of California 
 i Regional 
 Facility
 
 /A fj
 
 JOSEPH A XI) HIS FRIEND 
 
 K $tori) of pennsjjluama. 
 
 BY 
 
 BAYARD TAYLOR. 
 
 The better angel is a man right fair : 
 The worser spirit a woman coloured ill. 
 
 SHAKSPEABE: Sonnets. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, 
 
 FOURTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET. 
 
 LONDON: 
 S. Low, SON & MARSTON. 
 
 1870.
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 I. Joseph 1 
 
 II. Miss Blessing , 11 
 
 III. The Place and People 22 
 
 IV. Miss Blessing- calls on Pwachel Miller 31 
 
 V. Ehvood's Evening, and Joseph's 43 
 
 VI. In the Garden 53 
 
 VII. The Blessing Family GG 
 
 VIII. A Consultation 81 
 
 IX. Joseph and his Friend 89 
 
 X. Approaching Fate 101 
 
 XI. A City Wedding 11B 
 
 XII. Clouds 123 
 
 XIII. Presentiments 133 
 
 XIV. The Amaranth 142 
 
 XV. A Dinner Party 155
 
 VI COXTKXTS. 
 
 TAGK 
 
 XVI. Joseph's Trouble, and Philip's 1<>8 
 
 XVII. A Storm 1 70 
 
 XVlit. On the KiuLroad Track 190 
 
 XIX. Tlie ' Wharf-nit " 201 
 
 XX. A Crisis 208 
 
 XXI. Under the Water 218 
 
 XXII. Kanuck 2:51 
 
 XXIII. Julia's Experiment 243 
 
 XXIV. Fate , . . 253 
 
 XXV. The Mourners 268 
 
 XXVI. The Accusation 280 
 
 XXVII. The Labels 290 
 
 XXVIII. The Trial 303 
 
 XXIX. New Evidence 315 
 
 XXX. Mr. Blessing's Testimony 325 
 
 XXXI. Beginning another Life 837 
 
 XXXII. Letters I. Joseph to Philip 348 
 
 XXXIII. All are Happy , . 357
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FEIEXD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 RACHEL MILLER was not a little surprised when her nephew 
 Joseph came to the supper-table, not from the direction of 
 the barn and throiigh the kitchen, as usual, but from the 
 back room up stairs, where he slept. His work-day dress 
 had disappeared ; he wore his best Sunday suit, put on with 
 unusual care, and there were faint pomatum odors in the air 
 when he sat down to the table. 
 
 Her face said and she knew it as plain as any words, 
 " What in the world does this mean ? " Joseph, she saw, 
 endeavored to look as though coming down to supper in that 
 costume were his usual habit ; so she poured out the tea in 
 silence. Her silence, however, was eloquent ; a hundred 
 interrogation-marks would not have expressed its import ; 
 and Dennis, the hired man, who sat on the other side of the 
 table, experienced very much the same apprehension of some- 
 thing forthcoming, as when he had killed her favorite speckled 
 hen by mistake. 
 
 Before the meal was over, the tension between Joseph and 
 
 his aunt had so increased by reason of their mutual silence, 
 1
 
 thai it was very awkward and oppressive to both ; yet 
 neither knew how to break it easily. There is always a great 
 deal of unnecessary reticence in the intercourse of country 
 people, and in the case of those two it had been specially 
 strengthened by the want of every relationship except that 
 of blood. They were quite ignorant of the fence, the easy 
 thrust and parry of society, where talk becomes an art ; 
 silence or the bhmtcst utterance were their alternatives, and 
 now the one had neutralized the other. Both felt this, and 
 Dennis, in his dull way, felt it too. Although not a party 
 concerned, he was uncomfortable, yet also internally con- 
 scious of a desire to laugh. 
 
 The resolution of the crisis, however, came by his aid. 
 When the meal was finished and Joseph betook himself to 
 the window, awkwardly drumming upon the pane, while his 
 aunt gathered the plates and cups together, delaying to re- 
 move them as was her wont, Dennis said, with his hand on 
 the door-knob: "Shall I saddle the horse right off?" 
 
 " I guess so," Joseph answered, after a moment's hesita- 
 tion. 
 
 Rachel paused, with the two silver spoons in her hand. 
 Joseph was still drumming upon the window, but with very 
 irregular taps. The door closed upon Dennis. 
 
 " Well," said she, with singular calmness, " a body is not 
 bound to dress particularly fine for watching, though 1 
 would as soon show him that much respect, if need be, as 
 anybody else. Don't forget to ask Maria if there 's any- 
 thing I can do for her." 
 
 Joseph turned around with a start, a most innocent sur- 
 prise on his face. 
 
 " Why, aunt, what are you talking about ? " 
 
 " You are not going to Warne's to watch ? They have
 
 nearer neighbors, to be sure, but wh^n a man dies, pvery- 
 hodv is free to oiler their services, lie was ahvays strong in 
 the faith." 
 
 Joseph knew that he was oaucrht, without suspecting her 
 manoeuvre. A brighter color ran over his face, up to the 
 roots of his hair. " VThy, no ! " lie exclaimed ; ' ; I am going 
 to Warriners to spend the evening. There's to be a little 
 company there, a neighborly gathering. I believe it's 
 been talked of this long while, but I was only invited to- 
 day. I saw Bob, in the road-field." 
 
 Rachel endeavored to conceal from her nephew's eye the 
 immediate impression of his words. A constrained smile 
 passed over her face, and was instantly followed by a cheer- 
 ful relief in his. 
 
 " Isn't it rather a strange time of year for evening par- 
 ties ? " she then asked, with a touch of severity in her 
 voice. 
 
 " They meant to have it in cherry-time, Bob said, when 
 Anna's visitor had come from town." 
 
 " That, indeed ! I see ! " Rachel exclaimed. " It's to be 
 a sort of celebration for what's-her-name ? Blessing, I 
 know, but the other? Anna Wurriner was there last 
 Christmas, and I don't suppose the high notions are out of 
 her head yet. Well, I hope it'll be some time before they 
 take root here ! Peace and quiet, peace and quiet, that's 
 been the token of the neighborhood ; but town ways are the 
 reverse." 
 
 "All the young people are going," Joseph mildly sug- 
 gested, " and so " 
 
 " O, I don't say you shouldn't go, this time," Rachel in- 
 terrupted him ; " for you ought to be able to judge for your- 
 self what's fit and proper, and what is not. I should be sorry,
 
 4: JOSKPH AND HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 to be sure, to see you doing anything and going nnywhei-o 
 that would make your mother uneasy if she were living now. 
 It's so hard to be conscientious, and to mind a body's 
 bouiiden duty, without seeming to interfere." 
 
 She heaved a deep sigh, and just touched the corner of 
 her apron to her eyes. The mention of his mother always 
 softened Joseph, and in. his earnest desire to live so that his 
 life might be such as to give her joy if she could share it, a 
 film of doubt spread itself over the smooth, pure surface of 
 his mind. A vague consciousness of his inability to express 
 himself clearly upon the question without seeming to slight 
 her memory aiFected his thoughts. 
 
 (t But, remember, Aunt Rachel," he said, at last, " I was 
 not old enough, then, to go into society. She surely meant 
 that I should have some independence, when the time came. 
 I am doing no more than all the young men of the neigh- 
 borhood." 
 
 " Ah, yes, I know," she replied, in a melancholy tone ; 
 " but they've got used to it by degrees, and mostly in their 
 own homes, and with sisters to caution them ; whereas you're 
 younger according to your years, and innocent of the ways 
 and wiles of men, and and girls." 
 
 Joseph painfully felt that this last assertion was true. 
 Suppressing the impulse to exclaim, " Why am I younger 
 ' according to my years ? ' why am I so much more ' inno- 
 cent' which is, ignorant than others?" he blundered out, 
 with a little display of temper, " Well, how am I ever to 
 learn?" 
 
 " By patience, and taking care of yourself. There's al- 
 ways safety in waiting. I don't mean you shouldn't go this 
 evening, since you've promised it, and made yourself smart. 
 But, mark my words, this is only the beginning. The season
 
 makes no difference ; townspeople, never scorn to know that 
 there's such things as hay-harvest and corn to be worked. 
 They come out fur merry-makings in the busy time, ;uid 
 \vant us country folks to give up everything for their pleasure. 
 The tired plough-horses must be geared up for 'em, and the 
 cows wait an hour or two longer to be milked while they're 
 driving around ; and the chickens killed half-grown, and the 
 washing and baking put oil' when it comes in their wav. 
 They're mighty nice and friendly while it lasts ; but go back 
 to 'em in town, six months afterwards, and see whether 
 they'll so much as ask you to take a meal's victuals ! " 
 
 Joseph began to laugh. " It is not likely," he said, " that 
 I shall ever go to the Blessings for a meal, or that this Miss 
 Julia as they call her will ever interfere with our har- 
 vesting or milking." 
 
 " The airs they put on ! " Rachel continued. " She'll 
 very likely think that she's doing you a favor by so much as 
 speaking to you. "When the Bishops had boarders, two years 
 ago, one of 'em said, Maria told me with her own mouth, 
 ' Why don't all the farmers follow your example ? It 
 would be so refining for them ! ' They may be very well in 
 their place, but, for my part, I should like them to stay 
 there." 
 
 " There comes the horse," said Joseph. " I must be on 
 the way. I expect to meet Elwood Withers at the lane-end. 
 But about waiting, Aunt you hardly need " 
 
 " O, yes, I'll wait for you, of course. Ten o'clock is nob 
 so very late for me." 
 
 " It might be a little after," he suggested. 
 
 " Not much, I hope ; but if it should be daybreak, wait 
 I will ! Your mother couldn't expect less of me." 
 
 When Joseph whirled into the saddle, the thought of his
 
 C JO^Kl'II AND HIS FUIKNn. 
 
 aunt, grimly waiting for his return, was already perched 
 like an imp on the crupper, and clung to his sides with claws 
 of steel. She, looking through the window, also felt that it 
 was so ; and, much relieved, went back to her household 
 duties. 
 
 He rode very slowly down the lane, with his eyes fixed on 
 the ground. There was a rich orange ilush of sunset on the 
 hills across the valley ; masses of burning cumuli hung, self- 
 suspended, above the farthest woods, and such depths of 
 purple-gray opened beyond them as are wont to rouse tho 
 slumbering fancies and hopes of a young man's heart ; but 
 the beauty and fascination and suggestiveness of the hour 
 could not lift his downcast, absorbed glance. At last his 
 horse, stopping suddenly at the gate, gave a whinny of re- 
 cognition, which was answered. 
 
 El wood "Withers laughed. " Can you tell me where 
 Joseph Asten lives? "lie cried, "an old man, very much 
 bowed and bent." 
 
 Joseph also laughed, with a blush, as he met the other's 
 strong, friendly face. " There is plenty of time," he said, 
 leaning over his horse's neck and lifting the latch of the gate. 
 
 " All right ; but you must noAv wake up. You're spruce 
 enough to make a figure to-night." 
 
 " O, no doubt ! " Joseph gravely answered ; " but what 
 kind of a figure ? " 
 
 " Some people, I've heard say," said Elwood, " may look 
 into their looking-glass every day, and never know how they 
 look. If you appeared to yourself as you appear to me, you 
 wouldn't ask such a question as that." 
 
 " If I could only not think of myself at all, Elwood, if 
 I could be as unconcerned as you are " 
 
 " But I'm not, Joseph, my boy ! " Elwood interrupted,
 
 .TOSKl'JI AM) JI1- FL11KNJ). 7 
 
 riding nearer and laying a han-l on his friend's shoulder. "I 
 tell von, it weakens my very marrow to walk into a room 
 full o' girls, even, though I know every one of 'em. They 
 know it, too, and, shy and quiet as they seem, they're 1111- 
 mereiful. There tliey sit, all looking so different, somehow, 
 even a fellow's own sisters and cousins, lilling up all 
 sides of the room, rustling a little and whispering a little, but 
 you feel that every one of 'em has her eyes on you, and 
 would be so glad to see you ilustered. There's no help for 
 it, though; we've got to grow case-hardened to that much, or 
 how ever could a man get married ? " 
 
 " Elwood ! " Joseph asked, after a moment's silence, " were 
 you ever in love ? " 
 
 " Well," and Elwood pulled up his horse in surprise, 
 "well, you do come out plump. You take the breath out of 
 my body. Have I been in love ? Have I committed murder ? 
 One's about as deadly a secret as the other ! " 
 
 The two looked each other in the face. Elwood's eyes 
 answered the question, but Joseph's, large, shy, and utterly 
 innocent, could not read the answer. 
 
 "It's easy to see you've never been," said the former, 
 dropping his voice to a grave gentleness. " If I should say 
 Yes, what then ? " 
 
 " Then, how do you know it, I mean, how did you first 
 begin to find it out ? What is the difference between that 
 and the feeling you have towards any pleasant girl whom you 
 like to be with ? " 
 
 " All the difference in the world ! " Elwood exclaimed with 
 energy ; then paused, and knitted his brows with a perplex- 
 ed air ; " but I'll be shot if I know exactly what else to 
 say; I never thought of it before. How do I know that I 
 am Elwood Withers? It geems just as plain as that, and
 
 8 josMj'ii .AND in* Fi:rr:_\ix 
 
 yet well, for one tiling, she's always in your mind, and you 
 think and dream of just nothing but her; and you'd rather 
 have the hem of her dress touch you than kiss anybody else ; 
 and you want to be near her, and to have her ail to yourself, 
 yet it's hard work to speak a sensible word to her when you 
 come together, but, what's the use ? A fellow must feel it 
 himself, as they say of experiencing religion; he must get 
 converted, or he'll never know. Now, 1 don't suppose 
 you've understood a word of what I've said ! " 
 
 "Yes!" Joseph answered; "indeed, I think so. It's 
 only an increase of what we all feel towards some persons. 
 I have been hoping, latterly, that it might come to me, but 
 but" 
 
 " But your time will come, like every man's," said El- 
 wood ; " and, maybe, sooner than you think. When it does, 
 you won't need to ask anybody ; though I think you're 
 bound to tell me of it, after pumping my own secret out of 
 me." 
 
 Joseph looked grave. 
 
 " Never mind ; I wasn't obliged to let you have it. I 
 know you're close-mouthed and honest-hearted, Joseph ; but 
 I'll never ask your confidence unless you can give it as freely 
 as I give mine to you." 
 
 " You shall have it, Elwood, if my time ever comes. And 
 I can't help wishing for the time, although it may not be 
 right. You know how lonely it is on the farm, and yet it's 
 not always easy for me to get away into company. Aunt 
 Rachel stands in mother's place to me, and maybe it's only 
 natural that she should be over-concerned ; any way, seeing 
 what she has done for my sake, I am hindered from oppos- 
 ing her wishes too stubbornly. Now, to-night, my goinw 
 didn't seem right to her, and I shall not get it out of my
 
 9 
 
 mind that she is availing up, and perhaps fretting, ou my 
 account." 
 
 ''A vounc: fellow of vour n^'e mustn't be so tender," El- 
 
 O 
 
 wood said. ''If you had your own father raid mother, 
 thevM allow you more of a rung. 1 . Look at me, with mine ! 
 Why, I never us much as say 'by your leave.' Quite the 
 contrary; so long as the work isn't .slighted, they're rather 
 glad than not to have me go out ; and the house is twice as 
 lively since I bring so much fresh gus.-.ip into it. But then, 
 I've had a rougher bringing up." 
 
 " I wish I had had ! " cried Joseph. " Yet, no, when I 
 think of mother, it is wrong to say just that. "What I 
 mean is, I wish I could take things as easily as you, make 
 my way boldly in the world, without being held back by 
 trifles, or getting so confused with all sorts of doubts. The 
 more anxious I am to do right, the more embarrassed I am to 
 know what is the right thing. I don't believe yon have any 
 such troubles." 
 
 " Well, for my part, I do about as other fellows ; no 
 worse, I guess, and likely no better. You must consider, 
 also, that I'm a bit rougher made, besides the bringing \ip, 
 and that makes a deal of difference. I don't try to make 
 the scales balance to a grain ; if there's a handful under or 
 over, I think it's near enough. However, you'll be all right 
 in a while. When you find the right girl and marry her, 
 it'll put a new face on to you. There's nothing like a sharp, 
 wide-awake wife, so they say, to set a man straight. Don't 
 make a mountain of anxiety out of a little molehill of inex- 
 perience. I'd take all your doubts and more, I'm sure, if I 
 could get such a two-hundred-acre farm with them." 
 
 " Do you know," cried Joseph eagerly, his blue eyes 
 
 flashing thi-ougk the gathering dusk, " I have often thought 
 1*
 
 10 .TOSKI'II AND JUS FIUKXD. 
 
 very nearly the .sumo thing ! ]f I wore to love, if I wore 
 to marry 
 
 "liu.sh!" interrupted Ehvood ; "I know you don't 
 mean, others to hear you. Here come two down the 
 branch road." 
 
 The horsemen, neighboring farmers' sons, joined them. 
 They rode together up the knoll towards the AVarriner 
 mansion, the lights of which glimmered at intervals through 
 the trees. The gate was open, and a dozen vehicles could 
 be seen in the enclosure between the house and barn. Bright, 
 gliding forms were visible on the portico. 
 
 " Just see," whispered Ehvood to Joseph ; " what a lot of 
 posy-colors ! You may be sure they're every one watching 
 us. ISTo flinching, mind ; straight to the charge ! We'll 
 walk up together, and it won't be half as hard for you."
 
 11 
 
 CHAPTER IT 
 
 To consider the evening party at ~\V arriner's a scene of 
 "dissipation" as some of the good old people of the neigh- 
 borhood undoubtedly did \vas about as absurd as to call 
 butter-milk an intoxicating beverage. Anything more 
 simple and innocent could not well be imagined. The very 
 awkwardness which everybody felt, and which no one ex- 
 actly knew how to overcome, testified of virtuous ignorance. 
 The occasion was no more than sufficed, for the barest need 
 of human nature. Young men and women must come to- 
 gether for acquaintance and the possibilities of love, and, 
 fortunately, neither labor nor the severer discipline of their 
 elders can prevent them. 
 
 Where social recreation thus only exists under discourag- 
 ing conditions, ease and grace and self-possession cannot be 
 expected. Had there been more form, in fact, there would 
 have been more ease. A conventional disposition of the 
 guests would have reduced the loose elements of the com- 
 pany to some sort of order ; the shy country nature would 
 have taken refuge in fixed laws, and found a sense of free- 
 dom therein. But there were no generally understood rules ; 
 the young people were brought together, delighted yet im- 
 comfortable, craving yet shrinking from speech and jest and 
 song, and painfully working their several isolations into a 
 warmer common atmosphere. 
 
 On this occasion, the presence of a stranger, and that
 
 12 jo>r.i'ii AXJJ ins nrn:.vi>. 
 
 stranger a lady, and thai lady a visitor {Vc,ia the ciiy, wns 
 fiu additional restraint. The dread of a critical eye is most 
 keenly felt by those who secretly acknowledge their o\vu 
 lack of social accomplishment. Anna "\Vurriner, to be sure, 
 had been, loud in her praises of " dear Julia," and the guests 
 were prepared to find all possible beauty and sweetness; but 
 they expected, none the less, to be scrutinized and judged. 
 
 Bob Warriner met bis friends at the gate and conducted 
 them to the parlor, whither the young ladies, who had been 
 watching the arrival, had retreated. They were disposed 
 along the walls, silent and cool, except Miss Blessing, who 
 occupied a rocking-chair in front of the mantel-piece, where 
 her figure was in half-shadow, the lamplight only touching 
 some roses in her hair. As the gentlemen were presented, 
 she lifted her face and smiled upon each, graciously offering 
 a slender hand. In manner and attitude, as in dress, she 
 seemed a different being from the plump, ruddy, self-con- 
 scious girls 011 the sofas. Her dark hair fell about her neck 
 in long, shining ringlets ; the fairness of her face heightened 
 the brilliancy of her eyes, the lids of which were slightly 
 drooped as if kindly veiling their beams ; and her lips, although 
 thin, were very sweetly and delicately curved. Her dress, of 
 some white, foamy texture, hung about her like a trailing 
 cloud, and the cluster of rosebuds on her bosom lay as if 
 tossed there. 
 
 The young men, spruce as they had imagined themselves 
 to be, suddenly felt that their clothes were coarse and ill-fit- 
 ting, and that the girls of the neighborhood, in their neat 
 gingham and muslin dresses, were not quite so airy and 
 charming as on former occasions. Miss Blessing, descending 
 to them out of an unknown higher sphere, made their defi- 
 ciencies xmwelcomely evident; she attracted and fascinated
 
 jo.-iii'ii AXD IKS n;rKxn. 13 
 
 them, yec was none the lo.->s a disturbing ini'hience. They made 
 husi-e to iliid seats, after which a constrained Silence followed. 
 
 There could be no doubt of- .Miss Blessing's amiable 
 nature. >She looked about with a pleasant expression, half 
 smik-d but deprecatingly, us if to say, ' ; i'ray, don't be 
 oii'i'iuled!" at tin; awkward silence, and then said, in a 
 clear, carefully modulated voice: "It is beautiful to arrive 
 at twilight, but how charming it must be to ride home in 
 the moonlight; so different from our lamps ! ' 
 
 The guests looked at each other, but as she had seemed to 
 address no one in. particular, so each hesitated, and there 
 was no immediate reply. 
 
 " But is it not awful, tell me, Elizabeth, when you get 
 into the shadows of the forests ? we are so apt to associate all 
 sorts of unknown dangers with, forests, you know," she con- 
 tinued. 
 
 The young lady thus singled out made haste to answer : 
 " O, no ! I rather like it, when I have company." 
 
 El wood Withers laughed. " To be sure ! " he exclaimed ; 
 " the shade is full of opportunities." 
 
 Then there were little shrieks, and some giggling and 
 blushing. Miss Blessing shook her fan warningly at the 
 speaker. 
 
 " How wicked in you ! I hope you will have to ride 
 home alone to-night, after that speech. But you are all 
 courageous, compared with us. We are really so restricted 
 in the city, that it's a wonder we have any independence at 
 all. In many ways, we are like children." 
 
 " O Julia, dear ! " protested Anna Warriner, " and such 
 advantages as you have ! I shall never forget the day Mrs. 
 Rockaway called her husband's cashier of the Commercial 
 Bank" (this was said in a parenthesis to the other guests)
 
 1J: JOSEPH AND JIJ3 FUIKM). 
 
 " and brought you all the news direct from head-quarters, 
 as she said." 
 
 " Yes," Miss Blessing answered, slowly, casting down her 
 eyes, "there must be two sides to everything, of course ; but 
 how much we miss until we know the country ! lleally, I 
 quite envy you." 
 
 Joseph had found himself, almost before he knew it, in a 
 corner, beside Lucy Henderson. He felt soothed and happy, 
 for of all the girls present he liked Lucy best. In the few 
 meetings of the young people which he had attended, he had 
 been drawn towards her by an instinct founded, perhaps, on 
 his shyness and the consciousness of it; for she alone had 
 the power, by a few kindly, simple words, to set him at ease 
 with himself. The straightforward glance of her large brown 
 eyes seemed to reach the self below the troubled surface. 
 However much his ears might have tingled afterwards, as 
 he recalled how frankly and freely he had talked with her, 
 he could only remember the expression of an interest equally 
 frank, upon her face. She never dropped one of those 
 amused side-glances, or uttered one of those pert, satirical 
 remarks, the recollection of which in other girls stung him 
 to the quick. 
 
 Their conversation was interrupted, for when Miss Bless- 
 ing spoke, the others became silent. What Elwood Withers 
 had said of the phenomena of love, however, lingered in 
 Joseph's mind, and he began, involuntarily, to examine the 
 nature of his feeling for Lucy Henderson. Was she not 
 often in his thoughts ? He had never before asked himself 
 the question, but now he suddenly became conscious that 
 the hope of meeting her, rather than any curiosity concern- 
 ing Miss Blessing, had drawn him to Warriner's. Would 
 he rather touch the edge of her dress than kiss anybody else?
 
 JOSI:IMI AND ins FI:U::\D. 15 
 
 That question drew his eyes to her lips, and with a soft 
 shook of the heart, he became aware of their freshness and 
 sweetness as never before. To touch the edge of her dress! 
 Elwood had said nothing of the lovelier and bolder desire 
 Avhich brought the bluod swiftly to his cheeks, lie could 
 not help it that their glances met, a moment only, but an 
 unmeasured time of delight and fear to him, and then Lucy 
 quickly turned away her head. He fancied there was a 
 heightened color on her face, but when, she spoke to him a 
 few minutes afterwards it was gone, and .she was as calm 
 and composed as before. 
 
 In the mean time there had been other arrivals ; and 
 Joseph was presently called upon, to give up his place to 
 some ladies from the neighboring town. Many invitations 
 had been issued, and the capacity of the parlor was soon ex- 
 hausted. Then the sounds of merry chat on the portico 
 invaded the stately constraint of the room ; and Miss Bless- 
 ing, rising gracefully and not too rapidly, laid her hands to- 
 gether and entreated Anna Warriner, 
 
 " O, do let us go outside ! I think we are well enough 
 acquainted now to sit on the steps together." 
 
 She made a gesture, slight but irresistibly inviting, and 
 all arose. While they were cheerfully pressing out through 
 the hall, she seized Anna's arm and drew her back into the 
 dusky nook under the staircase. 
 
 " Quick, Anna ! " she whispered ; " who is the roguish 
 one they call Elwood ? What is he ? " 
 
 " A farmer ; works his father's place on shares." 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed Miss Blessing, in a peculiar tone ; 
 " and the blue-eyed, handsome one, who came in with him ? 
 He looks almost like a boy." 
 
 " Joseph Asten ? Why, he's twenty-two or three. He
 
 10 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 has OHO of the finest properties in the neighborhood, find 
 money besides, they say; lives alone, with an old dragon of 
 an annt MS housekeeper. Now, Julia dear, there's a chance 
 for you ! " 
 
 " Pshaw, you silly Anna ! " whispered Miss Blessing, 
 playfully pinching her ear ; " you know I prefer intellect to 
 wealth." 
 
 " As for that" Anna began, but her friend was already 
 dancing down the hall towards the front door, her gossamer 
 skirts puffing and floating out until they brushed the walls 
 on either side. She hummed to herself, " O Night ! O lovely 
 Night ! " from the Desert, skimmed over the doorstep, and 
 sank, subsiding into an ethereal heap, against one of the pil- 
 lars of the portico. Her eyelids were now fully opened, and 
 the pupils, the color of which could not be distinguished in 
 the moonlight, seemed wonderfully clear and brilliant. 
 
 " Now, Mr. El wood O, excuse me, I mean Mr. Withers," 
 she began, "you must repeat your joke for my benefit. I 
 missed it, and I feel so foolish when I can't laugh with the 
 rest." 
 
 Anna Warriner, standing in the door, opened her eyes 
 very wide at what seemed to her to be the commencement 
 of a flirtation ; but before Elwood Withers could repeat his 
 rather stupid fun, she was summoned to the kitchen by her 
 mother, to superintend the preparation of the refreshments. 
 
 Miss Blessing made her hay while the moon shone. She 
 so entered into the growing spirit of the scene and accom- 
 modated herself to the speech and ways of the guests, that 
 in half an hour it seemed as if they had always known her. 
 She laughed with their merriment, and flattered their senti- 
 ment with a tender ballad or two, given in a veiled but not 
 unpleasant voice, and constantly appealed to their good-
 
 nature 1-v tlio phrase: '''Pray, don't mind me at all; I'm 
 like u child let out of school ! "' Shi.' tapped Eii/abeth Foi'g 
 Oil tht.' .-hould'T, stealthily tickled Jane iLcXiuiglitoii's neck 
 wiili a grass-blade, and took tho roses from her luiir to stick 
 into tin? buttonholes of tin 1 yon.ng men. 
 
 " Ju-,t see Julia !" whi.-peivd Anna Warrinor to her half- 
 dozen intim.uos ; " didn't 1 tell you ^he AVU.S the life of 
 society ? " 
 
 Jo.sopli had quite lost his uncomfortable sense of being 
 watched and criticized ; he enjoyed the unrestraint of the 
 hour as much as the rest. He was rather relieved to notice 
 that Elwood Withers seemed uneasy, and almost willing to 
 escape from the lively circle around Miss Blessing. By and 
 by the company broke into smaller groups, and Joseph again 
 found himself near the pale pink dress which he knew. 
 AYliat was it that separated him from her ? What had 
 slipped between them during the evening ? Nothing, ap- 
 parently ; for Lucy Henderson, perceiving him, quietly 
 moved nearer. He advanced a step, and they were side by 
 side. 
 
 " Do you enjoy these meetings, Joseph? " she asked. 
 
 " I think I should enjoy everything," he answered, "if I 
 were a little older, or or " 
 
 " Or more accustomed to society ? Is not that what you 
 meant ? It is only another kind of schooling, which we 
 must all have. You and I are in the lowest class, as we 
 once were, do you remember? " 
 
 " I don't know why," said he, " but I must be a poor 
 scholar. See Elwood, for instance ! " 
 
 " Elwood ! " Lucy slowly repeated ; " he is another kind 
 of nature, altogether." 
 
 There was a moment's silence. Joseph was about to speak,
 
 18 JOSJ'l'II AXD UTS FKIKXD. 
 
 when something wonderfully .soft touched las cheek, and a 
 delicate, violet-like odor swept upon his senses. A low, mu- 
 sical laugh sounded at hi.s very cur. 
 
 "There;! Did I frighten you?" said Miss Blessing. 
 She had stolen behind him, and, standing on tiptoe, reached 
 a light arm over his shoulder, to fasten her last rosebud m 
 the upper buttonhole of his coat. 
 
 " I tpjite overlooked you, Mr. Asten," she continued. 
 " Please turn a little towards me. Xow ! has it not a 
 charming effect ? I do like to see some kind of ornament 
 about the gentlemen, Lucy. And since they can't wear 
 anything in their hair, but, tell me, wouldn't a wreath of 
 flowers look well on Mr. Asten's head ? " 
 
 " I can't very well imagine such a thing," said Lucy. 
 
 " No ? "Well, perhaps I am foolish : but when one has es 
 caped from the tiresome conventionalities of city life, and 
 conies back to nature, and delightful natural society, one 
 feels so free to talk and think ! Ah, you don't know what 
 a luxury it is, just to be one's true self ! " 
 
 Joseph's eyes lighted up, and he turned towards Miss 
 Blessing, as if eager that she should continue to speak. 
 
 " Lucy," said Elwood Withers, approaching ; " you came 
 with the MeNaughtons, didn't you ? " 
 
 " Yes : are they going ? " 
 
 " They are talking of it now ; but the hour is early, and 
 if you don't mind riding on a pillion, you know my horse 
 is gentle and strong 
 
 " That's right, Mr. Withers ! " interrupted Miss Blessing. 
 " I depend upon you to keep Lucy with us. The night is at 
 its loveliest, and we are all just fairly enjoying each other's so- 
 ciety. As I was saying, Mr. Asten, you cannot conceive what 
 anew world this is to me: oh, I begin to breathe at last!"
 
 JOSF.PIl AXL) III3 I-M-JIEXI). 19 
 
 Therewith she drew a long, soft inspiration, and gently 
 exhaled it again, ending with a little flutter of the breath, 
 which made it seem like a sigh. A light laugh followed. 
 
 " I know, without looking at your face, that you are smil- 
 ing at me," said she. " But you have never experienced 
 what it is to be shy and uneasy in company ; to feel that 
 you are expected to talk, and not know what to say, and 
 when you do say something, to be startled at the sound of 
 your voice ; to stand, or walk, or sit, and imagine that every- 
 body is watching you ; to be introduced to strangers, and be 
 as awkward as if both spoke different languages, and were 
 unable to exchange a single thought. Here, in the coun- 
 try, you experience nothing of all this." 
 
 " Indeed, Miss Blessing," Joseph replied, " it is just the 
 same to us to me as city society is to you." 
 
 " How glad I am ! " she exclaimed, clasping her hands. 
 " It is very selfish in me to say it, but I can't help being sincere 
 towards the Sincere. I shall now feel ever so much more 
 freedom in talking with you, Mr. Asten, since we have one 
 experience in common. Don't you think, if we all knew 
 each other's natures truly, we should be a great deal more 
 at ease, and consequently happier ? " 
 
 She spoke the last sentence in a low, sweet, penetrating 
 tone, lifted her face to meet his gaze a moment, the eyes 
 large, clear, and appealing in their expression, the lips part- 
 ed like those of a child, and then, without waiting for his 
 answer, suddenly darted away, crying, " Yes, Anna dear ! " 
 
 " What is it, Julia ? " Anna Warriner asked. 
 
 " O, didn't you call me ? Somebody surely called some 
 Julia, and I'm the only one, am I not? I've just arranged 
 Mr. Asten's rosebud so prettily, and now all the gentlemen 
 are decorated. I'm afraid they think I take great liberties
 
 20 .TOSKPII AXD IIIS I'KIi:XI). 
 
 for a stranger, but then, you till make me forget that I am 
 strange. "Why is it that everybody is so good to me V " 
 
 She turned her face upon the others "with a radiant ex- 
 pression. Then there were earnest protestations from the 
 young men, and a few impulsive hugs from the girls, which 
 latter Miss Blessing returned with kisses. 
 
 El wood Withers sat beside Lucy Henderson, on the steps of 
 the portico. " Why, we owe it to you that we're here to-night, 
 Miss Blessing ! " he exclaimed. " We don't come together 
 half often enough as it is ; and what better could we do than 
 meet again, somewhere else, while you are in the country?" 
 
 " O, how delightful ! how kind ! '" she cried. "And while 
 the lovely moonlight lasts ! Shall I really have another 
 evening like this ? " 
 
 The proposition was heartily seconded, and the only diffi- 
 culty was, how to choose between the three or four invita- 
 tions which were at once proffered. There was nothing bet- 
 ter to do than to accept all, in turn, and the young people 
 pledged themselves to attend. The new element which they 
 had dreaded in advance, as a restraint, had shown itself to 
 be the reverse : they had never been so free, so cheerfully 
 excited. Miss Blessing's unconscious ease of manner, her 
 grace and sweetness, her quick, bright sympathy with coun- 
 try ways, had so warmed and fused them, that they lost the 
 remembrance of their stubborn selves and yielded to the 
 magnetism of the hour. Their manners, moreover, were 
 greatly improved, simply by their forgetting that they were 
 expected to have any. 
 
 Joseph was one of the happiest sharers in this change. 
 He eagerly gave his word to be present at the entertainments 
 to come : his heartbeat with delight at the prospect of other 
 such evenings. The suspicion of a tenderer feeling towards
 
 josr-.rn AND ins FRTKXXX 21 
 
 JLucv Henderson, tlie charm of Miss Blessings winning 
 
 * & 
 
 frankness, took equal possession of Ids thoughts; and not 
 until he had said good night did he think of his companion 
 on the homeward road. But Ehvood Withers had already 
 left, carrying Luey Henderson on a pillion behind him. 
 
 "Is it ten o'clock, do yon think? "' Joseph asked of one 
 of the young men, as they rode out of the gate. 
 
 The other answered with a chuckle : "Ten? It's nigher 
 morning than evening ! " 
 
 The imp on the crupper struck Ids claws deep into Joseph's 
 sides. He urged his horse into a gallop, crossed the long 
 rise in the road and dashed along the valley-level, with the 
 cool, dewy night air whistling in his locks. After entering 
 the lane leading upward to his home, he dropped the reins 
 and allowed the panting horse to choose his own gait. A 
 light, sparkling through the locust-trees, pierced him with the 
 sting of an unwelcome external conscience, in which he had 
 no part, yet which he could not escape. 
 
 Rachel Miller looked wearily up from her knitting as he 
 entered the room. She made a feeble attempt to smile, but 
 the expression of her face suggested imminent tears. 
 
 " Aunt, why did you wait ? " said he, speaking rapidly. 
 " I forgot to look at my watch, and I really thought it was 
 no more than ten " 
 
 He paused, seeing that her eyes were fixed. She was 
 looking afc the tall old-fashioned clock. The hand pointed 
 to half-past twelve, and every cluck of the ponderous pen- 
 dulum said, distinctly, " Late ! late ! late ! " 
 
 He lighted a candle in silence, said, " Good night, Aunt ! " 
 and went up to his room. 
 
 " Good night, Joseph ! " she solemnly responded, and a 
 deep, hollow sigh reached his ear before the door was closed.
 
 22 JOSKPH AXD HI 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 THE PLACE AXD PEOPLE. 
 
 JOSKPH ASTEX'S nature was shy and sensitive, but not 
 merely from a habit of introversion. He saw no deeper into 
 himself, in fact, than, his moods and sensations, and thus 
 quite failed to recognize what it Avas that kept him apart 
 from the society in which he should have freely moved. He 
 felt the difference of others, and constantly probed the pain 
 and embarrassment it gave him, but the sources wherefrom 
 it grew were the last which he would have guessed. 
 
 A boy's life may be weakened for growth, in all its fibres, 
 by the watchfulness of a too anxious love, and the guidance 
 of a too exquisitely nurtured conscience. He may be so 
 trained in the habits of goodness, and purity, and duty, that 
 every contact with the world is like an abrasion upon the 
 delicate surface of his soul. Every wind visits him too 
 roughly, and he shrinks from the encounters which brace 
 true manliness, and strengthen it for the exercise of good. 
 
 The rigid piety of Joseph's mother was warmed and 
 softened by her tenderness towards him, and he never felt it 
 as a yoke. His nature instinctively took the imprint of 
 hers, and she was happy in seeing so clear a reflection of 
 herself in his innocent young heart. She prolonged his 
 childhood, perhaps without intending it, into the years when 
 the unrest of approaching manhood should have led him to 
 severer studies and lustier sports. Her death transferred 
 his guardianship to other hands, but did not change its
 
 23 
 
 diameter. Her sister Rachel was equally pood and con- 
 scientious, possibly with an equal eiipn.eity for tenderness, 
 but her barren life had restrained th^ habit of its expression. 
 Joseph could not but confess that she was guided by tho 
 strictest sense of duty, but she seemed to him cold, severe, 
 unsympathetic. There were times when the alternative 
 presented itself to his mind, of either allowing her absolute 
 control of all his actions, or wounding her to the heart by as- 
 serting a moderate amount of independence. 
 
 He was called fortunate, but it wa.s impossible for him 
 consciously to feel his fortune. The two hundred acres of 
 the farm, stretching back over the softly swelling hills which 
 enclosed the valley on the east, were as excellent soil as the 
 neighborhood knew ; the stock was plentiful ; the house, 
 barn, and all the appointments of the place were in the best 
 order, and he was the sole owner of all. The work of his 
 own hands was nob needed, but it was a mechanical exhaus- 
 tion of time, an enforced occupation of body and mind, 
 which he followed in the vague hope that some richer de- 
 velopment of life might come afterwards. But there were 
 times when the fields looked very dreary, when the trees, 
 rooted in their places, and growing under conditions which 
 they were powerless to choose or change, were but tiresome 
 types of himself, when even the beckoning heights far down 
 the valley failed to touch his fancy with the hint of a 
 broader world. Duty said to him, " You must be perfectly 
 contented in your place ! " but there was the miserable, un- 
 grateful, inexplicable fact of discontent. 
 
 Furthermore, he had by this time discovered that certain 
 tastes which he possessed were so many weaknesses if not, 
 indeed, matters of reproach in the eye of his neighbors. 
 The delight and the torture of finer nerves an inability to
 
 2-1 JOSKPH AND HIS nil K XIX 
 
 use coarse and strong phrases, and a, shrinking from all dis- 
 play of rude manners were peculiarities which he could not 
 overcome, and must endeavor to conceal. There were men. 
 of sturdy intelligence in the community ; but none of refined 
 culture, through whom he might have measured and under- 
 stood himself; and the very qualities, therefore, which 
 should have been his pride, gave him. only a sense of shame. 
 
 Two memories haunted him, after the evening at Warri- 
 ner's ; and, though so different, they were not to be discon- 
 nected. No two girls could be more unlike than Lucy 
 Henderson and Miss Julia Blessing ; he had known one for 
 years, and the other was the partial acquaintance of an even- 
 ing ; yet the image of either one was swiftly followed by 
 that of the other. When he thought of Lucy's eyes, Miss 
 Julia's hand stole over his shoulder ; when he recalled the 
 glossy ringlets of the latter, he saw, beside them, the faintly 
 flushed cheek and the pure, sweet mouth which had awa- 
 kened in him his first daring desire. 
 
 Phantoms as they were, they seemed to have taken equal 
 possession of the house, the garden, and the fields. While 
 Lucy sat quietly by the window, Miss Julia skipped lightly 
 along the adjoining hall. One lifted a fallen, rose-branch on 
 the lawn, the other snatched the reddest blossom from it. 
 One leaned against the trunk of the old hemlock-tree, the 
 other fluttered in and out among the clumps of shrubbery ; 
 but the lonely green was wonderfully brightened by these 
 visions of pink and white, and Joseph enjoyed the fancy 
 without troubling himself to think what it meant. 
 
 The house was seated upon a gentle knoll, near the head 
 of a side-valley sunk like a dimple among the hills which en- 
 closed the river-meadows, scarcely a quarter of a mile away. 
 It was nearly a hundred years old, and its massive walls
 
 were faced with checkered bricks, alternately red and black, 
 to which the ivy clung- with tenacious feet wherever it was 
 allowed to run. The gables terminated in broad double 
 chimneys, between which a railed walk, intended fora look- 
 out, but rarely used for that or any other purpose, rested on 
 the peak of the roof. A low portico paved with stone ex- 
 tended along the front, which was further shaded by two 
 enormous sycamore-trees as old as the house itself. The 
 evergreens and ornamental shrubs which occupied the re- 
 mainder of the little lawn denoted the taste of a later gener- 
 ation. To the east, an open turfy space, in the centre of 
 which stood a superb weeping-willow, divided the house 
 from the great stone barn with its flanking cribs and "over- 
 shoots ; " on the opposite side lay the sunny garden, with 
 gnarled grape-vines clambering along its walls, and a double 
 row of tall old box-bushes, each grown into a single solid 
 mass, stretching down the centre. 
 
 The fields belonging to the property, softly rising and 
 following the undulations of the hills, limited the landscape 
 on three sides; but on the south there was a fair view of the 
 valley of the larger stream, with its herd-speckled meadows, 
 glimpses of water between the fringing trees, and farm-houses 
 sheltered among the knees of the farther hills. It was a re- 
 gion of peace and repose and quiet, drowsy beauty, and 
 there were few farms which were not the ancestral homes of. 
 the families who held them. The people were satisfied, for 
 they lived upon a bountiful soil ; and if but few were notably 
 rich, still fewer were absolutely poor. They had a sluggish 
 sense of content, a half-conscious feeling that their lines 
 were cast in pleasant places ; they were orderly, moral, and 
 generally honest, and their own types were so constantly re- 
 produced and fixed, both by intermarriage and intercourse,
 
 'Jb JOSEPH AXD HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 that any variation therein was a thing to be suppressed if 
 possible. Any sign of an unusual taste, or a different view 
 of life, excited their suspicion, and the most of them were 
 incapable of discriminating between independent thought oa 
 moral and social questions, and " free-thinking " in the reli- 
 gious significance which they attached to the word. Politi- 
 cal excitements, it is true, sometimes swept over the neigh- 
 borhood, but in a mitigated form ; and the discussions which 
 then took place between neighbors of opposite faith were 
 generally repetitions of the arguments furnished by their re 
 spective county papers. 
 
 To one whose twofold nature conformed to the common 
 mould, into whom, before his birth, no mysterious ele- 
 ment had been infused, to be the basis of new sensations, 
 desires, and powers, the region was a paradise of peaceful 
 days. Even as a boy the probable map of his life was 
 drawn : he could behold himself as young man, as husband, 
 father, and comfortable old man, by simply looking upon 
 these various stages in others. 
 
 If, however, his senses were not sluggish, but keen ; if 
 his nature reached beyond the ordinary necessities, and 
 hungered for the taste of higher thfeigs; if he longed to 
 share in that life of the world, the least part of which was 
 known to his native community ; if, not content to accept 
 the mechanical faith of passive minds, he dared to repeat 
 the long struggle of the human race in his own spiritual and 
 mental growth ; then, why, then, the region was not a 
 paradise of peaceful days. 
 
 llachel Miller, now that the dangerous evening was over, 
 was shrewd enough to resume her habitual manner towards 
 her nephew. Her curiosity to know what had been done, 
 and how Joseph had been affected by the merry-making,
 
 JOSEPH AND IIIS Fi:iT-:XD. 27 
 
 rendered her careful not to frighten him from the subject by 
 warnings or reproaches. He was frank and communicative, 
 and Ilachel found, to her surprise, that the evening at War- 
 riner's was much, and not wholly unpleasantly, in her 
 thoughts during her knitting-hours. The farm-work was 
 briskly forwarded ; Joseph was active in the field, and deci- 
 dedly brighter in the house ; and when he announced tho 
 new engagement, with an air which hinted that his attend- 
 ance was a matter of course, she was only able to say : 
 
 " I'm very much mistaken if that's the end. Get agoing 
 once, and there's no telling where you'll fetch up. I sup- 
 pose that town's girl won't stay much longer, the farm- 
 work of the neighborhood couldn't stand it, and so she 
 means to have all she can while her visit lasts." 
 
 " Indeed, Aunt," Joseph protested, " Elwood Withers 
 first proposed it, and the others all agreed." 
 
 " And ready enough they were, I'll be bound." 
 
 " Yes, they were," Joseph replied, with a little more firm- 
 ness than usual. " All of them. And there was no re- 
 spectable family in the neighborhood that wasn't repre- 
 sented." 
 
 Rachel made an effort and kept silence. The innovation, 
 might be temporary, and in that case it were prudent to 
 take no further notice ; or it might be the beginning of a 
 change in the ways of the young people, and if so, she 
 needed further knowledge in order to work successfully 
 against it in Joseph's case. 
 
 She little suspected how swiftly and closely the question 
 would be brought to her own door. 
 
 A week afterwards the second of the evening parties was 
 held, and was even more successful than the first. Every- 
 body was there, bringing a cheerfu) memory of the former
 
 28 JOSEPH AND ins FRIKXD. 
 
 occasion, and Miss Julia Blessing, no longer dreaded as an 
 unknown scrutinizing element, was again the life and soul 
 of the company. It was astonishing how correctly she re- 
 tained the names and characteristics of all those whom she 
 had already met, and how intelligently she seemed to enjoy 
 the gossip of the neighborhood. It was remarked that her 
 dress was studiously simple, as if to conform to country 
 ways, yet the airy, graceful freedom of her manner gave it a 
 character of elegance which sufficiently distinguished her 
 from the other girls. 
 
 Joseph felt that she looked to him, as by an innocent 
 natural instinct, for a more delicate and intimate recogni- 
 tion than she expected to find elsewhere. Fragments of 
 sentences, parenthetical expressions, dropped in her lively 
 talk, were always followed by a quick glance which said to 
 him : " We have one feeling in common ; I know that you 
 understand me." He was fascinated, but the experience 
 was so new that it was rather bewildering. He was drawn 
 to catch her seemingly random looks, to wait for them, 
 and then shrink timidly when they came, feeling all the 
 while the desire to be in the quiet corner, outside the merry 
 circle of talkers, where sat Lucy Henderson. 
 
 When, at last, a change in the diversions of the evening 
 brought him to Lucy's side, she seemed to him grave and 
 preoccupied. Her words lacked the pleasant directness and 
 self-possession which had made her society so comfortable to 
 him. She no longer turned her full face towards him while 
 speaking, and he noticed that her eyes were wandering over 
 the company with a peculiar expression, as if she were try- 
 ing to listen with them. It seemed to him, also, that El- 
 wood Withers, who was restlessly moving about the room, 
 was watching some one, or waiting for something.
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS F1JIEXD. 29 
 
 " I have it ! " suddenly cried Miss Blessing, floating to- 
 wards Joseph and Lucy ; "it shall be you, Mr. Asten ! " 
 
 " Yes," echoed Anna "SVarriner, following ; " if it could 
 be, how delightful ! " 
 
 " Hush, Anna dear ! Let us keep the matter secret ! " 
 whispered Miss Blessing, assuming a mysterious air ; " we 
 will slip away and consult ; and, of course, Lucy must come 
 with us." 
 
 " Now," she resumed, when the four found themselves 
 alone in the old-fashioned dining-room, " we must, first of 
 all, explain everything to Mr. Asten. The question is, 
 where we shall meet, next week. McXaughtons are build- 
 ing an addition (I believe you call it) to their barn, and a 
 child has the measles at another place, and something else is 
 wrong somewhere else. We cannot interfere with the 
 course of nature ; but neither should we give up these 
 charming evenings without making an effort to continue 
 them. Our sole hope and reliance is on you, Mr. Asten." 
 
 She pronounced the words with a niock solemnity, clasp- 
 ing her hands, and looking into his face with bright, eager, 
 laughing eyes. 
 
 " If it depended on myself " Joseph began. 
 
 " O, I know the difficulty, Mr. Asten ! " she exclaimed ; 
 "and really, it's unpardonable in me to propose such a thing. 
 But isn't it possible just possible that Miss Miller might 
 be persuaded by us ? " 
 
 " Julia dear ! " cried Anna Warriner, " I believe there's 
 nothing you'd be afraid to undertake." 
 
 Joseph scarcely knew what to say. He looked from one 
 to the other, coloring slightly, and ready to turn pale the 
 next moment, as he endeavored to imagine how his aunt 
 would receive such an astounding proposition.
 
 30 JOSEPH AND HIS FJBIKXD. 
 
 " There is no i-eason why she should be asked," said 
 Lucy. " It would be a great annoyance to her." 
 
 "Indeed?" said Miss Blessing; "then I should be so 
 sorry ! But I caught a glimpse of your lovely place the 
 other day as we were driving up the valley. It was a per- 
 fect picture, and I have such a desire to see it nearer ! " 
 
 " "Why will you not come, then ? " Joseph eagerly asked. 
 Lucy's words seemed to him blunt and unfriendly, although 
 he knew they had been intended for his relief. 
 
 " It would be a great pleasure ; yet, if I thought your 
 aunt would be annoyed 
 
 " I am sure she will be glad to make your acquaintance," 
 said Joseph, with a reproachful side-glance at Lucy. 
 
 Miss Blessing noticed the glance. " 2 am more sure," she 
 said, playfully, " that she will be very much amused at my 
 ignorance and inexperience. And I don't believe Lucy 
 meant to frighten me. As for the party, Ave won't think of 
 that now ; but you will go with us, Lucy, won't you, with 
 Anna and myself, to make a neighborly afternoon call ? " 
 
 Lucy felt obliged to accede to a request so amiably made, 
 after her apparent rudeness. Yet she could not force her- 
 self to affect a hearty acquiescence, and Joseph thought her 
 singularly cold. 
 
 He did not doubt but that Miss Blessing, whose warm, 
 impulsive nature seemed to him very much what his own 
 might be if he dared to show it, would fulfil her promise. 
 Neither did he doubt that so much innocence and sweetness 
 as she possessed would make a favorable impression upon 
 his aunt; but he judged it best not to inform the latter of 
 the possible visit.
 
 31 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MISS BLESSING CALLS OX RACHEL MILLER. 
 
 Ox the follov.ing Saturday afternoon, Rachel Miller sat 
 at the front window of the sitting-room, and arranged her 
 light task of sewing and darning, with a feeling of unusual 
 comfort. The household work of the week was over; the 
 weather was fine and warm, with a brisk drying breeze for 
 the hay on the hill-field, the last load of which Joseph ex- 
 pected to have in the barn before his five o'clock supper was 
 ready. As she looked down the valley, she noticed that the 
 mowers were still swinging their way through Hunter's 
 grass, and that Cunningham's corn sorely needed working. 
 There was a different state of things on the Asten place. 
 Everything was done, and well done, up to the front of the 
 season. The weather had been fortunate, it was true ; but 
 Joseph had urged on the work with a different spirit. It 
 seemed to her that he had taken a new interest in the farm ; 
 he was here and there, even inspecting with his own eyes 
 the minor duties which had been formerly intrusted to his 
 man Dennis. How could she know that this activity was 
 the only outlet for a restless heart ? 
 
 If any eA'il should come of his social recreation, she had 
 done her duty ; but no evil seemed likely. She had always 
 separated his legal from his moral independence ; there was 
 no enactment establishing the period when the latter com- 
 menced, and it could not be made manifest by documents, 
 like the former. She would have admitted, certainly, that
 
 32 JOSEPH AND JUS F-itlKKD. 
 
 lier guardianship must cease at some time, but the thought 
 of making preparation for that time had never entered her 
 head. She only understood conditions, not the adaptation 
 of characters to them. Going back over her own life, she 
 could recall but little difference between the girl of eigh- 
 teen and the woman of thirty. There was the same place 
 in her home, the same duties, the same subjection to the 
 will of her parents no exercise of independence or self- 
 reliance anywhere, and no growth of those virtues beyond 
 what a passive maturity brought with it. 
 
 Even now she thought very little about any question of 
 life in connection with Joseph. Her parents had trained 
 her in the discipline of a rigid sect, and she could not dis- 
 sociate the idea of morality from that of solemn renun- 
 ciation. She could not say that social pleasures were posi- 
 tively wrong, but they always seemed to her to be enjoyed 
 on the outside of an open door labelled " Temptation ; " 
 and who could tell what lay beyond ? Some very good peo- 
 ple, she knew, were fond of company, and made merry in an 
 innocent fashion ; they were of mature years and settled 
 characters, and Joseph was only a boy. The danger, how- 
 ever, was not so imminent : no fault could be found with 
 his attention to duty, and a chance so easily escaped was a 
 comfortable guaranty for the future. 
 
 In the midst of this mood (we can hardly say train of 
 thought), she detected the top of a carriage through the 
 bushes fringing the lane. The vehicle presently came into 
 view: Anna Warriner was driving, and there were two 
 other ladies on the back seat. As they drew up at the 
 hitching-post on the green, she recognized Lucy Henderson 
 getting out ; but the airy creature who sprang after her, 
 the girl with dark, falling ringlets, could it be the stranger
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 33 
 
 from town ? The plaiu, country-made gingham dress, the 
 sober linen collar, the work-bag on her arm could they be- 
 long to the stylish young lady whose acquaintance had 
 turned Anna's head? 
 
 A proper spirit of hospitality required her to meet the 
 visitors at the gate; so there was no time left for conjec- 
 ture. She was a little confused, but not dissatisfied at the 
 chance of seeing the stranger. 
 
 " We thought we could come for an hour this afternoon, 
 without disturbing you," said Anna Warriner. " Mother 
 lias lost your receipt for pickling cherries, arid Bob said you 
 were already through with the hay-harvest ; and so wo 
 brought Julia along this is Julia Blessing." 
 
 " How do you do ? " said Miss Blessing, timidly extend- 
 ing her hand, and slightly dropping her eyelids. She then 
 fell behind Anna and Lucy, and spoke no more until they 
 were all seated in the sitting-room. 
 
 " How do you like the country by this time ? " Rachel asked, 
 fe iling that a little attention was necessary to a new guest. 
 
 " So well that I think I shall never like the city again,' 
 Miss Blessing answered. " This quiet, peaceful life is such 
 a rest ; and I really never before knew what order was, and 
 industry, and economy." 
 
 She looked around the room as she spoke, and glanced at 
 the barn through the eastern window. 
 
 "Yes, your ways in town are very different," Rachel 
 remarked. 
 
 "It seems to me, now, that they are entirely artificial. 
 I find myself so ignorant of the proper way of living that 
 I should be embarrassed among you, if you were not all so 
 very kind. But I am trying to learn a little." 
 
 "O, we don't expect too much of town's-folks," said Ra- 
 2*
 
 34 JOSEPH AKD HIS FKIEJX'D. 
 
 chel, in a much more friendly tone, " and we're always glad 
 to see them willing to put up with our ways. But not 
 many are." 
 
 "Please don't count me among those ! " Miss Blessing ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 " No, indeed, Miss Rachel ! " said Anna Warriner ; 
 " you'd be surprised to know how Julia gets along with 
 everything don't she, Lucy?" 
 
 " Yes, she's very quick," Lucy Henderson replied. 
 
 Miss Blessing cast down her eyes, smiled, and shook her 
 head. 
 
 Rachel Miller asked some questions which opened the 
 sluices of Miss Warriiier's gossip and she had a good store 
 of it. The ways and doings of various individuals were 
 discussed, and Miss Blessing's occasional remarks showed a 
 complete familiarity with them. Her manner was grave and 
 attentive, and Rachel was surprised to find so much unob- 
 trusive good sense in her views. The reality was so differ- 
 ent from her previously assumed impression, that she felt 
 bound to make some reparation. Almost before she was 
 aware of it, her manner became wholly friendly and pleasant. 
 
 " May I look at your trees and flowers ? " Miss Blessing 
 asked, when the gossip had been pretty well exhausted. 
 
 They all arose and went out on the lawn. Rose and wood- 
 bine, phlox and vei'bena, passed under review, and then the 
 long, rounded walls of box attracted Miss Blessing's eye. 
 This was a feature of the place in which Rachel Miller felt 
 considerable pride, and she led the way through the garden 
 gate. Anna Warriner, however, paused, and said : 
 
 " Lucy, let us go down to the spring-house. We can get 
 back again before Julia has half finished her raptures." 
 
 Lucy hesitated a moment. She looked at Miss Blessing,
 
 JiJSEHl AND HIS rillLND. Jo 
 
 who laughed and said, " O, don't mind me ! " as she took her 
 place at Bache'i's side. 
 
 The avenue of box ran the whole length of the garden, 
 which sloped gentlv 10 the south. At the bottom the green 
 walls curved outward, forming three fourths of a circle, spa- 
 cious enough to contain several seats. There was a delightful 
 view of the valley through the opening. 
 
 " The loveliest place I ever saw ! " exclaimed Miss Bless- 
 ing, taking one of the rustic chairs. " How pleasant it must 
 Le, when you have all your neighbors here together ! " 
 
 Rachel Miller was a little startled; but before she could 
 reply, Miss Blessing continued : 
 
 " There is such a difference between a company of young 
 people here in the country, and what is called 'a party' iu 
 the city. There it is all dress and flirtation and vanity, but 
 here it is only neighborly visiting on a larger scale. I have 
 enjoyed the quiet company of all your folks so much the more, 
 because I felt that it was so very innocent. Indeed, I don't 
 see how anybody could be led into harmful ways here." 
 
 " I don't know," said Rachel : " we must learn to mistrust 
 out own hearts." 
 
 " You are right ! The best are weak of themselves ; but 
 there is more safety where all have been brought up unac- 
 quainted with temptation. Now, you will perhaps wonder 
 at me when I say that I could trust the young men for 
 instance, Mr. Asten, your nephew as if they were my 
 brothers. That is, I feel a positive certainty of their excellent 
 character. What they say they mean : it is otherwise in the 
 city. It is delightful to see them all together, like members 
 of one family. You must enjoy it, I should think, when they 
 meet here." 
 
 Rachel Miller's eyes opened wide, and there was both a
 
 36 .TOSKl'II AND HIS FIUKXD. 
 
 puzzled and a searching expression in the look she gave Miss 
 Blessing. The latter, with an air of almost infantine simpli- 
 city, her lips slightly parted, accepted the scrutiny with a 
 quiet cheerfulness which .seemed the perfection of candor. 
 
 " The truth is," said Rachel, slowly, " this is a new thing. 
 I hope the merry-makings are as innocent as you think ; but 
 I'm afraid they unsettle the young people, after all." 
 
 "Do you, really?" exclaimed Miss Blessing. "What 
 have you seen in them which leads you to think so? But 
 no never mind my question ; you may have reasons which 
 I have no right to ask. Now, I remember Mr. Asten. telling 
 Anna and Lucy and myself, how much he should like to 
 invite his friends here, if it were not for a duty which pi*e- 
 vented it ; and a duty, he said, was more important to him 
 than a pleasure." 
 
 " Did Joseph say that ? " Rachel exclaimed. 
 
 " O, perhaps I oughtn't to have told it," said Miss Bless- 
 ing, casting down her eyes and blushing in confusion : " in 
 that case, please don't say anything about it ! Perhaps it was 
 a duty towards you, for he told me that he looked upon you 
 as a second mother." 
 
 Rachel's ey r es softened, and it was a little while before she 
 spoke. " I've tried to do my duty by him," she faltered at 
 last, " but it sometimes seems an unthankful business, and I 
 can't always tell how he takes it. And so he wanted to have 
 a company here ? " 
 
 " I am so sorry I said it ! " cried Miss Blessing. " I never 
 thought you were opposed to company, on principle. Miss 
 Chaffinch, the minister's daughter, you know, was there the 
 last time ; and, really, if you could see it But it is pre- 
 sumptuous in me to say anything. Indeed, I am not a fair 
 judge, because these little gatherings have enabled me to make
 
 JO -K PI I AXD HIS FRIEND. 61 
 
 such pleasant acquaintances. And the young men tell me 
 that they work all the better after them.'' 
 
 " It's only on Ills account, ' said .Rach'"d. 
 
 "' IViy, I'm sure that the last thing Mr. Asten would wish, 
 would be your giving up a principle fur his sake ! I know, 
 from his face, that hi,s o\vn character is founded on principle. 
 And, besides, here in the country, you don't keep count of 
 hospitality, as they do in the city, and feel obliged to return 
 as much as you receive. So, if you will try to forget what 
 I have said 
 
 Rachel interrupted her. " I meant something different. 
 Joseph knows why I objected to parties. He must not feel 
 under obligations which I stand in the way of his repaying. 
 If he tells me that he should like to invite his friends to this 
 place, I will help him to entertain them." 
 
 " You are his second mother, indeed," Miss Blessing mur- 
 mured, looking at her with a fond admiration. " And now 
 I can hope that you will forgive my thoughtlessness. I should 
 feel humiliated in his presence, if he knew that I had repeated 
 his words. But he will not ask you, and this is the end of 
 any harm I may have done." 
 
 " Xo," said Rachel, " he will not ask me ; but won't I be 
 an offence in his mind ? " 
 
 " I can understand how you feel only a woman can judge 
 a woman's heart. Would you think me too forward if I 
 tell you what might be done, this once ? " 
 
 She stole softly up to Rachel as she spoke, and laid her 
 hand gently upon her arm. 
 
 " Perhaps I am wrong but if you were first to suggest to 
 your nephew that if he wished to make some return for the 
 hospitality of his neighbors, or put it in whatever form you 
 think best, would not that remove the ' offence ' (though ho
 
 38 JOSEPH AND HIS FJttKXD. 
 
 surely cannot look at it in that light) , and make him grate- 
 ful and happy ? " 
 
 "Well," said Rachel, after a little reflection, "if anything 
 is done, that would be as good a way as any." 
 
 " And, of course, you won't mention me ? " 
 
 " There is no call to do it as I can see." 
 
 " Julia, dear ! " cried Anna from the gate ; " come and see 
 the last load of hay hauled into the barn ! " 
 
 " I should like to see it, if you will excuse me," said Miss 
 Blessing to Rachel ; " I have taken quite an interest in 
 farming." 
 
 As they were passing the porch, Rachel paused on the step 
 and said to Anna: "You'll bide and get your suppers?" 
 
 " I don't know," Anna replied : " we didn't mean to ; but 
 we stayed longer than we intended 
 
 " Then you can easily stay longer still." 
 
 There was nothing unfriendly in Rachel's blunt manner. 
 Anna laughed, took Miss Blessing by the arm, and started 
 for the barn. Lucy Henderson quietly turned and entered 
 the house, where, without any offer of services, she began to 
 assist in arranging the table. 
 
 The two young ladies took their stand on the green, at a 
 safe distance, as the huge fragrant load approached. The 
 hay overhung and concealed the wheels, as well as the hind 
 quarters of the oxen, and on the summit stood Joseph, in his 
 shirt-sleeves and leaning on a pitch-fork. He bent forward 
 as he saw them, answering their greetings with an eager, sur- 
 prised face. , 
 
 " O, take care, take care ! " cried Miss Blessing, as the load 
 entered the barn-door ; but Joseph had already dropped upon 
 his knees and bent his shoulders. Then the wagon stood 
 upon the barn-floor; he sprang lightly upon a beam, de-
 
 39 
 
 scended the upright ladder, and the next moment was shaking 
 Lands wiili them. 
 
 ''We have kept our promise, you see," said Miss Bless- 
 ing. 
 
 ' ; Have you been in the house yet ? " Joseph asked, look- 
 ing at Anna. 
 
 " O, for an hour past, and we are going to take supper 
 with you." 
 
 " Dennis ! " cried Joseph, turning towards the barn, " we 
 will let the load stand to-night.'' 
 
 " How much better a man looks in shirt-sleeves than in a 
 dress-coat ! " remarked Miss Blessing aside to Anna "\Varri- 
 ner, but not in so low a tone as to prevent Joseph from hear- 
 ing it. 
 
 " Why, Julia, you are perfectly countrified ! I never 
 saw anything like it ! " Anna replied. 
 
 Joseph turned to them again, with a blight flush on his 
 face. He caught Miss Blessing's eyes, full of admiration, 
 before the lids fell modestly over them. 
 
 " So you've seen my home, already ? " he said, as they 
 walked slowly towards the house. 
 
 " O, not the half yet ! " she answered, in a low, earnest 
 tone. " A place so lovely and quiet as this cannot be ap- 
 preciated at once. I almost wish I had not seen it : what 
 shall I do when I must go back to the hot pavements, and 
 the glaring bricks, and the dust, and the hollow, artificial 
 life ? " She tried to check a sigh, but only partially suc- 
 ceeded ; then, with a sudden effort, she laughed lightly, and 
 added : " I wonder if everybody doesn't long for something 
 else ? Now, Anna, here, would think it heavenly to change 
 places with me." 
 
 " Such privileges as you have ! " Anna protested.
 
 40 JOSEPH AND HIS FKTKND. 
 
 " Privileges ? " Miss Blessing echoed. " The privilege of 
 hearing scandal, of being judged by your dress, of learning 
 the forms and manners, instead of the good qualities, of 
 men and women ? No ! give me an independent life." 
 
 " Alone ? " suggested Miss Warriner. 
 
 Joseph looked at Miss Blessing, who made no reply. Her 
 head was turned aside, and he could well understand that 
 she must feel hurt at Anna's indelicacy. 
 
 In the house Rachel Miller and Lucy had, in the mean 
 time, been occupied with domestic matters. The former, 
 however, was so shaken out of her usual calm by the con- 
 versation in the garden, that in spite of prudent resolves 
 to keep quiet, she could not restrain herself from asking a 
 question or two. 
 
 " Lucy," said she, " how do you find these evening parties 
 you've been attending ? " 
 
 " They are lively and pleasant, at least every one says 
 so." 
 
 " Are you going to have any more ? " 
 
 " It seems to be the wish," said Lucy, suddenly hesitating, 
 as she found Rachel's eyes intently fixed upon her face. 
 
 The latter was silent for a minute, arranging the tea-ser- 
 vice ; but she presently asked again : " Do you think 
 Joseph would like to invite the young people here ? " 
 
 " She has told you ! " Lucy exclaimed, in \mfeigned irri- 
 tation. " Miss Rachel, don't let it trouble you a moment : 
 nobody expects it of you ! " 
 
 Lucy felt, immediately, that her expression had been too 
 frankly positive ; but even the consciousness thereof did not 
 enable her to comprehend its effect. 
 
 Rachel straightened herself a little, and said " Indeed ? " 
 in anything but an amiable tone. She went to the cupboard
 
 JO.SEril AND HIS FlilKXU. 41 
 
 and returned before speaking again. ' I didn't say any- 
 bodv told me," she continued ; >% ii's likely that Joseph 
 might think of it, and I don't see why people should expect 
 me to stand in the way of hi.s wishes." 
 
 Lucy was so astonished that she could not immediately 
 reply ; and the entrance of Joseph and the t\vo ladies cut 
 orF all further opportunity of clearing up what she felt to be 
 an awkward misunderstanding. 
 
 " I must help, too ! " cried Mi.ss Blessing, skipping into 
 the kitchen after Rachel. li That is one thing, at least, 
 which we can learn in the city. Indeed, if it wasn't for 
 housekeeping, I should feel terribly useless." 
 
 Rachel protested against her help, but in vain. Miss 
 Blessing had a laugh and a lively answer for every remon- 
 strance, and flitted about in a manner which conveyed the 
 impression that she was doing a great deal. 
 
 Joseph could scarcely believe his eyes, when he came down 
 from his room in fresh attire, and beheld his aunt not only 
 so assisted, but seeming to enjoy it. Lucy, who appeared 
 to be ill at ease, had withdrawn from the table, and was 
 sitting silently beside the window. Recalling their conver- 
 sation a few evenings before, he suspected that she might be 
 transiently annoyed on his aunt's account ; she had less con- 
 fidence, perhaps, in Miss Blessing's winning, natural man- 
 ners. So Lucy's silence threw no shadow upon his cheer- 
 fulness : he had never felt so happy, so free, so delighted to 
 assume the character of a host. 
 
 After the first solemnity which followed the taking of 
 seats at the table, the meal proceeded with less than the 
 usual decorum. Joseph, indeed, so far forgot his duties, 
 that his aunt was obliged to remind him of them from time 
 to time. Miss Blessing was enthusiastic over the cream.
 
 42 JOSEPH A XL) HIS FKJKXD. 
 
 and butter and marmalade, and Rachel Miller found it ex- 
 ceedingly pleasant to have her handiwork appreciated. Al- 
 though she always did her best, for Joseph's sake, she 
 knew that men have very ignorant, indifferent tastes in such 
 matters. 
 
 When the meal was over, Anna Warriner said : " We 
 are going to take Lucy on her way as far as the cross-roads ; 
 so there will not be more than time to get home by sun- 
 set." 
 
 Before the carriage was ready, however, another vehicle 
 drove up the lane. El wood Withers jumped out, gave 
 Joseph a hearty grip of his powerful hand, greeted the 
 others rapidly, and then addressed himself specially to Lucy : 
 " I was going to a township-meeting at the Corner," said 
 he ; "but Bob Warriner told me you were here with Anna, 
 so I thought I could save her a roundabout drive by taking 
 you myself." 
 
 " Thank you ; but I'm sorry you should go so far out of 
 your road," said Lucy. Her face was pale, and there was 
 an evident constraint in the smile which accompanied the 
 words. 
 
 " O, he'd go twice as far for company," Anna Warriner 
 remarked. " You know I'd take you, and welcome, but El- 
 wood has a good claim on you, now." 
 
 " I have no claim, Lucy," said Elwood, rather dog- 
 gedly. 
 
 " Lst us go, then," were Lucy's words. 
 
 She rose, and the four were soon seated in the two vehi- 
 cles. They drove away in the low sunshine, one pair chat- 
 ting and laughing merrily as long as they were within hear- 
 ing, the other singularly grave and silent.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ELWOOD'S EVENING, AND JOSEPH'S. 
 
 FOR half a mile Ehvood "Withers, followed the carriage 
 containing Anna AVarriner and her friend ; then, at the 
 curve of the valley, their roads parted, and Lucy and he 
 were alone. The soft light of the delicious summer evening 
 was around them ; the air, cooled by the stream which 
 broadened and bickered beside their way, was full of all 
 healthy meadow odors, and every farm in the branching 
 dells they passed was a picture of tranquil happiness. Yet 
 Lucy had sighed before she was aware of it, a very faint, 
 tremulous breath, but it reached Elwood's sensitive ear. 
 
 " You don't seem quite well, Lucy," he said. 
 
 " Because I have talked so little ? " she asked. 
 
 "!Jsot just that, but but I was almost afraid my coming 
 for you was not welcome. I don't mean " But here lie 
 grew confused, and did not finish the sentence. 
 
 " Indeed, it was very kind of you," said she. This was 
 not an answer to his remark, and both felt that it was 
 not. 
 
 Elwood struck the horse with his whip, then as suddenly 
 drew the reins on the startled animal. " Pshaw ! " he ex- 
 claimed, in a tone that was almost fierce, " what's the use o' 
 my beating about the bush in this way ? " 
 
 Lucy caught her breath, and clenched her hands under her 
 shawl for one instant. Then she became calm, and waited for 
 him to say more.
 
 44: JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 "Lucy! " he continued, turning towards Lor, "you have a 
 right to think me a fool. I can talk to anybody else move 
 freely than to you, and the reason is, I want to say more to 
 you than to any other woman ! There's no use in my being 
 a coward any longer ; it's a desperate venture I'm making, 
 but it must be made. Have you never guessed how I feel 
 towards you ? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered, very quietly. 
 
 " Well, what do you say to it ? " He tried to speak 
 calmly, btit his breath came thick and hard, and the words 
 sounded hoarsely. 
 
 " I will say this, Elwood," said she, " that because I saw 
 your heart, I have watched your ways and studied your 
 character. I find you honest and manly in everything, and 
 so tender and faithful that I wish I could return your affec- 
 tion in the same measure." 
 
 A gleam, as of lightning, passed over his face. 
 
 " O, don't misunderstand me ! " she cried, her calmness for- 
 saking her, " 1 esteem, I honor you, and that makes it harder 
 for me to seem ungrateful, unfeeling, as I must. Elwood, 
 if I could, I would answer you as you wish, but I cannot." 
 
 " If I wait ? " he whispered. 
 
 " And lose your best years in a vain hope ! No, Elwood, 
 my friend, let me always call you so, I have been cow- 
 ardly also. I knew an explanation must come, and I shrank 
 from the pain I should feel in giving you pain. It is hard ; 
 and better for both of us that it should not be repeated ! " 
 
 " There's something wrong in this world ! " he exclaimed, 
 after a long pause. "I suppose you could no more force 
 yourself to love me than I could force myself to love Anna 
 Warriner or that Miss Blessing. Then what put it into my 
 heart to love you ? Was it God or the Devil ! "
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 45 
 
 " Elwoocl ! " 
 
 ' Hn\v can I help myself? Can I help drawing my 
 breath? Did I wet about it of my own will? Here 1 see 
 a life that belongs to my own life, as much a part of it as 
 my head or heart ; but I can't reach it, it draws away from 
 me, and maybe joins itself to some one else forever ! O my 
 God!" 
 
