UC-NRLF 
 
 meron rnae 
 
 MARYJ.HOLMES 
 
- 
 
THE CAMERON PRIDE 
 
 OR 
 
 PURIFIED BY SUFFERING 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. MARY J. HOLMES 
 
 AUTHOR OF "TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE," "HUGH WORTHINGTON, 
 
 "LENA RIVERS," ETC., ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 HURST & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
MARY J. HOLMES SERIES 
 
 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME 
 
 By MARY J. HOLMES 
 
 .Aikensiele. 
 ;Ba4 Hugir. 
 
 Darkness and Daylight. 
 Dora Deane. 
 Edith Lyle s Secret. 
 English Orphans, The. 
 Ethelyn s Mistake. 
 Family Pride. 
 
 Homestead on the Hill 
 side, The. 
 
 Hugh Worthington. 
 
 Leighton Homestead, 
 The. 
 
 Lena Rivers. 
 
 Maggie Miller. 
 Marion Grey. 
 Meadow Brook. 
 
 Mildred ; or, The Child 
 of Adoption. 
 
 Millbank ; or, Roger 
 Irving s Ward. 
 
 Miss McDonald. 
 
 Rector of St. Marks, 
 The. 
 
 Rosamond. 
 Rose Mather. , 
 Tempest and Sunshine. 
 
 Price, postpaid, ^oc. each, or any three 
 books for $1.25 
 
 HURST & COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK 
 
HS 
 
 TO 
 
 MY BROTHER, 
 
 Tktrfte Ibawes, 
 
 IN MEMORY OF THE OCTOBER DAY WHEN WE RAMBLED OVER THE 
 
 SILVERTON HILLS, 
 
 WHERE MORRIS AND KITTY LIVED, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, 
 
 Brown Cottage, February 22, 1867. 
 
 961739 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAOJC 
 
 I. The Farm-house at Silverton 7 
 
 II. Linwood 19 
 
 III. Wilford Cameron 26 
 
 IV. Preparing for the Visit . 35 
 
 V. Wilford s Visit 41 
 
 VI. In the Spring 51 
 
 VII. Wilford s Second Visit 58 
 
 VIII. Getting Ready to be Married 68 
 
 IX. Before the Marriage 79 
 
 X. Marriage at St. John s ... 85 
 
 XL After the Marriage 89 
 
 XII. First Months of Married Life 99 
 
 XIII. Katy s First Evening in New York 109 
 
 XIV. Extracts from Bell Cameron s Diary 121 
 
 XV. Toning Down Bell s Diary Continued 124 
 
 XVI. Katy 136 
 
 XVII. The New House 135 
 
 XVIII. Marian Hazelton 144 
 
 XIX. Saratoga and Newport 151 
 
 XX. Mark Ray at Silverton 156 
 
 XXI. A New Life 1G9 
 
 XXII. Helen in Society 183 
 
 XXIII. Baby s Name 193 
 
 XXIV. Trouble in the Household 198 
 
 XXV. Aunt Betsy goes on a Journey 211 
 
 XXVI. Aunt Betsy Consults a Lawyer 226 
 
 XXVII. The Dinner Party 234 
 
6 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER PAOE 
 
 XXVIII. The Seventh Regiment 241 
 
 XXIX. Katy goes to Silverton 247 
 
 XXX. Little Genevra 259 
 
 XXXI. After the Funeral 269 
 
 XXXII. The First Wife 274 
 
 XXXIII. What the Page Disclosed 281 
 
 XXXIV. The Effect 290 
 
 XXXV. The Interview , 292 
 
 XXXVI. The Fever and its Results 302 
 
 XXXVII. The Confession 308 
 
 XXXVIII. Domestic Troubles 316 
 
 XXXIX. What Followed 327 
 
 XL. Mark and Helen 331 
 
 XLI. Christmas Eve at Silverton 335 
 
 XLII. After Christmas Eve 345 
 
 XLIII. Georgetown Hospital 349 
 
 XLIV. Last Hours 359 
 
 XLV. Mourning 366 
 
 XLVI. Prisoners of War 368 
 
 XLVII. Doctor Grant 372 
 
 XLVIII. Katy ; 385 
 
 XLIX. The Prisoners 390 
 
 L. The Day of the Wedding 396 
 
 LI. The Wedding 404 
 
 LII. Conclusion 408 
 
THE CAMERON PRIDE; 
 
 OR, PURIFIED BY SUFFERING. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE FARM-HOUSE AT SILVERTON. 
 
 UNCLE EPHRAIM BARLOW was an old-fashioned man, 
 clinging to the old-time customs of his fathers, and looking 
 with but little toleration upon what he termed the " new 
 fangled notions " of the present generation. Born and 
 reared amid the rocks and hills of the Bay State, his nature 
 partook largely of the nature of his surroundings, and he 
 grew into manhood with many a rough point adhering 
 to his character, which, nevertheless, taken as a whole, was, 
 like the wild New England scenery, beautiful and grand. 
 None knew Uncle Ephraim Barlow but to respect him, and 
 at the church in which he was a deacon, few would have 
 been missed more than the tall, muscular man, with the 
 long white hair, who, Sunday after Sunday, walked slowly 
 up the middle aisle to his accustomed seat before the altar, 
 and who regularly passed the contribution box, bowing in 
 voluntarily in token of approbation when a neighbor s gift 
 was larger than its wont, and gravely dropping in his own 
 ten cents never more, never less, always ten cents his 
 weekly offering, which he knew amounted in a year to 
 just five dollars and twenty cents. And still Uncle 
 Ephraim was not stingy, as the Silverton poor could 
 testify, for many a load of wood and bag of meal found 
 entrance to the doors where cold and hunger would have 
 otherwise been, while to his minister he was literally a 
 holder up of the weary hands, and a comforter in the time 
 of trouble. 
 
 His helpmeet, Aunt Hannah, like that virtuous woman 
 
8 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 mentioned in the Bible, was one "who seeketh wool and 
 tflax,; <artd jtforiceth -willingly with her hands, who riseth 
 wtiile yet it is night, and giveth meat to her household," 
 while Miss Betsy Barlow, the deacon s maiden sister, was 
 a character in her way, and bore no resemblance to those 
 frivolous females to whom the Apostle Paul had reference 
 when he condemned the plaiting of hair and the wearing 
 of gold and jewels. Quaint, queer and simple-hearted, 
 she had but little idea of any world this side of heaven, 
 except the one bounded by the " huckleberry " hills and 
 the crystal waters of Fairy Pond, which from the back 
 door of the farm-house were plainly seen, both in the sum 
 mer sunshine and when the intervening fields were covered 
 -with the winter snow. 
 
 The home of such a trio was, like themselves, ancient 
 and unpretentious, nearly one hundred years having elapsed 
 since the solid foundation was laid to a portion of the 
 building. Unquestionably it was the oldest house in 
 Silverton, for on the heavy oaken door of what was called 
 the back room was still to be seen the mark of a bullet, 
 left there by some marauders who, during the Revolution, 
 had encamped in that neighborhood. George Washington, 
 it was said, had spent a night beneath its roof, the deacon s 
 mother pouring for him her Bohea tea and breaking her 
 home-made bread. Since that time several attempts had 
 been made to modernize the house. Lath and plaster had 
 been put upon the rafters and paper upon the walls, 
 wooden latches had given place to iron, while in the parlor, 
 where Washington had slept, there was the extravagance 
 of a porcelain knob, such, as Uncle Ephraim said, was 
 only fit for gentry who could afford to be grand. For 
 himself he was content to live as his father did ; but young 
 folks, he supposed, must in some things have their way, 
 and so when his pretty niece, who had lived with him 
 from childhood to the day of her marriage, came back 
 to him a widow, bringing her two fatherless children and 
 a host of new ideas, he good-humoredly suffered her to 
 tear down some of his household idols and replace them 
 with her own. And thus it was that the farm-house grad 
 ually changed its appearance, for young womanhood which 
 lias had one glimpse of the outer world will not settle 
 
The Cameron Fnde. 
 
 down quietly amid fashions a century old. t ,Lucy. Lennox, 
 when she returned to the farm-hou^e, ^a^not ^ute "the 
 same as when she went away. InSeed, Aunt Betsy in her 
 guileless heart feared that she had actually fallen from 
 grace, imputing the fall wholly to Lucy s predilection for 
 a certain little book on whose back was written " Common 
 Prayer/* and at which Aunt Betsy scarcely dared to look y 
 lest she should be guilty of the enormities practiced by 
 the Romanists themselves. Clearer headed than his sister, 
 the deacon read the black-bound book, finding therein 
 much that was good, but wondering " why, when folks 
 promised to renounce the pomps and vanities, they did not 
 do so, instead of acting more stuck up than ever." In 
 consistency was the underlying strata of the whole Epis 
 copal Church, he said, and as Lucy had declared her prefer 
 ence for that church, he too, in a measure, charged her 
 propensity for repairs to the same source with Aunt Betsy; 
 but, as he could see no sin in what she did, he suffered 
 hr in most things to have her way. But when she con 
 templated an attack upon the huge chimney occupying the 
 centre of the building, he interfered ; for there was nothing 
 he liked better than the bright fire on the hearth when 
 the evenings grew chilly and long, and the autumn rain 
 was falling upon the roof. The chimney should stand, 
 he said; and as no amount of coaxing could prevail on 
 him to revoke his decision, the chimney stood, and with 
 it the three fire-places, where, in the fall and spring, were 
 burned the twisted knots too bulky for the kitchen stove. 
 This was fourteen years ago, and in that lapse of time 
 Lucy Lennox had gradually fallen in with the family ways? 
 of living, and ceased to talk of her cottage in western New 
 York, where her husband had died and where were born* 
 her daughters, one of whom she was expecting home on 
 the warm July day when our story opens. 
 
 Katy Lennox had been for a year an inmate of Canan- 
 daigua Seminary, whither she was sent at the expense of 
 a distant relative to whom her father had been guardian, 
 and who, during her infancy, had had a home with Uncle 
 Ephraim, Mrs. Lennox having brought him with her when 
 she returned to Silverton. Dr. Morris Grant he was now, 
 and he had just come home from a three years sojourn 
 
io . Th.-er Cameron Pride. 
 
 , in Paris, and, .was Jivmg in his own handsome dwelling 
 af .CK3S the fielflfe ^totfa .rd Silverton village, and half a mile 
 or more from tlricle Ephraim s farm-house. He had 
 written from Paris, offering to send his cousins, Helen and 
 Kate, to any school their mother might select, and as 
 Canandaigua was her choice, they had both gone thither 
 the year before, but Helen, the eldest, had fallen sick 
 within the first three months, and returned to Silverton, 
 satisfied that the New England schools were good enough 
 for her. This was Helen; but Katy was different. Katy 
 was more susceptible of polish and refinement so the 
 mother thought; and as she arranged and rearranged the 
 little parlor, lingering longest by the piano, Dr. Morris s 
 gift, she drew bright pictures of her favorite child, won 
 dering how the farm-house and its inmates would seem 
 to her after all she must have seen during her weeks of 
 travel since the close of the summer term. And then 
 she wondered why cousin Morris was so annoyed when told 
 that Katy had accepted an invitation to accompany Mrs. 
 Woodhull and her party on a trip to Montreal and Lake 
 GTeorge, taking Boston on her homeward route. Katy s 
 movements were nothing to him, unless and the little am 
 bitious mother struck at random a few notes of the soft- 
 toned piano as she thought how possible it was that the 
 interest always manifested by staid, quiet Morris Grant 
 for her light-hearted Kate was more than a brotherly in 
 terest, such as he would naturally feel for the daughter of 
 one who had been to him a second father. But Katy was 
 so much a child when he went away to Paris that it could 
 not be. She would sooner think of Helen, who was more 
 like him. 
 
 " It s Helen, if anybody," she said aloud, just as a voice 
 near the window called out, " Please, Cousin Lucy, relieve 
 me of these flowers. I brought them over in honor of 
 Katy s return." 
 
 Blushing guiltily, Mrs. Lennox advanced to meet a tall, 
 dark-looking man, with a grave, pleasant face, which, when 
 he smiled, was strangely attractive, from the sudden light 
 ing up of the hazel eyes and the glitter of the white, even 
 teeth disclosed so fully to view. 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Morris ! Katy will like them, I am 
 
The Cameron Pride. n 
 
 sure," Mrs. Lennox said, taking from his hand a bouquet 
 of the choice flowers which grew only in the hothouse at 
 Linwood. " Come in for a moment, please." 
 
 " No, thank you," the doctor replied. " There is a case 
 of rheumatism just over the hill, and I must not be idle 
 if I would retain the practice given to me. Not that I 
 make anything but good will as yet, for only the Silverton 
 poor dare trust their lives in my inexperienced hands. 
 But I can afford to wait," and with another flash of the 
 hazel eyes Morris walked away a pace or two, then, as if 
 struck with some sudden thought, turned back, and fanning 
 his heated face with his leghorn hat, said, hesitatingly, 
 "By the way, Uncle Ephraim s last payment on the old 
 mill falls due to-morrow. Tell him, if he says anything 
 in your presence, not to mind unless it is perfectly con 
 venient. He must be somewhat straitened just now, as 
 Katy s trip cannot have cost him a small sum." 
 
 The clear, penetrating eyes were looking full at Mrs, 
 Lennox, who for a moment felt slightly piqued that Morris 
 Grant should take so much oversight of her uncle s affairs. 
 It was natural, too, that he should, she knew, for there 
 was a strong liking between the old man and the young, 
 the latter of whom, having lived nine years in the family, 
 took a kindly interest in everything pertaining to it. 
 
 " Uncle Ephraim did not pay the bills," Mrs. Lennox 
 faltered at last, feeling intuitively how Morris s delicate 
 sense of propriety would shrink from her next communica 
 tion. "Mrs. Woodhull wrote that the expense should be 
 nothing to me, and as she is fully able and makes so much 
 of Katy, I did not think it wrong." 
 
 " Lucy Lennox ! I am astonished ! " was all Morris 
 could say, as the tinge of wounded pride dyed his cheek. 
 
 Kate was a connection distant, it is true ; but his blood 
 was in her veins, and his inborn pride shrank from receiv 
 ing so much from strangers, while he wondered at her 
 mother, feeling more and more convinced that what he 
 had so long suspected was literally true. Mrs. Lennox was 
 weak, Mrs. Lennox was ambitious, and for the sake of 
 associating her daughter with people whom the world had 
 placed above her she would stoop to accept that upon which 
 she had no claim. 
 
12 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " Mrs. Woodhull was so urgent and so fond of Katy ; 
 and then I thought it well to give her the advantage of 
 being with such people as compose that party, the very 
 first in Canandaigua, besides some from New York," Mrs. 
 X/ennox began in self-defence, but Morris did not stop to 
 hear more, and hurried off a second time, while Mrs. 
 Lennox looked after him, wondering at the feeling which 
 she could not understand. " If Katy can go with the 
 Woodhulls and their set, I certainly shall not prevent it," 
 she thought, as she continued her arrangement of the 
 parlor, wishing that it was more like what she remembered 
 Mrs. Woodhull s to have been, fifteen years ago. 
 
 Of course that lady had kept up with the times, and if 
 her old house was finer than anything Mrs. Lennox had 
 ever seen, what must her new one be, with all the modern 
 improvements? and leaning her head upon the mantel, 
 Mrs. Lennox thought how proud she should be could she 
 live to see her daughter in similar circumstances to the 
 envied Mrs. Woodhull, at that moment in the crowded 
 car between Boston and Silverton, tired, hot, and dusty, 
 and as nearly cross as a fashionable lady can be. 
 
 A call from Uncle Ephraim roused her, and going out 
 into the square entry she tied his linen cravat, and then 
 handing him the blue umbrella, an appendage he took 
 with him in sunshine and in storm, she watched him as 
 he stepped into his one-horse wagon and drove briskly 
 away in the direction of the depot, where he was to meet 
 his niece. 
 
 " I wish Cousin Morris had offered his carriage," she 
 thought, as the corn-colored wagon disappeared from view. 
 " The train stops five minutes at West Silverton, and 
 some of those grand people will be likely to see the turn 
 out," and with a sigh as she doubted whether it were not 
 a disgrace as well as an inconvenience to be poor, she 
 repaired to the kitchen, where sundry savory smells be 
 tokened a plentiful dinner. 
 
 Bending over the sink, with her cap strings tucked 
 back, her sleeves rolled up, and her short purple calico 
 shielded from harm by her broad check apron, Aunt Betsy 
 stood cleaning the silvery onions, and occasionally wiping 
 her dim old eyes as the odor proved too strong for her. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 13 
 
 At another table stood Aunt Hannah, deep in the mysteries 
 of the light white crust which was to cover the tender 
 chicken boiling in the pot, while in the oven bubbled and 
 baked the custard pie, remembered as Katy s favorite, and 
 prepared for her coming by Helen herself plain-spoken, 
 dark-eyed Helen now out in the strawberry beds, picking 
 the few luscious berries which almost by a miracle had 
 been coaxed to wait for Katy, who loved them so dearly. 
 Like her mother, Helen had wondered how the change 
 would impress her bright little sister, for she remembered 
 that even to her obtuse perceptions there had come a pang 
 when after only three months abiding in a place where 
 the etiquette of life was rigidly enforced, she had returned 
 to their homely ways at Silverton, and felt that it was 
 worse than vain to try to effect a change. But Helen s 
 strong sense, with the help of two or three good cries, had 
 carried her safely through, and her humble home among 
 the hills was very dear to her now. But she was Helen, 
 as the mother had said ; she was different from Katy, who 
 might be lonely and homesick, sobbing herself to sleep 
 in her patient sisters arms, as she did on that first night 
 in Canandaigua, which Helen remembered so well. 
 
 " It s better, too, now than when I came home," Helen 
 thought, as with her rich, scarlet fruit she went slowly to 
 the house. ee Morris is hore, and the new church, and if 
 she likes she can teach * Sunday-school, though maybe 
 she will prefer going with Uncle Ephraim. He will be 
 pleased if she does," and pausing by the door, Helen 
 looked across Fairy Pond in the direction of Silverton vil 
 lage, where the top of a slender spire was just visible 
 the spire of St. John s, built within the year, and mostly 
 at the expense of Dr. Morris Grant, who, a zealous church 
 man himself, had labored successfully to instill into Helen s 
 mind some of his own peculiar views, as well as to awaken 
 in Mrs. Lennox s heart the professions which had lain 
 dormant for as long a time as the little black bound book 
 had lain on the cupboard shelf, forgotten and unread. 
 
 How the doctor s views were regarded by the Deacon s 
 family we shall see, by and by. At present our story has 
 to do with Helen, holding her bowl of berries by the rear 
 door and looking across the distant fields. With one last 
 
14 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 glance at the object of her thoughts she re-entered the 
 house, where her mother was arranging the square table 
 for dinner, bringing out the white stone china instead 
 of the mulberry set kept for every day use. 
 
 " We ought to have some silver forks," she said despond- 
 ingly, as she laid by each plate the three tined forks of 
 steel, to pay for which Helen and Katy had picked huckle 
 berries on the hills and dried apples from the orchard. 
 
 " Never mind, mother," Helen answered cheerily : " if 
 Katy is as she used to be she will care more for us than 
 for silver, and I guess she is, for I imagine it would take 
 a great deal to make her anything but a warmhearted, 
 merry little creature." 
 
 This was sensible Helen s tribute of affection to the 
 little, gay, chattering butterfly, at that moment an occu 
 pant of Uncle Bphraim s corn-colored wagon, and riding 
 with that worthy toward home, throwing kisses to every 
 barefoot boy and girl she met, and screaming with delight 
 as the old familiar waymarks met her view. 
 
 " There is Aunt Betsy, with her dress pinned up as 
 usual," she cried, when at last the wagon stopped before 
 the door, and the four women came hurriedly out to meet 
 her, almost smothering her with caresses, and then hold 
 ing her off to see if she had changed. 
 
 She was very stylish in her pretty traveling dress of 
 gray, made under Mrs. Woodhull s supervision, and nothing 
 could be more becoming than her jaunty hat, tied with 
 ribbons of blue, while the dainty kids, bought to match 
 the dress, fitted her fat hands charmingly, and the little 
 high-heeled boots of soft prunella were faultless in their 
 style. She was very attractive in her personal appearance, 
 and the mental verdict of the four females regarding her 
 intently was something as follows: Mrs. Lennox detected 
 unmistakable marks of the grand society she had been 
 mingling in, and was pleased accordingly; Aunt Hannah 
 pronounced her " the prettiest creeter she had ever seen ; " 
 Aunt Betsy decided that her hoops were too big and her 
 clothes too fine for a Barlow; while Helen, who looked 
 beyond dress, or style, or manner, straight into her sister s 
 oft blue eyes, brimming with love and tears, decided that 
 Katy was not changed for the worse. Nor was she. Truth- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 15 
 
 ful, loving, simple-hearted and full of playful life she 
 had gone from home, and she came back the same, never 
 once thinking of the difference between the farm-house and 
 Mrs. Woodhull s palace, or if she did, giving the preference 
 to the former. 
 
 " It was perfectly splendid to get home," she said } 
 handing her gloves to Helen, her sun-shade to her mother, 
 her satchel to Aunt Hannah, and tossing her bonnet m 
 the vicinity of the water pail, from which it was saved by 
 Aunt Betsy, who put it carefully in the press, examining 
 it closely first and wondering how much it cost. 
 
 Deciding that "it was a good thumpin price/ she re 
 turned to the kitchen, where Katy, dancing and curvetting 
 in circles, scarcely stood still long enough for them to see 
 that in spite of boarding-school fare, of which she had 
 complained so bitterly, her cheeks were rounder, her eyes 
 brighter, and her figure fuller than of old. She had im 
 proved, but she did not appear to know it, or to guess 
 how beautiful she was in the fresh bloom of seventeen, 
 with her golden hair waving around her childish forehead, 
 and her deep blue eyes laughing so expressively with each 
 change of her constantly varying face. Everything animate 
 and inanimate pertaining to the old house, came in for 
 its share of notice. She kissed the kitten, squeezed the 
 cat, hugged the dog, and hugged the little goat, tied to his 
 post in the clover yard and trying so hard to get free. The 
 horse, to whom she fed handfuls of grass, had been already 
 hugged. She did that the first thing after strangling 
 Uncle Ephraim as she alighted from the train, and some 
 from the car window saw it, smiling at what they termed 
 the charming simplicity of an enthusiastic school-girl. 
 Blessed youth ! blessed early girlhood, surrounded by 
 halo of rare beauty! It was Katy s shield and buckler, 
 warding off many a cold criticism which might otherwise 
 have been passed upon her. 
 
 They were sitting down to dinner now, and the deacon s 
 voice trembled as, with the blessing invoked, he thanked 
 God for bringing back the little girl, whose head was for 
 a moment bent reverently, but quickly lifted itself up as 
 its owner, in the same breath with that in which the 
 deacon uttered his amen, declared how hungry she was, 
 
16 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 and went into rhapsodies over the nicely cooked viands 
 which loaded the table. The best bits were hers that day, 
 and she refused nothing until it came to Aunt Betsy s 
 onions, once her special delight, but now declined, greatly 
 to the distress of the old lady, who having been on the 
 watch for " quirks," as she styled any departure from long 
 established customs, now knew she had found one, and 
 with an injured expression withdrew the offered bowl, say 
 ing sadly, " You used to eat em raw, Catherine; what s 
 got into you ? " 
 
 It was the first time Aunt Betsy had called a name so 
 obnoxious to Kate, especially when, as in the present case, 
 great emphasis was laid upon the rinc, and from past ex 
 perience Katy knew that her good aunt was displeased. 
 Her first impulse was to accept the dish refused ; but when 
 she remembered her reason for refusing she said, laugh 
 ingly, " Excuse me, Aunt Betsy, I love them still, but 
 but well, the fact is, I am going by and by to run over 
 and see Cousin Morris, inasmuch as he was not polite 
 enough to come here, and you know it might not be so 
 pleasant." 
 
 " The land ! " and Aunt Betsy brightened. " If that s- 
 all, eat em. Tain t no ways likely you ll get near enough 
 to him to make any difference only turn your head when 
 you shake hands." 
 
 But Katy remained incorrigible, while Helen, who 
 guessed that her impulsive sister was contemplating a 
 warmer greeting of the doctor than a mere shaking of hi& 
 hands, kindly turned the conversation by telling how Morris 
 was improved by his tour abroad, and how much the poor 
 people thought of him. 
 
 " He is very fine looking, too," she said, whereupon Katy 
 involuntarily exclaimed, " I wonder if he is as handsome 
 as Wilford Cameron? Oh, I never wrote about him, did 
 I?" and the little maiden began to blush as she stirred 
 her tea industriously. 
 
 " Who is Wilford Cameron ? " asked Mrs. Lennox. 
 
 " Oh, he s Wilford Cameron, that s all ; lives on Fifth 
 Avenue is a lawyer is very rich a friend of Mrs. Wood- 
 hull, and was with us in our travels," Kate answered 
 rapidly, the red burning on her cheeks so brightly that 
 
The Cameron Pride. 17 
 
 Aunt Betsy innocently passed her a big feather fan, saying 
 " she looked mighty hot." 
 
 And Katy was warm, but whether from talking of Wil- 
 ford Cameron or not none could tell. She said no more 
 of him, but went on to speak of Morris, asking if it were 
 true, as she had heard, that he built the new church in 
 Silverton. 
 
 " Yes, and runs it, too," Aunt Betsy answered, ener 
 getically, proceeding to tell "what goin s on they had. with 
 the minister shiftin his clothes every now and agin 
 the folks all talkin together. Morris got me in once/ MJG 
 said, " and I thought meetin was let out half a dozen 
 times, so much hi?tin round as there was. I d as soon go 
 to a show, if it was a good one, and I told Morris so. He 
 laughed and said I d feel different when I knew em better; 
 but needn t tell me that prayers made up is as good as 
 them as isn t, though Morris, I do believe, will get to 
 Heaven a long ways ahead of me, if he is a Piscopal." 
 
 To this there was no response, and being launched on 
 her favorite topic, Aunt Betsy continued : 
 
 " If you ll believe it, Helen here is one of em, and has 
 got a sight of Piscopal quirks into her head. Why, she 
 and Morris sing that talkin -like singin Sundays when 
 the folks get up and Helen plays the accordeon." 
 
 " Melodeon, aunty, melodeon," and Helen laughed 
 merrily at her aunt s mistake, turning the conversation 
 again, and this time to Canandaigua, where she had some 
 acquaintances. 
 
 But Katy was so much afraid of Canandaigua, and what 
 talking of it might lead to, that she kept to Cousin Morris, 
 asking innumerable questions about his house and grounds, 
 and whether there were as many flowers there now as 
 there used to be in the days when she and Helen went to 
 say their lessons at Linwood, as they had done before 
 Morris sailed for Europe. 
 
 " I think it right mean in him not to be here to see 
 me/ she said, poutingly, "and I am going over as quick 
 as I eat my dinner." 
 
 But against this all exclaimed at once. She was too 
 tired, the mother said, she must lie down and rest, while 
 Helen suggested that she had not told them about her 
 
1 8 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 trip, and Uncle Ephraim remarked that she would not 
 find Morris at home, as he was going that afternoon to 
 Spencer. This last settled it. Katy must stay at home; 
 but instead of lying down or talking about her journey, 
 she explored every nook and crevice of the old house and 
 barn, finding the nest Aunt Betsy had looked for in vain, 
 and proving to the anxious dame that she was right when 
 she insisted that the speckled hen had stolen her nest and 
 was in the act of setting. Later in the day, a neighbor 
 passing by spied the little maiden riding in the cart off 
 into the meadow, where she sported like a child among 
 the mounds of fragrant hay, playing her jokes upon the 
 sober deacon, who smiled fondly upon her, feeling how 
 much lighter the labor seemed because she was there with 
 him, a hindrance instead of a help, in spite of her efforts 
 to handle the rake skillfully. 
 
 " Are you glad to have me home again, Uncle Eph ? " 
 she asked when once she caught him regarding her with 
 a peculiar look. 
 
 " Yes, Katy-did, very glad ? " he answered ; " I ve missed 
 you every day, though you do nothing much but bother 
 me/ 
 
 tf Why did you look so funny at me just now ? " Kate 
 continued, and the deacon replied : " I was thinking how 
 hard it would be for such a highty-tighty thing as you to 
 meet the crosses and disappointments which lie all along 
 the road which you must travel. I should hate to see your 
 young life crushed out of you, as young lives sometimes 
 are?" 
 
 " Oh, never fear for me. I am going to be happy all 
 my life long. Wilford Cameron said I ought to be," and 
 Katy tossed into the air a wisp of the new-made hay. 
 
 "I don t know who Wilford Cameron is, but there s no 
 ought about it," the deacon rejoined. " God marks out 
 the path for us to walk in, and when he says it s best, we 
 know it is, though some are straight and pleasant and 
 others crooked and hard." 
 
 " I ll choose the straight and pleasant then why 
 shouldn t I ? " Katy asked, laughing, as she seated herself 
 upon a rock near which the hay cart had stopped. 
 
 " Can t tell what path you ll take," the deacon answered. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 19 
 
 " God knows whether you ll go easy through the world, or 
 whether he ll send you suffering to purify and make you 
 better." 
 
 " Purified by suffering," Katy said aloud, while a shadow 
 involuntarily crept for an instant over her gay spirits. 
 
 She could not believe she was to be purified by suffering. 
 She had never done anything very bad, and humming a 
 part of a song learned from Wilford Cameron she followed 
 after the loaded cart, returning slowly to the house, think 
 ing to herself that there must be something great and 
 good in the suffering which should purify at last, but 
 hoping she was not the one to whom this great good should 
 come. 
 
 It was supper-time ere long, and after that was over 
 Katy announced her intention of going to Linwood whether 
 Morris were there or not. 
 
 " I can see the housekeeper and the birds and flowers," 
 she said, as she swung her straw hat by the string and 
 started from the door. 
 
 "Ain t Helen goin^ with you?" Aunt Hannah asked, 
 while Helen herself looked a little surprised. 
 
 But Katy would rather go alone. She had a heap to 
 tell Cousin Morris, and Helen could go next time. 
 
 " Just as you like," Helen answered, good-naturedly, and 
 so Katy went alone to call on Morris Grant. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LINWOOD. 
 
 MORRIS had returned from Spencer, and in his dressing- 
 gown and slippers was sitting by the window of his library, 
 looking out upon the purple sunshine flooding the western 
 sky, and thinking of the little girl coming so rapidly up 
 the grassy lane in the rear of the house. He was going 
 over to see her by and by, he said, and he pictured to him 
 self how she must look by this time, hoping that he should 
 not find her greatly changed, for Morris Grant s memories 
 were very precious of the play-child who used to tease and 
 worry him FO much with her lessons poorly learned, and 
 the never-ending jokes played off upon her teacher. He 
 had thought of her so often when across the sea, and, 
 
2o The Cameron Pride. 
 
 knowing her love of the beautiful, he had never looked 
 upon a painting or scene of rare beauty that he did not 
 wish her by his side sharing in the pleasure. He had 
 brought her from that far-off land many little trophies 
 which he thought she would prize, and which he was going 
 to take with him when he went to the farm-house. He 
 never dreamed of her coming there to-night. She would, 
 of course, wait for him, to call upon her first. How then 
 was he amazed when, just as the sun was going down 
 and he was watching its last rays lingering on the brow of 
 the hill across the pond, the library door was opened wide 
 and the room suddenly filled with life and joy, as a grace 
 ful figure, with reddish golden hair, bounded across the 
 floor, and winding its arms around his neck gave him the 
 hearty kiss which Katy had in her mind when she declined 
 Aunt Betsy s favorite vegetable. 
 
 Morris Grant was not averse to being kissed, and yet 
 the fact that Katy Lennox had kissed him in such a way 
 awoke a chill of disappointment, for it said that to her 
 he was the teacher still, the elder brother, whom, as a 
 child, she had loaded with caresses. 
 
 " Oh, Cousin Morris ! " she exclaimed, " why didn t you 
 come over at noon, you naughty boy ! But what a splendid- 
 looking man you ve got to be, though ! and what do you 
 think of me ? " she added, blushing for the first time, as 
 he held her off from him and looked into the sunny face. 
 
 " I think you wholly unchanged," he answered, so gravely 
 that Katy began to pout as she said, " And you are sorry, 
 I know. Pray what did you expect of me, and what would 
 you have me be ? " 
 
 " Nothing 1 but what you are the same Kitty as of old," 
 he answered, his own bright smile breaking all over his 
 sober face. 
 
 He saw that his manner repelled her, and he tried to 
 be natural, succeeding so well that Katy forgot her first 
 disappointment, and making him sit by her on the sofa, 
 where she could see him distinctly, she poured forth a 
 volley of talk, telling him, among other things, how much 
 afraid of him some of his letters made her they were so 
 serious and so like a sermon. 
 
 " You wrote me once that you thought of being a min- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 21 
 
 ister," she added. " Why did you change your mind ? 
 It must be splendid, I think, to be a young clergyman 
 invited to so many tea-drinkings, and having all the girls 
 in the parish after you, as they always are after un 
 married ministers." 
 
 Into Morris Grant s eyes there stole a troubled light 
 as he thought how little Katy realized what it was to be 
 a minister of God to point the people heavenward and 
 teach them the right way. There was a moment s pause, 
 and then he tried to explain to her that he hoped he had 
 not been influenced either by thoughts of tea-drinkings or 
 having the parish girls after him, but rather by an honest 
 desire to choose the sphere in which he could accomplish the 
 most good. 
 
 " I did not decide rashly," he said, " but after weeks 
 of anxious thought and prayer for guidance I came to the 
 conclusion that in the practice of medicine I could find 
 perhaps as broad a field for good as in the church, and so 
 I decided to go on with my profession to be a physician 
 of the poor and suffering, speaking to them of Him who 
 came to save, and in this way I shall not labor in vain. 
 Many would seek another place than Silverton and its 
 vicinity, but something told me that my work was here, 
 and so I am content to stay, feeling thankful that my 
 means admit of my waiting for patients, if need be, and 
 at the same time ministering to the wants of those who 
 are needy/ 
 
 Gradually, as he talked, there came into his face a light 
 born only from the peace which passeth understanding, 
 and the awe-struck Katy crept closer to his side and grasp 
 ing his hand in hers, said softly, "Dear cousin, what a 
 good man you are, and how silly I must seem to you, 
 thinking you cared for tea-drinkings, or even girls, when, 
 of course, you do not." 
 
 " Perhaps I do," the doctor replied, slightly pressing 
 the warm, fat hand holding: his so fast. " A minister s 
 or a doctor s life would be dreary indeed if there was no 
 one to share it, and I have had my dreams of the girls, 
 or girl, who was some day to brighten my home." 
 
 He looked fully at Katy now, but she was thinking of 
 something else, and her next remark was to ask him rather 
 abruptly " how old he was ? " 
 
22 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " Twenty-six last May," he answered, while Katy con 
 tinued, " You are not old enough to be married yet. Wil- 
 ford Cameron is thirty." 
 
 " Where did you meet Wilford Cameron ? " Morris asked, 
 in some surprise, and then the story which Katy had not 
 told, even to her sister, came out in full, and Morris tried 
 to listen patiently while Katy explained how, on the very 
 first day of the examination, Mrs. Woodhull had come 
 in, and with her the grandest, proudest-looking man, who 
 the girls said was Mr. Wilford Cameron, from New York, 
 a fastidious bachelor, whose family were noted for their 
 wealth and exclusiveness, keeping six servants, and living 
 in the finest style; that Mrs. Woodhull, who all through 
 the year had been very kind to Katy, came to her after 
 school and invited her home to tea ; that she had gone and 
 met Mr. Cameron; that she was very much afraid of him 
 at first, and was not sure that she was quite over it now, 
 although he was so polite to her all through the journey, 
 taking so much pains to have her see the finest sights, and 
 laughing at her enthusiasm. 
 
 " Wilford Cameron with you in your trip ? " Morris 
 asked, a new idea dawning on his mind. 
 
 " Yes, let me tell you," and Katy spoke rapidly. " I 
 saw him that night, and then Mrs. Woodhull took me to 
 ride with him in the carriage, and then well, I rode alone 
 with him once down by the lake, and he talked to me just 
 as if he was not a grand man and I a little school-girl. 
 And when the term closed I stayed at Mrs. Woodhull s and 
 he was there. He liked my playing and liked my singing, 
 and I guess he liked me that is, you know yes, he liked 
 me some," and Katy twisted the fringe of her shawl, while 
 Morris, in spite of the pain tugging at his heart strings, 
 laughed aloud as he rejoined, " I have no doubt he did ; 
 but go on what next ? " 
 
 " He said more about my joining that party than any 
 body, and I am very sure he paid the bills/ 
 
 " Oh, Katy," and Morris started as if he had been stung. 
 " I would rather have given Linwood than have you thus 
 indebted to Wilford Cameron, or any other man." 
 
 " I could not well help it. I did not mean any harm," 
 Katy said timidly, explaining how she had shrunk from 
 
The Cameron Pride. 23 
 
 the proposition which Mrs. Woodhull thought was right, 
 urging it until she had consented, and telling how kind 
 Mr. Cameron was, and how careful not to remind her of 
 her indebtedness to him, attending to and anticipating 
 every want as if she had been his sister. 
 
 " You would like Mr. Cameron, Cousin Morris. He 
 made me think of you a little, only he is prouder," and 
 Katy s hand moved up Morris s coat sleeve till it rested 
 on his shoulder. 
 
 " Perhaps so," Morris answered, feeling a growing re 
 sentment towards one who it seemed to him had done him 
 some great wrong. 
 
 But Wilford was not to blame, he reflected. He could 
 not help admiring the bright little Katy and so conquer 
 ing all ungenerous feelings, he turned to her at last, and 
 said, 
 
 " Did my little Cousin Kitty like Wilford Cameron? " 
 
 Something in Morris s voice startled Katy strangely; 
 her hand came down from his shoulder, and for an in 
 stant there swept over her an emotion similar to what she 
 had felt when with Wilford Cameron she rambled along 
 the shores of Lake George, or sat alone with him on the 
 deck of the steamer which carried them down Lake Cham- 
 plain. But Morris had always been her brother, and she 
 did not guess that she was more to him than a sister, so 
 she answered frankly at last, " I guess I did like him a 
 little. I couldn t help it, Morris. You could not either, 
 or any one. I believe Mrs. Woodhull was more than half 
 in love with him herself, and she talked so much of his 
 family; they must be very grand." 
 
 " Yes, I know those Camerons/ was Morris s quiet re 
 mark. 
 
 "What! You don t know Wilford?" Katy almost 
 screamed, and Morris replied, " Not Wilford, no ; but the 
 mother and the sisters were in Paris, and I met them 
 many times." 
 
 " What were they doing in Paris ? " Katy asked, and 
 Morris replied that he believed the immediate object of 
 their being there was to obtain the best medical advice 
 for a little orphan grand-child, a bright, beautiful boy, 
 to whom some terrible accident had happened in infancy, 
 
24 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 preventing his walking entirely., and making him nearly 
 helpless. His name was Jamie. Morris said, and as he saw 
 that Katy was interested, he told her how sweet-tempered 
 the little fellow was, how patient under suffering, and how 
 eagerly he listened when Morris, who at one time attended 
 him, told him of the Saviour and his love for little chil 
 dren. 
 
 " Did he get well ? " Katy asked, her eyes filling with 
 tears at the picture Morris drew of Jamie Cameron, sit 
 ting all day long in his wheel chair, and trying to com 
 fort his grand-mother s distress when the torturing instru 
 ments for straightening his poor back were applied. 
 
 " No, he died one lovely day in October, and they buried 
 him beneath the bright skies of France," Morris said, and 
 then Katy asked about the mother and sisters. " Were 
 they proud, and did he like them much ? " 
 
 " They were very proud/ Morris said ; " but they were 
 always civil to him," and Katy, had she been watching, 
 might have seen a slight flush on his cheek as he told her 
 of the stately woman, Wilf>;rd s mother, of the haughty 
 Juno, a beauty and a belle, and lastly of Arabella, whom 
 the family nicknamed Bluebell, from her excessive fond 
 ness for books, and her contempt for the fashionable life 
 her mother and sister led. 
 
 It was evident that neither of the young ladies were 
 wholly to Morris s taste, but of the two he* preferred Blue 
 bell, for though imperious and self-willed, she had some 
 heart, some principle, while Juno had none. This was 
 Morris s opinion, and it disturbed little Kat} r , as was very 
 perceptible from the nervous tapping of her foot upon the 
 carpet and the working of her hands. 
 
 " How would I appear by the side of those ladies ? " she 
 suddenly asked, her countenance changing as Morris re 
 plied that it was almost impossible to think of her as as- 
 eociated with the Camerons, she was so wholly unlike them 
 in every r- -pect. 
 
 "I don t believe I shocked Wilford so very much," 
 Katy rejoined, reproachfully, while again a heavy pain 
 shot through Morris s heart, for he saw more and more 
 how Wilford Cameron was mingled with every thought of 
 the young girl, who continued : " And if he was satisfied, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 25 
 
 his mother and sisters will be. Any way, I don t want 
 you to make me feel how different I am from them." 
 
 There was tears now on Katy s face, and casting aside 
 all -selfishness, Morris wound his arm around her, and 
 smoothing her golden hair, just as he used to do when 
 she was a child and came to him to be soothed, he said, 
 very gently, 
 
 " My poor Kitty, you do like Wilf ord Cameron ; tell me 
 honestly is it not so ? " 
 
 " Yes, I guess I do/ and Katy s voice was a half sob. 
 "I could not help it, either, he was so kind, so I don t 
 know what, only I could not help doing what he bade me. 
 Why, if he had said, ( Jump overboard, Katy Lennox/ I 
 should have done it, I know that is, if his eyes had been 
 upon me, they controlled me so absolutely. Can you im 
 agine what I mean?"" 
 
 " Yes, I understand. There was the same look in Bell 
 Cameron s eye, a kind of mesmeric influence which com 
 manded obedience. They idolize Wilford, and I dare say 
 he is worthy of their idolatry. One thing at least is in 
 his favor the crippled Jamie, for whose opinion I would 
 give more than all the rest, seemed to worship his Uncle 
 Will; talking of him continually, and telling how kind 
 he was, sometimes staying up all night to carry him in his 
 arms when the pain in his back was more than usually 
 severe. So there must be a good, kind heart in Wilford 
 Cameron, and if my Cousin Kitty likes him, as she says 
 she does, and he likes her as I believe he must, why, I 
 
 Morris Grant could not finish the sentence, for he did 
 not hope that Wilford Cameron would win the gem he had 
 so long coveted as his own. 
 
 He might give Kitty up because she loved another best. 
 He was generous enough to do that, but if he did it, she 
 must never know how much it cost him, and lest he should 
 betray himself he could not to-night talk with her longer 
 of Wilford Cameron. It was time too for Kitty to go 
 home, but she did not seem to remember it until Morris 
 suggested to her that her mother might be uneasy if she 
 stayed away much longer, and so they went together across 
 the fields, the shadows all gone from Katy s heart, but 
 
26 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 lying so dark and heavy around Morris Grant, who was 
 glad when he could leave Katy at the farm-house door 
 and go back alone to the quiet library, where only God 
 could witness the mighty struggle, it was for him to say, 
 " Thy will be done." And while he prayed, Katy, in her 
 humble bedroom, with her head nestled close to Helen s 
 neck, was telling her of Wilford Cameron, who, when they 
 went down the rapids and she had cried with fear, had put 
 his arm around her trying to quiet her, and who once again, 
 on the mountain overlooking Lake George, had held her 
 hand a moment, while he pointed out a splendid view soon 
 through the opening trees. And Helen, listening, knew 
 that Ivaty s heart was lost, and that for Wilford Cameron 
 to deceive her now would be a cruel thing. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 WILFORD CAMEROX. 
 
 THE day succeeding Katy Lennox s return to Silverton 
 was rainy and cold for the season, the storm extending as 
 far westward as the city of New York, and making Wil 
 ford Cameron shfrer as he stepped from the Hudson River 
 cars into the carriage waiting for him, first greeting pleas 
 antly the white-gloved driver, who, closing the carriage 
 door, mounted to his seat and drove his handsome bays in 
 the direction of No. Fifth Avenue. And Wilford, lean 
 ing back among the cushions, thought how pleasant it was 
 to be home again, feeling glad, as he frequently did, that 
 the home was in every particular unexceptionable. The 
 Camerons, he knew, were an old and highly respectable 
 family, while it was his mother s pride that, go back as 
 far as one might, on either side there could not be found 
 a single blemish, or a member of whom to be ashamed. 
 On the Cameron side there were millionaires, merchant 
 princes, bankers, and stockholders, professors and scholars, 
 while on hers, the Rossiter side, there were LL. D. s and 
 D. D. s, lawyers and clergymen, authors and artists, 
 beauties and bells, the whole forming an illustrious line of 
 ancestry, admirably represented and sustained by the pres 
 ent family of Camerons, occupying the brown-stone front, 
 corner of street and Fifth Avenue, where the hand* 
 
The Cameron Pride. 27 
 
 some carriage stopped, and a tall figure ran quickly up the 
 marble steps. There was a soft rustle of silk, an odor 
 of delicate perfume, and from the luxurious chair before 
 the fire kindled in the grate, a lady rose and advanced a 
 step or two towards the parlor door. In another moment 
 she was kissing the young man bending over her and 
 saluting her as mother, kissing him quietly, properly, as 
 the Camerons always kissed. She was very glad to have 
 Wilford home again, for he was her favorite child; and 
 brushing the rain-drops from his coat she led him to the 
 fire, offering him her own easy-chair, and starting herself 
 in quest of another. But Wilford held her back, and mak 
 ing her sit down, he drew an ottoman beside her, and then 
 asked her first how she had been, then where his sisters 
 were, and if his father had come home for there was a 
 father, a quiet, unassuming man, who stayed all day in 
 Wall street, seldom coming home in time to carve at his 
 own dinner table, and when he was at home, asking for 
 nothing except to be left by his fashionable wife and daugh 
 ters to himself, free to smoke and doze over his evening 
 paper in the seclusion of his own reading-room. 
 
 As Wilford s question concerning his sire had been the 
 last one asked, so it was the last one answered, his mother 
 parting his dark hair with her jeweled hand, and telling 
 him first that, with the exception of a cold taken at the 
 Park on Saturday afternoon, she was in usual health 
 second, that Juno was spending a few days in Orange, and 
 that Bell had gone to pass the night with her particular 
 friend, Mrs. Meredith, the most bookish woman in New 
 York. 
 
 " Your father," the lady added, " has not yet returned ; 
 but as the dinner is ready I think we will not wait." 
 
 She touched a silver bell beside her, and ordering dinner 
 to be sent up at once, went on to ask her son concerning 
 his journey and the people he had met. But Wilford, 
 though intending to tell her all, would wait till after 
 dinner. So, offering her his arm, he led her out to where 
 the table was spread, widely different from the table pre 
 pared for Katy Lennox among the Silverton hills, for 
 where at the farm-house there had been only the homely 
 wares common to the country, with Aunt Betsy s onions 
 
28 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 served in a bowl, there was here the finest of damask, the 
 choicest of china, the costliest of cut-glass, and the heaviest 
 of silver, with the well-trained waiter gliding in and out. 
 himself the very personification of strict table etiquette, 
 such as the Barlows had never dreamed about. There was 
 no fricasseed chicken here, or flaky crust, with pickled 
 beans and apple-sauce ; no custard pie with strawberries and 
 rich, sweet cream, poured from a blue earthen pitcher ; but 
 there were soups, and fish, and roasted meats, and dishes 
 with French names and taste, and dessert elaborately gotten 
 up, and served with the utmost precision, and Mrs. Cam 
 eron presiding over all with lady-like decorum, her soft 
 glossy silk of brown, with her rich lace and diamond pin 
 in perfect keeping with herself and her surroundings. 
 And opposite to her Wilford sat, a tall, dark, handsome 
 man, of thirty or thereabouts a man, whose polished 
 manners betokened at once a perfect knowledge of the 
 world, and whose face, to a close observer, indicated how 
 little satisfaction he had as yet found in the world. He 
 had tried its pleasures, drinking the cup of freedom and 
 happiness to its very dregs, and though he thought he 
 liked it, he often found himself dissatisfied and reaching 
 after something which should make life more real, more 
 worth the living for. He had traveled all over Europe 
 twice, had visited every spot worth visiting in his own 
 country, had been a frequenter of every fashionable resort 
 in New York, from the skating-pond to the theatres, had 
 been admitted as a lawyer, had opened an office on Broad 
 way, acquiring some reputation in his profession, had looked 
 at more than twenty girls with the view of making them 
 his wife, and found them, as he believed, alike fickle, selfish, 
 artificial and hollow-hearted. In short, while thinking far 
 more of family, and accomplishments, and style, than 
 he ought, he was yet heartily tired of the butterflies who 
 flitted so constantly around him, offering to be caught if 
 he would but stretch out his hand to catch them. This 
 he would not do, and disgusted with the world as he saw 
 it in New York, he had gone to the the Far West, roaming 
 awhile amid the solitude of the broad prairies, and finding 
 there much that was soothing to him, but not discovering 
 the fulfillment of the great want he was craving until com- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 29 
 
 ing back to Canandaigua, he met with Katy Lennox. He 
 had smiled wearily when asked by Mrs. Woodhull to go 
 with her to the examination then in progress at the Sem 
 inary. There was nothing there to interest him, he 
 thought, as Euclid and Algebra, French and Ehetoric were 
 bygone things, while young school-misses, in braided hair 
 and pantalettes, were shockingly insipid. Still, to be 
 polite to Mrs. Woodhull, a childless, fashionable woman, 
 who patronized Canandaigua generally and Katy Lennox 
 in particular, he consented, and soon found himself in the 
 crowded room, the cynosure of many eyes as the whisper 
 ran round that the fine-looking man with Mrs. Woodhull 
 was Wilford Cameron, from New York, brother to the 
 proud, dashing Juno Cameron, who once spent a few weeks 
 in town. Wilford knew they were talking about him, but 
 he did not care, and assuming as easy an attitude as pos 
 sible, he leaned back in his chair, yawning indolently until 
 the class in Algebra was called, and Katy Lennox came 
 tripping on the stage, a pale blue ribbon in her golden 
 hair, and her simple dress of white relieved by no orna 
 ment except the cluster of wild flowers fastened in her belt 
 and at her throat. But Katy needed no ornaments to make 
 her more beautiful than she was at the moment when, 
 with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, she first burst 
 upon Wilford s vision, a creature of rare, bewitching beauty, 
 such as he had never dreamed about. 
 
 Wilford had met his destiny, and he felt it in every 
 throb of blood which went rushing through his veins. 
 
 "Who is she?" he asked of Mrs. Woodhull, and that 
 lady knew at once whom he meant, even though he had 
 not designated her. 
 
 An old acquaintance of Mrs. Lennox when she lived in 
 East Bloomfield, Mrs. Woodhull had petted Katy from the 
 first day of her arrival in Canandaigua with a letter of 
 introduction to herself from the ambitious mother, and 
 being rather inclined to match-making, she had had Katy 
 in her mind when she urged Wilford to accompany her 
 to the Seminary. Accordingly, she answered him at once, 
 " That is Katy Lennox, daughter of Judge Lennox, who 
 died in East Bloomfield a few years ago." 
 
 "Pretty, is she not?" 
 
30 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Wilford did not answer her. He had neither eye nor 
 ear for anything save Katy, acquitting herself with a good 
 deal of credit as she worked out a rather difficult problem, 
 her dimpled white hand showing to good advantage against 
 the deep black of the board; and then her voice, soft- 
 toned and silvery, as a lady s voice should be, thrilled in 
 Wilford s ear, awaking a strange feeling of disquiet, as 
 if the world would never again be quite the same to him 
 t hat it was before he met that fair young girl now passing 
 from the room. 
 
 Mrs. Woodhull saw that he was interested. It was time 
 he was settled in life. With the exception of wealth and 
 family position, he could not find a better wife than Katy, 
 and she would do what she could to bring the marriage 
 about. Accordingly, having first gained the preceptress s 
 consent, Katy was taken home with her to dinner. And 
 this was how Wilford Cameron came to know little Katy 
 Lennox, the simple-hearted child, who blushed so prettily 
 when first presented to him, and blushed again when he 
 praised her recitations, but who after that forgot the dif 
 ference in their social relations, laughing and chatting as 
 merrily in his presence as if she had been alone with Mrs. 
 Woodhull. This was the great charm to Wilford. Katy 
 was so wholly unconscious of herself or what he might 
 think of her, that he could not sit in judgment upon her, 
 and he watched her eagerly as she sported, and flashed, and 
 sparkled, filling the room with sunshine, and putting to 
 rout the entire regiment of blues which had been for 
 months harassing the city-bred young man. 
 
 If there was any one thing in which Katy excelled, it 
 was music, both vocal and instrumental, a taste for which 
 had been developed very early, and fostered by Morris 
 Grant, who had seen that his cousin had every advantage 
 which Silverton could afford. Great pains had been given 
 to her style of playing while in Canandaigua, so that as 
 a performer upon the piano she had few rivals in the 
 seminary, while her birdlike voice filled every nook and 
 corner of the room, where, on the night after her visit to 
 Mrs. Woodhull, a select exhibition was held, Katy shining 
 as the one bright star, and winning golden laurels for 
 beauty, grace, and perfect self-possession, from others than 
 Wilford Cameron, who was one of the invited auditors. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 31 
 
 Juno herself could not equal that, he thought, as Katy s 
 fingers flew over the keys, executing a brilliant and difficult 
 piece without a single mistake, and receiving the applause 
 of the spectators easily, naturally, as if it were an every 
 day occurrence. But when by request she sang " Comin 
 through the Rye," Wilford s heart, if he had any before, 
 was wholly gone, and he dreamed of Katy Lennox that 
 night, wondering all the ensuing day how his haughty 
 mother would receive that young school-girl as her daugh 
 ter, wife of the son whose bride she fancied must be equal 
 to the first lady in the land. And if Katy were not now 
 equal she could be made so, Wilford thought, wondering 
 if Canandaigua were the best place for her, and if she 
 would consent to receive a year or two years tuition from 
 him, provided her family were poor. He did not know 
 as they were, but he would ask, and he did, feeling a pang 
 of regret when he heard to some extent how Katy was cir 
 cumstanced. Mrs. Woodhull had never been to Silverton, 
 and so she did not know of Uncle Ephraim, and his old- 
 fashioned sister; but she knew that they were poor that 
 some relation sent Katy to school; and she frankly told 
 Wilford so, adding, as she detected the shadow on his face, 
 that one could not expect everything, and that a girl like 
 Katy was not found every day. Wilford admitted all this, 
 growing more and more infatuated, until at last he con 
 sented to join the traveling party, provided Katy joined 
 it too, and when on the morning of their departure for 
 the Falls he seated himself beside her in the car, he could 
 not well have been happier, unless she had really been his 
 wife, as he so much wished she was. 
 
 It was a most delightful trip, and Wilford was better 
 satisfied with himself than he had been before in years. 
 His past life was not all free from error, and there were 
 many sad memories haunting him, but with Katy at his 
 side, seeing what he saw, admiring what he admired, and 
 doing what he bade her do, he gave the bygones to the 
 wind, feeling only an intense desire to clasp the young 
 girl in his arms and bear her away to some spot where 
 with her pure fresh life all his own he could begin the world 
 anew, and retrieve the past which he had lost. This was 
 when he was with Katy. Away from her he could remem- 
 
32 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ber the difference in their position, and prudential motives 
 began to make themselves heard. Never but once had he 
 taken an important step without consulting his mother, 
 and the trouble in which that had involved him warned 
 him to be more cautious a second time. And this was 
 why Katy came back to Silverton unengaged, leaving her 
 heart with Wilford Cameron, who would first seek advice 
 from his mother ere committing himself by word. He had 
 seen the white-haired man waiting for her when the train 
 stopped at Silverton, but standing there as he did, with 
 his silvery locks parted in the centre, and shading his 
 honest, open face, Uncle Ephraim looked like some patri 
 arch of old rather than a man to be despised, and Wilford 
 felt only respect for him until he saw Katy s arms wound 
 so lovingly around his neck as she called him Uncle Eph. 
 That sight grated harshly, and Wilford felt glad that he 
 was not bound to her by any pledge. Very curiously he 
 looked after the couple, witnessing the meeting between 
 Katy and old Whiting, and guessing rightly that the corn- 
 colored vehicle was the one sent to transport Katy home. 
 He was very moody for the remainder of the route between 
 Silverton and Albany, where he parted with his Canan- 
 daigua friends, they going on to the westward, while he 
 stopped all night in Albany, where he had some business 
 to transact for his father. 
 
 He was intending to tell his mother everything, except 
 that he paid Katy s bills. He would rather keep that to 
 himself, as it might shock his mother s sense of propriety 
 and make her think less of Katy ; so after dinner was over, 
 and they had returned to the parlor, he opened the subject 
 by asking her to guess what took him off so suddenly with 
 Mrs. Woodhull. 
 
 The mother did not know unless and a strange light 
 gleamed in her eye, as she asked if it were some girl. 
 
 " Yes, mother, it was," and without any reservation Wil 
 ford frankly told the story of his interest in Katy Lennox. 
 
 He admitted that she was poor and unaccustomed to 
 society, but he loved her more than words could express. 
 
 " Not as I loved Genevra," he said, and there came a 
 look of intense pain into his eyes as he continued. " That 
 was the passion of a boy of nineteen, stimulated by secrecy, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 33 
 
 but this is the love of a mature man of thirty, who feels 
 that he is capable of judging for himself." 
 
 Ix Wilford s voice there was a tone warning the mother 
 that opposition would only feed the flame, and so she offered 
 nonf; directly, but heard him patiently to the end, and then 
 quietty questioned him of Katy and her family, especially 
 the Iftst. What did he know of it? Was it one to detract 
 from the Cameron line, kept untarnished so long? Were 
 the relatives such as he never need blush to own even if 
 they came there into their drawing-rooms as they would 
 come if Katy did? 
 
 Wilford thought of Uncle Ephraim as he had seen him 
 upon the platform at Silverton, and could scarcely re 
 press a smile as he pictured to himself his mother s con 
 sternation at beholding that man in her drawing-room. 
 But he did not mention the deacon, though he acknowl 
 edged that Katy s family friends were not exactly the Cam 
 eron style. But Katy was young : Katy could be easily 
 moulded, and once away from her old associates, his mother 
 ard sisters could make of her what they pleased. 
 
 " I understand, then, that if you marry her you do not 
 marry the family," and in the handsome matronly face 
 there was an expression from which Katy would have 
 shrunk, could she have seen it and understood its meaning. 
 
 " No, I do not marry the family/ Wilford rejoined 
 emphatically, but the expression of his face was different 
 from his mother s, for where she thought only of herself, 
 not hesitating to trample on all Katy s love of home and 
 friends, Wilford remembered Katy, thinking how he would 
 make amends for separating her wholly from her home as 
 he surely meant to do if he should win her. " Did I tell 
 you," he continued, "that her father was a judge? She 
 must be well connected on that side. And now, what shall 
 I do ? " he asked playfully. " Shall I propose to Katy 
 Lennox, or shall I try to forget her?" 
 
 " I should not do either," was Mrs. Cameron s reply, 
 for she knew that trying to forget her was the surest way 
 of keeping her in mind, and she dared not confess to him 
 how determined she was that Katy Lennox should never 
 be her daughter if she could prevent it. 
 
 If she could not, then as a lady and a woman of policy, 
 
34 Th e Cameron Pride. 
 
 she should make the most of it, receiving Katy kindly and 
 doing her best to educate her up to the Cameron ideas 
 of style and manner. 
 
 " Let matters take their course for awhile/ she said, 
 " and see how you feel after a little. We are going to New 
 port the first of August, and perhaps you may find some 
 body there infinitely superior to this Katy Lennox. That s 
 your father s ring. He is earlier than usual to-night. 
 I would not tell him yet, till you are more decided/ and 
 the lady went hastily out into the hall to meet her hus 
 band. 
 
 A moment more and the elder Cameron appeared a 
 short, square-built man, with a face seamed with lines of 
 care and eyes much like Wilford s, save that the shaggy 
 eyebrows gave them a different expression. He was very 
 glad to see his son, though he merely shook his hand, 
 asking what nonsense took him off around the Lakes 
 with Mrs. Woodhull, and wondering if women were never 
 happy unless they were chasing after fashion. The elder 
 Cameron was evidently not of his wife s way of thinking, 
 but she let him go on until he was through, and then, with 
 the most unruffled mien, suggested that his dinner would 
 be cold. He was accustomed to that and so he did not 
 mind, but he hurried through his lonely meal to-night, for 
 Wilford was home, and the father was always happier 
 when he knew his son was in the house. Contrary to his 
 usual custom, he spent the short summer evening in the 
 parlor, talking with Wilford on various items of business, 
 and thus preventing any further conversation concerning 
 Katy Lennox. It took but a short time for Wilford to 
 fall back into his old way of living, passing a few hours of 
 each day in his office, driving with his mother, sparring 
 with his imperious sister Juno, ani teasing his blue sister 
 Bell, but never after that first night breathing a word to 
 any one of Katy Lennox. And still Katy was not for 
 gotten, as his mother sometimes believed. On the contrary, 
 the very silence he kept concerning her increased his 
 passioii, until he began seriously to contemplate a trip to 
 Silverton. The family s removal to Newport, however, 
 diverted his attention for a little, making him decide to 
 wait and see what Newport might have in store for him. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 35 
 
 But Newport was dull this season, though Juno and Bell 
 both found ample scope for their different powers of 
 attraction, and his mother was always happy when showing 
 off her children and knowing that they were appreciated, 
 but with Wilford it was different. Listless and taciturn, 
 he went through with the daily routine, wondering how 
 he had ever found happiness there, and finally, at the 
 close of the season, casting all policy and prudence aside, 
 he wrote to Katy Lennox that he was coming to Silverton 
 on his way home, and that he presumed he should have 
 no difficulty in finding his way to the farm-house. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PREPARING FOR THE VISIT. 
 
 KATY had waited very anxiously for a letter from 
 Wilford, and as the weeks went by and nothing came, a 
 shadow had fallen upon her spirits and the family missed 
 something from her ringing laugh and frolicsome ways, 
 while she herself wondered at the change which had come 
 over everything. Even the light household duties she 
 used to enjoy so much, were irksome to her and she enjoyed 
 nothing except going with Uncle Ephraim into the fields 
 where she could sit alone while he worked nearby, or to 
 ride with Morris as she sometimes did when he made 
 his round of calls. She was not as good as she used to be, 
 she thought, and with a view of making herself better she 
 took to teaching in Morris and Helen s Sunday School, 
 greatly to the distress of Aunt Betsy, who groaned bitterly 
 when both her nieces adopted the " Episcopal quirks," for 
 saking entirely the house where, Sunday after Sunday, her 
 old-fashioned leghorn, with its faded ribbon of green was 
 seen, bending down in the humble worship which God so 
 much approves. But teaching in Sunday-school, taken 
 by itself, could not make Katy better, and the old restless 
 ness remained until the morning when, sitting on the 
 grass beneath the apple-tree, she read that Wilford Cameron 
 was coming; then everything was changed and Katy never 
 forgot the brightness of that day when the robins sang 
 so merrily above her head, and all nature seemed to 
 sympathize with her joy. There was no shadow around 
 
36 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 her now, nothing but hopeful sunshine, and with a 
 bounding step she sought out Helen to tell her the good 
 news. Helen s first remark, however, was a chill upon her 
 spirits. 
 
 " Wilf ord Cameron coming here ? What will he think 
 of us, we are so unlike him ? " 
 
 This was the first time Katy had seriously considered 
 the difference between her surroundings and those of 
 Wilford Cameron, or how it might affect him. But Aunt 
 Betsy, who had never dreamed of anything like Wilford s 
 home, comforted her, telling her, " if he was any kind of a 
 chap he wouldn t be looking round, and if he did, who 
 cared ? She guessed they were as good as he, and as much 
 thought of by the neighbors." 
 
 Wilford s lettter had been delayed so that the morrow 
 was the day appointed for his coming, and never was 
 there a busier afternoon at the farm-house than the one 
 which followed the receipt of the letter. Everything not 
 spotlessly clean before was made so now, Aunt Betsy, in 
 her petticoat and short gown, going down upon her knees 
 to scrub the back door-sill, as if the city guest were expected 
 to notice that. On Aunt Hannah and Mrs. Lennox devolved 
 the duty of preparing for the wants of the inner man, 
 while Helen and Katy bent their energies to beautifying 
 their home and making the most of their plain furniture. 
 
 The " spare bed-room," kept for company, was only large 
 enough to admit the high-post bed, a single chair, and 
 the old-fashioned wash-stand, with the hole in the top 
 for the bowl, and a drawer beneath for towels; and the 
 two girls held a consultation as to whether it would not be 
 better to dispense with the parlor altogether, and give that 
 room to their visitor. But this was vetoed by Aunt Betsy, 
 who, having finished the back door-sill, had now come 
 round to the front, and with her scrubbing-brush in one 
 hand and her saucer of sand in the other, held forth upon 
 the foolishness of the girls. 
 
 " Of course, if they had a beau, they d want a t other 
 room, else where would they do their sparkin ? "" 
 
 That settled it. The parlor must remain as it was, 
 Katy said, and Aunt Betsy went on with her scouring, 
 while Helen and Katy consulted together how to make 
 
The Cameron Pride. 37 
 
 the huge feather-bed more like the mattresses to which 
 Wilford must be accustomed. Helen s mind being the 
 more suggestive, solved the problem first, and a large 
 comfortable was brought from the box in the garret and 
 folded carefully over the bed, which, thus hardened and 
 flattened, " seemed like a mattress/ Katy said, for she 
 tried it, feeling quite well satisfied with the room when it 
 was finished. And certainly it was not uninviting, with 
 its strip of bright carpeting upon the floor, its vase of 
 flowers upon the stand, and its white-fringed curtain 
 sweeping back from the narrow window. 
 
 " I d like to sleep here myself/ was Katy s comment, 
 while Helen offered no opinion, but followed her sister 
 into the yard, where they were to sweep the grass and 
 prune the early September flowers. 
 
 This afforded Aunt Betsy a chance to reconnoitre and 
 criticise, which last she did unsparingly. 
 
 " What have them children been doin to that bed ? 
 Put on a quilt, as I m alive ! It would break my back to 
 lie there, and this Carmon is none of the youngest, 
 accordin to their tell; nigh onto thirty, if not turned. It 
 will make his bones ache, of course. I am glad I know 
 better than to treat visitors that way. The comforter 
 may stay, but I ll be bound I ll make it softer ! " And 
 stealing up the stairs, Aunt Betsy brought down a second 
 feather-bed, much Tighter than the one already on, but still 
 large enough to suggest the thought of smothering. This 
 she had made herself, intending it as a part of Katy s 
 " setting out," should she ever marry ; and as things now 
 seemed tending that way, it was only right, she thought, 
 that Mr. Carmon, as she called him, should begin to have 
 the benefit of it. Accordingly two beds, instead of one, 
 were placed beneath the comfortable, which Aunt Betsy 
 permitted to remain. 
 
 " I m mighty feared they ll find me out," she said, tak 
 ing great pains in the making of her bed, and succeed 
 ing so well that when her task was done there was no 
 perceptible difference between Helen s bed and her own, 
 except that the latter was a few inches higher than the 
 former, and more nearly resembled a pincushion in shape. 
 
 There was but little chance for Aunt Betsy to be de- 
 
38 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 tected, for Helen, supposing the room to be in order, had 
 dismissed it from her mind, and was training a rose over a 
 frame, while Katy was on her way to Linwood in quest 
 of various little things which Mrs, Lennox considered 
 indispensable to the entertainment of a man like Wilford 
 Cameron. Morris was out on his piazza, enjoying the 
 fine prospect he had of the sun shining across the pond, 
 * on the Silverton hill, and just gilding the top of the little 
 church nestled in the valley. At sight of Katy be rose 
 and greeted her with the kind, brotherly manner now 
 habitual with him, for he had learned to listen quite 
 calmly while Katy talked to him, as she often did, of 
 Wilford Cameron, never trying to conceal from him how 
 anxious she was for some word of remembrance, and often 
 asking if he thought Mr. Cameron would ever write to her. 
 It was hard at first for Morris to listen, and harder still 
 to keep back the passionate words of love trembling on his 
 lips to refrain from asking her to take him in Cameron s 
 stead him who had loved her so long. But Morris had 
 kept silence, and as the weeks went by there came insensibly 
 into his heart a hope, or rather conviction, that Wilford 
 Cameron had forgotten the little girl who might in time 
 turn to him, gladdening his home just as she did every 
 spot where her fairy foosteps trod. Morris did not fully 
 know that he was hugging this fond dream until he felt 
 the keen pang which cut like a dissector s knife as Katy, 
 turning her bright, eager face up to him, whispered softly, 
 " He s coming to-morrow he surely is ; I have his letter 
 to tell me so." 
 
 Morris could not see the sunshine upon the distant 
 hills, although it lay there just as purple and warm as it 
 had a moment before. There was an instant of darkness, 
 in which the hills, the pond, the sun setting, and Katy 
 seemed a great way off to Morris, trying so hard to be 
 calm, and mentally asking for help to do so. But Katy s 
 hat, which she swung in her hand, had become entangled 
 in the vines encircling one of the pillars of the piazza, 
 and so she did not notice him until all traces of his agita 
 tion were past, and he could talk with her concerning 
 Wilford; then playfully lifting her basket he asked what 
 she had come to get. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 39 
 
 This was not the first time the great house had ren 
 dered a like service to the little house, and so Katy did 
 not blush when she explained that her mother wanted 
 Morris s forks, and salt-cellars, and spoons, and would he 
 be kind enough to bring the caster over himself, and 
 come to dinner to-morrow at two o clock, and would he 
 go for Mr. Cameron? The forks, and salt-cellars, and 
 spoons, and caster were cheerfully promised, while Morris 
 consented to go for the guest; and then Katy came to 
 the rest of her errand, the part distasteful to her, inas 
 much as it concerned Uncle Ephraim honest, unsophis 
 ticated Uncle Ephraim, who would come to the table in his 
 shirt sleeves! This was the burden of her grief the 
 one thing she dreaded most, because she knew how such 
 an act was looked upon by Mr. Cameron who, never 
 having lived in the country a day in his life, except as he 
 was either guest or traveler, could not make due allowance 
 for these little departures from refinement, so obnoxious 
 to people of his training. 
 
 " What is it, Katy ? " Morris asked, as he saw how she 
 hesitated, and guessed her errand was not all told. 
 
 " I hope you will not think me foolish or wicked," 
 Katy began, her eyes filling with tears, as she felt that 
 she might be doing Uncle Ephraim a wrong by admitting 
 that in any way he could be improved. " I certainly love 
 Uncle Ephraim dearly, and I do not mind his ways, but 
 but Mr. Cameron may that is, oh, Cousin Morris, 
 did you ever notice how Uncle Ephraim will persist in 
 coming to the table in his shirt sleeves ? " 
 
 "Persist is hardly the word to use," Morris replied, 
 smiling comically, as he readily understood Katy s mis 
 givings. " Persist would imply his having been often 
 remonstrated with for that breach of etiquette; whereas 
 I doubt whether the idea that it was not in strict accord 
 ance with politeness was ever suggested to him/ 
 
 " Maybe not/ Katy answered. " It was never neces 
 sary till now, and I feel so disturbed, for I want Mr. Cam 
 eron to like him, and if he does that I am sure he won t." 
 
 " Why do you think so ? " Morris asked, and Katy re- 
 piled, " He is so particular, and was so very angry at a 
 little hotel between Lakes George and Champlain/ where 
 
40 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 we took our dinner before going on the boat. There was 
 a man along a real good-natured man, too, so kind to 
 everybody and, as the day was warm, he carried his coat 
 on his arm, and sat down to the table right opposite me. 
 Mr. Cameron was so indignant, and said such harsh thing?, 
 which the man heard I am sure, for he put on his coat 
 directly, and I saw him afterward on the boat, sweating 
 like rain, and looking so sorry, as if he had been guilty 
 of something wrong. I am sure, though, he had not ? " 
 
 This last was spoken interrogatively, and Morris replied : 
 " There is nothing wrong or wicked in going without 
 one s coat. Everything depends upon the circumstances 
 under which it is done. For me to appear at table in 
 my shirt-sleeves would be very rude, but for an old man 
 like Uncle Ephraim to do so is a very different thing. 
 Still, Mr. Cameron may see from another standpoint. 
 But I would not distress myself. That love is not worth 
 much which would think the less of you for anything outre 
 which Uncle Ephraim may do. If Mr. Cameron cannot 
 stand the test of seeing your relatives as they are, he 
 is not worth the long face you are wearing," and Morris 
 pinched her cheek playfully. 
 
 " Yes, I know, 7 Katy replied, " but if you only could 
 manage Uncle Eph, I should be so glad." 
 
 Morris had little hope of breaking a habit of years, but 
 he promised to try if an opportunity should occur, and 
 as Mrs. Hull, the housekeeper, had by this time gathered 
 up the articles required for the morrow, Morris took the 
 basket in his own hands and went with Katy across the 
 fields. 
 
 " God bless you, Katy, and may Mr. Cameron s visit 
 bring you as much happiness as you anticipate," he said, 
 as he set her basket upon the door-step and turned back 
 without entering the house. 
 
 Katy noticed the peculiar tone of his voice, and again 
 there swept over her the same thrill she had felt when 
 Morris first said to her, " And did Katy like this Mr. 
 Cameron ? " but so far was she from guessing the truth 
 that she only feared she might have displeased him by 
 what she had said of Uncle Ephraim. Perhaps she had 
 wronged him, she thought, and the good old man, rest- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 41 
 
 ing from his hard day s toil, in his accustomed chair, with 
 not only his coat, but his vest and boots cast aside, little 
 guessed what prompted the caresses which Katy lavished 
 upon him, sitting in his lap and parting his snowy hair, 
 as if thus she would make amends for any injury done. 
 Little Katy-did } : Called her, looking fondly into her 
 bright, pretty far_, and thinking how terrible it would be 
 to see that face Windowed with pain and care. Somehow, 
 of late, Uncle Ephraim was always thinking of such a 
 calamity as more than possible for Katy, and when that 
 night she knelt beside him, his voice was full of pleading 
 earnestness as he prayed that God would keep them all 
 in safety, and bring to none of them more grief or pain 
 than was necessary to fit them for himself. And Katy, 
 listening to him, remembered the talk down in the meadow, 
 when she sat on the rock beneath the butternut tree. But 
 the world, while it held Wilford Cameron, as he seemed 
 to her now, was too full of joy for her to dread what the 
 future might have in store for her, and so she arose from 
 her knees, thinking only how long it would be before to 
 morrow noon, wondering if Wilford would surely be there 
 next time their evening prayers were said, and if he would 
 notice Uncle Ephraim s shocking grammar ! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WILFORD had made the last change of cars, and when 
 he stopped again it would be at Silverton. He did dot 
 expect any one to meet him, but as he remembered the man 
 whom he had seen greeting Katy, he thought it not 
 unlikely that he might be there now, laughing to himself 
 as he pictured his mother s horror, could she see him riding 
 along in the corn-colored vehicle which Uncle Ephraim 
 drove. But that vehicle was safe at home beneath the 
 shed, while Uncle Ephraim was laying a stone wall upon 
 the huckleberry hill, and the handsome carriage waiting 
 at Silverton depot was certainly unexceptionable ; while in 
 the young man who, as the train stopped and Wilford 
 stepped out upon the platform, came to meet him, asking 
 if he were Mr. Cameron, Wilford recognized the true 
 
42 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 gentleman, and his spirits rose at once as Morris said to 
 him, " I am Miss Lennox s cousin, deputed by her to take 
 charge of you for a time." 
 
 Wilford had heard of Dr. Morris Grant and of his 
 kindness to poor little Jamie, who died in Paris; he had 
 heard too that his proud sister Juno had tried her powers 
 of coquetry in vain upon the grave American; but he 
 had no suspicion that his new acquaintance was the one 
 until Morris mentioned having met his family in France 
 and inquired after their welfare. 
 
 After that the conversation became very familiar, and 
 the ride seemed so short that Wilford was surprised when, 
 as they turned a corner in the sandy road, Morris pointed 
 to the farm-house, saying : " We are almost there that 
 is the place." 
 
 "That!" and Wilford s voice indicated his disappoint 
 ment, for in all his mental pictures of Katy Lennox s 
 home he had never imagined anything like this. 
 
 Large, rambling and weird-like, with something lofty 
 and imposing, just because it was so ancient, was the 
 house he had in his mind, and he could not conceal his 
 chagrin as his eye took in the small, low building, with 
 its high windows and tiny panes of glass, paintless and 
 blindless, standing there alone among the hills. Morris 
 understood it perfectly ; but without Deeming to notice it, 
 remarked, " It is the oldest house probably in the country, 
 and should be invaluable on that account. I think we 
 Americans are too fond of change and too much inclined 
 to throw aside all that reminds us of the past. Now I 
 like the farm-house just because it is old and unpreten 
 tious." 
 
 "Yes, certainly/* Wilford answered, looking ruefully 
 around him at the stone wall, half tumbled down, the 
 tall well-sweep, and the patch of sun-flowers in the gar 
 den, with Aunt Betsy bending behind them, picking to 
 matoes for dinner, and shading her eyes with her hand 
 to look at him as he drove up. 
 
 It was all very rural, no doubt, and very charming to 
 people who liked it, but Wilford did not like it, and he 
 was wishing himself safely in Xew York when a golden 
 head flashed for an instant before the window and then 
 
The Cameron Pride. 43 
 
 disappeared as Katy emerged into view, waiting at the 
 door to receive him and looking so sweetly in her dress of 
 white with the scarlet geranium blossoms in her hair that 
 Wilford forgot the homeliness of the surroundings, think 
 ing only of her and how soft and warm was the little hand 
 he held as she led him into the parlor. He did not know 
 she was so beautiful, he said to himself, and he feasted hip 
 eyes upon her, forgetful for a time of all else. But after 
 wards, when Katy left him for a moment, he had time tu 
 observe the well-worn carpet, the six cane-seated chairs, 
 large stuffed rocking-chair, the fall-leaf table, with its 
 plain wool spread, and lastly the really expensive piano, 
 the only handsome piece of furniture the room con 
 tained, and which he rightly guessed must have come from 
 Morris. 
 
 " What would Juno or Mark say ? " he kept repeating 
 to himself half shuddering as he recalled the bantering 
 proposition to accompany him made by Mark Bay, the 
 only young man whom he considered fully his equal in 
 New York. 
 
 Wilford knew these feelings were unworthy of him, 
 and he tried to shake them off, listlessly turning over the 
 books upon the table books which betokened in some 
 one both taste and talent of no low order. 
 
 " Mark s favorite," he said, lifting up a volume of Schil 
 ler ; and turning to the fly-leaf he read, " Helen Lennox, 
 from Cousin Morris," just as Katy returned with her 
 sister, whom she presented to the stranger. 
 
 Helen was prepared to like him because Katy did, and 
 her first thought was that he was very fine looking; but 
 when she met his cold, proud eyes, and knew how closely 
 he was scrutinizing her, there arose in her heart a feeling 
 of dislike which she could never wholly conquer. He was 
 very polite to her, but something in his manner annoyed 
 and irritated her, it was so cool, so condescending, as 
 if he endured her merely because she was Katy s sister, 
 nothing more. 
 
 " Eather pretty, more character than Katy, but odd and 
 self-willed, with no kind of style," was Wilford s running 
 comment on Helen as he took her in from the plain arrange 
 ment of her dark hair to the fit of her French calico and 
 the cut of her linen collar. 
 
44 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Fashionable dress would improve her very much, he 
 thought, turning with a feeling of relief to Katy, whom 
 nothing could disfigure, and who was now watching the 
 door eagerly for the entrance of her mother. That lady 
 had spent a good deal of time at her toilet, and she came 
 in at last, flurried, fidgety, and very red, both from exercise 
 and the bright-hued ribbons streaming from her cap and 
 sadly at variance with the color of the dress. Wilford 
 noticed the discrepancy at once, and noticed too how little 
 style there was about the nervous woman greeting him so 
 deferentially, and evidently regarding him as something 
 infinitely superior to herself. Wilford had looked with 
 indifference on Helen, but it would take a stronger word 
 to express his opinion of the mother. Morris, who re 
 mained to dinner, was in the parlor now, and in his 
 presence Wilford felt more at ease, more as if he had found 
 an affinity. Uncle Ephraim was not there, having eaten 
 his bowl of milk and gone back to his stone wall, so that 
 upon Morris devolved the duties of host, and he courteously 
 led the way to the little dining-room, where the table 
 was loaded with the good things Aunt Hannah had pre 
 pared, burning and browning her wrinkled face, which 
 nevertheless smiled pleasantly upon the stranger presented 
 as Mr. Cameron. 
 
 About Aunt Hannah there was something naturally lady 
 like, and Wilford recognized it at oncfe; but when it came 
 to Aunt Betsy, of whom he had never heard, he felt for a 
 moment as if by being there in such promiscuous com 
 pany he had somehow fallen from the Camerons high 
 estate. By way of pleasing the girls and doing honor to 
 their guest, Aunt Betsy had donned her very best attire, 
 wearing the slate-colored pongee dress, bought twenty 
 years before, and actually sporting a set of Helen s cast- 
 off hoops, which being too large for the dimensions of her 
 scanty skirt, gave her anything but the graceful appear 
 ance she intended. 
 
 " Oh, auntie ! " was Katy s involuntary exclamation, 
 while Helen bit her lip with vexation, for the hoop had 
 been an afterthought to Aunt Betsy just before going in 
 to dinner. 
 
 But the good old lady never dreamed of shocking any- 
 
The Cameron Pride. ^ 
 
 one with her attempts at fashion; and curtsying very low 
 to Mr. Cameron, she hoped for a better acquaintance, and 
 then took her seat at the table, just where each movement 
 could be distinctly seen by Wilford, scanning her so in 
 tently ae scarcely to hear the reverent words with which 
 Morris asked a blessing upon themselves and the food so 
 abundantly prepared. They could hardly have gotten 
 through that first dinner without Morris, who adroitly led 
 the conversation into channels which he knew would in 
 terest Mr. Cameron, and divert his mind from what was 
 passing around him, and so the dinner proceeded quietly 
 enough, Wilford discovering, ere its close, that Mrs. Len 
 nox had really some pretensions to a lady, while Helen s 
 dress and collar ceased to be obnoxious, as he watched the 
 play of her fine features and saw her eyes kindle as she 
 took a modest part in the conversation when it turned on 
 books and literature. 
 
 Meanwhile Katy kept very silent, but when, after dinner 
 was over and Morris was gone, she went with Wilford 
 down to the shore of the pond, her tongue was loosed, and 
 he found again the little fairy who had so bewitched him 
 a few weeks before. And yet there was a load upon his 
 heart, a shadow upon his brow, for he knew now that 
 between Katy s family and his there was a social gulf 
 which never could be crossed by either party. He might 
 bear Katy over, it was true, but would she not look long 
 ingly back to her humble home, and might he not some 
 times be greatly chagrined by the sudden appearing of 
 some one of this low-bred family who did not seem to 
 realize how ignorant they were, or how far below him in 
 the social scale? Poor Wilford! he winced and shivered 
 when he thought of Aunt Betsy, in her antiquated pongee, 
 and remembered that she was a near relative of the little 
 maiden sporting so playfully around him, stealing his heart 
 away in spite of his family pride, and making him more 
 deeply in love than ever. It was very pleasant down by the 
 pond, and Wilford kept Katy there until the sun was 
 going down and they heard in the distance the tinkle of 
 a bell as the deacon s cows plodded slowly homeward. 
 Supper was waiting for them, and with his appetite sharp 
 ened by his walk, Wilford found no cause of complaint 
 
46 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 against Aunt Hannah s viands, though he smiled mentally 
 as he accepted the piece of apple pie Aunt Betsy offered 
 him, saying, by way of recommendation, that " she made 
 the crust but Catherine peeled and sliced the apples." 
 
 The deacon had not returned from his work, and Wil- 
 ford did not see him until he came suddenly upon him, 
 seated in the wood-shed door, resting after the labor of 
 the day. " The young man was welcome to Silverton," 
 he said, " but he must excuse him from visitin much that 
 night, for the cows was to milk and the chores to do, as 
 he never kep no boy." The " chores " were done at last, 
 just as the clock pointed to half-past eight, the hour for 
 family worship. Unaccustomed as Wilford was to such 
 things, he felt the influence of the deacon s voice as he 
 read from the word of God, and involuntarily found him 
 self kneeling when Katy knelt, noticing the deacon s gram 
 mar it is true, but still listening patiently to the lengthy 
 prayer, which included him together with the rest of man 
 kind. 
 
 There was no chance of seeing Katy alone, that night, 
 and so full two hours before his usual custom Wilford re 
 tired to the little room to which the deacon conducted him, 
 sa} ing, as he put down the lamp, " You ll find it pretty 
 snug quarters, I guess, for such a close, muggy night as 
 this." 
 
 And truly they were snug quarters, Wilford thought, 
 as he surveyed the dimensions of the r6om; but there was 
 no alternative, and a few moments found him in the centre 
 of the two feather beds, neither Helen nor Katy having 
 discovered the addition made by Aunt Betsy, and which 
 came near being the death of the New York guest. To 
 sleep was impossible, and never for a moment did Wilford 
 lose his consciousness or iorget to accuse himself of being 
 an idiot for coming into that heathenish neighborhood 
 after a wife when in New York there were so many girls 
 ready and waiting for him. 
 
 " I ll go back to-morrow morning," he said, striking a 
 match he consulted his Railway Guide to find when the first 
 train passed Silverton, feeling comforted to know that only 
 a few hours intervened between him and freedom. 
 
 But alas for Wilford! He was but a man, subject to 
 
The Cameron Pride. 47 
 
 man s caprices, and when next morning he met Katy Len 
 nox, looking in her light muslin as pure and fair as the 
 white blossoms twined in her wavy hair, his resolution 
 began to waver. Perhaps there was a decent hotel in Silver- 
 ton ; he would inquire of Dr. Grant ; at all events he would 
 not take the first train, though he might the next; and so 
 he stayed, eating fried apples and beefsteak, but forgetting 
 to criticise, in his appreciation of the rich thick cream 
 poured into his coffee, and the sweet, golden butter, which 
 melted in soft waves upon the flaky rolls. Again Uncle 
 Ephraim was absent, having gone to mill before Wilford 
 left his room, nor was he visible to the young man until 
 after dinner, for Wilford did not go home, but drove in 
 stead with Katy in the carriage which Morris sent round, 
 excusing himself from coming on the plea of being too 
 busy, but saying he would join them at tea, if possible. 
 Wilford s mind was not yet fully made up, so he concluded 
 to remain another day and see more of Katy s family. 
 Accordingly, after dinner, he bent his energies to culti 
 vating them all, from Helen down to Aunt Betsy, who 
 proved the most transparent of the four. Arrayed again in 
 tfie pongee, but this time without the hoop, she came into 
 the parlor, bringing her calico patch-work, which she in 
 formed him was pieced in the " herrin bone pattern " and 
 intended for Katy ; telling him further, that the feather bed 
 on which he slept was also a part of " Catherine s setting 
 out," and was made from feathers she picked herself, show 
 ing him as proof a mark upon her arm, left there by the 
 gray goose, which had proved a little refractory when she 
 tried to draw a stocking over its head. 
 
 Wilford groaned and Katy s chance for being Mrs. Cam 
 eron was growing constantly less and less as he saw more 
 and more how vast was the difference between the Barlows 
 and himself. Helen, he acknowledged, was passable, 
 though she was not one whom he could ever introduce into 
 New York society; and he was wondering how Katy 
 chanced to be so unlike the rest, when Uncle Ephraim came 
 up from the meadow, and announced himself as ready now 
 to visit, apologizing for his apparent neglect, and seeming 
 so absolutely to believe that his company was desirable, 
 that Wilford felt amused, wondering again what Juno, 
 
48 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 or even Mark Kay, would think of the rough old man, 
 sitting with his chair tipped back against the wall, and 
 going occasionally to the door to relieve himself of his to- 
 hacco juice, for chewing was one of the deacon s weak 
 nesses. His pants were faultlessly alean, and his vest was 
 buttoned nearly up to his throat, but his coat was hanging 
 on a nail out by the kitchen door, and, to Katy s distress 
 and Wilford s horror, he sat among them in his shirt 
 sleeves, all unconscious of harm or of the disquiet awakened 
 in the bosom of the young man, who on that point was 
 foolishly fastidious, and who showed by his face how much 
 he was annoyed. Not even the presence of Morris, who 
 came about tea time, was of any avail to lift the cloud 
 from his brow, and he seemed moody and silent until 
 supper was announced. This was the first opportunity 
 Morris had had of trying his powers of persuasion upon the 
 deacon, and now, at a hint from Katy, he said to him in 
 an aside, as they were passing into the dining-room : " Sup 
 pose, Uncle Ephraim, you put on your coat for once. It 
 is better than coming to the table so." 
 
 " Pooh," was Uncle Ephraim s innocent rejoinder, spoken 
 loudly enough for Wilford to hear, " I shan t catch cold, 
 for I am used to it; besides that, I never could stand the 
 racket this hot weather." 
 
 In his simplicity he did not even suspect Morris s mo 
 tive, but imputed it wholly to concern for his health. And 
 so Wilford Cameron found himself seated next to a man 
 who wilfully trampled upon all rules of etiquette, shocking 
 him in his most sensitive points, and making him thor 
 oughly disgusted with the country and country people 
 generally. All but Morris and Katy he did make an ex 
 ception in their favor, leaning most to Morris, whom he 
 admired more and more, as he became better acquainted 
 with him, wondering how he could content himself to settle 
 down quietly in Silverton, when he would surely die if 
 compelled to live there for a week. Something like this he 
 said to Dr. Grant, when that evening they sat together in 
 the handsome parlor at Linwood, for Morris kindly in 
 vited him to spend the night with him. 
 
 " I stay in Silverton, first, because I think I can do more 
 good here than elsewhere, and secondly, because I really 
 
The Cameron Pride. 49 
 
 like the country and the country people; for, strange and 
 uncouth as they may seem to you, who never lived among" 
 them,, they have kinder, truer hearts beating beneath their 
 rough exteriors, than are often in the city." 
 
 " This was Morris s reply, and in the conversation which 
 ensued Wilford Cameron caught glimpses of a nobler, 
 higher phase of manhood than he had thought existed, 
 feeling an unbounded respect for one who, because he be 
 lieved it to be his duty, was, as it seemed to him, wasting 
 his life among people who could not appreciate his char 
 acter, though they might idolize the man. But this did 
 not reconcile Wilford one whit the more to Silverton. 
 Uncle Ephraim had completed the work commenced by 
 the two feather beds, and at breakfast, next morning, he 
 announced his intention of returning to Xew York that 
 day. To this Morris offered no objection, but asked to be 
 remembered to the mother and sisters, and then invited 
 Wilford to stop altogether at Linwood when he came again 
 to Silverton. 
 
 " Thank you ; but it is hardly probable that I shall be 
 here very soon," Wilford replied, adding, as he met the 
 peculiar glance of Morris s eye, " I found Miss Katy a 
 delightful traveling acquaintance, and on my way from 
 Newport thought I would renew it and see a little of 
 rustic life." 
 
 Poor Katy ! how her heart would have ached could she 
 have heard those words and understood their meaning, 
 just as Morris did, feeling a rising indignation for the 
 man with whom he could not be absolutely angry, he was 
 so self-possessed, so pleasant and gentlemanly, while bet 
 ter than all, was he not virtually giving Katy up? and 
 if he did might she not turn at last to him? 
 
 These were Morris s thoughts as he walked with Wilford 
 across the fields to the farm-house, where Katy met them 
 with her sunniest smile, singing to them, at Wilford s re 
 quest, her sweetest song, and making him half wish he 
 could revoke his hasty decision and tarry a little longer. 
 But it was now too late for that, the carriage which would 
 take him to the depot was already on its way from Lin- 
 wood; and when the song was ended he told her of his 
 intentions to leave on the next train, feeling a pang when 
 
50 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 he saw how the blood left her cheek and lip, and then came 
 surging back as she said timidly, " Why need you leave 
 so soon?" 
 
 " I have already outstayed my time. I thought of going 
 yesterday, and my partner, Mr. Kay, will be expecting me," 
 Wilford replied, laying his hand upon Katy s hair, while 
 Morris and Helen stole quietly from the room. 
 
 Thus left to himself, Wilford continued, "Maybe I ll 
 come again sometime. Would you like to have me ? " 
 
 " Yes," and Katy s blue eyes were lifted pleadingly to 
 the young man, who had never loved her so well as at 
 that very moment when resolving to cast her off. 
 
 For a moment Wilford was strongly tempted to throw 
 all pride aside, and ask that j^oung girl to be his; but 
 thoughts of his mother, of Juno and Bell, and more than 
 all, thoughts of Uncle Ephraim and his sister Betsy, arose 
 in time to prevent it, and so he only kissed her forehead 
 caressingly as he said good-bye, telling her that he should 
 not soon forget his visit to Silverton, and then, as the 
 carriage drove up, going out to where the remainder of the 
 family were standing together and commenting upon his 
 sudden departure. 
 
 It was not sudden, he said, trying to explain. He 
 really had thought seriously of going yesterday, and feeling 
 that he had something to atone for, he tried to be un 
 usually gracious as he shook their hands, thanking them 
 for their kindness, but seeming wholly oblivious to Aunt 
 Betsy s remark that " she hoped to see him again, if not 
 at Silverton, in New York, where she wanted dreadfully 
 to visit, but never had on account of the bominable prices 
 charged to the taverns, and she hadn t no acquaintances 
 there." 
 
 This was Aunt Betsy s parting remark, and, after Katy, 
 Aunt Betsy liked Wilford Cameron better than any one 
 of the group which watched him as he drove from their 
 door. Aunt Hannah thought him too much stuck up for 
 farmers folks; Mrs. Lennox, whose ambition would have 
 accounted him a most desirable match for her daughter, 
 -could not deny that his manner towards them, though 
 polite in the extreme, was that of a superior to people 
 greatly beneath him; while Helen, who saw clearer than 
 
The Cameron Pride. 51 
 
 the rest, read him aright, and detected the struggle between 
 his pride and his love for poor little Katy, whom she 
 found sitting on the floor, just where Wilford left her 
 standing, her head resting on the chair and her face hidden 
 in her hands as she sobbed quietly, hardly knowing why 
 she cried or what to answer when Helen asked what was 
 the matter. 
 
 " It was so queer in him to go so soon," she said; "just 
 as if he were offended about something." 
 
 " Never mind, Katy," Helen said, soothingly. " If he 
 cares for you he vill come back again. He could not 
 stay here always, of course; and I must say I respect 
 him for attending to his business, if he has any. He has 
 been gone from home for weeks, you know." 
 
 This was Helen s reasoning; but it did not comfort 
 Katy, whose face looked white and sad, as she moved list 
 lessly about the house, almost crying again when she heard 
 in the distance the whistle of the train which was to carry 
 Wilford Cameron away and end his first visit to Silverton. 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 IN THE SPRING. 
 
 KATY LENNOX had been very sick, and the bed where 
 Wilford slept had stood in the parlor during the long 
 weeks while the obstinate fever ran its course ; but she was 
 better now, and sat nearly all day before the fire, some 
 times trying to crochet a little, and again turning over 
 the books which Morris had bought to interest her Morris, 
 the kind physician, who had attended her so faithfully, 
 never leaving her while the fever was at its height, unless 
 it was necessary, but staying with her day and night, 
 watching her symptoms carefully, and praying so earnestly 
 that she might not die, not, at least, until some token had 
 been given that again in the better world he should find 
 her, where partings were unknown and where no Wilford 
 Camerons could contest the prize with him. Xot that he 
 was greatly afraid of Wilford now; that fear had mostly 
 died away just as the hope had died from Katy s heart that 
 she would ever meet him again. 
 
 Since the September morning when he left her, she had 
 
52 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 not heard from him except once, when in the winter Morm 
 had been to New York, and having a few hours leisure 
 on his hands had called at Wilford s office, receiving a most 
 cordial reception, and meeting with Mark Bay, who im 
 pressed him as a man quite as highly cultivated as Wil 
 ford, and possessed of more character and principle. This 
 call was not altogether of Morris s seeking, but was made 
 rather with a view to pleasing Katy, who, when she learned 
 that he was going to New York, had said inadvertently, 
 " Oh, I do so hope you ll meet with Mr. Cameron, for then 
 we shall know that he is neither sick nor dead, as I have 
 sometimes feared." 
 
 And so Morris had sought his rival, feeling repaid for 
 the effort it had cost him, when he saw how glad Wilford 
 seemed to meet him. The first commonplaces over, Wil 
 ford inquired for Katy. Was she well, and how was she 
 occupying her time this winter? 
 
 " Both Helen and Katy are pupils of mine," Morris re 
 plied, " reciting their lessons to me every day when the 
 weather will admit of their crossing the fields to Linwood. 
 We have often wondered what had become of you, that 
 you did not even let us know of your safe arrival home," 
 he added, looking Wilford fully in the eye, and rather 
 enjoying his confusion as he tried to apologize. 
 
 He had intended writing, but an unusual amount of 
 business had occupied his time. " Mark will tell you how 
 brusy I was," and he turned appealingly to his partner, in 
 whose expressive eyes Morris read that Silverton was not 
 unknown to him. 
 
 But if Wilford had told him anything derogatory of 
 the farm-house or its inmates, it did not appear in Mr. 
 Ray s manner, as he replied that Mr. Cameron had been 
 very busy ever since his return from Silverton, adding, 
 " From what Cameron tells me of your neighborhood, there 
 must be some splendid hunting and fishing there, and I 
 had last fall half a mind to try it." 
 
 This time there was something comical in the eyes turned 
 so mischievously upon Wilford, who colored scarlet for an 
 instant, but soon recovered his composure, and invited 
 Morris home with him to dinner. 
 
 "I shall not take a refusal," he said, as Morris began 
 
The Cameron Pride. 53 
 
 to decline. "Mother and the young ladies will be de 
 lighted to see you again. Mark will go with us, of course." 
 
 There was something so hearty in Wilford s invitation 
 that Morris did not again object, and two hours later 
 found him in the drawing room at No. Fifth Avenue, 
 receiving the friendly greetings of Mrs. Cameron and her 
 daughters, each of whom vied with the other in their polite 
 attentions to him. 
 
 Morris did not regret having accepted Wilford s invita 
 tion to dinner, as by this means he saw the home which 
 had well nigh been little Katy Lennox s. She would be 
 sadly out of place here with these people, he thought, and 
 he looked upon all their formality and ceremony, and 
 then contrasted it with what Katy had been accustomed 
 to. Juno would kill her outright, was his next mental 
 comment, as he watched that haughty young lady, dividing 
 her coquetries between himself and Mr. Ray, who being 
 every way desirable, both in point of family and wealth, 
 was evidently her favorite. She had colored scarlet when 
 first presented to Dr. Grant, and her voice had trembled 
 as she took his offered hand, for she remembered the time 
 when her liking had not been concealed, and was only 
 withdrawn at the last because she found how useless it 
 was to waste her affections upon one who did not prize 
 them. 
 
 When Wilford first returned from Silverton he had, as 
 a sure means of forgetting Katy, told his mother and 
 sister something of the farm-house and its inmates; and 
 Juno, while ridiculing both Helen and Katy, had felt a 
 fierce pang of jealousy in knowing they were cousins to 
 Morris Grant, who lived so near that he could, if he liked, 
 see them every day. In Paris Juno had suspected that 
 somebody was standing between her and Dr. Grant, and 
 with the quick insight of a smart, bright woman, she 
 guessed that it was one of these coubins Katy most likely, 
 her brother having described Helen as very commonplace, 
 and for a time she had hated poor, innocent Katy most 
 cordially for having come between her and the only man for 
 whom she had ever really cared. Gradually, however, the 
 feeling died away, but was revived again at sight of Morris 
 Grant, and at the table she could not forbear saying to 
 him. 
 
54 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 "By the way, Dr. Grant, why did you never tell us of 
 those charming cousins, when you were in Paris ? Brother 
 Will describes one of them as a little water-lily, she is so 
 fair and pretty. Katy, I think, is her name. Wilford, 
 isn t it Katy Lennox whom you think so beautiful, and 
 with whom you are more than half in love ? " 
 
 " Yes, it is Katy," and Wilford spoke sternly, for he 
 did not like Juno s bantering tone, but he could not stop 
 her, and she went on, 
 
 " Are they your own cousins, Dr. Grant ? " 
 
 " Xo, they are removed from me two or three degrees, 
 their father having been only my second cousin." 
 
 The fact that Katy Lennox was not nearly enough re 
 lated to Dr. Grant to prevent his marryincr her if he liked, 
 did not improve Juno s amiability, and she continued to 
 ask questions concerning both Katy and Helen, the latter 
 of whom she persisted in thinking was strong-minded, 
 until Mark Eay came to the rescue, diverting her attention 
 by adroitly complimenting her in some way, and so re 
 lieving Wilford and Morris, both of whom were exceedingly 
 annoyed. 
 
 " When Will visits Silverton again I mean to go with 
 him," she said to Morris at parting, but he did not tell her 
 that such an event would give him the greatest pleasure. 
 On the contrary, he merely replied, 
 
 " If you do you will find plenty of ,room at Linwood 
 for those four trunks which I remember seeing in Paris, 
 and your brother will tell you whether I am a hospitable 
 host or not." 
 
 Biting her lip with chagrin, Juno went back to the 
 drawing-room, while Morris returned to his hotel, accom 
 panied by Wilford, who passed the entire evening with 
 him, appearing somewhat constrained, as if there was some 
 thing on his mind which he wished to say ; but it remained 
 unspoken, and there was no allusion to Silverton until, as 
 Wilford was leaving, he said, 
 
 " Remember me kindly to the Silverton friends, and say 
 I have not forgotten them." 
 
