No 
 
 PRIVATE LIBRARY 
 
 I 
 JOFJ | 
 
 W. H. CONR.fl 
 
 PASADENA, CAL.

 
 THE SELECT NOVELS 
 
 OF 
 
 MARION HARLAND. 
 
 1. ALONE. 
 2. HIDDEN PATH. 
 3. MOSS SIDE. 
 4. NEMESIS. 
 5. MIRIAM. 
 6. SUNNYBANK. 
 7. RUBY'S HUSBAND. 
 8. AT LAST. 
 9. MY LITTLE LOVE. 
 10. TRUE AS STEEL. (New.) 
 
 " The Novels of Marion Harland are of surpassing ex- 
 cellence. By intrinsic power of character-draw- 
 ing and descriptive facility, they hold 
 the reader's attention with the 
 most intense interest 
 and fascination." 
 
 All published uniform with this volume. Price $1.50 
 
 each, and sent free by mail, on receipt of price. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. W. CARLETON & CO., Publishers, 
 New York.
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 MARION HARLAND, 
 
 HrDtXIS PATH," "NKMESIS," "MIRIAM," "THE EMPTI HEAB'V 
 GAM-NEK," "SUNXYBAXK," "HUSBANDS AND HOMES," 
 D3l'fc HUSBAND," "PHESUE'S TEMPTATION," KIU 
 
 " Love took up the harp of Life, and smote 
 
 On all the chords with might, 
 Bmote the chord of Self, that trembling passed 
 In music out of sight." 
 
 NE W YORK: 
 
 Carleton, Publisher, Madison Square, 
 
 LONDON : S. LOW, SON & CO. 
 MDCCCLXXXV.
 
 KHTIMD eording to Act of Conyew ir * w 1*4. V 
 DERBY * JACKSON, 
 
 at 'b iKitrict Court of the United SUte, for the Sonta> 
 
 TROW'S 
 PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING Co., 
 
 PRINTERS, 
 205-213 East iith St., 
 
 NEW YORK.
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " A.RE you aware, Louise, that in all our correspondence about 
 this important affair, and in our lengthy conversation this after- 
 noon there has been signal neglect of the happy man of your 
 choice that I ani ignorant even of his name ?" 
 
 " Ah 1 that was rather a careless omission on my part. See 1 
 this is May Seaton's present, the work of her own fingers the 
 dear little creature 1 Does it not remind you of her ? She is 
 to be one of our travelling party ; I wrote to you to that effect, 
 I believe ?" 
 
 "You did." 
 
 I admired the exquisite embroidery of the satin mouchoir-case, 
 the quilted lining of blue silk ; inhaled the verbeua perfume 
 that lingered within its depths ; wondering, all the while, at the 
 bride's forgetfulness of my question. 
 
 We had been school-fellows Louise Wynne and I ; had 
 passed two happy, busy years at Mrs. W 's celebrated sem- 
 inary, and being room-mates, must, of necessity, have learned to 
 love or hate each other with our whole hearts. We preferred the 
 more amiable course, and although we had never met until now, 
 since the day of our graduation, the intimacy had sustained no 
 
 2017322
 
 6 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 rupture Our letters, loug and frequent, had kept each advised 
 of the other's movements and undiminished affection. It is true 
 I knew nothing of her attachment to her successful suitor, or 
 indeed that such a being existed, previous to her announcement 
 of the anticipated marriage ; but this was an offence easily par- 
 doned the more easily, since she had not forgotten our ancient 
 compact concerning the bridesmaid's office ; one which is invari- 
 ably entered into by " inseparable" school-girls, and very rarely 
 respected in the time of trial. Louise never overlooked a friend 
 or broke an engagement, and this is the explanation of my pre- 
 sence in her chamber on this summer day, far away from my 
 southern country home, the roar of a thronged city coming in at 
 our windows, and immediately about us, tokens of the near 
 approach of some gala occasion. 
 
 " Herbert and myself planned our route," continued Louise. 
 " I sent you the programme ; the White Mountains and Niagara 
 not an original one, by any means, but we could think of no 
 other that promised equal gratification to all of us ; Herbert 
 being the only person who has been over the ground before. 
 We concluded, however, to confer with yourself and your 
 brother, before making an irreversible decision. If you can pro- 
 pose any novelty in such an excursion, or if you prefer a visit to 
 Saratoga or Newport, we will cheerfully alter our course." 
 
 I assured her of our perfect satisfaction in the existing 
 arrangement. 
 
 " I hope you like large parties, in or out of season," was her 
 I cxt remark, as she drew from the wardrobe the bridal dress 
 tnd veil. " Herbert does not favor this one of my whims. His 
 taste would be for a morning ceremony, travelling-dresses and a 
 family breakfast ; but these hum-drum, economical proceedings 
 do not tally with my notions." 
 
 It certainly was not suggested by her lively tone, or anything 
 ,n her behavior and countenance ; yet as she stood brushing
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 7 
 
 lightly the flounces of her wedding-robe, the veil, with its chaplet 
 of orange blossoms placed upon her head, that I might better 
 observe its length and the beauty of its texture, I thought hotf 
 pagan priests decked the choicest of their flock with ribbons and 
 garlands, and then led her to the sacrificial altar. 
 
 " The ceremony will be a bore it always is," said Louise, still 
 busy with the lace and flowers. " A large assembly is the only 
 thing that effectually relieves its tedious formality. There are 
 not enough people in town to crowd the rooms, so we shall 
 be comfortable, hot as the weather is." 
 
 " Who will compose your travelling-party ?" asked I. 
 
 " We shall number six in all. You and Herbert, May and 
 that handsome brother of yours by the way, how very hand- 
 some he is 1" 
 
 "Yourself and Mr. Blank," I interrupted, laughing. "You 
 did not finish your answer to my inquiry." 
 
 She colored, but not with the unbidden, rapid rose-tint I had 
 expected to see. 
 
 " Have I not told you his name yet ? The truth is we have 
 had so much else to talk about. There is nothing particularly 
 euphonious or aristocratic, either in the praenomen or patronymic 
 of the gentleman in question. He answers to the address of 
 David Wilson." 
 
 It was not a patrician title ; I would have chosen Mordauut 
 or Howard in preference for the high-bred girl who was to 
 assume it, yet it was not this trifling disappointment that embar- 
 rassed me into saying, as if trying the effect of the sound upon 
 my ears, " Louise Wilson." 
 
 " For Heaven's sake none of that 1" broke impatiently from 
 her ; the next second, she bent down and kissed me. " Don't 
 think me cross, dear ; but to you I would be forever the Louisa 
 Df our other days. You can remember even the dead with love 
 can you not, Grace ?"
 
 8 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " 1 can never forget what you have been what jou are no* 
 to me," I answered. *' Do not hint that you must cease to be 
 my dearest friend, although you love another more." 
 
 She kissed me again, because I proffered the pledge of con- 
 gtancy, but her lips were cold and hard, and she went to thf 
 tuble, bestrewed with her bridal gifts. 
 
 " I have forgotten whether you ever saw my eldest brother," 
 she said interrogatively. 
 
 " I have never met him, I am sorry to say. He was in South 
 America most of the time we spent together at school." 
 
 " 0, yes ! I recollect 1 He is living here now. We speak of 
 you so often and familiarly, that he feels well acquainted with 
 you, so you must not be shy to him. You will like him, I am 
 sure. He is only my adopted brother, you know ?" 
 
 " Yes he is a cousin, I believe ?" 
 
 " Not even that but the nephew of my father's first wile. 
 He was a widower when he married my mother. Herbert was 
 orphaned in his infancy, and his aunt promised her dying sister 
 to rear him as her own son, an engagement which my father, 
 after her death, still felt himself bound to fulfill. He has had a 
 collegiate education, and chose the mercantile profession of his 
 own will. They say he is doing well." 
 
 She said all this, as if reciting a lesson learned by rote ; a 
 very different tone from that in which she generally alluded to 
 her favorite brother. I noticed, moreover, that confusion, 
 instead of order, marked the progress of her nands over the 
 glittering silver, the jewel-caskets, and the hundred nameless 
 articles of bijouterie she pretended to arrange. Suddenly, hef 
 arms fell to her side. Some strained cord had snapped asun 
 der. 
 
 " I am tired !" she said, fretfully. " May I sit here, Grace, 
 as I used to in the times of study-headaches ?" 
 
 She dragged a cushion to my feet, as she spoke, and throwing
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 9 
 
 ueraelf upon it, laid her head in my lap Th< strange aching 
 at my heart would not let me speak, but from the force of an 
 old and almost forgotten habit, I unbound her hair and passed 
 my fingers through and through the heavy locks, a kind of loving 
 mesmerism, that of yore had always proved efficacious in quelling 
 pain and nervousness. We sat thus for a silent half-hour 
 Louise might have been supposed to slumber, except that no 
 healthy sleep was ever so motionless, so fearfully still. For 
 myself, I lapsed into my inveterate practice of dreaming. All 
 my surroundings were unfamiliar. The furniture of the apart- 
 ment was splendid in comparison with that of my simple room at 
 home, and scattered everywhere were garments, that to my eyes, 
 were fit for the wear of royalty itself ; silks, that re-produced 
 the shifting hues of the rainbow and the sunset clouds ; other 
 and lighter fabrics, whose folds blossomed into bouquets of 
 imperial exotics, or were overrun with graceful vines ; muslins, 
 fleecy and sheer as morning mists. Even the friend at .my 
 feet was not a reality. I saw not an inch below the surface 
 upon which the world might gaze ; whereas my Louise was a 
 frank, affectionate child, who had slept in my bosom and wept 
 away every grief in my embrace. In my bewildered musings 
 now, I seemed to see her attempting to lift a ponderous iron gate 
 to bar my entrance to her heart, the threshold worn by my foot- 
 prints. This thought had come to me during her labored recital 
 of Herbert Wynne's story, and when her arms gave way, I could 
 imagine that I saw the fall and heard the crash. The dull, 
 
 eavy roar without, never waxing louder or more faint, like the 
 incessant roar of a cataract through a stagnant atmosphere, 
 
 nade my mind wander still more. I knew little then of tha 
 bending backs and breaking hearts ; the toiling arms and tor 1 
 tured brains ; of the battles for life, the groans of the van 
 quished, the shouts of the victorious that make up that tumult 
 mighty, yet monotonous a sound that must reach Heaven's 
 1*
 
 10 MOS8SIDE. 
 
 high gate as a sigh from the grieving earth ; but as I listened 
 it almost stifled me. 
 
 " Grace !" 
 
 The voice was hollow and broken, but it was her own at last, 
 and my heart leaped to hear it. 
 
 " My own Louise 1" 
 
 " I am very miserable 1 Pity me 1" 
 
 " I iove you, dearest 1" 
 
 I drew her nearer to me, and calling her by all the winning 
 names our affection had taught me, assured her of my sym- 
 pathy in every sorrow, my willingness my anxiety to aid her 
 by every means this affection could invent. 
 
 " I need no help I ask none ! I ask nothing of any human 
 being besides yourself. I do say to you pity me 1" 
 
 " And why, dear Louise ?" 
 
 She said nothing for a time, and when the words came, they 
 *ere not a reply to mine. 
 
 " Grace ! do you believe in a God ?" 
 
 I could scarcely answer, so great was my astonishment. 
 
 " Certainly 1 Who can doubt this ?" 
 
 i pi 
 
 " Louise I you are mad I" 
 
 " I am sane I If I believed there was an All-seeing Eye, 
 rhich would witness and cause to be recorded the tremendous 
 r.n I shall coolly commit in three days more, do you think that I, 
 daring as I am, would risk the consequences of such an act f 
 My father and my mother are members of a Christian church. 
 The God of the one is Gold, that of the other, Society. I dis- 
 dain hypocrisy therefore I declare that I have none 1" 
 
 " Yet there was a time " I commenced. 
 
 " I know I I know ! I am changed in everything since then, 
 Grace. 0, darling ! those happy golden hours !" 
 
 I was glad to see the tears a fiery delnge though thej
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 11 
 
 were She checked them with a suddenness that surprised 
 me. 
 
 " I left school and came home with a mind full of undefined 
 yet enchanting pictures of the free, joyous life in store for me. 
 Society, as seen in chance glimpses from the nursery and in my 
 vacations was a flashing, noisy merrily noisy stream, upon which 
 my barque would bound without fear of wreck or danger. My 
 debut was a ' sensation,' so my mother informed me with 
 natural pride, and from that moment began the development of 
 her plans. Do you suppose that the Circassian slave likes the 
 ring of her gilded fetters better than the wretch in the galleys 
 does the grating of his rusty irons ?" 
 
 " Both servitudes are galling," I said. " His is no worse than 
 htrs, I should think." 
 
 " That is because you are unsophisticated. My mother would 
 gay that the seraglio fetters are to be coveted ; that in this civil- 
 ized land, in this Bible-reading, God-fearing age, woman's ears 
 should desire no more acceptable music than the clank of tho 
 manacles that confine her to the prescribed pace upon the turf 
 of fashionable life. But hear of my heinous transgression my 
 outrageous sedition 1 I was involved in an imprudent love- 
 Bcrape thus my mot .er termed it before I had been ' out ' a 
 month, and to the h )ly horror of the virtuous Mrs. Grundys of 
 our set with one w x> was not ' eligible ' in the first, second, or 
 even third degree a poor medical student. At the termination 
 of this, his last session, he had nothing that man had bestowed 
 to rely upon except the diploma his diligence had earned 
 Heaven's endowment of genius and a brave, true heart wer 
 naught in their eyes blind, besotted bats that they are 1" 
 
 " Louise 1 dearest 1" 
 
 " Don't interrupt me I" 
 
 She was sitting upright on the floor, her black hair streaming 
 down her shoulders, her brow knit, her face growing white in 
 tead of flushing, as her speech increased in \ehemence
 
 12 M08B-8IDK. 
 
 " My mother is never violent. There she had the advantage 
 of me when the outbreak arrived which, thanks to her diplo- 
 macy, was not until weeks of absence and estrangement had 
 driven me well-nigh to doubt of his love, while they forced me to 
 confess mine, for the first time, to myself. His visits having been 
 discontinued, our casual meetings were those of apparent stran- 
 gers, or slight acquaintances. The truth was revealed one day, 
 when, through singular negligence on her part, we found our- 
 selves together at the house of a friend, in circumstances where 
 an interview could not be avoided. From him I learned that 
 my mother had insinuated her disapprobation of the attentions 
 my duller sight had not considered marked, and his proud na- 
 ture required no more to exclude him from our dwelling. He 
 was ready for departure for the far West, but this conversation 
 decided him to postpone the journey. A formal declaration, 
 sanctioned by myself, was presented to my father, and met, as I 
 had forewarned him it would do, with a peremptory refusal. I 
 joined my pleadings to his. They were not offered to my 
 mother I knew her too well but to the parent who had 
 hitherto indulged my every caprice, although I had never 
 thought of seeking sympathy from him. Like most other men, 
 he made a business matter of our petition. Could the drops 
 that were falling from my heart have been coined into guineas 
 for my lover's purse, how gracious would have been his recep 
 tion into our family with what a flourish our plighting been 
 proclaimed 1 But they were only life-blood, whose flow must 
 leave that heart a dead, worthless thing, and for all practi- 
 cal purposes, I would be better off. Then I vowed that no mor- 
 tal power should hinder me from becoming his wife ; that I 
 would follow him through poverty, toil, banishment, to the 
 worlds end. I met opposition here for which I was not pre- 
 pared. I shall never forget the sad but resolute words that an 
 dwered my offer to do this, and more, if he would permit it. 
 
 " ' No, Louise ! I cannot T ought not to avail myself of your
 
 MC88-8IDE. 13 
 
 generosity. Mine you cannot be now. All that I ask of yon \a 
 to remember and to wait. If I live, I will claim you when you* 
 friends shall feel honored, not disgraced by the alliance.' 
 
 " 'Remember and wait I' This was my watchword, my talis- 
 mar. foi six months, and then I had a letter from a brother phy 
 sician in a distant city, who had seen him die 1" 
 
 The brow did not relax ; the lips were still rigid. She bowed 
 her head again to my knee. 
 
 Twilight was gathering in the corners ; the gleam of the silver 
 was dim, and the vari-colored robes were sobered into one dun 
 hue. The bridal dress had been hung upon the foot of the bed, 
 and the veil spread over it. Through my tears, the streaming 
 white flow of its drapery took the form of a living presence an 
 angel, whose garments of light were the one spot of brightness 
 in the room, bending towards the grief-smitten girl in an atti- 
 tude of love and compassion. Without, the roar of the Fall was 
 heavy, ceaseless, and I began to discern some meaning in its 
 voice. 
 
 " His zeal in his profession," continued Louise, " so said the 
 writer, ' had led him into the midst of a dangerous epidemic, 
 then prevailing in that place, and he had fallen, an honorable 
 sacrifice.' I told no one of the tidings I had received. The 
 letter reached me in the forenoon. That evening I appeared at 
 a large party, and danced, and laughed, and coquetted until 
 daybreak. A week later, my mother saw the announcement of 
 his death in a Western paper, and sent it up to my room. When 
 we met, not a syllable was exchanged on the subject, nor has 
 his name ever passed my lips or pierced my ears since. But, 
 Grace I" and her voice sank to a whisper " deep in my heart 
 Ihere is a grave sealed fast ! for I trampled down the earth 
 myself beat it hard 1 No grass grows there ; no tear ever 
 urets it ; no sunbeam ever strays through the darkness to lighj 
 it. My former self is buried there with his memoj y 1"
 
 1 4 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 A spell was on my tongue and senses. I saw the loiely grare 
 ihuddered in the frosty night that enveloped it. Once a feat 
 Crossed my mind that we were going mad together, for a mahiac 
 i believed her to be at that moment. 
 
 The angel seemed to draw nearer to bend lower. 
 
 Louise resumed : " I am to be married in three days and to 
 
 man for whom I have no more respect than I would fe^l for a 
 'ove-eick schoolboy ; one whose society I barely tolerate ; just 
 raeh a commonplace puppet as you might pick up by the dozen 
 ui any modern drawing-room well furnished with guests. But 
 my sagacious mamma has consulted confidentially with each of 
 the five hundred oracles of ' Society,' and this is unanimously 
 voted a suitable match by the same rule that a grovelling 
 barn-yard fowl, if his wings were tipped with shining yellow, 
 might be considered a ' suitable match ' for the soaring falcon !" 
 
 "But, Louise, you had a right to protest to rebel against 
 this sale of yourself I" 
 
 " Why should I be refractory, my dear Innocent ? I prefer 
 an establishment of my own to my present residence a purse, 
 whose strings are entirely at my command, to dependence upon a 
 father whom my unruly spirit has displeased. Marry I must, or 
 my younger sisters will push me off the stage before the bloom 
 of my youth has departed. Could I remain here to fade and 
 shrivel into a scarecrow-warning to Misses Amelia, Marcia, and 
 Julia Wynne to shun the calamitous crime of a ' romantic attach- 
 ment?' My mother blandly 'supposed I would treat Mr. Wil- 
 son's proposal with the respect it deserved,' and congratulated 
 me after the most highly approved style, when I informed her 
 that I had returned a favorable reply. I have had other wealth 
 aitors, but none of them were quite so rich as he, and he pos 
 esses the additional virtue of good-nature, so I trust he will not 
 Incommode me seriously. He is foolish enough to adore me, and 
 I, as I have said, do not esteem him of sufficient importance c
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 15 
 
 dislike him--so we shall be a pattern couple, and happy yes 
 quite happy !" 
 
 She was raising the gate again no longer with spasmodic 
 uncertain energy, but with the efficient, continuous power of will 
 a will, wuich in her earlier, and I was obliged to say to myself, 
 her better days, was invincible when excited to exert its full 
 vigor. 
 
 It was only a puff of wind that fluttered the veil, but the 
 angel seemed preparing for flight. Steps and voices were heard 
 upon the stair-case. Louise sprang to her feet, folded me in a 
 convulsive embrace, pressed a last kiss upon my mouth and the 
 grim dour clashed to never more to yield to the touch of a 
 mortal's hand. 
 
 Amelia, a pert girl of fourteen, and Louise's maid were the 
 intruders. The latter brought a pair of lamps that drove glooin 
 and apparitions from the chamber. 
 
 "Bless me, Louise 1" exclaimed her sister, "don't you mean to 
 dress for tea ? And Mr. Wilson is the soul of punctuality." 
 
 " There is the less need then of my embodying the quality," 
 retorted Louise, carelessly. " Miss Leigh and myself have been 
 making work for yon, Margaret," to her maid, who was survey- 
 ing the disordered room in manifest dismay. " I will help you 
 put these dresses away ;" and without even smoothing her hair, 
 she proceeded to fold some and replace others in their several 
 repositories. 
 
 "It does provoke me to see you so unconcerned and col- 
 lected," said Amelia. " Did yon ever see another bride behave 
 as she does, Miss Leigh ? Even Herbert complains that you arc 
 disrespectful to Mr. Wilson, Louise, in always consulting youi 
 own convenience, taking your own time, without caring whether 
 it su:ts him or not. It is too bad I" 
 
 As her sister did not notice this reprimand, delivered with the 
 asperity of a dictatorial duenna, the flippant miss addressed her
 
 16 M068BIDE 
 
 self poutiugly to me, and tendered iier assistance to expedite mj 
 toilette. She doubtless animadverted mentally upon my stu 
 pidity, as she had done upon Louise's indifference, for my maze 
 was not ended, nor was the new aching at my heart removed. I 
 was under the necessity, more than once, of pausing in the task 
 of dressing, and holding myself up by the table, so strong was 
 he impression that the vast, rushing river, booming without, was 
 bearing me with it that I had become one of its many moaning 
 waves.
 
 M O 8 8 -8 I D K. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AKILIA had erred in her statement of the habits of her future 
 trother, or something had caused him to deviate from them this 
 3veniug, for when we descended to the parlor, three-quarters of 
 an hour after the tune to which that young lady had declared 
 him to be " as true as the clock," we found no one there except- 
 Mrs. Wynne. I had been rather inclined to like her in my 
 childish days, but the revelations of this afternoon had effected a 
 revulsion of sentiment, and I was conscious of replying very dis- 
 tantly to her overtures, as she gave me the seat at her right 
 hand on the sofa, and reiterated the ceremonial of welcome to 
 her house. She was rather a handsome woman, not yet pas! 
 the meridian of life ; for not a strand of grey was mixed witb 
 her blonde hair, and the fashionable cap was worn more because 
 it was becoming, and imparted to her the requisite matronly 
 appearance, than to conceal time's ravages. Her face expressed 
 the very superlative of placidity. Had it been more frequently, 
 or, 1 might say, had it ever been disturbed, I could sooner have 
 believed this the equanimity of a bland nature, and not an 
 adroitly adjusted mask. She was an endless talker, yet nobody 
 was so unrefined, as to style her even, subdued, melting speech, 
 dissolving in the ear, as butter does in the mouth volubility. I 
 was never able to account for the queer association of ideas, but 
 whenever she opened a conversation with me, 1 fancied myself a 
 babe in a cradle, which she kept moving to and fro a gentle 
 oscillation that lulled whether I willed to be quiet or not. Louise
 
 18 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 eat down to time her harp just within the folding-doors, to 
 far off, I thought, to hear much that we said. 
 
 " After all," said Mrs. Wynne, in her soft undertone, " I am 
 perhaps the person most obliged by your visit, Grace or am I 
 to do violence - to my feelings and custom by saying ' Miss 
 Leigh ?' " 
 
 " By no means, madam," I rejoined. 
 
 " Thank you ! I cannot divest myself of the notion that I 
 have a proprietorship in yon. You have been a kind, faithful 
 friend to our dear Louise, and it is one of my weak points an 
 amiable weakness some people are so good as to call it that I 
 cannot refrain from extending something of a mother's love to 
 those who are beloved by my children. When our sweet girl 
 here asked my permission to write for you, she commenced a 
 statement of her reasons for wishing your attendance upon this 
 interesting occasion, when I checked her ' My love,' said I, ' I 
 am ready to scold you, for imagining for one single moment that 
 I could forget the charming intimacy that has existed between 
 yourself and Grace for four or five years. You know that I 
 have fostered it, have commended your selection of a bosom 
 friend, and incited you to fidelity. Moreover, I shall be happy 
 to see her for my own sake. Her agreeable society and buoyant 
 spirits will beguile me of much of the sadness a mother inevita- 
 bly feels at such an event as the marriage of a dutiful and cher- 
 ished daughter. I shall depend upon her to help me bear the 
 trying scene.' So, my dear Grace, you see how selfish I am, and 
 how much you are expected to perform." 
 
 The cradle was in full swing, and I answered precisely as she 
 meant I should, that I was honored by the responsibility, aud 
 would do my best. 
 
 " Mr. Wilson is a superior young man," continued Mrs. Wynne. 
 " Our Louise has made a judicious choice, one seconded with 
 satisfaction by Mr Wynne and myself. His affection for hei
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 19 
 
 recalls some of the most delightful passages of my own expert 
 ence, for, my little Grace, I was once young, and had my suit- 
 ors. I must be permitted to observe, as I am speaking to 
 yon, that the conduct of Mr. Wilson's fiancte is entirely comme u 
 f out. A young lady owes it to herself and her sex to conduct 
 ncrself with great circumspection under these circumstance* 
 my love I" 
 
 This was a mild reproof to her daughter for the breaking of a 
 harp-string that twanged loudly at this instant. The placid 
 blue eyes returned to me : 
 
 " I suppose our bride has informed you of Mr. Wilson's gener- 
 osity iii purchasing a house on the next block to ours. It is in 
 keeping with his taste and wealth, and I have solaced myself in 
 some poor measure for the loss of my child by superintending 
 the arrangements for her future comfort. Mr. Wilson has con 
 suited me in everything of this sort, and exhibited such an 
 ardent desire to do all in his power to promote his idol's happi- 
 ness that he has quite won my forgiveness for the robbery he 
 intends committing. I shall soon love him as a son. We have 
 already one adopted child who has never felt the loss of his 
 natural parents ; and if it were possible to repay the care we 
 have bestowed upon him, his exemplary conduct would recom- 
 pense us. He has his faults, it is true." 
 
 Louise looked over at us, and although the blue eyes did not 
 stir from mine, her mother evidently substituted another for the 
 sentence on her tongue. 
 
 " But there are volumes to be said in his praise. I, of all 
 women, have reason to be proud of my children." 
 
 This maternal devotion was, in the language of Society, " a 
 beautiful trait in Mrs. Wynne's character." If so forcible an 
 expression had been admissible in its vocabulary, it would have 
 been termed her most remarkable characteristic. I was made 
 aware, by her rising with a benignant smile towards the door
 
 20 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 that two gentlemen were entering. Both were young ; both 
 well-dressed ; but one was taller, and had a finer face and figure 
 than the other. This was my hasty observation as they advanced 
 to pay their respects to the lady of the mansion. 
 
 " Mr. Wilson," she said to me ; " my sou, Mr. Herbert Wynne. 
 
 Mr. Wilson bowed ; Mr. Wynne shook hands with me cordially 
 AS his sister's friend and guest, and took the place his mother 
 racated for him at my side. I answered his preliminary remarks 
 with attention unequally divided between him and his com- 
 panion, who had gone from us to Louise. Her description ot 
 him was correct, so far as outward appearance was concerned. 
 His bearing was quiet and gentlemanly. There was nothing in 
 it or his face to distinguish him in a crowd. He was not home- 
 ly ; yet his features were not perfectly regular, and whether he 
 was speaking or they were at rest, they were lacking in mo- 
 bility ; forming one of those unfortunate countenances which 
 always lead us to wonder if Nature, in an absent-minded fit, 
 forgot to establish the telegraph between them and the souls of 
 their owners, yet do not tell the unmistakable tale that idiocy 
 reports, of wires severed and destroyed. 
 
 Mrs. Wynne approached him after he had spoken some words 
 to his affianced. He arose respectfully and remained standing 
 while he heard and replied to her. His tone was deferential ; it 
 was plain that all connected with Louise were objects of peculiar 
 reverence in his sight. 
 
 " We have been tempted to quarrel with you for your unheard- 
 of remissness this evening," said the prospective mother-in-law, 
 by a smiling glance, skillfully including her daughter in the ph 
 rl pronoun. 
 
 " My delay was unintentional, I assure you, Mrs. Wynne, h 
 was caused by a circumstance over which I had no control, and 
 displeased me more than it did anybody else." 
 
 The lady shook her head. " It is all very well for you to By
 
 MDBS-SIDE. 21 
 
 so ; but I am inclined to suspect a ruse on your part to excite . 
 our anxiety, or stimulate our desire for your company." 
 
 " No, indeed, madam I I had no such thought. Miss Louist 
 will acquit me, I am certain." 
 
 " Of course," was her reply. 
 
 Her mind seemed to be intent upon the instrument now nearly 
 ready for her performance. Her deportment to her lover was 
 uniformly the same ; never rude, yet never exactly respectful. 
 He was unremitting in his homage, craving, as his reward, only 
 the privilege of being near her as the most faithful of her slaves. 
 He had no taste for music, yet when she played, he was content* 
 edly happy to stand a listener to strains as meaningless to him 
 as they would have been to a deaf man ; to hold the gloves or 
 handkerchief she would have tossed on the carpet or table, in the 
 absence of an obsequious beau. My brother was one of our 
 evening visitors, and conversed much with Louise. He was a 
 gay youth of two-and-twenty, chivalric and intelligent, qualities 
 that were not likely to be overlooked or undervalued by her. 
 She had never been more beautiful, more fascinating, than during 
 the hour he remained at her side. So real appeared her enjoy- 
 ment that I was more than ever disposed to consider the scene 
 of the afternoon as a fever-dream and forget it entirely. I could 
 see that Frederic made various polite efforts to engage Mr. Wil- 
 son in their discussions. That these were abortive seemed to be 
 a matter of small consequence to the bride-elect ; nor did her 
 betrothed betray any symptoms of mortification or jealousy at 
 his inability to play any part except that of a looker-on in a 
 dialogue she enjoyed with such gusto. The most patient of 
 automatons, he maintained his post at her left hand ; and when, 
 n a moment of unusual animation, she wheeled quite away from 
 him to face her new acquaintance, he consoled himself by a pro- 
 longed study of the bouquet she had intrusted to his care when 
 her fingers were needed for the harp-strings, and which she had
 
 22 MOBS-BIDE. 
 
 not thought to reclaim. He was very fond of flowers, and had 
 brought her this that very evening. She had held it negligently 
 for a few minutes, and observed casually that it was " rather 
 pretty," but her touch had rendered it a sacred thing, enhanced 
 ts beauty and fragrance. 
 
 May Seaton and myself occupied the same divan, and Herbcr* 
 Wynne was enacting the agreeable host in his best style. Mat 
 knew him well, and I soon found myself on the way to like him 
 as much as she did. He was very tall more than -eix feet but 
 as straight as a young pine, and so symmetrical in every pro- 
 portion that his height was rarely remarked, unless by comparing 
 him with men of ordinary stature, and then one was apt to regard 
 them as dwarfed, and him as the right standard of manly growth. 
 May, tiny sprite 1 would have been obliged to stand on tiptoe 
 to take his arm, and glanced up at him as the anemone might 
 at the laurel. Opposite as they were in appearance, and, in 
 many respects as to character, they were fast friends friends 
 in this, the clear, early morning of their lives truer, when the 
 thunder-cloud swept over the noon-day sun. But memory is anti- 
 cipating the pen. 
 
 Mr. Wynne, a taciturn, abstracted-looking man, who seldom 
 brushed the dust of the counting-room from his coat, and never 
 from his brain, had, with the briefest of excuses, gone out to 
 fulfill a business engagement. His lady-wife left the parlor at 
 the same time, but came back after a while to see how matters 
 were going on. Her eye rested first upon our group, and be- 
 spoke amiable approval ; then, with a stealthy, cat-like motion, 
 passed over to the other trio. I cannot relate the exact ma- 
 noeuvre by which she accomplished the change, which I saw was 
 decreed the instant she entered. It was apparently a voluntary 
 act 01 the parties concerned that they were shifted like the pieces 
 on *. ohess-board ; that I was presently seated at the piano, 
 tinging with Herbert ; Frederic chatting with May, and Louis*
 
 M.BS-8IDE. 26 
 
 the circaraspect auditor of Mr. Wilson's discourse ; while the 
 incomparable mamma gazed benedictions upon us from her chair 
 of state. If I had marvelled at Louise's absolute resignation oi 
 soul and body to her mother's control, as I heard her passionate 
 plaint over her lost love ; the fierce, bitter denunciations of the 
 code that had murdered her all of earthly joy, this wonder was 
 now merged in the greater admiration of the resolution that had 
 dared, even for a season, to contend with this woman of smooth 
 tongue and iron heart. 
 
 The drama was played through bravely by all actors, except- 
 ing my " unsophisticated " self. It required my utmost power 
 of self-command to restrain the utterance of emotions that held 
 high, alternate sway within me. There were times when I could 
 have knelt to Louise and wept out my prayer that she would 
 have mercy upon herself ; others, in which I was sorely tempted 
 to divulge the truth to the oruelly-deceived dupe of Mrs. Wynne's 
 ambition ; or, grown yet more desperate, revolved the probable 
 result of an appeal to this feminine autocrat a half-resolve, 
 that faded into air when those undisturbed eyes encountered 
 mine. Then I was indignant ready to brand the whole family, 
 Louise not excepted with shameless duplicity, abominable 
 fraud. Could Herbert, in whom I hourly discovered more to 
 like and esteem, be ignorant that this marriage would seal the 
 misery of the sister he loved so well, or was he as culpably heart- 
 less as the rest ? I asked myself this again and again, averse 
 to admit the truth of the reply my mind was forced to give. 
 
 The evening came. I was dressad, and awaiting the summon 
 to take my place in the procession. I had dismissed my maid 
 and *,he night being sulty, stood leaning out of the window ID 
 tiie vain hope of catching a breath of air fresh enough to bring 
 ease to my laboring lungs. The hoarse murmur of the unquiet 
 river found an answer in nry breast ; for my thoughts were of 
 human sin and human woe. I longed for, yet dreaded the arri-
 
 24 MJ88-SIDE. 
 
 tl of, the fatal hour. How much the latter feeling exceeded 
 the other, I discovered when a tap at my door startled me aa 
 though it had been the herald of doom. 
 
 " Come in 1" I said, faintly, and Mrs. Wynne appeared 
 
 " Forgive me for interrupting you, love, but if I recollect 
 lightly, you borrowed my vinaigrette yesterday when your head 
 fcched. If you do not need it yourself this evening, may I trou- 
 ble you for it ?" 
 
 I hastened to obey her, and expressed my regret that my 
 thoughtlessness had obliged her to ask for it. 
 
 " It is not of the least importance, my sweet child. I seldom 
 have anv use for it ; but I find myself a little nervous nothing 
 very strange, you will say. But I deem it my duty to struggle 
 with my feelings for the sakes and good of those around me. 
 You deserve credit for your punctuality a very uncommon vir- 
 tue on these occasions. Let me see whether you are as charm- 
 ing as usual " throwing a blaze of lamp-light over my figure. 
 " The most chaste taste could propose no alteration. But these 
 pale cheeks, my little Grace 1 they are not altogether to my 
 liking. What say you to a touch of artificial bloom, to be kept 
 a profound secret between us two ? No ? then I will not insist. 
 When that modest-looking head is shaken in the negative, no- 
 body who knows you will urge you further. And, indeed, upon 
 second thought, an interesting pallor is preferable. Only, we 
 must bear up, and not distress our dear Louise by our selfish 
 POITOW ; must endeavor to remember, in the midst of our be- 
 reavement, that our loss is her gain." 
 
 The repressed tide broke from eyes and lips together. 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Wynne 1 if I could believe that this is so I That 
 she will be the happier for this marriage that her heart goes 
 with her baud 1" I sobbed. 
 
 She did not tremble in a single nerve. The fail of my hot 
 tears was upon glassy ice. I knew this by instinct before thi
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 25 
 
 iteady band she laid upon mine confirmed it ; and if I still wept, 
 it was in utter hopelessness. She obliged me, against my will, 
 to hear her ; yet her modulations were low and persuasive as 
 orer. 
 
 " My darling girl ! you are grieving yourself needlessly 
 Bpoiling your eyes and complexion, injuring the tone of your 
 spirits at a time when you most need to be cheerful and afflict- 
 ing me for nothing ! I have but a minute to stay with you : 
 I ought to be down stairs even now ; but I cannot desert you in 
 your trouble. Trouble it is, although imaginary. Look at me, 
 Grace 1" 
 
 The infallible lullaby motion was beginning to be felt. She 
 smiled as I wiped away the remaining drops, and with one heart- 
 breaking sigh, submitted to the dominion of the look that had 
 quelled storms yet more violent. 
 
 " Now, I can talk to you. Have you ever seen in me any 
 proof of slight affection for my children ? Have not their inte- 
 rests been mine from their birth up to this hour ? Do I not 
 know the peculiar temperament, the disposition, the need of each 
 one of my flock ? Is not their welfare the study of life ? Am I 
 a very unnatural mother, dear Grace ?" 
 
 " No madam," she rocked me into saying. 
 
 She continued : " I do not chide you for your fears, for I do not 
 doubt that their spring is love, but I appeal to your judgment to 
 decide which of us is the more likely to consult Louise's real 
 good. You have a warm, tender heart, and a head which will 
 become as reliable in its way, by and by. Just now, it is apt to 
 be hasty. If, at your age of discretion, you make as admirabl 
 a choice of a husband as your old school-fellow has done, the 
 tears shed at your wedding will be as uncalled-for as these. 1 
 ba re faith iu your excellent sense to believe that I shall see the 
 day when our views on this important subject will correspond 
 more nearly than they do at present." 
 2
 
 26 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " Heaven forbid 1" said my grief-swollen heart ; but I essayed 
 a sickly smile as she kissed my forehead and bade me ' Be of 
 good cheer trust and hope 1" 
 
 Nothing but her presence and watchfulness carried me through 
 the heartless role of that evening. Louise was magnificent in 
 jress and carriage ; the praise and pride of the assembly ; while 
 ^e groom had never appeared to less advantage. There was, in 
 him a happy flurry and a levity of behavior unbecoming the 
 dignity of his position ; nor was this more excusable to the com- 
 pany because it was the evident effect of his intoxicating bliss. 
 According to the Agrarian law of society, he had no right to 
 'ndulge in more raptures than his neighbors ; nor I to be more 
 fliserable than the bridesmaid next me in order a lively rattle 
 vho had " run up from the sea-shore, at this barbarously shock- 
 ing season to see Louise married not without some hope," she 
 archly confessed, " that so commendable an example might prove 
 contagious." 
 
 Mr. Wilson's extremely comfortable frame of mind disposed 
 him tc play the entertaining ; and although he was not to be 
 inveigled three paces from his wife's elbow, he was bountiful, 
 superfluous in his attentions to every one who approached her. 
 His forte did not lie in the direction of saying the brilliant no- 
 things for which Louise had acquired a reputation, but he had 
 the temerity to stray into this dauaurous field ; doubtless, with 
 the laudable aim of gratifying he nd proving a congeniality of 
 talent and taste. I had avoided as vicinity as much as I could, 
 consistently with my duties as one of the attendants, for the 
 simple reason that I could not endure the incessant allusions 
 made by those who addressed either him or Louise, to their new 
 relation, so I knew nothing of his adventurous spirit until I wai 
 the chance listener to a conversation behind me. 
 
 "Wilson is coming out alarmingly," said a young man to a 
 .-try acquaintance. "I never suspected him of being a wit
 
 M088-8IDK. 27 
 
 before, but his scintillations have set the room in a blaze thii 
 evening. They are attributable, I suppose, to the inspiration of 
 the occasion. What was his reply to your congratulations ?" 
 
 " Decidedly a unique one," answered the lady. " He told me 
 that I was the most tastefully-dressed lady in the room except 
 Bis wife !" 
 
 " And mine was as original. He slapped me on the shoulder ; 
 jiquired how business was to-day, and complimented the cut 
 of my whiskers." 
 
 " No ! now, is it possible ?" 
 
 Their laughter subsided as Mrs. Wynne passed by them, and 
 the subject was resumed when she was at a convenient distance. 
 I did not linger to gather more of their refined criticism, but 
 similar remarks were current wherever I moved. Then occurred 
 to me another and an agonizing element in the unhappiness of 
 Louise's lot the thought that she was wedded to a man of 
 whom she must often be ashamed I I felt that this must 
 brim her cup of humiliating anguish. Already, ere she had beeu 
 two hours a wife, one of her main strongholds had been proved 
 untenable. She had never questioned her ability to preserve her 
 individuality ; never dreamed that his weakness could detract 
 from her strength. To me, she had declared that she could not 
 despise one to whom she was perfectly indifferent, that " he would 
 not be much in her way ;" but she was now to learn that the 
 undiscrimiuating public will identify the wife, however gifted, 
 with the husband, however inferior ; will persist in ignoring the 
 possible duality of their existence. Thanks to her mother's 
 precautionary application of " a touch of artificial bloom," no 
 casual observer would have suspected any emotion at war with 
 those the time and place were presumed to excite ; but I waa 
 persuaded that I interpreted truly indications of her disgust at 
 his proximity, mortification at his conduct, hatred of the bond! 
 scarcely riveted.
 
 28 MO88-8IDK. 
 
 One gesture and look I have never forgotten. I stopped 
 to speak with her at a turn in the promenade, when Mr. Wilson 
 Interrupted me vrith a vapid compliment, not a whit more sensi- 
 ble or appropriate than were those I had heard accredited tc 
 him awhile before. Mrs. Wynne happened to be by, and covered 
 the lame attempt dexterously, as she alone had the tact to do. 
 Louise was toying with her bracelet, the bridal present of the 
 enamored groom. The clasp was entangled in her veil ; an 
 impatient movement to release it, loosened the spring, and the 
 superb bauble fell to the floor. As Mr. Wilson stooped to regain 
 It, his bride set her foot upon it. Hardly one of the rich clus- 
 ter of pearls escaped fracture. 
 
 A sad accident I" said her mother. " She is a heedless crea 
 ture, Mr. Wilson, but she will learn care in time, I hope." 
 
 I had no thought or observation for the mischief done, for I 
 had seen the glance that went from child to parent. It was 
 present with me for hours and days stamped indelibly upon my 
 recollection by a horrible nightmare that visited me in the trou- 
 bled sleep of that, and more than one succeeding night ; the 
 apparition of this, my dearly-loved friend, decked in her bridal 
 attire ; that scorching gleam in her eyes crying in sepulchral 
 accents that chilled my blood " Woe unto them that call evil 
 good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for 
 darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter 1 
 Woe
 
 MOBS-SIDE 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WE had a fatiguing day's journey, but one full of pleasant 
 excitement and at even, the sun went down behind Mount 
 Washington, quenching its burning life in an ocean of crimson 
 glory, whose waves bathed many a pure cloud-islet. 
 
 The driver of our vehicle a large, open wagon, mounted upon 
 springs, and furnished with cushioned seats was a weather- 
 beaten mountaineer, proud of his native hills ; and in the course 
 of our ride, he had become imbued with a thorough respect for a 
 party whose admiration was so constantly and energetically 
 expressed. We, on our part, were inclined to cultivate the 
 good-will of a man who knew the history of every rock and tree 
 on the route, and whose traditionary lore was varied and exten- 
 sive enough to put to shame a library of " Traveller's Guides." 
 He answered every query ; humored every caprice, and had 
 found it convenient to halt in the prettiest, most romantic glen 
 on the way, to allow us to eat our luncheon, because May cried 
 out, " What a lovely spot for a pic-nic 1" 
 
 " The horses are as ready for their feed as human creturs, I 
 guess," was his excuse for declining our united thanks for the 
 favor, and others were as ready when we were seized with a 
 fancy to walk down a mountain, or to feast upon the wild rasp- 
 oerries that reddened whole acres of tangled vines. 
 
 We had just emerged from a wooded defile into a cleared 
 plaiu as the day-god disappeared, and the general exclamation 
 of delight acted instantaneously upon the reins. He said no- 
 thing this time of tired horses or steep roads. The scene waa
 
 30 M086-8IDE. 
 
 ample apology for the pause. With one consent, acknowlelged 
 bnt unuttered, we arose, Herbert and Frederic removing theii 
 hats. Right before us was the venerable patriarch of the chain, 
 his iron-grey head bold and stem against the flaming back 
 ground, undaunted by the storms of thousands of winters, and 
 feady, in his majestic might, to battle with thousands more. 
 Now, for the first time, I realized the sublimity of the expres- 
 sion, " the everlasting hills." It was less difficult to believe that 
 the changeful sky hung above them could " be rolled together 
 like a scroll," the " heavens pass away with a great noise," 
 than that their granite fronts should tremble and bow, their 
 foundations, rooted in the very bowels of the earth, be moved. 
 
 How vividly arises to my remembrance the countenance and 
 posture of each of our select company ! May Seaton, standing 
 upon the seat where Frederic had placed her that she might 
 have an unobstructed view, a solemnity that verged upon awe 
 ^tilling her breath and chastening her smile ; my brother, with 
 aager eye and dilated nostril, taking in every object with the 
 ardor of one whose love for Nature was unsated and unrestrained : 
 Herbert's lofty figure, statue-like in its quiet, towering above us all, 
 bis features eloquent of calm delight, and in his eyes a gleam of 
 glad recognition, and an upward look that was almost adoration. 
 Louise's seat was directly back of mine, and the rapid glance 
 that daguerreotyped the rest, showed me a marble visage ; but 
 never through sculptured stone shone such a light as beamed 
 from her awakening soul. If the heart were dead, the intellect, 
 with all its exquisite susceptibility to beauty, its grand capacities, 
 its undying desires, lived still, and its expansion, its longings in 
 this hour were painful in their intensity. 
 
 Mr. Wilson approved of the landscape, for he smiled at me 
 ind inquired if I " did nut think it very fine ?" 
 
 Even the uneducated driver comprehended that the magii 
 nUeiice was at an end.
 
 MO88-8IDK. 31 
 
 " I guess you've seen it 'most long enough," he said, ratlief 
 curtly, as he flourished the whip about his leaders' ears. 
 
 " How far are we from our stopping-place ?" asked Mr. \Vil 
 son, yawningly. 
 
 " Fifteen miles, over a rough road," was the reply " It wil 
 some on moonlight though, presently ; and there's some of yoi 
 won't think the ride too long. Be you hungry, sir ?" 
 
 " Not yet ; but as I have had no dinner, and only a light 
 luncheon, I shall be ravenous by supper-time." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder," said the shrewd Yankee, with an 
 emphasis more significant than polite. 
 
 The moon was round and bright in the East before the West 
 was grey, and our four gallant horses bore us on surely and 
 steadily, if not fleetly. 
 
 " There's good singing-ground at the bottom of this hill," 
 observed the driver, looking over his shoulder. 
 
 We laughed, for we understood the hint. He had lent, tt 
 pleased ear to several songs and glees with which we had made 
 the mountains echo from time to time in the earlier part of the 
 day, and this was his flattering " encore." As the wheels touched 
 the level road, May's voice began that most familiar and dear of 
 evening lyrics " Twilight dews." Louise and her husband did 
 not join in our chorus. The one was silent through choice, the 
 other from necessity. The horses trotted softly, and their mas- 
 ter's hands were relaxed. The nearest heights took up the rising 
 melody, and repeated it to others more remote, until, in broken 
 snatches, it came back to us, like messages from the far-off sum- 
 mits which were the goal of our journeyings. 
 
 " Hallo, there ! turn out 1" 
 
 The call so\mded from a gloomy pass, whose descent we had 
 commenced. For a second, a host of absurd fears rushed over me : 
 nursery tales of banditti, and highwaymen, and haunted glens- 
 terrors that fled as precipitately at our 'Iriver's assured tone of 
 reply.
 
 32 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 " Hallo, there, yourself ! what's broke ?" 
 
 4 more pertinent query could not have been construct eel 
 In the middle of the road lay a wagon upon its side, upset bj 
 the breaking of a wheel. Its master had untackled his team, 
 nd was now engaged in gathering the scattered baggage and 
 cushions. On the other side of the wreck, at the elevation of 
 half a dozen feet from the ground, twinkled something like a 
 email red star, which never moved while the colloquy between 
 the drivers made known to us the cause and extent of the disas- 
 ter. A Will-o'-the-wisp would not have remained stationary so 
 near to us, nor does that naughty imp regale himself with such 
 choice incense as crept to our olfactories from the meteoric 
 phenomenon aforesaid 
 
 " Well, now 1" said our guide, at last ; " What do you calcu- 
 late to do ? You are in considerable of a fix." 
 
 11 Well, I guess, if you can find room for my passenger and his 
 3ontrivauces, or for him without 'em, we will haul the wagon up 
 into the bushes, and I can take the horses back home to-night 
 Some of the boys will come over with me betimes in the morn- 
 ing and fix up things. Maybe, though, you don't fancy such a 
 heavy load." 
 
 " I aint afraid of my team and wagon, without my passengers 
 object," remarked the other, in a louder voice. 
 
 " By no means 1" responded Herbert, springing to the ground 
 and approaching the luminous point, which was instantly changed 
 to a falling star, and lay flashing its last sparks in the dust. 
 
 " We consider ourselves very fortunate, sir, in having arrived 
 in time to offer you a seat in our conveyance," pursued Herbert 
 ' We have room for your trunks also, our baggage having bee 
 lent on in the stage. It might inconvenience you to leave them 
 hero, a your driver proposes." 
 
 " A little, I grant, sir," said a voice, that in spite of its slight 
 foreign accent, did not seem strange to me ; and there advanced 
 into the moonlight, a figure "early as tall as Herbert's own
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 33 
 
 * But, although deeply grateful for your kindness, I cajnnot think 
 of burdening your carriage with what my worthy conductor here 
 calls my ' contrivances.' I dare say he can forward them to-mor- 
 row, and for the night, they will be s-tfe where they are. i 
 ic oept a seat for myself with great pleasure." 
 
 In this speech, I could not but note the incongruity of his easy 
 ise of English idioms and the accent I have mentioned. He 
 yicl'lcd gracefully to Herbert's reiteration of both clauses of his 
 offer, and his assurance that we would not suffer by his com- 
 pliance with them. The trunks were stowed away under the 
 seats, and with the stranger on the bench with Herbert and 
 myself, we began climbing another ridge. 
 
 ID the glimpses of light that fell through the trees I could see 
 that our guest was wrapped from head to foot in a furred cloak, 
 as a protection from the chill night air, from which precaution I 
 concluded that he had been accustomed to a more salubrious 
 climate. His travelling cap was slouched and brought forward 
 over his brow and eyes ; but now and then I caught a glance 
 that startled me by its brightness. Few Americans, at that 
 day, had adopted the transatlantic fashion of beard-disguise ; 
 and his visible contempt for the tonsorial art proclaimed hia 
 un-Republican principles upon this head. The conversation, 
 commenced by Herbert out of politeness, was soon a source of 
 hvely pleasure to all who could hear it. May and Frederic 
 were so far back that the noise of the wheels drowned what was 
 said by those on the front seat before it reached them ; but from 
 the tones that greeted our ears when our road was smooth or 
 our progress slow, we were led to believe them in blissful igno- 
 ance of their deprivation, and did not make any useless expendi 
 ure of our sympathy. I was glad to perceive that Louise wal 
 an interested listener, also that Mr. Wilson's heavy breathing in 
 the slumber that overtook him, did not appear to be observed 
 by the entertaining Frenchman. That this was his nationality, 
 2*
 
 84 M08S-8IUE. 
 
 and his breeding Parisian, I speedily determined to my own 
 satisfaction. In learning, the arts and light literature, he was 
 cosmopolitan. Herbert, as has been said, had received a classi- 
 cal education, to which travel and reading had added much that 
 was valuable and ornamental. The stranger proved himself an 
 adept in ordinary surface conversation, before, with inimitable 
 address, he applied the touchstone flint, and struck fire from the 
 iteel whose existence his discerning mind had suspected. 
 
 For myself, although I said very little, and that only in reply 
 to *he courteous attentions of my companions, that three hours ; 
 ride in the mountain moonlight was a season of the purest intel- 
 lectual gratification. The wild variety of scenery ; the virgin 
 forest, in whose impenetrable jungles the owl and whip-poor-will 
 held dismal concert ; the giant hemlocks, clasping arms over us, as 
 if they grudged the usurper Man, the narrow pass he had hewed 
 through the wilderness ; the brawling, streams that leaped and 
 lashed over our way, and laughed, in mocking defiance, from 
 rocky beds no human foot had ever trodden ; the open valleys, 
 flooded with moonbeams and girt with Alpine heights all were 
 accessories to my enjoyment. It was with a sigh of regret that 
 I looked up at the frowning walls cf the Notch, and passed 
 through the stupendous gateway, for I was told that our stop- 
 ping-place for the night was just beyond. 
 
 The tired horses quickened their gait ; Mr. Wilson shook him 
 self and stood up to survey the hotel, with a fervent ejaculation 
 of thankfulness ; and we drew up before a well-lighted house, 
 whose dimensions, although respectable in reality, were woefully 
 insignificant to eyes that had gazed so long upon objects mea 
 tared by miles instead of feet. 
 
 " I am as hungry as a wolf," said Mr. Wilson, stretching hi 
 cramped limbs after alighting. " I have ben dreaming of eating 
 for the last hour. I thought we had venison and cla <}t for sup 
 per- not a bad idea hey, Wynne ?"
 
 MOSB-SIDL 35 
 
 Oar wayside windfall did not appear at the table to which we 
 prtsen'ly sat down ; therefore he formed the principal topic o'~ 
 discussion. Mr. Wilson had his say in this matter, and deserved 
 'he more credit for his communicativeness since he was, as he 
 protested, " amazingly sharp-set." He had found the gentle- 
 man s name inscribed directly beneath those of our party. It 
 was " H. Dnmont." We saw no more of him that evening ; but 
 vhen Herbert knocked at the door the next morning, to call 
 May and myself to breakfast, he told us that Mr. Diimont had 
 exchanged cards with him, and, at his request, was now await- 
 ing the ladies in the parlor. 
 
 I did not like our nocturnal acquaintance so well by daylight, 
 without being able to assign a satisfactory reason for ray disap- 
 pointment. He was older than I had supposed when I saw him 
 by the moon and lamplight, for the frost had not quite spared 
 his curling auburn beard, and I was sure that the abundant head 
 of hair was not his by right of original growth. There waa 
 something in the protracted look, with which he honored me at 
 our introduction, that did not please me ; and I imagined, more- 
 over, that his manner was less affable to Frederic than to Her- 
 bert, being tinctured with a sort of hauteur, amounting, I should 
 aave said, tv dislike, had not the idea been too ridiculous. The 
 high-spirited youth received a like impression, and formed a pre- 
 judice against him before breakfast was dispatched. But, apart 
 from these fanciful censures of ours, we could not but concede to 
 him the title of a finished gentleman. Herbert and Louise 
 seemed particularly drawn towards him. He escorted the latter 
 back to the parlor ; and while Mr. Wilson puffed his Havana in 
 the piazza, and watched the uncouth gambols of a bear, chained 
 to a pole upon what was denominated, by courtesy, the lawn, 
 the courtly Parisian charmed his wife into forgetfulness of his 
 very existence by his dazzling play of wit and sentiment. 
 
 I was looking out of the window in the direction of ths 
 Notch, when Herbert joined me.
 
 36 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 " We have accidentally procured a valuable addition to ooi 
 number," he remarked. "There is a species of fascinatioi 
 about the man that tempts me to profess a belief in his theorj 
 f animal magnetism. Do you not like him ?" 
 
 " I admire him," I said, hesitatingly. 
 
 He smiled. " You are cautious of allowing strangers a place in 
 your affections ; you do not permit them to pass within the 
 outer court without strict examination of their credentials, and 
 personal knowledge of their merits. Am I right ?" 
 
 " You commend me for more discretion than I possess," I replied. 
 
 Those who are worldly-wise warn me that the gates of my 
 heart are too readily opened. But the case in question is not 
 one of the affections hardly of acquaintanceship. I want a 
 word to express the relation which this Mr. Dumont, to whom I 
 was introduced an hour ago, bears to me " 
 
 An admonitory sign advised me to bridle my tongue. May 
 and Frederic, equipped for a ramble, were talking with Louise, 
 and Mr. Dumont was crossing the room towards us. Herbert 
 did not allow me to be embarrassed. 
 
 "Miss Leigh is saying, Mr. Dumont, that our language is bar- 
 ren of words to signify the many degrees of acquaintanceship, 
 liking and friendship. She thinks, and justly, that the raero 
 pronunciation of the name and style of Mr. Smith to Mr. Jen- 
 kins, and vice versa, cannot be said, in fact, to make these 
 gentlemen ' acquainted,' a term which our lexicons define as 
 ' known familiarly known.' " 
 
 " I concur in her criticism and yours," said Mr. Dumont ; 
 " and its justice becomes more apparent if we follow up the 
 ntercourse of the aforementioned worthies, until they deserve 
 he appellation bestowed upon them at first sight. They shakt 
 hands now, when they meet, instead of exchanging formal bows 
 Jenkins thinks Smith ' a clever fellow/ and asks him to diunei 
 to-day at his hotel ; a courtesy which Smith considers himself 
 under obligations to reciprocate by inviting him to a supper of
 
 M0888IDE. 61 
 
 champagne and oysters to-morrow night, in a note beginning 
 ' Dear Sir,' and signed, ' Truly yours.' The liking, of which 
 Miss Leigh speaks as the second grade of initiation into the 
 brotherhood of soul and heart, .has now begun, as both are 
 ready to attest when they arise from the convivial board. The 
 next billet will commence, ' My dear Friend ' ' and my friend, 
 Mr. Smith,' comes naturally and frequently from Jenkins' lips. 
 Some fine morning he reads -in the day's Journal or Herald of 
 the untimely and lamented decease of Alphonso Smith, Esq. 
 4 Ah, poor fellow 1 who would have thought it ?' and if he be 
 very tender-hearted, he breathes a sigh to his faithful cigar, as 
 he turns the sheet to inspect the list of ' prices current.' You, 
 Mr. Wynne, are young and fortunate enough to believe friend- 
 ship something more than a name. You may have a soul-brother, 
 in whose joys you rejoice, hi whose woes you are afflicted ; your 
 time, your fortune, your life, if need be, are his. You would 
 mourn his death as the greatest calamity that could befall yon 
 yet you have no single word to describe this other self, excep*. 
 the identical one used by the bereaved Jenkins." 
 
 " I dispute his right to employ it," said Herbert. " Smiti 
 was his companion " 
 
 " Which is in common use as a synonym fcr husband or wife,' 
 interrupted Mr. Dumont. " In French, he was ' un bon camarade , 
 in Latin, his sodus the English is wanting. Associate, crony 
 chum neither of these is precisely what you need." 
 
 " But abused and weakened though it is, by indiscriminate 
 ose, 'Friend' is a grand, a glorious name," replied Herbert, 
 " and I, for one, never speak it unless when my heart goes forth 
 : u its utterance." 
 
 " Take, then, the advice of one who has seen more of the evil 
 in mankind than you ever dreamed of, and speak it as rarely 
 as possible," said the stranger in a tone of melancholy sweetness. 
 " This counsel is distasteful to you, I see, but my word for it
 
 38 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 if you and Miss '^eigh live twenty years longer, you will r evew 
 my numory as that of a prophet." 
 
 One of those sudden clouds that often surprise the travelled 
 in mountainous regions rolled over the sun, and the ail became 
 ctld and damp. 
 
 "You shiver!" observed Mr.- Dumont to me. "Allow me 
 to lower this window, and set your chair out of the draught 
 This climate is as fickle as Fortune." 
 
 He closed the sash, and took a stand nearer to me. I seemed 
 to grow colder in his shadow than in that of the cloud. Thero 
 was a general movement of shutting doors and windows, for the 
 mist was thickening fast, and penetrated everywhere. Herbert, 
 always thoughtful, left the room to get my shawl. 
 
 " You find the changes of weather here more trying than in 
 your city, Miss Leigh ?" Mr. Dumont said, turning a large seal- 
 ring he wore upon his third finger, a trick of his, when listless 
 or abstracted. 
 
 " I certainly feel them more sensibly than do my New York 
 friends," I rejoined, " for my home is in the South." 
 
 " Ah ! I beg your pardon 1 I understood from Mr. Wynne 
 that his entire party was from that city. I have travelled in the 
 Southern States, and have many most agreeable recollections of 
 my visits to New Orleans, Savannah and Charleston." 
 
 " Did you pass through Virginia ?" I inquired. 
 
 " I passed through it literally, for I did not stop in any place 
 within its precincts. I regret this the more, since I infer from 
 your question that it is your home. You bear a name which no 
 student of American history can hear unmoved. The Revolu 
 tionary era produced few more accomplished orators or brave 
 men than Kichard Henry Lee." 
 
 " I can claim only a patriotic pride in his fame," said 1 
 w Not only does the different orthography of my name put to 
 lest the subject of relationship, but my father's birth-place, and
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 39 
 
 that of his whole family, excepting myself, is in another State 
 in Ahbama." 
 
 " He reversed the common order of emigration " with a civil 
 feint of interest. "The tide sets most strongly Westward and 
 Southward." 
 
 " My mother's health required the change, I believe, sir, and 
 after her death, my father saw no reason why he should remove 
 to his former location, the social institutions of the States being 
 the samp, and the climate of Virginia the more healthy of the 
 two." 
 
 " Did he accompany you North ? I have some valued ac- 
 quaintaLces" he smiled as he pronounced the word "in Ala- 
 bama, wno may likewise be his." 
 
 " He remained at home, unfortunately that is, for my brother 
 and myself, who, being the youngest children, still reside with 
 him." 
 
 I was ashamed of having been betrayed by my selfish pleasure 
 at the mention of a home and father so beloved, into this tale 
 of family affairs. I would stop here, I determined, and not 
 disgrace myself by further egotism. He must think me very 
 transparent, not to say silly. Yet, when he asked another 
 question with respect and growing interest that began to seen; 
 genuine, I answered him with the same frankness. 
 
 " Then you left him alone ?" 
 
 " No, sir. An aunt, who has lived with us for many years 
 is his companion." 
 
 Herbert brought the shawl and disposed it about my shoul 
 ers As. I thanked him, I met Mr. Dumont's gaze, and again 
 I felt as if he were the cloud that had changed the warm, brigh 
 day into a drizzling twilight. 
 
 "Miss Leigh and myself have been speaking of Alabami,* 
 he said to Herbert, "you have heard the circumstance frcoi 
 *hich, it is said, it derived its name ?"
 
 40 MOSS-SI DH 
 
 11 Not that I know of," was the reply. " What was it V 
 
 Mr. Dnmcnt turned his ring, thoughtfully. " According tfl 
 tradition, a tribe of Indians, driven Southward by the advance 
 of civilization, after many weeks of toilsome n/arch, one day at 
 e insetting, reached a lovely country, a sanctuary un violated DJ 
 the remorseless white man. On the banks of a broad, uilmly- 
 owing river where their canoes might ply as they hoped, unuoo 
 ested for ages ; in the skirts of a forest where the deer were 
 sporting like tame kids, the chief struck the pole of his tent 
 into the earth, exclaiming, ' Alabama ! Alabama ! (Here we 
 rest)!"' 
 
 "Beautiful 1" said Louise, who had come up at the commence- 
 ment of the legend. 
 
 "Beautiful, and very touching," replied Mr. Dumont, "when 
 we reflect how fatally blighted were the anticipations of the 
 doomed people. They were in their autumn then, fading away, 
 but trusting that spring would visit and revive them in that 
 distant, sunny land. Their winter is hopeless. The withered 
 leaves that rustle now across the Western prairies will not be 
 succeeded by others of living green." 
 
 The rain forbade any sight-seeing that forenoon, but we were 
 far from disconsolate in our imprisonment. May and Frederic 
 a phrase which is becoming stereotyped to the reader's sight, 
 as it is upon my heart two merry children, talked, and danced, 
 and sang away the hours ; Mr. Wilson roamed from piazza to 
 parlor (the bear having been pelted to his kennel by the showers) 
 took a siesta after luncheon, and consecrated the remainder of 
 his leisure to complacent adoration of his wife, who, gay and 
 earnest alternately, indulged in a sprightly ramble of fancy, or 
 held metaphysical converse with the singularly attractive being 
 whom Fortune appeared to have sent to preserve her Jroua 
 ennui. Herbert was, of course, my most constant attendant^ 
 and we were the reconciling elements o* the party, for May
 
 M O S 8 - S I D E . 41 
 
 andesignedlj taking her cue from Frederic, shunned Mr. Do- 
 mont, and had we not formed the connecting links, our circlft 
 would have been broken into separate, perhaps antagonists 
 parts. 
 
 By dinner-time the vapory curtain was lifted as rapidly as it 
 bad descended. From gorge and hill-side and mountain-brow 
 arose fantastic columns and wreaths of mist ; some becoming 
 entangled in the tree-tops, and after a struggle breaking away 
 with torn edges, to soar with the rest to another place of meet- 
 ing, or to lose visible form and substance in the fervid beams 
 cf the July sun. 
 
 A visit to the Willey house was proposed for our afternoon 
 excursion, and we were so favored as to obtain for teamster our 
 friend of the preceding day. We rattled down the slope of the 
 mountain in exuberant spirits, with scarcely a thought of what 
 we were going to see, until Mr. Dumont asked the driver the 
 date of the event that has clothed the spot with mournful inte- 
 rest. 
 
 " Eighteen years ago next month," was his answer. "I re- 
 member it as well as if it had been yesterday." 
 
 " Was the situation considered unsafe before the slide occur- 
 red, or was it entirely unexpected ?" questioned Frederic. 
 
 " Unsafe, sir, as unsafe could be ! The Willey s knew, and 
 everybody around here knew, that they were in danger. Every 
 hard rain brought down rocks and earth, and sometimes little 
 trees, and there were big cracks in the side of the mountain 
 back of the house ; but, ah me 1 its human nater* for folks to get 
 venturesome when they've lived in dangerous places for awhile, 
 nothing has happened to scare 'em more than common. We see 
 enough of that every day in the world, to tell us not to be hard 
 npou these poor wretches who paid for their mistake with their 
 lives." 
 
 We were very quiet when we reached the he use, whose asped
 
 42 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 of myste:- ous desolation struck home to our hearts. We step 
 ped lightly through the dismantled rooms, and talked in whisperj 
 of the midnight tragedy. 
 
 "The avalan-ihe was divided by that rock," said Herbert, 
 pointing from the rear casement to a perpendicular mass of grey 
 Btone ; " and sweeping to the right and left, overwhelmed the 
 unhappy creatures who sought for safety in the open air. If they 
 had remained in the house all would have been well ; but who 
 could have foreseen that ?" 
 
 " There were nine of 'em in all," our guide was saying to May. 
 " Two were never dug out. The mother and the youngest child 
 were carried a smart piece down the valley, and were afterwards 
 buried where they were found down there yonder, where you 
 see that pile of stones. It was an awful time ! She had an 
 awful death, but, woman-like, she held her baby tight to her bo 
 som to the last. I have heard say that they could hardly sepa- 
 rate them, dead as she was. That's a feeling never wears out 1" 
 
 We walked down the road to the sepulchre, and added each 
 the customary offering of passers-by to the monument thus gra- 
 dually raised in commemoration of a love faithful unto death. 
 Reverent hands laid those stones, and pitying tears were dropped 
 at the rude tomb of the humble cottager, whose terrible fate and 
 maternal affection have made her resting-place a shrine to the 
 pilgrim of pleasure, as to the chance traveller in that lonely wild. 
 That this incident in the story affected all minds most powerfully 
 was shown by Herbert's remark after our return to the vehicle 
 
 " How universal is the testimony to the unchangeable might of 
 a mother's love !" he said ; " and how admirable the economy or 
 that Providence, which makes man, in his most helpless state 
 dependent for life itself upon such an unfailing stay I" 
 
 " What do you say to the universality of this sentiment whe* 
 you hear that hundreds, thousands of children are sacrificed an 
 Dually to heathen gods ; that tho regular tribute fixed bj
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 43 
 
 government of certain provinces to the Ganges that enriches 
 their lands, is a specified number Df infants ? Or, to bring the 
 matter home, when you read in the police reports of your mo 
 ral Gotham of babes deserted, maimed, murdered by their IIK> 
 there ? When in the very circle in which you live, girls are soij 
 as publicly and unblushingly as was ever an Eastern slave, to 
 gratify the passion of their parents for wealth and distinction P 
 inquired Mr. Dumont. 
 
 The driver's honest face was a picture at that moment. His 
 stare of wonderment and distrust of the speaker and his auditory, 
 his abhorrence of the community which tolerated such enormi- 
 ties, would have excited the risibles of Mr. Dumont himself, had 
 not his regards been fixed upon his ring, while he waited for 
 Herbert's reply. 
 
 " The fanatical Hindoo is moved by the same frenzy that after 
 wards leads her to cast herself under the wheels of the idol-cai 
 or upon the blazing suttee. Reason and natural instinct are d- 
 throned by superstition. Nor do I deny that every spark of hu 
 inanity may be extinguished by a career of vice ; that crime and 
 want may urge to infanticide, as well as drive the God-forsaken 
 wretch to falsify a proverb as old as the world itself ' All that 
 a man hath, will he give for his life.' As to your last example, 
 moral perception and feeling are perverted by a heartless, 
 worldly code, to which you will see the daughters bowing with 
 as eager servility as do their unnatural mothers." 
 
 I did not dare to look at Louise, convinced as I was that her 
 brother's severity had no intentional reference to her. 
 
 He went on : " Argument upon this subject seems to me ab 
 curd. Almost every dwelling in the land will afford you proo^ 
 that the instances you enumerate a-e exceptions to I repeat n 
 the universal rule, besides the more conclusive one of what 
 divines call ' internal evidence.' Excuse me for citing an ego- 
 t'stical illustration. I, perhaps, of all heie present, have knowi
 
 44 MOBB-BIDE. 
 
 least, personally, of a parent's love. My father died before mjf 
 recollection ; my mother, when I was in my fourth year. He* 
 place was supplied by the kindest guardians that Heaven ever 
 sent to orphan ; but I cherish her memory with more foudnesa 
 than I do that of all the friends of my youth and manhood. la 
 childhood's trials, in the struggles of boyhood, I felt an irresisti- 
 ble consciousness that the only being who could have entered" 
 fully into every feeling, consoled me in every grief, loved me 
 through weal and woe the better as I lost my hold upon other 
 hearts was the gentle, loving woman who had gone to her God 
 BO many years before. She taught me to pray, and man that I 
 am, I am not ashamed this night, before I lay my head upon my 
 pillow, to fold my hands, and upon my bended knees, repeat, 
 1 Our Father who art in Heaven.' If, as some teach, and I love 
 to believe, the spirits of the departed are permitted to minister 
 to the loved ones of earth, I know that the benignant genius 
 who has guarded me from evil when the waves of temptation rar 
 highest, is my blessed angel mother." 
 
 Mr. Dumont turned his ring in silence. The upper part of his 
 face was expressionless, but his moustache lay more heavily upon 
 the beard below, as if his lips were compressed. 
 
 Our sturdy teamster drew the back of his hand across his 
 eyes, and chirruped to his horses. 
 
 " Good for you, sir !" he said, exercising the freedom of speech 
 arrogated as his birth-right, by every free-born, independent 
 American. " These women are wonderful creatures, take 'em as 
 you will." 
 
 Mr. Dumont glanced from him to Herbert disdainfully, as tc 
 ay, " A fitting advocate of your side I" 
 
 Mr. Wynne encouraged the blunt New Hampshire man. 
 
 " Wonderfully good most of them are they not ?" 
 
 " Accordin' to my way of thinking, sir, they are too good 
 the worst of 'em for men ; yet we don't often treat them M
 
 MOSS-SILK. * 3 
 
 they deserve. I'te got an old woman 'mong the hills, back of ua 
 Lore, that's worth ten of me, and my old mother that's been in 
 Heaven this twenty-odd years, was just sich another. The best 
 of 'em will get worried sometimes but then, sez I, ' let 'em fly 
 round and have their own way.' They'll get over it sooner, and 
 lire the longer for bein' let alone. Depend upon it too, sir, when 
 a woman frets, a man would swear and take to driuk, if he wa 
 in her place. My wife jest worries enough to let me know she 
 ain't a saint. She is a little the worse for weather and wear in 
 the face none of your fancy goods, you understand but a pa- 
 tienter, harder-working, cheerfuller cretur ain't to be raised in 
 the country round ; and if I was to fall sick, or be laid up with a 
 broken leg or arm, some day bless your soul, sir ! there's no- 
 thin' she would not do for me. She's a prime wife that's what 
 my old woman is 1" 
 
 " And she has a prime husband, I'll warrant," said Frederic. 
 
 " We can't be too good to 'em, sir. Remember that, young 
 gentlemen, if you are ever so lucky as to get married, as is more 
 than likely. I know that on my death-bed, every cross word 
 and look I've ever give my wife will be a pound of lead on ray 
 conscience. I had 'most as lief have a man's blood upon my 
 BOU! as a woman's broken heart ; 'specially if she was the one 
 I'd promised to ' love and cherish ' That's how / feel in tin 
 matter 1"
 
 46 MOS8-8IDK. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 It sras the morning after our arrival at Niagara, and 1 waa 
 awalened by May's voice, as she lightly warbled a roundelay at 
 her dressing-table. I lay still, watching the movements of the 
 little sylph, as, unconscious of my observation, she combed out 
 her hair in rippling waves to her waist, and looked at the rosy 
 face in the mirror, with more indifference than others were wont 
 to exhibit in its survey. One of her greatest charms was hei 
 ignorance that she possessed any worthy of note. I had sub 
 jected her to the closest scrutiny for hours, when, surrounded by 
 admirers, she laughed and chatted with the joyous freshness of 
 a nature, unpolluted by the breath of the world that had done 
 its best to spoil her, yet never detected the least symptom of 
 personal vanity I had loved her when we were at school 
 together, but my engrossing affection for my then inseparable 
 friend had prevented my doing justice to the character, which 
 our daily association was now unveiling to me. As Louise 
 retired into herself, grew unapproachable behind the iron-gate 
 of resolute reserve, locked up the heart-treasures she onco lav- 
 ished upon me, the gentle May glided into the vacant f-ace, 
 healed the soreness of my spirit. There was no flaw or cloudy 
 mixture in this pearl, and, as my eyes followed her this morning 
 I thought, with sisterly pride, of one who would seek wou?d, 1 
 hoped, wear it in his bosom. 
 
 A magnetic sympathy may have influenced her to look to* ird 
 me as this idea was in my mind, for we both blushed a 1 tb 
 of our glances.
 
 U O 8 B-8 I D K. 47 
 
 "I have becu amusing myself with your profor/.d sleep," she 
 **id, offering her ripe, cherry lips for a matutinal kirn. " Sleeping, 
 while the thunder of Niagara is shaking your very bed, and the 
 spray damping your pillow ! And yesterday you were in a tremT 
 of impatience to get the earliest glimpse of the mist that rise 
 from it 1 How will this story do to tell ? " 
 
 " The truth is, May," I said, arranging myself in a more com- 
 oriably iudoieui position, and making of my arms a cushion fof 
 my head, :< it is uncertainty, suspense, that renders w impatient. 
 I teasted my eyes in part last evening ; took off the edge of my 
 optic appetite, so to speak, and some measure of delay is neces- 
 sary to restore its tone. The Falls will be here, and so will we, 
 for several days to come. I am an epicurean." 
 
 " I thought that Mr. Wilson was the most conscientious dis- 
 ciple of the old heathen gourmand in our company," she replied, 
 " but it appears you do not despise his philosophy." 
 
 " 1 apply it more intellectually do me the favor to add," 
 rejoined I, pretending to be offended. 
 
 " Grace," pursued May, her small hands running over with the 
 wealth of brown tresses she endeavored to bind up, while the 
 glass showed me a very grave countenance, " some things trouble 
 me grievously." 
 
 " Such as what, my lady-bird ?" 
 
 " Why did Louisa marry Mr. Wilson ?" 
 
 " Why do most people marry, May ?" 
 
 " Because they love one another, or imagine they do," she 
 said, confidently. 
 
 " And may not Louise imagine she loves her husband ?" 
 
 " Hardly ; I think her indifference is unfeigned, although how 
 
 ny one, a woman especially, can be indifferent in such a rela 
 
 tion is a greater puzzle to me than wedding through absolute 
 
 ipite to accomplish the misery of the other party by one's ovra 
 
 ttnhappiness. Love or hatred would be the alternatives with me *
 
 iS MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 Cordially as I endorsed this remark, I laughed at the thought 
 of May's hating auy creature or thing in creation. 
 
 " It is a pity," she said, finding that I made no rejoinder, 
 "that they were ever 'joined together.' Louise has qualities 
 that would make her the joy and glory of a congenial mate 
 and Mr. Wilson would be an excellent husband for a woman of 
 a lower grade of talent and less refinement. He is good-natured, 
 easy-tempered to a fault, and generous, besides haying really a 
 deep, rich heart, if he only knew how to speak of its abuu- 
 dance." 
 
 She was in the mood for talking seriously, and I would no? 
 itop her, wondering, as I did, when she gained this insight into 
 a subject never broached until now by either of us, without my 
 suspecting that she was on the watch. 
 
 " They say that similarity of temper and taste is requisite aa 
 a foundation for enduring friendship," she said, " and that love 
 seeks contrasts ; but I do not listen to this. Unless there is a 
 wide field of kindred sentiments and harmonious traits, there 
 can be no true soul-union only the mockery of a name, acknow- 
 ledged as legal by man, disallowed by their own hearts and Ilim 
 who sees their secrets." 
 
 " I rejoice that you feel thus, May ; married or single, you 
 will be none the worse for right views upon this point," I added, 
 sagely, seeing the quick crimson she turned from me to conceal, 
 and guessing that the earnestness of my first sentence had created 
 the flow. " It is not for us to judge of the motives that impelled 
 Louise to a step that is, to us, unaccountable. To neither of ua 
 would the position we think she occupies be endurable, but w 
 may hope for the best, that we have erred in our conclusion, o. 
 that matters may mend with her. Mr. Wilson is, as you say, 
 man o' deep affections, which are undividedly hers, and his moral 
 w >rth is undisputed. He may yet win her love." 
 
 " I trust it may be so," returned May, reflectively, pausing in
 
 MO68-8IDE. 49 
 
 hci toilette, and tapping the table with her <hair-brud). Hei 
 mind was not yet unladen. 
 
 " Grace/' she resumed at length, in a lower key, " Do you 
 know that I wish Mr. Dumont had never crossed our path ? " 
 
 " My dear I how can he annoy you now, when he left us three 
 days ago, and all the chances are that you will never behold him 
 again ? What harm has he done ? " 
 
 " I do not like the influence he acquired over Louise," she 
 said, positively. " Do not look so shocked ! I do not mean over 
 her heart, but her head. The man is utterly heartless, Grace, 
 and although wiser people may sneer at my notion, I fed that 
 such an one is necessarily a dangerous associate. Then, when I 
 attended, as we all did sometimes, to his novel theories, many of 
 which, Herbert says, were stated as the hypotheses of others, 
 and sustained by him for the sake of argument, I could not com- 
 prehend half that he said, doubted and disliked what sense I 
 gleaned. He seemed to me to talk transcendentalism, as your 
 brother called it, when Herbert was by, and infidelity, when he 
 was away. I accounted for this upon the ground that he feared 
 contradiction from no one else, since your brother never noticed 
 Ms lectures by a reply, and Louise most frequently sided with 
 him. You nor Herbert beard the most wicked of his scoflfs at 
 the ' superstition of the pietists,' under which class, as well as I 
 rould judge, he included everything we honor as religious truth : 
 nor how eloquently he discoursed upon the ' religion of nature,' 
 and the ' emancipation of mind.' Louise has a stronger intellect 
 than mine, and she may have seen through his sophistry, while 
 ehe listened for the entertainment of her idle hours. I hope she 
 dil that no evil fruit will spring from this seed, but I would not 
 subject my principles of thought and action to the test of asso- 
 nation with the accomplished foreigner for worlds." 
 
 " May ! dearest ! how you talk !" I said, surprised at the 
 energy and heat with which she spoke. 
 3
 
 60 MOBS-BIDE. 
 
 "I should be an infidel or a mauiac in a week !" she affirmed 
 " I am afraid of him, Grace, and I wish Louise shared in this 
 fear I" 
 
 The breakfast broke in upon her speech, and in the hurried 
 preparations that ensued, we could not pursue a matter that 
 had provoked unprecedented uneasiness on her part, which infec- 
 tion had attacked me during this conversation. 
 
 Another bridal couple sat opposite to us at table ; both very 
 young, very shy, and very happy. The girl-wife looked askance 
 at us under her drooping eye-lashes, when her husband referred 
 to her decision the question of "steak or chicken," as if she 
 feared his tone might reveal to us what they, simple souls I 
 fancied they were guarding so well from the surrounding 
 strangers ; and as the waiter replied to an inquiry touching 
 the same steak, " yes, sir, rare and tender, sir," loud enough to 
 be heard half-a-dozen chairs off, their guilty blushes would have 
 convicted them of the offences of love and recent matrimoay in 
 any court of gossip, and suggested to any imagination a i eseni- 
 blancc in some particulars to the vaunted surloin. In the pleni- 
 tude of their bliss, they neglected the breakfast when it was 
 brought. Frederic said they would never have known of its 
 coming, but for the officious waiter's repetition of the laudation 
 previously bestowed upon the beef, with the equally felicitous 
 supplement, " Pair young spring chickens, sir !" as he slapped 
 the dishes down before them. 
 
 I am never moved to laughter when I witness these evidences 
 of mutual, all-absorbing attachment in those who have just 
 entered the estate connubial. No haven has quicksands or 
 nnken reefs, and destructive indeed must be the hurricane tuat 
 rrecks the boat so lately embarked upon these halcyon waters 
 It is meet that the early hours of the voyage be consecrated 
 wholly to love and joy ; that the youthful manners turn a deaf 
 ?.ar to the croakings of tempest and rocks from those on shore ;
 
 MO88-8IDK. 51 
 
 cautious JT disappointed sages, whom, nothing, they aver, could 
 induce to tempt the treacherous wave ; meet that the eyes of 
 each should pierce no further than to the glad face of the other; 
 for what need that the boiling surf, the tossing, broken craft 
 npou the horizon should mar their rapture by ill-timed bodings ? 
 It may be that favoring winds and tranquil seas will be merci 
 ully vouchsafed to them to the end. There are many to whom 
 Jie heaven of love has continued changeless through life ; or, 
 if it changed, its variations were like those the Southern tropical 
 traveller hails in the natural skies, when every day's journey 
 brings to his sight new constellations of more brilliant and 
 tender lustre. Blessed, thrice blessed they who, peacefully 
 moored in the evening of their existence, behold, most glorious 
 of all the matchless array, the Cross, starry emblem of their 
 faith, beaming down upon them with a brightness the morning 
 never knew ! 
 
 Louise and Mr. Wilson were seldom suspected to be the wed- 
 ded ones in whose honor our tour was made. Mistakes, divert- 
 ing to the gentlemen and confusing to May and myself, were 
 of frequent occurrence wherever we stopped. The very pair 
 whose late coupling was so manifest, and whose perceptions were 
 sensitive by virtue thereof, would, if called upon, have singled 
 out, as the least likely to sympathize in their happiness, the 
 cold, proud-looking lady, who did not once during the meal, 
 bestow a smile or a voluntary word upon the gentleman next 
 to her. Mr. Wilson's skill in table and kitchen mysteries had 
 constituted him, par excellence, our taster, an office which he 
 I'-ei-formed with a due sense of its responsibility. 
 
 " Don't eat that egg, Miss Leigh !" he pleaded vith me. 
 *' it is a trifle too I ard, and as indigestible, of course, as a 
 paving-stone. It must have boiled four minutes at the very 
 lea.A perhaps five. It is disgraceful to ony decent hotel to 
 have such a thing ip-ui the table."
 
 52 M O 8 6 - 8 I D K . 
 
 "1 am very well satisfied with it," said I, dropping it into the 
 glass, but ho looked so much concerned that I forbore, and let 
 him remoTe the obnoxious object. 
 
 " Here, waiter, another egg ! and see that it does not stay in 
 the water more than three minutes and a half, provided it ia 
 boiling when you put the egg in. Three minutes and a half 
 do you hear ? then whip it out in a twinkling ! And, waiter 1 
 are these the largest glasses you have ?" 
 
 " The largest for eggs yes, sir." 
 
 "They are too small. I can't mix the egg properly But 
 *-hey must do, I suppose. Yon can go," laying his watch upon 
 *;he table. " In four minutes I shall begin to look for you back. 
 It is a remarkable fact, Miss Leigh, that an egg cooks so much 
 in the shell after it is taken from the water. Hence, the neces- 
 sity of opening it instantly. I have seen many a one ruined 
 by standing a second too long before it is emptied into the glass. 
 Tough steak, soaked, waxy potatoes, and hard-boiled eggs give 
 me the horrors." 
 
 " Mr. Wynne and myself were abroad at sunrise," remarked 
 Frederic to me. " Some morning, while we are here, we must 
 induce you ladies, and you, also, Mr. Wilson, to follow our 
 example. You will be amply compensated for the exertion, and 
 the sacrifice of your second nap." 
 
 " I suppose the Falls look very fine at that time," said Mr. 
 Wilson. "I think I have heard or read that they do. And you 
 two gentlemen felt quite poetical, I dare say ?" 
 
 " We kept it to ourselves if we did," replied Herbert, who 
 received the .flattest commonplaces of his friend with the utmost 
 good-nature. " Our pockets were guiltless of sonnets or im- 
 promptu blank verse when we returned. The poetaster who 
 conld scribble on the brink of Niagara ought to be thrown into 
 the rapids without a form of trial." 
 
 " Ta bio-rock would be another Tarpeian precipice under thii
 
 MCSS-SIDE. 53 
 
 AW," observed Frederic. "The tacocthts scribendi, like ,he 
 hydrophobia, grows violent at the sight of water ; and the 
 greater the quantity, the more serious is the paroxysm." 
 
 " Grenville Mellen has not desecrated his subject," said 
 Louise. 
 
 ' Because he was a true worshipper in Nature's temple," an- 
 swered her brother. " He did not seat himself at a convenient 
 distance from the ' ocean leaping from the cloud/ and protected 
 against the chance jets of spray by an umbrella as we saw a 
 gentleman this morning fill the prepared clean leaf of his jour- 
 nal with ' First impressions/ ' Jottings of thought/ or ' Stan 
 zas upon beholding Niagara.' He was content to wonder and 
 adore in silence. His lines, grand in their truthful simplicity, 
 were the echoes of the thunders that uttered their voices to him 
 there." 
 
 " I wish this hotel was a little further off from them," com 
 plained Mr. Wilson. "The noise is enough to deafen one. 
 Doesn't it make your head ache, Louise ?" 
 
 " No," she said, briefly. 
 
 "That is queer, when you are so subject to nervous headaches 
 Do you know, Miss Seaton, that she cannot bear, at times, to 
 have me step across the room or to come near her, so much ia 
 she suffering from these attacks ? You must eat heartily, 
 Louise, for we shall be riding all the forenoon, and nothing 
 gives me a headache sooner than fasting. It would be a capital 
 notion to take a luncheon with us. It strikes me that a pic-nic 
 among the rocks would be what you call picturesque really 
 romantic hey, Wynne ?" 
 
 '' The tailor made a single note- 
 Heavens ! what a place to sponge a coat !" 
 
 whispered Frederic to me, as we arose. 
 Louise showed no signs of mortification at the harmless peca-
 
 64 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 liarities of her liege lord. If we walked, she took his arm ; if 
 we rode, accepted his escort, as she would have done that of 
 a lackey that knew his place. Once, that morning, we came 
 npon them when no one else was by. Louise sat on a stone, nol 
 far from the brink of the cliff, looking down into the abyss ; Mr 
 Wilson, near by, lolled upon the grass, and smoked at his ease 
 There was a faint play of enthusiasm over his countenance ; and 
 he accosted us animatedly 
 
 " How I wish I had my gun ! Did you ever see a more mag- 
 nificent chance for a shot ?" pointing to a dove, perched upon a 
 bough that hung directly over the cataract. " I could knock 
 him down with a pistol, even 1" 
 
 " It would be a shame to kill her," said Herbert, admiring the 
 pretty, fearless creature, swinging with the twig rocked by the 
 rushing waters ; her plumage glistening with mist from the 
 caldron seething whitely, hundreds of feet beneath her. " Inno- 
 cence should be safe everywhere." 
 
 "It is a male bird why do you say for?" conected Mr 
 Wilson. " Are you afraid of fire-arms, Miss Leigh ?" 
 
 " Not in the least," I replied. 
 
 " Are you tired ?" he then asked. 
 
 Again I responded in the negative. 
 
 " It is surprising one of the most surprising things in ti_e 
 world, what powers of endurance you ladies have," he pursued. 
 " There's my wife, now, whom I used to think, in our courting 
 days, could not walk three blocks to save her life. She has 
 broken me down, scrambling up and down these rocks, and 
 frightened me out of my senses by venturing into all manner of 
 dangerous places. Lend me that spy-glass, if you please, Wynne. 
 
 He examined something upon the other shore with grav 
 Mention. 
 
 " They are putting up a handsome building over there. 1 
 what it is for a hotel or dwelling-house ?"
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 52 
 
 ' U is probably a factory," said Frederic, joining as. " There 
 if a sufficient head of water in the Horse Shoe Fall to keep the 
 machinery going in the dryest weather." 
 
 ' It is hardly near enough to the bank for that," returned ih( 
 fc-rral bridegroom not noticing the general smile. "And now 
 ( look again, it is tot elegant an affair to be used as a factory 
 I should like very much to know who intends to live there. He 
 must be a millionaire, but his taste is not mine. Rather a damp 
 situation, I should say. The very table-cloths and napkins here 
 are never dry, and the sheets are wet enough to give one the 
 rheumatism I would not stay here through the summer for five 
 hundred dollars a week, and in winter ugh !" 
 
 I passed on to Louise's side. Her eyes were moist, yet flash 
 ing, aud her face wore the excited pallor I had marked the even 
 ing of the sunset behind Mount Washington. She did not stir 
 as I approached, and I sat down by her without a word of inter- 
 ruption. Thus the others left us for a long while. The spray 
 dashed up to us, every now and then ; and to our brows it was 
 the baptism of Holy Mother Nature, purifying us for devotion 
 in this, her most wondrous of cathedrals, from which volumes 
 of incense arise unceasingly to heaven, and deep, misrhty organ 
 tones swell the sublime anthem " The Lord God Omnipotent 
 reigneth forever and ever Hallelujah I" 
 
 I repeated it aloud almost unconsciously. 
 
 Louise laid her hand on mine. " Thank you !" was all she 
 Baid, while her face was yet more radiantly beautiful. 
 
 I love to think of that last soul-communion, although the bla^-', 
 iron bars over her heart were stern as ever. 
 
 " Louise," said her husband's voice, " are you not tiled of 
 this one prospect ? I am afraid you are catching your death of 
 Cold, sitting here. Why, your dress is heavy with the dampness 
 I shall never forgive myself for not looking after yon sooner. 
 
 She drew her shoulder from under his hand, and remained still 
 as before.
 
 56 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " My dear," he urged, anxiously, " this is awfully imprudent 
 Had not you better go back to the hotel at once for dry cloth- 
 ing ? You can come here again some other time. Dinner will 
 be ready in half an hour." 
 
 She broke from him, and darted forward to the very edge of 
 the precipice. For an instant, I expected to see her disappear 
 over the dizzy height, for I had seen her look the same that 
 had haunted me on her wedding night. 
 
 Mr. Wilson stood paralyzed pale as death too much terri- 
 fied to move, even to snatch her from the perilous spot. 
 
 " Louise 1" said her brother's voice, in an accent of command 
 and he walked very slowly towards her. 
 
 She met him half-way to us. 
 
 " She needs a keeper," he said, laughingly, as he brought he' 
 back. " See that you prove a more watchful one in future, 
 Wilson. Some heads are not to be trusted in high places." 
 
 I could see that this jesting was forced ; nor was he quite 
 himself for the rest of the day. 
 
 Louise's room was more desirable than mine ; being a large 
 apartment in the same story with the parlors ; its windows open- 
 ing down to the floor, and out upon the piazza that formed the 
 principal promenade of visitors. That evening, I slipped awa} 
 from the company to write a home-letter, and, by Louise's per- 
 mission, took my desk into this chamber. I had nearly concluded 
 the task, leisurely accomplished, and interrupted by sundry fits 
 of dreaminess for I was thoughtful as well as happy when 
 Louise entered. She " had been dancing," she said, with 
 unequal breath and heightened color, and " had torn one of the 
 flounces of her dress from the skirt." I made her sit quietly, to 
 rest, while I mended it. She talked incessantly. 
 
 " You are a sober mope !" she said. " Why could you not 
 wait until to-morrow to pen that important document ?" 
 
 " The mail is closed at nine o'clock," I answered. " If I hap 
 pened to overslonp myself, I should miss it."
 
 HOBS-SIDE. 57 
 
 " 1 thought you said you were going to write to your father I 
 There are six pages !" 
 
 " They are all for his reading. I should not presume so much 
 cpon the patience of any other correspondent." 
 
 " Is this done from a sense of duty, or do you wish to per 
 lane me that you prefer the occupation to the amusements w 
 frivolous butterflies are carrying on in the ball-room ?" 
 
 " What a question 1 I love to write to him, and his answers 
 are more acceptable to me than any other gift I could receive in 
 nay absence." 
 
 " Is he kind to you ?" 
 
 " He is the best, most affectionate parent that child ever had 
 I love as much as I respect him." 
 
 " And you are hoping, perhaps, that you will never quit him 
 unless to marry some one whom you hold dearer yet ? Did it 
 ever occur to you that this loving father may controvert your 
 designs in that respect ? that, although your happiness now 
 seems to be his chief aim in life, when an issue of that nature is 
 raised, he will not scruple to overthrow your air-castles to teach 
 you that this is a world of realities, unsuited to the growth 
 of romance ? What will you do then ? what can you do ? 
 
 Was this my Louise who questioned me so mockingly so 
 cruelly ? Infinitely preferable would have been the bitter scorn, 
 the vehemence that so distressed me in the narration of her 
 heart-history. And, as I looked up reproachfully into her face, 
 she repeated with a frozen, worldly smile "What will you 
 do?" 
 
 " I trust that such a trial will never visit me. I cannot stretch 
 my imagination to the extent of believing that it will, therefor 
 I cannot settle upon my probable line of conduct." 
 
 " Why should you be exempt ?" she said. " Every gir 
 has some love-cross." 
 
 " Mine will take some other form then. My father would not 
 3*
 
 68 MOSB-SlDK. 
 
 oppose my choice, if i* were a wise one. I confide not in hit 
 affection alone, bnt in his justice. If he conld forget both, it 
 would still be my dnty to submit to hir will." 
 
 "Wherever it forced you to go ?" 
 
 44 No I" I said, firmly. "It should not force me to marry a 
 Bun for whom I could not feel a wife's love.'' 
 
 She laughed at this. " You are candid with me, I see." 
 
 " I have never been otherwise, Louise." 
 
 " I own it. You would not shrink from telling me, for instance, 
 If pressed to declare your real sentiments that there never waa 
 a more incongruous match upon earth, one in which Heaven had 
 toss share, than this most ' proper ' alliance of Mr. Wilson and 
 inyself ; that it is a moral impossibility for me to love or respect 
 bim ; that my mother's pride of wealth urged me to accept 
 him ; that, but for the handsome fortune inherited from his 
 father, the rich grocer, who began life selling fish and molasses 
 In a small retail way, and ended it in a palace, possessed of his 
 million but for this, his son never would have entered our par- 
 lor, much less aspired to my hand. Answer me, like the straight- 
 forward, fearless girl you are do yon not envy me my conjugal 
 felicity ? You have had a tolerable opportunity for studying the 
 character of my lovable spouse. What do yon say of him ?" 
 
 " That he is your husband, Louise 1" I retorted, outraged by 
 her total want of delicacy. 
 
 " You are mistaken, my dear you are speaking now after the 
 mauner of men particularly of discreet women. I, Louise, say 
 to you, Grace, that he is not, that he never was that he never 
 will be my husband. Love him, I do not, honor him I cannot, 
 obey him I will not ! My bonds do not trammel me much, 
 ihall be a faithful wife in the letter of the law in the spirit ol 
 ths managing, prudent dames I mentioned just now. Mr. Wil- 
 son asked rnc to marry him, and I have done it. He ought to 
 tw satisfied with, graceful for my amiable complaisance."
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 59 
 
 " Oh, Louise ' when you are deceiving him continually ! He 
 loves you as his own life, and believes that your heart is his !" 
 
 " The error is his not mine. I have not told him that 1 
 regarded him with any especial favor ; nor do I apprehend any 
 inconvenient disclosures a? to this section of the compact usual 
 in these affairs. We are a fashionable couple, and the acme 01 
 refinement in this relation is a polite indifference. I flatter 
 myself that in study and practice I am perfect in my lesson." 
 
