^ .^.^, ^ ^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 5? /> // .vf-^ 1.0 1.1 ;f i£s no 11:25 III 1.4 IJi& 1.6 riior ^Sciences Corporalion 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WIBSTM.N.Y. UStO (716)t72-4$03 » l^>. ^ 4^' '^ CIHM Microfiche Series (Monographs) ICiUIH Collection de microfiches (monographles) Canadian Inttituta for Historical Microraproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions hiatoriquas -f An TtehnicI UHl Bibliographic NoMt / Nota. ttehniquM at b.blK,gr«phiqu« The Inititutt hat atttnfiptad to obtain the btst original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, art checked below. Coloured covers/ Couverture da couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagAa Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pelliculie Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque loured maps/ Caites gtegraphiques en couleur □ Coloured maps/ Caites gtegraphj ["y J Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ L-_| Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que Meue ou noire) D n D Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound wit.) other material/ Relie avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serrte peut causer de Tombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge int^ieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte. mais, lorsque cela itait possible, ces pages n'ont pas ete f ilmies. Q Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplementaires: L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a M pouible de se procurer. Les details de cat exemplaire qui sont peut-«tre uniques du point de vue bibliographique. qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la m«thode normale de f ilmage sont indiqu«s ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur □ Pages damaged/ Pages endommagtes □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restauries et/ou pellicul«es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dteolories. tacheties ou piquees □ Pages detached/ Pages d«tach«es QShowthrough/ Transparence □ Quality of print varies/ Qualite inigale de I'impression □ Continuous pagination/ Pagination continue □ Includes index(es)/ Comprend un (des) index Title on header taken from:/ Le titre de l'ent«te provient: □ Title page of issue/ Page de titre de la livraison □ Caption of issue/ Titre de depart de la r~~| Masthead/ livraison Generique (periodiques) de la livraison Pages 195, 325 A 3*9 are incorrectly nmtxtred pages 5, 225 & 2*9. This item it filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est f ilme au taux de reduction indiqu* ci-dessous ^OX ,4X ,8X 22X 26 X 16X 30X 20X 24 X 28X J 32 X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: National Library of Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in Keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film* fut reprodu.t grAce k la g*n«rosit« de: Biblioth«que nationale du Canada Las images suivantes ont «t« reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettet* de l'exemplaire fklm«, et en conformit* avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim«e sunt film«s en commencant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par ia derni«re page qui comporte une empreinte d impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film«s en commandant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte I ''^^'•••'o" O" ^illustration et en termirant par la derniere page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la derni«re image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE" le symbols ▼ signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent «tre riimes a des taux de reduction diff«rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich«. il est film« A partir de I angle sup«rieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les c* s& A WOMAN'S REASON. ■^1^1 » CHAPTER I. |HE day had been very oppressive, and at half -past five in the afternoon the heat had scarcely abated, to the perception of Mr. Joshua Harkness, &s he walked heavily up the Park street mall in Boston Common. When he came opposite the Brewer Fountain.with its four seasons of severe drought.ho stopped short, and stared at the bronzed group with its insufficient dribble, as if he had never seen it before. Then h< felt infirmly about the ground with his stick, stepped aside, and sank tremulously into one of the seats at the edge of the path. The bench was already partly occupied by a young roan and a young woman ; the young man had his arm thrown along the back of the seat behind the young woman ; their heads were each tilted toward the other, and they were making love almost as frankly in that pub- lic place as they might in the seclusion of a crowded rail- way train They both glanced at the intruder, and exchanged smiles, apparently of pity for his indecency, wid then went on with their love-making; while Mr. Harkness, unconscious of his offence, stared eagerly out over the Common, and from time to time made gestures or signals with his stick in that direction. It was that one day of the week when people are not shouted at by *^™;»ltitude of surly sign-boards to keep off the grass, and tx^e turf -fas ovufy where dotted with ioiling and lounging groups. Perhaps, to compensate for the absence of the 10 woman's reason. sign-boards. Cwhich wn.,?^ growth of disagreellefnil-w^^^^ night like a whom M, Harknesstrf±"l'l:^ T T «^ ^^^-^ if any saw him. none heedTd fnd hT^. "^'^^ ^^« ^^^e. pohceman came down thlmLu' ^/ ^^^ ^ ^^it tiJ] a could not have been so lo„^f l-^ ^""^^^ «^ ^'^- This , Harkne8s,whowasbreatKf).i*u^ "^ ^^ «eemed to Mr pressing his hand against hi fo^eh/rf' ^^^ ^^^ theni to stey a reeling brain. ^'''^'^^*^^' ^'^^ one who tries ■r lease call a pstwiar^r. » l he h^ th™st in S'e ^ide^tlT M' "^ *« "ff-'er, whom looked down at him onTlit ,'^ <=»»«. stopped and ^te. he added f "^tt^H ^^'^^^^'^^Sht^t JesfrrtSetr'at^r^'^^-'it-flikebiame- tem air of moneyed ^esnlt.K"??^ '"««*''«•• ^ith a cer- '■sttS^'i'' 'he polSn^'""^ '" ^^- H"k--! "ad »iek ? he ajilted. « WbII „ told on a minute. Heh *i, ' ^''",'"'« Pale. Yon iust passing hacJcman who proZU''V" '"> shouted r* horses, and drew up b™iKP"y t'°PP°''' '«med his ■Now. y„„t,k^^P^es^^de^ the curb next the Commoi to the carriage." He SiS' ^ °^''',*'«' ™ helpyou numbed feetrand ffot),^„ '""^ gentleman to h£ Z crowd; wheA he w^'^™ "J™^ "'"•ough the gathering about the pla<.e whereT b..?!""'"''* """tinued to hanf hers that fhe young ma^ ^fi°£A'«" ^'"ing. in such num? the back of the WaSuhe vol'!?'' "^ ''™ down f^m away from his, and then They bofh'"'"^ ^"'^ ^er head pat ent looks, rose and walked »» '"? •"*='«* and im- '"Th:';:it^rh:'d°^ ^ft^^^ir""^ ^"-^ °''"'' ing ho.^e SMa?^' tr» f '^ ^ refrain from driv. ^.y with a sort ofZn?^^t^'l'i!r-7do„Te A woman's beason. 11' when he had got him indoors and comfortably stretched S; ^ B^fMr mrf "^^' ^^ "^."^^ toK call the rr oLf^nt^tTerinf r^^^^^ care of the cook, who. in tL mid^lLmer tfme see^^^^^^^ have sole charge of the house and its master Trepolte? man flipped the dust from the breast and collar of his coat, m walking back to his .t. with the rTgKw of a man who would like to be better prt.parfd if sum^ moned a second time to befriend a ge^ntleman of Mr Harkness' standing, and to meet, in fominTout of hS house, a young lady of such beauty and elegance a^ he tV blLThKd ^'^^ 'T^'^'y' - hTclSed'tJ aoor Denmd him had run up the steps with the loon of tdSVJ'J^' hand after the fashiSn of ten yeaSgo town. She glanced^ iTtUe llTer^g^T&:ZS:Lw tt oZ'nfT^"^ ''''^^ ^^^* sfe'^mustX^^^^^^^ ''ThZki!:^"^ "°^' P^^^^^ly r*°g for her. wondSn liffT^ the young lady, speaking a little %^tel'llt T''^>>^^^^ ^^^"^ «^^ had looked. touched hi. wT^' ^''H ''*"™"^ *h« policeman, and touched his hat ingoing down the steps, while the voun" lady turned and stared after him, leaning! 1 tie ovirthf top step on which she stood, with her back te thrdooi She wa^ very pretty indeed, with blue ey^ at once ten-' beI„f^i^'"''S^^^,*^^ ^^^ h^ir, that goes wUh her beauty, hanging loosely upon her forehead Hercheeks m their young perfection of outiine, had a flush bevond up the steps, had suff"used them with a dewv bloom +W /t^r"Z ""'" "^" "isiPKUty of auitless lines by a littla down««d curve, a q-.irlc, o/call it dimple, at onl comer n H A Woman's reason. of the door behind hershf t«™ed!jt5y WheTS voice whMfi hriir f* J ®''® guested the ooolt in a Sh £tv?5„ kmdness seemed a translation of her giriisn beauh mto sound. " Surprised to see me ? " Sh. apparently not changed since she last Tw it in 4^^^,^ lie come home with your father Miq«. TT^]^« » :^^^^thrKh•: i^r^?Si? i.o«..7. She whirled ^^<^7 irom-tk.i^,;^;:^-:,^ A woman's reason. 18 through the doorway into the hall, and back into the room where her father lay. "The heat has been too much for him," she moaned, in mixed self-reproach and compassion, as she flew; and she dropped upon her knees beside him, and fondly caressed his gray head, and cooed and lamented over him, with the irreverent tenderness he liked her to use with him. "Poor old fellow," she murmured. "It's too bad! You're working yourself to death, and I'mrgoing to stay with you now, and put a stop to your being brought home by policemen. Why, you ought to be ashamed, breaking down in this way, as soon as my back is turned. Has Margaret done everything for you ? Wouldn't you like a little light ? " She started briskly to her feet, flung up the long window, and raising and lowering the shade to get the right level for her father's eyes, stood silhouet- ted against the green space without : a grass plot between high brick walls, on one of which clambered a grape-vine, and on the other a wistaria, while a bed of bright-leafed plants gave its colour in the centre of the yard. " There !" she said, with a glance at the succinct landscape. " That's the prettiest bit of nature I've seen since I left Boston." She came back and sat down on a low chair beside her father, who smiled fondly upon her, and took one of her hands to hold, while she pushed back his hair with the other. " Are you awfully glad to see me ? " "Awfully," said Mr. Harkness, falling in with her mood, and brightening with the light and her presence. " What brought you so suddenly ? " " Oh, that' 8 a long story. Are you feeling better now ? " " Yes. I was merely faint. I shall be all right by morning. I've been a little worn out." " Was it like the last time ?" asked Helen. " Yes," said her father. " A little more like ? " 14 A woman's reason. thou" tfuu'"""' " "^ ■no'^'severe," «id Mr. Harkne«, H^ri^'r ^''"'^°''°'"«- Honour bright, now; .as " Yes, it was accounts, my dear." " The same old wretches ? " "The same old ones; some new ones, too. They're in hopeless confasion," sighed Mr. Harkness, who seemed o age and sadden with the thought »ceiiiea w Iv" ^I wpn^/" i'"/^" ""^f*' P^P^ '" «^^^ Helen, stern- ly , I want you to leave all accounts-old and new- ^mte done tiH the cold weather comes. Will youjro- Harkness smiled, as wearily as he had sighed He knew that she wa^ burlesquing somewhat her^Siorance ?nrf Tv r,? Iff* 7^l^«* "^"«h burlesqued. KTll for her hfe, like that of other American girl^of prosperous parentage had been almost as much set apart from ?he tard realties of bread-winning a^ the life of a princess- a^ entirely dedicated to societ^, to the studies thlt rZe and the accomplishments that grace society The aueS ofmoneyhadhardlyenterediftoit. sLteshrwTa tue child and used o chmb on her father's knee, and ask him m order to fix his status in her fairy tales, wl^etherhe Z' oM W^''';.'^' "tf"' ^' "^^ ^^^^^ ^« have fairly though of that matter. Of course she understood that she was Th^ d?r^ ^' ''™' ^^'' ^."' '^' h^d "«^er found tCt the difference was against her in society; she could not help perceiving that in regard to certafn of themit was f «h. b«HTi^' r^ ^^t\t' "^^^h* *^^^« patronized thm on anv Wm^ '^^^^^^^ *^"^ ^"^" ^^^^ «* ^'' friendship on any terms. Her father's great losses had come when hk wf *?^r.^«g *« «^« the difference that they made iS h^Ip?,f 1 T^' '^"' 'T' «he could remember, they had kept to the same scale of simple ease in the house fKlrL~w "n ' "" """^ "**^ Known no wish that tuere had not been money enough to gratify. Pleasures A woman's reason. 15 of every kincJ had always come to her as freely and with as little wonder on her part as if they had been, like her youth, her bounding health, her beauty, the direct gift of heaven. She knew that the money came from her fa- ther's business, but she had really never asked hereelf how it was earned. It is doubtful if she could have told what his business was ; it was the India trade, whatever tliat was, and of late years he had seemed to be more worried by it than he used to be, and she had vaguely taken this ill as an ungrateful return on the part of business. Once he had gone so far as to tell her that he had been hurt by the Great Fire somewhat. But the money for all her needs and luxuries (she was not extravagant, and really did not spend much on herself), had come as before, and walking through the burnt district, and seeing how hand- somely it had been rebuilt, she had a comforting sense that its losses had all been repaired. ^ " You look a little flushed and excited, my dear, said her father, in evasion of the commands laid upon him, and he touched her fair cheek. He was very fond of her beauty and of her style; in the earlier days of her young- ladyhood he used to go about with her a great deal, and waa angry when he thought she did not get all the notice slie ought, and a little jeSous when she did. "Yes, I am flushed and excited, papa," she owned, throwing herself back in the low chair she had pulled up to his sofa, and beginning to pluck nervously at those little tufts of silk that roughened the cobwebby fabric of the gray summer stuff she wore. " Don't you think," she asked, lifting her downcast eyes, " that coming home and finding you in this state is enough to make me look flushed and excited ? " " Not quite," said her father, quietly. " It's not a new thing." Helen gave a sort of lamentable laugh.^ " I know I was humbugging, and I'm as selfish as I can be, to think more of myself even now than I do of you. But, oh, papa ! I'm % 16 WOMAN'S KEASON. I&M^ Snf t'T,^^,^^ » »«l Which dearme them, ,o that »ho didS J^Z ^'' "^^ "'"'">"' she haJ abandoned to hU heart .„!.? °?"y "•« ""ind suppose we all have ourX>ouTt^' ™f "'"'''' " «"P- "I they get confused, like vont^ Mi^' "^..""y <"■ """er, and Pe«?n had got so milidr'th^t'ltr''''-*"''--* certain '"'t just to throw them awL » ""*" '"" """"i-g for it and that he ou^ht to fori? ®^ J"^^ *° *hose words-1 -asn't equal iL% ^d fhat^L^.' ^* ^ ^'^ ^raul pearly; a^d unles^ Culd see mv wl° T f^^ ^*J^ *<> i^ to go on any Jonger. I wrote^o T^ ^^^'^^' ^ ^^htn't thought-l thou^tperhlnsh^ 1 u }^^ "^^^^^ a°d I Japs he would come Sver £ rLT^^u ^ f^^^^*" i<^; per- haverunoverfromPorLmo^t?^^^*°^--he could easily hed dn't,-he didnVl^^;"^^t~^^^^^ bS didn'tsee how he cou d wrifl « if f^ ^^^'"'^ letter-oh I ^ere the storm broke an^ h«i ^ ^e— s— s — sailed f" with which her sul'Cshlt "tt tf.?f *» "•« ™^ " the. wind. Then she euddeil^ !f **i' ^""^f beaten «^w^X-h^fcJff^ »hrdSh^' .winner naTidkerchief which ^iriT'^, ^^® ^^sh tears What do people do. paoa ?" «S! u f"" ^'^^^ «« before. aT.'S'?.^"-.'n'?S'Ur.?:S.t''J?!!?lly-,?««'» -^ Vx6ix accounts 7" "-- i »ixojr vo tnrown ?i A WOJtAM'S REASON. 17 father"'''" '"*^ "' *''*" ''°"8 it, my dear," said her HlY*"'4'lfiiw*'i ^'y? S°".* 'mt»-l>ankruptcy. • said ti.:hl?,!t;KS\:rShr"^*''"''''''"«'«'''«y''-'' wift nolh.W ?' Th*™ ,'" '*''• *«"-'«gi'' the world again with nothing! There I my couree is clear, and I hoM T w-V""^ r hope I'm satisfied ! " ' °^ ^ With theje words of self-reproach, Helen acain broIcA down, and bowed herself over'lhe riin she hTma^ ol "I don't think you need despair " said her fsf h^r B/v.*k " W^^!' ?.^P*; T^^'f y^"" <^^*^3^ ? " shouted the youn^ drl Write to him He's off for three years, and I don't th?nk lookJlfl^'i^^r °* '°S'«-??«°fe 1 wrote tJBm. I i^ b;4i:„'\^"„ tfe^"!.- \^^ t» ?y«elf that it was no Tw^r^r-i *"^ -^ „«ttii yu ana on any ionffer. It would h« perfect mu«,ry to a person of my tempframentTbe »„ 18 A woman's reason. migMl;avrl^;/S!T "But iVought Robert he couldXra;y?hin^Tn I ^^ ^f ^ California before goim to have SoW^ '^^' *"^ ^^ ^^^ «»PP03e I was ^^ng to Have I^obert mooning around in that way, for time'ti^^LHMrTZ^'^ ^""t"^ T'^ °^« ^^^ the ' " nvT , I ; darkness, not very honefuUv Butl shouldn't have ^«d fo?alll'?r T*" ^"VY^"' met any fate with Roherrif il ji ,■ . \ ^»"''' have wards fiimjusTt I should B^f^^v*"*^ ""*' ' *«'"»- I had felt towaiS hTm in Vh.t t' y"" '"«■ P»P» » « thought of anv anT „ *f*' ."^y I "ever should have wa« what eonvT^^T'Zr"*' ?"^dera«ons. That from, turn S way l'woud"%r^f' ^ r."'"*":' '^^ to Robert himself. and-Td-oh ?do„^'' "".f *"?* ^ P"' answer as he did T iJ^ .! , ' ^®^ """^ •»» oou d 1 . , ^ • '■ 'ww c see how he i«niiU t " u i hrtttn-tirtrt^'-'.i-^i,'* ff a UiS: ^^^.essS^irt^r:' KrA'ii^g^s^ Sh'eSh^Jd^ htri^K '"'^'^A*' fethor; tenderly. A woman's reason. 19 Helen and hef father were old confidants, and she had not more reluctance in showing him this letter than most fvi Tir n'^' '^ 'T'\^ T^ ^ P^P^^ t« their motS eyes. Her own mother had died long ago, and in the ri'^nn'^'P ?^ \'' ^^""^ ^'^' ^'' father had entered upon thTSr^^'^St^'^A^^r'.^' ** ^'"^^ "^«r« tranquil. tW tlu \ She adored him and petted him. ai a wife i . J®®1 * conjugal devotion. They had always a perfect understanding ; she had not withdrawn her^Mld^ ish intimacy of thought aiid feeUng from him to ^ve it I Ld Tv '"' ^',fv' ^«"ld have done if her mothfr had ^ mor« 'orl^"-"^ ^? ^T '°^*" ^"^^ *ff^i^ without asking. I more or less in a tacit way; and she had an abidinfflv grateful sense of his wisdom in keeping her from fS which she could see she had escaped thrSugh it. He had t h^ «l '' ¥°'' ?f ? ^^' '"^ «° °^"«h trouble ; besides, he had always been Robert Fenton's friend at court with ^fn^X^'^t^^ ^"^ ^"^'*^y ^^Pt hi« hopes of their future through rather a stermy and uncertain present. ha?Wnl5^^''*^ for the sake of Robert's father, who Go's shin. n?rS 7^ supercargo-of one of Harkne^s and «r i^P ' t^^ ^^ ^''''^ ^°^^ i^ her on her home voy- house after a prosperous venture of his own in Wenham ifterwardi Vk M^'iS'^l ^ ^"^'^^ ^^^^' ^ho died soon afterwards Then Mr Harkness, who was the boy's PTiar- Wm mCthln '"^ '^.^ r ^» Pr^P-rty that remkfS te bnT r^ A V" ^"^^1^*'^ « care. He sent him to school, d«i « ?*^^ ^'"".^t home in his own house on all holi- fe^^trjrw- These sojourns and absences, be- i^oZilfZ^^l^ "^^ *'? y^^^ «^^' *«^ continuing through his school-boy age, had renewed alternately hii intimacy and strangeness with Helen, and kept her a mystery and enchantment which .w «.ifl, hS^'.l'^.v wmie to her consciousness he wa. ..mpiy iotrtr^;^^^ so woman's reason. technical trainli^g'lrhe iVed t?to Ith"^"' "^^^ the sea called him, as the oW aZ^iitSrf""* T^^"' nerve in his body responded hT^ iT,.'"' *'"' """^ go into the trade in Xch hi, f^h 1.''!. ^?™ "'^«'» *« his Kuariian overruled him H« t' ''*''i'°^' *"" •"«« trade was dyinc out If B^L ^ ^"f " *''»' ^^e India sea. "f whichTlfe«temfdt^r„in'jr'^,:!j "P"" ""> whichXwa^"^™ in7te C "V"-! •='-' -ft came home from his IrafcS Sh?"^ "?!" ''"''^rt great lady, and she natroniS ft' °Ti!"" ^^n » very ing fcindnis ^ a U„^r bl^^.h*" "'J'hipman with kilt half a year her aeS «He n^*^U W ""'.r. '" *«=' right: very nroud In™ ,,! • , '''''™ ""th herout- de could'Ionnl^rndirsCtrd H T^"?' was so queer. She never jJAow«A/ V u^ .??'' ^^^^^^ '^ name: Fenton! But a pSionUta w^ '"'*" * ^"^"^ quenched with reasons evTrJidliLr °l?' *' '^^ ^nd^^rfio.^^^^^^^^^^^ All the fellows had scatte^^dTow^'^d^htwa tT'H younger and humbler in her fee^JT-nS f ^^** '^"'^^ ady for all her triumphs. Two oJfir 1 °k*/° ^''^^ » to her, aiid lots had come nearTf W k *? ^^^P^oposed left untouched, and sh^ nerceiV.H .1 '*? ^"^ ^^^^ ceived. that these youn^Se^^^^^^ «^« P«^- niature enou-h for the?? £? Ir^^L'^^^ ^^'« ^^^e and nor MethuseSs were iu^ T^^^' Solomons Contmry,the tuirroflerjllf^t^^ ^^^^^^^^^ °i^.*^« "^ ^"^'^ Trniuii isnenaa first A woman's reason. tl entered the world had been succeeded by a calm, which she might well have mistaken for wisdom. She felt that she I'iLfr^?^ world thoroughly, and while she was re- solved to judge it kindly, she was not going to be dazzled by It any longer She had become an observer of human cutVin'J rl' T^r^ ^r ^'^^i"^' sometimes she made cutting remarks to people, and was dreadfully sorry for It. She withdrew a great deal from society, and liked na!^L^'"^.^K' °^^- r' ^^ ^^^^ *° <^-ke lessonsln pamtin^ with a number of ladies, under an artist's criti- cism ; she took up courses of reading; she felt that life waj a senousaffair. On his return, Rolert at first seemed to her more boyish, more brotherly than before. But in talking wuh him certain facts of his history came out that showed him a very brave and manly fellow, and good, too This made her pause ; so keen an observer of human ZZ^ IfT'^ discerned in this young man,-who did not hijg of his experiences, nor yet affect to despise them Lo i ^^'i^^i honestly owned that at one time he was scared and that at another he would have given every- thing to be Mhore,— an object worthy of her closest and most reverent study She proceeded to idealize him, and W^h "'/^' ""^ )''^- ^^' y' ■' ^i^-h « deep sighing breath, and a long dreamy look at him-he ! What Ae \^t ^^^" o"u^h must have changed the whole world to eZa ^}\ *i ""'^^^ '"^ *h^ typhoonr-well, nothing fin^ u!l ^^""f ^^^"^ *h® ^"^^ *« ^''' after that. He must and all the mterests at home sickeningly mean. This was the tone she took with him, driving him to despaS Jl ?K if^T "."F^^ ^'^ ^"^*' «h® sai■ -^ melancholy upon his third cruise. But she w ate him ; H * A woman's reason. ^ fit tt'c™t^s'':':° iiTt """ "•' '^r "»"-«• love than ever but m.rT !•?.*' ''°®' ""^^^^ fondly in love ; and he'n'owtraved 'so sSl "^^':«,,P^*'-'°^ly in parent consideratinrfnrK ^^^^^P'y. ^'»fch so much ap- hnn ever so much, and resneS hin, vl °"?.^ "'^^ ^'^^^^ the very fact th^f -kl « ^ , . ™ beyond anything aak rim"^ to itat the ^I^v or"^f"^ 7^1^^^^ «^« ^0"^^' they should live seemed i^.ffl.-.' *"^.^^«^« ^^d how did not care for him ^ the ri.h? P'''%*^ ^^^ ^»^*^ «h« did not consider w^i« anH r^ '^^^•- f °^^' «^« knew argue it foundrLTtSilfowTrelU'lnd^^^^^^ "^^ ^^ of a future It dirl n^f «^ "^"/^eason and the assurance ing, and LtL a Jut S^h^jf^ ^T' '^^^''"'^^^^^^ U.«t.and scrutiui ofotwt „m irW'"« ">"' ""d 80 little as to care wWK. °™,- " she loved Robert ried. she di? nTt Lv?£ ,„ T'ff' "i'"" ^^^ "^^ ■»»>- but expressed with S.finteti„H„ ^o^^'hing like this, written from Rye B^oh to R„t7Tf '^''*' *« had «^«»e. a.o.e„,whrs«u;a^.iKv^^^^^^^^ Robert took all this mmiir T]„ j-j , , her when this mvsterLf, 7' f *^ "J"* '^"-'■'^ *«> -^k it might ever rS rdi^lT"* ''"*' ^" '""'^ '.-^'W he came home. Dore fondly in pleasingly in h 80 much ap- nind, that she ugh she liked )nd anything, iher she could ^ere and hqw ' her that she ve, she knew i not stop to the assurance shilly-shally- ling this and loved Robert y were mar- ng like this, hat she had ed at Ports- his hands, re had been t have loved ^cijt'r, to ,'isk (i hci" aigu- ich to com- ir a furious, lat she had le her fare- i who was ty from his with their . She only A woman's reason. The old Tnan held the letter in his hand, after readui*. *«, „,. . ng ^ ^jjjjg ^^^^ ^^ j^^ jj^j^^ looked UD " It i\lor so io mg : ecrr, . to me you take it pretty coolly, papa." she said, her lips quivering. ^ r r » «, noi Thin '' Tf ■ ^r'l^^lf '} '. ^^^' ^y ' " «'g^«l her father. Jo^n- ^'"^%«^« bridled indignantiv at liis misplaced companion, he added. "I'm sorrv, flelen. I think you would have come to like him. Well, well 1 If you arS contented, my dear " ^ " How can you 8ay such a thing, papa ? " cried HpIph astonished that he should have takf;.^at he undeS of her letter just as Robert had done, "when you know when you know I- "but Helen could not finish what Z' was g'omg to say. She could not own that she thought her letter susceptible of quite a different answer. §he eyes filler '' "^^ ^^''''' ^^^^^^ling, while her Her father did not notice. " My dear," he said pre- sently, «'w,ll you ask Margaret „o make me a cup of tea ? I feel unpleasantly weak.'^ ^ •'Why, papa! "cried Helen, flying to the bell "whv didn't you tel me before, instead of letting me wlrrv you with all this foolishness ? Why didn't yousayToi were not so well i " j j»^ ouyyou "I wWt thinking of it," said her father, meekly accepting her reproof. " It's nothing. The wind has changed, hasn't it. I feel the ea^t a little." Ko.I''"?u1"^^^r , ^^'^'^ ^^^ "«^ tempted to bo really harsh with him for his remissness, but she did not stay from running after th - wrap, soft and light, wh"ch she had brought back from the sea-side with^ hir aLl had thrown down with her bag in the hall, and though she bemoaned his thoughtlessness, as she flung it ovef h m in Lrt ^'^ ''ir"'' ^""^ "P^" ^^"« ^" the self-reprS 1 o At"*- ?^' ^f'^^ ^"""^ h^r^ed Margaret with the tea. and then set an old-fflahmnn^ f^o ,.^i if.^ij^rL . and when the teacame, shed^w „p>rclal^';^T;;:^d' 24 ii ^ woman's reason. ^ade Wasf^%frl*?P''"f<''™ the window but!,. without than^itWn'a'L^irl.'if '"t-i'^^'ot cooler yard,onwho3e Mww^Ua. came fom thetoUe bum m tender, red Lit Sh» '"''«'* w<« beginning to tea when she came Ci;- .1 P?'"'*'' ''^raell a cud o? father repeat «ga.?and Lfn tW f ^^t """^ ""ade h^/ shebegantosTetheabsSvif K*?* *^" »"'»b better bert at this kte day Xn ,h^°v ^'"« t'^g'e about S before without the ^e^t tm^ J^^^h- °^" "^^ed ht. not quite like the other Ztf, f' ^'"'' to be sure waj. An««he;faint'and?iir^:d':a*fdt*°d::;;'?^^¥°°™ red sadly, " Well" tV^i . fP '? ber heart. J', well, to her father's tentative « H , ®,f°^wered ■a^y' """^^ » tentative i^,j»pat»'""««-' ""•J^heasted presently, -What is 2XtS£^?^wirdroXireni^ begun in thet~ *-«>. ^f - this her'?:the?h:d° had been going to say in ^h. *'' I^tponed whatever he bi»Xeat %°f ^-*-T«d™„ev^r "^ mind was still running upon Robert '""' " "'"« ^^^ „ Was It somethingin rWrd t^V weli, then, don't think of if „„ "ffirT^^^y'-^^'titr """• ' "^'^i »ot. not have foUowedTer*^ ^ " "''''' ''»'■ ^^'her, who could „Kobert!" said Helen abruptly. "Because,Ty"„u*wl"«*'~^;'»'''"'rt." - 9»ite reconSled t;^TeVi;;*,2lr t'i^»» ^* ^ « o — WQ IV Has A woman's reason. 25 f^«l'*?^^'*S'^ ^^'^^ \^^*y« ^« good friends. You needn t be troubled about that " • ^ou eyes^^' ^''' '^^^^^^y^" ^^^e^^ted her father, closing his Helen sat looking at him, as if she would like to ^o that her father should shut his eyes in that way Xe she wa^ talking of Robert. He"^ had taken X who e affair rather oddly. She had been prepared to difend but t J^ ^r ft^^' ""''' ^"^^^ ^i*^ ^"^^ she expected w?fVS i! :J °^ being angry, he had really seemed t^ side with Robert and had somehow, by his reticence, impled to Roberl " ^"''' ^^"^ *" ^^^« her humble heS wJlfY/'''' "^'t^ *^/HP' P^P^'" «^« «aid with a diffnitv wm go a^:; " ^"' '^^ ^' ^*^^ ^"^ "^*^ ^i« ^y- elosef'^ Sit d^wte'" "'' ^^'^ '"'^^^' " ^"* d-'* go, Helen. He made amotion for her to sit beside hi'm o«^ <•* m'mtif^^ ti^tt^z '^TcLrn. P.T- face and dried her eyes, a^df^rdreiilyta^thiSe re'd sunset light creeping up the wall on which thp^»f^ clambered. It rose slowly leaf by "erf tUl iMif T ™ -^ - — .,» .^Jviv- njviuic {/uati CHAPTER II. r^^'^set';^^^^^ -h^^e the solitude of ^ ^-garetcamTtoth^^^^^^^ ask whether it was not tTm ? f J"^^ '° «« ^^ *« way the tea-thii,r hI*''"^ ^""l^^^ to fetch a- quiescence and presently fL and foC' 5? ^ °«^ «* ^«- kitchen to tell her that^he was ^o^^^^^ «"* *<> the and to say 'that she must ZZ^u ^ S *? ^^^ «wn room But in the kitchen Siretwi!^ '"^''^ ^'' ^^^^'^ ^oC'. to her loneliness, and sKf/ ""P^^? ^as a temptation another for remaCg«fiC^;j,?« ^/l*^^ ^''''^' -fter door-way MargaretTad S in th'. \"' ^ "^^^^ ^» *^« Helen was born, and Helen sHll » ^^.^'"''^^ ever since with her that she had in c^^^^^^^^ ?" «^°^« ^eedom range of places fromwhtfyo"^ dnves its radiant presence^ Shf^u f^"^°^^ °^^>'»arily intimacy with the cook as could -" ^^1' ^'^.^f «*^' ^ luuch ent ages, and she g^on smoof hi 'tw their differ- which had not befn sT Tod S""'?^ ^e cook's temper had improved quite as litlLwSial^'^^^ ^^ ^""*^' ^"d a remote sort of Irish birth htt ^^f^^^t was of scarcely marked her LenrandlJT "f*^^^ ^^^^d had her sense of place, wh?ch"^a?s1;m^ ^'' ^^""''^ '^^^ and sometimes very high Td Sf ^-.r"? ^^^Pectful seemed little hope that X !.1, ''^ y^"^' ">l^ter»'''^ ""^ '- --■ "^-' "e Then ster^i^^M he^Zf^:;' *''"«="•«' g»e«Ji»d. to your father ?" '^ '^""' ^""^ *» «»y g^d-bye sifted MaV^atr-r^ a'Sr^'w-.'^'jT"'"''"^" P- with navaT service hj blTthrleh «d]Srft?r'''*'r were not in a position to resign ^ ' ^^'' for''ctrf„SravT^:"{%*;»^tshe would better efs limitationfa^ a conwSLf '/''^'i*"^"'''^'! "argar- rose presenUy Zd Z^tL^A T** "" '"»"'• She pretty soon. aidTe if^r f.?h "^ ^'"S"^' *» '""k m her, if he ^<^efrJ^'^J^fZ^^^^'^%.'^f cail ine-room.^?!'^ S ?"<' «.? r»«»«d on through the drat! ,„„,. ...^aiicu iieavily upstairs, ~ 'ice, "but he A woman's reason. 29 The house was rather old-faslimno*^! «^j -j. fumUhed' to the lat^t tL^'/"i »!*?' appeT^^S! btrt ^'it Ta."' f t*!' l^ P?""S out of dat?tteht neart. it was, in fact, beginning to be resDeotal.I. because .t was no longer in the contest for eifect whiTh the decorations of the newer houses carried on ahl,t?f keep^ifg t^o^atttatr o°/ Zr^^^A^ ^T; with boxes contain Off a wealth of rrLofi • V ? of making a raid upon Crenem^:^^f art "and M' .udks upon the pannels of her o=wn "chambeM^rT^d" 30 A woman's heason. and where every wrlLw Mh "' *^.l ^"^^^^'^ sentiment, or a chair isl't LJert W « i^Jf^^^^thetic prig of a table Don't touch TLweb lele^'n w^ ^ ^^«««"- to a talk between he^ anH >,L i- i^*^ "^^^^ ^^^^ come mained unmdested-th^ L ^*^?'' *^^ *^« ^ouse re- had not reS^careT m„Ph ?' -f ^'' childhood. She The sense of^ur Tmperman.n? iT' '^' ^«^ ^ ^^^^^J' roof comes to us earT/riffrLd f T *" *^^ P^^^°^^ to a young girl than t^hir k^u' P^^^^^^' ^^re keenly world, by flfthe conditbns oA^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^'^ °^ *he almost from the Ct-TlrLl^''' ?.'*'?' P««^*i^« being, them,-~but she has hi: J'^?^^'^''''^^ *hat is made for and adorn her fathers hor/l"* i.''^"*" ^^' ^""^^ '^^ and worship hSt:Lt\"Thet^^^^ by It, but the restless longing remans and i? "^^ ^"" ^"^^ Imessdoes not voluntariV w ' ^ , ^^ ^^^"sewife- cincts of her own chamber IrTu""^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ P^e- of fancy and ordrLms %h '^ S' '"^^"^ ^^^ realm the house if she wouTd Jl! ^^"^^^^ ^^ **^« ^eart of and though in hr^iif '^^\ ""^^^^^ ^«' ^^ h«« been : keeper, tf^^^ise and nn?vJ^"'';.?^^ ^^" ^^ i^«"«e-' essential is w^tTng^M^T^^^^^^ mysterious ply to herfather's Cse ^^ '"^ ^^"^ °^^"^^ ^« «"P- dow:^^^^^^^^^^^ ,r ^ -d flinging up the win- opened. Fu£? oCse [hTbl ^" f^^ ?*« ^^^^^^ it softened by thrstretr of f ^ n'"^ ^^^'^^^ °^ ^^^^^^^^ less and less wHh the W^^^ ^°d growing - already a little cV«d t iaTtTe^^^^^^^^^ -V A woman's reason. 31 street stole refreshingly in at the window. It was still very ight and when Helen opened her blinds thT room brightened cheerfully all about her, and the symDatE iQtimacy of her own closest belongings tenderirappe^^^^^^^^ to her. A ter something has happened, and we Zt lee familiar things about us as they were, there corned iust before the sense of difference in ourselves returnTto tor- ment us, a moment of blind and foolish oblivion and thL was Helen's a^ she sat down beside the windowSboked i^und upon the friendly prettiness of her room It had been her room when she was a child, and tibere were childish keepsakes scattered about in odd Dlaces oJof tt T^7''''''-'i^r'' V"^--' hig'KSeSlt! ties of perfume, and long-handled i?ory brushes and gZ/s 'a'nToth' '""'r' ^^"^^ and'^bevdLd hand ^ glasses, and other sacred mysteries of toilet Of the period when she had thought herself wedded to art there were certain charcoal sketches pinned against the waif and in que corner, not very definite at firft glance uS eaaei. On projections of her mirror-frame huna souvp- mrs of Robert's first cruise, which had beSi in tfe Si terranean; ropes of Roman pearls; nets arS Wlets and necklaces of shells and beads from Venice Set Sa'ck Z^'f'V'''^ ^r^' '''^^^^ and rosariesTf black barbancally scented wooden beads from Levant- WT/'" r^^ weaxat all, but very pleasant to nave they gave a sentiment to your room when von brought any one into it ; they were nice to hive hS ihT^lrelT^'"^'^ '' *"^^ *^^"^ '-'' their \rd'1 xney were not so very uncommon, either, that you had ■0 keep te ling what they were. She had never ^thou^ht that, possibly, Robert had expected her to wear the Kofe.^^".' an aehinlrecurrence to thdrqu 'r! thnni? i -.^^ called no less) and a penitent self-pity she thought of It now. It did not seem to her fha^ «hi ciuld touch tiiem, but she went languidly to the mirror and 32 A WOMAN'S REASOX. hlaek strands of LevrntinVffi °^.^«™f« Pearls and the a net of the Venetk^ sh^n w u *^°?* ^"'' ^^^^ ; she set her wrists andTerXve,f eTi^'^ .? ^^^^^ ^"^ ^««ked a perfectly frantfc coSaH^n l*^ *^' ^."°°^«^ ^^^g^ee ; her head a HttlTto i«^^^ «^e «hook perfectly frantic '' Z oT^^ ^ *^® f^'""^*^^^ ^^nce. " Yes of the in^rc^^^^^^ thinki^' ratherof Robert Ind «<§«.!.( ''°' *^^ mirror, thinking . neverputtherinforSTnyf^^^^^^^ h«d of him had made her cerSinph ^l^'''^ *^** '^ ^^^ ^oss how fatally stlg:%Taf wouM be''" 1'° • "*\^^^ ^^^^' over all the facts of the pff!?. a' ^*'° «^« ^^nt much surer ofEo^J^rr.I^'''' !?^ "^^ ^^^« ^ make knewthatif heKdeZnTl! ^^'^^"^ *^^^ ^^'^^ S^e have loved hiHte trbelv"''^^''^ **^^* «^^°^^ght future, he wouW not h«L 1!^ encouragement for the imagine Rober'sTein^e^ltr^ ^^^ ^^"^'i tone of the rest of thelet^T- «K?7 a^ *^® patronizing ?tupidity ; she never doubtd^^^^^^^ ^" ^^^ imous incapability of tiirni«^ ? generosity, his magnan- refusaJ of her S was w ?f ^^J,,'"efusal of him iSto a joice in such a chanir Sh. ' ^a^^ f^^ *^^* <^ould re- Hea, sailing, saiHn^^^^^^^ '^ «°^. ^ar out at saw anything in feS;r W ^f ^,^^^7^ from her, he that blind rage ? L d hi n^ "'^^ ' ? ^«^ ^« ^^ill in seemed such a great thiW fn?l """T ^^'""^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ which meant hirto comTto W f P T?^? confession, meant that ? l7 slS „ "" ^^"^ V ^"^ ^^^^^ she really had only thought JmLrn J'''^^' ^"' §^^^«P« ^^^^ «hl bitter cup, of tfw f^^^^ i,^ ^l^'^P ^^ kindness in his ing loved a peS^J^XJ^''"*^^"^""^^^^^^^^ of hav- A woman's reason. 33 fort in regarding herself I'n^^^^^^ ^ ^i^d com- creature, Iho dfd noTkn^u.^ if v°'^"^' '^responsible felt that fate oughf ntrto iTolS'h'^'.^"' *^^^"^- ^he door-bell rang, and she snaLh«J .^' *°. r'°""^- ^he with a fearful shu^er and fl.^rl ^^ °'f. ^'.°°^ ^^'' ^^^ in a heap upon her dr^L^n^^-Kl"^^^ ^" -^^^ ornaments the hall below remLdrdhe?;^ .^"^P'^^^ «^«nds in gla^s she had remotely known V° ''""^ ^^'^"'^ *^« the door, and prSv Z K ^^^J*^?o» stopping at the staira behiKe mnt nl '"^ ^'"'^^''^ comin| up ing up her trunk G^^*^"f ^^^P^'f ssman who was f?tch. M lurLdThere tm V f .^nt^,;":^^ --' ^°^ returned to unlock and un^k the box °T^^^ ^^? Helen s economies nnf *„ j • v . " ^'^ one of but to send heT w!°hv T '"'"" ^^'"" *^ station. tried to prove that it Swf ^''^i^'iJ?^' ^«^^^<^ ^ad once the hall and llranr and fW ^°^ ""^ii '"''' ''S'"«d in Her father was in hit t ?*'^° '''« """"'er thing ther; in the KbZv ' n^ *»ld Margaret to have tea two teas wiUin tw^i,„ \'*"S''^'* *' him for having and th^t^mi^dedherTaLt hT^*" ^^^ ^"^^y- «n eari^ dinner' wCtL*L't'jt?.°»"''°? ^ the cloth w«, laid half «r„ss the-r^^dulkn^lh'^'^^^i-^ 34 A woman's KEASON. 5; , i thought of be^n to nUul f ^'*- T'**'*™'" «'«« she tio„ ?ohe. father in PhfohJr^h^ n* '°°» "'" »' ''^'"^ had always im^i^^dttl .^f ;lrrC7- «!"> was hvin(r with him nnrl f»,^., * . ' '^"'^ '^ow she jn twe„tyVet'rhrhVt:LTirt;xrui'd W'?'^ ideaof Robert eXta« a biotrer^?''!?-^^^^ ^'^ '»^' , she should ever ouite lit. h? -V u''^ ■*"• "o' ™PP08o their children ^ "^ '"^^' ^"^ '^'> should pet '•ho"&1'oulLlt l?ve?^^^^^ '" "P°" ""«- ideas, " Wh V r^„^•^ T . "^® ^° ^"*^ country ? " and closer in town • «f H^?^!* ^°^ **^ ^^^ws closer catch my breath 't Lh ' -^^ ''^""f/^ ^^ ^ ^«»Id hardly the co2try f can W ^^ T^^ ^^-^ ^^^^ °^^ in for a few years vet -If thr? ^''''" ^".'^°"«^ ^"^^^^ely could live on a sSpr^.!r^ ^f^'^^^ ^^^ ^«"«e- We « r^i, • f °lP/e*^ scale m the countrv " ^ ^K yes, indeed," said Helen " T T^"ij ttSde'V^TCta^i^^S'^"^^^^^^^^^^ were^^d lu/eh'^^'So^r lr„7d'r it -^'^^'"^ a great burden upon n.e, bt/Xu'ldnAt'to iTu'" " A woman's reason, 25 look in the sal d rec on till »" ""™'" ^"."""^ "' "' back to it." <"™"'on, till we were ready to come that I should never ivefhehn"'?- ^ "f"* ^ ''^'"^ come overcrowd'ed ;irh™ statS' ' t^ a' eToo""*^ '"'■ Helen, to understand how terrible it i, tn « ? °° r'"»S' past grow into the dumb miter alJhfn l^ "'""' °™ become, as it were, im^LTd rlhem '*' """"' ™^' """^ ".ine'^?haTf'c:ftftri;f:r. Tk^'"'^ '■-- "f said or did certaintM^tVhtViC h'em" " ' ''" " ThinkC muIhZ:' LTeTatT'd t" '^r^™' and tables have known of u'tl^w "no^'T .'J.''' "''"- hJw/thTs^CX^p,^^^^^^^ makes me rest ecs and imnatient I J, iji-i "' "' "" a new We somewhere erefra^wVouTe'' Ht w '^^/^ ent awhile, trifling with the toast on his niate t;^ "'" tite had passed at the sight of the food and hAi "T- scarcely anything. He looked a f hTi' , , ** ""«" portrait on;the f ll.a^d'ttn'at HetTga^i"' "'^" "' " ;;fclhtf-}.S^ rl^KhLrrdTsai^txr/^-^- ,., -ifc would only make mfi move T>oi«*,-i-fT, , , "^e i.er, such a helpless. -16* tl^r^/'l l^i^^^dT no A WOMAN'S UEASON. assented Helen. "laho.iW . ' ■"■■WhvH. ' "'"^ """"' ^°" »-her t... ttl- '''""ri'^t-Crn.yiTf .?- ?' t" ,--'• I never thinking of Sobert. " You S. f"' "«'«"• who wm I vo gone down on my mentft''"""' '""' ■"anytime^ t«'>«« iti„ a secret don t know they are there " S H^i "P^'"*^' "''•en you ^r,^. .. weve .>itht?£ttltr^^ -the?a^„tnr Sn?"" ^^ ^ "-^e your U ^ h" *•?■"'" deal inmy^l7^;fA^f'>re. But U he had wished to talk ^i. " "f 'ate." could not remember, and wh^h!'',,"'""'*'-- *l>om Helen hS?/^"i' f P'e"«^ on the'^an 1 ' ' ^f^- » "ame he^elf the duty of encouraging hhlTTle """''^ not spare tall hke me ? " she asked. ^ ^ ^"" <* "^o so. " Was she ,^^ Not so talV answered her father. -.And,, ,./-. said Helen afting her eyes to thepietureon the A WOMAN'S BEA80N. gy venient for m'e. and I wt 1^ ^'^' .^* ^^ '"^^^ con- grieved me to think that I SnV ^°?^°- ^^ ^as often have been dreaming of her for t ^'f^^ *° ^^'- I ^^^t ago. this rept waTht'aV"si:.t^^^^^ long as we live, we can't heln ti^l.n ^ *f ""? ^^^^*- ^ were to live always. But it's a mt. I '*'? ''^^'^ *« '^ ^« to go into the coLtry w th he^'?"?^^- .^ « ever refused sffi^Ltr^- "^-et'poXrdi;^tt histKTeit^ pulX» the study.Iamp in opened into the draSroom W^ slidin^-doors that its length on one slTeXrowb. ^he Zlf ^^^^^^ ^own ject and that, before whichTI /i* ^'^^5 "P°° this ob- the other sid^, asTto flmm'Trff r^ ?.^ '^ ^'^^^^'^ed on tail. Sometimes he Lid tt?«^T'^^ with e^^^^ below his face, bu^alwavs & ^^J"' ^""^ ^^^^etimes ness into relief. HeLThad Z V^^i '^ age and weari- he can^e back she hea' d him ^aTw T^^^°^. ^''^' ^« than, to himself, .« Yes I sCuKilTtXfe l^t^d int?rtht.td^lrdK^^^^ -^ «-k solitary besid; Um ^'lV'^I«* ''T'"5 ""^^^^ ^^^^ Helen his musing, absent face VI X ind'r '^' ^°°^^^ ^'^ he has more to love in the othL wn ?^ ^ ^!? ^°^^' ^^^ and both my broUie?s there th^^ iT'^^ "^^ °^«ther ' Robert, Robert, Robert"' ' ^® ^*^ "^ ^^is. hav^ treating his daSer af L !"* ^^^^ 7*^ ^^^^^^^ hergraVeiyandearnp«fl?/ ^^u*'^ t^"*'' of talking to her tni. JmplettS^^^ dropfing amused for a whik J^^^^'l'f l^ ^^\^ere a child to bf «ent out-of-doors. E[5e;irHft^i; aowntrom his knee and ■neien dutifully accepted this condition 38 A woman's reason. she went o„t, and orfinari ^ he did notlhir T^, ^"""^ a;"*Xn\t<';.'?i^^^ ^-t from side to side in ite advanS "X' ^ * '''"='''* able cigan,, that active S Sive n^rf T*'"?-"^'''"''- and " Well Helen -'' lnd"Ohr! ^'-'V"^ ^ J^"^ ^^ugh, " Harkness and Butle?> » a^ hS ^^'5 ?"*^"''' "^"^ later ^ "Well!" said thk .uest for /if^ *il'- "T^^ ^^^ straightened his tell m^^'' to Z f* i? i.*^'l^ *^°^^- He out over his chest with Tyes of £n!? ^''^^}' ^^^ ^^^^^^ ness's thin and refined S! v5 '"^^^^^ upon Hark- ping. Then he plant^ Mnfself t™, "'"'?''« ^«« -"P- befide it, and went on smokiiAe "^ ''**\*™ "haSr whicli he had been chewC ^. f "51', "" ""= ^-^ of with violence, couehinJ3 ! "^'^ *<"" *« ohair who was hosp Srw^Crii°S"w ^ *" ^°'"<» Helen, -jo^'t do it "i w„^n'rh?vr^^4-^t„i;^|!»i A WOMAN'S REASON. gg just dined at the club Yes vnn «,„ j ^, added to Helen, as she set'IZT^, ?? *^^? "^"«^'" ^^ holder, at his elC. " YouVe no f^ ^^^1: T*^ ^"^ *«h- It s cooler, and the air is deHcTouT ^ ""V ^ °^^^* ^* i«- Helen back with me I y^ilhT'A ^7' ^ "^^^^ *« *ake two old fellows together W Th/"^ ^^"^^', ^^^ ^^^^e us ton in the summer^ after ail Z^"'" « \« Pl^^^ like Bos- whether you're sur^ td to si nfe '" ^p^^'* *?J^ "^« looked around at them wifh «n^^i^ Captain Butler a sea^turtle in a lateral rnspeS"""^ '' ''^ ^^^^^^^^ ^' with^r^^^^^^^^^ said Helen, knew suited this visitor ^^ ^"^ *""* '^'""h *e could not thinJ oT3„^''Ti I*"""*.""" ^°^''' ^ut father. "How are /Ji^'^Xef^, ,.'"-^-- that I alw^ Jd^^. your good sense, rm XayTUk^^/ & ;; B^ter not," said Helen, with a pin between her teeth. I had." '^" ' ^"' ''' """^ " ^ ^*^e her hatfe me if 42 woman's reason. »= k '','',^''*'*' »"d made ■ " ves ■• „i,i. v ,. as she could with the pin betweL T^ » ?J'P^' "^ ^e" It out to say, ■' You should hZj^ '*""'• .She took in my room a little while Lo"Vl. "y prfo™ances rehearsal before the Xor^ ^'"' "^"^ *'^°ti°g of the io?:!rfTshtT/;rf^^^*--p'»- her and his old frfend. They I^^/^ ^l""' ^'^^i ilTa-eS- ''"^ ^-^^ ''^ «tef t Wlfa^ld^ ^oundTotS';S/e';,_Xin^^^^^^^^ breaking off his ciffar-ashinfofK k '^^^ ^^^"^ ^^^ ^"m. and bow. "do you knfw that vl^ ^'""^.^ P^ateathi; el- quite monumental ? " ^ ^"'^ ^'^ ^* ^s something 4^^'^rtlT^^^ reverential a little patronage toS him ^ °?^* °«<^ ^^^P «sing a delieate^and hisVat^ste^^^^^^ ^'^ ^-L' ,^ I am glad you like it, Jack » sa d Sf ^ P^'ospered. "The captain is a mass of p'nmtr ™^e«s quietly, marked Helen. comphments to-night," re- miS» y^'f"^ ^>°^^ ^is consciousness "Vr,. minx, he said admirinfflv in ff2i7 m, ^*^" are a back his head and pulled at hi. ^t ""' ^^'" ^e threw puffs, " No. but I m^erft Ha^kner' t.^*'"°^ ^^^^^^« uncommonly fine about it ^T" ^^^''^^ something by sticking-'to any old order tfT^'*%*^ be a no^g *bmk of the ancien regime sL^y^ ^f ^^^'^^^ ^ne Why, you're still of the oKf t'^^}^''^ ^ look at you stately and gorgeous traffic^^^^^^^^^ don and Salem have com" f« " °* ^""^ *^«bon and Lon- — — — vv. B not a sensible A woman's reason. 43 H^kneTsTs Ke."^ '^'^^ '""''^ ^ *^« -^ t^en." said J^^f'J ^°°'^ ^''?'^ *^°"* ^^^-tj" tJ^e captain took the end of his cigar out and lit a fresh one from it before he laid It down upon the ash-holdor- I W.m'? t«^ u ! that. We don^ consider maSl'thig tertrr fie atuted^iirtKrotir/''^?^ to...legraphi„g, ifs o„r/fitr'NeT Yole'^ ^"^tZ qu!te welcome to it." This was not very loS tltllt a whole, but we cannot be always talkZSl^' mZ words romantic and heroic, ifelen had™dhetean f that phrase may be used concerning ears of such love-' liness as hers, and she paused from hermUlinerr « aI^ ;• What business?" asked Helen, the Miatr^de " ''™"'"'' y°»°g''<»»»": -7 "W business, t^ij^cipS^SLr ? ^''^' "'"" ^- -- » '■>« I"-^ <>"' telegraphing vef • W •? "^^ ^^^^'^ t got so low as Eh, Harkneas ? » '^'""^"^ '"ffio of our young days. •' W^vlMfl'^^ f »«««=tion bat profit " ^anKelp^/"!?,:' I"t* wharf? Helen ," de- -y girls. ButCre you /» ' '''''"" y'" ' "««'«' wei " ^ ». dayX^^ • S^a toSrt^eat rage. A woman's reason. 45 iTr*®"^!!""' ''Z^^'^y °*^er steamboat: nor any dirt v shanties ashore. The place was saerpH fo ViL i? • ^ of the grandest commerce in The world *J? *'^^«hippmg those beautiful ships, cleL J sil^eT ever^nn' ^'f^^^^^ and manned by honeU YankeeTews » %." ? •*^'™' upon his feet fbr the greater convpS. i W ''Y^''' ^^^ " Not by ruffians from^ ever^^rr^^^^^^^ .tbf Th'' '• were gentlemen's sons before' the m^\ titt the forecastle was filled with imnH T^r^. j^t- ' , Nicest fellows in the world," consented Helea t™dr:.teter;::t:^L'^^ - r^^^^^^^ ^ what market we should find in Cafeutta I^^ '"'"^ &eZ«rsM: on oHL™ "^^hT " "^r -- an event a ceremonv » .^? ■. °? "* ^"'^'^ '' "as . un, Captain Butler, it ^^as fine ' " cripd fT«ln« a pmg her hands on her wort «r.J i* i^ ^®^®"' ^'^^P" tain in his smoke n^nrHvi? booking up at the cap- didn'tyrevrietmp; ^'^P*^'^- "I*W why 3^il jl y°" «ver let me come down to see your ships ga^LTth""^'" ""''''' ^^" --« b--> Helen," be- 4G A woman's reason. fore that, to stop at Easf Wnfl ^ ?*^ ^®^"' ^O"^ be- Houses, and getting to feel some «S^ ^^"^ "^ °"^ ^^^e- them. When it cfme tTtW ! ""^ .^"™*° ^^^^^-^st in tion I didn't muel^rr^f ^.tT^^^^^ -rne indignaK^ I^f ^^^^^^^ " ^^^^ ^^len, with as wegoUr;C^S^%^^^ "Just " Oh! it was an chaZn 7^ ^'% ^^^^^ ^nd richer." . ; We used to im^ S^^^^^^^^ ^ *^ -Ptain. this country— fabrics fhl/ih x? °°"°^ S^^^^^^s used in looms at hoL. an^thafhad t^^^^^^^ ^"^^ ^'^ *J^«ir littJe tend to find in'hand'tde t^^^^^ ^^^ ^i'l« P^e- we got to sending our owno^^J''^^ ^^T ^^ «*°PPed. came the telegraph and D^fSfi -1.^° ^''^^*- ^nd then m the trade. Your fatW latest despatches from cX ^ H«'i^^ ^''"'^'"^ *^ ^^^ cargo will be worth when it l^i« ^l ^°°^' J"^* ^^^at his hi? people what to se^d b^k^» ThT' ''1^-^^ telegraphs mmor key. " I'm glad I w^t onf^f l'*?**^'V^"^ed in a have done well to^gooutTo^^^^^^^^^ You'd I couldn't get out '' ''"'"''^^^^ ^^^re the crash came, and talk wandered back toThe l^^l ?''^^ ^^- ^^ th^e and to the merchants the «„£ ^^^^ °^ ^^^ ^^ trade, mates of their youth ' TheyTffi^^^ ''.^. fP*^^^^' ^^e before their date, of ClevelLd in!? K- ^® ^''^^^^ names dasyd Perkins, of BromLld fml '' 7T^"«' «^ ^an- nierce which fiunded^^he al^V^^ *^ ^'t* ^^^"^« ^'^ * eo«i. bracedaU climes a Jt!2L^5.'.P^«P?"ty, and which em- "~ " "^^""' ' ''"« ^•'iWii colonies and coffee • A woman's reason. 47 the Chma trade and tea ; the North-west (joast and furs • the Cape, and its wines and oil ; the pirates that used to harass the early adventurers ; famoUs shipwrecks : great gains and magnificent losses; the splendour of the Ens- lish nabobs and American residents at Calcutta ; mutinies aboardship; the idiosyncrasies of certain sailors: the pro- fessional merits of certain black cooks. These varied topics and interests conspired to lend a glamour to the Indian trade as it had been, that at last moved Captain iiutler to argument in proof of the feasibility of its re- vival. It was the explanation of this scheme that wearied llelen At the same time she saw that Captain Butler did not mean to go very soon, for he had already sunk the old comrade in the theorist so far as to be saying7'"WeTl" " I tell you, sir." She got up— ^ sir and \^y, sir," and . „_ ^.u, „,,, ^^e got up- not without dropping her scissors from her lap, as the cus- tom of her sex is-and gave him her hand, which he took in his left, without rising. T " ^f ?^ ^1^"^.- . ^^^^'^ "g^^- I shall stay a bit yet. I want to talk with your father." " Talk him into taking a little rest," said Helen, look- ^ o?d-ni ht^^^^° as she bent over her father to kiss him "I shall give him all sorts of good advice," returned the captain, cheerily. Her father held her hand fondly till she drew an arm's length away and then relinquished it with a veiy tender uood-mght, my dear." Helen did not mean to go to bed, and, when she reached her own room, she sat a long time there, working at Mar fnrX' fT'^' ^?^ overhearing now and then some such words of the captain's as « dyes," " muslins," " ice," " teak " of^Zr W "/^'"."^" " G^^^Pany's choppers,"'-a name of fearful note, descriptive of a kind of Calcutta handker- chief once much imported. She imagined that the cap- tain wflfl Hfill +oii.;.,^ „* xi.- t_- j-- , j^ ^^ " , .r o,^ i^ ~xu r 7"'^^"«y* wiu iuuia irade. Jier lather spoke so low that she could not make out any words of his. 4^ woman's beason. affection ap^eatdTo'hVr^^^^^^^^^^^ U. as he disembodied ?aJig on of *^^^^^ murlnur. to the solemnity of thelLfcener's sti Sh.^^'" ^PP^aJs' a tantastic comparison of ihl\! l-'.-^^^^^^^^e voice and the captainl to th« .^''^i'*'"' ^^ ^^' f«'^er's tern's other qualities Vhe foLd?wT**§« ^^ *»^« ^P- finer spirit aSd of gentler naturf.^^l*''''^^^^^^ ™ of tion, she perceived that it °«!, 5 ' ^"i ^^ « ^^^^^''^I ^ransi- alone in one's roo^withoI?'^^^'*^«!:*^i°g to be sitting haps foolishly walkir^^heSw^^^^^ .*^*^ *« ''^^ P^^ nionp ace destiny, as Marian RnH^ one's accepted com- At this point she laugSTtw^f "^^ at that^moment. aloud, and recognised fU*K ^®^'' ^^'^ " ^oor M*rian ! " tain Butler anTretmtr'L'^^^^^^ ^^'^ making Cap- to chat with her fatW qk ^^'''^^^^^ '"^ dropping fn too long and u'htt't An'dt^hf ^^ "^1!^^ ''* ^^^^ Robert again, and she WrA ^®'" thoughts ran upon after whfT seemed to her sterS^ f '^'- '""^^ ^^'^^^^ reverie. Then she was aware ^.f ^'?°? \'' n^onged ^^}rmg out of the JibmA1n?o fhfffi" ^"*^^'« ^oots with several Dau«»P« o«Y I *"® ^all toward the door 5&ain: "I had'^SolLl^w ' "^W fragments of lit * * * bad bus^ess mlTtw^ ^.^^at, Harkn^ss weather it a few weeksTn»'^^\^^'^*>« done * ♦ * ened myself rrT^oiiger ♦ * ♦ confoundedly strait- :V^ ell, ^ood.night,JoshC I?lV«'°"^^'" and, faintly. There was another pause in Jl if ^?" ? *^^ morning;' Butler lighting his dgar 1? tT^'^K-'^" ^^""'^^ ^laptain amp with which horTther J^^ u'u''^ ^^ *^« «t"dy- the door. The dooroln.!^ i*"J^ ^^ following him to hack to the lihrZVuTe^Tf^^^^ ^«^^ «Wly walking up and dT;^ ^'j"^ ^^1* ^**^«r *han heard him 7"W not ; she wSd <^ r.«lT?*1?- *" ^^ ^ ^^' "«t sh^ «lent When, at ?^t sh^ 2tL\^'"J' ^^^^ «^« ^^"^ained heavily ascending. Tnd Jaw Z ^' «*/P «Pon the stairs. A woman's reason. 49 that he might not think her awake. Half an hour later she crept to his door, which stood a little ajar, and whis- pered, " Papa ! " \Vnat is it. Helen ? " He was in bed, but his voice sounded very wakeful. " What is it, my dear ? " K "?\- l!''i'*-^"?'^i" , ^^^ ^""« ^^'•^elf on her knees beside his bed in the dark, and put her arms about his neck. But I feel so unhappy ! temf ted^ " ^^^*° ^^^ ' ^"* ^^^ quickly in- " No, no ! About you, papa ! You seem so sad and careworn, and I m nothing tut a burden and a trouble to u'i7P"-f7® nothing but a comfort and ahelp to me. Poor 11 • ', J«» °»"8t^fc> worried by my looks. I shall be all right m the morning. Come ! come ! " wl'w. '^^''^'^u- ^^"^ P^T^^^e? somehow about business ? Weren t you thinking about those accounts ? " " No, my dear." " What were you thinking of ? " Jitlle^broLw"' ^ ™ ^^^^^^ ""^ ^'"' °^'*^^^ *"^ y^"' "Oh !" said Helen, with the kind of recoil which the young must feel even from the dearest dead. « Do you often think of them ? " •' • " ^?'I ^^l^®""^' ?°*^ ^^^"- Never so much as to-night since I first lost them ; the house seemed full of them' «^u V"PP*^^® * ^^® impressions must recur" Oh, doesn't it make you feel strange ? " asked Helen cowenng a little closer to him. ' " Why should it ? It doesn't make me feel strange to have your face against mine." strange to I IS ' Y "77 ^}' ^*''''*' ^°^'* ^^^ ^^ «"ch things, or leant endure it! Papa, papa ! I love you so. it breiks my heart to have you talk'^in that way. How wicked I must be, not to like you to think of the^n I B"t ''--'^ *- ^hii I want you' to think of me, and what^we"^ going to do together, and about aU our plans for next 50 A woman's reason. & r' ''' ""^ °^^ ^--' -d ever^thin,. Will ,1, ? He gave hor hi,s promi e andtZn T ''' ^° *^^ ^^^k. her goin^ down to the BuUer«' wM ^^*" ^° ^'*^ ^^out tarn had urged further Xr she had H'/f'^^l^ *^« «*P- night. The captain was o-nint ? ? ^'^"^^^ ^'"^ good- two, and Mr. liark^erthSt L'""^ V" ^««^" ^ ^^^«r him at the end of the week ni^! \^^^ '"^ ^^^'^ ^ith but with thi« in view sTe did w ° ^\^ "°^ ^^^« *<> go. her father comfort hlrwUhcar^, • *'' *^ '.^>^ ««• She let as when she was a chill Llff^^J^^-^^ ^"'i touches, heartedness upoa his Jove t/'^^^^^^ f^^id her weak- could not help^itnor wsh to heJp ^^ ^^T'^' ^^' ^^e head upon his pilW she heard! > ^,1 fV'^'^ ^'' It; m this sound all the years «inl J""^ ^'^^'"'^ ""^e^ were lost. Then his vniZ T T ^^^ ^«-'' a Httle girl used to do in r^eLte uZ^ZV'r^ f ^^"^'^y- ^^ out with her troubles wf ' ^ ^^® ^^^ wearied him ^Ik wandered so that ifmtrwV' T ' '™' ^^ ^^ him to full consciousness^ Lr t^^^' ^^^^ '•«"«ed Pight," he said, and he?d her h.nJ ^^^'^^ ^'''- " CJood- it again, and k ssed her once more '""^ '^"'^ ^^^ ^^^'^ ^^ CHAPTER IJI. f S sTn^attrTelrs^ ^^^5 *^5 ^^-^^^^ could have tWht of ..«• "^^J^^^^^ that she m%J when she opSw 1^?'^'°^ ^^^ ^^^ther ; but ^ she was aware of «^rh"^''P ^^^ ^^^ ^'^ the light, sharing. It was t^iXlSi^il^^--^^^ ^-; -e .:• was freshed spariiing plSSiSZ^ A woman's reason. 51 shine of the day before lay in the streets and on the house fronts as harmless as painted sunshine in a picture ^r"?..^''u^**^ ™^g^*^ transform all again; the tidal wave of hte that the sea had sent from its deep cisterns out over the land might ebb as quickly, and the world find Itself old and haggard and suffering once more ; but while It lasted, this respite was a rapture, Helen came down with something of it in her face the natural unreasoned and unreasoning hopefulness of young nerves rejoicing in the weather's mood ; but she began at breakfast by askmg her father if he did not think it was rather crazy for her to be starting off for Beverly the verv day after she had got homa for good, and had just un- packed everything. She said she would go only ou three conditions: first, that he felt perfectly well; second, that he would be sure to come do"- - Saturday ; and third that he would be sure to ag her back with him on Monday. " I don't think I could stand Marian Butler in her pre- sent semi-fluid state more than three days; and I wouldn t consent to leave you, papa, except that while you re worrymg over business you'd really rather not have me about ? Would you ? " Her father dd he always Uked to have her about. Uh yes ; ot course," said Helen. "But don't yoi> see I do ?''^'°^ ^"^ ""^^^ '^ ^ ""'^^"^^ ^ ^^' ^""^ ^ ^'"'^^^ "^^^^^^ He laughed with her at her hypocrisy. They agreed that this wa^ Thursday the 15th, and that he sho"uld come down on Saturday the 17th, and that he would let noth- ing debm him, and that he would come in time for din- ner and not put it off, as he would be sure to do, till the last tram He en gave him a number of charges as to his health and his hours of work, and bade him, if he did not '!®LP!'1*^''^*^ ^®"' ^ telegraph her instantly. When he Aft "'7u "j " '^^r^ ","'" "'®'^'' """ promise to drive home. Alter the door closed upon him, she wondered that she 52 A woman's reason. ^ad ever allowed hewelf f^ *i. • , > noon tnun^dll!^"'"«. * ^"""gV q«eUed aor Kked to be auiet ^^ a^^7^, "o' «='P«"»d much astheyldSd thetLfhT Sh^t? f ^1 " any of them, except MariL and\i^C.f f *^" youager^rlhood; and mSLT^Z^LA^ Ca;^^ ateataif -' »«» - ""i^'^^TteTJ His quiet seemed tn >iflv/» r^ , . . appe^ed, or it -i«ht-ha;ebSrthe"S,^Jf C^! 54 woman's season. posure with the tumulf nf *i, v '^^^^ positive eS^^H^J^'^''^^^ ^"^^ tW »ave ;* them afi. but ifhil'^TZ t '^^V^^^e-Hth spoke low; and he could n^^ .m\^^^^ ^^**^« and he said ; healways said Jm^Ung^^^^ f^^ what he and if he only looked as if iZ^ °^»erent the second time prospective sistersT-WfirK''i'? ^,°^°? *« speak hS not quite so tall a^ Maril i^'l^^^'^^^ ^^«°*- He wi . «^« generously prided be^dful^"^ '""^^ «%ht^^ his gloves, whicl Jessie Butler ^P? u '°^ ""**^^e to wear was a very scrupulouslv nerW "^^ J"'^* ^^t on. He every part of his dm4 wS?nf Jj ""^ *« to his gloved and A woman's reason. 6& toward herself in her quality of Marian's old and valued fnend ; It was just what the manner of a man in his place should be. He talked a good deal to her, and told her he had spent most of the summer on the water, " which ac- counts, she mused " for his brown little hands, not much b.gger than a Jap law student's, and for that perfect mass of freckles." He said he was expecting his boat ZZ from Manchester ; and he hoped that she would come whh ti^e other young ladjes and take a look at her after Ijinch He said "boat" so low that Helen could jusfc catch the word and she smiJ 1 in consenting to go and look at it for she imagin. om his deprecatory tone, that it was something hk .ry which might have been bestowed Tl'^\ ^?"'i ^T^"*y ^y ««°^« kindly fisherman fu±r !l.' f ' '^'°-'' ^J ^^^^"'« «i^«' ^^ «^id something further about running down to Mount Desert in his boat and about one of his men knowing how to broil a mack erel pretty well, which puzzled he? and shook her T^l error, just before they came upon a vision of snowy duck and pamt ajid shining brasses, straight and slim and ex- quisite as Helen herself in line, and light a^ a bird dip- for them, and they were received on board the yacht far hitherto from proclaiming itself nautickl in cut or colour-now appeared perfectly adapted to yachting He did not seem to do the host here an> more^than a?' Cap! chSf .trr ^^'' ^"l^" distinguished himself as We chief guest, with a subtle accent in his politeness th«.f touch of music. She was now aware that she admired Kl& was '^^"'^^ if he did not look shorter than She found it quite in charac;ter that he should have a thl"^'".^!!'^ r^""^^^ ^^^^^^ mentioned to any of them, and whom he now introduced in hi« mn«t «nr."L: ea tones, llie friend was a tall young~Engiish^7h 56 1 1 ^ WOMAN'S REASON. »J«e Scotch Stuff anri IT 1 , "► Kay aaked the Jadies if ih ^ girls Km to^tf *?? """""^ b^jf Tfe""^?g »>« Helen thouS* 'l-" ' '''*'<'''«» <>f tte Sfv"^« ">« but what MnusedH^'^' """"ft^raooZaS^L °- " "' Her instinct wonM nf* P»S^'Ons and accomrZv ^^^ ho-r of Pride in rt." *"*»• hw to affiS^T'J"'*'"^ on the St tS **"' P^nd as she ^ 'f t? ""^ »°y tween LZ "Zjl^. 5." •PP™«<=1> toTndeat™/ "^^ «q««I to it, after^'^d^"sit Helen, "mS ^mt" «"Pper. which RaT' o^.^^ *" '^JX'et her^e? li** iuanau Jooked gratefuJJv «.f i, *^'*"^' ne is »«r/gc/ / » H,elen was generous hn?!^ ^®'' ^^ breath^ «v!» ous love mpde herS' ^ *^® Proximity of tM« ? ^- «yes we« Jrti^ » ^«^, and that uSl'^ZS^i A woman's reason. once that his '"far down in e^en discover- f having just id when they ' 'em in other adpJay;and boat-song he Jat made the oitanta, and i, done with charmingly. ing alrea^* piishments, im by any "^nem; and fments be- an wilJ be •ex. After ^hich that •etty well ly, Helen r. "Ma- per/ectf" prosper- End. The ottom of >niehow, be went er girJs, ere suf. averted we hid- 57 ^d apparent self-question, seemed to fall an eaay prey He presently hung about her quite helplessly; but his helplessness did not make her pity him. « So nice" he said, as they sat a little apart, after Ray had attempted a diversion with another Canadian barcarole, "to be able n thYsSt^' -^-f M-"' ^^S^- , ^"^ '' i«^'^ ^^^y ^omZn m the states, is it. Miss— Harkness ? " "I don't understand Do you mean that we don't commonly know Canadian boat-songs ? I don't suppose ^i."^'''''1l ^ ^'''''^ "'f?'' *^*'"' '•eplied Mr. Rainford (if that was the name which Helen had caught), "I meant being able to do something, you know : to keep the ball rolling, as you say." ^ " Do we say ' keep the ball rolling ' ? " Helen affected to " I heard it was an Americanism," said Mr. Rainford. laughing at the pretence she made, with her downward mg of the Canadians when I spoke. They seem to be up Ll'^^'oM A^'u^'-. I wa^ at a place last month-Old Beach or Old Orchard-something like that-where the nn o / *?t-P^® °°o^' ^""^ '^™^ °^ *^««e fellows kueW no end of thm^. Songs, like Mr. Ray's ; and tricks ; and —and— well, I don't know." on^^l-l '^""^^ ^^^^^S^- " No ; we doQ't have those ac- complishments in the States, as you say. We're a serious people. " I don't know," laughed Mr. Rainford. " You have your own fun, I suppose." thl^nnhlf/T T^' l^t.- ^® ^^ ^ ^^°*^"^eS' and attend am^s'et"^^^ ^"'^'^*"^^' ^^^-^-' -^ ^-« o- Mr. Rainford seemed carried quite beyond himself by t'l^r^AlTi^^^^^^^^^^^ } e-t admit tha^ mA«* „rZl ^Vit^' ^-^ "*'^ "• ^""^ ^eai 01 au amuse- ment at the seaside that I was told was not verv serious." 58 * A WOMAN'S HM80N girls. She ht^' '' ^8«n to teifc fJ1?f "^'<«'' with M b-t her fmS^:^^'"^"-" to ^.id^Silt^'^'r- 'he was in the wro^ 4 "'" •'^''nt it ihe Cr """'•^ was nothinff in ^ ^' ^''8 eonld hav. ™?,'«?' because to ieraelfTiut'^r words, and XnZi ff"*^?''** there " ^% did von • * . * nobJemau A WOMAN*S REASON. 59 and ymohow the revelation of her victim's quality seemed to Helen to render the folly and cruelty of her ^L'IJ?n'f.T' f'^'^T^y ^"Jgarf it seemed^ ^ ele- vate it mto a question of international interest. 1 aaid Lord Ramford," retorted Ray « w "ii'^v ^*^^*'^.'^ '* • " ^"®^ Parian, bitterly Well he won t luind your calling him Mr. Rainford LSi:?ot\^:^^'^^- "^-'tcLngenow/'he^atfd "In^d'lelhimTnf '?i^'" ^"^T^^*^^ '^^^"^'^ Parian. And let h m know that Tve'd been talking about him ! No, he shall remam Mister .0 the end of the chapter whh us.