JEALOUSY.
The day following Mr. Stuart's visit was Saturday, and as there was no
school, Mary decided to call upon her sister, whom she had not seen
for some months. Mrs. Mason, who had some shopping to do in the
village, offered to accompany her, and about two in the afternoon,
they set forward in Mr. Knight's covered buggy. The roads were smooth
and dry, and in a short time they reached the bridge near the depot. A
train of cars bound for Boston was just going out, and from one of the
windows Mr. Stuart was looking, and waving his hand towards Mary, who
bowed in token of recognition.
The sight and sound of the cars made "old Charlotte," whom Mrs. Mason
was driving, prick up her ears, and feet too, and in a few moments she
carried her load to the village. Leaving Mrs. Mason at the store, Mary
proceeded at once to Mrs. Campbell's. She rang the door-bell a little
timidly, for the last time she saw her sister, she had been treated
with so much coldness, that she now felt some anxiety with regard to
the reception she was likely to meet.
"Is Miss Campbell at home?" she asked of the girl who answered her
ring.
"Yes, she's at home," replied the girl, "but is busy dressing for
company."
"Tell her her sister is here, if you please. I won't detain her
long," said Mary, trying hard to shake off the tremor which always
came upon her, when she found herself in Mrs. Campbell's richly
furnished house.
Conducting Mary into the parlor, the girl departed with her message to
Ella, who, together with the young lady whom Mr. Knight had styled a
"white-eyed pucker," but whose real name was Eliza Porter, was
dressing in the chamber above. The door of the room was open, and from
her position, Mary could hear distinctly every word which was uttered.
"Miss Ella," said the girl, "your sister is in the parlor, and wants
to see you."
"My sister," repeated Ella, "oh, forlorn! What brought her here
to-day? Why didn't you tell her I wasn't at home?"
"I never told a lie in my life," answered the honest servant girl,
while Miss Porter in unfeigned surprise said "Your sister! I didn't
know you had one. Why doesn't she live at home?"
Concealment was no longer possible, and in a half vexed, half laughing
tone, Ella replied, "Why, I thought you knew that I was an orphan whom
Mrs. Campbell adopted years ago."
"You an orphan!" returned Miss Porter. "Well, if I ever! Who adopted
your sister?"
"A poor woman in the country," was Ella's answer.
Miss Porter, who was a notorious flatterer, replied, "I must see her,
for if she is any thing like you, I shall love her instantly."
"Oh, she isn't like _me_" said Ella, with a curl of her lip. "She's
smart enough, I suppose, but she hasn't a bit of polish or refinement.
She doesn't come here often, and when she does, I am always in a
fidget, for fear some of the city girls will call, and she'll do
something _outré_."
"I guess, then, I won't go down, at least not till I'm dressed,"
answered Miss Porter; and Ella, throwing on a dressing-gown, descended
to the parlor, where she met her sister with the ends of her fingers,
and a simple, "Ah, Mary, how d'ye do? Are you well?"
After several commonplace remarks, Ella at last asked, "How did you
know I was at home?"
"Mr. Knight told me," said Mary.
"Mr. Knight," repeated Ella; "and pray, who is he? I don't believe
he's on my list of acquaintances."
"Do you remember the man who carried me to the poor-house?" asked
Mary.
"Hush--sh!" said Ella, glancing nervously towards the door. "There is
a young lady up stairs, and it isn't necessary for her to know you've
been a pauper."
By this time Miss Porter was dressed. She was very fond of display,
and wishing to astonish the "country girl" with her silks and satins,
came rustling into the parlor.
"My sister," said Ella carelessly.
Miss Porter nodded, and then throwing herself languidly upon the sofa,
looked down the street, as if expecting some one. At last, supporting
herself on her elbow, she lisped out, "I don't believe that he'th
coming, for here 'tis after four!"
"Tisn't likely he'll stay in the graveyard all night," returned Ella.
"I wish we'd asked him whose graves he was going to visit, don't you?"
Then, by way of saying something more to Mary, she continued, "Oh, you
ought to know what an adventure I had yesterday. It was a most
miraculous escape, for I should certainly have been killed, if the
most magnificent-looking gentleman you ever saw, hadn't caught me
just in time to keep Beauty from throwing me. You ought to see his
eyes, they were perfectly splendid!"
Mary replied, that she herself thought he had rather handsome eyes.
"_You!_ where did you ever see him?" asked Ella.
"He visited my school yesterday afternoon."
"Oh, no, that can't be the one," returned Ella, while Miss Porter,
too, said, "Certainly not; our cavalier never thaw the inthide of a
district school-houth, I know."
"I am quite sure he saw one yesterday," said Mary, relating the
circumstance of Mr. Knight's meeting him at the spot where Ella came
so near getting a fall.
"Did he go home with you?" asked Ella, in a tone plainly indicating
that a negative answer was expected.
Mary understood the drift of her sister's questioning, and promptly
replied, "Yes, he went home with me, and staid to tea."
Ella's countenance lowered, while Miss Porter exclaimed, "I declare,
we may as well give up all hope, for your sister, it seems, has the
first claim."
"Pshaw!" said Ella, contemptuously, while Miss Porter, again turning
to Mary, asked, "Did you learn his name? If you did, you are more
fortunate than we were; and he came all the way home with us, too,
leading Ella's pony; and besides that, we met him in the street this
morning."
"His name," returned Mary, "is Stuart, and he lives in Boston, I
believe."