 And this was all there was to carry back to Katy, who 
 on the afternoon of Morris s return from New York was at 
 Linwood, waiting to pour his tea and make his toast, she 
 
The Cameron Pride, 55 
 
 pretended, though the real reason was shining all over her 
 tell-tale face, which grew so bright and eager when Morris 
 said, 
 
 "I dined at Mr. Cameron s, Kitty." 
 
 But the brightness gradually faded as Morris described 
 his call and then repeated Wilford s message. 
 
 " And that was all," Katy whispered sorrowfully as she 
 beat the damask cloth softly with her fingers, shutting her 
 lips tightly together to keep back her disappointment 
 
 When Morris glanced at her again there was a tear on 
 her long eye-lashes, and it dropped upon her cheek, fol 
 lowed by another and another, but he did not seem to see 
 it, and talked of New York and the fine sights in Broad 
 way until Katy was able to take part in the conversation. 
 
 " Please don t tell Helen that you saw Wilford," she 
 said to Morris as he walked home with her after tea, and 
 that was the only allusion she made to it, never after that 
 mentioning Wilford s name or giving any token of the love 
 still so strong within her heart, and waiting only for some 
 slight token to waken it again to life and vigor. 
 
 This was in the winter, and Katy had been very sick 
 since then, while Morris had come to believe that Wilford 
 was forgotten, and when, as she grew stronger, he saw 
 how her eyes sparkled at his coming, and how impatient 
 she seemed if he was obliged to hurry off, hope whispered 
 that she would surely be his, and his usually grave face 
 wore a look of happiness which his patients noticed, feeling 
 themselves better after one of his cheery visits. Poor 
 Morris ! he was little prepared for the terrible blow in store 
 for him, when one day early in April he started, as usual, 
 to visit Katy, saying to himself, " If I find her alone, per 
 haps I ll ask if she will come to Linwood this summer ; " 
 and Morris paused a moment beneath a beechwood tree to 
 still the throbbings of his heart, which beat so fast as he 
 thought of going home from his weary work and finding 
 Kate there, his little wife whom he might caress and 
 love all his affectionate nature would prompt him to. He 
 knew that in some points she was weak, but then she was 
 very young, and there was about her so much of purity, 
 innocence, and perfect beauty, that few men, however 
 strong their intellect, could withstand her, and Morris felt 
 
56 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 that in possessing her he should have all he needed to make 
 this life desirable. She would improve as she grew older, 
 and it would be a most delightful task to train her into 
 what she was capable of becoming. Alas for Dr. Morris! 
 He was very near the farm-house now, and there were 
 only a few minutes between him and the cloud which would 
 darken his horizon so completely. Katy was alone, sitting 
 up in her pretty dressing gown of blue, which was so 
 becoming to her pure complexion. Her hair, which had 
 been all cut away during her long sickness, was growing 
 out again somewhat darker than before, and lay in rings 
 upon her head, making her look more childish than ever. 
 But to this Morris did not object. He liked to have her a 
 child, and he thought he had never seen her so beautiful 
 as she was this morning, when, with glowing cheek and 
 dancing eyes, she greeted him as he came in. 
 
 " Oh, Dr. Morris ! " she began, holding up a letter she 
 had in her hand, " I am so glad you ve come ! Wilford 
 has not forgotten me. He has written, and he is coming 
 again, if I will let him; I am so glad! Ain t you? Seeing 
 you knew all about it, and never told Helen, I ll let you 
 read the letter." 
 
 And she held it toward the young man leaning against 
 the mantel and panting for the breath which came so 
 heavily. 
 
 Something he said apologetically abouf being snow blind, 
 for there was that day quite a fall of soft spring snow; 
 and then, with a mighty effort which made his heart 
 quiver with pain, Morris was himself once more, and took 
 the letter in his hand. 
 
 " Perhaps I ought not to read it," he said, but Katy 
 insisted, and thinking to himself, " It will cure me sooner 
 perhaps," he read the few lines Wilford Cameron had 
 written to his " dear little Katy." 
 
 That was the way he addressed her, going on to say 
 that circumstances which he could not explain to her had 
 kept him silent ever since he left her the previous autumn ; 
 but through all he never for a moment had forgotten her, 
 thinking of her the more for the silence he had maintained. 
 " And now that I have risen above the circumstances," he 
 added, in conclusion, "I write to ask if I may come to 
 
The Cameron Pride. 57 
 
 Silverton again? If I may, just drop me one word, 
 * come, and in less than a week I shall be there. Yours 
 very truly, W. Cameron." 
 
 Morris read the letter through, feeling that every word 
 was separating him further and further from Katy, to 
 frhom he said, " You will answer this ? " 
 
 " Yes, oh yes ; perhaps to-day." 
 
 " And you will tell him to come ? " 
 
 "Why, what else should I tell him?" and Katy s blue 
 eyes looked wonderingly at Morris, who hardly knew what 
 he was doing, or why he said to her next, " Listen to 
 me, Katy. You know why Wilford Cameron comes here 
 a second time, and what he will probably ask you ere he 
 goes away: but, Katy, you are not strong enough yet to 
 see him under so exciting circumstances, and, as your 
 physician, I desire that you tell him to wait at least three 
 Weeks before he comes. Will you do so, Katy ? " 
 
 " That is just as Helen talked," Katy answered mourn 
 fully. " She said I was not able." 
 
 " And will you heed us ? " Morris asked again, while 
 Katy after a moment consented, and glad of this respite 
 from what he knew to a certainty would be, Morris dealt 
 out her medicine, and for an instant felt her rapid pulse, 
 but did not retain her hand within his own, nor lay his 
 other upon her head, as he had sometimes done. 
 
 He could not do that now, so he hurried away, finding 
 the world into which he went far different from what it 
 had seemed an hour ago. Then all was bright and hope 
 ful ; but now, alas ! a darker night was gathering round 
 him than any he had ever known, and the patients visited 
 that day marveled at the whiteness of his face, asking if 
 he were ill. Yes, he answered them truly, and for two 
 days he was not seen again, but remained at home alone, 
 where none but his God was witness to what he suffered ; 
 but when the third day came he went again among his 
 sick, grave, quiet and unchanged in outward appearance, 
 unless it was that his voice, always so kind, had now a 
 kinder tone and his manner was tenderer, more sympathiz 
 ing. Inwardly, however, there was a change, for Morris 
 Grant had lain himself upon the sacrificial altar, willing 
 to be and to endure whatever God should appoint, know- 
 
58 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ing that all would eventually be for his good. To the farm 
 house he went every day, talking most with Helen now, 
 but never forgetting who it was sitting so demurely in the 
 arm-chair, or flitting about the room, for Katy was gain 
 ing rapidly. Love perhaps had had nothing to do with 
 her dangerous illness, but it had much to do with her re 
 covery, and those not in the secret wondered to see how 
 she improved, her cheeks growing round and full and her 
 eyes shining with returning health and happiness. 
 
 At Helen s instigation Katy had deferred Wilford s visit 
 four weeks instead of three, but in that time there had come 
 two letters from him, so full of anxiety and sympathy for 
 " his poor little Katy who had been so sick/ that even 
 Helen began to think that he was not as proud and heart 
 less as she supposed, and that he did love her sister after 
 all. 
 
 " If I supposed he meant to deceive her I should wish 
 I was a man to cowhide him," she said to herself, with 
 flashing eye, as she heard Katy exulting that he was com 
 ing " to-morrow." 
 
 This time he would stop at Linwood, for Katy had asked 
 Morris if he might, while Morris had told her yes, feeling 
 his heart-wound throb afresh, as he thought how hard it 
 would be to entertain his rival. Of himself Morris could 
 do nothing, but with the help he never sought in vain. 
 he could do all things, and so he gave orders that the best 
 chamber should be prepared for his guest, bidding Mrs. 
 Hull see that no pains were spared for his entertainment, 
 and then with Katy he waited for the day, the last one 
 in April, which would bring Wilford Cameron a second 
 time to Silverton. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 WILFORD S SECOND VISIT. 
 
 WILFORD CAMERON had tried to forget Katy Lennox, 
 both for his sake and her own, for he foresaw that she 
 could not be happy with his family, and he came to think 
 it might be a wrong to her to transplant her into a soil 
 so wholly unlike that in which her habits and affections 
 had taken root. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 59 
 
 His father once had abruptly asked him if there was any 
 truth in the report that he was about to marry and make 
 a fool of himself, and when Wilford had answered " No," 
 he had replied with a significant 
 
 " Umph ! Old enough, I should think, if you ever inter: <! 
 to marry. Wilford/ and the old man faced square abont, 
 " I know nothing of the girl, except what I gathered from 
 your mother and sisters. You have not asked my advice. I 
 don t suppose you want it, but if you do, here it is. If 
 you love the girl and she is respectable, marry her if she 
 is poor as poverty and the daughter of a tinker; but 
 if you don t love her, and she s as rich as a nabob, for 
 thunder s sake keep away from her." 
 
 This was the elder Cameron s counsel, and Katy s cause 
 rose fifty per cent, in consequence. Still Wilford was 
 sadly disquieted, so much so that his partner, Mark Ray, 
 could not fail to observe that something was troubling 
 him, and at last frankly asked what it was. Wilford knew 
 he could trust Mark, and he confessed the whole, telling 
 him far more of Silverton than he had told his mother, 
 and then asking what his friend would do were the case 
 his own. 
 
 Fond of fun and frolic, Mark laughed immoderately at 
 Wilford s description of Aunt Betsy bringing her " herrin - 
 bone " patch work into the parlor, and telling him it was a 
 part of Katy s e< settin out," but when it came to her hint 
 for an invitation to visit New York, the amu?orl young man 
 roared with laughter, wishing so much that he might live 
 to see the day when poor Aunt Betsy Barlow stood ringing 
 for admittance at No. Fifth Avenue. 
 
 " Wouldn t it be rich, though, the meeting between your 
 Aunt Betsy and Juno ? " and the tears fairly poured down 
 the young man s face. 
 
 But Wilford was too serious for trifling, and after his 
 merriment had subsided, Mark talked with him candidly 
 of Katy Lennox, whose cause he warmly espoused, telling 
 W T ilford that he was far too sensitive with regard to family 
 and position. 
 
 "You are a good fellow on the whole, but too out 
 rageously proud," he said. " Of course this Aunt Betsy 
 in her pongee, whatever that may be, and the uncle in his 
 
60 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 shirt sleeves, and this mother whom you describe as weak 
 and ambitious, are objections which you would rather 
 should not exist ; but if you love the girl, take her, family 
 and all. Not that you are to transport the whole colony of 
 Barlows to New York/ he added, as he saw Wilford s look 
 of horror, " but make up your mind to endure what can 
 not be helped, resting yourself upon the fact that your 
 position is such as cannot well be affected by any marriage 
 you might make, provided the wife were right." 
 
 This was Mark Ray s advice, and it had great weight 
 with Wilford, who knew that Mark came, if possible, from 
 a better line of ancestry than himself. And still Wilford 
 hesitated, waiting until the winter was over, before he came 
 to the decision which, when it was reached, was firm as a 
 granite rock. He had made up his mind at last to marry 
 Katy Lennox if she would accept him, and he told his 
 mother so in presence of his sisters, when one evening they 
 were all kept at home by the rain. There was a sudden 
 uplifting of Bell s eyelashes, a contemptuous shrug of her 
 shoulders, and then she went on with the book she was 
 reading, wondering if Katy was at all inclined to literature, 
 and thinking if she were that it might be easier to tolerate 
 her. Juno, who was expected to say the sharpest things, 
 turned upon him with the exclamation, 
 
 "If you can stand those two feather beds, you can do 
 more than I bupposed," and as one means of showing her 
 disapproval, she quitted the room, while Bell, who had 
 taken to writing articles on the follies of the age, soon 
 followed her sister to elaborate an idea suggested to her 
 mind by her brother s contemplated marriage. 
 
 Thus left alone with her son, Mrs. Cameron tried all 
 her powers of persuasion upon him. But nothing she said 
 influenced him in the least, seeing which she suddenly con 
 fronted him with the question, " Shall you tell her all ? 
 A husband should have no secrets of that kind from his 
 wife." 
 
 Wilford s face was white as ashes, and his voice trembled 
 as he replied, " Yes, mother, I shall tell her all ; but, oh ! 
 you do not know how hard it has been for me to bring 
 my mind to that, or how sorry I am that we ever kept that 
 secret when Genevra died " 
 
The Cameron Pride. 61 
 
 " Hush h ! " came warningly from the mother as Juno 
 reappeared, the warning indicating that Genevra was a 
 name never mentioned, except by mother and son. 
 
 As Juno remained, the conversation was not resumed, 
 and the next morning Wilford wrote to Katy Lennox the 
 letter which carried to her so much of joy, and to Dr. 
 Grant so much of grief. To wait four weeks, as Katy said 
 he must, was a terrible trial to Wilford, who counted every 
 moment which kept him from her side. It was all owing 
 to Dr. Grant and that perpendicular Helen, he knew, for 
 Katy in her letter had admitted that the waiting was wholly 
 their suggestion; and Wilford s thoughts concerning them 
 were anything but complimentary, until a new idea was 
 suggested, which drove every other consideration from his 
 mind. 
 
 Wilford was naturally jealous, but that fault had once 
 led him into so deep a trouble that he had struggled to 
 overcome it, and now, at its first approach, after he thought 
 it dead, he tried to shake it off tried not to believe that 
 Morris cared especially for Katy. But the mere possibility 
 was unendurable, and in a most feverish state of excite 
 ment he started again for Silverton. 
 
 As before, Morris was at the station, his cordial greeting 
 and friendly manner disarming him from all anxiety in 
 that quarter, and making him resolve anew to trample the 
 demon jealousy under his feet, where it could never, rise 
 agair.. Katy s life should not be darkened by the green 
 monster, he thought, and her future would have been bright 
 indeed had it proved all that he pictured it as he 
 drove along with Morris in the direction of the farm 
 house. 
 
 Katy was waiting for him, and he did not hesitate to 
 kiss her more than once as he kept her for a moment in 
 his arms, and then held her off to see if her illness had 
 left any traces upon her. It had not, except it were in 
 the increased delicacy of her complexion and the short hair 
 now growing out in silky rings. She was very pretty in her 
 short hair, but Wilford felt a little impatient as he saw 
 how childish it made her look, and thought how long 
 it would take for it to attain its former length. He 
 was already appropriating her to himself, and devising 
 
62 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ways of improving her. In New York, with Morris Grant 
 standing before his jealous gaze, he could see no fault in 
 Katy, and even now, with her beside him, and the ogre 
 jealousy gone, he saw no fault in her; it was only her 
 hair, and that would be remedied in time; otherwise she 
 was perfect, and in his delight at meeting her again he 
 forgot to criticise the farm-house and its occupants, as h-e 
 had done before. 
 
 They were very civil to him the mother overwhelmingly 
 so, and Wilford could not help detecting her anxiety that 
 all should be settled this time. Helen, on the contrary, 
 was unusually cool, confirming him in his opinion that she 
 was strong-minded and self-willed, and making him resolve 
 to remove Katy as soon as possible from her influence, 
 When talking with his mother he had said that if Katy 
 told him "yes," he should probably place her at some 
 fashionable school for a year or two; but on the way to Sil- 
 verton he had changed his mind. He could not wait a 
 year, and if he married Katy at all, it should be im 
 mediately. He would then take her to Europe, where she 
 could have the best of teachers, besides the advantage oi 
 traveling; and it was a very satisfactory picture he drew 
 of the woman whom he should introduce into New York 
 society as his wife, Mrs. Wilford Cameron. It is true 
 that Katy had not yet said the all-important word, but 
 she was going to say it, and when late that afternoon they 
 came from the walk he had asked her to take, she had 
 listened to his tale of love and was his promised wife. Katy 
 was no coquette ; whatever she felt she expressed, and she 
 had frankly confessed to Wilford her love for him, telling 
 him how the fear that he had forgotten her had haunted 
 her all the long winter; and then with her clear, truth 
 ful blue eyes looking into his, asking him why he had not 
 sent her some message if as he said, he loved her all the 
 time. 
 
 For a moment Wilford s lip was compressed and a flush 
 overspread his face, as, drawing her closer to him, he re 
 plied, " My little Katy will remember that in my first 
 note I spoke of certain circumstances which had prevented 
 my writing earlier. I do not know that I asked her not 
 to seek to know those circumstances; but I ask it now. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 63 
 
 Will Katy trust me so far as to believe that all is right 
 between us, and never allude to these circumstances ? " 
 
 He was kissing her fondly, and his voice was so winning 
 that Katy promised, and then came the hardest, the trying 
 to tell her all, as he had said to his mother he would. 
 Twice he essayed to speak, and as often something sealed 
 his lips, until at last he began, " You must not think me 
 perfect, Katy, for I have faults, and perhaps if you knew 
 my past life you would wish to revoke your recent decision 
 and render a different verdict to my suit. Suppose I un 
 fold the blackest leaf for your inspection ? " 
 
 " N~o, no, oh no," and Katy playfully stopped his mouth 
 with her hand. " Of course you have some faults, but I 
 would rather find them out by myself. I could not hear 
 anything against you now. I am satisfied to take you as 
 you are." 
 
 Wilford felt his heart throb wildly with the feeling that 
 he was deceiving the young girl; but if she would not 
 suffer him to tell her, he was not to be censured if she re 
 mained in ignorance. And so the golden moment fled, 
 and when he spoke again he said, " If Katy will not now 
 read the leaf I offered to show her, she must not shrink 
 in horror, if ever it does meet her eye." 
 
 " I won t, I promise," Kate answered, a vague feeling 
 of fear creeping over her as to what the reading of that 
 mysterious page involved. But this was soon forgotten, as 
 Wilford, remembering his suspicions of Dr. Grant, thought 
 to probe her a little by asking if she had ever loved any 
 one before himself. 
 
 "No, never," she answered. "I never dreamed of such 
 a thing until I saw you, Mr. Cameron ; " and Wilford be 
 lieved the trusting girl, whose loving nature shone in every 
 lineament of her face, upturned to receive the kisses he 
 pressed upon it, resolving within himself to be to her what 
 he ought to be. 
 
 " By the way," he continued, " don t call me Mr. Cam 
 eron again, as you did just now. I would rather be your 
 Wilford. It sounds more familiar ; " and then he told her 
 of his projected tour to Europe, and Katy felt her pulses 
 quicken as she thought of London, Paris and Eome, as 
 places which her plain country eyes might yet look upon. 
 
64 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 But when it came to their marriage, which Wilford said 
 must be within a few weeks she demurred, for this ar 
 rangement was not in accordance with her desires; and 
 she opposed her lover with all her strength, telling him 
 she was so young, not eighteen till July, and she knew so 
 little of housekeeping. He must let her stay at home until 
 she learned at least the art of making bread ! 
 
 Poor, ignorant Katy ! Wilford could not forbear a smile 
 as he thought how different were her views from his, and 
 tried to explain that the art of bread-making, though very 
 desirable in most wives, was not an essential accomplish 
 ment for his. Servants would do that ; besides he did not 
 intend to have a house of his own at once ; he should take 
 her first to live with his mother, where she could learn 
 what was necessary much better than in Silverton. 
 
 Wilford Cameron expected to be obeyed in every im 
 portant matter by the happy person who should be his wife, 
 and as he possessed the faculty of enforcing perfect obe 
 dience without seeming to be severe, so he silenced Katy s 
 arguments, and when they left the shadow of the butternut 
 tree she knew that in all human probability six weeks 
 time would find her on the broad ocean alone with Wilford 
 Cameron. So perfect was Katy s faith and love that she 
 had no fear of Wilford now, but as his affianced wife walked 
 confidently by his side, feeling fully his equal, nor once 
 dreaming how great the disparity his city friends would 
 discover between the fastidious man of fashion and the un 
 sophisticated country girl. And Wilford did not seek to 
 enlighten her, but suffered her to talk of the delight it 
 would be to live in New York, and how pleasant for mother 
 and Helen to visit her, especially the latter, who would 
 thus have a chance to see something of the world. 
 
 " When I get a house of my own I mean she shall live 
 with me all the while," she said, stooping to gather a tuft 
 of wild blue-bells growing in a marshy spot. 
 
 Wilford winced a little, but he would not so soon teai 
 down Katy s castles, and so he merely remarked, as she 
 asked if it would not be nice to have Helen with them, 
 
 " Yes, very nice; but do not speak of it to her yet, as it 
 will probably be some time before she will come to us." 
 
 And so Helen never suspected the honor in store for her 
 
The Cameron Pride, 65 
 
 as she stood in the doorway anxiously waiting for her sister, 
 who she feared would take cold from being out so long. 
 Something though in Katy s face made her guess that to 
 her was lost forever the bright little sister whom she loved 
 so dearly, and fleeing up the narrow stairway to her room, 
 she wept bitterly as she thought of the coming time when 
 she would occupy that room alone, and know that never 
 again would a little golden head lie upon her neck just 
 as it had lain, for there would be a new love, a new in 
 terest between them, a love for the man whose voice she 
 could hear now talking to her mother in the peculiar tone 
 he always assumed when speaking to any one of them 
 excepting Morris or Katy. 
 
 " I wish it were not wrong to hate him/ 7 she exclaimed 
 passionately ; " it would be such a relief ; but if he is only 
 kind to Katy, I do not care how much he despises us," 
 and bathing her face, Helen sat down by her window, won 
 dering, if Mr. Cameron took her sister, when it would 
 probably be. " Not this year or more," she said, " for Katy 
 is so young ; " but on this point she was soon set right 
 by Katy herself, who, leaving her lover alone with her 
 mother, stole up to tell her sister the good news. 
 
 " Yes, I know ; I guessed as much when you came back 
 from the meadows," and Helen s voice was very unsteady in 
 its tone as she smoothed the soft rings clustering around 
 her sister s brow. 
 
 " Crying, Helen ! oh, don t. I shall love you just the 
 same, and you are coming to live with us," Katy said, for 
 getting Wilford s instructions in her desire to comfort 
 Helen, who broke down again, while Katy s tears were 
 mingled with her own. 
 
 It was the first time Katy had thought what it would 
 be to leave forever the good, patient sister, who had been 
 so kind, treating her like a petted kitten and standing be 
 tween her and every hardship. 
 
 " Don t cry, Nellie," she said, " New York is not far 
 away, and I shall come so often, that is, after we return 
 from Europe. Did I tell you we are going there first, 
 and Wilford will not wait, but says we must be married 
 the 10th of June ? that s his birthday thirty and he is 
 telling mother now." 
 
66 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " So soon oh Katy ! and you so young ! " was all Helen 
 could say, as with quivering lip she kissed her sister s hand 
 raised to wipe her tears away. 
 
 " Yes, it is soon, and I am young : but Wilf ord is in 
 such a hurry ; he don t care," Katy replied, trying to com 
 fort Helen, and begging of her not to cry so hard. 
 
 "No, Wilford did not care how much he wrung the 
 hearts of Katy s family by taking her from them at once, 
 and by dictating to a certain extent the way in which he 
 would take her. There must be no invited guests, he said ; 
 no lookers-on, except such as chose to go to the church 
 where the ceremony would be performed, and from which 
 place he should go directly to the Boston train. It was 
 his wish, too, that the matter should be kept as quiet as 
 possible, and not be generally discussed in the neighbor 
 hood, as he disliked being a subject for gossip. And Mrs. 
 Lennox, to whom this was said, promised compliance with 
 everything, or if she ventured to object she found herself 
 borne down by a stronger will than her own, and weakly 
 yielded, her manner fully testifying to her delight at the 
 honor conferred upon her by this high marriage of her 
 child. Wilford knew just how pleased she was, and her 
 obsequious manner annoyed him far more than Helen s 
 blunt straightforwardness, when, after supper was over, 
 she told him how averse she was to his taking Katy so soon, 
 adding still further that if it must *be, she saw no harm 
 in inviting a few of their neighbors. It was custo 
 mary, it would be expected, she said, while Mrs. Lennox, 
 emboldened by Helen s boldness, chimed in, " at least your 
 folks will come ; I shall be glad to meet your mother." 
 
 Wilford was very polite to them both; very good-hu 
 mored, but he kept to his first position, and poor Mrs. 
 Lennox saw fade into airy nothingness all her visions of 
 roasted fowls and frosted cake trimmed with myrtle and 
 flowers, with hosts of the Silverton people there to admire 
 and partake of the marriage feast. It was too bad and so 
 Aunt Betsy said, when, after Wilford had gone to Lin- 
 wood, the family sat together around the kitchen stove, 
 talking the matter over. 
 
 "Yes, it was too bad, when there was that white hen- 
 turkey she could fat up so easy before June, and she knew 
 
The Cameron Pride. 67 
 
 how to make lection cake that would melt in your mouth, 
 and was enough sight better than the black stuff they 
 called weddin cake. She meant to try what she could 
 do wit-h Mr. Carmon." 
 
 And next morning when he came again she did try, 
 holding out as inducements why he should be married the 
 night before starting for Boston, the "white hen-turkey, 
 the lection cake, and the gay old times the young folks 
 would have playing snap-and-catchem ; or if they had a 
 mind, they could dance a bit in the kitchen. She didn t 
 believe in it, to be sure none of the Orthodox did ; but as 
 Wilford was a Piscopal, and that was a Piscopal quirk, 
 it wouldn t harm for once." 
 
 Wilford tried not to show his disgust, and only Helen 
 suspected how hard it was for him to keep down his 
 utter contempt. She saw it in his eyes, which resembled 
 two smouldering volcanoes as they rested upon Aunt Betsy 
 during her harangue. 
 
 " Thank you, madam, for your good intentions, but I 
 think we will dispense with the turkey and the cake," was 
 all he said, though he did smile at the old lady s definition 
 of dancing, which for once she might allow. 
 
 Even Morris, when appealed to, decided with Wilford 
 against Mrs. Lennox and Aunt Betsy, knowing how un 
 equal he was to the task which would devolve on him in 
 case of a bridal party at the farm-house. In comparative 
 silence he heard from Wilford of his engagement offering 
 no objection when told how soon the marriage would take 
 place, but congratulating him so quietly, that if Wilford 
 had retained a feeling of jealousy, it would have 
 disappeared; Morris was so seemingly indifferent to 
 everything except Katy s happiness. But Wilford did not 
 observe closely, and failed to detect the hopeless look 
 in Morris s eyes, or the whiteness which settled about his 
 mouth as he fulfilled the duties of host and sought to 
 entertain his guest. Those were dark hours for Morris 
 Grant, and he was glad when at the end of the second day 
 Wilford s visit expired, and he saw him driven from 
 Linwood round to the farm-house, where he would say 
 his parting words to Katy and then go back to New York. 
 
68 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GETTING READY TO BE MARRIED. 
 
 Miss HELEN LENNOX, Silverton, Mass." 
 
 This was the superscription of a letter, postmarked New 
 York, and brought to Helen within a week after Wilford s 
 departure. It was his handwriting, too; and wondering 
 what he could have written to her, Helen broke the seal, 
 starting as there dropped into her lap a check for five 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 " What does it mean ? " she said, her cheek flushing with 
 anger and insulted pride as she read the following brief 
 lines : 
 
 "NEW YORK, May 8th. 
 
 "Miss HELEN LENNOX: Please pardon the liberty I 
 have taken in enclosing the sum of $500 to be used by you 
 in procuring whatever Katy may need for present neces 
 sities. Presuming that the country seamstresses have not 
 the best facilities for obtaining the latest fashions, my 
 mother proposes sending out her own private dressmaker, 
 Mrs. Ryan. You may look for her the last of the week. 
 
 "Yours truly, WILFORD CAMERON/ 
 
 It would be impossible to describe Helen s indignation 
 as she read this letter, which roused her to a pitch of 
 anger such as Wilford Cameron had never imagined when 
 he wrote the offensive lines. He had really no intention of 
 insulting her. On the contrary, the gift of money was 
 kindly meant, for he knew that Uncle Ephraim was poor, 
 while the part referring to the dressmaker was wholly 
 his mother s proposition, to which he had acceded, knowing 
 how much confidence Juno had in her taste, and that 
 whatever she might see at the farm-house would remain 
 a secret with her, or at most be confined to the ears of his 
 mother and sisters. He wished Katy to look well, and 
 foolishly fancying that no country artiste could make her 
 look so, he consented to Mrs. Ryan s going, never dreaming 
 
The Cameron Pride. 69 
 
 of the effect it would have upon Helen, whose first 
 impulse was to throw the check into the fire. Her second, 
 however, was soberer. She would not destroy it, nor tell 
 any one she had it, but Morris he should know the whole. 
 Accordingly, she repaired to Linwood, finding Morris at 
 home, and startling him with the vehemence of her anger 
 as she explained the nature of her errand. 
 
 " If I disliked Wilf ord Cameron before, I hate him now. 
 Yes, hate him/ she said, stamping her little foot in 
 fury. 
 
 " Why, Helen ! ?? Morris exclaimed, laying his hand re 
 provingly on her shoulder ; " is this the right spirit for 
 one who professes better things? Stop a moment and 
 think." 
 
 "I know it is wrong," Helen answered, "but somehow 
 since he came after Katy, I have grown so hard, so wicked 
 toward Mr. Cameron. He seems so proud, so unap 
 proachable. Say, Cousin Morris, do you think him a good 
 man, that is, good enough for Katy ? " 
 
 " Most people would call him too good for her," Mor 
 ris replied. And,, in a worldly point of view, she is do 
 ing well. Cameron, I believe, is better than three- 
 fourths of the men who marry our girls. He is very 
 proud : but that results from his education and training. 
 Looking only from a New York stand-point he misjudges 
 country people, but he will appreciate you by and by. 
 Do not begin by hating him so cordially. 7 
 
 "Yes, but this money. Now, Morris, we do not want 
 him to get Katy s outfit. I would rather go without 
 clothes my whole life. Shall I send it back ? " 
 
 " I think that the best disposition to make of it," Mor 
 ris replied. " As your brother, I can and will supply 
 Katy s needs." 
 
 " I knew you would, Morris. And I ll send it to-day, 
 in time to keep that dreadful Mrs. Ryan from coming; 
 for I won t have any of Wilford Cameron s dressmakers 
 in the house." 
 
 Morris could not help smiling at Helen s energetic 
 manner, as she hurried to his library and taking his pen 
 wrote to Wilford Cameron as follows: 
 
70 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 SILVERTON, May 9th, 18 . 
 
 MR. WILFORD CAMERON: I give you credit for the 
 kindest of motives in sending the check which I now re 
 turn to you, with my compliments. We are not as poor 
 as you suppose, and would almost deem it sacrilege to let 
 another than ourselves provide for Katy so long as she is 
 ours. And furthermore, Mrs. Ryan s services will not be 
 needed, so it is not worth her while to make a journey here 
 for nothing. Yours, 
 
 HELEN LENNOX. 
 
 Helen felt better after this letter had gone, wondering 
 often how it would be received, and if Wilford would be 
 angry. She hoped he would, and his mother too. " The 
 idea of sending that Ryan woman to us, as if we did not 
 know anything ! " and Helen s lip curled scornfully as she 
 thus denounced the Ryan woman, whose trunk was packed 
 with paper patterns and devices of various kinds when 
 the letter arrived, saying she was not needed. Being a 
 woman of few words, she quietly unpacked her patterns 
 and went back to the work she was engaged upon when 
 Mrs. Cameron proposed her going into the country. Juno, 
 on the contrary, flew into a violent passion to think their 
 first friendly advances should ba thus received. Boll 
 laughed immoderately, saying she liked Helen Lennox s 
 spirit, and wished her brother had chosen her instead of 
 the other, who, she presumed, was a milk and water thing, 
 even if Mrs. Woodhull did extol her so highly. Mrs. 
 Cameron felt the rebuke keenly, wincing under it, and 
 saying "that Helen Lennox must be a very rude, ill- 
 bred girl," and hoping her son would draw the line of 
 division between his wife and her family so tightly that the 
 sister could never pass over it. She had received the 
 news of her son s engagement without opposition, for she 
 knew the time for that was past. Wilford would marry 
 Katy Lennox, and she must make the best of it, so she 
 offered no remonstrance, but, when they were alone, she 
 said to him, " Did you tell her ? Does she know it 
 all?" 
 
 " No, mother," and the old look of pain came back into 
 
The Cameron Pride. 71 
 
 WilforcPs face. " I meant to do so, and I actually began, 
 but she stopped me short, saying she did not wish to 
 hear my faults, she would rather find them out herself. 
 Away from her it is very easy to think what I will do, but 
 when the trial comes I find it hard, we have kept it so 
 long; but I shall tell her yet; not till after we are mar 
 ried though, and I have made her love me even more 
 than she does now. She will not mind it then. I shall 
 take her where I first met Genevra, and there I will tell 
 her. Is that right ? " 
 
 " Yes, if you think so," Mrs. Cameron replied. 
 
 Whatever it was which Wilford had to tell Katy Len 
 nox, it was very evident that he and his mother looked 
 at it differently, he regarding it as a duty he owed to 
 Katy not to conceal from her what might possibly influ 
 ence her decision, while his mother only wished the secret 
 told in hopes that it would prevent the marriage ; but now 
 that Wilford had deferred it till after the marriage, she 
 saw no reason why it need be told at all. At least Wilford 
 could do as he thought best, and she changed the conversa 
 tion from Genevra to Helen s letter, which had so upset 
 her plans. That her future daughter-in-law was handsome 
 she did not doubt, but she, of course, had no manner, no 
 style, and as a means of improving her in the latter 
 respect, and making her presentable at the altar and in 
 Boston, she had proposed sending out Ryan; but that 
 project had failed, and Helen Lennox did not stand very 
 high in the Cameron family, though Wilford in his heart 
 felt an increased respect for her independent spirit, not 
 withstanding that she had thwarted his designs. 
 
 "I have another idea," Mrs. Cameron said to her 
 daughters that afternoon, when talking with them upon 
 the subject. "Wilford tells me Katy and Bell are about 
 the same size and figure, and Ryan shall make up a 
 traveling suit proper for the occasion. Of course there 
 will be no one at the wedding for whom we care, but in 
 Boston, at the Revere, it will be different. Cousin Har 
 vey boards there, and she is very stylish. I saw some 
 elegant grey poplins, of the finest lustre, at Stewart s 
 yesterday. Suppose we drive down this afternoon." 
 
 This was said to Juno as the more fashionable one of 
 
72 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 the sisters, but Bell answered quickly, " Poplin, mother, 
 on Katy ? It will not become her style, I am sure, though 
 suitable for many. If I am to be fitted, I shall say a word 
 about the fabric. Get a little checked silk, as expensive 
 as you like. It will suit her better than a heavy poplin/ 
 
 Perhaps Bell was right, Mrs. Cameron said; they would 
 look at both, and as the result of this looking, two dresses, 
 one of the finest poplin, and one of the softest, richest, 
 plaided silk, were given the next day into Mrs. Ryan s 
 hands, with injunctions to spare no pains or expense in 
 trimming and making both. And so the dress-making for 
 Katy s bridal was proceeding in New York, in spite of 
 Helen y s letter ; while down in Silverton, at the farm-house, 
 there were numerous consultations as to what was proper 
 and what was not, Helen sometimes almost wishing she 
 had suffered Mrs. Ryan to come. Katy would look well 
 in anything, but Helen knew there were certain styles 
 preferable to others, and in a maze of perplexity she con 
 sulted with this and that individual, until all Silverton 
 knew what was projected, each one offering the benefit of 
 her advice until Helen and Katy were nearly distracted. 
 Aunt Betsy suggested a blue delaine and round cape, offer 
 ing to get it herself, and actually purchasing the material 
 with her own funds, saved from drying apples. That 
 would answer for one dress, Helen said, but not for the 
 wedding; and she was becoming more undecided, when 
 Morris came to the rescue, telling Katy of a young woman 
 who had for some time past been his patient, but who 
 was now nearly well and was anxious to obtain work again. 
 She had evidently seen better days, he said ; was very lady 
 like in her manner, and possessed of a great deal of taste, 
 he imagined; besides that, she had worked in one of the 
 largest shops in New York. "As I am going this after 
 noon over to North Silverton," he added, in conclusion, 
 " and shall pass Miss Hazelton s house, you or Helen might 
 accompany me and see for yourself." 
 
 It was decided that Helen should go, and about four 
 o clock she found herself ringing at the cottage over 
 whose door hung the sign, " Miss M. Hazelton, Fashionable 
 Dressmaker." She was at home, and in a few moments 
 Helen was talking with Marian Hazelton, whose face 
 
The Cameron Pride. 73 
 
 showed signs of recent illness, but was nevertheless very 
 attractive, from its peculiarly sad expression and the soft 
 liquid eyes of dark blue, which looked as if they were not 
 strangers to tears. At twenty she must have been strik 
 ingly beautiful; and even now, at thirty, few ladies could 
 have vied with her had she possessed the means for gratify 
 ing her taste and studying her style. About the mouth, so 
 perfect in repose, there was when she spoke a singularly 
 sweet smile, which in a measure prepared one for the low, 
 silvery voice, which had a strange note of mournful mi^ic 
 in its tone, making Helen start as it asked, " Pid you wish 
 to see me ? " 
 
 " Yes ; Dr. Grant told me you could make dresses, and 
 I drove round with him to secure your services, if possible, 
 for my sister, who is soon to be married. We would 
 like it so much if you could go to our house instead of 
 having Katy come here/ 
 
 Marian Hazelton was needing work, for there was due 
 more than three months " board, besides the doctor s bill, 
 and so, though it was not her custom to go from house 
 to house, she would, in this instance, accommodate Miss 
 Lennox, especially as during her illness her customers had 
 many of them gone elsewhere, and her little shop was 
 nearly broken up. " Was it an elaborate trousseau she was 
 expected to make?" and she bent down to turn over some 
 fashion plates lying upon the table. 
 
 " Oh, no ! we are plain country people. We cannot 
 afford as much for Katy as we would like; besides, I dare 
 say Mr. Cameron will prefer selecting most of her ward 
 robe himself, as he is very wealthy and fastidious/ Helen 
 replied, repenting the next instant the part concerning 
 Mr. Cameron s wealth, as that might look like boasting to 
 Miss Hazelton, whose head was bent lower over the mag 
 azine as she said, " Did I understand that the gentle 
 man s name was Cameron?" 
 
 "Yes, Wilford Cameron, from New York," Helen, 
 answered, holding up her skirts and s-s-kt-ing at the 
 kitten which came running toward her, evidently intent 
 upon springing into her lap. 
 
 Fear of cats was Helen s weakness, if weakness it can 
 be called,, and in her efforts to frighten her tormentor 
 
74 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 she did not look again at Miss Hazelton until startled by 
 a gasping cry and heavy fall. Marian had fainted, and 
 Helen was just raising her head from the floor to her lap 
 when Morris appeared, relieving her of her burden, of 
 whom he took charge until she showed signs of life. In 
 her ahrm Helen forgot entirely what they were talking 
 about when the faint came on, and her first question put 
 to Marian was, " Were you taken suddenly ill ? Why 
 did you fahrt?" 
 
 There was no answer at first ; but when she did speak 
 Marian said, " I am still so weak that the least exertion 
 affects me, and I was bending over the table; it will soon 
 pass off/ 
 
 If she was so weak she was not able to work, Helen said, 
 proposing that the plan be for the present abandoned, 
 but to this Marian would not listen; and her great eager 
 eyes had in them so scared a look that Helen said no 
 more on that subject, but made arrangements for her 
 coming to them at once. Morris was to leave his patient 
 some medicine, and while he was preparing it, Helen had 
 time to notice her more carefully, admiring her ladylike 
 manners, and thinking her smile the sweetest she had ever 
 seen. Greatly interested in her, Helen plied Morris with 
 questions of Miss Hazelton during their ride home, asking 
 what he knew of her. 
 
 " Nothing, except that she came to North Silverton a 
 year ago, opening her shop, and by her faithfulness, and 
 pleasant, obliging manners, winning favor with all who 
 employed her. Previous to her sickness she had a few 
 times attended St. Paul s at South Silverton, that being 
 the church of her choice. Had Helen never observed 
 her?" 
 
 No, Helen had not. And then she spoke of her faint 
 ing, telling how sudden it was, and wondering if she was 
 subject to such turns. Marian Hazelton had made a 
 strong impression on Helen s mind, and she talked of 
 her so much that Katy waited her appearance at the 
 farm-house with feverish anxiety. It was evening when 
 she came, looking very white, and seeming to Helen as 
 if she had changed since she saw her first. In her eyes 
 there was a kind of hopeless, weary expression, while 
 
The Cameron Pride. 75 
 
 her smile made one almost wish to cry, it was so sad, 
 and yet so strangely sweet. Katy felt its influence at once, 
 growing very confidential with the stranger, who, during 
 the half hour in which they were accidentally left alone, 
 drew from her every particular concerning her intended 
 marriage. Very closely the dark blue eyes scrutinized 
 little Katy, taking in first the faultless beauty of her face, 
 and then going away down into the inmost depths of her 
 character, as if to find out what was there. 
 
 " Pure, loving innocent, and unsuspecting," was Marian 
 Hazelton s verdict, and she followed wistfully every move 
 ment of the young girl as she flitted around the room, 
 chatting as familiarly with the dressmaker as if she were 
 a friend long known instead of an entire stranger. 
 
 " You look very young to be marriecl," Miss Hazleton 
 said to her once, and shaking back her short rings of 
 hair Katy answered, " Eighteen next Fourth of July ; 
 but Mr. Cameron is thirty." 
 
 "Is he a widower?" was the next question, which 
 Katy answered with a merry laugh. " Mercy, no ! / 
 marry a widower ! How funny ! I don t believe he ever 
 cared a fig for anybody but me. I mean to ask him." 
 
 " I would," and the pale lips shut tightly together, 
 while a resentful gleam shot for a moment across Marian s 
 face; but it quickly passed away, and her smile was 
 as sweet as ever as she at last bade the family good 
 night and repaired to the little room where Wilford 
 Cameron once had slept. 
 
 A long time she stood before the glass, brushing her 
 dark abundant hair, and intently regarding her own 
 features, while in her eyes there was a hard, terrible 
 look, from which Katy Lennox would have shrunk in fear. 
 But that too passed, and the eyes grew soft with tears as 
 she turned away, and falling on her knees moaned sadly, 
 " I never will no, I never will. God help me to keep 
 the promise. Were it the other one Helen I might, for 
 she could bear it ; but Katy, that child no, I never will," 
 and as the words died on her lips there came struggling 
 up from her heart a prayer for Katy Lennox s happiness, 
 as fervent and sincere as any which had ever been made 
 for her since she was betrothed. 
 
76 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 They grew to liking each other rapidly, Marian and 
 Katy, the latter of whom thought her new friend greatly 
 out of place as a dressmaker, telling her she ought to 
 marry some rich man, calling her Marian altogether, and 
 questioning her very closely of her previous life. But 
 Marian only told her that she was born in London; that 
 -lie learned her trade on the Isle of Wight, near to the 
 Osborne House, where tlie royal family sometimes came, 
 and that she had often seen the present Queen, thus trying 
 to divert Katy s mind from asking what there was besides 
 that apprenticeship to the Misses True on the Isle of 
 Wight. Once indeed she went farther, saying that her 
 friends were dead; that she had come to America in hopes 
 of doing better than she could at home; that she had 
 stayed in New York until her health began to fail, and then 
 had tried what country air would do, coming to North 
 Silverton because a young woman who worked in the same 
 shop was acquainted there, and recommended the place. 
 This was all Katy could learn, and Marian s heart history, 
 if she had one, was guarded carefully. 
 
 They had decided at last upon the wedding dress, 
 which Helen reserved the right to make herself. Miss 
 Hazelton must fit it, of course, but to her belonged the 
 privilege of making it, every stitch ; Katy would think 
 more of it if she did it all, she said ; but she did not con 
 fess how the bending over the dress, *both early and late, 
 was the escape-valve for the feeling which otherwise would 
 have found vent in passionate tears. Helen was very 
 wretched during the pleasant May days she usually enjoyed 
 so much, but over which now a dark pall was spread, 
 shutting out all the brightness and leaving only the 
 terrible certainty that Katy was lost to her forever bright, 
 frolicsome Katy, who, without a shadow on her heait, 
 sported amid the bridal finery, unmindful of the anguish 
 lugging at the hearts of both the patient women, Marian 
 and Helen, who worked on so silently, reserving their tears 
 for the night-time, when Katy was dreaming of Wilford 
 Cameron. Helen was greatly interested in Marian, but 
 never guessed that her feelings, too, were stirred to their 
 very depths as the bridal preparations progressed^ She 
 only knew how wretched she was herself, and how hard 
 
The Cameron Pride. 77 
 
 it was to fight her tears back as she bent over the silk, weav 
 ing in with every stitch a part of the clinging love which 
 each day grew stronger for the only sister, who would 
 soon be gone, leaving her alone. Only once did she break 
 entirely down, and that was when the dress was done and 
 Katy fried it on, admiring its effect and having a second 
 glass brought that she might see it behind. 
 
 " Isn t it lovely ? " she exclaimed ; " and the more valu- 
 ab ] e because you made it. I shall think of you every 
 time I wear it," and the impulsive girl wound her arms 
 around Helen s neek, kissing her lovingly, while Helen 
 sank into a chair and sobbed aloud, " Oh, Katy, darling 
 Ivaty ! you won t forget me when you are rich and admired, 
 and can have all you want? You will remember us here 
 at home, so sad and lonely ? You don t know how desolate 
 it will be, knowing you are gone, never to come back again, 
 just as you go away." 
 
 In an instant Katy was on her knees before Helen, 
 whom she tried to comfort by telling her she should 
 come back, come often, too, staying a long while; and 
 that when she had a city home of her own she should 
 live with her for good, and they would be so happy. 
 
 " I cannot quite give Wilford up to please you," she 
 said, when that gigantic sacrifice suggested itself as some 
 thing which it was possible Helen might require of her; 
 "but I will do anything else, only please don t cry, 
 darling Nellie please don ? t cry. It spoils all my 
 pleasure," and Katy s soft hands wiped away the tears 
 running so fast over her sister s face. 
 
 After that Helen did not cry again in Katy s presence, 
 but the latter knew she wanted to, and it made her rather 
 sad, particularly when she saw reflected in the faces of the 
 other members of the family the grief she had witnessed 
 in Helen. Even Uncle Ephraim was not as cheerful as 
 usual, and once when Katy came upon him in the woodshed 
 chamber, where he was shelling corn, she found him 
 resting from his work and looking from the window far 
 off across the hills, with a look which made her guess 
 he was thinking of her, and stealing up beside him she 
 laid her hand upon his wrinkled face, whispering softly, 
 ^ Poor Uncle Eph, are you sorry, too ? " 
 
78 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 He knew what she meant, and the aged chin quivered, 
 while a big tear dropped into the tub of corn as he re 
 plied. " Yes, Katy-did very sorry." 
 
 That was all he said, and Katy, after smoothing his 
 silvery hair a moment, kissed his cheek and then stole 
 away, wondering if the love to which she was going was 
 equal to the love of home, which, as the days went by, 
 grew stronger and stronger, enfolding her in a mighty 
 embrace, which could only be severed by bitter tears 
 and fierce heart-pangs, such as death itself sometimes 
 brings. In that household there was, after Katy, no 
 one glad of that marriage except the mother, and she 
 was only glad because of the position it would bring to 
 her daughter. But among them all Morris suffered most, 
 and suffered more because he had to endure in secret, so 
 that no one guessed the pain it was for him to go each 
 day where Katy was, and watch her as she sometimes 
 donned a part of her finery for his benefit, asking him 
 once if he did not wish he were in Wilford s place, so as 
 to have as pretty a bride as she should make. Then 
 Marian Hazelton glanced up in time to see the expression 
 of his face, a look whose meaning she readily recognized, 
 and when Dr. Grant left the farm-house that day, another 
 than himself knew of his love for Katy, drawing her 
 breath hurriedly as she thought of taking back the words, 
 " I never will/ of revoking that decision and telling 
 Katy what Wilford Cameron should have told her long 
 before. But the wild wish fled, and Wilford s secret was 
 safe, while Marian watched Morris Grant with a pitying 
 interest as he came among them, speaking always in the 
 same kind, gentle tone, and trying so hard to enter into 
 Katy s joy. 
 
 " His burden is greater than mine. God help us both," 
 Marian said, as she resumed her work. 
 
 And so amid joy and gladness, silent tears and break 
 ing hearts, the preparations went on until all was done, 
 and only three days remained before the eventful tenth. 
 Marian Hazelton was going home, for she would not 
 stay at the farm-house until all was over, notwithstand 
 ing Katy s entreaties were joined to those of Helen. 
 
 " Perhaps she would come to the church/ she said, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 79 
 
 " though she could not promise ; " and her manner was 
 so strange that Katy wondered if she could have offended 
 her, and at last said to her timidly, as she stood with 
 her bonnet on, waiting for Uncle Ephraim, " You are not 
 angry with me for anything, are you ? " 
 
 "Angry with you!" and Katy never forgot the glitter 
 of the tearful eyes, or their peculiar expression as they 
 turned upon her. " No, oh, no; I could not be angry 
 with you, and yet, Katy Lennox, some in my position 
 would hate you, contrasting your prospects with their 
 own; but I do not; I love you; I bless you, and pray 
 that you may be happy with your husband; honor him, 
 obey him if need be, and above all, never give him the 
 slightest cause to doubt you. You will have admirers, 
 Katy Lennox. In New York others than your husband 
 will speak to you words of flattery, but don t you listen. 
 Eemember what I tell you; and now, again, God bless 
 you." 
 
 She touched her lips to Katy s forehead, and when 
 they were withdrawn there were great tears there which 
 she had left! Marian s tears on Ivaty s brow; and it was 
 very meet that just before her bridal day Wilford Cam 
 eron s bride should receive such baptism from Marian 
 Hazelton. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BEFORE THE MARRIAGE. 
 
 ON the morning of the 9th day of June, 18 , Wilford 
 Cameron stood in his father s parlor, surrounded by the 
 entire family, who, after their unusually early breakfast, 
 had assembled to bid him good-bye, for Wilford was going 
 for his bride, and it would be months, if not a year, ere 
 he returned to them again. They had given him up to his 
 idol, asking only that none of the idol s family should be 
 permitted to cross their threshold, and also that the idol 
 should not often be allowed the privilege of returning 
 to the place from whence she came. These restrictions 
 had emanated from the female portion of the Cameron 
 family, the mother, Juno and Bell. The father, on the 
 
80 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 contrary, had sworn roundly as he would sometimes swear 
 at what he called the contemptible pride of his wife and 
 daughters. Katy was sure of a place in his heart just 
 because of the pride which was building up so high a 
 wall between her and her friends, and when at parting he 
 held his son s hand in his, he said, 
 
 " I charge you, Will, be kind to that young girl, and 
 don t for Heaven s sake go to cramming her with airs and 
 nonsense which she does not understand. Tell her I ll 
 be a father to her; her own, you say, is dead, and give 
 her this as my bridal present." 
 
 He held out a small box containing a most exquisite 
 set of pearls, such as he fancied would be becoming to 
 the soft, girlish beauty Wilford had described. Some 
 thing in his father s manner touched Wilford closely, 
 making him resolve anew that if Kitty were not happy 
 as Mrs. Cameron it should not be his fault. His mother 
 had said all she wished to say, while his sisters had been 
 gracious enough to send their love to the bride, Bell hop 
 ing she would look as well in the poplin and little plaid 
 as she had done. Either was suitable for the wedding 
 day, Mrs. Cameron said, and she might take her choice, 
 only Wilford must see that she did not wear with the 
 poplin the gloves and belt intended for the silk ; country 
 people had so little taste, and she did want Katy to look 
 well, even if she were not there to see* her. And with his 
 brain a confused medley of poplins and plaids, belts and 
 gloves, pearls and Katy, Wilford finally tore himself away, 
 and at three o clock that afternoon drove through Silverton 
 village, past the little church, which the Silverton maidens 
 were decorating with flowers, pausing a moment in their 
 work to lock at him as he went by. Among them was 
 Marian Hazelton, but she only bent lower over her work, 
 thus hiding the tear which dropped upon the delicate buds 
 she was fashioning into the words,, "Joy to the Bride," 
 intending the whole as the center of the wreath to be 
 placed over the altar where all could see it. 
 
 " The handsomest man I ever saw," w?s the verdict of 
 most of the girls as they came back to their work, while 
 Wilford drove on to the farm-house where Katy had been 
 so anxiously watching for him. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 81 
 
 When he came in sight, however, and she knew he was 
 actually there, she ran away to hide her blushes, and the 
 feeling of awe which had come suddenly over her for the 
 man who was to be her husband. But Helen bade her go 
 back, and so she went coyly in to Wilford, who met her 
 with loving caresses, and then put upon her finger the 
 superb diamond which he said he had thought to send as a 
 pledge of their engagement, but had finally concluded to 
 wait and present himself. Katy had heard much of dia 
 monds, and seen some in Canandaigua; but the idea th it 
 she, plain Katy Lennox, would ever wear them, had never 
 entered her mind ; and now, as she looked at the brilliant 
 gem sparkling upon her hand, she felt a thrill of some 
 thing more than joy at that good fortune which had 
 brought her to diamonds. Vanity, we suppose it was such 
 vanity as was very natural in her case, and she thought 
 she should never tire of looking at the precious stone; 
 but when Wilford showed her next the plain broad band 
 of gold, and tried it on her third finger, asking if she knew 
 what it meant, the true woman spoke within her, and she 
 answered tearfully, 
 
 " Yes, I know, and I will try to prove worthy of what 
 I shall be to you when I wear that ring for good." 
 
 Katy was very quiet for a moment as she sat with her 
 head nestled against Wilford s bosom, but when he observed 
 that she was looking tired, and asked if she had been work 
 ing hard, the quiet fit was broken, and she told him of 
 the dress " we had made/ the we referring solely to Helen 
 and Marian, for Katy had hardly done a thing. But it 
 did not matter; she fancied she had, and she asked if he 
 did not wish to see her dresses. Wilford knew it would 
 please Katy, and so he followed her into the adjoining 
 room, where they were spread out upon tables and chairs, 
 with Helen in their midst, ready to pack them away. 
 Wilford thought of Mrs. Eyan and the check, but he 
 shook hands with Helen very civilly, saying to her play 
 fully, 
 
 " I suppose you are willing I should take your sister 
 with me this time." 
 
 Helen could not answer, but turned away to hide her 
 face, while Katy showed one dress after another, until 
 
82 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 she came to the silk, which, with a bright blush, she told 
 him " was the very thing itself the one intended for 
 to-morrow," and asked if he did not like it. 
 
 Wilford could not help telling her yes, for he knew she 
 wished him to do so, but in his heart he was thinking 
 bad thoughts against the wardrobe of his bride elect 
 thoughts which would have won for him the title of hen- 
 huzzy from Helen, could she have known them. And yet 
 Wilford did not deserve that name. He had been accus 
 tomed all his life to hearing dress discussed in his mother s 
 parlor, and in his sister s boudoir, while for the last 
 five weeks he had heard at home of little else than the 
 probable tout ensemble of Katy s wardrobe, bought and 
 made in the country, his mother deciding finally to write 
 to her cousin, Mrs. Harvey, who boarded at the Eevere, 
 and have her see to it before Katy left the city. Under 
 these circumstances, it was not strange that Wilford ,did 
 not enter into Katy s delight, even after she told him how 
 Helen had made every stitch of the dress herself, and that 
 it would on that account be very dear to her. This 
 was a favorable time for getting the poplin off his mind, 
 and with a premonitory ahem he said, " Yes, it is very 
 nice, no doubt; but," and here he turned to Helen, 
 " after Mrs. Ryan s services were declined, my mother de 
 termined to have two dresses fitted to sister Bell, who I 
 think is just Katy s size and figure. 1 need not say, " and 
 his eyes still rested on Helen, who gave him back an un 
 flinching glance, " I need not say that no pains have been 
 spared to make these garments everything they should be 
 in point of quality and style. I have them in my trunk, 
 and," turning now to Katy, " it is my mother s special 
 request that one of them be worn to-morrow. You could 
 take your choice, she said either was suitable. I will 
 bring them for your inspection." 
 
 He left the room, while Helen s face resembled a 
 dark thunder-cloud, whose lightnings shone in her flashing 
 eyes as she looked after him and then back to 
 where Katy stood, bewildered and wondering what was 
 wrong. 
 
 "Who is Mrs. Ryan?" she asked. "What does he 
 mean ? " but before Helen could command her voice to 
 
The Cameron Pride. 83 
 
 explain, Wilford was with them again, bringing the 
 dresses, over which Katy nearly went wild. 
 
 She had never seen anything as elegant as the rich 
 heavy poplin or the soft lustrous silk, while even Helen 
 acknowledged that there was about them a finish which 
 threw Miss Hazelton s quite in the shade. 
 
 " Beautiful ! " Katy exclaimed ; " and trimmed so ex 
 quisitely ! I do so hope they will fit ! " 
 
 " I dare say they will," Wilford replied, enjoying her 
 appreciation of his mother s gift. " At all events they 
 will answer for to-morrow, and any needful alterations 
 can be made in Boston. Which will you wear ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don t know. I wish I could wear both. Helen, 
 which shall I?" and Katy appealed to her sister, who 
 could endure no more, but hid her head among the pil 
 lows of the bed and cried. 
 
 Katy understood the whole, and dropping the silk to 
 which she inclined the most, she flew to Helen s side and 
 whispered to her, " Don t, Nellie, I won t wear either of 
 them. I ll wear the one you made. It was mean and 
 vain in me to think of doing otherwise." 
 
 During this scene Wilford had stolen from the room, 
 and with him gone Helen was capable of judging candidly 
 and sensibly. She knew the citv silk was handsomer and 
 better suited for Wilford Cameron s bride than the country 
 plaid, and so she said to Katy, " I would rather you should 
 wear the one they sent. It will become you better. Sup 
 pose you try it on," and in seeking to gratify her sister, 
 Helen forgot in part her own cruel disappointment, and 
 that her work of days had been for naught. The dress 
 fitted well, though Katy pronounced it too tight and too 
 long. A few moments, however, accustomed her to the 
 length, and then her mother, Aunt Hannah, and Aunt 
 Betsy, came to see and admire, while Katy proposed going 
 out to Wilford, but Helen kept her back, Aunt Betsy re 
 marking under her breath, that "she didn t see for the 
 life on her how Catherine could be so free and easy with 
 that man when just the sight of him was enough to take 
 away a body s breath." 
 
 " More free and easy than she will be by and by," was 
 Helen s mental comment as she proceeded quietly to pack 
 
84 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 the trunk which Morris had brought for the voyage across 
 the sea, dropping into it many a tear as she folded away 
 one article after another, and wondered under what cir 
 cumstances she should see them again if she saw them 
 ever. 
 
 Helen was a Christian girl, and many a time had she 
 prayed in secret that He who rules the deep would keep 
 its waters calm and still while her sister was upon them, 
 and she prayed so now, constantly, burying her face once 
 in her hands, and asking that Katy might come back to 
 them unchanged, if possible, and asking next that God 
 would remove from her heart all bitterness towards the 
 bridegroom, who was to be her brother, and whom, after 
 that short, earnest prayer, she found herself liking better. 
 He loved Katy, she wns sure, and that was all she cared 
 for, though she did wish he would release her before 
 twelve o clock on that night, the last she would spend 
 with them for a long, long time. But Wilford kept her 
 with him in the parlor, kissing away the tears which 
 flowed so fast when she recalled the prayer said by Uncle 
 Ephraim, with her kneeling by him as she might njver 
 kneel again. He had called her by her name, and li s 
 voice was very sad as he commended her to God, asking 
 that he would "be with our little Katy wherever she 
 might go, keeping her in all the mewandering scenes of 
 life, and bringing her at last to his own heavenly home." 
 
 Wilford himself was touched, and though he noticed the 
 deacon s pronunciation, he did not even smile, and his 
 manner was very respectful, when, after the prayer was 
 over and they were alone a moment, the white-haired 
 deacon felt it incumbent upon him to say a few words 
 concerning Katy. 
 
 " She s a young, rattle-headed creature, not much like 
 your own kin, I guess; but, young man, she is as dear as 
 the apple of our eyes, and I charge you to treat her well. 
 She has never had a crossways word spoke to her all 
 her life, and don t you be the first to speak it, nor let 
 your folks browbeat her." 
 
 As they were alone, it was easier for Wilford to be 
 humble and conciliatory, and he promised all the old 
 man reauired, and then went back to Katy, who was going 
 
The Cameron Pride. 85 
 
 into raptures over the beautiful little watch which Morris 
 had sent over as her bridal gift from him. Even Mrs. 
 Cameron herself could have found no fault with this, and 
 Wilford praised it as much as Katy could desire, noticing 
 the inscription, " Katy, from Cousin Morris, June 10th, 
 18 ," wishing that after the " Katy " had come the name 
 Cameron, and wondering if Morris had any design in 
 omitting it. Wilford had not yet presented his father s 
 gift, but he did so now, and Katy s tears dropped upon 
 the pale, soft pearls as she whispered, " I shall like your 
 father. I never thought of having things Ipke these." 
 
 Nor had she; but she would grow to them very soon, 
 while even the family gathering round and sharing in her 
 joy began to realize how great a lady their Katy was to 
 be. It was late that night ere anybody slept, if sleep at all 
 they did, which was doubtful, unless it were the bride, 
 who, with Wilford s kisses warm upon her lips, crept up 
 to bed just as the clock was striking twelve, nor awoke 
 until it was again chiming six, and over her Helen bent, 
 a dark ring about her eyes and her face very white as she 
 whispered, " Wake, Katy darling, this is your wedding 
 day." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 MARRIAGE AT ST. JOHN S. 
 
 THERE were more than a few lookers-on to see Katy 
 Lennox married, and the church was literally jammed for 
 full three-quarters of an hour before the appointed time. 
 Back by the door, where she commanded a full view of 
 the middle aisle, Marian Hazelton sat, her face as white 
 as ashes, and her eyes gleaming strangely wild from be 
 neath the thickly dotted veil she wore over her hat. 
 Doubts as to her wisdom in coming there were agitating 
 her mind, but something kept her sitting just as others 
 sat waiting for the bride until the sexton, opening wide 
 the doors, and assuming an added air of consequence, 
 told the anxious spectators that the party had arrived 
 Uncle Ephraim and Katy, Wilford and Mrs. Lennox, Dr. 
 Morris and Helen, Aunt Hannah and Aunt Betsy that 
 
86 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 was all, and they came slowly up the aisle, while coutless 
 eyes were turned upon them, every woman noticing Katy s 
 dress sweeping the carpet with so long a trail, and know 
 ing by some queer female instinct that it was city-made, 
 and not the handiwork of Marian Hazelton, panting for 
 breath in that pew near the door, and trying to forget 
 herself by watching Dr. Grant. She could not have told 
 what Katy wore; she would not have sworn that Katy 
 was there, for she saw only two, Wilford aiid Morris 
 Grant. She could have touched the former as he passed 
 her by, and she did breathe the odor of his garments while 
 her hands clasped each other tightly, and then she turned 
 to Morris Grant, growing content with her own pain, so 
 much less than his as he stood before the altar with Wil 
 ford Cameron between him and the bride which should 
 have been his. How pretty she was in her wedding garb, 
 and how like a bird her voice rang out as she responded 
 to the solemn question, 
 
 " Will you have this man to be thy wedded husband," 
 etc. 
 
 Upon Uncle Ephraim devolved the duty of giving her 
 away, a thing which Aunt Betsy denounced as a " Piscopal 
 quirk," classing it in the same category with dancing. 
 Still if Ephraim had got it to do she wanted him to do it 
 well, and she had taken some pains to study that part of 
 the ceremony, so as to know when to 4 nudge her brother 
 in case he failed of coming up to time. 
 
 " Now, Ephraim, now ; they ve reached the quirk," she 
 whispered, audibly, almost before Katy s " I will " was 
 heard, clear and distinct; but Ephraim did not need her 
 prompting, and his hand rested lovingly upon Katy s 
 shoulder as he signified his consent, and then fell back 
 to his place next to Hannah. But when Wilford s voice 
 said, " I, Wilford, take thee Katy to be my wedded wife," 
 there was a slight confusion near the door, and those 
 sitting by said to those in front that some one had fainted. 
 Looking round, the audience saw the sexton leading 
 Marian Hazleton out into the open air, where, at her 
 request, he left h^r, and went back to see the closing of 
 the ceremony which made Katy Lennox a wife. Morris s 
 carriage was at the door, and the newly married pair 
 
The Cameron Pride. 87 
 
 moved slowly out, Katy smiling upon all, kissing her hand 
 to some and whispering a good-bye to others, her dia 
 monds flashing in the light and her rich silk rustling as 
 she walked, while at her side was Wilford, proudly erect, 
 and holding his head so high as not to see one of the crowd 
 around him, until, arrived at the vestibule, he stopped a 
 moment and was seized by a young man with curling 
 hair, saucy eyes, and that air of ease and assurance which 
 betokens high breeding and wealth. 
 
 " Mark Kay ! " was Wilf ord s astonished exclamation, 
 while Mark Ray replied, 
 
 "You did not expect to see me here, neither did I ex 
 pect to come until last night, when I found myself in the 
 little village where you know Scranton lives. Then it 
 occurred to me that as Silverton was only a few miles 
 distant I would drive over and surprise you, but I am too 
 late for the ceremony, I see," and Mark s eyes rested ad 
 miringly upon Katy, whose graceful beauty was fully 
 equal to what he had imagined. 
 
 Very modestly she received his congratulatory greeting, 
 blushing prettily when he called her by the new name she 
 had not heard before, and then, at a motion from Wil 
 ford, entered the carriage waiting for her. Close behind 
 her came Morris and Helen, the former quite as much 
 astonished at meeting Mark as Wilford had been. There 
 was no time for conversation, and hurriedly introducing 
 Helen as Miss Lennox, Morris followed her into the car 
 riage with the bridal pair, and was driven to the depot, 
 where they were joined by Mark, whose pleasant good- 
 humored sallies did much towards making the parting 
 more cheerful than it would otherwise have been. It 
 was sad enough at the most, and Katy s eyes were 
 very red, while Wilford was beginning to look chagrined 
 and impatient, when at last the train swept round the 
 corner and the very last good-bye was said. Many of the 
 village people were there to see Katy off, and in the crowd 
 Mark had no means of distinguishing the Barlows from 
 the others, except it were by the fond caresses given to 
 the bride. Aunt Betsy he had observed from all the rest, 
 both from the hanging of her pongee and the general 
 quaintness of her attire, and thinking it just possible that 
 
88 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 it might be the lady of herrin bone memory, he touched 
 Wilford s arm as she passed them by, and said, 
 
 " Tell me, Will, quick, who is that woman in the poke 
 bonnet and short, slim dress ? " 
 
 Wilford was just then too much occupied in his efforts 
 to rescue Katy from the crowd of plebeians who had seized 
 upon her to hear his friend s query, but Helen heard it, 
 acd with a cheek which crimsoned with anger, she re 
 plied, 
 
 " That, sir, is my aunt, Miss Betsy Barlow." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, I really do. I was not aware " 
 
 Mark began, lifting his hat involuntarily, and mentally 
 cursing himself for his stupidity in not observing who 
 was near to him before asking personal questions. 
 
 With a toss of her head Helen turned away, forgetting 
 her resentment in the more absorbing thought that Katy 
 was leaving her. 
 
 The bell had rung, the heavy machinery groaned and 
 creaked, and the long train was under way, while from 
 an open window a little white hand was thrust, waving 
 its handkerchief until the husband quietly drew it in, ex 
 periencing a feeling of relief that all was over, and that 
 unless he chose his wife need never go back again to that 
 vulgar crowd standing upon the platform and looking with 
 tearful eyes and aching hearts after the fast receding 
 train. 
 
 For a moment Mark talked with Morris Grant, explain 
 ing how he came there, and adding that on the morrow 
 he too intended going on to Boston, to remain for a few 
 days before Wilford sailed; then, feeling that he must 
 in some way atone for his awkward speech regarding Aunt 
 Betsy, he sought out Helen, still standing like a statue 
 and watching the feathery line of smoke rising above the 
 distant trees. Her bonnet had partially fallen from her 
 head, revealing her bands of rich brown hair and the 
 smooth brond forehead, while her hands were locked to 
 gether, and a tear trembled on her dark eye-lashes. Taken 
 as a whole she made a striking picture standing apart from 
 the rest and totally oblivious to them all, and Mark gazed 
 at her a moment curiously; then, as her attitude changed 
 and she drew her hat back to its place, he advanced to- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 89 
 
 ward her, making some pleasant remark about the morn 
 ing and the appearance of the country generally. He 
 knew he could not openly apologize, but he made what 
 amends he could by talking to her so familiarly that 
 Helen almost forgot how she hated him and all others who 
 like him lived in New York and resembled Wilford Cam 
 eron. It was Mark who led her to the carriage which 
 Morris said was waiting. Mark who handed her in. 
 smoothing down the folds of her dress, and then stood 
 leaning against the door, chatting with Morris, who thought 
 once of asking him to enter and go back to Linwood. But 
 when he remembered how unequal he was to entertaining 
 any one that day,, he said merely, 
 
 " On your way from Boston, call and see me. I shall 
 be glad of your company then." 
 
 " Which means that you do not wish it now," Mark 
 laughingly rejoined, as, offering his hand to both Morris 
 and Helen, he touched his hat and walked away. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 AFTER THE MARRIAGE. 
 
 WHY did you invite him to Linwood ? " Helen began. 
 "I am sure we have had city guests enough. Oh, if 
 Wilford Cameron had only never come, we should have 
 had Katy now," and the sister-love overcame every other 
 feeling, making Helen cry bitterly as they drove back to 
 the farm-house. 
 
 Morris could not comfort her then, and so in silence 
 he left her and went on his way to Linwood. It was 
 well for him that there were many sick ones on his list, 
 for in attending to them he forgot himself in part, so 
 that the day with him passed faster than at the farm 
 house, where life and its interests seemed suddenly to have 
 stopped. Nothing had power to rouse Helen, who never 
 realized how much she loved her young sister until now, 
 when she listlessly put to rights the room which had been 
 theirs so long, but which was now hers alone. It was a 
 sad task picking up that disordered chamber, bearing so 
 many traces of Katy, and Helen s heart ached terribly 
 as she hung away the little pink calico dressing-gown in 
 
90 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 which Katy had looked so prettily, and picked up from 
 the floor the pile of skirts lying just where they had 
 been left the previous night; but when it came to the 
 little half-worn slippers which had been thrown one here 
 and another there as Katy danced out of them, she could 
 control herself no longer, and stopping in her work sobbed 
 bitterly, " Oh, Katy, Katy, how can I live without you ! " 
 But tears could not bring Katy back, and knowing this, 
 Helen dried her eyes ere long and joined the family be 
 low, who like herself were spiritless and sad. 
 
 It was some little solace to them all that day to follow 
 Katy in her journey, saying, she is at Worcester, or 
 Framingham, or Newton, and when at noon they sat down 
 to their dinner in the tidy kitchen they said, " She is in 
 Boston," and the saying so made the time which had 
 elapsed since the morning seem interminable. Slowly the 
 hours dragged, and at last, before the sun-setting, Helen, 
 who could bear the loneliness of home no longer, stole 
 across the fields to Linwood, hoping in Morris s compan 
 ionship to forget her own grief in part. But Morris was 
 a sorry comforter then. He had ministered as usual 
 to his patients that day, listening to their complaints and 
 answering patiently their inquiries ; but amid it all he 
 walked as in a maze, hearing nothing except the words, 
 " I, Katy, take thee, Wilford, to be my wedded husband," 
 and seeing nothing but the airy little *figure which stood 
 up on tiptoe for him to kiss its lips at parting. His work 
 for the day was over now, and he sat alone in his library 
 when Helen came hurriedly in, starting at sight of his 
 face, and asking if he was ill. 
 
 " I have had a hard day s work," he said. " I am 
 always tired at night," and he tried to smile and appear 
 natural. " Are you very lonely at the farm-house ? " he 
 asked, and then Helen broke out afresh, mourning some 
 times for Katy, and again denouncing Wilford as proud 
 and heartless. 
 
 " Positively, Cousin Morris, he acted all the while he 
 was in the church as if he were doing something of which 
 he was ashamed; and then did you notice how impatient 
 he seemed when the neighbors were shaking hands with 
 Katy at the depot, and bidding her good-bye ? He looked 
 
The Cameron Pride. 91 
 
 as if he thought they had no right to touch her, she was 
 so much their superior, just because she had married him, 
 and he even hurried her away before Aunt Betsy had time 
 to kiss her. And yet the people think it such a splendid 
 match for Katy, because he is so rich and generous. Gave 
 the clergyman fifty dollars and the sexton five, so I 
 heard; but that does not help him with me. I know it ? 
 wicked, Morris, but I find myself taking real comfort in 
 hating Wilford Cameron. 
 
 * That is wrong, Helen, all wrong," and Morris tried to 
 reason with her; but his arguments this time were not 
 very strong, and he finally said to her, inadvertently, 
 " If I can forgive Wilford Cameron for marrying our Katy, 
 you surely ought to do so, for he has hurt me the most/ 
 
 " Yo \ ; , Morris ! YOU, YOU ! " Helen kept repeating, stand 
 ing back still further and further from him, while strange, 
 overwhelming thoughts passed like lightning through her 
 mind as she marked the pallid face, where was written 
 since the morning more than one line of suffering, and 
 saw in the brown eyes a look such as they were not wont 
 to wear. " Morris, tell me tell me truly did vou love 
 my sister Katy ? " and with an impetuous rush Helen 
 knelt beside him, as, laying his head upon the table he 
 answered, 
 
 " Yes, Helen. God forgive me if it were wrong. I did 
 love your sister Katy, and love her yet, and that is the 
 hardest to bear/ 
 
 All the tender pitying woman was roused in Helen, and 
 like a sister she smoothed the locks of damp, dark hair, 
 keeping a perfect silence as the strong man, no longer able 
 to bear up, wept like a very child. For a time Helen 
 felt as if bereft of reason, while earth and sky seemed 
 blended in one wild chaos as she thought, " Oh, why 
 couldn t it have been ? Why didn t you tell her in time ? " 
 and at last she said to him, " If Katy had known it ! Oh, 
 Morris, why didn t you tell her? She never guessed it, 
 never! If she had if she had," Helen s breath came 
 chokingly, "I am very sure yes, I know it might have 
 
 " Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
 The saddest are these it might have been." 
 
92 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Morris involuntarily thought of these lines, but they 
 only mocked his sorrow as he answered Helen, " I doubt 
 if you are right; I hope you are not. Katy loved me as 
 her brother, nothing more, I am confident. Had she 
 waited till she was older, God only knows what might have 
 been, but now she is gone and our Father will help me 
 to bear, will help us both, if we ask him, as we must." 
 
 And then, as only he could do, Morris talked with Helen 
 until she felt her hardness towards Wilford giving way, 
 while she wondered how Morris could speak so kindly of 
 one who was his rival. 
 
 "Not of myself could I do it," Morris said; "but I 
 trust in One who says e As thy day shall thy strength be/ 
 and He, you know, never fails." 
 
 There was a fresh bond of sympathy now between 
 Morris and Helen, and the latter needed no caution against 
 repeating what she had discovered. The secret was safe 
 with her, and by dwelling on what " might have been " 
 she forgot to think so much of what was, and so the first 
 days after Katy s departure were more tolerable than she 
 had thought it possible for them to be. At the close of 
 the fourth there came a short note from Katy, who was 
 still in Boston at the Revere, and perfectly happy, she said, 
 going into ecstasies over her husband, the best in the 
 world, and certainly the most generpus and indulgent. 
 " Such beautiful things as I am having made/ she wrote, 
 " when I already had more than I needed, and so I told 
 him, but he only smiled a queer kind of smile as he said 
 Very true ; you do not need them/ I wonder then why 
 he gets me more. Oh, I forgot to tell you how much I 
 like his cousin, Mrs. Harvey, who boards at the Revere, 
 and whom Wilford consults about my dress. I am some 
 what afraid of her, too, she is so grand, but she pet? me 
 a great deal and laughs at my speeches. Mr. Ray is 
 here, and I think him splendid. 
 
 "By the way, Helen, I heard him tell Wilford that 
 you had one of the best shaped heads he ever saw, and that 
 he thought you decidedly good looking. I must tell you 
 now of the only thing which troubles me in the least, and 
 I shall get used to that, I suppose. It is so strange Wil 
 ford never told me a word until she came. Think of 
 
The Cameron Pride. 93 
 
 little Katy Lennox with a waiting-maid, who jabbers 
 French half the time, for she speaks that language as well 
 as her own, having been abroad with the family once 
 before. That is why they sent her to me; they knew her 
 services would be invaluable in Paris. Her name is Esther, 
 and she came the day after we did, and brought me such 
 a beautiful mantilla from Wilford s mother, and the 
 loveliest dress. Just the pattern was fifty dollars, she 
 said. 
 
 " The steamer sails in three days, and I will write again 
 before that time, sending it by Mr. Ray, who is to stop 
 over one train at Linwood. Wilford has just come in, and 
 says I have written enough for now, but I must tell you 
 he has bought me a diamond pin and ear-rings, which 
 Esther, who knows the value of everything, says never 
 cost less than five hundred dollars. 
 
 "Your loving, 
 
 KATY CAMERON." 
 
 " Five hundred dollars ! " and Aunt Betsy held up her 
 hands in horror, while Helen sat a long time with the 
 letter in her hand, cogitating upon its contents, and es 
 pecially upon the part referring to herself, and what Mark 
 Ray had said of her. 
 
 Every human heart is susceptible of flattery, and Helen s 
 was not an exception. Still with her ideas of city men she 
 could not at once think favorably of Mark Ray, just for a 
 few complimentary words which might or might not have 
 been in earnest, and ^she found herself looking forward 
 with nervous dread to the time when he would stop at 
 Linwood, and of course call on her, as he would bring a 
 letter from Katy. 
 
 Very sadly to the inmates of the farm-house rose the 
 morning of the day when Katy was to sail, and as if they 
 could really see the tall masts of the vessel which was to 
 bear her away, the eyes of the whole family were turned 
 often to the eastward with a wistful, anxious gaze, while 
 on their lips and in their hearts were earnest prayers for 
 the safety of that ship and the precious freight it bore. 
 But hours, however sad, will wear themselves away, and 
 so the day went on, succeeded by the night, until that too 
 
94 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 had passed and another day had come, the second of 
 Katy s ocean life. At the farm-house the work was all 
 done up, and Helen in her neat gingham dress, with her 
 bands of brown hair bound about her head, sat sewing, 
 when she was startled by the sound of wheels, and looking 
 up saw the boy employed to carry packages from the ex 
 press office, driving to their door with a trunk, which he 
 said had come that morning from Boston. 
 
 In some surprise Helen hastened to unlock it with the 
 key which she found appended to it. The trunk was full, 
 and over the whole a linen towel was folded, while on the 
 top of that lay a letter in Katy s hand-writing, directed 
 to Helen, who, sitting down upon the floor, broke the seal 
 and read aloud as follows: 
 
 BOSTON, JUNE , Revere House 
 " Nearly midnight. 
 
 " MY DEAR SISTER HELEN : I have just come in from 
 a little party given by one of Mrs. Harvey s friends, and 
 I am so tired, for you know I am not accustomed to such 
 late hours. The party was very pleasant indeed, and 
 everybody was so kind to me, especially Mr. Kay, who 
 stood by me all the time, and who somehow seemed to 
 help me, so that I knew just what to do, and was not awk 
 ward at all. I hope not, at least for Wilford s sake. 
 
 " You do not know how grand and* dignified he is here 
 in Boston among his own set ; he is so different from what 
 he was in Silverton that I should be afraid of him if I 
 did not know how much he loves me. He shows that in 
 every action, and I am perfectly happy, except when I 
 think that to-morrow night at this time I shall be on the 
 sea, going away from you all. Here it does not seem far 
 to Silverton, and I often look towards home, wondering 
 what you are doing, and if you miss me any. I wish 
 I could see you once before I go, just to tell you all how 
 much I love you more than I ever did before, I am sure. 
 
 " And now I come to the trunk. I know you will be 
 surprised at its contents, but you cannot be more so than 
 I was when Wilford said I must pack them up and send 
 them back all the dresses you and Marion made." 
 
 " No, oh no ! " and Helen felt her strength leave her 
 
The Cameron Pride. 95 
 
 wrists in one sudden throb as the letter dropped from her 
 hand, while she tore off the linen covering and saw for 
 herself that Katy had written truly. 
 
 She could not weep then, but her face was white as 
 marble as she again took up the letter and commenced at 
 the point where she had broken off. 
 
 " It seems that people traveling in Europe do not need 
 many things, but what they have must be just right, and 
 so Mrs. Cameron wrote for Mrs. Harvey to see to my 
 wardrobe, and if I had not exactly what was proper she 
 was to procure it. It is very funny that she did not find 
 a single proper garment among them all, when we thought 
 them so nice. They were not just the style, she said, and 
 that was very desirable in Mrs. Wilford Gameron. Some 
 how she tries to impress me with the idea that Mrs. Wil 
 ford Cameron is a very different person from little Katy 
 Lennox, but I can see no difference except that I am a great 
 deal happier and have Wilford all the time. 
 
 " Well, as I was telling you, I was measured and fitted, 
 and my figure praised, until my head was nearly turned, 
 only I did not like the horrid stays they put on me, 
 squeezing me up and making me feel so stiff. Mrs. Harvey 
 says no lady does without them, expressing much surprise 
 that I had never worn them, and so I submit to the powers 
 that be; but every chance I get here in my room I take 
 them off and throw them on the floor, where Wilford has 
 stumbled over them two or three times. 
 
 " This afternoon the dresses came home, and they do 
 look beautifully, while every one has belt, and gloves, and 
 ribbons, and sashes, and laces or muslins to match fash 
 ionable people are so particular about these things. I have 
 tried them on, and except that I think them too tight, 
 they fit admirably, and do give me a different air from 
 what Miss Hazelton s did. But I really believe I like the 
 old ones best, because you helped to make them ; and when 
 Wilford said I must send them home, I went where he 
 could not see me and cried, because well, I hardly know 
 why I cried, unless I feared you might feel badly. Dearest 
 Helen, don t, will you? I love you just as much, and 
 shall remember you the same as if I wore the dresses. 
 Dearest sister, I can fancy the look that will come on your 
 
96 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 face, and I wish I could be present to kiss it away. Imag 
 ine me there, will you? with my arms around your neck, 
 and tell mother not to mind. Tell her I never loved her 
 so well as now, and that when I come home from Europe 
 I shall bring her ever so many things. There is a new 
 black silk for her in the trunk, and one for each of the 
 aunties, while for you there is a lovely brown, which Wil- 
 ford said was just your style, telling me to select as nice 
 a silk as I pleased, and this he did, I think, because he 
 guessed I had been crying. He asked what made my eyes 
 so red, and when I would not tell him he took me with 
 him to the silk store and bade me get what. I liked. 
 Oh, he is the dearest, kindest husband, and I love 
 him all the more because I am the least bit afraid of 
 him. 
 
 " And now I must stop, for Wilford says so. Dear 
 Helen, dear all of you, I can t help crying as I say good 
 bye. Eemember little Katy, and if she ever did anything 
 bad, don t lay it up against her. Kiss Morris and Uncle 
 Ephraim, and say how much I love them. Darling sister, 
 darling mother, good-bye." 
 
 This was Katy s letter, and it brought a gush of tears 
 from the four women remembered so lovingly in it, the 
 mother and the aunts stealing away to weep in secret, 
 without ever stopping to look at the new dresses sent to 
 them by Wilford Cameron. They were very soft, very 
 handsome, especially Helen s rich golden brown, and as 
 she looked at it she felt a thrill of satisfaction in knowing 
 it was hers, but this quickly passed as she took out one 
 by one the garments she had folded with so much care, 
 wondering when Katy would wear each one and where she 
 would be. 
 
 " She will never wear them, never they are not fine 
 enough for her now ! " she exclaimed, and as she just 
 then came upon the little plaid, she laid her head upon 
 the trunk lid, while her tears dropped like rain in among 
 the discarded articles condemned by Wilford Cameron. 
 
 It seemed to her like Katy s grave, and she was sobbing 
 bitterly, when a step sounded outside the window, and 
 a voice called her name. It was Morris, and lifting up 
 her head Helen said passionately, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 97 
 
 " Oh, Morris, look ! he has sent back all Katy s clothes, 
 which you bought and I worked so hard to make. They 
 were not good enough for his wife to wear, and so he in 
 sulted us. Oh, Katy, I never fully realized till now how 
 wholly she is lost to us ! " 
 
 " Helen, Helen," Morris kept saying, trying to stop her, 
 for close behind him was Mark Ray, who heard her dis 
 tinctly, and glancing in, saw her kneeling before the 
 trunk, her pale face stained with tears, and her dark eyes 
 shining with excitement. 
 
 Mark Ray understood it at once, feeling indignant at 
 Wilford for thus unnecessarily wounding the sensitive girl, 
 whose expression, as she sat there upon the floor, with her 
 face upturned to Morris, haunted him for months. Mark 
 was sorry for her so sorry that his first impulse was to go 
 quietly away, and so spare her the mortification of know 
 ing that he had witnessed that little scene ; but it was now 
 too late. As she finished speaking her eye fell on him, and 
 coloring scarlet she struggled to her feet, and covering 
 her face with her hands wept still more violently. Mark 
 was in a dilemma, and whispered softly to Morris, " I 
 think I will leave. You can tell her all I had to say ; " but 
 Helen heard him, and mastering her agitation, she said 
 to him, 
 
 " Please, Mr. Ray, don t go not yet at least, not till 
 I have asked you of Katy. Did you see her off? Has 
 she gone ? " 
 
 Thus importuned Mark Ray came in, and sitting down 
 where his boot almost touched the new brown silk, he 
 very politely began to answer her rapid questions, putting 
 her entirely at her ease by his pleasant, affable manner, 
 and making her forget the littered appearance of the room, 
 as she listened to his praises of her sister, who, he said, 
 seemed so very happy, and attracted universal admiration 
 wherever she went. No allusion whatever was made to 
 the trunk during the time of Mark s stay, which was not 
 long. If he took the next train to New York, he had 
 but an hour more to spend, and feeling that Helen would 
 rather he should spend it at Linwood he soon arose to go. 
 Offering his hand to Helen, there passed from his eyes 
 into hers a look which had over her a strangely quieting 
 
98 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 influence, and prepared her for a remark which otherwise 
 might have seemed out of place. 
 
 " I have known Wilf ord Cameron for years ; he is my 
 best friend, and I respect him as a brother. In some 
 things he may be peculiar, but he will make your sister 
 a kind husband. He loves her devotedly, I know, choos 
 ing her from the throng of ladies who would gladly have 
 taken her place. I hope you will like him for my sake as 
 well as Katy s." 
 
 His warm hand unclasped from Helen s, and with an 
 other good-bye he was gone, without seeing either Mrs. 
 Lennox, Aunt Hannah or Aunt Betsy. This was not the 
 time for extending his acquaintance, he knew, and he 
 went away with Morris, feeling that the farm-house, so 
 far as he could judge, was not exactly what Wilford had 
 pictured it. But then he came for a wife, and I did 
 not," he thought, while Helen s face came before him as it 
 looked up to Morris, and he wondered, were he obliged to 
 choose between the sisters, which he should prefer. Dur 
 ing the few days passed in Boston he had become more than 
 half in love with Katy himself, almost envying his friend 
 the pretty little creature he had won. She was very 
 beautiful and very fascinating in her simplicity, but there 
 was something in Helen s face more attractive than 
 mere beauty, and Mark said to Mbrris as they walked 
 along, ^ 
 
 " Miss Lennox is not much like her sister." 
 
 " Not much, no ; but Helen is a splendid girl more 
 strength of character, perhaps, than Katy, who is younger 
 than her years even. She has always been petted from 
 babyhood; it will take time or some great sorrow to show 
 what she really is." 
 
 This was Morris s reply, and the two then proceeded on 
 in silence until they reached the boundary line between 
 Morris s farm and Uncle Ephraim s, where they found the 
 deacon mending a bit of broken fence, his coat lying on 
 a pile of stones, and his wide, blue cotton trowsers hang 
 ing loosely around him. When told who Mark was, and 
 that he brought news of Katy, he greeted him cordially, 
 and sitting down upon his fence listened to all Mark had 
 to say. Between the old and young man there seemed at 
 
The Cameron Pride. 99 
 
 once a mutual liking, the former saying to himself as 
 Mark went on, and he resumed his work, 
 
 " I most wish it was this chap with Katy on the sea. 
 I like his looks the best," while Mark s thoughts were, 
 
 " Will need not be ashamed of that man, though I don t 
 suppose I should really want him coming suddenly in 
 among a drawing-room full of guests." 
 
 Morris did not feel much like entertaining Mark, but 
 Mark was fully competent to entertain himself, and 
 thought the hour spent at Linwood a very pleasant one, 
 half wishing for some excuse to tarry longer; but $iere 
 was none, and so at the appointed time he bade Morris 
 good-bye and went on his way to New York. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FIRST MONTHS OF MARRIED LIFE. 
 
 IF Katy s letters, written, one on board the steamer and 
 another from London, were to be trusted, she was as 
 nearly perfectly happy as a young bride well can be, and 
 the people at the farm-house felt themselves more and 
 more kindly disposed towards Wilford Cameron with each 
 letter received. They were going soon into the northern 
 part of England, and from thence into Scotland, Katy 
 wrote from London, and two weeks after found them com 
 fortably settled at the inn at Alnwick, near to Alnwick 
 Castle. Wilford had seemed very anxious to get there, 
 leaving London before Katy was quite ready, and hurrying 
 across the country until Alnwick was reached. He had 
 been there before, years ago, he said, but no one seemed 
 to recognize him, though all paid due respect to the dis 
 tinguished looking American and his beautiful young wife. 
 An entrance into Alnwick Castle was easily obtained, and 
 Katy felt that all her girlish dreams of grandeur and 
 magnificence were more than realized here in this home of 
 the Percys, where ancient and modern styles of architec 
 ture and furnishing were so blended together. She would 
 never tire of that place, she thought, but Wilford s taste 
 led him elsewhere, and he took more delight in wandering 
 around St. Mary s church, which stood upon a hill com 
 manding a view of the castle and of the surrounding 
 
ioo The Cameron Pride. 
 
 country for miles away. Here Katy also came, rambling 
 with him through the village grave-yard where slept the 
 dust of centuries, the grey, mossy tomb-stones bearing 
 date backward for more than a hundred years, their quaint 
 inscriptions both puzzling and amusing Katy, who studied 
 them by the hour. 
 
 One quiet summer morning, however, when the heat 
 was unusually great, she felt too listless to wander about, 
 and so sat upon the grass, listening to the birds as they 
 sang above her head, while Wilford, at some distance from 
 her, stood leaning against a tree and thinking sad, re 
 gretful thoughts, as his eye rested upon the rough head 
 stone at his feet. 
 
 " Genevra Lambert, aged 22," was the lettering upon 
 it, and as he read it a feeling of reproach was in his 
 heart, while he said, " I hope I am not glad to know that 
 she is dead." 
 
 He had come to Alnwick for the sole purpose of finding 
 that humble grave of assuring himself that after life s 
 fitful fever, Genevra Lambert slept quietly, forgetful of 
 the wrong once done to her by him. It is true he had not 
 doubted her death before, but as seeing was believing, so 
 now he felt sure of it, and plucking from the turf above 
 her a little flower growing there, he went back to Katy 
 and sitting down beside her with his arm around her 
 waist, tried to devise some way of telling her what he had 
 promised himself he would tell her there in that very 
 yard, where Genevra was buried. But the task was harder 
 now than before. Katy was so happy with him, trusting 
 his love so fully that he dared not lift the veil and read to 
 her that page hinted at once in Silverton, when they sat 
 beneath the butternut tree, with the fresh young grass 
 springing around them. Then she was not his wife, and 
 the fear that she would not be if he told her all had kept 
 him silent, but now she was his alone; nothing could undo 
 that, and there, in the shadow of the grey old church 
 through whose aisles Genevra had been borne out to where 
 the rude headstone was gleaming in the English sunlight, 
 it seemed meet that he should tell the sad story. And Katy 
 would have forgiven him then, for not a shadow of regret 
 had darkened her life since it was linked with his, and in 
 
The Cameron Pride. 101 
 
 her perfect love she could have pardoned iA 1 ^c;"i.^ But \Vik 
 ford did not tell. It was not needful, be niade^ himself 
 believe not necessary for her ever to /knew kbai fctuje;bf 
 met a maiden called Genevra, almost as beautiful as she, 
 but never so beloved. No, never. Wilford said that truly, 
 when that night he bent over his sleeping Katy, compar 
 ing her face with Genevra s, and his love for her with his 
 love for Genevra. 
 
 Wilford was very fond of his girlish wife, and very 
 proud of her, too, when strangers paused, as they often did, 
 to look back after her. Thus far nothing had arisen to 
 mar the happiness of his first weeks of married life, except 
 the letters from Silverton, over which Katy always cried, 
 until he sometimes wished that the family could not write. 
 But they could and they did; even Aunt Betsy inclosed in 
 Helen s letter a note, wonderful both in orthography and 
 composition, and concluding with the remark that " she 
 would be glad when Catherine returned and was settled 
 in a home of her own, as she would then have a new 
 place to visit." 
 
 There was a dark frown on Wilford s face, and for a mo 
 ment he felt tempted to withhold the note from Katy, but 
 this he could not do then, so he gave it into her hands, 
 watching her as with burning cheeks, she read it through, 
 and asking her at its close why she looked so red. 
 
 " Oh, Wilford, and she crept closely to him, " Aunt 
 Betsy spells so queerly, that I was wishing you would not 
 always open my letters first. Do all husbands do so ? " 
 
 It was the only time Katy had ventured to question a 
 single act of his, submitting without a word to whatever 
 was his will. Wilford knew that his father would never 
 have presumed to break a seal belonging to his mother, 
 but he had broken Katy s, and he should continue break 
 ing them, so he answered, laughingly, 
 
 " Why, yes, I guess they do. My little wife has surely 
 no secrets to hide from me ? " 
 
 "No secrets," Katy answered, "only I did not want 
 you to see Aunt Betsy s letter, that s all." 
 
 " I did not marry Aunt Betsy I married you," was 
 Wilford s reply, which meant far more than Katy guessed. 
 
 With three thousand miles between him and his wife s 
 
102 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 relatives, Wilfor.d sould endure to think of them ; but when 
 ever letters came to aty bearing the Silverton postmark, 
 he was conscious of a far different sensation from what be 
 experienced when the postmark was New York and the 
 handwriting that of his own family. But not in any way 
 did this feeling manifest itself to Katy, who, as she always 
 wrote to Helen, was very, very happy, and never more 
 so, perhaps, than while they were at Alnwick, where, as 
 if he had something for which to atone, he was unusually 
 kind and indulgent, caressing her with unwonted tender 
 ness, and making her ask him once if he loved her a great 
 deal more now than when they were first married. 
 
 " Yes, darling, a great deal more/ was Wilford s answer, 
 as he kissed her upturned face, and then went for the 
 last time to Genevra s grave ; for on the morrow they were 
 to leave the neighborhood of Alnwick for the heather 
 blooms of Scotland. 
 
 There was a trip to Edinburgh, a stormy passage across 
 the Straits of Dover, a two months sojourn in Paris, and 
 then they went to Rome, where Wilford intended to pass 
 the winter, journeying in the spring through different parts 
 of Europe. He was in no haste to return to America; 
 he would rather stay where he could have Katy all to him 
 self, away from her family and his own. But it was not 
 so to be, and not very long after* his arrival at Rome 
 there came a letter from his mother apprising him of his 
 father s dangerous illness, and asking him to come home at 
 once. The elder Cameron had not been well since Wil 
 ford left the country, and the physician was fearful that 
 the disease had assumed a consumptive form, Mrs. Cam 
 eron wrote, adding that her husband s only anxiety was 
 to see his son again. To this there was no demur, and 
 about the first of December, six months from the time 
 he had sailed, Wilford arrived in Boston, having taken a 
 steamer for that city. His first act was to telegraph for 
 news of his father, receiving in reply that he was better; 
 the alarming symptoms had disappeared, and there was 
 now great hope of his recovery. 
 
 " We might have stayed longer in Europe," Katy said, 
 feeling a little chill of disappointment not that her 
 father-in-law was better, but at being called home for 
 
The Cameron Pride. 103 
 
 nothing, when her life abroad was so happy and free from 
 care. 
 
 Somehow the atmosphere of America seemed different 
 from what it used to be. It was colder, bluer, the little 
 lady said, tapping her foot uneasily and looking from her 
 windows at the Revere out upon the snowy streets, through 
 which the wintry wind was blowing in heavy gales. 
 
 " Yes, it is a heap colder," she siged, as she returned 
 to the large chair which Esther had drawn for her be 
 fore the cheerful fire, charging her disquiet to the weather, 
 but never dreaming of imputing it to her husband, who 
 was far more its cause than was the December cold. 
 
 He, too, though glad of his father s improvement, was 
 sorry to have been recalled for nothing to a country which 
 brought his old life back again, with all its forms and 
 ceremonies, and revived his dread lest Katy should not 
 acquit herself as was becoming Mrs. Wilford Cameron. 
 In his selfishness he had kept her almost wholly to him 
 self, so that the polish she was to acquire from her travels 
 abroad was not as perceptible as he could desire. Katy 
 was Katy still, in spite of London, Paris, or Rome. To 
 be sure there was about her a little more maturity and 
 self-assurance, but in all essential points she was the same : 
 and Wilford winced as he thought how the free, impulsive 
 manner which, among the Scottish hills, where there was 
 no one to criticize, had been so charming to him, would 
 shock his lady mother and sister Juno. And this it was 
 which made him moody and silent, replying hastily to 
 Katy when she said to him, " Please, Wilford, telegraph 
 to Helen to be with mother at the West depot when we 
 pass there to-morrow. The train stops five minutes, you 
 know, and I want to see them so much. Will you, Wil 
 ford?" 
 
 She had come up to him now, and was standing behind 
 him, with her hands upon his shoulder ; so she did not see 
 the expression of his face as he answered quickly. 
 
 " Yes, yes." 
 
 A moment after he quitted the room ,and it was then 
 that Katy, standing before the window, charged the day 
 with what was strictly Wilford s fault. Returning at last 
 to her chair she went off into a reverie as to the new 
 
IO4 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 home to which she was going and the new friends she was 
 to meet, wondering what they would think of her, and if 
 they would like her. Once she had said to Wilford, 
 " Which of your sisters shall I like best ? " 
 And Wilford had answered her by asking, 
 " Which do you like best, books or going to parties in 
 full dress?" 
 
 " Oh, parties and dress," Katy had said, and Wilford 
 had then rejoined, 
 
 " You will like Juno best, for she is all fashion and 
 gayety, while Blue-Bell prefers her books and the quiet 
 of her own room." 
 
 Katy felt afraid of Bell, and in fact, now that they 
 were so near, she felt afraid of them all, notwithstanding 
 Esther s assurances that they could not help loving her. 
 During the six months they had been together Esther had 
 learned to feel for her young lady that strong affection 
 which sometimes exists between mistress and servant. 
 Everything which she could do for her she did, smoothing 
 as much as possible the meeting which she also dreaded, 
 for though the Camerons were too proud to express before 
 her their opinion of Wilford s choice, she had guessed it 
 readily, and pitied the young wife brought up with ideas 
 so different from those of her husband s family. More 
 accustomed to Wilford s moods thai! Katy, she saw that 
 something was the matter, and it prompted her to unusual 
 attentions, stirring the fire into a cheerful blaze and bring-, 
 ing a stool for Katy, who, in blissful ignorance of her 
 husband s real feelings, sat waiting his return from the 
 telegraph office whither she supposed he had gone, and 
 building pleasant pictures of to-morrow s meeting with her 
 mother and Helen, and possibly Dr. Morris, if not Uncle 
 Ephraim himself. 
 
 So absorbed was she in her reverie as not to hear 
 Wilford s step as he came in, but when he stood behind 
 her and took her head playfully between his hands, she 
 started up, feeling that the weather had changed; it was 
 not as cold and dreary in Boston as she imagined, and 
 laying her head on Wilford s shoulder, she said, 
 " You went out to telegraph, didn t you ? " 
 He had gone out with the intention of telegraphing as 
 
The Cameron Pride. 105 
 
 she desired, but in the hall below he had met with an 
 old acquaintance who talked with him so long that he 
 entirely forgot his errand until Katy recalled it to his 
 mind, making him feel very uncomfortable as he frankly 
 told her of his forgetfulness. 
 
 " It is too late now/ he added, " besides you could 
 only see them for a moment, just long enough to make 
 you cry a thirp- T do not greatly desire, inasmuch as I 
 wish my wife to look her best when I present her to my 
 family, and with red eyes she couldn t, you know. * 
 
 Katy knew it was settled, and choking back the tears, 
 she tried to listen, while Wilford, having fairly broken 
 the ice with regard to his family, told her how anxious 
 he was that she should make a good first impression 
 upon his mother. Did Katy remember that Mrs. Morey 
 whom they met at Paris, and could she not throw a little 
 of tier air into her manner, that is, could she not drop 
 her girlishness when in the presence of others and be a 
 little more dignified? When alone with him he liked to 
 have her just what she was, a loving, affectionate little 
 wife, but the world looked on such things differently. 
 Would Katy try? 
 
 Wilford when he commenced had no definite idea as 
 to what he should say, and without meaning it he made 
 Katy moan piteously. 
 
 " I don t know what you mean. I would do anything 
 if I knew how. Tell me, how shall I be dignified?" 
 