^ Are you gomg to bring him to the house ? » I m going to Salem with him &^ soon as I put you ashore I'd have asked you to let me bring him to lunch if I d supposed he was on the boat. When I left him «f Manchester tais moming, he talked of^to t^^^^ thl L%":n. '^'""^'" ^^^^ ^^^'^-' ^- -" — nt on "Not pretty, but precious," returned Ray, tranquilly. ^tlJ ^'^-r' ^?* ^" ^°°^« ^« i«^'* good-look ng He s rather sensitive about it, and it makes him nervous and awkward with ladies ; but he's a very sensibL fel low among men," Ray concluded. ^ Mar^a^bZn^^'f^•' ""^P^^^f ^<^ P^^^e, and then Ray and h^)^l^^ A ^^^^i"^ ^^^f ^y *° ^^le*^' as if they felt a httle aahamed and a good deal soiTy for her and were S"h *t?f -^"^ *". ^^ «^ ^'^^ southing that wTuTd bring ba^k their good opinion of her. ^ Ihey dropped anchor in a sheet of sunset red off Can- Zll bo^/' 5^'''' Tf. ^^^ P""^^ ^'^-^ ashore in h?s hTd ilaved b!r^' '^-^rT *^'^ *° '^^ *^^ ^^^^^^ole he ^l««Vf& ' ^' the girlish voices thrilled sadly over the f!ri,*l^\T!:^°^.^««/«^^iy,«>b|ng. and leading more tr^ed wTfhTvTa T' ".^^^^^t^ooking boulders, heavily tressed with the dripping golden brown seaweed. ^ 60 A Woman's beasok mamma on the ve™„rrWh7if'ca:v°J' "'««' ^"^ vehemence, his tone Sedt^^'* ?«"'»? P«Mionato nwke out his words h! x- f' ''"' t^ey Maid not »me scene, and then .uSXln***/ "^ « rew b^| Heler:?thTsS"^^Thr B««er » '^-"bV asked out his handkerchief atd huT* l'""* »''« »» Wm S '■•th hi, fe,, stiU hldd^^ ne ™T '"• "■ """» ^"down Kay 9uick]/helped th^m fel ^^'J *» ""erawl^Xm ro^s ? J'uu wute my arm over these ^ her «i.e their wayrltjU^ltUT ^-..^i^> ^ should think hA ^o« J . ^^" ^^/> refusing to see" wlrouU"'^'?' ^ i^ '^t^^r/' aer trouble, and reaUy lifting A woman's reason. 61 her along. The others had fallen bebmd a little, and these two had now reached the gravel drive up to the piazza steps alone. They saw a quick parley between the captain and Mrs. iiutler, and he stepped indoors through one of the lona windows, while she came forward to the rail, and called owe to Marian, '; Your father wants aU of you to go to the other door, Marian." ^ © « " Why, mamma ? " began Marian. " Go go ! " cried her mother. " Don't ask ! Edward bnng Helen here ! " 1 "p«'.j*'8«o°»em«e surprise," said Ray, beginning to laugh "Do you like yurprises, Miss Harkness ? " "I don t believe I do," she answered, trying to laugh too. Mrs. Butler came forward and took her from Ray mo- tioning or rather looking him aside, as she clasped the girl tight m her arms. At this moment she saw Captain Butler glance stealthily at them from within the room • his face was contorted and wet with tears. " What—' what IS It. Mrs. Butler?" she gasped, weakly pulling back a little from her close embrace, and facing her There was an instant in which the elder woman "dwelt upon her with all of compassion and implorinff in her eyes. Then she said, " Death, Helen. Your father is deacl I Helen's strength came back. As if many days had mssed since she saw him. « To-day?" she asked, still holding her hand against Mrs. Butler's breast, where she had pressed it. "At two o'clock." , Helen softly loosed herself from Mrs. Butler's arms and sat down m the chair near which they stood, and looked out upon the grounds sloping to the water, the black rocks by the shore ; the huger rocks that showed their backs like sleeping sea-beasts out of the smooth water ; the yacht darkening against the east ; far beyond the nm of the sea, a light just twinkling up in the invia^ 62 A woman's reason. . , ^n> yes, yes," said HelAn i-i of her own case "T? ?' ^^^^ another DeMnn >>. • yo" ''"'tea; T7„y P»»rS'rf. butTven whJn v„^"'* ^ ® a little si/?h. and-^ti>-* — . °.*° ^»8 arm-chair -*wu waa ail. A woman's reason. 68 Mrs. Butler broke into a fresh sobbing on the girl's npck, but Helen remained silent and still, letting herself b clutched tight to that loving breast. " There was no pain, Helen, there was no suffering. It was a falling into rest. But before he rested- before he drew that last little sigh, my dear— he spoke one word. Do you know what it was, Helen ? " She felt the girl tremble, and, as it were, lapse in her arms. " It was just vour name : it was ' Helen.' You were the last thing in his thoughts upon earth— ihe first in heaven." Helen broke into a long, low wail. She rose from where she sat, and flung off the kind, clinging arms, as if their pity stifled her, and fled up and down the veranda —a storm of grief that beat forth in thick sobs, and es- caped m desolate moans. Mrs Butler did not try to stay her, or even to approach her, as she wavered to and fro, and wrung her hands or pressed them to her streaming eyes. At last, after many moments, as long as hours of common life, Helen suddenly checked herself, and dried the tears that drenched her face. There had come the lull which must succeed such a passion. She stopped before Mrs. Butler, and asked in a husky, changed voice, "Isn't there any trail up to- night ? ' ^ r " Why, Helen— " "Because, if there is, I must take it. I know what you wil say, but don't say it. If you try to stop me I will walk. I am going home" It was too soon yet for her t^ realize that she should never go home again; but the word went to the mother- heart that ached for her with the full measure of its tragicirony, and she perceived Wth a helpless throe of compassion how alone in the world this fair young strick- en creature stood. Ray had sent word to his English friend that he should ^^M 'nnf. irkii^ 1^1 w% iti mziz 1 J ji r . . , o '" "" uoam the yacht that night, brieiiv explaining the trouble that kept him, and promising to 64 A WOMAN'S REASON. home, «nd-» ifc^^v"^'.* ''«'•• Mr. Butler h«« ^ ?""'« tiont.,t,^Sh^h..utedeosaybe^^^^^^ Wt let h.m incur the further L^^ ^'""^y- "J 'he c^u Kay seemed to know. '""' ^^^tement a„d fatigueTbui "I am 'ready" saiH w i ^ ^ come to-morrow Jh . '' ^"^e%. " Mv f rn«i. put my mare into f h w """^ '*^« stabJe-belJ " T.. „"'!■». ^tedVe^ett'ti'TT'' "-J t^'k ht t"?: — ^-'""•u iiu& iooic A woman's reason. 65 "Good-bye all," she said, in a firm tone, and went out and got into the phaeton, where Mrs. Butler was sittim?. Kay sprang to the place beside the driver "Salem Jerry. Quick!" and they flew forward through the evening air, cold and damp in currep*". and warm in lonj? stretches over the smooth road. Jhe • -lelt the heavy scent of the spireea in the swai pv pla. ^3, and of the railk-weed m the sand. She said b. she .as not chilly, to Mrs. Butler; and from time to - -..^ ^aey talked to- gether : about the days beginning to get a little shorter now, and its not being so late as it seemed. Once Kay struck a match and looked at his watch, and the driver looked at Ray, who said. " All right." and did not say anything else during the drive. Again, after silence, Helen spoke. ' 1, 1 ^?\t°°^ I wouldn't let you come with me if I could help it, Mrs. Butler. "DoIrtarofU/' '''P ''' ^'^'' '^"^^^^ *^^ «^^«^- The station was a blur and dance of lights ; she was pushed into the train as it moved away. She sat next the window m the seat with Mrs. Butler, and Ray in the seat before them He did not look round, nor did Mrs. Butler sit ve^ close, or take her hand, or try in any fu- tile way to offer her comfort. The train seemed to so forward into the night by long leaps. Once it stoppld somewhere on the track remote from a station, and Ray went out with some other pasf^^ngers to see what had Happened. Helen was aware of a wild joy in the delay and of a wish that it might last for ever. She did not care to know what had caused it. As the cars drew into the Boston depot she found her handkerchief, soaked with tears, in her hand, and she pulled down her veil over her swollen eyes. „i,^*i^^''i.^'^,^°*^'''®^®^^<^' "Well. Margaret," like a ffhOStJv fifthn nf Itay •ar,.^i.^J il . ? I. ' , ,, ■^ i>- ~," "", "^""^~" giccwiigs, anq rouna Mar- garet s eyes red and swollen too, 66 A WOMAN'S REASON. where forward under the dinill^ • " •"o™meDt, and wb 'he had known he 3^T"« ^ *» ^e pl««e w done de^™«:r:n7h7.p^Sl>'y^^^ ™ral. She stood with rtiS. '..^ """y sa". verv na down at the face, sfo^lytd^J /'f'^.high/ai.I j^" «^ke„ nowad then Z^kt"^^ ITS-^' **»■«• »d «M or touch him. She h.™ J. , ® ""• "ot offer t<. he had departed, and wllS^ i'^. *''« "^^ »"' of whi,A w^ had happened. "*'' ""d speak to her of there'^lE^ ^;;-^B"«er ?°f «■•• Ray. and behind them up the window TKo* . ' *^^ "^ome one harl ihr.r.J, »ow; and now she tlZ.-^*",: '""^ 'h^Sd it S arm was under her S ^X^ ''?' ?ye». and Mr w' »<• M. Butler was ^^hi^^^r Z ^^^^ ^'^ CHAPTER IV. mi u N those days Helen came to understand what her f father had meant by saying, that after her mother a^d her httle brothers died, the house seemed ^nllr of them, and that it did not make him afraid. ISlow that he had died, the house seemed full of him, and she was not afraid. She grew to be weak and sore and almost blind from weeping ; but even when she cowered over the dead face, and cried and moaned to it It seemed something earthly and perishable in her love bewailmg only the earthly and perished part of him, while what was really himself beheld her grief with a high serene compassion, and an intelligence with some immor- tal quiet m her own soul. Whatever it was, whether the assurance of his life after death, or the mere blind eflfect ot custom, i)rolongmg his presence, as the severed nerves refer sensation to the amputated limb, and rehabilitate and create it anew, this sense of his survival and nearness to her was so vivid at times that she felt as if she might could she but turn quickly enough, see him there before her; that the inward voice must make itself audible— the airy presence tangible. It was strongest with her «iat first night, but it did not cease for long afterward. He was with her as she followed him to the grave : and he came back with her to the house from which they had borne him. "^ In this sense of his survival, which neither then nor afterward had any fantastic quality to her, she seemed to draw nearer to him than ever before. He understood now, he knew the depth and truth of her love, through au ner vanities and follies. Something inexpressibly sweet and dear w^ in thig consciousness, and remainea 68 woman's reason. ence of all bereavelnt are harnf *^! ■'^°^°»°'^ «^Peri- tbey seem crude and bo^stlSl ^n^ P"*.i° ^^'•<^«- Said, ' but what is felt is mo^Jhin ^"^ "^^^^^^^ what is felt • Captain Butler (Zeimf? ^"^ ^""^^ ^ '^'^' turn Some, and heS Z *^" ?' "^^"^ .***«^ Helen's re- with her till all waTov^ M^nf "^""^^'^ ^^ ^^« ^^oune wa. there with his^iCt vi^l"!f J?'"" "P *««' ^nd Ray thing seemed done witho.Tl^f ' ^'"''^^^ ^^^^^ every- to weep, to sorrow up^d dl^T^i ^'^'^ ^^ bTt herang^shway,and^didLr^^^^^ they gave fort. When the tempests nflZ • T^*** words ofcom- they left her to hersT when thIf?'^r'P^ °^«^ her, paroxysms came, thej^^ked 1 1 r/"^ ?* 1°"^^« «"«h her to talk of him. Cn she wp! f ^ her father, and led some droll things that Ced X™^'**''^'^""^^- ^t brance m their tllk, she Sauol^f "^11 '°*^ ^^^^^m- treasontohergrief • and if^f laughed, without feeling it called of him fhat touched^^^ wajmeetingaiar^Swn^^^^ It and sadly saying to her " w!?i ?? ®^"^'''® ^^^ the stairs sightofdpti^inlutlerlH^ '^^.''^'^ or catchiS chair in the' libraT;,^^^^^^ her father's vaS and looking suddenly L^'^nd at^r^"^ ^° ^^« breast, ward m his bereaveSlike all.^ «ime time, awk- her with intolerable pathos ^^* ^''^' *hat moved 3he h"dt';rbTci*tror ttrv'^/^^^^^ every day some of Ihem c^me ^l.^^ ^""'S ?^ ^»^' hut mmded her without urZcrfW?*^ ^^® Helen, and re- sooa She said yes, X '4* ^j* f^ ^«^ *« come to them remained without^gc^ing abToad ^,1^'^. '°°'^' ^^^ so ?f the sun. At ni^t when «1?I T "^^""^ ^*^ *he light jn^the morning wienihe ^okeYut T '^1^1^*' ^°^ her tears were dried rZ u ^f^^^^o^gh the day father had said anTl.. A hrooded upon what hZ '— ^«e mt nonvB they had spent ^«ii».^„ A Woman's reason. 69 together, his longing for chanee and for a new life that now seemed to have been prophetic of death. His weari- ness of the house that had so long been his home took a new meaning he must long have been more in the other world than in this, and but for his pitying love for her, he must have been glad when his swift summons came.' She realized at last that he had been an old man. She had known without realizing it that his ways were the ways of one who has outlived himself, and who patiently remams in the presence of things that no longer interest him She wondered if the tie by which she, who was so wholly of the earth, had bound her father to it, had some- times been a painful one. She remembered all the little unthinking selfishnesses of the past, and worse than these, the consolations which she had tried to offer him. She thought of the gentleness with which he always listened to her and consented, and ended by comforting her ; and she bitterly accused herself for not having seen all this long ago. But she had not even seen jbhat he had a mortal disease about him ; she had merely thought him wearied with work, or spent with the heat, in those sinkings which had at first so much alarmed her. The hand carried so often to his heart that she now recognised it as an habitual gesture, had given her no warning, and she blamed herself that it had not. But in truth she was not to blame. The sources of his malady were obscure, and even its nature had been so dimly hinted to him that doubtless her father had justified himself in keeping his fear of it from her. Perhaps he had hoped that yet some- how he could struggle to a better footing in other things before he need cloud her young life with the shadow that hung upon his own ; perhaps the end of many resolutions was that he could not do it. She wondered if he had himself known his danger, and if it was of that which he 80 often began to speak to her. But all now was dark, -an^ tiiis question and every other searched the darkness' in vain. 7o WOMAN^S REAS6.V.. «^ually remote. She wia^^L'I^'' T'^eS world Z ^Jl or the fitness touZvwt^^^l' ^'"^' ^^t^oat the W'th a vague resentment^m fh^ *''*,'.*?'' ^^^ ^^^'^K him from her. "*' *"■" *•>« world that had taken her the tact that no MenaS^ ^?^^' ^^©aled also to which there was perfSt un ?v^^^^^^^^ «"PPly the love in perfect rest. Every day when^l^^^^^^ ^^^ desire, and they brought her word from som« ^''i^''^ ^°^« to her had known her fath«»r i„ ? ? °"® ^°®> ^om people wiio ^Jlly met hIr^ln72o^JlT' ^'T ^^'^^^ ^^o lad hw death. A mre m*.^? i ^°^ ^P^ke their reeret for «^nding in the^J^rfatl^rr '^' ^--^^ a not have won him ; and meTwho^^*"'' Prosperity could stuff had a regard for him whi^^ "^T ^^ ^"^<^ ^'^^ther expressed itself in affecAonof ^'.P^^'^^P^ «ow and then yet full of reverend 'TWfo^f^^^^ ^'^^ ^^^^h wS the quiet constancy with wSLru ''^ something heroic hi hattle a^d now that it wa^^^^ ^^^^U his Lg, iS honest regrets and spoke Thel? W ^*' ^^^^ ^^ *l^ei? Helen very proud of her fath Jr f??* ^"'T^'' ^t made ^th a swelling heart t^en^Ll^^V^^^J «^« ^^^d newspapers, and even the C^ ^^^ ^^"^ him in the tiona wSich expressed the bsTth/r^'*^'^^ ^^^^ ^esolu! had suffered in the iiJlh T ^® commerce of the citv and integrity 5tseThLf ^et'll'^* f.}^ «^"^«g fonder of his meworv thev K. 1,1 i"^' P^'ouder ard she should have known so Stfl«?^\* ^^' * P^^g that and should never havl cared t ft ""^ "^^^^ ^""'""^^ his 'ife from herself. "^^ ^^^^^^ ^ ^^^ow anything of it apaVi have teri^o^r^^t ^jU'^S^e ^'J^N^^^ ^^^^ to him good ani kind, w^Lu^ihifi^f..^?^ .always believed ^^"6 vx mm in that way. A woman's reason. 71 But now fchere came poor people to the door, who some- times asked to see her, or who sometimes only sent by Mar- ?rL^ I how sorry they felt for her, and to say that in>, nF?f *" ^f *^n *'""" J *^** ^^^^ ^ g«od friend to Jw fl. i, ^^T}1 '-"'^'^ ^ ^^ b«"^^ acquainted with ?n whi vf^l' k' T^ ^^^"^ ^^T^" «^°"«« ««t ^^ in a light m which she had never seen him bofore. It touched Helen that they should frankly lament her father's dealh ^ another of their deprivations, uiore than if they had pre- i? iltof '^r'^^.t' r.?^^^^ ""'"^ ^^^' ^""^ '^^ di? not take It HI ot them, that they generally concluded cheir bless- ngs on his memory with some hint that further benefa^- hTh.7fi be gratefully received. The men accepted her half-dollars m sign that their audience wa^ ended, and went away direct y; the women shed tears over th; old Sen ^^^^ ' ^"""^ '*^^'^ ^ ^""'^ *^^ i^ *be ih?.""^ H ^^*!u '^r.^ }^^ *^^^**^y ««e^ tl^'-ee or four of these visitors, the be 1 rang, and Captain Butler's boots W of aT"f '^T- '\l ^""' "°* ^^*^ '^^' ^^^ cheerful hmt of a burly roll in the wearer's gait, but subdued and fr^A ^R 1 ^' ^PPr«^«h«l with unnaturally measured on hts b?easT '^'^°^ '""^^ ' ^"""'^ *^^ ^'"^^ °"* ^^3^^°^ "Oh, Captain Butler ! I felt just now that papa must be here Ever since he died he has been with me sle- W T I '^7u V^^ ^/^y '^ ' ^^'^^ °° ^<>'-ds can ever tell how I have felt it ; and just before you came in, I kmm that he was going to speak to me." intotface "" ^^^^ ^^'' ^^^^ ** arm's-length and looked me" ^.T^f'^^IJ!"?'!^ '^""^ ""^ ^ b^ y«^ home with TnlXu r ^^'f ^ .^TP ^ ^^°^« * ^«°»ent too soon. You have been alone m this house quite long enough. My God, if he could only speak to us !'*^ ^ ^ -'i':^-"'^ w.xvivixcu iiiuiseir as lie walked ud and down the hbraiy, with hi, face twitching, and hi^l^d 72 A WOMAirs REASON. knotting itself into r fist ,h hia -j came and sat down in ht « ! "! ^'^®' ^^^^ P'^^sentl. he He w^ted till si::"i ^i^^^Sd^^ <^^-^near Hel^:^ fore he be^an to speak. ^*^ *"^ ^'^P^^ ^er eyes be- " Vye won't .• , ,k , f f ' ? ^^"^ ^^PP^ness." " « ""^ I wouIdn^t corn., i^ I thoulffr ^^ S*^"^^' any longer : I ..o^ilci^'t come if Th T^^ "\^^« i* ^'ere go," cried Helen. ^' "^ ^ ^^^ anywhere el«. to «\"' ^''^^^ - Tal^of aT.tf ^^*--<^ ^'^- What I have to say toVou nL • " *^*^ *"«*her timn f ec de. Do y,, ^^^ ^^^ "ow is something for you to i:>«sine88 withme?" ^ *^® ®^^*^ *<> talking a little - es. It will take up your mind " tMn. ab^lt yl^tCt ^^^ " *<« ^"^ ^now any. »si wmdowsopen?" ^^ *^®^^^^ J^ave one of these ■WW ua^K i^nes aroim^ lifl». ^--- . ': 'dpvBsenfcl, he lir near Helen. 9d her eyes be- you they had y ^lad ?,c go bnugiLu my d the captain. thing besides ried.^ ndure it here ^ere el^fc to returned the another time. : for you to ^ing a little t a loss how know any- i. l>" the eap- Btly right; nd—it's all ne of these can opt ; A Woman's reason. 73 jog .ee., to grow upt't^^el ta^rngb'^i^L"' sT; had been added to hL age in tlf« W°f ^ '^u*'" y^"" settlement. The businZwi left ?n » IV^*™ '? ^^'''y it's apt to be the ease." Ca'plTn tut^rtd'^ ~"cSr" ^ ■■ Weil w^'"'^/*''^ '^"^ """"^ him." U. .a.es a will,' i^tl'^: ^ t tK^S is^^l! wWoh Z'^Jtmck H.Te!:?"'" '■"Ir "'^ °f di^oceapation, "Would v^n I? f """■*, *''*'' ''h't he wasiayin.r asked. ^''" ''''' "• '"'''^^- Captain Butler ?'^^e to hia-b^ast^olir"."/ a't\"fot;— ^' '^"""''^ *"- setthe^rhX^oLTaltfh'r^ '"^ ''''"-'--i when he hJ'^lZXTthtrYti^Vt' MT\' each other without speaking ^""^y '""''^ "» wi'irK^'f,*""^"^ -natch, and said, aooWetio^ll^ 74 A woman's reason. sigwtt^ Ms chair .Uh a ^ace presently resumed :^ ^'"^ '"^"'^^ ^^^^ Helen's As there is no will anr] «« 1 ,'^ fi.^'"»«'''"<'r: ' te r." f ■ *.!"^!? -"' have IS il am as nt as any one. I'm surp V^.r' """ " suppose i more for your father's inSrests an^ »'°'' ''''' could care rather more of his affairs tWo 1^.°''°"^' ^nd I know have to make your w shes In ^"^^.°^^ ^^'^' You ^^m easily managed^ InZ mean?Z'^ ^°T' ^"* ^^^'b away don't you think, whUe we?'' Tt ^^^ ^^**^r be I don't know what th^riJ L^ ^'^^ lookmg into thinog there;s to be some sort of sul^.^^' '^^%> ^"^ I suppofe C.^ better be ala^^S ^ ^ t^^^^^^ "Whrye^ r S;^- the h , . ,,,, 3,^„ ^form ; a necessary iSrm." "^^^""^^^^ assented. '• It's And- -yes mate it much easier for'^^ «2,°ig-ri. Helen, and you belongs oyou. and g„ as ?f v!S^»"P everything tW The captam made a ^wL^r ^^''? g»">» to Itay." smoked without looijin?,?n^i ''""' "' heartiness aid «« d put together ali hf S", J «"» "^^^ *» ho^^^ retain and !•]] see that t&„ 7°" """W "ke to Captam Butler tnSt ik • -^ ^^^^ me." -asion, as he noTuti^'i!:^ ''-."^-th i- com- — ■ «vx puisziea lace. "We A Woman's heason. y^ " YoiL*^f„^ '^•'•• **'<• J^e'en, quickly, tain °" **" ' «" "° ''""g ''«'■« "lonl" re^rted the cap- lerX^tg d™ty^ '^^'- -<» '-ed Captain But- "You see," he sairl «<*t,o4. Helen," he said with LshownF ^^T'*- '"^'°^*- And, fulnes;, " / think vou had Wf '/^.^.^'^''^^^^ ^^e^' -re you, I shouVs^U itl o^t' Youfc^^ '' ^ for it." ^®' * ^^ " never get more Jy, what would becon,e of Margaret?" gaaped a»It?^e"^?rLK-<^i^i'«»^*'>^^^ Wewant tta/await W eXti°M''*" ^7? V '■"''-« I wou d sell the fumif nrT « T -1 ^^^ ^^ ^ ^ere you. that you have noT «ol ^ ^^""^T' '^"^ ^" ^^^^ things eveiyt^hing onLrsoriThoSMt^^^^^^^ "^T *Tn "4^ no comment, and the captain went on '^T ^ "" '^'^\T^^ 18 very painful, Helen—" "^ ^"°^ ^.U this -benight heCl^ t^lKX lUt^ "S^'^S'^^'^^e^'anTd^oi?^^'^" Butier. Ma|?etTVttti.tte^';>''-<' '^^'^ "P- answered it, d.ying her htlTjil^?.?!""- Margaret in, and then with a nreseienfB 'J rt" "'""" "^ ™* '^™e -ting the. folded uC^Sp^'^^eTS'tS 76 WOIIA^NS KEASON, process of time prt viflp« f Ko « ' preC said the ^apWn 'mS:'^:^'"'"'^ ~°''»- "^^^■ meto ask you to ame too " ' ■"'«'' ■'•"'•f S ;e;^-a you i-oV!^rerC-f-,|rve\™B^^ ing'her'n^pe^ '"Tut fef ft^'- »«« --ey- more and more." ^ ^ ^""'"^ f"^' the change yel'oTnir^"' *« "Ttain, impatiently, "do you mean ^.KnVif^^XttT^^^ hw cordiaf advance, andC wait^;( . ' '^'^ '^'■■•^"«« '" •"^f^ "Haveyou'anyc ■oTp^ltL':" "/"f '«f''« he 1 had arrane-ed " vo,vi ^ '^ ^ cousin's of miu?that Hves'inXp' f ''"'y- "*» g" '» » toe for some small If^^Wi^.f"'^:^^!^'^ the„id,er- only keep oiie girl" '^ l^ambnd,™ wher« mey ing'^tdylotrtun&fr'' cold for.. ,ht in hav- ?«t for heielf ;"„TaTtWs exp^r ^ ^ ""^ ^""'^^^ m? passion, she could not h.^f sS ^ '^''' ™'- The captain ga-e an angry snort but to J™' I^^-IX^^;^ 'l"^"' j^'h-g «> do pocket^.ook'^. "fewmuchluf?' ■"<* ""^ *»<>t o«t his " Thei edwith theS.La^^^^,f;S_-??,'<'-«/'Margaret -i-""-^ , ior. iiaricness paid ] return- paid me up." A woman's reason. 77 thrc".'''"'' P'^ y^" "P *^ *^« P-«-^ «-e," said "Ishould wish to consider Miss Helen my ffuest for The captain gave a laugh; but Helen, who knew all fed^''"""" "'■ "'"'"'■ '"<' ''- i-"Perabir;rid" •• You may, Margaret," she aaid, gently. eyJm^in\ff Helen," said Margaret itting her eyes now t.>i the first time to glance at Helen Sho rr. J"*"^ * ""^""'^ of Belf-dTsmksal, and went back to the kitchen, leaving the captain hot and baffled .• , ,"«''». I think It wou d bo better to spII i, -f The finesse that the captain was usiim in «li fK« u • nes3, wreathing the hard ?egal TgeS of Le ca eTn flowers of auggestion and Counsel and puttCo^ all » smiling a.r of volition, could neve; be f ?Uy kfown ex ever^thiSg. ^'"'"'""'^ "'"' ^"■"'^ ^elen a^ence! to "I shall be glad to have you do whatever voii thint ;. best. Captain Butler," she answered "I h»™^ f ,• about the house-it-; stran^'Zt I'sho ld7t We-^§ I dcm t care how soon it is sold, nor how it is sol " Ihc oapiam instantly advances! . step further Perhaps you wouldn't care to nomrbii k to it »* .ii 78 ■* woman's reason. J Did you think 6r ..i,i„g th, f„„.^„^ ^^^ ^^^ «°ne. You^J have to ll l"'''"" t""- ""« hS^r^ aon^ wish it- '° ''°~ "' yo" kno^r. ^ still, i? ^^ better '^1^-" |j^, ^el^". ^a«,i„g , , breath, "it had "^fe t^ii;l» ^S^^ j?'-^"^ ""--" take everythinff th«f k*! ^"^^^e- I should like vnn *^ ex.^pt wi^Biblf-aadgrveTeit''"' <^''P'»» bX1° could use them. Then t * , ^ ""°« ?«<"• People that perhaps hi, chair, and -° 'C"' f ^ "^ t&4! a^d t»m, not to look it her cast f rlj' "°PP'^' ""'I ^e ,Z. " Those Coplevs of Jl^^ ""« «y« about the room marked presentl^'' ^ """^- y" «■<»■" reserve/' h^"' " No," said ITpJ«r. «< t jellihe.n. But I sLlI LTm/^V^'^'P^^- ^- -- I think papa ^.ould like me to » ' P'°*^"^^' »>««a«so Ihe sense of her fafh«r'o words touched thfiptoin alaT" ff T''^^^ '" ">ese out he was still hoawlin . ^* "* cleared his throat ^<">ld buy the CopTeys" B^^' " ^ ^'""^ 'ho ^^^m about her fate to raZ any^:nTv '^'""'^ *°" ^^iffe?!" i^iT's r Sd ";fcr" "-■ ->- explain anything to Helen It °,"'' ^'"S obliged to "ay. and he wis unrinahlA*''"™ J"*'' fears fn any .H« m.ght, perhaps, W Sfj 'ir'^r'? by the facT Ignorance of affaira withnnt k • ""* ^'"''« 'roth to her than he had had teen ^°th J^'/l* ""'?'! ""^ intelligible 1.0 had said, .. Your felloe, d!' J''l?.u''l'!'",' OY"™' ^ If -— rr*ux. liia Duaii4es& in the A woman's reason. 7d utmost confusion, and probably insolvent" she wnnlrl scarcely have realized that life wa^ Lt toVo" Tstlf could Helen Harkneas have conceived of hereelf inthT ,fc'- T "^ *^^^««^^^ who had droppertheMears into their tea-cups in the kitchen, as they Sd over the old clothes she had given them ? 'it had^wTu^g the c^d and letTe rt'T ^-^^^P-- people, and ^of^ng^^ and 3et he rose from his chair, when he saw Helen sftMl "'' You Turrr'"^^' ^^"^"^^^^^ iike chiS^sf " Jtou just make a memorandum of whaf vnn'H \ih.^ reserved, Helen." he said, "and I'll attend to it for vou Put your own little traps together and I'll InVo ^ "' age to take you down to the fKclock tra L lv?S^'" you th nk of afterward of couilJe wXe kept fof 7ou ""^ do alJ niir *° '^!' V^^- ^' "^ ^' leasTsometC to do, and Helen went about it with an ener^r whi^K .k? was surprised to find in herself At fi^T%. ^u with which the silent ho^l^LetloTseZ'^^^ ence smote upon her, but it did not last long Home had died out of It, a« life had gone out of he^lthlr'rdust and neither house nor grave was anything to her Sh« eTiVTT"! *\^^«"^' ^^^ opened clos^ete and dmw! ers. and looked at a hundred things. She ended iHl ^^il^I ' uT^ * ^''y ^'^- I^ «he couldTot keep ^U why should she want any ? Whatever it seemed desecra tion to seU she put on her memorandum to beXn awlv She selected a large number of things for Ma?aaret Ind when she sat down at the old Bo.toBian haKt two luM '^'"'''f ^*? ""^^^ ^^^ ^^ther had alwaysVept) she ^^ 80 A woman's eeason. Helen me for aU the time ! Wh»ZL^ ^^ ''" y" "iss Captein Butler ? and hTso ZdX '^'' ^^ ^° '^^ ^^'^ MarS^Tn&iUrali^^^TuUrr''-''' place." ^ '■*''• " "'""Id have been a nice "wtwelfr cried Htw""^ *!? ' ^^" " - "l-ge.'.' do a3 yoi please ; Tut y^ teednT?'''"*.^^- " '^"^ ">"»* Helen's nerves ^JZ ° • ' ''*™ *'««" "<> "oss." went on child^h y^Yo^^^^^S *» .&<> -ay, and she be together always. Do you VaotTh. , 7 ''"''• ^""8 *<> "^S: Sr„?>"^ -'"^^ '"'"^ '"'' lasl mottrmfdo^tr tr-'l *» *-"' "•« "t tie ^^a^.OnwIfhtUZ^^-ni^'^XMis, i« t- bad' ' " ^^tedtl^n^"^ »"'* T* ' ^his a compliment to you as vn, ?oii •. Vrl ^'" ^ b»* "nder behave .0 at the"^ iL ^11^*^ f^'"'* *^^^^^ proud for anything and vm, n!' rV ^^^' ^«" ^^ too " Oh, Miss HeJen M' ^ ^^"^ "^'^ '^^^ ^^^ °«e.» ter~;ci h^e'^^^ur oCc^or ^^^^^^^ '^^ *^« bet- If you'll be the happie/frit 7' rn"*"^ ^ ^^°'<^ ^^re, are, Margaret : you're I Jlv ''*'' *f " ^^^ ^^^^^ you one hate you. The charr^'/Ff ^' *f^ ^'°" "^^^e every and I'm /ad of iV' '''°'' ^'"^^^ ^^^*^«en u.-quite! A WOMAN S REASON. 81 Margaret went out without saying anything, and Helen tried to go on with her dinner, but failed, and began her inventory again, and at last went to her room and dressed for her journey. She came down into the library just bexore starting, and rang for Margaret, When the cook appeared the yonng girl suddenly threw her arms round her neck " Good-bye," she sobbed out, " you good, old, wicked, foolish, stuck-up Margaret. I'm glad you didn't come to the Butlers'; it would have killed me to see you S?T^ ' Good-bye, good-bye ! Remember your poor little Helen, Margaret, and come to see me ! I can't bear to look into the kitchen ! Say good-bye to it for me ' Oh my poor, old, slighted, happy home ! Oh, my home, my home, my home ! Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye ! " She ran wildly through the well-known rooms, and bade them adieu with heart-breaking farewells ; she stooped down and kissed the lounge on which her father used to lie, and spread out her empty arms upon it, and laid her homeless head where his had rested. At the sound of the beJ she sprang up, and opened the door herself, and fled down the steps and into the carriage, shrinking into the larthest corner, and thickly hiding her face under her black Yt I She seemed to herself part of a vast train of events Without control, without volition, save the will to obey, fehe did what she was bid, and the great move- ment went on. Somewhere must be arrest, somewhere repose ; but as yet she could not foresee it, and she could only yield herself to the forces carrying her forward t A^?IS^^^^ *^ ^^® Butlers' because Captain Butler had told her to come ; she had assented to everything he proposed because he had seemed to wish it; but she felt that he was as powerless as she in the matter. If he had proposed every thing of contrary effect, she must still have yielded the same. Captain Butler joined her at the station half an hour ,„,.^, n^a iciu iiwuic, auu jusc m time to step on board the tram with her. He was hot and looked vexed. When 82 A WGitfAN's REASON. I ; o^&ei"^^;^',: »» r " W," «aid he. .. that you undLtaad Z heteTa&T"'' "^ ^urst -Didn't f?r the laat two weeks wWhTllj ^ '^^'^t ^«' ""g^^ mder you her guest ? " ^"^ *« wished to con- "IVe be»*rnTtt*thTbuttht'"a7d';T^ *« -P'^- Stood now the secret of M? !P' • '^^%- She under- and of herrelS e1^^^^^^^ acceptiDg a reciprocal benST It wf ^ ?f ^hospitality by queer, but so like Marlret that T^?^ "^11^"^ ^^«" a«d much to laugh astowTepatit st"" ^'\^^^^^^tso Butler was annoyed af fTfi \ ^'^^ ^^w that Captain thought he wouTCe toTLt '"'? '^^" ^atter^«S3 She said very gentlyr-W-rilf^r/K* ''''J ^^^^^ time. a- tHed. ^erhaps?erS^^:^f,^.H,^er^^^^^^^^^^ H,,?„T" '°^'"' """ yo"'- »«'«»% going to stand it. " i'es, why not ? It ioy^H „„ -^ , . " i^es, why not ? It isnV «, ,t i. , — - ^qaal,you know Uan't ?e"i^W ^?^ ^'"^ " ^"^ wet; and it wiU.iT' !f L*H' 't's a disgrace from Ma'l^ret CdttJu dT ' ^^''^ *'"" it's a dTa^iac no idea how m'uch Sh^' fe ' I;!? """"> good-yonw! bora, and surely I may accen' «,.^ t-"^ "'^ ''»<=« ^ «"« may. tC^^^H ^. '^Z T^^!"? ^"^^s with dis- "-T-T ain-tt^s aoue — en A woman's BEASON. 83 prvncesse. He wondered what possible conception she had formed of her situation. Sooner or later he must tell her what it was. CHAPTER V. >APTAIN BUTLER beUeved that his old friend had died a bankrupt ; he represented the estate as in- solvent,and the sale of the property took place at the I* earliest possible day. A red flannel flag, on which the auctioneer's name was lettered, was huno- out from the transom above the front door, and at ten o\jlock on a dull morning, when the sea-turn was beginning to break in a thin, chilly rain, a long procession of umbrellas began to ascend the front steps, where Helen had paused to cast that look of haughty wonder after the retreating policeman. The umbrellas were of all qualities, from the silk that shuts into the slimness of a walking-cane, to the whity-brown, whalebone-ribbed family umbrella, under which the habitual auction-goer of a certain size and age repairs to her favourite amusement. Many of the people had a suburban look, and some even the appearance of having arrived by the Fitchburg Railroad ; but there was a large proportion of citizens, and a surprising number of fashionably-dressed ladies, who, nevertheless, did not seem to be of that neighbourhood ; they stared curiously about them, as if they had now for the first time entered a house there. They sat down in the sad old pariour, and looked up at the pictures and the general equipment of the room with the satisfied air of not findings it, after all, any better than their own. One large and handsome woman, whose nersnn f.rAmKlorl anA f«Tiv.L-l^yl «ii ^ ii.i. i,i--i_ t . Stood m the middle of the floor, and had thw effeQt of M 84 A WOMAN'S REASON. -"'&„ril?:rrhr%»^'''«P'-- People ■ peering i^^ clLt and fefc/lli''"' ?'^ *" e»^l elderly won,en in feeble health l~fl*°'^ ''°°"' • several of the stair-ways nressinlTl, ■ T *.'° ''^ "»«' »' the turns -dcatehingth'eiCh^ hliS^^^^^^ ot the concourse had com« +^T •^" * ^^^ apparently . began they densely ttoS the ^^* ^^^^ the sJe ding successively went on^nl ^5°,^«/° which the bid- ther to get out o^f The packed doZ^^' ^n^.'^ ^^^ «^« ^^o- jnglong the auctioneerinfon J i?- ?"'• ^^^whoJe morn- half, and half. doThear thpTh '" '^*°* «^ "^^^Jf. and a f quick ''>^o^i/''as from tW^^^ with ^ot or that. The cheapert " ^^^^ ^^^^^ off this who bid with a kind of reluctanT^S ?^'°^ ^«"^en, each her store of those mWfpS i t*''^ ^^* ^^g^ther terize furnished lodgtuT^tev T^'^K"' ^^^^^ ^harac- wraps and thread gloves • otW^^'l '^'*P ^^°^^^'« hair thers of families sho3 /i. • t?' f ^^ ^^^n^ed poor mo- pre^sedanxioud^^SXo^Jsid'^^^^^ India shawls, and bid upon ?he ki nL'^^'' ^ ^'^^tation Copleys were bought, a. Captain BuifX T'^^''^^' ^he the Museum of Fine Art., ffEi?"*^?"" ^^^ expected, bv by men who got hem W to « ?'" ^•^'''^^S^ ^^^e boughl ous bazaars they w^re des^-^ ^^*'"' ^"""^ '"^ ''^''' '"^^- hand refrigerato^rnTstrip^^^^^^^^ «econd- Captain Butler would Xd?v h« ^ ^^T>eting. the auction, but his dutf in^^^^ away from avoided. Helen had givTn him « nffl^ "^* to be served from he sale, wh Ih she Wl ^'^^ ^^'""^^ *« be re- heads. The first wa;rarked«Fn. «?/''" T\ "^^^^ two short, and easily managed by setlkc^^^^^^ T^ ^^'' ^^« ^^ry the sale began. But thf list orarticl^^^^^^^ ^^^^^e ;a.s on a scale which troubled th!> f ^^^^^^away," while it forlornly amn.^^ V ^^^ ."'^^^'^^ conscience the gir, had doueXit;l''re^i''^ It™!?!'''--^' -:-wv -.vruag-ea the A woman's reason. 85 creditors of the estate, and that put it quite beyond Cap- tain Butler's power to humour her unwitting munificence by purchasing the things to give away. He used a dis- cretion with which he invested himself, to put all the valuable articles up at the sale, and bestowed in charity only the cheaper matters on Helen's list. Even then, the auction was an expensive affair to him. He was unable to let certain things, with which he intimately associated his old friend, pass into the hands of strangers, especially things connected with the India trade. He bought the Chinese vases and bronze monstei-s, the terra-cotta statues and ivory carvings, the outlandish weapons, and Oriental bric-4-brac, which in the age of Eastlake mantel-shelves, then setting in with great severity, he discovered to be in great request. His dismay increased as these costly and worthless trea- sures accumulated upon his hands, for his house was already full of them, to the utmost capacity of its closets and out-of-the-way corners. Besides, he laid himself open to the suspicion of bidding in, and remained under that doubt with many. He had a haughty way of outbidding that stood him in no good stead, and went far to convince the crowd that all the sales to him were sham. The auction, which began in the basement, ascended through the several stories, wandering from room to room, till it teached the remotest attic chamber. Then, all the personal property had been sold ; and it descended again to the first floor, where the crowd was already much thin- ner than at first, and was composed mainly of respectable- looking citizens, who had roai,.- i^^ bid on the house, or to see how much it would bn.g The fashionably dressed women were gone ; it was n ?t lo ;;g before the last auction- goer's whity-brown umbraik, expanded after the usual struggle, went down the front steps, and round the next corner. The auctioneer took his stand in the parlour be- fore the picr-giaas, — into whicli Hei^u looked that day to see whether her trouble with Robert had changed her, — 86 A woman's reason. J^lV^^^Pectable audience hp to^\- ,® "*^w confronted toll "'^ "^i'^^^^^ ^Sr i^ hS'lfJ?"*/ ^^*«« -^antt ousij, his eyes shone witt; «' °^ <^^^^ed upon nerv ;nd his whole hceZZeLd T'l^^^^^^ ? % ^^i^die, any way. ^ ^ '''*'' *^« J^^e of life's be- . /gentlemen," he said -T* , , instrument, however hum^nJ ^^^?"^ed in t^i^g the to your consideration--?Ss owS'^l^^ *^i« Pr^erty tradition and association Lit """^^."^^io^rich n select quarter of Boston V u ® ^^^ ^eart of the mn«f W .gentlemen^- a^c" t^Lf "'^ exam^he that ;t IS in repair, and thatUhtno i!;'' ^i'^'' ^*^« '^^^ nnr n I '"^^^^^^'^"ate nor au^hJ .^°''^*^™®°t to make ^ur coloured brother «o!^r,-_^"M^* ^^t down in maJi.. ' „! nothWextPn^T^^^^^^^^as n»« « ,*"6 extenuate nor flnnri.+ x 'i — "^'"^ut w) make -these gentlemen. arer^^^Xt'. S^^- «l«8^t Gentlemen, I wiJl n„f » I -"-■-wH«i.' poaition of tho house T ''°""' a"ention to the eli^W ?nd I am proud rtakerfo™"' '''" ^^to" ft^e' t« mytructiona from j! ,,° {f. granted that you m. J "' ;^' s tf ?' s - itt H^ff -^'>'" e^ i^ou know the valv.^ ^* xi. , *^°°.-ti"l, I sav evfinr. "'■^ - ..^ vocation, you know't^e *iWMlHIMU«ig||l.^ A woman's beason. •neither side of his reputation, s a frightfully rthe property le captain had iow confronted >- little aslant ; which he put ed upon nerv- •ous twinkle, dacity, and a e of life's be- in l-eingthe lis property 3ion, rich in of the most ^amined the ^ve seen ent to make ' malice,' as f not insult I its entire ya. better letter than Jeptions of y. elegant 87 e eligible ^ces here, need no say that y eVftrv- now the character of the social surroundings,— you know what I jnmn and all that I mean. I do not appeal to strangers here, I appeal to the old Boston blood, animated by a generous affection for our city and its history, and unwil- ling to see dishonour cast upon her by the sale, even in these ruinous times, of a property in her midst at less than Its full value. Gentlemen, I feel that you will stand by me m this matter ; and I have the pleasure of opening the sale with a bid of ten thousand dollars. Is this so? Mr. Wetherall ? " ' The gentleman addressed, in the midst of the laughing crowd, nodded slightly. ® The auctioneer looked keenly at the far a an irregu- lar semicircle before him. " With a bid of ten thousand dollars from Mr. Wethe- raU, he resumed, "Mr. Wetherall, gentlemen, does not want the property, and he does not dream of getting it at a sixth or seventh— in any other times I should say a tenth— of Its value. But he does not choose that it shall be disgraced by the offer of any ignobler sum ; and, gen- tlemen, if Mr. Wetherall had not made this bid, I should have made it myself in good faith. I am offered ten thou- ^nd, ten thousand, ten thou— eleven, from Mr Wheeler Foi^ don't want the property either, Mr. Wheeler, but I thank you nevertheless. Eleven, eleven, eleven— do I hear the twelve ? Twelve from Mr. White. The W.'s are doing well but we must mount higher yet in the alphabet. Iwelve; do I hear the thirteen ? Five hundred ! Thanks 1 twelve five, twelve five— thirteen ! Going at thirteen, at thirteen— fourteen ! This is something like, gentlemen : this IS very good as a genteel relaxation ; fourteen has its merits as part of the joke ; but, gentlemen, we must not pve too much time to it. We must come to business before long; we must indeed. I am willing to accept these N^-^o^^'fei i*^„^ P^!^®°A but— fifteen, did you say, Mr. ~-c..^i ? ixiank j^uu for iliteeu, 1 am offered fifteen, fif- teen, fifteen, by an eminent American humorist; fifteen, 88 Woman's reason. fifteen, going at fifteen ny. f^y twenty, |nd htZ sStCT' ^'""^"sn •' Some one to the wo?k^ t?''T''- «'«■ Now we aL S '''°"'*"'^- b^^ns r;^-, ?;en'rthr^1 *,h« ^i^^ ^X^'SZ do I hear the twenty-one " T, ^j I! *^'''™ ^'- Everton- twenty-one, and fern Mr Neln^''t*S*'" ' ^ do hear the tt!^°? '^'"^"'^ "barge of eWantTfl"^''^'''"^ ^''- «pu- twofrom Mr. White, l^ho alto?,!! -"^'"e; ""d twentv- fstmg « past. Gdn™ at , J TT' ">»' ""e time for rs:t°v^" ' '>-?twU;Tht*r\f t»-tX A nnft ' ^ "■"«"*' '» say it is on?v L °I °"'-^ 'wentv- A qoiek succession of sm.llVj ^ twenty-two, three" to tw»ty-four thousa^iatth'ch srjr^' "'« ^^ "P "GoL •''*'"""^ of the auSni'T " '»■»& in spite tw^P^rA^"^ ^«^^^r« to Mr WhS A^^^^S: at twenty. tone "rv f,' "^ addressing them in n i • '^^^ ^^^^t- ffed^ltnlV'^^acT^^^^ S^-Zi^l^^etlEr-"^^^^^^^^ "P"" you. . But Ih^veltnZZr'^ '" ™P--os» ite X your own intelligence, totwl!"./"" «wn sagacity, tl - • u^. wiat you are aJI Boston A woman's reason. 89 men, and all acquainted with the prices of adjacent pro- perty, and the worth of this. I may have deceived myself • but I appeal to you vow, gentlemen, not to let me suffer by the confidence I have reposed in you. My professional repute IS m your hands. If this estate goes at twenty- tour thousand dollars, I am a ruined man." A general laugh, m which the auctioneer himself joined so far as to smile, met this appeal. He ran his eye over the assembly Suddenly he exclaimed : " Thank you, Mr. Everton ' Waa it twenty-six ? " He leaned forward over his desk, and beamed with a flattering gratitude upon the new-comer. " No, twenty-four fifty," replied Mr. Everton, in a weak dry voice. * " Thank you, all the same, Mr. Everton. You are none the less my preserver. Thank you for twenty-four, fifty We breathe agam. Twenty-four fifty.-do I hear the five ? Twenty-four fifty -y^iH you give me the five ? Iwenty-fiye; very good, twenty-five thousand, twenty- five, twenty-five— just one-fourth of the worth of the es- tate in prosperous times. Now let me hear the twenty- six! Gentlemen, said the auctioneer, again breakinjr from his chaunt, and lowering his voice to the colloquial tone, you all know the story of the sibyl and her books • How, when she came with nine copies in the first instance' she asked a sum which struck the officials as a fancy price; how she went away and burnt three of the edition and then asked twice the original price for the six ; and how, when she had burnt three more, they were glad to take the rest off her hands at her own terms. We have here a parallel case." II Don't see the parallel," said one of the crowd. wl,.n r"' r;- ?°^^^' • ^^^"' y«« ^^^1. presently, when you have failed to buy this property for half the ^TJj^tlTi^ ^^.^^^^ ti offer ^the'pu^aserTor his M^%T ^7 ^ ^""i^ J-wency-six irum you, Mi liogers V " Mr. Rogers laughed and nodded. " Twenty .it it is, from 90 A woman's RE:*sojr. various tones of exultation r!^ \ ^"."^ *^'' '^"^ ^"^ several minutes A Jain and « ^ ^^l^ T^ persuasion for the point of knocking off L^.hf '^ ^' ^^"^^<^ ^i«>«^^f to retired from it uponfom^^ '^^d then a higher bid. Brnonrcame 0^0'?,^"^ ^"^.^"^ ^^^^^ to have come: everv onfiTnT^ u^"!"^ ^^ "'^^ ^^ «eem tioning look shook hi«T„^ ^ """^ ^' *"""^^ withanues- tioneer's mob le countet^^^^ P^P' ^'"^^^- ^^« ^'^«- couragement. He tb^r asid. b '" ^^iT "^ ^^^ ^i^" down his waistcoat/ ''/wonWlffh^^'^ ^"^ ^^^ price. I suppose there arlZn t^"*^^« Property at tHa4 it. but I won't CanSi?. R !i '^^^^^^ ^ity who woulcl/db. with you7 He ca^^'^own fl l'^'"'l ^^^^, ^ ^^^^ to a corner with tl /^JI?n fX ^*^ ^T^' *°^' »*e<^i^-^ng: show of passi^t*^..;!^^°\^^r^f him in a dumg his place he wore a vk^v nf Jif .? he agam mounted to, men, I have done mv 4t tf ^J'T^ " ^^^^^ ^•^<^^- withdraw the proSlt; and J? ".t^^ ??J^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ The crowd laulheT and the «.?.-^'' ^^^^^ «*^"fi«^-" "But he feels bound Sy the LmfTr' T' '""^^^^^^^ let the sale proceed The nrnnf^f ^u ^''^'''^ *° ^^^ to- reserve. . Now let u«, «p« Wi,^'^*'^ ""'" ^^ «old without, the same im^an Lous^^^^^^^^ will meet him in. in blank amaze while thlHtV ?^''' ^"^^^^ ^^^^^^ on, eiaii as the auctioneer DrocBedo.! • « t,„„„j. '*°" seven ." proceeaed . l wenty-seven, twenty- "f^^^^'''" ^"^ *''° '*'' '^''1." «aid a bystander Mr Wetherall. Twenty T^'^'? * "°<» '«■» my friend, seven five hundred. Mr^elSf rS..''„'i .^'"'y J"» ana m tvrenty-eight. The keen"a«o(ion"«ricered A woman's reason. 91 their rivalry, and played upon it so artfully that in five minutefi the property was croin^ at thirty thoudai. I to Mr. Jliverton. lie came to ti.e thud going, in ' thrice- repeated warning, when he once more paused, ; janinr^ £frj him ''^ ^ ^"""^ °^ ^'^^'"^ incredulity up. .he face? "k^hT^ZTrir"''"^"^' '"^ '" ^'''^^ of soft reproach, His audience again roared their pleasure, and the-^auc- tioneer, leaving ]. s place, stepped forward and personally approached several persona ot the group in a conversa- tional tone. ° ir " ■^"■^y*' urt""-^^^' ^'^^ ^ ^''^"^ ^ ^Q-ve nothing more from you ? Mr. White, what do you say ? You know this house IS worth more than thirty thousand, and whoever buys It will have a dozei people after him to-morrow, ottering to take his bargaii off his hands at an advance. Mr. Merritt, we havei 5 heard from you at all yet, I be- lieve. You ve been enjoying the show for nothing. It isn t your custom to dea head yourself oa these occasions. And you, sir-I can't call your name, but I know your ouTof ""^ V^"" '^ '"^ ^^""^^^ often-can't I get a bid The gentleman addressed coloured, and shrank further back in the crowd. The auctioneer smiled in perfect good humour, and turned away for another word with Captain Butler m private. ^ "Captain," he whispered, "Mr. Everton is going to buy thousS''^^' ^'''' ^^'""^ ^^'^^ '**''^ ^''''^^^'' ^^® Captain Butler, who seemed in a sort of daze, said : „ \ ^^^ ^ believe he will. But if you—" "I'll get it," said the auctioneer, briskly, and returned to his work, into which he struck with a sudden and ^1 sf^.rf .1 1 n fir a-n avrrxr " Gomg at thirty thousand, go — Thirty- one, thirty-one thirty-one ; at thirty-two; thirty-two five: thirty-three, thirty-three—and five; thirty-four?" He IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 "^ lU 12.2 S m i2.o IJi& U i 1.6 Photographic ^Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRHT WIBSTIR.N.Y. 14SM (716) t72-4S03 >%^ 91 WOMAN'S REASON. *. till WethenJl', ZP The ™«^''T J"? »^ *•*<»« «nd unhappy. '"* <»ptem looked troubled Jhe auctioneer laid a reassuring hand upon hi,„houI. h.ve^° M'r'Ev"e'rCh''as'r'r'' T^ ^P**'" »»««• I l."d, working up't iTaf &^^tr 'K-^ ^'" '' '"^ CHAPTER VI. rtpK^i^l»|„*S« »-t aboutit/'said the day after thr^le .■wl''!^^*^«'"•°'«"'e „^ had so mi,4ite7S^,''^»t the •ucUoneer that he would ~t tUrtt *V '"/^'>' °^«'*<' t" het me «ee what I couFdo aLjTr"? ^"^ t .^"^'^ don't >- '-» at itlYwCto'Kr :^1t . tTtel J * A woman's reason. M to Lim and he says that there's no way of going back of • JkL r '/""^^^u »"?]»«"eer would swear, to savl himself, that he heard the bids, or thought he did. Mo8t probably herftrf; itwas all confusion; and my not having heai^ them proves nothing at all. Besides. Everton was not obliged to hd thirty-five thousand, and he did get a great bargain The property is worth tifty. in any dLnt times. And that extra five thousand is a perfect godsend for Helen, poor girl ! It's all she'll have in the world I tell you. my dear, I haven't had many things in life that gave me more satisfaction than meeting the principal cre- ditors to-day \oxx see. when I looked into his^affairs with Joshua the day he died I was very badly discou^ aged. They were all m confusion ; he seemed to have lost his grip of them ; I suppose it was his failing health, but he couldn't make head or tail of anything; a5d when I was appointed administrator I reported the itate insol- vent. It was precipitate—" •* It was like you, my dear," said Mrs. Butler. " You TZ^''^""- *^*^*",y thing is wrong till you believe that everything is wrong," o ^ h«!i wf ;7!!}~''t7 ^'^''^^" "^*"™^d *h« captain. « I «ft 3 i T *^o"ght very good reason for my course. But afterward I set a shrewd hand at work on the books, and vnn o"*"*?. ""I* *^** *i;P^ ^^""^ ^^'y ™"ch better, as I told W in fK^""'^"*!' *^^ confusion is usually against him. d^i ift T "^^ ^\ Y*". '"^^^'y ^^^ ^i™' The?e wasn't a ^V!t''' ir^^^t^}^^ estate insolvent that the case didnt bnghten If it had been any other case I should hJZf li?"" * YT^ ^^^^"^^ ^ anything for Helen ; but before the sale, I saw that unless the property went it7nr H^l? * ' ^^^ ^^".^^ P*y *" Joshua's debts, dol- Za?L Sfi: \^''. '?^"'^''^ ^® called a meeting of the creditors. They had the notion th«v w«ro ««,v^^*^ i... and they were prepai^d for that ' wlien I tJld tSem how 94 A woman's reason. Perhaps he waa," said Mrs. Butler devoutlv they tud a little confat^.i!:; ""^ ^ ^^^^ » "minute, and thenRoge,^ calfo/wa^^^^^^^ ^^^ng themselves.' anj anything left for HeTeu rt^^f^/ ,**^"^^ ^«"Jd be had yielded five thousand .InlT ^ *°^1 *^'""^ *^« estate ness. so far as I kneTof it frH^^'^l*^*" '*^^ ^"^^^t^d" al round, and if JoYua ha^ h7' Y ^""g'-^^-'Jations "•ight have started business fJn ^^^ /° resume, he I : I ever he had in his hfe T wlh """ ? ^^^'.^' ^^^« ^^an be sure alout those bids " ^^^'^-^^'^^ound it I-I couJd fra^L^^^^^^^^^^^ "you talk .. if ^.^e as Mr. Hibbard does ? S n ' *^.^*° * ^^^ ^"^^ at it bids. He wouldn't hlv/^j'j' ^^^ '"^"^ ^^^ bear the not." h; a^ded brisXi"f; '^'^''ShtiuUy, ..'wny. of course right about it He wo^ulSn?? ""T'^^i " ^^ ^""^^^ ^0"^" He went down Tnd founiT ?*''^' Where's Helen ? » Bea. where she of fcenta.wl « ' '? ^" ^^^ ^^^^^^ by the did not follow her thlv ^ T"^^ ^''"' *^« o<^hers ; they tude she wouli 'He;^;^y^^ ^''^ l^ht to what sol^ <«ars and sobs ; but "t wl nJ ^ ''^ ^^'^^^^ ^ ^^ing of at fii^t; her berLe,^ut stn^ ^^T^^^^^^^ ^^an unreasoned fact of Te Tnt e^f ShT^f *^^ T ^'''' of her bewildered smile uDonfKo."""''* *^^ P^^bos him climbing the rocTs beh^'^H t *^?^'''' ^ «be heard. ."No. sit dLn/' WiA ° rl^^^^^^ T ^ •"««* hi«»- with you, Helen, as^^ man oTtte'^:;^ '^ '^'^^ ^^^ A woman's reason. bi "YouVomyTnanoi business as— as— papa IJ'mV said Helen, with a grateful look. ^ •= Thank you my dear, for that," answered the Cflfifein, I ve only tried to do what he would have done for my girls I don t know, my dear, whether I had ever givert you the idea that your fatlusr was in embarrassed ciroum- ■ stances? " Oh, yes : I knew that," said Helen. " WeU^ we won't enlarge upon the fact. It isn't neces- •2te ? " """ ^°" ""^ ^ ^^ ^°^ particulars about the i."?^'"..T'^^'^'^?^^^"'" *hat isn't necessary either. I .shouldn t be any wiser if you did. TeU ine whatever you think I ought to know, Captain Butler " -JlLTJ^'^rfH^^"^'^' myacar," said the captain, ZtuL^^U' ^ ^''''^ ^"^° y^""' ^*^^«^'« ^ff^^irs that there would be nothing, or worse than nothing left " This did ^ot seem to affect Helen as a matter of ^pei^onal Concern •and the captem we it on : " There was a time when I was t:tl\'' f'rif^'^^ ^^"^^ ^'' S'' "^«re thLsevenT^^ ^Iff/t » r1 '^T ^Ty' ^"/ ""'^^^ ^' ^«ry glad to fliln ^"'"?,^«^«d round at the captaii with a ■qmck glance, as if here were something that touched her. But as I got along toward the bottom, things looked better, and I saw that unless the sale tirned"out very badly we should save ourselves. The sale turned out far beyond my expectat ons, Helen," cried the captain. " the prospect now is that I shall pay up every cent that you? 'm:^sZ^Cyl'::^''''^ ^^^ have som^e five thouLd " Oh, Captain Butler ! ", " It isn't a great sum -" " It's more than I dared to dream of ! " ^t way.''*'' '*''^""^ ^^''^^'^' '^ ^" ^« °^*^« ^ SO a Oh. it H amnla amnly> i Tt.-i. t i i. . .■, . inat. DirK-t T xu- 1 ^"' —"t'-y^ ■i>"i' A uuuc care ] What I think of-and I feel like going down on my 96 A woman's beason. pie whom he knew to beT/hil? ^ ?' "°°<* ""y I«<>^ belt^-ff^ira'dtrieS^- '■^«"»>'" -''-ve J should not have said he w»« i.,vi,* " -j « Butler, "if he had not believed ^tl.F^ I^'^ CupUun you beyond want wlif j • '""'he had already put five thoCndXL^ tht C"'^.?'' ¥" ^" "'"ly- that went to {Z1Z Z^^^''*^ ^''"^'■' ^"' -n^^ro-^Jilj^analS^^^^^^ -eh «t«e and this i^ wlld'^Xndant >• "" «*""' ^"^ ^^^ looked .Xi' ViH r-''''?!/'?> !>*' »«><'. ™ddenly time yet— six montKa o/'i '^^f*^?' , *nat it will be some money due it X disooslr^ -'^r ^ ^'^ P^'^^ ^^e till all the credChaTh'd ^uTJ ^l^^^y ^^^ yon claims and these havTwn ^""/^*^°« *<> Present their Bioners." ''*''® *^'^ P^^^^^ "P^n by the commis- no'h^it' tTeton:/^^'^-^'' ^^ «^^- " I'- in ''^?etert^r5i:^^^^^^^^ -Ptain, a« if .this (ivetho„««„5 '.-' - "«"«« «> iDSisc on, M were ™— .7 VAAI3 till oniy live thousand. that It is A woman's reason. 97 "Oh, yes, I understand perfectly," quickly answered the girl, and then she stopped, and cast a keen glance at the captain, without, however, seeming to perceive his cho^fallen aspect ; she was, perhaps, looking deeper. " You haven't brought any more letters for me. I sup- pose ? she said, "No, I must have got everything the last time," re- plied the captain. •' I went carefully through all the drawers again before the sale began." " I shall ask you to take care of those law-papers for me, Captain Butler; I don't know what to do with them. The letters were all recent ones. I thought there might have been some old ones. Not that I have missed any. But you did sometimes lose home letters when you were off on those long voyages of yours, didn't you ? " "No, very few," the captain responded. "We get them nearly all, sooner or later." " But sometimes they had to wander about after you ?" " Yes, sometimes. And sometimes they waited." " It must have been terribly distressing," said Helen " to wait for them." ' "Well," returned the captain, "that depended a good deal on whom the letter was from." Helen flushed a little. Ihere were some letters that T shouldn't have cared if Id never got But, generally speaking, the fellows in he navy had the advantage of us in the merchant ervice, '' I don't see why," said Helen. " Oh, their letters were addressed to them throu'«■ «« his own ..-^!!".»«'.^Mra. Butler. i'-f.§ tSnar.fa^,.-'''--. "r«. afraid ,he think, ?"rCrto4"V|-^"^"a^re TE *l'.t'jtobe°doneVo„tif'l.r7 '•*.??• ^ don't "e? dreadful blow when she find" o.^'^l'') ^O'^S *» i^ a •%ni":;:s.:etiirf ^^^^^^^^^^ " """^ "•" her ip.oran^r„/~''th"a Tt "."• ^uOer. "If, thousand, and not v!./ • ™akes her think of «„! ™««1 the d^ubt!lhe''VuTbT/°d avowal the fl«t. ■• If it hadn't teen for IJ"^-" to superaede "hallying ways, I shottldn'thav« L "y. '^''-''ed shilly. But now I m'ust. There is ZZ^- *"** *» •>'"> «t aU I must tell him for h^ own s^ke^r/-7"T."""»-"'at take the consequent whate '*!,?'* **" "" ""''."d »nde„^too3!l;'n"d'h: Tr^S^'lJ/S^ thatis'^'^f not come to say good-bye iTl'f ",* *»' ''««'ould did perfectly njtHt S»t\^h . t ' . ""^ ^or that. He to have him thikk any W^iTV^'^'- ^ «»'» •««■ him, and yet I can't write Tt.-' ^. "<" ^"^"g with w»y he tiiated Dana r. =. '"'"• '^''™ ^ think of the •'— - «avo Dome to see ▲ woman's reason. 101 papa under the circumstances, and feeling the way he did toward me; and, of course, if papa had lived it would have been different, and if it hadn't been for me, I know Robert wouldn't have done it, for he's one of the best and kindest " Helen stopped, and Mrs. Butler waited a moment before she answered. " Did you ever think, Helen, that Robert loved your father like — not like you, not like a daughter— but like a son ? " " Why, papa had always been a father to him ! " cried Helen. " Why shouldn't he ? " "And were you never remiss with your father, because vou trusted that somehow, sometime, the love you felt for nim would more than make it up to him ? " " Oh, a thousand times ! " cried Helen, bowing her head on Mrs. Butler's knees. The pale hand continued to stroke her hair. " That's a risk we all take with those we love. It's an earnest of something hereafter, perhaps. But for this world it isn't safe. Go, and write your letter, my dear, and give Robert all our love." Mrs. Butler leaned forward and kissed the beautiful head good-night, and Helen after a silent embrace, went back to her room again. It was easy now to write the letter which she had found so hard before, and a deep peace was in her heart -^ n she read it over, and found no shadow of resentment or unkindness in it. She was glad to have abased herself so utterly before him, to have put herself so completely in his power. Now he might do as he pleased, but he never could have it to say that he had misunderstood her, or that he had cause to think her proud or cruel. " Dear Robert," the letter ran, " it is five weeks now smce papa died. I wrote you a line to tell you the sad news, as soon as I could bring myself to put it in words, and I suppose vou will cret that l*>f.fAr hofnra fKJa i^qol^a.' you. But for fear that it may fail (I sent you a news- 108 WfJMAN'H HEAHOU. paper with the account, too) I will * ii ^'^ very Hudden. and wffil wJ^ °" ^r *««'" that it wI.e.-o ho expected to joTn me i^f f^^^^ ^^'^ ^^ Beverly H« office ; (.'aptain Butir w^ l^J%u^'^''- ^^ ^^ a I could teJJ yiu more abouT h C T^^ *^''""' ^ t>'«"ght '''«o«we of the heart. J wUl I'nH ff""^^' H^diecf of "«-spaper that will tell ^oi Tot "'''"^' ''"'"^ «"«t^'er . ia«t words he spoke of you we. f ^?'' .^°"' P*''^ The «y'»pathy. Jthou^^htyouwouldlik"/ ^'^^^^^'^^ and were inKst^tken about tlfat leX R ^''"^^ t'''^' You If * doesn't mean Homethin^ djffp^^^^^ '^,?^*^"' *"^^ «ee you tore t up i„ your dL^^ust w.-fK ^^ ^"^ ^'"» ^^''aid I must tell you J "did /^^yol «f ,/"V ^«i'. then. pA don't care what van 1*\Z e ^'** ^*^- There * ^«-of'nethHnIda^""'^^'^'^«f«e. You can't tiS did noUeaTa'^lltutTk ' '^^l^-^rything in it Paoa to have hi« w^tch I'dl ImTelta^? ^^^ '^^^y^- J am with the ButlerVpf r ^ .^ **^** ^«r ^ou. everything to me, intr:ve?;rhT^^ They ^have been " Helen " on doublepostage to m.^^^Jf-^very 'Wn. but shfT? the letter till she went un f^B '^^"^ ""■'<'' and she kent herself in the gene JXffit"^"- "'"' "'«" P^^W it CHAPTPm VII. ,tLKN had been three weeks at the Butlers', and in spite of their goodncHs, which guarded her freedom as well as all her wishes, she began to feel a constraint which she could not throw off. Life had come to a pause with her, and when it should inove forward it must be seriously, and even sadly ; and Bhe was morbidly conscious that she somehow clogged the joyous march of Marian Butler's days. There had been an effort to keep out of her sight the preparations for the wedding, till she had protested against it, and demanded to see every dress. But this very demand emphasized the dark difference between her fate and her friend's, and Marian was apologetically happy in Helen's presence; however they both tried to have it otherwise. Once Manan had explained with tears that she would like to put It off for Helen's sake, if she could, but the time of the marriage had been fixed with regard to so many other matters that it could not be postponed. Helen had answered that Marian made her very wretched talking of such a thing, and that she must go at once if Marian spoke ot It again. They had embraced with perfect tenderness and sympathy, and Helen had remained with helpless teeling of her incongruity in a house of rejoicing. It seemed to her intolerable that she must bring her soitow thither : she suffered till she could get away with if? all they did tg make her feel at ease could only heighten her trouble. She had waited with a painful patience till the captain should report to her on the settlement of her fa- ther s affairs, and she could begin to shape her future; now that he had spoken, she need wait no longer, oho found Mra Rnflo^. ;» *i — ^ i i.i r...- «, she had written to Robert. 104 A woman's keason. I l' nex "^et"""''" "^' ^0' " ^ -»' y»» *» let me go away voic„et a. if .hetd :.;::^tt^'^ '" '•^^ "y- --» n»de up mv- feeble min!f?il??V,' *"'^ """^ that I've ;; You know I can't, Mrs. Butler." ^eit|::Lcv"';^e?^,t?. "^'"«^- -•"<» >-- Don't'p3me»"' " """"'' ''*™ ''«'° ^iffe-^nt then. r^'ihat";„„TSanife"'*^'^^°^^^^^ feel as if we j^rted £^u£ITJ1^^^%' T^ *''«'' ^^'U ing before Mrs. Butler wh^ T j 1^ . Helen was stand- as she sat in her ew-chli ^ *^, e^f^ >•«>»* in her's, sive face. ^^y-^t^r. and looked up into her eva deceive ^^«xocives rm u J — ^ "o know it and feel it NnLf^?^!'' the house; we aU it." she add.d quifklv^S' *' ^^^""^'i^ohody ian help " but it's true. You si^hotV^^ ^?°^ ^^«- B"<^l«r ; out of the room w^en vet fiT *^ ^*^%^y ^^^«k^e«« painful shock whenThZfw ?^°1^ ^°°^^' ^ g^^e them a pleasant thLgs theVt^uld W^ "^ ^^ ' ?« ^^^ks the «elf for gloomin/aW th« I ^- ^^^' ^°^ ^ ^a*« °»y- must caft a shSot .«^lt. ?"? ^-^,«^^t ^-^ ^«^1 that'll fioois." "" ""^'" ®*^" through the wails and A woman's reason. 105 Helen, dear, there's no friend we have who is so pre- cious to us as you are ! " " Oh. yes— yes ! I know how kind you are. But you see It can't be. I should have to go away at the time of the wedding, and you had better let me go before." "Go away at the time of Marian's wedding? Not be— Why, Helen ! " s ""^ "Yes. Think, Mrs. Butler! It couldn't be." Mrs Butler was silent. " I shouldn't care for myself, and I know you wouldn't care for yourselves ; but the others have some rights which we mustn't overlook. I should throw a chill over everyth ;. I couldn't endure that, and you can't persuade me, Mrs. Butler ; you mustn't try " Mrs. Butler looked really disconsolate. Helen was right; there was no possibility of gainsaying her, much less of outreasoning her ; and Mrs. Butler was one of those feminine temperaments, rather commoner in New Eng- land than elsewhere, whom a good reason absolutely si- lences : they may not often have it themselves, but their reverence for truth and a clear conclusion is such that they must bow to it in others. The most that she could say was, " But you will come bj,ck to us afterward, HelenM You will come after Marian is gone, to comfort us, won't you ? It will be a month before we shall sail, and we should so hke to have you with us. We shall not be gay ourselves, then, and you will feel more at home. I won't oppose you now, dear, but you'll promise me that ! " " Yes," answered Helen, « I'll come back then, if you want me." "^ " And where are you going, now ? Where do you mean to stay ? " I don't know. I thought I should go to the Miss Amys —you remember them, don't you ?