 Lucy burst into such a violent passion of weeping, that 
 El wood forgot himself in his trouble for her. He had never 
 witnessed such grief, as it seemed to him, and his honest 
 heart was filled with self-reproach at having caused it. 
 
 " Forgive me, Lucy ! " he said, very tenderly encircling 
 her with his arm, and drawing her head upon his shoulder ; 
 " I spoke rashly and wickedly, in my disappointment. I 
 thought only of myself, and forgot that I might hurt you 
 by my words. I'm not the only man who has this kind of 
 trouble to bear ; and perhaps if I could see clearer but I 
 don't know ; I can only see one thing." 
 
 She grew calmer as he spoke. Lifting her head from his 
 shoulder, she took his hand, and said : " You are a true and 
 a noble man, Elwood. It is only a grief to me that I can- 
 not love you as a wife should love her husband. But my 
 will is as powerless as yours." 
 
 " I believe you, Lucy," he answered, sadly. " It's not 
 your fault, but, then, it isn't mine, either. You make me 
 feel that the same rule fits both of us, leastways so far as 
 helping the matter is concerned. You needn't tell me I 
 may find another woman to love ; the very thought of it 
 makes me sick at heart. I'm rougher than you are, and 
 awkward in my ways " 
 
 " It is not that ! O, believe me, it is not that ! " ci-ied 
 Lucy, interrupting him. " Have you ever sought for reasons
 
 46 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 to account for your feeling toward me ? Is it not something 
 that does not seem to depend upon what I am, upon any 
 qualities that distinguish me from other women ? " 
 
 " How do you know so much ? " Elwood asked. " Have 
 you ' He commenced, but did not finish the question. 
 He leaned silently forward, urged on the horse, and Lucy 
 could see that his face was very stern. 
 
 " They say," she began, on finding that he was not inclined 
 to speak, " they say that women have a natural instinct 
 which helps them to understand many things ; and I think 
 it must be true. "Why can you not spare me the demand 
 for reasons which I have not ? If I were to take time, o.nd 
 consider it, and try to explain, it would be of no help to you : it 
 would not change the fact. I suppose a man feels humiliated 
 when this trouble comes upon him. He shows his heart, and 
 there seems to be a claim upon the woman of his choice to 
 show hers in return. The sense of injustice is worse than 
 humiliation, Elwood. Though I cannot, cannot do otherwise, 
 I shall always have the feeling that I have wronged you." 
 
 " O Lucy," he murmured, in a very sad, but not reproach- 
 ful voice, "every word you say, in showing me that I must 
 give you up, only makes it more impossible to rne. And it 
 is just impossible, that's the end of the matter! I know 
 how people talk about trials being sent us for our good, and 
 its being the will of God, and all that. It's a trial, that's 
 true : whether it's for my good or not, I shall learn after a 
 while ; but I can find out God's will only by trying the 
 strength of my own. Don't be afeared, Lucy ! I've no 
 notion of saying or doing anything from this time on to dis- 
 turb you, but here you are " (striking his breast with his 
 clenched hand), "and here you will be when the day conies, 
 as I feel that it must and shall come, to bring us together ! "
 
 47 
 
 She could see the glow of his face in the gathering dusk, 
 as he turned towards her and offered his hand. How could 
 she help taking it? If some pulse in her own betrayed the 
 thrill of admiring recognition of the man's powerful and 
 tender nature, whieh suddenly warmed her oppressed blood, 
 she did not fear that IK.' would draw courage from the token. 
 She wished to speak, but found no words which, coming 
 after his, would not have seemed either cold and unsympa- 
 thetic, or too near the verge of the hope which she would 
 gladly have crushed. 
 
 Ehvood was silent for a while, and hardly appeared to be 
 awaiting an answer. Meanwhile the road left the valley, 
 climbing the shoulders of its enclosing hills, where the moist 
 meadow fragrance was left behind, and dry, warm breezes, 
 filled with the peculiar smell of the wheat-fields, blew over 
 them. It was but a mile farther to the Corner, near which 
 Lucy's parents resided. 
 
 " How came you three to go to Joseph's place this after- 
 noon ? " he asked. " Wasn't it a dodge of Miss Blessing's ? " 
 
 " She proposed it, partly in play, I think ; and when she 
 afterwards insisted on our going, there seemed to be no good 
 reason for refusing." 
 
 " O, of course not,", said Elwood ; " but tell me now, 
 honestly, Lucy, what do you make out of her ? " 
 
 Lucy hesitated a moment. " She is a little wilful in her 
 ways, perhaps, but we mustn't judge too hastily. "We have 
 known her such a short time. Her manner is very amiable." 
 
 " I don't know about that," Elwood remarked. " It re- 
 minds me of one of her dresses, so ruffled, and puckered, 
 and stuck over with ribbons and things, that you can't 
 rightly tell what the stuff is. I'd like to be sure whether 
 she has an eyo to Joseph."
 
 48 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 " To him ! " Lucy exclaimed. 
 
 " Him first and foremost ! He's as innocent as a year-old 
 baby. There isn't a better fellow living than Joseph Asten, 
 but his bringing up has been fitter for a girl than a boy. He 
 hasn't had his eye-teeth cut yet, and it's my opinion that she 
 has." 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? " 
 
 " No harm. Used to the world, as much as anything else. 
 He don't know how to take people ; he thinks th' outside 
 color runs down to the core. So it does with him; but I 
 can't see what that girl is, under her pleasant ways, and he 
 won't guess that there's anything else of her. Between 
 ourselves, Lucy, you don't like her. I saw that when you 
 came away, though you were kissing each other at the time." 
 
 " What a hypocrite I must be ! " cried Lucy, rather 
 fiercely. 
 
 " Not a bit of it. Women kiss as men shake hands. You 
 don't go around, saying, ' Julia dear ! ' like Anna Warriner." 
 
 Lucy could not help laughing. " There," she said, " that's 
 enough, Elwood ! I'd rather you would think yourself in 
 the right than to say anything more about her this evening." 
 
 She sighed wearily, not attempting to conceal her fatigue 
 and depression. 
 
 " Well, well ! " he replied ; " I'll pester you no more with 
 disagreeable subjects. There's the house, now, and you'll 
 soon be rid of me. I won't tell you, Lucy, that if you ever 
 want for friendly service, you must look to me, because I'm 
 afeared you won't feel free to do it ; but you'll take all I 
 can find to do without your asking." 
 
 Without waiting for an answer he drew up his horse at 
 the gate of her home, handed her out, said " Good night ! " 
 and drove away.
 
 S'.ich a singular restlessness took possession of Joseph, 
 after the departure of his giiests, th it the evening quiet of 
 the farm became intolerable. Hi 1 s 
 out for the village, readily invent 
 plained the ride to himself as veil ; 
 
 The regular movements of the animal did not banish the 
 unquiet motions of his mind, but ic relieved him by giving 
 them a wider sweep and a more definite form. The man 
 who walks is subject to the power of his Antreus of a body, 
 moving forwards only bv means of the weight which holds it 
 
 O * <u O 
 
 to the earth. There is a clog upon all his thoughts, an ever- 
 present sense of restriction and impotence. But when he is 
 lifted above the soil, with the air under his foot-soles, swiftly 
 moving without effort, his mind, a poising Mercury, mounts 
 on winged heels. He feels the liberation of new and nimble 
 powers ; wider horizons stretch around his inward vision ; 
 obstacles are measured or overlooked; the brute strength 
 under him charges his whole nature with a more vigorous 
 electricity. 
 
 The fresh, warm, healthy vital force which filled Joseph's 
 body to the last embranchment of every nerve and vein 
 the hum of those multitudinous spirits of life, which, while 
 building their glorioxis abode, march as if in triumphant pro- 
 cession through its secret passages, and summon all the fair- 
 est phantoms of sense to their completed chambers consti 
 tuted, far more than he suspected, an element of his disturb- 
 ance. This was the strong pinion on which his mind and 
 soul hung balanced, above the close atmosphere which he 
 seemed to ride away from, as he rode. The great joy of hu- 
 man life filled and thrilled him ; all possibilities of action and 
 pleasure and emotion swam before his sight ; all he had read 
 or heard of individual careers in all ages, climates, and con-
 
 50 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 difcions of the race dazxling pictures of the myriad-sided 
 earth, to be won by whosoever dared arbitrarily to seize the 
 freedom waiting for his grasp floated through his brain. 
 
 Hitherto a conscience not born of his own nature, a very 
 fair and saintly- visage d jailer of thought, but a jailer nono 
 the less, had kept strict guard over every outward move- 
 ment of his mind, gently touching hope and desire and con- 
 jecture when they reached a certain line, and saying, " No ; 
 no farther : it is prohibited." But now, with one strong, 
 involuntary throb, he found himself beyond the line, with 
 all the ranges ever trodden by man stretching forward to 
 a limitless horizon. He rose in his stirrups, threw out his 
 arms, lifted his face towards the sky, and cried, " God ! I see 
 what I am ! " 
 
 It was only a glimpse, like that of a landscape struck in 
 golden fire by lightning, from the darkness. " What is it," 
 he mused, " that stands between me and this vision of life ? 
 Who built a wall of imaginary law around these needs, which 
 are in themselves inexorable laws ? The World, the Flesh, 
 and the Devil, they say in warning. Bright, boundless 
 world, my home, my play-ground, my battle-field, my king- 
 dom to be conquered ! And this body they tell me to de- 
 spise, this perishing house of clay, which is so intimately 
 myself that its comfort and delight cheer me to the inmost 
 soul : it is a dwelling fit for an angel to inhabit ! Shall not 
 its hungering senses all be fed? Who shall decide for me 
 if not myself on their claims? who can judge for me 
 what strength requires to be exercised, what pleasure to be 
 enjoyed, what growth to be forwarded ? All around me, 
 everywhere, are the means of gratification, I have but to 
 reach forth my hand and grasp; but a narrow cell, built 
 ages ago, encloses me wherever I go ! "
 
 51 
 
 Such was the vague substance of his thoughts. Tt was the 
 old struggle between life primitive, untamed life, as the 
 first man may have felt it and its many masters : assertion 
 nd resistance, all the more fierce because so many influences 
 laid their hands upon its forces. As he came back to his 
 usual self, refreshed by this temporary escape, Joseph won- 
 dered whether other men shared the same longing and impa- 
 tience ; and this turned his musings into another channel. 
 " Why do men so carefully conceal what is deepest and 
 strongest in their natures ? Why is so little of spiritual 
 struggle and experience ever imparted ? The convert publicly 
 admits his sinful experience, and tries to explain the entrance 
 of grace into his regenerated nature ; the reformed drunkard 
 seems to take a positive delight in making his former condi- 
 tion degraded and loathsome ; but the opening of the indi- 
 vidual life to the knowledge of power and passion and all the 
 possibilities of the world is kept more secret than sin. Love 
 is hidden as if it were a reproach ; friendship watched, lest 
 it express its warmth too frankly; joy and grief and doubt 
 and anxiety repressed as much as possible. A great lid is 
 shut down upon the human race. They must painfully stoop 
 and creep, instead of standing erect with only God's heaven 
 over their heads. I am lonely, but I know not how to cry 
 for companionship ; my words would not be understood, or, 
 if they were, would not be answered. Only one gate is free 
 to me, that leading to the love of woman. There, at least, 
 must be such an intense, intimate sympathy as shall make 
 the reciprocal revelation of the lives possible ! " 
 
 Full of this single certainty, which, the more he pondered 
 upon it, seemed to be his nearest chance of help, Joseph rode 
 slowly homewards. Rachel Miller, who had impatiently 
 awaited his corring, remarked the abstraction of his face, and
 
 52 JOBKI'lI AND HIS FKIKJvD. 
 
 attributed it to a very different ca\ise. She was thereby 
 wonderfully strengthened to make her communication in 
 regard to the evening company ; nevertheless, the subject 
 was so slowly approached and so ambiguously alluded to, 
 that Joseph could not immediately understand it. 
 
 " That is something ! That is a step ! " he said to him- 
 self; then turning towards her with a genuine satisfaction in 
 his face, added: "Aunt, do yoii know that 1 have never 
 really felt until now that I am the owner of this property ? 
 It will be more of a home to me after I have received the 
 neighborhood as my guests. It has always controlled me, 
 but now it must serve me." 
 
 He laughed in great good-humor, and Rachel Miller, in 
 her heart, thanked Miss Julia Blessing.
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS KKIEM). 53 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IX THE GARDEN". 
 
 RACHEL MILLER was not a woman to do a tiling by halves. 
 As soon as the question was settled, she gave her heart and 
 mind to the necessary preparations. There might have been 
 a little surprise in some quarters, when the fact became 
 known in the neighborhood through Joseph's invitation, but 
 no expression of it reached the Asten place. Mrs. "Warriner, 
 Anna's mother, called to inquire if she could be of service, 
 and also to suggest, indirectly, her plan of entertaining com- 
 pany. Rachel detected the latter purpose, and was a little 
 more acquiescent than could have been justified to her own 
 conscience, seeing that at the very moment when she was 
 listening with much apparent meekness, she was mentally 
 occupied with plans for outdoing Mrs. Warriner. Moreover, 
 the Rev. Mr. Chaffinch had graciously signified his willing- 
 ness to be present, and the stamp of strictest orthodoxy was 
 thus set upon the entertainment. She was both assured and 
 stimulated, as the time drew near, and even surprised Joseph 
 by saying : " If I was better acquainted with Miss Blessing, 
 she might help me a good deal in fixing everything just as it 
 should be. There are times, it seems, when it 's an advan- 
 tage to know something of the world." 
 
 " I'll ask her ! " Joseph exclaimed. 
 
 " You ! And a mess you'd make of it, very likely ; men 
 think they've only to agree to invite a company, and that's 
 all ! There's a hundred things to be thought of that women
 
 54: JOSEPH AND HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 must look to; yon couldn't even understand 'em. As for 
 speaking to her, she's one of the im'ites, and it would never 
 do in the world." 
 
 Joseph said no more, but he silently determined to ask 
 Miss Blessing on her arrival ; there would still be time. 
 She, with her wonderful instinct, her power of accommo- 
 dating people to each other, and the influence which she had 
 already acquired with his aunt, would certainly see at a 
 glance how the current was setting, and guide it in the 
 proper direction. 
 
 But, as the day drew near, he grew so restless and 
 uneasy that there seemed nothing better to do than to ride 
 over to Warriner'a in the hope of catching a moment's con- 
 ference with her, in advance of the occasion. 
 
 He was entirely fortunate. Anna was apparently very 
 busy with household duties, and after the first greetings left 
 him alone with Miss Blessing. He had anticipated a little 
 difficulty in making his message known, and was therefore 
 much relieved when she said : " Now, Mr. Asten, I see by 
 your face that you have something particular to say. It's 
 about to-morrow night, isn't it ? You must let me help you, 
 if I can, because I am afraid I have been, without exactly 
 intending it, the cause of so much trouble to you and your 
 aunt." 
 
 Joseph opened his heart at once. All that he had meant 
 to say came easily and naturally to his lips, because Miss 
 Blessing seemed to feel and understand the situation, and 
 met him half- way in her bright, cheerful acquiescence. 
 Almost before he knew it, he had made her acquainted with 
 what had been said and done at home. How easily she 
 solved the absurd doubts and difficulties which had so un- 
 necessarily tormented him ! How clearly, through her fine
 
 55 
 
 female instinct, she grasped little peculiarities of his aunt's 
 nature, which he, after ye;irs of close companionship, had 
 failed to define! Miss llachel, she said, was both shy and 
 inexperienced, and it was only the struggle to conceal theso 
 conscious defects which made her seem not unamiable, 
 exactly, but irregular in her manner. Her age, and her 
 character in the neighborhood, did not permit her to appear 
 incompetent to any emergency ; it was a very natural pride, 
 and must be treated very delicately and tenderly. 
 
 Would Joseph trust the matter entirely to her, Miss 
 Blessing ? It was a great deal to ask, she knew, com- 
 parative stranger as she was ; but she believed that a 
 woman, when her nature had not been distorted by the con- 
 ventionalities of life, had a natural talent for smoothing dif- 
 ficulties, and removing obstacles for others. Her friends had 
 told her that she possessed this power ; and it was a great 
 happiness to think so. In the present case, she was sure she 
 should make no mistake. She would endeavor not to seem 
 to suggest anything, but merely to assist in such a way that 
 Miss llachel would of herself see what else was necessary to 
 be done. 
 
 " Now," she remarked, in conclusion, " this sounds like 
 vanity in me ; but I really hope it is not. You must re- 
 member that in the city we are obliged to know all the little 
 social arts, and artifices, I am afraid. It is not always to 
 our credit, but then, the heart may be kept fresh and uncor- 
 rupted." 
 
 She sighed, and cast down her eyes. Joseph felt the in- 
 creasing charm of a nature so frank and so trustful, con- 
 stantly luring to the surface the maiden secrets of his own. 
 The confidence already established between them was wholly 
 delightful, because their sense of reciprocity increased as it
 
 56 JOSEPH AM) Jllrt FKIKM). 
 
 deepened. He felt so free to speak that he could not 
 measure the fitness of his words, hut exclaimed, without a 
 pause for thought : 
 
 " Tell me, Miss Julia, did you not suggest this party to 
 Aunt Each el ? " 
 
 " Don't give me too much credit ! " she answered ; " it 
 was talked ahout, and I couldn't help saying Ay. I longed 
 so much to see you all again before I go away." 
 
 " And Lucy Henderson objected to it V " 
 
 " Lucy, I think, wanted to save your aunt trouble. Per- 
 haps she did not guess that the real objection was inex- 
 perience, and not want of will to entertain company. And 
 very likely she helped to bring it about, by seeming to 
 oppose it ; so you must not be angry with Lucy, promise 
 me ! " 
 
 She looked at him with an irresistibly entreating expres- 
 sion, and extended her hand, which he seized so warmly as to 
 give her pain. But she returned the pressure, and there was 
 a moment's silence, which Anna Warriuer interrupted at the 
 right time. 
 
 The next day, 011 the Asten farm, all the preparations 
 were quietly and successfully made long in advance of the 
 first arrivals. The Rev. Mr. Chaffinch and a few other 
 specially chosen guests made their appearance in the after- 
 noon. To Joseph's surprise, the Warriiiers and Miss Bless- 
 ing speedily joined them. It was, in reality, a private ar- 
 rangement which his aunt had made, in order to secure at 
 the start the very assistance which he had been plotting to 
 render. One half the secret of the ease and harmony 
 which he felt was established was thus unknown to him. He 
 looked for hints or indications of management on Miss 
 Blessing's part, but saw none. The two women, meeting
 
 > t 
 
 each other half-way, needed no words in order to understand 
 eacli other, and [Miss .Rachel, gradually made secure in her 
 part of hostess, experienced a most unaccustomed sense of 
 triumph. 
 
 At the supper-table Mr. Chaffinch asked a blessing with 
 fervor; a great, balmy dish of chickens stewed in cream was 
 smoking before his nostrils, and his fourth cup of tea made 
 Rachel Miller supremely happy. The meal was honored in 
 silence, as is the case where there is much to cat and a 
 proper desire and capacity to do it ; only towards its close 
 were the tongues of the guests loosened, and content made 
 them cheerful. 
 
 " You have entertained us almost too sumptuously, Miss 
 Miller," said the clergyman. " And now let us go out 
 on the portico, and welcome the young people as they ar- 
 rive." 
 
 " I need hardly ask you, then, Mr. Chaffinch," said she, 
 " whether you think it right for them to come together in 
 this way." 
 
 " Decidedly ! " he answered ; " that is, so long as their 
 conversation is modest and becoming. It is easy for the 
 vanities of the world to slip in, but we must watch, we 
 must watch." 
 
 Rachel Miller took a seat near him, beholding the gates 
 of perfect enjoyment opened to her mind. Dress, the 
 opera, the race-course, literature, stocks, politics, have their 
 fascination for so many several classes of the human race ; 
 but to her there was nothing on this earth so delightful 
 as to be told of temptation and backsliding and sin, and to 
 feel that she was still secure. The fact that there was 
 always danger added a zest to the feeling ; she gave herself 
 
 credit for a vigilance which had really not been exercised. 
 3*
 
 58 JOSEPH AM) HIS FKTKND. 
 
 The older guests moved their chairs nearer, and listened, 
 forgetting the sweetness of sunset which lay upon the hills 
 down the valley. Anna "Wavriiier laid her arm around Miss 
 Chaffinch's waist, and drew her towards the mown field be- 
 yond the barn ; and presently, by a natural chance, as it 
 seemed, Joseph found himself beside Miss Blessing, at the 
 bottom of the lawn. 
 
 All the western hills were covered with one cool, broad 
 shadow. A rich orange flush touched the tops of the woods 
 to the eastward, and brightened as the sky above them 
 deepened into the violet-gray of coming dusk. The moist } 
 delicious freshness which filled the bed of the valley slowly 
 crept up the branching glen, and already tempered the air 
 about them. Now and then a bird chirped happily from a 
 neighboring bush, or the low of cattle was heard from the 
 pasture-fields. 
 
 " Ah ! " sighed Miss Blessing, " this is too sweet to last : 
 I must learn to do without it." 
 
 She looked at him swiftly, and then glanced away. It 
 seemed that there were tears in her eyes. 
 
 Joseph was about to speak, but she laid her hand on his 
 arm. " Hush ! " she said ; " let us wait until the light has 
 faded." 
 
 The glow had withdrawn to the summits of the distant 
 hills, fringing them with a thin, wonderful radiance. But it 
 was only momentary. The next moment it broke on the ir- 
 regular topmost boughs, and then disappeared, as if blown 
 out by a breeze which came with the sudden lifting of the sky. 
 She turned away in silence, and they walked slowly together 
 towards the house. At the garden gate she paused. 
 
 " That superb aveniie of box ! " she exclaimed ; " I must 
 see it again, if only to say farewell."
 
 Th'-y entvr>-d the garden, raid In a moment the dense creen 
 \vall, breathing an odor seductive to In-art and senses, had 
 hidden them from the sight and almost from the hear- 
 ing of the guests on the portk-o. Looking down ihrough 
 the southern opening of the avenue, they seemed alone in 
 the evening valley. 
 
 Joseph's heart was beating fast and strong; lie was con- 
 scious of a wild fear, so interfused with pleasure, that it 
 was impossible to separate the sensations. Miss Bless- 
 ing's hand was on his arm, and he fancied that it trembled. 
 
 ' % If life were as beautiful and peaceful as this," she 
 whispered, at last, " we should not need to .seek for truth 
 and and sympathy : we should find them everywhere." 
 
 " Do you not think they are to be found ? " he asked. 
 
 " O, in how few hearts ! I can say it to you, and you 
 will not misunderstand me. Until lately I was satisfied with 
 life as I found it : I thought it meant diversion, and dress, 
 and gossip, and common daily duties, but now now I see. 
 that it is the union of kindred souls ! " 
 
 She clasped both her hands over his arm as she spoke, and 
 leaned slightly towards him, as if drawing away from, the 
 dreary, homeless world. Joseph felt all that the action ex- 
 pressed, and answered in an unsteady voice : 
 
 " And yet with a nature like yours you must surely 
 find them." 
 
 She shook her head sadly, and answered : " Ah, a woman 
 cannot seek. I never thought I should be able to say to 
 any human being that I have sought, or waited for recogni- 
 tion. I do not know why I should say it now. I try to be my-* 
 self my true self with all persons ; but it seems impossible : 
 my nature shrinks from some and is drawn towards others. 
 Why is this? What is the mystery that surrounds us?"
 
 GO JOSKI'II A.ND His FJUKNJ). 
 
 " Do you believe," Joseph asked, " that l\vo souls may be 
 so united that they shall dare to surrender all knowledge of 
 themselves to each other, as we do, helplessly, before God?" 
 
 " O," she murniured, " it is my dream ! 1 thought I was 
 alone in cherishing it ! Can it ever be realized ? " 
 
 Joseph's brain grew hot : the release he had invoked 
 sprang to life and urged him forward. AVords came to his 
 lips, he knew not how. 
 
 " If it is my dream and yours, if we both have come to 
 the faith and the hope we lind in no others, and which alone 
 will satisfy our lives, is it not a sign that the dream is over 
 and the reality has begun ? " 
 
 She hid her face in her hands. "Do not tempt me with 
 what I had given up, unless you can teach me to believe 
 again ? " she cried. 
 
 " I do not tempt you," he answered breathlessly. " I 
 tempt myself. I believe." 
 
 She turned suddenly, laid a hand upon his shoulder, lifted 
 her face and looked into his eyes with an expression of 
 passionate eagerness and joy. All her attitude breathed of 
 the pause of the wave that only seems to hesitate an instant 
 before throwing itself upon the waiting strand. Joseph had 
 no defence, knew of none, dreamed of none. The pale- 
 brown eyes, now dark, deep, and almost tearful, drew him 
 with irresistible force : the sense of his own shy reticent 
 self was lost, dissolved in the strength of an instinct which 
 possessed him body and soul, which bent him nearer to the 
 slight form, which stretched his arms to answer its appeal, 
 and left him, after one dizzy moment, with Miss Blessing's 
 head upon his breast. 
 
 " I should like to die now," she murmured : " I never can 
 be so happy again."
 
 01 
 
 " Xo, no," said lie, bending over her; "live for me!" 
 
 She raised herself, and kissed him again and again, and 
 this frank, almost ehihllikc betrayal of her heart scorned to 
 claim from Joseph the full surrender of his own. lie re- 
 turned her caresses \vith e.'jual warmth, and the tvrilight 
 deepened around them as tlie.y stood, still half-embracing. 
 
 " Can I make you happy, Joseph? " 
 
 "Julia, I am already happier than I ever thought it pos- 
 sible to be." 
 
 "With a sudden impulse she drew away from him. 
 " Joseph ! " she whispered, " will you always bear in mind 
 what a cold, selfish, worldly life mine has been ? You do 
 not know me ; you cannot understand the school in which I. 
 have been taught. I tell you, now, that I have had to learn, 
 cunning and artifice and equivocation. I am dark beside a 
 nature so pure and good as yours ! If you must ever learn 
 to hate me, begin now ! Take back your love : I have lived 
 so long without the love of a noble human heart, that I can 
 live so to the end ! " 
 
 She again covered her face with her hands, and her frame 
 shrank, as if dreading a mortal blosv. But Joseph caught 
 her back to his breast, touched and even humiliated by such 
 sharp self-accusation. Presently she looked up : her eyes 
 were wet, and she said, with a pitiful smile : 
 
 " I believe you do love me." 
 
 " And I will not give you up," said Joseph, " though you 
 should be full of evil as I am, myself." 
 
 She laughed, and patted his cheek : all her frank, bright, 
 winning manner returned at once. Then commenced those 
 reciprocal expressions of bliss, which are so inexhaustibly 
 fresh to lovers, so endlessly monotonous to everybody else ; 
 and Joseph, lost to time, place, and circumstance, would
 
 63 JOPKPH AND HIS FRIKXD. 
 
 have prolonged tliem far into the night, but for Miss Julia's 
 returning self-possession. 
 
 " 1 hear wheels," she warned ; " the evening guests are 
 coming, and they will expect you to receive them, Joseph. 
 And your dear, good old aunt will bo looking for me.. O, 
 the world, the world ! We must give ourselves up to it, and 
 be as if we had never found each other. I shall be wild un- 
 less you set me an example of self-control. Let me look at 
 you once, one full, precious, perfect look, to carry in my 
 heart through the evening ! " 
 
 Then they looked in each other's faces ; and looking was 
 not enough ; and their lips, without the use of words, said 
 the temporary farewell. While Joseph hurried across the 
 bottom of the lawn, to meet the stream of approaching 
 guests which filled the lane, Miss Julia, at the top of the 
 garden, plucked amaranth leaves for a wreath which would 
 look well upon her dark hair, and sang, in a voice loud 
 enough to be heard from the portico : 
 
 "Ever be happy, light as thou art, 
 Pride of the pirate's heart ! " 
 
 Eveiybody who had been invited and quite a number 
 who had not been, availing themselves of the easy habits 
 of country society came to the Asten farm that evening. 
 Joseph, as host, seemed at times a little confused and 
 flurried, but his face bloomed, his blue eyes sparkled, 
 and even his nearest acquaintances were astonished at 
 the courage and cordiality with which he performed his 
 duties. The presence of Mr. Chaffinch kept the gayety of 
 the company within decorous bounds ; perhaps the number 
 of detached groups appeared to form too many separate 
 circles, or atmospheres of talk, but they easily dissolved, or 
 gave to and took from each other. Rachel Miller was not
 
 63 
 
 iiu-lin'xl to act tlif part of a moral detective in the house 
 which she managed ; she saw nothing which the .strictest 
 sense of propriety could cond ".an. 
 
 Early in the evening. Joseph met Lucy Henderson in the 
 hall. He could not see the grayer change in her face ; 
 he only noticed that her manner was not so quietly attractive 
 as usual. Yet on meeting her eyes he felt the absurd blood 
 rushing to his cheeks and brow, and his tongue hesitated and 
 stammered. This want of self-possession vexed him ; he could 
 not account for it ; and he cut short the interview by moving 
 abruptly away. 
 
 Lucy half turned, and looked after him, with an expres- 
 sion rather of surprise than of pain. As she did so she felt 
 that there was an eye upon her, and by a strong effort 
 entered the room without encountering the face of Elwood 
 Withers. 
 
 When the company broke up, Miss Blessing, who was 
 obliged to leave with the Warriners, found an opportunity to 
 whisper to Joseph : " Come soon ! " There was a long, fer- 
 vent clasp of hands under her shawl, and then the carriage 
 drove away. He could not see how the hand was transferred 
 to that of Anna Warriner, which received from it a 
 squeeze conveying an entire narrative to that young lady's 
 mind. 
 
 Joseph's duties to his many guests prevented him from 
 seeing much of Elwood during the evening ; but, when the 
 last were preparing to leave, he turned to the latter, con- 
 scious of a tenderer feeling of friendship than he had ever 
 before felt, and begged him to stay for the night. Elwood 
 held up the lantern, with which lie had been examining the 
 harness of a carriage that had just rolled away, and let its 
 light fall upon Joseph's face.
 
 C4 JOSEPH AND HIS FitlEXD. 
 
 " Do you really moan it ? " he then asked, 
 
 "I don't understand you, Elvvood." 
 
 " Perhaps I don't understand myself." But the next mo- 
 ment he laughed, and then added, in his usual tone : " Never 
 mind ; I'll stay." 
 
 They occupied the same room ; and neither seemed in- 
 clined to sleep. After the company had been discussed, in a 
 way which both felt to be awkward and mechanical, Elwood 
 said : " Do you know anything more about love, by this 
 time ? " 
 
 Joseph was silent, debating with himself whether he should 
 confide the wonderful secret. Elwood suddenly rose xip in 
 his bed, leaned forward, and whispered : " I see, you need 
 not answer. But tell me this one thing : is it Lucy Hender- 
 son?" 
 
 "No; O, no!" 
 
 " Does she know of it ? Your face told some sort of a 
 tale when you met her to-night." 
 
 " Not to her, surely not to her ! " Joseph exclaimed. 
 
 " I hope not," Elwood quietly said : " I love her." 
 
 "With a bound Joseph crossed the room and sat down on 
 the edge of his friend's bed. " Elwood ! " he cried ; " and 
 you are happy, too ! O, now I can tell you all, it is Julia 
 Blessing ! " 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! " Elwood laughed, a short, bitter laugh, 
 which seemed to signify anything but happiness. " Forgive 
 me, Joseph ! " he presently added, " but there's a deal of dif- 
 ference between a mitten and a ring. You will have one 
 and I have the other. I did think for a little while that you 
 stood between Lucy and me ; but I suppose disappointment 
 makes men fools." 
 
 Something in Joseph's breast seemed to stop the warm
 
 G5 
 
 ' So I see, and perhaps nobody is, except myself. "We 
 won't talk of this any more ; th'-re's many a roundabout 
 road that conies out into the straight one at last. But you, 
 1 can't understand the thing at ail. How did she did 
 you come to love her ' J . " 
 
 " I dou't know ; I hardly guessed it until this evening." 
 
 " Then, Joseph, go slowly, and feel your way. I'm not 
 the one to advise, after what has happened to me ; but maybe 
 I know a little more of womankind than you. It's best to 
 have a longer acquaintance than yours has been ; a fellow 
 can't always tell a sudden fancy from a love that has the grip 
 of death." 
 
 " Xow I might turn your own words against you, Elwood, 
 for you tried to tell me what love is." 
 
 " I did ; and before I knew the half. But come, Joseph : 
 promise me that you won' t let Miss Blessing know how much 
 you feel until " 
 
 " Elwood," Joseph breathlessly interrupted, " she knows 
 it now ! "We were together this evening." 
 
 Elwood fell back on the pillow with a groan. " I'm a 
 poor friend to you," he said : " I want to -wish you joy, but 
 I can't, not to-night. The way things are fixed in this 
 world stumps me, out and out. Nothing fits as it ought, and 
 if I didn't take my head in my own hands and hold it towards 
 the light by main force, I'd only see blackness, and death, 
 and hell." 
 
 Joseph stole back to his bed, and lay there silently. There 
 was a subtle chill in the heart of his happiness, which all the 
 remembered glow of that tender scene in the garden could 
 not thaw.
 
 66 JOSEPH AND HIS FEIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE BLESSING FAMILY. 
 
 JOSEPH'S secret was not suspected by any of the company. 
 Elwood's manner towards him next morning was warmer 
 and kinder than ever ; the chill of the past night had been 
 forgotten, and the betrothal, which then almost seemed like 
 a fetter upon his future, now gave him a sense of freedom 
 and strength. He would have gone to Warriner's at once, 
 but for the fear lest he should betray himself. Miss Bless- 
 ing was to return to the city in three days more, and a single 
 farewell call might be made with propriety ; so he controlled 
 his impatience and allowed another day to intervene. 
 
 When, at last, the hour of meeting came, Anna Warriner 
 proved herself an efficient ally. Circumstances were against 
 her, yet she secured the lovers a few minutes in which they 
 could hold each other's hands, and repeat their mutual de- 
 light, with an exquisite sense of liberty in doing so. Miss 
 Blessing suggested that nothing should be said until she had 
 acquainted her parents with the engagement ; there might 
 be some natural difficulties to overcome ; it was so unex- 
 pected, and the idea of losing her would possibly be unwel- 
 come, at first. She would write in a few days, and then 
 Joseph must come and make the acquaintance of her family. 
 
 " Then," she added, " I shall have no fear. When they 
 have once seen you all difficulties will vanish. There will 
 be no trouble with ma and sister Clementina ; but pa is 
 sometimes a little peculiar, on account of his connections.
 
 There ! don't look so serious, all at once ; it is my duty, you 
 know, to secure you a loving reception. You must try to 
 feel already that you have two homes, as I do." 
 
 Joseph waited very anxiously for the promised letter, and 
 in ten days it came ; it was brief, but satisfactory. " Would 
 you believe it, dear Joseph," she commenced, " pa makes no 
 difficulty ! he only requires some assurances which you can 
 very easily furnish. Ma, on the other hand, don't like the 
 idea of giving me up. I can hardly say it without seeming 
 to praise myself; but Clementina never took very kindly to 
 housekeeping and managing, and even if I were only indif- 
 ferent in those branches, I should be missed. It really went 
 to my heart when ma met me at the door, and cried out, 
 ' Now I shall have a little rest ! ' You may imagine how 
 hard it was to tell her. But she is a dear, good mother, and 
 I know she will be so happy to find a son in you as she 
 certainly will. Come, soon,- soon ! They are all anxious 
 to know you." 
 
 The city was not so distant as to make a trip thither an 
 unusual event for the young farmers of the neighborhood. 
 Joseph had frequently gone there for a day in the interest of 
 his sales of stock and grain, and he found no difficulty in in- 
 venting a plausible reason for the journey. The train at 
 the nearest railway station transported him in two or three 
 hours to the commencement of the miles of hot, dusty, rat- 
 tling pavements, and left him free to seek for the brick nest 
 within which his love was sheltered. 
 
 Yet now, so near the point whence his new life was to 
 commence, a singular unrest took possession of him. He 
 distinctly felt the presence of two forces, acting against each 
 other with nearly equal power, but without neutralizing their 
 disturbing influence. He was developing faster than he
 
 68 JOSEPH AXl) HIS l-KIEM). 
 
 guessed, yet, to a nature like liis, the last knowledge that 
 comes is the knowledge of self. Some occult instinct already 
 whispered that his life thenceforth would be stronger, more 
 independent, but also more disturbed ; and this was what he 
 had believed was wanting. If the consciousness of loving 
 and being loved were not quite the same in experience as it 
 had seemed to his ignorant fancy, it was yet a positive hap- 
 piness, and wedlock would therefore be its unbroken con- 
 tinuance. Julia had prepared for his introduction into her 
 family ; he must learn to accept her parents and sister as his 
 own ; and now the hour and the opportunity were at hand. 
 
 What was it, then, that struck upon his breast almost 
 like a physical pressure, and mysteriously resisted his er- 
 rand? When he reached the cross- street, in which, many 
 squares to the northward, the house was to be found, he 
 halted for some minutes, and then, instead of turning, kept 
 directly onward toward the river. The sight of the water, 
 the gliding sails, the lusty life and labor along the piers, 
 suddenly refreshed him. Men were tramping up and down 
 the gangways of the clipper-ships ; derricks were slowly 
 swinging over the sides the bales and boxes which had been 
 brought up from the holds ; drays were clattering to and fro : 
 wherever he turned he saw a picture of strength, courage, 
 reality, solid work. The men that went and came took life 
 simply as a succession of facts, and if these did not fit smooth- 
 ly into each other, they either gave themselves no trouble 
 about the rough edges, or drove them out of sight with a 
 few sturdy blows. What Lucy Henderson had said about 
 going to school was recalled to Joseph's mind. Here was a 
 class where he would be apt to stand at the foot for many 
 days. Would any of those strapping forms comprehend the 
 disturbance of his mind ? they would probably advise him
 
 G9 
 
 to go to the nearest apothecary-whop and purchase a few 
 blue-pills. The longer he watclr'd thorn, the more he felt tho 
 contagion of their unimaginative, faee-to-face grapple with 
 life : the manly element in him. checked so long, began to 
 push a vigorous shoot towards the light. 
 
 ' ; It is only the old cowardice, after all," he thought. " I 
 am still shrinking from the encounter with new faces! A 
 lover, soon to be a husband, and still so much of a green 
 youth ! It will never do. I must learn to handle my duty 
 as that stevedore handles a barrel, take hold with both 
 hands, push and trundle and guide, till the weight becomes 
 a mere plaything. There ! he starts a fresh one, now 
 for mine ! " 
 
 Therewith he turned about, walked sternly back to the 
 cross-street, and entered it without pausing at the corner. 
 It was still a long walk ; and the street, with its uniform 
 brick houses, with white shutters, green interior blinds, and 
 white marble steps, grew more silent and monotonous. 
 There was a mixed odor of salt-fish, molasses, and decaying 
 oranges at every corner ; dark wenches lowered the nozzles 
 of their jetting hose as he passed, and girls in draggled cali- 
 co frocks turned to look at him from the entrances of gloomy 
 tunnels leading into the back yards. A man with some- 
 thing in a cart uttered from time to time a piercing unintelli- 
 gible cry ; barefooted youngsters swore over their marbles 
 on the sidewalk ; and, at rare intervals, a marvellous mov- 
 ing fabric of silks and colors and glosses floated past him. 
 But he paused for none of these. His heart beat faster, and 
 the strange resistance seemed to increase with the increas- 
 ing numbers of houses, now rapidly approaching The One 
 then it came ! 
 
 There was an entire block of narrow three-storied dwell-
 
 70 JOKEPJl AXD JUS FUIEXD. 
 
 ings, with crowded windows and flat roofs. If Joseph had 
 been familiar with the city, lie would have recognized the 
 air of cheap gentility which exhaled from them, and which 
 said, as plainly as if the words had been painted on their 
 fronts, " Here we keep up appearances on a very small capi- 
 tal." He noticed nothing, however, except the marble steps 
 and the front doors, all of which were alike to him until he 
 came upon a brass plate inscribed " B. Blessing." As he 
 looked up a mass of dark curls vanished with a start from 
 the window. The door suddenly opened before he could 
 touch the bell-pull, and two hands upon his own drew him 
 into the diminutive hall. 
 
 The door instantly closed again, but softly : then two arms 
 were flung around his neck, and his willing lips received a sub- 
 dued kiss. " Hush ! " she said ; " it is delightful that you have 
 arrived, though we didn't expect you so immediately. Come 
 into the drawing-room, and let us have a minute together 
 before I call ma. " 
 
 She tripped lightly before him, and they were presently 
 seated side by side, on the sofa. 
 
 " What could have brought me to the window just at that mo- 
 ment ? " she whispered ; " it must have been presentiment." 
 
 Joseph's face brightened with pleasure. " And I was long 
 on the way," he answered. " What will you think of me, 
 Julia ? I was a little afraid." 
 
 " I know you were, Joseph," she said. " It is only the 
 cold, insensible hearts that are never agitated." 
 
 Their eyes met, and he remarked, for the first time, their 
 peculiar pale-brown, almost tawny clearness. The next in- 
 stant her long lashes slowly fell and half concealed them; she 
 drew away slightly from him, and said : " I should like to be 
 beautiful, for your sake ; I never cared about it before."
 
 "\Vitlicmt giving him time to reply, she rose and moved 
 towards the door, then looked back, smiled, and disap- 
 peared. 
 
 Joseph, left alone, also rose and walked softly up and 
 down the room. To his eyes it seemed an elegant, if rather 
 chilly apartment. It was long and narrow with a small, 
 delusive fireplace of white marble (intended only for hot air) 
 in the middle, a carpet of many glaring colors on the floor, 
 and a paper brilliant with lilac-bunches on the walls. There 
 was a centre-table, with some lukewarm literature cooling 
 itself 011 the marble top ; an ettigcre, with a few nondescript 
 cups and flagons, and a cottage piano, on which lay several 
 sheets of music by Verdi and Balfe. The furniture, not very 
 abundant, was swathed in a nankeen summer dress. There 
 were two pictures on the walls, portraits of a gentleman and 
 lady, and when once Joseph had caught the fixed stare of 
 their lustreless eyes, he found it difficult to turn away. The 
 imperfect light which came through the bowed window- 
 shutters revealed a florid, puffy-faced young man, whose 
 head was held up by a high black satin stock. He was 
 leaning against a fluted pillar, apparently constructed of 
 putty, behind which fell a superb crimson curtain, lifted up 
 at one corner to disclose a patch of stormy sky. The long 
 locks, tucked in at the temples, the carefully-delineated 
 whiskers, and the huge signet-i-ing on the second finger of 
 the one exposed hand, indicated that a certain " position " in 
 society was either possessed or claimed of right by the 
 painted person. Joseph could hardly doubt that this was a 
 representation of " B. Blessing," as he appeared twenty or 
 thirty years before. 
 
 He turned to the other picture. The lady was slender, 
 and meant to be graceful, her head being inclined so that the
 
 72 .TO?::PH AXD nis FRTKXP. 
 
 curls on the left side rolled in studied disorder upon lier 
 shoulder. Her face was thin and long, wilh well-marked and 
 not unpleasant features. There was rather too positive a 
 bloom upon her cheeks, and the fixed smile on the narrow 
 mouth scarcely harmonized Avith the hard, serious stare of 
 the eyes. She was royally attired in purple, and her bare 
 white arm much more plumply rounded than her face 
 would have given reason to suspect hung with a listless 
 grace over the end of a sofa. 
 
 Joseph looked from one face to the other with a curious 
 interest, which the painted eyes seemed also to reflect, as 
 they followed him. They were strangers, out of a different 
 sphere of life, yet they must become, nay, were already, a 
 part of his own ! The lady scrutinized him closely, in spite 
 of her smile ; but the indifference of the gentleman, blandly 
 satisfied with himself, seemed less assuring to his prospects. 
 
 Footsteps in the hall interrupted his revery, and he had 
 barely time to slip into his seat when the door opened and 
 Julia entered, followed by the original of one of the por- 
 traits. He recognized her, although the curls had dis- 
 appeared, the dark hair was sprinkled with gray, and deep 
 lines about the mouth and eyes gave them an expression of 
 care and discontent. In one respect she differed from her 
 daughter : her eyes were gray. 
 
 She bent her head with a stately air as Joseph rose, 
 walked past Julia, and extended her hand, with the words, 
 
 " Mr. Asten, I am glad to see you. Pray be seated." 
 
 When all had taken seats, she resumed : " Excuse me if I 
 begin by asking a question. You must consider that I have only 
 known you through Julia, and her description could not, un 
 der the circumstances, be very clear. What is your age ? " 
 
 " I shall be twenty-three next birthday," Joseph replied.
 
 " Indeed ! 1 am happy to hear it. You do not look 
 more than nineteen. I have reason to dread v <!">/ youthful 
 attachments, and am therefore reassured to know that you 
 are fullv a man and compi'tent to test your feelings. I trust 
 that you have so tested them. Again I say, excuse me if the 
 question seems to imply a want of confidence. A mother's 
 anxiety, you know " 
 
 Julia clasped her hands and Lent down her head. 
 
 " I am quite sure of myself," Joseph said, " and would 
 try to make you as sure, if I knew how to do it." 
 
 " If you were one of us, of the city, I mean, I should 
 be able to judge more promptly. It is many yeai'S since I 
 have been outside of our own select circle, and I am there- 
 fore not so competent as once to judge of men in general. 
 While I will never, without the most sufficient reason, in- 
 fluence my daughters in their choice, it is my duty to tell 
 you that Julia is exceedingly susceptible on the side of her 
 affections. A wound there would be incurable to her. "VVe 
 are alike in that ; I know her nature through my own." 
 
 Julia hid her face upon her mother's shoulder : Joseph 
 was moved, and vainly racked his brain for some form of as- 
 surance which might remove the maternal anxiety. 
 
 " There," said Mrs. Blessing ; " we will say no more 
 about it now. Go and bring your sister ! " 
 
 " There are some other points, Mr. Asten," she continued, 
 " which have no doubt already occurred to your mind. Mr. 
 Blessing will consult with you in relation to them. I make 
 it a rule never to trespass upon his field of duty. As you 
 were not positively expected to-day, he went to the Custom- 
 House as usual ; but it will soon be time for him to return. 
 Official labors, you understand, cannot be postponed. If you 
 have ever served in a government capacity, you will appre-
 
 i-i JOSEI'ir AXD III3 FRIKXD. 
 
 cuitc his j)osition. I have sometimes wished that we had not 
 become identified with political life; but, on the other 1 hand, 
 there are compensations." 
 
 Joseph, impressed more by Mrs. Blessing's important man- 
 ner than the words she uttered, could only say, "I beg that 
 my visit may not interfere in any way with Mr. Blessing's 
 duties." 
 
 " Unfortunately," she replied, " they cannot be postponed^ 
 His advice is more required by the Collector than his spe- 
 cial official services. But, as I said, he will confer with you 
 in regard to the future of our little girl. I call her so, Mr. 
 Asten, because she is the youngest, and I can hardly yet 
 realize that she is old enough to leave me. Yes : the young- 
 est, and the first to go. Had it been Clementina, I should 
 have been better prepared for the change. But a mother 
 should always be ready to sacrifice herself, where the happi- 
 ness of a child is at stake." 
 
 Mrs. Blessing gently pressed a small handkerchief to the 
 corner of each eye, then heaved a sigh, and resumed her 
 tisual calm dignity of manner. The door opened, and Julia 
 re-entered, followed by her sister. 
 
 " This is Miss Blessing," said the mother. 
 
 The young lady bowed very formally, and therewith 
 would have finished her greeting, but Joseph had already 
 risen and extended his hand. She thereupon gave him the 
 tips of four limp fingers, which he attempted to grasp and 
 then let go. 
 
 Clementina was nearly a head taller than her sister, and 
 amply proportioned. She had a small, petulant mouth, 
 small gray eyes, a low, narrow forehead, and light brown 
 hair. Her eyelids and cheeks had the same puffy character 
 a? her father's, in his portrait on the wall ; yet there was a
 
 75 
 
 bloom and brilliancy about her complexion which suggested 
 beauty. A faint expression of curiosity passed over her 
 face, on meeting Joseph, but she uttered no word of wel- 
 come. ITe looked at Julia, whose manner was suddenly 
 subdued, and was quick enough to perceive a rivalry between 
 the sisters. The stolidity of Clementina's countenance in- 
 dicated that indifference which is more offensive than enmity. 
 He disliked her from the first moment. 
 
 Julia kept modestly silent, and the conversation, in spite 
 of her mother's capacity to carry it on, did not flourish. 
 Clementina spoke only in monosyllables, which she let fall 
 from time to time with a silver sweetness which startled 
 Joseph, it seemed so at variance with her face and manner. 
 He felt very much relieved when, after more than one 
 significant glance had been exchanged with her mother, the 
 two arose and left the room. At the door Mrs. Blessing 
 said : " Of course you will stay and take a family tea with 
 us, Mr. Asten. I will order it to be earlier served, as you 
 are probably not accustomed to our city hours." 
 
 Julia looked up brightly after the door had closed, and ex- 
 claimed : " Now ! when ma says that, you may be satisfied. 
 Her housekeeping is like the laws of the Medes and Persians. 
 She probably seemed rather formal to you, and it is true that 
 a certain amount of form has become natural to her ; but it 
 always gives way when she is strongly moved. Pa is to come 
 yet, but I am sure you will get on very well with him ; 
 men always grow acquainted in a little while. I'm afraid 
 that Clementina did not impress you very very genially ; 
 she is, I may confess it to you, a little peculiar." 
 
 " She is very quiet," said Joseph, " and very unlike you." 
 
 " Every one notices that. And we seem to be unlike in 
 character, as much so as if there were no relationship be-
 
 <O JOSEPH AXD HIS FKIEND. 
 
 tween us. But I must say for Clementina, that she is above 
 personal likings and dislikings ; she looks at people abstractly. 
 You are only a future brother-in-law to her, and I don't be- 
 lieve she can tell whether your hair is black or the beautiful 
 golden brown that it is." 
 
 Joseph smiled, not ill-pleased with Jxilia's delicate flattery. 
 " I am all the more delighted," he said, " that you are different. 
 1 should not like you, Julia, to consider me an abstraction." 
 
 "You are very real, Joseph, and very individual," she 
 answered, with one of her loveliest smiles. 
 
 N"ot ten minutes afterwards, Julia, whose eyes and ears 
 were keenly on the alert, notwithstanding her gay, unre- 
 strained talk, heard the click of a latch-key. She sprang 
 up, laid her forefinger on her lips, gave Joseph a swift, 
 significant glance, and darted into the hall. A sound of 
 whispering followed, and there was no mistaking the deep, 
 hoarse murmur of one of the voices. 
 
 Mr. Blessing, without the fluted pillar and the crimson 
 curtain, was less formidable than Joseph had anticipated. 
 The years had added to his body and taken away from, his 
 hair ; yet his face, since high stocks were no longer in fashion, 
 had lost its rigid lift, and expressed the chronic cordiality of 
 a popular politician. There was a redness about the rims of 
 his eyes, and a fulness of the under lid, which also denoted 
 political habits. However, despite wrinkles, redness, and a 
 general roughening and coarsening of the features, the re- 
 semblance to the portrait was still strong ; and Joseph, feel- 
 ing as if the presentation had already been made, offered his 
 hand as soon as Mr. Blessing entered the room. 
 
 " Very happy to see you, Mr. Asten," said the latter. 
 " An unexpected pleasure, sir." 
 
 He removed the glove from his left hand, pulled down his
 
 JOSEPH .VXD Ills FKIKXI). 77 
 
 coat and vest, felt tlie tie of his cravat, twitched at his pan- 
 taloons, ran his lingers through liis straggling gray locks, and 
 then threw himself into a chair, exclaiming: "After busi- 
 ness, pleasure, sir ! My duties are over for the day. Mrs. 
 Blessing probably infonned you of n;y official capacity; but 
 you can have no conception of the vigilance required to 
 prevent evasion of the revenue laws. AVe are the country's 
 watch-dogs, sir." 
 
 " I can understand," Joseph said, " that an official position 
 carries with it much responsibility." 
 
 " Quite right, sir, and without adequate remuneration. 
 Figuratively speaking, we handle millions, and we are paid 
 by dimes. Were it not for the consciousness of serving 
 and saving for the nation but I will not pursue the subject. 
 When we have become better acquainted, you can judge for 
 yourself whether preferment always follows capacity. Our 
 present business is to establish a mutual understanding, 
 as we say in politics, to prepare a platform, and I think 
 you will agree with me that the circumstances of the case 
 require frank dealing, as between man and man." 
 
 " Certainly ! " Joseph answered ; " I only ask that, al- 
 though I am a stranger to you, you will accept my word un- 
 til you have the means of verifying it." 
 
 " I may safely do that with you, sir. My associations 
 duties, I may say compel me to know many persons with 
 whom it would not be safe. We will forget the disparity 
 of age and experience between us. T can hardly ask you to 
 imagine yourself placed in my situation, but perhaps we can 
 make the case quite as clear if I state to you, without re- 
 serve, what I should be ready to do, if our present positions 
 were reversed : Julia, will you look after the tea ? " 
 
 " Yes, pa," said she, and slipped out of the drawing-room.
 
 78 JOSEPH AXD HIS FKIKXP. 
 
 "If I wore a young man from the country, and had we.,. 
 the affections of a young lady of well, I may say it to you 
 of ail old family, whose parents were ignorant of my de- 
 scent, means, and future prospects in life, I should consider 
 it my first duty to enlighten those parents upon all these 
 points. I should reflect that the lady must be removed from 
 their sphere to mine ; that, while the attachment was, in 
 itself, vitally important to her and to me, those parents 
 would naturally desire to compare the two spheres, and as- 
 sure themselves that their daughter would lose no material 
 advantages by the transfer. You catch my meaning ? " 
 
 " I carne here," said Joseph, " with the single intention of 
 satisfying you at least, I came hoping that I shall be able 
 to do so in regard to myself. It will be easy for you to 
 test my statements." 
 
 " Very well. We will begin, then, witli the subject of 
 Family. Understand me, I mention this solely because, in 
 our old communities, Family is the stamp of Character. An 
 established name represents personal qualities, virtues. It 
 is indifferent to me whether my original ancestor was a De 
 Belsain (though beauty and health have always been family 
 characteristics) ; but it is important that he transmitted cer- 
 tain traits which. which others, perhaps, can better describe. 
 The name of Asteii is not usual ; it has, in fact, rather a distin- 
 guished sound ; but I am not acquainted with, its derivation." 
 
 Joseph, restrained a temptation to smile, and replied : 
 " My great-grandfather came from England more than a 
 hundred years ago : that is all I positively know. I have 
 heard it said that the family was originally Danish." 
 
 " You must look into the matter, sir : a good pedigree is 
 a bond for good behavior. The Danes, I have been told, 
 were of the same blood as the Normans. But we will let
 
 79 
 
 that puss. Julia informs me you are the owner of a hand- 
 some farm, yet .1 am so ignorant of values in the country, 
 niid mv official duties oblige me to measure property bv such 
 a different standard, that, reallv, unless YOU could make 
 the farm evident to me in figures, I 
 
 He paused, but Joseph was quite ready with the desired 
 intelligence. " I have two hundred acres," he said, " and a 
 moderate valuation of the place would be a hundred and 
 thirty dollars an acre. There is a mortgage of live thousand 
 dollars on the place, the term of which has not yet expired; 
 but I have nearly an equal amount invested, so that the farm 
 fairly represents what I own." 
 
 " H'm," mused Mr. Blessing, thrusting his tlmmbs into 
 the arm-holes of his waistcoat, " that is not a great deal here 
 in the city, but I dare say it is a handsome competence in 
 the country. It doubtless represents a certain annual in- 
 come ! " 
 
 " It is a very comfortable home, in the first place," said 
 Joseph ; " the farm ought to yield, after supplying nearly all 
 the wants of a family, an annual return of a thousand to fif- 
 teen hundred dollars, according to the season." 
 
 " Twenty-six thousand dollars ! and five per cent ! " Mr. 
 Blessing exclaimed. " If you had the farm in money, and 
 knew how to operate with it, you might pocket ten fifteen 
 twenty per cent. Many a man, with less than that to set 
 him afloat, has become a millionnaire in five years' time. 
 But it takes pluck and experience, sir ! " 
 
 " More of both than I can lay claim to," Joseph remarked ; 
 " but what there is of my income is certain. If Julia were 
 not so fond of the country, and already so familiar with our 
 ways, I might hesitate to offer her such a plain, quiet home, 
 but"
 
 SO JOSEPH A^D II IS 
 
 "O, I know!" Mr. Blessing interrupted. " W have 
 heard of nothing but cows and spring-houses and willow- 
 trees since she came back. I hope, for your sake, it may last ; 
 for I see that you arc determined to suit each other. I have 
 no inclination to act the obdurate parent. You have met 
 me like a man, sir : here's my hand ; I feel sure that, as my 
 son-in-law, you will keep up the reputation of the family ! "
 
 JOSKl'H AM) HIS 1'KIKXD. 81 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A COXSULTATIOX. 
 
 THE family tea was served in a small dining-room hi the 
 rear. Mr. Blessing, who had become more and more cordial 
 with Joseph after formally accepting him, led the way thither, 
 and managed to convey a rapid signal to his wife before the 
 family took their seats at the table. Joseph was the only 
 one who did not perceive the silent communication of in- 
 telligence ; but its consequences were such as to make him 
 speedily feel at ease in the Blessing mansion. Even Clemen- 
 tina relented sufficiently to say, in her most silvery tones, 
 " May I offer you the butter, Mr. Asten ? " 
 
 The table, it is true, was very unlike the substantial sup- 
 pers of the country. There was a variety of diminutive 
 dishes, containing slices so delicate that they mocked rather 
 than excited the appetite; yet Julia (of course it was she !) 
 had managed to give the repast an air of elegance which was 
 at least agreeable to a kindred sense. Joseph took the little 
 cup, the thin tea, the five drops of milk, and the fragment 
 of sugar, without asking himself whether the beverage were 
 palatable : he divided a leaf-like piece of flesh and consumed 
 several wafers of bread, blissfully unconscious whether his 
 stomach were satisfied. He felt that he had been received 
 into The Family. Mr. Blessing was magnificently bland, 
 Mrs. Blessing was maternally interested, Clementina recog- 
 nized his existence, and Julia, he needed but one look at 
 her sparkling eyes, her softly flushed cheeks, her bewitching 
 
 excitement of manner, to guess the relief of her heart. He 
 4*
 
 82 JOSEPH AND lite 1-TJKXD. 
 
 forgot the vague distress which Lad preceded Lis coming, and 
 the embarrassment of his first reception, in the knowledge 
 that Julia was so happy, and through the acquiescence of 
 her parents, in his love. 
 
 It was settled that he should pass the night there. Mrs. 
 Blessing would take no denial ; he must now consider their 
 house as his home. She would also call him " Joseph," but 
 not now, not until she was entitled to name him " son." 
 It had come suddenly upon her, but it Avas her duty to be 
 glad, and in a little while she would become accustomed to 
 the change. 
 
 All this was so simply and cordially said, that Joseph cpaite 
 warmed to the stately woman, and unconsciously decided to 
 accept his fortune, whatever features it might wear. Until 
 the one important event, at least ; after that it would be in 
 his own hands and Julia's. 
 
 After tea, two or three hours passed away rather slowly. 
 Mr. Blessing sat in the pit of a back yard and smoked until 
 dusk ; then the family collected in the " drawing-room," and 
 there was a little music, and a variety of gossip, with occa- 
 sional pauses of silence, until Mi's. Blessing said : " Perhaps 
 you had better show Mr. Asten to his room, Mr. Blessing. 
 We may have already passed over his accustomed hour for 
 retiring. If so, I know he will excuse us ; we shall soon 
 become familiar with each other's habits." 
 
 When Mr. Blessing returned, he first opened the rear 
 window, drew an arm-chair near it, took off his coat, seated 
 himself, and lit another cigar. His wife closed the front 
 shutters, slipped the night-bolts of the door, and then seated 
 herself beside him. Julia whirled around on her music-stool 
 to face the coming consultation, and Clementina gracefully 
 posed herself in the nearest corner of the sofa.
 
 S3 
 
 " How do you like lain, Eliza V "' M i x . Blessing asked, after 
 several silent, lux.uiious v.luli's. 
 
 "lie is handsome, and seems amiable, but younger tlian I 
 expected. Are you sure of his- hi-, feelings, Julia?" 
 
 '' O nui ! *' Julia exclaimed; "what a question! I can 
 only judge them by my own." 
 
 Clementina curled her lip in a singular fashion, but said 
 nothing. 
 
 " It seems like losing Julia entirely," Mrs. Blessing re- 
 sumed. " I don't know how she will be able to retain her 
 place in our circle, unless they spend a part of the winter in 
 the city, and whether he has means enough " 
 
 She paused, and looked inquisitively at her husband. 
 
 " You always look at the establishment," said he, " and 
 never consider the chances. Marriage is a deal, a throw, a 
 sort of kite-flying, in fact (except in our case, my clear), and, 
 after all I've learned of our future son-in-law, I must say 
 that Julia hasn't a bad hand." 
 
 " I knew you'd like him, pa ! " cried the delighted Julia. 
 
 Mr. Blessing looked at her steadily a moment, and then 
 winked ; but she took no notice of it. 
 
 " There is another thing," said his wife. " If the wedding 
 conies off this fall, we have but two months to prepare ; and 
 how will you manage about the the money ? "We can save 
 afterwards, to be sure, but there will be an immediate and 
 fearful expense. I've thought, perhaps, that a simple and 
 private ceremony, married in travelling-dress, you. know, 
 just before the train leaves, and no cards, it is sometimes 
 done in the highest circles." 
 
 " It won't do ! " exclaimed Mr. Blessing, waving his right 
 hand. " Julia's husband must have an opportunity of learn- 
 ing our standing in society. I will invite the Collector, and
 
 8-4 JOSEPH AND HIS FIIIKNI). 
 
 the Surveyor, and the Appraiser. The money must be raised. 
 I should be willing to pawn 
 
 He looked around the room, inspecting the well-worn 
 carpet, the nankeen-covered chairs, the old piano, and finally 
 the two pictures. 
 
 " Your portrait, my dear ; but, unless it were a Stuart, 
 I couldn't get ten dollars on it. We must take your set of 
 diamonds, and Julia's rubies, and Clementina's pearls." 
 
 He leaned back, and laughed with great glee. The ladies 
 became rigid and grave. 
 
 " It is wicked, Benjamin," Mrs. Blessing severely remark- 
 ed, " to jest over our troubles at such a time as this. I see 
 nothing else to do, but to inform Mr. Asten, frankly, of our 
 condition. He is yet too young, I think, to be repelled by 
 poverty." 
 
 " Ma, it would break my heart," said Julia. " I could 
 not bear to be humiliated in his eyes." 
 
 " Decidedly the best thing to do," warbled Clementina, 
 speaking for the first time. 
 
 " That's the way with women, flying from one extreme 
 to the other. If you can't have white, you turn around and 
 say there's no other color than black. When all devices are 
 exhausted, a man of pluck and character goes to work and 
 constructs a new one. Upon my soul, I don't know where 
 the money is to come from ; but give me ten days, and Julia 
 shall have her white satin. Now, girls, you had better go 
 to bed." 
 
 Mr. Blessing smoked silently until the sound of his 
 daughters' footsteps had ceased on the stairs ; then, bringing 
 down his hand emphatically upon his thigh, he exclaimed, 
 " By Jove, Eliza, if I were as sharp as that girl, I'd have 
 had the Collectorship before this ! "
 
 85 
 
 " What do you mean? She seems to be strongly attached 
 to him." 
 
 ' < ), no doubt ! But she has a wonderful talent for read- 
 ing character. The young fellow is pretty green wood still; 
 what he'll season into depends on her. Honest as the dav, 
 - there's nothing like a country life for that. But it's a 
 pity that such a fund for operations should lie idle; he has 
 a nest-egg that might hutch out millions ! " 
 
 " I hope, Benjamin, that after all your unfortunate experi- 
 ence 
 
 "Pray don't lament in advance, and especially now, when 
 a bit of luck comes to us. Julia has done well, and I'll 
 trust her to improve her opportunities. Besides, this will 
 help Clementina's chances ; where there is one marriage in a 
 family, there is generally another. Poor girl ! she has 
 waited a long while. At thirty-three, the market gets v-e-r-y 
 flat." 
 
 "And yet Julia is thirty," said Mrs. Blessing; "and 
 Clementina's complexion and manners have been considered 
 superior." 
 
 " There's just her mistake. A better copy of Mrs. Hali- 
 but's airs and attitudes was never produced, and it was all 
 very well so long as Mrs. Halibut gave the tone to society ; 
 but since she went to Europe, and Mrs. Bass has somehow 
 crept into her place, Clementina is qtu'te I may say obso- 
 lete. I don't object to her complexion, because that is a 
 standing fashion, but she is expected to be chatty, and witty, 
 and instead of that she stands about like a Venus of Milo. 
 She looks like me, and she can't lack intelligence and tact. 
 Why couldn't she unbend a little more to Asten, whether 
 she likes him or not ? " 
 
 " You know I never seemed to manage Clementina," his
 
 8C> JOSKl'II AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 wife replied ; " if she were to dispute my opinion sometimes, 
 I might, perhaps, gain a little influence over her : but she 
 won't enter into a discussion." 
 
 " Mrs. Halibut's way. It was new, then, and, with her 
 husband's money to back it, her ' grace ' and ' composure ' and 
 ' serenity ' carried all before her. Give me fifty thousand a 
 year, and I'll put Clementina in the same place ! But, 
 come, to the main question. 1 suppose we shall need five 
 hundred dollars ! " 
 
 " Three hundred, I think, will be ample," said Mrs. 
 Blessing. 
 
 "Three or five, it's as hard to raise one sum as the other. 
 I'll try for five, raid if I have luck with the two hundred 
 over small, careful operations, you know, which always 
 succeed I may have the whole amount on hand, long before 
 it's due." 
 
 Mrs. Blessing smiled in a melancholy, hopeless way, and 
 the consultation came to an end. 
 
 When Joseph was left alone in his chamber, he felt no 
 inclination to sleep. He sat at the open window, and looked 
 down into the dim, melancholy street, the solitude of which 
 was broken about once every quarter of an hour by a forlorn 
 pedestrian, who approached through gloom and lamplight, was 
 foreshortened to his hat, and then lengthened away on the 
 other side. The new acquaintances he had just made 
 remained all the more vividly in his thoughts from their 
 nearness ; he was still within their atmosphere. They were 
 unlike any persons he knew, and therefore he felt that he 
 might do them injustice by a hasty estimate of their charac- 
 ter. Clementina, however, was excluded from this charitable 
 resolution. Concentrating his dislike on her, he found that 
 her parents had received him with as much consideration as
 
 a total stranger could expect. More-over, whatever they 
 might lie, Julia was the same here, in her own home, as 
 when slie was a guest in the country. As playful, as win- 
 ning, and as natural ; and he began to suspect that her 
 present life was not congenial to such a nature. If so, her 
 happiness was all the more assured by their union. 
 
 This thought led him into a pictured labyrinth of antici- 
 pation, in which his mind wandered with delight. He was 
 so absorbed in planning the new household, that he did not 
 hear the sisters entering the rear room 011 the same floor, 
 which was only separated by a thin partition from his 
 own. 
 
 " White satin ! " he suddenly heard Clementina say : " of 
 course I shall have the same. It will become me better 
 than you." 
 
 " I should think you might be satisfied with a light silk," 
 Julia said ; " the expenses will be very heavy." 
 
 " We'll see," Clementina answered shortly, pacing up and 
 down the room. 
 
 After a long pause, he heard Julia's voice again. " Never 
 mind," she said, " I shall soon be out of your way." 
 
 " I wonder how much he knows about you ! " Clemen- 
 tina exclaimed. " Your arts were new there, and you 
 played an easy game." Here she lowered her voice, and 
 Joseph only distingtiished a detached word now and then. 
 He rose, indignant at this unsisterly assault, and wishing to 
 hear no more ; but it seemed that the movement was not 
 noticed, for Julia replied, in smothered, excited tones, with 
 some remark about " complexion." 
 
 " Well, there is one thing," Clementina continued, " one 
 thing you will keep very secret, and that is your birthday. 
 Are yo\i going to tell him that vou are "
 
 88 JO^KPH AMD II fS FIIIKXD. 
 
 Joseph had sei/ed tlio back of a chair., and with a sudden 
 impulse tilted it and let it fall on the, floor. Then he 
 walked to the window, closed it, and prepared to go to rest, 
 all with more noi.se than was habitual with him. There 
 were whispers and hushed movements in the next room, but 
 not another audible word was spoken. Before sleeping he 
 came to the conclusion that he was more than Julia's lover: 
 he was her deliverer. The idea was not unwelcome : it gave 
 a new value and significance to his life. 
 
 However curious Julia might have been to discover how 
 much he had overheard, she made no effort to ascertain the 
 fact. She met him next morning with a sweet unconscious- 
 ness of what she had endured, which convinced him that 
 such painful scenes must have been frequent, or she could 
 not have forgotten so easily. His greeting to Clementina 
 was brief and cold, but she did not seem to notice it in the 
 least. 
 
 It was decided, before he left, that the wedding should 
 take place in October.
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FiJIE^D. 89 
 
 CIIAriER IX. 
 
 JOSEPH AND II1S FKIEND. 
 
 THE train moved slowly along through the straggling and 
 shabby suburbs, increasing its speed as the city melted grad- 
 ually into the country ; and Joseph, after a vain attempt 
 to fix his mind upon one of the volumes he had procured for 
 his slender library at home, leaned back in his seat and took 
 note of his fellow-travellers. Since he began to approach 
 the usual destiny of men, they had a new interest for him. 
 Hitherto he had looked upon strange faces very much as on 
 a strange language, without a thought of interpreting them 
 but now their hieroglyphics seemed to suggest a meaning 
 The figures around him were so many sitting, silent histories, 
 so many locked-up records of struggle, loss, gain, and all thg 
 other forces which give shape and color to human life. Most 
 of them were strangers to each other, and as reticent (in 
 their railway conventionality) as himself ; yet, he reflected, 
 the whole range of passion, pleasure, and suffering was prob- 
 ably illustrated in that collection of existences. His own 
 troublesome individuality grew fainter, so much of it seemed 
 to be merged in the common experience of men. 
 
 There was the portly gentleman of fifty, still ruddy and 
 full of unwasted force. The keenness and coolness of his 
 eyes, the few firmly marked lines on his face, and the color 
 and hardness of his lips, proclaimed to everybody : " I am 
 bold, shrewd, successful in business, scrupulous in the per- 
 formance of my religious duties (on the Sabbath), voting
 
 00 .TOFK1MI AND JUS FKIIJXT). 
 
 with my party, and not likely to Le fooled by any kind of 
 sentimental nonsense." The thin, not very well-dressed man 
 beside him, "with the irregular features and uncertain ex- 
 pression, announced as clearly, to any who could read : " I 
 am weak, like others, but I never consciously did any harm. 
 
 1 just manage to get along in the world, but if I only had a 
 chance, I might make something better of myself." The 
 fresh, healthy fellow, in whose lap a child was sleeping, 
 while his wife nursed a younger one, the man with ample 
 mouth, large nostrils, and the hands of a mechanic, also 
 told his story : " On the whole, I find life a comfortable 
 thing. I don't know much about it, but I take it as it comes, 
 and never worry over what I can't understand." 
 
 The faces of the younger men, however, were not so easy 
 to decipher. On them life was only beginning its plastic 
 task, and it required an older eye to detect the delicate 
 touches of awakening passions and hopes. But Joseph con- 
 soled himself with the thought that his own secret w*as as 
 little to be discovered as any they might have. If they were 
 still ignorant of the sweet experience of love, he was already 
 their superior ; if they were sharers in it, though strangers, 
 they were near to him. Had he not left the foot, of the 
 class, after all ? 
 
 All at once his eye was attracted by a new face, three or 
 four seats from his own. The stranger had shifted his po- 
 sition, so that he was no longer seen in profile. He was 
 apparently a few years older than Joseph, but still bright 
 with all the charm of early manhood. His fair complexion 
 was bronzed from exposure, and his hands, graceful without 
 being effeminate, were not those of the idle gentleman. His 
 hair, golden in tint, thrust its short locks as it pleased about 
 a smooth, frank forehead ; the eyes were dark gray, and the
 
 91 
 
 mourli. partly hidden by a mustache, at once firm and full. 
 I IV was moderately handsome, yet it was not of that which 
 Joseph thought ; he felt that there was more of developed 
 character and a richer past history expressed in those fea- 
 tures than in any other face there. lie felt sure and 
 smiled at himself, notwithstanding, for the impression 
 that at least some of his own doubts and difficulties had 
 found their solution in the stranger's nature. The more he 
 studied the face, the more he was conscious of its attraction, 
 and his instinct of reliance, though utterly without grounds, 
 justified itself to his mind in some mysterious way. 
 
 It was not long before the unknown felt his gaze, and, 
 turning slowly in his seat, answered it. Joseph dropped his 
 eyes in some confusion, but not until he had caught the full, 
 warm, intense expression of those that met them. He fan- 
 cied that lie read in them, in that momentary flash, what he 
 had never before found in the eyes of strangers, a simple, 
 human interest, above curiosity and above mistrust. The 
 usual reply to such a gaze is an unconscious defiance : the 
 unknown nature is on its guard : but the look which seems 
 to answer, " We are men, let us know each other ! " is, alas ! 
 too rare in this world. 
 