 She was crying so hard that Wilford, while mentally 
 calling himself a fool and a brute, could only try to com 
 fort her, telling her she need not be anything but what 
 she was that his mother and sisters would love her just 
 as he did and that daily association with them would 
 teach her all that was necessary. 
 
 Katy s tears were stopped at last; but the frightened, 
 anxious look did not leave her face, even though W T ilford 
 tried his best to divert her mind. A nervous terror of 
 her new relations had gained possession of her heart, 
 and nearly the entire night she lay awake, pondering in 
 her mind what Wilford had said, and thinking how ter 
 rible it would be if he should be disappointed in her 
 after all. The consequence of this was that a very white 
 
106 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 tired face sat opposite Wilford next morning at the break 
 fast served in their private parlor; nor did it look much 
 fresher even after they were in the cars and rolling out of 
 Boston. But when Worcester was reached, and the old 
 home way-marks began to grow familiar, the color came 
 stealing back, until the cheeks burned with an unnatural 
 red, and the blue eyes fairly danced as they rested on the 
 hills of Silverton. 
 
 " Only three miles from mother and Helen ! Oh, if I 
 could go there ! " Katy thought, working her fingers nerv 
 ously; but the express train did not pause there, and it 
 went so swiftly by the depot that Katy could hardly distin 
 guish who was standing there, whether friend or stranger. 
 
 But when at last they came to West Silverton, and the 
 long train slowly stopped, the first object she saw was 
 Dr. Morris, driving down from the village. He had no 
 intention of going to the depot, and only checked his 
 horse a moment, lest it should prove restive if too near 
 the engine; but when a clear young voice called from the 
 window, " Morris ! oh, Cousin Morris ! I ve come ! " his 
 heart gave a great throb, for he knew whose voice it was 
 and whose the lit lie hand beckoning to him. He had 
 supposed her far away beneath Italian skies, for at the 
 farm-house no intelligence had been received of her in 
 tended return, and in much surprise he reined up to the 
 rear-door, and throwing his lines to a boy, went forward 
 to where Katy stood, her face glowing with delight as 
 she flew into his arms, wholly forgetful of the last night s 
 lecture on dignity, and also forgetful of Wilford, stand 
 ing close beside her. He had not tried to hold her back 
 when, at the sight of Morris, she sprang away from him; 
 but he followed after, biting his lip, and wishing she had 
 a little more discretion. Surely it was not necessary to 
 naif strangle Dr. Grant as she was doing, kissing his 
 hand after she had kissed his fao# a full half dozen times, 
 and all the people looking on. But Katy did not care 
 for people. She only knew that Morris was there the 
 Morris whom, in her great happiness abroad, she had 
 perhaps slighted by not writing directly to him but once. 
 In Wilford s sheltering care she had not felt the need of 
 this good cousin, as she used to do; but she was so glad 
 
The Cameron Pride. 107 
 
 to see him, wondering why he looked so thin and sad. 
 Was he sick? she asked, with a pitying look, which made 
 him shiver as he answered, 
 
 " No, not sick, though tired, perhaps, as I have at 
 present an unusual amount of work to do." 
 
 And this was true he was unusually busy. But that 
 was not the cause of his thin face, which others thar 
 Katy remarked. Helen s words, " It might have been/ 
 spoken to him on the night of Katy s bridal, had never left 
 his mind, much as he had tried to dislodge them. Some 
 men can love a dozen times ; but it was not so with Morris. 
 He could overcome his love so that it should not be a sin, 
 but no other could ever fill the place where Katy had been ; 
 and as he looked along the road through life he felt that 
 he must travel it alone. Truly, if Katy were not yet 
 passing through the fire, he was, and it had left its mark 
 upon him, purifying as it burned, and bringing his every 
 act into closer submission to his God. Only Helen and 
 Marian Hazelton interpreted aright that look upon his 
 face, and knew it came from the hunger of his heart, but 
 they kept silence; while others said that he was working 
 far too hard, urging him to abate his unwearied labors, 
 for they would not lose their young physician yet. But 
 Morris smiled his patient, kindly smile on all their fears 
 and went his way, doing his work as one who knew he must 
 render strict account for the popularity he was daily 
 gaining, both in his own town and those around. He 
 could think of Katy now without a sin, but he was not 
 thinking of her when she came so unexpectedly upon him, 
 and for an instant she almost bore his breath away in her 
 vehement joy. 
 
 Quick to note a change in those he knew, he saw that 
 her form was not quite so full, nor her cheeks so round; 
 but she was weary with the voyage, and knowing how 
 sea-sickness will wear upon one s strength, Morris im 
 puted it wholly to that, and believed she was, as she 
 professed to be, perfectly happy. 
 
 " Come, Katy, we must go now," Wilford said, as the 
 bell rang its first alarm, and the passengers, some with 
 sandwiches and some with fried cakes in their hands, ran 
 back to find their seats. 
 
io8 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " Yes, I know, but I have not asked half I meant to. 
 Oh, how I want to go home with you, Morris," Katy ex 
 claimed, again throwing her arms around the doctor s 
 neck as she bade him good bye, and sent fresh messages 
 of love to the friends at home, who, had they known she 
 was to be there at that time, would have walked the 
 entire distance for the sake of looking once more into 
 her dear face. 
 
 " I intended to have brought them heaps of things," 
 she said, " but we came home so suddenly I had no time. 
 Here, take Helen this. Tell her it is real," and the 
 impulsive creature drew from her finger a small dia 
 mond set in black enamel, which Wilford had bought in 
 Paris. 
 
 " She did not need it ; she had two more, and she was 
 sure Wilford would not mind," she said, turning to him 
 for his approbation. 
 
 But Wilford did mind, and his face indicated as much, 
 although he tried to be natural as he replied, " Certainly, 
 send it if you like." 
 
 In her excitement Katy did not observe it, but Morris 
 did, and he at first declined taking it, saying Helen had 
 no use for it, and would be better pleased with something 
 not half as valuable. Katy, however*, insisted, appealing 
 to Wilford, who, ashamed of his first emotion, now seemed 
 quite as anxious as Katy herself, until Morris placed 
 the ring in his purse, and then bade Katy hasten or she 
 would certainly be left. One more wave of the hand, 
 one more kiss thrown from the window, and the train 
 moved on, Katy feeling like a different creature for having 
 seen some one from home. 
 
 " I am so glad I saw him so glad I sent the ring, for 
 now they will know I am the same Katy Lennox, and 
 I think Helen sometimes feared I might get proud with 
 you," she said, while Wilford pulled her rich fur around 
 her, smiling to see how bright and pretty she was lodk- 
 ing since that meeting with Dr. Grant. " It was better 
 than medicine," Katy said, when beyond Springfield he 
 referred to it a second time, and leaning her head upon 
 his shoulder she fell into a refreshing sleep, from which 
 she did not waken until New York was reached, and Wil- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 109 
 
 ford, lifting her gently up, whispered to her, " Come, 
 darlingj we are home at last." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 KATY S FIRST EVENING IN NEW YORK. 
 
 THE elder Cameron was really better, and more than 
 nee he had regretted recalling his son, who he knew had 
 contemplated a longer stay abroad. But that could not 
 now be helped. Wilford had arrived in Boston, as his 
 telegram of yesterday announced he would be at home to 
 day; and No. Fifth Avenue was all the morning and a 
 portion of the afternoon the scene of unusual excitement, 
 for both Mrs. Cameron and her daughters wished to give 
 the six months wife a good impression of her new 
 home. At first they thought of inviting company to 
 dinner, but to this the father objected. " Katy should 
 not be troubled the first day," he said ; " it was bad 
 enough for her to meet them all; they could ask Mark if 
 they chose, but no one else." 
 
 And so only Mark Ray was invited to the dinner, got 
 ten up as elaborately as if a princess had been expected 
 instead of little Katy, trembling in every joint when, 
 about four P. M., Wilford awoke her at the depot and 
 whispered, " Come, darling, we are home at last." 
 
 " Why do you shiver so ? " he asked, wrapping her 
 cloak around her, and almost lifting her from the car. 
 
 " I don t know. I guess I m cold," and Katy drew 
 a long breath as she thought of Silverton and the farm 
 house, wishing that she was going into its low-walled 
 kitchen, instead of the handsome carriage, where the 
 cushions were so soft and yielding, and the whole effect 
 so grand. 
 
 " What would our folks say ? " she kept repeating to 
 herself as she drove along the streets, where they were 
 beginning to light the street lamps, for the December 
 day was dark and cloudy. It seemed so like a dream, 
 that she, who once had picked huckleberries on the Sil 
 verton hills, and bound coarse heavy shoes to buy her 
 self a pink gingham dress, should now be riding in her 
 
no The Cameron Pride. 
 
 carriage toward the home which she knew was magnifi 
 cent; and Katy s tears fell like rain as, nestling close to 
 Wilford, who asked what was the matter, she whispered, 
 " I can hardly believe that it is I it is so unreal." 
 
 " Please don t cry," Wilford rejoined, brushing her 
 tears away. " You know I don t like your eyes to be 
 red/ 
 
 With a great effort Katy kept her tears back, and was 
 v^ery calm when they reached the brown-stone front, far 
 enough up town to save it from the slightest approach 
 to plebeianism. In the hall the chandelier was burning, 
 and as the carriage stopped a flame of light seemed sud 
 denly to burst from every window as the gas heads were 
 turned up, so that Katy caught glimpses of rich silken cur 
 tains and costly lace as she went up the steps, clinging 
 to Wilford and looking ruefully around for Esther, who 
 had disappeared through the basement door. Another 
 moment and they stood within the marbled hall, Katy 
 conscious of nothing definite nothing but a vague at 
 mosphere of refined elegance, and that a richly-dressed 
 lady came out to meet them, kissing Wilford quietly and 
 calling him her son; that the same lady turned to her 
 saying kindly, "And this is my new daughter?" 
 
 Then Katy came to life, and did that, at the very 
 thought of which she shuddered when a few months ex 
 perience had taught her the temerity of the act she 
 wound her arms impulsively around Mrs. Cameron s neck, 
 rumpling her point lace collar, and sadly displacing the 
 coiffure of the astonished lady, who had seldom received 
 so genuine a greeting as that which Katy gave her, kiss 
 ing her lips and whispering softly, "I love you now, be 
 cause you are Wilford s mother, but by and by because 
 you are mine. And you will love me some because I am 
 Ms wife." 
 
 Wilford was horrified, particularly when he saw how 
 startled his mother looked as she tried to release herself 
 and adjust her tumbled head-gear. It was not what he 
 had hoped, nor what his mother had expected, for she 
 was unaccustomed to such demonstrations; but under 
 the circumstances Katy could not have done better. There 
 was a tender spot in Mrs. Cameron s heart, and Katy 
 
The Cameron Pride. in 
 
 touched it, making her feel a throb of affection for the 
 childish creature suing for her love. 
 
 " Yes, darling, I love you now/ she said, removing 
 Katy s clinging arms and taking care that they should 
 not enfold her a second time. " You are tired and cold/ 
 she continued ; " and had better go at once to your rooms. 
 I will send Esther up. There is plenty of time to dress 
 for dinner/ and with a wave of her hand she dismissed 
 Katy up the stairs, noticing as she went the exquisite 
 softness of her fur cloak; but thinking it too heavy a 
 garment for her slight figure, and noticing, too, the grace 
 ful ankle and foot which the little high-heeled gaiter 
 showed to good advantage. " I did not see her face 
 distinctly, but she has a well-turned instep and walks 
 easily/ was the report she carried to her daughters, 
 who, in their own room over Katy s, were dressing for 
 dinner. 
 
 " She will undoubtedly make a good dancer, then, un 
 less, like Dr. Grant, she is too blue for that," Juno said, 
 while Bell shrugged her shoulders, congratulating her 
 self that she had a mind above such frivolous matters as 
 dancing and well-turned insteps, and wondering if Katy 
 cared in the least for books. 
 
 " Couldn t you see her face at all, mother ? " Juno 
 asked. 
 
 " Scarcely ; but the glimpse I did get was satisfactory. 
 I think she is pretty." 
 
 And this was all the sisters could ascertain until their 
 toilets were finished, and they went down into the library, 
 where their brother waited for them, kissing them both 
 affectionately, and complimenting them on their good looks. 
 
 " I wish we could say the same of you," Juno answered, 
 playfully pulling his moustache; "but upon my word, 
 Will, you are fast settling down into an oldish married 
 man, even turning gray," and she ran her fingers through 
 his dark hair, where there was now and then a thread of 
 silver. " Disappointed in your domestic relations, eh ? " 
 she continued, looking him archly in the face. 
 
 Wilford was rather proud of his good looks, and during 
 his sojourn aboard, Katy had not helped him any in over 
 coming this weakness, but on the contrary, had fed his 
 
112 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 vanity by constant flattery. And still he was himself con 
 scious of not looking quite as well as usual just now, for 
 the sea voyage had tired him as well as Katy, but he did 
 not care to be told of it, and Juno s ill-timed remarks 
 roused him at once, particularly as they reflected some 
 what on Katy. 
 
 " I assure you I am not disappointed/ he answered, 
 " and the six months of my married life have been the hap 
 piest I ever knew. Katy is more than I expected her to 
 be." 
 
 Juno elevated her eyebrows slightly, but made no direct 
 reply, while Bell began to ask about Paris and the places 
 he had visited. 
 
 Meanwhile Katy had been ushered into her room, which 
 was directly over the library, and separated from Mrs. 
 Cameron s only by a range of closets and presses, a por 
 tion of which were to be appropriated to her own use. 
 Great pains had been taken to make her rooms attractwe, 
 and as the large bay window in the library below extended 
 to the third story, it was really the pleasantest chamber in 
 the house. To Katy it was perfect, and her first exclama 
 tion was one of delight. 
 
 " Oh, how pleasant, how beautiful ! " she cried, skipping 
 across the soft carpet to the warm fire blazing in the grate. 
 A bay window, too, when I like them* so much. I shall 
 be happy here." 
 
 But happy as she was, Katy could not help feeling tired, 
 and she sank into one of the luxurious easy-chairs, wishing 
 she could stay there all the evening instead of going down 
 to that formidable dinner with her new relations. How 
 she dreaded it, especially when she remembered that Mrs. 
 Cameron had said there would be plenty of time to dress 
 a thing which Katy hated, the process was so tiresome, 
 particularly to-night. Surely her handsome traveling 
 dress, made in Paris, was good enough, and she was about 
 settling in her own mind to venture upon wearing it, when 
 Esther demolished her castle at once. 
 
 " Wear your traveling habit ! " she exclaimed, " when 
 the young ladies, especially Miss Juno, are so particular 
 about their dinner costume. There would be no end to 
 the scolding I should get for suffering it," and she began 
 
The Cameron Pride. 113 
 
 good-naturedly to remove her mistress s collar and pin, 
 while Katy, standing up, sighed as she said, " I wish I 
 was in Silverton to-night. I could wear anything there. 
 What must I put on ? How I dread it ! " and she began to 
 shiver again. 
 
 Fortunately for Katy, Esther had been in the family 
 long enough to know just what they regarded proper, a* 
 by this means the dress selected was sure to please. li 
 was very becoming to Katy, and having been made in 
 Paris was not open to criticism. 
 
 " Very pretty indeed," was Mrs. Cameron s verdict, 
 when at half-past five she came in to see her daughter, 
 kissing her cheek and stroking her head, wholly unadorned 
 except by the short, silken curls which could not be coaxed 
 to grow faster than they chose, and which had sometimes 
 annoyed Wilford, they made his wife seem so young be 
 side him. Mrs. Cameron was annoyed, too, for she had no 
 idea of a head except as it was connected with a hair 
 dresser, and her annoyance showed itself as she asked, 
 
 66 Did you have your hair cut on purpose ? " 
 
 But when Katy explained, she answered pleasantly, 
 
 " Never mind, it is a fault which will mend every day, 
 only it makes you look like a child." 
 
 " I am eighteen and a half," Katy said, feeling a lump 
 rising in her throat, for she guessed that her mother-in- 
 law was not quite pleased with her hair. 
 
 For herself, she liked it, it was so easy to brush and 
 fix. She should go wild if she had to submit to all Esther 
 had told her of hair-dressing and what it involved. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron had asked if she would not like to see 
 Mr. Cameron, the elder, before going down to dinner, and 
 Katy had answered that she would; so as soon as Esther 
 had smoothed a refractory fold and brought her handker 
 chief, she followed to the room where Wilford s father was 
 fitting. He might not have felt complimented could he 
 have known that something in his appearance reminded 
 Katy of Uncle Ephraim. He was not nearly as old or as 
 tall, nor was his hair as white, but the resemblance, if 
 there were any, lay in the smile with which he greeted 
 Katy, calling her his youngest child, and drawing her 
 closely to him. 
 
H4 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 It was remarked of Mr. Cameron thr.t since their baby 
 hood he had never kissed one of his own children; but 
 when Katy, who looked upon such a salutation as a mat 
 ter of course, put up her rosy lips, making the first ad 
 vance, he kissed her twice. Hearty, honest kisses they 
 were, for the man was strongly drawn towards the young 
 girl, who said to him timidly, 
 
 "I am glad to have a father mine died before I 
 could remember him. May I call you so ? " 
 
 "Yes, yes; God bless you, my child," and Mr. Cam 
 eron s voice shook as he said it, for neither Bell nor Juno 
 were wont to address him just as Katy did Katy, stand 
 ing close to him, with her hand upon his shoulder and 
 lier kiss fresh upon his lips. 
 
 She had already crept a long way into his heart, and 
 he took her hand from his shoulder and holding it be 
 tween his own, said to her, 
 
 " I did not think you were so small or young. You 
 are my little daughter, my baby, instead of my son s wife. 
 How do you ever expect to fulfill the duties of Mrs. Wil- 
 f ord Cameron ? " 
 
 " It s my short hair, sir. I am not so young," Katy 
 answered, her eyes filling with tears as she began to wish 
 b*ack the thick curls Helen cut away w,hen the fever was 
 at its height. 
 
 " Never mind, child," Mr. Cameron rejoined playfully. 
 " Youth is no reproach ; there s many a one would give 
 their right hand to be young like you. Juno for instance, 
 who is " 
 
 " Hus-band ! " came reprovingly from Mrs. Cameron, 
 spoken as only she could speak it, with a prolonged buz 
 zing sound on the first syllable, and warning the husband 
 that he was venturing too far. 
 
 " It is time to go down if Mrs. Cameron sees the young 
 ladies before dinner," she said, a little stiffly; whereupon 
 her better half startled Katy with the exclamation, 
 
 "Mrs. Cameron! Thunder and lightning! wife, 
 call her Katy, and don t go into any nonsense of t-nat 
 kind." 
 
 The lady reddened, but said nothing until she reached 
 the hall, when she whispered to Katy, apologetically, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 115 
 
 " Don t mind it. He is rather irritable since his ill 
 ness, and sometimes makes use of coarse language." 
 
 Katy had been a little frightened at the outburst, but 
 she liked Mr. Cameron notwithstanding, and her heart 
 was lighttr as she went down to the library, where Wil- 
 ford met her at the door, and taking her on his arm led 
 her in to his sisters, holding her back as he presented her, 
 lest she should assault them as she had his mother. But 
 Katy felt no desire to hug the tall, queenly girl whom 
 Wilford introduced as Juno, and whose black eyes seemed 
 to read her through as she offered her hand and very 
 daintily kissed her forehead, murmuring something about 
 a welcome to New York. Bell came next, broad-faced, 
 plainer-looking Bell, who yet had many pretentions to 
 beauty, but whose manner, if possible, was frostier, cooler 
 than her sister s. Of the two Katy liked Juno best, for 
 there was about her a flash and sparkle very fascinating 
 to one who had never seen anything of the kind, and 
 did not know that much of this vivacity was the result 
 of patient study and practice. Katy would have known 
 they were high bred, as the world defines high breeding, 
 and something in their manner reminded her of the 
 ladies she had seen abroad, ladies in whose veins lordly 
 blood was flowing. She could not help feeling uncom 
 fortable in their presence, especially as she felt that 
 Juno s black eyes were on her constantly. Not that she 
 could ever meet them looking at her, for they darted away 
 the instant hers were raised, but she knew just when they 
 returned to her again, and how closely they were scanning 
 her. 
 
 " Your wife looks tired, Will. Let her sit down," Bell 
 said, herself wheeling the easy-chair nearer to the fire, 
 while Wilford placed Katy in it ; then, thinking she would 
 get on better if he were not there, he left the room, and 
 Katy was alone with her new sisters. 
 
 Juno had examined her dress and found no fault with 
 it, simply because it was Parisian made; while Bell had 
 examined her head, deciding that there might be some 
 thing in it, though she doubted it, but that at all events 
 short hair was very becoming to it, showing all its fine 
 proportions, and half deciding to have her own locks cut 
 
Ho The Cameron Pride. 
 
 away. Juno had a similar thought, wondering if it were 
 the Paris fashion, and if she would look as young 
 in proportion as Katy did were her hair worn on her 
 neck. 
 
 With their brother s departure the tongues of both the 
 girls were loosened, and standing near to Katy they be 
 gan to question her of what she had seen, Juno asking if 
 she did not hate to leave Italy, and did not wish her 
 self back again. Wholly truthful, Katy answered, " Oh, 
 yes, I would rather be there than home/* 
 
 " Complimentary to us, very," Bell murmured audibly 
 in French, blushing as Katy s eyes were lifted quickly 
 to hers, and she knew she was understood. 
 
 If there was anything which Katy liked more than 
 another in the way of study, it was French. She had ex 
 celled in it at Canandaigua, and while abroad had taken 
 great pains to acquire a pure pronunciation, so that she 
 spoke it with a good deal of fluency, and readily compre 
 hended Bell. 
 
 " I did not mean to be rude," she said, earnestly. " I 
 liked Italy so much, and we expected to stay longer; but 
 that does not hinder my liking to be here. I hope I did 
 not offend you/ 
 
 " Certainly not ; you are an honest little puss," Bell 
 replied, placing her hand caressingly upon the curly head 
 laying back so wearily on the chair. " Here in New York 
 we have a bad way of not telling the whole truth, but you 
 will soon be used to it." 
 
 "Used to not telling the tmth ! Oh, I hope not!" 
 and this time the blue eyes lifted so wonderingly to Bell s 
 face had in them a startled look. 
 
 " Simpleton ! " was Juno s mental comment, while Bell s 
 was, "I like the child," as she continued to smooth the 
 golden curls and wind them round her finger, wondering 
 if Katy had a taste for metaphysics, that being the last 
 branch of science which she had taken up. 
 
 " I suppose you find Will a pattern husband," Juno 
 said after a moment s pause, and Katy replied, " There 
 never could be a better, I am sure, and I have been very 
 happy." 
 
 " Has he never said one cross word to you in all these 
 
The Cameron Pride. 117 
 
 six months ? " was Juno s next question, to which Katy 
 answered truthfully, " Never/ 
 
 " And lets you do as you please ? " 
 
 " Yes, just as I please/ 7 Katy replied, while Juno con 
 tinued, " lie must have changed greatly then from what 
 he used to be; but marriage has probably improved him. 
 He tells you all his secrets, too, I presume ? " 
 
 Anxious that Wilford should appear well in every light, 
 Katy replied at random, " Yes, if he has any." 
 
 " Well, then," and in Juno s black eyes there was a 
 wicked look, " perhaps you will tell me who was or is the 
 original of that picture he guards so carefully." 
 
 " What picture ? " and Katy looked up inquiringly, while 
 Juno, with a little sarcastic laugh, continued : " Oh, he 
 has not told you then. I thought he would not, he was 
 so angry when he saw me with it three or four years 
 ago. I found it in his room where he had accidentally 
 left it, and was looking at it when he came in. It was 
 the picture of a young girl who must have been very 
 beautiful, and I did not blame Will for loving her if he 
 ever did, but he need not have been so indignant at me 
 for wishing to know who it was. I never saw him so 
 angry or so much disturbed. I hope you will ferret the 
 secret out and tell me, for I have a great deal of curiosity, 
 fancying that picture had something to do with his re 
 maining so long a bachelor. I do not mean that he does 
 not love you," she added, a^ she saw how white Katy 
 grew. " It is not to be expected that a man can live 
 to be thirty without loving more than one. There was 
 Sybil Grey, a famous belle, whom I thought at one time 
 he would marry; but when Judge Grandon offered she 
 accepted, and Will was left in the lurch. I do not really 
 believe he cared though, for Sybil was too much of a flirt 
 to suit his jealous lordship, and I will do him the justice 
 to say that however many fancies he may have had, he 
 likes you the best of all ; " and this Juno felt constrained 
 to say because of the look in Katy s face, which warned 
 her that in her thoughtlessness she had gone too far and 
 pierced the young wife s heart with a pang as cruel as it 
 was unnecessary. 
 
 Bell had tried to stop her, but she had rattled on until 
 
n8 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 now it was too late, and she could not recall her words, 
 however much she might wish to do so. " Don t tell 
 Will," she was about to say, when Will himself appeared, 
 to take Katy out to dinner. Very beautiful and sad were 
 the blue eyes which looked up at him so wistfully, and 
 nothing but the remembrance of Juno s words, " He likes 
 you best of all," kept Katy from crying outright, when 
 he took her hand, and asked if she was tired. 
 
 " Let us try what dinner will do for you," he said, and 
 in silence Katy went with him to the dining-room, where 
 the glare and the ceremony bewildered her, bringing a 
 homesick feeling as she thought of Silverton, and the 
 plain tea-table, graced with the mulberry set instead of 
 the costly china before her. 
 
 Never had Katy felt so embarrassed as she did when 
 seated for the first time at dinner in her husband s home, 
 with all those criticising eyes upon her. She had been 
 very hungry, but her appetite was gone and she almost 
 loathed the rich food offered her, feeling so glad when 
 the dinner was ended, and Wilford took her to the parlor, 
 where she found Mark Ray waiting for her. He had been 
 obliged to decline Mrs. Cameron s invitation to dinner, 
 but had come as early as possible after it, and Katy was 
 delighted to see him, for she remembered how he had 
 helped her during that week of gayety in Boston, when 
 society was so new to her. As he had been then, so he was 
 now, and his friendly manner put Katy as much at her 
 ease as it was possible for her to be in the presence of 
 Wilford s mother and sisters. 
 
 " I suppose you have not seen your sister Helen ? You 
 know I called there," Mark said to Katy; but before she 
 could reply, a pair of black eyes shot a keen glance at 
 luckless Mark, and Juno s sharp voice said quickly, " I 
 did not know you had the honor of Miss Lennox s acquaint 
 ance." 
 
 Mark was in a dilemma. He had kept his call at Silver- 
 ton to himself, as he did not care to be questioned about 
 Katy s family; and now, when it accidentally came out, 
 he tried to make some evasive reply, pretending that he 
 had spoken of it, and Juno had forgotten. But Juno 
 knew better, and from that night dated a strocg feeling 
 
The Cameron Pride. 119 
 
 of dislike for Helen Lennox, whom she affected to despise, 
 even though she could be jealous of her. Wisely changing 
 the conversation, Mark asked Katy to play, and as she 
 seldom refused, she went at once to the piano, astonishing 
 both Mrs. Cameron and her daughters with the brilliancy 
 of her performance. Even Juno complimented her, say 
 ing she must have taken lessons very young. 
 
 " When I was ten," Katy answered. " Cousin Morris 
 gave me my first exercise himself. He plays sometimes." 
 
 " Yes, I knew that," Juno replied. " Does your sister 
 play as well as you ? " 
 
 Katy knew that Helen did not, and she answered frankly, 
 " Morris thinks she does not. She is not as fond of it 
 as I am." Then feeling that she must in some way make 
 amends for Helen, she added, "But she knows a great 
 deal more than I do about books. Helen is very smart." 
 
 There was a smile on every lip at this ingenuous re 
 mark, but only Mark and Bell liked Katy the better for 
 it. Wilford did not care to have her talking of her friends, 
 and he kept her at the piano, until she said her fingers 
 were tired and begged leave to stop. 
 
 It was late ere Mark bade them good night; so late 
 that Katy began to wonder if he would never go, yawn 
 ing once so perceptibly that Wilford gave her a reproving 
 glance, which sent the hot blood to her face and drove 
 from her every feeling of drowsiness. Even after he had 
 gone the family were in no haste to retire, but sat chatting 
 with Wilford until the city clock struck twelve and Katy 
 was nodding in her chair. 
 
 " Poor child, she is very tired," Wilford said, apolo 
 getically, gently waking Katy, who begged them to excuse 
 her, and followed her husband to her room, where she 
 was free to ask him what she must ask before she could 
 ever be quite as happy as she had been before. 
 
 Going up to the chair where Wilford was sitting before 
 the fire, and standing partly behind him, she said timidly, 
 " Will you answer me one thing truly ? " 
 
 Alone with Katy, Wilford felt all his old tenderness re 
 turning, and drawing her into his lap he asked her what 
 it was she wished to know. 
 
 "Did you love anybody three or four years ago, or ever 
 
120 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 that is, love them well enough to wish to make them 
 your wife ? " 
 
 Katy could feel how Wilford started, as he said, " What 
 put that idea into your head? Who has been talking to 
 you ? " 
 
 " Juno," Katy answered. " She told me she believed 
 that it was some other love which kept you a bachelor 
 so long. Was it, Wilford ? " and Katy s lips quivered 
 in a grieved kind of way as she put the question. 
 
 " Juno be " 
 
 Wilford did not say what, for he seldom swore, and 
 never in a lady s presence. So he said instead, 
 
 " It was very unkind in Juno to distress you with mat 
 ters about which she knew nothing." 1 
 
 " But did you ? " Katy asked again. " Was there not a 
 Sybil Grey, or some one of that name ? " 
 
 At the mention of Sybil Grey, Wilford looked relieved, 
 and answered her at once. 
 
 " Yes, there was a Sybil Grey, Mrs. Judge Grandon now, 
 and a dashing widow. Don t sigh so wearily," he con 
 tinued, as Katy drew a gasping breath. " Knowing she 
 was a widow I chose you, thus showing which I preferred. 
 Few men live to be thirty without more or less fancies, 
 which under some circumstances might ripen into some 
 thing stronger, and I am not an exception. I never loved 
 Sybil Grey, nor wished to make her my wife. I admired 
 her very much. I admire her yet, and among all my 
 acquaintances there is not one upon whom I would care 
 to have you make so good an impression as upon her, nor 
 one whose manner you could better imitate." 
 
 " Oh, will she call? Shall I see her?" Katy asked, be 
 ginning to feel alarmed at the very thought of Sybil Grey, 
 with all her polish and manner. 
 
 " She is spending the winter in New Orleans with her 
 late husband s relatives. She will not return till spring," 
 Wilford replied. " But do not look so distressed, for I 
 tell you solemnly that I never loved another as I love you. 
 Bo you believe me ? " 
 
 " Yes," and Katy s head drooped upon his shoulder. 
 
 She was satisfied with regard to Sybil Grandon, only hop 
 ing she would not have to meet her when she came home. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 121 
 
 But the picture. Whose was that ? Not Sybil s certainly, 
 else Juno would have known. The picture troubled her, 
 but she dared not speak of it, Wilford had seemed so 
 angry at Juno. Still she would probe him a little further, 
 and so she continued, 
 
 " I do believe you, and if I ever see this Sybil I will try 
 to imitate her; but tell me, if after her, there was among 
 your friends one better than the rest, one almost as dear 
 as I am, one whom you sometimes remember even now 
 is she living, or is she dead ? " 
 
 Wilford thought of that humble grave far off in St. 
 Mary s churchyard, and he answered quickly, 
 
 " If there ever was such an one, she certainly is not liv 
 ing. Are you satisfied ? " 
 
 Katy answered that she was, but perfect confidence in 
 her husband s affection had been terribly shaken, and 
 Katy s heart was too full to sleep even after she had re 
 tired. Visions of Sybil Grey, blended with visions of 
 another whom she called the " dead fancy," flitted before 
 her mind, as she lay awake, while hour after hour went 
 by, until tired nature could endure no longer, and just 
 as the great city was waking up and the rattle of wheels 
 was beginning to be heard upon the pavements, she fell 
 away to sleep. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM BELL CAMERON S DIARY. 
 
 NEW YORK, December. 
 
 AFTER German Philosophy and Hamilton s Metaphy 
 sics, it is a great relief to have introduced into the family 
 an entirely new element a character the dissection of 
 which is at once a novelty and a recreation. It is abso 
 lutely refreshing, and I find myself returning to my books 
 with increased vigor after an encounter with that un 
 sophisticated, innocent-Hi i r.ded creature, our sister-in-law 
 Mrs. Wilford Cameron. Such pictures as Juno and I 
 used to draw of the stately personage who was one day com 
 ing to us as Wilf ord s wife, and of whom even mother was to 
 stand in awe. Alas, how hath our idol fallen ! And still 
 I rather like the little creature, who, the very first night, 
 
122 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 nearly choked mother to death, giving her lace streamers 
 a most uncomfortable twitch, and actually kissing father 
 a thing I have not done since I can remember. But 
 then the Camerons are all a set of icicles, encased in a 
 refrigerator at that. If we were not, we should thaw out, 
 when Katy leans on us so affectionately and looks up at 
 us so wistfully, as if pleading for our love. Wilford does 
 wonders; he used to be so grave, so dignified and silent, 
 that I never supposed he would bear having a wife meet 
 him at the door with cooing and kisses, and climbing into 
 his lap right before us all. Juno says it makes her sick, 
 while mother is dreadfully shocked; and even Will some 
 times seems annoyed, gently shoving her aside and telling 
 her he is tired. 
 
 After all, it is a query in my mind whether it is not 
 better to be like Katy than like Sybil Grandon, about 
 whom Juno was mean enough to tell her the first day of 
 her arrival. 
 
 " Very pretty, but shockingly insipid," is Juno s verdict 
 upon Mrs. Wilford, while mother says less, but looks a 
 great deal more, especially when she talks about "my 
 folks," as she did to Mrs. Gen. Eeynolds the first time she 
 called. Mother and Juno were so annoyed, while Will 
 looked like a thunder cloud, when she, spoke of Uncle 
 Ephraim saying so and so. He was better satisfied with 
 Katy in Europe, where he was not known, than he is here, 
 where he sees her with other people s eyes. One of his 
 weaknesses is a too great reverence for the world s opinion, 
 as held and expounded by our very fashionable mother, and 
 as in a quiet kind of way she has arrayed herself against 
 poor Katy, while Juno is more open in her acts and say 
 ings, I predict that it will not be many months before he 
 comes to the conclusion that he has made a mesalliance, 
 a thing of which no Cameron was ever guilty. 
 
 I wonder if there is any truth in the rumor that Mrs. 
 Gen. Eeynolds once taught a district school, and if she 
 did, how much would that detract from the merits of her 
 son, Lieutenant Bob. But what nonsense to be writing 
 about him. Let me go back to Katy, to whom Mrs. Gen. 
 Reynolds took at once, laughing merrily at her na ive 
 speeches, as she called them speeches which made Will 
 
The Cameron Pride. 123 
 
 turn black in the face, they betrayed so much of rustic 
 life and breeding. I fancy that he has given Katy a few 
 hints, and that she is beginning to be afraid of him, for 
 she watches him constantly when she is talking, and she 
 does not now slip her hand into his as she used to when 
 guests are leaving and she stands at his side; neither is 
 she so demonstrative when Le comes up from the office at 
 night, and there is a look upon her face which was not 
 there when she came. They are " toning her down," 
 mother and Juno, and to-morrow they are actually going 
 to commence a systematic course of training preparatory 
 to her debut into society, said debut to occur on the night 
 
 of the , when Mrs. Gen. Reynolds gives the party talked 
 
 about so long. I was present when they met in solemn 
 conclave to talk it over, mother asking Will if he had any 
 objections to Juno s instructing his wife with regard to 
 certain things of which she was ignorant. Will s forehead 
 knit itself together at first, and I half hoped he would veto 
 the whole proceeding, but after a moment he replied, 
 
 " No, provided Katy is willing. Her feelings must not 
 be hurt." 
 
 " Certainly not," mother said. " Katy is a dear little 
 creature, and we all love her very much, but that does 
 not blind us to her deficiencies, and as we are anxious 
 that she should fill that place in society which Mrs. Wil- 
 ford Cameron ought to fill, it seems necessary to tone her 
 down a little before her first appearance at a party." 
 
 To this Will assented, and then Juno went on to enu 
 merate her deficiencies, which, as nearly as I can remember, 
 are these: She laughs too much and too loud; is too en 
 thusiastic over novelties ; has too much to say about Silver- 
 ton and "my folks;" quotes Uncle Ephraim and sister 
 ^ Helen too often, and is even guilty at times of mentioning 
 a certain Aunt Betsy, who must have floated with the ark, 
 and snuffed the breezes of Ararat. She does not know 
 how to enter, or cross, or leave a room properly, or receive 
 an introduction, or, in short, to do anything according to 
 New York ideas, as understood by the Camerons, and so 
 she is to be taught toned down, mother called it dwell 
 ing upon her high spirit as something vulgar, if not abso 
 lutely wicked. How father would have sworn, for he calls 
 
124 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 her his little sunbeam, and says he never should have 
 gained so fast if she had not come with her sunny face, 
 and lively, merry laugh, to cheer his sick room. Katy has 
 a fast friend in him. But mother and Juno well, I shall 
 be glad if they do not annihilate her altogether, and I am 
 surprised that Will allows it. I wonder if Katy is really 
 happy with us. She says she is, and is evidently delighted 
 with New York life, clapping her hands when the invita 
 tion to Mrs. Reynolds s party was received, and running 
 with it to Wilford as soon as he came home. It is her 
 first big party, she says, she having never attended any ex 
 cept that little sociable in Boston, and those insipid 
 school-girl affairs at the seminary. I may be conceited 
 Juno thinks I am but really and truly, Bell Cameron s 
 private opinion of herself is that at heart she is better 
 than the rest of her family, and so I pity this little sister 
 of ours, while at the same time I am exceedingly anxious 
 to be present whenever Juno takes her in hand, for I like 
 to see the fun. Were she at all bookish, I should avow 
 myself her champion, and openly defend her; but she is 
 not, and so I give her into the hands of the Philistines, 
 hoping they will, at least, spare her hair, and not worry 
 her life out on that head. It is very becoming to her, and 
 several young ladies have whispered their intention of 
 trying its effect upon themselves, so that Katy may yet 
 be a leader of the fashion. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TONING DOWN. BELI/S DIARY CONTINUED. 
 
 SUCH fun as it was to see mother and Juno training 
 Katy, showing her how to enter the parlor, how to ar 
 range her dress, how to carry her hands and feet, and how 
 to sit in a chair Juno going through with the perform 
 ance first, and then requiring Katy to imitate her. Had 
 I been Katy I should have rebelled, but she is far too 
 sweet-tempered and anxious to please, while I suspect that 
 fear of my lord Wilford had something to do with it, for 
 when the drill was over, she asked so earnestly if we 
 thought he would be ashamed of her, and there were tears 
 in her great blue eyes as she said it. Hang Wilford ! Hang 
 
The Cameron Pride. 125 
 
 the whole of them; I am not sure I shall not yet espouse 
 her cause myself, or else tell father, who will do it so much 
 better. 
 
 Dec. tli. Another drill, with Juno commanding of 
 ficer, while the poor little private seemed completely wor 
 ried out. This time there were open doors, but so ab 
 sorbed were mother and Juno as not to hear the bell, and 
 just as Juno was saying, "Now imagine me Mrs. Gen. 
 Reynolds, to whom you are being presented," while Katjr 
 was bowing almost to the floor, who should appear but 
 Mark Kay, stumbling square upon that ludicrous rehearsal, 
 and, of course, bringing it to an end. No explanation was 
 made, nor was any needed, for Mark s face showed that he 
 understood it, and it was as much as he could do to keep 
 from roaring with merriment; I am sure he pitied Katy, 
 for his manner towards her was very affectionate and kind, 
 and when she left the room he complimented her highly, 
 repeating many things he had heard in her praise from, 
 those who had seen her both in the street and here at home. 
 Juno s face was like a thunder-cloud, for she is as much 
 in love with Mark Eay as she was once with Dr. Grant, 
 and is even jealous of his praise of Katy. Glad am I that 
 I never yet saw the man who could make me jealous, or for 
 whom I cared a pin. There s Bob Eeynolds up at West 
 Point. I suppose I do think his epaulettes very becom 
 ing to him, but his hair is too light, and he cannot raise 
 whiskers big enough to cast a shadow on the wall, while 
 I know he looks with contempt upon females who write, 
 even though their writings never see the light of day; 
 thinks them strong-minded, self-willed, and all that. He 
 is expected to be present at the party, but I shall not go. 
 I prefer to stay at home and finish that article entitled, 
 " Women of the Present Century," suggested to my mind 
 by my sister Katy, who stands for the picture I am draw 
 ing of a pretty woman, with more heart than brains, con 
 trasting her with such an one as Juno, her opposite. 
 
 January 10. The last time I wrote in my journal was 
 just before the party, which is over now, the long talked 
 of affair at which Katy was the reigning belle. I don t 
 know how it happened, but happen it did, and Juno s 
 glory faded before that of her rival, whose ringing laugh 
 
126 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 frequently penetrated to every room, and made more than 
 one look up in some surprise. But when Mrs. Hum 
 phreys said, " It s that charming little Mrs. Cameron, the 
 prettiest creature I ever saw, her laugh is so refreshing 
 and genuine/ the point was settled, and Katy was free 
 to laugh as loudly as she pleased. 
 
 She did look beautifully, in lace and pearls, with her 
 short hair curling in her neck. She would not allow us to 
 put so much as a bud in her hair, showing, in this respect, 
 a willfulness we never expected ; but as she was perfectly 
 irresistible, we suffered her to have her way, and when she 
 was dressed, sent her in to father, who had asked to see 
 her. And now comes the strangest thing in the world. 
 
 " You are very beautiful, little daughter/ father said, 
 " I almost wish I was going with you to see the sensation 
 you are sure to create." 
 
 Then straight into his lap climbed Katy, father s lap, 
 where none of us ever sat, I am sure, and began to coax 
 him to go, telling him she should appear better if he were 
 there, and that she should need him when Wilford left 
 her, as of course he must a part of the time. And father 
 actually dressed himself and went. But Katy did not 
 need him after the people began to understand that Mrs. 
 Wilford Cameron was the rage. Even ^ Sybil Grey in her 
 palmiest days never received such homage as was paid to 
 the little Silverton girl, whose great charm was her per 
 fect enjoyment of everything, and her perfect faith in what 
 people said to her. Juno was nothing and I worse than 
 nothing, for I did go after all, wearing a plain black silk, 
 with high neck and long sleeves, looking, as Juno said, 
 like a Sister of Charity. 
 
 Lieut. Bob was there, his light hair lighter than ever, 
 and his chin as smooth as my hand. He likes to dance 
 and I do not, but somehow he persisted in staying where 
 I was, notwithstanding that I said my sharpest things 
 in hopes to get rid of him. He left me at last to dance 
 with Katy, who makes up in grace and airiness what she 
 lacks in knowledge. Once upon the floor she did not lack 
 for partners, but I verily believe danced every set, grow 
 ing prettier and fairer as she danced, for hers is a com 
 plexion which does not get red and blowsy with exercise. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 127 
 
 Mark Ray was there too, and I saw him smile comi 
 cally when Katy met the people with that bow she was 
 making at the time he came so suddenly upon us. Mark 
 is a good fellow, and I really think we have him to thank 
 in a measure for Katy s successful debut. He was the 
 first to take her from Wilford, walking with her up and 
 down the hall by way of reassuring her, and once as they 
 passed me I heard her say, 
 
 " I feel so timid here so much afraid of doing some 
 thing wrong something countrified." 
 
 " Never mind," he answered. " Act yourself just as 
 you would were you at home in Silverton, where you are 
 known. That is far better than affecting a manner not 
 natural to you." 
 
 After that Katy brightened wonderfully. The stiffness 
 which at first was perceptible passed off, and she was 
 Katy Lennox, queening it over all the city belles, drawing 
 after her a host of gentlemen, and between the sets hold 
 ing a miniature court at one end of the room, where 
 the more desirable of the guests crowded around, flattering 
 her until her little head ought to have been turned if it 
 was not. To do her justice she bore her honors well, and 
 when we were in the carriage and father complimented 
 her upon her success, she only said, 
 
 "If I pleased you all I am glad/ 
 
 So many calls as we had the next day, and so many 
 invitations as there are now on our table for Mrs. Wil- 
 ford Cameron, while our opera box between the scenes 
 is packed with beaux, until one would suppose Wilford 
 might be jealous; but Katy takes it so quietly and mod 
 estly, seeming only gratified for his sake, that I really 
 believe he enjoys it more than she does. At all events 
 he persists in her going even when she would rather stay 
 at home, so if she is spoiled the fault will rest with him. 
 
 February th. Poor Katy ! Dissipation is beginning 
 to wear upon her, for she is not accustomed to our late 
 hours, and sometimes falls asleep while Esther is dress 
 ing her. But go she must, for Wilford wills it so, and 
 she is but an automaton to do his bidding. 
 
 Why can t mother let her alone, when everybody seems 
 so satisfied with her? Somehow she does not believe that 
 
128 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 people are as delighted as they pretend, and so she keeps 
 training and tormenting her until I do not wonder that 
 Katy sometimes hates to go out, lest she shall uncon 
 sciously be guilty of an impropriety. I pitied her last night 
 when, after she was ready for the opera, she came into 
 my room where I was indulging in the luxury of a loose 
 dressing gown, with my feet on the sofa. At first I think 
 she liked Juno best, but latterly she has taken to me, and 
 now sitting down before the fire into which her blue eyes 
 looked with a steady stare, she said, 
 
 te I wish I might stay here with you to-night. I have 
 heard this opera before, and it will be so tiresome. I 
 get so sleepy while they are singing, for I never care to 
 watch the acting. I did at first when it was new, but now 
 it seems insipid to see them make believe, while the theatre 
 is worse yet," and she gave a weary yawn. 
 
 In less than three months she had exhausted fashionable 
 life, and I looked at her in astonishment, asking what 
 would please her if the opera did not. What would sh 
 like? 
 
 Turning her eyes full upon me, she exclaimed, 
 
 " I do like it some, I suppose, only I get BO tired. I 
 like to ride, I like to skate, I like to shop, and all that, but 
 oh, you don t know how I want to go hpme to mother and 
 Helen. I have not seen them for so long; but I am going 
 in the spring going in May. How many dayt are there 
 in March and April? Sixty-one," she continued; "then 
 I may safely say that in eighty days I shall see mother, 
 and all the dear old places. It is not a grand home like 
 this. You, Bell, might laugh at it : Juno would, I am 
 sure, but you do not know how dear it is to me, or how I 
 long for a sight of the huckleberry hills and the rocks 
 where Helen and I used to play." 
 
 Just then Will called to say the carriage was waiting, 
 and Katy was driven away, while I sat thinking of her, 
 and the devoted love with which she clings to her home and 
 friends, wondering if it were the kindest thing which could 
 have been done, transplanting her to our atmosphere, so 
 different from her own. 
 
 March 1st. As it was in the winter, so it is now; Mrs. 
 Wilford Cameron is the rage the bright star of society, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 129 
 
 which quotes and pets and flatters, and even laughs at her 
 by turns; and Wilford, though still watchful, lest she 
 should do something outre, is very proud of her, insisting 
 upon her accepting invitations, sometimes two for one 
 evening, until the child is absolutely worn out, and said to 
 me once when I told her how well she was looking and how 
 pretty her dress was, "Yes, pretty enough, but I am so 
 tired. If I could lie down on mother s bed, in a shilling 
 calico, just as I used to do!" 
 
 Mother s bed seems at present to be the height of her 
 ambition the thing she most desires ; and as Juno fancies 
 it must be the feathers she is sighing for, she wickedly 
 suggests that Wilford either buy a feather bed for his wife, 
 or else send to Aunty Betsy for the one which was to be 
 Katy s setting out ! They go to housekeeping in May, and 
 on Madison Square, too. I think Wilford would quite as 
 soon remain with us, for he does not fancy change; but 
 Katy wants a home of her own, and I never saw anything 
 more absolutely beautiful than her face when father said 
 to Wilford that No Madison Square was for sale, ad 
 vising him to secure it. But when mother intimated that 
 there was no necessity for the two families to separate at 
 present that Katy was too young to have the charge of a 
 house there came into her eyes a look of such distress 
 that it went straight to father s heart, and calling her to 
 him, he said, 
 
 " Tell me, sunbeam, what is your choice to stay with 
 us, or have a home of your own ? " 
 
 Katy was very white, and her voice trembled as she 
 replied, 
 
 " You have been kind to me here, and it is very pleas 
 ant; but I guess I think I m sure I should like the 
 housekeeping best. I am not so young either. Nineteen 
 in July, and when I go home next month I can learn 
 sc Tiuch of Aunt Betsy and Aunt Hannah." 
 
 uother looked at Wilford then ; but he was looking into 
 the fire with an expression anything but favorable to that 
 visit home, iixed now for April instead of May. But Katy 
 has no discernment, and believes she is actually going to 
 learn how to make apple dumplings and pumpkin pies. In 
 spite of mother the house is bought, and now she is gone 
 
130 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 all day deciding how it shall be furnished, always leaving 
 Katy out of the question, as if she were a cipher, and only 
 consulting Wilford s choice. They will be happier alone, I 
 know. Mrs. Gen. Eeynolds says that it is the way for 
 young people to live; that her son s wife shall never come 
 home to her, for of course their habits could not be alike ; 
 and then she looked queerly at me, as if she knew I was 
 thinking of Lieutenant Bob and who his wife might be. 
 
 Sybil Grand on is coming in April or May, and Mrs. 
 Eeynolds wonders will she flirt as she used to do. Just 
 as if Bob would care for a widow ! There is more dan 
 ger from Will, who thinks Mrs. Grandon a perfect para 
 gon, and who is very anxious that Katy may appear well 
 before her, saying nothing and doing nothing which shall 
 in any way approximate to Silverton and the shoes which 
 Katy told Esther she used to bind when a girl. Will need 
 not be disturbed, for Sybil Grandon was neyer half as 
 pretty as Katy, or half as much admired. Neither need 
 Mrs. Gen. Eeynolds fret about Bob, as if he would care for 
 her. Sybil Grandon indeed ! 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 KATY. 
 
 MUCH which Bell had written of Katy was true. She 
 had been in New York nearly four months, drinking deep 
 draughts from the cup of folly and fashion held so con 
 stantly to her lips; but she cloyed of it at last, and what 
 at first had been so eagerly grasped, began, from daily 
 repetition, to grow insipid and dull. To be the belle of 
 every place, to know that her dress, her style, and even 
 the fashion of her hair was copied and admired, was grat 
 ifying to her, because she knew it pleased her husband, 
 who was never happier or prouder than when, with Katy 
 on his arm, he entered some crowded parlor and heard the 
 buzz of admiration as it circled round, while Katy smiled 
 and blushed like a little child, wondering at the attentions 
 lavished upon her, and attributing them mostly to her 
 husband, whose position she understood, marveling more 
 ajid more that he should have chosen her to be his wife. 
 That he had so honored her made her love him with a 
 
The Cameron Pride. 131 
 
 strange kind of grateful, clinging love, which as yet would 
 acknowledge no fault in him, no wrong, no error; and if 
 ever a shadow did cloud her heart she was the one to 
 blame, not Wilford; he was right he had idol she wor 
 shiped he the one for whose sake she tried to drop her 
 country ways and conform to the rules his mother and 
 sister taught, submitting with the utmost good nature to 
 what Bell called the drill, but never losing that natural, 
 playful, airy manner which so charmed the city people and 
 made her the reigning belle. As Marian Hazelton had pre 
 dicted, others than her husband had spoken words of 
 praise in Katy s ear; but such was her nature that the 
 shafts of flattery glanced aside, leaving her unharmed, so 
 that her husband, though sometimes disquieted, had no 
 cause for jealousy, enjoying Katy s success far more than 
 she did herself, urging her out when she would rather have 
 stayed at home, and evincing so much annoyance if she 
 ventured to remonstrate, that she gave it up at last and 
 floated on with the tide. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron had at first been greatly shocked at Katy s 
 want of propriety, looking on aghast when she wound her 
 arms around Wilford s neck, or sat upon his knee; but to 
 the elder Cameron the sight was a pleasant one, bringing 
 back sunny memories of a summer-time years ago, when 
 he was young, and a fair bride had for a few brief weeks 
 made this earth a paradise to him. But fashion had en 
 tered his Eden that summer time was gone, and only the 
 dun leaves of autumn lay where the buds which promised 
 so much had been. The girlish bride was a stately matron 
 now, doing nothing amiss, but making all her acts 
 conform to a prescribed rule of etiquette, and frowning 
 majestically upon the frolicsome, impulsive Katy, who had 
 crept so far into the heart of the eccentric man that he 
 always found the hours of her absence long, listening in 
 tently for the sound of her bounding footsteps, and feel 
 ing that her coming to his household had infused into his 
 veins a better, healthier life than he had known for years. 
 Katy was very dear to him, and he felt a thrill of pain 
 when first the toning down process commenced. He had 
 heard them talk about it, and in his wrath he had hurled 
 a cut-glass goblet upon the marble hearth, breaking it in 
 
132 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 atoms, while he called them a pair of precious fools, and 
 Wilford a bigger one because he suffered it. So long as 
 his convalescence lasted, he was some restraint upon his 
 wife, but when he was well enough to resume his duties 
 in his Wall Street office, there was nothing in the way, and 
 Katy s education progressed accordingly. For Wilford s 
 sake Katy would do anything, and she submitted to much 
 which would otherwise have been excessively annoying. 
 But she was growing tired now, and it told upon her 
 face, which was whiter than when she came to New York, 
 while her figure was, if possible, slighter and more airy ; 
 but this only enhanced her loveliness, Wilford thought, 
 and so he paid no heed to her complaints of weariness, but 
 kept her in the circle which welcomed her so warmly, and 
 would have missed her so much. 
 
 Little by little it had come to Katy that she was not 
 quite as comfortable in her husband s family as she would 
 be in a house of her own. The constant watch kept over 
 her by Mrs. Cameron and Juno irritated and fretted her, 
 making her wonder what was the matter, and why she 
 should so often feel lonely and desolate when surrounded 
 by every luxury which wealth could purchase. " It is his 
 folks," she always said to herself when cogitating upon the 
 subject. " Alone with Wilford I shall feel as light and 
 happy as I did in Silverton." 
 
 And so Katy caught eagerly at the prospect of a release 
 from the restraint of No. , seeming so anxious that Wil 
 ford, almost before he was aware of it himself, became the 
 owner of one of the most desirable situations on Madison 
 Square. Of all the household after Katy, Juno was per 
 haps the only one glad of the new house. It would be a 
 change for herself, for she meant to spend much of her 
 time on Madison Square, where everything was to be on 
 the most magnificent style. Fortunately for Katy, she 
 knew nothing of Juno s intentions and built castles of her 
 new home, where mother could come with Helen and Dr. 
 Grant. Somehow she never saw Uncle Ephraim, nor his 
 wife, nor Aunt Betsy there. She knew how out of place 
 they would appear, and how they would annoy Wilford; 
 but surely to her mother and Helen there could be no ob 
 jection, and when she first went over the house she desig- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 133 
 
 nated this room as mother s,, and another one as Helen s, 
 thinking how each should be fitted up with direct refer 
 ence to their tastes, Helen s containing a great many books, 
 while her mother s should have easy-chairs and lounges, 
 with a host of drawers for holding things. And Wilford 
 heard it all, making no reply, but considering how he could 
 manage best so as to have no scene, for he had not the 
 slightest intention of inviting either Mrs. Lennox or Helen 
 to vist him, much less to become a part of his household. 
 That he did not marry Katy s relatives was a fact as fixed 
 as the laws of the Medes and Persians, and Katy s antici 
 pations were answering no other purpose than to divert 
 her mind for the time being, keeping her bright and cheer 
 ful. 
 
 Very pleasant indeed were the pictures Katy drew of 
 the new house where Helen was to come, but pleasanter 
 far were her pictures of that visit to Silverton, to occur in 
 April. Poor Katy ! how much she thought about that visit 
 when she should see them all and go with Uncle Ephraim 
 down into the meadows, making believe she was Katy Len 
 nox still when she could climb the ladder in the barn 
 after new-laid eggs, or steal across the fields to Lin wood, 
 talking with Morris as she used to talk in the days which 
 seemed so long ago. Morris she feared was not liking her 
 as well as of old, thinking her very frivolous and silly, for 
 he had only written her one short note in reply to the letter 
 she had sent, telling him of the parties she had attended, 
 and the gay, nappy life she led, for to him she would not 
 then confess that in her cup of ,joy there was a single 
 bitter dreg. All was bright and fair, she said, and Morris 
 had replied that he was glad, "But do not forget that 
 death can find you even amid your splendor, or that after 
 death the judgment comes, and then what shall it profit 
 you if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul/ 
 
 These words had rung in Katy s ears for many a day, 
 following her to the dance and to the opera, where even 
 the music was drowned by the echo of the words, "lose 
 your own soul." But the sting grew less and less, till 
 Katy no longer felt it, and now was only anxious to talk 
 with Morris and convince him that she was not as thought 
 less as he might suppose, that she still remembered his 
 
134 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 teachings, and tho little church in the valley, preferring 
 it to the handsome, aristocratic house where she went with 
 the Camerons once on every Sunday. 
 
 " One more week and then it is April," she said to 
 Wilford one evening after they had retired to their room, 
 and she was talking of Silverton. " I guess we d better 
 go about the tenth. Shall you stay as long as I do ? " 
 
 Wilford bit his lip, and after a moment replied, 
 
 " I have been talking with mother, and we think April 
 is not a good time for you to be in the country; it is so 
 wet and cold, and I want you here to help order our fur 
 niture." 
 
 "Oh, Wilford!" and Katy s voice trembled, for from 
 past experience she knew that for Wilford to object to 
 her plans was equivalent to a refusal, and her heart 
 throbbed with disappointment as she tried to listen while 
 Wilford urged many reasons why she should not go, con 
 vincing her at last that of all times for visiting Silverton, 
 spring was the worst; that summer or autumn were bet 
 ter, and that it was her duty to remain where she was until 
 such time as he saw fit for her to do otherwise. 
 
 This was the meaning of what he said, and though his 
 manner was guarded, and his words kind, they were very 
 conclusive, and with one gasping sob Katy gave up Sil 
 verton, charging it more to Mrs. Cameron than to Wil 
 ford, and writing next day to Helen that she could not 
 come just then, but that after she was settled they might 
 surely expect her. 
 
 With a bitter pang Helen read this letter to the three 
 women who had anticipated Katy s visit so much, and 
 each of whom cried quietly over her disappointment, while 
 Uncle Ephraim went back to his work that afternoon with 
 a heavy heart, for now his labor was not lightened by 
 thoughts of Katy s being there so soon. 
 
 " Please God she may come to us sometime," he said, 
 pausing beneath the butternut in the meadow, and remem 
 bering just how Katy looked on that first day of her re 
 turn from Canandaigua, when she sat on the flat stone 
 while he piled up his hay and talked with her of different 
 paths through life, one of which she must surely tread. 
 
 She had said, " I will choose the straight and pleasant," 
 
The Cameron Pride. 135 
 
 and some would think she had; but Uncle Ephraim was 
 not so sure, and leaning against a tree, he asked silently 
 that whether he ever saw his darling again or not, God 
 would care for her and keep her unspotted from the 
 world. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE NEW HOUSE. 
 
 IT was a cruel thing for Wilford Cameron to try to 
 separate Katy from the hearts which loved her so much; 
 and, as if he felt reproached, there was an increased tender 
 ness in his manner towards her, particularly as he saw 
 how sad she was for a few days after his decision. But 
 Katy could not be sorry long, and in the excitement of 
 settling the new house her spirits rallied, and her merry 
 laugh trilled like a bird through the rooms where the work 
 men were so busy, and where Mrs. Cameron was the real 
 superintendent, though there was sometimes a show of 
 consulting Katy, who nevertheless was a mere cipher in 
 the matter. In everything the mother had her way, until 
 it came to the room designed for Helen, and which Mrs. 
 Cameron was for converting into a kind of smoking or 
 lounging room for Wilford and his associates. Katy must 
 not expect him to be always as devoted to her as he had 
 been during the winter, she said. He had a great many 
 bachelor friends, and now that he had a house of his own, 
 it was natural that he should have some place where they 
 could spend an hour or so with him without the restraint 
 of ladies society, and this was just the room large, airy, 
 quiet, and so far from the parlors that the odor of the 
 smoke could not reach them. 
 
 Katy had submitted to much without knowing that she 
 was submitting; but something Bell had dropped that 
 morning had awakened a suspicion that possibly she was 
 being ignored, and the wicked part of Helen would have 
 enjoyed the look in her eye as she said, not to Mrs. Cam 
 eron, but to Wilford, " I have from the very first decided 
 this chamber for Helen, and I cannot give it up for a 
 smoking room. You never had one at home. Why did 
 you not, if it is so necessary ? " 
 
136 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Wilford could not tell her that his mother would as 
 soon have brought into her house one of Barnum s shows, 
 as to have had a room set apart for smoking, which she 
 specially disliked; neither could he at once reply at all, 
 so astonished was he at this sudden flash of spirit. Mrs. 
 Cameron was the first to rally, and in her usual quiet tone 
 she said, " I did not know that your sister was to form 
 a part of your household. When do you expect her ? " and 
 her cold gray eyes rested steadily upon Katy, who never 
 before so fully realized the distance there was between her 
 husband s friends and her own. But as the worm will turn 
 when trampled on, so Katy, though hitherto powerless to 
 defend herself, roused in Helen s behalf, and in a tone as 
 quiet and decided as that of her mother-in-law, replied, 
 " She will come whenever I write for her. It was arranged 
 from the first. Wasn t it, Wilford ? " and she turned to 
 her husband, who, unwilling to decide between a wife he 
 loved and a mother whose judgment he considered infal 
 lible, affected not to hear her, and stole from the room, 
 followed by Mrs. Cameron, so that Katy was left mistress 
 of the field. 
 
 After that no one interfered in her arrangement of 
 Helen s room, which, with far less expense than Mrs. 
 Cameron would have done, she fitted up so cosily that 
 Wilford pronounced it the pleasantest room in the house, 
 while Bell went into ecstasies over it, and even Juno might 
 have unbent enough to praise it, were it not for Mark Eay, 
 who, from being tacitly claimed by Juno, was frequently 
 admitted to their counsels, and had asked the privilege of 
 contributing to Helen s room a handsome volume of Ger 
 man poetry, such as he fancied she might enjoy. So long 
 as Mark s attentions were not bestowed in any other quar 
 ter Juno was comparatively satisfied, but the moment he 
 swerved a hair s breadth from the line she had marked out, 
 her anger was aroused; and now, remembering his com 
 mendations of Helen Lennox, she hated her as cordially as 
 one jealous girl can hate another whom she has not seen, 
 making Katy so uncomfortable, without knowing what was 
 the matter, that she hailed the morning of her exit from 
 No. as the brightest since her marriage. 
 
 It was a very happy day for Katy, and when she first 
 
The Cameron Pride. 137 
 
 sat down to dinner in her own home, her face shone with 
 a joy which even the presence of her mother-in-law could 
 not materially lessen. She would rather have been alone 
 with Wilford, it is true, but as her choice was not con 
 sulted she submitted cheerfully, proudly taking her right 
 ful place at the table, and doing the honors so well that 
 Mrs. Cameron, in speaking of it to her daughters, acknowl 
 edged that Wilford had little to fear if Katy always ap 
 peared as much at ease as she did that day. A thought 
 similar to this passed through the mind of Wilford, \,ho 
 was very observant of such matters, and that night, after 
 his mother was gone, he warmly commended Katy, but 
 spoiled the pleasure his commendations would have given 
 by telling her next, as if one thought suggested the other, 
 that Sybil Grandon had returned, that he saw her on 
 Broadway, accepting her invitation to a seat in her car 
 riage which brought him to his door. She had made many 
 inquiries concerning Katy, expressing a great curiosity to 
 see her, and saying that as she drove past the house that 
 morning, she was strongly tempted to waive all ceremony 
 and run in, knowing she should be pardoned for the sake 
 of Auld Lang Syne, when she was privileged to take lib 
 erties with the Camerons. All this Wilford repeated to 
 Katy, but he did not tell her how at the words Auld Lang 
 Syne, Sybil had turned her fine eyes upon him with an ex 
 pression which made him color, for he knew she was refer 
 ring to the time when her name and his were always coupled 
 together. 
 
 Katy had dreaded the return of Sybil Grandon, of whom 
 she had heard so much, and now that she had come, she 
 felt for a moment a terror of meeting her which she tried 
 to shake off, succeeded at last, for perfect faith in Wilford 
 was to her a strong shield of defence, and her only trouble 
 was a fear lest she should fall in the scale of comparison 
 which might be instituted between herself and Mrs. 
 Grandon, who after a few days ceased to be a bugbear, 
 Wilford never mentioning her again, and Katy only hearing 
 of her through Juno and Bell, the first of whom went into 
 raptures over her, while the latter styled her a silly, co 
 quettish widow, who would appear much better to have 
 worn her weeds a little longer, and not throw herself quite 
 
138 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 so soon into the market. That she should of course meet 
 her some time, Katy knew, but she would not distress her 
 self till the time arrived, and so she dismissed her fears, 
 or rather lost them in the excitement of her new dignity 
 as mistress of a house. 
 
 In her girlhood Katy had evinced a taste for house 
 keeping, which now developed so rapidly that she won the 
 y^pect of all the servants, from the man who answered the 
 jell to the accomplished cook, hired by Mrs. Cameron, and 
 who, like most accomplished cooks, was sharp and cross and 
 opinionated, but who did not find it easy to scold the blithe 
 little woman who every morning came flitting into her 
 dominions, not asking what they would have for dinner, as 
 she had been led to suppose she would, but ordering it with 
 a matter of course air, which amused the usually overbear 
 ing Mrs. Phillips. But when the little lady, rolling her 
 sleeves above her dimpled elbows and donning the clean 
 white apron which Phillips was reserving for afternoon, 
 announced her intention of surprising Wilf ord, with a pud 
 ding such as Aunt Betsy used to make, there were signs 
 of rebellion, Phillips telling her bluntly that she couldn t 
 be bothered that it was not a lady s place in the kitchen 
 under foot that the other Mrs. Cameron never did it, and 
 would not like it in Mrs. Wilford. * 
 
 For a moment Katy paused and looked straight at Mrs. 
 Phillips; then said, quietly, "I have only six eggs here 
 the recipe is ten. Bring me four more, please. * 
 
 There was something in the blue eyes which compelled 
 obedience, and the dessert progressed without another word 
 of remonstrance. But when the door bell rang, and word 
 came down that there were ladies in the parlor Juno, 
 with some one else Phillips would not tell her of the 
 flour on her hair; and as Katy, after casting aside her 
 apron and putting down her sleeves, only glanced hastily 
 at herself In the hall mirror as she passed it, she appeared 
 in the parlor with this mark upon her curls, and greatly 
 to her astonishment was presented to " Mrs. Sybil 
 Grandon," Juno explaining, that as Sybil was anxious to 
 see her, and they were passing the house, she had pre 
 sumed upon her privilege as a sister and brought her in. 
 
 For a moment the room turned dark, it was so sudden, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 139 
 
 so unexpected, and she so unprepared; but Sybil s famil 
 iar manner quieted her, and she was able at last to look 
 fully at her visitor, finding her not as handsome as she 
 expected, nor as young, but in all other respects she had 
 not perhaps been exaggerated. Cultivated and self-pos 
 sessed, she was very pleasing in her manner, making Katy 
 feel wholly at ease by a few well-timed compliments, which 
 had th merit of seeming genuine, so perfect was she in 
 the art of deception. 
 
 To Katy she was very gracious, admiring her house, ad 
 miring herself, admiring everything, until Katy wondered 
 how she could ever have dreaded to meet her, laughing and 
 chatting as familiarly as if the fashionable woman were 
 not criticising every movement, and every act, and every 
 feature of her face, wondering most at the flour upon her 
 hair! 
 
 Juno wondered, too, but knowing Katy s domestic pro 
 pensities, suspected the truth, and feigning some errand 
 with Phillips, she excused herself for a moment and de 
 scended to the kitchen, where she was not long in hearing 
 about Katy s " queer ways, coming where she was not 
 needed, and making country puddings after some heathen 
 ish aunt s rule." 
 
 " Was it Aunt Betsy ? " Juno asked, her face betoken 
 ing its disgust when told that she was right, and her 
 manner on her return to the parlor was very frigid towards 
 Katy, who had discovered the flour on her hair, and was 
 laughing merrily over it, telling Sybil how it happened 
 how cross Phillips was and lastly, how " our folks " often 
 made the pudding, and that was why she wished to sur 
 prise Wilford with it. 
 
 There was a sarcastic smile upon Sybil s lip as she wished 
 Mrs. Cameron success and then departed, leaving Katy to 
 finish the dessert, which, when ready for the table, was cer 
 tainly very inviting, and would have tempted the appetite 
 of any man who had not been listening to gossip not wholly 
 conducive to his peace of mind. 
 
 On his way home Wilford had stopped at his fathers, 
 where Juno was relating the particulars of her call upon 
 his wife, and as she did not think it necessary to stop for 
 him, he heard of Katy s misdoings, and her general ap- 
 
140 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 pearanee in the presence of Sybil Grandon, whom she en 
 tertained with a description of " our folks " favorite dishes, 
 together with Aunt Betsy s recipes. This was the straw 
 too many, and since his marriage Wilford had not been as 
 angry as he was while listening to Juno, who reported 
 Sybil s verdict on his wife, " A domestic little body and 
 very pretty/ 
 
 Wilford did not care to have his wife domestic; he did 
 not marry her for that, and in a mood anything but favor 
 able to the light, delicate dessert Katy had prepared with 
 so much care, he went to his luxurious home, where Katy 
 ran as usual to meet him, her face brimming with the 
 surprise she had in store for him, and herself so much ex 
 cited that she did not at first observe the cloud upon his 
 brow, as he moodily answered her rapid questions. When 
 the important moment arrived, and the dessert was brought 
 on, he promptly declined it, even after her explanation 
 that she made it herself, urging him to try it for the sake 
 of pleasing her, if nothing more. But Wilford was not 
 hungry then, and even had he been, he would have chosen 
 anything before a pudding made from a recipe of Betsy 
 Barlow, so the dessert was untasted even by Katy herself, 
 who, knowing now that something had gone wrong, sat 
 fighting back her tears until the servant left the room, 
 when she timidly asked, " What is it, Wilford? What 
 
 makes you seem so " She would not say cross, and so 
 
 substituted " queer," while Wilford plunged at once into 
 the matter by saying, "Juno tells me she called here this 
 afternoon with Mrs. Grandon." 
 
 " Yes, I forgot to mention it," Katy answered, feeling 
 puzzled to know why that should annoy her husband; 
 but his next remarks disclosed the whole, and Katy s tears 
 flowed fast as Wilford asked what she supposed Mrs. 
 Grandon thought, to see his wife looking as if fresh from 
 the flour barrel, and to hear her talk about Aunt Betsy s 
 recipes and " our folks." " That is a bad habit of yours, 
 Katy," he continued, "one of which I wish you to break 
 yourself, if possible. I have never spoken to you directly 
 on the subject before, but it annovs me exceedingly, inas 
 much as it is an indication of low breeding." 
 
 There was no answer from Katy, whose heart was too 
 
The Cameron Pride. 141 
 
 full to speak, and so Wilford went on, " Our servants were 
 selected by mother with a direct reference to your youth 
 and inexperience, and it is not necessary for you to fre 
 quent the kitchen, or, indeed, to go there oftener than once 
 a week. Let them come to you for orders, not you go to 
 them. Neither need you speak quite so familiarly to them, 
 treating them almost as if they were your equals. Try to 
 remember your true position that whatever you may have 
 been you are now Mrs. Wilford Cameron, equal to any 
 lady in New York." 
 
 They were in the library now, and the soft May breeze 
 came stealing through the open window, stirring the fleecy 
 curtains and blowing across the tasteful bouquet which 
 Katy had arranged ; but Katy was too wretched to care for 
 her surroundings. It was the first time Wilford had ever 
 spoken to her in just this way, and his manner hurt her 
 more than his words, making her feel as if she were an 
 ignorant, ill-bred creature, whom he had raised to a posi 
 tion she did not know how to fill. It was cruel thus to 
 repay her attempts to please, and so, perhaps, Wilford 
 thought, as with folded arms he sat looking at her weeping 
 so bitterly upon the sofa ; but he was too indignant to make 
 any concession then, and he suffered her to weep in silence 
 until he remembered that his mother had requested him to 
 bring her round that evening, as they were expecting a 
 few of Juno s friends, n^d among them Sybil Grand on. 
 If Katy went he wished her to look her best, and he un 
 bent so far as to try to check her tears. But Katy could 
 not stop, and she wept so passionately that Wilford s anger 
 subsided, leaving only tenderness and pity for the wife he 
 soothed and caressed, until the sobbing ceased, and Katy 
 lay passively in his arms, her face so white, and the dark 
 rings about her eyes showing so distinctly that Wilford did 
 not press her when she declined his mother s invitation. 
 He could go, she said, urging so many reasons why he 
 should that, for the first time since their marriage, he left 
 her alone, and went where Sybil Grandon smiled her sunni 
 est smile, and put forth her most persuasive powers to keep 
 him at her side, expressing so much regret that he did not 
 bring "his charming little wife, who completely won her 
 heart, she was so child-like and simple-hearted, laughing 
 
142 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 so merrily when she discovered the flour on her hair, but 
 not seeming to mind it in the least. Keally, she did not 
 see how it happened that he was fortunate enough to win 
 such a domestic treasure. Where did he find her ? " 
 
 If Sybil G-randon meant this to be complimentary, it 
 was not received as such. Wilford, almost grating his 
 teeth with vexation as he listened to it, and feeling doubly 
 mortified with Katy, whom he found waiting for him, 
 when at a late hour he left the society of Sybil Grandon 
 and repaired to his home. 
 
 To Katy the time of his absence had seemed an age, 
 for her thoughts had been busy with the past, gathering 
 up every incident connected with her married life since 
 she came to New York, and deducing from them the con 
 clusion that " Wilford s folks " were ashamed of her, and 
 that Wilford himself might perhaps become so if he were 
 not already. That would be worse than death itself, and 
 the darkest hours she had ever known were those she spent 
 alone that night, sobbing so violently as to bring on a 
 racking headache, which showed itself upon her face and 
 touched Wilford at once. 
 
 Sybil Grandon was forgotten in those moments of con 
 trition, when he ministered so tenderly to his suffering 
 wife, whom he felt that he had wronged. But he could 
 not tell her so then. It was not natural for him to confess 
 his errors. There had always been a struggle between his 
 duty and his pride when he had done so, and now the 
 latter conquered, especially as Katy, grown more calm, 
 began to take the censure to herself, lamenting her short 
 comings, and promising to do better, even to the imitating 
 of Sybil Grandon, if that would make him forget the past 
 and love her as before. 
 
 Wilford could accord forgiveness far more graciously 
 than he could ask it, and so peace was restored, and 
 Katy s face next day looked bright and happy when seen 
 in her new carriage, which took her down Broadway to 
 Stewart s, where she encountered Sybil Grandon, and with 
 her Juno Cameron. 
 
 From the latter Katy instinctively shrank, but she could 
 not resist the former, who greeted her so familiarly that 
 Katy readily forgave her the pain of which she had been 
 
The Cameron Pride. 143 
 
 the cause, and spoke of her to Wilford without a pang 
 when he came home to dinner. Still she could not over 
 come her dread of meeting her, and she grew more and 
 more averse to mingling in society, where she might do 
 many things to mortify her husband or his family, and 
 thus provoke a scene she hoped never again to pass through. 
 
 " Oh, if Helen were only here ! " she thought, as she 
 began to experience a sensation of loneliness she had never 
 felt before. 
 
 But Helen was not there, nor coming there at present. 
 One word from Wilford had settled that, convincing Katy 
 that it was better to wait until the autumn, inasmuch as 
 they were going so soon to Saratoga and Newport, places 
 which Katy dreaded, after she knew that Mrs. Cameron 
 and Juno were to be of the party, and probably Sybil 
 Grandon. Katy did not dislike the latter, but she was 
 never easy in her presence, while she could not deny to 
 herself that since Sybil s return Wilford had not been 
 quite the same as before. In company he was more at 
 tentive than ever, but at home he was sometimes moody and 
 silent, while Katy strove in vain to ascertain the cause. 
 
 They were not as happy in the new home as she had 
 expected to be, but the fault did not lie with Katy. She 
 performed her part and more, taking upon her young 
 shoulders the whole of the burden which her husband 
 should have helped her to bear. The easy, indolent life 
 Wilford had led so long as a petted son of a partial mother 
 unfitted him for care, and he was as much a boarder in his 
 own home as he had even been in the hotels in Paris, 
 thoughtlessly requiring of Katy more than he should have 
 required, so that Bell was not far from right when in her 
 journal she described her sister-in-law as " a little servant 
 whose feet were never supposed to be tired, and whose 
 wishes were never consulted." It is true Bell had put it 
 rather strongly, but the spirit of what she said was right, 
 Wilford seldom considering Katy, or allowing her wishes 
 to interfere with his own plans ; while accustomed to every 
 possible attention from his mother, he exacted the s^me 
 from his wife, whose life was not one of unmixed hap 
 piness, notwithstanding that every letter home bore assur 
 ances to the contrary. 
 
144 The Cameion Pride. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MARIAN HAZLETON. 
 
 THE last days of June had come, and Wilford wa 
 beginning to make arrangements for removing Katy from 
 the city before the warmer weather. To this he had been 
 urged by Mark Ray s remarking that Katy was not look 
 ing as well as when he first saw her, one year ago. " She 
 has grown thin and pale," he said. " Had Wilford 
 remarked it?" 
 
 Wilford had not. She complained much of headache, 
 but that was only natural. Still he wrote to the Moun 
 tain House that afternoon to secure rooms for himself 
 and wife, and then at an earlier hour than usual went 
 home to tell her of the arrangement. Katy was out 
 shopping, Esther said, and had not yet returned, adding, 
 
 " There is a note for her up stairs, left by a woman who 
 I guess came for work." 
 
 That a woman should come for work was not strange, 
 but that she should leave a note seemed rather too familiar; 
 and when on going to the library he saw it upon the table, 
 he took it in his hand and examined the superscription 
 closely, holding it up to the light and forgetting to open 
 it in his perplexity and the train of thought it awakened. 
 
 " They are singularly alike/ he said, and still holding 
 the note in his hand he opened a drawer of his writing 
 desk, which was always kept locked, and took from it a 
 picture and a bit of soiled paper, on which was written, 
 " I am not guilty, Wilford, and God will never forgive the 
 wrong you have done to me." 
 
 There was no name or date, but Wilford knew whose 
 hand had penned those linen, and he sat comparing them 
 with the " Mrs. Wilford Cameron " which the strange 
 woman had written. Then opening the note, he read that, 
 having returned to New York, and wishing employment 
 either as seamstress or dressmaker, Marian Hazelton had 
 ventured to call upon Mrs. Cameron, remembering her 
 promise to give her work if she should desire it. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " Who is Marian Hazelton ? " Wilf ord asked himself as 
 he threw down the missive. " Some of Katy s country 
 friends, I dare say. Seems to me I have heard that name. 
 She certainly writes as Genevra did, except that this Haz- 
 elton s is more decided and firm. Poor Genevra ! " 
 
 There was a pallor about Wilford s lips as he said this, 
 and taking up the picture he gazed for a long time upon 
 the handsome, girlish face, whose dark eyes seemed to 
 look reproachfully upon him, just as they must have looked 
 when the words were penned, "God will never forJve 
 the wrong you have done to me." 
 
 " Genevra was mistaken," he said. " At least if God 
 has not forgiven, he has prospered me, which amounts 
 to the same thing;" and without a single throb of grati 
 tude to Him who had thus prospered him, Wilford laid 
 Genevra s picture and Genevra s note back with the with 
 ered grass and flowers plucked from Genevra s grave, 
 just as Katy s ring was heard and Katy herself came 
 in. 
 
 As thoughts of Genevra always made Wilford kinder 
 towards his wife, so now he kissed her white cheek, no 
 ticing that, as Mark had said, it was whiter than last 
 year in June. But mountain air would bring back the 
 roses, he thought, as he handed her the note. 
 
 " Oh, yes, from Marian Hazelton," Katy said, glancing 
 first at the name and then hastily reading it through. 
 
 "Who is Marian Hazelton?" Wilford asked, and Katy 
 replied by repeating all she knew of Marian, and how she 
 chanced to know her at all. " Don t you remember Helen 
 wrote that she fainted at our wedding, and I was so sorry, 
 fearing I might have overworked her?" 
 
 Wilford did remember something about it, and then 
 dismissing Marian from his mind, he told Katy of his 
 plan for taking her to the Mountain House a few weeks 
 before going to Saratoga. 
 
 " Would you not like it ? " he asked, as she continued 
 silent, with her eyes fixed upon the window opposite. 
 
 : Yes," and Katy drew a long and weary breath. I 
 shall like any place where there are birds, and rocks, and 
 trees, and real grass, such as grows of itself in the country ; 
 but Wilford," and Katy crept close to him now, "if I 
 
146 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 might go to Silverton, I should get strong so fast! You 
 don t know how I long to see home once more. I dream 
 about it nights and think about it days, knowing just 
 how pleasant it is there, with the roses in bloom and the 
 meadows so fresh and green. May I go, Wilford? May 
 1 go home to mother ? " 
 
 Had Katy asked for half his fortune, just as she asked 
 to go home, Wilford would have given it to her; but 
 Silverton had a power to lock all the softer avenues of 
 his heart, and so he answered that the Mountain House 
 was preferable, that the rooms were engaged, and that as 
 he should enjoy it so much better he thought they would 
 make no change. 
 
 Katy did not cry, nor utter a word of remonstrance; 
 she was learning that quiet submission was better than 
 useless opposition, and so Silverton was again given up. 
 But there was one consolation. Seeing Marian Hazelton 
 would be almost as good as going home, for had she not 
 recently come from that neighborhood, bringing with her 
 the odor from the hills and freshness from the woods? 
 Perhaps, too, she had lately seen Helen or Morris at 
 church, and had heard the music of the organ which 
 Helen played, and the singing of the children just as it 
 sometimes came to Katy in her dreams, making her start 
 in her sleep and murmur snatches 01 the sacred songs 
 which Dr. Morris had taught. Yes, Marian could tell 
 her of all this, and very impatiently Katy waited for the 
 morning when she started for No. Fourth Street, with 
 the piles of sewing intended for Marian. 
 
 It was a fault of Marian s not to remain long contented 
 in any place. Tiring of the country, she had returned to 
 the city, and thinking she might succeed better alone, had 
 hired a room far up the narrow stairway of a high, som 
 bre-looking building, and then from her old acquaintances, 
 of whom she had several in the city, she had solicited work. 
 More than once she had passed the handsome house on 
 Madison Square where Katy lived, walking slowly, and 
 contrasting it with her one room, which was not wholly 
 uninviting, for where Marian went there was always an 
 air of comfort; and Katy, as she crossed the threshold, 
 uttered an exclamation of deligkt at the cheerful, airy 
 
The Cameron Pride. 147 
 
 aspect of the apartment, with its bright ingrain carpet, 
 its simple shades of white, its chintz-covered lounge, its 
 one rocking-chair, its small parlor stove, and its pots of 
 flowers upon the broad window sill. 
 
 " Oh Marian," she exclaimed, tripping across the floor, 
 and impulsively throwing her arms around Miss Hazelton s 
 neck, " I am so glad to meet some one from home. It 
 seems almost like Helen I am kissing," and her lips 
 again met those of Marian Hazelton, amid her joy at 
 finding Katy unchanged, wondered what the Camerons 
 would say to see their Mrs. Wilford kissing a poor seam 
 stress whom they would have spurned. 
 
 But Katy did not care for Camerons then, or even 
 think of them, as in her rich basquine and pretty hat, 
 with emeralds and diamonds sparkling on her fingers, 
 she sat down by Marian. 
 
 " Tell me of Silverton ; you don t know how I want to 
 go there; but Wilford does not think it best, at present. 
 Next fall I am surely going, and I picture to myself just 
 hovr it will look: Morris s garden, full of the autumnal 
 flowers the ripe peaches in our orchard, the grapes 
 ripening on the wall, and the long shadows on the grass, 
 just as I used to watch them, wondering what made 
 them move so fast, and where they could be going. Will 
 it be unchanged, Marian? Do places seem the same when 
 once we have left them ? " and Katy s eager eyes looked 
 wistfully at Marian, who replied, " Not always not often, 
 in fact ; but in your case they may. You have not been 
 long away." 
 
 " Only a year," Katy said. " I was as long as that in 
 Canandaigua; but this past year is different. I have 
 seen so much, and lived so much, that I feel ten years 
 older than I did last spring, when you and Helen made 
 my wedding dress. Darling Helen! When did you see 
 her last? 
 
 " I was there five weeks ago," Marian replied ; " I saw 
 them all, and told them I was coming to New York." 
 
 " Do they miss me any ? Do they talk of me ? Do they 
 wish me back again ? " Katy asked, and Marian replied, 
 " They talked of little else, that is your own family. Dr. 
 Morris, I think, did not mention your name. He has 
 
148 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 grown very silent and reserved," and Marian s eyes were 
 fixed inquiringly upon Katy, as if to ascertain how much 
 she knew of the cause for Morris s reserve. 
 
 But Katy had no suspicion, and only replied, " Per 
 haps he is vexed that I do not write to him oftener, but 
 I can t. I think of him a great deal, and respect him 
 more than any living man, except, of course, Wilford; 
 but when I try to write, something comes in between me 
 and what I wish to say, for I want to convince him that 
 I am not as frivolous as he thinks I am. I have not for 
 gotten the Sunday school, nor the church service; but in 
 the city it is so hard to be good, and the service and 
 music seem all for show, and I feel so hateful when I see 
 Juno and Wilford s mother putting their heads down on 
 velvet cushions, knowing as I do that they both are 
 thinking either of their own bonnets or those just in 
 front." 
 
 " Are you not a little uncharitable ? " Marian asked, 
 laughing in spite of herself at the picture Katy drew of 
 fashion trying to imitate religion in its humility. 
 
 " Perhaps so," Katy answered. " I grow bad from look 
 ing behind the scenes, and the worst is that I do not care, 
 and then Katy went back again to the farm-house asking 
 numberless questions and reaching finally the business 
 which had brought her to Marian s room. 
 
 There were spots on Marian s neck, and her lips were 
 white, as she grasped the bundles tossed into her lap 
 the yards and yards of lace and embroidery, linen, and 
 cambric, which she was expected to make for the wife of 
 Wilford Cameron; and her voice was husky as she asked 
 directions or made suggestions of her own. 
 
 " It s because she has no such joy in expectation. I 
 should feel so, too, if I were thirty and unmarried," Katy 
 thought, as she noticed Marian s agitation, and tried to 
 divert her mind by talking of Europe and the places she 
 had visited. 
 
 "By the way, you were born in England? Were you 
 ever at Alnwick ? " Katy asked, and Marian replied, " Once, 
 yes. I ve seen the castle and the church. Did you go 
 there to St. Mary s, I mean?" 
 
 " Oh, yes, and I was never tired of that old churchyard. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 149 
 
 Wilford liked it, too, and we wandered by the hour 
 among the sunken graves and quaint headstones." 
 
 " Do you remember any of the names upon the stones ? 
 Perhaps I may know them ? " Marian asked ; but Katy 
 did not remember any, or if she did, it was not " Genevra 
 Lambert, aged 22." And so Marian asked her no more 
 questions concerning Alnwick, but talked instead of London 
 and other places, until three hours went by, and down 
 in the street the coachman chafed and fretted at the long 
 delay, wondering what kept his mistress in that neighbor 
 hood so long. Had she friends, or had she come on some 
 errand of mercy? The latter most likely, he concluded, 
 and so his face was not quite so cross when Katy at last 
 appeared, looking at her watch and exclaiming at the 
 lateness of the hour. 
 
 Katy was very happy that morning, for seeing Marian 
 had brought Silverton near to her, and airy as a bird she 
 ran up the steps of her own dwelling, where the door 
 opened as by magic, and Wilford himself confronted her, 
 asking, with the tone which always made her heart beat, 
 where she had been, and he waiting for her two whole 
 hours. " Surely it was not necessary to stop so long with 
 a seamstress/ he continued when she tried to explain. 
 " Ten minutes would suffice for directions," and he could 
 not imagine what attraction there was in Miss Hazelton 
 to keep her there three hours, and then the real cause of 
 his vexation came out. He had come expressly for the 
 carriage to take her and Sybil Grandon to a picnic up 
 the river, whither his mother, Juno and Bell, had already 
 gone. Mrs. Grandon must wonder why he stayed so long, 
 and perhaps give up going. Could Katy be ready soon? 
 and Wilford walked rapidly up and down the parlor with 
 a restless motion of his hands which always betokened 
 impatience. Poor Katy ! how the brightness of the morning 
 faded, and how averse she felt to joining that picnic, which 
 she knew had been in prospect for some time, and had 
 fancied she should enjoy ! But not to-day, with that look 
 on Wilford s face, and the feeling that he was vexed. 
 Still she could think of no reasonable excuse, and so an 
 hour later found her driving into the country with Sybil 
 Grandon, who received her apologies with as much good- 
 
150 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 natured grace as if she too had not worked herself into 
 a passion at the delay, for Sybil had been very cross and 
 impatient; but all this vanished when she met Wilford 
 and saw that he was disturbed and irritated. Soft, and 
 sweet, and smooth was she both in word and manner, so 
 that by the time the grove was reached Wilford s ruffled 
 spirits had been soothed, and he was himself again, ready 
 to enjoy the pleasures of the day as keenly as if no harsh 
 word had been said to Katy, who, silent and unhappy, 
 listened to the graceful badinage between Sybil and her 
 husband, thinking how differently his voice had sounded 
 when addressing her only a little while before. 
 
 " Pray put some animation into your face, or Mrs. 
 Grandon will think we have been quarreling," Wilford 
 whispered, as he lifted his wife from the carriage, and 
 with a great effort Katy tried to be gay and natural. 
 
 But all the while she was fighting back her tears and 
 wishing she were away. Even Marian s room, looking into 
 the dingy court, was preferable to that place, and she was 
 glad when the long day came to an end, and with a fear 
 ful headache she was riding back to the city. 
 
 The next morning was dark and rainy; but in spite of 
 the weather Katy found her way to Marian s room, this 
 time taking the avenue cars, which left* her independent 
 as regarded the length of her stay. About Marian there 
 was something more congenial than about her city friends, 
 and day after day found her there, watching while Marian 
 fashioned into shape the beautiful little garments, the 
 sight of which had a strangely quieting influence upon 
 Katy, sobering her down and maturing her more than all 
 the years of her life had done. Those were happy hours 
 spent with Marian Hazelton, and Katy felt it keenly when 
 Wilford at last interfered, telling her she was growing 
 quite too familiar with that sewing woman, and her calls 
 must be discontinued, except, indeed, such as were neces 
 sary to the work in progress. 
 
 With one great gush of tears, when there was no one 
 to see her, Katy gave Marian up, writing her a note, in 
 which were sundry directions for the work, which would 
 go on even after she had left for the Mountain House, 
 as she intended doing the last of June. And Marian 
 
The Cameron Pride. 151 
 
 guessed at more than Katy meant she should, and with 
 a bitter sigh laid it in her basket, and then resumed the 
 work, which seemed doubly monotonous now that there 
 was no more listening for the little feet tripping up the 
 stairs, or for the bird-like voice which had brought so 
 much of music and sunshine to her lonely room. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SARATOGA AND NEWPORT. 
 
 FOR three weeks Katy had been at the Mountain House, 
 growing stronger every day, until she was much like the 
 Katy of one year ago. But their stay among the Catskills 
 was ended, and on the morrow they were going to Sara 
 toga, where Mrs. Cameron and her daughters were, and 
 where, too, was Sybil Grandon, the reigning belle of the 
 United States. So Bell had written to her brother, bidding 
 him hasten on with Katy, as she wished to see " that chit 
 of a widow in her proper place." And Katy had been 
 weak enough for a moment to feel a throb of satis 
 faction in knowing how effectually Sybil s claims to belle- 
 ship would be put aside when she was once in the field; 
 even glancing at herself in the mirror as she leaned on 
 Wilford s shoulder, and feeling glad that mountain air 
 and mountain exercise had brought the roses back to her 
 white cheeks and the brightness to her eyes. But Katy 
 wept passionate tears of repentance for that weakness, 
 when an hour later she read the letter which Dr. Grant 
 had sent in answer to one she had written from the Moun 
 tain House, confessing her short-comings, and lamenting 
 that the evils and excesses which shocked her once did 
 not startle her now. To this letter Morris had replied 
 as a brother might write to an only sister, first expressing 
 pleasure at her happiness, and then reminding her of 
 that other life to which this is only a preparation, and be 
 seeching her so to use the good things of this world, given 
 her in such profusion, as not to lose the life eternal. 
 
 This was the substance of Morris s letter,, which Katy 
 read with streaming eyes, forgetting Saratoga as Morris s 
 solemn words of warning and admonition rang in her 
 ears, and shuddering as she thought of losing the life 
 
152 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 eternal, of going where Morris would never come, nor 
 any of those she loved the best, unless it were Wilford, 
 who might reproach her with having dragged him there 
 when she could have saved him. 
 
 " Keep yourself unspotted from the world," Morris had 
 said, and she repeated it to herself, asking " how shall I 
 do that ? how can one be good and fashionable too ? " 
 
 Then laying her head upon the rock where she was 
 sitting, Katy tried to pray as she had not prayed in 
 months, asking that God would teach her what she ought 
 to know and keep her unspotted from the world. But at 
 the Mountain House it is easier to pray that one be kept 
 from temptation than it is at Saratoga, which this sum 
 mer was crowded to overflowing, its streets presenting a 
 fitting picture of Vanity Fair, so full were they of show 
 and gala dress. At the "United States, where Mrs. Cameron 
 stopped, two rooms, for which an enormous price was paid, 
 had been reserved for Mr. and Mrs. Wilford Cameron, and 
 this of itself would have given them a certain eclat, even 
 if there had not been pre-or.!; many who remembered the 
 proud, fastidious bachelor, and were proportionately anx 
 ious to see his wife. She came, she saw, she conquered; 
 and within three days after her arrival Katy Cameron 
 was the acknowledged belle of Saratoga, from the United 
 States to the Clarendon. And Katy, alas, was not quite 
 the same as she who on the mountain ridge had sat with 
 Morris s letter in her hand, praying that its teachings 
 might not be forgotten. Saratoga seemed different to her 
 from New York, and she plunged into its gaieties, never 
 pausing, never tiring, and seldom giving herself time to 
 think; much less to pray, as Morris had bidden her do. 
 And Wilford, though hardly able to recognize the usually 
 timid Katy in the brilliant woman who led rather than 
 followed, was sure of her faith to him, and so was only 
 proud and gratified to see her bear off the palm from 
 every competitor*, while Juno, though she quarreled with 
 the shadow into which she was so completely thrown, 
 enjoyed the eclat cast upon their party by the presence of 
 Mrs. Wilford, who had passed beyond her criticism. Sybil 
 Grandon, too, stood back in wonder that a simple country 
 girl should win and wear the laurels she had so long 
 
The Cameron Pride. 153 
 
 claimed as her own; but as there was no help for it she 
 contented herself as best she could with the admiration 
 she did receive, and whenever opportunity occurred, said 
 bitter things of Mrs. Wilford, whose parentage and low 
 estate were through her pretty generally known. But it 
 did not matter there what Katy had been; the people took 
 her for what she was now, and Sybil s glory faded like 
 the early dawn in the coming of the full day. 
 
 As it had been at Saratoga, so it was at Newport. Urged 
 on DV Mrs. Cameron and Bell, who enjoyed her notoriety, 
 Katy plunged into the mad excitement of dancing and 
 driving and coqueting, until Wilford himself became un 
 easy, locking her once in her room., where she was sleeping 
 after dinner, and conveniently forgetting to release her 
 until after the departure at evening of some young men 
 from Cambridge, whose attentions to the Ocean House 
 belle had been more strongly marked than was altogether 
 agreeable to him. Of course it was a mistake the locking 
 of the door and a great oversight in him not to have 
 remembered it sooner, he said to Katy, by way of apology ; 
 and Katy, with no suspicion of the truth, laughed merrily 
 at the joke, repeating it downstairs to the old dowagers, 
 who shrugged their shoulders meaningly and whispered 
 to each other that it might be well if more young wives 
 were locked into their rooms and thus kept out of 
 mischief. 
 
 Though flattered, caressed, and admired., Katy was not 
 doing herself much credit at Newport; but save Wilford, 
 there was no one to raise a warning voice, until Mark Kay 
 came down for a few days respite from the heated city, 
 where he had spent the entire summer, taking charge 
 of the business which belonged as much to Wilford as to 
 himself. But Wilford had a wife; it was more necessary 
 that he should leave, Mark had argued; his time would 
 come by and by. And so he had remained at home until 
 the last of August, when he appeared suddenly at the 
 Ocean House one night when Katy, in her airy robes and 
 child-like simplicity, was breaking hearts by the score. 
 Like others, Mark was charmed, and not a little proud 
 1 or Katy s sake, to see her thus appreciated ; but when one 
 day s experience had shown him more, and given him a 
 
154 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 look behind the scenes, he trembled for her, knowing how 
 hard it would be for her to come out of that sea of dissipa 
 tion as pure and spotless as she went in. 
 
 " If I were her brother I would warn her that her 
 present career is not one upon which she will look back 
 with pleasure when the excitement is over/ he said to 
 himself ; " but if Wilford is satisfied it is not for me to 
 interfere. It is surely nothing to me what Katy Cam 
 eron does," he kept repeating to himself; but as often as 
 he said it there came up before him a pale, anxious fac-c, 
 shaded with Helen Lennox s bands of hair, and Helen 
 Lennox s voice whispered to him : " Save Katy, for my 
 sake," and so next day, when Mark found himself alone 
 with Katy, while most of the guests were at the beach, he 
 questioned her of her life at Saratoga and Newport, and 
 gradually, as he talked, there crept into Katy s heart a 
 suspicion that he was not pleased with her account, or 
 with what he had seen of her since his arrival. 
 
 For a moment Katy was indignant, but when he said 
 to her kindly : " Would Helen be pleased ? " her tears 
 started at once, and she attempted an excuse for her weak 
 folly, accusing Sybil Grandon as the first cause of the am 
 bition for which she hated herself. 
 
 " She had been held up as my pattern," she said, half 
 bitterly, and forgetting to whom she was talking " she, 
 the one whom I was to imitate; and when I found that 
 I could go beyond her, I yielded to the temptation, and 
 exulted to see how far she was left behind. Besides that/ 
 she continued, "is it no gratification, think you, to let 
 Wilford s proud mother and sister see the poor country 
 girl, whom ordinarily they would despise, stand where they 
 cannot come, and even dictate to them if she chooses so 
 to do? I know it is wrong I know it is wicked but I 
 like the excitement, and so long as I am with these people 
 I shall never be any better. Mark Ray, you don t know 
 what it is to be surrounded by a set who care for nothing 
 but fashion and display, and how they may outdo each 
 other. I hate New York society. There is nothing there 
 but husks." 
 
 Katy s tears had ceased, and on her white face there 
 was a new look of womanhood, as if in that outburst 
 
The Cameron Pride. 155 
 
 she had changed, and would never again be just what she 
 was before. 
 
 " Say," she continued, " do you like New York society ? " 
 
 " Not always not wholly," Mark answered ; " and still 
 you misjudge it greatly, for all are not like the people 
 you describe. Your husband s family represent one ex 
 treme, while there are others equally high in the social 
 scale who do not make fashion the rule of their lives 
 sensible, cultivated, intellectual people, of whose acquaint 
 ance one might be glad people whom I fancy your sister 
 Helen would enjoy. I have only met her twice, but my 
 impression is that she would not find New York distaste 
 ful." 
 
 Mark did not know why he had dragged Helen into 
 that conversation, unless it were that she seemed very near 
 to him as he talked with Katy, who replied : 
 
 " Yes, Helen finds good in all. She sees differently 
 from what I do, and I wish so much that she was here." 
 
 " Why not send for her ? " Mark asked, casting about in 
 his mind whether in case Helen came, he, too, could tarry 
 for a week and leave that business in Southbridge, which 
 he must attend to ere returning to the city. 
 
 It would be a study to watch Helen Lennox there at 
 Newport, and in imagination Mark was already her sworn 
 knight, shielding her from criticism, and commanding 
 for her respect from those who respected him, when Katy 
 tore his castle down by answering impulsively: 
 
 " I doubt if Wilford would let me send for her, nor 
 does it matter, as I shall not remain much longer. I 
 do not need her now, since you have shown me how 
 foolish I have been. I was angry at first, but now I thank 
 you for it, and so will Helen. I shall tell her when I 
 am in Silverton. I am going there from here "Sid oh, 
 I so wish it was to-day." 
 
 The guests were beginning to return from the beach 
 by this time, and as Mark had said all he had intended 
 saying, he left Katy with Wilford, who had just come in 
 and joined a merry party of Bostonians only that day ar 
 rived. That night at the Ocean House the guests missed 
 something from their festivities ; the dance was not so ex 
 hilarating or the small-talk between so lively, while more 
 
.- i 
 
 156 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 than one white-kidded dandy swore mentally at the inno 
 cent Wflford, whose wife declined to join in the gayeties, 
 and in a plain white muslin, with only a pond lily in her 
 hair, kept by her husband s side, notwithstanding that he 
 bade her leave him and accept some of her numerous 
 invitations to join the giddy dance. This sober phase of 
 Katy did not on the whole please Wilford as much as 
 her gaver ones had done. All he had ever dreamed of the 
 sensation his bride would create was more than verified. 
 Katy had fulfilled his highest expectations, reaching a 
 point from which, as she had said to Mark, she could 
 dictate to his mother, if she chose, and he did not care 
 to see her relinquish it. 
 