— and ask them to let me stay with them for the present. I know they cjometimes take people to board." " Oh, yes, I remember them— on West Pomegranate street ; one of those pleasant old houses, with the thres- I. ''if n i 106 woman's reason. ble CaptaTn fiS^kCZr!^' i'^ "" T' «"»« '» t™»- of mys&f now.andC„.S„to„Tot''fh '*'''"« ''^^^ Sir^' ""''J ""g'" to know W to use it" Hn ""^"^ ture IS such a simnlp ua ,^^ii *• Yunnan na- Helen could fee a childish nril- T^^'^ *''™g. «>»* tress of a certain sum and fnr fV" ^'"^ ^^'"'^ »»- the loss that had So^ed t withT -"f ~""'' ?"8^' te.yeiy saving of it, Mra. BuOeT" 4. -t"! 1°"^ *° :?'Heir^''d^^t:' nTdM- ?Ser Wo.'L« ^y. n, aelen ! she Broke out, and then checked her- ^What.Mrs. Butler?" asked the girl, startled by her n.«c?Vi:r"'^^^'"B'«l7r'':i"\^''"f '»" yo" how ^.uctance and ^n^i^LT.-'^i:l^r.^f^l ev3' ' "■' ^™ "'°"™°'l doll«^so much more than I H-:|Jre rurdt;iltXP:!^„JJ^J «"«er. "that SLen^-fdtowl:.PSr^^^^^^^^ contrary, she gave a Hit^^Lfgl,'^" '''°"''' "»"«• «■> ""« "■ilht be a f« LTe honelei r.i^' <=''rf"'''^«» ^ tW' I tio° ^* *v. '- .41 "opeless condition thun tv,^ «,.i:... ■ *• "' "^^ '*"' *^" the sum of five thousand dolU.^";!; I ^W^' A Woman's reason. 107 not a fortune; Helen might be thinking it wa^. Mrs. Butler felt obliged to ask, "Do you know how much that will give you to live on ? " ^Not exactly" said Helen, "but not much I suppose." Perhaps she thought a thousand a vear. Mrs. Butler must still goon. "Some of Mr. Butler's Chicago mort- gages bring him nine per cent. That would be five times ninety— four hundred and fifty ? " " Oh, I should never send my money away to Chicago I want It where I can put my hand on it at once. I shall deposit It in savings-banks-like Margaret-at six per from it" ^^^ ^^""^^ hundred dollars a year "But, poor child ! you can't live upon that," Mrs. But- ler besought her. " No I must do something. I am determined never to encroach upon the principal, whatever happens. Don't you think that s the right way ? I've always heard that Its perfect y ruinous to live upon your principal." ^^ Mrs. Butler could not combat these just conceptions, asker ^°" *^^"«^*^ w^at you shall do, Helen ? " she "Yes I've been thinking about it nearly all night I cou Idn sleep, and I thought I might as well think. I shfn J^'f"' T ^,"^ «^^*hing I ha^e made up m v mind b.ff h 1, K A '\l '^^}l ""!* P^^"* holly-wood boxes." They "fn X^l' 1^' ^^der lady pityingly and reluctantl^ Jn the first place, I paint horribly ; but that wouldn't make any difference. What I couldn't do would be to ask the outrageous prices which holly- wood boxes bring rom sympathizing friends when painted by young ladief in need. Besid^ I think the mark^et must bLCrSd Only consider, Mrs. Butler, how many holly-wood boxes must have been painted by this timef and what stores of them people must have laid by. that thev couldn'^. airra away 11 Uhnstma^ came twice a year from now to°the millenium. And all so much alike, too; a farm-houae 108 Woman's keasok for his sWh. with hVr2dei ?„Yv "V"'' *«» ''"K* «» ; and fat robins at S end „f l^'l^'P^ J"»' »"« -^■t be afraid of ^oUyt^^itt,^^, £; ^t heipE^Ij?''™' ^"" 1"»«' *ild!" laughed M«. Butler thin|r»;"'sii?tirvt:'or'if'' ' *'"•"«'" «' -^^-g -"^e- the first thine I »ni^Z°^u **?*' P°PP«d into my heiui from them. And oKs . tTv' "?%«<> getting aw^ I thought of pariin?.'SinJ '^^^^^ °i'°h^^ o^: of f«rlour.r^i„g3, M« Bufer*^^"' *ouldyou%hink He"n-^::'r;lSt^-«<'-derthep.position. and £p^^ 17:^1 Z t1 \^? ^^ «^-' »» might be handsome yborht off ^"^^ ^iven out. f But I really neeUn/d„ Invthwyaf"''''" ^J^^Ption ? Helen went on, seriously "Tv/ . T'i *''^- Sutler," last me indefinitely '^^Y',}™ got clothes enough t^ «»«*<, over, now /and I shaU «!.?"" *" "*''« »^er°and room at the Miss Amys', and h^t if" ,7"^ "''^"P "«'« ^•^:und:^a^^e':tr;s,r-^^^^^^^ Mrs. Butler reported 15^1?^ ?'«11 how much she's got," out just how much incom! ,^t ^* u' k " ^^^ ^^ '^o^'ed "" *"" "*'' "'"g that could happen," said A woman's reason. 109 the captain, with a sigh of relief. « I hope to the Lord Its so ! But hes off for three years ! " he added, with dismay. " She doesn't think of that. Or perhaps she hopes he can get leave to come home— or something. Besides, such a girl as Helen could wait thirty years," said Mrs Butler, viewing the affair in the heroical abstract. " Her hope and her trust will support her." " Morally, perhaps. But she would have to be support- ed otherwise,^' said the Captain. He refused to be wholly comforted by his wife's man- ner. btill, its probability, in the absence of anythinj? more substantial, afforded him a measure of consolation A.t any rate it was. to his thinking, the sole hopeful out- look for Helen. Since the hard times began he had seen so much futile endeavour by able and experienced men to get something to do for even a scanty living, that he had grown sceptical of all endeavour at self-help. Every year he was called upon to assist at the disillusion of a score or more of bright young spirits fresh from the Uni- versity, with their academic honours still green upon their brows, and eager for victory in the battle of life. , He knew the boys fathers and mothers, and of what ex- cellent stock they came, what honest fellows thav were and what good reason there was to believe them capable of bearing their part with distinction in any place de- manding quality, and talent, and training. But there seemed to be no such place for them ; the world in which their sires had prospered did not want them, did not T-\ r^?V?, ^"^ "^'^^ *^^°^- Through the strange blight which had fallen upon a land where there should be work tor every one, and success for every one willing to work there seemed to be nothing but idleness and defeat for these young men in the city of their ancestry and birth Ibey were fit to lead in any commonwealth. but the coml monweaith apparently would not have them : thev were somehow anacbronisma in their own day and generation • no A woman's reason. cattle-raising in CoKo lJlT"r\'''- S"""* tried Virginia, a„I 8onieThZ^^;arcW„i™''r,'^'/P-^»™'"? '» were others who triedTtton nT»„^- " 9»l'/°™'«- TKere orange-culture in noridT tL^''""'^ "V""" S"""", and and more imaginative who tried S ,°""r» y«'' ''°"«'' ehusetts. Th? captaii heard ^ »>l.k-farm,„g !„■ Massa- then he saw them with tSI. f ""*"■ "nd«'-l»king8, and club, whieh a few Jf thefr .^" ^"™P«'''™'y »»- « the wisdom never abTndoned """' ''"^ '" » ™l«™r l.a^\mrsot?;;?rfr L'lT? ■?»' '",'"-«• I"- gentlemen, whieh hldZ'J^tiS^Z^'^'^, ^'"'■'« simple yet exacting problem ,ff ^.u- ^^ ^ '"'™ the then, people who hlJtiwWaKi '!•"«• ^'" not now solving this Drohl^n, n \ ■ „ "^ "''^^ were of these nice felliws and ^ ^'m!? ^"*'«'- thought they were ; and hel he thonZf " ■ l."8 *"'' ''^'P'^^ keen for any expressTon but g^S^uiLT/'^''" '»» as Helen, and whaf li«r *^„- • daughter, of such a Hrl and he knew what that Z'^S hadTf n*^"*"'^' the same schools and orown fil^ U 1' ° '*<='• gone to stances into the saresScTeTv L wf^^"" "*■"« '='"="'°- had been and had done S'^« ^ *™''y«'»g they was. very charming a"d reiS^ed »?^ *^ T""' »°^ ^^ch and s, 4rv, verylr from H^;!" 8?.!? '" " good sense, wi^\tVh;r"mtr;wstfr ^t" ^"-^ "-^^ »<> ?» in whi h ,,, es^lii«£:'rfa'ngu:g:";rFt^.'''i'°°' which she acquired a graceful 3 loTr,"^^' ^°*^ »" tongue. It slood her^n goo^^^^^^^ ««? "^ ^^'^^ abroad one summed with hfr flf T^^f"" ^^® ^^nt she spoke,it as ooL^Uy^J^f'^l Tl. '^!'fi^^^ that audam-Jt ^oal -"-T-- ^ -- -^°^^'**^ «^"'^s she m«f, o -t _ai ^ox^ x^aaiij. uufc she had too much A woman's reason. Ill sense to be sure of her accent or her syntax ; at Paris she found that her French was good, but with a differ- ence, and she \9ipu\d not have dreamt of such a thing as teaching it. In fact she had not thought of that at any time, and she had no such natural gift for languages as would have enabled her to master it without such a design. From this school she went to others, where she was taught what people must learn, with thoroughness and with an intelligence very different alike from the old- fashioned methods of young ladies' establishments, and from the hard, mechanical processes of the public schools. She was made to feel an enlightened interest in her studies ; she liked some of them very much, and she respected those she did not like. Still she had not shown a passionate preference for any particular branch of learning ; she had a lady- like ease and kindness withal ; if she really hated anything it was mathematics, but be- cause she hated this she had been the more conscien- tiously attentive to it. She had a good taste in music, and fair skill. After she left school, she had a musicai enthusiasm, in the height of which she devoted herself, under her German instructor, to many hours of practice every day, and had her own ideas of becoming a great performer. But these gave way to clearer conceptions of her powers, and .she remained an impassioned amateur of musical genius in others. She went devotedly to all the private mimcales ; she was unfailing at the rehearsals of the symphony concerts and of the Handel and Haydn Society. She made her father join the Apollo Club for her, and she mp-^e him go to some of the concerts with her. In those a^ys her talk was of Bach and Beethoven ; she thought poorly of Italian music, though she was very fond of the Italian operas. It was to this period that her passion for German lan- guage also belonged. She had studied German at school of course, but it was not till after leaving school that 112 A woman's reason. ^^^rtrenltlT^^^^ *-« P^- as something grossed L. ShT^eaS Goethel'?„"/ir.l 9'^^"^ en? her teacher, and HeineTsona, -v^ "■" P'^^" ^^^h friends. She laid ouf ! «!. ^ ^}^^ ^"^ of h«r rrirl- which wa^ toindude SchoneT ^^. ''ff'^^^ ^^ «erma^ familiar to her throu J^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Philosophy, already man, who rarely talked of «nM- P^^mature Harvard really came to^th? German •/"^- ^"' ^' "^^^^ the form of drama! and after H^nl'' T^^^^^'^^ *ook certain number of German nlav.^!- P^l^^^^Pation in a ^«g dance of the 8am?name^ 'A ^'f'^ *° *^^ P^^^^' superseded Jtalian as welHs FrenT^ ""u '^" ^* ^^^ Bante, of course, one must aW. '"^ ^'' fffections. Dante, there was so litUe in Tfrr^ '""'P^'^' ^"* after German ! The soft hroat from'^'' A'^^P^^^^ ^ith vowels came so mellow?ou/hpd ,7 iV'^ ^\^ '^''^^^^ But this, like music, waT on^f fo^ ^iL ^^'? ^"^*"^^1«- Helen was always a girl of spn^f q^^; ^° *^o end, was not a German scholar an vr!*. ®?f ^"^^ ^^^t she former, and she would havfshn:!*^''^? ^''^' Pe^- modesty from the notion of nuttin J \ ^^th. astonished she had in either to ^ractKe ^ She h^T'"^"^^ ^« when her frenzy for tLm ^o '. ^^® ^^^ ^^^em away one ought to bfXtd oUhC'"' "■'''"^^° ''"'^*S' ?he at one time took a gr 'inntemt ^?"^''",^'"*, *>"" •t.very much ; she had that feSw f t ® "^""^ '"'ed without which no drei.m»L. J'^ for form and colour to.dress exquisiteSToe enWed"?"' * ^J""^ ^<^y painting. Sot bvand L . t?" ^, ^'"■"' »nd colour in to the gmins- of "^hea? t'l'ttZ"'"'"'^ '^^'""^ and well-meaning chaff Helen fxP^i.tTP °* ^m'^We with the cha«: ^Um no neld "Jh **"*' ^'l P'^"^ ^^ painter, glancins with » 1?.?1 *^° ^^^ "^ the great to he, to^teach ITtL^ ^rZ'i^t^T 'T-^^^' ^"^ A woman's reason. 113 g&ve it up before she had conspicuously disgraced herself. She was always very glad to have taken to it ; the attempt to paint for herself had cleared and defined her taste iu painting, and indefinitely enlarged the bounds of her knowledge and enjoyment. But it had not done any- thing more, and all that Helen had learnt and done had merely had the eflfect that was meant— to leave her a cultivated and agreeable girl, with bright ideas on all sorts of pleasant subjects. She was, as the sum of it merely and entirely a lady— the most charming thing in the world— and, as regards anything but a lady's destiny the most helpless. ' It was the fact that Helen's life now seemed wrenched and twisted so far from its rightful destiny which bowed Captain Butler over it in such despair, and which well might strike pity into the hardiest beholder. Her old friend saw no hope for her but in the chance of there being something, as his wife suggested, between her and Robert Fenton. Yet it was against this hope that Helen herself had most strenuously steeled her heart. She had not the least doubt of Robert. He was a gentleman, and he would take what she had written in the right way. She rested in such absolute faith in his generosity, that she shrank from the possibilitv of abusing it as from something like sacrilege. If Robert were that moment to come and ask her to marry him, she would not take him till she had fairly won him again ; and if, when he had got her letter, and thought it all over, he decided that she was too light and flippant a girl to trust with his happi- ness, she should know just how to take it. She should not blame him ; she should not think him less kind and true ; he should be none the less her hero. In fact, it seemed as if his willingness to forget her follv would somehow mar the perfection of her self-sacrifice. So while she clung the most fondly to the thought of him,' it was with the auaterpsf. rpa^'nooa t>o o-n^'* h'^^ "- J even a sort of impatience. Womea seldom reason, it is 114 A woman's reason. ■Illl i' ii was that she must plan W fut„l • t" ' ^'"^^'^"^^ ^«Kic and seriousness, as much will fn '^^ ^ "'""^ ^^^^^^ity as if there were no Robert Lf "*"'" ^"^ ^« ^"^"'•e, the world. Hor sole diffl u ^''"' '''" ®^^^ ^^^ been, in and to begin^ ima'ini^r^^ ^as to imagine her future affeetionatrre^tZfoT ttt\rd^'"^/%"^^^ ^^«- '^^ had no purpose more definS tha"n ttf'^ '' ^^^- ^^^^ When she went from Mr« Rnf i 7 i! chamber did m,t seem^npn?' ^^^'* *? ^'^^ °^^ ^oom. the her mind ; and nowThaHh "\T"^\*""^ '^' ^"^»it in Boston th^t aLrZn and w' «^ .f «"^ved to go up to tion. the inertness ofVepCCslnT^'^r^^ ^'^ °^«- on a wrap and a hat uni cf T '^,*«^«^able. She put place on the Tcks T/w« ^^ ''"^ ^« ^'^'' accustomed September after the firl^ ? "^""^ '*^" '"^''"^"g ^ate in selLawa^.td^'gistn^nT^^^^^ mellow warmth, h!d followed 'C«= deep heart of ?hone with a thousand radrnce. J-i ^P^rkled and m its distance wa^ a blue thrf^.l^ a' T'^l ^"^^^«' «°d ethereal heaven, a fe w wh Ue sa^!^^ ;°*«. ^H^^^X more wings showing palel^arfA nnnfl ^^ ""'f^^ ^^^« been washed langufdfy uTthe ttTt^T ^^^ *^^ ^^y. It slow, shouldenn^ac^tion and «ofT\'*^ *^5 '^^^ ^i*h a toot of the rock? where the tf. ^ ^'T^ ^^^^°«*^ *he storm hung dryinglte masse, fn .T'^ ^"°^ "P ^^ ^^e ribbons in the tide ThHIrV ^^! '"'^ ^"^ ^'^^^k its like the sea, and w JfuH of f r^ *^ '^"^^^^ ^^^ burn odours. ^ *"" ^^ *he same pungent saline nau'^ntrmXTouse' anTcl 'r'^'.^^t^ ^^^* ^^^ ^^r she wa. used to srfounfheri^^"^.^^ ^^. P^^^^ ^here man apparently in asTe^ffrf ^^^ ^^ ^ gentle- counter SheinirnSI • ^'^^b^t^s herself at their en- that long ntraS^d^ttretcU':^^^^^^^^^ f^-l?^ Bainford, not ijow in the blue vSnl^'^ f. ™.^«,^ro„ii8i.(i to como and seo me in rjl;,*.)' '»'<'m«," assented Helen ofkindnws. In fact, even" mi?! i^ <'one me no end "L^ rf "■' =«y ™ough onl^'^."' '""■^' ""commonly Helen" ?';^eCt:js;!er\''r •'-■■• ^^ t'-y- We like people to like iT a„d T"?'' •^'""" "*"■ o™"" vour when they do I „,,^„ !' "'' '"''«''■ a personal fa- :■ does anything to set even^^r Tf ?' "^^'^^'-e addeS, -t W„,„. ,,^^^^ ^;n tjlfjo^t .n,^porta„t ^^^n ^o.'l7™-^ W eyt"a!trrT^r '-'»"' ^- cate intelligence. ^ ' "^"^ '^ ^^'^dle with a deli- «v;^yb;^t;n'irs;XiL:f i^'"- ^'-- with all Americans." J^ *""* "''"' "« as I am tioIaUlluS: t^St"n;::et"l^ r'^''"« '"'^™<'- ton m another minute." ^"*^® °* Shakspere and Mil- " No," said Lord Rainford • " if c,« ^;;Thafs because they .ant you. to p„.ise i," suggested Jointte'ferltt^- "'"'^ '" Theyiiletyon ^ >it you had better not " whe^i '' --'2'Snii''!:^ «'""' that a count.^ »nyt^.»e «.' order... Jmfort^^°Pi«- ?flrn scarcel^ — ^i vxixxiO very bad A WOMANIs f'EASON. iir tiinea, can be going to the dogs ;" but I can't got anybody here to agree with mo— that is, in society. I don't uncier- .^tand It. ' i can't explain," said Helen, with a little smile, " ex- cept by ' the settled opposition to our institutions which pervades the British mind.' " " Ah, Chuzzlewit ; I know. But you'll excuse my say- mg that I think your institutions have changed for the worse m this respect since Mr. Pogram's time. 1 think Pogramisra is better than this other thing." " What other thing ? " asked Helen, Sot a great deal interested. " Why, this not talking of America at all. I find ^ our people— your best people, I suppose they are— very "i ice very intelligent, very pleasant— only talk about Eur(,pe! Ihey talk about London, and about Paris, and about Rome ; there seems to be quite a passion for Italy ; but thev don't seem interested in their own country. I can't make it out. It isn't as if they were cosmopolitan ; thar isn't quite the impression, though— excuse my sayintr s( —they try to give it. ^hey always seem to have been reading the 'Fortnightly,' and the 'Saturday Review,' and the ' Spectator,' and the ' Revue des Deiix Mondes ' and the last French and English books. It's very o.ld'l Upon my word, at one dinner the Americans got to talk- ing to one another about some question of local finance in pounds, shillings, and pence. I don't understand it." Lord Ramford seemed to find nothing ridiculous, but only something mysterious in this, and reddened a little when Helen laughed. " Perhaps you are embittered because experience has destroyed your nleal. You expected us all to call you a Britisher, and to flaunt Bunker Hill Monument in your lace. " Ah, now, do you think that's quite fair, Miss Hark-' OS ? Helen stooped a little sidewiae and felt about her skirts ness ^ 118 A WOMAls's REASOjr. are accused of not carinl plj;!.- ^\A™e"can women it.„ I like it be Jr than to^il^g to ' '„^e ^f 'o '•^«>«nise won't thiT't eXtSar hf i '? >»» ™™ner. '• If you that I believe rrat,S „ " ^■"^^^"^'^ '» "^'l. " "l W heavy o„eT:„dwh'r*\'Ltrj'.'r..'P?°! ?' 'ea^'I'™ a I — I know think rhad foiwld Jou„pTlm"L"t'Lthr ^"-"^'d-to -inteUigence, with imb^eJlSttat^rnttTa™ t""'''' :^li?r°8~"'™«t.^I don't k^owwheSr^'r^n.^ -^^--.. ^xuai— wneiner l ought to speak ." """ A Woman's reasoJ?. 119 'Oh, yes ! " cried Helen, touched at his assumption of all the blame. " I'm so glad you have spoken of that, if only for the selfish reason that it gives me a chance to say how ashamed I am of my own part in it. I never thought of youi-s"— this was not quite true, but we can- not be very generous and quite true at the same time— - "but it was the thought of my own frivolity that some- times helped to make what followed so hard to bear. I was very rude." "Oh, no, no ! " answered the young man. " You said nothing but what I richly deserved. If you'd only saii more, I should have liked it much better— afterward But what I want you to think is, that I shouldn't have done so badly, perhaps, if I'd been acting quite naturally, or m my own character. That is " "I'm afraid," said Helen, "that I can't ask you to thmk that I was acting out of my character— or all of my characters : I seem to have so many " " Yes," interrupted Lord Rainford, " that's what I meant." " It seems to me that it was only too much like one of mine— the one I'm most ashamed of. You will have a pleasant time to cross, Lord Rainford," she added, and took away her hand. " Well, I don't know," said the other, accepting the close of this passage of their interview, and answering from conscientiousness in talk which serves the English so well instead of conventional politeness, and is not so pleasant ; " there are apt to be gales at this season, you know. "^ "Oh, yes, yes !" returned Helen, a little vexed at her- self. « Gales, yes. But I was thinking of the equinoctial storm being past. They say it's past now." "I'm a good sailor," said Lord Rainford. " I think I shall take a run over again next year." r XT^"'^? i^*^*^ ^^^ enough of America in three months ? " Ino. I hope it hasn't got too much of me." i^ 120 f t A Woman's reason. back." ° nattered that people care to come " You know," said Lord Kainford " tlm* T\ro most nothing of th^ ommfr.^ f t, * ^ ^® ^^^^ al- Cisco." Helen dtln^r .u^^ G^ioago, and San Fran- why, and'ltS t'nTor^^^^^^^^^^^ in Canada, you know hp W ? " ^''''^^ ^ *^^ ^^^ks Beach-I Ihink theT^alll? -.f™" ^^J" *« ^^^^^rd and then I clVto ^ostn^nT^^^^^^^^^^ Montreal people, Boston TntroduetioaT wLVl'""''' ^f"S ,*'''"'«' ™«'' dinners had Cn made for h;.iT?"''t' '"'"=''«^- ^-d had first drive„rtt''polo';";^3s ""b^ZZ"''" "^ naps once to the Town and Countrv Chi Yt" ?*■"; been a good deal at the h.tk- u ^ t ''• *"'' ^e had assured ttat nobodXtdt^™''^''''' ""'"'"S'' ^"'y Manhattan Yacht dub h«d..M^\?''y '"''™; ""^ *« bourinff wate^ wi i, 5 ^''f* ■"■" over all the neigh- Fort Dlri;"!' hS'b'itl t?. '\^T^y °* 'i-^ ™''t°'» »f used to ^ tothe musicin F^rt I>* "H"?''^'^ "' P«°Pl« When he returned ^^0^1 • ^'^*"^ '''''^'■® Po'o began. h.™ „„:™ r""™"^ had been entertained. and sl,.-v,,i" -^.. 6--«:u pretty well at what semi-civic" feasts "he A woman's reason. 121 had assisted. The Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs- day, Friday, and Saturday Evening Clubs had all shared in him, and he had listened to a part of a lecture at the Woman's Club. He had been taught much more about the charitable, penal, and educational establishments of Boston than any one Bostonian could endure to know, and he had kept his original impression that Boston re- minded you of an English town. If he was at all aston- ished, as a young man, at the attentions heaped upon him, he must, as a lord, have been too much used to consideration in his own country to be surprised at it in ours. Men vastly his superiors in everything but birth liked to speak casually of him as that very nice young Englishman who had dined with them, and to let the fact of his rank rather patronizingly escape them in talk. People whose secret pride and dearest prejudices he had unwittingly trodden into pulp in his plump expressions of crude opinion professed rather to like his frankness. They said that there was something in his bearing a simplicity, a directness, an unconsciousness — which show- ed the advantage of a standard of manners. The fact that you might often think him, at first glance, the most plebeian-looking person in company, showed his extraor- dinary qualities of race ; the persistence, through so many hundred years, of the ancestral traits which, in the attri- tion of a democrat, society like our own, must have been obliterated long ago, was held to be a peculiar triumph of aristocratic civilization. One distinguished gentleman had proved himself much better versed in the Rainford pedigree than Lord Rainford himself. "Talked to me about my great-grandmother," said the nobleman after- ward to Ray, " and my maiden step-aunts." " Good-bye," said Helen once more ; and nodding, she turned away, and went down the rocks. ^ JLord Rainford bowed, and said " Good-bye," too, fol- lowing her with his eyes, but not otherwise pursuing 8 HiM liiii I 122 A woman's reason. " You're back soon," he said to Mr. Ray when th^ l«f ter presently joined him ^' ^® ^**" Hetentt'^^m nf 'T'-.^t ^"°^^ ^°*° ^^' ^^ where morning Wo i« i j -^ -^ , ^^ ** *^^* station in the - viota. „i«,v x„ was w wie care of the iN'avy l)e- 1 1 4i; ^Vas:, A woman's eeason. 123 partment. He smiled-sarcastically, Helen fancied-and fin^I hiryf ."^"Jvf *^'. '^°^ ^^^^' 'T^^^ «^« dedicated a final blush to the act, and posted her letter, and found herself quite at a distance from the post-office, walking giddily along, with a fluttering heart full of deS shame. She was horrified to think she had done it and was so glad it was done. ' CHAPTER VIII. JHE walk from the post-office to West Pomegranate street IS not very short, but Helen was at the Miss Amys door before she knew. The elder Miss Amy came herself to answer the bell She recognised Helen presently through her veil and TxnSt r/l'^^ a decayed-gentlewoman politeness expla nmg that she and her sister kept no servant when ^tZ If/''].''^'' «»* of ♦own. Helen had begun to say^ after the preliminary parley about health and the weather that she £ad come to see if she could take board with them, when the younger Miss Amy came in. She shook the matter to her, and said she was sorry, but it was a mistake: they only let their rooms furnkhed now Tnd people must find table-board at some of the ne Lhbo^rin^ tet ^1 ™'^^ '''"^ oy isappointment slfe sa^^^^^^^ knew It wa« very disagreeable going out to meals: but iot mSr """"" """^"^^ ^^^^^' gentlemen, and they did asked mL aX""^' "''"^"" '^' '^°^ " ^^""^ P^^«^^ '■ " Helen saw that they thought she was looking up a place for someone else, and th'at they were far f rSm Tm - 124 A woman's reason. lining her errand to be on her own behalf. They saw m her an amiable young lady, interesting herself for somZ one who was out of town perhaps, and wished to comrfn for the wmter. It cost Helen more to set them rLSan she could have believed ; the first steps down wlrd in the world are not so painful from the surprise of your equals asrom tlmt of people on the level to 'which yrudesS v J\i.^^^^^^ *^^* ^ ^*^* *he room." said Helen • and both the Miss Amys said "Oh!" and 'then wetsilent till He en asked if they could recommend her to some ^Zjlr ""^^'^ '\^ T^^ ^°'^ ^«*^ board and lodgW under the same roof. The Miss Amys thought a whUe^ All the neighbouring places were very largi boardZ: houses and the company very promiscuous. ^ ^ 1 don t think you would like it, Miss Harkness " ^nirl the younger Miss Amy. ^arKness, said mn'i'^ *^f i? i* ''?'* * ^"estion of what I shall like.anv more, said Helen. braveTy. " It's necessary that I should rbTfStidtf "^ -^ '-' ^ -- *^- ^W, S prZei;Thltf?^^^ ^'"^ ^"^' ' '''''' --« - ter'if l"£uH fin^"^ *^' young girl. '' I s/.ow/ci like it bet- The elder Miss Amy looked at the younger with a " How would Mrs. Hewitt's do ? " ' Orr^rK ■;." *^/ t"?^ -igW bea useM lesson. ., "1; no doubt, said Helen, " but I shall not mind A woman's reason. 125 Its quite a proper place in every way," continued the younger Miss Amy. "and the neighbourhood unexcep- tionable. If you can get the use of the parlour to see your friends m, it would be desirable. You won't keep all your acquaintance." she added. " but some will remain true. We retained all that we wished " .\!llT'' ^^'^ ?i!^-"' "^"^l^' ""^^ choosing that Miss Amy should assume their equahty in that fashion. The Miss Amys had, m fact, declined to their present station from no great social eminence, but the former position had b^en growing m distinction ever since they lost it, and they had so long been spoken of a^ « such gentlewomen," that they had come to look upon it as something quite com- manding; and there was a note of warning for Helen in the younger Miss Amy's remark, as if all persons must f«f/.?'l "" ^- ,'° ^«;:t"^^<^ as they. " I should like," said the g)ung girl, with some stateliness, "very much to see Mrs. Hewitt. Will you give me her addresl? " wli. f"^ 7''-.^? %^ ^""^ ""^ ""^ ^a''^^'" «aid Miss Amy, who found with difficulty, in a portable writing-desk on the table, a card inscribed with The Misses Amy in the neat pencilling of a professional card writer. The recep- tion-room of these ladies was respectable in threadbare brussels and green reps ; a fire of English cannel coal, in wf f ' ^^T^^ ^'J.^^r^ ^^'^ ^ ^«"g *i°»e laid, and the lumps of coal would have been the better for dusting. s,ill ^-TT' ""^T' ^"^ i* ^^^ *^^ ^««ty «°^eU which small city houses have at the end of summer before their furnace hres are lit. and Helen had found the Miss Amys not such nice Miss Amys as she had thought them in former days when she had come to their fouse to call w^?h M "'"w'^'^.^f *^T- ^^^" ^^^ <^rd wa^ inscribed St ^/t.^^"^'^*? ^^^'^^^' «^e rose to receive it. herpl^ ^^r°^1f/T''''^' ^°^ *^^*«a^« came into her eyes a^ she pulled down her veil and hurried away. a K^cKc^x a. Dag ueiore leaviiiir Ueveriv with the purpose of not going back that nigh\ for s^; Tad not 126 A woman's reason. thought but that she should go at once to the Mi&s Amys. t^U l^T^^^^^ entreaties that she would return aid te 1 the Butlers about it. She would not have gone to the W W^r''/^ ^y account, and yet she^lt some! how hurt at not hnding their house open to her in the way she had imagmed. She had a cowardlv satTsfact on o Rpvprl"^ f]"^^ l^\'^."^^ '^'^y g«* *h« «i^' o'clock train to Beverly after she had seen Mrs. Hewitt. in^ttn^li T^r^'^y' *^^^ ^^^y answered her door exDlaSnn .'l? ?R? '^''^' '^^^ ^^king the card, with the explanation that Helen gave her, led the way to her re- ception-room It took shape from the swe/front ; and the rocking-chair, into which Mrs. Hewitt sank stood had WnM.fi ' 7'*^^"*' "P '^'''^ ^^^ do^"- What nad been the fire-place was occupied by a register- over unitorm in the corner was a what-not, with shells and t^^^""TP'' ^" ^^^^' ^"^ ^^'^'^ of ««™g on is suc- Zdt w''' ^^t'^ ^H wall, opposite the windows. ^^^^^ ^ ff'^'^S-mEchme ; the carpet was a tapestry of bTd ^f ^^^'^ '"^ ^T^ P^^^"^ ' *^« window-shades hVa rens of t?^^^^^^^^^ '^S''' ''^'^'^ ^^ g^een. and the I^^hpL -.^"^ '^^^''■' ^^"^ ^^^^°- Si^^Ple and few bok ri??friT''.T'''' '^'y ^^^ ^^ mireconciled fo?tui^, . ..^^^'1°''^ ^'"'^ ^.^"^^* *« °^^*ch. fe"t were money ^°°^^^^**^ons on which someone else had lost Btandin?!.^!?*^-^.'!^''^ sit down, but Helen remained ^d m^f.V «V^^ ^^^* 'h^ ^^' * "^*^« P^^««^d for time, and^ must a^k at once if she could have a room with "I don't know as I've got anything 'twould suit vou but we can look," said Mrs. Hewitt? apparently disap-' pointed in not being first allowed to talk it oven " DFd youwant something on suit or singly ?'» she asked " 1 don't know what you mean," ^id Helen. ^y '^.fc.,. A woman's reason. 127 " Do you want more than one room ? " " Oh, no ! I only want one." The landlady preceded Helen up the stripe of linen that covered half the narrow carpeting on the cramped stair- case. " Parlour," she announced on arriving at the first landing, as she threw open the door of a large room fur- nished in much worn plush, "goes with the room on this floor ; I always let 'em on suit. Now, if you wanted anything on suit " "I only want one room, and I don't care for a private pariour, said Helen. The landlady glanced up the next flight of stairs. " That whole floor is let to one family— lady and gen- tleman and little boy, -and then there's only a room on the top floor besides," said Mrs. Hewitt. "I'll look at it, please," said Helen, and followed the landlady up. The room had a pretty bed and bureau • it was very neat, and it was rather spacious. " Is there any- one on this floor?" asked Helen, feeling sure that the cook and second gifl must be her neighbours. The landlady pushed open the door across the little passage-way. " There's an art student in this room," she said " Art student ? " gasped Helen. I' Young lady from Nashua," said the landlady. Oh ! cried Helen, remembering with relief that art students in our time and country are quite as apt to be of onesex as another, and thinking with a smile that she had been surprised not to smell tobacco as soon as Mrs. Hewitt had said " art student." She reflected that she had once been an art student herself, and wondered what the sketches of the young lady from Nashua were like. What would be the price of this room ? " The landlady leaned against the side of the bed. "Seven dollars," she said, in an experimental tone. " I used to get my ten and twelve dollars for it. right afto the war. ® 128 A woman's reason. I will take It, said Helen, who found it much less than she feared. " And I should like to come at once." 1 o-night ? " asked the landlady, looking at Helen. les, It the room's ready. *• Oh, the room's ready. But— did you bring a trunk ?" " J Jorgot ! It's at the station. I can send for it." th yes ; the exfiress is right round the corner from here You just give 'em your check. But you better not not lose any time. They're late sometimes, any wav, ' Very well, said Helen, childishly pleaded at havino transacted the business so success: ally. " I will take the room from to-day, and I will pay you for the first week "Just as you please," said Mrs. Hewitt. Sru ,^,1''^ °"* ''^^ porte-monnaie, and said : 1 he Miss Amys can tell you all about me." cv. V '*^**;'^*^^"^^*'" answered Mrs. Hewitt, politely bhe had perhaps been perplexed to know how she should mnt anything about references to this young lady who took an attic room with such a high and mighty air. " Their card was sufficient." 6 J' « '• When Helen came back from her errand to the expres." office and went to her room, she laid aside her things and made hei^elf at home in it. She did not know in the least what her life was to be there ; but she felt that this whatever it was not, was escape and independence and beginning. A rapid calculation had shown her that her payment of seven dollars a week would not encroach much upon her capital, and somehow she would earn enough money to meet her other expenses. She could not sit still; she rose and opened her closet, and found it deep and convenient; she pulled out the bureau drawers, and they were very sweet and clean. She discovered a little cupboard with shelves where she thought she would put books. The room was very complete ; there was even a ^ook m the ceiling by the window where some one must nave iiuiig a ova-cage. Helen was happy, without accus- A woman's reason. 129 ing herself, for the first time since her father died. She smiled to herself at her landlady's queerness, and was glad, as yoxmg people are, to be housed along with a cha- racter. She wondered what Miss Root was like, and who the Evanses could be. At the sound of the tea bell she felt the emotion of a healthful hunger. There was a dish of cream toast, very hot and fragrant ; hotter, and more fragrant still, there was a dish of oysters delicately stewed and flavoured ; in a plated basket in the centre of the table was a generous stack of freshly- sliced lady-cake. " From Copeland's," Mrs. Hewitt ex- plained, when she passed it. " Mr. and Mrs. Evans are out to tea, and I thought we wouldn't wait for Miss Root. She's late sometimes. Did you like your oysters ? " " Delicious ! " said Helen.* " Yes:. I think there's nothing like a drop—not more than a drop — of sherry in your stew, just when it comes to the stew. I don't believe in any thick'nin' myself; but if you must have it, let it be cracker crumbs : flour makes it so kind of slippy." Mrs. Hewitt went on to en- large upon many different kinds of dishes, and then, from whatever obscure association of ideas, she said : " When you first came in to-day, before I fairly looked at the Miss Amys' card, I thought you'd been buryin' a husband. I don't see how I could took you if you had. Widows are more trouble in a house ! Boston family ? " " F/ia^.?" cried Helen. " Your fo^ks Boston people ? " " Oh, yes," replied the girl. And she submitted with what grace she could to the inquisition into her past that followed, " I've never lived any where else." And nothing seemed stranger than this when she came to think it over in her room. Here, in the heart of Boston, she was as re- mote from the Boston she had always known as if it were a thousand miles away ; from herself of the time when she lived in that far-off" Boston she seemed divided by cen- turies. Into what a strange and undreamt-of world she 130 A woman's keason. had fal en ! She did not dislike it. On the contrary, she thought she should be rather content in it. Without de- hnite aims ,us yet for the future, she fancied that she should try to be wholly of her pres'ent world, and ignore that in which she used to live. Already she felt alif^ to It so far as to wish that the Butlers would not send peo^ pie to call on her. nor come much themselves. She knew that she could adapt herself to her circumstances but she trff'n It'Ft''^ ^Y'' '""^^^'^y *« ^«*"^e her in them tht t mT unhappiness about her would be more than she could bear. She planned a geographical Hrait wihin which she could live J long timf an'd n^ot mee any one whom she had known, and she resolved next day to begin her exploration of her solitude. The dark gathered into the room, and the window showed a black frame a.a.nst the sky before she thought of lighting he gTs Slie was shaking her match out. as women do. wbef a light tap at her door standing ajar startled her, and then the door was pushed open, and the figure of a tall girl stood on the threshold. ^ "Miss Root : Miss Harkness, I believe," said the figure. Will you lend me a match, please ? I waited for you to light your gas, so as to be sure you had matches before I bothered you. It s such a long journey down stairs." HeJen smiled in her most radiant way, and got the matches, saying, as she held them forward • ^ " Won t you come in, please ? " onl'v^^^K "^^ l""".'." '^'^ ^''' ^^°^' **k^"^ one match bn^Aw V W" ^^^^y- ^"*^ y^" ^«^'<^ fin<5^n^e a great borrower. Have you got everything you want in your "Yes, everything, I believe." said Helen, sweeping it with a comprehensive glance. sweeping ic "You'll find Mrs. Hewitt pretty prompt. You won't hT^T^"'"? ^ "°°^P^^^° «f' "^le«« you mind hZl talked to death. Good-nieht." and dr«J,-n„ fk " d— ^ after her, Miss Koot returned'to her own rSm J.- A woman's reason. ISl Before she slept, Helen heard the street door open and shut, and then the voices ascending to the third floor ; a lady s voice, and a gentleman's voice, and a sleepy little boy 8 voice. '^'^ " Well, this is the last time we shall take Tom to the theatre, said the lady's voice— the voice of spent nerves. " Yes, said the gentleman's voice. " We shall confine ourselves to the circus after this, Tom." " Circuses are the best, any wiy," said the child's voice. Hush ! Don t speak so ! cried the lady. " Why, they are, mamma," insisted the boy. "This is a question of morals, not of opinions, Tom," said ^ the father. " You're not to prefer circuses when they re inflicted as a punishment." r I^^I ^^^ now reached their door, as it appeared, for a light flashed into the hall below as from gas turned up. Ihe lady s voice was heard again : " His forehead's burnino; hot ! If that child should have a fever . Here, feel his forehead ! " " Forehead's all right ! " responded the heavier voice. ^ i shall give him three of aconite ! " cried the lady. Give him three thousand, but put him to bed,"aasent- ed the gentleman. " Will you shut the door ? " implored the lady. « Wak- ing the whole house ! " " I haven't refused, my dear," said the gentleman. " Whv do you always ." "^ The door closed, expressively, and not, as Helen fancied, by the gentleman's hand. "The Evanses." she inferred, bhe fell ^leep, wondering if she could indeed be the same girl who had talked that morning to Lord Rainford on the rocks at Beverly. CHAPTER IX. lELEN saw the Evanses in ^oing to breakfast. i 1 hey came down stairs just after her ; Mr. Evans leading his boy by his extended forefinger, and Mrs. Evans coming behind, and twitching some- thers do ^ '^^'^'^'^ ^'^^^ '"*'' place as mo- table, I have been some time in your h^use. but you must have older friends than I, and I don't understand Why the law has honoured me as it has." "I'm surei (Jon't know what you're talkin' about," said Mrs. Hewitt, pouring the coffee. fi,"^i!iV'^''';'i °'^'^^^'" returned Mr. Evans, "and I thought I wou d get you to explain. You don't find your- self unusually infirm of mind, do you ? " ;;No I don't," replied Mrs. Hewitt, candidly. ofexl^Xu^r ^'^"'^^^^^ '"^^ ^ -^"- " What is the man after ? " cried Mrs. Hewitt Then why should you be taken care of in any special manner, and why should I. of all people, be called ^upon ll^h^l- ^^ ^r ^ ^''^' ^ P^P^^'" Mr. Evans con- tinued taking a document from his pocket, " that I found slipped under my door this morning.'^It makes a peZial appealto me, m the name of the Commonwealth of Mass- achusetts, to become your trustee. Of course, it's very flattering and all that but I'd much rather not. You must a low me to resign, Mrs. Hewitt. 1 never did understand business very well, and " " How'd they ever get into this house without mv knowing It ? That's what / should like to find n.U^' A woman's reason. 133 " What does it mean ? " he asked. " Pshaw ! " cried his landlady. " You don't say you never was trusteed before ? And boarded round as much as you have ! " " Trusteed ! Is it so common a thing as to have a par- ticipial *orm ? Then I needn't have any scruples about resigning ? " Mrs. Hewitt broke into a laugh. " Resigning ; Bless you, you can't resign. There's no; such thing." ^ "Gracious powers ! Not resign an office for which I don't feel myself competent " " Oh, come, now ! you know very well what it is. It's them curtains," said Mrs. Hewitt, pointing to the green and-gold trimmed shades. Mr. Evans rose and curiously examined the shades ; his boy also slipped down out of his chair, and joined in the inspection. " Thomas, who gave you leave to quit the table ? Come back ! " cried Mrs. Evans. " My dear," expostulated her husband, " the child very naturally wishes to see what sort of window-shade it is that thrusts an irresignable office of honour and profit upon his father. Look carefully, Tom. Regard the pe- culiarity of the texture, the uncommon tone of the colours." " Oh, pshaw, Mr. Evans. You stop," exclaimed Mrs. Hewitt. " When they senfc in their bill I told 'em it was too much, and I shouldn't pay it. I didn't believe they'd really go so far as to trustee me." " But what does it mean, Mrs. ' Hewitt ? " asked Mrs. Evans. " I don't believe Mr. Evans knows any more than the rest of us." " Why, Mrs. Evans, itmeans just this ; that your hus- and isn't to pay me any board till this bill is settled: and if he does, he's liable for it himself. I presume they'll be trusteein' all of you. I shall have to pay it now." 134 A woman's reason. " Is that the law ?" demanded Mrs. Evans. " It makes trusteed m my house before." ^^ ;' I certainly have that to say." admitted xMr. Evans. frnSr.?^ ""^ ,^?>'''' ^''^^^^^ *^^"g^ 1 <^n't resign my snrH d «ff ^' ^""t ^ "" '°^^ °^ '^y ^^^ *h^*i*'« ««ch\ very hpW « Ti ^ T'r ^^PP^^ed to be appointed to office They all rose from the table together, and Helen went upstairs with the Evan.ses. She and Mrs. Evans ex- chaiiged^a few words on the way, and stopped on the first IfLrTw •^•^"'t-^l" *^' l^^^« P«^^°^^- ^''' Evans came after, bestriding his boy. who now had hold of both his forefingers,--like a walking Colossus of Rhodes He flung open the parlour door, which stood ajar, in Mrs xl«witt 8 manner. "' nJ'^,T ^'^^-i^f ''"^"'^ °° *^is floor; I always let 'em 07. sm^; now if they wanted anything onauit—" He looked at Helen for sympathy, and she laughed. Yes, I know," she said. " She won't know it if I do it behind her back. And she seems to enjoy it to her face " trusfeeinr?"^''^ '^*' ^^^^ ^''''' '"'"'^^ °"^ ^^^"* *^** f.l1?M''''^ w* °?'°^ ^*\ ^"* ^ ^^^« i* «° °»y conscience to tell Miss Harkness that Mrs. Hewitt is. for alM know «JS7-'" i^'T^r*^^ ^^^^ ^'"^ «"T»"««d she let those I?ke XfilS- *^^^^^^*?g« of her."^ She has a passion them T ir If -5'' ^^i '*¥^ ge^^lemen. She idealizes them, I am afraid. There haven't been anv single genf.l«. men m tne house since we came here, two yeara ati^^ We A woman's reason. 135 believe," explained Mrs'. Come, Tom! We must sometimes fancy that her preference is founded upon her experience of Mr. Hewitt as a married gentleman, which was probably unpleasant." « Is— is she a widow ?" Helen ventured to Mrs. Evans " Why, not exactly," said Mrs. Evans. ''It's a very neat way of puttinor it." said Mr. Evans, bhes a widow, Miss Harkness, of the herbaceous var- iety." " My dear, she'll hear you," cried Mrs. Evans. "Very well then ; she won't understand me. I'll ven- ture to say Miss Harkness doesn't." "No, I don't," said Helen, and looked at Mr. Evans for light. " Her husband is living, I Evans, " but— absent." Mr. Evans laughed again. " Not lost, but gone before ! go to work!" He led the way up to the next floor, and at her door Mr^ Evans asked Helen if she would not come in. Helen had a curiosity, which she thought harmless to see their apartment, and she accepted the invitation in t^ J "^' ^'^^^^^^sive manner which ladies have when they do not mean to commit themselves to the conse- quences of self-indulgence. She did not feel quite sure ot these people ; she had a strong impression that she was their social superior ; but, thrown with them as she was she had too much good sense to hold stiffly aloof from' them. She sat down, without, as it were, acknowledging that she sat down; and she followed Mrs. Evans about trom room to room without seeming to do so, as well as she could manage that difficult effect. It was a very pretty little apartment of four tiny rooms, of which the last was Mr. Evans' study : this was just large enoucrh to admit his desk and chairs, and was packed with books on ceiling, and Helen inferred that he was some sort of literary man. She would not sit down again, Idd A woman's reason. 8^ou^dl^??r^v.l 'Jlf r^:""''^ '^ compliments to the walls , she praised the balcony on which one of the win- Mrs. Jivans had filled it. In fine, she guarded her dis tTnd s'tllt lnV'"l '?^.^ ¥ ^^P^ ^^^ ac^quSance'at" termsat win O^^^^ '^ r^'"""?]^^" ^^ "^^^^ ««rdial in ^oo- ^ V ^""^ '^ ^^ ^"^ « world' after all ; and even Selenffio?'' T'^^' "' '\' '^'^^^' she ' had ' done! Ue^en had not yet made np her mind to be of a lower rnf ^^ 5^'^i??'°'T.^ *^ SO down to Bcverly on the mor- tion ot their letting her come up to Boston at all on that dad no Tr f \"%T^' *^^"S^ «^^ ^«"ld h-' e been S b«r^ ! • ' '^u ^^P^ ^^^ ^^^d- ^'^^ it was really not 80 hard meeting them as she had feared. Mrs. Butler was forbearing, and Marian preoccupied; the younger girls saw It somewhat as Helen did, and thouaht H an enviable adventure She told them' all that had hap pened in detail, and made them laugh. She partly S- matized her interview with the Miss'^Amys, and they saTd It was perfectly delightful to think of ^Jbeinlmt Ionized by such people. They wanted to see Mrs H^eS?t trutw f^"'''"^^f ^'^^i^^^ ^^«^^d <^h^t somebody would Ld nl ^™^ ^''.' ^^^y '^'^ *^^t the life Helen was leading was fascinating. " ^^f^haps you wouldn't find it so fascinating if vou were obliged to lead it/' said Mrs. Butler. ^ ^ ^^ ^elen leads it and she finds it fascinating " .«n t i^^'^'.'^^"*^ ^^ *^« hardness of hir heart be- fondly '°^' ^''^'^ ^^'^ ^'' ''" '''^'^'^ MrrButler, ''fhonp wil ^^™«"?ber.your promise!" said Helen. ^ J,hope you U remember yours, my dear, ^o come back -i woman's reason. 137 " Oh ! And what are you going to do, Helen ? What Butle^ ^'''''^ ^"^ ^"^ ^'''' ^ ^'"'"''^ ^" ^^^a^ded Jessie "Jessie!" cried her mother. "Don't be absurd! Do for a living ? "I hope you won't think it absurd, Mrs. Butler," said Helen with a serious dignity, "for I reaUy want to do something for a living." j i- tu uu ''Poor child! "said Mrs. Butler, getting Helen's hand o^Tdo r' ''^' tenderly smoothing it. " What could thin^^'''''^ ^''°'^ ^'^^^^ ^^^' ^"^ ^ ^""^"^ ^ ^°"^^ ^^ ^o°^e- She felt dispirited by Mrs. Butler's motherly kindness and would have liked to take her hand away. ^ Thl was what «he had dreaded, this fe'eling on the part of such friends as the Butlers, that anything useful and practic- able was impossible to her. For the moment this feeling ZTi Vuf '^^f ^ ^'^^'^^ ^'' ^^d ^ prosperous ca? reer of self-help ; it unnerved her so terribly sistedVessie"' ""^^^ ^''''' ^'''' *^^"^"°^ "^ ^^^^°^ '" P^^" ^S%''''"V^^ youngest, and she ventured on almost as fer^eVdld '"" "'^^^'' ^^^ ^"^'^ ^' ^^^^^^ Ani?.\'\} *^^"^^* ,?ve' a great many things as I came down this morning," answered Helen. " But f haven't set- tied upon anything yet. Indeed, indeed, Mrs. Butler! " tnT^TZi' ^ "^ ^''y r^^ i^ ^^^^^^^ ^bout it, and aon t try to discourage me, please ' " "I won't dear !" Mrs Butler assented soothingly, as if Stle fancies^ '' ' ^""^ "^"^^ ^" humoured in her wliJrjv^''"^'^ P^^'"", ^^^i°g Proaching mar- to feme foi^ of cScs 1^^^^. *^"° °^^«* **ke of it before. H?riouMr°^-'*^^*I?^^^^^^ Beverly, of all p£, a"d"ttThintTpo\tr^^^^^ must decorate pottery for a living" ^ '^ " ^^^^° Uh, yes ! and she can drive n?7Ar +« +u w^^olJeVrXVotrrvot- ^""^^'^ "•"^-= «"- do™ TuV ih^r'i^tr ' e':r r ''"'' "^ '^ p«* - never had the opportunit? Ji^/^T^. '^ ' ^eVe of a young lady who wiX^y *?■ ^^"'^^ *>"» ''<«»«'»» Placfs°and''gattt„u1.dtr^'' ^^^ "»<» ''««>«- Helen w£ sw«.?Jk?>?."',P?»'"«» of application. A woman's reason. 1S9 " 1 don't know anything about ceramics," she lauffhed turning upon the group. ' "That's the beauty of the profession," they shouted in reply, You don t need to know anything about it " " I can t draw ! " -> & "Drawing's the very last thing that's wanted for art pottery. Say that you'll drive over with us and select the shapes ? ivii ^ m" "^'n^ ^»'* I'fS^ ^'^^^ ^ bean-pot, like that pretty little Mrs. Gay." said Jessie Butler. "You ought to have heard her talk about it ; so colonial, so in character with T^/cj, i^®y«"^g girl gave the tone and the lan- ^u '"It ®u? ^^ecorated it with a flowering bean ; they say you 11 find that they ve begun to give bean-pots an ^sthetic shape Miss Harkness's bean-pot will become the fashion We shall have a course of beans in their native earthenware at dinners, and when the pot comes m everybody will put on their pince-nez, and crane over and ask Is that a Harkness, Mrs. Jones ? ' " " ^^v! °? \ ■^T.*'^'''* ^° "^^^ y^"^ ' " cried Helen. « I'm going back to Boston this afternoon." They all protested ; but Helen stood firm, feeling that It was her one chance for life, or for making a livinff If she was ever to put in force her resolutfons to do something, she could not get away too soon from an atmosphere in which no one, not even herself, could regard them seriously. It was a trvinff ordeai thi«» pity of Mrs. Butler's^ and this jocose iLrfduUty of the young girls; yet, as Helen rode back to town she was more and more satisfied that there was something possible and practical m Marian's suggestion. She re- called some pretty shapes of pottery which she had seen in a shop window, and which seemed to her more stupidly dea)rated than anything she could do if she did her wors^ ./5®7 ,^e^e there on sale, and somebody had been paid for domg them, or expected to be paid iox 140 A woman's eeason. work. She mmW ^.11 ""P**'*""' *o »mve and begin she had denied h^em^'^hewr ^^-^ P'f'i'y. though but she knew tha[?he lackedtl^"'^'''r'■?°Py»'; and she had not cared for what ,(,?**^"1!5'TTP"'»^' » many othera could do it ^well "" ** ^°' ''•'°*™« shot X, XJ& It toJS t^^r^^ *° '"" p^d^tTrhe^rtf"^^^^^^^ in her room) shrcowerefa ifc''"'' ^'■™' '"^^ qu^tity. She blushld to find ters^l/lt "^ S-'T '" ambitious beginninff- andthm?„i, « i ,?'*'",''8 *'"='» an agreat deal to spend' she wS ?^^l°"»" had seemed had not bought (mite ^muTh B f i- ^ "°"'*°' *•»«' " cou^e she m^ust i^iu s~Jthe^t^,Tnd'f '* ' f was going to try a variptv nf jl "Tr'S"'' , and since she a variety of jare She Zt tl?^"^ '°'^' f^ »•«>"" ^ant closet, 4ich^'s"e lockef she foldL "" *//'''*'^ °* ^" paper and tucked it awky sS ete / ^ TS^T" string; and. after putting^on hel hT.S'^^f '?" street, she had to aif rfnl.; . ner tat and veil for the guilty consciot^ess beC°,2°''„J^™ / P'"-"^^^'" "^ to go out on her next ermnd ''""°""' "'""^ ialfto g" hTc!w an°§ t"^- 1^ »"" »«''»' "ater- »uldg|ehertlte"ab:ut he^r CoV^ ^SL""*^ ''''^ personally very well infnrmnT w fi! •*"®^ ^©^e not little books wLr hldTr! '• "*, *^^y '^^^ ^«^ several which would tdl her aU Z wilLdTT ^ *^^"»' ^^^ had bought them she tho^hfA *?^^^o«^- After she fin in fKli-^l^fxA®^® ™g"**Jiem rather Doverf.v.sf-«^- ~ -n „_. ^„,,,^^ ^^ ^ ^^^ print:shop wi^: A woman's beason. 141 dow she saw that pretty senes of engravings, niustrative of the old fable of the storks and tie baBies; and the ceramic fitness of storks at once struck lier. The prints were rather expensive, and Helen thought that she could not get on without the whole set. Then, as the matter deve oped in her mind, a great idea occurred to her: Flaxmans Illustrations of Homer." They were, of course the only things to copy in the classic shapes. The book ,cost more than she supposed it would ; but as she meant to stop with that, she be- lieved she might afford it, and at any rate she bought it. She was afraid to look the whole sum in the face at first but her hopes rose with her rapid walk homeward, and she finally confronted the fifteen dollars with serene courage. The next three weeks were given to very ardent if not very diligent labour. Helen had an insuperable shyness about her enterprise ; she managed so that she might put everything out of sight at a moment's warnino- if anv one came to her room. ^ Before actually beginning upon the vases, Helen school- ed herself m reproducing on paper the designs she meant to use, and this took time. She was also interrupted bv excursions to Beverly; but she did not count this as loss altogether, for she was able to make several studies in colour of the low blackberry-vine, now in its richest autumnal bronze, and of certain sea- weeds, with which she meant to decorate several pieces. She did three with storks, and had a fourth half-done when she let it fall bhe wrapped the fragments in paper, and took them out at twilight, and dropped them in the street some distance away, that the pieces might not be traced to her, and so proceeded to the Flaxmans. She chose three subiecta among these : The old nurse Euryclea recognising Ulysses as she bathes his feet: Penelope oarrviS^ ♦kS bow of Ulysses to the suitors; and the meeting of ufysTes md Penelope, These all related to the returo of the 142 A woman's reason the coast on which she fnnml k; t.- ^^'"SJcaa from eubject which Heln'tst^tieirr&thllV lines werelovelv enrl aho f«i» *i. * J'y™'*^. though the The jar which she decorated ^f h '*K ~"''* ^^ '> T"y- vine to wanton ^ * *^"® blackberry- they seemed very successfi 1 Af TiTo* j- ? ° *"** defects of draw2a!!suchT:-.w *^,^\distance certain bearing the bow rttherl Z^ J^'"-^ ^^^^ ^^°^^ope other blemkLs were subdued W "''"T^ look-and severally and ^SS^teraT^ml^^^^^^^^^ vases bore the ordeal nf «rU;«„i • "^/"sxengtn, the '•And no one." ^ho^gh "kkXZCZrS ^r"' more severe^ than 1 have '■ ** ""^ of !tr zit^dt^^t^s 'fiSgtv^r is vr them a^d oUer" nW Th^.f'r''''"^ "'/''« *^ A woman's reason. 143 confessed that they had some hesitation in asking her to design certain friezes which they were to do for a cottage at Newport, and their admiration for her work must be tlijir excuse if they were proposing something quite out of the way ; but they begged her to remember that two ladies in London had taken up decorative architecture as a profession, and they trusted they were not wrong. Then Helen had replied. Oh, no, indeed ! She was only too much flattered by their confidence in her, and she would be very glad to think it over ; all that she feared was that she would not be able to meet their expectation ; at which they had laughed, and said they had no such fear, and had drawn her a check for her vases, and had added a few hundreds as a sort of retainer in the matter of the friezes. At^this point Helen broke from her re- veries with " What silly, silly nonsense ! What a simple- ton I am ! " While she was in good humour with them, she resolved to pack her vases in the basket that she had got for that purpose, and when each was carefully wrapped and put m she laughed to find the basket looking like that of an old Jew who used to come to the kitchen-door to sell Bohemian glass when she was a child. The matter of transportation was one that she did not consider till the next morning, when it flashed upon her that she could not go carrying that basket about. She must drive, and though this did not accord with her severe ideas of econ- omy, she had to own that she had been rather lavish in her preparations for work, and that it would be foolish to try now to scrimp at an impossible point. She would take a coup^ by the hour, and perhaps get it cheaper if she had it several hours; though when she went out for the carriage, she found the driver inflexible, and she had to take it at the usual rate. She bade him drive her to Mrs. Hewitt's door, and she wanted him to go up with her and carry down her basket ; but he, seeing" her a single defenceless woman, boldly answered that he could 144 ^ woman's reason. closed ; and she encounfer" d M« I li»™™.\' ''•°°'' ""» up nor in coming down ffl!;"": wtd^^^ the caniage-seat she was out of breath b«t.v''?f'''.' "'' her escape and with Tini.-„i. '"^'^*'" ""t exultant at driver toVo toth^'d'^c^s git™ hTJJTuttnr""^" '"t to her that she could nnMn^H / -^^"^ '{ now occurred a crowded pavement info .^^ ^/ ^'^^^ ^*"^P«r across her wares by sa3« ^h '^T^^^f' and she must seU input thetef 'the stkT^^^^^^^^ ?f" 7 ^^- actenst cFlaxmans and tl,« ki ? V °' ""' "™' char- jar. She acarerd«ed loof at'tlS"""''-''??"'!-''''''''''' gathered them tb her bosZ^'wYth „ S''"'^ •"" »^ »•>« caught up her skirt with *^ !i "^ '"""^' "'''ile she coup«, it was with auTtfi»« "f f '° ""g"" fr«n» the hea?t'naIpitateT*airtVos\Ta:^^ie'':E:;;/-^„S^; 8hf found he^rs'elf ^ddy " '""^^"^ "P"" *e ground an?thettmrt:"«dSleT "'? .^•"^'^'' *''-'<- pied witf a lady whom Hlnt^P"^ '<* T"^ ™» "'Re- proof of having^Iived abS bv ri;^''^^. ^''° g"™ voice which shI i,ad su7,.«X,) ^ '""? *°^ confident Englishwoman\rt^rkT:;'l'Sirr^r^C" ''^ \" frcm her recocrnition anri i».i T I . "^^^^n shrank reHe^l^^earl^S^S^fVt? r^f^'>:r^rsef^a;;^;£'f ?^^^^^^^^ SomethioK in S^Sl" th'^ri'LiP' ->"' "Ah.yesI • ~~ - -^«i/i^cu tiie otiiers and A woman's reason. 145 set them on the shelf near which they stood " Whv this 18 very nice Miss Harkness." said the dealer • " very nice indeed. He carried all three of the vases to the ight and returned with them, holding out the bird- banded jar. ' I like this one best. You've managed these birds and this vine in quite the Japanese spirit: they re the only people who understand the use of uncon^ yentionahzed forma. The way your blackberry climbs into the nock of your vase is thoroughly Japanese. These storks are good, too-very effectively handled. The firi^you t-' ' '^°'''^ *^i"k that's quite sosuccess- " No, i don't know that it is," said Helen, so grateful for his praise of the others that she would willingly have allowed this to be a disgraceful failure i" "^T y?^,®^^^ ^o'^e anything of this kind before ?" asked the dealer. "No," replied Ho' "Very remarkable said the dealer. He had set the va^ses back on the shelf again, and now gazed atthem somewhat absently " It shows what can be done with this sort of thing. See here ! " he called to his partner rth^T net'' ^^'^°^"^^^- " ^''''' ^^^^^^^ing pretty, and "Your work, Miss Harkness ? " asked the other partner politely, coming up. ^ He said much the same things that the first had said • he even stopped a young lady assistant who was passing and made her admire the jars. Then he al^^o fell into a musmg silence while Helen waited with a thickly beat- ng heart for the rest of her reverie to come trie, and stayed herself against a counter, till these amiable part- ners should formulate some offer for her wares The young lady assistant ebbed noiselessly away and sniited from his rtrrhi- fr^r^*^ +« i,:- i-r^ x, j ^ F , : r .1 — , "I . "*&""' ^^-'u tv liia ici J/, turned nis Head abruptly, and feigned to be called suddenly by some duty 146 A woman's reason. JSe*tt7.j'i*° ''•* "" '~'^»^- ^- g»-g -used few pSle?-'^ *''" ""'^^' ""^i"^ '''oof. "we only had a that ,ou ought to see that North CambrW«e wa,^ fe' you ever seen it ? " o-^iwuuge ware. Jiave *'No," answered Helen, faintly. Copenhagen pottery to finish. If you have nWv ^f ^^nl^go. /mgiadyo„US.l'^?„evJ,tt'^P stu« and sSrxttKVfre-"'"^ -^'« A woman's reason. w these graceful arts. And be sure and go to see that Cam- bridge ware. We can get some of it for you, if you wish." He had followed her to the door, and now opened it for her, with a bow. "Thanks," said Helen. "I won't forget. Good- mommg. " Good-morning." She got into the coup€, and put her vases carefully back m the basket, and sat down on the seat beside it She quivered with the intense and bitter disappointment, and she burnt with shame, as every particular of her inter- view blazoned itself upon her consciousness, and she real- ized that she had no one but herself to blame for the pre- cise results. The people had been thoroughly kind and sympathetic ; they had praised her work, and had been far more interested in it than she had any right to expect • but their taking her on her old social plane had made it impossible for her to meet them on any other. Appar- ently they had never once imagined that she wished to sell these things, and she had not known how to approach the fact. They had thought she wished merely to show them as matters of aesthetic interest ; but if they had not supposed she came for advice, what could they think of her conceit in making such a display, and of staying and A i7iS^ l^^ ^^^ ^'^ ^"^^ *° ^^ *""^®i« A woman's reason. 