 While Joseph was fighting the irresistible temptation to 
 look again, there was a sudden thud of the car- wheels. Many 
 of the passengers started from their seats, only to be thrown 
 into them again by a quick succession of violent jolts. Jo- 
 seph saw the stranger springing towards the bell-rope ; then 
 he and all others seemed to be whirling over each other ; 
 there was a crash, a horrible grinding and splintering sound, 
 and the end of all was a shock, in which his consciousness 
 left him before he could guess its violence. 
 
 After a while, out of some blank, haunted by a single
 
 03 JOSEPH AND HIS F.KIEND. 
 
 lost, wandering sense of existence, he began to awaken 
 slowly to life. Flames were still dancing in his eyeballs, 
 and waters and whirlwinds roaring in his ears; but it was 
 only a passive sensation, without the will to know more. 
 Then lie felt himself partly lifted and his head supported, 
 and presently a soft warmth fell upon the region of his 
 heart. There were noises all about him, but he did not 
 listen to them ; his effort to regain his consciousness fixed 
 itself on that point alone, and grew stronger as the warmth 
 calmed the confusion of his nerves. 
 
 " Dip this in water ! " said a voice, and the hand (as he 
 now knew it to be) was removed from his heart. 
 
 Something cold came over his forehead, and at the same 
 time warm drops fell upon his cheek. 
 
 " Look out for yourself : your head is cut ! " exclaimed, 
 another voice. 
 
 " Only a scratch. Take the handkerchief out of my pocket 
 and tie it up ; but first ask yon gentleman for his flask ! " 
 
 Joseph opened his eyes, knew the face that bent over his, 
 and then closed them again. Gentle and strong hands raised 
 him, a flask was set to his lips, and he drank mechanically, 
 but a full sense of life followed the draught. He looked 
 wistfully in the stranger's face. 
 
 " Wait a moment," said the latter ; " I must feel your 
 bones before you try to move. Arms and legs all right, 
 impossible to tell about the ribs. There ! now put your 
 arm around my neck, and lean on me as much as you like, 
 while I lift you." 
 
 Joseph did as he was bidden, but he was still weak and 
 giddy, and after a few steps, they both sat down together 
 upon a bank. The splintered car lay near them upside 
 down ; the passengers had been extricated from it, and were
 
 jcMCm A.ND III* FKTKXD. 93 
 
 now busy in aiding the few who were injured. The train 
 had stopped and was waiting on the track above. Some 
 were very pale and grave, feeling that Death had touched 
 without taking them; but the greater part were concerned 
 onlv about the delay to the train. 
 
 " How did it happen ? " asked Joseph : u where was I ? 
 how did you find me ? " 
 
 ' The usual story, a broken rail," said the stranger. " I 
 had just caught the rope when the car went over, and was 
 swung off my feet so luckily that I somehow escaped the 
 hardest shock. I don't think I lost my senses for a moment. 
 When, we came to the bottom you were lying just before me ; 
 I thought you dead until I felt your heart. It is a severe 
 shock, but I hope nothing more." 
 
 " But you, are you not badly hurt ?" 
 
 The stranger pushed up the handkerchief which, was tied 
 around his head, felt his temple, and said : " It must have 
 been one of the splinters; I know nothing about it. But 
 there is no harm in a little blood-letting except " he added, 
 smiling " except the spots on your face." 
 
 By this time the other injured passengers had been con- 
 veyed to the train ; the whistle sounded a warning of de- 
 parture. 
 
 " I think we can get up the embankment now," said the 
 stranger. " You must let me take care of you still : I am 
 travelling alone." 
 
 "When they were seated side by side, and Joseph leaned 
 his head back on the supporting arm, while the train moved 
 away with them, he felt that a new power, a new support, 
 had come to his life. The face upon which he looked was 
 no longer strange ; the hand which had rested on his heart 
 was warm with kindred blood. Involuntarily he extended
 
 01 JOSEPH AND HIS FRTEXT). 
 
 liis own; it was taken and held, and the dark-gray, courage 
 ous eyes turned to him with a silent assurance which he felt 
 needed no words. 
 
 " It is a rough introduction," he then said : " my name is 
 Philip Held. I was on my way to Oakland Station ; but if 
 yon are going farther 
 
 " Why, that is my station also ! " Joseph exclaimed, giv- 
 ing his name in return. 
 
 " Then we should have probably met, sooner or later, in any 
 case. I am bound for "the forge and furnace at Coventry, 
 which is for sale. If the company who employ me decide to 
 buy it, according to the report I shall make, the works 
 will be placed in my charge." 
 
 " It is but six miles from my farm," said Joseph, " and 
 the road up the valley is the most beautiful in our neighbor- 
 hood. I hope you can make a favorable report." 
 
 " It is only too much to my own interest to do so. I have 
 been mining and geologizing in Nevada and the Rocky 
 Mountains for three or four years, and long for a quiet, or- 
 dered life. It is a good omen that I have found a neighbor 
 in advance of my settlement. I have often ridden fifty 
 miles to meet a friend who cared for something else than 
 horse-racing or monte; and your six miles, it is but a step ! " 
 
 " How much you have seen ! " said Joseph. " I know 
 very little of the world. It must be easy for you to take 
 your own place in life. 
 
 A shade passed over Philip Held's face. " It is only easy 
 to a certain class of men," he replied, " a class to which I 
 should not care to belong. I begin to think that nothing is 
 very valuable, the right to which a man don't earn, ex- 
 cept human love, and that seems to come by the grace of 
 God."
 
 JOPKPII AXD ITIS FKIKXR 95 
 
 " I am younger llin.ii yon are, not yet twenty-throe," 
 Jose])li remarked. "You will find that 1 am very ignorant." 
 
 " And I am twenty-eight, and just beginning to get my 
 eyes open, like a nine-days' kitten. .If I had been frank 
 enough to confess my ignorance, five years ar:;o, as you do 
 now. it would have been better for me. But don't let us 
 measure ourselves or our experience against each other. 
 That is one good thing we learn in Rocky Mountain 
 life ; there is no high or low, knowledge or ignorance, except 
 what applies to the needs of men who come together. So 
 there are needs which most men have, and go all their lives 
 hungering for, because they expect them to be supplied in a 
 particular form. There is something," Philip concluded, 
 " deeper than that in human nature." 
 
 Joseph longed to open his heart to this man, every one of 
 whose words struck home to something in himself. But the 
 lassitude which the shock left behind gradually overcame 
 him. He suffered his head to be drawn upon Philip Held's 
 shoulder, and slept until the train reached Oakland Station. 
 When the two got upon the platform, they found Dennis 
 waiting for Joseph, with, a light country vehicle. The news 
 of the accident had reached the station, and his dismay was 
 great when he saw the two bloody faces. A physician had 
 already been summoned from the neighboring village, but 
 they had little need of his services. A prescription of quiet 
 and sedatives for Joseph, and a strip of plaster for his com- 
 panion, were speedily furnished, and they set out together 
 for the Asten place. 
 
 It is unnecessary to describe Rachel Miller's agitation 
 when the party arrived ; or the parting of the two men who 
 had been so swiftly brought near to each other ; or Philip 
 Held's farther journey to the forge that evening. He re-
 
 90 jor-F.rir AND HIS FPJEXD. 
 
 sistod all entreaty to remain at, the farm until morning, on 
 the ground of an appointment made with the present pro- 
 prietor of the forge. After his departure Joseph was sent 
 to bed, where he remained for a day or two, very sore and 
 a little feverish. Tie had plenty of time for thought, not 
 precisely of the kind which his aunt suspected, for out of 
 pure, honest interest in his welfare, she took a step which 
 proved to be of doubtful benefit. If he had not been so in- 
 nocent, if he had not been quite as unconscious of his in- 
 ner nature as he was over-conscious of his external self, 
 lie would have perceived that his thoughts dwelt much more 
 on Philip Held than on Julia Blessing. His mind seemed 
 to run through a swift, involuntary chain of reasoning, to 
 account to himself for his feeling towards her, and her in- 
 evitable share in his future ; but towards Philip his heart 
 sprang with an instinct beyond his control. It was impos- 
 sible to imagine that the latter also would not be shot, like 
 a bright thread, through the web of his coming days. 
 
 On the third morning, when he had exchanged the bed for 
 an arm-chair, a letter from the city was brought to him. 
 " Dearest Joseph," it ran, " what a fright and anxiety we 
 have had ! When pa brought the paper home, last night, 
 and I read the report of the accident, where it said, ' J~. 
 Asten, severe contusions,' my heart stopped beating for a 
 minute, and I can only write now (as you see) with a 
 trembling hand. My first thought was to go directly to 
 you ; but ma said we had better wait for intelligence. Un- 
 less our engagement were generally known, it would give 
 rise to remarks, in short, I need not repeat to you all the 
 worldly reasons with which she opposed rue ; but, oh, how I 
 longed for the right to be at your side, and assure myself 
 that the dreadful, dreadful danger has passed ! Pa was
 
 JOSKIMI AM) HI? FUIK.M). \)( 
 
 quite shaken with the news: ho felt hardly able to goto the 
 Custom-House this morning, But he sides \vith ma about 
 my goijig, and now, \vhni my time, as a daughter with them 
 is growing so short, L dare not disobey. I know you will 
 understand my position, yet, dear and true as you are, you 
 cannot guess the anxiety \\ilh which I await a line from 
 your hand, the hand that was so nearly taken, from me 
 forever ! " 
 
 Joseph read the letter twice and was about to commence 
 it for the third time, when a visitor was announced. He 
 had barely time to thrust the scented sheet into his pocket ; 
 and the bright eyes and flushed face with which he met the 
 .Rev. Mr. Chaffinch convinced both that gentleman and his 
 aunt, as she ushered the latter into the room, that the visit 
 was accepted as an honor and a joy. 
 
 On Mr. Chaffinch's face the air of authority which he had 
 been led to believe belonged to his calling had not quite suc- 
 ceeded in impressing itself; but melancholy, the next best 
 thing, was strongly marked. His dark complexion and his 
 white cravat intensified each other ; and his eyes, so long 
 uplifted above the concerns of this world, had ceased to vary 
 their expression materially for the sake of any human inter- 
 est. All this had been expected of him, and he had simply 
 done Ids best to meet the requirements of the flock over 
 which he was placed. Any of the latter might have easily 
 been shrewd enough to guess, in advance, very nearly what 
 the pastor would say, upon a given occasion ; but each and 
 all of them would have been both disappointed and dis- 
 turbed if lie had not said it. 
 
 After appropriate and sympathetic inquiries concerning 
 Joseph's bodily condition, lie proceeded to probe him spiri- 
 tually.
 
 98 JOSEPH AND HIS FUIKND. 
 
 " It was a merciful preservation. I Imp;) you feel that it 
 is a solemn tiling to look Death in ih<; face." 
 
 " I am not afraid of death," Joseph replied. 
 
 " Yon mean the physical pang, jiiit death includes what 
 conies after it, judgment. That is a very awful thought." 
 
 " It may he to evil men ; but I have done nothing to 
 make me fear it." 
 
 " You have never made an open profession of faith ; yet 
 it may he that grace hart reached you," said Mr. Chaffinch. 
 " Have yon found your Saviour ? " 
 
 " I believe in him with all my soul ! " Joseph exclaimed ; 
 " but you mean something else by ' finding ' him. I will be 
 candid with you, Mr. Chaffinch. The last sermon I heard 
 you preach, a month ago, was upon the nullity of all good 
 works, all Christian deeds ; you called them ' rags, dust, and 
 ashes,' and declared that man is saved by faith alone. I 
 have faith, but I can't accept a doctrine which denies merit 
 to works ; and you, unless I accept it, will you admit that I 
 have found ' Christ ? " 
 
 " There is but One Truth ! " exclaimed Mr. Chaffinch, 
 very severely. 
 
 " Yes," Joseph answered, reverently, " and that is only 
 perfectly known to God." 
 
 The clergyman was more deeply annoyed than he cared to 
 exhibit. His experience had been confined chiefly to the 
 encouragement of ignorant souls, willing to accept his mes- 
 sage, if they could only be made to comprehend it, or to the 
 conflict with downright doubt and denial. A nature so 
 seemingly open to the influences of the Spirit, yet inflexibly 
 closed to certain points of doctrine, was something of a 
 problem to him. He belonged to a class now happily be- 
 coming scarce, who, having been taught to pace a reasoned
 
 tlroL.-gieal round, ca 
 who voluntarily com; 
 
 His habit of con 
 moderately fru ndly manner, us ho took L*ave : ' \Vo will 
 talk agiiin "\vhen you are stroiig-.-r. It is my uutv to give 
 spiritual help to those who seek it.'' 
 
 To Kachel Miller he said : " 1 cannot say tliat he is dark. 
 His mind is cloudy, but we find that the vanities of youth 
 often obscure the true light for a time." 
 
 Joseph leaned back in his arm-chair, closed his eyes, and 
 meditated earnestly for half an hour. E;ichel Miller, uncer- 
 tain whether to be hopeful or discouraged by Mr. Chaffinch's 
 words, stole into the room, but went about on tiptoe, sup- 
 posing him to be asleep. Joseph was fully conscious of all 
 her movements, and at hist startled her by the sudden 
 question : 
 
 " Aunt, why do you suppose I went to the city ? " 
 
 " Goodness, Joseph ! I thought you were sound asleep. 
 I suppose to see about the fall prices for grain and cattle." 
 
 " ISTo, aunt," said he, * speaking with determination, 
 though, the foolish blood ran rosily over his face, " I went 
 to get a wife ! " 
 
 She stood pale and speechless, staring at him. But for 
 the rosy sign on his cheeks and temples she could not have 
 believed his words. 
 
 " Miss Blessing ? " she finally uttered, almost in a whisper. 
 Joseph nodded his head. She dropped into the nearest 
 chair, drew two or three long breaths, and in an indescriba- 
 ble tone ejaculated, "Well ! " 
 
 " I knew you would be surprised," said he ; " because it 
 is almost a surprise to myself. But you and she seemed to 
 fall so easily into each other's ways, that I hope "
 
 100 .TOPKPH AND HIS FRIKXD. 
 
 " Why, you're hardly ;;eouair,led with her!" Rachel ex- 
 claimed. '' It is so luisiy ! And you are so young ! " 
 
 " No younger than father was when he marrir-d mother; 
 and I havo learned to know lier well in a short lime. Isn't 
 it so with you, too, aunt ? you certainly liked her? '' 
 
 " I'll not deny that, nor say the reverse now : but a farm- 
 er's wife should be a farmer's daughter." 
 
 " But suppose, aunt, that the farmer doesn't happen to 
 love any farmer's daughter, and does love a blight, amiable, 
 very intelligent girl, who is delighted with country life, 
 eager and willing to learn, and very fond of the farmer's 
 aunt (who can teach her everything) ? " 
 
 " Still, it seems to me a risk," said Rachel ; but she was 
 evidently relenting. 
 
 '' There is none to you," he ansAvered, " and I am not 
 afraid of mine. You will be with us, for Julia couldn't do 
 without you, if she wished. If she were a farmer's daugh- 
 ter, with different ideas of housekeeping, it might bring 
 trouble to both of us. But now you will have the manage- 
 ment in your own hands until you have taught Jxilia, and 
 afterwards she will carry it on in your way." 
 
 She did not reply ; but Joseph could see that she was be- 
 coming reconciled to the prospect. After awhile she came 
 across the room, leaned over him, kissed him upon the fore- 
 head, and then silently went away.
 
 FKIK.XD. 101 
 
 CHAPTER X, 
 
 ONLY two months intervened until the time appointed for 
 the marriage, and the days rolled swiftly away. A few lines 
 carne to Joseph from Philip Held, announcing that he was 
 satisfied with the forge and furnace, and the sale would 
 doubtless be consummated in a short time. He did not, 
 however, expect to take charge of the works before March, 
 and therefore gave Joseph his address in the city, with the 
 hope that the latter would either visit or write to him. 
 
 On the Sunday after the accident Elwood Withers came 
 to the farm. He seemed to have grown older in the short 
 time which had elapsed since they had last met ; after his first 
 hearty rejoicing over Joseph's escape and recovery, he re- 
 lapsed into a silent but not unfriendly mood. The two young 
 men climbed the long hill behind the house and seated them- 
 selves under a noble pin-oak on the height, whence there was 
 a lovely view of the valley for many miles to the southward. 
 
 They talked mechanically, for a while, of the season, and 
 the crops, and the other usual subjects which farmers never 
 get to the end of discussing ; but'both felt the impendence 
 of more important themes, and, nevertheless, were slow to 
 approach them. At last Elwood said : " Your fate is settled 
 by this time, I suppose ? " 
 
 " It is arranged, at least," Joseph replied. " But I can't 
 yet make clear to myself that I shall be a married man in 
 two months from now."
 
 102 JOSKHI A.\J) I! IS FRIKXD. 
 
 " Does (he time seem long to you ? " 
 
 " ZSo," Joseph innocently answered ; "it is very short." 
 
 Elwood tuni;H.l away his head to conceal a melancholy 
 smile ; it was; a few minutes before lie spoke again. 
 
 " Joseph," he then said, " arc you sure, quite sure, you 
 love her s i " 
 
 " I am to many her." 
 
 " I meant nothing unfriendly," Elwood remarked, in a 
 gentle tone. " My thought was this,' if you should ever 
 find a still stronger love growing upon you, something that 
 would make the warmth you feel now seem like ice compared 
 to it, how would you be able to fight it ? I asked the ques- 
 tion of myself for you. 1 don't think I'm much different 
 from most soft-hearted men, except that I keep the softness 
 so well stowed aAvay that few persons know of it, but if I 
 were in your place, within two months of marriage to the 
 girl I love, I should be miserable ! " 
 
 Joseph turned towards him with wide, astonished eyes. 
 
 " Miserable from hope and fear," Elwood went on ; " I 
 should be afraid of fever, fire, murder, thunderbolts ! Every 
 hour of the day I should dread lest something might come 
 between us ; I shoxild prowl around her house day after day, 
 to be sure that she was alive ! I should lengthen out the 
 time into years ; and all because I'm a great, disappointed, 
 soft-hearted fool ! " 
 
 The sad, yearning expression of his eyes touched Joseph 
 to the heart. " Elwood," he said, " I see that it is not in 
 my power to comfort you ; if I give you pain unknowingly, 
 tell me how to avoid it ! I meant to ask you to stand be- 
 side me when I am married ; but now you must consider 
 your own feelings in answering, not mine. Lucy is not 
 likely to be there."
 
 103 
 
 a chance to measure myself with her, and to gu-.'ss sometiin-s 
 tlds and sometimes that what it is that sin: needs to find in 
 me. Force ufwill is of no use; as to faithfulness. why, what 
 it's worth can't bo shown unless something turns up to trv 
 it. But you had better not ask me to be your groomsman. 
 Neither Miss Blessing nor her sister would be overly 
 pleased." 
 
 "Why so?" Joseph asked; "Julia and you are quite 
 veil acquainted, and she was always friendly towards you." 
 
 Elsvood was silent and embarrassed. Then, reflecting that 
 silence, at that moment, might express even more than 
 speech, he said : " I've got the notion in my head ; maybe 
 it's foolish, but there it is. I talked a good deal with 
 Miss Blessing, it's true, and yet I don't feel the least bit 
 acquainted. Her manner to me was very friendly, and yet 
 I don't think she likes me." 
 
 " Well ! " exclaimed Joseph, forcing a laugh, though he 
 was much annoyed, " I never gave you credit for such a 
 lively imagination. Why not be candid, and admit that the 
 dislike is on your side ? I am sorry for it, since Julia will 
 so soon be in the house there as my wife. There is no one 
 else whom I can ask, unless it were Philip Held " 
 
 " Held ! To be sure, he took care of you. I was at Cov- 
 entry the day after, and saw something of him." With 
 these words, El wood turned towards Joseph and looked him 
 squarely in the face. " He'll have charge there in a few 
 months, I hear," he then said, " and I reckon it as a piece 
 of good luck for you. I've found that there are men, all, 
 maybe, as honest and outspoken as they need be ; yet two of
 
 "104 JOSEPH A^'I) HIS FRTKNT). 
 
 'em will talk at different marks and never fully understand 
 each other, and other two will naturally lalk right straight 
 at the same mark and never miss. Xow, Held is the sort that 
 can hit the thing in the mind of the man they're talking to ; 
 it's a gift that comes o' being knocked about the world 
 among all classes of people. What we learn here, always 
 among the same folks, isn't a circumstance." 
 
 " Then you think I might ask him ? " said Joseph, not 
 fully comprehending all that Elwood meant to express. 
 
 " He's one of those men that you're safe in asking to do 
 anything. Make him spokesman of a committee to wait on 
 the President, arbitrator in a crooked lawsuit, overseer of a 
 railroad gang, leader in a prayer-meeting (if he'd consent), 
 or whatever else you choose, and he'll do the business as if 
 he was used to it ! It's enough for you that I don't know 
 the town ways, and he does ; it's considered worse, I've 
 heard, to make a blunder in society than to commit a real sin." 
 
 He rose, and they loitered down the hill together. The 
 subject was quietly dropped, but the minds of both were 
 none the less busy. They felt the stir and pressure of new 
 experiences, which had come to one through disappointment 
 and to the other through success. Not three months had 
 passed since they rode together through the twilight to War- 
 riner's, and already life was opening to them, but how dif- 
 ferently ! Joseph endeavored to make the most kindly allow- 
 ance for his friend's mood, and to persuade himself that his 
 feelings were unchanged. Elwood, however, knew that a 
 shadow had fallen between them. It was nothing beside the 
 cloud of his greater trouble : he also knew the cost of his own 
 justification to Joseph, and prayed that it might never come. 
 
 That evening, on taking leave, he said : " I don't know 
 whether you meant to have the news of your engagement
 
 105 
 
 whole neighborhood, doesn't it ? ; ' 
 en the liii.-i/hiel is alrea<lv d'>ne, if it 
 .. therefore, tliat l.liu day is set: tho 
 neighborhood will have link- time for gossip." 
 
 He smiled so frankly and cheerfully, that Elwood seixed 
 his hand, and with tears in his eyes, said : " iJuii't remember 
 anything against me, Joseph. I've always been honestly 
 your friend, and mean to stay so." 
 
 lie went that evening to a homestead where he knew he 
 should find Lucy Henderson. She looked pale and fatigued, 
 lie thought ; possibly his presence had become a restraint. If 
 so, she must bear his unkindness : it was the only sacrifice 
 he could not make, for he felt sure that his intercourse with 
 her must either terminate in hate or love. The one thing of 
 which he was certain was, that there could be no calm, com- 
 placent friendship between them. 
 
 It was not long before one of the family asked him whether 
 he had heard the news ; it seemed that they had already dis- 
 cussed it, and his arrival revived the flow of expression. In 
 spite of his determination, he found it impossible to watch 
 Lucy while he said, as simply as possible, that Joseph Asten 
 seemed very happy over the prospect of the marriage ; that 
 he was old enough to take a wife ; and if Miss Blessing could 
 adapt herself to country habits, they might get on very well 
 together. But later in the evening he took a chance of say- 
 ing to her: "In spite of what I said, Lucy, I don't feel 
 quite easy about Joseph's marriage. What do you think of 
 it?" 
 
 She smiled faintly, as she replied : " Some say that people 
 
 are attracted by mutual unlikeness. This seems to me to be 
 5*
 
 100 JO>K1'II AND HIS FKIK.Vn. 
 
 a case of the land ; but they are free choosers of their own 
 fates." 
 
 " Is there no possible way of persuading him them to 
 delay ? " 
 
 "No!" .site exclaimed, with unusuid energy; '''110110 
 whatever ! " 
 
 El wood sighed, and yet felt relieved. 
 
 Joseph lost 110 time in writing to Philip Held, announc- 
 ing his approaching marriage, and begging him with many 
 apologies for asking such a mark of confidence on so short 
 an acquaintance to act the part of nearest friend, if there 
 were no other private reasons to prevent him. 
 
 Four or five days later the following answer arrived : 
 
 MY DEAII ASTEX : Do yon remember that curious whirl- 
 ing, falling sensation, when the car pitched over the edge of 
 the embankment ? I felt a return of it on reading your letter ; 
 for you have surprised me beyond measure. ISTot by your 
 request, for that is just what I should have expected of you ; 
 and as well now, as if we had known each other for twenty 
 years ; so the apology is the only thing objectionable But 
 I am tangling my sentences ; I want to say how 'heartily I re- 
 turn the feeling which prompted you to ask me, and yet how 
 embarrassed 1 am that I cannot unconditionally say, " Yes, 
 with all my heart ! " My great, astounding surprise is, to 
 find you about to be married to Miss Julia Blessing, a 
 young lady whom I once knew. And the embarrassment is 
 this : I knew her under circumstances (in which she was not 
 personally concerned, however) which might possibly render 
 my presence now, as your groomsman, unwelcome to the 
 family : at least, it is my duty and yours, if .you still 
 desire me to stand beside you to let Miss Blessing and her
 
 JO>KJ.'li AXD Tils FKJKM). 107 
 
 familv decide ihc question. The circumstances to which I 
 refer concern tin 'm ruther than my,-,Hf. 1 think yonr be.st 
 plan will be simply to inform them of your ivouest and niy 
 reply, and r.dd that 1 a;n entirely ready to accept whatever 
 course tlit'v niav prefer. 
 
 Pray don't consider that 1 have treated your first letter to 
 me ungraciously. I am more grieved than you can imagine 
 that it happens so. You will probably come to the city a 
 day before the wedding, and I insist that you shall share my 
 bachelor quarters, in any case. 
 
 Always your friend, 
 
 PHILIP HELD. 
 
 This letter threw Joseph into a new perplexity. Philip a 
 former acquaintance of the Blessings ! Formerly, but not 
 now ; and what could those mysterious " circumstances " 
 have been, which had so seriously interrupted their inter- 
 course? It was quite useless to conjecture; but lie could 
 not resist the feeling that another shadow hung over the as- 
 pects of his future. Perhaps he had exaggerated Elwood's 
 unaccountable dislike to Julia, which had only been im- 
 plied, not spoken ; but here was a positive estrangement on 
 the part of the man who was so suddenly near and dear to 
 him. He never thought of suspecting Philip of blame ; the 
 candor and cheery warmth of the letter rejoiced his heart. 
 There was evidently nothing better to do than to follow the 
 advice contained in it, and leave the question to the decision 
 of Julia and her parents. 
 
 Her reply did not come by the return mail, nor until 
 nearly a week afterwards ; during which time lie tormented 
 himself by imagining the wildest reasons for her silence.
 
 JOSKI'II AXl) III* F.II1ENT). 
 
 When tlic letter at last arrived, lie had some difficulty in 
 comprehending its import. 
 
 " Dearest Joseph," she said, "you must m.dly forgive me 
 this long trial of your patience. Your letter was so unex- 
 pected, I mean its contents, and it seems as if ma and pa 
 and Clementina would never agree what was Lest to Le done. 
 For that matter, I cannot say that they agree now ; we had 
 no idea that you were an. intimate friend of Mr. Held, (I 
 can't think how ever you should have become acquainted !) 
 and it seems to break open old wounds, none of mine, for- 
 tunately, for I have none. As Mr. Held leaves the question 
 in our hands, there is, you will understand, all the more ne- 
 cessity that we should be careful. Ma thinks he has said 
 nothing to you about the unfortunate occurrence, or you 
 would have expressed an opinion. You never can know how 
 happy your fidelity makes me ; but I felt that, the first mo- 
 ment we met. 
 
 " Ma says that at very private (what pa calls informal) 
 weddings there need not be bridesmaids or groomsmen. 
 Miss Morrisey was married that way, not long ago ; it is true 
 that she is not of our circle, nor strictly a first family (this 
 is ma's view, not mine, for I understand the hollowness of 
 society) ; but we could veiy well do the same. Pa would be 
 satisfied with a reception afterwards ; he wants to ask the 
 Collector, and the Surveyor, and the Appraiser. Clementina 
 won't say anything now, but I know what she thinks, and 
 so does ma ; however, Mr. Held has so dropped out of city 
 life that it is not important. I suppose everything must be 
 dim in his memory now ; you do not write to me much that 
 he related. How strange that he should be your friend ! 
 They say my dress is lovely, but I am sure I should like a 
 plain muslin just as well. I shall only breathe freely when
 
 109 
 
 I get brick to tlic quiet of the country, (and your our 
 charming home, and clear, good Aunt Kachel !) and away 
 from all these conventional forms. Ala says if there is one 
 groomsman, there ought to l>e tvvT> ; cither very simple, or 
 according to custom. In a matter so delicate, perhaps, Mr. 
 Held would be as competent to decide as we are ; at least 1 
 am quite willing to leave it to Ids judgment. But how tri- 
 fling is all this discussion, compared with the importance of 
 the day to us ! It is now drawing very near, but I have no 
 misgivings, for I confide in you wholly and forever ! " 
 
 After reading the letter with as much coolness as was 
 then possible to him, Joseph inferred three things : that his 
 acquaintance with Philip Held was not entirely agreeable to 
 the Blessing family ; that they would prefer the simplest 
 style of a wedding, and this was in consonance with his own 
 tastes ; and that Julia clung to him as a deliverer from con- 
 ditions with which her natxire had little sympathy. Her 
 incoherence, he fancied, arose from an agitation which he 
 could very well understand, and his answer was intended to 
 soothe and encourage her. It was difficult to let Philip 
 know that his services would not be required, withoxit im- 
 plying the existence of an unfriendly feeling towards 
 him ; and Joseph, therefore, all the more readily accepted 
 his invitation. He was assured that the mysterious difficulty 
 did not concern Julia ; even if it were so, he was not called 
 upon to do violence, without cause, to so welcome a friendship. 
 
 The September days sped by, not with the lingering, pas- 
 sionate uncertainty of which Elwood Withers spoke, but 
 almost too swiftly. In the hurry of preparation, Joseph had 
 scarcely time to look beyond the coming event and estimate 
 its consequences. He was too ignorant of himself to doubt: 
 his conscience was too pure and perfect to admit the possi-
 
 110 jo-'Ki'i 
 
 lulily of changing the course; of his destiny. "\Vhatever the 
 gossip of the neighborhood might have been, ho heard 
 nothing of it that was not agreeable. His auni; was entire- 
 ly reconciled to a wife who would not immediately, and 
 probably not for a long time, interfere with her authority; 
 and the shadows raised by the two men whom he loved best 
 seemed, at hist, to bo accidentally thrown from clouds beyond 
 the horizon of his life. This was the thought to which he 
 clung, in spite of a vague, utterly formless apprehension, 
 which he felt lurking somewhere in the very bottom of his 
 heart. 
 
 Philip met him 011 his arrival in the city, and after tak- 
 ing him to his pleasant quarters, in a house looking on one 
 of the leafy squares, good-naturedly sent him to the Blessing 
 mansion, with a warning to return before the evening was 
 quite spent. The family was in a nutter of preparation? 
 and though he was cordially welcomed, he felt that, to all 
 except Julia, he was subordinate in interest to the men who 
 came every quarter of an hour, bringing bouquets, and silver 
 spoons with cards attached, and pasteboard boxes containing 
 frosted cakes. Even Julia's society he was only allowed to 
 enjoy by scanty instalments ; she was perpetually summoned 
 by her mother or Clementina, to consult about some inde- 
 scribable figment of dress. Mr. Blessing was occupied in 
 the basement, with the inspection of various hampers. He 
 came to the drawing-room to greet Joseph, whom he shook 
 by both hands, with such incoherent phrases that Julia 
 presently interposed. " You must not forget, pa," she said, 
 " that the man is waiting : Joseph will excuse you, 1 know." 
 She followed him to the basement, and he returned no 
 more. 
 
 Joseph left early in the evening, cheered by Julia's words :
 
 Ill 
 
 ''"We c.Mi i c-ei;i;ilain (it i\M tins comu>ioii, when it s tor our 
 sakes ; bur v.v'll be happier wh< n it's over, won't we '.' '' 
 
 lie rjavr her ,ni aiiirmative kj<s and returned to Philip's 
 room. That ^eutloinan was comfortably deposed in an arm- 
 chair, with a book and a ci^ar. '' Ah ! " lie exclaimed, " you 
 find tLat a Louse is more agreeable any evening than tliat 
 before the wedding ? ; ' 
 
 '' Tlicre is raie comjtensation," said Joseph ; ' ; it gi\'es mo 
 two or three hours with you." 
 
 " Then take that other arm-chair, and tell me how this came, 
 to i>ass. You see I have the curiositv of a neighbor, already." 
 
 1 -L. (_- 7 f 
 
 lie listened earnestly while Joseph related the story of his 
 love, occasionally asking a question or making a suggestive 
 remark, but so gently that it seemed to come as an assistance. 
 When all had been told, he rose and commenced walking 
 slowly up and clown the room. Joseph longed to ask, in 
 turn, for an explanation of the circumstances mentioned in 
 Philip's letter ; but a doubt checked his tongue. 
 
 As if in response to his thought, Philip stopped before 
 him and said : " I owe you niy story, and you shall have it 
 after a while, when I can tell you more. I was a young fel- 
 low of twenty when I knew the Blessings, and I don't at- 
 tach the slightest importance, now, to anything that happened. 
 Even if I did, Miss Julia had no share in it. I remember her 
 distinctly ; she was then about my age, or a year or two older ; 
 but hers is a face that would not change in a long while." 
 
 Joseph stared at his friend in silence. He recalled the lat- 
 ter's age, and was startled by the involuntary arithmetic 
 which revealed Julia's to him. It was unexpected, unwel- 
 come, yet inevitable. 
 
 " Her father had been lucky in some of his ' operations,' " 
 Philip continued, "but I don't think he kept it long. I
 
 112 JOSKPII AND IHS KKIKXD. 
 
 hardly wonder that sin; .should como to prefer a quirt eouu- 
 Irvlifo to such ups and downs as the family has known. 
 (Jeuerally, a woman don't adapt herself so readily to a ch;i nge 
 of surroundings as a man: where then; is love, however, 
 everything is possible." 
 
 "There is! there is !" Joseph exclaimed, certifying the 
 fact to himself as much as to his friend, lie rose and stood 
 beside him. 
 
 Philip looked at him with grave, tender eyes. 
 
 " What can I do ? " he said. 
 
 " What should you do ? " Joseph asked. 
 
 "This! " Philip exclaimed, laying his hands on Joseph's 
 shoulders, " this, Joseph ! I can be nearer than a brother. 
 I know that I am in your heart as you are in mine. There 
 is no faith between us that need be limited, there is no truth 
 too secret to be veiled. A man's perfect friendship is rarer 
 than a woman's love, and most hearts are content with one 
 or the other : not so with yours and mine ! 1 read it in 
 your eyes, when you opened them on my knee: I see it in 
 your face now. Don't speak : let us clasp hands." 
 
 But Joseph could not speak.
 
 JOSEPH A.XP UTS FRIEND. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A C I T V Vr E I) D I X G . 
 
 TIIEHE was not mucli of the happy bridegoom to be seen 
 in Joseph's face when he arose the next morning. To Phil- 
 ip's eyes he appeared to have suddenly grown several years 
 older; his features had lost their boyish softness and sweet- 
 ness, which would thenceforth never wholly come back 
 again. He spoke but little, and went about his preparation 
 with an abstracted, mechanical air, which told how much 
 his mind was preoccupied. Philip quietly assisted, and 
 when all was complete, led him before the mirror. 
 
 "There!" he said; "now study the general effect; I 
 think nothing more is wanting." 
 
 " It hardly looks like myself," Joseph remarked, after a 
 careless inspection. 
 
 "In all the Aveddings I have seen," said Philip, "the 
 bridegrooms were pale and grave, the brides flushed and 
 trembling. You will not make an exception to the rule ; 
 but it is a solemn thing, and I don't misunderstand me, 
 Joseph I almost wish you were not to be married to-day." 
 ' " Philip ! " Joseph exclaimed, " let me think, now, at 
 least, now, at the last moment, that it is best for me ! 
 If you knew how cramped, restricted, fe'ttered, my life has- 
 been, and how much emancipation has already come with 
 this this love ! Perhaps my marriage is a venture, but it 
 is one which must be made ; and no consequence of it shall 
 ever come between us ! "
 
 114 JOSKP11 AM) m> FKIKXD. 
 
 "No; .".iid 1 ought not to ]i;ivo spoken a word that might 
 imply a doubt. It may bo tliat your emancipation, as you 
 rightly term it, can only come in this way. .My life lias 
 been HO diJlurent, that I am unconsciously putting myself in 
 your place 1 , instead of trying to look with your eyes. Y> lien 
 I next go to Coventry Forge, I shall drive over and dine with 
 you, and I hope your Julia will be as ready to receive me as a 
 friend as I am to find one in her. There is the carriage at 
 the door, and you had better arrive a little before the appoint- 
 ed hour. Take only niy good wishes, my prayers for your 
 happiness, along with you, and now, God bless you, Joseph !" 
 The carriage rolled away. Joseph, in full wedding cos- 
 tume, was painfully conscious of the curious glances which 
 fell upon him, and presently pulled down the curtains. 
 Then, with an impatient self-reprimand, he pulled them \ip 
 again, lowered the window, and let the air blow upon his 
 hot cheeks. The house was speedily reached, and he was 
 admitted by a festive waiter (hired for the occasion) before 
 he had been exposed for more than five seconds to the gaze 
 of curious eyes in all the windows around. 
 
 Mrs. Blessing, resplendent in put'ple, and so bediglit that 
 she seemed almost as young as her portrait, swept into the 
 drawing-room. She inspected him rapidly, and approved, 
 while advancing ; otherwise he would scarcely have received 
 the thin, dry kiss with which she favored him. 
 
 " It lacks half an hour," she said ; " but you have the 
 usual impatience of a bridegroom. I am accustomed to it. 
 Mr. Blessing is still in his room ; he has only just commenc- 
 ed arranging his cambric cravat, which is a work of time. 
 He cannot forget that he was distinguished for an elegau.t 
 tie in his youth. Clementina," as that young lady entered 
 the room," is the bride completely attired ? "
 
 115 
 
 "All but her gloves," replied Clementina, offering three- 
 fourihs of her hand to Jos.'ph. "'And she don't know what 
 ear-rings to wear." 
 
 " 1 think we might venture,"' Mrs. Blessing remarked, 
 ''as thei'e seems to be ]io rule applicable to the case, to allow 
 Mr. Asten a sight of his bride. Perhaps his taste might assist 
 her in the choice." 
 
 Thereupon she conducted Joseph upstairs, and, after some 
 preliminary whispering, he was admitted to the room. He 
 and Julia were equally surprised at the change in each 
 other's appearance : he older, paler, with a grave and serious 
 bearing; she younger, brighter, rounder, fresher, and with 
 the loveliest pink flush on her cheeks. The gloss of her 
 hair rivalled' that of the white satin which draped her form 
 and gave grace to its outlines ; her neck and shoulders were 
 slight, but no one could have justly called them lean; and 
 even the thinness of her lips was forgotten in the vivid coral 
 of their color, and the nervous life which hovered about 
 their edges. At that moment she was certainly beautiful, 
 and a stranger would have supposed her to be young. 
 
 She looked into Joseph's face with a smile in which some 
 appearance of maiden shyness yet lingered. A shrewder 
 bridegroom would have understood its meaning, and would 
 have said, " How lovely you are ! " Joseph, it is true, ex- 
 perienced a sense of relief, bu t he knew not why, and could 
 not for his life have put it into words. His eyes dwelt 
 upon and followed her, and she seemed to be satisfied with 
 that form of recognition. Mrs. Blessing inspected the dress 
 with a severe critical eye, pulling out a fold here and 
 smoothing a bit of lace there, until nothing further could be 
 detected. Then, the adornment of the victim being com- 
 pleted, she sat down and wept moderately.
 
 110 .TOSKl'H AM) HIS FIMK.VI). 
 
 " (') ma, try to boar up ! " Julia exclaimed, with the very 
 slightest touch of impatience in her voice; "it is all to comw 
 yet," 
 
 There was a ring at the door. 
 
 "It must be your aunt," said Mrs. Blessing, drying her 
 eyes. "My sister," she added, turning to Joseph, Mrs. 
 Woollish, with Mr. "VVoollish and their two sons and one 
 daughter. He's in the the leather trade, so to speak, 
 which has thrown her into a very different circle ; but, as 
 we have no nearer relations in. the city, they will be present 
 at the ceremony. He is said to be wealthy. I have no 
 means of knowing; but one would scarcely think so, to judge 
 from his wedding-gift to Julia," 
 
 " Ma, why should you mention it ? " 
 
 " I wish to enlighten Mr. Asten. Six pairs of shoes ! 
 of course all of the same pattern ; and the fashion may 
 change in another year ! " 
 
 " In the country we have no fashions in shoes," Joseph 
 suggested. 
 
 " Certainly ! " said Julia. I find Uncle Woollish's 
 present very practical indeed." 
 
 Mrs. Blessing looked at her daughter, and said nothing. 
 
 Mr. Blessing, very red in the face, but with triumphant 
 cambric about his throat, entered the room, endeavoring to 
 get his fat hands into a pair of No. 9 gloves. A strong 
 smell of turpentine or benzine entered with him. 
 
 " Eliza," said he, " you must find me some eau de cologne. 
 The odor left from my my rheumatic remedy is still 
 perceptible. Indeed, patchouly would be better, if it were 
 not the scent peculiar to parvenus" 
 
 Clementina came to say that the clergyman's carriage had 
 just reached the door, and Mr. Blessing was hurried down
 
 "Julia," .said Joseph when they were quite alone, "have 
 you thought that this i* for lii'e ' J . "' 
 
 !*fhe looked up with a u-ndcr smile, but something in his 
 face arrested it on her lip*. 
 
 '"I have lived ignorantly until now,"' he continued, - 
 " innocently and ignorantly. From this time on. I shall 
 change more than vou, and there may be, rears hence, a 
 
 o , ; K > *. } 
 
 very dilierent J o.seph Asten from the one whose name you 
 will take to-day. If you love me with the love I claim from 
 you, the love that grows with and through all new know- 
 ledge and experience, there will be no discord in our lives. 
 We must both be liberal anil considerate towards each 
 other ; it has been but a short time since we met, and we 
 have still much to learn." 
 
 " O, Joseph ! " she murmured, in a tone of gentle 
 reproach, " I knew your nature at first sight." 
 
 " I hope you did," he answered gravely, " for then you 
 will be able to see its needs, and help me to supply them. 
 But, Julia, there must nob the shadow of concealment come 
 between us : nothing must be reserved. I understand no 
 love that does not include perfect trust. I must draw 
 nearer, and be drawn nearer to you, constantly, or ' 
 
 He paused ; it was no time to utter the further sentence 
 in his mind. Jiilia glided to him, clasped her arms about 
 his waist, and laid her head against his shotilder. Although 
 she said nothing, the act was eloquent. It expressed 
 acquiescence, trust, fidelity, the surrender of her life to his, 
 and no man in his situation coitld have understood it 
 otherwise. A tenderness, which seemed to be the some-
 
 113 JOSEPH AXD IMS FJIIEXD. 
 
 li.iii^ hitherto lacking to his love, crept softly oven- hi;* 
 heart, and the lurking unrest be.gan to fade from his face. 
 
 There was a ru:;l le on the stairs; Clementina and Miss 
 AVoollish made their appearance. "Mr. J'ogue has ar- 
 rived," whispered the former, " and ma thinks you should 
 come down soon. Are you entirely ready;' 1 don't think 
 you need the salts, Julia; but you might carry the; bottle in 
 your left hand: brides are expected to be nervous." 
 
 She gave a light laugh, like the purl and bubble of a 
 brook ; but Joseph shrank, with an inward chill, from the 
 sound. 
 
 "So! shall we go? Fanny and I (I beg pardon ; Mr. 
 Asten Miss Woollish) will lead the way. We Avill stand 
 a little in the rear, not beside you, as there are no grooms- 
 men. Remember, the farther end of the room ! " 
 
 They rustled slowly downward, in advance, and the bridal 
 pair followed. The clergyman, Mr. Bogue, sxiddenly broke 
 off in the midst of an oracular remark about the weather, 
 and, standing in the centre of the room, awaited them. The 
 other members of the two families were seated, and very 
 silent. 
 
 Joseph heard the introductory remarks, the ceremony, 
 and the final benediction, as in a dream. His lips opened 
 mechanically, and a voice which did not exactly seem to be 
 his own uttered the " I will ! " at the proper time ; yet, in 
 recalling the experience afterwards, he was unable to decide 
 whether any definite thought or memory or hope had passed 
 through his mind. From his entrance into the room until 
 his hand was violently shaken by Mr. Blessing, there was a 
 blank. 
 
 Of course there were tears, but the beams of congratula- 
 tion shone through them, and they saddened nobody. Miss
 
 119 
 
 Fannv Vv'o; illish assured the bridal pair, in an au-'i'.ie 
 whisper, that she liad never seen a sii'f.eter wedding; and her 
 mother, a stout, homely Kllli! body, coni'inned the opinion 
 will), ' ; Yes, you both did beautifully ! " Then the marriage 
 certificate was produced and signed, and the company par- 
 took of wine- and refreshments to strengthen them for the, 
 reception. 
 
 Until there had been half a dozen arrivals, Mrs. Blessing 
 moved about restlessly, and her eyes wandered to the front 
 window. Suddenly three or four carriages came, rattling 
 together up the street, and Joseph heard her whisper to her 
 husband : " There they are ! it will be a success ! " It was 
 not long before the little room was uncomfortably crowded, 
 and the presentations followed so rapidly that Joseph soon 
 became bewildered. Julia, however, knew and welcomed 
 every one with the most bewitching grace, being rewarded 
 with kisses by the gorgeous young ladies and compliments 
 by the young men with weak mouths and retreating chilis. 
 
 In the midst of the confusion Mr. Blessing, with a wave 
 of his hand, presented " Mr. Collector Twining' 1 and "Mr. 
 Surveyor Knob " and " Mr. Appraiser Gerrish," all of 
 whom greeted Joseph with a bland, almost affectionate, cor- 
 diality. The door of the dining-room was then thrown 
 open, and the three dignitaries accompanied the bridal pair 
 to the table. Two servants rapidly whisked the champagne- 
 bottles from a cooling-tub in the adjoining closet, and Mr. 
 Blessing commenced stirring and testing a luige bowl of 
 punch. Collector Twining made a neat little speech, pro- 
 posing the health of bride and bridegroom, with a pun upon 
 the former's name, which was received with as much delight 
 as if it had never been heard before. Therefore Mr. Sur- 
 veyor Knob repeated it in giving the health of the bride's
 
 1:20 josKi-rr AKD ins FRIEND. 
 
 parents. The enthusiasm of the company not: having dimin- 
 ished, Mr. Appraiser (lerrish improved Hie pun in a third 
 form, in proposing " the Ladies." Thou 31 r. Blessing, 
 although Lis feelings overcame him, and lie was obliged to 
 use a handkerchief smelling equally of i>en/ine and can de 
 cologne, responded, introducing the collector's and survey- 
 or's names with an ingenuity which was accepted as the 
 inspiration of genius. His peroration Avas especially admired. 
 
 " On this happy occasion," lie said, " the elements of 
 national poAver and prosperity are represented. My son-in- 
 laAv, Mr. Asten, is a noble specimen of the agricultural 
 population, the free American yeomanry; my daughter, if 
 I may be allowed to say it in the presence of so many 
 bright eyes and blooming cheeks, is a representative child 
 of the city, which, is the embodiment of the nation's action 
 and enterprise. The union of the two is the movement of 
 our life. The city gives to the country as the ocean gives 
 the cloud to the mountain-springs : the country gives to the 
 city as the streams flow back to the ocean. ["Admirable ! " 
 Mr. Collector Twining exclaimed.] Then we have, as our 
 highest honor, the representatives of the political system 
 under which city and country flourish alike. The wings of 
 our eagle must be extended over this fortunate house to- 
 day, for here are the strong Claws which seize and guard its 
 treasures ! " 
 
 The health of the Claws was drunk enthusiastically. Mr. 
 Blessing was congratulated on his eloquence ; the yoxing 
 gentlemen begged the privilege of touching their glasses to 
 his, and every touch required that the contents be replen- 
 ished; so that the bottom of the punch-bowl was nearly 
 reached before the guests departed. 
 
 When Joseph came down in his travelling-dress, he found
 
 121 
 
 the diMv.-ing-room empty of the crowd; but leaves, withered 
 flowers, crumbs of cake, and crumpled curds scattered over 
 
 the carpet, indicated what had taken place. In tlie dhdn- 
 j. i > 
 
 room 3Ir. Blessing, v.-ith his cravr.t loosened, was smoking a 
 cigar at the open window. 
 
 ''Come, son-in-lav,- ! " he cried, "take another glass of 
 punch before you start." 
 
 Joseph declined, on the plea that he was not accustomed 
 to the beverage. 
 
 '"' Xothincr could have oue off better ! " said !JIr. Blessin". 
 
 OO O 
 
 " Tlie collector was delighted: by the by, you're to go to 
 the St. Jerome, when you get to Xew York this evening. 
 He telegraphed to have the bridal-chamber reserved for 
 you. Tell Julia : she won't forget it. That girl has a 
 deuced sharp intellect : if you'll be guided by her in your 
 operations " 
 
 "Pa, what are you saying about me?" Julia asked, 
 hastily entering the room. 
 
 " Only that you have a deuced sharp intellect, and 
 to-day proves it. Asten is one of us now, and I may tell 
 him of his luck." 
 
 He winked and laughed stupidly, and Joseph under- 
 stood and obeyed his wife's appealing glance. He went 
 to his mother-in-law in the drawing-room. 
 
 Julia lightly and swiftly shut the door. " Pa," she 
 said, in a strong, angry whisper ; " if you are not able 
 to talk coherently, you must keep your tongue still. What 
 will Joseph think of me, to hear you ? " 
 
 " What he'll think anyhow, in a little while," he dog- 
 gedly replied. " Julia, you have played a keen game, and 
 played it well; but you don't know much of men yet. 
 He'll not always be the innocent, white-nosed lamb he
 
 122 josKpir A xi> in? FKTKXD. 
 
 is now, nibbling the posies you hold out to him. Wait till 
 he asks for stronger feed, and see whether he'll fi.-llow you ! " 
 
 She was looking on the floor, pale mid stern. Suddenly 
 one of her gloves hurst, across the back of the hand. 
 "Pa," she then said, "it's very cruel to say such things 
 to me, now when I'm leaving you." 
 
 " So it is ! " he exclaimed, tearfully contrite ; " I am 
 a wretch ! They flattered my speech so nmcli. the col- 
 lector was so impressed by me, and said so many pleasant 
 things, that I don't feel quite steady. Don't forget 
 the St. Jerome ; the bridal-chamber is ordered, and I'll 
 see that Mumm writes a good account for the ' Evening 
 Mercury.' I wish you could be here to remember my 
 speech for me. O, I shall miss yon ! I shall miss you ! " 
 
 With these words, and his arm lovingly about his 
 daughter, they joined the family. The carriage was al- 
 ready at the door, and the coachman was busy with 
 the travelling-trunks. There were satchels, and little 
 packages, an astonishing number it seemed to Joseph, 
 to be gathered together, and then the farewells were said. 
 
 As they rolled through the streets towards the station, 
 Julia laid her head upon her husband's shoulder, drew 
 a long, deep breath, and said, " Now all our obligations 
 to society are fulfilled, and we can rest awhile. For 
 the first time in my life I am a free woman, and you 
 have liberated me ! " 
 
 He answered her in glad and tender words ; he was 
 equally grateful that the exciting day was over. But, 
 as they sped away from the city through the mellow 
 October landscapes, Philip's earnest, dark gray eyes, warm, 
 with more than brotherly love, haunted his memory, 
 and he knew that Philip's faithful thoughts followed him.
 
 JOsEPJI AXD HIS FIIJLXD. 123 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CLOUDS. 
 
 THERE are some days when the sun comes slowly up, 
 filling the vapory air with difl'used light, in advance of 
 his coming; when the earth grows luminous in the broad, 
 breezeless morning; when nearer objects shine and sparkle, 
 and the distances melt into dim violet and gold ; when 
 the vane points to the southwest, and the blood of man 
 feels neither heat nor cold, but only the freshness of that 
 perfect temperature wherein the limits of the body are 
 lost, and the pulses of its life beat in all the life of the 
 world. But ere long the haze, instead of thinning into 
 blue, gradually thickens into gray ; the vane creeps 
 southward, swinging to southeast in brief, rising flaws 
 of the ail 1 ; the horizon darkens ; the enfranchised life 
 of the spirit creeps back to its old isolation, shorn of 
 all its rash delight, and already foreboding the despond- 
 ency which comes with the east wind and the chilly 
 rains. 
 
 Some such variation of the atmospheric influences at- 
 tended Joseph Asten's wedding-travel. The mellow, ma-, 
 gical glory of his new life diminished day by day ; the 
 blue of his sky became colder and grayer. Yet he could 
 not say that his wife had changed : she was always ready 
 with her smiles, her tender phrases, her longings for 
 quiet and rest, and simple, natural life, away from the 
 conventionalities and claims of Society. But, even as,
 
 1.2-1 .TOPKPIT AND HIS FlilKXD. 
 
 looking into the pale, tawny-brown of her oyos, he saw 
 no changing depth below the hard, clear surface, so it 
 also seemed with her nature; he painfully endeavored 
 to penetrate beyond expressions, the repetition of which 
 it was hard not to find tiresome, and to reach some spring 
 of character or feeling ; yet ho found nothing. It was 
 useless to remember that he had been content Avith those 
 expressions before marriage had given them his own eager 
 interpretation, independent of her will and knowledge ; 
 that his duty to her remained the same, for sho had not 
 deceived him. 
 
 On the other hand, she was as tender and affectionate 
 as he could desire. Indeed, he would often have preferred 
 a less artless manifestation of her fondness ; but she 
 playfully insisted on his claiming the best quarters at 
 every stopping-place, on the ground of their bridal char- 
 acter, and was sometimes a little petiilant when she 
 fancied that they had not been sufficiently honored. 
 Joseph would have willingly escaped the distinction, 
 allowing himself to be confounded with the prosaic mul- 
 titude, but she would not permit him to try the experi- 
 ment. 
 
 " The newly married are always detected," she would 
 say, "and they are only laughed at when they try to 
 seem like old couples. Why not be frank and honest, 
 and meet half-way the sympathy which I am sure every- 
 body has for us ? " 
 
 To this he could make no reply, except that it was not 
 agreeable to exact a special attention. 
 
 " But it is our right ! " was her answer. 
 
 In every railway-car they entered she contrived, in a 
 short time, to impress the nature of their trip upon tho
 
 JOSEPH A:\D ui< FI;II;:<D. 125 
 
 other travellers; yet it was done wiili such apparent 
 unconsciousness, such innocent, impulsive manifestations 
 of her happiness in him, that he could not, in his heart, 
 charge her with having intentionally brought upon him 
 the discomfort of being curiouslv observed. He could 
 have accustomed himself to endure the latter, had it been 
 inevitable ; the suspicion that he owed it to her made 
 it an increasing annoyance. Yet, when the day's journey 
 was over, and they were resting together in their own 
 private apartment, she would bring a stool to his feet, 
 lay her head on his knee, and say : " Xow we can talk 
 as we please, there are none watching and listening." 
 
 At such times he was puzzled to guess whether some 
 relic of his former nervous shyness were not remaining, 
 and had made him over-sensitive to her ways. The doubt 
 gave him an additional power of self-control ; he resolved 
 to be more slow and cautious of judgment, and observe 
 men and women more carefully than he had been wont to 
 do. Julia had no suspicion of what was passing in his 
 mind: she took it for granted that his nature was still 
 as shallow and transparent as when she first came in 
 contact with it. 
 
 After nearly a fortnight this flying life came to an end. 
 They returned to the city for a day, before going home 
 to the farm. The Blessing mansion received them with 
 a hearty welcome ; yet, in spite of it, a depressing at- 
 mosphere seemed to fill the house. Mrs. Blessing looked 
 pinched and care-worn, Clementina discontented, and 
 Mr. Blessing as melancholy as was possible to so bouy- 
 ant a politician. 
 
 "What's the matter ? I hope pa hasn't lost his place," 
 Julia remarked in an undertone to her mother.
 
 126 JOSEPH AXD HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 " Lost my place ! " Mr. Blessing exclaimed aloud ; " I'd 
 like to see how the collection of customs would go on with- 
 out me. But a man may keep his place, and yet lose his 
 house and home." 
 
 Clementina vanished, Mrs. Blessing followed, with her 
 handkerchief to her eyes, and Julia hastened after them, 
 crying : " Ma ! dear ma ! " 
 
 " It's only on their account," said Mr. Blessing, pointing 
 after them and speaking to Joseph. " A plucky man never 
 desponds, sir; but women, you'll find, are upset by every 
 reverse." 
 
 " May I ask what has happened ? " 
 
 " A delicate regard for you," Mr. Blessing replied, " would 
 counsel me to conceal it, but my duty as your father-in-law 
 leaves me no alternative. Our human feelings prompt us to 
 show only the bright side of life to those whom we love ; 
 principle, however, conscience, commands us not to sup- 
 press the shadows. I am but one out of the many millions 
 of victims of mistaken judgment. The case is simply this ; 
 I will omit certain legal technicalities touching the disposi- 
 tion of property, which may not be familiar to you, and state 
 the facts in the most intelligible form ; securities which I 
 placed as collaterals for the loan of a sum, not a very large 
 amount, have been very unexpectedly depreciated, but only 
 temporarily so, as all the market knows. If I am forced to 
 sell them at such an untoward crisis, I lose the largest part 
 of my limited means ; if I retain them, they will ultimately 
 recover their full value." 
 
 " Then why not retain them ? " Joseph asked. 
 
 " The sum advanced upon them must be repaid, and it so 
 happens the market being very tight that every one of 
 my friends is short. Of coune, where their own paper is
 
 on '.lie $t iv- ;.-!', I can t ask them to float mi.no for three months 
 loni^M', which is all tli.it is necessary. A good indorsement 
 is the extent of my necessity; for any one who is familiar 
 with the aspects of the market can see that there must be a 
 great rebound before three months. 1 ' 
 
 " If it were not a very large amount," Joseph began. 
 
 " Only a thousand ! I know what you were croinf to say 
 
 */ i/ O O */ 
 
 it is perfectly natural : I appreciate it, because, if our posi- 
 tions were reversed, I should have done the same thing. 
 But, although it is a mere form, a temporary fiction, which 
 has the force of reality, and, therefore, so for as you are con- 
 cerned, I should feel entirely easy, yet it might subject me 
 to very dishonoring suspicions ! It might be said that I 
 had availed myself of your entrance into my family to be- 
 guile you into pecuniary entanglements ; the amount might 
 be exaggerated, the circumstance misrepresented, no, 110 ! 
 rather than that, let me make the sacrifice like a man ! I'm 
 no longer young, it is true ; but the feeling that I stand on 
 principle will give me strength to work." 
 
 " On the other hand, Mr. Blessing," said Joseph, " very un- 
 pleasant things might be said of me, if I should permit you to 
 suffer so serious a loss, when my assistance would prevent it." 
 
 " I don't deny it. You have made a two-horned dilemma 
 out of a one- sided embarrassment. Would that I had kept 
 the secret in my own breast ! The temptation is strong, I 
 confess, for the mere use of your name for a few months is 
 all I should reqxiire. Either the securities will rise to their 
 legitimate value, or some of the capitalists with whom I 
 have dealings will be in a position to accommodate me. I 
 have frequently tided over similar snags and sand-bars in 
 the financial current ; they are familiar even to the most 
 skilful operators, navigators, I might say, to carry out the
 
 128 
 
 figure, and this is an instance where an additional inch of 
 water will lift me from wreck to Hood-tide. The question 
 is, should I allow what I feel to be a just principle, a natural 
 suggestion of delicacy, to intervene between my necessity and 
 your generous proffer of assistance ? " 
 
 " Your family " Joseph began. 
 
 " I know ! I know ! " Mr. Blessing cried, leaning his 
 head upon his hand. " There is my vulnerable point, my 
 heel of Achilles ! There would be no alternative, better 
 sell this house than have my paper dishonored ! Then, too, 
 I feel that this is a turning-point in my fortunes : if I can 
 squeeze through this narrow pass, I shall find a smooth road 
 beyond. It is not merely the sum which is at stake, but 
 the future possibilities into which it expands. Should I 
 crush the seed while it is germinating ? Should I tear up 
 the young tree, with an opening fruit-bud on every twig ? 
 You see the considerations that sway me : unless you with- 
 draw your most generous proffer, what can I do but yield 
 and accept it ? " 
 
 " I have no intention of withdrawing it," Joseph answered, 
 taking his words literally ; " I made the offer freely and 
 willingly. If my indorsement is all that is necessary now, I 
 can give it at once." 
 
 Mr. Blessing grasped him by the hand, winked hard three 
 or four times, and turned away his head without speaking. 
 Then he drew a large leather pocket-book from his breast, 
 opened it, and produced a printed promissory note. 
 
 " We will make it payable at your county bank," said he, 
 " because your name is known there, and upon acceptance 
 which can be procured in two days the money will be 
 drawn here. Perhaps we had better sav four months, in 
 order to cover all contingencies."
 
 129 
 
 lie went to a small writing-dusk, at the farther end of 
 the room, and tilled the blanks in the note, which Joseph 
 then endorsed. When it was safely lodged in his breast- 
 pocket, he said : " We will keep this entirely to ourselves. 
 My wife, let mo whisper to you, is very proud and sensitive, 
 although the De 1'Hotels (Doolittles now) were never <piiie 
 the equals of the De Belsains ; but women see matters in a 
 different light. They can't understand the accommodation 
 of a name, but fancy that it implies a kind of humiliation, as 
 if one were soliciting charity." 
 
 He laughed and rubbed his hands. " I shall soon be in a 
 position," he said, " to render you a favor in returm. My 
 long experience, and, I may add, my intimate knowledge of 
 the financial field, enables me to foresee many splendid op- 
 portunities. There are, just now, some movements which 
 are not yet perceptible on the surface. Mark my words ! we 
 shall shortly have a new excitement, and a cool, well-sea- 
 soned head is a fortune at such times." 
 
 " In the country," Joseph replied, " we only learn 
 enough to pay off our debts and invest cur earnings. We 
 are in the habit of moving slowly and cautiously. Perhaps 
 we miss opportunities ; but if we don't see them, we are 
 just as contented as if they had not been. ^1 have enough 
 for comfort, and try to be satisfied." 
 
 " Inherited ideas ! They belong to the community in 
 which you live. Are you satisfied with your neighbors' ways 
 of living and thinking ? I do not mean to disparage them, 
 but have you no desire to rise above their level ? Money, 
 as I once said at a dinner given to a distinguished railroad 
 man, money is the engine which draws individuals up the. 
 steepest grades of society; it is the lubricating oil which 
 makes the truck of life run easy; it is the safety -break
 
 130 JOSKI'H AND HIS FRIKXD. 
 
 which renders collision and wreck impossible ! I have long 
 been accustomed to consider it in the light of power, not of 
 property, and I classify men according as they take one or 
 the other view. The latter are misers ; but the former, sir, 
 are philosophers ! " 
 
 Joseph scarcely knew how to answer this burst of eloquence. 
 But there was no necessity for it ; the ladies entered the 
 room at that moment, each one, in her own way, swiftly 
 scrutinizing the two gentlemen. Mrs. Blessing's face lost its 
 woe-worn expression, while a gleam of malicious satisfaction 
 passed over Clementina's. 
 
 The next day, on their journey to the country, Julia sud- 
 denly said, " I am sure, Joseph, that pa made use of your 
 generosity ; pray don't deny it ! " 
 
 There was the faintest trace of hardness in her voice, 
 which he interpreted as indicating dissatisfaction with his 
 failure to confide the matter to her. 
 
 " I have no intention of denying anything, Julia," he 
 answered. " I was not called upon to exercise generosity ; 
 it was simply what your father would term an ' accommoda- 
 tion.' " 
 
 " I understand. How much ? " 
 
 " An endorsement of his note for a thousand dollars, which 
 is little, when it will prevent him from losing valuable 
 securities." 
 
 Julia was silent for at least ten minutes ; then, turning 
 towards him with a sternness which she vainly endeavored to 
 conceal under a " wreathed smile," she said : " In future, 
 Joseph, I hope you will always consult me in any pecuniar/ 
 venture. I may not know much about such matters, but it 
 is my duty to learn. I have been obliged to hear a great 
 deal of financial talk from pa and his friends, and could not
 
 131 
 
 you know. 
 
 His own words! Al'i.T all, what she said was just 
 and right, and lie could not explain to himself why he 
 should fuel annoyed. Perhaps he mi.-;sed a frank expres- 
 sion of delight iu the assistance he had so promptly 
 given ; but why should he suspect that it was unwelcome 
 to her? lie tried to banish the feeling, to hide it under 
 self-reproach and shame, but it clung to him most uncom- 
 fortably. 
 
 Nevertheless, he forgot everything in the pleasure of the 
 homeward drive from the station. The sadness of late 
 autumn lay upon the fields, but spring already said, " I am 
 coming ! " in the yoxing wheat ; the houses looked warm and 
 cosey behind their sheltering fir-trees ; cattle still grazed on 
 the meadows, and the corn was not yet deserted by the 
 buskers. The sun gave a bright edge to the sombre colors 
 of the landscape, and to Joseph's eyes it was beautiful as 
 never before. Julia leaned back in the carriage, and com- 
 plained of the cold wind. 
 
 " There ! " cried Joseph, as a view of the valley opened 
 below them, with the stream flashing like steel between the 
 leafless sycamores, " there is home-land ! Do you know 
 where to look for our house ? " 
 
 Julia made an effort, leaned forward, smiled, and pointed 
 silently across the shoulder of a hill to the eastward. " You 
 surely didn't suppose I could forget," she murmured. 
 
 Rachel Miller awaited them at the gate, and Julia had no 
 sooner alighted than she flung herself into her arms. " Dear 
 Aunt Rachel ! " she cried : " you must now take my mother's 
 place ; I have so much to learn from you ! It is doubly a
 
 132 JOSEJ'Ii A.N1> JUS I'Uii:M>. 
 
 Lome since you arc here. 1 feel tluit \vo shall all be happy 
 together!" 
 
 Then there were kisses, of which Joseph received his 
 share, and the first evening lapsed away in perfect har- 
 mony. Everything was delightful : the room, the furniture, 
 the meal, even the roar of the wind in the dusky trees. 
 While Julia lay in the cushioned rocking-chair, Kachel 
 gave her nephew an account of all that had been done on the 
 farm ; but Joseph only answered her from the surface of his 
 mind. Under the current of his talk ran a graver thought, 
 which said : " You wanted independence and a chance of 
 growth for your life ; you fancied they would come in this 
 form. Lo, now ! here are the conditions which you desired 
 to establish ; from this hour begins the new life of which 
 you dreamed. Whether you have been wise or rash, you 
 can change nothing. You are limited, as before, though 
 within a different circle. You may pace it to its fullest ex- 
 tent, but all the lessons you have yet learned require you to 
 be satisfied within it."
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FlilEXD. 133 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE autumn lapsed into winter, and the household on the 
 Asteii farm began to share the isolation of the season. There 
 had been friendly visits from all the nearest neighbors and 
 friends, followed by return visits, arid invitations which Julia 
 willingly accepted. She was very amiable, and took pains to 
 confirm the favorable impression which she knew she had made 
 in the summer. Everybody remarked how she had improved 
 in appearance, how round and soft her neck and shoulders, 
 how bright and fresh her complexion. She thanked them, 
 with many grateful expressions to which they were not 
 accustomed, for their friendly reception, which she looked 
 upon as an adoption into their society ; but at home, after- 
 wards, she indulged in criticisms of their manners and habits 
 which were not always friendly. Although these were given 
 in a light, playful tone, and it was sometimes impossible not 
 to be amused, Rachel Miller always felt uncomfortable when 
 she heard them. 
 
 Then came quiet, lonely days, and Julia, weary of her idle 
 life, undertook to master the details of the housekeeping. 
 She went from garret to cellar v inspecting every article in 
 closet and pantry, wondering much, censuring occasionally, 
 and only praising a little when she found that Rachel was 
 growing tired and irritable. Although she made no material 
 changes, it was soon evident that she had very stubborn 
 views of her own upon many points, and possessed a marked
 
 134 JOSI;I>H AN]) ii is run-;:,*!). 
 
 tendency for wliat the country people call "nearness." 
 Little by little she diniinislie'l the bountiful, free-handed 
 manner of provision which had been the habit of the house. 
 One could not say that anything needful was lacking, and 
 Rachel would hardly have been dissatisfied, had she not felt 
 that the innovation was an indirect blame. 
 
 In some directions Julia seemed the reverse of " near," 
 persuading Joseph into expenditures which the people con- 
 sidered very extravagant. When the snow came, his new 
 and elegant sleigh, with the wolf-skin robe, the silver- 
 mounted harness, and the silver-sounding bells, was the envy 
 of all the young men, and an abomination to the old. It 
 was a splendor which he could easily afford, and he did not 
 grudge her the pleasure ; yet it seemed to change his 
 relation to the neighbors, and some of them were very 
 free in hinting that they felt it so. It would be difficult 
 to explain why they should resent this or any other slight 
 departure from their fashions, but such had always been 
 their custom. 
 
 In a few days the snow vanished and a tiresome season of 
 rain and thaw succeeded. , The south-eastern winds, blowing 
 from the Atlantic across the intervening lowlands, rolled 
 interminable gray masses of fog over the hills and blurred 
 the scenery of the valley ; dripping trees, soaked meadows, 
 and sodden leaves were the only objects, that detached them- 
 selves from the general void, and became in turn visible to 
 those who travelled the deep, quaking roads. The social 
 intercourse of the neighborhood ceased perforce, though the 
 need of it were never so great : what little of the main high- 
 way down the valley was visible from the windows appeared 
 to be deserted. 
 
 Julia, having exhausted the resources of the house,
 
 JOSEPH AXD II ir, FIUKXD. 1 ,'15 
 
 insisted on acquainting herself with tho barn and everything' 
 thereto belonging. She laughingly asserted that her educa- 
 tion as a farmer's wife was still very incomplete ; she must 
 know the amount of the crops, the price of grain, the value 
 of the stock, the manner of work, and whatever else was 
 necessary to her position. Although she made many pretty 
 blunders, it was evident that her apprehension was unu- 
 sually quick, and that whatever she acquired was fixed in 
 her mind as if for some possible future use. She never 
 wearied of the most trivial details, while Joseph, on the 
 other hand, would often have willingly shortened his les- 
 sons. His mind was singularly disturbed between the 
 desire to be gratified by her curiosity, and the fact that its 
 eager and persistent character made him uncomfortable. 
 
 When an innocent, confiding nature begins to suspect 
 that its confidence has been misplaced, the first result is a 
 preternatural stubbornness to admit the truth. The clearest 
 impressions are resisted, or half-consciously misinterpreted, 
 with the last force of an illusion which already foresees its 
 own overthrow. Joseph eagerly clung to every look and 
 word and action which confirmed his sliding faith in his 
 wife's sweet and simple character, and repelled though a 
 deeper instinct told him that a day would come when it 
 must be admitted the evidence of her coldness and selfish- 
 ness. Yet, even while almost fiercely asserting to his own 
 heart that he had every reason to be happy, he was con- 
 sumed with a secret fever of unrest, doubt, and dread. 
 
 The horns of the growing moon were still turned down- 
 wards, and cold, dreary rains were poured upon the land. 
 Julia's patience, in such straits, was wonderful, if the truth 
 had been known, but she saw that some change was necessary 
 for both of them. She therefore proposed, not what she
 
 ].'5G JOSK1MI AND HIS FJUKM). 
 
 most dr:-iml, but what lior circumstances prescribed, a 
 visit from lier sister Clementina. Joseph fuuml tlie request 
 natural enough : it was an infliction, but one which ho had 
 anticipated; and after the time had been arranged by letter, 
 he drove to the station to meet the westward train from 
 the city. 
 
 Clementina stepped upon the platform, so cloaked and 
 hooded that he only recognized her by the deliberate grace 
 of her movements. She extended her hand, giving his a 
 cordial pressure, which was explained by the brass baggage- 
 checks thus transferred to his charge. 
 
 " I will wait in the ladies' room," was all she said. 
 
 At the same moment Joseph's arm was grasped. 
 
 " What a lucky chance ! " exclaimed Philip : then, sud- 
 denly pausing in his greeting, he lifted his hat and bowod to 
 Clementina, who nodded slightly as she passed into the 
 room. 
 
 " Let me look at you ! " Philip resumed, laying his h-inds 
 on Joseph's shoulders. Their eyes met and lingered, and 
 Joseph felt the blood rise to his face as Philip's gaze sank 
 more deeply into his heart and seemed to fathom its hidden 
 trouble ; but presently Philip smiled and said : "I scarcely 
 knew, until this moment, that I had missed you so much, 
 Joseph ! " 
 
 " Have you come to stay ? " Joseph asked. 
 
 {{ I think so. The branch railway down the valley, which 
 you know was projected, is to be built immediately ; but 
 there are other reasons why the furnaces should be in blast. 
 If it is possible, the work and my settlement with it will 
 begin without any further delay. Is she your first family 
 visit ? " 
 
 He pointed towards the station.
 
 137 
 
 " She will bo with us a fortnight; but you will come, 
 Philip?" 
 
 " To be sure ! " Philip exclaimed. "I duly saw her face 
 indistinctly through the veil, but her nod said to me, ' A 
 nearer approach is not objectionable.' Certainlv, Miss 
 Blessing; but with all the conventional forms, if you please ! " 
 
 There was something of scorn and bitterness in the laugh 
 which accompanied these words, and Joseph looked at him 
 with a puzzled air. 
 
