispatch an early breakfast, take a cab, and drive to the
remote suburb where India lived.
Was it a private dwelling or a boarding-house? The address gave no clue
to that question—it designated only the street and the number. He hoped
it was a private dwelling! He must see her alone! How would she receive
him? There was no mistaking that look upon her face that had thrilled
him, striking the whole “electric chord” of memory and passion! that
look of mingled affection, aspiration, and passionate regret! How would
she receive him? Such were the glad, anxious, questioning thoughts that
chased each other through his mind, while the cab rolled on. In these
tumultuous, half-delightful, half-painful recollections and
anticipations the distance was passed.
“This is the place, sir,” said the driver, as the cab drew up before a
little cottage, surrounded by a small luxuriant flower garden, and
literally covered and concealed by a complete thicket of tall rose-trees
and climbing vines.
“So this is a private dwelling, and her love of beautiful surrounding
survives all the crash of fortune and the wreck of life,” thought Mark
Sutherland, as he alighted and opened the gate leading into the yard.
Let us precede him, by a few moments.
India, who had risen from an almost untasted breakfast, had passed into
the small parlour only to escape the eyes of her attendant, the pretty,
loving Oriole, who had followed the fortunes of her mistress with the
most devoted affection and fidelity, and who, if a cloud did but fall
upon the brow of Mrs. Ashley, reflected it in the sadness of her own
face.
But this morning, in the bitterness of her emotions, India could not
endure the sad, wistful glances of poor Oriole; so she had left the
small sitting-room impatiently, and passed into the parlour, where she
paced up and down with the fearful, half-suppressed excitement of some
caged lioness.
Disciplined and chastened as her heart certainly had been in the trials
of her life, India was still very far from Christian perfection. And,
perhaps, now she needed a little of the sunshine of happiness, as well
as the long, long cloud of sorrow, to nurture the growth of goodness in
her heart. At all events, she found it very difficult to bear with
fortitude the mortification and grief of the night before. She had met
him on the steps of one of those Fifth Avenue palaces, where her pupils
resided. She had met him! he had passed her, brushing her dress as he
went! Though her veil was down, she had recognized him. And she knew by
the start that he made, he recognized _her_ as well! Yet he had passed
without speaking! Ah! all her thoughts of the future possibilities of a
rencounter that she dreaded and shrunk from, had not shaped a meeting so
humiliating as this! She _had_ feared that he would seek her out, and,
from his pride of place, presume to patronize her, by endeavouring to
improve her circumstances, giving her advice, offering her
assistance—humiliations which to escape she would have fled to an
alms-house—or, perhaps, plunged into a river, “but for the grace of
God,” for India was but half regenerated. But a rencounter so mortifying
as this, she had never dreamed of. All the circumstances attending that
chance meeting also combined to make it inexpressibly galling—_he_ going
into that house an honoured guest, for whom its saloons were illuminated
and a feast prepared, and a choice company gathered: she creeping out of
it, a sort of hired servant with her wages in her hand. So, in the
present bitterness of her mood, she looked at herself. And they had so
met upon the steps, and he had seen her, recognized her, and passed her
without speaking! “Ah! fool!” so she thought; “there was little need to
dread that he would seek me out to benefit me. The ‘great statesman’
evidently has no wish to be bored by his poor relations. But oh, Mark!
Mark! that _you_ should have done such an unworthy thing! _you_, my one
saving idea of manly excellence—that prosperity should have corrupted,
and the world hardened, even _you_! When you upbraided me so bitterly,
in the midst of my sorrows at Cashmere, I bore it all with a
meekness—not very like _me!_ because—oh! because I _saw and felt_ what
you would never acknowledge to your own heart—the secret, unacknowledged
feeling that gave point, sting, and acrimony to all the bitter
reproaches you uttered. Oh! Mark, in that day I read your heart as a
woman only can! But all this is over—over—and you pass me without
recognition,” she said, sinking into a chair, dropping her head upon her
hands, and giving way for the first time in years to a passionate flood
of tears.
Hark! the bell rings—Oriole goes to the door. It is probably the
postman, and India is too much depressed, and has too little to hope, to
care much about the coming of that messenger of joy or of woe to so many
households. But hark!
“Why, how do you do, Oriole? Do you recollect me, child? Yes? I am very
glad to see you here! How is your mistress? Is she in?”
It is a rich, full-toned voice that speaks—a cordial, familiar,
life-giving voice—a voice that has power to thrill every nerve in her
frame—in a word, it is Mark Sutherland’s voice! and he is in the little
hall, and in another moment he will be in the room.
Oh! Heaven! her face is pale, and bathed with tears—he must not see her
thus! In a moment the blinds are drawn down, the curtains dropped, and
the room obscured, and her chair is wheeled around with its back to the
windows, so as to throw her face into deep shadow. So she will await
him. But Oriole enters alone, with a card.
“It is Mr. Sutherland, madame, and if you are disengaged he will be glad
to see you.”
She bows in assent—she can do no more; and Oriole goes out, returns, and
ushers in Mr. Sutherland.
“Mrs. Ashley”——
She rises, and extends her hand.
“Mrs. Ashley, I am very happy to see you again.”
She essays to speak, but fails, and her self-possession utterly deserts
her. The hand he has taken is cold as ice—he carries it to his lips.