149 ?o next ; she the parley at the man's last question, and tryinff to learn of him something about those other places he had begun to mention She was too much bewildered to do that, but It must have looked like pride. Helen resolved now that she would be not only bold but meek. She had a plan of stopping at various little shops, in whose windows she remembered seeing artistic caprices, hke pictures m birch-bark, and comic designs jig-sawed out of the white-wood. They might somewhere take a^- fancy to her vases. She stopped accordingly wherever bric-a-brac showed itself in any sort. The street was tun ot per-. > chat is to say, of women, thronging in and out of f hop doors, and intent upon spending the monev .,. caeir natural protectors. It is always a won- derful spectacle, and in the circuit of a quarter of a mile about the confluence of Washington and Winter streets It enforces itself with incomparable vividness There is doubtless more shopping in New York, or London, or Pans, but in those cities it is dispersed over a larger area, and nowhere in the world perhaps has shop- ping such an intensity of physiognomy as in Boston. It 18 unsparingly sincere in its expression. It means busi- ness, .and the sole business of the city seems to be shop- ping. The lovely faces of the swarming crowd were almost fierce m their preoccupation, as they oressed into the shop doors; as they issued from them, and each lady stooped and caught the loop of her train in one hand Z-,iM 1^'P^? half-a-dozen paper parcels to her heart with the other, those faces exhibited no relaxation of their eager purpose. Where do they all come ivom, and where does the money all come from ? It is a fearful problem, and the imagination must shrink from following these multitudmous shoppers to their homes, in city and Suburb when they arrived frayed and limp and sore, with over- spent^ allowances, and the hard task before them of mak- lag viie worse appear the better reason. Helen was dismayed to realize herself the only one of all her sex. who wished to sell and not to buy. and at tha 150 A woman's beason. herlnlw^,'-' ^""^^^ ^^'^ ^^^« P^^^^d to conceive of ner m that unique character. Thev wer« V^hqt- ^Vi. *i: te'letr'*' f S •''^-?^^K that "he^Tno^ and she dismounted and wmt in '""' ''''"« *« 't^od her "?s!. {. P°'"»nian stepped up and opened it for Oer. See here, my man," he said to the driver " von^l ri™ un^lLl™'""' ''*''»" yo"' passengers SntCor gve up the busmess. What's you? number ?" and wAill HekTrook JunlL^^^f °« fne^pSon a^d'^.^S 'e S fi-^/ f P ■'"'' J""^ '^^ o*^ her champion. She failed with her ferhSfd.'"' ti! '"'l"" ^'"' ^"-J <=°-« home met^fn the steps^„Y?L offl^'^r ""t ^'""" »''» '"^ his hat. ^ the officer l£!;e.r her, and touched Then she remembered him. " Oh is it vn., ' " .1,. . • j as rf it was some old friend ■ ""■""y""' shewed, <'iv!''lr''^ *''® ''*'^''' "^'7 """"h pleased began"&:lr^' "'""^'' *° =" "°" "g"-' ""^ «-nkyou,'' «eJt^Pr-»^-that^^-^^^^^ I shaU his hat all ^"^"""•'I'id. the policeman. He touched ShesawJ^el^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ xaamon, and fondly shielded fern Idi" th/t ^^S or A. VOHAN'S BEASON. 18S wasabrupt in life, might fitly bend upon such a curious ceivaoijr related to herself. Her attitude imclied seoii™ possession m perpetuity of whatever w<« cmeefulh-r diOTS and aloo£ It was enough to remember this attitude tJ^ «onp« stopped at Mrs. Hewitt's narrow door and the man got down and helped her out. " I gum the h^e ^oSe'^d^'' '" ''*-'' "'^"^ I »"y this^S'e'jl^r thSim''for?^i^"'-"'*' f° ^'^f"^'' »"d ^l"* did not M^him She W t "71",? "''"'! *« '"»'' <>«' her purse to pay him. She had kept the carriage two hours aud a half would c°ain,l7 77 """•''^ ^^' than an hour but he SSc^ltiterattrn^M^^^^^^^^ er JTf Mf^ ?''^*'°'' V*¥ disappointment was as St- ter as it starvation were before her and th^ qHopV +^ k wh f 1' • ?^ ^?°"^^ «"cceed because she was she S fliZr";^ ^kT^^ *^^^ «^« °^-«t not expect ZthiW that mid« ;? Vf ^ ''''^'^^y *^^^^i«h«d an ideal of trfumpl? *ta . .^^t*>t ^""''"^-^ "^^^^^"^ of fortunate in..nirSl and n^ ri '^'i .™' ^^« ^h^<^ «J^« had reaTlf hoped" and now, to her defeat was added the stingingVnTe If Ui A woman's season. I'' ' ' having been a fool. She had probably set to work quite in the wrong way; and she had been not only a fool, but such a coward as to be afraid to say that she wished to sell her work to the only people who could take a special interest in it. Yet they might not have cared for it either, and if she had spoken she would have had only one igno- miny the more to remember. For, what puzzled and sur- prised Helen most of all was that when she had taken the humblest mien, and approached those shop people on their own level, as it were, without pretension and without pride, they should have shown no sense of the sacrifice she had made, but should have trampled upon her all the same. The glamour was gont from her experiment. She was in the mood to accept any conditions of dependence ; she wondered at the vain courage with which she had refused the idleness and uselessness of the home offered her by the Butlers. The dinner-bell rang, but she remained with her face in the pillow : after a while some one tapped at the door and then pushed it softly open and looked in. But she did not stir. Whoever it was must have thought her asleep and so left her ; yet when Helen opened her eyes there was still some one in her room. A shawl had been flung over her, and Miss Root was sitting at the window look- ing at I r, and apparently waiting for her to wake up. " ^Tot going to be sick, are you ? " she asked. " You've been sleeping ever since before dinner, and Mrs. Hewitt asked me to look in and see how you were getting along. I guess you haven't tak6n cold ; she put the shawl on you." ; " Oh, no !" said Helen, rising briskly, in the first free moment of waking, when ca|p has not yet dropped back upon the heart. " I came ii'%ith a headache, and threw myself on the bed to rest." " That some of your work ? " Miss Root indicated with a nod the basket which stood in the middle of the floor A woman's reason. 155 where the man had set it. The paper had come off one of the jars, and showed its defloration. Yes said Helen. " I did them— I " A thought May I look at it ? asked Miss Root. ^ Certainly, said Helen, feeling bolder, now that she was protected by this little outwoTk of unChTy aga^^^^^^ two or three of the jars and set them on the window-seat Miss Root did not trouble herself to take them up te stood at a httle distance and glanced at them wKn eye Ini^^^^/tT-i^'^'i'^^^^^ ^^^ cl«««ed them, and tha? made her fee like the amateur she wa^. The girl turned away without comment. J-xi«gm lurnea «iZT f.'^V"'^ ^^^ '^^"^ ^ a window as I came expects to live by painting and selling them." , Miss Root could not have meant hir equivocal sneech Zr^^^T' ^'' '^' ^^^^^' ^««king ba2k as she ^went out "Don t you come down if you d^on't feel just riff ht 1 11 bnng up your supper to you.'' ^ ^ ' the ct?a^fof he^d! ^''"^ 1?""°' ^?^ ^™"^ ^^^««'^ ^i^h tne courage ot her despair, she confronted the question of lonVntn l^'^'^'/r*? r^°' ^^^ "-de liR^her long nap She said she had been shopping allthe morn TJ'^^l^ ^lir^'y "^ ^' P^^^«« in *his applTcatfoHS: tered her bitter mood. It was a stroke of the finest s^r casm, could they but know it ; and in her heart she mocked at their simple acceptance of her statement. shoDninJ^''m^^^'^*^f"P^^"^«^^ ««^ld sleep after shopping. When his wilfe went shopping it kept the care lortr'r^' 'v ^^^^^^ *--t^-four hou^^^ Ccire-wom tor a week. Mrs. Hewitt asked about ihc. fashions, and said that she always found^ thin^ W^ ±7!:^i/,^-^ ^-1 better atL large slo'faid^vo" romid to the little places. It seemed to Helen the heig^ 156 A woman's reason. I' I asked 'thrSlL°"'^l*^''!u^" "^^*' ^^' Harknes3?» ^I nnf '« J f^^^^ "^^^^ *^''' ^^^*^ ^«d tai:eu its course I??* "^"".^^xT^H^ ^^^'"'^^^ of your mantel." No said Helen; "I didn't look." Well, you Jl see 'em when vou irn haoV n^^ .f^^r yo^u went to sleep, Tae^ffi'us sllS^psr! It was Robert Fenton's handwriting on the envelones It 8 my answer- ifs my ,,entence-aSd I deservelt " T.' ea.d under her breath, as she stood with the letter^l w m.U7^:S. *" '^"""^ »"« "' *"«' ^'^-P' wUhte? Set ■; There ! » cried the boy, " youVe tearing it i" outt^hrthT^^^t'yo^^.'-^ ""''^'- ^'^■'"«'«- rU au?tSi'wTtK:tor *'''''''''' •^''pp^ •"'»">»'«''« an^fJ^ttXHroVht:^: '^.''^^ f« ^ you get so white, an^d tLn get sotd*;" ^^"^ '""'''^ i„ VV*. ''^' "°*'°S 1 " answered Helen, incoherent T-u ■'^*™ ' '"""' '**°'P" She stooped to eive W Tli child was pretty, with still gray eyes and fufi h1 ,' wm? you kiss me, Tom," she askfd, in a vS? sot £ J.,^'" voice, " for good luck ? » It seemed Itlth ''^■"J''"? upon his will; but when he hrtm^tissed her'»„J""° out, she still had not coumge to open the letter sS" 0.--. ...u .v^^cd ai inem. Sue could see a little of Se ite useless to A woman's reason. B ; and " Oh, le little boy. i opportune u shall have her, he was 157 wnting m one through the hole where she had cut awav the stamp, and she tried to make out the words they were sucJi words a^ "from," and "four." and ^ with "^ It there had been but one letter, she thouffht she should not have been afraid of it; but this mysterVof there be ing two ! She tried putting one out of sight under the fche"v wl'^ l-r ^°^'- ?^7^^^ comVrt" was tha thin^iftlw ' f '' ^° f'T ■ ^'"'««''' T wouldn't bear any- ncoherent- 'e it. The ipa. "Will trembling fate hung jr and ran ters. She then came tie of the CHAPTER X/ MIii^Lo!5T'*.T ?^ i'^"'*^ '^ ^^^ *^" it has been 188 r l ^ ^^^*, *^^ *^^ ^°°*an he loves. Till then _^«i he has only the materials of character, and thev are to be shaped and ordered as newly as if he had never had them before. The thousand and Tve^nt^hrS^ r ' ^^^^^--^ainty. hrfonta^Sc wavenngs, her aesthetic coquetries with the idea of bein^ rJ'2''T "" ^^i/^t^^i'^le to Fenton as hiheidlonf Ms blunr.''' r'^"" ^^ *" ^''' ^"^^ ^^^^ «he thought blpd i!«rl f^^'^'^'S. in a way, and constantly trem- bled nearer and nearer to him in her heart, Fenton waa far too simple a fellow to feel anvthin^ b„f. lf.?Kl. of T misgivings and delays which she enjoVed;' When arfast he made what he felt must be his U offer,^d sh. ^t 158 I } I I A. woman's reason. sciouslv meanf «n^ \1 I • ! ^ herself, as she uncon- three yeara'eKTlfu !::'"•"■ '"f™jably committed to tion It was impossible to repair his faiiU nnH Tf u^ pogible it would be despieabl? L attempUt '''' ""' Me went haggardly about his duty— a machin« fh«f ^&ntVwhe« et" Tjl^"^ al«e„t without hav- fear and amaze, to find that all jiad been going weU to the meantime-that he had been talking Sr and " IP .earned to grant him a moment's obii;r„„;'»wok^ A woman's reason. 159 metaphysical have tram- J she uncon- wn despite, ead in a de- mmitted to and despair ! dune what le had for- to conceive ■ than that light, per- to Hay. It ? the heart 5 had done, .ke repara- 1 if it were ■.CIO 1IrV>i/>k n, awoke him presently from somebody's joke or story to the con- sciousness that it had only been more deeply and inwardly i gnawing his soul. 1 Some sort of action was indispensable, but action which did not relate to Helen wfl'< none. He began to write let- ters to her. He had m niea >' sending them, but it had grown insufferable to ! e werpevmlly talking to her as he was m those airy drar..aj> with; i himself; and since his words could not be made nvidiV.e, he must let them take visible shape. This beci^^e his daily habit, and before the ship reached Rio de Janeiro he had accumulated a, score of letters, which he bitterly amused himself by reading over and considering and putting by without destroying. He kept them, and found a sort of miser- able relief in communing with them instead of his intan- gible thoughts. His industry did not escape the idle vigilance of the ship's coraradery ; but at sea every one must be suffered his whim, and after laughing at Fenton's they left him to it, in the feigned belief that it was a book he was wnting— a marine novel, they decided. They each thought in the way of his rightful joke to say. Don t put me into it, Fenton," till Fenton, who worked up slowly to his repartees, found presence of mind at last to answer: "No; I can't afford to make it dull, you know ; and then they left him quite alone, with a roar at the expense of the chance victim. Before the laugh waa over Fenton had almost ceased to know what it was about, and had ^ holly ceased to care. He was quite too miserable to be glad of the immunity he had won. He went on with his letter-writing ; but, on the eve of arrival at Rio de Janeiro, he destroyed all his work and set about writing one letter which should be his last. It was hLs purpose to post this without reference to consequen6es as an act of final expiation. He was not without some trembling illusion that there might be a letter awaiting iiiui: ne aiu not dare to think from Helen, and he could not think from whom else. But his letter was to go 160 A woman's BEASOW. ?arvin'ZPr '^ ? ^Sme'.t of hirdistemp^ed fancy Z^^ leisure just tLliTr thf'" """P^"^"^, not having the wZld. nevertheSTe hak l^leS'^a?" h^^*' • """ " JNothmg m the Advertiser (" asked th« Pn«c.„i i, iTtts'^sXdta.tdVr?^^^^^^^^^^ she haS seized ° « „ol*ttr.h^" "t P^'^'?^'''' ^-^ ply. //«im. and it ran in thi wayf ^- " ""S^ ^- "* *» mouth. But I shall not trv to wnrt ,, "^ ^ "®'^' * *" fr««i Ports- I have that already I onfy wilh 1??° ^T P^*^ ' ' ^«»«^« that renouncing all preLsfoSs fo ^^ur C d Tdo'^/'^l^^SV^ '^^^ val of your conduct to me f do nnf w ' ^° *'.'^'*^ * ^"" appro- I see that I was altogethei ♦o blam« t "^ ^^^ ^" *^« '«*«* *hing. fore : that you neve^c^eJ for me and thi? ''^^' ^- ^j^ •"«* ««« ^^ heart to be kind to me and vAt^^* * ■ ^^^ '^^^ ^ith a" your for your goodness! ^ndT trtou to' hlu "'^ \'P«- ^ *^»"kV this letter, that my eyes are onL .f i t'^^' T^^,^ ^^^ ^^^^^ "ad loving you, it is beLZ mrioveof vo ri'/"i? *^**' ^^ ^ ^^^^P ^^ that r know I am no morrworthv ^o iZ t ?if *'°T "^^ "^«' *°d can neither help one nor th7otZ h.?» T^"*" ?*'' ^-T **^ "^«- I ing troublesome to you' and I will' So iT ^T V^^^' ^^^^"^ ^e- any of my former pretensions but nnt / 1 *"°* "^^ ^^^ *° «dmit in whatever humble and useful' wat I oL /* "*"> y^'^'' ^"«°<1. jrraced man, and I shall exDect nnlLl i ^ ""T'^^^ "^'^^ » ^is- bearance and patienoryou would^^^^^ ^^^ ^""^ *'^« ^^"d of for- who was depending upon youTcmmin ^""T '«?«»*»«' criminal himself. ^ P y°"' countenance for strength to reform and Ik^Z Cst'reVery mtht;tr ^^.^ ^^^^^^ ^««-' do not ask your forgivenes^ H«!l r !^ T*^ "'«• ^"*. though I me his. I owe him Suha HH^ i ^lu*" ^^'^^"^ y°" *« t^y to get all that I am and havedone " ^bl '^^''m" ^? ™«' ^^^ ^^^^ ^L how dearly and truly I hono„r\ni i "^"u^' ^^°»^d not tell you came awaj without Vn„rtake leZTl.- ^^l^^^g^* thit I after writing you that fatfl l«fft. !lu-^ ^'"^ ^^^^^e" me; but decent became impossible ' ^^«^^^"« *hat was right and "Good-bye, Helen. ' r> ^ Robert Fknton." ing thing and »uIdTJ*it "'?,!? ^^ '^ " ""^ =»me lir- 162 A woman's reason. quence; it was the sum of everything, it was love • and however hapless love to the writer, it walheavln-p^os r^pCno^o^'-'"' f ' ^^^T^ "^ that fond e"fZ to implore, to forgive, to console Robert, as if he were werTKv ^nd'.t' ^^' '"l^^" upon hi; neck They ZchtSw?h«f T ""''% happy together; it was so ^nr.?. 7 ' !t^ ""^^^ '^^^e^ wish to know more reaUze that'itw-' '^ ^ '"'^ "* ^'' ''^''^'^' ^^^ diJnot it wa« fnfinuil ''''* an answer to her own letter. But It was infinitely more. It forestalled and anticipated her be tlhlnntr''!? '' ^"^ '' ^t ^^'^^' wouSt turn ter madp^?b« TI 'T°°'' *° ^^' ^''^ «f ^11, his let- ter made the first advance toward reconciliation anH ZTntf thaf f ^"^ ^'^'"^ ^ what TetS'sXei likpH Vn'm +« K^ 1 ri ^y ''"^t h® was, and she fh«fl? generously first in owning himself wrong —that always seems a man's part. ^ letter'of fhe^S w?? w•,t^^ ^''^' ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^e, the That ?oo wo"ld>:/ • «*^^i l*^' "^opened before her. +y!i Qfl ' VC ^ P/f °ious, but never so dear as this of their love ^h. '^^^^ "^^"^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ hTstor^ of luTrLTtt^' I-J^is^yatTh^^n^^t^^^^^^^^^^ rtSc\\^etrfi^rklt^ S^and in Vh ' ''''''''' W o'neTh T^ ^^ n ^^^^^^ ru^e^rTHh^: her he addrT^L^^ ^'"'"''^ "'' ^ ^^^^^^ <^« 1^^°^ than to W brother pTkI ^'\^^ '^'*""' *"d signed himself as ferent ttnd^^^^ ?u''' ^'^^^ ^«°^i"l "P^^ the dif- lerent tenderness hw other letter had evoked seemod tn iffit^'l^tt'r ^'"' n ^^«^"° thttreTnd I' sSrr t ' .1, ® ^®'" ^^ * <^e^tain disadvantage with re- spect to the sorrow in which they humblv Xd a &,«i'^^'^i.A^Y -?e,her jealo'us in a W^ldtrt of nersorronr , ^uvy indescnDabiy wounded her so that she A woman's eeason. 163 thiw the letter from her and wept bitter tears for the happy ones she had shed. It was such a letteras no woman would have written if she had been a man ! She should not know which letter to answer now, nor how to answer either; for if she answered the first as she would have done, might not Robert think her bold and unfilial ? and It she answered the second as she ought, would she not appear reserved and cold with him upon whom her heart had just thrown itself with such tender abandon? The letters made two Roberts of him, and left her to despair between them. ^ She passed a hapless night, and in the morning she took the first train after breakfast for Beverly, where she appeared at the Butlers' before ten o'clock, asking in such a high hysteric key for Mrs. Butler, who was not yet down, that they led her at ^nce to her room. There she threw up her veil revealing eyes tragic with tears and want ot sleep, and gave the two letters into Mrs. Butler's hand while sne hid her face in Mrs. Butler's pillow. Oh, Helen, Helen ! " said the elder lady, when she had spelled through these documents in the dim light, "how glad I am for you ! Come, look at me, my dear, and let me see your happy face ? This makes up your quarrel, and you are—. Why, Helen ! " she cried:when the girl, obey- mg bent those eyes of tragedy upon her, "what is the matter ? Don't you— didn t you " . I ^^Z^^!'!"^''^ for him-all the world ! " Helen broke out. But the more I care for him the worse it is, and unless you can help me out of this trouble, Mrs. Butler I shall surely go crazy. Oh, how indelicate it is of me to come to you .'But I don't know what to do-I don't know what to do ; I m so horribly alone ! And it's such a very strange, ridiculous thing ! " . "^ She did not suffer herself to pause, while Mrs. Butler stared compassionately at her, till she had put her in full ^,...._,,, n ux x,ci^ py^piexity, ana explained how it had poisoned all her joy. ffl! I'l 164 A woman's reason. I InV^'^.'n?-.*^''' ?'^ ''°* ^^"^^ ^* ^^^' «^e was one of those High spirits who perceive the sacred rather than the absurd, andamidst the girl's wild talk she saw the reason! Se^nTdilT *''' *^ "" °^^"" ^^"^^ "^"^^ -^^ ^-^ TflZ''^ «i"st not think of this second letter at all. « rS: ^ u^ »^'^.'/^^'°,"'^y' " Shall I tear it up ? " ler's decision. T'm l^/'^'"'" *^i°^ of destroying it," said the other, « but l«S.r t^°'°^ to let you have it back. This is the only il^Jn^TJ^-fi^f""' *°^ **^« P^«e<' she added, her rSf^w^/T^*^^^'l^^^ P"^^^^ the'second unde; J^^a\ .w^t.^ letter that you sent him the other day —wouldn t that be a kind of answer to this ? " Why, yes! "cried Helen, with electrical perception. %h 1 " ^lifHTn."^ ^^^ '' '^^' *° Mrs^Fenton." l.or/'''^ ^'^' "'^' "^yf^^^" said Mrs. Butler, fondly : « and bathe your eyes yonder. And if you touch the left hand bell, Marian will come up." "shJli'f '"* ^t^^n' '° *^? «f°^e shaken tone as before, bhali you— shall you tell her ? " "No; you shall," replied Mrs. Butler. But when Marian came, it was Mrs. Butler who had to exulain the embrace in which Helen seized her, and whichf Ct re! turning with mechanical affection, she now re^urAedw[4 rapturous intelligence. '"to"^ • >%f "l*«d- : Oh, Helen, Helen, ^elen ! " ..n^^nX- ^^l^""' ^"ghing from her hcpos^ heart, vou Lir7 T^^' ^T ^^^^"^'^d, "I don't knVw what W« Tr. If ^ """**? ^ ^'"^ * making-up letter, and hes written me one, and they've crossed on the way " A WOMArl'S REASON. 165 "Oh, that's an engagement," said Marian, with the authority of a connoisseur. '' But he hasn't got my letter yet, and I'm not enffaffed till he does. ** " That's nothing. He's engaged, because you've got his, and in an engagement the man counts for everything • the girl goes without saving." Marian Butler was at that period full of those airs of self-abnegation with which women adorn th.-mselves in the last days of betrothal and the first of mai-riage, and nevev after .vard. They talked Helen's whole a(}uir over, in the light or the full candour which she was able to bring to bear upon it now for the first time. As to feelings, she must still have her reserves ; but as to facts, she made them little by little all theirs ; it helped her to realize Robert to be talking of him by his name, and to hear others doing so. At the sound of approaching footsteps without, Marian said : "Now, mother, those children are not to know about this. They're too forthputting now, especially Jessie." Ignorant of this supreme interest, the younger sisters were richly content with Helen's further account of her boarding-house life, which she continued to them like an instalment of some intoxicating romance. When she came to the end of her chapter, she stopped with a man- ner that roused their worst suspicions. " Oh, she's keeping something back ! " complained Jessie, and " Oh, oh ! " went up from the others. " Yes ! " cried Helen, " I'm keeping back the best of all because it doesn't seem as if 1 could tell it." While they all stared, she abruptly began the confes- sion of her experiment in decorative ceramics. She was by this time in high spirits, and she poured it all out, illustrating, mimicking, not sparing herself in the minu- test particular of conceited expectation or forlorn reality. It was all nast now. far nast nnrl wno nar-k «f « */%».,« — existence which she had suddenly outlived by an untra- A woman's beason. versable period of time. It ma,ie tb^m If -^rli Marian with amusement, an '^ ""^ him » ' °°' "'^'"'' ^''™' "-f ''^'1 '^P^oted you to tell Captain Butler would once have teazed the girl about her happmes.; but since her father's de..th he sSme'S to have been able to treat her lightly Her ln,aTn^ IV uncertain future made her » serlouf aflSr to him a^d to Id W" ""r ™' ^I ^^^'^^ ^'^ startled" tCf to hnd how ,ch „i8 old .riend was like him Thei ^re tones and movements of strange rosembW Per- fZai^d 'Trr **■"' P^-^'y ^^-^ ^^Ptai" Butler^ impaired liealtli ; lie was certa^.^lv not waM ut^a +i,„j. j her think of her lather. He tooi^'lrt fcitttTid him very much as her father w. d have doTshe ontt and he expressed his sat^ ■ .cti. almost ^0^11^ fit' only revenge was to ask "»eri>. mg " Shall you a) swer in c e e ^he Naw Dpt oi4«,« .* would you like to telegraph a reply f'^^ Departmeiit, or ^^Oh, Captain Butler," cried Helen, " couLd I tele- .lYS".'*"* *^^ Captein. " How would VOU word vnn. A i. A woman's reason. 171 " Mr. Butler ! " said his wife, in reproach. " I— I don't know ! " gasped Helen. " It wouldn't reach him, now, any sooner than your letter of three weeks ago. He'll find that at Hong Kong when he gets there, and you wouldn't know whert to hit him with a telegram on the way. If your letter was posted at Rio, the Muskingum — " " Mesaasauga," Helen s "tly corrected him. " Was it Messasauga ?— is going round the Cape of Good Hope, and she must have passed that point a week ago, and she won't stop at any other tiicgraphic port proba- bly. Here," said the captain, with rising interest, " I'll show you his course." « He got a chart out of the library, and then Helen be- gan to study navigation with the impassioned devotion which love lends to intellectual pursuits. One observes (•-his ardour in two young persons of opposite sexes who t'ke up some branch of literature or science together, wnich *hey might not perhaps have thought of if they had n hought of each other. It has been known to cast a purpi. light upon metaphysics. Helen borrowed the chart and brought it away with her. It was a happy day, and its memory remained to sweeten the days in the increasing bustle of prepara ion for Marian's weddmg— when Helen saw her friends less anr^ 'ey^s—and then the days when shs saw them no more. H J I- I CHAPTER XI. \^^iTf '?"*•'■' "^'"S ">« l««er Penton wrote .t ness. H. thought of her alone Sh' """"'" *<"• ""i^ ■'^'h- expect from him, even if tL,! wi C "*"^ * "ght to common affection for her father fft*^" "l«« '""*«!'• whole life centred "n an imnnL^ '^T ^^"'i ""d his how from the banishment TrA^ fl"^ T *° ''«'• «>"•«- But he had him Jf made'ret„mt;ts1we "^ ent, at least— by the t^rma «n„,i-uT .,*'"' 'he pres- He must wait a^d he must suC'V! ""^ ^S^t exile, simple enouffh —and k1 1 V T""*' ^""'d have been suffer. When he i to thk "'"^ T''" ''»' '^"i' ^d must, it was with ^rental shock "htr°' ^ "'<' "'-"y^ ble concussion of the bra^ tUfLf, i,- ^ ''''® " ^"nta- day, and that broke him at l^t hI?!,'"^*^^"'" <'«y hy that baffled the science of thfi '"'i ""^ "'^ " disorder in his room. * ""^ ^'8*"° *hen he visited him '^y^Z^^'t:^:/t'^^l^'j9^^ .Ibelievein tor.acheerf„l,e.Irl^^,^,t:h'tt.S If^j;^^ ^''^'^^^ Fenton. """* ""'' ^'"'*^ *- ''- «« I d^answered ."Well then, you must brace up I'll f«v« ,, x . ake you up a bottle and send i; ii:£7>^ ^^" ^!^''^^- A woman's beason. 178 3n wrote at Kong. It ^he anguish e had been of her for- hat he had r his rash- ^ithout the a right to > but their 1 ; and his her soroe- n himself. ' the pres- ight exile, have been wait and »e always a verita- r day by ■ disorder »ted him elieve in the doc- nswered a tonic. 3 doctor t's your spirits that affecM'our health. But in any case you must brace up." As Fenton lay perfectly still, with his face turned away, Doctor Simmons pa.ssed his hand over the top of his head, where a perspiration of perplexity had gathered in the scattering down. " I can't minister to a mind diseased, you know," he suffgested " No," said Fenton. ^"^ " You must go to some other shop." He got himself with difficulty out of Fenton's door into the wardroom, and presently sent him the bottle. It seemed to make him worse, and the doctor visited him again m renewed mystification. After the usual inspec- tion, he sat looking at Fenton as before, and then aaid. casually : ' " What a lucky chap Nixon is, going home on leave so soon ! Fenton sat up. " Going home ! Oh, my God ! " He fell back on his pillow, and the doctor nodded his head. "I thought so. You're homesick. Nixon isn't going home ; but if you keep on in this way you are.-in a box. ihis thing Will kill you as sure as you live if you don t fight it ; and if you've got particul'ar reasons for liv- ing, as you intimated the other day, you'd better make the most of them. Get leave and go off somewhere for awhile. Amuse yourself; try to forget about it. You can worry it off somehow. You must ; and so I tell you." i wo days after I sailed, the man who had taken care ol me all my life and been more than a father to me died suddenly and left his only child alone in the world," said teuton, desperately, "How am I to worry that off/ I ought to be there— to help her, to take care of her, to show the gratitude that common decency " " Well, that is bad." aasAnffirl fKA Af^^^^f, « u. got friends, of course ? " "Oh, rienda, yes!" „.-4. XJVtU sues 174 A woman's reason. " And of course she'll be lookprl an^^ v to see the.bright side of it" aJdedlt docS" ^rt^ a bright side to everything" '■^ aoctar. There s word to them and I ;:Jf I 1 '^^'°^ *^^^ «^ «^yi»g ^ can writp w! J * tiling to be morbid about. You Mulnee of the T TPk""- ^""'''^ * '""« ""der the some quinine. There's noT,„ il • • ** ''*"^'' S*™ ?»" makeLd worse." ^™S way ; you'll only th™:7to%&ii>fc' *° ""• "Tf'y *"' -"- tempted him '''^ ^""^ ^^ ^«°^^ continually |g^makmgUaZ^r:r:i%ehrt :]l^ •t^L. ^ n^ not less to bear, but he had leamed^bltter A woman's reason. 175 L must try " There's )right side -a quarrel >r saying a e, because the bright , with the 1 of senti- )ut. You under the Jse things • give you ou'U only that ano- siliary in ! its phy- ble to go doggedly ss where i under- a super- e chance imself to dge that Ltinually hopeful, d meet ; Then fcs effect burden ■diustfid i better how to bear it; and the pride anp joy which he had felt in Helen's love, even when he felt himself least worthy of it, seemed more and more his right, less and and less his unlawful possession. Apparently she was pleasantly placed in the house which ghe amusingly de- scribed to him, and she was living quietly and trustfully on there, waiting for his return. She wrote him very freely about everything else, but she shrank from telling him of her experiment in decorating pottery for sale, be- cause she would not let him know that she had ever thought herself in need. She never spoke of any need in her life except his return ; she only spoke of that in an- swer to his letters saying that he would use every effort to get back ; and then she said that they must both have patience, and that she would be content to wait all her days for him, rather than have him do anything that he would not have done if she had not wished. She said something that made Fenton smile about her knowing that he would not dream of deserting his post of duty ; and then she begged his forgiveness if she had seemed to express any fear of suoh a thing ; and again she said that she was very well and very contented, and that he must not worry about her, and she only wished that he could look into her little room at Mrs. Hewitt's and see how comfortable she was. To the next letter, which reached him a month later, sne put a postscript in which she offered to give him back every word that bound him to such a helpless and foolish creafcure as she was, but told him that it would kill her if he consented. " If it were not for thinking of you, Robert, I should hardly have the courage to keep up. If you were ever to be unkind to me again, no matter if it were entirely my fault, I could not forgive you, but I should die in the attempt. There are some things," she added, with subtle relevancy, " about my every-day life, and its cares and dimcuities, that make me wish for your advice, 176 A woman's reason. I i i' r" )'■: iil hi liquid ToXt' tKubiS^* ^rf ^', j^" -- ^-' advice. It all comes Lm^f ^ ^^'""^^^ '^^^ '^^^^ *»»« figures, and not cXlaS^rr^If "^u ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^or ward,;hen it doe nt' go?^^^^^^ mstead of after- poor ffirl's nenaltv fnr fl?„ •' ^^^'^ ^ ^^^^ to pay a girl ought."^ ^ ^'°^°^ '^^"^y ^^^y ^ no rich Jwo.:^ ;trntf :t ti "f i^ *^^ «^-* -« of the things '^To be bT Jtn ^^ ^^ ^7^ ^'^ ^^^ l'«fc of for certaStabL chairf and W^f ^'^°'\*>' ^^*^*^^°' Butler, in the use of a wit^" ^'^f*"H«' ^^ich Captain sold fo'r the ben^tof thTesi^r^'Z^S^^ ^^ poor, was not nroud «n^ ot ®- Sullivan, though formerly Sedbv ^it ^ ^^f .T?^ *^°«« ^^o hfd ve;' s^';??!^:^^ J.^^"-: »y -re clothes for you myself after this" Then J,? '"*'' "^ "" "''»8' beinginvited to 7n Jr^^T ui ^ " ^°""' «^asperation It alre^y done so m„?/^t'"^^/°/'''="'''=^' "•'^^ *« had thefug:^%Tef-rLt„.tt^^."^^ be the sufferer bvit '' ' Sh. i ?r* '"o*^?,? *^** ^^^ «^all she had in her 7orte monni ^^ ^'!' ^""^^^^ everything Irofp « Tx "_^^^_P<>Jte-monnaie except some horsfi-ni f;Z X. uu^y j,oi be so much as the furniture was A woman's reason. 177 worth, but it's ready money, and no doubt you can bur things with it that you would rather have." Mrs. Sullivan was apparently not inclined to that opinion ; the loss, because uncertain, seemed greater; but she did not fail to invoke God's favour upon Helen, and she asked for her washing as an amend for the unmerited deprivation which the Sullivan family had undergone through her. Helenhurriedhome, andfound thatshe had given Mrs. Sulli- van all her money but ten dollars, and that now she must encroach upon her capital at last. She must go to the law- yer in whose hands Captain Butler had left her money, and ask him for some of it. She could havo wept for vexation at her rashness and shame for the necessity to which it had brought her ; but the sum of her varying moods was the mood of self-pity in which she wrote that postscript to Robert. She was sorry for it as soon as she had posted the letter, but even then she regretted it as the expression of a mood, which she had always said was ^f*'^ foolish in writing a ktter. Fenton had never imagined her poor, or in need of any kmd ; the fancy of a lover does not deal with material circumstances ; but he now made ample amends for the past failure. He took unsparing blame to himself for the false delicacy that had kept him from asking in what state her father's affairs had been left, for not making her tell him how much or how little she had. At this first vague hint of cares and difficulties— of the necessity of saving — which she had allowed to escape her, he saw her m a poverty that scarcely stopped short of the municipal soup-kitchen. With the distance which he had put be- tween them, how could he hope to help her ? How could he even intimate his longing to do so witlimit wounding hei- v He wore himself out in vain contri'Snce for get- ting his pay to her in some secret and anonymous way. Her next letter was ^cheerful and happy, with no hint of trouble; but he could see uothir^ in it but a ieint of gaiety, a pretence to keep him in xieart about her ; and the eflTect of time and will w»re undone in him. 178 A woman's reason. ,i: t, «o-"i\^''^'*' ^°^e^*and all this bother of yours Fenton " guess you ve got to go home. You're dying here " ^, Going home doesn't follow." replied Fenton hpr3' ."^^^^^'/''^ ^°^«^ than useless, as you are at^'tirKeKlt'sad-' '^^T '^-^ ^ " '-'' .ou.e sick, z';:i^L Xtfb?si^i!r^;L^ r t^^consumption. You haye ^got toW "rtTnthat "J^can't go," said Fenton. miLtoHy?'^'"'" "'"^'"'^ *^^^^^*°^- "Ican'tforcea orlhril^^"*'?^''*"'' sat in the ward-room with two n^U w I "" '""' * '^"^^ 0* >>«•• Strange look, ft wS he fo,ndTitni\l'{? '=»°°'«°"«'e oa the doctor, whom to Cfeet ^ndTht^ ? ""^"^ *« **'''«• He trembled Wsraom •■W^nr.?°°^"!? '"""'^ and helped him to we^Xne XUl""^*"°'^^ demanded.'when they ;_She'8dead! I saw her ghost!" whispered Fenton vJ^^T^'^"^'""- 7^^^ st^d » dropsTn his forehead "^fes^^^i-^niirsarj^?-^-^^^^^^^^^^ thisXott';:wir.T„;s-fe«p».''' uomenon of your condition. Yo^u turn"!;; nowfaSI ni A woman's reason. 179 make you up a bottle that will keep her away till to- morrow night, anyway." The surgeon had the professional humanity, and he would have pitied Fenton as the doctor pities his patient, even if he had felt no personal kindness for him. But he really had a liking for the young fellow ; he respected him as the most striking case of nostalgia that had ever come under his notice. The case was all the more interesting from the character of the man, which was one of stubborn endurance in everything. His pride was as evident as his quick temper ; and yet here he was, beaten down, per- fectly broken up, by a purely moral disorder, " If I had not got that man away," Doctor Simmons could say in imaginable boastings that were to hold future wardrooms in awe, " he would have died, sir; died of sheer homesickness ! " Of any other sort of sickness with which the nostalgia was complicated, no intimation seemed to have penetrated to the doctor's thickened consciousness. It was long since he had had any love affairs of his own ; the passion, as he had observed it later in life, was not apt to manifest itself in any such condition as Fenton's. He ascertained that the apparition was that of the lieutenant's adoptive sister, and he rested in that knowledge. But the fact that patients suffering from nostalgia were sometimes haunted by visions of absent friends was an incident of the malady noted in the books, and upon its occurrence every possi- ble means should be made to secure their return home. It was upon this authority and this conviction that Doctor Simmon- .iprvrsched the Admiral in Fenton's be- half. He expls -vxed ihe case with scientific zeal, and then dwelt upon the -eca!'rir circumstances which rendered it impossible for ¥_ . i enton to apply for leave to return, while he was at the Bame time in such a condition of mind that to aoudomn him for service by medical survey and send him home in that way would be simply sentencing him to death. The doctor acknowledged the irregularity 180 A woman's keason. professional reputattoXon?hatlf'"r^^ '^^'^ ^^ orders to sail bv «^, flS 7 ^^^ •'"^ ^*°*»'> received dispatches fo-lv3!in^* '1?""'' f™" Yokoh«ma with certain eventualities threatened w' *" '" •''^". ''"»™. interests. mreatened to coiopromise American ordls'r eaThedtimT™' ^'"^^ "' P*"*"' "^^ the ton's. He told C ?wT '""^^^ disordered than Fen- advised Mm not iS \ronhll e^^^'^.^T ^ ^°^«^°d' and they hai b^en dven Zl fT'^ • *^°"* ^^^ ^^ ^^7 point that the mn^t ««lf ot;^ • , " *^®^® ^^as no the natural f orces Tn h?m L r i^^P^^*^ «hame that all wC^felto- ? test ^.^jjr e-^on.'p^i^n^r'^i:rpW^^^^^^^^^^^^ "/ « vaxa ana r euiote profusion of gratitude. '""'°" A woman's reason, lill al; but he ase in justi- irvive if he staked his ; presuming to consider ved by Mr. on received ha ma with of the war ill known, ' American after the tact with 7 Fenton's . He ex- et the ac- ve carried ;han Fen- send, and ^ or why nitted of 3 was no lay hold that all 3 broken aailed in id he ac- le could. :ation to ; to him " every ut from Btter to Aasmaaa sx-_-CJCT He was, as he figured it, only a fortnight from San Francisco, and, unless hesuffered some detention at Wash- ington, only a little over three weeks from Helen. The possibility that he might be ordered away upon some other service before he saw her occurred to him, but only as one of those disasters which each of us regard as {oo cruel and monstrous ever to happen to himself. He bet on the highest figures in the pools formed to guess at the run of the ship from day to day; and the lady who held: the pools was not long in divining the cause of his san- guine faith in a short passage. Mrs. Bowers was going tojom her husband in San Francisco; the similarity of their objects gave them a naturaJ '.erest in each other, and a man of Fenton's ordinary g. i sense and reserve was capable of confiding in this sympathizing listener, with the lover's ingenuous egotism, so incredible to us later in life. He talked continually of Helen to her, when perhaps she would much rather have had him talk about himself, as they walked up and down the deck together ; he told her everything but Helen's name, which she threatened she would have yet before they got to San Francisco. In the meantime they always spoke of Helen as the Mystery. It was folly, but it made Fenton trans- cendently happy; these confidences brought Helen nearer; they realized her ; they almost, in the spiritualists' phrase, materialized her. The time came when, the moonless night being propitious, he told Mrs. Bowers of the apparition of Helen, and asked her what she thought of it. She said that she thought it the most wonderful thing she had ever heard of : but she owned that she did not know what it meant. She added that she should always stand in awe of a person who had had such a thing happen to them : and then she pressed the arm on which she clung, and giggled , and the next moment she shrieked. There had been a sudden, violent wrench and shock ; and her cry was answered, after a moment's deathly silence, by a con- fused clamour from all parts of the ship ; and the passen- 188 A woman's reason. !•:! 'I ^ZiZZZeVj-'^ below, where they had been toErrLx^thrsh1^i;id^:;r„Sht"»".^"^^ back to Yokohama W« .11- J \^^ *"*''■ ^ndmust put perate fortitude ^^'"'^ ""' '"'"*'"=« ''i"' ^^• W't'rAr '"*?*• «^'y°"'""='^''» «>»e for the next a sailing S now wth a t"""'^ ". "Hr*?- ^^^ *« might d°o it ; .butTiatXo^t'S: Zh 'd\Z If' ^^f Ei£?^--t,rt^r-u.^^^^^^ Fent™"' ^ """'' ^'' '^^ -">' y™. ttat's all," replied "Yes, there's nothing else for it, that 1 see " at once nut hi« «li,v „i i ^"^"rmea, tnat the captain had thep^srni^'wX, r.; °°^ °?i^ "'""'"' """^'ting whether U^Z Tt o^i, " ^V^'^^^ ''"''™* considerinf Franpi^oarro^turrY^J^:" ''^L°'L5?.«- h^'^'is!""""" ^"""^ o^*^ stewards-to"rhe7„™er A woman's reason. 183 ^dvf T"" ^^^?^^^ ^^y' *^« ^P*ain spoke a ship whch,undera full press of canvasf was makWsS eastward that mocked the laggard reluctance Vf^?he s earner on her backward course She proved to be th! clipper Jf.;.o., bound for San FranciscofLr a freight of brWge. "^"' ^^' "'P'^^^ ^^^^^^^ Fenton onio the " There's your chance," he said, "if you want to risk It. But you must be quick about it " ^ ;; How much of a chance is it ? " asked Fenton. Ihose clippers often make very quick runs «?>,A'a bound straight for where you want lo ^o I can't advise ^« rif'^* ^°r ^^«^^^r they'll take you." ' "1 11 risk It!" said Fenton. If he had been given more time to hesitat« Iia rr^irA.^^ have re used the risk; but he was not g tn the tite He scratched a line to Helen, telling her what had h^rf* pened, for the captain of the steamef to posT in Vok^^^^^^^^ when he got back, so that she might have some int^S gence of him in case of further delay ; but, wh^n he had finished his letter, he decided that it would dSress her with needless anxiety if it reached her before Ms aSva^^^ and that it would in all probability come after hi^ and t^in' ^"nthr*' ^^^P^'^K^t^-t^-^of givingittoXca^^^^ mSev with f rr?^'""'' ^\''^ r^ further unintelligible parley with the clipper; she shortened sairi?,nd hove to IJeuton and his baggage were in the boat which the teamer had owered, and which was rising and SnkW on sMn Tr^^' that stretched betweenhe^r and theXr "lLowv;Jin'!i%^'^r^ ^''"^^^ ^ith effusion: 1 imow^ouU find her ahve and weU," she whisnered in generous sympathy; and he volunteered tS Mr Bowers up m San Francisco, and tell him aU about eve^l waved an^t/'^'f fi?'"' .""''T'^ ^'^^ ^^^^ wliich he waved and bowed them, m that a,w which America 184 A woman's reason. like to feel for any representative of the national dignity; we see so little of it. Fenton had put on his uniform to affect as powerfully as possible the imagination of the captain of the clipper, who was quite master to refuse him passage, after all ; the captain of the steamer had not thought it best to make too plain his purpose a send- ing out a boat to the hasty stranger. Both his precaution and Feiiton's had been well ta.cen. When Captain Rollins of the il/efeor came to understand the reason why his ship had been stopped, \u lischarged a blast of profanity of a range that included nearly every- thing in animated nature except Lieutenant Fenton, who stood sternly patient before him until he should finish ; perhaps' it devoted him the more terribly by this excep- tion. ' When the captain stopped for breath, Fenton leanvd over the rail and motioned off the steamers boat, wLi\ih iity rocking on the sea by the ship's side ; he had taken the precaution to have his baggage brought on board with himself. " I am bearer of dispatches to Washington from the flag-ship at Hong-Kong. Of course you expect to take me on to San Francisco, and I expect to pay you for the best quarters you can give me. I am Lieutenant Fenton of the Meaaaaauga. What is your name ? " " Rollins," growled the captain. " Here, my man," said Fenton to one of the seamen, " take these things to Captain Rollins' room." The uniform and the secure bearing had their effect ; few men know just what is the quality and the authority of a bearer of dispatches. The sailor obeyed and the skipper submitted. He was by no means a bad fellow. He belonged to the old school of sea-captains, now almost as extinct us the pirates whose diction they inherited. His furious blasphemies were merely what in another man would have been some tacit reflections upon the vexa- tlUUS Uai'UlC KJ2. UIXC VCU:3C Fenton found himself neither uncomfortable nor really A WOMA^ S REASON. 185 wek >rae on tho Meteor. Upon the hint given him the captain turned out of his room for the lieutei ant Tnd he Sf f- r Th'r^^ -P-vements to be made' T'th: snips t.tie. There were a number r:^ '^linese in fbA steerage ; and among the passengers in cabi w -re a young American lady returning with J. mother from a visit to her brother in China, and a man U om xLkakee Tlhnois, who had been out looking up the sorghum cuU .ure m its native land. The sea'monotony which Fen- tons coming had broken for the momenrpromn^h S sTot T.^'r'r^' ^"^^ y---^ lady'hMt Mrs. IJoweis art of making attentions to herself annear an act of devotion to Helen, and Fenton offered he?^oX l^th"7hTSl'^"^^^- ^^^^ ^o-Panionship he had Z Sure full f«n'' Tf^^'r^^' meagre, melancholy ufl failure in if! 'f^'^^^''^ discouragement. Contin- uai lailure in hfe ad apparent y subdued him into «n with himself not with them, anri he had the gentleness ness ot lentons courage. He confessed that the first enconnter between the lieutenant and the captain of the ship had given him apprehensions, and he iEiated a deep admiration for Fenton's behaviour in Jhat^fficuH moment. He attached himself to the stronger maTand «^pted him in detail with a simple defotion^hlch seemed to refer as much to Fenton's personal prese^e as then a gallant figure. The oval of his regular face had been^chiseled by his sickness into something impfes- avely fine ; with hw good nose and mouth, his & mu3ta«he and imperial, and his brown tint he was tS ^r^.of young American whom you might prono?nce 1 ^.^^f r^.^?£^»^ .een the^AmericL lo^ok in°C^? 12 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 1.1 11.25 U|21 ITS «* Bi |22 .Sf 1^ 110 Wintnoranliip .Sciences Corporation as «VIST MAM STMIT WIUTIR,N.Y. I45M (71«)t7a-4S03 '^ '%^ ^.*:« ^ 186 A woman's reason. " You see," explained the Kankakee man, whose name proved to be Giffen, " my idea was that if I could go nght in among the Chinese people, and find out how tho thing was carried on, and mebbe talk with some of their leading agriculturists about it, I could do more to get the sorghum culture going among us in six months than the Apcultural Department of Washington could in six years. Its bound to come. It won't come in my time nor through anything I've done, but that sorghum interest is bound to be a big thing with us yet. We've got the cli- mate, and we've got the soil for it. I'll allow I've had sorghum on the brain ever since I first saw it; but that's no reason I'm mistaken about it. I know it's got to come, and if I could have hit it the way I expected, I could have done more good, and made more money in two years after I got home than I'd know what to do with " ""^P n^*'^ ^^ '^^ y^^ ^^^^'^ ^^^ ** ? " asked Fenton-. Well, you see," said the Kankakee man, " I found I couldn't talk the language, for one thing. And then I couldnt seem to get anybody interested. I did try to get into the country districts, but I couldn't make any great headway— such a prejudice against foreigners amongst the Chinese; and I hadn't very much money with me, and I concluded to give it up. But I found out enoiirfi to know that our people can't grow sorghum on the Chinese plan and make it pay ; labour's too dear and we ve got to employ machinery. I've got the idea 'of a sorghum-planter that, if I can get any one to take hold of it, IS going to make somebody's fortune. Have you ever bee n to Alaska ? " " No," said Fenton. "They say there's good soil in Alaska," continued Gif- ten," and there's nothing to prevent its being a great agncultural country except the frost four or five feet down. Sun can't get at it on account of the moss. But you scrape that moss off once, and let the sun have a fair snow for one summer. — waII T Kaliavo th*» ♦k;^ v» ve you ever A woman's BEASON. igy ^7:''az^:^^\'^^^^ the right grow on the SandwicT/lsTnds thaf T^^i? r"^^"" *^** *hey troduced with us, if the S no f- ^ ^^^T^ ^° ^^ in- hold of it." "*^^^ P**'^^«« can be got to take weSftnrtttTeare^^^^^ -ek, with she ha/ made nearly?hj^e th„L5 ^''''' m° ^^" ^^"'^e «« Shanghai. Each d Jy took him fwA'^^'f' ^^^ ^«*^i°g dred and fifty nearef home Z ?« ^^"^,""1 ^" *^° J^"*^- toaprospeiaiasrunalltheCv fn ^'''' ^^'''^ ^«^^«^d hopes that he dutifully diLS i° 1^° Francisco with ward the end of the week f hi I- ^ i"""'^^^ ^ ^^^re- To- the southward, and feTl tSj Tt "r^^*"'^-" *° ^'^"^ »>*ck to the.sea but he did notlosf co^^ «^C' ' 1"?^^^ ^"^ the other passeuffers fhof *k^ ^""^ge. He explained to days' timeWS make Z"Sk'^'"^ *° ^»«' * '«'^ ■word. TheyheardWm with thf*^^^*'*»' >•""» »■» experience and proCionanrf r' 1"* »""'■' »f i" sprang up in the wesUhey pZ hi™ f\° t^ *''"' "8*^ phet with the idle zeal nT.^ ."?"'* ''"°""™»'apTO- distraction which ~te' t '^' S'*^ «^™ "^ «" them. But the wiTdTdden Ivwh". "'"^T »«■»"»«<» the south, a strange velW ?;^ "^cked from the west to sty, and faded to^ mZ^TtZ'^^. °T f^" P'^'P'o burnt only the space o?itf^;,i™^^ wh.ch the sL lell, and the wind dronnnH J^.f "*"■ -Ihe mercury which it .»se?n&^X?h.*? \f,'"j' <=*'-»• '™" closed, into a heavy aJe Cm .1^' l\'"'^- •" "« day drove before the storm f„p7fc S ""f'-west. The ship the fourth mor^^Zt^tZ^^^ «ndnights. When beyond its track ; buTone „| W "'' ^ '''™ '^«» "own sails hung in ribbortrom th, T** .""« «""« ! ^e twisted sUudsswTpthe^icVr't'n*^ *^"SM and boats had been carrSd away Th?« ! u"' '*» »* >>« sible since the storm 1^™?.^?^'' ,^".* observation pos- •«ve„ nearly a tho-„saiS""miles"rt,j:tuM; t" 188 A woman's beason. II I she was put upon her course again, and lahoured on till nightfall. At nine o'clock the passengers, huddled together in the cabin, heard a cry of " Hard down your helm ! " and the ship struck with a violence that threw them to the floor ; then, with a recoil, she struck again, with a harsh, grating force, and ceased to move. In this instant of arrest Fenton found his feet, and scrambled to the deck. The Meteor hung upon a coral reef that defined itself under the starlight in the curving line of breakers on either hand. The seas swept over her where she lay on her beam-ends, and at every rush of the breakera she pounded heavily on the reef. Beyond it was a stretch of smoother water, from which seemed to rise a low irregular mass of rock, forming with the reef a rude quadrangle. There was no hope for the sliip, and no hope for her peo- ple unless they could somehow reach this rock. It was useless to launch the boats in such a sea ; they tried once, but the boat filled as soon as it t(»uched the water, and nothing remained but to carry f line, if it could be done, to the island beyond the reei ?he captain called for volunteers, but the men hung ti,^*ik. It was not the time to parley ; Fenton passed one end of the line round Lis waist, and plunged into iLe gulf under the lee of the ship. When he reached the rock he found that two sailors had followed him, and these now helped him to pull in the heavier line attached to the cord, which he had made fast to a point of the rock. A hauling-rope was carried along this line, and, in the glare of the lights burned on the ship, they began to bring her people away one by one. A sailor mounted into the sling running upon the rope, with a woman or child in his arms^ and was hauled to the rock and back again to the ship ; and all the women and children were set ashore, even some poor creatures among the Chinese before any of the men were suffered to land. These followed, till none of the passengers but the Chinamen were left. Thev stood huddled toirether at the bow, which had shifted round under the blows of the A woman's reason. 189 now ^1 J ''^'"^ ^^^^^^ > *°^ *^e lights, burning now green, now enmson, now purple, showed them toss- ing their arms into the air, a^ if in iome weird incaTtatLn as they tried to free the wet joss-papers that clunrto riTofr'l' 'u' «^"» «"PP"citiom pierced thrSugh^the roar of the breakers. The captain reported that he tried ^ei bn^T ^"^«7i^«^ ^'^ they Vere to reach the Td 'hk ffi ^^ ^T'^ *!?* ""^ "«"'^ '^«- understand. He and his officers then flung themselves upon the line straining under the seaward lapse of the wreck ; and at W ^ZreThTrt-*^' """' P^^^^ amidships and the bow where the Chmese were grouped weltered back with tr 'v\*u'f;- ^^^ ''^^ ^^^ o»t> and the sWp's rtf s^'uddil '^ ^''^. 'f^^ ^^"^'^"^ ^« «h« P'^'ted on ?£: reef, suddenly ceased to sound. The broken hulk arew rTsheTlo'^i^r^-*^'''^'?!:""'^ *^^ '-^ '' the brea?:^ Wn rJ ^''^ "P^/" t*'® °^'^°»«°t of horror that had been like a moment of silence vivTit'of^-?^'' ^'■'i *^"'^'^ *^" '""'^ ^h«^« ^" the sur- rZ? «l!n '^,,^''^«^ ^^^^ °ow gathered, it rose scarcely a foot above the water at the highest point, and by the r sTnV t'idT'l" T^'^i" *^^y^^«d Inee-dee^ il Z rising tide. An hour after midnight, it was high tide whTnned 3 b[« I' ^"""^ -ll" '^^'^^«' *°^ ^°« ^^ th« «a"o™ sdves^?" ?nH ^"'^^' ""Z*^ * "'7 ^f " I^^^kout for your- ?on l!! I A^ T^^ V^ *t something in the water. Fen- hart 1^^^ '^' ?^^ ^'^"^^ them was full of womPn ,.n^ ^r^ the captain form the men about the women and children, and they fought the fish awav with LT;X1''"^°' J^f ^'^^^-' ^-"^ blows of Sp5n^ flu^a?o tht^"'""*' ?^ *^" r^^k ^hich the breakers^had mo«f bf/ *?u ^^V^^^' *^" the tide turned, and the hope. One of the ship's boat., which murt h^f been r' W I! Ill If ^'l ' W f 190 A woman's reason. carried around the line of their reef, came floating to them, bottom up, on the refluent tide from the other quarter. It proved to be so little injured that the captain and some of nis men were able to put off in it to the wreck, where they found tools for repairing it and abundant stores. When they returned to the rock, they had a mast, with its sail ready to be stepped, lying in the boat, and several pairs of mismated oars which they had picked up outside. But it was the smallest of the boats, and the castaways counted each other with cruel eyes as it drew near. This rock was one of those dead atolls in which the Pacific abounds : a tiny coral isle, once tufted with palms and gay with perpetual green^ which the sinking of the ocean s floor had dropped below the tide, and left lurking there with its guardian reef, a menace and a deadly peril to navigation. Somewhere within a day's sail there must be other islands of kindred origin, but with a certain area of dry and habitable land, which the boat might reach. But who should go, and who should wait her uncertain return ? It was not a question of the women and chil- dren, nor of their husbands and fathers ; but when all these had crowded into the boat, seven men remained upon the rock. " Captain Rollins, there isn't room for us all in that boat," Fenton heard his voice saying : " I ask no man to share my risk, but I'm going to stay here for one." " I don't ask any man to stay," said Captain Rollins. " I've left sixteen thousand dollars in gold — all I've got in this world — on the ship, so as to keep the boat as light as I could ; but, as you say, lieutenant, she can't hold us all." There was a little pause; then three sailors, with a shamefaced avoidance of Fenton's eye, pushed past him toward the boat. One of the passengers — an Englishman — rose up. " My good men," he said, " You're surely not coming." " Yes we are," replied one of them, surlily. " Why shouldn't we come as well as you ? "' A woman's reason. 191 sr.'?Esir„-"''"—'»"'«'/»TS.!:fE « Excuse me," he said, answering Fenton's look " T'm ... u.i,„,- b. ^i, b„ii,,,s.-^u-i tuisr: 192 A woman's season. I with a light-headed sense of sending them to some one in another life. "Why bless you man ! " cried Captain Rollins," I shall find land before night, and I shall be back for you here by this time to-morrow morning ! " "Yes, yes '"returned Fenton. "Don't stay now." he added, impatiently. " Good-bye." The four men on the rock watched the boat till she showed so small in the distance that they could no longer bo sure whether they saw her or not ; then they turned their eyes upon one another. Whatever the two seamen left behind with Fenton may have thought of his looks he could not congratulate himself upon theirs. But he said : — • "T?,^ ^^® *^^ ™^^ ^^° followed me with the line last night. '' Yes, sir," answered one of them. " You're not afraid, anyway," said Fenton, as if this were the most that could be said for them. "I guess we get along," said the man. " I rather be on this rock than in that boat, with so much people " "What are you ?" asked Fenton; for the man spoke with a certain accent and a foreigner's hesitation, "I'm Fayal man; I live at Gloucester, Massachusetts John Jones. Fenton recognised the name under which most Por- tuguese sailors ship. "And who are you ? " he asked of the other, who was as tall and fair as the Portuguese was dark and short." He grinned, and the latter answered for him. " He don't speak much English. He's some Dutchman — Icelander, I guess." " Very well," said Fenton. " You know where we are. and what the chances are." "Yes, sir." " I reckon," said Giffen, we can make out to worry along somehow till the boat gets back." to some one lere we are, A WOMAN'S KEASON. jr^g the rock, and Giffen turned to with them " """" "" back "TeTl odV^n'tr'sX"„r\''P'"' ''"' "»»*'' ""-'"g others eating «tW mav fi„^ ^'T^/' »igl>t of thf they may no? find ^J'^o^ti" ^ -<•' "ighf »?<» sharks will> back before tTevTre" ' ""^ """' ""« his'lSk' '"" '"PP"'' "'* "'^ We mo«eI bulging ha;f r;S iltHhy&ftW ;J-'<' ^«'t«' sorry you staid " "^ '"''' *''« »">«" « you're saiterx;:,^^ Istaid. I-m ready to do whatever you ^t "t'I:." ^^ high private, if ever there was one ••^" ^^- ^ " * '»™ petule&tCi"'""'" ^™""' '«'«»»• -shamed of hi, time." " ^""^"^ ^"""^ »o»e other u ,..'3 luck, any to do mys'eir rlr^S Fetr '!:7 '•"" y™ "»' -"^r the wreck," he added ini^lf.T.i. Jf° ""'^' g^' out to what we ckn mSit A^/.t ^°^'"S"»'«. "'»d «ee the better." "" '"^ *°»°er we get to it whlctoXt'eSLf "a-iStT r '^P*""" -"> to undei-stand everXnf 'fZ '^J'^'a-df ■•. who seemed also. everything through him, pocketed his knife • »tern Tf Siptht if"" T*"^' t'"' «™"' -""d the board her B Jther™, r*""^ HT^' *»<> t™d *» they passed th^'reeHnd^ertu^dTn^' tb "^ '"l""'^'^ whe,« they knew the sb-rlfi!"!!!?.^. "'l'"* beyond, to their rock and began "to-giiieVuTtg- pS ^f'Xf- 104 A woman's reason. tered spRrs and planks that the rising tide was bringing in, and with such odds and ends of cordage and rags of sail as clung to these fragments they contrived a raft, on which they hoped to float out to the wreck when the tide turned once more. After the raft was finished and made fast to the rock they climbed upon it, and, launching upon the ebb, drifted out through a break in the reef and con- trived to clamber up her broken timbers. They could see that this fragment of a ship must soon go to pieces under the incessant blows of the waves ; and Fenton and Giffen made all haste in their search for tools and materials to strengthen their float, so tliat they might put to sea on it if the worst came to the woi-st. The sailors began ransacking the wreck with a purpose of their own, and in the end they all owed their lives to the rapacity which left no part of the ship unsearched ; for it was the Fortueguese who found wedged in among the shatered timbers in the hulk, where some caprice of the waves had lodged it, the boat that had foundered the night before. Every blow of the sea had driven it tighter into the ruin, and it was an hour's strug- gle in the dark, waist-deep in the water, amid the bodies of the drowned Chinamen and ju3t within the line of the sharks that were preying upon them, before the boat could be cut out. When they pulled it up on the deck at last, it was in a condition that must have seemed desper- ate to less desperate men ; but in this extremity Giffen developed the shiftiness of a dabbler in many trades, and his rude knack with the saw and hammer rendered the battered boat seaworthy. Fenton found a bag of flour, water soaked without, but fresh and dry within ; a few biscuit and some peas and beans, with which he provisioned her ; and a shot-gun, with a store of water- Eroof cartridges, with which he armed her. With Giffen's elp he fashioned a mast out of one of the broken yards, and patched together a sail from the shreds and tatters of canvas hanging about it. The wreck was settling more asd more deeply into the sea when they launchea their cnea laeir A woman's reason. g ht to""""' ""'"""™<' " «"> «-•'. whe^ they mad, " The last man to come over the akifl nf ♦),« .w ^Portuguese, who ca„ied in oiLXj'l tlsI?S go;;j«:;^"„?1?^'° I"""-' -ney.-said Fenton. "Take WUh''JSe';„fl? '°?\??' 'f "•" '"'■"'«™'i the sailor whiohTuS t;ro:^:S'«Tai^^^^^^^ '^'° them. When IhTmnJJ,? \ «>"8".i>"ng thirst parched 8»rfbeati„/over tKJ™^"'''!..'' S"""^ "-em the the sea atreVn^ittits'^i'''' """' *«^ ''-'S- -""^ I..,jf'*° ''.**? here "said Fenton. "We m„rf fl„j '»jlf"»»'«Slvesson,ewhere-and water." ""'* *'"' "IkSowTh.*'^""''''' '^'*"' '"h '""W* acquiescence its vLt arch wa^'u^dt^rd t a^Cd'' frZ^ '• "^t passing sail Vefri"nded t^«J ^^wi, "'i*"'* °^ ^^ " Jnd th! certafnty of ste' v^i^riL * ''•''8'''.?' **'»?»«*• them— had alreidv dl^Z^ ?. ***f' ' 8?™" time, before tacitly *'t™s'SSl^if'™f.i'^r-"-=?''" *"» .