 " You may as well know now," Philip whispered, " that 
 when I was a spoony youth of twenty, I very nearly imagined 
 myself in love with Miss Clementina Blessing, and she en- 
 couraged my greenness until it spread as fast as a bamboo or 
 a gourd-vine. Of course, I've long since congratulated my- 
 self that she cut me up, root and branch, when our family 
 fortune was lost. The awkwardness of our intercourse is all 
 on her side. Can she still have faith in her charms and my 
 youth, I wonder ? Ye gods ! that would be a lovely con- 
 clusion of the comedy ! " 
 
 Joseph could only join in the. laugh as they parted. 
 There was no time to reflect tipon what had been said. 
 Clementina, nevertheless, assumed a new interest in his 
 eyes ; and as he drove her towards the farm, he could not 
 avoid connecting her with Philip in his thoughts. She, 
 too, was evidently preoccupied with the meeting, for Philip's 
 name soon floated to the surface of their conversation. 
 
 " I expect a visit from him soon," said Joseph. As she 
 was silent, he ventured to add : " You have no objections to 
 meeting with him, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Mr. Held is still a gentleman, I believe," Clementina 
 replied, and then changed the subject of conversation. 
 
 Julia flew at her sister with open arms, and showered on
 
 138 JOSKI'II AXD HIS TJilEXD. 
 
 her a profusion of kisses, all of which wore received with 
 perfect serenity, Clementina merely saying, as soon as she 
 could get breath : " Dear me, Julia, I scarcely recognize 
 you ! You are already so countrified ! " 
 
 liachel Miller, although a woman, and notwithstanding 
 her recent experience, found herself greatly bewildered by 
 this new apparition. Clementina's slow, deliberate move- 
 ments and her even-toned, musical utterance impressed her 
 with a certain respect ; yet the qualities of character they 
 suggested never manifested themselves. On the contrary, 
 the same words, in any other mouth, would have often ex- 
 pressed malice or heartlessness. Sometimes she heard her 
 own homely phrases repeated, as if by the most unconscious 
 purposeless imitation, and had Julia either smiled or appeared 
 annoyed her suspicions might have been excited ; as it was, 
 she was constantly and sorely puzzled. 
 
 Once only, and for a moment, the two masks were slightly 
 lifted. At dinner, Clementina, who had turned the conver- 
 sation upon the subject of birthdays, suddenly said to Jo- 
 seph : " By the way, Mr. Asten, has Julia told you her 
 age?" 
 
 Julia gave a little start, but presently looked up, with an 
 expression meant to be artless. 
 
 " I knew it before we were married," Joseph quietly 
 answered. 
 
 Clementina bit her lip. Julia, concealing her surprise, 
 flashed a triumphant glance at her sister, then a tender one 
 at Joseph, and said: "We will both let the old birthdays 
 go; we will only have one and the same anniversary from 
 this time on ! " 
 
 Joseph felt, through some natural magnetism of his nature 
 rather than from anv perceptible evidence, that Clementina
 
 was sharply and curiously watching the relation betwi-i-u 
 himself and his wife. He had no fear of her detecting mis- 
 givings which were not yet acknowledged to himself, but 
 was instinctively on his guard in her presence. 
 
 It was not many days before Philip called. Julia received 
 him cordially, as the friend of her husband, while Clemen- 
 tina bowed with an impassive face, without rising from her 
 seat. Philip, however, crossed the room and gave her his 
 hand, saying cheerily : '' AVe used to be old friends, Miss 
 Blessing. You have not forgotten me ? " 
 
 O O 
 
 " AVe cannot forget when we have been asked to do so," 
 she warbled. 
 
 Philip took a chair. " Eight years ! " he said : " I am the 
 only one who has changed in that time." 
 
 Julia looked at her sister, but the latter was apparently 
 absorbed in comparing some zephyr tints. 
 
 " The whirligig of time ! " he exclaimed : " who can fore- 
 see anything ? Then I was an ignorant, petted young 
 aristocrat, an expectant heir; now behold me, working 
 among miners and puddlers and forgemen ! It's a rough 
 but wholesome change. Would you believe it, Mrs. Asten, 
 I've forgotten the mazurka ! " 
 
 " I wish to forget it," Julia replied : " the spring-house is 
 as important to me as the furnace to you." 
 
 " Have you seen the Hopetons lately ? " Clementina asked. 
 
 Joseph saw a shade pass over Philip's face, and he seemed 
 to hesitate a moment before answering : " I hear they will 
 be neighbors of mine next summer. Mr. Hopeton is inter- 
 ested in the new branch down the valley, and has purchased 
 the old Calvert property for a country residence." 
 
 " Indeed ? Then you will often see them." 
 
 " I hope so : they are very agreeable people. But I shall
 
 JOSEPH A2S'D HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 also have my own little household : my sister will probably 
 join me." 
 
 " Xot Madeline I " exclaimed Julia. 
 
 " Madeline," Philip answered. " It has long been 
 her wish, as well as mine. You know the little cot- 
 tage on the knoll, at Coventry, Joseph ! I have taken it 
 for a year." 
 
 " There will be quite a city society," murmured Clemen- 
 tina, in her sweetest tones. " You will need 110 commisera- 
 tion, Julia. Unless, indeed, the country people succeed in 
 changing you all into their own likeness. Mrs. Hopeton 
 will certainly create a sensation. I am told that she is very 
 extravagant, Mr. Held ? " 
 
 " I have never seen her husband's bank account," said 
 Philip, dryly. 
 
 He rose presently, and Joseph accompanied him to the 
 lane. Philip, with the bridle-rein over his arm, delayed to 
 mount his horse, while the mechanical commonplaces of 
 speech, which, somehow, always absurdly come to the lips 
 when graver interests have possession of the heart, were 
 exchanged by the two. Joseph felt, rather than saw, that 
 Philip was troubled. Presently the latter said : " Some- 
 thing is coming over both of us, not between us. I thought 
 I should- tell you a little more, but perhaps it is too soon. 
 If I guess rightly, neither of us is ready. Only this, Joseph, 
 let us each think of the other as a help and a snpport ! " 
 
 " I do, Philip ! " Joseph answered. " I see there is some 
 influence at work which I do not understand, but I am 
 not impatient to know what it is. As for myself, I seem 
 to know nothing at all ; but you can judge, you see all 
 there is." 
 
 Even as he pronounced these words Joseph felt that they
 
 JOSKni AND TTIS FIUKNT). 141 
 
 were not strictly sincere, and almost expected to find an ex- 
 pression of reproof in Philip's eyes. But no: they softened 
 nntil he only saw a pitying tenderness. Then he knew that 
 the doubts which he had resisted with all the force of his 
 nature were clearly revealed to Philip's mind. 
 
 They shook hands, and parted in silence ; and Joseph, as 
 he looked up to the gray blank of heaven, asked himself: 
 " Is this all ? Has my life already taken the permanent 
 imprint of its future ? "
 
 14:2 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEND 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE AMARANTH. 
 
 CLEMENTINA returned to the city without having made 
 any very satisfactory discovery. Her parting was there- 
 fore conventionally tender: she even thanked Joseph for 
 his hospitality, and endeavored to throw a little natural 
 emphasis into her words as she expressed the hope of 
 being allowed to renew her visit in the summer. 
 
 During her stay it seemed to Joseph that the early hai - - 
 mony of his household had been restored. Julia's manner 
 had been so gentle and amiable, that, on looking back, he 
 was inclined to believe that the loneliness of her new life was 
 alone responsible for any change. But after Clementina's 
 departure his doubts were reawakened in a more threatening 
 form. He could not guess, as yet, the terrible chafing of a 
 smiling mask ; of a restraint which must not only conceal 
 itself, but counterfeit its opposite ; of the assumption by a 
 narrow, cold, and selfish nature of virtues which it secretly 
 despises. He could not have foreseen that the gentleness, 
 which had nearly revived his faith in her, would so sud- 
 denly disappear. But it was gone, like a glimpse of the 
 sun through the winter fog. The hard, watchful expression 
 came back to Julia's face ; the lowered eyelids no longer 
 gave a fictitious depth to her shallow, tawny pupils ; the 
 soft roundness of her voice took on a frequent harshness, 
 and the desire of asserting her own will in all things 
 betrayed itself through her affected habits of yielding and 
 seeking counsel.
 
 113 
 
 She continued her plan of making herself acquainted with 
 all the details of the farm business. "\\ hen the roads began 
 to improve, in the early spring, she insisted in driving to the 
 village alone, and Joseph soon found that she made good use 
 of these journeys in extending her knowledge of the social 
 and pecuniary standing of all the neighboring families. She 
 talked with farmers, mechanics, and drovers ; became famil- 
 iar with the fluctuations in the prices of grain and cattle; 
 learned to a penny the wages paid for every form of service ; 
 and thus felt, from week to week, the ground growing more 
 secure under her feet. 
 
 Joseph was not surprised to see that his aunt's participa- 
 tion in the direction of the household gradually diminished. 
 Indeed, he scarcely noticed the circumstance at all, but he 
 was at last forced to remark her increasing silence and the 
 trouble of her face. To all appearance the domestic har- 
 mony was perfect, and if Rachel Miller felt some natural 
 regret at being obliged to divide her sway, it was a matter, 
 he thought, wherein he had best not interfere. One day, 
 however, she surprised him by the request : 
 
 "Joseph, can you take or send me to Magnolia to-mor- 
 row?" 
 
 " Certainly, Aunt ! " he replied. " I suppose you want 
 to visit Cousin Phebe; you have not seen her since last 
 summer." 
 
 "It was that, and something more." She paused a mo- 
 ment, and then added, more firmly : " She has always wished 
 that I should make my home with her, but I couldn't think 
 of any change so long as I was needed here. It seems to me 
 that I am not really needed now." 
 
 " Why, Aunt Rachel ! " Joseph exclaimed, " I meant this 
 to be your home always, as much as mine ! Of course you
 
 14-4 J05KPII AXD HIS FRIEND. 
 
 are needed, not to do all that you have done heretofore, 
 but as a part of the family. It is your right." 
 
 "I understand all that, Joseph. But I've heard it said 
 that a young wife should learn to see to every tiling herself, 
 and Julia, I'm sure, doesn't need either my help or my advice." 
 
 Joseph's face became very grave. " Has she has she ? " 
 he stammered. 
 
 "ISTo," said Rachel, "she has not said it in words. Dif- 
 ferent persons have different ways. She is quick, O very 
 quick! and capable. You know I could never sit idly by, 
 and look on ; and it's hard to be directed. I seem to belong 
 to the place and everything connected with it ; yet there's 
 times when what a body ought to do is plain." 
 
 In endeavoring to steer a middle course between her con- 
 science and her tender regard for her nephew's feelings Rachel 
 only confused and troubled him. Her words conveyed some- 
 thing of the truth which she sought to hide under them. 
 She was both angered and humiliated ; the resistance with 
 which she had attempted to meet Julia's domestic innova- 
 tions was no match for the latter's tactics ; it had gone down 
 like a barrier of reeds and been contemptuously trampled 
 under foot. She saw herself limited, opposed, and finally 
 set aside by a cheerful dexterity of management which 
 evaded her grasp whenever she tried to resent it. Definite 
 acts, whereon to base her indignatioli, seemed to slip from 
 her memory, but the atmosphere of the house became fatal 
 to her. She felt this while she spoke, and felt also that 
 Joseph must be spared. 
 
 "Aunt Rachel," said he, "I know that Julia is very anx- 
 ious to learn everything which she thinks belongs to her 
 place, perhaps a little more than is really necessary. She's 
 an enthusiastic nature, you know. Maybe you are not fully
 
 115 
 
 acquainted yet ; maybe you have misunderstood her in some, 
 tilings : 1 would like to think so.'' 
 
 "It i^ true that we are dill' 'rent, Joseph, very different. 
 I don't say, therefor?, that I'm always right. It's likely, 
 indeed, that any voting wife and any old housekeeper like 
 myself would have their various notions. But where, there 
 can be onlv one head, it's the wife's place to be that head. 
 Julia has not asked it of me, but she has the right. I can't 
 say, also, that I don't need a little rest and change, and there 
 seems to be some call on me to oblige Ph<?be. Look at the 
 matter in the true light,'' she continued, seeing that Joseph 
 remained silent, "and you must feel that it's only natural." 
 
 "I hope so,'' ha said at last, repressing a sigh ; " all things 
 are changing." 
 
 " What can we do ? " Julia asked, that evening, when he 
 had communicated to her his aunt's resolution ; " it would 
 be so delightful if she would stay, and yet I have had a pre- 
 sentiment that she would leave us for a little while only, I 
 hope. Dear, good Annt Rachel ! I couldn't help seeing how 
 hard it was for her to allow the least change in the order of 
 housekeeping. She would be perfectly happy if I would sit 
 still all day and let her tire herself to death ; but how can I 
 do that, Joseph ? And no two women have exactly the same 
 ways and habits. I've tried to make everything pleasant 
 for her : if she would only leave many little matters entirely 
 to me, or at least not think of them, but I fear she cannot. 
 She manages to see the least that I do, and secretly worries 
 about it, in the very kindness of her heart. Why can't wo- 
 men carry on partnerships in housekeeping as men do in 
 business ? I suppose we are too particular ; perhaps I am 
 just as much so as Aunt Rachel. I have no doubt she 
 thinks a little hardly of me, and so it would do her good
 
 146 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 we should really come nearer again if slio had a change. 
 If she ivill go, Joseph, she must at least leave us with the 
 feeling that our home is always hers, whenever she chooses 
 to accept it." 
 
 Julia bent over Joseph's chair, gave him a rapid kiss, and 
 then went off to make her peace with Aunt Rachel. When 
 the two women came to the tea-table the latter had an un- 
 certain, bewildered air, while the eyelids of the former were 
 red, either from tears or much rubbing. 
 
 A fortnight afterwards Rachel Miller left the farm and 
 went to reside with her widowed niece, in Magnolia. 
 
 The day after her departure another surprise came to Jo- 
 seph in the person of his father-in-law. Mr. Blessing arrived 
 in a hired vehicle from the station. His face was so red and 
 radiant from the March winds, and perhaps some private 
 source of satisfaction, that his sudden arrival could not pos- 
 sibly be interpreted as an omen of ill-fortune. He shook 
 hands with the Irish groom who had driven him over, gave 
 him a handsome gratuity in addition to the hire of the team, 
 extracted an elegant travelling-satchel from under the seat, 
 and met Joseph at the gate, with a breezy burst of feeling : 
 
 " God bless you, son-in-law ! It does my heart good to 
 see you again ! And then, at last, the pleasure of behold- 
 ing your ancestral seat; really, this is quite quite mano- 
 rial!" 
 
 Julia, with a loud cry of " O pa ! " came rushing from 
 the house. 
 
 " Bless me, how wild and fresh the child looks ! " cried 
 Mr. Blessing, after the embrace. " Only see the country- 
 roses on her cheeks ! Almost too young and sparkling for 
 Lady Asten, of Asten Hall, eh? As Dry den says, ' Happy, 
 happy, happy pair ! ' It takes me back to the days when I
 
 14:7 
 
 was a gay youiig lark; 1-uf I must have a care, and not 
 make an old fool of myself. LI t us r;o in and subside into 
 soberness : I am readv both ID lau:/h ai:d cr\v' 
 
 "When tlu-y were seun d in the comfortable front room, 
 Mr. Blessing opened his satchel and produced u largo lea- 
 ther-covered flask. Julia was probablv accustomed to hiss 
 habits, for she at once brought a gln;;s from the sideboard. 
 
 " I am still plague:! -with my old cramps/' her father said 
 to Joseph, as he poured out a stout dose. " Physiologists, 
 you know, have discovered that stimulants diminish the wear 
 and tear of life, and I find their theories correct. You, in 
 your pastoral isolation and pecuniary security, can form no 
 conception of the tension under which we men of office and 
 of the world live. Bentus ille, and so forth, strange that 
 the only fragment of Latin which I remember should be so 
 appropriate ! A little water, if yon please, Jnlia." 
 
 In the evening, when Mr. Blessing, slippered, sat before 
 the open fireplace, with a cigar in his mouth, the object of 
 his sudden visit crept by slow degrees to the light. " Have 
 you been dipping into oil ? " he asked Joseph. 
 
 Julia made haste to reply. " Not yet, but almost every- 
 body in the neighborhood is ready to do so now, since Clem- 
 son has realized his fifty thousand dollars in a single year. 
 They are talking of nothing else in the village. I heard 
 yesterday, Joseph, that Old Bishop has taken three thou- 
 sand dollars' worth of stock in a new company." 
 
 " Take my advice, and don't touch 'em ! " exclaimed Mr. 
 Blessing. 
 
 " I had not intended to," said Joseph. 
 
 " There is this thing about these excitements," Mr. Bless- 
 ing continued : " they never reach the rural districts until 
 the first sure harvest is over. The sharp, intelligent opera-
 
 14S JOSEril AND TITS FRIEND. 
 
 tors in the largo cities the: men who are ready to take up 
 soap, thimbles, hand-organs, electricity, or hymn-books, at a 
 moment's notice always cut into a new tiling before its 
 value is guessed by the multitude. Then the smaller fry 
 follow and secure their second crop, while your quiet men 
 in the country are shaking their heads and crying 'hum- 
 bug!' Finally, when it really gets to be a humbug, in a 
 speculative sense, they just begin to believe in it, and are 
 fair game for the bummers and camp-followers of the finan- 
 cial army. I respect Clemson, though I never heard of him 
 before ; as for Old Bishop, he may be a very worthy man, 
 but he'll never see the color of his three thousand dollars 
 again." 
 
 " Pa ! " cried Julia, " how clear you do make everything. 
 And to think that I was wishing O, wishing so much ! 
 that Joseph would go into oil." 
 
 She hung her head a little, looking at Joseph with an 
 affectionate, penitent glance. A quick gleam of satisfaction 
 passed over Mr. Blessing's face ; he smiled to himself, puffed 
 rapidly at his cigar for a minute, and then resumed : " In 
 such a field of speculation everything depends on being ini- 
 tiated. There are men in the city friends of mine who 
 know every foot of ground in the Alleghany Valley. They 
 can smell oil, if it's a thousand feet deep. They never touch 
 a thing that isn't safe, but, then, they know what's safe. 
 In spite of the swindling that's going on, it takes years to 
 exhaust the good points ; just so sure as your honest neigh- 
 bors here will lose, just so sure will these friends of mine 
 gain. There are millions in what they have under way, at 
 this moment." 
 
 " "What is it ? " Julia breathlessly asked, while Joseph's 
 face betrayed that his interest was somewhat aroused.
 
 he said, 
 
 tre of the oil region, which is represented by the velL;w 
 col<>r. Tlic.se lime dots above the bend arc the ccL'brated 
 riuke Wells; the oth-r dots b<-lo\v are the equally cele- 
 brated Chowder Wells. Tin- di.-tanco between the two is 
 nearly three miles. IE' .TO is an untouched portion of the 
 treasure, a pocket of 1'actolu.s waiting to be rilled. A few 
 of us have- acquired the laud, and shall commence boring 
 immediately." 
 
 " But," said Joseph, "it seems to me that either the at- 
 tempt must have been made already, or that the land must 
 command such an enormous price as to lessen the profits." 
 
 " Wisely spoken ! It is the first question which would 
 occur to any prudent mind. But what if I say that neither 
 is the case ? And you, who are familiar with the frequent 
 eccentricities of old farmers, can understand the explanation. 
 The owner of the land was one of your ignorant, stubborn 
 men, who took such a dislike -to the prospectors and specu- 
 lators, that he refused to let them come near him. Both the 
 Fluke and Chowder Companies tried their best to buy him 
 out, but he had a malicious pleasure in leading them on to 
 make immense offers, and then refusing. "Well, a few 
 months ago he died, and his heirs were willing enough to let 
 the land go ; but before it could be regularly offered for sale, 
 the Fluke and Chowder Wells began to flow less and less. 
 Their shares fell from 270 to 95 ; the supposed value of the 
 land fell with them, and finally the moment arrived when 
 we could purchase for a very moderate sum. I see the ques- 
 tion in your mind ; why should we wish to buy when the 
 other wells were giving out ? There comes in the secret,
 
 150 JOSKPII AXD HIS FRIKNI). 
 
 which is oui' veritable success. Consider it whispered in 
 your ears, and locked in your bosoms, torpedoes ! It was 
 not then generally exploded (to carry out the image), so we 
 bought at the low figure, in the very nick of time. Within 
 a week the Fhike and Chowder Wells were torpedoed, and 
 came back to more than their former capacity ; the shares 
 rose as rapidly as they had fallen, and the central body we 
 hold to which they are, as it were, the two arms could 
 now be sold for ten times what it cost us ! " 
 
 Here Mr. Blessing paused, with his finger 011 the map, 
 and a light of merited triumph in his eyes. Julia clapped 
 her hands, sprang to her feet, and cried : " Trumps at 
 last ! " 
 
 " Ay," said he, " wealth, repose for my old days, 
 wealth for us all, if your husband will but take the hand 
 I hold out to him. You now know, son-in-law, why the 
 endorsement you gave me was of such vital importance ; 
 the note, as you are aware, will mature in another week. 
 Why should you not charge yourself with the payment, 
 in consideration of the transfer to you of shares of the 
 original stock, already so immensely appreciated in value ? 
 J have delayed making any provision, for the sake of 
 offering you the chance." 
 
 Julia was about to speak, but restrained herself with 
 an apparent effort. 
 
 " I should like to know," Joseph said, " who are asso- 
 ciated with you in the undertaking ? " 
 
 " Well done, again ! Where did you get your practical 
 shrewdness ? The best men in the city ! not only the 
 Collector and the Surveyor, but Congressman Whaley, 
 E. D. Stokes, of Stokes, Pirricutt and Company, and even 
 the Reverend Doctor Lellifant. If I had not been an
 
 JO.-KPJI AND HIS FPJEXD. 151 
 
 old friend of K;u;uck, tin; agent who negotiated the 
 purchase, my chance would have been impalpably small. 
 1 have all the documents with me. There has been no 
 more splendid opportunity since oil became a power ! 
 1 hesitate to advise even one so near to me in snch 
 matters; but if you knew tlie certainties as I know them, 
 you would go in with all your available capital. The 
 excitement, as you say, lias reached the country com- 
 munities, which are slow to rise and equally slow to 
 subside; all oil stock will be in demand, but the Ama- 
 ranth, ' The Blessing,' they wished to call it, but I was 
 obliged to decline, for otFicial reasons, the Amaranth 
 shares will be the golden apex of the market ! " 
 
 Julia looked at Joseph with eager, hungry eyes. He, 
 too, was warmed and tempted by the prospect of easy 
 profit which the scheme held out to him ; only the habit 
 of his nature resisted, but with still diminishing force. 
 " I might venture the thousand," lie said. 
 
 " It is no venture ! " Julia cried. " In all the specu- 
 lations I have heard discussed by pa and his friends, 
 there was nothing so admirably managed as this. Such 
 a certainty of profit may never come again. If you 
 will be advised by me, Joseph, you will take shares to 
 the amount of five or ten thousand." 
 
 " Ten thousand is exactly the amount I hold open," 
 Mr. Blessing gravely remarked. " That, however, does 
 not represent the necessary payment, which can hardly 
 amount to more than twenty-five per cent, before we 
 begin to realize. Only ten per cent, has yet been called, 
 so that your thousand at present will secure you an in- 
 vestment of ten thousand. Really, it seems like a for- 
 tunate coincidence."
 
 152 JOr'KI'll AXD HIS FRIEND. 
 
 He went on, heating himself with his own words, until 
 the possibilities of the case grow so splendid that Joseph 
 felt himself da/zled and bewildered. Mr. Blessing was 
 a master in the avt of seductive statement. Even where 
 he was only the mouthpiece of another, a few repetitious 
 led him to the profoundest belief. Here there could be 
 no doubt of his sincerity, and, moreover, every movement 
 from the very inception of the scheme, every statistical 
 item, all collateral influences, were clear in his mind and 
 instantly accessible. Although he began by saying, " I 
 will make no estimate of the profits, because it is not pru- 
 dent to fix our hopes on a positive sum," he was soon 
 carried far away from this resolution, and most luxuri-' 
 ously engaged, pencil in hand, in figuring out results which 
 drove Julia wild with desire, and almost took away Joseph's 
 breath. The latter finally said, as they rose from the 
 session, late at night : 
 
 " It is settled that I take as much as the thousand will 
 cover; but I would rather think over the matter quietly 
 for a day or two before venturing further." 
 
 " You must," replied Mr. Blessing, patting him on 
 the shoulder. " These things are so new to your experi- 
 ence, that they disturb and I might almost say alarm 
 you. It is like bringing an increase of oxygen into your 
 mental atmosphere. (Ha ! a good figure : for the result 
 will be, a richer, fuller life. I must remember it.) But 
 you are a healthy organization, and therefore you are 
 certain to see clearly : I can wait?with confidence." 
 
 The nex,t morning Joseph, tnthout declaring his pur- 
 pose, drove to Coventry Foge to consult Philip. Mr. 
 Blessing and Julia, remaining at home, went over the 
 shining ground again, and yet again, confirming each
 
 153 
 
 other 
 lie pa; 
 not.. 1 t 
 
 and maple-trees, could not prevent his thoughts from 
 dwelling on the delights of wealth. society, books, travel, 
 and all the mellow, furtmuite expansion of life. Involun- 
 tarily., ho hoped that Philip's counsel might coincide with 
 his father-in-law's offer. 
 
 But Philip was not at home. The forge was in full acti- 
 vity, the cottage on the knoll was repainted ancl made 
 attractive in various ways, and Philip would soon return 
 with his sister to establish a permanent home. Joseph 
 found the sign-spiritual of his friend in numberless little 
 touches and changes ; it seemed to him that a new soul 
 had entered into the scenery of the place. 
 
 A mile or two farther up the valley, a company of 
 mechanics and laborers were apparently tearing the old 
 Calvert mansion inside out. Plouse, bam, garden, and 
 lawn were undergoing a complete transformation. While 
 he paused at the entrance of the private lane, to take a 
 survey of the operations, Mr. Clcmson rode down to him. 
 from the house. The Hopetons, he said, would migrate 
 from the city early in May : work had already commenced 
 on the new railway, and in another year a different life 
 would come upon the whole neighborhood. 
 
 In the course of the conversation Joseph ventured to 
 sound Mr. Clemson in regard to the newly formed oil 
 companies. The latter frankly confessed that he had 
 withdrawn from further speculation, satisfied with his 
 fortune; he preferred to give no opinion, further than 
 that money was still to be made, if prudently placed. 
 
 The Fluke and Chowder Wells, he said, were old, well 
 7*
 
 154: JOSKI'JI AND HIS FIITEXD. 
 
 known, and profitable. The new application of torpedoes 
 had restored their failing flow, and the stock had recovered 
 from its temporary depreciation. His own venture had 
 been made iu another part of the region. 
 
 The atmosphere into which Joseph entered, on return- 
 ing home, took away all further power of resistance. 
 Tempted already, and impressed by what he had learned, 
 he did what his wife and father-in-law desired.
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FRIEND. 155 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HAVING assumed the payment of Mr. Blessing's note, 
 as the first instalment upon his stock, Joseph was com- 
 pelled to prepare himself for future emergencies. A year 
 must still elapse before the terra of the mortgage upon 
 his farm would expire, but the sums he had invested for 
 the purpose of meeting it when due must be held ready 
 for use. The assurance of great and certain profit in the 
 mean time rendered this step easy ; and, even at the worst, 
 he reflected, there would be no difficulty in procuring a 
 new mortgage whereby to liquidate the old. A notice 
 which he received at this time, that a second assessment 
 of ten per cent, on the Amaranth stock had been made, 
 was both unexpected and disquieting. Mr. Blessing, 
 however, accompanied it with a letter, making clear not 
 only the necessity, but the admirable wisdom of a greater 
 present outlay than had been anticipated. So the first 
 of April the usual business anniversary of the neighbor- 
 hood went smoothly by. Money was plenty, the Asten 
 credit had always been sound, and Joseph tasted for the 
 first time a pleasant sense of power in so easily receivin" 
 and transferring considerable sums. 
 
 One result of the venture was the development of a new- 
 phase in Jxilia's nature. She not only accepted the future 
 profit as certain, but she had apparently calculated its exact 
 amount and framed her plans accordingly. If she had been
 
 humiliated by the character of Joseph's first business trans- 
 action with her father, she now made amends fur it. " Pa" 
 was their good genius. " Pa" was tha agency whereby they 
 should achieve wealth and social importance. Joseph now 
 had the clearest evidence of the difference between a man 
 who knew the world and was of value in it, and their slow, 
 dull-headed country neighbors. Indeed, Julia seemed to 
 consider the Asten property as rather contemptible beside 
 the splendor of the Blessing scheme. Her gratitude for a 
 quiet home, her love of country life, her disparagement of 
 the shams and exactions of " society," were given up as sud- 
 denly and coolly as if she had never affected them. She 
 gave herself no pains to make the transition gradual, and 
 thus lessen its shock. Perhaps she supposed that Joseph's 
 fresh, unsuspicious nature was so plastic that it had already 
 sufficiently taken her impress, and that he would easily for- 
 get the mask she had worn. If so, she was seriously mis- 
 taken. 
 
 He saw, with a deadly chill of the heart, the change in 
 her manner, a change so complete that another face con- 
 fronted him at the table, even as another heart beat beside 
 his on the dishallowed marriage-bed. He saw the gentle 
 droop vanish from the eyelids, leaving the cold, flinty pupils 
 unshaded ; the soft appeal of the half-opened lips was lost 
 in the rigid, almost cruel compression which now seemed 
 habitual to them ; all the slight dependent gestures, the ten- 
 der airs of reference to his will or pleasure, had rapidly 
 transformed themselves into expressions of command or ob- 
 stinate resistance. But the patience of a loving man is 
 equal to that of a loving woman: he was silent, although 
 his silence covered an ever-increasing sense of outrage. 
 
 Once it happened, that after Julia had been unusually
 
 15 
 
 eloquent concerning 
 
 UNO they should make of " p;i' 
 quietlv remarked : 
 
 " iVm seem, to forget, Julia, dint v.-ithout my money not 
 much could have been done.'' 
 
 An angry color came into her face ; but, on second thought, 
 she bent her head, and murmured in an offended voice : "It 
 is very mean and ungenerous in you to refer to our tempo- 
 rary poverty. You might forget, by this time, the help pa 
 was compelled to ask of you/' 
 
 " I did not think of that ! " he exclaimed. " Besides, 
 you did not seem entirely satisfied with my help, at the 
 time." 
 
 " O, how you misunderstand me ! " she groaned. " I 
 only wished to know the extent of his need. He is so 
 generous, so considerate towards us, that we only guess his 
 misfortune at the last moment." 
 
 The possibility of being unjust silenced Joseph. There 
 were tears in Julia's voice, and he imagined they would soon 
 rise to her eyes. After a long, uncomfortable pause, he 
 said, for the sake of changing the subject : " What can have 
 become of El wood Withers? I have not seen him for 
 months." 
 
 " I don't think you need care to know," she remarked. 
 " He's a rough, vulgar fellow : it's just as well if he keeps 
 away from us." 
 
 " Julia ! he is my friend, and must always be welcome to 
 me. You were friendly enough towards him, and towards 
 all the neighborhood, last summer : how is it that you have 
 not a good word to say now ? " 
 
 He spoke warmly and indignantly. Julia, however, look- 
 ed at him with a calm, smiling face. " It is very simple,"
 
 158 JOSEPH AXD HIS FEIEXD. 
 
 she said. " You will agree with me, in another year. A 
 guest, as I was, must try to see only the pleasant side of 
 people: that's our duty; and sol enjoyed as much as I 
 could the rusticity, the awkwardness, the ignorance, the 
 (now, don't be vexed, dear !) the vulgarity of your friend. 
 As one of the society of the neighborhood, as a resident, I 
 am not bound by any such delicacy. I take the same right 
 to judge and select as I should take anywhere. Unless I 
 am to be hypocritical, I cannot towards you, at least- 
 conceal my real feelings. How shall I ever get you to see 
 the difference between yourself and these people, unless I 
 continually point it out ? You are modest, and don't like 
 to acknowledge your own superiority." 
 
 She rose from the table, laughing, and went out of the 
 room humming a lively air, leaving Joseph to make the best 
 of her words. 
 
 A few days after this the work on the branch railway, 
 extending down the valley, reached a point where it could 
 be seen from the Asten farm. Joseph, on riding over to in- 
 spect the operations, was surprised to find Elwood, who had 
 left his father's place and become a sub-contractor. The 
 latter showed his hearty delight at their meeting. 
 
 " I've been meaning to come up," he said, " but this is a 
 busy time for me. It's a chance I couldn't let slip, and now 
 that I've taken hold I must hold on. I begin to think this 
 is the thing I was made for, Joseph." 
 
 " I never thought of it before," Joseph answered, " and yet 
 I'm sure you are right. How did you hit upon it ? " 
 
 "I didn't; it was Mr. Held." 
 
 Philip ? " 
 
 " Him. You know I've been hauling for the Forge, and 
 so it turned up by degrees, as I may say. He's at home }
 
 FIJIEXD. 159 
 
 and, I expect, looking for yon. But Low are you new, 
 really?"' 
 
 Elwood's question meant a great deal niore than lie knew 
 h'iw to say. Suddenly, in a llash of memory, tlieir talk of 
 the previous year returned to Joseph's mind; lie saw his 
 friend's true instincts and his own blindness as never be- 
 fore. But he must dissemble, if possible, with that strong, 
 rough, kindly face before him. 
 
 " O," he said, attempting a cheerful air, " I am one of the 
 old folks now. You must come up " 
 
 The recollection of Julia's words cut short the invitation 
 upon his lips. A sharp pang went through his heart, and 
 the treacherous blood crowded to his face all the more that 
 lie tried to hold it back. 
 
 " Come, and I'll show you where we're going to make 
 the cutting," Ehvood quietly said, taking him by the arm. 
 Joseph fancied, thenceforth, that there was a special kind- 
 ness in his manner, and the suspicion seemed to rankle in 
 his mind as if he had been slighted by his friend. 
 
 As before, to vary the tedium of his empty life, so now, to 
 escape from the knowledge which he found himself more and 
 more powerless to resist, he busied himself beyond all need 
 with the work of the farm. Philip had returned with his 
 sister, he knew, but after the meeting with Elwood he shrank 
 with a painful dread from Philip's heart-deep, intimate eye. 
 Julia, however, all the more made use of the soft spring 
 weather to survey the social ground, and choose where to 
 take her stand. Joseph scarcely knew, indeed, how exten- 
 sive her operations had been, until she announced an invita- 
 tion to dine with the Hopetons, who were now in possession 
 of the renovated Calvert place. She enlarged, more than 
 was necessary, on the distinguished city position of the
 
 ICO JOSEPH AX1) III5 FR1KXD. 
 
 family, and the importance of "cultivating" its country 
 members. Joseph's single brief meeting wiih .Mr. Hope- 
 ton who was a short, solid man, in ripe middle age, of a 
 thoroughly cosmopolitan, though not a remarkably intellec- 
 tual stamp had been agreeable, and he recognized the obli- 
 gation to be neighborly. Therefore lie readily accepted the 
 invitation on his own grounds. 
 
 "When the day arrived, Julia, after spending the morning 
 over her toilet, came forth resplendent in rosy silk, bright 
 and dazzling in complexion, and with all her former grace of 
 languid eyelids and parted lips. The void in Joseph's heart 
 grew wider at the sight of her ; for he perceived, as never 
 before, her consummate skill in assuming a false character. 
 It seemed incredible that he should have been so deluded. 
 For the first time a feeling of repulsion, which was almost 
 disgust, came upon him as he listened to her prattle of de- 
 light in the soft weather, and the fragrant woods, and the 
 blossoming orchards. Was not, also, this delight assumed? 
 he asked himself: false in one thing, false in all, was the 
 fatal logic which then and there began its torment. 
 
 The most that was possible in such a short time had been 
 achieved on the Calvert place. The house had been bright- 
 ened, surrounded by light, airy verandas, and the lawn and 
 garden, thrown into one and given into the hands of a skil- 
 ful gardener, were scarcely to be recognized. A broad, solid 
 gravel-walk replaced the old tan-covered path ; a pretty 
 fountain tinkled before the door ; thick beds of geranium 
 in flower studded the turf, and veritable thickets of rose- 
 trees were waiting for June. "Within the house, some rooms 
 had been thrown together, the walls richly yet harmoniously 
 colored, and the sumptuous furniture thus received a proper 
 setting. In contrast to the houses of even the wealthiest
 
 1G1 
 
 farmers, winch expressed a nicely reckoned sufficiency of 
 comfort, tlie place had tin air of joyous profusion., of a 
 wealth which deliglited in itself. 
 
 Z\Ir. Hopeton met tlieui with the frank, offhand manner 
 of a man of business. I [is wife loll owed, and the two 
 guests made a rapid inspection of her as she came down the 
 hail. Julia noticed that her crocus-colored dress was high 
 in the neck, and plainly trimmed ; that she wore no orna- 
 ments, and that the natural pallor of her complexion had 
 not been corrected by art. Joseph remarked the simple 
 grace of her movement, the large, dark, inscrutable eyes, the 
 smooth bands of her black hair, and the pure though some- 
 what lengthened oval of her face. The gentle dignity of her 
 manner more than refreshed, it soothed him. She was so 
 much younger than her husband that Joseph involuntarily 
 wondered how they should have come together. 
 
 The greetings were scarcely over before Philip and Made- 
 line Held arrived. Julia, with the least little gush of ten- 
 derness, kissed the latter, whom Philip then presented to 
 Joseph for the first time. She had the same wavy hair as 
 her brother, but the golden hue was deepened nearly into 
 brown, and her eyes were a clear hazel. It was also the 
 same frank, firm face, but her woman's smile was so much 
 the sweeter as her lips were lovelier than the man's. Joseph 
 seemed to clasp an instant friendship in her offered hand. 
 
 There was but one other guest, who, somewhat to his sur- 
 prise, was Lucy Henderson. Julia concealed whatever she 
 might have felt, and made so much reference to their former 
 meetings as might satisfy Lucy without conveying to Mrs. 
 Hopeton the impression of any special intimacy. Lucy 
 looked thin and worn, and her black silk dress was not of 
 the latest fashion : she seemed to be the poor relation of the
 
 102 JOSKl'II AND HIS FIUKXD. 
 
 company. Joseph learned that she had taken one of the 
 schools in the valley, for the summer. Her manner to him 
 was as simple and friendly as ever, but ho felt the presence 
 of some new element of strength and self-reliance in her na- 
 ture. 
 
 His place at dinner was beside Mrs. Hopeton, while 
 Lucy apparently by accident sat upon the other side of 
 the hostess. Philip and the host led the conversation, con- 
 fining it too exclusively to the railroad and iron interests ; 
 but these finally languished, and gave way to other topics in 
 which all could take part. Joseph felt that while the others, 
 except Lucy and himself, were fashioned under different as- 
 pects of life, some of which they shared in. common, yet that 
 their seeming ease and freedom of communication touched, 
 here and there, some invisible limit, which they were care- 
 ful not to pass. Even Philip appeared to be beyond his 
 reach, for the time. 
 
 The country and the people, being comparatively new to 
 them, naturally came to be discussed. 
 
 " Mr. Held, or Mr. Asten, either of you know both," 
 Mr. Hopeton asked, " what are the principal points of differ- 
 ence between society in the city and in the country ? " 
 
 " Indeed, I know too little of the city," said Joseph. 
 
 " And I know too little of the country, here, at least," 
 Philip added. " Of course the same passions and prejudices 
 come into play everywhere. There are circles, there are 
 jealousies, ups and downs, scandals, suppressions, and reha- 
 bilitations : it can't be otherwise." 
 
 "Are they not a little worse in the country," said Julia, 
 " because I may ask the question here, among us there is 
 less refinement of manner ? " 
 
 " If the external forms are ruder," Philip resumed, " it
 
 163 
 
 may be an advantage, in one sense. Hypocrisy cannot be 
 developed into an art." 
 
 Julia bit her lip, and was silent. 
 
 " But are the country people, hereabouts, so rough '? " Mrs. 
 Hopeton asked. " I confess that they don't seem so to me. 
 What do yon say, Miss Henderson '? " 
 
 " Perhaps I am not an impartial witness," Lucy answered. 
 " We care less about what is called ' manners ' than the city 
 people. We have no fixed rules for dress and behavior, only 
 we don't like any one to differ too much from the rest of us." 
 
 " That's it! " Mr. Hopeton cried; " the tyrannical level- 
 ling sentiment of an imperfectly developed community ! 
 .Fortunately, I am beyond its reach." 
 
 Julia's eyes sparkled : she looked across the table at Jo- 
 seph, with a triumphant air. 
 
 Philip suddenly raised his head. " How would you cor- 
 rect it ? Simply by resistance ? " he asked. 
 
 Mr. Hopeton laughed. "I should no doubt get myself 
 into a hornet's-nest. No ; by indifference ! " 
 
 Then Madeline Held spoke. " Excuse me," she said ; " but 
 is indifference possible, even if it were right? You seem to 
 take the levelling spirit for granted, without looking into its 
 character and causes ; there must be some natural sense of 
 justice, no matter how imperfectly society is developed. We 
 are members of this community, at least, Philip and I cer- 
 tainly consider ourselves so, and I am determined not to 
 judge it without knowledge, or to offend what may be only 
 mechanical habits of thought, unless I can see a sure advan- 
 tage in doing so." 
 
 Lucy Henderson looked at the speaker with a bright, 
 grateful face. Joseph's eyes wandered from her to Julia, 
 who was silent and watchful.
 
 IG-i JOSKl'II ASl) HIS FUL' : :XD. 
 
 " But I havo no time for such conscientious studies," ^Fr. 
 Hopeton resumed. " One can be. sati.siied with L;df a dozen. 
 neighbors, and let the mass go. Indifference, after all, is the 
 best philosophy. What do you say, 3.1 r. Held * " 
 
 " JudiiFerence ! " Philip echoed. A dark flush caino into 
 his face, and he was silent a moment. " Yes: oui 1 hearts are 
 inconvenient appendages. We sutler a deal from unneces- 
 sary sympathies, and from imagining, I suppose, that others 
 feel them as we do. These uneasy features of society are 
 simply the effort of nature to find some occupation for brains 
 otherwise idle or empty. Teach the people to think, and 
 they will disappear." 
 
 Joseph stared at Philip, feel ing that a secret bitterness was 
 hidden under his careless, mocking air. Mrs. Hopeton rose, 
 and the company left the table. Madeline Held had a 
 troubled expression, but there was an eager, singular bright- 
 ness in Julia's eyes. 
 
 " Emily, let us have coffee on the veranda," said Mr. 
 Hopeton, leading the way. He had already half forgotten 
 the subject of conversation : his own expressions, in fact, 
 had been made very much at random, for the sole pur- 
 pose of keeping up the flow of talk. He had no very 
 fixed views of any kind, beyond the sphere of his business 
 activity. 
 
 Philip, noticing the impression he had made on Joseph, 
 drew him to one side. " Don't seriously remember my 
 words against me," he said ; " you were sorry to hear them, 
 1 know. All I meant was, that an over-sensitive tenderness 
 towards everybody is a fault. Besides, I was provoked to 
 answer him in his own vein," 
 
 " But, Philip ! " Joseph whispered, " such words tempt 
 me ! What if they were true ? "
 
 16; 
 
 Philip g:r.*ped his arm wiih a painful force. "They 
 never can be true to you, Joseph," lie said. 
 
 Gay and pleasant as the company senaed to b--\ each one 
 felt a secret sense of relief when it came to an end. As Jo- 
 seph drove homewards, silently recalling what had been 
 said, .Julia interrupted his reilections with : '*' \\~ell, what do 
 you think of the Hopetotis ? " 
 
 "She is an interesting woman,'" he answered. 
 
 " But reserved ; and si >e shows very little taste in dress. 
 However, I suppose you hardly noticed anything of the 
 kind. Hhe kept Lucy Henderson beside her as a foil : Ma- 
 deline Held would have been damaging." 
 
 Joseph only partly guessed her meaning ; it was repug- 
 nant, and he determined to avoid its further- discussion. 
 
 " Hopeton is a shrewd business man," Julia continued, 
 " but he cannot compare with her for shrewdness either 
 with her or Philip Held ! " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " I made a discovery before the dinner was over, which 
 you innocent, unsuspecting man that you are might have 
 before your eyes for years, without seeing it. Tell me now, 
 honestly, did you notice nothing ? " 
 
 " What should I notice, beyond what was said ? " he asked. 
 
 " That was the least ! " she cried ; " but, of course, I 
 knew you couldn't. And perhaps you Avon't believe me, 
 when I tell you that Philip Held, your particular friend, 
 your hero, for aught I know, your pattern of virtue and 
 character, and all that is manly and noble, that Philip 
 Held, I say,- is furiously in love with Mrs. Hopeton ! " 
 
 Joseph started as if he had been shot, and turned around 
 with an angry red on his brow. " Julia ! " he said, " how 
 dare you speak so of Philip ! "
 
 106 JOSEPH AND Illrf FRIEND. 
 
 She laughed. " Because I dare to speak the truth, whon 
 I sec it. I thought I should surprise you. I remembered 
 a certain rumor I had heard before she was married, while 
 she was Emily Marrable, and I watched them closer than 
 they guessed. I'm certain of Philip : as for her, she's a 
 deep creature, and she was 011 her guard ; but they are 
 near neighbors." 
 
 Joseph was thoroughly aroused and indignant. "It is 
 your own fancy ! " lie exclaimed. " You hate Philip on 
 account of that affair with Clementina ; but you ought to 
 have some respect for the woman whose hospitality you 
 have accepted ! " 
 
 " Bless me ! I have any quantity of respect both for her 
 and her furniture. By the by, Joseph, our parlor would 
 furnish better than hers ; I have been thinking of a few 
 changes we might make, which would wonderfully improve 
 the house. As for Philip, Clementina was a fool. She'd 
 be glad enough to have him now, but in these matters, once 
 gone is gone for good. Somehow, people who marry for 
 love very often get rich afterwards, ourselves, for in- 
 stance." 
 
 It was some time before Joseph's excitement subsided. 
 He had resented Julia's suspicion as dishonorable to Philip, 
 yet he could not banish the conjecture of its possible truth. 
 If Philip's affected cynicism had tempted him, Julia's un- 
 blushing assumption of the existence of a passion which was 
 forbidden, and therefore positively guilty, seemed to stain 
 the pure texture of his natxire. The lightness with which 
 she spoke of the matter was even more abhorrent to him 
 than the assertion itself ; the malicious satisfaction in the 
 tones of her voice had not escaped his ear. 
 
 " Julia," he said, just before they reached Lome, " do not
 
 JOSKI'U AXI) HIS iTJEXI). 107 
 
 mention your fancy to another soul than mo. It Avould 
 reflect discredit on you." 
 
 " You are innocent," she answered. ' ; And yon arc not 
 complimentary. If I have any remarkable qnaliiy, it is 
 tact. Whenever I speak, I shall know the effect before- 
 hand ; even pa, with all his official experience, is no match 
 for me in this line. I see what the Hopetons are after, and 
 I mean to show them that we Avere first in the field. Don't 
 be concerned, yon good, excitable creature, yon are no match 
 for such well-drilled people. Let me alone, and before the 
 summer is over we will "ive the law to the neighborhood ! "
 
 168 jo.sKrji AND ins FJRIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 JOSEPH'S TROUBLE, AND PHILIP'S. 
 
 THE bare, repulsive, inexorable truth was revealed at last. 
 There was no longer any foothold for doubt, any possibility 
 of continuing his desperate self-deceit. From that day all 
 the joy, the trust, the hope, seemed to fade out of Joseph's 
 life. What had been lost was irretrievable : the delusion 
 of a few months had fixed his fate forever. 
 
 His sense of outrage was so strong and keen so burned 
 upon his consciousness as to affect him like a dull physical 
 pain that a just and temperate review of his situation was 
 impossible. False in one thing, false in all : that was the 
 single, inevitable conclusion. Of course she had never even 
 loved him. Her coy maiden airs, her warm abandonment 
 to feeling, her very tears and blushes, were artfully simu- 
 lated : perhaps, indeed, she had laughed in her heart, yea, 
 sneered, at his credulous tenderness ! Her assumption of 
 rule, therefore, became an arrogance not to be borne. What 
 right had she, guilty of a crime for which there is no name 
 and no punishment, to reverse the secret justice of the soul, 
 and claim to be rewarded ? 
 
 So reasoned Joseph to himself, in his solitary broodings ; 
 but the spell was not so entirely broken as he imagined. 
 Sternly as he might have resolved in advance, there was a 
 glamour in her mask of cheerfulness and gentleness, which 
 made his resolution seem hard and cruel. In her presence 
 he could not clearly remember his wrongs : the past delusion
 
 1G9 
 
 had been a reality, nevertheless : and ho could make no 
 assertion which did not involve his own miserable humilia- 
 tion. Thus the depth and vital force of his struggle could 
 not be guessed by Julia. She saw only irritable moods, the 
 natural male resistance which she had often remarked in her 
 father, perhaps, also, the annoyance of giving up certain 
 '' romantic" fancies, which .sin 1 believed to be common to all 
 young men, and never permanent. Even an open rupture 
 could not have pushed them apart so rapidly as this hollow 
 external routine of life. 
 
 Joseph took the earliest opportunity of visiting Philip, 
 whom he found busy in forge and foundry. " This would be 
 the life for you ! " he said : " we deal only with physical 
 forces, human and elemental : we direct and create power, 
 yet still obey the command to put money in our prirses." 
 
 " Is that one secret of your strength ? " Joseph asked. 
 
 " Who told you that I had any ? " 
 
 " I feel it," said Joseph ; and even as he said it he re- 
 membered Julia's unworthy suspicion. 
 
 " Come up and see Madeline a moment, and the home 
 she has made for me. We get on veiy well, for brother and 
 sister especially since her will is about as stubborn as mine." 
 
 Madeline was very bright and cheerful, and Joseph, cer- 
 tainly, saw no signs of a stubborn will in her fair face. She 
 was very simply dressed, and busy with some task of 
 needle- work, which she did not lay aside. 
 
 " You might pass already for a member of our commu- 
 nity," he could not help saying. 
 
 " I think your most democratic farmers will accept me," 
 she answered, " when they learn that I am Philip's house- 
 keeper. The only dispute we have had, or are likely to 
 have, is in relation to the salary." 
 8
 
 170 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 " She is an inconsistent creature, Joseph," said Philip. 
 " I was obliged to offer her as much as she earned by her 
 music-lessons before she would come at all, and now slie 
 can't find work enough to balance it." 
 
 " How can I, Philip, when you tempt me every day 
 with walks and rides, botany, geology, and sketching from 
 nature ? " 
 
 So much frank, affectionate confidence showed itself 
 through the playful gossip of the two, that Joseph was at 
 once comforted and pained. " If I had only had a sister ! " 
 he sighed to Philip, as they walked down the knoll. 
 
 The friends took the valley road, Joseph leading his 
 horse by the bridle. The stream was full to its banks, and 
 crystal clear : shoals of young fishes passed like drifted 
 leaves over the pebbly ground, and the fragrant water- 
 beetles skimmed the s\n face of the eddies. Overhead the 
 vaults of the great elms and sycamores were filled with the 
 green, delicious illumination of the tender foliage. It was 
 a scene and a season for idle happiness. 
 
 Yet the first words Philip spoke, after a long silence, 
 were : " May I speak now ? " There was infinite love and 
 pity in his voice. He took Joseph by the hand. 
 
 " Yes," the latter whispered. 
 
 " It has come," Philip continued ; " you cannot hide it 
 from yourself any longer. My pain is that I did not dare 
 to warn you, though at the risk of losing your friendship. 
 There was so little time " 
 
 " You did try to warn me, Philip ! I have recalled your 
 words, and the trouble in your face as you spoke, a thou- 
 sand times. I was a fool, a blind, miserable fool, and my 
 folly has ruined my life ! " 
 
 " Strange," said Philip, musingly, " that only a perfectly
 
 Fini'XD. 171 
 
 good and puve nature can fall into surh a wretched snare. 
 And yet 'Virtue is its own reward,' is dinned into our 
 ears ! It is Hell for a single fault : nay, not even a fault, 
 an innocent mistake ! Put let us S"0 what can be done : 
 is there no common ground whereon your natures can 
 stand together ? If there should be a child 
 
 Joseph shuddered. " Once it seamed too great, too won- 
 derful a hope," he said, " but now, I don't dare to wish for 
 it. Philip, I am too sorely hurt to think clearly : there is 
 nothing to do but to wait. It is a miserable kind of com- 
 fort to me to have your sympathy, but I fear you cannot 
 help me." 
 
 Philip saw that he could bear no more : his face was pale 
 to the lips and his hands trembled. He led him to the bank, 
 sat down beside him, and laid his arm about his neck. The 
 silence and the caress were more soothing to Joseph than 
 any words ; he soon became calm, and remembered an im- 
 portant part of his errand, which was to acquaint Philip 
 with the oil speculation, and to ask his advice. 
 
 They discussed the matter long and gravely. "With all his 
 questions, and the somewhat imperfect information which 
 Joseph was able to give, Philip could not satisfy himself 
 whether the scheme was a simple swindle or a well-con- 
 sidered business venture. Two or three of the names were 
 respectable, but the chief agent, Kanuck, was unknown to 
 him ; moreover, Mr. Blessing's apparent prominence in 
 the undertaking did not inspire him with much confidence. 
 
 " How much have you already paid on the stock ? " he asked. 
 
 " Three instalments, which, Mr. Blessing thinks, is all 
 that will be called for. However, I have the money for a 
 fourth, should it be necessary. He writes to me that the 
 stock has already risen a hundred per cent, in value."
 
 17:2 .lOSK: 1 !! AND I: IS FKDOXD. 
 
 " If that is so," said Philip, " let me advise you to sell 
 half of it, at once. The sum received will cover your liabil- 
 ities, and the half you retain, as a venture, -\vill give you 
 no further anxiety." 
 
 " I had thought of that ; yet I am sure that my father- 
 in-law will oppose such a step with all his might. You 
 must know him, Philip; tell me, frankly, your opinion of 
 his character." 
 
 " Blessing belongs to a class familiar enough to me," 
 Philip answered ; " yet I doubt whether you will com- 
 prehend it. He is a swaggering, amiable, magnificent 
 adventurer ; never purposely dishonest, I am sure, yet 
 sometimes engaged in transactions that would not bear 
 much scrutiny. His life has been one of ups and downs. 
 After a successful speculation, he is luxurious, open-handed, 
 and absurdly self-confident ; his success is soon flung away : 
 he then good-humoredly descends to poverty, because he 
 never believes it can last long. He is unreliable, from his 
 over-sanguine temperament ; and yet this very temper- 
 ament gives him a certain power and influence. Some of 
 our best men are on familiar terms with him. They are on 
 their guard against his pecuniary approaches, they laugh 
 at his extravagant schemes, but they now and then find 
 him useful. I heard Gray, the editor, once speak of him as 
 a man ' filled with available enthusiasms,' and I guess that 
 phrase hits both his strength and his weakness." 
 
 On the whole, Joseph felt rather relieved than disquieted. 
 The heart was lighter in his breast as he moxinted his horse 
 and rode homewards. 
 
 Philip slowly walked forwards, yielding his mind to 
 thoughts wherein Joseph was an important but not the prin- 
 cipal figure. Was thei-e a positive strength, he asked him-
 
 self, in a wider practical experience of life? Did such ex- 
 perience really strengthen the basis of character vhich must 
 support a man, when some unexpected moral crisis comes 
 upon him? He knew that he seemed strung, to Joseph ; but 
 the latter, so far, was bearing his terrible test with a patience 
 drawn from some source of elemental power. Joseph had 
 simply been ignorant : hv had been proud, impatient, and 
 he now confessed to himself weakly jealous. In both 
 cases, a mistake had passed beyond the plastic stage where 
 life may still be remoulded : it had hardened into an inexo- 
 rable fate. "What was to be the end of it all ? 
 
 A light footstep interrupted his reflections, lie looked 
 up, and almost started, on finding himself face to face with 
 Mrs. Hopeton. 
 
 Her face was flushed from her walk and the mellow 
 warmth of the afternoon. She held a bunch of wild- flowers, 
 - pink azaleas, delicate sigillarias, valerian, and scarlet 
 painted-cup. She first broke the silence by asking after 
 Madeline. 
 
 " Busy with some important sewing, curtains, I fancy. 
 She is becoming an inveterate housekeeper," Philip said. 
 
 " I am glad, for hex sake, that she is here. And it must 
 be very pleasant for you, after all your wanderings." 
 
 "I must look on it, I suppose," Philip answered, " as the 
 only kind of a home I shall ever have, while it lasts. But 
 Madeline's life must not be mutilated because mine happens 
 to be." 
 
 The warm color left Mrs. Ilopeton's face. She strove to 
 make her voice cold and steady, as she said : " I am sorry 
 to see you growing so bitter, Mr. Held." 
 
 "I don't think it is my proper nature, Mrs. Hopeton. 
 But you startled me out of a retrospect which had exhaust-
 
 174: JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEND. 
 
 ed my capacity for self-reproach, and was about to become 
 self-cursing. There is no bitterness quite equal to that of 
 seeing how weakly one has thrown away an irrecoverable 
 fortune." 
 
 She stood before him, silent and disturbed. It was im- 
 possible not to understand, yet it seemed equally impossible 
 to answer him. She gave one glance at his earnest, dark 
 gray eyes, his handsome manly face, and the sprinkled 
 glosses of sunshine on his golden hair, and felt a chill strike 
 to her heart. She moved a step, as if to end the inter- 
 view. 
 
 " Only one moment, Mrs. Hopeton Emily ! " Philip 
 cried. " We may not meet again thus for years. I will 
 not needlessly recall the past. I only mean to speak of my 
 offence, to acknowledge it, and exonerate you from any 
 share in the misunderstanding which made us what we 
 are. You cannot feel the burden of an unpardoned fault ; 
 but will you not allow me to lighten mine ? " 
 
 A softer change came over her stately form. Her arm re- 
 laxed, and the wild-flowers fell upon the ground. 
 
 " I was wrong, first," Philip went on, " in not frankly con- 
 fiding to you the knowledge of a boyish illusion and dis- 
 appointment. I had been heartlessly treated : it was a silly 
 affair, not worth the telling now ; but the leaven of mistrust 
 it left behind was not fully worked out of my nature. Then, 
 too, I had private troubles, which my pride sore, just then, 
 from many a trifling prick, at which I should now laiigh 
 led me to conceal. I need not go over the appearances 
 which provoked me into a display of temper as unjust as it 
 was unmanly, it is enough to say that all circumstances 
 combined to make me impatient, suspicious, fiercely jealous. 
 I never paused to reflect that you could not know the series
 
 of aggravations v.-hicli preceded our misunderstanding. I 
 did not guess ho\v far I was giving expression to them, and 
 unconsciously transferring to you the ofl'ences of others. 
 ZSTav, I exacted a completer surrender of your woman's 
 pride, because a woman had already chosen to make a play- 
 thing of my green hoy-love. There is no use in speaking of 
 any of the particulars of our quarrel ; for J confess to you 
 that I was recklessly, miserably wrong. But the time has 
 come when you can afford to be generous, when you can 
 allow yourself to speak my forgiveness. Xot for the 
 sake of anything I might have been to you, but as a 
 true woman, dealing with her brother-man, I ask your par- 
 don ! " 
 
 Mrs. Hopeton could not banish the memory of the old 
 tenderness which pleaded for Philip in her heart. He had 
 spoken no word which could offend or alarm her : they were 
 safely divided by a gulf which might never be bridged, and 
 perhaps it was well that a purely human, reconciliation 
 should now clarify what was turbid in the past, and reunite 
 them by a bond pure, though eternally sad. She came slow- 
 ly towards him, and gave him her hand. 
 
 " All is not only pardoned, Philip," she said, " but it is 
 now doubly my duty to forget it. Do not suppose, however, 
 that I have had no other than reproachful memories. My 
 pride was as unyielding as yours, for it led me to the defiance 
 which you could not then endure. I, too, was haughty 
 and imperious. I recall every word I uttered, and I know 
 that you have not forgotten them. But let there be equal 
 and final jxistice between us : forget my words, if you can, 
 and forgive me ! " 
 
 Philip took her hand, and held it softly in his own. No 
 power on earth could have prevented their eyes from meet-
 
 176 JOSEPH AXD HIS FIJIKXn. 
 
 ing. Out of the far-off distance of all dead joys, over all 
 abysses of fate, the sole power which time and will are pow- 
 erless to tame, took swift possession of their natures. 
 Philip's eyes were darkened and softened by a film of gath- 
 ering tears : he cried in a broken voice : 
 
 " Yes, pardon ! but I thought pardon might be peace. 
 Forget? Yes, it would be easy to forget the past, if, O 
 Emily, we have never been parted until now ! " 
 
 She had withdrawn her hand, and covered her face. He 
 saw, by the convulsive tremor of her frame, that she was 
 fiercely suppressing her emotion. In another moment she 
 looked up, pale, cold, and almost defiant. 
 
 " Why should you say more ? " she asked. " Mutual 
 forgiveness is our duty, and there the duty ends. Leave mo 
 now ! " 
 
 Philip knew that he had betrayed himself. Not daring 
 to speak another word he bowed and walked rapidly awav. 
 Mrs. Hopeton stood, with her hand pressed upon her 
 bosom, until he had disappeared among the farther trees : 
 then she sat down, and let her withheld tears flow 
 freely. 
 
 Presently the merry whoops and calls of children met her 
 ear. She gathered together the fallen flowers, rose and took 
 her way across the meadows towards a little stone school- 
 house, at the foot of the nearest hill. Lucy Hender- 
 son already advanced to meet her. There was still an 
 hour or two of sunshine, but the mellow, languid heat 
 of the day was over, and the breeze winnowing down 
 the valley brought with it the smell of the blossoming 
 vernal grass. 
 
 The two women felt themselves drawn towards each other, 
 though neither had as yet divined the source of their afiec-
 
 JOSEPH AM) ]!!.- FFJEXIX 177 
 
 tionate instinct. Xow, looking ujn-n Lucy's pure, gently 
 firm, and reliant face, Mrs. Iloneton, for the second or third 
 time in her life, yielded to a sudden, powerful impulse, and 
 said : >; .Lucy, I foresee that [ shall need the love and the 
 trust of a true woman : where shall I find it if not in you? '' 
 
 ' ; If mine will content you,'' said Luev. 
 
 " O my dear ! " Mrs. llopeton cried ; " none of us can 
 stand alone. God has singular trials for us, sometimes, and 
 the use and the conquest of a trouble may both become clear 
 in the telling of it. The heart can wear itself out with its 
 own bitterness. You see, 1 force my confidence upon you, 
 but I know you are strong to receive it." 
 
 " At least," Lucy answered, gravely, " I have no claim 
 to strength unless I am willing to have it tested." 
 
 " Then let me make the severest test at once : I shall 
 have less courage if I delay. Can you comprehend the 
 nature of a woman's trial, when her heart resists her duty ? " 
 
 A deep blush overspread Lucy's face, but she forced her- 
 self to meet Mrs. Hopeton's gaze. The two women were 
 silent a moment ; then the latter threw her arms around 
 Lucy's neck and kissed her. 
 
 " Let us walk ! " she said. " "We shall both find the words 
 we need." 
 
 They moved away over the fragrant, shining meadows. 
 Down the valley, at the foot of the blue cape which wooed 
 their eyes, and perhaps suggested to their hearts that mys- 
 terious sense of hope which lies in landscape distances, 
 Elwood Withers was directing his gang of workmen. Over 
 the eastern hill, Joseph Asten stood among his fields, hardly 
 recognizing their joyous growth. The smoke of Philip's 
 forge rose above the trees to the northward. So many dis- 
 appointed hearts, so manv thwarted lives ! What strand 
 8*
 
 178 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIE.VD. 
 
 shall be twisted out of the broken threads of these desti- 
 nies, thus drawn so near to each other ? What new 
 forces - fatal or beneficent shall be developed from these 
 elements ? 
 
 Mr. Hopeton, riding homewards along the highway, said to 
 himself : " It's a pleasant country, but what slow, humdrum 
 lives the people lead ! "
 
 JOSEPH AM) HIS FRIEND. 179 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 " I HAVE a plan," said Julia, a week or two later. " Can 
 you guess it ? No, I think not ; yet you might ! O, how 
 lovely the light falls on your hair : it is perfect satin ! " 
 
 She had one hand on his shoulder, and ran the fingers of 
 the other lightly through his brown locks. Her face, spark- 
 ling all over with a witching fondness, was lifted towards his. 
 It was the climax of an amiable mood which had lasted 
 three days. 
 
 What young man can resist a playful, appealing face, a 
 soft, caressing touch ? Joseph smiled as he asked, 
 
 " Is it that I shall wear my hair iipon my shoulders, or 
 that we shall sow plaster on the clover-field, as old Bishop 
 advised you the other day ? " 
 
 " Now you are making fun of my interest in farming ; but 
 wait another year ! I am trying earnestly to understand it, but 
 only so that ornament beauty what was the word in those 
 lines you read last night? may grow out of use. That's 
 it Beauty out of Use ! I know I've bored you a little 
 sometimes just a little, now, confess it ! with all my ques- 
 tions ; but this is something different. Can't you think of 
 anything that would make our home, O so much more beau- 
 tiful ? " 
 
 " A grove of palm-trees at the top of the garden ? Or a 
 lake in front, with marble steps leading down to the water?" 
 
 " You perverse Joseph ! No : something possible, some-
 
 ISO .TOSHI'II AND HIS FRIK.YT). 
 
 thing practicable, somctliing handsome, something profitable! 
 
 Or, are you so old-fashioned that you think we must drudge 
 for thirty years, and only take our pleasure after we grow 
 rheumatic ? " 
 
 Joseph looked at her with a puzzled, yet cheerful face. 
 
 " You don't understand me yet ! " she exclaimed. "And 
 indeed, indeed, I dread to tell you, for one reason : you have 
 such a tender regard for old associations, not that I'd have 
 it otherwise, if I could. I like it : I trust I have the same 
 feeling; yet a little sentiment sometimes interferes practi- 
 cally with the improvement of our lives." 
 
 Joseph's curiosity was aroused. " What do you mean, 
 Julia? " he asked. 
 
 " No ! " she cried ; " I will not tell you until I have read 
 part of pa's letter, which came this afternoon. Take the 
 arm-chair, and don't interrupt me." 
 
 She seated herself on the window-sill and opened the let- 
 ter. " I saw," she said, " how uneasy you felt when the call 
 came for the fourth instalment of ten per cent, on the Ama- 
 ranth shares, especially after I had so much difficulty in per- 
 suading you not to sell the half. It surprised me, although 
 I knew that, where pa is concerned, there's a good reason for 
 everything. So I wrote to him the other day, and this is 
 what he says, you remember, Kanuck is the company's 
 agent on the spot: 
 
 " ' Tell Joseph that in matters of finance there's often a 
 wheel within a wheel. Blenkinsop, of the Chowder Com- 
 pany, managed to get a good grab of our shares through a 
 third party, of whom we had not the slightest suspicion. I 
 name no name at present, from motives of prudence. We 
 only discovered the circumstance after the third party left 
 for Europe. Looking upon the Chowder as a rival, it is our
 
 1S1 
 
 desire, of course, to extract this entering wedge before it has 
 been thrust into our vitals, and we can only accomplish the 
 end by still keeping secret the discovery of the torpedoes (an. 
 additional expense, I might remark), and calling for fresh 
 instalments from all the stockholders. Blenkinsop, not be- 
 ing within the inside ring, and no possibility of It is getting 
 in ! will naturally see only the blue of disappointment 
 where we see the rose of realized expectations. Alreadv, so 
 Ivaiiuck writes to me, negotiations are on foot which will re- 
 lieve onr Amaranth of this parasitic growth, and a few weeks 
 days hours, in fact, may enable its to explode and triumph ! 
 I was offered, yesterday, by one of our shrewdest operators, 
 who has been silently watching us, ten shares of the Sinne- 
 mahoning Hematite for eight of ours. Think of that, the 
 Sinuemahoning Hematite ! Xo better stock in the market, if 
 you remember the quotations ! Explain the significance of 
 the figures to your husband, and let him see that he has 
 but no, I will restrain myself and make no estimate. I will 
 only mention, under the seal of the profoundest secrecy, that 
 the number of shafts now sinking (or being sunk) will give 
 an enormous flowing capacity when the electric spark fires 
 the mine, and I should not wonder if our shares then soared 
 high over the pinnacles of all previous speculation ! ' 
 
 " No, nor I ! " Julia exclaimed, as she refolded the letter ; 
 " it is certain, positively certain ! I have never known 
 the Sinnemahoning Hematite to be less than 147. What do 
 you say, Joseph ? " 
 
 " I hope it may be time," he answered. " I can't feel so 
 certain, while an accident the discovery of the torpedo-plan, 
 for instance might change the prospects of the Amaranth. 
 It will be a great relief when the time comes to ' realize,' as 
 your father says."
 
 182 JOSEPH AND HIS FJliKXD. 
 
 " \ r ou only feel so because it is your first, experience ; but 
 for your sake I will consent that it shall be the last. We 
 shall scarcely need any more than this will bring us ; for, as 
 pa says, a mere competence in the city is a splendid fortune 
 in the country. You need leisure for books and travel and 
 society, and you shall have it. Now, let iis make a place for 
 both ! " 
 
 Thereupon she showed him how the parlor and rear bed- 
 room might be thrown into one ; where there were alcoves 
 for bookcases and space for a piano ; how a new veranda 
 might be added to the western end of the house ; how the 
 plastering might be renewed, a showy cornice supplied, and 
 an air of elegant luxury given to the new apartment. Jo- 
 seph saw and listened, conscious at once of a pang at chang- 
 ing the ancient order of things, and a temptation to behold 
 a more refined comfort in its place. He only asked to post- 
 pone the work ; but Julia pressed him so closely, with such 
 a multitude of unanswerable reasons, that he finally con- 
 sented to let a mechanic look at the house, and make an esti- 
 mate of the expense. 
 
 In such cases, the man who deliberates is lost. 
 
 His consent once reluctantly exacted, Julia insisting that 
 she would take the whole charge of directing the work, a 
 beginning was made without delay, and in a few days the 
 ruin was so complete that the restoration became a matter 
 of necessity. 
 
 Julia kept her word only too faithfully. With a lively, 
 playful manner in the presence of the workmen, but with a 
 cold, inflexible obstinacy when they were alone, she departed 
 from the original plan, adding showy and expensive features, 
 every one of which, Joseph presently saw, was devised to 
 surpass the changes made by the Hopetons in their new res-
 
 153 
 
 idenco. iris remonstrances produced no effect, and lie was 
 precluded from a practical interference by the fear of the, 
 workmen, guessing his domestic trouble. Thus the days 
 dragged on. and the breach widened without an eilort on 
 either side to heal it. 
 
 The secret of her temporary fondness gave him a sense of 
 positive disgust when it arose in his memory. lie HOW sus- 
 pected a selfish purpose in her caresses, and sought to give 
 her no chance of repeating them, but in the company of oth- 
 ers he was forced to eiidiu-e a tenderness which, he was sur- 
 prised to find, still half deceived him, as it wholly deceived 
 his neighbors. He saw, too, and felt himself powerless to 
 change the impression, that Julia's popularity increased 
 with her knowledge of the people, while their manner to- 
 wards him was a shade less frank and cordial than formerly. 
 He knew that the changes in his home were so much need- 
 less extravagance, to them ; and that Julia's oft-repeated 
 phrase (always accompanied with a loving look), " Joseph is 
 making the old place so beautiful for me ! " increased their 
 mistrust, while seeming to exalt him as a devoted husband. 
 
 It is not likely that she specially intended this result ; 
 while, on the other hand, he somewhat exaggerated its char- 
 acter. Her object was simply to retain her growing ascend- 
 ency : within the limits where her peculiar faculties had 
 been exercised she was nearly perfect ; but she was indiffer- 
 ent to tracing tlie consequences of her actions beyond those 
 limits. When she ascertained Mr. Chaffinch's want of faith 
 in Joseph's entire piety, she became more regular in her at- 
 tendance at his church, not so much to prejudice her hus- 
 band by the contrast, as to avoid the suspicion which he had 
 incurred. To Joseph, however, in the bitterness of his de 
 ception, these actions seemed either hostile or heartless ; he
 
 184: JOSKl'II A XI) ]!IS FJMF.XD. 
 
 was repelled from the clearer knowledge of a nature so for- 
 eign to his own. So utterly foreign : yet how near beyond 
 all others it had once seemed ! 
 
 It was not a jealousy of the authority she assumed which 
 turned his heart from her: it was the revelation of a shal- 
 lowness and selfishness not at all rare in the class from 
 which she came, but which his pure, guarded youth had 
 never permitted him to suspect in any human being. A 
 man familiar with men and women, if he had been caught 
 in such toils, would have soon discovered some manner 
 of controlling her nature, for the very shrewdest and fals- 
 est have their vulnerable side. It gave Joseph, however, 
 so much keen spiritual pain to encounter her in her 
 true character, that such a course was simply impos- 
 sible. 
 
