From that time Claire and his wife heard no more from Jasper, who
regularly paid the sums quarterly demanded for Fanny's maintenance.
This demand was not now made in person by Claire. He sent a written
order, which the guardian never failed to honour on the first
presentation.
Mr. Melleville, according to promise, called upon the firm of Edgar
& Co., in order to speak a good word for Edward; but learned, not a
little to his surprise, that no vacancy was anticipated in the house.
"Mr. Jasper," said he, "told one of my young men that a clerk had
left, or was about leaving you."
"It's a mistake," was the positive answer. "He may have meant some
other firm."
"All a wicked deception on the part of Jasper," said Melleville to
himself, as he left the store. "A lie told with sinister purpose. How
given over to all baseness is the man!"
Claire was no little disappointed when this was told him; but his
answer showed how he was gaining in just views of life; and how he
could lean on right principles and find in them a firm support.
"I would rather," said he, "be the deceived than the deceiver. The one
most wronged in this is Leonard Jasper. Ah! is he not preparing for
himself a sad future? As for me, I am more and more satisfied, every
day, that all events, even to the most minute, are in the direction or
permission of Providence; and that out of the very occurrences we deem
afflictive and disastrous, will often arise our greatest good. For the
moment I was disappointed; but now I feel that it is all right."
No change of marked importance occurred in the family of Claire during
the next two years, to the close of which period both he and his wife
looked with increasing earnestness of mind. Fanny had grown rapidly
during this time, and was now tall for her age--and still very
beautiful. In character she was every thing the fondest parents could
desire.
At last came the child's twelfth birthday. Neither Clare nor his
wife referred to the fact; though it was present to both their
minds--present like an evil guest. Must they now give her up? Their
hearts shrank and trembled at the bare idea. How plainly each read in
the other's face the trouble which only the lips concealed!
Never had Fanny looked so lovely in the eyes of Claire as she did on
that morning, when she bounded to his side and claimed a parting kiss,
ere he left for his daily round of business. Could he give her up? The
thought choked in their utterance the words of love that were on his
lips, and he turned from her and left the house.
As Claire, on his way to Mr. Melleville's store, came into the more
business portions of the city, his thoughts on the child who was
soon to be resigned, according to the tenor of his contract with her
guardian, he was suddenly startled by seeing Jasper a short distance
ahead, approaching from the direction in which he was going.
Happening, at the moment, to be near a cross street, he turned off
suddenly, in obedience to an instinct rather than a purpose, and
avoided a meeting by going out of his way.
"How vain," he sighed to himself, as the throbbing of his heart grew
less heavy and his thoughts ran clear. "I cannot so avoid this evil.
It will most surely find me out. Dear, dear child! How shall we ever
bear the parting!"
All day long Claire was in momentary dread of a visit or a
communication from Jasper. But none came. A like anxiety had been
suffered by his wife, and it showed itself in the pallor of her
cheeks, and the heavy, almost tearful, drooping of her eyelids.
The next day and the next passed, and yet nothing was heard from the
guardian. Now, the true guardians of the child began to breathe more
freely. A week elapsed, and all remained as before. Another week was
added; another and another. A month had gone by. And yet the days of
a succeeding month came and went, the child still remaining in her old
home.
Up to this time but brief allusions had been made by either Claire
or his wife to the subject first in their thoughts. They avoided it,
because each felt that the other would confirm, rather than allay,
fears already too well defined.
"It is strange," said Claire, as he sat alone with his wife one
evening, some three months subsequent to the twelfth birthday of
Fanny, "that we have heard nothing yet from Mr. Jasper."
Edith looked up quickly, and with a glance of inquiry, into his face;
but made no answer.
"I've turned it over in my mind a great deal," resumed Claire,
thoughtfully; "but with little or no satisfactory result. Once I
thought I would call on him"--
"Oh, no, no! not for the world!" instantly exclaimed Edith.
"I see, with you, dear, that such a step would be imprudent. And, yet,
this suspense--how painful it is!"
"Painful, it is true, Edward; yet, how in every way to be preferred to
the certainty we so much dread."
"O yes--yes. I agree with you there." Then, after a pause, he said,
"It is now three months since the time expired for which we agreed to
keep Fanny."
"I know," was the sighing response.
They both remained silent, each waiting for the other to speak. The
same thought was in the mind of each. Excited by the close pressure of
want upon their income, Edward was first to give it voice.