«'W tween them the booty tham;^ ' h^S T^^T'^^ ^ 106 A woman's reason. f! M j wreck, and Fcnton and GiflFen watched by turns with the ffun in their hands. But at day break a common joy united them. On the ed^o of the sea a lino of dark points print- ed itself against the skv, and, ns they approached, these points rounded into tufts, and then o[)ened into feathery crests of cocoa palms, with broken stretches of delicious verdure between the stems. The long white wall, that glistened in the rising sun like a bank of snow at the roots, expanded into a smooth, sloping leach ; the deep Burf flashed and thundered along the outer reef; and then the little coral isle, encircling its slumberous lagoon , took shape before their eyes. They tacked and wore to find a passage through the reef, and so between the islets of the palm-belt, over smooth depths of delicate yellow and apple-green, they slipped into the still waters of the lake, and ran across to the white coral beach. They fell upon the sand, and scooped with their hands a hollow into which oozed a little water that they could drink ; and then they kindled a fire with some matches that Giflfen had brought from the wreck, and roasted the shell- fish the sailors found among the rocks. " I think this goin' to be a nice place, cap'n,' said the Portuguese, stretching himself face downward on the clean sand, when he had eaten and drunken his fill. " Plenty to eat, plenty to drink, nothin to do. By-'n-by some ship goin' to come here. We're all right, heigh ? " The little brown -faced man lifted to Fenton's face his black eyes, sparklingjike a rat's with the content of a full stomach. The Icelander laughed as if he had understood his shipmate, and while the Portuguese luxuriously dropped off" to sleep, he wandered away, leaving Fenton and Giffen to prospect for the best place to put the hut they must build. " I don't like the way these fellows take it, ex- actly," said the latter. "They let themselves up pretty e&sy when it comes to a question of work," he added, wivij 8t m I iQ • JV/I1S8 01 uyury in 1113 bO&c. r' w 1 woman's beason. 107 egs^ which ho h^.Cd in^iho :nd.'"'Vl o^'Vl " 1' routing a„d'4r/„„^^^^^^^^ night, in the cocoa grove he callprl ^kI. *** d. J^iChTa-rtTh^h ::L^aar'.v:; r '^ week's rest, too," said Giffen ^ ^^ "' '"'^ * "Where is it ! "Sd Fenio7 ' '""' *° ^''"*°°' ^^::z^^.lTz:^^, ^elt-hr^idnij^-p JtterthTLtafirt rrai^^^^^^ __ i^apn, he said, wakinw Fo«+«« i?u^-->. -i Whatwegoin-todowitFthatl^U- ' """'"'y 198 A woman's EEASOlf. ' Let her be where she is ; nothing can happen to her " answered Fenton, heavy in heart and soul, and sodden with sleep, as he placed his hand on the bags the sailor had put down beside him. to stlT'h ^^"^^^^^ *^® Portuguese, « I guess nobody goin' The sailors did not come into the hut ; they .began to build a shelter of their own. and the noise of their work followed Fenton into his sleep. He had watched for three days and nights; he could not rouse himself from the deathly slumber into which he dropped again in spite of a formless fear that beset him; but he woke toward mornmg with this terror, which proved more potent than the fatigue that drugged him. The money was still there • the saiors were peacefully snoring in their hut; and Uitten lay asleep across the gun. He staggered down to look at the boat. It was safe where they had left it and he returned to their shelter, where he watched an hour as he thought; then he woke Giflfen, and bidding.him call him in his turn, when he could no longer keep awake he fell asleep once more. It must have been his visit to the boat that suggested the dream which seemed to begin as soon aa he closed his eyes. He dreamed that they were at sea again in the boat, and that they saw a sail in the ofling so near that those on board, who did not soe them, must hear them if they united in one loud cry They rose up together for the effort, but their voices died ni a gasp on their lips, Fenton burst into a groan of despair. " My Lord, what's the matter ? " cried Giffen, shaking the dreamer. ° Fenton scrambled to his feet ; the gold was still there, but the sailors were gone; he tore open the bags; they were fiUed with shells and sand. He rushed town to the beach; the boat had disappeared; in the horizon a sail, no bigger than the petal of a flower, flickered ^ fadea " , - - . A woman's reason. pen to her," md sodden i the sailor obody goin' '■ .began to their work atched for mself from ;ain in spite •ke toward potent than still there ; hut ; and id down to left it, and 1 an hour dding.him eep awake, lis visit to ed to begin that they kw a sail in id not soe loud cry. i^oiees died I groan of n, shaking (till there, >ags; they down to horizon a cered d 199 you»^^^^ wake ship, their desertion remained incredible, unim^^ nable CJIAPTERXII. T has been intimated that Helen entered upon her tTolfn h*/"- ^r'''' ^^^^ social pre^ccupa' Lt i&^^^^ *^?>"^^ '^' ^^d - W^ mean? teel an advantage over all those who have been bred f o Wlfctu^^^^^ *^f* ^"^ feliow-boarders and newelt could never meet on a level It waa perfectly easy, i\ 200 A woman's reason. l*^ however, to keep aloof. After the first necessary civili- ties with the Evanses, she only met them on the stairs or at the table, where the talk was mainly between Mr. Evans and Miss Root, the art-student. It appeared from the casual confidences of the landlady that Miss Root was studying to be a painter, and that some of her work was beautiful. Mrs. Hewitt owned that she was no judge of painting, but she said that she knew what she liked. She told Helen also that Mr. Evans was one of the editors of "Saturday Afternoon," a paper which she praised because she said it gave you the news about everybody, and kept you posted, so that you could tell just where they were and what they were doing, all the while ; she believed that Mr. Evans was not connected with this admirable part of the paper ; he wrote mostly about the theatres and the new books. Helen was amused by some of his talk at the table ; but she was not at all sure abut the Evanses. She could not tell exactly why ; one never can tell exactly why, es- pecially if one is a lady. Mrs. Evans seemed well enough educated and well enough dressed ; she had been abroad the usual term of years ; she neither unduly sought ndr repelled acquaintance; but, from the first, Helen was pamfully aware of not having heard of her; and one is equally uncertain of people of whom one has heard no- *J^°g or heard too much. As soon as she learned what Mr. Evans's business was, she understood, of course, that they could never have been people that people knew ; and, « Were they not a little Bohemian ? " she asked, rather tepidly, one day, when an old friend of hers, whom she happened to meet, broke into eflusive praise of them, on hearing that Helen was in the same house with them. " My dear ! " said Miss Kingsbury, summing up in a word the worst that a New England woman can say of a man, " he is easy-goirig ! But he is very kind ; and she is the salt of the earth." " And some of the pepper ?" suggested Helen. A woman's reason. 201 A Jittle of the pepper, without doubt. But not a gram more than is good for him. He would be nothina without her, she added, in the superstition ladies love to cherish concerning the real headship of the family " She makes up all her own things, and teaches that boy her- sell. And you have another person there who is really a «iTv fr^'"' ^°°^.- ^^y°" ««^ ^«y of her work, you'll see that she IS an ar^ia^. but you'll have to see a great deal of her before you find out that she's the best soul in the world. With her little time and her little money, she does more good! She's proA^tical, and she knows just how to help people that want to help themselves ; poor girls you know, trying to learn things, and get into occupa- tions. And 80 rectangular she is ! " «„^'f ^'"^f^"''^ ran off professing an instant and pres- Ia a}\ '^f*'' • ^^" ^°ow ^0^ I feel for you," she added, tenderly. ^ ' on^r/ ""^^f P^?P^^ returning to town, looked Helen up and left cards and messages of friendly interest. She did not see any one that she could help seeing; she was doubly exiled by her bereavement and her poverty, from tw^f/ prosperous world they belonged to; she knew that they were kind and meant well ; but she knew that henceforward she could have few interests in common with them. She wa^ happiest when she wa^ quite alone with her sorrow and with her love, which seemed to have sprung from It and to be hallowed by it. Their transmu! tation gave her memories and her hopes a common sweet- ness, which was sometimes very strange ; it seemed as if Kobert were present with her when she thought of her of RoWt^ ^^^^^"^ "^"^^ ^ ^^^""^ *" hir thoughts Her old life had otherwise almost wholly dropped away from her, and after her return from Beverly. MargZ[ c«uxe oi.en to see her; but the visits were a trial to Helen and perhaps Maxgeret saw- this, for she came at longer' 202 A woman's reason. and longer intervals, and at la«t came no more Helen h^r^^VK- l^^V*'"^^^ ^^^^ ^^y in writing to Ro- eo^nn f /""^'"^ 5^"*^ ^^™' ^^^ ^^yi°g*° contrive their common future, and she made over all her bonnets and drmes. She saved a good deal of money by nrbuyW anythmg new for the winter, and after her benefaSnf iesl'e hnH^r^ '^' ^^"^^ '^^' ^^^^ ^i*h these econom! tered verj ht le ; she had not cared, after she first put on ^ti'J" r'^ ^J"^ ^"S"^^« «* mourning punctiliously she had always dressed quietly, and now she could wel^ what she wore last year without treason to her grief ^he trouble was that she would soon need moneyTr other in M?' R^Z^^i'^'T' ^.°"l^ ^ ^"^ f^^n^^he money mMi Hibbards hands, and she spent several davs in &aLT' '""'^ ^'T^'"^ ^^^ self-respectfuf erZthe ShTS?. ft™" • /"^^" "P°^ hi°^ f«^ P^-^'^^ «f her capital. She felt rather silly about it, and the longing to do some- th ng to earn a little money for hersehf revived. AtThe bottom of her heart was the expectation, always disowned ^f^'^^TI^'i^^'S''^''' ^^"id somehow soon return she had told Mi^. Butler that she knew he would come DanLl T "'-^^ ^'* ^'' ^^*^^' hut after thlfirst keTn i^td^thl r^^^u'^"?^ ^^^ surprise with which she real^ ized that he could not at once a^k leave of absence or tTeT.r!.'^''' ' r' 1 ^^"'"^°y' she heroically accepted It tt f I P''«^«°g«d separation. She had caused it she said to herself, and she must bear it; she must do hS hT.^f ' T^^ '"J"'^^ ^^^"^ ^'^' ''' She irj zed bi^ i his devotion to duty, and worshipped him as if he had been the first man to practise it. She was more than ever determined not to be'^a burden to him in any way a nrlr'°'^>' \^^'^^ *^ him, and she ha5 p^annld a pretty scene in which she brought out a little hoard of ^a,u,u^ m aadition to her five thousand dollars, and put A woman's reason. 203 wn,^A*^^''^f *'' ^^"^ *^« ^^y after their marriage It would be doubly sweet to toil for Robert ; in the mean time It was sweet to dream for him ; and she had nS; wf decided how the sum she intended to bestow upon h^'* was to be earned, when she found herself obHged to b^^ sXd «1Mk"^"'' '^^^^'' *^^^ *^ ^^'^d to it. But she re. solved all the more severely to replace with inte, est what she borrowed ; she would not leave a stone unturned and she forced herself in going to Mr. Hibbard's office iJpTss the store where she had left her painted vases on sale sTx Sun th^^''!i She said to herself that they would ^e «vUf* •! Tv?"^^"^ '^^" ' b"t ^hen she dared to lift he? eyes to it there were none. Then she said that they musi have been taken out, and stuck away in some corned ^ too hopelessly ugly and unsalable. ^ ihe proprietor of the store came forward with a smilfl of recognition and of something more. " Thil is reaTv f concidence," he said. " We have just sold your vales /nd I was beginning to wonder wheri I should sendTou the mo^ey ; I find there is no address on the card yorgave He filliped her card with one hand against the ofhpv WlTa^l^" t'^ '"^"'^^ Plea.ure,ih?lthe sC"d "Sold them !" she whispered. f^rZf ' ^!! *^'■^^.• ^''- ^'""^^^ "^^ booking at them yes- ardtotfc^'^ ''' '''-• ^^'« --^'^rhe tion^rZAr'^i ^' •'" ''\^^ ^"^^°' ^^ * *"°»"lt o£ indigna- tion none the less appalling because wholly unintellilble to the person of whom she made the demand At tb! mere name of Trufitt a series of odious flTts had fished ^ W hKr "''^^ ?^"^*^^ ' ^- obtuse persfstonee in love his baldness; his stinginess ; the fit of hi« narf-- 4Ti,' if T''^''*i *"^^^y' ^^^ his physical knobbine^ She hardly knew for which of his qUities she Sed 204 A woman's HEASO^. him the most ; but she recognised with perhaps superior disdain, that, after learning that the vases were her work he had turned over for a whole day in his frugal mind the question of buying them. After presuming to think 01 owning her vases, he had also presumed to hesitate ! It was intolerable. "What right "she began on the innocent means J .? »r^^®',K"* corrected herself so far as to ask in- stead, Why did you tell him who did them ? " "Really," said her victim with just pique, "I saw no reason why I shouldn't. You gave me no charges on that point, and 1 gave the matter no reflection. I seized the hrst chance that offered to sell them for you." He look- ed hurt and vexed; perhaps he had made his little rom- ZMeTnaTeS:' *'" ""^ ^"''^ ^^'^^^ ^«^^ ^^ ^^^ Helen would not consider his kindness : in her own vexation, she continued to treat him de haut en has. " I send for thern"^' ^ ^^^^ ""^ ^^^^" ^^® ^^''^' " ^°'' """^^ T " 7}f^^^'^^ ^®^® °° ^*^®'" returned the proprietor. « and I sold them in good faith. I can't a^k them back.'' i will ask them back," said Helen, grandly. " Good- morniDg. When she put her hand on the bell-pull at Mrs. Hewitts, she remembered that the shop-man had not given her the money for her vases, and that she had again left him without her address. This wa^ some satis- t i?°J. u ^ ^^ ^*^ ^*^* ^"^^^S^ -' s^e would not rest tiU she had her vases back again, and had broken them into a thousand pieces. ' But she found that the first thing she must do was to write to the people who h^d sold them, and apologize for the strange return she had made for the interest t&y had taken m her, recognising the justice of their positioi and ttie absurdity of her own. It was not an eLy note to wnte, but she contrived it at last, and that gave her pourage to think how she should get her vases bick from A woman's reason. 205 rilil't^t' "'"iJl"'^ ^^?^^ *''™' »"d had certainly a nght to keep them. She knew whv he h»A w!7„ht hem and this enraged her, but it dfd Lt hel^he^ fhe refuse-very likely he wo^ulSs:. 'sherad 'o't d""Jd ed in her own m.nd what she should do in this event Tnorsif; r 'TrufiV'P'y ''<"", *'r'«- Po"' & luXy! inclosing Mr, Irufitts money for her vases less ihJ^^ mTSTv h^Z?- f-f * ^-v w^d 'thlt h Mr J^umley had not clearly understood Miss Harkness's wishes m regard to the, vases she had leftwith them Tut finding themselves unable to a.sk their return frol' the Tthem butt' P":;^M*h^-' they had no course open to them but to send her the money for them Helen saw that she must have written her address at seemeS tn th'' ^f'l ^^^^^^^SY^ and that she must have seeined to them to have repented of her magnificent be- thTrn^y. '"''^" ^""'^'' ^"^ ^ ^-^ taci&rXd for '^feJir^' i!"*" * ^^"^^*^ ^^^ ^^P^l^ss complication. Ka ! • ^' ,?he mused, "I don't know whethe? I'd letter insane Hospital and for the present there seemed no safety but m ent^e inaction, She wa^ so much abashed with M^sfr^' pL^,Vf ^^f"^'^ r'^' '^^' «he remain d with Messrs. Pout & Lumley's letter in her hand won- df^ .gwhen she should have courage to go but a^Z and renew her attempt to see Mr. Hibbard. ^ At first^she tt'nl Wl'r" 1,^"*^'? ^'"^ ' ^"^ there seemed some! she heStld t^ ^"'^"^ *?ur°P^« ^^ business, and Mr Tr„fi?f^« J "^^ impossible to use this money of Mr. rrufitt s ; she was quite clear as to that ; and with various little expenses, her money had dwindl.S tile^ than three dollars since her interview with Mre Sulliva? She let the morning slip away in her irresoTution a^d 20« A woman's reason. dtv ShS'"^ ^ P,"^*^' T^^^^ ^ff^i^ off «" the next ^tL ?^ f t ^^™^'''"* ^" *^® ^^ci^'on* "merely a^ a de- of rnCwt'^^"^*^ enjoy something like the peace of mind which moral strength brings. Perhans th« wither had something to do" with hf wSess to postpone any duty that must take her out of d^^rs • t errand of p easure. For almost a week the weather had a UL? oTH?e^ 'Zt '\' "T^^ '' yesterday L'S brought fo! fr xi*° ^^^ ^'^^^ «^opes of the Common where for three months pa^t the monumental dumpiZ of the .cystreete had dismally accumulated ; and alongThe ba^e of these heaps a thin adventurous verdure showed iS iie'ibs As V.r^*r "I'J^.^ ^^^^*« *^« snow liie on' ine Alps. As Helen had walked across the nJankin^ n« brrd7n'Ihe'w''- ""'f^^'^ office, she Tad he'ard'a'&u" nf ?>,T.i blue soft airliigh through the naked boughs fJit "^«?«'!«^k^"g querulous inquiiy for the spr"na Semt?on'o^thrp"1-l^'^°"^ i« the exS- peration of the English sparrows. The frozen year in fact, was awaking to consciousness, with secre?pSof sZm of ^: '^- ' "°^^ft"^ themselves in "nS^rly Dreiias which Helen saw ascending the narrow hill-sidfi ^fh «r r^A ^^^'^ ^r fi»«d from moment r momen? with sleet and ram and snow "iomenc thrown^nff ffffi ^7*' ^° her room the anthracite had thrown off Its first gaseous malice, and now lav a core of brownish-red under a soft, lurid blur of flam« • «^T^ '^V^T '' .*.'^°^^ *^ " ^^' -th r' tTanto out in that weather, she would spend some of Mr Trufitf a money, as she called it, and snSiling faintly at the de morahzation which had succeeded her heroic^ when some" one rapped at her door. She turned away frim th^fire onL:n'''7ol'' 4t- "Z^^^^^^^ *'^ !torm outside, and , jo^r ratine* ♦uaenwuiiy, Mrs. Hewitt was A woman's KEASON. 207 Drefer^H V^K*^"^ '? ^" '""•^' '''''<''' '^» h^d apparently thr ^rtT^ ^'"^ fu^^'"' ^^'^ >^^"' ^^ I «Jiov^ed him into the mat er''lp^'^'-n^' '^ l^t l^^' ^'^^^ h^d clinched dow^ra'^'minuTe/'""^'" *^" him, please, that I'll be She hastily made a woman's imperceptible changes of hcTlTne "f'beC- ^^^ ^r^V^'ed to'theVrloTwith ner line of behaviour distinctly drawn in her minri After a first mpulse to refuse to see hervis tor and th°n a full recognition of the stupidity of such a thW «h« saw that she must be frankly cordial Mrs Hewrtt'had hospitably put a match to the soft-coal fire kfd in it ^ate, and it was now lustily snapping n the chillv air for^lt'^HTi^^^^^^ """^It ?^V^ -« nVs^ai^i^ b - w- I- T® ^^°^ ^'*h his back to the door witB hi« hat m his hand and his overcoat on look'ngoutTnto the LThTrn'^X'^r' peculiarities might w^ellWnter! greeted h7m ^?i, """"1 ""^^^ ^^^^^ ^°»e i^, and she greeted him with a welcome which she felt must hav« ^at:'Te'^fi °^^^^°^ T'^'y kindled aslhe fire n the died ani^t f ''''a ''^"? ^ °«*i^^ *his. and began a hud! ought to bT r^ explanation of his presenfe, as if It grounds mrrn^f.v,^"" and justified upon specia frT^^ri . P""®^ *he wrap she had flun^r^ on tiffhtlv around her. and non'""5iir «• + v . iV o i, • -~^ y^S^^^J air s+rnnV Vk r^T'"^^^ ^"'^ "^"6 shiver that the cold air struck through h-r, wked him to sit down. 208 A woman's reason. PI- If from the fact that C la.^ Xo^'f^'ofhlveS authorized to present himself to W.r;> . *"• thesepointsXfctmiy^our'^ "' '"^ " "» »' the Ct?e™ tftKem' 5':,^^.''"' ' " ^"^ -'^»''- " W-« c,J;sS.^tl^te;'th J^r-jfr ^is' '»■■•"; - f},« A""^ ^1^^""/.^ ^*''® "P "™y ^i'l^er in Eaypt I fo,,nH that I couldn't go up the Nilp nn/l «^f u"V • x- '^""^ " Yes," said Helen, a little dazpd «f Hi qi, jj ^ . g«n tiu.0 for reflectbn rath'e/j^I^ ^'seek Mo^rti*; ^And you a„ fo„d of the Atlantic in the 'middft ever since to come back " impatient va^^/'"'* '^"""'* '^"'^ '^^ y»°'" "turned Helen, A WOMAN'S BEASON. 209 Ra!irTjd' ^ M'?* ^''^ ^?r "^y ^*^^^' «^act^y." said Lord ^^Oh, yea, I understand r They sent it i"you from get|& yL?="Li:z:' -od"^ "■""- *» It proved to be anything subject to duty I pave btf„ my card and address, and I did go so far a^ fo Iffi-r ^ deposit a sum of money with him ^surety " ^^"^ *" to be'^IaS ^"^ ""'"^ "' y-"'" -^O H^'». •'^Sinn^g ^rZ^^^^ -'^- "''"'> -hanea..y^."aS^,t Shet:;'h7'fie':teT •'"^^ -^^ ''- - '^- '^^- »tilll°o"re7er;SP'""'''" "'"^ ^«'^°' ^^ ''^ -^-^d "onidu wteation m her, he went on : "He said I could 210 A woman's reason. ' take the box along,' and then he looked at the addreaa on it, and said, ' Oh. 't's all right ! I know Miss Hark- ness.' " "Who in the world could it have been ?" wondered Helen. " I never dreamt that I had a friend at com t— or the custom-house." Lord Rainford took out his pocket-book, and to do this, he had to unbutton his overcoat. " Won't you lay off your coat ? " asked Helen. " I believe we shall not freeze to death here, now. The fire is really making an im- pression." " Thank you," he said, obeying. " He gave me his card. I have it here somewhere. Ah, here it is ! " Helen received it and gazed at the name. " No," she said, returning it with a shake of the head, " it doesn't throw any lighl on my acquaintance, and I don't exactly understand it." "^ " Perhaps it was some other lady of the same name." Perhaps. But I haven't asked you yet when you ar- rived ; and that ought to have been the first question." He seemed willing to evade it ; but he said gravely that he arrived that morning. " The fact is," he added, " I had them send the luggage to the hotel, and I— took the liberty of driving directly here." " Why, this is zeal in stewardship ! " cried Helen. She felt a girl's thrill of pleasure in it T > Her Lord Rr inford was like meeting an old friend. J^im hu-3 ; arted fi •t. the Kays and Butlers long since he '/I , out his coming on an errand from them seemed like news from them, and she found herself at home with him, and truly touched by his kindness. She had been too little abroad to con- sider whether she was behaving like an English girl u>i''er the circumstances, and she end«d by behaving like :^ii American girl. " Now, Lord Rainford," she said, " I'm going tr* :o all I can to reward you, and if you were a woman you would feel very lavishly rewarded ; I'm go- ing to open this box at once in your "presence." A woman's reason. sn " I'm sure you're very good," said Lord Rainf )rd. She put the box on a little table near thefri " I hope it isn't the kind that opens with a screw-driver," she con- tinued, breaking the line of barbaric seals, which held the , edge of the paper covering, and then coming to a second J wrapper tied with an oriental cord of silk, for which she required the aid of Lord Rainford's pen-knife. " What a pity to break and cut such things ! " she sighed. " Why, I don't know," said the young man not feeling the occidental strangeness to which fhc paper and the cord were poetry. " Its the way they put things up there. I dare say their dragoman had it done at n ba/aar." " Their dragoman ! At a bazaar ! " cried 1 olen, and now he dimly sympathized with her mood, ai d said — " Oh, yes, yes ! " whi'e she tore away wrapper after wrap- per, vaguely fragrant of musk or sandal, and cani) at last to a box, inlaid with mother-of-pearl in the Persiar\ fancy. She opened this, and found, under a note from Marian Ray, a set of gold jewellery : ear-rings, bracelet, an neck- lace, rich in the colour of the unalloyed metal, a nd fas- cinating in their fantastic naivete of design — as M as man, as young as childhood. " Ah, yes," said Lord Rainford, smiling back he rap- ture ih the trinkets. "Those goldsmiths' things. TV ey're very pretty. And it's amusing to see those fellows ^ ork. They set up their little forge in the street before neir doors, and make the things you've ordered while yc I're waiting." "And the high, white house walls, and the yellow sun, and the purple shadows all round them V " cried Helen, dangling the necklace from her fingers. " Well— ah— yes ; you're quite right," said Lord Rain- ford. But he added, conscientiously, " There isn't mu( h sun, you know. The street is very narrow ; and I don't know aW.t the walls being white; they're apt to be " Oh ! " deeply sighed the girl, and a mist came into fter eyes, as she dropped the pretty things back into their 212 A wojian's reason. sChh J^ifl ?^ af''^^'''^^ """^^^^^ ^^^««Jr she said, shutting the hd. She re-opened it, and took out the necklace again, and one by one the bracelets and the ear- waf off^with w\'';?^^^ ''^^'^^.^ *^^°^' ^'^^ ^ little way oft, with her head on one side. She was thinking of the night before her father died, when she put on that silver filigree of Robert's, and she had forgotten the young man before her. He made a little movement that recalled her to herself. "Oh, I beg your pardon "she tTa't hfbfd ,1' """^ ^^' ^^^ '^ "^^ hand.^and she saw that he had taken up his overcoat. " Must you so ? T can never thank you enough for all the trouble you have «1 '^ ^^'' 1"P.Pl^' ^'' '^' ^^^ ^ «»dden difficulty I seemed savagely inhospitable, after what Lord Rainford had done in the way he had done it. not to attempt some sort of return. But she felt sure, he must see at a g W ??v nfIS T ''• * ''' ^r ^^^ ^^"^^5 the bare spectacular^ ^tf A I'PJ^^i *^? "^^^^'^ decoration of the mantel- fZ ^ '^^^t'^^K' ^^^ second-hand brown plush fumi- «li 1. fi'^i^V"^»°g on the hearth, as in a scene set for some house of virtuous poverty on the stage, must aU be eloquent of a boarding-house even to unpractised eyes and Helen was in doubt what she ought to do under al the circumstances. She decided upon a bold, indefinite ^^^^^oZit::^^ But he did not go. He looked thesIarcV""^''^^^^" '^' '"^^''*'^' J"^"^ actively in Whpt\f w '"'^ *^i°^I brought one," he said, speciously. When he was gone, Helen put on the trinkets, and found tTrJ'7- ^^?^T^', though, as she frankly owned to thprn fff w? '"^ ^^.%^^''' * ^^'^ Sirl would hive carried them off better. " That comes," she mused. " from Mari- an's want of feeling for colour. I'm sure .t choTthr- ^hu smiled a utile superiorit;,. at the mirrored f^ce; a^d A WOMAN*S REASON. elf," she said, look out the and the ear- held a little was thinking J put on that orgotten the >vement that pardon," she and she saw you go ? I ble you have lifficulty. It )rd Rainford ttempt some at a glance, spectacular- the mantel- plush furni- scene set for , must all be ctised eyes ; do under all d, indefinite other again He looked actively in speciously. , and found Y owned to ave carried from Mari- lose them." I ff^ce, apd 213 then she started away from it in dismay. Of course, Lord Ramford had hesitated in that way, because he promised the customs officer to come back and pay duty on the box ; and she had not offered to let him take it, and he could not ask for it. There seemed no end to this day's contretemps. He had not given her his address, and there was no tellmg, after that sort of parting, when she should see him agam. She had placed him in a cruelly embar- rassing position, for he had given his card to that Mr. Kimball. The name was inspiration; she could at least go to the custom-house, and pay the duty herself and trust to some future chance of telling Lord Rainford that she had saved his honour with Mr. Kimball. Kimball ! bhe only wondered that she should have remembered the name. She had no idea where the custom-house was, but she wrapped herself against the storm, and took a carriage at the nearest hack-stand. The janitor and messengers who passed her from one to another in the custom-house were of opinion that Mr. Kimball was on duty in East Boston • but the last two who asserted this immediately added' Oh here he is now ! " and called after a figure retreat- ing down a corridor— « Kimball ! Here! You're want- 'L ^^^ ..}^^ ^°"^<^ ^^'■s®!^' ^ox in hand, confronted with her old friend the policeman. "Why, is it you ? " she cried, as joyously as if she had met him in some foreign land. I. ir^v^"' J *^°"Shfc it must be you," he said, with the half-shy, half -jocose respect of that sort of Americans in the presence of a fashionable woman. It amuses them to see the women putting on style, as they would say ; but they revere them as ladies all the same. Kimball touched his hat, and then pushed it back on his head in token of standmg uncovered while they talked. ^ Helen could not wait till she had transacted her own Dusmess before she said, "But I thought you were a 214 A woman's reason. i; h) m Kimln' "'ot stew al out the dan^^ and bein' nT,f ™ ^^^fys in a the new collector Sa friend of .!'^ much nights, and this place" said l^rnKtii t • J^*^ ™'°^' ^^^ ^^ g^ve me HeleSands '-^iyj'^,^' ^uf ^ P"^^"^ *'^^ <^^«e into "Oh W' ^^ r^l^.^ behaved himself after that ?" " I thought I could fetch him," said Kimball ' I Hon'f knew it would be all ri»ht " ^* hackman. " I should thi/k fo; a moTeat hi hl't Lpt'hT.td"^"" her He onpnpd f K^ i .?' J^f ngly, as he received it from thetf «Si'S ;^t ^u^-rr^ -«-«"% •'' pres^t"^*^' *'y ""'^' ■>« S»"." ^'''d Helen. "It's a o»xi, wiLii a ueep-arawn eish of reflpnfmn «t ^ — r> got to have these things vdued." ^"^'' ^ ''^ A woman's reason. >u," returned bs ago. Got i always in a li nights, and I he gave me he case into after that?" lat Kimball 1 her behalf J H. n don't done me so then." He in Helen's r conscious- time to say grateful she ed, in due iself a dry ime Helen kman. " I it's only a rd told me X to bring lurried off that you word." ly. "Full id it from etf ully at 215 "It's a ^hat they aid Kim- 'uess I've Wf?^ .f I'- r^ ^.'^'"' ^^*^ ^ Seating heart, at the ?nl v7f f ^^'"fc ^^'^T' «^« ^«<^"««d the punctilious folly of forcing the jewels to official knowledge^ She had her feminine limitations of conscience in regfrd to smut- gling and did not see why it could be wrof g to Sfn dutiable goods if the customs officers did not know it lhe had come out of regard to Lord Rainford, and no at all from tenderness for the public revenue /and she had a nol telvZr ?Pr^*i«^ ^hat the GoVernment w^W ?xtmtfa'yll;?;X!^^ ^"^ ^"^^-^ - -o^-^ion of her whici' o^of 1L^''''" '^'^ ^r^/"' ^""^^S her a chair •^ifnS TM? *^\P?fengers had temporarily vacated. m!nL " Cwf '^' '^ ^"^^r ^'" ^'^^'^ ^ half a w th «n ^^^'.^^g^ne ."^"ch longer, and then he returned Kid in . rnnf r "T^i^^^S ^ ^^^^^> Miss Harkncss," nffl!foi °^ ^'^^^^- H^ was a man who had enjoyed nfpvt f "«?q"«^«« largely a^ a means of doing people thTs aS hlrr' "^^v^^f ^''^^y ^^'^-^ifi^d at^thftum ^d :^z^^i:^^ f r i^^ir'rs^^^^^^^ t^ri^t^£^^'^ -^^ ^^ reported,' blitTthL^ bittem;r.'^''lnH^fl^r'°' r^^%'>t with a deep inward wS w/.r "'^J"^ ^'' P^'*'^*^ wit^ *hat difficulty Sk and in uT ^^,7' *^ ^"^^' '^^ ^«»°d »^«r pocket^ » T ? 11 *^° dollars and a half. «^o- » ? ^^''® *° 1^*^^ *he box with you, and come sThL 'i?« ^^^"'"''i of possible, but improbable duties, she had come away and lef^. it at home in the letter inclos- sol'ed^a/?^ *^' ^^"^ ^^.°^'" '^^^ ^^"^^^"' measurably con- soled at this unexpected turn. " It's just the wav with mv -.e. Never Knows how much money she takes with her and comes back with her bank-biUs balled up ilto UtS 216 A woman's reason. f *Si J «fi Jf f . ^" V^^ *°d ^^er silver layin' round all over the bottom of her bag^what there is th lay round. Nevlr l^n YTm^ °^re than sixty-two and a half cents. Don'I you fret,M,ss Harkness; 77^ make it all right, and you can make it all right with me, any time " ^ bnv LT- 'l^'l* "l*^°i° ^^^"'^'^ P^«t^«t«' t,ut forced the box back into her hands, and walked along the corrido? W «!l7''^'^"^\'''^5 ^^^'. largely waiving each return of her self-reproach and gratitude, and at the door resolutely pockfr^ ' *^''* ^' ^' *'^^ ^ '^^^ ^'^"^ ^^ waistcoa? "Lordi2ain/orrf./ Curious chap. Xor^^ Rainford ! Don't ^now as I ever saw many lords before," he said, with Ida^""TT\ "^««\know as I ev^r saw a^'y^he nf r^ ' Tt!*^ ^^""^t- ^^"scientiousness. He pondered the card with a sarcastic smile, as if amused that any fellow- creature should senously call himself a lord, and thl I at? H«H I'Z^ 1 repentance: " Well, he's ^'gentleman, JTa -^a^,^l«.declaration made out fair and square, and opened up all his traps, first off, hke a man. forced 'em aL mlfr't'%!f y«" r^ say. No hangin' back about "TlJ^'} v® ^^^'?' ^^^'' ^ ^"^1 inspection of the card, it want quite regular, as you may say, to let him take the box along without openin' it ; b/t a man has sZelt cretion I suppose; and-well, the fact is, I took a fancy to « ^f "^T- Seemed kind of human, after all." ^ Oh Mr. Kimball," cried Helen, deeply enjoying the in- spectors cc^descension, but with a sudden superficial ter- ror at the thought that she had not Lord Rainfbrd' addrSs and should not know how to inform him that his word had been kept for him, « let me see the card, please ! " AnJyt^' certainly, take it along," said Kimball. « Or. I don t know,' he added, sheepishly, " I thought my wife .?^V'?i! *^ '"" '^J^""^ °* ^^^elty, you know." ^ Oh thank you ! I don't want to keep it," said Helen returning it after a swift glance. "I merely waiited tXoV at ic. ihank you ever so much I " md all over >und. Never lents. Don't ht, and you i forced the he corridor h return of r resolutely I "waistcoat- ard! Don't said, with iv any" he tidered the ny fellow- and then jenUeman, quare, and ''orced 'em •ack about P the card, him take . some dis- a fancy to ng the in- ficial ter- L' address, word had . "Or, I my wife » d Helen, d to look A woman's reason. 217 When she reached home she wrote two letters--one to Kimball, inclosing the money he had lent her ^ ano felt finally that the whole affair was very funny and she wltentTre wh-T ^"^ ^ «P"ghtly^ittle T^unttf ner aaventure, which she tore ud SHa wmfo u „ni 1 fully in the letter to Kobert^to ^which Xtve S' Z CHAPTER XIII. ^^hpr"" wf ^^' ^^'^ ^^^^^^"^ "^"^^ *« acknowledge , her note m person, and excused himself for com- ing rather ear y, on the ground of an intoTerZe impatience to know wha?Mr. Kimball W S un, did 1 promise to tell vou ?" askprl TT^]«« not jell remembering'just what she C writtea ""'' „l,-lf 'iT T ' '*y "**' y»" ^'^" l>e said, with a candour ;rir;:;';oS^s^ht»^^^"''' ""'*"'"^- ■■ b"u^ss;'( " I'm not sure about that. But I was thinkin«. fi,o* •* you were disappointed when you ^Hete Sforf not to find any of us aggressively American, you might be con ^ed by studying Mr. Kimball; he's so aStely and wholly Amencan, that he takes every other conditfonnf things as a sort of joke." "^ condition of "-^h. yes,"saidLordRainford. "lundprsfjinrl t *!,• i I observed something of the sort in^W i r ^^'^^^ But I didn't mpet iMn ^^r- ? -• „ , ^^'j of people, quiringlyras if he\p;L:-^rd"rt^^^^^ ^^'^ - 14 218 A woman's keason. ;; Thinks it has ? " he repeated, with interest. ymfoul'L^T *''»*'^»»h a" that acquiescence which ^xcen? » ■°°?»'™"™.. there wasn't one of thee p^S It^t iT '^ '^^ ,«<'Pl'i«ticated instances- who looked weH f f P^'P'*' *" European society wmU You tZy tr^^d rLZ™*""^ '" '■''■"' "» matter how hIrS o./d ^^ I terd tl^terna,^-^ ^ ''• it.p^ir;-tti--/-^^^^^^ Now 2^0?* are personal ! " ^ «' WeirVpn '''''* T'' *^J*- ^"' y^'' perhaps I did." I am able to take the social state'of Europe s^LusIy « HvJ^no^fn"!','''"^ y°-" "^hdeeplydyed democrats." lrh?T^ ^™ p-^^^^^^^ ™ni!™>"'";S '» bookishly already » ton.° ' ' l-''^^""** they told me tt, expect in Bos- " Then you won't mind mv "" ^»«=°'* «<=<«« ««, if A woman's reason. 221 Well, then, ' said Miss Kingsbury, « come and take some of It back ; or all. Tell hiin that the British aristo- cracy IS the one only solid and saving fact of the uni- verse ! Good-bye, dear ! Don't worry about it. I dare say he was delighted ! " Helen was afterward sorry that they had not dressed a httJe more. She was necessarily in mourning, and Lord Kainford w&s dipped in the gloom of her crape, and of «iree black silks— Mrs. Fraser's best black silk, Miss Kingsbury s Vermont aunt's only black silk and the black silk which Miss Kingsbury herself wore, in some mis- taken Ideal of simplicity. Helen longed to laugh, but remained unnaturally quiet. Perhaps the black silks were too much for the Aztecs. Lord Kainford had the Englishman's stiffne3s, and pro- fessor Eraser had the Professor's stiffness; they seemed unable to get upon common ground, or to find each other's point of view. They became very polite and deferential, and ended by openly making nothing of each other. The J^rasers were obliged to go early, and Helen shortly after- ward made a movement toward departure. Miss Kingsbury laid imploring hands on her. " Don't go ! she tragically breathed. " Stay, and try to save the pieces ! and Helen magnanimously remained ; under the circumstances it would have been inhuman to go She brightened at Miss Kingsbury's imploring appeal: she became funny, and they had a gay afternoon. When she said at last that now she really must go, she was scared to find that It was half-past four. She hurried on her sack and bonnet and rubbers, and when she came down- stairs, Lord Kainford, of whom she had deliberately taken leave was there, hospitably followed out of the drawing- room by Miss Kingsbury. ® "I forgive your not taking the coup^," she said subtly, seizing Helena hand for a grateful pressure at parting 1 much prefer to walk, I assure you," said Helen, "after beinisr mewed up in the house aU day yesterday. Good- f[ I ! 222 A woman's reason. Miss Kingsbuiy's man opened the door, and Lord Rain- "If you're walking, Miss Harkness." he said, with an had'been t^th- ''""'TM^}^ "^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ which the^ me'waTk wuf^^^^^ '^^^^"^' " ^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^-'^^ ^e* "Why, certainly " said Helen. " I shall be very glad." T.l« dn «f7 ""^^^^"^ ^'^''^ *°«"*^^^ ^^*^^'^' soberly, af peo- ple do after a merry time indoors. There was a Con- straint on them both which Helen had to male a lHt?e effort to break. Whatever caused it on his part on he^ noo7?nT'''^^ "'^^*^" '^^' '^' ^^^ allowS the aft ;1 hTJnr.}'^ Ti?^ with6ut going to see Mr. Hibbard about . T^^^T- .She must wait again till the morning. ser It ^^'^' '^!-T^' " *^ ''• y^'^ ^<>"^d Professor Era- ser rather an unsatisfactory Aztec " T A ^^' ''°- ^""^ ^* ^"- ^«'« extremely well informed I dare say. But we approach the subject from tery dif- ferent pomts He is interested mainly in the pottery as the remains of an arrested indigenous civilization a?d I as an amateur Egyptologist, was rather hoping to-ah- hear something new about the monuments-the architec Sirwr/"'^*'^.^^^""^ ^- been pretty t^^^^^^ oughly traversed m Mexico, and we can only look for fresh resu t, now in Yucatan and Central America/' infh/wf off the statement without apparent interest m the matter and with something of present impatience fn™ "^^if" ^v.^^^^-^^ ^r® over to look up the ground for yourself, she began; but he hastily interrupted. JNo, I can t say I came for that, exactly. I can't sav Icameforthat I should like eitremel/ to see those things for myself; but I didn't come for that" Helen was amused at his sr.runnln,.c. i«„;„f._,- -.. ,i point, and had a mischievous temptation to ask him just A woman's reason. 223 why he had come, then ; but she contented herself with saying, " I always wonder that English people care to come to America at all. I'm afraid that if we had Ger- many and Italy at our back-door, we shouldn't care to cross the Atlantic for a run to Colorado and back." "The continent is rather an old story with us, you know. Of course, the towns are a good deal alike, here, after you leave Boston, and there is nothing to see in the usual sight-seeing way ; but the conditions are all new, and they're interesting. But I can't say exactly " Helen felt a nervous inability to let him define, as he clearly intended that it was not exactly the new con- ditions either that had brought him to America, and she turned a smiling face from the anguish of sincerity that was urging him on, and looked about her with the hope that something in their surroundings would suggest escape for them both. " I suppose," she said, " that you know Boston very well by this time ? " " No, I don t know it very well," replied Lord Rain- ford. " But I believe I know something about this quar- ter of it. This is where your principal people live — professional people, and large merchants ? " "All sorts of people live everywhere, now," said Helen, with a little touch of her superiority ; " and I can't say that Beacon street is any better than Commonwealth Avenue. Papa was in the India trade," she continued, '• and we lived just here in Beacon Steps." She remem- bered what Captain Butler had said of the India trade and its splendour, and she had a tender filial pride in speaking of it. ' Lord Rainford had not caught the word. " In trade?" he repeated. " His business was with Indian products of all soi-ts," Helen explained. " Ah, yes," said Lord Rainford. He walked on in sil- ence which Helen did not heed particularly. He must tu A woman's beason. : ,:l if i who had ^toS headland wttkLt:?h*^LH°?'P*7" peltries. " Really " h7s£TJu!t7j*?-^h''^"S'aes for were enough of them le7t in »Vu ' f-'-^n'^PPose there .^"Jaut:JSntE'B"™--- aa^Sr^dSlLia'^''- "^'""'' ' -^Ht to India ; he aent outthTps r« imp^^ioned <. r?! ^? ^°''°° painters ? " asked the Enalishman than ?o her ,^orft """"""'^ ^""''"^^ '" ''^^ ^'^er Europe repeated hte^hle the 2« '^ '""?' "' such a fair new beginning" ^°° '^°''<* *» """^^ "why 'ro^"".,^ r f""?'' .^" ^* mysterious grievances satisfy the teste '^ftlw!"'- They do something te they'r^ su^h a mer^'moLnh^r^"!; '^"^^l ''''' ^' fectly ravenous." ° '*"'' "" ^""P^ P«- young tL"''^. I't^'t'd'^' ^ *'"''''°'' """d." said the L.|edh„e thattrplt^LdX^pr*^ r^^^^^^^ "I wi I ». "* ^'"' "•"■,'•' ^ ««™™ about it r taking^^'ii^^ ::;7^;i J^^RP"- •''«« -y habit of matters at home Ird *w ^.* *' P"' "^ "^^ ""^^^ «'!«' here, whl I rce^^Ld:^ K? T^h"?' - "^i- ""'**^"' or tiie regular order." ^ "" '*''"*'r more A WOMAN S REASON. 229 •• I don't understand," said Helen ; and being curious, and being fatigued, she dropped into one of the chairs that the suburban ladies had vacated. " I mean that this morning I was trying to express the feeling which has made me a sort of white crow among my own people, and which doesn't seem even credible here. I was very far indeed from wishing to imply dis- respect for any sort of usefulness — which is the only thing I really respect in the world. Did you understand me to do so ? " " Not exactly that," said Helen, with a reserve which he must have seen was as yet inexpugnable. " I dare say it was one of the misfortunes of my being a sickly boy, bred at home, apart from other boys, and indulging myself in all sorts of fancies, — but I used to imagine that in America our distinctions — criterions— didn't exist. When I began to know Americans, at home as well as here, it seemed to me that they were often more subservient — more eager to get on with" people of rank — than Englishmen, even. I confess it puzzled me, and you're the only American — if you'll excuse my being so personal, as you say — who has at all explained to me. I can see now how they may have a romantic — an historical — interest in knowing such people, and that they are not merely tuft-hunters in the ordinary sense." Helen could not tell whether he was speaking in irony or in earnest ; she dropped the glance she was lifting to his face, in a little fear of him. " But I believe I care more for the American ideal than most Anaericans ; and I have been vexed that I should have said something this morning that I saw put me further than ever in the wrong with you. I assure you that I am very far from thinking better of myself for belong- ing to an order of things that I believe to be founded and perpetuated in ignorance and injustice. I would really rather have been one of the Pilgrims who came over in the May-Blossom " 230 A woman's KEASOU. li " W^f'" fu ^^^'"'- l-^'Pl^ssly correcting him them laughed at, and she could not imagine howTn f"** expected from him thTt she feltaffi afraid tThf """ Mfhismt£tir'hi-ot^t?S«r^^^^ odi^n" tieTocgr'4S';^„^?f JMJ *"-«'> V gether " *viicie you are all commoners to- oflh^f^r'"'""'^'^ S«'-'- -to-'-hed recognition he cPtlXl^Ittrn^^^^^^^^^ - - » regardTtleTndif ladt lts"r°r1'^^^^^ eeling as you-as yo«-,^ight hZ supposed I?? ""^ pause-" about your deterlnat on to tust t trfff to look about her withTw' i^ ^r' A-""^'^" '^-'>^^^ /or your sake that I came back i ''^ "^ "'^^'' " '' ^^ A woman's reason. 231 [ him. t' the robbers ribute; but iteful accep- ected her to Iways heard ow an Eng- gh she had r awhile ; to r made him was so un- s if he were r a compas- 1 her heart her, and he thought it tnoners to- •ecognition Q as ours," . "HI go I ; and the 3lunder in i no such If I vcn- op in one barrassed • yourself ort of de- ' much I i you to he began " It was They were quite alone, and if it were to come to this, it might as well have come to it here as anywhere else. Helen realized the fact with a superficial satisfaction fol- lowing her supei-ficial terror of the publicity of the place. " Ever since I first saw you " " Oh, don't say any more ! Indeed, you mustn't ! Didn't the Rays — didn't they tell you " " I haven't seen them. Before I went home, I knew that your father's circumstances . But I beg you to do me at least the kindness to believe that it made no difierence at all. God knows, I never considered the cir- cumstances or made them an instant's question." " You are very kind, Lord Rainford ; generous but " "No. It pleased me to think you had nothing. I would rather have found you as I have than in the best house in your town " Helen tried to interi)ose again, but he would not let her speak. " All that I understood from Ray only made me the •more impatient to tell you that I love you for what you are — for your courage, your sincerity, your truth to your- self ; and if you think that your having " " Oh, it isn't that at all ! " cried Helen, piteously. com- passionately. To a girl who had never dreamt of being loved for anything but herself, and in her quality of well- born and well-bred American could not imagine herself less than the equal of princes, Lord Rainf ord's impassioned misconceptions contained as many offences as could have been put into as many words ; but she forgave them all, to the pain that she saw that she must intiict. He had misunderstood everything ; all her assumptions of equal- ity, on his own plane, had been thrown away upon him ; she had only been his equal as he ordained it and conde- scended to her level. But she could not be angry with him, since she was to crush him with the word she must speak. She had never forgiven herself for her reckless behaviour the first time they met ; and now he must have 232 A woman's reason. as invitation for him to hon! «t .°'^'' '"^ atonement-- her head but she Z«f i.^t ^"^ ^"^ ^""P^^*^' ^he hun^ Rainfnr^ » 1 ^ ^,*°P ^*"^ at once, and " Oh TmS I see it now andlnS . ""ame from the beginnine ■ that fet da';;, tti °ite\ t^T J^" i' ^-o^?- «»' ^ardly knew what I did : im afrairl T ^-j ?! fi-j—^ dnven away the dearest friend fh J ^^'^ * ''r^' ^ ^^^^ and he had left me hatin^^; T. "^ ^J "^^ foolishness. But it all came Sghtverf Ton I "^"^^ T ^^^P^^^^ It s cruel of me to ?e tellZ you thTl' ^^ '''' ^' beheve that I do value you? ?e "ard a^d ^^ \ "^^^^ ^^" ^ been here this time I've onlv S^ f ^ \* ^'°°^ ^^^'^^ remove that first imprlL^tand t-to' 7^.' V'""'^ *° forgive me ! " ' w>-to— to— You wtw< "I^ VI' tt' 1 3 """'i'''* " l^^iWered look. futilities with Xch women v«-i"^°^r'*°^^d these blow they deal Tman wC fh ^^^ '""^ ^ ««*"^«« the Jt>at the useless w^rd^ J^Sw "^ value, but do not love, must Jet him go wTttrther' ''°^' '' ^^^ ^^P^' ^^^ ^^e h good-'wiU tonement — She hunff " Oh, Lord lietly. beginning ; jfore. But nhappy — I ire. I had ooliehness, desperate. t's he lut you to ice you've I could to You must 3red look, i I t bound." She took uld have tdd these ften the not love, and she CHAPTER XIV. jELEN hurried home, and ran up to her room. She had thought she wanted to hide ; but now she found that she wanted to walk, to run, to fly, to get into the open air again, to escape from her- self somehow. She was frantic with the nervous access of which, now that Lord Rainford was gone, she had fallen'the prey. She was pulling on her gloves, as she rushed down-stairs, and she almost ran over the ser- vant, who was coming up with a card in her hand. She stopped short, and the girl gave her the card. " For me ! " she cried in wild exasperation. " I can't see anybody ! Say that I'm going out. I can't see any one ! " A little old gentleman, with his overcoat on, and his hat in his hand, who must have overheard her, came out of the reception-room and stood between the foot of the stairs and the street-door. " I wish to see you, Miss Harkness, on very important business." " I can't see you now. I can't see ani/ one ! I don't know you, sir ! Why do you come to me i " she demand- ed indignantly, and quivering with impatience. " My name is Everton. I bought your father's house when it was sold last fall at auction, and I came to see you in regard to some circumstances connected with that purchase." "I don't know anything about the circumstances," cried Helen "You must wait till Captain Butler gets home." "I was sure," said Mr. Everton, with insinuation that arrested her in spite of herself, " that you knew nothing of the circumstances, and from what I Imew of your father. ? 234 woman's reason. I^^Wtainthat his daughter would like to kaow of a Bl^nlZ^^^^^ Helen, and with reception-room d^oon^C E±Sn' '?•! ^'^'^ «P^^ ^he ter first, and he softly^ed ti« /'^'^''?''^"«^<^to en- both within. ^ ^^^'^ ^^® ^oor when they were -^oVr^^r^i^^^^^^^ -id Mr.Everton resp.ndi..g to hl'sZu h2\ 'V^ «P^^«h, curiously co°' reason to be]ie vel^n fi^f r'if ^^^'^^ °^ P^^«o°- " 1 have the victim of a 4ud\nte'paTor.i'^""-*^^^ ^ -^ that I was induced to outbirl T « * *^^ auctioneer; and lars, bids that were cried bythl tlT '^'^ V^^"^^"^ ^o^- never been made at all" ^ auctioneer, but tha had Mr^Evprr'^'^'^f^^'" ^^^tered Helen tin Captain BteSr'S;^ ^^"'^ ^^ -it S le suddenly added : "Or no f Y *" ^?^««"»e to me ?" fne I can't suffer any doubt to l^ ^^ ^^^ ^"^^ to instant: if you have CrwrL?d /h T' ^^°^ ^"^ ^^ Ihankyouforcoming." ShT^oJ ^ifl ' ?"'^^ ^°«"gh. seemed to increase hi staturHnT i"- ^ '^ 1^^°"' ^^^^^^ tons "I was just ffoi Jon? o ^ ^* dimmish Mr. Ever- ^e, I will go at oncfto^Mr'Hrht^^""^^" ^«^^ ^ith He has charge of mv nffpif • ^^^''^^rds office with you If there has^e^naVltLk.^JP^'^i- ^-tier's absaS: have It corrected immSly » ' ^"^ '""" *^^^ ^« will ohe started out with Mr t? x swept haughtily on for if;';, ^"^^'^^^ ^<^ J^er side, and herself trembli4 and " T wfl '^"^'''- ^^^^ she found please." she said^y ""''^ ^"" ^^"^^ ^^^ a caj^e; allowXrl;^;^^^^^^^^ office, Mr. Everton .her She coulL^ot quSlVe/ Sl' ^^^^^ared with tered the lawver'« pyj^!;. .^"^ excitement when she «n. .--- pnr«.v room with him. "Mr.Hib- Jk© to kaow of A WOlfAN's REASON. 235 bard," she began in a key which she knew sounded hysterica and which she despised, but wa^ helnless to Tr il of- ^r^^ '^^".'^? '^^' ^' wasTeatelin th^ purchase of our house ; and I wish you to hear his stoi v emDajTMsed He behaved like a man secure of his rieht ^.il ''m Vul"'^/™'' »S»'". straightforwardly fnd tt.eeJd tWH?*""? r'^<* '" lightl/and carel j ug I' Yes, certainly," said the lawyer. " And if he had had any misgivings " " ^®,Y?^^^ *iave come to me with them, and I should have told him not to pay the slightest attention to them " said Mr Hibbard, promptly. " My dear Miss Harknesi, the whole thing is preposterous. That fellow Mortimer Tf VT^'i"* ^V?""'^ ^"''^ ^ ^^^"™P ^ he professes to be. It Mr. Everton will excuse my frankness, I will say that I believe this is purely a financial transaction between himself and Mortimer. The fellow had heard of Mr. Ever- ton s suspicions ; and when he wanted monev verv badl-^ ne went to him and sold out— for a sum which Mr. Ever- ton s delicacy would prevent him from naming, but pro- 238 A wosun's reason. I I Ifii cheap." ^ ^^®^^' *^^ te may have sold oufc bacUn^Ts;"^^^^^^^^^^ "P h^j Paper and put it pocket, ros^ and bttL^ed hi^ """^?''^ ^^?^ *^ ^^^ ^^east Miss HarknesC he said ^« ti„f ''^ T' '^', "^'"^ '^^Y^ viser. I can't ^xnect vm, f . . ^""^ ^'^^^'^ * * better ad- fath^coXermotv tl*"'" Harkness?X your from bankruptrZd'Tetr''^'"'''" »-<•""> J«dwa^r^„:^*/,Wer in quitting th, „„„ ho will press this & "„' issue T^f tj?^]! T ' 4''- " ^ """P^ something to think of ifTco„u Z l™"'"* K*^« ''"'' open court. The old sconnHrlp f ^ * "?*'"'* *' h™ in thing! But he Li; Ser ha^trr ^2'°» ''"h this wonder he dared to come at aH i \°.'"°l*° "«>««• I be troubled about it; X re* nothin^of ??''"''''• ^™'» nothiiig that need eive von 1 ,^„™ ^.?* "' ? *^"" yo» : ■^ult. You may fe aSutr^'J?'? *°?«ty «» ^ the end of the whole aLl he 1^ ?/**'" "»» ^is is the come with that WeHn'the ™U I? wf "^"^ «» »*» you may rest salisfled f„t *i. i ' ^** Siveu to him, money from L pr vateW J •?i;'!uP"'T'°'° "^ extorting Mortimer would know-how 7„ 'u' »g^ement-whicg himself-that it neveT wrto C?, /^^^''^ «»''« ''<»• legal way. Mr EvertoiTh^. 1^ T*^ '" ""^ P«hlic or feiied . tL's aU.^;C.?l h'elrnt ^fTt^P'- '"'<' '>'« abseS=l*Z4:;l?^™i^r^ -d'^ith an entire lent papa moneyXn he .SuM teJ^-f """'i " ">»' <>« ^"'^ •• In mv orl„. "i.r J!!??."''* e«.' " nowhere else ?" , - .„.„^- .^„^^rous iune your father could A woman's reason. S39 Fvlrfnn T ? ^ T'^''^^' ^''' f^^kness. but the time that Everton allurled to waa one when it could be got only of usurers hke himself. He made your father pay three or four times what any man with a Christian conscience would have asked for it." ^uusi-ience 1' ^"^ ^i^ ^^ ^*^® P^P^ ^^'^^ bankruptcy ? " ^^ Everybody was in difficulties at that time ; and ." nf fhJ" ^""^ • "^- P"""!'^^ ^"^"°' ^^ if it were a branch ttntXtedT''^' '''' '^ '^^''y -^^P-- *^— "Very likely he had his suspicions. He's full of all rtrl ^"^P^T"?- ? d^re «ay he suspects that you and I were in collusion m regard to this matter, and pre- pareyor him if he should ever come upon sich an^e?- "Oh'" iiurniured Helen. J^TP^V^-^''^'^ ^u"" i!"^""? •^^'"^'^^^ ^^°"t i*. Miss Hark- ness f As it wa^ he bought the house at a ruinously low femTn'ths::;'^' ""'- ' *^^^^ -- ^^- ^^ P^^ ?or ha;e^do^;^'er^tltr ''Oh, possible— yes, but extremely improbable." it makes me unhappy, very mhappy," said Helen 'I can t bear to have any doubt about it. li seems Tkind of stam on papa s memory." « whf fT^-^f 'r!^ ""^-i^^" ^"'^^^ '''^y •' " cried the lawyer, what has It to do with your father',, memory ? " ^ ' ^^ Everything, if I don't see the wrong righted." ^ i5ut It there hasn t been any wrona ? " "Ah, that's the worst ; we can't fiSd out ! Mr Hib- bard, you never heard anyone else express anv mi^^;^ to ITr wi'if.T' l^^tiT "°^^^^^^«' -hich healed " I haven't admitted that it was anybody." 240 A WOMAN'S BEASON. inere s no reason why I shouMn'+ T+ «r„ Mr. Eve4>n ttrth^UltMou?Zrr T'^ "S^^^^ was not so shrewd », M^ ^"™™- fut Captain Butler auctioneerVut Mir«^"^;^S?'-''« '^'^•^ '^o «>« Helen pulled her veil over her face « An.1 io • *i, no way of solving the douU Ko I Tr '^''? *^°"^* *^ solve in m2/ mind " said Mr TTiV. whenever I wanted it." ^ * ^* ®^ ^^^ " Yes, certainly." "In such sums as I like ? " of Mr^ tenrj^^-.." ^ -"^ ™- »"»'' »f the amount onlyt^Ttrthtatt^t' ^.Xfi?r'^tf ^ ""'^"^ claim ? " *• ^"* ^^ I wish to pay that ^^« Then I should intervene, and .say the claim did not ;; But if the money is mine ? " she ur^ed - -- ..-.„.a xiucioiij- ue givmg; it to him." A woman's reason. 241 was as inno- itlerl" Jtion, I hope, Joubt before im that the anly assures )tain Butler 't make the is — is there to ask. id Mr. Hib- the matter bhat you've m." said: "Mr. money. I I charge of it of you he amount I ; but she > pay that n did not money, I friend of 3xplicitly Everton. T 1' 1^^^ ^^ \ ^*^^. *^^* y®" ^^ ^o right to refuse it ? If in Si/"?? 'fi: ^x™ ^? ^^^' ^°^ *^^* I ™ determined to have it without conditions ? " L„ J f *fr^ "".^"^^ ?^***^^ ^^for^ Captain Butler, and !l1!f f k 1 '"^ '? T^f^y- ^°^' ™y ^^^r Miss Harkness." said the lawyer, " I know just how you feel about this matter, and I want you to believe that if I thought it was just, I should not only be willing to have you pay Mr teed ytu?"' ^^' '^'^^ "^^' ^^" *^ ^^y^' '^'^^^ 2^j Would it-lwould it take all the money ? " faltered *l.w^''^\ ^"* '*,'"'''* *° ^ ^'^ovight of; the whole things m the air; it's preposterous." The lawyer went carefully and judicially into the whole case, and clearly explained the points and principles to Helen, who Ustened silently and to all appearance with conviction. At the end, he asked cheerfully, as he prepared to write a check « T? ^ow ,liow much money shall I let you have to-day ?" None ! said Helen. " I couldn't bear to touch it! I know that you feel as you say, and it seems as if you must be nght. But if I spent a cent of that money I could never be happy again unless 1 knew absolutely that there was nothing m this claim." JwlXTeirr'''"'""™""'^- "B'"y<'»''«vor can " Then I will never touch the money." " Really, really," cried the lawyer, " this is too bad. Do C7?''Tr^*°.i^r/^" this money to throw into the street ? I honestly believe that the first man who picked It up there would have as much right to it as Mr. Everton " Yes, but nobody knows," said Helen, rising "I'm sorry to g^ve you all this trouble, and take up your time ; and I wish that I didn't seem so obstinate ..nd unreasonaoie; out indeed, indeed I can't help it." Confound the old rascal!" ejfclaimed Mr. Hibbftyd, 242 A woman's reason. ( '■;, " No." accotnt'"'" ' '^'" '^ ^^^^ '' ^-« y- --y money on " ^ can't take any," said Helen ; « it would be quite the same thing I never could pay it back, and if ifturned or athier '°^'^ '' ^^' ^ ^^^"^^ ^^ '^^^^ ^ ^Sar « Jn-VT^^"" ^^""^ ? '■'*^'" °^ expostulation. « But if you are out of money what will you do ? " ^ seventy-five cents left of the sL tU' Capto""^ jj had made her beUeve was hers. ^ap»am Butler The lawyer, on his part, forbore to exnlaJn n,.* ti. money Captain Butler"^ gave her ZuTt have bL ta t topafon of .nterest on the five thousand dolC he hZ Wme?" ^ "*"*■ ^"' y»" '^l '«='=«?' » loa» then?'"' ^ *""""■' ^""^ "•"* ^ "'«' ""^"g ""y sacrifice attheCr" "" --o-.andwentLay emp?y"-hTde1 m out of is matter, tier. Do money on I quite the it turned a beggar Jut if you me with •me of it 7hat she liar and I Butler bhat the in an- he held ' a loan sacrifice rifice ? " id; and jwer to handed CHAPTER XV. |HAT evening Helen tapped at Miss Root's door, . and entered in response to the girl's invitation to Come m ! When she showed herself within ' Oh, excuse me ! " cried Miss Root, in j;he ready note which ladies make when they have pins in ^.heu- mouths She had her lap full of sewing, and she ob- viously could not get up. " I thought it was Bridget." Bridget wouldnt be coming to you on my errand," said Helen with a bluntness which at once made its way with Miss Root. ^ "What is your errand?" she asked, taking three pins out of her mouth for the purpose. "I must earn some money, somehow. I thought per- haps you could tell me— advise me " "I can tell you, but I can't advise you," said Miss Root, bending over her work, and treating Helen's extremity a^ one of the most natural things in life. « I earned money enough to come to Boston and study Art "—she pronounc- ed it with the conventional capital rather disdainfully, as she would have chosen a homelier expression if she could have thought of one-" by helpi/ mother take boardera. We took 'em our summers, and I taught win- ters. That s the way / earned some money. But I sup- pose you don't want to take boarders." Helen hardly knew how to interpret the gleam in Miss Roots eye. But— "No," she answered, simply. "I shouldn't know how to do that." * "Well, neither do most of the boardin'-house-keepers." She stopped here so definitely that Helen was obliged to take the word, if the conversation was to go on. I thought," she faltered, "that perhaps you could tell me how to do something with my pencil that would sell, I can Bketch a httle." 244 A woman's beason. f :f!| j^« Yes," said Mi» Root, non-committaUy ; "I remem- .^^' I suppose," said Miss Root, "that it's for some char- torlyJr" '^"'^ '■ " ""^-^ H«»^°- " No, indeed - It's beg it. There are nl!n^ T^ money or else borrow or tolive it or lenH I K f / ^^^^.^^ ^^^ "^^"^^^ ^^ ready I can' and I _ love to paintTshould nnifTi '' 1 ^^^^^lall. If I didn't But I do love if S T'^ ^^t^"" ^""'^ ^y *he first train. to stLtll^okTe^^^^^^^ t *^ *« /V^ll J begin finished up ionffaloT «!./^''* A^ ?^*^ mamed-^Aa^ wa^ herelam'vAThirf:';;;;:^ ra^^^^^ T'^' ^^^ trouble about me Bnf if tk 5 ^^Tx*^, ^^^^^^^^ '"e or tiy to keep it ^Art ot T * '^M^ ^""i^' ^ ^^^^^^^^'^ years, T ca^n sell alfcW?^^^^^ *?'t* f^^^y^^rsand in this city, reaUrtSl"' 11 V.u ''^ ^ j""^^ P^^^^^ers aa witha ^o^^Lee :^^^ for a moment anvf hinS^? !l i • ^ ^^elen suppose herself to ^ve allXt L f ^ °^ *^^ kind,-" that would be glad dolCayeS'^^ of a thousfnd added, and this was^the nn^J"'"'^ to paint gimcra^ks," she to acknowledge rrnri,^?!^ «^« deigned ftnce "^^^r-? '? '^^^^^^^^^^^^ previous mrfn.rn. »»ce, j.a c»u seii em .1 some simpleton sets the fashion "I remem- to go about e given it to some char- ndeed! It's I wouldn't •rted Helen, o the point borrow or Id hs ready d I hoped it." spirit ; but thing yet, If I didn't first train, ill I begin —that was tgain, and jle me or shouldn't years and V painters sparingly, se herself id be glad thousand -cks," she deigned ■nfirfni'tn- X — 3 fashion A woman's reason. 245 II^I^^'^'h'' ^ P^^^P^® ^°°^ y^ ^'^ '^^' But I pre- sume that am't what you want " Vlr^l^^^^^'l f '? Helen shuddering at the thought of Mr Truffit, and helplessly loathing herself for being at t^lTZ^r^^'''''''''' '" '^"^*^' "'' --^^^ PpnSo I^^'Ti^'^ ^'^'' "y°" ™^g^* teach drawing. People have to throw away their money somehow. But, if I understand, you don't want to go to people that have tWng? ^""^^ ^'" *^"* any more than the othir " No," murmured Helen. h.ff knew that Miss Root had at once divined that she had come to her instead of going to any friends of her former hfe,becaufle she did not choose to let then^ pity her and help her to any sort of trivial work out of pit/, f ?