Somewhat apart from, and forming the western boundary of Waveland, was a
lovely inland lake, by the margin of which Clemence had been accustomed
to spend many sad hours, since she had become a resident of the little
village. A narrow foot-path, that led through the sombre woods, brought
her to a sheltered spot upon the sloping shore, where she often came
alone to pass an idle hour. She had come to regard this place as her own
peculiar property, for no one had ever come here to interrupt her, or
claim any portion of its solitude.
It was a safe retreat from prying eyes, and it became to the girl, at
length, the one sacred spot where she could pour out her griefs to that
One, who looks upon His stricken children only to pity and forgive.
She sat, now, idly watching the sun sink in the western sky, behind the
far-off hills. She thought, as she noted the sunset, that she had never
seen anything more beautiful--
Amber, and purple, and crimson, and blue,
Glittering shades of every hue.
Fleecy cloudlets of silver-gray,
And shroud-like white, for the dying day.
She remembered, as her eye dwelt in admiration of the scene, of the
beautiful passages in Revelation, and of the gates of pearl and jasper,
"which shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night
there." It almost seemed as if she could drift through these cloud
portals into the peace and rest beyond. Her heart yearned for the loving
clasp of the sweet pilgrim, who had gone before, and who had entered
into "the joy of her Lord." The thought comforted her. She rose up
absently to find two curious eyes fastened upon her, while Mr. Owen's
voice said at her elbow:
"You find this scene more congenial, it appears, than our well ordered
household, and dreaming away the hours, a much more agreeable task than
trying to make a lady of my homespun wife?"
"Why," said Clemence, nervously, not replying to this singular speech,
"how you startled me. Who would have thought of your being here? How did
you find me? Have you any message from your wife?"
"None, whatever," he said, regarding her strangely, and replying to her
last remark. "Do not go, just yet. Miss Graystone; I am tired, and would
like to rest."
"In that case," returned Clemence, "I will leave you to yourself, and
walk on, and you can come at your leisure."
"But I want to talk to you," he rejoined, detaining her, "I came here
particularly for that purpose."
His look said more than his words, and set the girl's heart beating with
sudden fear, as she thought of the strip of silent forest that lay
between them and the town.
"I am in haste," she said, starting hurriedly forward, "and will listen
to you when we get back to the house."
"And that is the very last thing I intend you shall do," he rejoined,
springing from the grass, where he had thrown himself, and coming close
to her, "I tell you, I want to talk to you."
"Well, if you have anything to say to me," she continued, hastening on,
"you can proceed as we go along, for I cannot linger. I was not aware of
its being so late, until you aroused me."
"There, I did not think of that," he added; "Susan will miss me, and,
beside, some one might have been watching me follow you."
"_Did_ you follow me?" questioned Clemence, thrown, for the moment,
completely off her guard.
"Of course," he replied, studying her face intently; "how else did you
suppose I could find you in that hiding-place?"
"I was not aware that a hard-working farmer was given to such school-boy
tricks," she said again, in tones of marked displeasure. "If you wished
to recall me, one of the children would have done the errand equally as
well."
He laughed sarcastically. "All very proper and correct, Miss Graystone.
Perhaps I did run the risk of discovery, in my anxiety to find you, but
one cannot be always upon their guard and remember everything. You are a
'cute one, now, with that artless face. I studied for weeks before I
really made up my mind whether it was real or only put on for the
occasion."
"Did you ever observe me before?" asked Clemence as cooly as possible,
resolved to cultivate obtuseness, and not apply his words personally, "I
suppose, now, in a quiet place like this, any stranger is subjected to
the comments and surmises of nearly all the inhabitants. By the way, how
many do you suppose the place numbers?"
"Really, I don't know," he answered dryly, "never having the curiosity
to inquire. Perhaps the Editor could tell you. Suppose you ask him, when
you meet again, as you seem to be tolerably well acquainted."
"Oh, I don't care so much as that about it," said Clemence,
indifferently, "and I am not sufficiently well acquainted with the
gentleman in question, to catechise him in any way."
"Then you were not writing those verses to him, that I saw you put away
when I spoke to you?"
The red blood flashed indignantly into Clemence's cheeks, at this
impertinence, but she had a motive in checking any manifestations of her
fear and anger, so she answered lightly:
"Of course not, it was merely for my own amusement."
"Ah, what an agreeable thing," he said, after a moment, "to have such
resources of pleasure. How you must despise an ignorant fellow like me."
"There, you wrong me," she said generously, "I am incapable of such
littleness. Here, in America, where so many of our most distinguished
men have come from contact with the field or workshop, it would be folly
in me to despise any one on account of their calling."
"But I have thought it mean, and my whole life has grown distasteful
since I met you," he said, turning suddenly and confronting her.