"Mr. Jasper," said he, touching the subject at first remotely, "may
have forgotten, in the pressure of business on his attention, the fact
that Fanny is now twelve years old."
"So I have thought," replied Edith.
"If I send, as usual, for the sum heretofore regularly paid for her
maintenance, it may bring this fact to his mind."
"I have feared as much," was the low, half-tremulous response.
"And yet, if I do not send, the very omission may excite a question,
and produce the consequences we fear."
"True, Edward. All that has passed through my mind over and over
again."
"What had we better do?"
"Ah!" sighed Edith, "if we only knew that."
"Shall I send the order, as usual?"
Edith shook her head, saying--
"I'm afraid."
"And I hesitate with the same fear."
"And yet, Edith," said Claire, who, as the provider for the family,
pondered more anxiously the question of ways and means, "what are we
to do? Our income, with Fanny's board added, is but just sufficient.
Take away three hundred dollars a year, and where will we stand? The
thought presses like a leaden weight on my feelings. Debt, or severe
privation, is inevitable. If, with eight hundred dollars, we only
come out even at the end of each year, what will be the result if our
income is suddenly reduced to five hundred?"
"Let us do what is right, Edward," said his wife, laying her hand upon
his arm, and looking into his face in her earnest, peculiar way. Her
voice, though it slightly trembled, had in it a tone of confidence,
which, with the words she had spoken, gave to the wavering heart of
Claire an instant feeling of strength.
"But what is right, Edith?" he asked.
"We know not now," was her reply, "but, if we earnestly desire to do
right, true perceptions will be given."
"A beautiful faith; but oh, how hard to realize!"
"No, Edward, not so very hard. We have never found it so: have we?"
Love and holy confidence were in her eyes.
"We have had some dark seasons, Edith," said Claire sadly.
"But, through darkest clouds has come the sunbeam. Our feet have
not wandered for want of light. Look back for a moment. How dark
all seemed when the question of leaving Jasper's service came up for
decision. And yet how clear a light shone when the time for action
came. Have you ever regretted what was then done, Edward?"
"Not in a sane moment," replied the young man. "O no, no, Edith!"
speaking more earnestly; "that, with one exception, was the most
important act of my life."
"With one exception?" Edith spoke in a tone of inquiry.
"Yes." Claire's voice was very tender, and touched with a slight
unsteadiness. "The _most_ important act of my life was"--
He paused and gazed lovingly into the face of his wife. She, now
comprehending him, laid, with a pure thrill of joy pervading her
bosom, her cheek to his--and thus, for the space of nearly a minute,
they sat motionless.
"May God bless you, Edith!" said Claire at length, fervently, lifting
his head as he spoke. "You are the good angel sent to go with me
through life. Ah! but for you, how far from the true path might my
feet have strayed! And now," he added, more calmly, "we will look at
the present difficulty steadily, and seek to know the right."
"The right way," said Edith, after she had to some extent repressed
the glad pulses that leaped to her husband's loving words, "is not
always the way in which we most desire to walk. Thorns, sometimes, are
at its entrance. But it grows pleasanter afterward."
"If we can find the right way, Edith, we will walk in it because it is
the right way."
"And we will surely find it if we seek in this spirit," returned the
wife.
"What, then, had we best do?" asked Claire, his thought turning
earnestly to the subject under consideration.
"What will be best for Fanny? That should be our first consideration,"
said his wife. "Will it be best for her to remain with us, or to go
into Mr. Jasper's family?"
"That is certainly a grave question," returned Claire, seriously, "and
must be viewed in many aspects. Mr. Jasper's place in the world is far
different from mine. He is a wealthy merchant; I am a poor clerk. If
she goes into his family, she will have advantages not to be found
with us--advantages of education, society, and position in life. To
keep her with us will debar her from all these. Taking this view
of the case, Edith, I don't know that we have any right to keep her
longer, particularly as Mr. Jasper has signified to us, distinctly,
his wish, as her guardian, to take her into his own family, and
superintend her education."
Edith bent her head, thoughtfully, for some moments. She then said--
"Do you believe that Mr. Jasper gave the true reason for wishing to
have Fanny?"
"That he might superintend her education?"
"Yes."
"No, Edith, I do not. I believe a selfish motive alone influenced
him."
"You have good reasons for so thinking?"