 Meanwhile the days went by ; the expense of labor and 
 material had already doubled the estimates made by the 
 mechanics ; bills were presented for payment, and nothing 
 was heard from the Amaranth. Money was a necessity, 
 and there was no alternative but to obtain a temporary loan. 
 at a county town, the centre of transactions for all the debt- 
 ors and creditors of the neighboring country. It was a new 
 and disagreeable experience for Joseph to appear in the 
 character of a borrower, and he adopted it most reluctantly ; 
 yet the reality was a greater trial than he had suspected. 
 He found that the most preposterous stories of his extrava- 
 gance were afloat. He was transforming his house into a 
 castle : he had made, lost, and made again a large fortune 
 in petroleum ; he had married a wealthy wife and squander- 
 ed her money ; he drove out in a carriage with six white 
 horses ; he was becoming irregular in his habits and hereti- 
 cal in his religious views ; in short, such marvellous powers
 
 ND ins FKH::;D. 185 
 
 of invention had been exercised tliat tlie Arab story-tellers 
 were surpassed by the- members of that quiet, sluggish com 
 munity. 
 
 It required all his self-control to meet the suspicions of 
 the money-agents, and convince them of the true state of 
 his circumstances. The loan was obtained, but after such a 
 wear and tear of flesh and spirit as made it seem a double 
 burden. 
 
 When he reached home, in the afternoon, Julia instantly 
 saw, by his face, that all had not gone right. A slight ef- 
 fort, however, enabled her to say carelessly and cheerfully, - 
 
 " Have you broiight me my supplies, dear ? " 
 
 " Yes," he answered curtly. 
 
 " Here is a letter from pa," she then said. " I opened it, 
 because I knew what the subject must be. But if you're 
 tired, pray don't read it now, for then you may be impatient. 
 There's a little more delay." 
 
 " Then I'll not delay to know it," he said, taking the let- 
 ter from her hand. A printed slip, calling upon the stock- 
 holders of the Amaranth to pay a fifth instalment, fell out 
 of the envelope. Accompanying it there was a hasty note 
 from B. Blessing : " Don't be alarmed, my dear son-in-law ! 
 Probably a mere form. Blenkinsop still holds on, but we 
 think this will bring him at once. If it don't, we shall very 
 likely have to go on with him, even if it obliges us to unite 
 the Amaranth and the Chowder. In any case, we shall ford 
 or bridge this little Rubicon within a fortnight. Have the 
 money ready, if convenient, but do not forward unless I 
 give the word. We hear, through third parties, that Clem- 
 entina (who is now at Long Branch) receives much atten- 
 tion from Mr. Spelter, a man of immense wealth, but, I re- 
 gret to say, no refinement."
 
 18G JOSEPH AND JITS FKIKXD. 
 
 Joseph smiled grimly when he finished the note. " Is 
 there never to be an end of humbug ? " he exclaimed. 
 
 " There, now ! " cried Julia; "I knew you'd be impa- 
 tient. You are so unaccustomed to great operations. 
 Why, the Muchacho Land Grant I remember it, because 
 pa sold out just at the wrong time hung on for seven 
 years ! " 
 
 e: D curse the Muchacho Land Grant, and the Ama- 
 ranth too ! " 
 
 " Are n't you ashamed ! " exclaimed Julia, taking on a 
 playful air of offence ; " but you're tired and hungry, poor 
 fellow ! " Therewith she put her hands on his shoulders, 
 and raised herself on tiptoe to kiss him. 
 
 Joseph, unable to control his sudden instinct, swiftly 
 turned away his head. 
 
 " O you wicked husband, you deserve to be punished ! " 
 she cried, giving him what was meant to be a light tap oa 
 the cheek. 
 
 It was a light tap, certainly ; but perhaps a little of the 
 annoyance which she banished from her face had lodged, 
 unconsciously, in her fingers. They left just sting enough 
 to rouse Joseph's heated blood. He started back a step, 
 and looked at her with naming eyes. 
 
 " No more of that, Julia ! I know, now, how much your 
 arts are worth. I am getting a vile name in the neighbor- 
 hood, losing my property, losing my own self-respect, 
 because I have allowed yoxi to lead me ! Will you be con- 
 tent with what you have done, or must you go on until my 
 ruin is complete ? " 
 
 Before he had finished speaking she had taken rapid 
 counsel with herself, and decided. " Oh, oh ! such words 
 to me ! " she groaned, hiding her face between her hands.
 
 1ST 
 
 " I never thought yon could be so cruel ! I had such pleas- 
 ure in seeing you rich and free, in trying to make your 
 home beautiful ; and now this Hide delay, which no busi- 
 ness man would think anvthiie' of. seems to change your 
 
 ^ CJ / o . 
 
 very nature ! But I will not think it's your true self : 
 something has worried you to-day, you have heard some 
 foolish story 
 
 " It is not the worry of to-day," he interrupted, in haste 
 to state his whole grievance, before his weak heart had 
 time to soften again, " it is the worry of months past ! It 
 is because I thought you true and kind-hearted, and I find 
 you selfish and hypocritical ! It is very well to lead me 
 into serious expenses, while so much is at stake, and now 
 likely to be lost, it is very well to make my home beauti- 
 ful, especially when you can outshine Mrs. Hopetoii ! It is 
 easy to adapt yourself to the neighbors, and keep on the 
 right side of them, no matter how much your husband's 
 character may suffer in the process ! " 
 
 " That will do ! " said Julia, suddenly becoming rigid. 
 She lifted her head, and apparently wiped the tears from 
 her eyes. " A little more and it would be too much for 
 even me ! What do I care for ' the neighbors ' ? persons 
 whose ideas and tastes and habits of life are so different 
 from mine ? I have endeavored to be friendly with them 
 for your sake : I have taken special pains to accommodate 
 myself to their notions, just because I intended they should 
 justify you in choosing me ! I believed for you told me 
 so that there was no calculation in love, that money was 
 dross in comparison ; and how could I imagine that you 
 would so soon put up a balance and begin to weigh the 
 two ? Am I your wife or your slave ? Have I an equal 
 share in what is yours, or am I here merely to increase it ?
 
 188 JOSEPH AM) HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 If there is to be a question of dollars and cents between us, 
 pray have my allowance fixed, so that I may not overstep 
 it, and may save myself from such reproaches ! I knew 
 you would be disappointed in. pa's letter : I have been anx- 
 ious and uneasy since it came, through my sympathy with 
 you, and was ready to make any sacrifice that might relieve 
 your mind ; and now you seem to be full of unkindness and 
 injustice ! What shall I do, O what shall I do ? " 
 
 She threw herself upon a sofa, weeping hysterically. 
 
 " Julia ! " he cried, both shocked and startled by her 
 words, " you purposely misunderstand me. Think how con- 
 stantly I have yielded to you, against my own better judg- 
 ment ! When have you considered my wishes ? " 
 
 " When ? " she repeated : then, addressing the cushion 
 with a hopeless, melancholy air, " he asks, when ! How 
 could I misunderstand you ? your words were as plain as 
 daggers. If you were not aware how sharp they were, call 
 them back to your mind when these mad, unjust suspicions 
 have left you ! I trusted you so perfectly, I was looking 
 forward to such a happy future, and now now, all seems so 
 dark ! It is like a flash of lightning : I am weak and giddy : 
 leave me, I can bear no more ! " 
 
 She covered her face, and sobbed wretchedly. 
 
 "I am satisfied tha.t you are not as ignorant as you pro- 
 fess to be," was all Joseph could say, as he obeyed her com- 
 mand, and left the room. He was vanquished, he knew, 
 and a little confused by his wife's unexpected way of taking 
 his charges in flank instead of meeting them in front, as a 
 man would have done. Could she be sincere ? he asked 
 himself. Was she really so ignorant of herself, as to believe 
 all that she had uttered ? There seemed to be not the 
 shadow of hypocrisy in her grief and indignation. Her
 
 tears were real : then why not h >r .smiles and caresses ? Ei- 
 ther she was horribly, incredibly false, worse than he 
 dared dream her TO be, or so fatally unconscious of her na- 
 ture that nothing short of a miracle could ever enlighten 
 her. One thing only was certain : there was now 110 con- 
 fidence between them, and there might never be again. 
 
 He walked slowly forth from the house, seeing nothing, 
 and unconscious whither his feet were leading him.
 
 190 JOSEni AND I1IS FKIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 OX THE RAILROAD TRACK. 
 
 STILL walking, with bent head, and a brain which vainly 
 strove to work its way to clearness through the perplexities 
 of his heart, Joseph went on. When, wearied at last, 
 though not consciously calmer, he paused and looked about 
 him, it was like waking from a dream. Some instinct had 
 guided him on the way to Philip's forge : the old road had 
 been moved to accommodate the new branch railway, and a 
 rapid ring of hammers came up from the embankment below. 
 It was near the point of the hill where Lucy's schoolhouse 
 stood, and even as he looked she came, accompanied by her 
 scholars, to watch the operation of laying the track. El- 
 wood Withers, hale, sunburnt, full of lusty life, walked along 
 the sleepers directing the workmen. 
 
 " He was right, only too right ! " muttered Joseph to 
 himself. " Why could I not see with his eyes ? ' It's the 
 bringing up,' he would say; but that is not all. I have 
 been an innocent, confiding boy, and thought that years and 
 acres had made me a man. O, she understood me she un- 
 derstands me now ; but in spite of her, God helping me, I 
 shall yet be a man." 
 
 Elwood ran down the steep side of the embankment, 
 greeted Lucy, and helped her to the top, the children follow- 
 ing with whoops and cries. 
 
 " Would it have been different," Joseph further solilo- 
 quized, " if Lucy and I had loved and married ? It is
 
 hardly treating Ehvood fairly to suppose such a tiling, vrt 
 a year ago I might have loved her. [t is bettor as it is : 
 1 should have stepped upon a true man's heart. Have they 
 dra\vn nearer? and if so, docs he, with his sturdier nature, 
 his sxiver knowledge, find no ilaw in her perfections ? " 
 
 A morbid curiosity to watch the two suddenly came upon 
 him. He clambered over the fence, crossed the narrow strip 
 of meadow, and mounted the embankment. Elwood's back 
 was towards him. and he was just saying: "It all conies of 
 taking an interest in what your're doing. The practical 
 part is easy enough, when you once have the principles. [ 
 can manage the theodolite already, but I need a little show- 
 ing when I come to the calculations. Somehow, I never 
 cared much about study before, but here it's all applied as 
 soon as you've learned it, and that fixes it, like, in your head." 
 
 Lucy was listening with an earnest, friendly interest on 
 her face. She scarcely saw Joseph until he stood before her. 
 After the first slight surprise, her manner towards him was 
 quiet and composed : Elwood's eyes were bright, and there 
 was a fresh intelligence in his appearance. The habit of 
 command had already given him a certain dignity. 
 
 " How can _Tget knowledge which may be applied as soon 
 as learned ? " Joseph asked, endeavoring to assume the man- 
 ner furthest from his feelings. " I'm still at the foot of the 
 class, Lucy," he added, turning to her. 
 
 " How? " Elwood replied. " I should say by going around 
 the world alone. That would be about the same for you as 
 what these ten miles I'm overseeing are to me. A little 
 goes a great way with me, for I can only pick up one thing 
 at a time." 
 
 " What kind of knowledge are you looking for, Joseph ? " 
 Lucy gravely asked.
 
 102 JOSEPH AND ins FRTKND. 
 
 " Of myself," said he, and his face grew dark. 
 
 " That's a true word ! " Ehvood involuntarily exclaimed. 
 He then caught Lucy's eye, and awkwardly added : " It's 
 about what we all want, I take it." 
 
 Joseph recovered himself in a, moment, and proposed look- 
 ing over the work. They walked slowly along the embank- 
 ment, listening to Elwood's account of what had been done 
 and what was yet to do, when the Hopeton carriage came 
 up the highway, near at hand. Mrs. Hopeton sat in it 
 alone. 
 
 " I was looking for you, Lucy," she called. " If you are 
 going towards the cutting, I will join you there." 
 
 She sent the coachman home with the carriage, and walked 
 with them on the track. Joseph felt her presence as a re- 
 lief, but Elwood confessed to himself that he was a little dis- 
 turbed by the steady glance of her dark eyes. He had 
 already overcome his regret at the interruption of his rare 
 and welcome chance of talking with Lucy, but then Joseph 
 knew his heart, while this stately lady looked as if she were 
 capable of detecting what she had no right to know. Never- 
 theless, she was Lucy's friend, and that fact had great weight 
 with Elwood. 
 
 " It's rather a pity to cut into the hills and bank up the 
 meadows in this way, isn't it ? " he asked. 
 
 " And to disturb my school with so much hammering," 
 Lucy rejoined; " when the trains come I must retreat." 
 
 " None too soon," said Mrs. Hopeton. " You are not 
 strong, Lucy, and the care of a school is too much for you." 
 
 Elwood thanked her with a look, before he knew what he 
 was about. 
 
 " After all," said Joseph, " why shouldn't nature be cut 
 up ? I suppose everything was given up to us to use, and
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FRIEND. 103 
 
 the mniv profic the better the use, seems to be the rule of 
 the world. ' Beauty grows out of Use,' you know.'' 
 
 His tone was sharp and cynical, and grated unpleasantly 
 on Lucy's sensitive ear. 
 
 " I believe it is a i ulf in art," said Mrs. Hopeton, " that 
 mere ornament, for ornament's sake, is not allowed. It 
 must always seem to answer some purpose, to have a neces- 
 sity for its existence. But, 011 the other hand, what is ne- 
 cessary should be beautiful, if possible." 
 
 " A loaf of bread, for instance," suggested Elwood. 
 
 They all laughed at this illustration, and the conversation 
 took a lighter turn. By this time they had entered the nar- 
 rower part of the valley, and on passing around a sharp 
 curve of the track found themselves face to face with Philip^ 
 and Madeline Held. 
 
 If Mrs. Hopeton's heart beat more rapidly at the unex- 
 pected meeting, she preserved her cold, composed bearing. 
 Madeline, bright and joyous, was the unconscious agent of 
 unconstraint, in whose presence each of the others felt im- 
 mediately free. 
 
 " Two inspecting committees at once ! " cried Philip. " It 
 is well for you, Withers, that you didn't locate the line. My 
 sister and I have already found several unnecessary curves 
 and culverts." 
 
 " And we have found a great deal of use and no beauty," 
 Lucy answered. 
 
 " Beauty ! " exclaimed Madeline. " What is more beau- 
 tiful than to see one's groceries delivered at one's very door? 
 Or to have the opera and the picture-gallery brought within two 
 hours' distance ? How far are we from a lemon, Philip ? " 
 
 " You were a lemon, Mad, in your vegetable, pre-human 
 
 state ; and you are still acid and agreeable." 
 9
 
 194 JOSEPH AKD HIS FKIKND. 
 
 " Sweets to the sweet ! " ,she gayly cried. " And what, 
 pray, was Miss Henderson ? " 
 
 " Don't spare me, Mr. Held," said Lucy, as he looked at 
 her with a little hesitation. 
 
 " An apple." 
 
 " And Mrs. Hopeton ? " 
 
 " A date-palm," said Philip, fixing his eyes iipon her face. 
 
 She did not look up, but an expression which he could 
 not interpret just touched her lips and faded. 
 
 " Now, it's your turn, Miss Held," Elwood remarked : 
 " what were we men ? " 
 
 " O, Philip a prickly pear, of course ; and you, well, some 
 kind of a nut ; and Mr. Asten " 
 
 " A cabbage," said Joseph. 
 
 " What vanity ! Do you imagine that you are all head, 
 or that your heart is in your head ? Or that you keep the 
 morning dew longer than the rest of us ? " 
 
 " It might well be," Joseph answered ; and Madeline felt 
 her arm gently pinched by Philip, from behind. She had 
 tact enough not to lower her pitch of gayety too suddenly, 
 but her manner towards Joseph became grave and gentle. 
 Mrs. Hopeton said but little : she looked upon the circling 
 hills, as if studying their summer beauty, while the one de- 
 sire in her heart was to be away from the spot,: away from 
 Philip's haunting eyes. 
 
 After a little while, Philip seemed to be conscious of her 
 feeling. He left his place on the opposite side of the track, 
 took Joseph's arm and led him a little aside from the group. 
 
 " Philip, I want you ! " Joseph whispered ; " but no, not 
 quite yet. There is no need of coming to you in a state of 
 confusion. In a day or two more I shall have settled a lit- 
 tle."
 
 " You are right," said Philip : " there is no opiate like 
 time, be there never so little of it. I felt the fever of your 
 head in your hand. Don't come to me, until you feel that 
 it is the one thing which must be done ! I think you know 
 why I say so." 
 
 " I do ! " Joseph exclaimed. ' I am just now more of an 
 ostrich than anything else ; I should like to stick my head 
 in the sand, and imagine myself invisible. Bufc Philip - 
 here are six of us together. One other, I know, has a se- 
 cret wound, perhaps* two others : is it always so in life ? I 
 think I am selfish enough to be glad to know that I am not 
 specially picked out for punishment." 
 
 Philip could not help smiling. " Upon my soul," he said, 
 " I believe Madeline is the only one of the six who is not 
 busy with other thoughts than those we all seem to utter. 
 Specially picked out ? There is no such thing as special pick- 
 ing out, in this world ! Joseph, it may seem hard and school- 
 master-like in me again to say ' wait ! ' yet that is the only 
 word I can say." 
 
 " Good evening, all ! " cried Elwood. " I must go down 
 to my men ; but I'd be glad of such an inspection as this, a 
 good deal oftener." 
 
 " I'll go that far with you," said Joseph. 
 
 Mrs. Hopeton took Lucy's arm with a sudden, nervous 
 movement. " If you are not too tired, let us walk over the 
 hill," she said ; " I want to find the right point of view for 
 sketching our house." 
 
 The company dissolved. Philip, as he walked up the 
 track with his sister, said to himself: " Surely she was 
 afraid of me. And what does her fear indicate ? What, if 
 not that the love she once bore for me still lives in her 
 heart, in spite of time and separated fates ? I should not,
 
 1'Jb JOSEPH AND HIS FPJKXD. 
 
 dare not think of her; I shall never again speak a word tc 
 her which her husband might not hear; but I cannot tear 
 from me the dream of what she might be, the knowledge of 
 what she is, false, hopeless, fatal, as it all may be ! " 
 
 " Elwood," said Joseph, when they had walked a little 
 distance in silence, " do you remember the night you spent 
 with me, a year ago ? " 
 
 " I'm not likely to forget it." 
 
 " Let me ask you one question, then. Have you come 
 nearer to Lucy Henderson ? " 
 
 " If no further oft' means nearer, and it almost seems so 
 in my case, yes ! " 
 
 " And you see no difference in her,- no new features of 
 character, which you did not guess, at first ? " 
 
 " Indeed, I do ! " Ehvood emphatically answered. " To 
 me she grows less and less like any other woman, so right, 
 so straightforward, so honest in all her ways and thoughts ! 
 If I am ever tempted to do anything well, not exactly 
 mean, you know, but such as a man might as well leave un- 
 done, I have only to say to myself : ' If you're not thoroiighly 
 good, my boy, you'll lose her ! ' and that does the business, 
 right away. Why, Joseph, I'm proud of myself, that I mean 
 to deserve her ! " 
 
 " Ah ! " A sigh, almost a groan, came from Joseph's lips. 
 " What will you think of me ? " he said. " I was about to 
 repeat your own words, to warn you to be cautious, and 
 take time, and test your feelings, and not to be too sure of 
 her perfection ! What can a young man know about wo- 
 men ? He can only discover the truth after marriage, and 
 then they are indifferent how it affects him their fortunes 
 are made ! " 
 
 "I know," answered Elwood, turning his head away
 
 197 
 
 slightly; "but there's a dilll-renco between the women you 
 seek, and work to get, and the wonien who seek, and work 
 to get you." 
 
 ''I understand you.'' 
 
 "Forgive nit- for saying it!"' Elwood cried, instantly re- 
 penting his words. "I couldn't help seeing and feeling 
 what you know now. But what man leastways, what 
 friend could ha' said it to you with any chance of being 
 believed? You were like a man alone in a boat above a 
 waterfall; only you could bring yourself to shore. If I 
 stood on the bank and called, and you didn't believe me, 
 what then ? The Lord knows, I'd give this right arm, 
 strong as it is, to put you back where you were a year ago." 
 
 " I've been longing for frankness, and I ought to bear it 
 better," said Joseph. " Put the whole subject out of your 
 thoughts, and come and see me as of old. It is quite time I 
 should learn to manage my own life." 
 
 He grasped Elwood's hand convulsively, sprang down the 
 embankment, and took to the highway. Elwood looked 
 after him a minute, then slowly shook his head and walked 
 onward towards the men. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mrs. Hopeton and Lucy had climbed the hill, 
 and found themselves on the brow of a rolling upland, which 
 fell on the other side towards the old Calvert place. The 
 day was hot. Mrs. Hopeton's knees trembled under her, 
 and she sank on the soft grass at the foot of a tree. Lucy 
 took a seat beside her. . 
 
 (t You know so much of my trouble," said the former, 
 when the coolness and rest had soothed her, " and I 
 trust you so perfectly, that I can tell you all, Lucy. Can 
 you guess the man whom I loved, but must never love 
 again?"
 
 198 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 " I have sometimes thought ' but here Lucy hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 " Speak the name in your mind, or, let me say ' Philip 
 Held ' for you ! Lucy, what am I to do ? he lovers me still : 
 he told me so, just now, where we were all together below 
 there ! " 
 
 Lucy turned with a start, and gazed wonderingly upon 
 her friend's face. 
 
 " Why does he continue telling me what 1 must not 
 hear ? with his eyes, Lucy ! in the tones of his voice, in 
 common words which I am forced to interpret by his mean- 
 ing ! I had learned to bear my inevitable fate, for it is not an 
 unhappy one ; I can bear even his presence, if he were 
 generous enough to close his heart as I do, either that, or 
 to avoid me ; for I now dread to meet him again." 
 
 " Is it not," Lucy asked, " because the trial is new, and 
 takes you by surprise and unprepared ? May you not be 
 fearing more than Mr. Held has expressed, or, at least, in- 
 tended ? " 
 
 " The speech that kills, or makes alive, needs no words. 
 What I mean is, there is no resistance in his face. I blush 
 for myself, I am indignant at my own pitiful weakness, but 
 something in his look to-day made me forget everything 
 that has passed since \ve were parted. While it lasted, I 
 was under a spell, a spell which it humiliates me to re- 
 member. Your voices sounded faint and far off; all that I 
 have, and hold, seemed to be slipping from me. It was only 
 for a moment, but, Lucy, it frightened me. My will is 
 strong, and I think I can depend upon it ; yet what if some 
 influence beyond my control were to paralyze it ? " 
 
 " Then you must try to win the help of a higher will ; our 
 souls always win something of that which they wrestle and
 
 JOSEPH AXD i us FKIE:N~D. 199 
 
 struggle to roach. Pear Mrs. Hopeton, liave you never 
 thought that wo are still as children who cannot have all 
 they cry for? Now that you know what you fear, do not 
 dread to hold it before your mind and examine what it is: 
 at least, I think that would be mv instinct. to face a danger 
 
 J t- J O 
 
 at once when I found I could not escape it." 
 
 " I have no doubt yoxi are right, Lucy," said Mrs. Hope- 
 ton ; but her tone was sad, as if she acquiesced without 
 clearly believing. 
 
 " It seems very hard," Lucy continued, " when we can- 
 not have the one love of all others that we need, harder 
 still when we must put it forcibly from our hearts. But I 
 have always felt that, when we can bring ourselves to re- 
 nounce cheerfully, a blessing will follow. I do not know 
 how, but I must believe it. Might it not come at last 
 through the love that we have, though it now seems im- 
 perfect ? " 
 
 Mrs. Hopeton lifted her head from her knees, and sat 
 erect. " Lucy," she said, " I do not believe you are a 
 woman who would ask another to bear what is beyond your 
 own strength. Shall I put you to the test ? " 
 
 Lucy, though her face became visibly paler, replied : " I 
 did not mean to compare my burden with yours ; but weigh 
 me, if you wish. If I am found wanting, you will show me 
 wherein." 
 
 " Your one love above all others is lost to you. Have 
 you conquered the desire for it ? " 
 
 " I think I have. If some soreness remains, I try to be- 
 lieve that it is the want of the love which I know to be 
 possible, not that of the the person." 
 
 " Then could you be happy with what you call an imper- 
 fect love?"
 
 200 JOSEPH" AND HIS FPJEND. 
 
 Lucy blushed a little, in spite of herself. " I am still 
 free," she answered, " and not obliged to accept it. If I 
 were bound, I hope I should not neglect my duty." 
 
 " What if another's happiness depended on your accept- 
 ing it ? Lucy, my eyes have been made keen by what I 
 have felt. I saw to-day that a man's heart follows you, 
 and I guess that you know it. Here is no imperfect love on 
 his part : were you his wife, could you learn to give him so 
 much that your life might become peaceful and satisfied ? " 
 
 " You do, indeed, test me ! " Lucy murmured. " How 
 can I know ? What answer can I make ? I have shrunk 
 from thinking of that, and I cannot feel that my duty lies 
 there. Yet, if it were so, if I were already bound, irrevoca- 
 bly, surely all my present faith must be false if happiness in 
 some form did not come at last ! " 
 
 " I believe it would, to you ! " cried Mrs. Hopeton. " Why 
 not to me ? Do you think I have ever looked for love in 
 my husband ? It seems, now, that I have been content to 
 know that he was proud of me. If I seek, perhaps I may 
 find more than I have dreamed of ; and if I find, if indeed 
 and truly I find, I shall never more lack self-possession 
 and will 1 " 
 
 She rose to her full height, and a flush came over the 
 pallor of her cheeks. " Yes," she continued, " rather than 
 feel again the humiliation of to-day, I will trample all my 
 nature down to the level of an imperfect love ! " 
 
 " Better," said Lucy, rising also, " better to bend only 
 for a while to the imperfect, that you may warm and purify 
 and elevate it, until it shall take the place of the perfect in 
 your heart." 
 
 The two women kissed each other, and there were tears on 
 the cheeks of both.
 
 JOSEl'II AND HIS FUiKXD. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE " WHAKF-UAT." 
 
 Ox his way home Joseph reviewed the quarrel with a little 
 more calmness, and, while admitting his own rashness and 
 want of tact, felt relieved that it had occurred. Julia now 
 knew, at least, how sorely he had been grieved by her selfish- 
 ness, and she had thus an opportunity, if she really loved 
 him, of showing whether her nature were capable of change. 
 He determined to make no further reference to the dissen- 
 sion, and to avoid what might lead to a new one. He did 
 not guess, as he approached the house, that his wife had long 
 been watching at the front window, in an anxious, excited 
 state, and that she only slipped back to the sofa and covei'ed 
 her head just before he reached the door. 
 
 For a day or two she was silent, and perhaps a little 
 sullen; but the payment of the most pressing bills, the 
 progress of the new embellishments, and the necessity of 
 retaining her affectionate playfulness in the presence of the 
 workmen, brought back her customary manner. ISTow and 
 then a sharp, indirect allusion showed that she had not 
 forgotten, and had not Joseph closed his teeth firmly upon 
 his tongue, the household atmosphere might have been 
 again disturbed. 
 
 Not many days elapsed before a very brief note from Mr. 
 Blessing announced that the fifth instalment would be need- 
 ed. He wrote in great haste, he said, and would explain 
 everything by a later mail. 
 
 Joseph was hardly surprised now. He showed the note 
 9*
 
 202 JOSEPH AND ins FRIEND. 
 
 to Julia, merely saying : " I have not the money, and if I 
 had, lie could scarcely expect me to pay it without knowing 
 the necessity. My best plan will be to go to the city at 
 once." 
 
 " I think so, too," she answered. " You will be far better 
 satisfied when you have seen pa, and he can also help you 
 to raise the money temporarily, if it is really inevitable. 
 He knows all the capitalists." 
 
 " I shall do another thing, Julia. I shall sell enough of 
 the stock to pay the instalment ; nay, I shall sell it all, if I 
 can do so without loss." 
 
 " Are you " she began fiercely, but, checking herself, 
 merely added, " see pa first, that's all I stipulate." 
 
 Mr. Blessing had not returned from the Custom-House 
 when Joseph reached the city. He had no mind to sit in 
 the dark parlor and wait ; so he plunged boldly into the 
 labyrinth of clerks, porters, inspectors, and tide-waiters. 
 "Everybody knew Blessing, but nobody could tell where he 
 was to be found. Finally some one, more obliging than the 
 rest, said : " Try the Wharf-Rat ! " 
 
 The Wharf-Rat proved to be a " saloon " in a narrow 
 alley behind the Custom-House. On opening the door, a 
 Venetian screen prevented the persons at the bar from being 
 immediately seen, but Joseph recognized his father-in-law's 
 voice, saying, " Straight, if you please ! " Mr. Blessing was 
 leaning against one end of the bar, with a glass in his hand, 
 engaged with an individual of not very prepossessing ap- 
 pearance. He remarked to the latter, almost in a whisper 
 (though the words reached Joseph's ears), " You under- 
 stand, the collector can't be seen every day ; it takes time, 
 and more or less capital. The doorkeeper and others 
 expect to be feed."
 
 As .Joseph approached, he turned towards him with an 
 angry, suspicious Link, which was not changed into one of 
 welcome .so soon that a lla^h of uncomfortable surprise did 
 not intervene. But the welcome once there, it deepened 
 and mellowed, and became so warm and rich that onlv a 
 cold, contracted nature could have refused to Lathe in its 
 effulgence. 
 
 ' v ' Why ! " he cried, with extended hands, " I should as 
 soon have expected to see daisies growing in this sawdust, or 
 to find these spittoons smelling like hyacinths ! Mr. Tweed, 
 one of our rising politicians, Mr. Asten, my son-in-law ! 
 Asten, of Asten Hall, I might almost say, for I hear that 
 your mansion is assuming quite a palatial aspect. Another 
 glass, if you please : your throat must be full of dust, 
 Joseph, puLvis faucibus liresit, if I might be allowed to 
 change the classic phrase." 
 
 Joseph tried to decline, but was forced to compromise on 
 a moderate glass of ale ; while Mr. Blessing, whose glass 
 was empty, poured something into it from a black bottle, 
 nodded to Mr. Tweed, and saying, " Always straight ! " 
 drank it off. 
 
 "You would not suppose," he then said to Joseph, "that 
 this little room, dark as it is, and not agreeably fragrant, has 
 often witnessed the arrangement of political manoeuvres 
 which have decided the City, and through the City the 
 State. I have seen together at that table, at midnight, 
 Senator Slocum, and the Honorables Whitstone, Hacks, and 
 Larruper. Why, the First Auditor of the Treasury was 
 here no later than last week ! I frequently transact some 
 of the confidential business of the Custom-House within 
 these precincts, as at present." 
 
 " Shall I wait for you outside ? " Joseph asked.
 
 204: JOSEPH AND HIS F11IEND. 
 
 " I think it will not bo necessary. I have stated the 
 facts, Mr. Tweed, and if you accept them, the figures 
 can be arranged between us at any time. It is a simple 
 case of algebra : by taking x } you work out the unknown 
 quantity." 
 
 With a hearty laugh at his own smartness, he shook the 
 " rising politician's " hand, and left the Wharf-Rat with 
 Joseph. 
 
 " We can talk here as well as in the woods," he said. 
 " Nobody ever hears anything in this crowd. But perhaps 
 we had better not mention the Amaranth by name, as the 
 operation has been kept so very close. Shall we say { Par- 
 aguay ' instead, or still better ' Reading,' which is a 
 very common stock? Well, then, I guess you have come 
 to see me in relation to the Reading ? " 
 
 Joseph, as briefly as possible, stated the embarrassment 
 lie suffered, on account of the continued calls for payment, 
 the difficulty of raising money for the fifth instalment, and 
 bluntly expressed his doubts of the success of the specula- 
 tion. Mr. Blessing heard him patiently to the end, and then, 
 having collected himself, answered : 
 
 " I understand, most perfectly, your feeling in the matter. 
 Further, I do not deny that in respect to the time of realiz- 
 ing from the Am Reading, I should say I have also been 
 disappointed. It has cost me no little trouble to keep my 
 own shares intact, and my stake is so much greater than 
 yours, for it is my all ! I am ready to unite with the 
 Chowder, at once: indeed, as one of the directors, I men- 
 tioned it at our last meeting, but the proposition, I regret to 
 say, was not favorably entertained. We are dependent, in a 
 great measure, on Karmck, who is on the spot superintend- 
 ing the Reading ; he has been telegraphed to come on, and
 
 promises to do so as soon as the funds now called for are 
 forthcoming. My faith, I hardly need intimate, is firm." 
 
 " My only resource, then,'' said Joseph, '' will be to sell 
 a portion of my stock, I suppose ? " 
 
 " There is one drawback to that course, and I am afraid 
 you may not quite understand my explanation. The 
 Heading has not been introduced in the market, and its 
 real value could not be demonstrated without betraying 
 the secret lever by which we intend hoisting it to a fancy 
 height. We could only dispose of a portion of it to capi- 
 talists whom we choose to take into our confidence. The 
 same reason would be valid against hypothecation." 
 
 " Have you paid this last instalment ? " Joseph suddenly 
 asked. 
 
 " N no ; not wholly ; but I anticipate a temporary ac- 
 commodation. If Mr. Spelter deprives me of Clementina, 
 as I hear (through third parties) is daily becoming more 
 probable, my family expenses will be so diminished that I 
 shall have an ample margin ; indeed, I shall feel like a large 
 paper copy, with my leaves uncut ! " 
 
 He rubbed his hands gleefully ; but Joseph was too much 
 disheartened to reply. 
 
 " This might be done," Mr. Blessing continued. " It is 
 not certain that all the stockholders have yet paid. I will 
 look over the books, and if such be the case, your delay 
 would not be a sporadic delinquency. If otherwise, I will 
 endeavor to gain the consent of my fellow-directors to the 
 introduction of a new capitalist, to whom a small portion 
 of your interest may be transferred. I trust you perceive 
 the relevancy of this caution. We do not mean that our 
 flower shall always blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on 
 the oleaginous air ; we only wish to guard against its being
 
 206 JOSEMI AXD ins FRIESTD. 
 
 ' untimely ripped ' (as Shakespeare says) from its parent 
 stalk. I can well imagine how incomprehensible all this 
 may appear to yon. In all probability much of your con- 
 versation at home, relative to crops and the like, would be 
 to me an unknown dialect. But I should not, therefore, 
 doubt your intelligence and judgment in such matters." 
 
 Joseph began to grow impatient. " Do 1 understand 
 you to say, Mr. Blessing," he asked, " that the call for the 
 fifth instalment can be met by the sale of a part of my 
 stock ? " 
 
 " In an ordinary case it might not under the peculiar 
 circumstances of our operation be possible. But I trust I 
 do not exaggerate my own influence when I say that it is 
 within my power to arrange it. If you will confide it to 
 my hands, you understand, of course, that a slight formality 
 is necessary, a power of attorney ? " 
 
 Joseph, in his haste and excitement, had not considered 
 this, or any other legal point : Mr. Blessing was right. 
 
 " Then, supposing the shares to be worth only their par 
 value," he said, " the power need not apply to more than 
 one-tenth of my stock ? " 
 
 Mr. Blessing came into collision with a gentleman passing 
 him. Mutual wrath was aroused, followed by mutual apo- 
 logies. " Let us turn into the other street," he said to 
 Joseph ; " really, our lives are hardly safe in this crowd ; it 
 is nearly three o'clock, and the banks will soon be closed." 
 
 " It would be prudent to allow a margin," he resumed, 
 after their course had been changed : " the money market is 
 very tight, and if a necessity were suspected, most capital- 
 ists are unprincipled enough to exact accorJing to the 
 urgency of the need. I do not say nor do I at all antici- 
 pate that it would be so in your case ; still, the future is
 
 207 
 
 a sort of dissolving vie\v, and my suggestion i.s that of the 
 merest prudence. I have no doubt that double the amount 
 say one-iifih of your stock would guard us against all 
 contingencies. If you prefer not to intrust the matter to 
 iny hands, I will introduce you to Honeyspoon Brothers, 
 the hankers, the elder Honeyspoon being a director, who 
 will be very ready to execute your commission." 
 
 "\Vhat could Joseph do ' J . It was impossible to say to Mr. 
 Blessing's face that he mistrusted him : yet he certainly did 
 not trust ! He was weary of plausible phrases, the import 
 of which he was powerless to dispute, yet which were so at 
 variance with what seemed to be the facts of the case. He 
 felt that he was lifted aloft into a dazzling, secure atmos- 
 phere, but as often as he turned to look at the wings which 
 upheld him, their plumage shrivelled into dust, and he fell 
 an immense distance before his feet touched a bit of reality. 
 
 The power of attorney was given. Joseph declined Mr. 
 Blessing's invitation to dine with him at the Universal 
 Hotel, the Blessing table being t( possibly a little lean to 
 one accustomed to the bountiful profusion of the country," 
 on the plea that he must return by the evening train ; but 
 such a weariness and disgust came over him that he halted 
 at the Farmers' Tavern, and took a room for the night. He 
 slept until long into the morning, and then, cheered in spi- 
 rit through the fresh, vigor of all his physical functions, 
 started homewards.
 
 208 JOSEPH AND HIS FJilEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A CRISIS. 
 
 JOSEPH bad made half the distance between Oakland Sta- 
 tion and bis farm, walking leisurely, when a buggy, drawn, 
 by an aged and irreproachable gray horse, came towards 
 him. The driver was the Reverend Mr. Chaffinch. He 
 stopped as they met. 
 
 " Will you turn back, as far as that tree ? " said the cler- 
 gyman, after greetings had been exchanged. " I have a 
 message to deliver." 
 
 " Now," he continued, reining up his horse in the shade, 
 " we can talk without interruption. I will ask you to listen 
 to me with the spiritual, not the carnal ear. I must not be 
 false to my high calling, and the voice of my own conscience 
 calls me to awaken yours." 
 
 Joseph said nothing, but the flush upon his face was that 
 of anger, not of confusion, as Mr. Chaffinch innocently sup- 
 posed. 
 
 " It is hard for a young man, especially one wise in his 
 own conceit, to see how the snares of the Adversary are 
 closing around him. We cannot plead ignorance, however, 
 when the Light is there, and we wilfully turn our eyes from 
 it. You are walking on a road, Joseph Asten, it may seem 
 smooth and fair to you, but do you know where it leads ? 
 I will tell you : to Death and Hell ! " 
 
 Still Joseph was silent. 
 
 " It is not too late ! Your fault, I fear, is that you attach
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 209 
 
 merit to works, as if works could save you ! You look to a 
 cold, barren morality for support, and imagine that to do 
 wliat is called 'right' is enough for God! You shut your 
 eyes to the blackness of your own sinful heart, and are too 
 proud to acknowledge the vileness and depravity of man's 
 nature ; but without this acknowledgment your morality (as 
 you call it) is corrupt, your good works (as you suppose 
 them to be) will avail you naught. You are outside the 
 pale of Grace, and while you continue there, knowing the 
 door to be open, there is no Mercy for you ! " 
 
 The flush on Joseph's face faded, and he became very pale, 
 but he still waited. " I hope," Mr. Chaffinch continued, 
 after a pause, " that your silence is the beginning of convic- 
 tion. It only needs an awakening, an opening of the eyes in 
 them that sleep. Do you not recognize your guilt, your 
 miserable condition of sin ? " 
 
 " No I " 
 
 Mr. Chaffinch started, and an ugly, menacing expression 
 came into his face. 
 
 " Before you speak again," said Joseph, " tell me one 
 thing ! Am I indebted for this Catechism to the order 
 perhaps I should say the request of my wife ? " 
 
 " I do not deny that she has expressed a Christian con- 
 cern for your state ; but I do not wait for a request when 
 I see a soul in peril. If I care for the sheep that willingly 
 obey the shepherd, how much more am I commanded to 
 look after them which stray, and which the wolves and 
 bears are greedy to devour ! " 
 
 " Have you ever considered, Mr. Chaffinch," Joseph re- 
 joined, lifting his head and speaking with measured clear- 
 ness, " that an intelligent man may possibly be aware that 
 he has an immortal soul, that the health and purity and
 
 213 JOSEPH AND IITS FPJEND. 
 
 growth of that soul may possibly be his first concern in life, 
 that no other man can know, as lie does, its imperfections, 
 its needs, its aspirations which rise direcily towards God ; 
 and that the attempt of a stranger to examine and criticise, 
 and perhaps blacken, this most sacred part of his nature, 
 may possibly be a pious impertinence ? " 
 
 " Ah, the natural depravity of the heart ! " Mr. Chaffinch 
 groaned. 
 
 " It is not the depravity, it is the only pure quality which 
 the hucksters of doctrine, the money-changers in God's tem- 
 ple of Man, cannot touch ! Shall I render a reckoning to 
 you on the day when souls are judged ? Are you the infal- 
 lible agent of the Divine Mercy ? What blasphemy ! " 
 
 Mr. Chaffinch shuddered. " I wash my hands of you ! " 
 he cried. " I have had to deal with many sinners in my 
 day, but I have found no sin which came so directly from 
 the Devil as the pride of the mind. If you were rotten 
 in all your members from the sins of the flesh, I might 
 have a little hope. Verily, it shall go easier with the 
 murderer and the adulterer on that day than with such 
 as ye ! " 
 
 He gave the horse a more than saintly stroke, and the 
 vehicle rattled away. Joseph could not see the predomi- 
 nance of routine in all that Mr. Chaffinch had said. He 
 was too excited to remember that certain phrases are trans- 
 mitted, and used without a thought of their tremendous cha- 
 racter ; he applied every word personally, and felt it as an 
 outrage in all the sensitive fibres of his soul. And who 
 had invoked the outrage ? His wife : Mr. Chaffinch had 
 confessed it. What representations had she made ? he 
 could only measure them by the character of the clergyman's 
 charges. He sat down on the bank, sick at heart ; it was ini-
 
 JOSEPH AXD Ills ITJEXD. 211 
 
 possible to go home and meet her in his present frame ot 
 mind. 
 
 Presently lie started up, crying aloud : " I will go to 
 Philip ! He cannot help me, I know, but I must have a 
 word of love from a friend, or 1 shall go mad ! ; ' 
 
 He retraced his steps, took the road up the valley, and 
 walked rapidly towards the Forge. The tumult in his blood 
 gradually expended its force, but it had carried him along 
 more swiftly than he was aware. When he reached the 
 point where, looking across the valley, now narrowed to a 
 glen, he could see the smoke of the Forge near at hand, and 
 even catch a glimpse of the cottage on. the knoll, he stopped. 
 Up to this moment he had felt, not reflected : and a secret 
 instinct told him that he should not submit his trouble to 
 Philip's riper manhood until it was made clear and coherent 
 in his own mind. He must keep Philip's love, at all hazards ; 
 and to keep it he must not seem simply a creature of moods 
 and sentiments, whom his friend might pity, but could 
 not respect. 
 
 He left the road, crossed a sloping field on the left, and 
 presently found himself on a bank overhanging the stream. 
 Under the wood of oaks and hemlocks the laurel grew in 
 rich, shining clumps ; the current, at this point deep, full, 
 and silent, glimmered through the leaves, twenty feet below; 
 the opposite shore was level, and green with an herbage 
 which no summer could wither. He leaned against a hem- 
 lock bole, and tried to think, but it was not easy to review 
 the past while his future life overhung him like a descending 
 burden which he had not the strength to lift. Love be- 
 trayed, trust violated, aspiration misinterpreted, were the 
 spiritual aspects ; a divided household, entangling obliga- 
 tions, a probability of serious loss, were the material evils
 
 212 JOSEPH AND 1113 FJilKNI). 
 
 which accompanied them. He was .so unprepared for the 
 change that he could only rebel, not measure, analyze, and 
 cast about for ways of relief. 
 
 It was a miserable strait in which he found himself; and 
 the more he thought or, rather, seemed to think the less 
 was he able to foresee any other than an unfortunate solu- 
 tion. What were his better impulses, if men persisted in 
 finding them evil? What was life, yoked to such treachery 
 and selfishness ? Life had been to him a hope, an inspira- 
 tion, a sound, enduring joy ; now it might never be so again ! 
 Then what a release were death ! 
 
 He walked forward to the edge of the rock. A few peb- 
 bles, dislodged by his feet, slid from the brink, and plunged 
 with a bubble and a musical tinkle into the dark, sliding 
 waters. One more step, and the release which seemed so fair 
 might be attained. He felt a morbid sense of delight in 
 playing with the thought. Gathering a handful of broken 
 stones, he let them fall one by one, thinking, " So I hold my 
 fate in my hand." He leaned over and saw a shifting, 
 quivering image of himself projected against the reflected 
 sky, and a fancy, almost as clear as a voice, said : " This is 
 your present self : what will you do with it beyond the gulf, 
 where only the soul superior to circumstances here receives 
 a nobler destiny? " 
 
 He was still gazing down at the flickering figure, when a 
 step came upon the dead leaves. He turned and saw Philip, 
 moving stealthily towards him, pale, with outstretched hand. 
 They looked at each other for a moment without speak- 
 ing. 
 
 " I guess your thought, Philip," Joseph then said. " But 
 the things easiest to do are sometimes the most impossible." 
 
 " The bravest man may allow a fancy to pass through his
 
 213 
 
 mind, Joseph, which only the coward will carry into 
 effect." 
 
 "I am not a coward ! ; ' Joseph exclaimed. 
 
 Philip took his hand, drew him ir.-arer, and flinging his 
 arms around him, held him to his heart. 
 
 Then they sat down, side by side. 
 
 ''I was up the stream, on the other side, trolling for 
 trout," said Philip, ' ; when I saw you in the road. I was 
 welcoming your coming, in my heart : then you stopped, 
 stood still, and at last turned away. Something in your 
 movements gave me a sudden, terrible feeling of anxiety : I 
 threw down my rod, came around by the bridge at the 
 Forge, and followed you here. Do not blame me for my 
 foolish dread." 
 
 " Dear, dear friend," Joseph cried, " I did not mean to 
 come to you until I seemed stronger and more rational in my 
 own eyes. If that were a vanity, it is gone now : I confess 
 iny weakness and ignorance. Tell me, if you can, why this 
 has come upon me ? Tell me why nothing that I have been 
 taught, why no atom of the faith which I still must cling to, 
 explains, consoles, or remedies any wrong of my life ! " 
 
 " Faiths, I suspect," Philip answered, " are, like laws, 
 adapted to the average character of the human race. You, 
 in the confiding purity of your nature, are not an average 
 man : you are very much above the class, and if virtue were 
 its own reward, you would be most exceptionally happy. 
 Then the puzzle is, what's the particular use of virtue ? " 
 
 " I don't know, Philip, but I don't like to hear you ask 
 the question. I find myself so often on the point of doubt- 
 ing all that was my Truth a little while ago ; and yet, why 
 should my misfortunes, as an individual, make the truth a 
 lie ? I am only one man among millions who must have
 
 214 JOSEPH AXD IIIS FRIEND. 
 
 faith, ill the efficacy of virtue. Philip, if I believed the faith 
 to be false, I think I should still say, ' Let it be preached ! ' ' 
 
 Joseph related to Philip the whole of his miserable story, 
 not sparing himself, nor concealing the weakness which 
 allowed him to be entangled to such an extent. Philip's 
 brow grew dark as he listened, but at the close of the recital 
 his face was calm, though stern. 
 
 " Now," said he, " now put this aside for a little while, 
 and give your ear (and your heart too, Joseph) to my story. 
 Do not compare my fortune with yours, but let us apply to 
 both the laws which seem to govern life, and see whether 
 justice is possible." 
 
 Joseph had dismissed his wife's suspicion, after the dinner 
 at Hopeton's, so immediately from his memory, that he had 
 really forgotten it ; and he was not only startled, but also a 
 little shocked, by Philip's confession. Still, he saw that it 
 was only the reverse form of his own experience, not more 
 strange, perhaps not more to be condemned, yet equally in- 
 evitable. 
 
 " Is there no way out of this labyrinth of wrong ? " Philip 
 exclaimed. " Two natures, as far apart as Truth and False- 
 hood, monstrously held together in the most intimate, the 
 holiest of bonds, two natures destined for each other mon- 
 strously kept apart by the same bonds ! Is life to be so 
 sacrificed to habit and prejudice? I said that Faith, like 
 Law, was fashioned for the average man : then there must be 
 a loftier faith, a juster law, for the men and the women 
 who cannot shape themselves according to the common-place 
 pattern of society, who were born with instincts, needs, 
 knowledge, and rights ay, rights ! of their own ! " 
 
 "But, Philip," said Joseph, "we were both to blame: you 
 through too little trust, I through too much. "We have both
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEX1). 215 
 
 been rasli and impatient : I cannot forget that ; and how are 
 we to know that the punishment, terrible as it seems, is dis- 
 proportioned to the offence?" 
 
 " AVe know this, Joseph, and who can know it and be 
 patient? that the power which controls onr lives is pitiless, 
 unrelenting ! There is the same punishment for an innocent 
 mistake as for a conscious crime. A certain Xemesis follows 
 ignorance, regardless how good and pure may be the individ- 
 ual nature. Had you even guessed your wife's true charac- 
 ter just before marriage, your very integrity, your conscience, 
 and the conscience of the world, would have compelled the 
 union, and jSTature would not have mitigated her selfishness 
 to reward you with a tolerable life. O no ! You would 
 still have suffered as now. Shall a man with a heart feel 
 this horrible injustice, and not rebel? Grant that I am 
 rightly punished for my impatience, my pride, my jealousy, 
 how have you been rewarded for your stainless youth, your 
 innocent trust, your almost miraculous goodness ? Had you 
 known the world better, even though a part of your know- 
 ledge might have been evil, you would have escaped this 
 fatal marriage. Nothing can be more certain ; and will you 
 simply groan and bear ? What compensating fortune have 
 you, or can you ever expect to find ? " 
 
 Joseph was silent at first ; but Philip could see, from the 
 trembling of his hands, and Ms quick breathing, that he was 
 profoundly agitated. " There is something within me," he 
 said, at last, " which accepts everything you say ; and yet, it 
 alarms me. I feel a mighty temptation in your words : they 
 could lead me to snap my chains, break violently away from 
 my past and present life, and surrender myself to will and 
 appetite. O Philip, if we could make our lives wholly our 
 own ! If we could fiud a spot "
 
 216 JOSEPH AND HIS FEIEXD. 
 
 " I know such a spot ! " Philip cried, interrupting him, 
 " a groat valley, bounded by a hundred miles of snowy 
 peaks; lakes in its bed ; enormous hillsides, dotted with 
 groves of ilex and pine ; orchards of orange and olive ; a per- 
 fect climate, where it is bliss enough just to breathe, and free- 
 dom from the distorted laws of men, for none are near enough 
 to enforce them ! If there is no legal way of escape for you, 
 here, at least, there is no force which can drag you back, 
 once you are there : I will go with you, and perhaps per- 
 haps " 
 
 Philip's face glowed, and the vague alarm in Joseph's 
 heart took a definite form. He guessed what words had 
 been left unspoken. 
 
 " If we could be sure ! " he said. 
 
 " Sure of what ? Have I exaggerated the wrong in your 
 case ? Say we should be outlaws there, in our freedom ! 
 here we are fettered outlaws." 
 
 " I have been trying, Philip, to discover a law superior 
 to that under which we suffer, and I think I have found it. 
 If it be true that ignorance is equally punished with guilt ; 
 if causes and consequences, in which there is neither pity 
 nor justice, govern our lives, then what keeps our souls 
 from despair but the infinite pity and perfect justice of 
 God ? Yes, here is the difference between human and di- 
 vine law! This makes obedience safer than rebellion. If 
 you and I, Philip, stand above the level of common natures, 
 feeling higher needs and claiming other rights, let us shape 
 them according to the law which is above, not that which is 
 below us ! " 
 
 Philip grew pale. " Then you mean to endure in patience, 
 and expect me to do the same ? " he asked. 
 
 " If I can. The old foundations upon which my life rested
 
 JOSKl'l! AND IITS FKIKND. 217 
 
 are broken up, and I am too bewildered to venture OH a 
 random path, Give mr ti7:ie ; nay, let us Loth strive to 
 wait a little. I see nothing clearly but this: there is a 
 l)i vine L'overnment, on which I lean now as never before. 
 Yes, I say again, the veiy wrong that has come upon us 
 makes God necessary ! '' 
 
 It was Philip's turn to be agitated. There was a simple, 
 solemn conviction in Joseph's voice which struck to his heart. 
 He had spoken from the heat of his passion, it is true, but 
 he had the courage to disregard the judgment of men, find 
 make his protest a reality. Both natures shared the desire, 
 and were enticed by the daring of his dream ; but out of 
 Joseph's deeper conscience came a whisper, against which 
 the cry of passion was powerless. 
 
 " Yes, we will wait," said Philip, after a long pause. 
 " You came to me, Joseph, as you said, in weakness and 
 confusion : I have been talking of your innocence and igno- 
 rance. Let us not measure ourselves in this way. It is not 
 experience alone which creates manhood. What will be- 
 come of us I cannot tell, but I will not, I dare not, say you 
 are wrong ! " 
 
 They took each other's hands. The day was fading, the 
 landscape was silent, and only the twitter of nesting birds 
 was heard in the boughs above them. Each gave way to 
 the impulse of his manly love, rarer, alas ! but as tender and 
 true as the love of woman, and they drew nearer and kissed 
 each other. As they walked back and parted on the high- 
 way, each felt that life was not wholly unkind, and that 
 happiness was not yet impossible. 
 10
 
 218 JOSEPH AND ins FRIEND. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXI. 
 
 UNDER THE WATER. 
 
 JOSEPH said nothing that evening concerning the result 
 of his trip to the city, and Julia, who instantly detected the 
 signs which a powerful excitement had left upon his face, 
 thought it prudent to ask no immediate questions. She was 
 purposely demonstrative in little arrangements for his com- 
 fort, but spared him her caresses ; she did not intend to be 
 again mistaken in choosing the time and occasion of bestow- 
 ing them. 
 
 The next morning, when he felt that he could speak 
 calmly, Joseph told her what he had done, carefully avoid 
 ing any word that might seem to express disappointment, or 
 even doubt. 
 
 " I hope you are satisfied that pa will make it easy for 
 you ? " she ventured to say. 
 
 " He thinks so." Then Joseph could not help adding : 
 " He depends, I imagine, upon your sister Clementina mar- 
 rying a Mr. Spelter, ' a man of immense wealth, but, I 
 regret to say, no refinement.' " 
 
 Julia bit her lip, and her eyes assumed that hard, flinty 
 look which her husband knew so well. " If Clementina 
 marries immense wealth," she exclaimed, with a half-con- 
 cealed sneer, " she will become simply insufferable ! But 
 what difference can that make in pa's business affairs? " 
 
 The answer tingled on Joseph's tongue : " Probably he 
 expects Mr. Spelter to indorse a promissory note " j but he
 
 JOSEl'II AND HIS FRIEXD. 219 
 
 held it htxck. " What T have resolved to do is tliis," he 
 said. " I a a day or two a.s soon ;is I can arrange to leave 
 I shall make a journey to the oil region, and satisfy myself 
 where and what the Amaranth is. Your own practical 
 instincts will tell yon, Julia, that this intention of mine must 
 be kept secret, even from your father. " 
 
 She leaned her head upon her hand, and appeared to 
 reflect. When she looked up her face had a cheerful, con- 
 fiding expression. 
 
 " I think you are right," she then said. " If if things 
 should not happen to be quite as they are represented, 
 you can secure yourself against any risk and pa, too 
 before the others know of it. Y"ou will have the inside 
 track ; that is, if there is one. On the other hand, if all is 
 right, pa can easily manage, if some of the others are shaky 
 in their faith, to get their stock at a bargain. I am sure he 
 would have gone out there himself, if his official services 
 were not so important to the government." 
 
 It was a hard task for Joseph to keep his feelings to him- 
 self. 
 
 " And now," she continued, " now I know you will agree 
 to a plan of mine, which I was going to propose. Lucy 
 Henderson's school closes this week, and Mrs. Hopeton tells 
 me she is a little overworked and ailing. It would hardly 
 help her much to go home, where she could not properly 
 rest, as her father is a hard, avaricious man, who can't en- 
 dure idleness, except, I suppose, in a corpse (so these people 
 seem to me). I want to ask Lucy to come here. I think 
 you always liked her " (here Julia shot a swift, stealthy 
 glance at Joseph), " and so she will be an agreeable guest 
 for both of us. She shall just rest and grow strong. While 
 you are absent, I shall not seem qxiite so lonely. You may
 
 220 JOSEPH AXD HIS FREKND. 
 
 be gone a week or more, and I shall find the separation vevv 
 hard to bear, even with her company." 
 
 " Why has Mrs. Hopeton not invited her ? " Joseph asked. 
 
 " The Hopetons are going to the sea-shore in a few days. 
 She would take Lucy as a guesty but there is one difficulty 
 in the way. She thinks Lucy would accept the trip and the 
 stay there as an act of hospitality, but that she cannot (or 
 thinks she cannot) afford the dresses that would enable her 
 to appear in Mrs. liopeton's circle. But it is just as well : 
 I am sure Lucy would feel more at home here." 
 
 " Then by all means ask her ! " said Joseph. " Lucy 
 Henderson is a noble girl, for she has forced a true-hearted 
 man to love her, without return." 
 
 " Ind-e-e-cl ! " 
 
 Julia's drawl denoted surprise and curiosity, but Joseph 
 felt that once more he had spoken too quickly. He en- 
 deavored to cover his mistake by a hearty acquiescence in 
 the plan, which was speedily arranged between them, in all 
 its details, Lucy's consent being taken for granted. 
 
 It required, however, the extreme of Julia's powers of 
 disguise, aided by Joseph's frank and hearty words and Mrs. 
 Hopeton's influence, to induce Lucy to accept the invitation. 
 Unable to explain wholly to herself, much less mention to 
 any other, the instinct which held her back, she found herself, 
 finally, placed in a false position, and then resolved to blindly 
 trust that she was doing right, inasmuch as she could not make 
 it clear that she was doing wrong. Her decision once taken, 
 she forcibly banished all misgivings, and determined to find 
 nothing but a cheerful and restful holiday before her. 
 
 And, indeed, the first day or two of her residence at the 
 farm, before Joseph's departure, brought her a more agreea- 
 ble experience than she had imagined. Both host and host-
 
 ess were busy, tlie latter in the household find the former in 
 the fields, and when they met at meals or in the evening. her 
 presence was an element which compelled an appearance of 
 harmony. She was surprised to lind so ouiet and ordered a 
 life in two persons whom she had imagined to be miserably 
 unfitted for each other, and began to suspect that she had 
 been seriously mistaken. 
 
 After Joseph left, the two women were much together. 
 Julia insisted that she should do nothing, and amiably pro- 
 tested at first against Lucy giving her so much, of her society ; 
 but, little by little, the companionship was extended and be- 
 came more frank and intimate. Lucy was in a charitable 
 mood, and found it very easy to fancy that Julia's character 
 had been favorably affected by the graver duties which had 
 come with her marriage. Indeed, Julia found many indi- 
 rect ways of hinting as much : she feared she had seemed 
 flighty (perhaps a little shallow) ; looking back upon her past 
 life she could see that such a charge would not be unjust. 
 Her education had been so superficial ; all city education of 
 young women was false ; they were taught to consider ex- 
 ternal appearances, and if they felt a void in their nature 
 which these would not fill, whither could they turn for coun- 
 sel or knowledge ? 
 
 Her face was sad and thoughtful while she so spoke ; but 
 when, shaking her dark curls with a pretty impatience, she 
 would lift her head and ask, with a smile : " But it is not 
 too late, in my case, is it ? I'm really an older child, you 
 know," Lucy could only answer : " Since you know what 
 you need, it can never be too late. The very fact that you 
 do know, proves that it will be easy for you." 
 
 Then Julia would shake her head again, and say, " O, you 
 are too kind, Lucy ; you judge my nature by your own."
 
 222 JOSEPH A^D HIS FKIEND. 
 
 When the friendly relation between them had developed a 
 little further, Julia became though still with a modest reti- 
 cence more confiding in relation to Joseph. 
 
 " He is so good, so very, very true and good," she said, one 
 day, " that it grieves me, more than I can tell, to be the cause 
 of a little present anxiety of his. As it is only a business 
 matter, some exaggerated report of which you have probably 
 heard (for I know there have been foolish stories afloat in 
 the neighborhood), I have no hesitation about confiding it 
 to you. Perhaps you can advise me how to atone for my 
 error ; for, if it was an error, I fear it cannot be remedied 
 now ; if not, it will be a relief to me to confess it." 
 
 Thereupon she gave a minute history of the Amaranth 
 speculation, omitting the energy of her persuasion with 
 Joseph, and presenting very strongly her father's views of a 
 sure and splendid success soon to follow. " It was for 
 Joseph's sake," she concluded, " rather than my own, that 
 I advised the investment ; though, knowing his perfect un- 
 selfishness, I fear he complied only for mine. He had 
 guessed already, it seems to me now, that we women like 
 beauty as well as comfort about our lives ; otherwise, he 
 would hardly have undertaken these expensive improve- 
 ments of our home. But, Lucy, it terrifies me to think that 
 pa and Joseph and I may have been deceived ! The more I 
 shut my mind against the idea the more it returns to torment 
 me. I, who brought so little to him, to be the instrument 
 of such a loss ! O, if you were not here, how could I en- 
 dure the anxiety and the absence ? " 
 
 She buried her face in her handkerchief, and sobbed. 
 
 " I know Joseph to be good and true," said Lucy, " and I 
 believe that he will bear the loss cheerfully, if it should 
 come. But it is never good to ' borrow trouble,' as we say
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FlilKXD. 223 
 
 in the country. Neither the worst nor the best things 
 which we imagine ever come upon us." 
 
 " You are wrong ! " cried Julia, starting up and laughing 
 gleefully ; " I Jiavfi the best thing, in my husband ! And yet, 
 you are right, too : no worst thing can come to me } while 1 
 keep him ! " 
 
 Lucy wished to visit the Hopetons before their departure 
 for the sea-shore, and Julia was quite ready to accompany 
 her. Only, with the wilfulness common to all selfish na- 
 tures, she determined to arrange the matter in her own way. 
 She drove away alone the next morning to the post-office, 
 with a letter for Joseph, but never drew rein until she had 
 reached Coventry Forge. Philip being absent, she confided 
 to Madeline Held her wish (and Lucy's) that they should all 
 spend an afternoon together, on the banks of the stream, 
 a free society in the open air instead of a formal one within 
 doors. Madeline entered into the plan with joyous readi- 
 ness, accepting both for herself and for Philip. They all met 
 together too rarely, she said : a lunch or a tea under the trees 
 would be delightful : there was a little skiff which might be 
 borrowed, and they might even catch and cook their own 
 fish, as the most respectable people did in the Adirondacks. 
 
 Julia then drove to the Hopetons in high spirits. Mr. 
 Hopeton found the proposed party very pleasant, and said 
 at once to his wife : " We have still three days, my dear : 
 we can easily spare to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Asten is very kind," she replied j " and her propo- 
 sition is tempting: but I should not like to go without you, 
 and I thought your business might " 
 
 " O, there is nothing pressing," he interrupted. " I shall 
 enjoy it exceedingly, especially the boat, and the chance of 
 landing a few trout."
 
 224 JOSEPH AND ins FRIEND. 
 
 So it was settled. Lucy, it is true, felt a dissatisfaction 
 which she could scarcely conceal, and possibly did not, to 
 Julia's eyes ; but it was not for her own sake. She must 
 seem grateful for a courtesy meant to favor both herself and 
 her friend, and a little reflection reconciled her to the plan. 
 Mrs. Hopeton dared not avoid Philip Held, and it might be 
 well if she carried away with her to the sea-shore a later and 
 less alarming memory of him. Lucy's own desire for a quiet 
 talk with the woman in whom she felt such a loving interest 
 was of no consequence, if this was the result. 
 
 They met in the afternoon, on the eastern side of the 
 stream, just below the Forge, where a little bay of level 
 shore, shaded by superb trees, was left between the rocky 
 bluffs. Stumps and a long-fallen trunk furnished them with 
 rough tables and seats ; there was a natural fireplace among 
 some huge tumbled stones ; a spring of icy crystal gushed 
 out from the foot of the bluff; and the shimmering, mur- 
 muring water in front, with the meadows beyond" burning 
 like emerald flame in the sunshine, offered a constant delight 
 to the senses. 
 
 All were enchanted with the spot, which Philip and Ma- 
 deline claimed as their discovery. The gypsy spirit awoke in. 
 them, and while they scattered here and there, possessed with 
 the influences of the place, and constantly stumbling upon 
 some new charm or convenience, Lucy felt her heart grow- 
 light for her friend, and the trouble of her own life subside. 
 For a time no one seemed to think of anything but the 
 material arrangements. Mr. Hopeton's wine-flasks were 
 laid in the spring to cool ; Philip improvised a rustic table 
 xipon two neighboring stumps ; rough seats were made com- 
 fortable, dry sticks collected for fire-wood, stores iinpacked 
 and placed in readiness, and every little preliminary of
 
 FRIEND. 22: 
 
 labor, insufferable in a kitchen, took on ics 
 in that svlvnn nook. 
 
 Then they resred from th>-ir work. Mr. Hopeton and 
 Philip lighted cigars and sat to leeward, while the four 
 ladies kept their lingers busy with bunches of maiden-hair 
 and faint wildwood blossoms, as tliey talked. It really 
 seemed as if a peace and joy from beyond their lives had 
 fallen upon them. Madeline believed so, and Lucy hoped 
 so : let us hope so, too, and not lift at once the veil which 
 was folded so closely over two restless hearts ! 
 
 Mr. Hopetoii threw away the stump of his cigar, adjusted 
 his fishing-tackle, and said : " If we are to have a trout 
 supper, I must begin to troll at once." 
 
 " May I go with you ? " his wife asked. 
 
 " Yes," lie answered, smiling, " if you will not be nervous. 
 But I hardly need to make that stipulation with you, Emily." 
 
 Philip assisted her into the unsteady little craft, which 
 was fastened to a tree. Mr. Hopetoii seated himself care- 
 fully, took the two light, short oars, and held himself from 
 the shore, while Philip loosened the rope. 
 
 "I shall row up stream," he said, "and then float back to 
 you, trolling as I come. When I see you again, I hope I 
 can ask you to have the coals ready." 
 
 Slowly, and not very skilfully, he worked his way against 
 the current, and passed out of sight around a bend in the 
 stream. Philip watched Mrs. Hopeton's slender figure as 
 she sat in the stern, listlessly trailing one hand in the water. 
 " Does she feel that my eyes, my thoughts, are following 
 her ? " he asked; but she did not once turn her head. 
 
 " Philip ! " cried Madeline, " here are three forlorn maid- 
 ens, and you the only Sir Isurnbras, or whoever is the 
 proper knight ! Are you looking into the stream, expecting 
 10*
 
 226 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 the 'damp woman' to arise? She only rises for fishermen: 
 she will come up and drag Mr. Hopeton down. Let me 
 invoke the real nymph of this stream ! " She sang : 
 
 "Sabrina fair, 
 
 Listen whore them art sitting 
 Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, 
 
 In twisted braids of lilies knitting 
 The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair ; 
 Listen for dear honor's sake, 
 Goddess of the silver lake, 
 Listen and save ! " 
 
 Madeline did not know what she was doing. She could 
 not remark Philip's paleness in the dim green light where 
 they sat, but she was struck by the startled expression of 
 his eyes. 
 
 " One would think you really expected Sabrina to come," 
 she laughed. "Miss Henderson, too, looks as if I had 
 frightened her. You and I, Mrs. Asten, are the only cool, 
 unimaginative brains in the party. But perhaps it was all 
 owing to my poor voice ? Come now, confess it ! I don't 
 expect you to say, 
 
 ' Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould 
 Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment ? ' " 
 
 " I was trying to place the song," said Lucy ; " I read it 
 once." 
 
 " If any one could evoke a spirit, Madeline," Philip re- 
 plied, " it would be you. But the spirit would be no 
 nymph ; it would have little horns and hoofs, and you 
 would be glad to get rid of it again." 
 
 They all laughed at this, and presently, at Julia's sugges- 
 tion, arranged the wood they had collected, and kindled a 
 fire. It required a little time and patience to secure a 
 strong blaze, and in the great interest which the task called 
 forth the Hopetons were forgotten.
 
 227 
 
 At last Philip stopped back, heated and half stifled, for a 
 breath of fresher air, and, turning, saw the boat between 
 the trees gliding down the stream. " There they are ! " he 
 cried ; " now, to know our luck ! " 
 
 The boat was in midstream, not far from a stony strip 
 which rose above the water. Mrs. Hopeton sat musing with 
 her hands in her lap, while her husband, resting on his 
 knees and one hand, leaned over the bow, watching the fly 
 which trailed at the end of his line. He seemed to bo 
 quite unconscious that an oar, which had slowly loosened 
 itself from the lock, was floating away behind the boat. 
 
 " You are losing your oars ! " Philip cried. 
 
 Mr. Hopeton. started, as from a dream of trout, dropped 
 his line and stretched forward suddenly to grasp the oar. 
 The skiff was too light and unbalanced to support the mo- 
 tion. It rocked threateningly ; Mrs. Hopeton, quite forget- 
 ting herself, started to her feet, and, instantly losing her 
 equilibrium, was thrown headlong into the deeper water. 
 The skiff whirled back, turned over, and before Mr. Hope- 
 ton was aware of what had happened, he plunged full length, 
 face downwards, into the shallower current. 
 
 It was all over before Madeline and Lucy reached the 
 bank, and Philip was already in the stream. A few strokes 
 brought him to Mrs. Hopeton, who struggled with the cur- 
 rent as she rose to the surface, but made no outcry. No 
 sooner had she touched Philip than she seized and locked 
 him in her arms, and he was dragged down again with her. 
 It was only the physical clinging to life : if some feeble re- 
 cognition at that moment told her whose was the form she 
 held and made powerless, it could not have abated an atom 
 of her frantic, instinctive force. 
 
 Philip felt that they had drifted into water beyond his
 
 228 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 depth. With groat exertion he freed his right arm and 
 sustained himself and her a moment at the surface. Mrs. 
 Hopeton's head was on his shoulder ; her hair drifted 
 against his face, and even the desperation of the struggle 
 could not make him insensible to the warmth of her breast 
 upon his own. A wild thought flashed upon and stung his 
 brain : she was his at last his in. death, if not in life ! 
 
 His arm slackened, and they sank slowly together. Heart 
 and brain were illuminated with blinding light, and the 
 swift succession of his thoughts compressed an age into the 
 fragment of a second. Yes, she was his now : clasping him 
 as he clasped, their hearts beating against each other, with 
 ever slower pulsations, until they should freeze into one. 
 The world, with its wrongs and prejudices, lay behind them; 
 the past was past, and only a short and painless atonement 
 intervened between the immortal possession of souls ! Bet- 
 ter that it should end thus : he had not sought this solution, 
 but he would not thrust it from him. 
 
 But, even as his mind accepted it, and with a sense of 
 perfect peace, Le heard Joseph's voice, saying, " We must 
 shape our lives according to the law which is above, not 
 that which is below us." Through the air and the water, on 
 the very rock which now overhung his head, he again saw- 
 Joseph bending, and himself creeping towards him with out- 
 stretched hand. Ha! who was the coward now? And 
 again Joseph spake, and his words were : " The very wrong 
 that has come upon us makes God necessary." God? Then 
 how would God in his wisdom fashion their future life ? 
 Must they sweep eternally, locked in an unsevering embrace, 
 like Paolo and Francesca, around some dreary circle of 
 hell ? Or must the manner of entering that life together 
 be the act to separate them eternally ? Only the inevitable
 
 act dare ask for pardon; but h-'.-re, if not will or purpose, 
 was at least submission without ivsiotiiiice ! Then ic seemed 
 to him that Madeline's voice came aL'ain to him, ringing like 
 a trumpet through tho waters, as she sang: 
 
 He pressed his lips to Mrs. Hopeton's unconscious brow, 
 his heart saying, " Xever, never again ! '' released himself by 
 a sudden, powerful eit'ort, seized her safely, as a practised 
 swimmer, shot into light and air, and made for the shallower 
 side of the stream. The upturned skiiF was now within 
 reach, and all danger was over. 
 
 "Who could guess that the crisis of a soul had been reached 
 and passed in that breath of time under the surface ? Julia's 
 long, shrill scream had scarcely come to an end ; Mr. Hope- 
 ton, bewildered by his fall, was trying to run towards them 
 through water up to his waist, and Lucy and Madeline 
 looked on, holding their breath in an agony of suspense. 
 In another moment Philip touched bottom, and raising Mrs. 
 Hopeton in his arms, carried her to the opposite bank. 
 
 She was faint and stunned, but not unconscious. She 
 passively allowed Philip to support her until Mr. Hopeton, 
 struggling through the shallows, drew near with an expres- 
 sion of intense terror and concern on his broad face. Then, 
 breaking from Philip, she half fell, half flung herself into 
 his arms, laid her head upon his shoulder, and burst into a 
 fit of hysterical weeping. 
 
 Tears began to run down the honest man's cheeks, and 
 Philip, turning away, busied himself with righting the boat 
 and recovering the oars. 
 
 " O, my darling ! " said Mr. Hopeton, " what should I do 
 if I had lost you ? "
 
 230 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 " Hold me, keep me, love me ! " she cried. " I must not 
 leave you ! " 
 
 He lield her in his arms, he kissed her, he soothed her 
 with endearing words. She grew calm, lifted her head, and 
 looked in his eyes with a light which he had never yet seen 
 in them. The man's nature was moved and stirred : his 
 lips trembled, and the tears still slowly trickled from his 
 eyes. 
 
 " Let me set you over ! " Philip called from the stream. 
 " The boat is wet, but then neither of us is dry. We have, 
 fortunately, a good fire until the carriage can be brought for 
 Mrs. Hopeton, and your wine will be needed at once." 
 
 They had no trout, nor indeed any refreshment, except 
 the wine. Philip tried to rally the spirits of the party, but 
 Julia was the only one who at all seconded his efforts ; the 
 others had been too profoundly agitated. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hopeton were grave ; it seemed scarcely possible for them 
 to speak, and yet, as Lucy remarked with amazement, the 
 faces of both were bright and serene. 
 