"Stuart,--Stuart,--" repeated Ella; "I never heard Lizzie Upton, or
the Lincolns, mention the Stuarts, but perhaps they have recently
removed to the city. Any way, this young man is somebody, I know."
Here Miss Porter, again looking down the road, exclaimed, "There,
he's coming, I do believe."
Both girls rushed to the window, but Mr. Stuart was not there; and
when they were reseated, Mary very gravely remarked, that he was
probably ere this in Worcester, as she saw him in the eastern train.
"Why, really," said Ella, "you seem to be well posted in his affairs.
Perhaps you can tell us whose graves he wished to find. He said he had
some friends buried here, and inquired for the sexton."
Mary knew nothing about it, and Ella, as if thinking aloud, continued,
"It must be that he got belated, and went from the graveyard, across
the fields, to the depot;--but, oh horror!" she added, "there comes
Lizzie Upton and the rest of the Boston girls. Mary, I guess you'll
have to go, or rather, I guess you'll have to excuse me, for I must
run up and dress. By the way, wouldn't you like some flowers? If you
would just go into the kitchen, and ask Bridget to show you the
garden."
Mary had flowers enough at home, and so, in spite of Ella's manoeuvre,
she went out at the front door, meeting "Lizzie Upton, and the rest of
the Boston girls," face to face. Miss Porter, who acted the part of
hostess while Ella was dressing, was quickly interrogated by Lizzie
Upton, as to who the young lady was they met in the yard.
"That's Ella Campbell's sister," said Miss Porter. Then lowering her
voice to a whisper, she continued, "Don't you believe, Ella isn't Mrs.
Campbell's own daughter, but an adopted one!"
"I know that," answered Lizzie; "but this sister, where does she
live?"
"Oh, in a kind of a heathenish, out-of-the-way place, and teaches
school for a living."
"Well," returned Lizzie, "she is a much finer looking girl than
Ella."
"How can you say so," exclaimed three or four girls in a breath, and
Lizzie replied, "Perhaps she hasn't so much of what is called beauty
in her face, but she has a great deal more intellect."
Here the door-bell again rang; and Ella, having made a hasty toilet,
came tripping down the stairs in time to welcome Rose Lincoln, whom
she embraced as warmly as if a little eternity, instead of three days,
had elapsed since they met.
"I had perfectly despaired of your coming," said she "Oh, how sweet
you do look! But where's Jenny?"
Rose's lip curled scornfully, as she replied, "Why, she met Mary
Howard in the store, and I couldn't drag her away."
"And who is Mary Howard?" asked Lizzie Upton.
Rose glanced at Ella, who said, "Why, she's the girl you met going out
of the yard."
"Oh, yes.--I know,--your sister," returned Lizzie. "Isn't she to be
here? I have noticed her in church, and should like to get acquainted
with her. She has a fine eye and forehead."
Ella dared not tell Lizzie, that Mary was neither polished nor
refined, so she answered, that "she could not stay this afternoon, as
Mrs. Mason, the lady with whom she lived, was in a hurry to go home."
Miss Porter looked up quickly from her embroidery, and winked slyly at
Ella in commendation of her falsehood. Jenny now came bounding in, her
cheeks glowing, and her eyes sparkling like diamonds.
"I'm late, I know," said she, "but I met Mary in the store, and I
never know when to leave her. I tried to make her come with me,
telling her that as you were her sister 'twas no matter if she weren't
invited; but she said that Mrs. Mason had accepted an invitation to
take tea with Mrs. Johnson, and she was going there too."
Instantly Lizzie Upton's eyes were fixed upon Ella, who colored
scarlet; and quickly changing the conversation, she commenced talking
about her adventure of the evening before, and again the
"magnificent-looking stranger, with his perfectly splendid eyes," was
duly described.
"Oh, yes," said Jenny, who generally managed to talk all the time,
whether she was heard or not. "Yes, Mary told me about him. He was in
her school yesterday, and if I were going to describe George Moreland,
I could not do it more accurately than she did, in describing Mr.
Stuart. You never saw George, did you?"
"No," said Ella pettishly, "but seems to me Mary is dreadful anxious
to have folks know that Mr. Stuart visited her school."
"No, she isn't," answered Jenny. "I told her that I rode past her
school-house yesterday, and should have called, had I not seen a big
man's head protruding above the window sill. Of course, I asked who he
was, and she told me about him, and how he saved you from a broken
neck."
Ella's temper, never the best, was fast giving way, and by the time
the company were all gone, she was fairly in a fit of the pouts.
Running up stairs, and throwing herself upon the bed, she burst into
tears, wishing herself dead, and saying she knew no one would care if
she were, for every body liked Mary better than they did her.
Miss Porter, who stood by, terribly distressed of course, rightly
guessed that the every body, on this occasion, referred merely to Mr.
Stuart and Lizzie Upton. Ella was always jealous of any commendation
bestowed upon Mary seeming to consider it as so much taken from
herself, and consequently, could not bear that Lizzie should even
think well of her. The fact, too, that Mr. Stuart had not only visited
her school, but also walked home with her, was a sufficient reason why
she should he thoroughly angry. Miss Porter knew that the surest
method of coaxing her out of her pouting fit, was to flatter her, and
accordingly she repeated at least a dozen complimentary speeches, some
of which she had really heard, while others were manufactured for the
occasion. In this way the cloud was gradually lifted from her face,
and erelong she was laughing merrily at the idea, that a girl "so
wholly unattractive as Mary, should ever have made her jealous!"