“My dearest India, I am so happy to find you again, after all these
years.”
“All these years!”—she repeats his words, mechanically, as she sinks
back in her chair.
He takes the nearest seat, and resumes—“I have sought you far and wide,
I have sought you for so long, I have done all but advertise you!” He
added, smiling—“Why have you hidden yourself so long from all your
friends?”
“The old ‘sinful pride’ perhaps, Mark,” she answered, half smiling in
her turn.
“‘Pride,’ dear India? Ah! I understand you. Yet that same pride, in all
its phases, has caused much vexation to those who love you, dear India.”
“Do I not know it? And do I not regret it?”
“And to none has it caused more trouble than to _myself_.”—But the
conversation is growing personal, and closing in.
You and I, reader, are _de trop_—and will withdraw from the scene and
wait.
The result was this—that Mr. Sutherland did not leave New York as soon
as he had expected, by many weeks.
And one Sunday, before morning service, there was a quiet marriage
ceremony performed before the altar of Grace Church.
And the next morning, in the list of passengers that sailed in the
Baltic, for Liverpool, were the names of “Mr. and Mrs. Mark Sutherland,
and two servants”—the latter being Oriole, who could not live without
her mistress, and Mr. Sutherland’s valet, who was no other than our old
friend Billy Button, who had been well drilled for some years past, and
now, in a speckless suit of black, and a spotless white neckcloth,
presented one of the most respectable specimens of a gentleman’s
gentleman.
And in the meantime, Mr. Sutherland’s elegant country seat on Lake
Crystal, in one of the most thriving of the Western States, was left
under the charge of that grand, impartial, large-hearted, broad-visioned
specimen of manhood, Mr. Billy Bolling, who had received a
_carte-blanche_ for fitting up and refurnishing the house; for, however
uncertain any one might be as to Mr. Bolling’s opinions, no one could
doubt his _taste_, which was really exquisite. And that gentleman took
the greatest possible delight in preparing the mansion for the reception
of the bride.
And, by the way, Mr. Bolling, by his universal agreeableness, conquered
such a popularity in his own district, that he has been talked of for
the Legislature, and would certainly have been made a candidate, only it
seemed impossible by any means to arrive at his politics, he being
claimed with equal reason by all parties.
Early in the winter, Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland returned to the United
States. They went first, by invitation and pre-engagement, to spend a
month among their relatives in the South.
They went to Texas, where they found Mrs. Wells, still a hale and
handsome woman, though on the shady side of fifty, and the Doctor more
appreciative of her real worth, and more attached to her now than he was
at the period of his mercenary marriage. They spent one happy month with
the Wellses, and then, accompanied by Mrs. Wells, went into Louisiana,
to pay a long-promised visit to Lincoln Lauderdale and his vivacious
little lady.
They found them well and prosperous, and surrounded by a thriving young
family. Little change had time made in Lincoln or the piquant “Nan.” A
month was whiled away in their pleasant society, and so it was near
spring before the Sutherlands, still accompanied by Mrs. Wells, set out
up the river for their North-Western home.
And it was quite spring when they reached the beautiful shores of Lake
Crystal, and entered their own elegant home. Mrs. Wells remained with
them and spent the summer.
And she still continues to come every year to spend her summers with her
“beloved Mark,” her “only child.” Mark and India occasionally return
those visits in the winter—that is, when Mr. Sutherland’s official
duties permit him to do so. For Mark Sutherland is still a rising
politician, adored by one party and abhorred by another. And, in the
present hopeful state of the public mind, it is impossible to predict of
any given contest whether the people mean to elect or mob their own
candidate.
But, aside from Mr. Sutherland’s public life, his home is a very happy
one. In his profession he has realized a handsome fortune. By the death
of her Uncle Paul, at an advanced age, India has inherited a large
property, so that they are entirely independent in their pecuniary
circumstances. India is as beautiful but no longer as proud as Juno,
Queen of Goddesses, and is the centre of a very refined and intellectual
circle. They have two fine children—a beautiful boy, whom they named
Mark—and a lovely little girl, whom they called India.
Mrs. Sutherland, in a mood of magnanimity, proposed that this child
should be christened Rosalie; but Mr. Sutherland could by no means be
brought to consent to that. No! the child must have its mother’s
name—only hers. And so she had. India was flattered and pleased. And
Mark Sutherland was exactly right.
Was Rosalie then forgotten?
No! no! and a thousand times no! She was well remembered. Her name was a
sacred, sacred name, that he could not bear to give to another creature.
It was hers and hers only; it represented _her_ individuality; it stood
to him for all that was most beautiful, pure, lovely and sweet—aye,
heavenly! He could not bear to bestow it upon India’s child,
passionately as he loved that child and its mother. Reader, do you
understand that? India had once been his boyhood’s passion, as she was
now his manhood’s love. He preferred her immeasurably before all living
women. She was a handsome, intellectual, and warm-hearted woman,
eminently fitted to make a man like Mark Sutherland happy. And his
marriage with her was eminently happy.
The beautiful India was his Hertha, but there was one who had gone
before who was and _is_ his Psyche. And deep in his heart is a chamber
into which no mortal creature entereth—a sanctuary closely veiled from
all human knowledge—a holy of holies, sacred to one earthly memory and
one heavenly hope—consecrated to the veiled worship of his angel wife—
ROSALIE.
FINIS.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.