 " I shall never invoke another water-nymph," said Made- 
 line, as they were leaving the spot. 
 
 " Yes ! " Philip cried, " always invoke Sabrina, and the 
 daughter of Locriiie will arise for you, as she arose to-day." 
 
 "That is, not at all?" 
 
 " No," said Philip, she arose."
 
 JOSEPH AND III> FRIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 KANUCK. 
 
 WHEN lie set forth upon his journey, Joseph had enough 
 of natural shrewdness to perceive that his own personal 
 interest in the speculation were better kept secret. The 
 position of the Amaranth property, inserted like a wedge 
 between the Fluke and Chowder Companies, was all the geog- 
 raphy he needed ; and he determined to assume the character 
 of a curious traveller, at least for a day or two, to keep 
 his eyes and ears open, and learn as much as might be possi- 
 ble to one outside the concentric " rings " of oil operations. 
 
 He reached Corry without adventure, and took passage in 
 the train to Oil City, intending to make the latter place the 
 starting-point of his investigations. The car was crowded, 
 and his companion on the seat was a keen, witty, red-faced 
 man, with an astonishing diamond pin and a gold watch- 
 chain heavy enough to lift an anchor. He was too restless, 
 too full of " operative " energy, to travel in silence, as is the 
 universal and most dismal American habit; and before they 
 passed three stations he had extracted from Joseph the 
 facts that he was a stranger, that he intended visiting the 
 principal wells, and that he might possibly (Joseph allowing 
 the latter point to be inferred) be tempted to invest some- 
 thing, if the aspects were propitious. 
 
 " You must be sure to take a look at my wells," said the 
 stranger ; " not that any of our stock is in the market, it is 
 never offered to the public, unless accidentally, but they 
 will give you an illustration of the magnitude of the business.
 
 232 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 everidge run'), aud so it was reported of onru. But since 
 we've begun to torpedo them, it's almost equal to the first 
 tapping, though I don't suppose it'll hold out so long." 
 
 "Are the torpedoes generally used?" Joseph asked, in 
 some surprise. 
 
 " They're generally tried, anyhow. The cute fellow who 
 first hit upon the idea meant to keep it dark, but the oilers, 
 you'll find, have got their teeth skinned, and what they can't 
 find out isn't worth finding out ! Lord ! I torpedoed my 
 wells at midnight, and it wasn't a week before the Fluke 
 was at it, bustiii' and bustin' all their dry auger-holes ! " 
 
 " The what ! " Joseph exclaimed. 
 
 " Fluke. Queer name, isu't it ? Exit that's nothing : 
 we have the Crinoline, the Pipsissaway, the Mud-Lark, and 
 the Sunburst, between vis and Tideoute." 
 
 " What is the name of your company, if I may ask ? " 
 
 " About as queer as any of 'em, the Chowder." 
 
 Joseph started, in spite of himself. " It seems to me I 
 have heard of that company," he managed to say. 
 
 " O no doubt," replied the stranger. " 'T isn't often, 
 quoted in the papers, but it's known. I 'm rather proud of 
 it, for I got it up. I was boring boss, though at three 
 dollars a day, two years ago, and now I have my forty thou- 
 sand a year, l free of income tax,' as the Insurance Compa- 
 nies say. But then, where one is lucky like the Chowder, a 
 hundred busts." 
 
 Joseph rapidly collected himself while the mau was speak- 
 ing. " I should very much like to see your wells," he said. 
 " Will yoxi be there a day or two from now ? My name is 
 Asten, not that you have ever heard of it before."
 
 JOSEm AND HIS FRIEND. 233 
 
 " Shall be glad to hear it again, though, and to see you," 
 said the man. " My name is IJIcnkinsop." 
 
 Again it was all that Joseph could do to restrain his 
 astonishment. 
 
 " 1 suppose you are the President of the Chowder? " he 
 ventured to say. 
 
 " Yes,'' Mr. Blenkinsop answered, '' since it's a company. 
 It was all mine at the start, but I wanted capital, and 1 had 
 to work 'em." 
 
 " What other important companies are there near you ? " 
 
 " IN one of any account, except the Fluke and the Depravity. 
 They now tolerable now, after torpedoing. To be sure, there 
 are kites and catches with all sorts o' names,- the Penny- 
 royal, the Ruby, the Wallholler (whatever that is), and the 
 Amaranth, ha, ha ! " 
 
 " I think 1 have heard of the Amaranth," Joseph mildly 
 remarked. 
 
 "Lord! axe you bit already?" Mr. Blenkinsop exclaim- 
 ed, fixing his small, sharp eyes on Joseph's face. 
 
 " I I really don't know what you mean." 
 
 " No offence : I thought it likely, that's all. The Ama- 
 ranth is Kanuck's last dodge. He keeps mighty close, but 
 if he don't feather his nest in a hurry, at somebody's ex- 
 pense, I ain't no judge o' men ! " 
 
 Joseph did not dare to mention the Amaranth again. He 
 parted with Mr. Blenkinsop at Tarr Farm, and went on to 
 Oil City, where he spent a day in unprofitable wanderings, 
 and then set out up the river, first to seek the Chowder 
 wells, and afterwards to ascertain whether there was any 
 perennial beauty in the Amaranth. 
 
 The first thing which he remarked was the peculiar topog- 
 raphy of the region. The Chowder property was a sloping
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 bottom, gradually rising from the river to a range of high 
 hills a quarter of a mile in the rear. Just above this point 
 the river made a sharp horseshoe bend, washing the foot of 
 the hills for a considerable distance, and then curving back 
 again, with a second tract of bottom-land beyond. On the 
 latter, he was informed, the Fluke wells were located. The 
 inference was therefore irresistible that the Amaranth Com- 
 pany must be the happy possessor of the lofty section of hills 
 dividing the two. 
 
 " Do they get oil up there ? " he asked of Blenkinsop's 
 foreman, pointing to the ragged, barren heights. 
 
 " They may get skunk oil, or rattle-snake oil," the man 
 answered. " Them'll do to peddle, but you can't fill tanks 
 with 'em. I hear they've got a company for that place, 
 tli' Amaranth, they call it, but any place'll do for derned 
 fools. Why, look 'ee here ! TFe've got seven hundred feet 
 to bore : now, jest put twelve hundred more atop o' that, and 
 guess whether they can even pump oil, with the Chowder 
 and Fluke both sides of 'em ! But it does for green 'uns, as 
 well as any other place." 
 
 Joseph laughed, a most feeble, unnatural, ridiculous 
 laugh. 
 
 "I'll walk over that way to the Fluke," he said. "I 
 should like to see how such things are managed." 
 
 " Then be a little on your guard with Kanuck, if you 
 meet him," the man good-naturedly advised. " Don't ask 
 him too many questions." 
 
 It was a hot, wearisome climb to the timber-skeletons on 
 the summit (more like gibbets than anything else), which 
 denoted shafts to the initiated as well as the ignorant eye. 
 There were a dozen or more, but all were deserted. 
 
 Joseph wandered from one to the other, asking himself,
 
 JOSEPH AXD ins FRIKXD. 235 
 
 as lie inspected each, '"' Is this the splendid speculation?" 
 What was there iu that miserable, shabby, stony region, a 
 hundred acres of which would hardly pasture a cow, whence 
 wealth should come ? Verily, as stony and as barren were 
 the natures of the men, who on this wretched basis built 
 their cheating schemes ! 
 
 A little farther on he came to a deep ravine, cleaving the 
 hills in twain. There was another skeleton in its bed, but 
 several shabby individuals were gathered about it, the 
 first sign of life or business he had yet discovered. 
 
 He hastened down the steep declivity, the warning of the 
 Chowder foreman recurring to his mind, yet it seemed so 
 difficult to fix his policy in advance that he decided to leave 
 everything to chance. As he approached he saw that the 
 men were laborers, with the exception of a tall, lean indivi- 
 dual, who looked like an unfortunate clergyman. He had a 
 sallow face, lighted by small, restless, fiery eyes, which re- 
 minded Joseph, when they turned upon him, of those of a 
 black snake. His greeting was cold and constrained, and 
 his manner said plainly, "The sooner you leave the better I 
 shall be satisfied." 
 
 " This is a rough country for walking," said Joseph ; 
 " how much farther is it to the Fluke wells ? " 
 
 " Just a bit," said one of the workmen. 
 
 Joseph took a seat on a stone, with the air of one who 
 needed rest. " This well, I suppose," he remarked, " be- 
 longs to the Amaranth ? " 
 
 " Who told you so ? " asked the lean, dark man. 
 
 " They said below, at the Chowder, that the Amaranth 
 was up here." 
 
 " Did Blenkinsop send you this way ? " the man asked 
 again.
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 " Xobody sent me," Joseph replied. " I am a stranger, 
 taking a look at the oil country. I liave never before been 
 in this part of the State." 
 
 " May I ask your name? " 
 
 " Asten," said Joseph, unthinkingly. 
 
 " Asten ! I think I know where that name belongs. Let 
 me see." 
 
 The man pulled out a large dirty envelope from his 
 breast-pocket, ran over several papers, unfolded one, and 
 presently asked, 
 
 " Joseph Asten ? " 
 
 " Yes." (Joseph set his teeth, and silently cursed his 
 want of forethought.) 
 
 " Proprietor of ten thousand dollars' worth of stock in 
 the Amaranth ! Who sent you here ? " 
 
 His tone, though meant to be calm, was fierce and mena- 
 cing. Joseph rose, scanned the faces of the workmen, who 
 listened with a malicious curiosity, and finally answered, 
 with a candor which seemed to impress, while it evidently 
 disappointed the questioner : 
 
 " No one sent me, and no one, beyond my own family, 
 knows that I am here. I am a farmer, not a speculator. I 
 was induced to take the stock from representations which 
 have not been fulfilled, and which, I am now convinced, 
 never will be fulfilled. My habit is, when I cannot get the 
 truth from others, to ascertain it for myself. I presume 
 you are Mr. Kanuck ? " 
 
 The man did not answer immediately, but the quick, 
 intelligent glance of one of the workmen showed Joseph 
 that liis surmise was correct. Mr. Kanuck conversed apart 
 with the men, apparently giving private orders, and then 
 said, with a constrained civility:
 
 JOKI'H AND III.- FKIKXIX 237 
 
 "If you arc bound fur the Fluke, Mr. Asten, I will join 
 you. I am also going in that direction, and \ve can talk on 
 the way." 
 
 They toiled up the opposite side of the ravine in silence. 
 When they had reached the top and taken breath, Mr. 
 Kanuck commenced : 
 
 " I must infer that you have little faith in anything being 
 realized from the Amaranth. Any man, ignorant of the 
 technicalities of boring, might be discouraged by the external 
 appearance of things; and I shall therefore not endeavor to 
 explain to you my grounds of hope, unless you will agree to 
 join me for a month or two and become practically ac- 
 quainted with the locality and the modes of labor." 
 
 "That is unnecessary," Joseph replied. 
 
 "You being a farmer, of course 1 could not expect it. 
 On the other hand, I think I can appreciate your, disap- 
 pointment, if we must call it so, and I should be willing, 
 under certain conditions, to save you, not from positive loss, 
 because I do not admit the possibility of that, but from 
 what, at present, may seem loss to you. Do I make my 
 meaning clear?" 
 
 " Entirely," Joseph replied, " except as to the conditions." 
 
 " We are dealing on the square, I take it ? " 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Then," said Mr. Kanuck, " I need only intimate to you 
 how important it is that I should develop our prospects. 
 To do this, the faith of the principal stockholders must not 
 be disturbed, otherwise the funds without which the pros- 
 pects cannot be developed . may fail me at the critical 
 moment. Your hasty and unintelligent impressions, if ex- 
 pressed in a reckless manner, might do much to bring about 
 such a catastrophe. I must therefore stipulate that you
 
 238 JOSEPH AND HIS FEIEXD. 
 
 keep sucli impressions to yourself. Let me speak to you 
 as man to man, and ask you if your expressions, not being 
 founded on knowledge, would be honest ? So far from it, 
 you will be bound in all fairness, in consideration of my 
 releasing you and restoring you what you have ventured, to 
 adopt and disseminate the views of an expert, namely, 
 mine." 
 
 "Let me put it into fewer words," said Joseph. "You 
 will buy my stock, repaying me what I have disbursed, if, 
 on my return, I say nothing of what 1 have seen, and ex- 
 press my perfect faith (adopting your views) in the success 
 of the Amaranth ? " 
 
 " You have stated the conditions a little barely, perhaps, 
 but not incorrectly. I only ask for perfect fairness, as be- 
 tween man and man." 
 
 " One question first, Mr. Kanuck. Does Mr. Blessing 
 know the real prospects of the Amaranth ? " 
 
 " No man more thoroughly, I assure you, Mr. Asten. 
 Indeed, without Mr. Blessing's enthusiastic concurrence in 
 the enterprise, I doubt whether we could have carried the 
 work so far towards success. His own stock, I may say to 
 you, since we understand each other, was earned by his 
 efforts. If you know him intimately, you know also that 
 he has no visible means of support. But he has what is 
 much more important to us, a thorough knowledge of 
 men and their means." 
 
 He rubbed his hands, and laughed softly. They had beeii 
 walking rapidly during the conversation, and now came sud- 
 denly upon the farthest crest of the hills, where the ridge 
 fell away to the bottom occupied by the Fluke wells. Both 
 paused at this point. 
 
 "On the square, then!" said Mr. Kanuck, offering his
 
 239 
 
 hand. " TV11 me where you will be to-morrow morni:i_', 
 and our business can be settled in five minutes. You will 
 carry out your part of the bargain, as man to man, when you 
 find that I carry out mine." 
 
 '' Do you take me for an infernal scoundrel ? " cried 
 Joseph, boiling over with disgust and rage. 
 
 Mr. Kanuck stepped back a pace or two. His sallow face 
 became livid, and there was murder in his eyes. He put 
 his hand into his breast, and Joseph, facing him, involunta- 
 rily did the same. Xot until long afterwards, when other 
 experiences had taught him the significance of the move- 
 ment, did he remember what it then meant. 
 
 " So ! that's your game, is it ? " his antagonist said, hiss- 
 ing the words through his teeth. " A spy, after all ! Or a 
 detective, perhaps ? I was a fool to trust a milk-and-water 
 face : but one thing I tell you, you may get away, but 
 come back again if you dare ! " 
 
 Joseph said nothing, but gazed steadily in the man's eyes, 
 and did not move from his position so long as he was within 
 sight. Then, breathing deeply, as if relieved from the dread 
 of an unknown danger, lie swiftly descended the hill. 
 
 That evening, as he sat in the bar-room of a horrible 
 shanty (called a hotel), farther up the river, he noticed a 
 pair of eyes fixed intently upon him : they belonged to one 
 of the workmen in the Amaranth ravine. The man made 
 an almost imperceptible signal, and left the room. Joseph 
 followed him. 
 
 " Hush ! " whispered the former. " Don't come back to 
 the hill ; and get away from here to-morrow morning, if you 
 can ! " With these words he darted off and disappeared in 
 the darkness. 
 
 The counsel was unnecessary. Joseph, with all his inex-
 
 240 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 peiience of the world, saw plainly that his only alternatives 
 were loss or connivance. Nothing was to be gained by 
 following the vile business any further. He took the earli- 
 est possible train, and by the afternoon of the following day 
 found himself again in the city. 
 
 He was conscious of no desire to meet Mr. Blessing, yet 
 the pressure of his recent experience seemed to drive him 
 irresistibly in that direction. When he rang the bell, it was 
 with the hope that he should find nobody at home. Mr. 
 Blessing, however, answered the summons, and after the first 
 expression of surprise, ushered him into the parlor. 
 
 " I am quite alone," he said ; " Mrs. Blessing is passing 
 the evening with her sister, Mrs. Woollish, and Clementina 
 is still at Long Branch. I believe it is as good as settled 
 that we are to lose her ; at least she has written to inquire 
 the extent of my available funds, which, in her case, is tanta- 
 mount to very much more." 
 
 Joseph determined to avoid all digressions, and insist on 
 the Amaranth speculation, once for all, being clearly dis- 
 cussed. He saw that his father-in-law became more uneasy 
 and excited as he advanced in the story of his journey, and, 
 when it was concluded, did not seem immediately prepared 
 to reply. His suspicions, already aroused by Mr. Kanuck's 
 expressions, were confirmed, and a hard, relentless feeling of 
 hostility took possession of his heart. 
 
 "I I really must look into this," Mr. Blessing stam- 
 mered, at last. " It seems incredible : pardon me, but I woxild 
 doubt the statements, did they come from other lips than 
 yours. It is as if I had nursed a dove in my bosom, and 
 unexpectedly found it to be a a basilisk ! " 
 
 " It can be no serious loss to you," said Joseph, " since 
 you received your stock in return for services."
 
 JOSEPH AND JUS FRIEND. 24:1 
 
 "That is true: I was not thinking of myself. The real 
 sting of the cockatrice is, that I have innocently misled you."" 
 
 "Yet I understood you to say you had ventured vo'u- 
 all ? " 
 
 " My all of hope my all of expectation ! " Mr. Blessim; 
 cried. "I dreamed I had overtaken the rainbow at last; 
 but this this is senna quassia aloes ! My nature is 
 so confiding that I accept the possibilities of the future as 
 present realities, and build upon them as if they were Quin- 
 cy granite. And yet, with all my experience, my acknow- 
 ledged sagacity, my acquaintance with the hidden labyrinths 
 of finance, it seems impossible that I can be so deceived ! 
 There must be some hideous misunderstanding: I have cal- 
 culated all the elements, prognosticated all the planetary as- 
 pects, so to speak, and have not found a whisper of failure ! " 
 
 "You omitted one very important element," Joseph said. 
 
 "What is that? I might have employed a detective, it 
 is true " 
 
 " No ! " Joseph replied. " Honesty ! " 
 
 Mr. Blessing fell back in his chair, weeping bitterly. 
 
 " I deserve this ! " he exclaimed. " I will not resent it. 
 I forgive you in advance of the time when you shall recog- 
 nize my sincere, my heartfelt wish to serve you ! Go, go : 
 let me not recriminate ! I meant to be, and still mean to 
 be, your friend : but spare my too confiding child ! " 
 
 Without a word of good-by, Joseph took his hat and has- 
 tened from the house. At every step the abyss of dishonesty 
 seemed to open deeper before his feet. Spare the too con- 
 fiding child ! Father and daughter were alike : both mean, 
 both treacherous, both unpardonably false. to him. 
 
 With such feelings he left the city next morning, and 
 
 made his way homewards. 
 11
 
 242 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 JULIA'S EXPERIMENT. 
 
 IN the mean time the Hopetons had left for the sea-shore, 
 and the two women, after a drive to Magnolia, remained 
 quietly on the farm. Julia employed the days in studying 
 Lucy with a soft, stealthy, unremitting watchfulness which 
 the latter could not suspect, since, in the first place, it was a 
 faculty quite unknown to her, and, secondly, it would have 
 seemed absurd because inexplicable. Neither could she 
 guess with what care Julia's manner and conversation were 
 adapted to her own. She was only surprised to find so 
 much earnest desire to correct faults, such artless transpa- 
 rency of nature. Thus an interest quite friendly took the 
 place of her former repulsion of feeling, of which she began, 
 to be sincerely ashamed. 
 
 Moreover, Julia's continual demonstration of her love for 
 Joseph, from which Lucy at first shrank with a delicate 
 tremor of the heart, soon ceased to affect her. Nay, it 
 rather seemed to interpose a protecting barrier between her 
 present and the painful memory of her past self. She be- 
 gan to suspect that all regret was now conquered, and rejoiced 
 in the sense of strength which could only thus be made 
 clear to her mind. Her feeling towards Joseph became that 
 of a sister or a dear woman friend ; there could be no harm 
 in cherishing it ; she found a comfort in speaking to Julia 
 of his upright, unselfish character, his guilelessness and 
 kindness of heart.
 
 21-3 
 
 The work upon the house was nearly finished, but new 
 and more alarming bills began to come in ; and worse was 
 In store. There was a chimney -piece, "the loveli.-st ivory 
 veins through the green marble,"' Julia said, which she had 
 ordered from the city ; there were boxes and packages of 
 furniture already on hand, purchased without -Joseph's 
 knowledge and with entire faith in the virtues of the Ama- 
 ranth. Although she still clung to that faith with a des- 
 perate grip, the sight of the boxes did not give her the same 
 ieliglit as she had felt in ordering them. She saw the ne- 
 cessity of being prepared, in advance, for either alternative. 
 It was not in her nature to dread any scene or circum- 
 stance of life (although she had found the appearance 
 of timidity very available, and could assume it admirably) ; 
 the question which perplexed her was, how to retain and 
 strengthen her ascendency over Joseph ? 
 
 It is needless to say that the presence of Lucy Henderson 
 was a part of her plan, although she held a more important 
 service in reserve. Lucy's warm, frank expressions of 
 friendship for Joseph gave her great satisfaction, and she 
 was exhaustless in inventing ways to call them forth. 
 
 " You look quite like another person, Lucy," she would 
 say ; " I really think the rest has done you good." 
 
 " I am siire of it," Lucy answered. 
 
 " Then you must be in no hurry to leave. We must build 
 you up, as the doctors say ; and, besides, if if this specula- 
 tion should be unfortunate O, I don't dare to think of 
 it ! there will be such a comfort to me, and I am sure to 
 Joseph also, in having you here until we have learned to 
 bear it. We should not allow our minds to dwell on it so 
 much, you know ; we should make an exertion to hide our 
 disappointment in your presence, and that would be such
 
 244 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEXD. 
 
 a help ! Now you will say I am borrowing trouble, but do, 
 pray, make allowances for me, Lucy ! Think how every- 
 thing has been kept from me that I ought to have known ! " 
 
 " Of course, I will stay a little while for your sake," Lucy 
 answered ; " but Joseph is a man, and most men bear bad 
 luck easily. He would hardly thank me for condoling with 
 him." 
 
 " O, no, no ! " Julia cried ; " he thinks everything of you ! 
 He was so anxious for you to come here ! he said to me, 
 ' Lucy Henderson is a noble, true-hearted girl, and you will 
 love her at once,' as I did, Lucy, when I first saw you, but 
 without knowing why, as I now do." 
 
 A warm color came into Lucy's face, but she only shook 
 her head and said nothing. 
 
 The two women had just risen from the breakfast-table the 
 next morning, when a shadow fell into the room through the 
 front window, and a heavy step was heard on the stone 
 pavement of the veranda. Julia gave a little start and 
 shriek, and seized Lucy's arm. The door opened and Joseph 
 was there. He had risen before daybreak and taken the 
 earliest train from the city. He had scarcely slept for two 
 nights ; his face was stern and haggard, and the fatigue, in- 
 stead of exhausting, had only added to his excitement. 
 
 Julia sprang forward, threw her arm saround, him, and 
 kissed him repeatedly. He stood still and passively endured 
 the caress, without returning it ; then, stepping forward, he 
 gave his hand to Lucy. She felt that it was cold and moist^ 
 and she did not attempt to repress the quick sympathy 
 which came into her face and voice. 
 
 Julia guejssed something of the truth instantly, and nothing 
 but the powerful necessity of continuing to play her part en- 
 abled her to conceal the bitter anger which the contrast
 
 between Joseph's greeting to lier and to Lucy aroused in her 
 lieart. .She stood for a moment as if paralyzed, Imt in reality 
 to collect herself; then, approaching her hushand, she stam- 
 mered forth: " (), Joseph I'm afraid I don't dare to ask 
 yon what what news you bring. You didn't write I've 
 been so uneasy and now I see from your face that some- 
 thing is wrong." 
 
 o O 
 
 He did not answer. 
 
 "Don't tell me all at once, if it's very bad!" she then 
 cried : " but, no ! it's my duty to hear it, my duty to bear 
 it,- Lucy has taught me that, tell ine all, tell me all, this 
 moment ! " 
 
 " You and your father have ruined me : that is all." 
 
 " Joseph ! " The word sounded like the essence of tender 
 protest, of heart-breaking reproach. Lucy rose quietly and 
 moved towards the door. 
 
 "Don't leave me, Lucy ! " was Julia's appeal. 
 
 " It is better that I should go," Lucy answered, in a faint 
 voice, and left the room. 
 
 " But, Joseph," Julia resumed, with a wild, distracted air, 
 " why do you say such terrible things ? I really do not 
 know what yoxi mean. What have you learned ? what have 
 you seen ? " 
 
 " I have seen the Amaranth ! " 
 
 "Well! Is there no oil?" 
 
 " O yes, plenty of oil ! " he laughed ; " skunk oil and 
 rattlesnake oil ! It is one of the vilest cheats that the 
 Devil ever put into the minds of bad men." 
 
 "O, poor pa!" Julia cried; "what a terrible blow to 
 him!" 
 
 " ' Poor pa ! ' Yes, my discovery of the cheat is a terrible 
 blow to ' poor pa,' he did not calculate on its being found
 
 24G JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEKD. 
 
 out so soon. When I learned from Kanuck that all the 
 stock he holds was given to him for services, that is, for 
 getting the money out of the pockets of innocents like myself, 
 - you may judge how much pity 1 feel for poor pa ! I told 
 him the fact to his face, last night, and he admitted it." 
 
 " Then," said Julia, " if the others know nothing, he may 
 be able to sell his stock to-day, his and yours ; and we may 
 not lose much after all." 
 
 " I should have sent you to the oil region, instead of going 
 myself," Joseph answered, with a sneer. " You and Kanuck 
 would soon have come to terms. He offered to take my 
 stock off my hands, provided Iwould go back to the city 
 and make such a report of the speculation as he would dic- 
 tate." 
 
 " A.nd you didn't do it f " Julia's voice rose almost to a 
 scream, as the words burst involuntarily from her lips. 
 
 The expression on Joseph's face showed her that she had 
 been rash ; but the words were said, and she could only 
 advance, not recede. 
 
 " It is perfectly legitimate in business," she continued. 
 " Every investment in the Amaranth was a venture, every 
 stockholder knew that he risked losing his money ! There 
 is not one that would not save himself in that way, if he 
 had the chance. But you pride yourself on being so much 
 better than other men ! Mr. Chaffinch is right ; you have 
 what he calls a ' moral pride ' ! You " 
 
 " Stop ! " Joseph interrupted. " Who was it that pro- 
 fessed such concern about my faith ? Who sent Mr. Chaf- 
 finch to insult me ? " 
 
 " Faith and business are two different things : all the 
 churches know that. There was Mr. Sanctus, in the city : 
 lie subscribed ten thousand dollars to the Church of the
 
 JOSEPH AX1J HIS FKIEXD. 247 
 
 Acceptance : he couldn't pay it, and they levied on his pro- 
 perty, and sold him out of house and home ! Really, you 
 are as ignorant of the world as a baby ! " 
 
 '' God keep me so, then ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " However," she resumed, after a pause, " since you insist 
 on our bearing the loss, I shall expect of your moral pride, 
 that you bear it patiently, if not cheerfully. It is far from 
 being ruin to us. The rise in property will very likely 
 balance it, and you will still be worth what you were." 
 
 " That is not all," he said. " I will not mention my 
 greatest loss, for you are incapable of understanding it ; but 
 how inucli else have you saddled me with ? Let me have a 
 look at it ! " 
 
 He crossed the hall and entered the new apartment, Julia 
 following. Joseph inspected the ceiling, the elaborate and 
 overladen cornices, the marble chimney-piece, and finally 
 peered into the boxes and packages, not trusting himself to 
 speak while the extent of the absurd splendor to which she 
 had committed him grew upon his mind. Finally he said, 
 striving to make his voice calm, although it trembled in his 
 throat : " Since you were so free to make all these pur- 
 chases, perhaps you will tell me how they are to be paid 
 for ? " 
 
 " Let me manage it, then," she answered. " There is no 
 hurry. These country mechanics are always impatient, 1 
 should call them impertinent, and I should like to teach 
 them a lesson. Sellers are under obligations to the buyers, 
 and they are bound to be accommodating. They have so 
 many bills which are never paid, that an extension of time 
 is the least they can do. Why, they will always wait a 
 year, two years, three years, rather than lose." 
 
 " I suppose so."
 
 248 JOSEPH AKD HIS FRIEND. 
 
 "Then," said Julia, deceived by Joseph's quiet tone, 
 " their profits are so enormous, that it would only be fair to 
 reduce the bills. I am sure, that if I were to mention that 
 you were embarrassed by heavy losses, and press them hard, 
 they would compromise with me on a moderate amount. 
 You know they allow what is called a margin for losses, 
 pa told me, but I forget how much, they always expect to 
 lose a certain percentage ; and, of course, it can make no 
 difference by whom they lose it. You understand, don't 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes : it is very plain." 
 
 " Pa could help me to get both a reduction and an exten- 
 sion of time. The bills have not all been sent, and it will 
 be better to wait two or three months after they have come 
 in. If the dealers are a little uneasy in advance, they 
 will be all the readier to compromise afterwards." 
 
 Joseph walked up and down the hollow room, with his 
 Lands clasped behind his back and his eyes fixed upon the 
 floor. Suddenly he stopped before her and said : " There is 
 another way." 
 
 " Not a better one, I am certain." 
 
 " The furniture has not yet been unpacked, and can be 
 returned to them uninjured. Then the bills need not be 
 paid at all." 
 
 " And we should be the laughing-stock of the neighbor- 
 hood ! " she cried, her eyes flashing. " I never heard of any- 
 thing so ridiculous ! If the worst comes to the worst, you 
 can sell Bishop those fifty acres over the hill, which he stands 
 ready to take, any day. But you'd rather have a dilapidated 
 house, no parlor, guests received in the dining-room and 
 the kitchen, the Hopetons and your friends, the Helds, 
 sneering at us behind our backs ! And what would your
 
 249 
 
 credit be worth ? We shall nor even get trusted for gro- 
 ceries at the village store, if you leave things as they 
 are ! " 
 
 Joseph groaned, speaking to himself rather than answering 
 her : " Is there no way out of this ? What is done is done ; 
 shall I submit to it, and try to begin anew? or 
 
 lie did not finish the sentence. Julia turned her head, 
 so that only the chimney-piece and the furniture could see 
 the sparkle of triumph in her eyes. She felt that she had 
 maintained her position ; and, what was far more, she now 
 clearly saw the course by which she could secure it. 
 
 She left the room, drawing a full breath of relief as the 
 door closed behind her. The first shock of the evil news was 
 over, and it had not fallen quite so heavily as she had feared. 
 There were plenty of devices in store whereby all that was 
 lost might be recovered. Had not her life at home been an 
 unbroken sticcession of devices ? Was she not seasoned to 
 all manner of ups and downs, and wherefore should this first 
 failure disconcert her ? The loss of the money was, in re- 
 ality, much less important to her than the loss of her power 
 over Joseph. Weak as she had supposed him to be, he had 
 shown a fierce and unexpected resistance, which must be sup- 
 pressed now, or it might crush her whole plan of life. It 
 seemed to her that he was beginning to waver: should she 
 hasten a scheme by which she meant to entrap him into 
 submission, a subtle and dangerous scheme, which must 
 either wholly succeed, or, wholly failing, involve her in its 
 iailure ? 
 
 Rapidly turning over the question in her mind, she en- 
 tered her bed-room. Locking the door, she walked directly 
 to the looking-glass ; the curtain was drawn from the win- 
 dow, and a strong light fell upon her face. 
 11*
 
 250 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 "This will never do ! " she said to herself. " The anxiety 
 and excitement have made me thin again, and I seem to 
 have no color." She unfastened her dress, bared her neck, 
 and pushed the ringlets behind her ears. " I look pinched ; 
 a little more, and I shall look old. If I were a perfect bru- 
 nette or a perfect blonde, there would be less difficulty ; but 
 I have the most provoking, unmanageable complexion ! I 
 must bring on the crisis at once, and then see if I can't fill 
 out these hollows." 
 
 She heard the front door opening, and presently saw 
 Joseph on the lawn. He looked about for a moment, with 
 a heavy, bewildered air, and then slowly turned towards the 
 garden. She withdrew from the window, hesitated a mo- 
 ment, murmured to herself, " I will try, there cannot be a 
 better time ! " and then, burying her face in her hands and 
 sobbing, rushed to Lucy's room. 
 
 " O Lucy ! " she cried, " help me, or I am lost ! How 
 can I tell you ? it is harder than I ever dreamed ! " 
 
 " Is the loss so very serious, so much more than you 
 feared ? " Lucy asked. 
 
 "Not that O, if that were all ! But Joseph" Here 
 Julia's sobs became almost hysterical. " He is so cruel ; I 
 did advise him, as I told you, for his sake, and now he says 
 that pa and I have combined to cheat him ! I don't think he 
 knows how dreadful his words are. I would sooner die than 
 hear any more of them ! Go to him, Lucy ; he is in the 
 garden ; perhaps he will listen to you. I am afraid, and I 
 never thought I should be afraid of him ! " 
 
 "It is very, very sad," said Lucy. "But if he is in such 
 an excited condition he will surely resent my coming. 
 What can I say?" 
 
 " Say only what you heard me speak ! Tell him of my
 
 251 
 
 anxiety, my self-reproach ! Tell him that even if he will 
 believe that pa meant to deceive him, he must not believe 
 it of me ! You know, Lucy, how he wrongs me in his 
 thoughts ; if you knew how hard it is to be wronged by a 
 husband, you \vould pity me ! " 
 
 " I do pity you, Julia, from my very heart ; and the proof 
 of it is, that I will try to do what you ask, against my own 
 sense of its prudence. If Joseph repels my interference, I 
 shall not blame him." 
 
 " Heaven bless you, Lucy ! He will not repel you, he 
 cannot ! " Julia sobbed. " I will lie down and try to grow 
 calm." She rose from the bed, upon which she had flung 
 herself, and tottered through the door. When she had 
 reached her own room, she again looked at her image in the 
 glass, nodded and smiled. 
 
 Lucy walked slowly along the garden paths, plucking a 
 flower or two, and irresolute how to approach Joseph. At 
 last, descending the avenue of box, she found him seated in 
 the semicircular enclosure, gazing steadfastly down the val- 
 ley, but (she was sure) not seeing the landscape. As he 
 turned his head at her approach, she noticed that his eye- 
 lids were reddened and his lips compressed with an expres- 
 sion of intense pain. 
 
 " Sit down, Lucy ; I am a grim host, to-day," he said, 
 with a melancholy attempt at a smile. 
 
 Lucy had come to him with a little womanly indignation, 
 for Julia's sake, in her heart ; but it vanished utterly, and 
 the tears started into her eyes. For a moment she found it 
 impossible to speak. 
 
 " I shall not talk of my ignorance any more, as I once 
 did," Joseph continued. " If there is a class in the school 
 of the world, graded according to experience of human
 
 252 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIil^D. 
 
 meanness and treachery and falsehood, I ought to stand at 
 the head." 
 
 Lucy stretched out her hand in protest. " Do not speak 
 so bitterly, Joseph ; it pains me to hear you." 
 
 " How would you have me speak ? " 
 
 " As a man who will not see ruin befoi'e him because a 
 part of his property happens to slip from him, nay, if all 
 were lost ! I always took you to be liberal, Joseph, never 
 careful of money for money's sake, and I cannot xmderstand 
 how your nature should be changed now, even though you 
 have been the victim of some dishonesty." 
 
 " ' Some dishonesty ' ! You are thinking only of money : 
 what term would you give to the betrayal of a heart, the 
 ruin of a life ? " 
 
 " Surely, Joseph, you do not, you cannot mean " 
 
 " My wife, of course. It needed no guessing." 
 
 " Joseph ! " Lucy cried, seizing the opportunity, " indeed 
 you do her wrong ! I know what anxiety she has suffered 
 during your absence. She blamed herself for having ad- 
 vised you to risk so much in an uncertain speculation, 
 dreaded your disappointment, resolved to atone for it, if 
 she could ! She may have been rash and thoughtless, but 
 she never meant to deceive you. If you are disappointed 
 in some qualities, you should not shut your eyes and refuse 
 to see others. I know, now, that I have myself not been 
 fair in my judgment of Julia. A nearer acquaintance has 
 led me to conceive what disadvantages of education, for 
 which she is not responsible, she is obliged to overcome : she 
 sees, she admits them, and she will overcome them. You, 
 as her husband, are bound to show her a patient kind- 
 ness " 
 
 " Enough 1 " Joseph interrupted ; " I see that you have
 
 253 
 
 touched pitch, also. Lucy, your first instinct was right. The 
 woman whom I ;un bound to look upon as my wife is false 
 and selfish in everv fibre of her nature; how false and self- 
 ish I only can know, for to me she takes oil' her mask ! " 
 
 ; 'Do you believe me, then V "' Lucy's words were slightly 
 defiant. She had not quite understood the allusion to 
 touching pitch, and Joseph's indifference to her advocacy 
 seemed to her unfeeling. 
 
 " I begin to fear that Philip was right,"' said Joseph, not 
 heeding her question. (l Life is relentless : ignorance or 
 crime, it is all the same. And if God cares less about our 
 individual wrongs than we flatter ourselves He does, what 
 do we gain by further endurance ? Here is Lucy Hender- 
 son, satisfied that my wife is a suffering angel ; thinks my 
 nature is changed, that I am cold-hearted and cruel, while 
 I know Liicy to be true and noble, and deceived by the very 
 goodness of her own heart ! " 
 
 He lifted his head, looked in her face a moment, and then 
 went on : 
 
 " I am sick of masks ; we all wear them. Do you want 
 to know the truth, Lucy ? When I look back I can see it 
 very clearly, now. A little more than a year ago the one 
 girl who began to live in my thoxights was you ! Don't 
 interrupt me : I am only speaking of what was. When I 
 went to Warriner's, it was in the hope of meeting you, not 
 Julia Blessing. It was not yet love that I felt, but I think 
 it would have grown to that, if I had not been led away by 
 the cunningest arts ever a woman devised. I will not spec- 
 ulate on what might have been : if I had loved you, per- 
 haps there would have been no return : had there been, I 
 should have darkened the life of a friend. But this I say ; 
 I honor and esteem you, Lucy, and the loss of your friend-
 
 254 JOSEPH AND ins 
 
 ship, if I now lose it, is another evil service which my wife 
 lias done me." 
 
 Joseph little suspected how he was torturing Lucy. She 
 must have been more than woman, had not a pang of wild 
 regret for the lost fortune, and a sting of bitter resentment 
 against the woman who had stolen it, wrung her heart. 
 She became deadly pale, and felt that her whole body was 
 trembling. 
 
 ie Joseph," she said, " you should not, must not, speak so 
 to me." 
 
 " I suppose not," he answered, letting his head sink wea- 
 rily ; " it is certainly not conventional ; but it is true, for 
 all that ! I could tell you the whole story, for I can read 
 it backwards, from now to the beginning, without misunder- 
 standing a word. It would make no difference ; she is 
 simple, natural, artless, amiable, for all the rest of the 
 world, while to me 
 
 There was such despondency in his voice and posture, 
 that Lucy, now longing more than ever to cheer him, and 
 yet discouraged by the failure of her first attempt, felt 
 sorely troubled. 
 
 "You mistake me, Joseph," she said, at last, "if you 
 think you have lost my friendship, my sincerest sympathy. 
 I can see that your disappointment is a bitter one, and my 
 prayer is that you will not make it bitterer by thrusting 
 from you the hopeful and cheerful spirit you once showed. 
 We all have our sore trials." 
 
 Lucy found her own words very mechanical, but they 
 were the only ones that came to her lips. Joseph did not 
 answer ; he still sat, stooping, with his elbows on his knees, 
 and his forehead resting on his palms. 
 
 " If I am deceived in Julia," she began again, " it is bet-
 
 tor to judge too kindly than too harshly. I know you can- 
 not change your .sentence against her now, nor, perhaps, 
 very soon. But you arc bound to her for life, and you must 
 labor it is your sacred duty to make that lite smoother 
 and brighter for both. I do not know how, and I have no 
 right to condemn you if you fail. But, Joseph, make; the 
 attempt now, when the most unfortunate experience that is 
 likely to come to you is over ; make it, and it may chance 
 that, little by little, the old confidence will return, and you 
 will love her again." 
 
 Joseph started to his feet. " Love her ! " he exclaimed, 
 with suppressed passion, " love her ! I hate her ! " 
 
 There was a hissing, rattling sound, like that of some 
 fierce animal at bay. The thick foliage of two of the tall 
 box-trees was violently parted. The branches snapped and 
 gave way : J ulia burst through, and stood before them.
 
 <56 JOSEPH AXD ins FRIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 THE face that so suddenly glared upon them was that 
 of a Gorgon. The ringlets were still pushed behind her 
 ears and the narrowness of the brow was entirely revealed; 
 her eyes were full of cold, steely light ; the nostrils were 
 violently drawn in, and the lips contracted, as if in a spasm, 
 so that the teeth were laid bare. Her hands were clenched, 
 and there was a movement in her throat as of imprisoned 
 words or cries ; but for a moment no words came. 
 
 Lucy, who had started to her feet at the first sound, felt 
 the blood turn chill in her veins, and fell, rather than sank, 
 upon the seat again. 
 
 Joseph was hardly surprised, and wholly reckless. This 
 eavesdropping was nothing worse than he already knew ; 
 indeed, there was rather a comfort in perceiving that he had 
 not overestimated her capacity for treachery. There waa 
 now no limit ; anything was possible. 
 
 "There is owe just law, after all," he said, "the law that 
 punishes listeners. You have heard the truth, for once. 
 You have snared and trapped me, but I don't take 
 to my captor more kindly than any other animal. 
 From this moment I choose my own path, and if you 
 still wish to appear as my wife, you must adapt your life 
 to mine ! " 
 
 " You mean to brazen it out, do you ! " Julia cried, in a 
 strange, hoarse, unnatural voice. " That's not so easy !
 
 I have not listened to no purpose : I have a hold upon your 
 precious ' moral pride ' at lust ! '' 
 
 Joseph laughed scornfully. 
 
 "Yes, laugh, but it is in my hands to make or break you ! 
 There is enough decent sentiment in this neighborhood to 
 crush a married man who dares to make love to an unmar- 
 ried girl ! As to the girl who sits still and listens to it, 
 I say nothing ; her reputation is no concern of mine ! " 
 
 Lucy littered a faint cry of horror. 
 
 " If you choose to be so despicable," said Joseph, '' you 
 will force rue to set my truth against your falsehood. 
 Wherever you tell your story, I shall follow with mine. It 
 will be a wretched, a degrading business ; but for the sake of 
 Lucy's good name, I have no alternative. I have borne 
 suspicion, misrepresentation, loss of credit, brought upon 
 me by you, patiently, because they affected only myself; 
 but since I am partly responsible in bringing to this house a 
 guest for your arts to play upon and entrap, I am doubly 
 bound to protect her against you. But I tell you, Julia, 
 beware ! I am desperate ; and it is ill meddling with a des- 
 perate man ! You may sneer at my moral piide, but you 
 dare not forget that I have another quality, manly self- 
 respect, which it will be dangerous to offend." 
 
 If Julia did not recognize, in that moment, that her 
 subject had become her master, it was because the real, 
 unassumed rage which convulsed her did not allow her to 
 perceive anything clearly. Her first impulse was to scream 
 and shriek, that servant and farm-hand might hear her, and 
 then to repeat her accusation before them ; but Joseph's last 
 words, and the threatening sternness of his voice withheld 
 her. 
 
 " So ? " she said, at last ; " this is the man who was all
 
 258 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 truth, and trust, and honor ! With you the proverb seeing 
 to be reversed ; it's off with the new love and on with the 
 old. You can insult and threaten me in her presence! 
 Well go on: play out your little love-scene: I shall 
 not interrupt you. I have heard enough to darken my 
 life from this day ! " 
 
 She walked away from them, up the avenue. Her dress 
 was torn, her arms scratched and bleeding. She had play- 
 ed her stake and failed, miserably, hopelessly failed. Her 
 knees threatened to give way under her at every step, but 
 she forced herself to walk erect, and thus reached the house 
 without once looking back. 
 
 Joseph and Lucy mechanically followed her with their 
 eyes. Then they turned and gazed at each other a moment 
 without speaking. Lucy was very pale, and the expression 
 of horror had not yet left her face. 
 
 " She told me to come to you," she stammered. She 
 begged me, with tears, to try and soften your anger against 
 her ; and then oh, it is monstrous ! " 
 
 " Now I see the plan ! " Joseph exclaimed ; " and I, in. 
 my selfish recklessness, saying what there was no need to 
 utter, have almost done as she calculated, have exposed 
 you to this outrage ! Why should I have recalled the past 
 at all ? I was not taking off a mask, I was only showing a 
 scar no, not even a scar, but a bruise ! which I ought to 
 have forgotten. Forget it, too, Lucy, and, if you can, for- 
 give me ! " 
 
 " It is easy to forgive everything but my own blind- 
 ness," Lucy answered. " Biit there is one thing which I 
 must do immediately : I must leave this house ! " 
 
 " I see that," said Joseph, sadly. Then, as if speaking to 
 himself, he murmured : " Who knows what friends will
 
 259 
 
 come to it in the future ? "\\~ell, 1 \vill hear what can be 
 borne; and afterwards, there is Philip's valley. A free 
 outlaw is better than a fettered outlaw ! " 
 
 Lucy feared that his mind was wandering. He straight- 
 ened himself to his full height, drew a deep breath, and 
 exclaimed : " Action is a sedative in such cases, isn't it ? 
 Dennis has gone to the mill ; I will get the other horse 
 from the field and drive you home. Or, stay ! will you not 
 go to Philip Hold's cottage for a day or two ? I think his 
 sister asked you to come." 
 
 " Xo, no ! " cried Lucy ; "you must not go ! I will wait 
 for Dennis." 
 
 "Xo one must suspect what has happened here this morn- 
 ing, unless Julia compels me to make it known, and I don't 
 think she will. It is, therefore, better that I should take 
 you. It will put me, I hope, in a more rational frame of 
 mind. Go quietly to your room and make your prepara- 
 tions. I will see Julia, and if there is no further scene 
 now, there will be none of the kind henceforth. She is 
 cunning when she is calm." 
 
 On reaching the house Joseph went directly to his wife's 
 bed-room. The necessity of an immediate interview could 
 not be avoided, since Lucy was to leave. When he opened 
 the door, Julia, who was bending over an open drawer of 
 her bureau, started up with a little cry of alarm. She closed 
 the drawer hastily, and began to arrange her hair at the 
 mirror. Her face in the glass was flushed, but its expres- 
 sion was sullen and defiant. 
 
 " Julia," he said, as coolly as possible, " I am going to 
 take Lucy home. Of course you understand that she can- 
 not stay here an hour longer. You overheard my words tc 
 her, and you know just how much they were worth. I
 
 260 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 expect now, that for your sake as much as hers or mine 
 you will behave towards her at parting in such a way that 
 the servants may find no suggestions of gossip or slander." 
 
 " And if I don't choose to obey you ? " 
 
 " I am not" commanding. I propose a course which your 
 own mind must find sensible. You have ' a deuced sharp 
 intellect,' as your father said, on our wedding-day." 
 
 Joseph bit his tongue : he felt that he might have omitted 
 this sting. But he was so little accustomed to victory, that 
 he did not guess how thoroughly he had already conquered. 
 
 " Pa loved me, nevertheless," she said, and burst into 
 tears. 
 
 Her emotion seemed real, but he mistrusted it. 
 
 " What can I do?" she sobbed: " I will try. I thought 
 I was your wife, but I am not much more than your slave." 
 
 The foolish pifcy again stole into Joseph's heart, although 
 he set his teeth and clenched his hands against it. " I am 
 going for the horse," he said, in a kinder tone. " When I 
 come back from this drive, this afternoon, I hope I shall 
 find you willing to discuss our situation dispassionately, as 
 I mean to do. We have not known each other fairly before 
 to-day, and our plan of life must be rearranged." 
 
 It was a relief to walk forth, across the silent, sunny 
 fields ; and Joseph had learned to accept a slight relief as 
 a substitute for happiness. The feeling that the inevitable 
 crisis was over, gave him, for the first time in months, a 
 sense of liberation. There was still a dreary and painful 
 task before him, and he hardly knew why he should be so 
 cheerful ; but the bright, sweet currents of his blood were 
 again in motion, and the weight upon his heart was lifted 
 by some impatient, joyous energy. 
 
 The tempting vision of Philip's valley, which had haunted
 
 261 
 
 him from time to time, faded away. The angry tumult 
 through which ho had passed appeared to him like a fever, 
 and he rejoiced consciously in the beginning of his spiritual 
 convalescence. If he could simply suspend Julia's active 
 interference in his life, he might learn to endure his 
 remaining duties. He was yet young ; and how much 
 strength and knowledge had come to him through sharp- 
 est pain, it was true in a single year ! AVould lie willingly 
 return to his boyish innocence of the world, if that year 
 could be erased from his life ? He was not quite sure. 
 Yet his nature had not lost the basis of that innocent 
 time, and he felt that he must still build his future years 
 upon it. 
 
 Thus meditating, he caught the obedient horse, led him 
 to the barn, and harnessed him to the light carriage which 
 Julia was accustomed to use. His anxiety concerning her 
 probable demeanor returned as he entered the house. The 
 two servant-women were both engaged, in the hall, in some 
 sweeping or scouring operation, and might prove to be very 
 inconvenient witnesses. The workmen in the new parlor 
 fortunately, he thought were absent that day. 
 
 Lucy Henderson, dressed for the journey, sat in the 
 dining-room. " I think I will go to Madeline Held for a 
 day or two," she said ; " I made a half-promise to visit her 
 after your return." 
 
 "Where is Julia?" 
 
 " In her bed-room. I have not seen her. I knocked at 
 the door, but there was no answer." 
 
 Joseph's trouble returned. " I will see her myself," he 
 said, sternly ; " she forgets what is due to a guest." 
 
 " No, I will go again," Lucy urged, rising hastily ; " per 
 haps she did not hear me."
 
 262 JOSEPH AND ins FKIEXD. 
 
 She followed him into the hall. Scarcely had he set his 
 foot upon the first step of the staircase, when the bed-room 
 door above suddenly burst open, and Julia, with a shriek ot 
 mortal terror, tottered down to the landing. Her face was 
 ashy, and the dark-blue rings around her sunken eyes made 
 them seem almost like the lai'ge sockets of a skull. She 
 leaned against the railing, breathing short and hard. 
 
 Joseph sprang up the steps, but as he approached her she 
 put out her right hand, and pushed against his breast with 
 all her force, crying out : " Go away ! You have killed 
 me!" 
 
 The next moment she fell senseless upon the landing. 
 
 Joseph knelt and tried to lift her. " Good God ! she is 
 dead ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " No," said Lucy, after taking Julia's wrist, " it is only a 
 fainting fit. Bring some water, Susan." 
 
 The frightened woman, who had followed them, rushed 
 down the stairs. 
 
 " But she must be ill, very ill," Lucy continued. " This 
 is not an ordinary swoon. Perhaps the violent excitement 
 has brought about some internal injury. You must send 
 for a physician as soon as possible." 
 
 " And Dennis not here ! I ought not to leave her ; what 
 shall I do ? " 
 
 " Go yourself, and instantly ! The carriage is ready. I 
 will stay and do all that can be done during your absence." 
 
 Joseph delayed until, under the influence of air and 
 water, Julia began to recover consciousness. Then he un- 
 derstood Lucy's glance, the women were present and she 
 dared not speak, that he should withdraw before Julia 
 could recognize him. 
 
 He did not spare the horse, but the hilly road tried his
 
 JOSEPH AND HI? FRIEND. 263 
 
 patience. It was between two and three miles to the house 
 of the nearest physician, and he only arrived, anxious and 
 breathless, to find that the gentleman had Ix-on called away 
 to attend another patient. Joseph was obliged to retrace 
 part of his road, and drive some distance in the opposite 
 direction, in order to summon a second. 3 fere, however, he 
 was more fortunate. The physician was just sitting down to 
 an early dinner, which he persisted in finishing, assuring 
 Joseph, after ascertaining such symptoms of the case as the 
 latter was able to describe, that it was probably a nervous 
 attack, "a modified form of hysteria." Notwithstanding ho 
 violated his own theory of digestion by eating rapidly, the 
 minutes seemed intolerably long. Then Iris own horse must 
 be harnessed to his own sulky, during which time he pre- 
 pared a few doses of valerian, belladonna, and other pallia- 
 tives, which he supposed might be needed. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lucy and the woman had placed Julia in her 
 own bed, and applied such domestic restoratives as they 
 could procure, but without any encouraging effect. Julia ap- 
 peared to be conscious, but she shook her head when they 
 spoke to her, and even, so Lucy imagined, attempted to turn 
 it away. She refused the tea, the lavender and ginger they 
 brought, and only drank water in long, greedy draughts. In 
 a little while she started up, with clutchings and incoherent 
 cries, and then slowly sank back again, insensible. 
 
 The second period of unconsciousness was longer and 
 more difficult to overcome. Lucy began to be seriously 
 alarmed as an hour, two hours, passed by, and Joseph did 
 not return. Dennis was despatched in search of him, carry- 
 ing also a hastily pencilled note to Madeline Held, and then 
 Lucy, finding that she could do nothing more, took her seat 
 by the window and watched the lane, counting the seconds,
 
 264 JOSEPH AND ins FRIEND. 
 
 one by one, as they were ticked off by the clock in 
 the hall. 
 
 Finally a horse's head appeared above the hedge, \vheve it 
 curved around the shoulder of the hill : then the top of a 
 carriage, Joseph at last ! The physician's sulky was only 
 a short distance in the rear. Lucy hurried down and met 
 Joseph at the gate. 
 
 " No better, worse, I fear," she said, answering his 
 look. 
 
 " Dr. Hartman," he replied," Worrall was away from 
 home, thinks it is probably a nervous attack. In that case 
 it can soon be relieved." 
 
 " I hope so, but I fancy there is danger." 
 
 The doctor now arrived, and after hearing Lucy's report, 
 shook his head. " It is not an ordinary case of hysteria," 
 he remarked ; " let me see her at once." 
 
 When they entered the room Julia opened her eyes lan- 
 guidly, fixed them on Joseph, and slowly lifted her hand to 
 her head. " What has happened to me ? " she murmured, in 
 a hardly audible whisper. 
 
 " You had a fainting fit," he answered, " and I have 
 brought the doctor. This is Dr. Hartman ; you do not 
 know him, but he will help you ; tell him how you feel, 
 Julia ! " 
 
 " Cold ! " she said, " cold ! Sinking down somewhere ! 
 Witt he lift me up ? " 
 
 The physician made a close examination, but seemed to 
 become more perplexed as he advanced. He administered 
 only a slight stimulant, and then withdrew from the bedside. 
 Lucy and the servant left the room, at his request, to pre- 
 pare some applications. 
 
 " There is something unusual here," he whispered, draw-
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FEIEXD. 205 
 
 ing Joseph aside. " .Slie has been sinking vapidly since the 
 first attack. The vital force is very low : it is in conflict 
 with sonic secret enemy, and it cannot resist much longer, 
 unless we discover that enemy at once. I will do my best to 
 save her, but I do not yet see how." 
 
 He was interrupted by a noise from the bed. Julia was 
 vainly trying to ri.se : her eyes were wide and glaring. 
 " No, no ! " came from her lips, " I will not die ! I heard 
 you. Joseph, I will try to be different but I must 
 live for that ! " 
 
 Then her utterance became faint and indistinct, and she 
 relapsed into unconsciousness. The physician re-examined 
 her with a grave, troubled face. " She need not be con- 
 scious," he said, " for the next thing I shall do. I will not 
 interrupt this syncope at once ; it may, at least, prolong the 
 struggle. What have they been giving her ? " 
 
 He picked up, one by one, the few bottles of the household 
 pharmacy which stood upon the bureau. Last of all, he 
 found an empty glass shoved behind one of the supports of 
 the mirror. He looked into it, held it against the light, and 
 was about to set it down again, when he fancied that there 
 was a misty appearance on the bottom, as if from some deli- 
 cate sediment. Stepping to the window, he saw that he had 
 not been mistaken. He collected a few of the minute gra- 
 nulations on the tip of his forefinger, touched them to his 
 tongue, and, turning quickly to Joseph, whispered : 
 
 " She is poisoned ! " 
 
 " Impossible ! " Joseph exclaimed ; " she could not have 
 been so mad ! " 
 
 "It is as I tell you! This form of the operation of 
 arsenic is very unusual, and I did not suspect it ; but now 
 I remember that it is noted in the books. Repeated 'syn- 
 12
 
 266 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEND. 
 
 copes, utter nervous prostration, absence of the ordinary 
 burning and vomiting, and signs of rapid dissolution; it fits 
 the case exactly ! If I had some oxy-hyclrate of iron, there 
 might still be a possibility, but I greatly fear - 
 
 "Do all you can ! " Joseph interrupted. " She must have 
 been insane ! Do not tell me that you have no antidote ! " 
 
 " We must try an emetic, though it will now be very 
 dangerous. Then oil, white of egg," and the doctor has- 
 tened down to the kitchen. 
 
 Joseph walked up and down the room, wringing his 
 hands. Here was a horror beyond anything he had im- 
 agined. His only thought was to save the life which she, in 
 the madness of passion, must have resolved to take ; she 
 must not, must not, die now ; and yet she seemed to be 
 already in some region on the very verge of darkness, some 
 region where it was scarcely possible to reach and pull her 
 back. What could be done ? Human science was baffled ; 
 and would God, who had allowed him to be afflicted through 
 her, now answer his prayer to continue that affliction? 
 But, indeed, the word "affliction" was not formed in his 
 mind ; the only word which he consciously grasped was 
 "Life! life!" 
 
 He paused by the bedside and gazed upon her livid skin, 
 her sunken features : she seemed already dead. Then, sink- 
 ing on his knees, he tried to pray, if that was prayer which 
 was the single intense appeal of all his confused feelings. 
 Presently he heard a faint sigh; she slightly moved ; con- 
 sciousness was evidently returning. 
 
 She looked at him with half-opened eyes, striving to fix 
 upon something which evaded her mind. Then she said, in 
 the faintest broken whisper : " I did love you I did and 
 do love you ! But you you hate me ! "
 
 JOSEPH A:\D ins Fiar.xn. 267 
 
 A pang sharper than a knife went through Joseph's 
 heart, lie cried, through his tears : " I did not know what 
 I said ! Give me your forgiveness, Julia ! Pardon rue, not 
 because I ask it, but fredy, from your heart, and I will 
 bless you ! " 
 
 She did not speak, but her eyes softened, and a phantom 
 smile hovered upon her lips. It was no mask this time : 
 she was sacredly frank and true. Joseph bent over her 
 and kissed her. 
 
 " O Julia ! " he said, " why did you do it ? Why did 
 you not wait until I could speak with you ? Did you think 
 you would take a burden off yourself or me ? " 
 
 Her lips moved, but no voice came. He lifted her head, 
 supported her, and bent his ear to her mouth. It was like 
 the dream of a voice : 
 
 " I did not mean " 
 
 There it stopped. The doctor entered the room, followed 
 by Lucy. 
 
 " First the emetic," said the former. 
 
 " For God's sake, be silent ! " Joseph cried, with his ear 
 still at Julia's lips. The doctor stepped up softly and 
 looked at her. Then, seating himself on the bed beside 
 Joseph, he laid his hand upon her heart. For several min- 
 utes there was silence in the room. 
 
 Then the doctor removed his hand, took Julia's head out 
 of Joseph's arms, and laid it softly upon the pillow. 
 
 She was dead.
 
 268 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XX Y. 
 
 THE MOURNERS. 
 
 " IT cannot be ! " cried Joseph, looking at the doctor with 
 an agonized face ; " it is too dreadful ! " 
 
 " There is no room for doubt in relation to the cause. I 
 suspect that her nervous system has been subjected to a 
 steady and severe tension, probably for years past. This 
 may have induced a condition, or at least a temporary 
 paroxysm, during which she was you understand me 
 not wholly responsible for her actions. You must have 
 noticed whether such a condition preceded this catastro- 
 phe." 
 
 Lucy looked from one to the other, and back to the livid 
 face on the pillow, unable to ask a question, and not yet 
 comprehending that the end had come. Joseph arose at 
 the doctor's words. 
 
 " That is my guilt," he said. " I was excited and angry, 
 for I had been bitterly deceived. I warned her that her 
 life must henceforth conform to mine : my words were 
 harsh and violent. I told her that we had at last ascer- 
 tained each other's true natures, and proposed a serious dis- 
 cussion for the purpose of arranging our common future, 
 this afternoon. Can she have misunderstood my meaning? 
 It was not separation, not divorce : I only meant to avoid 
 the miserable strife of the last few weeks. Who could im- 
 agine that this would follow ? " 
 
 Even as he spoke the words Joseph remembered the
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FIITEXD. 209 
 
 tempting fancy which had passed through his own mind, 
 and the fear of Philip. as he stood on the brink of the 
 rock, above the dark, sliding water, lie covered his face 
 with his hands and sat down. What right had he to 
 condemn her, to pronounce her mad? Grunt that she had 
 been blinded by her o\vn unbalanced, excitable nature rather 
 than consciously false ; grant that she had really loved him, 
 that the love survived under all her vain and masterful 
 ambition, and how could he doubt it after the dying 
 words and looks?" it was then easy to guess how sorely 
 she had been wounded, how despair should follow her fierce 
 excitement ! Her words, " Go away ! you have killed 
 me ! " were now explained. He groaned in the bitterness of 
 his self-accusation. What were all the trials he had endured 
 to this ? How light seemed the burden from which he was 
 now free ! how gladly would he bear it, if the day's words 
 and deeds could be unsaid and undone ! 
 
 The doctor, meanwhile, had explained the manner of 
 Julia's death to Lucy Henderson. She, almost overcome 
 with this last horror, could only agree with his conjecture, 
 for her own evidence confirmed it. Joseph had forborne to 
 mention her presence in the garden, and she saw no need of 
 repeating his words to her ; but she described Julia's con- 
 vulsive excitement, and her refusal to admit her to her 
 room, half an hour before the first attack of the poison. 
 The case seemed entirely clear to both. 
 
 " For the present," said the doctor, " let us say nothing 
 about the suicide. There is no necessity for a post-mortem 
 examination : the symptoms, and the presence of arsenic in 
 the glass, are quite sufficient to establish the cause of death. 
 You know what a foolish idea of disgrace is attached to 
 families here in the country when such a thing happens,
 
 270 JOSEPH A3TD ins FRIEND. 
 
 and Mr. Asten is not now in a state to bear much more. 
 At least, wo must save him from painful questions until 
 after the funeral is over. Say as little as possible to him : 
 he is not in a condition to listen to reason : ho believes him- 
 self guilty of her death." 
 
 " What shall I do ? " cried Lucy : " will you not stay 
 until the man Dennis returns ? Mr. Asten's aunt must be 
 fetched immediately." 
 
 It was not a quarter of an hour before Dennis arrived, 
 followed by Philip and Madeline Hold. 
 
 Lucy, who had already despatched Dennis, with a fresh 
 horse, to Magnolia, took Philip and Madeline into the 
 dining-room, and hurriedly communicated to them the in- 
 telligence of Julia's death. Philip's heart gave a single 
 leap of joy ; then he compelled himself to think of Joseph 
 and the exigencies of the situation. 
 
 " You cannot stay here alone," he said. " Madeline 
 must keep you company. I will go up and take care 
 of Joseph : we must think of both the living and the 
 dead." 
 
 No face could have been half so comforting in the cham- 
 ber of death as Philip's. The physician had, in the mean 
 time, repeated to Joseph the words he had spoken to Lucy, 
 and now Joseph said, pointing to Philip, " Tell him every- 
 thing ! " 
 
 Philip, startled as he was, at once comprehended the 
 situation. He begged Dr. Hartman to leave all further 
 arrangements to him, and to summon Mrs. Bishop, the wife 
 of one of Joseph's near neighbors, on his way home. Then, 
 taking Joseph by the arm, he said : 
 
 " Now come with me. We will leave this room awhile 
 to Lucy and Madeline ; but neither must you be alone.
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 271 
 
 If I am anything to you, Joseph, now is the time when 
 my presence should be some slight comfort. We need not 
 speak, but we will keep together.'' 
 
 Joseph clung the closer to his friend's arm, without 
 sp'.-aking, and they passed out of the house. Philip h-d 
 him, mechanically, towards the garden, but as thev drew 
 near the avenue of box-trees Joseph started back, crvin" 
 
 / O 
 
 out : - 
 
 " Xot there ! O, not there ! " 
 
 Philip turned in silence, conducted him past the barn 
 into the grass-field, and mounted the hill towards the pin- 
 oak on its summit. From this point the house was scarcely 
 visible behind the fir-trees and the huge weeping-willow, 
 but the fair hills around seemed happy under the tender 
 sky, and the melting, vapory distance, seen through the 
 southern opening of the valley, hinted of still happier land- 
 scapes beyond. As Joseph contemplated the scene, the long 
 strain upon his nerves relaxed : he leaned upon Philip's 
 shoulder, as they sat side by side, and wept passionately. 
 
 " If she had not died ! " he murmured, at last. 
 
 Philip was hardly prepared for this exclamation, and he 
 did not immediately answer. 
 
 " Perhaps it is better for me to talk," Joseph continued. 
 " Yo\i do not know the whole truth, Philip. You have 
 heard of her madness, but not of my guilt. What was it I 
 said when we last met ? I cannot recall it now ; but I 
 know that I feared to call my punishment unjust. Since 
 then I have deserved it all, and more. If I am a child, 
 why should I dare to handle fire ? If I do not understand 
 life, why should I dare to set death in motion ? " 
 
 He began, and related everything that had passed since 
 they parted on the banks of the stream. He repeated the
 
 272 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIKND. 
 
 words that Lad been spoken in the house and in the garden, 
 and the last broken sentences that came from Julia's lips. 
 Philip listened with breathless surprise and attention. The 
 greater part of the narrative made itself clear to his mind ; 
 his instinctive knowledge of Julia's nature enabled him to 
 read much further than was then possible to Joseph ; but 
 there was a mystery connected with the suicide which he 
 could not fathom. Her rage he could easily understand ; 
 her apparent submission to Joseph's request, however, her 
 manifest desire to live, on overhearing the physician's fears, 
 her last incomplete sentence, " I did not mean 
 indicated no such fatal intention, but the reverse. More- 
 over, she was too inherently selfish, even in the fiercest 
 paroxysm of disappointment, to take her own life, he be- 
 lieved. All the evidence justified him in this view of her 
 nature, yet at the same time rendered her death more inex- 
 plicable. 
 
 It was no time to mention these doubts to Joseph. His 
 only duty was to console and encourage. 
 
 " There is no guilt in accident," he said. " It was a crisis 
 which must have come, and you took the only course possi- 
 ble to a man. If she felt that she was defeated, and her 
 mad act was the consequence, think of your fate had she felt 
 herself victorious ! " 
 
 " It could have been no worse than it was," Joseph 
 answered. " And she might have changed : I did not give 
 her time. I have accused my own mistaken education, but 
 I had no charity, no pity for hers ! " 
 
 "When they descended the hill Mrs. Bishop had arrived, 
 and the startled household was reduced to a kind of dreary 
 order. Dennis, who had driven with speed, brought Rachel 
 Miller at dusk, and Philip and Madeline then departed,
 
 .TOSCTII AM) HIS FRIEND. 273 
 
 taking Lucy Henderson with them. Rachel was tearful, 
 but composed ; she said little to her nephew, but there was 
 a quiet, considerate tenderness in her manner -which soothed 
 him more than any words. 
 
 The retiction from so much fatigue and excitement almost 
 prostrated him. When he went to Led in his own guest- 
 room, feeling like a stranger in a strange house, he lay for a 
 long time between sleep and waking, haunted by all the 
 scenes and personages of his past life. His mother's face, 
 so faded in memory, came clear and fresh from the shadows ; 
 a boy whom he had loved in his school-days lloated with 
 fair, pale features just before his closed eyes ; and around 
 and between them there was woven a web of twilights and 
 moonlights, and sweet sunny days, each linked to some grief 
 or pleasure of the buried years. It was a keen, bitter joy, a 
 fascinating torment, from which he cotild not escape. He 
 was caught and helplessly ensnared by the phantoms, until, 
 late in the night, the strong claim of nature drove them 
 away and left him in a dead, motionless, dreamless slumber. 
 
 Philip returned in the morning, and devoted the day not 
 less to the arrangements which must necessarily be made for 
 the funeral than to standing between Joseph and the awkward 
 and inquisitive sympathy of the neighbors. Joseph's con- 
 tinued weariness favored Philip's exertions, while at the 
 same time it blunted the edge of his own feelings, and 
 helped him over that cold, bewildering, dismal period, dur- 
 ing which a corpse is lord of the mansion and controls the 
 life of its inmates. 
 
 Towards evening Mr. and Mrs. Blessing, who had been 
 summoned by telegraph, made their appearance. Clemen- 
 tina did not accompany them. They were both dressed in 
 mourning : Mrs. Blessing was grave and rigid, Mr. Blessing
 
 274 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 flushed and lachrymose. Philip conducted them first to 
 the chamber of the dead and then, to Joseph. 
 
 " It is so sudden, so shocking ! " Mrs. Blessing sobbed ; 
 " and Julia always seemed so healthy ! What have you 
 done to her, Mr. Asten, that she should be cut off in the 
 bloom of her youth ? " 
 
 " Eliza ! " exclaimed her husband, with his handkerchief to 
 his eyes ; " do not say anything which might sound like a 
 reproach to our heart-broken son ! There are many foes in 
 the citadel of life : they may be undermining our our foun- 
 dations at this very moment ! " 
 
 " No," said Joseph ; " you, her father and mother, must 
 hear the truth. I would give all I have in the world if I 
 were not obliged to tell it." 
 
 It was, at the best, a painful task ; but it was made 
 doubly so by exclamations, questions, intimations, which he 
 was forced to hear. Finally, Mrs. Blessing asked, in a tone 
 of alarm : 
 
 " How many persons know of this ? " 
 
 " Only the physician and three of my friends," Joseph 
 answered." 
 
 " They must be silent ! It might ruin Clementina's pros- 
 pects if it were generally known. To lose one daughter and 
 to have the life of another blasted would be too much." 
 
 " Eliza," said her husband, " we must try to accept what- 
 ever is inevitable. It seems to me that I no more recognize 
 Julia's usually admirable intellect in her yes, I must steel 
 myself to say the word ! her suicide, than I recognized her 
 features just now ! unless Decay's effacing fingers have already 
 swept the lines where beauty lingers. I warned her of the 
 experiment, for such I felt it to be ; yet in this last trying 
 experience I do not complain of Joseph's disappointment,
 
 and his temporary I trust it is only temporary suspicion. 
 "\Ve must not for ire t that lie Las lost mre than we have."' 
 
 ' Where is '' Joseph began, endeavoring to turn the 
 conversation from this point. 
 
 "Clementina? I knew you would find her absence un- 
 accountable. TVe inshuitlv forwarded a telegram to Lon" 
 
 ^ O O 
 
 Brunch ; the answer said, ' My grief is great, but it is quite 
 impossible to come.' Why impossible she did not particu- 
 larize, and we can only conjecture. When I consider her 
 age and lost opportunities, and the importance which a 
 single day, even a fortunate situation, may possess for her 
 at present, it seems to remove some of the sharpness of the 
 serpent's tooth. Neither she nor we are responsible for 
 Julia's rash taking off; yet it is always felt as a cloud which 
 lowers upon the family. There was a similar case among 
 the De Belsains, during the Huguenot times, but we never 
 mention it. For your sake silence is rigidly imposed upon 
 us ; since the preliminary what shall I call it ? dis-har- 
 mony of views ? would probably become a part of the nar- 
 rative." 
 
 " Pray do not speak of that now ! " Joseph groaned. 
 
 " Pardon me ; I will not do so again. Our minds natu- 
 rally become discursive under the pressure of grief. It is 
 easier for me to talk at such times than to be silent and 
 think. My power of recuperation seems to be spiritual as 
 well as physical ; it is congenital, and therefore exposes me to 
 misconceptions. But we can close over the great abyss of 
 our sorrow, and hide it from view in the depth of our na- 
 tures, without dancing on the platform which covers it." 
 
 Philip turned away to hide a smile, and even Mrs. Bless- 
 ing exclaimed : " Pteally, Benjamin, you are talking heart- 
 lessly ! "
 
 276 JOSEPH AND TITS FRIEND. 
 
 " I do not mean it so," he said, molting into tears, " but 
 so much has come upon me all at once ! If I lose my buoy- 
 ancy, I shall go to the bottom like a foundered ship ! I was 
 never cut out for the tragic parts of life ; but there are char- 
 acters who smile on the stage and weep behind the scenes. 
 And, you know, the Lord lovcth a cheerful giver." 
 
 He was so touched by the last words he spoke, that he 
 leaned his head \ipon his arms and wept bitterly. 
 
 Then Mrs. Blessing, weeping also, exclaimed : " O, don't 
 take on so, Benjamin ! " 
 
 Philip put an end to the scene, which was fast becoming 
 a torment to Joseph. But, later in the evening, Mr. Bless- 
 ing again sought the latter, softly apologizing for the intru- 
 sion, but declaring that he was compelled, then and there, 
 to make a slight explanation. 
 
