V.
 
 THE FATHER AND SOU'S SURPRISE. 
 
 , : . 

 
 KEN A; 
 
 OH, 
 
 THE SNOW BIRD 
 
 of $tid lift. 
 
 BY MRS. CAROLINE LEE HENTZ. 
 
 AUTHOR OP "LINDA," "COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE," "THE PLANTER'S 
 NORTHERN BRIDE," "EOLINE," "MARCUS WARLAND," ETC. 
 
 " I pray thee let me weep to-night 
 
 'Tis rarely I am weeping; 
 My tears are buried in my heart, 
 
 Like cave-locked fountains sleeping. 
 I cannot bear to think of this ; 
 
 Oh 1 leave me to my weeping; 
 A few tears for that grave, my heart, 
 
 Where hope in Death is sleeping." L. E. L. 
 
 U a & * I ]> 1 1 <s : 
 
 T B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, 
 
 306 CHESTNUT STREET.
 
 Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1851, br 
 
 A. HART, 
 
 ji the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and fo 
 the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 HEARS, STEREOTYPER. COLLINS, PRINTER
 
 73 
 
 >. GENERAL HENRY WHITING, 
 
 % 
 
 K>t". OF NEW YORK, 
 
 V'* 
 
 D 
 
 THIS WORK IS DEDICATED, 
 ^ A8 A TOKEN OF 
 
 in 
 
 eiTCBLY AFFECTION, 
 C 
 
 BT THE 
 
 AUTHOJL
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 IN presenting the following pages to the public, in he 
 hope that they will secure a genial welcome, I cannot refrxin 
 from expressing my gratitude for the kind reception given to 
 the former children of my imagination. If "RENA" be 
 greeted as cordially, and judged as leniently, as "AuNT 
 PATTY" and " LINDA," I shall be encouraged to continue; 
 and, in my next production, will again transfei the scenes 
 from the snow-clad regions of the North to the land of the 
 sunny South. 
 
 CAROLINE LEI EEWTZ. 
 
 COLUMBUS, Georgia.
 
 RENA; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE SNOWBIED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Oh I how canst thou renounce the boundless store 
 Of charms, which nature to its votary yields ? 
 
 The warbling woodlark the resounding shore 
 The pomp of groves the garniture of fields, 
 
 All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 
 And all that echoes to the song of even 
 
 All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, 
 And all the dread magnificence of Heaven, 
 Oh ! how c&nst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven ?" 
 
 BEATTIK. 
 
 " You don't love me, mama," said a weary-looking child, 
 who was sitting on a low chair, right in the corner of the 
 room, to a pale, sickly lady, who was at a table by the open 
 window, sewing. The soft summer air was blowing softly, 
 very softly upon the delicate cheek of the invalid, tempering 
 the heat of a sultry August day. It was much pleasanter sit 
 ting there, breathing the only air circulating in the room, than
 
 14 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 in that little hot corner, where the child was ensconced, between 
 two black-bottomed, mahogany-backed chairs. 
 
 "You don't love me, mama," repeated the child, in the 
 desperation of her weariness, stretching her arms and feet as 
 far as they could possibly extend, " or you wouldn't make 
 me sit here so long. I'm so tired ! I ache all over ! Please 
 let me go." 
 
 " You are so noisy, Rena so disobedient. I told you half 
 a dozen times to be quiet, and not romp about so in the yard. 
 I have no other way to keep you still, but by confining you in 
 the house. It does no good to speak to you. It is your own 
 fault." 
 
 " I don't mean to be disobedient, mama I forget. I can't 
 think to remember, I'm so happy out of doors. I cannot help 
 singing and laughing. I won't do so any more." 
 
 " Then you get so brown in the. sun. You never will wear 
 a bonnet. You make a complete fright of yourself." 
 
 " The little calves have brown skins, mama : and they are 
 pretty." 
 
 " Do hear the child talk !" said the mother. She could not 
 help smiling. Rena caught the reflection of the smile on her 
 heart. It was the herald of release from captivity. She could 
 not wait for the permission for which she had been pleading, 
 but, springing up, she caught her mother round the neck, and 
 gave her one, two, three, half a dozen kisses, without stopping 
 to take breath. 
 
 As we said before, it was a very warm day, and she had 
 been sitting an hour in a very warm, close corner, aad thick 
 drops of perspiration were standing on her glowing face. 
 Every one knows it is not very pleasant to have a moist, 
 adhesive child (however dear that child may be) hanging to 
 the neck, when the thermometer is above ninety degrees, and 
 the very contact of the lightest garment is oppressive. Poor 
 Mrs. Fay was an invalid, subject to sick headaches and palpi-
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOAVBIRO. 15 
 
 tations of the heart, and many other nervous pains, which, 
 though they did not confine her to the bed, made her extremely 
 sensitive to noise and annoyances of any kind. It is not to be 
 wondered then that instead of reciprocating with maternal ten 
 derness the smothering caresses of Rena, she tried to liberate 
 herself as speedily as possible from the moist little arms that 
 squeezed her so tightly. 
 
 "Oh! mercy!" she cried, panting for breath, "go away, 
 child. You suffocate me to death ! Yes, yes, run out doors 
 and play, if you will only don't make a noise. Go off into 
 the fields, where I can't hear you. There go don't tease 
 me any more." 
 
 One more rapturous kiss, and Rena bounded through the 
 door. 
 
 " Stop, child ! your bonnet. You are going without any 
 thing on your head into the broiling sun. When will you 
 learn to obey ? Haven't I told you a thousand times never 
 to go out without a bonnet ?" 
 
 Mrs. Fay spoke of a bonnet from habit; but having found 
 it impossible to keep a bonnet on Rena's head in such a man 
 ner as to protect her face, she had adopted a large, broad- 
 brimmed straw-hat, such as little boys wear, in its stead. She 
 had made use of every expedient woman's invention could 
 suggest, to fasten the bonnet on the head of the child, so as to 
 elude her efforts to throw it off. She had tied the strings in 
 double knots, she had sewed the deep pasteboard, which con 
 stituted the framework of the bonnet, so closely together, that 
 her little round face seemed lost in the distance and obscurity j 
 but Rena had a way of emerging from its depths the moment 
 she was abroad, that was quite supernatural. Without break 
 ing the knots or stitches, she would have her face thrust out 
 into the sunshine, careless of the fervid rays that dyed her 
 rosy cheeks with brown. The hat she was willing to wear. 
 It did not fetter the elastic movements of her neck ; it did not
 
 16 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 shut out the free, blessed air of heaven. She could feel the 
 cool, fluttering wings of the wind fan her as she passed ; her 
 view was not confined to one little vista in the foreground. 
 She had really conceived a passion for her broad-brimmed, 
 boyish straw-hat. She petted and adorned it. She would 
 make wreaths of wild flowers, and twist them round the 
 crown, then, taking a little crooked stick in her hand, sit 
 down on the grass among the lambs, and imagine herself a 
 shepherdess, for she had heard her father read aloud about 
 such things, and her bright imagination seized upon every 
 thing that was picturesque and beautiful, to weave into the 
 web of her young thoughts. She was a child of impulse, 
 enthusiasm, sensibility, full of bright, original ideas, and 
 when she was free, free in the air, free as the birds, the lambs, 
 or any out-of-door living thing, she was the happiest of the 
 happy the wildest of the wild. When all alone, she would 
 sometimes burst into a wild fit of loud, wild laughter, at her 
 own bright, joyous fancies, that would ring like a bell through 
 the whole yard, and then her mother, clapping her hands to 
 her head, would exclaim 
 
 " Oh ! that child that child ! She will be the death of 
 me." 
 
 And "that child" would be summoned at once into the 
 house, as she had been that very afternoon, and condemned, 
 as a penalty, to sit in the corner, without moving hand or 
 foot. Mrs. Fay was a scrupulously neat lady. She never 
 allowed a fold of her dress to be out of place, or a spot to 
 sully its purity. Rena was the most careless little creature 
 in the world. She was always tearing her frocks by climbing 
 trees and jumping fences ; she was always soiling them by 
 tumbling down in the mud or sand, for she never looked 
 where she was going. She went dancing along, looking up 
 in the air, twisting her neck this way and that, to see the 
 birds fly higher and higher, till they became mere specks on
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD 17 
 
 the dark-blue ether, till she came in contact with some roo+ 
 or branch or stone, and down she would fall, to her own asto 
 nishment. She forgot she had not wings, like a bird, she 
 wished for them so often. 
 
 Rena now stood before her mother, while she tied the large 
 straw-hat under her chin. At least she tried to stand still, 
 but she could not help jumping up and down occasionally, to 
 beguile the time, which seemed very long to her. 
 
 " Now mind, and go out softly," said Mrs. Fay, " or I shall 
 call you back." 
 
 Rena stole along on tip-toe, looking back at every step, till 
 she had crossed the threshold, then away she ran through 
 the garden-gate down the gravel path, by the long row of cur 
 rant bushes, the pear trees loaded with fruit, the apple trees 
 with branches bending to the ground, and, attracted by the 
 fragrance of the new-mown hay, that embalmed the whole 
 atmosphere, flew down a green lane, till she came where the 
 bright, sharp scythes were gleaming in the sun, and the long 
 grass made music as it fell, with a soft rustle, beneath their 
 strokes. 
 
 She stood peeping through the fence, for a few moments, 
 thinking she had never seen anything so beautiful as that 
 broad field, dotted with mounds of mown grass, drying in the 
 sun, and striped with long swathes, freshly cut, giving out a 
 pure, healthy odour, sweeter than the breath of roses. The 
 labourers, strong, brown men, standing in a row, with their 
 white shirt sleeves rolled up above the elbows, now swinging 
 to the right the brilliant steel, then bringing it down to the 
 left with a sweeping curve, wading along, knee-deep, through 
 a sea of verdure ; she never could be tired of watching their 
 movements. In another part of the field, where the mounda 
 had been heaped up longest, the grass was driest, there was 
 a broad cart, drawn by a pair of dark-brown, white-faced oxen, 
 fat, sleek, strong, and lazy, chewing their cud with indefatiga-
 
 18 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 ble gravity, while the labourers tossed the hay, with their light 
 pitchforks, into the cart, already apparently nearly filled, but 
 which was to heave higher and higher its odoriferous burden, 
 on the top of the load, trampling down the hay as it fell 
 in rustling showers round him tall and straight, with broad 
 shoulders and muscular arms Rena beheld her father; and 
 he looked very magnificent in her eyes, standing up so high, 
 with his back to the western sky, defined so boldly on its 
 back-ground of crimson and gold ; and standing by her fa 
 ther's side, there was a little figure, somewhat taller than her 
 self, with a straw-hat, just like her own, only it was not tied 
 under the chin ; and it wore trowsers instead of a frock ; it was 
 her little brother, Henry, a year or two older than herself, but 
 of a more slender and delicate frame, so that they might have 
 passed for the same age. He was very fair, and had beautiful 
 black, curling hair, that made a rich framework for his femi 
 nine features. He inherited his mother's delicacy of consti 
 tution and beauty of lineament for Mrs. Fay was uncom 
 monly pretty, and every one said he was her favourite. He 
 was certainly a much more manageable child than Rena, more 
 quiet and neat. He was fond of having his hair smooth and 
 his clothes clean, and of being thought pretty and sweet, as 
 he had so often been told he was. 
 
 Rena did not care how she looked; all she wanted was to 
 be loved ; what it was for, she did not care. Love, the sun 
 shine of love within, the sunshine of heaven without this 
 was all she asked. 
 
 Once, when her mother was combing Henry's hair, and 
 smoothing and twisting it round her fingers, then letting it 
 drop in shining ringlets, on which she gazed with lingering 
 delight Rena suddenly exclaimed : 
 
 " What's the reason, mama, God didn't make my hair curl 
 like brother's ?" 
 
 "Hush, child; you mustn't ask such strange questions."
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 19 
 
 "But I want to know the reason. I do know it. (rod 
 loves brother better than he does me, so he did not take the 
 trouble to curl mine. But I'll curl it myself, when it gets 
 long enough to twist round my fingers. Please, mama, don't 
 cut it so short any more. Henry looks like a girl, and I like 
 a boy." 
 
 " You are more like a boy, indeed, Rena, with your rude, 
 boisterous ways. You really ought to have been a boy." 
 
 " I wish I was a boy," said Rena, as many a wild little girl 
 has done before her though the germs of passionate woman 
 hood lay deep within her bosom. 
 
 We left Rena peeping through the fence at the haymakers 
 mowing the grass, tossing and trampling the hay, hurrying to 
 get through the work before the setting of the sun and the 
 falling of the dew. She had stood still wonderfully long for 
 her; but an irresistible desire to be mounted on the load, 
 where her father and Henry were standing, impelled her to 
 climb over the fence, flit along by the gleaming scythes, roll 
 over the hay mounds as they came in her path, till she found 
 herself almost under the heavy feet of the oxen. 
 
 " Rena, you little spirit ! what are you doing there ?" called 
 out her father, from his green top-loft. 
 
 " Rena," said a soft, childish voice, " get up the oxen will 
 tread on you." 
 
 " Take me up there, papa. Let me ride home with you and 
 brother on the hay-top." 
 
 " Well, toss her up here," said Mr. Fay, wiping his reeking 
 forehead, and stretching out his strong arms towards his little 
 girl, who was already lifted by one of the haymakers, high in 
 the air; " toss her up and I will catch her. Gently there 
 I've caught her. That's a brave girl ! Now we've got a lo&d. 
 Gee ! haw ! home, white faces." 
 
 Slowly and majestically the "white faces" began their 
 Rarch, the hay sweeping down on either side of the vehicle,
 
 20 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 like a lordly drapery, the stalwart fanner still standing erecfc 
 on the top, his little, curly-headed, fair-cheeked boy clinging 
 to one hand, and Rena perched upon his shoulder, like a wild 
 oird on a forest oak, sending out her merry laughter on the 
 dewy air, that began to roll in a soft mist up from the bosom 
 of the river that skirted the valley; like a triumphal car it 
 rolled up the green avenue, the heavy steps of the animals 
 falling with a soft, crushing sound on the rich velvet carpet 
 spread out beneath their feet ; the large barn doors swung 
 back at its approach, Mr. Fay bowed his tall form as it passed 
 through, and Rena thrust her head into his bosom to avoid the 
 contact of the upper beam. 
 
 " Now, little ones, run to your mother," cried the farmer, 
 tossing Rena from his arms into the soft bed on which they 
 were standing. " Ready, boys ! off with the load the sun 
 will soon be down." 
 
 The hay was soon sent drifting through the air by the farmer 
 and his " merry men all," and deposited on the ample loft. 
 The cattle came up from the meadows, and stood meekly at 
 the barn-yard gate, waiting for the milk-maid's hand. The 
 sheep ran bleating homeward the little lambs tumbling over 
 each other the calves kicked and frolicked in the yard the 
 hens went gravely to roost, conversing in a low, motherly sort 
 of way, as if they did not wish to disturb anybody with their 
 domestic matters. Everything was assuming a quiet, comfort 
 able, serene appearance. Mr. Fay shut up his barn for the 
 night. It was his pride his glory that noble, new barn, 
 and he loved it next to his wife and children. The house was 
 an old family mansion, handed down from father to son, kept 
 an excellent repair, very neat and comfortable ; but the paint 
 was faded, worn off here and there, in irregular patches ; and 
 an occasional new shingle in the roof showed that time had 
 commenced its ravages on the ancestral building. But the 
 barn was new, and of magnificent proportions. It was painted
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 21 
 
 a light corn colour, in honour, perhaps, of the golden grain ; the 
 fencing all around was new and of a snowy white, contrasting 
 strongly with the deep green of the clover fields on either side. 
 It was evident the world was going well with Mr. Fay, and all 
 his neighbours rejoiced in his prosperity, for he was a man of 
 strong understanding improved by reading, and they respected 
 him; he was of incorruptible integrity, and they esteemed 
 him ; he was kind and good, and they loved him ; he filled 
 offices of honour and trust in his native town ; he was select 
 man, representative, colonel in the militia, justice of peace. 
 It was a great mistake to call him plain Mister, when he an 
 swered to so many titles. Colonel Fay, as he was usually 
 called, must henceforth be honoured by his military cognomen. 
 He liked it better than Squire, for his father was a revolution 
 ary officer, and he inherited from him a martial spirit and a 
 glowing patriotism. 
 
 Col. Fay, having closed his barn, opened the gate, that ad 
 mitted the meek-looking cows to their saucy, bounding young 
 ones, and walked leisurely towards the house. He was weary, 
 for he had been toiling hard, but he was grateful for tha 
 coming rest grateful to God, for the swelling bounties of the 
 year. It was a glorious hay-making season. The warm sun 
 had dried the rich grass almost as soon as it fell beneath the 
 mower's scythe no sudden shower had drenched it, when 
 about to be borne from the field, just shorn of its green 
 honours. It was all mown, mostly dried and housed, ready 
 for the necessities of the long, bleak winter. Full of grateful 
 emotions for these blessings, he lifted his hat from his brow, 
 which contrasted beautifully in its still unsunned whiteness 
 with the rest of his sun and wind-browned face, and turned 
 reverently towards the setting sun, whose crimson disk, so 
 large, so grand, so glorious, was just rolling down the slope 
 of day. The air played cocl and lovingly about his moistened 
 hair, and the leaves of the young apple trees rustled softly
 
 22 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 near him. Oh ! the soft, summer twilight is a blessed hour 
 for the farmer. He felt it so, and would have lingered long, 
 gazing on that rich prospect, all his own, but he thought of 
 his wife and children, and hastened his steps. He knew his 
 wife was nervous, and did not like to have supper kept wait 
 ing, and such was his habitual courtesy to her, that he would 
 never sit down at the table without exchanging his labour- 
 soiled garments for the customary suit of a country gentle 
 man. Pausing at the well, whose long sweep sent its dark 
 outline on the gold of the heavens, and whose " old oaken, 
 iron-bound, and moss-covered bucket" hung, filled with crystal 
 waters wooing his thirst, he poised it on the brink of the 
 curb, and drank as only the thirsty labourer can drink. 
 
 "Bless Grod for cold water," said he to himself; "and 
 bless God for a good, thoughtful wife," continued he, as he 
 saw the ready basin, the clean, white napkin, and the odorous 
 soap, all prepared for his evening ablution j " and bless God, 
 too, for dear, sweet, affectionate children," was the language 
 of his heart, as he entered his home, where he was always 
 welcomed as a household divinity. 
 
 It was not till after he was seated quietly at the supper- 
 table, that he remembered that Rena's bright little face had 
 not appeared as usual at the door to greet him, that he had 
 not felt her light weight on the rounds of his chair behind, as 
 he was sure to do, as soon as he had blessed his bounteous 
 board. 
 
 " Where's little Snowbird ?" cried he. 
 
 " I haven't seen her since you returned from the hay-field," 
 replied her mother. " Henry came in without his sister." 
 
 " Harry," said his father, " tell me where Rena is ?" 
 
 Henry lifted his curly head out of a large bowl of bread 
 and milk, and quietly answered 
 
 " I don't know, sir." 
 
 ' When did you see her last ?"
 
 RENAJ OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 23 
 
 "In the bam." 
 
 " When ?" 
 
 " On the hay-cart." 
 
 " Strange you have not missed the child sooner/' said he 
 to his wife." 
 
 " I did miss her but thought she was safe with you." 
 
 Col. Fay left the table, and going to the door, called " Rena" 
 so loud, that Bravo, the house-dog, waked up and barked with 
 all his might. No answer no bounding feet came at his 
 summons. He called at the foot of the stairs, but all was 
 still. 
 
 " Where can the child be ?" he exclaimed ; a hot flush 
 shooting across his temples. 
 
 " Where, indeed ?" repeated his wife, turning still paler, 
 Henry put away his bread and milk he could not eat any 
 more, because sister's bowl was standing there untouched. 
 Rachel, the woman of all work, was despatched to the next 
 neighbours, to make inquiries, while Col. Fay, in a fever of 
 apprehension, was searching every nook and corner of the 
 house and yard, even unconsciously opening the bureau draw 
 ers, in search of the missing one. At any other hour of the 
 day, her absence would not have been so surprising, but she 
 never was known to leave the house when her father was ex 
 pected, at the close of his daily labour. To be the first to 
 greet him, to carry his hat in one hand, and to cling to him 
 tightly with the other, was her joy and ambition. It is no 
 wonder he missed her. It is no wonder his heart palpitated 
 with nameless apprehension. At last the whole family were 
 assembled in the yard, where several of the neighbours, with 
 their children, were also collected, attracted by that strange 
 mingling of sympathy and curiosity, which every one must be 
 conscious of having experienced, on similar occasions. 
 
 Wonder soon deepened into fear the daring child! she 
 was always running into danger ! What was become of her ? 
 36
 
 24 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 The well ! Mrs. Fay thought of the well, so deep and danger 
 ous, and with a conviction that Rena was weltering at the 
 bottom, she uttered an hysterical scream, holding Henry tight 
 in her arms, to save him from the same terrible fate. But 
 another apprehension equally dreadful, had seized upon the 
 father's heart. The last time he had seen her, she was rolling 
 from the top of the cart, on to the loft, preparatory, as he 
 supposed, to jumping down to the floor. The men in their 
 haste might have thrown upon her a mountain of hay, whose 
 superincumbent weight must have smothered her, as well as 
 her faint, dying cries. Rena was his darling, and the very 
 possibility of such a fate was agony to him. 
 
 " Follow me," cried he, to the men, who, though so weary, 
 were roused to intense action by the distress of the family ; 
 11 follow me, for as God hears me, I do believe we have smo 
 thered my child in the hay-mow !" 
 
 A mellow light still lingered abroad, but dark shadows were 
 hanging round the rafters, and in the interior of the barn, a 
 lantern was brought and suspended from a beam, so that the 
 rays fell directly on the new-mown hay. One of the labour 
 ers, in his excitement, caught up a pitchfork, and was about 
 to plunge it into the mow, when Col. Fay arrested his arm 
 and exclaimed in a voice of thunder " Great heaven ! what- 
 are you doing ?" at the same time hurling the instrument 
 through the door, with such force, that every portion of the 
 iron prongs was buried in the earth. 
 
 It was astonishing with what rapidity the fresh hay was 
 thrown off, till it all lay light and high and odoriferous in the 
 middle of the floor. 
 
 " Thank God !" cried the father, wiping the sweat drops of 
 agony from his forehead, " she is not here ! But where is she ? 
 Where is my little Rena ? Her mother is right : she must be 
 drowned." And Col. Fay wrung his hands, and bitter drops 
 fell from his eyes.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 25 
 
 " I dare say the child has fallen asleep somewhere," said 
 one of the men, consolingly, " if we only knew where it was. 
 I remember no, /don't remember it, for I was but a crawling 
 baby then ; but I've heard my mother tell it many a time, 
 what a hue and cry there was once about my being lost. 
 They were looking for me all night, and in the morning, when 
 they took up the ashes, they found me fast asleep in the brick 
 ash-hole, right by the side of the chimney. It was a nice 
 warm place, and I slept soundly. When they first saw me 
 they took my red head for a large coal of fire." 
 
 While he was speaking, Col. Fay, gathering hope from iris 
 tone, was sweeping, with a rapid glance, the height of the 
 barn. There were three lofts rising one above another, like 
 immense cushions, with long, heavy fringes, rustling in the 
 night air, the upper very near the roof, where innumerable 
 swallows made their summer nests. 
 
 " There was a ladder reaching to the upper loft, this morn 
 ing," said the Colonel, starting; "I don't see it now." 
 
 " It was in the way of the oxen, when they turned," said 
 the red-headed man, who was lost in the ash-hole ; " and I 
 carried it out doors." 
 
 Col. Fay did not wait one second, before he had brought 
 the ladder, placed it in its former position, and taking the lan 
 tern in his left hand, began rapidly to ascend. It was so like 
 his wild little Rena to mount up among the swallows' nests. 
 
 " Rena Rena !" he cried, hanging the lantern on the top 
 most round of the ladder, and springing upon the loft, he 
 shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked anxiously round 
 him. " Rena, if you are alive, hear and answer me." 
 
 Just before him there was a little heap, which now began to 
 move ; a dishevelled head emerged from the hay, and the little 
 Snowbird for such was the pet name she bore suddenly 
 awakened by the voice of her father, and frightened at finding
 
 26 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 herself in such a strange place, leaped up on his neck, and 
 clung to him, her large eyes looking strangely into his. 
 
 " Why, Rena ! you little witch-cat you naughty child !" 
 cried he, hugging her so tightly as almost to squeeze the breath 
 out of her body, "what do you mean by frightening us so ? 
 How in the world came you here ? And what did you come 
 for?" 
 
 " What did I come for ?" repeated Kena, rubbing her eyes 
 vehemently. "I came up to see the swallows." 
 
 " Well, if you ever frighten us so again " said her father, 
 descending the ladder, with his lost child in his arms. He 
 did not say what he would do, he was certainly too glad and 
 grateful to punish her now. A shout of joy welcomed her 
 below, and she was carried in a kind of triumph into the 
 house, where her mother, who was perfectly prostrated by 
 anxiety and terror, received her with so much joy so many 
 mingling kisses and tears, Rena did not say to her this time, 
 " You don't love me, mama ;" and Mrs. Fay forgot to scold 
 her for being such an incorrigible, unmanageable child. 
 
 But the next morning, when all her nerves seemed un 
 sheathed, in consequence of the terrors she had suffered, she 
 could not help upbraiding Itena for her unconquerable reck 
 lessness, adding, as she generally did, as a kind of peroration, 
 " This child will certainly be the death of me \" 
 
 Her father, too, gave her a long and serious lecture on her 
 rashness and thoughtlessness of the feelings of others, which 
 melted her into tears of penitence and remorse. 
 
 " Say you love me, papa, and I never will do so any more." 
 
 No ! she never did climb up on the hay-mow again, where 
 the swallows flew twittering in through the little Gothic win 
 dows, cut for their accommodation in the high, pointed roof, 
 but she did a great many other wild and daring deeds, that set 
 Her poor mother's nerves on edge, and made her the talk and 
 admiration of the whole neighbourhood.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Thy downcast glances, grave but cunning, 
 
 As fringed eyelids rise and fall ; 
 Thy shyness, swiftly from me running, 
 
 Is infantine coquetry all 
 But yet, for all thy merry look, 
 
 Thy frisks and wiles, the time is coming 
 When thou shalt sit in cheerless nook, 
 The weary spell or horn-book thumbing." 
 
 JOANNA BAILUH. 
 
 "I DON'T want to go home with Aunt Debby. 1 lease, 
 mama, don't tell me to go. I will stay in the house all day, 
 if you want me to. I will be good and quiet all the time ; I 
 will be the best girl in the world, if you won't send me away 
 with Aunt Debby." 
 
 "I don't send you away, my child," answered Mrs. Fay, 
 with a troubled countenance ; " but Aunt Debby wants you to 
 go and make her a visit ; and it is very kind of her to ask 
 you. She knows how sickly I am, and that I can't take care 
 of you as I ought ; and as she has no little girl of her own, 
 you will be company for her, too. You must not offend her 
 by letting her see that you dislike to go. She will teach you 
 to knit and sew, and make a little woman of you." 
 
 The drooping spirits of the grieved child flashed up, and 
 her cheeks reddened with anger. 
 
 " I don't want to learn to knit and sew. I don't want to 
 be a little woman. I never will be one. God made me a 
 child, and I mean to stay one as long as I live ! Aunt Debby 
 shan't make a woman of me and I won't go home with her." 
 
 (27)
 
 28 REN AJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " What is that you are saying, Rena ?" said her father, 
 who happened to enter at this moment, fixing his clear blue 
 eye sternly upon her, " is that the way you talk to your 
 mother?" 
 
 The little rebel was quelled in a moment. 
 
 " Oh, papa ! pray forgive me ! I didn't mean to say it to 
 mama. I was telling myself that I didn't want to go home 
 with Aunt Debby." 
 
 " Rena, that is not the truth. Don't tell me a falsehood. 
 I can forgive anything in the world but falsehood." 
 
 The frown, she dreaded more than the lightning's flash, 
 darkened her father's brow. Ashamed of her prevarication, 
 wretched for having incurred his anger, and miserable at the 
 idea of being placed under the authority of Aunt Debby, the 
 poor child buried her face in her hands and sobbed aloud. 
 Col. Fay could not resist the influence of her tears. He took 
 her kindly on his lap, wiped away the tears as fast as they 
 fell, with the corner of her apron, and gently reasoned with 
 her on the unhappy effects of a passionate temper. He told 
 her how much her mother suffered from debility, and how 
 necessary it was for her to be kept quiet in body and mind ; 
 that Aunt Debby was very kind and good, and would teach 
 her many things that every little girl ought to learn, but 
 which her mother was not well enough to attend to ; that her 
 aunt had come a long journey on purpose to convey her home 
 with her, and that it would be very ungrateful in them to 
 refuse ; that she, her aunt, lived in a beautiful country, where 
 the berries and wild flowers grew and blossomed, without any 
 body's thinking about them, and where the blue mountains 
 were, that she loved to look at every night when the sun was 
 setting in gold. 
 
 Calmly talking, gently reasoning, kindly looking, he not 
 only brought his quick-feeling, passionate, but warm-hearted 
 little girl to submission, but even induced her to look forward.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 29 
 
 with the quick-changing impressions of childhood, to Aunt 
 Debby's distant home with anticipations of pleasure, connected 
 with the wild berries and blossoms, the property of God, not 
 man, which children could gather at their will, and the blue 
 mountains which her imagination had converted into the 
 thrones of the angels. Colonel Fay whispered a few more 
 words in her ear, and, sliding down from his arms, she went 
 softly up to her mother, and told her she was very sorry she 
 had been so naughty, that she would go home with Aunt 
 Debby, and she might even make a woman of her, if she 
 pleased. 
 
 It was not without many heart-struggles and many mis 
 givings that Colonel Fay had consented to part with this wild, 
 wayward, but affectionate and interesting child. His wife, 
 whose beauty had attracted his youthful fancy, was prevented 
 both by intellectual inferiority and physical weakness, from 
 being a congenial and enlivening companion. Constitutionally 
 indolent, she never could be persuaded that exercise in the 
 open air or cold baths were of any avail. With an insane 
 passion for medicine, she was always applying some patent 
 remedies, which only increased the nervous irritation she was 
 trying to subdue. Too feeble to take a broom in her hand, 
 she would sit in the rocking-chair and sew, making others feel 
 as nervous as herself by the combined motion of the chair and 
 needle. Colonel Fay had a generous chivalry of character, 
 which, had he lived in the days of knight-errantry, would 
 have won for him immortal renown. He had a tenderness 
 for women in general, and for his wife in particular, that had 
 a softening influence on his voice and the glance of his eye 
 whenever he addressed them. He felt for his cale, faded, but 
 still pretty wife, the pity one cherishes for .1 delicate child. 
 He listened with patience to her complaints, answered all hei 
 appeals *o sympathy with unwearying attention in truth, 
 made her selfish by excessive indulgence. People will he
 
 80 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 unjust sometimes, and there were those who pitied Colon?! 
 Fay more than his wife, who thought many of her ills imi- 
 ginary, and believed that if she chose to exert herself more, 
 she could be a helpmate and companion to her noble and 
 industrious husband. Man loves to feel his power and strength, 
 the dependence of others on him for happiness. He loves to 
 feel himself the lord of the creation to stand like the moun 
 tain oak, braving the lightning and breasting the storm, 
 rejoicing in the close embrace of the vine that, divorced from 
 the vigorous trunk, would fall withering to the ground. This 
 is the reason that strong and powerful men so often love feeble 
 and delicate women proud and intellectual men those of weak 
 and superficial minds. It is certain that Colonel Fay loved 
 his wife with unabated tenderness, and the slightest request 
 uttered by her soft, complaining voice, had the authority of a 
 command. He loved Henry, his son, his first-born, his fair, 
 ringleted boy, with his prim, quiet ways and stay-in-door 
 qualities ; but Rena, as we said before, was his darling, and 
 his heart yearned over her, with a love that baffled description. 
 
 At night, after Mrs. Fay had retired to bed, which she 
 always did at an early hour, and he sat reading in the sitting- 
 room which opened into their sleeping apartment, Rena would 
 steal noiselessly out of her little trundle-bed, and, gliding on 
 tip-tie to her father, would get into his lap and nestle in his 
 bosom. Her mother always made her and Henry go to bed 
 by dark : and Harry slept soon and soundly after his ample 
 supper of bread and milk, but Rena was the most wakeful 
 child in the world, and she would have given a kingdom, had 
 it been in her possession, for the privilege of sitting up to a 
 later hour. 
 
 But Mrs. Fay adhered to the good old-fashioned law of early 
 to bed as immutably as the Medes and Persians did to their 
 ancient rules, and it was to her a moment of devout thanks 
 giving when the restless Rena was limited to the range of a
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 31 
 
 pair of sheets and a pillow. To bed she was obliged ID go: 
 but sleep she could not and would not; and often, when 
 Kachel came, long after she supposed the children soundly 
 asleep, to tuck up the counterpane and arrange the bedclothes 
 for the night, she would be startled by seeing the large, bright 
 eyes of Rena staring in her face, like two young moons. Per 
 haps it was wrong in Colonel Fay to sanction Rena in this 
 covert act of disobedience ; but it was so pleasant to have her 
 folded up in his arms, like a sweet flower at shut of day -to 
 see her eyes, full of strange intelligence, following his down 
 the page he was reading to read aloud to her some passage, 
 which he made clear to her comprehension, and then gra 
 dually as the dews of sleep fell with soft slumberous weight 
 on her eyelids, to feel her head press gently on his breast, and 
 her breath, the pure breath of childhood, curl along his cheek ; 
 all this was very pleasant, and he used to watch for the 
 light patter of her little bare feet, and their sound reminded 
 him of the falling of an April rain on the tender spring grass. 
 What startling questions she would ask about God, and the 
 mystery of her being ! He sometimes thought, when he looked 
 upon her in the freshness of her being, animated by such pre 
 cocious intelligence, that she was a beautiful spirit sent from 
 another sphere "trailing those clouds of glory," which show 
 they come from God, " who is our home." 
 
 And this child was to be consigned to the care of Aunt 
 Debby, that her mother might be relieved from the task of 
 managing her a task for which she was unfitted in body and 
 mind. Was Aunt Debby qualified for the charge ? Colonel 
 Fay sighed as he made this self-interrogation ; for, though he 
 had perfect confidence in the goodness of her heart and tho 
 uprightness of her principles, he was well aware of the eccen 
 tricities of her character the result of strange and controlling 
 circumstances, and feared they would clash too often with 
 the peculiarities of Rena's.
 
 32 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 Aant Debby, alias Mrs. Wright, the sister of Colonel Fay, 
 was a childless widow, with an independent property, consist 
 ing of a lar^e and beautiful farm, and a considerable sum of 
 money at interest. A lawsuit, which was instituted against 
 her, had called her from home at a season of the year when 
 her superintendence was most required over her own farm ; but 
 necessity stops not for inconvenience, and Aunt Debby never 
 hesitated where duty was concerned. Before she returned, she 
 resolved to extend her journey and carry back with her the 
 little niece, whom she had not seen since she was an infant, 
 scarcely more than a span long. Perhaps she had conceived 
 the idea of adopting the child as her own, and wished to mould 
 her character by her own influences ; perhaps she was actuated 
 by pity for the feeble and inefficient mother ; or it might be, 
 that she felt in her heart the cravings of unsatisfied maternity, 
 and longed for an object to fill the aching void. 
 
 " Come here, child, and let me look at you," was her first 
 salutation to Rena, who had the horror, common to all sensi 
 tive children, of being looked at by strangers. Not daring to 
 disobey, she walked awkwardly towards her, hanging her head, 
 with her finger in her mouth. 
 
 " Hold up your head and take your finger out of your mouth. 
 There, you look better now. I don't allow any crooked chil 
 dren about me. Very good face ; not as pretty as Henry's, 
 though ; I am glad of it. Straight hair ; I am glad of that, 
 too. Kinkey heads are a great trouble. If I had that little 
 fellow with me, I'd shave off his girl-ringlets and make a man 
 of him. You look more like a boy than he does. I like you 
 the better for it. Well, don't you want to go home with me?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "No what, child?" 
 
 "No, ma'am." 
 
 " Why not ? Don't you like me ?" 
 
 " No, ma'am." 
 
 " Your child is honest," said she, turning to her brother
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 33 
 
 "she has not been taught to flatter; I like her the better 
 for it." 
 
 Rena, as soon as she saw her aunt engaged in conversation 
 with her father, sidled back to her seat, and sat gazing at her 
 through her long, curling lashes, with the most intense curi 
 osity. She had heard a great deal said about Aunt Debby 
 of her wealth and independence of character, her influence on 
 those around her, and she had formed an image in her mind 
 of something grand and magnificent. She had a vague idea 
 that she carried a wand in her hand, which, like the Fairy's 
 in "Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper," could turn pump 
 kins into beautiful carriages, and mice ' into footmen with 
 golden liveries. 
 
 " Like her !" thought she, as she perused every lineament 
 of her feature with an unreceding gaze j " I never shall like 
 her as long as I live j I wouldn't go home with her to save 
 her life." 
 
 There was certainly nothing in the external appearance of 
 Aunt Debby to attract the admiration of a child ; and at this 
 particular time she was divested of one of her greatest orna 
 ments. Her hair had fallen off sometime previous, in conse 
 quence of a bilious fever, and a young crop, about two inches 
 long, now covered her head. Her friends tried to induce her 
 to wear a cap till time should replace the tresses of which she 
 had been despoiled. But she disdained such abominations, 
 never, even at night, allowing herself to be encumbered by 
 such an unnecessary appendage. This short hair, black as 
 ebony, thick and glossy, stood up around her forehead, giving 
 her a fierce, warlike aspect in the eyes of the wondering Rena. 
 Her eyes were large, black, and sparkling, moving from object 
 to object with inconceivable rapidity. Her nose had a fine, 
 Roman outline ; and her teeth were white, regular, and beau 
 tiful. She was rather small, remarkably erect, very neat iu 
 her dress which was a plain, black silk, unrelieved by white 
 lace or muslin undecorated by jewelry or ribbons. There
 
 34 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 was nothing soft, or flowing, or shading about her ; and the 
 short straight hair, which would have looked perfectly ridicu 
 lous on almost any other woman, did not seem out of place on 
 Aunt Debby's well formed head. 
 