 But Katy remained true to herself. Dropping her 
 girlish playfulness, she assumed a quiet, gentle dignity, 
 which became her even better than her gayer mood had 
 done, making her ten times more popular and more sought 
 after, until she begged to go away, persuading Wilford 
 at last to name the day for their departure, and then, 
 never doubting for a moment that her destination was 
 Silverton, she wrote to Helen that she should be home 
 on such a day, and as they would come by way of Provi 
 dence and Worcester, they would probably reach West 
 Silverton at ten o clock, A. M. 
 
 " Wilford," she added in a postscript, " has gone down 
 to bathe, and as the mail is just closing, I shall send this 
 letter without his seeing it. Of course it can make no 
 difference, for I have talked all summer of coming, and 
 lie understands it." 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 MARK RAY AT SILVERTON. 
 
 THE last day of summer was dying out in a fierce storm 
 of rain which swept in sheets across the Silverton hills, 
 hiding the pond from view, and beating against the win 
 dows of the farm-house, whose inmates were nevertheless 
 unmindful of the storm save as they hoped the morrow 
 would prove bright and fair, such as the day should be 
 which brought them back their Katy. Nearly worn out 
 with constant reference was her letter, the mother aatch- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 157 
 
 ing it up from time to time to read the part referring 
 to herself, where Katy had told how blessed it would be 
 " to rest again on mothers bed," just as she had so often 
 wished to do, " and hear mother s voice ; " the deacon spell 
 ing out by his spluttering tallow candle, with its long, 
 smoky wick, what she had said of " darling old Uncle 
 Eph," and the rides into the fields ; Aunt Betsy, too, read 
 ing mostly from memory the words : " Good old Aunt 
 Betsy, with her skirts so limp and short, tell her she will 
 look handsomer to me than the fairest belle at Newport ; " 
 and as often as Aunt Betsy read it she would ejaculate: 
 " The land ! what kind of company must the child have 
 kept ? " wondering next if Helen had never written of 
 the hoop, for which she paid a dollar, and which was 
 carefully hung in her closet, waiting for the event of to 
 morrow, while the hem of her pongee had been let down 
 and one breadth gored to accommodate the hoop. On the 
 whole, Aunt Betsy expected to make a stylish appearance 
 before the little lady of whom she sto^d in awe, always 
 speaking of her to the neighbors as " My niece, Miss Cam- 
 men, from New York," and taking good care to report what 
 she had heard of " Miss Cammen s " costly dress and the 
 grandeur of her house, where the furniture of the beet 
 chamber cost over fifteen hundred dollars. 
 
 " What could it be ? " Aunt Betsy had asked in her sim 
 plicity, feeling an increased respect for Katy, and con 
 senting the more readily to the change in her pongee, as 
 suggested to her by Helen. 
 
 But that was for to-morrow when Katy came; to-night 
 she only wore a dotted brown, whose hem just reached the 
 top of her " bootees," as she went to strain the milk brought 
 in by Uncle Ephraim, while Helen took her position near 
 the window, looking drearily out upon the leaden clouds, 
 and hoping it would brighten before the morrow. Like 
 the others, Helen had read Katy s letter many times, 
 dwelling longest upon the part which said : " I have been 
 so bad, so frivolous and wicked here at Newport, that it 
 will be a relief to make you my confessor, depending, as 
 I do, upon your love to grant me absolution." 
 
 From a family in Silverton, who had spent a few days 
 at a private house in Newport, Helen had heard something 
 
158 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 of her sister s life; the lady had seen her once driving a 
 tandem team down the avenue, with Wilford at her side 
 giving her instructions. Since then there had been some 
 anxiety felt for her at the farm-house, and more than Dr. 
 Grant had prayed that she might be kept unspotted from the 
 world; but when her letter came, so full of love and self- 
 reproaches, the burden was lifted, and there was nothing 
 to mar the anticipations of the event for which they had 
 made so many preparations, Uncle Ephraim going to the 
 expense of buying at auction a half-worn covered buggy, 
 which he fancied would suit Katy better than the corn- 
 colored wagon in which she used to ride. To pay for this 
 the deacon had parted with the money set aside for the 
 " great coat " he so much needed for the coming winter, 
 his old gray having done him service for fifteen years. 
 But his comfort was nothing compared with Katy s happi 
 ness, and so, with his wrinkled face beaming with delight, 
 he had brought home his buggy, putting it carefully in 
 the barn, and saying no one should ride in it till Katy 
 came. With untiring patience the old man mended up his 
 harness, for what he had heard of Katy s driving had im 
 pressed him strongly with her powers of horsemanship, 
 and raised her somewhat in his respect. Could he have 
 afforded it Uncle Ephraim in his younger days would 
 have been a horse jockey, and even now he liked nothing 
 better than to make Old Whitey run when alone in the 
 strip of woods between his house and the head of the 
 pond. 
 
 " Katy inherits her love of horses from me," he said 
 complacently ; and with a view of improving White3 r s 
 style and mettle, he took to feeding him on oats, talking 
 to him at times, and telling him who was coming. 
 
 Dear, simple-hearted Uncle Ephraim ! the days which 
 he must wait seemed long to him as they did to the other 
 members of his family. But they were all gone now, 
 Katy would be home on the morrow, and with the shutting 
 in of night the candles were lighted in the sitting-room, 
 and Helen sat down to her work, wishing it was to-night 
 that Katy was coming. As if in answer to her wish there 
 was the sound of wheels, which stopped before the house, 
 and dropping her work Helen ran quickly to the door, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 159 
 
 just as from under the dripping umbrella held by a driver 
 boy, a tall young man sprang upon the step, nearly up 
 setting her, but passing an arm around her shoulders in 
 time to keep her from falling. 
 
 " I beg pardon for this assault upon you/ the stranger 
 said; and then turning to the boy he continued: "It s 
 all right, you need not wait." 
 
 With a chirrup and a blow the horse started forward, 
 and the mud-bespattered vehicle was moving down the 
 road ere Helen had recovered her surprise at recognizing 
 Mark Ray, who shook the rain-drops from his hair, and 
 offering her his hand said in reply to her involuntary 
 exclamation : " I thought it was Katy," " Shall I infer 
 then that I am the less welcome ? " and his bright, saucy eyes 
 looked laughingly into hers. Business had brought him 
 to Southbridge, he said, and it was his intention to take 
 the cars that afternoon for New York, but having been 
 detained longer than he expected, and not liking the looks 
 of the hotel arrangements, he had decided to presume 
 upon his acquaintance with Dr. Grant, and spend the 
 night at Linwood. " But/ 7 and again his eyes looked 
 straight at Helen, "it rained so hard and the light from 
 your window was so inviting that I ventured to stop, so 
 here I am, claiming your hospitality until morning, if 
 convenient; if not, I will find my way to Linwood." 
 
 There was something in this pleasant familiarity which 
 won Uncle Ephraim at once, and he bade the young man 
 stay, as did Aunt Hannah and Mrs. Lennox, who now for 
 the first time was presented to Mark Ray. Always capable 
 of adapting himself to the circumstances around him, 
 Mark did so now with so much ease and courteousness as 
 to astonish Helen, and partly thaw the reserve she had as 
 sumed when she found the visitor was from the hated 
 city. 
 
 " Are you expecting Mrs. Cameron ? " he asked, adding, 
 as Helen explained that she was coming to-morrow, " That 
 is strange. Wilford wrote decidedly that he should be in 
 New York to-morrow. Possibly, though, he does not in 
 tend himself to stop." 
 
 " I presume not," Helen replied, a weight suddenly lift 
 ing from her heart at the prospect of not having to enter- 
 
160 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 tain the formidable brother-in-law who, if he stayed long, 
 would spoil all her pleasure. 
 
 Thus at her ease on this point, she grew more talka 
 tive, half -wishing that her dress was not a shilling-calico, 
 or her hair combed back quite so straight, giving her that 
 severe look which Morris had said was unbecoming. It 
 was very smooth and glossy, and Sybil Grandon would have 
 given her best diamond to have had in her own natural 
 right the heavy coil of hair bound so many times around 
 the back of Helen s head, and ornamented with neither 
 ribbon, comb, nor bow. Only a single geranium leaf, with 
 a white and scarlet blossom, was fastened just below the 
 ear, and on the side where Mark could see it best, admir 
 ing its effect and forgetting the arrangement of the hair 
 in his admiration of the well-shaped head, bending so in 
 dustriously over the work which Helen had resumed not 
 rocheting, nor yet embroidery, but the very homely work 
 of darning Uncle Ephraim s socks, a task which Helen 
 always did, and on that particular night. Helen knew it 
 was not delicate employment, and there was a moment s 
 hesitancy as she wondered what Mark would think then, 
 with a grim delight in letting him see that she did not 
 care, she resumed her darning-needle, and as a kind of 
 penance for the flash of pride in which* she had indulged, 
 selected from the basket the very coarsest, ugliest sock 
 she could find, stretching out the huge fracture at the heel 
 to its utmost extent, and attacking it with a right good 
 will, while Mark, with a comical look on his face, sat 
 watching her. She knew he was looking at her, and her 
 cheeks were growing very red, while her hatred of him 
 was increasing, when he said, abruptly : " You follow my 
 mother s custom, I see. She used to mend my socks on 
 Tuesday nights." 
 
 " Your mother mend socks ! " and Helen started so sud 
 denly as to run the point of her darning-needle a long 
 way into her thumb, the wound bringing a stream of blood 
 which she tried to wipe away with her handkerchief. 
 
 " Bind it tightly round. Let me show you, please," 
 Mark said, and ere she was aware of what she was doing, 
 Helen was quietly permitting the young man to wind her 
 handkerchief around her thumb which he held in his hand, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 161 
 
 pressing it until the blood ceased flowing, and the sharp 
 pain had abated. 
 
 Perhaps Mark Ray liked holding that small, warm hand, 
 even though it were not as white and soft as Juno s; at 
 all events he did hold it until Helen drew it from him with 
 a quick, sudden motion, telling him it would do very 
 well, and she would not trouble him. Mark did not look 
 as if he had been troubled, but went back to his seat and 
 took up the conversation just where the needle had 
 stopped it. 
 
 " My mother did not always mend herself, but she 
 caused it to be done, and sometimes helped. I remember 
 she used to say a woman should know how to do everything 
 pertaining to a household, and she carried out her theory 
 in the education of my sister." 
 
 " Have you a sister ? * Helen asked, now really inter 
 ested, and listening intently while Mark told her of his 
 only sister Julia, now Mrs. Ernst, whose home was in New 
 Orleans, though she at present was in Paris, and his 
 mother was there with her. " After Julia s marriage, nine 
 years ago, mother went to live with her," he said, "but 
 latterly, as the little Ernsts increase so fast, she wishes for 
 a more quiet home, and this winter she is coming to New 
 York to keep house for me." 
 
 Helen thought she might like Mark s mother, who, he 
 told her, had been twice married, and was now Mrs. 
 Banker, and a widow. She must be different from Mrs. 
 Cameron; and Helen let herself down to another degree 
 of toleration for the man whose mother taught her daugh 
 ter to mend the family socks. Still there was about her a 
 reserve, which Mark wondered at, for it was not thus that 
 ladies were accustomed to receive his advances. He did 
 not guess that Wilford Cameron stood between him and 
 Helen s good opinion ; but when, after the family came in, 
 the conversation turned upon Katy and her life in New 
 York, the secret came out in the sharp, caustic manner 
 with which she spoke of New York and its people. 
 
 "It s Will and the Camerons," Mark thought, blaming 
 Helen less than he would have done, if he, too, had not 
 known something of the Cameron pride. 
 
 It was a novel position in which Mark found himself 
 
102 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 that night, an inmate of a humble farm-house, where he 
 could almost touch the ceiling with his hand, and where 
 his surroundings were so different from what he had been 
 accustomed to; but, unlike Wilford Cameron, he did not 
 wish himself away, nor feel indignant at Aunt Betsy s 
 old-fashioned ways, or Uncle Ephraim s grammar. He 
 noticed Aunt Betsy s oddities, it is true, and noticed Uncle 
 Ephraim s grammar; but the sight of Helen sitting there, 
 with so much dignity and self-respect, made him look 
 beyond all else, straight into her open face and clear brown 
 eyes, where there was nothing obnoxious or distasteful. 
 Her language was correct, her manner, saving a little stiff 
 ness, lady-like and refined : and Mark enjoyed his situa 
 tion as self-invited guest, making himself so agreeable that 
 Uncle Ephraim forgot his hour of retiring, nor discovered 
 his mistake until, with a loud yawn, Aunt Betsy told him 
 that it was half-past nine, and she was " desput sleepy." 
 
 Owing to Helen s influence there had been a change of 
 the olden custom, and instead of the long chapter, through 
 which Uncle Ephraim used to plod so wearily, there were 
 now read the Evening Psalms. Aunt Betsy herself joined 
 in the reading, which she mentally classed with the 
 " quirks," but confessed to herself that it " was most as 
 good as the Bible." 
 
 As there were only Prayer Books enough for the family, 
 Helen, in distributing them, purposely passed Mark by, 
 thinking he might not care to join them. But when the 
 verse came round to Helen he quickly drew his chair near 
 to hers, and taking one side of her book, performed his 
 part, while Helen s face grew red as the blossoms in 
 her hair, and her hand, so near to Mark s, trembled visibly. 
 
 " A right nice chap, and not an atom stuck up," was 
 Aunt Betsy s mental comment, and then, as he often will 
 do, Satan followed the saintly woman even to her knees, 
 making her wonder if " Mr. Ray hadn t some notion after 
 Helen." She hoped not, for she meant that Morris should 
 have Helen, " though if twas to be it was, and she should 
 not go agin it ; " and while Aunt Eetsy thus settled the 
 case, Uncle Ephraim s prayer ended, and the conscience- 
 smitten woman arose from her knees with the conviction 
 that " the evil one had got the better of her once," mentally 
 
The Cameron Pride. 163 
 
 asking pardon for her wandering thoughts and promising 
 to do better. 
 
 Mark was in no haste to retire, and when Uncle Ephraim 
 offered to conduct him to his room, he frankly answered 
 that he was not sleepy, adding, as he turned to Helen: 
 " Please let me stay until Miss Lennox finishes her socks. 
 There are several pairs yet undarned. I will not detain 
 you, though," he continued, bowing to Uncle Ephraim, 
 who, a little uncertain what to do, finally departed, as did 
 Aunt Hannah and his sister, leaving Helen and her mother 
 to entertain Mark Eay. It had been Mrs. Lennox s f>?t 
 intention to retire also, but a look from Helen kept her, 
 and she sat down by that basket of socks, while Mark 
 wished her away. Awhile they talked of Katy and New 
 York, Mark laboring to convince Helen that its people 
 were not all heartless and fickle, and at last citing his 
 mother as an instance. 
 
 "You would like mother, Miss Lennox. I hope you 
 will know her some time," he said, and then they talked 
 of books, Helen forgetting that Mark was city-bred in 
 the interest with which she listened to him, while Mark 
 forgot that the girl vfho appreciated and understood his 
 views almost before they were expressed, was country born, 
 and clad in homely garb, with no ornaments save those 
 of her fine mind and the sparkling face turned so fully 
 towards him. 
 
 " Mark Eay is not like Wilf ord Cameron," Helen said 
 to herself, when as the clock was striking eleven she bade 
 him good-night and went up to her room, and opening her 
 window she leaned her hot cheek against the wet casement, 
 and looked out upon the night, now so beautiful and 
 clear, for the rain was over, and up in the heavens the 
 bright stars were shining, each one bearing some resem 
 blance to Mark s eyes as they kindled and grew bright with 
 his excitement, resting always kindly on her on Helen, 
 who leaning thus from the window, felt stealing over her 
 that feeling which, once born, can never be quite forgotten. 
 
 Helen did not recognize the feeling, for it was a strange 
 one to her. She was only conscious of a sensation half 
 pleasurable, half sad, of which Mark Eay had been the 
 cause, and which she tried in vain to put aside. And then 
 
164 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 there swept over her a feeling of desolation such as she 
 had never experienced before, a shrinking from living all 
 her life in Silverton, ns she fully expected to do, and laying 
 her head upon the little stand, she cried passionately. 
 
 " This is weak, this is folly," she suddenly exclaimed, 
 as she became conscious of acting as Helen Lennox was 
 not wont to act, and with a strong effort she dried her tears 
 and crept quietly to bed just as Mark was falling into his 
 first sleep and dreaming of smothering. 
 
 Helen would not have acknowledged it, and yet it was 
 a truth not to be denied, that she stayed next morning a 
 much longer time than usual before her glass, arranging 
 her hair, which was worn more becomingly than on the 
 previous night, and which softened the somewhat too in 
 tellectual expression of her face, and made her seem more 
 womanly and modest. Once she thought to wear the light 
 buff gown in which she looked so well, but the thought 
 was repudiated as soon as formed, and donning the same 
 dark calico she would have worn if Mark had not been 
 there, she finished her simple toilet and went down stairs, 
 just as Mark came in at the side door, his hands full of 
 water lilies, and his boots bearing marks of what he had 
 been through to get them. 
 
 " Early country air is healthful," he said, " and as I 
 do not often have a chance to try it, I thought I would 
 improve the present opportunity. So I have been down by 
 the pond, and spying these lilies I persevered until I 
 reached them, in spite of mud and mire. There is no 
 blossom I like so well. Were I a young girl I would al 
 ways wear one in my hair, as your sister did one night at 
 Newport, and I never saw her look better. Just let me 
 try the effect on you ; " and selecting a half-opened bud, 
 Mark placed it among Helen s braids as skillfully as if 
 hair-dressing were one of his accomplishments. " The ef 
 fect is good," he continued, turning her blushing face to 
 the glass and asking if it were not. 
 
 " Yes," Helen stammered, seeing more the saucy eyes 
 looking over her head than the lily in her hair. "Yes, 
 good enough, but hardly in keeping with this old dress," 
 and vanity whispered the wish that the buff had really 
 been worn. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 165 
 
 " Your dress is suitable for morning, I am sure," Mark 
 replied, turning a little more to the right the lily, and 
 noticing as he did so how very white and pretty was the 
 neck and throat seen above the collar. 
 
 Mark liked a pretty neck, and he was glad to know that 
 Helen had one, though why he should care was a puzzle. 
 He could hardly have analyzed his feelings then, or told 
 what he did think of Helen. He only knew that by her 
 efforts to repel him she attracted him the more, she was 
 so different from any young ladies he had known so dif 
 ferent from Juno, into whose hair he had never twined a 
 water lily. It would not become her as it did Helen, he 
 thought, as ho sat opposite her at the table, admiring his 
 handiwork, which even Aunt Betsy observed, remarking 
 that " Helen was mightily spruced up for morning," a 
 compliment which Helen acknowledged with a painful 
 blush, while Mark began a disquisition upon the nature of 
 lilies generally, which lasted until breakfast was ended. 
 
 It was arranged that Mark should ride to the cars with 
 Uncle Ephraim when he went for Katy, and as this gave 
 him a good two hours of leisure, he spoke of Dr. Grant, 
 asking Helen if she did not suppose he would call round. 
 Helen thought it possible, and then remembering how 
 many things were to be done that morning, she excused 
 herself from the parlor, and repairing to the platform 
 out by the back door, where it was shady and cool, she 
 tied on a broad check apron, and rolling her sleeves above 
 her elbows, was just bringing the churn-dasher to bear 
 vigorously upon the thick cream she was turning into 
 butter, when, having finished his cigar, Mark went out 
 into the yard, and following the winding path came sud 
 denly upon her. Helen s first impulse was to stop, but 
 with a strong nerving of herself she kept on while Mark, 
 coming as near as he dared, said to her : " Why do you do 
 that ? Is there no one else ? " 
 
 "No," Helen answered; "that is, we keep no servant, 
 and my young arms are stronger than the others." 
 
 "And mine are stronger still/ Mark laughingly re 
 joined, as he put Helen aside and plied the dasher him 
 self, in spite of her protestations that he would certainly 
 ruin his clothes. 
 
1 66 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " Tie that apron round me, then/ he said, with the 
 utmost nonchalance, and Helen obeyed, tying her check 
 apron around the young man s neck, who felt her hands 
 as they touched his hair, and knew that they were brush 
 ing queer fancies into his brain fancies which made him 
 wonder what his mother would think of Helen, or what 
 she would say if she knew just how he was occupied that 
 morning, absolutely churning cream until it turned to 
 butter, for Mark persisted until the task was done, stand 
 ing by while Helen gathered up the golden lumps, and 
 admiring her plump, round arms quite as much as he had 
 her neck. 
 
 She would be a belle like her sister, though of a dif 
 ferent stamp, he thought, as he again bent down his head 
 while she removed the apron and disclosed more than one 
 big spot upon his broadcloth. Mark assured her that it 
 did not matter; his coat was nearly worn out, and any 
 way he never should regret that he had churned once in 
 his life, or forget it either; and then he asked if Helen 
 would be in New York the coming winter, talking of the 
 pleasure it would be to meet her there, until Helen began 
 to feel what rhe never before had felt, a desire to visit 
 Katy in her own home. 
 
 " Remember if you come that I am your debtor for 
 numerous hospitalities," he said, when he at last bade her 
 good-bye and sprang into the covered buggy, which Uncle 
 Ephraim had brought out in honor of Katy s arrival. 
 
 Old Whitey was hitched at a safe distance from all pos 
 sible harm. Uncle Ephraim had returned from the store 
 near by, laden with the six pounds of crush sugar and the 
 two pounds of real old Java he had been commissioned 
 to purchase with a view to Katy s taste, and now upon 
 the platform at West Silverton he stood, with Mark Ray, 
 waiting for the arrival of the train just appearing in view 
 across the level plain. 
 
 " It s fifteen months since she went away," he said, and 
 Mark saw that the old man s form trembled with the ex 
 citement of meeting her again, while his eyes scanned 
 
The Cameron Pride. 167 
 
 eagerly every window and door of the cars now slowly stop 
 ping before him. " There, there ! " and he laid his hand 
 nervously on Mark s shoulder, as a white, jaunty feather 
 appeared in view ; but that was not Katy, and the dim eyes 
 ran again along the whole line of the cars, from which 
 so many were alighting. 
 
 But Katy did not come, and with a long breath of won 
 der and disappointment the deacon said : " Can it be she 
 is asleep? Young man, you are spryer than I. Go 
 through the cars and find her." 
 
 Mark knew there was plenty of time, and so he made 
 the tour of the cars, but found, alas, no Katy. 
 
 " She s not there," was the report carried to the poor 
 old man, who tremblingly repeated the words : " Not 
 there, not come ! " while over his aged face there broke 
 a look of touching sadness, which Mark never forgot, re 
 membering it always just as he remembered the big tear 
 drops which from his seat by the window he saw the old 
 man wipe away with his coat-sleeve, as whispering softly 
 to Whitey of his disappointment he unhitched the horse 
 and drove away alone. 
 
 " Maybe she s writ. I ll go and see," he said, and 
 driving to their regular office he found a letter directed 
 by Wilford Cameron, but written by Katy; but he could 
 not read it then, and thrusting it into his pocket he went 
 slowly back to the home where the tempting dinner was 
 prepared and the fami]y waiting so eagerly for him. Even 
 before he reached them they knew of the disappointment, 
 for from the garret window Helen had watched the road 
 by which he would come, and when the buggy appeared 
 in sight she saw he was alone. 
 
 There was a mistake; Katy had missed the train, she 
 said to her mother and aunts, who hoped she might be 
 right. But Katy had not missed the train, as was indi 
 cated by the letter which Uncle Ephraim without a word 
 put into Helen s hand, leaning on old Whitey s neck while 
 she read aloud the attempt at an explanation which Katy 
 had hurriedly written, a stain on the paper where a tear 
 had fallen, attesting her distress at the bitter disappoint 
 ment. 
 
 " Wilford did not know of the other letter," she said, 
 
168 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " and had made arrangements for her to go back with him 
 to New York, inasmuch as the house was already opened 
 and the servants there wanting a head; besides that, Wil- 
 ford had been absent so long that he could not possibly 
 stop at Silverton himself, and as he would not think of 
 living without her, even for a few days, there was no alter 
 native but for her to go with him on the boat directly 
 to New York. I am sorry, oh, so sorry, but indeed I am 
 not to blame," she added in conclusion, and this was the 
 nearest approach there was to an admission that anybody 
 was to blame for this disappointment which cut so cruelly, 
 making Uncle Ephraim cry, as out in the barn he hung 
 away the mended harness and covered the new buggy, 
 which had been bought for naught. 
 
 " I might have had the overcoat, for Katy will never 
 come home again, never. God grant that it s the Cameron 
 pride, not hers that kept her from us," the old man said, 
 as on the hay he knelt down and prayed that Katy had not 
 learned to despise the home where she was so beloved. 
 
 " Katy will never come to us again," seemed the prevail 
 ing opinion at Silverton, where more than Uncle Ephraim 
 felt a chilling doubt at times as to whether she really 
 wished to come or not. If she did, it seemed easy of ac 
 complishment to those who knew not Jiow perfect and com 
 plete were the fetters thrown around her, and how unbend 
 ing the will which governed hers. Could they have seen 
 the look in Katy s face when she first understood that she 
 was not going to Silverton, their hearts would have bled 
 for the thwarted creature who fled up the stairs to her own 
 room, where Esther found her twenty minutes later, cold 
 and fainting upon the bed, her face as white as ashes, and 
 her hands clenched so tightlv that the nails left marks 
 upon the palms. 
 
 " It was not strange that the poor child should faint 
 indeed, it was only natural that nature should give way 
 after so many weeks of gayety, and she very far from 
 being strong," Mrs. Cameron said to Wilford, who was 
 beginning to repent of his decision, and who but for that 
 remark perhaps might have revoked it. 
 
 Indeed, he made an attempt to do so when, as conscious 
 ness came back, Katy lay so pale and still before him; 
 
The Cameron Pride. 169 
 
 but Katy did not understand him, or guess that he wished 
 her to meet him more than half the way, and so the verdict 
 was unchanged, and in a kind of bewilderment, Katy wrote 
 the hurried letter, feeling less actual pain than did its 
 readers, for the disappointment had stunned her for a 
 time, and all she could remember of the passage home on 
 that same night when Mark Ray snt with Helen in the 
 sitting-room at Silverton, was that there was a fearful 
 storm of rain mingled with lightning flashes and thunder 
 peals, which terrified the other ladies, but brought to her 
 no other sensation save that it would not be so very hard 
 to perish in the dark waters dashing so madly about the 
 vessel s side. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A NEW LIFE. 
 
 NEW YORK, December 16, 18 . 
 "TO MISS HELEN LENNOX, SILVERTON, MASS: 
 " Your sister is very ill. Come as soon as possible. 
 
 W. CAMERON/ 
 
 This was the purport of a telegram received at the farm 
 house toward the close of a chill December day, and 
 Helen s heart almost stopped its beating as she read it 
 aloud, and then looked in the white, scared faces of those 
 around her. Katy was very ill dying, perhaps or Wil- 
 ford had never telegraphed. What could it be? What 
 was the matter? Had it been somewhat later, they would 
 have known; but now all was conjecture, and in a half- 
 distracted state, Helen made her hasty prepn rations for the 
 journey of the morrow, and then sent for Morris, hoping 
 he might offer some advice or suggestion, for her to carry 
 to that sick-room in New York. 
 
 " Perhaps you will go with me," Helen said. " You 
 know Katy s constitution. You might save her life." 
 
 But Morris shook his head. If he was needed they 
 might send and he would come, but not without; and so 
 next day he carried Helen to the cars, saying to her as they 
 were waiting for the train, " I hope for the best, but it 
 may be Katy will die. If you think so, tell her, oh, tell 
 
170 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 her, of the better world, and ask if she is prepared? I 
 cannot lose her in Heaven." 
 
 And this was all the message Morris sent, though his 
 heart and prayers went after the rapid train which bore 
 Helen safely onward, until Hartford was reached, where 
 there was a long detention, so that the dark wintry night 
 had closed over the city ere Helen reached it, timid, anx 
 ious, and wondering what she should do if Wilford was not 
 there to meet her. " He will be, of course," she kept re 
 peating to herself, looking around in dismay, as passenger 
 after passenger left, seeking in stages and street cars a 
 swifter passage to their homes. 
 
 " I shall soon be all alone/ she said, feeling some re 
 lief as the car in which she was seated began at last to 
 move, and she knew she was being taken whither the others 
 had gone, wherever that might be. 
 
 " Is Miss Helen Lennox here ? " sounded cheerily in her 
 ears as she stopped before the depot, and Helen uttered 
 a cry of joy, for she recognized the voice of Mark Kay, 
 who was soon grasping her hand, and trying to reassure 
 her, as he saw how she shrank from the noise and clamor 
 of New York, heard now for the first time. " Our car 
 riage is here," he said, and in a moment she found herself 
 in a close-covered vehicle, with Mark sitting opposite, tuck 
 ing the warm blanket around her, asking if she were cold, 
 and paying those numberless little attentions so gratifying 
 to one always accustomed to act and think for herself. 
 
 Helen could not see Mark s face distinctly; but full of 
 fear for Katy, she fancied there was a sad tone in his 
 voice, as if he were keeping back something he dreaded 
 to tell her; and then, as it suddenly occurred to her that 
 Wilford should have met her, not Mark, her great fear 
 found utterance in words, and leaning forward so that her 
 face almost touched Mark s she said, " Tell me, Mr. Ray, 
 is Katy dead ? " 
 
 " Not dead, oh no, nor very dangerous, my mother hopes ; 
 but she kept asking for you, and so my that is, Mr. 
 Cameron sent the telegram." 
 
 There was an ejaculatory prayer of thankfulness, and 
 then Helen continued, " Is it long since she was taken 
 sick?" 
 
The Cameron Pride. 171 
 
 " Her little daughter will be a week old to-morrow," 
 Mark replied; while Helen, with an exclamation of sur 
 prise she could not repress, sank back into the corner, faint 
 and giddy with the excitement of this fact, which invested 
 little Katy with a new dignity, and drew her so much 
 nearer to the sister who could scarcely wait for the carriage 
 to stop, so anxious was she to be where Katy was, to kise 
 her dear face once more, and whisper the words of lov& 
 she knew she must have longed to hear. 
 
 Awe-struck, bewildered and half terrified, Helen looked 
 up at the huge brown structure, which Mark designated 
 as " the place." It was so lofty, so grand, so like the Cam- 
 erons, and so unlike the farm-house far away, that Helen 
 trembled as she followed Mark into the rooms flooded 
 with light, and seeming to her like fairy land. They were 
 so different from anything she had imagined, so much 
 handsomer than even Katy s descriptions had implied, that 
 for the moment the sight took her breath away, and she 
 sank passively into the chair Mark brought for her, him 
 self taking her muff and tippet, and noting, as he did so, 
 that they were not mink, nor yet Eussian sable, but well- 
 worn, well-kept fitch, such as Juno would laugh at and 
 criticise. But Helen s dress was a matter of small mo 
 ment to Mark, and he thought more of the look in her 
 dark eyes than of all the furs in Broadway, as she said to 
 him, " You are very kind, Mr. Eay. I cannot thank you 
 enough." This remark had been wrung from Helen by 
 the feeling of homesickness which swept over her, as she 
 thought how really alone she should be there, in her 
 sister s house, on this first night of her arrival, if it were 
 not for Mark, thus virtually taking the place of the brother- 
 in-law, who should have been there to greet her. 
 
 " He was with Mrs. Cameron," the servant said, and 
 taking out a card Mark wrote down a few words, and 
 handing it to the servant who had been looking curiously 
 at Helen, he continued standing until a step was heard 
 on the stairs and Wilford came quietly in. 
 
 It was not a very loving meeting, out Helen was civil 
 and Wilford was polite offering her his hand and asking 
 some questions about her journey. 
 
 "I was intending to meet you myself/ he said, "but 
 
172 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron does not like me to leave her, and Mark 
 kindly offered to take the trouble off my hands." 
 
 He was looking pale and anxious, while there was on 
 his face the light of a new joy, as if the little life begun 
 so short a time ago had brought an added good to him. 
 softening his haughty manner and making him even en 
 durable to the prejudiced sister watching him so closely. 
 
 " Does Phillips know you are here ? " he asked, answer 
 ing his own query by ringing the bell and bidding Esther, 
 who appeared, tell Phillips that Miss Lennox had arrived, 
 and wished for supper, explaining to Helen that since 
 Katy s illness they had dined at three, as that accommo 
 dated them the best. 
 
 This done and Helen s baggage ordered to her room, he 
 seemed to think he had discharged his duty as host, and 
 as Mark had left he began to grow fidgety, for a tete-a 
 tete with Helen was not what he desired. He had said to 
 her all he could think to say, for it never once occurred 
 to him to inquire after the deacon s family. He had asked 
 for Dr. Grant, but his solicitude went no further, and the 
 inmates of the farm-house might have b^en dead and buried 
 for aught he knew to the contrary. The omission was not 
 made purposely, but because he really ^ did not feel enough 
 of interest in people so widely different from himself even 
 to ask for them, much less to suspect how Helen s blood 
 boiled as she detected the omission and imputed it to in 
 tended slight, feeling glad when he excused himself, say 
 ing he must go back to Katy, but would send his mother 
 down to see her. His mother. Then she was there, the 
 one whom Helen dreaded most of all, whom she had in 
 vested with every possible terror, hoping now that she 
 would not be in haste to come down. She might have 
 spared herself anxiety on this point, as the lady in ques 
 tion was not anxious to meet a person who, could she have 
 had her way, would not have been there at all. 
 
 From the first moment of consciousness after the long 
 hours of suffering Katy had asked for Helen, rather than 
 her mother. 
 
 " Send for Helen ; I am so tired, and she could alwaya 
 rest me," was her reply, when asked by Wilford what he 
 could do for her. " Send for Helen ; I want her so 
 
The Cameron Pride. 173 
 
 much," she had said to Mrs. Cameron, when she came, re 
 peating the wish until a consultation was held between 
 the mother and son, touching the propriety of sending 
 for Helen. " She would be of no use whatever, and might 
 excite our Katy. Quiet is highly important just now," 
 Mrs. Cameron had said, thus veiling under pretended con 
 cern for Katy her aversion to the girl whose independence 
 in declining her dress-maker had never been forgiven, and 
 whom she had set down in her mind as rude and ignorant. 
 
 " If her coming would do Katy harm she ought not to 
 come/ Wilford thought, while Katy in her darkened room 
 moaned on 
 
 " Send for sister Helen ; please send for sister Helen." 
 
 At last, on the fourth day, Mrs. Banker, Mark Kay s 
 mother, came to the house, and in consideration of the 
 strong liking she had evinced for Katy ever since her ar 
 rival in New York, and the great respect felt for her by 
 Mrs. Cameron, she was admitted to the chamber and heard 
 the plaintive pleadings, fc Send for sister Helen," until 
 her motherly heart was touched, and as she sat w 1 ^ her 
 son at dinner she spoke of the young girl-mother moaning 
 so for Helen. 
 
 Whether it was Mark s great pity for Katy, or whether 
 he was prompted by some more selfish motive,, we do not 
 profess to say, but that he was greatly excited was very 
 evident from his manner as he exclaimed : 
 
 " Why not send for Helen, then ? She is a splendid 
 girl, and they idolize each other. Talk of her injuring 
 Katy, that s all a humbug. She is just fitted for a nurae. 
 Almost the sight of her would cure one of nervousness, she 
 is so calm and quiet." 
 
 This was what Mark said, and the next morning Mrs. 
 Banker s carriage stood at the door of No. Madison 
 Square, while Mrs. Banker herself was talking to Wilford 
 in the library, and urging that Helen be sent for at once. 
 
 " It may save her life. She is more feverish to-day than 
 yesterday, and this constant asking for her sister will wear 
 her out so fast," she added, and that last argument pre 
 vailed. 
 
 Helen was sent for, and now sat waiting in the parlor 
 for the coming of Mrs. Cameron. Wilford did not mean 
 
174 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Katy to hear him as he whispered to his mother that Helen 
 was below; but she did, and her blue eyes flashed brightly 
 as she started from her pillow, exclaiming: 
 
 " I am so glad, so glad ! Kiss me, Wilford, because I 
 am so glad. Does she know ? Have you told her ? Wasn t 
 she surprised, and will she come up quick ? " 
 
 They could not quiet her at once, and only the assurance 
 that unless she were more composed, Helen should not 
 see her that night, had any effect upon her; but when they 
 told her that, she lay back upon her pillow submissively, 
 and Wilford saw the great tears dropping from her hot 
 cheeks,, while the pallid lips kept softly whispering 
 " Helen." Then the sister love took another channel, and 
 she said: 
 
 " She has not been to supper, and Phillips is always 
 cross at extras. Will somebody see to it. Send Esther to 
 me, please. Esther knows and is good-natured." 
 
 " Mother will do all that is necessary She is going 
 down/ 7 Wilford said; but Katy had quite as much fear 
 of leaving Helen to " mother " as to Phillips, and insisted 
 upon Esther until the latter came, receiving numerous in 
 junctions as to the jam, the sweetmeats, the peaches, and 
 the cold ham Helen must have, each one being remembered 
 as her favorite. 
 
 Wholly unselfish, Katy thought nothing of herself or 
 the effort it cost her to care for Helen; but when it was 
 over and Esther was gone, she seemed so utterly exhausted 
 that Mrs. Cameron did not leave her, but stayed at her bed 
 side, until the extreme paleness was gone, and her eyes 
 were more natural. Meanwhile the supper, which as Katy 
 feared had made Phillips cross, had been arranged by 
 Esther, who conducted Helen to the dining-room, herself 
 standing by and waiting upon her because the one whose 
 duty it was had gone out for the evening, and Phillips 
 had declined the " honor," as she styled it. 
 
 There was a homesick feeling tugging at Helen s heart 
 while she tried to eat, and only the certainty that Katy 
 was not far away kept her tears back. To her the very 
 grandeur of the house made it desolate, and she was so 
 glad it was Katy who lived there and not herself as she 
 went up the soft carpeted stairway, which gave back no 
 
The Cameron Pride. 175 
 
 sound, and through the marble hall to the parlor, where, 
 by the table on which her cloak and furs were lying, a 
 lady stood, as dignified and unconscious as if she had not 
 been inspecting the self-same fur which Mark Kay had 
 observed, but not, like him, thinking it did not matter, 
 for it did matter very materially with her, and a smile 
 of contempt had curled her lip as she turned over the tippei 
 which Phillips would not have worn. 
 
 " I wonder how long she means to stay, and if Wilford 
 will have to take her out," she was thinking, just as Helen 
 appeared in the door and advanced into the room. 
 
 By herself, it was easy to slight Helen Lennox, but in 
 her presence Mrs. Cameron found it very hard to appear 
 as cold and distant as she had meant to do, for there 
 was something about Helen which commanded her respect, 
 and she went forward to meet her, offering her hand and 
 saying cordially: 
 
 " Miss Lennox, I presume my daughter Katy s sister ? " 
 
 Helen had not expected this, and the warm flush which 
 came to her cheeks made her very handsome, as she re 
 turned Mrs. Cameron s greeting, and then asked more par 
 ticularly for Katy than she had yet done. For a while 
 they talked together, Mrs. Cameron noting carefully every 
 item of Helen s attire, as well as the purity of her language 
 and her perfect repose of manner after the first stiff 
 ness had passed away. 
 
 " Naturally a lady as well as Katy ; there must be good 
 blood somewhere, probably on the Lennox side," was Mrs. 
 Cameron s private opinion, while Helen, after a few mo 
 ments, began to feel far more at ease with Mrs. Cameron 
 than she had done in the dining-room with Esther waiting 
 on her, and the cross Phillips stalking once through the 
 room for no ostensible purpose except to get a sight of 
 her. 
 
 Helen wondered at herself, and Mrs. Cameron wondered 
 too, trying to decide whether it were ignorance, conceit, 
 obtuseness, or what, which made her so self-possessed when 
 she was expected to appear so different. 
 
 " Strong-minded," was her final decision, as she said 
 at last, " We promised Katy she should see you to-night. 
 Will you go now ? " 
 
176 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Then the color left Helen s face and lips and her limbs 
 shook perceptibly, for the knowing she was soon to meet 
 her sister unnerved her ; but by the time the door of Katy s 
 room was reached she was herself again, and there was 
 no need for Mrs. Cameron to whisper, " Pray do not ex 
 cite her." 
 
 Katy heard her coming, and it required all Wilford s 
 and the nurse s efforts to keep her quiet. 
 
 " Helen, Helen, darling, darling sister ! " she cried, as 
 she wound her arms around Helen s neck, and laid her 
 golden head on Helen s bosom, sobbing in a low, mourn 
 ful way which told Helen more how she had been longed 
 for than did the weak voice which whispered, " I ve wanted 
 you so much, oh Helen; you don t know how much I ve 
 missed you all the years I ve been away. You will not 
 leave me now," and Katy clung closer to the dear sister 
 who gently unclasped the clinging arms and put back upon 
 the pillow the quivering face, which she kissed so tenderly, 
 whispering in her own old half soothing, half commanding 
 way, " Be quiet now, Katy. It s best that you should. No, 
 I will not leave you." 
 
 Next to Dr. Grant Helen had more influence over Katy 
 than any living being, and it was very apparent now, for, 
 as if her presence had a power to soothe, Katy grew very 
 quiet, and utterly wearied out, slept for a few moments 
 with Helen s hand fast locked in hers. When she awoke 
 the tired look was gone, and turning to her sister she said, 
 " Have you seen my baby ? " while the young mother love 
 which broke so beautifully over her pale face, made it the 
 face of an angel. 
 
 " It seems so funny that it is Katy s baby," Helen said, 
 taking the puny little thing, which with its wrinkled face 
 and red, clinched fists was not very attractive to her, save 
 as she looked at it with Katy s eyes. 
 
 She did not even kiss it, but her tears dropped upon its 
 head as she thought how short the time since up in tho 
 old garret at home she had dressed rag dolls for the Katy 
 who was now a mother. And still in a measure she was 
 the same, hugging Helen fondly when she said good-night, 
 and welcoming her so joyfully in the morning when she 
 
The Cameron Pride. 177 
 
 came again, telling her how just the sight of her sitting 
 there by baby s crib did her so much good. 
 
 " I shall get well so fast/ 7 she said ; and she was right, 
 for Helen was worth far more to her than all the physi 
 cian s powders, and Wilford was glad that Helen came, 
 even if she did sometimes shock him with her independent 
 ways, upsetting all his plans and theories with regard to 
 Katy, and meeting him on other grounds with an opposi 
 tion as puzzling as it was new to him. 
 
 To Mrs. Cameron Helen was a study; she seemed to 
 care so little for what others might think of her, evincing 
 no hesitation, no timidity, when told the second day after 
 her arrival that Mrs. Banker was in the parlor, and had 
 asked to see Miss Lennox. Mrs. Cameron did not suspect 
 how under that calm, unmoved exterior, Helen was hiding 
 a heart which beat painfully as she went down to meet 
 the mother of Mark Ray, going first to her own room 
 to make some little change in her toilet, and wishing that 
 her dress was more like the dress of those around her 
 like Mrs. Cameron s, or even Esther s and the fashionable 
 nurse s. One glance she gave to the brown silk, Wilford s 
 gift, but her good sense told her that the plain merino 
 she wore was more suitable to the sick room where she 
 spent her time, and so with a fresh collar and cuffs, and 
 another brush of her hair, she went to Mrs. Banker, for 
 getting herself in her pleasure at finding in the stranger 
 a lady so wholly congenial and familiar, whose mild, dark 
 eyes rested so kindly on her, and whose pleasant voice had 
 something motherly in its tone, putting her at her ease, 
 and making her appear at her very beet. 
 
 Mrs. Banker was pleased with Helen, and she felt a kind 
 of pity for the young girl thrown so suddenly among 
 strangers, without even her sister to assist her. 
 
 "Have you been out at all?" she asked, and upon 
 Helen s replying that she had not, she answered, " That is 
 not right. Accustomed to the fresh country air, you will 
 suffer from too close confinement. Suppose you ride with 
 me. My carriage is at the door, and I have a few hours 
 leisure. Tell your sister I insist," she continued, as Helen 
 hesitated between inclination and what she fancied was her 
 duty. 
 
178 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 To see New York with Mrs. Banker was a treat indeed, 
 and Helen s heart bounded high as she rsfn up to Katy s 
 room with the request. 
 
 " Yes, go by all means/ Katy said. " It is so kind in 
 Mrs. Banker, and so like her, too. I meant that Wilford 
 should have driven with you to-day, and spoke to him 
 about it, but Mrs. Banker will do better. Tell her I thank 
 her so much for her thoughtfulness," and with a kiss Katy 
 sent Helen away, while Mrs. Cameron, after twisting her 
 rings nervously for a moment, said to Katy : 
 
 " Perhaps your sister will do well to wear your furs. 
 Hers are small, and common fitch." 
 
 " Yes, certainly. Take them to her," Katy answered, 
 knowing intuitively the feeling which had prompted this 
 suggestion from her mother-in-law, who hastened to 
 Helen s room with the rich sable she was to wear in place 
 of the old fitch. 
 
 Helen appreciated the difference at once between her 
 furs and Katy s and felt a pang of mortification as she 
 saw how old and poor and dowdy hers were beside the 
 others. But they were her own the best she could af 
 ford. She would not begin by borrowing, and so she de 
 clined the offer, and greatly to Mrs. Cameron s horror 
 went down to Mrs. Banker clad in the despised furs, which 
 Mrs. Cameron would on no account have had beside her 
 on Broadway in an open carriage. Mrs. Banker noticed 
 them, too, but the eager, happy face, which grew each mo 
 ment brighter as they drove down the street, more than 
 made amends ; and in watching that and pointing out the 
 places which they passed, Mrs. Banker forgot the furs and 
 the coarse straw hat whose strings of black had undeniably 
 been dyed. Never in her life had Helen enjoyed a ride as 
 she did that pleasant winter day, when her kind friend 
 took her wherever she wished to go, showing her Broad 
 way in its glory from Union Square to Wall Street, where 
 they encountered Mark in the bustling crowd. He saw 
 them, and beckoned to them, while Helen s face grew red, 
 as, lifting his hat to her, he came up to the carriage, and 
 at his mother s suggestion took a seat just opposite, asking 
 where they had been, and jocosely laughing at his mother s 
 taste in selecting such localities as the Five Points, the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 179 
 
 Tombs and Barnum s Museum, when there were so many 
 finer places to be seen. 
 
 Helen felt the hot blood pricking the roots of her hair 
 for the Five Points, the Tombs and Barnum s Museum 
 had been her choice as the points of which she had heard 
 the most. So when Mark continued : 
 
 " You shall ride with me, Miss Lennox, and I will 
 show you something worth your seeing/ she frankly an 
 swered : 
 
 " Your mother is not in fault, Mr. Kay. She asked 
 me where I wished to go, and I mentioned these places; 
 so please attribute it wholly to my country breeding, and 
 not to your mother s lack of taste." 
 
 There was something in the frank speech which won 
 Mrs. Banker s heart, while she felt an increased respect 
 for the young girl, who, she saw, was keenly sensitive, 
 even with all her strength of character. 
 
 u You were right to commence as you have," she said, 
 " for now you have a still greater treat in store, and Mark 
 shall drive you to the Park some day. I know you will 
 like that." 
 
 Helen could like anything with that friendly voice to 
 reassure her, and leaning back she was thinking how pleas 
 ant it was to be in New York, how different from what 
 she had expected, when a bow from Mark made her look 
 up in time to see that they were meeting a carriage, in 
 which sat Wilford, with two gayly dressed ladies, both of 
 whom gave her a supercilious stare as they passed by, 
 while the younger of the two half turned her head, as if 
 for a more prolonged gaze. 
 
 " Mrs. Grandon and Juno Cameron," Mrs. Banker said, 
 making some further remark to her son, while Helen felt 
 that the brightness of the day had changed, for she could 
 not be unconscious of the look with which she had been 
 regarded by these two fashionable ladies, and again her 
 furs came up before her, bringing a felling of which she 
 was ashamed, especially as she had fancied herself above 
 all weakness of the kind. 
 
 That night at the dinner, from which Mrs. Cameron 
 was absent, Wilford was unusually gracious, asking "if 
 
180 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 she had enjoyed her ride, and if she did not find Mrs. 
 Banker a very pleasant acquaintance." 
 
 Wilford felt a little uncomfortable at having suffered 
 a stranger to do for Katy s sister what should have been 
 done by himself. Katy had asked him to drive with Helen, 
 but he had found it very convenient to forget it, and take 
 a seat instead with Juno and Mrs. Grandon, the latter 
 of whom complimented " Miss Lennox s fine intellectual 
 face," after they had passed, and complimented it the more 
 as she saw how it vexed Juno, who could see nothing " in 
 those bold eyes and that masculine forehead," just because 
 their vis-a-vis chanced to be Mark Kay. Juno was not 
 pleased with Helen s first appearance in the street, but 
 nevertheless she called upon her next day, with Sybil Gran 
 don and her sister Bell. To this she was urged by Sybil, 
 who, having a somewhat larger experience of human 
 nature, foresaw that Helen would be popular just because 
 Mrs. Banker had taken her up, and who, besides, had con 
 ceived a capricious fancy to patronize Miss Lennox. But 
 in this she was foiled, for Helen was not to be patronized, 
 and she received her visitors with that calm, assured man 
 ner so much a part of herself. 
 
 " Diamond cut diamond," Belle thought, as she saw how 
 frigidly polite both Juno and Helen were, each recognizing 
 in the other something antagonistic, which could not har 
 monize. 
 
 Had Juno never cared for Dr. Grant, or suspected Helen 
 of standing between herself and him, and had Mark Eay 
 never stopped at Silverton, or been seen on Broadway with 
 her, she might have judged her differently, for there was 
 something attractive in Helen s face and appearance as 
 she sat talking to her guests, with as much quiet dignity 
 as if she had never mended Uncle Ephraim s socks or made 
 a pound of butter among the huckleberry hills. Bell was 
 delighted, detecting at once traces of the rare mind vhich 
 Helen Lennox possessed, and wondering to find it so. 
 
 " I hope we shall see each other often," she said, at 
 parting. " I do not go out a great deal myself that is, 
 not so much as Juno but I shall be always glad to wel 
 come you to my den. You may find something there to 
 interest vou." 
 
The Cameron Pride. 181 
 
 This was Bell s leave-taking, while Sybil s was,, if pos 
 sible, more friendly, for she took a perverse kind of pleas 
 ure in annoying Juno, who wondered " what she or Bell 
 could see to like in that awkward country girl, who she 
 knew had on one of Katy s cast-off collars, and whose ward 
 robe was the most ordinary she ever saw; fitch furs, think 
 of that ! " and Juno gave a little pull at the fastenings of 
 her rich ermine collar, showing so well over her velvet 
 basquine. 
 
 " Fitch furs or not, they rode with Mark Ray on Broad 
 way," Bell retorted, with a wicked look in her eye, which 
 roused Juno to a still higher pitch of anger, so that by 
 the time the carriage stopped at No. , the young lady 
 was in a most unamiable frame of mind as regarded both 
 Helen Lennox and the offending Mark. 
 
 That evening there was at Mrs. Reynolds s a little com 
 pany of thirty or more, and as Mark was present, Juno 
 seized the opportunity of ascertaining, if possible, his 
 real opinion of Helen Lennox, joking him first about his 
 having taken her to ride so soon, and insinuating that he 
 must have a penchant for every new and pretty face. 
 
 " Then you think her pretty ? You have called on 
 her ? " Mark replied, his manner evincing so much pleasure 
 that Juno bit her lip to keep down her wrath, and flash 
 ing upon him her scornful eyes, replied: " Yes, -Sybil 
 and Belle insisted that I should. Of myself I would 
 never have done it, for I have now more acquaintances 
 than I can attend to, and do not care to increase the list. 
 Besides that, I do not imagine that Miss Lennox can in 
 any way add to my happiness, brought up as she has been 
 among the woods and hills, you know." 
 
 " Yes, I have been there to her home, I mean," Mark 
 rejoined, and Juno continued: 
 
 " Only for a moment, though. You should have stayed, 
 like Will, to appreciate it fully. I wish you could hear 
 him describe the feather beds on which he slept that is, 
 describe them before he decided to take Katy; for after 
 that he was chary of his remarks, and the feathers by 
 some marvelous process were changed into hair, for what 
 he knew or cared." 
 
 Mark hesitated a moment, and then said, quietly: 
 
1 82 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 "I have stayed there all night, and have tested that 
 feather bed, but found nothing disparaging to Helen, who 
 was as much a lady in the farm-house as here in the city." 
 
 There was a look of withering scorn on Juno s face as 
 she replied, 
 
 " Pray, how long since you took to visiting Silverton 
 so frequently becoming so familiar as to spend the 
 night?" 
 
 There was no mistaking the jealousy which betrayed 
 itself in every tone of Juno s voice as she stood before 
 Mark, a fit picture of the enraged goddess whose name 
 she bore. Soon recollecting herself, however, she changed 
 her mode of attack, and said, laughingly, 
 
 " Seriously, though, this Miss Lennox seems a very 
 nice girl, and is admirably fitted, I think, for the position 
 she is to fill that of a country physician s wife and in 
 the black eyes there was a wicked sparkle as Juno saw 
 that her meaning was readily understood, Mark looking 
 quickly at her, and asking if she referred to Dr. Grant. 
 
 " Certainly ; I imagine that was settled as long ago as 
 we met him in Paris. Once I thought it might have 
 been our Katy, but was mistaken. I think the doctor 
 and Miss Lennox well adapted to each other. * 
 
 There was for a moment a dull, heavy pain at Mark s 
 heart, caused by that little item of information which 
 made him so uncomfortable. On the whole he did not 
 doubt it, for everything he could recall of Morris had a 
 tendency to strengthen the belief. Nothing could be more 
 probable, thrown together as they had been, without other 
 congenial society, and nothing could be more suitable. 
 
 " They are well matched," Mark thought, as he walked 
 listlessly through Mrs. Keynolds s parlors, seeing only 
 one face, and that the face of Helen Lennox, with the lilj 
 in her hair, just as it looked when she tied the apron 
 about his neck and laughed at his appearance. 
 
 Helen was not the ideal which in his boyhood Mark 
 had cherished of the one who was to be his wife, for that 
 was of a woman more like Juno, with whom he had al 
 ways been on the best of terms, giving her some reason 
 for believing herself the favored one; but ideals change 
 as years go on, and Helen Lennox had more attractions 
 
The Cameron Pride. 183 
 
 for him now than the most dashing belle of his acquaint 
 ance. 
 
 "I do not believe I am in love with her," he said to 
 himself when, after his return from Mrs. Beynolds s he 
 sat for a long time before the fire in his dressing-room, 
 cogitating upon what he had heard, and wondering why 
 it should affect him so much. " Of course I am not," he 
 continued, feeling the necessity of reiterating the assertion 
 by way of making himself believe it. " She is not at all 
 what I used to imagine the future Mrs. Mark Eay to be. 
 Half my friends would say she had no style, no beauty, 
 and perhaps she has not. Certainly she does not look 
 just like the ladies at Mrs. Eeynolds s to-night, but give 
 her the same advantages and she would surpass them all." 
 
 And then Mark Ray went off into a reverie, in which 
 he saw Helen Lennox his wife, and with the aids by which 
 he would surround her, rapidly developing into as splendid 
 a woman as little Katy Cameron, who did not need to be 
 developed, but took all hearts at once by that natural, 
 witching grace so much a part of herself. It was a very 
 pleasant picture which Mark painted upon the mental 
 canvas; but there came a great blur blotting out its bright 
 ness as he remembered Dr. Grant. 
 
 " But it shall not interfere with my being just as kind 
 to her as before. She will need some attendant here, and 
 Wilford will be glad to shove her off his hands. He is 
 so infernal proud," Mark said, and taking a fresh cigar 
 he finished his reverie with the magnanimous resolve that 
 were Helen a hundred times engaged she should be his 
 especial care during her sojourn in New York. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 HELEN IN SOCIETY. 
 
 IT was three days before Christmas, and Katy was talk 
 ing confidentially to Mrs. Banker, whom she had asked to 
 see the next time she called. 
 
 " I want so much to surprise her," she said, speaking in 
 a whisper, " and you have been so kind to us both that 
 I thought it might not trouble you very much if I asked 
 you to make the selection for me, and see to the 
 
184 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ing. Wilford gave me fifty dollars, all I needed, as I had 
 fifty more of my own, and now that I have a baby, I am 
 sure I shall never again care to go out." 
 
 " Yes," Mrs. Banker said, thoughtfully, as she rolled up 
 the bills, " you wish me to get as heavy bracelets as I can 
 find for the hundred dollars." 
 
 "Yes," Katy replied, "1 think that will please her, 
 don t you ? " 
 
 Mrs. Banker did not reply at once, for she felt certain 
 that the hundred dollars could be spent in a manner more 
 satisfactory to Helen. Still she hardly liked to interfere, 
 until Katy, observing her hesitancy, asked again if she did 
 not think Helen would be pleased. 
 
 " Yes, pleased with anything you choose to give her, 
 but excuse me, dear Mrs. Cameron, if I speak as openly 
 as if I were the mother of you both. Bracelets are suitable 
 for you who have everything else, but is there not some 
 thing your sister needs more? Now, allowing me to sug 
 gest, I should say, buy her some furs, and let the bracelets 
 go. In Silverton her furs were well enough, but here, as 
 the sister of Mrs. Wilford Cameron, she is deserving of 
 better." 
 
 Katy understood Mrs. Banker at once, her* cheeks red 
 dening as there flashed upon her the reason why Wilford 
 had never yet been in the street with Helen, notwithstand 
 ing that she had more than once requested it. 
 
 " You are right," she said. " It was thoughtless in me 
 not to think of this myself. Helen shall have the furs, 
 and whatever else is necessary. I am so glad you reminded 
 me of it. You are as kind as my own mother," and Katy 
 kissed her friend fondly as she bade her good-bye, charging 
 her a dozen times not to let Helen know the surprise in 
 store for her. 
 
 There was little need of this caution, for Mrs. Banker 
 understood human nature too well to divulge a matter 
 which might wound one as sensitive as Helen. Between 
 the latter and herself there was a strong bond of friend 
 ship, and to the kind patronage of this lady Helen owed 
 most of the attentions she had as yet received from her 
 sister s friends, while Mark Ray did much toward lifting 
 her to the place she Leld in spite of the common country 
 
The Cameron Pride. 185 
 
 dress, which Juno unsparingly criticised, and which, in 
 fact, kept Wilford from taking her out as his wife so 
 often asked him to do. And Helen, too, keenly felt the 
 difference between herself and those with whom she came 
 in contact, crying over it more than once, but never dream 
 ing of the surprise in store for her, when on Christmas 
 morning she went as usual to Katy s room, finding her 
 alone, her face all aglow with excitement, and her bed 
 a perfect show-case of dry goods, which she bade Helen ex 
 amine and say how she liked them. 
 
 Wilford was no niggard with his money, and when Katy 
 had asked for more it had been given unsparingly, even 
 though he knew the purpose to which it was to be ap 
 plied. 
 
 "Oh, Katy, Katy, why did you do it?" Helen cried, 
 her tears falling like rain through the fingers she clasped 
 over her eyes. 
 
 " You are not angry ? " Katy said, in some dismay, as 
 Helen continued to sob without looking at the handsome 
 furs, the stylish hat, the pretty cloak, and rich patterns 
 of blue and black silk, which Mrs. Banker had selected. 
 
 " No, oh no ! " Helen replied. " I know it was all 
 meant well; but there is something in me which rebels 
 against taking this from Wilford, and placing myself un 
 der so great obligation to him." 
 
 " It was a pleasure for him to do it/ Katy said, trying 
 to reassure her sister, until she grew calm enough to ex 
 amine and admire the Christmas gifts upon which no ex 
 pense had been spared. Much as we may ignore drees, 
 and sinful as is an inordinate love for it, there is yet 
 about it an influence for good, when the heart of the 
 wearer is right, holding it subservient to all higher, holier 
 affections. At least Helen Lennox found it so, when clad 
 in her new garments, she drove with Mrs. Banker, or 
 returned Sybil Grandon s call, feeling that there was about 
 her nothing for which Katy need to blush, or even Wil 
 ford, who was not afraid to be seen with her now, and 
 Helen, while knowing the reason of the change, did not 
 feel like quarreling with him for it, but accepted with a 
 good-natured grace all that made her life in New York 
 so happy. With Bell Cameron she was on the best of 
 
1 86 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 terms; while Sybil Grandon, always going with the tide, 
 professed for her an admiration, which, whether fancied 
 or real, did much toward making her popular; and when, 
 as the mistress of her brother s house, she issued cards 
 of invitation for a large party, she took especial pains to 
 insist upon Helen s attending, even if Katy was not able* 
 But from this Helen shrank. She could not meet so many 
 strangers alone, she said, and so the matter was dropped, 
 until Mrs. Banker offered to chaperone her, when Helen 
 began to waver, changing her mind at last and promising 
 to go. 
 
 Never since the days of her first party had Katy been 
 so wild with excitement as she was in helping to dress 
 Helen, who scarcely knew herself when, before the mirror, 
 with the blaze of the chandelier falling upon her, she saw 
 the picture of a young girl arrayed in rich pink silk, with 
 an overskirt of lace, and the light pretty cloak, just thrown 
 upon her uncovered neck, where Katy s pearls were shin 
 ing. 
 
 " What would they say at home if they could only see 
 you ? " Katy exclaimed, throwing back the handsome cloak 
 so as to show more of the well-shaped neck, gleaming so 
 white beneath it. 
 
 " Aunt Betsy would say I had forgotten haft my dress/* 
 Helen replied, blushing as she glanced at the arms, which 
 never since her childhood had been thus exposed to view, 
 except at such times as her household duties had required 
 it. 
 
 Even this exception would not apply to the low neck, 
 at which Helen had long demurred, yielding finally to 
 Katy s entreaties, but often wondering what Mark Ray 
 would think, and if he would not be shocked Mark Bay 
 had been strangely blended with all Helen s thoughts as she 
 submitted herself to Esther s practiced hands, and when 
 the hair-dresser, summoned to her aid, asked what flowers 
 she would wear, it was a thought of him which led her 
 to select a single water-lily, which looked as natural as 
 if its bed had really been the bosom of Fairy Pond. 
 
 " Nothing else ? Surely mademoiselle will have these 
 few green leaves?" -Celine had said, but Helen would 
 have nothing save the lily, which was twined tastefully 
 
The Cameron Pride. 187 
 
 amid the heavy braids of the brown hair, whose length 
 and luxuriance had thrown the hair-dresser into ecstasies 
 of delight, and made Esther lament that in these days of 
 false tresses no one would give Miss Lennox credit for what 
 was wholly her own. 
 
 " You will be the belle of the evening/ Katy said r.3 
 she kissed her sister good night and then ran back to her 
 baby, while Wilford, yielding to her importunities that 
 he should not remain with her, followed Mrs. Banker s 
 carriage in his own private conveyance, and was soon set 
 down at Sybil Grandon s door. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the elder Cameron s there had been a 
 discussion touching the propriety of their taking Helen 
 under their protection, instead of leaving her for Mrs. 
 Banker to chaperone, Bell insisting that it ought to be done, 
 while the father swore roundly at Juno, who would not 
 " be bothered with that country girl." 
 
 " You would rather leave her wholly to Mark Ray and 
 his mother, I suppose," Bell said, adding, as she saw the 
 flush on Juno s face, " You know you are dying of jealousy, 
 and nothing annoys you so much as to hear people talk 
 of Mark s attentions to Miss Lennox/ 
 
 " Do they talk ? " Mrs. Cameron asked quickly, while in 
 her gray eyes there gleamed a light far more dangerous 
 and threatening to Helen than Juno s open scorn. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron had long intended Mark Eay for her 
 daughter, and accustomed to have everything bnd to her 
 wishes, she had come to consider the matter as certain, 
 even though he had never proposed in words. He had 
 done everything else, she thought, attending Juno con 
 stantly, and frequenting their house so much that it was a 
 standing joke for his friends to seek him there when he 
 was not at home or at his office. Latterly, however, there 
 had been a change, and the ambitious mother could not 
 deny that since Helen s arrival in New York Mark had 
 visted them less frequently and sta}^ed a shorter time, while 
 she had more than once heard of him at her son s in com 
 pany with Helen. Very rapidly a train of thought passed 
 through her mind; but it did not manifest itself upon 
 her face, which was composed and quiet as she decided 
 with Juno that Helen should not trouble them. With 
 
1 88 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 the utmost care Juno arrayed herself for the party, think 
 ing with a great deal of complacency how impossible it was 
 for Helen Lennox to compete with her in point of dress. 
 
 " She is such a prude, I dare say she will go in that 
 blue silk, with the long sleeves and high neck, looking 
 like a Dutch doll," she said to Bell, as she shook back 
 the folds of her rich crimson, and turned her head to see 
 the effect of her wide braids of hair. 
 
 " I am not certain that a high dress is worse than 
 bones," Bell retorted, playfully touching Juno s neck, 
 which, though white and gracefully formed, was shock 
 ingly guiltless of flesh. 
 
 There was an angry reply, and then, wrapping her 
 cloak about her, Juno went out to their carriage, and was 
 ere long one of the gay crowd thronging Sybil Grandon s 
 parlors. Helen had not yet arrived, and Juno was hop 
 ing she would not come, when there was a stir at the 
 door and Mrs. Banker appeared, and with her Helen 
 Lennox, but so transformed that Juno hardly knew her, 
 looking twice ere sure that the beautiful young lady, so 
 wholly self-possessed, was the country girl she affected 
 to despise. 
 
 " Who is she ? " was asked by many, who 4 at once ac 
 knowledged her claims to their attention, and as soon as 
 practicable sought her acquaintance, so that Helen sud 
 denly for::d herself the centre of a little court of which 
 she was the queen and Mark her sworn knight. 
 
 Presuming upon his mother s chaperonage, he claimed 
 the right of attending her, and Juno s glory waned as 
 effectually as it had done when Katy was the leading star 
 to which New York paid homage. 
 
 Juno had been annoyed then, but now fierce jealousy 
 took possession of her heart as she watched the girl 
 whom all seemed to admire, even Wilford feeling a thrill 
 of pride that the possession of so attractive a sister-in- 
 law reflected credit upon himself. 
 
 He was not ashamed of her now, nor did he retain a 
 single thought of the farm-house or Uncle Ephraim as 
 he made his way to her side, standing protectingly at her 
 left, just as Mark was standing at her right, and at last 
 asking her to dance. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 189 
 
 With a heightened color Helen declined, saying frankly, 
 
 " I have never learned/ 
 
 " You miss a ^reat deal/ Wilford rejoined, appealing 
 to Mark for a confirmation of his words. 
 
 But Mark did not heartily respond. He, too, had 
 solicited Helen as a partner when the dancing first com 
 menced, and her quiet refusal had disappointed him a 
 little, for Mark was fond of dancing, and though as a 
 general thing he disapproved of waltzes and polkas when 
 ho was the looker-on, he felt that there would be some 
 thing vastly agreeable and exhilarating in clasping Helen 
 in his arms and whirling her about the room just as Juno 
 was being whirled by a young cadet, a friend of Lieuten 
 ant Bob s. But when he reflected that not his arm alone 
 would encircle her waist, or his breath touch her neck, he 
 was glad she did not dance, and professing a weariness 
 he did not feel, he declined to join the dancers on the 
 floor, but kept with Helen, enjoying what she enjoyed, 
 and putting her so perfectly at her ease that no one would 
 ever have dreamed of the curdy cheeses she had made, 
 or the pounds of butter she had churned. But Mark 
 thought of it as ho secretly admired the neck and arms, 
 seen once before, on that memorable day when he assisted 
 Helen in the labors of the dairy. If nothing else had 
 done so, the lily in her hair would have brought that 
 morning to his mind, and once as they walked up and 
 down the hall he spoke of the ornament she had chosen, 
 and how well it became her. 
 
 " Pond lilies are my pets/ he said, " and I have kept 
 one of those I gathered when at Silverton. Do you re 
 member them ? " and his eyes rested upon Helen with a 
 look which made her blush as she answered yes; but she 
 did not tell him of a little box at home, made of cones 
 and acorns, where was hidden a withered water lily, 
 which she could not throw away, even after its beauty 
 and fragrance had departed. 
 
 Had she told him this, it might have put to flight the 
 doubts troubling Mark so much, and making him won 
 der if Dr. Grant had really a claim upon the girl steal 
 ing his heart so fast. 
 
 " I mean to sound her," he thought, and as Lieutenant 
 
190 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Bob passed by, making some jocose remark about his 
 offending all the fair ones by the course he was taking, 
 Mark said to Helen, who suggested returning to the parlor, 
 
 " As you like, though it cannot matter ; a person known 
 to be ongaged is above Bob Eeynolds s jokes." 
 
 Quiet as thought the blood stained Helen s face and 
 neck, for Mark had made a most egregious blunder giv 
 ing her the impression that he was the engaged one referred 
 to, not herself, and for a moment she forgot the gay 
 scene around her in the sharpness of the pang with which 
 she recognized all that Mark Eay was to her. 
 
 ee It was kind in him to warn me. I wish it had been 
 sooner," she thought, and then with a bitter feeling of 
 shame she wondered how much he had guessed of her 
 real feelings, and who the betrothed one was. " Not 
 Juno Cameron," she hoped, as after a few moments Mrs. 
 Cameron came up and, adroitly detaching Mark from 
 her side, took his place while he sauntered to a 
 group of ladies and was ere long dancing merrily with 
 Juno. 
 
 " They are a well-matched pair/ Mrs. Cameron said, 
 assuming a very confidential manner towards Helen, who 
 assented to the remark, while the lady continued, " There 
 is but one thing wrong about Mark Eay. He is a most 
 unscrupulous flirt, pleased with every new face, and this 
 of course annoys Juno/ 
 
 "Are they engaged?" came involuntarily from Hrlen s 
 lips, while Mrs. Cameron s foot beat the carpet with a 
 very becoming hesitancy, as she replied, " That was set 
 tled in our family a long time ago. Wilford and Mark 
 have always been like brothers." 
 
 Mrs. Cameron could not quite bring herself to a delib 
 erate falsehood, which, if detected, would reflect upon 
 her character as a lady, but she could mislead Helen, 
 and she continued, " It is not like us to bruit our affairs 
 abroad, and were my daughters ten times engaged the 
 world would be none the wiser. I doubt if even Katy 
 suspects what I have admitted; but knowing how fas 
 cinating Mark can be, and that just at present he seems 
 to be pleased with you, I have acted as I should wish a 
 friend to act toward my own child. I have warned you 
 
The Cameron Pride. 191 
 
 in time. Were it not that you are one of our family, I 
 might not have interfered, and I trust you not to repeat 
 even to Katy what I have said." 
 
 Helen nodded assent, while in her heart was a wild 
 tumult of feelings nattered pride, disappointment, in 
 dignation, and mortification all struggling for the mas 
 tery mortification to feel that she who had quietly ignored 
 such a passion as love when connected with herself, had, 
 nevertheless, been pleased with the attentions of one who 
 was only amusing himself with her, as a child amuses 
 itself with some new toy soon to be thrown aside 
 indignation at him for vexing Juno at her expense 
 disappointment that he should care for such as Juno, and 
 flattered pride that Mrs. Cameron should include her in 
 fi our family." Helen had as few weak points as most 
 young ladies, but she was not free from them all, and the 
 fact that Mrs. Cameron had taken her into a confidence 
 which even Katy did not share, was soothing to her ruffled 
 spirits, particularly as after that confidence, Mrs. Cameron 
 was excessively gracious to her, introducing her to many 
 whom she did not know before, and paying her numberless 
 little attentions, which made Juno stare, while the clear- 
 seeing Bell arched her eye-brows, and wondered for what 
 Helen was to be made a cat s paw by her clever mother. 
 Whatever it was it did not appear, save as it showed itself 
 in Helen s slightly changed demeanor when Mark again 
 sought her society, and tried to bring back to her face the 
 look he had left there. But something had come between 
 them, and the young man racked his brain to find the 
 cause of this sudden indifference in one who had been 
 pleased with him only a short half hour before. 
 
 " It s that confounded waltzing which disgusted her," 
 he said, " and no wonder, for if ever a man looks like an 
 idiot, it is when he is kicking up his heels to the sound 
 f a fiddle, and whirling some woman whose skirts sweep 
 everything within the circle of a rod, and whose face 
 wears that die-away expression I have so often noticed. 
 I ve half a mind to swear I ll never dance again." 
 
 But Mark was too fond of dancing to quit it at once, 
 and finding Helen still indifferent, he yielded to circum 
 stance*, and the last she saw of him, as at a comparative 
 
192 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 early hour she left the gay scene, he was dancing again 
 with Juno. It was a heavy blow to Helen, for she had 
 become greatly interested in Mark Ray, whose atten 
 tions had made her stay in New York so pleasant. But 
 these were over now ; at least the excitement they brought 
 was over, and Helen, as she sat in her dittesing-room at 
 home, and thought of the future as well as the past, felt 
 stealing over her a sense of desolation and loneliness such 
 as she had experienced but once before, and that on the 
 night when leaning from her window at the farm-house 
 where Mark Kay was stopping she had shuddered and 
 shrank from living all her days among the rugged hills 
 of Silverton. New York had opened an entirely new 
 world to her, showing her much that was vain and 
 frivolous, with much too that was desirable and good ; and 
 if there had crept into her heart the thought that a life 
 with such people as Mrs. Banker and those who frequented 
 her house would be preferable to a life in Silverton, where 
 only Morris understood her, it was but the natural result 
 of daily intercourse with one who had studied to please 
 and interest as Mark Ray had done. But Helen had too 
 much good sense and strength of will, long to indulge in 
 what she would have called " love-sick regrets " in others, 
 and she began to devise the best course for her to adopt 
 hereafter, concluding finally to treat him much as she 
 had done, lest he should suspect how deeply she had been 
 wounded. Now that she knew of his engagement, it would 
 be an easy matter so to demean herself as neither to annoy 
 Juno nor vex him. Thoroughly now she understood why 
 Juno Cameron had seemed to dislike her so much. 
 
 " It is natural," she said, " and yet I honestly believe 
 I like her better for knowing what I do. There must be 
 some good beneath that proud exterior, or Mark would 
 never seek her." 
 
 Still, look at it from any point she chose, it seemed a 
 strange, unsuitable match, and Helen s heart ached sadly 
 as she finally retired to rest, thinking what might have 
 been had Juno Cameron found some other lover more 
 l&e herself than Mark could ever be. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 WILFORD had wished for a son,, and in the first moment 
 of disappointment he had almost been conscious of a 
 resentful feeling toward Katy, who had given him only 
 a daughter. A boy, a Cameron heir, was something of 
 which to be proud; but a little girl, scarcely larger than 
 the last doll with which Katy had played, was a different 
 thing, and it required all Wilford s philosophy and common 
 sense to keep him from showing his chagrin to the girlish 
 creature, whose love had fastened with an idolatrous grasp 
 upon her child, clinging to it with a devotion which made 
 Helen tremble as she thought what if God should take it 
 from her. 
 
 " He won t, oh, he won t," Katy said, when once she 
 suggested the possibility, and in the eyes usually so 
 soft and gentle there was a fierce gleam, as Katy hugged 
 her baby closer to her and said, 
 
 " God does not willfully torment us. He will not take 
 my baby, when my whole life would die with it. I had 
 almost forgotten to pray, there was so much else to do, 
 till baby came, but now I never go to sleep at night or 
 waken in the morning, that there does not come a prayer 
 of thanks for baby given to me. I could hardly love 
 God if he took her away." 
 
 There was a chill feeling at Helen s heart as she list 
 ened to her sister and then glanced at the baby so 
 passionately loved. In time it would be pretty, for it had 
 Katy s perfect features, and the hair just beginning to 
 grow was a soft, golden brown; but it was too small now, 
 too puny to be handsome, while in its eyes there was a 
 scaled, hunted kind of look, which chafed Wilford more 
 than aught else could have done, for that was the look 
 which had crept into Katy s eyes at Newport when she 
 found she was not going home. 
 
 Many discussions had been held at the elder Cameron s 
 concerning its name, Mrs. Cameron deciding finally that 
 
194 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 it should bear her own, Margaret Augusta, while Juno ad 
 vocated that of Rose Marie, inasmuch as their new cler 
 gyman would Frenchify the pronunciation so perfectly, 
 rolling the r, and placing so much accent on the last syl 
 lable. At this the father Cameron swore as (C cussed non 
 sense" "Better call it Jemima, a grand sight, than 
 saddle it with such a silly name as Rose Mah-ree, with a 
 roll to the r," and with another oath the disgusted old man 
 departed, while Bell suggested that Katy might wish to 
 have a voice in naming her own child. 
 
 This was a possibility that had formed no part of Mrs. 
 Cameron s thoughts, or Juno s. Of course Katy would 
 acquiesce in whatever Wilford said was best, and he 
 always thought as they did. Consequently there would 
 be no trouble whatever. It was time the child had a 
 name, time it wore the elegant christening robe, Mrs. 
 Cameron s gift, which cost more money than would have 
 fed a hungry family for weeks. The matter must be 
 decided, and with a view of deciding it, a family dinner 
 party was held at JSTo. , Fifth Avenue, the day suc 
 ceeding Sybil Grandon s party. 
 
 Very pure and beautiful Katy looked as she took her 
 old place in the chair they called hers at father Cameron s, 
 because it was the one she had always preferred to any 
 other, a large, motherly easy-chair, which took in nearly 
 the whole of her petite figure, and against whose soft 
 cushioned back she leaned her curly head with a pretty 
 air of importance, as, after dinner was over, she came back 
 to the parlor with the other ladies, and waited for the 
 gentlemen to join them, when they were to talk up baby s 
 name. 
 
 Katy knew exactly what it would be called, but as Wil 
 ford had never askeid her, she was keeping it a secret, not 
 doubting that the others would be quite as much de 
 lighted as herself with the novel name. Not long before 
 her illness she had read an English story, which had in 
 it a Genevra, and she had at once seized upon it as the 
 most delightful cognomen a person could well possess. 
 "Genevra Cameron!" She had repeated it to herself 
 many a time as she sat with her baby in her lap. She 
 had written it on sundry slips of paper, which had after- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 195 
 
 wards found their way into the grate; and once she had 
 scratched with her diamond ring upon the window pane 
 in her dressing-room, where it now stood in legible char 
 acters, " Genevra Cameron!" There should be no middle 
 name to take from the sweetness of the first only Genevra 
 that was sufficient; and the little lady tapped her foot 
 impatiently upon the carpet, wishing Wilford and his 
 father would hurry and come in. 
 
 Never for an instant had it entered her mind that she, 
 as the mother, would not be permitted to call her baby 
 what she chose; so when she heard Mrs. Cameron speak 
 ing to Helen of Margaret Augusta, she smiled compla 
 cently, tossing her curls of golden brown, and thinking 
 to herself, " Maggie Cameron pretty enough, but not 
 like Genevra. Indeed, I shall not have any Margarets 
 now; next time perhaps I may." 
 
 The gentlemen came at last, and father Cameron drew 
 his chair close to Katy s side, laying his hand on her 
 little soft warm one, and giving it a squeeze as the bright 
 face glanced lovingly into his. Father Cameron had 
 grown a milder, gentler man since Katy came. He now 
 went much oftener into society, and did not so frequently 
 shock his wife with expressions and opinions which she 
 held as heterodox. Katy had a softening influence over 
 him, and he loved her as well perhaps as he had ever 
 loved his own children. 
 
 " Better," Juno said ; and now she touched Bell s arm, 
 to have her see " how father was petting Katy." 
 
 But Bell did not care, while Wilford was pleased, and 
 himself drew nearer the chair, standing just behind it, 
 so that Katy could not see him as he smoothed her curly 
 head, and said, half indifferently, " Now for the all-im 
 portant name. What shall we call our daughter ? " 
 
 "Let your mother speak first," Katy said, and thus 
 appealed to, Mrs. Cameron came up to Wilford and ex 
 pressed her preference for Margaret, as being a good 
 name, an aristocratic name, and her own. 
 
 " Yes, but not half so pretty and striking as Eose 
 Marie," Juno chimed in. 
 
 " Rose Mary ! Thunder ! " father Cameron exclaimed. 
 * Call her a marygold, or a sunflower, just as much. Don t 
 
196 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 go to being fools by giving a child a heathenish name. 
 Give us your opinion, Katy." 
 
 " I have known from the first," Katy replied, " and 
 I am sure you will agree with me. ? Tis a beautiful 
 name of a sweet young girl, and there was a great secret 
 about her, too GENEVRA, baby will be called," and Katy 
 looked straight into the fire, wholly unconscious of the 
 effect that name had produced upon Wilford and his 
 mother. 
 
 Wilford s face was white as marble, and his eyes turned 
 quickly to his mother, who, in her first shock, started so 
 violently ap. to throw down from the stand a costly vase, 
 which was "broken in many pieces. This occasioned a 
 little diversion, and by the time the flowers and frag 
 ments were gathered up, Wilford s lips were not quite so 
 livid, but he dared not trust his voice yet, and listened 
 while his sisters gave their opinion of the name, Bell de 
 ciding for it at once, and Juno hesitating until she had 
 heard from a higher power than Katy. 
 
 " What put that fanciful name into your head ? " Mrs. 
 Cameron asked. 
 
 Katy explained, and with the removal of the fear, 
 which for a few moments had chilled his blood, Wilford 
 grew calm again; while into his heart there crept the 
 thought that by giving that name to his child, some 
 slight atonement might be made to her above whoso 
 head the English daisies had blossomed and faded many 
 a year. But not so with his mother; the child should 
 not be called Genevra if she could prevent it; and she 
 opposed it with all her powers, offering at last, as a great 
 concession on her part, to let it bear the name of either 
 of Katy*s family Hannah and Betsy excepted, of course 
 Lucy Lennox, Helen Lennox, Katy Lennox, anything 
 but Genevra. As usual, Wilford, when he learned her 
 mind, joined with her, notwithstanding his secret pref 
 erence, and the discussion became quite warm, especially 
 as Katy evinced a willfulness for which Helen had never 
 given her credit Hitherto she had been as yielding as 
 wax, but on this point she was firm, gathering strength 
 from the fact that Wilford did not oppose her as he 
 usually did. She could not, perhaps, have resisted him, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 197 
 
 but his manner was not very decided, and so she quietly 
 persisted, " Genevra or nothing," until the others gave up 
 the contest, hoping she would feel differently after a few 
 days reflection. But Katy knew she shouldn t, and Helen 
 could not overcome the exultation with which she saw her 
 little sister put the Camerons to rout and remain master 
 of the field. 
 
 "After all it does not matter," Mrs. Cameron said to 
 her daughters, when, after Mrs. Wilford was gone, she 
 sat talking of Katy s queer fancy and her obstinacy in 
 adhering to it. " It does not matter, and on the whole I 
 had as soon the christening would he postponed until 
 the child is more presentable than now. It will be pret 
 tier by and by, and the dress will become it better. We 
 can afford to wait." 
 
 This heartless view of the case was readily adopted 
 by Juno, while Bell professed to be terribly shocked at 
 hearing them talk thus of a baptism, as if it were a 
 mere show and nothing more, wondering if the Saviour 
 thought of dress or personal appearance when the Hebrew 
 mothers brought their children to him. But little did 
 Mrs. Cameron or Juno care for the baptism except 
 as a display, and as both would be much prouder of a 
 fine-looking child, they were well content to wait until 
 such time as Katy should incline more favorably to their 
 Margaret or Rose Marie. To Helen is seemed highly 
 probable that after a private interview with Wilford Katy 
 would change her mind, and she felt a wickedly agreeable 
 degree of disappointment when, on the day following 
 the dinner party, she found her sister even more resolved 
 than ever upon having her own way. Like the Camerons, 
 she did not feel the necessity of haste, time enough 
 by and by, when she would not have so much opposition 
 to encounter, she. said; and as Wilford did not care, it 
 was finally arranged that they would wait awhile ere 
 they gave a cognomen to the little nameless child, only 
 known as Baby Cameron. 
 
198 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 TROUBLE IN THE HOUSEHOLD. 
 
 As soon as it was understood that Mrs. Wilford Cameron 
 was able to go out, there were scores of pressing invitations 
 from the gay world which had missed her so much, but 
 Katy declined them all on the plea that baby needed her 
 care. She was happier at home, and as a mother it was 
 her place to stay there. At first Wilford listened quietly, 
 but when he found it was her fixed determination to 
 abjure society entirely, he interfered in his cool, decisive 
 way, which always carried its point. 
 
 " It was foolish to take that stand," he said. " Other 
 mothers went and why should not she? She had already 
 stayed in too much. She was injuring herself, and " what 
 was infinitely worse to Wilford " she was losing her 
 good looks." 
 
 As proof of this he led her to the glass, showing her 
 the pale, thin face and unnaturally large eyes, so distaste 
 ful to him. Wilford Cameron was very proud of his 
 handsome house, proud to know that everything there 
 was in keeping with his position and wealth, but when 
 Katy was immured in the nursery, the bright picture was 
 obscured, for it needed her presence to make it perfect, 
 and he began to grow dissatisfied with his surroundings, 
 while abroad he missed her quite as much, finding the 
 opera, the party or the reception, insipid where she was 
 not, and feeling fully conscious that Wilford Cameron, 
 without a wife, and that wife Katy, was not a man of half 
 the consequence he had thought himself to be. Even 
 Sybil Grandon did not think it worth her while to court 
 his attention, if Katy were not present, for unless some 
 one saw and felt her triumph it ceased directly to be one. 
 On the whole Wilford was not well pleased with society as 
 he found it this winter, and knowing where the trouble 
 lay, he resolved that Katy should no longer remain at 
 home, growing pale and faded and losing her good looks. 
 Wilford would not have confessed it, and perhaps was 
 
The Cameron Pride. 199 
 
 not himself aware of the fact, that Katy s beauty was 
 quite as dear to him as Katy herself. If she lost it her 
 value was decreased accordingly., and so, as a prudent hus 
 band, it behooved him to see that what was so very precious 
 was not unnecessarily thrown away. It did not take long 
 for Katy to understand that her days of quiet were at 
 an end, that neither crib nor cradle could avail her longer. 
 Mrs. Kirby, selected from a host of applicant s, was wholly 
 competent for Baby Cameron, and Katy must throw aside 
 the mother, which sat so prettily upon her, and become 
 again the belle. It was a sad trial, but Katy knew that 
 submission was the only alternative, and so when Mrs. 
 Banker s invitation came, she accepted it at once, but 
 there was a sad look upon her face as she kissed her baby 
 for the twentieth time ere going to her dressing maid. 
 
 Never until this night had Helen realized how beau 
 tiful Katy was when in full evening dress, and her excla 
 mations of delight brought a soft flush to Katy s cheek, 
 while she felt a thrill of the olden vanity as she saw her 
 self once more arrayed in all her costly apparel. Helen 
 did not wonder at Wilford s desire to have Katy with 
 him, and very proudly she watched her young sister as 
 Esther twined the flowers in her hair and then brought 
 out the ermine cloak she was to wear as a protection 
 against the cold. 
 
 Wilford was standing by her, making a few sugges 
 tions, and expressing his approbation in a way which 
 reminded Helen of that night before the marriage, when 
 Katy s dress had been condemned, and of that sadder, bit 
 terer time, when she had poured her tears like rain into 
 that trunk returned. All she had thought of Wilford 
 then was now more than confirmed, but he was kind to 
 her and very proud of Katy, so she forced back her feel 
 ings of disquiet, which, however, were roused again when 
 she saw the dark look on his face, as Katy, at the very 
 last, ran to the nursery to kiss baby good-bye, succeeding 
 this time in waking it, as was proven by the cry which 
 made Wilford scowl angrily and brought to his lips a 
 word of rebuke for Katy s childishness. 
 
 The party was not so large as that at Sybil Grandon s, 
 but it was more select, and Helen enjoyed it better, meet- 
 
2oo The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ing people who readily appreciated the peculiarities of 
 her mind, and who would have made her forget all else 
 around her if she had not been a guest at Mark Ray s 
 house. It was the first time she had met him away from 
 home since the night at Mrs. Grandon s, and as if for 
 getful of her reserve, he paid her numberless attentions, 
 which, coming from the master of the house, were the 
 more to be valued. 
 
 With a quiet dignity Helen received them all, the 
 thought once creeping into her heart that she was pre 
 ferred, notwithstanding that engagement. But she soon 
 repudiated this idea as unworthy of her. She could not 
 be wholly happy with one who, to win her hand, had 
 trampled upon the affections of another, even if that other 
 were Juno Cameron. 
 
 And so she kept out of his way as much as possible, 
 watching her sister admiringly as she moved about with 
 an easy, assured grace, or floated like a snowflake through 
 the dance in which Wilford persuaded her to join, look 
 ing after her with a proud, all-absorbing feeling, which 
 left no room for Sybil Grandon s coquettish advances. 
 
 As if the reappearance of Katy had awakened all that 
 was weak and silly in Sybil s nature, she again put forth 
 her powers of attraction, but met only With defeat. Katy, 
 and even Helen, was preferred before her, both belles 
 of a different type; but both winning golden laurels from 
 those who hardly knew which to admire more Katy, with 
 her pure, delicate beauty and charming simplicity, or 
 Helen, with her attractive face, and sober, quiet manner. 
 But Katy grew tired early. She could not endure what 
 she once did ; and when she came to Wilford with a weary 
 look upon her face, and asked him to go home, he did 
 not refuse, though Mark, who was near, protested against 
 their leaving so soon. 
 
 " Surely Miss Lennox might remain; the carriage could 
 be sent back for her; and he had hardly seen her at all." 
 But Miss Lennox chose to go; and after her white cloak" 
 and hood had passed through the door into the street, 
 there was nothing attractive for Mark in his crowded par 
 lors, and he was glad when the last guest had departed, 
 and he was left alone with his mother. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 201 
 
 Operas, parties, receptions, dinners, matinees, morning 
 calls, drives, visits, and shopping; how fast one crowded 
 upon the other, leaving scarcely an hour of leisure to the 
 devotee of fashion who attended to them all. How aston 
 ished Helen was to find what high life in New York im 
 plied, and she ceased to wonder that so many of the young 
 girls grew haggard and old before their time, or that the 
 dowagers grew selfish and hard and scheming. She should 
 die outright, she thought, and she pitied poor little Katy, 
 who, having once returned to the world, seemed destined 
 to remain there, in spite of her entreaties aivl the excuses 
 she made for declining the invitations which poured in 
 so fast. 
 
 " Baby was not well Baby needed her,"" was the plea 
 with which she met Wilford s arguments, until the men 
 tion of his child was sure to bring a scowl upon his face, 
 and it became a question in Helen s mind, whether he 
 would not be happier if Baby had never come between 
 him and his ambition. 
 
 To hear Katy s charms extolled, and know that he was 
 envied the possession of so rare a gem, feeling all the 
 while sure of her faith, was Wilford s great delight, and 
 it is not strange that, without any very strong fatherly 
 feeling or principle of right in that respect, he should 
 be irritated by the little life so constantly interfering 
 with his pleasure and so surely undermining Katy s health. 
 For Katy did not improve, as Wilford hoped she might; 
 and with his two hands he could span her slender waist, 
 while the beautiful neck and shoulders were no longer 
 worn uncovered, for Katy would not display her bones, 
 whatever the fashion might be. In this dilemma Wilford 
 sought his mother, and the result of that consultation 
 brought a more satisfied look to his face than it had 
 worn for many a day. 
 
 " Strange he had never thought of it, when it was what 
 so many people did, 3 he said to himself, as he hurried 
 home. "It was the very best thing both for Katy and 
 the child, and would obviate every difficulty." 
 
 Next morning, as she sometimes did when more than 
 usually fatigued, Katy breakfasted in bed ; while Wilford s 
 face, as he sat opposite Helen at the table, had on it a 
 
2O2 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 look of quiet determination, such as she had rarely seen 
 there before. In a measure, accustomed to his moods, 
 she felt that something was wrong, and never dreaming 
 that he intended honoring her with his confidence, she 
 was wishing he would finish his coffee and leave, when, 
 motioning the servant from the room, he said abruptly, 
 and in a tone which roused Helen s antagonistic powers 
 at once, it was so cool, so decided, " I believe you have 
 more influence over your sister than I have; at least, she 
 has latterly shown a willfulness in disregarding me and 
 a willingness to listen to you, which confirms me in this 
 conclusion " 
 
 " Well," and Helen twisted her napkin ring nervously, 
 waiting for him to say more ; but her manner discon 
 certed him, making him a little uncertain as to what might 
 be hidden behind that rigid face, and a little doubtful as 
 to the expression it would put on when he had said all 
 he meant to say. 
 
 He did not expect it to wear a look as frightened and 
 hopeless as Katy s did when he last saw it upon the pil 
 low, for he knew how different the two sisters were, and 
 much as he had affected to despise Helen Lennox, he 
 was afraid of her now. Tt had never occurred to him 
 before that he was somewhat uncomfortable in her pres 
 ence that her searching brown eyes often held him in 
 check; but it came to him now, that his wife s sister had 
 a will almost as firm as his own, and she was sure to 
 take Katy s part. He saw it in her face, even though 
 she had no idea of what he meant to say. 
 
 He must explain sometime, and so at last he continued. 
 " You must have seen how opposed Katy is to complying 
 with my wishes, setting them at naught, when she knows 
 how much pleasure she would give me by yielding as she 
 used to do." 
 
 "I don t know what you mean," Helen replied, "un 
 less it is her aversion to going out, as that, I think, is the 
 only point where her obedience has not been absolute." 
 
 " Wilford did not like the words obedience and absolute; 
 that is, he did not like the sound. Their definition suited 
 him, but Helen s enunciation was at fault, and he an 
 swered quickly, " I do not require absolute obedience from 
 
The Cameron Pride. 203 
 
 Katy. I never did ; but in this matter to which you refer, 
 I think she might consult my wishes as well as her own. 
 There is no reason for her secluding herself in the nursery 
 as she does. Do you think there is ? " 
 
 He put the question direct, and Helen answered it. 
 
 "I do not believe Katy means to displease you, but 
 she has conceived a strong aversion for festive scenes, 
 and besides, baby is not healthy, you know, and like all 
 young mothers, she may be over-anxious, while I fancy 
 she has not the fullest confidence in the nurse, and this 
 may account for her unwillingness to leave the child 
 with her/ 
 
 " Kirby was all that was desirable," Wilford replied, 
 " His mother had taken her from a genteel, respectable 
 house in Bond street, and he paid her an enormous price, 
 consequently she must be right;" and then came the story 
 that his mother had decided that neither Katy nor baby 
 would improve so long as they remained together; that 
 for both a separation was desirable; that she had recom 
 mended sending the child into the country, where it would 
 be better cared for than it could be at home, with Katy 
 constantly undoing all Mrs. Kirby had done, waking it 
 from sleep whenever the fancy took her, and in short, 
 treating it much as she probably did her doll when she 
 was a little girl. With the child away, there would be 
 nothing to prevent Katy s going out again and getting 
 back her good looks, which were somewhat impaired. 
 
 " Why, she looks older than you do," Wilford said, 
 thinking thus to conciliate Helen, who quietly replied, 
 
 " There is not two years difference between us, and I 
 have always been well, and kept regular hours until I 
 came here." 
 
 Wilford s compliment had failed, and more annoyed than 
 before, he asked, not what Helen thought of the arrange 
 ment, but if she would influence Katy to act and think 
 rationally upon it ; " at least, you will not make it worse," 
 he said, and this time there was something deferential and 
 pleading in his manner. 
 
 Helen knew the matter was fixed, that neither Katy s 
 tears nor entreaties would avail to revoke the decision, 
 and so, though her whole soul rose in indignation against 
 
2O4 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 a man who would deliberately send his nursing baby from 
 his roof because it was in his way, and was robbing his 
 bride s cheek of its girlish bloom, she answered com 
 posedly, 
 
 " I will do what I can, but I must confess it seems to 
 me an unnatural thing. I had supposed parents less 
 selfish than that." 
 
 " Wilford did not care what Helen had supposed, and 
 her opposition only made him more resolved. Still he 
 did not say so, and he tried to smile as he quitted the 
 table and remarked to her, 
 
 " I hope to find Katy reconciled when I come home. 
 I think I had better not go up to her again, so tell her I 
 send a good-bye kiss by you. I leave her case in your 
 hands." 
 
 It was a far more difficult case than either he or Helen 
 imagined, and the latter started back in alarm from the 
 white face which greeted her view as she entered Katy s 
 room, and then with a moan hid itself in the pillow. 
 
 66 Wilford thought he would not come up, but he sent 
 a kiss by me," Helen said, softly touching the bright, dis 
 ordered hair, all she could see of her sister. 
 
 "It does not matter," Katy gasped. *" Kisses cannot 
 help me if they take baby away. Did he tell you?" and 
 she turned now partly towards Helen, who nodded af 
 firmatively, while Katy continued, " Had he taken a knife 
 and cut a cruel gash it would not have hurt me half so 
 badly. I could bear that, but my baby oh, Helen, do 
 you think they will take *her away ? " 
 
 She was looking straight at Helen, who shivered as she 
 met an expression so unlike Katy, and so like to that a 
 hunted deer might wear if its offspring were in danger. 
 
 " Say, do you think they will ? " she continued, shed 
 ding back with her t 1 in hand the mass of tangled curls 
 which had fallen about her eyes. 
 
 " Whom do you mean by they ? " Helen asked, coming 
 near to her, and sitting down upon the bed. 
 
 There was a resentful gleam in the blue eyes usually 
 so gentle, as Katy answered, 
 
 " Whom do I mean? His folks, of course! They have 
 been the instigators of every sorrow I have known since 
 
The Cameron Pride. 205 
 
 I left Silverton. Oh, Helen ! never, never marry any 
 body who has folks, if you wish to be happy ." 
 
 Helen could not repress a smile, though she pitied her 
 sister, who continued, 
 
 " I don t mean father Cameron, nor Bell, for I believe 
 they love me. Father does, I know, and Bell has helped 
 me so often; but Mrs. Cameron and Juno, oh, Helen, you 
 will never know what they have been to me." 
 
 Since Helen came to New York there had been so much 
 else to talk about that Katy had said comparatively little 
 of the Camerons. Now, however there was no holding 
 back on Katy s part, and beginning with the first night 
 of her arrival in New York, she told what is already 
 known to the reader, exonerating Wilford in word, but 
 dealing out full justice to his mother and Juno, the for 
 mer of whom controlled him so completely. 
 
 " I tried so hard to love her," Katy said, " and if she 
 had given me ever so little in return I would have been 
 satisfied; but she never did that is, when I hungered 
 for it most, missing you at home, and the loving care 
 which sheltered me in childhood. After the world took 
 me into favor she began to caress me, but I was wicked 
 enough to think it all came of selfishness. I know I am 
 hard and bad, for when I was sick, Mrs. Cameron was 
 really very kind, and I began to like her; but if she takes 
 baby away I shall surely < lie." 
 
 " Where is baby to be sent ? " Helen asked, and Katy 
 answered, 
 
 " Up the river, to a house which Father Cameron owns,, 
 and which is kept by a farmer s family. I can t trust 
 Kirby. I do not like her. She keeps baby asleep too long, 
 and acts so cross if I try to wake her, or hint that she 
 looks unnatural. I cannot give baby to her care, with no 
 one to look after her, though Wilford says I must." 
 
 Katy had never offered so violent opposition to any plan 
 as she did n-ow to that of sending her child away. 
 
 " I can t, I can t," she repeated constantly, and Mrs. 
 Cameron s call, made that afternoon, with a view to rec 
 oncile the matter, only made it worse, so that Wilford, 
 on his return at night, felt a pang of self-reproach as he 
 saw the drooping figure holding his child upon its lap 
 
206 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 and singing its lullaby in a plaintive voice, which told 
 how sore was its heart. 
 
 Wilford did not mean to be either a savage or a brute. 
 On the contrary, he had made himself believe that he 
 was acting only for the good of both mother and child; 
 but the sight of Katy touched him, and he might have 
 given up the contest had not Helen, unfortunately, .aken 
 up the cudgels in Katy s defence, neglecting to conceal 
 the weapons, and so defeating her purpose. It was at the 
 dinner, from which Katy was absent, that she ventured 
 to speak, not asking that the plan be given up, but speak 
 ing of it as an unnatrual one, which seemed to her not 
 only useless, but cruel. 
 
 Wilford did not tell her that her opinion was not de 
 sired, but his manner implied as much, and Helen felt 
 the angry blood prickling through her veins, as she lis 
 tened to his reply, that it was neither unnatural nor cruel ; 
 that many people did it, and his would not be an iso 
 lated case. 
 
 " Then, if it must be," Helen said, " pray let it go to 
 Silverton, and I will be its nurse. Katy will not object 
 to that." 
 
 In a very ironical tone Wilford thanked her for her 
 offer, which he begged leave to decline, intimating a pref 
 erence for settling his own matters according to his own 
 ideas. Helen knew that further argument was useless, 
 and wished herself at home, where there were no wills 
 like this, which, ignoring Katy s tears and Katy s plead 
 ing face, would not retract one iota, or even stoop to 
 reason with the suffering mother, except to reiterate, " It 
 is only for your good, and every one with common sense 
 will say so." 
 
 Next morning Helen was surprised at Katy s proposi 
 tion to drive round to Fourth street, and call on Marian. 
 
 " I have a strong presentiment that she can do me good/ 
 Katy said. 
 
 " Shall you tell her ? " Helen asked, in some surprise ; 
 and Katy replied, " Perhaps I may, I ll see." 
 