They were in a tangled pathway, overgrown with clinging vines, that
interlaced themselves above and upon every side. It was impossible to
proceed with this man directly in her way, so she could only stand
immovably, trying to repress all feeling of apprehension.
He went on rapidly--"I have wanted to go away somewhere, out of this,
and grow into something above this peasant's life; and all this only
since I have known you."
"Well," said Clemence, giving him a glance of cold contempt, "What has
this to do with me? Such aspirations would be more appropriate for your
wife's ear, than mine, and, do you know, your present appearance is
rather more ludicrous than sensational? I could respect you at your own
fireside, or attending to your homely labors, for you were then
occupying your proper sphere; but, at present, you impress me in a
totally different manner.
"Go back to your wife, who, if, as you declare, is not a lady, is, at
least, your equal, for you will never be a gentleman; and you can both,
if you try to do right, become happy and contented in that calling which
your parents have followed faithfully and well before you.
"When people, who have never in the course of a long life been
remarkable for ambition, suddenly come to have aspirations, you may be
quite sure that the 'arch enemy of mankind,' who is said to be
indefatigable in providing work 'for idle hands to do,' is plotting
their certain destruction."
She broke off abruptly, absolutely appalled by the gleam of murderous
hate that leaped into the man's fierce dark eye, as the meaning of her
words dawned upon his dulled perception. He opened his lips, which had
grown white with rage, but no sound came from them.
The next moment a childish voice, near them, called, "Papa! where are
you?" and Clemence drew a sigh of relief, as little Sammy Owen bounded
through the bushes to her side.
Five minutes later, she was walking alone, disconsolately, thinking of
this new trouble that threatened her peace, for she felt instinctively
that, in the last hour, she had made an enemy, to be shunned and dreaded
during the rest of her stay in Waveland.
"Well, thank God!" she said fervently, "that I am at least _safe_. I am
innocent of any wrong intent, and I know that I shall be upheld, now, as
in every other trouble that has come to me, and in the end, find
justification."
There was no one visible when she reached the house, but Mrs. Owen, who
sat with her dumpling of a baby, on the door-steps.
"La!" she ejaculated, as Clemence came in sight, walking wearily enough,
"what's the matter--be you sick?"
"No," said Clemence, sinking down beside her, "only tired."
"Well, you look as though you had seen a ghost, at the very least. There
ain't much to you, any way, you give out the easiest of anybody I ever
see. A good night's rest will help you, and you will be all right in
the morning."
"I have got to walk another mile before I obtain it, though," said
Clemence, rising. "I am going to spend to-morrow and Sunday with Mrs.
Hardyng."
"No, be you?" reiterated Mrs. Owen. "Sakes alive you'll never stand it
to walk way down there, and feeling tired out before you start. It will
be dark too, before you get there. I wish Amos was here, and I'd send
him along, too, but he went off somewhere, I don't know in what
direction, and ain't even been in to his supper. That makes me think,
you ain't had your's, neither. Better stay and let me get you a cup of
tea?"
Clemence thanked her languidly, said her friends would probably have
some waiting for her when she arrived, and bidding her good evening,
passed out of the gate, and the slight form was soon lost to view in the
deepening shadows of the night.
The young teacher's forebodings were soon to be realized. She was right.
She _had_ made an enemy of Mr. Owen, and he determined to make her feel
it henceforward, by every means in his power. In his petty way, he was
as particular about keeping up an outside appearance of respectability,
as any aristocratic member of a rich city church might be to cover up
their own glaring deficiencies. It would have ruined him as completely
in his little circle, to have been found out in his underhand tricks, as
though he had been of the consequence in other people's estimation that
he was in his own. He had never, in all his life, been accustomed to
mingle with but one class of women, and that the ignorant, ill-bred
gossip-mongers of his own village. Consequently, he was in momentary
fear of having his recent escapade brought to light, and becoming the
laughing stock of the place, for having fallen in love with, and been
snubbed by the pretty young school mistress.
He was possessed of a sufficient share of low cunning to enable him,
finally, to hit upon a plan by which he hoped this catastrophe might be
averted. There upon he proceeded to unfold to the astonished partner of
his joys and sorrows, that he was glad Miss Graystone had left the
house, for he considered her a dangerous person to enter any family
circle; that she had sought, with great assiduity, while she had been an
inmate of his house, to bring misery and disgrace beneath that peaceful
roof, by beguiling away the affections of the fond husband and father,
and that, like a second Joseph, he had come through the trial manfully.
This was enough, and more than enough, for a woman like the one who
listened in open-mouthed wonder to every word.
Before a week rolled away, every one knew the story of Farmer Owen's
struggles and triumph. Not that any one, even to his own injured wife,
for a moment, believed the assertion. Not she. Even with her obtuse
intellect, she was a woman, and consequently her wits were too sharp to
allow her to be imposed upon by that palpable fiction. She knew, as well
as she wanted to, that her dear Amos had been indignantly put in his
place by Clemence, if he had made the slightest impudent advance.