 " When you called the other evening," he said, " I was 
 worn out, and not competent to grapple with such an unex- 
 pected revelation of villany. I had been as ignorant of 
 .Kanuck's real character as you were. All our experience 
 of the world is sometimes at fault ; but where the Reverend 
 Dr. Lellifant was first deceived, my own case does not seem 
 so flagrant. Your early information, however, enabled me 
 (through third parties) to secure a partial sale of the stock 
 held by yourself and me, at something of a sacrifice, it is 
 true ; but I prefer not-to dissociate myself entirely from the 
 enterprise. I do not pretend to be more than the merest 
 tyro in geology ; nevertheless, as I lay awake last night, 
 being, of course, unable to sleep after the shock of the tele- 
 gram, I sought relief in random scientific fancies. It oc- 
 curred to me that since the main Chowder wells are ' spout- 
 ing,' their source or reservoir must be considerably higher 
 than the surface. Why might not that soiirce be found un- 1 )
 
 JOSEPH AXU 1113 FKIKXP. 277 
 
 der the hills of the Amaranth ? If so, the Chowder would 
 be tapped at the fountain-head and the flow of Pactolean 
 grease would be ours ! "\Ylieu i return to the citv I shall 
 need instantly after the fearful revelations of to-day sumo 
 violently absorbing occupation ; and what could be more ap- 
 propriate ? If anything could give repose to Julia's unhappy 
 shade, it would be the knowledge that her faith in the Ama- 
 ranth was at last justified ! I do not presume to awaken 
 your confidence : it has been too deeply shaken ; all I ask is, 
 that I may have the charge of your shares, in order without 
 calling upon you for the expenditure of another cent, you 
 understand to rig a jury-mast on the wreck, and, D. V., 
 float safely into port ! " 
 
 " Why should I refuse to trust you with what is already 
 worthless ? " said Joseph. 
 
 " I will admit even that, if you desire. ' Exitus actaprobat? 
 was Washington's motto ; but I don't consider that we have 
 yet reached the exitus ! Thank you, Joseph ! Your question 
 has hardly the air of returning confidence, but I will force 
 myself to consider it as such, and my labor will be to deserve 
 it." 
 
 He wrung Joseph's hand, shed a few more tears, and be- 
 took himself to his wife's chamber. " Eliza, let us be calm : 
 we never know our strength until it has been tried," he 
 said to her, as lie opened his portmanteau and took from it 
 the wicker-covered flask. 
 
 Then came the weariest and dreariest day of all, when the 
 house must be thrown open to the world ; when in one room 
 the corpse must be displayed for solemn stares and whispered 
 comments, while in another the preparation of the funeral 
 meats absorbs all the interest of half a dozen busy women ; 
 when the nearest relatives of the dead sit together in a room
 
 '278 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEND. 
 
 ! 
 
 lip-stairs, hungering only for the consolations of loneliness and 
 silence ; when all talk under their voices, and uncomfortably 
 fulfil what they believe to be their solemn duty 5 and when 
 even Nature is changed to all eyes, and the mysterious gloom 
 of an eclipse seems to fall from the most unclouded sun. 
 
 There was a general gathering of the neighbors from far 
 and near. The impression seemed to be and Philip was 
 ready to substantiate it that Julia had died in consequence 
 of a violent convulsive spasm, which some attributed to one 
 cause and some to another. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Chaffinch made his way, as by right, to the 
 chamber of the mourners. Rachel Miller was comforted in 
 seeing him, Mr. and Mrs. Blessing sadly courteous, and 
 Joseph strengthened himself to endure with patience what 
 might follow. After a few introductory words, and a long 
 prayer, the clergyman addressed himself to each, in turn, 
 with questions or remarks which indicated a fierce necessity 
 of resignation. 
 
 " I feel for you, brother," he said, as he reached Joseph 
 and bent over his chair. " It is an inscrutable visitation, 
 but I trust you submit, in all obedience ? " 
 
 Joseph, bowed silently. 
 
 ^fcHe has many ways of searching the heart," Mr. Chaf- 
 finch continued. " Your one precious comfort must be that 
 she believed, and that she is now in glory. O, if you would 
 but resolve to follow in her footsteps ! He shows His love, 
 in that He chastens you : it is a stretching out of His hand, 
 a visible oft'er of acceptance, this on one side, and the lesson 
 of our perishing mortality on the other ! Do you not feel 
 your heart a\\ fully and tenderly moved to approach Him ? " 
 
 Joseph sat, with bowed head, listening to the smooth, 
 unctuous, dismal voice at his ear, until the tension of his
 
 270 
 
 nerves became a positive phy;.i- ; J pain. Ho longed to cry 
 aloud, to spring up and rush away ; his heart was moved, 
 but not awfully and tenderly. [t had been yearning towards 
 the pure Divine Light in which all confusions of the soul arc 
 disentangled ; but now some opaque foreign substance inter- 
 vened, and drove him back upon himself. How loii^ the 
 torture lasted he did not know. He spake no word, and 
 made no further sign. 
 
 Then Philip took him and Rachel Miller down, for the 
 last conventional look at the stony, sunken face. He was 
 seated here and led there ; he was dimly conscious of a 
 crowd, of murmurs and steadfast faces ; he heard some 
 one whisper, " How dreadfully pale he looks ! " and won- 
 dered whether the words could possibly refer to him. Then 
 there was the welcome air and the sunshine, and Dennis 
 driving them slowly down the lane, following a gloomy 
 vehicle, in which something not surely the Julia whom he 
 knew was carried. 
 
 He recalled but one other such stupor of the senses : 
 it was during the performance of the marriage ceremony. 
 
 But the longest day wears out at last ; and when night 
 came only Philip was beside him. The Blessings had been 
 sent to Oakland Station for the evening train to the city, 
 and Joseph's shares in the Amaranth Company were in their 
 portmanteau.
 
 280 JOSEPH AND HIS FIUEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE ACCUSATION. 
 
 FOR a few days it almost seemed to Joseph that the 
 old order of his existence had been suddenly restored, and 
 the year of his betrothal and marriage had somehow been in- 
 tercalated into his life simply as a test and trial. Rachel 
 Miller was back again, in her old capacity, and he did not 
 yet see what would have been plain to any other eyes 
 that her manner towards him was far more respectful and 
 considerate than formerly. But, in fact, she made a wide 
 distinction between the "boy" that he had been and the 
 man and widower which he had come to be. At first, she 
 had refused to see the dividing line : having crossed it, her 
 new course soon became as natural and fixed as the old. 
 She was the very type of a mechanically developed old 
 maid, inflexibly stern towards male youth, devotedly obe- 
 dient to male maturity. 
 
 Joseph had been too profoundly moved to lose at once the 
 sense of horror which the manner of Julia's death had left 
 in his heart. He could not forgive himself for having, 
 though never so ignorantly, driven her to madness. He 
 was troubled, restless, unhappy ; and the mention of his loss 
 was so painful that he made every effort to avoid hearing it. 
 Some of his neighbors, he imagined, were improperly cxiri- 
 ous in their inquiries. He felt bound, since the doctor had 
 suggested it, since Philip and Lucy had acquiesced, and Mrs. 
 Blessing had expressed so much alarm lest it might becoime
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 2S1 
 
 known, to keep the suicide a secret ; but lie was driven so 
 closely by questions and remarks tliut his task became more 
 and more difficult. 
 
 Had the people taken offence at his reticence? It seemed 
 so; for their manner towards him was certainly changed. 
 Something in the Look and voice; an indefinable uneasiness 
 at meeting him ; an awkward haste and lame excuses for it. 
 all these things forced themselves npon his mind. Elwood 
 Withers, alone, met him as of old, with even a tenderer 
 though a more delicately veiled affection ; yet in Elwood's 
 face he detected the signs of a grave trouble. It could not 
 be possible, he thought, that Elwood had heard some sur- 
 mise, or distorted echo, of his words to Lucy in the gar- 
 den, that there had been another listener besides Julia ! 
 
 There were times, again, when he doubted all these signs, 
 when he ascribed them to his own disturbed mind, and de- 
 cided to banish them from his memory. He would stay 
 quietly at home, he resolved, and grow into a healthier 
 mood: he would avoid the society of men, until he should 
 cease to wrong them by his suspicions. 
 
 First, however, he would see Philip; but on reaching 
 the Forge he found Philip absent. Madeline received him 
 with a subdued kindness in which lie felt her sympathy ; 
 but it was also deeper, he acknowledged to himself, than he 
 had any right to claim. 
 
 " You do not see much of your neighbors, I think, Mr. 
 Asten?" she asked. The tone of her voice indicated a 
 slight embarrassment. 
 
 " No," he answered ; " I have no wish to see any but my 
 friends." 
 
 " Lucy Henderson has just left us. Philip took her to 
 her father's, and was intending to call at your place on his
 
 282 JOSEPH AXD HIS FRIEND. 
 
 way home. I hope you will not miss him. That is," she 
 added, while a sudden flush of color spread over her face, 
 " I want you to see him to-day. I beg you won't take my 
 words as intended for a dismissal." 
 
 " Not now, certainly," said Joseph. But he rose from 
 his seat as he spoke. 
 
 Madeline looked both confused and pained. " I know 
 that I spoke awkwardly," she said, " but indeed I was very 
 anxious. It was also Lucy's wish. We have been talking 
 about you this morning." 
 
 " You are very kind. And yet I ought to wish you a 
 more cheerful subject." 
 
 What was it in Madeline's face that haunted Joseph on 
 his way home? The lightsome spirit was gone from her 
 eyes, and they were troubled as if by the pressure of tears, 
 held back by a strong effort. Her assumed calmness at 
 parting seemed to cover a secret anxiety; he had never 
 before seen her bright, free nature so clouded. 
 
 Philip, meanwhile, had reached the farm, where he was 
 received by Rachel Miller. 
 
 " I am glad to find that Joseph is not at home," he said ; 
 " there are some things which I need to discuss with you, 
 before I see him. Can you guess what they are ? Have 
 you heard nothing, no stories ? " 
 
 Rachel's face grew pale, yet there was a strong fire of 
 indignation in her eyes. "Dennis told me an outrageous 
 report he had heard in the village," she said : " if you mean 
 the same thing, you did well to see me first. You can help 
 me to keep this insult from Joseph's knowledge." 
 
 " If I could I would, Miss Rachel. I share your feeling 
 about it ; but suppose the report were now so extended 
 and of course in a more exaggerated form the farther it
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FKIEXD. 2S3 
 
 goes that we cannot avoid its probable consequences ? 
 This is not like a men- slander, whi..-h can be suffered to die 
 of itself. It is equivalent to a criminal charge, and must 
 be faced." 
 
 She clasped her hands, and stared at him in terror. 
 
 " But why," she faltered " why does any one dare to 
 make such a charge V And against the best, the most inno- 
 cent " 
 
 " The fact of th--> poisoning cannot be concealed," said 
 Philip. " It appears, moreover, that one of the women who 
 was in the house on the day of Julia's death heard her cry 
 out to Joseph : ' Go away, you have killed me ! ' I need 
 not take up the reports any further ; there is enough in 
 these two circumstances to excite the suspicions of those 
 who do not know Joseph as we do. It is better, therefore, 
 to meet those suspicions before they come to us in a legal 
 form." 
 
 " What can we do ? " cried Rachel ; " it is terrible ! " 
 
 " One course is clear, if it is possible. We must try to 
 discover not only the cause of Julia's suicide, 'but the place 
 where she procured the poison, and her design in procuring 
 it. She must have had it already in the house." 
 
 " I never thought of that. And her ways were so quiet 
 and sly ! How shall we ever find it out? O, to think that, 
 dead and gone as she is, she can yet bring all this upon 
 Joseph ! " 
 
 " Try to be calm, Miss Rachel," said Philip. " I want 
 your help, and you must have all your wits about you. 
 First, you must make a very careful examination of her 
 clothing and effects, even to the merest scrap of paper. A 
 man's good name a man's life, sometimes hangs upon a 
 thread, in the most literal sense. There is no doubt that
 
 284 JOSEPH AXD ins FKIKND. 
 
 Julia meant to keep a secret, and she must have had a 
 strong reason ; but we have a stronger one,, now, to discover 
 it. First, as to the poison ; was there any arsenic in the 
 house when Julia came ? " 
 
 " Not a speck ! I never kept it, even for rats." 
 
 " Then we shall begin with ascertaining where she bought 
 it. Let us make our investigations secretly, and as speedily 
 as possible. Joseph need not know, at present, what we 
 have undertaken, but he must know the charge that hangs 
 over him. Unless I tell him, he may learn it in a more 
 violent way. I sent Ehvood Withers to Magnolia yester- 
 day, and his report leaves me no choice of action." 
 
 Rachel Miller felt, from the stern gravity of Philip's 
 manner, that he had not exaggerated Joseph's danger. She 
 consented to be guided by him in all things ; and this point 
 being settled, they arranged a plan of action and communi- 
 cation, which was tolerably complete by the time Joseph 
 returned. 
 
 As gently as possible Philip broke the unwelcome news ; 
 but, lightly as he pretended to consider it, Joseph's instinct 
 saw at once what might be the consequences. The circum- 
 stances were all burned upon, his consciousness, and it 
 needed no reflection to show him how completely he was 
 entangled in them. 
 
 " There is ho alternative," he said, at last. " It was a 
 mistake to conceal the cause of her death from the public : 
 it is easy to misunderstand her exclamation, and make my 
 crime out of her madness. I see the whole connection ! 
 This suspicion will not stop where it is. It will go further ; 
 and therefore I must anticipate it. I must demand a legal 
 inquiry before the law forces one upon me. If it is not my 
 only method of defence, it is certainly my best ! "
 
 JO>KPH A Nil ins FRIEND. 2S5 
 
 " You are riglit ! " Philip exclaimed. " I knr-w this 
 would be your decision ; I said so to Macl/line tliis morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Xow Madeline's confused manner became intelligible to 
 Joseph. Yet ;i doubt still lingered in his mind. '' L>id she, 
 did Madeline question it ? " he asked. 
 
 " Neither she nor Lucy Henderson. If you do this, I 
 cannot see how it will terminate without a trial. Lucv may 
 then happen to be an important witness." 
 
 Joseph started. " Jfust that be!" he cried. ''Has not 
 Lucy been already forced to endure enough for my sake ? 
 Advise me. Philip ! Is there any other way than that I 
 have proposed ? " 
 
 " I see no other. But your necessity is far greater than 
 that for Lucy's endurance. She is a friend, and there can 
 be no sacrifice in so serving you. What are we all good for, 
 if not to serve you in such a strait ? " 
 
 " I would like to spare her, nevertheless," said Joseph, 
 gloomily. " I meant so well towards all my friends, and my 
 friendship seems to bring only disgrace and sorrow." 
 
 " Joseph ! " Philip exclaimed, " you have saved one 
 friend from more than disgrace and sorrow ! I do not know 
 what might have come, but you called me back from the 
 brink of an awful, doubtful eternity ! You have given me 
 an infinite loss and an infinite gain ! I only ask you, in 
 return, to obey your first true, proud instinct of innocence, 
 and let me, and Lucy, and Elwood be glad to take its con- 
 sequences, for your sake ! " 
 
 " I cannot help myself," Joseph answered. " My rash im- 
 patience and injustice will come to light, and that may be the 
 atonement I owe. If Lucy will spare herself, and report mo 
 truly, as I must have appeared to her, she will serve me best."
 
 286 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 " Leave that, now ! The first step is what most concerns 
 us. When will you be ready to demand a legal investiga- 
 tion ? " 
 
 " At once ! to-morrow ! " 
 
 " Then we will go together to Magnolia. I fear we can- 
 not change the ordinary forms of procedure, and there must 
 be bail for your appearance at the proper time." 
 
 " Already on the footing of a criminal ?" Joseph mur- 
 mured, with a sinking of the heart. He had hardly compre- 
 hended, xip to this moment, what his position would be. 
 
 The next day they drove to the county town. The step 
 had not been taken a moment too soon, for such representa- 
 tions had been made that a warrant for Joseph's arrest was 
 in the hands of the constable, and would have been served 
 in a few hours. Philip and Mr. Hopeton, who also hap- 
 pened to be in the town by a fortunate chance (though 
 Philip knew how the chance came), offered to accept what- 
 ever amount of bail might be demanded. The matter was 
 arranged as privately as possible, but it leaked out in some 
 way, and Philip was seriously concerned lest the curiosity 
 perhaps, even, the ill-will of a few persons might be mani- 
 fested towards Jo'seph. He visited the offices of the county 
 papers, and took care that the voluntary act should be 
 stated in such a manner as to set its character properly 
 before the people. Everything, he felt, depended on se- 
 curing a fair and unprejudiced judgment of the case. 
 
 This, indeed, was far more important than even he sus- 
 pected. In a country where the press is so entirely free, 
 and where, owing to the lazy, indifferent habit of thought 
 or, rather, habit of no thought of the people, the editorial 
 views are accepted without scrutiny, a man's good name 
 or life may depend on the coloring given to his acts by a few
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FEIKXTX 2S7 
 
 individual minds, it is especially neressarv to keep the 
 balance even, to offset one .statement by another, and pre- 
 vent a partial pivs-.'ntatiuu of the case from turning the 
 scales in advance. The same phenomena were as likelv to 
 present themselves here, before a small public, as in the 
 large cities, where the whole population of the countrv 
 beconie a more or less interested public. The result might 
 hiiige, not upon Joseph's personal character as his friends 
 knew it, but upon the political party with which ho was afli- 
 liated, the church to which he belonged, nav, even upon 
 the accordance of his personal sentiments with the public 
 sentiment of the community in which he lived. If lie had 
 dared to defy the latter, asserting the sacred right of his own 
 mind to the largest liberty, he was already a marked man. 
 Philip did not understand the extent and power of the ex- 
 ternal influences which control what we complacently call 
 "justice," but he knew something of the world, and acted in 
 reality more prudently than he supposed. 
 
 He was calm and cheerful for Joseph's sake ; yet, now 
 that the matter was irrevocably committed to the decision 
 of a new, uninterested tribunal, he began to feel the gravity 
 of his friend's position. 
 
 " I almost wish," Joseph said, as they drove homewards, 
 " that no bail had been granted. Since the court meets in 
 October, a few weeks of seclusion would do me no harm ; 
 whereas now I am a suspected person to nearly all whom I 
 may meet." 
 
 " It is not agreeable," Philip answered, " but the disci- 
 pline may be useful. The bail terminates when the trial 
 commences, you understand, and you will have a few nights 
 alone, as it is, quite enough, I imagine, to make you satis- 
 fied with liberty under suspicion. However I have one
 
 288 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 demand to make, Joseph ! I have thought over all possible 
 lines of defence ; I have secured legal assistance for you, 
 and we are agreed as to the course to be adopted. I do 
 not think you can help us at all. If we find that you 
 can, we will call upon you ; in the mean time, wait and 
 hope ! " 
 
 " Why should I not ?" Joseph asked. "I have nothing 
 to fear, Philip." 
 
 " No ! " But Philip's emphatic answer was intended to 
 deceive. He was purposely false, knew himself to be so, 
 and yet his conscience never troubled him less ! 
 
 When they reached the farm, Philip saw by Rachel Mil- 
 ler's face that she had a communication to make. It re- 
 quired a little management to secure an interview with her 
 without Joseph's knowledge ; but some necessity for his 
 presence at the barn favored his friend. No sooner were 
 they alone than Rachel approached Philip hastily and said, 
 in a hurried whisper : 
 
 " Here ! I have found something, at last ! It took a 
 mighty search : I thought I never should come upon the 
 least bit that we could make anything of: but this was in 
 the upper part of a box where she kept her rings and 
 chains, and such likes ! Take it, it makes me uncomfort- 
 able to hold it in my fingers ! " 
 
 She thrust a small paper 1 into his hand. 
 
 It was folded very neatly, and there was an apothecary's 
 label on the back. Philip read : " Ziba Linthicum's Drug 
 store, No. 77 Main St., Magnolia." Under this printed 
 address was written in large lettiers the word " Arsenic." 
 On unfolding the paper he saw that a little white dust 
 remained in the creases : quite enough to identify the char- 
 acter of the diw.
 
 JOSEPH AM) ms FliTEND. 230 
 
 "I shall go back to-morrow!" ho said. "Thank Hea- 
 ven, \ve liave got one dew to the mystery! Joseph must 
 know nothing of this until all is explained; but while I inn. 
 gone make another and more thorough search ! Leave no 
 cornei unexplored : I am sure we shall find something 
 more." 
 
 " I'd rip up her dresses ! " was EachiTs emphatic reply. 
 " That is, if it would do any good. But perhaps feeling 
 of the lining and the hems might bo enough. I'll toko 
 
 O o o 
 
 every drawer out, and move the furniture ! But I must 
 wait for daylight : I'm not generally afeared, but there is 
 some things, you know, which a body would as lief not do 
 by night, with cracks and creaks all around you, which you 
 don't seem to hear at other times." 
 13
 
 290 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE LABELS. 
 
 THE work at Coventry Forge was now so well organized 
 that Philip could easily give the most of his time to Joseph's 
 vindication. He had secured the services of an excellent 
 country lawyer, but he also relied much upon the assistance 
 of two persons, his sister Madeline and Elwood Withers : 
 Madeline, from her rapid, clear insight, her shrewd interpre- 
 tation of circumstances ; and Elwood as an active, untiring 
 practical agent. 
 
 The latter, according to agreement, had ridden up from 
 his section of the railway, and was awaiting Philip when he 
 returned home. 
 
 Philip gave them the history of the day, this time 
 frankly, with all the signs and indications which he had so 
 carefully kept from Joseph's knowledge. Both looked 
 aghast ; and Elwood bent an ivory paper-cutter so suddenly 
 in his hands that it snapped in twain. He colored like a 
 girl. 
 
 " It serves me right," ho said. " Whenever my hands are 
 idle, Satan finds mischief for 'em, as the spelling-book says. 
 But just so the people bend and twist Joseph Asten's cha- 
 racter, and just so unexpectedly his life may snap in their 
 hands ! " 
 
 " May the omen be averted ! " Madeline cried. " Put 
 down the pieces, Mr. Withers ! You frighten me." 
 
 " No, it is reversed ! " said Philip. " Just so Joseph's
 
 291 
 
 friends will snap this chain of circumstances. If yon begin 
 to be superstitions, I nmst look out for other aids. The 
 tracing of the poison is a more fortunate step than I hoped, 
 at the start. 1 cannot at all guess to v> hat it may lead, but 
 there is a point beyond which even the most malignant fate 
 has no further power over an innocent man. Tims far we 
 have met nothing but hostile circumstances : there seems to 
 be more than Chance in the game, and I have an idea that 
 the finding of this paper will break the evil spell. Come 
 now, Madeline, and yon, Withers, give me your guesses as 
 to what my discovery shall be to-morrow ! " 
 
 After a pause, Madeline answered : " It must have 
 been purchased perhaps even by Mr. Asten for rats 
 or mice ; and she may have swallowed the drug in a fit of 
 passion." 
 
 " I think," said Elwood, " that she bought it for the pur- 
 pose of poisoning Joseph ! Then, may be, the glasses were 
 changed, as I've heard tell of a man whose wife changed his 
 coffee-cup because there was a fly in it, giving him hers, and 
 thereby innocently killed him when lie meant to ha' killed 
 her." 
 
 " Ha ! " Philip cried ; " the most incredible things, appa- 
 rently, are sometimes the most natural ! I had not thought 
 of this explanation." 
 
 " O Philip ! " said Madeline, " that would be a new hor- 
 ror ! Pray, let us not think of it : indeed, indeed, we must 
 not guess any more." 
 
 Philip strove to put the idea from his mind : he feared 
 lest it might warp his judgment and mislead him in investi- 
 gations which it required a cool, sharp intellect to prose- 
 cute. But the idea would not stay away : ifc haunted him 
 precisely on account of its enormity, and he rode again to
 
 292 joeKPii AXD ins FRIEXD. 
 
 Magnolia the next day with a foreboding sense of some tra- 
 gic secret about to be revealed. 
 
 But he never could have anticipated the actual revela- 
 tion. 
 
 There was no difficulty in finding Ziba Linthicum's drug- 
 store. The proprietor was a lank, thin-faced man, with pro- 
 jecting, near-sighted eyes, and an exceedingly prim, pursed 
 mouth. His words, uttered in the close, wiry twang pecu- 
 liar to Southern Pennsylvania, seemed to give him a posi- 
 tive relish : one could fancy that his mouth watered slightly 
 as he spoke. His long, lean lips had a settled smirk at the 
 corner, and the skin was drawn so tightly over his broad, 
 concave chin-bone that it shone, as if polished around the 
 edges. 
 
 He was waiting upon a little girl when Philip entered ; 
 but he looked up from his scales, bowed, smiled, and said : 
 " In a moment, if you please." 
 
 Philip leaned upon the glass case, apparently absorbed in 
 the contemplation of the various soaps and perfumes under 
 his eyes, but thinking only of the paper in his pocket-book. 
 
 " Something in this line, perhaps ? " 
 
 Mr. Linthicum, with a still broader smile, began to enu- 
 merate : " These are from the Society Hygiennick ' 
 
 " No," said Philip, " my business is especially private. 
 I take it for granted that you have many little confidential 
 matters intrusted to you." 
 
 " Oh, undoxibtedly, sir ! Quite as much so as a physician." 
 
 " You are aware also that mistakes sometimes occur in 
 making up prescriptions, or in using them afterwards ? " 
 
 " Not by me, I should hope. I keep a record of every 
 dangerous ingredient which goes out of my hands." 
 
 "Ah!" Philip exclaimed. Then he paused, uncertain
 
 JoSKl'IT AND 1113 FKIKND. 203 
 
 how nnicli to confide to Mr. Linthirnm's discretion. But 
 on mentioning his name and residence, lie found that both 
 himself and Mr. Jfopeton were known. and favorably, it 
 seemed to the apothecary. Ife knew the class of men to 
 which the latter belonged, prim, fussy, harmlessly vain 
 persons, yet who take as good care of their consciences as of 
 their cravats and shirt-bosoms. lie produced the paper 
 without further delay. 
 
 " That was bought here, certainly," said Mr. Linthicum. 
 "The word 'Arsenic' is written in my hand. The date 
 when, and the person by whom it was purchased, must be 
 in my register. Will you go over it with me ? " 
 
 He took a volume from a drawer, and beginning at the 
 last entry, they went slowly backward over the names, the 
 apothecary saying : " This is confidential : I rely upon your 
 seeing without remembering." 
 
 They had not gone back more than two or three weeks 
 before Philip came upon a name that made his heart stand 
 still. There was a record in a single line : 
 
 " Jfiss Henderson. Arsenic." 
 
 He waited a few seconds, until he felt sure of his voice. 
 Then he asked : " Do you happen to know Miss Henderson ? " 
 
 " Not at all ! A perfect stranger." 
 
 " Can you, perhaps, remember her appearance? " 
 
 " Let me see," said Mr. Linthicum, biting the end of his 
 forefinger ; " that must have been the veiled lady. The 
 date corresponds. Yes, I feel sure of it, as all the other 
 poison customers are known to me." 
 
 " Pray describe her then ! " Philip exclaimed. 
 
 " Really, I fear that I cannot. Dressed in black, I think; 
 but I will not be positive. A soft, agreeable voice, I am 
 sure."
 
 294 JOSEPH AND 1 1 IS FlilENI). 
 
 " Was she alone ? Or was any one else present ? " 
 
 " Now I do recall one thing," the apothecary answered. 
 "There was an agent of a wholesale city firm a travelling 
 agent, you understand trying to persuade me into an order 
 on his house. He stepped on one side as she came to the 
 counter, and he perhaps saw her face more distinctly, for he 
 laughed as she left, and said something about a handsome 
 girl putting her lovers out of their misery." 
 
 But Mr. Linfchicum could remember neither the name of 
 the agent nor that of the firm which he represented. All 
 Philip's questioning elicited no further particulars, and he 
 was obliged to be satisfied with the record of the day and 
 probable hour of the purchase, and with the apothecary's 
 promise of the strictest secrecy. 
 
 He rode immediately home, and after a hasty consulta- 
 tion with Madeline, remounted his horse and set out to find 
 Lucy Henderson. He was fortunate enough to meet her on 
 the highway, on her way to call xipon a neighbor. Spring- 
 ing from his horse he walked beside her, and announced his 
 discovery at once. 
 
 Lucy remembered the day when she had accompanied Julia 
 to Magnolia, during Joseph's absence from home. The time 
 of the day, also, corresponded to that given by the apothecary. 
 
 " Did you visit the drug-store ? " Philip asked. 
 
 " No," she answered, " and I did not know that Julia 
 had. I paid two or three visits to acquaintances, while 
 she did her shopping, as she told me." 
 
 " Then try and remember, not only the order of those 
 visits, but the time occupied by each," said Philip. " Write 
 to your friends, and ask them to refresh their memories. It 
 has become an important point, for the poison was purchas- 
 ed in your name ! "
 
 "Impossible!" Lucy cried. She gazed at Philip with 
 such amazement that her innocence \vas then iixed in his 
 mind, if it had not been so before. 
 
 ' Yes, 1 say ' impossible ! ' too," he answered. '"There is 
 only one explanation. Julia Asu-n gave your name instead 
 of her own when she purchased it.'' 
 
 ' - Oh ! '' Lucy's voice sounded like a hopeless personal 
 protest against the collective falsehood and wickedness of the 
 world. 
 
 " I have another chance to reach the truth," said Philip. 
 " I shall tind the stranger, the travelling agent, if it 
 obliges me to summon every such agent of every wholesale 
 drug-hottse in the city ! It is at least a positive fortune 
 that we have made this discovery now." 
 
 He looked at his watch. " I have just time to catch the 
 evening train," he said, hurriedly, " but I should like to send 
 a message to Elwood Withers. If you pass through that 
 wood on the right, you will see the track just below you. It 
 is not more than half a mile from here ; and you are almost 
 sure to find him at or near the unfinished tunnel. Tell him 
 to see Rachel Miller, and if anything further has been found, 
 to inform my sister Madeline at once. That is all. I make 
 no apology for imposing the service on you : good-by, and 
 keep up your faith, Lucy ! " 
 
 He pressed her hand, sprang into the saddle, and cantered 
 briskly away. 
 
 Lucy, infected by his haste, crossed the field, struggled 
 through the under-growth of the wild belt of wood, and de- 
 scended to the railway track, without giving herself time to 
 think. She met a workman near the mouth of the tunnel, 
 and not daring to venture in, sent by him a summons to 
 Elwood. It was not many minutes before he appeared.
 
 296 JOSEPH AND JITS FRIEND. 
 
 " Something Las happened, Lucy ? " he exclaimed. 
 
 " Philip thinks he has made a discovery," she answered, 
 " and 1 conic to you as his messenger." She then repeated 
 Philip's words. 
 
 " Is that all? " El wood asked, scanning her face anxiously. 
 " You do not seem quite like your real self, Lucy." 
 
 She sat down upon the bank. " I am out of breath," she 
 said ; " I nuist have walked faster than I thought." 
 
 " Wait a minute ! " said he. He ran up the track, to 
 where a little side-glen crossed it, sprang down among the 
 bushes, and presently reappeared with a tin cup full of cold, 
 pure spring water. 
 
 The draught seemed to revive her at once. " It is not all, 
 Elwood," she said. " Joseph is not the only one, now, who 
 is implicated by the same circumstances." 
 
 " Who else ? not Philip Held ! " 
 
 " No," she answered, very quietly, " it is a woman. Her 
 name is Lucy Henderson." 
 
 Before Elwood could speak, she told him all that she had 
 heard from Philip. He could scarcely bring his mind to 
 accept its truth. 
 
 " Oh, the " he began ; " but, no ! I will keep the words to 
 myself. There is something deeper in this than any of us has 
 yet looked for ! Depend upon it, Lucy, she had a plan in 
 getting you there ! " 
 
 Lucy was silent. She fancied she knew Julia's plan al- 
 ready. 
 
 " Did she mean to poison Joseph herself, and throw the 
 suspicion on you ? And now by her own death, after all, 
 she accomplishes her chief end ! It is a hellish tangle, which- 
 ever way I look ; but they say that the truth will sooner or 
 later put down any amount of lies, and so it must be, here.
 
 297 
 
 We must got at the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
 the truth ! Do you not say so, Lucv ? " 
 
 "Yes ! " she answered tiriuly, looking him in the face. 
 
 ' ; Ay, though u 1 ! should come to li ; j;ht ! VTc> can't toll 
 what it may be necessary to say. They may go to work 
 and unravel Joseph's life, and yours, and mine, and hold up 
 the stuff for everybody to look at. AVell, let 'em ! say I. 
 If there are dark streak's in mine, I guess they'll look toler- 
 ably fair beside that one black heart. YvVre here alone, 
 Lucy ; there may not be a chance to say it soon again, so 
 I'll say now, that if need comes to publish what I said to 
 you one night a year ago, to publish it for Joseph's sake, 
 or your sake, don't keep back a single word ! The worst 
 would be, some men or women might think me conceited." 
 
 " No, El wood ! " she exclaimed : " that reproach would 
 fall on me ! You once offered me your help, and I I fear 
 I spiirned it ; but I will take it now. Nay, I beg you to 
 offer it to me again, and I will accept it with gratitude ! " 
 
 She rose, and stretched out her hand. 
 
 Elwood clasped it tenderly, held it a moment, and seemed 
 about to speak. But although his lips parted, and there 
 was a movement of the muscles of his throat, lie did not 
 utter a word. In another moment he turned, walked a few 
 yards xip the track, and then came back to her. 
 
 " No one could mistake you for Julia Asten," he said. 
 " You are at least half a head taller than she was. Your 
 voice is not at all the same : the apothecary will surely 
 notice the difference ! Then an alibi, as they call it, can be 
 proved." 
 
 " So Philip Held thought. But if my friends should not 
 remember the exact time, what should I then do "i " 
 
 " Lucy, don't ask yourself the question now ! It seems 
 13*
 
 298 JOSEPJI AM) ins FKIKXD. 
 
 to me that the case stands this way : one evil woman has 
 made a trap, fallen into it herself, and taken the secret of its 
 make away with her. There is nothing more to be invented, 
 and so we hold all that we gain. While we are mining, 
 where's the counter-mining to come from ? Who is to lie 
 us out of our truth? There isn't much to stand on yet, I 
 grant ; but another step the least little thing may give us 
 all the ground we w r ant ! " 
 
 He spoke so firmly and cheerily that Lucy's despondent 
 feeling was charmed away. Besides, nothing could have 
 touched her more than Elwood's heroic self-control. After 
 the miserable revelation which Philip had made, it was 
 unspeakably refreshing to be brought into contact with a 
 nature so sound and sweet and strong. When he had led 
 her by an easier path up the hill, and they had parted at the 
 end of the lane leading to her father's house, she felt, as 
 never before/ the comfort of relying so wholly on a faithful 
 man friend. 
 
 Elwood took his horse and rode to the Asten farm. 
 Joseph's face brightened at his appearance, and they talked 
 as of old, avoiding the dark year that lay between their past 
 intimacy and its revival. As in Philip's case, it was diffi- 
 cult to communicate secretly with Rachel Miller; but 
 Elwood, with great patience, succeeded in looking his wish 
 to speak with her, and uniting her efforts with his own. She 
 adroitly turned the conversation upon a geological work 
 which Joseph had been reading. 
 
 " I've been looking into the subject myself," Elwood said. 
 " Would you let me see the book : it may be the thing I 
 want." 
 
 " It is on the book-shelf in your bedroom, Joseph," Ra- 
 chel remarked.
 
 299 
 
 There was time enough for Fiwoccl to declai'C his biisiness 
 and for llaehel to answer: ' Mr. Held said every scrap, and 
 it is but a scrap, with half a name on it. i found it behind 
 and mostly under the IOW-.T drawer in the same box. I'll 
 get it before you leave, and give it to you v.-hen we shake 
 hands. Be careful, for he may make something out of it, 
 after all. Tell him there isn't a stitch in a dress but I've 
 examined, and a mortal work it was ! " 
 
 It was late before El wood could leave ; nevertheless, he 
 rode to Coventry Forge. The scrap of paper had been suc- 
 cessfully transferred, and his pressing duty was to deliver it 
 into the hands of Madeline Held. He found her anxiously 
 waiting, in accordance with Philip's instructions. 
 
 When they looked at the paper, it seemed, truly, to be a 
 worthless fragment. It had the character, also, of au apothe- 
 cary's label, but the only letters remaining were those form- 
 ing the end of the name, apparently ers, and a short distance 
 under them Sis. 
 
 " ' Behind and mostly under the lower drawer of her 
 jewel-case," said Madeline, musingly. " I think I might 
 guess how it came there. She had seen the label, which had 
 probably been forgotten, and then, as she supposed, had 
 snatched it away and destroyed it, without noticing that this 
 piece, caught behind the drawer, had been torn off. But 
 there is no evidence and perhaps none can be had that 
 the paper contained poison." 
 
 " Can you make anything out of the letters ? " Elwood 
 asked. 
 
 " The ' Sts ' certainly means ' Streets ' now, I see ! It is a 
 corner house ! Tliis makes the place a little more easy to be 
 identified. If Philip cannot find it, I am sure a detective can. 
 I will write to him at once."
 
 300 JOSEPH AXD HIS FRIEND. 
 
 " Then I'll wait and ride to the oilice with the letter," 
 said Ehvood. 
 
 Madeline rose, and commenced walking up and down the 
 room : she appeared to be suddenly and unusually excited. 
 
 " I have a new suspicion," she said, at last. " Perhaps I 
 am in too much of a hurry to make conjectures, because 
 Philip thinks I have a talent for it, and yet, this grows up- 
 011 me every minute ! I hope oh, I hope 1 am right ! " 
 
 She spoke with so much energy that Elwood began to share 
 her excitement without knowing its cause. She noticed the 
 eager, waiting expression of his face. 
 
 " You must really pardon me, Mr. Withers. I believe I 
 was talking to myself rather than to you ; I will not mention 
 my fancy until Philip decides whether it is worth acting upon. 
 There will be no harm if each of us finds a different clew, and 
 follows it. Philip will hardly leave the city to-morrow. I 
 shall not write, but go down with the first train in the morn- 
 ing!" 
 
 Elwood took his leave, feeling hopeful and yet very restless. 
 
 It was a long while before Madeline encountered Philip. 
 He was busily employed in carrying out his plan of tracing 
 the travelling agent, not yet successful, but sanguine of 
 success. He examined the scrap of paper which Madeline 
 brought, listened to her reasons for the new suspicion which 
 had crossed her mind, and compared them with the little 
 evidence already collected. 
 
 " Do not let us depend too seriously on this," he then said ; 
 " there is about an even chance that you are right. We will 
 keep it as an additional and independent test, but we dare 
 not lose sight of the fact that the law will assume Joseph's 
 guilt, and we must establish his innocence, first of all. Nay, 
 if we can simply prove that Julia, and not Lucy, purchased
 
 the poison, we shall save Loth ! Hut, at the same time. I will 
 try to lind this - ,v, v,-],,, lives in a conier-hua.se, and I will 
 
 have a talk with old Bie.-.^ini: this very eveuin"." 
 
 o* 
 
 ' ; \Vhy not go now?" 
 
 ''Patience, you impetuous girl! 1 mean to take no step 
 without working out every possible result in advance. If 
 I were not here in the city, I would consult with Mr. 
 Piiikertoii before proceeding further. Xow I shall take YOU 
 to the train: you must return to Coventry, and watch and 
 wait there." 
 
 "When. Philip called at the Blessing mansion, in the even- 
 ing, he found only Mrs. Blessing at home. She was rigid 
 and dreary in her mourning, and her reception of him was 
 almost repellant in its stiff formality. 
 
 "Mr. Blessing is absent," she explained, inviting Philip 
 to a seat by a wave of her hand. " His own interests ren- 
 dered a trip to the Oil Regions imperative; it is a mental 
 distraction which I do not grudge him. This is a cheerless 
 household, sir, one daughter gone forever, and another 
 about to leave us. How does Mr. Asten bear his loss ? " 
 
 Philip thereupon, as briefly and forcibly as possible, 
 related all that had occurred. " I wish to consult Mr. 
 Blessing," he concluded, " in relation to the possibility of 
 his being able to furnish any testimony on his son-in-law's 
 side. Perhaps you, also " 
 
 " No ! " she interrupted. " I know nothing whatever ! 
 If the trial (which I think most xtnnecessary and shocking) 
 gets into the city papers, it will be a terrible scandal for us. 
 When will it come on, did you say ? " 
 
 " In two or three weeks." 
 
 " Theie will be barely time ! " she cried. 
 
 " For that reason," said he, " I wish to secure the evi-
 
 502 JOSKPII AND IITS FRIEND. 
 
 dence at once. All the preparations for the defence must 
 be completed within that time." 
 
 " Clementina," Mrs. Blessing continued, without heeding 
 his words, " will be married about the first of October. Mr. 
 Spelter has been desirous of making a bridal tour in Europe. 
 She did not favor the plan ; but it seems to me like an inter- 
 position of Heaven ! " 
 
 Philip rose, too disgusted to speak. He bowed in silence, 
 and left the house.
 
 JOSEPH AM) HIS FJIIEND. 303 
 
 CHATTER XXA r III. 
 
 THE TRIAL. 
 
 As the day of triul drew nigh, the anxiety and activity- of 
 Joseph's friends increased, so that even the quiet atmosphere 
 wherein lie lived was disturbed by it. He could not help 
 knowing that they were engaged in collecting evidence, but 
 inasmuch as Philip always said, "You can do nothing!" 
 he forced himself to wait with such patience as was possible. 
 Rachel Miller, who had partly taken the hired man, Den- 
 nis, into her confidence, hermetically sealed the hoxise to 
 the gossip of the neighborhood ; but her greatest triumph 
 was in concealing her alarm, as the days rolled by and the 
 mystery was not yet unravelled. 
 
 There was not much division of opinion in the neighbor- 
 hood, however. The growing discord between husband and 
 wife had not been generally remarked : they were looked upon 
 as a loving and satisfied couple. Joseph's integrity of charac- 
 ter was acknowledged, and, even had it been doubted, the 
 people saw no motive for crime. His action in demanding 
 a legal investigation also operated favorably upon public 
 opinion. 
 
 The quiet and seclusion were beneficial to him. His mind 
 became calmer and clearer ; he was able to survey the past 
 without passion, and to contemplate his own faults with 
 a sense of wholesome bitterness rather than pain. The 
 approaching trial was not a pleasant thing to anticipate, but 
 the worst which he foresaw was the probability of so much
 
 304 JOSKPJl AND HIS KK1KXD. 
 
 of his private life being laid bare to the world. Here, 
 again, his own words returned to condemn him. Had he 
 not said to Lucy, on the morning of that fatal day, " I am 
 sick of masks ! " Had he not threatened to follow Julia 
 with his own miserable story ? The system of checks 
 which restrain impulse, and the whirl of currents and coun- 
 ter-currents which govern a man's movement through life, 
 began to arrange themselves in his mind. True wisdom, he 
 now felt, lay in understanding these, and so employing them 
 as to reach individual liberty of action through law, and not 
 outside of it. He had been shallow and reckless, even in 
 his good impulses ; it was now time to endure quietly for a 
 season what their eft'ect had been. 
 
 The day previous to the trial Philip had a long consulta- 
 tion with Mr. Pinkerton. He had been so far successful 
 that the name and whereabouts of the travelling agent had 
 been discovered : the latter had been summoned, but he 
 could not possibly arrive before the next day. Philip had 
 also seen Mr. Blessing, who entered with great readiness 
 into his plans, promised his assistance in ascertaining the 
 truth of Madeline's suspicion, and would give his testimony 
 as soon as he could return from New York, whither he had 
 gone to say farewell to Mrs. Clementina Spelter, before her 
 departure for Paris on a bridal journey. These were the 
 two principal witnesses for the defence, and it was yet un- 
 certain what kind of testimony they would be able to give. 
 
 " We must finish the other witnesses," Mr. Pinkerton 
 said, " (who, in spite of all we can do, will strengthen the 
 prosecution), by the time you reach here. If Spenham 
 gives us trouble, as I am inclined to suspect, we cannot 
 well spare you the first day, but I suppose it cannot be 
 helped."
 
 " I will send a telegram to Blessing, in Xew York, to 
 
 for their agent, and I can try liiiu with the photograph, cm 
 the way out. If that succeeds, Blessing's failure will be of 
 less consequence." 
 
 " If only they do not reach Linthicum in the mean time ! 
 I will prolong the impanelling of the jury, and use every 
 other liberty of delay allowed me ; yet I have to be cautious. 
 This is Spenkam's first important case, and he is ambitious 
 to make capital." 
 
 Mr. Spenham was the prosecuting attorney, who had just 
 been elected to his first term of service in that capacity. 
 He had some shrewdness as a criminal lawyer, and a great 
 deal of experience of the subterranean channels of party 
 politics. This latter acqiiirement, in fact, was the secret of 
 his election, for he was known to be coarse, unscrupulous, 
 and offensive. Mr. Pinkcrton was able to foresee his prob- 
 able line of attack, and was especially anxious, for that 
 reason, to introduce testimony which would shorten the trial. 
 
 When the hour came, and Joseph found that Philip was 
 inevitably absent, the strength he had summoned to his 
 heart seemed to waver for an instant. All his other friends 
 were present, however : Lucy Henderson and Madeline came 
 with the Hopetons, and Elwood "Withers stood by his side so 
 boldly and proudly that he soon recovered his composure. 
 
 The court-room was crowded, not only by the idlers of 
 the town, but also many neighbors from the country. They 
 were grave and silent, and Joseph's appearance in the place 
 allotted to the accused seemed to impress them painfully. 
 The preliminaries occupied some time, and it was nearly 
 noon before the first witness was called. 
 
 This was the physician. He stated, in a clear, business-
 
 306 JOSEPH AND ins FKIKMX 
 
 like manner, the condition in which he found Julia, his 
 discovery of the poison, and the unusual character of its 
 operation, adding his opinion that the latter was owing to a 
 long-continued nervous tension, culminating in hysterical 
 excitement. Mr. Spenham questioned him very closely as 
 to Joseph's demeanor, and his expressions before and after 
 the death. The point of attack which he selected was 
 Julia's exclamation : " Joseph, I \vill try to be different, but 
 I must live for that ! " 
 
 " These words," he said, " indicate a previous threat on 
 the part of the accused. His helpless victim 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton protested against the epithet. But his 
 antagonist found numberless ways of seeming to take Jo- 
 seph's guilt for granted, and thus gradually to mould the 
 pliant minds of a not very intelligent jury. The physician 
 was subjected to a rigid cross-examination, in the course of 
 which he was led to state that he, himself, had first advised 
 that the fact of the poisoning should not be mentioned until 
 after the funeral. The onus of the secrecy was thus re- 
 moved from Joseph, and this was a point gained. 
 
 The next witness was the servant- woman, who had been 
 present in the hall when. Julia fell upon the landing of the 
 staircase. She had heard the words, " Go away ! you have 
 killed me ! " spoken in a shrill, excited voice. She had al- 
 ready guessed that something was wrong between the two. 
 Mr. Asten came home looking quite wild and strange ; he 
 didn't seem to speak in his usual voice ; he walked about in 
 a restless way, and then went into the garden. Miss Lucy 
 followed him, and then Mrs. Asten ; but in a little while she 
 came back, with her dress torn and her arms scratched ; she, 
 the witness, noticed this as Mrs. Asten passed throiigh the 
 hall, tottering as she went and with, her fists shut tight.
 
 JOSEPH ASD HIS FFvIEXD. 307 
 
 Then Mr. Asten went up stairs to her bedroom ; heard them 
 speaking, but not the words ; said to Sally, who was in the 
 kitchen, "It's a real till' raid no mistake," and Sally re- 
 marked, " They're not used to each other yet, as they will 
 be in a year or two." 
 
 The witness was with difficulty kept to a direct narrative. 
 She had told the tale so often that every particular had its 
 fixed phrases of description, and all the questioning on both 
 sides called forth only repetitions. Joseph listened with a 
 calm, patient air ; nothing had yet occurred for which he 
 was not prepared. The spectators, however, began to be 
 deeply interested, and a sharp observer might have noticed 
 that they were already taking sides. 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton soon detected that, although the woman's 
 statements told against Joseph, she possessed no friendly 
 feeling for Julia. He endeavored to make the most of this : 
 
 O ' 
 
 but it was not much. 
 
 When Lucy Henderson's name was called, there was a 
 stir of curiosity in the audience. They knew that the con- 
 ference in the garden, from which Julia had returned in 
 such an excited condition, must now be described. Mr. 
 Spenham pricked up his red ears, ran his hand through his 
 stubby hair, and prepared himself for battle; while Mr. 
 Pinkerton, already in possession of all the facts, felt con- 
 cerned only regarding the manner in which Lucy might give 
 them. This was a case where so much depended on the im- 
 pression produced by the individual ! 
 
 By the time Lucy was sworn she appeared to be entirely com- 
 posed ; her face was slightly pale, but calm, and her voice 
 steady. Mrs. Hopeton and Madeline Held sat near her, and 
 Elwood Withers, leaning against a high railing, was nearly 
 opposite.
 
 SOS JOSEPH AND ITI3 FKIEND. 
 
 There was profound silence as she began, and the interest 
 increased as she approached the time of Joseph's return. 
 She described his appearance, repeated the words she had 
 heard, reproduced the scene in her own chamber, and so 
 came, step by step, to the interview in the garden. The 
 trying nature of her task now became evident. She spoke 
 slowly, and with longer pauses ; but whichever way she 
 turned in her thought, the inexorable necessity of the whole 
 truth stared her in the face. 
 
 " Must I repeat everything ? " she asked. " I am not 
 sure of recollecting the words precisely as they were 
 spoken." 
 
 " You can certainly give the substance," said Mr. Spen- 
 ham. " And be careful that you omit nothing : you are on 
 your oath, and you ought to know what that means." 
 
 His words were loud and harsh. Lucy looked at the im- 
 passive face of the judge, at Elwood's earnest features, at 
 the attentive jurymen, and went on. 
 
 When she came to Joseph's expression of the love that 
 might have been possible, she gave also his words : " Had 
 there been, I should have darkened the life of a friend." 
 
 " Ha ! " exclaimed Mr. Spenham, " we are coming upon 
 the motive of the murder." 
 
 Again Mr. Pinkerton protested, and was sustained by the 
 court. 
 
 " Tell the jury," said Mr. Spenham, " whether there had 
 been any interchange of such expressions between you and 
 the accused previous to his marriage ! " 
 
 This question was objected to, but the objection was 
 overruled. 
 
 " None whatever ! " was the answer. 
 
 Julia's sudden appearance, the accusation she made, and
 
 309 
 
 the manner in which Joseph met it, seemed to 1 urn iho 
 current of sympathy the other way. Lucy's recollection of 
 this scene was very clo;ir and complete : had she wished it, 
 she could not have forgotten a \vord or a look, in spile of 
 Mr. Spenham's angry objections, she was allowed to go on 
 and relate the conversation between Joseph and herself 
 after Julia's return to the house. Mr. rinkerton. made the 
 bent use of this portion of the evidence, and it seemed that 
 his side was strengthened, in spite of all unfavorable appear- 
 ances. 
 
 " Tliis is not all ! " exclaimed the prosecuting attorney. 
 " A married man does not make a declaration of love " 
 
 " Of a past possible love," Mr. rinkcrton interrupted. 
 
 " A yery fine hair-splitting indeed ! A 'possible ' love 
 and a ' possible ' return, followed by a ' possible ' murder 
 and a ' possible ' remarriage ! Our duty is to remove possi- 
 bilities and establish facts. The question, is, Was there no 
 previous affection between the witness and the accused ? 
 This is necessary to prove a motive. I ask, then, the 
 woman I beg pardon, the lady what were her sentiments 
 towards the husband of the poisoned before his marriage, at 
 the time of the conversation in the garden, and now ? " 
 
 Lucy started, and could not answer. Mr. Pinkerton 
 came to her aid. He protested strongly against such a 
 question, though he felt that there was eqiial danger in 
 answering it or leaving it unanswered. A portion of the 
 spectators, sympathizing with Lucy, felt indignant at Mr. 
 Spenham's demand ; another portion, hungry for the most 
 private and intimate knowledge of all the parties concerned, 
 eagerly hoped that it would be acceded to. 
 
 Lucy half turned, so that she caught a glimpse of Joseph. 
 He was calm, but his eyes expressed a sympathetic trouble.
 
 310 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 Then she felt her gaze drawn to Elwood, who had become a 
 shade paler, and who met her eyes with a deep, inscrutable 
 expression. Was he thinking of his recent words to her, 
 " If need comes to publish what I said to you, don't keep 
 back a single word ! " She felt stire of it, for all that he 
 said was in her mind. Her decision was made : for truth's 
 sake, and under the eye of God, she would speak. Having 
 so resolved, she shut her mind to all else, for she needed 
 the greatest strength of either woman or man. 
 
 The judge had decided that she was not obliged to answer 
 the question. There was a murmur, here and there, among 
 the spectators. 
 
 " Then I will use my freedom of choice," said Lucy, in a 
 firm voice, " and answer it." 
 
 She kept her eyes on Elwood as she spoke, and com- 
 pelled him to face her. She seemed to forget judge, jury, 
 and the curious public, and to speak only to his ear. 
 
 " I am here to tell the whole truth, God helping me," 
 she said. " I do not know how what I am required to say 
 can touch the question of Joseph Asten's guilt or innocence ; 
 but I cannot pause to consider that. It is not easy for a 
 woman to lay bare her secret heart to the world ; I would 
 like to think that every man who hears me has a wife, a 
 sister, or a beloved girl of his choice, and that he will try to 
 understand my heart through his knowledge of hers. I did 
 cherish a tenderness which might have been love I cannot 
 tell for Joseph Asten before his betrothal. I admit that 
 iiis marriage was a grief to me at the time, for, while I had 
 not suffered myself to feel any hope, I could not keep the 
 feeling of disappointment out of my heart. It was both my 
 blame and shame : I wrestled with it, and with God's help I 
 overcame it."
 
 311 
 
 There was a simple pathos in Lucy's voice, winch pierced 
 directly to the hearts of her hearers. She stood before them 
 as pure as Godiva in her helpful nakedness. She saw on 
 Elwood's clieek the blu>h which did not visit hers, and tin 
 sparkle of an unconscious tear. Joseph had hidden his face 
 in his hands for a moment, but now lo"k<-d up with a sad- 
 ness which no man there could misinterpret. 
 
 Lucy had paused, as if waiting to be <jU(.-stioned, but the 
 effect of her words had been so powerful and unexpected 
 that Mr. Spenhain was not ipiite ready. She went on: 
 
 " When I say that I overcame it, I think I have answered 
 everything. I went to him in the garden against my own 
 wish, because his wife begged me with tears and sobs to in- 
 tercede for her : I could not guess that he had ever thought 
 of me otherwise than as a friend. I attributed his expres- 
 sions to his disappointment in marriage, and pardoned him 
 when he asked me to forget them 
 
 " O, no doubt ! " Mr. Spenhain interrupted, looking at the 
 jury ; " after all we have heard, they could not have been 
 very disagreeable ! " 
 
 Elwood made a rapid step forward ; then, recollecting 
 himself, resumed his position against the railing. Very few 
 persons noticed the movement. 
 
 " They were very unwelcome," Lucy replied : " under any 
 other circumstances, it would not have been easy to forgive 
 them." 
 
 " And this former ' tenderness,' I think you called it," 
 Mr. Spenliam persisted, " do you mean to say that you 
 feel nothing of it at present ? " 
 
 There was a murmur of indignation all over the room. 
 If there is anything utterly incomprehensible to a vulgar 
 nature, it is the natural delicacy of feeling towards women,
 
 312 JOSEPH AXD ms FKIEXD. 
 
 which is rarely wanting even to the roughest and most igno- 
 rant men. The prosecution had damaged itself, and now 
 the popular sympathy was wholly and strongly with Liicy. 
 
 " I have already answered that qiicstion," she said. " For 
 the holy sake of truth, and of my own free-will, I have 
 opened my heart. I did it, believing that a woman's first 
 affection is pure, and would be respected ; I did it, hoping 
 that it might serve the cause of an innocent man ; but now, 
 since it has brought upon me doubt and insult, I shall avail 
 myself of the liberty granted to me by the judge, and speak 
 no word more ! " 
 
 The spectators broke into applause, which the judge did 
 not immediately check. Lucy's strength suddenly left her ; 
 she dropped into her seat and burst into tears. 
 
 " I have no further question to ask the witness," said 
 Mr. Pinkerton. 
 
 Mr. Speiiham inwardly cursed himself for his blunder, 
 not for his vulgarity, for of that he was sublimely uncon- 
 scious, and was only too ready to be relieved from Lucy's 
 presence. 
 
 She rose to leave the court, Mrs. Hopeton accompanying 
 her ; but Elwood Withers was already at her side, and she 
 leaned upon his arm as they passed through the crowd. The 
 people fell back to make a way, and not a few whispered 
 some honest word of encouragement. Elwood breathed 
 heavily, and the veins on his forehead were swollen. 
 
 Not a word was spoken until they reached the hotel. 
 Then Lucy, taking Elwood's hand, said : " Thank you, true, 
 dear friend ! I can say no more now. Go back, for Joseph's 
 sake, and when the clay is over come here and tell me, if 
 you can, that I have not injured him in trying to help him." 
 
 When Elwood returned to the court-room, Rachel Miller
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 313 
 
 was on the witness stand. Her testimony confirmed the 
 interpretation of Julia's character which had been suggested 
 ky Lucy Henderson's. The sweet, amiable, suffering wife 
 began to recede into the background, and the cold, false, 
 selfish wife to take her place. 
 
 All Mr. Spenham's cross-examination failed to give the 
 prosecution any support until he asked the question : 
 
 " Have you discovered nothing whatever, since your re- 
 turn to the house, which will throw any light upon Mrs. 
 Asten's death ? " 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton, Elwood, and Madeline all felt that the 
 critical moment had come. Philip's absence threatened to 
 be a serious misfortune. 
 
 " Yes," Rachel Miller answered. 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed the prosecuting attorney, rubbing his 
 hair ; " what was it ? " 
 
 " The paper in which the arsenic was put up." 
 
 " Will you produce that paper ? " he eagerly asked. 
 
 " T cannot now," said Rachel ; " I gave it to Mr. Philip 
 Held, so that he might find out something more." 
 
 Joseph listened with a keen, undisguised interest. After 
 the first feeling of surprise that such an important event 
 had been kept from his knowledge, his confidence in Philip's 
 judgment reassured him. 
 
 " Has Mr. Philip Held destroyed that paper ? " Mr. Spen- 
 ham asked. 
 
 " He retains it, and will produce it before this court to- 
 morrow," Mr. Pinkerton replied. 
 
 " Was there any mark, or label, upon it, which indicated 
 the place where the poison had been procured ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Rachel Miller. 
 
 " State what it was." 
 14
 
 314 JOSEPH AND ms FRIKND. 
 
 " Ziba Linthicum's drug-store, Xo. 77 Main Street, Mag- 
 nolia," she replied, as if the label were before her eyes. 
 
 " Let Ziba Liiithicum be summoned at once ! " Mr. Spen- 
 ham cried. 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton, however, arose and stated that the apo- 
 thecary's testimony required that of another person who was 
 present when the poison was purchased. This other person 
 had been absent in a distant part of the country, but had 
 been summoned, and would arrive, in company with Mr. 
 Philip Held, on the following morning. He begged that 
 Mr. Linthicum's evidence might be postponed until then, 
 when he believed that the mystery attending the poisoning 
 would be wholly explained. 
 
 Mr. Spenham violently objected, but he again made the 
 mistake of speaking for nearly half an hour on the subject, 
 an indiscretion into which he was led by his confirmed 
 political habits. By the time the question was decided, and 
 in favor of the defence, the afternoon was well advanced, 
 and the court adjourned until the next day.
 
 JOSEPH AND IIIS FKIEND. 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ELWOOD accompanied Joseph TO the prison where lie was 
 obliged to spend the night, and was allowed to remain with 
 him until Mr. Pinkerton (who was endeavoring to reach 
 Philip by telegraph) should arrive. 
 
 Owing to Rachel Miller's forethought, the bare room was 
 sufficiently furnished. There was a clean bed, a chair or 
 two, and a table, upon which stood a basket of provisions. 
 
 " I suppose I must eat," said Joseph, " as a matter of 
 duty. If you will sit down and join me, Elwood, I will 
 try." 
 
 " If I could have that fellow Spenham by the throat for 
 a minute," Elwood growled, " it would give me a good appe- 
 tite. But I will take my share, as it is : I never can think 
 rightly when I'm hungry. Why, there is enough for a pic- 
 nic ! sandwiches, cold chicken, pickles, cakes, cheese, and 
 two bottles of coffee, as I live ! Just think that we're in a 
 hotel, Joseph ! It's all in one's notion, leastways for a sin- 
 gle night ; for you can go where you like to-morrow ! " 
 
 " I hope so," said Joseph, as he took his seat. Elwood 
 set the provisions before him, but he did not touch them. 
 After a moment of hesitation he stretched out his hand and 
 laid it on Elwood 's shoulder. 
 
 " Now, old boy ! " Elwood cried : " I know it. What 
 yon mean is unnecessary, and I won't have it 1 " 
 
 " Let me speak ! "
 
 316 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 " I don't sec why I should, Joseph. It's no more than I 
 guessed. She didn't love me : yon were tolerably near to- 
 gether once, and if yon should now come nearer 
 
 But he could not finish the sentence ; the words stuck in 
 his throat. 
 
 " Great Heaven ! " Joseph exclaimed, starting to his feet ; 
 " what are you thinking of? Don't you see that Lucy Hen- 
 derson and I are parted forever by what has happened to-day ? 
 Didn't you hear her say that she overcame the tenderness 
 which might have become love, as I overcame mine for her ? 
 Neither of us can recall that first feeling, any more than we 
 can set our lives again in the past. I shall worship her as 
 one of the purest and noblest souls that breathe; but love 
 her ? make her my wife ? It could never, never be ! No, 
 Elwood ! I was wondering whether you could pardon me 
 the rashness which has exposed her to to-day's trial." 
 
 Elwood began to laugh strangely. " You are foolish, Jo- 
 seph," he said. " Pshaw ! I can't hold my knife. These 
 sudden downs and then ups are too much for a fellow ! 
 Pardon you ? Yes, on one condition that you empty 
 your plate before you speak another word to me ! " 
 
 They were both cheerful after this, and the narrow little 
 room seemed freer and brighter to their eyes. It was late 
 before Mr. Pinkerton arrived : he had waited in vain for an 
 answer from Philip. Elwood's presence was a relief to him, 
 for he did not wish to excite Joseph by a statement of what 
 he expected to prove unless the two witnesses had been really 
 secured. He adroitly managed, however, to say very little 
 while seeming to say a great deal, and Joseph was then left 
 to such rest as his busy memory might allow him. 
 
 Next morning there was an even greater crowd in the 
 court-room. All Joseph's friends were there, with the ex-
 
 ception of Lucy Henderson, who, bv .Mr. I'inkerum's ad\ u-e 
 remained at the hotel. 1'liiliji had not arrived, but had scut 
 a message saying that all \vus well, and he would come in the 
 morning train. 
 
 IVIr. Spenham, the- evening before, had ascertained the 
 nature of Mr. Linthicum's evidence. The apothecary, how- 
 ever, was only able to inform him of Philip's desire to dis- 
 cover the travelling agent, without knowing his purpose. In 
 the name recorded as that of the purchaser of the poison Mr. 
 Speiiham saw a weapon which would enable him to repay Lucy 
 for his discomfiture, and to indicate, if not prove, a com- 
 plicity of crime, in which Philip Held also, he suspected, 
 might be concerned. 
 
 The court opened at nine o'clock, and Philip could not be 
 on hand before ten. Mr. Pinkerton endeavored to procure 
 the examination of Dennis, and another subordinate witness, 
 before the apothecary; but he only succeeded in gaining 
 fifteen minutes' time by the discussion. Mr. Ziba Linthicum 
 was then called and sworn. He carried a volume under his 
 arm. 
 
 As Philip possessed the label, Mr. Linthicum could only 
 testify to the fact that a veiled lady had purchased so many 
 grains of arsenic of him on a certain day ; that he kept a re- 
 cord of all sales of dangerous drugs ; and that the lady's name 
 was recorded in the book which he had brought with him. 
 He then read the entry : 
 
 " Miss Henderson, Arsenic." 
 
 Although Mr. Pinkerton had whispered to Joseph, " Do 
 not be startled when he reads the name!" it was all the 
 latter could do to suppress an exclamation. There was a 
 murmur and movement through the whole court. 
 
 " We have now both the motive and the co-agent of tho
 
 318 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 crime," said Mr. Spenham, rising triumphantly. "After the 
 evidence which was elicited yesterday, it will not be difficult 
 to connect the two. If the ca.se deepens in enormity as it 
 advances, we may be shocked, but we have no reason to 
 be surprised. The growth of free-love sentiments, among 
 those who tear themselves loose from the guidance of religious 
 influences, naturally leads to crime ; and the extent to which 
 this evil has been secretly developed is not suspected by the 
 public. Testimony can. be adduced to show that the ac- 
 cused, Joseph Asten, has openly expressed his infidelity ; that 
 he repelled with threats and defiance a worthy minister of 
 the Gospel, whom his own pious murdered wife had commis- 
 sioned to lead him into the true path. The very expression 
 which the woman Lxicy Henderson testified to his having 
 used in the garden, ' I am sick of masks,' what does it 
 mean ? What but unrestrained freedom of the passions, the 
 very foundation upon which the free-lovers build up their 
 pernicious theories ? The accused cannot complain if the 
 law lifts the mask from his countenance, and shows his nature 
 in all its hideous deformity. But another mask, also, must 
 be raised : I demand the arrest of the woman Lucy Hender- 
 son ! " 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton sprang to his feet. In a measured, solemn 
 voice, which contrasted strongly with the loud, sharp tones 
 of the prosecuting attorney, he stated that Mr. Linthicum's 
 evidence was already known to him ; that it required an 
 explanation which would now be given in a few minutes, 
 and which would completely exonerate Miss Henderson from 
 the suspicion of having purchased the poison, or even hav- 
 ing any knowledge of its purchase. He demanded that no 
 conclusion should be drawn from evidence which would mis- 
 lead the minds of the jury : he charged the prosecuting
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 319 
 
 attorney with most unjustly assailing the characters of both 
 Joseph Asteii and Lucy Henderson, and invoked, in the 
 name of impartial justice, the protection of the court. 
 
 He spoke both eloijuently and earnestly ; but the specta- 
 tors noticed that he looked at his watch from minute to 
 minute. Mr. Spenham interrupted him, but he continued 
 to repeat his statements, until there came a sudden move- 
 ment in the crowd, near the outer door of the hall. Then 
 he sat down. 
 
 Philip led the way, pressing the crowd to right and left in 
 his eagerness. He was followed by a tall young man, witli 
 a dark moustache and an abundance of jewelry, while Mr. 
 Benjamin Blessing, flushed and perspiring, brought up the 
 rear. The spectators were almost breathless in. their hushed, 
 excited interest. 
 
 Philip seized Joseph's hand, and, bending nearer, whis- 
 pered, " You are free ! " His eyes sparkled and his face 
 glowed. 
 
 Room was made for the three witnesses, and after a brief 
 whispered consultation between Philip and Mr. Pinkerton, 
 Elwood was despatched to bring Lucy Henderson to the 
 court. 
 
 " May it please the Court," said Mr. Pinkerton, " I am 
 now able to fulfil that promise which I this moment made. 
 The evidence which was necessary to set forth the manner of 
 Mrs. Asten's death, and which will release the court fronr 
 any further consideration of the present case, is in my hands. 
 I therefore ask leave to introduce this evidence without any 
 further delay." 
 
 After a little discussion the permission was granted, and 
 Philip Held was placed upon the stand. 
 
 He first described Joseph's genuine sorrow at his wife's
 
 320 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 death, and his self-accusation of having hastened it by his 
 harsh words to her in the morning. He related the inter- 
 view at which Joseph, on learning of the reports concerning 
 him, had immediately decided to ask for a legal investiga- 
 tion, and in a simple, straightforward way, narrated all that 
 had been done up to the time of consulting Ziba Linthicum's 
 poison record. 
 
 "As I knew it to be quite impossible that Miss Lucy 
 Henderson could have been the purchaser," he began 
 
 Mr. Spenham instantly objected, and the expression was 
 ruled out by the Court. 
 
 " Then," Philip resumed, " I determined to ascertain who 
 had purchased the arsenic. Mr. Linthicum's description 
 of the lady was too vague to be recognized. It was neces- 
 sary to identify the travelling agent who was present ; for 
 this purpose I went to the city, ascertained the names and 
 addresses of all the travelling agents of all the wholesale drug 
 firms, and after much time and correspondence discovered 
 the man, Mr. Case, who is here present. He was in Per- 
 sepolis, Iowa, when the summons reached him, and would 
 have been here yesterday but for an accident on the Erie 
 Railway. 
 
 " In the mean time I had received the small fragment of 
 another label, and by the clew which the few letters gave me 
 I finally identified the place as the drug-store of Wallis and 
 Erkers, at the corner of Fifth and Persimmon Streets. 
 There was nothing left by which the nature of the drug 
 could be ascertained, and therefore this movement led to 
 nothing which could be offered as evidence in this court, 
 that is, by the druggists themselves, and they have not been 
 summoned. It happened, however, by a coincidence which 
 only came to light this morning, that "
 
 321 
 
 Here Philip was again interrupted. His further testi- 
 mony was of less consequence. Ho was sharply cross-ex- 
 amined by Mr. Spenham as to his relaiious with Joseph, and 
 his object in devoting so much time to procuring evidence 
 for the defence; but he took occasion, in replying, to express 
 his appreciation of Joseph's character so emphatically, tlmt 
 the prosecution lost rather than gained. Then the plan of 
 attack was changed. He was asked whether he believed in 
 the Bible, in future rewards and punishments, in the views 
 of the so-called free-lovers, in facile divorce and polygamy. 
 He was too shrewd, however, to lay himself open to the 
 least misrepresentation, arid the moral and mental torture 
 which our jurisprudence has substituted for the rack, 
 thumb-screws, and Spanish boots of the Middle Ages finally 
 came to an end. 
 
 Then the tall young man, conscious of his own elegance, 
 took his place. He gave his name and occupation as 
 Augustus Fitzwilliam Case, commercial traveller for the 
 house of Byle and Glanders, wholesale druggists. 
 
 " State whether you were in the drug-store of Ziba Lin- 
 thicum, No. 77 Main Street, in this town, on the day of the 
 entry in Mr. Linthicum's book." 
 
 " I was." 
 
 " Did you notice the person who called for arsenic ? " 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " What led you specially to notice her ? " 
 
 " It is my habit," said the witness. " I am impressible to 
 beauty, and I saw at once that the lady had what I call- 
 style. I recollect thinking, 'More style than could be 
 expected in these little places.' " 
 
 "Keep your thoughts to yourself!" cried Mr. Spen- 
 
 hain. 
 
 H*
 
 322 JOSEPH AXD II IS FRIEND. 
 
 " Describe the lady as correctly as you can," said Mr. 
 Pinkerton. 
 
 "Something under the medium size ; a little thin, but not 
 bad lines, what I should call jimp, natty, or ' lissome,' in 
 the Scotch dialect. A well-trained voice ; no uncertainty 
 about it, altogether about as keen and wide-awake a 
 woman as you'll find in a day's travel." 
 
 " You guessed all this from her figure ? " Mr. Spenham 
 asked, with a sneer. 
 
 " ISTot entirely. I saw her face. I suppose something in 
 my appearance or attitude attracted her attention. While 
 Mr. Linthicum was weighing the arsenic she leaned over the 
 counter, let her veil fall forward slightly, and gave me a 
 quick side-look. I bent a little at the same time, as if to 
 examine the soaps, and saw her face in a three-quarter posi- 
 tion, as the photographers say." 
 
 " Can you remember her features distinctly ? " 
 
 " Quite so. In fact, it is difficult for me to forget a 
 female face. Hers was just verging on the sharp, but still 
 tolerably handsome. Hair quite dark, and worn in ringlets; 
 eyebrows clean and straight ; mouth a little too thin for my 
 fancy ; and eyes well, I couldn't undertake to say exactly 
 what color they were, for she seemed to have the trick 
 very common in the city of letting the lids droop over 
 them." 
 
 " Were you able to judge of her age ?" 
 
 " Tolerably, I should say. There is a certain air of preser- 
 vation which enables a practised eye to distinguish an old 
 girl from a young one. She was certainly not to be called 
 young, somewhere between twenty-eight and thirty-five." 
 
 " You heard the name she gave Mr. Linthicum ? " 
 
 "Distinctly. Mr. Linthicum politely stated that it was
 
 JOSEPH AXD 1II> FKTKXP. 323 
 
 his custom to register the names of all those to whom he 
 furnished either poisons or prescriptions requiring care in 
 being administered, She said, 'You are vcnj particular, 
 sir;' and, a moment afterward, ''Pardon me, perhaps it is 
 necessary.' 'What name, then? ' he asked. I thought she 
 hesitated a moment, but this I will not say positively; 
 whether or not, the answer was, ' Miss Henderson.' She 
 went out of the store witli a light, brisk step." 
 
 " You are sure you would be able to recognize the lady ? " 
 Mr. Pinkertoii asked. 
 
 " Quite sure." And Mr. Augustus Fitzwilliam Case 
 smiled patronizingly, as if the question were superfluous. 
 
 Mr. Pinkertoii made a sign to Lucy, and she arose. 
 
 "Look upon this lady ! " he said to the witness. 
 
 The latter made a slight, graceful inclination of his head, 
 AS much as to say, " Pardon me, I am compelled to stare." 
 Lucy quietly endured his gaze. 
 
 " Consider her well," said the lawyer, " and then tell the 
 jury whether she is the person." 
 
 " No considerment is necessary. This lady has not the 
 slightest resemblance to Miss Henderson. She is younger, 
 taller, and modelled upon a wholly different style." 
 