 An hour later, and Katy, up in Marian s room, sat 
 listening intently, while Marian spoke of a letter received 
 a few days since from an old friend who had worked 
 
The Cameron Pride. 207 
 
 with her at Madam s, and to whom she had been 
 
 strongly attached, keeping up a correspondence with her 
 after her marriage and removal to New London, in Con 
 necticut, and whose little child had borne Marian s name. 
 That child, born two months before Katy s, was dead, 
 and the mother, finding her home so desolate, had written, 
 beseeching Marian to come to her for the remainder of 
 the winter. 
 
 There was an eager look in Katy s face, and her eyes 
 danced with the new idea which had suddenly taken pos 
 session of her. She could not trust baby with Kirby up 
 the river, but she could trust her in New London with 
 Mrs. Hubbell, if Marian was there, and grasping the lat- 
 ter s arm, she exclaimed, " Is Mrs. Hubbell poor ? Would 
 she do something for money, a great deal of money, I 
 mean ? " 
 
 In a few moments Marian had heard Katy s trouble, 
 and Katy s wish that Mrs. Hubbell should take her child 
 in place of the little one dead. " Perhaps she would not 
 harbor the thought for a moment, but she misses her own 
 so much, it made me think she might take mine. Write 
 to her, Marian, write to-day, now, before I go," Katy 
 continued, clasping Marian s hand, with an expression 
 which, more than aught else, won Marian Hazelton s con 
 sent to a plan which seemed so strange. 
 
 " Yes, I will write/ she answered ; " I will tell Amelia 
 what you desire/ 
 
 " But, Marian, you too must go, if baby does I ll trust 
 baby with you. Say, Marian, will you go with my dar 
 ling?" 
 
 It was hard to refuse, with those great, wistful, plead 
 ing eyes, looking so earnestly into hers; but Marian must 
 have time to consider. She had thought of going to New 
 London to open a shop, and if she did, she should board 
 with Mrs. Hubbell, and so be with the child. She would 
 decide when the answer came to the letter. 
 
 This was all the encouragement she would give; but it- 
 was enough to change the whole nature of Katy s feelings, 
 and her face looked bright and cheerful as she tripped 
 down the stairway, talking to Helen of what seemed to 
 both like a direct interposition of Providence, and what 
 
208 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 she was sure would please Wilford quite as well as the 
 farm-house up the river. 
 
 " Surely he will yield to me in this/" she said. Nor 
 was she wrong; for, glad of an opportunity to make some 
 concessions, and still in the main have his own way, Wil 
 ford raised no objection to the plan as communicated to 
 him by Katy, when, at an earlier hour than usual he 
 ca-me home to dinner, and with the harmony of his house 
 hold once more restored, felt himself a model husband, 
 as he listened to Katy s plan of sending baby to New 
 London. On the whole, it might be better even than the 
 farm-house up the river, he thought, for it was further 
 away, and Katy could not be tiring herself with driving 
 out every few days, and keeping herself constantly uneasy 
 and excited. The distance between New York and New 
 London was the best feature of the whole; and he won 
 dered Katy had not thought of it as an objection. But 
 she had not, and but for the pain when she remembered 
 the coming separation, she would have been very happy 
 that evening, listening with Wilford and Helen to a new 
 opera brought out for the first time in New York. 
 
 Very differently from this was Marian s evening passed, 
 and on her face there was a look such as Katy s had 
 never worn, as she asked for guidance to choose the right, 
 to lay all self aside, and if it were her duty, to care for 
 the child she had never seen, but whose birth had stirred 
 the pulsations of her heart and made the old wound bleed 
 and throb with bitter anguish. And as she prayed there 
 crept into her face a look which told that self was sacrificed 
 at last, and Katy Cameron was safe with her. 
 
 **#***** 
 
 Mrs. Hubbell was willing aye, more than that was 
 glad to take the child, and the generous remuneration 
 offered would make them so comfortable in their little 
 cottage, she wrote to Marian, who hastened to confer by 
 note with Katy, adding in a postscript, " Is it still youi 
 wish that I should go? If so, I am at your disposal." 
 
 It was Katy s wish, and she replied at once, going next 
 to the nursery to talk with Mrs. Kirby. Dark were the 
 frowns and dire the displeasure of that lady when told 
 that, instead of going up the river, as she had hoped, she 
 
The Cameron Pride. 209 
 
 was free to return to the "genteel and highly respectable 
 home on Bond street," where Mrs. Cameron had found 
 her. 
 
 " Wait till the Madam comes, and then we ll see," she 
 thought, referring to Mrs. Cameron, and feeling delighted 
 when, that very day, she heard that lady s voice in the 
 parlor. 
 
 But Mrs. Cameron, though a little anxious with regard 
 to both Mrs. HubbelPs and Marian s antecedents, saw 
 that Wilford was in favor of New London, and so vr cd 
 accordingly, only asking that she might write to Kew 
 London with regard to Mrs. Hubbell and her fitness to 
 take charge of a child in whose veins Cameron blood was 
 flowing. To this Katy assented, and as the answer re 
 turnee; to Mrs. Cameron s letter was altogether favorable, 
 it was decided that Mrs. Hubbell should come to the city 
 at once for her little charge. 
 
 In a week s time she arrived, seeming everything Katy 
 could ask for, and as Mrs. Cameron, too, approved her 
 heartily as a modest, well-spoken young woman, who 
 knew her place, it was arranged that she should return 
 home with her little charge on Saturday, thus giving Katy 
 the benefit of Sunday in which " to get over it and re 
 cover her usual spirits/ Mrs. Cameron said. The fact 
 that Marian was going to New London within a week 
 after baby went, reconciled Katy to the plan, making her 
 even cheerful during the last day of baby s stay at home. 
 But as the daylight waned and the night came on, a 
 shadow began to steal across her face, and her step was 
 slower as she went up the stairs to the nursery, while 
 only herself that night could disrobe the little creature 
 and hush it into sleep. 
 
 " Tis the last time, you know," 1 she said to Kirby, who 
 went out, leaving the young mother and child alone. 
 
 Mournfully sad and sweet was the lullaby Katy sang, 
 and Helen, who, in the hall, was listening to the low, sad 
 moaning, half prayer, half benediction, likened it to a 
 farewell between the living and dead. Half an hour later, 
 when she glanced into the room, lighted only by the moon 
 beams, baby was sleeping in her crib, whilst Katy knelt 
 beside, her face buried in her hands, and her form quiv- 
 
2io The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ering with the sobs she tried to smother as she softly 
 prayed that her darling might come back again; that 
 God would keep the little child and forgive the erring 
 mother, who had sinned so deeply since the time she used 
 to pray in her home among the hills of Massachusetts. 
 She was very white next morning, and to Helen she seeined 
 to be expanding into something more womanly, more ma 
 ture, as she disciplined herself to bear the pain welling 
 up so constantly from her heart, and at last overflowing 
 in a flood of tears, when Mrs. Hubbell was announced 
 as in the parlor below, waiting for her charge. 
 
 It was Katy who made her baby ready, trusting her to 
 no one else, and repelling with a kind of fierce decision 
 all offers of assistance made either by Helen, Mrs. Cam 
 eron, Bell, or the nurse, who were present, while Katy s 
 hands drew on the little bright, soft socks of wool, tied 
 the hood of satin and lace, and fastened the scarlet cloak, 
 her tears falling fast as she met the loving, knowing look 
 the baby was just learning to give her, half smiling, half 
 cooing, as she bent her face down to it. 
 
 " Please all of you go out," she said, when baby was 
 ready " Wilford and all. I would rather be alone." 
 
 They granted her request, but Wilford stood beside the 
 open door, listening while the mother b*ade farewell to 
 her baby. 
 
 " Darling/ she murmured, " what will poor Katy do 
 when you are gone, or what will comfort her as you have 
 done? Precious baby, my heart is breaking to give you 
 up; but will the Father in Heaven, who knows how much 
 yon are to me, keep you from harm and bring you back 
 again? I d give the world to keep you, but I cannot do 
 it, for Wilford says that you must go, and Wilford is your 
 father." 
 
 At that moment Wilford Cameron would have given 
 half his fortune to have kept his child for Katy s sake, 
 but it was now too late; the carriage was at the door, 
 and Mrs. Hubbell was waiting in the hall for the little 
 procession filing down the stairs. Mrs. Cameron and Bell, 
 Wilford and Katy, who carried the baby herself, her face 
 bent over it and her tears still dropping like rain. But it 
 was Wilford who took the baby to the carriage, going 
 
The Cameron Pride. 211 
 
 with it to the train and seeing Mrs. Hubbell off; then, 
 on his way back, he drove round to his own house, which 
 even to him seemed lonely, with all the paraphernalia of 
 babyhood removed. Still, now that the worst was over, 
 he rather enjoyed it, for Katy was free from care; there 
 was nothing to hinder her gratifying his every wish, and 
 with his spirits greatly enlivened as he reflected how satis 
 factory everything had been managed at the last, h pro 
 posed taking both Helen and Katy to the theatre that night. 
 But Katy answered, " No, Wilf ord, not to-night ; it seems 
 too much like baby s funeral. I ll go next week, but not 
 to-night." 
 
 So Katy had her way, and among the worshipers who 
 next day knelt in Grace Church, with words of prayer 
 upon their lips, there was not one in ore in earnest than 
 she, whose only theme was, " My child, my darling child." 
 
 She did not get over it by Monday, as Mrs. Cameron 
 had predicted. She did not get over it at all, though 
 she went without a word where Wilford willed that she 
 shcnld go, and was ere long a belle again, but nothing 
 hfl oower to draw one look from her blue eyes, the look 
 \\i.ich many observed, and which Helen knew sprang from 
 the mother-love, hungering for its child. Only once be 
 fore had Helen seen a look like this, and that had come 
 to Morris s face on the sad night when she said to him, 
 " It might have been." It had been there ever since, and 
 Helen felt that by the pangs with which that look was 
 born he was a better man, just as Katy was growing better 
 for that hunger in her heart. God was taking His own 
 way to purify them both, and Helen watched intently, 
 wondering what the end would be. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 AUNT BETSY GOES ON A JOURNEY. 
 
 JUST through the woods, where Uncle Ephraim was 
 wont to exercise old Whitey, was a narrow strip of land, 
 extending from the highway to the pond, and fertile in 
 nothing except the huckleberry bushes, and the rocky ledges 
 over which a few sheep roamed, seeking for the short grass 
 
212 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 and stunted herbs, which gave them a meagre sustenance. 
 As a whole, it was comparatively valueless, but to Aunt 
 Betsy Barlow it was of gre^t importance, as it was lier 
 property the land on which she paid taxes willingly 
 the real estate, the deed of which was lying undisturbed in 
 her hair trunk, where it had lain for years. Several dis 
 positions the good old lady had mentally made of this 
 property, sometimes dividing it equally between Helen and 
 Kty, sometimes willing it all to the former, and again, 
 when she thought of Mark Bay, leaving the interest of it 
 to some missionary society in which she was interested. 
 
 How, then, w r as the poor woman amazed and confounded 
 when suddenly there appeared a claimant to her prop 
 erty; not the whole, but a part, and that part taking in 
 the big sweet apple-tro^ and the very best of the berry 
 bushes, leaving her nothing but rocks and bogs, a pucker 
 cherry-tree, a patch of tansy, and one small tree, whose 
 gnarly apples were not fit, she said, to feed the pigs. 
 
 Of course she was indignant, and all the more so be 
 cause the claimant was prepared t; prove that the line 
 fence was not where it should be, but ran into his own 
 dominions for the width of two or three rods, a fact he 
 had just discovered by looking over a Bundle of deeds, 
 in which the boundaries of his own farm were clearly 
 denned. 
 
 In her distress, Aunt Betsy s first thoughts were turned 
 to Wilford as the man who could redress her wrongs, if 
 any one, and a long letter was written to him, in which 
 her grievances were told in detail and his advice solicited. 
 Commencing with " My dear Wilford," closing with " Your 
 respected ant," sealed with a wafer, stamped with her 
 thimble, and directed bottom side up, it nevertheless found 
 
 its way to No. Broadway, and into Wilford s hands. 
 
 But with a frown and pish of contempt he tossed it into 
 the grate, and vain were all Aunt Betsy s inquiries as to 
 whether there was any letter for her when Uncle Ephraim 
 came home from the office. Letters there were from Helen, 
 and sometimes one from Katy, but none from Wilford, 
 and her days were passed in great perplexity and distress, 
 until another idea took possession of her mind. She would 
 go to New York herself ! She had never traveled over 
 
The Cameron Pride. 21 
 
 half a dozen miles in the cars, it was true, but it was 
 time she had, and now that she had a new bonnet and 
 shawl, she could go to York as well as not ! 
 
 Wholly useless were the expostulations of the family, 
 for she would not listen to them, nor believe that she 
 would not be welcome at that house on Madison Square, 
 to which Mrs. Lennox had never been invited since Katy 
 was fairly settled in it. Much at first had been said of 
 her coming, and of the room she was to occupy; but all 
 that had ceased, and in the mother s heart there had been 
 a painful doubt as to the reason of the silence, until 
 Helen s letters enlightened her, telling her it was Wil- 
 ford who had built so high a wall between Katy and her 
 friends. 
 
 Far better than she used, did Mrs. Lennox understand 
 her son-in-law, and she shrank in horror from suffering 
 her aunt to go where she would be so serious an annoy 
 ance, frankly telling her the reason for her objections, and 
 asking if she wished to mortify the girls 
 
 At this Aunt Betsy took umbrage at once. 
 
 " She d like to know what there was about her to mor 
 tify anybody? Wasn t her black silk dress made long and 
 full, and the old pongee fixed into a Balmoral, and hadn t 
 she a bran new cap with purple ribbon, and couldn t she 
 travel in her delaine, and didn t she wear hoops always 
 now, except at cleanin house times? Didn t she nuss 
 both the girls, especially Catherwe, carrying her in her arms 
 one whole night when she had the canker-rash, and every 
 body thought she d die? And when she swallered that 
 tin whistle, didn t she spat her on the back and swing 
 her in the air till she came to and blew the whistle clear 
 across the room? Tell her that Catherine would be 
 ashamed ! She knew better ! " 
 
 Then, as a doubt began to cross her own mind as tu 
 Wilford s readiness to entertain her at his house, she con 
 tinued, 
 
 " At any rate, the Tubbses, who moved from Silverton 
 last fall, and who are living in such style on the Bowery, 
 wouldn t be ashamed, and I can stop with them at first, 
 till I see how the land lies. They have invited me to 
 come, both Miss Tubbs and Tilda, and they are nice 
 
214 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 folks, who belong to the Orthodox Church. Tom is in 
 town now, and if I see him I shall talk with him about 
 it, even if I never go." 
 
 Most devoutly did Mrs. Lennox and Aunt Hannah hope 
 that Tom would return to New York without honoring 
 the farm-house with a call; but, unfortunately for them, 
 he came that very afternoon, and instead of throwing 
 obstacles in Aunt Betsy s way, urged her warmly to make 
 the proposed visit. 
 
 " Mother would be so glad to see an old neighbor, 
 the honest youth said, " for she did not know many folks 
 in the city. Till had made some flashy acquaintances, 
 of whom he did not think much, and they kept a few 
 boarders, but nobody had called, and mother was lone 
 some. He wished Miss Barlow would come ; she would 
 have no difficulty in finding them," and on a bit of paper 
 he marked out the route of the Fourth Avenue cars, which 
 passed their door, and which Aunt Betsy would take after 
 arriving at the New Haven depot. " If he knew when 
 she was coming, he would meet her," he said, but Aunt 
 Betsy could not tell; she was not quite certain whether 
 she should go at all, she was so violently opposed. 
 
 Still she did not give it up entirely, and when, a few 
 days after Tom s return to New York, there came a press 
 ing invitation from the daughter Matilda, or Mat-tie, as 
 she signed herself, the fever again ran high, and this 
 time with but little hope of its abating. 
 
 "We shall be delighted, both mother and me," Mattie 
 wrote. " I will show you all the lions of the city, and 
 when you get tired of us you can go up to Mrs. Cameron s. 
 I know exactly where they live, and have seen her at the 
 opera in full dress, looking like a queen." 
 
 Over the last part of this letter Aunt Betsy pondered 
 for some time. " That as good an Orthodox as Miss 
 Tubbs should let her girl go to the opera, passed her. 
 She had wondered at Helen s going, but then, she was a 
 Piscopal, and them Piscopale had queer notions about 
 usin the world and abusin it." Still, as Helen did not 
 attend the theatre, and did attend the opera, there must be 
 a difference between the two places, and into the old lady s 
 heart there slowly crept the thought that possibly she 
 
The Cameron Pride. 215 
 
 might try the opera, too, if Tilda Tubbs would go, and 
 promise never to tell the folks at Silverton. 
 
 This settled, Aunt Betsy began to devise the best means 
 of getting off with the least opposition. Both Morris and 
 her brother would be absent from town during the next 
 week, and she finally resolved to take that opportunity 
 for starting on her visit to New York, wisely concluding 
 to keep her own counsel until she was quite ready. Ac 
 cordingly, on the very day Morris and the deacon left 
 Silverton, she announced her intention so quietly and de 
 cidedly that further opposition was useless, and Mrs. Len 
 nox did what she could to make her aunt presentable. 
 And Aunt Betsy did look very respectable, in her dark 
 delaine, with her hat and shawl, both Morris s gift, and 
 both in very good taste. As for the black silk and the new 
 cap, they were carefully folded away, one in a box and 
 the other in a satchel she carried on her arm, and ir one 
 compartment of which were sundry papers of fennel, jara- 
 way, and catnip, intended for Katy s baby, and which 
 could be sent to it from New York. There was also a 
 package of dried plums and peaches for Katy herself, and 
 a few cakes of yeast of her own make, better than any 
 they had in the city ! Thus equipped, she one morning 
 took her seat in the Boston and New York train, which 
 carried her swiftly on towards Springfield. 
 
 " If anybody can find their way in New York, it is 
 Betsy," Aunt Hannah said to Mrs. Lennox, as the day 
 wore on and their thoughts went after the lone woman, 
 who, with satchel, umbrella and cap-box, was felicitating 
 in the luxury of a whole seat, and the near neighbor 
 hood of a very nice } 7 oung man, who listened with well-bred 
 interest while she told of her troubles concerning the 
 sheep-pasture, and how she was going to New York to 
 consult a first-rate lawyer. 
 
 Once she thought to tell who the lawyer was, and per 
 haps enhance her own merits in the eyes of her auditor 
 by announcing herself as aunt to Mrs. Wilford Cameron, 
 of whom she had no doubt he had heard nay, more, 
 whom he possibly knew, inasmuch as his home was in 
 New York, though he spent much of his time at West 
 Point, where he had been educated. But certain dis- 
 
216 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 agreeable remembrances of Aunt Hannah s parting injunc 
 tion, " not to tell everybody in the cars that she was 
 Katy s aunt," kept her silent on that point, and so Lieu 
 tenant Bob Reynolds failed to be enlightened with regard 
 to the relationship existing between the fastidious Wil- 
 ford C y ameron of Madison Square, and the quaint eld 
 lady whose very first act on entering the car had amused 
 him Y:..^tly. At a glance he saw that she was unused to 
 traveling, and as the car was crowded, he had kindly 
 offered his seat near the door, taking the side one under 
 the window, and so close to her that she gave him her 
 cap-box to hold while she adjusted her other bundles. This 
 done, and herself comfortably settled, she was just re 
 making that she liked being close to the door, in case of 
 a fire, when the conductor appeared, extending his hand 
 officially towards her as the first one convenient. For an 
 instant Aunt Betsy scanned him closely, thinking she 
 surely had never seen him before, but as he seemed to 
 claim acquaintance, she could not find it in her kind 
 heart to ignore him altogether, and so she grasped the 
 offered hand, which she tried to shake, saying apologeti 
 cally, 
 
 " Pretty well, thank you, but you ve t got the better of 
 me, as I don t justly recall your name." 
 
 Instantly the eyes of the young man under the window 
 met those of the conductor with a look which changed the 
 frown gathering in the face of the latter into a comical 
 smile, as he withdrew his hand and shouted, 
 
 " Ticket, madam, your ticket ! " 
 
 " For the land s sake, have I got to give that up so 
 quick, when it s at the bottom of my satchel," Aunt Betsy 
 replied, somewhat crest-fallen at her mistake, and fum 
 bling in her pocket for the kc-y, which was finally pro 
 duced, and one by one the paer parcels of fennel, cara 
 way, and catnip, dried plums, peaches and yeast cakes, 
 were taken out, until at the very bottom, as she had said, 
 the ticket was found, the conductor waiting patiently, 
 and advising her, by way of avoiding future trouble, to 
 pin the card to her shawl, where it could be seen. 
 
 " A right nice man," was Aunt Betsy s mental com 
 ment, but for a long time there was a red spot on her 
 
The Cameron Pride. 217 
 
 cheeks as she felt that she had made herself ridiculous, 
 and hoped the girls would never hear of it. 
 
 The young man helped to reassure her, and in telling 
 him her troubles she forgot her chagrin, feeling very 
 sorry that he was going on to Albany, and so down 
 the river to West Point. West Point was associated in 
 Aunt Betsy s mind with that handful of noble men who 
 within the walls of Sumter were then the centre of so 
 much interest, and at parting with her companion she 
 said to him. 
 
 " Young man, you are a soldier, I take it, from your 
 havin been to school at West Point. Maybe you ll never 
 have to use your learning, but if you do, stick to the 
 old flag. Don t you go against that, and if an old 
 woman s prayers for your safety can do any good, be 
 sure you ll have mine." 
 
 She raised her hand reverently, and Lieutenant Bob 
 felt a kind of awe steal over him as if he might one day 
 need that benediction, the first perhaps given in the 
 cause then so terribly agitating all hearts both North 
 and South. 
 
 " I ll remember what you say," he answered, and then 
 as a new idea was presented he took out a card, and 
 writing a few lines upon it, bade her hand it to the con 
 ductor just as she was getting into the city. 
 
 Without her glasses Aunt Betsy could not read, and 
 thinking it did not matter now, she thrust the card into 
 her pocket, and bidding her companion good-by, took 
 her seat in the other train. Lonely and a very little 
 home-sick she began to feel; for her new neighbors were 
 not as willing to talk as Bob had been, and she finally 
 relapsed into silence, which resulted in a quiet sleep, 
 from which she awoke just as they were entering the 
 long, dark tunnel, which she would have likened to Pur 
 gatory, had she believed in such a place. 
 
 " I didn t know we ran into cellars," she said faintly ; 
 but nobody heeded her, or cared for the anxious timid- 
 looking woman, who grew more and more anxious, until 
 suddenly remembering the card, she drew it from her 
 pocket, and the next time the conductor appeared handed 
 it to him, watching him while he read that " Lieut. 
 
218 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Robert Reynolds would consider it as a personal favor 
 if he would see the bearer safely into the Fourth Avenue 
 cars/ 
 
 Surely there is a Providence which watches over all; 
 and Lieutenant Reynolds s thoughtfulness was not a mere 
 chance, but the answer to the simple trust Aunt Betsy 
 had that God would take her safely to New York. The 
 conductor knew Lieutenant Bob, and attended as faith 
 fully to his wishes as if it had been a born princess in 
 stead of Aunt Betsy Barlow whom he led to a street car, 
 ascertaining the number on the Bowery where she wished 
 to stop, and reporting to the conductor, who bowed in 
 acquiescence, after glancing at the woman, and knowing 
 intuitively that she wa3 from the country. Could she 
 have divested herself wholly of the fear that the con 
 ductor would forget to put her off at the right place, 
 Aunt Betsy would have enjoyed that ride very much ; 
 and as it was, she looked around with interest, thinking 
 New York a mightily cluttered-up place, and wondering 
 if all the folks were in the streets; then, as a lady in 
 flaunting robes took a seat beside her, crowding her into 
 a narrow space, the good old dame thought to show that 
 she did not resent it, by an attempt at sociability, asking 
 if she knew " Miss Peter Tubbs, whose husband kept a 
 store on the Bowery ? " 
 
 " I have not that honor/ was the haughty reply, the 
 lady drawing up her costly shawl and moving a little 
 away from her interlocutor, who continued, " I thought 
 like enough you might have seen Tilda, or Mattie as 
 she calls herself now. She is a right nice girl, and Tom 
 is a very forrard boy." 
 
 To this there was no reply; and as the lady soon left 
 the car, Aunt Betsy did not make another attempt at 
 conversation, except to ask once how far they were from 
 the Bowery, adding, as she received a civil answer, " You 
 don t know Mr. Peter Tubbs ? " 
 
 That worthy man was evidently a stranger to the occu 
 pants of that car, which stopped at last upon a crossing, 
 the conductor pointing back a few doors to the right, 
 and telling her that was her number. 
 
 "I should s pose he might have driv right up, instead 
 
The Cameron Pride. 219 
 
 of leaving me here/ she said, looking wistfully after the 
 retreating car. " Coats, and trowsers, and jackets ! I 
 wonder if there is nothing else to be seen here," she con 
 tinued, as her eye caught the long line of clothing so 
 conspicuously displayed in that part of the Bowery. 
 Taint no great shakes," was the feeling struggling into 
 Aunt Betsy s mind, as with Tom s outline map in hand 
 she peered at the numbers of the doors, finding the right 
 one, and ringing the bell with a force which brought 
 Mattie at once to the rescue. 
 
 If Mattie was not glad to see her guest, she seemed to 
 be, which answered every purpose for the tired woman, 
 who followed her into the dark, narrow hall, and up the 
 narrow stairs, through a still darker hall, and into the 
 front parlor, which looked out upon the Bowery. 
 
 Mrs. Tubbs was glad to see Aunt Betsy. She did not 
 take kindly to city life, and the sight of a familiar face, 
 which brought the country with it, was very welcome to 
 her. Mattie, on the contrary, liked New York, and there 
 was sc-arcely a street where she had not been, with Tom 
 for a protector; while she was perfectly conversant with 
 all the respectable places of amusement with their dif 
 ferent prices and different grades of patrons. She knew 
 where Wilford Cameron s office was, and also his house, 
 for she had walked by the latter many a time, admiring 
 the elegant curtains, and feasting her eyes upon the 
 glimpses of inside grandeur, which she occasionally obtained 
 as some one came out or went in. Once she had seen Helen 
 and Katy enter their carriage, which the colored coachman 
 drove away, but she had never ventured to accost them. 
 Katy would not have known her if she had, for the 
 family had come to Silverton while she was at Canandaigna, 
 and as, after her return to Silverton, until her marriage, 
 Mattie had been in one of the Lawrence factories, they had 
 never met. With Helen, however, she had a speaking 
 acquaintance; but she had never presumed upon it in 
 New York, though to some of her young friends she had 
 told how she once sat in the same pew with Mrs. Wilford 
 Cameron s sister when she went to the " Episcopal meet 
 ing," and the consideration which this fact procured for 
 her from those who had heard of Mrs. Wilford Cameron, of 
 
22O The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Madison Square, awoke in her the ambition to know more 
 of that lady, and, if possible, gain an entrance to her 
 dwelling. To this end she favored Aunt Betsy s visit, 
 hoping thus to accomplish her object, for, of course, when 
 Miss Barlow went to Mrs. Cameron s, she was the proper 
 person to go with her and point the way. This was the 
 secret of Mattie s letter to Aunt Betsy, and the warmth 
 with which she welcomed her to that tenement on the 
 Bowery, over a clothing store, and so small that it is 
 not strange Aunt Betsy wondered where they all slept, 
 never dreaming of the many devices known to city house 
 keepers, who can change a handsome parlor into a kitchen 
 or sleeping room, and vice versa, with little or no trouble. 
 But she found it out at last, lifting her hands in speechless 
 amazement, when, as the hour for retiring camo, what 
 she had imagined the parlor bookcase was converted in 
 to a comfortable bed, on which her first night in New 
 York was passed in comfort if not in perfect quiet. 
 
 The next day had been set apart by Mattie for show 
 ing their guest the city, and possibly calling on Mrs. 
 Wilford; but the poor old lady, unused to travel and ex 
 citement, was too tired to go out, and stayed at home the 
 entire day, watching the crowds of people in the street, 
 and occasionally wishing herself back in the clean, bright 
 kitchen, where the windows looked out upon woods and 
 fields instead of that never-ceasing rush which made her 
 dizzy and faint. On the whole she was as nearly home 
 sick as she well could be, and so when Mattie asked if 
 she would like to go out that evening, she caught eagerly 
 at the idea, as it involved a change, and again the 
 opera came before her mind, in spite of her attempts to 
 thrust it away. 
 
 " Did Tilda know if Katy went to the opera now ? 
 Did she s pose she would be there to-night? Was it far 
 to the show? What was the price? and was it a very 
 wicked place?" 
 
 To all these queries Mattie answered readily. She 
 presumed Katy would be there, as it was a new opera. 
 It was not so very far. Distance in the city was noth 
 ing, and it was not a wicked place; but over the price 
 Mattie faltered. Tickets for Aunt Betsy, herself and r J)om, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 221 
 
 who of course must go with them, would cost more than 
 her father had to give. The theatre was preferable, as 
 that came within their means, and she suggested Wallack s, 
 but from that Aunt Betsy recoiled as from Pandemonium 
 itself. 
 
 " Catch Tier at a theatre a deacon s sister, looked up 
 to for a sample, and who run once for Vice-President of 
 the Sewing Society in Silverton ! It was too terrible to 
 think of." But the opera seemed different. Helen went 
 there; it could not be very wrong, particularly as the 
 tickets were so high, and taking out her purse, Aunt 
 Betsy counted its contents carefully, holding the bills 
 thoughtfully for a moment, while she seemed to be bal 
 ancing between what she knew was safe and what she 
 feared might be wrong, at least in the eyes of Silverton. 
 
 " But Silverton will never know it," the tempter 
 whispered, " and it is worth something to see the girls in 
 full dress." 
 
 This last decided it, and Aunt Betsy generously offered 
 "to pay the fiddler, provided Tilda would never let it 
 get to Silverton, that Betsy Barlow was seen inside a 
 play-house ! " To Mrs. Tubbs it seemed impossible that 
 Aunt Betsy could be in earnest, but when she found she 
 was, she put no impediments in her way ; and so, con 
 spicuous among the crowd of transient visitors who that 
 night entered the Academy of Music was Aunt Betsy 
 Barlow, chaperoned by Miss Mattie Tubbs, and protected 
 by Tom, a shrewd, well-grown youth of seventeen, who 
 passed for some years older, and consequently was a 
 sufficient escort for the ladies under his charge. It was 
 not his first visit there, and he managed to procure a seat 
 whioh commanded a good view of several private boxes, 
 and among them that of Wilford Cameron. This Mat- 
 tie pointed out to the excited woman gazing about her in 
 a maze of bewilderment, and half doubting her own 
 identity with the Betsy Barlow who, six weeks before, if 
 charged with such a sin as she was now committing, 
 would have exclaimed, " Is thy servant a dog, to do this 
 thing ? " Yet here she was, a deacon s sister, a candidate 
 for the Vice-Presidency of the Silverton Sewing Society, 
 a woman who, for sixty-three years and-a-half, had led^a 
 
222 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 blameless life, frowning upon all worldly amusements 
 and setting herself for a burning light to others here 
 she was in her black dress, her best shawl pinned across 
 her chest, and her bonnet tied in a square bow which 
 reached nearly to her ears. Here she was, in that huge 
 building, where the lights were so blinding, and the 
 crowd so great that she shut her eyes involuntarily, while 
 she tried to realize what she could be doing. 
 
 "I m in for it now, anyhow, and if it is wrong may 
 the good Father forgive me," she said softly to herself, 
 just as the orchestra struck up, thrilling her with its 
 ravishing strains, and making her forget all else in her 
 rapturous delight. 
 
 She was very fond of music, and listened eagerly, 
 beating time with both her feet, and making her bonnet 
 go up and down until the play commenced and she saw 
 stage dress and stage effect for the first time in her life. 
 This part she did not like ; " they mumbled their words 
 so nobody could understand more than if they spoke a 
 heathenish tongue," she thought, and she was beginning 
 to yawn when a nudge from Mattie and a whisper, 
 " There they come/ roused her from her stupor, and 
 looking up she saw both Helen and Katy entering their 
 box, and with them Mark Bay and Wilf6rd Cameron. 
 
 Very rapidly Katy s eyes swept the house, running 
 over the sea of heads below, but failing to see the figure 
 which, half rising from its seat, stood gazing upon her, 
 the tears running like rain over the upturned face, and 
 the lips murmuring, " Darling Katy ! blessed child ! She s 
 thinner than when I see her last, but oh ! so beautiful 
 and grand ! Precious lambkin ! It isn t wicked now for 
 me to be coming here, where I can see her face 
 again." 
 
 It was all in vain that Mattie pulled her dress, bidding 
 her sit down as people were staring at her. Aunt Betsy 
 did not hear, and if she had she would scarcely have 
 cared for those who, following her eyes, saw the beauti 
 ful young ladies, behind whom Wilford and Mark were 
 standing, but never dreamed of associating them with the 
 "crazy thing" who sank back at last into her seat, keep 
 ing her eyes still upon the box where Helen and Katy 
 
The Cameron Pride. 223 
 
 sat, their heads uncovered, and their cloaks falling off 
 just enough to show the astonished woman that their 
 necks were uncovered too, while Helen s arms, raised 
 to adjust her glass, were discovered to be in the same 
 condition. 
 
 " Ain t they splendid in full dress ! " Mattie whispered, 
 while Aunt Betsy replied, 
 
 " Call that full dress ? Fd sooner say it was no dresa 
 at all! They ll catch their death of cold. What would 
 their mother say?" 
 
 Then, as the enormity of the act grew upon her, she 
 continued more to herself than to Mattie, 
 
 " I mistrusted Catherine, but that Helen should come to 
 this passes me." 
 
 Still, as she became more accustomed to it, and glanced 
 at other full-dressed ladies, the first shock passed away, 
 and she could calmly contemplate Katy s dress, wonder 
 ing what it cost, and then letting her eyes pass on to 
 Helen, to whom Mark Bay seemed so lover-like that Aunt 
 Betsy remembered her impressions when he stopped at 
 Silverton, her heart swelling with pride as she thought 
 of both the girls making out so well. 
 
 " Who is that young man talking to Helen ? " Mattie 
 asked, between the acts, and when told it "was Mr. Ray, 
 Wilford s partner," she drew her breath eagerly, and 
 turned again to watch him, envying the young girl who 
 did not seem as much gratified with the attentions as 
 Mattie fancied she should be were she in Helen s 
 place. 
 
 How could she, with Juno Cameron just opposite, 
 watching her jealously, while Madam Cameron fanned 
 herself indignantly, refusing to look upon what she so 
 greatly disapproved. 
 
 But Mark continued his attentions until Helen wished 
 herself away, and though a good deal surprised, was 
 not sorry when Wilford abruptly declared the opera a 
 bore, and suggested going home. 
 
 They would order an ice, he said, and have a much 
 pleasanter time in their own private parlor. 
 
 " Please not go ; I like the play .to-night," Katy said ; 
 but on Wilford s face there was that look which never 
 
224 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 consulted Katy s wishes, and so the two ladies tied on 
 their cloaksj and just as the curtain rose in the last act, 
 left their f>ox, while Aunt Betsy looked wistfully after 
 them, but did not suspect she was the cause of their exit, 
 and of Wilford s perturbation. 
 
 Running his eyes over the hous> below, they had fallen 
 upon the trio, Aunt Betsy, Mattie, and Tom, the first of 
 whom was at that moment partly standing, while she ad 
 justed her heavy shawl, which the heat of the building 
 had compelled her to unfasten. 
 
 There was a start, a rush of blood to the head and 
 face, and then he reflected how impossible it was that she 
 should be there, in New York, and at the opera, too. 
 
 The shawl arranged, Aunt Betsy took her seat and turned 
 her face fully toward him, while Wilford seized Katy s 
 glass and leveled it at her. He was not mistaken. It was 
 Aunt Betsy Barlow, and Wilford felt the perspiration ooz 
 ing out beneath his hair and about his lips, as he remem 
 bered the letter he had burned, wishing now that he had 
 answered it, and so, perhaps, have kept her from his door. 
 Fc- she was coming there, nay, possibly had come, since his 
 departure from home, and learning his whereabouts had 
 followed on to the Academy of Music, leaving her baggage 
 where he should stumble over it on entering the hall. 
 
 Such was the fearful picture conjured up by Wilford s 
 imagination, as he stood watching poor Aunt Betsy, a dark 
 cloud on his brow and fierce anger at his heart, that she 
 should thus presume to worry and annoy him. 
 
 "If she spies us she will be finding her way up here; 
 there s no piece of effrontery of which that class is not 
 capable," he thought, wondering next who the vulgar-look 
 ing girl and gauche youth were who were with her. 
 
 " Country cousins, of whom I have never heard, no 
 doubt/ and he ground his teeth together as with his next 
 breath he suggested going home, carrying out his sug 
 gestion and hurrying both Helen and Katy to the carriage 
 as if some horrible dragon had been on their track. 
 
 There was no baggage in the hall; there had been no 
 woman there, and Wilford s fears for a time subsided, but 
 grew strong again about the time he knew the opera was 
 out, while the sound of wheels coming towards his door 
 
The Cameron Pride. 225 
 
 was sufficient to make his heart stop beating, and every 
 hair prickle at its roots. 
 
 But Aunt Betsy did not come except in Wilford s dreams, 
 which she haunted the entire night, so that the morning 
 found him tired, moody and cross. That day they enter 
 tained a select dinner party, and as this was something 
 in which Katy excelled, while Helen s presence, instead of 
 detracting from, would add greatly to the eclat of the af 
 fair, Wilford had anticipated it with no small degree of 
 complacency. But now, alas, there was a phantom at his 
 side, a skeleton of horror, wearing Aunt Betsy s guise; 
 and if it had been possible he would have given the dinner 
 up. But it was too late for that ; the guests were bidden, 
 the arrangements made, and there was nothing now for 
 him but to abide the consequences. 
 
 " She shall at least stay in her room, if I have to lock 
 her in," he thought, as he went down to his office without 
 kissing Katy or bidding her good-by. 
 
 Business that day had no interest for him, and in a 
 listless, absent way he sat watching the passers-by and 
 glancing at his door as if he expected the first assault to 
 be made there. Then, as the day wore on, and he felt 
 sure that what he so much dreaded had really come to 
 pass, that the baggage expected last night had certainly 
 arrived by this time and spread itself over his house, he 
 could endure the suspense no longer, and startled Mark 
 with the announcement that he was going home, and 
 should not return again that day. 
 
 " Going home, when Leavit is to call at three ! " Mark 
 said, in much surprise, and feeling that it would be a 
 relief to unburden himself to some one, the story came 
 out that Wilford had seen Aunt Betsy at the opera, and 
 expected to find her at Madison Square. 
 
 " I wish I had answered her letter about that confounded 
 sheep pasture," he said, " for I would rather give a thousand 
 dollars yes, ten thousand than have her with us to-day. 
 I did not marry my wife s relations," he continued, ex 
 citedly, adding, as Mark looked quickly up, " Of course I 
 don t mean Helen. Neither do I mean that doctor, for 
 he is a gentleman. But this Barlow woman oh ! Mark, 
 I am all of a dripping sweat just to think of it." 
 
226 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 He did not say what he intended doing, but with Mark 
 Kay s ringing laugh in his ears, passed into the street, and 
 hailing a stage was driven towards home, just as a down 
 town stage deposited on the walk in front of his office " that 
 Barlow woman " and Mattie Tubbs ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 AUNT BETSY CONSULTS A LAWYER. 
 
 AUNT Betsy did not rest well after her return from the 
 opera. Novelty and excitement always kept her awake, and 
 her mind was not wholly at ease with regard to what she 
 had done. Not that she really felt she had committed a 
 sin, except so far as the example might be bad, but she 
 feared the result, should it ever reach the Orthodox church 
 at Silverton. 
 
 " There s no telling what Deacon Bannister would do 
 send a subp&na after me, for what I know," she thought, 
 as she laid her tired head upon her pillow and went off 
 into a weary state, half way between sleep and wake- 
 fulness, in which operas, play-actors ?t Katy in full dress, 
 Helen and Mark Ray, choruses, music by the orchestra, 
 to which she had been guilty of beating her foot, Deacon 
 Bannister, and the whole offended brotherhood, with con 
 stable and subpoenas, were pretty equally blended together. 
 
 But with the daylight her fears subsided, and at the 
 breakfast table she was hardly less enthusiastic over the 
 opera than Mattie herself, averring, however, that " once 
 would do her, and she had no wish to go again." 
 
 The sight of Katy had awakened all the olden intense 
 love she had felt for her darling, and she could not wait 
 much longer without seeing her. 
 
 " Hannah and Lucy, and amongst em, advised me not 
 to come," she said to Mrs. Tubbs, "and they hinted that 
 I might not be wanted up there ; but now I m here I shall 
 go, if I don t stay more than an hour." 
 
 " Of course I should," Mattie answered, herself anxious 
 to stand beneath Wilford Cameron s roof, and see Mrs. 
 Wilford at home. " She don t look as proud as Helen, and 
 
The Cameron Pride. 227 
 
 you are her aunt, her blood kin; why shouldn t you go 
 there if you like ? " 
 
 " I shall I am going," Aunt Betsy replied, feeling that 
 to take Mattie with her was not quite the thing, and not 
 exactly knowing how to manage, for the girl must of 
 course pilot the way. "I ll risk it and trust to Provi 
 dence," was her final decision, and so after an early lunch 
 she started out with Mattie as her escort, suggesting that 
 they visit Wilford s office first, and get that affair off her 
 mind. 
 
 At this point Aunt Betsy began to look upon herself ns 
 a most hardened wretch, wondering at the depths of in 
 iquity to which she had fallen. The opera was the least 
 of her offences, for was she not harboring pride and con- 
 triv ng how to be rid of Tilda Tubbs, as clever a girl as 
 ever lived, hoping that if she found Wilford he would see 
 her home, and so save Tilda the trouble? Play-houses, 
 pride, vanity, subterfuges and deceit it was a long cata 
 logue she would have to confess to Deacon Bannister, if 
 confess she did, and with a groan the conscience-smitten 
 woman followed her conductor along the streets, and at last 
 into the stagr* which took them to Wilford s office. 
 
 Broadway was literally jammed that day, and the aid of 
 two policenK^n was required to extricate the bewildered 
 country womnn from the mass of vehicles and horses heads, 
 which took all her sense away. Trembling like a leaf when 
 Mattie explained that the "two nice men" who had 
 dragged her to the walk were police officers, and thinking 
 again of the subpoena, the frightened woman who had es 
 caped such peril, followed up the two flights of stairs 
 and into Wilford s office, where she sank breathless into a 
 chair, while Mark, not in the least surprised, greeted her 
 cordially, and very soon succeeded in getting her quiet, 
 bowing so graciously to Mattie when introduced that the 
 poor girl dreamed of him for many a night, and by day 
 built castles of what might have been had she been rich, 
 instead of only Tilda Tubbs, whose home was on the 
 Bowery. Why need Aunt Betsy in her introduction have 
 mentioned that fact? Mattie thought, her cheeks burning 
 scarlet ; or why need she afterwards speak of her as Tilda, 
 who wae kind enough to come with her to the office where 
 
228 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 she hoped to find Wilford? Poor Mattie, she knew some 
 things very well, but she had never yet conceived of the 
 immeasurable distance between herself and Mark Bay, who 
 cared but little whether her home were on the Bowery or 
 on Murray Hill, after the first sight which told him what 
 she was. 
 
 " Mr. Cameron has just left the office and will not re 
 turn to-day," he said to Aunt Betsy, asking if lie could 
 assist her in any way, and assuring her of his willingness 
 to do so. 
 
 Aunt Betsy could talk with him better than with Wil 
 ford, and was about to give him the story of the sheep- 
 pasture, in detail, when, motioning to a side door, he said, 
 " Walk in here, please. You will not be liable to so 
 many interruptions." 
 
 " Come, Tilda, it s no privacy," Aunt Betsy said ; but 
 Tilda felt intuitively that she was not wanted, and rather 
 haughtily declined, amusing herself by the window, while 
 Aunt Betsy in the private office told her troubles to Mark 
 Bay; and received in return the advice to let the claim 
 ant go to law if he chose ; he probably would make nothing 
 by it; even if he did, she would not sustain a heavy 
 loss, according to her own statement * of the value of the 
 land. 
 
 " If I could keep the sweet apple-try, I wouldn t care," 
 Aunt Betsy said, " for the rest ain t worth a law-suit ; 
 though it s my property, and I have thought of willing it 
 to Helen, if she ever marries." 
 
 Here was a temptation which Mark Bay could not re 
 sist. Ever since Mrs. General Beynolds s party Helen s 
 manner had puzzled him; but her shyness only made him 
 more in love than ever, while the rumor of her engage 
 ment with Dr. Morris tormented him continually. Some 
 times he believed it, and sometimes he did not, wishing al 
 ways that he knew for certain. Here then was a chance 
 for confirming his fears or for putting them at rest, and 
 blessing Tilda Tubbs for declining to enter his back office, 
 he said in reply to Aunt Betsy s " If she ever marries " 
 " And of course she will. She is engaged, I believe? " 
 
 " Engaged ! Who to ? When ? Strange she never writ, 
 nor Katy neither," Aunt Betsy exclaimed, while Mark, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 229 
 
 raised to an ecstatic state, replied, " I refer to Dr. Grant. 
 Haven t they been engaged for a long time past ? " 
 
 " Why no indeed," was the response, and Mark could 
 have hugged the good old lady, who continued in a con 
 fidential tone, " I used to think they d make a good match ; 
 but I ve gin that up, and I sometimes mistrust twas Katy 
 Morris wanted. Anyhow; he s mighty changed since she 
 was married, and he never speaks her name. I never heard 
 anybody say so, and maybe it s all a fancy, so you won t 
 mention it." 
 
 " Certainly not/ Mark replied, drawing nearer to her, 
 and continuing in a low tone, " Isn t it possible that after 
 all Helen is engaged to her cousin, and you do not know 
 it?" 
 
 " No," and Aunt Betsy grew very positive. " I am sure 
 she ain t, for only t other day I said to Morris that I 
 wouldn t wonder if Helen and another chap had a han- 
 kerin for one another; and he said he wished it might be 
 so, for you no, that other chap, I mean would make a 
 splendid husband," and Aunt Betsy turned very red at the 
 blunder, which made Mark Ray feel as if he walked on 
 air, with no obstacle whatever in his way. 
 
 Still he could not be satisfied without probing her a 
 little deeper, and so he said, " And that other chap ? Does 
 he live in Silverton ? " 
 
 Aunt Betsy s look was a sufficient answer; for the old 
 lady knew he was quizzing her, just as she felt that in 
 some way she had removed a stumbling-block from his 
 path. She had, a very large stumbling-block, and in the 
 first flush of his joy and gratitude he could do most any 
 thing. So when she spoke of going up to Katy s he set 
 himself industriously at work to prevent it for that day at 
 least. " They were to have a large dinner party," he said, 
 " and both Mrs. Cameron and Miss Lennox would be wholly 
 occupied. Would it not be better to wait until to-mor 
 row ? Did she contemplate a long stay in New York ? " 
 
 " No, she might go back to-morrow, certainly the day 
 after," Aunt Betsy replied, her voice trembling at this 
 fresh impediment thrown in the way of her seeing Katy. 
 
 The quaver in her voice touched Mark s sympathy. " She 
 was old and simple-hearted. She was Helen s aunt/ and 
 
^50 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 this, more than aught else, helped him to a decision. " She 
 must be homesick in the Bowery; he would take her to 
 his mother s and keep her until the morrow, and perhaps 
 until she left for home; telling Helen, of course, and then 
 suffering her to act accordingly." 
 
 This he proposed to his client; assuring her of his 
 mother s entire willingness to receive her, and urging so 
 many reasons why ne should go there, instead of " up to 
 Katy s," where they were in such confusion, that Aunt 
 Betsy was at last persuaded, and was soon riding up town 
 in a Twenty-third Street stage, with Mark Ray her vis 
 a-vis, and Mattie at her right. Why Mattie was there Mark 
 could not conjecture ; and perhaps she did not know her 
 self, unless it were that, disappointed in her call on Mrs. 
 Cameron, she vaguely hoped for some redress by calling 
 on Mrs. Banker. How then was she chagrined, when, as 
 the stage left them at a handsome brownstone front, near 
 Fifth Avenue Hotel, Mark said to her, as if she were not 
 of course expected to go in, " Please tell your mother that 
 Miss Barlow is stopping with Mrs. Banker to-day. Has 
 she baggage at your house? If so, we will send round for 
 it at once. Your number, please ? " 
 
 His manner was so off hand and yef so polite that Mattie 
 could neither resist him, nor be angry, though there was 
 a pang of disappointment at her heart as she gave the re 
 quired number, and then shook Aunt Betsy s hand, whis 
 pering in a choked voice, 
 
 " You ll come to us again before you go home ? " 
 
 With a good-bye to Mark, whose bow atoned for a great 
 deal, Mattie walked slowly away, leaving Mark greatly re 
 lieved. Aunt Betsy was as much as he cared to have on 
 his hands at once, and as he led her up the steps, he began 
 to wonder more and more what his mother would say to 
 his bringing that stranger into her house, unbidden and 
 unsought. 
 
 " I ll tell her the truth," was his rapid decision, and as 
 suming a manner which warned the servant who answered 
 his ring neither to be curious nor impertinent, he con 
 ducted his charge into the parlor, and bringing her a 
 chair before the grate, went in quest of his mother, who 
 he found was out. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 231 
 
 "Kindle a fire then in the front guest-chamber/ he 
 said, " and see that it is made comfortable as soon as 
 possible." 
 
 The servant bowed in acquiescence, wondering wlw had 
 come, and feeling not a little surprised at the description 
 given by John of the woman he had let into the house, and 
 who now in the parlor was looking around her in astonish 
 ment and delight, condemning herself for the feeling of 
 homesickness with which she remembered the Bowery, and 
 contrasting her " cluttered quarters " there with the ele 
 gance around her. " Was Katy s house as fine as this ? " 
 she asked herself, feeling intuitively that such as she might 
 be out of place in it, just as she began to fear she was out 
 of her place here, bemoaning the fact that she had for 
 gotten her cap-box, with its contents, and so could not re 
 move her bonnet, as she had nothing with which to cover 
 her gray head. 
 
 " What shall I do ? " she was asking herself, when Mark 
 appeared, explaining that his mother was absent, but would 
 be at home in a short time. 
 
 " Your room will soon be ready/ he continued, " and 
 meantime you might lay aside your wrappings here if you 
 find them too warm." 
 
 There was something about Mark Kay which inspired 
 confidence, and in her extremity Aunt Betsy gasped, " I 
 can t take off my bunnet till I get my caps, down to Mr. 
 Tubbses. Oh, what a trouble I be." 
 
 Not exactly comprehending the nature of the difficulty, 
 Mark suggested that she go without a cap until he could 
 send for them ; but Aunt Betsy s assertion that " she was 
 grayer than a rat," enlightened him with regard to her 
 dilemma, and full permission was given for her " to sit in 
 her bonnet " until such time as a messenger could go to 
 the Bowery and back. In this condition she was better 
 in her own room, and as it was in readiness, Mark con 
 ducted her to it, the stern gravity of his face putting down 
 the laugh which sprang to the waiting maid s eyes at the 
 old lady s ejaculations of surprise that anything could be 
 so fine as the house where she so unexpectedly found her 
 self a guest. 
 
 " She is unaccustomed to the city, but a particular friend 
 
232 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 of mine; so see that you treat her with respect/ was all 
 the explanation he vouchsafed to the curious girl. 
 
 But that was enough. A friend of Mr. Bay s must be 
 somebody, even if she sat with two bonnets on instead of 
 one, and appeared ten times more rustic than Aunt Betsy, 
 who breathed freer when she found herself alone up stairs, 
 and knew her baggage would soon be there. 
 
 In some little trepidation Mark paced up and down the 
 parlor waiting for his mother, who came ere long, ex 
 pressing her surprise to find him there, and asking if any 
 thing had happened that he seemed so agitated. 
 
 " Yes, I m in a deuced scrape," he answered, coming 
 up to her with the saucy, winning smile she could never 
 resist, and continuing, " To begin at the foundation, you 
 know how much I am in love with Helen Lennox ? " 
 
 " No, I don t/ was the reply, as Mrs. Banker removed 
 her fur with the most provoking coolness. " How should 
 I know when you have never told me ? " 
 
 " Haven t you eyes ? Can t you see ? Don t you like 
 her yourself? " 
 
 " Yes, very much." 
 
 "And are you willing she should be your daughter?" 
 
 Mark had his arm around his mother s neck, and bend 
 ing his face to hers,, kissed her playfully as he asked her the 
 last question. 
 
 " Say, mother, are you willing I should marry Helen 
 Lennox ? " 
 
 There was a struggle in Mrs. Bankers heart, and for a 
 moment she felt jealous of the girl who she had guessed 
 was dearer to her son than ever his mother could be again; 
 but she was a sensible woman. She knew that it was 
 natural for another and a stronger love to come between her 
 and her boy. She liked Helen Lennox. She was willing 
 to take her as a daughter, and she said so at last, and 
 listened half amazed and half amused to the story which 
 had in it so much of Aunt Betsy Barlow, at that very mo 
 ment an occupant of their best guest-chamber, waiting for 
 her cap from the Bowery. 
 
 " Perhaps it was wrong to bring her home," he added, 
 " but I did it to spare Helen. I knew what a savage Wil- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 233 
 
 ford would be if he found her there. Say, mother, was 
 I wrong?" 
 
 He was not often wrong in his mother s estimation, and 
 certainly he was not now, when he kissed her so often, 
 begging her to say he had done right. 
 
 " Certainly he had. Mrs. Banker was very glad to find 
 him so thoughtful; few young men would do as much/ 
 she said, and fr 11 feeling a little doubtful, Mark came to 
 look upon himself as a very nice young man, who had done 
 a most unselfish act, for of course he had not been influ 
 enced by any desire to keep Aunt Betsy from the people 
 who would be present at the dinner, neither had Helen 
 been at all mixed up in the affair. 
 
 It was all himself, and he began to whistle "Annie 
 Laurie " very complacently, thinking the while what a 
 clever fellow he was, and meditating other generous acts 
 towards the old lady overhead, who was standing by the 
 window, and wondering what the huge building could be 
 gleaming so white in the fading sunlight. 
 
 " Looks as if it was made of stone cheena," she thought, 
 just as Mrs. Banker appeared, her kind, friendly manner 
 making Aunt Betsy feel wholly at ease, as she answered 
 the lady s questions or volunteered remarks of her own. 
 
 Mrs. Banker had lived in the country, and had seen just 
 such women as Aunt Betsy Barlow, understanding her in 
 trinsic worth, and knowing how Helen Lennox, though her 
 niece, could still be refined and cultivated. She could also 
 understand how one educated as Wilford Cameron had 
 been, would shrink from coming in contact with her, and 
 possibly be rude if she thrust herself upon him. Mark 
 did well to bring her here, she thought, ns she left the 
 room to order the tea which the tired woman so much 
 needed. The satchel, umbrella, and cap-box, with a note 
 from Mattie, had by this time arrived, and in her Sunday 
 cap, with the purple bows, Aunt Betsy felt better, and en 
 joyed the tempting little supper, served on silver and 
 Sevres china, the attendant waiting in the hall instead of 
 in her room, where her presence might embarrass one un 
 accustomed to such usages. They were very kind, and had 
 Mark been her own son he could not have been more def 
 erential than he appeared when just before starting for the 
 
234 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 dinner he went up to see her, asking what message he 
 should take to Helen. Mrs. Banker, too, came in, her 
 dress eliciting many compliments from her guest, who ven 
 tured to ask the price of the diamond pin which fastened 
 the point lace collar. Five hundred dollars seemed an 
 enormous sum, but Aunt Betsy was learning not to say all 
 she thought, and merely remarked that Katy had some dia 
 monds too, which she presumed cost full a** much as that. 
 
 " She should do very well alone/ she said ; " she could 
 read her Bible, and if she got too tired, go to bed," and 
 with a good-bye she sent them away, after saying to Mrs. 
 Banker, " Maybe you ain t the kissin kind, but if you be, 
 I wish you would kiss Katy once for me." 
 
 There was a merry twinkle in Mark s eyes as he asked, 
 
 "And Helen too?" 
 
 " I meant your marm, not you," Aunt Betsy answered ; 
 while Mrs. Banker raised her hand to her mischievous son, 
 who ran lightly down the stairs, carrying a happier heart 
 than he had known since Helen Lennox first came to New 
 York, and he met her at the depot. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE DINNER PARTY. 
 
 IT was a very select party which Wilford Cameron en 
 tertained that evening; and as the carriages rolled to his 
 door and deposited the guests, the cloud which had been 
 lifting ever since he came home and found " no Barlow 
 woman " there, disappeared, leaving him the blandest, most 
 urbane of hosts, pleased with everybody himself, his 
 guests, his sister-in-law, and his wife, who had never looked 
 better than she did to-night, in pearls and light blue silk, 
 which harmonized so perfectly with her wax-like complex 
 ion. Aunt Betsy s proximity was wholly unsuspected, both 
 by her and Helen, who was very handsome, in crimson 
 and black, with lilies in her hair. Nothing could please 
 Mark better than his seat at table, where he could look into 
 her eyes, which dropped so shyly whenever they met his 
 gaze. Helen was beginning to doubt the story of his en 
 gagement with Juno^ Certainly she could not mistake the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 235 
 
 nature of the attentions he paid to her, especially to-night, 
 when he hovered continually near her, totally ignoring 
 Juno s presence, and conscious apparently of only one form, 
 one face, and that the face and form of Helen Lennox. 
 
 There was another, too, who felt the influence of Helen s 
 beauty, and that was Lieutenant Bob, who, after dinner, 
 attached himself to her side, while around them gathered 
 quite a group, all listening with peals of laughter as Bob 
 related his adventure of two days before, with " the most 
 rustic and charming old ladv it was ever his fortune to 
 meet." Told by Bob the story lost nothing of its fresh 
 ness; for every particular, except indeed the kindness he 
 had shown her, was related, even to the sheep-pasture, about 
 which she was going to New York to consult a lawyer. 
 
 " I thought once of referring her to you, Mr. Cameron," 
 Bob said; "but couldn t find it in my heart to quiz her, 
 she was so wholly unsuspicious. You have not seen her, 
 have you ? " 
 
 " No," came faintly from the lips which tried to smile ; 
 but Wilf ord knew who was the heroine of that story ; won 
 dering more and more where she was, and feeling a sensa 
 tion of uneasiness, as he thought, " Can any accident have 
 befallen her ? " 
 
 It was hardly probable; but Wilford felt very uncom 
 fortable after hearing the story, which had brought a 
 pang of doubt and fear to another mind than his. From 
 the very first Helen feared that Aunt Betsy was the " odd 
 woman " who had gotten upon the train at some station 
 which Bob could not remember; while, as the story pro 
 gressed, she was sure of it, for she had heard of the sheep- 
 pasture trouble, and of Aunt Betsy s projected visit to New 
 York, privately writing to her mother not to suffer it, as 
 Wilford would be greatly vexed. "Yes, it must be Aunt 
 Betsy," she thought, and she turned so white that Mark, 
 who was watching both her and Wilford, came as soon as 
 possible to her side, and adroitly separating her from the 
 group around, said softly, "You look tired, Miss Lennox. 
 Come with me a moment. I have something to tell you." 
 
 Alone with her in the hall, he continued, "I have the 
 sequel of Bob Reynolds s story. That woman " 
 
 " Was Aunt Betsy," Helen gasped. " But where is she 
 
236 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 now ? That was two days ago. Tell me if you know. Mr. 
 Eay, you do know," and in an agony of fear lest something 
 dreadful had happened, she laid her hand on Mark s, be 
 seeching him to tell her if he knew where Aunt Betsy was. 
 
 It was worth torturing her for a moment to see the 
 pleading look in her eyes, and feel the soft touch of the 
 hand which he took between both his own, holding it there 
 while he answered her : " Aunt Betsy is at my house ; 
 kidnapped by me for safe keeping, until I could consult 
 with you. Was that right?" he asked, as a flush came to 
 Helen s cheek, and an expression to her eye which told 
 that his meaning was understood. 
 
 "Is she there willingly? How did it happen?" was 
 Helen s reply, her hand still in those of Mark, who, thus 
 circumstanced, grew very warm and eloquent with the 
 sequel to Bob s story, making it as long as possible, telling 
 what he knew, and also what he had done. 
 
 He had not implicated Wilford in any way; but Helen 
 read it all, saying more to herself than him, " And she was 
 at the opera. Wilford must have seen her, and that is 
 why he left so suddenly, and why he has appeared so absent 
 and nervous to-day, as if expecting something. Excuse 
 me," she suddenly added, drawing her hand away and 
 stepping back a little, " I forgot that I was talking as if 
 you knew." 
 
 te I do know more than you suppose that is, I know 
 human nature and I know Will better than I did that 
 morning when I first met you," Mark said, glancing at the 
 freed hand he wished so much to take again. 
 
 But Helen kept her hands to herself, and answered him, 
 
 " You did right under the circumstances. It would 
 have been unpleasant for us all had she happened here 
 to-night. I thank you, Mr. Ray you and your mother, 
 too more than I can express. I will see her early to 
 morrow morning. Tell her so, please, and again I thank 
 you." 
 
 There were tears in Helen s soft brown eyes, and they 
 glittered like diamonds as she looked even more than spoke 
 her thanks to the young man, who, for another look like 
 that, would have driven Aunt Betsy amid the gayest crowd 
 that ever frequented the Park, and sworn she was his 
 
The Cameron Pride. 237 
 
 blood relation ! A few words from Mrs. Banker confirmed 
 what Mark had said, and it was not strange if that night 
 Miss Lennox, usually so entertaining, was a little absent, 
 for her thoughts were up in that chamber on Twenty- 
 third Street, where Aunt Betsy sat alone, but not lonely, 
 for her mind was very busy with all she had been through 
 since leaving Silverton, while something kept suggesting 
 to her that it would have been wiser and better to have 
 stayed at home than to have ventured where she was so 
 sadly out of place. This last came gradually to Aunt 
 Betsy as she thought the matter over, and remembered Wil- 
 ford as he had appeared each time he came to Silverton. 
 
 " I ain t like him ; I ain t like this Miss Banker ; I ain t 
 like anybody," she whispered. " I m nothin but a homely, 
 old-fashioned woman, without laming without nothin . I 
 might know I wasn t wanted/ and a rain of tears fell 
 over the wrinkled face as she uttered this tirade against 
 herself, standing before the long mirror, and inspecting 
 the image it gave back of a plain, unpolished countrywo 
 man, not much resembling Mrs. Banker, it must be con 
 fessed, nor much resembling the gay young ladies she had 
 seen at the opera the previous night. "I won t go near 
 Katy," she continued; "it would only mortify her, and I 
 don t want to make her trouble. The poor thing s face 
 looked as if she had it now, and I won t add to it. I ll 
 start for home to-morrow. There s Miss Smith, in Spring 
 field, will keep me over night, and Katy shan t be bothered." 
 
 When this decision was reached, Aunt Betsy felt a great 
 deal better, and taking the Bible from the table, she sat 
 down again before the fire, opening, as by a special Provi 
 dence, to the chapter where the hewers of wood and drawers 
 of water are mentioned as boin^ necessary to mankind, 
 each filling his appointed place. 
 
 " That s me that s Betsy Barlow," she whispered, tak 
 ing off her glasses to wipe away the moisture gathering 
 so fast upon them. Then resuming them, she continued, 
 " I m a hewer of wood a drawer of water. God made me 
 so, and shall the clay find fault with the potter, for mak 
 ing it into a homely jug? No, indeed; and I was a very 
 foolish old jug to think of sticking myself in with the 
 china-ware. But I ve larnt a lesson/ and the philosophic 
 
238 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 old woman read on, feeling comforted to know that though 
 a vessel of the rudest make, a paltry jug, as she called her 
 self, the promises were still for her as much as for the 
 finer wares aye, that there was more hope of her entering 
 at last where "the walls are all of precious stones and the 
 streets are paved with gold," than of those whose good 
 things are given so abundantly during their lifetime. 
 
 Assured, comforted, and encouraged, she fell asleep at 
 last, and when Mrs. Banker returned she found her slum 
 bering quietly in her chair, the Bible open on her lap, and 
 her finger upon the passage referring to the hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water, as if that was the last thing read. 
 
 Next morning, at a comparatively early hour, Helen 
 stood ringing the bell of Mrs. Banker s house. She had 
 said to Katy that she was going out, and could not tell 
 just when she might return, and as Katy never questioned 
 her acts, while Wilford was too intent upon his own miser 
 able thoughts as to " where Aunt Betsy could be, or what 
 had befallen her," to heed any one else, no inquiries were 
 made, and no obstacles put in the way of her going direct 
 to Mrs. Banker s, where Mark met her himself, holding 
 her cold hand until he led her to the fire and placed her in 
 a chair. He knew she would rather meet her aunt alone, 
 and so when he heard her step in the hall he left the 
 room, holding the door for Aunt Betsy, who wept like a 
 little child at the sight of Helen, accusing herself of be 
 ing a fool, who ought to be shut up in an insane asylum, 
 but persisting in saying she was going home that very 
 day without seeing Katy at all. " If she was here I d like 
 it, but I shan t go there, for I know Wilford don t want 
 me." Then she told Helen all she did not already know 
 of her trip to New York, her visit to the opera, her stay 
 ing with the Tubbses and her meeting with Mark, the best 
 young chap she ever saw, not even excepting Morris. " If 
 he was my own son he couldn t be kinder," she added, " and 
 I mistrust he hopes to be my nephew. You can t do better ; 
 and, if he offers, take him." 
 
 Helen s cheeks were crimson as she waived this part of 
 the conversation, and wished aloud that she had come 
 around in the carriage, as she could thus have taken Aunt 
 Betsy over the city before the train would leave. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 239 
 
 "Mark spoke of that when he heard I was going to 
 day/* Aunt Betsy said ; " I ll warrant you he ll attend to 
 it." 
 
 Aunt Betsy was right, for when Mark and his mother 
 joined their guests, and learned that Aunt Betsy s intention 
 was unchanged, he suggested the ride, and offered the use 
 of their carriage. Helen did not decline the offer, and ere 
 a half hour had passed, Aunt Betsy, with her satchel, um 
 brella, and cap-box, was comfortably adjusted in Mrs. Ban 
 ker s carriage with Helen beside her, while Mark bade his 
 coachman drive wherever Miss Lennox wished to go, taking 
 care to reach the train in time. 
 
 They were tearful thanks which Aunt Betsy gave to her 
 kind friends as she was driven away to the Bowery to say 
 good-bye, lest the Tubbses should " think her suddenly 
 stuck up." 
 
 " Would you mind taking Tilda in ? It would please her 
 mightily," Aunt Betsy whispered, as they were alighting 
 in front of Mr. Peter Tubbs s; and as the result of this 
 suggestion, the carriage, when again it emerged into Broad 
 way, held Mattie Tubbs, prouder than she had been in all 
 her life before, while the gratified mother at home felt 
 amply repaid for all the trouble her visitor had made her. 
 
 And Helen enjoyed it, too, finding Mattie a little insipid 
 and tiresome, but feeling happy in the consciousness that 
 she was making others happy. It was a long drive they 
 took, and Aunt Betsy saw so much that her brain grew 
 giddy, and she was glad when they started for the depot, 
 taking Madison Square on the way, and passing Katy s 
 house. 
 
 " I dare say it s all grand and smart," Aunt Betsy said, 
 as she leaned out to look at it, "but I feel best at hum, 
 where they are used to me." 
 
 And her face did wear a brighter look, when finally 
 seated in the cars, than it had before since she left Silver- 
 ton. 
 
 " You ll be home in April, and maybe Katy ll come 
 too," she whispered as she kissed Helen good-bye, and shook 
 hands with Mattie Tubbs, charging her again never to let 
 the folks in Silverton know that " Betsy Barlow had been 
 seen at a play-house." 
 
240 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Slowly the cars moved away, and Helen was driven home, 
 leaving Mattie alone in her glory as she rolled down the 
 Bowery, enjoying the eclat of her position, but feeling a 
 little chagrined at not meeting a single acquaintance by 
 whom to be envied and admired. 
 
 Katy did not ask where Helen had been, for she was 
 wholly absorbed in Marian Hazclton s letter, telling how 
 fast the baby improved, how pretty it was growing, and 
 how fond both she and Mrs. Hubbell were of it, loving it 
 almost as well as if it were their own. 
 
 " I know now it was best for it to go, but it was hard 
 at first," Katy said, putting the letter away, and sighing 
 wearily as she missed the clasp of the little arms and touch 
 of the baby lips. 
 
 Several times Helen was tempted to tell her of Aunt 
 Betsy s visit, but decided finally not to do so, and Katy 
 never knew what it was which for many days made Wil- 
 ford so nervous and uneasy, starting at every sudden ring, 
 going often to the window, and looking out into the street 
 as if expecting some one, while he grew strangely anxious 
 for news from Silverton, asking when Katy had heard 
 from home, and why she did not write. One there was, 
 however, who knew, and who enjoyed watching Wilford, 
 and guessing just how his anxiety grew as day after day 
 went by ; and she neither came nor was heard from in any 
 way, for Helen did not show the letter apprising her of 
 Aunt Betsy s safe arrival home, and so all in Wilford s 
 mind w r as vague conjecture. 
 
 She had been in New York, as was proven by Bob Key- 
 nolds, but where was she now, and who were those people 
 with her? Had they entrapped her into some snare, and 
 possibly murdered her? Such things were not of rare oc 
 currence, and Wilford actually grew thin with the uncer 
 tainty which hung over the fate of one whom in his present 
 state of mind he would have warmly welcomed to his fire 
 side, had there been a dozen dinner parties in progress. 
 At last, as he sat one day in his office, with the same worried 
 look on his face, Mark, who had been watching him, said, 
 
 " By the way, Will, how did that sheep pasture come out, 
 or didn t the client appear?" 
 
 "Mark," and Wilford s voice was husky with emotion; 
 
The Cameron Pride. 241 
 
 " you ve stumbled upon the very thing which is tormenting 
 my life out of me. Aunt Betsy has never turned up or 
 been heard from since that night. For aught I know she 
 was murdered, or spirited away, and I am half distracted. 
 I d give a thousand dollars to know what has become of 
 her/ 
 
 " Put down half that pile and I ll tell you/" was Mark s 
 nonchalant reply, while Wilford, seizing his shoulder, and 
 compelling him to look up, exclaimed, 
 
 " You know, then ? Tell me you do know. Where is 
 she?" 
 
 " Safe in Silverton, I presume," was the reply, and then 
 Mark told his story, to which Wilford listened, half in 
 credulous, half indignant, and a good deal relieved. 
 
 " You are a splendid fellow, Mark, though I must say 
 you meddled, but I know you did not do it unselfishly. 
 Perhaps with Katy not won I might do the same. Yes ? 
 on the whole, I thank you and Helen for saving me that 
 mortification. I feel like a new man, knowing the old 
 lady is safe at home, where I trust she will remain. And 
 that Tom, who called here yesterday, asking to be our 
 clerk, is the youth I saw at the opera. I thought his face 
 was familiar. Let him come, of course. In my gratitude 
 I feel like patronizing the entire Tubbs family." 
 
 And so it was this flash of gratitude for a peril escaped 
 which procured for young Tom Tubbs the situation of 
 clerk in the office of Cameron & Kay, the application for 
 such situation having been urged by the ambitious Mattie, 
 who felt her dignity considerably increased when she could 
 speak of brother Tom in company with Messrs. Cameron 
 and Ray. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE SEVENTH REGIMENT. 
 
 DOES the reader remember the pleasant spring days when 
 the thunder of Fort Sumters bombardment came echoing 
 up the Northern hills and across the Western prairies, 
 stopping for a moment the puleee of the nation, but quick 
 ening them again with a mighty power as from Maine to 
 
242 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 California man after man arose to meet the misguided foe 
 trailing our honored flag in the dust ? Nowhere, perhaps, 
 was the excitement so great or the feeling so strong as in 
 New York, when the Seventh Regiment was ordered to 
 Washington, its members never faltering or holding back, 
 but with a nerving of the will and a putting aside of self, 
 preparing to do their duty. Conspicuous among them was 
 Mark Ray, who, laughing at his mother s fears, kissed her 
 livid cheek, and then with a pang remembered Helen 
 wondering how she would feel, and thinking the path to 
 danger would be so much easier if he knew that her prayers 
 would go with him, shielding him from harm and bringing 
 him back again to the sunshine of her presence. 
 
 And before he went Mark must know this for certain, 
 and he chided himself for having put it off so long. True 
 she had been sick and confined to her room for a long 
 while after Aunt Betsy s memorable visit; and when she 
 was able to go out, Lent had put a stop to her mingling 
 in festive scenes, so that he had seen but little of her, and 
 had never met her alone. But he would write that very 
 day. She knew, of course, that he was going. She would 
 say that he did well to go; and she would answer yes to 
 the question he would ask her. Mark felt sure of that; 
 but still the letter he wrote was eloquent with his pleadings 
 for her love, while he confessed his own, and asked that 
 she would give him the right to think of her as his affi 
 anced bride to know she waited for his return, and would 
 crown it at last with the full fruition of her priceless 
 love. 
 
 " I meet a few of my particular friends at Mrs. Gran- 
 don s to-night," he added, in conclusion. (C Can I hope to 
 see you there, taking your presence as a token that I may 
 speak and tell you in words what I have so poorly 
 written?" 
 
 This note he would not trust to the post, but deliver 
 himself, and thus avoid the possibility of a mistake, he 
 said; and half an hour later he rang the bell at No. , 
 asking " if Miss Lennox was at home." She was ; and hand 
 ing the girl the note, Mark ran down the steps, while the 
 servant carried the missive to the library, where upon the 
 table lay other letters received that morning, and as yet 
 
The Cameron Pride. 243 
 
 unopened; for Katy was very busy, and Helen was dress 
 ing to go out with Juno Cameron, who had graciously 
 anked her to drive with her and look at a picture she had 
 set her heart on having. 
 
 Juno had not yet appeared ; but Mark was scarcely out 
 of sight when she came in with the familiarity of a sister, 
 ar.J entered the library to wait. Carelessly turning the 
 books upon the table, she stumbled upon Mark s letter, 
 which, through some defect in the envelope, had become 
 unsealed, and lay with its edge lifted so that to peer at 
 its contents was a very easy matter had she been so dis 
 posed. But Juno, who knew the handwriting could not 
 at first bring herself even to touch what was intended for 
 her rival. But as she gazed the longing grew, until at 
 last she took it in her hand, turning it to the light, and 
 tracing distinctly the words, "My dear Helen," while a 
 storm of pain and passion swept over her, mingled with 
 a feeling of shame that she had let herself down so 
 far. 
 
 " It does not matter now," the tempter whispered. " You 
 may as well read it and know the worst. Nobody will 
 suspect it," and she was about to take the folded letter 
 from the envelope, intending to replace it after it was 
 read, when a rapid step warned her some one was com 
 ing, and hastily thrusting the letter in her pocket, she 
 dropped her veil to cover her confusion, and then con 
 fronted Helen Lennox, ready for the drive, and unconscious 
 of the wrong which could not then be righted. 
 
 Juno did not mean to keep the letter, and all that morn 
 ing she was devising measures for making restitution, 
 thinking once to confess the whole, but shrinking from that 
 as more than she could do. As they were driving home, 
 they met Mark Ray ; but Helen, who chanced to be looking 
 in an opposite direction, did not see the earnest look of 
 scrutiny he gave her, scarcely heeding Juno, whose voice 
 trembled as she spoke of him to Helen and his intended 
 departure. Helen observed the tremor in her voice, and 
 pitied the girl whose agitation she fancied arose from the 
 fact that her lover was so soon to go where danger and 
 possibly death was waiting. In Helen s heart, too, there 
 was a pang whenever she remembered Mark, and what had 
 
244 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 so recently passed between them, raising hopes, which now 
 were wholly blasted. For he was Juno s, she believed, and 
 the grief at his projected departure was the cause of that 
 young lady s softened and even humble demeanor, as she 
 insisted on Helen s stopping at her house for lunch before 
 going home. 
 
 To this Helen consented Juno still revolving in her 
 mind how to return the letter, which grew more and more 
 a horror to her. It was in her pocket, she knew, for she 
 had felt it there when, after lunch, she went to her room 
 for a fresh handkerchief. She would accompany Helen 
 home, would manage to slip into the library alone, and 
 put it partly under a book, so that it would appear to be 
 hidden, and thus account for its not having been seen 
 before. This seemed a very clever plan, and with her 
 spirits quite elated, Juno drove round with Helen, finding 
 no one in the parlor below, and felicitating herself upon 
 the fact that Helen left her alone while she ran up to Katy. 
 
 " Now is my time," she thought, stealing noiselessly into 
 the library and feeling for the letter. 
 
 But it was not there, and no amount of search, no shak 
 ing of handkerchiefs, or turning of pocket inside out could 
 avail to find it. The letter was lost> and in the utmost 
 consternation Juno returned to the parlor, appearing so 
 abstracted as scarcely to be civil when Katy came down to 
 see her ; asking if she was going that night to Sybil Gran- 
 don s, and talking of the dreadful war, which she hoped 
 would not be a war after all Juno was too wretched to 
 talk, and after a few moments she started for home, hunt 
 ing in her own room and through the halls, but failing in 
 her search, and finally giving it up, with the consoling 
 reflection that were it found in the street, no suspicion 
 could fasten on her; and as fear of detection, rather than 
 contrition for the sin, had been the cause of her distress, 
 she grew comparatively calm, save when her conscience 
 made itself heard and admonished confession as the only 
 reparation which was now in her power. But Juno could 
 not confess, and all that day she was absent-minded and 
 silent, while her mother watched her closely, wondering 
 what connection, if any, there was between her burning 
 cheeks and the letter she had found upon the floor in her 
 
The Cameron Pride. 245 
 
 daughter s room just after she had left it; the letter, at 
 whose contents she had glanced, shutting her lips firmly 
 together, as he saw that her plans had failed, and finally 
 putting the document away, where there was less hope of 
 it s ever finding its rightful owner, than if it had remained 
 with Juno. Had Mrs. Cameron supposed that Helen had 
 already seen it, she would have returned it at once; but of 
 this she had her doubts, after learning that " Miss Lennox 
 did not go up stairs at all." Juno, then, must have been 
 the delinquent; and the mother resolved to keep the letter 
 till some inquiry was made for it at least. 
 
 And so Helen did not guess how anxiously the young 
 man was anticipating the interview at Sybil Graridon s, 
 scarcely doubtin^ that she would be there, and fancying 
 just the expression of her eyes when they first met his. 
 Alas for Mark, alas for Helen, that both should be so 
 cruelly deceived. Had the latter known of the loving words 
 sent from the true heart which longed for some word of 
 hers to lighten the long march and beguile the tedious days 
 of absence, she would not have said to Katy, when asked 
 if she was going to Mrs. Grandon s, " Oh, no ; please don t 
 urge me. I would so much rather stay at home/ 
 
 Katy would not insist, and so went alone with Wilford 
 to the entertainment, given to a few young men who seemed 
 as heroes then, when the full meaning of that word had 
 not been exemplified, as it has been since in the life so 
 cheerfully laid down, and the heart s blood poured so freely, 
 by the tens of thousands who have won a martyr s and a 
 hero s name. With a feeling of chill despair, Mark listened 
 while Katy explained to Mrs. Grandon, that her sister had 
 fully intended coming in the morning, but had suddenly 
 changed her mind and begged to be excused. 
 
 " I am sorry, and so I am sure is Mr. Ray," Sybil said, 
 turning lightly to Mark, whose white face froze the gay 
 laugh on her lips and made her try to shield him from 
 observation until he had time to recover himself and ap 
 pear as usual. 
 
 How Mark blessed Sybil Grandon for that thoughtful 
 kindness, and how wildly the blood throbbed through his 
 veins as he thought " She would not come. She does not 
 care. I have deceived myself in hoping that she did., and 
 
246 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 now welcome war, welcome anything which shall help me 
 to forget." 
 
 Mark was very wretched, and his wretchedness showed 
 itself upon his face, making more than one rally him for 
 what they termed fear, while they tried to reassure him 
 by saying that to the Seventh there could be no danger 
 after Baltimore was safely passed. This was more than 
 Mark could bear, and at an early hour he left the house, 
 bidding Katy good-bye in the hall, and telling her he 
 probably should not see her again, as he would not have 
 time to call. 
 
 " Not call to say good-bye to Helen," Katy exclaimed. 
 
 " Helen will not care/ was Mark s reply, as he hurried 
 away into the darkness of the night, more welcome in 
 his present state of mind than the gay scene he had 
 left. 
 
 And this was all Katy had to carry Helen, who had ex 
 pected to see Mark once more, to bless him as a sister might 
 bless a brother, speaking to him words of cheer and bidding 
 him go on to where duty led. But he was not coming, and 
 she only saw him from the carriage window, as with proud 
 step and head erect, he passed with his regiment through 
 the densely crowded streets, where the loud hurrahs of the 
 multitude, which no man could number, told how terribly 
 in earnest the great city was, and how its heart was with 
 that gallant band, their pet, and pride, sent forth on a 
 mission such as it had never had before. But Mark did 
 not see Helen, and only his mother s face as it looked 
 when it said, " God bless my boy," was clear before his 
 eyes as he moved on through Broadway, and down Cort- 
 landt street, until the ferry-boat received him, and the 
 crowd began to disperse. 
 
 Now that Mark was gone, Mrs. Banker turned intuitively 
 to Helen, finding greater comfort in her quiet sympathy 
 than in the more wordy condolence offered her by Juno, 
 who, as she heard nothing from the letter, began to lose her 
 fears of detection, and even suffer her friends to rally her 
 upon the absence of Mark Kay, and the anxiety she must 
 feel on his account. Moments there were, however, when 
 thoughts of the stolen letter brought a pang, while Helen s 
 ace was a continual reproach, and she was glad when, to- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 247 
 
 wards the first of May, her rival left New York for Sil- 
 verton, where, as the spring and summer work came on, 
 her services were needed. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 KATY GOES TO SILVERTON". 
 
 A SUMMER day in Silverton a soft, bright August day, 
 when the early rare-ripes by the well were turning their 
 red cheeks to the sun, and the flowers in the garden were 
 lifting their heads proudly, arid nodding to each other as 
 if they knew the secret which made that day so bright 
 above all others. Old Whitey, by the hitching-post, was 
 munching at his oats and glancing occasionally at the cov 
 ered buggy standing on the green sward, fresh and clean 
 as water from the pond could make it; the harness, lying 
 upon a rock, where Katy used to feed the sheep with salt, 
 and the whip standing upright in its socket, were waiting 
 for the deacon, who was donning his best suit of clothes, 
 even to a stiff shirt collar which almost cut his ears, his 
 face shining with anticipations which he knew would be 
 realized. Katy was really coming home, and in proof 
 thereof there were behind the house and barn piles of rub 
 bish, lath and plaster, mouldy paper and broken bricks, the 
 tokens and remains of the repairing process, which for so 
 long a time had made the farm-house a scene of dire con 
 fusion, driving its inmates nearly distracted, except when 
 they remembered for whose sake they endured so much, 
 inhaling clouds of lime, stepping over heaps of mortar, 
 tearing their dress skirts on sundry nails projecting from 
 every conceivable quarter, and wondering the while if the 
 masons ever would finish or the carpenters be gone. 
 
 As a condition on which Katy might be permitted to 
 come home, Wilford had stipulated an improvement in the 
 interior arrangement of the house, offering to bear the ex 
 pense even to the furnishing of the rooms. To this the 
 family demurred at first, not liking Wilford s dictatorial 
 manner, nor his insinuation that their home was not good 
 enough for his wife. But Helen turned the tide, appre- 
 
248 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 elating Wilford s feelings better than the others could do, 
 and urging a compliance with his request. 
 
 " Anything to get Katy home/ she said, and so the 
 chimney was torn away, a window was cut here and an 
 addition made there, until the house was really improved 
 with its pleasant, modern parlor and the large airy bed 
 room, with bathing-room attached, the whole the idea of 
 Wilford, who graciously deigned to come out once or twice 
 from New London, where he was spending a few weeks, 
 to superintend the work and suggest how it should be done. 
 
 The furniture, too, which he sent on from New York, 
 was perfect in its kind, and suitable in every respect and 
 Helen enjoyed the settling very much, and when it was 
 finished it was hard telling which was the more pleased, 
 she or good Aunt Betsy, who, having confessed in a general 
 kind of way at a sewing societv, that she did go to a play 
 house, and was not so very sorry either, except as the ex 
 ample might do harm, had nothing to fear from New 
 York, and was proportionably happy. At least she would 
 have been if Morris had not seemed so off, as she expressed 
 it, taking but little interest in the preparations and evinc 
 ing no pleasure at Katy s expected visit. He had been 
 polite to Wilford, had kept him at Linwood, taking him 
 to and from the depot, but even Wilford had thought him 
 changed, telling Katy how very sober and grave he had 
 become, rarely smiling, and not seeming to care to talk 
 unless it were about his profession or on some religious 
 topic. And Morris was greatly changed. The wound 
 which in most hearts would have healed by this time, 
 had grown deeper with each succeeding year, while 
 from all he heard he felt sure that Katy s marriage 
 was a sad mistake, wishing sometimes that he had spoken, 
 and so perhaps have saved her from the life in which she 
 could not be wholly free. " She would be happier with 
 me," he had said, with a sad smile to Helen, when she 
 told him of some things which she had not mentioned else 
 where, and there were great tears in Morris s eyes, when 
 Helen spoke of Katy s distress, and the look which came 
 into her face when baby was taken away. Times there were 
 when the silent Doctor, living alone at Linwood, felt that 
 his grief was too great to bear. But the deep waters were 
 
The Cameron Pride. 249 
 
 always forded safely, and Morris s faith in God prevailed, 
 so that only a dull heavy pain remained, with the con 
 sciousness that it was no sin to remember Katy as she was 
 remembered now. Oh how he longed to see her, and yet 
 how he dreaded it, lest poor weak human flesh should 
 prove inadequate to the sight. But she was coming home ; 
 Providence had ordered that and he accepted it, looking 
 eagerly for the time, but repressing his eagerness, so that 
 not even Helen suspected how impatient he was for the day 
 of her return. Four weeks she had been at the Pequot 
 House in New London, occupying a little cottage and lux 
 uriating in the joy of having her child with her almost 
 every day. Country air and country nursing had wrought 
 wonders in the baby, which had grown so beautiful and 
 bright that it was no longer in Wilford s way save as it 
 took too much of Katy s time, and made her care less for 
 the gay crowd at the hotel. 
 
 Marian was working at her trade, and never came to the 
 hotel except one day when Wilford was in New York, but 
 that day sufficed for Katy to know that after herself it was 
 Marian whom baby loved the best Marian, who cared for 
 it even more than Mrs. Hubbell. And Katy was glad 
 to have it so, especially after Wilford and his mother de 
 cided that she must leave the child in New London while 
 she made the visit to Silverton. 
 
 Wilford did not like her taking so much care of it as 
 she was inclined to do. It had grown too heavy for her 
 to lift; it was better with Mrs. Hubbell, he said, and so 
 to the inmates of the farm-house Katy wrote that baby 
 was not coming. 
 
 They were bitterly disappointed, for Katy s baby had 
 been anticipated quite as much as Katy herself, and Aunt 
 Betsy had brought from the wood-shed chamber a cradle 
 which nearly forty years before had rocked the deacon s 
 only child, the little boy, who died just as he had learned 
 to lisp his mother s name. As a memento of those days 
 the cradle had been kept, Katy using it sometimes for her 
 kittens and her dolls, until she grew too old for that, when 
 it was put away beneath the eaves whence Aunt Betsy 
 dragged it, scouring it with soap and sand, until it was 
 white as snow. But it would not be needed, and with a 
 
250 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 sigh the old lady carried it back, thinking "things had 
 come to a pretty pass when a woman who could dance and 
 carouse till twelve o clock at night was too weakly to take 
 care of her child/ and feeling a very little awe of Katy 
 who must have grown so fine a lady. 
 
 But all this passed away as the time drew near when 
 Katy was to come, and no one seemed happier than Aunt 
 Betsy on the morning when Uncle Ephraim drove from the 
 door, setting old Whitey into a canter, which, by the time 
 the " race " was reached, had become a rapid trot, the old 
 man holding up his reins and looking proudly at the oat- 
 fed animal, speeding along so fast. 
 
 He did not have long to wait this time, for the train soon 
 came rolling across the meadow, and while his head was 
 turned towards the car where he fancied she might be, a 
 pair of arms was thrown impetuously round his neck, and 
 a little figure, standing on tiptoe,, almost pulled him down 
 in its attempts to kiss him. 
 
 66 Uncle Eph ! oh, Uncle Eph, I ve come ! I m here ! " 
 a young voice cried ; but the words the deacon would have 
 spoken were smothered by the kisses pressed upon his lips, 
 kisses which only came to an end when a voice said rather 
 reprovingly, " There, Katy, that will do* You have almosc 
 strangled him." 
 
 Wilford had not been expected, and the expression of the 
 deacon s face was not a very cordial greeting to the young 
 man who hastened to explain that he was going directly 
 on to Boston. In his presence the deacon was not quite 
 natural, but he lifted in his arms his "little Katy-did," 
 and looked straight into her face, where there were as yet 
 no real lines of care, only shadows, which told that in some 
 respects she was n.ot the same Katy he had parted with two 
 years before. There was a good deal of the city about her 
 dress and style; and the deacon felt a little overawed at 
 first ; but this wore off as, on their way to the farm-house, 
 she talked to him in her old, loving manner, and asked 
 questions about the people he supposed she had forgotten, 
 nodding to everybody she met, whether she knew them or 
 not, and at last, as the old house came in sight, hiding her 
 face in a gush of happy tears upon his neck. Scarcely 
 waiting for old Whitey to stop, but with one leap clearing 
 
The Cameron Pride. 251 
 
 the wheel, she threw herself into the midst of the women 
 waiting on the door step to meet her. It was a joyful 
 meeting, and when the first excitement was over, Katy in 
 spected the improvements, praising them all and congratu 
 lating herself upon the nice time she was to have. 
 
 " You don t know what a luxury it is to feel that I can 
 rest," she said to Helen. 
 
 " Didn t you rest at New London ? " Helen asked. 
 
 " Yes, some," Katy replied; " but there were dances every 
 night, or sails upon the bay, and I had to go, for many of 
 our friends were there, and Wilford was not willing for 
 me to be quiet." 
 
 This, then, was the reason why Katy came home so 
 weary and pale, and craving so much the rest she had not 
 had in more than two years. But she would get it now, 
 and before the first dinner was eaten some of her old color 
 came stealing back to her cheeks, and her eyes began to 
 dance just as they used to do, while her merry voice rang 
 out in silvery peals at Aunt Betsy s quaint remarks, which 
 struck her so forcibly from not having heard them for so 
 long a time. Freed from the restraint of her husband s 
 presence, she came back at once to what she was when a 
 young, careless girl she sat upon the door-steps and curled 
 the dandelion stalks. She did not do this now, for there 
 were none to curl; but she strung upon a thread the deli 
 cate petals of the phlox growing by the dour, and then 
 bound it as a crown about the head of her P.I . I her, who 
 could not quite recognize her Katy in the elegant Mrs. 
 Wilford Cameron, with rustling silk, and diamonds flash 
 ing on her hands every time they moved. But when she 
 saw her racing with the old brown goat and its little kid 
 out in the apple orchard, her head uncovered, rwl her 
 bright curls blowing about her face, the feeling 
 disappeared, and she felt that Katy had indeed come back 
 again. 
 
 Katy had inquired for Morris immediately after her ar 
 rival, but in her excitement she had forgotten him again, 
 until tea was over, when, just as she had done on the day 
 of her return from Canandaigua, she took her hat and 
 started on the well-worn path toward Linwood. Airily 
 she tripped along, her light plaid silk gleaming through the 
 
252 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 deep green of the trees and revealing her coming to the 
 tired man sitting upon a little rustic seat, beneath a chest 
 nut tree, where he once had sat with Katy, and extracted a 
 cruel sliver from her hand, kissing the place to make it 
 well as she told him to. She was a child then, a little 
 girl of twelve, and he was twenty, but the sight of her 
 pure face lifted confidingly to his had stirred his heart as 
 no other face had stirred it since, making him look for 
 ward to a time when the hand he kissed would be his own, 
 and his the fairy form he watched so carefully as it ex 
 panded day by day into the perfect woman. He was think 
 ing of that time now, and how differently it had all turned 
 out, when he heard the bounding step and saw her coming 
 toward him, swinging her hat in childish abandon, and 
 warbling a song she had learned from him. 
 
 " Morris, oh, Morris ! " she cried, as he ran eagerly for 
 ward; "I am so glad to see you. It seems so nice to be 
 with you once more here in the dear old woods. Don t 
 get up please don t get up/ she continued, as he started 
 to rise. 
 
 She was standing before him, a hand on either side of 
 his face, into which she was looking quite as wistfully as 
 he was regarding her. Something she missed in his man 
 ner, which troubled her; and thinking she knew what it 
 was she said to him, " Why don t you kiss me, Morris ? 
 You used lo. Ain t you glad to see me?" 
 
 " Yes, verv glad/ he answered, and drawing her down 
 beside him, he kissed her twice, but so gravely, that Katy 
 was not satisfied at all, and tears gathered in her eyes as 
 she tried to think what ailed Morris. 
 
 He was very thin, and there were a few white hairs 
 about I 1 is temples, so that, though four years younger than 
 her husband, he seemed to her much older, quite grand- 
 fatherly in fact, and this accounted for the liberties she 
 took, asking what was the matter, and trying to make him 
 like her again, by assuring him that she was not as vain 
 and foolish as he might suppose from what Helen had 
 probably told him of her life since leaving Silverton. " I 
 do not like it at all/ she said. " I am in it, and must 
 conform ; but, oh Morris ! you don t know how much hap 
 pier I should be if Wilford were just like you, and lived 
 
The Cameron Pride. 253 
 
 at Linwood instead of New York. I should be so happy 
 here with baby all the time." 
 
 It was well she spoke that name, for Morris could not 
 have borne much more; but the mention of her child 
 quieted him at once, so that he could calmly tell her she 
 was the same to him she always had been, while with his 
 next breath he asked, " Where is your baby, Katy ? " add 
 ing with a smile, " I can remember when you were a baby, 
 and I held you in my arms." 
 
 " Can you really ? " Katy said : and as if that remem 
 brance made him older than the hills, she nestled her curly 
 head against his shoulder, while she told him of her bright- 
 eyed darling, and as she talked, the mother-love which 
 spread itself over her girlish face made it more beauti 
 ful than anything Morris had ever seen. 
 
 " Surely an angel s countenance cannot be fairer, purer 
 than hers," he thought, as she talked of the only thing 
 which had a power to separate her from him, making her 
 seem as a friend, or at most as a beloved sister. 
 
 A long time they talked together, and the sun was setting 
 ere Morris rose, suggesting that she go home, as the night 
 clew would soon be falling. 
 
 " And you are not as strong as you once were," he added, 
 pulling her shawl around her shoulders with careful solici 
 tude, nnd thinking how slender she had become. 
 
 From the back parlor Helen saw them coming up tlie 
 path, detecting the changed expression of Morris s face, 
 and feeling a pang of fear when, as he left them after 
 nine o clock, she heard her mother say that he had not 
 appeared so natural since Katy went away as he had done 
 that night. Knowing what she did, Helen trembled for 
 Morris, with this terrible temptation before him, and Mor 
 ris trembled for himself as he went back the lonely path, 
 and stopped again beneath the chestnut tree where he had 
 so lately sat with Katy. There was a great fear at his 
 heart, and it found utterance in words as kneeling by the 
 rustic bench with only the lonely night around him and 
 the green boughs over head, he asked that he might be 
 kept from sin, both in thought and deed, and be to Katy 
 Cameron just what she took him for, her friend and elder 
 brother. And God,, who knew the sincerity of the heart 
 
254 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 thus pleading before him, heard and answered the prayer, 
 so that after that first night of trial Morris could look 
 on Katy without a wish that she were otherwise than Wil- 
 ford Cameron s wife and the mother of his child. He 
 was happier because of her being at the farm-house, 
 though he did not go there one-half as often as she came 
 to him. 
 
 Those September days were happy ones to Katy, who be 
 came a child again a petted, spoiled child, whom every one 
 caressed and suffered to have her way. To T ncle Ephraim 
 it was as if some bright angel had suddenly dropped into 
 his path, and flooded it with sunshine. He was so glad 
 to have again his "Katy-did," who went with him to the 
 fields, waiting patiently till his work was done, and telling 
 him of all the wondrous things she saw abroad, but speak 
 ing little of her city life. That was something she did not 
 care to talk about, and but for Wilford s letters, and the 
 frequent mention of baby, the deacon could easily have 
 imagined that Katy had never left him. But these were 
 barriers between the old life and the present; these were 
 the insignia of Mrs. Wilford Cameron, who was watched 
 and envied by the curious Silvertonians, and pronounced 
 charming by them all. Still there was one drawback to 
 Katy s happiness. She missed her cfiild, mourning for it 
 so much that her family, quite as anxious as herself to see 
 it, suggested her sending for it. It would surely take 
 no harm with them, and Marian would come with it, if 
 Mrs. Hubbell could not. To this plan Katy listened more 
 willingly from the fact that Wilford had gone West, and 
 the greater the distance between them the more she dared 
 to do. And so Marian Hazelton was one day startled at 
 the sudden appearance at the cottage of Katy, who had 
 come to take her and baby to Silverton. 
 
 There was no resisting the vehemence of Katy s argu 
 ments, and before the next day s sunsetting, the farm-house, 
 usually so quiet and orderly, had been turned into one 
 general nursery, where Baby Cameron reigned supreme, 
 screaming with delight at the tin ware which Aunt Betsy 
 brought out, from the cake-cutter to the dipper, the little 
 creature beating a noisy tattoo upon the latter with an iron 
 spoon, and then for diversion burying its fat dimpled hands 
 
The Cameron Pride. 255 
 
 in Uncle Ephraim s long white hair, for the old man went 
 down upon all fours to do his great-grand-niece homage. 
 
 That night Morris came up, stopping suddenly as a loud 
 baby laugh reached him, even across the orchard, and lean 
 ing for a moment against the wall, while he tried to pre 
 pare himself for the shock it would be to see Katy s child, 
 and hold it in his arms, as he knew he must, or the mother 
 be aggrieved. 
 
 He had supposed it was pretty, but he was not prepared 
 for the beautiful little cherub which in its short white 
 dress, with its soft curls of golden brown clustering about 
 its head, stood holding to a chair, pushing it occasionally, 
 and venturing now and then to take a step, while its in 
 fantile laugh mingled with the screams of its delighted 
 auditors, watching it with so much interest. 
 
 There was one great, bitter, burning pang, and then, 
 folding his arms composedly upon the window sill, Dr. 
 Grant stood looking in upon the occupants of the room, 
 whistling at last to baby, as he was accustomed to whistle 
 to the children of his patients. 
 
 " Oh, Morris," Katy cried, " Baby can almost walk, 
 Marian has taken so much pains, and she can say papa. 
 Isn t she a beauty?" 
 
 Baby had turned her head by this time, her ear caught 
 by the whistle and her eye arrested by something in Morris 
 which fascinated her gaze. Perhaps she thought of Wil- 
 ford, of whom she had been very fond, for she pushed her 
 chair towards him and then held up her fat arms for him 
 to take her. 
 
 Never was mother prouder than Katy during the first few 
 days succeeding baby s arrival, while the family seemed to 
 tread on air, so swiftly the time went by with that active 
 little life in their midst, stirring them up so constantly, 
 putting to rout all their rules of order and keeping their 
 house in a state of delightful confusion. It was wonder 
 ful how rapidly the child improved with so many teachers, 
 learning to lisp its mother s name and taught by her, at 
 tempting to say " Doctor." From the very first the child 
 took to Morris, crying after him whenever he went away, 
 and hailing his arrival with a crow of joy and an eager 
 attempt to reach him. 
 
256 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " It was altogether too forward for this world/ 3 Aunt 
 Betsy often said, shaking her head ominously, but not 
 really meaning what she predicted, even when for a few 
 days it did not seem as bright as usual, but lay quietly 
 in Katy s lap, a blue look about the mouth and a 
 flush upon its cheeks, which neither Morris nor Marian 
 liked. 
 
 More accustomed to children than the other members of 
 the family, they both watched it closely, Morris coming 
 over twice one day, and the last time he came re 
 garding Katy with a look as if he would fain ward off 
 from her some evil which he feared. 
 
 " What is it, Morris ? " she asked. " Is baby going to 
 be very sick ? " and a great crushing fear came upon her 
 as she waited for his answer. 
 
 " I hope not,"" he said ; " I cannot tell as yet ; the symp 
 toms are like cholera infantum, of which I have several 
 cases, but if taken in time I apprehend no danger/ 
 
 There was a low shriek and baby opened its heavy lids 
 and moaned, while Helen came at once to Katy, who was 
 holding her hand upon her heart as if the pain had entered 
 there. To Marian it was no news, for ever since the early 
 morning she had suspected the nature of the disease steal 
 ing over the little child. All night the light burned in 
 the farm-house, where there were anxious, troubled faces, 
 Katy bending constantly over her darling, and even amid 
 her terrible anxiety, dreading Wilford s displeasure when 
 he should hear what she had done and its possible result. 
 She did not believe as yet that her child would die; but 
 she suffered acutely, watching for tlio early dawn when 
 Morris had said he would be there, and when at last he 
 came, begging of him to leave his other patients and care 
 only for baby. 
 