 She thanked me for my assistance in repairing her robe, said 
 it was done with neatness and dispatch, and " would not detain 
 me longer from my delightful employment." 
 
 I was relieved by her departure, for my heart seemed bursting. 
 She had not only ceased to be my friend, but she was fast learn- 
 ing to spurn her womanhood ; treading down all tender and gen- 
 tle feelings belonging to her sex ; putting out of sight every 
 thing that could itmind her of what she once was, and striving 
 after that false and abominable system of opinion and argument 
 which would finally enable her to glory in her shame. I was 
 too much excited to weep. I could not go on with my letter; 
 but, with my forehead resting upon the desk, let the flood of 
 roubled thought have its way. 
 
 A sound like a sigh or a groan caused me to lift my head and 
 listen. After a short interval, I heard it again. It came from 
 the portico. Timidity iu my loneliness would have been most 
 natural ; but, without a thought of fear, I cautiously undid one 
 of the blinds and peeped out. Lamps were hung against the pil- 
 lars of the piazza, and one opposite tc me displayed the figure 
 of a man crouched in a chair, leaning over the balustrade. He 
 started up at the slight noise I made in unclosing the shutter 
 and I perceived that it was Mr. Wilson . 
 
 " ' beg jour pardon !" he said, confusedly ; and after some 
 inarticulate murraurings, he appeared about to leave the spot| 
 but his limbs failed him, and he sank again into his seat.
 
 60 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 'Are you ill ?' I inquired ; " cannot I do something for you T 
 I hardly knew what I was saying, such was the turmoil in heart 
 and head. Had any presence of mind remained, I would not 
 have spoken the next sentence " Let me send for Louise or Mr 
 Wynne I" 
 
 " Louise ! 0, Miss Leigh ! have mercy !" 
 
 My worst suspicions were then correct ; yet the removal of 
 suspense restored me to some degree of reason. I brought him 
 a glass of water, and implored him to go into his room and lie 
 down until he felt better. 
 
 " I shall never feel better !" he said. " Oh I if I had never 
 been born ! Louise ! Louise I" 
 
 It was a heart-wail of love and sorrow. Never, in all my life 
 before or since, have I heard any other sound so inexpressibly 
 mournful as the repetition of that name. 
 
 "Miss Leigh," he said, presently, with a dignity that sur- 
 prised me, "I have heard a part of your conversation, but 
 without intending it. I was about to go into that chamber, ii 
 search of her, having missed her from the ball-room. I hac 
 my hand upon the window to open it, when she mentioned mj 
 name." 
 
 He stopped and battled with the recollection until he overcaim 
 it so far that he could go on. " May I trust you to concea 
 from her that I know her foelings towards me, and to hide them 
 from others as much as you oan ?" 
 
 " You may," I said. " Fear nothing from me. I wculd do 
 anything to save you further pain." 
 
 " You are very kind ;" his voice faltering again. " Pool 
 Louise ! She can never be happy with me. It is my fault that 
 he is what she is yet I would lay down my life for her. You 
 told her so, did you not ? Perhaps that would be the best way." 
 
 " Mr. Wilson ," I exclaimed. " You wrong yourself by thil 
 language. Your intentions were are good."
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 61 
 
 " They are ! 1 Lever meant to make her miserable Miss 
 Leigh. I hoped that she could be happy with me, or, believe 
 me, I would never have asked her to marry me. Yet this hopfl 
 was blind and selfish. I should have seen that long ago, 
 . t is too late now yet I do love her with all the soul I have 1" 
 
 A step resounded through the piazza, and a gentleman came 
 fapidly ii our direction. 
 
 " Both found, and together 1" said Herbert, laying his hand 
 upon Mr. Wilson's arm. " I arrest you upon the charge of 
 unlawful monopoly But, what is the matter?' 7 he asked, 
 excited by our awkward silence to a suspicion that all was not 
 right. 
 
 " I have been writing a letter, and and happening to step 
 out here, found Mr. Wilson," I said, blunderingly, my tell-tale 
 features contradicting the careless statement I would have 
 given. 
 
 He was not deceived, but, in compassion, withdrew his search- 
 ing gaze. 
 
 " Will you go to your room, or return to the parlor 1" 
 inquired he. He spoke kindly, but the most authoritative man- 
 date would have left me equal space for choice. To one or th 
 other, I must depart and now. This was what he intended, 
 and I was not inclined to be refractory. 
 
 " To my room, if you please," I answered, catching at the 
 thought of its quiet solitude. 
 
 As he parted from me at the chamber-door, he said, " If you 
 do not object to a tfalk before you retire, I will call for you, by 
 and by. May will not leave off dancing for two hours yet." 
 
 I acquiesced in this, likewise, for in his mind it too was a 
 fixed purpose. 
 
 By the time I was tranquillized aole to think and talk, he 
 knocked for me to come forth. He was very grave ; and my pre- 
 tcient heart began to tremble. Nothing was said that verified
 
 62 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 its foreboding un.il we had taken several turns .n the pcrtico. ] 
 noticed that he kept close to the outer railip^, and BI oke softly, 
 and wondered whether this did not prove Us knowledge of lh 
 unfortunate accident above related. 
 
 At length I was assured. " I had a talk with Mr. Wilso 
 after I took you to your room, and gathered from him what h 
 was very unwilling I should learn what you know better thai 
 either of us. Had he been less grieved, or I less positive, 
 I should have been none the wiser for the conversation. There 
 are one or two questions I wish you to answer." 
 
 " Oh, no 1 I cannot 1" I cried in alarm. " Indeed I have no 
 light to say anything ; I have pledged my word to be silent. 
 
 " You promised Mr. Wilson to keep his secret, which is now 
 mine as well. I shall not tempt you to a violation of your 
 word. I wish to inquire if Louise expressed her repugnance to 
 this marriage before it took place." 
 
 " Once, and once only to me," I responded. 
 
 "Is it your belief, then, that she has ever done so to any 
 other person ?" he interrogated. 
 
 " I think it very doubtful. My impression is that she has not 
 even to her mother." 
 
 " Since her marriage, has she been in the habit of speaking to 
 you in the strain she adopted to-night ?" 
 
 " She has not opened her month on the subject before. She 
 is too proud to hint these things to any one but myself. We 
 have been intimate for so long 1" 
 
 " You have. I wish your friendship had saved her from thif 
 fatal step. My misguided sister I" 
 
 I could feel his chest heave with the sigh that followed tb 
 words. 
 
 " Why did you permit her to take the step, then ?" was in 
 my heart to say. Something impeded its utterance. 
 
 He replied as if 1 had spoken :
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 63 
 
 " 1 was astonished at her acceptance of Wilson's addresses 
 for he is her inferior in many respects ; but she repulsed my 
 expostulations so ungraciously ; was so decided in her declar 
 ation of her intention, that I, ignorant of the undercurrent 
 operating upon her will, concluded, absurdly enough, that she 
 was willing to overlook his weaknesses for the sake of his noble 
 traits. You do him flagrant injustice if- you despise him. His 
 sterling integrity ; his industry ; his freedom from every appear- 
 ance of ostentation, and his generous heart endear him to those 
 who look deeper than the outside show. I had not an idea that 
 Louise did violence to her inclination when she wedded him. 
 True, I was, at the outset of the engagement, unfriendly to the 
 match, for much as I esteemed Wilson, I had hoped to see her 
 maz'ry a mat. of more sprightly intellect ; whose tastes and pur- 
 suits were more in consonance with hers, but I had no right to 
 interfere no ground for opposing her will. I would have torn 
 her from him at the very altar, if I had suspected with what 
 motives she went thither." 
 
 I felt that he would have acted thus ; and it was no longer a 
 mystery why Louise, in her mad resolve of self-immolation, had 
 misled him to believe her a voluntary offering. 
 
 " It is hard to say what is best to be done," he said. "I 
 *ould have informed Louise that her wicked false-dealing for- 
 give me but that is just the phrase I designed to use, and you 
 must not dissent I say, my earliest impulse was to tell her that 
 her wicked false-dealing had been discovered by the man she has 
 injured, but he would not hear of this. You would have 
 respected him, if you could have listened to his pleading in her 
 behalf. The hope that she would ever love him had forsaken 
 him, he said ; but he would not court her hatred, nor render 
 her lot less endurable. Blaming himself for his folly in taking 
 her love for granted, he contended that his punishment was juat. 
 He represented that she had never deluded him by language of
 
 64 M08B-8IDK. 
 
 act of fondness. All the demonstration had betn on his side^ 
 she being only a passive recipient ; conduct he had hitherto 
 ascribed to womanly reserve, and for which he had honored her 
 the more. Not a single reproach mast light upon her, either 
 from her family or the world. She was his wife, and while sh 
 bore his name, he would protect and cherish her. He commit 
 ; oned me to thank you for your goodness." 
 ' I did nothing," I interposed. 
 
 " You gave him sympathy, and I, with him, bless you for it 
 He wishes, moreover, that everything shall go on in seeming as 
 before ; that you meet him to-morrow, and always in future, aa 
 if nothing had happened. For your own comfort, Grace, you 
 had better forget that there is one sorely-bruised spirit among 
 us to-night, which, this morning, was perhaps the most buoyant 
 of our number." 
 
 " I cannot forget his sorrow ; I must feel for him, although 
 forbidden even to look my compassion. Nor ought you to judge 
 Louise too severely ; she is not deliberately heartless." 
 
 " I will hear no excuses of her course. Do not you attempt 
 to justify it I" 
 
 He said this so sternly it was so unlike himself that it 
 brought tears to my eyes. 
 
 " I did not mean to wound you," he continued. " My mood 
 is not so charitable as you may think that it should be. I am 
 chafed, disappointed angry 1 I may as well out with the wh )l 
 truth at once I" 
 
 " Angry with me ?" said I, fearfully. 
 
 " Never I" 
 
 His hand touched mine, and my eyes were clear again. 
 
 We walked up and down the dim colonnade. 
 
 " Hear the Falls, Grace ! What do they say to you ?" 
 
 " They calm me," I said. 
 
 " As they do me. The sound is not dissimilar to the roar o'
 
 MOSS-blDE. G5 
 
 the ocean, but its effect upon me, at least, is entirely different. 
 There is no restless moaning here over an undying, mysterious 
 grief, but a strong, exultant shout, the united voice of many 
 waters. We will let it drown the strife of human passions for 
 his hour, will we not ?" 
 
 We could not be cheerful all at once, nor was our conveisfl 
 gay at last, yet we paced the porch until the rising moon ap- 
 prised us of the lateness of the hour. 
 
 " Are you still sad ?" he asked at my door, and I smiled my 
 reply. 
 
 May was sleeping soundly, and I lay down beside her. I 
 would have been very light-hearted if I could have lost tho 
 recollection of one event of the evening. I thought of my sum- 
 mer, and the black midnight of him, the innocent sufferer ; of 
 my full, joyous heart, and hers the erring woman's an empty 
 grave-yard, and marvelled vainly why these things were so, in a 
 world that could afford so much of delight. 
 
 Then, as a breeze brought the voice of the cataract, louder 
 and more jubilant, to my ear, there was a strange, unspeakable 
 comfort in recognizing the burden of the anthem in whispering 
 it over in the darkness strange, because I know now that I did 
 not appreciate the beauty and comprehensiveness of its meaning 
 The sacred words alone could interpret its language, and they 
 arose unbidden to my lips. Yet I remember that there was a 
 sense of security, of trust in an overruling, all-reconciling Power, 
 induced by the Hallelujah chorus, pealing through the solemn 
 watches of the night, when it only rendered audible praise te 
 the Omnipotent.
 
 66 M O S 6-8 I D . 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MY Virginia home had no pretensions to architectural ele- 
 gance, nor was it imposing in size. A frame farm-house, a story 
 and a half high, with peaked dormer windows in the roof ; its 
 walls owed their coat to the whitewash brush, and the cascmenta 
 had no blinds except running roses, virgin's bower and jessa- 
 mine. Mrs. Wynne's placid orbs would have widened, and her 
 aristocratic shoulders executed the meaning shrug, learned from 
 the most stylish French modiste of the day, at the sight of the 
 humble abode of her daughter's intimate companion ; but this 
 benign lady was as far from our minds as we were from her 
 patrician presence, on the evening of our arrival at Moss-side. 
 
 If there were little porcelain, and less silver upon our tea- 
 board, loving hearts and smiling faces surrounded it, and the 
 master of the house could not have done the honors of the feast 
 with more graceful hospitality had he been a prince, and wo his 
 titled guests Frederic was his youngest son, and resembled him 
 most in personal appearance ; but the fire in the eye, the electric 
 play of expression, were chastened in the elder by age or care. I 
 had often, since I had been old enough to read physiognomies, 
 seen in his, melancholy approximating to gloom ; but his ordi- 
 nary aspect was one of winning benevolence and a milduese 
 nothing could disturb. My aunt sat at the head of the table 
 She was the sister of our father, and my memory went not back 
 to ihi date of her entrance into our household. My most infan- 
 tile recollection was of a tall, pale lady, whose black eyes rarely 
 hone with pleasure, never with mirth ; who spoke almost ai
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 61 
 
 seldom, unless compelled to it by politeness, which was with her, 
 like every other observance of her daily life, a duty ; aud who 
 always wore a mourning dress, severely simple as were her man- 
 ners. She had not altered, to me, since the hour in which my 
 dying mother committed me, a child "who had scarcely seen lief 
 sixth summer, into her charge. " I give my youngest darling lo 
 you, Agnes," so the legacy was worded. After that I slept in 
 her room, not in her bosom, but in a crib or cot beside her bed. 
 If I awoke in fright or sickness, she required no other call than 
 my uneasy tossing ; she had taught me, patiently and well, until 
 I went from home to school ; I had never had an unkind admo- 
 nition or corporeal correction from her ; she was exemplary in 
 every capacity ; yet I did not love her with the ardor with which 
 my soul went out to my father. To him I was wont to carry my 
 childish secrets of joy or grief, for fondling and tenderness were 
 necessaries of my nature, and I understood intuitively, before I 
 could well speak his name, where these were to be found. Not 
 that my aunt was repulsive. Her features were fine ; her bear- 
 ing bespoke the lady in birth and breeding ; but there was an 
 indescribable chilliness experienced upon a near approach to her, 
 that never failed to deter the boldest from further and familial 
 advances. She was taciturn now in the midst of our rejoicings, 
 while Frederic's burlesques, and my gossipping stories, did not 
 allow the smile to die away upon my father's face during the 
 repast, and frequently moved him to hearty laughter. 
 
 The only satire upon an individual acquaintance was pro- 
 nounced by Frederic upon Mr. Dumont. The instinctive dislike 
 bad been mutual, and I was obliged to qualify the impetuou 
 youth's strictures by some tempering praise of the conversational 
 talents and scholarship of the personage so roughly handled. 
 
 " Yes, his pedantry was unequalled, except by his puppyism, 
 and both were set off to the best advantage by his imperti 
 nence," returned Frederic, contemptuously.
 
 6S MOBS-SIDE. 
 
 " Bat," said I, " we must not measure him, a foreigner, bj 
 our standard of etiquette, which is, no doubt, as- strange to (lira 
 as his philosophy is to us." 
 
 " I don't believe a syllable of his French origin," was the reply 
 ** He was too much at home in our vernacular, which, but for hit 
 finical aspirations, broad as and rolling r-r-rs might be his too, 
 I'll wager my head that wherever he may have learned these, 
 he was born and raised on this other side of the Atlantic, and 
 that the colors he sails under, are as false as his Macassared 
 hair." 
 
 My father bestowed upon him a glance of mingled amusement 
 and warning, and prudently changed the channel of the convex 
 sation. 
 
 " You did not meet our neighbor, Townley, in your travels, I 
 suppose ?" 
 
 " No, sir. How far did he go, and when ?" 
 
 " Not further northward than New York city, I think. He 
 was absent but a fortnight. Had he made the tour of Europe, 
 and consumed a year in the work, his budget could not have 
 been richer and more varied. Do not plume yourselves upon the 
 pitiful scraps you have collected. You will be humble enough 
 to learn of him when he begins to uncover his stock of informa- 
 tion. 
 
 " How are the sisters three ?" I inquired. 
 
 " Very well, and brisk as ever. Miss Judy was over yester- 
 day to ask my advice about purchasing a pair of Berkshire pigs 
 Mr Jones has for sale, and to ascertain if I were averse to join- 
 ing fences with her in separating our wood-lots. She alleges that 
 the negroes do not pay neighborly respect to our boundary lines 
 that mine cut down trees on her side, and hers are not slow W 
 return the favor. She is a singular, but an upright woman." 
 
 " And Manufactures and my favorite 1 ine-Arts are thej 
 
 Bourishing ?" asked Frederic.
 
 MOSS-SIDE 6& 
 
 " They are not dull, I fancy ; although I have heard nothing 
 new in the line of either, if I except a ' gem of a picture,' which 
 Mr. Townley brought home for Miss Malvina. She introduced 
 me to it the other day, when I was there. The subject is not 
 itriking in elegance or originality a peasant girl, washing her 
 feet in a brook ; but Mr. Townley informed me that his sister con 
 idered it a pick-to^rial treasure." 
 
 " Atrocious 1" exclaimed Frederic ; " more nauseating than the 
 general run of what, by an odd flight of fancy, he calls puns. 
 He would attempt these horrors at his last gasp, I believe." 
 
 " So some one once told him," said my father upon which he 
 rejoined " and you, I presume, would deem that a di-e.r mis- 
 deed." 
 
 Before noon, the ensuing day, as I was standing upon the 
 back porch, exchanging some last words with Frederic, who was 
 equipped for hunting, we heard the rattle of wheels that stopped 
 at our gate. 
 
 " Who is it, Joe ?" questioned Frederic of a negro boy, who 
 had run around to the front of the house to reconnoitre. 
 " Mr. Townley's carriage, sir." 
 
 " All three ladies, Joe ?" questioned my brother, dropping his 
 voice, and withdrawing to the corner of the porch best screened 
 from observation. 
 
 " Yes, sir all on 'em 1" showing his teeth in lively glee. 
 " I will be back to supper, sis," was the sportsman's farewell, 
 as he vaulted over the railing, and under cover of a cedar hedge 
 that ran across the yard, made good his retreat to the woods. 
 
 I was vexed with him for leaving me to encounter, single- 
 tongued, the force before which he had fled ; yet I was glad, for 
 his sake, that the long, tedious hours of conversation, and the 
 almost as heavy season of dinner was spared to one of us. Thia 
 act behind the scenes passed so quickly that I was enabled, after 
 ecing Frederic leap the fence into a corn-field to meet the visi-
 
 70 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 tora at the door. I ushered them into the parlor ; went inU 
 minute inquiries as to the health of each, and in the proper time, 
 invited them to remove their bonnets. 
 
 Miss Judy had already loosened the strings of hers, never tieU 
 too tightly. 
 
 " I should like to speak to my driver," she said, stepping 
 towards the door. 
 
 I would ha ye offered to send for him, but she was too brihk 
 for me. I heard her loud tones, ordering that the horses should 
 be unhitched and taken home again, for the purpose of complet- 
 ing a certain job of farm work. 
 
 "Bring them back by sunset do you hear?" she finished the 
 command. 
 
 Meanwhile, Miss Susan removed, with much care, a Leghorn 
 hat, trimmed by herself with green ribbon and yellow flowers ; 
 and Miss Malvina waited for a second petition before laying 
 aside her more stylish head-piece of pink silk and French lace. 
 
 " I do not know that it is advisable, Sister Susan," she said 
 deferentially. " We came over to make a morning call." 
 
 " I am goihg to stay all day 1" put in Miss Judy, ree'ntering 
 " I want to have a nice neighborly talk with Mr. Leigh, and look 
 at Miss Agnes' garden. They tell me it beats mine out-and- 
 out," shaking hands with ray father and aunt aa they came 
 in. 
 
 She was a tall, gaunt woman of forty-five ; hard, yet not ill- 
 favored, the honest frankness of her sunburnt features redeeming 
 them from homeliness. Her dress was scrupulously neat, but 
 of a make and fit that defies description. She abhorred " fur- 
 belows," and a redundance of drapery would have been a sore 
 inconvenience in her walks over the plantation ; so her apparel 
 was destitute of ornament, and except in the waist and arm-holes, 
 where she " liked to have a plenty of room," was cut out of the 
 mallest possible quantity of material, the skirt barely reaching
 
 MOSS-SIDE 71 
 
 oer ankles. She wore thick-soled Morocco shoes, and no glovea 
 or cap ; her hair being arranged with the same view as was her 
 attire, " to get it out of the way." Yet, Miss Judy, eccentric 
 and ungainly though she was, masculine in manner and pursuits, 
 was my favoiite of the triad. 
 
 Miss Susan was thirty ; an inch shorter than h\ r elder sister, 
 ale, with high cheek-bones, and an aquiline nose, a sour expre* 
 ion about the mouth, compressed to a mere line in the lower 
 part of her face, except when it curled to speak ; and a cold, 
 Tirago stare in the eye. She never moved without her work : 
 and now drew from her hand-basket several squares of a bed- 
 quilt. I took up one by way of beginning a conversation 
 The ground-work was white, upon which was sewed a bouquet, 
 consisting of a blue tulip, a purple rose, and an orange pink, 
 cut from glazed, highly-colored furniture chintz, and all mounted 
 upon stalks that might have supported mammoth cabbages. 
 
 " After the flowers are transferred, each piece is to be wadded 
 and liucd, and then quilted in imitation of a. Marseilles coun- 
 terpane," explained the needlewoman. " Afterwards, the squares 
 are to be stitched together." 
 
 " How tedious 1" I remarked. " You are courageous to 
 undertake the task." 
 
 "It might be tedious to some people," pointedly- --" I was 
 brought up not to mind work." 
 
 " Sister Susan is the most wonderful woman I kr/ow, v said 
 Miss Malvina; " the most industrious and ingenious person I ever 
 saw. She shames me, but I have no tastenot the slightest, 
 for these occupations. You should see a rug Sister Susan has 
 ust finished. It is really superb, very handsome, indeed 1 The 
 colors are so artistically assorted !" 
 
 "We must not expect Grace to look at home manufacture* 
 now, 1 ' and the vinegar settled still more sharply ab./ut Mis? 
 Susan's thin lips. " How plain and mean everything urnst b
 
 7ii MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 to you, after all the fiuery you have been used to lately ! 1 
 qnite pity you." 
 
 "You needn't," Miss Judy answered for me. ' Grace has toe 
 Bioch good sense to have her head easily turned." 
 
 "Thank you, Miss Judy," said my father. "I believe you 
 C-L'.J do her justice." 
 
 This almost made a child of me. The blood rushed to my 
 faoe and the water to my eyes. I tried to smile and turn the 
 matter off with a jesting speech, which was very imperfectly 
 spoken. Miss Susan had a remarkable faculty of saying un- 
 pleasant things ; an intuitive perception of one's tender point, 
 Hiid I felt that she had struck her hard hand directly upon one of 
 uiue, perhaps the sorest I then had. I was not ashamed of my 
 home ; for all that pertained to the unpretending establishment 
 seemed to share in the self-respect of its inmates ; and there was 
 such perfect harmony, such genuine good taste and neatness 
 throughout the whole, that even Mrs. Wynne would have found 
 nothing to offend her sense of propriety and general fitness, 
 while she would have sneered at the extreme simplicity of coun- 
 try life. But this morning, I was " ennuye'ed " a word caught 
 from Louise. The excitement of the past month, the scenes and 
 society in which it had been spent, had induced a sort of fretful 
 reaction, which I was ready enough to ascribe to boredom by 
 the present company. I was shocked by Miss Judy's stentorian 
 tones and inelegant attire ; Miss Susan was the most uninter- 
 esting of cross old maids, and Miss Malvina's mincing and lan- 
 guishing were odious, unbearable affectation. This inopportune 
 visit, while I was still suffering from the fatigue of travelling 
 and my exchequer of rare and curious news for the loved one 
 at home almost untouched, was of a piece with their usual dis 
 ragard of others' feelings and convenience. Yet, there sat my 
 aunt, knitting a worsted stocking, and listening with grave 
 politeness to Miss Judy' 3 vegetable catalogue : how one beet
 
 M O 8 8 3 I D E . Hi 
 
 had measured three feet in circumference, and a single tomato 
 weighed a pound ; of how many bushels of butter beans and 
 black-eyed peas she expected to gather for winter varied by 
 receipts for pickles, sauces, and catsups, and infallible remedies 
 for the gapes in young poultry, and all ills that fowls of- a larger 
 growth are heir to. 
 
 My father, with the grace of a Chesterfield, lent an attentive 
 ^ar to Miss Malvina's platitudes and sentimentalisms. I needed 
 jnly an affectionate smile from him to rally my spirits, and I 
 ^commenced the dialogue with the tart spinster. She cross- 
 examined me as to the newest patterns for French embroidery, 
 jetting, tetting, tapestry, and especially bed-quilts. It is an 
 anexplained fact, that the industry of amateur seamstresses 
 almost invariably turns in the direction of these nondescript 
 abominations. Miss Susan had, in her own private storeroom, 
 a pile of not less than twenty-five of such useful articles from 
 the irregularly-joined patch-work that testified, by its gaping 
 stitches and puckered corners, to the infantine fingers that drove 
 the needle into the motley spread, up through every variety of 
 circle, hexagon, star, and block work, to the "rising sun," her 
 glory, until it was eclipsed by this latest burlesque upon nature's 
 handiwork ; its improbable flowers, impossible birds, and im- 
 practicable baskets of floral and fruity treasures. The truth was, 
 that I had not seen a single quilt during my absence, and after 
 several dexterous evasions to avoid the rudeness of hinting that 
 her hobbies were not quite a la mode, I achieved a master-stroke, 
 by assuring her that hers were superior in pattern and work- 
 manship to any foreign ones that I had examined. The vinegar 
 was sensibly diluted, and she proceeded, more graciously than 
 Vfts her habit in speaking to one whom she regarded as a " chit 
 of a girl," to expatiate upon her branch of domestic economy. 
 
 It was a sultry September day. The crickets sang in the 
 crisp grass, and the locusts piped their drought prophecy from 
 
 4
 
 74 MOSS-BIDE 
 
 among the dying leaves of the poplars. The parlor was a large 
 square room, with four windows draped with white dimity 
 fringed and starched, looped up in stiff curves by blue ribbons. 
 The clean floor had no covering except a rug laid before the 
 hearth, where stood a jar of asparagus boughs. There were 
 two ponderous sofas, supported by spindle legs and overgrowu 
 claw-feet, upon opposite sides of the apartment ; a dozen ehaira 
 of similar style and age, in prim file against the chair-board ; a 
 round candle-stand, its top turned up perpendicularly, set well 
 back into one corner; a book-case with sliding doors in another 
 and in the exact centre of the floor exact, according to m) 
 aunt's eye, more just than any foot and inch rule a circulai 
 table spread its ample circumference over three claws, as dis- 
 proportionate to the stem they upbore as were those of the 
 sofas. The piano was as much out of place as a city belle, in 
 flounces and crinoline, would be at a tea-party of country 
 Quaker cousins. My father had surprised me with it on my 
 return home from school. It was shut to-day, and the music 
 tucked away out of sight in the drawer of the book-case appro- 
 priated to it. Frederic and I had sung and played duets for 
 an hour immediately after breakfast, and left loose sheets lying 
 about ; but my aunt had visited the room since. As I have 
 said, there was no disorder, no tawdriness to offend the most 
 fastidious eye ; but there was, on the other hand, as little to 
 divert; an absence of suggestive objects to stimulate or maintain 
 conversation. 
 
 I had found in my work-box an interminable strip of cambric, 
 which I hemmed to keep my fingers in motion, and my eyes 
 teady Miss Susan talked and talked her accents unmusical 
 nd monotonous as the locust's cry. I heard both with like ap- 
 prehension of their meaning. 
 
 " And this is your life 1" said Discontent " These are your 
 associate ! Stirring is it not ? And are they entirely cong
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 75 
 
 Dial ? There is wide scope for the play of Imagination ; fine 
 opportunity for the exercise of conversational powers ! Your 
 glimpse of the world has only begotten in you a longing for a 
 different sphere. Feast as you will, upon your garnered memo- 
 ies of that bright view, they will not cheat the Present of ita 
 wedium. Herbert and May could give wings to even these 
 weary, hot hours, you plead : but that is not at all apropos tc 
 the subject now under Teview. You are required to accept the 
 spinster sisterhood of three, this fascinating triangle, to be 
 squared presently by their witling of a brother, as substitutes 
 for your late companions. What do you say ?" 
 
 " That I will not do it !" I answered obstinately. 
 
 " Are you dreaming about your sweetheart ?" asked Miss Su- 
 san, coarsely. 
 
 Miss Malvina tittered. " Just what I was going to inquire 
 You do look so interesting and lack-a-daisical, Grace 1 Come, 
 make a confession. We are all friends, you know." 
 
 Again I reddened, and more fierily than before ; but the half- 
 formed retort was fortunately prevented by a cheery voice in the 
 hall, and the appearance of the runaway Nimrod. He brought, 
 moreover, a most acceptable visitor, although there was nothing 
 at the first glance that would have interested a stranger in the 
 very quiet-looking personage whose greeting lighted up even Miss 
 Susan's crab-apple visage. 
 
 He was our nearest, and certainly our best neighbor. A wid- 
 o\ver at thirty, he had now lived ten years alone in the house 
 which had been the scene of his wedded happiness. Uusoured 
 by sorrow or his solitary existence, he was, without question, the 
 most popular man in the county, that rara avis of humankind 
 one of whom no one knew or spoke any evil. He was grooms- 
 man at every wedding, uncle to all the children, cousin to all the 
 girls, confidant in every love-scrape, and arbiter in every quar 
 re' Mr Tovvnley, a lawyer of sharp and not over-scrupulous
 
 T6 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 practice, pretended to cherish a grudge against him for having 
 spoiled more law-suits than he had ever gained. The thermo- 
 meter of my blood fell, and that of my spirits mounted, as I held 
 out my hand : 
 
 " Mr. Peyton 1 I am very glad to see you !" 
 
 " And I to see you back, Grace 1" 
 
 Volumes of protestations could not have conveyed more to my 
 heart. 
 
 My pleasure did not, however, blind me to Miss Malvina's flat- 
 tering reception of my fun-loving brother. He was at the age 
 when the prospect of a flirtation with a willing damsel is irre- 
 sistible to a Southern youth. Miss Malvina was four years his 
 senior, but as she was condescendingly anxious to overlook this 
 trifling disparity, he was too gallant to remember it. The whole 
 family courted him most sedulously, and he allowed them the pri- 
 vilege. Mr. Peyton and I fell into a friendly chat, marked by 
 something of paternal interest on his part, and much communi- 
 cativeness on mine. Mr. Townley's comings were never a cause 
 of special gratiGcation to me, and I had seldom been less happy to 
 see him than when he bowed himself in, half an hour before dinner. 
 
 He was a small man, with a very white face and sandy hair, 
 parted down the middle, a mode of coiffure which imparts an air 
 of effeminacy or affected saintliness to the most manly set of fea- 
 tures. His politeness was extreme. Few of his acquaintances 
 had ever known his suavity to be disturbed ; in the social circle, 
 his smiling ease was imperturbable. He entered now, sliding his 
 feet over the floor, with the air of a true carpet-knight, in the 
 direction of my aunt, whose stateliness he reverenced by a bo 
 of deep respectfulness ; then I had a benefit : 
 
 " Accept my i congratulations upon your return in safety, and, 
 AS I am rejoiced o behold, in health." 
 
 " Thank you. I am well, and have had a very pleasant jou* 
 ney and visit."
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 77 
 
 * You will not, then, be grieved to receive a jwrf-visit reminder 
 of your Northern friends ?" approaching his hand to his pocket. 
 
 I had the presence of mind to smile at the pun (?) before 1 
 inquired, 
 
 " Have you, then, a letter for me ?" 
 
 " Give me credit for for a spice of Yankee cunning in ensuring 
 a welcome ;" and he proceeded to distribute his dispatches. 
 " I took the liberty of bringing your papers from the oflice, as I 
 Tr&s coming directly hither," he apologized to my father. 
 
 There was a letter for Frederic, and another for me. We 
 glanced, each at the superscription of that which the other held, 
 and both looked foolish as our eyes met. 
 
 Mr. Townley chuckled a little, low laugh, his most boisterous 
 exhibition of amusement. 
 
 " Really, Fred, one would imagine that I had given you the 
 wrong epistle. I strongly suspect what, in one sense, my eyea 
 assure me is true, that the more feminine I may say the very 
 feminine packet was intended, under color of your sister, for 
 you." 
 
 Frederic laughed gaily. It required no effort in his then state 
 of mind. Mr. Townley was complacent that his brilliant effort 
 h&d not escaped notice, and we chose this moment to withdraw. 
 We read our precious missives in " father's room," the usual 
 gathering-place of the family. As I finished mine, I saw that 
 Frederic was watching me in some impatience. 
 
 " Will you exchange ?" he said. 
 
 I complied silently. 
 
 He took the perfumed satin sheet caressingly. 
 
 " There is a breath of her presence about it," and he raised it 
 X) his lips. 
 
 There was no mockery in this, and neither of us smiled at thi 
 action, extravagant as it might have appeared to a third party 
 [ had never seen Herbert Wynne's handwriting until I read this,
 
 76 M088-SIDK. 
 
 his letter to my brother. It was as characteristic in its way ai 
 was May's. But it was no scented Bath post for which I had 
 bartered her dainty note. The paper was large, clear white, and 
 a firm, manly hand had guided the pen. I could hear him speak 
 each sentence as I read it, and I dwelt upon its perusal to 
 enjoy this fancy. There was a message to me in the conclusion, 
 mere phrase of friendly remembrance, but I turned back tc 
 look at it again, lest I had not perhaps quite understood it. 
 
 The dinner-bell interrupted me. In our haste, Frederic re- 
 tained my letter, thrusting it into his bosom ; and I did not stay 
 to return him his. He was back in the parter in time to offer 
 his arm to Miss Malvina, whose pink cheeks took a more vivid 
 hue as she accepted it. I could have quarrelled with this best- 
 beloved brother for his show of devotion to a girl for whom he 
 felt neither respect nor affection, while his heart was yet warm 
 with thoughts of, and words from its ruling angel. I marvelled 
 if he did not contrast the round, fat face she vainly attempted to 
 coax into intellectuality; the half-sigh, half-smirk which responded 
 to his attentions ; the Dutch figure that waddled, when it would 
 have tripped along, with the lovely fay, whose mirth and gravity 
 were alike unaffected ; whose heart and soul spoke in eye and 
 expression ere the tongue could syllable their meaning. I grew 
 wiser in after days ; understood why Love should never think of 
 comparing refined gold with pewter metal ; the sun with a 
 farthing taper. I doubt if it occurred to Frederic that May 
 belonged to the same sex as the buxom creature by whom he 
 ostentatiously manoeuvred to obtain a seat at table a feat, that, 
 to Miss Malvina's notion, warranted the application of her hand 
 kerchief to her mouth. I expected a renewal of Mr. Townley' 
 raillery ; but while we were out of the parlor, another subject 01 
 interest had been started by a paragraph in one of the papers he 
 had brought. Affairs of honor at that day were less susceptible 
 of amicable adjustment than in the age of accommodation wo novr
 
 MOSS-SIDE 79 
 
 enjoy. Shots were occasionally exchanged, and blood drawn 
 even by M.C.s ; and of such an encounter the mail brought us 
 tidings. The result had not proved fatal to either party ; there- 
 fore, in the discussion that sprang up, opinions were not sup- 
 pressed by respect for death or bereavement. 
 
 The subject, in itself, was neither agreeable nor interesting to 
 me ; so for a while I did not mark what was going on, except 
 that Mr Peyton and Mr. Townley were upon opposite sides 
 the one as severe as his nature permitted him to become, ir 
 denunciation of the code of honor, stigmatizing it as " sanguinary 
 and heathenish ;" while the lawyer, in conciliatory tones, de- 
 fended or palliated it. 
 
 " How can you talk so, James ?" I, at last, heard Miss Judy 
 speak up in her independent way. " I am like you, Mr. Peyton. 
 I hold that a duellist is as much a murderer as a midnight 
 
 " More 1" said Miss Susan, shortly, opening and shutting her 
 mouth as with a spring. 
 
 Miss Malvina always seconded her senior sisters ; " Sister 
 Susan " in particular. Sentimental though she was, her forte ir 
 conversation, if she had one, was in echoing the sentiments of 
 others. For herself, she had none, except upon " Fine Arts " 
 courtship included. She sighed a slight scream here, and said that 
 " they were indeed dreadful creatures so cold-blooded, so heart- 
 less so why, in short, such wicked, horrid wretches ! Now, 
 there is something romantic in a Corsair, or a Giaour, or a Bandit." 
 
 " There is a difference," responded Frederic. " Your Pirate 
 follows his trade of blood from deliberate choice, and its object 
 is plunder, rather than vengeance or glory. He unites the 
 characters of thief and murderer. The duellist flies to the field 
 in the heat of anger often of righteous indignation at wrongs 
 done to the defenceless objects of his best affections. Ta 
 avenge them, to cleanse his own fame from blots more hatefu
 
 80 MUSS-AIDE. 
 
 than death, he meets his foe like a brave man, and grants him 
 fair chance for life." 
 
 " The same chance which the beast of prey grants his antag- 
 onist precisely the same, Fred," replied Mr. Peyton. " If the 
 Creator had intended that brute force should decide on whict 
 side lies moral right, we would have been supplied with fangl 
 and claws instead of brains and consciences." 
 
 "So I so all of us would argue, seated peacefully in our 
 homes ; good friends with the world and ourselves. I do not 
 hold my honor dearer than you do .yours, Mr. Peyton, and I 
 know that to-morrow to-day were your character assailed, if 
 calumny menaced the downfall of your reputation, and with it, all 
 your hopes of earthly happiness, you could not rest upon your 
 bed until you had tracked the serpent to his den, and destroyed 
 him." 
 
 " Maybe so, Fred maybe so ! My temper might get the 
 upper hand of me and drive me to forget that I was a man and 
 a Christian ; and so might it be with you in a similar tempta- 
 tion ; but two wrongs would not make a right. The laws of 
 God and man should be respected." 
 
 " I should transgress none of the Divine commands in pre- 
 serving my life, if I were attacked ; why then have I not equal 
 liberty to save that which is better than mere animal exist- 
 ence ?" returned Frederic. " As to human law, the pretended 
 guardian of society, since it cannot protect my best treasure, 
 am I bound to remain without a safe-guard when I can establish 
 one for myself ?" 
 
 Mr. Townley's voice fell upon the ear in an oily flow as th 
 excited youth ceased. 
 
 " Let me suppose a case, gentlemen. You have a sister, 
 Mr. Peyton lovely and beloved, the idol of your heart and 
 home. Gentle, pure, helpless, she appeals to every feeling ^f 
 nature and manliness She is insulted, defamed -it may be U
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 81 
 
 trashed ic earth by the perfidy or abuse of him whose duty it is 
 to cherish and protect her what course shall the brother tuko T' 
 
 Volcanic fire was in Frederic's glance lava in his impetuous 
 outbreak " I would have his heart's blood for hers and so 
 **ould you, Mr. Peyton ! I would not sit at this table would not 
 einain under the same roof with you, if I did not believe this I" 
 
 " My son !" 
 
 The unfamiliar accents drew the attention of all to the foot of 
 the board. My father supported his head upon his hand ; hia 
 gaze still lingered rebukingly upon the hot-spirited boy, but hia 
 countenance was so agitated, so pale^ that a terrible idea of 
 death-stroke of illness flashed into my mind. 
 
 Frederic passed to his side with the speed of this thought. 
 " You are not well, sir !" 
 
 " Yes yes P' subduing the pain, whatever it was. " That 
 is I am better. I had a spasm, I think. I know it of old, but 
 it is passing. It seldom lasts long. Forgive me for alarming 
 you all. I assure you that your anxiety is needless." 
 
 His natural manner was returning. He even smiled along the 
 double row of frightened faces ; his eye resting longest upon my 
 aunt, whose self-possession was more shaken than I had ever 
 seen it before. She had arisen at Frederic's exclamation, but 
 the power to stand was wanting, and only the wild, earnest eye 
 and pallid cheek told the fullness of sisterly sympathy. The 
 look her brother bestowed upon her was angelic in its beautiful 
 tenderness. What evil chance made me pass from its contem- 
 plation to the smooth face of Mr. Townley, who sat at his right 
 hand? He had light-grey eyes not remarkable in color oi 
 expression. I had hitherto thought them rather vacant and 
 shallow. Was it my excited fancy which eliminated the blue light 
 ning that played through them now ? It was but a single flash- 
 keen, forked, triumphant then, quicker than the passing of elee 
 trie fire from the clouds, the orbs were quiet and depthless agaiu 
 4*
 
 82 MOSS-SIDE 
 
 with their ordinary greenish tinge, as if a blind had been shot 
 across then\ just below the surface. 
 
 " I think this seizure is nothing serious, sir," he said ; and 
 butter and honey were a harsh mixture compared with his modu 
 lations. "A slight megrim, probably and a grim one it looked 
 tn us, for a few seconds." 
 
 With real tact, he succeeded in raising a laugh by some 
 further jocose observation, and the incident, startling for the 
 moment, seemed to be forgotten by the time the meal was over. 
 I wore a careless outside show also, for there was no appa- 
 rent cause for solicitude. The object about which it gathered, 
 by his manner, put to flight any suspicion of its need. He waa 
 the cheerful, urbane host all the afternoon ; attended his fair 
 guests to their carriage, and detained them a moment after the 
 door was closed, to invite a renewal of the visitation, which he 
 did not call by this name, and promise Miss Judy some choice 
 seed-wheat which Frederic had procured in his travels. My 
 brother and myself stood with him at the gate. We watched 
 the carriage roll away, and Frederic kissed his hand to the fare- 
 well wave of Miss Malvina's handkerchief. 
 
 "Ah, Fred ! yon are a sad flirt, my boy ! Take care you 
 do not go so far as to produce mischief," said his father, but 
 smiling fondly into his roguish face. 
 
 " Trust me, sir ; I will guarantee the safety of both hearts. 
 The danger to her is no greater than to me and I could 
 not say more for the perfect security of either of us." 
 
 We did not go directly into the house ; but strolled through 
 the yard into the great, old-fashioned garden, where venerable 
 trees grew yearly more decrepid under the unmerciful weigh* 
 of fruit, laid upon their aged limbs ; where were giant lilac 
 and " snow-balls," and conical mountains of box-wood ; and tan- 
 gled thickets of rose-bushes, their stems hoary with time ; and 
 long borders of lavender, sage, thyme and sweet Basil ; more
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 83 
 
 fragrant in the twilight than would be the much-prized exotica 
 of modern conservatories, whose perfumes chill in their cups 
 the sun goes down. 
 
 We paced up and down the main walk, my father's arm clasp- 
 ng my waist, and his other hand laid upon Frederic's shoulder. 
 Our recent visitors were not mentioned. We were too 
 happy to be able to talk of matters of mot 3 interest. Conver 
 sation with the good who have passed the meridian of life, is 
 to me like the enjoyment of rare old wine and a fair crown ia 
 the aliflond-blossom for such a draught. The joy is rare, I say 
 at le?3t it has been so to me. Experience only too soon 
 enlightened me as to the fallacy of a doctrine inculcated in my 
 childhood as carefully as was religious truth ; viz : that increase 
 of years ever brings wisdom in their train ; tempers passion, 
 an-J perfects virtue. If years had not wrought this effect upon 
 my father, affliction and heavenly grace had accomplished the 
 work. He had never lectured us, and since we had arrived 
 at man's and woman's estate, a word or a glance sufficed to hold 
 us in check, while we never dreaded to avv-w an opinion or con- 
 fess a fault to him. So, we had not walkeu very long when I 
 was made aware that my heart was not the only one from which 
 the alarm at dinner-time was not wholly effaced. Frederic's 
 repeated surveys of the mild countenance, so serene in the rosy 
 light, emboldened him to ask a plain question. 
 
 " Father, was I too hasty in argument with our excellent 
 friend, Mr. Peyton, to-day ?" 
 
 " It was hardly an argument, my son," was the pleasantly 
 spoken rejoinder. 
 
 " Our dispute then, sir. I allow that to be the better word 
 I imagined that you were on the point of reproving my hea*, 
 when you were taken ill." 
 
 My father's face was a shade m:re grave. bn 1 -. jis answer WAI 
 orompt and calm.
 
 84: MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " My censare, if it had been spoken, would have borne upoi 
 the matter, more than the manner of your speech, Fred." 
 
 Frederic bit his lip. "I am sorry, sir, that I have bcci 
 o imprudent as to incur your displeasure " 
 
 " Not ' displeasure,' my boy ; say that I disapproved of your 
 remarks upon one subject remarks, too, which were actuated 
 by impulse more than deliberate thought and conviction." 
 
 " I regret, then, that I have failed to meet your wishes upon 
 every point. I spoke too warmly, I own. My reason tells me 
 that mine was the anti-Christian anti-humau, if you choose to 
 style it side of the question, and yet," his mouth and chin 
 becoming stern, " I am sure that, if put to the test, I would act 
 out what I then declared would be my part ; I could take no 
 other conscientiously." 
 
 My father's arm tightened upon my form. 
 
 " May the trial never come, my son I" 
 
 We were at the lower end of the walk, where stood a summer- 
 house, roofed with creepers, looking towards the west. My 
 father sat down in the rustic chair at the entrance. Our prome- 
 nade had wearied him, for his breath was short ; and as I passed 
 my fingers over his forehead, I brushed off thick beads of perspi- 
 ration. 
 
 " I trust I should meet it like a man, sir, not as a coward," 
 Frederic said decidedly, yet with respect. 
 
 " If one of the alternatives must be met, there is certainly need 
 of more hardihood to enable one to live for years with the brand 
 of blood-guiltiness upon his soul, than to encounter speedy death 
 from the hand of another," answered his father, composedly. 
 ' The breath of slander can never stain so darkly, corrode so 
 deeply, as the blood of your fellow-man. No more of this now, 
 my boy. Shake hands, Fred 1 We are too good friends to 
 quarrel about what is, thank Heaven 1 an abstract principle." 
 
 We sat at his feet, and the very balm of peace descended upon
 
 MOSS-SIDE 85 
 
 oar spirits as he talked with and to us. I sighed no more for 
 gayer scenes, for a wider orbit of sight and action, for I felt 
 how truly great one could be in simple goodness, how the most 
 obscure sphere could be dignified by such as he ; -and in the 
 flush and fragrance of that autumnal sunset were born ether 
 and purer aspirations, views and hopes more humble, yet mori 
 xalting than the vague longings of the noon.
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OCTOBER fruits, vermilion and gold, strewed the orchard grass j 
 nor had liberal autumn been chary with these precious dyea in 
 field and forest. The woods were one vast kaleidoscope of daily 
 increasing gorgeousness. In our nplpnd rambles, our feet were 
 entangled in crimson vine-wreaths, aad rustled to breaking, the 
 brittle broom-straw, scaring up from its roots bevies of par- 
 tridges, fond loiterers about the nests that now yawned bare and 
 empty ; the streams, shrunken by the drought, were traceable by 
 bright borders of the golden rod, glittering chains upon the sere 
 bosom of the meadow. 
 
 And in such a season, upon a faultless day, when clouds and 
 rain were to be found nowhere, save in our hearts and eyes, 
 Frederic went away. In the vicinity of his Alma Mater resided 
 an eminent physician, who was in the habit of directing the 
 medical studies of a small class of young men, residents in his 
 uwn family, and, alternately, the companions of his professional 
 excursions. Under his care, my brother designed placing hirn- 
 Belf for a few months, prior to his entrance upon a regular course 
 of lectures in a northern college. Session after session he had 
 left us for the same journey, and the same time, but I could not 
 look upon this in the light of his former absences. It was a 
 decisive step ; the seal of his choice of a profession that would 
 oblige him to seek another home, for he would never be content 
 to bury his talents in an interior country neighborhood, too wel] 
 rtocked now with professors of the healing art. 
 
 A visit flora Mr. Townley the evening before the departara
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 87 
 
 afforded some diversion to iny sad thoughts. He was profuse in 
 his sympathies and good wishes ; predicted early consolation t<J 
 me, and a most successful career to Frederic, and with the por- 
 tentous gravity that always warned us to watch narrowly, lest 
 we should miss the point of a pan, stated as " a singular fact 
 that the ills of patients are in a conspiracy to make physician 
 
 At parting, he brought in a box from his gig. 
 
 " A farewell token from the girls," he said ; " whether yon 
 fart, well in getting it is another thing, Frederic." 
 
 " I have no misgivings," laughed the recipient, and the sleek 
 man of law took a final leave. 
 
 In the box were a doztn juicy pippins, and a fruit-cake from 
 Miss Judy ; a worsted comforter, wrought by Miss Susan ; and 
 a portfolio of card-board, bound and lined with cherry silk. One 
 side bore a water-color drawing of an anchor suspended to a 
 wreath of forget-me-nots, beneath which was written in mim- 
 meny-pimmeny characters, the name of the flower. The reverse 
 was more elaborate in design and execution, and was, I sus- 
 pected, purely original. In the centre of the board a yellow 
 serpent made frantic, but useless, attempts to swallow himself, 
 his spine being too stiff to suffer him to do more than seize the 
 extreme tip of his tail with his teeth. This interesting reptile 
 wao supported on the right by an inverted cornucopia, in favor 
 of whose contents the laws of gravitation were suspended, and 
 upon the left by a scrub-oak, almost hidden in ivy branches ; 
 above, two doves flew in opposite directions, tying a true-lover's 
 knot in an azure ribbon ; and at the bottom of the whole array 
 was penned with a crow-quill and India-ink, " Amor vincit omuia." 
 
 I seem now to see Frederic throw back his handsome head and 
 laugh until tears, real tears, clear and large, coursea over hit 
 cheeks, as a dim sense of the meaning of the worse than Egypt 
 ian hieroglyphics dawned upon him, and the look of perplexed
 
 88 M06B-61DE. 
 
 amusement in my father's face while he siadied this fresh 
 triumph of "Fine Art." I managed to stow away all of the 
 gifts in trunk and portmanteau, Miss Malvina's chef-d'oeuvre 
 scenting a pile of handkerchiefs in the tray of the former. A 
 note of thanks to the three was left in my charge. 
 
 Our beloved one was gone ; and for days, the desolation an^ 
 tillness of the grave reigned in our home. Gradually a seem- 
 ing of cheerfulness came back, invoked, I shame to say, more by 
 my father than by me. He appeared to think only of my sor> 
 row, as if the strongest prop of his advancing age were not 
 removed. He encouraged me to walk, to ride, to visit, and used 
 every means to tempt company to the house. I could not be 
 ungrateful for such kindness, and throwing off despondency, I. 
 endeavored to look courageously at the comparatively Jonely win- 
 ter in prospect, and prepare for it as best I could. My life waa 
 uneventful, yet I learned a certain negative satisfaction in it. 
 Like most ofher young ladies who are raised above the absolute 
 necessity of labor, I never dreamed of any duties obligatory upon 
 me beyond a little needle-work ; a little housekeeping, orna 
 mental and gratuitous ; a little music, and making myself agree- 
 able at home and abroad. I read without system or fixed pur- 
 pose ; sewed when I felt like it ; practised an hour a day or 
 less ; ate, slept, received and returned visits. 
 
 My happiest hours were those of reverie, a practice that waa 
 strengthening into inveteracy. My aunt and myself sat together 
 at work much of the morning, and when my father was not pre- 
 sent, our conversation was limited to a few queries and replies, 
 uttered at long intervals. My seat was near a window, com- 
 manding an extensive stretch of rolling fields, bounded afar off^ 
 by the variegated forest. Bare as were these hills at this season, 
 my eye acquired the power of distinguishing numerous differen 
 shades of coloring ; aud when the clouds left their sides in pun 
 pie shade, while the sun slept in golden rest upon the summits
 
 MOBS-BIDE S9 
 
 or the light and darkness chased each other ovei ridge and glen, 
 I watched the scene with a delight I had never felt in the sur- 
 vey of a summer landscape. I have often sat for hours, my 
 hands laid idly in my lap, gazing into the mellow sunlight, or into 
 the dim atmosphere of a cloudy day, revelling, as I deluded my 
 self by saying, in the beauties of Nature ; in truth, wandering 
 ihrough the Elf-laud of my own imaginings. We come in time, 
 to smile at the Chinese paintings upon the walls of our now dis- 
 used, out-of-date dream-chambers pictures unrelieved by shad- 
 ing, witLout perspective, and tinted with the most gaudy colors 
 of Fancy's palette ; but when did real joys, actual and present 
 delights, ever thrill the soul as did those early visions. I never 
 asked myself " will the awakening come at last ?" never reflect- 
 ed upon the consequences most likely, to ensue from this dro- 
 ning musing. It was a pleasure that did not pall ; my chief 
 solace, and I gave the reins up to Imagination. 
 
 Now and then, I was aroused as by a jostle, to some sense of 
 the sterner, harder life which others led. Mr. Peyton has been 
 introduced as our nearest neighbor. A mile from us, in another 
 direction, was the cottage of the widow Bell, a highly respecta- 
 ble matron, whose fortunes had not always been so lowly as now. 
 Extravagance, dissipation, sickness strong fiends, armed had 
 visited her home since her marriage with one who was remem- 
 bered by many of the older inhabitants as a promising young 
 man, kind-hearted, and possessed of fine talents, but " inclined 
 to be wild." He died when Annie, the only surviving child, was 
 ft mere infant ; and the widow invested the remnant of the once 
 noble property in the purchase of the small brown house under 
 the hill, to which was attached a farm of proportionate size. 
 Two negroes, a man past his prime, and his wife, remained to 
 her, and their labor, with her own, had supported the family, 
 kept up the place, and educated Annie as thoroughly, if not as 
 showily as any other girl in the surrounding country. Mosf
 
 90 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 people oxp3<-ted that she would make the mo.st of thisadvanta^ 
 by applying for a situation as governess or teacher of a private 
 school : but the independent, affectionate daughter preferred 
 pursuing the profession of a seamstress with her mother. She 
 received the encouragement her honest pride merited. Mr. Fey 
 ton was their staunch friend, their benefactor in everyway in 
 which they would permit him to confer a favor. He was my 
 frequent and most brotherly escort, and three-fourths of our rides 
 and strolls were in the direction of Mrs. Bell's. 
 
 One mild afternoon in the Indian Summer, we set out to make 
 a call, partly of friendship, partly because I had business with 
 Annie. A quarter of a mile from the house we met old Zack, 
 Mrs. Bell's factotum, trudging on sturdily, in no wise embarrassed 
 by the weight of a large wooden bucket on his head, and a bas- 
 ket on his arm. He pulled his forelock and scraped his foot in 
 salutation, and Mr. Peyton reined up his horse to parley witl 
 him. 
 
 " What now, Zack ? Eggs, I hope." 
 
 " Yes, Mars' Robert, and houey, sir." 
 
 He lowered his bucket and vouchsafed us a peep, under the 
 clean cloth, of piled-up comb, almost as white, which dripped 
 with amber nectar. 
 
 " Aunt Agnes would like some of that, I know," I said. " Go 
 directly to our house with it, Uncle Zack." 
 
 " What she does not take, 1 will," added Mr Peyton. " How 
 many eggs ?" 
 
 " Four dozen, sir," opening the basket. " Dere's some Guineas, 
 too." 
 
 Mrs Bell's hens laid the fairest, plumpest eggs that ever fille* 
 the measure of a housewife's desire ; and the brownish-yellow of 
 the smaller and richer " Guineas," as Zack called them, made 
 the rest look like so many balls of snow. 
 
 " All right 1" was Mr. Peyton's comment. " Take them to
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 91 
 
 old Nancy, and tell her I sent you. Arc you getting on prettj 
 wll, now-a-days, Zack ?" 
 
 " Farly Mars' Robert farly 1 Mis' and Miss Annie's mightj 
 well, and my ole woman don't complain much of her rheumatic--. 
 A.H to me and Sultan " touching a tawny and black Newfound 
 la id beside him " we's as peart as young folks aint we, Sul- 
 tan ? I se 'mazing thankful for all dis, Mars' Robert 1" 
 
 " So am I, Zack. Good bye. A faithful old fellow," he sau. 
 to me, as we rode on. " He is Mrs. Bell's mainstay. She had 
 ie*ter part with her right hand than with him." 
 
 " She is a wonderful woman," I remarked, " and most surprfc 
 lug in her cheerfulness under misfortune." 
 
 " Misfortune is often the best teacher of cheerfulness," replied 
 he. " She has learned it in a hard school, Grace 1 I cannot 
 but think thr,t the rest of her stay in this world will be tran- 
 quil." 
 
 Very tranquil was the aspect of the cottage as we now saw it 
 nestled in the shelter of the hill ; the trees, that made it cool in 
 hot weather, letting in the sun freely upon the roof and porch. 
 The pleasing confusion of a poultry-yard and the hum of bees 
 came successively to our ears on our way to the door ; and 
 Annie's flower-garden was gay with chrysanthemums. She 
 answered our knock. I had time to perceive a troubled look 
 foreign to her face, before she saw who we were. Then she 
 emiled most cordially, and stood by to let us enter. 
 
 Mrs. Bell had other company. A very glossy hat, which 
 would have served as its master's card to any one who was 
 familiar with his appearance, stood on the good lady's work 
 table, and a dapper riding-whip was set within it. Mr. Towuk-y 
 was, as usual, overjoyed to see us, and farther evidenced hi3 
 pleasure by monopolizing our conversation. Mrs. Bell's deport- 
 ment had in it nothing of the disquietude it cost Annie a COD 
 stant struggle to hide. She stitched the fine linen bosom of a
 
 1>2 MJS8-SIDK. 
 
 shirt, while we were there ; never pausing to rest her fingers ci 
 wipe her spectacles. Annie sat a little behind her, her iedl 
 almost invisible in its swift course, one minute, to slide from hei 
 hold the next. The work required much fixing, for she often 
 Btooped low over it, and twice took it to a stand, where she 
 remained for some moments with her bick to us. The last time 
 he did this, I followed her. 
 
 " Annie !" I whispered, hastily. 
 
 She started and turned her head away, while her hand went 
 up to her face, I saw, to dash away a tear. 
 
 " Let me go up to your room," I continued, " I want to speak 
 with you in private." 
 
 Mr. Townley arose, as we passed him, and bowing to my ear, 
 murmured, " Linger not long 1" 
 
 " Annie," said I, when a flight of stairs and two doors separ 
 ated us from him, " before I talk about anything else, tell me 
 what ails you. Are you in trouble ?" , 
 
 The poor girl burst into tears, and flung herself upon my neck. 
 I crowded inquiries upon conjectures, and hap-hazard consola- 
 tions upon all, until she could articulate, for I was not prepared 
 for this extreme distress. At last she sat down by me on the 
 bed, her head against mine, and still sobbing, like a grief-weary 
 child, gave me the substance of the sad story. 
 
 Mr. Townley, who had a magpie zeal in exploring dark pigeon- 
 holes, and law records, whose must and mould would have sick- 
 ened most stomachs, had discovered in the settlement of an old 
 estate, involved in a Chancery suit, a bond of the deceased Mr. 
 Bell's for the sum of three hundred dollars, given fifteen year* 
 previous to the owner of said estate. It had never been can- 
 celled, very probably had never been paid, and of course the 
 heirs of the original creditor had a right to look to the widow 
 tor the money. 
 
 " The debt must be discharged at once," sobbed Annie. " Mr
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 93 
 
 Townley sajs his orders are imperative to levy an execution 
 upon the property. Is it not hard that we must give op 
 our home to satisfy a demand we were ignorant of until to- 
 day ?' ; 
 
 " Must it come to that ?" I asked. " After waiting so long, I 
 ihould think they could afford to make some accommodate n 
 with you let you pay as you can raise the means." 
 
 " Mr. Townley recommended another way," her voice trem 
 bling yet more. " He advises that we keep the house, and 
 sell" 
 
 She broke down in a rain of tears. 
 
 The blood boiled in my veins. " The inhuman wretch I" I 
 ejaculated, as the picture of Uncle Zack and his wife sundered 
 in their old age, toiling in the service of another than the mis- 
 tress they had followed with such heroic constancy from her very 
 babyhood ; with whom they had grown grey ; for whom they 
 would have shed their blood as they had spent their fresher 
 energies arose to my sight. " The inhuman, unnatural mon- 
 ster P 
 
 "It is his duty, I suppose," answered Annie. " He professes 
 to perform it with reluctance, and we have no right to doubt his 
 word. But this will not help the matter, Grace. Forgive me 
 for grieving you so selfishly. I must bear up for mamma's sake. 
 She is the greater sufferer, but she has more fortitude than I. 
 You said you had something to say to me. It is about work, I 
 hope, for I must keep busy, and forget this trouble as far as I 
 tan." 
 
 While I delivered a message from my aunt touching some sew- 
 ing she wished to have done, Annie bathed her eyes and face in 
 cold water, and opened the window that the air might help to 
 banish the redness that would betray her recent agitation. I 
 tried U cheer her up by indefinite allusions to the numerous 
 friends of herself and mother, who would not see them oppressed
 
 SJ4 M O S 8 - 8 1 D E . 
 
 She interrupted me with a sudden blush a Ad an involuntarl 
 tone of haughtiness. 
 
 " From none of these from no man or woman living would 
 we accept charity ! We must meet the storm." 
 
 After a pause, she added, " I thank yon, Grace, and love you 
 Your sympathy has done me good." 
 
 " You will not refuse, then, to let me help you whenever I 
 can, Annie ? I have no pecuniary aid to offer." 
 
 But I was inwardly resolving to lay the matter before my fa- 
 ther so soon as I reached home. I would have broken forth wit^ 
 it by the time we were out of hearing of the cottage, but Mr. 
 Townley rode with us most of the way. I was as discourteous 
 as a lady could have shown herself to be under the circum- 
 stances ; conduct that had no effect whatever upon his civil 
 small-talk. I rejoiced when we arrived at the cross-road leadinp 
 to his house, and shook in impatience as he delayed a reply to 
 Mr. Peyton's ill-timed and very unnecessary politeness in inviting 
 him to accompany him home. I was relieved, at length, by his 
 resolve to part from us, and while the subdued clatter of his 
 horse's hoofs still mingled with ours, I began the narration. 
 
 Mr. Peyton was not demonstrative. My cheeks glowed witb 
 excitement, and to the incidents of the discovery and presenta- 
 tion of the bond, I subjoined a description of Annie's emotion, 
 dwelling upon her proud scorn of dependence and stopping 
 in sheer breathlessness, after a vituperative commentary upon 
 the suave barrister. My companion listened, his eyes bent upou 
 the neck of his steed, with no exclamation, no change of com- 
 plexion or expression. . 
 
 " You are harsh upon Towuley," he said sententiously. 
 
 " He deserves it all and more 1" I returned. 
 
 " Perhaps so, Grace perhaps so ! but we ought not to jndg 
 Mm. We have no warrant for doing so no warrant." 
 
 He had au absent way of speaking when his mind was iuteul
 
 M O S 8 S I I) E . 95 
 
 opor. any important subject ; a state betrayed by a short, dry 
 tone and tautological sentences. He rambled on, his gaze fixed 
 as before 
 
 " Townley is a lawyer, you know, and must do his duty to hia 
 
 ilients ; that's certain certain ! He must do his duty to then 
 
 .--no help for it, Grace. I hare nothing to say against him 
 
 othing at all. He is a kind neighbor kind and hospitable ; 
 
 very polite man the most polite man I ever saw and I have 
 seen many a French dancing-master. He seems good-hearted. 
 too ; is fond of his sisters, and they dote on him. I cannot be- 
 lieve that he would have chosen a job like this, but " and here 
 he looked at me, and brought down his whip upon his knee with 
 an energy under which the flesh must have tingled to the bone 
 " I'll be shot if I would have soiled my fingers in such an 
 affair for anybody, alive or dead !" 
 
 The fury evaporated in the lash of whip and tongue. He did 
 not reply to my next question, and I repeated it. 
 
 " But what is to be done, Mr. Peyton ?" 
 
 I spoke hurriedly, for we were at the Moss-side gate. 
 
 " Ah ! here we are at home," was all the answer I got. 
 
 We dismounted. 
 
 " Walk in, Mr. Peyton. I cannot let you go yet," I urged. 
 
 "Not to-night, Grace not to-night. I will see you again 
 noon." 
 
 He was in the saddle, and had wheeled his horse from me, 
 when the echo of my earnest query seemed to reach his wander- 
 ing brain. 
 
 " 0, Grace 1 one thing 1 Say not a word about this business 
 >ef jre day after to-morrow, and never breathe to any one that 
 ou have told me of it Good night." 
 
 I obeyed most unwillingly. I did not relish my occupation of 
 picture-making that night or the next day. I had seen a new 
 phase of Life-trial hard and unromautic something that would
 
 96 MOS8-8IDE, 
 
 affect the outward estate, while it wrung the heart. Povetty, 
 as it had appeared to me in Mrs. Bell's situation, was very 
 comely, totally unlike the grim goblin known to me in print. 
 This bond, trifling as its amount sounded, had stripped off the 
 mask, and I shrank from the s.'ght. It terrified me in dreams, 
 lad ceased not to torment my eyes in the daylight. I could not 
 be quiet as the hours wore into noon, afternoon and the 
 stretching shadows lazily told of coming night. At sunset I 
 went into the porch to strain my vision once more along the 
 road to Linden Mr. Peyton's place. 
 
 " Miss Grace I" spoke some one beside the steps. 
 
 I bad overlooked old Zack, who pulled off his hat with the 
 double purpose of bowing, and of presenting me with a note 
 pinned to its lining. 
 
 "DEAR (TRACK," wiote Annie, "you were so kind to me in our sorrow, 
 that I must tell you now of our joy. Mr. Townley has been here again, 
 but with what different tidings! Only think, Grace, the creditors have 
 withdrawn their claims; so Mr. Townley learned to-day. He could give 
 no particulars, but I surmise from something which escaped him that thii 
 generous treatment is the result of his remonstrances, offered when the 
 bond first came to light. If so, what injustice we did him yesterday! 
 The thought pierces me with remorse in the midst of my happiness. My 
 heart is light and grateful grateful to heaven and to our benefactor, who- 
 ever he may be. Come very soon and see us in the home that is still ourt. 
 
 "ANNIE HELL." 
 
 Mr. Peyton supped with us. I found an opportunity to show 
 him Annie's billet. 
 
 He nodded at the close a non-committal gesture that by no 
 Beans suited my humor. 
 
 " Well," I demanded, " have you nothing to say ?" 
 
 " Yes ; I am glad our friends are delivered from their difficulty 
 very much pleased, indeed 1" 
 
 I searched his countenance for some twinkle of self-compJ*
 
 M088-8IDE. 97 
 
 eency, some mark of inward satisfaction in having performed a 
 good action. I might have scanned the blank wall with equal 
 chance of success. Guileless as a child in most matters, he was 
 helped by his modesty to a matchless show of ignorance. 
 
 "Do you believe this tale of Mr. Towuley's?" I ptobed 
 deeper. 
 
 " It does not appear likely that an honest man would deceive 
 them in a matter of such importance," he rejoined. 
 
 " Now," said I, walking up close to him, "like Annie, I havo 
 my surmises, but they point to Mr. Townley only as the instru- 
 ment of the unknown benefactor and excuse me for saying that 
 H. more worthy tool would not have been hard to find." 
 
 My auditor was fidgeting in his chair, casting ominous 
 glances at his hat ; but my triumph was not complete. 
 
 " And this incomparable friend," I pursued, " is the same, 
 who, with trained seamstresses among his own servants, has 
 extra work sufficient to afford constant employment to the 
 widow and her daughter, whose large plantation, stocked with 
 everything that a provident housekeeper can need, does not 
 produce enough eggs, butter, or honey to obviate the necessity 
 of purchasing each and all of these commodities when old Zack 
 \s the vender." 
 
 He was on his feet, but I had secured his hat and held it 
 behind me. By this time, my gaiety had made way for feelings 
 more truly heart-felt. I took the hand which would have seized 
 his detained property. I could have bent the knee in reverence 
 before him this shy, stammering man, who looked more like a 
 culprit than the kingly soul he was. 
 
 "If the prayer of the widowed and fatherless can win bles- 
 sings, you A'ill be wealthy in mercies, Mr. Peyton. You practise 
 what others preach of the brotherhood of humanity." 
 
 " It is all I have to live for, Grace all all I Let m* go 
 now, and keep our secret, little sister." 
 5
 
 98 M088-8IDE. 
 
 If 1 were limning a fictitious character, this frieud should, 
 perhaps, be suffered more frequently to occupy the back-ground 
 his humble estimate of himself would persuade him to select ; 
 but I have other use for him than merely to prompt him to 
 utter his chance phrase in dialogue and chorus. There is no 
 room upon the list of the world's heroes for those who are great 
 in goodness alone, and my lowly annals are the only pages that 
 toe recital of his virtues will ever enrich. 
 
 " The only pages," said I ? My pen moves more solemnly at 
 tne thought of another record, which time can never fade ; in 
 wnose lines of light no note is made of deeds which men glorify 
 as "Godlike" and "immortal," but where the widower's inito, 
 the Magdalene's box of ointment, the disciple's oup of cold 
 water are encircled by haloes of undying lustre. 
 
 His name is there i
 
 M098-8IDE. 99 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IN pity for my loneliness, May wrote frequently. Wintei 
 began with a long wet spell, and this had continued for a week 
 when I had a letter from Frederic, written at the lowest ebb 
 of her own spirits, and announcing that his class would meet as 
 usual during the Christmas holidays ; -therefore, for the first 
 time in his life, he must spend that season away from home. 
 The next mail took to May a je.remiade blistered with the drops 
 I had 110 power to restrain. Forgetful of the hundreds of miles 
 that divided us from one another, I adjured her in the names of 
 friendship and mercy to visit me in my affliction, an appeal that 
 might have softened the heart of a stone, but which, an hour 
 afterwards, I had not the most remote idea would avail ought 
 to remove her body nearer to me. 
 
 Judge, then, of the amaze and transport that ensued upon 
 reading the introductory sentence of her reply ; " I hope to be 
 with you, Grace, very soon after you get this." An invalid 
 cousin, her intimate associate, had been ordered by her physi- 
 cians to Savannah to pass the winter and early spring ; and 
 although her father was to accompany her, she had entreated 
 May's attendance also. They were to pass Christmas week with 
 friends residing in Richmond, and May intended to brave bad 
 roads and a comfortless conveyance, and spend that tune by 
 our country fireside, unless she should be met in the city by a 
 letter from me, discouraging the attempt. 
 
 My heart was beating its fastest and wannest thus far ; whj
 
 100 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K. 
 
 should it be checked with a suddenness that caused physical 
 pain, as I read on ? 
 
 " Herbert Wynne, who is anxious for a glimpse of Virginia 
 Christmas customs, will go with us to Richmond. May I accept 
 bis proffered protection to and from Moss-side ? If any circum- 
 stances unknown to me, would render our coming a source of 
 inconvenience, state the truth without fear, and I will answer 
 that he shall not be offended. Both of us together can but 
 poorly supply your brother's place to you, but I have not read 
 your heart by mine for so long to doubt that you will be more 
 happy to have me with you than if I were away." 
 
 I danced into i^e room where sat my father and aunt, in such 
 a whirlwind of joyousness that both started and exclaimed, 
 11 What is the matter ?" 
 
 " Read and see 1" I cried, giving the open letter to my father, 
 nd perching myself upon his knee. 
 
 He was as much delighted as I could have asked. 
 
 " I congratulate you with all my heart," he said. " No news 
 could have been more welcome. I have feared lest your Christ- 
 mas should be a mefancholy one. Aunt Agnes, we must bethink 
 ourselves of all the nice things procurable for the entertainment 
 f our little girl's guests. It is not every year that May visits 
 *s in December." 
 
 " A pun ! positively a pun !" shouted I, clapping my hands. 
 " Father, you rival Mr. Townley 1" 
 
 He held me upon his knee, his face beaming as by reflected 
 radiance from mine, entering with interest and spirit into all my 
 propositions as to the preparations for, and reception of, the 
 eagerly-expected favorites. Not one stipulation for his persona 
 privileges ; not one suggestion of economy or hint of any kind 
 hindered the complete blossoming of my pleasure 
 
 " Very well 1" was the conclusion of our consultation. " Con- 
 lider everything upon the plantation servants, house, storea,
 
 MOSS-BIDE, 
 
 101 
 
 End last and least, my poor services at your disposal until New 
 Year's day." 
 
 As I put up my lips for a kiss he added, " So good a dan-Met 
 is entitled to some reward. I am only sorry that my wishes for 
 her welfare and enjoyment outrun my ability to advance them." 
 
 This was the " top-sparkle " of my cup. How quickly my feet 
 skimmed the floor and staircase that day ; how gaily resounded 
 my songs from cellar to roof ; how ready were my hands to pull 
 down and set up too restless to await the sluggish or deliberate 
 movements of the corps of assistants, my father, true to his 
 word, marshalled for my orders. Paint and floors were to to 
 scoured ; walls to be swept ; windows washed ; beds shaken 
 and sunned, and furniture polished. Never before had Moss-side 
 undergone such furious renovation. After portioning out work 
 to the rest, and seeing them fairly at it, I took Martha, my own 
 maid, with me to my room. 
 
 The preceding day I had been congratulating myself upon its 
 neat and home-like appearance ; but under our vigorous treat- 
 ment, it was presently as disorderly as the apartments we had 
 left. The carpet was home-made, but new. Its stripes of red 
 and green were bright, yet not glaring, and were well con- 
 trasted. I did not quarrel with it, although I remembered that 
 May's chamber was supplied with an ingrain more costly than 
 the best in our house that upon the parlor floor. I was careful 
 that no other high colors should displease the eye. Counter- 
 pane, curtains, ottomans, and chairs were chaste white. White 
 china vases upon the mantel held sprigs of cedar and holly, 
 studded with blue and scarlet berries ; and between them- 
 the only place in the room where a picture could be hung waa 
 a drawing Louise had given me as a keepsake at the end of our 
 last session. It was a beautiful female head, with waving hail 
 floating off into shadow ; a face, girlish in feature and contour 
 but in the heavenward look, there was an eloquence of sorrow
 
 102 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 inch tender years should never know, and the mouth seemed 
 shaping a prayer for strength. Even in my happy preoccupa- 
 tion of thought, I stayed the cloth with which I was dusting 
 glass and frame, to wonder at, and admire the beauty that was 
 ever there, however often 1 might seek for it. 
 
 " That's a mighty pretty lady," said Martha, ' but, somehow 
 I don't like tu look at her. 'Pears to me like her heart was a- 
 breakin', and she was a-prayiu' to die. I tries not to see her 
 when I'm a-cleanin' up in here, days. I always want to cry if 
 I do. You're a-sighin' yourself, Miss Grace. Put her back 
 and don't think no more about her and her pitiful eyes." 
 
 Frederic's chamber was just across the entry, and was to be 
 prepared for Herbert. Like mine, it had dormer windows front 
 and back ; sloping walls, and an open fire-place, its hearth 
 whitened with pipe-clay. My buoyancy received a check from 
 the thought that its inmate must bow his head to pass under the 
 lowly lintel, and that he could stand upright nowhere except in 
 ,he middle of the apartment. For an instant, all about me wai 
 poverty-stricken and mean ; but I spurned the unworthy weak 
 ness, and fell to work with redoubled ardor. A softer feeling 
 touched my heart as I wiped off and replaced the books on the 
 Bhelves beneath the slant of one wall. 
 
 Again Martha interrupted my meditations. 
 
 " It's a mortal pity Mars' Frederic aint comin' home holiday 
 I don' know how you'll stand it, Miss Grace. He is 'quainted 
 wid de lady and gentleman you're 'spcctin' aint he ?" 
 
 " Yes," I said. 
 
 " I reckon he'll be dreadfully put out at missin' 'em." 
 
 I " reckoned " so too with a certainty she did not suspect 
 yet I was equally sure that May would not have answered my 
 prayer so agreeably and unexpectedly, but for my statement 
 that he who would have welcomed her with most rapture, would 
 *ot be at home to receive ner. Free from prudish affectatio*
 
 MO8B-81DE 10?> 
 
 she was, yet she was at all times governed by the most zlelicate 
 sense of propriety. She had a deal of character, and resolution 
 to maintain it this petted plaything of ours. Since it was im- 
 possible for my brother to leave his studies, I resolved, with 
 marvellous self-denial, not to tell him of the distinguished honui 
 to be conferred upon the homestead, until it should be too lale 
 or him to torture himself with ideas of reaching us in season to 
 get a taste of it for himself. I applied the last screw to thia 
 determination on my way down stairs for some article needful in 
 our task. 
 
 My father was folding a letter. 
 
 " I have sent your love to Frederic," he remarked. " The poor 
 boy has been much in my mind to-day ; and although I am 
 aware that it will not compensate to him for the loss of our 
 society and that of your friends, I could not resist the impulse 
 to forward him something with which to purchase a Christmas- 
 box and make merry with his mates." 
 
 I wisely forbore to offer opposition, and resigned the useless 
 resolve it had cost me so much to make, without an intimation 
 of its existence to the dear father, who believed that he was 
 promoting his son's happiness in what he did. 
 
 One of my choice plants a double oleander standing upon 
 the floor, tapped the upper sash of Herbert's southern window 
 with its pink blossoms, and a citronaloes, as tall, made balmy the 
 air of the room to be occupied by May and myself. Every un- 
 carpeted board was brilliant from the application of scrubbing* 
 brush and wax ; the yard was raked of dead leaves and grass ; 
 a dry covering of gravel rolled into the walks ; bed-linen and 
 window-hangings were immaculate, and the last day of waiting 
 which was that before Christmas, I had not enough to do to 
 beguile one of the dragging hours. My aunt had, in her pro 
 Vince, accomplished more than I had in inine, and without one 
 tenth of the bustle. Had a regiment been billeted upon us, we
 
 104 MOBS-SIDE. 
 
 could have fed them bountifully for the week May's letter named 
 as the utmost extent of the sojourn of a gentleman and lady 
 whose gastrouomical abilities were not of the highest order. AU 
 was rsady here, too, or I would have begged, as a favor, to be 
 allowed to beat eggs and spread icing. 
 
 My aunt was an upright fixture in her rocking-chair, which 
 never moved while she filled it. She darned stockings the entire 
 morning with a perseverance wearying to behold. My father 
 had gone to the village " the Court House " three miles 
 away, and I had no one else to talk with. 
 
 " Aunt I" I ejaculated, as she rolled up the sixth pair of hose 
 " I wish you would teach me patience." 
 
 " I had not learned it when I was of your age," was th 
 response. 
 
 The needle recommenced its course, creeping in and out, 
 under, then over a stitch, and the worsted trailed after it. My 
 eye followed it ; my thoughts were revolving my aunt's words. 
 I doubt whether this were not the first reference to her early 
 life I had ever heard, for it impressed me as a novel idea. 
 
 Youth ! and an impatient youth 1 one like mine ! Imagina- 
 tion refused to sketch it as a companion picture to the passion- 
 less maturity before me. I could more easily have recognized un 
 extinct volcano in one of the snow-topped granite hills I had 
 seen in the summer. 
 
 " Will I ever acquire it ?" I asked. 
 
 " If it is needful that you should." 
 
 " I wonder what teacher will set the lesson ?" 
 
 " That which instructs all, sooner or later Experience, I sap 
 DOSO," answered my aunt. 
 
 I changed my seat to her footstool, for something in her matt 
 uer attracted me more than common. 
 
 " Aunt Agnes, you will think me very silly ; but please 
 explain what you mean by Experience. I have an indefinite
 
 MOSS-SIDE. lOt 
 
 notion that it is an unpleasant acquaintance ; yet it is used so 
 vag-iely, generally, that it conveys no sense to my mind. Am 3 
 to learn to be patient through trial, or will each year quench 
 some of the fire in my blood ? Will it be a short, severe task, 
 or will the work be accomplished gradually and imperceptibly t 
 myself ?" 
 
 " I have not the gift of second sight to inform me whav 
 means will be employed in your case. They vary essentially in 
 different instances." 
 
 I watched the creeping needle awhile longer in and out, a 
 leap over a gaping hole, then in and out on the other bide. 
 
 Its motion may have instigated my next speech. " I think I 
 should prefer to have all I must suffer summed up in one lesson ; 
 to grapple with one mighty trouble, and be prepared by it for 
 the battle of life, to meeting with minor difficulties daily, get- 
 ting under some and over others." 
 
 " Most people are obliged to submit to both kinds of disci 
 pline," observed my aunt. 
 
 " Were you ?" I asked, unthinkingly. 
 
 I was frightened at my temerity ere the sound of my voice 
 died away. No increase of coldness resented it. 
 
 " Each one o. us is apt to, fancy his lot peculiar. Mine has, 
 no doubt, a thousand parallels. No mortal suffers more than he 
 deserves, for God is more merciful than man." 
 
 " Yet in my short life, I have witnessed what are rightly 
 called ' mysterious Providences,' " I pursued " afflictions, that 
 would have been cried out against as cruel and unmerited if mau 
 had produced them. Were they sent in mercy ?" 
 
 " Or in judgment I" 
 
 My inquiries were brought to an end. I went back to my 
 chair with a strange sensation of awe upon me. But I had 
 learned something. 
 
 This woman, ever calm, ever reserved to hauteur, had uof 
 5*
 
 106 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 grown so by the natural process of time ; as the oak, whose but. 
 century is on the wane, puts forth every spring, fewer leaves, 
 until there comes one March, when the wind that strains and 
 tears its boughs, and the sunbeams that caress them, fail to stir 
 the sap from the roots, where the thin drops dried away in the 
 autumn. The vitality of this heart was destroyed at a stroke. 
 She had said that the work of patient endurance was in some 
 carried on and completed by smaller trials, prior and subsequent 
 to one great calamity ; but none of these petty grievances had 
 power over her now. Was she deadened or stoical to their 
 influence ? And this was the fate my thoughtless declaration 
 had bespoken for myself ! I cast by the book I pretended tr 
 read, and roamed from room to room, over yard and garden, fol 
 lowed everywhere by the solemn tone that had sealed my lips 
 " Or in judgment I" 
 
 My father's shout to the hostler recalled me to the house. 
 
 " Ha, Puss 1" he greeted me. " The morning has been right 
 tedious, has it not ? Let me whisper a secret that may lengthen 
 the afternoon and night, in spite of May's presence. I have a 
 present for you and one for her in my pocket, which you are not 
 to see until to-morrow. And now we will try what dinner can 
 do towards relieving us of an houc." 
 
 It did this very ungraciously for me. In the hall stood an 
 ancient clock that nearly touched the ceiling. Its broad face 
 was yellow and blotched ; the ship and moon, once an accurate 
 calendar of Luna's changes, were fast locked by rust upon 
 their pivot. The pendulum vibrated very dignified seconds at 
 the end of six feet of wire, with a " never-give-up-the-ship " air, 
 and a general expression of irresponsibility for the conduct of 
 any other part of the machinery, while it did its duty in it 
 allotted station ; but the striking apparatus wanted its com- 
 mendable spirit. Five minutes before the hour was to be 
 sounded, a terrifically dismal groan issued from the capacioup
 
 MOSS SIDE. 107 
 
 chest of the chronometer so doleful, that the hands seemed to 
 dread the stern law that compelled them to order the strokes 
 thus deprecated. At the fatal moment, the grumbling, thumn 
 iiig, and shrieking that jarred the very floor, were appalling and 
 indescribable; then, with a hoarse murmur of exhaustion, the bell 
 wa5 mute for sixty minutes more. The discordant clash was 
 harmony to me to-day, listened for most anxiously, until I felt 
 assured that before it pealed again, realization would have swaJ 
 lowed up expectancy. 
 
 Then, like the coward I was, fear and trembling took hold of 
 me. As the safest place, in the panic that possessed me, I went 
 to my father's room. He was four columns deep in his newspa- 
 per, and I crept to the rug at his feet. One arm embraced his 
 knee, while I began to examine the cause of this preposterous 
 nightmare. 
 
 " Were not those whom I feared to see, dearer to me than 
 any others on earth ? that is correcting myself next, of 
 course, to my father and brother. Had they not travelled this 
 distance in winter weather to see me, the ingrate, whose knees 
 were smiting together at every sound like the trampling of horaes 
 or rattle of wheels ? And what is the dread ? May will spring to 
 my bosom, and kiss me, as I have pined to have her do, so often 
 since we parted. Herbert's salutation will be more formal, only 
 because custom enjoins the difference. His voice used to be mu- 
 sical his smile most genial his conversation more than accept- 
 able ; 1 know he has not altered ; where then " I rated my 
 shaking heart " where is the use or sense of this disgracef 1 
 behavior ?" 
 
 The whimperer shivered anew, and had no other reply to 
 render. 
 
 The premonitory iron groan echoed through the hall, and J 
 started as at the discharge of a gun. 
 
 My father raised the paper that he might see me.
 
 108 
 
 MOSS-SICK. 
 
 " Why, little one ! we are growing restless but coinage ! w 
 will not hare to wait many minutes now." 
 
 Which was not the most apropos observation he could have 
 made. 
 
 He read on, and I shivered in the same weak, nervous chill, 
 Until wheels, hammer, and bell creaked and roared that it was 
 five o'clock. 
 
 " There they are I" said my father, rising quickly, 
 
 I also saw, through the window, the carriage we had seat 
 that morning to the nearest stage-house. I did not loiter ; yet 
 my father was at the gate, shaking hands with Herbert, when I 
 was half-way down the walk. As I came up, he lifted May to 
 the ground, and whether she made the offer or not, is still a 
 mooted question he kissed her as he sat her down. Gone was 
 the bugbear that had beset me so pertinaciously, when I caught 
 Bight of that sweet face. I had her in my arms, both of us 
 laughing and saying all manner of foolish nothings to keep down 
 the tears. 
 
 My aunt was upon the porch. She spoke kindly to May, and 
 rather stiffly to Herbert, although she regarded him with earnest 
 momentary attention. I was blithe aa a bird throughout that 
 evening even when I saw Herbert bow involuntarily as he 
 passed into the parlor, and recollected that this precaution would 
 be necessary on going to his chamber. May and I were in no 
 haste to quit ours after her travelling attire was laid off. She 
 beautified the place, as warm sunshine and freshly-blooming 
 flowers would have done. 
 
 Choosing, as was always her caprice, the lowest seat she could 
 Set a mere cushion, around which her dark-blue drapery lay 
 *pon the carpet, she lifted her face to me with a sigh and smilo 
 of perfect content. 
 
 " I am very happy, Gracie i ' 
 
 Had she felt less, she would have enlarged upon her joy at oui
 
 M O 8 8- 8 I D E 
 
 109 
 
 re-union, her satisfaction with the cottage I had, so shortly be- 
 fore, feared she might despise. I understood all that she meant 
 and thenceforth, not one sting of false pride threatened mj 
 health of mind. Upon most other topics we were fluent, and, to. 
 u mere listener, would have beeu ridiculously diffuse. Yet we 
 rejoined the gentlemen, feeling that the preliminaries of our con- 
 fabulation had scarcely been entered upon. 
 
 My father and Herbert, acting upon the principle of their self- 
 introduction, were talking like old friends ; and I was ready to 
 repent the vanity that had hurried us down, in the fear that our 
 absence would be noted and lamented. It was plain that my 
 father had received my darling May rosebud into his affectionate 
 favor. I waited to see him place her in the most comfortable 
 chair in the room, and then gave myself up to be entertained by 
 Mr. Wynne. I had thought him kind and sincere during our 
 former intercourse ; but there was now an unreserved display of 
 his real nature : a complete freedom from the bonds of that con- 
 ventionalism which ruled, in some degree, all in the sphere we 
 then occupied, an earnest truth in look and language, so mani- 
 fest and so winning, that my esteem and confidence grew to be 
 absolute. But one thing chilled me. In our summer tour, he 
 had learned to call me " Grace," a name I thought very beauti- 
 ful as pronounced by him. To-night it was " Miss Grace " 
 occasionally " Miss Leigh." I bore it till tea-time, then entered 
 a protest. 
 
 He laughed. " I will tell you a story relative to this matter 
 ome day. If upon hearing it, you still wish me to dispense with 
 the ' Miss,' I will be rejoiced to obey." 
 
 The evening was not cold, and as a consequence, the parlor 
 fire was larger and blazed more fiercely than if the thermometer 
 had been stationary at zero. We were driven back by th 
 heat to the centre-table, and there clustered, as hilarious a house' 
 hold as that Christmas Eve saw in all the land. My aunt had
 
 110 M O S 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 least to say, yet several times her features were lighted with 
 pleasurable emotion at a lively sally from May, or the fine play 
 of Herbert's humor. Her stiffness bent before his respectful 
 overtures, and he, as he aferwards told me, was struck with her 
 appearance, exhibiting as it did the remains of beauty of no 
 common cast, and the natural elegance of every sentence she 
 tittered. She inclined to him more and more as their conversa- 
 tion progressed. One precious instant, while May was at the 
 pia o, playing with, not upon, the keys, and talking, instead oi 
 singing to my father, I took a mental photograph as distinct 
 to-day as it was then unsuspected by its original. Fire and 
 candles sent flickers of uncertain brightness over his face ; the 
 high brow, heaped with dark hair, the speaking eyes, the mouth 
 small, yet too firm to be feminine and I thought how benignant 
 was the mood in which Nature had created him. It was an in- 
 viting, and certainly an innocent study that engaged me, but my 
 aunt's eye, arrested by my rapt gaze, awoke in me a shame I 
 could neither define nor justify. The glance was rapid and con- 
 tained no rebuke. There may have been love in it. I could 
 have thought so, had it ever beamed thus on me before. Its 
 significance rendered me more cautious in what direction my 
 regards strayed ; taught me the earliest lesson in concealment 
 practised towards one, who had claimed no title from me except 
 that of brother. 
 
 At the hour of retiring, indicated by May's languid eyelids, 
 my father, with true patriarchal dignity, collected all his flock ; 
 the servants drawn up in a decent row near the entrance, we 
 kneeiing about him, while he offered thanksgivings for the price- 
 less, but often unremembered blessings of health, outward ani 
 mental tranquillity, and petitions for their continuance, with a 
 richer endowment of spiritual graces. 
 
 One grey-headed negro remained after his fellows with 
 drew.
 
 MOSS-SIDE. Ill 
 
 " Well, Isaac," said my father, " what do you \vant ?" 
 
 " Yon have no objection to us keepin' watch to-night, I jop 
 sir." 
 
 " Who are here ?" inquired his master. 
 
 " Nobody but our own folks, sir." 
 
 " Then you can watch as late as you please. I am not afraid 
 of your getting disorderly." 
 
 " Thank you, sir. We won't disappint you, sir ;" and he dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 Herbert looked an inquiry. 
 
 " This is a custom of which you have not been informed," said 
 my father, smiling. " Shakspeare tells us that chickens sing 
 wakefully all night as Christmas draws near ; and our servants 
 add that neither beasts nor birds sleep the night of the twenty- 
 fourth ; an example they hold to be worthy of imitation by their 
 master, Man. They the negroes collect about eleven o'clock, 
 and pass in prayer and singing the remaining hour of the night 
 proper. This they style, "watching in Christmas" a vigil 
 often continued into the dawn. I hope they will not disturb your 
 slumbers." 
 
 "The novelty of the serenade will prevent any annoyance, I 
 imagine," replied Herbert. 
 
 May and I were ready for bed, when a strain of music entered 
 our room. She was instantly wide-awake and curious. The air 
 was very soft, and after I had wrapped her up securely, I yielded 
 to her entreaties to open the window. As I did so, I heard an 
 other sash raised in the chamber opposite ours. The cabin of 
 gathering was crowded, as we could see through the door, left 
 ajar on account of the stifling heat within. A hymn was given 
 out, two lines at a time, by Isaac, who stood in the centre of the 
 assembly, and sung with decorous gravity A prayer succeeded 
 it, by which we were not greatly proflted, no intelligible word 
 reaching us Then came a chorus, ringing energetically through
 
 112 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 the night, and our pulses leaped to the fantastic, but excitmg 
 measure : 
 
 " Swing low the chariot, Lord, 
 
 Swing low the chariot, Lord, 
 
 Don't leave me behind !" 
 
 The singers entered enthusiastically into the spirit of the song, 
 waying with its swell and fall, rising to their feet, and uplifting 
 hands and eyes, as if to stay the flight of the fiery chariot. 
 
 Another prayer, and this time we did not lose a syllable. The 
 speaker was a young man and a Boanerges in enunciation. The 
 fervent, varying tones, that in an educated white, would have 
 been ludicrous in their seeming affectation as they swelled from 
 his mouth, were music, wild and rude indeed, yet a continued 
 musical theme, expressive as wild, powerful as rude. It de- 
 tracted nothing from its solemnity, was rather in keeping witi 
 its disdain of all shackles of art or custom, that the Deity wa 
 addressed as "my Father" "you" and "your" substituted for 
 the usual "thou" and "they." A written transcript of this 
 extraordinary petition would be tame and most unjust ; would 
 fail to explain its effect upon us, for May was weeping on my 
 shoulder at its close, and my heart overflowed as I listened to 
 the concluding petition : 
 
 " And after you have remembered with abundant blessings, 
 crowded, shaked down and running over, all the saints in the 
 univarsal world ; all mourning souls, seeking for rest and finding 
 none ; all hard-hearted, impenitent, out-daring sinners, who won't 
 come and ask for mercy ; all the sick, the poor, the perishing j 
 the masters and mistresses of this family, be pleased, my Fa- 
 ther, to look down and remember poor ignorant, sinful John 
 You are high, my Father, above earth, and stars, and heaven, 
 and I am a creeping worm of the dust upon your footstool ; bu 
 you have promised, and you cannot lie, that whoever conies to 
 you shall not be cast out. Be pleased to keep me in the middle
 
 M O 8 S- a I D E. 113 
 
 of the channel of Faith, keep my heart from evil thoughts, my 
 tongue from evil speaking, and my hands from tvil deeds." * 
 
 Herbert spoke when he ceased. 
 
 " .Where did that man learn to intone prayers ? for that is 
 the finest intoning I ever heard. We may as well close the win- 
 dows. There will be nothing better than that." 
 
 I awoke once before morning, I knew not why until I put my 
 hand towards May. She was sitting upright 
 
 " Hist !" she whispered, " what is that I" 
 
 There were sounds of footsteps about the house ; a word or 
 two spoken in an undertone ; then the nocturnal trampers passed 
 in the direction of the quarters. My father's door was shut 
 quietly, and I at once divined that the watch being over, he had 
 arisen to advise some stragglers to seek their beds a not un- 
 frequent occurrence. May was chill and trembling, although 
 she laughed at her alarm, and admitted my solution U be most 
 reasonable ; so I gathered her more closely to me, and again sh 
 ilept upon my bosom 
 
 * A verbatim report.
 
 114 MOSS-SIDE: 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 W* wcitj aroused by a shock and report that shook the earth 
 nd made the windows rattle. It was broad daylight, and be- 
 side the blazing hearth stood Martha, in her gala attire, highlj 
 amused at our fright. 
 
 " Law I Miss Grace I you ain't afraid of a Christmas gun, 
 what you've been heerd every year since you was born !" 
 
 " It was a cannon, then ?" said May. 
 
 " No, my dear lady citizen ; we have another species of ord- 
 nance in the backwoods. A hollow log is charged with powder, 
 or a hole i<5 bored in a tree, and filled with the same combusti- 
 ble, and a slow match applied, with what effect you have heard." 
 
 Minor explosions interrupted our toilette, and the cheers from 
 the juvenile corps, who chiefly patronized these demonstrations, 
 gave us some idea of the state of feeling out of doors, before we 
 descended to become eye witnesses of the revelry. A swarm of 
 young Ethiopians, from the tottler upon his trial feet, to urchins 
 of twelve or fourteen years old, paraded with shining faces and 
 clean clothes before the back porch. At sight of me, they were 
 pushed and hustled into line by Joe, a half-grown boy. " Mind 
 your manners, sir 1" " Hats off !" " Bow to the ladies, all of 
 you 1" were the words of command. Martha brought forward 
 a large basket, from which I drew some trifle for each one ; 
 Bugar-plums and cakes for the lesser fry, toys, mostly of domestii 
 manufacture, for the elder. Their mothers received from my 
 aunt more useful articles. Children do not value presents 
 according to their intrinsic worth. There was not a girl of
 
 M O 8 6 - 8 I D E . 116 
 
 them, who would not have chosen a rag-doll in preference to a 
 fine apron ; nor a boy, who would not have proved himself as 
 anti-utilitarian, had a whistling-top and a jacket been offered tc 
 him. 
 
 " You have made twenty hearts happy a good morning* 
 work !" said Herbert, behind me. 
 