She knew, too, by intuition, that even had Clemence been of the class
her husband, governed by his malevolent feelings, wished to have her
appear, she would look higher than these boorish, homespun farmers. In
short, she fully realized that the girl despised her husband so utterly
that she barely treated him with politeness.
But all this did not affect her in regard to the feeling she had for
Clemence now, and only a woman can understand how the knowledge of the
girl's innocence only made her hate her the more. She knew that her
husband was considered too much an object of contempt to be feared at
all in regard to what he could either say or do.
One would have thought, too, that any one with the least generosity of
sentiment, might have remembered her praiseworthy efforts in her own
behalf, and the long hours the young teacher had spent in the vain
attempt to make her more presentable in the eyes of her friends, and
argued that this did not seem compatible with such a grave accusation as
was laid upon her.
But all this was forgotten, or, if for a moment thought of, was put away
with a malicious feeling of triumph, that the little, plain,
down-trodden Mrs. Owen had now got into notice as an injured wife, and
by virtue of that notoriety, could, in the future, firmly maintain her
position, and refuse to be again consigned to oblivion or the kitchen.
From this time forward, there ruled, alternately, in the little village,
two rival factions, viz:--those who supported the young school mistress,
and those who denounced her. The former were few in number, but of the
more enlightened portion of the community; the latter swarmed and buzzed
over this precious bit of gossip, like flies around molasses.
Mrs. Wynn early declared herself in favor of injured innocence,
particularly as the dashing bewhiskered Mr. Philemon W. Strain had just
deserted Rose, after a desperate flirtation, that had engaged the
tongues and eyes of those self-same gossips, and might, possibly, at
some future day, furnish a fresh supply for their delectation.
Therefore, as a parent who had the interests of a blooming maiden to
look after and defend, the good lady took pains to array herself at once
upon the side where it was very apparent that her interests lay. While
Mrs. Dr. Little, Mrs. Brier, and other respected matrons of the place,
came out strong on the side of virtue and appearances.
The better to further this project, a Ladies' Charitable Society was
started in Waveland, of which the Dr's. lady was chosen President, a
certain Mrs. Caroline Newcomer, Vice President, and Miss Betsey Pryor,
Secretary and Treasurer. That it soon attained to an astonishing
popularity was known from the fact that the newly appointed Secretary
and Treasurer appeared now, for the first time in years, in a stylish
new bonnet, which her detractors did not hesitate to declare (though
doubtless actuated by the basest motives of envy and jealousy) had been
paid for out of the funds of the said Society; and which,
notwithstanding such malicious assertions, waxed stronger as it grew.
There was one noticeable feature of affairs at this juncture, that the
uninitiated were at a loss to account for, and that was the studied
neutrality maintained by the oracle of the village, who had been wont to
utter his momentous decisions, upon the current topics of the day,
through the medium of that "valuable" and popular paper the "Clarion."
Now, however, it maintained a decorous silence upon local affairs, and
if, by any inadvertence, it was betrayed into its natural play of wit,
so that, for a moment, it might seem to hinge upon the absorbing topic
of public interest, and to favor any one side in particular, it was
immediately observed to lean heavily the other way, to draw off the
attention of its numerous and discriminating readers. The cause for this
unusual state of things had not, as yet, transpired, but was soon to be
made known to those more immediately concerned.
In a small place like Waveland, the inhabitants, as every one knows, are
very liable to go to extremes in almost everything they undertake. Thus,
if a new comer excites their favorable notice, they have nothing to do
but to ride at once, upon the very topmost wave of popular favor.
If, on the contrary, they decide against them, there is no crime within
the knowledge of man, of which they are not severally accused and
considered guilty, without any extenuating circumstances.
So it was not so much to be wondered at, that when Clemence once fell
into disfavor, she had lost the good graces of the majority at once and
forever. Within a short space of time, every house was closed against
her, with the exception of a few staunch friends' hospitable abodes,
and she received a polite but cold request from the school committee to
resign her situation.
"What _can_ it mean?" she asked in despair. "I surely have done nothing
to offend these people?"
"As if the miserable, pusillanimous reprobates did not know it as well
as you!" spluttered Mrs. Wynn, with her apron to her eyes. Clemence's
white face, with its appealing look, had gone straight to her motherly
heart. "The unfeeling creatures, to take away a girl's character, like
that! There had _ought_ to be a place of everlasting punishment for such
wretches, and I know they'll get it, sure as the Lord reigns. But I told
you so! I knew how it would be when you went to pickin' that lazy, idle,
shiftless, good-for-nothing thing of a Mis' Owen out of the dirt, and
settin' her up to be somebody. I knew there wasn't no ambition in her no
how, and she didn't want to be anybody herself. She's only mad now,
because you showed yourself so far above her, and she hates you for your
pains. You never asked my advice, though, and I thought I'd keep my
fingers out of the mess, for once in my life. That gossipping, old
Mother Wynn made up her mind to let 'em have their fling for once, but
they've gone and dragged me into it after all, and I mean to let the
whole lot see that I'm enough for them, single-handed.