 " Would that be right? " Morris asked, and Katy blushed 
 for her selfishness when she heard how many were sick and 
 dying around them. "I will spend every leisure moment 
 here," he said, leaving his directions with Marian and then 
 hurrying away without a word of hope for the child, which 
 grew worse so fast that when the night shut down again it 
 lay upon the pillow, its blue eyes closed and its head thrown 
 back, while its sad meanings could only be hushed by 
 
The Cameron Pride. 257 
 
 carrying it in one s arms about the room, a task which 
 Katy could not do. 
 
 She had tried it at first, refusing all their offers with 
 the reply, " Baby is mine, and shall I not carry her ? " 
 
 But the feeble strength gave out, the limbs began to 
 totter, and staggering backward she cried, " Somebody must 
 take her." 
 
 It was Marian who went forward, Marian, whose face 
 was a puzzle as she took tht infant in her stronger arms, 
 her stony eyes, which had not wept as yet, fastening them 
 selves upon the face of Wilford Cameron s child with a 
 look which seemed to say, " Eetribution, retribution." 
 
 But only when she remembered the father, now so proud 
 of his daughter, was that word in her heart. She could 
 not harbor it when she glanced at the mother, and her 
 lips moved in earnest prayer that, if possible, God would 
 not leave her so desolate. An hour later and Morris came, 
 relieving Marian of her burden, which he carried in his own 
 arms, while he strove to comfort Katy, who, crouching by 
 the empty crib, was sitting motionless in a kind of dumb 
 despair, all hope crushed out by his answer to her en 
 treaties that he would tell her the truth, and keep nothing 
 back. 
 
 " I think your baby will die," he said to her very gently, 
 pausing a moment in awe of the white face, whose expres 
 sion terrified him, it was so full of agony. 
 
 Bowing her head upon her hands, poor Katy whispered 
 sadly, " God must not take my baby. Oh, Morris, pray 
 that he will not. He will hear and answer you; I have 
 been so bad I cannot pray, but I am not going to be bad 
 again. If he will let me keep my darling I will begin a 
 new life. I will try to serve him. Dear Lord, hear and 
 answer, and not let baby die." 
 
 She was praying herself now, and Morris s broad chest 
 laenved as he glanced at her kneeling figure, and then at 
 the death-like face upon the pillow, with the pinched look 
 about the nose and lips, which to his practiced eye was a 
 harbinger of death. 
 
 " It s father should be here," he thought, and when Katy 
 lifted up her head again he asked if she was sure her hus 
 band had not yet returned from Minnesota. 
 
258 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 "Yes, sure that is, I think he has not/ was Katy s 
 answer, a chill creeping over her at the thought of meeting 
 Wilford, and giving him his daughter dead. 
 
 " I shall telegraph in the morning at all events/ Morris 
 continued, <f and if he is not in New York, it will be for 
 warded." 
 
 " Yes, that will be best," was the reply, spoken so mourn 
 fully that Morris stopped in front of Katy, and tried to 
 reason with her. 
 
 But Katy would not listen, and only answered that Tie 
 did not know, he could not feel, he never had been tried. 
 
 " Perhaps not," Morris said ; " but Heaven is my wit 
 ness, Katy, that if I could save you this pain bv giving up 
 my life for baby s I would do it willingly; but God does 
 not give us our choice. He knoweth what is best, and baby 
 is better with Him than us." 
 
 For a moment Katy was silent ; then, as a new idea took 
 possession of her mind, she sprang to Morris s side and 
 seizing his arm, demanded, " Can an unbaptized child be 
 saved ? " 
 
 " We nowhere read that baptism is a saving ordinance," 
 was Morris s answer; while Katy continued, "but do you 
 believe they will be saved ? " 
 
 " Yes, I do," was the decided response, which, however, 
 did not ease Katy s mind, and she moaned on, " A child of 
 heathen parents may, but 7 knew better. I knew it was 
 my duty to give the child to God, and for a foolish fancy 
 withheld the gift until it is too late, and God will take it 
 without the mark upon its forehead, the water on its brow. 
 Oh, baby, baby, if she should be lost no name, no mark, 
 no baptismal sign/ 
 
 "Not water, but the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all 
 sin," Morris said, "and as sure as he died so sure this 
 little one is safe. Besides, there may be time for the bap 
 tism yet that is, to-morrow. Babv will not die to-night, 
 and if you like, it still shall have a name." 
 
 Eagerly Katy seized upon that idea, thinking more of the 
 sign, the water, than the name, which scarcely occupied 
 her thoughts at all. It did not matter what the child was 
 called, so that it became one of the little ones in glory, and 
 with a calmer, quieter demeanor than she had shown that 
 
The Cameron Pride. 259 
 
 day, she saw Morris depart at a late hour ; and then turning 
 to the child which Uncle Ephraim was holding, kissed it 
 lovingly, whispering as she did so, "Baby shall be bap 
 tized baby shall have the sign." 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 LITTLE GENEVRA. 
 
 MORRIS had telegraphed to New York, receiving in reply 
 that Wilford was hourly expected home, and would at once 
 hasten on to Silverton. The clergyman, Mr. Kelly, had 
 also been seen, but owing to a funeral which would take 
 him out of town, he could not be at the farm-house until 
 five in the afternoon, when, if the child still lived, he 
 would be glad to officiate as requested. All this Morris 
 had communicated to Katy, who listened in a kind of 
 stupor, gasping for breath, when she heard that Wilford 
 would soon be there, and moaning " that will be too late," 
 when told that the baptism could not take place till night. 
 Then kneeling by the crib where the child was lying, she 
 fastened her great, sad blue eyes upon the pallid face with 
 an earnestness as if thus she would hold till nightfall the 
 life flickering so faintly and seeming so nearly finished. 
 The wailings had ceased, and they no longer carried it in 
 their arms, but had placed it in its crib, where it lay per 
 fectly still, save as its eyes occasionally unclosed and turned 
 wistfully towards the cups, where it knew was something 
 which quenched its raging thirst. Once indeed, as the 
 hours crept on to noon and Katy bent over it so that her 
 curls swept its face, it seemed to know her, and the little 
 wasted hand was uplifted and rested on her check with 
 the same caressing motion it had been wont to use in 
 health. Then hope whispered that it might live, and with 
 a great cry of joy Katy sob; -eel, " She knows me, Morris 
 mother, see ; she knows me. Maybe she will live ! " 
 
 But the dull stupor which succeeded swept all hope away, 
 and again Katy resumed her post, watching first her dying 
 child, and then the long hands of the clock which crept 
 on so slowly, pointing to only two when she thought it 
 
260 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 must be five. Would that hour never come, or coming, 
 would it find baby there? None could answer that last 
 question they could only wait and pray; and as they 
 waited the warm September sun neared the western sky 
 till its yellow beams came stealing through the window and 
 across the floor to where Katy sat watching its onward 
 progress, and looking sometimes out upon the hills where 
 the purplish autumnal haze was lying just as she once loved 
 to see it. But she did not heed it now, nor care how 
 bright the day with the flitting shadows dancing on the 
 grass, the tall flowers growing by the door, and old Whitey 
 standing by the gate, his head stretched towards the house 
 in a kind of dreamy, listening attitude, as if he, too, knew 
 of the great sorrow hastening on so fast. The others saw 
 all this, and it made their hearts ache more as they thought 
 of the beautiful little child going from their midst when 
 they wished so much to keep her. Katy had only one idea, 
 and that was of the child, growing very restless now, and 
 throwing up its arms as if in pain. It was striking five, 
 and with each stroke the dying baby moaned, while Katy 
 strained her ear to catch the sound of horses hoofs hurry 
 ing up the road. The clergyman had come and the in 
 mates of the house gathered round in silence, while he 
 made ready to receive the child into Christ s flock. 
 
 Mrs. Lennox had questioned Helen about the name, and 
 Helen had answered, " Katy knows, I presume. It does 
 not matter/ 5 but no one had spoken directly to Katy, who 
 had scarcely given it a thought, caring more for the rite 
 she had deferred so long. 
 
 " He must hasten," she said to Morris, her eyes fixed 
 upon the panting child she had lifted to her own lap, and 
 thus adjured the clergyman failed to make the usual in 
 quiry concerning the name he was to give. 
 
 Calm and white as a marble statue, Marian Hazelton 
 glided to the back of Katy s chair, and pressing both 
 her hands upon it, leaned over Katy so that her eyes, 
 too, were fixed upon the little face, from which they never 
 turned but once, and that when the clergyman s voice was 
 heard asking for a name. There was an instant s silence, 
 and Katy s lips began to move, when one of Marian s 
 hands was laid upon her head, while the other took in 
 
The Cameron Pride. 261 
 
 its own the limp, white baby fingers, and Marian s yoke 
 was very steady in its tone as it said, GENEVRA." 
 
 " Yes, Genevra," Katy whispered, and the solemn 
 words were heard, " Genevra, I baptize thee in the name 
 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Softly the baptismal waters fell upon the pale forehead, 
 and at their touch the little Genevra s eyes unclosed, the 
 waxen fingers withdrew themselves from Marian s grasp, 
 and again sought the mother s cheek, resting there for an 
 instant; while a smile broke around the baby s lips, which 
 tried to say " Mam-rna." Then the hand fell back, down 
 upon Marian s, the soft eyes closed, the limbs grew rigid, 
 the shadow of death grew deeper, and while the prayer 
 was said, and Marian s tears fell with Katy s upon the 
 brow where the baptismal waters were not dried, the 
 angel came, and when the prayer was ended, Morris., 
 who knew what the rest did not, took the lifeless form 
 from Katy s lap, and whispered to her gently, " Katy, 
 your baby is dead ! " 
 
 An hour Inter, and the sweet little creature, which had 
 been a sunbeam in that house for a few happy days, lay 
 upon the bed where Katy said it must be laid; its form 
 shrouded in the christening robe which grandma Cameron 
 had bought, flowers upon its pillow, flowers upon its 
 bosom, flowers in its hands, which Marian had put there; 
 for Marian s was the mind which thought of everything 
 concerning the dead child; and Helen, as she watched 
 her, wondered at the mighty love which showed itself in 
 every lineament of her face, the blue veins swelling in 
 her forehead, her eyes bloodshot, and her lips shut firmly 
 together, as if it were by mere strength of will that she 
 kept back the scalding tears as she dressed the little 
 ^Genevra. They spoke of that name in the kitchen when 
 the first great shock was over, and Helen explained why 
 it had been Katy s choice. 
 
 It was Morris s task to comfort poor, stricken Katy, 
 telling her of the blessed Saviour who loved the little 
 children while here on the earth, and to whom her darling 
 had surely gone. 
 
 " Safe in His arms, it would not come back if it could/ 
 he said, " and neither would you have it." 
 
262 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 But Katy was the mother, the human love could not 
 so soon submit, but went out after the lost one with a 
 piteous, agonizing wail. 
 
 " Oh, I want my baby back. I know she is safe, but I 
 want her back. She was my life all I had to love/ 
 Katy moaned, rocking to and fro in this her first hour of 
 bereavement, " and Wilford will blame me so much for 
 bringing my baby here to die. He will say it was my 
 fault ; and that I can t bear. I know I killed my baby ; 
 but I did not mean to. I would give my life for hers, if 
 like her I was ready," and into Katy s face there came a 
 look of fear which Morris failed to understand, not know 
 ing Wilford as well as Katy knew him. 
 
 At nine o clock next day there came a telegram. Wil 
 ford had reached New York and would be in Silverton 
 that afternoon, accompanied by Bell. At this last Marian 
 Hazelton caught as an excuse for what she intended do 
 ing. She could not remain there after Wilford came, nor 
 was it necessary. Her task was done, or would be when 
 she had finished the wreath and cross of flowers she was 
 making for the coffin. Laying them on baby s pillow, 
 Marian went in quest of Helen, to whom she explained 
 that as Bell Cameron was coming, *and the house would 
 be full, she had decided upon going to West Silverton, as 
 she wished to see the old lady with whom she once boarded, 
 and who had been so kind to her. 
 
 " I might stay," she added, as Helen began to pro 
 test, "but you do not need me. I have done all 
 I can, and would rather go where I can be quiet for a 
 little/ 
 
 To this last argument there could be no demur, and 
 so the same carriage which at ten o clock went for Wil 
 ford Cameron carried Marian Hazleton to the village 
 where she preferred being left. 
 
 In much anxiety and distress Wilford Cameron read 
 the telegram announcing baby s illness. 
 
 " At Silverton ! " he said. " How can that be when 
 the child was at New London ? " and he glanced again 
 at the words: 
 
The Cameron Pride. 263 
 
 " Your child is dying at Silverton. Come at once. 
 M. GRANT" 
 
 There could be no mistake, and Wilford s face grew 
 dark, for he guessed the truth, censuring Katy much, 
 but censuring her family more. They of course had 
 encouraged her in the plan of taking her child from New 
 London, where it was doing so well, and this was the 
 result. Wilford was proud of his daughter now, and 
 during the few weeks he had been with it, the little thing 
 had found a strong place in his love. Many times he 
 had thought of it during his journey West, indulging 
 in bright anticipations of the coming winter, when he 
 would have it home again. It would not be in his way 
 now. On the contrary, it would add much to his luxu 
 rious home, and the young father s heart bounded with 
 thoughts of the beautiful baby as he had last seen it, 
 crowing its good-bye to him and trying to lisp his name, 
 its sweet voice haunting him for weeks, and making him 
 a softer, better man, who did not frown impatiently upon 
 the little children in the cars, but who took notice of them 
 all, even laying his hand once on a little curly head which 
 reminded him of baby s. 
 
 Alas for him ! he little dreamed of the great shock in 
 store for him. The child was undoubtedly very sick, 
 he said, but that it could die was not possible; and so,, 
 though he made ready to hasten to it, he did not with 
 hold his opinion of the rashness which had brought it 
 to such peril. 
 
 "Had Katy obeyed me it would not have happened/ 
 he said, pacing up and down the parlor and preparing 
 to say more, when Bell came to Katy s aid, and lighting 
 upon him, asked what he meant by blaming his wife so 
 much. 
 
 " For my part/ she said, " I think there has been too 
 much fault-finding and dictation from the very day of 
 the child s birth till now, and if God takes it, I shall 
 think it a judgment upon you. First you were vexed 
 with Katy because it was not a boy, as if she were to 
 blame; then you did not like it because it was not more 
 promising and fair; next it was in your way, and so you 
 
264 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 .sent it off, never considering Katy any more than if she 
 were a mere automaton. Then you must needs forbid 
 .her taking it home to her own family, as if they had no 
 interest in it. I tell you, Will, it is not all Cameron 
 there is some Barlow blood in its veins Aunt Betsy 
 Barlow s, too, and you cannot wash it out. Katy had a 
 right to take her own child where she pleased, and you 
 are not a man if you censure her for it, as I see in your 
 eyes you mean to do. Suppose it had stayed in New 
 London and been struck with lightning you would 
 have been to blame, of course, according to your own 
 view of things." 
 
 There was too much truth in Bell s remarks for Wilford 
 to retort, even had he been disposed, and ke contented 
 himself with a haughty toss of his head as she left the 
 room to get herself in readiness for the journey she insisted 
 upon taking. Wilford was glad she was going, as her 
 presence at Silverton would relieve him of the awkward 
 embarrassment he always felt when there; and magnan 
 imously forgiving her for the plainness of her speech, he 
 was the most attentive of brothers until Silverton was 
 reached and he found Dr. Grant awaiting for him. Some 
 thing in his face, as he came forwar4 to meet them, startled 
 bith Wilford and Bell, the latter of whom asked quickly, 
 
 "Is the baby better?" 
 
 " Baby is dead," was the brief reply, and Wilford stag 
 gered back against the door-post, where he leaned a 
 moment for support in that first great shock for which he 
 was not prepared. 
 
 Upon the door-step Bell sat down, crying quietly, for 
 she had loved the child, and she listened anxiously while 
 Morris repeated the particulars of its illness and then 
 spoke of Katy s reproaching herself so bitterly for hav 
 ing brought it from New London. "She seems entirely 
 crushed," he continued, when they were driving towards 
 the farm-house. "For a few hours I trembled for her 
 reason, while the fear that you might reproach her added 
 much to the poignancy of her grief." 
 
 Morris said this very calmly, as if it were not what he 
 had all the while intended saying, and his eye turned to 
 wards Wilford, whose lips were compressed with the emotion 
 
The Cameron Pride. 265 
 
 he was trying to control. It was Bell who spoke first, 
 Bell who said impulsively, " Poor Katy, I knew she would 
 feel so, but it is unnecessary, for none but a savage would 
 reproach her now, even if she were in fault." 
 
 Morris blessed Bell Cameron in his heart, knowing how- 
 much influence her words would have upon her brother, 
 who brushed away the first tear he had shed, and tried 
 to say that " of course she was not to blame." 
 
 They were in sight of the farm-house now, and Bell, 
 with her city ideas, was looking curiously at it, mentally 
 pronouncing it a nicer, pleasanter place than she had sup 
 posed. It was very quiet about the house, and old 
 Whitey s neigh as Morris s span of bays came up was the 
 only sound which greeted them. In the wood-shed door 
 Uncle Ephraim sat smoking his clay pipe and likening 
 the feathery waves which curled above his head to the 
 little soul so recently gone upward ; while by his side, upon 
 a log of wood, holding a pan of the luscious peaches 
 she was slicing up for tea, sat a woman whom Bell knew 
 at once for Aunt Betsy Barlow, and who, pan in hand, 
 came forward to meet her, curtsying very low when in 
 troduced by Morris, and asking to be excused from shak 
 ing hands, inasmuch as hers were not fit to be touched. : 
 Bell s quick eye took her in at a glance, from her clean 
 spotted gown to her plain muslin cap tied with a black rib 
 bon, put on that day with a view to mourning, and then 
 darted off to Uncle Ephraim, who won her heart at once 
 when she heard how his voice trembled as he took Wil- 
 ford s hand and said so pityingly, so father-like, " Young 
 man, this is a sad day for you, and you have my sympa 
 thy, for I remember well how my heart ached when, on 
 just such a day as this, my only child lay dead as yours 
 is lying." 
 
 Every muscle of Wilford s face quivered, but he was toa 
 proud to show all that he felt, and he was glad when Heleni 
 appeared in the door, as that diverted his mind, and ? 
 he greeted her cordially, stooping down and kissing her 
 forehead, a thing he had never done before. But sorrow 
 is a great softener, and Wilford was very sorry, feeling 
 his loss more here, where everything was so quiet, so sug 
 gestive of death. 
 
266 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 "Where is Katy?" he asked. 
 
 " She is sleeping for the first time since the baby died. 
 She is in here with the child. She will stay nowhere 
 else/ Helen said, opening the door of the bedroom and 
 motioning Wilford in. 
 
 With hushed breath and a beating heart, Wilford stepped 
 across the threshold, and Helen closed the door, leaving 
 Mm alone with the living and the dead. Pure and beauti 
 ful as some fair blossom, the dead child lay upon the bed, 
 the curls of golden hair clustering about its head, and on 
 its lips the -mile which settled there when it trieJ to say 
 " mamma. " Its dimpled hands were folded upon its breast, 
 where lay the cross of flowers which Marian Hazelton had 
 made. There were flowers upon its pillow, flowers around 
 its head, flowers upon its shroud, flowers everywhere, 
 and itself the fairest flower of all, Wilford thought, 
 as he stood gazing at it and then let his eye move 
 on to where poor, tired, worn-out Katy had crept up 
 so close beside it that her breath touched the marble 
 cheek and her own disordered hair rested upon the pillow 
 of her child. Even in her sleep her tears kept dropping 
 and the pale lips quivered in a grieved, touching way. 
 Hard indeed would Wilford have* been had he cherished 
 one bitter thought against the wife so wounded. He 
 could not when he saw her, but no one ever knew just 
 what passed through his mind during the half hour he 
 sat there beside her, scarcely stirring and not daring to 
 kiss his child lest he should awaken her. He could hear 
 the ticking of his watch and the beating of his heart as he 
 waited for the first sound which should herald s Katy s 
 waking. 
 
 Suddenly there was a low, gasping moan, and Katy s 
 eyes unclosed and rested on her husband. He was bend 
 ing over her in an instant, and her arms were round his 
 neck, while she said to him so sadly, 
 
 " Our baby is dead you ve nobody left but me ; and 
 oh ! Wilford, you will not blame me for bringing baby here? 
 I did not think she d die. I d give my life for hers if that 
 would bring her back. Would you rather it was me 
 lying as baby lies, and she here in your arms?" 
 
 " No, Katy/ Wilford answered, and by his voice Katy 
 
The Cameron Pride. 267 
 
 knew that she was wholly forgiven, crying on his neck in 
 a plaintive, piteous way, while Wilford soothed and pitied 
 and caressed, feeling subdued and humbled., and we must 
 confess it, feeling too how very good and generous he 
 was to be thus forbearing, when but for Katy s act of 
 disobedience they might not now be childless ! 
 
 With a great gush of tears Bell Cameron bent over the 
 little form, and then enfolded Katy in a more loving em 
 brace than she had ever given her before; but whatever 
 she might have said was prevented by the arrival of the 
 coffin, and the confusion which followed. 
 
 Much Wilford regretted that New York was so far 
 away, for a city coffin was more suitable, he thought, for 
 a child of his, than the one which Dr. Grant had ordered. 
 But that was really of less consequence than the question 
 where the child should be buried. A costly monument 
 at Greenwood was in accordance with his ideas, but all 
 things indicated a contemplated burial there in the country 
 churchyard, and sorely perplexed, he called on Bell as 
 the only Cameron at hand, to know what he should 
 do. 
 
 " Do just as Katy prefers," w r as Bell s reply, as she 
 led him to the coffin and pointed to the name : " Little 
 Genevra Cameron, aged nine months and twenty days." 
 
 " What is it, Wilford what is the matter ? " she asked, 
 as her brother turned whiter than his child. 
 
 Had " Genevra Lambert, aged 22" met his eye, he 
 could not have been more startled than he was; but soon 
 rallying, he said to Morris, 
 
 "The child was baptized, then?" 
 
 " Yes, baptized Genevra. That v-*as Katy s choice, I 
 understand," Morris replied, and Wilford bowed his head, 
 wishing the Genevra across the sea might know that his 
 child bore her name. 
 
 " Perhaps she does," he thought, and his heart grew 
 warm with the fancy that possibly in that other world, 
 whose existence he never really doubted, the Genevra he 
 had wronged would care for his child, if children there 
 
268 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 need care. " She will know it is mine at least," he said, 
 and with a thoughtful face he went in quest of Katy, 
 whom he found sobbing by the side of the mourning 
 garments just sent in for her inspection. 
 
 Wilford was averse to black. It would not become 
 Katy, he feared, and it would be an unanswerable reason 
 for her remaining closely home for the entire winter. 
 
 " What s this ? " he asked, lifting the crape veil and 
 dropping it again with an impatient gesture as Helen 
 replied, " It is Katy s mourning veil." 
 
 Contrary to his expectations, black was becoming to 
 Katy, who looked like a pure white lily, as, leaning on 
 Wilford s arm next day, she stood by the grave where 
 they were burying her child. 
 
 Wilford had spoken to her of Greenwood, but she had 
 begged so hard that he had given up that idea, suggest 
 ing next, as more in accordance with city custom, that 
 she remain at home while he only followed to the grave ; 
 but from this Katy recoiled in such distress that he gave 
 that up too, and bore, magnanimously as he thought, the 
 sight of all the Barlows standing around that grave, alike 
 mourners with himself, and all a right to be there. Wil 
 ford felt his loss deeply, and his heart ached to its very 
 core as he heard the gravel rattling down upon the coffin- 
 lid which covered the beautiful child he had loved so 
 much. But amid it all he never for a moment forgot 
 that he was Wilford Cameron, and infinitely superior to 
 the crowd around him except, indeed, his wife, his sister, 
 Dr. Grant, and Helen. He could bear to see them sorry, 
 and feel that by their sorrow they honored the memory of 
 his child. But for the rest the village herd, with the 
 Barlows in their train he had no affinity, and his manner 
 was as haughty and distant as ever as he passed through 
 their midst back to the carriage, which took him again 
 to the farm-house. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 269 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 AFTER THE FUNERAL. 
 
 HAD there been a train back to New York that afternoon 
 Wilford would most certainly have suggested going; but 
 as there was none he passed the time as well as he could, 
 finding Bell a great help to him, but wondering that she 
 could assimilate so readily with such people, declaring 
 herself in love with the farm-house, and saying she should 
 like to remain there for weeks, if the days were all as sunny 
 as this, the dahlias as gorgeously bright, and the peaches 
 by the well as delicious and ripe. To these the city girl 
 took readily, visiting them the last thing before retiring, 
 while Wilford found her there when he arose next morning, 
 her dress and slippers nearly spoiled with the heavy dew, 
 and her hands ft-"!!, of the fresh fruit which Aunt Betsy 
 knocked from the tree with a quilting rod; her dress 
 pinned around her waist, and disclosing a petticoat scrupu 
 lously clean, but patched and mended with so many 
 different patterns and colors that the original ground 
 was lost, and none could tell whether it had been red or 
 black, buff or blue. Bei veen Aunt Betsy and Bell the 
 most amicable feeling had existed ever since the older 
 lady had told the younger how all the summer long she 
 had been drying fruit, "thimble-berries, blue-bries, and 
 buckle-berries " for the soldiers, and how she was now 
 drying peaches for Willard Buxton once their hired 
 man. These she should tie up in a salt bag, and put in 
 the next box sent by the society of which she seemed to 
 be head and front, " kind of fust directress " she said, and 
 Bell was interested at once, for among the soldiers d@wn 
 by the Potomac was one who carried with him the whole 
 of Bell Cameron r s heart; and who for a few days had 
 tarried at just such a dwelling as the farm-house, writ 
 ing back to her so pleasant descriptions of it, with its 
 fresh grass and shadowy trees, that she had longed to be 
 there too. So it was through this halo of romance and 
 
270 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 love that Bell looked at the farm-house and its occupants, 
 preferring good Aunt Betsy because she seemed the most 
 interested in the soldiers, working as soon as breakfast 
 was over upon the peaches, and kindly furnishing her 
 best check apron, together with pan and knife for Bell, 
 who offered her assistance, notwithstanding Wilford s warn 
 ing that the fruit would stain her hands, and his advice 
 that she had better be putting up her things for going 
 home. 
 
 " She was not going that day," she said, point blank, 
 and as Katy too had asked to stay a little longer, Wilford 
 was compelled to yield, and taking his hat saunteied off 
 toward Linwood; while Katy went listlessly into the 
 kitchen, where Bell Cameron sat, her tongue moving 
 much faster than her hands, which pared so siowlv and 
 cut away so much of the juicy pulp, besides making so 
 frequent journeys to her mouth, that Aunt Betsy looked 
 in alarm at the rarjidly disappearing fruit, wishing to her 
 self that " Miss Camern had not listed/ 
 
 But Miss Camern had enlisted, and so had Bob, or 
 rather he had gone to his duty, and as she worked, she 
 repeated to Helen the particulars of his going, telling 
 how, when the war first broke out, and Sumtcr was bom 
 barded, Bob, who, from long association with Southern 
 men at West Point, had imbibed many of their ideas, was 
 very sympathetic with the rebelling States, gaining the 
 cognomen of a secessionist, and once actually thinking of 
 casting in his lot with that side rather than the other. 
 But a little incident saved him, she said. The remem 
 brance of a queer old lady whom he met in the cars, and 
 who, at parting held her wrinkled hand above his head 
 in benediction, charging him not to go against the flag, 
 and promising her prayers for his safety if found on the 
 side of the Union. 
 
 " I wish you could hear Bob tell the story, the funny 
 part I mean," she continued, narrating as well as she could 
 the particulars of Lieutenant Bob s meeting with Aunt 
 Betsy, who, as the story progressed and she recognized 
 herself in the queer old Yankee woman, who shook hands 
 with the conductor and was going to law about a sheep 
 pasture, dropped her head lower and lower over her pan 
 
The Cameron Pride. 
 
 of peaches, while a scarlet flush spread itself all over her 
 thin lace, but changed to a grayish white as Bell concluded 
 with "Bob says the memory of that hand lifted above 
 his head haunted him day and night, during the period of 
 his uncertainty, and was at last the means of saving him 
 from treachery to his country/ 
 
 " Thank God ! " came involuntarily from Aunt Betsy s 
 quivering lips, and, looking up, Bell saw the great tears 
 running down her cheeks, tears which she wiped away 
 with her arm, while she said faintly, " That old woman, 
 who made a fool of herself in the cars, was me! " 
 
 " You, Miss Barlow, you ! " Bell exclaimed, forgetting 
 in her astonishment to carry to her mouth the luscious 
 half peach she had intended for that purpose, and drop 
 ping it untasted into the pan, while Katy, who had been 
 listening with considerable interest, came quickly forward 
 saying, " You, Aunt Betsy ! when were you in New York, 
 and why did I never know it ? " 
 
 It could not be kept back and, unmindful of Bell, Helen 
 explained to Katy as well as she could the circumstances 
 of Aunt Betsy s visit to New York the previous winter. 
 
 te And she never let me know it, or come to see me, be 
 cause because " Katy hesitated, and looked at Bell, 
 who said, pertly, "Because Will is so abominably proud,, 
 and would have made such a fuss. Don t spoil a story for 
 relation s sake, I beg," and the young lady laughed good 
 humoredly, restoring peace to all save Katy, whose face 
 wore a troubled look, and who soon stole away to her 
 mother, whom she questioned further with regard to a 
 circumstance which seemed so mysterious to her. 
 
 " Miss Barlow," Bell said, when Katy was gone, " you 
 will forgive me for repeating that story as I did. Of 
 course I had no idea it was you of whom I was talking." 
 
 Bell was very earnest, and her eyes looked pleadingly 
 upon Aunt Betsy, who answered her back, " There s nothing 
 to forgive. You only told the truth. I did make an 
 old fool of myself, but if I helped that boy to a right 
 decision, my journey did some good, and I ain t sorry 
 now if I did go to the play-house. I confessed that to 
 the sewing circle, and Mrs. Deacon Bannister hain t seemed 
 the same towards me since, but I don t care. I beat her on 
 
272 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 the election to first directress of the Soldier s Aid. 
 She didn t run half as well as me. That chap you 
 call Bob is he anything to you. Is he your beau ? " 
 
 " It was Bell s turn now to blush and then grow white, 
 while Helen, lightly touching the superb diamond on her 
 first finger, said, " That indicates as much. When did it 
 happen, Bell?" 
 
 Mrs. Cameron had said they were not a family to bruit 
 their affairs abroad, and if so, Bell was not like her family, 
 for she answered frankly, "Just before he went away. 
 It s a splendid diamond, isn t it ? " and she held it up for 
 Helen to inspect. 
 
 The basket was empty by this time, and as Aunt Betsy 
 went to fill it from the trees, Bell and Helen were left 
 alone, and the former continued in a low, sad tone, " I ve 
 been so sorry sometimes that I did not tell Bob I loved 
 him, when he wished me to so much." 
 
 " Xot tell him you loved him ! How then could you 
 tell him yes, as it appears you did ? " Helen asked, and 
 Bell answered, " I could not well help that ; it came so 
 sudden and he begged so hard, saying my promise would 
 make him a better man, a better soldier and all that. It 
 was the very night before he went, and so I said that out 
 of pity and patriotism I would give the* promise, and I did, 
 but it seemed too much for a woman to tell a man all at 
 once that she loved him, and I wouldn t do it, but I ve 
 been sorry since; oh, so sorry, during the two days when 
 we heard nothing from him after that dreadful battle at 
 Bull Run. We knew he was in it, and I thought I should 
 die until his telegram came saying he was safe. I did sit 
 down then and commence a letter, confessing all, but I 
 tore it up, and he don t know now just how I feel." 
 
 " And do you really love him ? " Helen asked, puzzled 
 by this strange girl, who laughingly held up her soft, 
 white hand, stained and blackened with the juice of the 
 fruit she had been paring, and said, " Do you suppose I 
 would spoil my hands like that, and incur ma chere mam- 
 ma s displeasure, if Bob were not in the army and I did 
 not care for him ? And now allow me to catechise you. 
 Did Mark Ray ever propose and you refuse him ? " 
 
 " Never ! " and Helen s face grew crimson, while Bell 
 
The Cameron Pride. 273 
 
 continued: "That is funny. Half our circle think so, 
 though how the impression was first given I do not know. 
 Mother told me, but would not tell where she received 
 her information. I heard of it again in a few days, and 
 have reason to believe that Mrs. Banker knows it too, and 
 feels a little uncomfortable that her son should be refused 
 when she considers him worthy of the Empress herself." 
 
 Helen was very white, as she asked, "And how with 
 Mark and Juno ? " 
 
 "Oh, there is nothing between them," Bell replied. 
 "Mark has scarcely called on us since he returned from 
 Washington with his regiment. You are certain you never 
 cared for him ? " 
 
 This was so abrupt, and Bell s eyes were so searching 
 that Helen grew giddy for a moment, and grasped the 
 back of the chair, as she replied : " I did not say I never 
 cared for him. I said he never proposed ; and that is 
 true; he never did." 
 
 " And if he had ? " Bell continued, never taking her 
 eyes from Helen, who, had she been less agitated, would 
 have denied BelPs right to question her so closely. Now, 
 however, she answered blindly, " I do not know. I can 
 not tell. I thought him engaged to Juno." 
 
 " Well, if that is not the rarest case of cross-purposes 
 that I ever knew," Bell said, wiping her hands upon Aunt 
 Betsy s apron, and preparing to attack the piled up basket 
 just brought in. 
 
 Farther conversation was impossible, and, with her 
 mind in a perfect tempest of thought, Helen went away, 
 trying to decide what it was best for her to do. Some 
 one had spread the report that she had refused Mark Ray, 
 telling of the refusal of course, or how else could it have 
 been known? and this accounted for Mrs. Banker s long 
 continued silence. Since Helen s return to Silverton Mrs. 
 Banker had written two or three kind, friendly let 
 ters, which did her so much good; but these had sud 
 denly ceased, and Helen s last remained unanswered. She 
 saw the reason now, every nerve quivering with pain 
 as she imagined what Mrs. Banker must think of one who 
 could make a refusal public, or what was tenfold worse, 
 pretend to an offer she never received. " She must despise 
 
274 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 me, and Mark Ray, too, if he has heard of it," she 
 said, resolving one moment to ask Bell to explain to Mrs. 
 Banker, and then changing her mind and concluding to 
 let matters take their course, inasmuch as interference 
 from her might he construed by the mother into undue 
 interest in the son. " Perhaps Bell will do it without 
 my asking," she thought, and this hope did much toward 
 keeping her spirits up on that last day of Katy s stay at 
 home, for she was going back in the morning. 
 
 They did not see Marian Hazelton again, and Katy 
 wondered at it, deciding that in some things Marian was 
 very peculiar, while Wilford and Bell were disappointed, 
 as both had a desire to meet and converse with or.e who 
 had been so like a second mother to the little dead Oene- 
 vra. Wilford spoke of his child now as Genevra, but to 
 Katy it was Baby still ; and, with choking sobs and pas 
 sionate tears, she bade good-bye to the little mound 
 underneath which it was lying, and then went back to 
 New York. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXII. 
 
 THE FIRST WIFE. * 
 
 KATY was very unhappy in her city home, and the 
 world, as she looked upon it, seemed utterly cheerless. 
 For much of this unhappiness Wilford was himself to 
 blame. After the first few days, during which he was all 
 kindness and devotion, he did not try to comfort her, 
 but seemed irritated that she should mourn so deeply for 
 the child which, but for her indiscretion, might have 
 been living still. He did not like staying at home, and 
 their evenings, when they were alone, passed in gloomy 
 silence. At last Mrs. Cameron brought her influence to 
 bear upon her daughter-in-law, trying to rouse her to 
 something like her olden interest in the world; but all 
 to no effect, and matters grew constantly worse, as Wil 
 ford thought Katy unreasonable and selfish, while Katy 
 tried hard not to think him harsh in his judgment of 
 her, and exacting in his requirements. " Perhaps she 
 was the one most in fault; it could not be pleasant for 
 
iae Cameron Pride. 275 
 
 him to see her so entirely changed from what she used to 
 be/ she thought, one morning late in November, when, 
 her husband had just left her with an angry frown upon 
 his face and reproachful words upon his lips. 
 
 Father Cameron and his daughters were out of town,, 
 and Mrs. Cameron had asked Wilford and Katy to dine 
 with her. But Katy did not wish to go, and Wilford had 
 left her in anger, saying " she could suit herself, but he 
 should go at all events." 
 
 Left alone, Katy began to feel that she had done wrong 
 in declining the invitation. Surely she could go there, 
 and the echo of the bang with which Wilford had closed 
 the street door was still vibrating in her ear, when her 
 resolution began to give way, and while Wilford was 
 riding moodily down town, thinking liarsh things against 
 her, she was meditating what she thought might be an 
 agreeable surprise. She would go round and meet him 
 at dinner, trying to appear as much like her old self as 
 she could, and so atone for anything which had hitherto 
 been wrong in her demeanor. 
 
 Later in the day Esther was sent for to arrange her 
 mistress s hair, as she had not arranged it since baby 
 died. Wilford had been annoyed by the smooth bands 
 combed so plainly back, and at the blackness of the dress, 
 but now there was a change, and graceful curls fell about 
 the face, giving it the girlish expression which Wilford 
 liked. The soberness of the dark dress was relieved by 
 simple folds of white crape at the throat and wrists, while 
 the handsome jet ornaments, the gift of Wilford s father, 
 added to the style and beauty of the childish figure, 
 which had seldom looked lovelier than when ready and 
 waiting for the carriage. At the door there was a ring, 
 and Esther brought a note to Katv, who read as follows: 
 
 DEAR KATY : I have been suddenly called to leave the 
 city on business, which will probably detain me for three 
 days or more, and as I must go on the night train, I wish 
 Esther to have my portmanteau ready with whatever I may 
 need for the journey. As I proposed this morning, I shall 
 dine with mother, but come home immediately after dinner. 
 
 W. CAMERON. 
 
276 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Katy was glad now that she had decided to meet him 
 at his mother s,, as the knowing she had pleased him 
 would make the time of his absence more endurable, and 
 after seeing that everything was ready for him she stepped 
 with a comparatively light heart into her carriage, and 
 was driven to No. Fifth Avenue. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron was out, the servant said, but was ex 
 pected every minute with Mr. Wilford. 
 
 " Never mind/ Katy answered ; " I want to surprise 
 them, so please don t tell them I am here when you let 
 them in," and going into the library she sat down before 
 the grate, waiting rather impatiently until the door-bell 
 rang and she heard both Wilford s and Mrs. Cameron s 
 voices in the hall. 
 
 Contrary to her expectations, they did not come into 
 the library, but went into the parlor, the door of which 
 was partially ajar, so that every word they said could be 
 distinctly heard where Katy sat. It would seem that 
 they were continuing a conversation which had been in 
 terrupted by their arriving home, for Mrs. Cameron said, 
 with the tone she always assumed when sympathizing 
 with her son. " Is she never more cheerful than when I 
 have seen her ? " 
 
 " Never," and Katy could feel just how Wilford s lips 
 shut over his teeth as he said it ; " never more cheerful, 
 but worse if anything. Why, positively the house seems 
 so like a funeral that I hate to leave the office and go 
 back to it at night, knowing how mopish and gloomy 
 Katy will be." 
 
 " My poor boy, it is worse than I feared," Mrs. Cameron 
 said, with a little sigh, while Katy, with a great gasping 
 sob, tried to rise and go to them, to tell them she was 
 there the mopish Katy, who made her home so like 
 a funeral to her husband. 
 
 But her limbs refused to move, and she sank back 
 powerless in her chair, compelled to listen to things which 
 no true husband would ever say to a mother of his wife, 
 especially when that wife s error consisted principally in 
 mourning for the child "which but for her imprudence 
 might have been living then." These were Wilford s 
 very words, and though Katy had once expected him 
 
The Cameron Pride. 277 
 
 to say them, they came upon her now with a dreadful 
 shock, making her view herself as the murderer of her 
 child, and thus blunting the pain she might otherwise 
 have felt as he went on to speak of Silverton and its 
 inhabitants just as he would not have spoken had he 
 known she was so near. Then, encouraged by his mother, 
 he talked again of her in a way which made her poor ach 
 ing heart throb as she whispered, sadly, " He is disap 
 pointed in me. I do not come up to all that he expected. 
 I do very well, considering my low origin, but I am not 
 what his wife should be/ 
 
 Wilford had not said all this, but Katy inferred it, 
 and every nerve quivered with anguish as the wild wish 
 came over her that she had died on that day when she 
 sat in the summer grass at home waiting for Wilford 
 Cameron. Poor Katy! she thought her cup of sorrow 
 full, when, alas ! only a drop had as yet been poured into 
 it. But it was filling fast, and Mrs. Cameron s words, 
 " It might have been better with Genevra," was the 
 first outpouring of the overwhelming torrent which for 
 a moment bore her life and sense away. She thought 
 they meant her baby the little Genevra sleeping under 
 the snow in Silverton and her white lips answered, 
 " Yes, it would be better/ before Wilford s voice was 
 heard, saying, as he always said, " No, I have never 
 wished Genevra in Katy s place; though I have some 
 times wondered what the result would have been had I 
 learned in season how much I wronged her." 
 
 Was heaven and earth coming together, or what made 
 Katy s brain so dizzy and the room so dark, as, with head 
 bent forward and lips apart, she strained her ear to 
 catch every word of the conversation which followed, 
 and in which she saw glimpses of that leaf offered her 
 once to read, and from which she had promised not to 
 shrink should it ever be thrust upon her? But she did 
 shrink, oh ! so shudderingly, holding up her hands and 
 striking them through the empty air as if she would 
 thrust aside the terrible spectre risen so suddenly before 
 her. She had heard all that she cared to hear then. 
 Another word and she should surely die where she was, 
 within hearing of the voices still talking of Genevra. 
 
2/8 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Stopping her ears to shut out the dreadful sound, she 
 tried to think what she should do. To gain the door 
 and reach the street was her desire, and throwing on 
 her w r rappings she went noiselessly into the hall, and 
 carefully turning the lock and closing the door behind her. 
 she found herself alone in the street in the dusk of a 
 November night. But Katy was not afraid, and draw 
 ing her hood closely over her face she sped on until her 
 own house was reached, alarming Esther with her fright 
 ened face, but explaining that she had been taken sud 
 denly ill and returned before dinner 
 
 " Mr. Cameron will be here soon," she said. " I do 
 not need anything to-night, so you can leave me alone 
 and go where you like to the theatre, if you choose. I 
 heard you say you wished to go. Here is the money 
 for you and Phillips," and handing a bill to the puzzled 
 Estner, she dismissed her from the room. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the elder Cameron s, no one had a sus 
 picion of Katy s recent presence, for the girl who had 
 admitted her had gone to visit a sick sister, with whom 
 she was to spend the night. Thus Katy s secret was 
 safe, and Wilford, when at last he bade his mother good 
 bye and started for home, was not prepared for the 
 livid face, the bloodshot eyes, and the strange, unnatural 
 look which met him at the threshold. 
 
 Katy answered his ring herself, her hands grasping 
 his fiercely, dragging him up the stairs to her own 
 room, where, more like a maniac than Katy Cameron, she 
 confronted him with the startling question, 
 
 "Who is Genevra Lambert? It is time I knew before 
 committing greater sin. Tell me, Wilford, who is she ? " 
 
 She was standing before him, her slight figure seem 
 ing to expand into a greater height, the features glow 
 ing with strong excitement, and her hot breath coming 
 hurriedly through her dilated nostrils, but never open 
 ing the pale lips set so firmly together. There was 
 something terrible in her look and attitude, and it startled 
 Wilford, who recoiled a moment from her, scarcely able 
 to recognize the Katy hitherto so gentle and quiet. She 
 had learned his secret, but the facts must have been 
 distorted, he knew, or she had never been so agitated. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 279 
 
 From beneath his hair the great sweat-drops came pouring, 
 as he tried to approach her and take the uplifted hands, 
 motioning him aside with the words, " Not touch me ; 
 no, not touch me till you have told me who is Genevra 
 Lambert" 
 
 She repeated the question twice, and rallying all his 
 strength Wilford answered her at last, " Genevra Lambert 
 was my wife ! " 
 
 " I thought so," and the next moment Katy lay in 
 Wilford s arms, dead, as he feared, for there was no mo 
 tion about the eyelids, no motion that he could perceive 
 about the pulse or heart, as he laid the rigid form upon 
 the bed and then bent every energy to restore her, even 
 though he feared that it was hopeless. 
 
 If possible he would prefer that no one should intrude 
 upon them now, and he chafed her icy hands and bathed 
 her face until the eyes unclosed again, but with a shudder 
 turned away as they met his. Then, as she grew stronger 
 and remembered the past, she started up, exclaiming, 
 "If Genevra Lambert is your wife, what then am I? 
 Oh, Wilford, how could you make me not a wife, when I 
 trusted and loved you so much ? " 
 
 He knew she was laboring under a mistake, and he 
 did not wonder at the violence of her emotions if she be 
 lieved he had wronged her so cruelly, and coming nearer 
 to her he said, " Genevra Lambert was my wife once, 
 but is not now, for she is dead. Do you hear me, Katy? 
 Genevra died } 7 ears ago, when you were a little girl play 
 ing in the fields at home." 
 
 By mentioning Silverton, he hoped to bring back 
 something of her olden look, in place of the expression 
 which troubled and frightened him. The experiment was 
 successful, and great tears gathered in Katy s eyes, wash 
 ing out the wild, unnatural gleam, while the lips whispered, 
 " And it was her picture Juno saw. She told me the 
 night I came, and I tried to question you. You 
 remember ? " 
 
 Wilford did remember it, and he replied, " Yes, but I 
 did not suppose you knew I had a picture. You have 
 been a good wife, Katy, never to mention it since then ; 
 and he tried to kiss her forehead, but she covered it 
 
280 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 with her hands, saying sadly, " Not yet, Wilford, I can 
 not bear it now. I must know the whole about Genevra. 
 Why didn t you tell me before? Why have you deceived 
 me so?" 
 
 " Katy," and Wilford grew very earnest in his attempts 
 to defend himself, " do you remember that day we sat 
 under the buttonwood tree, and you promised to be mine? 
 Try and recall the incidents of that hour and see if I 
 did not hint at some things in the past which I wished 
 had been otherwise, and did not offer to show you the 
 blackest page of my whole life, but you would not see 
 it. Was that so, Katy?" 
 
 " Yes," she answered, and he continued : <e You said 
 you were satisfied to take me as I was. You would 
 not hear evil against me, and so I acquiesced, bidding 
 you not shrink back if ever the time should come when 
 you must read that page. I \?as to blame, I know, but 
 there were many extenuating circumstances, much to 
 excuse me for withholding what you would not hear." 
 
 Wilford did not like to be censured, neither did he 
 like to censure himself, and now that Katy was out of 
 danger and comparatively calm, he began to build about 
 himself a fortress of excuses for having kept from her 
 the secret of his life. 
 
 " When did you hear of Genevra ? " he asked. 
 
 Katy told him when and how she heard the story, and 
 then added, " Oh, Wilford, why did you keep it from me ? 
 What was there about it wrong, and where is she 
 buried?" 
 
 " In Alnwick, at St. Mary s," Wilford answered, deter 
 mining now to hold nothing back, and by his abruptness 
 wounding Katy afresh. 
 
 "In Alnwick, at St. Mary s," Katy cried. "Then I 
 have seen her grave, and that is why you were so anxious 
 to get there so unwilling to go away. Oh, if I were lying 
 there instead of Genevra, it would be so much better, so 
 much better." 
 
 Katy was sobbing now, in a moaning, plaintive way, 
 which touched Wilford tenderly, and smoothing her tangled 
 hair, he said, " I would not exchange my Katy for all 
 the Genevras in the world. She was never as dear to me 
 
The Cameron Pride. 281 
 
 as you. I was but a boy, and did not know my mind, 
 when I met her. Shall I tell you about her now? Can 
 you bear to hear the story of Genevra ? " 
 
 There was a nod of assent, and Katy turned her face to 
 the wall, clasping her hands tightly together, while Wil- 
 ford drew his chair to her side and began to read the page 
 he should have read to her long before. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 WHAT THE PAGE DISCLOSED. 
 
 I WAS little more than nineteen years of age when 
 I left Harvard College and went abroad with my only 
 brother, the John or Jack of whom you have so often 
 heard. Both himself and wife were in delicate health, 
 and it was hoped a voyage across the sea would do them 
 good. For nearly a year we were in various parts of 
 England, stopping for two months at Brighton, where, 
 among the visitors, was a widow from the vicinity of 
 Alnwick, and with her an orphan niece, whose dazzling 
 beauty attracted my youthful fancy. She was not happy 
 with her aunt, upon whom she was wholly dependent, and 
 my sympathies were all enlisted, when, with the tears shin 
 ing in her lustrous eyes, she one day accidentally stumbled 
 upon her trouble and told me how wretched she was, 
 asking if in America there was not something for her to 
 do. 
 
 " It was at this time that Jamie was born, and Mary, 
 the girl who went out with us, was married to an English 
 man, making it necessary for Hatty to find some one to 
 take her place. Hearing of this, Genevra came one day, 
 and offered herself as half companion, half waiting-maid 
 to Hatty. Anything was preferable to the life she led, 
 she said, pleading so hard that Hatty, after an interview 
 with the old aunt a purse-proud, vulgar woman, who 
 seemed glad to be rid of her charge consented to receive 
 her, and Genevra became one of our family, an equal rather 
 than a menial, whom Hatty treated with as much considera 
 tion as if she had been a sister. I wish I could tell you 
 
282 The Cameron Pride, 
 
 how beautiful Genevra Lambert was at that period of her 
 life, with her brilliant English complexion, her eyes so full 
 of poetry and passion, her perfect features, and, more than 
 all, the wondrous smile, which would have made a plain 
 face handsome. 
 
 " Of course I came to love her, and loved her all the 
 more for the opposition I knew my family would throw 
 in the way of my marrying the daughter of an English 
 apothecary, and one who was voluntarily filling a ser 
 vant s place. But with my mother across the sea, I could 
 do anything; and when Genevra told me of a base fellow, 
 who, since she was a child, had sought her for his wife, 
 and still pursued her with his letters, my passions were 
 roused, and I offered myself at once. Her answer was a 
 decided refusal. She knew her position, she said, and 
 she knew mine, just as she knew the nature of the feeling 
 which prompted me to act thus toward her. Although 
 just my age, she was older in judgment and experience, 
 and she seemed to understand the difference between our 
 relative positions. I was not indifferent to her, she said, 
 and were she my equal her answer might be otherwise 
 than the decided no. 
 
 "Madly in love, and fancying I could not live without 
 her, I besieged her with letters, some of which she re 
 turned unopened, while on others she wrote a few hur 
 ried lines, calling me a boy, who did not know my own 
 mind, and asking what my friends would say. 
 
 " I cared little for friends, and urged my suit the more 
 vehemently, as we were about going into Scotland, where 
 our marriage could be celebrated in private at any time. 
 I did not contemplate making the affair public at once. 
 That would take from the interest and romance, while, 
 unknown to myself, there was at heart a fear of my 
 family. 
 
 " But not to dwell too long upon those days, which 
 seem to me now like a dream, we went to Scotland and 
 were married privately, for I won her to this at last. 
 
 "My brother s failing health, as well as Hatty s, pre 
 vented them from suspecting what was going on, and 
 when at last we went to Italy they had no idea that Genevra 
 was my wife. At Koine her beautiful face attracted much 
 
The Cameron Pride. 283 
 
 attention from tourists and residents, among whom were 
 a few young men, who, looking upon her as Jamie s nurse, 
 or at most a companion for his mother, made no attempt 
 to disguise their admiration. For this I had no redress 
 except in an open avowal of the relation in which I stood 
 to her, and this I could not then do, for the longer it 
 was deferred the harder I found it to acknowledge her my 
 wife. I ^ved her devotedly, and that perhaps was one 
 great cause of the jealousy which began to spring up and 
 embitter my life. 
 
 " I do not now believe that Genevra was at heart a 
 coquette. She was very fond of admiration, but when 
 she saw how much I was disturbed she made an effort to 
 avoid those who flattered her, but her manner was unfor 
 tunate, while her voice the sweetest I ever heard was 
 calculated to invite rather than repel attention. As the 
 empress of the world, she would have won and kept the 
 homage of mankind, from the humblest beggar in the 
 street to the king upon the throne, and had I been older 
 I should have been proud of what then was my greatest 
 annoyance. But I was a mere boy and I watched her 
 jealously, until a new element of disquiet was presented 
 to me in the shape of a ruffianly looking fellow, who was 
 frequently seen about the premises, and with whom I 
 once found Genevra in close converse, starting and blush 
 ing guiltily when I came upon her, while her companion 
 went swiftly from my sight. 
 
 "Tt was an old English acquaintance, who was poor 
 and asking charity," she said, when questioned, but her 
 manner led me to think there was something wrong, 
 particularly as I saw her with him again, and thought 
 she held his hand. 
 
 " It was evident that my brother would never see America 
 again, and at his request my mother came to us, in com 
 pany with a family from Boston, reaching us two weeks 
 before he died. From the first she disliked Genevra, and 
 suspected the liking between us, but never dreaming of 
 the truth until a week after Jack s death, when in a fit 
 of anger at Genevra for listening to an English artist, 
 who had asked to paint her picture, the story of the 
 
284 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 marriage came out, and like a child dependent on its 
 mother for advice, I asked, What shall I do ? 
 
 " You know mother, and can in part understand how 
 she would scorn a girl who, though born to better things, 
 was still found in the capacity of a waiting-maid. I never 
 saw her so moved as she was for a time, after learning 
 that her only living son, from whom she expected so much, 
 had thrown himself away, an she expressed it. Si ter 
 Hatty, who loved Genevra, did all she could to heal the 
 growing difference between us, but I trusted mother most. 
 I believed that what she said was right, and so matters 
 grew worse, until one night, the last we spent in Rome, 
 I missed Genevra from our rooms, and starting in quest 
 of her, found her, in a little flower garden back of our 
 dwelling. There, under the deep shadow of a tr?e, and 
 partly concealed from view, she stood with her arm 
 around the neck of the same rough-looking man who 
 had been there before. She did not see me as I watched 
 her while she parted with him, suffering him to kiss 
 her hand and forehead as he said, " Good-bye, my 
 darling." 
 
 " In a tremor of anger and excitement I quitted the 
 spot, my mind wholly made up with regard to my future. 
 That there was something wrong about Genevra I did 
 not doubt, and I would not give her a chance to explain 
 by telling her what I had seen, but sent her back to Eng 
 land, giving her ample means for defraying the expenses 
 of her journey and for living in comfort after her arrival 
 there. From Rome we went to Naples, and then to 
 Switzerland, where Hatty died, leaving us alone with 
 little Jamie. It was at Berne that I received an 
 anonymous letter from England, the writer stating that 
 Genevra was with her aunt, that the whole had ended as 
 he thought it would, that he could readily guess at the 
 nature of the trouble, and hinting that if a divorce was 
 desirable on my return to England, all necessary proof 
 could be obtained by applying to such a number in Lon 
 don, the writer announcing himself a brother of the man 
 who had once sought Genevra, and saying he had always 
 opposed the match, knowing Genevra s family. 
 
 " This was the first time the idea of a divorce had 
 
The Cameron Pride. 285 
 
 entered my mind, and I shrank from a final separation. 
 But mother felt differently. It was not a new thought 
 to her, knowing as she did that the validity of a Scotch 
 marriage, such as ours, was frequently contested in the 
 English Courts. Once free from Genevra the world this 
 side the water would never know of that mistake, and 
 she set herself steadily to accomplish her purpose. To 
 tell you all that followed our return to England, and the 
 steps by which I was brought to sue for a divorce, would 
 make my story too long, and so I will only state that, 
 chiefly by the testimony of the anonymous letter-writer, 
 whose acquaintance we made, a divorce was obtained, 
 Genevra putting in no defence, but, as I heard after 
 wards, settling down into an apathy from which nothing 
 had power to rouse her until the news of her freedom 
 from me was carried to her, when, amid a paroxysm of 
 tears and sobs, she wrote me a few lines, assuring me of 
 her innocence, refusing to send back her wedding ring, 
 and saying God would not forgive me for the great 
 wrong I had done her. I saw her once after that by 
 appointment, and her face haunted me for years, for, Katy, 
 Genevra was innocent, as I found after the time was past 
 when reparation could be made." 
 
 Wilford s voice trembled, and for a moment there was 
 silence in the room, while he composed himself to go on 
 with the story : 
 
 " She would not live with me again if she could, she 
 said, denouncing bitterly the Cameron pride, and saying 
 she was happier to be free; and there we parted, but 
 not until she told me that her traducer was the old dis 
 carded suitor who had sworn to have revenge, and who, 
 since the divorce, had dared seek her again. A vague 
 suspicion of this had crossed my mind once before, but 
 the die was cast, and even if the man were false, what I 
 saw myself in Borne still stood against her, and so my 
 conscience was quieted, while mother was more than glad 
 to be rid of a daughter-in-law of whose family I knew 
 nothing. Rumors I did hear of a cousin whose character 
 was not the best, and of the father who for some crime 
 had fled the country, and died in a foreign land, but 
 as that was nothing to me now, I passed it by, feeling 
 
286 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 it was best to be released from one of so doubtful 
 antecedents. 
 
 " In the spring of 185- we came back to New York, 
 where no one had ever heard of the affair, so quietly 
 had it been managed. I was still an unmarried man to the 
 world, as no one but my mother knew my secret. With 
 her I often talked of Genevra, wishing sometimes that I 
 could hear from her, a wish which was finally gratified. 
 One day I received a note requesting an interview at a 
 down town hotel, the writer signing himself as Thomas 
 Lambert, and adding that I need have no fears, as he came 
 to perform an act of justice, not of -retribution. Three 
 hours later I was locked in a room with Genevra s father, 
 the same man whom I had seen in Koine. Detected in for 
 gery years before, he had fled from England and had 
 hidden himself in Eome, where he accidentally met his 
 daughter, and so that stain was removed. He had heard 
 of the divorce by a letter Avhich Genevra managed to send 
 him, and braving all difficulties and dangers he had come 
 back to England and found his child, hearing from her 
 the story of her wrongs, and as well as he was able setting 
 himself to discover the author of the calumny. He was 
 not long in tracing it to Le Roy, Genevra s former suitor, 
 whom he found in a dying condition, and who with his 
 last breath confessed the falsehood which was imposed 
 upon me, he said, partly from motives of revenge, and 
 partly, with a hope that free from me, Genevra would 
 at the last turn to him. As proof that Mr. Lambert 
 told me truth, he brought the dying man s confession, 
 written in a cramped, trembling hand, which I recognized 
 at once. The confession ended with the solemn assertion, 
 * For aught I know or believe, Genevra Lambert is as 
 pure and true as any woman living. 
 
 " I cannot describe the effect this had upon me. I 
 did not love Genevra then. I had out-lived that affec 
 tion, but I felt remorse and pity for having wronged her, 
 and asked how I could make amends. 
 
 " ( You cannot, the old man said, t except in one way, 
 and that she does not desire. I did not come here with 
 any wish for you to take her for your wife again. It 
 was an unequal match which never should have been; 
 
The Cameron Pride. 287 
 
 but if you believe her innocent, she will be satisfied. 
 She wanted you to know it I wanted you to know it, 
 and so I crossed the sea to find you." 
 
 The next I heard of her was in the columns of an 
 English newspaper, which told me she was dead, while 
 in another place a pencil mark was lightly traced around 
 a paragraph, which said that a forger, Thomas Lambert, 
 who escaped years ago and was supposed to be dead, 
 had recently reappeared in England, where he was rec 
 ognized, but not arrested, for the illness which proved 
 fatal. He was attended," the paper said, f by his daugh 
 ter, a beautiful young girl, whose modest mien and gen 
 tle manner had done much towards keeping the officers 
 of justice from her dying father, no one being able to 
 withstand her pleadings that her father might die in 
 peace. 
 
 "I was grateful for this tribute to Genevra, for I felt 
 that it was deserved; and I turned again to the notice of 
 her death, which must have occurred within a short time of 
 her father s, and was probably induced by past troubles 
 and recent anxiety for him. 
 
 " Genevra Lambert died at Alnwick, aged 22. There 
 could be no mistake, and with a tear to the memory of 
 the dead whom I had loved and injured, I burned the 
 paper, feeling that now there was no clue to the secret I 
 was as anxious to preserve as was my mother. 
 
 " And so the years wore on till I met and married 
 you, withholding from you that yours was not the first 
 love which had stirred my heart. I meant to tell you, 
 Katy, but I could not for the great fear of losing you if 
 you knew all. And then an error concealed so long is 
 hard to be confessed. I took you across the sea to Brighton, 
 where I first met Genevra, and then to Alnwick, seeking 
 out the grave which made assurance doubly sure. It 
 was natural that I should make some inquiries concerning 
 her last days; I questioned the old sexton who was at 
 work near by. Calling his attention to the name, I 
 said it was an uncommon one and asked if he knew the 
 girl. 
 
 " e Not by sight, no, he said. She was only here a 
 few days before she died. I ve heard she was very win- 
 
288 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 some and that there was a scandal of some kind mixed 
 tip with her. 
 
 " I would not ask him any more ; and without any 
 wrong to you, I confess that my tears dropped upon the 
 turf under which I knew Genevra lay." 
 
 " I am glad they did ; I should hate you if you had not 
 cried," Katy exclaimed, her voice more natural than it 
 had been since the great shock came. 
 
 " Do you forgive me, Katy ? Do you love me as well 
 as ever ? " Wilf ord asked, stooping down to kiss her, but 
 Katy drew her face away and would not answer then. 
 
 She did not know herself how she felt towards him. 
 He did not seem just like the husband she had trusted in 
 so blindly. It would take a long time to forget that an 
 other head than hers had lain upon his bosom, and it would 
 take longer yet to blot out the memory of complaining 
 words uttered to his mother. She had never thought he 
 could do that, never dreamed of such a thing, knowing 
 that she would sooner have parted with her right hand 
 than complained of him. Her idol had fallen in more re 
 spects than one, and the heart it had bruised in the fall 
 refused at once to gather the shattered pieces up and call 
 them as good as new. She was not so obstinate as Wil- 
 ford began to fancy. She was only stunned and could not 
 rally at his bidding. He confessed the whole, keeping 
 nothing back, and he felt that Katy was unjust not to 
 acknowledge his magnanimity and restore him to her 
 favor. Again he asked forgiveness, and bent down to kiss 
 her, but Katy answered, " Not yet, Wilford, not till I 
 feel all right towards you. A wife s kiss should be 
 sincere." 
 
 "As you like/ trembled on Wilford s lips, but he beat 
 back the words and walked up and down the room, 
 knowing now that his journey must be deferred till 
 morning, and wondering if Katy would hold out till 
 then. 
 
 It vas long past midnight, but to retire was impossible, 
 and so for one whole hour he paced through the room, 
 while Katy lay with her eyes closed and her lips moving 
 occasionally in words of prayer she tried to say, asking 
 God to help her, and praying that she might in future 
 
The Cameron Pride. 289 
 
 lay her treasures up where they could not so suddenly be 
 swept away. Wearily the hours passed, and the gray 
 dawn was stealing into the room when Wilford again 
 approached his wife and said, " You know I was to have 
 left home last night on business. As I did not go then it 
 is necessary that I leave this morning. Are you able to 
 stay alone for three days more ? Are you willing ? " 
 
 " Yes oh yes," Katy replied, feeling that to have him 
 gone while she battled with the pain lying so heavy at 
 her heart, would be a great relief. 
 
 Perhaps he suspected this feeling in part, for he bit his 
 lip impatiently, and without another word called up the 
 servant whose duty it was to prepare his breakfast. Cold 
 and cheerless seemed the dining-room, to which an hour 
 later he repaired, and tasteless was the breakfast without 
 Katy there to share it. She had been absent many times 
 hefore, but never just as now, with this wide gulf between 
 them, and as he broke his egg and tried to drink his cof 
 fee, Wilford felt like one from whom every support had 
 been swept away. He did not like the look on Katy s face 
 or the sound of her voice, and as he thought upon them, 
 self began to whisper again that she had no right to stand 
 out so long when he had confessed everything, and by 
 the time his breakfast was finished, Wilford Cameron 
 was, in his own estimation, an abused and injured man, 
 so that it was with an air of defiance rather than humility 
 that he went again to Katy. She, too, had been thinking, 
 and as the result of her thoughts she lifted up her 
 head as he came in and said, " I can kiss you now, Wil 
 ford." 
 
 It was human nature, we suppose at least it was Wil- 
 ford s nature which for an instant tempted him to de 
 cline the kiss proffered so lovingly; but Katy s face was 
 more than he could withstand, and when again he left 
 that room the kiss of pardon was upon his lips and com 
 parative quiet was in his heart. 
 
 " The picture, Wilford, please bring me the picture, 
 1 want to see it," Katy called after him, as he was running 
 down the stairs. 
 
 Wilford would not refuse, and hastily unlocking his 
 private drawer he carried the case to Katy s room, saying 
 
290 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 to her, " I would not mind it now. Try and sleep awhile. 
 You need the rest so much." 
 
 Katy knew she had the whole day before her, and so she 
 nestled down among her pillows and soon fell into a 
 quiet sleep, from which Esther at last awakened her, ask 
 ing if she should bring her breakfast to her room. 
 
 " Yes, do," Katy replied, adjusting her dress and trying 
 to arrange the matted curls, which were finally confined 
 in a net until Esther s more practiced hands were ready 
 to attack them, then sending Esther from the room Katy 
 took the picture of Genevra from the table where Wil- 
 ford had laid it. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE EFFECT. 
 
 VERY cautiously the lid was opened, and a lock of soft 
 brown hair fell out, clinging to Katy s hand and making 
 her shudder as she shook off the silken tress and 
 remembered that the head it once adorned was lying 
 in St. Mary s churchyard, whe?e the English daisies 
 grew. 
 
 " She had pretty hair," she thought ; " darker, richer 
 than mine," and into Katy s heart there crept a feeling 
 akin to jealousy, lest Genevra had been fairer than her 
 self, as well as better loved. " I won t be foolish any 
 longer," she said, and turning resolutely to the light, she 
 opened the lid again and saw Genevra Lambert, starting 
 quickly, then looking again more closely then, with a 
 gasp, panting for breath; while like lightning flashes the 
 past came rushing over her, as, with her eyes fixed upon 
 that picture, she tried to whisper, "It is it is!" 
 
 She could not then say whom, for if she were right in 
 her belief, Genevra was not dead. There were no daisies 
 growing on her grave, for she still walked the earth a 
 living woman, whom Katy knew so well Marian Hazel- 
 ton. That was the name Katy could not speak, as, with 
 the blood cuddling in her veins and freezing about her 
 
The Cameron Pride. 291 
 
 heart, she sat comparing the face she remembered so 
 well with the one before her. In some points they were 
 unlike, for thirteen years had slightly marred the youth 
 ful contour of the face she knew once had sharpened the 
 features and thinned the abundant hair; but still there 
 could be no mistake. The eyes, the brow, the smile, the 
 nose, all were the same, and with a pang bitterer than 
 she yet had felt, poor Katy fell upon her face and asked 
 that she might die. In her utter ignorance of law, she 
 fancied that if Genevra were alive, she had no right to 
 Wilford s name no right to be his wife especially as 
 the sin for which Genevra was divorced had by her never 
 been committed, and burning tears of bitter shame ran 
 down her cheeks as she whispered, " What God has 
 joined together let no man put asunder. Those are 
 God s words, and how dare the world act otherwise? 
 she is his wife, and I oh ! I don t know what I am ! " 
 and on the carpet where she was kneeling Katy writhed 
 in agony as she tried to think what she must do. Not 
 stay there she could not do that now not, at least, 
 until she knew for sure that she was Wilford s wife, in 
 spite of Genevra s living. " Oh, if there was only some 
 one to advise me some one who knew and would tell me 
 what was right," Katy moaned,, feeling herself inadequate 
 to meet the dark hour alone. 
 
 But to whom should she go? To Father Cameron? 
 No, nor to his mother. They might counsel wrong for 
 the sake of secrecy. Would Mark Eay or Mrs. Banker 
 know? Perhaps; but they were strangers; her trouble 
 must not be told to them, and then with a great bound 
 her heart turned at last to Morris. He knew every 
 thing. He would not sanction a wrong. He would tell 
 her just what was right, and she could trust him fully in 
 everything. There was no other person whom she could 
 believe just as she could him. Uncle Ephraim was equally 
 as good and conscientious, but he did not know as much 
 as Morris he did not understand everything. Morris 
 was her refuge, and to him she would go that very day, 
 leaving a note for Wilford in case she never came back, 
 as possibly she might not. Had Marian been in the city 
 she would have gone to her at once, but Marian was where 
 
 
292 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 long rows of cots were ranged against the hospital walls, 
 each holding a maimed and suffering soldier, to whom 
 she ministered so tenderly, the brightness of her smile 
 and the beauty of her face deluding the delirious ones 
 into the belief that the journey of life for them was ended 
 and heaven reached at last, where an angel in woman s 
 garb attended upon them. Marian was impossible, and 
 Dr. Grant was the only alternative left. 
 
 But when she attempted to prepare for the journey 
 to Silverton, she found herself wholly inadequate to the 
 exertion. The terrible excitement through which she had 
 passed had exhausted her strength, and every nerve was 
 quivering, while spasms of pain darted through her head, 
 warning her that Silverton was impossible. "I can tele 
 graph and Morris will come," she whispered, and without 
 pausing to think what the act might involve, she wrote 
 upon a slip of paper, " Cousin Morris, come to me in the 
 next train. I am in great trouble, Katy." 
 
 She would not add the Cameron. She had no right 
 to that name, she feared, and folding the paper, she 
 rang for Esther, bidding her give the telegram to the 
 boy Phil, with instructions to take it at once to the office 
 and see that it went immediately. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE INTERVIEW. 
 
 DR. MORRIS was very tired, for his labors that day 
 had been unusually severe, and it was with a feeling 
 of comfort and relief that at an earlier hour than usual, 
 he had turned his steps homeward, finding a bright fire 
 waiting him in the library, where his late dinner was 
 soon brought by the housekeeper. It was very pleasant 
 in that cosy librarv of oak and green, with the bright fire 
 on the hearth, and the smoking dinner set so temptingly 
 before him. And Morris felt the comfort of his home, 
 thanking the God who had given him all this, and chiding 
 his wayward heart that it had ever dared to repine. He 
 
The Cameron Pride. 293 
 
 was not repining to-night, as with his hands crossed 
 upon his head he sat looking into the fire and watching 
 the bits of glowing anthracite dropping into the pan. He 
 was thinking of the sick-bed which he had visited last, and 
 how a faith in Jesus can make the humblest room like 
 the gate of Heaven; thinking how the woman s eyes had 
 sparkled when she told him of the other world, where 
 she would never know pain or hunger or cold again, and 
 how quickly their lustre was dimmed when she spoke of 
 her absent husband, the soldier to whom the news of 
 her death, with the child he had never seen, would be a 
 crushing blow. 
 
 " They who have neither wife nor child are the happier 
 perhaps," he said; and then he thought of Katy and 
 her great sorrow when baby died, wondering if to spare 
 herself that pain she would rather baby had never been. 
 " No oh, no," he answered to his own inquiry. " She 
 would not lose the memory which comes from that little 
 grave for all the world contains. It is better once to 
 love and lose than not to love at all. In Heaven we 
 shall see and know why these things were permitted, 
 and marvel at the poor human nature which rebelled 
 against them." 
 
 Just at this point of his soliloquy, the telegram was 
 brought to him. " Come in the next train. I am in 
 great trouble." 
 
 He read it many times, growing more and more per 
 plexed with each reading, and then trying to decide 
 what his better course would be. There were no patients 
 needing him that night, that he knew of; he might 
 perhaps go if there was yet time for the train which passed 
 at four o clock. There was time, he found, and telling 
 Mrs. Hull that he had been suddenly called to New York, 
 he bade his boy bring out his horse and take him at once 
 to the depot. It was better to leave no message for the 
 deacon s family, as he did not wish to alarm them unneces 
 sarily. "I shall undoubtedly be back to-morrow," he 
 thought, as he took his seat in the car, wondering what 
 could be the trouble which had prompted that strange 
 despatch. 
 
 It was nearly midnight when he reached the city, but 
 
294 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 a light was shining from the windows of that house in 
 Madison Square, and Katy, who had never for a moment 
 doubted his coming, was waiting for him. But not in 
 the parlor; she was too sick now to go down there, and 
 when she heard his ring and his voice in the hall asking 
 for her, she bade Esther show him to her room. More 
 and more perplexed, Morris ran up to the room where 
 Katy lay, or rather crouched, upon the sofa, her eyes so 
 wild and her face so white that, in great alarm, Morris 
 took the cold hands she stretched feebly towards him, 
 and bending over her said, " What is it, Katy ? Has any 
 thing dreadful happened ? and where is your husband ? " 
 
 At the mention of her husband Katy shivered, and ris 
 ing from her crouching position, she pushed her hair 
 back from her forehead and replied, " Oh, Morris ! I am 
 so wretched, so full of pain! I have heard of some 
 thing which took my life away. I am not Wilford s wife, 
 for he had another before me, a wife in Italy, who is 
 not dead ! And I, oh Morris ! what am I ? I knew you 
 would know just what I was, and I sent for you to tell 
 me and take me away from here, back to Silverton. Help 
 me, Morris ! 1 am choking ! I am yes I am going to 
 faint ! " 
 
 It was the first time Katy had put the great horror in 
 words addressed to another, and* the act of doing so made 
 it more appalling, and with a moan she sank back among 
 the pillows of the couch, while Morris tried to compre 
 hend the strange words he had heard, "I am not Wil- 
 ford s wife, for he had another before me, a wife in Italy, 
 who is not dead." 
 
 Dr. Morris was thoroughly a man, and though much of 
 his sinful nature had been subdued, there was enough left 
 to make his heart rise and fall with great throbs of joy as 
 he thought of Katy free, even though that freedom were 
 bought at the expense of dire disgrace to others, and of 
 misery to her. But only for a moment did he feel thus 
 only till he knelt beside the pallid face with the dark 
 rings beneath the eyes, and saw the faint, quivering mo 
 tion around the lips, which told that she was not wholly 
 unconscious. 
 
 " My poor little wounded bird," he said, as pityingly as 
 
The Cameron Pride. 295 
 
 if he had been her father, while much as a father might 
 kiss his suffering child, he kissed the forehead and the 
 eyelids where the tears began to gather. 
 
 Katy was not insensible, and the name by which he 
 called her, with the kisses that he gave, thawed the ice 
 around her heart and brought a flood of tears, which 
 Morris wiped away, lifting her gently up and pillowing 
 her hot head upon his arm, while she moaned lik? a weary 
 child. 
 
 "It rests me so just to see you, Morris. May I go 
 back with you, as your housekeeper, instead of Mrs. 
 Hull; that is, if I am not his wife? The world might 
 despise me, but you would know I was not to blame. I 
 should go nowhere but to the farm-house, to church, and 
 baby s grave. Poor baby ! I am glad God gave her to 
 me, even if I am not Wilford s wife; and I am glad now 
 that she died." 
 
 She was talking to herself rather than to Morris, who, 
 smoothing back her hair and chafing her cold hands, 
 said, 
 
 "My poor child, you have passed through some agi 
 tating scene. Are you able now to tell me all about it, 
 and what you mean by another wife ? " 
 
 There was a shiver, and the white lips grew still whiter 
 as Katy began her story, going back to St. Mary s church 
 yard and then coming to her first night in New York, 
 when Juno had told her of a picture and asked her 
 whose it was. Then she told of Wilford s admission of 
 an earlier love, who, he said, was dead; of the trouble 
 about the baby s name, and his aversion to Genevra; but 
 when she approached the dinner at the elder Cameron s, 
 her lip quivered in a grieved kind of way as she remem 
 bered what Wilf ord had said of her to his mother, but 
 she would not tell this to Morris, it was not necessary 
 to her story, and so she said, "They were talking of 
 what I ought never to have heard, and it seemed as if 
 the walls were closing me in so I could not move to let 
 them know I was there. I said to myself, { I shall go 
 mad after this, and I thought of you all coming to see 
 me in the mad-house, your kind face, Morris, coming up 
 distinctly before me, just as it would look at me if I were 
 
296 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 really crazed. But all this was swept away like a hurri 
 cane when I heard the rest, the part about Genevra, 
 Wilford s other wife." 
 
 Katy was panting for breath, but she went on with the 
 story, which made Morris clench his hands as he coni- 
 prehended the deceit which had been practiced so long. 
 Of course he did not look at it as Katy did, for he knew 
 that according to all civil law she was as really Wilford ^ 
 wife as if no other had existed, and he told her so, but 
 Katy shook her head. " He can t have two wives living. 
 And I tell you I knew the picture Genevra is not dead, 
 I have seen her; I have talked with her, Genevra is not 
 dead." 
 
 " Granted that she is not," Morris answered, " the 
 divorce remains the same." 
 
 " I do not believe in divorces. Whom God hath joined 
 together let not man put asunder," Katy said with an air 
 which implied that from this argument there could be no 
 appeal. 
 
 " That is the Scripture, I know," Morris replied, " but 
 you must know that for one sin our Saviour permitted a 
 man to put away his wife, thus making it perfectly right." 
 
 " But in Genevra s case the sin did not exist. She 
 was as innocent as I am, and that must make a differ 
 ence." 
 
 She was very earnest in her attempts to prove that 
 Genevra was still a lawful wife, so earnest that a dark sus 
 picion entered Morris s mind, finding vent in the ques 
 tion, " Katy, don t you love your husband, that you try 
 so hard to prove he is not yours ? " 
 
 There were red spots all over Katy s face and neck as 
 she saw the meaning put upon her actions, and, covering 
 her face with her hands, she sobbed violently as she re 
 plied, " I do, oh, yes, I do ! I never loved any one else. 
 I would have died for him once. Maybe I would die for 
 him now; but, Morris, he is disappointed in me. Our 
 tastes are not alike, and we made a great mistake, or Wil- 
 ford did when he took me for his wife. I was better 
 suited to most anybody else, and I have been so wicked 
 since, forgetting all the good I ever knew, forgetting 
 prayer save as I went through the form from old habit s 
 
The Cameron Pride. 297 
 
 sake; forgetting God, who has punished me so sorely 
 that every nerve smarts with the stinging blows." 
 
 Oh, how lovingly, how earnestly Morris talked to Katy 
 then, telling her of Him who smites but to heal, who 
 chastens not in anger, and would lead the lost one back 
 into the quiet fold where there was perfect peace. 
 
 And Katy, listening eagerly, with her great blue eyes 
 fixed upon his Lire, felt that to experience that of which 
 he talked, was worth more than all the world beside. 
 Gradually, too, there stole over her the rest she always 
 felt with him the indescribable feeling which prompted 
 her to care for nothing except to do just what he bade 
 her do, knowing it was right; so when he said to her, 
 "You cannot go home with me, Katy; your duty is to 
 remain here in your husband s house," she offered no re 
 monstrance. Indeed, Morris doubted if she fully under 
 stood him, she looked so sick and appeared so strange. 
 
 " It is not safe for you to be alone. Esther must stay 
 with you," he continued, feeling her rapid pulse 
 and noticing the alternate flushing and paling of her 
 cheek. 
 
 A fever was coming on, he feared, and summoning 
 Esther to the room, he said, 
 
 " Your mistress is very sick. You must stay with her 
 till morning, and if she grows worse, let me know. I 
 shall be in the library." 
 
 Then, with a few directions with regard to the medi 
 cine he fortunately had with him, he left the chamber, 
 and repaired to the library below, where he spent the 
 few remaining hours of the night, pondering on the 
 strange story he had heard, and praying for poor Katy 
 whose heart had been so sorely wounded. 
 
 The quick-witted Esther saw that something was wrong, 
 and traced it readily to Wilford, whose exacting nature 
 she thoroughly understood. She had not been blind dur 
 ing the two years and a half she had been Katy s maid, 
 and DO impatient word cf Wilford ^, or frown upon his 
 face, had escaped her when occurring in her presence, 
 while Katy s uniform sweetness and entire submission 
 to his will had been noted as well, so that in Esther s 
 opinion Wilford was a domestic tvrant, and Katy was an 
 
298 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 angel. Numerous were her conjectures as to the cause 
 of the present trouble, which must be something serious, 
 or Katy had never telegraphed for Dr. Grant, as she felt 
 certain she had. 
 
 " Whatever it is, I ll stand her friend," she said, as she 
 bent over her young mistress, who was talking of Genevra 
 and the grave at St. Mary s, which was no grave at all. 
 
 She was growing worse very rapidlv. -i/ri frightened at 
 last at the wildness of her eyes, and her constant rav 
 ings, Esther went down to Morris, and bade him come 
 quickly to Mrs. Cameron. 
 
 " Slie is taken out of her head, and talks sc queer and 
 raving." 
 
 Morris had expected this, but lie was not prepared to 
 find the fever so high, or the symptoms so alarming. 
 
 " Shall I send for Mrs. Cameron and another doctor, 
 please ? " Esther asked. 
 
 Morris had faith in himself, and he would rather no 
 other hand should minister to Katy; but he knew he 
 could not stay there long, for there were those at home 
 who needed his services. Added to this, her family physi 
 cian might know her constitution, now, better than he 
 knew it, and so he answered that it would be well to send 
 for both the doctor and Mrs. Cameron. 
 
 It was just daylight when Mrs. Cameron arrived, ques 
 tioning Esther closely, and appearing much surprised 
 when she heard of Dr. Grant s presence in the house. 
 That he came by chance, she never doubted, and as 
 Esther merely answered the questions put directly to her, 
 Mrs. Cameron had no suspicion of the telegram. 
 
 " I am glad he happened here at this time," she said. 
 " I have the utmost confidence in his skill. Still it may 
 l)e well for Dr. Craig to see her. I think that is his 
 ring." 
 
 The city and country physicians agreed exactly with 
 regard to Katy s illness, or rather the city physician 
 bowed in acquiescence when Morris said to him that the 
 fever raging so high had, perhaps, been induced by natural 
 causes, but was greatly aggravated by some sudden shock 
 to the nervous system. This was before Mrs. Cameron 
 came up, but it was repeated in her presence by Dr. Craig, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 299 
 
 who thus left the impression that the idea had originated 
 with himself, rather than with Dr. Grant, as perhaps he 
 thought it had. He was at first inclined to patronize the 
 country doctor, but soon found that he had reckoned with 
 out his host. Morris knew more of Katy, and quite as 
 much of medicine as he did himself, and when Mrs. 
 Cameron begged him to stay longer, he answered that her 
 son s wife was as safe in his brother physician s hands as 
 she could be in his. 
 
 Mrs. Cameron was very glad that Dr. Grant was there, 
 she said. It was surely Providence who sent him to New 
 York on that particular day, and Morris shivered as he 
 wondered if it were wrong not to explain the whole to 
 her. 
 
 " Perhaps it is best she should not know of the tele 
 gram," he thought, and merely bowing to her remarks, 
 he turned to Katy, who was growing very restless and 
 moaning as if in pain. 
 
 " It hurts/ he said, turning her head from side to 
 side; "I am lying on Genevra." 
 
 With a sudden start, Mrs. Cameron drew nearer, but 
 when she remembered the little grave at Silverton, she 
 said, " It s the baby she s talking about." 
 
 Morris knew better, and as Katy still continued to 
 move her head as if something were really hurting her, 
 he passed his hand under her pillow and drew out the 
 picture she must have kept near her as long as her con 
 sciousness remained. He knew it was Genevra s picture, 
 and was about to lay it away, when the cover dropped 
 into his hand, and his eye fell upon a face which was not 
 new to him, while an involuntary exclamation of sur 
 prise escaped him, as Katy s assertion that Genevra was 
 living was thus fully confirmed. Marian had not changed 
 past recognition since her early girlhood, and Morris knew 
 the likeness at once, pitying Katy more than he had pitied 
 her yet, as he remembered how closely Marian Hazelton 
 had been interwoven with her married life, and the life 
 of the little child which had borne her name. 
 
 " What is that ? " Mrs. Cameron asked, and Morris 
 passed the case to her, saying, "A picture which was 
 under Katy s pillow." 
 
300 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Morris did not look at Mrs. Cameron, but tried to 
 busy himself with the medicines upon the stand, while 
 she too recognized Genevra Lambert, wondering how it 
 came in Katy s possession and how much she knew of 
 Wilford s secret. 
 
 " She must have been rummaging," she thought, and 
 then as she remembered what Esther had said about her 
 mistress appearing sick and unhappy, when her husband 
 left home, she repaired to the parlor and summoning 
 Esther to her presence, asked her again, " When she first 
 observed traces of indisposition in Mrs. Cameron." 
 
 " When she came home from that dinner at your house. 
 She was just as pale as death, and her teeth fairly chat 
 tered as I took off her things." 
 
 "Dinner? What dinner?" Mrs. Cameron asked, and 
 Esther replied, " Why, the night Mr. Wilford went away 
 or was to go. She changed her mind about meeting him 
 at your house, and said she meant to surprise him. But 
 she came home before Mr. Cameron, looking like a ghost, 
 and saying she was sick. It s my opinion something she 
 ate at dinner hurt her." 
 
 "Very likely, yes. You can go now," Mrs. Cameron 
 said, and Esther departed, never dreaming how much light 
 she had inadvertently thrown upon the mystery. 
 
 " She must have been in the library and heard all we 
 said," Mrs. Cameron thought, as she nervously twisted 
 the fringe of her breakfast shawl. " I remember we talked 
 of Genevra, and that we both heard a strange sound from 
 some quarter, but thought it came from the kitchen. That 
 was Katy. She was there all the time and let herself 
 quietly out of the house. I wonder does Wilford know," 
 and then there came over her an intense desire for Wil 
 ford to come home a desire which was not lessened when 
 she returned to Katy s room and heard her talking of 
 Genevra and the grave at St. Mary s "where nobody was 
 buried." 
 
 In a tremor of distress, lest she should betray some 
 thing which Morris must not know Mrs. Cameron tried 
 to hush her, talking as if it was the baby she meant, but 
 Katy answered promptly, "It s Genevra Lambert I mean, 
 Wilford s other wife; the one across the sea. She was 
 
The Cameron Pride. 301 
 
 innocent, too as innocent as I, whom you both de 
 ceived." 
 
 Here was a phase of affairs for which Mrs. Cameron 
 was not prepared, and excessively mortified that Morris 
 should hear Katy s ravings, she tried again to quiet her, 
 consoling herself with the reflection that as Morris was 
 Katy s cousin, he would not repeat what he heard, and 
 feeling gratified now that Dr. Craig was absent, as she 
 could not be so sure of him. If Katy s delirium con 
 tinued, no one must be admitted to the room except those 
 who could be trusted, and as there had been already 
 several rings, she said to Esther that as the fever was 
 probably malignant and contagious, no one must be ad 
 mitted to the house with the expectation of seeing the 
 patient, while the servants were advised to stay in their 
 own quarters, except as their services might be needed 
 elsewhere. And so it was that by the morrow the news 
 had spread of some infectious disease at No. on Madi 
 son Square, which was shunned as carefully as if small 
 pox itself had been raging there instead of the brain fever, 
 which increased so fast that Morris suggested to Mrs. 
 Cameron that she telegraph for Wilford. 
 
 " They might find him, and they might not, Mother 
 Cameron said. " They could try, at all events," and in a 
 few moments the telegraphic wires were carrying the 
 news of Katy s illness, both to the west, where Wilford 
 had gone, and to the east, where Helen read with a 
 blanched cheek that Katy perhaps was dying, and she 
 must hasten to New York. 
 
 This was Mrs. Cameron s suggestion, wrung out by the 
 knowing that some woman besides herself was needed in 
 the sick-room, and by feeling that Helen could be trusted 
 with the story of the first marriage, which Katy talked of 
 constantly, telling it so accurately that only a fool would 
 fail of being convinced that there was much of truth in 
 those delirious ravings. 
 
302 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE FEVER AND ITS RESULTS. 
 
 WILFORD could not forget Katy s face, so full of re 
 proach. It followed him continually, and was the magnet 
 which turned his steps homeward before his business was 
 quite done, and before the telegram had found him. Thus 
 it was with no knowledge of existing circumstances that 
 he reached New York just at the close of the day, and 
 ordering a carriage, was driven rapidly towards home. 
 All the shutters in the front part of the house were 
 closed, and not a ray of light was to be seen in the par 
 lors as he entered the hall, where the gas was burning 
 dimly. 
 
 " Katy is at home," he said, as he went into the library, 
 where a shawl was thrown across a chair, as if some one 
 had lately been there. 
 
 It was his mother s shawl, and Wilford was wondering 
 if she was there, when down the ^stairs came a man s 
 rapid step, and the next moment Dr! Grant came into the 
 room, starting when he saw Wilford, who felt intuitively 
 that something was wrong. 
 
 " Is Katy sick ? " was his first question, which Morris 
 answered in the affirmative, holding him back as he was 
 starting for her room, and saying to him, "Let me send 
 your mother to you first." 
 
 What passed between Wilford and his mother was 
 never known exactly, but at the close of the interview 
 Mrs. Cameron was very pale, while Wilford s face looked 
 dark and anxious as he said, "You think he understands 
 it then?" 
 
 " Yes, in part, but the world will be none the wiser 
 for his knowledge. I knew Dr. Grant before you did, 
 and there are few men living whom I respect as much, 
 and no one whom I would trust as soon." 
 
 Mrs. Cameron had paid a high compliment to Morris 
 
The Cameron Pride. 303 
 
 Grant, and Wilford bowed in assent, asking next how 
 she managed Dr. Craig. 
 
 " That was easy, inasmuch as he believed it an insane 
 freak of Katy s to have no other physician than her cousin. 
 It was quite natural, he said, adding that she was as safe 
 with Dr. Grant as any one. And I was glad, for I could 
 not have a stranger know of that affair. You will go 
 up now/ Mrs. Cameron continued, and a moment after 
 Wilford stood in the dimly-lighted room, where Katy was 
 talking of Genevra and St. Mary s, and was only kept 
 upon her pillow by the strong arm of Morris, who stood 
 over her when Wilford entered, trying in vain to quiet 
 her. 
 
 She knew him, and writhing herself away from Morris s 
 arms, she said to him, " Genevra is not in that grave at 
 St. Mary s; she is living, and you are not my husband. 
 So you can leave the house at once. Morris will settle 
 the estate, and no bill shall be sent in for your board and 
 lodging. 
 
 In some moods Wilford would have smiled at being thus 
 summarily dismissed from his own house; but he was too 
 sore now, too sensitive to smile, and his voice was rathei 
 severe as he laid his hand on Katy s and said, 
 
 " Don t be foolish, Katy. Don t you know me ? I am 
 Wilford, your husband." 
 
 " That was, you mean," Katy rejoined, drawing hen 
 hand quickly away. " Go find your first love, where buL 
 lets fall like hail, and where there is pain, and blood, and 
 carnage. Genevra is there." 
 
 She would not let him come near her, and grew so ex 
 cited with his presence that he was forced either to leave 
 the room or sit where she could not see him. He chose 
 the latter, and from his seat by the door watched with a 
 half jealous, angry heart, Morris Grant doing for his wife 
 what he should have done. 
 
 With Morris Katy was gentle as a little child, talking 
 still of Genevra, but talking quietly, and in a way which 
 did not wear her out as fast as her excitement did. 
 
 " What God hath joined together let not man put asun 
 der/ was the text from which she preached several short 
 sermons as the night wore on, but just as the morning 
 
304 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 dawned she fell into the first quiet sleep she had had dur 
 ing the last twenty-four hours. And while she slept 
 Wilford ventured near enough to see the sunken cheeks 
 and hollow eyes which wrung a groan from him as he 
 turned to Morris, and asked what he supposed was the 
 immediate cause of her sudden illness? 
 
 "A terrible shock, the nature of which I understand, 
 but you have nothing to fear from me," Morris replied. 
 " I accuse you to no man, but leave vou to settle it with 
 your conscience whether you did right to receive her so 
 long." 
 
 Morris spoke as one having authority, and Wilford 
 simply bowed his head, feeling n resentment towards 
 one who had ventured to reprove \im. Afterwards he 
 might remember it differently, but now he was too anx 
 ious to keep Morris there to quarrel with him, and so he 
 made no reply, but sat watching Katy as she slept, won 
 dering if she would die, and feeling how terrible life 
 would be without her. Suddenly Genevra s warning words 
 rang in his ear. 
 
 " God will not forgive you for the wrong vou have done 
 me." 
 
 Was Genevra right? Had God reme?nbered all this 
 time, and overtaken him at last? It might be, and with 
 a groan Wilford hid his face in his liands, believing that 
 he repented of his sin, and not knowing that his fancied 
 repentance arose merely from the fact that he had been 
 detected. Could the last few days be blotted out, and 
 Katy stand just where she did, with no suspicion of him, 
 he would have cast his remorse to the winds, and as it is 
 not such repentance God accepts, Wilford had only begun 
 to sip the cup of retribution presented to his lips. 
 
 Worn out with watching and waiting, Mrs. Cameron, 
 who would suffer neither Juno nor Bell to come near the 
 house, waited uneasily for the arrival of the New Haven 
 train, which she hoped would bring Helen to her aid. 
 Under ordinary circumstances she would rather not have 
 met her, for her presence would keep the letter so con 
 stantly in mind; but now anybody who could be trusted 
 was welcome, and when at last there came a cautious ring, 
 she went herself to the hall, starting back with undis- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 305 
 
 guised vexation when she saw the timid-looking woman 
 following close behind Helen, and whom the latter pre 
 sented as " My mother, Mrs. Lennox." 
 
 Convinced that Morris s sudden journey to New York 
 had something to do with Katy s illness, and almost dis 
 tracted with fears for her daughter s life, Mrs. Lennox 
 could not remain at home and wait for the tardy mail or 
 careless telegraph. She must go to her child, and cast 
 ing off her dread of Wilford s displeasure, she had come 
 with Helen, and was bowing meekly to Mrs. Cameron, 
 who neither offered her hand nor gave any token of greet 
 ing except a distant bow and a simple " Good morning, 
 madam." 
 
 But Mrs. Lennox was too anxious to notice the lady s 
 haughty manner as she led them to the library and then 
 went for her son. Wilford was not glad to see his mother- 
 in-law, but he tried to be polite, answering her questions 
 civilly, and when she asked if it were true that he had 
 sent for Morris, assuring her that it was not. " Dr. 
 Grant happened here very providentially, and I hope to 
 keep him until the crisis is past, although he has just told 
 me he must go back to-morrow." It hurt Wilford s pride 
 that she, whom he considered greatly his inferior, should 
 learn his secret; but it could not now be helped, and 
 within an hour after her arrival she was looking curiously 
 at him for an explanation of the strange things she heard 
 from Katy s lips. 
 
 " Was you a widower whtn you married my daughter ? " 
 she said to him, when at last Helen left the room and 
 she was alone with him. 
 
 "Yes, madam," he replied, "some would call me so, 
 though I was divorced from my wife. As this was a mat 
 ter which did not in any way concern your daughter, I 
 deemed it best not to tell her. Latterly she has found it 
 out, and it is having a very extraordinary effect upon 
 her." 
 
 And this was all Mrs. Lennox knew until alone with 
 Helen, who told her the story as she had heard it from 
 Morris. His sudden journey to New York was thus ac 
 counted for, and Helen explained it to her mother, ad 
 vising her to say nothing of it, as it might be better for 
 
306 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Wilford not to know that Katy had telegraphed for Mor 
 ris. It seemed very necessary that Dr. Grant should re 
 turn to Silverton, and the day following Helen s arrival 
 in Xew York, he made arrangements to do so. 
 
 " You have other physicians here," he said to Wil 
 ford, who objected to his leaving. " Dr. Craig will do as 
 well as I." 
 
 "Wilford admitted that he might, but it was with a sink 
 ing heart that he saw Morris depart, and then went to 
 Katy, who began to grow very restless and uneasy, bid 
 ding him go away and send Dr. Morris back. It was in 
 vain that they administered the medicine just as Morris 
 directed. Katy grew constantly worse, until Mrs. Lennox 
 asked that another doctor be called. But to this Wilford 
 would not listen. Fear of exposure and censure was 
 stronger than his fears for Katy s life, which seemed 
 balancing upon a thread as that long night and the next 
 day went by. Three times Wilford telegraphed for Mor 
 ris, and it was with unfeigned jov that he welcomed him 
 back at last, and heard that he had so arranged his busi 
 ness as to stay with Katy while the danger lasted. 
 
 With a monotonous sameness the days now came and 
 went, people still shunning the house as if the plague was 
 there. Once, Bell Cameron came round to call on Helen, 
 holding her breath as she passed through the hall, and 
 never asking to go near Katy s room. Two or three times, 
 too, Mrs. Banker s carriage stood at the door, and Mrs. 
 Banker herself came in, appearing so cool and distant that 
 Helen could scarcely keep back her tears as she guessed 
 the cause. Mark, too, was in the city, having returned 
 with the Seventh Regiment; but from Esther, Helen 
 learned that he was about joining the army as captain of a 
 company, composed of the finest men in the city. The 
 next she heard was from Mrs. Banker, who, incidentally, 
 remarked, " I shall be very lonely now that Mark is gone. 
 He left me to-day for Washington." 
 
 There were tears on the mother s fa^e, and her lip 
 quivered as she tried to keep them back, by looking from 
 the window into the street, instead of at her companion, 
 who, overcome with the rush of feeling which swept over 
 .her, laid her face on the sofa arm and sobbed aloud. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 307 
 
 " Why, Helen ! Miss Lennox, I am surprised ! I had 
 supposed I was not aware I did not think you would 
 care," Mrs. Banker exclaimed, coming closer to Helen, 
 who stammered out, " I beg you will excuse me, I cannot 
 help it. I care for all our soldiers. It seems so terrible/ 
 
 At the words " I care for all the soldiers," a shadow of 
 disappointment flitted over Mrs. Banker s face. She knew 
 her son had offered himself and been refused, as she sup 
 posed; and she believed too that Helen had given pub 
 licity to the affair, fueling justly indignant at this breach 
 of confidence and lack of delicacy in one whom she had 
 liked so much, and whom she still liked, in spite of the 
 wounded pride which had prompted her to appear so cold 
 and distant. 
 
 " Perhaps it is all a mistake," she thought, as she con 
 tinued standing by Helen, "or it may be she has re 
 lented," and for a moment she felt tempted to ask why 
 her boy had been refused. 
 
 But Mark would not be pleased with her interference, 
 she knew, and so the golden moment fled, and when she 
 left the house, the misunderstanding between herself and 
 Helen was just as wide as ever. Wearily after that the 
 days passed with Helen until all thoughts of herself were 
 forgotten in the terrible fear that death was really brood 
 ing over the pillow where Katy lay, insensible to all that 
 was passing around her. The lips were silent now, and 
 Wilford had nothing to fear from the tongue hitherto so 
 busy. Juno, Bell, and father Cameron all came to see 
 her, dropping tears upon the face looking so old and 
 worn with suffering. Mrs. Cameron, too, was very sorry, 
 very sad, but managed to find some consolation in men 
 tally arranging a grand funeral, which would do honor 
 to her son, and wondering if "those Barlows in Silver- 
 ton would think they must attend." And while she thus 
 arranged, the mother who had given birth to Katy wrestled 
 in earnest prayer that God would spare her child, or at 
 least grant some space in which she might be told of the 
 world to which she was hastening. What Wilford suf 
 fered none could guess. His face was very white, and 
 its expression almost stern, as he sat by the young wife 
 who had been his for little more than two brief years, 
 
308 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 and who, but for his sin, might not have been lying there, 
 unconscious of the love and grief around her. With lip 
 compressed, and brows firmly knit together, Morris, too, 
 sat watching Katy, feeling for the pulse, and bending 
 his ear to catch the faintest breath which came from her 
 parted lips, while in his heart there was an earnest prayer 
 for the safety of the soul, hovering so evenly between this 
 world and the next. He did not ask that she might live, 
 for if all were well hereafter he knew it was better for her 
 to die in her young womanhood, than to live till the 
 heart, now so sad and bleeding, had grown callosed with 
 sorrow. And yet it was terrible to think of Katy dead; 
 terrible to think of that face and form laid away beneath 
 the turf of Greenwood, where those who loved her best 
 could seldom go to weep. 
 
 And as they sat there thus, the night shadows stole into 
 the room, and the hours crept on till from a city tower 
 a clock struck ten, and Morris, motioning Helen to his 
 side, bade her go with her mother to rest. " We do not 
 need you here," he said; "your presence can do no good. 
 Should a change occur, you shall be told at once/ 3 
 
 Thus importuned, Helen and her mother withdrew, and 
 only Morris and W T ilford remained to watch that heavy 
 slumber, so nearly resembling deatb. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVII. 
 
 THE CONFESSION. 
 
 GRADUALLY, the noise in the streets died away; the 
 tread of feet, the rumbling wheels, and the tinkle of car 
 bells ceased, and not a sound was heard, save as the dis 
 tant fire bells pealed forth. their warning voices, or some 
 watchman went hurrying by. The great city was asleep, 
 and to Morris the silence brooding over the countless 
 throng was deeper, more solemn, than the silence of the 
 country, where nature gives out her own mysterious notes 
 and lullabies for her sleeping children. Slowly the minutes 
 went by, and Morris became at last aware that Wilford s 
 
The Cameron Pride. 309 
 
 eyes, instead of resting on the pallid face, which seemed 
 to grow each moment more pallid and ghastly, were fixed 
 on him with an expression which made him drop the pale 
 hand he was holding between his own, pooring it occasion 
 ally, as a mother might poor and pity the hand of her 
 dying baby. 
 