 I was on my knees beside the hamper, from which I w&* 
 emoving the sole remaining article, a flashy waistcoat for Joe, 
 who was supposed, in virtue of his semi-manhood, to be above 
 playthings. 
 
 " Master Frederic sent it to you," I observed, handing him the 
 garment of many colors. 
 
 The lad stared open-mouthed, and did not offer to take it. 
 
 " Whar ? when, Miss Grace ? 'Thought Mars' Frederic was. 
 fur 'nough from here sixty mile and better." 
 
 So he is I" I answered, annoyed at this uncivil behavior in one 
 generally so well-mannered. " He sent it to me for you a week 
 ago. I am sorry to have to tell him that it does not please you, 
 Joe." 
 
 He came to his senses. " Please me ! bless your soul, Miss 
 Grace I the President of Ameriky aint a prouder man dan I is ! 
 When you write to Mars' Frederic, put in one corner of your 
 dokkeyment that I'se mightily I may say 'ternally bleeged, and 
 how I means to drink his health dis happy day in de best'simmoc 
 beer, and how we missed him, and " 
 
 Here the oration blew up in an explosive laugh ; and forge* 
 fill of respect and etiquette, he jumped up, struck his heels 
 together twice, and went down the steps at a bound. 
 
 " Joe's got Christmas in his bones certain I" said Martha, 
 *ho was his sister, and much mortified at this violation of cere- 
 mony. " I reckon he's done taste dat beer a'ready dis 
 morninV 
 
 May and Herbert enjoyed the scene in all its details, ana
 
 116 M O 8 8-8 I D E. 
 
 relished none more than the part that so surprised u.. Jc* 
 brought an armful of wood into the parlor while we were i/vait 
 ing the summons to breakfast, and once more outraged rules by 
 dropping part of it pell-mell upon the andircns, and rushing from 
 the room, again to vent bis exuberance of spirits in a guffaw ir 
 the hall. 
 
 " That boy is bewitched 1" said I, vexed, yet amused. " What 
 you now see is not a correct sample of our every day govern- 
 ment.' 
 
 " Which cannot be arbitrary at any time," replied Herbert 
 " The recollection of tyranny is not so readily lost." 
 
 "Breakfast is ready," announced Joe, white aproii on and 
 waiter in hand, bolting out the message and backing precipitate- 
 ly. His smothered giggle preceded us to the dining-room, anJ, 
 although he pulled on a long face when my father commenced 
 the grace, I detected him in the very act of gulping down a 
 laugh at the " Amen." 
 
 Under each plate was a small packet which was immediately 
 opened. I had just glanced at mine, a medallion, enclosing my 
 father's and Frederic's hair, and seen that May held its twin, 
 containing a lock of mine, when a sort of buzz went around the 
 table ; my head was drawn back, and a kiss pressed upon my 
 lips. Joe treated us to one " haw ! haw 1" to which its prede- 
 cessors were modest titters, and dashed through the nearest door 
 for the yard. 
 
 It was Frederic himself I his face joy-lit and sparkling, hand- 
 somer than ever, as he exchanged greetings with all except his 
 father. After a deal of confusion, all talking together and 
 aobody listening, we were prevailed upon to resume our seats, 
 ind Frederic was allowed to clear up the mystery of his appari- 
 ion at so auspicious a juncture. 
 
 " 1 thought you were to have no vacation," said I. 
 
 " We took one," he responded. " We held an indignatior
 
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 117 
 
 Meeting over this curtailment of our privileges as free-horn, inde- 
 pendent Virginians ; waited upon Dr. Macon in a committee of 
 the whole, and apprised him of our resolution to frolic for a week. 
 He is a good-hearted old gentleman, take him all in all, and 
 agreed to overlook our insubordination. I set out yesterday 
 morning upon a borrowed horse, and arrived here late at night." 
 
 " It must have been your coming that awoke us," I inter 
 upted. 
 
 May crimsoned and said nothing. 
 
 " I suppose so, if said awaking was about one o'clock. Joe, 
 who is a regular night-bird, was prowling around, and to him I 
 intrusted my steed, threatening to cut his ears off if he betrayed 
 me to any of you before breakfast. Father, who does not sleep 
 much more than Joe, put his head out of the window, and as 
 [ answered his challenge, he unlocked the door. No one haa 
 been in his room to-day except our Eboe confederate, and thus 
 ends the tale of the Midnight Alarm and the Morning Sur- 
 
 " We lack but two of our travelling-party," remarked Her- 
 bert to me, as we four were left together in the sitting-room. 
 
 Frederic was turning over an Herbarium of his own collecting 
 Tor May's amusement, and we could converse apart. I had, hither- 
 to, contented myself with casual inquiries about Louise's well- 
 being, but my look showed now that I wished to hear more. 
 
 Herbert answered it. 
 
 " The world says they live comfortably with one another, and 
 Louise's mother can see nothing amiss ; lauds her as a model of 
 matrimonial propriety. It may be presumptuous in me to pre- 
 tend to be more sharp-sighted than these competent judges 
 Wilsou escorts his wife everywhere, and it is known publicly 
 that she will not accept indiscriminate attentions from gentle- 
 men This is unquestionaWy as it should be is very well so fai 
 as it goes."
 
 113 MO88-8IDE. 
 
 His .Vo was uarkedng, and I spoke. 
 
 " I hope she may yet regard him as his excellent qualities of 
 disposition and heroic conduct deserve. There have btes 
 instances of love after marriage when circumstances were much 
 less propitious than in this union." 
 
 "Do not believe it. Toleration is the best that can b 
 expected. This Louise may practise while in her husband's pre 
 sence. When absent from him, she has more congenial studies. 
 A woman with a full, satisfied heart has no unhealthy thirst for 
 nleasure, no haunting thoughts to flee. Home and its dear ones 
 jonceutre her aspirations. Nor is her intellect necessarily 
 cramped because she has, in hackneyed parlance, ' no higher ambi- 
 tion.' For the sake of those she loves she will raise herself 
 to the loftiest standard of wouanhood. In the daughter, filial 
 affection will prompt this effort ; and the true woman, when 
 rightly mated, will cultivate every faculty, moral and mental, that 
 she may be her husband's pride and soul-companion, as well a* 
 his love ; that, in the eyes of their Maker, they may form tin 
 united Whole He designed man to be in his state of earthly 
 perfection. Am I wearisome?" he checked himself. "I hope 
 not, for I am just coming to the pith of the matter." 
 
 " Go on," I said. " I am not quite tired out." 
 
 " When, therefore, I meet at ball, rout and soirde, opera, 
 concert, and theatre, night after night, & butterfly, who cannot 
 live in private, mad for this kind of excitement as the opium- 
 eater is for his drug, I write her down in my tableta as one 
 who has an empty or a disappointed heart. There is another 
 class, to whom pleasure's draught would be stale, insipid 
 women with more head than these, and oftentimes greater capa- 
 city of feeling. Over their crucified affections they erect splen- 
 did temples to Intellect. They too, drink to intoxication, but ii 
 libations to Fame. To you alo'ne can I ever speak ray real sen 
 timents with regard to my unhappy sister."
 
 M 8 8- 8 I D E. 119 
 
 His inouth quivered as I had noticed it when he broached the 
 subject, but lie mastered the weakness. 
 
 " She has a study-boudoir, the interior of which her husband 
 hardly ever sees. Sometimes, she receives me there, and occa- 
 tioually I encounter a German professor or a Spanish master. 1 
 am more apt to find ladies of an uncertain age, with near-sighted 
 spectacles and very glib tongues. One or two of these bear 
 names not unknown to the public ; each of the others is ' dis- 
 tinguished' for something, or she would not be thus closeted. 
 The bookcases are stocked with French, Latin and German 
 classics ; Go'the, Kant and Fichte are oftenest upon the taole 
 in juxtaposition with English books, as mystical to the plain 
 sense of ordinary readers." 
 
 " I see no heinous sin in this," I said. " Louise was a fine lin- 
 guist, an indefatigable and enthusiastic student of many abstruse 
 branches when at school. Few women have the taste and intef 
 lect to follow these pursuits as eagerly and successfully. It is 
 very natural that she should resort to this source of happiness, 
 situated as she is." 
 
 " Most natural 1 Your remark conveys, by implication, the 
 substance of what I said awhile ago. I had rather she selected 
 this species of dissipation than the other, but the extreme of 
 either is incompatible with the discharge of more sacred duties. 
 It is of no importance to me, at present, to recall the circum- 
 stances that combined to make Louise the wife of David Wil- 
 son ; it weighs nothing in the argument that he is her inferior 
 intellectually. Obligations voluntarily assumed, vows in the 
 name of Heaven, are not to be put aside by these considerations 
 As she would be bound to study with and for him, if his reques' 
 or need demanded it, she ought, likewise, now and then, to 
 take from Messrs. Kant, Fichte, and Co., one hour of the many 
 they absorb, and contribute something to the happiness of the 
 husband, whose worship is faithful and hopeless of reward. Do
 
 120 M088-8IDK. 
 
 not try to persuade me that mine is a heterodox creed tc 
 yon. 1 know better. So much," he continued in a lighter 
 tone, " for grave dissertations and unpleasant subjects. For- 
 give me for intruding them upon you to-day. This is lovely 
 weather balmy as June I am restless in-doors. Will yon 
 walk ?" 
 
 Frederic and May were ripe for the proposal, and we spent 
 much of the forenoon in the outer air. It was more than 
 mode r ately warm, and in the fields, the scent of the withered 
 grass : in the woods, the waving pine-boughs, and the hickory 
 and oak bark, were as grateful perfume as the breath of early 
 eprine. On one sunny hill-side we sat a long while. A huge 
 log, stripped of its covering, and bleached by months of expo- 
 sure, lay just upon the outskirts of the forest. An arable field 
 sloped down from this to a creek, and beyond arose another hill. 
 To our right were visible the roof and chimney of Mrs. Bell's 
 cottage ; to the left, a mile distant, we could discern upon higher 
 ground, the village of cabins and out-houses surrounding the more 
 pretentious mansion of Mr. Townley. The blue smoke curled 
 directly skyward, from horizon to zenith, not a cloud shut out 
 one of the sunbeams the earth took in with hushed rapture. 
 There were green mosses beneath our feet, and other patches of 
 livelier emerald upon the banks of the stream, whose dreamy 
 song was musically audible in the stillness. Our voices fell to 
 the same undertone, for we were too joyous to refrain speech. 
 We talked in quartette at first, then, as of old, we paired off ; 
 Frederic and May strolling down to the edge of the brook, 
 where we watched them stop to gather pebbles and lichens or 
 listen to the murmur of the water, and after a time, cross the 
 foot-bridge and wave their hands to us from the opposite hill. 
 Herbert and I exchanged smiles full of pleasant meaning ; but 
 neither spoke aloud the affectionate hope that bound thea 
 two, so worthy of each other, in a life-long tie.
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D R . 
 
 The sun was below the meridian when they rejoined us, yet 
 they seemed to have been gone a very few minutes. 
 
 " I regret that I am the bearer of unwelcome news." said 
 Frederic. " Did you not hear the dinner horn ?" 
 
 *' We did not," Herbert answered. 
 
 " It has sounded, nevertheless, and travelled over you to get 
 to us," and about Frederic's mouth there were symptoms of an 
 expression akin to that with which his friend had regarded his 
 progress across the brook. " It was the' warning signal, how- 
 ever," he added, " which is blown half an hour before meals 
 are ready. We shall not be too late if we return at once." 
 
 A bridle path led through the woods to the house, and mid- 
 way in our walk wt found Uncle Zack, seated upon a stump, a 
 gun laid on his knees, and several hares, his morning trophies, 
 upon the ground at his side, watched by the Newfoundland, 
 Sultan. The old man had removed his hat, overcome by the heat 
 of the day and his exercise. His pepper-and-salt wool was 
 combed into a peak above the organ of reverence, heightening 
 the same into an outrageous contradiction of the spirit expressed 
 by every line of his visage as we neared him. Contemptuous 
 displeasure and dignified disgust were depicted there, and his 
 voice bespoke as much. The exciting cause of his righteous 
 wrath was a personage of his own color and about his age, who 
 bestrode ' a ragged pony. The rider was comfortably and de- 
 cently apparelled, yet his aspect was not so thoroughly respecta- 
 ble as that of our old friend. So vehement and engrossing was 
 the altercation between them that neither saw us until Frederic 
 interrupted them. 
 
 41 How now, Jerry ? what are you quarrelling with Uncle Zack 
 bout ?" 
 
 Jerry's salute was sulky and devoid of the respectful alacrity 
 with which his opponent jumped up from the stump, and tngged 
 at the grey mountain aforesaid.
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 " I was remindia him of a small pint of law, Mr. Leigh 
 feposin' he hadn't never heerd on it," replied the individual 
 addressed. 
 
 " And / telled him, beggin' your pardon, Mars' Frederic, dat 
 ] been live in dis world and dis neighborhood mighty nigh ai 
 cng as he is, and aint never been accuse' of anything onlawfal 
 'till dis blessed day," said Uncle Zack, with rekindled indigna- 
 tion ; " dat my mistis is a born lady, one of the ftis' and wealthy 
 families, and is 'sponsible for my 'havior and conduct, I doea 
 nothin' unbeknown to her, and does it stau' to reason dat she 
 would 'low or permit me to act oppose' to a court of justice ?" 
 argued the old fellow, growing pedantic to display his knowledge 
 of law and equity. 
 
 "What is the 'small point' over which he has been trip 
 oing ?" inquired my brother of the accuser. 
 
 " That statue, sir," answered Jerry, not to be outdone in eru- 
 ption, " which forbids negro slaves to carry fire-arms." 
 
 " I'se no ' slave/" cried Uncle Zack, irefully. " I'se a respect- 
 nble servant, and dat's ten million times better dan to be * 
 trifling, no-account free nigger !" 
 
 " Fie 1 fie 1 I am astonished at you, Uncle Zack," said 
 Frederic. " Don't you see the ladies ?" 
 
 " Ax thar pardon and yourn, too, sir," apologized Uncle Zack, 
 humbly. " But 'tis aggravating Mars' F'ederic, to hear trash like 
 dat call me, a 'dustrious, regular colored pusson, 'slave' and 
 ' nigger !' I leave it to you now, sir, if 'taint I" 
 
 " It is right hard to bear, I know, Uncle Zack. As for you, 
 Jerry Williams," continued Frederic, " please remember in future 
 that this man is under my father's protection, that he upholdi 
 irn in all that he does." 
 
 "Now you're a-gittiu' it!" ihucklel Uncle Zack, aside. 
 11 Aint he, Sultan, old boy ?" 
 
 The dog wagged his tail, his quick eye rivetted upon the fire* 
 , with no amicable intent.
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 "Besides," said Frederic, ' nobody wants you to lay down 
 the law upon this or any other ' point,' unless your property ia 
 injured These woods are my father's ; Mr. Peyton gave Mrs. 
 Bell that gun expressly for Zack's use. They are as strong law- 
 overs as yourself." 
 
 Jerry jerked up his pony's nose from the ground, where it 
 unted among the leaves for some bits of herbage that might 
 ke out his scanty breakfast. 
 
 " It's none of my business, to be sure, Mr. Leigh " 
 
 " I tolled him so at de fust didn't we, Sultan ?" again crowed 
 Uncle Zack. 
 
 " But Mr. Townley, sir, is a lawyer, and he spoke with me 'pou 
 dis ideutickle subject not a week ago." 
 
 " There ! enough !" Frederic waved his hand. " Pay Mr. 
 Townley to get you of your own scrapes, and don't meddle, either 
 of you, with honest people." 
 
 The pony moved off at a shambling gait, and Uncle Zack 
 returned his thanks to his champion. 
 
 " It don't look well 'taint right, in fac', for a churca memoer 
 to fight, or he an' I would a' had a tussle 'fore we got through, 
 I'm afeer'd, sir. Poor white folks and free negroes is mon- 
 strously alike, to my thinkin', Mars' F'ederic." 
 
 " How happens it that you are out gunning to-day ?" asked 
 my brother ; "I expected you were keeping Christmas in gen- 
 tlemanly style." 
 
 " So I did, sir for two solid hours dis moruin' but bless you, 
 Mars' F'ederic, don' you know old Zack warnt born for to play? 
 loo hard work for dis nigger plav is 1 So, Molly, she took to 
 Ironin' 'pon de sly, for fear mistris or Miss Annie'd stop her ; 
 auil I sot out to lay in a stock of skins. Dis weather's mighty 
 desateful. We'se got to pay for it, and pay well too, if you 
 mind my racket." 
 
 " What do you make of these furs T' questioned Herbert. 
 
 "Gloves, my m:ii>ter, :ul obt-rshocs and tipples or whatever
 
 124 MOSR-BIDK. 
 
 de ladies calls dem things what dey wraps up dey ihroatft irid 
 in winter." 
 
 "But you do not do all this yourself? You are a genius, 
 Uncle Zack." 
 
 " Yaw 1 yaw ! young marster, you've come right nigh de 
 truth, if you mean a Jack at all trades and marster of none 
 dat's me ! aint it, Sultan ? My ole woman, she helps me 'bout 
 de nice sewin', 'specially de ladies' shoes." 
 
 " I should like to have a pair of your manufacture," said May 
 " How much time do you need to finish them ?" 
 
 " I ken make a par in two days, if I aint too much else to do 
 Bein' as 'tis holiday, I ken let you have yourn done by Saturday 
 arternoon." 
 
 41 That will do. Will you come to Mr. Leigh's for my mea- 
 sure ? I am staying there." 
 
 Instead of replying verbally, Uncle Zack fumbled in his 
 pocket for a slip of paper and a clasp-knife. 
 
 " Jest set your foot down upon dat, if you please, ma'am. 
 Bein' as how dey's obershoes, I must measure your shoe outside, 
 you onderstand. Whew !" he whistled, involuntarily, as he held 
 up the short strip. "Dat's de leetlest ;'* a leetle of de 
 leetlest foot I ever see yet. You warn't 'tended to walk, my 
 young mistis. You ought to a' had wings." 
 
 Laughing at this compliment, we said " good-bye." 
 
 " It is very singular that your servants should conceive so 
 rooted a dislike to their free brethren," said Herbert to Frederic 
 " Is it universal ?" 
 
 " I believe it is. They cordially despise them as a class, rank 
 them as an inferior caste, with whom intimacy is disreputable, 
 and intermarriage but one remove from disgrace. The free 
 blacks are, as a whole, the most worthless part of our popular 
 tion ; the 7ery refuse of the lower orders. There are somi 
 shining exceptions, however, I am happy to say.' 
 
 "What is the character of this Jerry Williams?" inter
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 125 
 
 legated Herbert. " His demeanor does not indicate any sense 
 of his inferiority." 
 
 "No, indeed 1 yet he is morally not much better than tht 
 generality of them. He is a wily fellow, and manages to pro- 
 erve a sort of respectable standing. He is a rare instance o- f 
 udustry and frugality among his set, and owns property suffi 
 cient for his support. From a meagre beginning he has worked 
 and. saved until he has accumulated funds to purchase a house, 
 several acres of ground, and a couple of servants to aid him iu 
 cultivating it. 
 
 " You do not mean that he holds them as slaves !" exclaimed 
 Herbert. 
 
 " Why not ?" said his friend, mischievously. " Do not delude 
 yourself with the idea that the oppressed race you hear prayed 
 for every Sabbath and harangued about in your political meet- 
 ings, would not, if they had the chance, wield the oppressor's 
 rod over their brethren in blood and name more fiercely than the 
 reriest brute of a white overseer dares to do now. Take Jerry as 
 an example. No other hands in the country are worked so 
 cruelly, no other owner domineers with like needless severity, for 
 he delights to show his power ; likes the office and title of mas- 
 ter. So egregiously vain is he of the latter, that he will actually 
 hide himself in the bushes when he sees his servants coming, in 
 search of him, upon which, whether they know his place of con- 
 cealment or not, they are instructed to shout for ' Master,' until 
 his ears cease to be titillated with the term." 
 
 " You are jesting upon my credulity," laughed Herbert. 
 
 " I appeal to Grace to verify my statement," returned Fred- 
 eric, " and for confirmation of another anecdote of the same per- 
 son. Jerry's cunning does not always parry the consequence! 
 of his officious impertinence. A white man by the way, one of 
 the kind classified with free negroes by Uncle Zack who reside! 
 apou the farm adjoining Jerry's, had a quarrel with him, in whicfc
 
 126 M O 8 8 - S I D E . 
 
 the negro had undeniably the right side. He would have beei 
 supported by the community but for his swaggering and 
 uncalled-for publication of the case. Saunders the neighbor 
 heard of this behavior, and being as great a bully himself, vowca 
 to thrash him within an inch of his life. Taking two of hia 
 friends along to witness the doughty deed, he went over to Jer 
 <7's, end finding him in the field, introduced his errand in the 
 bearing of his companions. Jerry was frightened out of his wits, 
 rw a matter of course, very penitent, very mean-spirited and 
 when he had begged himself out of breath to no purpose, 
 whined that ' if Mr. Saunders would just respect his feelins' so 
 far as to take him out of sight to whip him,' he would submit 
 without further ado. The bully rampant was magnanimous ; 
 collared the bully couchant, and led him into a wooded hollow 
 where hickories grew plentifully. He cut a stout one, trimmed 
 it for use when, presto 1 the actors changed characters. Jerry 
 is athletic and his moment had come. Throwing Saunders 
 down, he set his foot upon him, and proceeded coolly to admin- 
 ister a rousing castigatiou, yelling at each blow, in the most 
 piteous accents ' Mercy, Mr. Sannders !' ' Oh, pray, sir P etc., 
 that the unseen and unseeing friends of the prostrate man might 
 not be defrauded of their promised treat. Saunders' groans, if 
 he uttered any, were thus drowned ; to call for assistance would 
 be too humiliating ; so he bore it then, and kept his secret after- 
 wards to his cost, for Jerry brought an action for assault and 
 battery. Our neighbor, Mr. Townley, was his confidential advis- 
 er. He proved by Saunders' two associates all that was needed. 
 Suspicions, if they suspected the truth, were not admissible evi 
 dence. They testified to the intent to attack, and the corrobor 
 ating fact of the withdrawal of the parties into the thicket, final 
 ly the cries that came from it, and the verdict was instantly 
 rendered. Saunders was both whipped and non-suited, nor did 
 he escape the ' world's dread laugh ' he endured so much to
 
 M O S 8-8 I D K . 127 
 
 (mid Mr. Townb; told the story. It ran like wild-fire, and 
 Jerry was triumphant." * 
 
 " Just as it should be !" cried my father coming out to nice 4 , 
 as. "Rosy cheeks and bright eyes, and I trust keen appetites, 
 for dinner is smoking on the table. This weather is superb ) 
 Did I not prophecy to you, Miss Grace, that we should have 
 May in December ? And here is a frolic on hand for to-night. 
 Mr. Townley called while you were out, with invitations for al! 
 of you Miss Seaton and Mr. Wynne especially mentioned to 
 an extempore party at his house." 
 
 We were ready to embrace any plan that promised fun, and 
 resolved unanimously to attend. The only obstacle to overcome 
 was a scruple of May's. She felt some hesitation at going 
 among utter strangers. 
 
 " I wish one of the ladies had called with her brother," she 
 said. 
 
 " All three would have been here to breakfast if they had 
 suspected the existence of the point of etiquette that troubles 
 you," said Frederic. " Unless you wish to give grievous offence 
 to our plain country neighbors, you must not insist upon a prin- 
 ciple they cannot appreciate." 
 
 This settled the question. 
 
 Mr. Peyton had, ever since the death of his wife, partaken of 
 our Christmas dinner, and his arrival had preceded ours. It 
 was a never-ceasing surprise to me that he made his way so soon 
 into the good graces of new acquaintances. He was not a fluent 
 talker ; was often abstracted and abrupt, and in general conver- 
 sation, bore an indifferent part. Yet Herbert, who sat between 
 him and myself, fell under the spell of his unspoken goodnesa 
 and unostentatious intelligence ; was respectful, then attend if ^ 
 aud at length, conversed with him almost exclusively
 
 128 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " Tell me something about your friend," he said, after diiiuef 
 " He has a history has he not ?" 
 
 My brief sketch did not disappoint him. 
 
 "Hare you remarked,'' said he, "or has i.ot your experi 
 nee of Life been sufficient to teach you that the perfecting 
 touch to human character, the purest type of disinterested uesi 
 is accomplished by fire ?" 
 
 " Oh 1 do not say so I" I exclaimed, the coincidence of thin 
 with my aunt's prediction concerning me flashing upon my mind. 
 " I dread suffering. I have never known it, and I am cowardly. 
 I am happy in my ignorance of evil, Mr. Wynne, and a super- 
 stitious alarm seizes me when I listen to these prognostications." 
 
 " I prognosticate nothing for you ; see no reason why Life 
 should not continue as fair as this day for you through years to 
 come. I hope the noon of happiness has not yet brightened 
 upon you. You court sorrow by indulging forebodings." 
 
 I was not so easily quieted. The causeless fear ; formlest 
 black presence, shadowed my soul with its wings, and ever, as 
 it swooped nearer, I heard the stern tones " In Judgment 1" 
 
 In compliance with my father's wishes, May and I sought our 
 room for a siesta to prepare ourselves for the fatigue of the 
 evening. She happy child ! weary with the day's pleasures, 
 slept so soon as she nestled among the pillows ; but I was wake- 
 ful under the indefinable oppression of what I dared not call 
 presentiment. I was lonely by and by ; and to escape from 
 myself, I arose, adjusted my dress and ran down stairs, intending 
 to stroll in the garden while the twilight lasted. A tall figurt 
 darkened one window of the parlor. It moved as I was passing 
 the open door. 
 
 " Come in !" it said, and I obeyed. 
 
 " Did the intensity of my wish bring you down, I wonder?" 
 iaid Herbert " You felt no powerful mesmeric attraction pa> 
 ling you to th : s quarter, I suppose ?"
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 129 
 
 " None ; unless it visited me in the form of a fit of the 
 rapors." 
 
 " I thought you lived above the reach of such maladies. It 
 Is a fashionable complaint whose contagion I hoped you had 
 escaped." 
 
 lie spoke dissatisfiedly, and I was ashamed of the slang I had 
 tsed. 
 
 " I have, perhaps, mistaken my symptoms," I said. " Ha * ^ 
 you never felt a sudden downfall of spirits, unaccountable, im 
 possible to avert, almost as difficult to relieve ; a something 
 Mrs. Hemans describes as 
 
 ' the strange, inborn sense of coming ill 
 
 That ofttimes whispers to the haunted breast?' " 
 
 " Yes, occasionally, but I refer it to physical causes, or to the 
 natural reaction of the mind after a season of excitement. If 
 this is all that afflicts you, charm it away with cheerful thought. 
 The demon is not a frequent visitor at Moss-side is he W 
 
 " By no means. My personal acquaintance with him is very 
 slight. If you will not laugh, I will confess to some apprehen- 
 sions that Mrs. Hemans was right." 
 
 " That it was a presentiment ? I do not believe in such 
 things, although we hear and read marvellous tales of their veri- 
 fication. On the contrary, all that I have felt and observed 
 leads me to the opinion that the most destructive bolts of afflic- 
 tion fall from a clear sky; that the sun of joy is more frequently 
 Btruck at one shock from the heavens than quenched in a g~a- 
 dual decline. I have been musing about you here in tbe 
 wilight." 
 
 " About me 1" drawing in my breath more quickly. 
 
 " About you and your home. This lovely nook meets raj 
 Ideal of rural serlusion. It is the Arcadia I have hitherto seet 
 5rat in drf.ams." 
 
 6*
 
 130 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " It is a deal home to me," I said. 
 
 " Yon hare LO care here ; you told me to-day that you kntw 
 nothiug of trouble," he pursued. " Whoever transplants you tc 
 another soil rill incur a heavy responsibility. Would it be a 
 aelfishact?" 
 
 My father's entrance spared me the necessity of a reply, 
 winch would hare been hard to frame. We were pacing the 
 floi'/ my hand upon Herbert's arm, and in the wasting light, I 
 pf.-rctived my father's start of surprise and inclination to retreat. 
 Herbert did not gpeak immediately, but when he did, it was 
 without agitation or the earnestness with which he had said hia 
 last wotJs to me. 
 
 " Our mend, Mr. Peyton, has gone, sir," he remarked. " Fred 
 eric and i would have detained him to supper, but he must 
 needs offet his services to gallant a lady neighbor of yours to 
 the party mis evening." 
 
 " Annie Bell, I presume," replied my father. 
 " That is the name. She is a protege* or something of the 
 sort of his, Frederic tells me." 
 
 I had slipped my hand from its resting place, and, leaving my 
 father in the midst of Annie's story, I effected a noiseless retreat. 
 I would not dwell a second upon the tumultuous thoughts that 
 ppurred my brain into a fever ; stayed not to inquire the cause 
 of the glow that burned in my cheeks ; but ordering May's sup- 
 per with mine to our room, dived forthwith into the momentoua 
 business of our toilettes. The carriage was ready as soon as we 
 were. The moon was near its full, and our ride, as May com- 
 plained, ( only too short." 
 
 Mr. Townley's ancestral abodj was a two-story brick building 
 got rather high up on the hill, and environed by what it pleased 
 Miss Malvina to designate as "a pastoral grove." The host 
 opened the carriage-door, and in his creamy tones, bade us wel 
 come, and wished us a ' Merry Christmas."
 
 M O S S S I D E . 131 
 
 ' My friend, Mr. Wynne, Mr. Townley," introduced Frederia 
 -and as May was handed out " Miss Seaton." 
 
 " We are honored by their presence," acknowledged Mr 
 fownley, at an angle of forty-five degrees. 
 
 Deftly, like the natty dandy he was, he tripped up the stepf 
 with May, presenting her at the top to " my sister, Miss Town 
 fey." 
 
 Miss Judy had been wheedled or coerced into wearing a head- 
 dress, a gay, tinsel thing, altered from Miss Malvina's last win- 
 ter's finery. Her black silk dress had more .ougitude and 
 amplitude of skirt, and less of body, than her everyday costume 
 She gave us a loud, sincere greeting, and showed us into her 
 room to remove our mnfflings 
 
 " I am very glad you came, Grace," said she, " and you too, 
 Miss Seaton. I am really afraid Malvina would have gone crazy 
 if you had stayed away. Directly she heard this morning that 
 your friends were with you, Grace, nothing would do but we 
 must have some description of a " fuss," and James must ride 
 over and invite you all." 
 
 Now, considering Miss Malvina had known three days before 
 from my own tongue that May and Herbert were confidently ex- 
 pected on Christmas Eve, I was tempted to attribute this im- 
 promptu " fuss " to another arrival, telegraphed by the sable 
 couriers from one plantation to the other. More company drew 
 off the attention of the elder sister, and we rejoined our escorts 
 in the entry. Miss Malvina, with complexion like a cabbage- 
 rose ; her flaxen hair dressed in three tiers of curls, had strained 
 maidenly bashfulness to the extent of meeting Frederic upon the 
 threshold of the parlor door, and as he made no motion to enter, 
 *he remained there. He broke her toils with scant show of 
 courtesy when May appeared. She was very lovely that night 
 Frederic's eyes might have enlightened her as to this fact, had 
 the buzz that ran through the apartment at her entrance failec
 
 132 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 to do so ; but she wa.s gracefully unconscious that any look 01 
 tone of admiration had reference to her. A majority of th 
 younger gentlemen solicited introductions, and aJl she received 
 with frank ease and impartial cordiality. Frederic maintained 
 the post nearest to her without obtruding his attentions. H 
 was undisguisedly proud of the homage rendered her, manifest/ 
 fag this feeling so plainly that I could not forbear whispering a 
 caution. For this act of sisterly discretion, I got a saucy smile 
 for myself, and a snap of the fingers for the crowd. 
 
 There was a crowd, notwithstanding the shortness of the 
 notice served upon the guests. Miss Judy had her clique of 
 matronly housewives and settled elderly geutlerten ; Miss Mai- 
 vina had asked mostly " girls about my own agy," she loved to 
 say which might, by this data, have been estiratited at anything 
 from sixteen to twenty-five. Miss Susan, least social of the 
 three, yet protected in one corner a select few of her chosen 
 associates, most of them as starched as hert^lf. Mr. Townley 
 had not overlooked a neighbor in his rounds, for well as he 
 knew the value of popularity to him now, his ambitious eye 
 pierced the future to the strife of a not distant hustings, when 
 each one of his male 'acquaintances who was a free man of 
 twenty-one would be worth his vote. I have slandered our 
 neighborhood, if our present hosts are, to my readers, " specimen 
 articles." The Townleys were an old and respectable family, 
 and in general society, upon a level with many, immeasurably 
 their superiors in breeding and education. There were here col- 
 lected gentlemen who would have trodden the royal drawing- 
 room with as finished elegance as the most thorough courtiei 
 here ; men, who had reaped academic and political honors in n 
 nean measure, and women, whose intelligence and reilnemen 1 
 tted them to be their companions. 
 
 ' I had not anticipated so pleasant a gathering," said Herbert 
 to me " I am in love with country life. If the lady who hai
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 183 
 
 stolen the past half hour from me is a rustic, I award the palm 
 to rusticity over city polish. What a charming, modest, sensi- 
 ble little creature she is ! I did not catch her name as Mr. Pey 
 ton presented me to her. I suppose you know her ?" 
 
 " You cannot say too much in her praise," I said. " It is An 
 fcie Bell." 
 
 " I remember " he began. 
 
 Miss Malvina had overheard the name and interrupted him. 
 " You see, Grace, we could not get over inviting her. She lives 
 so near, and is, besides, a favorite with sister Judy. You must 
 think our society sadly mixed, Mr. Wynne." 
 
 " It is a most agreeable compound, Miss Townley better than 
 any one simple element." 
 
 " Does he guess how very simple is that he is now dealing 
 with ?" I said to myself. 
 
 Miss Malvina fluttered her fan and cast down her pink eyelids. 
 
 " You are very polite to say so, I am sure. But we vrere 
 talking of this Miss Bell. I am ashamed to tell you, Mr. Wynne 
 we are shockingly democratic here she is nothing but a 
 seamstress." 
 
 " That is all you can say against her thank Heaven 1" said 
 Mr. Peyton, over her shoulder. 
 
 She gave her customary scream. " Mercy ! cousin R >bert ! 
 I did not dream you were within a hundred miles of us. I have 
 said no harm, however. Annie is a nice girl I love her dually 
 and Mrs. Bell is a sweet old lady." 
 
 " Cousin Robert " was not to be conciliated, for he me fed on 
 with a grave bow. Nor had I patience to listen longer Pro- 
 Toked at her exposure of her own silliness, and the ill-nature I 
 knew to be second-hand from Miss Susan, I made some excuse 
 to change my place, but she caught me by the arm. 
 
 " One word I" she said aside, with a forced giggle " is you/ 
 brother addressing this Miss Seaton ?"
 
 134 M O 8 8 - 6 I D E . 
 
 " Miss Malvma 1" 
 
 " Now, don't be angry, please ! I that is, we have been 
 troubled to know whether it was so or not. / was positive froa 
 the beginning that there was nothing in it. Brother says I am 
 goose ; that he is sure they are lovers ; and when sister So 
 tan said she must be terribly anxious, to come all this way 
 to see him, brother told her that circumstances altered cases, 
 and repeated some old thing about Mahomet and the moun- 
 tain." 
 
 " A precious pair the everlasting sister and brother are !" 1 
 almost said. I had the self-control to substitute a more tempe- 
 rate retort. " Mr. Townley and Miss Susan, and you, Miss Mul- 
 viua, may cease your speculations. I must have told you before, 
 that Frederic's vacation was a surprise to us all. Miss Scaton 
 was positively informed that he would not be at home this 
 Christmas." 
 
 " You are not offended are you ?" still clutching my sleeve 
 " Not with you I" releasing myself. 
 Herbert eyed me quizzically, as I walked off. 
 " I would not seem impertinent ; but I venture to affirm that 
 y ju have been running a tilt for a friend not defending yourself. 
 May, Frederic, Annie Bell, or Mr. Peyton has a spirited cham- 
 pion. You are spirited do you know it ?" 
 
 My ruffled plumes settled under his playful raillery. 
 " I know that my temperament is rather sanguine than phleg- 
 matic," I rejoined. " I beg you will not suppose that the rise 
 of heat just now was caused by the lady with whom I was con- 
 versing." 
 
 " I have seen enough of her to convince me that she is incapa 
 ble of exciting resentment except as the mouth-piece of other 
 wore designing." 
 
 Ten minutes' talk with him never failed to tranquillize me, and 
 irritating as were the spiteful innuendoes against my pure-hearted
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 1 D E . 136 
 
 May, as indelicately retailed to me, I cast off the recollection at 
 his Command. In my soul, I experienced a secret pleasure at 
 this gentle tyranny, that said even to thought, " No further !" 
 and turned its course at his will. It never trammeled belief ; 
 opinion was as free as the wind ; its utterance encouraged ; but 
 taste he directed, and controlled mood with the power of an 
 autocrat. I have never seen similar strength combined with 
 similar kindness in any man besides. True, I had witnessed the 
 exemplification of this hi trifles alone ; but they were straws 
 that floated continually on the surface of the tide that could 
 have borne mighty trees along as easily. Still, recognizing this 
 influence as I did, yielding to it without a show of resistance, I 
 would not seek out the root of his authority and my dependence. 
 No analysis of emotions, no weighing of probabilities, no pru- 
 dent misgivings were concealed under the gaiety with which I 
 mingled in the dance that kept feet and blood in rapid motion. 
 I laughed in real amusement as Mr. Townley slyly observed to 
 my partner of one set : 
 
 " It is reported among our friends that a certain gentleman is 
 likely to Wynne Grace at Moss-side." 
 
 As unembarrassed was my rejoinder to the same partner'i 
 comment " Mr. Wynne is a fine-looking man." 
 
 " And as remarkable in character as feature," I said. 
 
 The revel broke up at two o'clock ; adieux were exchanged, 
 and we drove off. May was delighted with the novelty of the 
 festival ; the easy footing upon which everything had placed 
 itself, and yet the unbroken good breeding that pervaded the 
 whole company. The peculiarities of the sisters had amused and 
 interested her in short, she had seldom, if ever, enjoyed a 
 merry-making more. 
 
 "Mr. Townley is a lawyer is he not f" questioned Hei* 
 bert. 
 
 " Call him an attorney ! said Frederic. " The words maj
 
 136 M088-8IDK. 
 
 be exactly synonymous, according to our manner of using them 
 but to my ear the latter suits him better; Why do you inquire t 
 Was he professional in his management of you ?" 
 
 " I have never occupied a witness-box, but I have a Tivid 
 conception of the feelings incident to the position," replied 
 Herbert. " He cross-examines so dexterously, shapes his queries 
 o ingeniously, that it is a positive pleasure to be pumped by 
 him. Nor, judging from my brief experience, is he prontj to let 
 slip opportunities of amassing information, although there may 
 be nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thousand that it 
 will never profit him. He reminds me of a class of economista 
 who are forever buying bargains, things for which they have no 
 present use, simply because they are cheap, and may serve them 
 Borne good purpose twenty years hence." 
 
 " Why, how could you learn this ?" I inquired. " He surely 
 was not guilty of prying into the personal history of a stranger 
 and his guest ! I am at a loss to understand you." 
 
 " ' Prying ' is too coarse a term for the adroitness, with which, 
 in a chat of half an hour, he made himself au fait to the lead- 
 ing events of my manhood, youth and infancy ; climbed the 
 branches of the genealogical tree up to the names and residence 
 of my great-grand-parents, which was as far as I could go. 
 There we exchanged places, he instructing me as to my probable 
 pedigree back to the Norman conquest. He is ready this 
 moment, I will warrant, to make out an armorial ensign for me, 
 not a quartering omitted or slurred over." 
 
 " In the name of all that is impertinent and ridiculous, what 
 did the fellow mean ?" exclaimed Frederic. 
 
 " Not to rust for want of practice, I imagine," returned hi* 
 frieud, his good-humor invincible. "I was a bargain, and he 
 bought me up cheap as I have intimated, for I was amused, 
 not worried, and let out the line as fast as he was disposed 
 to pull it. He would sift even a chancery suit to the bottom, 01
 
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 1$1 
 
 prove it to be what many wickedly declare it a bottomless den 
 of iniquity. If my cousins-Norman, as he decided any con- 
 nections I may have over the water to be, should ever leave me 
 legatee to a fortune of fabulous amount, I would write forthwith 
 to him to supply whatever my memory had dropped. Commend 
 Be tc a man who understands his business 1"
 
 MOSB-SID& 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THREE more days of beauty and of joy ; of witching weathef 
 and unalloyed delight in the same ; the third a Sabbath, thai 
 restrained our sporting, without marring our happiness ; and 
 there arose a Monday's sun, as glorious as its immediate prede- 
 cessors. We were making the most of the swift hours now, 
 for but one day besides this remained for our intercourse. Our 
 separation was an interdicted topic, and at the breakfast-table 
 we spoke not even of the morrow. 
 
 Mr. Peyton had furnished Frederic with the means of gratifying 
 an ardent wish, hitherto frustrated by the lameness of my horse ; 
 viz. a ride with May. Herbert and myself, according to this 
 plan, had no choice but to be mutually agreeable and while 
 away the time of their absence as we could. My father received 
 early that morning, a line from Mr. Townley, notifying him of an 
 examining court of magistrates, to be held in the village at 
 noon, to investigate a case of petty larceny a call which he, 
 as a justice of the peace, could not disregard. The lawyer 
 came by our house in time to help May mount Black Bess, Mr. 
 Peyton's special pride. Frederic placed himself at her side ; 
 my father added a warning both were too gleeful to remember 
 and they were off, May's green habit and white plumes stream 
 ing back in the air, parted by their flight. 
 
 "A fairy-like vision !" said Mr. Townley, with his ever- ready 
 waile. " Steed and rider are well matched ." 
 
 Herbert followed my glance to the sleek sorrel, Mr. Town- 
 ley's riding-horse, and answered by a look of arch intelligence
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 139 
 
 We had a laugh at our ease, when he and my father jogged 
 down the lane ; the very gait of the animal, an ambling pace, 
 his head nodding complacent wisdom right and left, being an 
 imitation of his master too faithful for a burlesque. 
 
 " Now," raid Herbert, " what have you to do between this 
 and dinner ?" 
 
 " Nothing, except amuse or vex you." 
 
 " One I do not say which of these you can effect by equip- 
 ping yourself for a walk. The house is chill and damp after thia 
 dry, warm air. We will go, if you please, to the hill we \isited 
 the first day we spent here." 
 
 " And whither we have been every day since," I said ; " but 
 we could not show better taste." 
 
 The shadows rf the leafless trees, fringing the hill-top, lay 
 upon the earth in arabesques as motionless as if cast by carvings 
 of stone ; the wiud -spirits had rocked themselves to sleep in the 
 highest boughs, and the wondrously-beautiful sunlight that had 
 lent a wierd-iike charm to our festal week, still bathed the 
 winter landscape, like the smile of heavenly love on the cheek 
 of age. 
 
 And there, beneath the blue sky, in the breathless, enchanted 
 eilence of Nature, Herbert Wynne told me of his love. How 
 the revelation was made, I cannot tell. A thousand vain efforts 
 have showed me that I cannot recall one of the words which 
 conveyed to me the most precious gift of my life. I know that 
 my tongue was spell-bound ; that to the wild current of emo- 
 tions that flooded my being, when his meaning burst upon me, 
 succeeded a sense of awakening from a ravishing dream to a 
 reality a million-fold more blissful that when he implored me 
 to speak, I could only falter " Let me think !" and bow my 
 bead upon my lap. I did not shut out the brightness in closing 
 my eyes. I had never seen the full glory of Life until now 
 My relishful summer pleasures, my autumn reveries, intangible.
 
 140 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 dissolving news as they were ; the overflowing jcyousness of 
 the past few days what were they all but faint premonitions of 
 this ? Every girlish ideal of earthly happiness, every yearning 
 fir aflection were here met and more than realized. Wliai 
 wonder that ray answering movement to his entreaties was to lift 
 my streaming eyes towards Heaven, and murmur in passionate 
 gratitude, " 0, God ! I thank thee 1 " 
 
 Herbert's instant impulse was to uncover his head, and our 
 united heart-song of praise, voiceless to human hearing as the 
 slumbering air, went upward through the sunshine. 
 
 When we could talk, I heard of the birth and growth of his 
 attachment ; learned that his intentions were matured ere he 
 decided to accompany May ; that Moss-side would have had him 
 as a visitant had she never thought of coming South. 
 
 I raised my eyes, but let them fall again. 
 
 " You have no right to do that," he said. " I love my author- 
 ity, and your thoughts are now mine. I demand them." 
 
 " I wanted to ask you why you love me." 
 
 This was uttered in true humility. When he would make me 
 his equal, I comprehended my inferiority, and trembled lest he 
 should be blind to it until it was too late to retrieve his mistake. 
 
 "The question I have been listening for!" he said. "You 
 have never been told that you are attractive in person and man- 
 ner ; have no suspicion of your popularity in your circle of 
 acquaintances ; wonder that Louise should have clung to you 
 later and more firmly than to any other friend ; that May should 
 love you as a sister ? which, permit me to remark parentheti- 
 cally, I hope she will be some day. These things are all news to 
 ou, Grace ?" 
 
 " Now you are jesting," 1 said, " and I was in serious, almoi 
 sad earnest. I do not rate myself among the repulsive or utter 
 ly unattractive. I am young and lively, therefore not destituU 
 of charms, but you know as well as I do, Mr. Wynne "
 
 
 MO88-8IDK. 141 
 
 " That gentleman has departed this life to you * interposed 
 ny auditor, with becoming gravity. " If you hare aught to say 
 to Herbert, pray proceed." 
 
 Bather disconcerted, I continued " I was about to say, that 
 * hile I may be on a par with the average of young ladies, I am 
 much below the standard you must have formed. I have neither 
 Louise's genius nor May's loveliness of face and disposition. I am 
 a country girl, untried by care, new to the world, unformed in 
 manner and character" 
 
 " Excuse me, but you are monopolizing the conversation " 1 
 was again interrupted. "I am not speaking lightly now, dear 
 Grace, so listen 1 That you are a child in world-knowledge, I 
 rejoice to think. It enhances the purity of the gem I have won ; 
 and 1 trust the unperverted instinct of your woman's nature, 
 your quick penetration of character, more than all, your moral 
 principle to keep you still unspotted, true to yourself and to me. 
 So far as your mind is concerned, I am better informed than you 
 are, and I might say the like of certain traits that time and 
 occasion will develop. You have not sounded the depth of your 
 own heart ; dream little of its powers of endurance ; its rockfi 
 of resolution and hidden fires of passion. Passive as this hand 
 now rests in mine, you have latent strength, that if aroused, 
 would change it to unbending steel, and deny it to my touch, if 
 the heart above which you sternly folded it were beating its last. 
 You would not bear sorrow patiently, Grace I feel this. You 
 would return buffet for buffet ; wrestle with the storm that 
 would bear you to the dust. But that you are ' untried by 
 care ' is not the dissuasive you suppose, any more than is the 
 conviction that it will find you rebellious, when it does visit you 
 --for oh, my darling '. we will meet Fortune's shocks all Life'f 
 woes together You can, you will bear anything for my sake, 
 and a strong arm and brave heart, nerved by the thought of 
 your love, will break the violence of every blow aimed at you, 
 or be crushed in the attemot "
 
 142 M O 8 8-8 I D K. 
 
 ' Mast we look fir clouds to-day ?" I said. "Who told m 
 only last week that we courted sorrow by forebodings ?" 
 
 " We will no more of them !" he responded. " And one most 
 have keen sight indeed to espy blemishes in our heaven. We 
 will accept the gracious omen of our betrothal-day I'' 
 
 As the flush of excitement burned more steadily, we accus- 
 tomed ourselves to think of matter-of-fact miautise I shrank 
 slightly at the beginning, but he demolished the barrier by 
 reminding me of the brief space intervening before our separa- 
 tion, an allusion that drew me at once more nearly to him. 
 
 " Your father 1" he said, at length, " I shall speak to him of 
 this before I leave. Frederic, the dear fellow 1 shall not sleep 
 to-night until he hears it all. Is it your wish that any other of 
 your friends be apprised of it at present ?" 
 
 " By no means. I should be painfully embarrassed were any 
 formal communication made. If it were proper, I could 
 desire " I stopped. 
 
 " To break the intelligence to your father yourself, you would 
 say." 
 
 " How did you discover that ?" I asked. 
 
 " No matter. That was your meaning, and you shall do as 
 you like in this. But, Grace, it will carry a pang to his bosom. 
 You are his chief treasure ; will he resign you to the care of the 
 acquaintance of weeks ? I could not blame him if he refused to 
 sanction my suit and what then ?" 
 
 " lie will not 1 You wrong him indeed you do !" I replied 
 warmly. " He never denied my most trivial petition." 
 
 " This is not a trifle," he said. 
 
 "And therefore he will weigh the consequences of a negative 
 more carefully," I urged. " Is this the most formidable dim 
 culty you apprehend ? To my way of thinking, there is much 
 more danger that your mother will frown upon a mesalliance witb 
 one who has no preteusious to fortune, style, or " 
 
 His Angers were upon my lips.
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 143 
 
 " I am a man knd independent 1" he said. " I select a wife 
 for myself, not for society 1" 
 
 His scorn was to me the echo of Louise's maledictions upon 
 the false system that had laid her heart in ruins. 
 
 " Moreover, Grace, you forget that Mrs. Wynne is not my 
 Bother. From you, hereafter, I can have no concealments. I 
 we her respectful duty, for she did not drive from her husbandr* 
 oard aiid roof the orphan boy bequeathed to him by a dying 
 wife his early and best-beloved. I fed, slept, played and stud- 
 ied with her children. My uncle would have it so, and he 
 enforced his will by measures so extraordinary as to tame hia 
 politic lady into a show of acquiescence. I love I revere him, 
 if only for what he has been to me ; and I have faith to believe 
 that, incrusted as his affections seem to be with business cares 
 and selfish interests, there is yet a place in them for the legacy 
 that no longer needs his guardianship. Since Louise's mar- 
 riage I stand alone in the world. I have never had a home. 
 Grace, will you make me one ?" 
 
 What appeal finds more ready entrance to a woman's heart ? 
 When we bent our reluctant steps towards Moss-side, I had pro- 
 mised to share this home whenever he required it ; to bear its ark 
 of treasure over land and flood, if his footsteps led the way. 
 
 My father had not returned, and we dined without him. Then 
 May and I betook ourselves to the cozy upper chamber, accord- 
 ing to our afternoon custom, while Herbert and Frederic smoked 
 their cigars in the porch or yard. May seated herself in my 
 lap. took my face between her hands and studied it ; her eyes 
 teaming with mischievous enjoyment. I could not deny her a 
 eturuing smile, and finally both laughed aloud like madcaps, 
 either of us could say at what. I could have cried as heartily 
 afterwards, in default of something better to do, had she not 
 frrewn serious too 
 
 " You need not tell me anything, Gracie, if you will bnt lei
 
 144 M O 8 8-B I P E . 
 
 me take for granted what I choose. I was advised of Herbert^ 
 movements np to this morning, and I judged from nis face at 
 dinner-time that he was not heart-broken. My own friend I 
 what a prize you have gained in his love ! I am so happy foi 
 fou P and she kissed me over and over again with other, and 
 pet more fond ejaculations 
 
 In what warm colors she drew my our future, in the talk that 
 ensued 1 and I was well satisfied to hear the praises she lavished 
 npon my betrothed. Through the window we could see two tall 
 forms walking up and down the path leading to the summer- 
 house, engaged, my beating heart said, in converse similar to 
 ours. Thus went by the hours until the increasing darkness 
 veiled her face from my sight. Frederic met me at the foot of 
 the stairs, and held me back to put his arm around me and 
 touch my forehead with his lips. 
 
 " My sweet sister !" was all his whisper, but it relieved me of 
 embarrassment at his presence. 
 
 He had an accurate ear and admirable taste in music, 
 although comparatively ignorant of the rules of the art, and he 
 obeyed May readily when she sent him to the piano. The out- 
 line of her figure, the head drooped in thoughtful attention, was 
 dimly visible to us against the western window ; the rich chords 
 that vibrated upon the twilight air were struck by an unseen 
 musician ; and at the far side of the apartment, Herbert sat 
 beside me, as was now his right, the fast blood throbbing in 
 the palms laid against each other, reporting faithfully each 
 heart-beat, for our tongues had no language for this hour. I 
 could laugh to scorn presentiments and goblin fears ; and my 
 oul, with the presumptuous confidence of youth, shook it 
 wings exultantly at the expansion of its horizon ; its new anti 
 cipations already looking beyond the bliss of the present, and 
 laying, " To-morrow shall be as this day, and even more abun- 
 dant f '
 
 M O 8 8 8 I D E . 145 
 
 Joe Drought in lights, an unwelcome piece of official polite 
 
 0<!S8 
 
 " Carry them out 1" ordered Frederic. " Nobody wants 
 Ihem." 
 
 " Supper is 'most ready, sir ; and, Miss Grace, marster done, 
 ome home. He look mighty sick !" 
 
 I ran to his room without delay. He lay on a lounge, his 
 eat, gloves, and riding-whip upon the floor, as if he had thrown 
 them down immediately upon his entrance. His ashy paleness 
 and contracted brow betokened great pain ; and kneeling beside 
 mm, I inquired the cause and symptoms of his illness. 
 
 " My head aches violently, my daughter," he said, without 
 nnclosing his eyes. 
 
 He was subject to intense suffering from this disorder, and his 
 answer rather soothed than disquieted me. I rang for a cup 
 of strong coffee, and a hot foot-bath ; bathed his temples, and 
 ooseued the heavy over-coat he had not laid aside. He groaned 
 from time to time, and this unwonted expression of anguish 
 startled me. Each moan I answered by a word of love and 
 sympathy, which, more unusual still, elicited no reply. I could 
 not bear the sight of the closed eyelids and compressed mouth. 
 
 " Dearest father 1" I pleaded, " can you not speak to me to 
 your little Grace ? Tell me how I can help you. May I send 
 for the doctor ? Is there nothing in the house nothing that I 
 can do to ease this terrible pain ?" 
 
 He looked up at me. His eyes were sunken, and appealed to 
 me with an agony that forced tears from mine. 
 
 " You cannot relieve me, my dear. I must bear it. Do no* 
 te*. your aunt come in. Bolt the door 1 I can see no one except 
 yourself." 
 
 He was just in time, for my aunt and Frederic met upon the 
 Threshold that minute. I stepped out to them ; represented 
 this as one of his most severe neuralgic headaches, and advised 
 7
 
 146 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 them to leave him to me who was always lis nurse iii ths 
 attacks. I heard cautious steps go past the door to the supper- 
 room ; then their return, and I could not stir from my watch 
 Half an hour later, I ventured to speak again. 
 
 " Are you no better, father ?" 
 
 The dry lips motioned, not said, " No better." 
 
 " You would be more comfortable in bed if you could endure 
 the pain of moving. May I call Frederic to assist you ? Tho 
 poor fellow is very uneasy, and wishes to see you to help me 
 take care of you." 
 
 He paused a moment before he replied, " Call him, then." 
 
 Herbert came into the dining-room while I was drinking my 
 tea. 
 
 " Is your father very much indisposed ?" he asked with solici 
 tude. " Can I do anything for him or for you ?" 
 
 " Thank you I believe not. I ) ope he will fall asleep soon. 
 He is about to retire now." 
 
 "Joe," to the young butier, " M.sS Seatou will be obliged t< 
 you for a glass of water. She is in the parlor. You are pah 
 and dejected, dearest," as the boy departed on the improviseo 
 errand. " For my sake, do not give way to fear. The fre 
 quency of these attacks is a proof that they are constitution* 
 and not dangerous. One thing more you must not sit up alom 
 to-night. If there should be any necessity for such a watch 
 Frederic and I will divide it. I am jealous of any exaction upou 
 your health and spirits. Have you time to look at the stars one 
 im taut ? to inhale one breath of fresh air ?" 
 
 \Ve encountered Joe in the hall, bringing back the scarceiy- 
 tasted water ; and with the precocity of his race, he bestowed 
 on me a knowing grimace, appreciative and confidential, and 
 unseen by my attendant. We tarried out-of-doors but an 
 instaut, as Heibert had promised, only made one turn to tha 
 gate and back ; yet I re-entered the sick-chamber refreshed io
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 147 
 
 body and iu mind, stronger in hope and desire to alleviate th 
 pains of the beloved invalid. Frederic stood by his pillow, 
 trying to persuade him to take the coffee I had prescribed. 
 
 " No ! no 1" I heard him answer. " It will do no good." 
 
 " It has ne*^r failed to help you before, father dear," I said, 
 playfully. " It LJ not like you to discard a friend who has given 
 jou co offence. Pass over the cup to me, Fred. He cannot 
 refuse me." 
 
 Again that imploring look longer and more fixed upon me. 
 
 I offered the cup to his lips, " To please your daughter, fa 
 ther ! Drink it because you love her." 
 
 He swallowed it unresistingly. As I stooped to kiss mj 
 thanks, he enfolded me in an embrace, sudden and fond impas 
 sioncd even in its fervor. 
 
 " I do love you, darling !" he said. " Do you believe me ?" 
 
 " Believe you, dearest father I" I replied, striving to preserve ray 
 cheerful tone ; " I should be very miserable if I doubted it 1" 
 
 " AY ill you believe it, forever ?" he persisted, holding my band 
 locked in his, and gazing wistfully into my eyes. 
 
 " Forever so long as I live ! Can you sleep now that yon 
 have heard me declare this ? I mean to turn Fred" out and stay 
 with you myself, until you obey this part of my prescription also. 
 He must look after May and Mr. Wynne." 
 
 My voice may have changed slightly at the latter name, for 
 he started ; then his brows were knitted in a sharper pang, and 
 he turned restlessly to the wall. 
 
 ''You had better go," I said aside to Frederic. "Talking 
 disturbs him." 
 
 " I had rather be quite alone," interposed my father "quite 
 alone!" repeating the words incoherently. "I must think 
 sleep, I would say ! You are good children. You have done 
 all that you can for me ; but if the room were perfectly still 
 and the candle put out, it would be better for me and for you."
 
 148 M O S 8 - 8 1 D E . 
 
 I touched bis hand. It was cold, not feverish He noticed 
 the movement. 
 
 " I am not delirious or dreaming. I wish Kiss me once 
 more, Grace ! God bless you !" and we were obliged to go. 
 
 I listened without the door several times in the course of the 
 evening, and found all quiet. At bed-time, he was apparently 
 b a profound slumber, and my dreams were all of the forenoon. 
 
 " The last day !" said May, with her awakening thought ; " let 
 us make it a happy one, Grace. To-morrow grief will be ine- 
 vitable." 
 
 My patient was better, and smiled feebly upon me as he said 
 that the pain in his head was gone. I enjoined him not to rise 
 until late, and was surprised at his submission to a request dis- 
 regarded upon many previous occasions. At eleven o'clock, he 
 quitted his bed for the lounge, complaining of debility and drow 
 siness. This unforeseen confinement added to my anxiety on his 
 account, perplexity on my own. I had tried vainly to muster 
 the courage I had thought, the preceding day, would come of 
 itself to enable me to introduce the subject uppermost in head 
 and heart ; and had arrived at the determinate conclusion that 
 Herbert must assume the whole conduct of the delicate busi- 
 ness. 
 
 He was not superior to the natural inclination to triumph over 
 me, when, after a world of hesitation and falterings, I managed 
 to communicate to him my changed purpose ; could not with- 
 et%nd the temptation to boast a little of the sagacity that had 
 foreseen this sequel. 
 
 " And lest you should be cast down at the discovery of your 
 t p aintheartedness," he said, " let me tell you that I love you tne 
 more for the timidity which I understand, although you do not 
 I intended, at the last, to be my spokesman and yours ; but 
 thought it no harm to amuse myself with your shy approaches to 
 the awful denoument "
 
 MOSS- SIDE. 149 
 
 " And do you feel no trepidation ?-" I inquired ; " no trem- 
 bling no impeded articulation ?" 
 
 " I !" drawing up his stately figure in the conscious strength 
 of manliness. " I glory in the task 1 and were my nerves le* 
 firm ; if I knew what it was to dread the face of mortal mau, 
 the recollection of what depends upon my action would brace me 
 for the undertaking. My main my sole regret is that this trial 
 for it will be a trial to him, Grace must, of necessity, fall 
 when your father stands in need of rest. This, and this alone 
 would tempt me to postpone it for a day or two ; but since we 
 are compelled to go to-morrow, I must speak this afternoon 
 now ! What frightens you, Gracie ?" 
 
 I was trembling all over. " I don't know," I could hardlf 
 say. 
 
 " Shall I guess ? You dread my return to you with a lugu- 
 brious visage and general sheepish expression, to whine over the 
 lecture richly merited, I admit administered by your justly 
 incensed parent for my audacity in thus creeping into his fold, 
 and coaxing off the fairest of his flock. And what right have I 
 to do this ?" he went on, musingly. " Come to me, darling 1" 
 
 He stroked back the curls from my face, and scrutinized every 
 lineament. 
 
 " His youngest the only daughter left to gladden his home j 
 the pride of his eyes; the stay and comfort of his age. Oh, Grace, 
 what atonement can I ever make to him for robbing him of you ? 
 Can the devotion of my life recompense you for the loss of such 
 a father ? Weeping, my dearest ? Are these tears for him or 
 for yourself, or because you repent your promise to me, and 
 grieve over my disappointment ?" 
 
 I clung to him in reply, and hid my face in his bosom ; all 
 oy scruples forgotten at the mere imagination of losing him. 
 
 " I love the touch of these clinging fingers," he said, fondly. 
 w They are as frail to the sight, as strong in their grasp, as ivy-
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 tendrils. Will they always be satisfied with their present sup 
 port, I wonder ?" 
 
 "Your wonderment is arrant hypocrisy," I said, rallying. 
 " I could ask a more pertinent question will the oak never (36 
 ashamed of its parasite ?" 
 
 " ; ra.-asite I' out upon the vile name 1" as if it had stung him. 
 "A clever botanist you are ! You are no stunted moss an 
 eye-sore upon the trunk ; nor mistletoe, never seen until the 
 boughs are stripped of leaves. The ivy has its root in the earth 
 that imparted life to the forest giant ; and grow with, and twine 
 into the oak as it will, it retains its individuality. I would not 
 have your character and personal identity merged into mine, 
 Grace. I have learned to love the ivy ivy let it be to the last 1 
 My time is up, dear one ! I must leave you." 
 
 " Your time ! leave me !" I repeated. " What do you mean?" 
 
 "oimply, that, anticipating that your courage would desert 
 you after the manner of Bob Acre's, I sent a message by Frederic 
 to your father, asking permission to wait upon him at as early 
 an hour as should suit his convenience. I received for reply 
 that he would see me at four o'clock. Your centenarian in the 
 hall there, croaked out the five minutes' signal awhile ago. I 
 would not fail in punctuality on this of all occasions. We shall 
 not be closeted very long, I fancy, if what you and your brother 
 have flattered me into believing, be true. You are going up to 
 May are you not ? Leave your door ajar, and when you hear 
 the first line of ' Sweet Home ' whistled in the lower entry, 
 come down. There goes the crazy old sentinel 1" 
 
 A hasty caress ; one beam of love, joy, encouragement thrown 
 back to me from the door and his fleet step resounded through 
 the passage leading to my father's room. 
 
 May's packing was not entirely finished, and I busied myself 
 In helping her. She was aware of the negotiation transpiring 
 below ; and while she, like myself, was m no suspense as to iti
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 151 
 
 termination she appreciated my tremor aud joined in my earnest 
 " Oh ! that it were over !" 
 
 " Another thing, Grace," said the sympathetic angel. " W(- 
 we forgetting that your father does not expect to have you will; 
 Mm all your life. Every parent looks ft nvard to the marriages 
 af his children as probable events, and becomes familiarized to 
 the idea. Yours will feel your departure as a personal bereav> 
 ment ; but, at the same time, a load will be lifted from his 
 mind by the reflection that your comfort and happiness are sure; 
 that you are removed beyond the chances of dependence or 
 loneliness. I may be a selfish reasoner, for my interests are 
 with my affections, on Herbert's side. I long to have you set- 
 tled near me. I suppose my second trip southward will be to 
 countenance the final step by my presence and aid our next 
 journey in company be another bridal tour. Poor Louise ! how 
 different from how much happier than hers !" 
 
 Thus she prattled, in her cooing notes, attuned by Nature to 
 Love's own music ; sometimes working with me ; pausing fre- 
 quently to lay her cheek to mine, to play with my hair, or per- 
 form some other act of soothing tenderness that might allay my 
 impatience ; never, while maligning herself by speaking of her 
 selfishness a principle unknown to her save by the hearing of 
 the ear never, I say, referring, however distantly, to the pain of 
 the nearing partings to herself. Yet did I not know that, 
 untold as was their love, she and Frederic would suffer well-nigh 
 as keenly as the two who were openly betrothed ; that their 
 absence from each other would have much less to assuage it* 
 bitterness, since their correspondence, if direct, must be confined 
 by certain limits laid down by worldly-wise formalists ; that, 
 whatever of sickness or distress might befall one, the other must 
 support the tortures of absence and suspense that they mus* 
 suffer apart. 
 
 " You may revisit Virginia on a bridal tour, and earlier tha*
 
 152 M088-8IDE. 
 
 you now pretend to think," I said, and halted purposely to mark 
 the influence of the speech. 
 
 The slender neck was straightened in queenly hauteur, but 
 only for a second ; the following thought-flash revealing the 
 absurdity of her suspic'on of my meaning. 
 
 I continued, without appearing to observe the transient touch 
 of offended dignity : " Mr. Townley is evidently captivated. 
 He told me yesterday that he had seldom beheld a more enchant- 
 ing May-deu. I trust my emphasis pointed the puu as well ac 
 his does." 
 
 " Most of his witticisms should borrow an edge," said she 
 " Happily for his puzzled auditors, he is not averse to playing 
 chorus himself to his compositions." 
 
 As directed, I had left the door unclosed, and I here heard 
 footsteps down stairs, I could have been sure were Herbert's. 
 They came, too, from the quarter towards which I was listening 
 for signs of his return, but there was no summons, and I waa 
 provoked at the trick of my excited nerves. 
 
 " This conference is tedious I" I sighed. 
 
 " That shows how little you know about debates upon such 
 questions," rejoined May. " The marvel is to me that they are 
 settled under two or three weeks. Your father would demaud 
 time for consideration of an offer for his plantation. Thero 
 would be an infinity of chaffering and counting of costs on both 
 sides " 
 
 " Do you insinuate an analogy in this to my case ?" I retorted. 
 ' Am I a chattel to be bargained for to be sold or withheld 
 without reference to my will or pleasure ?" 
 
 The jest was cut short by a low whistle, much more indistinct 
 than I was expecting to hear. It stopped short at the end of 
 two or three bars, and I colored high at the vision of the smile 
 rhich had hindered him from executing the signal as agreed 
 apon. To gain composure, I brushed my hair and smoothed rnj 
 collar. He should be repaid for his saucy glee.
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 158 
 
 " Don't make him wait !" remonstrated May. " Have done 
 admiring yourself in the glass I You are in excellent trim ; and 
 if you were not, he would not perceive it. See that you bring 
 me an explicit account of the sayings and doings in the late 
 Oouucil of Two, and don't show yourself up here again before 
 light 1" 
 
 She pushed me from the room. A glance showed me who 
 was standing upon the lower stair ; and I studiously averted my 
 eyes ai I descended, although I could not conceal the roguish 
 expression that contended with the pout I assumed for the 
 occasion. 
 
 He led me into the parlor ; shut the door behind us ; tightened 
 the arm that encircled my waist until I exclaimed with the pres<- 
 sure ; then released me abruptly and walked to the mantel- 
 piece, upon which he rested his forehead and groaned, " 
 Heavens 1" 
 
 I sprang to his side, and pulled away the arm that shadowed 
 his countenance, my tongue palsied with the intensity of mj 
 alarm. He sank into a seat, and drew me again to him ; hi* 
 every feature indicative of overmastering distress. 
 
 " Darling ! my darling ! how shall I give you up ?" escaped 
 him. " And this will draw down misery upon you, too, my poo* 
 child ! I hoped that my love would be a blessing, not a curse ta 
 you. Oh ! that I had died before I had seen this hour ! Do 
 not despise my weakness, Grace 1 I was so hopeful ! This blow 
 : a too sudden I" 
 
 Still I could not stir, or articulate a syllable ; could just 
 wring my hands and gaze into his pale face my own as blood- 
 less. 
 
 The working lips were pressed together by one resolute effort ; 
 the face grew calmer, yet more deadly white, and he spoki 
 llowly, commanding himself to the enunciation of each wo "d : - 
 
 " Grace ! your father positively forbids our marriage I" 
 1*
 
 15i MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 I gasped for breath. " Why ?" I inquired. 
 
 " He assigned no reason. He has one, he says, which U a/J 
 rofficient to bear him out in this denial, but it cannot be con> 
 municated to you or to me." 
 
 " You must be mistaken," 1 said, incredulously. " This is sc 
 aclikc him !" 
 
 " He neither spoke nor acted like himself," responded Herbert, 
 " He became stern at the last, as if angry at my importunity, 
 nd declared that while you remained under age he should never 
 yield his consent to our union, and, if you chose subsequently 
 to defy his authority, you should know and bear for yourself the 
 consequences of your disobedience." 
 
 " Herbert ! you are dreaming ! My father, my kind, gentle, 
 indulgent father could not say such cruel, harsh things to you, 
 whom he likes and respects he has said that he did both and 
 of me, the child who loves him so dearly his only daughter 1" 
 and I wept aloud. 
 
 Herbert was silent, only holding me closer. 
 
 " Let me go to him, please !" I prayed. " He cannot be 
 unkind to me. There is some misapprehension some false im- 
 pression that I can clear away. Let me go !" 
 
 " No 1" restraining my struggles to rise. " I have his final 
 answer, and he has my promise that all solicitation shall be sus- 
 pended until you have attained your majority. You could pro- 
 duce no arguments that I have not used. I expressed my candid 
 belief that your happiness depended upon the success of my 
 application ; represented that ours was not the love of a day, a 
 hasty, thoughtless whim ; I even dared, in my desperation, to 
 allude to Frederic's friendship for me and his avowed approba 
 Vioii of our engagement ; and going further, I asked if he him 
 elf had not suspected the object of my visit, and why he had 
 not sooner discouraged attentions which had betrayed my seoti 
 ments to every one who had seen us together."
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 155 
 
 " Aud what answer did he make ?" 
 
 " I had rather not repeat it," his brow reddening. 
 
 " I will hear it !" I said, resolutely. 
 
 " He reminded me that he was not responsible to me for hi* 
 actions ; a remark he modified when I was about leaving him 
 Then he offered me his hand. ' Mr. Wynne,' he said, appa- 
 rently moved by thoughts of my situation, ' this unfortunate 
 affair has cost me as much pain as it has you. That there exist* 
 an impassable obstacle to the fulfillment of your request implies 
 no want of moral or social worth in yourself. I esteem your 
 character, and shall always remain your sincere well-wisher. I 
 should grieve were your intimacy with my son broken up. As 
 my daughter's friend you will never be unwelcome at Moss-side. 
 Once more, however, lest you should misconstrue my frank ex- 
 pressions of good-will, I must repeat that the alliance you desire 
 is impossible.' " 
 
 " What can be the meaning of this mystery ?" said I. " Did 
 he drop no hint that could serve as a clue ?" 
 
 " None ; or if there were any, I am unfit to trace one of 
 them do not remember it." 
 
 He hid his face in his hands, and I sat watching him as be- 
 fore. 
 
 "Grace!" he said. "You are stunned, but with surprise. 
 You do not understand do not begin to realize that we cannot 
 remain as we now are that we must part !" 
 
 With a bitter cry, I flung myself upon his breast, and suppli- 
 3ated him not to forsake me. What else I said in my frenzy of 
 grief I was not conscious of then, but I raved wildly. I had 
 wept until now in ignorant sympathy with his wounded feelings 
 without the power, in my bewilderment, to comprehend the 
 -vc-ight of the blow ; still less to look forward to the unavoidable 
 issue. Nor could I listen yet, so violent was the storm of pas 
 sion. I caught, in the intervals of its bursts, loving word?, be
 
 156 MOBS-SIDE. 
 
 seeching me to be comforted ; felt kisses upon mj nauds and wet 
 cheeks, knew that more than one drop bedewed them from other 
 eyes than mine ; yet it was not until I lay upon his arm, sobbing 
 with exhaustion, that he could prevail upoc me to hear what it 
 was necessary should be said then. He lushed me first as a 
 mother would her infant ; wiping away the tears, and murmuring 
 terms of endearment, and forcing smiles that must have made 
 his heart bleed afresh. 
 
 " You will not leave me, then ?" I begged like the child I 
 w&s 
 
 ' My darling ! you are too weak to talk of that now. Re- 
 member onlv that I love you that nothing can change that 
 love." 
 
 I remembered far more ; my brain would work, rebellious 
 even to him in its torture. The heart, lately dissolving in sor- 
 row, was chilled into stone as the truth was unfolded. This, my 
 earliest-born, my only love, must be sacrificed by the iron hand 
 of duty. Soon I sat upright, my fingers firmly interlocked, my 
 sight bent upon vacancy thinking, thinking I condemned to 
 decide and pronounce the death-warrant of the victim. Five 
 minutes, or an hour may have elapsed before the trance waa 
 over. To me, it was years and years that changed the gii 
 into the woman. 
 
 The sentence of fate was uttered in the composure of despair 
 
 " I must submit to my father's will 1" 
 
 " And I to yours 1" was the low reply. 
 
 Then I arose to go, I knew not whither, but it was meet that 
 the interview should end then and there I had reached the 
 loor when he recalled me. 
 
 " Grace 1" 
 
 I turned. He was standing where I had left him, his handi 
 outstretched. 
 
 " Have you no farewell for me ?" he entreated
 
 M O R 8 - 8 1 D E . IftT 
 
 Not the burning kiss upon my forehead *.ir the suppressed 
 agony in the " Heaven bless you forever, my precious lost dar- 
 ling !" stirred the congealed current. 
 
 I said " Farewell " in a measured voice that did not sound like 
 mine, again passed the doorway, lost the last ray of his pre- 
 sen 26. and my soul gave one fearful shudder but one as tbi 
 Arctic blackness received it.
 
 M088-SID* 
 
 CHAPTER ^ 
 
 and its guests had departed ; and with them the 
 M.IO show of summer skies ; the deceitful breath of summer 
 zephyrs. Lights twinkled uo more from every window as night 
 Iraped the white walls of Moss-side ; quick-moving forms 
 glanced no more over stairway and hall ; rambles by hill and 
 field weie unthought-of, and in the garden-walks, the snow lay 
 an trampled, unbroken, except by the blasts that ploughed and 
 packed it mto drifts. From morning until noon, from noon until 
 dark of the stormy Sabbath, I sat alone in my chamber, watch- 
 ing the tempest. Its fury had forbidden much sleep during the 
 uight, for dry leaves and twigs rattled against the casements like 
 bail, and ever and anon, stout boughs snapped in the driving 
 gale and went hurtling through the air, while the building 
 itself rocked and creaked at the rude blows dealt upon its sea- 
 soned timbers. With daylight, its wrath began to subside into 
 sullenness ; to the finely powdered snow, wheeling and scudding 
 at the caprice of the wind, finding its way into every crevice, 
 even to the inside of our dwelling, succeeded large, slow-falling 
 flakes, descending ashes of desolation upon the shrouded earth. 
 The air was still, save when a " whuddering " breath swept by, 
 and moaned away its life among the hills. No moving thing 
 was abroad ; up to the doors of the kitchen and cabins, the sur 
 face of the yard was smooth as unwritten paper. The ear ached 
 with the sepulchral silence that reigned throughout the house : 
 riience that was shocked, not awakened, by the challenge growled
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 159 
 
 by the grim warder in the hall to the hours, as they passed in 
 their funereal march. 
 
 The scene was fraught with mournful suggestions. My mood 
 would have suggested none other ; nor could imagination 
 depict aught else so gloomy as the real Present, arrayed in con- 
 trast to a Past but one week old ; Nature's most radiant sniilc 
 and fiercest frown ; the light-hearted child, affluent in love, and 
 the sorrow-bowed woman, who, in her desolation, was without 
 comforter. 
 
 Frederic had exceeded his furlough by a day, to condole with 
 me, and try the efficacy of expostulation with our father ; but 
 was discouraged in both attempts ; I meeting his affectionate 
 consolations and hopes for coming days with apathy, resembling 
 indifference, and my father, by an unwonted exercise of authority, 
 silencing question and remonstrance by the declaration that 
 he had discharged his duty, and looked for submission from his 
 children. Frederic said that he was nevertheless greatly moved 
 while issuing the mandate ; acting as one upon the rack of 
 necessity, and charging him with a message to me the sole 
 communication, direct or indirect, that had passed between us 
 on the subject. 
 
 "Say to your sister, that for nineteen years I have never 
 deceived her confidence ; never thwarted a wish whose gratifi- 
 cation could conduce to her happiness. Let her ask herself if it 
 is probable or possible that I could condemn her to what she is 
 aow undergoing without a cause sufficient to warrant me in the 
 adoption of extreme measures. Her sufferings may equal they 
 cannot surpass mine. If I believed that it would mitigate 
 hers, 1 would, although I have no right to do so, acquaint her 
 with the nature of the objection which I consider which I 
 know cannot be set aside. She has been a loving child hereto- 
 fore. If I forfeit her affection, I can go down to itiy grave in 
 sorrow I cannot alter my resolution."
 
 100 M O 8 8 - 8 i D E . 
 
 J had no response for Frederic's indignant amazement ; did 
 not second his imprudent motions for overt rebellion. 
 
 " It can do no good," was my unfailing reply. 
 
 But did this demeanor afford contradiction of Herbert's asser- 
 tion that I would not bend wisely before the storm? No 
 maniac, dashing his manacled hands in the face of the keeper 
 Who would chastise him, ever resisted more determinedly than 
 did I. I had nothing to win by complaisance, nothing to lose in 
 following the dictates of the smarting heart, whose first cry, 
 after the paralysis of the blow went off, was of foul, undeserved 
 wrong, of injury unprovoked and irreparable. I scorned to 
 weep when others were by \ but neither would I wear a lying 
 smile. A parade of woe was only less obnoxious than a hol- 
 low mockery of mirth. When household laws required me to 
 join my father and aunt, I occupied my place at the table 
 and fireside, and performed the light duties that fell to my lot 
 with mechanical fidelity. I had no means of ascertaining whe- 
 ther my aunt had been definitely informed as to recent events, 
 if I had been curious to ascertain this. If I thought about 
 it at all, it was to take for granted that she was in my father's 
 confidence. I fancied that I detected compassion in her treat- 
 ment of me, and she relaxed her taciturnity in some degree 
 when my father was present, it seemed, to cover over the void 
 made by mine. 
 
 His kindness sustained no abatement from my cold reserve. 
 He addressed me with the affection of former days, and 
 more secretly, but as constantly, studied my convenience and 
 wishes. Pensive he was to melancholy, but not morose or petu- 
 lant. Attributing this, as I did, to our estrangement, which wa&, 
 I argued, his work, my heart hardened at the recollection. I 
 totally discredited the theory adopted by Herbert and Frederic 
 of an inscrutable mystery that rendered him irresponsible for hii 
 decision. T believed that our hopes had been sacrificed, i f nol
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 161 
 
 to arbitrary caprice, to some prejudice, unjust as deeply rooted. 
 Louise's siieer recurred to me with such subtle force as the 
 Tempter understood how to impart. " Although your happiness 
 now seems to be his chief aim in life, when an issue of thia 
 nature is raised, he will not scruple to overthrow your air-castles ; 
 to teach you that this is a world of realities, unsuited to the 
 growth of Romance " 
 
 " Sho was better versed in human nature in man's nature 
 than was I silly dupe I" I said aloud on this lonely afternoon. 
 " The Love that elevated me into a region of divine and peace- 
 ful bliss, was Romance to him. When its very memory is lost, 
 and I can creep in the dust as resignedly as the other worms J 
 once despised, I shall enjoy the more solid satisfaction of feeding 
 upon realities. I had rather that the snow were weaving inj 
 winding sheet I" 
 
 The ashes, grey against the clouds, whiter nearer the ground 
 fell unceasingly, and more mournfully as the pale daylight sick 
 ened to its death. 
 
 " What have I to live for ?" I asked myself. " Were Time to 
 blunt thw sorrow, can any art restore the bloom to life ? And 
 this that rives my soul, which has covered the earth with sack- 
 cloth, is what one hears carelessly styled ' a disappointment P an 
 affliction transcended by the failure of the least important 
 scheme of business ; not to be mentioned in the same breath 
 witt) the decease of an agreeable acquaintance ; nor in the same 
 day with a bankruptcy ! I am weak-minded, for it crushes me ; 
 miserably destitute, for I have been deprived of my all. I can- 
 not stupefy my heart, or hush its wailings. Yet such grief is 
 never fatal ; is so slight in its direst extremity that one must 
 gmother it in her chamber forget it when abroad. And why ? 
 If he had been in outward form, by man's appointment, mj 
 husband, and parted from me for months, even for weeks, I might 
 seclude myself and weep over his absence, with more than the
 
 162 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 indulgence,- -with the sympathy of my friends. But, agaii * 
 would know what remains for me when the wound is staunched, 
 if I live until then ? When I am twenty-five thirty forty 
 Low will Life appear? Upon what is my heart to subsist 
 through those tedious years ? What will supply its springs with 
 refreshment ? Will it stagnate into a noxious pool, offensive to 
 all about me, or dry up ?" 
 
 A brief gust whirled the snow-flakes, howled in the chimney, 
 and screamed around the gables. The storm within arose with 
 it. 
 
 " There are pious people doubtless, who would consider this a 
 %pital opportunity to sermonize upon the vanity of earthly 
 hopes, the danger of creature-love, the wisdom and mercy of au 
 unintelligible Providence. In my blind folly, I would once have 
 esteemed these appropriate teachings, judiciously adapted to 
 quell the murmurings of a bruised spirit. I give them to the 
 winds now. Rejecting all human ministration?, I stand boldly 
 before Him, who, they would persuade me, has dealt the blow, 
 and inquire its cause and purpose. Am I stricken because I 
 opened my hand to receive His mercies, the gifts I had coveted, 
 yet so sinlessly that I did not repine while they were withheld ? 
 Did I. in truth, forget the Giver in the very earliest transports 
 of my joy? The most fervent prayer that has ever winged 
 from my soul was the thanksgiving that consecrated the moment 
 of our plighting. Though unclothed in suitable words, the off- 
 spring though it was of a spirit often undevout, it was sincere 
 end pure as mortal thoughts can be. They may prate to me of 
 tli s sinfulness of undue affection for vessels of clay. I loathe the 
 hypocritical cant ! I recognize as distinct a law of my being 
 compelling me to love the man, as that which impels to adora- 
 tion of the Creator. If this be regarded as my shame, I glory 
 In the reproach ! if it is branded as idolatry, I proudly profesi 
 that I am an idolater I"
 
 M O 8 S - 8 I D E . 163 
 
 A sLriek not loud but which thrilled me through and 
 through, stirred the solemn darkness gathering iu passage and 
 hall. To me it was deadened by distance and closed doors 
 but I followed in the direction from which I thought it had 
 come, to my father's room. No attention was paid to my knock 
 nd I lifted the latch unbidden. My father knelt in the middle 
 of the chamber, chafing the hands and bathing the brow of m 
 aunt, whose corpse-like appearance possessed me with an awfui 
 fear. Hurrying forward, I assisted in the application of the 
 remedies My father was unmanned the instant my entrance 
 relieved him from these necessary duties. 
 
 " I have killed her I" he whispered to me. " I might h<iv 
 known that she could not bear it, but she insisted upon tn<* 
 explanation. I am a curse to everything I love 1" 
 
 " Hush ! hush !" I said, almost as much agitated. " She 
 breathes again ! Had you not better stand back out of her 
 sight ?" 
 
 Her reviving was slow and painful, and when she opened her 
 eyes they were dully vacant. 
 
 " Aunt 1" I called, terrified. " Do you know me ?" 
 
 No answer, but the same meaningless stare. 
 
 Her brother addressed her with no more effect. Two of the 
 servants were called in to help carry her to her apartment. She 
 was borne in their grasp, a dead weight ; one arm hanging 
 powerless from the shoulder. While disrobing her, this help- 
 lessness struck me, and I hastened in quest of my father, to 
 impart my suspicion of a paralytic stroke. Medical aid could 
 Dot be obtained on such a night. John, the young class-leader 
 of whose gifts in prayer I have spoken, offered his services on 
 this errand of mercy. 
 
 " I dare not let you go, my good fellow," said his master 
 " Neither you nor the horse could live to reach Dr. llamner's." 
 
 44 You aiiit sure of dat, Marster. No 'fence, I hope, sir ; bat
 
 164 MOSS-blDE. 
 
 'taiut for you nor me to say whether the Lord wouldn't spar 
 me, and, for the matter of dat, de horse too, if we was bound 
 'pon His work. Miss Agnes is wuth heap more dan me, and 
 'nears like twarn't much better dan murder to let her lie dere, 
 11 night, a-dyin' maybe, and I warm and well in my bed." 
 
 His master changed color ; and, as if shaken in his resolution, 
 walked to the door to take another observation of the weather 
 It would have been pitchy dark, had not the reflection from the 
 enow shed a ghastly glare over objects near it ; and the hall 
 was instantly filled with the driving flakes. The porch-steps 
 were completely buried, and a bank, several feet in depth, lay 
 against the house. 
 
 " God help us," said my father, shutting out the storm. " W 
 can get no assistance from man while this lasts 1" 
 
 The sturdy negro turned away disappointed. 
 
 " John," said his master, gratefully ; " you are a faithful boy, 
 too faithful to be risked in such a chance as this ride would be. 
 In the morning, if possible, you shall make an early start for the 
 doctor's. Until then, keep yourself comfortable. I hope Misa 
 Agnes is not so ill as we think. At any rate, we can do nothing 
 except nurse her as well as we know how " 
 
 " And pray, sir," subjoined John, with respectful emphasis. 
 " The Lord works Himself, when He's tied our hands. Least- 
 ways, Marster, it's our business to call 'pon Him in times of 
 trouble, and if dese aint sech, I never see none." 
 
 The homely phrase was often in my mind during the vigil that 
 appeared endless. My father walked the adjoining room hour 
 after hour, his muffled footfalls my only relief in the loneliness o t 
 the night. Once, the rising wind was blent with music, an unearth- 
 ly, dirge-like melody, but it breathed of cheer to my spirit ; for, 
 with a glimmering of John's simple faith, I remembered that 
 " prayer moves the arm that moves th world," and I blessed the 
 pious soils that had collected, undaunted by cold and tempest, tc
 
 MOSS SIDE. 165 
 
 mpplicate for the unconscious being whose life might then be 
 near its extinction. I would have hailed with pleasure any 
 token of pain. Groans, convulsive struggles, would have beec 
 more endurable than this stupor. She breathed heavily, het 
 eyes sometimes open, but blank as ever in expression. There 
 was nothing to do except to keep her warmly covered and 
 fwathe in hot flannels the limbs on her right side, which natura. 
 beat had deserted. 
 
 Most of the tune, I sat by the fire, where I had a fair view of 
 her, and while Milly, her colored attendant, dozed upou the rug, 
 I quailed before the reflections that rolled in upon me. The 
 evening of the last Sabbath, we four young people had watched 
 a red sunset from the arbor in the garden ; and, led by our own 
 Dare-free hearts, to thoughts of the other extreme, some one 
 related the fable of the Egyptian courtier, whose compliments to 
 the prosperous fortunes and undisturbed happiness of his host, 
 were interrupted by the latter, who conducted him to a veiled 
 niche, and drew a$ide the drapery which concealed a skeleton 
 
 At the moral " a skeleton in every heart and home," Fred- 
 eric cavilled. 
 
 " It is certainly not of universal application," he said. " I 
 detest this doleful philosophy which magnifies every mote in the 
 sunshine into a cloud. The clear days are the rule showers 
 and storms the exceptions. Where is the skeleton in any of our 
 hearts ? Has one lurked in a secret closet of dear old Moss-side, 
 lo ! these many years, and I, never, by accident, rattled its dry 
 bones ?" 
 
 " It has I" I said to myself, now. " Through our merry child 
 hood, our happy youth, we have frolicked in its shadow, and no 
 suspected its existence. This is its unveiling 1" and I shook 
 with fright as real as though its fleshless jaws were gaping before 
 my eyes. " Hide it away as we may, it can never be forgotten. 
 If that insensible woman could speik, and would part, for one
 
 16ft M O 8 S -8 I D E 
 
 moment, with the reserve that has so fenced her in for years, 1 
 feel that she could show a mysterious connection betw ecu hef 
 sorrow and mine. What has revealed this to me, I cannot say, 
 but I am not more certain of her illness and of my grief. Rea- 
 son disputes this ; puts it down with a flat contradiction. ' As 
 well,' she says, impatiently, ' arraign the hoary-haired man who 
 has slept with his fathers a score of winters as the murderer of 
 the infant, whose grave is not yet sodded.' I have not learned 
 to reason yet, and if I had, I should appeal to higher authority 
 in the intuition that has whispered this belief to me. If I had 
 not loved, and mourned a thwarted love, she would still be erect 
 in her stately bearing, invulnerable to fear and anguish. How 
 those proud features bid defiance to disease ; seem to hold Death 
 himself at bay ! At my age, as she told me, she knew nothing 
 of patience. At her's, I shall be like her. The idea does not 
 terrify me as it did a fortnight since. I would have cried then 
 1 Let me die first 1' Now, the thought of hardening and freezing 
 into the monumental stone of Love and Hope the youth of the 
 soul is received as the decree of Fate, with which I want 
 ability and will to contend." 
 
 The morning light showed me, in the mirror, a visage so wan, 
 yet so settled in all its lines, that I stopped to examine it ; to 
 trace in it the resemblance to the statue upon the bed My 
 manner, as I moved about the house, directing the servants, pro- 
 duced a visible change in their free, affectionate deportment to- 
 wards me, the youngest pet of the whole family white and 
 Liack. 
 
 " Poor Miss Grace is stunned-like," I overheard the cook re- 
 mark to Milly. " She looks like her own ghost 1" 
 
 It was too cold to snow, and there were signs of breaking 
 among the clouds whose offensive alliance had been so disastrous 
 to us. John, at my father's command waited to see these indi- 
 cations terminate in a flying ront, iud as the sun darted a
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 167 
 
 glance of greeting at the earth, he was in the saddle. Dr. Ham- 
 iier lived but four miles from us : yet, urged as he and the messen- 
 ger were by the emergency, it was past noon when they reached 
 Moss-side. My aunt had moved and spoken in the interim, but 
 the palsied side was still pulseless clay, and her tongue vainly 
 fittanipted to enunciate an intelligible word. The doctor re- 
 named with us overnight, and while he confirmed our opinion 
 hat it was a case of partial paralysis, delivered us from appre- 
 hension of her imminent danger. The remarkable constitution 
 of the patient might, he affirmed, effect almost a miracl^ in favor 
 of a recovery, which, if not entire, would yet restore, in some 
 measure, the use of her limbs. 
 
 " This must, however, be the work of time and care," he said 
 " She may be the cripple you see her now for weeks perhaps 
 for months." 
 
 This was the beginning of my assumption of the responsibili- 
 ties of nurse and housekeeper ; duties that, of themselves, would 
 have tamed youthful levity, and clothed the countenance with 
 premature gravity. 
 
 Mr. Peyton broke through the drifts between his house and 
 oars so soon as the report of our affliction spread to th^ Linden 
 plantation ; and the next day, Miss Judy rode over, unattended 
 upon a stout cart-horse ; a blanket pinned about her kr<;es and 
 feet, and in other respects so bundled up that the twinkle of her 
 black eyes was all that identified her as our strong-minded 
 neighbor. 
 
 My aunt's face brightened at sight of her. With the courtesy 
 which had become her second nature, "she glanced significantly 
 t her disabled right hand, as she feebly extended the left. 
 
 " No apology, Miss Agnes !" replied Miss Judy, giving it a 
 iearty squeeze. " I am too glad to have a chance to shake 
 hands with you at last to mind wnich one I get. James tried his 
 utmost to present my coming. He would have it that yfwc
 
 168 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 would think me a meddlesome intruder ; but, said I, ' Here ' 
 have lived close by Mr. Leigh's for twenty years, and been en 
 the best of terms with him and his all the time ; and now that 
 they are in trouble, awl about Miss Agnes, as fine a woman as 
 ftvcr breathed ' begging your pardon for saying so here, madam 
 ' I'd ne^ei respect myself, and never look them in the face 
 gain, if I did not try to help them in some way. If I am un- 
 welcome/ says I to James, ' I'll find it out the minute I set foot 
 in the house, and I can but come back as I went.' " 
 
 My aunt's lips moved. 
 
 " She says that she is much obliged to you for your kindness, 
 and happy to see you," my father interpreted. " For my part. 
 Miss Judy, I do not know how to thank you " 
 
 She cut him short. " Don't bother yourself to do it, then. 
 AH I ask is something to do while I am here. James wanted to 
 scare me, who am older by seventeen years than he is, with some 
 bug-a-boo story about catching cold, or getting stuck fast in the 
 mow. I laughed at him, and had Billy, the strongest animal on 
 the place, saddled, and as L expected, I got over safe and sound." 
 
 Her loud voice was curiously subdued, and she was evidently 
 rattling in this style to sustain our spirits with hers. Dis- 
 similar as she and my aunt were, there was much mutual esteem, 
 and, as Miss Judy had said, uninterrupted kind feeling between 
 them. As the worthy spinster tiptoed her thick-soled boots to 
 the least possible squeak ; re-making the bed for the night, in 
 which, pushing aside Milly, she deposited the patient when it was 
 ready, her plain physiognomy was goodly to behold. It enli 
 veued her charge, as did her somewhat boisterous cheerfulnes 
 our usually silent evening meal. She remained in the dining 
 room when it was over, to prepare some beef-tea, and benevo 
 iently exerted herself to amuse me My conscience smites me 
 now for the indifferent success that rewarded her ; but she did 
 not choose tc remark my ungrateful listlessness
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 16i 
 
 " Now, Miss Agnes," she said, re-claimmg her station as chief 
 nurse, " I am going to send Grace to bed, willy-nilly." 
 
 " Thank you I" was imperfectly articulated, but the intonation 
 r/as one of gratitude. 
 
 " Exactly 1" rejoined Miss Judy. " We understand you and 
 J that young people need more sleep than those of my age. 
 Don't be fretted with me, Grace, honey ! Your aunt can't get 
 on so well with me perhaps, but we can manage somehow for 
 this one night. You are a first-rate nurse and the best girl I 
 know. There aint many who could or would have scuffled with 
 sickness and housework as you have done. It has worsted you a 
 little, and a night's rest will set you up again. Tell your aunt 
 1 good night,' for you must pack off right away. And Grace 1 
 don't worry about getting up early in the morning. If the ser- 
 vants want the keys, I'll give them to them." 
 
 As I went out, I heard the ready reply that met the invalid's 
 efforts to speak, before the labored sentence was hah 01 through 
 
 " Exactly, ma'am ! a treasure she is, worth the picking up, aa 
 I tell all the young men." 
 
 I smiled bitterly, and wearily dragged myself up to my room. 
 
 Martha, whose anxiety to contribute to my welfare increased 
 tfith my gloom, had bestowed extra care upon the chamber, in 
 the prospect of my occupying it for an entire night, a luxury in 
 which I had not indulged myself since the day of my aunt's 
 stroke. Lamp and fire were nicely trimmed, suffusing the walls 
 with a pink tint ; the coverlet of the bed, folded down neatly, 
 disclosed clean, lavender-scented sheets, and the plump pillows 
 1 heir ruffled cases yet glossy from the smoothing iron, wooed m 
 to rest. A low lounge was wheeled in front of the hearth, and 
 1 threw myself along it, tired out in body, but too wakeful in 
 mind to think of adopting the regimen Miss Judy had strictly 
 enjoined. The pencilled head above the mantel was well brought 
 out by the light ; and while I gazed into its unfathomable eyes, 
 
 8
 
 170 MOBS-BIDE. 
 
 brimming with grief, I remembered the pity that used to move 
 me at its study ; the wondering conjectures as to the nature of 
 the woe that could so steep her being. In my morbid depres- 
 sion now, I found fault with the artist that she had not painted 
 passion in its might ; so serene were the uplifted regards in com- 
 parison with the rayless darkness in which I was walking. " Is 
 any sorrow like unto my sorrow ?" was the language of my 
 heart. Then I smiled again in withering scorn at Miss Judy's 
 straight-forward essays at match-making. 
 