"The best of reasons. I need not repeat them; they are as familiar to
you as they are to me."
"Do you believe that, under his superintendence, she will receive a
better education than under ours?"
"She will, undoubtedly, Edith, if remaining with us she fails to bring
the means of education. We are poor, Edith, and the claims of our
own children--bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh--must not be
forgotten."
A quick change passed over Edith. Her countenance became troubled. The
difficulties in the way of retaining the child were suddenly magnified
to her thoughts. Ah! how painfully did she feel that often the first
steps in the way of duty are among thorns.
"Can we be just to Fanny and just also to our own children?" asked
Claire.
"If we still received the old sum for her maintenance, we could. I
would not ask its increase to the amount of a single dollar."
"Nor I, Edith. Were we certain of having this continued, there would
be no doubt."
"There would be none in my mind. As for the higher position in society
which she would attain, as an inmate of Mr. Jasper's family, that
might not be to her the greatest good; but prove the most direful
evil. She could not be guarded there, in her entrance into life, as we
would guard her. The same love would not surround her as a protecting
sphere. I tremble at the thought, Edward. How great would be her
danger! Fourfold would be her temptation, and tenfold her exposure."
"We will keep her," said Claire, firmly, as his wife ceased speaking.
"She must not be so exposed. God has given her to us; she is our
child, for we love her as tenderly as if she were of our own blood.
When her mother was taken, God transferred the love she had borne her
child into your bosom, and from that time you became her mother. No,
Edith, we must not let her go forth, in her tender innocence. We love
her as our own; let us share with her the best we have; let her become
more really our own than she has yet been."
"If," said Edith, after some moments, "we lose the regular income from
Mr. Jasper, Fanny will be deprived of most important advantages. Just
now we are about adding materially to the cost of her education."
"I know," replied Edward. "But if the income is withheld?"
"We have not yet applied for it."
Claire looked, for some moments, steadily into his wife's face.
"You think, then, that we should make the usual application?"
"I have not said so, Edward. My mind is far from clear. Jasper may
not, now, want the trouble of Fanny. He doubtless had some purpose to
subserve when he demanded her; a purpose gained, probably, at the time
of her mysterious removal from the city, which I have always believed
was through his agency. If you were to send for the money, as usual,
it is more than probable that he would pay it."
"But, if he should refuse, and demand the child?"
"If his purpose to do this remains, and he has forgotten Fanny's age,
your omission to send for the money will be more likely to call his
thought to the subject, than your regular demand for the price of her
maintenance."
"True."
"And if he still means to have her, the execution of his purpose
cannot in any event be long delayed."
"No."
"Can _we_ unaided give her the education she is entitled to receive?"
Claire shook his head.
"Then had we not better continue to apply for the sum necessary to
her support and education. If Mr. Jasper is indifferent about her,
the money will be paid as usual; if he means to take her into his own
family, our failure to apply will defer but for a very short season
the evil day."
Edith's mind had become clear by this time. Her husband not making an
immediate reply, she added--
"This acting on mere policy, is never, I think, the wisest. Does it
not clearly involve a distrust in Providence, and a weak reliance
on mere human prudence? There is a provision for Fanny's support and
education, and she is justly entitled to all those natural advantages
which this provision was designed to give. Under Providence, Mr.
Jasper has been chosen her guardian; and under Providence the personal
care of the child has fallen to our lot. Thus far we have endeavoured
to discharge our duty faithfully--thus far we have done as well by the
child as if she had been our own. Now, if it is best for her to remain
with us, the same Providence will so dispose of events as to provide
for her remaining; but if it is best for her to go into the family of
Mr. Jasper, she will go there. Let us not, therefore, in our practical
distrust of Providence, seek to hide ourselves from the observation of
a mere creature."
"I see much in this," said Claire, as soon as his wife had ceased
speaking. "Man proposes; God disposes. With Him are all our ways. Out
of the evil designs and selfish purposes of men, He is ever bringing
forth good."
"Then let us not fear to trust him. As we have been doing, let us
continue to do, confidently believing that He will overrule all for
good. To our present sight, it seems, that, unless we receive, as
heretofore, a sum of money for Fanny's support and education, we
cannot do for her what is right. This, at least, is my view."
"And it is mine," replied the husband.
"Then let us act from the light we have. None can do better than
this."
And so it was determined to send an order to Jasper, as usual.