 Before his marriage, a jealous thought of Morris Grant 
 had found a lodgment in Wilfoid s breast; but he had 
 tried to drive it out, and fancied that he had succeeded, 
 experiencing a sudden shock when he felt it lifting its 
 green head, and poisoning his mind against the man who 
 was doing for Katy only what a brother might do. He 
 forgot that it was his own entreaties which kept Morris 
 there, away from his Silverton patients, who were missing 
 him so much, and complaining of his absence. Jealous 
 men never reason clearly, and in this case, Wilford did 
 not reason at all, but jumped readily at his conclusion, 
 calling to his aid as proof all that he had ever seen pass 
 between Katy and her cousin. That Morris Grant loved 
 Katy was, after a few moments reflection, as fixed a fact 
 in his mind, as that she lay there between them, moaning 
 feebly, as if about to speak. Years before, jealousy had 
 made Wilford almost a madman, and it now held him 
 again in its powerful grasp, whispering suggestions he 
 would have spurned in a calm frame of mind. There 
 was a clenching of his fist, a knitting of his brows, and 
 a gathering blackness in his eyes as he listened while 
 Katy, rousing partially from her lethargy, talked of the 
 days when she was a little girl, and Morris had built the 
 play-house for her by the brook, where the thorn-apples 
 grew and the waters fell over the smooth, white rocks. 
 
 * Take me back there/ she said, " and let me lie on 
 the grass again. It is so long since I was there, and I ve 
 suffered so much since then. Wilford meant to be kind, 
 but he did not understand or know how I loved the 
 country with its birds and flowers and the grass by the 
 well, where the shadows come and go. I used to wonder 
 where they were going, and one day when I watched them 
 I was waiting for Wilford and wondering if he would 
 ever come again. Would it have been better if he never 
 had?" 
 
3io The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Wilford s body shook as he bent forward to listen, while 
 Katy continued: 
 
 " Were there no Genevra, I should not think so, but 
 there is, and yet Morris said that made no difference 
 when I telegraphed for him to come and take me 
 
 away." 
 
 Morris felt keenly the awkwardness of his position, but 
 he could offer no explanation then. He could not speak 
 with those fiery eyes upon him, and he sat erect in his 
 chair, while Katy talked of Silverton, until her voice 
 grew very faint, ceasing at last as she fell into a second 
 sleep, heavier, more deathlike, than the first. Something 
 in her face alarmed Morris, and in spite of the eyes 
 watching him he bent every energy to retain the feeble 
 pulse, and the breath which grew shorter with each respira 
 tion. 
 
 " Do you think her dying ? " Wilford asked, and Mor 
 ris replied, " The look about the mouth ar .1 nose is like 
 the look which so often precedes death/ 
 
 And that was all they said until another hour went by, 
 when Morris s hand was laid upon the forehead and 
 moved up under the golden hair where there were drops 
 of perspiration. 
 
 " She is saved ! thank God, Katy is saved ! " was his 
 joyful exclamation, and burying his face in his hands, 
 he wept for a moment like a child. 
 
 On Wilford s face there was no trace of tears. On the 
 contrary, he seemed hardening into stone, and in his 
 heart fierce passions were contending for the mastery. 
 What did Katy mean by sending for Morris to take her 
 away? Did she send for him, and was that the cause of 
 his being there? If so, ther was something between 
 the cousins more than mere friendship. The thought was 
 a maddening one. And, rising slowly at last, Wilford 
 came round to Morris s side, and grasping his shoulder, 
 said, 
 
 " Morris Grant, you love Katy Cameron." 
 
 Like the peal of a bell on the frosty air the words rang 
 through the room, starting Morris from his bowed atti 
 tude, and for an instant curdling the blood in his veins, 
 for he understood now the meaning of the look which 
 
The Cameron Pride. 311 
 
 had so puzzled him. In Morris s heart there was a mo 
 ment s hesitancy to know just what to answer an ejacu- 
 latory prayer for guidance and then lifting up his head, 
 his calm blue eyes met the eyes of black unflinchingly as 
 he replied, 
 
 " I have loved her always." 
 
 A blaze like sheet lightning shot from beneath Wilford s 
 eyelashes, and a taunting sneer curled his lip as he said, 
 " " You, a saint, confess to this ? " 
 
 It was in keeping with human nature for Wilford to 
 thrust Morris s religion in his face, forgetting that never 
 on this side the eternal world can man cease wholly to 
 sin; that so long as flesh and blood remain, there will bo 
 temptation, error, and wrong, even among God s chil 
 dren. Morris felt the sneer keenly; but the consciousness 
 of peace with his Maker sustained him in the shock, 
 and with the same tone he had at first assumed, he 
 said, 
 
 " Should my being what you call a saint prevent my 
 confessing what I did ? " 
 
 " No, not the confession, but the fact," Wilford an 
 swered, savagely. " How do you reconcile your acknowl 
 edged love for Katy with trie injunctions of the Bible 
 whose doctrines you indorse?" 
 
 te A man cannot always control his feelings, but he 
 can strive to overcome them and put them aside. One 
 does not sin in being tempted, but in listening to the temp 
 tation." 
 
 " Then according to your own reasoning you have 
 sinned, for you not only have been tempted but have 
 yielded to the temptation," Wilford retorted, with a sin 
 ister look of exultation in his black eyes. 
 
 For a moment Morris was silent, while a struggle of 
 some kind seemed going on in his mind, and then he 
 said, 
 
 " I never thought to lay open to you a secret which, 
 after myself, is, I believe, known to only one living be 
 ing." 
 
 " And that one is is Katy ? " Wilford exclaimed, his 
 voice hoarse with passion, and his eyes flashing with fire. 
 
 "No, not Katy. She has no suspicion of the pain 
 
312 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 which, since I saw her made another s, has eaten into my 
 heart, making me grow old so fast, and blighting my 
 early manhood/ 
 
 Something in Morris s tone and manner made Wilford 
 relax his grasD upon the arm, and sent him back to his 
 chair while Morris continued, 
 
 " Most men would shrink from talking to a husband 
 of the love they bore his wife, and an hour ago I should 
 have shrunk from it too, but you have forced me to it, and 
 now you must listen while I tell you of my love for Katy. 
 It began longer ago than she can remember began when 
 she was my baby sister, and I hushed her in my arms to 
 sleep, kneeling by her cradle and watching her with a 
 feeling I have never been able to define. She was in all 
 my thoughts, her face upon the printed page of every book 
 I studied, and her voice in every strain of music I ever 
 heard. Then when she grew older, I used to watch the 
 frolicsome child by the hour, building castles of the fu 
 ture, when she would be a woman, and I a man, with a 
 man s right to win her. I know that she shielded me 
 from many a snare into which young men are apt to 
 fall, for when the temptation was greatest, and I was at 
 its verge, a thought of her was sufficient to lead me back 
 to virtue. I carried her in my heart across the sea, and 
 said when I go back I will ask her to Jbe mine. I went 
 back, but at my first meeting with Katy after her return 
 from Canandaigua, she told me of you, and I knew then 
 that hope for me was gone. God grant that you may 
 never experience what I experienced on that day which 
 made her your wife, and I saw her go away. It seemed 
 almost as if God had forgotten me as the night after the 
 bridal I sat alone at home, and met that dark hour of 
 sorrow. In the midst of it Helen came, discovering my 
 secret, and sympathizing with me until the pain at my 
 heart grew less, and I could pray that God would grant 
 me a feeling for Katy which should not be sinful. And 
 He did at last, so I could think of her without a wish that 
 she was mine. Times there were when the old love would 
 burst forth with fearful power, and then I wished that I 
 might die. These were my moments of temptation which 
 
The Cameron Pride. 313 
 
 I struggled to overcome. Sometimes a song, a strain of 
 music, or a ray of moonlight on the floor would bring the 
 past to me so vividly that I would stagger beneath the 
 burden, and feel that it was greater than I could bear. 
 But God was very merciful, and sent me work which took 
 np all my time, and drove me away from my own pain 
 to soothe the pain of others. When Katy came to us 
 last summer there was an hour of trial, when faith in God 
 grew weak, and I was tempted to question the justice of 
 His dealing with me. But that too passed, and in my 
 love for your child I forgot the mother in part, looking 
 upon her as a sister rather than the Katy I had loved 
 so well. I would have given my life to have saved that 
 child for her, even though it was a bar between us, some 
 thing which separated her from me more than the words 
 she spoke at the altar. Though dead, that baby is still a 
 bar, and Katy is not the same to me she was before that 
 little life came into being. It is not wrong to love her 
 as I do now. I feel no pang of conscience save when 
 something unexpected carries me back to the old ground 
 where I have fought so many battles." 
 
 Morris paused a moment, while Wilford said, " She 
 spoke of telegraphing for you. Why was that, and 
 when?" 
 
 Thus interrogated, Morris told of the message which 
 had brought him to New York, and narrated as cautiously 
 as possible the particulars of the interview which fol 
 lowed. 
 
 Morris s manner was that of a man who spoke with 
 perfect sincerity, and it carried conviction to Wilford s 
 heart, disarming him for a time of the fierce anger and 
 resentment he had felt while listening to Morris s story. 
 Acting upon the good impulse of the moment, he arose, 
 and offering his hand to Morris, said, 
 
 " Forgive me that I ever doubted you. It was natural 
 that you should come, but foolish in Katy to send or 
 think Genevra is living. I have seen her grave myself. I 
 know that she is dead. Did Katy name any one whom 
 she believed to be Genevra ? " 
 
 " No one. She merelv said she had seen the original 
 of the picture," Morris replied. 
 
314 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 "A fancy, a mere whim," Wilford muttered to him 
 self, as, greatly disquieted and terribly humbled, he paced 
 the room moodily, trying not to think hard thoughts 
 either against his wife or Dr. Grant, who, feeling that it 
 would be pleasanter for Wilford if he were gone, sug 
 gested returning to Silverton at once, inasmuch as the 
 crisis was past and Katy out of danger. There was a 
 struggle in Wilford s mind as to the answer he should 
 make to this suggestion, but at last he signified his 
 willingness for the doctor to leave when he thought 
 best. 
 
 It was broad day when Katy woke, so weak as to be 
 unable to turn her head upon the pillow, but in her eyes 
 the light of reason was shining, and she glanced won- 
 deringly, first at Helen, who had come in, and then at 
 Wilford, as if trying to comprehend what had happened. 
 
 " Have I been sick ? " she asked in a whisper, and Wil 
 ford, bending over her, replied, " Yes, very sick for nearly 
 two whole weeks ever since I left home that morning, 
 you know ? " 
 
 "Yes," and Katy shivered a little. "Yes, I know. 
 But where is Morris? He was here the last I can re 
 member." 
 
 Wilford s face grew dark at once, and stepping back as 
 Morris came in, he said, " She asks fon you." Then with 
 a rising feeling of resentment he watched them, while 
 Morris spoke to Katy, telling her she must not allow her 
 self in any way to be excited. 
 
 "Have I been crazy? Have I talked much?" she 
 asked; and when Morris replied in the affirmative, she 
 said, " Of whom have I talked most ? " 
 
 " Of Genevra," was the answer, and Katy continued, 
 
 " Did I mention any one else ? " 
 
 Morris guessed of whom she was thinking, and answered 
 indifferently, "You spoke of Miss Hazelton in connec 
 tion with baby, but that was all." 
 
 Katy was satisfied, and closing her eyes fell away to 
 sleep again, while Morris made his preparations for leav 
 ing. It hardly seemed right for him to go just then, but 
 the only one who could have kept him maintained a 
 frigid silence with regard to a longer stay, and so the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 315 
 
 first train which left New York for Springfield carried 
 Dr. Grant, and Katy was without a physician. 
 
 Wilford had hoped that Mrs. Lennox, too, would see 
 the propriety of accompanying Morris, but she would i^t 
 leave Katy, and Wilford was fain to submit to what ho 
 could not help. No explanation whatever had he given 
 to Mrs. Lennox or Helen with regard to Genevra. He 
 was too proud for that, but his mother had deemed it 
 wise to smooth the matter over as much as possible, and 
 enjoin upon them both the necessity of secrecy. 
 
 "When I tell you that neither my husband nor daugh 
 ters know it, you will understand that I am greatly in 
 earnest in wishing it kept," she said. "It was a most 
 unfortunate affair, and though the divorce is, of course, 
 to be lamented, it is better that she died. We never could 
 have received her as our equal." 
 
 " Was anything the matter, except that she was poor ? " 
 Mrs. Lennox asked, with as much dignity as was in her 
 nature to assume. 
 
 " Well, no. She had a good education, I believe, and 
 was very pretty; but it makes trouble always where there 
 is a great inequality between a husband s family and that 
 of his wife." 
 
 Poor Mrs. Lennox understood this perfectly, but she 
 was too much afraid of the great lady to venture a reply, 
 and a tear rolled down her cheek as she wet the napkin 
 for Katy s head, and wished she had bad: ;igain the 
 daughter whose family the Camerons despised. The at 
 mosphere of Madison Square did not suit Mrs. Lennox, 
 especially when, as the days went by and Katy began to 
 amend, troops of gay ladies called, mistaking her for the 
 nurse, and staring a little curiously when told slie was 
 Mrs. Cameron s mother. Of course Wilford chafed and 
 fretted at what he could not help, making himself so gen 
 erally disagreeable that Helen at last suggested returning 
 home. There was a faint remonstrance on his part, but 
 Helen did not waver in her decision, and the next day 
 was fixed upon for her departure. 
 
 " You don t know how I dread your going, or how 
 wretched I shall be without you," Katy said, when for a 
 few moments they were alone. "Everything which once 
 
316 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 made me happy has been removed or changed. Baby is 
 dead, and Wilford, oh! Helen, I sometimes wish I had 
 not heard of Genevra, for I am afraid it can never be 
 with us as it was once; I have n*t the same trust in him, 
 and he seems so changed/" 
 
 As well as she could, Helen comforted her sister, and 
 commending her to One who would care for her far more 
 than earthly friends could do, she bade her good-bye, and 
 with her mother went back to Silverton. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 
 
 DOMESTIC TROUBLES. 
 
 WILFORD was in a most unhappy frame of mind. He 
 had been humbled to the very dust, and it was Katy who 
 had done it Katy, towards whom his heart kept harden 
 ing as he thought over all the past. What right had she 
 to go to his mother s after having once declined; or, be 
 ing there, what right had she to listen and thus learn 
 the secret he would almost have died to keep; or, having 
 learned it. why need she have been so much excited, and 
 sent for Or. Grant to tell her if she were really a wife, 
 and if not to take her away? That was the point which 
 hurt him most, for added to it was the galling fact that 
 Morris Grant loved his wife, and was undoubtedly more 
 worthy of her than himself. He had said that he for 
 gave Morris, and at the time he said it he fancied he 
 (lid, b:it as the days went by, and thought was all the 
 busier from the moody silence he maintained, there grad 
 ually came to life a feeling of hatred for the man whose 
 name he could not hear without a frown, while he watched 
 Katy closely to detect, if possible, some sign by which 
 he should know that Morris s love was reciprocated. But 
 Katy was innocence itself, and tried so hard to do her 
 duty as a wife, going often to the Friend of whom Helen 
 had told her, and finding there the grace which helped 
 her bear what otherwise she could not have borne and 
 
The Cameron Pride. 317 
 
 lived. The entire history of her life during that wretched 
 winter was never told save as it was written on her face, 
 which was a volume in itself of meek and patient suf 
 fering. 
 
 Wilford had never mentioned Genevra to her since the 
 day of his return, and Katy sometimes felt it would be 
 well to talk that matter over. It might lead to a better 
 understanding than existed between them now, and dis 
 sipate the cloud which hung so darkly on their domestic 
 horizon. But Wilford repulsed all her advances on that 
 subject, and Genevra was a dead name in their household. 
 Times there were when for an entire day he would appear 
 like his former self, caressing her with unwonted tender 
 ness, but never asked her forgiveness for all he had made 
 her suffer. He was too proud to do that, and his ten 
 derness always passed away when he remembered Morris 
 Grant and Katy s remark to Helen which he accidentally 
 overheard. "I am afraid it can never be with us as it 
 was once. I have not the same trust in him." 
 
 " She had no right to complain of me," he thought, for 
 getting the time when he had been guilty of a similar 
 offence in a more aggravated form. He could not reason 
 upon anything naturally, and matters grew daily worse, 
 while Katy s face grew whiter and her voice sadder in its 
 tone. 
 
 When the Lenten days came on, oh how Katy longed to 
 be in Silverton to kneel again in its quiet church, and 
 offer up her penitential prayers with the loved ones at 
 home. At last she ventured to ask Wilford if she might 
 go, her spirits rising when he did not refuse her request 
 at once, but asked, 
 
 " Whom do you wish to see the most ? " 
 
 His black eyes seemed reading her through, and some 
 thing in their expression brought to her face the blush 
 he construed according to his jealousy, and when she an 
 swered, <( I wish to see them all," he retorted, 
 
 " Say, rather, you wish to see that doctor, who has 
 loved you so long, and who but for me would have asked 
 you to be his wife ! " 
 
 " What doctor, Wilford ? whom do you mean ? " she 
 asked, and Wilford replied, 
 
318 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 "Dr. Grant, of course. Did you never suspect it?" 
 
 " Never," and Katy s face grew very white, while Wil- 
 ford continued, 
 
 " I had it from his own lips ; he sitting on one side of 
 you and I upon the other. I so forgot myself as to charge 
 him with loving you, and he did not deny it, but con 
 fessed as pretty a piece of romance as I ever read, except 
 that, according to his story, it was a one-sided affair, 
 confined wholly to himself. You never dreamed of it, 
 he said." 
 
 " Never, no never," Katy said, panting for her breath, 
 and remembering suddenly many things which confirmed 
 what she had heard. 
 
 " Poor Morris, how my thoughtlessness must have 
 wounded him/ she murmured, and then all the pent up 
 passion in Wilford s heart burst out in an impetuous 
 storm. 
 
 He did not charge his wife directly with returning 
 Morris s love ; but he said she was sorry she had not 
 known it earlier, asking her pointedly if it were not so, 
 and pressing her for an answer, until the bewildered 
 creature cried out, 
 
 " Oh, I don t know. I never thought of it before." 
 
 "But you can think of it now," Wilford continued, his 
 cold, icy tone making Katy shiver, as, more to herself than 
 to him, she whispered, 
 
 "A life at Limvood with him would be perfect rest, 
 compared with this" 
 
 Wilford had goaded her on to say that which roused 
 him to a pitch of frenzy. 
 
 "You can go to your rest at Linwood as soon as you 
 like, and I will go my way," he whispered hoarsely, and 
 believing himself the most injured man in existence, he 
 left the house, and Katy heard his step, as it went furi 
 ously down the steps. For a time she sat stunned with 
 what she had heard, and then there came stealing into 
 her heart a glad feeling that Morris deemed her worthy 
 of his love when she had so often feared the contrary. 
 And in this she was not faithless to Wilford. She could 
 pray with just as pure a heart as before, and she did 
 pray, thanking God for the love of this good man, but 
 
The Cameron Pride. 319 
 
 asking that long ere this he might have learned to be 
 content without her. Never once did the thought " It 
 might have been/ intrude itself upon her, nor did she 
 send one regret after the life she had missed. She 
 seemed to rise above all that, and Wilford, had he read 
 her heart, would have found no evil there. 
 
 " Poor Morris/ she kept repeating, while little throbs 
 of pleasure went dancing through her veins, and the 
 world was not one half so dreary for knowing he had 
 loved her. Towards Wilford, too, her heart went out in 
 a fresh gush of tenderness, for she knew how one of his 
 jealous nature must have suffered. 
 
 And all that day she was thinking of him, and how 
 pleasantly she would meet him when he came home at 
 night, and how she would try to win him from the dark 
 silent mood now so habitual to him. More than usual 
 pains she took with her toilet, arranging her bright hair 
 in the long, glossy curls, which she knew he used to ad 
 mire, and making sundry little changes in her black 
 dress. Excitement had brought a faint flush to her 
 cheeks, and she was conscious of a feeling of gratifica 
 tion that for the first time in months she was looking 
 like her former self. Slowly the minutes crept on, and 
 the silver-toned clock in the dining-room said it was time 
 for Wilford to come; then the night shadows gathered in 
 the rooms, and the gas was lighted in the hall and in 
 the parlor, where Katy s face was pressed against the 
 window pane, and Katy s eyes peered anxiously out into 
 the darkening streets, but saw no one alighting at their 
 door. Wilford did not come. Neither six, nor seven, nor 
 eight brought him home, and Katy sat down alone to her 
 dinner, which, save the soup and coffee, was removed un- 
 tasted. She could not eat with the terrible dread at her 
 heart that this long protracted absence portended some 
 thing more than common. Ten, eleven, and twelve struck 
 from a distant tower. He had stayed out as late as that 
 frequently, but rarely later, and Katy listened again for 
 him, until the clock struck one, and she grew sick with 
 fear and apprehension. It was a long, long, wretched 
 night, but morning came at last, and at an early hour 
 Katy drove down to Wilford s office, finding no one there 
 
32O The Cameron Pride. 
 
 besides Tom Tubbs and Mills, the other clerk. Katy could 
 not conceal her agitation, and her face was very white 
 as she asked what time Mr. Cameron left the office the 
 previous day. 
 
 If Katy had one subject more loyal than another it was 
 young Tom Tubbs, whose boyish blood had often boiled 
 with rage at the cool manner with which Wilford treated 
 his wife, when, as she sometimes did, she came into the 
 office. Tom worshiped Katy Cameron, who, in his whis 
 pered confidences to Mattie, was an angel, while Wilford 
 was accused of being an overbearing tyrant, whom Tom 
 would like to thrash. He saw at once, that something un 
 usual was troubling her, and hastening to bring her a 
 chair, told her that Mr. Cameron left the office about four 
 o clock; that he had spent the most of the day in his 
 private office writing and looking over papers; that he 
 had given his clerks so many directions with regard to 
 certain matters, that Mills had remarked upon it, saying, 
 " It would seem as if he did not expect to be here to 
 see to it himself ; " and this was all Katy could learn, 
 but it was enough to increase the growing terror at her 
 heart, and dropping her veil, she went out to her car 
 riage, followed by Tom, who adjusted the gay robe across 
 her lap, and then looked wistfully after her as she drove 
 up Broadway. 
 
 " To father Cameron s," she said to the driver, who 
 turned his horses towards Fifth Avenue, where, just com 
 ing down the steps of his own house, they met the elder 
 Cameron. 
 
 Katy would rather see him first a brie, and motioning 
 him to her side she whispered : " Oh, father, is Wilford 
 here?" 
 
 " Wilford be " ; the old man did not say what, for 
 
 the expression of Katy s face startled him. 
 
 That there was something wrong, and father Cameron 
 knew it, was Katy s conviction, and she gasped out, 
 
 " Tell me the worst. Is Wilford dead ? " 
 
 Father Cameron was in the carriage by this time, and 
 riding towards Madison Square, for he did not care to 
 introduce Katy into his household, which, just at present, 
 presented a scene of dire confusion and dismay, occ 
 
The Cameron Pride. 321 
 
 sioned by o AOI? received from Wilford to the intent that 
 he had left Nev; York, and did not know when he should 
 return. 
 
 " Katy can tell you why I go," he added, and father 
 Cameron was going to Katy when she met him at his 
 door. 
 
 To Katy s repeated question, " Is he dead?" he an 
 swered, " Worse than that, I fear. He has left the city, 
 and no one knows for what, unless you do. From some 
 thing he wrote, my wife is led to suppose there was 
 trouble between you two. Was there ? " and father Cam 
 eron s gray eyes rested earnestly on the white, frightened 
 face which looked up so quickly as Katy gasped, 
 
 " There lias been trouble that is, he has not appeared 
 quite the same since " 
 
 She was interrupted by the carriage stopping before her 
 door; but when they were in the parlor, father Cameron 
 said, 
 
 " Go on now. Wilford has not been the same since 
 when ? " 
 
 Thus importuned, Katy continued, 
 
 " Since baby died. I think he blamed me as the cause 
 of its death." 
 
 " Don t babies die every day ? " father Cameron growled, 
 while Katy, without considering that he had never heard 
 of Genevra, continued, 
 
 " And then it was worse after I found out about Gen 
 evra, his first wife." 
 
 " Genevra ! Genevra, Wilford s first wife ! Thunder 
 and lightning ! what are you talking about ? " and father 
 Cameron bent down to look in Katy s face, thinking she 
 was going mad. 
 
 But Katy was not mad, and knowing it was now too 
 late to retract, she told the story of Genevra Lambert to 
 the old man, who, utterly confounded, stalked up and 
 down the room, kicking away chairs and footstools, and 
 whatever came in his way, and swearing promiscuously 
 at his wife and Wilford, whom he pronounced a precious 
 pair of fools, with a dreadful adjective appended to the 
 fools, and an emphasis in his voice which showed he 
 meant what he said. 
 
322 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " It s all accounted for now," he said ; " the piles of 
 money that boy had abroad, his privacy with his mother, 
 and all the other tomfoolery I could not understand. 
 Katy," and pausing in his walk, Mr. Cameron came close 
 to his daughter-in-law, who was lying with her face upon 
 the sofa. " Katy, be glad your baby died. Had it lived 
 it might have proved a curse, just as mine have done 
 not all, for Bell, though fiery as a pepper-pod, has some 
 heart, some sense and there was Jack, my oldest boy, 
 a little fast it s true, but when he died over the sea, I 
 forgave all that, and forgot the chair he broke over a 
 tutor s head, and the scrapes for which I paid as high as 
 a thousand at one time. He sowed his wild oats, and 
 died before he could reap them died a good man, I be 
 lieve, and went to Heaven. Juno you know, and you can 
 judge whether she is such as would delight a parent s 
 heart; while Wilford, my only boy, to deceive me so; I 
 knew he was a fool in some things, but I did trust Wil 
 ford. 
 
 The old man s voice shook now, and Katy felt his tears 
 dropping on her hair as he stooped over her. Checking 
 them, however, he said, 
 
 " And he was cross because you found him out. Was 
 there no other reason ? " 
 
 Katy thought of Dr. Morris, but she could not tell of 
 that, and so she answered, 
 
 " There was but please don t ask me now. I can t 
 tell, only I was not to blame. Believe me, father, I was 
 not to blame." 
 
 " I ll swear to that," was the reply, and father Cameron 
 commenced his walking again, just as Esther came to the 
 door with the morning letters. 
 
 There was one from Wilford for Katy, who nervously 
 tore off the envelope and read as follows: 
 
 " Will you be sorry when you read this and find that I 
 am gone, that you are free from the husband you do not 
 love, whom, perhaps, you never loved, though I thought 
 you did. I trusted you once, and now I do not blame 
 you as much as I ought, for you are young and easily in 
 fluenced. You are very susceptible to flattery, as was 
 
The Cameron Pride. 323 
 
 proven by your career at Saratoga and Newport. I had no 
 suspicion of you then, but now that I know you better, I 
 see that it was not all childish simplicity which made you 
 smile so graciously upon those who sought your favor. 
 You are a coquette, Katy, and the greater one because of 
 that semblance of artlessness which is the perfection of 
 art. This, however, I might forgive, if I had not learned 
 that another man loved you first and wished to make you 
 his wife, while you, in your secret heart, wish you had 
 known it sooner. Don t deny it, Katy; I saw it in your 
 face when I first told you of Dr. Grant s confession, and I 
 heard it in your voice as well as in your words when you 
 said A life at Linwood would be perfect rest compared 
 with this/ That hurt me cruelly, Katy. I did not de 
 serve it from one for whom I have done and borne so much, 
 and it was the final cause of my leaving you, for I am 
 going to Washington to enroll myself in the service of my 
 country. You will be happier without me for awhile, and 
 perhaps when I return, Linwood will not look quite the 
 little paradise it does now. 
 
 " I might reproach you with having telegraphed to Dr. 
 Grant about that miserable Genevra affair which you had 
 not discretion enough to keep to yourself. Few men would 
 care to have their wives send for a former lover in their 
 absence and ask that lover to take them away. Your 
 saintly cousin, good as he is, cannot wonder at my vex 
 ation, or blame me greatly for going away. Perhaps he 
 will offer you comfort, both religious and otherwise : but if 
 you ever wish me to return, avoid him as you would shun 
 a deadly poison. Until I countermand the order, I wish 
 you to remain in the house which I bought for you. Helen 
 and your mother both may live with you, while father will 
 have a general oversight of your affairs ; I shall send him 
 a line to that effect. " YOUR DISAPPOINTED HUSBAND/ 
 
 This was the letter, and there was perfect silence while 
 Katy read it through, Mr. Cameron never taking his eyes 
 from her face, which turned first white, then red, then 
 spotted, and finally took a leaden hue as Katy ran over 
 the lines, comprehending the truth as she read, and when 
 
324 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 the letter was finished, lifting her dry, tearless eyes to 
 Father Cameron, and whispering to herself, 
 
 " Deserted ! " 
 
 She let him read the letter, and Mien he had finished, 
 explained the parts he did not understand, telling him 
 now what Morris had confessed telling him too that 
 in her first sorrow, when life and sense seemed reeling, 
 she had sent for Dr. Grant, knowing she could trust him 
 and be right in doing whatever he advised. 
 
 " Why did you say you sent for him that is, what was 
 the special reason ? " Mr. Cameron asked, and Katy told 
 him her belief that Genevra was living that it was she 
 who made the bridal trousseau for Wilford s second wife, 
 she who nursed his child until it died, giving to it her 
 own name, arraying it for the grave, and then leaving be 
 fore the father came. 
 
 "I never told Wilford," Katy said. "I felt as if I 
 would rather he should not know it yet. Perhaps I was 
 wrong, but if so, I have been terribly punished. 77 
 
 Mr. Cameron could not look upon the woman who 
 stood before him, so helpless and stricken in her desola 
 tion, and believe her wrong in anything. The guilt lay 
 in another direction, and when, as the terrible reality 
 that she was indeed a deserted wife came rushing over 
 Katy, she tottered toward him fqr help; he stretched his 
 arms out for her, and taking the sinking figure in them, 
 laid it upon the sofa as gentlv, as kindly, as Wilford had 
 ever touched it in his most loving days. 
 
 Katy did not faint nor weep. She was past all that; 
 but her face was like a piece of marble, and her eyes were 
 like those of the hunted fawn when the chase is at its 
 height, and escape impossible. 
 
 u Wilford will come back, of course," the father said, 
 "but that does not help us now. What the plague who 
 is ringing that bell enough to break the wire ? " he added, 
 as a sharp, rapid ring echoed through the house, and was 
 answered by Esther. " It s my wife/ 7 he continued, as 
 he caught the sound of her voice in the hall. 
 
 " You stay here while I meet her first alone. I ll give 
 it to her for cheating me so long, and raising thunder 
 generally ! " 
 
The Cameron Pride. 325 
 
 Katy tried to protest, but he was half way down the 
 stairs, and in a moment more was with his wife, who, im 
 patient at his long delay, had come herself, armed and 
 equipped, to censure Katy as the cause of Wilford s disap 
 pearance, and to demand of her what she had done. 
 But the lady who came in so haughty and indignant was 
 a very different personage from the lady who, after lis 
 tening for fifteen minutes to a fearful storm of oaths 
 and reproaches, mingling with startling truths and bitter 
 denunciations against herself and her boy, sank into a 
 chair, pale and trembling, and overwhelmed with the 
 harvest she was reaping. 
 
 But her husband was not through with her yet. He 
 had reserved the bitterest drop for the last, and coming 
 close to her he said, 
 
 " And who think you the woman is this Genevra, Wil 
 ford s and your divorced wife? You were too proud to 
 acknowledge an apothecary s daughter! See if you like 
 better a dressmaker, a nurse to Katy s baby, Marian Hazel- 
 ton!" 
 
 He whispered the last name, and with a shriek the lady 
 fainted. Mr. Cameron would not summon a servant; and 
 as there was no water in the room, he walked to the 
 window, and lifting the sash scraped from the sill a hand 
 ful of the light spring snow which had been falling since 
 morning. With this he brought his wife back to con 
 sciousness, and then marked out her future course. 
 
 " I know what is in your mind," he said ; " people will 
 talk about Wilford s going off so suddenly, and you would 
 like to have all the blame rest on Katy; but, madam, 
 hear me: Just so sure as through your means one breath 
 of suspicion falls on her, I ll bla-at out the whole story of 
 Genevra. Then see who is censured. On the other hand, 
 if you hold your tongue, and make Juno hold hers, and 
 stick to Katy through thick and thin, acting as if you 
 would like to swallow her whole, I ll say nothing of this 
 Genevra. Is it a bargain ? " 
 
 " Yes," came faintly from the sofa cushions, where Mrs. 
 Cameron had buried her face, sobbing in a confused, 
 frightened way, and after a few moments asking to Bee 
 Katy, whom she kissed and caressed with unwonted ten- 
 
326 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 derness, telling her Wilford would come back, and adding, 
 that in any event no one could or should blame her. 
 " Wilford was wrong to deceive you about Genevra. I 
 was wrong to let him; but we will have no more conceal 
 ments. You think she is living still that she is Marian 
 Hazelton ? " and Mrs. Cameron smoothed Katy s hair 
 as she talked, trying to be motherly and kind, while her 
 heart beat more painfully at thoughts of a Genevra living, 
 than it ever had at thoughts of a Genevra dead. 
 
 She did not doubt the story, although it seemed so 
 strange, and it made her faint as she wondered if the 
 world would ever know, and what it would say if it did. 
 That her husband would tell, if she failed in a single 
 point, she was sure; but she would not fail. She would 
 swear Katy was innocent of everything, if necessary, while 
 Juno and Bell should swear too. Of course, they must 
 know, and she should tell them that very night, she said 
 to herself ; and hence it was that in the gossip which fol 
 lowed Wilford s disappearance, not a word was breathed 
 against Katy, whose cause the family espoused so warmly, 
 Bell and the father because they really loved and pitied 
 her, and Mrs. Cameron and Juno because it saved them 
 from the disgrace which would have fallen on Wilford, 
 had the fashionable world known then of Genevra. 
 
 Wilford s leaving home so suddenly to join the army, 
 could not fail, even in New York* to cause some excite 
 ment, especially in his own immediate circle of acquaint 
 ance, and for several days the matter was discussed in all 
 its phases, and every possible opinion and conjecture of 
 fered, as to the cause of his strange freak. They could 
 not believe in domestic troubles when they saw how his 
 family clung to and defended Katy from the least ap 
 proach of censure, Juno taking up her abode with her 
 "afflicted sister, 7 Mrs. Cameron driving round each day 
 to see her; Bell always speaking of her with genuine af 
 fection, while the father clung to her like a hero, the 
 quartette forming a barrier across which the shafts of 
 scandal could not reach. 
 
The Cameron Pride e 327 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXIX. 
 
 WHAT FOLLOWED. 
 
 WHEN Wilford left Katy so abruptly he had no definite 
 purpose in his mind. He was very sore with the remem 
 brance of all that had passed since baby s death, and very 
 angry at his wife, who he believed preferred another to 
 himself, or who would have done so had she known in 
 time what she did now. Like most angry people, he forgot 
 wherein he had been in fault, but charged it all to Katy 
 as he went down Broadway that spring morning., finding 
 on his table a letter from an old classmate, who was then 
 in Washington getting up a company, and who wrote 
 urging his friend to join him at once, and offering him 
 the rank of First Lieutenant. Here was a temptation, 
 here an opportunity to revenge himself on Katy, against 
 whom he wrote a sad list of errors, making it sadder by 
 brooding over and magnifying it until he reached a point 
 from which he would not swerve. 
 
 " I shall do it," he said, and his lips were pressed 
 firmly together, as in his private office he sat revolving 
 the past, and then turning to the future, opening so 
 darkly before him, and making him shudder as he thought 
 of what it might bring. " I will spare Katy as much as 
 possible," he said, " for hers is a different nature from 
 Genevra s. She cannot bear as well," and a bitter groan 
 broke the silence of the room as Katy came up before him 
 just as she had looked that very morning standing by 
 the window, with tears in her eyes, and a wistful, sorry 
 look on her white face. 
 
 But Wilford was not one to retract when a decision was 
 reached, and so he arranged his business matters as 
 well as his limited time would allow; then, after the 
 brief note to his father, wrote the letter to Katy, and 
 then followed to the Jersey ferry a regiment of soldiers 
 who were going on to Washington that night. Four days 
 
328 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 more and Lieutenant Wilford Cameron, with no regret 
 as yet for the past, marched away to swell the ranks of 
 men who, led by General McClellan, were pressing on, as 
 they believed, to Richmond and victory. A week of ter 
 rible suspense went by, and then there came a. letter to 
 Mr. Cameron from his son, requesting him to care for 
 Katy, but asking no forgiveness for himself. There were 
 no apologies, no explanations, no kind words for Katy, 
 whose eyes moved slowly over the short letter, and then 
 were lifted sadly to her father s face as she said, 
 
 " I will write to him myself, and on his answer will 
 depend my future course." 
 
 This she said referring to the question she had raised 
 as to whether she should remain in New York or go to 
 Silverton, where the family as yet knew nothing except 
 that Wilford had joined the army. And so the days went 
 by, while Katy s letter was sent to Wilford, together with 
 another from his father, who called his son a " confounded 
 fool," telling him to throw up his shoulder straps, which 
 only honest men had a right to wear, and come home 
 where he belonged. 
 
 To this there came an indignant answer, bidding the 
 father attend to his own business, and allow the son to 
 attend to his. To Katy, however, Wilford wrote in a 
 different strain, showing here and there marks of ten 
 derness and relenting, but saying wfiat he had done could 
 not now be helped, he was in for a soldier s life for 
 two years, and should abide his choice. 
 
 This was the purport of Wilford s letter, and Katy, 
 when she finished reading it, said sorrowfully, 
 
 " Wilford never loved me, and I cannot stay in his 
 home, knowing that I am not trusted and respected as a 
 wife should be. I will go to Silverton. There is room 
 for me there. 
 
 Meanwhile at Silverton there was much anxiety for 
 Katy, and many doubts expressed lest something was 
 wrong. That Wilford should go away so suddenly, when 
 he had never been noted for any very great amount of 
 patriotism, seemed strange, and Uncle Ephraim at last 
 made up his mind to the herculean task of going to New 
 York to see what was the matter. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 329 
 
 Presuming upon her experience as a traveler, Aunt Betsy 
 had proffered sundry pieces of advice with reference to 
 what it was best for him to do on the road, telling him 
 which side of the car to sit, where to get out, and above 
 all things not to shake hands with the conductor when 
 asked for his ticket. 
 
 Uncle Ephraim heard her good-humoredly, and stuff 
 ing into his pocket the paper of gingor-snaps, fried cakes 
 and cheese, which Aunt Hannah had prepared for his 
 lunch, he started for the cars, and was soon on his \\ay 
 to New York. 
 
 In his case there was no Bob Reynolds to offer aid and 
 comfort, and the old man was nearly torn in pieces by 
 the hackmen, who, the moment he appeared to view, 
 pounced upon him as lawful prey, each claiming the honor 
 of taking him wherever he wished to go, and raising such 
 a din about his ears that he turned away thoroughly dis 
 gusted, telling them 
 
 " He had feet and legs, and common sense, and he 
 guessed he could find his way without em. " Bleeged 
 to you, gentlemen, but I don t need you," and with a 
 profound bow the honest looking old deacon walked 
 away, asking the first man he met the wav to Madison 
 Square, and succeeding in finding the number without 
 difficulty. 
 
 With a scream of joy Ivaty threw herself into Uncle 
 Ephraim s arms, and then led him to her own room, while 
 the first tears she had shed since she knew she was de 
 serted rained in torrents over her face. 
 
 " What is it, Katy-did ? I mistrusted something was 
 wrong. What has happened?" Uncle Ephraim asked; 
 and with his arm around her, Katy told him what had 
 happened, and asked what she should do. 
 
 " Do ? " the old man repeated. " Go home with me to 
 your own folks until he comes from the wars. He is 
 your husband, and I shall say nothing agin him ; but if it 
 was to go over I would forbid the barms. That chap has 
 misused you the wust way. You need not deny it, for 
 it s writ all over your face," he continued, as Katy tried 
 to stop him, for sore as was her heart with the great in 
 justice done her, she would not have Wilford blamed, and 
 
330 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 she was glad when dinner was announced, as that would 
 put an end to the painful conversation. 
 
 Leading Uncle Ephraim to the table, she presented him 
 to Juno, whose cold nod and haughty stare were lost on 
 the old man, bowing his white head so reverently as he 
 asked the first blessing which had ever been asked at that 
 table. 
 
 Tt had not been a house of prayer no altar had been 
 erected for the morning and evening sacrifice. God had 
 almost been forgotten, and now He was pouring His wrath 
 upon the handsome dwelling, making it so distasteful 
 that Katy was anxious to leave it, and expressed her de 
 sire to accompany Uncle Ephraim to Silverton as soon 
 as the necessary arrangements could be made. 
 
 " I don t take it she comes for good/ Uncle Ephraim 
 said that evening, when Mr. Cameron opposed her going. 
 " When the two years are gone, and her man wants her 
 back, she must come of course. But she grows poor here 
 in the city. It don t agree with her like the scent of 
 the clover and the breeze from the hills. So, shet 
 up the house for a spell, and let the child come with 
 me." 
 
 Mr. Cameron knew that Katy would be happier at Sil 
 verton, and he finally consented to her going, and placed 
 at her disposal a sum which seemed to the deacon a little 
 fortune in itself. 
 
 To Mrs. Cameron and Juno it was a relief to have Katy 
 taken from their hands, and though they made a show of 
 opposition, they were easily quieted, and helped her off 
 with alacrity, the mother promising to see that the house 
 was properly cared for, and Juno offering to send the 
 latest fashions which might be suitable, as soon as they 
 appeared. Bell was heartily sorry to part with the young 
 si?ter, who seemed going from her forever. 
 
 " I know you will never come back. Something tells 
 me so," she said, as she stood with her arms around 
 Katy s waist, and her lips occasionally touching Katy s 
 forehead. " But I shall see you," she continued ; " I am 
 coming to the farm-house in the summer, and you may 
 say to Aunt Betsy that I like her ever so much, and " 
 Bell glanced behind her, to see that no one was listen- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 331 
 
 ing, and then continued "tell her a certain officer was 
 sick a few days in a hospital last winter, and one of his 
 men brought to him a dish of the most delicious dried 
 peaches he ever ate. That man was from Silverton, and 
 the fruit was sent to him, he said, in a salt bag, by a 
 nice old lady, for whose brother he used to work. Just 
 to think that the peaches I helped to pare, coloring my 
 hands so that the stain did not come of? in a month, 
 should have gone so straight to Bob ! " and Bell s fine 
 features shone with a light which would have told Bob 
 Eeynolds he was beloved, if the lips did refuse to confess 
 it. 
 
 " I ll tell her/ Katy said, and then bidding them all 
 good-bye, and putting her hand on Uncle Ephraim s arm, 
 she went with him from the home where she had lived 
 but two years, and those the saddest, most eventful ones 
 of her short life. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL. 
 
 MARK AND HELEN. 
 
 THERE was much talk in Silverton when it was known 
 that Katy had come to stay until her husband returned 
 from the war, and at first the people watched her curiouslv 
 as she came among them again, so quiet, so subdued, so 
 unlike the Katy of old that they would have hardly 
 recognized her but for the beauty of her face and the 
 sunny smile she gave to all, and which rested oftenest 
 on the poor and suffering, who blessed her as the angel 
 of their humble homes, praying that God would remem 
 ber her for all she was to them. Wilford had censured 
 her at first for going to Silverton, when he preferred she 
 should stay in New York, hinting darkly at the reason 
 of her choice, and saying to her once, when she told him 
 how the Sunday before her twenty-first birthday she had 
 knelt before the altar and taken upon herself the vows 
 of confirmation, " Your saintly cousin is, of course, de- 
 
33 2 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 lighted, and that I suppose is sufficient, without iny con 
 gratulations." 
 
 Perhaps he did not mean it, but he seemed to take de 
 light in teasing her, and Katy sometimes felt she should 
 be happier without his letters than with them. He never 
 said he was sorry he had left her so suddenly indeed he 
 seldom referred to the past in any way; or if he did. it 
 was in a manner which showed that he thought himself 
 the injured party, if either. 
 
 Katy did not often go to Linwood, and seldom saw 
 Morris alone. After what had passed she thought it better 
 to avoid him as much as possible, and was glad when 
 early in June he accepted a situation offered him as 
 surgeon in a Georgetown hospital, and left Silverton for 
 his new field of labor. 
 
 True to her promise, Bell came the last of July to Sil 
 verton, proving herself a dreadful romp, as she climbed 
 over the rocks in Aunt Betsy s famous sheep-pasture, or 
 raked the hay in the meadow, and proving herself, too, a 
 genuine woman, as with blanched cheek and anxious heart 
 she waited for tidings from the battles before Richmond, 
 where the tide of success seemed to turn, and the North, 
 hitherto so jubilant and hopeful, wore weeds of mourn 
 ing from Maine to Oregon. Lieut. Bob was there, and 
 Wilford, too; and so was Captain Ray, digging in the 
 marshy swamps, where death floated 1 up in poisonous ex 
 halations plodding on the weary march, and fighting all 
 through the seven days, where the sun poured down its 
 burning heat and the night brought little rest. No won 
 der, then, that three faces at the farm-house grew white 
 with anxiety, or that three pairs of eyes grew dim with 
 watching the daily papers. But the names of neither 
 Wilford, Mark, nor Bob were ever found among the 
 wounded, dead, or missing, and with the fall of the first 
 autumn leaf Bell returned to the city more puzzled, more 
 perplexed than ever with regard to Helen Lennox s real 
 feelings toward Captain Ray. 
 
 The week before Christmas, Mark came home for a 
 few days, looking ruddy and bronzed from exposure and 
 hardship, but wearing a disappointed, listless look which 
 Bell was quick to detect, connecting it in some way with 
 
The Cameron Pride. 333 
 
 Helen Lennox. Only once did he call at Mr. Cameron s 
 and then as Juno was out Bell had him to herself, talk 
 ing of Silverton, of Helen and Katy, in the latter of whom 
 he seemed far more interested than her sister. Many 
 questions he asked concerning Katy, expressing his re 
 gret that Wilford had left her, and saying he believed 
 Wilford was sorry, too. Pie was in the hospital now, with 
 a severe cold and a touch of the rheumatism, he said; but 
 as Bell knew this already she did not dwell long upon 
 that subject, choosing rather to talk of Helen, who, she 
 said, was " as much interested in the soldiers, as if she 
 had a brother or a lover in the army/ and her bright 
 eyes glanced meaningly at Mark, who answered carelessly, 
 
 u Dr. Grant is there, and that may account for her in 
 terest." 
 
 Mark knew he must say something to ward off Bell s 
 attacks, and he continued talking of Dr. Grant and how 
 much he was liked by the poor wretches who needed some 
 one like him to keep them from dying of home-sickness 
 if nothing else; then, after a few bantering words con 
 cerning Lieutenant Bob and the picture he carried into 
 every battle, buttoned closely over his heart, Mark Ray 
 took his leave, while Bell ran up to her mother s room as a 
 seamstress was occupying her own. Mrs. Cameron was out 
 that afternoon, and that she had dressed in a hurrv was 
 indicated by the unusual confusion of her room. Draw 
 ers were left open and various articles scattered about, 
 while on the floor, just as it had fallen from a glove- 
 box, lay a letter which Bell picked up, intending to 
 replace it. 
 
 " Miss Helen Lennox," she read in astonishment. " How 
 came Helen Lennox s letter here, and from Mark Ray too/ 
 she continued, still more amazed as she took the neatly 
 folded note from the envelope and glanced at the name. 
 "Foul play somewhere. Can it be mother?" she asked, 
 as she read enough to know that she held in her hand 
 Mark s offer of marriage, which had in some mysterious 
 manner found its way to her mother s room. "I don t 
 understand it," she said, racking her brain for a solution 
 of the mystery. " But I ll send it to Helen this very 
 day, and to-morrow I ll tell Mark Ray." 
 
334 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Procrastination was not one of Bell Cameron s faults, 
 and for full half an hour before her mother and Juno came 
 home, the stolen letter had been lying in the mail box 
 where Bell herself deposited it, together with a few hur 
 riedly-written lines, telling how it came into her hands, 
 but offering no explanation of any kind. 
 
 " Mark is home now on a leave of absence which ex 
 pires day after to-morrow," she wrote, " I am going 
 round to see him, and if you do not hear from him in 
 person I am greatly mistaken/ 
 
 The next day a series of hindrances kept Bell from 
 making her call as early as she had intended, so that Mrs. 
 Banker and Mark were just rising from dinner when told 
 she was in the parlor. 
 
 " I meant to have come before," she said, seating herself 
 by Mark, " but I could not get away. I have brought 
 you some good news. I think, that is, yes, I know 
 there has been some mistake, some wrong somewhere. 
 Mark Ray, yesterday afternoon I found, no matter where 
 or how a letter intended for Helen Lennox, which I am 
 positive she never saw or heard of; at least her denial to 
 me that a certain Mark Ray had ever offered himself is 
 a proof that she never saw what was an offer made just 
 before you went away. I read enough to know that, and 
 then I took the letter and " 
 
 She hesitated, while Mark s eyes turned dark with ex 
 citement, and even Mrs. Banker, scarcely less interested, 
 leaned eagerly forward, saying, 
 
 "And what? Go on, Miss Cameron. What did you 
 do with that letter?" 
 
 " I sent it to its rightful owner, Helen Lennox. I 
 posted it myself. But why don t you thank me, Captain 
 Ray ? " she asked, as Mark s face was overshadowed with 
 anxiety. 
 
 " I was wondering whether it were well to send it 
 wondering how it might be received," he said, and Bell 
 replied. 
 
 " She will not answer no. As one woman knows an 
 other, I know Helen Lennox. I have sounded her on 
 that point. I told her of the rumor there was afloat, and 
 she denied it, seeming greatly distressed, but showing 
 
The Cameron Pride. 335 
 
 plainly that had such offer been received she would not 
 have refused it. You should have seen her last summer, 
 Captain Ray, when we waited so anxiously for news from 
 the Potomac. Her face was a study as her eyes ran over 
 the list of casualties, searching not for her amiable 
 brother-in-law, nor yet for WiUard Braxton, their hired 
 man. It was plain to me as daylight, and all you have 
 to do is to follow up that letter with another, or go your 
 self, if you have time," Bell said, as she rose to go, 
 leaving Mark in a state of bewilderment as to what he 
 had heard. 
 
 Who withheld that letter? and why? were questions 
 which troubled him greatly, nor did his mother s assurance 
 that it did not matter so long as it all came right at 
 last, tend wholly to reassure him. One thing, however, 
 was certain. He would see Helen before he returned to 
 his regiment. He would telegraph in the morning to 
 Washington, and then run the risk of being a day behind 
 the time appointed for his return to duty. 
 
 " Suppose you have three children when I return, in 
 stead of two, is there room in your heart for the third ? " 
 he asked his mother when next morning he was about 
 starting for Silverton. 
 
 " Yes, always room for Helen," was the reply, as with 
 a kiss of benediction Mrs. Banker sent her boy away. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 CHRISTMAS EVE AT SILVERTON". 
 
 THERE was to be a Christmas tree at St. John s, and 
 all the week the church had been the scene of much con 
 fusion. But the work was over now ; the church was swept 
 and dusted, the tree with its gay adornings was in its 
 place, the little ones, who had hindered so much, were 
 gone, as were their mothers, and Helen only tarried with 
 the organ boy to play the Christmas Carol, which Katy 
 was to sing alone, the children joining in the chorus as 
 
336 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 they had been trained to do. It was very quiet there, and 
 pleasant, with the fading sunlight streaming through the 
 chancel window, lighting up the cro?s above it, and falling 
 softly on the wall where the evergreens were hung with 
 the sacred words, " Peace on earth and good wil) to 
 wards men." And Helen felt the peace stealing over her 
 as she sat down by the register for a moment ere going 
 to the organ loft where the boy was waiting for her. Not 
 even the remembrance of the dark war-cloud hanging over 
 the land disturbed her then, as her thoughts went back 
 ward eighteen hundred years to Bethlehem s manger and 
 the little Child whose birth the angels sang. And as she 
 thought, that Child seemed to be with her, a living pres 
 ence to which she prayed, leaning her head upon the rail 
 ing of the pew in front, and asking Him to keep her in 
 the perfect peace she felt around her now. For Mark 
 Bay, too, she prayed, asking God to keep him in safety 
 wherever he might be, whether in the lonely watch, or in 
 some house of God, where the Christmas carols would be 
 sung and the Christmas story told. 
 
 As she lifted up her head her hand struck against the 
 pocket of her dress, where lay the letter brought to her 
 an hour or so ago Bell s letter which she had put aside 
 to read at a more convenient season. 
 
 Taking it out, she tore open the envelope, starting sud 
 denly as another letter, soiled and jinsealed. met her eye. 
 She read Bell s first, and then, with a throbbing heart, 
 which as yet would not believe, she took up Mark s, un 
 derstanding now much that was before mysterious to her. 
 Juno s call came to her mind, and though she was un 
 willing to charge so foul a wrong upon that young lady, 
 she could find no other solution to the mystery. There 
 was a glow of indignation Helen had scarcely been 
 mortal without it; but that passed away in pity for the 
 misguided girl and in joy at the happiness opening so 
 broadly before her. That Mark would come to Silverton 
 she had no hope, but he would write his letter, perhaps, 
 was even then on the way; and kissing the one she held, 
 she hid it in her bosom and went up to where the organ- 
 boy had for several minutes been kicking at stools and 
 books, and whistling Old John Brown by way of attracting 
 
The Cameron Pride. 337 
 
 attention. The boy was in a hurry, and asked in so forlorn 
 a tone, " Is we going to play ? " that Helen answered good 
 humoredly, " Just a few minutes, Billy. I want to try 
 the carol and the opening, which I ve hardly played at 
 all." 
 
 With an air of submission Bill took his post and Helen 
 began to play, but she could only see before her, " I have 
 loved you ever since that morning when I put the lilies in 
 your hair," and played so out of time and tune that Billy 
 asked, " What makes em go so bad ? " 
 
 "I can t play now; I m not in the mood," 1 she said. 
 " I shall feel better by and by. You can go home if you 
 like." 
 
 Bill needed no second bidding, but catching up his cap 
 ran vu-vm the stairs and out into the porch, just as up 
 the steps a young man came hurriedly. 
 
 " Hallo, boy." he cried, grasping the collar of Bill s 
 roundabout and holding him fast, " who s in the 
 church ? " 
 
 " Darn yer, Jim Sykes, you let me be, or I ll " the 
 
 boy began, but when he paw his captor was not Jim Sykes, 
 but a tall man, wearing a soldier s uniform, he changed 
 his tone, and answered civilly, "I thought you was Jim 
 Sykes, the biggest bully in town, who is allus hectorin 
 
 us boys. Nobody is there but she Miss Lennox up 
 
 where the organ is," and having given the desired infor 
 mation, Bill ran off, \vondering first if it wasn t Miss 
 Helen s beau, and wondering next, in case she should some 
 time get married in church, if he wouldn t fee the organ- 
 boy as well as the sexton. " He orto," Bill soliloquized, 
 " for I ve about blowed my gizzard out sometimes, when 
 she and Mrs. Cameron sings the Te Deum/ 
 
 Meanwhile Mark Ray, who had driven first to the farm 
 house in quest of Helen, entered the church, and stole 
 noiselessly up the stairs to where Helen sat in the dim 
 light, reading again the precious letter withheld from her 
 so long. She had moved her stool nearer to the window, 
 and her back was towards the door, so that she neither 
 saw, nor heard, nor suspected anything, until Mark, bend 
 ing over her so as to see what she had in her hand, 
 
338 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 as well as the tear she had dropped upon it, clasped both 
 his arms about her neck, and drawing her face over back, 
 kissed her fondly, calling her his darling, and saying to 
 her, as she tried to struggle from him, 
 
 " I know I have a right to call you darling, by that tear 
 on my letter, and the look upon your face. Dear Helen, 
 we have found each other at last." 
 
 It was so unexpected that Helen could not speak, but 
 she let her head rest on his bosom, where he had laid it, 
 and her hand crept into his, so that he was answered, 
 and for a moment he only kissed and caressed the fair 
 girl he knew now was his own. They could not talk 
 together very long, for Helen must go home ; but he 
 made good use of the time he had, telling her many 
 things, and then asking her a question which made her 
 start away from him as she replied. " No, no, oh ! no, not 
 to-night not so soon as that ! " 
 
 "And why not, Helen?" he asked, with the manner 
 of one who was not to be denied. " Why not to-night, so 
 there need be no more misunderstanding? I d rather 
 leave you as my wife than my betrothed. Mother will 
 like it better. I hinted it to her and she said there was 
 room for you in her love. It will make me a better man, 
 and a better soldier, if I can say my wife, as other 
 poldiers do. You don t know what a charm there is in that 
 word, Helen. It keeps a man from 3in, t and if I should die 
 I would rather you should bear my name, and share in my 
 fortune. Will you, Helen, when the ceremonies are closed, 
 will you go up to that altar and pledge your vows to me. 
 I cannot wait till to-morrow: my leave of absence expires 
 to-day. I must go back to-night, but you must first be 
 mine." 
 
 Helen was shaking as with a chill, but she made him 
 no reply, and wrapping her cloak and furs about her, 
 Mark led her down to the sleigh, and taking his seat 
 beside her, drove back to the farm-house where the family 
 were waiting for her. Katy, to whom Mark first com 
 municated his desire, warmly espoused his cause, and that 
 went far towards reassuring Helen, who for some time 
 past had been learning to look up to Katy as to an 
 
The Cameron Pride. 339 
 
 older sister, so sober, so earnest, so womanly had Katy 
 grown since Wilford went away. 
 
 " It is so sudden, and people will talk," Helen said, 
 knowing, while she said it, how little she cared for people, 
 and smiling at Katy s reply. 
 
 " They may as well talk about you awhile as me. It 
 is not so bad when once you are used to it." 
 
 After Katy, Aunt Betsy was Mark s best advocate. 
 It is true this was not just what she had expected when 
 Helen was married. The infair which Wilford had de 
 clined was still in Aunt Betsy s mind; but that, she re 
 flected, might be yet. If Mark went back on the next 
 train there could be no proper wedding party until his 
 return, when the loaves of frosted cake, and the baked 
 fowls she had seen in imagination should be there in 
 real, tangible form, and as she expressed it they would 
 have a " high." Accordingly she threw herself into the 
 scale beginning to balance in favor of Mark, and when 
 at last old Whitey stood at the door, ready to take the 
 family to the church, Helen sat upon the lounge listen- 
 iivir half bewildered while Katy assured her that she 
 could play the voluntary, even if she had not looked at 
 it, that she could lead the children without the organ, 
 and in short do everything Helen was expected to do 
 except go to the altar with Mark. 
 
 " That I leave for you," and she playfully kissed Helen s 
 forehead, as she tripped from the room, looking back 
 when she reached the door, and charging the lovers not to 
 forget to come, in their absorption of each other. 
 
 St. John s was crowded that night, the children occupy 
 ing the front seat, with looks of expectancy upon their 
 faces, as they studied the heavily laden tree, the boys won 
 dering if that ball, or whistle, or wheelbarrow was for them, 
 and the girls appropriating the tastefully-dressed dolls 
 showing so conspicuously among the dark green foliago. 
 The Barlows were rather late, for upon Uncle Ephraim 
 devolved the duty of seeing to the license, and as he had 
 no seat in that house, his arrival was only known by Aunt 
 Betsy s elbowing her way to the front, and near to the 
 Christmas tree which she had helped to dress, just as she 
 had helped to trim the church. She did not believe in such 
 
34 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " flummeries " it is true and she classed them with the 
 quirks," but rather than " see the gals slave themselves 
 to death/ she had this year lent a helping hand. Don 
 ning two shawls, a camlet cloak, a knit scarf for her head, 
 and a hood to keep from catching cold, she had worked 
 early and late, fashioning the most wonderfully shaped 
 wreaths, tying up festoons, and even trying her hand at 
 a triangle; she turned her back resolutely upon crosses, 
 which were more than her Puritanism could endure. 
 The cross was a c{ quirk," with which she d have nothing 
 to do, though once, when Tvaty seemed more than usually 
 bothered and wished somebody would hand her tacks, 
 Aunt Betsy relented so far as to bring the hoop she was 
 winding close to Katy, holding the little nails in her 
 mouth, and giving them out as they were wanted ; but with 
 each one given out, conscientiously turning her head away, 
 lest her eyes should fall upon what she conceived the 
 symbol of the Romish Church. But when the whole was 
 done, none were louder in their praises than Aunt Betsy, 
 who was guilty of asking Mrs. Deacon Bannister, when 
 she came in to inspect, " why the Orthodox couldn t get up 
 some such doin s for their Sunday school. It pleased 
 the children mightily." 
 
 But Mrs. Deacon Bannister answered with some 
 severity, 
 
 " We don t believe in shows and flays, you know," 
 thus giving a double thrust, and showing that the opera 
 had never been quite forgotten. " Here s a pair of skates, 
 though, and a smellin bottle I d like to have put on for 
 John and Sylvia/ she added, handing her package to 
 Aunt Betsy, who, while seeing the skates and smelling 
 bottle suspended from a bough, was guilty of wondering 
 if " the partaker wasn t most as bad as the thief." 
 
 This was in the afternoon, and was all forgotten now, 
 when with her Sunday clothes she never would have 
 worn in that jam but for the great occasion, Aunt Betsy 
 elbowed her way up the middle aisle, her face wearing a 
 very important and knowing look, especially when Uncle 
 Ephraim s tall figure bent for a moment under the hem 
 lock boughs, and then disappeared in the little vestry room 
 
The Cameron Pride. 341 
 
 where he held a private consultation with the rector. That 
 she knew something her neighbors didn t was evident, but 
 she kept it to herself, turning her head occasionally to 
 look up at the organ where Katy was presiding. Others 
 too, there were, who turned their heads as the soft music 
 began to fill the church, and the heavy bass rolled up the 
 aisles, making the floor tremble beneath their feet and 
 sending a thrill through every vein. It was a skillful hand 
 which swept the keys that night, for Katy played witli her 
 whole soul not the voluntary there before her in printed 
 form, nor any one thing she had ever heard, but taking 
 parts of many things, and mingling them with strains of 
 her own improvising she filled the house as it had never 
 been filled before, playing a soft, sweet refrain when she 
 thought of Helen, then bursting into louder, fuller tones, 
 when she remembered Bethlehem s Child and the song the 
 angels sang, and then as she recalled her own sad life 
 since she knelt at the altar a happy bride, the organ notes 
 seemed much like human sobs, now rising to a stormy 
 pitch of passion, wild and uncontrolled, and then dying 
 out as dies the summer wind after a fearful storm. Awed 
 and wonderstruck the organ boy looked at Katy as she 
 played, almost forgetting his part of the performance in 
 his amazement, and saying to himself when she had fin 
 ished, 
 
 " Guy, ain t she a brick ? " and whispering to her, 
 "Didn t we go that strong?" 
 
 The people had wondered where Helen was, as, with 
 out the aid of music, Katy led the children in their carols, 
 and this wonder increased when it was whispered round 
 that " Miss Lennox had come, and was standing with a 
 man back by the register." 
 
 After this Aunt Betsy grew very calm, and could enjoy 
 the distributing of the gifts, going up herself two or three 
 times, and wondering why anybody should think of her, a 
 good-for-nothing old woman. The skates and the smelling 
 bottle both went safely to Sylvia and John, while Mrs. 
 Deacon Bannister looked radiant when her name was called 
 and she was made the recipient of a jar of butternut 
 pickles, such as only Aunt Betsy Barlow could make. 
 
34 2 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 "Miss Helen Lennox. A soldier in uniform, from one 
 of her Sunday-school scholars," 
 
 The words rang out loud and clear, as the Rector held 
 up the sugar toy before the amused audience, who turned 
 to look at Helen, blushing so painfully, and trying to hold 
 back the man in a soldier s dress who went quietly up the 
 aisle, receiving the gift with a bow and smile which turned 
 the heads of half the ladies near him, and then went back 
 to Helen, to whom he whispered something which made her 
 cheeks grow brighter than they were before, while she 
 dropped her eyes modestly. 
 
 " Who is he ? " a woman asked, touching Aunt Betsy s 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Captain Eay, from New York," was the answer, as 
 Aunt Betsy gave to her dress a little broader sweep, and 
 smoothed the bow she had tried to tie beneath her chin, 
 just as Mattie Tubbs had tied it on the memorable opera 
 night. 
 
 The tree, by this time, was nearly empty. Every child 
 had been remembered, save one, and that the organ boy, 
 who, separated from his companions, stood near Helen, 
 watching the tree wistfully, while shadows of hope and 
 disappointment passed alternately over his face, as one 
 after another the presents were distributed and nothing 
 came to him. 
 
 " There ain t a darned thing on it for me," he exclaimed 
 at last, when boy nature could endilre no longer ; and 
 Mark turned towards him just in time to see the gather 
 ing mist, which but for the most heroic efforts would have 
 merged into tears. 
 
 " Poor Billy ! " Helen said, as she too heard his com 
 ment, " I fear he has been forgotten. His teacher is ab 
 sent, and he so faithful at the organ too." 
 
 Mark knew now who the boy was, and after a hurried 
 consultation with Helen, who suggested that money would 
 probably be more acceptable than even skates or jack- 
 knives, neither of which were possible now, folded some 
 thing in a bit of paper, on which he wrote a name, and 
 then sent it to the Rector. 
 
 " Billy Brown, our faithful organ boy," sounded through 
 the church; and with a brightened face Billy went up the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 343 
 
 aisle and received the little package, ascertaining before 
 he reached his standpoint near the door, that he was the 
 owner of a five dollar bill, and mentally deciding to add 
 both peanuts and molasses candy to the stock of apples 
 he daily carried into the cars. 
 
 " You gin me this," he said, nodding to Mark, " and 
 you," turning to Helen, " poked him up to it.* 
 
 " Well then, if I did," Mark replied, laying his hand 
 on the boy s coarse hair, " you must take good care of 
 Miss Lennox when I am gone. I leave her in your charge. 
 She is to be my wife." 
 
 " Gorry, I thought so ; " and Bill s cap went towards 
 the plastering, just as the last string of pop-corn was 
 given from the tree, and the exercises were about to close. 
 
 It was not in Aunt Betsy s nature to keep her secret 
 till this time; and simultaneously with Billy s going up 
 for his gift, she whispered it to her neighbor, who whis 
 pered it to hers, who whispered it to hers, until nearly all 
 the audience knew of it, and kept their seats after the 
 benediction was pronounced. 
 
 At a sign from the rector, Katy went with her mother 
 to the altar, followed by Uncle Ephraim, his wife, and 
 Aunt Betsy, while Helen, throwing off the cloud she had 
 worn upon her head, and giving it, with her cloak and 
 fur, into Billy s charge, took Mark s arm, and with beat 
 ing heart and burning cheeks passed between the sea of 
 eyes fixed so curiously upon her, up to where Katy once 
 stood on the June morning, when she had been the bride. 
 Not now, as then, were aching hearts present at the 
 bridal. No Marian Hazelton fainted by the door; no 
 Morris felt the world grow dark and desolate as the mar 
 riage vows were spoken; and no sister doubted if it were 
 all right and would end in happiness. 
 
 The ceremony lasted but a few moments, and then the 
 astonished audience pressed around the bride, offering 
 their kindly congratulations, and proving to Mark Eay 
 that the bride he had won was dear to others as well as 
 to himself. Lovingly he drew her hand beneath his arm, 
 fondly he looked down upon her as he led her back to 
 her chair by the register, making her sit down while he 
 tied on her cloak, and adjusted the fur about her neck. 
 
344 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 e< Handy and gentle as a woman/ 7 was the verdict pro 
 nounced upon him by the female portion of the congre 
 gation, as they passed out into the street, talking of the 
 ceremony, and contrasting Helen s husband with the 
 haughty Wilford, who was not a favorite with them. 
 
 It was Billy Brown who brought Mark s cutter round, 
 and held the reins, while Mark helped Helen in, and then 
 he lii..K.d the buffalo robes about her with the remark, 
 " It s all-fired cold, Miss Ray. Shall you play in church 
 to-morrow ? " 
 
 Assured that she would, Billy walked away, and Mark 
 was alone with his bride, and slowly following the dea 
 con s sleigh, which reached the farm-house a long time 
 before the little cutter, so that a fire was already kindled 
 in the parlor when Helen arrived, and also in the kitchen 
 stove, where the tea-kettle was boiling; for Aunt Betsy 
 said "the chap should have some supper before he went 
 back to York." 
 
 Four hours he had to stay, and they were spent in talk 
 ing of himself, of Wilfovl, and of Morris, and in plan 
 ning Helen s future. Of course she would spend a por 
 tion of her time at the farm-house, he said; but his 
 mother had a claim upon her, and it was his wish that 
 she should be in New York as much as possible. 
 
 Swiftly the last moments went by, and a " Merry Christ 
 mas " was said by one and another as they took their seats 
 at the plentiful repast Aunt Betsy Had provided, Mark 
 feasting more on Helen s face than on the viands spread 
 before him. It was hard for him to leave her, hard for 
 her to let him go; but the duty was imperative, and so 
 when at last the frosty air grew keener as the small hours 
 of night crept on, he stood with his arms about her, nor 
 thought it unworthy ">t a soldier that his own tears min 
 gled with hers, as h^ 3>ade her good-bye, kissing her again 
 and again, and calling her his precious wife, whose mem 
 ory would make his camp life brighter, and shorten the 
 days of absence. There was no one with them, when at 
 last Mark s horse dashed from the yard over the creaking 
 snow, leaving Helen alone upon the doorstep, with the 
 glittering stars shining above her head, and her husband s; 
 farewell kiss wet upon her lips. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 345 
 
 " When shall we meet again ? " she sobbed, gazing up 
 at the clear blue sky, as if to find the answer there. 
 
 But only the December wind sweeping down from the 
 steep hillside, and blowing across her forehead, made reply 
 to that questioning, as she waited till the last faint sound 
 of Mark Ray s bells died away in the distance, and then, 
 shivering with cold, re-entered the farmhouse. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 AFTER CHRISTMAS EVE. 
 
 MERRILY rang the bells next day, but Helen s heart was 
 very sad as she met the smiling faces of her friends, and 
 Mark had never been prayed for more earnestly than on 
 that Christmas morning, when Helen knelt at the altar 
 rail, and received the sacred symbols of a Saviour s dying 
 love, asking that God would keep the soldier husband, 
 hastening on to New York, and from thence to Washing 
 ton. Much the Silvertonians discussed the wedding, and 
 had Helen been the queen, she could hardly have been 
 stared at more curiously than she was that Christmas day, 
 when late in the afternoon she drove through the town with 
 Katy, the villagers looking admiringly after her, noting 
 the tie of her bonnet, the arrangement of her face trim 
 mings, and discovering in both style and fitness they had 
 never discovered before. As the wife of Mark Ray, Helen 
 became suddenly a heroine, in whose presence poor Katy 
 subsided completely ; nor was the interest at all diminished 
 when, two days later, Mrs. Banker came to Silverton and 
 was met at the depot by Helen, whom she hugged affec 
 tionately, calling her "my dear daughter," and holding 
 her hand all the way to the covered sleigh waiting there 
 for her. 
 
 Mrs. Banker was very fond of Helen; and not even the 
 sight of the farm-house, with its unpolished inmates, 
 awakened a feeling of regret that her only son had not 
 looked higher for a wife. She was satisfied with her new 
 
346 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 daughter, and insisted upon taking her back to New 
 York. 
 
 " I am very lonely now, lonelier than you can possibly 
 .be," she said to Mrs. Lennox, " and you will not refuse 
 her to me for a few weeks at least. It will do us both 
 good, and make the time of Mark s absence so much 
 shorter." 
 
 " Yes, mother, let Helen go. I will try to fill her 
 place," Katy said, though while she said it her heart 
 throbbed with pain and dread as she thought how deso 
 late she should be without her sister. 
 
 But it was right, and Katy urged Helen s going, bear 
 ing up bravely so long as Helen was in sight, but shed 
 ding bitter tears when at last she was gone, tears which 
 were only stayed when kind old Uncle Ephraim offered to 
 take her to the little grave, where, from experience, he 
 knew she always found rest and peace. The winter snows 
 were on it now, but Katy knew just where the daisies were, 
 and the blue violets which with the spring would bloom 
 again, feeling comforted as she thought of that eternal 
 spring in the bright world above, where her child had 
 gone. And so that night, when they gathered again around 
 the fire in the pleasant little parlor, the mother and the 
 old people did not miss Helen half so much as they had 
 feared they might, for Katy sang her sweetest songs and 
 wore her sunniest smile, while she told them of Helen s 
 new home, and talked of whatever else she thought would 
 interest and please them. 
 
 " Little Sunbeam," Uncle Ephraim called her now. in 
 stead of " Katy-did," and in his prayer that first night of 
 Helen s absence he asked, in his touching way, " that God 
 would bless his little Sunbeam, and not let her grow tired 
 of living there alone with folks so odd and old." 
 
 " MARRIED On Christmas Eve, at St. John s Church, 
 Silverton, Mass., by the Rev. Mr. Kelly, Capt. MARK RAY, 
 of the th Regiment, N. Y. S. Vols., to Mies HELEN- 
 LENNOX, of Silverton." 
 
The Cameron Pride. 347 
 
 Such was the announcement which appeared in sev 
 eral of the New York papers two days after Christmas, and 
 such the announcement which Bell Cameron read at the 
 breakfast table on the morning of the day when Mrs. 
 Banker started for Silverton. 
 
 " Here is something which will perhaps interest you/ 
 she said, passing the paper to Juno, who had come down 
 late, and was looking cross and jaded from the effects of 
 last night s dissipation. 
 
 Taking the paper from her sister s hand, Juno glanced 
 at the paragraph indicated by Bell; then, as she caught 
 Mark s name, she glanced asrain with a startled, incredu- 
 ITQS look, her cheeks and lips turning white as she read 
 that Mark Ray was lost to her forever, and that in spite 
 of the .stolen letter Helen Lennox was his wife. 
 
 "What is it, Juno?" Mrs. Cameron asked, noticing her 
 daughter s agitation. 
 
 Juno told her what it was, and then handing her the 
 paper let her read it for herself. 
 
 " Impossible ! there is some mistake ! How was it 
 brought about ? " Mrs. Cameron said, darting a curious 
 glance at Bell, whose face betrayed nothing as she leisurely 
 sipped her coffee and remarked, " I always thought it 
 would come to this, for I knew he liked her. It is a 
 splendid match." 
 
 Whatever Juno thought she kept it to herself, just as 
 she kept her room the entire day, complaining of a racking 
 headfiohe, and ordering the curtains to be dropped, as the 
 light hurt her eyes, she said to Bell, who, really pitying 
 her now, never suggested that the darkened room was more 
 to hide her tears than to save her eyes, and who sent away 
 all callers with the message that Juno was sick all but 
 Sybil Grandon, who insisted so hard upon seeing her dear 
 friend that she was admitted to Juno s room, talking at 
 once of the wedding, and making every one of Juno s 
 nerves quiver with pain as she descanted upon the splendid 
 match it was for Helen, or indeed for any girl. 
 
 " I had given you to him," she said, " but I see I was 
 mistaken. It was Helen he preferred, unless you jilted 
 him, as perhaps you did. 3 " 
 
348 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Here was a temptation Juno could not resist, and she 
 replied, haughtily, 
 
 " I am not one to boast of conquests, but ask Captain 
 Ray himself if you wish to know why I did not marry 
 him." 
 
 Sybil Grandon was not deceived, but she good-naturedly 
 suffered that young lady to hope she was, and answered, 
 laughingly, " I can t say I honor your judgment in re 
 fusing him, but you know best. However, I trust that will 
 not prevent your friendly advances towards his bride. 
 Mrs. Banker has gone after her, I understand, and I want 
 you to call with me as soon as convenient. Mrs. Marl- 
 Ray will be the belle of the season, depend upon it, ; and 
 gathering up her furs Mrs. Grandon kissed Juno affec 
 tionately and then swept from the room. 
 
 That Mrs. Cameron had hunted for and failed to find 
 the stolen letter, and that she associated its disappearance 
 with Mark Ray s sudden marriage, Bell was very sure, 
 from the dark, anxious look upon her face when she came 
 from her room, whither she had repaired immediately after 
 breakfast; but whatever her suspicions were, they did not 
 find form in words. Mark was lost. It was too late to 
 help that now, and as a politic woman of the world, Mrs. 
 Cameron decided to let the matter rest, and by patronizing 
 the young bride prove that she had never thought of Mark 
 Ray for her son-in-law. Hence it was that the Cameron 
 carriage and the Grandon carriage stood together before 
 Mrs. Banker s door, while the ladies who had come in the 
 carriages paid their respects to Mrs. Ray, rallying her upon 
 the march she had stolen upon them, telling her how 
 delighted they were to have her back again, and hoping 
 they should see each other a great deal during the coming 
 winter. 
 
 The Camerons and Sybil Grandon were not alone in 
 calling upon the bride. Those who had liked Helen Len 
 nox did not find her less desirable now that she was 
 Helen Ray, and numberless were the attentions bestowed 
 upon her and the invitations she received. 
 
 But with few exceptions Helen declined the latter, feel 
 ing that with her husband in so much danger, it was bet 
 ter not to mingle in gay society. She was very happy 
 
The Cameron Pride. 349 
 
 with Mrs. Banker, who petted and caressed and loved her 
 almost as much as if she had been her own daughter. 
 Mark s letters, too, which came nearly every day, were 
 bright sun-spots in her existence, so full were they of 
 tender love and kind thoughtfulness for her. He was very 
 happy, he wrote, in knowing that at home there was a 
 dear little brown-haired wife, waiting and praying for him, 
 and but for the separation from her he was well content 
 with a soldier s life. Once Helen thought seriously of 
 going to him for a week or more, but the project was pre 
 vented by the sudden arrival in ISTew York of Katy, who 
 came one night to Mrs. Banker s, with hor face as white 
 as ashes, and a wild expression in her eyes as she said to 
 Helen, 
 
 " I am going to Wilford. He is dying. He has sent for 
 me. I ought to go on to-night, but cannot, my head 
 aches so," and pressing both her hands upon her head 
 Katy sank fainting into Helen s arms. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 GEORGETOWN HOSPITAL. 
 
 GEORGETOWN, February , 1862. 
 
 MRS. WILFORD CAMERON: 
 
 Your husband cannot live long. Come immediately. 
 
 M. HAZELTON." 
 
 So read the -telegram received by Katy one winter morn 
 ing, and which stunned her for a few minutes so that she 
 could neither feel nor think. But the reaction came soon 
 enough, bringing with it only the remembrance of Wil- 
 ford s love. All the wrong, the harshness, was forgotten, 
 and only the desire remained to fly at once to Wilford. 
 Bravely she kept up until New York was reached, when 
 the tension of her nerves gave way, and she fainted, as 
 we have seen. 
 
 At Father Cameron s a telegram had been received, tell- 
 
35o The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ing of Wilford s danger. But the mother could not go to 
 him. A lung difficulty, to which she was subject, had 
 confined her to the house for many days, and so it was the 
 father and Bell who made their hasty preparations for the 
 hurried journey to Georgetown. They heard of Katy s 
 arrival, and Bell came at once to see her. 
 
 " She will not be able to join us to-morrow," was the 
 report Bell carried home, for she saw more than mere ex 
 haustion in the white face lying so motionless on Helen s 
 pillow, with the dark rings about the eyes, and the quiver 
 of the muscles about the mouth. 
 
 "It is very hard, but God knows best/ poor Katy 
 moaned, when the next day her father and Bell went with 
 out her. 
 
 <e Yes, darling, God knows best," Helen answered, 
 smoothing the bright hair, and thinking sadly of the young 
 officer sitting by his camp-fire, and waiting so eagerly for 
 the bride who could not go to him now. " God knows 
 what is best, and does all for the best." 
 
 Katy said it many times that long, long week, during 
 which she stayed with Helen, living from day to day upon 
 the letters sent by Bell, who gave but little hope that 
 Wilford would recover. Not a word did she say of Mar 
 ian, and only twice did she mention Morris, who was one 
 of the physicians in that hospital, so that when at last 
 Katy was strong enough to venture on the journey, she had 
 but little idea of what had transpired in Wilford s sick 
 room. 
 
 Those were sad, weary days which Wilford first passed 
 upon his hospital cot, and as he was not sick but crip 
 pled, he had ample time for reviewing the past, which 
 came up before his mind as vividly as if he had been liv 
 ing again the scenes of bygone days. Of Katy he thought 
 continually, repenting of his rashness, and wishing so 
 much that the past could be undone. Disgusted with 
 soldier life, he had wished himself at home a thousand 
 times, but never by a word had he admitted such a wish 
 to any living being, and when, on the dark, rainy after- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 351 
 
 noon which first saw him in the hospital, he turned his 
 face to the wall and wept, he replied to one who said to 
 him soothingly, 
 
 " Don t feel badly, my young friend. We will take as 
 good care of you here as if you were at home." 
 
 "It s the pain which brings the tears. I d as soon be 
 here as at home." 
 
 Gradually, however, there came a change, and Wilford 
 grew softer in his feelings, half resolving to send for Katy, 
 who had offered to come, and to whom he had replied, 
 "It is not necessary." But as often as he resolved, his 
 evil genius whispered, " She does not care to come," and 
 so the message was never sent, while the longing for home 
 faces brought on a nervous fever, which made him so 
 irritable that his attendants turned from him in disgust, 
 thinking him the most unreasonable man they ever met 
 with. Once he dreamed Genevra was there that her 
 fingers threaded his hair as they used to do in the happy 
 days at Brighton that her hand was on his brow, her 
 breath upon his face, and with a start he awoke, just as 
 the rustle of female garments died away in the hall. 
 
 " The nurse in the second ward has been in here," a 
 comrade said. " She seemed specially interested in you, 
 and if she had not been a sti anger, I should have said 
 she was crying over you." 
 
 With a quick, sudden movement, Wilford put his hand 
 to liis cheek, where there was a tear, either his own or that 
 of the "nurse," who had recently bent over him. Ketain- 
 ing the same proud reserve which had characterized his 
 whole life, he asked no questions, but listened to what his 
 companions were saying of the beauty and tenderness of 
 the " young girl," as they called her, who had glided for a 
 few moments into their presence, winning their hearts in 
 that short space of time, and making them wish she would 
 come back again. Wilford wished so too, conjuring up all 
 sorts of conjectures about the unknown nurse, and once 
 going so far as to fancy it was Katy herself. But Katy 
 would hardly venture there as nurse, and if she did she 
 would not keep aloof from him. It was not Katy, and if 
 not, who was it that twice when he was sleeping came and 
 looked at him, his comrades said, rallying him upon the 
 
352 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 conquest he had made, and so exciting his imagination 
 that the fever began to increase, and the blood throbbed 
 hotly through his veins, while his brows were knit to 
 gether with thoughts of the mysterious stranger. Then, 
 with a great shock it occurred to him that Katy had 
 affirmed, " Genevra is alive/ 
 
 What if it were so, and this nurse were Genevra? The 
 very idea fired Wilford s brain, and when next his phy 
 sician came he looked with alarm upon the great change 
 for the worse exhibited by his patient. 
 
 "Shall I send for your friends ?" he asked, and Wil- 
 ford answered, savagely, 
 
 " I have no friends none at least, but what will be 
 glad to know I m dead." 
 
 And that was the last, except the wild words of a 
 maniac, which came from Wilford s lips for many a day 
 and night. When they said he was unconscious, Marian 
 Hazelton obtained permission to attend him, and again the 
 eyes of the other occupants of the room were turned won- 
 deringly towards her as she bent over the sick man, parting 
 his matted hair, smoothing his pillow, and holding the 
 cooling draught to the parched lips which muttered 
 strange things of Brighton, of Alnwick and Eome of 
 the heather on the Scottish moors, and the daisies on 
 Genevra s grave, where Katy once sat down. 
 
 " She did not know Genevra was there," he said ; " but 
 I knew, and I felt as if the dead were wronged by that 
 act of Katy s. Do you know Katy?" and his blade eyes 
 fastened upon Marian, who soothed him into quiet, while 
 she talked to him of Katy, telling of her graceful hoauty, 
 her loving heart, and the sorrow she would feel when she 
 heard how sick he was. 
 
 "Shall I send for her?" she asked, but Wilford an 
 swered, 
 
 " No, I am satisfied with you." 
 
 This was her first day with him, but there were other 
 days when all her strength, and that of Morris, who, 
 at her earnest solicitation, came to her aid, was required 
 to keep him on his bed. He was going home, he said, 
 going to Katy; and like a giant he writhed under a force 
 
The Cameron Pride. 353 
 
 superior to his own, and which held him down and con 
 trolled him, while his loud outcries filled the building, and 
 sent a shudder to the hearts of those who heard them. 
 As the two men, who at first had occupied the room with 
 him, were well enough to leave for home, Marian and Mor 
 ris both begged that, unless absolutely necessary, no other 
 one should be sent to that small apartment, where all the 
 air was needed for the patient in their charge. And thus 
 the room was left alone for Wilford, who grew worse so 
 fast that Marian telegraphed to Katy, bidding her come 
 at once. 
 
 Slowly the wintry night was passing, the fifth since 
 Marian s message was sent to Katy, and Morris sat by 
 Wilford s cot, when suddenly he met Wilford s eyes fixed 
 upon him with a look of recognition he could not mistake. 
 
 " Do you know me ? " he asked BO kindly, and with so 
 much of genuine sympathy in his voice, that the heavy 
 eyelids quivered for an instant, as Wilford nodded his 
 head, and whispered, 
 
 " Dr. Grant." 
 
 There had been a momentary flash of resentment when 
 he saw the watcher beside him, but Wilford was too weak, 
 too helpless to cherish that feeling long, and besides there 
 were floating through his still bewildered mind visions of 
 some friendly hand, which had ministered to him daily 
 of a voice and form, distinct from the one he thought an 
 angel s, and which was not there now with him. That 
 voice, that form, he felt sure belonged to Morris Grant, 
 and remembering his past harshness toward him, a chord 
 f gratitude was touched, and when Morris took his hand 
 he did not at once withdraw it, but let his long, white fin 
 gers cling around the warm, vigorous ones, which seemed 
 to impart new life and strength. 
 
 " You have been very sick/ Morris said, anticipating 
 the question Wilford would ask. " You are very sick still, 
 and at the request of your nurse I came to attend you/ 
 
 A pressure of the hand was Wilford s reply, and then 
 
354 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 there was silence between them, while Wilford mastered 
 all his pride, and with quivering lips whispered, 
 
 "Katy!" 
 
 "We have sent for her. We expect her every train," 
 Morris replied, and Wilford asked, 
 
 "Who has been with me the nurse, I mean? Who is 
 she?" 
 
 Morris hesitated a moment, and then said, 
 
 "Marian Hazelton." 
 
 " I know yes," Wilford replied, having no suspicion 
 as to who was standing outside his door, and listening, 
 with a throbbing heart, to his rational questions. 
 
 In all their vigils held together no sign had ever passed 
 from Dr. Grant to Marian that he knew her, but he had 
 waited anxiously for this moment, knowing that Wilford 
 must not be shocked, as a sight of Marian would shock him. 
 He knew she was outside the door, and as Wilford turned 
 his head upon the pillow, he went to her, and leading her 
 to a safe distance, said softly, 
 
 " His reason has returned." 
 
 " And my services are ended," Marian rejoined, looking 
 him steadily in the face, but not in the least prepared 
 for his affirmative question. 
 
 "You are Oenevra Lambert?" 
 
 There was a low, gasping sound of surprise, and Mar 
 ian staggered forward a step or too, then steadying her 
 self, she said. 
 
 " And if I am, it surely is not best for him to see me. 
 You would not advise it ? " 
 
 She looked wistfully at Morris, the great desire to be 
 recognized, to be spoken to kindly by the man who once 
 had been her husband overmastering for a moment all her 
 prudence. 
 
 " It would not be best, both for his sake and Katy s," 
 Morris said, and with a moan like the dying out of her 
 last hope, Marian turned away, her eyes dim with tears 
 and her heart heavy with a sense of something lost, as 
 in the gray dawn of the morning she went back to her 
 former patients, who hailed her coming with childish joy, 
 one fair young boy from the Granite hills kissing the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 355 
 
 hand which bandaged his poor crushed arm so tenderly, 
 and thanking her that she had returned to him again. 
 
 " Mr. J. Cameron, Miss Bell Cameron," were the names 
 on the cards sent to Dr. Grant late that afternoon, and in 
 a few moments he was with the father and sister who asked 
 so anxiously for Wilford and explained why Katy was 
 not with them. 
 
 Wilford was sleeping when they entered his room, his 
 face looking so worn and thin, and his hands folded so 
 helplessly upon his breast, that with a gush of tears Bell 
 knelt beside him, and laying her warm cheek against his 
 bony one, woke him with her sobs. For a moment he 
 seemed bewildered, then recognizing her, he raised his 
 feeble arm and winding it about her neck, kissed her more 
 tenderly than he had ever done before. He had not been 
 demonstrative of his affection for his sisters. But Bell 
 was his favorite, and he held her close to him while his 
 eyes moved past his father, whom he did not see, on to 
 the door as if in quest of someone. It was Katy, and guess 
 ing his thoughts, Bell said, 
 
 " She is not here. She could not come now. She is 
 sick in New York, but will join us in a few days. * 
 
 There was a look of intense disappointment in Wilford s 
 face, which even his father s warm greeting could not dis 
 sipate, and Morris saw the great tears as they dropped 
 upon the pillow, the proud man trying hard to repress 
 them, and asking no questions concerning any one at 
 home. He was too weak to talk, but he held Bell s hand 
 in his as if afraid that she would leave him, while his 
 eyes rested alternately upon her face and that of his 
 father, who, wholly unmanned at the fearful change in his 
 son, laid his head upon the bed and cried aloud. 
 
 Next morning Bell was very white and her voice trem 
 bled as she came from a conference with Dr. Morris, who 
 had told her that her brother would die. 
 
 " He may live a week, and he may not," he said, adding 
 solemnly, " As his sister you will tell him of his danger, 
 
356 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 while there is time to seek the refuge without which death 
 is terrible." 
 
 " Oh, if I could only pray with and for him ! " Bell 
 thought, as she went to her brother, mourning her mis 
 spent days, and feeling her courage giving way when at 
 last she stood in his presence and met his kindly smile. 
 
 " I dreamed that you were not here after all," he said, 
 " I am so glad to find it real. How long before I can go 
 home, do you suppose ? " 
 
 He had stumbled upon the very thing Bell was there 
 to talk about, his question indicating that he had no sus 
 picion of the truth. Nor had he; and it came like a 
 thunderbolt when Bell, forgetting all her prudence, said 
 impetuously, 
 
 " Oh, Wilford, maybe you ll never go home. Maybe 
 you ll 
 
 "Not die" Wilford exclaimed, clasping his hands with 
 sudden emotion. "Not die you don t mean that? Who 
 told you so ? " 
 
 " I)r. Grant," was Bell s reply, which brought a fierce 
 frown to Wilford s face, and awoke all the angry passions 
 of his heart. 
 
 " Dr. Grant," he repeated. " He would like me re 
 moved from his path; but it shall not be. I will not 
 die. Tell him that. I will not die," and Wilford s voice 
 was hoarse with passion as he raised his clenched fists in 
 the air. 
 
 He was terribly excited, and in her fright Bell ran for 
 Dr. Grant. But Wilford motioned him back, hurling 
 after him words which kept him from the room the entire 
 day, while the sick man rolled, and tossed, and raved in 
 the delirium, which had returned, and which wore him 
 out so fast. No one had the least influence over him, 
 except Marian Hazelton, who, without a glance at Mr. 
 Cameron or Bell, glided to his side, and with her presence 
 and gentle words soothed him into comparative quiet, so 
 that the bitter denunciations against the saint, who wanted 
 him to die, ceased, and he fell into a troubled sleep. 
 
 With a strange feeling of interest Mr. Cameron and 
 Bell watched her, wondering if she were indeed Genevra, 
 as Katy had affirmed. They would not ask her; and 
 
The Cameron Pride. 357 
 
 6oth breathed more freely when, with a bow in acknowl 
 edgment of Mr. Cameron s compliment to her skill in 
 quieting his son, she left the room. 
 
 That night they watched with Wilford, who slept off 
 his delirium, and lay with his face turned from them, so 
 that they could not guess by its expression what was pass 
 ing in his mind. 
 
 All the next day he maintained the most frigid silence, 
 answering only in monosyllables, while Bell kept wiping 
 away the great drops of sweat constantly oozing out upon 
 his forehead and about the pallid lips. 
 
 Just at nightfall he startled Bell by asking that Dr. 
 Grant be sent for. 
 
 "Please leave me alone with him," he said, when Dr. 
 Morris came; then turning to Morris, as the door closed 
 upon his father and his sister, he said abruptly, 
 
 "Pray for me, if you can pray for one who yesterday 
 hated you so for saying he must die." 
 
 Earnestly, fervently, Morris prayed, as for a dear 
 brother ; and when he finished, Wilford s faint " Amen " 
 sounded through the room. 
 
 " I am not right yet," the pale lips whispered, as Mor 
 ris sat down beside him. " Not right with God, I mean. 
 I ve sometimes said there was no God ; but I did not be 
 lieve it; and now I know there is. He has been moving 
 upon me all the day, driving out my bitterness toward 
 you, and causing me to send for you at last. Do you 
 think there is hope for me? I have much to be forgiven." 
 
 " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white 
 as snow," Morris replied; and then he tried to point that 
 erring man to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the 
 sins of the world, convincing him that there was hope even 
 for him, and leaving him with the conviction that God 
 would surely finish the good work begun, nor suffer this 
 soul to be lost which had turned to Him at the eleventh 
 hour. 
 
 Wilford knew his days were numbered, and he talked 
 freely of it to his father and sister the next morning when 
 they came to him. He did not say that he was ready or 
 willing to die, only that he must, and he asked them to 
 
358 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 forget, when he was gone, all that had ever been amiss 
 in him as a son and brother. 
 
 " I was too proud, too selfish, to make others happy," 
 he said, " I thought it all over yesterday, and the past 
 came back again so vividly, especially the part connected 
 with Katy. Oh, Katy, I did abuse her ! " and a bitter sob 
 attested the genuineness of Wilford s grief for his treat 
 ment of Katy. " I despised her family, I treated them 
 with contempt. I broke Katy s heart, and now I must 
 die without telling her I am sorry. But you ll tell her, 
 Bell, how I tried to pray, but could not for thoughts of 
 my sin to her. She will not be glad that I am dead. I 
 know her better than to think that; and I believe she 
 loves me. But, after I am gone, and the duties of the 
 world have closed up the gap I shall leave, I see a brighter 
 future for her than her past has been; and you may tell 
 
 her I am " He could not say, "I am willing." Few 
 
 husbands could have done so then, and he was not an 
 exception. 
 
 Wholly exhausted, he lay quiet for a moment, and when 
 he spoke again, it was of Genevra. Even here he did not 
 try to screen himself. He was the one to blame, he said, 
 Genevra was true, was innocent, as he ascertained too late. 
 
 " Would you like to see her, if she was living ? " came 
 to Bell s lips; but the fear that it would be too great a 
 shock, prevented their utterance. 
 
 He had no suspicion of her presence; and it was best 
 he should not. Katy was the one* uppermost in his mind; 
 and in the letter Bell sent to her next day, he tried to 
 write, " Good-bye, my darling ; >? but the words were 
 scarcely legible, and his nerveless hand fell helpless at his 
 side as he said, 
 
 " She will never know the effort it cost me, nor hear 
 me say that I hope I am forgiven. It came to me last 
 night; and now the way is not so dark, but Katy will not 
 know." 
 
The Cameron Pride. 359 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 LAST HOURS. 
 
 KATY would Tcnow; for she was coming at last. A tele 
 gram had announced that she was on the road; and with 
 nervous restlessness Wilford asked repeatedly what time it 
 was, reducing the hours to minutes, and counting his own 
 pulses to see if he could last so long. 
 
 " Save me, Doctor/ he whispered to Morris, " keep me 
 alive till Katy comes. I must see Katy again." 
 
 And Morris, tenderer than a brother, did all he could 
 to keep the feeble breath from going out ere Katy came. 
 
 The train was due at five; but it was dark in the hos 
 pital, and from every window a light was shining, when 
 Morris carried, rather than led, a quivering figure up the 
 stairs and through the hall to the room where the Cam- 
 erons were, the father standing at the foot of Wilford s 
 bed, and Bell bending over his pillow, administering the 
 stimulants which kept her brother alive. When Katy 
 came in, she moved away, as did her father, while Morris 
 too stepped back into the hall; and thus the husband and 
 wife were left alone. 
 
 " Katy, precious Katy, you have forgiven me ? " Wil 
 ford whispered, and the rain of tears and kisses on his 
 face was Katy s answer as she hung over him. 
 
 She had forgiven him, and she told him so when she 
 found voice to talk, wondering to find him so changed 
 from the proud, exacting, self-worshiping man to the 
 humble, repentant and self-accusing person, who took all 
 blame of the past to himself, and exonerated her from 
 every fault. But when he drew her close to him, and 
 whispered something in her ear, she knew whence came 
 the change, and a reverent " Thank the good Father," 
 dropped from her lips. 
 
 " The way was dark and thorny," Wilford said, mak- 
 
360 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ing her sit down where he could see her as he talked, " and 
 only for God s goodness I should have lost the path. But 
 he sent Morris Grant to point the road, and I trust I 
 am in it now. I wanted to tell you with my own lips 
 how sorry I am for what I have made you suffer; but 
 sorriest of all for sending Baby away. Oh, Katy, you do 
 not know how that rested upon my conscience. Forgive 
 me,, Katy, that I robbed you of your child." 
 
 He was growing very weak, and he looked so white 
 and ghastly that Katy called for Bell, who came with her 
 father, and the three stood together around the bedside 
 of the dying. 
 
 " You will remember me, Katy," he said, " but you 
 cannot mourn for me always, and sometime in the future 
 you will cease to be my widow, and, Katy, I am willing. 
 I wanted to tell you this, so that no thought of me should 
 keep you from a life where you will be happier than I 
 have made you." 
 
 Wholly bewildered, Katy made no reply, and Wilford 
 was silent a few moments, in which he seemed partially 
 asleep. Then rousing up, he said, 
 
 "You said once that Genevra was not dead. Did you 
 mean it, Katy?" 
 
 Frightened and bewildered, Katy turned appealingly 
 to her father-in-law, who answered for her, " She meant 
 it Genevra is not dead," while a blood-red flush stained 
 Wilford s face, and his fingers beat l the bedspread thought 
 fully. 
 
 " I fancied once that she was here that she was the 
 nurse the boys praise so much. But that was a delusion," 
 he said, and without a thought of the result, Katy asked 
 impetuously, " if she were here would you care to see 
 her?" 
 
 There was a startled look on Wilford s face, and he 
 grasped Katy s hand nervously, his frame trembling with 
 t dread of the great shock which he felt impending over 
 him. 
 
 " Is she here ? Was the nurse Genevra ? " he asked. 
 Then, as his mind went back to the past, he answered his 
 own question by asserting " Marian Hazelton is Genevra." 
 
 They did not contradict him, nor lid he ask to see her. 
 
 
The Cameron Pride. 361 
 
 With Katy there he felt he had better not; but after a 
 moment he continued, " It is all so strange. I thought 
 her dead. I do not comprehend how it can be. She has 
 been kind to me. Tell her I thank her for it. I was un 
 just to her. I have much to answer for." 
 
 Between each v. ord he uttered there was a gasp for 
 breath, and Father Cameron opened the window to ad 
 mit the cool rn^:t air. But nothing had power to revive 
 him. He was going very fast, Morris said, as he took his 
 stand by the bedside and watched the approach of death. 
 There were no convulsive struggles, only heavy breathings, 
 which grew farther and farther apart, until at last Wil- 
 ford drew Katy close to him, and winding his arm around 
 her neck, whispered, 
 
 " I am almost home, my darling, and all is well. Be 
 kind to Genevra for my sake. I loved her once, but not as 
 I love you." 
 
 He never spoke again, and a few minutes later Morris 
 led Katy from the room, and then went out to give or 
 ders for the embalming. 
 
 In the little room she called her own, Marian Hazel- 
 ton sat, her beautiful hair disordered, and her eyes dim 
 with the tears she had shed. She knew that Wilford was 
 dead, and as if his dying had brought back all her olden 
 love she wept bitterly for the man who had so darkened 
 her life. She had not expected to see him with Katy 
 present; but now that it was over she might go to him. 
 There could be no harm in that. No one but Morris 
 would know who she was, she thought, when there came 
 a timid knock upon her door, and Katv entered, her face 
 very pale, and her manner very calm, as she came to 
 Marian, and kneeling down beside her, laid her head in 
 her lap with the air of a weary child who has sought its 
 mother for rest. 
 
 "Poor little Katy! " Marian said; "your husband, they 
 tell me, is dead." 
 
 "Yes;" and Katy lifted up her head, mvl fiyrn<r nor 
 eyes earnestly upon Marian, continued, "Vr.il ford is 
 
362 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 but before he died he left a message for Genevra Lambert. 
 Will she hear it now ? " 
 
 With a sudden start Marian sprang to her feet, and de 
 manded, "Who told you of Genevra Lambert?" 
 
 " Wilford told me months ago, showing me her picture, 
 which I readily recognized, and I have pitied you so 
 much, knowing you were innocent. Wilford thought you 
 were dead," Katy said, flinching a lit pi before Marian s 
 burning gaze, which fascinated even while it startled her. 
 
 It is not often that two women meet bearing to each 
 other the relations these two bore, and it is not strange 
 that both felt constrained and embarrassed as they stood 
 looking at each other. As Marian s was the stronger 
 nature, so she was the first to rally, and with the tears 
 swimming in her eyes she drew Katy closely to her, and 
 said, 
 
 " Now that he is gone I am glad you know it. Mine 
 has been a sad life, but God has helped me to bear it. 
 You say he believed me dead. Sometime I will tell vou 
 how that came about; but now, his message, he left one, 
 you say?" 
 