 " Will you now look at this photograph ? " 
 
 "Ah ! " the witness exclaimed; "you can yourself judge 
 of the correctness of my memory ! Here is Miss Hender- 
 son herself, and in three-quarter face, as I saw her ! " 
 
 "That," said Mr. Pinkerton, addressing the judge and 
 jury, " that is the photograph of Mrs. Julia Asten." 
 
 The spectators were astounded, and Mr. Spenham taken 
 completely aback by this revelation. Joseph and Elwood 
 both felt that a great weight had been lifted from their 
 hearts. The testimony established Julia's falsehood at the
 
 324: JOSEPH Ayi) ins FKIEXD. 
 
 same time, and there was such an instant and complete 
 revulsion of opinion that many persons present at once sus- 
 pected her of a design to poison. Joseph. 
 
 " Before calling upon Mr. Benjamin Blessing, the father 
 of the late Mrs. Asten, for his testimony," said Mr. Pinker- 
 ton, " and I believe he will be the last witness necessary, 
 I wish to show that, although Miss Lucy Henderson accom- 
 panied Mrs. Asten to Magnolia, she could not have visited 
 Mr. Linthicum's drug-store at the time indicated ; nor, 
 indeed, at any time during that day. She made several calls 
 upon friends, each of whom is now in attendance, and their 
 joint evidence will account for every minute of her stay in 
 the place. The base attempt to blacken her fair name im- 
 peratively imposes this duty upon me." 
 
 No objection was made, and the witnesses were briefly 
 examined in succession. Their testimony was complete. 
 
 " One mystery still remains to be cleared up," the lawyer 
 continued ; " the purpose of Mrs. Asten in purchasing the 
 poison, and the probable explanation of her death. I say 
 ' probable,' because absolute certainty is impossible. But I 
 will not anticipate the evidence. Mr. Benjamin Blessing, 
 step forward, if you please ! "
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FEIEXD. 325 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MR. BLESSING'S TESTIMONY. 
 
 Ox entering the court-room Mr. Blessing had gone to 
 Joseph, given his hand a long, significant grasp, and looked 
 in his face with an expression of triumph, almost of exulta- 
 tion. The action was not lost upon the spectators or the 
 jury, and even Joseph felt that it was intended to express 
 the strongest faith in his innocence. 
 
 When the name was called there was a movement in the 
 crowd, and a temporary crush in some quarters, as the peo- 
 ple thrust forward their heads to see and listen. Mr. Bless* 
 ing, bland, dignified, serene, feeling that he was the central 
 point of interest, waited until quiet had been restored, 
 slightly turning his head to either side, as if to summon 
 special attention to what he should say. 
 
 After being sworn, and stating his name, he thus described 
 his occupation : 
 
 " I hold a position under government ; nominally, it is a 
 Deputy Inspectorship in the Custom-House, yet it possesses 
 a confidential I might say, if modesty did not prevent, an 
 ad visory character." 
 
 " In other words, a Ward Politician ! " said Mr. Spen- 
 ham. 
 
 <{ I must ask the prosecuting attorney," Mr. Blessing 
 blandly suggested, " not to define my place according to his 
 own political experiences." 
 
 There was a general smile at these words; and a very
 
 326 JOSEPH AXD ms FRIEND. 
 
 audible chuckle from spectators belonging to the opposite 
 party. 
 
 " You are the father of the late .Mrs. Julia Asten ? " 
 
 " I am her unhappy father, whom nothing but the im- 
 perious commands of justice, and the knowledge of her 
 husband's innocence of the crime with which lie stands 
 charged, could have compelled to appear here, and reveal 
 the painful secrets of a family, which 
 
 Here Mr. Speiiham interrupted him. 
 
 " I merely wish to observe," Mr. Blessing continued, with 
 a stately wave of his hand towards the judge and jury, " that 
 the De Belsains and their descendants may have been fre- 
 quently unfortunate, but were never dishonorable. I act iu 
 their spirit when. I hold duty to the innocent living higher 
 than consideration for the unfortunate dead." 
 
 Here he drew forth a handkerchief, and held it for a 
 moment to his eyes. 
 
 " Did you know of any domestic discords between your 
 daughter and her husband ? " 
 
 " I foresaw that such might be, and took occasion to warn 
 my daughter, on her wedding-day, not to be too sure of her 
 influence. There was too much disparity of age, character, 
 and experience. It could not be called crabbed age and 
 rosy youth, but there was difference enough to justify Shake- 
 speare's doubts. I am aware that the court requires ocular 
 or auricular evidence. The only such I have to offer is 
 my son-in-law's own account of the discord which preceded 
 my daughter's death." 
 
 " Did this discord sufficiently explain to you the cause 
 and manner of her death ? " 
 
 " My daughter's nature I do not mean to digress, but 
 am accustomed to state niy views clearly my daughter's
 
 nature was impulsive. Slie inherited mv own intellect, but 
 modified by the peculiar character of tin- feminine ncrvuus 
 system. Hence >lie miu'ht succumb in a depression which / 
 should resist. She appeared (.< }>< .-,mv uf her control over 
 my son-in-law's nature, and of success in an enterprise iu 
 which E regret to say my son-in-law lost confidence. I 
 assumed, at the time, that her usually capable mind was 
 unbalanced by the double disappointment, and that she had 
 rushed, unaneled, to her last account. This, I say, was the 
 conclusion forced upon me ; yet 1 cannot admit that it was 
 satisfactory. It seemed to disparage my daughter's intellec- 
 tual power : it was not the act which I should have antici- 
 pated in any possible emergency." 
 
 " Had you no suspicion that her husband might have 
 been instrumental ? " Mr. Spenhani asked. 
 
 " He ? he is simply incapable of that, or any crime ! " 
 
 " We don't want assertions," said Mr. Spenham, sternly. 
 
 " I beg pardon of the court," remarked Mr. Blessing ; " it 
 was a spontaneous expression. The touch of nature cannot 
 always be avoided." 
 
 " Go on, sir ! " 
 
 " I need not describe the shock and sorrow following my 
 daughter's death," Mr. Blessing continued, again applying 
 his handkerchief. " In order to dissipate it, I obtained a 
 leave of absence from my post, the exigencies of the gov- 
 ernment fortunately admitting of it, and made a journey 
 to the Oil Regions, in the interest of myself and my son-in- 
 law. While there I received a letter from Mr. Philip Held, 
 the contents of which 
 
 "Will you produce the letter?" Mr. Spenham ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 " It can be produced, if necessary. I will state nothing
 
 32S JOSEPH AND JII5 FRIEND. 
 
 further, since I perceive that this would not be admissible 
 evidence. It is enough to say that I returned to the city 
 without delay, in order to meet Mr. Philip Held. The re- 
 quirements of justice were more potent with me than the 
 suggestions of personal interest. Mr. Held had already, as 
 you will have noticed from his testimony, identified the 
 fragment of paper as having emanated from the drug-store 
 of "VVallis and Erkers, corner of Fifth and Persimmon 
 Streets. I accompanied him to that drug-store, heai-d the 
 statements of the proprietors, in answer to Mr. Hold's ques- 
 tions, statements which, I confess, surprised me immeas- 
 urably (but I could not reject the natural dedtictions to be 
 drawn from them), and was compelled, although it over- 
 whelmed me with a sense of unmerited shame, to acknow- 
 ledge that there was plausibility in Mr. Held's conjectures. 
 Since they pointed to my elder daughter, Clementina, now 
 Mrs. Spelter, and at this moment tossing upon the ocean- 
 wave, I saw that Mr. Held might possess a discernment su- 
 perior to my own. But for a lamentable cataclysm, he 
 might have been my son-in-law, and I need not say that I 
 prefer that refinement of character which comes of good blood 
 to the possession of millions 
 
 Here Mr. Blessing was again interrupted, and ordered to 
 confine himself to the simple statement of the necessary 
 facts. 
 
 " I acknowledge the justice of the rebuke," he said. " But 
 the sentiment of the mens conscia recti will sometimes ob- 
 trude through the rigid formula of Themis. In short, Mr. 
 Philip Held's representations " 
 
 " State those representations at once, and be done with 
 them ! " Mr. Spenham cried. 
 
 " I am coming to them presently. The Honorable Court
 
 329 
 
 understands, I urn convinced, that a coin-rent narrative, ah 
 though moderately prolix, is preferable to a di-j^inted nar- 
 rative, even if the latter were terse as Tacitus. .Mr. j{,-ld"s 
 representations, I repeat, satisfied me that an interview with 
 mv daughter Clementina was imperative. There was no 
 time to be lost, for the passage of the nuptial pair had al- 
 eady been taken iiL the VIV^ '/<.> J'ari*. 1 started at once, 
 sending a telegram in advance, and in the same evening ar- 
 rived at their palatial residence in Fifth Avenue. Clemen- 
 tina's nature, I must explain to the Honorable Court, is very 
 different from that of her sister, the reappearance, I sus- 
 pect, of some lateral strain of blood. She is reticent, unde- 
 monstrative, in short, frequently inscrutable. I suspected 
 that a direct question might defeat my object; therefore, 
 when I was alone with her the next morning, my son-in- 
 law, Mr. Spelter, being called to a meeting of Erie of which 
 he is one of the directors, I said to her : ' My child, you 
 are perfectly blooming ! Your complexion was always ad- 
 mirable, but now it seems to me incomparable ! ' ' 
 
 " This is irrelevant ! " cried Mr. Spenham. 
 
 " By no means ! It is the very corpus delicti, the foot 
 of Hercules, the milk (powder would be more appropriate) 
 in the cocoa-nut ! " Clementina smiled in her serene way, and 
 made no reply. ' How do you keep it up now ? ' I asked, 
 tapping her cheek ; ' you must be careful, here : all persons 
 are not so discreet as "Wallis and Erkers.' She was as- 
 tounded, stupefied, I might say, but I saw that I had reached 
 the core of truth. ' Did you suppose I was ignorant of it? ' 
 I said, still very friendly and playfully. ' Then it was Julia 
 who told you ! ' she exclaimed. < And if she did,' I an- 
 swered, ' what was the harm ? I have no doubt that Julia 
 did the same thing.' ' She was always foolish,' Clementina
 
 330 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIKXD. 
 
 then said ; ' she envied me my complexion, and she watched 
 me until she found out. I told her that it would not do for 
 any except blondes, like myself, and her complexion was 
 neither one thing nor the other. And I couldn't see that it 
 improved much, afterwards.' " 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton saw that the jurymen were puzzled, and 
 requested Mr. Blessing to explain the conversation to 
 them. 
 
 " It is my painful duty to obey ; yet a father's feelings 
 may be pardoned if he shrinks from presenting the facts at 
 once in their naked unpleasantness. However, since the 
 use of arsenic as a cosmetic is so general in our city, especi- 
 ally among blondes, as Wallis and Erkers assure me, my 
 own family is not an isolated case. Julia commenced using 
 the drug, so Clementina informed me, after her engagement 
 with Mr. Asten, and only a short time before her marriage. 
 To what extent she used it, after that event, I have no 
 means of knowing ; but, I suspect, less frequently, unless 
 she feared that the disparity of age between her and her 
 husband was becoming more apparent. I cannot excuse her 
 duplicity in giving Miss Henderson's name instead of her 
 own at Mr. Linthicum's drug store, since the result might 
 have been so fearfully fatal ; yet I entreat you to believe 
 that there may have been no inimical animus in the act. 
 I attribute her death entirely to an over-dose of the drug, 
 voluntarily taken, but taken in a moment of strong excite- 
 ment." 
 
 The feeling of relief from suspense, not only among 
 Joseph's friends, but throughout the crowded court-room, 
 was clearly manifested : all present seemed to breathe a 
 lighter and fresher atmosphere. 
 
 Mr. Blessing wiped his forehead and his fat cheeks, and
 
 looked benignly around. ' There are a liundred little addi- 
 tional details," he said, "which will substantiate my evi- 
 dence ; but 1 have surely said sutlicient fur the ends of jus- 
 tice. The hoa\vns will not fall because I have been forced 
 to carve the emblems of criminal vanity upon the sepulchre 
 of an unfortunate child, but the judgment of an earthly 
 tribunal may well be satisfied. J luwever, I am readv," lie 
 added, turning towards Mr. Spenham ; < ; apply all the en- 
 gines of technical procedure, and I shall not wince." 
 
 The manner of the prosecuting attorney was completely 
 changed, lie answered respectfully and courteously, and his 
 brief cross-examination was calculated rather to confirm 
 the evidence for the defence than to invalidate it. 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton then rose and stated that he should call 
 no other witnesses. The fact had been established that 
 Mrs. Asten had been in the habit of taking arsenic to im- 
 prove her complexion ; also that she had purchased much 
 more than enough of the drug to cause death, at the store 
 of Mr. Ziba Linthicum, only a few days before her demise, 
 and under circumstances which indicated a desire to conceal 
 the purchase. There were two ways in which the manner 
 of her death might be explained ; either she had ignorantly 
 taken an over-dose, or, having mixed the usual quantity be- 
 fore descending to the garden to overhear the conversation 
 between Mr. Asten and Lucy Henderson, had forgotten the 
 fact in the great excitement which followed, and thought- 
 lessly added as much more of the poison. Her last words 
 to her husband, which could not be introduced as evidence, 
 but might now be repeated, showed that her death was the 
 result of accident, and not of design. She was thus ab- 
 solved of the guilt of suicide, even as her husband of the 
 charge of murder.
 
 332 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 Mr. Spenham, somewhat to the surprise of those who 
 were unacquainted with his true character, also stated that 
 he should call 110 further witness for the prosecution. The 
 testimonies of Mr. Augustus Fitzwilliam Case and Mr. Ben- 
 jamin. Blessing although the latter was unnecessarily os- 
 tentatious and discursive were sufficient to convince him 
 that the prosecution could not make out a case. He had 
 no doubt whatever of Mr. Joseph Asten's innocence. Lest 
 the expressions which he had been compelled to use, in the 
 performance of his duty, might be misunderstood, he wished 
 to say that he had the highest respect for the characters of 
 Mr. Asten and also of Miss Lucy Henderson. He believed 
 the latter to be a refined and virtuous lady, an ornament to 
 the community in which she resided. His language to- 
 wards her had been professional, by no means personal. 
 It was in accordance with the usage of the most eminent 
 lights of the bar; the ends of justice required the most 
 searching examination, and the more a character was cri- 
 minated the more brightly it would shine forth to the 
 world after the test had been successfully endured. 
 He was simply the agent of the law, and all respect of per- 
 sons was prohibited to him while in the exercise of his 
 functions. 
 
 The judge informed' the jurymen that he did not find it 
 necessary to give them any instructions. If they were 
 already agreed upon their verdict, even the formality of 
 retiring might be dispensed with. 
 
 There was a minute's whispering back and forth, among 
 the men, and the foreman then rose and stated that they 
 were agreed. 
 
 The words " Not Guilty ! " spoken loudly and emphati- 
 cally, were the signal for a stormy burst of applause from
 
 JOSEPH AND JUS FKIEXD. 333 
 
 tlie audience. In vain the court-crier, aided by the consta- 
 bles, endeavored to preserve order. Joseph's friends gath- 
 ered around him with their congratulations ; while Mr. 
 Blessing, feeling that some recognition of the popular senti- 
 ment was required, rose and bowed repeatedly to the crowd. 
 Philip lad the way to the open air, and the others followed, 
 but few words were spoken until they found themselves in 
 the large parlor of the hotel. 
 
 Mr. Blessing had exchanged some mysterious whispers 
 with the clerk, on arriving ; and presently two negro waiters 
 entered the room, bearing wine, ice, and other refreshments. 
 When the glasses had been filled, Mr. Blessing lifted his 
 with an air which imposed silence on the company, and thus 
 spake : " ' Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
 speaketh.' There may be occasions when silence is golden, 
 but to-day we are content with the baser metal. A man in 
 whom we all confide, whom we all love, has been rescxied 
 from the labyrinth of circximstances ; he comes to us as a 
 new Theseus, saved from the Minotaur of the Law ! Al- 
 though Mr. Held, with the assistance of his fair sister, was 
 the Ariadne who found the clew, it has been my happy lot 
 to assist in unrolling it ; and now we all stand together, like 
 our classic models on the free soil of Crete, to chant a paean 
 of deliverance. While I propose the health and happiness 
 and good-fortune of Joseph Asten, I beg him to believe that 
 my words come ab imo pectore, from my inmost heart : if 
 any veil of mistrust, engendered by circumstances which I 
 will not now recall, still hangs between him and myself, I 
 entreat him to rend that veil, even as David rent his gar- 
 ments, and believe in my sincerity, if he cannot in my dis- 
 cretion ! " 
 
 Philip was the only one, besides Joseph, who understood
 
 33i JOSEPH AND HIS FRIKXD. 
 
 the last allusion. He caught hold of Mr. Blessing's hand 
 and exclaimed : " Spoken, like a man ! " 
 
 Joseph stepped instantly forward. " I have again been 
 unjust," he said, " and I thank you for making me feel it. 
 You have done me an infinite service, sacrificing your own 
 feelings, bearing no malice against me for my hasty and 
 unpardonable words, and showing a confidence in my charac- 
 ter which after what has passed between us puts me to 
 shame. I am both penitent and grateful : henceforth I shall 
 know you and esteem you ! " 
 
 Mr. Blessing took the offered hand, held it a moment, and 
 then stammered, while the tears started from his eyes : 
 " Enough ! Bury the past a thousand fathoms deep ! I can 
 still say : foi de Belsain ! " 
 
 " One more toast ! " cried Philip. " Happiness and 
 worldly fortune to the man whom misfortunes have bent but 
 cannot break, who has been often deceived, but who 
 never purposely deceived in turn, whose sentiment of 
 honor has been to-day so nobly manifested, Benjamin 
 Blessing ! " 
 
 While the happy company were pouring out but not ex- 
 hausting their feelings, Lucy Henderson stole forth upon the 
 upper balcony of the hotel. There was a secret trouble in 
 her heart, which grew from minute to minute. She leaned 
 upon the railing, and looked down the dusty street, passing 
 in review the events of the two pregnant days, and striving 
 to guess in what manner they would affect her coming life. 
 She felt that she had done her simple duty : she had spoken 
 no word which she was not ready to repeat ; yet in her 
 words there seemed to be the seeds of change. 
 
 After a while the hostler brought a light carriage from the 
 stable, and Elwood Withers stepped into the street below
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FRIEND. 335 
 
 her. He was about to take the reins, when lie looked up, 
 saw her, and remained standing. She noticed the intensely 
 wistful expression of his face. 
 
 '' Are you going, Elwood, and alone ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes," he said eagerly ; and waited. 
 
 " Then T will go with you, that is, if you will take me." 
 She tried to speak lightly and playfully. 
 
 In a few minutes they were out of town, passing between 
 the tawny fields and under the russet woods. A sweet west 
 wind fanned them with nutty and spicy odors, and made a 
 crisp, cheerful music among the fallen leaves. 
 
 " What a delicious change ! " said Lucy, " after that 
 stifling, dreadful room." 
 
 " Ay, Lucy and think how Joseph will feel it ! And 
 how near, by the chance of a hair, we came of missing the 
 truth ! " 
 
 " Elwood ! " she exclaimed, " while I was giving my tes- 
 timony, and I found your eyes fixed on me, were you think- 
 ing of the counsel you gave me, three weeks ago, when we 
 met at the tunnel ? " 
 
 " I was ! " 
 
 " I knew it, and I obeyed. Do you now say that I did 
 right?" 
 
 " Not for that reason," he answered. " It was your own 
 heart that told you what to do. I did not mean to bend or 
 influence you in any way : I have no right." 
 
 " You have the right of a friend," she whispered. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " I sometimes take more upon myself 
 than I ought. But it's hard, in my case, to hit a very fine 
 line." 
 
 " O, you are now unjust to yourself, Elwood. You are 
 both strong and generous."
 
 336 JOSEPH AND ins FKIEXD. 
 
 " T am not strong ! I am this minute spoiling my good 
 luck. It ivas a luck from Heaven to me, Lucy, when you 
 offered to ride home with me, and it is, now if I could only 
 swallow the words that are rising into my mouth ! " 
 
 She whispered again : " Why should you swallow them ? " 
 
 " You are cruel ! when you have forbidden me to speak, 
 and I have promised to obey ! " 
 
 " After all you have heard ? " she asked. 
 
 " All the more for what I have heard." 
 
 She took his hand, and cried, in a trembling voice : " T 
 have been cruel, in remaining blind to your nature. I re- 
 sisted what would have been what will be, if you do not 
 turn away my one happiness in this life ! Do not speak 
 let me break the prohibition ! Elwood, dear, true, noble 
 heart, Elwood, I love you!" 
 
 " Lucy ! " 
 
 And she lay upon his bosom.
 
 JOSEPH AXD HIS FRIEXD. 337 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 BEGIXXIXG ANOTHER LIFE. 
 
 IT was hard for the company of rejoicing friends, at the 
 hotel in Magnolia, to part from each other. Mr. Blessing 
 had tact enough to decline Joseph's invitation, but he was 
 sorely tempted by Philip's, in which Madeline heartily 
 joined. Nevertheless, he only wavered for a moment; a 
 mysterious resolution strengthened him, and taking Philip 
 to one side, he whispered: 
 
 "Will you allow me to postpone, not relinquish, the 
 pleasure ? Thanks ! A grave duty beckons, a task, in 
 short, without which the triumph of to-day would be dra- 
 matically incomplete. I must speak in riddles, because this 
 is a case in which a whisper might start the overhanging 
 avalanche ; but I am sure you will trust me." 
 
 " Of course I will ! " Philip cried, offering his hand. 
 
 " Foi de Bdsain ! " was Mr. Blessing's proud answer, as 
 he hurried away to reach the train for the city. 
 
 Joseph looked at Pliilip, as the horses were brought from 
 the stable, and then at Rachel Miller, who, wrapped in her 
 great crape shawl, was quietly waiting for him. 
 
 " We must not separate all at once," said Philip, stepping 
 forward. " Miss Miller, will you invite my sister and my- 
 self to take tea with you this evening ? " 
 
 Philip had become one of PiachePs heroes ; she was sure 
 that Mr. Blessing's testimony and Joseph's triumphant ac- 
 quittal were owing to his exertions. The Asten farm could 
 15
 
 338 JOSEPH AND ins FKIEND. 
 
 produce nothing good enough for his entertainment, that 
 was her only trouble. 
 
 " Do tell me the time o' day," she said to Joseph, as ho 
 drove out of town, closely followed by Philip's light car- 
 riage. "It's three days in one to me, and a deal more like 
 day after to-morrow morning than this afternoon. Now, 
 a telegraph would be a convenience ; I could send word and 
 have chickens killed and picked, against we got there." 
 
 Joseph answered her by driving as rapidly as the rough 
 country roads permitted, without endangering horse and 
 vehicle. It was impossible for him to think coherently, 
 impossible to thrust back the single overwhelming prospect 
 of relief and release which had burst upon his life. He 
 dared to admit the fortune which had come to him through 
 death, now that his own innocence of any indirect incitement 
 thereto had been established. The future was again clear 
 before him ; and even the miserable discord of the past year 
 began to recede and form only an indistinct background to 
 the infinite pity of the death-scene. Mr. Blessing's testi- 
 mony enabled him to look back and truly interpret the last 
 appealing looks, the last broken words ; his heart banished 
 the remembrance of its accusations, and retained only so 
 long as it should beat among living men a deep and tender 
 commiseration. As for the danger he had escaped, the 
 slander which had been heaped upon him, his thoughts 
 were above the level of life which they touched. Ho 
 was nearer than he suspected to that only true indepen- 
 dence of soul which releases a man from the yoke of cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Rachel Miller humored his silence as long as she thought 
 proper, and then suddenly and awkwardly interrupted it. 
 " Yes," she exclaimed ; " there's a little of the old currant
 
 339 
 
 wine is the cellar-closet ! Town's-folks generally like it, and 
 we used to think it good to stay a body's stomach for a late 
 meal, as it'll be apt to be. lint I've not asked you how 
 you relished the supper, though Ehvoocl, to be sure, allowed 
 that all was tolerable nice. And I see the Lord's hand in 
 it, as I hope you do, Joseph ; fur the righteous is never for- 
 saken. We can't help rejoice, whore \ve ought to be humbly 
 returning thanks, and owning our unworthiness ; but Philip 
 Held is a friend, if there ever was one ; and the white hen's 
 brood, though they are new-fashioned fowls, are plump 
 enough by this time. I disremember whether I asked El- 
 wood to stop " 
 
 " There he is ! " Joseph interrupted ; " turning the corner 
 of the wood before us ! Lucy is with him, and they must 
 both come ! " 
 
 He drove on rapidly, and soon overtook El wood's lagging 
 team. The horse, indeed, had had his own way, and the 
 sound of approaching wheels awoke Elwood from a trance 
 of incredible happiness. Before answering Joseph, he -whis- 
 pered to Lucy : 
 
 "What shall we say? It'll be the heaviest favor I've 
 ever been called upon to do a friend." 
 
 "Do it, then! " she said : "the day is too blessed to be 
 kept for ourselves alone." 
 
 How fair the valley shone, as they came into it out of the 
 long glen between the hills! What cheer there was, even 
 in the fading leaves ; what happy promise in the mellow 
 autumn sky! The gate to the lane stood open; Dennis, 
 with a glowing face, waited for the horse. He wanted to 
 say something, but not knowing how, shook hands with Jo- 
 seph, and then pretended to be concerned with the harness. 
 Rachol, on entering the kitchen, found her neighbor, Mrs.
 
 340 JOSEPH AND HIS FKIEXD. 
 
 Bishop, embarked 011 a full tide of preparation. Two plump 
 fowls, scalded and plucked, lay upon the table ! 
 
 This was too much for luicliul Miller. She had borne 
 up bravely through the trying days, concealing her anxiety 
 lest it might be misinterpreted, hiding even her grateful 
 emotion, to make her faith in Joseph's innocence seem the 
 stronger ; and now Mrs. Bishop's thoughtfulness was the 
 slight touch under which she gave way. She sat down and 
 cried. 
 
 Mrs. Bishop, with a stew-pan in one hand, while she 
 wiped her sympathetic eyes with the other, explained that 
 her husband had come home an hour before, with the news ; 
 and that she just guessed help would be wanted, or leastways 
 company, and so she had made bold to begin ; for, though 
 the truth had been made manifest, and the right had been 
 proved, as anybody might know it would be, still it was a 
 trial, and people needed to eat more and better under trials 
 than at any other time. " You may not feel inclined for 
 victuals ; but there's the danger ! A body's body must be 
 supported, whether or no." 
 
 Meanwhile, Joseph and his guests sat on the veranda, in 
 the still, mild air. He drew his chair near to Philip's, their 
 hands closed upon each other, and they were entirely happy 
 in the tender and perfect manly love which united them. 
 Madeline sat in front, with a nimbus of sunshine around her 
 hair, feeling also the embarrassment of speech at such a 
 moment, yet bravely endeavoring to gossip with Lucy on 
 other matters. But Elwood's face, so bright that it became 
 almost beautiful, caught her eye : she glanced at Philip, who 
 answered with a smile ; then at Lucy, whose cheek bloomed 
 with the loveliest color ; and, rising without a Avord, she 
 went to the latter and embraced her.
 
 Then, stretching lier hand to Elwood, she said: '-'Forgive 
 me, both of vou. for showing how glad I am ! 
 
 ' Philip ! '' Joseph cried, as the truth flashed upon him ; 
 '"life is not always unjust ! It is we who are impatient." 
 
 They both arose and gave hands of congratulation; and 
 Ehvood, though so deeply moved that he scarcely trusted 
 himself to speak, was so frankly proud and happy, so 
 purely and honestly man in such a sacred moment, that 
 Lucy's heart swelled with an equally proud recognition of 
 las feeling. Their eyes met, and no memory of a mistaken 
 Past could ever again come like a cloud across the light of 
 their mutual faith. 
 
 " The day was blessed already," said Philip ; " but this 
 makes it perfect." 
 
 No one knew how the time went by, or could afterwards 
 recall much that was said. Rachel Miller, with many 
 apologies, summoned them to a sumptuous meal; and when 
 the moon hung chill and clear above the creeping mists of 
 the valley, they parted. 
 
 The next evening, Joseph went to Philip at the Forge. 
 It was well that he should breathe another atmosphere, and 
 dwell, for a little while, within walls where no ghosts of 
 his former life wandered. Madeline, the most hospitably 
 observant of hostesses, seemed to have planned the arrange- 
 ments solely for his and Philip's intercourse. The short 
 evening of the country was not half over, before she 
 sent them to Philip's room, where a genial wood-fire prat- 
 tled and flickered on the hearth, with two easy-chairs be- 
 fore it. 
 
 Philip lighted a pipe and they sat down. " Now, Joseph," 
 said he, " I'll answer ' Yes ! ' to the question in your mind." 
 
 "You have been talking with Bishop, Philip?"
 
 342 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIKND. 
 
 " ]STo ; but I won't mystify you. As I rode up the valley, 
 I saw you two standing on the hill, and could easily guess 
 the rest. A largo estate in this country is only an imagi- 
 nary fortune. You are not so much of a farmer, Joseph 
 that it will cut you to the heart and make you dream of 
 ruin to part with a fe\v fields ; if you were, I should say 
 get that weakness out of you at once ! A man should pos- 
 sess his property, not be possessed by it." 
 
 " You are right," Joseph answered ; " I have been fight- 
 ing against an inherited feeling." 
 
 " The only question is, will the sale of those fifty acres 
 relieve you of all present embarrassments ? " 
 
 " So far, Philip, that a new mortgage of about half the 
 amount will cover what remains." 
 
 " Bravo ! " cried Philip. " This is better than I thought. 
 Mr. Hopeton. is looking for sure, steady investments, and 
 will furnish whatever you need. So there is no danger of 
 foreclosure." 
 
 " Things seem to shape themselves almost too easily now," 
 Joseph answered. I see the old, mechanical routine of my 
 life coming back : it should be enough for me, but it is not ; 
 can you tell me why, Philip ? " 
 
 " Yes : it never was enough. The most of our neighbors 
 are cases of arrested development. Their intellectual nature 
 only takes so many marks, like a horse's teeth ; there is a 
 point early in their lives, where its form becomes fixed. 
 There is neither the external influence, nor the inward neces- 
 sity, to drive them a step further. They find the Sphinx 
 dangerous, and keep out of her way. Of course, as soon as 
 they passively begin to accept what is, all that was fluent or 
 plastic in them soon hardens into the old moulds. Now, I 
 am not very wise, but this appears to me to be truth ; that
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 343 
 
 life is a grand centrifugal force, forever growing from a 
 wider circle towards one that is still wider. Your .stationary 
 men may be necessary, and even serviceable ; but to me 
 and to YOU, Joseph there is neither joy nor peace except 
 in some kind of growth." 
 
 " If we could be always sure of the direction ! " Joseph 
 sighed. 
 
 " That's the point ! " Philip eagerly continued. " Tf we 
 stop to consider danger in advance, we should never venture 
 a step. A movement is always clear after it has been made, 
 not often before. It is enough to test one's intention ; un- 
 less we are tolerably bad, something guides vis, and adjusts 
 the consequences of our acts. Why, we are like spiders, in 
 the midst of a million gossamer threads, which we are all 
 the time spinning without knowing it ! Who are to mea- 
 sure our lives for us ? Not other men with other necessi- 
 ties ! and so we come back to the same point again, where I 
 started. Looking back now, can you see no gain in your 
 mistake ? " 
 
 "Yes, a gain I can never lose. I begin to think that 
 haste and weakness also are vices, and deserve to be 
 punished. It was a dainty, effeminate soul you found, Phi- 
 lip, a moral and spiritual Sybarite, I should say now. I 
 must have expected to lie on rose-leaves, and it was right 
 that I should find thorns." 
 
 " I think," said Philip, " the world needs a new code of 
 ethics. We must cure the unfortunate tendencies of some 
 qualities that seem good, and extract the good from others 
 that seem evil. But it would need more than a Luther for 
 such a Reformation. I confess I am puzzled, when I at- 
 tempt to study moral ca,uses and consequences in men's 
 Jives. It is nothing but a tangle, when I take them collec-
 
 344 JOSEPH AXD HIS FRIEND. 
 
 tively. What if each of us were, as I half suspect, as inde- 
 pendent as a planet, yet all held together in one immense 
 system ? Then the central force must be our close depend- 
 ence on God, as I have learned to feel it through you." 
 
 " Through me ! " Joseph exclaimed. 
 
 " Do you suppose we can be so near each other without 
 giving and taking ? Let us not try to get upon a common 
 ground of faith or action : it is a thousand times more de- 
 lightful to discover that we now and then reach the same 
 point by different paths. This reminds me, Joseph, that 
 our paths ought to separate now, for a while. Tt is you who 
 should leave, but only to come back again, ' in the fulness 
 of time.' Heaven knows, I am merciless to myself in recom- 
 mending it." 
 
 " You are right to try me. It is time that I should 
 know something of the world. But to leave, now so 
 immediately " 
 
 " It will make no difference," said Philip. " Whether 
 you go or stay, there will be stories afloat. The bolder plan 
 is the better." 
 
 The subject was renewed the next morning at breakfast. 
 Madeline heartily seconded Philip's counsel, and took a 
 lively part in the discussion. 
 
 "We were in Europe as children," she said to Joseph, 
 " and I have very clear and delightful memories of tho 
 travel." 
 
 " I was not thinking especially of Europe," he answered. 
 " I am hardly prepared for such a journey. What I should 
 wish is, not to look idly at sights and shows, but to have 
 some active interest or employment, which would bring me 
 into contact with men. Philip knows my piirpose." 
 
 " Then," said Madeline, " why not hunt on Philip's trail ?
 
 345 
 
 I have no doubt you can track him from Texas to the Pacific 
 by the traditions of his wild pranks and adventures ! How 
 I should enjoy geitin^ hold of a fe\v chapters of his history ! '' 
 
 " Madeline, you are a genius ! " Philip cried. " How 
 could I have forgotten AVilder\s letter, a fortnight ago, you 
 remember ? One need not be a practical geologist to make 
 the business report he wants ; but Joseph has read enough 
 to take hold, with the aid of the books I can give him ! If 
 it is not too late ! " 
 
 " I was not thinking of that, Philip," Madeline answered. 
 " Did you not say that the place was " 
 
 She hesitated. " Dangerous ? " said Philip. " Yes. But 
 if Joseph goes there, he will come back to us again." 
 
 " O, don't invoke misfortune in that way ! " 
 
 " Neither do I," he gravely replied ; " but I can see the 
 shadow of Joseph's life thrown ahead, as I can see my own." 
 
 " I think I should like to be sent into danger," said 
 Joseph. 
 
 Philip smiled : " As if you had not just escaped the 
 greatest ! Well, it was Madeline's guess which most 
 helped to avert it, and now it is her chance word which will 
 probably send you into another one." 
 
 Joseph looked up in astonishment. " I don't understand 
 you, Philip," he said. 
 
 " O Philip ! " cried Madeline. 
 
 " I had really forgotten," he answered, " that you knew 
 nothing of the course by which we reached your defence. 
 Madeline first suggested to me that the poison was some- 
 times used as a cosmetic, and on this hint, with Mr. Bless- 
 ing's help, the truth was discovered." 
 
 And I did not know how much I owe to you!" Joseph 
 
 exclaimed, turning towards her. 
 15*
 
 S-iG JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 " Do not thank me," she said, "for Philip thinks the for- 
 tunate guess may be balanced by an evil one." 
 
 " No, no " Joseph protested, noticing the slight tremble 
 in. her voice ; " I will take it as a good omen. Now I know 
 that danger will pass me by, if it comes ! " 
 
 " If your experience should be anything like mine," said 
 Philip, "you will only recognize the danger when you can 
 turn and look back at it. But, come ! Madeline has less 
 superstition in her nature than she would have us believe. 
 Wilcler's offer is just the thing ; I have his letter on file, 
 and will write to him at once. Let us go down to my 
 office at the Forge ! " 
 
 The letter was from a capitalist who had an interest in 
 several mines in Arizona and Nevada. Pie was not satisfied 
 with the returns, and wished to send a private, confidential 
 agent to those regions, to examine the prospects and opera- 
 tions of the companies and report thereupon. With the aid 
 of a map the probable course of travel was marked out, and 
 Joseph rejoiced at the broad field of activity and adventure 
 which it opened to him. 
 
 He stayed with Philip a day or two longer, and every 
 evening the fire made a cheery accompaniment to the deep- 
 est and sweetest confidences of their hearts, now pausing as 
 if to listen, now rapidly murmuring some happy, inarticulate 
 secret of its own. As each gradually acquired full possession 
 of the other's past, the circles of their lives, as Philip said, 
 were reciprocally widened; but as the horizon spread, it 
 seemed to meet a clearer sky. Their eyes were no longer 
 fixed on the single point of time wherein they breathed. 
 Whatever pain remained, melted before them and behind 
 them into atmospheres of resignation and wiser patience. 
 One gave his courage and experience, the other his pure
 
 347 
 
 instinct, his faith find aspiration; and a now harmony came 
 from the closer interfusion of sweetness and strength. 
 
 When Joseph returned home, lie at once set about putting 
 his affairs in order, and making arrangements for an absence 
 of a year or more. It was necessary that he should come in 
 contact with most of his neighbors, and he was made; aware 
 of their good will without knowin" that it was, in many 
 
 O J 
 
 cases, a reaction from suspicion and slanderous gossip. Mr. 
 Chaffinch had even preached a sermon, in which no name 
 was mentioned, but everybody understood the allusion. This 
 was considered to be perfectly right, so long as the prejudices 
 of the people were with him, and Julia was supposed to be 
 the pious and innocent victim of a crime. When, however, 
 the truth had been established, many who had kept silent 
 now denounced the sermon, and another on the deceitfulness 
 of appearances, which Mr. Chaffinch gave on the following 
 Sabbath, was accepted as the nearest approach to an apology 
 consistent with his clerical dignity. 
 
 Joseph was really ignorant of these proceedings, and the 
 quiet, self-possessed, neighborly way in which he met the 
 people gave them a new impression of his character. More- 
 over, he spoke of his circumstances, when it was necessary, 
 with a frankness unusual among them ; and the natural re- 
 sult was that his credit was soon established on as sound a 
 basis as ever. When, through Philip's persistence, the mis- 
 sion to the Pacific coast was secured, but little further time 
 was needed to complete the arrangements. By the sacrifice 
 of one-fourth of his land, the rest was saved, and intrusted 
 to good hands during his absence. Philip, in the mean time, 
 had fortified him with as many hints and instructions as 
 possible, and he was ready, with a light heart and a full head, 
 to set out upon the long and uncertain journey.
 
 348 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 I. JOSEPH TO PHILIP. 
 
 CAMP , ARIZONA, October 19, 1868. 
 
 SINCE I wrote to you from Prescott, dear Philip, three 
 months have passed, and I have had no certain means of 
 sending you another letter. There was, first, Mr. Wilder's 
 
 interest at , the place hard to reach, and the business 
 
 difficult to investigate. It was not so easy, even with the 
 help of your notes, to connect the geology of books with the 
 geology of nature ; these rough hills don't at all resemble 
 the clean drawings of strata. However, I have learned all 
 the more rapidly by not assuming to know much, and the re- 
 port I sent contained a great deal more than my own per- 
 sonal experience. The duty was irksome enough, at times; 
 I have been tempted by the evil spirits of ignorance, indo- 
 lence, and weariness, and I verily believe that the fear of 
 failing to make good your guaranty for my capacity was the 
 spur which kept me from giving way. Now, habit is begin- 
 ning to help me, and, moreover, my own ambition has some- 
 thing to stand on. 
 
 I had scarcely finished and forwarded my first superficial 
 account of the business as it appeared to me, when a chance 
 suddenly offered of joining a party of prospecters, some 
 of whom I had already met : as you know, we get acquainted 
 iu little time, and with no introductions in these parts. 
 They were bound, first, for some little-known regions in
 
 JOJ-KPU AND 1118 FRIKND. 
 
 Eastern Nevada, and then, passing a point which Mr. 
 "Wilder wished me to visit (and which T could not have 
 reached so directly from any other (jnarter), they meant to 
 finish the journey at Austin. It was an opportunity I 
 could not let go, though I will admit to you, Philip, that I 
 also hoped to overtake the adventures, which had seemed to 
 recede from me, rainbow-fashion, as I went on. 
 
 Some of the party were old Eocky Mountain men, as Avary 
 as courageous ; yet we passed through one or two straits 
 which tested all their endurance and invention. I won't say 
 how I stood the test ; perhaps I ought to be satisfied that 
 I came through to the end, and am now alive and cheerful. 
 
 ~ j 
 
 To be sure, there are many other ways of measuring our 
 strength. This experience wouldn't help me the least in a 
 discussion of principles, or in organizing any of the machi- 
 nery of society. It is rather like going back to the first 
 ages of mankind, and being tried in the struggle for exist- 
 ence. To me, that is a great deal. I feel as if I had been 
 taken out of civilization and set back towards the beginning, 
 in order to work my way up again. 
 
 But what is the practical result of this journey ? you will 
 ask. I can hardly tell, at present : if I were to state that I 
 have been acting on your system of life rather than my own, 
 that is, making ventures without any certainty of the con- 
 sequences, I think you would shake your head. Neverthe- 
 less, in these ten months of absence I have come out of my 
 old skin and am a livelier snake than you ever knew me to 
 be. No, I am wrong; it is hardly a venture after all, and 
 my self-glorification is out of place. I have the prospect of 
 winning a great deal where a very little has been staked, and 
 the most timid man in the world might readily go that far. 
 Again you will shake your head ; you remember " The
 
 350 josEi'ir AXD ins FRIEND. 
 
 Amaranth." How I should like to Lear what lias become 
 of that fearful and wonderful .speculation ! 
 
 Pray give me news of Mr. Blessing. All those matters 
 seem to lie so far behind me, that they look differently to 
 my eyes. Somehow, I can't keep the old impressions ; I 
 even begin to forget them. You said, Philip, that he was 
 not intentionally dishonest, and something tells me you are 
 right. We learn men's characters rapidly in this rough 
 school, because we cannot get away from the close, rough, 
 naked contact. What surprises me is that the knowledge is 
 not only good for present and future use, but that I can take 
 it with me into my past life. One weakness is left, and you 
 will understand it. I blush to myself, I am ashamed of 
 my early innocence and ignorance. This is wrong ; yet, 
 Philip, I seem to have been so unmanly, at least so unmas- 
 culine ! I looked for love, and fidelity, and all the virtues, 
 on the surface of life ; believed that a gentle tongue was the 
 sign of a tender heart ; felt a wound when some strong and 
 positive, yet differently moulded being approached me ! 
 Now, here are fellows prickly as a cactus, with something at 
 the core as true and tender as you will find in a woman's 
 heart. They would stake their lives for me sooner than 
 some persons (whom we know) would lend me a hundred 
 dollars, without security ! Even your speculator, whom I 
 have rnet in every form, is by no means the purely merce- 
 nary and dangerous man I had supposed. 
 
 In short, Philip, I am on very good terms with human 
 nature ; the other nature does not suit me so well. It is a 
 grand thing to look down into the canon of the Colorado, or 
 to see a range of perfectly clear and shining snow-peaks 
 across the dry sage-plains ; but oh, for one acre of our green 
 meadows ! I dreamed of them, and the clover-fields, and
 
 JOSEPH AND HIS FEIEXD. 351 
 
 the woods and running streams, through the terrific heat of 
 the Nevada deserts, until the tears came. It is nearly a 
 year since I L'i't home: 1 should think it fifty years! 
 
 V\ ith this mail goe.s another report to jir. AVilder. In 
 three or four months my task will be at an end, and I shall 
 then be free to return. A\ ill you welcome the brown-faced, 
 full bearded man, broad in cheek's and shoulders, as you 
 would the but how did I use to look, Philip ? It was a 
 younger brother you knew ; but lie has bequeathed all of his 
 love, and more, to the older. 
 
 II. PHILIP TO JOSEPH. 
 
 COVENTRY FORGE, Christmas Day. 
 
 When Madeline hung a wreath of holly around your 
 photograph this morning, I said to it as I say now : " A. 
 merry Christmas, Joseph, wherever you are!" It is a 
 calm sunny day, and my view, as you know, reaches much 
 further through the leafless trees ; but only the meadow on 
 the right is green. You, on the contrary, are enjoying 
 something as near to Paradise in color, and atmosphere, 
 and temperature (if you are, as I guess, in Southern Cali- 
 fornia), as you will ever be likely to see. 
 
 Yes, I will welcome the new man, althoxigh I shall see 
 more of the old one in him than you perhaps think, nor 
 would I have it otherwise. We don't change the bases of 
 our lives, after all : the forces are differently combined, 
 otherwise developed, but they hang, I fancy, to the same 
 roots. Nay, I'll leave preaching until I have you again at 
 the old fireside. Yoxi want news from home, and no miser- 
 able little particular is unimportant. I've been there, and 
 know what kind of letters are welcome.
 
 002 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 The neighborhood (I like to hover around a while, before 
 alighting) is still a land where all things always seem the 
 same. The trains run up and down our valley, carrying a 
 little of the world boxed up in shabby cars, but leaving no 
 mark behind. In another year the people will begin to 
 visit the city more frequently ; in still another, the city 
 people will find their way to iis ; in five years, population 
 will increase and property will rise in value. This is my 
 estimate, based on a plentiful experience. 
 
 Last week, Madeline and I attended the wedding of 
 Elwood Withers. It was at the Hopeton's, and had been 
 postponed a week or two, on account of the birth of a son 
 to our good old business-friend. There are two events for 
 you ! Elwood, who has developed, as I knew he would, 
 into an excellent director of men and material undertakings, 
 has an important contract on the new road to the coal 
 regions. He showed me the plans and figures the other 
 day, and I see the beginning of wealth in them. Lucy, 
 who is a born lady, will save him socially and intellectually. 
 I have never seen a more justifiable marriage. He was 
 pale and happy, she sweetly serene and confident ; and the 
 few words he said at the breakfast, in answer to the health 
 which Hopeton gave in his choice Yin d'A'i, made the un- 
 married ladies envy the bride. Really and sincerely, I 
 came away from the house more of a Christian than I went. 
 
 You know all, dearest friend : was it not a test of my 
 heart to see that she was intimately, fondly happy ? It was 
 hardly any more the face I once knew. I felt the change 
 in the touch of her hand. I heard it in the first word she 
 spoke. I did not dare to look into my heart to see if some- 
 thing there were really dead, for the look would have called 
 the dead to life. I made one heroic effort, heaved a stone
 
 over the place, and sealed it down forever. Then I felt 
 your arm on mv shoulder, your hand on my breast. I was 
 strong and joyous; Lucy, I imagined, looked at me from 
 time to time, but with a bright face, as if she divined what 
 I had done. Can. she have ever suspected the truth? 
 
 Time is a specific administered to us for all spiritual 
 shocks ; but change of habit is better. AVhv may I not 
 change in quiet as you in action ? It seems to me, some- 
 times, as I sit alone before the fire, with the pipe-stem 
 between my teeth, that each of us is going backward 
 through the other's experience. You will thus prove my 
 results as I prove yours. Then, parted as we are, I see 
 our souls lie open to each other in equal light and warmth, 
 and feel that the way to God lies through the love of 
 man. 
 
 Two years ago, how all our lives were tangled ! Now, 
 with so little agency of our own, how they are flowing into 
 smoothness and grace ! Yours and mine are not yet com- 
 plete, but they are no longer distorted. One disturbing, yet 
 most pitiable, nature has been removed ; El wood, Lucy, the 
 Hopetons, are happy; you and I are healed of our impa- 
 tience. Yes, there is something outside of our own wills that 
 works for or against us, as we may decide. If I once forgot 
 this, it is all the clearer now. 
 
 I have foi-gotten one other, Mr. Blessing. The other day 
 I visited him in the city. I found him five blocks nearer 
 the fashionable quarter, in a larger house. He was elegantly 
 dressed, and wore a diamond on his bosom. He came to 
 meet me with an open letter in his hand. 
 
 "From Mrs. Spelter, my daughter," he said, waving it 
 with a grand air, " an account of her presentation to the 
 Emperor Napoleon. The dress was let me see blue moire
 
 354 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 and Oliantilly lace ; Eugenie was quite struck with her figure 
 and complexion." 
 
 " The world seems to treat yon well," I suggested. 
 
 " Another turn of the wheel. However, it showed me 
 what I am capable of achieving, when a strong spur is applied. 
 In this case the spur was, as you probably guess, Mr. Held, 
 honor. Sir, I prevented a cataclysm ! You of course know 
 the present quotations of the Amaranth stock, but you can 
 hardly be aware of my agency in the matter. When I went to 
 the Oil Region with the available remnant of funds, Kanuck 
 had fled. Although the merest tyro in geology, I selected a 
 spot back of the river-bluffs, in a hollow of the undulating 
 table-land, sunk a shaft, and succeeded ! It was what some- 
 body calls an inspired guess. I telegraphed instantly to a 
 friend, and succeeded in purchasing a moderate portion of 
 the stock not so much as I desired before its value was 
 known. As for the result, si monumentum quceris, circum- 
 spice ! " 
 
 I wish I could give you an idea of the air with which he 
 said this, standing before me with his feet in position, and 
 his arms thrown out in the attitude of Ajax defying the light- 
 ning. 
 
 I ventured to inquire after your interest. " The shares 
 are here, sir, and safe," he said, " worth not a cent less than 
 twenty-five thousand dollars." 
 
 I urged him to sell them and deposit the money to your 
 credit, but this he refused to do without your authority. 
 There was no possibility of depreciation, he said : very 
 well, if so, this is your time to sell. Now, as I write, it 
 occurs to me that the telegraph may reach you. I close this, 
 therefore, at once, and post over to the office at Oakland. 
 
 Madeline says : " A merry Christmas from me ! " It is
 
 355 
 
 fixed in her Load tliat you are still exposed to some mys- 
 terious danger. Come back, shame her superstition, and 
 make happy your 
 
 PHILIP. 
 
 III. JOSEPH TO PHILIP. 
 
 SAX 1'iuxcisco, June 3, 1609. 
 Philip, Philip, I have found j our valley ! 
 After my trip to Oregon, in March, I went southward, 
 along the v ostern base of the Sierra Xevada, intending at 
 first to cross the range ; but falling in with an old friend of 
 yours, a man of the mountains and the sea, of books and 
 men, I kept company with him, on and on, until the great 
 wedges of snow lay behind us, and only a long, low, winding 
 pass divided us from the sands of the Colorado Desert. 
 From the mouth of this pass I looked on a hundred miles of 
 mountains ; there were lakes glimmering below ; there were 
 groves of ilex on the hillsides, an orchard of oranges, olives, 
 and vines in the hollow, millions of flowers hiding the earth 
 pure winds, fresh waters, and remoteness from all conven- 
 tional society. I have never seen a landscape so broad, 
 so bright, so beautiful ! 
 
 Yes, but we will only go there on one of these idle epicu- 
 rean journeys of which we dream, and then to enjoy the wit 
 and wisdom of our generous friend, not to seek a refuge from 
 the perversions of the world ! For I have learned another 
 thing, Philip : the freedom we craved is not a thing to be 
 found in this or that ulace. Unless we bring it with us, we 
 shall not find it. 
 
 The news of the decline of the Amaranth stock, in your 
 last, does not surprise me. How fortunate that my tele- 
 graphic order arrived in season ! It was in Mr. Blessing's
 
 356 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 nature to hold on ; but lie will surely Lave something left. 
 I mean to invest half of the sum in his wife's name, in any 
 case; for the "prospecting" of which I wrote you, last fall, 
 was a piece of more than ordinary luck. You must have 
 heard of White Pine, by this time. We were the discover- 
 ers, and reaped a portion of the first harvest, which is never 
 equal to the second ; but this way of getting wealth is so 
 incredible to me, even after I have it, that I almost fear the 
 gold will turn into leaves or pebbles, as in the fairy tales. 
 I shall not tell you what my share is: let me keep one 
 secret, nay, two, to carry home ! 
 
 More incredible than anything else is now the circum- 
 stance that we are within a week of each other. This let- 
 ter, I hope, will only precede me by a fortnight. I have one 
 or two last arrangements to make, and then the locomotive 
 will cross the continent too slowly for my eager haste. Why 
 should I deny it ? I am homesick, body and soul. Yerily, 
 if I were to meet Mr. Chaffinch in Montgomery Street, I 
 should fling myself upon his neck, before coming to my 
 sober senses. Even he is no longer an antipathy : I was 
 absurd to make one of him. I have but one left ; and 
 Eugenie's admiration of her figure and complexion does not 
 soften it in the least. 
 
 How happy Madeline's letter made me ! After I wrote 
 to her, I would have recalled mine, at any price ; for I had 
 obeyed an impulse, and I feared foolishly. What you. said 
 of her " superstition " might have been just, I thought. 
 But I believe that a true-hearted woman always values 
 impulses, because she is never at a loss to understand them. 
 So now I obey another, in sending the enclosed. Do you 
 know that her face is as clear in my memory as yours ? and as 
 but why should I write^ when I shall so soon be with you ?
 
 JOSEPH AND II IS FEIEXD. 357 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 ALL ARE HAPPY. 
 
 THREE weeks after the date of Joseph's last letter Philip 
 met him at the railroad station in the city. Brown, bearded, 
 fresh, and full of joyous life after his seven days' journey 
 across the continent, he sprang down from the platform to be 
 caught in his friend's arms. 
 
 The next morning they went together to Mr. Blessing's 
 residence. That gentleman still wore a crimson velvet 
 dressing-gown, and the odor of the cigar, which he puffed in 
 a rear room, called the library (the books were mostly Pat- 
 ent Office and Agricultural Reports, with Faublas and the 
 Decamerone), breathed plainly of the Vuelte Abajo. 
 
 " My dear boy ! " he cried, jumping up and extending his 
 arms, " Asten of Asten Hall ! After all your moving acci- 
 dents by flood and field, back again ! This is is what 
 shall I say ? compensation for many a blow of fate ! And 
 my brave Knight with the Iron Hand, sit down, though it 
 be in Caithage, and let me refresh my eyes with your 
 faces J" 
 
 " Not Carthage yet, I hope," said Joseph. 
 
 " Not quite, if I adhere strictly to facts," Mr. Blessing 
 replied ; " although it threatens to be my Third Punic War. 
 
 There is even a slight upward tendency in the Amaranth 
 shares, and if the company were in my hands, we should soon 
 float upon the topmost wave. But what can I do ? The Hon- 
 orable Whaley and the Reverend Dr. Lellifant were retained
 
 358 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 on account of their names ; Whaley made president, and I 
 being absent at the time developing the enterprise, not 
 only pars magna but to tits tcres atque rotundvs, ha ! lia ! I 
 was put off with a director's place. Now I must stand by, 
 and see the work of my hands overthrown. But 'tis ever 
 thus ! " 
 
 He heaved a deep sigh. Philip, most heroically repress- 
 ing a tendency to shriek with laughter, drew him on to state 
 the particulars, and soon discovered, as he had already sus- 
 pected, that Mr. Blessing's sanguine temperament was the 
 real difficulty ; it was still possible for him to withdraw, and 
 secure a moderate success. 
 
 When this had been made clear, Joseph interposed. 
 . " Mr. Blessing," said he, " I cannot forget how recklessly, 
 in my disappointment, I charged you with dishonesty. I 
 know also that you have not forgotten it. Will you give 
 me an opportunity of atoning for my injustice? not that you 
 reqxiire it, but that I may, henceforth, have less cause for 
 self-reproach." 
 
 " Your words are enough ! " Mr. Blessing exclaimed. " I 
 excused you long ago. You, in your pastoral seclu- 
 sion " 
 
 " But I have not been secluded for eighteen months past," 
 said Joseph, smiling. " It is the better knowledge of men 
 which has opened my eyes. Besides, you have no right to 
 refuse me ; it is Mrs. Blessing whom I shall have to con- 
 sult." 
 
 He laid the papers on the table, explaining that half the 
 amount realized from his shares of the Amaranth had been 
 invested, on trust, for the benefit of Mrs. Eliza Bless- 
 ing. 
 
 " You have conquered vincisti ! " cried Mr. Blessing,
 
 359 
 
 shedding tears. "What can I do? Geuerositv is so rare 
 a virtue in the world, that it would be a crime to suppress 
 it ! " 
 
 Philip took advantage of the milder mood, and plied his 
 arguments so skilfully that .at last the exuberant pride of 
 the De Belsain blood gave wav. 
 
 " What shall I do, without an object, a hope, a faith in 
 possibilities ?" Mr. Blessing cried. "The amount you have 
 estimated, with Joseph's princely provision, is a competence 
 for my old days ; but how shall I till out those days ? The 
 sword that is never drawn from the scabbard rusts." 
 
 "But," said Philip, gravely, "you forget the field for 
 which you were destined by nature. These operations in 
 stocks require only a low order of intellect ; you were meant 
 to lead and control multitudes of men. With your fluency 
 of speech, your happy faculty of illustration, your power of 
 presenting facts and probabilities, you should confine your- 
 self exclusively to the higher arena of politics. Begin as an 
 Alderman ; then, a Member of the Assembly ; then, the 
 State Senate ; then 
 
 " Member of Congress ! " cried Mr. Blessing, rising, with 
 flushed face and flashing eyes. " You are right ! I have 
 allowed the necessity of the moment to pull me down from 
 iny proper destiny ! You are doubly right ! My creature 
 comforts once secured, I can give my time, my abilities, my 
 power of swaying the minds of men, come, let us withdraw, 
 realize, consolidate, invest, at once ! " 
 
 They took him at his word, and before night a future, froe 
 from want, was secured to him. While Philip and Joseph 
 were on their way to the country by a late train, Mr. Bless- 
 ing was making a speech of an hour and a half at one of the 
 primary political meetings.
 
 300 JOSEPH AND HIS FRIEND. 
 
 There was welcome through the valley when Joseph's ar- 
 rival was known. For two or three days the neighbors 
 flocked to the farm to see the man whose adventures, in a 
 very marvellous form, had been circulating among them for 
 a year past. Even Mr. Chaffinch called, and was so concili- 
 ated by his friendly reception, that he, thenceforth, placed 
 Joseph in the ranks of those " impracticable " men, who 
 might be nearer the truth than they seemed : it was not for 
 us to judge. 
 
 Every evening, however, Joseph took his saddle-horse and 
 rode up the valley to Philip's Forge. It was not only the 
 inexpressible charm of the verdure to which he had so long 
 been a stranger, not only the richness of the sunset on the 
 hills, the exquisite fragrance of the meadow-grasses in the 
 cool air, nay, not entirely the dear companionship of Philip 
 which drew him thither. A sentiment so deep and powerful 
 that it was yet unrecognized, a hope so faint that it had 
 not yet taken form, was already in his heart. Philip saw, 
 and was silent. 
 
 But, one night, when the moon hung over the landscape, 
 edging with sparkling silver the summits of the trees below 
 them, when the air was still and sweet and warm, and filled 
 with the diffused murmurs of the stream, and Joseph and 
 Madeline stood side by side, on the curving shoulder of the 
 knoll, Philip, watching them from the open window, said to 
 himself : " They are swiftly coming to the knowledge of 
 each other ; will it take Joseph further from my heart, or 
 bring him nearer? It ought to fill me with perfect joy, yet 
 there is a little sting of pain somewhere. My life had set- 
 tled down so peacefully into what seemed a permanent form ; 
 with Madeline to make a home and brighten it for me, and 
 Joseph to give me the precious intimacy of a man's love, so
 
 361 
 
 different from woman's, vet so pure and perfect ! Thev have 
 destroyed my life, although they do not guess it. AVell, I 
 must be vicariously happy, warmed in my lonely sphere by 
 the far radiation of their nuptial bliss, seeing a faint re- 
 flection of some parts of myself in their children, nay, 
 claiming and making them mine as well, if it is meant that 
 my own blood should not beat in other hearts. But will 
 this be sufficient? Xo ! either sex is incomplete alone, 
 and a man's full life shall be mine ! Ah, you unconscious 
 lovers, you simple-souled children, that know not what you 
 are doing, I shall be even with you in the end ! The world 
 is a failure, God's wonderful system is imperfect, if there 
 is not now living a noble woman to bless me with her 
 love, strengthen me with her self-sacrifice, purify me with 
 her sweeter and clearer faith ! I will wait: but 1 shall find 
 her ! " 
 
 THE END. 
 16
 
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 Illustrations on wood. One volume, crown Svo, $2.
 
 G. P. Putnam & Son. 
 
 HOOD. Whims and Oddities. By Thomas Hood. A new 
 edition, with one hundred and thirteen Illustrations on 
 wood, by the Author, and two steel engravings, from de- 
 signs by Hoppin. One volume, crown Svo, $2. 
 
 HOOD. Tales and Extravaganzas. By Thomas Hood. 
 A new edition, with Illustrations. In one volume, crown 
 Svo, $2.25. 
 
 The longest is "Our Family;" the funniest, "Mrs. Gardiner, a Horticultural 
 Romance," which is the most laughable play on words probably in the English 
 lano-uao-e. For mirth-compelling, without weakness of mere playfulness, or sinful- 
 nest of id:a and language, the melancholy Hood still stands above all rivals before 
 or since. Christian Advocate. 
 
 OWELLS, W. D. NO LOVE LOST ; A Romance 
 of Travel. With illustrations. i6mo, gilt extra, $1.50. 
 
 *** An elegant and delightful little volume by the editor of the A tlantic Monthly. 
 It is just the thing for a tasteful gift to a lady friend. 
 
 " Perfectly charming in its graceful rhythm, romantic interest, and complete 
 ness." Pkila. City Item. 
 
 ilYACINTHE. LIFE, SPEECHES, AND DIS- 
 COURSES of Pere Hyacinthe. Edited by Rev. L. 
 W. Bacon. I vol. I2mo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 " The Discourses will be found fully up to the high expectation formed from the 
 great priest's protests against the trammels of Romish dogmatism." Rochester 
 Democrat. 
 
 HYACINTHE. THE FAMILY. A Series of Discourses 
 by Father Hyacinthe. To which are added, The Educa- 
 tion of the Working Classes ; The Church Six Confer- 
 ences ; Speeches and Addresses including the Address 
 at the Academy of Music, N. Y., Dec. 9, 1869. With an 
 Historical Introduction from Putnam's Magazine. [By Hon. 
 John Bigelow.] I vol. I2mo, $1.50. 
 N.B. Both books are published under Father Hyacinthe's 
 
 auction, and he receives a copyright on the sales.
 
 IO Publications of 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVl\G'S WORKS. 
 
 FOUR EDITIONS, VIZ. : 
 
 RVING'S WORKS. THE WORKS OF WASHINGTON 
 IRVING, INCLUDING THE LIFE OF IRVING, IIY HIS 
 NEPHEW, PIERRE M. IRVING. 
 
 I. SUNNYSIDE EDITION. In twenty-eight vo- 
 lumes I2mo. Cloth, $63 (reduced from $70) ; half calf, gilt 
 or antique, $112 ; full calf extra, $140; full morocco extra. 
 
 II. THE KNICKERBOCKER EDITION. Large 
 
 1 2 mo, on superfine laid paper, with Illustrations, elegantly 
 printed from new stereotype plates, and bound in extra cloth, 
 gilt top. Per volume, cloth, $2.50 ; half calf, $4. In sets, 
 including Life, 27 vols., cloth, $67.50 ; half calf, $108 ; 
 without Life, 24 vols., $60 ; half calf, $96. 
 
 III. THE RIVERSIDE EDITION. i6mo, on fine 
 
 white paper ; from new stereotype plates ; green crape cloth, 
 
 gilt top, bevelled edges, $1.75 per vol. ; half calf, $3.25 per vol. 
 In sets, 23 vols., cloth, $40 ; half calf, $69. With " Life of 
 Irving," 26 vols., $45 ; half calf, $84.50. 
 
 IV. THE PEOPLES EDITION. From the same 
 
 stereotype plates as above, but printed on cheaper paper, 
 neatly bound in cloth; price, $1.25 per vol. In sets, 23 
 vols., $29 ; with " Life," 26 vols., $32. 50. 
 
 IRVING'S LIGHTER WORKS. Riverside Edition. 
 Elegantly printed on toned paper, and illustrated with ap- 
 propriate vignettes. Eight volumes i6mo, vellum cloth, 
 gilt tops, $14; cloth, gilt edges, $16 ; half calf, $26. Sepa- 
 rate vols., $1.75, $2, and $3.25. 
 
 The " Riverside Edition " of Irving' s works comprises all the " Belles-Lettres 
 
 Works," complete in eight volumes. 
 
 Knickerbocker, 
 Tales of a Traveller, 
 Wolfert's Roost, 
 
 Crayon Miscellany, 
 Bracebridge Hall, 
 Alhambra, 
 
 Oliver Goldsmith, 
 Sketch- Book. 
 
 * # * The publishers desire to call special attention to this edition, as presenting 
 these classics in the most enjoyable form. 
 
 The volume is just the convenient size to hold in the hand, and neatly bound in 
 plain green muslin with gold top. Its typography is unexceptional a beautiful let- 
 ter, perfectly impressed, and the printing done with care and elegance. Hartferd 
 frets.
 
 G. P. Putnam & Son. 1 1 
 
 SEPARATE VOLUMES. 
 
 IRVIXG'S ALHAMBRA. A Residence in the celebrated 
 Moorish Palace, the " Alhambra ; " with the historical and 
 romantic legends connected theiewith. By Washington 
 Irving. In one volume 121110. Sunnyside Edition, cloth, 
 52.25. Riverside Edition, cloth, $1.75. People's Edition, 
 $1.25. 
 
 The beautiful " Spanish Sketch-Book," the " Alhambrn."- 
 
 " On the whole, we consider the work 'before us as e-.ual in literary value to any 
 
 IRVIXG'S ASTORIA. Astoria; o~ Anecdotes of an Enter- 
 prise beyond the Rocky Mountains. By Washington Irving. 
 In one volume 121110. Sunnyside Edition, cloth, $2.50. 
 Riverside Edition, $2.00. People's Edition, $1.50. 
 
 " It is a book to put in your library, as an entertaining, very well written account 
 of savage life on a most extensive scale." AVf. Sydney Smith. 
 
 view." 
 
 IRVING'S BRACEBRIDGE. Bracebridge Hall; or, the 
 Humorists. By Washington Irving. In one volume 121110. 
 Sunnyside Edition, cloth, $2.25. Riverside Edition, cloth, 
 $1.75 ; half calf, $3.25. People's Edition, $1.25. 
 
 "The great charm and peculiarity of this work consists, now as on former occa- 
 sions, in the singular sweetness of the composition."-/.^ Jeffrey, in Edinburgh 
 Review. 
 
 IRVING'S COLUMBUS. The Life and Voyages of Chris- 
 topher Columbus ; to which are added those of his Com- 
 panions. By Washington Irving. In three volumes I2rao. 
 Sunnyside Edition, cloth, $6.75. Nat. Edit, half calf extra, 
 $13.50. Octavo Edition, three volumes, half calf, $20.00. 
 Riverside Edit., $5.25. People's Edit., 3 vols. cloth. $3.75. 
 
 "We venture to predict that the adventures of Columbus ^^^^J^. 
 only in the work of Mr. Irving."-/* lexander H. Everett, * North Am 
 
 ^The' noblest monument to the memory of Columbus." W. H. ^" c "' . , 
 " It will superseda all other works on die subject, and never be itself superseded. 
 Lord jtjtfrey.
 
 12 Publications of 
 
 IRVING'S CRAYON. The Crayon Miscellany. Bj 
 Washington Irving. Author's revised Edition. In one 
 volume I2mo. Sunnyside Edition, cloth, $2.25. River- 
 side Edition, cloth, $1.75. People's Edition, $1.25. 
 
 IRVING'S GOLDSMITH. Oliver Goldsmith: a Biogra- 
 phy. By Washington Irving. In one volume. Hunnyside 
 Edition, i2mo, cloth, $2.25. Riverside Edition, i6mo, 
 vellum cloth, gilt top, $1.75 ; cloth, full gilt, $2.00 ; half calf, 
 $3.00. People's Edition, i6mo, $1.25. 
 
 " We have no hesitation in saying that in our judgment Washington Irving' s ' Life 
 of Oliver Goldsmith ' is one of the best, the most entertaining, the most natural bio- 
 graphies written during the last three centuries." Knickerbocker Magazine. 
 
 IRVING'S GRANADA. Chronicles of the Conquest of 
 Granada. By Washington Irving, tin one volume I2mo. 
 Sunnyside Edition, cloth, $2.50. Riverside Edition, $2.00. 
 People's Edition, $1.50. 
 
 "There is far too little known in this country of the history and character of the 
 Spaniards ; and this charming work of Irving is well calculated to interest our peo- 
 ple in the subject, and prompt to further investigations." Neiu York Tribune. 
 
 " It has superseded all further necessity for poetry, and, unfortunately for me, for 
 history." J^. H. Prescott. 
 
 IRVING'S KNICKERBOCKER. A History of New 
 York from the beginning of the World to the end of the 
 Dutch Dynasty, etc., etc. By Diedrich Knickerbocker. In 
 one volume. Sunnyside Edition, I2mo, cloth, $2.25. River- 
 side Edition, i6mo, $1.75 ; full gilt, $2.00. People's Edi- 
 tion, blue cloth, $1.25. 
 
 The Same. With Illustrations by Darley. 8vo, morocco 
 
 extra, $10. 
 
 "The most excellently jocose ' History of New York.' Our sides have 
 
 been absolutely sore with laughing." Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 " A book of unwearying pleasantry." Edward Everett.
 
 G. P. Putnam & Son. 13 
 
 IRYJXG'S MAHOMET. Mahomet and his Successors. 
 By Washington Irving. In t'.vo volumes I2mo. Sunny- 
 side Edition, cloth. 54.50. Riverside Edition, f 3.50. Peo- 
 ple's Edition, $2.50. 
 
 " But for gencrati-.ns past the power of the Crescent has been vanmff, and its glory 
 
 IRVIXG'S SALMAGUNDI. Salmagundi ; or. the Whim- 
 Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff. Esq., and 
 Others. By William Irving, James Kirke Paulding, and 
 Washington Irving. In one volume i2mo. Sunnyside 
 Edition, cloth, $2.25. Riverside Edition, 1.75. People's 
 Edition, $1.25. 
 
 IRVING'S SKETCH-BOOK. The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey 
 Crayon, Gent. The Authors revised Edition. In one 
 volume. Sunnyside Edition, 1 2mo, cloth, $2.25. Riverside, 
 i6mo, $1.75 ; full gilt, $2.00. Blue and gold Edition, i8mo, 
 $1.50. People's Edition, i6mo, blue cloth, $1.25. [This 
 edition is used as a School Reader.] 
 
 " It is positively beautiful." Sir Walter Scott. 
 " This exquisite miscellany." J. G. Lockhart. 
 
 IRVING'S SPANISH PAPERS. Hitherto Unpublished 
 or Uncollected. 2 vols., with portrait from Wilkie. Sun- 
 nyside Edition, cloth, $4.50 ; half calf, $8. National Edition, 
 2 vols., $5 ; half calf, $9. 
 
 "These fascinating legends of Spanish history." St. Paul Press. 
 
 IRVING'S TRAVELLER. Tales of a Traveller. By 
 Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Author's revised Edition. In one 
 volume. Sunnyside Edition, I2mo, $2.25. Riverside Edi- 
 tion, i6mo, $1.75 ; full gilt, $2.00. People's Edition, $1.25. 
 
 " Has always been one of the most popular of Irvine's productions, and is not 
 destined to lose the place it so soon acquired in the estimation of the world. ' Bos- 
 ton Traveller.
 
 14 Publications of 
 
 IRVING'S WOLFERT'S ROOST. Wolfert's Roost and 
 other Papers, now first collected by Washington Irving. 
 In one volume i2mo. Sunnyside Edition, cloth, $2.25. 
 Riverside Edition, cloth, $1.75. People's Edition, $1.25. 
 
 "The papers in the present volume are among his latest and most charming pro- 
 ductions." Chicago Tribune. 
 
 IRVING'S WASHINGTON. A Life of George Washing- 
 ton, by Washington Irving. With numerous illustrations. 
 In five volumes. Sunnyside Edition, 121110, cloth, $11.25 ; 
 half calf, gilt or antique, $20. Library Edition, 8vo, cloth, 
 $15 ; half calf, gilt or antique, $25. Illustrated Edition, 
 royal 8vo, half calf, gilt, $35 ; full morocco extra, $45. 
 People's Edition, 2 vols., fifty-two plates, half morocco, $14 ; 
 full mor., $18. 
 
 " I cannot hesitate to predict for him a deathless renown He whose 
 
 works were the delight of our fathers and are still ours, will be read with the same 
 pleasure by those who come after us." William Cullen Bryant. 
 
 " Few, very few, can show a long succession of volumes so pure, so graceful, and 
 so varied as Mr. Irving." Miss Mitford's Recollections of a Literary Life. 
 
 IRVING'S LIFE AND LETTERS. By P. M. Irving. 
 4 vols., I2mo, cloth, $9; half calf extra, $15. 
 
 "The most delightful of biographies." 
 
 The Same. Condensed into 3 vols. Knickerbocker 
 
 Edition, $7.50. Sunnyside Edition, $5.25. People's Edi- 
 tion, $3.75. 
 
 IRVING'S (Theo.) FLORIDA. The History of De Soto's 
 Conquest of Florida. By Theodore Irving, LL.D. A New 
 Edition, i vol. I2mo. Uniform with the Sunnyside Edi- 
 tion of Irving's Works, $2.25. 
 
 "This book is a delightful one .... in style ; related to the pure and graceful 
 writing of the author of the ' Life of Columbus.' " London Athenaeum. 
 
 IRVING'S ILLUSTRATED WORKS 
 
 CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND. With 21 very fine 
 
 illustrations from the Artist's Edition of the Sketch-Book. 
 
 Small folio, cloth extra, $3.50 ; morocco extra, $7.
 
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