"I believe that I'll put on my bonnet and start out. I feel too excited
to accomplish anything this morning, so, if you'll just help Rose
through with the bakin', I guess I'll make one or two short calls, here
and there, to see what's going on."
Only too glad to get rid of her own thoughts, Clemence assented, and was
soon so busily engrossed in her occupation, that she did not hear when
there came a rap at the outer door.
"Mr. Strain," said Rose, coming in suddenly, with a singular expression
of countenance, "and, if you'll believe it, he asked to see you alone."
"What for, I wonder?" said Clemence, nervously, pressing her hand to her
aching forehead, "I cannot imagine what he wants."
"Nor I," said Rose, "of _you_." And when Clemence asked her to follow
immediately, declared, with a toss of the head, "she couldn't see it,
two's a company and three's a crowd, you know. I wasn't called for, and
I never go where I ain't wanted. Hurry up, too, and get rid of him, for
there's all this work to be done before mother comes home."
Thus adjured, Clemence, with an effort to recover herself, entered
quietly the room where the gentleman awaited her. After a little
desultory conversation, he came at once to the object of his visit.
It was as Clemence had feared, and she felt pained to reject the offer
which was now made her in a straightforward, business-like manner.
She thanked him gratefully, speaking of her present isolated and unhappy
position.
"Yes," said Mr. Strain, complacently stroking his moustache, and seeming
in no wise disconcerted by his rejection, "I had heard of your little
difficulty, and it was with that in view that I called to offer you my
protection. I thought if you were once my wife, that these gossipping
tongues could be effectually silenced."
"Indeed, I thank you sincerely for your generosity and magnanimity,"
said Clemence, "and I shall ever remember you with a sense of deep
obligation."
"Oh, you owe me no thanks," said the gentleman, gazing upon her
disturbed face, admiringly, "even if I believed the fabrications of your
enemies, it would not have altered my resolution. I am not, as you may
have observed, exactly one of these people. I have moved amid far
different scenes in my time, and my views of life are of the most
liberal sort imaginable. I consider that I, too, have my weaknesses and
foibles, in common with the rest of mankind, and I do not look for
exalted virtues in any one. I admired you from the first, and resolved
to make an effort to win you. Of my success, you are the best judge, but
that, I am happy to say, does not alter our mutual regard and esteem.
"Furthermore, I can say from personal knowledge, (confidentially, of
course) that not one of these worthy ladies who have denounced you,
would dare to utter or whisper a word against you as my wife, for I am
already too deeply in their confidence not to render the attempt
dangerous, as well as disagreeable.
"My dear girl," he added lightly, "this is no place for an angel like
you, now that you have repulsed the only man who might have befriended
you. In losing me, you lose everything, for you must be aware that it
would be sheer folly in me to detract from my own popularity, by
defending one who denies me even the right to do so. And since I cannot
trust myself to enjoy the dangerous privilege of your friendship, I
shall find consolation in the ambition that has engrossed me in the
past, and rendered me, until the present moment, invulnerable to the
charms of the fairer portion of creation."
Clemence felt a hysterical inclination to laugh and cry too, when she
found herself alone, and was only certain of one fact, that this
morning's work had added to her troubles, not lightened them.
"_Such_ a day as I have had!" said Mrs. Wynn, coming in about tea-time.
"You are the talk of the town. That little nobody of an Owen has managed
to stir up one muss, I can tell you. I s'pose, though, if it hadn't been
her, some of the rest would have made up something on their own hook.
You see, the women have all been jealous of you from the first, and they
meant to put you down if they could, and have only been waiting for a
good chance.
"Why, I heard to day a dozen different accounts of your life before you
came here; how your father was hung or sent to the States Prison, and
your mother was no better than she should be, and a lot more that I
can't remember. Do tell me, for I never heard really how it was anyway.
I want to put them down when they say such things again."
"Never mind, dear Mrs. Wynn," said Clemence, "I do not. These people,
like the rest of their class, must have something to occupy their minds,
and, if their animadversions do fall on my devoted head, it will only
keep them busy, and do me no real harm."
"But I want to know, child," said the elder lady, giving her a glance of
motherly tenderness, "for I am interested both in your past and future,
and I am anxious to learn just what your former life has been." And
Clemence told her the simple truth of the happy years that were now
vanished forever.