 Carefully Katv repeated every word Wilford had said, 
 and with a gasping cry Marian wound her arms around 
 her neck, exclaiming, 
 
 " And you will love me, because I have suffered so 
 much. You will let me call you K#ty when we are alone. 
 It brings you nearer to me." 
 
 Marian was now the weaker of the two, and it was 
 Katy s task to comfort her, as sinking back in her chair 
 she sobbed, 
 
 " He did love me once. He acknowledged it at the last, 
 before them all, his wife, his father and his sister. Do 
 they know?" she suddenly asked, and when assured that 
 they did, she relapsed into a silent mood, while Katy stole 
 quietly out and left her there alone. 
 
 Half an hour later and a female form passed hurriedly 
 through the hall and across the threshold into the cham 
 ber where the dead man lay. There was no one with him 
 now, and Marian was free to weep out the pent-up sorrow 
 of her life, which she did with choking sobs and pas 
 sionate words poured into the ear, deaf to every human 
 
The Cameron Pride. 363 
 
 sound. A step upon the floor startled her, and turning 
 round she stood face to face with Wilford s father, who 
 was regarding her with a look which she mistook for one 
 of reproof and displeasure that she should be there. 
 
 " Forgive me/ she said ; " he was my husband once, and 
 surely now that he is dead you will not begrudge me a 
 few last moments with him for the sake of the days when 
 he loved me." 
 
 There were many tender chords in the heart of Father 
 Cameron, and offering Marian his hand, he said, 
 
 " Far be it from me to refuse you this privilege. I 
 pity you, Genevra; I believe he dealt unjustly by you, 
 but I will not censure him now that he is gone. He was 
 my only boy. Oh, Wilford, Wilford! you have left me 
 very lonely." 
 
 He released her hand, and Marian fled away, meeting 
 next with Bell, who felt that she must speak to her, but 
 was puzzled what to say. Bell could not define her feel 
 ings towards Marian, or why she shrunk from approach 
 ing her. It was not pride, but rather a feeling of preju 
 dice, as if Marian were in some way to blame for all the 
 trouble which had come to them, while her peculiar posi 
 tion as the divorced wife of her brother made it the more 
 embarrassing. But she could not resist the mute plead 
 ing of the eyes lifted so tearfully to her, as if asking for 
 a nod of recognition, and stopping before her she said, 
 softly, 
 
 " Genevra/ 
 
 That was all, but it made Genevra s tears flow in tor 
 rents, and she involuntarily held her hand out to Bell, 
 who took it, and holding it between her own, said, 
 
 " You were very kind to my brother. I thank you for it, 
 and will tell my mother, who will feel so grateful to you." 
 
 This was a good deal for Bell to say, and after it was 
 said, she hastened away while Marian went on her daily 
 round of duties, speaking softer if possible to her patients 
 that day, and causing them to wonder what had come 
 over that sweet face to make it so white and tear-stained. 
 That night in Marian s room Katy sat and listened to 
 what she did not before know of the strange story kept 
 from her so long. Marian confirmed all Wilford had 
 
364 The Cameion Pride. 
 
 told, breathing no word of blame against him now that 
 he was dead, only stating facts, and leaving Katy to 
 draw her csvn conclusions. 
 
 " I knew that I was handsome/ she said, " and I 
 liked to test my power; but for that weakness I have been 
 sorely punished. I had not at first any intention of mak 
 ing him believe that I was dead, and when I sent the 
 paper containing the announcement of father s death, I 
 was not aware that it also contained the death of my 
 cousin, a beautiful girl just my age, who bore our grand 
 mother s name of Genevra, and about whom and a young 
 English lord, who had hunted one season in her father s 
 neighborhood, there were some scandalous reports. After 
 wards it occurred to me that Wilford would see that notice, 
 and naturally think it referred to me, inasmuch as he knew 
 nothing of my cousin Genevra. 
 
 "It was just as well, I said I was dead to him, and I 
 took a strange satisfaction in wondering if he would care. 
 Incidentally I heard that the postmaster at Alnwick had 
 beon written to by an American gentleman, who asked if 
 such a person as Genevra Lambert was buried at St. 
 Mary s ; and then I knew he believed me dead, even though 
 the name appended to the letter was not Wilford Cam 
 eron, nor was the writing his; for, as the cousin of the 
 dead Genevra, I asked to see the letter, and my request was 
 granted. It was Mrs. Cameron who wrote it, I am sure, 
 signing a feigned name and bidding the postmaster an 
 swer to that address. He did so, assuring the inquirer 
 that Genevra Lambert was buried there, and wondering to 
 me if the young American who seemed interested in her 
 could have been a lover of the unfortunate girl. 
 
 " I was now alone in the world, for the aunt with 
 whom my childhood was passed died soon after my father, 
 and so I went at last to learn a trade on the Isle of 
 Wight, emigrating from thence to New York, with the 
 determination in my rebellious heart that sometime, when 
 it would cut the deepest, I would show myself to the 
 proud Camerons, whom I so cordially hated. This was 
 before God had found me, or rather before I had listened 
 to the still, small voice which took the hard, vindictive 
 feelings away, and made me feel kindly towards the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 365 
 
 mother and sisters when I saw them, as I often used to do, 
 driving gayly by. Wilford was sometimes with them, and 
 the sight of him always sent the hot blood surging through 
 my heart. But the greatest shock I ever had came to me 
 vhen I heard from your sister of his approaching mar 
 riage with you. Those were terrible days that I passed 
 at the farm-house, working on your bridal trousseau ; and 
 sometimes I thought it more than I could bear. Had 
 you been other than the little, loving, confiding, trustful 
 girl you were, I must have disclosed the whole, and told 
 that you would not be the first who had stood at the altar 
 with Wilford. But pity for you kept me silent, and you 
 became his wife. 
 
 "I loved your baby almost as much as if it had been 
 my own, and when it died there was nothing to bind me 
 to the North, and so I came here, where I hope I have 
 done some good ; at least I was here to care for Wilford, 
 and that is a sufficient reward for all the toil which falls 
 to the lot of a hospital nurse. I shall stay until the war 
 is ended, and then go I know not where. It will not be 
 best for us to meet very often, for though we respect 
 each other, neither can forget the past, nor that one was 
 the lawful, the other the divorced wife of the same man. 
 I have loved you, Katy Cameron, for your uniform kind 
 ness shown to the poor dressmaker. I shall always love 
 3^ou, but our paths lie widely apart. Your future I 
 can predict, but mine God only knows." 
 
 Marian had said all she meant to say, and all Katy 
 came to hear. The latter was to leave in the morning, 
 and when they would meet again neither could tell. Few 
 were the parting words they spoke, for the great common 
 sorrow welling up from their hearts; but when at last they 
 said good-bye, the bond of friendship between them was. 
 more strongly cemented than ever, and Katy long remem 
 bered Marian s parting words, 
 
 " God bless you, Katy Cameron ! You have been a bright 
 sun spot in my existence since I first knew you, even 
 though you have stirred some of the worst impulses of my 
 nature. I am a better woman for having known you. God 
 bless you, Katy Cameron ! " 
 
366 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 MOURNING. 
 
 THE grand funeral which Mrs. Cameron once had 
 planned for Katy was a reality at last, but the breathless 
 form lying so cold and still in the darkened room at No. 
 Fifth Avenue, was that of a soldier embalmed an 
 only son brought back to his father s house amid sadness 
 and tears. They had taken him there rather than to his 
 own house, because it was the wish of his mother, who, 
 however hard and selfish she might be to others, had 
 idolized her son, and mourned for him truly, forgetting in 
 her grief to care how grand the funeral was, and feeling 
 only a passing twinge when told that Mrs. Lennox had 
 come from Silverton to pay the last tribute of respect to 
 her late son-in-law. Some little comfort it was to have her 
 boy lauded as a faithful soldier, and to hear the commenda 
 tions lavished upon him during the time he lay in state, 
 with his uniform around him; but when the whole was 
 over, and in the gray of the wintry afternoon her husband 
 returned from Greenwood, there came over her a feeling 
 of such desolation as she had never* known a feeling 
 which drove her at last to the little room upstairs, where 
 sat a lonely man, his head bowed upon his hands, and his 
 tears dropping silently upon the hearth-stone as he, too, 
 thought of the vacant parlor below and the new grave 
 at Greenwood. 
 
 " Oh, husband, comfort me ! " fell from her lips as she 
 tottered to her husband, who opened his arms to receive 
 her, forgetting all the years which had made her the cold, 
 proud woman, who needed no sympathy, and remembering 
 only that bright green summer when she was first his 
 bride, and came to him for comfort in every little griev 
 ance, just as now she came in this great, crushing sor 
 row. 
 
 He did not tell her she was reaping what she had 
 
The Cameron Pride. 367 
 
 sown, that but for her pride and deception concerning 
 Genevra, Wilford might never have gone to the war, or 
 they been without a son. He did not reproach her at all, 
 )iit soothed her tenderly, calling her by her maiden name, 
 and awkwardly smoothing her hair, silvered now with gray, 
 aid feeling for a moment that Wilford had not died in 
 vain, if by his dying he gave back to his father the wife 
 so lost during the many years since fashion and folly 
 had been the idols she worshiped. But the habits of years 
 couli not be lightly broken, and Mrs. Cameron s mind 
 soon became absorbed in the richness of her mourning, and 
 the strict etiquette of her mourning days. To Katy she 
 was very kind, caressing her with unwonted affection, and 
 scarcely suffering her to leave her sight, much less to stay 
 for a day at Mrs. Banker s, where Katy secretly pre 
 ferred \o be. Of Genevra, too, she talked with Katy, and 
 at her instigation wrote a friendly letter, thanking Mrs. 
 Lambert for all her kindness to her son, expressing her 
 sorrow that she had ever been so unjust to her, and send 
 ing her a handsome locket, containing on one side a lock 
 of Wilford s hair, and on the other his picture, taken from 
 a large sized photograph. Mrs. Cameron felt herself a 
 very good woman after she had done all this, together with 
 receiving Mrs. Lennox at her own house, and entertaining 
 her for one whole day; but at heart there was no real 
 change, and as time passed on she gradually fell back into 
 her old ways of thinking, and went no more for comfort 
 to her husband as she had on that first night after the 
 burial. 
 
 With Mr. Cameron the blow struck deeper, and his 
 Wall Street friends talked together of the old man he had 
 grown since Wilford died, while Katy often found him 
 bending over his long-neglected Bible, as he sat alone in 
 his room at night. And when at last she ventured to 
 speak to him upon the all important subject, he put his 
 hand in hers, and bade her teach him the narrow way 
 which she had found, and wherein Wilford too had walked 
 at the very last, they hoped. 
 
 For many weeks Katy lingered in New York, and the 
 June roses were blooming when she went back to Silverton, 
 a widow and the rightful owner of all Wilford s ample 
 
368 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 fortune. They had found among his papers a will, drawn 
 up and executed no.t long before his illness, and in which 
 Katy was made his heir, without condition or stipulation. 
 All was hers to do with as sho pleased, and Katy wept 
 passionately when she heard how generous Wilford hpd 
 been. Then, as she thought of Marian and the life of 
 poverty before her, she crept to Father Cameron s sUe 5 
 and said to him, pleadingly, 
 
 " Let Genevra share it with me. She needs it quite as 
 much." 
 
 Father Cameron would not permit Katy to civide 
 equally with Marian. It was not jnst, he said; but he 
 did not object to a few thousands going to her, and be 
 fore Katy left K"ew York for Silverton, she wrote a long, 
 kind letter to Marian, presenting her with ten thousand 
 dollars, which she begged her to accept, not so much as a 
 gift, but as her rightful due. There was a moment s 
 hesitancy on the part of Marian when she read the letter, 
 a feeling that she could not take so much from Katy; 
 but when she looked at the pnle sufferers around her, and 
 remembered how manv wretched hearts that money would 
 help to cheer, she said, 
 
 " I will keep it." 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI, 
 
 PRISONERS OF WAR. 
 
 THE heat, the smoke, the thunder of the battle were 
 over, and the fields of Gettysburg were drenched with 
 human blood and covered with the dead and dying. The 
 contest had been fearful, and its results carried sorrow 
 and anguish to many a heart waiting for tidings from the 
 war, and looking so anxiously for the names of the loved 
 ones who, on the anniversary of the day which saw our 
 nation s Independence, lay upon the hills and plains of 
 Gettysburg, their white faces upturned to the summer sky, 
 and wet with the rain droDS. which, like tears for the noble 
 dead, the pitying clouds had shed upon them. And no- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 369 
 
 where, perhaps, was there a whiter face or a more anxious 
 heart than at the farm-house, where both Helen and her 
 mother-in-law were spending the hot July days. Since 
 the Christmas eve when Helen had watched her husband 
 going from her across the wintry snow, he had not been 
 back, though several times he had made arrangements to 
 do so. Something, however, had always happened to pre 
 vent. Once it was sickness which kept him in bed for a 
 week or more; again his regiment was ordered to ad 
 vance, and the third time it was sent on with others to 
 repel the invaders from Pennsylvanian soil. Bravely 
 through each disappointment Helen bore herself, but her 
 cheek always grew paler and her eye darker in its hue 
 when the evening papers came, and she read what prog 
 ress our soldiery had made, feeling that a battle was in 
 evitable, and praying so earnestly that Mark Ray might 
 be spared. Then, when the battle was over and up the 
 northern hills came the dreadful story of thousands and 
 thousands slain, there was a fearful look in her eye, and 
 her features were rigid as marble, while the quivering 
 lips could scarcely pray for the great fear tugging at her 
 heart. Mark Eav was not with his men when they came 
 from that terrific onslaught. A dozen had seen him 
 fall, struck down by a rebel ball, and that was all she 
 heard for more than a week, when there came another 
 relay of news. 
 
 Captain Mark Ray was a prisoner of war, with several 
 of his own company. An inmate of Libby Prison and a 
 sharer from choice of the apartment where his men were 
 confined. As an officer he was entitled to better quarters ; 
 but Mark Ray had a large, warm heart, and he would 
 not desert those who had been so faithful to him, and so 
 he took their fare, and by his genial humor and unwaver 
 ing cheerfulness kept many a heart from fainting, and 
 made the prison life more bearable than it could have 
 been without him. To young Tom Tnbbs, who had en 
 listed six months before, he was a ministering angel, and 
 many times the poor homesick boy crept to the side of his 
 captain, and laying his burning head in his lap, wept 
 himself to sleep and dreamed he was at home again. The 
 horrors of that prison life have never been told, but Mark 
 
370 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 bore up manfully, suffering less in mind, perhaps, than 
 did the friends at home, who lived, as it were, a thousand 
 years in that one brief summer while he remained in 
 Bichmond. 
 
 At last, as the frosty days of October came on, they 
 began to hope he might be exchanged, and Helen s face 
 grew bright again, until one day there came a soiled, 
 half-worn letter, in Mark s own hand-writing. It was 
 the first word received from him since his capture in July, 
 and with a cry of joy Helen snatched it from Uncle Eph- 
 raim, for she was still at the farm-house, and sitting down 
 upon the dooistep just where she had been standing, read 
 the words which Mark had sent to her. He was very well, 
 he said, and had been all the time, but he pined for home, 
 longing for the dear girl-wife never so dear as now, when 
 separated by so many miles, with prison walls on every 
 side, and an enemy s line between them. 
 
 " But be of good cheer, darling," he wrote, " I shall 
 come back to you some time, and life will be all the 
 brighter for what you suffer now. I am so glad my darling 
 consented to be my wife, even though I could stay with 
 her but a moment. The knowing you are really mine 
 makes me happy even here, for I think of you by day, and 
 in my dreams I always hold you in my arms and press 
 you to my heart." 
 
 A hint he gave of being sent further south, and then 
 hope died out of Helen s heart. 
 
 u I shall never see him again," she said despairingly; and 
 when the message came that Mark had been removed, 
 and that too just at the time when an exchange was con 
 stantly expected, she gave him up as lost, feeling almost as 
 much widowed as Katy in her weeds. 
 
 Slowly the winter passed away, and the country was 
 rife with stories of our men, daily dying by hundreds, 
 while those who survived were reduced to maniacs or 
 imbeciles. And Helen, as she listened, grew nearly frantic 
 with the sickening suspense. She did not know now where 
 her husband was. He had made several attempts to es 
 cape, and with each failure had been removed to safer 
 quarters, so that his chances for being exchanged seemed 
 very far away. Week after week, month after month 
 
The Cameron Pride. 371 
 
 passed on, until came the memorable battle of the Wil 
 derness, when Lieutenant Bob, as yet unharmed, stood 
 bravely in the thickest of the fight, his tall figure tower 
 ing above the rest, and his soldier s uniform buttoned 
 over a dark tress of hair, and a face like Bell Cameron s. 
 Lieutenant Bob had taken two or three furloughs; but the 
 one which had left the sweetest, pleasantest memory in 
 his heart, was that of the autumn before, when the crimson 
 leaves of the maple, and the golden tints of the beech, 
 were burning themselves out on the hills of Silverton, 
 where his furlough was mostly passed, and where with 
 Bell Cameron he scoured the length and breadth of Uncle 
 Ephraim s farm, now stopping by the shore of Fairy Point 
 and again sitting for hours on a ledge of rocks, far up 
 the hill, where beneath the softly whispering pines, nod 
 ding above their heads, Bell gathered the light-brown 
 cones, and said to him the words he had so thirsted to 
 hear. 
 
 Much of Bell s time was passed with Katy, at the farm 
 house, and here Lieutenant Eeynolds found her, accepting 
 readily of Uncle Ephraim s hearty invitation to remain, 
 and spending his entire vacation there with the exception 
 of three days, given to his family. Perfectly charmed with 
 quaint Aunt Betsy, he flattered and courted her almost as 
 much as he did Bell, but did not take her with him in his 
 long rambles over the hills, or sit with her at night alone 
 in the parlor until the clock struck twelve a habit which 
 Aunt Betsy greatly disapproved, but overlooked for this 
 once, seeing, as she said, that 
 
 " The young leftenant was none of her Tcin f and Isabel 
 only a little." 
 
 Those were halcyon days which Robert passed at Sil- 
 verton ; but one stood out prominently before him, whether 
 sitting before his camp-fire or plunging into the battle; 
 and that the one when, casting aside all pride and foolish 
 theories, Bell Cameron freely acknowledged her love for 
 the man to whom she had been so long engaged, and paid 
 him back the kisses she had before refused to give. 
 
 " I shall be a better soldier for this/ Herbert had said, 
 as he guided her down the steep ledge of rocks, and with 
 her hand in his, walked slowly back to the farm-house, 
 
37 2 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 which, on the morrow, he left to take again his place in 
 the army. 
 
 There were no more furloughs for him after that; and 
 the winter passed away, bringing the spring again, when 
 came that battle in the Wilderness, where, like a hero, he 
 fought until, becoming separated from his comrades, he 
 fell into the enemy s hands; and two days after, there 
 sped along the telegraphic wires to New York, 
 
 "Lieutenant Eobert Reynolds, captured the first day 
 f the battle/ 
 
 Afterwards came news that Andersonville was his des 
 tination, together with many others made prisoners that 
 day. 
 
 " It is better than being shot, and a great deal better 
 than being burned, as some of the poor wretches were," 
 Juno said, trying to comfort Bell, who doubted a little 
 her sister s word. 
 
 True there was now the shadow of a hope that he 
 might return; but the probabilities were against it; and 
 Bell s face grew almost as white as Helen s, while her eyes 
 acquired that restless, watchful, anxious look which has 
 crept into the eyes of so many sorrowing women, looking 
 away to the southward, where the dear ones were dying. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 DOCTOR GRANT. 
 
 MORRIS had served out his time as surgeon in the army., 
 had added to it an extra six months ; and by his humanity, 
 his skill, and Christian kindness, made for himself a name 
 which would be long remembered by the living to whom 
 he had ministered so carefully; while many a dying 
 soldier had blessed him for pointing out the way which 
 leadeth to the life everlasting; and in many a mourning 
 family his name was a household word, for the good he had 
 done to a dying son and brother. But Morris s hospital 
 work was over. He had gone a little too far, and incurred 
 
The Cameron Pride. 373 
 
 too much risk, until his own strength had failed; and 
 now, in the month of June, when Linwood was bright 
 with the early summer blossoms, he was coming back with 
 health greatly impaired, and a dark cloud before his 
 vision, so that he could not see how beautiful his home 
 was looking, or gaze into the faces of those who waited so 
 anxiously to welcome their beloved physician. Blind 
 some said he was; but the few lines sent to Helen, an 
 nouncing the day of his arrival, contradicted that report. 
 His eyes were very much diseased, his amanuensis wrote; 
 but he trusted that the pure air of his native hills, and 
 the influence of old scenes and associations would soon 
 effect a cure. " If not too much trouble," he added, 
 " please see that the house is made comfortable, and have 
 John meet me on Friday at the station." 
 
 Helen was glad Morris was coming home, for he al 
 ways did her good; he could comfort her better than any 
 one else, unless it were Katy, whose loving, gentle words 
 of hope were very soothing to her. 
 
 " Poor Morris ! " she sighed, as she finished his letter, 
 and then took it to the family, who were sitting upon the 
 pleasant piazza, which, at Katy "s expense and her own, 
 had been added to the house, and overlooked Fairy Pond 
 and the pleasant hills beyond. 
 
 " Morris is coming home," she said. " He will be hore 
 on Friday, and he wishes us to see that all things are in 
 order at Linwood for his reception. His eyes are badly 
 diseased, but he hopes that coming back to us will cure 
 him," she added, glancing at Katy, who sat upon a step 
 of the piazza, her hands folded together upon her lap, and 
 her blue eyes looking far off into the fading sunset. 
 
 When she heard Morris s name, she turned her head a 
 little, so that the ripple of her golden hair was more 
 distinctly visible beneath the silken net she wore; but she 
 made no comment nor showed by any sign that she heard 
 what they were saying. Katy was very lovely and con 
 sistent in her young widowhood, and not a whisper of 
 gossip had the Silvertonians coupled with her name since 
 she came to them, leaving her husband in Greenwood. 
 There had been no parading of her grief before the public, 
 or assumption of greater sorrow than many others had 
 
374 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 known; but the soberness of her demeanor, and the calm, 
 subdued expression of her face, attested to what she had 
 suffered. Sixteen months had passed since Wilford died, 
 and she still wore her deep mourning weeds, except the 
 widow s cap, which, at her mother s and Aunt Betsy s 
 earnest solicitations, she had laid aside, substituting in 
 its place a simple net, which confined her waving hair 
 and kept it from breaking out in flowing curls, as it was 
 disposed to do. 
 
 Katy had never been prettier than she was now, in her 
 mature womanhood, and to the poor and sorrowful whose 
 homes she cheered so often she was an angel of good 
 ness. 
 
 Truly she had been purified by suffering; the dross 
 had been burned out, and only the gold remained, shed 
 ding its brightness on all with which it came in contact. 
 
 They would miss her at the farm-house now more than 
 they did when she first went away, for she made the sun 
 shine of their home, filling Helen s place when she was 
 in New York, and when she came back proving to her a 
 stay and comforter. Indeed, but for Katy s presence 
 Helen often felt that she could not endure the sickening 
 suspense and doubt which hung so darkly over her hus 
 band s fate. 
 
 " He is alive ; he will come back," Katy always said, 
 and from her perfect faith Helen, too, t eaught a glimpse 
 of hope. 
 
 Could they have forgotten Mark they would have been 
 very happy at the farm-house now, for with the budding 
 spring and blossoming summer Katy s spirits had re 
 turned, and her old musical laugh rang through the 
 house just as it used to do in the happy days of girl 
 hood, while the same silvery voice which led the choir in 
 the brick church, and sang with the little children their 
 Sunday hymns, often broke forth into snatches of songs, 
 which made even the robins listen, as they built their 
 nests in the trees. 
 
 If Katy thought of Morris, she never spoke of him 
 when she could help it. It was a morbid fancy to which 
 she clung, that duty to Wil ford s memory required her 
 to avoid the man who had so innocently come between 
 
The Cameron Pride. 375 
 
 them; and when she heard he was coming home she felt 
 more pain than pleasure, though for an instant the blood 
 throbbed through her veins as she thought of Morris at 
 Linwood, just as he used to be. 
 
 The day of his return was balmy and beautiful, and at 
 an early hour Helen went over to Linwood to see that 
 everything was in order for his arrival, while Katy fol 
 lowed at a later hour, wondering if Wilford would object 
 if he knew she was going to welcome Morris, who might, 
 misconstrue her motives if she stayed away. 
 
 There was very little for her to do, Helen and Mrs. 
 Hull having done all that was necessary, but she went 
 from room to room, lingering longest in Morris s own 
 apartment, where she made some alterations in the ar 
 rangement of the furniture, putting one chair a little 
 more to the right, and pushing a stand or table to the 
 left, just as her artistic eye dictated. By some oversight 
 no flowers had been put in there, but Katy gathered a 
 bouquet and left it on the mantel, just where she remem 
 bered to have seen flowers when Morris was at home. 
 
 " He will be tired," she said. " He will lie down after 
 dinner," and she laid a few sweet English violets upon 
 his pillow, thinking their perfume might be grateful to 
 him after the pent-up air of the hospital and cars. " He 
 will think Helen put them there, or Mrs. Hull," she 
 thought, as she stole softly out and shut the door behind 
 her, glancing next at the clock, and feeling a little im 
 patient that a whole hour must elapse before they could 
 expect him. 
 
 Poor Morris ! he did not dream how anxiously he was 
 waited for at home, nor of the crowd assembled at the 
 depot to welcome back the loved physician, whose name 
 they had so often heard coupled with praise as a true 
 hero, even though his post was not in the front of the 
 battle. Thousands had been cared for by him, their gap 
 ing wounds dressed skillfully, their aching heads soothed 
 tenderly, and their last moments made happier by the 
 words he spoke to them of the world to which they were 
 going, where there is no more war or shedding of man s 
 blood. In the churchyard at Silverton there were three 
 soldiers graves, whose pale occupants had died with Dr. 
 
376 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 Grant s hand held tightly in theirs, as if afraid that he 
 would leave them before the dark river was crossed, while 
 in more than one Silverton home there was a wasted 
 soldier, who never tired of telling Dr. Morris s praise 
 and dwelling on his goodness. But Dr. Morris was not 
 thinking of this as, faint and sick, with the green shade 
 before his eyes, he leaned against the pile of shawls his 
 companion had placed for his back, and wondered if they 
 were almost there. 
 
 " I smell the pond lilies ; we must be near Silverton/ 
 he said, and a sigh escaped him as he thought of coming 
 home and not being able to see it or the woods and fields 
 around it. "Thy will be done," he had said many times 
 since the fear first crept into his heart that for him the 
 light had faded. 
 
 But now, when home was almost reached, and he be 
 gan to breathe the air from the New England hills arid 
 the perfume of the New England lilies, the flesh rebelled 
 again, and he cried out within himself, " Oh, I cannot 
 be blind ! God will not deal thus by ine ! " while keen as 
 the cut of a sharpened knife was the pang with which he 
 thought of Katy, and wondered would she care if he were 
 blind. 
 
 Just then the long train stopped at Silverton, and, led 
 by his attendant, he stepped feebly into the crowd, which 
 sent up deafening cheers for Dr. Grant come home again. 
 At the sight of his helplessness, however, 1 a feeling of awe 
 fell upon them, and whispering to each other, " I did not 
 suppose he was so bad," they pressed around him, offering 
 their hands and inquiring anxiously how he was. 
 
 " I have been sick, but I shall get better now. The 
 very sound of your friendly voices does me good," he 
 said, as he went slowly to his carriage, led by Uncle 
 Ephraim, who could not keep back his tears when he 
 saw how weak Morris was, and how he panted for breath 
 as he leaned back among the cushions. 
 
 It was very pleasant that afternoon, and Morris enjoyed 
 the drive so much, assuring Uncle Ephraim, that he was 
 growing better every moment. He did seem stronger 
 when the carriage stopped at Linwood, and he went up the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 377 
 
 steps where Helen, Katy, and Mrs. Hull were waiting 
 for him. He could not by sight distinguish one from the 
 other, but without the aid of her voice he would have 
 known when Katy s hand was put in his, it was so small, 
 so soft, and trembled so as he held it. She forgot Wil- 
 ford in her excitement. Pity was the strongest feeling of 
 which she was conscious, and it manifested itself in vari 
 ous ways. 
 
 " Let me lead you, Cousin Morris," she said, as she saw 
 him groping his way to his room, and without waiting for 
 his reply, she held his hand again in hers and led him 
 to his room, where the English violets were. 
 
 " I used to lead you Morris said, as he took his seat by 
 the window, " and I little thought then that you would 
 one day return the compliment. It is very hard to be 
 blind." 
 
 The tone of his voice was inexpressibly sad, but his 
 smile was as cheerful as ever as his face turned towards 
 Katy, who could not answer for her tears. It seemed so 
 terrible to see a strong man so stricken, and that strong 
 man Morris terrible to watch him in his helplessness, 
 trying to appear as of old, so as to cast on others no part 
 of the shadow resting so darkly on himself. When dinner 
 was over and the sun began to decline, many of his former 
 friends came in; but he looked so pale and weary that 
 they did not tarry long, and when the last one was gone, 
 Morris was led back to his room, which he did not leave 
 again until the summer was over, and the luscious fruits 
 of September were ripening upon the trees. 
 
 Towards the middle of July, Helen, whose health was 
 suffering from her anxiety concerning Mark, was taken 
 by Mrs. Banker to Nahant, where Mark s sister, Mrs. 
 Ernst, was spending the summer, and thus on Katy fell 
 the duty of paying to Morris those acts of sisterly atten 
 tion such as no other member of the family knew how to 
 pay. In the room where he lay so helpless Katy was not 
 afraid of him, nor did she deem herself faithless to Wil- 
 ford s memory, because each day found her at Linwood, 
 sometimes bathing Morris s inflamed eyes, sometimes 
 bringing him the cooling drink, and again reading to him 
 
378 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 by the hour, until, soothed by the music of her voice, he 
 would fall away to sleep and dream he heard the angels 
 sing. 
 
 : My eyes are getting better," he said to her one day to 
 ward the latter part of August, when she came as usual to 
 his room. "I knew last night that Mrs. HulPs dress was 
 blue, and I saw the sun shine through the shutters. Very 
 soon, I hope to see you, Katy, and know if you have 
 changed." 
 
 She was standing close by him, and as he talked he 
 raised his hand to rest it on her head, but, with a sudden 
 movement, Katy eluded the touch, and stepped a little 
 further from him. 
 
 When next she went to Linwood there was in her man 
 ner a shade of dignity, which both amused and interested 
 Morris. He did not know for certain that Wilford had 
 told Katy of the confession made that memorable night 
 when her recovery seemed so doubtful, but he more than 
 half suspected it from the shyness of her manner, and 
 from the various excuses she began to make for not com 
 ing to Linwood as often as she had heretofore done. 
 
 In his great pity for Katy when she was first a widow, 
 Morris had scarcely remembered that she was free, or if 
 it did flash upon his mind, he thrust the thought aside 
 as injustice to the dead; but as the months and the year 
 went by, and he heard constantly from Helen of Katy s 
 increasing cheerfulness, it was not in hi nature never to 
 think of what might be, and more than once he had prayed, 
 that if consistent with his Father s will, the woman he 
 had loved so well, should yet be his. If not, he could go 
 his way alone, just as he had always done, knowing that 
 it was right. 
 
 Such was the state of Morris s mind when he returned 
 from Washington, but now it was somewhat different. 
 The weary weeks of sickness, during which Katy had 
 ministered to him so kindly, had not been without their 
 effect, and if Morris had loved the frolicsome, child-like 
 Katy Lennox, he loved far more the gentle, beautiful wo 
 man, whose character had been so wonderfully developed 
 by suffering, and who was more worthy of his love than 
 in her early girlhood. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 379 
 
 " I cannot lose her now," was the thought constantly 
 in Morris s mind, as he experienced more and more how 
 desolate were the days which did not bring her to him. 
 " It is twenty months since Wilford died/ he said to him 
 self one wet October afternoon, when he sat listening 
 dreamily to the patter of the rain falling upon the win 
 dows, and looking occasionally across the fields to the 
 farm-house, in the hope of spying in the distance the 
 little airy form, which, in its water-proof and cloud, had 
 braved worse storms than this at the time he was so ill. 
 But no such figure appeared. He hardly expected it 
 would; but he watched the pathway just the same, and 
 the smoke-wreaths rising so high above the farm-house. 
 The deacon burned out his chimney that day, and Morris, 
 whose sight had greatly improved of late, knew it by the 
 dense, black volume of smoke, mingled with rings of fire, 
 which rose above the roof, remembering so well another 
 rainy day, twenty years ago, when the deacon s chimney 
 was cleaned, and a little toddling girl, in scarlet gown 
 and white pinafore, had amused herself with throwing 
 into the blazing fire upon the hearth a straw at a time, 
 almost upsetting herself with standing so far back, and 
 making such efforts to reach the flames. A great deal had 
 passed since then. The little girl in the pinafore had 
 been both wife and mother. She was a widow now, and 
 Morris glanced across his hearth toward the empty chair 
 he had never seen in imagination filled by any but her 
 self. 
 
 " Surely, she would some day be his own," and leaning 
 his head upon the cane he carried, he prayed earnestly for 
 the good he coveted, keeping his head down so long that, 
 until it had left the strip of woods and emerged in!:o the 
 open fields, he did not see the figure wrapped in water 
 proof and hood, with a huge umbrella over its head and 
 a basket upon its arm, which came picking its way 
 daintily toward the house, stopping occasionally, and lift 
 ing up the little high-heeled Balmoral, which the mud was 
 ruining so completely. Katy was coming to Linwood. It 
 had been baking-day at the farm-house, and remembering 
 how much Morris used to love her custards, Aunt Betsy 
 
380 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 had prepared him some, and asked Katy to take them 
 over, so he could have them for tea. 
 
 " The rain won t hurt you an atom/ 3 she said as Katy 
 began to demur, and glance at the lowering sky. " You 
 can wear your waterproof boots and my shaker, if you 
 like, and I do so want Morris to have them to-night." 
 
 Thus importuned, Katy consented to go, but declined 
 the loan of Aunt Betsy s shaker, which being large of the 
 kind, and capeless, too, was not the most becoming head 
 gear a woman could wear. With the basket of custards, 
 and cup of jelly, Katv finally started. Aunt Betsy saying 
 to her, as she stopped to take up her dress, " It must be 
 dretful lonesome for Morris to-day. S posin you stay 
 to supper with him, and when it s growin dark I ll come 
 over for vou. You ll find the custards fust rate." 
 
 Katy made no reply, and walked away, while Aunt 
 Betsy went back to the coat she was patching for her 
 brother, saying to herself, 
 
 " I m bound to fetch that round. It s a shame for two 
 young folks, just fitted to each other, to live apart when 
 they might be so happy, with Hannah, and Lucy, and me, 
 close by, to see to em, and allus make their soap, and 
 see to the butcherin , besides savin peneryle and catnip 
 for the children, if there was any." 
 
 Aunt B^tsv had turned match-maker in her old age, 
 and day and night she planned how to bring about the 
 match between Morris and Katy. That they were made 
 for each other, she had no doubt. From something which 
 Helen inadvertently let fall, she had guessed that Morris 
 loved Katy prior to her marriage with Wilford. She 
 had suspected as much before; she was sure of it now, 
 and straightway put her wits to work "to make it go," 
 as she expressed it. But Katv was too shy to suit her, 
 and since Morris s convalescence, had stayed too much from 
 Linwood. To-day, however, Aunt Betsy " felt it in her 
 bones," that if properly managed something would hap 
 pen, and the custards were but the means to the desired 
 end. With no suspicion whatever of the good dame s in 
 tentions, Katy picked her wav to Linwood, and leaving 
 her damp garments in the hall, wont at once into the 
 library, where Morris was sitting near to a large chair 
 
The Cameron Pride. 381 
 
 kept sacred for her, his face looking unusually cheerful, 
 and the room unusually pleasant, with the bright wood 
 fire on the heart 1 1. 
 
 " I have been so lonely, with no company but the rain," 
 he said, pushing the chair a little towards her, and bid 
 ding her sit near the fire, where she could dry her feet. 
 
 Katy obeyed, and sat down so near to him that had he 
 chosen he might have touched the golden hair, fastened 
 in heavy coils low on her neck, and giving to her a very 
 g::lish appearance, as Morris thought, for he could see 
 her now, and while she dried her feet he looked at her 
 eagerly, wondering that the fierce storm she had encoun 
 tered had loft so few traces upon her face. Just about 
 the mouth there was a deep cut line, but this was all ; the 
 remainder of the face was fair and smooth as in her early 
 girlhood, and far more beautiful, just as her character 
 was lovelier, and more to be admired. 
 
 Morris had done well to wait if he could win her now. 
 Perhaps he thought so, too, and this was why his spirits 
 became so gay as he kept talking to her, suggesting at 
 last that she should stay to tea. The rain was falling in 
 torrents when he made the proposition. She could not 
 go then, even had she wished it. and though it was earlier 
 than his usual time, Morris at once rang for Mrs. Hull, 
 and ordered that tea be served as soon as possible. 
 
 ee I ought not to stay. It is not proper," Katy kept 
 thinking, as she fidgeted in her chair, and watched the 
 girl setting the table for two, and occasionally deferring 
 some debatable point to her as if she were mistress there. 
 
 " You can go now, Keekie," Morris said, when the boil 
 ing water was poured into the silver kettle, and tea was 
 on the table. " If we need you we will ring." 
 
 With a vague wonder as to who would toast the doc 
 tor s bread, and butter it, Eeekie departed, and the two 
 were left together. It was Katy who toasted the bread, 
 kneeling upon the hearth, burning her face and scorching 
 the bread in her nervousness at the novel position in which 
 she so unexpectedly found herself. It was Katy, too, who 
 prepared Morris s tea, and tried to eat, but could not. She 
 was not hungry, she said, and the custard was the only 
 thing she tasted, besides the tea, which she sipped at 
 
382 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 frequent intervals so as to make Morris think she was eat 
 ing more than she was. But Morris was not deceived, nor 
 disheartened. Possibly she suspected his intention, and if 
 so, the sooner he reached the point the better. So when 
 the tea equipage was put away, and she began again to 
 speak of going home, he said, 
 
 " No, Katy, you can t go yet, till I have said what s in 
 my mind to say," and laying his hand upon her shoulder 
 he made her sit down beside him and listen while he. told 
 her of the love he had borne for her long before she knew 
 the meaning of that word as she knew it now of the 
 struggle to keep that love in bounds after its indulgence 
 was a sin; of his temptations and victories, of his sincere 
 regret for Wilford, and of his deep respect for her grief, 
 which made her for a time as a sister to him. But that 
 time had passed. She was not his sister now, nor ever 
 could be again. She was Katy, dearer, more precious, 
 more desired even than before another called her wife, 
 and he asked her to be his, to come up there to Linwood 
 and live with him, making the rainy days brighter, 
 balmier, than the sunniest had ever been, and helping him 
 in his work of caring for the poor and sick around them. 
 
 "Will Katy come? Will she be the wife of Cousin 
 Morris ?" 
 
 There was a world of pathos and pleading in the voice 
 which asked this question, just as there was a world of 
 tenderness in the manner with which *Morris caressed and 
 fondled the bowed head resting on the chair arm. And 
 Katy felt it all, understanding what it was to be offered 
 such a love as Morris offered, but only comprehending in 
 part what it would be to refuse that love. For her blinded 
 judgment said she must refuse it. Had there been no sad 
 memories springing from that grave in Greenwood, no 
 bitter reminiscences connected with her married life 
 had Wilford never heard of Morris s love and taunted her 
 with it, she might perhaps consent, for she craved the 
 rest there would be with Morris to lean upon. But the 
 happiness was too great for her to accept. It would seem 
 too much like faithlessness to Wilford, too much as if he 
 had been right, when he charged her with preferring 
 Morris to himself. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 383 
 
 " It cannot be ; oh, Morris, it cannot be," she sobbed, 
 when he pressed her for an answer. " Don t ask me why 
 don t ever mention it again, for I tell you it cannot 
 be. My answer is final; it cannot be. I am sorry for 
 you, so sorry! I wish you had never loved me, for it 
 cannot be." 
 
 She writhed herself from the arms which tried to de 
 tain her, and rising to her feet left the room suddenly, 
 and throwing on her wrappings quitted the house wirti- 
 out another word, leaving basket and umbrella behind, 
 and never knowing she had left them, or how the rain 
 was pouring down upon her unsheltered person, until, as 
 she entered the narrow strip of woodland, she was met 
 by Aunt Betsy, who exclaimed at seeing her, and asked, 
 
 "What has become of your umberell? Your silk one 
 too. It s hopeful you haven t lost it. What has happened 
 you?" and coming closer to Katy, Aunt Betsy looked 
 searchingly in her face. It was not so dark that she 
 could not see the traces of recent tears, and instinctively 
 suspecting their nature she continued, " Catherine, have 
 you gin Morris the mitten ? " 
 
 "Aunt Betsy, is it possible that you and Morris con 
 trived this plan?" Katy asked, half indignantly, as she 
 began in part to understand her aunt s great anxiety for 
 her to visit Linwood that afternoon. 
 
 " Morris had nothing to do with it," Aunt Betsy re 
 plied. " It was my doin s wholly, and this is the thanks 
 I git. You quarrel with him and git mad at me, who 
 thought only of your good. Catherwe, you know you like 
 Morris Grant, and if he asked you to have him why 
 don t you?" 
 
 " I can t, Aunt Betsy. I can t, after all that has passed. 
 It would be unjust to Wilford." 
 
 " Unjust to Wilford fiddlesticks ! " was Aunt Betsy s 
 expressive reply, as she started on toward Linwood, say 
 ing, " she was going after the umberell before it got lost, 
 with nobody there to tend to things as they should be 
 tended to. Have you any word to send ? " she asked, 
 hoping Katy had relented. 
 
 But Katy had not; and with a toss of her head, which 
 shook the rain drops from her capeless shaker, Aunt Betsy 
 
384 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 went on her way, and was soon confronting Morris, sitting 
 just where Katy had left him, and looking very pale and 
 sad. 
 
 He was not glad to see Aunt Betsy. He would rather 
 be alone until such time as he could control himself and 
 still his throbbing heart. But with his usual affability, 
 he bade Aunt Betsy sit down, shivering a little when he 
 saw her in the chair where Katy had sat, her thin, 
 angular body presenting a striking contrast to the grace 
 ful, girlish figure which had sat there an hour since, and 
 the huge india rubbers she held up to the fire, as unlike 
 as posible to the boot of fairy dimensions he had admired 
 so much when it was drying on the hearth. 
 
 " I met Catherine/ Aunt Betsy began, " and mistrusted 
 at once that something was to pay, for a girl don t leave 
 her umberell in such a rain and go cryin home for 
 nothin ." 
 
 Morris colored, resenting for an instant this interfer 
 ence by a third party; but Aunt Betsy was so honest and 
 simple-hearted, that he could not be angry long, and he 
 listened calmly, while she continued, 
 
 " I have not lived sixty odd years for nothing, and I 
 know the signs pretty well. I ve been through the mill 
 myself/ 
 
 Here Aunt Betsy s voice grew lower in its tone, and 
 Morris looked up with real interest, while she went on, 
 
 " There s Joel Upham you know l Joel keeps a tin- 
 shop now, and seats the folks in meetin . He asked me 
 once for my company, and to be smart I told him no, 
 when all the time I meant yes, thi:,kin he would ask 
 agin; but he didn t, and the next I knew he was keepin 
 company with Patty Adams, now his wife. I remembered 
 I sniveled a little at being taken at my word, but it 
 served me right, for saying one thing when I meant 
 another. However, it don t matter now. Joel is as clever 
 as the day is long, but he is a shiftless critter, never splits 
 his kindlins till jest bedtime, and Patty is pestered to 
 death for wood, while his snorin nights she says is awful, 
 and that I never could abide ; so, on the whole, I m better 
 off than Patty/ 
 
The Cameron Pride. 385 
 
 Morris laughed a loud, hearty laugh, which emboldened 
 his visitor to say more than she had intended saying. 
 
 " You just ask her agin. Once ain t nothing at all, 
 and she ll come to. She likes you ; taint that which made 
 her say no. It s some foolish idea about faithfulness to 
 Wilford, as if he deserved that she should be faithful. 
 They never orto have had one another, never ; and now 
 that he is well in Heaven, as I do suppose he is, it ain t 
 I who hanker for him to come back. Neither does Katy, 
 and all she needs is a little urging, to tell you yes. So 
 ask her again, will you ? " 
 
 " I think it very doubtful. Katy knew what she was 
 doing, and meant what she said," Morris replied; and 
 with the consoling remark that if young folks would be 
 fools it was none of her business to bother with them, 
 Aunt Betsy pinned her shawl across her chest, and hunt 
 ing up both basket and umbrella, bade Morris good night, 
 and went back across the fields to the farm-house, hearing 
 from Mrs. Lennox that Katy had gone to bed with a rack 
 ing headache. 
 
 CHAPTEK XLVIII. 
 
 KATY. 
 
 " ARE you of the same mind still ? " Helen asked, when 
 three weeks later she returned from New York, and at the 
 hour for retiring sat in her chamber watching Katy as 
 she brushed her hair, occasionally curling a tress around 
 her fingers and letting it fall upon her snowy night 
 dress. 
 
 They had been talking of Morris, whom Katy had seen 
 but once since that rainy night, and that at church, where 
 he had been the previous Sunday. Katy had written an 
 account of the transaction to her sister, who had chosen 
 to reply by word of mouth rather than by letter, and so 
 the first moment they were alone she seized the opportunity 
 to ask if Katy was of the same mind still as when she 
 refused the doctor. 
 
386 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 " Yes, why shouldn t I be? " Katy replied. " You, bet 
 ter than any one else, know what passed between Wil- 
 ford 
 
 " Do you love Morris ? " Helen asked, abruptly, without 
 waiting for Katy to finish her sentence. 
 
 For an instant the hands stopped in their wcyk, and 
 Katy s eyes filled with tears, which dropped into her lap 
 as she replied, 
 
 " More than I wish I did, seeing I must always tell 
 him no. It s strange, too, how the love for him keeps 
 coming, in spite of all I can do. I have not been there 
 since, nor spoken with him until last Sunday, but I knew 
 the moment he entered the church, and when in the first 
 chant I heard his voice, my fingers trembled so that I 
 could hardly play, while all the time my heart goes out 
 after the rest I always find with him. But it cannot be. 
 Oh, Helen ! I wish Wilford had never known that Morris 
 loved me." 
 
 She was sobbing now, with her head in Helen s lap, 
 and Helen, smoothing her bright hair, said gently, 
 
 " You do not reason correctly. It is right for } r ou to 
 answer Morris yes, and Wilford would say so, too. When 
 I received your letter I read it to Bell, who then told what 
 Wilford said before he died. You must have forgotten 
 it, darling. He referred to a time when you would cease 
 to be his widow, and he said he was willing, said so to 
 her, and you. Do you remember it, Katy ? " 
 
 " I do now, but I had forgotten. I was so stunned then, 
 so bewildered, that it made no impression. I did not think 
 he meant Morris, Helen ; do you believe he meant Mor 
 ris?" and lifting up her face Katy looked at her sister 
 with a wistfulness which told how anxiously she waited 
 for the answer. 
 
 " I know that he meant Morris," Helen replied. " Both 
 Bell and her father think so, and they bade me tell you 
 to marry Dr. Grant, with whom you will be so happy/ 
 
 " I cannot. It is too late. I told him no, and Helen, 
 I told him a falsehood, too, which I wish I mi^ht take 
 back," she added. " I said I was sorry he ever loved me, 
 when I was not, for the knowing that he had made me 
 very happy. My conscience has smitten me cruelly for 
 
The Cameron Pride. 387 
 
 that falsehood, told not intentionally, for I did not con 
 sider what I said." 
 
 Here was an idea at which Helen caught at once, and 
 the next morning she went to Linwood and brought 
 Morris home with her. He had been there two or three 
 times since his return from Washington, but not since 
 Katy s refusal, and her cheeks were scarlet as she met 
 him in the parlor and tried to be natural. He did not 
 look unhappy. He was not taking his rejection very hard, 
 after all, she thought, and the little lady felt a very little 
 piqued to find him so cheerful, when she had scarcely 
 known a moment s quiet since the day she carried him the 
 custards and forgot to bring away her umbrella. 
 
 As it had rained that day, so it did now, a decided, 
 energetic rain, which set in after Morris came, and pre 
 cluded the possibility of his going home that night. 
 
 " He would catch his death of cold," Aunt Betsy said, 
 while Helen, too, joined her entreaties, until Morris con 
 sented, and the carriage which came round for him at 
 dark returned to Linwood with the message that the doc 
 tor would pass the night at Deacon Barlow s. 
 
 During the evening he did not often address Katy di 
 rectly, but he knew each time she moved, and watched 
 every expression of her face, feeling a kind of pity for 
 her, when, without appearing to do so intentionally, the 
 family, one by one, stole from the room, Uncle Ephraim 
 and Aunt Hannah without any excuse ; Aunt Betsy to mix 
 the cakes for breakfast; Mrs. Lennox to wind the clock, 
 and Helen to find a book for which Morris had asked. 
 
 Katy might not have thought strange of their de 
 parture, were it not that neither one came back again, and 
 after the lapse of ten minutes or more she felt convinced 
 that she had purposely been left alone with Morris. 
 
 The weather and the family had conspired against her, 
 but after one throb of fear she resolved to brave the diffi 
 culty, and meet whatever might happen as became a wo 
 man of twenty-three, and a widow. She knew Morris 
 was regarding her intently as she fashioned into shape 
 the coarse wool sock, intended for some soldier, and she 
 could almost hear her heart beat in the silence which fell 
 
388 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 between them ere Morris said to her, in a tone which re 
 assured her, 
 
 "And so you told me a falsehood the other day, and 
 your conscience has troubled you ever since ? " 
 
 " Yes, Morris, yes ; that is, I told you I was sorry that 
 you ever loved me, which was not exactly true, for, after 
 I knew you did, I was happier than before." 
 
 Her words implied a knowledge of his love previous to 
 that night at Linwood when he had himself confessed it, 
 and he said to her inquiringly, 
 
 " You knew it, then, before I told you ? " 
 
 " From Wilford, yes," Katy faltered. 
 
 " I understand now why you have been so shy of me," 
 Morris said ; " but, Katy, must this shyness continue al 
 ways? Think, now, and say if you did not tell more than 
 one falsehood the other night, as you count falsehoods ? " 
 
 Katy looked wonderingly at him, and he continued, 
 
 " You said you could not be my wife. Was that true ? 
 Can t you take it back, and give me a different answer ? " 
 
 Katy s cheeks were scarlet, and her hands had ceased to 
 flutter about the knitting which lay upon her lap. 
 
 " I meant what I said/ 7 she whispered ; " for, knowing 
 how Wilford felt, it would not be right for me to be so 
 happy. 
 
 " Then it s nothing personal ? If there were no har 
 rowing memories of Wilford, you cou]d be happy with me. 
 Is that it, Katy ? " Morris asked, coming close to her now, 
 and imprisoning her hands, which she did not try to take 
 away, but let them lie in his as he continued, "Wilford 
 was willing at the last. Have you forgotten that?" 
 
 " I had, until Helen reminded me," Katy replied. 
 a But, Morris, the talking of this thing brings Wilford s 
 death back so vividly, making it seem but yesterday since 
 I held his dying head." 
 
 She was beginning to relent, Morris knew, and bend 
 ing nearer to her he said, 
 
 " It was not yesterday. It will be two years in Feb 
 ruary; and this, you know, is November. I need you, 
 Katy. I want you so much. I have wanted you all your 
 life. Before it was wrong to do so, I used each day to 
 pray that God would give you to me, and now I feel just 
 
The Cameron Pride. 389 
 
 as sure that he has opened the way for you to come to 
 me as I am sure that Wilford is in heaven. He is happy 
 there, and shall a morbid fancy keep you from being 
 happy here? Tell me, then, Katy, will you be my wife? " 
 
 He was kissing her cold hands, and as he did so he felt 
 her tears dropping on his hair. 
 
 " If I say yes, Morris, you will not think that I never 
 loved Wilford, for I did, oh, yes! I did. Not exactly as 
 I might have loved you, had you asked me first, but I 
 loved him, and I was happy with him, for if there were 
 little clouds, his dying swept them all away/ 
 
 Katy was proving herself a true woman, who remem 
 bered only the good there was in Wilford, and Morris 
 3id not love her less for it. She was all the dearer to 
 him, all the more desirable, and he told her so, winding 
 his arms about her, and resting her head upon his shoul 
 der, where it lay just as it had never lain before, for with 
 the first kiss Morris gave her, calling her " My own little 
 Katy/ she felt stealing over her the same indescribable 
 peace she had always felt with him, intensified now, and 
 sweeter from the knowing that it would remain if she 
 should will it so. And she did will it so, kissing Morris 
 back when he asked her to, and thus sealing the compact of 
 her second betrothal. It was not exactly like the first. 
 There was no tumultuous emotions, or ecstatic joys, but 
 Katy felt in her inmost heart that she was happier now 
 than then ; that between herself and Morris there was more 
 affinity than there had been between herself and Wilford, 
 and as she looked back over the road she had come, and 
 remembered all Morris had been to her, she wondered 
 at her blindness in not recognizing and responding to the 
 love in which she had now found shelter. 
 
 It was very late that night when Katy went up to bed, 
 and Helen, who was not asleep, knew by the face on which 
 the lamp-light fell that Morris had not sued in vain. 
 Aunt Betsy knew it, too, next morning, by the same look 
 on Katy s face when she came down stairs, but this did 
 not prevent her saying abruptly, as Katy stood by the 
 sink, 
 
 " Be you two engaged ? " 
 
 ".We are," was Katy s frank reply, which brought back 
 
390 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 all Aunt Betsy s visions of roasted fowls and frosted 
 cake, and maybe a dance in the kitchen, to say nothing 
 of the feather bed which she had not dared to offer Katy 
 Cameron, but which she thought would come in play for 
 Miss Dr. Grant." 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 THE PRISONERS. 
 
 MANY of the captives were coming home, and all along 
 the Northern lines loving hearts were waiting, and 
 friendly hands outstretched to welcome them back to 
 " God s land," as the poor, suffering creatures termed the 
 soil over which waved the stars and stripes, for which 
 they had fought so bravely. Wistfully thousands of eyes 
 ran over the long columns of names of those returned, 
 each eye seeking for its own, and growing dim with tears 
 as it failed to find it, or lighting up with untold joy wheik 
 it was found. 
 
 " Lieut. Robert Reynolds," and " Thomas Tubbs," Helen 
 read among the list of those just arrived at Annapolis, but 
 Captain Mark Ray " was not there, and, with a sicken 
 ing feeling of disappointment, she passed the paper to 
 her mother-in-law, and hastened away, to weep and pray 
 that what she so greatly feared might not come upon her. 
 
 It was after Katy s betrothal, and Helen was in New 
 York, hoping to hear news from Mark, and perhaps to 
 see him ere long, for as nearly as she could trace him 
 from reports of others, he was last at Andersonville. But 
 there was no mention made of him, no sign by which she 
 could tell whether he still lived, or had long since been 
 relieved from suffering. 
 
 Early next day she heard that Mattie Tubbs had re 
 ceived a telegram from Tom, who would soon be at home, 
 while later in the day Bell Cameron came round to say that 
 Bob was living, but that he had lost his right arm, and 
 was otherwise badly crippled. It never occurred to Helen 
 to ask if this would make a difference. She only kissed 
 
The Cameron Pride. 391 
 
 Bell fondly, rejoicing at her good fortune, and then sent 
 her back to the home where there were hot discussions re 
 garding the propriety of receiving into the family a 
 maimed and crippled member. 
 
 "It was preposterous to suppose Bob would expect it," 
 Juno said, while the mother admitted that it was a most 
 unfortunate affair, as indeed the whole war had proved. 
 For her part she sometimes wished the North had let the 
 South go quietly, as they wanted to, and so saved thou 
 sands of lives, and prevented the country from being 
 flooded with cripples and negroes, and calls for more men 
 and money. On the whole, she doubted the propriety of 
 prolonging the war; and she certainly doubted the pro 
 priety of giving her daughter to a cripple. There was 
 Arthur Grey, who had lately been so attentive; he was a 
 wealthier man than Lieutenant Bob, and if Bell had any 
 discretion she would take him in preference to a dis 
 figured soldier. 
 
 Such was the purport of Mrs. Cameron s remarks, to 
 which her husband listened, his eyes blazing with pas 
 sion, which, the moment she finished, burst forth in a 
 storm of oaths and invectives against what, with his pet 
 adjective, he called her " Copperhead principles," de 
 nouncing her as a traitor, reproaching her for the cruelty 
 which would separate her daughter from Robert Rey 
 nolds, because he had lost an arm in the service of his 
 country; and then turning fiercely to Bell with the words, 
 
 "But it isn t for you to say whether he shall or shall 
 not have Bell. She is of age. Let her speak for herself." 
 
 And she did speak, the noble, heroic girl, who had lis 
 tened, with bitter scorn, to what her mother and sister 
 said, and who now, with quivering nostrils, and voice 
 hoarse with emotion, answered slowly and impressively, 
 
 "I would marry Lieutenant Reynolds if he had only 
 his ears left to hear me tell him how much I love and* 
 honor him ! Arthur Grey ! Don t talk to me of him ! the 
 craven coward, who swore he was fifty to avoid the draft/ 
 
 After this, no more was said to Bell, who, the moment 
 she heard Bob was at home, went to his father s house 
 and asked to see him. 
 
 He was sleeping when she entered his room; and push- 
 
392 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 ing back the heavy curtain, so that the light would fall 
 more directly upon him, Mrs. Reynolds went out and left 
 her there alone. 
 
 With a beating heart she stood looking at his hollow 
 eyes, his sunken cheek, his short, dry hair, and thick gray 
 skin, but did not think of his arm, until she glanced at the 
 wall, where hung a large-sized photograph, taken in fulf 
 uniform, the last time he was at home, and in which hia 
 well-developed figure showed to good advantage. Could 
 it be that the wreck before her had ever been as full of 
 life and vigor as the picture would indicate, and was that 
 arm which held the sword severed from the body, and 
 left a token of the murderous war? 
 
 " Poor Bob ! how much he must have suffered, * she 
 whispered, and kneeling down beside him she hid her 
 face in her hands, weeping bitter tears for her armless 
 hero. 
 
 The motion awakened Robert, who gazed for a moment 
 in surprise at the kneeling, sobbing maiden; then when 
 sure it was she, he raised himself in bed, and ere Bell 
 could look up, two arms, one quite as strong as the other, 
 were wound around her neck, and her head was pillowed 
 upon the breast, which heaved with strong emotions as 
 the soldier said, 
 
 " My darling Bell, you don t know how much good this 
 meeting does me ! " 
 
 He kissed her many times, and Bell did not prevent it, 
 but gave him kiss after kiss, then, still doubting the evi 
 dence of her eyes, she unclasped his clinging arms, and 
 holding both his poor hands in hers, gave vent to a second 
 gush of tears as she said, 
 
 " I am so glad oh, so glad ! " 
 
 Then, as it occurred to her that he might perhaps mis 
 judge her, and put a wrong construction upon her joy, 
 she added, 
 
 "I did not care for myself, Robert. Don t think I 
 cared for myself, or was ever sorry a bit on my own ac 
 count." 
 
 Bob looked a little bewildered as he replied, " Never 
 were sorry and never cared! I can scarcely credit that, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 393 
 
 for surely your tears and present emotions belie your 
 words." 
 
 Bell knew he had not understood her,, and said, 
 
 " Your arm, Robert, your arm. We heard that it was 
 cut off, and that you were otherwise mutilated." 
 
 " Oh, that s it, then ! " and something like his old mis 
 chievous smile glimmered about Bob s mouth as he added, 
 " They spared my arms, but, Bell," and he tried to look 
 very solemn, " suppose I tell you that they hacked off both 
 my legs, and if you marry me, you must walk all your 
 life by the side of wooden pins and crutches!" 
 
 Bell knew by the curl of his lip that he was teasing 
 her, and she answered laughingly, 
 
 " Wooden pins and crutches will be all the fashion when 
 the war is over badges of honor of which any woman 
 might be proud." 
 
 "Well, Bell," he replied, "I am afraid there is no 
 such honor in store for my wife, for if I ever get back 
 my strength and the flesh upon my bones, she must take 
 me with legs and arms included. Not even a scratch or 
 wound of any kind with which to awaken sympathy." 
 
 He appeared very bright and cheerful; but when after 
 a moment Bell asked for Mark Bay, there came a shadow 
 over his face, and with quivering lips he told a tale which 
 blanched Bell s cheeks, and made her shiver with pain and 
 dread as she thought of Helen for Mark ivas dead shot 
 down as he attempted to escape from the train which took 
 them from one prison to another. He was always devis 
 ing means of escape, succeeding several times, but was 
 immediately captured and brought back, or sent to some 
 closer quarter, Robert said; but his courage never de 
 serted him, or his spirits either. He was the life of them 
 all, and by his presence kept many a poor fellow from 
 dying of homesickness and despair. But he was dead; 
 there could be no mistake, for Robert saw him when he 
 jumped, heard the ball which went whizzing after him, 
 saw him as he fell on the open field, saw a man from a 
 rude dwelling near by go hurriedly towards him, firing 
 his own revolver, as if to make the death deed doubly 
 sure. Then as the train slacked its speed, with a view, 
 perhaps, to take the body on board, he heard the man who 
 
394 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 had reached Mark, and was bending over him, call out, 
 " Go on, I ll tend to him, the bullet went right through 
 here ; " and he turned the dead man s face towards the 
 train, so all could see the blood pouring from the temple 
 which the finger of the ruffian touched. 
 
 " Oh, Helen ! poor Helen ! how can I tell her, when she 
 loved him so much ! " Bell sobbed. 
 
 "You will do it better than any one else," Bob said. 
 "You will be very tender with her; and, Bell, tell her, 
 as some consolation, that he did not break with the treat 
 ment, as most of us wretches did ; he kept up wonder 
 fully said he was perfectly well and, indeed, he looked 
 so. Tom Tubbs, who was his shadow, clinging to him 
 with wonderful fidelity, will corroborate what I have said. 
 He was with us; he saw him. and only animal force pre 
 vented him from leaping from the car and going to him 
 where he fell. I shall never forget his shriek of agony 
 at the sight of that blood-stained face, turned an instant 
 towards us." 
 
 " Don t, don t ! Bell cried again ; " I can t endure it ! " 
 and as Mrs. Reynolds came in she left her lover and 
 started for Mrs. Banker s, meeting on the steps Tom Tubbs 
 himself, who had come on an errand similar to her own. 
 
 " Sit here in the hall a moment," she said to him, as 
 the servant admitted them both. " I must see Mrs. Ray 
 first." 
 
 Helen was reading to her mother-in-law; but she laid 
 down her book and came to welcome Bell, detecting at 
 once the agitation in her manner, and asking if she had 
 bad news from Robert. 
 
 " No, Robert is at home ; I have just come from there, 
 and he told me oh ! Helen, can you bear it ? Mark is dead 
 shot twice as he jumped from the train taking him 
 to another prison. Robert saw it and knew that he was 
 dead." 
 
 Bell could get no further, for Helen, who had never 
 fainted in her life, did so now, lying senseless so long that 
 the physician began to think it would be a mercy if she 
 never came back to life, for her reason, he fancied, had 
 fled. But Helen did come back to life, with reason un 
 impaired, and insisted upon hearing every detail of the 
 
The Cameron Pride. 395 
 
 dreadful story, both from Bell and Tom. The latter con 
 firmed all Lieutenant Reynolds had said, besides adding 
 many items of his own. Mark was dead, there could be 
 no doubt of it; but with the tenacity of a strong, hope 
 ful nature, the mother clung to the illusion that possibly 
 the ball stunned, instead of killing that he would yet 
 come back; and many a time as the days went by, that 
 mother started at the step upon the walk, or ring of the 
 bell, which she fancied might be his, hearing him some 
 times calling in the night storm for her to let him in, and 
 hurrying down to the door only to be disappointed and go 
 back to her lonely room to weep the dark night through. 
 
 With Helen there were no such illusions. After talking 
 calmly and rationally with both Robert and Tom, she knew 
 her husband was dead, and never watched and waited for 
 him as his mother did. She had heard from Mark s com 
 panions in suffering all they had to tell, of his captivity 
 and his love for her which manifested itself in so many 
 different ways. Passionately she had wept over the tress 
 of faded hair which Tom Tubbs brought to her, saying, 
 "he cut it from his head just before we left the prison, 
 and told me if he never got home and I did, to give the 
 lock to you, and say that all was well between him and 
 God that your prayers had saved him. He wanted you to 
 know that, because, he said, it would comfort you most of 
 all." 
 
 And it did comfort her when she looked up at the 
 clear wintry heavens and thought that her lost one was 
 there. It was her first real trial, and it crushed her with 
 its magnitude, so that she could not submit at once, and 
 many a cry of desolate agony broke the silence of her 
 room, where the whole night through she sat musing of 
 the past, and raining kisses upon the little lock of hair 
 which from the Southern prison had come to her, sole 
 relic of the husband so dearly loved and truly mourned. 
 How faded it was from the rich brown she remembered 
 so well, and Helen gazing at it could realize in part the 
 suffering and want which had worn so many precious lives 
 away. It was strange she never dreamed of him. She 
 often prayed that she might, so as to drive from her mind, 
 if possible, the picture of the prostrate form upon the 
 
396 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 low, damp field, and the blood-stained face turned in its 
 mortal agony towards the southern sky and the pitiless 
 foe above it. So she always saw him, shuddering as she 
 wondered if the foe had buried him decently or left his 
 bones to bleach upon the open plain. 
 
 Poor Helen, she was widowed indeed, and it needed not 
 the badge of mourning to tell how terribly she was be 
 reaved. But the badge was there, too, for in spite of the 
 hope which said, " he is not dead/ Mrs. Banker yielded 
 to Helen s importunities, and clothed herself and daugh 
 ter-in-law in the habiliments of woe, still waiting, still 
 watching, still listening for the step she should recognize 
 so quickly, still looking down the street ; but looking, alas ! 
 in vain. The winter passed away. Captive after captive 
 came home, heart after heart was cheered by the returning 
 loved one, but for the inmates of No. the heavy cloud 
 grew blacker, for the empty chair by the hearth remained 
 unoccupied, and the aching hearts uncheered. Mark Ray 
 did not come back. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 THE DAY OF THE WEDDING. 
 * 
 
 THOSE first warm days of March, 1865, when spring and 
 summer seemed to kiss each other and join hands for a 
 brief space of time, how balmy, how still, how pleasant 
 they were, and how bright the farm-house looked, where 
 preparations for Katy s second bridal were going rapidly 
 forward. Aunt Betsy was in her element, for now had 
 come the reality of the vision she had seen so long, of house 
 turned upside down in one grand onslaught of suds and 
 sand, then, righted again by magic power, and smelling 
 very sweet and clean from its recent ablutions of turkeys 
 dying in the barn, of chickens in the shed, of loaves of 
 frosted cake, with cards and cards of snowy biscuit piled 
 upon the pantry shelf of jellies, tarts, and chicken salad 
 of home-made wine, and home-brewed beer, with tea 
 and coffee portioned out and ready for the evening. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 397 
 
 In the dining-room the table was set with the new China 
 ware and silver, a joint Christmas gift from Helen and 
 Katy to their good Aunt Hannah, as real mistress of the 
 house. 
 
 "Not plated ware, but the gen-oo-ine article," Aunt 
 Betsy had explained at least twenty times to those who 
 came to see the silver, and she handled it proudly now as 
 she took it from the flannel bags in which Mrs. Deacon 
 Bannister said it must be kept, and placed it on a side- 
 table. 
 
 The coffee-urn was Katy s, so was the tea-kettle and the 
 massive pitcher, but the rest was " ours," Aunt Betsy com 
 placently reflected as she contemplated the glittering array, 
 and then hurried off to see what was burning on the stove, 
 stumbling over Morris as she went, and telling him " he 
 had come too soon it was not fittin for him to be there 
 under foot until he was wanted." 
 
 Without replying directly to Aunt Betsy, Morris knocked 
 with a vast amount of assurance at a side-door, which 
 opened directly, and Katy s glowing face looked out, and 
 Katy s voice was heard, saying joyfully, 
 
 " Oh, Morris, it s you. I m so glad you ve come, for I 
 wanted " 
 
 But what she wanted was lost to Aunt Betsy by the 
 closing of the door, and Morris and Katy were alone in the 
 little sewing room where latterly thev had passed so many 
 quiet hours together, and where lay the bridal dress with 
 its chaste and simple decorations. Katy had clung ten 
 aciously to her mourning robe, asking if she might wear 
 black, as ladies sometimes did. But Morris had promptly 
 answered no. His bride, if she came to him willingly, 
 must not come clad in widow s weeds, for when she be 
 came his wife she would cease to be a widow. 
 
 And so black was laid aside, and Katy, in soft tinted 
 colors, with her bright hair curling on her neck, looked 
 as girlish and beautiful as if in Greenwood there were no 
 pretentious monument, with Wilford s name upon it, nor 
 any little grave in Silverton where Baby Cameron slept. 
 She had been both wife and mother, but she was quite as 
 dear to Morris as if she had never borne other name than 
 Katy Lennox, and as he held her for a moment to his 
 
398 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 heart he thanked God who had at last given to him the 
 idol of his boyhood and the love of his later years. Across 
 their pathway no shadow was lying, except when they re 
 membered Helen, on whom the mantle of widowhood had 
 fallen just as Katy was throwing it off. 
 
 Poor Helen ! the tears always crept to Katy s eyes when 
 she thought of her, and now, as she saw her steal across 
 the road and strike into the winding path which led to the 
 pasture where the pines and hemlock grew, she nestled 
 closer to Morris, and whispered, 
 
 " Sometimes I think it wrong to be so happy when 
 Helen is so sad. I pity her so much to-day." 
 
 And Helen was to be pitied, for her heart was aching 
 to its very core. She had tried to keep up through the 
 preparations for Katy s bridal, tried to seem interested 
 and even cheerful, while all the time a hidden agony was 
 tugging at her heart, and life seemed a heavier burden 
 than she could bear. 
 
 All her portion of the work was finished now, and in 
 the balmy brightness of that warm April afternoon she 
 went into the fields where she could be alone beneath the 
 soft summer-like sky, and pour out her pent-up anguish 
 into the ear of Him who had so often soothed and com 
 forted her when other aids had failed. Last night, for 
 the first time since she heard the dreadful news, she had 
 dreamed of Mark, and when she awoke she still felt the 
 pressure of his lips upon her brow, the touch of his arm 
 upon her waist, and the thrilling clasp of his warm hand 
 as it pressed and held her own. But that was a dream, a 
 cruel delusion, and its memory made the more dark and 
 dreary as she went slowly up the beaten path, pausing 
 once beneath a chestnut tree and leaning her throbbing 
 head against the shaggy bark as she heard in the distance 
 the shrill whistle of the downward train from Albany, and 
 thought as she always did when she heard that whistle, 
 " Oh, if that heralded Mark s return, how happy I should 
 be." But many sounds like that had echoed across the Sil- 
 verton hills, bringing no hope to her. and now as it again 
 died away in the Cedar Swamp she pursued her way up 
 the path till she reached a long white ledge of rocks 
 " The lovers Kock," some called it, for village boys and 
 
The Cameron Pride. 399 
 
 maidens knew the place, repairing to it often, and whis 
 pering their vows beneath the overhanging pines, which 
 whispered back again, and told the winds the story which 
 though so old is always new to her who listens and to him 
 who tells. 
 
 Just underneath the pine there was a large flat stone, 
 and there Helen sat down, gazing sadly upon the valley 
 below, and the clear waters of Fairy Pond gleaming in the 
 April sunshine which lay so warmly on the grassy hills 
 and flashed so brightly from the cupola at Linwood, where 
 the national flag was flying. For a time Helen watched 
 the banner as it shook its folds to the breeze, then as she 
 remembered with what a fearful price that flag had been 
 saved from dishonor, she hid her face in her hands and 
 sobbed bitterly. 
 
 "God help me not to think I paid too dearly for my 
 country s rights. Oh, Mark, my husband, I may be wrong, 
 but you were dearer to me than many, many countries, 
 and it is hard to give you up hard to know that the 
 notes of peace which float up from the South will not 
 waken you in that grave which I can never see. Oh, Mark, 
 my darling, my darling, I love you so much, I miss you 
 so much, I want you so much. God help me to bear. 
 God help to say, c Thy will be done/* 
 
 She was rocking to and fro in her grief, with her hands 
 pressed over her face, and for a long time she sat thus, 
 while the sun crept on further towards the west, and the 
 freshened breeze shook the tasseled pine above her head 
 and kissed the bands of rich brown hair, from which her 
 hat had fallen. She did not heed the lapse of time, nor 
 hear the footstep coming up the pathway to the ledge where 
 she was sitting, the footstep which paused at intervals, as 
 if the comer were weary, or in quest of some one, but which 
 at last came on with rapid bounds as an opening among 
 the trees showed where Helen sat. It was a tall young 
 man who came, a young man, sun-burned and scarred, with 
 uniform soiled and worn, but with the fire in his brown 
 eyes unquenched, the love in his true heart unchanged, 
 save as it was deeper, more intense for the years of separa 
 tion, and the long, cruel suspense, which was all over now. 
 The grave had given up its dead, the captive was released. 
 
400 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 and through incredible suffering and danger had reached 
 his Northern home, had sought and found his girl-wife of 
 a few hours, for it was Mark Ray speeding up the path, 
 and holding back his breath as he came close to the bowed 
 form upon the rock, feeling a strange throb of awe when 
 he saw the mourning dress, and knew it was worn for him. 
 A moment more, and she lay in his arms ; white and insen 
 sible, for with the sudden winding of his arms around her 
 neck, the pressure of his lips upon her cheek, the calling 
 of her name, and the knowing it was really her husband, 
 she had uttered a wild, impassioned cry, half of terror, half 
 of joy, and fainted entirely away, just as she did when 
 told that he was dead ! There was no water near, but with 
 loving words and soft caresses Mark brought her back to 
 life, raining both tears and kisses upon the dear face which 
 had grown so white and thin since the Christmas eve when 
 the wintry star light had looked down upon their parting. 
 For several moments neither could speak for the great 
 choking joy which wholly precluded the utterance of a 
 word. Helen was the first to rally. With her head lying 
 in Mark s lap and pillowed on Mark s arm, she whispered, 
 
 " Let us thank God together. You, too, have learned 
 to pray." 
 
 Reverently Mark bent his head to hers, and the pine 
 boughs overhead heard, instead of mourning notes, a prayer 
 of praise, as the reunited wife and husband fervently 
 thanked God, who had brought them together again. 
 
 Not until nearly a half hour was gone, and Helen had 
 begun to realize that the arm which held her so tightly 
 was genuine flesh and blood, and not mere delusion, did 
 she look up into the face, glowing with so much of hap 
 piness and love. Upon the forehead, and just beneath 
 the hair, there was a savage scar, and the flesh about it 
 was red and angry still, showing how sore and painful it 
 must have been, and making Helen shudder as she touched 
 it with her lips, and said, 
 
 " Poor, darling Mark ! that s where the cruel ball en 
 tered ; but where is the other scar, the one made by the 
 man who went to you in the fields. I have tried so hard 
 not to hate him for firing at a fallen foe." 
 
 " Rather pray for him, darling. Bless him as the sa- 
 
The Cameron Pride. 401 
 
 vior of your husband s life, the noble fellow but for whom 
 I should not have been here now, for he was a Unionist, 
 as true to the old flag as Abraham himself," Mark Ray 
 replied ; and then, as Helen looked wonderingly at him, 
 he laid her head in an easier position upon his shoulder, 
 and told her a story so strange in its details, that but for 
 the frequent occurrence of similar incidents, it would be 
 pronounced wholly unreal and false.* 
 
 Of what he suffered in the Southern prisons he did 
 not speak, either then or ever after, but began with the 
 day when, with a courage born of desperation, he jumped 
 from the moving train and was shot down by the guard. 
 Partially stunned, he still retained sense enough to know 
 when a tall form bent over him, and to hear the rough 
 but kindly voice which said, 
 
 " Play possum, Yank. Make b lieve you re dead, and 
 throw em off the scent." 
 
 This was the last he knew for many weeks, and when 
 again he woke to consciousness he found himself on the 
 Tipper floor of a dilapidated hut, which stood in the cen 
 tre of a little wood, his bed a pile of straw, over which 
 was spread a clean patch-work quilt, while seated at his 
 side, and watching him intently, was the same man who 
 had bent over him in the field, and shouted to the rebels 
 that he was dead. 
 
 <{ I shall never forget my sensations then," Mark said, 
 "for with the exception of this present hour, when I 
 hold you in my arms, and know the danger is over, I 
 never experienced a moment of greater happiness and 
 rest than when, up in that squalid garret, I came back 
 to life again, the pain in my head all gone, and nothing 
 left save a delicious feeling of languor, which prompted 
 me to lie quietly for several minutes, examining my sur 
 roundings, and speculating upon the chance which brought 
 me there. That I was a prisoner I did not doubt, until 
 the old man at my side said to me cheerily, 
 
 "Well, old chap, you ve come through it like a major, 
 though I was mighty dubus a spell about that pesky ball. 
 But old Aunt Bab and me fished it out, and since then 
 you ve begun to mend." 
 
 " 6 Where am I ? Who are you ? I asked, and he re- 
 
402 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 plied, ( Who be I ? Why, Fm Jack Jennins, the rarinest, 
 redhotedest secesh there is in these yer parts, so the Rebs 
 thinks ; but twixt you and me, boy, I m the tallest kind of 
 a Union, got a piece of the old flag sowed inside of my 
 boots, and every night before sleepin I prays the Lord to 
 gin Abe the victory, and raise Cain generally in t other 
 camp, and forgive Jack Jennins for tellin so many lies, 
 and makin b lieve he s one thing when you know and he 
 knows he s t other. If I ve spared one Union chap, I ll bet 
 I have a hundred, me and old Bab, a black woman who 
 lives here and tends to the cases I fotch her, till we con 
 trive to git ? em inter Tennessee, whar they hev to shift 
 for themselves/ 
 
 " I could only press his hand in token of my gratitude 
 while he went on to say, Them was beans I fired at you 
 that day, but they sarved every purpose, and them scalli- 
 wags on the train s pose you were put underground weeks 
 ago, if indeed you wasn t left to rot in the sun, as heaps 
 and heaps on em is. Nobody knows you are here but Bab 
 and me, and nobody must know if you want to git off with 
 a whole hide. I could git a hundred dollars by givin you 
 up, but you don t s pose Jack Jennins is a gwine to do 
 that ar infernal trick. No, sir/ and he brought his brawny 
 fist down upon his knee with a force which made me 
 tremble, while I tried to express my thanks for his great 
 kindness. He was a noble man, Helen, while Aunt Bab, 
 the colored woman, who nursed me so tenderly, and whose 
 black, bony hands I kissed at parting, was as true a woman 
 as any with a fairer skin and more beautiful exterior. 
 
 " For three weeks longer I stayed up in that loft, and in 
 that time three more escaped prisoners were brought there, 
 and one Union refugee from North Carolina. We left in 
 company one wild, rainy night, when the storm and dark 
 ness must have been sent for our special protection, and 
 Jack Jennings cried like a little child when he bade me 
 good-bye, promising, if he survived the war, to find his 
 way to the North and visit me in New York. 
 
 " We found these Unionists everywhere, and especially 
 among the mountains of Tennessee, where, but for their 
 timely aid, we had surely been recaptured. With blis 
 tered feet and bruised limbs we reached the lines at last, 
 
The Cameron Pride. 403 
 
 when fever attacked me for the second time and brought 
 me near to death. Somebody wrote to you, but you 
 never received it, and when I grew better I would not let 
 them write again, as I wanted to surprise you. As soon 
 as I was able I started North, my thoughts full of the 
 joyful meeting in store a meeting which I dreaded too, 
 for I knew you must think me dead, and I felt so sorry 
 for you, my darling, knowing, as I did, you would mourn 
 for your soldier husband. That my darling has mourned 
 is written on her face, and needs no words to tell it; but 
 that is over now/ Mark said, folding his wife closer to him, 
 and kissing the pale lips, while he told her how, arrived 
 at Albany, he had telegraphed to his mother, asking where 
 Helen was. 
 
 "In Silverton," was the reply, and so he came on in 
 the morning train, meeting his mother in Springfield as 
 he had half expected to do, knowing that she could leave 
 New York in time to join him there. 
 
 " No words of mine," he said, " are adequate to de 
 scribe the thrill of joy with which I looked again upon 
 the hills and rocks so identified with you that I loved 
 them for your sake, hailing them as old, familiar friends, 
 and actually growing sick and faint with excitement when 
 through the leafless woods I caught the gleam of Fairy 
 Pond, where I gathered the lilies for you. There is a 
 wedding in progress at the farm-house, I learned from 
 mother, and it seems very meet that I should come at this 
 time, making, in reality, a double wedding when I can 
 truly claim my bride," and Mark kissed Helen passionately, 
 laughing to see how the blushes broke over her white face, 
 and burned upon her neck. 
 
 Those were happy moments which they passed together 
 upon that ledge of rocks, happy enough to atone for all 
 the dreadful past, and when at last they rose and slowly 
 retraced their steps to the farm-house, it seemed to Mark 
 that Helen s cheeks were rounder than when he found her, 
 while Helen knew that the arm on which she leaned was 
 stronger than when it first encircled her an hour or two 
 before. 
 
404 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 THE WEDDING. 
 
 ON the same train with Mrs. Banker and Mark, Bell 
 Cameron came with Bob, but father Cameron was not able 
 to come; he would gladly have done so if he could, and 
 he sent his blessing to Katy with the wish that she might 
 be very happy in her second married life. This message 
 Bell gave to Katy, and then tried to form some reasonable 
 excuse for her mother s and Juno s absence, for she could 
 not tell how haughtily both had declined the invitation, 
 Juno finding fault because Katy had not waited longer 
 than two years, and Mrs. Cameron blaming her for being 
 so very vulgar as to be married at home, instead of in 
 church. On this point Katy herself had been a little dis 
 quieted, feeling how much more appropriate it was that 
 she be married in the church, but shrinking from standing 
 again a bride at the same altar where she had once before 
 been made a wife. She could not do it, she finally decided ; 
 there would be too many harrowing memories crowding 
 upon her mind, and as Morris did not particularly care 
 where the ceremony was performed, it was settled that it 
 should be at the house, even though Mrs. Deacon Bannister 
 did say that " she had supposed Dr. Grant too High Church 
 to do anything so Presbyiorianny as that." 
 
 Bell s arrival at the farm-house was timely; for the un 
 expected appearance in their midst of one whom they 
 looked upon as surely dead had stunned and bewildered 
 the family to such an extent that it needed the presence 
 of just such a matter-of-fact, self-possessed woman as 
 Bell, to bring things back to their original shape. It 
 was wonderful how the city girl fitted into the vacant 
 niches, seeing to everything which needed seeing to, and 
 still finding time to steal away alone with Lieutenant Bob, 
 who kept her in a painful state of blushing, by constantly 
 wishing it was his bridal night as well as Dr. Grant s, and 
 
The Cameron Pride. 405 
 
 by inveighing against the weeks which must intervene, ere 
 the day appointed for the grand ceremony, to take place 
 in Grace Church, and which was to make Bell his wife. 
 
 " Come in here, Helen, I have something to show you/ 
 Mrs. Banker said, after she had again embraced and wept 
 over her long lost son, whose return was not quite real 
 yet; and leading her daughter-in-law to her bedroom, 
 she showed her the elegant, white silk which had been made 
 for her just after her marriage, two years before, and 
 which, with careful forethought, she had brought with her, 
 as more suitable now for the wedding than Helen s mourn 
 ing weeds. 
 
 "I made the most of my time last night, after receiv 
 ing Mark s telegram, and had it modernized somewhat," 
 she said. " And I brought your pearls, for you will be 
 most as much a bride as Katy, and I have a pride in seeing 
 my son s wife appropriately dressed." 
 
 Far different were Helen s feelings now, as she donned 
 the elegant dress, from what they had been the first and 
 only time she wore it. Then the bridegroom was where 
 danger and death lay thickly around his pathway ; but now 
 he was at her side, kissing her cheek, where the roses were 
 burning so brightly, and calling still deeper blushes to 
 her face, by his teasing observations and humorous ridi 
 cule of his own personal appearance. Would she not feel 
 ashamed of him in his soiled uniform? And would she 
 not cast longing glances at her handsome brother-in-law 
 and the stylish Lieutenant Bob ? But Helen was proud of 
 her husband s uniform, as a badge of what he had suf 
 fered; and when the folds of her rich dress swept against 
 it, she did not draw them away, but nestled closer to him, 
 leaning upon his shoulder; and when no one was near, 
 winding her soft arm about his neck once, whispering, 
 " My darling Mark, I cannot make it real yet." 
 
 Softly the night shadows fell around the farm-house, 
 and in the rooms below a rather mixed group was assem 
 bled all the elite of the town, with many of Aunt Betsy s 
 neighbors, and the doctor s patients, who had come to 
 
406 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 see their physician married, rejoicing in his happiness, 
 and glad that the mistress of Linwood was not to be a 
 stranger, but the young girl who had grown up in their 
 midst, and who, by suffering and sorrow, had been moulded 
 into a noble woman, worthy of Dr. Grant. She was ready 
 now for her second bridal, in her dress of white, with no 
 vestige of color in her face, and her great blue eyes shin 
 ing with a brilliancy which made them almost black. Oc 
 casionally, as her thoughts leaped backward over a period 
 of almost six years, a tear trembled on her long eyelashes, 
 but Morris kissed it away, asking if she were sorry. 
 
 " Oh, no, not sorry that I am to be your wife," she an 
 swered; "but it is not possible that I should forget en 
 tirely the roughness of the road which has led me to you." 
 
 " They are waiting for you," was said several times, 
 and down the stairs passed Mark Eay and Helen, Lieut. 
 Bob and Bell, with Dr. Grant and Katy, whose face, as she 
 stood again before the clergyman and spoke her marriage 
 vows, shone with a strange, peaceful light, which made 
 it seem to those who gazed upon her like the face of some 
 pure angel. 
 
 There was no thought then of that deathbed in George 
 town no thought of Greenwood or the little grave in 
 Silverton, where the crocuses and hyacinths were blos 
 soming no thought of anything save the man at her side, 
 whose voice was so full and earnest as t it made the re 
 sponses, and who gently pressed the little hand as he fitted 
 the wedding-ring. It was over at last, and Katy was 
 Morris s wife, blushing now as they called her Mrs. Grant, 
 and putting up her rosebud lips to be kissed by all who 
 claimed that privilege. Helen, too, came in for her share 
 of attention, and the opinion of the guests as to the beauty 
 of the respective brides, as they were termed, was pretty 
 equally divided. 
 
 In heavy rustling silk, which actually trailed an inch, 
 and cap of real lace, Aunt Betsy moved among the 
 crowd, her face glowing with the satisfaction she felt at 
 seeing her nieces so much admired, and her heart so full 
 of good will and toleration that after the supper was over, 
 and she fancied a few of the younger ones were beginning 
 
The Cameron Pride. 407 
 
 to feel tired, she suggested to Bell that she might start 
 a dance if she had a mind to, either in the kitchen or the 
 parlor, it did not matter where, and " Ephraim would not 
 care an atom/ a remark which brought from Mrs. Deacon 
 Bannister a most withering look of reproach, and slightly 
 endangered Aunt Betsy s standing in the church. Per 
 haps Bell Cameron suspected as much, for she replied that 
 they were having a splendid time as it was, and as Dr. 
 Grant did not dance, they might as well dispense with it 
 altogether. And so it happened that there was no dancing 
 at Katy s wedding, and Uncle Ephraim escaped the re 
 proof which his brother deacon would have felt called upon 
 to give him had he permitted so grievous a sin, while 
 Mrs. Deacon Bannister, who, at the first trip of the toe 
 would have departed lest her eyes should look upon the 
 evil thing, was permitted to remain until " it was out," and 
 the guests retired en masse to their respective homes. 
 
 The carriage from Linwood stood at the farm-house 
 door, and Katy, wrapped in shawls and hood, was ready 
 to go with her husband. There were no tears shed at this 
 parting, for their darling was not going far away ; her new 
 home was just across the fields, and through the soft 
 moonlight they could see its chimney tops, and trace for 
 some little distance the road over which the carriage went 
 bearing her swiftly on; her hands fast locked in Morris s, 
 her head upon his arm, and the hearts of both too full of 
 bliss for either to speak a word until Linwood was reached, 
 when, folding Katy to Ms bosom in a passionate embrace, 
 Morris said to her, 
 
 " We are home at last) your home and mine, my pre 
 cious, precious wife." 
 
 The village clock was striking one, and the sound echoed 
 across the waters of Fairy Pond, awakening, in his marshy 
 bed, a sleeping frog, who sent forth upon the warm, still 
 air a musical, plaintive note as Morris bore his bride over 
 the threshold and into the library, where a cheerful fire 
 was blazing. He had ordered it kindled there, for he had 
 a fancy ere he slept to see fulfilled a dream he had 
 
408 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 dreamed so often, of Katy sitting as his wife in the chair 
 across the hearth, where he placed her now, himself re 
 moving her shawl and hood; then kneeling down before 
 her, with his arm around her waist and his head upon her 
 shoulder, he prayed aloud to the God who had brought 
 her there, asking His blessing upon their future life, and 
 dedicating himself and all he had to his Master s service. 
 It is such prayer which God delights to answer, and a 
 peace, deeper than they had yet known, fell upon that 
 newly-married pair at Linwood. 
 
 CHAPTER LIL 
 
 CONCLUSION". 
 
 THE scene shifts now to New York, where, one week 
 after that wedding in Silverton, Mark and Helen went, 
 together with Morris and Katy. But not to Madison 
 Square. That house had been sold, and Katy saw it but 
 once, her tears falling fast as, driving slowly by with 
 Morris, she gazed at the closed doors and windows of what 
 was once her home, and around which lingered no pleasant 
 memories save that it was the birthplace of baby Cameron. 
 Lieutenant Reynolds had thought to buy it, but Bell said, 
 " No, it would not be pleasant for Katy to visit me there, 
 and I mean to have her with me as much as possible. " 
 So the house went to strangers, and a less pretentious but 
 quite as comfortable one was bought for Bell, so far up 
 town that Juno wondered how her sister would manage to 
 exist so far from everything, intimating that her visits 
 would be far between, a threat which Lieutenant Bob took 
 quite heroically ; indeed, it rather enhanced the value of his 
 pleasant home than otherwise, for Juno was not a favor 
 ite, and his equanimity was not likely to be disturbed if 
 she never crossed his threshold. She was throwing bait 
 to Arthur Grvy, the man who swore he was fifty to escape 
 the draft, and who, now that the danger was over, would 
 gladly take back his oath and be forty, as he really was. 
 
The Cameron Pride. 409 
 
 With the most freezing kiss imaginable Juno greeted Katy, 
 calling her " Mrs. Grant," and treating Morris as if he 
 were an entire stranger, instead of the man whom to get 
 she would once have moved both earth and heaven. Mrs. 
 Cameron, too, though glad that Katy was married, and 
 fully approving her choice, threw into her manner so much 
 reserve that Katy s intercourse with her was anything but 
 agreeable, and she turned with alacrity to father Cameron, 
 who received her with open arms, calling her his daughter, 
 and welcoming Morris as his son, taken in Wilford s stead. 
 " My boy," he frequently called him, showing how will 
 ingly he accepted him as the husband of one whom he 
 loved as his child. Greatly he wished that they should stay 
 with him while they remained in New York, but Katy 
 preferred going to Mrs. Banker s, where she would be 
 more quiet, and avoid the bustle and confusion attending 
 the preparations for Bell s wedding. It was to be a grand 
 church affair, and to take place during Easter week, after 
 which the bridal pair were going on to Washington, and 
 if possible to Eichmond, where Bob had been a prisoner. 
 Everything seemed conspiring to make the occasion a joy 
 ful one, for all through the North, from Maine to Cali 
 fornia, the air was rife with the songs of victory and the 
 notes of approaching peace. But alas ! He who holds our 
 country s destiny in his hand changed that song of glad 
 ness into a wail of woe, which, echoing through the land, 
 rose up to heaven in one mighty sob of anguish, as the 
 whole nation bemoaned its loss. Our President was dead, 
 and New York was in mourning, so black, so profound, 
 that with a shudder Bell Cameron tossed aside the orange 
 wreath and said to her lover, "We will be married at 
 home. I cannot now go to the church, when everything 
 seems like one great funeral." 
 
 And so in Mrs. Cameron s drawing-room there was a 
 quiet wedding, one pleasant April morning, and Bell s 
 plain traveling dress was far more in keeping with the 
 gloom which hung over the great city than her gala robes 
 would have been, with a long array of carriages and merry 
 wedding chimes. Westward they went instead of South, 
 and when our late lamented President was borne back to 
 the prairies of Illinois, they were there to greet the noble 
 
4io The Cameron Pride. 
 
 dead, and mingle their tears with those who knew and 
 loved him long before the world appreciated his worth. 
 
 Softly the May rain falls on Linwood, where the fresh 
 green grass is springing and the early spring flowers 
 blooming, and where Katy stands for a moment in the 
 bay window of the library, listening to the patter on the 
 tin roof overhead, and gazing wistfully down the road, 
 as if watching for some one ; then turning, she enters the 
 dining-room and inspects the supper table, for her mother. 
 Aunt Hannah, and Aunt Betsy are visiting her this rainy 
 afternoon, while Morris, on his return from North Silver- 
 ton, is to call for Uncle Ephraim and bring him home to 
 tea. 
 
 Linwood is a nice place to visit, and the old ladies 
 enjoy it vastly, especially Aunt Betsy, who never tires of 
 telling what they have "over to KatyV and whose cape- 
 less shaker hangs often on the hall stand, just as it hangs 
 now, while she, good soul, sits in the pleasant parlor, and 
 darns the socks for Morris, taking as much pains as if it 
 were a network of fine lace she was weaving, instead of 
 a shocking rent in some luckless heel or toe. Up stairs 
 there is a pleasant room which Katy calls Aunt Betsy s, 
 and in it is the " feather bed," which never found its way 
 to Madison Square. Morris himself did t not think much 
 of feathers, but he made no objections when Aunt Betsy 
 insisted upon Katy s having the bed kept for so many 
 years, and only smiled a droll kind of smile when he one 
 morning met it coming up the walk in the wheelbarrow 
 which Uncle Ephraim trundled. 
 
 Morris and his young wife are very happy together and 
 Katy finds the hours of his absence very long, especially 
 when left alone. Even to-day the time drags heavily, and 
 she looks more than once from the bay window, until at 
 last Brownie s head is seen over the hill, and a few mo 
 ments after Morris s arm is around her shoulders, and her 
 lips are upturned for the kiss he gives as he leads her 
 into the house, chiding her for exposing herself to the 
 rain, and placing in her hand three letters, which she does 
 
The Cameron Pride. 411 
 
 not open until the cozy tea is over and her family friends 
 have gone. Then, while her husband looks over his even 
 ing paper, she breaks the seals one by one reading first 
 the letter from " Mrs. Bob Keynolds," who has returned 
 from the West, and who is in the full glory of her bridal 
 calls. 
 
 "I was never so happy in my life as I am now," she 
 wrote. " Indeed, I did not know that a married woman 
 could be so happy; but then every woman has not a Bob 
 for her husband, which makes a vast difference. You 
 ought to see Juno. I know she envies me, though she 
 affects the utmost contempt for matrimony, and reminds 
 me forcibly of the fox and the grapes. You see, Arthur 
 Grey is a failure, so far as Juno is concerned, he having 
 withdrawn from the field and laid himself at the feet of 
 Sybil Grandon, who will be Mrs. Grey, and a bride at 
 Saratoga the coming summer. Juno intends going too, 
 as the bridesmaid of the party ; but every year her chances 
 lessen, and I have very little hope that father will ever 
 call other than Bob his son, always excepting Morris, of 
 course, whom he has adopted in place of Wilford. You 
 don t know, Katy, how much father thinks of you, bless 
 ing the day which brought you to us, and saying that if 
 he is ever saved, he shall in a great measure owe it to your 
 influence and consistent life after the great trouble came 
 upon you." 
 
 There were tears in Katy s eyes as she read this letter 
 from Bell, and with a mental prayer of thanksgiving that 
 she had been of any use in guiding even one to the Shep 
 herd s Fold, she took next the letter whose superscription 
 brought back so vividly to her mind the daisy-covered 
 grave in Alnwick. Marian, who was now at Annapolis, 
 caring for the returned prisoners, did not write often, and 
 her letters were prized the more by Katy, who read with a 
 beating heart the kind congratulations upon her recent 
 marriage, sent by Marian Hazelton. 
 
 " I knew how it would end, when you were in George 
 town," she wrote, " and I am glad that it is so, praying 
 daily that you may be happy with Dr. Grant and remember 
 the sad past only as some dream from which you have 
 
412 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 awakened. I thank you for your invitation to visit Lin- 
 wood, and when my work is over I may come for a few 
 weeks and rest in your bird s nest of a home. Thank God 
 the war is ended ; but my boys need me yet, and until the 
 last crutch has left the hospital, I shall stay where duty 
 lies. What my life will henceforth be I do not know; but 
 I have sometimes thought that with the funds you so gen 
 erously bestowed upon me, I shall open a school for orphan 
 children, taking charge myself, and so doing some good. 
 Will you be the Lady Patroness, and occasionally enliven 
 us with the light of your countenance? I have left the 
 hospital but once since you were here, and then I went to 
 Wilford s grave. I prayed for you while there, remember 
 ing only that you had been his wife. In a little box where 
 no eyes but mine ever look, there is a bunch of flowers 
 plucked from Wilford s grave. They are faded and with 
 ered, but something of their sweet perfume lingers still; 
 and I prize them as my greatest treasure; for, except the 
 lock of hair severed from his head, they are all that is re 
 maining to me of the past, which now seems so far away. 
 It is time to make my nightly round of visits, so I must 
 bid you good-bye, the Lord lift up the light of his 
 countenance upon you, and be with you forever. 
 
 MARIAN HAZELTON." 
 
 For a long time Katy held this letter in her hand, won 
 dering if the sorrowful woman whose Kfe was once so 
 strangely blended with that of Marian Hazleton, could be 
 the Katy Grant who sat by the evening fire at Lin wood, 
 with the sunshine of perfect happiness resting on her heart. 
 " Truly He doeth all things well to those who wait upon 
 Him," she thought, as she laid down Marian s letter and 
 took up the third and last, Helen s letter, dated at Fortress 
 Monroe, whither, with Mark Kay, she had gone just after 
 Bell Cameron s bridal. 
 
 " You cannot imagine," Helen wrote, " the feelings of 
 awe and even terror which steal over me the nearer I get to 
 the seat of war, and the more I realize the bloody strife 
 we have been engaged in., and which, thank God, has now 
 nearly ceased. You have heard of John Jennings, the no 
 ble man who saved my dear husband s life, and of Aunt 
 
The Cameron Pride. 413 
 
 Bab, who helped in the good work? Both are here, and 
 I never saw Mark more pleased than when seized around 
 the neck by two long brawny arms, while a cheery voice 
 called out: c Hallow, old chap, has you done forgot John 
 Jennins ? I verily believe Mark cried, and I know I did, 
 especially when old Bab came up and shook young 
 misses hand/ I kissed her, Katy all black, and rough, 
 and uncouth as she was. I wish you could see how grateful 
 the old creature is for every act of kindness. When we 
 come home again, both John and Bab will come with us, 
 though what we shall do with John, is more than I can 
 tell. Mark says he shall employ him about the office, and 
 this I know will delight Tom Tubbs, who has again made 
 friends with Chitty, and who will almost worship John 
 as having saved Mark s life. Aunt Bab shall have an 
 honored seat by the kitchen fire, and a pleasant room all 
 to herself, working only when she likes, and doing as she 
 pleases. 
 
 " Did I tell you that Mattie Tubbs was to be my seam 
 stress? I am getting together a curious household, you 
 will say; but I like to have those about me to whom I 
 can do the greatest amount of good, and as I happen to 
 know how much Mattie admires the Lennox girls/ I did 
 not hesitate to take her. 
 
 " We stopped at Annapolis on our way here, and I shall 
 never forget the pale, worn faces, nor the great sunken 
 eyes which looked at me so wistfully as I went from cot 
 to cot, speaking words of cheer to the sufferers, some of 
 whom were Mark s companions in prison, and whose eyes 
 lighted up with joy as they recognized him and heard of 
 his escape. There are several nurses here, but no words 
 of mine can tell what one of them is to the poor fellows, 
 or how eagerly they watch for her coming. Following her 
 with greedy glances as she moves about the room, and 
 holding her hand with a firm clasp, as if they would keep 
 her with them always. Indeed, more than one heart, as 
 I am told, has confessed its allegiance to her; but she 
 answers all the same, f l have no love to give. It died 
 out long ago, and cannot be recalled. You can guess who 
 she is, Katy. The soldiers call her an angel, but we know 
 her as Marian." 
 
414 The Cameron Pride. 
 
 There were great tear blots upon that letter as Katy 
 put it aside, and nestling close to Morris, laid her head 
 upon his knee, where his hand could smooth her golden 
 curls, while she pondered Helen s closing words, think 
 ing how much they expressed, and how just a tribute they 
 were to the nohle woman whose life had been one con 
 stant sacrifice of self for another s good " The soldiers 
 call her an angel, but we know her as Marian." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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