 There are some females with whom we never can associate 
 the idea of love, who have such perfect unity of character, 
 we never can imagine them as forming the half of another. 
 When we meet with a person of this description, we wonder 
 by what invisible wires the electric spark was communicated 
 to a kindred heart. We wonder if they ever walked under 
 the silver light of the moon, listening to a music sweeter than 
 the songs of angels, clasping with thrilling touch the mutual 
 hand. 
 
 Rena was not old enough to make these reflections ; but 
 she repeated to herself a dozen times, with a little nod of the 
 head, of which she was perfectly unconscious, " She never 
 could, never would love Aunt Debby." 
 
 The morning came, when Rena was to leave for the first 
 time her native home father, mother, and brother. It was 
 a great event in her young life. She had never rode in a 
 stage, and there it stood, with four white horses, all with 
 arching necks and flowing manes, right before their door. 
 She saw her trunk strapped on behind, only think of her 
 having a trunk of her own, with her name on it ! There was 
 novelty, there was importance in all this, and her heart throb 
 bed with expectation. But when her poor pale-faced mother 
 kissed her and wept over her, and told her she wished she had 
 not let her go, when she felt Henry's soft curls on her neck, 
 as he gave her the fond parting kiss, and more than all, 
 when her father clasped her in his arms, pressed her to his 
 heart, praying G-od to bless and protect his darling little 
 Snowbird, while the tears glistened in his loving blue eyes, 
 she wept and sobbed aloud, declaring her firm resolution to 
 itay, and not go away with Aunt Debby.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 35 
 
 " "What nonsense is this ?" cried Aunt Debby, taking the 
 struggling child and swinging her lightly into the stage, then 
 jumping in, before Colonel Fay had time to assist her : " Good 
 bye good bye ; it will be all over in a minute." 
 
 In a second the stage was rattling through the yard, raking 
 under the low-spreading boughs of the trees, that stood an 
 cient sentinels by the gateway. Rena put her head out of 
 the window, and strained her eyes, blinded as they were with 
 bitter tears, to catch the last glimpse of her father's tall form, 
 of the beautiful sycamores, whose round balls she so much 
 loved to play with, the sturdy oaks, whose shapely acorns with 
 their cup-like shells were the favourite ornaments of her baby- 
 house ; then of the stone wall, so nice and compact, whose 
 level top was her daily promenade. Swiftly they all vanished, 
 and feeling her situation rather inconvenient, with her neck 
 twisted one way and the stage bounding along with the velo 
 city of lightning the other, she drew back on her seat and stu 
 died the profile of Aunt Debby' s green silk bonnet, thinking 
 it had a severe and forbidding look. 
 
 " That's right, little one," said her aunt, in a kind tone, 
 putting her arm around her and drawing her close to her j 
 " it is dangerous to have the head bobbing about in the win 
 dow in that way. Lay it in my lap, and go to sleep, when 
 you are tired ; we shall ride all night." 
 
 There was something sublime in the idea of riding all the 
 long, dark night, behind those white, flying horses, and Rena 
 resolved she would not sleep, but watch the stars as they 
 came out one by one, winking at her with their bright eyes, 
 and perhaps she could see the doors of heaven open and shut, 
 to let the radiant creatures in and out. But before one can 
 dle of the dark was lighted, to illumine the magnificent dome 
 of night, the little traveller was soundly sleeping on the lap of 
 Aunt Debby, whose arm still encircled her, and who ere long 
 sunk into sympathetic slumbers, as the irregular vibrations of 
 her green bonnet evidently showed. 
 37
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " And as they sweep 
 
 On sounding skates, a thousand different ways, 
 In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, 
 The then gay land is maddened all to joy," 
 * * * " Eager in rapid sleds, 
 Their vigorous youth in bold contentions wheel 
 The long-resounding course." THOMSON. 
 
 SUNNY DELL lay at the foot of a green slope, which seemed 
 to be the last heave of a mountain that rose grandly and pro- 
 tectingly behind a smooth, rich plain spread out in a green 
 plateau in front, where the oak and the walnut made ample 
 Umbrellas for the cattle that gathered under their shade. A 
 beautiful stream, dashing impetuously down the mountain's 
 side, making a headlong plunge, with something of the cata 
 ract's grandeur, then rolling over a gentler declivity and form 
 ing here and there silver cascades, meandered round this plain, 
 murmuring, gurgling, singing, and sparkling, reflecting the 
 blue of the heavens and the green of the earth. The hum of 
 industry mingled with the murmurs and songs of the silvei 
 cascades, for a mill was erected near them, so that the bright, 
 merry waters worked, as well as danced and sung, the lon 
 sunny day. Nothing about Aunt Debby was allowed to eat 
 the bread of idleness; she worked herself, and everything 
 around her must work. 
 
 The house was a tall, ancestral-looking building, with a 
 sharp-pointed roof, that cut the sky like a wedge, on the ex 
 tremities of which rose large white martin boxes, perforated 
 innumerable little windows. A double porch, whose pil
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNO\VJJIRD. 37 
 
 lars reached to the summit of the building, and which were 
 supported on blocks of gray granite, projected square and broad 
 in front and wings with roofs, that slanted nearly to the 
 ground, extended on either side. With its mountain back 
 ground stern and cold, its rich tapestry-work in front, embroi 
 dered with living silver, its romantic surroundings and com 
 manding site, Sunny Dell was a beautiful and picturesque 
 spot. Owning so imposing a residence, and possessing so 
 independent and self-relying a character, it is not strange that 
 Aunt Debby exercised a great influence in society. The only 
 fear she had was of being thought too amiable. Rather than 
 seem to seek the praise of the world, by the exercise of loving- 
 kindness and tender charity, she would assume a harshness of 
 manner foreign to her feelings, than satisfy in private the 
 wants of her better nature. Strong and often bitter in her 
 prejudices, immovable in her ideas of right and wrong, warm 
 in her feelings, blunt and generally cold in her manners, she 
 reigned over her household with the absoluteness of a queen, 
 and the rectitude of a judge. 
 
 One of her first duties was to commence with Rena that 
 system of discipline she intended to pursue with her. She 
 could read already, but she must not be allowed to read at 
 random, just as the spirit moved her. She must have a stated 
 hour for that occupation. Then she must learn to knit and 
 to sew, and have her regular tasks assigned, so as to know the 
 value of time. We will not attempt to describe the process 
 of Rena's learning to knit. It was so long, so complicated, so 
 heartrending. We cannot tell how many times the yarn was 
 put over the wrong finger, how often the stitch was dropped, 
 racing down to the very selvage of the stocking and making 
 an ugly hole when it was at last taken up ; or how the yarn 
 being woollen, fretted the soft skin of her tender fingers ; or 
 how many tears bedewed the sharp-pointed needles that would 
 ; stick into her flesh, hold them as she might, or how many
 
 38 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 times Aunt Debby' s thimble rapped her pupil's head before 
 she accomplished the weighty task. She did know how to sew 
 in a kind of romantic manner, with very long needle frills, 
 making long, skipping stitches, looking off half the time ; but 
 Aunt Debby taught her to condense her labours, and confine 
 her attention, by the charm of the glittering thimble, never 
 very harshly, but briskly applied. This was an old-fashioned 
 kind of discipline, under which Aunt Debby had flourished 
 marvellously herself, and she transmitted it to her descendants 
 as their right. 
 
 " Oh ! I never shall get to the end of this !" said Rena, 
 looking despairingly the whole length of a sheet her aunt had 
 given her to sew up. " Never," she repeated, emphatically 
 the seam apparently lengthened as she gained 
 
 " Never is a long word for a little girl," said Aunt Debby, 
 " we don't let them use it." 
 
 " It is so warm my fingers stick so " 
 
 " Well, run and wash your hands, child ; always mind and 
 have clean fingers when you sew." 
 
 " No, I didn't mean that, it's my needle that is so sticky/' 
 
 " Here, put it through this emery ball." 
 
 It was a beautiful ripe-looking, red woollen strawberry, and 
 Rena became so absorbed in its beauties she forgot the pur 
 pose for which it was given her. 
 
 " Oh I" said she, bringing it near her mouth, " what a nice 
 strawberry ! I wish it was a real one, it would taste so good. 
 Aunt, don't the strawberries grow here ? Papa said the berries 
 sprang up here without your knowing it." 
 
 " Goodness, how the child prattles ! Look, Rena, see how . 
 high the sun is ; you have not more than half finished that 
 seam ; it must be done before the sun sets remember !" 
 
 " Please, aunt, let me go to the top of the stairs and sew 
 down ; I can work so much quicker." 
 
 An assent being given, Rena flew to the top of the long
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 39 
 
 flight of stairs, her arms filled with her large piece of work ; 
 then counting the stairs, she folded the sheet into as many 
 divisions as there were stairs, and sticking pins into each fold, 
 began to labour as if her life depended on her exertions. As 
 soon as she reached the first crease she descended to the second 
 stair, and so on till the whole flight was gone tflfrough, and 
 the long seam, thus subdivided, completely finished. Aunt 
 Debby gave her an approving smile when she deposited the 
 work in her lap, and praised the mathematical and original 
 method she had adopted to facilitate the task. After that 
 Rena used to knit and sew down the stairs every day ; and it 
 was astonishing how much her labours were lightened by the 
 motion. 
 
 But this confinement was hard and irksome to her, and her 
 heart often rebelled against her aunt, and wandered back to 
 her own dear home, to her pretty, delicate-looking mother, 
 her fair young brother, and to the father who was the idol of 
 her affections. When she was in this insurrectionary state, 
 she would look down from her airy perch on her aunt, and 
 think she looked very ugly with her short black hair sticking 
 up like a grenadier's all over her head. She thought she 
 hated her, and had a great temptation to tell her so ; but when, 
 her task being completed, she was suffered to run abroad 
 round Sunny Dell, to dance over the green lawn and mimic the 
 leap of the cascade, and the warble of the birds, she felt re 
 morse for the hard feelings she had cherished. She loved her 
 aunt, the grass, the water, the birds, every animated and 
 inanimate thing. She loved God, too, who had put her in 
 such a beautiful world and given her a heart full of love 
 and joy 
 
 When she returned home, after these wild rambles, with 
 
 her spirit saturated with the loveliness of nature, she would 
 
 hang caressingly round her aunt and ask her if she did not 
 
 love her, and if she was not good j and Aunt Debby would 
 
 37
 
 40 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 tak.3 her in her lap and pat her head softly, without the thimble ; 
 but she would have been ashamed to have had any one know 
 how dearly she already loved the child, and how ardently she 
 wished it was her own. 
 
 Rena became happier after a while, for she had a com 
 panion who shared in the lessons she received from Aunt 
 Debby in sewing, knitting, and reading. Stella Lightner was 
 an orphan child, who belonged to the parish, but having 
 attracted the attention of the ladies by her extreme beauty, 
 they resolved to take her home and divide her among them. 
 She thus lived a kind of visiting life, petted by one, tolerated 
 by another, and perhaps unkindly treated by a third. It is 
 well known how soon the sparks of impulsive benevolence die 
 away, too often leaving behind the ashes of regret. The 
 romantic interest which Stella's beauty and orphanage excited 
 gradually cooled, while the burden of her maintenance re 
 mained. There were some, however, who, actuated by prin 
 ciple rather than impulse, continued to feel the same tender 
 ness for their protegee, and would willingly have kept nor as an 
 abiding member of their household ; but this the association 
 would not allow, as the praise of charity due to the body must 
 not be engrossed by any particular member. Aunt Debby's 
 turn came round, when Rena had been with her about a 
 month ; and, to the inexpressible joy of Rena, Stella was domi- 
 ciliated at Sunny Dell. 
 
 A beautiful child is certainly the most beautiful object in 
 the world. The incarnation of innocence, sweetness, and 
 grace ; fresh from the hands of its Creator, before tempta 
 tion has obscured, or sin marred or passion darkened the 
 image of the Deity; it comes before the world-weary eye, a 
 flower sparkling with the dews of Paradise, and breathing the 
 fragrance of Heaven. 
 
 No one could look upon Stella Lightner without thinking 
 of all that is most sweet and lovely in the material and spirit-
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 41 
 
 ual world, without feeling all the poetry, all the music of 
 their spirits wakened and stirring within them. The soft 
 whiteness of the pearl was diffused over her foiehead and 
 neck, the beautiful carmine of the sea-shell was mellowed on 
 her cheek. The sunbeams sported in her golden hair, and 
 the stars of evening shone from the sapphire heaven of her 
 eyes. This is no exaggerated description. This child of po 
 verty and obscurity was one of those rare miracles of loveli 
 ness, which sometimes appear, to show of what exquisite 
 beauty the human form is capable. 
 
 Rena, who had not one particle of envy or jealousy in her 
 disposition, and who had a keen perception of the beautiful 
 wherever it was seen, gazed with rapture on her young com 
 panion clasping one hand in hers, and passing the other 
 over her shining hair, she looked into her eyes, with a smile 
 of ecstasy. 
 
 " Little girl/' she cried, " how pretty you are ! How I 
 shall love you ! Brother Henry is pretty, but not half as 
 pretty as you. His hair curls too, but it is black Mine is 
 straight I wish it did curl like yours I" 
 
 " Nonsense !" said Aunt Debby, coming like a dash of cold 
 water on Rena's enthusiasm " nonsense ! your hair is a great 
 deal better as it is. I would soon crop off her curls, if some 
 of the ladies did not make such a fuss about them. And, 
 Rena, you must not tell her she is pretty. It will make her 
 vain, and I am afraid the poor child is vain enough already." 
 
 "But God made her, aunt she did not make herself; 
 she can't help being pretty." 
 
 "I know it it is a mere accident not worth talking 
 about. But the best child is the one that is most loved, no 
 matter how she looks; and goodness and obedience make a 
 child look pretty, whether she is so or not." 
 
 Rena resolved that she always would be good and obedient, 
 that she might be loved and thought pretty, and commenced
 
 42 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 her knitting with, unwonted zeal. "With her aunt's pera.is- 
 sion she took Stella with her to the top of the stairs, which 
 the young eaglet made her morning eyrie, and told her how, 
 when she had knit round to the seam, she must come down 
 one step, and they must see which should get to the goal first. 
 She found Stella far behind her in handicraft, and as she 
 would not leave her behind, she assisted her each time in 
 completing her task, so that they might finish together, and 
 play together on the green. 
 
 This morning was an epitome of their daily intercourse. 
 In every lesson, in every task, Stella was a laggard and delin 
 quent, and Rena toiled with double assiduity to shield her 
 from blame and threatened punishment. If her deficiencies 
 were too great to be covered by Rena's kindness, and she was 
 kept in doors after the usual hour, Rena would remain by her 
 side, sympathizing and comforting. She could not bear to 
 see tears in Stella's beautiful eyes, and the sight of her aunt's 
 thirnHe rapping on her golden curls sent a pang through her 
 heart, that no punishment inflicted on herself could create. 
 It rover entered her mind that Stella might be idle and self- 
 i th, and that she claimed her assistance as a right, instead of 
 asking it as a favour. With the pure, broad mantle of child 
 ish charity she 'covered every offence, and loved her the better, 
 because she had made so many sacrifices for her. 
 
 Thus summer passed away, and autumn too. Stella re 
 mained longer than the allotted time, because Rena was so 
 unhappy at the thought of being separated from her. Cold 
 winter came on and the green lawn was all covered with 
 snow. But the little girls were not confined to the house on 
 that account. Aunt Debby had great respect for exercise in 
 ihe open air, and she never allowed any one near her to com 
 plain of the cold. Every one in the household must be up by 
 day-light ; not only up, but doing. She always wakened Rena 
 and Stella herself, and if they began to rub their eyes and
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD 43 
 
 turn over again, to have a little more slumber, sbe took them 
 right out of their warm beds and set them shivering in the 
 middle of the room, for the genial influence of a fire was not 
 permitted to penetrate their sleeping apartment. They were 
 glad enough to dress, so as to inhale a warmer atmosphere. 
 Here, also, Rena performed the part of a little mother to 
 Stella, assisting her to dress first, often incurring reproof her 
 self, which by right should have been given to Stella. These 
 children were not born in the land or the sunny South, where 
 the negroes follow the steps of the white race as invariably as 
 the shadow follows the sunshine. Aunt Debby's domestics, 
 for she had servants, were hired to attend to the dairy, to spin 
 and weave, not to wait on little children. She attended to 
 everything herself; and it was a proverb, that Aunt Debby 
 got more work for her money than any other woman in the 
 parish. No sooner were they dressed, than these little moun 
 tain warriors of the elements ran out and washed their faces 
 in the white, sparkling snow-drift, till the warm blood seemed 
 to bubble in their cheeks, so rosy did they look. Their fingers 
 would be cold and red for a while, but they tossed their arms 
 over their breasts till the warmth circulated uniformly through 
 their veins, and keen was the appetite that digested Aunt 
 Debby's buckwheat cakes, muffins, and rolls.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " And thus at the collision of thy name 
 The vivid thought still flashes through my frame, 
 
 And for a moment all things as they were 
 Flit by me; they are gone I am the same." BYRON. " 
 
 ONE evening (it was during the Christmas holidays, and 
 all the boys and girls far and near were enjoying their winter 
 vacation), there was a great gathering of the juvenile popula 
 tion, on the slope of the mountains behind Sunny Dell, to 
 coast down hill, by the light of a moon, brighter than ever 
 gilded an Italian landscape, for the transcendant lustre of 
 the moonbeams that are reflected by an expanse of unspotted 
 enow, so white that no fuller on earth could whiten it, is such 
 that the dazzled eye can scarcely bear the radiance. A slignt 
 rain had drizzled the preceding day, and glassed the surface 
 of the snow, so that it shone, one wide sheet of glittering 
 crystal. Rena and Stella sat perched on the seat of one of 
 the back windows, gazing eagerly after the merry group that, 
 hooded, capped, and cloaked, went laughing up the ascent, 
 tugging the sleds after them. 
 
 " Oh ! how I wish we could go too I" said Rena, her warm 
 breath turning to frost on the glass against which her face was 
 pressed. 
 
 " I wish so, too," cried Stella ; " we might go, we ought 
 to, for there are girls littler than we there." 
 
 Hannah, the ruddy, good-natured dairy-maid, offered to go 
 with them and take care of them, if Aunt Debby would once 
 break through her fixed rule, and let them go abroad after 
 
 (44)
 
 REN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 45 
 
 sundown. It was hard to resist the pleading eyes of Rena, 
 when they had that velvet look they sometimes wore, and per 
 mission was unexpectedly granted. Out in the moonshine 
 up on the hill-side it was the work of a moment. Hannah 
 held them tight, one in each hand, two little bundles of 
 woollen and fur; but she might as well have attempted to 
 stay the arrow when shooting from the bow, as to keep Rena 
 still when in the midst of the exciting scene. A stranger to 
 most of the children, she was consequently an object of 
 curiosity, and they gathered round her to the neglect of little 
 Star-eyes, as Stella was often called. This was not pleasing 
 to the young beauty, accustomed as she was to be the cynosure 
 of 'juvenile admiration ; but it was nothing to the mortification 
 she endured when Sherwood Lindsey, the most aristocratic 
 boy in town, the son of the Hon. Mr. Lindsey, the celebrated 
 lawyer, the tallest, handsomest boy of the party, took Rena 
 under his especial patronage, made her promise to ride in his 
 sled, and none other, the whole evening, leaving her to the 
 more plebeian throng. 
 
 The germs of envy and jealousy, which in after years ex 
 panded into such rank luxuriance, were planted that night in 
 the bosom of Stella; and several of the actors in this cold, 
 bright, wintry scene, looked back to it, as the commencement 
 of a dream involving the most important and thrilling events 
 of their life. 
 
 Those, who have never witnessed the winter glories of the 
 North, can have no conception of the magnificence that some 
 times clothes the landscape. Winter has its gala days and 
 nights, when she arrays herself in diamonds that put to shame 
 the jewelry of royalty. The rain which had fallen, freezing 
 as it fell, had hung every tree with ten thousand glittering 
 icicles, on which the moon shone with a radiance so intense, 
 they resembled the crystalline drops swinging from a silver 
 chandelier. Bright and sparkling as the icicles and almost as
 
 46 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 cold, the children sported over the white, shining snow, becom 
 ing more and more exhilarated, by exercise in the keen, 
 bracing air. 
 
 Sherwood Lindsey's sled was the finest and lightest of the 
 whole, and it was considered a great distinction to be invited 
 to a seat in it. It was covered with ar buffalo skin, and he had 
 a string of bells on his neck, which he jingled with all his 
 might. Placing Rena on the middle of the buffalo, and wrap 
 ping it carefully round her, he jumped up in front, and giving 
 a loud hurrah, started off, a long train of sleds following in 
 quick succession. Swifter and swifter the train went on, with 
 constantly accelerating motion, till they stopped on the level 
 snow, where most of them contrived to tumble out into a drift, 
 making many a somerset in the cold, soft bed. To toil up 
 again, with panting breath, that curled before them a silver 
 wreath in the moon-light, was the work of a moment, when 
 again they darted down with lightning velocity, while their 
 merry shouts were echoed by the mountain side, far over the 
 precincts of Sunny Dell. Eena never was so wild, so full of 
 superabundant mirth. At first she felt a little shy of the strange 
 boy who had taken her captive, and did not like to be sepa 
 rated from Stella, but she soon became so excited by the amuse 
 ment, and so charmed by her new acquaintance, that she forgot 
 everything else. They were already on the most confidential 
 terms. He had informed her who he was, who his father vras, 
 what academy he was attending, how soon he expected to be 
 able to enter college, and that he intended to be a lawyer, and 
 a very distinguished man. Rena had no idea of a confidence 
 which was not reciprocal, and she told him in return, all 
 about her father and mother, and her brother Henry, of her 
 being lost in the hay-mow, of the red-headed man being lost 
 in the ash-hole (for the anecdote had been repeated to her), 
 and then she told him how funny she thought Aunt Debby 
 looked when she first saw her, with her hair sticking up straight
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 47 
 
 all over her head. Sherwood laughed very heartily at this, 
 and shook his bells, as if he could not make noise enough any 
 other way, to express his mirth. 
 
 " But she is very good," adckd Rena, with feelings of com 
 punction that she had involuntarily exposed her aunt to ridicule; 
 " and I love her very much now." 
 
 " That is more than I do," exclaimed Sherwood. 
 
 " What's the reason you don't like her ?" 
 
 " No matter. Father does not like me to say anything abo.it 
 her. Our families don't visit. I am sorry for it now." 
 
 " So am I," cried Rena mournfully ; " I wanted you to come 
 and see me. But you are a big boy, and perhaps you wouldn't 
 come if your father would let you." 
 
 " Yes, I know I am big," said Sherwood, pulling up his 
 dark fur collar round his glowing cheeks, with an air of manly 
 pride; " I am almost thirteen." 
 
 " Oh dear !" exclaimed Rena, ready to cry with vexation at 
 her own juvenility, "and I am only six in my seventh yoar. 
 How very old you are, and how kind you are to talk to me, 
 who am so much younger !" 
 
 " You are a dear, sweet little soul, and I love you dearly. 
 I wish you had any other aunt, than Aunt Debby, but that is 
 no fault of yours." 
 
 " Don't you think Stella the prettiest little girl you evor 
 saw ?" asked Rena, with a true womanly curiosity to know 
 the opinion of her young admirer. 
 
 " No, I like your looks a great deal better. She is too lili 
 fied, too pinkified to suit me. She looks like some of these 
 pieces of wax-work, I have seen at shows. Besides, I don't 
 like her, she's proud, and poor folks have no business to be 
 proud." 
 
 Rena was about to ask him if he were rich, when he was 
 summoned by his companions to head the coasting train once
 
 48 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. f 
 
 " I'm tired of coasting/' said he, carelessly " who'& for 
 skating ?" 
 
 " I" and " I" repeated a dozen boyish voices, and the 
 sleds were simultaneously abandoned. They had all orne 
 prepared for this amusement also, and their skates were dan 
 gling among the diamonds of the adjacent trees. The stream 
 which wound around Sunny Dell often overflowed its banks in 
 winter, and covering the lawn soon hardened into ice, as the 
 freezing blasts swept over it. Around the mill, where the 
 current was deepest and strongest, the water still dashed over 
 the rocks, and made dark pools, where all the shadows seemed 
 to gather and blacken. 
 
 " Rena, you keep tight hold of my hand while I am ska 
 ting," said Sherwood, " and I will carry you over tho ice 
 swifter than a bird skims the air." 
 
 " You must keep away from the mill then," said Hannah, 
 anxious for the safety of her young charge ; " there are deep 
 holes there, and if you get in you'll surely be drowned." 
 
 " I know it, but who's fool enough to go near them when 
 there's an ocean of hard ice right before him ? Here, take the 
 young lady's -tippet and hang it on a tree, and her muff too. 
 Good heavens ! it is big enough for her to crawl in ; she can' t 
 slide with such a heavy weight upon her." 
 
 In vain Hannah protested she would take cold. Eena 
 would have them off, since Sherwood thought they were too 
 heavy for her, and she was so warm and glowing from exer 
 cise she really felt uncomfortable withHhem. The long, dark 
 tippet was tossed upon an icy bough, where it coiled an 
 extemporaneous serpent ; and the huge muff perched upon 
 another branch, might have passed for a bear crouching before 
 it. Stella was tired and wanted to go home, for the sight of 
 llena clinging to the hand of Sherwood Lindsey marred all 
 ber enjoyment It was in vain the other boys contended for
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 49 
 
 her hand, since the lord of the party devoted himself exclu 
 sively to another. 
 
 Slowly and carefully, at first, did the young knight glide 
 along, with the little lady holding tightly to his left hand, 
 scarcely touching the ice with her feet. But in a short time, 
 excited by the sport, and by the music of his own bells, that 
 still rung merrily round his neck, he caught Rena up on his 
 shoulder and darted off with triumphant speed. Now to the 
 right now to the left, in a graceful curve, with motion as 
 uniform and untiring as the pinions of a sky-lark j then 
 straight forward, with one arip folded on his breast, the other 
 poising the dauntless little girl in the air, onward he flew, 
 with no apparent volition of his own, but as if impelled by 
 some irresistible, invisible power. 
 
 Rena clapped her hands and laughed wildly, and looked 
 back in triumph on the pursuers, who tried in vain to keep up 
 with their dazzling speed. 
 
 " Take care, Master Sherwood, take care, you are going too 
 near the mill I" called Hannah, who had been, good-naturedly, 
 sliding about by herself to keep warm. " Take care !" ejacu 
 lated she, in a louder tone. " Mercy on me, he can't stop !" 
 
 At this moment a terrible scream went up, high above the 
 mountain. The icy plain gradually descended towards the 
 mill, from the spot where Sherwood was skating when Hannah 
 called. He had been going with such accelerating velocity, un 
 aware that he %as approaching an inclined plane, that he could 
 not arrest his course. A small, dark pool was right before 
 him ; he did not see it till just on its brink ; one moment he 
 was shooting like a meteor before the eye, the next he was 
 gone plunging down the abyss. But as he felt himself 
 going, helplessly, irresistibly, the one thought, to .save the 
 little girl whose "life he had endangered, struggled with his 
 doom. He cast her from him just in time for her to find a 
 frozen bed on the verge of the chasm, into which he was madly
 
 30 RENA; on, THE SNOWBIKD. 
 
 precipitated. Hannah ran, breathless with terror, to snatch 
 Rena from her perilous situation. As she stooped down she 
 saw the boy rise above the water and catch hold of the ice 
 that hung jagged round the edge of the chasm. 
 
 " Hold on, hold on, Master Sherwood !" she cried ; " don't 
 let go, I can save you !" 
 
 The tree, on which the long fur tippet of Rena was hang 
 ing, was not far off. It was astonishing bow she could get it, 
 without falling down on the smooth ice; but there are mo 
 ments when some self-forgetting souls seem invested with 
 supernatural powers, and this was one. When she again 
 approached the opening, she saw with horror, the boy was 
 gone. His benumbed hands had loosened from their hold, 
 and he had once more sunk under the cold, dark waters. 
 With a cry of despair, she called on his name, when again he 
 rose and clutched desperately at the slippery edges above him. 
 
 " There !" cried Hannah, throwing down to him the dark 
 coils of the fur, " catch it, pull hard at it I'll draw you out 
 I'm strong as a man Hold on Hold on for your life ! 
 Blessed Lord ! give him strength, and me too !" 
 
 The next moment the heroic girl lay panting on the ice, 
 breathless and exhausted from the exertions she had made, 
 and by her side was the lately drowning boy, whom she had 
 rescued frcm an icy grave. And round them both was a 
 group of children crying and wringing their hands, their wild 
 sport changed instantaneously to heartrending grief. They 
 could not realize that danger was over. They had just begun 
 to feel, for at first they were paralyzed by terror. Nor was 
 the danger entirely past, for Sherwood lay insensible on the 
 ice, his face almost as white as the snow. Notwithstanding 
 their loud cries, no one had come to their relief they had 
 oeen so boisterous in their merriment, at a little distance the 
 c.hange from joy to grief was not perceptible. 
 
 Hannah, who had recovered her breath and energy, rose,
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 51 
 
 and calling the largest boys to assist her, lifted Sherwood 
 from the ice, and bore him in the direction of Aunt Debby's 
 house. Rena, stunned by her fall, and half frozen, now the 
 excitement which had warmed her was passed away, clung 
 weeping to Hannah's skirts, gazing with anguish and dread 
 on the pale face of her new friend. 
 
 Aunt Debby was sitting by a blazing fire, listening to the 
 loud ticking of the old-fashioned clock behind the door, that 
 solemn, peculiar sound, the beating of the heart of Time. She 
 felt lonely, melancholy her restless ey s were fixed on the 
 illuminated hearth, while her spirit went back into the sha 
 dowy past and wandered amidst some of the faded visions of 
 her youth. She was lost in so deep a revery, she did not at 
 first notice the lumbering sound of many feet coming through 
 the passage. But when the trampling came nearer, she start 
 ed up in alarm, and, hurrying to the door, threw it wide open, 
 so that the ruddy blaze from the chimney lighted up the cold, 
 sad group slowly entering. The boys were nearly sinking 
 under their burthen, and the stout arms of Hannah vere 
 beginning to wax heavy. 
 
 " What's the matter ? Who's this ? Is he drowned ? Is 
 he dead? Where's Rena? Where's Stella?" were the 
 interrogatories of Aunt Debby, who, having ascertained by a 
 glance the safety of the little girls, ran into her bed-room 
 and brought blankets, which having warmed by the blazing 
 hearth, she wrapped round the still insensible boy. Hannah 
 was despatched into the kitchen for warm water, the best old 
 Cogniac was brought from the closet, and every means resort 
 ed to, promptly and energetically, for the resuscitation of the 
 youth, whose life-blood began to glow once more under the 
 genial influence acting upon his frame. 
 
 '* Poor boy !" murmured Aunt Debby, smoothing the moist, 
 dark hair, that fell over his white forehead. " Pretty boy ! 
 what a pity, if he had been drowned ! He is no labourer's
 
 52 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 son," continued she, rubbing with gentle friction the fair, 
 slender fingers, that grew warm in her clasp. 
 
 The black eyes of Aunt Debby sparkled with delight when, 
 lifting his heavy lids, he gazed earnestly in her face. There 
 was something in that look, however, which seemed to trou 
 ble her, and the expression of her countenance changed. 
 
 "Who are you?" cried she, drawing back and dropping 
 the hand she had been so gently chafing. "Whose son are 
 you?" 
 
 " My name is Sherwood Lindsey, my father is the Hon. 
 Mr. Lindsey of Bellevue," replied the aristocratic boy, raising 
 himself on his elbow and looking haughtily in her face. The 
 next moment his tone changed. He seemed conscious of the 
 want of gratitude his manner evinced, and a bright flush red 
 dened his cheek. 
 
 " You have been very kind, and I thank you/' said he ; "and 
 father will thank you too." 
 
 " Sorry am I," cried she, her eyes flashing, her lips quiver 
 ing with passion, " sorry am I, that your father's son ever 
 darkened doors of mine. Little thought I when I was warm 
 ing you into life, on my own bosom, that it was the son of my 
 worst enemy, lying under my roof Hon. Mr. Lindsey ! 
 Honourable Viper !" 
 
 " Stop I won't hear my father called such names; if you 
 were not a woman I'd knock you down !" cried Sherwood, 
 springing up and dashing a*e blankets on the floor. The 
 brandy they had poured down his throat so copiously, now 
 burned in his veins and added fire to his naturally high pas 
 sions. " Where's my hat and cloak ? I'll not stay another 
 moment where my father is insulted !" 
 
 " GrO, then, hot-brained son of a cold, selfish father !" ex 
 claimed Aunt Debby, throwing the door wide open for him to 
 pass; "go and tell him that I, Deborah Fay, breathed the 
 warmth of my own heart into your frozen limbs. Hear what
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 53 
 
 he will say to that. But no " she added, with a sudden 
 revulsion of feeling, " you shall not go. Come back, and I will 
 send you home ; you must not walk you will get cold, sick. 
 Hannah, shut the door, and keep him from going." 
 
 Sherwood struggled in her grasp, but when Hannah laid 
 her hand on his arm, the memory of her generous efforts in 
 his behalf, the thought that he owed his life to her, arrested 
 him. " Brave girl good girl !" cried he, pressing gratefully 
 that strong hand in both his own. " If it had not been for 
 you I should have perished. Father will reward you, for he 
 is not a cold, selfish man. And I, if I should live to the age 
 of Methuselah, will remember what you have done for me 
 to-night. And you, you dear little warm-hearted creature," 
 exclaimed the boy, snatching Kena, who, trembling and fright 
 ened, kept close to Hannah's side, in his arms, and kissing her 
 a half-dozen times, " good-bye ; I'm glad I haven't your pre 
 cious life to answer for. I shall see you again, in spite of all 
 the Aunt Debbys in the world I" 
 
 Putting her gently on the floor, he sprang through the door, 
 slammed it after him, ran through the passage, leaped across 
 the threshold, flew over the frozen lawn, and was out of sight 
 in a moment. The other children, cold and weary, more 
 slowly followed. Hannah, after giving the sheets a hot, sugar 
 warming, deposited Rena and Stella in bed. Aunt Debby sat 
 down alone, by the hearth-side, and there she sat for hours, 
 gazing at the wood as it burned into brands, falling with 
 blackened ends from the andirons, at the brands till they 
 turned into glowing coals, and then she watched the coals as 
 they were slowly converted into embers, the gray, ashy hue 
 stealing over their ruddiness, till nothing but coldness and 
 desolation remained, where all had been warmth and brilliancy 
 But her thoughts were far away from the lonely hearth. The 
 sight of that boy, looking at her so steadfastly with those dark, 
 expressive eyes, so like his father's, had penetrated the icy
 
 54 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 crust which covered the waters of memory, and the current 
 rolled coldly and darkly along. 
 
 It rolled colder and darker, till, overwhelmed by its waves, 
 she bent her head forward till it rested on her knees, and 
 tears, bitter and passionate, gushed from her eyes. 
 
 Oh ! how many such tears gush forth in secret, which the 
 world knows not of! How many, who are deemed cold and 
 unfeeling, and harsh and selfish, thus in solitude and darkness 
 give vent to the anguish of a wounded heart, and mourn with 
 unavailing regret over their blighted hopes, withered affections, 
 and embittered feelings ! 
 
 Who, that saw Aunt Debby the next morning, bustling 
 about the house, directing Hannah how to skim the milk and 
 scald the churn, and Peter how to feed the cattle and the 
 swine, her quick eyes seeing and controlling everything, would 
 have recognised the passionate woman, who sat weeping by the 
 lonely hearth-stone ?
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " I saw her once so freshly fair, 
 
 That, like a blossom just unfolding, 
 She opened to life's cloudless air ; 
 
 And Nature joyed to view its moulding. 
 Oh ! who could look on such a form, 
 
 So heavenly fair, so softly tender, 
 And darkly dream, that earthly sin 
 
 Should dim such sweet, delicious splendour !" 
 
 A MESSENGER from Mr. Lindsey ! Aunt Debby's face 
 reddened, but she did not dash the packet into the man's face, 
 as Hannah feared she would. She opened it, and found a 
 note to herself, and a folded paper directed to Hannah. The 
 note expressed, in a polite but constrained manner, his grati 
 tude for her kindness to his son, and his hope that he might 
 be permitted to cancel the obligations she had imposed upon 
 him. The envelope to Hannah contained a hundred dollar 
 bill, accompanied by some gentlemanly expressions of grati 
 tude and estetm. Aunt Debby's eyes flashed fire as she 
 perused the note. It peemed that all the worst passions of 
 her nature were rouseJ by contact with any of the inmates of 
 Bellevue. 
 
 "Tell Mr. Lindsey the Hon. Mr. Lindsey," said she, 
 emphasizing the title with iron ; cal force, " that he owes no 
 gratitude to me. I did no more for his son than I would for 
 a drowning puppy or a freezing calf. Tell him this and tell 
 him what Hannah says, too. I know she scorns his money, 
 or she is not the girl I take her to be." 
 
 But Hannah did not scorn the money. She was a hard- 
 38 (65)
 
 56 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 working servant girl, whose weekly wages were divided with 
 an infirm and widowed mother. So large a sum had nev^r 
 been in her possession before, and visions of luxury for herself 
 and mother, of fine dresses, and admiring eyes, swam before 
 the young and ruddy dairy-maid. It would be so grand to 
 go to the stores and ask the clerks to change her hundred 
 dollar bill, to have it in bright, hard specie, which would 
 chink and make music in her ears ! She looked at the bill, 
 at Aunt Debby, whose eyes were severely scanning her honest 
 and ingenuous countenance, at the good-looking young man 
 who was waiting for her reply, and then at little Rena, who 
 was gazing eagerly in her face. There was something in the 
 expression of Rena's earnest eyes that induced Hannah to 
 Bay 
 
 " What would you do, Miss Rena, if you were in my 
 place ?" 
 
 " I wouldn't be paid for being good," whispered the child, 
 " if it was me." 
 
 " Nor I, either !" cried Hannah, the independent spirit of 
 our country's yeomanry triumphing over the temptation. 
 " Tell Mr. Lindsey," added she, turning to the young man, 
 and handing him the paper, while she imitated unconsciously 
 the dignified tones of Aunt Debby, " that I'm just as much 
 obliged to him as if I took his money, and I think it was very 
 generous in him to offer it. But I didn't do anything to be 
 paid for. I could not stand by and see anybody drowned, 
 when I thought of a way to save them. It didn't cost me 
 anything but a hard pull, and my arms are strong enough for 
 that." 
 