 " She is happy," I said, " because she has a soul that finds 
 Buprein econtent all the food it craves in her crops of grain 
 and vegetables. Did she ever thirst for affection, ever gain it, and 
 find it more precious than her life-blood, only to see it poured 
 out to waste as forbidden poison, while she was maddening with 
 torture ? Pshaw f she would laugh, until the rafters rang at 
 the question. Women are not all constituted alike ! Oh 1 if 
 my nature were mercurial or sluggish 1" 
 
 The hall-clock trembled in every joint under the protracted 
 agony of twelve strokes. I had not undressed, only moved 
 twice to replenish the fire; still lay upon the lounge, so immersed 
 in my musings that I did not hear the door open. I started very 
 slightly at the apparition which confronted me, for I was far 
 from suspecting its proximity. It was attired in a blue calico 
 drersing-gown, whose perpendicular folds were uninterrupted by 
 any cincture at the waist, and its tight sleeves declined familiar 
 acquaintance with the bony wrists. A voluminous night-cap, 
 three parts frill, one, plain linen, contained the grey hair and pro- 
 jected over the astonished brows that went up with the handd 
 t my reckless imprudence. 
 
 " Is Aunt Agues worse ?" I asked. " Am wanted V 
 
 " No. I otole up to make sure that you were comfortable 
 and were deeping soundly, for I could not get your altered looki 
 out of my head ; and when Miss Agnes dropped cff into a nap,
 
 M O 8 8- 8 I D E. 171 
 
 I ways to myseif, ' maybe I'll be less uneasy if I look in upon the 
 child ;' and here you are, wide-awake, and looking worse thai} 
 ver 1" 
 
 The good soul swallowed a sob. 
 
 I got up in very shame, and began to undress, when she set 
 ae down again and unhooked and untied with great energ) 
 never pausing to speak until my wrapper replaced the day-drcsa, 
 and she pronounced me ready for bed. 
 
 " Where I mean to see you, before I budge a step I" she said, 
 decidedly. 
 
 I tried to smile as she tucked the blankets around me. " Yon 
 are very kind, Miss Judy. I am sorry I have annoyed you." 
 
 " No annoyance, honey I You couldn't vex me. I set aa 
 much store by you, Grace, as if you were my child, that is I 
 think I do. I've trotted you on my knee and rocked you to sleep 
 on my bosom a hundred times, when you were a puny, sickly 
 baby, and if I had not come to love you then, you would have 
 showed me how since. I have had trials myself, lost father and 
 mother and brothers, had a deal to do and suffer in this world, 
 but the thought of all my ups and downs don't trouble me near 
 so much as the way you are breaking under your burdens." 
 
 She was patting my hand with her hard palm ; a motion, that 
 was somehow both affectionate and deprecatory. 
 
 " Don't think that I mean to scold you, Grace ; but you must 
 not look too much on the dark side. The Lord has some mean- 
 ing in our afflictions : in one way or another, every one of them 
 Is for our benefit. Many's the time I would have given right up, 
 tf it hadn't been that I was certain of that. It is natural that 
 vou should feel lonesome and anxious, but, honey, try to shake 
 t off, and remember how many blessings are spared to you. 
 Worrying, even if you don't speak it out, does no manner of 
 good to anybody and hurts you. Your aunt notices it, I see 
 Her eyes follow you around the room, just as your mother'*
 
 i72 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 irould, if she had lived to see you in this trial. Too many pec 
 itle care for you for you to be down-hearted n 
 
 I thanked her as well as I could for the swelling in my throat 
 nd she was gone. I cried myself to sleep, an abundant flow of 
 tears that tended to restore the health of body and mind. This 
 ample lecture, diffuse and wandering as it was, touched me more 
 than the tenderest sympathy of either May or Frederic. But 
 he demon of despairing misanthropy awaited my awakening in 
 the morning, and my pillow was not more free from traces of 
 rhe salt deluge that had flowed over it the night before, than 
 jras my heart from the melting influence of our neighbor*! 
 friendly counsel.
 
 M S 8 - 6 I D E . 173 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ANOTHER winter, and yet another, had come and gone, and 
 Spring was fast yielding to the fervid caresses of Sun aier. 
 
 One warm afternoon I established myself and my work-basket 
 in the summer-house at the foot of the garden, to have, as he 
 expressed it, "a comfortable confab" with my b/other, Di 
 Frederic Leigh, by this time a practitioner in a thrh ing town in 
 another State. He had been guided in his choice of a settle- 
 ment by the circumstance that this place was the residence of our 
 elder brother, besides ourselves, the only surviving child of our 
 parents. Edmund, Frederic's senior by eight years, had removed 
 
 to C , upon arriving at his majority ; had been successful in 
 
 business, and married a lovely girl, who, in the two visits .she 
 had paid us, had won our unqualified approbation of his selection. 
 To this spot another flower was shortly to be transplanted, for 
 this flying peep at Moss-side was Fred's bachelor farewell. 
 
 " And you will not go with me, Grace ?" he said, regretfully. 
 
 " I cannot 1" I replied. " My duties here bind me down. 
 There is no option in the matter." 
 
 " I do not see this," he persisted. " Aunt Agnes requires 
 very little attention, and grows less infirm every day. She ia 
 competent to exercise a general supervision of domestic arrange- 
 ments, and your trained servants may be safely entrusted with 
 the rest." 
 
 " I should have no pleasure in my absence," said I. " There 
 are many things that ought not to be committed to others. 
 Aunt would miss me constantly. I cannot go, Frederic." 
 
 " May will be grieved inconsolable !" he returned with his
 
 174 MOSS SIDE 
 
 old, boyish paut. " I doubt whether she will conside, the 
 ceremony valid if you are not bridesmaid." 
 
 " I have written to her that it is not in my power to be 
 present, and believe that she will be satisfied with my reasons. 
 I wish you could bring your bride to see us on your return 
 ourney." 
 
 " Not this summer, sis. She has been somewhat delicate 
 fately, and our proposed trip to the sea-shore is the best meana 
 rf strengthening her. We are to live with Edmund and his 
 wife for the first year, you know ?" 
 
 " Yes, I heard you say so. It is a good arrangement." 
 
 " And then," he went on, animatedly, " we will have our own 
 -nug dove-nest of a cottage, where a certain beloved sister of 
 mine will always find a room prepared especially for her. 
 <5race, how can I ever be thankful enough for the mercies that 
 overrun my cup ? I have the best sister, and am soon to be blest 
 with tne sweetest wife in the universe ; am prosperous in my 
 profession, robust in health ; what more can any reasonable, or 
 nnreasonable man desire ?" 
 
 " You have been signally favored," was my answer. 
 
 " Sister," he resumed, in a more quiet tone, " there are some 
 subjects on which I wish to speak with you " and he hesitated. 
 
 I waited to hear more, but he appeared reluctant or doubtful 
 how to proceed. 
 
 " There is one," he said, at length, " which you once forbade 
 me to mention. Will you remove that prohibition for five 
 minutes ?" 
 
 I felt the color slowly leaving my cheeks, but I answered 
 calmly, " If you ask it, certainly !" 
 
 " You were twenty-one in March," he continued. " Did yon 
 not receive a letter from Herbert Wynne ?" 
 
 " I did" 
 
 " Did you answer it, aad how ?"
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 175 
 
 " 1 gave it to my lather, who replied to it." 
 
 " Grace ! Forgive me, sister ; but was that kind, was it just 
 b one whose constancy has entitled him to your most gentle 
 and respectful treatment ?" 
 
 "He had both from father, whose letter I read and approved 
 A milder refusal would not have been worthy of the name." 
 
 "What reason did he state for continuing to deny his coo 
 ent?" 
 
 " He reiterated his former reply that an insuperable objection 
 existed, whose character he was not at liberty to divulge." 
 
 '* What can that be?" He arose and walked to and fro upon 
 the grass-plot. " Have you ever pushed him with inquiriea 
 about it ?" 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " Have you no suspicions ?" 
 
 " I used to have, but I dismissed ^hem, long ago, as worse 
 than useless." 
 
 " How composedly /ou speak ! as if yon had no care or feel- 
 ing in the affair." 
 
 " I am composed," I said. " I do *"* pretend indifference." 
 
 He came and sat down at my side. 
 
 "Would you knoT, dearest Grace, what is the one shade 
 upon my happiness ? The thought that you are wearing away 
 under a hidden sorrow 1 You would tell ins that you are not 
 ill in body, but grief does not always sap the foundations of 
 physical health. You are not the Grace of two yeara ago." 
 
 " I am older, and have more to employ my mlr-d and hands, " 
 ( interrupted, dreading further examination. 
 
 " You evade my question 1 vriil not confide in the brother, 
 from whom, in times past, you could not conceal a thonght ! 
 Still I must speak while you permit it. Far be it from me t 
 incite you to disobedience to the will 01 the fathe*, who has, 
 xcept in this most inexplicable instance, been mptfeJ of
 
 176 M088 SIDE. 
 
 indulgent kindness This exception, while it has tried my faitfc 
 in, and affection for him, has shaken neither. It has only 
 proved him fallible, whereas we believed him faultless. A more 
 upright soul, a truer heart were never bestowed upon man. 
 Yet, Grace, he is unjust in exacting your blind submission to hi* 
 aw. In any other parent I would call this downright tyranny. 
 No pledge of silence, if we may imagine the possibility of his 
 being bound by such, should prevent him from allowing you a 
 clue to his couduct, that you might decide concerning it for 
 yourself. I am disposed to regard his impenetrable secresy as 
 an overstrained point of honor, for what cause imposed, or by 
 whom, I cannot divine ; or, else, as morbid delicacy, yet mor? 
 incomprehensible. What I would "aave you ask yourself is this - 
 ' How far is it lawful and right for me to yield to what may bo 
 a whim ; what is not, so far as I can ascertain, the result of just, 
 unbiassed judgment ? Is the child forever to remain a slave 
 to the parent's will, when her own mature discretion descries 
 neither reason nor expediency in his commands ? May there not 
 be duties to myself and to another that are paramount to his 
 claims T " 
 
 " These arguments are trite to me !" I said, wearily. " I 
 have reviewed them so often 1 My work and place are here, 
 where I was born where I shall, most probably, die." 
 
 My heart added, sighingly, " Would that the time were 
 near !" 
 
 "Am I, then, to understand that you do not look beyond 
 the limits of Moss-side ? that you are quite contented here ?" 
 
 I could not supply a direct answer to this, so I said, " la 
 there not a proverb ' With expectation, desire shall fail T " 
 
 II Enough I" he rejoined, with feeling ; and there was a pro- 
 tracted pause. I sewed, and he pulled a sprig of honeysuckle 
 to pieces. 
 
 Brushing the fragments from his palm, he recommenced
 
 MOSS-SIDK 177 
 
 " You are a noble creature, Grace I I reverence j mr hercism 
 Do not interrupt me ! This is no preface to further efforts to 
 tempt you from the path of action your conscience has chalkec 
 out. I want to inquire into the motive that keeps you in it." 
 
 ' Duty !" I said laconically. 
 
 " Duty to whom ?" 
 
 "Can you ask? To those to whom alone I owe it my 
 fcther and aunt." 
 
 " So I supposed. Few natures are capable of self-denial and 
 joyless labor like yours. The bravest faints sometimes upon 
 the battle field. What bears you up ?" 
 
 ' Will and necessity." 
 
 His countenance fell. " That was not what I hoped to hear. 
 I have too recently begun to lean upon a higher Power myself 
 to instruct you ; but dear sister, there is a strength that revives 
 while it supports ; not only lifts the drooping head, but gladdena 
 the sick heart. My hopeful prayer is that you may seek this." 
 
 He said no more, for I did not encourage this topic, and there 
 ended all that was confidential in our interview. Little did I 
 dream of the inexpressible consolation, I would, in after times, 
 find wrapped up in that short sentence ! 
 
 He left us by sunrise the next morning, freighted with love 
 and good wishes. As was my custom, I stood at the gate until 
 he reached the bend in the road that was to rob us of his form, 
 and shook my handkerchief to the wave of his hat, thrice- 
 repeated; then, as though his heart-shout was " Now for 
 Love and May !" he dashed the rowels into his horse's sides, and 
 was out of sight. 
 
 I went into my aunt's room to aid her in her toilette, whic 
 being completed, she leaned upon my shoulder and tottered into 
 the breakfast-room, where the servants met with us for morning 
 worship. As she was prevented by her lameness, from kneeling 
 ft stand with a cushion upon it, was set before her easy- chair 
 8"
 
 J78 MOSS-SIDE 
 
 npoi wbicli she bowed during the prayer. The head of th 
 table had, of necessity, been relinquished to me, whose part it 
 was, likewise, to carve her food into morsels of the proper size 
 to be taken up with her fork. Her helplessness 13 no wise 
 detracted from the dignity of her demeanor, and her malady had 
 altered nothing in the expression of her regular features. If A 
 ruin, she was one that impressed the beholder with veneration, 
 not pity. Her chamber was my sitting-room, and thither I 
 retired when the overseeing and planning for the day were 
 through. Habited in her conventual robe of black, her cap 
 as severely plain in its fashion, her hands laid together upon 
 her lap, she sat for hours without change of posture, sometimes 
 without speaking. Her eyes were weakened by sickness, and I 
 read to her from one to two hours of every forenoon. Her books 
 were of a strictly religious cast, comprising theological treatises 
 that are not generally supposed to possess attractions for 
 women. She had her favorites, and they accorded with the aus- 
 tere stamp of her piety. 
 
 In my fresh-hearted girlhood, I would have yawned over these 
 works as tiresome homilies upon subjects as foreign to my taste 
 as enigmatical to my understanding ; now, their gloomy paint- 
 ings of the corrupt earth and the sinfulness of its human inha- 
 bitants, their exhortations to mortification of the flesh as 
 the primal move towards the purity of the soul, the pre-emi- 
 nence given to irksome duty over selfish pleasure, begot in me 
 a species of interest ; and without my being aware that I 
 was influenced in the slightest measure by tneir teachings 
 ihaped both thought and deed. I had no right conception of 
 the new heart they insisted upon as the indispensable preparation 
 for the new life I flattered myself that I was leading. Explain 
 ing the numerous allusions to it as technical terms for a reform 
 of purpose, an intention to live no longer for the world and the 
 vanities thereof, I accounted myself to be diligently working out
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 178 
 
 uiy salvation ; earning acceptance from the righteous Judge, 
 who had arrested me in my idol-worship, and who was to be 
 propitiated by the sacrifice, not merely of the first fruits of 
 labor and life, but of all carnal delights. Life was not desira 
 ! le ; I could meditate upon Death without terror ; and my 
 juging for rest must, I convinced myself, be the cravings of the 
 immortal principle for heavenly joys. I lid not call myself a 
 Christian ; and I was perhaps never less likely to become one, 
 although upon this latter proposition I had then a differwit 
 opinion. 
 
 Had I read fewer books ; had introspection been less of a study 
 with me ; had I looked more into the hearts and lives of others ; 
 sued for information from those whose experience was superior 
 to mine, the duration of my delusion would have been shortened. 
 Mr. Peyton's boundless charity of motive and act ; Annie Bell's 
 cheerful toil and filial piety ; even Miss Judy's homespun virtues 
 might have led me to suspect that " Religion undefiled" had no 
 inherent affinity with asceticism. If my intercourse with my 
 father had retained the affectionate confidence with which I 
 used to impart to him every sentiment, I would have required nc 
 other safeguard against the errors that beset me. But owing 
 to an obstinacy that might have enlightened me concerning 
 the weightier matters of the law, if I had not been too much 
 engaged in summing up, to the last mite, the tithes of anise and 
 cummin, my share in our tacit reconciliation was incomplete. 
 That this inflicted much and poignant suffering, I could not 
 doubt. Perhaps a candid examination of intentions and feel- 
 ings would have dragged to the light a reptile from which I 
 would have fled in horror a lurking serpent of revenge, feeding 
 opou the reflection that as I had received, it was now in my 
 power to give. No word of tenderness from me repaid his ; in 
 the even current of our common existence, no skill was necessary 
 to steer clear of the unsafe points and shoals. There were
 
 18C MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 additional furrows in his forehead and cheeks, and morv snow 
 fell nightly upon his head ; yet the genial smile and phasant 
 remark failed not to greet whoever expected them. His sifter's 
 devotion to him was perceptible in look and gesture, rather than 
 in any audible token of regard. 
 
 Our morning lessons over for studies they were, and ardu- 
 ously pondered my father joined us and talked, or read, in M 
 turn, something of his own selection, while my never-endinf 
 needlework went forward. Dinner was served at one o'clock, 
 and my aunt's afternoon siesta liberated me from confinement ; 
 freedom which I improved by rapid walks in unfrequented ways, 
 sometimes stretching two or three miles from home. This habit 
 I had acquired when the fever of blood and brain drove me 
 abroad, and there were still seasons when I sought in swift 
 motion and subsequent exhaustion the most effectual quietus of 
 which I had any knowledge. 
 
 One spot I sedulously avoided. I had seen it once since the 
 hour that had hallowed it to me forever. In the early spring of 
 the year before the last, I was threading the woods in its vicinity, 
 and emerged unexpectedly from the cover of the trees upon the 
 cleared hill-top, within a dozen steps of the storm-bleached log. 
 It was a bleak day ; clouds, blue-black and grey, rolling over 
 their sullen masses before the March wind ; the fields on both 
 sides of the brook were ploughed up, and the damp clods lay 
 rough and stiff as they had been heaved by the share. My 
 dream of fairy beauty was destroyed ; I cared not to look again 
 upon the wreck. 
 
 The above, then, is a programme of one day's occupations and 
 recreation at Moss-side, concluded by an early supper, evening 
 prayers, and retirement to our several apartments at ten o'clock 
 tn summer, nine in winter ; and this twenty-four hour? was the 
 pattern for its successors for months together. The news of 
 Frederic's marriagt was duly transmitted, discussed with soon
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 181 
 
 Low of interest, a record made in the Family Bible, and the 
 circle disappeared from the stream whose progress might have 
 seemed rest, so unvarying were the barren shores it washed. 
 
 I visited more frequently at Mrs. Bell's cottage than anywhere 
 elee ; yet sincere as was my regard for mother and daughter, 
 few of these calls were prompted by friendship alone. Thej 
 must have observed and felt wounded that necessary business 
 with one or the other was introduced during my stay, were it 
 brief or long ; but no signs of offended pride or feeling resented 
 this change from the familiar friendliness in which Annie and I 
 had been trained. Frederic had called his blushing May " wife" 
 for five weeks before I bethought myself, in the course of a ram 
 ble that way, that Annie would like to hear the particulars of 
 an event so interesting to her old playfellow. 
 
 The air was sultry, and I languidly crossed the little yard to 
 the porch where both ladies were sewing. Annie drew a rock- 
 ing-chair to the door, untied my bonnet and laid it aside, am] 
 Mrs. Bell furnished me with a mammoth fan of turkey-feathers. 
 I was not chided for my long absence, or interrogated as to its 
 cause. Mrs. Bell was motherly, Annie as cordial as if its period 
 had been measured by days, not weeks. The latter commenced 
 the conversation by inquiries about Frederic's movements, upon 
 which theme I forced myself to speak cheerfully. There was no 
 echo in my heart for such music as bridal chimes, and so palpa- 
 ble to me was the want of these vibrations, that I marvelled 
 every one did not perceive the loss. With Annie, the answering 
 note rang clear as a silver bell. I listened and gazed at her 
 with envious admiration. 
 
 " What would I not give for her freshness of soul, her igno 
 ance of the woes that make men selfish !" 
 
 Old Zack stopped at the threshold to salute me. 
 
 " You're a mighty stranger dese days, Miss Grace," he said, 
 Ifew scrupulous than his superiors. " Miss Annie and T beet
 
 182 MOSS-SIDE 
 
 wondering what Lad 'come of you. She gits right down 'boat it 
 sometimes." 
 
 "Miss Grace has very little time for visiting, Zack," replied 
 his mistress for me ; " and neither you nor Miss Annie have a 
 right to think hard of her for not leaving her sick innt." 
 
 " Cat's a fac', mistis, jest what I says to Miss Annie. Mis^ 
 ilrace, is you seen de fashionable bee-hive I been put up in Misa 
 Annie's flower-guarden ?" 
 
 I had not, and went with him and his young mistress to exam- 
 ine it. He added some skill in carpentry to his other accom- 
 plishments, and this really ingenious little edifice was constructed 
 after the style of " one he had seen at Mars' Robert Peyton's." 
 A clumsy but efficient apparatus for conducting water from 
 the well to the garden was " like one Mars' Robert had told him 
 about," and he had sent over one of his men to help lay the 
 hollow logs that served as pipes. The old man's sense of his own 
 importance, which he by no means underrated, did not blind him 
 to the exemplary character of his useful coadjutor. Where " Miss 
 Annie's" interests were concerned, the two seemed to have 
 labored together most harmoniously. The most valuable plants in 
 her flower-beds were raised from slips and seeds supplied by the 
 choice collection at Linden ; a flock of fan-tail pigeons, that 
 pecked food from her lips when she would suffer it, owed their 
 parentage to a pair presented by him, and the splendid New- 
 foundland, Sultan, her devoted serf and fearless protector, had 
 been sought for far and near before the donor was suited in the 
 pift he designed for his prote'gd. 
 
 " Mars' Robert 1" said Zack, throwing himself into an oraton 
 cul attitude, " he is one of de salt of de earth, Miss Grace. Neber 
 you mind 'bout han'some faces and slick tongues ! He aint 
 got neither ; he's as bashful-like and modest as a lady but, I tell 
 you, dere's de beauty in his heart, and he keep de hinges of (? 
 smooth wid oil I"
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 183 
 
 " It is aot hc'-e/' /o^v-ked Annie. " Shall we go in P 
 
 ' Uncle Zack h&? heen eulogizing Mr. Peyton," I said to Mra 
 Bell. " He is very much Hitached to him." 
 
 " He well may be," she i -.Joined, " since he, with the rest of 
 as, owes more to him thau to .my other person living ;" and shf 
 proceeded with a second eiit'cu, refined and enlarged, of Uncle 
 Zack's encomiums. 
 
 This was all stale to me, DTI lid Annie manifest any of her 
 mother's enthusiasm. She color\ 1 slightly at some passages in 
 the old lady's discourse, as if she treaded this zealous partiality 
 might appear over-strained, and looked relieved when " Mars' 
 Robert " was dismissed. I arose to go, and she accompanied me 
 part of the way, chatting about matters she fancied might divert 
 me, with a disinterestedness I failed not to notice. Even my 
 dulled heart dulled to everything except my individual griefs, 
 was moved. 
 
 " Come and see me often, Annie," I said, at our parting. 
 " Ours is a changed household, and presents no allurements to a 
 young person, but you may do us some good." 
 
 An eager, trembling flush mantled her face. " If I could 
 only make you happier, Grace 1" 
 
 She kissed me hastily, as if afraid to trust herself to say more, 
 and ran back towards home. 
 
 I stood still a minute, looking after her. Why should she 
 desire my happiness ? why continue to love me ? My neglect 
 and indifference to her society were evidences how lightly 1 
 valued her friendship, and there was nothing about me calcu- 
 lated to please a lively girl. I was too proud to ask her pity in 
 uiy private sorrow, and had I uncovered the least portion of my 
 heart, this must have been the emotion aroused. 
 
 " Besides," I said, walking on, " it would be unnecessary 
 cruelty to tell her of trials she has never experienced, which she 
 may never meet. Up to this moment, I am the sole sufferer, an<? 
 alone. I will bear it all P-
 
 184: MO88-8IDE. 
 
 " The sole suffurer !" I sighed, as the thought stiuck home 
 '* I should die if that were indeed so. Am I prepared for that 
 day ? for its coming may not be distant." 
 
 In peevish anguish I cried aloud : " Shall I never be re 
 ligned ?" 
 
 " ' She whispered as she went for want of thought,'" said a 
 oice beside me, that, mellifluous as it was, affrighted me as the 
 toar of a cannon would have done. " Or do you speak from the 
 abundance of the heart, in excess of thought ?" 
 
 " I was not conscious that any one was near me, Mr. Town- 
 ley," I replied, with a touch of anger at his cat-like approach. 
 
 He chuckled. " It was an attack in &ra-bush. 1 saw you 
 coining, apparently in a meditative mood, and quitted the path 
 for that thicket." 
 
 " An ill-timed piece of impertinence !" was my thought, no* 
 did I try to conceal its expression in my face. 
 
 He was blind to the demonstration. " I am fortunate in this 
 meeting," he pursued, picking his way over the dusty grass, 
 never soiling the tips of his boots. " I am on my way to your 
 house." 
 
 " Ah !" I said, absently, for I was preparing myself for an un 
 pleasant walk. Our suave neighbor had never ranked highest in 
 my list of associates, and latterly, his civilities had been more 
 marked than agreeable. I had an instinctive persuasion that 
 none but interested motives actuated him even in the ordinary 
 forms of politeness, and, without the most remote idea in what 
 service he intended to employ me, was on the watch for some 
 demand The shape it assumed astounded me, nevertheless ap 
 explicit offer of marriage, less elaborate than I had believed him 
 capable of composing, in consideration, perhaps, of the humbU 
 taste of the lady thus honored. When my wits and breath re 
 turned in sufficient quantities, I answered him in the ?ommoo 
 place suitab e to, and customary on, like occasions.
 
 MO66-L1DK. 185 
 
 44 Wha, you have said has surprised me greatly, Mr. Town 
 .ey. 
 
 " Pardon me, but I do not understand why it should, Miss 
 Grace. One less sagacious than yourself might have anticipated 
 this consequence of my intimate acquaintance with your virtues 
 and charms. The matter for wonder is that this declaration 
 hould have been so tardy. I could have made it with as much 
 ruth more than two years since, was upon the eve of it indeed, 
 when a circumstance, adverse to all present hopes on my part 
 compelled me to defer it to a more propitious season." 
 
 A meaning look called up the blood to my temples, but f 
 second's pause decided me not to speak upon a provocation tha 4 - 
 might, after all, be unintentional. He could have no certain 
 knowledge of the event to which I imagined he had reference, 
 whatever his serpent eyes might have gathered from outward 
 signs. 
 
 " Let by-gones be by-gones," he resumed, with a kind of lighk 
 condescension. " We all have that in our memories which we 
 would fain consign to oblivion. The clouds of yesterday need 
 not, perforce, overcast the sun of to-day." 
 
 " Your apophthegms are riddles, sir," I returned coldly. " Not 
 being an adept in solving such, I must request of you the favor 
 to speak plainly." 
 
 It was his tune to be surprised, and the counterfeit was ably 
 managed. 
 
 " To what could I refer, unless to the dangerous illness of youi 
 aunt, which unfitted a lady of your beautifully sensitive feeling for 
 the entertainment of any proposition relating merely to yonr 
 self, important as such proposition might seem, if presented in 
 an undisturbed moment ? Engrossed as you were with amia 1 1 
 jares on her account, cares continued to the present time I 
 may be excused for delaying the presentation of my suit." 
 
 The advantage he had gained by this adroit reply was as ap
 
 186 MOSS-SIDE 
 
 parent to me as it was to him, and pique afforded me strengib 
 to say, " Since my answer is the same that you would have 
 received then, I cannot but deplore a delay that may have caused 
 you inconvenience and some degree of anxiety." 
 
 Curbing my satiric inclination with the recollection that tie 
 form of respect he maintained should be repaid in kind, I added, 
 " I am sure that you prefer frank dealing to any play of fair 
 words. I cannot reciprocate the attachment you have professed, 
 and have no disposition to tamper with the feelings of a friend. 
 Therefore, we will, if you please, drop this subject now and for- 
 ever." 
 
 His thin skin revealed the flush that dyed the roots of his 
 eandy hair, and the blue light I had once before seen, gleamed 
 in his eyes ; then his face was composed into a proper and de- 
 cent regret. 
 
 " I honor your candor ; but I am not altogether ready for 
 the demolition of the most cherished hope of my life. In your 
 oompassiouate fear of inflicting further pain by heightening my 
 expectations, should you deliberate upon my proposal, you over- 
 look the possibility not an unheard-of thing in a lady, by the 
 way that you may change your mind. I will wait whatever 
 time you- may set, and exculpate you from any design to trifle 
 with my affections, should your final resolve be the same you 
 have just expressed." 
 
 " It is needless," I rejoined. " My decision is unalterable. 1 
 beg you to accept it as such at once, Mr. Townley." 
 
 " This is indeed remarkable," he said, thoughtfully. " An 
 tmprecedented case 1" 
 
 " In your experience, perhaps," I returned, growing fretful at 
 his tone and unmanly persistence in a suit that displeased me 
 " There Is no coquetry in my conduct, however much yon may 
 aave met with in others." 
 
 " I am not the beau-general you intimate, Miss Grace ; no/
 
 M 8 8- 8 I D E. 187 
 
 win / submit to the imputation from you, just at present, with 
 the equanimity I usually study to preserve iu the presence of a 
 lady." 
 
 This warrantable hit at my ungenerous taunt again gavf me 
 'he worse side of the contest, for contest I began to understand 
 it to be. I tried to close it by one effort. 
 
 " Mr. Townley," I said, " this is downright trifling on the 
 part of both. You claim, and it may be justly, an intimate 
 acquaintance with my disposition and traits. You cannot accuse 
 me of vacillation in the past, and never has my mind been more 
 (Irmly made up than it is in this affair. I offer no encourage- 
 ment. I should deceive you grossly were I to hold out the sup- 
 position that any amount of time or thought could make me 
 waver a hair's breadth from the answer you have received. Im- 
 portunity may disgust, it cannot move me." 
 
 " The reply in substance which your father made to Mr. 
 Wynne I" was the sneering response. 
 
 A deadly faintness seized my heart ; and the momentary 
 check of the blood in vein and artery was followed by a tumults 
 ous rush, a beating like ten thousand pulses through my body ; 
 my head swam, and I caught at a tree to save myself from 
 falling. 
 
 " You seem overpowered I" were the words that restored my 
 failing consciousness. " Accept my arm. Permit me to find a 
 seat for you." 
 
 J recoiled from his touch, and as fast as my limbs would carry 
 me. I hurried along the path to Moss-side, now in sight, praying 
 inwardly for power to support me to its gate. Mr. Townley 
 kept pace with me, and I could not shut my ears. 
 
 " You were under the impression that the history of that love- 
 passage was confined to your household ? There are unerring 
 gigns that betray blighted affection, though all tongues be dis- 
 creet. No gossio, male or female, who has seen you since youi
 
 188 MC 8 8-8 I D E. 
 
 lover s departure, has read these amiss in your countenance and 
 deportment. I hare tendered to yon an opportunity of cot- 
 founding their wise saws and knowing predictions, and you have 
 treated it with disdain. Your father has never entrusted you 
 with the reason of his opposition to your union with the man 
 whoso ' professed attachment ' you anUd ' reciprocate,' I be- 
 1 ieve r 
 
 I did not speak, but continued my irregular race, my hand 
 against my heart, that its palpitations might not entirely deprive 
 me of breath. 
 
 " In this instance, I construe silence into dissent, Mr. Leigh 
 has more prudence than I gave him credit for. A dangerou 
 secret should be guarded carefully ; and if one would have i< 
 remain a secret, he had better blazon it in the newspapers than 
 admit a woman into his confidence. This was no business of 
 mine, except as everything relating to you affected me more or 
 less ; and the principle of self-preservation cautioned me not to 
 stand by tamely and let the prize be born, off by another ; when, 
 thanks, in part, to his obliging communicativeness, I was in 
 possession of a story that would stop all proceedings, even nullify 
 a contract matrimonial, supposing the preliminaries had beeo 
 entered upon. I have suspected that your filial devotion ha* 
 sustained some damage from your father's seeming perverseness, 
 but this should not be. If I did not esteem Mr. Leigh my con- 
 fidential client, I could show you, in a word, the propriety of his 
 course. Had his courage failed, Mr. Wynne, knowing half aa 
 much as I do, would have discarded the thought of the alii 
 mnce." 
 
 " Mr. Townley I" I said, facing him. " What object yoa 
 can have in this brutality, beyond the gratification of an unmanly 
 spite, it is hard to say. I have endured your insults because I 
 am a woman and unprotected. You imagine yourself secure is 
 the certainty that I will not report your language to my father
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 18fc 
 
 whose age woul. not permit him to become your antagonist , 
 but there is still 3ne whose right it is to defend me. Every word 
 of this conversation goes, by the next mail, to my brother, whom 
 aDthing can detain from my side if I require his aid." 
 
 " Do it 1" he cried, with unruffled coolness. " The spirit goes 
 with t l ;e blood, I see 1 I have enough regard left for you to 
 warn you of the consequences of this rash action of yours, should 
 your brother's conduct justify your expectations." 
 
 He leaned towards me, and, his eyes glittering like blue steel, 
 exchanged his tone for one of menace. " His aim may be true, 
 his blade keen, yet my shot is surer to pierce a vital part, my 
 weapon will destroy not life, but what you may prize more 
 dearly the honor of your family. If you are unbelieving, ask 
 your father the value of the stake for which the game you pro- 
 pose would be played. Hearken to my advice, Miss Grace, and 
 do not wantonly alienate a friend, who, as an enemy, could over- 
 whelm your house with infamy." 
 
 " Infamy 1" I repeated. 
 
 " I have said it !" he replied, sententiously. 
 
 We were at the yard-gate, the goal that had seemed to elude 
 my uncertain feet, so long had they been in gaining it. My 
 father was pruning away the dead branches of a rose tree. His 
 head was uncovered, and the evening sun slanting athwart his 
 silvered hair reminded me of the "crown of glory" upon the 
 hoary head, " found in the way of righteousness." Giddy and 
 sick as I was, his open brow and benignant smile were decisive 
 proofs to me that the abominable insinuation of guilt of hi* 
 that could entail ruin upon all of his name was a rile fabrics 
 tion. 
 
 The gate was inhospitably fast to Mr. TewrJey, &ad my fatbe" 
 bad to lend him some assistance. 
 
 *' You are pale, my daughter/' he observed. Have yo 
 ralked far?"
 
 190 M O 8 8-B I DE. 
 
 "To Mrs. Be.l'fi," I answered. "The weather is oppres- 
 sive." 
 
 Mr. Townley relieved me in his easy way. "And our fair 
 pedestrian, thoroughly trained as she is, is not quite adequate to 
 i three mile heat" 
 
 " You had better lie down, my dear," said my father. " Mr. 
 Townley will remain to tea." 
 
 " I thank you, sir, but my sisters will be expecting me home 
 I called by to deliver a letter I brought from the office, think 
 ing that it might be from Frederic, and you would like to have 
 it immediately " I was obliged to hear as I trod dizzily up the 
 walk and steps. 
 
 A fit of hysterical weeping was the vent of outraged feeling* 
 so protracted and violent, that it was dark when I. ventured to 
 present myself in my aunt's chamber. Her chair was by the 
 window, and the candles were yet unlighted. I apologized, 
 while repairing this negligence, for the lateness of my appear 
 ance, pleading extreme lassitude produced by my warm walk. 
 
 " I hoped you were enjoying yourself abroad," she said, kindlj 
 "and I have needed nothing. You should not abridge or 
 hurry your excursions on my account. You are too much 
 confined. I have thought of it much this afternoon and aU 
 for me ! 
 
 She sighed heavily. These exhibitions of feeling we^e ex 
 tremely rare, and I never knew how to receive them. 
 
 "I am better satisfied here than anywhere else," I replied 
 " You must not vex yourself about what I do not think a hard 
 ship." 
 
 She was iu the humor for talking. " I have been thinking of 
 
 Predric, too, and his pretty wife. I wish he had brought her 
 
 home directly they were married. Their happiness would have 
 
 inspirited us all. They must be a handsome couple. Is h? Jess 
 
 *'oear to you since his wedding?"
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E. 191 
 
 " No, ma'am. Daring his engagement I became accustomed 
 to the idea of resigning him. As he cannot live with us, we 
 should be glad that he has some one to make a desirable home 
 of the residence he has selected." 
 
 Her solicitude reverted to me. " When they are settled, you 
 must leave the old people to look after each other for a while, 
 and pay them a visit. There must be happier days in store for 
 you." 
 
 Her grave features, as she said this, wore some resemblance 
 to her brother. Had she appeared thus to the child or girl, my 
 responsive burst of affection might have broken the ice-wall be- 
 tween us, and I tasted something of the sweetness of a mothers 
 ove. I experienced no such inclination now. 
 
 I rolled her chair out of the draught, if any there was stirring 
 ill the murky atmosphere ; laid everything in readiness for her 
 eirly retiring, and led her into the supper-room. The seat at 
 the foot of the board was vacant. Joe had seen his master " fv 
 cut towards the quarters about half an hour before," and reckoned 
 it was to see " Uncle Eeuben," one of the negroes who had bete 
 ailing for a day or two. Our rule in such cases was to proceed 
 with the meal without sending for him. it was soon over, and 
 I had seen my aunt in bed and stolen out to seek calm from the 
 repose of the night, when my father's step grated on the gravel- 
 walk. 
 
 " How is Reuben, sir ?" I inquired. 
 
 " I have not seen him, my daughter." 
 
 " You're very tired," I continued. " Will you have your sup 
 per ? It is waiting for you." 
 
 " I wish none to-night thank you." 
 
 He kissed me a " good-night," and went slowly on to his room 
 His melancholy turns were seldom attributable to any direct and 
 recent agency, and departed as they had come. My own mind 
 was too much oppressed to conjecture concerning big
 
 192 M O 8 8-8 I D K. 
 
 The recollection was revived by Martha, who entered my chant 
 ber, as I was undressing, to deliver a letter her master had 
 vent. 
 
 I had the presence of mind to order her out so soon as I re- 
 cognized the superscription then I stood for many minutes, un 
 ible to unfold the sheet or to re-read the address, which was mj 
 athnr'ft, in Herbert Wynne's handwriting.
 
 VO88-SIDE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 4 MY DEAR SIR: 
 
 "If the paijful duty Friendship imposes upon me could be per- 
 fvrnied by any other hand, mine should never write what will shroud your 
 borne in gloom " 
 
 Tims far I read. My terrified mind grasped the rest, it seemed 
 without the help of the organs of visioii. My brother iny brave, 
 fond, beautiful brother ! the bridegroom of one mouth was no 
 more ! He was bathing with a party of gentlemen in the surf ; 
 ventured too far ; was overtaken by the undertow, and carried 
 out to sea ; the next mountain wave dashed his body upon the 
 beach untenanted clay 1 Brief history of the quenching of the 
 one remaining light of our hearts 1 
 
 In the midst of his grief, the father remembered the young 
 ereature who had so lately murmured, " 'till death do us part," 
 ifith no presage of this speedy and fearful release from the obli- 
 gations she assumed. It was her wish, Herbert stated, to have 
 the remains interred in a cemetery near the home to which she 
 would now return ; and, dearly as he coveted the mournful pri- 
 vilege of laying his boy to rest beside his mother, my father 
 wrote instantly to Mr. Wynne, ordering that all should be done 
 as May requested ; to herself, a letter of the most affectionate 
 sympathy. My aunt was ill for days after the intelligence was 
 communicated, and there could not be I said impiously an 
 grily a drop remaining in the vial of wrath which had been 
 poured upon our devoted family. The seditious horde of blas- 
 phemies that rushed up from my soul, at the stroke of this calac 
 9
 
 1 *>4 MOSS-SID K . 
 
 mity, put my self-righteous imaginings to flight. Dust thickened 
 upon the covers, and canker blackened the clasps of my Bible. 
 From a Pharisee, I became an infidel, practically to myself, a 
 confessed rebel, stubborn as hopeless. 
 
 The reader cannot desire more ardently than I to pass "apidly 
 over this, the dark age of my life. My heart revolts at its de- 
 tails ; my hand would fain seal the tear and blood-stained pages 
 forever. Is mine too sorrowful a tale ? Oh ! if the sun and 
 dew of God's visible mercy still abide upon your home ; if lover 
 and friend have not been put far from you yet believe that 
 thousands of aching spirits upon the earth that is all smiles to 
 you, will testify to the truthfulness of the picture you condemn 
 as too gloomily shaded. No artist has ever dared to give the 
 thunder-cloud upon his canvas the inky hue of that which sweeps 
 across the heavens we love to think of as eternally serene ; and 
 even those to whom Sorrow has been, at some time, a familiar 
 companion when the footprints of the destroying angel are 
 effaced, forget how dense was the darkness of his presence. 
 Men are most skeptical as to the gregarious nature of trouble, 
 taught though it is, in aphorisms which condense the wisdom of 
 generations past illustrated in their sight daily. Truly sings 
 the greatest of living poets the magician, whose harp is Hit 
 vast heart c f humanity : 
 
 " Disasters come not singly ; 
 
 sasers come no sngy ; 
 
 But as if they watched and waited, 
 Scanning one another's motions, 
 When the first descends, the others 
 Follow, follow, gathering flock- wise 
 'Round their victim, sick and wounded, 
 First a shadow, then a sorrow, 
 'Till the air is dark with anguish." 
 
 The moiher could tell of the fast procession of little comns 
 across her threshold after Death had once halted there ; the hu
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 195 
 
 hand may relate how among the cluster of short mounds iii the 
 family burial-place, arises one longer and higher, where, worn 
 with watching and grief, she, last of all, lay down with the lambs 
 she could not save from disease and decay. Many a doubting 
 Elijah is appalled by the wind, the earthquake, the fire, before 
 he still, small voice whispers of peace and love to his bewildered 
 oul. 
 
 With the December snow came another black-sealed letter to 
 drain the tears unwept for previous calamities. My brother 
 Edmund had lost his wife, the lovely girl whom, ten years be- 
 fore, he had introduced to us as his bride. We could show no 
 outward tokens of respect to her memory, for there were none 
 but sable garments and sad faces at Moss-side, but while the 
 affliction was to us slight when compared with the bereavement 
 we had recently sustained, we mourned for the widowed hus 
 band, the motherless child. 
 
 " I have just heard again from Edmund," said my father to me, 
 one evening ; " and must consult you before I reply. He is per- 
 plexed what to do with his little girl. ' She has been most careful- 
 ly raised by the best of mothers ; ' he writes, ' and I should be want- 
 ing in duty to her and to the departed, were I to expose her now 
 to the subtle temptations and glaring evils of a boarding-school j 
 or undertake to have her instructed under my own roof, when 
 my personal superintendence must necessarily be irregularly exer 
 cised ; my best attempts fall far below the watchful guardian- 
 ship of the parent she has lost. A girl should be educated by a 
 woman. I cannot do mine the injustice to deny her this need of 
 jf.-r nature. A man of business is, of all others, the least com- 
 petent to a task so difficult and delicate. Now for my petition, 
 which is so bold that nothing but th<s exigency could force me 
 lo present it. Will our Grace accept this onerous charge for a 
 while, at least until I can settle upon a second-best plan ? 
 Lilias is a child of warm feelings and so n- quickness </ intellect ;
 
 196 MO8B-8IDE. 
 
 is easily controlled by those she loves, and she will soon become 
 attached to my lovable sister. Your experience, my deal father 
 has proved how nearly an aunt can supply a mother's place 
 Tell Grace that I do not press this imposition by arguments 01 
 persuasions. She knows what an inestimable benefit she wil. 
 confer upon me and Lilias by granting my wish. If she decline 
 the responsibility, I cannot blame her, and shall love her none 
 the less.'" 
 
 This proposal acted like the charge of a galvanic battery 
 arousing me, for the time, from my lethargic state. I was, 1 
 told my father, reluctant to enter into any engagement to teach 
 a child, whose preliminary tuition had been received from the 
 accomplished woman I knew my sister-in-law to have been. 
 
 " Her father could not have made a more unfortunate selec- 
 tion," I said. " I am unversed in the habits, even in the playj 
 of children ; and as to nursing, any girl eleven years old, who 
 has younger brothers and sisters, could manage better than I." 
 
 " These are things that come naturally to your sex," answered 
 my father; " Lilias is a healthy child of nine, not a babe io 
 arms, you must recollect ; and in the science of games, she pro- 
 bably needs no instruction. She will, as Edmund says, contri- 
 bute to your cares, now too laborious for your age and strength." 
 
 " I am quite well, sir, and have not enough to do," I interrupt- 
 ed in my ordinary tone of indifference. " Nothing else agrees 
 with me so well as constant occupation." 
 
 He sighed, and I read in his look the yearning to hold me to 
 his bosom and weep with me over the mutual sorrow that had 
 left us so little joy, upon which our minds could dwell ; but my 
 aspect was uninviting. These endearments belonged to an age 
 aow dead. 
 
 " I wish we could fall upon some other mode of providing for 
 Lillv," he said, seriously. " I have all confidence in your ability 
 to do what your brother desires, so far as moral and mentaJ
 
 MOB 9-S IDE. 19? 
 
 training goes I am unwilling, however, to subject jour health 
 to the danger jf increased confinement and the anxiety you viJt 
 experience while your distrust of yourself continues." 
 
 " I will take her," I said, .quietly. 
 
 He paused in surprise. " Have you counted the cost do yo$ 
 think ?" he asked. 
 
 " I have, sir. Since you are surety for my nuwt doubtful 
 qualifications, I do not hesitate to pledge myself to the per- 
 formance of minor duties. Please say as much to brother from 
 me. Will he bring her to Moss-side himself ?" 
 
 " So he proposes, and if your conclusion is favorable, he would 
 like to have the journey over before the weather renders th 
 roads impassable. She will be a pretty Christmas gift for you 
 if they can reach us in season." 
 
 It was rather singular, and to me ominous of a conspiracy 
 between him and Edmund, that they arrived on the eve of the 
 very day he had named an anniversary with me, one of the 
 many against which I had erected a black cross, marking the 
 grave of murdered hopes. The evening was cold and wet. A 
 drizzling rain had been falling since noon, at which time we 
 expected the travellers. Dinner, delayed two hours, was at 
 length served up, and went away untasted. My aunt soon resigned 
 the hope of seeing her nephew that day ; and should the mist 
 thicken into a storm, they would, she thought, be detained for 
 the remainder of the week in whatever quarters they had found 
 shelter. My father's more hopeful disposition argued differently. 
 
 " Unless one of them was sick, they started from this 
 
 morning while it was fair," he represented, " and it is not like 
 Edmund to heed weather. They have a comfortable conveyance, 
 and are perhaps hindered by the miserable state of the roads 
 I shall not give them up before dark." 
 
 My faith in his son's perseverance or my desire to see bim and 
 his companion was less strong than his, and deeming it uselesi
 
 198 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 and imprudent to join his lookout at the front door, after ont 
 glance at the chilling fog-folds that dimmed the nearest trees, 1 
 went up to my sanctum, now as perfect a " Growlery" as Mr. 
 Jarndyce would have had people believe his. Upon my lounge, 
 then, I established myself with the selfish congratulation " One 
 more quiet night I" 
 
 " What influenced me to send for this child ?" I questioned 
 myself for the hundredth time. " Was it not that I courted 
 still heavier burdens than those under which I am bending ; a 
 casting down of the gauntlet to the Destiny they may call Fate, 
 Providence what they will that appears intent upon overcom- 
 ing me ? A most Christian-like motive 1 this is sisterly affec- 
 tion ! but I do not affect to be guided by Christian principles ; 
 I ceased to be a sister when Frederic died. This brother I 
 scarcely know : I pity his child with an unloving pity ; yet I 
 remember her as an engaging little creature five years ago. I 
 will be kind to her, for I am not inhuman win upon my affec- 
 tions she never can. There is nothing there to lay hold upon. 
 " My lovable sister V Edmund wrote in unconscious irony. 
 How could he guess that I have grown to be the antipodes of 
 the girl he last saw me ? He may object to leaving his daugh- 
 ter with me when he sees the change. This will disappoint my 
 father, for I foresee that she will usurp my old place with him. 
 To me it will be neither mortifying nor distressing ; I have 
 done my duty in consenting to her parent's request, and shall 
 not object to his removing her from a baneful neighborhood." 
 
 I s.\id this out mentally, without a tear or a shudder. I hon 
 estly considered myself impervious to further suffering, incapable 
 of forming other attachments. This hardening of heart and zon 
 science is the legitimate effect of an egotism of sorrow, and this 
 luxury I had feasted upon to the utmost. I was firm in ihc 
 belief that I hated myself, while by a perverse contradiction, mj 
 dismal delight was in the contemplation of the woes linked in,
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 199 
 
 identified with my being. I had been upon my feet the greater 
 part of the day, and was more than tired of waiting ; so, rolling 
 myself op comfortably in my deliciously sombre fantasies, I dozed 
 gradually into a confirmed slumber. 
 
 I was aroused by a noise at my door, as of some one opening 
 it with care. 
 
 " Is supper ready, Martha?" I inquired, not raising my head; 
 for sh% of all the household, moved so noiselessly. 
 
 A rustling passed around the head of my couch; and between 
 me and the fire stood a diminutive figure with short, fair ring' 
 lets, blue eyes and skin dazzlingly white above her black dress. 
 This hue alone precluded the idea of a supernatural visitation, 
 and my brain, cloudy with sleep, did not at first, wholly scout 
 the possibility of such an appearance. 
 
 " Who are you ?" I said, confusedly, half rising. 
 
 " I am Lilly Leigh. Grandpapa told me I should find Aunt 
 Grace in here." 
 
 She stood quite still, her hands behind her back, and gazed 
 steadfastly at me, neither abashed nor forward. 
 
 " I am your Aunt Grace," I said. " Will you come and kiss 
 me?" 
 
 She advanced promptly, pursed up her mouth ; demurely per- 
 formed the salute, ai.d retreated to her former stand-point. 
 
 " When did you get here ?" was my next question. 
 
 " A short while ago." 
 
 " Is your father down stairs ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 I could not help smiling at the prim gravity of her childifb 
 ace ; and she stepped nearer to me, encouraged by the gleam. 
 
 " Shall we go down and see him ?" said I 
 
 " It' you please, ma'am." 
 
 I took her hand. She clung to me as we entered the pas 
 eage.
 
 200 M O 8 8 - S I D E . 
 
 " Are you afraid ?" I asked her. 
 
 " Not exactly," in a whisper ; " but I do not like the dark 
 rery well." 
 
 In the lower entry, she stopped, shook out her apron, and 
 tried ineffectually to smooth her curls. 
 
 " I have been riding all day, you know," she apologized. " 1 
 am afraid papa will shake his head at me." 
 
 " I will attend to that," I assured her, whereat she was com- 
 forted to follow me to my aunt's room 
 
 My brother said nothing at meeting me ; only put his arm 
 over my shoulder, as Frederic used to do, and embraced mt. 
 tenderly. When he trusted his voice to ask after my health, min 
 was low and tremulous. The brothers had seldom been thought 1 
 alike during the lifetime of the younger, but the resemblance of 
 feature and tone touched me now, as I had boasted, an hour 
 before, nothing could ever do again. 
 
 My father came to my help. Lilly, by his directions, had paid 
 her respects to her great-aunt pretty much after the precise 
 fashion of her introduction to me, and now occupied bis knee 
 
 " Did our tiny witch here surprise you ?" he inquired. 
 
 " I was asleep, sir, when she came up, and mistook her for a 
 real witch," I replied. 
 
 Her teeth shone through the parting lips for a second, and 
 her eyes sparkled with amusement j then the lids dropped mo- 
 iestly. 
 
 " It was a stroke of dramatic effect for which I am disposed 
 to applaud myself," my father went on to say. " I judged that 
 the slight bustle of arrival was unheard in your room, and, when 
 I at last discovered a living Lilly in the bundle of cloaks, shawli 
 and hoods, I carried her up to your door, unfastened it and slip 
 ped her in." 
 
 The small lady's behavior at supper, and while her seniors di 
 coursed afterwards, justified her father's account of her training
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 201 
 
 A. chJd's chair, a remnant of my nnrsery furniture, bad been 
 provided for her, and planting it under her grandfather's elbow, 
 she sat mute as a mouse ; looking much of the time straight 
 into the fire, wide awake with the novelty of her situation, 
 ud the need she felt of comporting herself with the utmost 
 decorum. I marvelled what busied her infantile brain, for there 
 was intelligence in the large eyes. She was an object of curios- 
 ity to me, some almost forgotten reminiscences of my own child- 
 hood being all the key I had in the unfamiliar study presented 
 to me. I hoped devoutly that she was not one of the pattern 
 children (I had nearly written patent !) so extolled by parents 
 and friends. Would she ever wear high-necked aprons, hunt 
 hens' nests and climb cherry trees, in which exciting pastimes my 
 father abetted me, to the horror of my staid aunt ? Could she 
 laugh aloud and stretch those white-stockinged, trim ankles in 
 races upon the lawn with the frolicsome pup her thoughtful 
 grandfather had purchased for her ? Would she always know 
 her lessons ; never drop books and abridge the hours for practis- 
 ing scales an.d exercises, to chase butterflies and string jessamine 
 necklace ? I would not have said it, even to myself, but I did 
 not dissent from my father's remark, " Lilly will break in accep- 
 tably upon our monotony, Edmund. Old things and the spirit 
 of past days have held sway here a tedious time. She will act 
 like an infusion of fresh blood upon our domestic system." 
 
 Rapid, scarlet blood it was that dyed her cheeks at this men 
 tion of herself, which I had not supposed she would understand. 
 The same happy smile that had lighted her face before, flitted 
 over it, and she inclined her head towards the caressing hand 
 that met its flaxen profusion. Once only, she quitted her scat 
 before the summons to bed. My father had opened the Bible 
 r or prayers, and I arose to place my aunt's stand before her. lo 
 doing this, I accidentally struck against her footstool. Lilly 
 flashed across the rug no other word can express the motion 
 9*
 
 202 MOBS-SIDE. 
 
 and replaced it before I could stoop to repair my carelessness, 
 and was as speedily back in her corner, grave and still, as befit- 
 ted the approaching service. My father looked surprised and 
 gratified, Edmund gratified merely ; but he did not commend her 
 for this or anything else, by word. A glance of approval and a 
 frown from " Papa " were her highest meed of praise, her sever- 
 est punishment. 
 
 I fancied that she would have avoided Martha, when she of- 
 fered to undress her, and making some excuse for dispensing with 
 her services, I myself unfastened and drew off the clothes that 
 seemed ridiculously small to my unpractised fingers, as they 
 passed lingeringly, with a pleasurable thrill, along the dimpled 
 shoulders, the rounded limbs. 
 
 II Shall I lift you into bed ?" I asked, when the night-dress 
 was tied and the ringlets combed out. 
 
 " Not just yet, if you please, Aunt Grace," and the clear tre- 
 ble faltered in greater embarrassment than she had before 
 displayed. 
 
 " Is there anything you would like to have ?" I said, as gently 
 as I could. 
 
 " May I will you let me read one chapter in my Bible ?" her 
 eyes more pleading than her timid voice. 
 
 " Certainly," I said, but I was none too well pleased with 
 the request. This had been one of my childish customs also ; a 
 duty rigidly adhered to by my aunt in her own practice, and 
 as rigidly exacted of me. I retained a vivid impression of the 
 smarting eyes which would not be rubbed open ; the drowsy 
 wanderings that interpolated the sacred text ; the downright 
 slumbers that sometimes concluded the exercise, while my 
 guardian pored with undisturbed attention over the prosy 
 commentary I hated so heartily. 
 
 " I am afraid she is a pattern miss ! " I said peevishly tc 
 myse!f. " \ had rather she were a downright miscreant whc
 
 M O S 8-8 I D K. 203 
 
 irould gfve such piritanical farces the go-by whenever she 
 could " 
 
 She did not nod as she read T wished she had. I would 
 hare liked her better for the lapse into baby-nature. Nor did 
 she peep furtively at me to see if I were observing her pre- 
 cocious piety. The psalm was brief, I noti3ed from my chair 
 where I pretended to be equally engaged with a novel ; but sha 
 was in no haste to run it through. When it was done, she 
 returned to the pages a bookmark, embroidered with the initials 
 of her mother's name ; and, without hesitation, having perhaps 
 selected the spot beforehand, she entered the narrow space 
 between the bed and the wall, find knelt down. I reached for- 
 ward and secured the book she had left upon the table. It was 
 boand handsomely, without any tinsel filigree-work, and upon 
 the fly-leaf was written " Lilias Leigh From her Mother" 
 " Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." " When 
 thy father and thy mother forsake thee, then the Lord will takt 
 thee*up."Nav. "15th, 18." 
 
 The recent date, the tremulous chirography told the affecting 
 story, I subsequently learned from the daughter. It was a 
 mother's latest gift ; the inscription was penned upon a death- 
 bed. Cut to the soul for my uncharitable strictures upon what 
 I had chosen to construe into an ostentation of goodness, I put 
 the volume back, as she issued from her hiding-place. Her eye- 
 lashes were moist and her countenance very pensive. 
 
 " I am ready now, aunt/' she said, " but I am too heavy for 
 you to lift. If you will show me where I am to sleep, I can g t 
 into bed by myself." 
 
 1 replied by taking her light weight in my arms and deposit 
 ! ng it in the feathered nest she hardly indented. 
 
 " I will be with you presently," said I. " Yon d, not feh,r to 
 lie alone for a minute or two, do you ?" 
 
 "N}, ma'am. I am very ranch obliged to you," and she 
 turned her cheek to the pillow, 1 supposed to sleep.
 
 204: MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 There was no movement from her when I lay lown. It 
 occurred to me that she was unnaturally quiet, and I abated my 
 breathing to listen for hers. It was muffled and not regular, as 
 in healthy slumber, and the strange suppression troubled me. 
 Not to lose a sound, I imitated her stillness, and she, mon 
 readily deceived, no doubt, believed my unconsciousness real. 
 A choking sob escaped her ; then a plaintive cry, imperfectly 
 smothered and the flood-gate was raised. She wept bitterly, 
 though not loudly ; her frame heaving with woman-like agony, 
 indescribably painful in the mere infant she seemed. Before the 
 warm, sweeping tide, the snow and ice I had labored to pile 
 around my heart, dissolved. If one atom of humanity still sur 
 vived within me, this child-woe must have developed it into 
 growth. 
 
 And in the haste of my anxiety to alleviate her distress, I 
 called her by a name I had sternly vowed should never be 
 uttered again by my lips ; the sweetest of Love's appellations ; 
 the title he had given me in the bliss of our soul-union in the 
 throes of our soul-parting a word as holy to me as the memory 
 of his love. 
 
 " Darling !" I said, drawing her towards me. '' What i> 
 the matter ? Tell aunt Grace 1" 
 
 She nestled in my arms, like a lost, frightened bird. " Mam- 
 ma 1 mamma 1 I want my dear mamma 1" 
 
 I covered the hot little face with tears and kla^s, my bosom 
 swelling against hers. 
 
 " My poor babe 1" was all I could say. 
 
 " I can't help crying sometimes, Aunt Grace 1" she sobbed, 
 mistaking the cause of my silence. "I miss her so much at 
 ight 1" and repeating the beloved name, she wept afresh. 
 
 "Ther3l Lilly dear I" I soothed. "She is happy now ic 
 Heaven." 
 
 " Then 1 wish I was there too !" she exclaimed, impeta 
 ously
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 20ft 
 
 " Hash ! hush I that is wrong, Lilly 1" 
 
 " Why, Aunt Grace ? I know she wants me as bad as 1 do 
 her." 
 
 I was nonplussed for an answer to this, and evaded it. 
 
 " Would you leave your papa ? Think how lonely he would 
 ft*.' 
 
 " I cannot live with him, he says," she replied. 
 
 My ill-judged consolation must be amended. " Not now, per- 
 haps, dear, but one of these days he will come back for you, and 
 until he is ready to take you to his home, you will stay here 
 with us " and, some inspiration dictating to me " I will be 
 your mother." 
 
 The violent sobbing ceased. " Will you ?" said she, with 
 breathless eagerness " and will you love me and call n?e yom 
 ' little Lilly ?' Yon did not look to-night as if you ever would." 
 
 "You shall see," I replied, confidently. " Can my little Lilly 
 sleep now ?" 
 
 " If you will kiss me, I will try." 
 
 With her hands folded in mine upon my breast, her pure 
 breath flowing over my cheek, I watched out the hours until 
 the hoarse clangor of the clock rang in the day of " Peace on 
 earth, good-will to men \ n The stilly midnight, that had so often 
 waned for me in sleepless wretchedness, witnessed the birth of 
 an unknown feeling, the feeble upstarting of the gent 
 implanted most deeply latest uprooted in woman the yearn- 
 ing, tireless, immortal principle of maternal affection. 
 
 My Christmas gift was astir betimes on the morrow. She was 
 wonderfully metamorphosed the others said by the night's rest 
 Some tincture of shy propriety showed itself at intervals, but 
 the air of strangeness to things and people was modified into 
 the ease of a guest, who, although not altogether at home, fcela 
 that he is welcome to his friend's house. The volatile mercury 
 of youth had risen superior to its late depression, but ste had
 
 '206 M 4 8 8 8 1 D E . 
 
 not forgotten the scene, or the compact that closed it. Me, sh 
 accepted as her protector and guide in the weighty, as in the 
 minute affairs of the day, but without quoting her authority for 
 the adoption. Aunt Grace was now " Auntie," and in process 
 of time, "Auntie dear" sweetly-toned syllables, to which my 
 heart would have pulsated in the moment of dissolution. 
 
 Excepting hers, there could be no " Merry Christmas." among 
 the white family at Moss-side ; but the servants considered 
 downcast visages positive sacrilege upon their grand carnival 
 Their presents had been prepared, in obedience to their master's 
 unselfish will, but I had designed to appoint my maid almoner 
 in my stead. Lilly's lively interest in the juvenile Ethiopians, 
 to her as unwonted a spectacle as would have been a crowd of 
 young monkeys, chattering English, suggested another substi- 
 tute. The morning was unfavorable for out-door parades, and 
 the distribution took place in the dining-room. Joe, in all the 
 splendor of a tall shirt-collar and a buckram stock, deigned to 
 officiate in his capacity of Chief Marshal ; directing his main en- 
 ergies to the initiation of his troop in the use of the scraper and 
 door-mat. My aunt occupied her chair by the fireside ; my fa- 
 ther and brother surveyed the array from the background. 
 
 Lilly's was the centre figure. Her feet twinkled, rather than 
 stepped, from end to end of the huge basket, and her eyes 
 danced yet more merrily ; from her wind-blown curls to the tips 
 of her restless toes, every nerve was alive with enjoyment. I 
 called the destined owner of each article, as she exhibited it, 
 and if I were occasionally backward in my duty, it was that I 
 might have the secret delight of hearing her silvery " Auntie 
 dear 1" a reminder spoken anxiously, if I appeared abstracted, 
 but never impatiently. There was a native grace in her mannef 
 of presenting the gifts that awoke audible murmurs of applause 
 from the older servants, who were lookers on in the doors and 
 hall, and elicited her father's proudest smile. Catching every
 
 M088-BIDE. ii 
 
 name as I pronounced it, she addressed the one who answered, 
 as she transferred whatever she held to his possession, ana sub 
 Joined some observation she deemed appropriate. 
 
 " Julius," she would remark, " this is a fine humming-top ! ! 
 dare say you can make it go nicely." 
 
 " Mary, see what a beauty of a doll 1 almost as large as yon 
 rc and the best of it is, she will not break if you let hef 
 fall." 
 
 " Why, Jimmy !" tc a wee fellow who was led up by his lar- 
 ger sister ; " here is a great horse all of gingerbread ! enough 
 to last you a week.' ? 
 
 " This, Auntie dear ?" picking up from the bottom of the 
 hamper a dandyish cane, varnished black, with a gay cord and 
 tassel at the head. 
 
 " That is for Joe," I said. 
 
 The colored exquisite bowed up the room, and almost pros- 
 trated himself as he received this finishing touch to his Sunday 
 suit. 
 
 " It is very becoming, Joe," said Lilly, archly a nai've satire 
 that provoked us all to laughter. Joe's good-nature and conceit 
 forbade him to see aught but a compliment in this speech, and 
 he replied with a volley of thanks and praises. 
 
 " The flatteries of the season to you, Miss Lilias," was the 
 peroration " to your most worthiest pa ; my reserved master ; 
 my respectful Miss Agnes, and admiring Miss Grace. Long may 
 you live and reign in this tabernacle, whar we have the pleasure 
 of beholding you now, and when you leave it for a more happier 
 home of your own, may I, Joe the butler, be honored by waitin' 
 'pon your flourishing table 1" 
 
 The iris of Lilly's blue orbs was amply relieved by a white 
 ring around them, when he was through. She was self-possessed 
 enough to say, " Thank you, Joe 1" seeing that he waited for an 
 answer, and somewhat sobered, walked back to her father, whose
 
 208 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 amusemen, banished the melancholy from his brow, as he set her 
 npon his knee. 
 
 " Auntie," she whispered, touching my arm, and motioning me 
 to bend my ear, that the query might not wound " the butler," 
 who was bustling about us " Did he mean that he want* tr 
 wait on my table when I go to Heaven ?*
 
 MOBS-BIDE 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MR. PEYTON brought with him to dinner a visitoi and a name- 
 Bake of his own Peyton Elliott a fine lad )f fourteen. He was 
 the son of an intimate friend of his host, who, in consideration 
 of the loneliness of Linden, often lent the boy to his godfathe' 
 for days or weeks, as the case might be. 
 
 I had dressed Lilly in a black silk frock, edged upon the 
 Bhoulders and sleeves with lawn frills, and its sombreness further 
 mitigated by worked pantalettes, very full, which granted but a 
 tantalizing glimpse of the pretty feet they shaded. I do not like 
 to see children wear mourning any more than I like to see the 
 morning sun overtaken by storm-clouds ; but she was passing 
 fair in her sad-colored robes. She stood by me, as Mr. Peyton 
 and his charge entered, and the regards of both were instantly 
 riveted. 
 
 " She is strikingly like her mother," said the former aside to 
 me, as he held, in his kind way, the hand she gave him. " Where 
 is her father ?" 
 
 " He will be in directly. You will find him much changed, 
 Mr. Peyton." 
 
 " I look for that, Grace I look for that ! No man knowg 
 better what he has gone through than I do no man I" 
 
 He was fluttering the leaves of a book, taken up at random,, 
 from the table. Well acquainted with his mood, I tet him 
 alone. 
 
 " Do you remember " he resumed as ramblingly. " No I you
 
 213 M08S-8IDE. 
 
 were very young not larger than that little niece of yours 
 there but you may have some recollection of when Edmund 
 was married." 
 
 " I recollect it perfectly," I said. 
 
 " There was great feasting here then. A lovely woman sha 
 was a lovely woman ! I was at the dinner party, the firs* 
 given him the last Mary ever attended the very last ! It 
 runs constantly in my mind to-day constantly 1" 
 
 He never named his wife except in conversation with those 
 upon whose friendship and sympathy he was certain he could 
 rely, for he was not a man to unlock to the world the depository 
 )f his most sacred feelings. 
 
 " I studied the question of coming over to-day for a whole 
 hour," he said. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Peyton ? Could you doubt what reception you 
 would find, however circumstanced we might be ?" 
 
 " That was not it, Grace. I thought Edmund might suffer 
 more for seeing me that was all ! You don't need to be told 
 what it would cost me to stay away from your table on Christ- 
 mas-day." 
 
 My brother interrupted us. With unfinished salutations fall- 
 ing from their tongues, they wrung each other's hands until the 
 nails were white with the pressure, then sat down in adjoining 
 chairs, and tried to chat with the freedom of " lang syne." 
 
 " Lang syne I" The words sighed through my soul in pathetic 
 minor cadences, such as the wind breathes in autumn nights 
 among the tall grass of grave yards. By the gravitation of 
 habit, my mind sank into the slough whose quaking depths it 
 had come to make its home. Wantonly I recalled each souvenir 
 of another Christmas-day ; mustered every joy that blent in the 
 glorious halo which begirt its memory ; not to win forgetfulness 
 of the darkness that followed, but to compare the picture with 
 the present ; to change Eden at a stroke into a ruined garden,
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 211 
 
 aalf-ripe fruit hanging blighted upon the dry boughs 1'or music, 
 the plaining of mateless birds over empty nests. 
 
 A touch upon my knee disturbed my reverie. 
 
 " Auntie," said Lilly, seeing that she had aroused me " That 
 little boy looks lonesome. What can I get to amuse aim ? It 
 Is too wet to play out-of-doors." 
 
 Her patronizing air was laughable when I surveyed the young 
 gentleman whose forlorn condition she commiserated. A manly 
 fellow, older than herself by five years, and nearly twice her 
 height, for her stature had not kept pace with her intellect the 
 "little boy" would have been diverted or chagrined by the 
 implication of her seniority. She was in very sober earnest, and 
 in reply to my advice that she should go and talk with him, 
 objected in the same cautious undertone : " But 1 can't think of 
 anything to say. I don't know anybody that he does, or where 
 he lives. I wish I did, for I do feel very sorry for him." 
 
 " Where is the book of engravings grandpapa gave you this 
 morning ?" I inquired. " Maybe he is fond of pictures." 
 
 Her eyes lighted up. " He won't think me bold if I begin to 
 talk to him, will he ?" 
 
 " By no means. It is your duty to entertain him in your own 
 
 She departed, satisfied, in quest of the stepping-stone to the 
 acquaintance. The book was a folio volume, but she returned, 
 carrying it dexterously, so as not to appear to require assist 
 ance. 
 
 Peyton got up to take it from her. 
 
 " No, thank you !" said she. " I can hold it. Aunt Gruct 
 thought you would like to see some pictures, and these are new 
 and pretty ones." 
 
 She graciously awarded him permission to spread it open upon 
 the centre- table and draw up seats. He was gallant without 
 Dreteusion, and entered upon the inspeition of the prints with a
 
 212 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 flattering show of interest. I forgot my dreaming iu watching 
 them, and I saw, one by one, the others present glance at them 
 with significant smiles. Lilly's voice was never shrill or loud, 
 but her utterance became quicker, the inflections more varied 
 and expressive as they went deeper into the book. Engaged 
 herself, heart and soul in her employment, she had no perception 
 for the stolen gaze her companion, ever and anon, bestowed upon 
 her kindling face ; no suspicion that he coaxed her to more 
 detailed explanations to hear her talk, not to gain the informs 
 tion she artlessly supplied. Unperceived by her, I sauntered to 
 the back of her perch. The plate under examination was the 
 overthrow of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea. 
 
 " What is it ?" asked Peyton hi pretended ignorance. " A 
 freshet?" 
 
 Lilly was too polite to laugh, or speak her surprise at his 
 deficiency of Biblical lore. 
 
 " 0, no ! that is not a freshet in a river. You remember 
 the story of how the Israelites got out of the land of Egypt the 
 ten plagues and all that." 
 
 " Not very well, I believe," rejoined the embryo diplomatist. 
 " Tell me more." 
 
 " God sent plagues upon the Egyptians until Pharaoh was 
 willing to let the children of Israel go," pursued she, still shun- 
 ning any appearance of superior knowledge. " They came off" in 
 the night ' six hundred thousand men, besides women and 
 children.' " 
 
 "They must have had hard work marching in the dark," 
 interposed Peyton. " Didn't some of them get lost ?" 
 
 " No ; they couldn't, you know, for the pillar of fire went 
 traight before them the whole night and showed them the way. 
 They travelled pretty well until morning, and then was the try- 
 ing tune 1 The wicked king was sorry he had let them go out 
 of his country, and started after them with a great army, horse-
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 213 
 
 men and chariots the best soldiers he had. He came in sight 
 of them just as they reached the Ked Sea, and you see there was 
 a mountain on this side, and one on that " pointing to the pic- 
 ture " the Egyptians were behind them and the deep water 
 before them " 
 
 <l Decidedly a ticklish situation !" commented the listener. 
 
 " Yes ; and the poor Israelites thought so too. They began 
 to quarrel with Moses, the good man who had done so much for 
 them, for bringing them away from their homes to be killed or 
 drowned ; and he prayed to God to help them. And the Lord 
 told him not to stop to call even upon Hun, but to tell the peo 
 pie to go forward." 
 
 " How could they ?" said Peyton. " Were they to step right 
 into the water ?" 
 
 " Ah ! but it was not their business to ask Him any ques- 
 tions ! He said, Go forward P and He would not have ordered 
 them to do it, if He had not meant to help them through their 
 trouble. Don't you recollect about Abraham, when he thought 
 he would be obliged to kill his son ? and Jacob, whose brother 
 met him so kindly because God had put it into his heart to do 
 so ? Well, the next thing that happened was that the pillar of 
 fire moved backwards and settled down right between the 
 Israelites and their enemies. 
 
 " Why, I should think they would have gone back too," said 
 Peyton ; " they were to follow it every way were they not ?" 
 
 " Not when they had been told to ' go forward P " replied the- 
 monitress, with emphasis. " Then the Egyptians could not see 
 through the cloud, for it was a cloud to them ; and Mosea 
 stretched out his rod over the water, and it divided and stood 
 ap in two high walls, with a great, wide, dry road in the mid- 
 lie." 
 
 " A dry road !" exclaimed the dissembler ; " when the watoi 
 * as there one minute before ?"
 
 214 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 1 Yes ! a dry road !" retorted Lilly, firmly ; "just as dry as 
 this carpet, for the wee bits of children went over ' dry-shod ' 
 God can do anything. He could have dried up the sea entirety 
 if He had pleased. It was not like man's work. His people go! 
 tafely to the other side, and the Egyptians started in too, stil 
 chasing them. They were, maybe, half way across, when, all a 
 once the waters rolled together over them, and swallowed then: 
 up. That must be Pharaoh himself in that fine chariot, with 
 the crown on his head. I can't help wishing he had not gone 
 in poor fellcw I" 
 
 " You called him a wicked king awhile ago. Didn't he de- 
 serve to die ?" 
 
 " I suppose so, or God would have held him back ; but I 
 think Moses and all the rest of the Israelites must have felt 
 badly to see the whole host, every one of them, destroyed." 
 
 I would not check her prattle by being detected in the act of 
 eaves-dropping, so sought my seat. 
 
 " ' Except ye become as little children' " I said to myself, 
 as their tones played upon my ear. " That child, with her 
 unquestioning faith, hears and obeys the ' Go forward !' of reve- 
 lation and of Providence, while I, in my wilderness, can only 
 stand and murmur I" and wresting the infantine teacher's words 
 from their original application, I repeated, " the Egyptians 
 could not see through the cloud, for it was a cloud to them 1" 
 
 Peyton and she waxed merrier and more familiar, and the 
 engravings being disposed of, she tripped over to me whh a 
 second petition. 
 
 " May we play ' Graces ' in the hall, Auntie ? We will b* 
 rery careful not to strike the clock or windows." 
 
 Their laughing voices, and the clattering of the hoops and 
 sticks were distinctly heard in the parlor, and cheered the sad 
 dened countenances there. 
 
 " She is my consolation," said Edmund to his friend
 
 M O 8 8 8 I D E . 215 
 
 " I can well believe it," was the reply. " My house .s doubly 
 gloomy and desolate after one of Peyton's visits. I am anxious 
 to adopt him, but cannot quite gain his parent's consent. What 
 can be more inspiriting and home-like than the patter of chil- 
 'Ireu's feet, the sound of children's mirth ?" 
 
 " As enthusiastic a baby-lover as ever !" observed Edmund 
 ' I must make interest with you for my pet constitute you spon- 
 or extraordinary, when I go away. Not that I doubt her hap- 
 piness here; still less do I fear that she will not be affectionately 
 nurtured, but she cannot have too many friends." 
 
 " I have one daughter here now," said Mr. Peyton. " I 
 raised Grace, and am very proud of the job," tapping me on the 
 head. 
 
 " You have slight cause for this vanity," I returned. 
 
 " Well, well ! that is your say. Keep your opinion and I will 
 keep mine. The best wish I can make this blossom of yours, 
 Edmund, is that she may grow up to be like her aunt." 
 
 " Heaven forbid I" was my thought, as I reflected upon the 
 misery, the rank poison-growth he innocently invoked for her. 
 And more like a prayer than anything I had breathed for 
 months, arose the wish that this unpolluted lily might be saved 
 from the mildew and worm that had ravaged my heart, and a 
 determination that so far as in me lay, she should be spared 
 even the knowledge of evil. 
 
 A swift taunt opposed this glimmering of desire. " How can 
 that be when melancholy faces meet her at every turn ? when 
 her caresses are responded to in solemn taciturnity, or are nu 
 noticed in the absorbing care of the hour ? when the bosom, 
 which is her nightly resting-place, is ever convulsed with sigha 
 or cold in despair ? Is this house, peopled with the shades of 
 the departed, where, from hour to hour, human steps uo?er 
 resound, a fitting habitation for this gay young creature ?" 
 
 " It shall be I" I said. " If it be a cross to sacrifice my
 
 216 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 habits and inclinations to secure this end, I accept it. I have 
 defied hardship before in mere perversity of spirit. I invite it 
 now, for the sake of another." 
 
 In the might of this resolution I worked through the day, 
 worked hard, and so far as others were concerned, successfully. 
 But evening, the gathering time of memories, approached, and 
 aiy tired strength began to waver. It was raining fast, and our 
 guests were to remain with us through the night. The gloam- 
 ing anticipated the usual season of its dusky coming, by more 
 than an hour. My aunt had retired to her chamber ; in the sit- 
 ting-room, my father, Edmund, and Mr. Peyton smoked chi- 
 bouques, and talked in a hum no louder than the dropping rain. 
 Lilly and Peyton were kneeling on the seat, under the window, 
 their foreheads against the glass, counting the pools in the yard 
 and the trickling streams from the eaves. 
 
 Whither should I repair, and in what society, except to toe 
 Growlery, and alone with myself Grace Leigh, and her oft- 
 told grievances ? The humble sofa I had made a Procrustean 
 bed, the rack whereon I tossed through my most bitter hours, 
 was in readiness ; likewise the fire, its licking flames and red-hot 
 cavn-ns furnishing new images of unrest when fancy became 
 jaded ; likewise the pale portrait over the mantel, its features 
 untouched by years, its woe changeless ; likewise the swarm of 
 stinging, black-winged thoughts, awaiting my lying down to set- 
 tle upon their voluntary prey. There were enough real sorrows 
 to bow me earthward, without loading myself with imaginary 
 horrors to grind me into the dust. Weak and wicked, I suffered 
 them all. A drowned form, with sea-weed matted in his hair 
 hands clenched in the death agony, was borne into my view 
 and the sough of the night wind was the wave requiem. Thei 
 knelt in speechless desolation the bride-widow, her nuptial 
 robe torn off to make way for sable shroudings, her girlish 
 beauty destr >yed by weeping ; weak, trembling, helples* s'fcfl
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 217 
 
 whom Heaven had just seemed to bless with the best of earth's 
 treasures. Near by, his face averted that he might not behold 
 the wreck he could not repair, the woe no mortal balm could 
 assuage, was another figure, like a young pine, swayed by this 
 resistless storm; the friend, who had snatched my brother's "bcdy 
 from the exulting billows, who had poured his own breath into 
 the lungs that were never, alas I to heave again ; whose hands 
 had composed his limbs for the grave and helped to lay him 
 there ; whose tears had flowed for him and for us ; the more 
 than brother to her the utterly bereaved her advocate and 
 helper ; to me the honorable and fervent lover of my girlhood , 
 the constantly mourned of every hour in my unhoping Now 
 who, stainless in truth, abiding in affection, irreproachable in 
 thought and deed, was, nevertheless, to be neither brother, 
 lover, nor friend to me now, nor evermore. The beating rain 
 was the tramping of a train of weeping ghosts, winding rounci 
 and round the house, bearing the ashes of Life's most precious 
 things in mocking honor of this my Christmas festival I 
 
 " Auntie, dear," was spoken at the door. " May I come in ?'' 
 
 " Yes, Lilly." 
 
 She rustled past the head of the lounge as upon the evening 
 before, but instead of standing aloof, as then, she crouched 
 down upon the floor, leaned her elbow upon the side of my 
 cushions, and touched my brow with her lips. 
 
 " Were you asleep ? do I disturb yon ?" she queried, appre- 
 hensively. 
 
 " No, my love. I like to have you here." 
 
 She played with the rings upon my fingers, slipping them off 
 5nd on. 
 
 " I was lonesome, Auntie, and came to look for you." 
 51 j heart bounded. Lonely for me ! Could this be so ? 
 " Where is Peyton/' I asked. 
 
 " I left him. in the parlor. I am tired of playing, although he 
 10
 
 M088-8IDK 
 
 fa very kind and funny. Somehow, I do not feel like laughing 
 and talking after it gets dark ; and so, as I said, I was lonesome, 
 and wanted you. I love yon, Auntie 1" pressing her soft face 
 ngainst mine. 
 
 Was she a spirit of meroy? Did a secret magnetic current 
 pass from her love-full soul to mine, worn and withered ? 
 
 ' And I love you, darling 1" I cried, catching her to my 
 breast with a vehemence that almost alarmed her. 
 
 "Auntie," she commenced, as I released her, " may I talk to 
 you about my dear mamma ?" 
 
 " If it will not make you too sorrowful, Lilly," fjr the big 
 drops in her eyes were sparkling with the firelight. 
 
 " No, ma'am at least I will try not to cry, for she asked n 
 to remember her and speak of her sometimes, and not to fret 
 papa or myself by thinking that she was dead, but to believe 
 that she was very near me when I was good and loved God"- 
 " What, dear 1" I interrupted. 
 
 " She hoped, she said, that He would let her watch over me 
 when I was a poor, motherless child ; that she would beg Him 
 to make her my ' ministering angel.' Do you think He did, 
 Auntie ?" 
 
 " What do you think, Lilly ?" 
 
 " I hope that she can see me and be with me. Sonetimes, I 
 feel sure she is not far off." 
 
 Her rapt face shone like that of the angel she Beared to 
 welcome. Whatever was my belief in the beauttul theory 
 taught by the mother, and received by the trusting child, I be- 
 held in it a blessed consolation to the latter ; a harmless delusion, 
 'f they were mistaken in their translation of spirit-longings ; one 
 rich in peace and comfort to the survivors, as to the parting 
 
 soul. 
 
 "She cannot forget you, Lilly," I said, "and it ii sweet t 
 thiuk of her as present with us."
 
 MOBS SIDE. 219 
 
 " Then she knows how good you are to me," she responded, 
 again, fondling my face, " and that I am already quite satisfied 
 tc live here at Moss-side, with you and grandpapa, and that I 
 have two mothers now one here, and another in heaven 1" 
 
 " Yes yes !" I assented, unwilling to shake her happy faith. 
 
 She did not move or speak for some time. 
 
 " Auntie," she whispered, finally, " you hare somt friends that 
 you love in heaven, too, haven't you ?" 
 
 "Yes, dear Lilly," my manner a mournful contrast to hers. 
 
 " Your mother is there isn't she ?" 
 
 " Yes ; she died when I was very small several years younger 
 than you are now." 
 
 " And Uncle Frederic," she proceeded, " he is with her, I 
 know, for mamma said he was a Christian. Oh I how we all 
 cried when we heard that he was " 
 
 " There, love ! no more !" I entreated. " 0, my brother ! my 
 brother !" giving way to a paroxysm of grief, the first tears 
 other eyes had seen me shed since I wept in Herbert's arms. 
 
 " Dear, dear Auntie !" murmured the sweet voice, broken by 
 sobs, " please forgive me ! I did not mean to distress yon 
 indeed indeed, I did not 1 I thought you would love to talk " 
 and breaking down completely, she cried with me. 
 
 I was refreshed, not exhausted, by this salutary indulgence, 
 and regained my self-command sooner than did she. Taking her 
 upon my lap, and kissing away her tears, with many assurances 
 that I was neither wounded nor offended, I bade her tell me all 
 about the uncle whose playfellow she had been. 
 
 Very dear were these gleanings of the later months of his life. 
 In the beginning the sensitive narrator proceeded warily, scanning 
 my features for any return of the late tempest of uncontrollable 
 emotion, but as I continued calm, she cast off fear, and related 
 just such incidents and particulars as I wished to hear ; sketched 
 domestic scenes and social virtues with a loving fidelity thai
 
 220 MOS8-8IDK. 
 
 proved the stand he had gained in the hearts of his brother*! 
 family and stranger friends. He it was who, by his frequent 
 Btories of our childhood and highly colored paintings of his un- 
 worthy sister's charms and excellences had prepared Lilly to love 
 me. The rain still beat and the wind moaned, but it was not 
 '.be dirge to which I had listened through two winters past, for 
 m'thin my soul were angel-voices, and in my sight, an angel's 
 form. 
 
 From that night, my dependence upon her began. The germ 
 which had put forth under the rain of her tears, was baptized 
 anew by mine, and day by day, the thread-like roots spread and 
 strengthened ; twining tendrils wound about the slender support 
 that bore them up well and bravely. Our Lilly was not a saint 
 still less was she a genius. Her father had described her tru- 
 ly as an intelligent, warm-hearted child, in whom whatever was 
 lovable and good had been fostered, and evil propensities 
 restrained. Her ministry to me was as spontaneous as her mirth. 
 Her delicate intuition advised her that there existed the need of 
 a reconciling medium between me and my kind, a need she sup- 
 plied, without comprehending ; which her unformed mind cer- 
 tainly never attempted to follow back to a primary cause. 
 
 Edmund tarried to see her domesticated, and after a touching 
 mrewell, wended his way back to his place of business, homeless 
 and solitary. Our household fairy drooped her pinions for a 
 while, but they were too buoyant to succumb entirely to the 
 heaviest pressure. Soon the quaint old homestead was resonant 
 with her carols and her gleesome laughter, and her feet skimmed 
 its floors as gaily as though these were not haunted precincts a 
 skeleton in every corner. From her they were mercifully veiled 
 the phantoms that glided past, and walked with me, wherever 
 J moved were, viewless, and therefore undreaded by her. I had 
 not so much leisure now to heed them. Active duties were driv 
 Ing out sickly humors. The moping needlework absorbed lesi
 
 M08S-8ID K. 221 
 
 of my attention, for Lilly's lessons were of greater importance 
 She must have exercise, and my walks were shorter and more 
 diversified ; amusements, and the piano, discordant from disuse, 
 was retuned ; a closet fitted up for a play-house, and stocked 
 by myself. This tiny cog in our machinery accelerated the slo^ 
 rate of its revolutions, and the web that rolled from it was inter- 
 spersed with light, graceful designs, and hints of brighter color- 
 ing, among the formal patterns, in dead, neutral hues, that had 
 hitherto formed our bundle of life.
 
 M O 8 8 SIDE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 IT was a clear, bracing morning, and rny pupil was restless t 
 have done with books. 
 
 " This is a beautiful day, Auntie," she said, between a recita 
 tion in Geography and one in Arithmetic 
 
 " Very beautiful !" I replied, unsuspet^ngly. " Now for youi 
 rale, Lilly." 
 
 It was correctly repeated, the questions in mental practice 
 and the written sums approved, and she ventured further. 
 
 "It will be nice walking about twelve o'clock don't you 
 think so ?" 
 
 " We will try it," answered I. " Have you any particular 
 jaunt to propose ?" 
 
 This was what she waited for, and her straight-forward rejoin- 
 der showed that she was indisposed to prolong the guileless 
 maneuvering. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am. I should like very much to go to the ice- 
 pond." 
 
 " And why the ice-pond ?" 
 
 "Because the men are at work there to-day. Uncle Sam 
 told grandpapa this morning that the ice was thick enough to 
 be cut out, and grandpapa said that the hands were to go 
 down and get it right away. I would so dearly enjoy seeing 
 them pull out the great shining blocks, and load the wagon* 
 with them ! Joe says they glitter just like silver." 
 
 " If Joe's eloquence has been exercised in behalf of the expe- 
 dition, opposition from me would be thrown away," thought I
 
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 223 
 
 If we get through our studies early, Lilly, we will talk about 
 joir.ing the workmen.'* 
 
 " Grandpapa has gone too," finished she. " I saw him ride 
 down the back lane, not long ago. Won't he be surprised tc 
 see us ?" 
 
 Dispatch was the soul of her duties until the tasks were 
 accomplished. Well wrapped up in cloak and furs, she danced 
 delightedly around the room, as I attended to some final pre- 
 parations for my aunt's comfort while we should be away. 
 
 " Lilly dear," I said, reprovingly. " You may trouble Aunt 
 Agnes if you jar the room." 
 
 The invalid smiled. " No fear of that ! She moves too 
 lightly, and I enjoy her flow of spirits. Be very careful of her, 
 Grace. Is she warmly clad ? It is piercing cold." 
 
 " See I" said Lilly, opening the wadded skirts of her mantle ; 
 " and we walk so fast Auntie and I that we never know 
 what the weather is." 
 
 "Young blood is warmer than mine," remarked my aunt, 
 slowly rubbing her palsied hand. " I am too apt to forget how 
 hard it is to chill it, for I am never warm myself." 
 
 Lilly ran to her to say " Good-bye," and held up her face, 
 pure as a snow-drop, for the salute none ever denied as her law- 
 ful perquisite. 
 
 The wind was, in truth, very cutting, while we travelled the 
 exposed plains and higher grounds, and we were ready to slacken 
 our gait to take breath, when we gained the shelter of the 
 woods. Icicles fringed some of the lower branches to which the 
 sun and wind had imperfect access ; the brown leaf-carpet was 
 powdered with hoar-frost, and the twigs we brushed and trod 
 upon snapped spitefully. No child of the forest could have 
 boasted more ruddy cheeks, a more elastic bound than my city* 
 born companion. She sprang over fallen brush-wood, mounted 
 rocks and stumps, flying, every other minute, from the path, in
 
 224 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 search of these inviting obstacles ; and once a peal of laughter, 
 melodious as a wood-nymph's call to her mates, drew my notice 
 to a headlong race after a startled hare, down a slope, 3ncum 
 bered with undergrowth and logs, to which she paid no more rfr 
 gard than did the four-footed puss. She rejoined me, still oil the 
 run, her hood hanging by one ribbon from her finger, a comic 
 Biixture of regret and mirthfulness in her countenance. 
 
 " Auntie dear," she panted, " I am very sorry but it caught 
 npon a naughty limb, and, of course, it was impossible for me 
 to stop just then, for I wanted to see where the hare's nest 
 was. I thought I could remember the very spot where I drop- 
 ped the string, but when I lost the rabbit, which, I am sure, 
 must have run into the ground, all the trees looked exactlj 
 alike, and my ribbon was not upon any of them. I did not 
 like to keep you waiting, and ran back to tell you. Was I very 
 careless ?" 
 
 " Rather I must say," I returned, smiling, and restoring the 
 liberated curls to their confinement. 
 
 " I believe I could find it if I were to hunt a while longer," 
 she proposed. 
 
 " It is hardly worth while to do that. I will pin your bonnet 
 on now, and give you another string when we go home. How 
 flushed you are 1 You will injure yourself by such violent exer- 
 cise, if you get cool too suddenly. We had better walk on to- 
 gether to the end of this piece of woods." 
 
 She restrained herself to my pace, only darting aside twice to 
 pick up nuts, until we were out of the forest, and beheld the 
 Bheen of the ice through its girdle of shrubbery trees. Clapping 
 her hands, she flew from my side with the speed of a loosened 
 arrow. I remarked, in my more deliberate descent of the hill, 
 the absence of signs of human life, where we had expected e 
 busy scene, and upon the bank was met by Lilly's disappointed 
 Why, there is nobody here 1"
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 225 
 
 Perhaps you did not understand grandpapa's orders," 1 sug 
 
 " Indeed, Auntie, he said just what I told ycu ! Joe heard 
 him too, and wished he had not so much house-work to do, and 
 w>uld come down here with tne rest." 
 
 " Grandpapa changed his mind then, I suppose," I said. 
 
 " Are you certain this is the pond, Auntie ?" 
 
 " Yes, dear. Come, let us look at it." 
 
 To console her, I led the way to the edge, and pointed out the 
 beauty of its dazzling surface. It was a narrow, oblong lake 
 fenced about with hills except at the northern extremity, whence 
 poured the blast that had given to " Leigh's pond " the reputa- 
 tion of producing the thickest ice in the county, and that coated 
 it across when other waters were uncongealed. 
 
 " After all," was soon the juvenile philosopher's conclusion, 
 " it would not be half so pretty if it were all cut up, and 
 we can come here another day, when they do begin to clear it 
 out." 
 
 " If we had skates now, we could have fine sport," said I. " I 
 have skated here many a day when I was a girl." 
 
 Nothing would do but I must relate the excursions Frederic, 
 Annie Bell, and I used to make for this pastime ; how Annie and 
 myself were fearful and awkward, and incurred numberless falls 
 in punishment for our want of courage, and the exhilarating en- 
 joyment of the rushing sweep from end to end of the lake, after 
 we had conquered all difficulties. I pointed out the smoke of 
 Afrs. Bell's chimney over one of the hills, and made her fairly 
 ehout with the tale of a disaster that befell me, one freezing day, 
 when I tempted the ice upon the running brook that fed the 
 pond, and atoned for my rash trust by a plunge in mud and wa- 
 ter three feet deep. 
 
 " I scrambled out, dripping and shaking with cold," I said ] 
 *' there was no fire nearer thai? Mrs. Bell's, and although I ran 
 10*
 
 226 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 every step of the way, my frock and stockings were stiff froaei 
 when I got to her house." 
 
 " This looks strong !'' said she, stamping upon the slipper; 
 sheet 
 
 " Oh, yes ! it would bear twenty men, or grandpapa would 
 ot think it ready to be packed away. I can walk on it without 
 filling. Shall I lead you to the other side ?" 
 
 She consented with great glee, although she breathed hard 
 wul short for the first few steps. The taste of excitement made 
 her importunate for more. 
 
 " I can teach you to slide," I said ; " that is something like 
 skating, but much easier to learn." 
 
 I retained my hold of her while her footing was uncertain, 
 but when she once stood firmly on her feet her poise was so just 
 and elegant, and such the pliability of her body and limbs, that, 
 to gratify her and myself also, I omitted this precaution, aud 
 stopped my own course to watch hers. I had removed her fur 
 cape, that she might not want for additional clothing when the 
 heat of motion was over, and the wind buoyed her cloak into 
 streaming sails . as she floated, rapid as the wind itself, hither 
 and thither, wherever her ecstatic fancy willed. The pin I had 
 put in her hood was an inadequate substitute for the lost ribbon, 
 and a sudden turn in her zigzag career left her head bare. This 
 was unsafe exposure, and I called to her to cover it. She 
 snatched up the bonnet and swung it around, shook her curls 
 over her eyes in pretty willfulness, arid running and sliding, 
 started up the pond, looking back at me, roguishly defiant. 
 
 " Too fast, Lilly 1" I called again when she disappeared 
 beneath the ice 
 
 Superhuman speed and skill bore me to the fatal air-hole- 
 masked by a crust, which had broken like glass at a touch. Sha 
 arose where she had sunk ; the bright ringlets came up withic 
 reach of my grasp, and a terror-stricken face looked into mine,
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 227 
 
 I seized her, felt her drowning clutch upon my sleeve, shrieked 
 some words of encouragement, dragged her from the chasm, 
 and in the effort to throw her far upon the solid ice, losl 
 my balance. 
 
 " She is safe !" I uttered, mechanically, before I realized my 
 own peril. Indeed, I knew nothing of it beyond a simultaneous 
 Bense of extreme coldness, and a stunnu.g blow then I must 
 have gone down without a struggle. 
 
 I slept a long time ; for a thousand fragmentary visions that 
 risited my brain, while I lay insensible to external things, recur 
 to me even now. Some were nightmares, with which I grappled 
 when I could not flee the horrid spectres ; but most were beauti- 
 ful dreams of summer scenes and sunny hearts a lapsing of 
 mind into a channel blocked up and forbidden when reason's 
 Bway was potent ; revelled in, during her dethronement. 
 
 My waking thought was that the morning was at hand, for a 
 reddish light shed a faint illumination through the chamber. 
 With this indistinct impression, I shut my eyes, steeped in the 
 delicious languor that pervades the enchanted land on the bor- 
 lers of sleep's realm. Unlovely shapes presently invaded thia 
 domain ; witch-hags, with weazen features and claw-like fingers, 
 gibbered and grimaced at me ; perched, moping and mowing 
 upon bed-posts and pillows. Their whispers buzzed, at length, 
 into intelligible sentences. 
 
 " She can't stand it long," said the ugliest gnome of the crew. 
 " Her pulse is very low, and her complexion ghastly. I notice 
 to-night that there are purple circles around her eyes and 
 mouth a sign that does not fail once in a hundred times. I 
 ibould not wonder if she were to die to-morrow." 
 
 " The doctor has hopes of her still/' aLswered more human 
 tones. The beldame troop of elves vanished, and in their room 
 were the shadowy outlines of two figures, life-size and life-like. 
 Bv the hearth sat Mrs. Bell and Miss Susan Townlev, Mis*
 
 228 M O S S - 8 I D K . 
 
 Susan's were the lineaments of my impish tormeutoi ; and i 
 her wiry whisper, my flesh crept as at the grating of rough 
 steel. 
 