« Al^"? ' .straightforward sincerity, she felt the comfoH ITaS^! Sr°^ '^^^ ^I"^^ ^^ *^^ frankness of a man, and she subtly perceived that, for all her show of indiffer: !hfv.S i'^-^'''^^ ^^'■' ^""^ ^^« *«"^^ed by the advance W«l1^ n^ade incoming to her. In fact. Miss Root prided Herself on her large-mindedness, a quality which she ap- plied more impartially to people about her than is gene?! aUydone. Her liberality wae not merely for people of wZ^KT^^^^^ experience, but for others who had known better fortunes and- had lost them, or who had them still and were unhappy in them; and the severity which accomp^ed her large-mindedness began with her- self, and extendsd only to envious and detracting spirits. If the secrets of Miss Root's soul could be unfeiled it woiJd be seen that she had been obliged from the bein- nmg to discipline herself into accepting Helen as worthy her esteem and regard, in spite of her^beauty, her style^ and her air of a finer world than Cornelia Root had known except at a distance. The struggle was sharp, but it had SLwf^f ^ interest of large-mindedness. "When Mrs. Hewitt assumed, m Helen's absence from dinner, while 246 woman's beason. worthtbitfe^t w"^i2°- "'-^,'' '°«1'= time is fellows' time that ° J to 'l'"y J?."" f^^ »?me of the .T^^55- ,^^^^ ^ants to marry her. I shan'f nl.i.«rL.*J'^: where. If he wtnts to ma^Ter Tshnn^f' V^?^ ^''y- they don't ask me to -.ne vvGdrin' t cV,^ i j .l " ' " to marrv a lord fnr «,,.!. * "^ shouldn t want much or car DR anvthino- a>,m>f tiT «• • "g'^st icnowing her diacfplinVthaf she beli^^/^*"''' "^l? ,™'* "«« °<>^ theend,WnevertHtw^ 8?^?^""*^"? " "P ™ Mra. Hewitt the day !'fore bifb;^ " •' °''^ '""'''^'l early withdrew from te^^mle ^^d wIT,?^' "^-7 ^«'*° havinff Dasn't believe lit to him." t knowing ■ was now it up till Y snubbed hen Helen ddence of it, she re- M^r. Evans ico-econo- ? series of ettlement icy called ung lady ^wledged le, I will nt which here by sel. He >bly, and his cor- A woman's reason. 247 onet,— if it is a coronet, — which he keeps somewhere concealed about his person, at her feet. As no human girl of the American persuasion was ever known to refuse a lord, if she got the chance, the inference is irresistible that our noble friend was instantly accepted, and has al- ready written home to have his ancestral hails white- washed up for the reception of his bride." " Well, you may twist it and you may turn it as much as you please, IVIr. Evans, and call it philosophico-economic speculatifn, or anything you want .to," returned Miss Root. "/ call it gossip ; and I never did gossip, and I never will. I don't care if she was goin' to marry twenty lords; it's none of my business. All I know is that she has behaved herself like a perfect lady ever since she's been in the house." "New Hampshire forever!" cried Mr. Evans. "The granite ribs of your native State speak in every syllable, Miss Root. But you will acknowledge that you did hate her just a little, won't you, for her superiority to us all, --which she can't conceal,— and that you would recognise the hand of Providence in the dispensation, if his lordship had jilted her to-day?" " No, I wouldn't ! " all the more vehemently for her perception of the malicious truth in the insinuation. '^ Why, that's exactly what my wife said when I taxed her with the same thing. It must be so. Now," sai i her tormentor, as Cornelia rose from the table, " don't let her see any change in your manner because you think she's going to marry a lord." It was the insinuation in this charge that made i! ex- tremely difficult .for Cornelia Root to adjust her behaviour to the occasion ; if Miss Harkness was going to marry- that lord— and Cornolia Root was principled against in- quiring— she was not going to make the slightest change, and yet she was aware that some extra internal stiffness, wnich she must be careful not to show, would be requisite ior this uniformity. When it appeared from Helen's ap- 248 A woman's reason. plication that she could .lot be going to marry the lord at least for the present, Cornelia had to guard against self-betrayal in a too precipitate relaxation. The note of despair in Ellen's confession that she could not go to people to ask pupils for the same reason that she could not ask them to buy her gimcracks, touched Cornelia, or, as she would have said, it made her feel for the girl. But feehng was the last thing, according to her belief, that any honest person ought to show. She was going to help her, but she was not going to let her see that she was capable of any such weakness as sympathy ; and she had before her tLe difficult task of treating Helen just as she would have treated a girl who had always been poor, and of not treating her any worse. " There are a good many things that women take up nowadays," she said, with an aspect of hard indifference. " Some of 'em learn telegraphin'—that must pay almost a cook s wages ; some of 'em go into the hospitals and learn to be professional nurses—that takes you about two yeara before you can get a certificate, and then it's a killin' lif e; there are the public schools, but there are so few va- cwicies, and you have to wait and wait for months, even after you're prepared." She looked at Helen as if she thought that Helen was probably not prepared, and Helen shook her head assentingly. "No,'' she sighed, "I couldn't wait. But perhaps I shouldn't want to do anything for a great length of time." she said, innocently, with the thought of Robert's return in hSr mind. " It might only be for a limited period." "That's what I supposed," said Miss Root. "That's the great trouble. If a man takes a thing up, he takes it up for life, but if a woman takes it up, she takes it up till some fellow comes along and tells her to drop it. And then they're always complainin' that they aint paid as much ast mpn fnr fVio aomo irrrtwU T»«- «,^i. i_;_> -jp 70U, Miss Harkness/' she said, with a glance at Helen's A woman's reason. M !r;i.af'n * l*^'''' ^ ^°T "^^"^^^^ I '^a^* to join in any T/ ^^^l^},^^^\'^om^^'s minds off of gettin' married. It's thebesfcthing/or em,and it's aboutdl they're fit for most of 'em, and it's nature : there's no denying thZ' and fn""'^ ""'' '' ^t ^t^^ ^^^^g independent of men -and I never was such a fool as to say th"at they were- why, It s a drawback. And so most of 'em that can't wai to prepare themselves for anything, because they dont expect o stick to anything, th^y turn booHgente or sell some little patented thin| ; or*" they try to St a situation in a store. J' "" get a *in?'"'^fKl^^^^''*S.'^'^,*""«"«l>^'««if in an exaspera- tion with her sex. that she could not otherwise express And you may be sure," she said, after a silence 'Tai SrdlTi"'.'*"> f°^^*^^°g ^^tt^r than she's paifhal^ent^^^^^^^^ ''^' -°^^' ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ aint Helen did not heed this last outburst. She was trying with a sickening chiU at heart, to realize herself in the character of those resolute youig women wKo had some! f^M- w^^"'*^''^' ^T'' to her by asking at the door for Miss Harkness, and sending up their names as if they were acquaintances, and then suddenly developing thSr specimen copy of the book for which they were lakinJ subscriptions, or the needle-threader or ^WmbL-case o? convertible pen-wiper and boot-buttoner, which Ihey were selling. She could as little imagine herself behind the counter of a Washington street fancy or vTrlety sto?e standing all day in the hot, dry air, and shrilly^ S Ca-ish ! as she had heard those poor shop-girls doinl while they rapped on the counter with thei? pencils fo^' the cash-boy, and munched a surreptitious lunc^h of crack- ed n^ot know' t m V ^"«t come to ths she did not know what she should do. She was as firm ut ever that she would not touch the monev iX Hib Wl^ ...ads a^ iong as the least doubt tainted-it ; but she b^g^ ^1 III 250 A woman's reason. tote frightened at herself and at the prosp, ot before TTnU ^X' ^V^ ^'"^ ^«°^' " there's the theatre " questionably boi^et^^ rlfjT^^ ^^'i^''^ «^« ^^^ un- petitors. A^riTbu'^SS^ot^rur^^ T" an actress who was fivirlpnfi,r „ suture aazzied before her: ladyMZS WTZ went t^i' "■«» Op^«». ""d aw/ttto L^f'P'**^'"* ?^'^''- The colours had fehe .„oagn., .^»„„ed Cornelia, "just as I presume A woman's reason. prosp' ct before 201 you do, that It was dancin'. She said she couldn't dance *"^'i^ ./"i .1^^ 1^^"^ ^^'^^y'* ^'^^^ «<^rict orthodox, and r"i 11 . ^^ ^^'' ^®*"'' ^"'^ ^^ ^^"g^^'^ and said most of the ballet girls never danced at all. She'd have to go on as a peasant or something like that, with a lot of others first off; and as soon as he could he'd give her a few words to say, and she could see how she got along. It wa'nt play- ing Ophelia exactly, but she was dead set on going on to th( stage, and so she took up with his offer, and glad enough and she got six dollars a week from the start'' faintl "^^^ ever— ever got on?" asked Helen, " Well the only time I ever saw h^r was one night when she had the part of a page. I guess she had b?en on the stage as much as a minute, and she said at least a dozen words. But I couldn't seem to stand it, to see any friend of mine up before all these people in boy's clothes • and she seemed pretty long for a page, and kind of bony' and I went away after the first act; I was afraid she might come on again." Helen smiled and shuddered; the idea of boys' clothes was final, even m a reverie, and she hung her head in innocent shame. " Now," said Cornelia, with a keen glance at her abase- ment, and apparently convinced that she had brought her low enough, " if you really do want to do something, I can get you a change to try." ® Helen started. " In the theatre ? Oh, I couldn't " Cornelia laughed. " No, not in the theatre. But there's a friend of mine— well, he's a kind of connection, too- used to have a photograph saloon down in our place- used to have it on wheels, and get it dragged round from' one village to another; and Ae's got BostoS-bit, too; and so he s come up and he's opened a gallery down on Han- over street ; well, it's pretty /ar down. Well. hAhai'nf got a, very high class of custom, that's a fact ; and if he had, he wouldn't have this work to do, I presume " S52 A woman's reason. ;• What is it ? " asked Helen. " It's colourin' photographs." "Oh, yes; I've seen them," said Helen, rememberino- some examples of the art, hung aloft in oval fmmes ?? country parlours, of wh.oh th'ey wereXr^rrn" "It aintavery high kind of art," said Miss Root as if she found something to reprove in Helen's tone. '« buT t amt every one that can do it, low as it is " uh " u u """^ f ^'''''^ depreciate it," returned Helen " I should be only too glad if you thought I could do° t " I guesslean'get you the chance to try," sai J Cor- nelia ; and now, as if she wished to leave the subiect and prevent the premature acknowledgments which The felt she had not yet earned, she unpinned her sewing from her '^^ The' Whl*^ "^K^t^^S it at arm's length ffom her ' The trouble is, she mused aloud, " that you can't tell how li/s going to hang, after all your worry." *^" Helen.^ ^^"^ ^'^ ""^ ^'^P" '^ «° y«^?" asked Cornelia dropped the lifted arm, and let the skirt trail I vf been hintin' round for anything of that kind ! " Idont said Helen. "Honestly! But I like to fif dresses. I used to help our cook with hers " ^ Cornelia Root had to discipline with uncommon sever- ity the proud spirit that revolted at having the sime hands drape its corporeal covering which hacl draped the person of an Irish cook. She subdued it, but it was not m human nature that she should yield gracefully "I LSlZltlXoll^ylt^^^^^^^^^ -^^^ '''^^ -id. th:?re":tm£:r""'''' '''''''" '^'^ ^^^-' *^k-g Ko^^^^^**^^^ minutes of lively discussion, of pinnina Wk and pulhng forward, and holdini. nn ar^ ^v"??? Oiop, during which Cornelia twisted her n^k halflff;'^ A woman's reason. 258 she said looking at her own back; she mounted a chair and surveyed herself m the gloss. ^ai'd^^"' ^°" ^'"^^ ^^^ ^ ^°"*^^' ^^^^ Harkness," she ;| Oh vef' ' retuH' d Helen, simply. " I know that." Well why in th. world-" Cornelia began, iiut she checked herscli. * " Why wha ' asked Helen. " Oh, nothing," returned Crnolia, with the outward hauteur which was apt to mark a spiritual struggle with photographs."" ^'"" "^^"^^^ ''"^'"'^ ^^-^ ^1^-^ "That will be very kind of you," said Helen. Ihe next day Cornelia brought her three of the un- sparmg likenes.ses in which the art of photography some- times unmasks its subjects. One wJ a g'entleman hi what he would have called chin-whiskers, with his hair gathered in a puff over his forehead, and a gold watch- chain wandering across his bulging shirt-front. The other was a lady in middle life, with her small features losing themselves in the obese contour out of which her Sf T f'^ ^f !^ '"'^?"' °^^^*- Th^' gentleman wasto be painted of a fair comp exion. and the lady as a brunette; the third picturu was the likeness of this lady's child which was to be coloured in accordance with her ..resent Weamnce m the spirit-life as reported by a writing- "7lno^o°'''S^''^^7?"*^^^J^^' *"^'" ^^^^ C«"ieHa Root. Zenas apologized for not havin' any place for you to work m his gallery, but I told him I guessed you'd rather work at home awhile at first." ^ fprnSh-^^"'"*?''''""'?'.^^ ^^^^""^ ^""^^ ^^ a heart-sick con- templation of her subjects. hl^l^^"^ ^^?^ r"" ^T""" ^^^"^'^s apiece for 'em. It's better than nothm', and it aint mtTcA better, and so I MJiii liim sain i ;<».»<.ii« wiu aim, saia Uorueiia. " Oh, it's quite enough ; quite," returned Helen. 'V"*- 254 A woman's reason. courae," he said," she's done her best and so for forth toXSulit" ""' '""""'' '"•"^'- There aint any " Good gracious, Zenas Pearaon ! " cried Cornelia '• T>„ Ty:2f '' ^^' ^" "^^^^ *^ P-- "P tl?eTctcro^ ,.nS^^L^"* ^!"^' ^^^^f' ^"* ^^ Offered her no more work and she was too proud, in Helen's behalf, to Zk hrit She was more deeply hurt and discouraged than Helen ^erfVhrSiliJ'^-lf ".:/" '^''' ProWdrsenst? S ' "^'^^ ^ ^^^^ reluctance, owned the " I coifcfc'^ do any more, if he had given them to vn„ forme. I know that I don't do them weH aS tLvV^ rco^n^Vl'' if I were the greatest aSin"thew:^W 1 couldn t help makmg them wooden and starino^ T must try something else; and I've beenhinkin/' I've been wondermg, if I couldn't write something and ?el Jt Do you know any people-women-who wri?e for the magazines, or the newspapers rather ? " ""^ heln. wiff''''\''"i! ^''^ ' '^^'' ^" art-student, and she helps herself out by correspondin' ; writes for two or three papers up-country, and out West ; but I never saw onlbe'fot ^' mfi^'^. ^''' ^"-^- Ididn'tS Fv«n«? ?T ' !^^x'^°''^ y°" ^'^'^ *hat ridic'lous Mr Evans? Hesthehterary editor of "Saturday After r??' .^^.^ f.g"^«« ^e could tell you all about itT ^" I uon c iike to trouble him," said Helen. A WOMAN S REASON. 255^ " Well, / do, then," retorted Cornelia. " What's h« here for ? " J "^ ^t^'!' let you." said Helen, tho ightfully folding the dollar-bills that Cornelia had brought her. " This money will last a little while, and perhaps— perhaps," she con- cluded rather faintly, "I can think of something to do by the time it' gone. I know I'm very weak and silly " she said, lifting her suffused eye to Cornelia's. " Not at all ! " cried Cornelia ; and that evening she cornered Mr. Evans, as she said, and attacked him about some sort of newspaper work for a friend of hers. He was sitting before his fire in a deep chair, with his feet on the hearth of the open soap-stone stove ; Cornelia assailed him from a higher chair at a little distance. " Some young man you're trying to help along ? " he asked smiling up into Cornelia's eyes. " You know it aint any young man ! " cried the girl. "Oh! You didn't say," returned Mr. Evans, coolly He asked presently, " Why does Miss Harkness want to write for the papers ? " " Mr. Evans ! I think you're too bad ! I never said it was Miss Harkness." " But you won't say it isn't." "I won't say anything about it. There ! And if you can t give me any advice without askin' who it is—" 4. " ^^'^J^^^ ^^^'^ ^^<^^^s^ry now. But what I do wish to ask, Miss Root— and I think you owe it to yourself to answer frankly— is simply this : are you sure that you are trying to befriend Miss Harkness from the highest motive ? " ° '• Highest motive ? " demanded Cornelia, whom such an appeal must always arrest. " What does the man mean ?" she was on such terms of offence and defence with Mr. Evans that she often cast aside all formalities of speech m dealing with him, and came down to sincerities that seemed to afford him the purest delight, "What do I mean? Why, I mean this,— and a person 256 A woman's reason. be able to answer 4hout p Svarfca.T^^^^^^^^ °"^^* *« that you are not doing morp to 7?!? .?"'T.^''® ^^^ ^^^^ because she is a ladTof TalW f f ^ *^'' ^^«« Harkness do for some poor S who wS« ^^"T' *^^^ ^^^ ^ould to support inebrifSprrentranfn^^^^^^^ "P' ^^^ *^^i»g way through yjllej?" Cn^P^y ^ ^^^g^^ brother's protest, but he haslned to nrpl f T"'^ ^'' ^^'^^^h to commit yourself ! Are you .?ure tS , ^ i. " ^^^ ' ^'^'^ a lord has nothing to do w?f ^f f ^er being visited by you sure that yol are n^tt^/^' ^'°"fi°^°* '^^^ ? Are to^P,troni.ea soeialt^Trr. T^e^^^ ^ -l^^^yeZL^^Z^^^^^^^ <^-neliahad the touch ofthe laughi«tm„r ?w^..'°*° °«w life at "I declare" she s«?S°? ^^'""^ *^^* ^^^^^^d them, saint!" ' '^^'^'^' y^^ are enough to provoke a V^^JnA'^^^^^^^^ "Now, I'm .0. things that I observe sSnts l?^eTo fi u'\* * ?^^* ^^^^ -^specially a female one-^i I'out af d ffl^^if ' ^ «^^^^ bring to book as any I know T' lords and ladies on eaualtpr^f' ••*.'" ^''^^'^^^^ with me, and that I S heb vou Tn'fV ^"'*', intoxicating to pleasure than if she werermP.^« •' '"'"'^ ^^'^ ^^^ ^^^^ ter." He smiled at the ruef" 1^ ' '" ' """ ^^'^'"'^ ^^"g^' nelia's countenance/^^ S^^ Sro^r^Jh^ ^^^^^^^^ A woman's reason. 257 newspaper work does your patrician prot^g^e think she can do ? " •"i^^^^^'* ^^°^ ^^ ^ ^^°* ^^ *^^^ with you about it," said Corneha. " You had no business to find out who it was. " r know— I know. It was ray fatal gift of divination. A random guess, and your own guilty soul did the rest. Well, go on, Miss Root. You know that vou're not goint^ to let a selfish pique interfere with an opportunity to do good— to one above us," he added. " I should suppose," said Cornelia, grimly, "that you would know a great deal better than I do what she'd best try. I presume sh e could do 'most any kind of writin'." " That is the presumption in regard to all refined and cultivated people till they prove the contrary— which they usually do at the first opportunity." " I should think," pursued Cornelia, whose courao-e al- ways rose in view of any but moral obstacles, " that she could write notices of books. Seems as if almost any- body could write them." " Yes," assented the journalist, " it seems as if anybody did write the greater part of them." He took up some novels from his tables. " Here are three novels, if she wants to try her hand on them, and she can review the batch together. That is the way we do. There's quite a range m these : one is an old writer of established fame one has not quite proved himself yet, and one is un- known. You would naturally think that if such books are works of art they would go to people of experience and reflection for review, but that is a mistake ; they go to people who can be the most flippant and impertinent about them, and we find, as a general rule, that the young ladies who write for us can be more flippant and impertinent than the young men." He laughed as he handed the books to Miss Root and " If I could ever tell," shv. said, taking them from him. 258 WOMAN S REASON. ^TafeetC"'''''''^^'*''^ -''»'y»» «»id. it would be little, I imagine. The ^ZtJ^ w^'^f ^ ^y- Ver^ any truth thtt teliA^iSst h°m f f ' "^^'^^ '" «J«^ " Well," said Come£ " 1 5^-7^' ^^'~'? ""bounded." <« you ^iye her tbTZncl" * """"^ "^^ ^ »'^' » long editor'- •■ TrStt t:;t 11' "o^^^ *» ^''"'" -<^ «>o J- , In the -antS^*trC;-UtrS| ™4' we'ek'ltd Wc^tV" "-y r^ ^"™« the en- which she did norfcnowXthtTv,'""'"''?'* wit£ a secret to keep. Helen ^oSZe^Uvtlulf''?^ ■''''^^'''''' Aad It on her conscience to d^ilZ vlt ? ?"'"=■«?? i she because when she had read th» T 1 ■'^ *"?y ^'''^ J"stly, she perceived for the ff^t tim! ^^^ ''"f ""y tl"-o"gh labour must eo to th„^ .^^'"' ""'<='' thought and stories; and she Mfc that T-™ uT °^ '^"' '"d'^o^t tice to all this in ihe case of Z"'f K"^ ?" ""^ ^ d" jns- not first-rate. She tho^^h? Jl™'^..'^'""* ^^'o certainly about her style C" Ay l±'-'"'^>'*^ ^ '^^'^tll slovenly way She wmfl f ■'I ^y^uig m a slipshod or hand, aid t4 she co^S^d the?/,! ''"Tt '? ^^^ "eat^t one blot or erasure The rt.tf ' "? *^'■' *bere was not accepted them. M?ss ^''o't sho^H '?!ll h*i'"" 'l ^'•?™"» them ; for there were some nr," ,t l^ ?" ,'''"' bad done ful about, and' on wh-'ch she ;i^ . M-? ?*!' ''^^ « ■•«- she loufld a sort of?et-,nrL* ■'''°°^ ''".'^'. "^d then do in pla ring one 'are off ™^ !^°'' .r^''^'^- «« F«opk herself ik putt°n„ her "f'?^''"'- '^^"t''^'- She J^id to he must hL he^d frorn 'ofnf'" P ""f, "''' ^la^^' ">*' Capt,in Butler sided ^Tth Mr'^Hihh?"^"''^^ "".^ *>>»* 'f knon what to do • she wo„U L . "^^S ,*« '''°"'d ■><" tKe whole matter rest tU°"hl ^T^' " ^f^' "' «' 1««^' '«' wl;.^ she had S'n ali t'tt'"''^ '""^ ^'^''- "> sent^tSeV^rffJ^^^^^^^^^^^ ffh*^ "'";^^^' •'"■ here from (faptoin BnOez "' ^*™ * cablegram pause'^hVh'SuffS tT?al-eT" f," ^l'«"- » *» With a frown at the ptHnt^ilS'^*"" ""' "^"' -' ter, and dtSte Toh ""^ ^^P'^^' '° ""^'^ *» my let- Evmon's ciajm " *° "'"^ y""'" ***«» «« <» paying iSr. as « tVSlf otieir^ndT Y^^'f •'"° ^^'-'^ ^-. what she had been eaJ^r'a^d „ •■ '!'?''', ^"^^ ^his wa^ met ; it had seemedTh^ thef ?^ *? ^^ ''^"' ""oy >»«' till Mr. Everton'rclaim Ztt • . '''^ """■''^ "<" '^st existence involved aTuJ-ff "Aiust was paid, since its "No; he says he iVl wrUe^"*" '^'^'y- -Ue handed her the disnaf. > rU:^u i. read^nd then twisted rZ' ;. 1^^'^^ mechanicaUy ^,. ^ What do you thint..,. n.^ard ?"■»!« asked at U«t, 3:fe!.""^' '•a™ '- «• .-=0 many people halt be- tween their inter •• -uauu tat J-lM; of abstract right, and A woman's reason. 261 gladly take advantage of any doubt in their own favour, that he could not have wondered at her hesitation. But he was obliged to say : "I can do nothing now but receive your instructions. I^will contest the claim to the last, or I will pay it." He again explained the matter, and put the points clearly before her. "And there must always be this doubt about it, even if we gained the case ? " she asked. " Always. Even if that scamp himself were to declare m our favour, and acknowledge that he had played upon Everton's suspicion, the doubt would remain." " Then, I can't bear it ! You must pay Mr. Ever- ton ! " cried Helen. " Anything, anything, is better than hvmg upon stolen money ! " At the same time that she pronounced this heroic truth, which indeed came from her inmost heart, she burst into human tears for the loss of all that she could call her own. " Miss Harkness," said the lawyer, " I would not let you do this— I would take the responsibility of disobeyino- you and Captain Butler both ; but— but I must tell you that my inquiries into the matter have not been satis- factory. I have talked confidentially with several of the gentlemen who were present at the sale, and I find that they all carried away the impression that there was some- thing queer about the bidding towards the last. Now, as I said before, I don't believe that Everton's under- standing with Mortimer will ever allow him to press the question to an issue, and you could rest legally secure in the possession of this money ; but this, as I conceive isn't the point with you." ' " Oh, no, no, no ! And thank, thankyou, Mr. Hibbard for letting me decide the matter— and thank God for helpmg me to decide it rightly— before you told me this Whatever happens now, I shall have the consolation of knowing that I wasn't influenced by the fear of what people would think or say. I know that I should have see A woman's keason. been, but I know that I wasn't " <5],n ^ • ^ . and controlled her quivenWs ^Dnn?',^ ^'^ '^"^' stant please, about pLvin^ hL .^'a T- ^ ^°^« ^-^ in- And oughn't I-ouX't T^ il ' ^^ ^^^ ^'°™ ^^ery cent thing to^how thltT^^JzX'll^^^^^^^ the money so long?" ^ *^^* ^^ ^^^ kept out of Mn'stbir-Tt mlnt^" "'k f^ ^^ ^h<' -id pay it: and 'then whaT^ " I'So V^°& / -"" You were coming to me for monev vr^; ^^'' darkness? allow any mista&n f..Mn^ 5^^^ ^^'^> ^«" °^«sn't "Oh, no, Iwoi^'t." ^^ CHAPTER XVI, receive him when he S a fl* '' ''«'■ '""'y to setf capable of responding geneSv "/ \' '^°^'^ '''°'- "I am well aware," he safd "tv,.*^ ° ''Z """^ «««on. to you, Miss HarknWs a^d I '^, ^Z' f^ 't*^*^"" that I could appreciate VourconSf ^Z '» ."pJerstand IS now fully s&fled; b^ttSerest ol t?/'^"' «¥■" I have been kept out of wm.M iT. *"® money that past seven »on^hs tofCSlLTrS'^'!.''"."^ *« L..e suur. of two hundred dollara i We" written to A woman's reason. 263 your attorney that we will say nothing about the sum. that we will consider it paid." " Thank you," said Helen blankly. It was not, perhaps, that she was insensible to Mr. Ever- tons magnanimity; but just then she was studying his personal appearance with a strange fascination She found somethmg horrible in the neatness of this little old mans dress, in the smug freshness of his newly shaven tace, which had the puckered bloom of an apple that hangs upon the tree far into the winter's cold, and even m the smoothness and cleanness of his conspicuous He returned her absent gaze, winking his litth red-lid- ded eyes. He presently said : "I have had to lay out a good deal of money on fh*^ house, and I thought this might as well go into the s^'i^l ral account. The structure was very good ; but there were many things that needed going over, the plumbing especially I have had the plumbing put into perfect order. Mrs Everton was very particular about it— the Jadies are, I believe. I think you would be pleased to see the improvement." " Yes," said Helen. " IJ^ave h . brass pipes put in nearly everywhere ; Mra. Evert9n had heard that they were much hjcvIot and I was willing to do anything to gratify her ; she was very low at the time." o t, j , » He coughed behind his hand, and Helen awoke from ner daze to say, gently : " Oh, I hope she's better." "Thank you," returned the old man. "But she is Oh ! " " Yes, she was so far gone that she could not be moved from our old house. I never expected she could : but I made tne changes to please her, and she went over them all i; the architects plans. I spared no expense. I don't 264 A woman's reason. where" ' ^^" P^"^^ and paper every- "Oh no !■■ Helen broke out. " apparent perplexity. ^ ^''^^ ^^ *^^^^ ^^ges, in " I don't m.an to say," he resur^ 1 « ih^4- ii. a woman you couH llTf ;. ^"^"y respects she .as It was a great blow u. a woman you could reason with lose her. of theso- matter" ^ '"" should speak to her He explaint for himself. uuri;dMrs"SveS"[tft"'™°\''?»^ *™« •'^f"" I kind of bond as one may :r LT' "i * ^i^dence.-a a^f.. -you oo„l,= ap;S7^;?,:'Xt •• °°^ '^^' *^ "■- didn-tTnl^^'st ^ ■■; T"" ''">>■ '^''-^■" -M Helen. - 1 any WeaZ\et ' "^ ^^'^^- " '''^ >™ ^^^ «"=' ^ith I^SroI ^ftkattC^f' °'^"'">- -ItWtssif T ' ladnt kept i v hpfl'fh r'r^ .,„ n ever I was, ..id a>, strong. I',,/ ,s Jond fi"? '«.«'«" ^ any two younin„..« """■"'« at ner, as he went on • to form someTort of hope or eL""! Z°"K »«> «eeme, tmued sileuco, and noThe rX " h" J'"" ^%?'"'- there's nobody to interfere «n/? i ,.' y°" •■« willing, to. attend to tiir owntnl^^^J .t""''', ««>» *''»<='> 'h™' nnnd is as clear and n> v hS i ^ ^''^mpted it. My nndlwould do everXnr I . n f """^ "^ '™'- " "««. you, I respect vou iThtk vnn 1, " •"[ y"- I "^"^^ that's a veVirp"o'rtaKir iXufdlP""?''?' ■"«' To be sure, we haven'f bp^rT^' I ®"°"^ be proud of you. pose it's only ?easJnablP In ^°"^\«;«q"ainted, and I sup- it over, rl IHo hurrv n "i^ "^^"r* "°^^ *« *^i^k mind is made up" ^' *^^"^^' ^« ^ said, my own " WhatX^u ttnf It Xurvo" ^^^^^^^^ ^^^-' property ? and why ? .» ^ ^^ ^""^ ^^^^ me your sm&:;S^ inTiSn^r ""Z'^^''^ ^^-^ a perplexity. He\arn«tpS\-'7^^^'^ ^^^^ ^^ anxious lips, and then 4S hrthi/' '.T' "^ ^^^« ^^3^' ^ed •'Imeant~all ThavP n.f?^^ ^"^^^^^^d hardf houses, and everythiV 'I'm w^.^^'t^' ^"* ^^^^ ^ ^^-^n what people wou'idt '?f Wrei,oth"f "' ''-^^ ^^ difference in age is nothing" 111 • ''^/''^ °''^^' *^e S uocning. At a sign of renewed im- -mi' A woman's reason. u as a mark of^ if> I huve. I'm 2al claim on me, and I will deed' Helen ; it was ipossible. She B, and involun- hing abnormal excitement in •n ; ow-to-day, if He seemed from her con- ^ou're willing, 5n teach them ipted it. My IS ever it was, >u. I admire rinciples, and proud of you. d, and I sup- ime to think lid, my own sped Helen, ive me your in which a an anxious his dry, red hard : alf a dozen '' afraid of 3 mind, the newfid im- 267 l)atience fi-om Helen, he added, desperately, " I want you to be my wife !" She recoiled, with a shudder, and her teeth closed in a nervous paroxysm. " Oh ! " she uttered, in abhorrence far Iwyond rejection ; and, creeping softly by the wall to the door, with her eyes fixed warily upon him, as if he were some nightmare spider that might spring upon her, she vanished out of it and fled up-stairs to her own room' where she bolted herself in. ' The half-hour of self-loathing that she passed, with her burning face in her pillow, could not have been more cruel if what had happened were some shameful deed of her own. She searched her soul for cause of blame ; but she could find nothing there than the consciousness of havmg suffered herself, for one inappreciable instant, to dream of her home coming back to her by the wild poetic chance which the old man's words had intimated. This pomt of time fine and tenuous as it was, had been vast enough for her to paint a picture on, where she and Kobert, dim figures of grateful reverence, had seemed piously to care for the declining years pf their benefactor and to comfort his childless solitude at their fireside. But the silly vision, for which she grieved and blushed, was innocent, as she felt even in the depths of her self-abase- ment, and the thought of it ended in the reaction through which she rose from the bed and dashed off a letter com- manding Mr. Hibbard to pay the interest on the money due Mr. Everton, to the last cent, and not to accept any sort of concession from him. But the horror of his offer survived, an incredible fact, which she could not reject His age, in asking to mate itself with her yduth' had seemed to dishonour both, and had become un- speakably ugly and revolting to her. She wondered what kind of young girl could it be that could many an old man, and what he had seen in her that made iiim tnmk she could be such a girl. Nothing, she was sure ; and therefore this humiliation, when she was r 268 A woman's reason. way iL which ahrh^S ttoed Robe'rt ^T' ' I^'' *« admire h^r C tliat m,! l"?''-**"^'"? *° ""''^<' P'^ople fitted tl,e burderio herlTrit L'' ' ""'' "^ '"?" ^ ^"'^n to bear it Wlmt^v^r^n; *"* ™*' "P ^'"^ ^'■'ength the.„ae.vet. ia'^LteTatrdarr^rt' re") ^r"^*^? cause and pfCf^t^i^ i« <■;, '^"■js. as lo tue relations of turn at Miss Root's door.^^?uTt to Wl vPf'!'" ^"^ being a sob. " They've accepted thim i " "^ il ^ ^^ which she woud not speak at all i'T^ .®P«\^ithout A woman's eeason. 269 V sins from the scape; for the >r her flirting, rd ; for liking > malce people soon as Helen with strength d to persuade e relations of are yet few ' their suffer- to experience hich nothing the design of e knocked at a hand with all responsi- tt's from Mr. don't know to welcome _ printed slip "ternoon," in and begged >ped in her ^u the good ■ace, while a ^st failed of >he escaped d formulate tgs without id Helen a 1 arranging nd confess =u,- ork. Cor- nelia's heart smote her in the presence of Helen's unsus- picious rejoicings ; »he languished for the moment when she could own that Mr. Evans had wickedly divined their secret from the first, and she found no relief, but rather an added anguish in the skilful duplicity with which he received Helen's avowal. He was alone when they knocked at his door, for Mrs. Evans was putting their boy to bed after the usual con- flict with his entreaties and stratagems. " Is it possible ? " he demanded, with a radiant deceit. " Why, this is delightful, Miss Harkness. We are quite an {esthetic colony here, under Mrs. Hewitt's hospitable roof— with Miss Root's art- work and your literature and my journal- ism. Really ! " He deepened Cornelia's sense of nefar- ious complicity by the smile aside which she could not re- ject. " Have you written much for publication ? " " I'm afraid you must see that I haven't," said Helen with a straightforward honesty that Cornelia felt ought to have made Mr. Evans ashamed of himself; "and I wished you to tell me just where I had failed in my work, and, if you will be so good, how can I improve it." This seemed to Helen a perfectly simple and natural request, and she was not, perhaps, altogether without the feeling that Mr. Evans ought to be gratified at her ap- proaching him for instruction. " Well, there you set me rather a difficult task. Miss * Harkness," he said, evasively. " We usually expect the fact that we are willing to print a contribution to sufiice as criticism in its favour." " Yes," pursued Helen ; " but you want beginners to do better and better, don't you ? I'm not saying it to fish up a compliment from you, but I wish really and truly that you would tell me what my faults are. Please specify something," she said, with an ingenuous sweetness which smote Cornelia to the soul, but which apimrently glanced etfectlessly from the editor's toughened spirit. He laughed, as if other ladies had snid the like to him 270 A woman's reason. Ilk 'llll'l fleeting that ho hadlaW it t """"^^ ''^'^^'f V re- academic. ^'^ '' ^a' a good fault to be "^•lid^tt' ?^^ e^WpSd^ ^""' - in the story." ' " ''^^*''°y'' the reader's interest And^lnTt'htk i': t!^:- " ''"^ - the review a little the end, and to wlte It Si"^ ™7 deliberately it " No ? " said Helen X. i, T.^" ^° fo™ally" she ^gan to woSXhy"^? ttt tt"^''' « »» -ll.and quote tomlharn'nlTsltX"^^^ And I shouldn't significant or chatacterktt v ^™ something very io»g. And it iTth r tte S'LTT'^ "^ " "ttif ^he^hoo. in hand.anVlttt^L-'relr^Jfji " Yes to be sure," said Helen, eagerly taken upToL ^. ta^anYadZr ^5^' ^^"^^ ^^ ^ad to work it over a little be W^f'^ ^'t^^l' "^ ^^'^^^ hav. then when youhave it in trpfc '\ P"°*^^^' ^^^ done, and get a better notion o^fwjf Tt" "^'^^ '"" ^^^t I've give you in words " ^^^^ ^ "^^^^ than I could you ?^etrLrHei:Z ^e'add^^^.^ ^f '^ - 1^-d of printers ■^eferreTitT" "'" *'"' ^'^'- ^ heaTd 1^";^: A woman's reason. 271 "Quite right," said Mr. Evans, with a smile at this innocence, Cornelia Root felt the irony of it, but it was simply amiable to Helen. " They do, very much. It's beautiful copy. By the way, here is the ' Afternoon ' for this week, if you want to look it over. You're one of us now, you know." "Thank you. I shall be very glad of it," said Helen, taking the paper he offered her. Mr. Evans seemed to have all his work about him, and she thought that she ought not to keep him any longer. She said " Good-night," but Cornelia lingered a little jlhe could not help it ; she could not rest till she knew from the editor, taken alone and defenceless, whether he thought Helen would ever be able to help herself by writing, and she told him so in as many words. " I saw you attempting to pierce my inmost soul all the time. Miss Root," said the editor. " And I tell you frankly, you won't get the truth out of me. Miss Hark- ness is a very cultivated young lady." He bent over her MS., which he had again drawn toward him. " She pos- sesses a neat and polished style. I could imagine that in letter- writing she would have all the charm that tradition attributes to your sex in that art. In addressing the ob- ject of her affections" — Cornelia gave a start of indignant protest and disclaimer, which had no effect upon Mr. Evans, who went smoothly on — " she must be fascinating, and I have no doubt the fashionable friends to whom she describes our humble boarding-house menage think she writes delightfully. But in appealing to the general reader through the medium of the public prints, Miss Harkness seems to think it advisable to present her ideas and impressions in the desiccated form. Her review has all the fixed and immovable grace, all the cold and dig- nified slipperiuess, of a L'-erary exercise." He looked up, ancHaughed out his enjoyment of the righteous despair in Coraeiia a face. 272 woman's reason. to^d^Ste'^r-- "^ » ^■''"^- "She's ,„t dow to say that sCwS ° 'Xd T "" * *° "'^ ^^- ness a chance to write for • lit l^^. ^mag Miss Hark- sure that I would find her ye^'^,^^ ^^*'"^°°''' »" wt SMh a briUiant girl ^d If-^ T' ^he was alwaw her having lost eterythiL tn/?. •""""j " "^^ dreadful ^ resources in thifwl^: aTd l'3r*J'-r^ "P"" ^er And then Miss KingsbuAr exr,l»i„?j *.^ ^"*' •"■* ^ don't. and numerous other peSsT^l*'"''*' »' «0UKe, she would be only too gfad t^hlvrC *°^'-^«P'^'=tobiuty and spend her days with them b,?r darkness come the Idea of dependenp^- „^?' '"'*,«'ie could not bea^ ^mething for iSlf splendid .™7} h^"-. t-T^g to d" was ; but I don't. And S ir- ^?'^ ^ ™d I thought it '^uld appeal to me^^d^Zi'Z^nTt '^'^^^^ Why should it appeal ;„„ *V' ^'d ; but it doesn't plendid that a hSy you^rl''^ '^""^'^ ^ think it loafer and a pauper ? ^hv 3. r"" '^^^"""^ to be a do ^on'ethingVhe,^el7»l^he town 'Til' 'f <«'^'^«'< *e men who are oUm^rl J„ j ^" '^ *"" of vounff wn That's the kind ofsplnlur^ ^'^^ ^^^--iret voluntary kind, like^m3 own 1 1?T^' *" ^^'-^^e in- ilarkness to work for a living ,t t ^"-^ ^^r«e for Miss ands of other girls who rTd&'r t 'r ^^ ^^^-- tor a living yourself, Miss Root n ^^" ^^^^ ^^^ked gard you as splendid ? » ' ^"^ >^^" ^^nt me to re- Cornelia examined her i-na+ • -.l • ■"ent. "It'sdiflWe„tw[trus''^r "'"'»'=« for a mo- we were brought up to work ' w!^ »™«-ed, "because ^^.ng else, and it i?n't Z'^oZVS.^^Ct S A woman's reason. 273 is for a girl like her, who is used to being taken careV and never to do or to think of herself" ' " Ah, my dear Miss Root, it is the princess in exile who appeals to us^both ! But is she more to be praised for refusing to eat the buttered roll of others' prosperity than the peasant-maids who have never had the chance of refusing ? " She's more to be pitied ! " " Right again. Miss Root ! You are always right By the way, why didn't you urge Miss Harkness to attempt something in art ? Miss Kingsbury asked me if I couldn't get her some book to illustrate ! She said that Miss Harkness s sketches were very exquisite, and she asked me it 1 had ever seen any of tl em. Have you ? " " Yes," Cornelia reluctantly admitted. " Well ? " "They're hopeless!" cried Cornelia, with an involun- tary vehemence that delighted Evans. " And you thought that, if she couldn't draw, she could write ! That was quite natural." "It was her own idea," urged Cornelia. "And it was your idea that she should write for me I Very good, very right, very like a philanthropist ! " JNow you know well enough, Mr. Evans," began Cor- nelia, « that you were perfectly free to refuse Miss Hark- ness swntm' ; andlaint goin' to praise you for takin' it, if that's what you're after." " Thiiil v/^;at I'm after; but I knew I shouldn't get it befon ym UAd me. Who praises an editor for anything ? iou v.A M;-s Kingsbury will only think I've done my duty \vi.ou I've sat up till midnight putting this pretty rubbish into shape." ^ © f j " Is it so bad as that ? " asked Cornelia, aghast. " Why clidnt you giv^:- it back to her, and tell her it was rub- bish ? It would have been the best for her in the end ! " ^ -■^■■'-'•'^ ^ xia\e a timid a,nu tracKimg spirit Misa Koot, and you know it. Because I have scarcely the 274 liik.m* «'^^, \, If i kE 1 I^^K^I 1 m'M ) A woman's reason. heart to refuse the rubbish nf i«^- t. have produced it in the in ere.t nf '' "^^^ *?" °^« ^^^Y or for the purpose of ekinTou^r •''" "^"'^^-^ '^^^^*y' I'm naturaJly helpless in f I?. ^^^^^ Pm-money; and written it fo? brTd-aTl a^.^^'"'! "^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^as nelia wa^ siJent and thp 1^ •? ^'''^'' -^^ understand." Cor- 'u^oman can somet^Ls do *'' T*^°"^^' ^^'^^^^^Y- "A others ; but when a M^lTf ^1^'^^ T^*^«"<^ damaging man h^ to suCfor it '^nd 'b ?''i^/ '^ ^''''^^' ^^"^^ tim ? I usuaUy devo e ^at n J^ «l^ouIdn't I be the vie little play rm^t?;j^\rS\"^:Vi^ "^^^-.^ «- - neftlT^lt f :nii:;f .nl£ ^-*:« --^ in her ho- " Besides I lik7 /n T /."^^j^n^ing enjoyment. well as you do, uLt^t'^e':,^^, ^ ?^^^^^^ ^ tually earning money withnm f """f^^ *^at I am actu- young lady of Miss barkLes^^ .'/ '^' ^^^ a mean and servile little soSr^' condescension, does my describe." ^°"^ "'^^^ ^^od than I can well Cornelia burst forfh to-ui, „ all wrong, I knowTt is ^ But wt '^ ^'T^ " ^^' ^''- been brought up just as a ladvT tV^ ^J'^ ^* ^^^ *^^*'« der the sSn thVt she can tonestK d^^^^^^ mg upon other people and nn?f • ^ .? ' without impos- trouble she t^kerfor hertlffor^ '^/"^ ,*" *^^^^ *he do it ! " nerselt, tor goodness' sake let her " WpIT 1"'* «f ntiments ; but what is it ? " Weil, one thing it isn't • anrl ih.^' ' -.• papers,andIshalltellCso?" """^'"^ ^«^' ^^^ Root/'saidX edito? with sun^r^ ^f confidence. Miss which his laughter broke wheTtTtr^^'^^ '^^^"^^ -ponhim. " Miss Harknesl's fai wl ^ ^^ desperately *« a failure. / supposed if t!. u^- '•' ""^^ secret^if it arA ^«*.., <•. ^"PPosed it was a shminir sn.^oo«o f tk„__ - -V ^=.v,..,„ng ..aiea who can get= editor "to '^rii: A WOMAN'S REASON. 276 their articles for them and then let them pocket the pro- " I should think," said Cornelia, " that you would be ashamed to make fun of everything the way you do It seems as if you didn't have a morsel of compassion for the poor thing. "Ah there it is again! Accept her inefficiency and applaud her failure because you pity her ! Do you think the ladies are ever going to do anything for themselves as long as the world is r ^-i and expected to take that attitude ? Did you t. her that she was an artist and then work up her sketches for her? Have you a morsel of compassion yourself, Miss Root ! I'm goin^ to have large masses of it. I'm going to rewrite Mi?s Hark- ness s wnole review ! " His laugh followed Cornelia as she climbed the stairs in slow and heavy perplexity to her room. Helen in her room was light-heartedly writing to Ro- bert, and telling that, though she had now absolutely nothing m the world, she had never felt so happy since her father died, for now she had found at last that she could do something and be of some use. She could not grieve even for his sake, for the loss of the money paid back to Mr. Everton-the thought of it now was such a perfect horror. She said that some time she should teU Him why, but not now; and she turned from the odious J abject to describe her interview with Mr. Evans, who 1 ad been so frankly kind and encouraging. She had not Slid anything to Robert about Lord Rainford vet, and she wondered whether she ought. Some time, of course she must do so ; but she was afraid it might be difficult to make the whole affair clear to Robert at that distance. It was something that could be much better spoken than written; she resolved, at least, to leave her letter open till morning, and decide then what ah^ ahnnld rin she was not sleepy, but she felt a pleasant languor such as comes after the fortunate close of a period of strong excitements, and she sat down before the fire which 276 A woman's reason. was giving out its last delicious alnw f« • i i , tigue a little more luxuriouZ ^ S^' i i'"1"!^^ ^^' ^^- what had happened durk,iffc ? '^ -V^ ^^^^ «^«r now that it was mi T.^^ f 7!?^ ""'^^ satisfaction, horrible old TnCs moneT'blf fw ^^^^ ^/? P^^^ ^^at and not as shp b«^ .^ •^' ^"^,*^at she had been right ceitedaCtTishL/h,^%rbl^''-^^^ ^.''^^^ ^^^ ««- had behaved X a SibiTpn^K P-^'^' v^^^ felt that she Captain Butler's action n. business-like manner; that events sustaShS hprr'."^' ^^•'' ^^^ ^^^'^ ^" ^he this safe reZval in ?,• !f '"'*^°^ ^«^Pui«e. At posal did nTsTrli o SpVhorS'. f.^^-^ '^ P- some amusing aspects • sKr^ll-! ' ^\}>^S^^ to reveal . laughter when Z thou/ht nf ?^^ ?^*° ^ ^'^^^^ °^"rmur of ity for him. ^^ ^^ "^^'^^'^ moments of perplex- thotandlnrs^thear ^\*^^--^t-: it was five six dollars Tweek llt^T'i^^^^^ it was only work from Mr Evans andTi^ *^Vf««Pft of literary easily make thaTup-X L?""^' ^^^' editors,she could pen already ^ ^ ^^"^ ^^'"^^ ^^^ dollars by her an! tL^ct^Sion^^f^P^ '^"* ^^- ^™« ^^^ given her her. wlTwoZthe B^^^^^^ sent a light shive^ through the next number ^thW '^^ '^^'''. '^'^ ''""^ ^^^^ knew from her own fine r.lLT''^^"^^"^'^ ^" ^^ ? She them disagreelblv and Ibl f ^""'"/^'^ .^* ^^^^^ ^^^prise ing, and KKo^^^^ nounced her new attPrn^? i f while Marian Ray de- often have to dTsag ^ with M^^^ "^' 'f''''^' '^' ^«"ld people said of thffodetrgl^^^^^ noon," it was a annri ]uJ. ^ ^^P ^^ ^"e Saturday After- ledged thr sfrhearSs?lTrf ^J^^^Hy acknow- and in the raSd nrool nf ^^¥^^'^S it to Marian, saying plainly^to MaTn f W T'''^ '* ^^^ '^"^^ ^^ her ing for L newspapSri^^^ no disgrace in writ- be in wv^H-r-^P '^^ ^^^^ *^^ only disgrace conl.] . - -..t.n^ u..uuaestiy and vulgarly" for them. Sh^ A woman's reason. 277 fidulge her fa- ed back over 1 satisfaction, had paid that id been right, bid and con- felt that she manner; that that all the impulse. At verton's pro- lan to reveal e murmur of s of perplex- it was five '■ it was only of literary •rs,she could Jars by her 1 given her, ver through sent them nit? She lid surprise er support- 1 Ray de- she would I whatever Jay After- Y acknow- o Marian, me to her ce in writ- ^ace could em. She had said she had Clara Kingsbury's approval, and Marian luid laughed and answered: "Oh, if she had Clara Kingsbury' 8 approval ! " and had retreated again to Na- ples; for Helen had now the newspaper quite open, and was looking for the book reviews occupying the place which hers would have the next Saturday. They were rather appallingly well written ; she could see that they were indefinitely better done than hers. She wondered if they were Mr. Evans's, and she gave a little sigh of dismay, while her eye wandered idly to the next column, where a name arrested it. The name was Fenton's, and the paragraph in which it occurred seemed to become alive and sentient under her eyes. It was a dispatch from Washington, rehearsing' with telegraphic brevity, the facts of the wreck of the Meteor, as furnished to the State Department by the con- sul at Tahiti from the statements of the survivors. Five days after the disaster, the French ship Belle Paysanne, which brought them to that port, had fallen in with an open boat containing Captain Rollins and a number of the Meteor's crew and passengers, who reported that Lieutenant Fentonand three others had volunteered to remain on the reef where the Meteor struck till the overladen boat could find land and return to them. The Belle Paysanne altered her cour=!H and visited the scene of tlie catastrophe ; but the wreck had then disappeared, and there were no traces of the men left behind. A week later, however, the ship picked up another of the Meteor's boats with the two sailors who had remained with Lieu- tenant Fenton. From the narrative of these men, it seem- ed that the wreck had broken up the day after Captain Rollins abandoned her, and that Lieutenant Fenton, who had lingered on board after helping to launch the boat, was caught in the wreck and carried down with her. His companion, a passenger ns nod Gifffen, was rescued by the seamen ; ou-i. nc iiau ueen jO badly bruised by the floating timbers that he died the following day. 278 A woman's beason. Lieutenant Fenton whohflHnK " . ^^'"'''^ behaviour of rather than imperii The lives of fhT- ' '""^^^^ ^'^ '^'^ ^'^^ Roll ns'3 boat, Ld who haThlenrnTt'!^^^^^^ out the events that followed iZW^ ^^."^"^ throu^^h- boat in which the men were fomf^^'"'" ""^ ^^' '^'"P- '^^^^' dition, and was set adrifTafter 5 '' '" ^ ^"^"«"« * «- of money belonging to Canta^^ . A large sum recovered fromkVreck fc it b^ol'/^"'^ *^^^ ^'^^' to him. "*^^"^^ ^'^ broke up, was restored CHAPTER XVir. She found Helen sittinrblforp fl« ^°^ ^'^ ^'^ *^ing«- was burning and the L^d untm.pL7°'Pi^ ^[^^^ ' ^^^ g^s went through her lest Frpl^^iff.^""^ * *^^i" of ter?or When, after^biSdLg^^^^^ sitting there dead tured to touch her Sn tL shoXr i^^ TT' '^' ™- with a stare that, frthemorif' ^j^^^^^^oked round being so bold. "moment, made Cornelia repent it/MtHaTnt^?^''''^^^^-''' ^^^^ ^^^ girl, «.bat ^. f^'o^^:€:rt^ ^^^-*« laugh, and ber lap, and then, aslrat her fi^rfh'^^^ ^" weep piteously. " Look f » .bi "!^ i • *^'?' ^^^ ^^g^^ *« paper and poinV £te sto^'VttX:^^^^^^^ A woman's ueason. 279 lin Rollins and ic behaviour of lin on the rock rersin Cttj.tain 5ient throu^rh- theship. The I- ruinous , n_ A lai^csum iich they had J, was restored eakfast, and rs about the Miss Hark- in and see I her things, i-te ; the gas fill of terror there dead, in, she ven- )ked round lelia repent . "what is 'augh, and she had in e began to ►ening the kit rr > • xies dead ! And those men killed him. Oh, I've thought it all out ! " *' Cornelia took the paper ai 'fcer a swift glance at the paragraph, put it aside with questioning her. " I guess you better lie do n, Miss Harkness, and try to get some rest. I'm going tu iiave your fire made up." She got her to bed, and then she conferred with the landlady outside the door; she ended by sacrificing her own preference for a female physician and calling in the doctor who, Mrs. Hewitt recollected hearing Mis~s Hark- ness once say, had taken care of her father. She sent a note to Miss Kingsbury, telling her that she was afraid Miss Harkness was going to be sick, and ask- ing her to come to see her ; but word was returned that Miss Kingsbury was in New York, and would not be home ti ' the latter part of the week. It was then too lato to move the sick girl to her friend's house. It did not need the light which Miss Kingsbury threw on her relation to Lieutenant Fenton to enable Helen's fello\ boarders to understand what had happened. Cor- nelia Root had understood it at once, with austere reso- lution not to recognise her own privity to the fact even to herself; Mrs. Evans had divined it, and talked it over with her husband, who halted between remorse for having laughed at Helen's contributions and secret question whe- ther he would not be justifiable in using a parallel inci- dent in his play; Mrs. Hewitt guessed it out, in a hungry inability to talk it over with anybody, and got her first real comfort out of the expansive desolation in which Miss Kingsbury confided to them all her grief for what had happened, and stated the facts as fully as she knew them. « "Well, it didn't stand to reason," said Mrs. Hewitt, " that she would care so much for a brother, and an adopt- ed one at that." '^Oh, no ! " cried Clara. " It was much more than that ! " biie got a professional nurse to relieve the devotion of IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /> 1.0 1.1 m ■tt 111 W |U ■22 u LS 12.0 L25 HI 1.4 I mil 1.6 .Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRMT WI1STIII,N.Y. U5M (716)t72-4S03 280 A woman's reason. more keenly disamS- 7„r^,i i"^'/'''' ""'^ *" ^ "'« tenor of HelenTsTrrif,!' .t ' '*■" '^""" reporting the talkofherp»«ent Sh^' u """^ "holly refused to table, and bfrnk a M^s H::Ht it:' fr "T"'' »-" never say a word mornin„ Jl "^'' ''^'' «'**«=»• «nd began It waa after a favourabk ti,,^ h.!) I? '"''f"^'' nev^rthele., Cornelia Root S^^Z.^^'-.Tifc ; Oh come now, Miss Root!" he Drofp«,f^^ « r gome to stand thaf !»«.. • i. protested, " I m not painf andTmiment Ll *'"' «."^^^??^d' ^^^er infinite didn't caL XrHarkneXr^^^v.^? ^^*°« ^^at I h-terature whufl w^ nSn' '^^^^ at her and I still bS eveTK «K^l.^''!f•^'^*P« *^** '^i&ht 5 We required me t^tVve'^^^^^^^^^^ ^r^^^ T"^^ am an innocent man anH T\f ^l u ^ ^ Justice. But I and looking a^tCu'h?hi«n?''* *"*',". ^^ ^''^S round it hadn't bfe^for mf » ''"''"" ""^"^^ ^*^« ^ «PPened if haven't thou^hSat you h^vert^/S'r'fwT '*^"*^«" how to blame for the whole tK 2^ V *V "^^ '^^^■ K' "^^\\dife-ty thattd S"t^a,ail!er "" Don'.%'^? S'tTv'enUh:^^^^^^ ^^"* he;te'^Lwsp^;:rV1 derthVLToVp^^^^^^^^^^^^ I m ffoing to stop it." ^ ^ ^**^' *"^ °ow "What nonsense!" said Cornelia "Rnf ,-f science pricks vou fnr ««,,*!,• i ^"* " yo"r con- you." ^ ^ "" ^^'^ anything, I'm not going to comfort gr,i?bJl '"'^'J ,^2/ conscience that pricks m« ! Tf « , ' e..__,, ,,^ ^^.^ ^.^,^,^ ^^^^^.^.^^^ that"haye'g;>SSel A woman's reason. 281 me to desperation. I can get on very well witli my own conscience.*' As soon as Helen could be sately taken away, Clara had her carried to her house, where she completed her con- valescence amidst every superfluity of luxury. For many weeks she remained, gathering strength and listlessly ac- cepting service and favour that she never could repay ; but at last the day came when the tide of life rose nigh enough in her veins to beat in feeble revolt. "You know," she said, "this must end some time, Clara. I'm not your mother or sister. You can't keep on taking care of me, as if I belonged to you." " You do belong to me, Helen, dear," cried her friend, with a rush of generous tenderness. " Don't t^lk of any- thing ending, but just stay on and on. Why shouldn't you ? What would you do ? " " Ah, that's the old question ! " " I didn't mean that ! I meant, why shoald you try to do anything V " "I suppose, because I'm not a lily of the field, for one thing." Clara laughed gratefully for the gleam of gayety from Helen, whose sadness had been heavy on her heart. " I should be glad enough never to do anything, or e-'eu l>e anything again. You understand, Clara, what I've been through ? " she asked. " You hinted something once, and I could guess the rest." ^ " Then we won't speak of it. It's such a- mercy we needn't ! But you can see that all the past is swept away from me. There's nothing left ; I have to begin every- thing new, with new ideas and new objects. I used to be ambitious about helping myself, but I'm not now ; even my pride in that is broken." The teai-s of self-pity start- ed to her eyes. " Yes, I would be humbly grateful if I needn't do anything. But I must. And the old question «„. 1 1_ nrL _ i Y>> tvxiics wacK , TT nut ; 18 282 A woman's beason. w 11 ^^ companion." "^ ®®' ^ somfif »,,•««. u.?* T _-. ,, y„ . ".*^^- -I must be fit for something ; but I ^.n't dll what iL. yet." 1 can t bear to hear you talk so H.lor, wi, j , you try writing again » I'm suL Mr p ^^ ,''.'"" glad to have you7 ' ^ "" '"™ **'• E»»ns would be I tri?d tefore^^^at'^^'lL ?T^t'' *•","' ^ '"y^^g word, and then strui the chickens; you'd have to let other people eat them." She joined in Helen's laugh at the futility of her suggestions ; but she added : " Well, we must think out the answer to you. There's no hurry." " Oh, no." That afternoon Margaret came with a heart full of proud contrition to blame herself for having been in Ire- land for the past three months, and for having just learned of Helen's sickness and whereabouts. She wept over Helen's sorrows and over her wasted looks and hollow eyes, and the girl was freer to talk with Iier of what had happened than she had yei felt with any one else. She toM her about the shipwreck, of which Margaret had not heard before, and she showed her a scrap of paper, the cover of an official despatch. " Here are his last words.' He wrote them to me while he was standing on the rock in the middle of the sea, and they came from Washington after I was taken sick." " Oh, Miss Helen, Miss Helen, how did you ever live to tell the tale ? " Helen did not answer. " We were engaged, and he was coming homo," she said, with a sort of crazy satisfaction in the poignancy of Margaret's sympathy. She threw the uuraen oi .^Uiicring upou liur for the time, and talked with an unsparing hardness for hei-self " But I deserved it — 284 A woman's reason. I deserved it all;" Her ihit^ i,- ^ x and her head shook ^*"'^' ^'"'"^^^^ ^^ ^er lap abru^r ''' "^'^ """°^ "'^' ^"^^^^^ ^ " «J^^ ^roke off. "iS;^^^^^^ Margaret, with a blush. ;; In a hoVs^ ofV^uT^wn r ^'"^ ^^ ^^ -"'' therl^ist'oldtnowotri.'"'^^^^^ " ^^ -e. had been ou? to Ireland^too tlt^u '""^^"^ ^^'^> <^h'^t about it all the virv and „;1^^ i^' kept talking so much peace, that I thoug]^t"aybe I^ bZr"^ T J" '"JT"^'^ three weeks ago." ^ ^^^^- ^^^ so, I did— " Did what ? " w'omeeffeirim^SH-' *''"^"' --ed doubt- ened to add, in excuse "»M"'^ "Pon Helen; shehast- « nice little house and I «hl.ul Cambndge. We have yon come out si; ^y and w •? M""tP''=»«^« '^»"' I'm thinking that mayb^ iTtak. , t* '!?"''"-'''y'*"'' ?.ra'^tdKui-oi^f-«--s;. ^-tij »h:sfc«;r till'!. -"■" -' »- -a,. I Helen'':L''?„fki:latX if"*\«'' "^ ve,y q„iet body." and she answe°r^S:TX!' bsttt ..^,^?'^?r''S ''^'•'- was a combination of numh fr.Iifo i ^^^ bonnet caufirht in a net of iL^ a?if tn ' 'f ^Tlr."^^^"'^^^ ^^^^rs. prelations of birds and instctr^W^"' ^T *^^ ^«- your bonnet, Margaret ? " ^^^""^ ^»^ ^ou get led in her lap she broke off, with a blush, n." "You see, ar back, that ^ingso much a naoment's i so, I did— - Jmed doubt- n; shehast- >dy, and ho • We have sed to h^ve The worst n busy, and There's a ■ I've told Q© day. I aiet body." ;ret's head, he bonnet ta flowere, ►m the de- l you get aret. " I lough for I that you A woman's reason. 285 " You'd better let me see what I can do with this. The shape isn't bad," said Helen, critically. " Oh, I couldn't, Miss Helen. After what I've said to you ! I should feel as if I'd hinted." "You needn't be ' under a compliment for it,' Marga- ret," said Helen, with a sudden inspiration. " You may pay me for making over the bonnet ! " "Oh, Miss Helen!" " Yes ; I need the money. I must work for ray living now." "How good of you!" said Clara, when she found Helen with the bonnet in her hands the next day, and learned whose it was. " It's eood /or me," returned Helen. "Margaret pays mt for doing it. Perhaps Ms is the solution." Clara permitted herself a silence in which her imagina- tion kindled with the idea. "Helen," she cried, "it is splendid! Why shouldn't you do somethmg of the sort? There's nothing dis- graceful about it, and with your taste, your genius, you could make eveiy bonnet a work of art— as they do those picture-dresses in London." They talked the scheme over, and, as soon as Helen was strong enough to attempt it, they put it in practice. Clara wanted her to set up a shop in her drawing-room ; but they devolved upon something more modest in the end, and Helen took Mrs. Hewitt's parlour floor. Clara ad- vanced the capital; a tasteful and recherche stock of frame.-? and feathers and ribbons was chosen, and Helen em- barked in the enterprise under the favouring smiles of a world at once fashionable and sympathetic and high- minded. It would not be easy to say just how the scheme came to final ruin. But when once a lively lady had said Miss Harkness's bonnets had so much touch, and another had answered, " Oh, yes, they were all touch," and both uau tucn tittered in tacit recognitiou of a certain ama- teurish lack in them, it was well on the way to failure. 280 A woman's reasox. By tho time that a visitin.r Now Vml- M i i . , Harkness scorned to bo quUc I H If I ^''"'^ '^'^''^ *^'^^ been answered, " 01, no « K f ^'*" ''"'"""• '^"'^ I'ad longer so. CJaVa K n^X^v ^l? r'";i"''; '^^'^ ^^^ "" to the bitter end (as .;>.nrLe Thra tl it "l "f )^"'"^'^ notorious y intorostod nnJ i v'^T''^); but sbo was for nothing. A 1 Hei;,?"t.ir "'T? ^'^^'«^'«» ^"""tod whom she had taken fn^n^rwonT' '" ''"^.fl'^ ''^''^'^^^ with a just conviction o her oH^uSnV'"^"""^^ '^^'"i*' detads; and when her stork L! u^"T ^'''' l'»a«-tical had given away herbontt rfr'^*""'^ ^"^^ ^'>^' ^'^'li^^ nothing but her l!bt t^C ara fol-T' ''^^^°"J-g"J«. she ha«<1 saiM Miss >j«>n, and had I fthe was no •Ivnes bonnot but she was 'tion counted tl)o assistant JliFior's slioj), for iiractical nd tlie ladies 'Mh she haci They cried face it at ness and in- blanie u|)on >uld succeed .ship to it— 3 those silly 0gin at the » faithfully l^t's just ! " ear," Clara 1 that have i-e them." le was the at she had roncr. She advanced ; ceded, she rofits, and ire of the who had ge ! She can bear things that you niunt bear. I suppose that's what makes death endurable to those thatluive to live on." (Jlara was silent in awe of hor sad wisdom, an^« *^^ amusing to see how Htfl» m ; , ' ^as cunous and life in &acon Ste,^ n aL^S'S"" A*^ P"'^*^'^ »'y ^er «».m There we^'nrSncfs o"f thTT'^'/'^'''"^'' which she had been 80^,3^^ h.?f / ^'*"*'' *««'« ^ simply tried to make 1.. ^ . '"^ ''*y» • *» had parfours in that row aa she'^^niM'' V''"' "" *•>« »"•«>■ ingrain can,et, tan W fLT ' ""^ * wood-coloured centre-table • if X ht?L '4'"'^' ""'^ * marble-topped had a large rii^d^S^B^t?' Protestant, she would Kve infant J^LVtlft^^^l X'm " "^' ^''^ ''^ ■» ".ak^g"c:^^p^^^Jh;» '" ceremonious prepa^tions for wilh*^;^^" *' Sif "'"P"^' " I '»' to oome and live awhili." ^"^ '*'"'' y°" <^ t™st me for my boarf thil':tt'oK?!'tCf^*'''^'' -"> -^ "P'^dour what you mean, exactly b„?r^ ^5 ''"•• ""°°'t know Weil talk of that later; Well, well " ret"rr-^ ^-' A WOMANS REASON. 