 The look of profound and respectful admiration with which 
 the young man regarded the disinterested dairy-maid was not 
 unperceived by its object. It was probably a richer reward 
 than the hundred dollars would have been. Light was her 
 heart, and buoyant her steps, as she resumed her daily duties,
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 57 
 
 and she sung so long and loud while plying the churn-dash, 
 and working over the butter, that Aunt Debby, who had no 
 particular love for music of any kind, was driven in despair to a 
 distant part of the house. She did not like to reprove her 
 Bursts of melody, as she was pleased with her act of self- 
 renunciation. From this time she raised her wages, and 
 idded to the presents she was in the habit of sending her 
 invalid mother. Hannah felt her domestic position elevated, 
 and feeling more self-respect, fulfilled her duties, not with 
 more fidelity, that was not possible, but with more cheerful 
 ness. She put more heart into her services, and love makes 
 every burden light. 
 
 It was surprising how often she met the young man who 
 brought Mr. Lindsey's note, as the families of Sunny Dell and 
 Bellevue had nothing to do with each other. At first he 
 passed her with a low bow, and an admiring glance, then he 
 ventured to assist her over a muddy place by the way-side, and 
 at length, emboldened by her smiles and blushes, accompanied 
 her from church, as far as the mill-dam. After that Hannah 
 discovered (it certainly was a mysterious process of the under 
 standing, by which she arrived at this conclusion) that it was 
 the most convenient way to bring round her brimming milk- 
 pails by the dam, though she encountered a stone wall and a 
 five rail fence ; but Jimmy Bell so often happened to be there, 
 it was quite a pleasant circumstance. He dared not encounter 
 the flashing eyes of Aunt Debby, whom he looked upon as the 
 Cerberus of Sunny Dell. Not that he knew anything of Cer 
 berus, but he was well acquainted with mastiffs and watch-dogs 
 with one head, and he would much rather encounter all their 
 terrors, than one glance of Aunt Debby's keen black eyes. So 
 he wooed the ruddy milk-maid by the side of the mill-dam, 
 where the snow lay in drifts against the rocks, and the dashing 
 waters left icicles, where its foam had whitened and heaved. 
 It was a cold place, but love warmed their hearts and took
 
 58 RENA; OR, THE INOWBIRD. 
 
 away tho winter's chill; and they talked of the time when 
 they should have a nice little cottage and farm of their own, 
 when Hannah would milk their own cows, and make their own 
 butter and cheese. 
 
 Poor little Rena began to be homesick. She loved Aunt 
 Debby and Hannah, and Stella too, though Stella never seemed 
 to love her as well since the night Sherwood Lindsey made her 
 the queen of the juvenile party. But she was tired of the 
 monotony of her life. She was tired of knitting and sewing, 
 and reading mechanically. She wanted to be with her pale, 
 pretty mother, her gentle brother, and to nestle once more in 
 her father's caressi ^g arms. When once this feeling got pos 
 session of her, it grew into actual sickness. She could not 
 eat, nor sleep, and her rosy, healthy, sunny face assumed a wan, 
 wistful look, that grieved Aunt Debby very much, for she 
 loved the child, and would gladly have adopted her as her own. 
 She wrote, however, to her brother to come for Rena, on con 
 dition that when the child was a little older, she should return 
 again to Sunny Dell. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that Rena had no curiosity with 
 regard to her aunt's enmity towards the Lindsey family, or that 
 she had forgotten the friend towards whom she was so strongly 
 attracted. She had interrogated her aunt, who told her it 
 was no business of hers, that little girls had one tongue and 
 two ears, so that they could listen twice and speak oiice. She 
 had asked Hannah, who answered that she did not know; she 
 believed it commenced in politics, before Mr. Wright died, and 
 that Mr. Lindsey had started a lawsuit against Mr. Wright, 
 and that it was still going on, and that Aunt Debby declared 
 she would never pay a cent, if all the judges in the United 
 States decided against her. Sherwood had been absent at schot 1 
 since he was a very small boy, which was the reason he was 
 not recognised when brought in by the heroic Hannah, into 
 her mistress's house.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 59 
 
 One day, ir the early spring, just before her return home, 
 Rena was ridii g with her aunt, in her family chaise. The roada 
 were exceedingly bad, as they always are in northern latitudes, 
 after the breaking up of winter. It was a one horse chaise, 
 and Aunt Debby drove her gray roan herself, in all the glory 
 of independence. Her green bonnet was put farther back 
 than usual, so that she could see better how to select the best 
 part of the road ; and as she held the reins in both hands, some 
 what separated, with her profile considerably elevated, Rena 
 could not help thinking again, how funny Aunt Debby looked, 
 and she burst into a sudden fit of laughter. Fortunately for 
 her, there came along at that moment a handsome carriage, 
 drawn by a span of coal-black horses, which seemed to disdain 
 the mud that hung to their *hite fetlocks. 
 
 "Look, aunt, look!" said the delighted Rena; "there's 
 Jimmy Bell driving that pretty carriage ! And look, aunt, what 
 a pretty lady ! what a fine gentleman ! he's bowing to you, 
 aunt. Who is it ?" 
 
 " Hush, hush !" cried her aunt, giving her whip a tremendous 
 flourish over the head of the horse, which almost stopped while 
 the carriage was rolling by. The lady who sat leaning back, 
 wrapped up in India shawls, was very beautiful, and the gen 
 tleman, who bowed to Aunt Debby, had a dark and very 
 striking countenance. 
 
 "Who is it?" responded Rena "Is it Mr. Lindsey?" 
 
 " Yes, it is the Hon. Mr. Lindsey, and the Hon. Mrs. Lind 
 sey," replied Aunt Debby in a tone of bitterness, giving her 
 horse another flourish about the ears. 
 
 Rena wished Sherwood had been with them, and wondered 
 if she should ever see him again, and when he was as old, if 
 he would look as grand as his father, and ride in as fine a car 
 riage, drawn by shining black horses. But when she returned 
 to Sunny Dell, &he forgot all about Sherwood Lindsey and 
 dreams of the future, for her own dear father stood at the
 
 60 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 door to greet her, tall, erect, and handsome as ever, with the 
 same loving smile ! With one bound she cleared the chaise, 
 and was hanging round his neck, crying and sobbing, and 
 hugging and kissing him, as he never had been kissed before. 
 She was not satisfied with kissing his face a thousand times ; 
 she took his hands, hardened by honourable labour, but pure 
 from all evil-doing, and pressed first one and then the other 
 to her lips and heart, with truly oriental grace of action. 
 
 " You've spoiled her, brother;" said Aunt Debby, her eyes 
 glistening in spite of herself. " You should not do it. It is 
 dangerous to cultivate the affections too highly. That child 
 must go through a hardening process, or she will be wretched." 
 
 "Poor philosophy, sister Debby," answered Col. Fay; " the 
 heart hardens fast enough of itself, without making use of any 
 artificial measures. I have never yet seen too much heart in 
 this world. I would as soon take a cake of ice and put it on 
 her head to keep it from growing, as try to repress the love 
 that gushes out to meet mine. I have found the only true 
 happiness of life, in the exercise of the affections and I 
 thank my Maker, that he has given me, and my little girl 
 too, a warm heart." 
 
 " It may be a blessing for a man, but a curse to woman," 
 replied Aunt Debby, shaking her head. 
 
 " But who is this little lady ?" asked the Colonel, turning 
 to Stella, who stood in the back-ground, looking inquisitively 
 at the strange gentleman ; " who is this beautiful child ?" 
 
 "This is Stella, v cried Rena, running and leading her to 
 her father, with a patronizing air. " Haven't you heard of 
 Stella? She is my playmate, and I love her. And hasn't 
 she got pretty hair?" and Rena tried to smooth down the 
 ripples of gold with her cares-sing hand. 
 
 Col. Fay was very fond of children. He took them on each 
 knee and looked from one to the other; then his eyes rested
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 61 
 
 on the extraordinary beauty of Stella with manifest admira 
 tion 
 
 "Don't you wish I was as pretty as Stella, papa?" whis 
 pered Rena, interpreting his thoughts. 
 
 " It is the heart and the mind that gives beauty to the face, 
 my child, and while you keep the one pure and the other 
 bright, you will look pretty enough." 
 
 Stella had so often heard it remarked by strangers, that she 
 was beautiful, that it excited no surprise. She considered the 
 praise of beauty her inalienable right, and heard her praises 
 as a matter of course. They never seemed to elate her. The 
 purple iris of her deep blue eyes never dilated with rapture, 
 when she heard them compared to the stars in lustre; but 
 vanity was growing rankly, a barren weed, in her heart, 
 absorbing all the strength of the soil, and shading and dark 
 ening every better feeling. Deceit too and envy were there, 
 waiting only for sunshine and opportunity to develope their 
 growth. Admiration was already become necessary to her 
 happiness, and she was restless and miserable when there was 
 no one near to admire and to praise. Rena, in her unenvying 
 artlessness, was always telling her how sweet and pretty she 
 was, and therefore she loved to have Rena with her, and smiled 
 upon and caressed her ; but let their interests clash, let her for 
 one moment be shaded by Rena's engaging qualities, she felt 
 that she was wronged, outraged, and then she actually hated 
 her confiding little friend. 
 
 An incident which occurred the morning of Rena's depart 
 ure illustrates one of Stella's qualities. 
 
 Aunt Debby had filled a bag with cakes and apples for the 
 accommodation of the travellers, and a nice little covered bas 
 ket, with the choicest kind of golden pippins, for Mrs. Fay. 
 It was the season of the year when apples were getting very 
 scarce, and she knew they would be considered a great luxury 
 by an invalid. The bag and basket were deposited on the toz
 
 62 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 of Rena's trunk,, the night before, to be ready for the early 
 morning ride. When the articles were brought into the 
 breakfast room, Aunt Debby thought she would give one 
 more look at her pet apples, and secure the cover a little more 
 carefully. To her astonishment, the basket was more than 
 half empty. 
 
 " Rena," said she, sharply, " have you been eating your 
 mother's apples, when I've given you so many of your own ?" 
 
 " No, ma'am, I wouldn't think of such a thing," answered 
 Rena, blushing painfully at the imputation. 
 
 " Then it must have been you, Stella," said Aunt Debby, 
 looking keenly into her eyes. 
 
 " / never touched one, I'm sure, ma'am," replied Stella, 
 appearing as calm and as sweet as a little angel. Again the 
 keen black eyes turned to the blushing Rena, who, oppressed 
 by the scrutiny, and the consciousness that she was an object 
 of suspicion, burst into tears. Col. Fay was troubled ; he 
 knew a child might be tempted into falsehood to shield itself 
 from blame, and he did not think Rena infallible; but the 
 selfish greediness that prompted the act, was so foreign to her 
 reckless, generous nature, he did not believe her to be the 
 culprit. 
 
 " Some one must have taken them," repeated Aunt Debby ; 
 " they did not walk out of the basket without help. I don't 
 mind the apples, but I do despise greediness and falsehood. 
 Rena, I'm sorry for it, but I know you did take them, they 
 were right by your bed-side." 
 
 " I never, never did," cried the child, passionate indigna 
 tion drying up her tears ; then seizing the basket and turning 
 it upside down, letting all the remaining apples roll on the 
 floor, " I don't want the old apples !" she cried ; " Mama 
 jhan't have one of them I they would choke her, I know !" 
 
 " Rena, Rena !" cried her father, fixing upon her one of 
 those calm, upbraiding looks, which always had such power
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 63 
 
 over her. She was too much excited now to be subdued at 
 once. She had loved her aunt so much just before ; she was 
 so softened by the recollection of all her kindness, forgetting 
 everything that was harsh and forbidding, on the eve of being 
 separated from her, that the injustice of the accusation caused 
 a bitter, smarting sense of wrong. Stella, stooping down, 
 calmly picked up the apples, putting them into the basket, 
 with a sweet tranquillity of manner that appeared much more 
 amiable than Rena's passionate excitement. Col. Fay thought 
 so, as he looked down upon her and then upon his own child ; 
 and he was grieved that such a cloud should rest upon the 
 parting hour. 
 
 " Here," cried Hannah, entering at this moment with her 
 hands full of golden pippins, an exulting expression on her 
 countenance ; " I found them at the bottom of Stella's little 
 trunk, right under all her clothes." 
 
 " You didn't," exclaimed Stella, springing up and con 
 fronting Hannah ; " I didn't put them there ; you've no busi 
 ness in my trunk." 
 
 " Yes, but I have though, when the truth is to be found 
 out. I knew from the first who had them, and was deter 
 mined to root the matter to the bottom." 
 
 " How did you know, Hannah ?" asked Aunt Debby, 
 thankful that Stella and not Rena was the offender. 
 
 " Because I've known her take fruit and cake before and 
 hide it, and Miss Rena never did such a thing in her life ; 
 she is not a thief nor a liar." The vain little charity girl was 
 no favourite with the honest dairy-maid. 
 
 " Go up stairs, Stella," said Aunt Debby ; " go into youi 
 room ; shut the door, and stay there till I call you. Rena, you 
 must not speak to her ; I forbid it." 
 
 Rena, since her own character was cleared from suspicion, 
 felt deeply the disgrace of her companion. Her judgment 
 condemned, but her heart pitied her. She grieved for the
 
 64 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 violence she had displayed, and implored Aunt Debby's for 
 giveness for herself and Stella too. 
 
 " I am ashamed," said her aunt, " that I could have be 
 lieved my brother's child guilty of such meanness. The Fays 
 may have their faults, but they never were a mean race. 
 Stella came from a different stock. The dregs stick to her." 
 
 " Did you know her parents ?" asked her brother. 
 
 " I saw her mother at the almshouse a short time before 
 her death. She was very young, and even then exceedingly 
 beautiful. You can judge of her beauty by the little girl, 
 who is her exact miniature. She never revealed the name of 
 Stella's father, though she said he was still living. He must 
 be an unprincipled man, and I am afraid Stella resembles him 
 in character." 
 
 " But, sister Debby, deal gently with that erring child. 
 Convince her, that while you hate the offence, you can still 
 love the offender. I am sorry to see such coolness of deception 
 in one so very young. But do not cast her from you, for this, 
 perhaps, her first transgression. Many a hardened criminal 
 might have been redeemed, if their first faults had been met 
 with gentleness and mercy, instead of severity."- 
 
 " Well I will not be too harsh with her, though she de 
 serves a severe punishment. But of one thing be assured ; 
 when Rena returns, as you have promised she one day shall, 
 I shall be careful about her being domesticated with Stella." 
 
 Well was it for Stella, that so kind and excellent a man as 
 Col. Fay pleaded in her behalf, and well was it for Rena, that 
 she had a father so affectionate, so intelligent, and judicious, 
 to watch over her wayward childhood. Pleasant was her 
 homeward journey, and many a sweet lesson of love and wis 
 dom was breathed into her ear, while she was borne rapidly 
 back to scenes made a thousand times dearer by absence.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 '* She was a phantom of delight, 
 When first she gleamed upon my sight, 
 A lovely apparition, sent 
 To be a moment's ornament; 
 Her eys as stars of twilight fair, 
 Like twilight's too her dusky hair ; 
 But all things else about her, drawn 
 From May-time and the cheerful dawn 
 A dancing shape an image gay, 
 To haunt, to startle, and waylay." WOBDSWOETH. 
 
 IF we thought the reader felt half the interest in our littlo 
 Rena, that we do ourself, we would linger still longer on the 
 eastern horizon of her existence, which, though sometimes 
 darkened by the clouds of passion, usually sparkled with that 
 rosy light, never seen, save in life's dewy morn. We cannot 
 bear that she should grow older, fearing that she may lose 
 some of the freshness and brightness and unselfishness of her 
 character. We do not want her to go to school, to come in 
 contact with rude and perhaps unprincipled children, to be 
 whirled about in the vortex of young, boiling passions. We 
 do not even wish her to visit Aunt Debby again, while Star- 
 eyes is there, or Golden Pippin, as Hannah loved to call her 
 after the abduction of the apples. 
 
 But Rena, with strange perverseness, will grow older, will 
 go to school, and even visit Sunny Dell, when Aunt Debby 
 comes expressly for her. In ancient times, and even now in 
 some eastern countries, there is a belief in the power of talis 
 mans to avert evil from those who bear them in their bosoms 
 
 (65)
 
 66 RENA; OR, THE* SNOWBIRD. 
 
 In our own country and neighbourhood, we witness daily 
 proofs of this superstition babies with little aromatic and 
 pungent-smelling bags suspended from their innocent necks, 
 to act as counter-charms to the malignant influence of the 
 measles, scarlet fever, and whooping cough, those immemorial 
 and deadly foes to childhood. Rena must have had some such 
 hidden talisman, to preserve her from the influence of evil ex 
 ample, and the hardening effect of that worldly wisdom, which 
 children too precociously acquire. 
 
 She did not attend a fashionable boarding school, which would 
 carry her away from her simple country home, but the Academy 
 in her own town, which was taught by a profound classical 
 scholar. It was an institution that included children of both 
 sexes, but they studied in different apartments, meeting only 
 at the recitation hours, under the watchful eye of their literary 
 guardian. Henry, though two years older than his sister, was 
 in the same class, and far behind her in scholastic attainments. 
 This was a source of great pain and mortification to her, and 
 she often allowed questions to pass her, in seeming ignorance, 
 rather than take precedence of her brother. Indeed he was a 
 source of trouble to her in many ways, for though generally 
 gentle and forbearing when injuries were inflicted on herself, 
 her spirit flashed high, when they approached the objects of her 
 love. Mrs. Fay, who still made Henry's feminine beauty her 
 pride and delight, took most injudicious pains with his dress 
 and appearance. She continued to smooth and curl his long, 
 black hair, ruffled and plaited his fine shirt collars, while 
 Rena's dress was comparatively neglected. The boys called 
 him little dandy, and girl-boy, and loved to put burrs in his 
 curls, and ink-spots on his collars, which he dared not resent 
 himself, but which often exasperated the high-spirited Rena. 
 If Henry had not been her own brother she would probably 
 have despised his dandyism and cowardice, and in her juve 
 nile wildness have manifested her feelings in mischievous
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 67 
 
 ridicule ; bat he was such a quiet, good boy at home, and so 
 idolized by his mother, so pretty and genteel, she felt he ought 
 to be sacred from vulgar teasings, and determined he should be. 
 
 She was a universal favourite herself. When assembled at 
 play-hours on the green in front of the Academy, under the 
 shade of a large elm, the try sting-spot of all their sports, 
 Rena was called upon to decide what amusement they should 
 engage in, and appointed to all places of honour and distinction. 
 If it was " Queen Ann who sits in the sun," she was made to 
 personate her royal highness, who by a wonderful chemical 
 secret, is at the same time as " fair as a lily and as brown as a 
 bun." If it was the time-honoured play of " I'm on Titmouse's 
 land, and Titmouse can't catch me," she was sure to be chosen 
 the great Titmouse himself, and placed in triumph in the cen 
 tre of the green. If the martial game of Prisoner's Bass was 
 the amusement of the hour, Rena was claimed with eager con 
 tention by both parties, for she was the swiftest runner, the 
 most dauntless rescuer, and the most successful eloper of the 
 whole band. She resolved to give up all this pre-eminence 
 for Henry's sake. When the play-hour came, instead of lead 
 ing off the merry train, she took Henry's hand and went with 
 him to the woods to gather wild flowers, or sat down with him 
 in the Academy and assisted him in getting his lessons. 
 
 " Rena, come and play with us ; there's no fun without you, 
 we cannot get along without you," was the cry of all the boys 
 and girls. 
 
 " No, I don't want to play with you any more, you've 
 bad hearts, and I don't love you. You tease Henry and make 
 "/rim unhappy, and he never did anything to hurt you. I don't 
 want you to love me, unless you love him too." 
 
 " We will love him, we won't tease him," was the vocife 
 rous promise of all, and Rena, with trusting faith, once more 
 threw herself wildly into their sports. 
 
 At first they were rather too officious in their manifestations
 
 68 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 of good-will to Henry, painfully reminding him of all he had 
 endured, while they proclaimed the cessation of hostilities. 
 
 " Come here, Henry, and play with me I won't stick burrs 
 in your hair I won't spatter ink on your nice ruffled collar 
 I won't trip you down in running and make your nose bleed I" 
 They might have omitted all this, and they did gradually cease 
 all kind of torment, leaving the boy safe behind the shielding 
 influence of a sister's love and courage. 
 
 Poor Henry ! his father was so anxious that he should be 
 a fine scholar, pass through College with distinction, and be 
 come distinguished in some of the learned professions ! It 
 was a weakness of Col. Fay, the only one he had, this 
 extreme desire for his son to become a professional man, a 
 learned professional man, for the word profession is now 
 applied indiscriminately to every occupation. He gloried in 
 his own, and would not have exchanged his independent mode 
 of existence for any other. Though a man of remarkable intel 
 ligence and clearness of mind, and extensive reading, he had 
 never enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, and was 
 in consequence more solicitous to secure them for his son. 
 Ah ! if Rena had only been a boy, what a scholar she would 
 have made ! What eloquence, what energy, what ambition 
 would have been hers ! Col. Fay could not help thinking 
 these thoughts sometimes; but what would he have done 
 without his affectionate, caressing girl, whose intelligent sym 
 pathy, idolizing affection, and exuberant gayety were the joy 
 and sunshine of his life ? He would not have changed her 
 into a Vty for all the world ! 
 
 Mrs. Fay still scolded " that child" for her romping dispo 
 sition, and tried to convince her that she was getting too old 
 to ride on the hay-cart, or to play with snow-balls and slide on 
 the ice in the winter. But " that child" of sunshine and free air 
 could not exist out of her native elements. When she returned 
 from school, she loved to get her darling old straw-hat, and
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 69 
 
 ramble with her father about the beautiful farm ; and in the 
 hay-making season, she had a rake of her own, with which she 
 flew about among the mown grass and scattered it over the 
 heads of the hay-makers. To the horror of her mother, but 
 with the permission of her father, she even learned to skate, 
 and no bird on the wing could excel her in velocity, or ease 
 of motion. 
 
 "My dear," said Mrs. Fay to her husband, in her soft, 
 complaining voice, and inhaling as usual the odour of cam 
 phor, " I do wish you would not encourage Rena in her boyish 
 ways. I am afraid I never can make a lady of her. You 
 don't think how old she is growing. She is twelve years old 
 already." 
 
 " You surely don't want her to give up childish exercises now 
 and think herself a woman, do you ? For my part, I think 
 the fine, vigorous constitution she is acquiring is worth all the 
 fine lady-graces in the world. Rena never was sick a day in 
 her life." 
 
 " I did not think you would reproach me in that way,"said 
 his wife, faintly, applying the saturated handkerchief to her 
 head. "I'm sure it is not my fault that I am so deli 
 cate, if it is a fault. But I really think a female more inte 
 resting who is rather feeble, than one who is too strong and 
 robust." 
 
 "You know I meant no reproach to you, Fanny I am 
 incapable of that. But in the name of all that's rational, let 
 me ask you, if you really would prefer that your child should 
 be a weak, helpless invalid, looking interesting, rather than a 
 healthy, happy, and useful woman ?" 
 
 "I'm sure I'm not helpless, if I am weak," murmured Mrs. 
 Fay. " I do a great deal of sewing, when most women would 
 lie in bed and do nothing. If any one knew what I suffer 
 in my head, and heart, and back, they would be astonished 
 that I could sit up one moment. I've tried every kind of 

 
 70 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 medicine I ever heard of, and it does me no good. Oh ! my 
 poor head ! Don't talk so loud the next time you speak ; 
 pray don't." 
 
 Though Col. Fay had heard the same complaint ten thou 
 sand times ten thousand, he was too kind and compassionate 
 to turn away with a deaf ear. He brought the camphor bottle, 
 and moistening anew the linen that bound her forehead, 
 smoothed, with a caressing motion, the soft brown hair that 
 was parted on her brow. He was scarcely conscious how Mrs. 
 Fay's infirmities were growing upon her, in consequence of 
 his indulgence ; how she gloried more and more in the cha 
 racter of an invalid, and how her soft voice was gradually 
 attenuating itself into a kind of whisper, till one could scarcely 
 hear her speak across the room. He was accustomed to all 
 this, and never dreamed of any other state of things as it 
 regarded her, but he was not weak enough to allow her to 
 influence him in the education of his daughter, so as to de 
 prive her of the glorious prerogative of health. He was even 
 so devoid of taste as to think she would be more interesting 
 with rosy cheeks, elastic limbs, and bounding steps, than with 
 pallid Complexion, feeble movements, and languid voice. He 
 regretted exceedingly that he had not exercised a father's 
 authority over Henry, and forced him from the still life he 
 loved too well. If he had begun with him earlier he might 
 have made a man of him ; now, he had many misgivings. 
 
 The village near which Col. Fay's farm was situated, was 
 only a division of a large and beautiful town, not thickly 
 settled, but containing many elegant residences and wealthy 
 inhabitants. It had none of the temptations, and many of the 
 refinements, of city life, and was thought a very desirable place 
 for young gentlemen to prepare for the university, or for rusti 
 cated students to be banished when they had violated the ma 
 jesty of the laws. This circumstance greatly enlivened the 
 quietude of the place, especially in the winter season, when
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 71 
 
 the ground was covered with snow, and the air rung from morn 
 ing till night with the silvery sound of bells, mingied with the 
 gay laugh of childhood and youth. 
 
 Rena was too young to be invited to the parties with which 
 these wild youth were often honoured, so their coming and 
 going did not affect her in the least. She sometimes met them 
 as they went dashing along, with half-a-dozen strings of bells 
 on their horses, but she always jumped into the snow by the 
 way-side, however deep, to avoid coming in near contact with 
 them. She was as shy as she was wild, and dreaded the sight 
 of a stranger. 
 
 It was about this time, when Rena was twelve years old, 
 and her passion for skating at its full height, that there never 
 was such a smooth, magnificent sheet of ice as covered the 
 meadow, back of Col. Fay's house. It was a retired spot, and 
 chosen by Rena for her own skating ground, where Henry 
 was never allowed to bring any intruding boys. A thick row 
 of trees edged it on one side and formed a boundary between 
 it and the river, that now also was covered with ice, which the 
 boys and young men appropriated to their amusements. Rena 
 went out with her father a night, as cold, and clear, and 
 bright, as the one she so well remembered at Sunny Dell, 
 when, mounted on the shoulder of Sherwood Lindsey, she was 
 borne to the very brink of death. She had never seen him 
 since, and that was six years ago ; but the impression made 
 on her childish imagination was not obliterated. His ascend 
 ency over the other boys, his boyish gallantry to herself, the 
 danger he had incurred, his bold defiance of her aunt, in de 
 fence of an insulted father ; even his parting words to herself, 
 " that he would see her again in spite of all the Aunt Debbya 
 in the world," were treasured up in her memory. She had 
 visited Aunt Debby since, but saw nothing of Sherwood. 
 Then she heard he was In College, and she hoped when tlonry 
 39
 
 72 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 was old enough to enter, she might possibly learn something 
 through him of her old friend. 
 
 Col. Fay was almost as fond of skating as his wild girl, and 
 in youth excelled in every athletic exercise and amusement. 
 Labour, however, had somewhat stiffened his joints, and he 
 could not keep up with her Atalantean swiftness. She would 
 fly before him, dart round him in concentric circles, then glide 
 slowly away, gently as a bark on a placid stream. 
 
 " Take my bonnet, papa," said she, tossing it on his arm. 
 " It covers my face too much." 
 
 " But your ears will freeze, my child. Mine tingle already." 
 
 "Well, this will protect them," cried she, laughing; and 
 taking the scarlet woollen tippet from her neck, wound it round 
 her head, in the form of a turban, beneath which her elf-locks 
 sported in the wintry breeze. Rena was not beautiful, but 
 there was something taking, wild, witch-like, bewitching about 
 her. She thought she was ugly herself, because she had so 
 often heard Henry's beauty praised by her injudicious mother, 
 in preference to her own. And then Stella so faultlessly 
 beautiful what was she in comparison to her? But little 
 cared she about her looks, as long as she was an object of love 
 to those around her. She never dreamed, when she twisted 
 the scarlet band, with gipsy wildness, round her head, that 
 she was doing anything that would decorate her face. She 
 only did it to keep her ears warm, since her father feared they 
 would tingle from the cold. But nothing could be more pic 
 turesque than her oriental costume ; and, as she bowed a mo 
 ment before her father, ere commencing again her arrowy 
 flight, he could not help wishing some one was by, to see how 
 charming she looked. 
 
 "I am going to the river a moment," said he, "to see if 
 Henry is there. You are not afraid to be left alone, a little 
 while, Snowbird ?" 
 
 u Afraid !" repeated Rena, laughing and kissing her hand
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 73 
 
 to him, as she flew away. "Afraid ! oh, no." Rena w*<. not 
 afraid to be alone in the darkness of midnight hovr then 
 could she fear in that brilliant hour, when if she looked up to 
 heaven, she saw the moon shining down upon her with such 
 an angelic smile ; if she looked below, she beheld the same 
 moon looking up to her lovingly, radiantly, from the pure, 
 glassy surface over which she was floating. Of what should 
 she be afraid, with that talisman in her young bosom, more 
 powerful than the amulets of the East? Fearlessly, grace 
 fully she glided onward, keeping company with her own bright 
 thoughts, the night beams quivering coldly on her brow She 
 heard the sound of some one skating behind her, and thought 
 she would warm her father by giving him a race, so she darted 
 off with fresh velocity. " Catch me if you can I" she cried, 
 turning round partly, without slackening her speed. She 
 thought he looked less tall and large than usual, but she was 
 dazzled by the moonbeams reflected on the ice, her own speed, 
 and the oblique position from which she beheld him. Onward 
 she went, still the pursuer gained upon her. " How fast 
 father skates I" thought she. " I never knew him fly so before. 
 He is turning into a boy again." Laughing merrily at the 
 idea of his rejuvenation, she again called, " Catch me if you 
 can 1" while the ice flashed and sparkled in diamonds beneath 
 her glittering skates. But fast as her winged feet bore her, 
 faster still came on the winged feet behind her. " Poor papa !" 
 thought she. " He will be so tired to-morrow, and then I 
 shall laugh at him so much." And, panting for breath, she 
 felt herself fairly overtaken, for the arms of the pursuer were 
 thrown around her, a musical laugh rang in her ears, and a 
 pair of young, dark eyes, looked triumphantly into her own. 
 
 " Sprite, Gipsy, Snowbird," cried the conqueror, " I have 
 caught you at last. And this, by all the rights of chivalry, ia 
 my reward." Then kissing with daring gallantry the red 
 check, that glowed through the whiteness of the night, with a
 
 <4 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 hue almost as bright as the scarlet drapery that wreathed her 
 head, he added, " By the memory of Sunny Dell, forgive me, 
 Rena ! You are still but a child, and I am so glad, so very 
 glad to see you again." 
 
 Though Rena was but a child, she doubtless ought to have 
 D'xn angry at the boldness of the youth, whom by his voice 
 and words she now recognised as Sherwood Lindsey. And 
 had he thus greeted her in the public street, or by the quiet 
 fireside, she would have resented it as too great a freedom. 
 But there was such freedom around them that sea of shining 
 ice below, that sea of shining blue above, the exhilarating race 
 they had just ended and then the joy of seeing him again, 
 so unexpectedly, so strangely ! if she forgot to be angry, let 
 her be forgiven. 
 
 "I thought it was father," said she, after expressing her 
 recognition and her gladness at the unlooked-for meeting, " or 
 I should not have given such a challenge." 
 
 " I should like to see your father," answered Sherwood, 
 laughing. " He must be a gay gentleman, if he can under 
 take to race with you. I am called the swiftest skater in Col 
 lege, and I was very near giving up the chase in despair." 
 
 " How came you to commence it ?" said Rena. " Did 
 you know me, or think I was some poor spirit that had lost 
 its way ?" 
 
 " I was told that I should find you here, when I went on 
 the river to skate, and I could not resist the temptation of 
 invading your boundaries. How little you are altered ! I 
 should have known you anywhere, especially if you looked up 
 in my face once, with that nondescript pair of eyes. Why, 
 what a brave, glorious girl you are, Rena ! I would not give 
 you now, for as many city belles as could dance on this broad 
 ice. But you had forgotten me, forgotten all about that night, 
 when we coasted and skated /together at Sunny Dell, when I 
 nearly broke your poor little head by throwing you on the
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 75 
 
 ice, and Aunt Debby thawed me with the lightning of her 
 wrathful glances." 
 
 " Oh, no," replied Rena, " I never have forgotten that 
 night. This very evening it came back upon me so freshly, 
 so strongly. I must have felt you were near. Perhaps I 
 should not have known you, had I met you in a crowd, for 
 you have grown so tall, so manly." And the eyes of the wild 
 skating girl looked up to the tall boy of eighteen years, with 
 that velvet softness of expression, which he said he should 
 have recognised all the world over. 
 
 " There is father," cried she, observing Col. Fay, emerging 
 from the dark shadow of the trees that bounded the river. 
 " Let us go and meet him. How could I have taken you for 
 him ?" 
 
 The Colonel looked with amazement, on seeing his young 
 daughter, skating merrily towards him, hand in hand with a 
 very distinguished-looking young man, whom he had never 
 Been before, but who, from her bright, happy countenance, 
 was no stranger to her. 
 
 " Papa, this is Sherwood Lindsey," cried she. There was 
 something in the tone of her voice, which implied that every 
 body in the world ought to know who Sherwood Lindsey was. 
 
 "The son of the Hon. Mr. Lindsey?" asked Col. Fay, 
 holding out his hand to the youth, but Rena felt that her 
 father's manner was cold, compared to its usual hospitable 
 warmth, and she grieved iest Sherwood should perceive it. 
 
 " Yes," replied Sherwood, with a bow of graceful respect. 
 " Has my father the honour of knowing Col. Fay ?" 
 
 " I knew your father when he was a young man," answered 
 the Colonel, in a freezing tone. " We have never met since. 
 I can hardly realize that he has 50 tall a son," he added, with 
 more affability of tone. 
 
 " My father looks almost as young as I do," said Sher 
 wood ; " we have sometimes been taken for brothers." 
 
 " The resemblance in person is very striking," said Co]
 
 76 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 Fay, keenly perusing the young man's face, on whose cheek a 
 haughty flush was gathering. He could bear the flashing anger 
 of Aunt Debby better than this cold politeness, for that he could 
 resent. He thought it very strange that a man like Col. Fay, 
 who looked as if he were superior to petty prejudiees, should 
 allow the political and legal differences between his father and 
 Aunt Debby to affect his conduct towards his son. 
 
 " I wish I possessed my father's talents," said he, in answer 
 to the last remark; "I could not have a better passport through 
 the world." 
 
 " Talents without virtue are a poor inheritance. But I 
 trust, young man, you are the possessor of both. Come, it is 
 too cold for my girl to stand still here, when the air cuts like 
 a razor. Will you walk home with us, and get warm by a 
 farmer's blazing fire ?" 
 
 Rena's eyes sparkled at seeing her father awakening to a 
 sense of hospitality; but Sherwood declined the seat by the 
 fireside, though he told Rena he would accompany her in her 
 homeward walk. The path was narrow, cut through the snow 
 and in many places covered with ice. Col. Fay walked on 
 before, his tall form, wrapped in a dark cloak, serving not only as 
 a guide, but a shelter from the keen wind. Sherwood held 
 Rena's hand, to keep her from sliding down, though she told 
 him she never had fallen. Sometimes her father would turn 
 round to see if she were near, and Rena, fearful that Sherwood 
 would be angry at his scrutiny, involuntarily drew closer to 
 him, and confided herself more completely to his care. When 
 they reached the gate fronting the house, Sherwood drew back 
 and refused to enter. 
 
 He hesitated a moment, ad then said, with a frankness 
 that Rena admired, it was so congenial to her own nature 
 
 "Col. Fay, I perceive very plainly, that you are prejudiced 
 against me on my father's account. I know there is an ancient 
 feud between him and Mrs. Wright, the full merits of which 
 I never knew. Whatever they are, you cannot wish me to
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 77 
 
 think evil of my father, and I am sure my father's son is not 
 to blame for events that may have occurred before his birth. 
 I should like very much, sir, to take a seat by your fireside, 
 but I must be sure of a welcome, and a cordial one, too, before 
 I court its warmth." 
 
 " You are right, young man you are right, and I was 
 wrong to greet you coldly as I did. We are not always masters 
 of our feelings ; and I acknowledge your name called up some 
 very unpleasant recollections. I like your frankness. Come 
 in you shall have a welcome, and a warm one, too, if the 
 sparks that fly from the chimney do not give false evidence." 
 
 Thus invited, Sherwood no longer hesitated, but followed 
 Rena into an apartment, which, though very different from his 
 mother's elegant drawing-room, was very neatly and genteelly 
 furnished, and presented an appearance of truly heart-cheering 
 warmth. Generous was the fire that roared in the chimney, 
 for Rachel had been watching for the return of the skaters, 
 and piled on the logs, dry from a summer's housing. Henry 
 was seated by the hearth, his hair as smooth and glossy as if 
 the frosty breath of night had never blown upon it. The 
 heat had communicated a soft glow to his cheeks, and he 
 looked altogether too pretty for a boy. So Sherwood thought, 
 as he looked from him to Rena. So Rena thought, as she 
 contrasted the delicate lineaments and complexion of her 
 brother with the manly brow and bold bearing of Sherwood 
 Lindsey. \ 
 
 " Come to the fire, Rena," said Sherwood, for she stood in 
 the back part of the room, wrapping her hands in the little 
 red scarf, that had already acted the double part of tippet and 
 turban. 
 
 " My fingers would ache too much," answered the young 
 philosopher, " if I brought them too suddenly near the fire." 
 