 "He may say so, and not believe it himself, and he maj 
 believe it and not be n-^ht. I don't pin my faith to his sleeve. 
 Besides, nobody can ever tell what he does think he goes oa 
 at such a rate ! I know something about sickness. I've nursed 
 some in my life, and can judge of some things as well as other 
 people that are thought wiser. If this girl's life is not going out 
 as fast and certainly as that candle is burning down, I will never 
 undertake to speak my mind upon another case." 
 
 I hearkened without alarm. I knew the doomed girl ; but 
 what was my personal interest in her, I could not understand. 
 I appeared to have a double existence, and neither of the 
 two was more than a half developed being. Yet what con- 
 cerned either of my selves, it behooved me to hear, and my senses 
 served me truly in gathering every word. 
 
 " I will hope on to the last," said Mrs. Bell. " She is almost 
 as dear to me as my Annie. I trust in God's goodness not 
 to lay heavier burdens upon His children than they can carry, 
 and her loss would kill her father and aunt. She is their all, 
 now." 
 
 " There does seem to be a fatality hanging over that family," 
 pursued Miss Susan, complacently regaling her nostrils with a 
 pinch of snuff. " It's been one misfortune after another, ever 
 since they moved into the neighborhood, and nobody knows how 
 long before. The old man lost his wife, a son and a daughter in 
 three years, and a good deal of property, I've heard. Things 
 went on smoothly then, until here come his sister's sickness 
 Frederic's death, and most likely, the death of this one too all 
 m a lump, as it were. Queer is it not ? that the two youngest 
 should both die by violence as we may call it anyhow bj 
 accident. It seems to me like a peculiar Providence."
 
 M O S S - S 1 D E . 229 
 
 Mrs Bell's manner savored of displeasure. " I do not know 
 what j ou mean by a ' peculiar Providence.' If you would say 
 that this is a mysterious dispensation, I agree with you that we 
 cannot see why the righteous should be so afflicted, and that 
 Providence alone can perceive any need of the discipline." 
 
 This was not Miss Susan's meaning, she said, true as it might 
 be, and as she hoped it was. 
 
 "We are blind, erring creatures, the best of us, Mrs. Bell, 
 Bnd require chastisement some more than others dream of. 
 Hidden transgressions are often visited by punishment that 
 astonishes and puzzles a man's nearest friends, who can't believe 
 that he deserves it. There is some significance in every blow. 
 That is what I alluded to when I wondered if both these 
 children being drowned" 
 
 " Grace was not drowned," Mrs. Bell corrected, testily. 
 
 " But she would have been if they had not pulled her out 
 directly," was the rejoinder. "As I was saying, Mr. Leigh, 
 good as he is, may be aware of some secret reason for this 
 form of affliction. If I were in his place, I should lay it to 
 heart." 
 
 " As, no doubt, poor Mrs. Allison over there, did the deaths 
 of her four babes in one week, from scarlet fever," retorted Mrs. 
 Bell ; " as Mr. Peyton did the loss of his wife, when he had 
 neither kith nor kin besides upon earth ; as you, Miss Susan, 
 may in the Lord's time, be called upon to mourn for your own 
 relations. Ah !" sighed the matron, shaking her head, " it ia 
 ot for ns to judge of the dealings of the Almighty, to apply 
 the lessons He sends ! For anything we know, Mr. Leigh a 
 oatient Christian he is ! may be set up as an example ^>r oar 
 raitation, and we could not have a worthier, Miss Susan, to 
 show us how a mortal like ourselves may ' glorify God in the 
 fire.' By their works ye shall know them. The widow and the 
 fatherless can relate more of his than those who are raised above
 
 "230 M b S - 8 1 J > K . 
 
 want ;" and moved by grateful recollection, or hei own elo 
 quence ; she applied her handkerchief to her eyes. ' 
 
 Miss Susan's sour lips took on a superfluous curl ; but, baffled 
 in one quarter by blunt sincerity, she tried another avenue cf 
 aspersion. 
 
 " His daughter does not favor him much in certain respects 
 She was passable in looks and manners when she was growing 
 up. Now-a-days, I can make nothing of her. Annie is intimate 
 with her ; have you ever heard of her having been engaged in a 
 love-scrape or having had any other cross ? I strongly suspect 
 something of the kind. I told her so once, and she turned as 
 red as a beet." 
 
 " Annie does love her, as do I, with all my heart," returned 
 the hostess ; " for a better girl does not live hereabouts. I never 
 heard a whisper of any love-affair ; and as to her blushing when 
 you charged her with one, it would have been strange if she had 
 not been confused. Young ladies are apt to color up at such 
 accusations, as they used to do in your day and mine, now gone 
 by, Miss Susan." 
 
 This home-thrust sent Miss Susan's hand again to her pocket 
 for the snuff-box. 
 
 Mrs. Bell went on. " Grace has enough to wear her down, 
 anxiety, and nursing, and her brother's death. They were per- 
 fectly devoted to one another." 
 
 " Humph 1 so I've been told. She had unbounded influence 
 over him, I know. Of that we had proof in his marriage. She 
 made the match, out and out." 
 
 " No disparagement to her if she did !" contended Mrs. Bell, 
 4 Some who had less right to interfere, would have rejoiced to 
 assist him in the choice of a wife, and not suited him at that." 
 
 Two stabs from the charitable old lady in the same number 
 of minutes ! The high bridge of Miss Susan's nose trembled 
 with the powerful sniff that drew in the aromatic dust from he;
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 23 J 
 
 thumb and forefinger. Sne rapped the painted lid, to be ready 
 for the next emergency. 
 
 "Well 1 well ! you see what has come of this affair. She 
 Lasn't much room for bragging of her work. Her brother ii 
 dead and her friend a widow !" 
 
 " Miss Susan 1 Miss Susan !" her hands upraised devoutly 
 " If you hope to obtain mercy for yourself, be merciful 1 One 
 would suppose that you triumph in the troubles of your neigh- 
 bors. Not that I believe it, but you do shock me, imputing 
 blame to those whose misfortunes call for pity ; whose sorrows 
 are directly from the hand of the Lord. Just picture to your- 
 self that lone lamb a widow, in the very month that first saw 
 her a wife ! It's enough to make a heart of stone ache I" 
 
 " She was a flighty, flirting butterfly," replied Miss Susan, 
 flintily. " It is to be hoped that this affliction will sober her, 
 and be sanctified to her good." 
 
 Here something sounded through my head like a breaking 
 Itring. I gasped and fainted. 
 
 Dr. Hamner held my wrist and Mrs. Bell bathed my face, 
 when I could see again. Annie leaned upon the post where the 
 fiendish hag had squatted. 
 
 " Where is she ?" I said, staring around me. 
 
 " Who, dear Grace ?" questioned Mrs. Bell and Annie to- 
 gether. 
 
 " She the one that said Grace Leigh was dying ! I saw her 
 and heard those very words." 
 
 Mother and daughter exchanged glances. 
 
 " You are dreaming, my love," answered the latter. 
 
 The doctor's bushy eyebrows met in his frown. " What stuff 
 has been talked in her hearing ?" he snarled. " You are a 
 goose, Grace Leigh, and your she whoever she is, is a greater. 
 ' Dj ing,' forsooth 1 I dare you to die without my leave I If I 
 live as many years as you have got in advance of you, I shal]
 
 232 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 bury my great-grandchildren. People don't die in this iegene 
 rate age for less than two doctors. Six would not kill you 
 Pah 1 pooh ! confound meddlers, I say !" 
 
 This gruff vaporing was a sedative to me, and decided my 
 doubts as to whether I were really in the flesh. 
 
 I smiled, and he nodded. 
 
 " That is sensible ! If you speak before I am through my 
 Btory, I will cut your tongue out, and then, as a spunky woman, 
 yon will not live, out of spite. Where are you ? At Mrs. Bell's, 
 with Annie to cry over and nurse you. How did you get here ? 
 You were trundled in a wheel-barrow by old Zack, who found 
 you in the road, and strained his back in hoisting you into his 
 vehicle. What were you doing on the ground ? You are too 
 hard for me. The most plausible theory is that you tripped your 
 toe, or twisted your foot, or swooned, or performed some othei 
 feat as characteristic of your sex, and in falling, cut your heacl 
 with a pointed stone that lay, as we Irishmen say, ' convaynient.' 
 Now, you have all the information you could ask for, if you were 
 to gabble half a day, and as talking is thus proved to be irra- 
 tional, be a rational animal, and eat your breakfast instead a 
 light luncheon, which old Molly will be offended if yoc refuse." 
 
 " One question, doctor 1" I said, feebly. 
 
 " Out with it then 1 and mind that you know how to count, 
 for I won't hear more. I am sent for in a plagued hurry to see 
 a man who has the croup, chicken-pox and consumption, and 
 was dying of each when the messenger left him. What is it ?" 
 
 " When did I hurt myself?" 
 
 He rammed his fists into the huge pockets of his great-coat, 
 " That is more Mrs. Bell's business than mine. You have tres- 
 passed upon her for bed and board and messes uncountable, 
 since yesterday afternoon." 
 
 " Then I cannot be very ill," I was about to say, but he 
 threatened me with an imaginary gash in his own tongue, and
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 233 
 
 i held mine With the weakness, I had the docility of a 
 child. 
 
 Dawn superseded candle-light. The doctor, warning us with 
 assurances of his speedy and overwhelming vengeance, if we dared 
 to speak a monosyllable, beckoned to Mrs. Bell, and Annie was 
 my only attendant. I would have addressed her, had she not 
 put her finger to her lips, in token that she was an accomplice 
 of the facetious physician in whatever the scheme was he had on 
 foot some jest, I was foolish enough to imagine. I poorly 
 merited his epithet of " rational animal," for my mind was tor- 
 pid, while the physical portion of me lazily enjoyed the sensuous 
 ese of the slumbering nerves and relaxed muscles, the dolce fa? 
 nientt of the earliest stages of convalescence. My bed was soft, 
 the chamber summer in temperature, and my once ever-active 
 imagination could conjure up no Elysium equal to a perpetua- 
 tion of my present state, no horror exceeding the pang of mov- 
 ing. The window-curtain was pushed aside by a chair, undesigii- 
 edly set against it, and through the aperture not an inch wide, 
 a sunbeam found entrance. The motes, rising to starry lustre 
 in the golden stream, sinking to annihilation below it, were my 
 playfellows, until the ray narrowed to a pencil, the pencil to A 
 line, the line to a hair-stroke, and the sun bad passed. Then I 
 slept and awoke that I might gain a relish for another nap. 
 The doctor's burly figure was beside me several times why, I 
 had no idea. Conjecture upon this or any other subject was too 
 troublesome for the Sybarite body, and it might have drugged 
 its nobler mate with Lethean waters, so abject was its submis- 
 sion. During all the day I heard not a footstep or a voice. My 
 waiters were bodiless mutes for all tne noise they made. It 
 was kind in them, I thought, and the exertion of this trifling 
 amount of gratitude was an opiate that lasted me two hours. 
 
 I dreamed that I had other visitors, benign in presence and 
 loying in deed, for they sprinkled my couch and anointed my fore
 
 834 M O S S - S I I > K . 
 
 head and hands with fragrant essences. I stirred at waking 
 and there was a flutter of unfurling wings, while on my hand, 
 resting upon the counterpane gleamed a tear-pearl, not yet 
 cold. A vase, in dimension suited for a doll's centre-table, had 
 been placed on a stand by the bed, and from it sprang a pale* 
 jpreeu stem, bearing six white hyacinth-bells. I counted them 
 carefully, after divers unsuccessful attempts, and perceived their 
 odor, so delicate, it seemed but the lingerings of my dream. 
 The spring floweret recompensed me for the absence of the sun- 
 ray, for it was always there to greet my eyes. In the darkest 
 hour of night, the taper afforded me light to discern the snowy 
 petals bowing meek in rest or humility. Fragile as they were, 
 ft knowledge of my real condition would have led to a doubt 
 whether they might not, in fading, be strewed upon my coffin, or 
 Btill blooming, still fragrant, be pressed by my dead hands over 
 a motionless heart. 
 
 But the morrow broke, brightened and wasted, and evening 
 found me yet alive and conscious to all pleasant influences, oblivi- 
 ous of the existence of pain and woe, just breathing enough to 
 show that I lived ; just sensible enough to prove myself 
 11 rational animal."
 
 X O 8 ft - S I D E . 236 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE faces of Mrs Bell and Annie were more cheerful, that of 
 Dr. Hamner graver upon the third day, and one skilled in the 
 knowledge of the character of each, would, from these signs, 
 have augured well for the patient. The eccentric knight of gal- 
 lipots and powders was happiest in situations that would have 
 distracted an ordinary man, and dismal, when others saw every 
 reason for rejoicing. It was a common saying that he cracked 
 jokes with dying men and swore at those who recovered. It is 
 certain that his jests to me at this morning call, were fewer and 
 more forced than upon prior occasions, when he had arrogated 
 as his prerogative, the whole of the conversation carried on 
 in the sick-room. The fourth, he was reserved and moody ; the 
 fifth, cross. 
 
 " I am better, thank you !" I replied to his salutation. 
 
 " I am glad you have the grace to thank me for it," h 
 growled. " You will be as short of memory as the rest of them 
 by the time you can stand upon your feet. Put out your tongue ! 
 That's the way the world goes 1 How can I feel your pulse 
 when your hand is bobbing this way and that ? It is ' dear 
 doctor/ and tears and blessings, when Death is knocking at the 
 door, and when I have, by fisticuffs, and kicks and wrestling, day 
 and night, driven off the bugbear, the tune is changed. ' Wha 
 an old bear !' ' A shockingly rough, vulgar creature, whom we 
 would not patronize, you know, if he were not the only experi- 
 enced physician in this part of the county, you know, and one 
 must submit in illness to a great mary disagreeable things, you
 
 236 M O 8 6 - 8 I D E . 
 
 know, my deal/" mimicking the languishing lisp of a fine lady 
 " It is downright laziness that fools you into keeping your bed j 
 yet I should lose your custom, and thereby, a thick slice of my 
 bread and butter, if I did not humor you treat you according 
 to your folly." 
 
 " I think I am rather weak, doctor," I said, in timid expostu 
 lation, persuaded, notwithstanding, that I was in some degre* 
 culpable, so emphatic was his declaration of the cheat I was 
 playing. 
 
 " And so would Samson have been ' rather weak,' if he had 
 steamed between the blankets for eight days, and been coddled 
 with toast and panado. Mrs. Bell, have you obeyed orders with 
 regard to that old maid I beg your pardon and hers ! that 
 youthful friend of the very undecided age, who is addicted to 
 enuff and evil-speaking ?" 
 
 He withdrew to the fire-place as he spoke, and Mrs. Bell's 
 reply was undistinguishable. Not so his. 
 
 " My respects to her if she shows her peaked phiz within your 
 doors again upon a similar errand, and say that, ignorant quack 
 as she thinks me, I can kill those who are green enough to em- 
 ploy me, without her valuable assistance ; and that when I am 
 so bereft of brains as to go into partnership with a woman, she 
 won't stand more than a fifth-rate chance of the appointment." 
 
 " Doctor, when may I go home ?" I inquired. 
 
 " To-morrow 1" said he, tersely. 
 
 " Are they well at Moss-side ?" 
 
 " Yes ; and I have pocketed a bribe to imprison you here so 
 long as I can manufacture pretexts for doing so they gel^ on so 
 grandly without you." 
 
 I laughed. 
 
 " It is the truest word you have heard me speak to-day, Misa 
 believe it or not, as you choose ! But you may go home to spite 
 them whenever you are ready. Get up ! stir around ! neve*
 
 MOSS SIDE. 
 
 if your head is giddy ! that is not a fault, but nature in 
 female brains. Go down stairs to dinner, walk out with Annie 
 this afternoon, and by the morning you will be as strong as au 
 elephant. If you prefer to travel in style, Zack's wheelbarrow 
 is at your service. A bottle of opodeldoc will be an acceptable 
 reward for any further demands of that sort." 
 
 "Nonsense 1" said I. "I cannot walk down stairs and up 
 again." 
 
 " Then, lie still 1" 
 
 " Why have not my father and Lilly been to see me ?" 1 
 asked, revealing my wounded feeling. 
 
 " Where was the use ? You did nothing but sleep, sleep, 
 Bleep like a beggar in the sunshine. They were here yesterday, 
 the day before, and the day before that saw you breathe and 
 heard you snore. You must not look for them again in a week. 
 They cannot wade through snow a foot deep." 
 
 I cast my eyes unbelievingly to the window. 
 
 " Don't credit that either, hey ? Jump up and see for your- 
 self ! Oho ! you can't ? Until you can, trust the report of 
 reracious people !" 
 
 " Annie," I said, when he had gone, " has there been a snow- 
 storm ?" 
 
 " Not such an one as the doctor described," she returned, 
 " but the ground is covered." 
 
 " Then Lilly ought not to venture out," I soliloquized. 
 
 My hands were in their usual position on the outside of the 
 bed, and as I lifted one, the light was visible through the wasted 
 Gugers, as through mother-of-pearl, a phenomenon that filled me 
 with amazement. 
 
 Annie marked the motion and my expression. 
 
 " You did not know how thin you had grown did you ? You 
 must reflect that you have taken a very small quantity of nou- 
 rishment and no exercise since Dr. Hamper has been your jailer.'
 
 238 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " I? eight days !" I said. " I had not supposed that one couM 
 tall away as I have done in that time." 
 
 " You have the evidence of your own sight," .Anaie replied. 
 " Do not be discouraged. Take heart and recruit with like ra- 
 pidity. You are decidedly better to-day, the doctor says. He 
 recommends, however, that you talk very little. What an anti- 
 pathy he professes to our sex ! He has a kind heart, though, 
 and has been unwearied in his cares to you. It is a sore tempta- 
 tation to be with you when I must be dumb, but I will try to 
 resist it for your sake. I am impatient to have you up and well. 
 Now ! silence is the order of the day." 
 
 This is, perhaps, the most appropriate place for me to recount 
 the incidents of my rescue from a watery grave and my trans- 
 portation to the abode of the benevolent widow. Old Zack was 
 on the forenoon of my adventure, foraging in the woods adjacent 
 to the pond, for game in the shape of hares and partridges, and 
 light-wood for torches and kindlings, attended by Sultan. Drawn 
 towards the lake by the sound of Lilly's laughter, he was in 
 sight of us at the moment of the catastrophe, had I looked for 
 other succor than what I could extend. Hale and sound in 
 wind, he reached us as speedily as a young man f^uld have 
 done. His shout was unheard in my frantic haste. Lilly was 
 cast almost to his feet, and the waves had not closed after me 
 when the Newfoundland dashed in among the fractured ice. 
 Lilly was unhurt, and thoughtless of her freezing apparel in her 
 concern for me. Zack dispatched her, piloted by the sagacious 
 Sultan, to his mistress's house, bidding her " run fast to keep 
 life in herself and me ;" enfolded me in his shaggy dreadnought 
 coat ; disposed me ingeniously in his hand-cart, and trundled, ai 
 if fifty lives, more precious than mine, hung upon his celerity. 
 
 The reason of the solitude where Lilly had promised me we 
 should see all the working force of the plantation, was, that my 
 father, upon a personal survey of the premises, differed from the
 
 MC S 8 - 8 I I) E . 239 
 
 man whose report Lilly had heard, and declaring the ice too thin 
 for his purpose, postponed getting it out until the following day. 
 The hands dispersed to other avocations, and he, by a singulai 
 coincidence, rode by Mrs. Bell's to inquire how she fared in the 
 tocloinent weather. He had arisen to go home, when the do^t 
 aas burst inwards by Lilly, beside herself with fright and dis- 
 tress Annie carried her off to bed, and the others hastened hi 
 quest of me. In falling and this was anohter crumb of truth in 
 the doctor's fiction, founded upon fact I had received a wound 
 in the temple, not from a " convenient" stone, but a more for- 
 midable projection, jagging the side of the air-hole. The cut 
 was dangerous, the blow severe. The night of Miss Susan's 
 neighborly watch was the eighth of my delirium, instead of the 
 second, as they would have had me believe. The imperious 
 Irishman prohibited the utterance of anything that could recall 
 the ir.emory of my accident, justly fearing its agitating effects, 
 Upon his accommodating conscience, he imposed the inventions 
 that slipped like oil from his tongue, when, for the success of hia 
 art, he considered it necessary to do evil that good might come. 
 These details were doled out to me as my insatiate inquiries 
 demanded some satisfaction. The whole story was not gained 
 until I could sit up in my room, and Aunt Molly's arms were tlu 
 palanquin, wherein I rode down to the lower story every day to 
 dinuer. The old woman and her husband regarded me as their 
 foster-child, in right of my deliverance by the last-named. They 
 were privileged dependents, never feeling their servitude, and 
 mere prone to speaking their whole minds than was their nomi- 
 nal mistress. Their propriety in me they asserted jealously, 
 /ack paid his respects in my chamber the same day that my 
 father wag admitted to a waking interview ; and every luxary 
 the country afforded at that season was, through his instrumen- 
 tality, provided for me. Sultan, too, he trained to march up 
 itairs at his heels, and bear a part in the ceremonial of the
 
 240 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 audience vouchsafed to him. Thus they presented themselTct, 
 the morning of the day fixed for my going home. Zack stood 
 oear the door ; my canine preserver walked up and touched 
 mv hand with his nose. I patted him license, as he understood 
 It, to rest his black muzzle upon my knee, and while I talked 
 U) Zack, his intelligent eyes never quitted my face. 
 
 " I wish I could tell you how much obliged I am for what you 
 have done, old fellow," said I to him. " He looks as if he might 
 knoN what I am saying, Uncle Zack." 
 
 " He does, Miss Grace. Dat cretur is 'nough sight smarter 
 .'Ian most folks. When yon fell into dat ar hole he never waited 
 for no orders, but before you could say 'Jack Robinson,' he 
 duv straight down arter you." 
 
 " I owe him a great deal, Uncle Zack, but much more to you. 
 I ehall never forget your goodness in saving my life and waiting 
 oa me while I was sick." 
 
 " 'Taint nothin' to speak of, Miss Grace. Anybody might 'a 
 done all dat and not 'served ' thank ye ' for it. I'se mighty glad 
 I happened along jest in de nick of time. Sultan, dar I he was 
 de feller what worked warn't you, Sultan ?" 
 
 " Ah, Uncle Zack I I have heard the story from beginning to 
 end ; how you rolled your wheelbarrow up the steepest side of 
 the hill, because it was a shorter way than by the path ; and I 
 was a heavier load then than now." 
 
 " You was dat 1" showing his teeth. " You warnt a bag of 
 feathers, I can tell you, yet I never knowed but what you was, 
 'till 1 see yer pa and mistis running up to me. Den my arms 
 did ache, I 'low. But for all dat I never strained my back, if 
 Dr. Hamner did say so." 
 
 My father had deposited with me a sum of money, that 1 
 might tender him and his wife a substantial tok'en of my grate 
 fill remembrance, and I here begged him to accept his share of 
 It. He hung back, in an awkward dilemma betwixt his dislike
 
 M O 8 S - 8 I D E . 241 
 
 to receive what appeared to be remuneration of his services, 
 and his dread of wounding me. 
 
 " We don't want no pay, Miss Grace," he stammered, twirling 
 his sorry wool hat and shuffling from foot to foot. " Me and 
 Snltan would 'a done jest de same for any drownin' dumb beast, 
 let alone one we sot so much store by one of our chillen, as 
 it might be. You and Miss Annie stans pretty nigh together in 
 we-all's hearts don't dey, Sultan ?" 
 
 Sultan gave his affirmative wag, and looked back to my face. 
 
 " Aud de ole woman she feels jest zactly as we do don't 
 you, Molly ? So, Miss Grace, if you'll 'member us as friends, 
 and drop over to see us whenever you can spar* time, we won't 
 say no more 'bout money." 
 
 " I don't mean to pay you, Uncle Zack. I am not rich 
 enough to do that. This is for you to buy a keepsake with, 
 something to remember me by, when I leave you." 
 
 By dint of reasoning and a feint of hurt feeling, I finally car 
 ried my point. 
 
 " Aunt Molly," said I, as she shut him out. " I hope you 
 listened to what I told Uncle Zack, for I have not strength to 
 go over it again to you. Will you please take this from 
 me?" 
 
 "If it will pleasure you, Miss Grace. You can't help know- 
 ing dat I don't like to do it." 
 
 " I do know it, Aunt Molly, but I must make you do as I say, 
 this once," dropping the purse into her hand. " You have been 
 like a mother to me. God bless you for it 1" 
 
 " I pray night and mornin' dat He will, Miss Grace !" was 
 the unexpected reply. " I will never be satisfied, I tell Him, 
 wulout He answers my prayer. I says to Him, ' You been 
 snatch her from de water whar she would 'a found her death ; 
 njw save her from de second death ! Dis is de blessin' I asks.' 
 You've thanked Zack and Sultan and me for de little He lef us 
 11
 
 242 M O B 8 - 6 I D E . 
 
 to do We didn't deserve it, but He does. His mercy "nils for 
 everlastin' praises out of your mouth." 
 
 She was not so garrulous as her stronger half, and now 
 courtesied respectfully and left the room. Pious negroes rarely 
 omit an opportunity to cast in " a word in season." Every 
 occasion of universal joy or calamity, a marriage, a death, ill- 
 ness and recovery, are to them seed-times. Molly had not with- 
 held her hand, and the Lord of the harvest would count her 
 guiltless, although she sowed upon a rocky wayside. 
 
 At noon arrived the carriage, with my father, to take me 
 away. Annie was to accompany us and remain at Moss-side a 
 day or two. Mrs. Bell wept over me, in saying " good-bye," 
 and I was too weak to refuse an answering tear. Dr. Hamner 
 rode up, in his sulkiest temper, as we were starting, and was 
 careful that we should not be flattered by what he represented 
 as " a chance encounter, he having forgotten that he had given 
 me leave to decamp." He felicitated Mrs. Bell upon this rid- 
 dance, and claimed her thanks as his due for having contrived 
 it ; counselled my father to the purchase, or loan, if he coul<! 
 not be bought, of Sultan, to guard me in my peregrinations 
 scowled at me, and gallopped off in his accustomed "plagued 
 hurry." 
 
 We had another, and a less agreeable meeting on the route 
 At the fork of the road, Mr. Towuley ambled by on his glossy 
 sorrel. He raised his hat to tht carriage, and sent in a search- 
 warrant glance through the window. Annie supported jne upon 
 the back seat. I was looking towards him and met his gaze. 
 He changed countenance, perhaps in surprise, perhaps in remors* 
 for past cruelty to the ghost-like being whose life seemed trem- 
 bling upon a breath ; perhaps with far dissimilar emotions called 
 forth by seeing me in that locality. 
 
 " He startled you, did he not ?" inquired Annie. 
 
 I murmured something in response, and put my hand upon thf
 
 MOBS-SIDE 243 
 
 icarred temple which throbbed at the least excitement Mj 
 father's scrutiny was not foiled by this pretence of physical ail- 
 ment. He became serious despite his efforts to wear an unruffled 
 front to me. What he discovered, it was impossible for me to 
 conceive, but I had a presentiment that he was not far from 
 guessing the truth. 
 
 Dear old Moss-side I It's familiar loveliness caused a vibra- 
 tion of a rusted chord in my bosom bare as was its grove, sere 
 its verdure. Lilly came flying down to the gate, and close 
 after her was Martha, sobbing hysterically behind her clean 
 apron. My aunt met me with a fervent but silent greeting, 
 and she, likewise, drew out her handkerchief the next minute. 
 I did not wonder at this invariable manifestation of pity, when 1 
 saw myself in the mirror in my room. At Mrs. Bell's I was an 
 invalid, and examined the reflection of my figure daily for signs 
 of improvement ; elated when Annie's observations, joined to 
 mine, detected a tinge of healthier coloring, or we imagined that 
 an angle was plumping into a curve. Here the image I had 
 seen equipped for our ill-starred walk, was as plainly before me 
 as if it were painted upon the glass, and within the same frame, 
 were features, scared by their own shadow ; the forehead blood- 
 less as bone ; the hair cropped short on one side, scanty and 
 ragged on the other ; lack-lustre eyes ; cheeks pallid and 
 shrunken, and lips streaked with the black lines of fever. Fas- 
 cinated by the contrast which should have occasioned a recoil, I 
 looked long and fixedly ; then turning away I avoided the sight 
 for weeks afterward A morbid, selfish distaste for society had 
 made me a recluse before my sickness ; necessity, backed by 
 pride, secluded me now. Yet with the accessories of debility 
 and mortified vanity, discontent was not so absolute in ita 
 dominion as when health and good looks were unimpaired. 
 
 The white hyacinth, her offering beside my sick-bed, wa& aij 
 apt emblem of Lilly herself. As through eventless hours, wheo
 
 244 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 although 1 knew it not, I was balanced between Life and Beath 
 I had feasted my dim eyes upon its chaste beauty, inhaled lit 
 subtle perfume as a breath of healing, so, in my days of 
 languishing and tedious recovery, I drank in vitality from her 
 companionship and " affection. Spring advanced punctually ; 
 garden and field and forest lured her abroad, but no extrava- 
 gance of temptation had power over her, when she fancied that 
 I needed her. While away from me her every act evinced a 
 thought for my solace. A very Flora, she would appear in 
 my presence, garlanded with leaves and flowers, and bringing 
 for me blossoms of her choosing, she would suffer no one else to 
 cull ; wild violets, forget-me-nots, tender-eyed innocents, and 
 anemones, you felt it would be cruel to handle roughly. These 
 decorated my apartment and conversed with me of her in her 
 absence. " May she not be to me the harbinger of a new 
 spring ?" Hope sometimes whispered ; but my familiar demon, 
 the cockatrice-egg which had hatched a viper, put to death the 
 friendly intruder. " The human heart has but one spring " it 
 hissed. " You have had yours ; gathered its flowers, eaten its 
 fruits." 
 
 One Sabbath forenoon, I was alone at home, the others, 
 including my aunt, having gone to church. I was nearly well, 
 and wearying of confinement, I strolled over the garden until 
 my faltering limbs and labored respiration impelled me to rest 
 in the summer-house, so frequently mentioned in former chap- 
 ters. The grass was warm, as I laid out my feet in the sun- 
 shine ; the bees were humming over the strawberry beds and in 
 the apple trees ; and the birds, uusinning Sabbath-breakers, were 
 discussing and working upon the architecture of their nests. 
 
 Who has not recognized in the resemblance of one day to 
 iome other anniversary of soul or affections, an influence more 
 moving than is exerted by a fac-simile likeness of face to face ! 
 It, may be the light of a mellow autumn sun, the scent of ripea-
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 245 
 
 Ing orchards, or the spectacle of fields of billowing grain, that 
 acts upon the tide of feeling. " How like 1" you say. It is all 
 the tongue can do, but memory is busy. What matter that the 
 bearded grass tinkles its seeds in paths you trod that September 
 noon ; that brambles bind the clods above the form then walk- 
 ing or sitting beside you ; that the orchard is now a thorough- 
 fare, barren and dusty, and the fertile field a naked common ? 
 Ten, twenty, fifty years are but a second to the leaping mind-- 
 and you have everything as it was then. But were you to stand 
 bodily, at such a time, upon the self-same spot, and with the 
 game air and sky and sun, find your other surroundings 
 unchanged, save that you are there alone this is a concurrence 
 of associations, a blending of cherished objects to create a 
 blank, that racks the stoutest spirit yet a pain, the heart 
 would not exchange, intense as it is, for actual present plea- 
 sure. 
 
 Such bitter-sweet meditations were mine. This was the 
 counterpart, in atmosphere and scenery, of Frederic's last day at 
 the homestead. I recapitulated its incidents ; sat with him on 
 the brown bench ; hearkened to his pleading, and deputed Duty 
 to reply. His concluding sentence arrested me. " I have too 
 recently began to lean upon a higher power myself to instruct 
 you, but, dear sister, there is a strength that revives, while it 
 supports ; not only lifts the drooping head, but gladdens the 
 sick heart. My hopeful prayer is that you may seek this." 
 
 In instant connection followed Molly's, "Save her from the 
 second death 1 This is the blessing I ask. I will never be 
 satisfied without He answers that prayer." 
 
 " One entreated consolation for me, the other safety," I 
 mused. " Was their object one ? if so, what is it ? Why do 
 I say to-day that these prayers are not yet answered ?" 
 
 To this inquiry I was unable to reply. I, the offspring of 
 Christian parents, dedicated to the Lord in my cradle ,
 
 24:6 M088-8IDB. 
 
 instracted in the faith learned in theological disquisition^ 
 was as dumb as the most benighted heathen, when this direct 
 question was propounded. My knowledge of my misery, it is 
 unnecessary to repeat, was perfect as any lesson was likely 
 to be which had been so diligently and incessantly conned. The 
 assurance that comfort was in store, if I would seek it, was 
 soothing but why safety ? Why am I endangered ? by 
 what r 
 
 " By sin," replied my orthodox memory. 
 
 "Sin sin" I said, reflectively. "As an idea, an abstrac- 
 tion, I comprehend it ; but what are my offences against the 
 moral law ? what transgressions have made me amenable to its 
 offended majesty ?" 
 
 Then I recollected the remark of a beggar-woman, whose 
 necessities I once relieved. Soaked with rain, and soiled with 
 mud, she knocked at our door, and spread before us her pitiful 
 case- e dying husband and starving babes. " Miss," she said 
 to me, when needful succor had been extended ; "I am a sinful 
 creatut-e, I know, but it does appear to me that all my punish- 
 ment nuwt be in this world." 
 
 And under this impression, I gathered the mangled remains of 
 the hopes, the blackening corses of the joys that had walked, 
 hand in hand with me, in life's morning, and heaped them in the 
 sight of Heaven, a propitiation for my iniquities. In return, 
 I demanded peace and exemption from further chastisement, 
 here and hereafter. I had beforetime tried the efficacy of 
 meritorious works self-denial, penauce of the flesh and the 
 structure, irreproachable in my estimation, had been filled to 
 its sandy foundation by an unlooked-for flood. 
 
 " All Thy waves and Thy billows have gone over me !'' 1 
 prayed. " Will not they suffice to cleanse whatever pollution 
 adheres to my soul ?" I sued not as a beggar, but as one 
 who had a right to the privileges of the children of the Kiiijr
 
 MOSS SIDE. 247 
 
 dom. The filling longs, the healthful bound of the bUod, the 
 re-struiig muscles had acted sympathetically upon the mental 
 system. I was tired of a monotony of grief, and graciously 
 willing to accept what degree of happiness I had capacity tc 
 tujoy, ready for a change, and since an external one was impro 
 bable, this introversion of vision was most natural. The consi 
 deration of insurance against danger "the second death" of 
 Molly's prayer was secondary to that of temporal tranquillity. 
 Nor do I believe that signal deliverance from peril predisposes 
 the heart to repentance, makes it a better absorbent of 
 Divine truth, after the peril is over. If while I had stood at 
 the entrance of the dark valley, my position had been described 
 to me, I would have quailed in mortal fear ; but now. that every 
 step carried me further from the frowning gates, the remem- 
 brance that I had well-nigh passed them begot hardihood, not 
 gratitude. It is this rarely-absent peculiarity of human nature 
 that causes its students to sigh in doubt, scarcely removed from 
 hopelessness, over what are called "death-bed repentances ; w 
 and the histories of a large proportion of those who have 
 recovered after such an experience, add powerful testimony to 
 the truth of this opinion. Unswayed, then, by fear, unmoved 
 by a review of the mercy which my sable instructress had told 
 me, " deserved everlasting praises from my mouth," I asked a 
 renewal of heart and conduct regeneration while I secretly 
 ignored its necessity ; reformation, while I held my daily walk 
 and conversation to be worthy of a sanctified believer. 
 
 The sun shone ; the birds sang ; the bees hummed and 
 " through Nature " I strove to " look up to Nature's God." Gen- 
 tle, faithful teachers are her voices to him whose ears have been 
 first opened to the accents of heavenly wisdom ; who traces 
 everywhere the signet of his Father ; hears in every breeze 
 whispered messages of that Father's love. To the carnal and 
 ouspiritual, this book of revelation is in a dead language. My
 
 248 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 prayers aseeuded no higher than my head ; the aspirations i 
 labored to make devout, were disjointed lip-service, interrupted 
 by wandering thoughts and fits of forgetfulness, leading me off 
 and away from the golden ladder, I tried to vision from earth tc 
 the foot of the throne. 
 
 " I do not progress an inch," I said, at last, in fretful dis- 
 couragement. " My mind grows more misty ; ray heart more 
 cold. Yet there must be some meaning in the theme that 
 engages so many lofty intellects and melts the hardest hearts 
 the reconcilement of man to God." 
 
 The rattle of carriage wheels disturbed my solitude, and toned, 
 clearer, more sweet than the bird-music were heard. " Aunti? 
 dear ! where are you ?" 
 
 "I will ask Lilly," I rooked, as I obeyed the call
 
 XOSB-SIDE. 249 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IT TTR Lilly's practice to resort to my chamber when dinner 
 was dispatched on Sabbath afternoons, and, when after a deten- 
 tion of half an hour in my aunt's room, I went to my own, I 
 expected confidently to see the demure little figure in her rock- 
 ing-chair in the chimney corner, intent upon a volume of Scripture 
 glories, or something else from her " Sunday library," as she had 
 named the uppermost of her book shelves. 
 
 The chair was vacant ; the books untouched. I seated 
 myself to wait, doubting not that a few minutes would bring her 
 to her post. Fifteen loitered by, and full of my scheme, I was 
 impatient of the unreasonable delay. I sauntered to the win- 
 dow overlooking the kitchen-yard and its background of cabins 
 In the largest of these, which was tenanted by John's mother, 1 
 saw, through the door, a circle of dusky forms surrounding mj 
 missing fairy. Her head was bending towards the book from 
 which she read a book, I knew at that distance, for her Bible 
 and on the still air an occasional reverent cadence arose to my 
 window. I compared this scene with the formal readings my 
 aunt used to hold on the evening of the hallowed Jay ; the 
 upright, uneasy postures of the victims ranged around the diniug- 
 room ; nay, with my unsuccessful endeavors to secure punctual 
 tteudance when, to fill up every hour with tasks, I appointed 
 meetings for a like purpose. The seriously-inclined, the church- 
 members, mostly the middle-aged and the old, were always in 
 their places ; but the ear of the vouriger ones, the belles ud 
 11*
 
 250 MCBS-8IDE. 
 
 beaux, and the children I could never gain. A group of these 
 last sat upon their heels on the ground in front of Lilly ; 
 Martha and Milly, the smartest coquettes on the plantation, stood 
 at the back of her chair, decorous and unsmiling, although more 
 than one gallant visitor was in the audience ; and the harura 
 ecarum Joe, arrayed for a courting expedition, permitted his pet 
 cane to be stolen, as it dangled from his finger, and converted 
 Into a hobby-horse by a sly rogue, not out of his petticoats, 
 while the colored Brummel leaned within the door, one foot upon 
 the step, his hand supporting his chin in an attitude of charmed 
 attention. 
 
 " ' A little child shall lead them/ " I found myself repeating. 
 1 for their impressible natures and her nndoubting faith 1" 
 
 When her step sounded on the stair, I was reclining, with my 
 habitual air of lassitude, upon the lounge, a book closed upon 
 my finger, as if I had been studying. 
 
 " Where have you been, Lilly ?" I inquired, carelessly. 
 
 " To Aunt Amy's cabin," she said, a slight glow coloring her 
 brow. 
 
 " She must have been very entertaining to keep you SQ long," 
 I said, but without rebuke. 
 
 She paused, then answered Srmly, as if to overcome the rising 
 shyness, " I have been reading, Auntie reading from the Bible. 
 They cannot learn much in it for themselves that is, most of 
 them cannot." 
 
 " You are very right, dear. You could not have been better 
 employed. Is this the only time you have done this ?" 
 
 " No, ma'am. Grandpapa said he had no objection ; that he 
 quite approved of the plan, so I go out whenever they send for 
 me, and then you see, Auntie dear, there is no danger or' my 
 putting myself in their way." 
 
 " How happened you to think of this first ?" asked I. 
 
 " While you were at Mrs. Bell's I read a good deal to Aunl
 
 MOSS-SIDE 251 
 
 Agnes, and as one of the servants stayed constantly in the 
 room, several of them heard me, and one Sunday, Milly brought 
 me word from her mother that they would like to hear a chaptei 
 or two from the Bible, and I went." 
 
 Her somewhat anxious vindication of herself from the EUR 
 picion of officiousness, and her lowly hearers from any personal 
 partiality in their choice of a reader, was at once interesting and 
 amusing. 
 
 " I, too, have a favor to ask," said I. " Are you too tired 
 to read to me, just as you have been doing to the servants ?" 
 
 " No, indeed, ma'am, if you wish to hear me." 
 
 She spoke diffidently, and I accounted for the request by say- 
 ing, " My head feels badly, and the sound of your voice will 
 relieve it." 
 
 " That is so like mamma 1" exclaimed she. " She often set 
 me to read for her when she was sick, too restless to lie quiet 
 or to sleep, and then she would have no book except the 
 Bible. If she were easier, and strong enough to hold the book 
 herself, the one that she liked next best was ' Rutherford's Let- 
 ters ;' but I could not understand that so well. She said the 
 Bible soothed her better than medicine." 
 
 I felt like a convicted hypocrite as this artless parallel was 
 drawn. Lilly was turning the leaves of her precious volume. 
 
 "She marked ever so many chapters that we studied 
 together. Have you any choice, Auntie, or shall I read you one 
 of her favorites ?" 
 
 "I shall like it, I am sure," I said. "Begin where yoi 
 please." 
 
 Her selection was the portion containing the parables of the 
 ten virgins and the talents delivered to the three servants, and 
 my personal application of the moral of each was, on the whole, 
 satisfactory to my self-love. I was not drowsy or slothful. If 
 my lamp were not trimmed and burning, it was not beoause J
 
 252 M C S 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 nad spared any pains to procure oil and was I not searching foi 
 tight even now ? My talents, by which I understood, not only 
 the mental endowments generally so called, but all opportunities 
 for doing good I. had exerted to the utmost in my limited 
 sphere. Had it not passed into a proverb that my labors of dis- 
 interested benevolence were undermining youth and health ? 
 The Pharisee spirit advanced a step nearer the Holy of Holies, 
 Mid spiced its petition, or, more properly speaking, its demand, 
 with a boastful show of good works. 
 
 Lilly was reading more slowly when my thoughts fixed them- 
 
 " ' He is despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief ; and we hid, as it were, our faces from 
 him ; he was despised and we esteemed him not. 
 
 " ' Surely ' and there was a feeling, although involuntary 
 stress laid upon the word " ' Surety he hath borne our griefs and 
 carried our sorrows ; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of 
 God and afflicted. 
 
 " ' But he was wounded for our transgressions ; he was bruised 
 for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was laid upon 
 him, and with his stripes we are healed. 
 
 " ' All we, like sheep, have gone astray ; we have turned every 
 one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity 
 of us all.'" 
 
 Her voice sank almost to a whisper as she proceeded with the 
 sublimely mournful prophecy, and when it was finished, she did 
 not offer to follow it with another chapter. Her stool was by 
 the head of my resting-place, she leaned back out of the range 
 f sight, and laid her forehead against the cushions. 
 
 I took the book from her, and read for myself the page that 
 bad pierced my soul. 
 
 " He was wounded for our transgressions ; he was bnised for 
 *r iniquities." '
 
 M O S S - 8 I D E . 253 
 
 ' For mine ?" I inly questioned. " What was my share ill 
 this iatolerable chastisement ?" 
 
 " We have turned every one to his own way." A lambent flama* 
 seemed to leap along each letter. 
 
 My " own way ?" I had chosen it ; turned to it ; persisted 
 in it ; been torn by its thorns ; suffocated in its quagmires ; 
 lashed by its furies had clung to my muck-rake, which only 
 heaped up miserable garbage odious poisons while, from the 
 strait way beyond, beckoned this loving One, borne down by my 
 griefs, carrying my sorrows, yet loving still entreating still 
 and when, at the Father's chastisement, I plunged on in my mad 
 course, even more reckless of danger or His pitying call 
 lamenting, with more than a mother's yearning over her wander- 
 ing child "You will not come unto me that you may have 
 life I" 
 
 " Lilly," I said, breaking the troubled silence, " did your 
 mamma ever explain this chapter to you ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am often." 
 
 Less ignorantly, but as earnestly as inquired the Ethiopian 
 prince concerning the same passages, I asked " Of whom did 
 she say that the prophet is here speaking ?" 
 
 She did not mistrust my design, but was not so simple as to 
 be imposed upon by my affected want of knowledge. Thinking 
 that I intended to examine her upon this one of her early les- 
 sons, she replied promptly, " Of Our Saviour." 
 
 I should have said, " Of Christ," and in the very common 
 *orm of expression she employed, I felt the power of a new 
 beauty, a richer depth of meaning. 
 
 Availing myself of her willingness to be catechised, I contin 
 ued " When were these prophecies fulfilled ?" 
 
 This was too general a question. She asked me for her boob 
 before she could reply, and the perplexity did not leave her 
 countenance after she had re-perused the portion under inquiry.
 
 354: MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 "It is lard to atswer you, Auntie, without going over it all, 
 a verse at a time, and that would tire you." 
 
 " Take as much time as you like, and tell me in your own way, 
 dear " 
 
 " Mamma showed me that part of this was fulfilled while Ouf 
 Saviour was upon earth in His works and sufferings, and hia 
 being despised and rejected by the Jews, His own people, who 
 diil not believe that He was wounded for their transgressions 
 and bruised for their iniquities, when He died upon the cross to 
 Bave them. They thought that He was smitten by God for his 
 own sins ; that He was as wicked as the two thieves they cruci- 
 fied with Him !" 
 
 " You said that this partly fulfilled the prediction how and 
 when did the rest come to pass ?" maintaining my character of 
 *,atechist. 
 
 " She told me that sinners in every quarter of the world were 
 now rejecting Him ; not only the poor heathen, aud Jews, and 
 Mahometans, but in Christian countries, those that will not take 
 Sim for their Saviour, who do not love Him and pray to Him, 
 and trust Him to show them the way to heaven." 
 
 " But if they believe that He is the son of God, and every- 
 thing else that the Bible teaches, and break none of His com 
 mandments, yet are not Christians what then ?" 
 
 " They cannot keep the commandments unless they are His 
 children and He helps them," she replied, confidently. " I don't 
 mean that they will lie, and steal, and kill but you know, Auntie 
 dear, a Christian must do a great deal besides." 
 
 " Must he ? what ?" 
 
 " Why, Auntie ! you talk as seriously as if you were not 
 million times better and wiser than I am." 
 
 I winced, but kept my ground. " I want to hear your ideas 
 Lilly. You must not forget something else you once told me of 
 your mamma's teachings "
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 26i 
 
 " I remember I remember ! She said I most learn to express 
 toy thoughts, and be able to tell what I know, so that others 
 can understand me. I have a notion about your question one 
 of my own. Will you hear that ?" 
 
 " I had rather have it than any borrowed one," rejoined I. 
 
 She was speaking from the heart, not reciting now. 
 
 " You saved my life last February, Auntie, dear almost died 
 to do it. What would you or anybody else say if I were nevei 
 to thank you for it ; if I did not love you better than I ever did 
 before, and loved twenty other people just in the same way ; if 
 I were to run off every morning because I did not like to stay 
 with you, and spend all the day in the woods with naughty 
 children who hated you, and whom you had forbidden me to play 
 with ; if I were not to think of you oftener than I could 
 help ; and when I came home at night, should eat the supper 
 you had fixed and go to sleep in your bed without speaking to, 
 or kissing you ? Why I would be worse than Sancho, for you 
 can't coax him from me ; he follows me everywhere, and says 
 thank you ' as plainly as a dog can." 
 
 "Very well!" I said. "Goon!" 
 
 " The Saviour has done more for us than you could ever do 
 for me. He died to save us from everlasting punishment ; He 
 gives us our lives, and homes, and friends, and when we are 
 nicked and srn against God, He begs Him to forgive us. Mam- 
 ma said that was the meaning of His making intercession for 
 the transgressors. Oh 1" she added, holy fervor outspeaking 
 in eye and voice "He is so good 1 'the chief among ten thou 
 sand, and altogether lovely !' and I do love Hun with all my 
 soul don't you, Auntie ?" 
 
 " I am afraid not, Lilly." 
 
 The child gazed at me in utter amazement incredulity, won- 
 der, grief, chasing each other over her truth-telling face ; and 
 when 1 sustained the lock with a gravity that forbade the sup
 
 256 MOBS-SIDE. 
 
 position that I was jesting, or wished to try her faith, she burst 
 into tears, and threw herself down beside me. 
 
 " Auntie ! dearest Auntie 1 you were not in earnest ! Please 
 take it back ! 
 
 " I cannot, Lilly. T would not have said it, if I had dreamed 
 that it would have affected you so, but I spoke the truth. For- 
 ive me, love." 
 
 She kissed me, and sobbed, instead of speaking. 
 
 " You will hate me now you know how wicked I am," I said, 
 even in that moment, thinking more of the loss of her love than 
 of the cause of her grief. 
 
 " No ! no !" winding her arm around my neck ; " but I am 
 so sjorry ! I thought, I thought" 
 
 " That Auntie was a Christian," I supplied what she could not 
 articulate. 
 
 " Do not cry so bitterly, darling ! Perhaps you can help 
 to make her one." 
 
 She started up, "If I could! but I cannot do anything 
 nobody on earth can I Won't you pray to our Saviour td 
 teach you to love Him ? Don't you want to be one of His peo- 
 ple r 
 
 " Indeed I do, Lilly !" and I uttered it in deep sincerity. 
 
 Her beloved Bible was again her resource. A drop from hei 
 wet lashes fell among its leaves, as she hurriedly sought the 
 texts she wanted. 
 
 " ' Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. 
 Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; 
 though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 
 
 " 'Ask, and ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find j knock, 
 nd it shall be opened unto yon. 
 
 " ' Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. 
 
 " He loves you,, dear Auntie !" was her comment, in teadel 
 reproach, as she rested her head upon my shoulder.
 
 MOBS-BIDE. 257 
 
 ' I will try to be what yon wish, dear one 1" I murmured, 
 aumbled to a sense of the nature of the state which had pro- 
 duced such pain for this innocent, right-hearted child. Thil 
 agitation, flowing from a cause apparently so unlikely to create 
 it in one of her age, would have struck me as unnatural had I 
 seen it in any other person. Nor, with my thorough knowledge 
 of her religious training, her conscientious observance of sacred 
 duties, her extreme tenderness of feeling, had I anticipated the 
 shock my declaration would give her. I had no doubt of her 
 piety, whether she had been sanctified in her earliest infancy, or 
 her plastic nature been gradually moulded by the Spirit oi 
 Grace, under the teachings of the mother, whose last month? 
 had been devoted to her. My error was in overlooking the fee* 
 that she had never been instigated to seek examples of the class 
 of so-called " Christian " unbelievers, she had portrayed. " Mam- 
 ma " had informed her that there were such, and it was entered 
 as a clause of her creed. Her own experience had furnished 
 her with an imaginary illustration of how this anomaly might 
 exist ; but in her abounding charity, she attributed a partner- 
 ship in her Faith to every one she knew and liked. The di - 
 covery that she, to whom she had transferred the affection 
 and duties she had paid her mother during her life-time, was a 
 stranger to the love she esteemed essential to earthly happi- 
 ness and future bliss, confounded her. 
 
 She dried her eyes, and, with admirable tact, endeavored to 
 reassure me of .her love, without adverting to what had occa- 
 sioned pain on both sides. She even clung to me with increased 
 devotion, a sort of tender anxiety, as if she would contribute 
 her utmost to fill the void in my heart. All the evening, she 
 was quiet and grave, replying readily and sweetly to whatever 
 was spoken to her, following me with a wistful; loving gaze 
 Nor did the shadow pass as it had fallen in a moment. Morn- 
 ; j)g and night as she knelt to present petitions inaudible to racr
 
 $58 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 tal hearing, I knew that the sigh and tear mingled with that 
 prayer were for me, and redoubled my self-accusations at the 
 reflection of my unworthiness of such an intercessor. It was a 
 baby-hand that grasped my skirts, but no afflictive judgment 
 had so hindered my downward course. 
 
 Imperceptibly, slowly, her mission was accomplished. It was 
 not a child-seer, a creation seraphic and sinless, that turned my 
 feet, but a creature of earthly birth ; inheritor of our human 
 frailties ; sportsome in her childish mirth as her pet lamb ; yet 
 one whom the Saviour of babes and men had taken in His arms 
 and blessed. Led by her, I came, broken in spirit, though not 
 by temporal woes ; a suitor for pardon, not for present ease ; 
 and cast myself where she delighted to bow at the bieeding 
 feet of the Crucified, to experience the fullness of the promises so 
 those who " shall receive tlw* Kingdom of God as & little
 
 M O 8 6- 6 I D E. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THI burning heats of the dog-days were diversified by heat) 
 rains ; vegetation was rank, premature in growth and in de- 
 cay. When the sun was not cloaked by clouds, he extracted 
 from marsh, and water-course, and sodden meadows, steaming va 
 pors, reeking with pestilence. In what form the Destroyer 
 would appear amongst us could not be foretold, but we looked 
 forward with certainty to a sickly season. Sanitary rules were 
 in force upon every plantation ; a strict watchfulness was exer- 
 cised over the improvident menials whom no danger, prospective 
 or present, can incite to care for themselves. 
 
 The storm broke alarmingly near to us. Lilly and myself went 
 over, in the cool of the early forenoon, to stay until evening with 
 Annie Bell. I had not heard from her for several days, and 
 doubted not that everything was going on well at the cottage. 
 
 " Why, Auntie 1" exclaimed Lilly, as we came in sight of it , 
 " there is Dr. Hamner's horse tied to the rack 1" 
 
 She was correct. There was no mistaking the gaunt, hard- 
 ridden public-accommodation, or the sheepskin strapped upon the 
 Baddle. 
 
 His owner stopped us at the gate on his way oat. 
 
 " Good morrow, young ladies !" in his briskest style. " Upoi 
 nay soul, Grace, you begin to play the Rose to this Lilly." 
 
 " Is any one sick here, doctor ?" I questioned. 
 
 " It is going to be a hot day broiling ! and I have to take 
 whatever comes, if it cooks my brains. Never marry a doctor, 
 Miss Lilly, unless you think * widow's cap becoming to yotu
 
 260 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 order of beauty. Human life is uncertain, and death is certati 
 to overtake the doctors before it reaches any other class of men. 
 This has kept me from marrying a sentiment of refined philan- 
 thropy that does honor to the species if I do say it." 
 
 He stood in our path, and unable to obtain the intelligence by 
 my own observation, I pushed him again with the anxious query, 
 ' Who is sick here, sir ?" 
 
 " Ah, yes ! I beg your pardon for obliging you to repeat the 
 inquiry. I am growing forgetful in my old age. It is the old 
 woman, and a bad time she is having of it 1" 
 
 " Not Mrs. Bell 1" I ejaculated. 
 
 "Och 1 botheration 1 Did you ever see me so forgetful of the 
 forms of decency, whatever might be the exigency, as to deno- 
 minate a respectable, middle-aged matron, with a pretty daugh- 
 ter, too an ' old woman ?' I allude to the wife of the Lord 
 Paramount of these premises." 
 
 " Aunt Molly ? Is she very ill ?" 
 
 " Much nearer her end than I thought you were to yours, last 
 winter, when I perjured myself by swearing that I believed you 
 would outlive me. You may yet, in spite of that prophecy ; 
 but if she is alive to-night, I shall be surprised. Here I" for I 
 was undoing the gate with impetuous haste ; " you need not rush 
 in to deliver my verdict. Not two minutes since I comforted 
 old Zack by the adage we physicians are obliged to wear into 
 flimsy tatters ' While there is life there is hope !' Hold on, I 
 say 1" himself holding the latch down with a grip like a vice. 
 " After this, do you and that lily-of-the-valley of yours keep your 
 weak little bodies housed in the heat of the day, cr I shall jave 
 more practice than I want. Live ligntly not starvingly, under- 
 tand 1 but prudently ; laugh as often, and mope as seldom aa 
 your sentimentalism will allow. My respects to your negroes, 
 one and all, and tell them I will poison ' trick,' as they would 
 ay every one that makes himself sick. Take no mediciue, aud
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I \> K . 261 
 
 above all, avoid the sunshine We are going to have rare works 
 here this summer. Do you hear me, or are you so wrapped up 
 in your concern for dear old Aunt Moly, as to be unmindful of 
 your own danger ?" 
 
 " I hear you, sir, and thank you ;" but I was trembling in 
 every limb, and knew that Lilly's white, shocked face was a re- 
 flection of mine. 
 
 " That is well 1 Stay here until evening. There is nothing 
 contagious in this disease. Don't be scared into ever believing 
 that there is. Annie wants you badly, too. As for old Molly, 
 if we were all as fit to die as she is, it would be better to take 
 the same conveyance, without regard to terms. Heaven pre- 
 serve you both 1 You have kept me here listening to you too 
 long already. Bless these women's tongues, I say !" 
 
 The house was empty, but Annie met me in the back porch, 
 her eyes inflamed with weeping. 
 
 " You know, then ?" she said, as the fervency of my embrace 
 testified my sympathy. 
 
 " Yes ; I have seen the doctor." 
 
 " What did he say ?" 
 
 " That ' while there is life there is hope,' " employing, before 
 I thought of it, the very phrase which had sounded like such 
 miserable comfort from him. 
 
 "Just as I feared !" she said, sadly. "It is all he can say; 
 you will not leave us to-day, will you, Grace ? I was wishing 
 this morning that I had some means of sending for you. I could 
 not ask Uncle Zack to go." 
 
 I regretted that Lilly was with me, for Aunt Molly waa 
 /inking fast, and I was loth that she should be a spectator of the 
 pangs of dissolution, hear the lament of the bereaved. She 
 divined my trouble, the instant I returned to the room where T 
 had left her, and spoke of my visit to the sick woman. 
 
 " You are afraid I will be in the way, are you not, Auntie ?* 
 she inquired.
 
 262 M O 8 8-8 I DE. 
 
 " Not just that, dear Lilly. I fear lest you should be lonely 
 Laving to stay in-doors, or be terrified at the idea of Aunt 
 Molly's sufferings." 
 
 " You must not feel so must not think one minute about me 
 If I can wait on you, help you the least bit, yon will call mej 
 and until you do, I can sit here and work for I brought my 
 sewing or read ; and if I get very tired, I can go to sleep. I 
 will not trouble you." 
 
 " You can never trouble any one, darling," I responded. 
 
 I found books and pictures, and whistled to Sultan, who lay 
 at the door of Zack's cabin. He arose and obeyed ; his hanging 
 head and slow walk indicative of dejection ; nor could any arts 
 inveigle him into the house. He licked our hands, wagged his 
 tail in sorrowful recognition of our caresses, sighed, and went 
 back to his post. 
 
 " Let him stay, please 1" pleaded Lilly, pityingly. " He is 
 too much grieved to play. How strange that he should know 1" 
 
 Mrs. Bell had been a constant watcher by the bedside since 
 the beginning of her servant's illness, four days before, and waa 
 now overpersuaded by us to lie down for an hour. Zack sat ou 
 a chest in the darkest corner of the room, his forehead supported 
 by his clasped hands only echoing, by a suppressed groan, the 
 moan pain forced, now and then, from his patient wife. 
 
 In the scorching noon- tide, a shadow fell upon the threshold 
 Annie did not move or look around, yet the intruder passed di 
 roctly to her side and took her hand before he noticed me 
 Molly opened her eyes. 
 
 " Mars' Robert ! it is good in you to come over so often ! J 
 gin worse to-day. I am goin' fast !" 
 
 " No no, Molly ! I hope not !" he could just say in a choked 
 voice, " We cannot spare you yet we can't spare you I" 
 
 " It does look as if he " directing her glai o to Zack'a 
 crouching figure- -" and mistis couldn't spar' me sure 'nough, 
 Mars' Robert. 1 donno how they'll git along, bu< the
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 263 
 
 Master does ; He's fixed a way, or he wouldn't have called me 
 so sudden-like. It's His time, Mars' Robert ! His will be done " 
 - and less audibly, she added " in earth as it is in heaven." 
 
 She was silent for a minute, then joining her hands, repeated 
 w if she loved each word 
 
 1 There's nothing here deserves my joys, 
 There's nothing here like my God !" 
 
 Mrs. Bell was too uneasy to remain away more than the exact 
 length of time she had set, and when she resumed her stand, 
 she observed a change for the worse. Little refreshment wai 
 partaken of by any of us even Lilly refusing to eat. 
 
 " Is Aunt Molly dying ?" she interrogated me privately. 
 
 " I am afraid she is, my love." 
 
 " Is she happy ?" 
 
 " Very. She is a Christian, and death is not dreadful." 
 
 " It was not to mamma 1" her eyes darker and darker 
 " Auntie I" 
 
 " What, dear ?" 
 
 " I should like to send a message by Aunt Milly to mamma." 
 
 " My darling !" for the request was startling. 
 
 " Why not ?" asked she. " Aunt Molly is going directly t> 
 heaven the same heaven where my dear mamma is. She will 
 see her, and I want her to tell her that she left me a very short 
 time ago." 
 
 " But you believe that your mamma is with you very frequent- 
 ly that she watches over you herself." 
 
 " Yes, Auntie ; but I can't know it so well as that Aunt Mollj 
 rill meet her. This seems so sure !" 
 
 " Come, then 1" I yielded. 
 
 She trod on tiptoe through the yard and across the floor of 
 the cabin. Molly's cheeks and eyes were hollowed, but the latter 
 were bright, and she spoke clearly. A smile greeted Lilly, who
 
 26* M O 8 8-8 I D E. 
 
 put ber fingers into the swart bands, clammy with the damps of 
 death. 
 
 " Don't be afraid to see Aunt Molly die," said the old woman. 
 " It isn't nigh so hard a thing to go through as folks think, when 
 the blessed Jesus stands 'pon the other side of the river. Love 
 Him, honey ! He will never leave you nor forsake you." 
 
 Lilly looked inquiringly at me, and I nodded assent. 
 
 "Aunt Molly," she began, tremulously, "I want you to do 
 something for me. My own mamma went to heaven eight 
 months ago. You will meet her when you get there. Will you 
 talk to her about me ; how much I think of her, and love her ; 
 how happy I am in my good home, and that I am trying to live 
 so that I may go to her when I die ?" 
 
 The faith of the dying Christian was as simple and as strong 
 AS that of the child. 
 
 " I will, dear ! I'll look for her, and find her, for there ' the 
 rich and poor meet together,' and all sing one soLg ' Worthy 
 the Lamb ' what is the rest, Miss Annie ?" 
 
 Annie bent over to wipe the wrinkled brow and murmured in 
 Her ear " ' For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God 
 by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and 
 aation.' " 
 
 " Hallelujah 1" repeated Molly. " I shan't need to be told 
 what it is when I've heard one sound of the golden harps." 
 
 Zack sank on his knees, and buried his face in the coverle* 
 She strove to raise her arm, and her mistress guided her hard 
 to his head. 
 
 " We've been lived many a year together, old man," she said 
 affectionately. " A kind and a faithful, and a hard workin' hus 
 band you've been to me ; and if anybody but the Master had 
 ordered me to leave you, I'd have hung to you at the risic of my 
 life. We won't be separated long, for you aint young and hardy 
 you've 'most counted your three-score and ten. Keep up youi
 
 MOSS SIDE 265 
 
 heart and listen for the chariot wheels. They'll be along pre- 
 sently. Watch and pray, for in such an hour as you think not, 
 the Son of man cometh." 
 
 She had addressed her mistress and Annie before my entrance, 
 and now fixed her wasting sight on me. The words were dis- 
 tinct, but the breath was failing. 
 
 "Do you mind what I said to you last spring, when you was 
 grttin' well, Miss Grace? I've prayed it ever sence. Some- 
 times, Satan would cast me down with sayin' that it was no 
 manner of use you'd never come out on the Lord's side ; but 
 says I' The Lord meant her to do something for His glory, 
 else He'd have left her to perish in the ice. Anyhow, He's told 
 me to ' pray and pray again,' and I'll 'bey Him. I could die 
 Boutin', if I knowed you was in the right path." 
 
 ' I trust that I am, Aunt Molly," I said, softly. 
 
 " Do you love the Saviour ?" she asked with reviving energy. 
 
 She put her cold palms together and gazed upward. " Lord ! 
 now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes 
 have seen " 
 
 The chariot caught the rejoicing spirit ere the thanksgiving 
 was ended. 
 
 I sent Lilly home by Mr. Peyton, and remained at the cottage 
 until the funeral, which took place the next afternoon. Only 
 the negroes from the nearest plantations, my father and two 01 
 three other gentlemen, whom Mr. Peyton had left nothing to do, 
 attended the burial. The grave was in a clump of trees back of 
 the garden, on a hillside overlooking the spring. As I stooa 
 apon the brink of her narrow home, I could see a bench set in 
 the root of a giant oak, where I had often beheld her on wash- 
 ing days, singing at her toil. Near it were an empty tub and 
 the charred remains of the fire she was tending, when stricken 
 with mortal sickness. Zack was stationed at the head of tk 
 12
 
 < MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 yave. TLe poor old inaii was not noisy in lamentation, bat the 
 salt rain trickled ever his furrowed <heeks, as, oblivious of what, 
 Cvistora styles the " decencies of grief," he neglected the handker- 
 chief some officiously kind friend had thrust into his hand, and 
 oniy dashed away tho water as it threatened to blind him 
 entiiely to the coffin, the last visible link that united him to hei 
 he had loved so well. Next him were Mrs. Bell and Annie, weep- 
 ing as tor a sister and a mother. 
 
 One of Mr. Peyton's servants had brought a Bible, and when 
 the b^dv was lowered into its place, his voice arose above tLe 
 sighing o." the- uourners, the rustling of the leafy branches over- 
 head : 
 
 " But I voula not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning 
 them which or* adeep, that ye soirow not even as others which 
 have no hope." 
 
 He read only the few verses that, after this, remained to the 
 end of the chapter 5 but 110 monarch ever had a grander funeral 
 service. Then John's trumpet lungs called forth the echoes from 
 the nearest hills. Lfce & soug cf victory after battle ascended 
 his prayer ; praise aL 1 piairse for the translation of one who 
 had received from her He-s^eo the " Enter thou into the joy of 
 thy Lord ;" an earnest plea fcr consolation for the afflicted, and 
 that the minds of the living might be moved to solemn medita- 
 tion by this event. The rattle of the clods upon the boards waa 
 drowned by a hymn raised by anothbr colored man, for the gen- 
 tlemen committed the conduct of the exercises wholly to t-h" 
 friends and companions of the 
 
 " Why do we mourn depart!.,^ ftJeuds?" 
 
 was sung with the combined power of forty voice,' to the loaraor 
 tal melody of old "China" music so m^r-if-^ **> tht 
 that it were a crime ever to divorce th^m.
 
 M O 8 6 - 8 I D E . 261 
 
 We left her there ; the dying glories of the sunset lighting up 
 the low heap of red earth, where lay one who should claim a 
 part in the first resurrection ; on earth an indigent slave- 
 woman ; in Heaven, the " King's daughter all glorious" without 
 .s " within." 
 
 Aly father had, early in the day, sent over one of his women, 
 s a temporary substitute for Mrs. Bell's mainstay, and Mr. 
 Peyton instructed his confidential body-servant to discharge 
 Uncle Zack's duties and minister to his wants during the night. 
 The freshness of the evening air tempted us to walk home b) 
 the rising moon, but prudence prevailed. We were learning tu 
 distrust Nature's blandest moods, and none were more deceptive 
 than these cool, moist nights, so welcome after the sultriness of 
 the day. Shut up in a close carriage, my father, Mr. Peyton, and 
 myself conversed of the death-bed, and the late interesting scene; 
 of the virtues of the departed, and the gap made by her loss. 
 
 " Mrs. Bell cannot keep house without her," said my father 
 " If she were able to procure other help, no three women can 
 supply her place." 
 
 Mr. Peyton returned no relevant answer. 
 
 He followed me into the hall, when I would have gone to mj 
 aunt. 
 
 " Grace 1" 
 
 " What is it ?" I asked, halting. 
 
 " I must go back to Mrs. Bell's after supper. It will not do 
 for them to be alone to-night. Can you give me five minutes 1 
 .-hat with you presently ?" 
 
 The merest intimation of my wish would have sufficed for my 
 father. I preferred the straightest course. I called him from the 
 parlor when I was ready to go in ; told him frankly that Mr 
 Peyton had something to say to me in private, and commissioned 
 him to delay supper until I should signal *he conclusion of oul 
 business.
 
 268 M O S 6 - S I D E . 
 
 " I can trust you both," he replied, playfully. " I hare no 
 fear of your flirtations with your great-uncle." 
 
 Neither had I, and the embarrassment of my life-time friend, 
 which would have been alarming in most men, did not stagger 
 aay confidence in his god-fatherly and fraternal attachment. 
 
 " You think me very foolish, I dare say," he brought out at 
 last. " I am acting more like a shame-faced boy than a man 
 who has numbered forty-two years. It is no boy's age, Grace 
 no 1 nor yet a youth's. I have ceased to be young, that can 
 not be disputed can't be disputed !" 
 
 " You are in your prime yet," I responded, " and the heart ia 
 not old. Many lads of eighteen are more blast in feeling. 
 You will always be young, Mr. Peyton." 
 
 " Do you think so ? Let that be as it may, can you justify 
 me, with my almost half a century, for wishing to wed a girl 
 twenty years my junior ?" 
 
 This was coming to the point, assuredly ; and my father, 
 although intrenched against suspicion behind his belief in our 
 relation of adopted uncle and niece, would have been startled 
 from his fancied security by this abrupt approach to a personal 
 application of the case under consideration. My woman's wit 
 interfered to save me from a mistake so mortifying. 
 
 " If she loves you, Mr. Peyton, she will not consider this dis- 
 parity otherwise than as a reason why she should trust you the 
 mere ; will be thankful that your experience can cover her want 
 of it." 
 
 lie looked at me approvingly. " What judges you women 
 ire of each other 1 Why, that is just what she says 1" 
 
 " And in virtue of our coincidence of views, may I not knovr 
 who 'she 'is?" 
 
 " Cannot you guess ?" with heightened complexion. 
 
 " Annie Bell," said I. " She is the nearest, so I begin wit!
 
 MOSS-SIDE 269 
 
 " You need go no farther," was his reply, Lis diffidence 
 vanishing instantly. " I love her, Grace, and she has eugageJ 
 to marry me." 
 
 " From my very soul I congratulate you 1" I said. " She it 
 admirably adapted to you. You cannot fail to be happy 
 together." 
 
 " Thank you. I know your mutual affection." 
 
 He was grave, but happy withal. "I shall be a different 
 married man now from the lover-husband of fifteen years ago ; 
 less impulsive, less sanguine, less demonstrative of my fondness^ 
 but not less fond. Twelve lonely winters have I lived at Lin- 
 den ; lived in the memory of my first love ; nor is her image to- 
 day dimmed by the hopes that are chasing the gloom from mj 
 heart. Annie would not esteem me, were this so I know she 
 would not 1 I do no apologize for marrying again. I should 
 scorn to excuse myself for loving and marrying her. The world 
 may call me foolish and her mercenary " 
 
 " She is not that 1" I interposed. 
 
 " I agree with you. We who have known her from her 
 cradle, may dismiss misgivings on that score. That she has 
 come to love me I am bound to credit, for she has confessed it, 
 and her truthful tongue could not utter a falsehood. Why she 
 has done this, is a mystery I never expect to solve." 
 
 " It is comprehensible to me," I smiled. " I would enlighten 
 you, were it not that you would quit the house before I was half 
 through." 
 
 Aunt Molly's death would, he thought, serve him as an argu- 
 ment for hastening the nuptials. The day, and indeed the month 
 Were not yet fixed, for their engagement was but three weeks 
 old. There was only an indefinite understanding that, by win- 
 ter, the cottage should be closed and its establishment transferred 
 to Linden. Our five minutes was spun out to sixty, and after tea 
 our conference was resumed
 
 270 MOSS-SIDE 
 
 " By the way Grace," he came back to say, when his 
 was brought up at his order ; " you may give your father a hint 
 of the position of affairs. You and he are our best friends " 
 
 Without this pretext, it had been my purpose to visit n^ 
 father's chamber before retiring. His affectionate " Come in, 
 my dear/' answered my knock at the door. He was reading lj 
 his study table, but shut the book with an expression of plea- 
 sure. 
 
 " How is my daughter to-night ?" he inquired, taking my hand 
 as I stood by him. " You have had much to weary you since 
 yesterday morning." 
 
 " I am not wearied, however," I replied. 
 
 My conduct to him had sensibly altered with my changed 
 feelings ; yet something, a nameless but stubborn bar, had, up 
 to this time, prevented a complete restoration of our old free- 
 dom. The wall crumbled more and more now, and had it been 
 adamant, I would have brought every art affection and religion 
 could suggest, to bear against it. 
 
 " Well ?" he said, throwing back his head that he might see 
 my countenance, and smiling in his genial way. "Has Mr. Pey- 
 ton gone ? Has he proposed and been accepted ? and when is 
 tbe bridal to be consummated ?" 
 
 " Too many questions at once 1" I made an effort and seated 
 myself upon his knee. " Mr. Peyton has gone ; he has proposed 
 and been accepted, and he will be married directly to Annie 
 Bell !" 
 
 " '> it possible I" The perplexity that had followed the be 
 ginning of my announcements, slowly spoken on purpose to mi* 
 lead him fled before delighted astonishment. " She will hav 
 a model husband and a comfortable home. I wish them joj 
 most heartily t" 
 
 I told him all that I knew of their plans, and enjoyed the zetf 
 with which he received each item-
 
 M O 6 S -S I D E. 271 
 
 'It is gettirg late," I remaiked, at length ; "and i have 
 something to say about myself." 
 
 " Say on. I will listen all night, if your story lasts so long." 
 
 It was not so short nor so merry as that which I had just re- 
 luted ; yet his interest was more absorbing, his emotions mort 
 powerful. As I finished with the account of my open profession 
 of a faith I had dreaded should prove unfounded, until the ques- 
 tion of the dying saint had probed my heart, he wept outright 
 Then, I felt that other prayers had joined Lilly's on their hea- 
 venward progress ; fathomed his love ; appreciated his long srf- 
 fering, and father and child were reconciled. 
 
 The hall-clock tolled one, as I kissed him and listened to hia 
 benediction. I raised my window for a moment, but the ua- 
 wholesome fog that rushed in caused me to drop it. The 
 moon was yellow and sickly through the baneful veil, and the 
 earth had a cadaverous hue like that of a shrouded corpse. Dr. 
 Hamner's prediction returned to my mind ; but it was not tha 
 sentence of doom. That the danger was very near us ; that no 
 arm of flesh could avert it, did not terrify me. Trustfully, I 
 said over a verse of a hymn Lilly had recited the previous Sab- 
 bath : 
 
 " God is the refuge of His saints, 
 
 When storms of sharp distress invade ; 
 Ere they can offer their complaints, 
 Behold Him present with His aid." 
 
 I had looked upon Death bereft of his sting ; upon a grave to 
 which victory was denied ; and while I besought safety for the 
 bodies, as peace for the souls of those I loved, there was deli- 
 cious repose in casting all my care upon the Omnipotent ; in 
 'caving them in trust with the All-merciful. Of Annie and her 
 dawning happiness I thought ; of the sterling heart she had won j 
 of its morning of joy after the night of years ; of the parent
 
 272 MOSS-SIDE 
 
 weeping with rapture over the new birth of his returning prod 
 gal ; of the darling babe, out of "whose mouth" was " ner 
 fected praise ;" and putting resolutely behind me f ,he irrevocable 
 Past, I blessed God, in singleness of heart, that the " lines ha* 3 
 fallen to me in pleasant places."
 
 M08S-8IDK . 73 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DE. HAMXER was a wise soothsayer. Our section of the State 
 was renowned for its healthfulness. Its inhabitants had hitherto 
 enjoyed an immunity from summer epidemics and autumn fevers, 
 and jealous for the credit of their neighborhood, many combat- 
 ed the theory that the plague which fell upon them so suddenly, 
 was generated in their own rivulets and fertile low -grounds. It 
 had been imported, they averred ; the question was from whence, 
 and by whom ? From these idle fallacies sprang the report of 
 contagion, resulting in embargoes and quarantine regulations 
 In spite of the non-intercourse acts, the work of destruction went 
 on. The physicians slept and ate in the saddle ; rode from dawn 
 to sunset, from sunset to dawn, and were the principal means of 
 communication between the nearest neighbors. Moss-side wa? 
 visited by the scourge but lightly. None of the white family 
 sickened, and although there were, at one time, seven servant? 
 down, some of them dangerously ill, all recovered except two 
 very young children. This exemption might have been ascribed 
 to our situation upon an airy ridge, a mile from any of the larger 
 flooded creeks ; and to my father's foresight in enjoining dietetic 
 discipline, when less judicious masters scoffed at his over-careful- 
 ness ; but it was more in consonance with our feelings and the 
 ruth to return thanks to a Mightier Friend for the mercy. 
 
 Mr. Peyton, undismayed by warnings and croakings of perso 
 
 nal infection, continued his visits to us, and, as a matter of 
 
 course, to the Bells. Early one morning, while Lilly was saying 
 
 her lessons to me at the breakfast-room window Black Bess caa 
 
 12*
 
 274 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 tered ap the lane. My father was busy with his shrubs in the 
 yard, a favorite recreation with him. I distinguished Mr. Pey 
 ton's rejoinder to the inquiry after the health of his household 
 " About the same ; no new cases " and proceeded with our 
 books, peeping, once in a while, through the jessamine sprays, in 
 expectancy of his coming to seek me. They walked and talked, 
 up and down the main alley, until I forgot to watch them. M 
 ieat was very comfortable at that hour, and I retained it when 
 Lilly gathered up the school furniture, and ran off to her play. 
 My mind was tranquil ; my fingers were busy upon a garment 
 for my " little daughter," a term she especially affected. For 
 some reason, the two pedestrians diverged into the path that ran 
 around the house, and by the same fatality, stopped beneath my 
 window. I leaned forward to say a playful " good morning " to 
 our friend, but it remained unuttered. 
 
 " Why depend upon living down this calumny, when by notic- 
 ing it publicly, you can kill it forthwith 1" 
 
 "Time heals all wounds, even those in the reputation,'' 
 returned my father. 
 
 "It has torn this one wider," said Mr. Peytoo, excitedly. 
 " The rumor has been spreading under the crust, as it were, for 
 nobody knows how many months. Mrs. Bell heard it last win- 
 ter, from divers quarters, and being wiser than her neighbors, 
 kept it to herself. I can recollect numerous references to it which 
 I treated as beneath my notice. Yesterday, as I have said, it 
 was bruited about on the court-green, and discussed at the 
 tavern dinner-table. I contradicted it then, upon my own re- 
 sponsibility, and now beg you at least to authorize me to ferret 
 out the origin of the slander. Mr. Leigh, you have been a father, 
 an invaluable friend to me an invaluable friend ! I am not 
 apt to quarrel, as you are well aware ; but were this my affair, 
 I would adopt the course I recommend. T would, indeed, sir I 
 It is the plain duty of self-defence."
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 275 
 
 My father's profile was presented to LJC, The mouth wa* 
 rigid, the brows contracted. 
 
 " A/id what will you advise," he said, huskily, " if 1 admit th 
 accusation ?" 
 
 " Miss Grace," requested Joe, politely, besom in hand, " I am 
 eudy to sweep out tuis department, but I dislike to remove you. 
 Perhaps you won't not object to dust. T never raises a 'strordi< 
 nary quantity." 
 
 Without answering, I escaped from the room, and ran up- 
 etairs. Lilly was in my chamber, and I took refuge in the one 
 opposite, locking and bolting the door, to keep out, I could not 
 Bay v hat pursuing evil. I fell upon the bed and stopped my 
 ears. " Calumny," " wounds to reputation," were phrases of 
 dire .mport. The skeleton had never appeared more ghastly 
 than now. Figures danced before my eyes ; bells rang and wa- 
 ter roared in my ears, and in the scarred, still tender temple was 
 a fast beating, like the striking of an alarm clock. By and by, 
 I became sufficiently collected to think over what I had unwit- 
 tingly heard, and define my terrors. What was this rumor which 
 was moving every tongue ? What had this man of spotless life, 
 of blameless piety, to apprehend from the babble of iugrates whose 
 love of scandal outweighed the respect they owed him as their 
 host, their neighbor, some, as their benefactor? On what vul- 
 nerable side had this slander attacked him, that he should cower 
 under the whip, and feebly decline Mr. Peyton's generous offer of 
 vindication ? 
 
 I had raised myself to a sitting posture, and my regards were 
 attracted by an end of faded ribbon hanging from a drawer 
 In the idle curiosity that sometimes seizes us in humors and a 
 seasons seemingly the least propitious to its production, I saun 
 tered to the bureau, and opened it. The streamer was attached 
 to a defaced portfolio, crowded into a scrap-drawer. I remem- 
 bered Miss Malvina's nondescript design, the farewell gift ta
 
 276 MOS8-8IDK. 
 
 Frederic, the session he spent with Dr. Macon. I did not smil 
 or weep, although its associations might well have betrayed me 
 into either emotion. It was as if the skeleton had lifted its bony 
 finger and designated the spot where I could find a clue to the 
 author of the mischief, whcvte brewing had so affected us. I saw 
 not the odd devices painted upon the tattered card-board ; nor 
 were my meditations of the enamored artiste. Mr. Townley'i in- 
 solent charges against the head of the family he desired to enter, 
 notwithstanding the infamy he boasted he could pull down upon 
 them at his will ; his base threats and browbeating of a de- 
 fenceless woman galling as they were, were swept into nothing- 
 ness by the avalanche of sorrow that burst upon us the same 
 day. Whenever .they had occurred to me since, they were de- 
 spised as the impotent ravings of a rejected man, burning to 
 avenge an injury to his overweening vanity ; for of nobler passion 
 I believed him to be totally incapable. Like the venom of the 
 enraged toad, his might blister slightly, but could not empoison 
 the blood. 
 
 Then the conversation between Mrs. Bell and Miss Susan, 
 when they thought me delirious, was sifted for evidence bearing 
 upon this point. " Mrs. Bell heard it last winter," Mr. Peyton 
 had said, and it was not unlikely that the innuendoes of the acid 
 spinster were the prelude to bolder assertions. Another picture 
 was lifted into the light by obedient Memory ; the dinner, the 
 day after our return from the North ; my father's illness and 
 the snaky gleam of the lawyer's cold, shallow eyes ; these were 
 scattered links of one chain ; but I had not the skill to fit them 
 together. 
 
 "If he would confide in me I" I said, burning drops welling 
 orth at the idea that this had been declared to be an impos- 
 sibility. " Explanation cannot restore the love and troth this 
 mystery lost to me ; but surely, I could comfort him. Can he 
 bear this augmentation of his burden alone, unsupported ?"
 
 M O S 8 - 8 I D E . 277 
 
 He did endure it silently without complaint ; with the hero- 
 ism of a Spartan, the cheerfulness of a Christian. The silve. 
 ;.atrs multiplied more rapidly ; the lines of grave thought were 
 ploughed still deeper ; but the man, the master, the parent, was 
 the same. Once I entered his room unexpectedly, to consult 
 him about administering some medicine to one of the sick, and 
 discovered him wrapped in reverie or devotion, his grey locks 
 ipread over the pages of his Bible, which lay upon the table. 
 It was too late to retreat, for he was conscious of my interrup- 
 tion, and I made known my business. The requisite drug was in 
 the medicine-closet, and I unthinkingly glanced at the book he 
 left open when he arose to procure it. There was a tear-blot in 
 the middle of one leaf, and without approaching nearer, I read 
 in the large type, the verses thus marked : 
 
 " Wilt Thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt Thca 
 pursue the dry stubble ? 
 
 " For Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest r./a 
 to possess the iniquities of my youth." 
 
 And I, emulating this example of patient affliction, refrained 
 from saying or doing anything that evinced any acquaints a c 
 with the concealed wound, or the dart that now festered there 
 His outer life was for others, and such I strove to make min 
 also. 
 
 We were at dinner one day, when Dr. Hamner paid 9 profes- 
 sional visit to the plantation wards. His tough coti'jtitution 
 withstood the draughts imposed by his duties at this critical 
 period, and his joviality ran higher as the epidemic waxed 
 Tiore virulent. He came in, rubbing his hands and proclaiming 
 hat he was " hungry as a wolf !" 
 
 " What of the sickness, doctor ?'' I asked. 
 
 His ravenous gaze was not to be diverted from the chicken mj 
 Father was carving with all possible speed. 
 
 ".Add the wing, if you please, sira bit of the breast aoi
 
 27? MOSS-SIDE 
 
 Mnitting the dressing now gravy it, Mr. Leigh, and I am you! 
 obliged servant. The sickness, did you say, Miss Grace ? 
 1 will trouble you for the tomatoes, Joe. Are those cucum 
 bers iu that dish ? Excuse me I see my mistake. There is 
 no vegetable more refreshing after a hot ride. I have swal 
 lowed a peck of dust this morning Some of the roads art 
 getting horribly dry." 
 
 " I regret your disappointment in the matter of the cucum- 
 bers," said my father, " but your prohibition was too strict to 
 be slighted. The hogs are the only epicures in that line on the 
 place." 
 
 " All right ! perfectly proper ! but " shrugging his shoulders 
 m his Hibernian fashion " those rules do not reach me. I snap 
 my fingers at such humbugs. My breakfast, sir, was ham, and 
 eggs as hard as boiled brickbats ; three cups of coffee, half 
 sugar, six biscuits, a plate of buckwheat cakes and another of 
 blackheart cherries, topped by a glass of iced buttermilk, sir. 
 ' Do as I say, not as I do/ is my motto to you. Your health is 
 my concern ; mine is nobody's, thank goodness !" 
 
 " You are very busy still, I suppose," I edged in. 
 
 " Busy ! my dear young lady, it is enough to kill an elephant ; 
 and as I do not happen to be an elephant, I survive. I am 
 direct from Peyton's. I hear he is going to espouse little Annie, 
 down in the hollow over there." 
 
 " So it is reported," said my father. 
 
 " Then one more blamed fine* fellow will be spoiled into a 
 married man. Heigho I so the world wags ' marrying and 
 giving in marriage,' as saith the good Book. Annie is a nice 
 girl, and if there are such marvels as tolerable wives mauu 
 fectured now-a-days, she will turn out to be one." 
 
 " How are the servants at Linden ?* I questioned. 
 
 " Oh ! so-so 1 Peyton ruins them with kindness. I am dragged 
 from pillar to post whenever I go there. Old Winny has
 
 M O S 8 - 8 1 D K . 279 
 
 " misery " in her side, brought on by the apparition of the spin- 
 oing -wheel ; Josh faints when ordered to his grubbing-hoe ; 
 Dick gets dead drunk off " a thimble-full of drops," he has beec 
 told are a capital preventive, and one and all are enrolled upon 
 my list. The lazy vagabonds ! as if the market were not over 
 itccked with specimens of their sort !" 
 
 " Are there any very ill amongst them ?" My father supr 
 seded me as inquisitor. 
 
 " Humph 1 two or three will have to swim for their lives. 
 But not one of them is so badly off as James Townley." 
 
 " Mr. Townley !" I exclaimed, while my father turned as pale 
 as ashes. 
 
 " I did not know that he was sick." 
 
 "Another potatoe, Joe 1" said the imperturbable doctor, 
 " and the pickles, if you please. Sick ! I don't call him sick 
 he's past that. Nine chances out of ten that he makes a die 
 f it," 
 
 My father pushed back his chair and left the room. I must 
 maintain some guise of self-command. 
 
 " This is shocking news, doctor. When was he taken ill V 
 
 " The fact is that he deserves all he is enduring for his obsti- 
 nacy. He was ailing somewhat last Friday, when I chanced to 
 meet him in the road. The day was scorching, or rather stew- 
 Ing, and I ordered him to 'right-about-face/ and go home but 
 no ! a couple of executions must be levied, ten miles off. ' Duty 
 before pleasure,' he said. 'To-morrow I will begin to nurse 
 myself.' ' You will need medicine and nurses both befote 
 to-morrow morning, you avaricious nose-grinder of the poor !' I 
 hallooed after him. He chuckled that sly, knowing laugh of 
 his, and rode on. By sunrise next day, I was sent for by Misi 
 Judy the only sensible, well-behaved one in the family. If she 
 were twenty years younger, six inches shorter, and a hundred 
 times handsomer, I'd marry her to get her out of the set
 
 280 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 James may stand it. I have seen worse cases get well, bat ' 
 won't stake my reputation upon any guess that he will live foui 
 days more." 
 
 I had to let him run on, for I was too perturbed to 
 speak. He threw his saddle-bags over his arm the, instant he 
 had dispatched his repast ; strode out ; mounted his Rosinante, 
 oore gaunt and disconsolate-looking than ever, and went forth 
 gaily upon his endless round. 
 
 The door of my father's chamber was bolted on the inside, 
 and remained thus, most of the afternoon Towards evening, he 
 emerged from his retirement, and called to a servant to saddle 
 his horse. 
 
 " You are going to ride then, sir," I observed, waylaying him 
 in the entry. My suspense would not allow me to let him depart 
 without seeing and speaking with him. I wished, yet dreaded 
 to ascertain for myself the effect of Dr. Hamner's intel'igence 
 He looked jaded, but perfectly calm. 
 
 "Yes, my love," and without any change of manner, h 
 added, " I am going to see Mr. Townley to assist in cursing 
 him, if need be. If they desire it, or it appears to be expedient. 
 I shall stay there to-night. There is probably no other gentle- 
 man in the house and if his condition be what the doctoi 
 describes, it is not right that his sisters should be left alore at 
 this crisis." 
 
 " Dear father ! the risk to yourself !" 
 
 " Is trifling, my daughter. With my health, I can support 
 greater fatigue than that of a single night's watching." 
 
 I sat up late, awaiting his return, in the vain hope that life 
 services would be unnecessary ; that this painful act of charity 
 would not be exacted from him. It was long after Lilly's bed 
 time when I reluctantly locked up the lower part of the honsfl 
 and went up to her, but she was awake. 
 
 " I am glad you have come, Auntie," she chirped gratifiedly
 
 M d 8 8 - 8 I D E . 28* 
 
 " Have you been lonely ?*' I asked. 
 
 "No ma'am. I am thoughtful, I believe, and my thought! 
 will not let me sleep." 
 
 " And what weighty matters engage them ?" I said, stroking 
 her cheek, amused at her unchildish gravity. 
 
 " 1 am thinking about Mr. Townley. Will he die, Auntie 1" 
 
 " I hope not, dear. I know no more than you do." 
 
 " Is he a very dear friend of grandpapa's, that he has gone 
 to take care of him ?" 
 
 " No, Lilly," I was compelled to reply. "To do good to our 
 friends is not the Scripture command." 
 
 " He is not an enemy, though, is he ?" 
 
 " Has grandpapa any enemies, do you imagine ?" 1 answered. 
 
 She laughed. "What a foolish question for me to ask 1 
 What put it into my head that you and he did not like Mr. 
 Townley ? and I know there must be something wrong in him if 
 you do not." 
 
 " My little Lilly jumped at two conclusions. I hope you have 
 never heard either of us find any fault whatever with Mr. Town- 
 ley ; and if we had, every day, it would not be a certain sign 
 that he was not quite the man he should be." 
 
 " It would be to me 1" rejoined the perverse lady, whereupon 
 I feigned to box her ears and bade her go to sleep. 
 
 There is no beam of light more true than the ray from a 
 child's eye ; no test of character more surely to be depended 
 upon than the uuwarped instinct of a woman-child. 
 
 In my prayers that night, I earnestly remembered the sick man, 
 and him whom he had malignantly aspersed. For one, I suppli- 
 cated health of body and a softened heart; for the other, the tried 
 disciple of the meek and lowly Redeemer, I implored relief from 
 the trouble that tracked him relentlessly, murderously, I feared 
 .est it should prove in the end ; for mental anguish was telling 
 upon his once vigorous frame with a weight more en el than that
 
 282 M O 8 S - 8 I D E . 
 
 of years. He was in his place at breakfast My tongue clovi 
 to the roof of my mouth, when I would have asked the state of 
 the patient, and his worn sad look was no index to the truth. 
 
 " I left Mr. Townley no worse, Grace," he said, reading inj 
 olicitous glance. " He is very ill, however, and I have pro 
 Bised to be with him to-night also." 
 
 "Will you be able?" I expostulated. " The weather is ex- 
 cessively hot. Does not regard for your health warn you against 
 this second watch ?" 
 
 " If there were any one to supply my place, I might be indo- 
 lent enough to conjure up objections," he replied. " You have 
 uo conception of the difficulty of obtaining assistance in tending 
 the sick. Five of Mr. Townley's negroes are prostrated by the 
 disease ; Miss Malvina is a novice, unfit to be in her brother's 
 chamber ; Miss Susan is hardly convalescent after her attack, 
 and Miss Judy, strong and courageous as she is, burst into tears 
 when she saw me. No help can be hoped for from the surround- 
 ing plantations. Most of the well members of the different fami- 
 lies have to perform hospital duty for the rest, and those whc 
 could be spared, are so imbued with this notion of infection that 
 neither humanity nor friendship can prevail upon them tobra^a 
 the chances of taking the malady." 
 
 " Did Mr. Townley recognize you ?" I inquired. 
 
 " Yes. He is conscious, although his weakness is pitiable 
 Several times I thought him dying, so low was his pulse. He 
 says little, and only to signify his wants. Heaver grant he ma, 
 outlive this spell 1" 
 
 There was no hypocrisy in this ejaculation. From the bottom 
 of his heart it arose, arid the recording angel wrote it down with 
 a smile I read him to sleep that forenoon, and during the 
 dreamless slumber of hours, I did not quit him. His placid fea- 
 tures were a study and a lesson to my undisciplined spirit. 
 Whatever was the dark sorrow overhanging him with mysteri
 
 M O S 8 - 8 I D E 283 
 
 4us gloom, it wrought in him no revenge towards man, no rebel- 
 lion against God. He drank the wormwood humbly, without re- 
 pining. Remorseful thoughts of my estranged affection, my hard 
 'udgment and repellant bearing, mingled repentance with the 
 veneration I felt for him now. In trusting my Heavenly Father 
 I had parted with doubts of my earthly protector. I manifested 
 no desire to learn what motive besides Christian benevolence 
 carried him day by day to Mr. Townley's ; nor did he intimate 
 that any other swayed him, except by a brief sentence, uttered 
 in a transport of gratitude, when his charge was affirmed to be 
 out of danger. 
 
 " Grace ! God forgive me ! but there was one second in 
 which I wished for his death instead !" 
 
 " We are your debtors forever I" sobbed Miss Judy, who came 
 over to Moss-side with the tidings, the same day, not knowing 
 that Dr. Hamner had already imparted them. " The good Sa- 
 maritan was not so kind as you have been to us, Mr. Leigh. 
 Said James, just before I started from home ' Tell Mr. Leigh I 
 have no words to thank him with, but if I do get over this, my 
 deeds shall speak for me.' And I say that none of us can ever 
 do anything towards repaying you yet it will be made up to 
 you I know it will 1"
 
 2S4 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PITS years rolled tranquilly away, signalized by no melunchcty 
 changes in our home and neighborhood 1 . My aunt's health had 
 amended perceptibly ; my father was not, in appearance, one day 
 older than at the close of the summer of the pestilence ; Lilly 
 had attained a stature below the medium height of womanhood, 
 indeed, but one which was likely to remain her maximum, and 
 her curls were darkened to the rarest golden chestnut. Hei 
 father had married again, three years after the death of his first 
 wife ; an event that excited much commotion and trying sus- 
 pense at Moss-side ; a commotion quelled and a suspense ended 
 by the bridal visit. My sister-in-law was in nothing undeserving 
 of the succession to Lilly's mother. Her self-sacrificing spirit, 
 displayed at the outset of her married life in resolving to spare 
 our treasure still to our craving hearts ; her generosity in waiv- 
 ing her right to the daughter she received into full affection, 
 from the instant of their meeting, laid us under a weight of 
 grateful obligation, and called down upon her head a shower of 
 loving blessings. Lilly had been to see them since the birth of 
 a baby-brother, named for our father, " Archie," and in whose 
 face the fond parent fancied he could trace a likeness to our lost 
 Frederic. 
 
 Another nephew, and a niece, not the less beloved because 
 they were such in heart alone, and not in blood, were claimants 
 upon ray thoughts and time. The whilom solitary halls of Lin- 
 den reverberated to the shouts of infantile voices ; the music of 
 childish prattle made glad the heart of its master For him
 
 M O fc 5 - 8 I I) E 285 
 
 happiness seemed to have reversed the wheels of Time ; with the 
 gift of these young lives to his care, had also been bestowed the 
 renewal of his youth. 
 