289 nt in a!stheti{; imer and th(! ilk had drop- in the narrow y November wn and hart', savour of the its, lank and «panse, as if ots in whicJi I one coat of inly clad for the furnace, fargaret feel ick into the curious and Sted by her ing her best ter taste to ': she had II the other ►d-coloured ble-topped I'ould have ihe had an ra-tions for le and live my board iplendour n't know iome and lat later ; we're both pretty headstrong." Margaret deprccatod this, as far as Helen was concerned, with a flatterinj^ simper. " But now ill tell you what I want to do. You know I've been trying to sot up for a fashionable milliner in Boston." " Yes, Miss Helen," sighed Margaret. "And I've made a failure of it. The fashionable people don't want my bonnets. " They're a set of nasty things, Miss Helen," cried Mar- garet; " and the best of them isn't fit to scrub your floors for you." Helen laughed at the unmeasured zeal of Margaret's loyalty, expressed in terms so little fit for the polite ears of those they devoted to condemnation. " No, no, Margaret ; they were quite right, and I was all wrong. I didn't know how to make bonnets when I began." " Miss Helen, if there's been one person spoke to me on jhis very street about that last bonnet you done over for me, there's been a hundred ! Everybody says it's the be- comingest bonnet, with more real Beacon street style to it than any they ever saw me have on ! " " Well, I'm very glad," answered Helen, patiently ; " and that brings me to what I wii i d to say. If I didn't know how to make bonnets before i began, I did know when I got through — perhaps by spoiling so many." Margaret sniffed a disdamful denial of the premises, and remained with inflated nostrils, while Helen went on, "And what I think is this : that if I could come out here and take your spare room, you might tell your friends — those poor girls that sometimes waste so much on bonnets — that I could do their work for them just as well, and a great deal cheaper — " " Vou work for them good-for-nothing hussies. Miss Helen ! No, indeed ! It's bad enough to have you work they throw your bonnets back on your hands, — but as for 290 A woman's reason. or I must beg. T InZlZ^ 7' f *"'' ^ '»'^«t ^-ork have your spL roo^X^, f ^''f '^^ ^^^ T'" '^' '- will turn me out of doore " ""' '"' whether you after all these yoara i-ouT lyed „Vf '<'•<' appose timt, turn me into the streets " "*' y™ wuite'* bonnets for you ? " ^®''' *»'l make all your "SCerKjr„"-."-.He.en." interfere with yoVtoUnwh ' '""'''^''' '<">"* »" Pride pay you ? '• ■^ *"""« ">« money-if I ever get it t^ chamber, which SLrttSir T-**'"^ '^ ">«"«!« of Limekiln avenue wiTi, A "^"""^ m the worat taste and a set of Sd fu^tuTr ^'i''"' "himney-pt^ paper on the wall. It w^ Kt'. fu"'- "^j*" T^^ the oak- tut Helen feU upon JheTeii'^L^ f/ll"/.- »«'y !«x; - — ,„,„ 3^^-^j^ jj g^_^^ Which enough parted lein." f'«n not strong silly way. I 1 must v'ork >«« will let mo ■ wliether you t thing? lat wc can do t." ] don't want ■ putting nie "ppose that, ou ivouldn't id Margaret not wish to iired. "will you ke all your 1 old pride Br get it to so tired ! " the little ^orst taste iney-piece h the oak ^g^y box ; ep which A woman's reason. 201 can ied her w«'U through the afternoon and loft her re- fre.Hhed and mcouraged to begin the long fight, in which she forced Margaret from one Htaniject that Helen was sure some of them ordered just the ribbons and flowers they did not want, and others bought bonnets when they had merely come to talk them over. Margaret followed to the door one hapless creature who had failed, in her confusion, to give any order, with allusions to people who wasted other people's time for nothing, so cuttingly sarcastic that Helen revolted, and positively forbade her to interfere ; after that she was obliged to content herself witli a haughty reception and dismissal of the customers. Helen did her best to serve the simple, stupid things cheaply and well. She knew that she saved them money, and she made their mistaken tastes her own, and in that way sometimes corrected them, without their knowing it, and launched them upon the world a little less formida- ble in shape and crude in colour than they had intended. Pn*- okn ;».<^*:.«<.i:. — K. ,.4..,j:_j i._ _i -« ii. - a-. I 1- j-'«t,- aiiv iiioviiituvciy avuuicu uu uuuy Oiiu ui,i^orthof it. They were a ^*^T^ ^'? *^^ '"«'*eriai ;^omen, beginning with tfl pL?"'*^.^^ P^^^^^^ls and Margaret', a^uaintance whose Z ^"^^^cond^girls of prosperity, and risinfthXh e^^^^^^^ famihes to the upper ranir?f ^^^^""^Jcal mothers of ladies." One da^therf eamp''^'"'''"'''^ ^°^ "«ales- when luckily Hele^n was aW m^^"°^ ^^^^"^ed girl have "demeaned'^ heS W ' ^^^garet would neler received her, and in due [> sentT"^. tV ^"* ^eC ma white hat trimmed in orln^elnd^^^^ resplendent ihismcident of her r,n«r i* P^^^®- ultimate stamp of .uthenSy ^nj it?f?^^4^« ^* -« saddened satisfaction as coS'. . i afforded her such of recognised usefZ^. She ^ L' J'-^ f'T.^^ ^ '^^^ bury and Cornelia Root who enn«n '^ ^ ^'^ ^^gS" fier because she admired evervS^ g>Proved,^the for- at er because she found it aZni?^ ^"^^^, ^^^' and the testimony to her pracScalV """^ ^'^' * ^^^ CorneHaV^Ken^abfe I'^^'r^ f " ^^^^^^ -horn over with a fact that refuted all^'l?''' '- triumphing newed failure for Helen "<1 • *^^ Predictions of re" a depraved popular taste of an.T T" '^'^^ ^^*^^ to what I want you to con'^iL "^ TK Practical. But something immoral in aUoW ' ''^'''^'' *^«^« i« ^o purple and orange toinduSl? TfT Pf ^^^ence for anght I understand that there 1 5 """^^ "^^ ^»«kin connection between a feelinTiLl T"^^ '""'^ ^^ ^^^^ult ness. Now you sav thS m1^x5_?^°"^ and righteous- -ers to a.ay theWlvesi^- CtX^utoTth^^^^^^^ A WOltAN'S REASON. 293 not attempe to more nor less- tempting milli- ecided nothing. 3nces into tlTe 's' money, and ' the material poor girJs and lecond -girls of unded Helen's il mothers of « and "sales- coloured gii-l would never r; but Helen I resplendent to give it an ded her such 'ough a sense Miss Kings- ed,— the for- did, and the ■ did, a final vans, whom triumphing fcions of re- 10 caters to ticai. But tiere is not ference for ny Ruskin of occult righteous- ^8 her cus- f the rain- bow they like best ; that she daily and hourly violates her own sense of right in colour for the sake of money. Don't you call that immoral ? " " Why do you have anything to do with a paper that publishes all those personals and society gossip?" de- manded Cornelia, in her turn. " Oh, I'm a poor, weak, emng male man ! But I've frequently been taught that, when Woman entered the arena of business, it would be in some way that would elevate and ennoble affairs. I s^-^-dder to think what will become of us when women ^ ^ into politics, if they show themselves so ready in business at all the tricks of trade. But I've noticed th^^t when ladies — I'm not speaking of women now — determine to be practical, they let no consideration stand in their way : they aim to suc- ceed. Look at the unprincipled way tL,^' conduct their fairs for benevolent objects ! What prices ! What swin- dling lotteries of all sorts ! No, your Miss Hiarkness is like the rest, and it appears to me that at the present moment she is pandering to a very depraved taste in millinery, and I see nothing to aduire in the mere fact that she is making a living by it. Lots of people make a living by selling crooked whiskey." Cornelia Root disdained to reply. She only said : " You talked very differently when she was lyin' sick here in the house ; you couldn't pity and praise her enough, then." Evans laughed shamelessly. " Well, I was afraid she was going to die, and we al- ways try to make interest with the other world by being kind to people about to go into it. But we never keep it up if they turn back." H.. succeeded no better than he meant in unsettling Cornelia Root's mind in regard to Helen. He wished his wife, who usually made her own bonnets, to go out to the Port and order them of Helen, and in turn suttered much the same sort of reproach which he was fond of address- 294 woman's beason. understood that Miss hSJ. 9''^^'''^Sovort, and she ?he could do. She Tad hdped t t'l '^"''' 5^^ **^^ ^^'^ jng her sickness, and had hi a^"" ''^'''' «f Helen dur- ^ke everyone el^e ?n the house" bu'r'''^^ ^^^^^ *« ^-•. pace her own limits to her benevol-n '^'''•^? ^^^"« ^« other women ; and the husband l^n'' "^P^^^^!^"^ toward who attempts to extend them Sill H'u^> ^° «r'«»- did not wish her to get her bonnets o? ^'^"^,^i"^ why ho milhners in Hanovtr street ^nd f ''''''' ^**^'' ^^"'"^ why. "'^^^^^^ and he was unable to say ^ CHAPTER XVIII. ^ S the hearsay of LrTuccZ^t i.^"Tf'«' ^^^^P^^d ^ «^^f-«ati8faction JuTXbr^^^^ ^it»^ *^ to her than she ich Ived Tf ^^'' greater things was making money, and sevem?" BoL^''^''''^'''''^ '^^^ «h« sums she had amassed had Ii^adv ! ' ''' ^'^'^^^ *« ^^e intended to look her up when '^^^^.^"^^^'^^y- The world hard-hearted nor ind^fflrtt but i '""'' it was neither There were ladies who mean; «K ^ "^^^ Pre-occupied. out and see Helen; there ^llh!! 'T^ ^^^ *« drive cause they fancied she wouMm^^^^^^^ ^*^^^'^^^«d be- but all ^ere unfeignedTrilartha. T> ^^"^^ ^^f " ^««^^ > found something at laTtflSrcJ. ^/l^Pooi* thing had ment in esthetic mimnery^^^^ Her eSperi- light on her formereSonr^ ""? ^ ^^^^^ ^^^1 of hardly anything she hadt oltrie J ^T? fi '^^^'^^^^ ^^« callyleft her a^quain^nce Ld hi ^"^' .^hey practi- mg of Clara Kingsbury who 1 -""T?"^ '"^ the keep- nnri r^«..i,-^_ . 'S»"ury, Who remained f«ifkA,i *. i A -■■ ,^....p» d.d U,e best thing tov themin mthe; hu«W„"' A woman's reason. 295 them up. She was herself a little sensitive about Helen's first experiment, and she was aware that many people held her indirectly responsible for the enthusiasm with which they had encouraged it. She alwa} .■> answered in- quiries about Helen in an evasive way ; she generalized her, and passed her over as quickly as possible, so that really the world had it to say that, so far from having dropped Helen, she had dropped herself. It vras certainly not to blame for having heard nothing of her health, which began to break some six months after she had es- tablished herself at Margaret's. She had worked very hard, for she had incurred expenses during her fever at Mrs. Hewitt's, for which she was still in debt to Clara Kingsbury, and she had cherished the secret determination to reimburse her for all her losses through her. She had not earned enough to do this, but she had worn herself thin and pale by the time the advancing spring made it a year since she had heard of Robert's death. Her friend wished her to give up and go down to her cottage with her ; but Helen refused to do more than spare herself a little, and she was still at Margaret's when the Butlers and Kays arrived from Europe. They had been abroad longer than they had intended, because Captain Butler had continued in feeble health ; but now they Had come home to stay, as Marian wrote from London before they sailed. They were all going to be in Beverly together till Ray could decide whether to buy or to build in Boston, and Marian said that the first thing must be an indefinite visit from Helen. There was a tone of peremptory hospitality in her letter which made Helen, in spite of her affection for them, dread the return of her old friends. She was much more comfortable with Clara Kingsbury, who had become the friend of her adver- sity, who realized it, and took it seriously ; and she could see that it was still a freakish piece of willfulness to the Butlers. Marian somehow treated her as if she were a little girl, and rather an absurd little girl. She knew that 296 A woman's beason. I ;': ^^f^^n^^^^^^ a3.„..tions of effort, and she foresaw that sh« In "^"^^^3^ ^0"^ the ^ical strength to maklit '^^"^^ °°<^ ^^^e thephy! Ca.^^^^^^^^^^^^ --^en Marian drove out to even to be allowed to wait tm f h? ""^ ^^'' ^^« ^^s not fy. but was to go dJwn w h I^ """'" «^*"«d ** Bev- down from the hotefwherT tW ^ ' ^'l^ ^^^an came day to fetch her. ^ *^^^ ^^re stopping for the showX^^lnttt^^^^ She now dress and she had the effeS f ^^''" ^^^3^ English in very English. In fact^he lid J^f/T ^ ^^ «he looked English houses, that sL^ ^^"^^ ^^ much at m-eat which sometin/es^teL^rriS^^^^^^^ *^.^ ^^^e^' of distinguishing herself fr^^.Tp f ^J^"^^^^^ ^^ England the landed ffentrt Ti^r-ii • *"® aristocracy, or at Ip««/ .this nuS b; t: sCam" st '^"^ ^^' ^^ ^^^ called intonation, and she wTTr;».l "^^^.^^^te English in her and unaffected in th^^' nL*!",^ '^^ ^^'^^^ Perfectly honest good and kind-hearteTre^i^^^^^ r\«^ thoroughly and her airs of a wf «f J ^"^ ^^^ handsome bulk undei.i.ed and prtvS^ ^^^.^^^^^^^^^^ T'« Helen S "^ spite of her £jcurate kCwledl f-'^^ "^"^^ ^o, and I^y was and had alwayrbeln hfr f • ^""f ""^^^ ^^"an provmcial. She had heir^)^\. ^"^"^' '"ade her feel .af for the last six m^ ^r rr/'''\*^"^ ^^ ^^^^e'; inferior people. She a^ked htel?^f'^^^^^^^^ ^t ^'^'^ ^^^ have retrograded in mind and mV. ""'^^^ °«t really escaped from Marian to the nf h. ?^'f' ^^^ «he gladly eome of the younger girls to^T^ *« the exuberant wef Mrs.Butler; i thf qufefaid Jrd?«r-^''^P tenderness of his quiet seemed to hflvoVt ^ .. ^"nphcity of Ray— • whaf.^a|.fc J!^ X , ,"^ve been intensified L. „C„A^^ - w.Jit mujit CO Her heart was rmfoi« "^ «"^^"t-o. j3ui aitwasociptam Butlers tremu- A woman's reason. 297 sumptions of :lyfrom the ive the phy- Jrove out to 5he was not led at Bev- farian came >iDg for the She now English in she looked sh at great difficulty, ^ England, »rat Jeast American 'he called sh in her ^y honest oroughly •me bulk ilen feel 1 do, and Marian her feel society, en with t really gladly nt wel- ness of Ray— e. Bui tremu- lous fondness, and the painful sense that the others were watching, whether they would or not, for the effect of his broken health u^on her. He brightened at meeting Helen ; they said afterwards that he had not seemed for a long time so much like himself : and they left him to entertain her while they made a show of busying them- selves about other affairs. It was probably an indulgence they had agreed to grant his impatience. He kept her little, worn hands in his, and looked at her forefinger, roughened with the needle, and deeply tinted with the stuffs in which she worked, and it seemed to be this sight that suggested his words : " I managed very badly for you, my dear ! If it hadn't been for my hesitation when I first doubted that rascal, I could have made terms for you with the creditors. I don't wonder you would never accept help from me ! It's very good of you to come to us now." " Oh, Captain Butler, you break my heart ! Did you think that was the reason ? I only wished to help myself. Indeed, indeed, that was all. I wouldn't have accepted any provision from the creditors." " You need never have known it. That could have been arranged," said Captain Butler. " It's been a mercy, the work — my only mercy ! " cried the girl. " Oh, Captain Butler ! " She caught her hands away and hid her face in them, and let the black wave of her sorrow go over her once more. When it was past, she lifted her dim eyes to those of the old man, " Did you read about it — all about it ? " " Yes, my dear, and many a night I've lain awake and thought about it ! " " Did you ever think that he might still be alive — that perhaps those men came away and left him, and he es- caped somehow 'i Don't tell mo that you did, if you never did ! " The old man remained silent. ' 10 V. 298 i> I A woman's ilEASON. . t*' y»" know it couldn't r' "^ *^»P'»™ B«tler. aiog^^^?--"-a.e„ted.»aHeIe„3aid,with no u«e talking „f^7 te 7if '"'^« folt- There ia ^ She stoJe her &^'^2 If.'- hopes ?» began to tell him quie^of hir'' f \' ''^''"« *« done and expected to do ■ «„H ^ "' ?'"' ''hat she had ta fatherly f raise, in which ttr! ^"^ '""•*''« ~n.for?of S ''•''"'"'"on such as affl cted hrrrL""*'"^™' »' ^ 'o?. Tf f ''*'■ efforts. "*' '" "ost people's know- and I have got toworkiL .t'l ?°' ''^'^e'' than I wish earn their living" „& th.W *" ""'^^ P«»P'e do who am doing it. Tt?s a comfc''^ »' f" ftatVl tha? *««?»««M«»„. fet that money 'jght very weJJ »in ButJer. elen said, with 'elt. There is on and speak ^ow. Thank * that forced I awhile she hat she had 3 comfort of •rise or fooj- pie's know- 'plained, in an I wish ; 5^6 do who it s I that 'fc- And I ''ork. Do a milliner fghtsigh: ^ JButler . nswered, fixed the tend the and she A woman's reason. 299 could let the luxury of Captain Butler's house flatter her feeble health into strength again without such a bad con- science as she would have had if she felt that she was spoiling her future, or if she had got back her strength very rapidly. The family did not see many people, and only saw them in a quiet informal way in which Helen could share. The world, with which she had never had any quarrel, took her back kindly enough ; it discreetly sup- {)ressed its curiosity ; it spoke of bonnets and ribbons in ler presence with a freedom that was wiser and politer than an avoidance of such topics would have been ; it sent her invitations to little luncheons and low teas, and ac- cepted her excuses gracefully, and always renewed the invitations, just as if she had come. The old affection enfolded and enfeebled her. It was quite as bad as she had feared. She said to herself some- times that it would be better to break off at once and go back to Margaret's ; but she did not do so. The thought of the little wooden house baking beside the dust of Limekiln avenue and her own low chamber gathering heat and mosquitoes from day to day under the slope of the slated mansard opposed iteelf to the actuality of the Butler cottage, with its wide verandas that looked sea- ward through cool breaks of foliage on the lawn drop- ping smoothly to the boulders on the beach ; with its orderly succession of delicate meals ; with the pretty chintzed and muslin room in which she seemed to drowse her life away, safe from the harms that had hunted her so long ; and she f *• how easy it would be to accept in- definitely the long hospitality that had claimed her. She said that she must not ; but in the meantime she did. She had the soft feline preference for sunny exposures and snug corners which is to blame for so much frailty of purpose, or so much purposeless frailty in women; and now she was further weakened by ill-health. She stayed on and on, in spite of the feeling that they all regarded her as a poor, broken thing, who could 300 A woman's reason. no longer be the ideal of ih^ friend of Marian ^^ ^^ ^^ 3^«"°« girls, or the equal ^he carried with her an im^' • ^ "^^^^^ she wrote of opulence, which accoTd7w:iT:?,,°l^--^^h. an X* sonality; she accepted her Co^'.^l^^' ^^"ent per- a robust satisfaction which 11 ',^ ''T^'' ^^tf a except for her incoiruntfhlA ^i l'^"^^ ^^^^ vuWr never Ulked of mone? but shf ""^"^T^^^^^^^' She «f Jarge expenditure . ^a'nd 1 d;«- ' ^ "t^ ^^Pression her new house with Helen shllf^ *^^ P^ans of «ess of cost, as related to QuestL/'^/" "nconscious beauty, which went furtheT^tn n] ^^„^««^enience or Jess poverty than any boast'* r^^^^ ^^^^° ^^^o hope- Her manner was none the LefS^^^^^ could have doSe tion that Helen was equally ablffn"^' ^f ^^^ ^«"mp- She was not planning aStWf^ l^^ ^""^ «"«h a house splendour, though thfse w£^ i*'"'"^^'' ^^° comfort and was looking affer tre^TeH bS fr^'^l^r; but'she household, and she was as wife in her ''^^^/.Auartei^as her own ^ ^"^ ^^""''^ "P^^ the ser- ereatuScL'^^^^^^^^^^^ those poor holes m the eround «„^ „ ^°^'^' P*«« t'leir davfTn determined £" hey shallT^ ™<'«r ""e roof, anTl'S l^^ 'rSr^-XtlSt^r «■» P'an. but te uii A WOMAN S REASON. 301 or the equal ba%, with 1 the friends she wrote, h, an odour fluent per- in with a en vulgar, 'ess. She expression plans of iconscious- nience or •nto hope- ave done. ' assump- h a house, oafort and ; but she y in her the ser- ose poor days in and I'm ('ith me i idea — added, saying n, but bd of leaned p, and 'e un • " When did you see him last ? " asked Helen. "Oh, ho came to see us off at Liverpool," returned Marian. " Was he— well ? " " Yes, as well as he usually is, I believe he's never very strong, though he's never in a bad way. He's much better than he used to be." Helen waa silent. Then she began, as if involuntarily, " Marian " — and stopped. "Well?" She was forced to go on. " Did you know " " He told Ned. Now, Helen," she added quickly, " I promised Ned not to open this subject with you ! " "You haven't," returned Helen, with quiet sadness. " / opened it. I knew that we should have to speak of it some time. I feel that I was not to blame, and I have never felt sorry for anything but his — disappointment." " He never blamed you. He understood just how it happened, and hpw he had mistaken you. He is the soul of delicate appreciation." " Yes, I know that." " And his only trouble was that he should have forced you to say that you were engaged." " Yes." " And I don't believe that any of us grieved more sin- cerely for you than he did." " Oh, I believe it." " Well," said Marian, breaking her needle in expression of her resolution, " I won't talk with you about Lord Rainford, Helen ; for I can only talk with you in one way about him, and I promised Ned not to do that ! " " What way ? " asked Helen. " You know ! " "Now," cried Helen, "you must tell me all about it! If I didn't believe that I had suffered as much as he, I 302 A woman's reason. couldn't foi.qve mvsplf u i- , , " We toid him ! " ^^^^i^^^-ed the last word. ;;And he was sorry forme-he " ;^* How kind he is!" changed ttttj^^^^^^ ."He's a good deal whicH she did not Xrwise f. ^^^^"^ *^« '^^^^^Ht tmued: "He's giv n^ m> « ^T' *"^ Marian con- Utopian ideas abo ,f 1 "^ ^'''"^ '"^"y of his wild out to America-he thought of"^: f'^ ^" ^''^ ^^^e among the labourers on thf m" ^'^'""^ "^ *^^« ««^tes W^hat a strange idea!" don't kno^wVat-ar nr \eT d^'-^^^^^ '^ *^-*-I n^aking his peopl'e comfortaWe In .If^'^/"? ^^"^^^^^ ^ finds them. He%onfoms f ij«^ *he station where he used o, in every way T tt-fk I, • '^^ "'P'" *^^ he America did him some ffood L acquaintance with democra^jy and;equality^reallv 1'^"^ "5^^ * ^""^bug seen that nobody\raXalwL^^^^ - ^" '""^^^ ^^vl must say this for«Sfc and we to get any pleasure mereVfrim !L*^'^'" ^^ ^^^^^t He must have found that rl. i t ""^"^^^ «^ ^^ings. anxious about posiSon^d TllThaf ^'''. ^^ J"«^ ^ they are in England '' ^* ^''''* ^^ thing as coJld^nVrndett^J^,^^^^^ ^^ ^V said Helen. "I ertwTa!:."TtTJet^^^^^ it out in good faithfand P I^ce.td. ""^"^'^' '^'^^ ^^^^ shirk the consequences ThlT ^fT^y' ^"^ then r?i-.^^-* .^he Lglistmen'^fo\I^KL?tl-^- ^ A woman's reason. 303 I out about vord. ^ good deal the interest Marian con- 'f his wild, fiat kind of i fiist came his estates to that,— I himself to a where he J than he ance with a humbug lust have ; and we 00 honest of things. B just as thing as felen. "I iH sincer- i-nd carry and then 3ays. I 5, or seen ghing in ford was cured of his fancies in America. Why, he actually, at one time, was a sort of republican ! " " A very curious sort,' said Helen. " He said that Americans were all commoners." Marian paused. " Did he say that ? Well," she added, with heroic re- solution, " I suppose we are." " I don't think so," said Helen. " Or at least, it wasn't delicate of him to say so." " I don't believe he meuit anything by it. He gave us to understand — or Ray, at least — that he particularly admired you for your courage in earning your own living, and being no more ashamed of your work than if you were noble." " Yes," said Helen, thoughtfully ; " I suppose it might be natural for him, if he had those notions, to idealize us here, just as it would be for one of us to idealize them ; it would be his romance." " Certainly," said Marian, with eager assent, as if this mood ought to be encouraged in Helen, " that is just the way." " And perhaps," Helen went on, " it would have been better for me if I had been such a girl as he supposed — trying to help myself because I respected work, and all that. But I wasn't." " Of course not." " I was merely doing it because I couldn't bear to be a burden to any one; and I've never had any higher motive." " And I'm sure its high enough," said Marian, " and crazy enough, to suit any one," she added. " He would like it all the better when he found out what it really was ; especially now that his own ideas have changed a little." " He was an aristocrat at heart all the time," returned Helen. " If I had been bom to work for my living, like the poor girls whom I make bonnets for " 304 woman's reason. ing for a Jiving. whatov!7d Li^TK' "«'"«"tin wck- ^fc- You don't find your BrXt ^TV' '"^ "«^ ''^in^ SadiosandMamioBrvcrfsS i^^''^^^"^' °'' ^^"^ t^atyou wish the rest oTus o ft, ^"^ ^'"'"^ ^^^^'^^^^^ patteniofworkin^r.giHs" ' '^ ^^"" ourselveH on the poor sli^i^ Vntt 'oTih' ^"'"°'T« -'"-- " They're ?nd exclilsivenLrany^^^^^^^^ f"" o^ Preju£: m M)cie y 80 awful as tlfe distiLn "'l«?«^^» distinitions and parlour-girls, Their dJff!''" ^^^^«'^" «hon-girLs que of ours tiat sometTLl ^ """'f «"°"» «"cli a buries at the whole thh,' T, '""'' V^" ^^^''^"3^ *»«Jp iaugh^, were on n level "but' 3;!!^^^^^^^^ '^H /ork-pfo'lf tiJl I came down to them I dl^' .^?^ °^ inequal tv Rainford's ejrperience In V .nJn ,'^^' "^^ ^^^^d, " Lord been somethi^ng 'ifke ft Buf ft'7 /P. ^ '""«* ^"^v' pJeasanter to have him suSlst hJ ""^ "^^^^ ^' *«> aon't know thaf T r,^^^ r 1 ^^^'^* "is surprise An^ r "ingi^ff me out for prat' S"^'"-""' ^ flVred l^f hif self ratSer than be wK d^„f T J ^t"** "> help n,™ P»rtlyso. It isn't rSP'"^*"'-'''« always been least credit for" *'""«^' "" y" ^aj". that I desfAe the I dote itf ateda*?:! ^•"'•" P"'*»^'«d Marian, " and were any necessiVforlt^y"-"^ ^o-W V >, if' the^ Any necessity for it?" hosnitl'^f S^''aj1,M''ri. "'>-V.«..' r.,m.,,f haif-con^cS ,f me promise she had -- .our „fe in maicing servants" bonnet ""^™° ms^ A WOMAN S REASON'. 89a .WeVo nil pn tin v/(iik- in not (loin^r th.s, or your m weakness Ives on the ^- " They're f prejudice iistinctions shop-giria h a burJes- ' laughing ork -people inequality ed, " Lord lust have 6 it any -And I 3d at his help my- ays been serve the an, " and if there e or m- X to do enigma- ^ent, of Qd, and he had , Helen apond " Yes — till 1 have learnt how to do bettor work." "Wi'll, then, I think it'H a Hhumc !" Helen drew her- self :ip, bib Marian did not (juail. "I think that you raig^t have hohjo little conHientadvantaffeTwf'"^"f Marian, pureuin^ P aces m th, country-a„ omV'^'*^'^}''^ »' one of h"f tury. that kings and quTens .^7?' "f ^""^ fifteenth een- b?en m his family almosHf ? ^'*P' '"• «"""• ^elt as if that aToltl"^* "''"^en'sttd^feiril;^ •'™"«- re?^esth'a'';rtS "'"' ^^ «-teZ"l -^ ^ much a goesT:^ oSrseC""""''' ''*™ ""'"gKe "es, assented Helen T,t ''l"w«'''''*''»P^rfection.'™P''''^^ "-^y'-o brought »",: «^e good he°wat7j°r*^ "« »-' 'b^' we" foZ' '^ oh'Lv> °'^'^' '• ^^ """' '"' " ^^^^* ""p- sucn a man ;., u- *"V' -duc von pan *^ii _ i ,, A woman's reason. 307 ^y- He's bet- he was here," to advantage lan, pursuing at one of his iiteenth cen- ind that had I been built, wasn't much of beautiful close that it down there ;he house — ■ and roses Tennyson's hing that I ^ had been t as if that e arrange- lere wasn't fd himself bought he s brought d nature. ' them, — out him; ^Q found eat hap- ^e made ^vuetiier Helen was silent, and Marian made a bold push. " You know what I mean, Helen, perfectly well. He didn't speak to me about it, but he told Ned everything, and Ned told me ; and I don't believe he's forgotten you, or ever will." •' He had better then," said Helen, with a momentary firmness. " He must." " Didn't you tell him that if you were not engaged ? so, or " Oh, did he say that ? Then don't talk to me of his delicacy, Marian ! It was shameful to repeat it." " What nonsense ! Mightn't he say it, if he were ask- ing Ned whether he thought you really would have cared for him if you hadn't been ?" ■ « Did he ask that ? " " I don't know. But if he had, would it have been anything so very strange ? Not half so strange as your saying it if you didn't mean it. Why did you say it, Helen?" " You know well enough, Marian. Because I felt sorry for him ; because I had to say something. Did Ned — did Mr. Ray encourage him to think that I meant " " Of course he didn'l . He never ventured a word about it. He seems to think, like all the rest of us, except me, that you're a very peculiar kind of porcelain, with none of the flaws of common clay, and I can't persuade him you're a girl like other girls. But if you come to the com- mon sense of the matter, I don't see why Lord Rainford shouldn't have supposed you meant \vhat you said, and that when it was all over " " Marian ! " " Why he shouldn't have begun to have some hopes again. I'm speaking for your good, Helen, and I'm going to speak plainly. I don't see why you shouldn't marry him now ! If you have no pity for yourself, if you pre- fer to go on with the wretched life you've planned, I don't see why you shouldn't have a little compassion for him. You're spoiling his life as well as your own." 308 A WOATAN's HEASON. »eemed'toca?eform7»<,""" i''' »?<"««» Ws life u She left M • ^^* *^^ «^*"a- ^'^t2t\i ' *^ '""' "«" " had BainCd zrifrnod°''w ^ *''« »«"". «» far a, T , him believe thatifl ,,,7°" '^'d anvthin™ * ^.'■<' not been en»aLed .r"" '*^« "^^n dSr^nt ff ° "?''* „ ^""""rage him ! " -^^""^ '" encourage him -_!" " -ight'hav°:'thtS;S"4„'!-''"' yo" can't deny that , "^No^^^; f ^°"™"''"'^«'"-delibe%tetlhtt ttJr»«aSzii:^--^h-did.n„t™f. " Then T = ^ ^"'"g back i?g entirelyZCr""' i''^'''" t" him. Helen r™ , either bii/n„ ??" g»od. I djj.., .:?'"'?'.• ^ m speak- yout^X-'i-^.Ko.'^how nice t redl' -^'" ?' «'^'' --~ '^o" -u,d be h:;^;^4?th\tm7^: A woman's reason. 309 rushing weight something Jike !"s life. He 5'a| and politi- e I illustrated t really iHug. 'Pt the situa- d the subject went off to jorning, anj Ine moment «. abruptly • same thing, Rainford, as hat it had ar as Lord > to make if you had hanee. If r that he ^tely that ■ not suf- ing back n speak- at first, io Want lim ; he would make any woman happy, and ho would be simply in heaven with you. And you're adapted to the life you would lead in England. You could be fashionable or unfashionable, just as you liked ; and \^ you wanted to be useful, to do good, and that sort of thing, you'd have every chance in the world. You'd bo a great success, Helen, in every way. I do W(mt America to bo well re- presented over there ! And don't you see what a great thing this offering himself to you is ? It's almost unpre- cedented ! I hardly know any other American girl who hasn't been married for her money in Europe ; they're always married for their money, even by cheap little con- tinental counts and barons ; and for an English lord to marry a poor American girl, why, it's like an American man marrying a woman (f rank, and that never was heard oil I want you to look at it on all sides, Helen ; and that's the reason I'm almost perjuring myself in talk- ing to you of it at all. I did prom'ise Ned so solemnly ; but if 1 didn't spoak now, ] shouldn't have another chance before — " She suddenly stopped herself, and Helen, who had been borne down by her tide of words, lifted her head asrain ; " Before what, Marian ? " " Before he comes ! " cried Marian, hysterically. " He's coming here to-day ! " Helen rose. "Then I must go," she said quietly. " It would be in- delicate, it would be indecent, for me to be here. I won- der, Marian, you could set such a tiap for me." Marian forgave the offensive charge to Helen's excite- ment. " Trap," she repeated. " Do you call it a trap, when I might have let him come without saying a word to you ? I wanted to do it ! And I should 'have had a perfectly good excuse ; for we didn't know oursfilves that he was coming, till thi.s morning. He wrote um from New York, and ho started for Boston last night. I didn't even know he was in the country— indeed, I didn't ! " she 310 A woman's reason. added, begmning to quail, woman as she was, under ^he awfulness of the reproach in HeJen's eyes. " We couldn't tell him not to come! How could we tell him not to come! There wasn't even time!" ,J' Y««'''s«jd Helen, brokenly, " I don't blame you. But you see that I can't stay." ^ ;; It would be shameful-it would be a trap for hvm." He s a man, and he'll never dream of such a thin^r • be s a gentleman, and he won't think so ' " '^ ' u 'I ^ shall," returned Helen, definitively. « It will look as if I had been waiting for him here; as if I hlndL^fZ^'^f J* ^'T' °^" °° ^'^^^<^^ ' '^ binds me say i Don t you see, Marian ? " lips onl ^ '^°'''*'" ^*"^ ^*"^''' ^"* ^^® ^^""'^^ "^'^^ ^^^ T ln° T^^Z' ^^'^^°" ' •""«'» were splendid marriaffes and T Snf ^i ^^^ *«en enough of take when they^aCout of *'!«*''* "'^^ Americal^rf own kind of thinkin^an^ ttTZ^T'^''? "'«' ^^ thing Helen-indeed, it isn't Ifo lu ' "''' f" » *•>« ^^^e Amencanand 6e„M«e you^nSfr . /?? ^«««« you're thinks of is his title. No ?ef, lA"'^ *''« '«»t thiig he less young American he cnnWn'V k ^ "'"" ^o^e penni- Mr. Butler and I a^eed Xittha"^.?"^ ^'terorsiSipler. n ft«?Jn"t tlntl ^<"r' -'" *e tmgedy of fell with digki°y *""''' ""^ ">« «ffect of pi^pa^ Z liked bette^'TeyfoSdritr /?""/."''» -'•"■"he very sweet and tiL ™th X &';*["''"'*> ^e was A t'lf **"' "'""" y°» ' '"^ *'"'*•>" arm rou'rMrStler^tKhteZ"^' ^t"' »<» 'h-^ I never approved " cS,.?. *? ^""''^•''^'vely. people call marrvinff forn '^ ""> *'''«'• 'ady, " of what W4-""'' * -h- yo'T;.; ht' "";"sh'-w^ a« littledifferentlyabout6v^,.> /!,••."' "S""". you felt u out of all your SuIdeiSf '""'"'''<''"' »W wl; your spirit, Helen • 7e oult , f "PP^ve-all of us-of not wish to be depeSt"' and .'"'•''°"' y"" ^l"""- and self-respect, and a« ih it l^*; '"^'"'? y"' "'"■•ago you working so hard-weaiW vn ''''' ''""' '"^^ ^ '^- away wasting your be3tZ™fS„r"y ^"""S «'= <-"'. Mm. ijutler fliA „-;™" and sorrow. ' "'" '°"">'' was sent, I don't know A woman's reason. 313 1-nd this young •ue to myself ?" It's merely a f making sure '• The children , and they like but if it were sen enough of A.merican girls }try and their isn't the same ^ecattse you're last thing he > some penni- ier or simpler. le tragedy of preparing to lan whom he ip. He was was always ten, and the Isively. y, " of what ?ht— we all . you felt a m easy way II of us— of you should 'ur courage like to see young life \r." on'fc knou- why ; but the work was sent to save me. If it were not for that, I should have gone mad long ago ! " " But couldn't anything else save you, Helen ? That's what we want you to ask yourself. Can't you let the sunlight come back to you ? " " No, no ! " cried Helen, with hysterical self-pity ; " I must dwell in the valley of the shadow of death all my life. There is no escape for me. I'm one of those poor things that I used to wonder at — people always in black, always losing friends, always carrying gloom and discour- agement to every one. You must let me go back to my work and my poverty. I will never leave it again. Don't ask me. Indeed, indeed, it can't be ; it musn't be ! For pity's sake, don't speak of it any more ! " Mrs. Butler rose and pressed the girl to her heart in a motherly embrace. " I won't, dear," she said, and went out of the room. Helen heard her encounter some one who had just come up the stairs, at the head of which a briefly murmured colloquy took place, and she heard in Jessie Butler's pen- etrating whisper, " Will she stay ? Will she accept him ? Is she going to be Lady Rainford ? Oh, I hope " " Hush, Jessie ! " came in Mrs. Butler's whisper ; and then there was a scurry of feet along the matting and a confusion of suppressed gaiety, as if the girls were run- ning off to talk it over among themselves. Helen would not make allowance for the innocent ro- mance it was to them. She saw it only as a family con- spiracy that the Butlers ought all to have been ashamed of, and she began again to pack her trunk, with a degree of hauteur which, perhaps, never before attended such a task. Her head was in a whirl, but she worked furiously for a half hour, when she found herself faint, and was forced to lie down. She would have liked to ring and ask for a biscnit and a glass of wine, but she would not ■ she could not consent to add the slightest thing to that burden of obligation toward the Butlers, which she now 80 314 A woman's reason. She lay on tho l/ ^""^ ^°''*^^ ^^^r will. ^ against ?C and ouUeTeTnl? "^'^^^"^ '"^^^ fitter she flung a shawl over L Zw,*^'! 8?*^^!^ r**'^^^^' ^"^ Ray and Lord Rainford Ue felt tW •/".* ^Y ^'^^^^« «f she must shriek ; and she eric ffli f]>e heard them trapped, trapped, trapped' *' ^'"'"^^ ^^'^^ '^^ was Some one knocked lifrhflv «f i,^ j entered in answer to a rSk\L tL^Z; ^°T' ""? ^f"™" It seemed a» intolerab en eee ?,f»fl' /'''''"*''« P'""™-- wondered that MarianTasS to ™f '""iT''; "'','' ««'«» indiflerence in proposino^ to ask ),?♦''" "'*' '°''' «» of meet Lord Rainfoirbefor^h^had .1 '" "T." i"""" "^ minutes. ^ '""' »<=™ "» 'he house ten lunch with he;. I eou5d^^t Tless tZ"Z"''- '^' '^^^ you her message. Shall I . iv fuf Promise to give with a headache?" ^ ^^^* >^°"^« ^^^S dSwn " Oh, not at all, Marian," said Helen • « ih. » xi. . the matter with me I'm npX.fi n' J;, ^^® « nothing Wilson that I shXbe v?r^ 'k^^^^^^ ^'"- ^^T' *«" Mrs! down directly." ^ ^^^^ *° ^^"^^' ^nd that I'U be -i^t^g^r:'^^^^^ ""'ll^Y before the glass able. BuUhe dla of flth^ .''"^ ^'^^^^^^ herself cap- that moment shrrudhtVoriTV"^^^^^^ ^- overwhelming odds of ButWs- Wl ^'* "^^^ ^^^^"gl^ ed to steel. " Marian," she said "1^"^,^^ *"^"" todrive me to the station tWfterno'n ^nd pffb™"" glad If you can send my trunk there " ^^ ''^''^ ^^ Oh, certainly," said Marian. "neiult herself safe, I must go at once. / Know 1 m making it horrid for begmnmg to relent a little, now th-t ^h^ ^u'l — ""*""' ^' but 1 can't help it. I misT go aid — ^'''"'*' ^^*'^' A woman's beason. dl« d 80 obviously r will. -^ id more bitter She heard a el outside, and it the voices of he heard them f that she was ', and Marian •om the pillow, ry, and Helen iat cold air of me down and the house ten ffence, "Mrs. *^er and take Jniise to give Jying down 3re's nothing ase tell Mrs I that I'll be )re the glass herself cap> red her ; in ay through ' were turn- ers. Wilson t'll be very ded Helen, ei-seJf safe, JO at once. But Mrs. Wilson is such a kind old thing, and she's asked me so often, and I can easily make her understand that I must come now or not at all, and if she knows that you're expecting other people your letting me go to her for lunch the last day won't seem strange." "Oh, not at all," said Marian, with a slight laugh, whose hollowness was lost upon Helen. Mrs. Butler said she was to come and visit them as soon as they got back to town ; she kissed her as lovingly as over, and the captain was affectionately acquiescent ; but the young girls were mystified, and Marian was cold. Helen tried to make it up to her by redoubled warmth in parting ; but this was not to be done, and as soon as she was out of the house she began to feel how ungracious she had been to Marian, who had certainly done every- thing she could, and had behaved very honourably and candidly. In the undercurrent of re very which ran along evenly with Mrs. Wilson's chat, she atoned to Marian with fond excuses and explanations, and presently she found herself looking at the affair from the Butlers' point of view. It did not then appear so monstrous ; she even relented so far as to imagine herself, for their sake and for Lord Rainford's, consenting to what seemed so right and fit to them. She saw, herself, in pensively luxurious fancy, the lady of all that splendid circumstance at which Marian had hinted, moving vaguely on through years of gentle beneficence and usefulness, chivalrously attended in her inalienable sadness by her husband's patient and forbearing devotion; giving him, as she could, from a heart never his, and now broken, respect and honour, that might warm before her early death to something like tenderness. It was a picture that had often been painted in romance, and it satisfied her present mood as well as if its false drawing and impossible colour were true to any human life that had ever been or could be= By the time she reached Mrs. Wilson's cottage Ray drove up to the Butlers', and met the surmise of hig wiff 816 woman's reason. 'f ^^-^,^trr?y^!l 1-ion til. he couH plained then, "lSuse'th« ^t rl^^""? '>'"'■" ''« «- 1 liked oura^emS tran H^L •";°"S'" "' "• t*"^ '«>'« J,,, indeed I ■• «.».;«t» >- ™-ij,, h™. ^^ we.g^- .t'^.^r ' ^ffS?dfc,T.-^ -- ^r^n'tt^i'':;-.^^^^^^^^ 4^':nd^^tSIts*Js^a r r '° r -^ awlcward every way W^^nnlX'. " T."' extremely to come, and /e eo^idn Wy we P,"^ if *?" "'» ^ only thing I was dear of wZ *T V "^"^ *° go: the was comiiTe and let hL hLT' **' v"'*' '""^' '<''f her he "Th.t'l SiT^ T J- , r*''"^'' "Pon her own course " gonl""* ' ^'"" ^ ^"'' '»'• "''« decided yery quicuZ-she's out^otdooti :^^,t: :itTiTTt *" *"™-^ "» we could haie doS^ W^? /^ii?"" ' ^IT ^'"" ^'^'^ him straight here and sayedryfif ^H S?T ''™"«'" geUing old Wilson to takeMmTote tth^Sr"^ "' 'You sot Mr Wilson in *^].r.i:-' \.i sheshneked. "Yelr retur^trer^ttnd',7ua'°^?!;^h"f''^" TheTdS" '"'""'"y ««"-«''& to rrt\ " " for M^s^lft er trt'£Vou^h\"'1^ ^'"•'''' """^ ^'* « -y WRainforrhtlotrit^rr^^^^ noted ia%he famUy foTt. w^^/°"°-^-¥y' »»'. hitherto ▲ WOMAN S REASON. S17 n till he could him," he ex- of it, the less ting him." vas her own :pocf«.d that. ?" II rooAd. You ^en the most ir where she to her," said »s extremely tell him no*t to go; the t tellher he course." ickly—shes turning her ' what else ive brought plomacy of ight." ' the diplo- e shrieked. le night ? " Vhat is so lo it ? " with a cry "Mother, enced all ' hitherto ivine in- tention in the accident : " I call it a special providence !" she exclaimed, esctatically. " What is it all about ? " inquired Ray. "Oh, nothing," replied his wife. "Nothing at all! Merely that Helen was in such haste to get away that she accepted an invitation to lunch with Mrs. Wilson, and has just driven over there with her. I suppose she'll accuse us of having plotted with the Wilsons to ' trap ' her, as she calls it," " Marian ! " said Mrs. Butler, with grave reproach. " I don't care, Mother ! " retorted Marian, with tears of vexation in her eyes. " Can't you soe that she'll accept him over there, and that I shall be cheated out of having brought them together, when I had set my heart on it'so much ? I didn't suppose Helen Harkness could be such a goose, after all she's been through ! " " My dear," said her mother, " 1 don't wish you to speak so of Helen ; and as for her accepting him — Children," she broke off to the younger girls, " run away ! " and they obeyed as if they had really been children. "Edward," she resumed, " how in the world did you contrive with Lord Rainford ! " " Well, Mrs. Butler," said Ray, " with men; there was only one way. He had told me so much, you know, that I could take certain things for granted, and I made a clean breast of it at last, on the way home. I told him she was here, iind that I thought it wasn't quite fair bringing him into the house without giving her some chance to protest — or escape." " It was terrible," said Mrs. Butler, " but I see that you had to do it. Go on." " And he quite agreed with me that it. wouldn't be fair to either of them. I don't know that I should have spoken if I had not seen old Wilson in the car. I asked he was only too glad. That's all, I told him he could 318 A woman's reason. walk over hflro ihia ^ terms." °™ *•"' ''™"'°8. ""d meet her on equal M ^Bufe " " P'-' take place ■ng pleasant about it " *"""•"'' ''''«" there can be noth- wili aeKrr^'" '•^" -">- "Do you think she it.-toSdt': IhT^Zt ""yr«''« " •lying to do patience with her for not 'r' '"I ^.'=°"'<' ''"dlf have enough." '" °°' ^""g It herself. Shi's old we must let the consequent taTeL?rf'th^ "f *"• ?."" Oh, It's very easv to sav f Kaf " ■ of themselves." for my part, r^ so^^*? ^"J^^at- ., »ed Marian. "But help:^'"'finot°lhTSr **"' ""'^ --'d-'t have thing at aixi andVevens » ' ''*' "'°"«^'' 'o P"' e^erj! hor on equal "an. bitterly, ir diplomacy, I," murmured "It's as if it the theatre. Jy and pret- o take place 2an be noth- u think she iying to do 'ardly have She's old author! ta- right, and laelves." an. "But Idn't have >ut every- CHAPTER XIX. SERIES of trivial chances brought Helen and Lord Rainford together alone, before she could get away from the Wilsons' after lunch. The first train for town did not start till three, and it was impossible that she should shut herself up in her room and avoid him until that time. In fact, she found that there was nothing in his mere presence that forced her to any such defensive measure, while there was much in the fatal character of the situation, as there is in every inevitable contingency, to claim if not to console her ; and the sense of security that came from meeting him by accident, where she was perfectly free to say no, and could not seem by the remotest possible implication to have invited an advance from him, disposed her in his favour. They met certainly with open surprise, but their surprise was not apparently greater than that of the Wil- sons in bringing their guests together; and when Mr. Wilson explained that he owed the pleasure of Lord Rainford's company for the night to a domestic exigency at the Butlers', Helen divined that Ray's thoughtfulness had given her this chance of escape, and wondered if Lord Rainford was privy to it. But he was listening with his head down to Mrs. Wilson's explanation of the chance that had given them the pleasure of Miss Harkness' com- pany ; she wondered if he were wondering whether she knew that he was coming and had fled on that account ; but it was impossible to guess from anything he said or looked, and she began to believe that Ray had not told him she was with them. With impartial curiosity she took note of the fact that hia full-grown beard had unoues- tionably improved his chin; it appeared almost as if something had been done for his shoulders ; certainly his 320 i i A WOMAN'S REASON. these traits;aLd'th;^ir^^^^^^^^ become used to Jierly. More than once durint ^tf ^T V "^"^^ ^^ ^or- ^m hardsome ; it wrwheTlft . "''^^ ?" ^^'^ thought ing something pleasan' Tboufc seLH ^'^^-'^ "P ^^ 4- pretended that even f wnrw-^"? ^^^"^a again Hp fad n,ade anothri^orhC%^r»f American " did not know that there f,«,fJL ^- ^''^"^ ™d that he week, and lord RainZd saU ?..?y ^"r'"''' "'' <■<»■» heat; he believed he nttMed it ^" ''"^ ""' '»''»<» '^e he ISL""- "'^^'^^'y l>-en-t got ii to oon,p,ain of here," WUs'2S'ex^la'td"''^«'r 'h f"^'' Shore." Mrs aftemoon.'^Miss HarW^l' tl "/.°" «" ''<'»« thit ■• Pora'dSt^S'T P-^*^" CS*" „-y to Helen ; fever ,«'nnlShS' if ■»flexible':„„,„i,„„, _. ,he tence that she ]iveSo?d ?"/ K"?f ''^ ""« AaWering pre! £,o;;«nued. quieti;' "^ i9;^ Ca».b„d.e. « You n,„sf "^he This fact was final with a wZ.n j ?/ Preparations." «°Jy make a murmur ofSrei'a^H^^'^l^''^''" ^-W go by a later tmin ; but He en w„ A**^ ■;""• *' '«»»' *» tram; she said her trunk w„nwT ^"^,^^ about the she must go then. If" he hL 1 f " *,' '""^ station, and tt:sshouldbedisco„ragT„„tiSrd£;™^y°*.^"«°» no such effect in him ; he remafn.^ "'^"''''' ''"' """^ see gan to question whether at S* "/T™^' and she be- have lost whatever iiutk.nh.l.V^.''*''- ^^ "'ght not her She said to beStbuJft "^'"^^'''^ concerabg way Vtl"? S--> »ldeVtndthinne7± ^f • '"''"■^^'^ way. Jf this were so it w«<> i;„ i '. °d plainer every pang-that it was so. ' She ™.t *' '^ hoped-with a Wore; it might hav; saved hef frn^ ''•*^' '^^Sht of it Of course, he had entireTyl;a^ed{^^,f"''g Marian pain. ^ter lunch, Mr. WilsLTC^H- ' Y- "^ -"8«d his Wife to the cllsSthat'rSS^- A woman's reason. 321 become used to 50 much as for- he had thought *ed up in say- ica again. He : American air n said that he rican air for a not mind the plain of here," Shore," Mrs. ?o home this ay to Helen ; iscience; she attering pre- •u must," she reparations." Vilson could r at least to about the station, and mention that le could see and she be- inight not concerning d changed, liner every 'd-— with a ught of it irian pain. • heaviness, '' nothing could keep Mr. Wilson awake after lunch. She sent him away for his nap, and she was going to lead her guests down over the lawn for a look at the sea from the rocks by the shore, when a servant came with some inexorable demand upon her. " You know the way, Miss Harkness," she said. " Take Lord Hainford down there, and I will be with you in a moment." She hurried away with the maid, and Helen descended the piazza steps and sauntered past the beds of foliage- plants across the grass with her charge. He did not leave her in a moment's doubt of his mind or purpose after they were beyond hearing. " Do you know why I ha\ e come back ? " he asked, abruptly, and striving to catch the eyes she averted. " How should I ? "—she began, but he spared her the sin of even an insinuated ignorance. " 1 came back for you," he said, with a straightforward sincerity that shamed her out of all evasion. " Then I am sorry for that," she replied, frankly, " for you had better have forgotten me." " That wasn't possible. I couldn't have forgotten you when I knew you were not free ; how could I forget you now ? For the last year my life has been a count of days, hours, minutes. If I have come too soon, tell me, and I will go away till you let me come again. I can wait ! " He spoke with the strength but not the vehemence of his passion, and she stayed her fluttered nerves against his quiet. If it were to be reasonably talked over, and dis- missed like any other impossibility, it would be very sim- ple ; she liked him for making it so easy ; she felt hum- bly grateful to him ; she imagined that she could reconcile him to his fate." '* You must forgive me," he added ; " if what I say is nainful. I will spend Tnv lifo in a<'onina'f'^»* i*" " There is nothing to forgive on tm) part. If you can have patience with me." 322 woman's reason. " Patience ? " '; Oh, I don't mean what you think f " your bereavement more than I .n^-f t??'"«'> '^^^^^^ •'N^noffS'"^' it in coming' n„wJL'>"SM that I ^^^^ii^^Z^ll't^^ ^1^ of wa^ant-per. that took away all hope and ih.rT^^^^^'''^' "othing- by what y!i say now " ^°" ""^""^' ""th^S- I abide ~rwri^X-t:*^*t^«ghtin his forbear- know what you mfan and I w ^"^ " ^^gn'^e it. '■ I words can sa^ foSi^^^oltprr^r" "•*" ""^ pable weakness— I only meant f.f ' ^^ "y O"'- you all I could 1 ■' A di^rn?, °. ^*™ you— to spare could not endure toie^SiTZ-Tl!'' ^'^^ """t^h^ did you really come Wk „„.:*"! '°°'' '" ' I>idyou- ■; I misund^i^tood y^^Ts« "^ If """k* ' " but afterward. I came I»„i. t ^°' P^^haps at first- me that, if yo„ had Teen^^e, ™Tm.-\?r«'>' y"" t"" me differently then » ' ''^ ""Sht have answered •-;jn^'*'M:^te ^"* -^ -^^t they apart, and not daring to^ffu ^^"^ ^''^' "^^^^^^S a littJe would not speak, an^d she hL „Lr' .*" ^'' ^^''- ^- did you ever care foTJeV'lhl T^ *° ^« «°- " Why desperately at the question as if?h^ '''^- f l^*' ^"«hin| that side. 4"estion, as if there might be escape on - ;; Why? "he echoed, jou Snt re't'r "^ «^^*--^-t was there to make " Endure ? " He aefimpd *o -^— — - we-^to blame. But it nev:r wl^^^nes^^-"^* .^'f ^^^ A woman's reason. 323 Idn't excuse ied, revered ugbt that I rrant — ^per- nothing — hope ." ag. I abide lis forbear- se it. "I * than any IS my cul- -to spare 3 that she ^idyou — at first; you told answered hat thej' : a littJe ice. He "Why rushing scape on ' to make ink yon it. You — ^you were my fancy. I can't tell you better than that. Aiyi you have always been so. It isn't for what you did ; it isn't for what you said." It seemed hopeless. They walked on, and they only ceased from walking because they had reached the brink of the rocks beyond which lay the sea. She stood there looking on its glassy levels, which shivered against the rocks at her feet in impulses that were like her own fee- ble and broken purposes. In a certain way life was past with her ; there could be no more of what had been, no longer the romantic tenderness, the heroic vision of love ; but there could be honour, faith, affection. The sense of this passed vaguely through her heart, and exhaled at her lips in a long, hopeless sigh. At the light sound, he spoke again. ** But I didn't come back to make good any claim upon you. I came to see you again because I must, and because it seemed as if I had the privilege of speaking once more to you. But per- haps I haven't." " Oh, certainly, you have that ! " she weakly assented. " I don't urge you to anything. I only tell you again that I love you, and that I believe I always shall. But I don't ask your answer now or at any given time. I can wait your will, and I can abide by it then, whatever your answer is." A heavy weight was on her tongue, which hindered her from making her answer " No." A ship lagging by in the offing as if it panted with full sails for every breath of the light breeze, the whole spectacle of the sea, intimated a reproach, poignant as fleeting and intangible. She felt herself drifting beyond her own control, and any keeping would be better than none ; she longed for rest, for shel- ter ; she no longer cared for escape. There was no reason why she should refuse the love offered her. She could uv/u uuuuu 11/3 uiuuix, lis uuuSu^ui;^' cvcu. ciitiriucu ixcr a little ; she was a little in love — pensively, reluctantly — with a love for herself so steadfast, so patient, so magnan- 324 A woman's reason. Stio?^^^^^^^ aK'atT ^"^'^^^ '^ ^-«^Jf. the half success, only even in ?he Ifi''^'^''^ T'^' '^^ ^^ a deayour which was theTlWn r^'^ ^"^ humiliating en , ;Oh,whatshalTlsavr^^^^^ she had not. Hr m^* u • . "^tered the words TJnf by her hesitation was besSnfil f?j *''^ """P^ ™ffgested tohim against himself^ ^"^ *" '^™- She appealed great StC*' ""' ^""^ ^^- Vou have niade a jTouTCr^VVitertt"'?- J'™ -' <" «" what bagging you for mercy ff T^l'' ^ ''"""'^"'t >>« here, Tow mmded, that no wSean ^r'^,™' sofoohsh, so fickll' have left me; he woulHat t''^ "t' ** "»"'d -ever Oh!" she cried, "lean'* W **" "''^^ and with me We in me for an inTC'uLT "'^r'"''' ""> « ^- »ny common way; it's as if T S. m1 '( ^ ^'='e bereft in I^rd Kainford r^m«Ltj ■■ "^ '^'""'^ him ! " «» ,?f guilt thS "h:a^'^'«/>-- ^' -'^ '^v: re- sVotsr hi: -A'et:;;i:~^»rth^;*e impwe, ..^hat »:rPfil"4:t:feX-- - "yon'vemade it Oh, yes, yes I " " '' "^ ■'*"^ nj^tter^" A woman's reason. 225 3 herself, the it, she was a ailiating en- her. f ; and then ^ords. But 5nly with a e suggested ^e appealed v^e made a ' all what lere, now, . so fickle- uld never with me. me or be- hereft in 5 assump- t believe hat from r knew I hat you ire right ou mar- to have " That aade it " Then I say that I think what you did in that matter ought to be your greatest consolation now. It may be one of those eccentricities which people have found in my way of thinking, but I can't feel less reverently toward marriage than that." He had never seemed so noble, so lovable even, as at that moment. Her heart turned toward him in a fervent acceptance of the comfort, the support he offered her ; it thanked him and rejoiced in him ; but it was heavy again with her former dismay when he said, " I don't urge you to any decision. Remember I am always yours, whether you refuse me or not." She perceived then that it was not really a question of herand Robert, but of her and Lord Rainford, and that the'deciaion to which he did not urge her must rest finally with her. If she could have been taken from herself without her own consent, passively, negatively, it would have been another affair. She gathered herself together as best she could. " I am acting very weakly, very wrongly. I've no excuse but that this is all a surprise to me. I didn't know you were in this country. I didn't dream of ever meeting you again, till three hours ago, when Mrs. Ray told me you were coming. Then I ran away from her to avoid meeting you. Yes, I had better be frank ! It seemed horrible to me that I should meet you in her house ; you could never have believed that I hadn't wished to meet you." " That's what I should be glad to believe, if I could. But I saw — I agreed with Ray — that it might not be leaving you quite free in every way ; and so I was glad to aocept his suggestion that I should come here first till something could be arranged — till you could be told." " That was like Mr. Ray," interrupted Helen. " I see how it has all happened ; and oh, I'm so sorry it's hap- pened." The young man turned pale. But he answered cour- ageously, " 1 m not. I must know whether there is any hope for mej I must know it from you." 326 A woman's BEASON. But if I can't tell von « t ~ ^ lou must give me tim^'" ' ^ '""^* ^»'<^I >n«3t think. «in, in the national CHAPTER XX. ^^MteTkin^^^^^^^^^ ''^ H^-d had seemed ^ the shipwreck fh^' tj^^f^'^l «^*ft, the storm, voyage in the open boT *"* *^ ''< ^^^ the , whicS there wTno ^rt T" '> ^^ ^ ^^ries in was at lea^t the coi^oTation o?T*' ^""^ ^ ^^^^J^ there point -Bi.*xT.5 ^""»"/awon of movempnf fyo-*^ -. • < ^ P ^"'"'"r»'^<'"'«once«.edwiThhiXt^5^p^ ".♦ A woman's reason. 327 II e. houtat Jeast alljl ask you f must think. . with exqui- nce— I don't ?ain — unless id put some read that he d, abruptly, the house, ^- "I was rs. Wilson, go to town, len to the e national i seemed lie storm, and the series in Jh there point to glimpse of the sail, in which aL hope of escape fainted and died ; and it did not revisit him when he gathered courage to explore the fairy solitude of the atoll. It was so small as to have been abandoned even by the savages of those seas, who forsake their over-peopled islands and wander from reef to reef in search of other homes ; and it would never be visited from the world to which he had belonged. The whalers that sometimes stop for water at the coral islands would not touch at this little point of land, lifted, like a flower among its thorns, above those perilous rocks. It had probably never been laid down on any chart ; in a century which had explored every part of the globe, it must be a spot unknown to civilized men. The soil showed like snow through the vegetation that thinly covered it, and the perpetual green on white repeated itself in the trailing vines that overran the coral blocks, with naiTow spaces of sea between, which Fenton leaped, in his round of the island, to find himself again and again on the white soil of the groves, through which the palm struck its roots and anchored itself fast to the reef. At the highest point, the land rose fifteen feet above the sea ; at the widest place, it measured a hundred yards ; and if he had fetched a compass of the whole, he would have walked less than two miles. They should not starve ; the palms would yield them abundant fruit through the unvarying year ; the sea, he knew, was full of fish. As he emerged from the grove at the point where he haJ started, Giffen called out to him, " What's that on the tree right bv your shoulder ? " Fenton looked round, and. the bright Blossom near him turned into a bird. He put out his hand ; it did not move ; and when he lifted it from its perch, it rested fearlessly on his palm. He flung it from him with a sickening sensation, and Giffen came running toward him. " Hallo ! what's the matter ?" demanded Fenton. " I thought mebbe it was poison ! " "There's nothing to kill us here," Fenton replied. " Come, we must begin to live." S28 woman's reason. The sailors had left hfili,-«^ ^i, flour and the peas and S GiTT'. '^ '^' ^ag of "P to the hufcfand one dav knff . ^^^. "^""^^ ^^^^ made a garden and planted [fcw1?w/°"''l.^^^^ ^^ had quickly, and then, L iftle To 1 ^T'. ^^'^ ^^^^« "P withered away all hn/o , • ^^'^^^^^ vitality, thev Giffen found "llmoig " he" S Te"? 'T^ ^ ^-^ E this vine, which he hoped would n7 '^'"'^'"^^^ cherished at least a cucumber h^Zr ^^^^^ ^ musk-melon, or r% luck," he saTd;aad::twVV"'^^^ mg-cups. ' ^ gathered his gourds for drink- in which it wasnot he who w«? •''"''"*" °^ *h« illusion unknown island, buttlehl^ "npnsoned there on that had envied and admired in bo,i?5 adventures whom he romance of later life. The^SnH V' ^"°^° ^° ««»^^ they treasured so carefullv^after^h ^^^'^^/^^^^^ ^^^ch former savage habitation^ The fi? ^°"°1 <^^^^«« of a brought from the wreck and ^t-ul^ ^^'""^ *W had the timbers for theTr hui f h7^'?^ *^^ "^^^ ^ shaping for its thatch ; the nut they i^^^^ drink ; the fishing-lines thTv^^liff^ {^'^ *^^^^ ^^""^ and the cocoa-bark ; tfie hook«^t^ ^ ^''°°' *^® ^^^e of the birds they ate and thA^^TJ"^ ^"°°^ ^^^ bones of the wild things?once so tam^T *^'^ ''* ^^' S^^^ when miserable ecof oCs Vf cffin/^^H *' !f°^ ^^^ ^^^^^ they fashioned plates from Zls'^"^' T^^ ^^ ^^^^^ from the clay they found S stk 1 ?? .««okmg*utensils they made to evaporate f Hp t ^ .*^^''' ^^^^ ' the vats these things seem?d7he^^twn"n'' ^^'-^^ «^^^'--» experiences of the castawlv; of « JP^^P^^^^es and stock figment of some rL^Ssl Jn ^'^T'^^ himself the was toying for the purpose ofe \^^^^ *^^ ^"^^°' and reator«d ir. ^u%l^^^ff °\^is plot, to be dulv r^on„o^ "" ''^' ""^ ^'^^^« w^en it should servi th^^i. A woman's reason. 