 " True, I forgot," said he, withdrawing to the spot where 
 she stood, and winding the said elastic scarlet web round his 
 hands also. " I did not think you had so much consideration "
 
 78 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 Colonel Fay went to inquire after the health of his wi fo 
 who always kept her own room in the evening. This cour 
 tesy he never neglected, after an absence however short 
 Finding her quietly asleep, he sat down in her easy chair by 
 the fire, and thought how strange it was, that a son of Herbert 
 Lindsey should be thrown directly across his path. He was 
 vexed with himself for the chilling coldness of his reception, 
 and admired the frank and genial manners of the youth, which 
 had disarmed his prejudices. If there was a man in the world 
 whose character he detested, it was Herbert Lindsey, and he 
 regretted much that accident had brought him in contact with 
 one that bore his name. Yet he could not be guilty of injus 
 tice and inhospitality, or from the fear of wounding his sister's 
 feelings, banish from his household a youth who had never 
 wronged him. She herself had said " the Fays never were a 
 mean race," and that would have been the height of meanness. 
 Rena too would have thought it a stain upon the uprightness 
 of his character, and she had such a clear sense of right and 
 wrong, that young as she was, he respected her judgment, and 
 often appealed to her opinion on subjects of moral rectitude. 
 If she were older, he might feel some uneasiness on account of 
 the pleasure she evidently felt in his presence, but she was 
 nothing but a child, and the most single-hearted child in the 
 universe. Colonel Fay thus reasoned himself to such a per 
 fect state of composure that he unconsciously fell asleep, in his 
 wife's comfortable arm-chair, while Henry stole softly to bed, 
 and Rena, ever wakeful, sat with Sherwood, by Rachel's roar 
 ing fire, listening to his wild histories of a student's life, the 
 daring but innocent frolic that led to his suspension, and the 
 delight he felt that he had been sent into banishment to the 
 beautiful village, near which she dwelt. He was glad to find 
 he was to pursue his studies under the same master who taught 
 her, though their hours of study were different ; glad that she 
 was studying Latin, reading Virgil, for he thought Latin the 
 most noble study in the world ; so grand, so expressive and
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 79 
 
 sonorous were the words, so rich the grammar of the language 
 His respect for Rena's understanding was evidently increased 
 by the knowledge that she was a classical student; but when 
 he learned, as he afterwards did, from her instructor, that she 
 was the best Latin scholar in the academy, he thought as he 
 did when he saw her skating more fearlessly, untiringly, than 
 any boy in college, that " she was a glorious girl." 
 
 " But this pretty brother of yours, Rena," said he, " what 
 a sweet little fellow he is ! He is the perfect counterpart of 
 Stella Lightner. Why didn't you take him to the skating 
 ground with you?" 
 
 There was a slight dash of sarcasm in his voice, that Rena 
 did not like. " You must not laugh at Henry," said she, 
 " I shall not like you if you do. He is too pretty, too quiet, 
 too good for a boy. I don't know what will become of him in 
 college, where they are all so wicked and so wild ; for I cannot 
 be there to fight his battles for him, as I do at school." 
 
 " But /will, Rena, if he throws himself into the arms of 
 my Alma Mater, before I leave her. I did speak of him in 
 a mischievous spirit just now ; for there is so little of the boy 
 about him, I could not help smiling. But henceforth he shall 
 be sacred to me, as your brother, and I will shield him from 
 insult and persecution as if he were my own." 
 
 The young champion raised his head and looked as bravo 
 and protecting as any old knight of chivalry, and Rena felt 
 an sure of Henry's safety, when exposed to the temptations of 
 the world, as though armed legions surrounded him. Sher 
 wood had kept possession of Rena's little red scarf, and when 
 he rose to take leave, he twisted it about his neck, saying he 
 intended to bear it away as a trophy of his victorious race. 
 
 " When you are a young lady," said he, " and we meet in 
 the great world, I will show you this badge of triumph, and 
 tell you of all I am thinking now." 
 
 The time of Sherwood's suspension was a happy one to Rena. 
 He became so great a favourite with Colonel Fay, in spite of
 
 80 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 his being the son of the Hon. Mr. Lindsey, that no face wag 
 so welcome to his fireside as that of the rusticated student. 
 He assisted Rena in her Latin lessons, accompanied her and 
 her father in their domestic skating excursions and moonlight 
 sleigh-rides, and many a merry game of snow-balls did he 
 have with Rena, under the leafless branches of the sycamore 
 trees. He even imparted some of his own life and animation 
 to Henry, who was sometimes guilty of making a noise in the 
 magnetic presence of Sherwood, loud enough to call upon him 
 his mother's reproof; for though Henry was now fourteen 
 years old, she treated him like a weanling, and insisted upon 
 his still wearing ruffled collars, and unshorn ringlets. 
 
 We will not linger long on this era of Rena's life she 
 would not stay a little child to please us ; and though the 
 bright dew-drops of morning are not yet exhaled from her 
 spirit though she is still a pure, fresh, sparkling creature, 
 she is difficult to manage. She is that amphibious being, be 
 tween a woman and child, that does not belong to any 
 peculiar element; a thing of fire, air, earth, and water, as yet 
 unanalyzed ; whose constituent principles baffle the chemist's 
 art. She is something like her own dark hair, which is too 
 short to put up behind with a comb, and too long to fall over 
 the brow, and, therefore, has no abiding place. Though Sher 
 wood Lindsey says she is a " glorious girl" now, we think she 
 will be far more interesting when she begins to fathom the 
 mysterious depths of her being; when the master-spirit 
 breathes on the lyre-chords of her heart, and the blush of 
 dawning passion softens the glowing bloom of adolescence. 
 
 Farewell, then, for a little while, sweet, wild Rena " sprite, 
 gipsy, snowbird" of the north. May thy life be always as 
 smooth and shining as the ice-plain on which thy young feet 
 love to sport ; but thawing winds will sweep over the surface, 
 the diamonds will melt and turn into darkness and then, 
 sweet bird of a snowy clime, thou must fold thy wings or 
 spread them for a sunnier land.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Acquaint thee with thyself, man ! so shalt thou be humble : 
 The hard hot desert of thy heart shall blossom with the lily and the 
 
 rose, 
 
 The frozen cliffs of pride shall melt, as an ice-berg in the tropics ; 
 The bitter fountains of self-seeking be sweeter than the waters of 
 
 the Nile. 
 
 But if thou lack that wisdom, thy frail skiff is doomed, 
 On stronger eddy whirling to the dreadful gorge ; 
 Untaught in that grand lore thou standest, cased in steel, 
 To dare with mocking unbelief the thunderbolts of Heaven." 
 
 PEOVKEBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 A DARK and handsome man sat at a writing-desk, sur 
 rounded by the illustrious dead not in coffin and shroud, but 
 in gilded cerements ; not enclosed in " six dark boards," but 
 in two little sheets of pasteboard, small space for worlds of 
 immortality. Yes ! surrounded by the mighty magicians of 
 past ages, silent yet eloquent, still yet omnipotent, whose 
 thoughts, by a magic process, were transfused with electric 
 speed and power into his own soul, with his head leaning on 
 his hand and his eyes fixed on vacancy, sat the haughty mas 
 ter of Bellevue, the Hon. Herbert Lindsey. 
 
 Books lay piled up on the desk on which he leaned ; books 
 rising, shelf above shelf, till they reached the lofty ceiling, 
 lined the walls. The amphitheatrical form of the library, and 
 the rich heavy curtains of dark-green damask, that swept back 
 from the windows, gave an air of antique stateliness to the 
 apartment, congenial to the taste of the owner. The marble 
 busts of Plato, Socrates, Pericles, and half of the demigoda 
 
 (81)
 
 82 RENA; OR, THI SNOWBIRD. 
 
 of Greece; cold, white effigies, so strangely combining the 
 soul, the expression of life, with the immobility and ghastli- 
 ness of death, were placed in niches, darkened so as to bring 
 them out in bolder relief. Everything was classic, but 
 nothing more classic than the form and features of him who 
 vas the lord of the scene. 
 
 In youth Herbert Lindsey had been pre-eminently handsome, 
 and now in the full meridian of life, though passion, pride, and 
 ambition, the three great master principles of his nature, had 
 for years been wrestling in his bosom, they had left no trace 
 of their warfare on his smooth, lofty brow, or silvered with 
 premature frost his jetty hair. As Time "writes no wrinkles 
 on the azure brow of ocean/' though many a sad wreck is 
 buried in its bosom, so it passed over his polished exterior, 
 without betraying the dark secrets that lay beneath. Success 
 had followed honours crowned all his public deeds wealth 
 flowed in from many sources. He sat in the high places of 
 his country's glory, and his eloquence was the pride and boast 
 of his native state. A lovely wife presided over his domestic 
 palace with dignity and grace ; and a son, the inheritor of his 
 talents, and heir of his fortune and name, promised fair to 
 perpetuate its honours. But as the statesman sat in the soli 
 tude of his study, leaning his brow upon his hand, he felt 
 that he had chosen a thorny path, and that the labourer, whom 
 he beheld from his curtained window, quietly guiding his 
 ploughshare and turning the glebe, was far happier than he. 
 There was a gentle knock at the door ; no one invaded his 
 sanctuary without this communication of their approach. " It 
 is Mrs. Lindsey," he said, and, without rising, he bade her 
 enter. She came and stood beside her husband, a fair, pen 
 sive, sweet-looking woman, on whose face the third beatitude 
 was written in heavenly characters. He motioned to a chair. 
 
 "Any pressing business, Mrs. Lindsey?" said he, glancing
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 83 
 
 at the massy pile of books at his side, as much as to say, 
 " you see I am very busy." 
 
 " I am sorry to disturb you. I know how precious your 
 time is, but you have not told me yet, whether I might receive 
 this young girl, during your absence. It is asked of me as 
 a particular favour, and I do not see how I can with any grace 
 refuse." 
 
 "Who is she? I remember your asking me something 
 about this before, but my mind was occupied by other themes, 
 and I forgot it. Some low girl, is it not 1" 
 
 "A charity girl, but not necessarily a low one. She was 
 taken from the almshouse when very small, and brought up 
 by the private benevolence of ladies who were interested in 
 her beauty and orphan condition." 
 
 " Did you say she was beautiful ?" 
 
 " Exquisitely, remarkably so." 
 
 " A pretty companion for Sherwood, when he returns !" 
 
 " She will leave me before Sherwood arrives. It is because 
 he is absent, that I prefer her at this time a member of my 
 household. I was in Washington, when she first excited the 
 interest of the community, and have been so much of a travel 
 ler since, making such short residences here, that I have never 
 yet assisted in this act of kindness. Surely I ought to do so, 
 when Heaven has given me such bounteous means." 
 
 " Send her this purse then," said he, throwing one on the 
 table, " and let them trouble you no more on the subject. 
 Will not that satisfy you ?" 
 
 "Nay, my husband," cried she, gently putting aside the 
 money, " it is care, tenderness, example that she needs. So 
 young and beautiful, with no natural guardians to protect her, 
 thrown upon a world so full of temptation, hew sad is her 
 destiny ! It is easy to give money, but I would fain give far 
 more out of the abundance of a sympathizing and materna". 
 heart."
 
 84 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " Well ! what is the name of this young paragon ? Have 
 I ever heard it ?" 
 
 " You must have heard it, but you take so little interest in 
 the gossip of the town, you have not heeded it. I do not 
 recollect her mother's name. She was a poor girl, who died 
 at the almshouse. The child was called Stella, by some ro 
 mantic lady, who was charmed by the brightness of her eyes." 
 
 " I think there is more than one romantic lady in town. 
 However, do as you please about the girl only, remembet 
 her stay must be limited to the period of Sherwood's absence 
 My boy shall form no low associations. He shall never be 
 exposed to the fascinations of a base-born charity girl." 
 
 " As you leave in the morning, I may say that she can 
 come to-morrow ?" meekly inquired Mrs. Lindsey, as she rose 
 to leave the apartment. 
 
 " Her coming or going can make no difference to me you 
 may send for her to-night if you please." 
 
 The votary of ambition was still a voluptuary in heart, and 
 though too proud to acknowledge ' it, his curiosity was kindled 
 by the vaunted beauty of the young charity girl. Mrs. Lind- 
 Bey lingered on the threshold, looking back in the vain hope 
 of meeting one glance of interest, directed towards herself, on 
 the remembrance of which she might live, during months of 
 absence. But the head of the statesman turned not. He 
 had already drawn towards him a ponderous volume, and ap 
 peared absorbed in its contents. She softly closed the door, 
 passed along the carpeted passage, that gave no echo to her 
 stilly steps, entered her own room, and seating herself on a 
 luxurious couch, wiped away a tear that would steal down her 
 pale cheek. It was foolish, childish, to be wounded by a 
 coldness, which for years had been freezing her heart. She 
 could not expect the splendid mind, whose powers a nation 
 claimed, would bring down its lofty thoughts to hers. She 
 ought not to have intruded upon him in a sanctuary, which 
 few dared invade, but she feared to take any steps, beyond the
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 85 
 
 usual circle of her domestic duties, unsanctioned by his will. 
 Meek, gentle, and unresisting, she yielded with Eastern sub 
 mission to his haughty sway, proud of his talents, his reputa 
 tion and rank, but sighing in secret over chilled affections 
 and a lonely heart. 
 
 The next morning, the carriage of Mr. Lindsey rolled down 
 the sloping lane, that led from Bellevue to the public road. 
 Through the tall, dark poplars that margined it, the light 
 flashed dazzingly on the face of the Senator, who drew his hat 
 farther over his brow. He abhorred an excess of light, as the 
 heavy curtains that shaded every window of his house indi 
 cated. As he reached the gateway and the coachman descended 
 to unbar it, he saw a young person standing outside, waiting 
 for the carriage to pass, whom he immediately recognised from 
 description, as the beautiful charity girl. If any wonder should 
 be expressed that he had never seen her before, let it be re 
 membered that he passed most of his time in Washington, and 
 when at home, had no more to do with his plebeian neighbours 
 than the President himself. Stella, now in the spring-time of 
 sixteen years, stood modestly waiting at the rich man's gate ; 
 a gipsy straw-hat shading, but fully revealing her face, aud the 
 morning sunbeams playing resplendently on the golden mirror 
 of her hair. Mr. Lindsey bent forward and fixed upon the 
 young girl a gaze too intense for mere admiration. It was dark 
 and troubled. For one moment, it seemed that a chasm opened 
 before him, threatening to draw him into the abyss, then it 
 closed, and h^stood on the opposite brink, in the midst of the 
 verdure and flowers of youth, before passion or ambition had 
 fastened her vulture clutches on his heart. Suddenly the verdure 
 and flowers all faded, and dim ghosts of the past flitted before his 
 eyes ; a cold moisture gathered slowly on his temples, but still 
 his eagle glance was strained on the charity girl waiting by the 
 gate. Shrinking at length before this dark scrutiny, sho 
 curtsied low, and attempted to glide by the wheel.
 
 86 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " Stop !" said he, in a voice, of whose sternness he was not 
 aware; "are you the young girl whom Mrs. Lindsey expects 
 this morning ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," she answered, trembling beneath an eye whose 
 lightnings had scathed bolder brows than hers. 
 
 " Wait, then, and take this note to her," said he, opening 
 his pocket book and scribbling a few lines on the back of a 
 letter, which he tore off hastily. Searching for a wafer, he 
 sealed it, threw it from the carriage, and bade the coachman 
 drive on. Pie had scarcely gone five paces before he regretted 
 he had not commanded the girl to return and never appear 
 within the limits of Bellevue. Could he have done so without 
 compromising his dignity, without giving some reason for his 
 apparently maniac conduct, he would have driven her from his 
 home, the neighbourhood, the town. It was not without re 
 morseful feelings he thought of her fair, beauteous form, and 
 the destitution of her lot. The remembrance of another beau 
 teous form, so closely resembling hers, awakened by her pre 
 sence from the slumber of years, haunted him like an avenging 
 ghost. " But it may not be," thought he, " resemblances are 
 often accidental. It must ever remain a mystery, for if I should 
 make inquiries it would excite suspicion, and my name must 
 never be associated with degradation. Poverty, death, and the 
 almshouse sad, sad combination !" 
 
 Folding his arms, and leaning back in his carriage, as far 
 as he could withdraw, he breathed a deep and heavy sigh. We 
 remember, when a little child, some one telling -us that every 
 sigh brought away with it, a drop of the heart's blood. If 
 this be true, such a sigh as Mr. Lindsey breathed, so full of 
 remorse and anguish, must have exhausted a thousand. He 
 met the school-children with their green satchels and smiling 
 sunny faces, tripping along in the sunshine. It is their custom, 
 in New England, to curtsy and bow, with lowly reverence, to 
 all whom they meet, and it is a beautiful sight to see childhood
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 87 
 
 thug doing homage to maturity and age. He could not but 
 observe how coldly this courtesy was paid to him. The smileg 
 faded from their young lips, and sullen constraint took their 
 place. He was the enemy of their sports. He had banished 
 them from a beautiful green lawn near the school-house, because 
 it was his ground, and therefore must be set apart as conse 
 crated to pride. What harm could they do by running across 
 the grassy plain ? The brush of their light feet only gave a 
 fresher tint to the herbage j the birds sung more merrily in the 
 boughs, when their laughter went up on the air. Perhaps he 
 thought this, as his stately carriage rolled along through these 
 future lords of the land, and conscience, roused by a sudden 
 and startling revelation, sat in triumph on its oft-deserted 
 throne. 
 
 He passed Sunny Dell, reposing at the foot of the guardian 
 mountain, in all the richness of its summer garniture. He 
 thought of the now harsh and independent mistress of the 
 place, and remembered the time when he knew her a gay, 
 handsome, light-hearted belle, whose young affections he had 
 won with so much art and toil, and whom he had deserted so 
 treacherously and heartlessly for a fairer, wealthier bride. 
 Then he thought of that lovely bride, that neglected wife, so 
 gentle, fond, and submissive, now receiving to her home, to 
 her arms and heart, in the loving-kindness and tender mercy 
 of her generous nature, one, who but why should he dwell 
 on that ? He knew not who she was and the grave, her 
 metically sealed, revealed not the secrets deposited in its cold 
 and silent bosom. Truly, the thoughts of the proud Senator 
 were not merry companions. 
 
 Stella stood under the shelter of a spreading rose-bush till 
 the sound of the carriage wheels died on the ear. She looked 
 up to the house, whose green blinds were still unclosed, and 
 she saw not a being moving about the enclosure. She looked 
 down upon the note which she held in her hand, and which 
 40
 
 88 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 she fully believed had some connexion with herself. The 
 seal was still wet she could open and reclose it, without fear 
 of discovery, and drawing back deeper among the rose-boughs, 
 she loosened the moist wafer, and read the contents. These 
 were the few words addressed to his wife : 
 
 " Remember the conditions I imposed. The time must be 
 limited within the possibility of his return. If the slightest 
 intercourse be allowed, on your head be the consequences, 
 however direful they may be." 
 
 Stella thought she understood the drift of these lines. She 
 was to be banished from Bellevue before the return of the 
 eon and heir ; for all intercourse between him and the child 
 of poverty must be for ever prohibited. A vindictive smile 
 curled her lip, while she resolved to baffle his foresight ; and 
 triumphing in the consciousness of that beauty which had 
 excited, at one glance, the fears of the father, she determined 
 to remain and exert its full influence on the heart of the son. 
 She had obtained the fulfilment of one of her most ardent 
 desires, admission to the home of Sherwood Lindsey. She 
 trusted to opportunity and her own powers to accomplish all 
 her wishes. 
 
 The sweet mistress of Bellevue received the young charity 
 girl with all the tenderness of a mother, and Stella was all 
 gratitude, humility, and modesty. She never seemed to forget 
 her lowly origin, though, such was the refinement and grace 
 of her manners, it was difficult for others to remember it. 
 She watched for every opportunity of usefulness, and studied 
 Mrs. Lindsey's slightest wishes, so that, if possible, she might 
 anticipate them. Mrs. Lindsey loved flowers, and every morn 
 ing her vases were decorated with robes and blossoms, " per 
 fumed with fresh fragrance and glittering with dew." She 
 loved to have some one comb and brush her long hair, before 
 retiring to her nightly rest. Stella delighted in this office, 
 and nothing could be more gentle and soothing than her 
 touch. Weeks passed away and the young girl became every
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 89 
 
 day more endeared to her hostess, and more necessary to her 
 happiness. " Poor girl !" thought she, as she gazed with 
 growing admiration on her fair, young face; "if you were 
 less lovely, you would be less dangerous, and I might keep 
 you ever with me, to fill a daughter's place in my heart." 
 
 There was a picture of Sherwood, taken just before he 
 entered College, which occupied a conspicuous place in his 
 mother's apartment. It was a full-length portrait, and exe 
 cuted with great spirit and fidelity. The boy was represented 
 in the open air, standing by the side of a beautiful pony, 
 with one foot raised ready to mount the animal, over which 
 his right arm was carelesply and gracefully thrown. There 
 was life, beauty, boldness, expression, in the picture, which 
 gave to immortality Sherwood's springing youth. It was the 
 altar-piece where the fond mother paid her daily devotions. 
 Stella never failed to place a vase of beautiful flowers beneath 
 it, whose breath of odour rose as incense to this young house 
 hold divinity. 
 
 "When will your son return?" she asked with apparent 
 carelessness, of Mrs. Lindsey. " Is he not in Europe ?" 
 
 " Yes he has been travelling for a year with a private 
 tutor;" she replied, in answer to the last question. To the 
 first she said " I expect him in a few months." 
 
 " How proud you must be of him ! how anxious to behold 
 him ! Ah ! how happy must those be who have parents to 
 love and idolize them ! Had I a mother, and such a mother !" 
 Stella bent her head on the white hand of Mrs. Lindsey and 
 pressed her lips upon it. 
 
 " And in a few weeks I must banish this sweet girl from 
 me !" thought the lady, twisting her fingers in the bright 
 tresses that floated in lustrous beauty over her lap. " I must 
 send her to some uncongenial home, where she will probably 
 be treated with harshness or indifference. Oh ! that I could 
 adopt her as my own child !"
 
 90 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 The reception of a packet of letters interrupted the flow of 
 her compassionate feelings. 
 
 " Ah ! one from Sherwood ! this is an unexpected pleasure !" 
 She opened it hastily. " Here, in a few days ! can it be 
 possible ? Listen, Stella Sherwood is coming in a few days, 
 instead of months, he will be with me." 
 
 Tears of joy gushed from her eyes. With the enthusiasm 
 of a girl, who receives tidings from a long-absent lover, she 
 pressed the letter to her lips, then again eagerly perused its 
 contents. Stella remembered the note she had surreptitiously 
 read she remembered the words, " the time must be limited 
 within the possibility of his return ;" and knowing that the 
 crisis had arrived, the colour forsook her cheeks. 
 
 At the sight of her sudden pallor, Mrs. Lindsey recollected 
 her husband's parting commands, and the thought of the pain 
 she must inflict on the innocent girl, saddened the exuberance 
 of her joy. She shrank from the ungracious office before her, 
 but her own judgment told her that her husband's decision 
 was right, and that Sherwood must not be domesticated with 
 the beautiful orphan. 
 
 " Stella, my sweet girl," said she, the next morning, put 
 ting her arms kindly round her, " I grieve that I must part 
 with you ; but the time for which you were placed under my 
 care is now expired. I shall probably leave here soon after 
 my son's return. At some future day, I trust you will again 
 find your home with me. In the mean time, believe me your 
 friend, anxious, tender, and loving, Stella. You have beguiled 
 many a lonely hour. You have literally strewed roses in my 
 path." She looked at the sweet flowers blooming beneath the 
 glowing semblance of her boy, and kissed the cheek fair as 
 the floral offerings. 
 
 " You have been so kind, so more than kind," sobbed Stella, 
 sliding ftoin her chair and burying her face in Mrs. Lindsey's 
 lap. " How can I ever leave you ! Oh ! Mrs. Lindsey, let
 
 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 91 
 
 me stay ! Let me be your servant ! let me live in your 
 kitchen ! I shall be happier there than in any parlour in the 
 land 1 Dear, sweet Mrs. Lindsey, only let me stay !" 
 
 Poor Mrs. Lindsey ! her heart was sadly troubled ! It was 
 so hard to resist that earnest, pleading voice ; those tearful, 
 starry eyes. But the dread of her husband's anger ! that was 
 as a flaming sword, flashing before her eyes, guarding her 
 promise. 
 
 " My dear child I" cried she, trying to raise her from her 
 lowly position, " think me not unkind. You shall return to 
 me ; but now, there are reasons which I cannot explain, that 
 forbid your longer stay. Did I follow the dictates of my own 
 heart, you should never leave me, Stella never !" 
 
 " Thank you, thank you, madam, for all your goodness !" 
 cried Stella, rising and folding her hands meekly on her 
 breast. " I will leave you to-morrow, to-night, this very mo 
 ment, if you desire it !" 
 
 " No, no, not to-night. To-morrow will be soon enough ; 
 too soon for my wishes, dear child I" 
 
 Stella acknowledged her sense of this permission by a low 
 and graceful curtsy, and left the apartment. The moment 
 she was alone, the expression of her countenance changed. 
 Instead of the downcast, Virgin Mary look she had just worn, 
 there was bitterness and anger and cunning. Alas ! that one 
 so beautiful and young should be so guileful and designing. 
 
 " It is thus I have ever been treated," murmured she to 
 herself, " petted for a little while, and then discarded, because 
 I am poor -poor ! A child of the almshouse. But I have a 
 power, and I will use it. A power to which riches and rank 
 bow down. I will stay till their proud son comes. I will not 
 be sent away the moment they hear his foot is to cross the 
 threshold. An old crone whom I met the other day, who lives 
 at the poor-house, my native home, said, that she dreamed that 
 I married a rich man, and rode in my carriage, and so I wili 
 as sure as my name is Stella Lightner."
 
 92 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 This was not a point of such certainty as to make the oath 
 a very binding one, but the strength of Stella's resolution was 
 more powerful than her words. She stole softly up stairs and 
 opened a little closet, contiguous to Mrs. Lindsey's sleeping- 
 chamber, a kind of domestic cabinet, where was a suite of 
 small drawers, devoted exclusively to medicine. Stella had 
 frequently been sent by Mrs. Lindsey to this receptacle, and 
 she knew all that it contained. She knew what medicines could 
 be taken with impunity, and what caused the most deadly 
 languor and sickness, without exposing one to danger. With 
 out a moment's hesitation she swallowed a nauseating potion 
 of tartar-emetic, carrying away a double quantity to her room, 
 to repeat the dose, if necessary, to produce the desired effect. 
 She might have feigned sickness, but the rosy transparency of 
 her skin would betray the healthful current flowing beneath. 
 A physician might be summoned, whose keen eye would detect 
 the artifice. Now he might come, and she would defy the 
 investigation. Returning to the room she had left, she sat 
 down by Mrs. Lindsey, and asked her in a subdued and patient 
 tone of voice, if she might have the privilege of reading aloud 
 to her once more. 
 
 " My dear girl/' said Mrs. Lindsey kindly, " you look pale, 
 I fear you are not well. You had better not fatigue yourself." 
 
 Stella took up the book with a sickly smile, and began to 
 read. The excited state she was in, when she took the medi 
 cine, caused its effects to be more speedily felt, and already it 
 was circulating through her system, inducing faintness, dizzi 
 ness, and the most deadly nausea. Frightened at the success 
 of her daring stratagem, fearful lest she had swallowed by mis 
 take some poisonous draught, and that she had exposed herself 
 to suffering and perhaps death, she uttered a faint cry and fell 
 back upon the sofa. Her eyes were closed, and there was no 
 more hue upon her face than a snow-drift. In great alarm, 
 Mrs. Lindsey rang the bell, then bending over Stella, raised
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 93 
 
 her head on her arm, and pressed hei Mps on her cold forehead. 
 It was well she had called in the assistance of a servant. A 
 terrible fit of retching and vomiting came on, prostrating her 
 so completely, she was carried to her bed in a state of passive 
 weakness. Having in vain endeavoured to check the deadly 
 nausea, Mrs. Lindsey sent for their family physician, who, 
 though a man of remarkable eminence in his profession, had 
 not the gift of omniscience, and certainly had no conception 
 of the dose she had swallowed. As the vomiting continued, 
 with excessive faintness, he administered morphine, in a small 
 quantity, leaving powders for her to take during the night. 
 Mrs. Lindsey, who believed her cruel refusal to retain her. in 
 her household had given such a shock to her nervous system 
 as to bring on this sudden and alarming illness, in an anguish 
 of tenderness and self-reproach, hung over her beautiful and 
 suffering charge. She had a couch removed to her bed-side? 
 and insisted upon administering the opiates with her own hand. 
 Stella had indeed taken a master dose, and it was not till she 
 had swallowed all the powders the doctor prescribed, that she 
 obtained rest from the billowy heavings which had tossed her 
 so relentlessly. She dared not refuse the prescriptions pre 
 sented by Mrs. Lindsey's own hand, though she feared every 
 potion would be her last. Cold dew stood on her trembling 
 limbs, while her brain, excited by the morphine, seemed crossed 
 by fibres of fire, as well as her hot and blood-shot eyes. Terri 
 fied at the thought of becoming delirious, and betraying the 
 secret of her duplicity, she pressed her hand upon her aching 
 brow, begging them to bathe it in cold water, to relieve its 
 burning. She was asleep when the doctor came in the morn 
 ing, but the low whispered conversation between him and Mrs. 
 Lindsey, close at her bed-side, awakened her. She lay without 
 opening her eyes, listening to the remarks of her medical coun 
 sellor, terrified at the course he was recommending. 
 
 " Her brain is evidently affected," said he ; " there is great
 
 94 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 internal heat; we must apply blisters. I am sorry for it, but 
 we shall be under the necessity of shaving her head." 
 
 " What, her beautiful hair ? oh no, Doctor ! try any other 
 remedy. It would be too great a sacrilege. Spare, if possi 
 ble, these luxuriant ringlets." Mrs. Lindsey passed her 
 fingers through the locks that were scattered like sunbeams on 
 her pillow. Stella resolved to die before allowing such a 
 sacrifice. She determined, if the doctor did approach her for 
 such a purpose, she would feign madness, of the frantic kind, 
 and make him glad to avoid so dangerous a proximity. 
 
 " Well, we'll try the effect of leeches first." 
 
 So Stella, grateful for the salvation of her hair, and think 
 ing the principle of non-resistance the best in her present 
 position, was obliged to lie for hours with the cold, slimy crea 
 tures feeding on her white temples, her imagination picturing 
 the hideous little animals bloated with her blood. A night 
 of calm sleep composed her feverish brain, and the morning 
 found her very weak, but pronounced free from all danger of 
 inflammation of the brain. She was very careful of com 
 plaining of anything, apprehending some desperate remedy, 
 and, in two or three days, she was able to sit up in an easy 
 chair, at an open window, and drink in the sweet influences 
 of the summer day. But the summer day had no sweet influ 
 ences for her. There is an alchemy that can change the blue 
 glory of the sky, and the green glory of the grass, and the cool 
 balminess of the air, into mere cold, dull abstractions ; and 
 though Stella's eyes were fixed on these magnificent realities, 
 her soul took them not in. She was thinking of the coming 
 of Sherwood. If he delayed much longer, and she recovered 
 entirely from her indisposition, what plea could she urge for 
 remaining longer ? what new stratagem could she invent to 
 impose on her too credulous and trusting hostess ? A strong 
 feeling of revenga towards Mr. Lindsey, a desire to triumph 
 ove* Kena, whom she had always associated with Sherwood
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 95 
 
 since the moonlight coasting and skating night at Sunny l^eil, 
 personal admiration of Sherwood himself, nourished by the 
 daily contemplation of his picture, and a hope, a determin 
 ation of self-aggrandizen'ent, filled the bosom of Stella. 
 
 Mrs. Lindsey sat near her, looking down the avenue with 
 anxious eye, watching for the coming of her son. As her 
 fears for Stella subsided, her dread of her husband's anger 
 returned ; and though she would not for worlds have breathed 
 a thought to the young invalid suggestive of such an idea, 
 her departure was the first and most ardent wish of her heart. 
 Yes ! greater than her desire for her son's return. Yet weeks 
 would probably pass before she could, without positive un- 
 kindness, be transferred to another home. 
 
 A carriage stopped at the gate, and while the coachman 
 was unbarring it for the passage of the horses, a young man 
 sprang out, vaulted over the fence, and ran up the lane. 
 
 " "Tis Sherwood my son !" exclaimed Mrs. Lindsey, and 
 with a step as fleet as Stella's, she vanished from the room. 
 But Stella's fleet steps were now pinioned and doomed to re 
 main passive in her chair. She gazed upon the young man 
 so rapidly approaching, whose identity his mother's rapturous 
 exclamation had just proved. Raising his eager, animated 
 eyes to the window, he caught a glimpse of the fair appari 
 tion reclining there, and with a lingering step he lifted his 
 hat, bowing and smiling, with such a radiant expression, 
 Stella's cheek blushed crimson with delight. The joy of 
 return was in his heart, on his lips, in his eyes, and a familiar 
 face, less fair than hers, would have been greeted with rap 
 ture. Then he vanished from her gaze, and Stella was left to 
 imagine the fond embraces that greeted him on the threshold. 
 A natural feeling of regret for her own brotherless, sisterless, 
 unconnected situation softened the asperity of her feelings. 
 She wished she was Sherwood's sister, that she too might fly 
 to greet, and throw, without shame or censure, hei arms of
 
 96 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 welcome round him. She thought if she had such a hrother 
 to take her kindly and protectingly by the hand, and shield 
 her from the scorn and contumely of the world, her heart 
 would be full of good and gracious influences, and all her 
 schemes of cold and selfish policy would be crowded out. It 
 was one of those angel moments, that come like the breath of 
 the sweet south wind, " stealing and giving odour." Tears 
 gathered softly, slowly into her eyes, and fell drop by drop 
 upon her cheek. Then, she thought of a love, dearer than a 
 brother's, and how happy life must be to those, whose hearts, 
 twined together by links of roses, mingle in fragrance and 
 beauty, till life becomes one sweet identity. Unfortunately, 
 the vanity, which praises of her personal loveliness had nur 
 tured, whispered but of one means to secure that love. Ris 
 ing, she drew near a large mirror that adorned the chamber, 
 and gazed upon the image reflected from its surface. Me- 
 thinks, there was a soft rustling sound, like the spread of 
 departing wings, for the angel moment was gone. It might 
 have been the waving of the silken curtain, or the fluttering 
 of the leaves, or the light fall of her muslin robe but it is 
 certain, the guardian spirit, that watched with such trembling 
 hope those crystal drops, fled away grieved from the thoughts 
 that it saw dimming the disk of the mirror. 
 
 A beautiful moral is embodied in one of the stories of the 
 Arabian Nights. One of the genii gives a glass to a young 
 man, who has sought their aid, and tells him, whenever he 
 sees a young maiden, however fair and innocent she might- 
 appear, not to judge by the spotlessness of the exterior, but 
 to look upon the crystal talisman. If the translucent orb 
 became dim by her breath, there was a want of purity within. 
 Long the young man searches for the maiden with unpolluted 
 breath in vain, and is about to return the talisman in despair, 
 when he at last finds one, whose gentle respiration steals over 
 f/he mirror, and turns to sunbeams there.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Oh ! my son, my son ! 
 
 We will not part in wrath ! the sternest hearts, 
 Within their proud and guarded fastnesses, 
 Hide something still, round which their tendrils cling 
 With a close grasp, unknown to those who dress, 
 Their love in smiles. And such wert thou to me, 
 The all which taught me, that my soul was cast 
 In Nature's mould." VESPERS of PALERMO- 
 
 STELLA, still in the interesting character of an invalid, was 
 sitting in the lower piazza, by the side of Mrs. Lindsey, while 
 Sherwood, standing against one of the pillars, played care 
 lessly with the honeysuckle vine, that, twining round the 
 upper part, drooped over his head. There was not the slight 
 est breath of air stirring. The tall poplars, piercing the 
 heavens with their lance-like summits, stood with immovable 
 foliage, like green petrifications, and even the light leaves of 
 the rose-bushes seemed holding their fragrant breath, so still 
 were their slender petioles. The clouds, that had been floating 
 white and fleecy before the mid-day sun, now melting off into 
 a web fine as the down of the gossamer, then becoming more 
 opaque, and assuming the form of glittering scales, the silver 
 laminae of heaven, were now rolling downward, following the 
 declivity of day, and gathering in darkening masses round the 
 western sun. Dark and heavy at their base, but crowned with 
 dazzling rose-tints, that deepened here and there into glorious 
 crimson, scarlet and gold, they leaned forward, over the undu 
 lating horizon, with a grandeur and grace that belong only to 
 
 (97)
 
 98 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD 
 
 these " warriors of the storm," the heralds of the " thunder- 
 drum of heaven." 
 
 " There will be a thunder-shower soon," said Mrs. Lindsey, 
 with a slight shudder. " I knew one was approaching, by the 
 oppression of the atmosphere." 
 
 " Do you fear, my mother ?" asked Sherwood, who was gaz 
 ing with kindling eye, through those golden vistas. 
 
 " I do not exactly fear, but I feel an indescribable awe, a 
 presentiment of coming evil, a dread indefinite and mysterious. 
 I cannot describe it." 
 
 " Strange I" said Sherwood, " There is nothing in nature I 
 love so much as a thunderstorm. I feel then, a strength and 
 power that seems to sleep at other times. I could battle with 
 the elements and make them my vassals. I could run up the 
 rugged peaks of the clouds and catch hold of the lightning's 
 chain. You smile, mother, as if you doubted my words, but 
 I do actually feel as if I could do this, and far more." 
 
 " Bold, extravagant boy ! I hope you will not try so dan 
 gerous an experiment." 
 
 Sherwood looked at Stella, and turning as he did from the 
 dark cloud to her face, the contrast was so sudden, so striking, 
 it seemed to shine with the beauty of an angel. Sickness had 
 imparted a kind of languishing softness to her countenance, 
 and enhanced, if possible, the transcendant fairness of her 
 complexion. She was dressed in white, for Mrs. Lindsey, if 
 not wisely, at least kindly, clothed her in garments, more con 
 genial to her own taste and Stella's beauty, than her station in 
 life. Sherwood, who remembered her as a little girl, in coarse 
 calico frocks, whom, with cultivated aristocracy, he looked down 
 upon as the poor-child of the almshouse, had never before 
 been fully aware of the uncommon character of her loveliness. 
 It flashed upon him as something celestial, and he wondered 
 he had not been more impressed by it. Stella met his fixed 
 and admiring glance, and hopes, which a few moments before
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 99 
 
 were faint and flickering, became strong and triumphant. A 
 rosy cloud covered her face, and added to it a thousand new 
 charms. Mrs. Lindsey noticed all this, and never had her hus 
 band's prohibition and threatened wrath assumed so terrible a 
 character to her imagination. Should he come and find her 
 there, find them together after his warnings both spoken and 
 written, how dark would be his anger ! And yet how could 
 she have prevented it ? She could not have turned the poor 
 girl dying from her door. She could call in the evidence of 
 the physician to prove her sickness, and apparently dangerous 
 condition. But still this would not appease her husband's re 
 sentment, for she might have obeyed him more implicitly than 
 she had done. She might have taken Stella by the hand and 
 told her kindly and frankly, the interdiction given and the 
 reason too. She might have told her that the Hon. Mr. Lind- 
 8ey did not choose his son to associate with any but the honour 
 able of the land. She was not obliged to clothe her in white 
 and becoming robes, to adorn her loveliness, or to bring her 
 down, as she had done that evening, in compassion for her 
 loneliness and dejection, into the presence of her son. She 
 was a gentle, tender, loving woman, and she could not have 
 acted otherwise, without violating the holiest principles of her 
 nature, but she was a meek, timid, irresolute one, and she shrunk 
 from the consequences of her conduct, with a dread, which 
 guilt only ought to feel. 
 