 The Townley establishment had undergone material alterations. 
 Miss Malvina had transferred her susceptible heart and substan- 
 tial corporeal frame to the keeping of an elderly farmer, resident 
 In another county, who had already buried three wives. To the 
 languishing step-mother, nine children looked for parental in- 
 struction and control, and were doomed, I fear, to disappoint- 
 ment and anarchy, except at the seasons of Miss Judy's visita- 
 tions, when her sterling sense and indefatigable industry righted 
 some of the disorders in the turbulent household. The brother, 
 too, had submitted his supple neck to the noose hymeneal ; had 
 tested the capacity of his heart to support a weight of bliss, by 
 taking to himself a buxom lass, weighing twelve stone, and 
 " worth," in match-maker's phrase " a cool thirty thousand in 
 her own right ;" which right, of course, became the enraptured 
 bridegroom's. How far he had redeemed his pledge of service 
 made to my father in the transient thankfulness for his recovery, 
 I could not determine. I deemed it most likely that if he were 
 the author of the reports which had raised Mr. Peyton's friendly 
 ire, he had, without bestirring himself to contradict them, compro- 
 mised with conscience upon mature reflection, when the danger 
 from illness was fairly over, and preserving a circumspect silence, 
 trusted to the natural demise of an unjust report to reinstate his 
 slandered neighbor in the favor of the community. That this 
 did occur was owing to the probity of the victim and the ers- 
 sive operation of Time ; not to the repentance of the calumnia- 
 tor. I could judge of the estimation in which my father waa 
 held, only from outward tokens of respect showed by his asso- 
 ciates, aud these were manifold at the period to which this neces- 
 sary retrospect brings me. 
 
 Two winters had been blessed by the society of our widoweff
 
 286 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 May ; still the unclouded pearl, brighter, purer for the sombr 
 setting, At her last visit, and ever since by her letters, she had 
 extolled the merits of a celebrated physician in her native city, 
 who had proved himself remarkably successful in the treatment 
 of such diseases as my aunt's, and tried to inspire us with faith 
 sufficient to make trial of his skill. The idea gained plausibility 
 o my father's mind at every presentation ; nor could I discredit 
 he accounts of wonderful cures for whose authenticity she 
 Touched. Edmund was consulted, and he strenuously advo- 
 cated May's views. Dr. Hamner shrugged his shoulders until 
 they saluted his ears, and advised us to " pack off by the next 
 stage." 
 
 " I have heard of more miraculous recoveries in the Mother 
 Country," he said, assuming the brogue he never practised unless 
 when he designed to ridicule. " Faith 1 they raise a man from 
 the dead there by the howly help of a corner of St. Peter's pocket 
 handkerchief ; though its meself that doesn't believe that he ever 
 had one. A paring of St. Matthew's thumb-nail, or a button 
 from the flap of St. Luke's overcoat might answer your pur- 
 pose. Although an apostate from Mother Church, I may have 
 influence enough at head-quarters to procure you whichever you 
 prefer." 
 
 " But seriously, doctor," said my father, " do yoa discourage 
 this plan as an absurd venture ? Is there, in your opinion, the 
 slightest hope that it will be productive of good to my sister ? 
 As a friend and a physician whom I trust, I beg you will be can- 
 c'id with me." 
 
 " I will, sir ! My counsel is, try this fellow, if yon are as- 
 sured that he is not an unlearned or knavish charlatan in hia 
 profession, and by all means, take the journey. You wish to 
 see youi daughter-in-law, and should Miss Agnes derive no bene 
 fit from the practice of Dr. What-you-may-call-him, your time and 
 trouble will not be thrown away, or hers either, for change of
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 287 
 
 air and scene will undoubtedly improve her general health. Thus 
 much as a friend. As a physician, I will frankly avow that I 
 have hitherto considered your sister's complaint almost incurable 
 by medicine. Nature occasionally takes the patient in hand, ant 1 
 puts to shame our drugs and panaceas, but the dame is chary of 
 these favors, through an amiable fear, perhaps, that men will get 
 ntirely out of conceit with an art that, once in a thousand times, 
 helps her in a job. Yet I am more cautious than I was once ; 
 am acquiring humility with crowsfeet and grey hairs. My 
 lather never saw a steamboat or a railroad car I have travelled 
 in both. My grandfather died of the small-pox now, thanks to 
 Jenner ! I have enough of the ounce of precaution in my pocket- 
 book to render an hundred men invulnerable to the loathsome 
 destroyer. Wisdom won't die with me. Set that down as a 
 spick-and-span idea, and hope, as I do, that this all-curing 
 brother M.D. may be what Mrs. Leigh describes him." 
 
 " Thank you !" said my father, warmly. " Will it be tres- 
 passing too much upon your time and kindness if I ask you to 
 join your persuasions to mine to reconcile my sister to this move- 
 ment ? She is desponding, and you, in whom she has unbounded 
 confidence, are best qualified to deal with her." 
 
 My aunt had been uniformly disinclined to a proposition in 
 which she certainly was most nearly interested. The doctor, 
 who was faithful to the trust reposed in him, found it difficult 
 to rebut her reasonings, and reply to her interrogatories, without 
 committing himself to the opposite side of the question. 
 
 " I had rather James Townley should crjiss-examine me upon 
 the witness-stand, than pass through another such ordeal," he 
 ernarked confidentially to me, at the conclusion of the debate. 
 ' But we've carried our point, and next month June you are 
 tc begin your pilgrimage to this King-cure-all." 
 
 For the evening reading, ray aunt selected the history of the 
 paralytic, whom his bearers lowered from the house-top into th*
 
 288 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 ncurt where Jesus was. As I read, she sat, as was her custom, 
 rubbing the deadened member, slowly and constantly. 
 
 " You see 1" she said, when I was through, " that Power alone, 
 wUch could forgive sins, could heal the palsied man." 
 
 " And why may He not be moved in your behalf?" I asked. 
 
 " The day of miracles is over," replied she. " Yet I am willing 
 bo go useless as I feel it to be for your sakes." 
 
 My attendance was indispensable, and I urged no objection. 
 The decision was made, and I would not, if I could, have revoked 
 it, however forlorn might be the hope of a favorable result of 
 the experiment. I had my hands full of work, morning, noon, 
 and night ; but my heart did not wait for leisure to complain. 
 How I fought the Past ; wrestled and prayed in private, and in 
 the haunted midnight, no one suspected ; and I blessed the Giver 
 of strength that this was so ; that my smile deceived even the 
 father whose watchful gaze followed me everywhere ; who, with 
 his knowledge of my former life, must be prepared for some sign 
 of awakened memories ; of the conflict which was, hi reality, go- 
 ing on. 
 
 Trunks were packed ; arrangements made to leave the h^uso 
 in care of the servants, for Lilly was to stay at Linden while we 
 veere gone ; and, as there yet remained an idle afternoon of the last 
 ay at home, I proposed a farewell call to the Peytons, instead 
 of awaiting the one they would be sure to make to us. My father 
 Lad letters to write, but would, if these were finished in season, 
 come for Lilly and myself. It was not very warm, and we pre- 
 ferred walking the short mile of plantation-road, lying, for the 
 most part, through spicy pine woods, or the less dense shade of 
 oaks. 
 
 "How much Linden is improved since Mr. Peyton's mar' 
 nage 1" observed Lilly. 
 
 We were ascending the hill upon which it stood, and as I 
 recalled the deserted air that used to hang about its dingy walli
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 289 
 
 *nd wide, empty porches, unpaiuted during the widowerhood of 
 its owner, the scene before me was one of striking beanty. 
 Painters and carpenters had been at work throughout the build- 
 ing, not re-modelling, but repairing ; J heavy as was the style 
 of the old structure, it was no more j'.ootiy and tasteless. The 
 lawn, close-shaven, and green as emerald, was enclosed by a 
 white paling, with great gates opening upon the graceful sweep 
 of carriage-way. In the centre of the circle thus formed was a 
 magnificent elm. The rest of the shade-trees were of the species 
 which had given name to the place. This was the home of 
 Annie Bell " the seamstress," as Miss Malvina designated her. 
 An unavoidable comparison of the present situations of the two 
 came up in my mind. 
 
 " There is a buggy Mr. Townley's, I believe," Lilly's quick 
 eyesight next discovered ; " and Mr. Peyton is playing with the 
 children on the lawn." 
 
 Baby Mary, the youngest, called, by Annie's particular request, 
 after Mr. Peyton's former partner was mounted upon Sultan's 
 back, sustained in her seat by her father, while upon the other 
 side trotted Master Robert, an urchin of four summers ; a bold 
 miniature of his mother, and on this score, somewhat spoiled by 
 Mr. Peyton and Mrs. Bell. He was a generous, warm-hearted 
 hoy, however, and showed unfeigned delight at his sister's rise in 
 the world. She had another, and a higher, shortly, for Mr. 
 Peyton, catching a glimpse of us, swung her up to his shoulder, 
 and, pursued by Robert and Sultan, ran down to the gate to 
 meet us. Thus escorted we proceeded to the house, and were 
 usheied into the great pa , where Mrs. Bell and Annie enter 
 Uined Mr and Mrs. Tov ey. Mrs. Peyton was more matronly 
 Ui dress and staid in carriage than hi her girlhood, but the happy 
 su.ile, the natural sweetness of speech and manner were all hers 
 yei . She felt the alteration in mere externals less than did her 
 acquaintances Mr. Townley, for example, universally affabk 
 13
 
 290 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 though he was, understood, and expressed in his deportment, 
 the difference between the daughter of the brown cottage under 
 the hill, and the mistress of one of the best estates in the district; 
 between the sewing-girl who fitted his sister's dresses and 
 stitched hia wristbands and collars, and the wife of RoLeit 
 Peyton, Esq., whose popularity would ensure his election tc any 
 office in the gift of his fellow-countymen Mr. Towuley's acme 
 of public favoritism. 
 
 The small lawyer was very diminutive, as he appeared from 
 the penumbra cast far across the floor by his wife, and paid 
 his respects. He still wore shining boots and unimpeachable 
 broad-cloth ; linen, speckless and wriukleless, and parted his 
 hair down the middle ; was inquisitive as a woman, and sly 
 as a fox, and still perpetrated puns upon every possible, and 
 what would have seemed to plain, sensible people, impossible 
 opportunity. He handled the reins of conversation with hia 
 accustomed airy sprightliness ; while his wife, laced up at the 
 peril of stays and blood-vessels, in a broad-plaided silk with 
 four flounces, fanned herself in the most capacious chair in the 
 room, and mourned over the hot day. This sylphid bore the 
 name of Eva I A host of lovely images ; the .beautiful creations 
 of poetry and romance arise to deprecate the profanation, but 
 truth is stern and fact is immutable. I repeat it she was 
 christened by, and answered to, the title of Eva. Her husband 
 had confided the circumstance of his engagement to Mr. Peyton 
 by means of a riddle in this shape, " I have now a prospect of 
 obtaining Evarvy blessing I can desire," which happy device, 
 f not immediately intelligible, was, at any rate, characteristic. 
 
 Our projected journey was the chief theme of chat. The 
 Bopard's heart was not transformed. More than one scratch 
 reminded me of what I had learned long ago that although 
 policy might dictate the concealment of his claws, they were 
 sharpened for use. One might have supposed that Lis grudge
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 291 
 
 against me would be overlooked more than forgiven, inasmuch 
 as its cause had indirectly enabled Mm to pluck this richer and 
 larger prize from the scales of Fortune. But in the eye of Law 
 and Equity, a result which I had no intent to produce was not 
 an atonement for actual and personal offence. With the per- 
 tinacity of a little soul, he let pass no chance of such petty 
 etaliation as I only would perceive and fee.'. 
 
 " It has been a number of years since you visited New Yo/k, 
 Miss Grace," he said, smoothly. 
 
 " Yes, sir." I turned to reply to something said by Mrs. 
 Bell. 
 
 " Let me see," he calculated, " I was there the same summer 
 six can it be seven years ago ? I was a grown man atd a 
 beau of Miss Grace's even then, Eva ; but gallantry and truth 
 compel me to say that she was very youthful a mere school 
 girl, in fact ; too young to vex her brain about broken heurta 
 and vows as brittle. Miss Lilly, we are listening every day for 
 tales of your conquests. I trust you will display more leuie&cy 
 to your subjugated admirers than your aunt has done." 
 
 " I shall aim to copy her in that, as in other respects," L,aid 
 Lilly. " She has never led me astray as yet, and I am willing 
 to tread in her footsteps to the end of the path." 
 
 " You could not select a safer or more flowery road," assented 
 Mr. Townley. "The sorrows that befall you there will be such 
 as Providence appoints ; none of them the fruits of misdirected 
 affections o* rash contracts. You will never lose a friend 01 
 reate an enemy by your own act." 
 
 \nnie in her simplicity, smiled at me lovingly, yet in amuse- 
 neiu at what she regarded as high-flown compliment. Lilly 
 gathered a different meaning from my countenance, and bowing 
 slightly in acknowledgment of Mr. Townley's gratuitous remarks, 
 she coaxed the infant from Mr. Peyton, and began tossing il 
 and discoursing in baby-patois, more barbarous than Greek or
 
 292 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 Hebrew to our ears, but perfectly intelligible to herself and 
 Mary, who crowed and jumped in prodigious enjoyment. 
 
 " It is not your purpose to travel about much, I understand * 
 continued my persecutor. 
 
 " No, sir. Our trip is one of business, not pleasure." 
 
 " Business, which it is my earnest wish may be happilj 
 accomplished/' he responded. " You have acquaintances in the 
 city, however, who will not leave you in seclusion. They will 
 enliven your dutiful retirement with their society. Besides your 
 estimable sister-in-law (to whom please present my remem- 
 brances and kindest regards), you have another intimate friend 
 there have you not ? I refer to the lady at whose marriage 
 you assisted in 18 ." 
 
 " I shall see her, doubtless," I answered as negligently as I 
 could ; " but our sojourn will be short, and my time fully occu- 
 pied with my aunt." 
 
 " Is the agreeable young gentleman who honored one of our 
 Christmas gatherings with his company the brother of the verv 
 lady in question, I believe now a resident of New York ?" 
 
 " I do not know, sir," I said, truly. 
 
 " Nor whether he is still unmarried, I presume ?" growing 
 more impertinent under the mask of playful raillery. 
 
 Instead of avoiding his mocking smile, I looked him steadily 
 in the face. " I know nothing about his present locality or 
 condition." 
 
 " Really, Mr. Townley," interrupted his wife ; " you shall not 
 tease Miss Grace any more. She takes it so beautifully that I 
 don't see where you find the fun in pestering her with ques- 
 tions. Where is the sense of worrying yourself about her 
 ? You are, for all the world, just like the dog in the 
 
 The most skillfully-aimed shaft of repartee could not have 
 entered where did this blunt, random shaft. Mr. Townley wa
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 29S 
 
 disconcerted ; so rare an occurrence was it, and the general 
 effect upon the listeners so ludicrous, that a laugh was 
 raised at his expense His wife chimed in with the round, 
 unctuous " ha I ha I" one always expects from obese good- 
 nature, and fanned herself more vigorously to evaporate the per- 
 spiration the exercise had driven out upon her forehead. Her 
 liege-lord tarried a decent time, that his withdrawal might not 
 have the appearance of a retreat, and signed t^ her to prepare 
 for the leave-taking. 
 
 He gave me as a Parthian arrow, a revised edition of an 
 ancient pun. 
 
 " I have a presentiment that this contemplated visit is to 
 deprive our neighborhood of one of its most valuable ornaments. 
 You have lost none of your Wynne-iug qualities since your 
 earlier expedition to this same hunting-ground, and some of us 
 are tolerably posted up as to your exploits in those days. May 
 similar success crown your efforts in this case or chase, I might 
 better say perhaps." 
 
 This clause was for my private ear. 
 
 "Don't believe a syllable of the soft talk he is dosing you 
 with there, Miss Grace !" called out Mrs. Townley. " I know 
 him 1 and I tell you he is the grandest hypocrite alive." 
 
 " 'There's many a true word spoken in jest,' " said Mr. Pey- 
 ton, rejoining us, after having helped the lady into the car- 
 riage. " That's a man in whom I have no confidence none 
 whatever 1" 
 
 " Do not say that, Mr. Peyton," returned Annie. " He bbi 
 his faults, but he must have his virtues too." 
 
 " You will go far and search keenly before you discover 
 many," was her husband's reply. " You don't know him as I 
 do, Annie you don't know him as I do ! But let him f aaa. 
 So, Grace, you set out to-morrow ? and when am I to come few 
 Lilly?"
 
 294 M OSS-SID K. 
 
 " Early iii the morning, if yon please, sir. I hope you wiD 
 not find her a troublesome charge." 
 
 " Troublesome !" exclaimed he and Annie in concert. 
 
 " You deserve that we should keep her from you always, in 
 pnnishmeut for that slur," added the latter. " We will do our 
 best to save you from home-sickness, Lilly ; and with the aid of 
 the children, I think we may succeed in a measure. It is to b 
 lamented that Linden offers no facilities for swelling the list of 
 conquests of which Mr. Towuley speaks." 
 
 " Lilly's conquests !" I said to myself, on our return walk. " Is 
 this already the cry ? and she nothing but a babe and our toy 1 
 How preposterous I" 
 
 I looked then, with stranger-eyes, at the form tripping by my 
 side. Girlish it was, but not childish ; slender, without fragi- 
 lity ; well-strung and free of motion as was that of her grey- 
 hound. Her bonnet swung upon her arm, the slight moisture 
 induced by walking imparted additional gloss and a closer curl 
 to her hair ; the carmine and snow were, at once, blent and con- 
 trasted in her complexion ; to me, she was exceedingly beautiful. 
 
 " Auntie," she ended the silence, ignorant of my gaze. " May 
 I ask a very silly question ?" 
 
 " As many as you choose, darling." 
 
 " I must preface it by a truthful remark, which you may class 
 with Mr. Townley's flatteries," she continued. " Auntie, dear, 
 you are intelligent, pretty and good, and these things are as 
 apparent to others, as to me. Martha and Aunt Amy have a 
 never empty budget of stories of your admirers and the repulses 
 they received. Mr. Townley hinted as much this afternoon. 
 There must be some foundation for these traditions. Were you 
 o very cruel in your bellehood ? It is unlike you, it seems to 
 me." 
 
 " I was neither a belle, nor cruel, my love The servant* 
 exaggerated to maintain the honor of the family, whose cscufr
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 1 D E 295 
 
 eheon they consider would be stained by the admitted fac;t thai 
 one of the ladies of the house lived and died an old maid 
 from necessity." 
 
 Lilly laughed. "You cannot deceive me with any such pro 
 raricatiou as that. My belief in the nursery and kitchen gossip 
 IB firm. I thought," more gravely " I have often wondered 
 whether a sense of duty or your own pleasure kept you single, 
 whether you would not have been happier married to one yon 
 loved, than even in your sweet home with us. Then again, it 
 appeared probable that your heart was so well satisfied with the 
 love of those nearest to you now, that you never knew the need 
 of other affection." 
 
 If the chimera of her perpetual babyhood had not been aban- 
 doned ten minutes before, this language would have dissipated 
 it. Untrained in the conventionalism which instructs young 
 ladies to deny that they have ever had an idea upon a sub- 
 ject that often excludes every other from meditation, locked-up 
 diaries and dreams she avowed to me that she had had specu- 
 lations of her own ; that she was cognizant of the existence 
 of one sentiment sufficient in itself to supply the heart with 
 food, and that there must be a reason for every exception to its 
 universal dominion. 
 
 I could not jest. This budding of the woman's nature was 
 too holy, too solemn a revelation to be sported with. I had lost 
 my play-thing, but in its stead was a treasure to be guarded 
 with more jealous vigilance. With the knowledge of Love, 
 how soon would come its experience how soon its woe ? I 
 thought of my Christmas vow, when her laughter had t 
 level tone to me. 
 
 " 0, Father 1" I prayed now, " help me still to ward off sor- 
 *ow, everything that can blight this spirit 1" 
 
 " Lilly," I said bravely not without cheerfulness " time was 
 I did feel the want of another love ; when it was mine, tc 

 
 296 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 have and to hold, I imagined, forever. God saw fit to deprive mt 
 of it. I live without it ; live contentedly, happily, in the home, 
 with the dear ones He has spared. I desire nothing to replace 
 what once absorbed my being ; I shall die as I live, unmarried. 
 If Love be a spirit-need, darling, believe me, wedlock without it 
 is the spirit's bane. Do not torture your imagination to con- 
 ceive me as spinning out a life of wretched loneliness, for this 
 would be untrue. There is one Fountain that quenches every 
 thirst, and with this, I have so many other blessings that I must 
 devote the largest place in my prayers to thanksgiving." 
 
 The rosy mouth was in a quiver, and the brown eyelashes 
 lowered. 
 
 " But, Auntie, you must have suffered in the beginning be 
 fore you saw the wisdom of the disappointment." 
 
 " Shall I tell you who lifted me into the light ?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am a very dear friend he must be to you now." 
 
 " She is ! A dearer earth cannot supply for she is my Lilly 
 my little daughter my reconciling angel my everything 
 lovely and beloved 1" 
 
 Her eyes ran over ; but her countenance was illumined by a 
 smile more joyous than the summer daylight. 
 
 We had reached a curve in the road, and hearing, in advance 
 f us, the rapid strokes of hoofs, stepped to one side, barely in 
 ,ime to clear the way for the rider of a fleet, mettled animal, 
 dusty and wet with fast or long travel, yet galloping as upon a 
 morning hunt. The cavalier uttered an exclamation and reined 
 up, seeing us so near him. He was handsome and young, the 
 incipient darkening of the upper lip proclaiming the promise, 
 rather than the presence of manhood. There was no lack of 
 grace in his apologetic salutation " or assurance either I" I de* 
 cided, as a half-smile llitted over his face, and a scrutinizing 
 glance succeeded his start of surprise. Doffing his hat, and bow- 
 ing again, until his black hair almost mingled with his horsc'i 
 mane, lie swept on at the same gait.
 
 MOSS-SIDE 297 
 
 " Who can he be ?" wondered Billy. " They said nothing at 
 Linden about expecting a guest, and this road leads nowhere 
 else." 
 
 My father met us a few rods further on. The horseman had 
 passed him, and had bowed, but he had no recollection of his 
 person, only that he was a bold rider and seemed to be a travel- 
 er. Our curiosity was temporary. It expired before we armed 
 at home, and was quite forgotten, with its object, by the 
 faft
 
 298 ic o s s - a i D K 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MBS. SEATON, May's mother, was a widow, whose household, 
 once numerous, was now reduced, by marriages and removals, to 
 herself, her daughter, and one son, the youngest child. Unwil- 
 ling as my father was to impose upon her hospitality, he could 
 not, without wounding her and May also, decline her pressing 
 request that we would make her house our home while we 
 were in the city. For the invalid and myself, he accepted the 
 invitation, alleging the convenient location of his hotel to the 
 principal business mart as a reason why he selected it for hia 
 abode. 
 
 It was night, and May and I, wrapped in our dressing-gowns, 
 were in the depths of a six hours' dialogue. As a particular 
 favor to herself, she had asked me to share her chamber. 
 Over against her chair and workstand, where she must behold 
 it whenever she raised her eyes, hung Frederic's portrait, so like 
 his living self that my heart heaved aching-ly at every inspection 
 of it. Who could have judged that tne mouth, about which 
 lurked the arch humor I had seen there a thousand times, the 
 dilating nostril, the eye alive with soul, were copied from the in- 
 animate clay ? Yet so it was. Among the visitors at the sea- 
 Bhore, that fatal summer, was an eminent artist, who formed an 
 acquaintance with my brother, matured by the unceremonk us 
 customs of a watering-place into friendship. All through th 
 night that followed the catastrophe, this man, at his own desire, 
 matched alone by the corpse. By daybreak, his pencil had 
 sketched the outlines of this picture, and from the image imprinted
 
 M O S 8 - 8 I D E . 299 
 
 apon his retentive memory, he supplied the rest A mouth later, 
 the widow received it, marked by no name, acccmpanied by nc 
 message, save what was written upon a slip of paper attached to 
 the frame " From his friend and yours." The matchless work 
 mauship would have betrayed the author, had no other evidence 
 been forthcoming, but the eccentric donor refused thanks, and 
 nf>ver confessed the benefaction. 
 
 This story was an old one to me, and not mentioned in i/uf 
 conversatioa 
 
 " You have not named Louise Wilson." I said, in course of 
 time. 
 
 " Because we have so many more pleasant things to talk 
 about," was May's rejoinder. "Her life is all public ; that of 
 her husband, all private. She is ostentatiously happy in her 
 fame, he undeniably miserable in his home." 
 
 " Bravo for our gentle May 1" cried I. " That is an antithe- 
 tical sentence worthy of an accomplished satirist." 
 
 She blushed. " If I expressed myself with sharpness, it was 
 in an unguarded moment. Personally, I have no ground for 
 fault-finding with Louise. She is kind to me when our paths in 
 tersect, which is more frequently than one would think who 
 knows the contrariety of our views and pursuits. We exchange 
 calls with some regularity ; and she never sees me that she does 
 not inquire after you. The bond of our school intimacy has out- 
 lasted natural affection, it would appear, for her neglect of her 
 parents is notorious." 
 
 " Have they quarrelled I" 
 
 "It is said they have not. Mrs. Wynne professes to fe>> 
 fl^eat pride in her daughter, but Louise informed me, the last 
 rime she was here, that she had not been to her father's foi 
 nearly a year. She has one child, a boy, for whose mental pre 
 gress she is extremely solicitous." 
 
 " He must be a comfort to his father," I said.
 
 300 
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " The sole jomfort he has, setting aside his business, to which 
 he is devoted. But the little Howard is haughty, as beseems 
 his name, and begins to rule and hector the parent whom no ou 
 in the house affects to respect." 
 
 " Sc true is it," I mused, " that when a wife despises her hu* 
 and, the world imitates, although it may scorn her mep.offLile." 
 
 " Have you read any of Louise's writings ?" questioned May 
 
 " Some fugitive pieces," I replied. 
 
 " Which she does not publish now. Her most elaborate work 
 is just out. I finished it yesterday, and laid it aside for your 
 perusal." 
 
 "Do you like it?" 
 
 " It is powerfully written ; as to the rest yon must form your 
 ideas for yourself. It is no ordinary tale of fiction. There is 
 purpose as well as power in it. Reviewers are divided pretty 
 equally with regard to its beauties and defects." 
 
 The sounding waves of the mighty, invisible ocean to which I 
 had hearkened in awe seven years before, broke around my 
 conch this night with more articulate roar. I required no inter- 
 preter but the review of my life since then, and the histories 
 intermingled with mine. The moonlight poured in through an 
 unshuttered window atd showed me the portrait on the wall 
 the head that reposed on my bosom. Somewhere upon thia 
 moaning, never-quiet sea, was another lonely skiff that would 
 have sailed beside me through all the vovage of Life. Was it 
 tempest-tossed, or peacefully moored in untroubled waters? 
 Although so near to one another, our prows were not to touch 
 in kindly greeting ; our courses must ever be diverse. 
 
 The morrow dawned upon me, sleepless, feverish, heartsick. 
 Hy aunt was fatigued by journeying, and did not leave her 
 chamber during the day ; and there I lounged, a semi-invalid, 
 ud read Louise s book. Had May surmised my unhealthy st ati 
 cf feeling, she would as soon have given me a deadly poison
 
 MOSS-SIDE 
 
 301 
 
 The Press disseminates scores of such works ra this day ; this 
 was the first I had seen. Woman the oppressed and Man the 
 oppressor ; Woman the slave ; Society, Civilization and Religion 
 as preached by Man, the enslavers ; these were the texts insmu 
 ated rather than boldly propounded by the initial chapter, and 
 then the attention was enchained and sympathy enlisted, the 
 reader had glimpses which broadened into views views that ex- 
 panded beyond the horizon of present vision, of Woman's inner- 
 most soul in its ample development ; superhuman in intelligence, 
 scarcely inferior to Divinity in unblemished, incorruptible good- 
 ness of her Mission, the regeneration of her race, and the undis- 
 puted possession of her appropriate sphere. In this, she should 
 be enthroned, no lower than the angels, while he who had ruled 
 her, purified, by her influence, from the gross amalgam of his 
 original nature, should be well-pleased to occupy a subordinate 
 place, and adore as queen and priestess the radiant Immaculate. 
 With inimitable address, the author worked out the problem of 
 Life to this demonstration. She craved the admission of one 
 postulate, viz., that a reform was needed, and this no one with- 
 held after her artful introduction, where not a false or one-sided 
 representation was discernible to the most critical research, and 
 what had been left out was never missed. To feminine tact, she 
 added the fearlessness of the Reformer, the zeal of the Radical. 
 The vices of one sex, the temptations of the other, the applause 
 that hailed triumphant villauy, the ban that cursed the error of 
 the weak and trusting were exposed so independently as to con- 
 Toy an impression of moral sublimity in her who wielded the pen. 
 In her Utopian Paradise, the least poetical of the senses was re< 
 fined into a medium of spiritual gratification ; birds and blossoms 
 taught celestial truths more clearly than the Bible ; in a iily was 
 material better worth study than the lives of prophets and apos- 
 tles and to the clarified visual organs were vouchsafed seraphic 
 apparitions, the " myriads" who, in Milton's time, " walked tha 
 parth unseen"
 
 302 M O S B - 8 I D E . 
 
 This, and much more, I drank in, never staying to question 
 the source or the elements of the sparkling draught. Pearls ol 
 fancy, diamonds of wit, the blood-red ruby of passion gemmec 
 the bowl, and dazzled my wavering perceptions of good and 
 evil I read swiftly ; by dark the volume was finished. I 
 was miserable to wretchedness as I closed it. I had not the 
 Jauntless spirit of the defender of " Woman's Rights ;" was 
 too cowardly to buckle on armor for the. crusade to which 
 ihe exhorted. One of the many million serfs she portrayed 
 shackled, hand and foot, by despotism what hope had I but in 
 death ? Her Millenium would come too late for me. 
 
 " Are you here, Grace ?" said soft accents. 
 
 " Yes come in, May." 
 
 She groped her way through the obscurity, sat down upon the 
 Bofa, and took my head in her lap, fondling it as if it had been 
 an infant, and crooning in undertones an old ballad. Presently I 
 recovered heart to pull her lips down to mine. 
 
 " You are good as ever, my dearest sister !" 
 
 " Are you unhappy this evening ?" she queried. " Your voice 
 sounds sad. Or is it weariness ?" 
 
 " I am depressed, and I must be weak, or I could master my 
 spirits better," I replied. 
 
 " Louise's story is answerable for some part of the melancholy, 
 I fear," said she. " Am I right ?" 
 
 " I do not deny it. The reflections it has engendered are not 
 the most advantageous to self-ease." 
 
 " It is a bad book, Grace I pernicious to morality, ruinous t 
 the healthy contentment of the'mind. I read it with the infatth 
 tad interest you have exhibited to-day, and its work upon my 
 feelings was, I doubt not, identical with what you now experi 
 ence. Yon have heard of the Irishman, who, having instituted 
 a suit against a fraudulent debtor, was observed to weep pro- 
 fusely while his counsel was speaking. A bystander bad th 
 curiosity to inquire the cause of this extraordinary demonstration
 
 MO 88- 8 IDE. 303 
 
 Och ! and shure I niver had an idee -of how badly I was thrated 
 till the gintleman explained it so gintalely !' he blubbered. So 
 I was in blissful ignorance of ' Woman's wrongs' in blissful apa- 
 thy to the glorious cause of ' Woman's rights/ until yon harm- 
 less-looking volume told me the story. I cannot meet argument 
 With argument, for Louise's intellect is logical as brilliant, and 
 jaine is neither. I cannot gainsay her report of unjust legisla- 
 tion . and the arbitrary oral by-laws of popular sentiment against 
 our sex. Every permanent reform is gradually wrought, and 
 the time for amending these abuses will come as quickly and aa 
 surely without our declaring ourselves in insurrection. It is de- 
 grading, Grace ! I am not a slave, nor are you, and no sophistry 
 should mislead us into making such a concession. Against what 
 are we to take up arms ?" 
 
 " We are woefully dependent, May." 
 
 " Not more than Man is upon us. In the symbols of royalty, 
 the external trappings that belong to power, he is the sovereign, 
 as he is physically our superior. There are men who employ 
 brute force to maltreat children and women ; but what is their 
 proportion to the multitude of tender fathers and kind hus- 
 bands ? I love I reverence a good, wise man as the master- 
 piece of his Creator. Rulers there must be, and since I perceive 
 in myself no vocation for the office, I had rather submit to 
 his jurisdiction than to a female autocracy." 
 
 May had pondered these subjects better than I, but I objected 
 to this remark " May there not be a medium, a division of 
 labor and of power ? Why lodge all authority in the hands of 
 one ?" 
 
 " Would you have then a government like the feet and toet 
 of Nebuchadnezzar's dream-image a mixture of iron and of 
 clay? And this reminds me of what struck me most unfa- 
 vorably in this work. You and I, Grace dear, believe in a God, 
 heaven, and a Bible in thi? last as entirely as in the other 
 two. Is it not a significant token of the fallacy of many of thes
 
 804 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 nodern ' isms that they wrest the plainest passages of Holy 
 writ ; erase some as spurious, and if hard-pressed to establish 
 their systems of doctrine, cast discredit upon the whole. ' If 
 Woman,' say Louise and her disciples, ' is declared by Scripture 
 to he weaker than he who has basely usurped the title of lord 
 said governor, is enjoined to be subject to his will, to ser\e 
 im in humility and meekness, we discard the Bible that teaches 
 ucn monstrous tyranny.' " 
 
 " Oh ! now you are too severe !" I exclaimed. 
 
 " Am I F' her voice gaining earnestness. " It is the fault of 
 'my understanding, not of my heart, if my judgment is harsh. I 
 have spoken out the best meaning I can put upon Louise's fine- 
 spun dissertations, her grand theories concerning ' natural reli- 
 gion ,' and the ' higher law of instinct,' the ' newer and divine 
 revelation of intuitions,' and ' spirit communications.' What do 
 these expressions signify if not what I have said? Are nit 
 these teachings inculcated in every page, in every line ? ' Spou 
 taneous affinities ;' the ' infinitude of the finite ;' the ' Iris-chain 
 of beautiful truth that conducts the receptive soul to deeper 
 sublimer spirit mysteries ' are terms which I am not ashamed 
 to say I do not understand. They belong to the cant of the 
 sect, for sneer as they will at ' sectarian dogmas,' they are a sect, 
 and cant after their fashion, more than did Cromwell's Round 
 heads." 
 
 " Poor Louise I" I sighed, after an interval of painful 
 thought. " If she had been a happy wife, this book would never 
 have been written." 
 
 " There," said May, " you have the key to every incident ol 
 oer public career, every doctrin^ she advocates." 
 
 I could see that she looked at the cherished portrait 
 
 " Only the other day," she continued, " I was reading the 
 ' Records of Woman,' and dwelt tearfully upon this definition of 
 her wants and ' mission,' penned by one who poured forth th 
 plaint of her own grieving heart in the lines."
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 303 
 
 There were tears m her voice now, as she recited them. 
 
 " ' Thou shalt have Fame !' Oh, mockery ! give the reed 
 From storms a shelter, give the drooping vine 
 Something round which its tendrils may entwine ; 
 Give the parched flower a rain-drop, and the meed 
 Of Love's kind words to woman. ****** 
 If I could weep 
 
 - Once, only once, beloved one ! on thy breast 
 Pouring my heart forth ere I sink to rest ! 
 But that were happiness and unto me 
 Earth's gift is Fame !' " 
 
 Our family group was collected hi the parlor for a social 
 evening, when " Mr. and Mrs. Wilson," were announced. Their 
 entrance reversed the order of the footman's words, for Louise 
 sailed in upon us ere I could rise to receive her. Her figure was 
 fuller, and, I thought taller, than when she was first married, so 
 majestic was her mien. She kissed me with a sentence of greet 
 ing, beautifully turned and delivered, and continued the round 
 of the little company, while I was transfixed in a sort of stupid 
 wonder ; lost in the endeavor to connect recollection and obser- 
 vation. 
 
 " Sappho I Corinne 1" I said, over and over again. " Is this 
 Juno, the pitied sacrifice of a mother's ambition, the unhappy, 
 unloving consort of a man she held, in utter contempt ? w 
 
 This directed me to him. I was pained by the alteration 
 in his appearance. The hair was thin npon the crown of hia 
 head, and tipped with iron-grey ; his face and form were spare 
 to leanness ; he stooped in the shoulders, and had a slouching 
 gait at variance with his former brisk step. The hund he gan 
 
 ! was unbending as a piece of jointless wood, and his bow was 
 effected by machinery as stiff. He crept into a chair, and 
 would, I believe, have been a speechless fixture the whole lime 
 he stayed, but for Alfred Seaton's good nature. He seated 
 himself near the hermit-corner, and talked " business."
 
 806 M O 8 S - 8 I D E . 
 
 Ljnise was gay and chatty. 
 
 " It has been seven ages since we met," she said to me, " en 
 are not twelve months reckoned an age in your rural retreat? I 
 should suppose not, or, at least, that the greybeard of the 
 ythe and hourglass has forgotten to mark the passage even of 
 inys upon you. As I look at you, it seems but yesterday tha 
 re parted." 
 
 1 might have rejoined that the stranger who was yesterday 
 presented to me, would have acted as much like the friend of 
 by-gone hours as she did. It was not affected indifference, but 
 the nonchalance of one used to the world, who smiled at early 
 loves and hopes as sickly dreams. She was in party costume, 
 and the robe, in texture and hue, was in keeping with her posi- 
 tion as a wife and mother. But the corsage retreated from the 
 bosom and shoulders with a freedom that caused my cheeks to 
 burn with unsophisticated blushes, and the arms were sur- 
 mounted by an ornamental band a capital to the rounded 
 shaft, and which was called by courtesy, a sleeve. 
 
 " I am engaged out this evening," she excused her brief visit. 
 " I only dropped in here to welcome you to our midst. When 
 shall I have the pleasure of seeing you in my own house ? I do 
 not receive morning calls except upon my ' at home ' days, and 
 I do not wish you to present yourself in that melde. Cannot 
 you and your sister favor me with your company to dinner on 
 Thursday?" 
 
 I left the reply to May, who was disengaged, and I consented 
 to go, with the proviso that should my aunt be worse or require 
 my presence, I must be excused. The next day was the medical 
 
 examination, and Dr. 's judgment reanimated our courage 
 
 and infused something of our hopefulness into the patient'* 
 heart. A letter from Lilly completed the cure of my me.an 
 choly. 
 
 " Has our encounter in the pine-wood with the ' Wild Hunt*
 
 M 6 8-8 I D E. 307 
 
 man ' escaped your mind ?" she wrote. " If not, know you, 
 Auntie dear, tnat this phantom was very substantial flesh being 
 no less a personage than the 'little boy,' Peyton Elliott, whom 
 he says, I patronized with infinite condescension, the Christmas of 
 my installation at Moss-side. He has been at college for four 
 years, and is now improving his emancipation by what he is 
 pleased to term ' loafing ' at Linden, and for which perfect idle 
 ness I can devise no more expressive epithet. He is kind and 
 sociable with the children and myself, and Mr. Peyton is much 
 attached to him." 
 
 To Louise's, therefore, we went on Thursday, at an hour 
 when, as I told May, dinner-guests at Moss-side were thinking of 
 going home. The establishment was handsome ; in nothing re- 
 sembling the picture one is apt to sketch of a literary lady'a 
 abode. Louise was the polite hostess, the life of the party, 
 which numbered some half-dozen beside ourselves all talkers 
 but Mr. Wilson. He sat at the foot of the table and performed 
 the duties of carver and decanter-master with a spiritless air 
 that was really pathetic. 
 
 My vis-a-vis was a bald gentleman with spectacles ; next him 
 was a lady capped and spectacled ; then May, and then a young 
 man of flaxen complexion, moustaches and hair to match, and 
 a double eye-glass pendant from the upper button of his vest. 
 Although I knew this house to be the resort of a certain clique 
 of literati, I had not expected that any, even of the lesser lights, 
 would be invited to waste their effulgence upon a couple of 
 Louise's schoolmates, who were unknown except to- a small pri 
 vate circle, and anything but "progressive " in taste and a-spira 
 tions. The conversation at table was on a par with such din 
 Ler-talk as I had participated in many times before, and whcD 
 called upon, 1 bore my share in it without diffidence. 
 
 There was more company in the parlors when we repaired 
 thither.
 
 308 MO 8S-8IDE. 
 
 My eyes ran eagerly through the rooms in a quest, un& railing 
 as unwarrantable. 
 
 " Did I hope to see him here ?" I asked myself. " Should 1 
 uot have shrunk from the meeting instead ? It is best thtw 
 Shame on the heart, that bravery should desert it at this latt 
 day I" 
 
 But I was repeating in my old way " Nevermore I" when 
 May addressed me. 
 
 " Do you know, sis, into what goodly company we have fallen ? 
 Here is a varied assortment of one dramatist, two editors, 
 three poets, four poetesses, and five prose authors I did not 
 gay ' prosy,' by a slip of the tongue did I ? In short, our host 
 and ourselves are the only undistinguished persons in tha 
 room." 
 
 " Indeed !" said I, looking around me, and somehow expect 
 ing to descry the labels affixed to the celebrities she had named 
 " Where are they all ?" 
 
 " The play-writer leans against the wall in that corner. He 
 was my neighbor at dinner he of the sandy love-locks and quiz- 
 jting-glass. He is talking to a poetess and an authoress." 
 
 " They look very much like other people," I remarked, 
 naively. 
 
 " And talk like them, too," she responded. " There is one person 
 here whom you will not object to meeting. Do you note that young 
 man standing at this end of the piano ; neither talking nor yet 
 dreading, but bearing himself like a sensible gentleman, ready to 
 do the one if occasion offers, and who never gives way to the 
 other in society ?" 
 
 " I see him. Who is he ?" 
 
 " The author of the exquisite poem for the sake of which 701 
 forwarded the Magazine to Lilly." 
 
 " May ! you are not in earnest ?" 
 
 " Why am I not, my dear ?"
 
 MOSS-SIDE 309 
 
 ' He is so y juthfui," I said. " He is neither pale, tall, nor 
 lachrymose." 
 
 " Cogent reasons all of them, why he should never attempt 
 pot try/' she replied. " Add to them that he eschews spectacles 
 and trims his hair, and any jury would acquit him of such a 
 deed. Or, if a touch of doubt remained, I could clear it away 
 by representing that I am personally acquainted with him ; that 
 he often converses with me, a nobody, when there are somebodies 
 by and that I comprehend and admire everything that he writes." 
 
 He smiled and bowed now, and came over to speak to her. A 
 figure rather short and square-built ; a good-humored, healthy- 
 colored face ; a sparkling eye these were the results of my 
 hasty scanning of the personage whom she introduced to me. As 
 Bhe had said, he spoke as he looked, the simple gentleman. The 
 Biored imaginings, rich aud glowing as the treasures of oriental 
 mine and forest, were not with him baubles to be sported with 
 by the frothy surface-waves. Yet, as we became better acquaint- 
 ed, he permitted us to see a stray flash ; the ripple was some- 
 times a cleft, through which shone the bright and precious things 
 of the depths. To me, he was kindly attentive, obscure strangei 
 as I was, uninteresting as I appeared at the first. I rejoice that 
 this was the outward stamp of the only confessed poet I have 
 ever known, and that my conceptions of the class are formed 
 from it. The Aurora of Fame was then just touching his brow 
 with faint prophetic gleam. It is now broad day. Where then 
 one tongue, one heart uttered his praise, a thousand shout it now. 
 May thousands more yet echo it ! 
 
 Mr. Wilson, all this while, was secluded in his nook, between a 
 pier-table and a voluminous window-curtain. I think he had an 
 histinct for discovering out-of-the-way places, and he immured 
 himself in them whenever he could. He noticed nobody, and 
 nobody noticed him. His eyes were generally engaged in the 
 perusal of a patch of the carpet, about a foot square ; h* hands
 
 510 MO S 8-B I D K, 
 
 were crossed at the wrists upon his lap. A broken-spirited an 
 a miserable man I knew him to be, and I pitied him from my 
 soul, as I traced the seams of care and toil in his visage toil, 
 that she whom he had wooed lovingly, won exultiugly, might 
 maintain the state her imperious pride demanded ; care, ah 1 
 what of care and anguish had not tried his heart ? 
 
 I summoned hardihood, when I thought myself least observed, 
 to approach him. He made way for me to pass, and was con- 
 founded when I took an ottoman near him instead. His lips 
 parted twice before a sound came forth. 
 
 " I hope you are well this evening, Miss Leigh." 
 
 " Quite well, thank you. Mr. Wilson, I have a favor to crave 
 from you." 
 
 He bowed. 
 
 " I want to see your boy. I watched for him when the dessert 
 was brought, and then hoped that he would be in the parlor 
 He is not sick, I hope." 
 
 " No ;" and he seemed really gratified. " Children are noisy, 
 and his mother does not often send for him to the drawing-room 
 He takes his meals in the nursery. His mother thinks rich food 
 is injurious to him." 
 
 " He is asleep now, I suppose." 
 
 " He may be ; but he is frequently awake later than this Hik 
 mother prefers that he should not go to bed too soon. She 
 thinks too much sleep will make him heavy." 
 
 " Master Howard, too, is a monopoly enjoyed exclusively by 
 his mother, it appears," thought I. "Is the nursery forbidden 
 to visitors ?" I inquired. 
 
 " No ; that is I believe not. His mother invites her friend 
 up occasionally. I do not know whether she is willing that any 
 one should see him in the evening." 
 
 " She will not refuse me, I think," answered I, intercepting 
 Louise on her way by us
 
 
 M088-BIDK 311 
 
 " What is it ?" she asked. 
 
 " I am desirous to make the acquaintance jf your Duke How 
 ard," I said, " and am begging Mr. Wilson to grant me admit> 
 tance to his domain at this unseasonable hour." 
 
 "You caa go, certainly," was her reply. "Mr. Wilson will, 
 jrith pleasure, show you the way." 
 
 With a reverence to her and to me, he offered his arm 
 ^Tords were superfluous had not she spoken ? 
 
 The nursery was a commodious and elegant apartment, but, as 
 it seemed to me, rather fanciful in some of its appointments. The 
 pictures, with which the walls were lined, were principally allegor 
 ical, altogether beyond the comprehension of a child. Ther* 
 were busts and statuettes, and directly opposite the muslin-veiled 
 crib was suspended a large, beautifully carved alabaster cross, 
 with a wreathing serpent a mystic symbol, whose meaning I 
 could not appreciate. Vases of flowers were set about on brack- 
 ets, above the reaching baby-fingers teachers of Nature's 
 beauties, which the pupil would have been too happy to ex- 
 change for a handful of dandelions and wild grasses, if he might 
 litter the floor with them. Books there were, in plenty and vari- 
 ety ; of toys, there were none, except a philosophical apparatus, 
 which, at the moment of our entrance, the heir of the house wa> 
 insisting should be broken in pieces to aid in the construction of 
 a store he was building of books. 
 
 " I will 1 I say I will 1" he screamed vociferously. " Give it 
 to me, or I will complain to mamma, you old thing 1" 
 
 The opposing force was a Swiss-French woman, an amphibious 
 jreature nursery-maid and governess, whose rising wrath sank 
 hen she beheld us. 
 
 " Master Howart is indispose', I tink," she said, courtesying 
 " He is a lamb most times, madame." 
 
 ' Papa," roared the enraged lamb, " make Felice reach iowi 
 that for me 1"
 
 312 M C 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 *' My son ! will not something else answer the purpose ? What 
 do you want me to get for you instead ?" Mr. Wilson faltered, 
 eyeing in fear the angry countenance, babyish though it was. 
 
 " 1 will have that, and nothing else 1" persisted the boy, ob- 
 Itinately ; and there was in look and voice a painful resemblance 
 k) Lmise, as I had seen her at the beginning of her wedded es 
 t*is, before her heart-petrifaction was thorough. 
 
 " But what will your mother say, my son ?" 
 
 4 I'll see to that 1" with an air of superiority. 
 
 " Well," submitted Mr. Wilson, " let him have it, Felice. If 
 lit breaks it, I can buy another to-morrow." 
 
 The amphibious lady did not remove her black lace mitts aui 
 the hands they adorned from the pockets of her apron. Inclin- 
 ing her head yet further towards her left shoulder, she objected 
 positively to the concession. 
 
 " Pardon, monsieur, but madame have ordered expressdment 
 Master Howart uevair to play wid dat when she not here to give 
 it him. / obey order." 
 
 By implication, the stress laid upon the personal pronoun in 
 fehis clause said, " Whether you do or not 1" 
 
 " What shall I do, Miss Leigh ?" prayed Mr. Wilson, in dis- 
 tress. Between awe of the unmanageable boy, and his mother, 
 who controlled everything about her, his dilemma was undesir- 
 able. 
 
 " Howard," I said, but hopelessly, " what will you do with 
 that clumsy toy ? I do not think it pretty." 
 
 "I do I and I want it to build my store with," he returned 
 crustily. 
 
 " I should not call it a very good thing for that." 
 
 " That's because you dou't know, you see. Those posts " 
 pointing to the cylinders supporting the crucible or boiler " ar 
 exactly like some I saw to-day to a store down town, and T 
 have them I"
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 313 
 
 " Where is your house ? Let me look at it," I suggested 
 
 Diverted by this turn of the subject, he forgot the coveted ar- 
 ticle for a minute, but that was long enough for Mademoiselle 
 Felice to whip the queer machine that had begotten the ferment, 
 rindt'i- the ruffled, be-bowed scrap of silk, which was the founda- 
 tion of her pockets, carry it into the dressing-room, and be back 
 to her position by the bedstead, lace mitts ensconced as before, 
 and an innocent smirk upon her hard lips. Then Howard, who 
 had been explaining his building plans to me with alacrity and 
 intelligence, returned to the original charge, and detected the 
 trick. 
 
 " The lisping of infancy is the dialect of angelic communities," 
 said his mother's book. This stout six-year-old had lost the re- 
 collection of its very elements, for hi no vocabulary seraphic, in 
 use among the elite of the " lower spheres " even, could have 
 been found the epithets he launched at the entire party, individu- 
 ally and collectively. In Billingsgate and a French Billingsgate, 
 one might have sought with better chance of success. The am- 
 phibious lady was unmoved in smirk and attitude. Mr. Wilson, 
 goaded to action, placed his hand in pacification upon the head 
 of his hopeful scion. He struck it off, and an oath, sounding and 
 furious, burst from his mouth. 
 
 " Had not we better go down, Miss Leigh ?" said the insulted 
 parent, his leaden complexion crimsoning with mortification and 
 suppressed feeling. 
 
 " Go along 1" shouted Howard, taking this movement aa 
 a:i acknowledgment of defeat ; " and never come in here 
 again ! I'll tell mamma of you all. She'll show you who is 
 uaster." 
 
 Mademoiselle Felice sidled to the door ; courtesyed anew, an 
 obeisance compounded of maid and governess, and was "vair 
 sorry madame should have seen Master Howart in one such mis- 
 fortune." 
 
 14
 
 314 MOB8-8IDK. 
 
 " When yon come again, he will be dispose' in body, and la 
 Tair good temper parfaitement aiinable, madame 1" 
 
 Silently, we wended our way down the spacious staircases, 
 BO carpeted that no step creaked in the descent. 
 
 " This is splendid misery I" I thought, " and this abject sufferer 
 s its owner !" 
 
 Disrespectful as the idea was to her as my hostess, it obtruded 
 itself : " Is this Louise's tyrant ? and this her manner of prose- 
 cuting reform ? Must the wife's emancipation necessarily involve 
 the husband's slavery ?" 
 
 It was a crude notion, and is here set down as it entered my 
 cranium at the bottom of the second flight ; but it was to me 
 what Louise's sect would style a " spirit manifestation," and I 
 am inclined now to regard it as less nonsensical, attendant cir- 
 cumstances considered, than many of the Socratically-put argu- 
 ments that upon the pages of "My Mission? What?" had 
 teemed unanswerable
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 had been further additions to the companj while we 
 were out This I observed casually, as I obeyed Louise's beckon- 
 ing finger. The magnet of a select circle, she was in high bloom 
 and spirits. She swept aside her flowing robes to make space 
 for me upon her divan. 
 
 " My friend, Miss Leigh, Dr. Harney." 
 
 A grey-haired gentleman, with an eagle eye and a benevo- 
 lently smiling mouth, arose and bowed. 
 
 " Pray go on 1" said Louise to him, " or stay ! let Miss Leigh 
 be informed as to the subject of the controversy. You have 
 missed much by not hearing it," to me. " Such opponents do 
 not often engage one another." 
 
 I gave a thought to the less refined warfare I had witnessed 
 in the meantime ; but signified my curiosity to be instructed in 
 the merits of this one. 
 
 " Briefly then," continued Louise, " inasmuch as any descrip- 
 tion of mine will be a witless affair to those who have listened to 
 the debate, and we are impatient to have it proceed, Mrs. 
 Rowland laments the poverty of real life in the matters of 
 romance and poetry, and Dr Harney asserts that all of both, 
 contained in written story, is meagre in quantity and quality, 
 when compared with the dramas and tragedies acted out before 
 ns and by us every day we live." 
 
 She spoke lightly, yet not scornfully, and the disputants were 
 satisfied with her statement. 
 
 Mrs Rowland had seen, perhaps, fifty years of the barren
 
 816 M O 8 8 - B I D K . 
 
 existence she protested was "insupportable to a craving intet 
 lect and sensitive heart." A sharp, quick utterance ; a pair of 
 sharp, quick eyes lent a shrewish character to her discourse, while 
 Dr. Harney's courtesy was unvarying. Her aim was to show 
 now the contact of man with his fellows, under the present con- 
 ititntion of society blunted his nicer feelings ; " rendered gross 
 his spiritual faculties ;" " materialized his ethereal essence." 
 
 The doctor's mouth twitched as she brought out this expres- 
 sion. If aught so intangible could be handled, he did it politely 
 but with ability. I was getting mystified by more transcenden- 
 tal jargon, when he introduced a little story, narrated with no 
 straining after effect, in unvarnished English, made eloquent 
 by his feeling manner and ite truth 
 
 " In the summer of 18 , the city of was decimated by 
 
 the worst plague that has ever cursed our Western country. 
 All who could quit the place fled from it ; but there were 
 thousands left upon whom Death might feed. Hospitals were 
 crowded ; graveyards overflowed ; and neither nurses nor sextons 
 could be hired in sufficient numbers to supply the increasing need. 
 Business was suspended ; loss and gain were disregarded when 
 the question " to die or to live ?" was forced upon every man'a 
 consideration. In my rounds through the principal hospital, I 
 was thrown much into the company of a young physician, who 
 had emigrated from this State to try his fortune in a less 
 thronged field. He was a grand-looking fellow ; straight us an 
 Indian, and the picture of healthful, vigorous manhood. Hia 
 strength of nerve was marvellous. He bore sights that whit- 
 ened the faces of veterans in the service, with an equanimity 
 and a presence of mind I have never seen in any other person 01 
 acute sensibilities. While there was a glimmer of hope, while 
 the breath of a patient lasted, he ceased not to exert himself for 
 his recovery. No spectacle of disease and woe was so revolting 
 as to daunt him, yet I have known him to weep in womanly soft-
 
 M O 8 8- 8 I D E. 31 'I 
 
 ness aver the remains of the poor wretches, who nad no daini 
 upon him except that of humanity. He was the favorite of all 
 in the wards the sick, their nurses and his brother doctors. 
 Day after day he walked beside me with a fleet tread fat [gut 
 could not make languid ; the restorative of his voice and smik 
 doing me as much good as it did the sufferers, who watched and 
 prayed for his coming. 
 
 " I loved him as a younger brother, and as the pestilence 
 began to subside, I set my wits to work upon the surest method 
 of aiding him in his professional course without hurt to his deli 
 cacy. My own practice was extensive, and short as had been our 
 intercourse, I resolved to invite him forthwith'to become my assist- 
 ant ; in time, my partner. Upon this business, and nothing else, 
 I, one day, called at his room. He was sick, he said how oddly 
 it sounded from him 1 and was just thinking of sending for me. 
 I attributed his fever and debility to overwork, and commanded 
 him to keep his bed for the remainder of the day. Within the 
 hour of my departure, he was summoned imperatively to visit 
 some one who was dangerously ill. Feeling better at the 
 thought of action, he arose, dressed and went out upon what 
 was his last errand of mercy. That night, a messenger, in hot 
 haste, aroused me from sleep to attend ray friend. He was 
 already in a critical condition. He told me this before I could 
 apprise him of it. 
 
 " ' While I am sensible, doctor,' he said, ' I would intrust you 
 with one or two final commissions.' 
 
 " No hero of romance or poetry, Mrs. Rowland, could have 
 manifested more fortitude, no martyr more resignation. 
 
 " ' Don't think of final commissions, my dear boy,' I answered, 
 with a choking in my throat. ' Your iron frame will show bravo 
 fight, and as like as not, come off victorious.' 
 " ' I hope so, doctor ; but I do not agree with you that this 
 is the most likely termination of the struggle I stand almost
 
 818 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 alone in the world, for I am an orphan, with no near relatives 
 but life is precious, and there are other loves than those of 
 cnildhood's home/' 
 
 " He drew from his bosom a locket, hung by a ribl on about 
 bis neck. ' Look at that, sir !' 
 
 J< It was the miniature of a very beautiful woman. 
 
 " ' She is my betrothed,' he resumed ; ' the spring of every 
 effort becoming a man that I make ; my star and prize, set 
 steadfastly before my face in whatever direction my Fate con- 
 ducts me. My death will break her heart. Is it a wonder that 
 I wish to live ?' 
 
 " ' And live you shall for her if there be efficacy in mortal 
 skill !' I returned. 
 
 " ' Thank you !' squeezing my hand. ' But should this fail, 
 yon will take charge of my effects, and write to her gently, 
 tenderly, doctor ! for the shock will be great. She loves me 1' 
 
 " The pathos of these three words I cannot describe to you. 
 A volume of written poetry could not convey so much of devo- 
 tion and agony. He gave me her address ; added instructions 
 touching some unsettled pecuniary concerns, and resigned him- 
 self to my care. The best medical aid the city could supply was 
 obtained ; consultations were held hourly ; no means or pains 
 were spared. For two days he battled for the life which was 
 hers ; on the third, he sank. The miniature, a tress of her hair 
 and her letters moulder with him in his untimely grave. 
 
 " This was love until death. It is an everyday story, Mrs. 
 Rowland, but the secret of two lives is infolded in it." 
 
 " And the lady ?" questioned a gentleman. 
 
 " I wrote to her, as I had promised, and never received a 
 reply. I hardly expected one, although it would have comforted 
 me in my affliction, and could not have augmented hers." 
 
 " What became of her ? or did vou lose all trace of her witli 
 the end of this correspondence ?"
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 31fi 
 
 J could scarcely believe my own ears, when Louise's unaltered 
 roice fell upon them. Her eyes were clear and dry, while rains 
 were filling fast. 
 
 " I do not even remember her name," said Dr. Harney ; " Ha? 
 hg destroyed the address when I dispatched the letter, nor is 
 of consequence. Other things have covered over, in my mind, 
 his episode in an eventful career. It was recalled by the con- 
 versation here to-night. By to-morrow, I shall have packed it 
 away again in its hiding-place. A novel-writer would have 
 intensified more ; would have put the tale into a better form. I 
 have told it in my way, to serve my purpose. If I have been 
 prolix, as well as inartistic, I crave your indulgence." 
 
 There was a disclaiming buzz, eager and complimentary, as 
 he said this. I did not join in it. I had fewer words, more 
 thoughts than any of the rest. 
 
 A sultry July twilight ; the great, unseen river booming with- 
 out ; a darkening room, bestrewed with bridal array ; a crouch- 
 ing figure, crushed by memories ; mournful, fitful tones, that 
 repeated the very story to which we had just now listened ; ita 
 finale " Deep in my heart there is a grave sealed fast ! for I 
 trampled down the earth myself beat it hard ! No grass 
 grows there ; no tear ever wets it ; no sunbeam ever straya 
 through the darkness to light it ; My former self is buried 
 there with his memory." This was the picture, these tin 
 sounds that visited me. Where was now that grave ? Forgot 
 ten, with the thought of that in which lay the mortal remains 
 of her early love the martyr-hero ! 
 
 " Can it be ?" I said, wonderingly. 
 
 " If our written romances could win our readers to interest at 
 genuine and flattering as Miss Leigh has showed in your narra 
 live, we should ask no higher meed of praise," was Louise'g 
 remark. " Truth, nature and heart these are better than all 
 the studied graces of stage-effect, doctor."
 
 320 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 She left us with this, to shine upon others who claimed hospi 
 table notice ; still radiant, self-poised, inimitable ; the cynosure 
 of envious and admiring regards. 
 
 Mine sought out May as a relief from this excess of brilliaucy. 
 She yet wore her mourning-dress, and the pensive cast of hef 
 features did not date back to the period of our early intimacy j 
 but upon the forehead and lips was enstamped a serenity sorrow 
 could not disturb, nor time take away. 
 
 " Peace and stoicism ; Religion and Philosophy which best 
 befit the woman ?" said ray invisible monitor ; and again I 
 wondered whether I had not been favored, twice in the same 
 evening, with an "inward illumination;" whether my spiritual 
 intuitions wore i>ot undergoing the "purification which should 
 eventuate in their infallibility." 
 
 Louise was importuned for a song I guessed from the ges- 
 tures and countenances of several who pressed about her. 
 
 " Wbj Joes she refuse ?" queried the dramatist of Mrs Row- 
 land. 
 
 " To enhance the value of the consent which will come iu due 
 reason," she replied, cynically. " Men rush most anxiously after 
 denied blessings." 
 
 " Mrs. Wilson seldom sings at her own parties," said May's 
 gentle, firm tones. " I hope she will break through this rule 
 to-night, however ; you have not heard her " to me " for seve- 
 ral years have you ?" 
 
 " No ;" I said ; then inwardly, " I do not care to, now 1 I sup- 
 pose her style of music too has undergone a reformation, and I 
 am weary of alterations for the worse." 
 
 I had two disappointments ; one, at seeing her approach Ji 
 piai.o, leaning upon the arm of the young poet ; the other was 
 delighted astonishment, when like a breath of summer wind, the 
 long stirred the air, and silenced every other voice. I could 
 have imagined her the Louise I once knew and loved, so like
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 321 
 
 irere the mtes to those she used to carol frequently and freelj 
 as do birds in Spring-time. I arched my hand over my eyes, and 
 listened tc the round, liquid tones that brought me the IOT* 
 
 " There is a fountain in the dell, 
 
 And it singeth evermore, 
 As the laughing waters leap to light, 
 
 And tinkling crystals pour. 
 All day, to catch the sun's warm kiss, 
 
 The eager wavelets swell ; 
 And a wild and joyous thing of life 
 
 Is the fountain in the dell. 
 
 But when its god has looked his last, 
 
 And woods grow chill and dark ; 
 And stars upon its glassy breast, 
 
 Dart but a fleeting spark, 
 There conies a ceaseless, wailing sob 
 
 From out the heaving well ; 
 And song and dance are hushed till morm, 
 
 In the fountain in the dell. 
 
 My heart is like that gladsome fount, 
 
 When thou, beloved, art nigh ; 
 To meet thy loving eye and smile 
 
 The billow riseth high. 
 The circling ripples bound in glee 
 
 Beneath the genial ray 
 And cheerily! 0, cheerily! 
 
 Singeth the dashing spray. 
 
 And like it too, it sadly sinks 
 
 When its day of joy is o'er ; 
 And from its secret depths, a sigh 
 
 Struggles for evermore. 
 All through the long, long weary night, 
 
 It maketh plaintive moan ; 
 For life and beauty leave the wave, 
 
 When Thou and Hope have gone." 
 
 " One of her own lyrics I" sneered Mrs. Rowland, incantioaslj 
 
 i before, for May was now out of hearing, and I was too stapio 
 
 14*
 
 822 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 or too insignificant ti be regarded. " Is that in good taste d: 
 you think, Mr. Armour ?" 
 
 The play-writer screwed his mouth to one side, and perked hi 
 eye-brows, without speaking. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Wilson 1" Mrs. Rowland called, as the song- 
 stress neared us ; " I cannot thank you enough for the soul-treat, 
 the spirit-banquet you have deigned to grant us. I did not 
 know until you sang it that the exquisite poem I have so enjoyed 
 was ever wedded to music." 
 
 " Carsini is the composer," replied Louise. " The verses were 
 a juvenile production, whose resurrection was accomplished by an 
 accident. They found their way into print without any conni- 
 vance of mine, for I am too conscious of their demerits. I 
 should not have sung them, had I not been urged to it by my 
 friends here, and " glancing over her shoulder to ascertain that 
 the individual spoken of was at a safe distance, and bending to- 
 wards Mrs. Rowland " Carsini himself is present." 
 
 " I believe you 1" I wanted to retort. " I am only ashamed 
 of myself for fancying that you could write and sing thus now 
 from choice." 
 
 A gentleman entered unannounced, and without bustle, when 
 I was eying May interrogatively for the signal of going. Louise 
 advanced some paces and saluted him with more show of cor- 
 diality than she had evidenced at the appearance of the mass of 
 her visitors. A singular fascination drew my attention continu- 
 ally towards them as they stood in the middle of the floor ; she, 
 cpeaking volubly, and with much animation of expression and 
 action ; he, slightly bent to listen, dignified and calm, responding 
 where verbal response was needed ; but she consulted his eyei 
 aost frequently when she paused for an answer His height ex 
 eeeded that of any other person present, and this, with his proud 
 bearing, aroused a pain at my heart. The face certainly did not 
 bring up kindred associations ; yet I was troubled by a familial
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 32f 
 
 ook that taxed my memory to refer it tc its former possessor. 
 Those deeply-set eyes had oiice read mine as they were now read- 
 ing Louise's; those teeth had parted, in the same dazzlingly-white 
 
 ine, the moustache from the crisp beard below. Their voices 
 irere drowned in the prevailing hum, but I knew that his was 
 
 ubdued in pitch, and skillfully managed ; melodious in persua- 
 sive argument ; in its every cadence a sneer, when the subject 
 admitted of sarcasm. An antique seal-ring upon his left hand, 
 unique in form, I recognized as readily as if I had handled it 
 a hundred times ; and when he twisted it reflectively, in the 
 most stirring part of Louise's address, the action was just what 1 
 was waiting to see. Where had I known him ? especially where 
 in company with her ? They had talked and I watched them 
 before this if nowhere else, in my dreams. 
 
 The conference was over for the present. Louise accepted hia 
 arm, and they moved through the apartments, dispensing words 
 and smiles at their convenience, to the various groups scattered 
 here and there. I stared on, I doubt not, like an untutored 
 rustic, until Louise detected me in the act. A momentary and 
 irrepressible gleam of amusement flitted over her countenance. 
 Heartily vexed with myself and with her, I steadied the offending 
 orbs, after Mr. Wilson's manner, upon a figure of the carpet, 
 and pored over its convolutions with a closeness of application 
 surpassing his. 
 
 " Miss Leigh," said the commanding tones of the mistress of 
 the house, " allow me to revive your recollection of a travelling 
 companion Professor Dumont." 
 
 The stranger of the White Hills it was, who, resigned in my 
 faror by his hostess, expressed, in gentlemanly terms, his pleasur 
 t our reunion. 
 
 " I have ever retained a most agreeable remembrance of out 
 accidental acquaintanceship," he said. " To meet again, undei 
 the roof of one of them, all the ladies of that harmonious travel- 
 ling party, is a surprise, delightful as complete."
 
 824 M O 8 S - 8 I D E . 
 
 " There have been many changes since then," I replied, with- 
 out thought, or I would not have seemed to solicit his sympath5 
 In what was melancholy in these events. 
 
 He bowed his head in respect to the dead and the sorrowful 
 fifing a motion of marked grace. 
 
 'I have learned, to my regret, how deplorable some of them 
 re. I have, once or twice before this evening, had the privilege 
 of paying my respects to your sister, Mrs. Leigh. As Mrs. Wil 
 son happily remarked awhile ago, you are also sisters in a con- 
 spiracy to cheat Time of his tribute-tax." 
 
 " We have paid it, I believe, sir if not in shrivelled skins and 
 ilvered locks, in some other currency equally as acceptable." 
 
 " The world is no wiser for your integrity," he was pleased to 
 *y. "But where is Mr. Wynne ? I do not see him here." 
 
 " He has not been in at all, I think," said I, unfalteringly. 
 
 " Ah 1 yet that is nothing uncommon. He does not make one 
 cf our number upon these ' literary evenings ' so regularly as his 
 ister's wishes and ours could dictate. While deprecating liv 
 taste in this respect" there spoke the old polite scorn I " I an. 
 constrained to award him, in everything else, my hearty, un* 
 quivocal esteem. His abilities are more than respectable, and 
 if directed to worthier objects than trade, would win for him 
 reputation of a higher order than the pittance of fame that 
 deludes mediocrity into the belief of its own stupendous genius." 
 
 His glance, sweeping and comprehensive, was not flattering to 
 the bevy of literati within its scope. 
 
 " Mr. Wynne is successful in the line of life he has chosen, I 
 
 hope," I dared to say, led on to the risk of exposing the inner 
 
 hamber of my soul, by my desire to gather some tidings of one 
 
 ?ho was never absent from thought, who had not been named 
 
 in my hearing for years. 
 
 " I hear nothing that contradicts this impression which 1 
 have derived from the never-ending ' disappointments on account 
 of business' that frustrate so many of our social p^ns ; the
 
 M088-8IDE. 325 
 
 clamor and hurry of his establishment, and his interest in ope- 
 rations, sufficient in number and intricacy to throw a man into a 
 brain fever. Yet this money-making would not be so odious in 
 Americans, were it not pursued without intermission from the 
 ei adle to the grave ; from the introductory marble ' swap ' to the 
 lexagenarian's investment of the half-million in stocks. Your 
 people know how to amass. They do it cleverly, and spend 
 excuse me fer saying it awkwardly. The science of Leisure ia 
 the only one of which they have not, at least, a smattering. 
 When they do pretend to recreate, it is play with one hand, 
 work with the other ; spending here and scraping in there ; the 
 right eye softened with enjoyment of the beautiful in Nature or 
 Art ; the left wide-awake for a keen bargain, a lucky specula- 
 tion." 
 
 " This description does not correspond with my idea of Mr 
 Wynne's character," observed I. 
 
 " Nor was it intended as a personal portraiture," he answered. 
 " As such, it should rather stand for Mr. Wynne the elder than 
 for the son, who has trodden the dusty highway but a little 
 while. Mr. Wilson, our host, is, in jockey-phrase, thoroughly 
 broken in harness. In the natural course of events, his more 
 spirited brother-in-law will be as tractable as tame." 
 
 I was uncomfortable, hot and uneasy, yet not daring to 
 defend the absent from the charge of this woeful depreciation. 
 
 The next question did not cool my flushing cheeks. 
 
 " You have seen Mr. Wynne since your arrival in the city 
 fcive you not ?" 
 
 He was turning his ring, and not looking at me ; why then 
 By awkwardness in forming and articulating the reply ? 
 
 " No sir he has not I have not had that pleasure." 
 
 " Business again, doubtless ! A finer form does uot walk 
 Broadway. He is a Herculean Apollo. Mammas cry, ' Ah I 
 what a catch !' and daughters echo ' Ah I' from their
 
 326 MO88-SIDK. 
 
 very hearts , and he, unhappy youth 1 is voted 'heartless,' 
 ' magnificent statue,' because it pleases him to remain fancy-free. 
 He is waiting for an angel and a fortune ?" 
 
 I could hear no more of this. 
 
 " Have you been a resident of New York long, Mr. Dumont '(* 
 I inquired, changing the topic, disposed as he was, for some 
 reason, to expatiate upon it. 
 
 " I am a cosmopolite," rejoined he. " ' Every land is my home.' 
 My sojourn in this place will not extend over this month. 1 
 have been here since the middle of April. Having no local 
 attaqhments, when one set of faces grows to my sight like a 
 twice-told tale, I migrate. Other whims move me sometimes. 
 This year, I am following the footprints of Spring, the vernal 
 breezes and the snowdrops. When I lose the coy nymph in 
 an Arctic iceberg, I shall set forth upon some different chase. 
 One soon comes to the stale dregs of the flask unless he makes 
 rariety his motto in the choice of vintage." 
 
 I was more alert than civil to him in my obedience to May's 
 sign of departure. I hurried her until we were in the carriage 
 and the illuminated windows behind us ; then leaned back in 
 the darkness and wept unheard. 
 
 Herbert had always been my superior. I could not have 
 loved him else ; but it was not with a superiority to elicit 
 encomiums from this callous worldling, in whose estimation feel- 
 ing was a weakness, Religion a nursery fable. Sorely did I 
 lament the impulse that had betrayed me into the indiscretion 
 of speaking with him of one, never mentioned in my most confi- 
 dential talks with May, my soul-sister. I was punished as I 
 deserved to be more severely, perhaps. I was accustomed to 
 regard the separating chasm between us as impassable ; never 
 to be bridged ; but, until this, it had been the work of my own 
 hands ; it was I who repelled, not he who receded. To some 
 ttie distinction may seem strained ; no woman, however disin
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 337 
 
 8erested ID her desire for a lover's happiness, will fail to appreci- 
 ate it. This statuesque Apollo, smiling disdain upon Cupid's 
 manoeuvres, wts as unlike the image enshrined in my heart, as 
 was the driving man of business, the commercial machine or the 
 ffary fortune-hunter. My oft-repeated asseverations of disbelief, 
 the more vehement as my sinking heart declined to receive theii 
 comfort failed to disperse the mists that accumulated about 
 the cherished shrine. Years of absence had spared it, untar- 
 nished ; a breath from lips I knew to be false in most things, 
 had sullied its glory. Unjust, most unkind I felt this to be, but 
 I could not present it. 
 
 My eyes were heavy, ray motions inelastic as I set about the 
 labor of disarraying myself of my dinner-dress, while May chatted 
 on, unheeding my discouraging replies. 
 
 " And Mr. Dumont vouchsafed an entertainment of half an 
 hour in length, to one auditor !" she said. " You must have 
 made an impression. Did you know him before Louise intro- 
 duced him ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 " He is the lion of 'this season upon exhibition ' for a few 
 days only,' " she continued. " You may recollect my ancient 
 prejudice against him ? If he ever divined it, he bears no 
 malice. He is invariably polite and conversational when we 
 meet." 
 
 " Louise presented him as Professor Dumont," I forced myseli 
 to say. " Of what is he Professor, and where ?" 
 
 " He has occupied somo place in a French University, I under- 
 stand I do not know what chair. His stylish appearance, 
 courtly manners and versatile talents have obtained much favor 
 for him in Louise's set." 
 
 " I do not like him I" returned I, snapping my slipper -string, 
 as I tried to untie a knot. 
 
 " Nor I, if I must be truthful," said May " There is nothing
 
 328 MOSS-SIDE, 
 
 real about him, to my eye As to his age, nobody hazards a 
 definite opinion. He wears a toupe'e scientifically adjusted, yet 
 an acute observer can detect it ; his whiskers are dyed, brown 
 as they are, for they were nearer auburn when we travelled with 
 him, and his teeth may be his own, either by right of purchase 
 or as the lawful gift of Mother Nature " 
 
 I smiled sadly. This dislike I traced back to the impressions 
 
 ansferred from Frederic's mind to hers ; saw that she had 
 
 never parted with the aversion he had professed, from the 
 
 moment of our encounter by the way-side, with the so-called 
 
 Frenchman. 
 
 " He may be thirty, forty, fifty some guess that he is sixty 
 years old," she went on. " Alfred, who has been in company 
 with him occasionally, protests that he is the Wandering Jew." 
 
 A handsome bouquet was handed in at the door the following 
 morning. 
 
 " For whom ?" asked May, as the servant brought it into the 
 breakfast-room. 
 
 " Miss Leigh," was the reply. 
 
 " The token of some conquest, made last evening !" she cried, 
 clapping her hands. " Look for the card." 
 
 There was none, although we searched carefully. The foot- 
 man did not know the person who gave him the flowers, nor did 
 any surmise as to their donorship meet with acceptance. Alfred 
 Seaton, upon whom my suspicions rested, denied the act or any 
 complicity therein. Other gentlemen were named May even 
 bringing up Mr. Dumont ; but their claims were voted doubtful ; 
 ml the beautiful offering continued to be the theme of many 
 a jest and conjecture. These were redoubled by the arrival of 
 another the next day, and still a third with a succeeding, until 
 they became, as May said, " a daily institution." 
 
 Gradually I became thoughtful at their coming. Wuo wai 
 the friend who thus continually remembered that I was an exili
 
 it', ss-siJE. 329 
 
 from the bowers of Moss-side ? Why did he shun my sight and 
 thauks ? Who had a motive for concealment beyond a puerile 
 desire to mystify us ; a ridiculous fonduess for the anonymous ? 
 I studied every flower for an answer to these questions. Refined 
 taste I read in their selection and grouping ; liberality in the 
 fariety of choice and scarce plants. Were tender thoughts com- 
 mitted to the speaking of their fragrant sighs ? 
 
 " This is folly," I said, resolutely, one evening, awaking from a 
 reverie over the freshest and most lovely of all. By seeming ac- 
 cident, I had left it in my chamber, instead of upon the parlor- 
 table. In truth, it was for minute inspection, that I might 
 dream over it at will. And what dreams were shaped by its 
 odorous incense ! Time, care, duty did not mar delight as intox- 
 icating as I was wont to revel in when Life was new. 
 
 My aunt's voice, in conversation with May in the entry, awoke 
 me with a shock. 
 
 " You forget," I pursued, hastily rising and pushing away the 
 vase, " that chasing bubbles is children's sport. You caught 
 yours, and found out their nothingness too long ago. You 
 should have learned other lessons by this time. Who was the 
 main figure in your silly musing ? Confess it to yourself. Can 
 anything in imagination be more preposterous than the supposi- 
 tion that he has chosen this method of re-establishing a corres- 
 pondence he promised never to renew a promise he has kept 
 now for five years which you have every reason to believe 
 he will never be disposed to violate? I am disappointed 
 in you, Grace Leigh 1 I hoped you were a strong hearted, 
 right-headed woman. You are proving yourself a sentimei tal 
 girl. Carry these flowers down to the parlor ; put them in a 
 conspicuous stand, where you cannot avoid seeing them all the 
 evening, and let them preach to you of your frail heart your 
 unstable resolutions." 
 
 I did so ; setting them where the blaze of the ^handelie*
 
 630 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 revealea the very veins in the leaves, invaded the privacy of 
 every perfumed heart. And having some fancy-work to emploj 
 my fingers, I sat at the same table, and stayed my needle, notf 
 and then, to pluck a petal or pinch one into fragrance not ca- 
 ressingly, but as I would have toyed with clover blossoms at home. 
 
 Louise surprised us by another call, and in her train, meekly 
 walked her husband. I did not lay aside my sewing. I braved 
 the scornful pity of those haughty eyes ; made myself liable to 
 the touch of a lash that never inflicted more than what 
 appeared a touch, but which, like the knout, seldom failed to 
 divide nerve, sinew, and flesh at one smarting cut. I was proof 
 against it to-night. I smiled to myself as I thought how hum 
 drum my tastes, how aimless my existence must seem to her. 1 
 accepted her condescension ; looked up to her, for all she knew 
 to the contrary, as the glow-worm does to the star unenvying, 
 unambitious, supremely content with the glimmering spark that 
 shows him only the clod he rests upon. She was a distinguished 
 woman who had a " mission," and was fulfilling it in the sight 
 of men ; I an humble country-girl, without beauty or fortune ; 
 settling down into the estate of matronly maidenhood ; inca- 
 pable of comprehending the principles of which she was the 
 expositor. 
 
 As before, her stay was brief this time because she " had 
 letters to write." 
 
 "I have been made very happy to-day," she said, "by the 
 receipt of several communications which testify that I have not 
 labored quite in vain. Of course, representing, as I do, dec* 
 trines, instead of seeking merely to amuse the Public, I hav 
 drawn down upon me a storm of abuse from the lordly sex 
 and must submit resignedly to the fate and title of ' strong 
 minded woman.' I only hope they will inscribe it upon my 
 tomb-stone. Posterity will call that an honor which was meant 
 as obloquy. But from the oppressed, the lowly slaves, to whom
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 331 
 
 I have dared to preach freedom ; from soula made earnest 
 through suffering, I have had blessing and encouragement which 
 would strengthen me to endure tenfold more opprobrium. I 
 work the more diligently for the abuse ; the more heartily when 
 [ hear in every throb of my own bosom, the indignant cry of 
 thousands of my sisters against tyranny." 
 
 She would have looked grandly upon the rostrum at that 
 nornent ; her eyes lustrous ; the crimson blood centring in her 
 cheeks ; her bust swelling with the emotion she described. She 
 had arisen to go, and stood by chance, near the middle of the 
 apartment ; " a striking picture," and " an able actress !" said 
 Alfred Seaton's gaze. Youth as he was, the majesty of emanci- 
 pated womanhood failed to awaken any more exalted sentiment. 
 The other " tyrants " in our number were hardly more moved by 
 this seditious outbreak. My father surveyed her kindly, rather 
 sorrowfully, for he reverenced the old-fashioned type of feminine 
 perfection ; but he was not abashed by her contempt or intimi- 
 dated by her lawless language. Mr. Wilson was picking up his 
 hat and stretching his limbs weighing anchor, that he might be 
 ready to follow his consort the instant she set sail. There 
 was a dead pause of some seconds when Louise stopped speak- 
 ing, no one being prepared with a suitable reply, and to prevent 
 embarrassment, May accosted the quiet husband : 
 
 " Mr. Wilson 1 you love and cultivate flowers. Can you tell 
 us the name of this ?" singling out an unknown beauty in my 
 bouquet. 
 
 He hung back, as if afraid of the vivid circle of light wiftim 
 which she was standing. 
 
 " I cannot I suppose not I do not think n he commec. fed 
 ud a confused muttering finished the answer. 
 
 " Sc it !" May said to Louise. 
 
 The prophetess vouchsafed a look. " This should nave beea 
 gathered from ray conservatory," she replied. " It is a new
 
 382 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 variety of the " some unpronounceable name I had nevei 
 
 heard before " which I have not yet seen anywhere else. I ait 
 confident it is not to be found in the public gardens. Mine was 
 imported by private hand from the West Indies. Still," she 
 added, laughing, " I do not presume to identify it, since I am 
 ignorant how it came to be here." 
 
 May would have told the story, but her teasing glance towards 
 me crossed one from her brother, that admonished her to be dis 
 creet. 
 
 " I am the^ present proprietor of the suspected article," I said 
 " For its antecedents I do not pretend to be responsible. 1 
 know no more of them than you do. The nine points of posses- 
 sion are all for which I have any care." 
 
 Louise examined the spray slightingly, as if tired of the paltry 
 discussion. " The tenth point can, I imagine, be establish* d hy 
 Mr. Wilson." 
 
 He was fidgeting by inches towards the door, in perturbation 
 obvious to any one who chanced to look that way. Av this 
 direct reference to himself, he let fall both hat and cane, and 
 stooping to reach them, struck his head a sonorous blow against 
 the wall. A very red face, and one grievously discomposed by pain 
 or shame, he presented to us upon the recovery of his perpendi- 
 cular. 
 
 His wife smiled, as did the rest of us, but with less commisera- 
 tion than was exhibited in our countenances. 
 
 " I was saying," she resumed, still carelessly, " that I have 
 seen this plant nowhere except in my greenhouse ; and since 
 Miss Leigh is in the dark as to its history before it became her 
 property, I relieved her curiosity by saying that you, probably, 
 #ere directly or indirectly the donor, especially as I noticed yon 
 busily engaged arranging a bouquet this moruing." 
 
 No answer rendered the discomfited culprit arraigned and 
 convicted in this sentence.
 
 M O S 8 - 8 I D K 833 
 
 I pitied him " I am truly grateful to you for your thought- 
 ful kindness, Mr. Wilson," I hastened to say, " and particularly 
 request that if yours was not the direct agency in bringing me 
 so much pleasure, you will not undeceive me. I prefer thanking 
 fou. Your playful ruse in sending the flowers as you did, has 
 afforded us considerable amusement." 
 
 " It was nicely managed," May followed me. " We are al] 
 reach obliged to you." 
 
 " I should be, certainly," said Louise, " for reminding me of 
 my neglect in not having invited you to explore thejionservatory, 
 and gather whatever you wish. My gardener brought the best 
 recommendations, and judging from what I see of his manage- 
 ment, was not over-praised. It is enough for me to luxuriate at 
 the banquet of beauty and fragrance that ever awaits me there. 
 [ rerily believe my floral pets know me, and love my visits, 
 I draw much of solace and joy from them." 
 
 " You never handle the watering-pot or the trowel do you 1" 
 nquired Alfred. 
 
 " Not 1 1 I would not degrade my thoughts of the holy min- 
 isters by associating them with drudgery. To me, they are the 
 spontaneous efflorescence of the soil ; emblems of the triumph of 
 the Beautiful over the merely Useful. I leave the tilling, and 
 watering, and pruning to Maclean and Mr. Wilson, who is an 
 amateur in the pursuit." 
 
 This classification did not offend the second person included in 
 it. With his customary low-spirited bow all around, he tacked 
 and fell into the wake of the full-rigged frigate sweeping 
 majestically ahead of him, typifying the " victory of the Beauti 
 ful over the merely Useful" more distinctly to the optics, physi- 
 tal and mental, of the observers, than her " holy ministers" could 
 ever succeed in doing. 
 
 And my dreams about my gift were th thinnest air not ever 
 BO substantial as bubbles I Right thankful was I that Damp Rea- 

 
 334 MOPS-SIDE. 
 
 son's lecture had disabused ' iy mind of romantic vagaries before 
 the mystery was unravelled. I said with sincerity that I was 
 glad to know Mr. Wilson as the author of the benefit. I was 
 touched by this mark of his friendship ; saw in it the budding of 
 feelings which, under different auspices, might have flowered into 
 actions worthy of the nature God had bestowed which the ad 
 erse influences of his home had bruised and blighted. 
 
 I was in a mood that night to write an appendix to Louise's 
 book, and this would h^e been its import "Women ! Sisters I 
 in piling the blazing beacons that signal your resistance to thraU- 
 dom old as the earth and time take heed lest you trample out 
 the fires upon your own hearth-stones ; in the contest for the 
 laurel of Victory, have mercy upon the humble flowers springing 
 up close to your doors ; before you take your lives and reputa- 
 tions in your hands and go forth to battle for the world's regfr 
 Deration, hear one word of appeal in behalf of' ' Domestic Mis- 
 sions 1' "
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 33C 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1 WAS writing to Lilly, and very happy in my intettness upon 
 By task, when May entered our chamber, somewhat out of breath 
 with climbing the stairs. 
 
 '* Ah 1 you are busy agreeably busy 1" she said. 
 
 " Do you want me 1" asked I. . 
 
 " No ; quite the reverse, just now. There is company down 
 gtairs. I have a call that may detain me some 'time, and to be- 
 guile your solitude of weariness, I have brought up a book for 
 y ou to read. You are employed, however and if Lilly is your 
 correspondent entirely to your satisfaction. I will leave the 
 volume here for future need." 
 
 I thanked her, and assured her of my comfort ; but she tarried 
 until I raised my eyes from the paper to see why she had not 
 joined her waiting visitors. She was contemplating me, from the 
 other side of the table, with a peculiar expression of saddened 
 tenderness. 
 
 " Why, dear May 1 what is the matter ?" inquired I, appre- 
 hensively 
 
 " Matter 1 nothing I only I love you, Grace I" She came 
 around to me and took my head, after her own sweet way, in her 
 arms. " Best, dearest of sisters 1" she said ; then releasing me, 
 she laughed. " It was one of my spasms of fondness, Gracie 
 They come over me in sudden waves, when you are unusually 
 lovable. Now, I will go. Shall I find you here when I am at 
 leisure ?" 
 
 " Yes," I answered, and I was alone.
 
 336 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 It was not hard to account for the rise of this " wave." In 
 my happiest humors I was said to be like the portrait above hex 
 chair. A flash, a smile upon my features ofttimes brought the 
 tr.oisture to the eyes of Frederic's father and wife. This day I 
 was almost gladsome. The sunny side of Life was displayed to 
 
 aa. My aunt was improving under Dr. 's practice ; my fa- 
 
 tiwr s health was robust, and his spirits excellent ; our friends 
 were the personification of kindness ; my intercourse with Mav 
 was balm and wine to my soul ; and I was communing with my 
 best-loved, my child. A late letter from her, replete with affec- 
 tion, was open upon my desk. And this was a part of my 
 reply : 
 
 " Your love is unspeakably precious to me, darling, far more 
 dear than your modesty has ever allowed you to dream. If I 
 were required now to designate the greatest of the countless 
 temporal blessings which the Father has streamed into my cup, I 
 should unhesitatingly name you, my ' Christmas gift.' That was 
 a pretty conceit of our fathers' was it not ? Yet neither of 
 them set a just valuation upon the treasure they were conferring 
 upon me. Those were my days of shadow, Lilly ! shadows, 
 whose depth appalls me in the retrospect. I prayed then, as I 
 grew to love you, that the like might never rest upon you. I 
 thank Heaven that this is impossible, for the inward light your 
 inalienable right as a child of God will prevent their closing in 
 about your soul. This safeguard was not mine in those times. I 
 shall never forget what pointed significance there was to me in 
 your innocent explanation of the print, ' Pharaoh's Overthrow ; 
 when unsuspected by either of you, I listened to your prattle 
 with Peyton Elliott, ' And the Egyptians could not see through 
 the cloud, for it was a cloud to them.' 
 
 " In two weeks, at most, the doctor will liberate Aunt Agnes, 
 with instructions how to continue the blessed work we dare to 
 believe he has begun. Spare yourself the uneasiness you tell me
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 337 
 
 yon experience in the fear lest I am more closely confined than 
 1 was at home, with you to relieve guard. May contends with 
 me for the honor of playing tire-woman and nurse to th 1 reia 
 tive, whose patience and virtues endear her to us. I pa* much 
 time in the outer air, quite as much as is comfortable it this 
 season. Not a day elapses without some sight-seeing excursion, 
 and I go frequently into company by May's desire. She has a 
 circle of congenial acquaintances, who show us many and accept- 
 able attentions. Your staid Auntie is in danger of becoming 
 dissipated at her advanced age." 
 
 Sunlight, lucent amber as that then dancing over the peaked 
 gables of Moss-side, slanted upon the page as I concluded the 
 epistle. I sang snatches of popular lays, while folding and seal- 
 ing it ; and then, so at-home was I about the premises, I des- 
 cended to the kitchen to seek a post-boy for the document I was 
 anxious should go by the earliest mail. The obliging footman 
 was " intirely " at my service ; and I bounded up the narrow 
 private staircase, forgetful of May's guests ; without a thought 
 indeed o r where I was, or what I did, for I was caroling, 
 
 " Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." 
 
 Had not my mind been in advance of the letter, en route for that 
 Southern Cottage, I would not have sung that air of all others 
 in the universe. I never did it wittingly the reader knows 
 why. 
 
 From the upper landing, I passed into the entry leading to the 
 Btiug breakfast-room, where I had never known May to receiv 
 her friends. Yet, as I came along the passage, some one step 
 pcd back into the door of this apartment, and shut himself in. 
 A gentleman it was, for he did not move so briskly that I could 
 not see his arm and the hand that held a hat. I was strciken 
 dumb, and lost no time in leaving to him the clear course he 
 15
 
 338 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 soveted, " for my iake, most likely," I reflected, when I wi 
 safe in my chamber. 
 
 " What a figure I must have made !" I said, laughing, not- 
 withstanding my annoyance ; " tramping from the top to the 
 bottom of the house, like a rude school-boy, and practising vocal 
 exercises with all the strength of my never-weak lungs 1 I will 
 apologize to May when she has dismissed her terrified cavalier." 
 
 But she was in a hurry, and I did not detain her to hear my 
 excuses 
 
 " I have tc go out on the street for awhile, Gracie," she 
 stated, looking troubled as I fancied. " I do not like to leave 
 you, but mamma will be happy to have you sit with her. I 
 ought " 
 
 " To run away forthwith," I interposed, " and take shame to 
 yourself for insulting me by an apology, as if I were a stranger 
 within your gates, and a stickler for ceremony. No more words ! 
 Be off ! and a lively jaunt to you 1" 
 
 " That it cannot be I" she rejoined, smiling, while the tears 
 seemed ready to flow. Checking herself, she kissed me twice, 
 and saying anew, " I love you, Gracie !" ran out of the room. 
 
 " I hope nothing disagreeable has happened," I thought. "It 
 is some household errand, I suppose." 
 
 Composing my ease-loving limbs upon the sofa, I chose tLe 
 book May had left me, as a substitute for Mrs. Seaton's soci- 
 ety. I had passed the paper-cutter but thrice through the 
 leaves, when a card was sent up for "Miss Leigh " " Mrs. Wil- 
 liam Wynne." 
 
 Shaking fingers added the needful finish to my morning to* 
 ette ; failing feet carried me into the august presence. 
 
 " My dear Grace ! I am overjoyed to greet you I" 
 
 A fashionable embrace permitted me to touch the silken and 
 lace outworks of her bodice ; the blonde trirnming-s on the ia- 
 ide of her hat kissed my brow as lightly as her lips did uiint
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 33S 
 
 Before 1 gained a seat, the see-saw, of which I retained a vivid 
 recollection, was in motion. I " was looking charmingly," etc., 
 etc., etc. 
 
 " But my dear girl, you have wounded me inexpressibly b/ 
 D >t i forming me that yon were in town. I am actually afraid 
 *o ask when you arrived." 
 
 As she, nevertheless, took breath, evidently to give me room 
 for a response, I put a period to her affectionate suspense by say- 
 ing, " We have been here nearly three weeks." 
 
 The lavender gloves approached each other, crushing to invisi- 
 bility, the cobweb mockery of a handkerchief. 
 
 " Naughty, cruel creature ! how can I forgive you ? If 1 
 were less attached to you, I would take my leave without an- 
 other word. Where have you been ? what have you been doing, 
 that I have not heard of you ?" 
 
 I told her of my aunt's sickness ; that it had drawn us to the 
 city, and been my principal care during our stay. 
 
 " Then, too, Mrs. Wynne, I could not know that you were 
 ignorant of my visit. Having seen Louise repeatedly, it waa 
 natural to suppose that she might have communicated the fact, 
 unimportant as it was, to you." 
 
 " Poor, dear Louise 1" sighed the mother. " Her engagements 
 really overwhelm her. But for her genius and her zeal, she 
 would sink under the burden. You must pardon the oversight, 
 my dear. She has such a number of weighty concerns upon her 
 mind that we ought to be lenient if she is guilty of neglecting 
 svl'dt are momentous affairs to other ladies." 
 
 At sight, she gauged me by her daughter's measure ; made of 
 ae a harmless, nothiug-in-particular puppet ; and the percep- 
 tion of this nettled me more than Louise's condescension. In 
 flic Broodingnagian world of Reform and Progress, I was content 
 to be Lilliputian ; to be sheltered by my nothingness ; but to 
 my mind, Mrs. Wynne's superiority of years and wealth hardl* 
 sntitled her to assume this tone.
 
 540 M088-8IDE. 
 
 Ignorant of this mounting independence, she proceeded, 
 " Have you been to her house ?" 
 
 " Yes, madam once." 
 
 " Is she not delightfully situated ?" 
 
 " She appears very happy, and lacks for nothing that wealtb 
 ran procure," I said, guardedly. 
 
 " She has secured a most fortunate settlement," was the tune 
 to which she swung me. " I bring her forward as a model to 
 her younger sisters, ar shining example of the advantages of a 
 rational union, opposed to the objections that attend mis-called 
 ove-matches. She has the best of husbands one who never 
 contradicts her ; never interferes with her designs. Mr. Wilson 
 is an eminently sensible man. I was conscious of this when I 
 consented to the marriage ; but he has surpassed my expecta- 
 tions. He is willing to leave to her judgment all that pertains 
 to the household establishment, taking as his share of obligation 
 the work of providing means for the accomplishment of her 
 wishes. He reaps his reward in seeing her surrounded by lux- 
 uries, and enjoying herself in her own way. He is a very 
 remarkable person." 
 
 " So I think 1" I uttered, in sober veracity. 
 
 " Depend upon it, my dear Grace, there is more certainty ot 
 happiness in these marriages which young ladies are apt to cry 
 oat against, because of the disparity of disposition and taste in 
 the parties united. Where there is unison of feeling, perfect 
 congeniality of sentiment, both , weary of the sameness. It 
 Bounds well to talk of walking the same road, but if you will 
 excuse a homely phrase, a double track is better. Now Louise 
 Mid Mr. Wilson never quarrel. Not a hard speech has ever 
 beet, exchanged. They agree most amicably to differ, and 
 avoid the repeated collisions to which loving couples whc will 
 walk together are constantly liable." 
 