329 of the bag of carried them ■ that he had fhey came up I'itality, they Q a seed that ^Jy cherished i>k-i]ae]on, or out a gourd, ds for drink- Fen ton, the oething read vly recalled, the illusion ^ere on that s whom he wn in some idges which traces of a they had in shaping py plucked ir food and he fibre of te bones of ame when ary; their by which sr' utensils ; the vats salt,— all and stock aiself the le author 7 rescued » th« ex- igency of the tale. Once, when this notion was whimsi- cally repeating itself to Fenton in th^ silenco and solitude, it brought a smile to his haggard face, and when Giffen asked him what the matter was, he told him. " No," said Giffen, " it aint much like us." That two modern men should be lost out of a world so knit together with telegraphs and railroads and steam- ships, that it seemed as if a whisper at any point must be audible at all others, was too grotesque a fact, too impro- bable for acceptance. It was not like them, and it was not like any one he could think of ; and when he tried to imagine some contemporary and acquaintance in his case, it became even more impossible than when he sup- posed it of himself. There were ironical moods in which he amused himself with the carefully ascertained science of the story-tellers as he recalled it, and in which he had a fantastic interest m noting how near and yet how far from the truth their study came. But there were other times when the dreary sense of the hackneyed character of the situation over- powered him, and he dropped his work and lay with his face in the sand, helpless and hopeless, for hours, sick of the repetition of such stale inventions. There was no greater reality in it all when he recalled the naiTatives of men actually cast away on desert islands, though there were moments when the sum of what they had suffered seemed to accumulate itself upon his soul, and his heart and hand were heavy with their sorrows. Yet in spite of all, the simple and wholesome conditions of his life were restoring him to physical health, which reacted upon his mind at last ; and one morning he woke with a formless, joyful expectation that was like hope. It was merely the habit of hope, reviving from a worn- out despair, but he sprang to his feet with a buoyancy of soul that he had not known since the storm first began to close around the Meteor. Hitherto, the thought of Helen had beei) fruitless tor- f-1 330 A woman's'reason. ; , I i ' ran down to ?L 1.,;'""'^ "^ ^'" '"<»•"'"■• breakfast, and floated itl ?i,?^f' ^^P J^'.^"* ^^ ^^«ide the reef and noated it to their beach, and he could not rest till fW ^"^r"*" the atolls; th^ pebbios '17^6 held Knet" Td „-°* "%''~*' '"''•« *<"» ^'•o'-^^ ^here there were hat and rivers, from peopled shores that they n.iri,rr^cl ? aminfd^t '"'!?'"*„"? *•"■ down''beside the log and ex- .^J^^^V "1""^ the top, and shape it up at the end, rvfTee'npttutte? "" ''"^ '^'^ "-"'' ''-■ h„?F!".!''*' ""^ ""ggestion with melancholy diffidence • pLed hopeCly ^LZZ^'''Z.!t^2t^t of cons n,c .on which their skill cLld not r mtdy ^::'bled It, and .t capsized with Giften, who was c^iuZTe A WOMAN S REASON. 381 )ut now, all at incentive; he iin. breakfast, and ith. The sun ed across the out to it, he ifted to their i the reef and rest till they as a message lise of rescue irt, he knew les before it that it came t timber un- d in the net- sre were hills ight reach if are to sea, log and ex- cing at it as it the ends, sort of out- round here. diffidence ; i was very h the tools their canoe waters it i defect of ly disabled ght in the outrigger, and with difficulty saved from drowning bv Fen ton. *' ^ " Well, sir," he said, as he walked dripping to their hut, "we've t,ot a lot of good firewood in that thing. I be- lieve if you hadn't had me around you could have made it go." ^ But the idea of escape had taken full possession of Fenton's mind, and the failure of the canoe turned it all upon another scheme which had begun to haunt it. They had kept a fire burning night and day ever since they had landed on the island to attract the notice of any ship that came in sight ; but now Fenton determined to build a tower a. make it all rigU wLn /ou g^t ba^^?"' ^"' y"" «"> quickly. " "" "«•" ""''-^'"' ^< rejoined Fenton m aaywiac inoompr^heSsible to o"ffen he did n!, T T when FeMorS to ir' ^y"'P»*etically patient Harkness's house waa by a plan S t^'f'^'^"'""* ^''?^ *' drew on a smooth surw'iTfV i ."'""?'""'''''='' '"^ Park street runnina ud one ,?i ^ P'astered wall, with the other and So^^4 ! ' *",' ^*""""' ^''■''<=' along quiet plarwt^.X"ho'r,sSr"S! S^e'l '1V4 the house, up-stairs and dow., with the H^ff!, / ' "' marked ott-: Helen's room JtCloMMfll\''^r room: the room th-.t V,,, .,o„i » '™"t, jur. ilarkness's the lines of raih-oad running out of he dtv and f hf ^-f ferent depots. '« This," he ?aid plaeW S A^ "l'^' tion, " s where you would hav^Cstfrt L 4^^ ^^^" Its a little south of Chicago isn'fif ! l ^^^kakee. from ChicHLro to 8t LoS T ' --on o„e of the lines tii^- : ..e laughed for jo^ „, the assent which ■se^m^d A WOMAN S REASON. 338 he wore when le must be in ho died very 5elingthat al- ught of this, " We had a saying good- But you can 'ined Fenton his comrade, situation was d not tiy to it with what cally patient d where Mr. ion which ho I wall, with street along it into the B a plot of erent rooms Harkness's n he came 7- Heling- lapped the e principal le marked id the dif- Ibany sta- Kankakee. 3f the lines ch seemed to confirm the existence of the places ; the sound of the names alone reestablished them. At times, he stealthily glanced from this work at the rim of the sea, where, as ho had been silently making believe while he talked, there mu8t be a sail. But he bore the inevitable disappoint- ment patiently and returned enthusiastically to his map ; he projected another map in sections, on a larger scale, where the details could be more fully given. Giffen did not speak much of his own life. It was nothing worth speaking of, he said; but sometimes at night he would drop a hint or scrap of his history, from which Fenton would infer what remained unspoken. It was the career of a feeble nature, constantly pushed to the wall in the struggle of a new country. All his life Giffen had failed. He had always had bad crops, bad part- ners, bad luck, hard time ; if he went away from home to better his condition, he mado if worse; when he came back he found that he ^ d have done better to stay away. He bought on a rising market and sold with the first fall in prices. When a crash came it found him ex- tended ; the return of prosperity overtook him without money or credit. \h^ had tried all sorts of things with equal disaster : he liad fanned, he had kept store, he had run a saw-mill, he had been a book agent, and agent for many patent rights. In any other country, he would have remained quietly in some condition of humbL^ de- pendence ; but the unrest of the New World had infected him. He had spent his life in vain experiments and his la.st venture had been the most ruinous of all. He had sold everything to get the means of going to China, and when the common calamity, that could scarcely be said to have blasted any hopes of his, overtook him, he was com- ing home little better than a beggar. Even in that solitude he made Fenton his ideal, with the necessity that is in such natures to form themselves •-X"-"- oviiie utiici, ana appiucmuoci ms conndence ana friendship as gratefully as if they had been oftered in the 334 A woman's reason. ' learned to admfrt^e fi„™ ""''^ ?? '"^ P^^ Fenton allcircumsSerinthi^nn 1 ,f 'P'"* ^liich survived it rSdSt^ft^^tji^-- ^^^^^ "No, sir ; better not have any of mw luclc abm.t it " But he was off early in the Lv ihL r,, V "• wood for their beacon •»nd;t^ v' ^° '°«'ed to cut that they could mX the hI" 7^ ^\^^° discovered the fuelir the Hame bj^^r' """''' ''^'^^^ '» ''■■y"« can'|rg2^'^.'KsS*r k^ "" ^•""^"-'"^ -*>> *>«'' enough f"r\S'ifX''bl^"'i°"- . "there'll be time willsucceed^^ HefXtoXfet!!"' ""T'^' »»' i* ing all the mateSlsTh ^l^^tthiu'wr' if hTP'!; SO soon from the beacon fn^nmn+l^* • ^® *""ied he knew that he must Le Cf .k'- ^^"'''^ ^^^ ^^^^P^- not bear the thouS^t oXs^^:^^^^^ '""^ ^^ '^''^^ devotinffhimself fn+>mKrr%?! X • ^^^ passionately to theirCc^a He LSlh^i '' "^"^^^nng a shi^ uJar watches, and whoever h. - ^^^ ^^ -^ '''^'' ''^ questioned h m clolelv aJf n .t ^^ *° '■^^'*'^" ^^ff^^' he when he lay ?own to sTeen h!'l ^'T^'^ «^ *^^ ^^^ > himself the burden of rltS ^^^^«<^^««d to take upon must wake by say „. to h mS" part Fenton Jiich survived ''hen his hopes omething for removed into ihe hut they ;on. about it." owed to cut o discovered lay in drying ng with that e'll be time ed. But it )f economiz- f he turned for escape, id he couid passionately ring a ship it into reg- e Giffen, he ■ of the sea ; take upon which he lat he will ihe anguish out of the now they three days, ed reasons was angry with Giffen for acquiescing in them ; he tried to drive him into some question of them by making him fantastic, and he was childishly happy when Giffen disputed them. Then he urged other and better reasons : if it was fine, he said that nothing but stress of weather would bring them a ship, and that they could only hope for some vessel blown out of her course, like the Meteor ; when it was stormy, he argued that any vessel sighting their beacon would keep away from it till the storm was past, but would be sure to come back then and see what their fire meant. " Yes," said Giffen ; " but if we are going to keep that fire up at the rate we have for the last three months, we must begin to cut our cocoa palms." " It isn't three months ! " cried Fenton. Giffen proved the fact by the reckoning he had kept on a block of coral in the tower : the tale of little straight marks, one for each day, was irrefutable. " Why did you keep that count ? " cried Fenton, des- perately. "Let the time go, I say, and the quicker it goes, and the sooner we are both dead, the better ! Put out the fire ; it's no use." He left Giffen in the tower, and wandered away, as far away as the narrow bounds of his prison would permit. He stopped at a remote point of the Island, which he had not visited since the first day when he had hastened to explore the atoll. The hoarse roaring of the surf, that beat incessantly upon the reef, filled the air ; the sea was purple all round the horizon, and the sky blue above it ; flights of tern and petrel wheeled and shrieked overhead ; the sun shone, tempered by the delicate gale, and all things were as they had been half a year ago, as they must be half a year hence, and forever. In a freak of the idle curiosity that sometimes plays on the surface of our deepest and blackest moods, he descended the low plateau to look at a smoother and darker rock which showed itself at the point where the reef began to break \\ 11 m A WOMAJf's REASON. jn shape. The mosse, wa^d fe''%l'tt°f» to a boat the rock tself anoea Jh f 7 *'"' *"''h in the water- and clutched it?^^ U hadT*' *""* *;»'<»' *«" «P^n it gling to escape hTm He lued ,> °" ''""gthiogLug- then he sank down beside^? ti "P »" «>« ^Md, and to«yo«t; the t^rsltn Vo^hi^^f *?^^«:. too ^eak sick man's feebleness ' '^"^ ''''« 'he tears of a toget^Su'tT^olf *"« '"^^ -''"=■' the, righted He wen^ Sfu uf o'vtr thl' l]^ ^'"l.^- ^"-1 her." Patohed, with a solemn and i^f i '''•^''*. " J"*^ heen our boat," he added. "'"=*' s«™tiny. "That's ■ .^'^.ftoS l^^a^^jr^ Jlf conjectu. as to m silent awe the cbZ^ ot^Zj'TV^'y ^P^^ ever at was, had given them h?f 7^""^^^^ ^to, wWt- -^on.. they'd got tCX^H^:!,- ^^^^a. J hIw C b"::t''hS''"' *.^*" '^P««'l Fentoa mainedthe%t:t'om?rowrKhr'-'"''-^?-'-- them. It was enough for f^Z il x^?^ ^^^^ i* back to ?ot beyond repair? TtwLfc^^^^ ^^^*^« «raft wa^ I must be soiie time before theTfoui^ water-logged, and It; but they spent this time i7n.I^*^ >^° ^°^^ "Pon gahering provisions for their X^'^ifK"^"*^^^^^ ^^^ with nuts, and dried and salted Z^^, ^^^^ ^^^^^^ it for s,x weeks: they X Sen'f '"®'n°* *« ^^«^ them water. "Moreof afflnWi. ^® ^^°P ^^ gourds with would hav« ^^.s'^^V — '*^*''^"^"°^''«r«ormn«l..LTons - " ^""^ "^^" ^" ' ^°d better than cocoa:;rute!'' A. Woman's reason. 337 sea-mosses Js to a boat t the water; ell upon it liog strug- sand, and too weak J tears of a y righted und her," dad been " That's re as to accepted e, what- t, when 3n said, ood. I e come »en, re- >ack to •ft was id, and ^ upon tl and ked it tthem with melons nuts," he quietly remarked. They were of one mind, whatever happened, never to return to their atoll ; they had no other definite purpose ; but they talked now as if their escape were certain. " It stands to reason," said Giffen, " that it's meant for us to get back, or else this boat wouldn't have been sent for us ;" and he began to plan a life as remote from the sea as he could make it. " When I put my foot on shore, I aint going to stop walking till I get where salt water is worth six dollars a quart; yes, sir, I'm going to start with an oar on my shoulder ; and when some fellow asks me what tl >' 'hing is, I'm going to rest, and not before !" They b fire on the tower that would last all day and nigh.., ajid then they set sail out of the lagoon and through the breakers beyond the reef. The breeze was very light, but the sky was clear, with the promise of in- definite good weather : and before night-fall they saw the plumes of their palms form themselves into the tufts into which they had grown from the points they had first discovered on the horizon ; they became points again, and the night softly blotted them from the verge of the ocean. They had neither compass nor sextant ; under strange stars and alien constellations, they were wandering as absolutely at the will of the wind and waves as any savages of those seas. For awhile they saw the light of their beacon duller and paler on the waters where their island had been. This, too, died away, and the night fell around them on the illimitable sea. Fenton stood the first watch, and when he gave the helm to Gifien, he simply bade him keep the boat before the wind. In the morning, when he took it, he asked if the wind had shifted or freshened, and still kept the boat before it. Toward sunset they sighted a series of points on the horizon, which, as they approached, expanded into the plumage of palms ; the long white beach of an atoll grew from the water, and they heard faintly the thunder 338 A woman's reason. 0^^'iC^A^ ^r^- than their human life But tLre w.l ?^"'^^ ^^^««°^« «ign of andnosmokerotitveTh^l^^^^^^^ "^^^'^ *^^ pS^«. Fennel fer^atstt^^^^^^^^^^ ^ ?$-, and as it lookedJargerXntheifnll fi.^\^*-"-, ^^it^ere, must be known to naviW^on 7 ^^^ abandoned, it might be visited by sK for w«;^ IT'' «^ ^^^^r it which abounds inVeSrgt^^^^^^ bgche-de-mer, traders for a freight of thl fi!w Mc^ ^"°^ American find traces of Eu^^ean tou:^o:S^eZJ''''^f'''' se?Li?~"^ ^^-^^ehW eouldVofcen't^h:;- A^b^S S dtJe thimti; 'r ^^- ^^^ -^' beyond, and, once in the sloth WoL^l!* '^'"'^ *^^°^ reach the shore before th7f3 «§T' mf^ managed to up on the sand, and clLLd f n .if "/^- /^"^ P""«d her on which the pa^ms gr^t bu/?^ '^^ they could see notWnf Zd theVlTiT '? ^^'^ ^^^^ ' to show them the familiar nafb^ T.^ ^^^ ^^^ "^«^"i°g atoll and their towSfflermi^o^il-^l^''^^ ?^ *beir owS in the distance. S wX^ I^ ^ *^^"^^ *^^ ^«liage and when Giffen reacLlff ^ 1°"^^^^.*?^^^^^^^" «"ence. ing the ashe of the beac^^^^ w ^^'^ ^T^^^ ^^ ''^''^- soon had a blaze Lw ^? ^^""^ "P^^^^ of fire. He boiled tLeggrohheMd^^^^^^ *^^ ^^"' -nd their nests in the sedi H. k "^t'^ ^" ^^^^^^ed from nuts and poured the n.^li. ,w ^1""^ ^"'^ ^^^^^ff cocoa- for drinkiSg" ups a^^^^^^^ ^^^ shells they haS made he sat motionless' and vacant ^PP^^^^^^^ Benton, where eat, humbly, as if he exnerlf' '^' ^"1 ^'^^^^ ^^^ *« " No," safd Fenton! Stntr "Tr^ ^^°^ ^^'^^ not hungry." ^ gently. But you eat. I'm , "I reckon," said Giffen r)it-.«„„i„ '-^ nave changed in the nic^hi '^JiTC /' ^,"® ^^^^ "^ust brought us right back."^ '^thout my knowing it and A WOMAN S REASON. 339 I r than their iome sign of the palms, shore, and If it were, •andoned, it or later it ;he-de-mer, ? American 'hey might , and per- «^hen they n the reef, ried them lanaged to pulled her w plateau dark that ) morning bheir own »e foliage in silence, n search- fire. He iv-ell, and red from ig cocoa- id made n, where i him to om him. at. I'm d must rit and " Very likely," answered Fenton. " But it makes no difference. It was to be, any way." lie hardly knew how the days began to pass again ; he no longer thought of escape ; but a longing to leave some record of himself in this prison, since he was doomed never to quit it, grew up in his heart, and he wrote on the walls of his tower a letter to Helen, which he conjured the reader, at whatever time he came, to transcribe and send to her. He narrated the facts of his shipwreck and the barren history of liis sojourn on the island, his attempt to escape, and his return to it. Ho tenderly absolved her from all ties and promises, and prayed for her happiness in whatever sort she could find it. In this surrender, he felt the pang which the dead may be supposed to know when the soul passes into the exile of eternity and sees those it leaves behind inevitably committed to other affec- tions and other cares. Sometimes it seemed to him as if he might really be dead and all his experience of the past J ear a nightmare of the everlasting sleep. The tern that were nesting on the atoll when he first landed, and that visited it every six months to rear their young, were now a third time laying their eggs in the tufts of coarse, thin grass. He thought these visits of the birds were annual, and there was nothing in the cli- mate to correct his error or group in fixed periods the lapse of his monotonous days. There was at times more rain, and again less rain ; but the change scarcely divided the year into seasons ; flower and fruit were there at all times ; and spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with their distinct variety, were ideas as alien as hills and val- leys and streams, in this little land, raised for the most part scarcely a man's height above the sea, where there could never even be the names of these things in any native tongue. Once or twice the atoll felt the tremor of an earthquake, that perhaps shook continental shores, or perhaps only sent its vibrations along the ocean floor, and lifted, or let fall beneath the waves, some tiny point of PI 1 .f i 340 A woman's reason. ^Tt^l^ftmt^LT^r" l;'?r '■""' <■-«» a shower them WWon tn h„'^'''''"T,'''*' '"'"^''od """"d from cal-Tto sS and th™V"' ^'" '!° «'"'°«« •»■* broke from it LatT«;.T?i, ^"^^"^ ""'^ * ^ hurricane fln^ ^T.«! ^ * neaped the sea areui.d their islanrl ro^ from thetaT^air'S*?''^'-' "5'^ *'"' ■■»^'««='l "toU A woman's reason. 841 a shower been car- lo. This, their sole 3d around lange but The wea- or none ; before it ing it se- )est. At >t tell, in d days, a ;hat had lurrieane r isla.-id, plateau. of the^r red atoll bered to it could e cocoa hither ; lagoon ; ley had smooth f coral, y level ir dead m into )ni the in a blocks i. He ( anx- afloat. " No," said Giffen, " we can't stay." He looked d rearily out over the wreck of their fairy isle, and then with a sigh he turned into the tower again, and crouched down in the corner where Fenton had left him. "What's the matter? Are you sick, Giffen?" de- manded Fenton. Giffen did not answer, but rose with a stupid air, and came out into the sun. He shivered, but gathered himself together, and in a dull, mechanical way set about his usual work of getting breakfast. He ate little ; but when Fen- ton had finished, he went with him and helped to cut the boat free. It was hard getting it out of the mass of rocks and boughs, and it was noon before they had drag- ged her back from the point where the sea had carried her to a free space v/here they could begin to repair her. At iiie end of a week, they had her afloat in the lagoon once more and provisioned from the stores accumulated in the tower. The morning when they were to set sail, Giffen could not rise from his bed of grass. " I can't go," he said ; " I'm sick." Fenton had seen that he was ailing, with a fear from which he revolted in a frenzy of Impatient exertion. If they were but once at sea again, he had crazily reasoned with himself, then they could not help themselves, and, sick or well, they must make the best of it. This illu- sion failed him now, and he abandoned himself to a cyni- cal scorn of all that had hitherto supported and consoled him. Every act of self-sacrifice, every generous impulse seemed to him the part of a fool or a madman. Till now, he had thought that he bad somehow endured and dared all things for Helen's sake ; that anything less than he had done would have been unworthy of her ; but now the devil that was uppermost in hinx mocked him with the suggestion that the best lie could ever have done for her was to Jive for hor, and do his utpaost to return to 342 A woman's reason. :; ^L 1 A . • ^* w ^''°^'°^ ^* *^^ ^^e of the poor wretph who had twice betrayed him to despair, and who Tt W in this supreme moment, had fallen he^plesH cross the only avenue of escape that remained to him, he tremb ed d^nwn^'';:r^, temptation. He turned awiy and went down to the lagoon beach where the boat s™ ^7^- chor, and the saiJ, on which he had worked lalthe ni^t fehtTvnuVd" i^r^"^ ^^^'^ '' be stepped The £ fdt Ui±^ ^*%TTTr^ *^" faliiiig tide, and he telt the strain as if it had been anchored in his heart t?e It i 'Vt '}'''' i ^' «*Wed the mast and ra^ up ^e sail, which filled and tugged in the morning breeze He dropped it again and went back to Giffen ^ As the days pass^ed, he wat hed with the sick man and brought him the water he craved and the food heToathed there was nothing else to be done. One night Giffen roused himself from the torpor into which he had re^ mamed sunken for the most pVt. and asked : "Did you came to'Jt r ^""^^" ""''' ""'' ^^"^^ '' ^^' ^'^'^'^7 ''I've heard that— yes." said Fenton. ^imi ^^^^ happened to think of it ; because this is the first time smce I can remember, that I wasn't afraid. I was awfully afraid to stay with you on that rock when The captains boat went away; but I ain't sorry foT it now No, s,r, you' ^ behaved to me like a wiiite man from ^e 8 art; am^ now I'll tell you what I want you to do I'm aU right here-or I will be pretty soon, I reckon-and I don t want you to lose any more time. The boat's ready and now's your last chance. Don't you mind me I'd on] v bring you bad luck, anyway, if you land.orasbp picks you up, you can come back and see how I'm getting of ]f^* ^^^^^e^nFenton's temptation became the burden in In' Tm Tr ' ^'^^""'"' ^°d ^^ frantically urged Mm to go while there was still time. He seemed io wear th^J notion out through mere iteration, and" at" last/when he A WOMAN S REASON. 343 'or wretoh »o, at last, «.cross the trembled md went ng at an- the night The boat e, and he his heart, id ran up ig breeze. man, and loathed ; t, Giffen had re- Did you len they the first I was rhen the ' it now. rom the lo. I'm — and I s ready, I'd only r a ship getting burden fed him ear this rhen he awoke one day, " I dreamt," said he, " that there was a ship ! " That night, sleeping or waking, he raved of a ship that had come to take them t way. The third morn- ing after, he opened his eyes, and looked into his com- rade's face with ominous recovery of intelligence. " Has it come ? " he asked, eagerly. " The ship ? " " No, you dreamed it, Giffen," returned Fentr-n, with a tender passion unalloyed by self-pity. "My luck," said Giffen. He gasped, and made a mechanical effort to rise. He gave a sort of cry, and fixed a stare of wild demand on Fenton, who caught him in his arms. Fenton covered up the dead face with a branch of palm, and walked giddily out into the sun. It was rising, a red, rayless ball, and against this disk the figure of a ship seemed printed. He passed his hand over his eyes, and when he took it away the spectre remained. He thought he saw a boat lying at the lagoon beach, and her crew advancing up the sand toward him, men with friendly, home-like faces. They wavered and glided in the vision his watch-worn eyes reported to his reeling brain. Then one of them called out to the wild figure with matted hair, and long beard, and haggard eyes, that had stopped as if with the impulse to turn and fly, " Hallo ! " A shudder went through Fenton as he stayed himself, and faced the men again. He could not speak, but the men waited. At last, " For God's sake," he gasped, " are you something in a dream ? " " No," replied the leader, with slow gentleness, as if giving the idea consideration. " We're a boat's crew from the whale-ship Martha Brigham, of New Bedford, come ashore to see what that smoke means. Who are you ? " i i < I .'III CHAPTER XXI. Yn!?wV'^^^^ "^'^^ you.Marian-instantly!" cned Helen, re-appeanng at the Butlers' Ma- W rlnwn V?J'"^ ^°«°^' ^^s. Butler wa^ iy- i^fi, T Ii,*'"" *^^ younger sisters were en the rocks on the Wi f '^' T' ^""'^i"^ ^^^°«« ^^^ ^^ve to the the inhumanity of their youth and inexperience thev thevt U ™'y '.T^' *°<' *'"'y h""! confe away whe'^ it:ier^a3oi^xr"'"'*^*'°"'''-^-^- she had remained ia^cinated by the intensity of the^rl's "Oh it's long pafi, that! "cried Helen, "Whatlwi^h you to t«ll me is simply this, Marian Eay : Is vour his " ^r^ *^® ^^^ ^^st instant ? " Ihat you were married— so that vou couldn't fhint couldn't consider-whether you care^d Z Wm-loved' " Ctf course ! It was all settled long before. Did-" .fteJwaX''' ■ ^' '' " -^'^ -'"^d before, ifs^no time " What *u idea 1 What do you mean, Helen ? " A woman's reason. 345 " ^^ i<^'8 all fali^e about girls that marry a man because they respect and honour him, and then have a romantic time hndmg out that they love him ? " " What nonsense ! It's the most ridiculous thing in the world ! But — " ® "I was sure of it! If there's anything sacred about marrying, its the love that makes it so; and they might as well marry for money or position ! " She hid her face in her hands, and then burst out again : " But I will never have such a hideou,<< thing on my conscience— such a ghastly wrong tc him ! He said himself that if I wasn't sure that I cared for Robert, it would have been unjust to marry him ; and now how is it better with him ? It's worse ! He said it to comfort me, and it seems monstrous to turn his words against him ; but if the truth kills him, he had better die ! Yes, a thousand times ! And don't suppose I didn't see all the advantages of accepting him that you did, and that I wasn't tempted to persuadi my- self that I should care for him. I only blush and burn to think that I saw them, and that I've come away, even now, without crushing every spark of hope out of him » 1 do respect and honour him— yes, he is high-minded and good every way ; but if I don't love him, his being so good is all the more reason why I shouldn't many him. Hush ' I)on t say a word, Marian ! " she cried, hastening to spoil !?^uPf'?*' ^l ^°°^^^ ^^"' ^^*^^ hysterical insistence. Ihat dreadful old man who bought our house came, while you were gone, and offered himself to me one day • It makes me creep ! How would it be any better to marry Lord Rainford, if I didn't love him, than to marrv Mr. Everton ? " ^ She did not wait for the indignant protest that was stniggling through Marian's bewilderment at this extra- ordinary revelation and assumption. " I shall always say that you meant the kindest and best; but if you trv to aigue with me now, I shall never forgive you 1 Good- bye, dear!" She flew at her friend, and catching her 34G A woman's reason. round the nock, convulsively ki.sse thing ! How shall we meet him ? What shall we do ? ^ poor Jhin'^l concerned about that. What will she do, poor thing? That 8 what wrings my heai-t. She has thrown away the greatest chan?e that a girl .ver did • JTrt' ZrianV'^'^'^'r^ri' '^^ *--* and noblest fieart! Manan ! cried Mrs. Butler, abandoning herself she ITt r "• '' ^'' ^-"^Pa-sionate impatience^whrdid " She said she didn't love him," answered Marian, short- ly with a cast of contempt in the shortness. ' csK '7/"' I^'"^ ^''- ^"<^^«^' ^ith resignation. «crp +Lf rf J!'' ' ^^ ^''^''^ '^''°'^" "^"«<^ ^^o lives to her fT'ih« f ' ^^ '^ °»any great interests besides love, that for the time she wa^ confused as to the justice of its para- mount claim m a question of marriagi. In fact Tien found her champions in two men When Mrs. Butler stated the case to the cantain h^ promptly approved of Helen's decision ^P^ain, he Mrs. Butler stood surprised aiZKe'^^ke'cl!^' *'^' ^^^^^^ ^"^^* '^ --^ ^-m captli^""^" ""^ ^''^' ""'" ''''^'' ™^"^ ^^*^«"<^ it'" said the H.W W-."- PT^'^ ?? '■'?"^* *^ ^^y' ^ith a vexation at Helens ridiculous behaviour, which he allowed her to vent freely before he answered her a word chewing the W t?;r'^r'i^' ^ they walked to the hlseTgftW frona the beach, where she found him r^nlUn^ hi. a? on the sand. 'J "F A woman's reason. 347 I'l ran out of tho .station ! " 1. "And do •on as Helen ling ! How will she do, b. She has rl ever did : and noblest ing herself !, " why did rian, short- iion. ives to her 3 love, that )f its para- act, Helen aptain, he arry from " said the xation at id her to wing the together 3 M\Jiy uu " Its not only that she's thrown away such a splendid chance, but she's thrown it away for the mere memory of a man who couldn't compare wfth Lord Rainford in any way— even if he were alive. And when Robert iienton was alive, she wasn't certain, till it was too late that she cared for him; fid Kipthira waiting for years' and years, till she could make v> her mind, and had to quarrel with him then rjo* )ro s'l 3 was sure of it. And now for her to pretend tli. «. ^ho never can care for any one else, and that she ca; > marry Lord Rainford be- cause she doesn't love him— as if she were a girl of seventeen instead of tweAty-five ! Oh ! I've no patience with her ! ^ Ray said nothing for a moment. Then, " There's some dilterence between not being sureyou do and being sure you dont, heremarked, quietly, "and tho difference doesn't seem to be m Rainford's favour." After a moment, he asked, without looking at her, " What did you marry me " What nonsense ! You know ! " "Yes, I always thought it was for love. How would you like to have me think it wasn't ? " " Don't be absurd ! " cried his wife. But his words went deep, and at the bottom of her heart she felt in them a promise of the perpetual reconse- cration ot their marriage. A STORY was at one time current (and still has its ad- herents among those who knew vaguely something of Helens romance) to the effect that Fenton returned at a moment when his presence seemed a miracle, opportunely wrought to save her from further struggle and to reward her for all her suffering and self-sacrifice in the past. It faxed with much accuracy of date and circumstance the details of their dramatic meeting at the little house in the roit, wiiere she found him waiting for her one hot, dusty afternoon in the summer, when she came back broken in us A Woman's reason. !|i health and spirit, from a visit with some friends at the sea-side If the story had been true, it would have Sford *^S®*^^^ *^® ve^ day Helen refused Lord But, as a matter of fact, she went back to her work of making bonnets for cooks and second-girls in Margaret's cottage on Lime-kihi avenue, under conditions that would have caused an intelligent witness of it to wonder whether she were not expiating an error rather than eniovinff the recompense of devotion to a high ideal. The rewards of principle are often scarcely distinguishable from penalties and the spectator is confounded between the question of the martyr s wisdom and a dark doubt of the value of liv- ing out any real conviction in a world so badly constituted as this. Helen however, was harassed by neither of these misgivings. She never regretted her refusal of Lord Rain- ford, except for the pain it inflicted; she never blamed herself for anything but the hesitation in which she was tempted to accept him without loving him. Her sense of self-approval grew only the stronger and clearer with the tnals which gathered upon her in what might have seemed to others a sort of malign derision. Her custom fell off and the patrons who remained to her grew inevitably more and more into an odious mastery; their exactioiis increased as her health failed, and she could not always keep her promises to them ; they complained that other peoples bonnets were better made, and "more in the style. One night she overheard, through the thin partition that separated her chamber from Margaret's a tipsy threat from Margarets husband that he was going to l)e master in his owu house, and that he was going to turn that girl and her bonnets into the street. He went off to his work in the mo-ning suUen and lowering, and she and Margaret could not look at each other. She fled to Boston fo? the UftV. ■Whifn aha w,«iaao/^ in iny>yx}><^'>»_X J. 1 /-«i -r^. -— ^ , ..i— ™n..,. ,^,._.^ xxi luiiuiicicm. i/cirorai; uiara Hint's- burv« When she turned from this misery the next - — ^ J bury'i A woman's reason. 249 inds at the ould have fused Lord 3r work of Margaret's hat would T whether joying the •e wards of penalties, uestion of lue of liv- anstituted 3r of these lOrd Rain- jr blamed h she was iT sense of • with the ve seemed n fell off, nevitably exactions 3t always hat other :e in the partition ►sy threat 3e master that girl his work Margaret n for the 'a Kiugs- the next morning and ventured back to Margaret's, an explosion at the glass-works, so opportune that it seemed to her, for a black instant, as if she were guilty of the calamity through which she escaped, had freed her from - 11 she had to dread from Margaret's husband. But quite the same end had come to her experiment. Margaret could not live upon the little sum that Helen paid her for board ; in sp'te of her impassioned devotion to her darling, and her good intention (w^'nessed. again and again to all her saints), she was forced to break up her little establishment and find a servant's place ; and Helen did not know where else to go. In her extremity she appealed, of course, neither to the Butlers nor to Clara Kingsbury, but to Cornelia Root, and this proved to be the most fortunate as well as the most natural course. Zenas Pearson had just moved his photographic establishment up from Hanover street to the fashionable quarter of the town, and had applied to Cornelia for some pretty-appearing, respectable girl, to stay in the front room and receive people, and show them the different styles of photographs, and help them to de- cide in what shape and size they would be taken. Ther« was nothing mean about Zenas Pearson, and he was wil- ling, he told Cornelia, to pay the right girl ten dollars a week as a stai-t-off, and to put it up to twelve within the year, if she behaved herself, and showed any sconce for the business. Cornelia trembled with excitement and eagerness in lay- ing the proposition before a person so perfectly adapted to the place in every respect as Helen, and they did not lose an instant in going to Zonas and closing with him. " Did she want to come right off ? " he asked Helen ; and at a little hesitation on her part he looked more closely at her worn face and said, " Well, take a week to recuper- ate, and come the 20th. I don't know that I'll be ready for you much before that ^ime, any way." 350 A woman's reason. She spentthe week with the Butlers, who were now too well used to her eccentricity to attempt any protest against this new phase of it. They had all reconc led themselves to her refusal of Lord Rainf ord ; even Marian Ray had accepted the inevitable, and^she and Helen had a^ ong quiet talk about the matter, in which therf^U^^ about k^'^nHM^"^ 'T/1 ^^^^^ quarrel betweeJtherJ about It, and Marian told her the latest news of him and mft nn^ her v/.th a manly self-abnegati'on which per- mitted no question of her conduct throughout. .r.A ' .^'^T^ generous," said Helen, witha sigh- JhatZt^T^^^r^!? ^^^^ ^^y which' made herlei ^at the word was hardly adequate. She had gone with Marian, who wished to give some instruction! about a picture she wa^ having framed, to the shop where Helen whpn f^ ^ir^'-^ble meeting with Lord Rainford; and when the business was finished, the proprietor said, with Tn^InTur nlf^T-' T ^^^^ ^"^^^^«^' ^^^ remember T mLJ. P f ^? • "* ^ y^^^ ^SO With an English gentle- wfndow?'^^' looking at some imitation Limoges in the ?R!l^''^''f ?"" ^T^^^' ,^^^ P^^^^P^ alarmed, as sent. «nA 'fT ^^^^?^d bought them after you went away and said he would send his address; but we've Zvlr heard of him from that day to this, and we don't wani teuCwrotwar^^- ^ ^^^^^^ P-^s you cou?d' Engknd ^^^^^^^^ " '' ™ ^''"^ ^^^"^^^^- ^-' Vs in rr.^^^'" ^^'^ xi"^ proprietor. And as she said nothme «' WhlTf "^^^ ^"T? ^^^«^" apologetically away ^ Why didnt you let me give his address?" asked v,„ .1. ...'ri'"™ ^^ ''^*"' '"'ended to take them awav ■ he thought they were hideous," Helon answered She A woman's reason. 351 i were now ny protest reconciled en Marian Helen had they mily «^een them f him, and ifjing and ^hich per- ;h a sigh ; le her feel jone with } about a 3re Helen :ord; and iaid, with smber be- ih gentle- fes in the d, absent. !nt away, ve never n't want m could it he' sm nothing iway. asked so by a a away ; id. She added presently, " He must have gone back to buy them because I said that the poor wretch who painted them was to be pitied ! " Marian had now been at home more than six months and her Anglo-mania had in some degree abated. She no longer expected to establish an hereditary aristocracy and a state church among us, whatever she secretly wished to do. She had grown resigned to the anomalies of our civilization in some degree. She had rediscovered <;ertain traits of it that compared favourably even with those of England ; but she cherished a conviction that an English noble was the finest gentleman in the world ; that her own husband was still finer was a mystery of faith, easily tenable, though not susceptible of exegesis. She now preserved the silence of one whose point has been sufficiently made for her, and left Helen to recognise it. Helen was not reluctant to do so. " Yes, Marian," she said, fervently, " considering what had just happened, that was very magnanimous in him. It was exquisite ! " " Oh, ;t was merely what he owed to himself as a gen-* tleman," said Marian, with well-concealed triumph. It seemed to be a day of trial for Helen. A gaunt shabby man, coming down the pavement toward them, lifted his hand half-way to his hat at sight of her, and then as if Seeing himself unrecognized, dropped it to his side again and slunk by. Helen turned and stopped him. "Mr. Kimball! Is that you?" " Yes, what there is left," answered Kimball, with a ghost of his old quizzical smile, and the spectre of his mu- nicipal, office-holding patronage of manner, as he took Helen's extended hand. "Why— why— what's the matter ? " " Well, I've been sick for a spell back. Just got to knocking around again," said Kimball, evasively. " You don't look over and above well yourself, Miss Harknesa." " No, no, I'm not well. But I'm better now. Are you -- — •" She stopped, with her eyes upon his conspicuous I ! 352 I i ! I 1 I I : A woman's reason. shabbiness, and through an irresistible association of ideas she added,-" Mr. Kimball, I hope you got the money that I returned you, safely ? " money his^tiT^^« W^Jf ^^'^u^^' ^^^ kicked the pavement with « Y^u did'^te r '""^"'' ^^^"^*^^*^^' " ' ^^^-'^ •" voulpnril"^^*; / *^^^ '^y'''^^ atthetime thatlknew ^BTar't of m!»' ' ^"^"^ ""^'^^^ ^ *^^ P-^-^- got ;; Why didn't you tell me ? " demanded Helen. TT^l' youJ.no^> I couldn't do that," said Kimball. Heien took out her purse. There were only twelve no borinw ' if ^"r ^*1^ ^^^^^^ «^' «o that s^he couW not borrow of her, and make up ^he whole sum at once But she put the money in Kimball's hand, and said "I wm bring you the rest this very day. Shku I br na if to the custcm-house ? " ^ ^^ " " ^^' f? > there's been a change, you know. My coUec- tor was kicked out, and all our heads went intTfhe bas ket together. I ain't there any more. I guesrwe'Il cal this square now. I don't feel just right about talTing this money Miss Harkness, but I've been sick, and m/ ^ife amt herself ; and-well, I guess it's a godsend '^ H s hps twitched. "I feel kind%f mean about Tbut I' 1 wJ^Jt^l "m'"^ t'' 5*WintheCuse"*orI ^u sent it '' ^ ^""^ ""^ ^^^^ '^'^ ^« ^""'^^ mo" Y^^ii? *^® ^^^^^ '^ your shabby friond, Helen ? " de- manded Manan, when Helen had overtaken h3r at last r«l ' ^1^ V«!u *° ^' K *^^ custom-house. Ho', a cha- nffn^'^ . ^^'' *^.! °°" ^^^ *old Lord Rai ford, when he fb^n ^ deposit money for the duties on those Egyptian teen'^ge'n^etn?^ '^^" ^°"' '''' '' ^'^'^ ~'^ " How amusing ! " iCS, J thoUffht if, was amMainr, A,-.-, T>- 1 T J think I can ever=laugh at l^^^- the sh^t he rTps A woman's reason. 353 on of ideas, the money jment with " I didn't." hat I knew t-office got m. Kimball, dy twelve ' she could m at once, id said, " I I bring it Mycollec- the bas- we'll call iking this 1 my wife Dd." His b, but I'll )use, or I we knevj en ? " de- at last. o' * a cha- wlien he %yptian lecessary I don't her lips till she could command her voice sufficiently to tell what had just passed between her and Kimball. Marian continued to be amused by it. In the flush of her re-Anglicization, she said it was a very American affair But she added that something ought really to be done for the chivalric siupleton, and that she was eoins to tell Ray about him. * During the week tuat Helen spent with the Butlers, be- fore she was to take her place in Zen ,d Pearson's Photo- graphic Parlours, as he called them, the wisdom of her -deci- sion was tested by another incident or accident— one of those chances of real life which one must hesitate to lecord because they have so much the air of having been con- J!^ V. ^^°™ ^^^ ^'^® "^ *^^ ^«^*^' »^^ liad contracted the suburban habit of lunching at restaurants, so alien to a Bostonian lady proper ; and one day, when she was down-town alone, she found herself at a table in Parker's so near that of two other ladies that she could not help hearing what they said. They were both dressed with a certain floridity, and one was a fearless, good-humoured beauty, who stared a great deal about the room and out of the window, and, upon the whole, seemed amused to realize herself in Boston, as if it were a place whose pecu- liarities she had reflected much upon, without b*^ing greatly awed or dazzled by them. " We used to see a great many Bostoniansin California when the Pacific road was first opened. They came out there in shoals and I after- wards met them in Japan— men, I mean, of course. I had had quite a flirtation with one— the pleasant est one I ever met." The lady breathed, above the spoil of the-quail- on-toast before her, a sigh to the memory of this agreeable passage m her life. " Yes, a regular flirtation. It was on the steamer coming to San Francisco, and he was on his way home to be married, poor fellow, and I suppose he thought. Now or never ! The steamer broke her shaft, and had to put back to Japan, and he took passage home on a sailing ut sel that we hailed, and she was lost, and '<■■ id 354 A woman's Bi: ASON the last that waa known of him he was on a reef in the Pacific with three others, whik ,. boatful of people went off to prospect for land. When ihe boat came bLk thev were gone and nobody ever knew vha> became of them " « nv ^^'**^"''^^ became of the girl, Mrs. } lowers ? " Vh, as to that, this deponent saith not. Cons., hd her- Belt, J ."appose, in the usual way." The two V )menlari,rhed together, and began to pull up their sacka. v. inch had dropped from their should^ into tneii' cTiairs rehind them. Helen tiied to speak, but she could not. She tried to rise ana seiiie the woman before she left the .^om, to make f o!lfi!i f tr ^''T'^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^<^«- But 1. 10 shame of a temble doubt crushed her with a burden uader which she could not move. When the waiter, respectfully hover- ing near, approached at last, and, viewing her untouched plate, suggestively asked if he could bring her anything more, she said « No," and paid her ch..ck and came out ^ It was a beautiful day, but she walked spiritlessly along m the sunshine that seemed to smile iif& into eveiT- thing but her ; and she feebly sought to adjust the pang of this last blow to some misdeed of her own. But .she could not. She could only think how she should once have contrasted Lord Rainford's nobleness with Robert's follv and indignantly preferred him. But now she was aware ot not having the strength to do this-of not being able to pluck her heart from the idea to which love and loss had rooted it; and she could not even wish any- thmg but to die. In another world, perhaps~if there were any other world-Robert could explain ai.d justify *^^ weakness for which she could not do oth . \an pity Her brain wa oduU, and jaded witL.t, ^^, ' when she dragged herself ,rily up the step.s at iV riders' door, she felt no surpnse that it should be the oi. Captain who '^r •'-- -^ ^" iici, ui hiim ne snouid seek (^ ! Ja her in ' ne with him. At last,st- ^4tsome- -room A WOMAN S ilEASON. 355 . reef in the )eople went B back the V le of them.'* vevH ? " 'ns'.Ied her- 1 to pull up ulders into he tried to m, to make shame of a ider which illy hover- antouched : anything ame out. ipiritlessly ntoeveiy- b the pang But she I once have )ert's folly, vas aware jeing able love and '^ish any- — if there id justify \&n pity when she ers' door, tain who ia her in 4t some- thing strange in his manner, and a mystery in the ab- sence of all the others, and she asked : " What is it. Captain Butler ? " He seemed troubled, as though he felt himself unequal to the task before him. " Helen," he began, '• do you still sometimes think that those men's story about Robert wasn't true ? " "I know it wasn't true. I always knew they killed Tiim. Why do you ask me that ? " " I didn't mear that," returned the captain with increas- ing trouble, " but that perhaps he " She turned upon him in awful quiet. " Captain Butler, don't try to soften or break any bad news to me ! What is it I haven't borne, that you think I must be spared now? You will make it worse, what- ever you are keeping back. Did they leave him there to starve on that rock — did " " No, no. It isn't that. Mrs. Butler thought that I could prepare — we've had news " " News ?— prepare ? Oh, how can you mock me so? For pity's sake, what is it ? " The captain's poor attempt to mediate between her and whatever fact he was concealing broke down in the appeal with which he escaped from Helen through the open door, and called his wife. She came quickly, as if she had been waiting near, and, as on that day when she had told the girl of her father's death, she took her fast in her anns. Perhaps the thoughts of both went back to that hour. " Helen— Helen— Helen ! It's life this time ! You have borne the worst so bravely. I know you can bear the rest. Robert is here ! " The papers of that time gave full particulars of Fen- ton's rescue from the island on which he was cast away, ftTlfl i}\f^. rAaclpr fan \\ar'A}fT ViqtTrk #^i.«/-»*frv»» -i-l^rvvvt Ti. :., — — » w— ... ,i,vi-i,j iitiiTV iuiifvuucn uiiuu^. xv xd unnecessary even to record the details of his transfer, after several months, from the whaler which took him 356 A woman's eeason. off, to another vessel homeward bound, and of his final Zr • '"^ ^^^ ?"°^^^^^- ™«^ the miracle of his^- surrection had become familiar enough for Helen to begin to touch it at a point here and there she asked wnninl T-lf "i ^^^ '^'^""^^y answered herself that it would have killed jher if he had done so ; and tha. if he had not been there at once to help her bear theflctof his being alive, she could not have borne it. . . 1 hey were married, and went to live in a little house S;: wSif ^'Sl^ ^^°?^^^^ ^-^ Margaret "am" to live with them. She sacrificed to this end an ideal ste had Z'T'r ""'" ??"^^ ^" ^^'' Somerville, where «ol ^ .1'''^^ ''^'''^^ °^ *^^ housework for twelve per- otW.M '^'^f something, that Miss Helen kept^no other girl, and it was everything that she could be with seT^S ^-"t«^-^Fenton should be ordered awa^to sea again. He had six months' leave, and he tried to find home occupation which would justify him in quitting the kZ; a ^\*'"°'^ '''*^^?^' ^"^ '"^ *^« leisure of Miis time Helen and he concerned themselves rather with their p^? hZtZn^u""""' ?'^ rehabilitated every moment of ^iw -^^l"' ^\^' *^^i^ ^^es came completely to- gether again he developed certain limitations whidi at hrat puzzled her. She did not approach that naTJe whict related to Lord Rainford witLut trying to^3 p"L1s 'rd^'^^^ "^'t' \— -y> she co'iw^make t Kobert, who is Mrs. Bowers ?" "Did «Ae turn up ? " he asked in replv with a iovoi,« ■ S'"" XttL*' --^^f-'^d and iJrijrnsUTh wue. Ihat was very kind of her. But how did <.!.» find you out 1 I never told her your name ' ' AMXritTf.' \;Pri^«"?-"rd Helen. Mrs Bowers l^*^'^!.^'?' j^^'T/^^ happened to know of "■■ ■ '* ^^'^ "'^^ iiuii-iiuur tnat iady liad given A woman's reason. 357 f his final > of his re- Helen to she asked ancisco as elf that it thau if he he fact of • ttle house aret came an ideal lie, where irelve per- kept no I be with I away to Bd to find itting the •bis time their past loment of letely to- which at passage to estab- tnake re- lay: a joyous • Joled his T did she know of id given "Well, she might call it a flirtation," said Fenton, " But I didn't know it was one. I thought it was just walking up and down the deck and talking about you." " I'd rather you wouldn't have talked to that kind of people about me," returned Helen, with a retrospective objection which she tried in vain to make avail her. " How should / know what kind of person she was ? / never took the least notice of anything she did or said." This was heavenly hopeless, and Helen resolved that for the present, at least, she would not inculpate herself. But she found herself saying^ : " Well, then, I'm gomg to tell you about something that all came from my being desperate about you, and flirting a little one day just after you sailed." She went on to make a full and free confession, to which her husband listened with surprisingly little emo- tion. He could not see anything romantic in it at all. He could not see anything remarkable in Lord Rainford. " You can't," he said finally, " expect me to admire a man who came so near making an Enoch Arden of me." " Oh, you know he never came near doing anything of the kind, Robert." ** He came as near as ^ could. Do you wish me to admire him because you *ciused him ? You refused me three times." " I wish you to — to— appreciate him." Fenton laughed. " Oh, well, I do that, of course. I've no doubt he was a very good fellow, and I dare say he's behaving more sensibly than I did. From what you tell me, I think hell get over K"3 disappointment. Perhaps he'll end by marrying sc v jne who will help him to complete his re- action, and cure him of all his illusions about us over here. But his buying that pottery was nothing. He would have been a very poor creature if he had resented your refusa' I know that from my own experience " 358 A woman's heaqon. made her share in the gooH ^ / , i ^h ht with which husband and wife alway.- calk over the sorrows of un hioKj pretendan 8. Ho i.rofessed to find something much more admirable in Kimball's quiet acceptance of thZss ho had incurred through Helen. That, he said, was fine for Aimball was supported by no sentimental consMem-' t^on.. and had no money to back his delicacy, He looked CO lid do nothing to advance his ownfortunes hadthecheer- ful audacity to suppose that he might promote another's He wrote to Washington and tried tS get Kimball appoint: edassi^.tant-keeper.>foneoftblig^ worked tor the newly elected congi-essman Kimball found a phce as night-watchman in a la^e clothi'iSuso where he dist^iguished himself when o/duty on^daHy quelling a panic among the sewing-girls at an alarm of fire and getting them saf<4y out of the uu^ldini ^r 'e newspaper Sclat folio™ this affai^ seemed t^o have silently wrought upon the ima ination of a public spirited gentleman whc -bout ihat f e was n.aturiinrplans o^Indu^friS^ oLnS n ^^^Young Ladies. The Institute was opened on p small r le in the residence ,^ Mr Ever^n a. Beacon «teps which he devoied to it durin A^life ^d at his death it was removed tn the new bSv ft West Newton; but from the fii. ., Kimball wai^p^ t, ^ « I don't seem to feel," he said, "as if it was quite the ^o^M^ renton'^T^^'.^ ^^^^?^ ' By your ?eave ' to fC'hf ^ ^^r /^'''^ Wot the first time I was in the house; and I don't sunnos^ I a^«t. r^oo.H -^ ^x" " iookin^ up at them steps an¥th[n'kin' of yo^i jusl^hTwyou A woman's reason. 359 inford; he k^ith which >ws of un- hing much af the loss I, was fine, considein- He looked man that thecheer- another's. 1 appoint- /ape AjQn ; i wliu had , Kimball ng-houso, le day by alarm of ng. The to have c spirited his plans Institute tute was Everton f his life, idinr^ at sp^'* in 'om the ippoiiit- uitt the jave ' to " was in lowyou with your appeared when you came runnin' up that day bag in your hand, and I let you in. " Yes, I remember it, too, Mr. Kimball. But you mustn't thmk of it as my old home, and you mustn't feel as if you were intruding If the place could be anything to me after Mr. Everton had lived there, I should be glad to think of you and Mrs. Kimball in it, ooking after those poor eirls as I know you will." re, "I ^uess we shall do the best we know how by 'em And, whatever Mr. Everton is,— and i guess least said's soonest mended, even among friends, about him in some respects,— you can't say but what it's a good object. If he can have girls without any dependence but themselves taught how to do something for their own livin', I guess ^ 8 about equal to tumin' the house into a church. And iauesa the old gentleman's about right iv confinin' it to r - brought up as ladies. I aint much on caste myself, as 1 K:now f, but I guess that's the class of girls that need help th ost. " "Oh, yc >, indeed ! " cried Helen, fervently. "Of all help- less creatures in the world, they are the most to be pitied I know you'll be kind to them, Mr. Kimball, and save their poor foolish feelings all you can, and i.at mind their weak, silly little pride, if it ever shows itself." "I guess you can depend upon me for that," said Klr..^. ball. " I understand girls pretty well— or T >ught to by this time. And once a lady, always a lady, 1 say." Helen even promised to come with her husband to see the Kimballs in her old home. She courageously kept her promise, and she was rewarded by meeting Mr. Everton tnere. He received her very cordially, si owing no sort of piqjie or resentment— no more, Fenton suggested, than Lord Rainford himself— and took her over the h'ouse, and explained all his plans ^o Ur with a flattering confidence m her interest. There were already some young ladies trxei^e, and he introduced Helen to them, and,'in the excess of his good feeling, hinted at the desirability of her for- 360 A woman's reason. mally addressing thorn, as visitors to schools are expected to do. She refused imperatively ; but to one of the girls with whom she found hei-self in nympath y, she opened her heart and told her own story. •" Aiid oh ! " she said at the end, " do learn to do some- thing that people have need of, and learn to do it well and humbly, and just as if you had been working for your hvingall your life Try to notice how men do things, and when you re at work, to forget that you're a woman, and. above all, a young lady." After she came away, she said there was one more thing she wished to say to that girl. " What was that ? " asked Fenton. " Not to omit the first decent opportunity of marrying any one she happened to be in love with." " P^^^aps it wasn't necessary to say that," suggested her "No," sighed Helen; "and that's what undoes all the rest. When the Butlers heard of this visit of hers to her old home it seemed to them but another instance of that ex- traordinary fortitude of spirit which they had often reason to admire m her. Marian Ray could not suffer it to pass, however, without some expression of surprise, that Fenton should have allowed her to go: she was a little his rival on behalf of Lord Rainford still, and she seized what occa- sions she could for an unfavourable comparison of their characters. In fact, now that he had really come back she had not wholly forgiven him for doing so ; but the younger sisters rejoiced in him as a thoroughly satisfactory equi- valent for the romance they had lost in the nobleman. If Helen was not to be Lady Rainford, it was consoling to have her the wife of a man who had been cast away on a desert island, and had been mourned for dead a whole year k 1?**^®' '^^®^ ^®^® disappointed however, that he should not be always tellinsr the stoi of his advpnf nraa but should only now and then drop bits of it in a scrappy A woman's reason. 3(31 ^' W^S t^ ? "* ^"".^ y°" •^'^' »"y of the time." iieveri exclaimed Jessie Butler. " We want hou "TCThfrr^* him." said his wife, fondly. ««lf TfPP^''®^ ^ y""^. ' ^"®^ hi« champion against him 4^" tsiri?" "•" '*" "^ *- 'You needn't try to get out of it in that wav i ^^n» s'h Jer^ ^**"'"^ ^^ ^ ^-^ hero/' V-TtJ3*L ^o',!! fee hero laughed and did his best to bear the part like ■nan. Another of the youm? tnrh t^k uTf »:"!£!?: ^"^^ a man. 28 362 ' i-i.^H H'tm. \\ -t ■"■/■p; - '. ■ .9. h -if- - - -f ##■ ■H|||l HiPi^'' ■' ■■ ^;^ V" ?•: ri |: '■"".V SI 1 A woman's reason. onl'Jl^!'/''" "^f S ^® ^''*^''^^y satisfactoiy if you had %0-Giffen r "" ^''"'P^''^^'' ^^ misfortune." ^ fT,r I«;t ^® ^^^?"^ ^"^ hopelessly common-place," sighed the gentle connoisseur of castaways. "He was certainly not more than an average fellow- e'^uatto'hfs b^adty^"""^ *^ ''^^^' "^'^ ^^ -- sil^tl^" ^^ ^""^ ^^^^"^ '^^''^ ^^''°®' ^^ ™ ^ ^«°g *i°^e las't^^** '^ *^^ "'***^''' Robert?" she asked tenderly at ;' Oh nothing » he said. " But whenever it comes to that rSt 'allele:!?.?* "'*" "^ ' --**'* *» '-e hi'^ •' ^ou didn't want to ! " she protested for him. Ah. don t put It that way ! " he cried. " The best you can say for me is that I didn't do it " ^ fJ}"^ could only tell him that she loved him more dearly for the temptation he confessed than if there had been no breach in his armour. He had a simplicity in dealing with fv Sr W?'"\'^ w^P'^r^^ ^^^^^ «^^°^«d to hfr half wl^T 7^f «heJio% invoked justice upon the wretches who had stolen the boat and abandoned him and Giffen iX f W 1^°t'.^' "i^' " ^^' ^^^* ^'^"Id ^*«^« ^«r a thing Ike that? The only way was for them to escape altoge- ZaI ^ w^ld °ot even let her denounce them as cow- ards ; he contended that they had shown as much mere for^iffiS""' ! '"^'^T^. *^? °^^y «°« ^ be admired, for Giffen was afraid all the time, and yet remained to share his fate But Helen contended th*t this wa^ noth^ K'h^^^^^^^ «^« -^«^^^ *o P-- him for r.M\!tb ^'''''n '1 ^? ^i^' .^*h ^^^^^^ seriousness. " There's nothing m all that. It might all have happened to a worse , {.^ xxa^j^iicvi w luiuiy a oeiter one. It hurts -1f A woman's reason. 363 you had » '\ >," sighed :e fellow- it he was ong time riderly at 38 to that eave him best you re dearly i been no ting with > her half wretches id Giffen • a thing B altoge- as cow- ich mere in any- idmired, ained to Eis noth- him for ' There's a worae it hurts me to have you value me for it. Let it go, and give me a little chance for the future." Hd-was indeed eager to escape from all that related to that passage of his life, and Helen learned to believe this. At certain moments, be seemed to be suffering from some strange sort of mental stress which he could not explain, but which they both thought must be the habit of anguish formed in his impri- sonment on the atoll. It sometimes woke him from his sleep— the burden, but not the drama, of nightmare— a mere formless horror, which they had to shape and recog- nise for themselves. ^ It grew less and less as the time passed, and when his orders came to report for duty at Washington, they had strength for the parting. He supposed that he was to be sent to sea again, but he found that he was to be put in charge for the present of the revenue cutter for provision- ing the light-houses on the Rhode Island coast ; and when removed from this service, he was appointed to a post in the Narragansett Navy Yard. It is there that Helen still tmds her home, m a little house overlooking the bay, ou the height behind the vast sheds, in which two frigates of obsolete model, begun in Polk's time, are slowly rotting on the stocks m a sort of emblematic expression of the pre- sent formidable character of the American navy. In the meantime, Fenton is subject to be ordered away at any moment upon other duty; but till his orders come, he rests with Helen in as much happiness as can faJl to the share of people in a world of chance and change. The days of their separation have already faded into the incre- dible past; and if her experience ever had any peculiar significance to her, it is rapidly losing that meaning. She remams limited in her opinions and motives by the acci- dents of tradition and circumstance that shape us all • at the end she is neither more nor less than a lady, as she was at the begmning. She has acquired no ideals of woman's work or woman's destinv ahf, ia rriori +/> u..„^ auivcvi 111 the old way the problems that once beset her ; and in all 364 A woman's reason. that has happened shp feels as if she had escaped rathetv than achieved. She is the same, and yet not quite the same, for one never endures or endeavours to one's self alone ; she keeps her little prejudices, but she has accu- mulated a stock of exceptions to thei ^pUcation: her sympathies if not her opinions, have beta enlarged : and above aU, her unconsciousness has been trained to meet bravely, and sweetly the duties of a life which she is con- tent should never be splendid or am! tious. THE END. •"SMSK^KwUfnlSBi,-* )ed ratheiv quite the one's self has accu- btion; her ged; and a to meet he is con- fjd