 Stella showed at this moment the strong will, that can make 
 the physical elements its vassals. She had an unusual ter 
 ror of electric power, and, had she followed the instinct of her 
 nature, she would have fled to her chamber, scared by the light 
 ning that now darted forth from the bosom of the cloud, like 
 the tongue of fiery serpent. But Sherwood loved such scenes, 
 and she too would remain and look with rapture on the sub 
 lime phenomena, and share his exultation. Sherwood entreated 
 his mother to go in, where she would not be exposed to the
 
 100 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 blinding flashes, but there was a species of fascination mingled 
 with her awe, that drew her glance to the firmament, though 
 the next moment it was sure to be covered with terror. Amid 
 the distant rolling of the thunder, the sound of carriage wheels 
 was not distinguishable, and though they stopped at their 
 gate they knew it not, as their faces were turned in a different 
 direction. A gentleman was near the steps of the piazza, before 
 they were aware of his approach, for he walked on the grassy 
 side-walk, and his steps made no sound. 
 
 " My father I" exclaimed Sherwood, springing down the 
 steps and seizing both hands in the joy of meeting. 
 
 Mr. Lindsey held his son's hand with a grasp of steel, and 
 while he ascended the long flight of steps he thus held him, 
 looking steadily in his face, while a gleam of joy and pride 
 lightened the darkness of his own, like the lightning on the 
 cloud over his head. Mrs. Lindsey rose to meet him, but her 
 trembling limbs could scarcely support her. All that she had 
 been dreading was written on his dark and flashing counte 
 nance. 
 
 " You did not expect me, madam," said he, without taking 
 the tremulous hand she extended " my coming seems to have 
 disturbed you. Congress suddenly adjourned for a short time, 
 and I hastened home to welcome my son. I did not expect 
 to find intruders here I did not expect to find my absolute 
 commands violated." 
 
 " Come with me, my husband," she cried, laying her hand 
 entreatingly on his arm ; " I will explain everything. I have 
 not wilfully acted contrary to your will." 
 
 " And what was my will, madam ?" he exclaimed, losing 
 sight of every restraint, in the blaze of his anger. " Did not 
 I command you to send this girl from you, before the possi 
 bility of my son's return ? Was not this the condition on 
 which she entered these doors ? How happened all this, I
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 101 
 
 eay, if you did not mean to brave my authority and dare my 
 anger 1" 
 
 Mrs. Lindsey sunk down on the seat she had quitted, and 
 covered her face with both hands. Sherwood stepped for 
 ward, and, placing himself in front of his mother, with a pale 
 and resolute countenance, looked steadfastly in his father'a 
 face 
 
 " I am sorry to hear you speak to my mother in this man 
 ner, sir. It is unworthy of you. I cannot allow my own 
 father to forget that he is a gentleman." 
 
 As the Senator beheld the youthful figure of his son, inter 
 posing itself as a shield before the sinking form of her whom 
 his wrath was withering, a thrill of admiration at his moral 
 courage and noble bearing penetrated his soul. But the 
 thrill was transient his anger abiding. 
 
 "Beware, rash boy! forget not the respect due to your 
 father 1" 
 
 " Let him remember what is due to himself, and he shall 
 never complain of a want of filial reverence." 
 
 " Mrs. Lindsey, follow me to the library I would speak 
 with you alone. Sherwood, go into the house. I forbid your 
 remaining here. And as for this girl, let me tell her, that 
 the home she left for this is a far more fitting residence for 
 her." 
 
 " I am no longer a boy, nor will I be ordered like one I" 
 cried Sherwood, folding his arms and flashing defiance from 
 his dark eyes. 
 
 " Oh ! Sherwood, for my sake, for your mother's sake, 
 Sherwood, obey your father!" cried Mrs. Lindsey, clasping 
 her hands in agony at a scene, beyond her worst fears. 
 
 " For your sake, mother, I would do anything die, if need 
 be ; and would I had died before I had lived to see the day 
 when I trembled to leave a mother exposed to a father's angry 
 passions . 
 
 \
 
 102 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 The bitter anguish of his tone struck to the very heart of 
 the Senator, and recalled him to a sense of his own dignity. 
 He felt something as the inebriate feels, when the fumes of 
 intoxication roll away, leaving nothing but a consciousness of 
 degradation and shame. He had allowed his passions to 
 master him, and he was humbled in his own eyes. He did 
 not, however, swerve from his purpose any more than the 
 surgeon who winds his silk handkerchief around the steel that 
 is to cut into the quivering flesh. 
 
 Stella, who had risen on his entrance, and remained a silent 
 spectatress of the tempest she had herself roused, felt a kind 
 of vindictive joy in this acknowledgment of her power, this 
 strange tribute to her wondrous beauty. When Sherwood 
 threw himself before his mother, dauntlessly bearding the lion 
 in his lair, in the brave beauty of youthful heroism, she gazed 
 upon him with passionate admiration. As for the scorn and 
 contempt of the father, she repaid it with bitterness and 
 hatred, and a spirit of vengeance took possession of her, 
 terrible in one so young. She resolved to yield to his com 
 mands, to go that moment, in the face of the coming storm, 
 certain that Sherwood would feel an interest in her fate, as 
 the victim of his father's cruelty, that she could not excite by 
 remaining with his permission under his roof. She dared not 
 wrestle openly against the strong man's iron will, but she 
 determined to corrode and eat away his power in secret, like 
 the consuming rust. 
 
 It is astonishing how much more fearful is moral than ele 
 mental strife. All this time the lightning had been darting 
 more vividly, the thunder rolling deeper and nearer, and yet 
 they heeded it not. At least none but Stella, who had wrought 
 herself for the part she was going to act. Turning to Mr. 
 Lindsey, with an air which would have made the fortune of a 
 debutante, she said, without quailing at his stern glance 
 
 "I am going, sir nor would I have stayed till this moment
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 103 
 
 had not sickness prevented my departure. Your kind lady 
 would not throw me across the threshold, when I had not 
 strength to walk over it. I would not stay another hour be 
 neath your roof, sir, if I knew the lightning would strike me 
 dead by the way-side I" 
 
 Then taking Mrs. Lindsey's hand and kissing it, and curt- 
 Bying gratefully to Sherwood, she ran down the steps, which 
 were already wet with the large, splashing drops that fell from, 
 the edge of the thunder-cloud. 
 
 "Stop her !" cried Mrs. Lindsey. " Husband, for the love 
 of heaven and your own soul, do not drive her away in this 
 storm ! She has been so sick ! If she dies, God will judge 
 you for it I" 
 
 " Bid her return till to-morrow, then. 1 did not drive her 
 away," muttered he. Sherwood sprang forward to detain 
 her, but his father's strong arm arrested him 
 
 " Leave it to your mother, sir. It is no business of yours." 
 
 " But she goes, sir ! She reaches the gate ! My mother 
 must not go out in the rain ! It will not become you to run 
 after her ! I must go !" And breaking loose from his father, 
 who felt the truth of his words too keenly to contradict them, 
 he flew after the fugitive, whose white dress was fluttering 
 through the gate. It evidently required eloquence and some 
 force to induce her to return, for she clung to the gate, even 
 after Sherwood brought her back, and endeavoured to release 
 herself for a second flight. She ascended the steps with a 
 reluctant air, looking proudly at Mr. Lindsey as she passed by. 
 
 " Go right to your room and change your ^et dress," said 
 Mrs. Lindsey. " I tremble for the consequences of this ex 
 posure. Oh ! Stella, do not keep me in this state of agitation, 
 but go." 
 
 "Only at your request, your command, madam," paid 
 Stella, slowly entering the house. 
 
 " We had better all go in," cried Mr. Lindsey, when the 
 41
 
 104 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD 
 
 sound of Stella's retreating footsteps were heard no longer. 
 " The rain will melt us here !" 
 
 Mrs. Lindsey mechanically acted on her husband's sugges 
 tion, and the father and son were left alone. 
 
 " I suppose I may remain here now, sir !" said Sherwood, 
 throwing himself on a seat. " I am sheltered fron. the rain, 
 and I love to gaze upon the storm." 
 
 Mr. Lindsey walked backward and forward the whole length 
 of the piazza, several times, with slow steps, then went up to 
 his son and laid his hand upon his shoulder 
 
 " Sherwood !" 
 
 " Sir I" 
 
 " My son I" 
 
 " Father !" 
 
 " My son" there was a slight tremulousness in his voice. 
 The hand laid upon the shoulder lifted itself to the dark locks 
 that were rustling in the storm-breeze " this is an unplea 
 sant meeting after more than a year's absence." 
 
 " It is, sir." 
 
 " You have shown great love and reverence for your mother, 
 and I honour you for it. If I have appeared harsh and pas 
 sionate, beyond reason, I have a cause, which, if known, 
 would explain all, if it did not justify. More I cannot say j 
 but this I am constrained to utter, for I would not forfeit the 
 respect of my son." 
 
 " Father, if you knew half the respect, the veneration I bear 
 ycu, half the anguish I suffered, when I thought you forgetful 
 of your high character " The voice of the young man choked. 
 He rose and turned away to conceal his emotion ; then with 
 an instinct of nature wholly irrepressible, bowed his head on 
 his father's shoulder, whose arm now encircled his neck. 
 Never, perhaps, had the proud statesman been so completely un 
 manned. Sherwood was his hope, joy, and pride, the one being 
 be loved better than himself, the Elisha on whom the mantle
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 105 
 
 of his talents and fame must fall. But man soon conquers the 
 weakness to which woman yields, at least such a man as Mr. 
 Lindsey. He led the way into the house, where his wife 
 awaited them, with pale cheeks and a sinking heart. In his 
 then softened mood, her meek and suffering countenance 
 affected him painfully. He was generally cold and arbitrary, 
 but never had he allowed his passions to trample on her feel 
 ings so lawlessly before. He went and sat down by her, and 
 took the hand that lay passive on the arm of the sofa. " I 
 have been too hasty, Emily ! Forgive me I" 
 
 That simple act, those few words, turned as by magic the 
 whole current of her feelings. The mere sound of her Christ 
 ian name coming from his lips, fell like music on her ear. 
 She longed to throw herself on his neck, to lean upon his 
 bosom, to tell him of the love that had survived coldness, 
 indifference, and harshness, to assure him of her submission 
 to his wishes, whatever they might be. But she dared not 
 do it. She feared to extinguish this little gleam of tender 
 ness so precious to her heart. She was so humble, had so 
 little self-appreciation, she justified all his neglect by com 
 paring her waning beauty and feeble attractions with the 
 splendour of his yet unfaded manhood. She only pressed the 
 hand that held hers, and tried to speak, but could not. 
 
 " Perhaps you had better go and see if the girl needs any 
 care. I would not keep you from it, Emily." 
 
 Again he had called her by the once-loved name of Emily. 
 Grateful for the permission to do what her heart prompted, 
 she quitted the room, but as she closed the door, looked back 
 upon him with a smile of reconciliation so lovely, that it 
 lighted up her wan features with something of the brightness 
 of their primeval beauty. The eyes of the father and son fol 
 lowed her departure, then turning from the door their glances 
 met. 
 
 " Yes," said the first, answering the glance, for no word
 
 106 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 had been spoken, " if evil falls on me, she will have a pro 
 tector far kinder and more devoted than I have ever been. 
 But, Sheiwood," added he, assuming some of his usual state- 
 liness, " we must understand each other fully. Never let the 
 scene of to-day be renewed. I have looked upon you as a boy 
 heretofore, I now place confidence in you as a man. There 
 must be no intercourse between you and the girl now under 
 your mother's protection. Three hours ago, I would have 
 extracted a binding promise from you ; now I trust to your 
 honour." 
 
 " There shall be no voluntary intercourse on my part, fa 
 ther," replied Sherwood, after a pause, which sent the blood 
 to his own temples, and drew it from his father's face, for the 
 colour forsook his very lips, while he witnessed the mental 
 struggle of his son. 
 
 " Sherwood, do you hesitate ?" 
 
 " I will obey you, as far as I can, sir, without compromis 
 ing my character as a gentleman and a man. If I should 
 meet this unfortunate girl in circumstances that appealed to 
 my protection and required my aid, every feeling of chivalry 
 and honour would be enlisted in her behalf. Then and then 
 only should I feel justified in departing from the letter of your 
 prohibition. The spirit of it breathes from my own lips at 
 this moment ! I know it ! I feel it !" 
 
 " You feel an interest stronger than I imagined on this 
 subject," cried Mr. Lindsey, his pale brow darkening, while 
 his piercing eyes, fixed upon his son, seemed to read the 
 lowest depths of his heart. 
 
 " She is young, beautiful, and unprotected, and I pity her, 
 but I have too much of my father's spirit ever to think of 
 allying myself with one of low connexions or doubtful line 
 age. Any other interest you cannot think me base enough to 
 cherish."
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 107 
 
 Mr. Lindsey caught his son's hand, and pressed it with a 
 strength of which he was not aware. 
 
 "I am satisfied/' said he; "I trust you. My happiness, 
 my honour, is safe in your keeping." 
 
 Drawing a deep inspiration, as if a heavy load were rolling 
 upward from his breast, he induced Sherwood to speak of his 
 journey, his impressions of the past and hopes and plans for 
 the future, till the agitation of both subsided, and the cause 
 that created it seemed forgotten. 
 
 That night, when Sherwood was alone in his room, on open 
 ing a trunk which he had not unpacked since hi^return, for 
 a book he had placed in it, he saw gleaming beneath the folds 
 of white linen, the scarlet trophy he had won from the wild 
 skating girl, and which he had carried with him to foreign 
 lands. He had not seen her since, a rusticated student, he 
 was associated with so many of her gladdening winter exer 
 cises and fireside pleasures. Their paths had widely diverged, 
 but he always felt, that there was a strong, magnetic sympa 
 thy, which would draw them together again, though sundered 
 as far as pole from pole. He took up the soft relic and laid 
 his cheek on the warm, elastic wool. He thought of the young 
 Snowbird, skimming the glittering ice, with her glowing 
 crown, defined like a crescent of fire on the silver firmament. 
 He wondered how it would look, above the soft gilding of 
 Stella's rippling hair scarlet and gold, the mingling hues of 
 royalty. He compared the waxen delicacy of Stella, with the 
 ardent hue of Rena's sun-dyed cheek; the starry brightness 
 of Stella's sapphire eyes, with the velvet softness and dark 
 ness of Rena's. 
 
 Then he reflected on the strange and harrowing incidents 
 of the day; the mysterious earnestness of his father's prohi 
 bition, which he nevertheless attributed to the towering pride 
 which distinguished him among all men; on the sad destiny 
 of the poor charity girl, whose singular beauty seemed her
 
 108 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 greatest crime, till, forbidden as he was to manifest the pity 
 and sympathy of his young, chivalrous nature, she grew in 
 romantic interest on his imagination. Gradually all these 
 images formed a strange combination. The scarlet tiara 
 adorned his father's senatorial brows. His mother was ska 
 ting on a sea of glass. Rena and Stella had exchanged eyes, 
 and what a wonderful change did it make in their faces ! He 
 was asleep, carelessly extended on the carpet, his trunk his 
 pillow, the red band of Kena encircling his neck. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " I saw two beings in the hues of youth 
 Standing upon a hill, a gentle hill, 
 Green and of mild declivity the last 
 As 'twere, the cape, of a long ridge of such, 
 Save that there was no sea to lave its base, 
 But a most living landscape, and the wave 
 Of woods and cornfields, and the abodes of men 
 Scattered at intervals, and wreathing smoke 
 Arising from such rustic roofs 
 These two, a maiden and a youth, were there 
 Gazing ; the one on all that was beneath 
 Fair as herself but the boy gazed on her. 
 
 BYRON'S DREAM. 
 " Away away ! my early dream 
 
 Remembrance never must awake 
 Oh ! where is Lethe's fabled stream ? 
 
 My foolish heart, be still or break." BYRON. 
 
 HAVE you forgotten Aunt Debby? We hope not; for 
 though years have passed since you have visited Sunny Dell, 
 she still reigns there in undivided sovereignty. Rena is with 
 her now, for many changes have taken place in her own home,
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 109 
 
 since she appeared the wild skating girl of the meadow, or the 
 wise Latin scholar poring over the pages of Virgil, with Sher- . 
 wood Lindsey, by the side of the evening fire. Her mother was 
 dead, not of the nervous debility, which she regarded as a fatal 
 disease, but of a contagious fever that swept over the neigh 
 bourhood, in a vein of destruction, like the hurricane, selecting 
 here and there a victim. In her last moments, that phenome 
 non occurred, which is so often seen in the moral as in the 
 physical world the sudden clearing away of the mists of error 
 from life's setting sun. She seemed to have a prophetic view 
 of the trials to which her long-protracted indulgence would 
 expose her son, and to take in, with her brightened vision, the 
 superiority and disinterestedness of Rena's character. Calling 
 her to her bed-side, she committed her brother to Tier care and 
 guardianship, in conjunction with her father's, as if she were 
 the elder, and of the stronger sex. Usually the dying mother 
 thinks most of the daughter whom she is about to leave ex 
 posed to temptation, and liable to sorrow and suffering ; but it 
 was her boy, her beautiful, quiet, girl-like boy, for whom her 
 last thoughts trembled, her last prayers were offered. Rena 
 loved her mother, because she was her mother, and therefore 
 lamented her ; but there was no sympathy in their natures 
 they had scarcely one thought or taste in common. Far dif 
 ferent from the instinct of the child, which draws it to the 
 bosom of its mother, was the intense affection, reverence, re- 
 spest she bore her father. She worshipped him as the repre 
 sentative of her God on earth, and believed in him, as a living 
 Grospel, having all the precepts of our Saviour written on hip 
 heart and life. 
 
 Colonel Fay's sorrow for his wife was deep and true. He 
 mourned for her as the mother does for the feeble infant 
 dependent on her tenderness and cares. He missed the soft 
 whisper of her complaining voice, the odour of medicine that 
 always pervaded her apartment, the little row of labelled vials
 
 110 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 that adorned her mantel-piece. It looked strange and deso 
 late to see the couch smooth and high, covered with snowy 
 drapery, instead of bearing a pale and slender form, so long 
 its daily burden. He could not convince himself that it was 
 no longer necessary to walk about the house with a stilly 
 tread, to speak in a subdued voice, for fear of jarring the 
 delicate nerves he was so careful to save from the slightest 
 pain. 
 
 But time brought with it resignation, comfort, cheerful 
 ness. He had a large, Warm, generous heart, and he found 
 that the world contained loveable objects besides his children. 
 His neighbours noticed that the Colonel was more particular 
 about his dress on Sunday, that his tall figure was more erect, 
 that he went several nights in succession to visit a certain 
 widow, to sympathize with her in her loneliness. He had 
 known her when a young girl, and came very near loving her, 
 when the beauty of his wife captivated his fancy and blinded 
 his judgment. They were both free, both wiser for experience, 
 both possessed of sufficient property to lift them above the 
 imputation of being actuated by mercenary motives. With 
 so many congenialities, it is not surprising that they wedded, 
 and Rena saw her second mother take the place of honour at 
 her father's board. At first she felt the natural shrinking of 
 youth from seeing a comparative stranger fill that sacred 
 station, but she would as soon have cut off her right hand 
 and have plucked out her right eye as oppose her father's 
 right to bestow his name and affections on another. She had 
 no mean jealousy that he would love Tier less, nor did she 
 believe her own mother would sleep less quietly in her green 
 sward bed because the home of her widowed husband was 
 gladdened by another's presence. 
 
 The new Mrs. Fay was a woman of mind as well as heart; 
 who attended energetically to her domestic duties, yet was 
 always ready to share the evening hours with her husband, in
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. Ill 
 
 the pleasures of reading and conversation pleasures in which 
 Rena always participated, as a companion, rather than a child. 
 Henry was in College, so he was withdrawn from the circle 
 where the good and gracious influences of his step-mother 
 diffused so much happiness, and it was not very long before 
 Rena, too, was importuned by Aunt Debby to come to Sunny 
 Dell. Her brother, she said, no longer needed her. He had 
 a wife who was a helpmate indeed, and that was more than he 
 had ever had before. She was lonely, she wanted her favourite, 
 and she hinted that it would be for her interest to gratify the 
 wishes of Aunt Debby. This hint Colonel Fay did not repeat to 
 his daughter, but it had some influence in inducing him to 
 sacrifice any selfish feeling on his own part. If his sister 
 thought of making Rena her heiress, it was not for him to 
 put barriers in her way. So Rena, at sixteen, appeared again 
 in Aunt Debby's mountain-guarded home. 
 
 We asked you, a little while ago, if you had forgotten Aunt 
 Debby ? but it is no matter if you have, if you become ac 
 quainted with her at this period. We think you will like her 
 better now. The years which have elapsed since you last saw 
 her, which have changed the folded bud to the just opened 
 blossom, have mellowed instead of fading her. The short, 
 stiff^ black hair that stuck up all over her head, and gave a 
 porcupine fierceness to her appearance, has grown long and 
 soft, and is put up in a braid behind. Not that she is guilty 
 of braiding it herself the idea is perfect nonsense. She 
 always tucks it up in a mysterious-looking twist, that does not 
 take two seconds to arrange; but Rena, bewitching little Rena, 
 whom nobody can resist, has actually persuaded her to let her 
 comb, brush, and braid her hair d la mode, and to do sundry 
 other womanly things she never thought of before. She has 
 had so few to care for her, to take the least interest how sho 
 looks, she has been so engrossed with worldly cares, or given 
 up to bitter memories ; then every one is afraid to make any
 
 i!2 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 personal remark to her, she is so independent and peculiar. 
 They look upon her as one who has sworn enmity to all the 
 light graces of her sex, and they only talk behind her back of 
 her odd mode of dress and unfeminine appearance. The young 
 tiring-woman is now at her task let us peep in Aunt Debby's 
 chamber, and see the charm by which Rena tames her to sub 
 mit to the process. 
 
 Have you never felt a soft, soothing, delicious sensation steal 
 over you, bringing quiet, pleasant thoughts to the mind, and a 
 dewy slumberousness to the eyes, as a gentle hand passed over 
 your hair ; passed and repassed, each time touching the " elec 
 tric chain, by which we are darkly bound ?" Thus Rena's 
 hand smoothed, with mesmerising influence, Aunt Debby's 
 hitherto neglected locks, softening at the same time the inner 
 woman. 
 
 " Now, dear aunt, sit still a little longer," said the bower- 
 maiden, " till I finish this beautiful braid ; you have no idea 
 how soft and glossy it looks I" 
 
 " Beautiful fiddlestick ! child ! Who ever thought of calling 
 anything beautiful about me now ? It's all nonsense." 
 
 " No, it is not, aunt. It does look nice and pretty. There, 
 let me smooth it down on your forehead a little more. Turn 
 your head a little to the right. Now, look in the glass, Aunt 
 Debby, and see if it does not become you." 
 
 Rena skipped across the room and brought a toilet glass, 
 which she held directly in front of her aunt's face. Aunt 
 Debby tried to shut her eyes, and said she would not do so silly 
 a thing as to look at herself, but she did take a sly peep, just 
 long enough to catch the reflection of her smooth black hair 
 parted on her brow, softening the outline of her really fine 
 classic features. 
 
 " Why, the child is really making a fool of me," said she, 
 patting Rena, affectionately on the shoulder \ (< who cares how 
 an old woman like me looks?"
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 113 
 
 " But, you are not an old woman, Aunt Debby, I won't let 
 you call yourself so. There is not one gray hair among all 
 these jetty locks. Many a young girl would be proud to wear 
 them. And now, aunt, please let me take that lace collar I 
 saw in your shell drawer, and put it on your neck. It will 
 grow yellow and old-fashioned lying there. I want you to 
 wear something white about your throat, like other ladies, aunt. 
 May I get it?" 
 
 Rena pleaded as if it were a personal favour to herself, 
 a matter of vital importance to the interests of society : and 
 how could she refuse ? 
 
 There was an obsolete case of drawers in her room, where her 
 best articles were deposited. Each drawer had a peculiar name. 
 There was the narrow drawer at the top, the two corner draw 
 ers, and in the centre, one of broader dimensions, and of richer 
 appearance. The dark mahogany was grooved upward in curl 
 ing lines, resembling the convolutions of a shell. From this 
 circumstance it received its name, and Rena, when a little six 
 year old child, had a most intense admiration for this receptacle. 
 She used to watch the light playing on the projecting lines, and 
 the deep shadows settling in the grooves, till it became a really 
 sublime object. She did not think then, she would ever be 
 privileged to explore its hidden recesses. She remembered 
 once, when she only laid her hand on the shining brass handles, 
 feeling Aunt Debby's thimble suddenly rapping on her brain, 
 Bearing away all ideas of the sublime and beautiful. 
 
 " Silly child !" repeated she, while Rena attached the la 
 to the dark binding of her dress; "what is the use of such a 
 folderol as this? It was given to me, or you would not 
 have found it in my possession. Foolish little girl, you will 
 make everybody laugh at me, and say I am fixing up for another 
 husband." 
 
 " No, indeed, aunt, they will only say how well and lady 
 like you look. The mistress of this beautiful Sunny Dell ought
 
 114 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 to dress like a lady. You cannot think what a magic there is 
 in that little piece of lace. How it softens the outlines of 
 your face. Don't shake your head, aunt, you know it does ! 
 Many a time have I heard my father say, how handsome, how 
 gay, how admired you were in youth." 
 
 Aunt Debby's countenance changed instantaneously. " Do 
 not recall the memories of my youth," said she, " they are 
 all vanity and vexation of spirit. What matters it now to me, 
 what I was once gay and admired ? When I think what I once 
 was, and what I now am, it someti:nes seems to me that I have 
 died and awakened to another existence. Kena," she added, 
 in a tone so different from her usual abrupt manner of speak 
 ing, that Rena scarcely recognised her voice, " I mourn not 
 over my vanished youth and beauty, but I mourn for the blight 
 that fell on the bloom of my heart, for the withering of my 
 green affections, for the gall that turned to bitterness the sweet 
 fountain of feeling." 
 
 She paused, her head drooped on her hand, and her eyes 
 were fixed on the opposite window, through which was beheld 
 the lofty turrets of Bellevue, catching the sunbeams above the 
 dark, sloping lines of poplars. Rena looked upon Aunt Debby 
 with a doubt of her identity, her language was so different 
 from any she had ever used before, her countenance so 
 changed. She longed to ask her the history of her youth, 
 the romance of her early life, but delicacy and respect 
 restrained her. She had a conviction that it was Sher 
 wood Lindsey's father who had infused the gall-drops in the 
 current of youthful affection ; and she felt an unaccountable 
 dread of hearing his name associated with wrong and, perhaps^ 
 crime. 
 
 She loved Aunt Debby better than she had ever done be 
 fore. She pitied, sympathized with her. She was of an age 
 when the heart is full, ready to run over with sensibility, and 
 panting for objects on which to pour the swelling tide.
 
 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 115 
 
 " Dear aunt" she could not help saying. There was so 
 much feeling in her voice, that Aunt Debby started, and, 
 ashamed of the betrayal of emotions so seldom witnessed by 
 others, she pushed back her chair, and told Rena to let the 
 curtain fall over the window, to exclude the rays of the sun. 
 In a short time she was as busy as ever about her work, scold 
 ing Rena, in an affectionate manner, for making her look so 
 like a fool. But she soon became accustomed to looking so, 
 and the change in her manners corresponded with her softened 
 exterior. She continued odd, and careless of the world's 
 opinions, but the sharp corners of her character were rounding 
 off, and the rough places getting smoother, and the difficult 
 ones more easy. 
 
 Rena, who was allowed the freedom of the whole house, 
 from garret to cellar, had, with very peculiar taste, chosen the 
 attic for her boudoir, where she passed several hours every 
 day, when her aunt was engaged in household duties, and did 
 not require her assistance. The charm of this place was a 
 chest of books, which Aunt Debby had removed there to have 
 them out of the way. They were connected with the faded 
 romance of her life, and she did not like to see them. Rena, 
 who was famous for exploring little nooks and corners, dis 
 covered these buried treasures, and seized upon them with an 
 avidity and enthusiasm that converted the lone garret into a 
 scene peopled with glorious company. Her father's library 
 consisted chiefly of histories, biographies, and didactic works. 
 From these she had laid a goodly foundation on which to rear 
 the graceful superstructure of lighter literature. Now she 
 was transported from the real to the ideal. Columbus felt not 
 more rapture when he first inhaled the breezes of the virgir 
 world, than she, when the green isles and star-lit streams of 
 poesy, and the enchanted land of romance, met her ravished 
 vision. Like him, she knew there was a far-off clime she 
 had never yet explored, but imagination could not picture half 
 its riches.
 
 116 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 There was an old arm-chair, of very curious architecture 
 put away in this upper region as a piece of useless furniture; 
 which Rena dragged forth and placed by the window as he) 
 throne. It was of Indian manufacture, constructed of rude 
 forest boughs, interlaced with skill and some taste, and it had 
 long had the appellation of the Sachem. Deep in the Sacliem 
 Rena sat, bound by a spell so strong, the roof might have 
 fallen upon her head without her knowing it. It seemed a? 
 if a strong wind was sweeping over the Eolian lyre of hei 
 soul, wakening the wildest, richest, deepest harmony. 
 
 Till now the music of her being had slept, and it gushed 
 forth responsive to the varying strains that were floating 
 around her. Now it was the warbling melody of Moore, 
 that sweet nightingale of song, or the wizard harp of the 
 Minstrel of the North, or the deep, thrilling, passionate notes 
 of Byron. Again, Campbell's clarion lay swelled like a silver 
 trumpet on her ear, and she felt ready to march to " glory or 
 the grave." One day Aunt Debby found her when the spell 
 was on her, seated in her lofty-backed sachem, with Lalla 
 Rookh before her, open at the Fire-worshippers. She saw not 
 Aunt Debby, she heard not her approach ; she was listening 
 to the voice of Hafed ; she was standing by his side, gazing 
 with Hinda on the moonlight flood. A flush of crimson was 
 burning on her cheek, her lips quivered with emotion, her 
 eyes sparkled and darkened with alternate light and shadow. 
 
 " Do look at the child !" exclaimed Aunt Debby. Rena 
 started up and looked around wildly, to see the company, 
 whose attention her aunt was soliciting. But as no one was 
 there but herself, it must have been the weird spirit under 
 whose dominion she then was. "Do look at the child!" 
 repeated she more emphatically. 
 
 " Why, aunt ?" said Rena, brought back most reluctantly 
 to the world of reality, and blushing for her abstraction 
 
 " Why, I have been standing here at least ten minutes, and
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 117 
 
 you saw me no more than if you were stone blind. I don't 
 believe if Pharaoh and all his host were trampling about the 
 garret, you would have heard them. Rena, I am sorry you've 
 got hold of these things. You have wild-fire enough in you, 
 already. You shouldn't feed it. I think I must lock up the 
 chest, and march the old Sachem back against the wall." 
 
 " Oh, no, dear aunt, don't deprive me of this happiness. 
 I'll come whenever you want me, stay with you as long as 
 you wish, but leave me this newly-discovered source of enjoy 
 ment, more exquisite than I dreamed the world had in store 
 for me. You have never read this, I am sure, or you would 
 not ask me to resign it. Listen, aunt, to this beautiful pas 
 sage." 
 
 "No, no, child, the chords that once vibrated to the music 
 of poetry are all out of tune. There was a time but no mat 
 ter. Look out of the window, Rena. Do you see that tree, 
 near the mill, with a branch on the side, which the lightning 
 has stricken ? The green, tender leaves are all stirring and 
 fluttering in the air, but the dry bough moves not. You are 
 the green leaves; I, the withered branch. There is no more 
 use in reading poetry to me now, than for the wind to play 
 about that brown ruin. It is all nonsense, child." 
 
 " But you will not lock up the books, aunt. You will not 
 make me so very unhappy." 
 
 " It would be the wisest thing I could do. They will fill 
 your head with love-thoughts, and then they will get into 
 your heart. Better off without them." 
 
 " No, Aunt Debby," said Rena, " the thoughts are already 
 there, born there, and when I read, they wake, and I wonder 
 how others should think and feel the same. Every sweet 
 strain, every glowing line seems a part of my own being, and 
 a part also of everything sweet and beautiful in nature. So 1 
 feel linked with all that is good and fair on earth by a golden 
 chain. Do not laugh at me, aunt. I cannot express my feel-
 
 118 REN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 ings, I know, to make them clear to others, but I feel happier, 
 better, I love every one better, and God more than all." 
 
 Aunt Debby looked on Rena's animated and glowing face 
 with mingled compassion and admiration. 
 
 "Well, well," said she, patting the warm cheek, "have 
 your own way, and may God keep away the mildew and the 
 frost ! But come, I have a present for you. I came to tell 
 you so, but seeing you perched up here in such state, put it 
 all out of my head." 
 
 "A present for me ! how kind ! what can it be ?" 
 
 " Come and see. You know I promised you one, long ago. 
 You deserve some reward for leaving your pleasant home for 
 mine." 
 
 Rena bounded down stairs, after her aunt, wondering what 
 gift awaited her. Aunt Debby led her to the front door, 
 where "all saddled and bridled and fit for a ride," stood a 
 graceful, gentle-looking horse, small enough for a lady's use, 
 and spirited enough for a Diana's. It was as white as milk, 
 with a flowing mane and sweeping tail, and had an " eye like 
 the polar star." The housings of the saddle were red, and its 
 martingale, brilliantly embossed, glittered as it arched its 
 neck, and turned its sleek sides to the sun. Rena clapped 
 her hands with a cry of delight. 
 
 " Is that beautiful, beautiful creature for me ? all my own, 
 aunt ? You don't say so !" 
 
 " Yes, all your own, to ride over hill and dale, brook and 
 bridge, only on one condition, that you do not break your neck. 
 I heard you say the other day, you would give all the world 
 for a horse of your own, that you might ride as Di Vernon did. 
 Now you shall not even stay to thank me, but run and put on 
 your riding dress, and try him before the sun goes down. They 
 jay he is gentle as a lamb." 
 
 " Thank you, not once, but ten thousand times, my own 
 dear aunt !" cried Rena, throwing her arms round her aunt's
 
 OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 119 
 
 neck, and kissing her, as she flew by her, to don her equestrian 
 garments. She had not broken herself of the childish habit of 
 showing her love and gratitude by kissing. 
 
 Seldom had Aunt Debby felt more unalloyed satisfaction, 
 than when she saw her niece mounted on the back of the beau 
 tiful animal she had given her. It was a pleasant thing to see 
 one so grateful and appreciating ; it was a pleasure to look on 
 her happy face, and buoyant form, as she turned back and 
 smiled, and kissed her hand, at the gate. . 
 
 " Ride with your back to the sun, child," called out Aunt 
 Debby, "and don't go too fast down hill ; and be sure and not 
 stay out too late," she called still louder, as the milk-white 
 palfrey bore fleetly away its young and joyous rider. 
 
 Rena, who delighted in all out-of-door exercises, learned to 
 ride on horseback, as soon as she could manage to keep her 
 seat in the saddle, or without a saddle, for she did not stop for 
 such a trifle as that. Every horse on the farm had borne her, 
 an impromptu burden, about the fields, through hills of waving 
 corn, rows of potatoes, and ridges of beans. She had ridden 
 behind her father and before him, and cut as many capers on 
 horseback as Wamba in Ivanhoe ; so of course she was mis 
 tress of the whip and reins, and bore herself right gallantly 
 on the steed, that seemed proud of its new mistress, and pranced 
 and caracoled with innocent gayety. 
 
 Rena did not leave her love-thoughts, as Aunt Debby called 
 them, in the attic. She carried them with her on her lonely 
 ride, and they gave a blandness to the air, and a beauty to the 
 earth and sky, they had never worn before. She would have 
 been perfectly happy, if she had only some one near, to whom 
 she could communicate her joy. She wished her brotner was 
 with her, though she was not sure that he cared uiuch about 
 riding on horseback. She thought of Stella, whom she had 
 not seen since her arrival at Sunny Dell, and who she heard 
 was staying at Bellevue. She had also heard that Sherwood 
 42
 
 110 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 was returned from foreign lands, and she supposed he had 
 become a great gentleman, and forgotten the Snowbird, as he 
 usef 1 to call her. She wondered if he admired Stella's beau 
 tiful face more now, than when she was six or seven years old. 
 She wondered if Tie ever rode on horseback, and thought it 
 would be pleasant to meet him, even if he remembered her not. 
 She had been climbing up a long hill, and the silky hair of 
 her palfrey was moist with perspiration. 
 
 " I must not weary you, beautiful creature !" said she, riding 
 under the shade of a tree, that bent down over the corner of 
 the fence, where the roads crossed each other, " you shall find 
 me a gentle, loving mistress, and we will share together the 
 sunshine and shade." 
 
 The coolness and repose of the shadow was as grateful to her 
 as the animal, for the sultry summer glowed on her cheek, 
 and moistened the locks that shaded her brow. 
 
 Dropping the bridle on the neck of the gentle creature, that 
 bent its head to crop the rich grass under its feet, she took 
 off her plumed riding cap and put it on the pommel of the 
 saddle ; then shaking her hair loose from the comb that con 
 fined it, and suffering the air that came cool and fresh over thi 
 hill-tops to play among her tresses, she sat perfectly still 
 drinking in the wild inspiration of the scene. It happened 
 that another equestrian, just at this time, was slowly sauntering 
 along the crossing road, slackening his pace, from the same cause 
 which induced her to rest beneath the shade. The trees 
 formed a hedge all along his way, opening and making a vista 
 at the corner. Through that vista he carelessly glanced at 
 first, then reining in his horse, drew back a little farther under 
 the shelter of the boughs, and beheld, himself unseen, this 
 young Diaua, in her attitude of graceful repose. Rena's own 
 mother had never bestowed much thought on her dress, giving 
 to Henry's the attention that should have been divided be 
 tween them ; but her step-mother, who was a woman of great
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 121 
 
 taste, fitted up her wardrobe with a liberal hand. Knowing 
 her fondness for riding, she had given her, just before she left 
 home, a beautiful riding dress, not of the most costly mate 
 rials, but of graceful fashion and becoming hue. It was for 
 tunate for Rena that Sherwood Lindsey should see her each 
 time after an absence of years, under circumstances of pecu 
 liar personal advantage. The deep blue colour of her long, 
 flowing skirt was brought out brightly and richly by the 
 snowy whiteness of the horse, and the little straw-hat, shaded 
 by blue feathers (Rena always had a passion for straw-hats), 
 looked as if it could belong to no other head than hers. The 
 glowing brightness of her complexion, the flowing wildness of 
 her hair, the animated expression of her countenance, and the 
 deep repose of her attitude, formed a picture which a painter 
 might have studied with the enthusiasm of his art. Add to 
 these the beautiful surroundings, the canopy of leaves above, 
 whose light festoons mingled with her loosened locks; the 
 green carpet beneath, on which the fetlocks of the palfrey fell 
 like flakes of snow ; and high above all the glorious amphi 
 theatre of heaven it is not strange that Sherwood, though 
 no painter, should have transferred the picture so faithfully to 
 the tablet of his fancy, that it remained there ever afterwards. 
 There is no knowing how long he would havo remained gazing 
 through the vista, had he not seen symptoms of a removal on 
 her part. First, she gathered up her long dark hair, and fast 
 ening it with the comb she had hung on a little bough over 
 head, put on the picturesque little page-like hat, took the 
 bridle in one hand, and caressed with the other the mane that 
 flowed beneath. Just as she was about to start anew, he rode 
 rapidly round the corner, and lifting his hat from his head, 
 came directly to the spot where she was. 
 