 " Yours is an ingenious theory, Mrs. Wynne," said I, amused 
 at her overt worldliness ; her refined repudiation of a fallacy
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 34i 
 
 sanctioned by ages, held as undeniable truth Vy many genera' 
 tions. It occurred to me, too, how close wis the similarit} 
 between her very material views and the etherealizcd doctrines 
 inculcated by her daughter. Did this conjunction of extremis* 
 then form " the faultless circle of Truth, effulgent and eternal, ' 
 of which the latter had written ? a sentence untranshitablr 
 otherwise to my literal comprehension. 
 
 " Amelia is not at home," Mrs. Wynne was saying, " or she 
 would have called with me this forenoon. It affords me pleasure 
 to announce to you that she is likely to follow her sister's exam 
 pie iu the course of the coining Fall. She has contracted at 
 engagement with an excellent gentleman, a particular friend of 
 the family, and perfectly eligible in every respect." 
 
 I had heard of this prospective alliance before, but deemed it 
 wisest not to say sr , lest her keen-sightedness should read the 
 remainder of the information I had received touching her 
 " eligible," viz. tha', he was nearer fifty than forty years of age, 
 cramped in intellect, ungainly in person, cross and parsimoni- 
 ous, and reputed a millionaire. 
 
 " The match has the unqualified approbation of her father and 
 myself. Having her real good most at heart, we could not 
 refrain from congratulating her and ourselves upon her prospects. 
 I am happily disappointed in the giddy girl's choice, for her 
 volatile spirits and tendency to willfulness have caused me some 
 misgivings as to her destiny. She is acquiring stability of char- 
 acter and sobriety of demeanor now a marked change which 
 commenced the very hour of her engagement. Dutiful children 
 are the greatest pride and delight of a faithful mother's heart* 
 In my imperfect way, I have endeavored to discharge my duty 
 to mine, and, up to this time, have been amply repaid fur my 
 labor and anxiety." 
 
 The cobweb performed a journey to her eye upon an unneces- 
 sary errand, for /he placid orbs were di-y as Sahara, still and
 
 342 MO88-8IDE. 
 
 frozen an an Alpine glacier. Her maternal affection, as I have 
 said elsewhere, was her distinguishing trait. As she advanced 
 in life the hobby had become an idiosyncrasy, paraded as one 
 whose interest must be apparent to everybody, and therefore 
 was never cut of season. I was meditating upon this, and cal- 
 culating the probable amount of nature and of habit combined 
 In her foible, when she scattered addition and subtraction right 
 and left, by an unlooked-for shot. 
 
 " You have had a visit from Herbert to-day ?" 
 
 " Madam 1" I ejaculated. 
 
 She said it over, unmindful of my dying color and irregular 
 breathing. 
 
 " Herbert, my son, has been to see you to-day." 
 
 It was an assertion, not a question, yet I denied it. 
 
 " No, madam I should say, not to my knowledge." 
 
 How I blessed the window shades and curtains that shut out 
 the prying, tale-telling light ! 
 
 " I stopped my carriage upon the block adjoining this, to 
 leave a card, and saw him come out of the house, accompanied 
 by Mrs. Leigh," persisted the lady, impaling me with those 
 unmoving eyes. 
 
 I rallied to sustain the inspection. 
 
 " Ah 1" affecting to see through the whole affair as clearly as 
 ehe did through my deceit ; " May came to my room to say 
 that there was some one below, and that she was going to walk. 
 I do not think she mentioned that it was Mr. Wynne, but I waa 
 writing and did not pay a great deal of attention to her." 
 
 "They maintain their ancient Platonic affection with mucb 
 constancy," said Mrs. Wynne. "He is more attentive to her 
 than to any other lady. Some comment upon this and hint 
 broadly at the growth of a more romantic reciprocal sentiment ; 
 but I try to silence the report. Herbert has not forbidden me 
 V) continue this course ; indeed, he was actually angry that his
 
 ICOBS-BIDK. 343 
 
 biotherly regard should be so misinterpreted. I proposed thai 
 the exhibitions of his esteem should be more prudent ; but he i* 
 a headstrong boy, and I got only a black look and a surly nega- 
 tive for my unfortunate counsel. I perceived I was touching 
 ipon delicate ground, aid have since repressed my uneasiness it 
 his presence." 
 
 I detected the latent spite her utmost tact could not hidp, 
 Her motherly feeling wa& as nominal as his sonship. 
 
 " I have wished that I could speak unreservedly with Mrs. 
 Leigh upon this subject, for I fear that she may have formed an 
 erroneous idea of my feelings and actions in this business. 
 May I rely upon you, Grace, you, who used to be so lovely a 
 peacemaker to free her mind of any notion that I am, or ever 
 was, averse to her union with my son ? She was the chosen and 
 familiar associate of my Louise, and in those days, had my affec- 
 tion and confidence. Although our intercourse is more distant 
 now, these feelings remain unaltered. She is still very pretty ; 
 is amiable and intelligent ; her standing in her circle cannot 
 be questioned she would acquit herself creditably in any ; 
 what motive could I have for objecting to her entering my 
 family, if she were Herbert's choice ? That she is not, or that 
 there is, at any rate, no definite betrothal, I have declared to be 
 my belief. My object in reverting to this, and to you to whom 
 it may be painful to think of her second marriage with any 
 one is that I may right myself in your sister's eyes, if I have 
 suffered. I am sensitive as regards my place in the heart? 
 where I have gained a footing. The danger the chance, I 
 mean of their marrying is lessened, if not removed, by He:- 
 bert's departure. As I said to a lady yesterday a believer in 
 the engagement he would not leave his native laud for three 
 years, if it contained his future wife he knowing her to be sucb 
 particularly as it is optional with him to go or to remain." 
 
 Was this frankness an artfnl stratagem to enlighten me as tc
 
 344 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 the futility of any schemes I might have ur on her son, or did 
 Bhe design to insult May, and poison my mind with suspicions of 
 her fidelity to the memory of my brother? These questions 
 shot through my brain while the rockers were in mid career, bu< 
 the closing remark expelled them. 
 
 " Where is he going ?" I gasped, the cold sweat breaking 
 through my skin. 
 
 " You may well be amazed, my dear. A young man of his 
 prospects, his home ties, his patriotism ! It appears impos- 
 sible unnatural ! but so it is. He sails this afternoon for Cali- 
 fornia, that semi-barbarous country. It is a hare-brained 
 notion, I fear ; yet Mr. Wynne will not raise a finger to dis- 
 suade him, and other of his friends encourage him to believe 
 that if he can found a branch of his business there, it 
 will prove very lucrative. So he has set his face to the South- 
 west, and no mortal power can stir him from his purpose. Men 
 rail at our caprices. Between ourselves, it is because we infringe 
 upon theirs when we venture to indulge our whims." 
 
 " Mr. Wynne sails this afternoon, you say ? In what vessel ?" 
 My voice did not tremble now. 
 
 " In the Benjamin Franklin. He called here to say ' Fare- 
 well,' I presume. His resolution was hasty, that is, hi? 
 announcement of it to us was ; but he is more reserved to us 
 than any of our other children are, or ever will be, I devoutly 
 pray. Now, my love, what is there to prevent you from 
 stepping into my carriage, and riding home with me to partake 
 of a family dinner ? You used to be domesticated with us dur- 
 ing vacations, and when you paid us that welcome visit at 
 Louise's marriage. Mr. Wynne will be charmed to meet you 
 You have a great admirer in him. He it was, who hearing from 
 Mr. Wilson that you were so near us, told me where to find you. 
 Gome ! what say you to ray plan for pleasing him ?" 
 
 " That it is impossible for me to do it to-day. I thank you
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 34 
 
 for your invitation, and him for his favorable remembrance, but 
 it is out of my power to go with you. I will try to return 
 your 3all before I leave for the South." 
 
 J 'elt that my manner was restrained and high, and I did not 
 'are " If she would only go 1" groaned my heart. " Oh ! 
 *hy does she stay ? Am I not tortured sufficiently ? Have not 
 those pale-bhe eyes looked their fill ?" 
 
 I could have stamped ; wrung my hands and cried aloud with 
 impatience ; but I set my teeth tightly and stiffened the jerking 
 muscles, until blonde and lips, a second time, honored my face, 
 and I lost her and the swing at the front door. Slow and hard 
 fell my footsteps upon the stairs ; slower and harder was their 
 beat upon the chamber-floor ; but passion raged with tornado 
 violence. Sometimes I checked my walk to feel my hands, to 
 look at my reflection in the mirror, in very doubt of my identity. 
 i felt congealed flesh, the blood purpled under the nails ; I 
 beheld an ashy visage, with eyes of living fire. I knew myself 
 to be possessed of a legion of demons. 
 
 His then was the society from which May succeeded so inge- 
 niously in banishing me ; his, her escort in the walk that was to 
 be so brief, and had already lasted, it seemed to me, hours. He 
 came hither frequently daily perhaps ; but with the like clever 
 manoeuvres, they continually hoodwinked me. When I tripped 
 through that private entry, but a door divided me from him. I 
 had seen his hand a step nearer and one glimpse of his face 
 had been mine a glimpse for which, in my frenzy, I would now 
 lie down and die. He had heard my voice. Did its tones, did 
 the melody they warbled revive no visions pleasant and mournful 
 to the soul ? or were the innuendoes of his wily mother who 
 insinuated belief while professing to doubt true, and brother 
 and sister forgotten together in the allurements of a later, more 
 fortunate love ? I stopped before the portrait, and the lightfu] 
 eyes took the anguished stare of mine. I wept while I looked 
 15*
 
 346 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 hot rain that aggravated the heart-burning. Once I had mj 
 hand upon the frame to turn it to the wall ; a token which 
 she should see and recognize, the instant she entered ; but I 
 drew it away, and left it to smite her with the beauty she once 
 lo?ed. 
 
 She was coming ! The step approaching, languid with fatigue 
 or heaviness of spirit, was still hers. I dressed my face in a 
 hypocritical smile, the just return for what I expected to receive 
 But hers was beamlcss, and her voice, gentle and affectionate, 
 wanted the ringing music that belonged to it. 
 
 " Have you been very lonely, Grace, dear ?" she said, tossing 
 her bonnet and mantle upon the bureau. " I am sorry I 
 remained away so long a time." 
 
 " I have not suffered from solitude," I returned. " You 
 enjoyed your walk, I hope." 
 
 " Not very much, and I have come back with a headache." 
 
 " Lie down !" I advised. " If you rest in this shaded room 
 for an hour or so, you may get over it." 
 
 She complied, and feeling very much as if I were heaping 
 coals of fire upon it instead, I bound her brow with my hands. 
 
 "Dear Grace 1" she said, faintly. 
 
 A drop oozed from beneath her eyelid, and trickled down her 
 cheek. A sense of self-reproach arose in my bosom. I remained 
 Bilent, holding her head and looking into the countenance which 
 had never yet deceived me. 
 
 " I ha^e had a trial this morning, Grace, a sore trial," she 
 continued, " yet it was not so much the personal grief to myself, 
 as sympathy with another. I cannot tell you its nature now." 
 
 " Do rot 1" I uttered impulsively. " I trust you, May." 
 
 Her eyes opened in surprise upon me at this singular exclama 
 tion ; but I did not explain my meaning. I placed pillows for her 
 aching head, and kissing her before I commended her to th 
 healing influence of sleep, I called her " sister."
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 347 
 
 " You are ray own blessed lister, May 1 I shall never address 
 fou by any other title." 
 
 " Never !" was her response. " It is the dearest and proudest 
 to me that you can use." 
 
 I left her, with the pictured face beaming down upon her from 
 the wall, smiling its blessing upon her sinless slumbers, and I 
 bore myself and my misery to another part of the house. Mise- 
 rable I was, after the transport of unjust doubt and vindictive- 
 ness had subsided. Assurance that I had wronged her faithful 
 heart did not mitigate my suffering. What " trial " was hers if 
 not that she had been forced to reject the offer of a love more 
 hopeless, less constant to its original object, although that object 
 still lived, than was hers, dedicated to the dead ? This was a 
 hypothesis, obvious in its probability, but it wounded me less 
 cruelly than the thought of the thousands of miles, the months 
 and years about to be put between us. I had so lived as I now 
 found in the hope of seeing him once again ! not of speaking 
 with him, for I dreaded an indifferent glance from the eyes that 
 had looked such fond regard upon me but one moment's sight 
 of feature and form ; one sound of the voice whose echoes wan- 
 dered forever among the hills of my heart's background what 
 would I not risk and do to purchase these ? 
 
 " They may be yours 1" whispered a springing hope, wild as 
 Bwift. " See him I There may yet be time." 
 
 I hunted eagerly for a morning's paper, and ran eye and fin- 
 ger down the closely-packed columns of marine advertisements. 
 There was the name I the " Benjamin Franklin," advertised to 
 
 rtart from the street pier that afternoon at four o'clock. ] 
 
 employed no artifice, and none was required. May kept her 
 room Mrs. Seaton was conversing with my aunt in the chamber 
 of the latter, where I sat until the moment I had settled as best 
 for my purpose drew near. Then I repaired to the dressing- 
 closet where hat and veil were ready, donued them, and with DC
 
 348 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 other protection from the heat, weut out upon the burning street? 
 whose pavements crisped my shoes, and glared fierce radiations 
 into my eyes. Hot and still they were still for city streets 
 The very booming of the ever-raging river sounded, from afar 
 sluggish and dull. 
 
 I knew where was the nearest hackney-coach stand, and stop> 
 ping at an unpretending carriage before the door of the stable, 
 asked if it were engaged. It was not ; the horses were hastily 
 attached ; the driver was upon the box, and I within, safely hid- 
 den behind its Venetian blinds, rolling towards the bay and wharf. 
 I concerted every part of the scheme before we were merged in 
 the uproarious throng of vehicles and human beings, that trode, 
 and fought, and pushed close to the water's edge. The driver 
 alighted and opened the door. He was a civil, steady-looking 
 man of middle age. 
 
 " street pier, ma'am Benjamin Franklin 1" he pro- 
 nounced in a business manner. , 
 
 I gave him some money, and requested him to drive as near aa 
 he could to the passage-way to the vessel, and halt there for fur- 
 ther orders. He fulfilled the behest to the letter after a deal of 
 trouble to himself, in which I took not the remotest concern. We 
 had a most favorable position. From my loop-hole I examined 
 every passenger that pressed along the straitened limits guarded 
 by the cross policemen. The din was almost unbearable, but I 
 set myself determinedly to endure it nay, more to analyze it. 
 First, I understood the yells of the newsboys and confectionery- 
 venders ; then the shrill cry, " Matches ! a penny a box 
 matches 1" from old-faced children who dodged miraculously 
 mong heels and carriages ; then the fragmentary sentences of 
 hose about to embark to others they were leaving behind. And 
 then so near to me that I could have touched him by throating 
 out the fingers that held apart the slats of the shutter came 
 Herbert Wynne ! His father was with him, and they me red a*
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 34:9 
 
 ft slow rate. T should have been able to ttike a deliberate view 
 of the taller and younger, even if they had not paused by my ve 
 hide. An acquaintance accosted them at this spot. It was Mr 
 Dumont. 
 
 " Ha ! Mr. Wynne ! 1 was looking for you !" He spoka 
 Iiudly, that he might be heard above the confusion. " I arn here 
 mr, to say to you, bon voyage !" 
 
 " Thank you, sir. Sailors say that good wishes change to fa 
 rorablc winds. I shall be grateful for both or either." 
 
 The clear enunciation conveyed every word to me. To the 
 echo among those shadowy hills they were committed, there to 
 dwell with others that had emanated from the same source. He 
 towered there, fully a head above the rest of the throng, except 
 Mr. Dumont. But the latter lost immeasurably by comparison 
 with him in other respects. The ingenuous expression of one 
 countenance, the cynic smile of the other, I noted, brief as was 
 my opportunity. They walked on towards the great, black hulk, 
 rocking a few paces beyond us ; mounted the inclined plane that 
 connected it with the shore ; were out of sight for a minute, and 
 reappeared, a group that could not be mistaken at least, not 
 by me upon the hurricane deck. 
 
 Faster rushed the tide of life past my hiding-place ; louder, 
 hoarser was the roar. I saw only those three figures, darkly 
 distinct against the noon-bright sky ; heard nothing but the 
 echoes wandering, sobbing restlessly in my soul. 
 
 A bell clanged from the vessel, and a shout repeated its warn- 
 ing. The tide flowed back as boisterously as it had ebbed; the 
 black sea-monster heaved his wet sides yet higher into the sun, 
 'aved them deeper in the wave. The deck group my group 
 was broken. Heads bowed over clasped hands ; two joined the 
 shoreward bound ; one remained in his place, motionless an a 
 pillar of stone. The decks were soon filled with a tossing mass 
 of forms, looking their last of land. He was alone- -no friendly
 
 S50 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 arm, no tone of affection was there to support him if he sorrowed 
 for what he was quitting. Yet had I not vowed to follow him 
 wherever he led ? 
 
 " He does not want me now 1" I said, sternly; and I was calmly 
 observant again. 
 
 Once he raised his arm. It was to wave a salute to Mr. Da 
 Biont, who threw his handkerchief into the air, as the report of 
 the signal cannon shook tho earth, and the huge keel cut its first 
 furrow in the water. 
 
 " Ready now, ma'am ?" said the driver. 
 
 No wait 1" 
 
 The wharf-throng thinned rapidly, urged as they were by the 
 dust and heat. When, finally, my horses' heads were turned, 
 mine was the only carriage there, and the way was unobstructed 
 to where, through the gap in the forest of masts where the 
 Franklin had lain, I could see her, a dwindling barque upon the 
 horizon, and between us long swells of green water, like moving 
 grates.
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 851 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 WAY was pale and said little during the evening, yet did not 
 teem disposed to sleep when we were laid down for the night. I, 
 too, was wakeful, but I manifested it by profound stillness, while 
 she stirred frequently, as though her couch were set with prick- 
 les, and sighed, under the weight of physical or mental disCom- 
 fort. 
 
 " Grace," she said, at length, " are you asleep ?" 
 
 " No, dear May. Do you wish anything ?" 
 
 " Your ear and your indulgence. I have a message for yoo 
 from one to whom you were once a friend." 
 
 " Well ?" I waited for the rest, anticipating its purport 
 
 " Do not accuse me of a lack of feeling or propriety, Grace,. 
 In venturing upon what is, by tacit consent, forbidden ground.'' 
 She moved nearer to me. " Herbert Wynne was here to-day. I 
 went out with him I will be sincere with you because I feared 
 your questioning, particularly as you had seen that a gentleman 
 was with me in the breakfast-room. Moreover, 1 was too much 
 agitated to talk collectedly, and I did not wish to distress you. 
 As to Herbert's visit, it was the only one he has made me iu 
 several weeks. He came to bid me farewell, for he sailed thia 
 afternoon upon a voyage to California." 
 
 She listened for some expression of surprise, some comment, 
 but I let her resume the story told so timidly. 
 
 " I did not tell you that he was here, because, from what yon 
 wrote to me the last time his name occurred in our letters; from
 
 352 MOBS-SIDE. 
 
 your conduct in regard to him since, I supposed that the inter- 
 view would be productive of uupleasant emotions to y DU." 
 
 " And to him also," I interrupted. " You were quite right." 
 
 " He charged me with a message to you," May continued. " 1 
 must assure you from him of his cordial esteem, his kindest 
 wishes for your welfare ; that neither time nor circumstance had 
 letracted from his regard for your worth, his respect for tho mo- 
 tives which actuated you in measures he deemed unreasonable, 
 while the disappointment was fresh. ' And ask her,' he said, ' to 
 remember me, to pray for me sometimes, as for a brother who is 
 ever willing to serve her, whose principal regret is that the 
 chances of doing this are so small.' " 
 
 " He was very kind," I answered. " A portion of your com- 
 munication was already known to me ; that he had been to see 
 you, that you went out together, that he embarked this after- 
 noon." 
 
 " How ? who in the house" 
 
 "No one in the house told me these things. Mrs. Wynne 
 drove up as you left your door." 
 
 " Ah ! she spoke of us then ? What more did she say on this 
 interesting topic ? interesting, she evidently considers it." 
 
 " Nothing of consequence, nothing that was worthy of notice," 
 I said. 
 
 But she was not to be put off in this style. " Grace !" rais 
 ing herself up. " She is no mother to Herbert, no wcll-wishei 
 to me. He has chagrined her, earned her implacable enmity by 
 resisting her attempts to negotiate a marriage for him with a 
 wealthy heiress, and upon me has fallen the rancor of her spleen. 
 She undertakes to gainsay reports which no one ever breathed 
 until her pretence of setting all right interrupted the ordinary 
 course of affairs. Did she not hint to you that my friendship for 
 Herbert was not what it seemed, and retail the ' they says,' sh 
 would have you think were current concerung us ?"
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 353 
 
 I was silent. 
 
 " I knew that she would not spare you or nee !" pursued May, 
 with some bitterness. " Grace ! sister ! say that you disbelieve 
 her charges ; that her insidious whispers did not obtain a bean 
 Ing from your heart I" 
 
 " Did I not declare my trust in you to-day, just after she had 
 left me ?" I said. 
 
 ' Yet you do not speak quite naturally. Is there something 
 yet unexplained ? Have I displeased or wounded you ?" 
 
 " No 1 no I the machinations of a thousand Mrs. Wynnes 
 shall not engender a suspicion of your truth to me, your faith to 
 your husband, May." 
 
 "My 'husband !' In heaven, as upon earth, he can never 
 cease to be that," she said, solemnly. " A second marriage 
 would be a sin in my case. When we stood at the altar to- 
 gether, my vow was for time and for eternity. ' There is neither 
 marrying nor giving in marriage,' among the blessed, we are 
 told ; but I feel that his angel will attend my arrival in our upper 
 home, that those who have loved best here, will not there forget 
 their earthly ties. Do not misjudge me, sister, because I am out- 
 wardly like those who have not lost and mourned. The Father, 
 in extinguishing the lamp in my breast, has instructed me to 
 light up gloomy places in other hearts ; bade me draw, from 
 many rills, the refreshing for which I once applied to a single 
 fountain. It is thus Frederic would have had me act to love 
 and do good to his kind, for him and for myself." 
 
 But I longed to have her add that her reputed lover had 
 repaid her friendship in exact kind. How peacefully I could 
 have slept if she had said, " I am no more than a sister to him 1" 
 It was not spoken, and my latest thought was a prayer for the 
 vanderer upon the sea ; a resolution that I would seek foi 
 strength to think of him as he had desired ; as the brother, I gc 
 wished May to claim for herself, although a dearer place coulc 
 never be mine.
 
 354 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 I did not repay Mrs. Wynne's visit. If it had been my inten 
 tioii to do so, I must have economized time very savingly ; foi 
 my aunt's physician granted her leave to depart a week earlier 
 than we had looked for his permission. He was undoubtedly 
 Boved to this by her longing for home. 
 
 " I air withering here !" she said to me, the evening sh 
 received the warrant of liberation. " I dream of Moss-side, of 
 its groves and flowers, of my own room, and of Lilly, the dear 
 babe ! It is strange that I should dream so much, and every 
 night !" 
 
 " It is a sign of rejuvenation, aunt," I remarked, jocosely. 
 " Elderly people are less given to night-visions, and recall them 
 less perfectly than do young ones." 
 
 " And you would assign this reason, also, for my many 
 thoughts of my youth, which seems lately more a present reality, 
 than this infirm old age." 
 
 " Old age, aunt 1" repeated May, entering. " This from a 
 handsome woman who has scarcely passed the meridian of life 1 
 I shall apprehend a relapse, if these symptoms of depression con- 
 tinue. Look at this !" 
 
 She held up one of the long, thick locks I was combing; black 
 as night, with an occasional silver line stealing through it. Di- 
 vested of her mourning-cap and nun-like attire, my aunt's 
 appearance was indeed remarkably youthful, for one who had 
 experienced sickness and care for so many years. She wore a 
 white wrapper, and her hair, unbound, fell over her shoulders, 
 and rounded, by shading, the decided outlines of her features. 
 Our assiduity as nurses had won upon her gratitude, and hei 
 helplessness rendered her more accessible by making her depen 
 dent. 
 
 She met May's raillery kindly. 
 
 14 1 was forty-six, yesterday," she said. " I have lived almost 
 half a century."
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 85 
 
 * i j ( I ii *aiT ^o see fourscore before you wear out," replied 
 Mft* 
 
 "I w..s eixnt to say, 'Heaven forbid !'" my aunt said, 
 seriously ; " but i* woald be sinful, were I not to wait patiently 
 until my change conres. T trust I am not so rebellious of ths 
 tardy progress of Mire kS I ased to be. It is never too late to 
 learn, and I am studying tho goodness, instead of the judgment 
 of God." 
 
 May gave me a glance cv-sr the invalid's head. She had 
 never seen her so conversable before. I incited her to talk ; 
 partly in the idea that the heaHby play of the mind might con- 
 duce to the good of the body ; pwly through pardonable curi 
 osity to gather some remmiscenoes ol the youth to which I now 
 heard her allude for the second time in all the years we had 
 lived together. 
 
 " I thought the flight of time was twitter, the further one ad 
 vanced in life," I remarked. 
 
 " That depends upon the number tend weight of the clog? upon 
 the wheels," rejoined she. " If they h*ve travelled through miry 
 roads, they turn heavily. I can look back to & season no short 
 one either when, to me, they moved without ft'ction, and their 
 way was over velvet turf. I was a happy cL\ld." 
 
 Her eyes were bright and soft, and although she chafed the 
 lifeless hand when she spoke, it was from habit. She forgot ita 
 want of vitality in the scenes amid which Fancy VTas roving. 
 
 " It was a lovely homestead at which we lived where I was 
 born. I have never smelled such roses and jesssircioe anywheie 
 else. There was one white jessamine that grew over the V7ia 
 dows of my mother's room much more luxuriant Kud fragrant 
 than those your father planted at Moss-side in memoxv of that, 
 The windows were large and long, and when I could just 
 BO far, it was my delight to pull myself up by the lattice 
 ix)vering the lower part, and pluck my hands full of the sta> bio*
 
 uOf> M O 8 8 -8 1 D E , 
 
 Boms Then tliere were magnolia trees, under which my sister 
 and myself built our baby-house ; for the summer showers 
 glanced from the varnished leaves as from a tight roof ; and in 
 the orange-grove, my mother's pride, we collected on fair evenings, 
 when tb" day's sports and labors were done, and sang or talked 
 Until bed-time. It was a sunny home a bower of pleasure." 
 
 " How many brothers and sisters had you ?" asked May. 
 
 " Two brothers, Archie and Frederic ; one sister Maggie 
 older than myself by two years and a half. What a beauty she 
 was ! Lilly reminds me of her sometimes ; but she has not her 
 regularity of feature, nor her stature. We were precisely the 
 same height ; in everything besides, each was the antipodes of 
 the other. She was as mild as I was passionate, as docile to 
 control as I was refractory. ' Day and night,' we were often 
 called. My first grief was her marriage. I was ready to hate 
 the bridegroom for rifling our nest of its most beautiful bird. 
 She was hardly fit to quit it, for she had counted only seventeen 
 summers ; but our parents were over-indulgent, and the young 
 couple were ardently attached to one another. My father pre- 
 sented them with a pretty cottage in sight of our piazza, and they 
 commenced housekeeping in a style that reminded one of the toy 
 establishment under the magnolia. The mimicry did not last 
 long. She died two years after she became a wife. Poor Mag- 
 gie ! 
 
 The living hand still stroked its palsied fellow ; her eyes shone 
 yet more softly, looking into what was to us, vacant space. 
 
 " I never think of her as ill or dying, although I saw her while 
 she was both. To my eyes, to-day, she is dressed in her brida 1 - 
 obes, blushing with love and bliss. I am glad this is so, for thus, 
 I would believe, she looks in heaven she cannot be kvelier. One 
 little incident of her sickness I crerish very fondly. She had a 
 hand of perfect beauty, tiny as a child's, but exquisitely mould 
 ed ; fair as a lily, except where the fingers were lipped with
 
 MOBS-BIDE . 35? 
 
 rose-color. My admiration of it was enthusiastic, and had 
 caused her many a burst of amusement. It was not wasted bj 
 her illness, and on the morning of the death, she held it towards 
 me with a smile ' I wish, Agnes, I could leave you this as a 
 keepsake 1 ; They made her grave in the orange-grove. Dear 
 Maggie I" 
 
 " You were almost grown, then, were you not ?" said I. 
 
 It was a luckless query. In one flash, the light in her eyea 
 burned out ; with one shudder, face and frame were inflexible. 
 
 " Yes nearly. I am sitting up beyond my bed-time, and de- 
 taining you. As you will have a fatiguing day to-morrow, pack- 
 ing, you will wish to retire early." 
 
 The following evening, she went with us to the parlor after 
 tea : an uncommon event, for since her affliction had laid so much 
 infirmity upon her, she disliked to encounter strangers. May, to 
 whom nothing human was unapproachable, settled herself, as of 
 pore, upon the lowest seat in the apartment, and resting lightly 
 igainst the knee, where I had never sat, even in childhood, 
 chatted with her as unrestrainedly to all appearance, as she 
 would have done with me. My father was near Mrs. Seaton, 
 ind Alfred and I were engrossed by the examination of a quan- 
 tity of music he had purchased as a gift to Lilly. He was u 
 warm-hearted fellow, and behaved to me with the loving respect 
 he would have displayed to an elder sister. 
 
 " We shall miss you terribly when you are gone," he said. " I 
 ric not believe that your aunt is well enough to dismiss her phy 
 sician. In my judgment, she would act more prudently in delay 
 big her departure for some weeks longer." 
 
 " The wish is father to the thought is it not ?" I asked. 
 
 There was a stir in the hall. My aunt half-arose, but there 
 was no room for retreat. 
 
 "The victorious Beautiful !" said Alfred, aside to me, as the 
 door unclosed.
 
 358 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 But it was not the subjugated " Useful " that attended hsr 
 Notwithstanding the disparity in their ages, Mr. Dumont cer- 
 tainly looked the more suitable mate for her. He had too just a 
 taste to be dashing in apparel or carriage, but he could not faj? 
 to attract notice wherever he went. Now, he was most bee ;m 
 ingly dressed, and had less the air of a made-over man than 
 nsuaL He shook hands with Alfred, who met him near the en- 
 trance ; bowed, with his own eminent grace, to Mrs. Scakm, 
 then to May, who introduced " My aunt, Miss Leigh," and in 
 the same breath " My father, Mr. Leigh, whom you have not 
 met before, I think, Mr. Dumont." 
 
 My aunt fixed a startled gaze upon him a glare, whose wild- 
 ness insanity could not have heightened ; then, without any sign 
 of salutation, sunk her head in her hand. May told us afterward 8 
 that she overheard a muttering a .convulsive sigh " No I 
 no ! am I losing my reason ?" 
 
 My father recovered from a transitory confusion, into which 
 the entrance ,of our visitors had cast him, and with his natural 
 politeness, acknowledged his daughter-in-law's introduction. 
 Mr. Dumont performed his share of the ceremony in haste, that 
 might have been mistaken for disrespect. His discomposure was 
 as apparent to us all, as its cause was unknown. Once, I thought 
 him on the point of running away, instead of sitting down as he 
 was invited to do. Then, rallying with a species of effrontery, 
 he selected a seat by me. This scene transpired in a much 
 shorter time than has been consumed in its description. Louise 
 and May endeavored to restore ease to all parties, and Alfred 
 supported them ably. Mr. Dumont would not speak of his own 
 accord, and I addressed him with some trite nothings. 
 
 " Excuse me !" he said, under his breath. " What were you 
 Baying ? This visit is unexpected to me. Mr. Wilson requested 
 me to take his wife 'to a party in his stead he not being ready. 
 I did not know that your relative* were with you. We cannot 
 Btay many minutes."
 
 HOBS-BIDE. 359 
 
 " Has he taken too much wiue ?" I marvelled, as he stumblet 
 through the disconnected sentences. " Something has thrown 
 him from his balance." 
 
 " You contemplate leaving us very soon, Mrs. Wilson informs 
 mo," Mr. Diimout went on. 
 
 ilis voice was almost a whisper ; but my aunt dropped Lef 
 Ifcid and leaned forward. He did not see her, and I strove to 
 engage him in our conversation that he might not be disturbed 
 jy her inspection. As he regained his presence of mind and his 
 aabitual manner, the agonized interest expressed in her starting 
 orbs alarmed me. I was anxious and fluttered ; rambled and 
 hesitated in my speech, and at last, stopped short. His eyes, 
 against his volition, it was evident, were carried by mine iu the 
 direction of her chair. She was rising and in fear or amaze- 
 ment, he sprang to his feet. 
 
 Thus they confronted each other, for one instant one only 
 and she walked unassisted, without tottering, across the floor. 
 She laid her hand upon his bosom it might have been to assure 
 herself of his corporeal presence but it seemed a caressing ges- 
 ture. He did not move his livid face looked down into hers 
 bloodless likewise, but in her eyes were burnings that mocked 
 the chill of age, the mists of years. 
 
 " Can the grave give up its dead ?" she said, in thrilling tones. 
 " Julian ! Julian I" and with a shriek, " It is he 1" she fell for- 
 ward into his arms. 
 
 It was but an impulse, the instinct of nature that stretched 
 them to receive her form. It would have escaped them by its 
 uwn weight had not my father relieved him of his burden. 
 
 There was a scene of utter confusion. My aunt was extended 
 
 pon the sofa in a death-like swoon. Mrs. Seatou, May, and 
 
 myself gathered around her ; doors opened and shut ; hurrying 
 
 footsteps went to and fro. When I recovered my self-possession 
 
 sufficiently to enable me t note others besides the inanimate
 
 360 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E 
 
 cause of the commotion, neither Mr. Pumont u >r Alfred were ic 
 be seen ; Louise stood aloof, steadfastly surveying us ; my father 
 eat in an arm-chair on the further side of the room, his figure 
 bowed together in speechless emotion. I touched him. He 
 raised his head with such energy of action that I started 
 Back. 
 
 " What is it ?" he demanded, huskily, shaking off his stupor 
 ad striving to appear a sane, collected man, while his disordered 
 air terrified me. 
 
 " I am afraid that aunt has had another stroke," I said. 
 
 " My poor Agnes !" This was said more naturally " It is 
 enough to kill her !" 
 
 Alfred had gone for a physician, whose arrival afforded us 
 01 ly temporary tranquillity, for, by the light of another morning, 
 his decision had gone forth, and its truth been ratified by our 
 despairing hearts. There was no hope of her recovery ; a bare 
 possibility that she would revive, even partially, from insensi- 
 bility. 
 
 Insensibility, dull and dead it was, that benumbed every 
 faculty and held dominion over the breathing corpse. Hour 
 after hour was marked by the sharpening of the features, the 
 deepening of the greyish tinge about the mouth and eyes, and 
 towards evening, by slower and shorter respirations. At sunset, 
 these ceased. The last worn strand that bound the spirit to 
 the clay, parted noiselessly ; the troublings of the wicked, the 
 toil of the weary were forever ended. 
 
 Mrs. Seatou opened the shutters. The light flowed over the 
 bed and my father's countenance, as he bent down to close the 
 glazing eyes. Grief, not violent, but too mighty to find vent 
 in tears or words, was depicted there. One gaze upon the 
 changed face, and he turned away for the solitude of his cham- 
 ber, which he did not quit. until the day of the funeral We 
 buried her by the side of Frederic in the beautiful city of the
 
 S I D 
 
 dead, hundreds of miles away from her Southern home. No 
 Magnolia or Orange blooms above her ; but in an evei sunny 
 Laud she bears the palm-branch of victory, wears th< white 
 robe-- -for through much tribulation she entered the Kin*-
 
 H ft E I .'j 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 was a sorrowful returu to Moss-side ; yet my heart 
 leaped within me, and a smile overspread my father's haggard 
 visage, when we saw, from the bend of the road into the lane, 
 the little maiden who watched in the porch for our coining. 
 Her tears, silent and fast, bathed our cheeks, as we clasped her 
 to our breasts. In mine, and, I doubt not, in her grandparent's, 
 was a tide of thanksgiving that this, the sunbeam of our home, 
 was still spared ; a hopefulness that had not cheered our spirits 
 aince the moment of our bereavement. 
 
 We allowed a day or two for needed rest, and then addressed 
 ourselves to the task of altering our indoor arrangements to suil 
 the lessened number of our household, to conceal the external 
 signs of the vacancy we could not forget. We chose a bright 
 morning Lilly and I for our visit to the desolate chamber 
 which had been our living-room of late years. The unpruned 
 vines wandered over the casements, casting unwonted shadows 
 through the place ; the confined air was tomb-like in feeling and 
 odor. First, we threw wide windows and doors ; but the 
 scented breath of Summer could not chase away the awe that 
 induced us to tread on tiptoe around the bed, and the great old 
 chair, ghostly in its spotless cover ; to handle with reverence 
 the contents of drawers and trunks, and whisper to each other 
 over them. The utmost order and neatness prevailed through 
 all. One thing I could not fail to observe incidentally the 
 absence of any souvenir, any relic whatever of her life prior to 
 her domestication in our family. There was not a single dried
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 363 
 
 flower ; not a lock from " Maggie's " alabaster temples ; none of 
 darker hue ami firmer curl ; no jealously-treasured miniature - 
 and what was especially remarkable, not one letter or even note 
 In her private life she had rigidly maintained the anchorite sim 
 plicity that characterized her conduct in her social relations 
 4s she had lived, so had she died, leaving but floating thread 
 Upon which curiosity could fasten as possible clues to a history I 
 felt was fraught with tragical interest. In one drawer thi 
 only locked one were a linen shroud and a burial-cap, yellow 
 with time, deposited there, no one could say when, wrought by 
 her hands and designed for herself. They were sprinkled by the 
 salt drops that gushed up at the thought of her preparation, by 
 strangers, for the dreamless rest in a stranger-grave. We 
 packed everything away, as she would have wished to have it 
 done ; transferred some articles of furniture to other parts of 
 the house, and made all practicable changes in the disposition 
 of what remained in this apartment. My father would have no 
 locked doors, no haunted chambers beneath his roof. 
 
 " Such spots, although sacred to the holiest of sorrows," he 
 said to me, " and made the occasion of pious and loving pilgrim- 
 ages, if dutifully frequented, often, in the end, lose their charm. 
 If unvisited, they are too apt to be avoided, by and by, with 
 superstitious dread, and come to be invested v/ith all manner of 
 foolish terrors. We need no appeals to our senses to keep alive 
 the memory of her who is gone." 
 
 That afternoon, he sent for me to the honeysuckled arbor at 
 i lie foot of the garden, and related the story of the skeleton it 
 u; home. 
 
 The introductory portions of the narration were known to me 
 In part ; the description of the abode in which he was born, 
 where Maggie was married, the dissimilarity of the sisters, their 
 leader affection, and the death of the elder. 
 
 " I was the oldest of the four," he proceeded, " and when
 
 364 M o a 8 - s i D E 
 
 Maggie died, had been at the head of a family for several years 
 flut as I was settled at a convenient distance from the horn* 
 Btead, the household bond seemed to remain intact. Agnes wan 
 a wild, undisciplined girl of sixteen, who gave promise of de- 
 cided beauty of a certain order. Vivacious and high-spirited, 
 she was my favorite sister, endearing as were Maggie's feminine 
 rirtues. She returned my partiality with all the warmth of her 
 ardent temperament. My influence over her exceeded that of 
 her parents, or even of the sister she well-nigh worshipped. We 
 could not foresee how soon she would be obliged to depend upon 
 me as her sole guardian, but our attachment grew stronger, as 
 she neared womanhood. My brother, Frederic, was of a roving 
 disposition, and obtained a commission in the navy. His going 
 was the next severed link in our chain. A year later, our father 
 died, and the grass was not rooted upon his grave, when our 
 mother joined him. I removed to the old place, and Agnes 
 lived with us. I have intimated that she was independent. She, 
 was more, proud and imperious, if her will was crossed ; impas- 
 sioned in every feeling. To control her by severity was out of 
 the question, but if love were the ruling power, she was all sub- 
 mission. She manifested a taste for learning unusual iu one of 
 her age and sex, and mine had long been the care of appointing 
 her teachers, and to some extent, her studies. She had been a 
 resident of my house but a little while when, in an evil hour, I 
 was persuaded to send her to a seminary of note in New Orleans. 
 Mine was the first false step." 
 
 He passed his hand over his brow, as if he felt the clcud that 
 was gathering there. 
 
 " She was gay, romantic, susceptible, and was just completing 
 her eighteenth year. She could not be considered a school-girl, 
 and the accomplished French principal offered to admit her into 
 the establishment with the privileges of a parlor boarder. Tc 
 tfiis I acceded, without a thought of what was implied by thii
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 36.* 
 
 ambiguous phrase, except that the spoiled child would not be 
 subjected to the rigor of school-room government, and wonld 
 have less reason to pine for the freedom of her country life. Shn 
 was too brave and sanguine to mope in homesickness, or sbiu> 
 the labors and privations of a student's lot, and although she 
 wept at our parting, there was sunshine mingled with the shower. 
 Throughout the winter, her letters denoted more than content- 
 ment active enjoyment in her situation. Her studies, her 
 mates, the kindness of her instructors, the peeps at society Ma- 
 dame Duplanche sanctioned by her personal chaperonage, were 
 prolific themes for her pen, while unabated love for the dear and 
 distant ones ran through every epistle and attracted us the more 
 nearly to her. 
 
 " Without warning, the other side of the picture was exhi- 
 bited to me. It was during a brief but dangerous illness of your 
 mother's that a letter came from Madame Duplanche, such an 
 one as a Frenchwoman alone can write. With infinite caution 
 and tact, and a multitude of apologies, she informed me of her 
 misgivings with regard to my sister's acquaintance with a visi- 
 tant at her house, Julian Darford by name, ' a young gentleman 
 of unblemished character,' she said, ' if we may believe his cre- 
 dentials and the testimony of his demeanor since he has been 
 an inhabitant of this city ; well-bred, prepossessing in person 
 and address. I do not marvel that he has captivated the ima- 
 gination of Miss Agnes, whose tastes are highly cultivated, and 
 whose appreciation of the beautiful and noble is so acute ; yet 
 I conceive it to be my duty to confide to you my views of the 
 existing state of affairs, and leave it to you to interfere or tot, 
 a you may, in your superior judgment, think advisable.' 
 
 " Uncertain as was this information, for not an incident was 
 mentioned as a support to her suspicions, save Mr. Darford's 
 'prepossessing' appearance and Agnes' lively imagination it 
 worked me up to an intolerable pitch of uneasiness. I could not
 
 366 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 go myself to tear my sister away from temptation, for iny wife's 
 condition forbade my absence from her sick-bed. Nor, for the 
 same reason, could I confer with her who had ever proved her- 
 self my best counsellor. Had my measures been tempered b) 
 her judicious forbearance, the result might have varied widely 
 from what I am about to tell you. Upon the spur of the mo- 
 tnent, distracted by anxiety for the two, who equally, but from 
 different causes, required my services ; driven on by the emer- 
 gency I had brought myself to believe was already upon us, I 
 wrote to the principal and to Agnes. Madame, I thanked for 
 her prompt notice to myself, while I animadverted as plainly as 
 I dared speak to a lady, upon the laxity of rules which had made 
 Buch a course necessary. I urged her not to intermit her watch- 
 fulness, and authorized her to break off the ominous intercourse 
 without delay or explanation, other than that she had my war- 
 rant for the proceeding ; promising to be in New Orleans so 
 soon as the crisis of my wife's illness had passed, and release her 
 from further responsibility by an examination of the case and 
 corresponding action on my part. The communication to Agnes 
 was more lengthy, and, I fear, more stern. It was a tone I had 
 seldom employed towards her, and second thoughts would have 
 convinced me that it was impolitic and dangerous now ; but my 
 excitement precluded mature deliberation. I told her of our 
 love, it is true, but it was in reproach to shame, not entice her 
 back to the path of duty. I was harsh, Grace, but I meant 
 well, my child, and I have been sorely punished." 
 
 " Few men would have adopted any other line of conduct, 
 dear father 1" I kissed his trembling hand, and again, crossing 
 my arms upon his knee, as I sat at his feet, waited breathlessly 
 'or more. 
 
 " And you might add that there is no woman living deserving 
 of the name, who would not have showed more mercy to a cul- 
 prit so young an<? beloved ; whose offence, for all the evidence 1
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I P E . 367 
 
 had to the contrary, was merely suppositional, and might prove 
 eventually to be the figment of madame's brain. I ooucludcd 
 this letter as I had done the other, by a peremptory command 
 for the dismissal of this Darford, let his pretensions be what 
 they might, and a threat of removal from his vicinity, should I 
 discover that she had, in opposition to my known wishes, in vio- 
 ation of her word, been so imprudent as to contract a clandes- 
 tine engagement with him. 
 
 " No sooner were the intemperate missives posted, than A 
 repented of my rashness. Through a sleepless night, merciful 
 spirits were striving with my Spartan notions of duty. My heart 
 yearned over the wayward creature, who, with ail her faults, 
 loved me, and in times past, would have laid down her life for 
 me. What irritating goads would my angry words be to her 1 
 what was not to be feared from the effect of their wounds to 
 her sensitive, haughty spirit ? The next post bore an emollient 
 for these ; a retraction of all that was cruel in the preceding 
 epistle. I represented the circumstances under which it was 
 penned, and attributing my undue warmth to the depth of my 
 affection for her, entreated her to trust implicitly in that; to un- 
 bosom herself to the brother who had always been an indulgent 
 listener to her every plea, and who now pledged himself not to 
 stand in the way of her happiness, if it should appear that this 
 would be promoted by a union with the man of her choice. But 
 we lived in the heart of the country, where mails were slow and 
 unreliable. Before the answer to either of the letters came to 
 hand, your mother had safely passed the turning-point of her 
 malady, and was so far convalescent as to participate in my 
 'ears and hopes respecting the issue of this important matter. 
 I was thankful that I was not with her when Madame Du- 
 planchd's reply arrived. My worst anticipations had not fore- 
 shadowed the whole extent of the affliction which, I learned 
 from this, had befallen us. Alarmed into an approach to sincer
 
 868 M088-8IDE. 
 
 ity, the instructress wrote without circumlocution, of my sister 1 ! 
 elopement with her lover, immediately after the receipt of mj 
 menacing letter. Not sorry to have an opportunity of retalia 
 tion for ray strictures upon her faulty discipline, the lady intro- 
 duced a regret that I had been so hasty ; since dread of my 
 nger had undoubtedly 'precipitated the denouement she was 
 rare might have been averted by dexterous maneuvering.' 
 
 " These reflections from her fell light as straws upon my writh- 
 ing soul. My idolized sister was gone I knew not whither , 
 had fled from me to the embrace of an unprincipled stranger 
 for in what esteem must I regard the man who had tempted her 
 from rectitude, had taught her forgetfulness of duty, gratitude, 
 Belf-respect ? Madame Duplanch6 was minute in her description 
 of the ' melancholy event.' They had, according to her show- 
 ing, outgeneralled her by consummate artifice ; had escaped un- 
 challenged aad unsuspected, and succeeded in concealing every 
 trace of their route. Consideration for the feelings of the un- 
 happy girl's relatives, more than jealousy for the reputation of her 
 school, had, she stated, induced her to circulate the report that 
 the missing pupil had been withdrawn from the institution by 
 her brother, and was now under his protection. ' No scandal has 
 been excited by her disappearance,' she wrote. ' I flatter my- 
 self that my ruse will meet with your unqualified approbation.' 
 
 " Until definite intelligence of the wanderer's movements 
 should be obtained, your mother agreed with me in thinking that 
 we had best imitate the secrecy of the discreet teacher. The.rc 
 were days of suppressed mourning and weary waiting and a law- 
 yer's letter was forwarded from New Orleans, inclosing a copy of 
 the marriage certificate o / Agnes Leigh and Julian Darford, coo- 
 pled with a legal demand for the surrender of the property I held 
 in trust as the guardian of the said Agnes. The claim was pre- 
 sented by authority of her husband. It was lawful, and had ther 
 been room for quibbling, I would not have attempted resistance
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 369 
 
 With considerable i& convenience and sacrifice of my own inte- 
 rests, I raised the just amount, every cent of my sister's patri 
 mony, and made it over to the creditor, through his agent, i 
 did not inquire where the wedded pair had fixed their residence ; 
 made no effort to renew my correspondence with one who had so 
 easily renounced the ties of blood and feeling. The transaction 
 was strictly one of business on both sides, and with it ceased my 
 attempts to seek her my hopes of reconciliation. 
 
 " One moonlight evening, six months after the elopement, yoar 
 mother and myself were sitting in our chamber at the jessamine- 
 covered window, of which you say your aunt talked to May and 
 yourself. I was gloomy, and her pensiveness was in sympathy. 
 We were thinking of the lost bird ; our hearts aching for the 
 sound of her voice in laughter or in song ; the music that once 
 was never wanting in the old mansion. We had not spoken fo" 
 some time ; her name had not been mentioned ; yet when my 
 wife laid her hand in mine, and lifted her eyes, so eloquent of 
 grieving love, I divined what were her thoughts. 
 
 " ' There is no hope of her return,' she said. ' What good can 
 accrue from further concealment ?' 
 
 " ' What good can accrue from a gratuitous proclamation of 
 our shame ?' I returned, surlily. 
 
 " ' Not " shame 1" do not say that ! We can never be dis- 
 graced but by guilt, and that our own. Our poor girl has been 
 beguiled into error, but not such as would, in the eyes of the 
 world, fix a stigma upon our name. Are we not incurring the 
 risk we dread by not letting the truth be known ? What would 
 be said if it should become public by other means than our con- 
 fession ? I am tired of evasions. I would feel less degradation 
 In declaring that our sister has married without our consent and 
 deserted us entirely.' 
 
 " Her voice trembled in pronouncing the closing words , but 
 like the resolute woman she was, she Had opened her mind whe* 
 16*
 
 370 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 Duty pointed out the impropriety of silence. I felt that ahe was 
 in the right ; still it was unpalatable counsel. I was tenacious 
 of the family honcr. It galled me to think how men would com- 
 ment upon the marriage of a Leigh with an adventurer a no- 
 body perhaps a scoundrel, else why this obstinate reserve sow 
 that marriage had made his prize secure ? Of these, and a host 
 jf like wormwood ideas, I delivered myself aloud, as I paced the 
 room, chafed and wounded. At the height of the fever, I waa 
 interrupted by a servant with a letter from the post-office. A 
 light was procured, and I saw, with indescribable emotion, my 
 sister's handwriting. The date was Havana (Cuba), and the 
 characters were sometimes nearly illegible, as if dashed upon the 
 sheet in the utmost agitation. Whence I drew the strength that 
 sustained me to the conclusion, I never understood. It was a 
 dark, terrible tale. 
 
 " Infatuated by an idolatrous devotion to her lover ; terrified 
 by the construction he put upon my misjudged harshness; in im- 
 minent peril from Madame Duplanche's immediate exercise of the 
 power I had delegated to her an authority that would cause a 
 separation to which she would have preferred death Agnes had 
 escaped from confinement to the liberty of a love that was then 
 worth more than all the world beside. The marriage ceremony 
 was performed the hour she became free ; the honeymoon was 
 spent in a suburban village, until Mr. Darford could settle some 
 business that detained him in the vicinity of New Orleans. Dur- 
 ing this month, she wrote repeatedly to me ; at first, conjointly 
 with her husband, and when these petitions for forgiveness and 
 a return to favor were unnoticed long letters with her own hand, 
 blistered with tears and breathing the humblest penitence. They 
 sailed for the island-home he had so often painted to her imagi- 
 nation ; she, thoroughly converted to his representation that 1 
 had cast her off, and clinging, with all the fervor of her trusting, 
 ardent nature to the only prop, the only shelter sh<> bad upon earth
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 371 
 
 " The awakening from her rapt vision was gradual, for hei 
 love was too blind to discern trifles, too perfect for jealousy 
 She was chilled by absences that left her alone the greater part 
 of the day and night ; bewildered, and at times shocked, by the 
 revelations chance and his carelessness made to her of bacchana- 
 lian orgies and infidel principles ; but at one caress, one accent 
 of fondness, she forgot whatever she could not understand, and 
 relied upon him with the same unquestioning faith. He had an 
 associate, inseparable as his shadow, who had assisted in hia 
 courtship and been a witness of his marriage ; a bold swaggerer, 
 from whom the young wife recoiled in disgust and wonder that a 
 man of so much refinement of breeding, such nicety of sentiment 
 as her lord, could tolerate, nay, encourage his familiarity. She 
 was unused to concealing her dislikes, and this antipathy was 
 obvious to its object as to his boon companion. The latter tried 
 to laugh and argue her out of it ; the former laid a subtle plot 
 of revenge. Before it was quite ripe, its execution was hastened 
 by a quarrel between the two men, over the card-table. Oaths, 
 even blows were exchanged, and they were, with difficulty, 
 parted. Darford's brain, in cooling and clearing, realized the 
 danger in which he stood. He sought his sulky antagonist, apo- 
 logized, and a hollow peace was patched up. That evening, 
 while his friend and host was at a wine-party, the serpent craved 
 an audience of the lonely wife, and betrayed the nefarious de- 
 ception which had been practised upon her." 
 
 It was heart-rending to see my father's shrinking from what was 
 now to be revealed ; his lingering upon every petty incident ; 
 stopping to weigh each sentence, to put off the moment that would 
 bring the utterance of what, after the lapse of so many years, i 
 fax ked his soul to say. 
 
 ' Dearest father !" I expostulated, " this is too heavy a trial 
 Do not tell me more, now at least. I cannot see you suffer so I" 
 
 " ' Suffer I' I should have become inured to it by this. If t-hf
 
 372 1C O S 8 - 8 I D X . 
 
 syllables were so many drops of life-blood, I ought not to stof 
 here. You must know all. I owe it to you, my daughter." 
 
 " How ' owe ' it ?" 1 would have asked ; but his pallid Hpi 
 were regaining firmness to proceed. 
 
 " Grace ! do you think it strange that she went mad at hear 
 lug that I was frantic when I read that she was not the wife 
 of the man she called husband ?" 
 
 " Father !" I ejaculated in horror. 
 
 Globules of sweat rolled down his face ; his fingers clenched my 
 wrist until the flesh was blue beneath them. Yet be could speak 
 with hoarse distinctness. 
 
 " Not his wife ! To another, a deceived and deserted woman, 
 dying of a broken heart in her native New England village, be- 
 longed that title. The name under which he had wooed and 
 wedded this second victim, was false as his black heart. He was 
 of Northern birth, and had, in boyhood, fallen into evil company 
 and vicious habits ; while at college had been guilty of a gross 
 outrage upon the authorities and the community, and had run 
 away to avoid punishment. Burnet, for this was the present 
 alias to which his treacherous accomplice answered was his co- 
 mate in the scrape, and the partnership in crime had never been 
 dissolved. Together they had led a roving career ; living by 
 various, generally disreputable means, but always contriving to 
 maintain the style of gentlemen. A lottery-prize had furnished 
 the funds for a luxurious summer sojourn in a picturesque town 
 in Connecticut, where Darford laid suit and successfully to a pro- 
 rincial heiress, an orphan ; marned her with the approval of her 
 friends, and set up a handsome establishment. But good fortune 
 lad not reformed him. He tired of his monotonous existence and 
 the unpretending woman who had so generously linked her lot with 
 fas. Collecting, into a portable form, all of her property which 
 he had not squandered, he ibandoned her and his child, an in- 
 fant a year old, and sailed Southward. In New Orleans, thf
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 873 
 
 confederates found a suitable theatre for the exhibition of theb 
 talents, and they selected that city as their head-quarters. Th 
 aighest and the lowest phases of its society were alike known t 
 them, and they were here, of all other places, least liable to ex- 
 posure. An introduction to Madame Duplanche' was employee 
 by Darford as the key tc her very select circle of parlor-visitors 
 Agnes' beauty pleased his eye, and an exaggerated report of hei 
 wealth tempted him tc pay serious court to her. 
 
 "This was the story poured, like boiling lead, into the ears of 
 the miserable girl by the wretch who exulted in her distraction. 
 He heaped up the measure of his insults by proposing that she 
 ehould fly with him from her betrayer, who, he more than hint- 
 ed, was weary of her love, and meditating a re-commencement 
 of his travels. She drove the brutal fellow from her presence 
 with a torrent of fiery indignation, and while the fury still pos- 
 sessed her, began her letter to me. Burnet had told her of the 
 manner in which the preceding ones had been intercepted and 
 destroyed by Darford. A few burning lines of wild supplication 
 and she bethought herself of the character of the author of 
 the recital that had maddened her. By his own confession, he 
 was a lying hypocrite ; his recent act proved him a traitor. 
 Was he entitled to credit ? She would ferret out other proof. 
 Burnet had not overlooked the possibility of this reaction. A 
 little while after he had been expelled from her apartment, he 
 sent in to her a bundle of letters and other documents, abstract- 
 ed from Darford's escritoir. They bore various addresses ; the 
 names she had heard as those by which the adventurer had 
 passed in different places, and their contents were abundant 
 Krafirmation of Burnet's disclosure. The most blasting sight 
 &as the certificate of marriage with his real wife, side by side 
 with the worthless paper, wnose duplicate had been used to ob- 
 tain what was his end in espousing her her money. She secret- 
 ed the packet, and in the most fearful vigil 'hat woman eve'
 
 574 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 kept, finished her appeal to me, the brother she yet loved 
 Death or delh erance were the alternatives to her mind. A lift 
 of ignominy she could not support. She would not survive to 
 ?ee herself and be known of the world as his repudiated wife 
 In this deep of humiliation she would write no other term, a' 
 though the italics imparted to it a terrible irony. 
 
 " ' I am being stung to death by scorpions,' she said. ' If you 
 hfevr one spark of love or pity for the ruined thing I am, come 
 and release me.' 
 
 " She engaged to join me at any time I should appoint, at a 
 hotel in Havana ; for I must not come in contact with Darford. 
 This was reiterated most strongly. The letter she would intrust 
 to a poor neighbor, her washerwoman, whose fidelity she had 
 bought by some act of kindness, and to her care must my answer 
 be directed. 
 
 " I did not wait for daylight. Midnight saw me on my jour- 
 ney, as bent upon vengeance as she was upon escape. My wife's 
 tears were ineffectual to melt my purpose. I had not vowed it 
 to her, but she knew me too well to pray with any hope, that it 
 would suffice me to break the net of the captive. I returned no 
 written reply to Agnes. I was in Havana sooner than it could 
 have been delivered to her. It was late in the afternoon when 
 I landed, and going to & hotel, I engaged lodgings for myself 
 and a lady. Armed to resist any violence, I stepped into a car 
 riage and was rapidly whirled through the streets to the obscure 
 dwelling of the humble friend whose address my sister had giveu 
 me. She instructed me as to the locality of Mr. Darford's resi- 
 letce. It was a tasteful villa, the beauty of whose architecture 
 tad grounds was perceptible, dark as it was whe^ I alighted at 
 Uie gate. I gnashed my teeth when I thought who had pur 
 Ceased this luxury for its nominal proprietor, ai.d at what cost 
 the wreck of happiness and honor. Threading the labyrinthin* 
 walks to the door, I rang and inquired of the footman if hii
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 375 
 
 mistress were at home. With unblushing assurance, lie -eplied 
 that she was not 
 
 " ' Very well I I will wait until she returns, and I pushed bj 
 him into the house. 
 
 "He stared, and would have grown abusive, but for a timelj 
 Iwibe which I slipped into his hand, as I repeated iny inquiry 
 I woe anxious to bear away the unhappy woman quietly, if pos- 
 sible My entrance was effected ; the next move was to see her 
 alone Scribbling a line upon my card, I asked the man to take 
 it up to her chamber, and if he were correct in his belief of her 
 absence, to bring it down again. The menial of such a master 
 could not be incorruptible, and he departed with a knowing 
 wink that was a harbinger of success. 
 
 " Flying feet came down the stairs and along the passages, 
 and my poor, erring child was in my arms, panting and shiver- 
 ing like a hunted partridge. I should hardly have known her 
 for the bright-winged warbler she had been in the parent nest. 
 She was weak and thin, for neither food nor rest had been hers, 
 since she had discovered how foully she had been wronged ; and 
 the large, black eyes were bloodshot and glaring as a maniac's. 
 I could weep, but she had no tears. Their fount was dried for 
 ever. 
 
 " ' Take me away before he comes home !' was all her cry. 
 
 " ' I will,' I said. ' What do yon require to make you ready 
 to go ? a veil a mantle ?' 
 
 " She quitted me for a moment, and re-appeared, wrapped in 
 t scarf. 
 
 " ' Take nothing which you can leave,' I ordered. ' No trin- 
 kets 1 no money !" 
 
 '"I have none I' was her response. 
 
 " She wore a plain morning dress, with no ornaments, and thai 
 upparelled, totally dependent upon me, she turned her back 
 upon the habitation where she had quaffed Lift's sweetest joy^
 
 376 M088-8IDE. 
 
 Sorrow's bitterest dregs. I conducted her to her chamber at 
 the hotel, and told her that she was safe. Then, for the unset- 
 tled light of her eye, her fitful starts and incoherent mutterings 
 made me uneasy for her reason, I pillowed her head upon mj 
 bosom and welcomed her to my love ; painted the leunion it 
 Drospect when we should once more see the dear home of us all 
 would have bestowed the kiss and blessing your mother had 
 lent to her. She avoided the salute. ' It is too pure 1' said 
 he, brokenly. ' She is your wife !' 
 
 " ' Sister is as holy a name,' I returned. 
 
 " I have forfeited that from you 1" she moaned. " Oh ! why 
 d<? I not die ?" 
 
 n Affectionately I contended with these self-accusations. I 
 showed her how, by a providential inspiration, as it were, we 
 had refrained from divulging her secret to any one out of our 
 household ; that to her schoolmates her flight was unknown ; 
 her character was stainless to others as to us who were acquainted 
 with the particulars of her misfortune. She was more composed 
 as these consolations were applied. Her pride was spared one 
 of the ruling elements of her being. Despise herself as she 
 might, the finger of public scorn would not point to a spotted 
 fame, or pity, yet more humbling, grieve over her fall. 
 
 " ' 1 will go with you wherever you please to carry me,' she 
 consented ; ' only do not let us stay here a single hour The 
 air of this place is killing me ! I cannot breathe in it 1' 
 
 " I explained the impossibility of starting before the morrow, 
 and begged her, for my sake, and if she desired to expedite oui 
 progress, to lie down and snatch a little sleep. She objected 
 that she was too much excited to rest, but at last suffered me to 
 place her upon the bed. 
 
 " ' Now I must leave you,' I said. 
 
 " ' Whore are you going ? for what ?' She sprang up and 
 seized me by the arm.
 
 * O 8 B - B : 1) K . O?7 
 
 "'To my room, to get all ready for an early start, 7 I replied, 
 m feigned surprise. 'Where else should I go at this hour? 
 Moreover, I am t'atigued, and if I am to journey again so 
 Boon ' 
 
 " She fell back, deceived, aud ashamed of her fright ' Go' 
 gol' she said. 'It is all ri^ht. I am very foolish ! For-jiv: 
 met' 
 
 " I did not require a second bidding."
 
 H78 MOSS-HID!*. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 * THERE was much to be done by morning ; but my jnara 
 were definite, and were prosecuted without delay. I went, as I 
 had promised, to my chamber, though not to sleep. I had but 
 one acquaintance in Havana, an American merchant, who had 
 been a schoolfellow, and upon whose friendship and honor I 
 could safely depend. To him, I wrote, asking him to call imme- 
 diately at my lodgings, as the business in which I wished his aid 
 involved life or death. If he were not in the city, it was my 
 purpose to leave upon my table a letter to the United State* 
 consul, commending my sister to his care, with the means of 
 defraying the expenses of her journey to Alabama. This would 
 be attended with more publicity than was desirable, however 
 much heed he might pay to my injunction of secrecy ; therefore, 
 was only to be entertained as a dernier ressort. The expediency 
 of foregoing my sanguinary designs never presented itself to my 
 thoughts. Blood alone was the bath for wounded honor, and 
 while cherishing the full intent to wash out in Parford's, the blot 
 upon our name, I was, to myself, and according to the code I had 
 been trained to respect, a righteous avenger, bravely, lawfully 
 defending the cause of the injured ; helping to sustain the bul- 
 warks of morality. If I left my wife a widow, my children 
 orphans, upon his soul would rest the crime of having produced 
 their desolation, as well as my murder. To them, I should 
 bequeath an unsullied reputation and the memory of a deatk 
 not less glorious thau that of the soldier who dies Sghtiug foi 
 liberty and truth.
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 379 
 
 " These ideas flitted before me as I folded my note ; but 1 
 did not look forward to this result of the hostile meetbg I had 
 determined should take place. A superstition, borrowed from 
 the feudal ages, nerved and balanced my mind as effectually as 
 a principle of moral right would have done. 
 
 " ' Heaven defends the right !' I said, unlocking the door, and 
 etting my hat upon my head. ' I shall not die by a dastard hand. 
 
 " I was in quest of a waiter who could be trusted with the 
 instant delivery of my letter, and had to pass through the bril- 
 liantly-lighted saloon on the first floor. A number of loungers 
 were there, smoking, drinking, and strolling about. I noticed 
 none of them until a smart slap on my shoulder, and a voice, 
 familiar as my own, turned me face to face with the last person 
 I expected to meet there and then my sailor-brother, Frederic 1 
 A greeting from the other world would not have astounded me 
 more than did his hail : 
 
 " ' Archie 1 old fellow ! how goes it ?' 
 
 " Without further ado, he dragged me after him up to hig 
 room, and slamming the door, hugged me with honest warmth, 
 the water starting from his eyes. A handsome, rollicking fellow 
 he was in his lieutenant's uniform. I could not look my fill 
 while he piled questions upon exclamations, and, ever and anon, 
 burst into fresh raptures. 
 
 " ' The luckiest godsend that ever happened upon sea or land ! 
 How long have you been in this latitude ? I came ashore my- 
 self scarce half an hour ago, and expect io lie-to until to-morrc w 
 afternoon. Who would have dreamed that the first fellow I 
 should run into here would be you, my precious stay-at-home- 
 brother ? By Jove ! it is too good to be true ! Let me feel 
 again whether you are real flesh, positive bone ! What wind 
 blew you into this port ? and how did you leave that blessed 
 little mate of yours fortunate dog that you are ! and the babies 
 how many of them are there ? and Aggie bless her black
 
 380 M088-8IDE. 
 
 eyes and rosy cheeks ! But man, you look white ! What ail* 
 you?' 
 
 " T staggered to a chair as this flood of inquiries recalled me 
 to a sense of the purpose of my visit to the island, the erruml 
 ttpOL which I was bound when he diverted my thoughts into a 
 channel so different. How could I tell him the stunning truth ? 
 nd yet, had I the right to withhold it ? Then another flash 
 was not he the very one whom I should have desired to meet ? 
 Agnes' brothers were the meet depositories of the fatal secret 
 the guardians of it and her. I communicated everything as 
 guardedly as the confused state of my intellects would allow me 
 to do. His bronzed face was paler, and his glance more fierce, 
 as I forced my tongue to relate each incident. As the eud ap- 
 proached, his breath became thick and loud, his fingers clutched 
 at the dirk in his belt. When I ceased, he tore it from its 
 sheath, and swore, as only ajj infuriated sailor can swear, that 
 the betrayer should not curse the earth one minute longer thau 
 would bring him within reach of his steel. He rushed to the 
 door in the thirst of this passion, but I prevented him, and 
 prayed him to hear me. 
 
 " ' Say on, quickly !' he said, savagely. ' My ears have heard 
 enough, and too much already.' 
 
 " I sketched my intentions, and warned him in a spirit as de- 
 termined as his, that I would not be defrauded of the right to 
 aienge my sister. 
 
 " ' She is mine, too 1' he tried to say, roughly, but the tender 
 heart almost broke with the recollection, and hiding his face in his 
 brown hands, he sobbed heavily. ' Poor Aggie I that she should 
 have come to this ' 
 
 ' You are pale and sick, Grace, darling ! I had better not 
 150 on 1" 
 
 44 No I no !" I murmured, " I will know the rest. This <m 
 peuse is too horrible 1"
 
 )( O S 8 - 8 I D K . 381 
 
 He had uot seen me for many minutes before this abrupt pause, 
 to imbued was he with the spirit of the narration. It was but 
 thinking aloud, and the fluctuations of his countenance evinced 
 his perfect conception of the real and the visible in the drama he 
 flras depicting. 
 
 " We lay down towards morning, that we might be steady 
 and cool in the scene that would test mental and physical ccur 
 age. You will hardly believe that I slept thus ; my arm over 
 him, as we had slumbered in his boyhood and my youth that I 
 slept soundly until he called to me that ' we ought to be up and 
 at work.' 
 
 " That ' work !' His lowering brow reminded me what /t 
 was. 
 
 " ' Mr. Darford was not up/ the sleepy negro grumbled. ' He 
 would not be down before eleven o'clock had been out all 
 night ' and with this he offered to shut the door in our faces. 
 
 " ' We must have him now ! no more trifling !' retorted Fre- 
 deric. ' When we have done with him, he may lie abed as late 
 as he likes. Go 1 say that two gentlemen want to see him, and 
 that if he does not come down, we will pay him a visit in his 
 chamber.' 
 
 " The man shuffled off, and we remained at the door. By mu- 
 tual consent, we would not cross the threshold unless we should 
 be forced to do it. Presently, we heard angry tones overhead, 
 oaths at us and the servant who had disturbed his master's 
 morning doze, and a man appeared on the landing of the stairs. 
 A rude interrogatory as to our names and business met with si- 
 lent contempt, and he descended to the hall. His exterior war 
 ranted Madame Duplanche's praises. Clad as he was, in dress- 
 ing-gown and slippers, his hair dishevelled and eyes watery from 
 his debauch, his bearing and features were sonre extenuation of 
 poor Agnes' fault. Her image, haggard and forlorn, arose be 
 I w w;ii him and me
 
 882 MOB8-6IDK. 
 
 * *l?ou call yourself Darford, I believe ?' I said. 
 
 " ' That is my name, sir,' he rejoined, superciliously. 
 
 " ' And mine is Leigh !' I answered. 
 
 " A braver man might have showed fear at this 
 meut ; but although his complexion grew very livid, his eye 
 quailed for one second only, and he stood his ground, grasping, 
 however, the back of a chair near him, that he might defend 
 himself from bodily assault. 
 
 " ' Well, sir !' he resumed, disdainfully as before, ' and what ia 
 the object of your pardon my bluutness ! untimely visit ?' 
 
 " ' Untimely, I own it is,' said I. ' I should have introduced 
 myself six months ago the date ' speaking deliberately, that 
 my feelings might not master reason ' of your illegal marriage 
 with my sister.' 
 
 " He recovered coolness at this. ' Well sir !' he repeated. 
 
 " ' As I design leaving the city and the island by noon to-day, 
 you will oblige me by appointing an hour for the settlement of 
 this affair, that will enable me to carry out my plan,' I said. 
 
 " He smiled sardonically. ' I will do my best to " oblige " you 
 without damping your confidence in the certainty of your depart- 
 ure at the stated hour. You have chosen your friend ?' bowing 
 to Frederic. 
 
 " ' My brother will be my second,' I replied. 
 
 " ' And in the event of a result contrary to your anticipations, 
 will step into your place,' he continued, with the same effrontery. 
 
 " ' I will !' spoke out Frederic, unable to contain himself, 
 ' And now, I am for putting an end to these absurdities. We 
 waste time !' 
 
 " ' Right, young gentleman ! It would be advisable, however, 
 for me to get a short nap before entering upon such hot work as 
 I hare ahead of me. What say you ' to me ' to ten o'clock f 
 We shall not be detained more than half an hour at most. Tc 
 me, as the challenged party belongs the right to select weapons
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 383 
 
 ji most circnmstances, it has been my practice to waive this, bar 
 you will excuse my seeming discourtesy if, on this occasion, I 
 reserve to myself the trifling advantage. What say you to the 
 pistol ? Are you accustomed to its use ?' 
 
 " I answered that I was, and signified my agreement to Lu 
 proposition. 
 
 " ' And the place V he said. ' There is a fashionable rendez- 
 oos for friends bent upon these affairs ;' and he named it. ' Au 
 rtvmr, gentlemen 1' 
 
 " He partly closed the door, but opened it before we were off 
 the piazza. 
 
 " ' This is a malapropos season for speaking of ladies, but as 
 you have, no doubt, been apprised, your sister, Mrs. Darfo-rd? 
 emphasizing the words with dignity, ' is now under my roof. la 
 it your wish to see her, or, to spare her needless agitation, had 
 the interview better be postponed until after the ceremony ?' 
 
 " Frederic's dirk was partly drawn, but I retained hold of his 
 arm. 
 
 " ' My sister has been, since last evening, in the charge of her 
 lawful protectors,' I said. 
 
 " ' Ah 1' The start was unfeigned, his bow of acquiescence 
 affected to conceal his surprise. ' Then all is right. Excuse my 
 well-meant interference in family matters,' and we parted. 
 
 " I have been particular in detailing this conversation that 
 vou may have some imagination of what barred our hearts to all 
 thoughts of forgiveness, blinded us to the enormity of the crime 
 we contemplated. To rid the earth of this hardened villain 
 humanity of this disgrace, would be a meritorious deed. W 
 both felt that foul play was to be expected, and to my merchan 
 friend, I wrote a concise statement of the case, directing him 
 what measures to adopt, should neither of us return alive. The 
 IfctUir was laid in a conspicuous situation in my room, and to 
 ousure its delivery, I charged the clerk of the hotel to enter th
 
 384 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E 
 
 apartment and dispatch it to its address, if I did not report my 
 pelf by noon. Agnes was impatient to be gone, but I pacified 
 her by showing the advertisement of the departure of the vessel 
 iii which we had engaged berths, and representing that I couM 
 trot hasten its sailing. I said nothing of Frederic. He woul J 
 tot trust himself to meet her, nor would I hazard the derange 
 ttent of our scheme by bringing them together ; sure, as I was, 
 that he would be unmanned to a dangerous degree. 
 
 " We were punctual, and did not have to wait for the other 
 party. Burnet attended his friend his dupe in some respects ; 
 a surgeon was m readiness." 
 
 The veins in the speaker's forehead pulsed into knotted cords, 
 his face purpled, his fingers indented my wrist like iron talons. 
 
 " Father !" I entreated. " Say no more I Why distress your- 
 self with what is past and without remedy ? You did not kill 
 him. Have not I seen him talked with him ? You are not his 
 murderer \" 
 
 " Thank God ! I am not I" He regained his calmness. " But, 
 my child, for twenty-eight years, his blood was in my skirts; the 
 brand of Cain upon my brow. Infinite goodness undeserved 
 mercy I these claim my thanksgivings I" 
 
 He gazed upward, and his lips moved. I knew it was in 
 prayer. His countenance was once more the serene soul-mirror 
 I loved to look upon. No story of stormy gnilt could deface it 
 now. 
 
 " Yes 1 he fell at the first fire shot, the surgeon declared, 
 through the lungs. We left him in the care of his second, and 
 in less than two hours, we were upon the sea, in different vessels, 
 with what dissimilar emotions I The dart of remorse made of 
 me an early victim. I heard from my brother after I reached 
 home. His tone was one of stern exultation, and he congratu- 
 lated me upon the sujcess of my summary dealing with the cai- 
 tiff 1 did not read to the end of the letter. Every word WM
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 385 
 
 hot poison. The dying look, the contorted features of the 
 wounded man were ever in my sight ; his groan of pain and lior 
 ror never left my ear. Blood cried against me from the ground. 
 No man, innocent of blood-guiltiness, can enter into the awful 
 meaning of that curse. From your mother, I could not hide the 
 truth, and to her latest hour, the grief stamped upon her face 
 was ineffaceable. In the midnight, I have awakened to find her 
 gone from my side, and overheard from her closet, the ' strong 
 crying,' with which she supplicated for the cleansing of my 
 hands and heart. The answer was tardy, but it came in His 
 own good time." 
 
 " And my aunt, sir ?" I said, as he paused. 
 
 " My self-control, the equivocations with which I met her 
 questions lulled her suspicions ; but Burnet's malice was more 
 than a match for my prudence. He wrote to her what purported 
 to be a true account of the duel and its fatal termination to his 
 principal, by whom I now suspect the letter was dictated. He 
 was Darford's executor he said, and would willingly have made 
 restitution of her property, but upon settlement of the estate, 
 he had discovered its total insolvency. Darford had squandered 
 everything, and died a fraudulent bankrupt. The cunningly con- 
 trived epistle concluded with a pretence of consolation, to the 
 effect that the Cuban authorities had been negligent in the 
 investigation of the affair, and that inquiry had now died out. 
 
 " This intelligence was transmitted while I was away from 
 home. I was recalled by news of Agnes' illness, and returned 
 to find her raving in a brain-fever that nearly cost her the lif 
 she ever after considered worthless. You know what she wa 
 froui your infp./icy. The cl ange was wrought during this sick 
 ness and hor tedious convalescence. Your mother's health also 
 declined perceptibly By the advice of her physicians, and in 
 accordance witli my own inclinations, I disposed of the homestead 
 and rmoved to this more northerly climate. I hoped that otuef 
 17
 
 386 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 scenes and associations might bring relief to us all, and indeed, 
 the experiment was not wholly ineffectual. Your mother rallied 
 partially, and lived to hail the dawn of the reign of Christian 
 principles in my heart ; to intrust you, her youngest daughter, our 
 Virginia flower, to your aunt, confident that she would instill 
 none other than these into your mind. Trials fell fast upon me 
 t that period ; the deaths of my wife and three children ; the 
 news of my brother's decease in a foreign port ; the loss of pro- 
 perty until I was ready to say, ' All Thy waves and Thy bil 
 lows have gone over me.' Each affliction I strove to accept as 
 the righteous chastisement of my great sin never forgotten 
 no 1 not for an hour borne about with me, as the ancients used 
 to chain a corpse to a living body ; ever loathsome, pulling me 
 down to the dust. Then ensued many years of outward tran- 
 quillity. Frederic and yourself grew up under my eye, healthy, 
 dutiful children, of whom any father might have been proud 
 Absorbed in love and cares for you, I felt my burden lighter 
 But my discipline was not at an end. Grace ! my child 1 my 
 best-beloved! the heaviest consequence of my guilt heavier thai, 
 the anguish of a wife ; the remorseful, embittered life of a sis 
 ter, the undying pang of my own soul was the necessity thrust 
 upon me of breaking your heart, of converting your joyous ex 
 istence into a night of weeping. Darling ! forgive me !" 
 
 His grey head sank, and big tears dropped upon my upturned 
 fac ;. He folded me to his bosom, and again besought my for- 
 giveness. 
 
 " Mine I and for what ?" I asked, in tearful amazement. 
 
 " Have you really never guessed the truth ?" he said. " Could 
 prejudice however inveterate could the maddest caprice have 
 horne me out in my refusal to sanction your union with the man 
 whom I acknowledge was, in everything, worthy of my favorite 
 child ? Herbert Wynne is, this day, as free from hereditary 
 faults as he in ignorant of his father's name and character "
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 387 
 
 " You do not mean to say " I commenced, faintly ; but, 
 
 dizzy with the flood of thought, I could not go on. 
 
 " I mean to say that the Dumont you know, the Darford who 
 ! believed perished by my hand, the Mansfield who Herbert wili 
 tell you was the husband of his mother, and died when he, their 
 onlv child / was but a babe were one and the same person." 
 
 " It is so unreal !" I murmured, trying to collect my senses. 
 
 " It does indeed almost pass belief," said my father. " Yet 
 we read constantly of like deceptions and like misery in our 
 public journals. Of the truth of all that I have said we have 
 abundant proof. You knew that Herbert was the adopted son 
 of Mr. Wynne, the nephew of a former wife, to whom he was 
 bequeathed by a dying sister ?" 
 
 " Yes he told me, and so did Louise." 
 
 " And that his real name was Mansfield ?" he interrogated. 
 
 " Yes yes ! it was 1" 
 
 " His birth-place did he ever speak of that ?" 
 
 Again I replied in the affirmative, naming the town. 
 
 " But he did not know he never heard " 1 stammered. 
 
 " My poor child ! he was no wiser than you were upon certain 
 points. For a short, blessed season, I did not dream whose son 
 was the partaker of my hospitality, the suitor for my daughter's 
 hand. Tell me truly, Grace did Mr. Townley never throw any 
 light upon this subject ? never hint the reason of my opposition 
 to your wishes ?" 
 
 "1 did not understand him then. It is more clear now, sir," 
 1 returned. 
 
 My father continued. " That man's genius for ferreting out 
 Jdden things is unparalleled ; the coincidences that cast the 
 cluos to others' secrets in*o his hands, amount to a fatality. Do 
 ou recollect, one morning in that eventful Christmas week, when 
 he called by to accompany m^ to the Court House ?" 
 
 Ah 1 did I not ?
 
 385 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " Perfectly, sir 1" I responded. 
 
 "His approach to his theme was extremely guarded. He 
 began by extolling the talents and person of Mr. Wynne. Of 
 the former aud of his estimable social qualities, he had had aa 
 Dpportunity of judging in the course of a conversation with hin? 
 **. his (James Townley's) house, on Christmas evening. But 
 on that occasion he had also obtained an insight of hid 
 history that produced uneasiness. Deliberate reflection had 
 showed hun that his palpable duty was to be frank with me 
 The ice thus broken, he went on to state more directly, that in 
 his travels, the preceding summer, he had fallen in with a man, 
 apparently a foreigner, who, on learning that he lived in this 
 neighborhood, inquired about me, and by degrees, gave the 
 acute lawyer a tolerably faithful description of my pursuit of, 
 and duel with Darford, but glossed over the offence that pro- 
 voked me to it, by a vile falsehood. Agnes was legally the 
 wife of the murdered man, he said, his first partner being 
 dead at the date of his later marriage. My vindictive attack 
 he explained as the outburst of chagrin and rage that my 
 Bister's fortune had been wrested from my management. I had 
 slain her peace with the husband she adored, and escaped the 
 penalty of the misdeed by a flight to another state. If this 
 blow was a shock, what think you, were my sufferings when he 
 brought forward Herbert Wynne's name, aud proved his connec- 
 tion with the tragedy ? The stranger, who was d( ubtlesi 
 Dumont or his coadjutor in wickedness, by innuendoes and desul- 
 tory scraps of information, farther instructed Townley that the 
 eon of the ill-fated Darford, or Mansfield, as he styled him, had 
 been adopted by a New York merchant, in whose family my 
 daughter was then a visitor. Townley would have had me 
 believe that he had deemed the tale a fabrication, malicious 
 or idle, unti the aforesaid conversation with young Wynne had, 
 oy correspondence of names, dates and certain circumstances,
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 3ft9 
 
 alarmed him seriously for the consequences of the intimacy 
 which was then the gossip of the day. 
 
 " I had the presence of mind t investigate his proofs The,T 
 wore the death-blow to my hopes for, and in your happi 
 ness. If I was cruel in my denial of explanation, inexorable *r 
 ray resolution, ask yourself, Grace, whether I could ha> 
 bestowed you upon the man, whose father's blood had steeped 
 my hands ? Or, would your grief have been alleviated by the 
 knowledge of this fact ? Moreover, I was bound by a solemn 
 promise to my sister not to divulge her disgrace while she lived. 
 Pride was no longer dominant, but neither did it sleep in her 
 bosom. Before she accepted my offer of an abode, she conjured 
 me by my love for her, by my respect for the memory of our 
 parents, to guard her secret. I would not ask absolution from 
 my vow. It would have killed her to know that to you wa 
 unveiled the Past for which her spirit was clothed in sackcloth. 
 This was my dilemma. How would you have had me act ?" 
 
 " Just as you did 1" I rejoined, firmly. " After all, yours was 
 the greatest trial." 
 
 " Heaven never sent me one more grievous !" With what 
 beautiful meekness was this spoken 1 " As by intuition, your 
 aunt gathered that all was not right, and that the fault lay not 
 with you or Herbert. She applied to me to solve what perplexed 
 and troubled her. I was able to resist her entreaties and parry 
 her inquiries, but pressed hard by her shrewd conjectures, I was 
 forced to extricate myself by an admission which, I fancied, 
 would create but a passing tumult and guard me from future 
 persecutions. It was not like her, but she goaded me. The 
 fester was too sore to bear the lightest touch. I summed up 
 what I wished to impart in one sentence, declaring Herbert 
 Wynne's relationship to her faithless lover. You witnessed the 
 unlooked-for effect of the imprudent communication. That it 
 was seared upon her soul you must believe with me, but it wai
 
 MO88-8IDE. 
 
 never referred tt egam. The frost was black aud killing npoi 
 my home ; the pleasant garden, that had solaced me in my 
 solitary woe. Then my gallant boy was taken, and ere th 
 green wound in my heart closed, Towuley aimed another blow 
 Robert Peyton was the innocent conductor of the stroke. A 
 garbled version of the hateful story, perpetuated by its bloody 
 Btain, crept through the community it must have been by 
 Townley's means. Robert, enraged at the slander, appealed to 
 me to contradict it. I refused, and without compromising my 
 sister, allowed that the duel had occurred, and revealed to him 
 the gloom flung by it along the track I had toiled over since. 
 Abhorring the 'code of honor' as he does, his charity spread a 
 rloak before my transgression. Too generous, too pitiful to 
 npbraid the fallen, yet too conscientious to palliate the crime, he 
 voluntarily proposed that the matter should be dropped at ouce 
 and forever ; and in his plea for pardon for his unfortunate 
 interference, petitioned that I would suffer him to remain my 
 friend. Here was one sun-ray. God knows I needed it 1 They 
 are more abundant now. ' Light is sown ' not ' for the righte 
 ous,' but for the penitent." 
 
 His eyes roved over the landscape, flooded by the mellow light 
 of evening. The sinking sun touched the tree-tops, and Nature 
 received, in happy silence, his parting benison. My unquiet heart 
 surged and tossed a brackish sea. Was there nowhere, in the 
 wide world, a comforting gleam for me ? 
 
 " Of what avail " thus ran my selfish repinings " is the 
 tearing away of the veil that draped by-gone years ; the end of 
 doubt, and speculation, and anxiety ? Can it restore the bloom 
 of youth or re-unite me to him ?" 
 
 My father's voice jarred unsympathizingly upon my feeling* 
 yet he would talk. Unburdened of the load he had carried fcc 
 near thirty years, he did not perceive my depression. He told 
 me that he had not known Mr. Dumout on the evening of nil
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 39'ji 
 
 all at Mrs. Seaton's, until my aunt's exclamation converted intc 
 sertainty an indefinable impression he experienced, at their iiitro 
 dnction, that the tower-like stature and marked physiognomy 
 were not altogether unfamiliar. He had sought him the follow 
 tog day at his hotel, but he had left the city. 
 
 " He may never cross my path again," he said. " I hope fer 
 tently that I have seen him for the last time on earth. Alive 
 and dead, he was, up to this providential meeting, the haunting 
 demon of my life. This resurrection frees me from his power. I 
 do not care to know more of the mystery of iniquity that en- 
 wraps him. The simplest theory is the most plausible. My shot 
 was not mortal, but he secured his safety and a refinement of 
 revenge by strengthening me in the belief that I had killed him 
 The disguise of a different title and nativity, and the years, with 
 which he has battled with wonderful success, would have been 
 impenetrable to every eye but hers. I am thankful, since hei 
 death-hour was so near, that she did not revive after that look. 
 In a woman's heart, there is always fire under the ashes, how- 
 ever coldly they may have thickened. A breath of Memory will 
 oftentimes blow them away, and expose the glowing coal." 
 
 " Is this the burning in my bosom ?" I asked inwardly. 
 
 A sad, lovely smile shone in the eyes that swept the land 
 scape. 
 
 " God has left us much to bless Him for, my daughter," ne 
 said. " High above all else hangs the Prize. For it, shall we 
 not forget the things that are behind ?" 
 
 As by a straggling moonbeam, I had an indistinct, but how 
 cheering a vis ; on of Him, whose footsteps can still the billows o! 
 human passion, as of old, the turbulent lake subsided into 
 smoothness at His coming. The cry of the drowning disciple 
 was groaned up from my heart. 
 
 Then Lilly appeared, tripping through the garden walks to- 
 wards ns ; singing in her young, clear toues
 
 892 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 His purposes will ripen fast, 
 
 Unfolding every hour ; 
 The bud may have a bitter taste, 
 Bat sweet will be the flower.' " 
 
 ' And if I am not to pluck it on this side Heaven, can 1 i\(4 
 wait in patience ?" I thought. " It will be all the sweeter then 1"
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 IRREC years bad flown. 
 
 I do not like these leaps in a narrative more than you do, mj 
 good and patient reader ; but they are preferable to a tramp, 
 foot-sore and eye-weary, along a dull turnpike, where every mile 
 is precisely similar to the one that comes before and that which 
 follows it, except in the variation of the figures upon the stones 
 sunken in the sand. Such a bore it would be to trace, step by 
 step, the routine of Moss-side life through the period set down 
 above. Three years, then, had flown, or slipped, or glided 
 away. Choose whichever term most aptly describes the noise- 
 less, easy revolutions of Time's machinery, and you have the most 
 just conception of their eventless passage. 
 
 It was a cold December night. Our snug sitting-room was 
 bright with fire and candles. Of the last there were two upon 
 the stand between my father and myself. He was reading a let- 
 ter, a lady's letter for the under-sized sheets were three in 
 number, the writing fine, and the paragraphs compact. It took 
 him a long time to read each page. My work-basket was heaped 
 with the week's mending, and I was darning a pair of lambswool 
 socks. My corner was the same my aunt had occupied until her 
 paralysis ; my needle plodded in and out, under and over, as 
 hers used to move. I was almost as grave, too, as she appeared 
 to me in those days, for my father's attention was elsewhere than 
 upon my face, and my thoughts were, with his, upon the papef 
 he was perusing. 
 
 It was from our Lilly. I had received it at supper-time, bu 
 It*
 
 394: M O 8 S - 8 I D E . 
 
 had just transferred it to him. She was with her aunt May 
 Our household fairy had not stood upon our hearth since thi 
 winter fires were kindled. She would be home by Christmas, 
 however. Our small band must be complete then, if at no other 
 eason. I noticed my father's smile of satisfaction as he saw her 
 positive promise that this should be so. My mental sight accom 
 pauied him, word for word, through what came next : 
 
 " And now, dear Auntie, you may use your discretion as to 
 the way in which you will share with grandpapa what I nm go- 
 ing to say to you. Tell him yourself, or let him read the whole 
 of my letter. It would be an uncomfortable novelty to us to 
 keep anything from him. What a deal of preparation to pave 
 the introduction of a trivial matter ! Diplomacy was never my 
 forte, you know. Mr. Wynne has figured largely in my home- 
 dispatches ; nor is this surprising, when we consider how con- 
 stant has been his kindness to me a bewildered rustic in this 
 mighty Babel. Now, for the question which Aunt May seconds 
 by this same mail. May we bring him to Moss-side with us, 
 Auntie ? Grandpapa ? He is not a stranger to yon, says Aunt 
 May that he escorted her to Virginia, when she paid you her 
 first visit, before she was married. She assures me, furthermore, 
 that he will go upon her invitation, since he is aware that it wiU 
 not be extended unless it will afford you pleasure to entertain 
 him. I am hasty to conclude that he will be a welcome guest, 
 if only because he is a friend of mine ; but she is more prudent, 
 and understands the propriety of observing forms, even between 
 relatives. So, too, she will abide by your decision, while, if 1 
 imagined, for a moment, that you could object, I would plead 
 that jou would humor your petted child in what lies so near to 
 Uer heart. For my sake to make your little Lilly happy 
 Aantie, write that you will be glad to see one who has BO strong 
 b claim upon my gratitude." 
 
 My father turned the leaf hurriedly, and glanced at me 1
 
 M088-8IDJE. 395 
 
 was weaving the worsted network across a hole of discr-nraging 
 dimensions. He read farther, and I kept pace with him as be 
 fore. 
 
 " To you, I must be open-hearted. Mr. Wynne is not an ordi 
 nary acquaintance ; it will be no ordinary disappointment should 
 jou deny my request. This is my suit do not say me nay !" 
 
 My father did not look at me as he refitted the sheets in their 
 envelope. He would not have beheld a grave countenance, for 
 1 was prepared for examination. The corners of his mouth were 
 slightly depressed, and more rigid than I liked to see them. 
 Surely, he was not inimical to the child's petition ! I interrupted 
 his meditations. 
 
 " It is pleasant to think that we shall soon have her with us 
 s it not, sir ?" 
 
 "Yes" starting " yet there are hints here," touching the 
 letter, " which I must say I do not understand, nor do I quite 
 relish so much of them as I can make out." 
 
 I laughed. " Ah, father 1 you are jealous of your place in 
 Lilly's heart. You regard her anxiety that we should invite 
 Mr. Wynne as an unfavorable portent unfavorable for us- -I 
 mean." 
 
 " You have not hit it exactly "with a dissatisfied air. " She 
 is too young to dream of these things." 
 
 " What things ?" inquired I, innocently. 
 
 " Why courtship and and marriage ! Pshaw ! she ia 
 our baby, Grace ! what a silly notion I I wish we had not let 
 her go 1" 
 
 He walked up and down the floor, vexed or troubled. 
 
 " Do you know Lilly's age, father ?" 
 
 " No that is, not to a day, perhaps ; but I have seen many a 
 child of ten who was larger, and more of a woman in every way." 
 
 " She was a ' child of ten/ when she came to us. That vraa 
 eight almost nine years ago," I said
 
 396 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 He stopped. " Is it possible ! The age at which your moth*i 
 was married 1" 
 
 " Yes, sir ; and May was no older when she engaged herself 
 to our Frederic." 
 
 His expression changed. He suppressed the words upon hii 
 tongue, and passing to the back of my chair, leaned down and 
 kissed my forehead. His eyes and his heart too, I knew were 
 fall May and I were the same age. The winter of her be- 
 trothment was that of her visit to Moss-side ; to her, the sun of 
 love arose, as it went down to me. 
 
 Bat I would not reflect upon this unavoidable suggestion ; nor 
 should he. 
 
 " Lilly, small in stature though she is, is verging upon woman- 
 hood," I said, cheerfully. " We ought to inure ourselves to this 
 idea, and, as its consequence, to that of her being transplanted 
 to another home. It is the most probable destiny of lovable 
 women. We you and I, father are sensible of her charms. 
 We are reminded now that there are others as discerning." 
 
 Dissatisfied yet ! I tried again. 
 
 " It shocks us somewhat now. When she makes her choice, 
 it will cost us a straggle to resign her. Yet is not this an inter 
 ested love that would thwart her in the dearest hope she cat 
 ever have in this life V 
 
 " 1 would not thwart her. No counter wish of mine shall run 
 against hers. But this is unexpected." 
 
 " Not to me," I rejoined. " Her many allusions to Mr. Wynne, 
 led me to anticipate something of the kind. She is too guile- 
 less to dissemble. He has filled her letters in proportion as be 
 dvanced in her affections." 
 
 I threaded my needle with steady fingers, as I spoke thus, and 
 opened another roll of mending. 
 
 " These women ! they surpass my comprehension !" mattered 
 my father, continuing his strides across the apartment.
 
 MO88-8IDE. 397 
 
 * They do not puzzle one another so much," I said " It 
 would be amusing, however, if this were a romance of our manu- 
 facture ; if my patch-work, gathered up and pieced togethei 
 from Lilly's letters, and some knowledge of the usual run of like 
 affairs, and your disquiet were alike thrown away." 
 
 " I hope they are !" brightening up. " I cannot reconcile 
 myself to it, Grace. I respect Mr. Wynne, as I have said fre- 
 quently, I have a high regard and admiration for him ; but thia 
 union would be unsuitable in point of age, if in nothing else." 
 
 11 She is in her nineteenth year," 1 answered. " He is thirty- 
 five, but, according to May and Lilly, does not appear nearly so 
 old. His, a nature and constitution that will bear the wear and 
 tear of time. At fifty, he will be younger than most men 
 are at thirty." 
 
 There was a cruel pleasure in saying this. It was a salutary, 
 and a merited lash which I inflicted upon myself. I could see 
 that I had gained a slight advantage. However my father 
 might construe, for himself, his repugnance to an alliance, he 
 protested was too preposterous for discussion, something whis- 
 pered to me that if I could disabuse his mind of all notion of 
 wounded feeling and latent tenderness on my part, for Lilly's 
 lover could convince him that I was whole-hearted and sincere 
 in my pleadings in his behalf the main difficulty would be re- 
 moved. 
 
 " Still, dear, I do not approve of such great disparity," he 
 said. " Youth should wed with youth." 
 
 Another rapid turn of the room, and he brought out the next 
 sentence, as if fearing my laughter, or ashamed of the con- 
 ession. 
 