 " Rena wild gipsy still I" cried he, bending from the saddle 
 to catch the hand she eagerly extended. " When did you 
 light upon these regions ? I did not know you were at Sunny
 
 122 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 Dell I did not dream such a pleasure as this awaited me 
 when I left Bellevue." 
 
 " Then you are really glad to see me again ?" said she, ' 
 colouring with delight at this sudden meeting ; " I feared you 
 had forgotten me, among all the wonders and grandeurs you 
 have seen. Only think how long it has been four years ! 
 It seemed an age an hour ago how little time at this 
 moment !" 
 
 " Then you thought of me an hour ago ! thank you, Kena ! 
 and I assure you my spirit went out to meet you at the self 
 same minute, and I have been thinking of you ever since. 
 Forgotten you ! you would not think so, if you had seen me 
 last night, wandering in the land of dreams, with your scarlet 
 livery round my neck." 
 
 Rena laughed incredulously. 
 
 " You remember," said he, " the trophy I won in the 
 moonlight race ! I have kept it as a true and loyal knight, 
 and when I go forth to combat, it shall be the device upon 
 my shield, and the same bright colour shall flame upon my 
 banner." 
 
 " Well, if you are my knight, you can guard me part of my 
 homeward way, while we talk a little of old times. I pro 
 mised my aunt not to be abroad late, and the sun is not far 
 from the horizon." 
 
 Rena felt perfectly happy, for all that was wanting to fill 
 up the measure of her joy when she left Sunny Dell, was now 
 supplied a companion and the one of all others she most 
 wished to see. She did not expect to recognise the gallant 
 boy, the gay collegian, in the handsome, travelled young man 
 at her side. But she did at the first glance and his man 
 ners so frank, cordial, and unaffected they were just the 
 same only a little more polished and graceful. She felt 
 just as much at her ease, as when she coasted on his sled 
 down the hill, or skated with him, hand in hand, on .her
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 123 
 
 father's meadow, and she laughed and talked as merrily and 
 self-forgettingly as then. 
 
 " What shall I call my beautiful horse ?" asked she, when 
 he was admiring its perfections. " You shall name it, if you 
 wish." 
 
 " Call it Snowbird" said he, " in honour of its mistress. 
 That was my pet name for you when I was a college-boy." 
 
 " Call me so still. I like old associations. Give it a clas 
 sic name." 
 
 "Bucephalus?" 
 
 " Oh, no that is too long, too grand, for my milk-white 
 steed. Some gentle, home-endeared title." 
 
 " Let it be Cygnet then, for gracefully as a swan glides on 
 the water, it floats over the dewy green." 
 
 Rena was about to give her pleased assent to this, when her 
 attention was arrested by the sight of a handsome carriage, 
 drawn by a pair of coal-black horses, and mounted on the box 
 was her old friend Jemmy Bell. Seated within was the dark 
 and handsome man she had seen there years before, perfectly 
 unchanged in appearance, and by his side the delicate lady, 
 but so pale and faded, she would not have known her, save by 
 her former accompaniments. Sherwood, smiling, bowed down 
 to his saddle-bow as he passed, and the pale lady smiled very 
 sweetly on him, though she looked inquiringly at Rena, and 
 the dark eyes of the gentleman were riveted upon her face so 
 intently, they seemed to burn upon her cheek. 
 
 "Your father and mother?" said she to Sherwood. "I 
 met them ten years ago, when I was a very little girl, just 
 about this spot. I never forgot your father's face it haunts 
 me like a dream It is not changed it will haunt me still. 
 I never saw so striking a countenance." 
 
 " He was always considered a very handsome man, but it 
 is a brilliant and powerful mind, that gives the fascination 
 whose influence you feel. Oh, Rena, I wish you knew my
 
 124 AENAJ OE, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 mother! She is the gentlest and sweetest of human beings. 
 She is too good, too heavenly for this world." 
 
 " It is not likely I ever shall," answered Rena, an expres 
 sion of sadness stealing over her countenance, " as she and 
 Aunt Debby do not visit each other. She has indeed a hea 
 venly expression." 
 
 " You must know each other," said Sherwood, earnestly, 
 but thoughtfully. They rode along without speaking, a short 
 time, when Rena suddenly broke the silence, by asking him 
 if Stella was not at Bellevue. The recollection of the excit 
 ing scenes in which he had last beheld her, called a high 
 colour to his face, as he answered, that she had been there, 
 but was now with a Mrs. Brown, who lived at some distance 
 from them. 
 
 " Is she not very, very beautiful now ?" asked Rena, notic 
 ing the embarrassment of Sherwood, and feeling a little dis 
 concerted herself. 
 
 " Yes, she is certainly remarkably lovely. Poor girl ! I 
 pity her forced to go from dwelling to dwelling, sometimes, 
 I fear, finding few of the comforts and endearments of home." 
 
 "I should like to see her I must go to see her," said 
 Rena. " I should like to have her come to Sunny Dell. But 
 whose pretty cottage is this, so neat and cosy ?" 
 
 " See if you do not recollect the ruddy-cheeked woman, 
 churning in that little porch, I am sure / never shall forget 
 her." 
 
 " Hannah ! it's our own Hannah ! Let us stop and see her 
 I knew she was married to Jemmy Bell, but I did not know 
 that she lived here." 
 
 They stopped at once before the wicket gate, and Rena 
 sprang from the horse before Sherwood had hardly dis 
 mounted from hi? and gathering up her long riding-skirt, 
 she ran through the yard, caught Hannah's hand away from 
 the churn-dash, and pressed it heartily in her own. Hannah's
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 125 
 
 sight was at first dazzled by the bright face and blue feathers, 
 but the smile and the voice reassured her, and she knew it 
 was her little favourite who was greeting her so cordially. 
 Hannah had always held a high standing in Rena's estimation, 
 since she had rescued Sherwood from death with her dauntless 
 arm an act which had been signally rewarded. Though Mr. 
 Lindsey's first bounty was rejected, he was not discouraged 
 from renewing the offer. Upon her marriage, after the faith 
 ful courtship of six years, with Jemmy Bell, who still retained 
 his office of coachman, he had presented her the neat little 
 cottage Rena so much admired, where Hannah manufactured 
 all the butter and cheese used at Bellevue. 
 
 " And are these little rosy-faced, fat things yours ?" asked 
 Rena in astonishment, looking at two little new beings, one 
 vigorously plying the churn-dash while it sat in its mother's 
 lap, the other rolling about on the grass, kicking up its chubby 
 feet and crowing with all its might. 
 
 " Yes, Miss Rena, they are both mine ; and there's only a 
 year's difference between them," said Hannah, exhibiting them 
 with as much pride as the mother of the Gracchi. " That 
 little fellow rolling on the grass I've named after Master 
 Sherwood. Sherwood Lindsey Bell is a name that will tell 
 one of these days." 
 
 Rena burst into a gay laugh, as she looked from the fat 
 live dumpling so loftily christened, to the tall, proud-looking 
 young man whose name he bore. " I wanted to call my little 
 girl after you, Miss Rena, but its father would have it Han 
 nah." Here Hannah, junior, gave such a lusty pull at tho 
 churn-dash that the cream spattered in far-spreading rings, 
 that came very near spoiling Rena's blue riding dress. 
 
 " I declare, Miss Rena," continued Hannah, giving her one 
 of her honest, cordial, approving smiles, "you have grown so 
 fine and young-lady-like I didn't know you at first, but wheij
 
 126 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 you come near one, you've got the same natural, child-like 
 sort of look. Have you seen Golden Pippin lately ?" 
 
 " Hannah !" exclaimed Rena, rebukingly. 
 
 " Well, Stella, then I don't mean any harm, but old names 
 will stick to one, anyhow." 
 
 " No," said Rena ; " but it is getting late, and I must bid 
 you good-bye now, Hannah you must come and see me, and 
 bring his namesake that is, and mine that was to be." 
 
 Hannah shook her head. " I don't visit there now. Your 
 Aunt Debby didn't like my marrying Mr. Bell, though she 
 made me a great many handsome presents, and behaved like 
 a lady as she is. But I don't go anywhere where they don't 
 make my husband welcome, and that's the reason I stay 
 away." 
 
 Rena promised to perform a double portion of visiting under 
 these circumstances, and hurried away, pleased with this speci 
 men of rural felicity. 
 
 She began to feel a little uneasy at the prospect of incur 
 ring her aunt's displeasure by seeing her return in company 
 with Sherwood Lindsey. She did not like to brave her anger 
 when she had just given her such a proof of liberality and 
 kindness ; nor did she suppose Sherwood himself would like 
 to expose himself to the scornful reception she had once before 
 given him. With characteristic frankness she said, before 
 they came within sight of Sunny Dell 
 
 " You will leave me here, Sherwood I cannot call you Mr. 
 Lindsey." 
 
 "No, for Heaven's sake, don't! But why must I leave 
 you here ?" 
 
 " I cannot allow you, for my sake, to go where you would 
 not for your own." 
 
 " I have sworn to be your knight, and I should be a craven 
 one, indeed, if I did not see my lady fair safe within her 
 eastle gates."
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 127 
 
 " But you know Aunt Debby " 
 
 " Yes, I know she is no friend of mine ; but I want most 
 especially to win her right good will. The dragon that 
 guarded the bowers of Hesperides would not prevent me, now, 
 from coming to Sunny Dell !" 
 
 " Don't compare Aunt Debby to a dragon, Sherwood. She 
 is too good and kind for that. You have no idea how much 
 heart she has." 
 
 " Show me the way to it, and no Persian devotee ever paid 
 more lowly reverence to the rising sun, than will I to the pre 
 siding genius of Sunny Dell." 
 
 The music of the cascade now murmured in their ears. They 
 crossed the bridge and soon reached Aunt Debby's gate. She 
 stood in the door-way, watching for the return of her niece, for 
 the sun was only a golden hemisphere, and twilight was lean 
 ing from the hills. 
 
 "Is that your aunt?" said Sherwood, tracing but little 
 resemblance in the figure before him, to the grenadier, whom 
 he had once defied. 
 
 " Yes," replied Rena, feeling more trepidation than she 
 was willing he should observe, in prospect of -her aunt's dis 
 pleasure. Sherwood assisted her to dismount, and led her up 
 the steps, with as much ease and grace, as if he were assured 
 of a most cordial welcome. He no longer doubted the identity 
 of the lady, for well did he remember the lightning glance that 
 flashed upon him in boyhood, and which had lost nothing of 
 its scorching fire. 
 
 " Mr. Sherwood Lindsey, aunt," said Rena, in a deprecating 
 tone. 
 
 " And what brings Mr. Sherwood Lindsey here, where he 
 knows he is an unwelcome guest? Sir, I never desire one 
 that bears your name to cross my threshold, or sit down under 
 my roof." 
 
 " Madam," answered Sherwood, proudly, but respectfully,
 
 128 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " I met yoar niece, and presumed on the freedom of old ac 
 quaintanceship, to escort her home. I knew I had prejudices 
 to encounter, but trusted that time had softened them, and that 
 I had power to remove them, as far as it regards myself. I 
 rely upon your courtesy as a lady, to allow me to visit here, as 
 a friend of Rena, if not of your own." 
 
 " Young man," said Aunt Debby, moved in spite of herself 
 by his frank and manly bearing, " I do not wish to be uncivil 
 and turn you from my door, but once again I say, that 
 not till morn and midnight meet, shall niece of mine, with my 
 permission, associate with a son of the Hon. Herbert Lindsey. 
 I said so ten years ago, I say so now, I will say it to my dying 
 day." 
 
 "And /say," cried Rena, excited beyond the power of self- 
 control, " that it is harsh, and cruel, and unjust, to visit on the 
 son a father's errors, whatever they may have been, /say it 
 is unworthy of you, Aunt Debby ; and when your dying day 
 comes, you will be sorry enough for the bitter spirit that moves 
 you now." 
 
 Taking off her hat, for the strings seemed to tighten under 
 her chin and cut her swelling veins, she fanned with the feathers 
 her burning cheeks. 
 
 " Rena, go to your room," cried Aunt Debby, pale with 
 anger. It was seldom indeed she turned pale, and when she 
 did, it was not the white flag of peace coming over her cheeks. 
 
 " No," exclaimed Sherwood, " I will no longer expose her 
 to your displeasure by my presence, but thank Heaven the 
 world is wide, and your dominion extends not beyond those 
 green fields and that bounding stream. Farewell, Rena, if you 
 have one kind feeling for your early friend, cherish it till we 
 meet again." 
 
 Taking her hand, and pressing it right before her aunt's face, 
 as if in scorn of her threats, he gave the latter a triumphant 
 smile, and passing through the gate, mounted his horse and
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 12P 
 
 gal'oped across the lawn. Rena's eyes followed him till he dig 
 appeared, then she listened to the horse's hoofs trampling ovev 
 the bridge, and then to the water dashing over the mill-darn 
 The beating of her own heart sounded as loud to her as tht 
 tic-tac of the mill, and her rebel passions were dashing against 
 her heart like "those foaming waters. 
 
 " How long are you going to stand there, looking after that 
 young man, miss ?" said her aunt. " How long must supper 
 wait your pleasure, miss ?" 
 
 " I don't want any supper/' cried Rena, passionately, and 
 sweeping her skirt over her arm, she flew up stairs, cast her hat 
 upon the first chair she saw, threw herself upon the bed and 
 buried her face in her hands. It would be difficult to tell 
 which she hated most at that moment, herself, Aunt Debby, 
 or the world ; that world which had appeared to her so full of 
 beauty and happiness, when she went out in the sunshine, on 
 her milk-white Cygnet. There she lay at least two hours, for 
 daylight had faded into twilight, and twilight deepened into 
 the rich darkness of starry night, and still she was alone, with 
 her cheek pressed upon the pillow, all wet with tears. 
 
 At length the door opened and some one entered. She 
 knew Aunt Debby' s step, which slowly approached the bed, 
 but she did not speak or move. 
 
 " Are you asleep, Rena ?" said her aunt, bending over her. 
 The tone of her voice, though grave, was not harsh. It was 
 even sorrowful, and Rena, subdued at once, meekly answered 
 she was not asleep. 
 
 " I am sorry," said Aunt Debby, sitting down by the bed 
 side, "I am sorry all this has happened, child. It can't be 
 helped now ; but I would give half of what I am worth to feel 
 as I did when I stood watching you, till you were out of sight, 
 this afternoon." 
 
 " So would I too, aunt," sobbed Rena. There was no light 
 in the room -none without, save here and there a starry gleaw,
 
 1HO BEN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 tli at did not penetrate the curtained window. Aunt Debby 
 had been sitting in darkness in her own room, preparing her 
 self for the task she believed it her duty to perform. In 
 darkness she came to fulfil it. 
 
 " Rena," said she, " I cannot bear that you should think 
 me harsh, cruel, and unjust, without a cause. It is strange 
 that one who has lived so long independent of the opinion of 
 the world, should make her happiness depend upon that of a 
 child ; but it is even so. I have another motive too, urging 
 me to wkat I am about to do. Let the history of my youth 
 be a beacon to yours. You need one, child, for your passions 
 are strong and may drive you against shoals, of whose exist 
 ence you little dream. Rena, will you listen to me ?" 
 
 " Listen I" she exclaimed, sitting up and pushing her dis 
 hevelled locks behind her ears " oh, yes, dear aunt. I have 
 been afraid to ask you ; yet there is nothing I have so longed 
 to know as the story of your early life." 
 
 " If you expect any stirring events," said the aunt, " any 
 startling incidents, you will be disappointed. It is a history 
 of the heart. Yes, cold and hard as I now seem, the morning 
 dream of my heart was love and once I thought that dream 
 was realized. I have been sitting in the solitude of my room 
 two long hours, composing my thoughts, so as to avoid all 
 unnecessary sentiment and display. I do not wish to excite 
 your feelings. I only wish you to know why I do not wish 
 the son of Herbert Lindsey to throw his shadow across my 
 threshold or your destiny. 
 
 " When I was a young girl, you may have heard your father 
 speak of the lonely situation we occupied, on a farm, quite 
 aloof from any town quite an unusual thing in the heart of 
 New England. My father was devoted to his farm, my mo 
 ther to her domestic pursuits ; so I grew up amid my own 
 wild fancies in unchecked luxuriance, and never perhaps did 
 a human beiog feel a more exulting principle in her bosom
 
 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 131 
 
 than glowed in mine. I felt no sympathy with any one around 
 me. I was all-suf&cient in myself and by myself for happi 
 ness. My mother tried to bring me down to a daily routine 
 of duties, but at last gave up in despair. My father used to 
 reason with me, but he might as well have reasoned with the 
 lightning. I had a passionate thirst for knowledge, with but 
 little to satisfy it. They sent me to the country schools, but 
 I could no more sit still six hours a day, on high-backed 
 benches, without speaking or looking out of the window, con 
 ning o^er lessons, to recite by rote like a parrot, than I couA 
 turn my blood into ice and my heart into stone. I was always 
 violating rules, always incurring the severest punishments, 
 often sent home in disgrace ; but home I never went. I used 
 to ramble out in the fields, and climb the rocks and ford the 
 streams, wondering if God had given one creature power to 
 tyrannize over the freeborn soul of another. If He had, I 
 determined to rebel against it, and I did, till I became the 
 terror of the teachers, and the reproach of the neighbourhood. 
 " My brother, your father, Rena, lived at this time with an 
 uncle, who resided in a large town, celebrated for the excel 
 lence of its schools. He had taken my brother home with 
 him, that he might have the benefit of these schools; and 
 learning from him my wild and undisciplined state, the good 
 man came and urged my parents to send 1 me to a Female 
 Academy established near his own residence, where I could be 
 in his own family, and enjoy those advantages of education I 
 so much needed. The superior character of this institution 
 imposed a restraint on my hitherto lawless disposition, and the 
 love of knowledge, till then unfed, enabled me to bear with 
 more decorum the rigid discipline to which I was compelled 
 to submit. All this time, Rena, the principle of love had 
 never been called into exercise, that lever which couid have 
 moved my stubborn will, though in the hands of a feeble 
 child. I wish, if possible, to give you some idea ^f the ele-
 
 1S2 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 monts that composed my character, that you may comprehend 
 the nature of that influence which soon brought all those ele 
 ments into vassalage. I was a strange, wild, wilful girl, with 
 a will of iron, but a heart of wax. It was the strong will 
 they tried to bend ; they sought not to impress the yielding 
 heart. I remained with my uncle two years, and it was said 
 the savage was tamed. The last Sunday of my stay there, a 
 stranger entered the church, long after the service commenced ; 
 and now, Rena, begins what I promised to relate. Every eye 
 was turned towards his advancing figure. You have seen 
 him in the meridian of his manhood. What he was in its 
 morning you may imagine from his son, only more brilliant, 
 more striking. There was a kind of radiant darkness about 
 his face, a mixture of beauty and grandeur, like the glory 
 of night. The eyes of the stranger wandered about the 
 church, when I felt they rested on me. I felt it by the 
 sudden thrill that ran through every fibre of my being. 
 You have been told that I was once handsome. Whether 
 I was or not, there was something that attracted and riveted 
 his attention during the remainder of the solemn services, that 
 induced him to trace my homeward footsteps, so as to ascer 
 tain my dwelling-place. The next day I met him in my 
 walks. He spoke without an introduction, for he saw I was 
 one who would set at defiance all conventional rules. He was 
 young, but had already seen much of the world I, nothing. 
 I can give you no idea of the fascination of his manners, 
 that is a power that must be felt, not described. I remained 
 only a week longer at my uncle's, but I met him every day, 
 and lived more in that one short week than the whole seven 
 teen years of my previous existence. Ah ! child, child, 
 when I look back to this period of my life, and think how my 
 heart then gushed forth in one warm, living current, to meet 
 his, and feel it as hard and cold as it now is, I can compare 
 t to nothing but the burning lava of the fire-mountain, all
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 133 
 
 cooled and hardened into stone. You must not wonder at my 
 language. Passion always abounds in metaphors, and as I 
 call up the visions of my youth, it rises from its ashes and 
 glows with something of its wonted heat. 
 
 "I returned home. He followed me into the obscurity of 
 my native wilds. There, amidst the green solitudes, he wan 
 dered with me, and talked of nothing but love. He read me 
 poems that breathed of nothing but love yes ! that very poem 
 I saw you poring over to-day, till your brain seemed on fire, 
 he read to me, with his voice of music, when there was no 
 other sound heard but the beating of our own hearts. My 
 parents were proud of the conquest their wild girl had made, 
 and my former companions looked upon me with outward 
 respect, but secret envy. Months passed, but still he lingered ; 
 but at length we parted, solemnly pledged to each other, heart 
 and soul, for life or death, time and eternity. He was to go 
 to England with his father, who he assured me would not 
 oppose our union, and in one year would return to claim me 
 as his wife. Well, Rena, child, have you fallen asleep ?" 
 
 " Asleep ! no indeed, dear aunt. Please go on, I could 
 listen for ever," cried Rena, drawing a deep inspiration, and 
 pressing her aunt's hand, with unconscious sympathy. 
 
 " The year passed away/' resumed Aunt Debby, " that long, 
 long year. At first letters came, frequent and long. And 
 such letters, I wish you could have read them, but I have 
 burned them all." 
 
 " I wish so, too," cried Rena, ardently. 
 
 " A pen of fire a heart of ice strange union, child ! He 
 returned to his native country. He came to my rustic home. 
 I thought he was changed, cold, abstracted; but I said to my 
 self, that it was because my love had grown deeper, warmer, 
 broader in absence that I was changed, not he. Well ! the 
 wedding-day was appointed, and wedding preparations going 
 bravely, nobly on. Long webs of linen were bleaching in the
 
 134 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 sunshine, brilliant patch-work counterpanes were stretched out 
 on the frames, my mother was busy putting daisy tufts on the 
 snowy dimity, everything that could be done for a farmer's only 
 daughter was doing for me ; me, who was doing nothing for 
 myself, but dreaming of a future, that it seemed to me angels 
 might envy. I am trying to put off the dark hour, but it came. 
 Yes, the wedding-day came, and I had on my bridal dress. 
 The letter I expected had not arrived, but that of course mis 
 carried. He was on his way, and the bride must be ready. 
 The minister was there, looking kind and solemn. The guests 
 came in one after another. The odour of the warm cake 
 mingled with the perfume of the flowers. Everything was 
 ready, but the bridegroom. I sat waiting, looking down upon 
 my white dress, till I thought it turned into a shroud. Then 
 I looked at the guests, and they were all funeral watchers, 
 assembled round the dead. The flowers smelt like grave-flowers, 
 and they were the grave-flowers of my earthly happiness. The 
 bridegroom never came. We thought him sick, dead, anything, 
 everything but/a?se. I was carried that night cold and faint 
 ing to my chamber. The next day a burning fever was in my 
 veins, but that was nothing. After a while a newspaper came 
 Heaven knows who sent it and there, in letters of fire that 
 burned into my brain, I saw his marriage to another. I will 
 not pain you by dwelling on what followed. I went through 
 a baptism of fire, but it did not purify, it only hardened my 
 nature. Had I been one of the gentle spirits, my heart would 
 have broken, but mine did not break. It seemed as hard as 
 the nether millstone. My friends talked of revenge, but 
 I disdained the thought. My father threatened a suit for 
 breach of promise. I would have died sooner than have sub 
 mitted to such a disgrace. As if money could atone for blighted 
 youth, extinguished, hope and betrayed love. As if money 
 could pay for the heart's blood. No ! I made my father and 
 brother vow that they would make no attempt to avenge my
 
 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. Ia5 
 
 wrongs. Beyond my own little neighbourhood, their story was 
 not known, and I would not have them blazoned to the world. 
 I told you I had an iron will, and all bent to its sway.. His 
 name was never mentioned, all traces of his existence were 
 swept away from our home ; all but the deep scars, hardening 
 over the heart's wound. Years rolled on. My father became 
 infirm and poor j his vigorous arm could no longer toil for 
 his support ; my brother was married, and was toiling to sus 
 tain his own family. Mr. Wright, the owner of this large and 
 beautiful farm, a man of property and influence, visited us, 
 and sought me for his wife. I married him, because my father 
 was poor, and he urged me to provide a home for mysalf. I 
 married, too, because I would not that lie should say, I lived 
 an old maid for his sake. It was a sin and a shame that I did 
 so, for there was not one spark of love in my being then. He 
 brought me and made me the mistress of Sunny Dell, and I, 
 who had led a wild, dreamy life, transformed myself into a busy, 
 bustling, managing housekeeper. I did not love him, but I 
 worked for him with an energy that surprised myself. I was 
 afraid to sit down and fold my hands, lest T should think of 
 the past, and perhaps go mad. I rose before it was light, 
 and set my household to work, and my husband praised me as 
 a jewel of a wife, but I could not sleep, and the strong encr 
 gies of my character must have an object. But I have no/ 
 told you yet, child, I do believe you are asleep. Never mind, 
 don't squeeze my hand off. I have not told you that he dwelt; 
 near us, my husband's political and legal foe, dwelt in wealth 
 and pride and honour, looking down upon his neighbours as no 
 better than his menials. You know the fact already, however ; 
 you know the lord of Bellevue. I was walking with my hus 
 band, when I met him face to face, with his fair and beautiful 
 wife. I did not turn my head or slacken my pace. I looked 
 at him for one moment steadfastly, and all my wrongs came 
 rusling up from the depths of my heart, as from a boiling 
 43
 
 136 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 cauldron. They burst through the ice-crust that covered them, 
 and came scalding and burning into my face. He averted his 
 eyes, that proud, false man, as if an evil spirit crossed his 
 path, I know I must have looked like one. His wife clung 
 closer to his arm, and shrunk from me in terror. I laughed 
 after they passed by. It was near this very mountain, and 
 the echoes mocked me. 
 
 My husband died. I was left a rich widow, with no child to 
 open a love-fount in my dry heart. Your father urged me to 
 visit him, and told me of your mother's feeble health. I have 
 nothing more to tell ; I told you it was nothing but the his 
 tory of a heart. Yes ! even as a little child I learned to love 
 you, Rena better than I thought I should ever love a human 
 being ; and lately, you have brought back to me some of the 
 softness and freshness of my youth. You have womanized 
 me, Rena ; for I was hard and masculine, and tried to forget 
 my sex, which I hated and loathed. Now, tell me, if you 
 think I can ever welcome one of that accursed " 
 
 " Oh ! aunt, dear aunt, stop I" exclaimed Rena, putting 
 her hand suddenly over her aunt's lips, while she threw the 
 other arm caressingly round her neck ; " As you believe in 
 God and a pardoning Saviour, you must not utter such dread 
 ful words I" 
 
 " It is because I am tempted to say such dreadful things, 
 that I never can forgive," cried Aunt Debby, seizing the hand 
 that sealed her lips, and pressing her throbbing temples 
 against it. " It is because he has changed me into a being I 
 myself abhor. Had he b'lt told me that he loved another, 
 frankly and honestly, I would have released and forgiven 
 hint. I always did wonder what he could see in me to love, 
 all glorious as he was, and is still. I could have forgiven and 
 loved him still and even now, in spite of my hatred, my 
 scorn, and the bitter memory of my wrongs, there are mo 
 ments when I love him still." 
 
 '" "
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 137 
 
 Aunt Debby bent her head down upon her knees, and, as 
 she rocked backwards and forwards, Rena heard deep, suffo 
 cating sobs labouring in her breast. 
 
 " Don't weep so, aunt, I cannot bear to hear you. You 
 will break my heart, Aunt Debby I" cried she, winding her 
 arms around her and laying her soft cheek against hers. 
 
 " Never let me have cause to weep for you, Rena," said 
 she, slowly lifting her head, as if it were a leaden weight, and 
 leaning it against the pillow. " As is the father, 30 ma/ the son 
 be. Beware of the race ! they have the guile of In* serpent 
 and the sting of the adder." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " I pray thee let me weep to-night 1 
 
 'Tis rarely I am weeping ; 
 My tears are buried in my heart, 
 
 Like cave-locked founts.Ius sleeping. 
 I cannot bear to think of this ; 
 
 Oh ! leave me to my weeping ; 
 A few tears for that grave, my heart, 
 
 Where hope in Death is sleeping." L. E. L. 
 
 RENA, who was a morning lark, rising before the sun, and, 
 like the bird that gathers the dew-drops on its wings, greeting 
 his coming with the glad music of her song, slept till her 
 chamber was all bathed in sunshine. Aunt Debby would not 
 have her disturbed. She went in herself, with soft step, and 
 drew the curtains, so that her slumbers might be prolonged 
 observing with tenderness and compassion the pale cheeks ot 
 the young girl, and the shadow that rested heavily on her 
 brow. 
 
 There was a deeper shadow on her heart. The knowledge
 
 138 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 nf man's treachery and falsehood, brought in such close and 
 startling relation to herself, loosened her confidence in all 
 that was good and fair. Never more could she have that 
 undoubting faith, that beautiful trust in virtue and truth, that 
 cm Id-like simplicity, which, like a crystal rill flowing through 
 her heart, had diffused an atmosphere of purity and freshness 
 around her. She had tasted of the tree of good and evil 
 and could no more dwell in the Eden, over whose blossoms 
 the trail of the serpent had passed. 
 
 So she thought, when she sat down at the breakfast table 
 at the side of her aunt, who seemed now invested with a kind 
 of mysterious charm. She scanned her features, trying to 
 discover the traces of that beauty, which had so powerfully 
 attracted the young and dazzling stranger ; of that sensibility, 
 which, the preceding night, had burst forth in impassioned 
 tears and rending sighs ; of that love, whose divine spark nei 
 ther wrongs nor Time had utterly extinguished. But Aunt 
 Debby, as if ashamed of the emotions she had exhibited, had 
 encased herself again in her armour, which, like the shell of 
 the tortoise, covered every vulnerable part. 
 
 Days passed away the name of Lindsey was not mentioned, 
 the milk-white Cygnet was not summoned by its young mis 
 tress, who stole away to her lonely attic and her gray old 
 Sachem, finding new fascination in the wizard works of genius 
 and passion. But she was feeding, as Aunt Debby had said, 
 the wild-fire within, which stole for its fuel some of the roses 
 from her cheeks. Aunt Debby noticed, without commentary, 
 their paler hue, and ordering Cygnet to be saddled, insisted 
 upon her riding abroad. 
 
 "You wanted to see Stella," said she; "go and find her 
 You know where the Widow Brown lives, just beyond Wal 
 nut Hill. It will be a pleasant ride for you. If you choose, 
 you can ask her to visit you, though I don't like the girl and 
 never did I would not treat her unkindly, but I would not
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 139 
 
 wish to see you sleeping on the same pillow ; as you did when 
 children. Your heart is pure, child, now; keep it from 
 contamination." 
 
 Rena did not look back and smile, with a face of living 
 sunshine, as she did, when last she rode from the gate ; but 
 Bhe felt grateful to her aunt for not commanding her to avoid 
 Sherwood, if she should chance to meet him. It implied a 
 confidence in her, which she resolved should not be misplaced. 
 At first she rode slowly and pensively along, the bridle hang 
 ing so loosely in her hand, that Cygnet, attracted by some 
 tufts of fragrant clover that sprang up by the way-side, stopped 
 leisurely to regale himself, supposing he had been taken out 
 for his own amusement. 
 
 " Ah ! Cygnet I" cried she, " this will never do " -and 
 touching his flanks lightly with her whip, he sprang forward . 
 with a bound, that would have thrown a less practised rider 
 from the saddle. She was soon winding round the brow of 
 the hill, under the foliage of the walnut trees. There was a 
 path, right across the woods, and she turned in that direction, 
 her spirits already exhilarated and her eye brightened. 
 
 Suddenly, in a bend of the path, she met Sherwood Lind- 
 eey. He was on foot, and his hands were filled with clusters 
 of mountain ivy, whose waxen flowers, and dark, glabrous 
 leaves, form such a beautiful contrast. She started, and co 
 loured with surprise and pleasure. 
 
 " Rena, alone !" he exclaimed ; " whither are you bound ?" 
 
 "To Stella/' she murmured, a constraint she had never 
 felt before in Sherwood's presence chilling her manner. He 
 missed the beautiful sunburst of delight that illumined her 
 face when he last met her, and could well divine the cause 
 His anger was kindled, not against her, but the one whosp 
 unjustifiable prejudices, as be supposed, were raising barriers 
 to his will. Rena had scarcely ever seen him with a station 
 ary cloud on his brow. Even in the midst of her aunt's
 
 140 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 indignation and scorn, a smile had played upon his lip, 
 expressive of conscious power. Now she remembered what 
 Aunt Debby had said of the radiant darkness of his father's 
 face, and she saw it reflected on his own. Her words, too 
 " Beware of the race they have the guile of the serpent, and 
 the sting of the adder I" rang in her ears. She did not, 
 could not believe them as applied to Sherwood, but she wished 
 she had never heard them. 
 
 " Rena," said he, " I have been rambling about the woods, 
 day after day, in the hope of meeting you. It is not the dread 
 of your aunt's displeasure that prevents me from seeking you 
 at Sunny Dell, but I cannot expose you to her anger." 
 
 " You are right, Sherwood. It would make me very un 
 happy if I thought you would ever attempt to come there 
 again." 
 
 " Then I must see you elsewhere, Rena. The green woods 
 and open plains are left us. Close by, where I have been 
 gathering these wild flowers, there is a rock half cushioned 
 with moss and supported by a gray old oak, where you can 
 Bit enthroned, the queen of the woods. Come, will you not 
 dismount and trust yourself with me a few moments, where 
 the withering glance of your aunt cannot reach us 1" 
 
 A short time before, she would have leaped from her saddle 
 and enthroned herself on that rock with the wild freedom of 
 a child ; but now, with a burning cheek and averted eye, she 
 told him she declined the honours of royalty. 
 
 " Have you promised your aunt that you would not speak 
 to me, look at me ?" cried he, impetuously. " Surely you 
 have not bound yourself, heart and soul, to her prejudices 
 yielding up that noble independence of character I have always 
 admired and honoured, too, in one so young you have not 
 done this, Rena?" 
 
 "You do me justice, Sherwood, but not my aunt. She 
 bus required no such promise, but I will not abuse her confi-
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 141 
 
 dence, and willingly do what I know would grve her distress 
 and anxiety. You must not blame her too much. If you 
 only knew the wrongs, the provocation " 
 
 She stopped, remembering that it was Sherwood's father 
 who had inflicted these wrongs, regretting that she had alluded 
 to them. 
 
 " Then you give me up at once, without a struggle or a 
 pang !" said he, with bitterness. " You bend to the will of a 
 tyrannical woman, who has no right under heaven to control 
 you, unless your own free will gives it to her. You care not 
 for the friend of your childhood I" 
 
 " Yes, I do care, Sherwood/' she answered, her eyes filling 
 with tears and her lips quivering ; " you know I do. It is 
 not kind to speak to me in this way, when I have felt so 
 unhappy, when I still feel so, when I always expect to 
 feel so !" 
 
 " Forgive me, Rena I am unkind I see I am wrong. I 
 wonder I could have been such a monster as to cause this tear 
 to flow I" There was one and then another sparkling on 
 Cygnet's downy neck. The head of Rena was bent, and her 
 blue feathers shaded her face. 
 
 " Come, beautiful Snowbird !" said he, taking her hand, 
 with the same smile that beamed upon her, when, panting from 
 the race, she looked up into the wintry night and met its 
 warmth and brightness and beauty " come, beautiful Snow 
 bird ! light upon that mossy seat, and fold your wings but a 
 few moments there." 
 
 "No, no," cried Rena, dashing away the tear that still 
 trembled in her eye, and resuming her usual frankness of 
 manner. " My wings were plumed for a flight beyond this 
 hill, and I may not rest them here. Have you no message 
 for Stella ? Or is it from her you have just come ?" 
 
 " No. There is a prohibition barring that region too 
 Really, I must be a dangerous individual, enclosed on every 
 side with gates of brass and triple steel."
 
 142 REN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " Strange !" repeated Rena. " I thought she was with your 
 mother very lately. Did she not was she not " She 
 paused in confusion, hardly knowing herself what she was 
 going to say. Sherwood, who thought it would be ungenerous 
 to Stella to mention the cause of her banishment from his own 
 home, and that it would bring out his father's pride of cha 
 racter in too strong relief, sought to change the subject; and 
 Rena, finding it easier to go than she did a few moments be 
 fore, drew up Cygnet's fringed neck and said that she ought, 
 she must, and would go, Sherwood, who had been adorning 
 Cygnet's white forehead with the mountain ivy, in vain op 
 posed her departure. She was ashamed of herself for having 
 lingered so long. 
 
 " I shall waylay you on your return," said he. " I am 
 become the bandit of the woods, a second Robin Hood, for 
 your sake." 
 
 " Do not stop me again. Let me return with an unburdened 
 conscience. Force me not to add to the cares of one who has 
 suffered too much already. I shall not always stay with Aunt 
 Debby. The world, as you say, is very wide, and my own 
 father's doors will never be shut against you." 
 
 " Stop, Rena ! one moment ! At Hannah's cottage we 
 might sometimes meet. Surely there would be no impropriety 
 in that. My own mother has not a truer sense of right and 
 wrong than that heroic woman." 
 
 " Yes Hannah is a noble woman indeed. I always loved 
 Hannah. I cannot promise that would not be right. If I 
 did, I could not say to Aunt Debby I went to Hannah's cot 
 tage and happened to meet Sherwood Lindsey there. Good 
 bye. Cygnet, let us go." 
 
 Away she flew, but as soon as she was out of sight of Sher 
 wood, she stole one of the wild flowers from her palfrey's head 
 and hid it in her bosom. 
 
 " Not care '" murmured she. " Ah ! I wish I were a little
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 143 
 
 girl again, playing among the haymakers on my father's farm. 
 I was so much happier then ! I never wanted to be a young 
 lady. I would give all the world to be the child I was, when 
 Sherwood bore me like a feather on his arm, or when we played 
 snowballs together under the sycamore's leafless boughs. We 
 certainly grow sad as we grow old." 
 
 Thus meditating on the increasing cares of life, the expe 
 rienced maiden of sixteen approached the dwelling of Mrs. 
 Brown, the present guardian of Stella. It was situated far 
 from the road, as solitary country houses usually are, a plain, 
 old-fashioned building, with no pretensions to elegance; but 
 wearing an air of comfort and respectability. Stella was sit 
 ting at the open window, busily sewing (Mrs. Brown did not 
 allow her to eat the bread of idleness), with an expression of 
 weariness and discontent on her fair features. She looked up 
 from her work as Cygnet's light hoofs brushed over the grass, 
 and wondered what blue-robed sylph was floating along on a 
 white cloud, for Cygnet's motion was as graceful and soft as a 
 rolling cloud. It was long since she had seen Rena, and the 
 fashion of the dress makes a wondrous difference in the human 
 form. But when she rode right up to the window and she 
 saw her eyes and smile, she recognised her with a pang of 
 envy Rena little dreamed of implanting. 
 
 " I did not know you at first in that fine dress, and on that 
 fine horse," said Stella, when Rena, who had disencumbered 
 herself of her riding skirt and hat, was sitting quietly by her 
 side and gazing earnestly in her face that face which Sher 
 wood had truly said was so beautiful. 
 
 " Oh ! don't call me fine, Stella ; you know I don't care how 
 I look. My step-mother gave me the dress, my aunt the 
 horse ; is it not a beautiful creature ?" 
 
 " Yes ! how happy you must be to have such kind friends '" 
 
 " You are happy too, Stella, are you not? You have 
 friends who are kind ! surely no one could be unkind to 
 you."
 
 144 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 All her early admiration of Stella's beauty revived in her 
 presence, and glowed with deeper enthusiasm. She could 
 scarcely forbear telling her, as she did when a child, how 
 sweet and lovely she was. She owed nothing to the adorn 
 ments of dress, for Mrs. Brown would not allow her to wear 
 at home, the garments Mrs. Lindsey had given her, on the 
 plea of their being too ladyfied for a charity girl. A plain 
 calico frock was her only decoration, or rather the only one to 
 which she was indebted to art; for over this, sweeping below 
 her beautiful shoulders and slender waist, fell her magnificent 
 ringlets of darkened gold for the blonde hue of childhood was 
 now enriched by a shade of sunny brown. 
 
 Rena could not help saying, " how beautiful !" while she 
 dipped her fingers in the golden eddies. "Don't you remem 
 ber, Stella, when we were little girls, how we used to separate 
 the stems of the dandelions with pins, and dropping them in 
 water, watch them turn into beautiful ringlets ; and how I 
 used to put them on my head and try to make it look like 
 yours !" 
 
 Stella took but little interest in these childish reminiscences. 
 Young as she was in years, she was prematurely old in heart; 
 the simplicity of childhood had no charm for her. She could 
 not understand the freshness and artlessness of Rena's charac 
 ter. Ever associating with her the idea of Sherwood Lind 
 sey, she longed to know if she had seen, as a young man, 
 the gallant boy they had both so much admired. She intro 
 duced the subject then uppermost in Rena's thoughts as well 
 as her own, but in so artful a manner, that Rena could not 
 suppose she had any connexion with the subject in her mind. 
 
 " You asked me if I were happy, Rena ! how can I be, 
 when I compare the home I have just left with the one I now 
 inhabit ?" 
 
 " You were happy at Mrs. Lindsey's, then ?" Rena was 
 vexed with herself for the deeo blush that dyed her cheeks, at 
 this simple remark.
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 145 
 
 " Oh yes ! how could I be otherwise ? No mother could be 
 kinder or more tender than Mrs. Lindsey, no brother more 
 affectionate or devoted than Sherwood. If you knew them, as 
 I do, you would not wonder that I cannot be reconciled to my 
 present situation. You did know Sherwood as a boy, Eena \" 
 
 " I know him now," replied she, with deep self-abhorrence. 
 She envied Stella for having shared the home of Sherwood, 
 and she loathed herself for the feeling. 
 
 1 Do you see him often ?" asked Stella with a deep sigh. 
 " If so, you are indeed to be envied." 
 
 " My aunt, you know, does not wish to have any intercourse 
 with the family, and, of course, my opportunities of seeing him 
 must be very few. Is not his father a very proud man ?" 
 
 "Proud!" exclaimed Stella, writhing from the remem 
 brance of his scorn. " Proud no, he is more he is pride 
 itself. He is afraid the poor charity girl will charm the heart 
 of his son, and, if he could, he would bury her six feet deep 
 under ground. I hate him oh ! how I hate him ! I don't 
 know which would confer the greatest joy, the love of Sher 
 wood, for its own sake, or because, if secured, it would be a 
 revenge upon his haughty father." 
 
 " Oh ! Stella, how can you associate revenge with love ? 
 how can you cherish such dark thoughts ? Do you think if 
 Sherwood knew them " 
 
 " That he could love me ?" cried Stella, recalled to a sense 
 of her imprudence, by the recoiling expression of Rena's coun 
 tenance. " No ! in his presence none but gentle and loving 
 thoughts can exist. He is all that is excellent, noble, and 
 charming. He shielded me from his father's anger. He 
 rushed after me into the storm, for I was flying in despera 
 tion from his door, and brought me back, encircled by his 
 protecting arm. He told me to call upon him in the hour of 
 danger and distress, and that I should find relief and comfort. 
 Can I think of this and not love him ? You, Rena, who have
 
 146 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 been nursed by fond parents and caressed by tender relatives 
 and friends, from your very infancy, know not what the feel 
 ings of the poor and despised are !" 
 
 Artfully had she woven these facts together, for Sherwood 
 had done all this ; and could Rena have witnessed the scene, 
 she would have admired with all her soul his noble chivalry, 
 and understood all the feelings that inspired him. Far dif 
 ferent impressions were made by Stella's words; and with a 
 sickening sensation of disappointment and distrust in all 
 human truth and virtue, she listened, unconscious that the 
 star-eyed girl was reading, but too faithfully, her pale and 
 varying countenance. 
 
 " And now, Rena," added Stella, rising and putting back 
 the rich waves of her hair, so that her face was completely 
 unveiled, " look at me. You have often told me I was beau 
 tiful and so have others. Tell me, with your own truth- 
 telling lips, if you were Sherwood Lindsey, could you love 
 me, poor and unfriended as I am T' 
 
 " I could, Stella I" burst spontaneously from those 'truth- 
 telling lips;' "your poverty and loneliness would be but 
 stronger claims upon my affection, as I doubt not they are on 
 his. But oh ! Stella, you would not be loved for a beautiful 
 face alone ! you would not seek to inspire such love ! your 
 heart would ask for something more I" 
 
 " If heaven has seen fit to give me nothing but beauty, 
 surely I ought to prize it. I do not see why the love founded 
 on such a gift should not be as dear as any other. They talk 
 a great deal about talents and virtue, as if they were meri 
 torious qualities, but they are gifts too. If I had been born 
 rich, I should have been amiable; all my wishes would have 
 been granted, and I would have been contented and grateful. 
 I did not make myself poor ! I did not throw myself into an 
 alrnshouse. You do not blame me for that ?" 
 
 " How strangely you talk, Stella ! I cannot follow your 
 reasoning."
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 147 
 
 " 1 am not trying to reason, I am only expressing thoughts 
 I do not like to hear one speak of beauty as of no value, and 
 as if one was to blame for possessing it." 
 
 " You do not understand me, Stella. I never meant to de 
 preciate beauty ! I love it ! I love to gaze upon it. But you 
 know that may change, while the heart and soul is still the 
 same. When I look in the glass, it does not seem as if it 
 were myself I see reflected there. It is something that thinks, 
 that feels, that burns within me, and that I know will for ever 
 think and burn, that is my own self and for which only / 
 would be loved." 
 
 The light came back, bright and fervent, to Rena's eye and 
 cheek. She pressed her hands on her bosom, for that some 
 thing which thinks, and feels, and burns, had never throbbed 
 and glowed so powerfully as at this moment. She was right, 
 when she said it was not herself that she saw reflected in the 
 mirror. The still form and passive features defined on the 
 cold glass, were so different from the same lineaments re 
 splendent with intellect and glowing with feeling. Stella, 
 vain as she was, felt that there was a charm, a witchery about 
 Rena, of which she herself was perfectly unconscious, and she 
 rejoiced in the wisdom of Aunt Debby, who still kept alive 
 the ancient feud between the families of Sunny Dell and 
 Bellevue. 
 
 " You must come and see me," said Rena, preparing to 
 depart ; " Aunt Debby told me to ask you." 
 
 " Mrs. Brown keeps me so tight at the needle I have hardly 
 time to breathe the fresh air. I am thankful, however, she 
 wants me to sew, as it saves me from any house-drudgery. It 
 is hard to stay here, after living at Bellevue. There I used 
 to gather flowers for Mrs. Lindsey, and place them under 
 Sherwood's picture, read aloud to her, ride with her, or sit 
 on the piazza, by Sherwood's side, under the sweet honey 
 suckles that twined the pillars. Here it is work, work scold, 
 scold, from morning till night."
 
 148 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 ' How long will you remain here ?" asked Rena, thinking 
 the change must be a grievous one. 
 
 " I don't know. Till another mistress is set over me, I 
 suppose," answered she, her lip curling with disdain. " When, 
 the time comes that I am my own mistress I shall know how 
 to reign I have had lessons enough, and I know them all by 
 heart." 
 
 Mrs. Brown, who had been from home, came in just as 
 Rena was going out, who wondered not at Stella's discontent 
 when she looked at her hard, coarse features and heard her 
 voice, which, though she evidently tried to soften, had a harsh 
 and grating sound. She put on a courteous simper as soon as 
 she saw Rena, but glanced out of the corner of her eye at 
 Stella's work, to see if she had dared to be idle while enter 
 taining her guest. 
 
 " I have finished it," said Stella, coldly. 
 
 " Never mind 0, la ! I wasn't thinking of such a thing. 
 Won't the young lady take off her things and stay to supper?" 
 
 Rena declined the invitation and left the house, burdened 
 with messages to Aunt Debby, for as soon as Mrs. Brown dis 
 covered who she was she overwhelmed her with civilities and 
 expressions of respect to her aunt, whose name was known far 
 and wide. Stella followed her into the yard, where Cygnet, 
 like a docile child, waited her coming. 
 
 " Stella !" shouted the rough voice of Mrs. Brown from the 
 window, " come and get a chair for the young lady to get on 
 her horse. I'm ashamed of you, for not thinking of it 
 yourself." 
 
 " No, no," said Rena, springing up on the saddle lightly as 
 a bird. " Stella knows that I need no aid." 
 
 Then taking the wreath from Cygnet's brow, she handed 
 the wild-flowers to Stella. 
 
 " Thank you, Reua, but I don't care anything about flowers 
 I never did."
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 1 1 thought you just said how you loved to gather flowwrs 
 for Mrs. Lindsey, and put them about about her pictures." 
 
 " So I did, but not for the sake of the flowers." 
 
 " Strange girl !" thought Rena, riding slowly down th 
 yard. " Poor girl !" thought she, when she heard Mrs. Brown 
 calling to her from the top of her lungs before she had time 
 to enter the house. 
 
 When Rena reached the path through the woods, she looked 
 round in terror lest Sherwood should be waiting her there. 
 Seeing another that diverged in a different direction, she turned 
 rapidly into it. She would not have met him for worlds, in her 
 present state of feeling. She had convinced herself that he 
 loved Stella, and that it was natural and noble and generous 
 in him to do so, that the interest he had manifested in her 
 self was nothing more than gay gallantry, mixed with brotherly 
 kindness, that she had no right to reproach and accuse him 
 of treachery and deceit, as she did in her heart when Stella 
 dwelt so eloquently on his devotion to her. She tried to 
 think that the pain she felt was caused by her fears that 
 Stella was not altogether worthy of his love that she could 
 not appreciate the best and loftiest traits of his character 
 that, as she had recklessly declared, beauty was her chief 
 excellence. 
 
 The air was as pure and elastic as when she left home, but 
 to her it seemed oppressive and hard to breathe. There waa 
 a tightness about her lungs; they had not room to heave. 
 
 " Oh ! I know what it is," said she, drawing from her 
 bosom the flower she had placed there. " These leaves hurt 
 me !" The warmth of her heart had faded the petals, and a 
 brown shade already stained its waxen hue. She was about 
 to cast it from her but a second thought restrained her. It 
 was restored to its hiding-place, to mingle its languid fragrance 
 with the wilted blossoms of hope ! 
 
 That night, when she read a chapter from the Bible aloud
 
 150 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 to her aunt, as she always did before retiring to bed, she 
 selected one from the book of Ecclesiastes, and repeated : 
 
 "Vanity of vanities," saith the Preacher, "all is vanity 
 and vexation of spirit," with so much feeling and expression, 
 Aunt Debby could not help noticing it. 
 
 " I hope," said she, when Rena closed the book, " I hope, 
 child, it will be long before you realize the truth of those 
 sentiments." 
 
 "I do now, aunt," replied she, with the pensiveness and 
 gravity of a young preacher, " it seems to me, there is very 
 little happiness in the world after all. It is only children 
 who are really happy." 
 
 " You are nothing but a child yourself, little moralist ; 
 you have hardly begun to live. Don't become prematurely 
 wise. I love your bright, glad spirit ; it fills the house with 
 sunshine, and makefc music all the day long. It has half 
 cured me of misanthropy. You must not let me turn you 
 into a mope." 
 
 "No, aunt, it is not you; sad thoughts will come some 
 times, without any one's bidding. When my mother died, I 
 prayed that I might not live to see another dear one laid 
 away in the cold ground, that I might die before my father, 
 who could not mourn for me, as I would for him and if I 
 were good and holy enough to dwell in the kingdom of hea 
 ven, I would rather die now, young as I am, than live to see 
 all the bright dreams of life pass away, leaving me dark and 
 cold." 
 
 "I wish I had not told her," murmured Aunt Debby to 
 herself, looking anxiously and tenderly on the young moralist ; 
 " I wish I had not told her." 
 
 " You say right, aunt," said Rena, looking up, with a sweet 
 smile, though her eyes were filled with tears, "I am pothing 
 but a child, a foolish child. I dare say, I shall feel bright 
 anc happy to-morrow ; but let me lay my head in your lap 
 now, dear aunt, for it aches."
 
 REN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 151 
 
 Rena complaining of the headache ! It was as strange as 
 
 hear a bird complain of the sore-throat. Aunt Debby was 
 alarmed. She insisted upon having some sage or balm tea 
 made, and prescribed a thousand remedies, all of which Rena 
 strenuously refused. 
 
 " Then lie still, child," said she, smoothing softly the dark 
 hair that lay loosely on her temples ; " you have been riding 
 too far in the warm sun." 
 
 She continued to smooth down the silken folds, as she 
 would a young kitten nestling in her lap, till she knew, by 
 her quiet, gentle, regular breathing, she was asleep. She sat, 
 till her limbs ached, from remaining so long in one position, 
 till her own eyes were heavy with slumber, but she would not 
 move, lest she should wake the sleeping girl. Surely the foun 
 tain of tenderness was not all dried in Aunt Debby's heart. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ' A stranger among strange faces, she drinketh the wormwood of 
 dependence ; 
 
 She is marked as a child of want and the world hateth poverty ; 
 
 She is cared for by none and earth and her God seemeth to for 
 sake her." PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 " I've wandered east I've wandered west 
 
 Through many a weary way ; 
 But never, never could forget 
 
 The time of life's young day." MOTHERWELL. 
 
 STELLA told Rena, that "if she had been born rich, sho 
 would have been amiable," but she was mistaken. The arch- 
 angelic sins of pride and ambition would have produced anar 
 chy and discontent in her bosom, even if it were mantled in 
 
 purple and fine linen She said she would have been grate* 
 44
 
 152 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 ful, but it was not so. She had been taken from the flregg 
 of poverty, the abode of pauperism, fed, clothed, and gene 
 rally kindly treated, while other poor children were left in the 
 almshouse unnoticed, and unknown and yet she was not 
 grateful. She was beautiful and fair to look upon, young, 
 healthy, and elastic ; the free air of heaven was hers, the green 
 earth and glorious skies, the common heritage of God to man 
 and yet she was not grateful. She had truly said, " she 
 did not love flowers." Volumes with regard to her character 
 were expressed in that simple phrase. Not love flowers \ 
 Those rainbows of earth, gilt with the seven-fold beams of 
 heaven, proclaiming the covenant mercy of God, his tender 
 ness and love, those smiles of creation so bright and radiant, 
 gladdening the waste places of Nature, and making the wil 
 derness rejoice, those unfallen children of Paradise, whose 
 pure and fragrant breath distils balm into the sin-sick and 
 weary heart, and fills it with innocent and holy thoughts. 
 
 Even as we write, there steals upon our spirit a sweet, deli 
 cious odour, exhaled from a cluster of violets, placed in the 
 centre of the table, and the whole apartment is perfumed with 
 their aroma. It is a modest, little flower, boasting no glow 
 ing tint, or gorgeous dye, yet had God created no other blos 
 som than this, breathed no other fragrance on the air than 
 its exquisite perfume, we should still have an impression of 
 beauty and grace and love unspeakable, a token of goodness 
 celestial, of mercy divine. Not love flowers ! Alas for the 
 young heart that conceives a sentiment like this ! 
 
 Stella was more thoroughly miserable than she had ever 
 been before. To live with Mrs. Brown after being cherished 
 in the home of Mrs. Lindsey, was like exchanging a couch of 
 down for a bed of burrs. The hope that sustained her, when 
 she first felt the discomforts of her situation, began to grow 
 faint, for Sherwood had never sought her, and vainly had she 
 wandered abroad at the twilight hour, in the expectation of
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 153 
 
 meeting him. Had she then made no impression on his heart 
 and imagination, or had his haughty and imperious father 
 more power over him, than a young girl in the dazzling 
 baauty of her youth ? or had another already thrown her fas- 
 'cinations round him, and made him regardless of her own ? 
 Long had she looked forward to Sherwood's return, as an era 
 that was to brighten her destiny, that was to hring before her 
 an object worthy of attraction, one who would raise her to the 
 rank she was horn to adorn, who would be at once her 
 monarch and her slave. All she desired was an occasion, to 
 appear before him in the splendour of her girlhood, certain 
 that to be seen, was to conquer. For this, she had woven a 
 web of stratagem, curious and subtle, which for a while pro 
 mised triumphant success, but had resulted in blank disap 
 pointment. Mrs. Lindsey had called once to see her and 
 brought her many presents, such as she believed would be 
 most acceptable, and such as few had the means of bestowing; 
 but though Stella professed unbounded gratitude, she felt 
 none in her heart, as long as the gift of her son was withheld 
 It is true she was not suffered to enjoy the possession of these 
 tokens of kindness and taste; for if she put on an additional 
 ornament to her dress, Mrs. Brown would taunt her with her 
 poverty, and the necessity of conforming in appearance to her 
 situation. 
 
 It was the evening of Rena's visit to her, that she took her 
 accustomed twilight walk. The house was so remote from 
 others, and so surrounded by woods, one could ramble about 
 its environs with as much freedom as if they lived in a wil 
 derness. Mrs. Brown always encouraged her to exercise at 
 this hour, because the rays began to be too indistinct for her 
 to sew, and she did not like to waste candles, by lighting them 
 too early. Long, and mild, and beautiful are the twilights of 
 northern latitudes ; and had Stella, when released by the 
 task-mistress she detested, opened her heart to the sweet influ
 
 154 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 ence of nature, as the flower-cups, to receive the falling dew, 
 she would have felt her parched and weary spirit strengthened 
 and refreshed. She wandered along the skirt of the wood, 
 forming wild plans of escape from her present situation, so 
 irksome and galling. Sometimes she thought she would run 
 away and travel on foot to the metropolis of the state, begging 
 by day, and if denied shelter at night, sleeping under the 
 shadow of some granite wall, or some way-side tree. Some 
 rich gentleman might take pity on her and adopt her, for all 
 rich gentlemen were not haughty and cruel like Mr. Lindsey. 
 Sometimes wrought up to madness by the recollection of the 
 proud Senator's stinging scorn, she would turn, where his tur- 
 reted roof cast an ash-coloured shade on the sky, and resolve 
 to steal in the darkness of night, through those tall poplars, 
 and kindle with incendiary hand the stately pile, which would 
 then become the grave of pride and the altar of revenge. This 
 evening one reflection cheered her in her solitude ; it was that 
 she had planted a sting in the bosom of Rena, keen as any 
 she herself endured. Little did Sherwood think, when, after 
 lingering in vain for Rena, and turning his course homeward, 
 he suddenly met the young charity girl, and saw the crimson 
 cloud so beautifully suffuse her cheek, and the joy that irra 
 diated her whole face, that such evil thoughts ever found 
 admission in her youthful breast. 
 
 His first sensation was pleasure, and he stopped to express 
 it ; his next, pain and mortification, for he remembered his 
 promise to his father, and as there was no danger to avert, no 
 protection to be claimed, he felt constrained to pass on with a 
 silent bow. 
 
 " Mr. Lindsey," cried Stella, in a soft, low voice, " surely 
 you are not too proud to speak to one to whom your mother 
 has been so kind ?" 
 
 Thus addressed, he could not, without a rudeness, of which 
 he would not be guilty, avoid speaking. There was something,
 
 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 155 
 
 too, so sad and dejected in her countenance, so plaintive in 
 her tone, he thought he was a savage to treat her with 
 neglect. 
 
 " No, Stella," said he, " I am not governed by pride ; but 
 you well know, that I am not master of my own actions, as 
 far as it regards yourself. You have not forgotten the dis 
 tressing scenes at our house, from the shock of which my 
 mother has not yet recovered. To avoid a repetition of the 
 same," disgraceful and harrowing as they are, I have bound 
 myself by a promise, which I cannot, in honour, break. If I 
 could, Stella, I would gladly show all the kindness of a brother 
 and the sympathy of a friend. You know I would ; but a 
 promise is a sacred- thing. Farewell." 
 
 Again he bowed and was turning hastily away, when Stella, 
 in desperation, on seeing the opportunity for which she had 
 been panting, thus eluding her grasp, sprang forward and laid 
 her hand, with an imploring gesture, on his arm. 
 
 " Alas I" she cried, " I have no friend to aid me, and I am 
 BO wretched, so very miserable. I did hope that I might look 
 to you for consolation, for where else can I turn ?" 
 
 " What can I do for you ?" said he, alarmed by her uncon 
 trollable agitation. " Is there any cause of misery which I can 
 remove ? any evil impending that I can avert ? Speak, and 
 tell me why you are so wretched." 
 
 " I am wretched for the want of sympathy ! wretched be 
 cause there are none but hard eyes to look at me, harsh voices 
 to speak to me. After listening to your mother's sweet voice, 
 to your kind and gentle accents, the coarse words of Mrs. 
 Brown are wormwood and gall to my spirit. You don't know 
 what such things are ! you don't know how bitter is the bread 
 of dependence I" 
 
 " I know your lot is a hard one, Stella, and would to Hea 
 ven I could relieve it. But I am not the only one from whom 
 you hear kind and gentle accents. There is one who sought
 
 15b RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 you to-day, whose heart is full of warm and generous feelings. 
 Surely you found a balm in her sympathy and friendship." 
 
 Stella, who was still clinging to his arm and looking be- 
 eeechingly in his face, could not but see its deepening colour 
 through the twilight's shade, while he made this allusion to 
 Rena. He had seen her too, known her purpose, and yet 
 Rena mentioned it not. Could she have devised any method 
 by which she could have depreciated Rena, without incurring 
 the suspicion of slander, envy, or jealousy, she would gladly 
 have done it; but there was something about Sherwood that 
 acted as a counter-charm against duplicity and malice. As on 
 his brow " shame was ashamed to sit," so in his presence the 
 malignant passions hid themselves, and often remained in a 
 state of suspended animation. Once before Stella had felt 
 this magic influence ; and now, as then, a vague longing for a 
 purer and better nature, a desire to possess his esteem and ten 
 derness, rather than his love, a wish that he were her brother 
 and that she were worthy of such a blessing, stole like a silver 
 edging on the murky clouds of evil that were rolling over her 
 soul. Perhaps, if Mr. Lindsey had not driven her from his 
 home, if he had not placed his ban upon all intercourse with 
 his son, this influence might have become deep and abiding ; 
 these angel moments might have grown into hours, till her 
 spirit acquired a habit of purity and goodness, instead of the 
 faint and transient impulses that now moved it. 
 
 The shadows of twilight grew darker, and they walked along 
 the skirt of the wood towards Mrs. Brown's. They reached 
 the gate, where Sherwood paused and said 
 
 " Once more, let me urge you, Stella, to confide and trust 
 in Rena. She will give you sympathy and kindness far more 
 precious than I can impart. Even if my father had not ex 
 acted from me the solemn promise that prevents me from being 
 a free agent, my visits would expose you to censorious remark. 
 When I again leave home, my mother can perhaps extend to
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 157 
 
 you the kindness and protection I know she longs to bestow. 
 I must be a very formidable personage. The sooner I go the 
 better." 
 
 " Are you going away again ?" asked Stella, sadly. 
 
 "Why, when a young man has received his diploma, and 
 had a year's finishing in foreign lands, it is time for him to 
 look abroad for that one spot on the broad earth, which Provi 
 dence has appointed for his field of labour. I must have 
 something better to do than gathering wild-flowers in Robin 
 Hood's bower." 
 
 Stella remembered the wild-flowers she had rejected from 
 the hand of Rena. 
 
 " I suspect there are some of your flowers," her evil genius 
 prompted her to say " lying in our yard. Rena threw them 
 there a short time since. I did not know whose hand had 
 culled them, or they would have had value in my eyes. Ah ! 
 Sherwood Lindsey, if Rena cares so little for your gifts as to 
 cast them from her in disdain, do you think her heart is so 
 overflowing with sympathy as to pour balm on mine ?" 
 
 A strong desire to test the truth of her words induced Sher 
 wood to open the gate and accompany Stella to the door. He 
 had been drawn into a partial violation of his word, and a few 
 steps more would not add to his father's displeasure or his own 
 self-reproach. On the dewy grass lay the waxen blossoms in 
 their wreath of dazzling green, and he knew they had been 
 torn from Cygnet's milk-white brow and cast unvalued there. 
 Had he known that Rena had been excited by Stella's artful 
 representations to an act of girlish pique, that she still wore 
 one of those flowers pressed against a wounded heart, he would 
 have forgiven the apparent slight he would have rejoiced in 
 this proof of his power. But now, he could not help con 
 trasting the eagerness with which Stella gathered the discarded 
 blossoms, with Rena's cold disdain ; and he believed the heart 
 of the wild Snowbird was as cold as the ice that see*4 her
 
 158 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 native element. To this comparison Stella was indebted for 
 an affectionate, lingering adieu, and she entered the house with 
 triumph glittering in her eyes. She expected a scolding from 
 Mrs. Brown for staying out so late, and for allowing a young 
 gentleman to accompany her home ; but fortunately for her, 
 the good lady was busy in the kitchen, and did not see her 
 return. She flew up stairs into her little room, the most ill- 
 furnished and uncomfortable one the house contained, and 
 adorned her mantel-piece with the clustering ivy. She did 
 not love flowers ; but these had belonged to Sherwood, had been 
 given to Rena (and well did she understand the feeling that 
 led her to scatter them on the ground), and now they were a 
 badge of triumph to her, an omen of future success. With a 
 light step she ran to assist Mrs. Brown, who, observing her 
 heightened colour and brightened countenance, and the alacrity 
 with which she moved, asserted " that nothing did a young 
 girl so much good as to keep her steady all day, and let her 
 run about a little just before dark. She knew how to bring 
 them up there was no dispute about that." 
 
 Sherwood, whose character was clear as crystal, loathed the 
 thought of a clandestine action. He could not bear to remain 
 where he might constantly be exposed to influences unfavour 
 able to ingenuousness and integrity of purpose. He told his 
 father his determination to go at once to the metropolis, and 
 commence the study of that profession which had made the 
 name he had the honour of bearing so distinguished. 
 
 "You are right, my son. For your mother's sake I did not 
 like to shorten your holidays, but I rejoice that you are willing 
 to do it yourself. Inaction would produce rust on the bright 
 steel of your spirit. It must clash against other blades, and 
 sparks of fire will be elicited by the collision. Sherwood, I 
 have no doubt of your success in life ; I have followed with p_ride 
 your boyish career ; I have seen you bearing away the highest 
 collegiate honours, laurels on which no moral blight has fallen ,
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 159 
 
 I have confidence in your talents, confidence in your principles ; 
 I feel that I have a son who will sustain the honour of my 
 name and fame, when I shall be no more." 
 
 " Talk not so, my father ; you look very nearly as young as 
 I do, and when I shall have attained the maturity of manhood, 
 you will still be wearing only the green palm of age." 
 
 " My life will not be a protracted one. I have lived too fast, 
 my son, to live very long. Like the flame fed by oxygen, my 
 spirit \>urns too intensely for the blaze to continue. I wonder 
 there are no wrinkles on my brow, no furrows on my cheeks. 
 I should think my face would be marked by lines of prema 
 ture age, but I suppose there is such a thing as a subterranean 
 ploughshare, which leaves the surface smooth, while it cuts 
 deep and rough within." 
 
 Sherwood looked on the marble smoothness of his father's 
 brow, round which his unblanched ebon locks richly waved, 
 and thought it a tablet of strength on which long years might 
 be written ; but there was a light in his eye, which seemed like 
 that of a distant lamp, burning in those subterranean regions, 
 where the 'ploughshare of thought was making its invisible 
 furrows, a consuming lustre that must exhaust too rapidly 
 the oil of life. 
 
 " When you too leave home, sir," said Sherwood, resolved 
 to urge the claims of the poor charity girl on his mother's pro 
 tection, " my mother will be alone. Let me entreat you then, 
 sir, to allow her the solace her kind heart craves. Let her 
 recall the poor girl who has been banished on my account, and 
 you will rejoice in the consciousness of gratified benevolence." 
 
 Mr. Lindsey's smooth brow darkened instantaneously. 
 
 " Sherwood, what is this girl to you ? I thought you under 
 stood me too well ever to mention her name again." 
 
 ". She is bound to me by the common interests of humanity," 
 answered the young man, undauntedly; " and I am not ashamed 
 to advocate her rights. If my mother takes a maternal interest
 
 160 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 in her desolate lot, if she herself would be cheered in her loneli 
 ness by this exercise of kindness, and if I, who am the cause 
 of her expulsion, am no longer near to terrify and endanger, 
 or to be endangered, I dare to say, sir, that it is your duty as 
 a husband, as a man, and as a Christian, to gratify my mother's 
 wishes and permit her to shelter this neglected and unfriended 
 girl." 
 
 As Mr. Lindsey listened to his son, thus openly and nobly 
 pleading in behalf of deserted and innocent orphanage, remorse 
 for his own unprincipled conduct wrung him, for a moment, 
 with bitter agony. He saw that the interest Sherwood mani 
 fested was pure, manly benevolence. No latent passion burned 
 in his eye, or glowed in his cheek. But to have Stella an 
 inmate of his household ! it was impossible. 
 
 "Say no more, Sherwood stop at the limits of a son's 
 respect. The girl shall be cared for. She shall not suffer 
 want while I live. If this promise does not satisfy your 
 benevolence, I shall believe you are inspired by a deeper 
 interest yes ! in spite of the blue-robed girl on the milk- 
 white horse." 
 
 Sherwood turned away vexed and discontented by this 
 allusion to Kena. His father, who, it may be recollected, 
 had met him when riding with Rena on horseback, and who 
 had been exceedingly struck by her appearance, failed not to 
 question him closely with regard to her name and lineage 
 When told she was a niece of Aunt Debby, alias Mrs. Wright, 
 he seemed almost as much annoyed as by the proximity of the 
 charity girl. Sherwood frankly told him the summary man 
 ner in which he had been dismissed from the house, and his 
 astonishment at the bitter feelings that the mistress of Sunny 
 Dell cherished for the master of Bellevue. 
 
 " Never expose yourself to a similar insult," said Mr. 
 Lindsey. "This girl is no companion for you, either. A 
 poor farmer's daughter, probably brought up in ignorance, 
 and accustomed only to the drudgery of a kitchen."
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 161 
 
 Sherwood's eyes flashed fire. " You saw her, father you 
 know she is no kitchen drudge. Neither is her father a poor 
 farmer ! He is as true and perfect a gentleman as ever walked 
 the earth one of the independent princes of our land. Brought 
 up in ignorance ! your own son cannot read Virgil with more 
 fluency than his daughter ; and her knowledge of English is 
 equal to her proficiency in the classics of Greece. Really, 
 father/' continued he, with increasing vehemence, " I wonder 
 whom you do think worthy to associate with your honourable 
 son ? I have no royal diadem, no ducal crown upon my brows, 
 that I should scorn the free-born daughters of my country in 
 this manner 1" 
 
 "You disappoint me, Sherwood. You told me, not long 
 ago, that you had too much of your father's pride of character 
 to form associations with those of inferior rank." 
 
 " I said of low birth and doubtful lineage ; and I say so 
 still. I have a great deal of pride a pride that, I hope, will 
 always keep me from a mean and unworthy act. But Colonel 
 Fay is a man as much honoured and respected in his immediate 
 circle, as you are in yours. He has the polish of a gentleman 
 as well as the noble spirit of a man a Cincinnatus, who, if 
 called from the plough, could preside with dignity over a 
 nation's weal !" 
 
 This conversation occurred the evening after his ride with 
 Rcna, and till this moment there had been no illusion to the 
 subject. The sarcastic curl of his father's lip displeased him, 
 and so had Rena displeased him. He did not like to speak of 
 her, and he rejoiced that the entrance of his mother interrupted 
 the interview with his father. 
 
 Several times had Sherwood called at Hannah's cottage, in 
 the vague hope of meeting Rena, for his displeasure could not 
 exist long, awakened by so slight a cause. He had not given 
 her the flowers as a token of remembrance, he had only deco 
 rated her horse with them. He recalled, too, her words and looks,
 
 162 REN AJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 BO full of sensibility, and memory justified his early favourite. 
 As the time drew near for his departure, he felt that he could 
 not go without bidding her farewell. Again he turned his 
 Bteps to the dairy-woman's cottage, and learned, with bitter dis 
 appointment, that Rena had just been there and gone. 
 
 " Perhaps she will return this way," said Hannah, " for she 
 did not take the road back to Sunny Dell. If she does I will 
 call her in. She went to visit a poor sick woman, yonder." 
 
 " She will not come in if she sees me, so it will do no good. 
 If Aunt Debby were a man, I would, go and fight my way 
 across the threshold but a woman, and such a woman ! If 
 Rena were surrounded by a chain of fiery serpents, she could 
 not be more effectually guarded. Hannah, you were once my 
 guardian angel, devise some plan by which I can see her, 
 without shocking her sense of propriety, and I will worship 
 you as a tutelary divinity." 
 
 " Now, Master Sherwood, you had better keep your college 
 learning for her, and talk plain English to me. I will ask her 
 to come any time you please to mention, without telling her it 
 is you who want to see her, and I know she will do it, she is 
 BO obliging and sweet-tempered. She looked sort of sober to 
 day, quiet, a dove-like kind of way, not natural to her. I 
 would not give one of her, for fifty thousand Golden Pippins, 
 for all her beauty." 
 
 "Who do you mean by Golden Pippin, Hannah, Stella?" 
 
 " Yes, Master Sherwood, I called her so when she was six 
 years old, and I can't get out of the habit." 
 
 Then Hannah related the history of the Golden Pippins, in 
 her graphic way, and many other little anecdotes of her child 
 hood, which did not redound much to her praise. 
 
 " Then Rena was always kind to Stella?" he asked, delighted 
 to draw out the warm-hearted dairy -woman, on a subject in 
 which he felt so deep an interest. 
 
 " Yes, that she was j many's the scolding she got from Aunt
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 163 
 
 Debby on her account, because she would not leave her in dis 
 grace. She always helped her out in her tasks, and shared 
 everything she had in the world with her, which is more than 
 Stella would do with any one. Now, I never did despise any 
 one because they are poor, Master Sherwood ; I am poor myself, 
 and I haven't got any book learning, but I can see into a per 
 son az straight as anybody, and I never did like that charity 
 girl, any way you can fix it; she's deceitful as an adder and as 
 cunning as a fox; I tried to tell Miss Rena so, but she put her 
 owu sweet hand right on my lips, and would not let me say 
 one word to her disparagement." 
 
 Had Hannah been gifted with the eloquence of a Demos 
 thenes, she could not have found a more attentive or admiring 
 auditor. Sherwood, who refused a seat, had thrown him 
 self carelessly down on the clover that carpeted the yard, by 
 the side of his chubby namesake, who seemed literally to live 
 in clover, while his mother attended to her household duties. 
 The duty to which she was now devoting herself, while she 
 entertained Sherwood with incidents connected with Rena's 
 juvenile years, was working over some rich golden butter in a 
 wooden tray as white as milk. There was a nice whitewashed 
 stoup, extending forward from the roof, that excluded the rays of 
 the western sun, and beneath this shelter Hannah carried on 
 many of the mysteries of her dairy, in a more public manner than 
 is usually done. She could enjoy the benefit of the fresh air, 
 see what was going on in the world, and above all, watch her 
 children as they played on the grass, among the pink-headed 
 clover and golden buttercups. In her neat checked apron, her 
 sleeves rolled up above her plump elbows, her cheeks as ruddy 
 as a damask rose, Hannah was a noble representative of the 
 female peasantry of her northern clime. With a small wooden 
 paddle she toiled over the yellow mass, till every drop of but 
 termilk dripped out, then moulding it into immense biscuits, 
 she stamped them vigorously with her practised hand, leaving
 
 164 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 beautiful impressions of lilies and roses and sweet-smelling 
 posies, doomed to be as evanescent as the flowers whose simi 
 litude they assumed. While the industrious, smiling, and 
 handsome matron, worked and spatted and stamped her butter, 
 Sherwood senior looked up from his rich clover bed, reclining 
 his aristocratic-looking head on his left elbow, while he pulled 
 buttercups with his right hand and tossed over the curly white 
 head of Sherwood junior, who held out his little fat hands, and 
 eeemed boisterously delighted with the honours showered upon 
 him. It was not a very dignified position for the son of the 
 Hon. Mr. Lindsey, but he loved to enact the boy again, and 
 probably enjoyed more his green embroidered couch and leafy 
 canopy, than the elegant sofas in his mother's drawing-room. 
 