 " I detest match-making, but I was weak enough to hope to 
 think, that if Lilly ever married, Peyton Elliott would be the 
 one to carry her off. They are very partial to each other's 
 eociety, and Peyton talks of buying a place in this county, 1
 
 898 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 was mistaken, it seems. I am sorry for Peyton and for onr 
 selves. It would be pleasant to have her settled near to UB. Ii 
 he attached to her, do you think ? He is a fine young fellow 
 Intelligent, and kind in disposition." 
 
 " They are fast friends, sir. Lilly has no coquetry in her com 
 position. Rely upon it, there is an excellent understanding be 
 twcen them. Peyton is, as yon say, a noble young man ; but to 
 her, as the person most concerned, we should leave the selection 
 of a husband." 
 
 " Certainly ! I mean to do it," he assented. 
 
 I braced myself to ask a leading question. 
 
 " You have no objection to Mr. Wynne, besides the different 
 in their ages, have yon ?" 
 
 The reply was not very ready, but had an emphasis of 
 truth that atoned for its tardiness. 
 
 41 Not the slightest, my daughter I" 
 
 " Thank you, sir !" 
 
 " You thank me 1" then, catching up his inconsiderate speech 
 " are yon pleased at the prospect of losing our little one ? 
 You, of all her friends, will be most bereaved by her go- 
 bg." 
 
 " I do not forget this ; yet if she will be happier with another 
 a life-long companion than with us, I shall smile at her bridal. 
 She is wholly dependent upon love for every earthly joy. Isola- 
 tion, coldness would kill her. Some contend that singlehood 
 is never the natural sphere of woman. I am not prepared 
 to subscribe to, nor yet to refute this doctrine. Lilly certainly 
 was not formed to walk alone. I am contented to remain as I 
 am ; but mine is one case in a thousand. Providence, in ordain 
 tog what shall be my position, has granted me blessings tha 
 compensate for its disadvantages, if any there are." 
 
 " And not the least is a cheerful, submissive spirit," said mi 
 father.
 
 &I O 6 S - S I L E . 39S 
 
 The cloud was clearing away. I laid my sewing In the basket 
 ud took his hand. 
 
 " Our conclusions, drawn from the evidence we possess in re 
 gard to tho state of Lilly's affections, may be erroneous, fathcf 
 dear , but is it not expedient to form some ? If Mr. Wynne 
 Some 10 ns as our darling's declared lover, your answer should be 
 ready, that both of them may be spared suspense. Edmund will 
 not oppose anything which bears the stamp of your approval. 
 If, on the other hand, we have been mistaken in our supposi- 
 tions ; if he is only the ' friend ' she styles him ; if her sentiment 
 towards him is nothing warmer than the gratitude she avows, 
 there is no harm done. We can keep our own counsel, and 
 laugh in private, over our debate of this evening. But " for he 
 was going to interrupt me "T must say, in sober earnest, that 
 the pro-courtship scale far ouiweighs the con, in my estimation 
 May expresses herself, as she always does, simply, yet with cir- 
 ;umspection. One unused to her style would not detect any re- 
 ierve in her manner of writing about this matter. There are 
 several portions of her letter that I seize upon as circumstantial 
 evidence of the correctness of my views. Now, may it please 
 the counsel on the opposite side of the question the night is 
 waning ; and since I cannot but observe that he is unprepared 
 with further arguments, I move that the Court adjourn sine die." 
 
 I brought the Bible, and our evening worship was rendered. 
 
 To his " good night " kiss, my father added his blessing 
 "Our Father in heaven keep you in perfect peace, my dear, 
 good child I" 
 
 I hummed an evening hymn as I went about from room to 
 room of the lower floor, locking and barring the outer openings. 
 Then I put my head in at my father's chamber door, and said, 
 " Good night again, and pleasant dreams I" blithely, befort 
 mounting to my dormitory. 
 
 The careful Martha had relaxed nothing in the assiduity of
 
 400 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 her attention to my comfort and little, old-maidish fancies, dui 
 ing the years that had made her a wife, and the mother of foia 
 youngsters, noisy and troublesome enough to distract her thoughts 
 from everything but themselves. The old lounge was wheeled 
 diagonally across the front of the fireplace ; its dimity cover was 
 whole and clean otherwise, one might have doubted whether it 
 
 rere not the very one I made ten years ago, that the couch 
 might be in its best trim for May's reception. The round-topped, 
 spindle-legged and club-footed stand, bearing a candle and my 
 Bible, stood guard by my pillow of the settee, for there it was 
 my custom to sit and read before retiring. Over the mantel 
 hung the pale girl-portrait Louise's gift the frame cracked 
 and tarnished ; the sad, pure face still looking its mute prayer to 
 heaven. The only change of note in the room was in myself. 
 
 I could not withstand the temptation to fall upon the lounge 
 and weep heartily. It was a weak indulgence, and useless as 
 weak ; but my strength had ebbed from me in the battle with 
 my own heart and my father's scruples. I might well have ex- 
 claimed with Pyrrhus, " One more such victory will ruin me !" 
 I was not envious of my child's good-fortune ; was not inclined 
 to impute blame to her lover. The charge of fickleness was re- 
 mote from my mind. I had freed him, weary ages since, and 
 deigned no reply to his persevering suit. Whose fault was il 
 that he had parted with the very remembrance of that far-off 
 Christmas-time, while it had power left to master me ? I did 
 not ask myself the cause of my emotion. Reason essayed once 
 or twice to scourge me to self-examination t shame me into 
 composure. Great as was my awe of the beldame, whose despotx 
 
 sm I seldom defied now-a-days, I did not attempt a feint of respect 
 only stopped my ears and wept on, until the sluices were dry. 
 I sobbed tearlessly, while I undressed, and long after I was in 
 bed, in hysterical exhaustion. The loneliness of desolation brood- 
 e-l in my heart. Duty stimulates to arduous endeavor ; supporti
 
 MOSS-SIDE, 40. 
 
 Her votary in the furnace and upon the scaffold ; but let him b 
 surprised into captivity by Sorrow, and he finds in her the hard, 
 ansympathizing task-mistress, requiring from her thrall the full 
 tale of bricks, when he has not a stalk, even of stubble, where 
 with to manufacture them. 
 
 I cried myself to sleep, and awoke at dawn, conscious that 1 
 had a week of labor ahead of me, yet so inert, so languid, cor- 
 poreally and in spirit, that it was a sweeping draught upon my 
 energy to arise and get ready for breakfast. My work that day 
 was all toil ; so was that of every one of the seven that succeed- 
 ed it. 
 
 The morning of the eighth, Peyton Elliot walked into the din- 
 ing-room before breakfast was over, his eyes sparkling, and 
 cheeks ruddy with health and pleasure. 
 
 " Why, Peyton ! my lad, welcome !" cried my father, over- 
 turning his chair in the cordial haste of greeting. " I did not 
 know you were in the neighborhood. When did you arrive ?" 
 
 " Last night, sir, at Linden this instant at Moss-side. Aun- 
 tie dear, I am a breakfastless runaway. May I venture to pray 
 for one tiny cup of coffee to melt the frost in my mouth ?" 
 
 I loved the boy for boy he was, in comparison with my ma- 
 turity ; so I had his plate laid at the corner nearest me and the 
 fire ; poured out for him the smoking hot beverage he craved, 
 and pressed biscuit, rolls, ham and eggs upon him, until he sued 
 for quarter. 
 
 " The best Aunt Grace that ever sat behind a tea-tray !" be 
 said. " The best boy-spoiler in Christendom I You are th 
 ' busy bee improving each shining hour,' just now, I suppose T 
 I stumbled over a cake of wax and a scrubbing-brush in the en- 
 try, whose manifest destiny was the polishing of this neat hive, 
 where the oldest inhabitant has never seen a grain of dust. Do 
 you confidently expect your friends to-morrow ?" 
 
 My father, sobered by the train of thought these queries set
 
 t02 MOS8-8IDF 
 
 in motion, addressed himself, with instant diligence, to his break 
 fast. 
 
 " We do," I replied. " Yon will dine with ns on Christmas 
 day, of course ; but you will not put off your call to Lilly aud 
 Oar visitors until then, I trust." 
 
 There was a twinkling smile in his eye as he bowed, in mock 
 decorum, to my invitation ; a sort of roguish confidence that 
 cut my heart I would have escaped a tete-a-te'te with him, but 
 he out-manoeuvred me by doubling upon me as I was retreating, 
 aud conducted me back to the breakfast-room. 
 
 " Why were you running away from me, Auntie ?" 
 
 He had caught the pet-name from Lilly, and knew that it 
 pleased me for him to use it. 
 
 " Running away !" he reiterated, " when I made my toilette 
 by sunrise, before the fire was lighted in my room, and perilled 
 my lungs by copious imbibations of the morning air, that smarts 
 in one's respiratory tubes like stinging nettles, and for no other 
 earthly purpose than to see you !" 
 
 " We housekeepers, ray dear Peyton," I excused myself 
 
 " Are never non-plussed for apologies I" he interposed. " I 
 will not detain you later than the proper hour for concocting 
 that incomparable cake, those peerless pies, which are to shed 
 new glories upon your name as the nonesuch of housewives 
 There is a time for all things; and this happens to be the season 
 for hearing and talking to me. I want you to ' make a clane 
 breast, out-and-out,' as Dr. Ilamner says, of all this stuff con- 
 cerning Lilly and the semi-centenarian, she is towing after her 
 into this port.'' 
 
 " What a rattle you are !" I remonstrated, tempted to resen* 
 his levity. " State your inquiry in intelligible terms, and 1 
 may have some hope of answering you." 
 
 " There 1 there, Auntie dear !" laughing so that he could 
 hardly articulate. " Don't bristle up so fiercely 1 I meant nc
 
 M08B-8IDE. 402 
 
 Jtei-espect to Miss Lilly and the staid gentleman whose grcj 
 hairs command my veneration. A tincture of asperity would b 
 very pardonable in me, situated as I am, whereas I am a verj 
 lamb in my demeanor. What business has this antiquated cock- 
 ney to be poaching upon our ground yours and mine, Auntie ? 
 When I have been over head and ears in love with your Lilly 
 ever since I discarded roundabouts ! aye, and before that 
 ' Pharaoh's overthrow ' was mine likewise. I ceased to be a free 
 man from that day. And now, without so much as saying ' by 
 your gracious leave and pleasure, Mr. Elliott/ or, ' after you, sir, 1 
 in steps this this organic fossil" 
 
 " Peyton 1 I will hear no more nonsense. I believed that you 
 knew better what is due from one gentleman to another. Cour- 
 tesy to Lilly should, at all events, restrain you from applying 
 such epithets to her friend." 
 
 " Is he truly her friend, then ?" demanded the unabashed 
 scapegrace. 
 
 His eager hanging upon my answer disconcerted me. I stu- 
 died to frame one which should prepare him for the truth, ye* 
 not wound too deeply. 
 
 " She does not write that he is anything dearer. In the ab- 
 sence of direct proof, it is not altogether proper to express as 
 opinion what is entirely clever guess-work. We shall ascertain 
 how matters stand by the help of our own senses, before long. 
 You must come over and judge for yourself." 
 
 " Isn't there an ice-pond in this vicinity ?" was his most irrel- 
 evant query 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " A good, deep one, is it not ? You were drowned there, CDC* 
 upon a time, if I recollect rightly." 
 
 " Almost," I replied. " When full, it measures six feet of 
 water in the middle, where I went in." 
 
 " Six feet 1" dubiously. " Mr. Peyton represents this ancienj
 
 iU4 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 wooer, this revered Mr. Wynne as a giant. What is the bottonr 
 of the pond mire or quiftksand ?" 
 
 " I really cannot inform you." 
 
 ' I might double him up and hold him under," he pondered 
 aloud, with perfect seriousness. " Have you a personal regard 
 or the gentleman, leaving Lilly out of the question ?" 
 
 The foolish blood streamed hotly over my neck and face, and 
 my voice as foolishly failed me in the effort to speak. I was 
 angry with him for the abrupt inquiry, tenfold more angry with 
 myself for the display of discomposure, greatly exceeding that 
 which I felt. 
 
 " What is he like ?" he pursued, without comment upon m,? 
 silence. " You are acquainted with him. He has been to MOST 
 side, Mrs. Peyton tells me. w 
 
 " He is strikingly handsome," I rallied desperately ; " very 
 intelligent, and possesses a heart as admirable as is his in- 
 tellect." 
 
 ' ' Insatiate archer ! would not once suffice? 
 Thrice flew thy dart, and thrice my peace was slain 1' " 
 
 exclaimed Peyton, tragically. " Dear Auntie I pity me I Have 
 you no compunction as you annihilate my air-castles ! Cupid be 
 my aid when I war with your Apollo ! He has one vulnerable 
 point, however. I will not go out and hang myself yet. He u 
 old, Auntie 1 on the shady side of forty, I hear" 
 
 " You are mistaken," I recommenced, but he did not stop to 
 listen. 
 
 " Lilly is already well-supplied with fathers. One may have 
 nperabundance of an excellent thing. Two of the firsVciaa 
 rticles referred to are generally sufficient for one young lady 
 What will she do with three ?" 
 
 " Peyton I" I said, decidedly. " If /oar intention is to offend 
 we you can persis* in thif tone. I do not say, mark me ! that
 
 1IOBB-BIDK. 405 
 
 Lilly will marry Mr Wynne; do not know that he has addressed, 
 or that he ever will address her ; but she could not select, for a 
 husband, one more worthy of her love. The choice would call 
 for and receive the congratulations of every disinterested 
 friend." 
 
 " Intimating that I may be ranked with some other class, 
 fejoined he, provokingly. " I plead guilty to the severe im 
 peachment. Teach me, a poor, faulty, erring youth, this laud- 
 able disinterestedness, Auntie. You are the impersonation of 
 its highest type, as you are of the rest of the cardinal virtues." 
 
 " Peyton I" I was wounded now. 
 
 " Forgive me j It is nobody but your naughty nephew, dear 
 A.unt Grace. He loves you as much as he delights, in a harm- 
 less way, to tease you." 
 
 " You have not teased me," I said. " Why should I bo 
 eased ?" for the word did not sound agreeably in my ears. 
 
 " Why, indeed ?" echoed he. " Now, as the French phrase it, 
 'return we to our muttons ' i. e., Mr. Wynne. I will not back 
 out ingloriously. I will fight him like a chivalric knight of the 
 old cavalier stock ; will give him a fair field and no favor. If 
 I am defeated, there is the ice-pond as a final resort to cool the 
 flame of his love or drown my burning shame. An ally in the 
 enemy's camp is a grand desideratum in a tough siege. May I 
 depend upon you ? Which will you espouse ? the cause of which 
 r f the combatants, I should have said." 
 
 " 1 am neutral, and wish to remain so," I replied. 
 
 " That is contrary to nature and to art, and is, besides, ticklish 
 ground for you. I am afraid you have been tampered with ; 
 that you are enlisted in soul for the support of my adversary 
 |i/ tu, Brnte ! And I am utterly friendless 1" 
 
 My discomfort increased unaccountably. 
 
 " My dear boy/' I said, " does it not strike you that this is t 
 superlatively ridiculous conversation ?"
 
 406 M O S 8-8 I D K. 
 
 " ' SjK)rt to yoa, but death to me ' " he interrupted, ruefully 
 " Your defection caps the climax. The mode of tactics I bad to 
 propose was as follows : You were to captivate this son of Anafe 
 yourself. You could do it easily, with only half a trial of your 
 strength. I am not the first, nor the tenth, nor the hundredth 
 person who has told you of the power of your charms. You cau 
 be bewitching when you like don't leave me, Auntie ! I am iu 
 dead earnest ! upon my word of honor, as a gentleman, I am 1 
 I will affirm the same upon that venerable and sacred folio of en 
 gravings in the bookcase yonder the one with ' Pharaoh's over- 
 throw' in it, if you distrust my veracity. Yon are superior to 
 matrimony, I know. I don't want to force you to that extreme 
 but cannot your ' disinterestedness ' sacrifice more agreeablf 
 pursuits, for a few days, to the occupation I have mentioned 1 
 Cannot you submit to temporary boredom to secure for me a last 
 ing good ?" 
 
 " The incomparable cake and peerless pies are suffering for my 
 attention, Peyton." 
 
 " Burn them ! I am agonizing, and I will have a declaration, 
 defensive or offensive. Will you, or will you not take Mi 
 Wynne off Lilly's hands, and thereby keep ray hands off of him ?' 
 
 " I am sick of unseasonable jesting I" I answered. 
 
 " Just my case ! I mean to settle your mind, and ease mine 
 by one stroke. You shall help him you love best. Which is it ?" 
 
 I snatched my hand from his grasp and ran out of the room 
 All the way up-stairs, I heard his laugh. 
 
 " He is surely demented !" I said to myself. " I will not gc 
 lio-.vn again while he is here. I will teach him that he canuct 
 ,v<*n-y me with impunity." 
 
 And from sheer worrimeut (what else could it have been ?} I 
 tried until I was tired. Age had not sweetened my temper, or 
 why was I thus ruffled by the rambling bombast of a Ihougbtlesa 
 fouth?
 
 M088-8IDB. *07 
 
 CHAPTER XXVT7 
 
 1 WAS a skillful housekeeper ; as skillful as a natural tasle for, 
 aud experience in, the avocation could make ma ; and I bestowed 
 extraordinary pains upon the preparations for the holiday feast- 
 ings ; worked as indefatigably as upon the last merry Christmas 
 I had known when May and Frederic danced, and rode, and 
 rambled together, and I was not abandoned to loneliness, mean- 
 while. I accomplished more now, for mine was the principal 
 responsibility, and I wrought with system and industry. " It is 
 for Lilly 1" was my invariable excuse to my father, who objected 
 to my incessant toil. Never had my gift-daughter been so dear 
 to me before. She was the centre and the bound of all my 
 thoughts and schemes, and the reflection that I might be about 
 to lose her, quickened every impulse of affection. 
 
 The trio of travellers was looked for in the evening, and I 
 superintended the spreading of the supper-table before I dressed. 
 It was a goodly show, although the more substantial viands were 
 yet to fill up the empty spaces ; and I nodded complacence from 
 the door, where the eyes of the destined partakers would be re- 
 galed, and their appetites sharpened by a view of the board. 
 My keys jingled mutual gratulations in the basket on my arm, 
 ceasing, with a united tingle of content, as I deposited them 
 pon my dressing-table. 
 
 " Patience alive ! Miss Grace I" said Martha, in the height of 
 aigeting impatience ; " Fso been 'pon tender-hooks and biokea 
 bottles for bettern half an hour. You ain't got a millionth of a 
 eooud to spar. I'm skeered to death for fear the folks should
 
 408 MO9B-SIDK. 
 
 ketch you in that-are dingy Circassian. Please let me unhook 
 it ! We'll have it off, and something more decenter on, in a 
 iffy 1" 
 
 The " more decenter " garment was a handsome dark silk, 
 with broad satin stripes of a brighter hue, relieving the ground ; 
 y best winter robe. Martha's taste was commendable, for 
 I had nothing more becoming. It was made open from the 
 tliroat almost to the girdle, with flowing sleeves, and my ju- 
 dicious abigail had selected, from my drawers, a set of laces to 
 wear with it. The gauzy chemisette was my favorite neck-gear ; 
 my arms would be plump and fair through the flattering veil of 
 the sleeves but there were other considerations of fitness. 
 
 " I shall not put that on, Martha," I said, shaking loose my 
 hair. 
 
 " Miss Grace !" 
 
 " I shall not wear that dress," I repeated, as though I thought 
 she had not heard me. " Get my stone-colored merino." 
 
 She took up the condemned apparel, but instead of replacing 
 it in the wardrobe, began a parley. 
 
 " You think that solemn thing is fitter to war to-night I Miss 
 May always dresses beautiful, if she is in mournin', and Miss 
 Lilly, I'll be bound, is got more fine clothes than you can shake 
 a stick at. It hurts my feelin's, Miss Grace, to see you look like 
 poor white folks 'long side of 'em so it does ! Now, this " 
 rustling it ostentatiously " is what I calls more respectabler 
 genteel in fac' ! Won't you put it on jest this once ? To-morrow 
 they won't be so companyfied, 'Twon't matter so mighty much 
 then how you fix up." 
 
 I was obdurate, and with a bad grace, she produced the Qua 
 kvr attire I ordered. It fitted me nicely, and was not obsolete in 
 fashion ; yet I looked prim and apinsterish, to myself, when th 
 worked muslin collar finished my adorning. 
 
 Martha was lugubrious.
 
 MOSS-SIDE, 409 
 
 " If you would just stick some ribbon-bows about you some- 
 whar, or war a sash with long ends, or put some flowers in your 
 he-yar, 'twould help a little. Bless you, Miss Grace ! it goes 
 against the grain for me to 'low such a thing, but you do look 
 old enough to be your own ma !" 
 
 " I have a grown daughter," I said, after she had taken her- 
 lelf and her bemoanings out of the way. " Has every vestige of 
 youth then vanished ? Let us see 1" 
 
 I surveyed myself at length in the mirror, lighting another 
 candle, that the obscurity might not befriend me. 
 
 " You might well pass for Lilly's mother, if not, as Martha 
 asserts, for your own, Grace," was my judgment. " Bear this 
 in mind, and you will not disgrace yourself by juvenile airs. 
 Hold fast to your principles and your resolutions. In two 
 months and a half you will be thirty the age of discretion, or you 
 vill never attain to it. Do not delude yourself with any hope 
 that Mr. Wynne's aspect will chronicle the years of your separa- 
 tion as truthfully as does yours. Time is proverbially partial to 
 men. It is not often that he flatters women with these very ac- 
 ceptable tokens of favoritism. To you he has not vouchsafed a 
 dispensation. You are a single woman of thirty ! Do not for- 
 get this, and, as I remarked, you are comparatively safe." 
 
 1 ' Cold comfort, this 1" I hear some one observe. 
 
 It was just the harsh tonic I needed. It fortified me for 
 the nonce, although it was not what supported me unto the end 
 of the trying evening. I bolted my door, and knelt to pray for 
 more enduring strength for consolation. Only there, at the 
 mercy-seat, did I confess my want of courage, my need of balm. 
 
 I have intimated that I bore up pretty well throughout the 
 evening. I was not talkative. While we were at table I had 
 not leisure and opportunity to engage freely in the general con 
 versation. Lilly's never-flagging spirits enlivened the others to 
 mirthfulness, and I smiled as readily as the gayest of them. I 
 18
 
 410 M O 6 8 - 6 I D K . 
 
 was glad ;c see my father treat Mr. Wynne with unreserved 
 politeness ; more glad at the gradual infusion of cordiality into 
 bis deportment, when they had talked together for a time. The 
 massive centre-table maintained its place sturdily in the parlor, 
 and, around it, as by a common centripetal attraction, we ranged 
 our seats, supper having been dispatched. 
 
 " Your work-basket, Auntie !" exclaimed Lilly, who had found 
 her way to her footstool at my knee. " I hoped you would dc 
 nothing except spoil me to-night." 
 
 "My fingers only will be busied with my work," said I. 
 " Eyes, tongue, ears and thoughts are yours The Christmas gifta 
 for the servants are more backward than they should be. If 
 you " indicating a plural sense by my eye " will excuse an 
 appearance of neglect of your society, I will go on with those 
 that are unfinished." 
 
 The desired permission was given, and my embarrassments 
 were over. My downcast lids relieved me from the duty or 
 chance of looking from face to face, and as I saw them not, I 
 was beguiled into the fancy that I was myself unobserved. When 
 my regards strayed, it was to Lilly. Lovely she had ever been 
 in my sight ; but now she had acquired an air of easy elegance, 
 a confidence which was not of that species that degenerates into 
 boldness. I had never possessed such a manner. If I had, the 
 diffidence I did not pretend to conceal, when solicited to enter a 
 higher, wider sphere, wonld never have existed, or if there had 
 been a lurking misgiving, I would not have avowed it. Yet my 
 '' little daughter " had not outgrown her pethood. There was 
 ret a child-like grace an artless winningness about her that 
 proclaimed the unsullied nature ; the unchilled fount of affection. 
 She sat at ray feet as she did nine years ago ; the smooth, open 
 brow lay snowily within its frame of golden chestnut ; the la* 
 trous eyes, whether laughing or serious, were telling me, al) tb 
 while, sweet stories of her Icve for me.
 
 MC88-8IDE. 4:1 1 
 
 Wrapped up in admiration and maternal devotion for my dar 
 
 ling, there was an enlargement of kindly feeling towards all 
 
 whom she loved, and to whom she was dear. It was from the 
 
 bfluence of this benevolent expansion that I was induced to 
 
 ocost Mr. Wynne, as we were dispersing for the night. 
 
 "Have you relinquished the idea of making California your 
 ome, Mr. Wynne ?" 
 
 What a groundless apprehension had that been which had 
 prevented me from encountering his gaze until this moment ? It 
 was gentle and brotherly, and -reassured instead of confus- 
 ing me. 
 
 "I had never an 'intention' of residing there," he replied. 
 " The ' fever ' did not attack me. My going was a cool specula- 
 tion, with no attendant excitement, except a liking for adven- 
 ture. I was tired of home, and I went. I became more tired 
 of California, and here I am !" 
 
 " But a relapse should that occur I" said I. 
 
 " There is, I trust, no danger of that. I regard my citizen' 
 ship iu the United States as perpetual ; if one may call that 
 perpetuity which endures as long as his life." 
 
 This was no idle talk, for Lilly stood beside him, and I inter- 
 cepted a gleam of intelligent meaning in its progress from one 
 to the other. Who would expatriate himself when his native 
 land contained this treasure ? who would not embrace patriot- 
 ism, when this was her award to the staunch citizen ? 
 
 ' You have chosen wisely," I remarked, in default of a more 
 original observation. 
 
 " I think so 1" Another significant eye-messenger, while 
 Lilly's cheeks dimpled witchingly. " It is a trite, but one o~ 
 the truesi of proverbs, that ' there is no place like home.' " 
 
 My heart did ache at the unexpected quotation, but I quellea 
 the painful bound, soothed the smart by saying within myself 
 " I nv.iy be ut ease as to what he remembers of the one passags
 
 412 M O 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 that uuted our lives for a day. It is nothing less than noth 
 ing to him. In loving Lilly, he is not haunted by the ghost of 
 his youthful fancy for me her maiden aunt." 
 
 I was not entirely prepared to listen to Lilly's history of theh 
 acquaintance and present relation, yet so unreasonable are we 
 1 was mortified, considered myself badly treated, inasmuch as she 
 slept in my bosom all night, her hands joined there, as she did 
 in childhood, when in my sleeplessness, I derived comfort from 
 the fancy that the fingers, moving at intervals in her slumbers, 
 were feeling for my heart-strings ; I was wounded, I say, that 
 she lay thus, and spoke of every other subject, never of this ; 
 that she followed me around through the house, in the day-time, 
 loving, caressing, the image of frank innocence yet nevei 
 breathed a syllable implying that the chief, the highest niche in 
 the heart temple had been occupied, and gloriously, since our 
 parting ; that the nestling was fledged and plumed for flight, 
 although she tarried for a space in the covert where she had 
 BO long sheltered her head the shade of my wing. 
 
 The Linden carriage drove over early on the morning after the 
 arrival, and Peyton was the outrider. Lilly was at the window. 
 She colored rosily ; but as a shower of smiles fell upon her face, 
 as she flew out to meet our friends, I concluded that there was 
 nothing in her delight more complimentary to Peyton than to 
 Annie and her husband. The audacious youth was helped by 
 his vanity to a judgment more favorable to his pretensions ; for 
 he usurped Mr. Wynne's place at her side ; conversed fluently 
 and gaily with us, confidentially with her ; had, in short, quite 
 the mien of an accepted lover. 
 
 Mr. Wynne did not chafe as a younger man would have do-J6 
 in his situation. Indeed, he appeared to connive at the 
 monopoly of Lilly, by her whilom playfellow. He coaxed little 
 Mary Peyton to his knee, when she showed a disposition to 
 cling too tenaciously to "cousin Lilly," and engrossed he
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 4:13 
 
 father's attention, while May and I were chatting with Annie. 1 
 renewed my invitation to our neighbors to our Christmas dinner ; 
 onr party was engaged for the second day to them, and thej 
 departed, leaving Peyton behind. Domestic cares obliged m 
 by and by, to absent myself from the parlor. When I returned 
 the incorrigible youngster was stationary as ever, in the luxuri- 
 ous height of what was, to all intents and purposes, a private 
 interview, since Mr. Wynne and May were as far withdrawL as 
 the walls of the apartment would permit. 
 
 May beckoned to me. 
 
 "With us, you are not de trap," she said, in an undertone. 
 " With them, you might be." 
 
 Mr. Wynne smiled. He was very sure of his footing ; fear 
 less of rivalry, and he could afford to be magnanimous. I would 
 reward his generous forbearance. 
 
 " They were playmates, you know," I observed ; " and are on 
 the most amicable terms." 
 
 " Or appearances belie them," answered Mr. Wynne, amused, 
 perhaps at my bungling quietus to his jealousy. " Misery and 
 dislike seldom deck themselves in such disguises as they are 
 sporting." 
 
 "Lilly has no elder brother" I plunged on, making myself 
 more ridiculous at each step " and Peyton seems very near to 
 her." 
 
 Both my auditors laughed out here, and I, baffled in my search 
 for anything diverting in what I had said, flushed up so redly 
 that I feared they would believe me angered by their merriment 
 To avoid this, I joined in with them and laughed at I knew not 
 vht.t. I left the young couple alone after this unlucky expla- 
 natory measure by which I sought to account for the false 
 appearance of the times ; and there they were, talking as fast 
 ud as intently when the dinner-bell rang. 
 
 May, in the interim, reminded herself of a letter to be written
 
 4 H MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 to her mothe , and Mr. Wynne had no resource against /litndf 
 except my society. How like, and yet how unlike was this to 
 that dead, buried, forgotten Christmas ! He was very kind. He 
 could not have been kinder if he had cherished the memory of 
 that lost time, and we had stood, hand in hand, beside its memo- 
 rial-etone. He was more sedate ; not so addicted to badinage as 
 I remembered him ; but the independence of thought ; the 
 manly earnestness of expression ; the courteous deference to his 
 fellow colloquist, particularly if she were a lady deference that 
 had a dignity of its own, and scorned the outermost verge of 
 servility were not all these known to me ? spoke they not to 
 me like the faint, delicious murmnrings of the ocean-shell to the 
 inland exile, who was born and reared beside the sea-waves ? 
 Precaution grew drowsy under the music ; even the Argus eyes 
 of my grim monitress, Dame Reason than whom the " Old 
 Man of the Sea," never clung more tightly to his hapless vic- 
 tim even these were veiled in sleep, and I was happy with the 
 happiness of my girlhood. It was one of those bright, rare 
 days to my soul, such as the sun, in a prodigality of good 
 nature sometimes in winter, pours upon the surprised natural 
 world ; when through the cold, bare bosom of Mother Earth 
 run thrills of ecstatic summer rapture, as if her veins were throb- 
 bing with rich wines. 
 
 In my morning mood, I would have been seriously alarmed 
 and offended at Peyton's conduct. He was utterly reckless of 
 etiquette and conventional restrictions, regardless of another's 
 just rights, in his behavior to Lilly. Not content with the four 
 hours' conference of the forenoon, he fastened upon her when the 
 repast was done, and conducted her back to the sofa in the pir- 
 lor, which he only left, after the lapse of anothei hour, to 
 advertise a ride they were to take in company. I was not so 
 bereft of reason by the tropical breezes find perf Mines I war 
 inhaling, as not to oppose this motion.
 
 MOSS-SIDE . 411 
 
 " Is it not too cold, Lilly, dear ?" I asked. 
 
 This question would, in other times, have been equivalent 
 to a stringent prohibition, but she only bestowed on me one of 
 her sunshiny smiles, and crying, " Oh, no, Auntie ! I shall er.joj 
 a gallop of all thing? in the world !" glanced out of the roop, 
 like a veritable ray of light. 
 
 " I must see that she is warmly dressed," was my pretext foi 
 rUing to follow her. 
 
 May pulled me down. 
 
 " Sit still, Grace ! I am going to her." She subjoined a whis- 
 per. " There is no risk I Let the child enjoy herself I" 
 
 " No risk I" I repeated inly, comparing Peyton's glowing 
 countenance and restless movements, attesting to what pinnacle 
 of bliss he had climbed, with Mr. Wynne's contented air. " I 
 believe we are all crazy or silly alike 1" 
 
 Mr. Wynne, with an authority, modified by his graceful polite- 
 ness, waved Peyton aside, as Lilly prepared to mount, and lift- 
 ing the fairy figure dexterously, seated her in the saddle. He 
 adjusted the reins also, and presented them to her, and while 
 stroking the silky mane of her horse, said something lowly and 
 rapidly, that made her blush and smile the most charming of the 
 thousand that had chased one another over her face that day. 
 
 " May is nearer right than I am," I thought. " Yet no 1 
 there is danger to one of whom she does not think. Alas for 
 the deluded Peyton 1" 
 
 My heart fainted in pity for him, I imagined ; but it came to 
 lurprisingly soon, for we elder pleasure-seekers walked out. 
 May claimed my father's arm, and Mr. Wynne tendered his to 
 me. May lagged in the rear ; yet she was no despicable pedes- 
 trian, and my father's step was unlike that of age. We could 
 distinguish her voice in animated narration, it seemed, by tin 
 i flections and infrequent breaks in the thread. 
 
 " What can she be discoursing about !" I said, curiously.
 
 416 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " Something intensely interesting to themselves to her, ai 
 least," was the response. " We, for the sake of variety, will try 
 a dialogue. I am not so complaisant as your father. I must 
 nave my turn." 
 
 The same rare, prodigal sunlight ; the same coursing wiik* 
 teins, warming and exhilarating ; the same Circe-song ; the same 
 weak and wicked intoxication and the day departed and the 
 night came the twilight of reflection, with frost, not dew. 
 
 " What am I doing ? what am I ?" I said, in the depth of the 
 dark hours. 
 
 Lilly was asleep on my breast. By the moonlight, I saw her 
 calm fairness ; felt, against my unholy heart the beatings of 
 hers, trustful, free from doubt as from guilt ; a rippleless lake, 
 reflecting the heaven and stars of Love bent above it and I, oh, 
 what wrong of her was in my soul ! Conscience and Reason 
 blami.d me for their negligence, and each zealously repaired her 
 fault in exhibiting mine in its worst, vilest form. A wretched, 
 mangled worm, I writhed till morning, when a retributive spirit 
 took me by the hand, and bade me be guided by her through the 
 devious paths where I had stumbled so sadly. 
 
 Fortune " or Providence," said my repentant heart, aided me. 
 Mr. Wynne and my father rode out and were gone until dinner. 
 I forced myself to think of the subject of their discussion. I had 
 heard Mr. Wynne propose the jaunt, and detected the slight agi- 
 tation, imperceptible except to such eyes and ears as mine, with 
 which he proffered the request. I was with May and Lilly, play- 
 ing the decent woman of the house, the whole forenoon, and pre- 
 sided with more propriety than on yesterday, at the table. Then, 
 the flesh being unspeakably weary, I retired to my chamber, 
 where I slept heavily, heavily like a beaten, berated dumb cre 
 tore. 
 
 WheL I awoke, the room waa coldly dismal with the impeno 
 ing night shades I had laid down without removing my dresi
 
 M O S S - S I D E . 417 
 
 Half-dreaming, I shook and brushed the tumbled folds ; twisted 
 op my hair by the sense of touch alone, and groped my way 
 down the steps. May's laugh sounded through the parlor door. 
 My father's voice answered it, and without risk of disturbing 
 Lilly and her lover, as I had thought I might do, if I went into 
 that room, I entered. Candles were upon the centre-table ; 
 their blaze dazzled me ; the merry hum of conversation bewild- 
 ered me. At last, I made out to perceive that I was the only 
 one wanting to fill up the family group. Wanting ! was I want- 
 ing ? had they missed me ? 
 
 Mr. Wynne had been reading from a Magazine now shut upon 
 his finger. 
 
 " We have wished for you, Grace," said May. " Lilly went to 
 call you, but said you were sleeping so peacefully that it would be 
 a pity to arouse yon. Herbert has been reading a humorous 
 sketch to us. You would have liked it." 
 
 " Liked it perhaps but she is not over-friendly to professed 
 ly ' humorous' articles," rejoined Mr. Wynne. "I have a scrap 
 of rhyme in my pocket-book, which will please you better, Misi 
 Leigh, than a host of the wittiest jeux d 'esprit Hood ever perpe 
 trated. Written jests are not for me either. We once com- 
 pared notes on this matter and agreed, I recollect, that they re 
 sembled re-bottled champagne. Yet neither of us are back- 
 ward in our relish of spoken and acted fun." 
 
 He was very kind thus to remember and quote my tastes 1 I 
 wished I could reply as this notice of me deserved ; but I stam- 
 mered an unintelligible assent, and sat down, protecting my blink- 
 ing eyes with a hand-screen. 
 
 " The poem 1" said May. " I love fun, written, printed, 
 poken or acted ; yet my taste is not so vitiated that I have not 
 some appreciation of a nice clever bit of poetry." 
 
 " This ' bit' is neither clever nor nice," returned Mr. Wynne 5 
 In a like strain. " It is poetry. The author is young, but I, foi 
 18*
 
 418 M O 6 E-8 I P K. 
 
 one of his admirers, shall never forgive him if he does not 
 become the Tennyson of America." 
 
 " ' Poeta nascitur, non fit, '" repeated my father. 
 
 " He is a born poet, sir," answered Mr. Wynne. " The sacred 
 Era is within him. It remains with him to give it to the world 
 as freely as he has received, or to make of himself a dark Ian 
 tern. Will you hear his simple ' Legend ?' " 
 
 It was mournfully musical as the wind-harp heard at midnight 
 tender and delicate as a maiden's thoughts of love. Heart 
 and breaths kept time to the rhythmic flow from the speaker's 
 lips. The story was, as he had said, very simple. A lonely 
 high-born maiden, pure and cold to others' sight as mountain 
 snows, watched the sea from her castle-turrets, or wandered 
 among the 
 
 "Ragged, jagged rocks 
 That tooth the dreadful beach;" 
 
 always looking from the land ; straining her eyes across the 
 waters, waiting, hoping, none knew for whom or what, until the 
 deferred hope sickened into despair, and she died 
 
 " She ever loved the sea, 
 God's half-uttered mystery, 
 With its million lips of shells, 
 
 Its never-ceasing roar ; 
 And 'twas well that when she died, 
 They made Mand a grave beside 
 The bine pulses of the tide, 
 
 'Mong the crags of Elsinore 
 
 One chill, red-leaf falling morn 
 Many russet autumns gone, 
 A. lone ship, with folded wings, 
 
 Lay dozing off the lea , 
 It came silently at night, 
 With its wings of murky white
 
 MOS8-8IEE. 419 
 
 Folded after weary flight 
 The worn nursling of the Sea ! 
 
 Crowds of peasants flocked the sands ; 
 There were tears and clasping hands ; 
 And a sailor from the ship 
 
 Passed through the church-yard gate. 
 Only ' Maud,' the head-stone read ; 
 Only ' Maud ?' Was't all it said ? 
 Then why did he bow his head 
 
 Weeping, ' Late, alaa ! too late !' 
 
 And they called her cold ! God knows. 
 Underneath the winter snows, 
 The invisible hearts of flowers 
 
 Grow ripe for blossoming. 
 And the lives that look so cold, 
 If their stories could be told, 
 Would seem cast in gentler mould, 
 
 Would seem full of love and spring." 
 
 I should not have been ashamed of the softness to whose in- 
 fluence others testified by trembling smiles and glistening eyes ; 
 yet I raised my screen high and nearer to my face. Their teari 
 were the dew of sympathy ; mine rained from the cloud of my 
 own heart-grief. I, too, had had a watch of years, unremarked, 
 because unknown by those around me ; a wandering of fruitless 
 expectation across a great, uncertain waste the Hereafter of 
 the monotonous Now ; and to me, also, had come the end of 
 waiting. The arms, erst flung in supplicating gesture towards 
 the blank horizon, were folded upon my breast, the lids were 
 fallen over the dimmed irids ; but oh ! not in " Maud's " peace* 
 ful rest ! The " cold life," the " winter snows," heaped and 
 hardened these still remained to me. 
 
 Mr. Wynne came over and took a seat by me. I feared tha,. 
 ne observed the drops I could not at once conceal, for there was 
 compassion in his tone. I wanted to thank him for his good- 
 ness, and again, articulation played me false I looked anf
 
 120 X O 8 8 - 8 1 D B . 
 
 behaved as any apathetic automaton might have done. Suppei 
 liberated him from the duty of entertaining me, and furnished 
 me with work to do which became the inane, homespun maidec 
 of thirty, a more comely partner for the tea-urn than for th 
 uitor of her
 
 M O 8 S - 8 I D E . 421 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LILLY was talkative after we retired to bed, and I did not 
 dissuade her. My common sense showed me that the most effec- 
 tual safe-guard against a return of the insane delirium of the 
 previous day would be the reception of her confidence ; to hear 
 from herself what nevertheless, I did not now doubt that she 
 was to be the wife of him whose betrothed I was at her age. 
 So, I tuned my voice into better harmony with hers, and paid 
 encouraging heed to whatever she said. 
 
 " To-morrow will be Christmas-Eve," she prattled, her hand 
 on my heart, never dreaming how its strings were quivering ! "It 
 is nine years since papa gave me to you, Auntie dear. He might 
 as well have brought you Pandora's box." 
 
 " You know that is not true, Miss Sauce-box P 1 replied. " I 
 will not humor you by contradiction. You bait too awkwardly 
 to catch compliments from me." 
 
 " But, seriously, am I any comfort to ? you have I recom- 
 pensed you, in my degree, for the trouble I have given ?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " My darling 1 when you are my choicest treasure ! The debt 
 
 mine, not yours, Lilly." 
 
 " You humble, you distress me by talking so, Auntie. I owe 
 my life, and whatever makes life happy, to you. Mother ! you 
 art my mother I" putting back^my hair and kissing the scarred 
 temple. 
 
 How rough and old my skiu felt, compared with the satin 
 smoothness of hers 1 But my pained heart was easier for the
 
 422 M 8 8 - 8 I D K . 
 
 beloved title she had applied to me ; its bruised tendrils clasped 
 her more tightlj. 
 
 " It would seein hard, unkind, for us to be separated ; would 
 it not ?" she resumed, thoughtfully. 
 
 " It is coming !" I whispered warningly to my spirit. Then 1 
 maile answer bravely. 
 
 " Very hard for a while, love, until we were used to it. It is 
 
 tLmg that occurs every day. Daughters as dutiful and affec- 
 tionate, leave doting mothers. It is one of the necessary trials 
 of our existence." 
 
 " Is it " hesitating " is it ungrateful, Auntie ?" 
 
 " You dear little goose 1 Ask Aunt May to-morrow, whether 
 Bhe ever suffers from remorse for having loved your uncle morf 
 than she did her mother. It is woman's nature, Lilly, the die 
 tate of an instinct implanted by God himself. To contend with, 
 or disobey this feeling is wrong, sometimes wicked." 
 
 She was playing with the ruffles of her sleeves, as if perturbed 
 or restless, but I could see that she smiled meanwhile. 
 
 " I have always intended to live single, never to leave you 
 and grandpapa," she said. 
 
 " Excuse me, dear, for correcting you. Whatever you maj 
 have believed were your intentions, you deceived yourself if you 
 imagined they were to remain as you are, and where you are. 
 Every girl I do not believe there has ever been an exception 
 thinks of marriage, that is, a marriage of affection, as a de- 
 sirable and probable event. This is not the language which 
 others would use to you, but it is the truth. Nor is it an evi 
 deuce of declining love for grandpapa and myself that you have 
 bad visions of another home, and another, a stronger feeliug 
 Because you are dear to us, we would rejoice In your joy, wer 
 your heart overflowing with that ripe, all-satisfying happiness that 
 only this reciprocal love can bestow. From the beginning, it hal 
 mastered parental and filial affection, and it is just that it should.*
 
 M O 8 8 8 I D E . 423 
 
 Her hand res;ed still upon my heart. Did she feel the leap 
 of the blood through, and from it, at her reply ? 
 
 " Yet, Auntie, you are not married, and seem happy the hap- 
 piest person J ever saw. When I was too young to understand 
 these things you told me that you were satisfied with you? 
 lot. Would the feeling you have mentioned contribute any 
 tfiitig to your contentment ? Are you ever conscious of its 
 need ?" 
 
 " Conscious of its need 1" echoed the heart, with a sudden 
 shriek of pain. " Would I not surrender the last forced breath 
 of life to gain it V 
 
 " I read a story once, Lilly," I said, " of a man who wished 
 to enter a monastery or college of recluses, who called them- 
 selves ' silent philosophers.' There was no vacancy in their num- 
 ber ; a blow to his hope, which they communicated by offering 
 him a cup brimming with water. No more could be added with- 
 out overrunning it. He comprehended the sign, and, bowing his 
 submission, was about to retire, when he perceived upon the 
 flags at his feet, a rose-leaf. He picked it up, and laid it so dex- 
 terously upon the surface of the water that not a particle was 
 displaced. The happy conceit secured his unanimous election. 
 Can you add the moral of my fable, darling ?" 
 
 " I wish how I wish that the rose-leaf of love were laid 
 upon your heart, dearest Auntie 1" she responded, raising her- 
 self upon her arm, that she might see my countenance. 
 
 " I have that which almost supplies its want," said I ; " the 
 belief that my daughter's cup is crowned with roses ; that, to ita 
 rery depths, it reflects their crimson." 
 
 She kissed me ; then buried her face in my bosom. 
 
 " Our Father bless you both, dearest !" I uttered "ervently, 
 *8 I stroked the abundant, flossy curls. " Yours is a worthy 
 choice. I can resign you without distrust to his keeping." 
 
 " I am such a child in everything I" she whispered " Sfl
 
 424- M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 young, so inexperienced ! Indeed, Auntie, I fear he has been 
 hasty." 
 
 " His is a mature judgment, Lilly, and not apt to hurry him 
 
 into indiscretion. At your aunt's, he had uncommon facilitiei 
 
 for reading your character. He knows and loves my precious 
 
 one. He will wear the prize tenderly and proudly, as he 
 
 hould." 
 
 What ailed the child ? Was it the involuntary reserve of 
 her strange position as a woman and betrothed, or the start of 
 shyness at her freedom of speech upon this topic, that made her 
 draw away from my embrace, and speak so decidedly ? 
 
 " We will not talk further of this to-night, dear aunt. To- 
 moirow, or on Christmas-day, you shall have the story, from be- 
 ginning to end. This is the only partial confidence I have ever 
 showed you. It shall be the last. You will pardon me whec 
 you know the circumstances. It was not all my fault either " 
 faltering " Aunt May, and and " 
 
 " Mr. Wynne," I supplied, composedly. 
 
 " Yes advised me to wait until they considered it prudent 
 to disclose the matter." 
 
 " You were right, dear, and so, doubtless, were they ;" but at 
 heart, I owned to a tinge of jealousy that they should have had 
 the power to restrain the outgoings of her spirit towards me 
 they, who were the intimates of a day in comparison with my 
 years of devotion. 
 
 I stifled the unworthy thought unworthy of me and of them 
 in the birth, and while she slumbered, drew her hands, that 
 yet felt like the baby-fingers I had pressed there nine years ago, 
 to my breast, and my heart beat evenly beneath them, for I h*d 
 gained a conquest over myself. 
 
 Once, during the following day, it stirred uneasily only once. 
 It was when passing the parlor door, which was slightly ajar, 1 
 oeheld through it, a tableau within the room. Mr. Wyane stood
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 425 
 
 near the fireplace, facing me, but his head was bent so that he 
 did not see me bent over another girlish and rich in golden 
 ringlets which lay against his shoulder. His arm encircled the 
 slender waist ; her face, averted in pretty coyness, was rosy aa 
 the morning ; his, smiling, proud, tender, with the look I had 
 Imaged, when I prophesied how he would wear his prize. 'Twas 
 but a glance that I had, and neither of them were aware of my 
 fleet step through the hall. I went to my father's room, where 
 was May, sewing, on one side of his chair. I established myself 
 on the other, and our needles and tongues were not idle until our 
 father warned us that our eyes might be the sufferers from the 
 failure of daylight. 
 
 I had to give out supper, and I sang from the dining-room to 
 the pantry ; from the pantry, through the yard to the smoke 
 house ; sang, as I paused in the back porch, and gazed west 
 ward, at the streaks of pale flame, orange, and white, and red, 
 shooting up into the wintry blue of the zenith. There, cloud 
 flakes huddled motionless as if frozen ; and through the frosty 
 stillness, fell down to earth the shrill, harsh cry of a flock of 
 wild geese, darkly stringing southward. 
 
 " It will be bitter cold to-night 1" I shivered, going into the 
 house. 
 
 The redoubtable dandy butler opened the door, directed to 
 me by my song. 
 
 " Miss Lilly 'squests the pleasure of your company to step 
 into the parlor one half minute, Miss Grace," he delivered, pom- 
 pously. 
 
 " What does she want, I wonder ?" I soliloquized. " She will 
 ot subject herself and me to a ' scene,' surely I" 
 
 The parlor would have been dusk, but for the crackling fire to 
 which Joe had just added fresh fuel. First, I saw that Lilly was 
 not there ; then, Mr Wynne came forward and led me to a 
 eat.
 
 26 M O 8 fc - 6 I D E . 
 
 " Lillj sent for you, at my request," he said. " Can you sf.ar 
 me a little of your valuable time ? Can yon remain patient if 1 
 become prosy in what I am about to relate ?" 
 
 " Certainly," I answered. 
 
 The time and the scene were here, and I borrowed nervo front 
 Ihe exigency. I set down ray basket of keys upon the carpet, s 
 carefully that they did not ring at all, and leaned back, with the 
 civil equanimity of more than a resigned of a willing listener. 
 He stationed himself upon the same sofa, at a respectful distance 
 from me, his back to the fire. It shone broadly into my eyes ; 
 yet I did not shirk this disadvantage. Why should I ? /had 
 nothing to divulge nothing to conceal. 
 
 " Lilly says," he commenced, " that from some intimations you 
 have made to her, she supposes you to be conscious that my visit 
 here is not one of ordinary friendship. You have, perhaps, pene- 
 trated my design in escorting her home ?" 
 
 " If he expects me to enact the sharp-sighted mother, elate 
 with the prospect of her daughter's fortunate settlement, he will 
 be disappointed," I determined ; so I looked inquiringly after 
 more light on the subject, and said nothing. 
 
 " She is very beautiful," he continued ; " and trained as she 
 has been, her graces of mind and character could hardly fail to 
 match those of the exterior. You have perfected a good work 
 in her." 
 
 " It was an easy and a delightful task," replied I, ' and il 
 I contributed anything towards its performance, it was an un- 
 conscious part The seed was planted before she came to us. 
 There was then a principle at work within the soil, which would 
 have destroyed the weeds and brought the fruit to perfection." 
 
 " I am acquainted with the extent of her obligations to you," 
 he returned, in the coolest manner imaginable. " I expected 
 that you would deny it, yet I am none the less obstinate in mj 
 conviction that whoever is endowed with her heart and hand
 
 M C 8 t SIDE. 427 
 
 irill have to thank you for much of his happiness. To no ether 
 woman living would / so willingly owe the best blessing Earth 
 has hi its gift." 
 
 " Thank you !" I said, moved. 
 
 It was like distilling oil into my spirit to think that I had donf 
 Bomething for his welfare ; that he was mindful of, and g-ratefu 
 ft>r it. 
 
 " Knowing you, as I did," proceeded he, " it was not possible 
 that I should have been deceived in the likeness which I recog 
 nized when I met her in your sister's home. Her model was too 
 faithfully copied." 
 
 " We are very unlike !" I corrected, hastily. " Your imagi- 
 nation created the resemblance, Mr. Wynne." 
 
 " Then I, alone, would have perceived it, whereas it is univer- 
 sally remarked by accurate observers. Those who have no per- 
 ception for similitudes except those of complexion and the color- 
 ing of hair and eyes, do not see this, it is true. In tone and ges- 
 ture ; in certain peculiar forms of language ; above all, in the 
 beaming of the inner light and the modesty that would, but can- 
 not obscure this ; the forgetfulness of Self, and in love and 
 thought for others in these, I affirm, she is a copy of yourself 
 This is not fulsome compliment, Miss Leigh my heart claims 
 utterance this evening, and it shall have it 1" 
 
 Should I tell him how painful such frankness was ? Might he 
 not misinterpret my reluctance to listen ? 
 
 " Thank you I" I repeated, but in a different tone. " I am 
 honored by your kind opinion of me, 'exaggerated as are your 
 praises." 
 
 " Do me the justice to believe them sincere, nevertheless," h 
 said, so dignifiedly that I felt rebuked for the chill incredulity of 
 my reply. " May I inquire if you suspected that I was attached 
 to your niece before I accompanied her hither ?" 
 
 " I did without sufficient cause, perhaps, but I certainly btu? 
 such an idea."
 
 8 MO88-8IDE 
 
 " Or May is not the friend and correspondent I relieve her to 
 be," he answered. " Will you oblige me by stating candidly 
 what were your sentiments on hearing of my suit to her ? what 
 they are now ?" 
 
 I shook my head. 
 
 " One question at a time, if you please, sir 1" 
 
 " For instance, then did you think me presumptuous ?" 
 
 " By no means 1" I said. " Lilly is very dear, very beautiful, 
 very winning to us, but there are many who outshine her." 
 
 " Not in my estimation " then smilingly " we will pass that 
 point, however. Does it appear selfish and unreasonable that I 
 should covet the blossom you have nurtured ; in which your 
 affections are bound up ?" 
 
 My voice was not so clear now ; but I answered readily, and 
 it was firmer as I went on. 
 
 " Would it not be more unreasonably selfish in us to grudge 
 you your possession of what we have enjoyed now so long? 
 Would it not be the height of unkindness to negative your offer, 
 when her peace of mind hangs upon our decision ? True love 
 does not think of, much less does it consult with Self." 
 
 " Yours does not 1" emphatically. " Now for the grand diffi- 
 culty 1 Before I present it, I beg you to recollect that I am not 
 sensitive touching it. Say out what you really feel. Is not the 
 difference in our ages fifteen years and some months, you 
 know incompatible with every theory of romantic affection ; at 
 variance with your ideal of connubial bliss ? Do I look or act 
 like a fitting bridegroom for your rose-bud ? Will not the world 
 laugh at the oddly-matched pair ?" 
 
 " Do you regard the world's laugh !" I asked 
 
 "For myself? No! But that is jumping the question. You 
 Ideas are what I desire at this moment. Am I not too Did for 
 Lilly ?" 
 
 " If she has elected you of her own free will and choice, you! 
 Vearts are the same aj?e. The arbitrarv divisions of Time into
 
 M O 8 8 8 I D E . 429 
 
 months and years are disallowed by them What nave you t 
 do with these false data ? Why mar your enjoyment by recapit- 
 ulating them ?" 
 
 He was silent and thoughtful. 
 
 Dreading a pause that would give me time for reflection, 1 
 porsued : " Look at our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Peyton ! He 
 U twenty years her senior, and no idealization of wedded blisi 
 can be more charming than their real, every-day life." 
 
 " He was a widower, was he not ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Did he love his first wife ? 
 
 " Devotedly ; and mourned her a long, long time He haa 
 not forgotten her yet." 
 
 " There is, then, such a thing as second love ?" 
 
 " Who* doubts it ?" was my reply. 
 
 I was not embarrassed, for I saw, each moment, how entire 
 iras the oblivion, to him, of our early attachment. 
 
 He reverted to the original topic, speaking softly, as in reve- 
 rie. " She is younger than myself much younger a delicate, 
 tender creature 1 It is the old tale of the ivy and the oak." 
 
 How thoroughly I understood, at these words, that he had 
 parted with every memory of that love ! 
 
 " The stalwart trunk, roughened by countless winters, and the 
 frail creeper of one summer's growth. It loves the coarse bark 
 upon which it fastens itself does it not, Grace ?" 
 
 I did not notice the slip of the tongue, although, up to this 
 time, it had been "Miss Leigh," very rarely even "Misg 
 Grace." 
 
 Indulging his mood, I said, " It prefers it to any other sup 
 port." 
 
 " Can it live without a prop of some kind ?" 
 
 " It was my impression that it could not," replied I, " until a 
 year or two ago, I saw a clump of ivy bushes, stout and upright
 
 430 M O 8 8 - 8 I U E . 
 
 which I learned had been forced into indepenu-. em t /efaising 
 ihein any support. Since then, I nave been toll that ths 
 success of such trials is a familiar fact in the history of the 
 plant." 
 
 I was getting very easy indeed, and quite surprised myself bv 
 the glibness of my tongue. It was a strange time for the reci- 
 al of botanical phenomena, but if it pleased him to lead the 
 way to them, it was my business to follow. 
 
 " The vine must have suffered intensely before the lesson was 
 perfect," he said, interested. " Think of the vain reaching of 
 the tendrils ; their curling upon themselves in their hopelessness ; 
 their shrivelling away and dropping into dust 1 It was a cruel 
 experiment." 
 
 "It was a hardy shrub," I answered "green and vigor- 
 ous." 
 
 " But not beautiful, I should imagine ; a dwarfed, stubborn 
 apology for a tree ; when if left to Nature's guidance, and not 
 repressed by untoward circumstances, it might have climbed 
 almost to the clouds. It was a cruel thing 1" 
 
 He could mean nothing except what was apparent on the sur 
 face of his speech. What weakness in my heart to trace an 
 analogy between the life of the maltreated vine and my crossed, 
 distorted, " dwarfed " existence 1 It was not so very wonderful, 
 either, for I remembered, among the incidents which had slided 
 forever clear out of sight through his time-glass, that he had 
 once likened me to the ivy. " Let it be ivy to the last I" he 
 had said, and I was ivy that had been robbed of the support 
 its branches implored; "not beautiful" I allowed that, "but 
 hardy !" I said, drawing in my breath, and sitting more erect 
 " He shall see how hardy 1" 
 
 Prom this digression, he returned suddenly, as he had from 
 peaking of Mr. Petyon's second marriage. 
 
 "Am I to understand. Miss Leigh, that you consent, withco*
 
 M O S 8 - 8 I D B . 43] 
 
 reservation, to my marriage with your niece? Pardon my 
 abruptness if it appears to you unseemly. This is a subject that 
 vitally concerns my happiness." 
 
 My hands grew cold against one another ; a premoni-tion of 
 tgue ran over, and pinched up my flesh. 
 
 " 1 have already signified my approbation of your suit, it may 
 too plaiuly ; Mr. Wynne. My father's consent is more essential." 
 
 " I have conferred with him, of course. He refers every- 
 thing to you, as does Lilly." 
 
 Much effort was necessary to repress the visible signs of the 
 iciness that pervaded every limb. The fire sang and leaped and 
 roared up the chimney, and my teeth were beginning to chatter. 
 An odd fancy entered my brain odd, since it seemed an unapt 
 association of the circumstances in which I was placed. I had 
 read that, in some countries, criminals convicted of capital 
 offences, were, on the day of execution, compelled to sit upon 
 their coffins, clothed for the final scene, and hear a funeral ser- 
 mon, preceded or closed by a reiteration, at length, of the for- 
 mula of doom. I thought how much more terrible would be 
 this ghastly, solemn mockery, if the dying wretch were 
 required to read his own sentence. 
 
 But here was no criminal court, and the phrase I had to speak 
 was the merest of forms. I was a referee by courtesy. The 
 virtual authorities had sat and agreed upon the case. My 
 daughter's declared and accepted admirer, armed with my 
 father's endorsement of the compact, asked mine not as a mea- 
 pure of additional surety, but to sgare my feelings and compli- 
 ment my vanity. I did not delay it one tenth of the time it has 
 taken mo to write down my sensations. Propriety would have 
 recommended a pause of the length I made, ere I said, cautiously, 
 lest my teeth should strike against each other and excite big 
 wonderment. 
 
 " If my permissior. is all you wait for, it is yours, Mr. Wynne
 
 132 MOSS-BIDE. 
 
 ! dc not charge you to be kind to our precious Lilly. Too can 
 mt be otherwise." 
 
 He bowed in silent thanks, raising my hand to his lips II 
 w is frozen, I knew, and I would have abridged this useless cere- 
 mony, but hr retained it in his. 
 
 " Grace !" 
 
 It was not the voice that had conducted the previous conver- 
 sation. It was a deeper tone ; the music that had thrilled me 
 upon the hill-side, that summer Christmas-week ; that quieted 
 my stormj grief at our farewell ; never heard since but oh ! 
 how well remembered ? I could not I dared not stay ! I strag- 
 gled for freedom with the energy of expiring resolution 
 
 " Grace 1" he said again. 
 
 I drooped my head and abandoned myself to his will. 
 
 " Have you a practical faith in a second love ?" 
 
 " No I" I said, recklessly. 
 
 " Nor have I ! you have given me a bonny bride young and 
 .ovely almost as lovely as the one you pledged to me upon the 
 h.'ll-side yonder, that looked so bleak to me to-day. I have been 
 there, Grace, and yon should have gone with me. That day, 
 stolen from Paradise, we lived eleven years ago, as I heard you 
 remind May this noon. Lover and beloved have undergone some 
 changes in that period ; but what did you say, not ten minutes 
 since ? I am bent upon vanquishing you with your own wea- 
 pons. ' The arbitrary divisions of time into months and years 
 are disallowed by loving hearts.' Mine rejects them. My bride 
 then is the queen of my affections this hour, as well." 
 
 Before I collected my senses, my head rested upon his breast 
 where he had laid it. 
 
 " If you will have it, this shall be your home yours only 
 now and forever." 
 
 One instant was I to blame ? for one instant, it reposed 
 there, like a flower burdened with honey-dew then recol
 
 M O 8 8 - 8 I U E . 433 
 
 revived ; prudence sprang into the field, ready for 
 battle. 
 
 " Lilly ! Lilly !" I cried, wrenching myself loose from his 
 ?rasp. " Oh ! let me go to her ! My poor child ! this will b 
 her death-blow I" 
 
 lie pinioned me with one movement of his strong arm ; and I 
 resorted to entreaties. 
 
 " Oh ! if you are an honorable man, unsay what you have 
 toid me ! take it all back I say you were jesting, or wandering 
 u.i mind, that you did not mean it I" 
 
 " Never !" he said resolutely, not sternly. " I can dissipate 
 *hese alarms by three words, if you will hear me." 
 
 " No ! no !" for I was wild with terror and remorse. 
 
 " You will ! Darling /" 
 
 I was completely overcome. A torrent of tears gushed forth, 
 and were wept out upon his shoulder. I could have died hap- 
 pily then and there. 
 
 " I do not love Lilly, except as a child sister. She leans 
 upon me, trusts me as her elder brother ; the confidant are 
 you hearing me, darling ? of Peyton Elliott's love for her, and 
 hers for him you may well stare ! After your insinuation of 
 ffaudering intellects, I am prepared to be charged with derange- 
 ment as violent as yours was just now. Look at me feel my 
 pulse am I a sane man ?" 
 
 " I believe so," I said, so doubtfully, that he laughed. Ho 
 was very serious a minute afterwards. 
 
 " I will trifle no more with you. Can you forgive the decep 
 tion in which May, Lilly, Peyton, and more recently, your father 
 *<ere accomplices, I being the instigator and ring-leader of th 
 o.'ot ?" 
 
 "My father?" I uttered involuntarily, laying hold of hii 
 name as something I could not understand, in the clouded con 
 dition of my faculties. 
 
 19
 
 134: MO8S-8IDK. 
 
 "May enlightened him the afternoon of our ramble. Will 
 you go aud ask him if this is so ? You are at liberty." 
 
 But he was smiling again, in violation of his promise, and my 
 inpefaction, or some other equally cogent reason prevented me 
 *. om availing myself of the offer. 
 
 " Tell me more I" I said. 
 
 "With all my heart, now that you have a lucid interval 
 How often must I say over to you that Peyton and Lilly are in- 
 formally engaged ; that the witch was thinking of him, and 
 within an ace of spoiling our drama by speaking out, owning up 
 repentantly to you last night, when you were advocating my 
 cause ? By the way " the irrepressible mischief breaking out 
 once more " let me acknowledge the favor before I forget it. 
 All my rhetoric and May's pleadings have been brought into actior 
 to hinder the truthful child from going to your confessional. 
 Zealous as she was, from the beginning, in my behalf, she ha* 
 been sorely buffeted by conscience on the score of your delusion 
 I had a hard-fought conflict with her here after dinner. ' It was 
 wrong, and unkind, and needless to keep dear Auntie longer in 
 the dark ; I must expedite my declaration, or she would turn 
 State's evidence, and betray the conspiracy.' I applied a seda- 
 tive finally, by bantering her about the Simon Pure, and asking 
 her how his courtship was to be conducted when the blind of 
 mine was removed. What is it, love ?" as I looked up in troubled 
 inquiry. 
 
 " Those tedious years of absence your silence 1 Why was I 
 not spared them if you " 
 
 " Loved you all the while ?" he finished for me " I wish tc 
 ave us both one part of this story to-night. We have had 
 uough 'of trial aud myjsterious suffering. Let us be happy un- 
 Wtolested by unpleasant reminiscences. Suffice it to say that 
 antil the eve of my departure from California, I was ignorant of 
 ..ie removal of the obstacle between is, as I was of its charac
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 435 
 
 ter 1 will i elate to you some day, the manner of its discovery 
 In May's home, I found Lilly. We established a friendship, and 
 in process of time a three-fold cord was formed : a league for 
 the capture of the citadel that had proved impregnable to a host 
 of ' irresistibles,' Mr. Townley included. Some of our manoeuvres 
 may have appeared heartless to you, but believe me, they were 
 prosecuted with unwillingness, through a strict sense of their 
 necessity. Peyton wrote an explicit definition of his sentiments 
 to Lilly a month ago, unable, he protested, to languish in sus- 
 pense until her return. May, the Napoleon of our cabal, seized 
 upon this opportune engine, and Lilly, by her instructions, for- 
 warded to the impatient Elliott a schedule of our policy, and 
 commissioned him to spy out the ground in advance of our arri- 
 val. His kind heart would have defeated the plan, but for the 
 spirit of fun which abetted his anxiety to obey the orders of hia 
 lady-love. Letters from May and Lilly opened our attack, and 
 since we have been here, not an act or a word from any of us 
 has been destitute of meaning and aim. All have had a bearing 
 upon our object. If there remained a dormant regard for me in 
 your heart, jealousy was the surest touchstone to bring forth 
 some sign of it. My intention to wed another would strike the 
 dart home more certainly than any other event. I doubt if 
 death itself would be so powerful in arousing the sleeping emo- 
 tion. You were stronger than we had anticipated. If there 
 were indications of surrender the day before, your aspect yester- 
 day and this morning dashed our rising spirits. Victory waa 
 not to be purchased by delay that was evident. I resolved to 
 Hazard all upon one bold effort." 
 
 Hia pleasantry had produced the desired effect of banishing 
 uy agitation, and setting me at ease in his presence Exchang- 
 ing his jesting for earnest affection, he continued : '' Be it my 
 task tc compensate to you for what T have made you endura 
 to-night ' Unselfish heroism ; love, refined from all impuritie?
 
 436 M O 8 8 - 5 I D E . 
 
 H constant sml-cry to heaven for snccor these have supported 
 jrou through the ordeal. Let me say, ' ordeal !' A squeamish 
 coyness was never one of your traits, and we can afford to dis- 
 pense with the affectation of reserve. You loved me, unknown, 
 it may be, to yourself, while I feigned allegiance to another 
 Sucb abnegation of self, such fixedness of purpose to promote 
 the happiness of a beloved one, I have never beheld before ; I 
 trust never to undergo so much in beholding its like again 
 When I drew out the reeking blade to plunge it anew into your 
 heart, did you think I was the forgetful trifler I appeared ; that 
 I did not wince at every stroke I inflicted ? could you believe 
 that every incident, every word of our ' long ago,' was more 
 dear to, more valued by f you than by me ? Yours has been a 
 thorny way since we parted last, beloved." 
 
 " It has had some flowers in it," I smiled through my tears 
 " Because you set the roots, scattered the seed weepingly," he 
 replied. " You will yet bind up from them more, and precious 
 blossoms," 
 
 There was a fumbling at the lock of the door ; a stick ol 
 wood was dropped upon the hall-floor, with deafening concussion. 
 Joe, considering us by this time properly apprised of his con^ 
 templated intrusion, entered to replenish the fire, and inform us, 
 in his peculiar style, that "tea awaited our demands/' With 
 all his gallant devotion to the fair sex, our beau-footman had 
 passed twenty and neared his thirties, a bachelor. He was 
 divided between a philanthropic wish to gratify all the ladies by 
 his society, and a natural disposition to secure the greatest pos 
 sible quantity of felicity for himself, which consummation, he 
 maintained, in his orthodoxy, was attainable solely by marriage. 
 A connoisseur in love-affairs, he forwarded them by whatever 
 moans lay in his power. 1 saw, at once, that we were upon his 
 list and received under his benign protection. His addresi 
 accorded with this benevolent patronage. It was compounded
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 437 
 
 of approbation of our exemplary employment ; regret that his 
 duty to interrapt ns was imperative, and a kind of general know- 
 nothing and see-nothing air, that without approximation to sta 
 pidity was to compose our disordered wits and sustain us to con 
 front the eyes of the rest of the world. 
 
 Peyton Elliott had a seat at the board, having come HI 
 noiselessly just after Lilly left the parlor. Even he was chary 
 of significant glances, absolutely guiltless of spoken innuendoes 
 This evening also, the tall coffee and tea-urns were towers of 
 refuge to me. Behind them, with the cups and saucers as rest- 
 ing-places for my eyes, my flushed cheeks cooled, and I was col- 
 lected, if not staidly sensible, all through the meal, which I did 
 not taste. 
 
 Peyton lagged behind the others on their way out. 
 
 " Auntie dear !" he whispered. " I wanted you to espouse 
 the cause of him you loved most. You were set upon neutrality. 
 Is this best preserved by espousing the man, instead ? How 1 
 hate him for ;ilting poor, dear lally. Don't you ?"
 
 438 M O 8 8 - 8 I D . 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Tt* Afniling iLonmg was looking in at my windows, when th 
 f&ttl : n.r roar of the Christmas gun chased away my dreams. 11 
 did not ^artle Lilly, and turning over towards her, I went back 
 (well-trod'lon, 1 found the path 1) to my spring-time, to the sha- 
 dowed valley, for which I left its light and bloom ; the narrow 
 track that delivered me from the dank darkness. 
 
 " Does much of the dust of those years of travel soil me ?" I 
 wondered. " Have I changed as little in his, as he has in my 
 eyes? Women show age sooner than men. Youth is very 
 beautiful, very lovable, yet would I recall mine ?" 
 
 I weighed the question carefully. 
 
 " Flowers or fruits April or September ?" Thus it resolved 
 itself at length ; and the small, white fingers stirred upon my 
 heart as their owner awoke to kiss me " our merriest Christ- 
 mas, dear Auntie I" 
 
 Our visitors came early ; Mrs. Bell, Annie, Mr. Peyton and 
 the three children, with Peyton Elliott in the rear of the pro- 
 cession. And we did have the merriest Christmas that ever 
 shook the floors and echoed from the walls of the old home- 
 stead ! Tables groaned, and we laughed unfeelingly over their 
 agony ; there were romps and baby-games in the hall and din 
 ing-room ; Lilly and Peyton hunted up the identical battle-doo 
 end shuttle-cock with which they had fought away the shynesi 
 of their first day's intercourse ; and battered as was the one, 
 frayed and moth-eaten as was the other, they did service still 
 7 %ey appeared to have caught the spirit of the times, as thej
 
 MOSS-BIDE. 438 
 
 beat and whizzed through the air past the ancient sentinel 
 whose rustv hands still journeyed by the hours we did not pre- 
 tend to regard ; while from its roomy chest, wheel, lever, and 
 hammer still grumbled their misery over the internal convulsion 
 regular and violent as ever, in their periodical attacks 
 
 There was no parlor-company. We roamed from one apart 
 ment to another, as inclination and the children tempted us 
 My father and Mr. Peyton did not even remain stationary for 
 their after-dinner smoke; but might be traced in entry, chambel 
 and porch, by the circling incense and the cheerful murmur of 
 . their voices. Fires blazed in every room, for it was clearly, bit 
 ingly cold without ; a genuine old-fashioned Christmas holiday ; 
 alive, from sun-rise to sun-down, with jollity, good-will and peaca 
 
 I propitiated Martha by donning the " decenter " robe of he\ 
 selection, and submitting to Lilly's hair-dressing ; freed from 
 which, I reviewed myself in the glass, a youngish face and 
 figure, after all, or, if elderly, tolerably well-preserved. My 
 complexion was healthy, to say no more, and to-day was brighter 
 than usual ; my hair luxuriant and glossy, my teeth unimpaired, 
 my eyes unfaded. Not elate, but comfortable in this appre- 
 ciation of my charms, I did not torment myself by a conti- 
 nuation of the queries of the morning while the festivity 
 reigned. 
 
 It was when the Linden family, Peyton Elliott excepted, were 
 gone, and the parlor was given up to our two selves and the fire- 
 flashes, that I asked Herbert some plain, matter-of-fact qnes 
 tions. 
 
 " Did yen never fear before you came South this time, that I 
 had grcwn elderly and homely? What would have been tho 
 effect of the transformation upon you ?" 
 
 " You have altered "he rejoined, " altered greatly 1" 
 
 My vanity folded its feathered train, and skulked precipitate!) 
 iDto the dust-hole.
 
 440 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 " I was prepared, however, to see you as you are. Lilly I-AV 
 ried your daguerreotype to New York with her, and the sun u 
 an unflattering artist." 
 
 Then I wished, with unavailing longing, for the vernal season 
 %nd the flowers. 
 
 " And why 1" I said, mentally, my heart risiug at the thought 
 "My love is as fervent, and more thoroughly grounded than 
 when he first sought it ; my heart as unwithered. Impulse haf 
 ripened into principle ; passion into fidelity. Is it, indeed, as I 
 feared ? Can he never again feel for me exactly as he did 
 then ?" 
 
 I said as much, when cross-examined, to him ; eyes moist and 
 voice quavering. He attempted no further sportiveness ; bu> 
 taking up the thought I had let slip, he proved to me how it 
 wronged him and myself ; how willful seemed my misconstrue! ion 
 of his language. 
 
 " There are alterations more material than the fading of the 
 rose and the sallowness of the lily. Did I not say to you, when 
 the glow of our former plighting was warmest, that you had 
 faults ? indicate, as one, your inability to bear sorrow ? predict 
 the wrestling of your undisciplined spirit with the storm, I did 
 not think then, could so speedily overtake you ? Was not thi 
 verified to the letter ? Now mark me I I neither suggest nor 
 warn. Instead, I would learn of you " 
 
 I put my hand before his mouth. " Please do not talk so !" 
 
 " I have done ! Best assured that you have lost nothing, and 
 gained all you needed ; that the wife must ever be dearer than 
 the betrothed bride." 
 
 A. blessed, soul-fraught pause to me, was that which ensued I 
 lie spoke again in a graver, yet still tender tone. 
 
 " We have been very happy to-day, dear Grace. Will yoc 
 complain if I damp your joyfulness for a time add a sprig of ru 
 to the bouquet of your pleasures ?"
 
 MOSS-SID*. 443 
 
 1 was pale with incertitude ; cowardly from past reverses. 
 
 " It is nothing of recent occurrence," he said, kindly ; " onlj 
 a missing leaf from the volume of my history, which I refused to 
 show you yesterday. Grace, May was faithful to the trust of 
 the family secret you disclosed to her. It was not from her lipg 
 tiat I obtained the knowledge of my parentage." 
 
 I started. The skeleton again ! would it never, never be 
 buried out of my sight ! 
 
 " I had been trained to mourn a dead father. I have a death- 
 less recollection of my mother's weeping over me, as her ' father- 
 less child ;' of her commending me to the orphan's God. Thai 
 her husband died at a distance from her and home, and that tha 
 particulars of his end were transmitted to her by strangers ; how 
 she pined into the grave, of a broken heart these were among tha 
 lessons taught me by the aunt who had nursed her in her last sick- 
 ness and who adopted me as her own son. Mr. Wynne, her hus- 
 band, bad never seen my father, and was gratified by my mother'* 
 dying request that I should assume the name of my generous guar- 
 dians. I do not like to reflect upon this significant circumstance 
 It was not surprising to them ; yet I cannot but feel that if tha 
 orrow that killed her had been regret for the untimely end of 
 one she loved alas ! too well she would never have consented 
 that his son should resign his title all which now preserved his 
 memory. How much of the truth she knew, is left to conjecture. 
 Sure am I too sure that she realized how little reason I would 
 ever have to value the discarded appellation ; that the grave 
 was an inviting pillow, and the hope of the rest beyond the gate 
 all that sustained her, during the season of her worse than wid- 
 whood. I bless God that Death was speedy and merciful 1 
 
 " How I grew up in utter ignorance of the mystery that cur- 
 tained my cradle, I cannot understand. No memory, no spirifr 
 impresston whispered to m of its gloom. I told my story, as I 
 believed it, in a careless, straight-forward way to any wh
 
 442 M O 8 8-8 I D K. 
 
 chanced to discover that I was not Mr. Wynne's ion. My aunt'i 
 death strengthened the bond between me and this solitary friend 
 of my boyhood. I described to you, long ago, his second wife's 
 politic complaisance and my meagre affection for her. My sisteru 
 were very dear to me ; Louise, especially, was my chosen coiih 
 panion and intimate, while she continued to be a woman. 
 Now 
 
 " Never mind I We will spare her 1" I prevented the criti- 
 cism foreshadowed in eye and lip. 
 
 He bowed, and went on. " Mrs. Wynne is uninformed on the 
 subject of my antecedents ; or, I have confidence in her skill and 
 economy to feel certain that she would never have suffered such 
 material for my debasement to lie in disuse. My adopted father 
 is prudent, and he hid his knowledge of the dangerous secret 
 from her as sedulously and successfully as from me. Latterly, at 
 my earnest solicitation, he has confessed that strange rumors 
 reached him, prior and subsequent to my mother's decease ; 
 stories, that begot in him a doubt of the correctness of the ac- 
 count she had received of her husband's life and its close. He 
 reasoned prudently that no benefit to me could result from pro- 
 secuting inquiries on this head, and allowed the matter to rest 
 there. You were cognizant of my introduction to Mr. Dumont, 
 and the nature of our intercourse at that time. Six years later, 
 I met him in the society to which Louise's favor was his pass- 
 port. He fascinated me, as by magnetic attraction. I derived 
 singular delight from his presence and conversation ; and he re- 
 ciprocated, in every company and all seasons, the preference I 
 manifested. I did not agree with him in many sentiments ; was 
 averse to many of his habits of language and conduct ; I divined 
 bis want of deep feeling, his passion if he had a passion fot 
 novelty and excitement ; yet I admired him intellectually, and 
 ought him, in spite of my better reason. His was the last hand 
 I took, in sorrowful adieu, when I embarked for California ; hia
 
 V O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 443 
 
 *h last signal waved me from the wharf A month before I left 
 thai country within the summer that has just gone V was 
 summoned, at the dead of night, to the bedside of a man who 
 had been fatally stabbed in an affray at a gambling saloon. Yoi 
 may conceive what was my horror on finding in him, Mr. Dr 
 raont no mortal can form any conception of the emotions with 
 which I hearkened to the tale he insisted upon recounting. 
 
 " That death-bed 1 my father's death-bed, Grace ! I cannot 
 speak of it 1" 
 
 It was now my place to be comforter. Trembling woman, 
 though I was, I could support and console him. He thanked me 
 when the strong shuddering was over. 
 
 " My angel of healing 1" he said. 
 
 No peerage coronet could have won from me the title ! 
 
 " You have had the wild, sad story in detail from your father," 
 pursued Herbert. " The sketch given to me, while life flowed 
 from the narrator with every breath, made my soul sick, my 
 brain reel. That the sins of the father had been visited upon 
 his offspring was nothing to the thought of the woe he had in- 
 flicted upon others ; the desolated hearth-stones, the murdered 
 happiness ; the sacrifice of innocent victims to his cupidity and 
 revenge added up in the sum of his crimes. It was horrible I 
 He had seen my attachment to you in the course of the day or 
 two we travelled together, and then was laid the scheme to frns 
 trate its end. His animosity against your father was unabated 
 to the last ; yet Remorse scourged him to a revelation of his 
 agency in the destruction of our dream of love. 
 
 " It was an unpropitious fate for us, an auspicious one for hi-r 
 designs, that threw him, after he separated from our party, into 
 the company of Mr. Townley. He did not scruple to use this 
 contemptible instrument. Let our trying age of estrangement 
 bear testimony to the efficacy of the means employed. He eli- 
 cited, from Louise, information that notif ed him of his success
 
 444 M O 8 8 - 8 I D E . 
 
 He talked with you of me, and exulted in the confusion wbick 
 betokened a spirit wrung by anguish, and an undying interest in 
 the lover of your happier days ; for, darling unoffending dov 
 as you were, your father had been his foe 1 Towards me, he ex 
 perienced some natural drawing of heart, something akin U 
 affection, but it was not paternal tenderness. He had accident- 
 ally seen me in a public thoroughfare the day preceding bin 
 death, had inquired of an acquaintance where I was lodging, 
 and determined to pay me a visit at an early opportunity. We 
 met sooner than he expected. 
 
 " That is all, dear Grace. I do not lament the loss, to my- 
 self, of a parent who deserted me in my helpless infancy ; who 
 was the assassin of my mother ; who, without relenting, crashed 
 my dearest hope in life, to gratify his enmity of an innocent man. 
 I am humbled, ashamed to look my fellow-creatures in the face, 
 when I remember whose blood courses in my veins ; I do mourn 
 that his guilt was so great, and my own beloved 1 you appre- 
 ciate the unspeakable torture that attends upon the idea of hu 
 awfully sudden call to a world of judgment. Heaven knowi 
 what I suffered while I saw him die what I have suffered 
 since I" 
 
 " We will never speak will never, if we can avoid it, think 
 of this strange, dark history again," I said. " Let us rejoice in 
 the light that almost ' at evening-time,' has visited us I" 
 
 His features settled peacefully, as I tried to comfort him, to 
 exorcise the troubling spirit. 
 
 " At evening-time V he said, by and by. " We are just enter- 
 ing upon a gladly bright morning." 
 
 Then we were still. 
 
 The fire sang a low, but merry strain, the embers changed 
 from red to white, and back to red, with the consuming heat, 
 and then tinkled into ashes. The quaint chairs danced in their 
 several places, in the wickedly mischievous gleams of rising
 
 MOBS-SIDE. 44& 
 
 flame. Christmas fairies sported in every corner, tripped in the 
 magic ring to the chirp of the cricket. 
 
 There were sprites, as active and as gay, at work in the long- 
 closed chamber of my heart, sweeping away its- dust and cob- 
 webs ; purifying the airless tomb with morning breezes and 
 norning sunshine. Finally, they tore away the hatchment above 
 the door, that proclaimed it desolate by the death of hope, and 
 he room was readv for its master.
 
 M O 8 8- 8 I D B 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 been u wife for one year, aud again, 1 muse in the twi 
 ugnt. 
 
 But now it is summer weather, flowery June, as one might 
 know from this purplish light ; the love-souvenir, with which the 
 sun endows his most favorite month, over which her nights 
 dream, as her days rejoice. It should be perfumed light, for the 
 air holds, not breathes, fragrance as pervasive and delicate as its 
 blush. Through the windows, open to the floor, I overlook our 
 cottage-garden, with its modest wealth of flowers ; next, a quiet 
 village street lined by trees, its white houses set back, each in a 
 green covert of its own ; and beyond, there are glimmerings 
 like the shimmer of sun-darts upon a silver mirror. There rolls, in 
 tranquil majesty, the monarch of Northern rivers, whose dig- 
 nity they asperse, instead of extol, who name it " the Rhine of 
 America ;" its broad bosom heaving in the repose of conscious 
 might, its waves breaking, like the ripples of an inland lake, 
 against ramparts adamantine in strength, Titanic in propor- 
 tions. 
 
 It is a cozy room in which I am sitting. The furniture, 
 although not elaborate in quantity or style, would not corres- 
 pond with the antique simplicity of Moss-side. Yet there is one 
 thing which you, my reader-friend, have seen before. The pale 
 girl, with prayerful eyes, gases upward from the wall over tha 4 
 reading-chair, which will not be empty many minutes lougei
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 447 
 
 The bands of the clock are nearing the most welcome hour of 
 the day wi<h me that which declares that the day if 
 done. 
 
 The wife < f a year ! The fairies are very busy as I think this 
 icntence. It is a hint to them to draw forth and spread, ia 
 grand array, the treasures accumulated in the chamber they 
 found so - empty two winters agone. Brave riches they are 
 which they disentomb from the coffers ! Every day has there 
 Diementoes, more precious than diamonds ; there are strings of 
 pearls, linked hours of unbroken bliss ; and the pure gold of 
 affection knows neither flaw nor stain. My constant prayer is 
 that the wondrous beauty of earthly gifts may not weaken the 
 eye which would look beyond them, to the giver ; would survey 
 them as earnests of life and love and home, as far more excel- 
 'ent than this abundant happiness, as this transcends the most 
 gloomy pass of my journey hitherto. 
 
 On the table there lies a daintily-shaped black glove, toe 
 email for my hand. May lost it here to-day, which she spent 
 Trith me. I found it but a minute since, after she had gone. 
 $he will call for it again soon, for she is as often with us as in 
 icr home-proper. Loving, bright-tempered, deep in heart and 
 thought, she is still my soul-sister, doubly beloved, that she 
 aided in the establishment of what I now enjoy. 
 
 Last Christmas, we all assembled at Moss-side, as we shall 
 continue to do, from year to year, while our father lives. His 
 robust health gives no sign of failing, his mind is vigorous ag 
 ever, his heart overflows with love to God and to man, his faith 
 g perfected " so as by fire." He misses me yet, he says, and 1 
 ore to believe it ; knowing, as I do, that it is a want of the 
 affections only, since in his outward estate, nothing is lacking 
 that could conduce to his happiness. He has a gallant, trusts 
 worthy son, erer at band, with whom to advise, upon whom to
 
 MOSS-SIDE. 
 
 lean. The generous, gay-spirited boy has learned many lessoui 
 m domestic virtue and piety from his wife. 
 
 I smile as I apply to Lilly the term, that sits well, with my 
 thirty-second year, upon me. Her marriage was deferred for 
 ffcveral months after mine took place, until Peyton was ready ti 
 tuke possession of Moss-side as part owner and sole manager of 
 he plantation. This has been enlarged by the addition of 
 valuable adjoining tract ; a wedding-present from Mr. Peyton to 
 his na no-sake, and which was formerly attached to the Linden 
 domain. 
 
 Mrs. Bell went to her rest last year. By her request, she was 
 laid, not beside her husband, in the ground now owned by 
 stranger 3 ; nor yet, with the still-remembered " Mary," in the 
 dutifully-tended " God's acre," of Linden, but upon the knoll 
 above the spring, at the old brown cottage, close to two other 
 mounds, marked by plain head-stones and inscribed with texts 
 of Scripture. Over against the older and shorter is written, 
 " Well done thou good and faithful servant 1" over the other 
 " Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." They were old Zack'a 
 dying words, as they had been his wife's. There, mistress and 
 servants, they sleep, near where they labored in concert. United 
 they were, in prosperity and adversity, here. In the change- 
 less day of their everlasting home, they walk in company friends 
 and equals in the sight of angels and of Him who created 
 and who redeemed them. Together, they bore the heat and 
 burden of the day ; together, they reap their exceeding great 
 reward. 
 
 The Townleys were at my marriage ; and from no other guest 
 lid I receive a more affable and elaborate congratulation 
 than from the lawyer-brother. He had had his plans, and the 
 day of their triumph. No principle of his nature or policy bada 
 him trumpet their defeat by exposing his chagrin. He repra
 
 MObS-SIDE. 
 
 Ms county in the Legislature last winter ; he will 
 " run " for Senator of his District the coming Fall, and the 
 opposition will be slight, for he is a " popular man." 
 
 I move my chair impatiently at thoughts, which my presea 
 Lappinese cannot quite teach me to discard. Au aromatic sig'i 
 from a vase of flowers upon the stand I have jostled remind! 
 me of their donor. Mr. Wilson brought them up to me, last 
 evening, when he accompanied Herbert out of town to tea. 
 He is often our guest, but visits nowhere else voluntarily, and 
 without his lady. 
 
 She is true to the letter of her obligations to him, and th 
 most approved moral code of appearances, in always requiring 
 his escort in public. She furthermore defers to the law of 
 the land and the general sentiment of the community by con- 
 tinuing to reside under his roof ; to eat of his bread and dispose 
 of his money ; while she battles with pen and tongue, in print 
 and in parlors, for " Woman's independence ;" her " rights of 
 property and suffrage," and " the sovereign, undisputed mainte- 
 nance of her absolute individuality." 
 
 Her Howard's Gallic-Swiss governess is superseded by a 
 foreign tutor of equally ambiguous nationality. The boy is a 
 prodigy of genius and learning, Louise tells us. I would love 
 him better if he had been taught to practise the fifth command- 
 ment. I question if he ever so much as read it ; for in his 
 mother's "Age of Progress," these p/imitive land-marks are 
 left far behind. 
 
 She was disappointed in her brother's choice of a. partner. 
 Mrs. Wynne the elder took pains that I should not live and die 
 in ignorance of this, which was no news to me. I am " anti- 
 quated in my tenets," my sister-in-law says " utterly devoid of 
 the progressive anima ;" " content to live forever in my hus- 
 band's shadow ; to own him as authority for doctrine ; dictate* 
 rf action ; liege of my person, possessions and will."
 
 i5C ' M O 8 S - S I D E . 
 
 How proudly I plead " Guilty I" to each count of this indict 
 raent, let every loving wife reply While the sap stirs in tin 
 heart of the princely oak, let the ivy cling and climb, closer and 
 yet more close to its Heaven-lent support ; drink of the show 
 ITS that refresh it ; flourish in its sunlight, and at last, in th 
 FUhr'n "own good time," He down with it in the dust t
 
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 ParsonThorne E.M. Buckingham so 
 
 Kenneth By Miss Sallie A. Brock. 
 
 75 
 
 Marston Hall L. Ella Byrd 50 
 Errors By Ruth Carter 50 
 
 Heart Hungry. Mrs. Westmoreland 
 Clifford Troupe. Do. 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 Unmistakable Flirtation Garner 75 
 
 Silcott Mill Maria D. Deslonde. 
 
 50 
 
 Wild Oats Florence Marryatt ... 50 
 
 John Maribel. Do. 
 
 5 
 
 Widow Cherry B. L. Farjeon ... s 
 Solomon Isaacs. Do. ... 50 
 
 Conquered l!y a New Author... 
 Tales from the Popular Operas 
 
 50 
 50 
 
 Doctor Mortimer Fannie Bean.. 50 
 
 Edith Murray Joanna Klathews 
 
 5 
 
 Two Brides-Bernard O'Reilly... 50 
 Vesta Vane L. Kins, R 50 
 
 San Miniato Mrs. C.V. Hamilton 
 All for Her A Tale of New York 
 
 oo 
 5 
 
 Louise and I Bv Cha. Dodge.. . 50 
 
 All for Him Author "All for Her." 
 
 5 
 
 My Queen By Sandette 50 
 
 For Each Other. Do. 
 
 50 
 
 Fallen among Thieves Rayne. . 50 
 
 Walworth's Novels Six vols. ... 
 
 75
 
 CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS. 
 
 A NEW l EDITION. 
 
 Amonf the many editions of the works of this greatest o/ 
 English Novelists, there has not been until now one that entirely 
 satisfies the public demand. Without exception, they each have 
 wime stiong distinctive objection, either the form and dimen- 
 sions of the volumes are unhandy or, the type is small am} 
 indistinct or, the illustrations are unsatisfactory or, the bind- 
 ing is poor or, the price is too high. 
 
 An entirely new edition is now, however, published by G. \V. 
 Carleton & Co., of New York, which, in every respect, com- 
 pletely satisfies the popular demand. It is known as 
 
 "Carleton's New Illustrated Edition." 
 
 COMPLETE IN 15 VOLUMES. 
 
 The size and form is most convenient for holding, the type is 
 entirely new, and of a clear and open character that has received 
 the approval of the reading community in other works. 
 
 The illustrations a-e by the original artists chosen by Charles 
 Dickens himself and the paper, printing, and binding are of an 
 attractive and substantial character. 
 
 This beautiful new edition is complete in 15 volumes at the 
 extremely reasonable price of $1.50 per volume, as follows : 
 
 I. PICKWICK PAPERS AND CATALOGUE. 
 
 2. OLIVER TWIST. UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. 
 
 3. DAVID COPPERFIELD. 
 
 4. GREAT EXPECTATIONS. ITALY AND AMERICA, 
 
 5. DOMBEY AND SON. 
 
 6. BAR NAB Y RUDGE AND EDWIN DROOD. 
 7. NICHOLAS NICKLEBY. 
 8. CURIOSITY SHOP AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 9. BLEAK HOUSE. 
 10. LITTLE DORRIT. 
 
 11. MARTIN CHUZZLKWTT. 
 
 12. OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. 
 
 13 . CHRISTMAS BOOKS. TALK OF TWO CITIES. 
 
 14. SKETCHES BY BOZ AND HARD TIMES. 
 
 15. CHILD'S ENGLAND AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 The first volume Pickwick Papers contains an alphabetical 
 catalogue of a'l of Charles Dickens' writings, with their exact 
 positions in the volumes. 
 
 This edition is sold by Booksellers, everywhere and einglf 
 ipecimen copies will be forwarded by mail, postage free, on re- 
 ceipt of price, $1.50, by 
 
 G. W. CARLETON A CO., Publishers, 
 
 Madison Square, New York.
 
 MRS. MARY J. HOLMES- WORKS. 
 
 TKMPEST AND SUNSHINE. 
 
 ENGLISH ORPHANS. 
 
 HOMESTEAD ON HILLSIDE. 
 
 I.1..XA RIVERS. 
 
 MEADOW BROOK. 
 
 DORA !: 
 
 COUSIN MAUDE. 
 
 MARIAN GREY. 
 
 EDITH LYLE. 
 
 DAISY THORNTON. (Nm>). 
 
 DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. 
 
 HUGH WORTHINGTON. 
 
 CAMERON I'RIDK 
 
 ROSE MATHER. 
 
 ETHELYN'S MISTAKE. 
 
 MILLS ANK. 
 
 EDNA 15ROWNING. 
 
 WEST LAWN. 
 
 MILDRED. 
 
 FORREST HOUSE. (Kev>). ' 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 "Mrs. Holmes' stories are universally read. Her admirers are numberless. 
 She is in many respects without a rival in the world of fiction. Her characters are 
 always life-like, and she makes them talk and act like human beings, subject to the 
 tarn* emotions, swayed by the same passions, and actuated by the same motive* 
 which arc comm >n among men and women of every day existence. Mrs. Hulmet 
 is very happy in portraying domestic life. Old and young peruse her stories 
 with great delight for she writes in a style that all can comprehend." .Veiv 
 York Weekly. 
 
 The North American Review, vol. 81, page 557, snys of Mrs. Mary J. 
 Homes' novel, "English Orphans ":" With this novel of Mrs. Holmes' we have 
 been charmed, and so have a pretty numerous circle of discriminating readers to 
 whom we have lent it The characterization is exquisite, especially so far as 
 concerns rural an,', vill i :e life, of which there are !>me pictures that deserve to 
 be hung >ip in perpetual memory of types of humani-y fast becoming extinct. 'Die 
 di.ilipues ar generally br.ef, pointed, and appropriate. The plot seems simple, 
 so easily and naturally is it developed and consummated. Moreover, the story 
 thus gracefully constructed and written, inculcates without obtruding, not only 
 pure Christian morality in general, bur, with especial point and powir, the depen- 
 dence of true success on character, and of true respectability on merit. 1 ' 
 
 "Mrs. Holmei' stories are all of a domestic character, and their interest, there- 
 fore, is not so intense as if they were more highly seasoned with sensationalism, 
 but it is of a healthy and abiding character. Almost any new book which her 
 publisher mi^ht choose to announce from her pen would get an immediate and 
 general reading. The interest in her tales begins at once, and is maintained to 
 the close. Her sentiments are so sound, her sympathies so warm and ready, 
 ami l.er knowledge of manners, character, and the varied incidents of ordinary 
 life is so thorough, that she would find it difficult to write any other than an 
 excslL-nt talc if she were to try it." Batten Banner. 
 
 J3ET" The volumes are all handsomely printed and bound in cloth, sold ever^ 
 i sent by mail, postage free^ on receipt of price [1.50 each], by 
 
 G. W. CARLETON & CO., Publishers, 
 
 Madison Square, New York.
 
 Xr 
 
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