 " Ah ! Master Sherwood," said the delighted mother, " you 
 ought to have seen Miss Rena pet that child. I do believe 
 she loves it on account of its name. The way she kissed it 
 you never did see I" 
 
 " Did she ?" said Sherwood, laughing and blushing like a 
 girl. Then catching the little urchin in his arms, he did what 
 young men seldom do to little boys, however young kissed 
 its rosy cheeks with hearty good-will. It was at this auspi 
 cious moment that Rena, who had been to visit a sick woman 
 in the neighbourhood, was passing the cottage. She was on 
 foot a little willow basket, now empty, but lately filled with 
 delicacies for an invalid, hung upon her arm. A simple mus 
 lin sun-bonnet covered her head, instead of the blue-plumed 
 riding hat. She looked exactly like a young school-girl re 
 turning with a somewhat weary step from conning her daily 
 tasks. She was weary, for she had taken a long walk, and 
 her spirit wanted the lightness which gives elasticity to every 
 step. Hannah stepped nimbly to the gate, her hand all the 
 time grasping a golden ball, which Rena might have supposed 
 she intended throwing at her head had she been of a pugna 
 cious dispositi jn, so sudden and unexpected was the movement
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 165 
 
 " Come in, Miss Rena," cried she, " and take a glass of cool 
 water, right from the well. You look tired, and well you 
 may, for it is no laughing matter to walk where you have 
 been." 
 
 " Thank you, Hannah I had better not I am only a little 
 warm." She took off her sun-bonnet, and her hair, to which 
 the heat had given a kind of wave, fell loose and dark over 
 her shoulders. It was a pity she ever put it up with a comb 
 this wild, floating way of wearing it became her so much. It 
 was well that she had lost her comb while she was walking, 
 since Sherwood saw her through his clover curtain, and won 
 dered how any one could think Stella more lovely than Rena. 
 He had intended to remain concealed till Hannah had induced 
 her to- enter; but anything like deception was so foreign to his 
 nature he sprang from his recumbent attitude, making his 
 namesake turn an involuntary somerset, to his own great as 
 tonishment, and greeted her at the gate with something of the 
 gay freedom of his boyhood. Hannah had carried him back 
 BO vividly to old times, he almost forgot they were not both 
 children. Rena, who had been meditating in her lonely 
 walk, a pensive moralist, on the vanity of all earthly things ; 
 who was thinking the world was getting cold and dark, in spite 
 of the bright sun that was gilding the sky; felt a genial warmth 
 pervading her inmost heart as Sherwood's sunny smile beamed 
 so unexpectedly upon her. She forgot the impression Stella's 
 artful words had left upon her mind she forgot Aunt Debby's 
 solemn warning, and with a look so radiant and joyous that 
 Sherwood thought he saw again the " sprite, gipsy, snowbird," 
 of the scarlet tiara. She suffered herself to be led into the 
 porch, and then, she hardly knew how, into the garden, where 
 Jemmy had constructed a pleasant little arbour, and trained 
 over the lattice-work a grape vine of unexampled luxuriance. 
 
 Jemmy Bell's garden was a perfect horticultural gem. Not 
 a weed defaced the smooth, square-cut, parsley-margined beds,
 
 166 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 where long, regular rows of vegetables, in beautiful and well- 
 ordered families, grew side by side. There was the beet, with 
 its red- veined, richly variegated leaves, and crimson roots, half- 
 hoisting from the soil, the rich-orange-coloured carrot and 
 parsnip, with luxuriant, green tufts. Then there was the 
 melon patch, and the cucumber patch, the vines surrounded 
 by slender hoops, over which they wantoned, and curled, and 
 mingled their tendrils in spite of all restraint. Along the 
 fence, which divided it from the barn-yard, savoury herbs and 
 medicinal shrubs appeared in harmonious brotherhood. This 
 part of the garden was Hannah's peculiar province, and 
 through its instrumentality, she became a benefactress to the 
 whole neighbourhood. Did any feverish sufferer sigh for a 
 decoction of soothing balm, Hannah always had some of the 
 leaves dried and preserved ready for relief. Did any anxious 
 housewife experience a dearth of sage, in the time of pork- 
 killing and sausage meat, Hannah always had a supply of the 
 odoriferous seasoning. She had chamomile, wormwood, and 
 rue for tonics, tansy for poultices, and peppermint and catnip 
 for little babies. Nor was she without her floral ornaments, 
 for Hannah loved flowers, though Stella did not. Directly 
 under her windows, beyond a line of sweet-scented lilacs, 
 there was a large circle, divided into various parts, by flowers 
 geometrically arranged, though Hannah was no pupil of 
 Euclid. 
 
 The equator was represented by a row of yellow marigolds, 
 the axis by the deep blue larkspur, and variegated touch-me- 
 not. Parallels of latitude were marked by sweet-williams and 
 pansies, division of longitude by pinks, daisies, and bachelor's 
 buttons, and right in the centre of this magnificent, flowery 
 globe, a cluster of tall sun-flowers turned their golden fore- 
 neads, and bowed their adoring heads to the day-god, whose 
 glorious name they bore. On a rustic seat, in the vine-co 
 vered arbour erected on the borders of this domestic paradise,
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 167 
 
 Iherwood and Rena sat. So suddenly had she been trans- 
 orted there, without any apparent volition of her own, she 
 light have believed it the transition of a dream, had not the 
 rarm touch of life from the hand of Sherwood, in which her 
 wn was still clasped, assured her that she was not in an ideal 
 rorld. She felt too, as she looked into the luminous darkness 
 f his eyes, that he was one of 
 
 " earth's impassioned sons, 
 As warm in love, as fierce in ire, 
 As the best heart whose current runs, 
 Full of the day-god's living fire." 
 
 These lines recurred to her, from the matchless poem she 
 .ad just been reading, and all the poetry of her nature stirred 
 rithin her. Again, as in her lonely attic, her spirit seemed a 
 reird-lyre, and the voice of Sherwood breathing over it, waked 
 lusic from every chord. The little pond that gleamed like 
 
 silver cup, in the neighbouring field, was converted into 
 )man's sea, the homely vegetables into Oriental blossoms, 
 he arbour in which she sat into Hinda's latticed bower, and 
 he herself into " El Hassan's blooming child." Sherwood 
 ught to have addressed her in the language of poetry, but 
 hough his countenance glowed with its inspiration, it wag 
 imple prose that flowed from his lipa. 
 
 "I am going away, Rena. In a few days I shall leave 
 tome, to commence my career as a man. I am going to the 
 aetropolis, where my father was born, to adopt his profession, 
 nd if possible adorn it as he has done. I could not go with- 
 >ut seeing you again, without seeing you alone, without " 
 le hesitated, and Rena's fluttering heart beat loud and fast. 
 7o hear of his intended departure grieved her, but the unn'- 
 Lished sentence gave her a glimpse of happiness, which that 
 [uttering heart was scarcely large enough to hold. 
 
 "Speak, Rena," continued he, "and utter the words that 
 lie upon my stammering tongue." 
 
 "How can I, when I know them not?" 
 45
 
 168 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 "Nay, Rena, dear, ingenuous Rena, you do know them. 
 You have divined them. You do know that I love you, but 
 you can never know how tenderly, entirely, and passionately I 
 love you, for words cannot express it. Words ! cold and vaia 
 sjnbols ! Heart only can speak to heart lip alone to lip." 
 
 And suiting the action to the words, he drew her irresistibly 
 closer and closer to him, and her bashful lips trembled under 
 the bold eloquence of his. 
 
 " And now, Rena," said he, " you are mine I feel it, with 
 out one verbal promise, in every fibre of my being ! I kissed 
 you when you were a little child, and I fled from Aunt Debby's 
 lightning eyes. Again, in a victorious hour, I dared to press 
 the kiss of triumph on your glowing cheek. And now, by this 
 first kiss of acknowledged love, I pledge myself to you, Rena, 
 body and soul, heart and life, in the bonds of an everlasting 
 covenant !" 
 
 Rena could not speak her young heart was brimming with 
 happiness too full for language. Aunt Debby might threaten 
 and warn, Mr. Lindsey frown and forbid, Stella's syren tongue 
 bring false witness, but Sherwood, whom she had always loved, 
 the dauntless boy, the fascinating youth, the noble, high- 
 principled young man, Sherwood loved her, and if all future 
 time were dark, and every moment fraught with anguish, this 
 single hour of felicity was sufficient to balance an age of wo ! 
 All at once she thought of her father, and her own extreme 
 youth. 
 
 " My father, Sherwood ! what would he say ?" 
 
 " He would say ' Grod bless my wild Snowbird she has 
 built her nest in a warm, true heart !' " 
 
 But Aunt Debby" 
 
 " She is a woman, after all, and has a heart she will 
 relent." 
 
 " Yes ! she has a warm, excellent heart. She loves me, 
 ana would not like to see me miserable. But your own 
 father, Sherwood I oh ! I fear him I dread him !"
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 169 
 
 "My father!" repeated Sherwood, and a cloud came over 
 his face. He had forgotten the Hon. Mr. Lindsey in the 
 sxcitement of the moment, and the contemptuous manner in 
 which he had spoken of the farmer's daughter. " My father 
 is a man somewhat to be dreaded. I cannot conceal from you 
 that he will oppose my wishes j but I am now of ? ^e, by the 
 laws of my country, and though I might sacrifice my own 
 bappiness through filial reverence, I never will yours. Yes ! 
 my father has the pride of a demi-god, and if he knew of any 
 feminine angels, he would certainly woo one by proxy for my 
 bride. No mere mortal maiden would fill the measure of his 
 imbition. But fear him not, Rena; he too has a heart, and 
 loves me far more than I merit. You do not dread my 
 mother ?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! she looks too sweet, too heavenly, to inspire 
 my feeling except love. But Stella !" 
 
 " And what of Stella ! Surely you are not in awe of her 1" 
 
 " I thought from all she said, but perhaps I misunderstood 
 her that you felt an interest in her, so strong, so tender, that 
 she would look upon me as a rival, if she knew what had passed 
 jven now." 
 
 Rena's beautiful velvet eyes were fixed anxiously, not 
 loubtingly, on Sherwood, waiting his reply. 
 
 " I fear that girl is false, and I grieve for the fear. I did 
 feel a strong interest in her peculiar situation, and as I knew 
 [ had been the indirect cause of suffering to her I felt more 
 leeply on that account But you, Rena, could not for a 
 moment believe that after knowing you I could have evei 
 loved Stella?" 
 
 " She is so beautiful ! ten thousand times more beautiful 
 than I." 
 
 " I see that she is beautiful I feel you to be so. To me 
 there is the difference of phosphorus and lightning the daz 
 zling polar regions and the rich, warm, glowing tropics."
 
 170 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " That will do, Sherwood. If you like me better than Stella, 
 I would not exchange with her, were she an angel of light ! 
 But indeed I always thought myself ugly." 
 
 Sherwood laughed at the truthful earnestness with which she 
 uttered these words. Could she have seen herself at this mo 
 ment, bathed in the roseate light of love and hope and joy, she 
 must have withdrawn the self-applied epithet. How long 
 she sat ther? listening to Sherwood's low, melodious voice, the 
 air whispering through the vine-wreaths, lifting here and there 
 a light leaf, to let a slender sunbeam through, and the shadows 
 occasionally creeping through the lattice-work and playing on 
 her dress, she never knew. She must have forgotten that she 
 had to walk to Sunny Dell. She did not notice that the sun, 
 the great Reaper, was gathering his golden sheafs in the garner 
 of the west. 
 
 In the mean time some counter influences were approaching, 
 as unwelcome as unexpected. It chanced that the Senator was 
 riding out that very afternoon on horseback ; not that there 
 was anything unusual in that, but it happened that one of the 
 shoes of his horse became loose, and he stopped at the gate to 
 leave word for Jemmy Bell to come and take the animal to the 
 blacksmith. While giving the dairy-woman the message for 
 her husband, his eye was attracted by the antics of the child 
 in the clover-bed, who was drumming on a hat, which he was cer 
 tain belonged to no one but Sherwood. A pair of gloves, too, 
 lay on the grass, of whose identity he was equally sure. 
 
 " Is my son here ?" he asked of Hannah, who, conscious 
 that Sherwood would not like to be interrupted, and least of 
 all by his father, and who always felt disconcerted in the pre 
 sence of the haughty Senator, stammered and blushed, and 
 said she believed he was. 
 
 " Where is he ?" 
 
 "I don't know exactly, sir, I'll go and see," and dropping 
 her butter paddle, she walked so rapidly into the garden, that
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 171 
 
 Mr. Lindsay's suspicions were roused, and dismounting, he 
 threw the bridle over a post, opened the gate, stepped over the 
 wondering baby, and taking an oblique direction, entered the 
 garden by a side gate, and encountered Hannah face to face, 
 just before she reached the arbour. Waving her back with 
 an imperious gesture, he took about three strides across the 
 soft grass, and stood right in the green arch, formed by the 
 meeting tendrils of the vine. Rena felt the shadow falling 
 upon them, and looking up beheld the stately form and haunt 
 ing face of Mr. Lindsey. Starting upon her feet with an irre 
 pressible exclamation, Sherwood started up also, and met his 
 father's dark and penetrating glance. No frown contracted his 
 marble brow, but he knew his father, and saw that the subter 
 ranean fires were glowing within the crater of his breast. 
 Determined to meet the exigency of the moment, with the best 
 grace he could command, he took Rena's shrinking hand, and 
 leading her forward several paces, introduced her as the daughter 
 of Colonel Fay, " a gentleman," he added, " to whose hospi 
 tality, you are aware, sir, I was once much indebted." 
 
 Though Mr Lindsey was excessively angry with his son for 
 scorning his advice, and braving his authority, with respect to 
 the farmer's daughter, he nevertheless felt an unspeakable 
 relief, when he discovered that Stella was not his companion 
 in the lonely arbour. The only notice he condescended to take 
 of the introduction was a cold and distant bow, for which 
 haughty courtesy, Rena was constrained to be very grateful, 
 as she had probably wrought herself up to the expectation of 
 seeing a naked scimitar flashing over her head, or perhaps a 
 bowl of poison presented to her lips, or some such dire alter 
 native, such a dark, fearful picture had she formed of Sher 
 wood's father, the perjured lover of Aunt Debby's youth. 
 
 " Sherwood, follow me," said his father; " I am in haste, and 
 require your company." 
 
 It was a pity he had not softened the authority of hia
 
 1~2 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 manner. It was a pity, too, that he used the word require 
 instead of desire, for Sherwood, though he disdained the pride 
 of wealth and rank, had a spirit indomitable as his own, that 
 rebelled against coercion, and what he deemed the unjust exer 
 cise of power. Still he knew the respect due to a father, and 
 curbing the feelings that dictated a different reply, 
 
 " I will follow you, sir," said he, " but if your business is 
 tot too pressing, I should like to accompany this young lady 
 part of her homeward way. It is getting late, and she has far 
 to walk." 
 
 " You should have considered that before detaining her 
 here, for I cannot brook delay." 
 
 " Indeed," interrupted Rena, " I would much prefer re 
 turning alone ; I do not wish any companion ; and I know 
 Aunt Debby " She stopped, her earnestness had carried 
 her too far. It seemed almost sacrilege to mention the name 
 of her injured aunt before the betrayer of her heart. 
 
 It is strange ! Rena had never been thought to resemble 
 her aunt ; but Mr. Lindsey, who well remembered her bright 
 and blooming youth, traced a striking similitude to her in the 
 countenance of her niece. He had known her when love and 
 passion had lent their shifting rays to the large, dark iris of 
 her eyes, their light and shade to the mutable roses of her 
 cheek. As he looked on this young girl, already under the 
 influence of that monarch passion, which stamps all future life 
 with weal or woe, and knew that his own son had awakened 
 its power that other self of his, which ofttimes haunted 
 him like an unlaid ghost, whispered in his ear, that here 
 might be another victim that years hence she, too, might 
 become a cold petrifaction like her aunt, or a withered, 
 bl ighted blossom, like one, once fair, and innocent, and loving 
 as herself, and sink into an unknown and dishonoured grave. 
 
 "You have sacrificed your youth on the altar of unhallowed 
 passion/' continued the phantom-self; "your manhood to the
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 173 
 
 Moloch of ambition. You have offered as burnt-offerings to 
 your idol divinities truth, honour, and justice, and the god of 
 this world has accepted the flaming holocaust. But let your 
 son, if he choose, bow down to another shrine. Bid Mm not 
 bend the knee to Baal, when his soul pays homage to the God 
 of nature and of love. Oh ! cold and hard of heart yourself, 
 chill not, harden not, by selfish policy and worldly wisdom, 
 the young, warm, and panting hearts before you." 
 
 Thus whispered the accusing, warning phantom, while Rena 
 thrilled under the fascination of his gaze. The moment, 
 however, he turned his glare upon his son, she felt it was her 
 duty to withdraw, so that her presence need offer no obstacle 
 to Sherwood's obedience to his father. It required some reso 
 lution to pass so near that proud form as she must do to find 
 egress through the leafy arch ; but what she thought right 
 she never lacked courage to perform. 
 
 " Will you permit me to pass, sir ?" she asked, pushing 
 aside the leaves, like the drapery of a curtain, so as to widen 
 the passage. Gliding through, without suffering the folds of 
 her dress to come in contact with him, and casting back on 
 Sherwood a glance, that needed no interpreter, she flew into 
 the shadow of the lilac trees, through the house, into the 
 porch, where Hannah was waiting with trepidation the result 
 of the interview. 
 
 " I'm so sorry," cried Hannah ; " I could not help it ! If 
 Master Sherwood hadn't forgot his hat and gloves, it wouldn't 
 have happened." 
 
 " It is no matter now, Hannah, I ought not to have 
 stopped," said Rena, her hands trembling so that she could 
 scarcely tie the strings of her bonnet. It was not from fear, 
 but ten thousand new and strange emotions. 
 
 "Dear me!" exclaimed the good dairy-woman, "and to 
 think of your walking home, when you are in such a flurry 
 Where is your pretty white horse ?"
 
 174 RENA; OR, THE SNOAVBIRD. 
 
 "It is a little lame, and I would not ride him to-day. 
 Good-bye, Hannah, and tell Sherwood, if you meet him alone, - 
 that he must not try to see me again before he goes. Bid him 
 good-bye for me, and tell him " She either forgot what she 
 had to say, or something was the matter with her throat 
 which choked the words, for she squeezed Hannah's hand, and 
 ran through the gate without finishing the sentence she had 
 begun. 
 
 Hannah was vexed with Mr. Lindsey, and she was vexed 
 with the baby for drumming so furiously on Sherwood's hat, 
 and thus attracting the attention of his father; and as she 
 could not vent her anger on the illustrious Senator, she did 
 what many a one has done before, wreaked it on the weak and 
 innocent. She caught up the little drummer, who fixed his 
 round eyes in astonishment on her face, not knowing what he 
 had done to inspire such a sudden desire to behold him so 
 near, and gave him a smart maternal slap. Such an extraor 
 dinary ebullition of temper on her part, for Hannah was gene 
 rally just and good-natured, might well justify the extraordinary 
 effect produced. The little gentleman held his breath till the 
 pink of his cheeks turned a deep purple, and his lips looked 
 as if stained with blackberries, like the babes of the woods 
 then suddenly there burst from his throat an accumulated 
 volume of sound, as if all the wrongs of babyhood were con 
 centrated in his single pair of lungs. At this particular 
 moment Mr. Lindsey and his son passed through the yard. 
 Hannah was deeply mortified, for she had a great pride in 
 having it so often said that she had the best children, the 
 quietest babies in the neighbourhood, that she had a peculiar 
 talent in managing them. This mortification was enhanced 
 by self-reproach for having punished the blameless infant for 
 another's fault ; and when, after having soothed the vociferous 
 warbler by her caresses, it grasped, with reviving spirit, a lump 
 of nice stamped butter from the platter, and defaced the rose
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 175 
 
 with its dimpled hands, she suffered the real act of disobedi 
 ence to escape unpunished. This soothed her conscience, and 
 with her usual serenity and activity she finished the duties of 
 the day. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 . 
 
 " I hail thy house of prayer 
 
 New England's banquet day 
 For the sweetest joys of life's young hours, 
 We* born beneath thy ray." 
 
 THANKSGIVING GREETING. 
 " The wintry west extends his blast, 
 
 And hail and rain does blaw ; 
 Or, the stormy north sends driving forth 
 
 The blinding sleet and snaw : 
 While tumbling brown, the burn comes down, 
 
 And roars frae bank to brae ; 
 And bird and beast in covert rest. 
 
 And pass the heartless day." BURNS. 
 
 IN our last chapter the vine wreaths, rich and flourishing, 
 covered the arbour; the flowers, gay and abundant, gave 
 beauty to the eye and fragrance to the senses ; and the sun, as 
 he travelled the resplendent path of the Zodiac, was passing 
 through the burning sign of Leo. 
 
 Now the grape leaves are shrivelled and brown, or all borne 
 away on the wild northern blast; the flowers are gone like a 
 vanished rainbow ; and the wintry sun is moving through the 
 starry bow and silver arrows of Sagittarius. 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Lindsey and his wife are at the capital ot our 
 country ; their son is in the metropolis pursuing his profes 
 sional studies ; and Aunt Debby is gone with llena to spend 
 the thanksgiving day at the home of her brother, where Henry,
 
 176 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 the young collegian, is passing his winter holidays. She is 
 also accompanied by another very unexpected guest. 
 
 It chanced that the lady to whom Stella was transferred 
 when her time with Mrs. Brown expired, was called away un 
 expectedly from home, and requested Aunt Debby to take her 
 into her household till her return. She did this reluctantly, 
 on Etna's account ; but Rena, happy in the consciousness of 
 Sherwood's undivided love, and looking with charity on all 
 mankind, put the most amiable construction on Stella's con 
 duct. She believed that she had deceived herself, rather than 
 that she had sought to deceive her. She pitied her so much, 
 Bhe was glad to have an opportunity of showjng her the kind 
 ness of a sister; and then it was exquisite delight for the un- 
 envying Rena to sit and gaze on the lovely star-eyed girl. 
 When Colonel Fay wrote for his daughter and sister to come 
 and pass the festival of the year with them, Stella was still at 
 Sunny Dell, and Rena entreated permission of Aunt Debby 
 to take her with them. 
 
 " It would be cruel to leave her behind," she said, " as she 
 has no home of her own to receive her on this blessed banquet 
 day. You will see my brother," she cried, turning to Stella, 
 " my own darling brother Henry. Oh ! he is the most beau 
 tiful boy in the world. Boy ! I ought not to call him so ; he 
 is eighteen years old, almost nineteen. And my father, 
 Stella, you will see him too. You did when you were a very 
 little girl, but you do not recollect him. You do not know 
 what a father I have. He is such a noble-looking man, so 
 tall, so grand, so good and gentle. He reminds me of a forest 
 tree, so strong that the tempest canntit bend it, and yet the 
 little birds make their nests in its boughs and shelter theii 
 young ones in its leaves. Is it not true, Aunt Debby ? Did 
 you ever know a man so perfect as my father ?" 
 
 " He is a good man, Rena one of the best, yes ! the very 
 best I ever knew !"
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 177 
 
 " And my mother, my step-mother, Stella, you will love 
 her dearly ; she is so kind. I once dreaded the idea of a 
 step-mother, but now I am grateful to Heaven for having 
 bestowed on me so great a blessing. Dear Aunt Debby, too, 
 my other mother, who has made Sunny Dell a dear, beloved 
 home to me." 
 
 In her overflowing enthusiasm, she enumerated the treasures 
 of her heart and home, when she recollected that it might 
 seem like boasting to the parentless and brotherless charity 
 girl, and with instinctive delicacy she paused. 
 
 " Are these all your blessings, Rena ? have you omitted 
 none in the long list ?" asked Stella. 
 
 " Oh, no, ten thousand others are mine too many for 
 tongue to tell," she answered, but her crimsoned cheeks told 
 of a treasure more dear, more precious than all, concealed 
 within her heart of hearts, 
 
 " With pious ardours worshipped there, 
 And never mentioned but in prayer." 
 
 It was Thanksgiving morning the banquet day of New- 
 England ; the day on which man makes a covenant of grati 
 tude with his Maker for the golden harvest, the ripened fruit, 
 the gathered grain, and all the blessings the rolling year has 
 brought. The day when the scattered members of the house 
 hold gather beneath the paternal roof, and the severed links of 
 family love are united again into one strong and brightening 
 chain. A day, to which every true son and daughter of ths 
 granite hills of New England will look back with deep emo 
 tion, whether they dwell beneath the sunny skies of the south, 
 or have passed with bolder wing beyond the Atlantic wave. 
 
 On this time-honoured anniversary, Rena sat down at hor 
 father* s bounteous board. The travellers had arrived late the 
 preceding evening, cold and weary, and though the joy of 
 meeting triumphed for a while over bodily fatigue, they found
 
 178 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 more attractions in a warm bed and promised rest than social 
 communion. Now refreshed and invigorated they met around 
 a table, which well represented an altar where the incense of 
 grateful and adoring hearts went up, mingling with the smoke 
 of the viands and the odour of the spices. It was a charming 
 family group. Behind a majestic turkey, the monarch of the 
 board, whose bright, brown skin was embroidered with the 
 parsley's emerald sprigs, appeared the lofty form of Colonel 
 Fay, his fine blue eye shedding a benignant lustre on the 
 domestic shrine. Opposite to him, presiding over a miracle of 
 pastry, in the form of a magnificent chicken pie, sat the ami 
 able step-mother, who had caused a perpetual thanksgiving in 
 the home she had entered. Rena would have a seat on one 
 side of her father, and she placed Stella on the other, and 
 there he shone in the zenith of manhood, between the morn 
 ing-glory of Stella's beauty and the star-light brightness of 
 Rena. 
 
 Aunt Debby, over whose toilet Rena had carefully presided, 
 astonished her brother by her softened and lady-like appear 
 ance. She had become so accustomed to braided hair and 
 lace collars, that she no longer thought she " looked like a 
 fool," with these adornments, and forgot she had ever dis 
 pensed with them. Henry, the fair and beautiful youth, with 
 biow of alabaster, and locks of silk, and smooth, "unrazored 
 lip," sat next his sister, basking in the blaze of loveliness 
 beaming on him from the opposite side. He could not eat, 
 though his plate was crowded with luxuries ; he was faint as 
 from a coup-de-soleil. Such pencils of starry rays kept play 
 ing lambently over his face, he was literally dazzled and be 
 wildered. Stella saw the effect she had produced, and exulted 
 in it. She felt no admiration herself for Henry's girlish 
 Beauty, which gave to his person such an air of extreme 
 youth, that she could look upon him only as a boy; but her 
 vanity was gratified by the spontaneous homage, and her 
 cheeks glowed with rosier brilliancy.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 179 
 
 " Children," said the Colonel, looking benevolently round 
 him, "you are not doing justice to your mother's Thanksgiv 
 ing feast, Rena, my darling, is it possible you have laid 
 down your knife and fork ? Henry, this will never do. We 
 shall mark you as an ingrate if you do not eat. Young lady, 
 you must feed your blooming roses." 
 
 " Is our gratitude to be measured by the food we consume, 
 father ?" asked Rena. " Is it ou% of the abundance of the 
 heart that the mouth eateth f" 
 
 " I do not know that I would make it a gauge of morals," 
 answered her father, smiling on his favourite, "but where 
 much is given, much is required." 
 
 Their plates were now exchanged, for those containing tri 
 angular pieces of the different families of pies and tarts of 
 every hue and taste, from the glowing crimson of the cran 
 berry, to the deep orange of the pumpkin. 
 
 Rena, whose appetite was already satiated, began to twirl 
 her plate rapidly round, to the astonishment and alarm of her 
 right-hand neighbour. 
 
 " What are you doing, merry one ?" asked the Colonel. 
 
 " I am trying an experiment, that I remember. I want to 
 see if I can't turn this rainbow into a milk-white wheel, bj 
 making the rays mingle." 
 
 " Take care you don't deposit your rainbow in our laps," 
 said Aunt Debby, seeing Henry's coat powdered by the white 
 sugar, that flew off during the gyrations. It was a happy 
 meal. Rena was as completely a child, as when she capti 
 vated Sherwood's boyish imagination. She was so wild with 
 joy at being once more at her father's side, her spirit effer 
 vesced and sparkled in all kinds of innocent gayety. She 
 brought her cat to the table, a beautiful, privileged house 
 hold animal, with a skin like down, white as a snow-drift, 
 only a spot of grayish brown on each temple, and eyes of soft 
 dark gray, instead of the light green hue peculiar to the
 
 180 RENA; OR, THE SNC WEIRD. 
 
 feline race ; and putting a piece of pie in its velvet paws, it 
 Bat purring gravely and quietly, looking up occasionally at its 
 young mistress with a countenance of ineffable complacency. 
 Even a common cat crowns with beauty a domestic scene 
 what grace then must such a beautiful, gentle creature have 
 imparted to the group, in the lap of our bewitching Rena. 
 
 " If Cygnet were only he~e !" she exclaimed. 
 
 " You would bring him to the table too, I suppose ?" said 
 Aunt Debby. 
 
 Rena with eloquent tongue described her milk-white favour 
 ite, and dwelt enthusiastically on the kindness of Aunt Debby 
 in making her such a present, but the memory of Sherwood 
 was associated with Cygnet, and she sighed to think the festi 
 val of gratitude must pass unshared by him. 
 
 The day was clouded, the sky wearing the pale, leaden hue, 
 that marks the gathering snow-storm. A bleak wind was 
 blowing from the north-east, but, seated by the roaring chim 
 ney, no one thought of the inclemency of the elements. 
 
 It is customary to hallow a portion of the day by religious 
 exercises, and the bell of the village church sent forth its 
 deep, mellow sound on the northern blast, summoning man to 
 the worship of his Maker. 
 
 " Is it not too cold to venture out this morning ?" %sked 
 Henry, gazing on the warm roses of Stella's cheeks. 
 
 " I think it is," said Aunt Debby, warming her hands by 
 the ruddy blaze. 
 
 " So do I," repeated Stella, not insensible to the personal 
 comfort she was enjoying by that glowing fireside. 
 
 " And I," cried Rena, who, instead of sitting down with 
 the rest, was running about, opening little cupboards and 
 drawers, to see if everything looked as it did when she left 
 home, " I would not stay at home for the world ! I waut to 
 see our dear, good, beloved minister. I want to hear his deep, 
 magnificent voice, to meet his benign glance, and clasp hia
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 181 
 
 kind, parental hand in mine. Oh ! Stella, he is one of the 
 treasures I was ungrateful enough not to mention dear, 
 excellent Doctor Clifford. Henry, have you seen him yet ?" 
 
 " No I have not been abroad." 
 
 " Then come with me, my brother. Shame, if the cold 
 keeps you at home which he, you know, must brave I" 
 
 " That's right, my little Snowbird I" cried her father, pat 
 ting her on the shoulder. "I do believe you have wings 
 folded up here ! A warm heart thaws the winter's cold. 
 There is warmth enough in this one little heart to melt the 
 ice of the poles ! Sister Debby, do you not agree with me 
 now ? you disputed my philosophy years ago." 
 
 " I know she has thawed some of the ice that was incrust- 
 ing the polar regions of my heart," replied Aunt Debby, 
 looking affectionately at Kena. "I believe I am renewing 
 my youth in hers. Do you see, brother, .what a fool she has 
 made of me ?" 
 
 "I see how exceedingly improved and beautiful you are, 
 sister Debby ; and if Rena's little fingers have anything to 
 do with the transformation, it is another proof of the magic of 
 her touch. I always felt sorry to see one to whom nature 
 has been so liberal, neglectful of her gifts. A woman "never 
 can be careless of her dress and personal appearance without 
 losing something of the delicacy and refinement of feeling 
 peculiar to her sex." 
 
 "I was fond enough of dress when a girl. Don't you 
 remember how I used to wind garlands of wild-flowers in my 
 hair?" 
 
 " Yes, and how handsome you looked. You was as wild a 
 gipsy then as our Rena." 
 
 " Oh ! this is all nonsense," cried Aunt Debby, smothering 
 a sigh. " Let us all go to church." 
 
 So Rena, as usual, prevailed ; and to church they all went, 
 except Mrs. Fay, who remained at home to send baskets of
 
 182 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 provisions to the poor, whom she remembered in her own 
 overflowing abundance. The church was built on a gradual 
 eminence, sloping towards the south, in the centre of a smooth 
 common, which in summer was the colour of the most bril 
 liant emerald. Now, it was covered with a cold, white carpet, 
 which retained the print of every foot that pressed it. The 
 lofty spire of the edifice looked like a pillar of white marble, 
 supporting the lead-coloured arch above. The first glimpse 
 of those consecrated walls made Rena's heart glow within 
 her; but when she enlered and saw the venerated form of her 
 beloved pastor, bending over the sacred desk, when she heard 
 the tones of a voice which always sounded like the music of 
 heaven to her ear, her eyes filled with tears, and all the memories 
 of her childhood clustered around her. It was his hand that 
 had shed the dew of baptism on her infant brow. It was his 
 prayers that had hallowed the grave of her mother. It waa 
 he who had gently led her through the green fields and by the 
 still waters, and taught her to worship and love the God who 
 created and the Saviour who had redeemed her. There he 
 stood leaning over the crimson velvet cushion, the crimson 
 curtains hanging in rich, voluminous folds behind, in his flow 
 ing black surplice and milk-white bands ; his cheek pale, save 
 where the glow of inspiration was just beginning to dawn, his 
 brow, where benevolence and intellect sat enthroned in mingled 
 benignity and majesty, slightly shaded by the dark-brown hair, 
 now sprinkled with silvery gray as perfect a representative of 
 an apostle of Jesus Christ as ever adorned the sacerdotal pro 
 fession. But when he opened his lips, and that voice, deep, 
 sweet, and solemn as the diapason of an organ, swelled on the 
 ear, and rolling round the arching wall, filled every corner of 
 the building with its magnificent volume, the soul seemed to 
 float upward on those deep billows of sound, like a bark on the 
 rising tide. 
 
 May we bfc allowed to pause one moment here, to pay an
 
 EENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 183 
 
 humble tribute to the memory of one, whose evangelical ex 
 cellence resembled the character here delineated; one who, 
 with talents that might have commanded a wide and elevated 
 sphere of action, was contented to remain in the narrower 
 limits where his youthful energies were first exerted ? With 
 the gentleness of the beloved disciple, whose lips distilled the 
 balm of love, he led his flock to the feet of the Saviour, breath 
 ing, in notes as sweet as " angels use," the promises of the Gos 
 pel; or, when love and mercy pleaded in vain, with the majesty 
 of the Apostle of the Gentiles, proclaiming the thunders of the 
 violated law to the hardened and impenitent sinner. Neither 
 the burning sun of summer, nor the icy blasts of winter, kcj* 
 him from the chamber of the sick, the bed of the dying, or 
 the dwelling of the poor. He is gone, but his memory is im 
 mortal. His image remains a household god in the hearts and 
 homes of the people whom he loved, embalmed with holier 
 incense than ever hallowed the idol fanes of Greece or Rome. 
 Peace to thy ashes, beloved pastor, venerated saint thoa 
 sleepest in the bosom of the beautiful valley consecrated as 
 the scene of thy labours and thy prayers. There the grand 
 old elms, that clasp their hundred arms round the white walls 
 of thy parsonage, as they rustle in the breeze, shall whisper 
 thy name to children yet unborn ; and long as the walls of the 
 church, once thy sanctuary, shall lean on the blue of heaven, 
 the echoes of thy rich and august voice will linger in musia 
 thf-<j. Yes ! 
 
 The deep, adoring voice 
 
 That once that temple filled, 
 No longer breathes rich music there, 
 
 Its tones in death are stilled. 
 
 But as the incense smokes, 
 
 When dim the altar's fire, 
 So floats the memory of that voice 
 
 Around the sacred pyre. 
 4ti
 
 184 REN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 We love the hallowed walls 
 
 Where those deep echoes dwell, 
 . And we love the noble elms, that shade 
 
 The home he loved so well. 
 
 A blessing on it rest 
 
 And may its " grand, old" trees, 
 By the brightest sunbeams long be gilt, 
 
 And catch the purest breeze. 
 
 But, we will hang our garland of love on the tomb, where 
 the willow weeps, and turn to where Rena sits, given up heart 
 and soul to the holy influences of the hour. 
 
 With all her wild gayety she had a deep feeling of piety, 
 running like a vein of virgin gold through the earthly alloy 
 of her nature. But hers was the religion of love. She did 
 not worship a far-off Deity, dwelling in clouds, and thunder, 
 and thick darkness. The kingdom of heaven was in her heart, 
 and there the God she adored had set up an everlasting throne, 
 and there he reigned king of kings and lord of lords. No 
 unhallowed thought could be cherished in the presence-cham 
 ber of that holy guest; no evil passion invade a sovereignty 
 so glorious and absolute. Far different were the emotions of 
 those two young girls, as they sat side by side in the village 
 church. Rena gazed on the heavenly countenance of her 
 pastor, and gathering his words' of wisdom and truth, felt as 
 if she were feeding on angels' food. Stella's eye wandered 
 over the congregation, seeking the admiration of men, forget 
 ting that her thoughts were bare to the omniscient Jehovah. 
 Rena's hands were clasped, and her attitude was as still a3 
 marble. Stella's fingers played with her golden ringlets, or 
 fluttered among the leaves of her hymn-book ; and if she 
 glanced at the breathing statue at her side, she thought Rena 
 was ridiculous to affect so much devotion, and excessively fool 
 ish to lend ner her beautiful scarlet mantle, and wear a dark 
 and comparatively unbecoming cloak herself. Had she known
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 185 
 
 how Rena loved the hue of scarlet since Sherwood had sworn 
 allegiance to it, she would have thought her more foolish still. 
 But if Rena' s cloak was not as becoming as the scarlet mantle 
 which she had so disinterestedly folded around Stella, it did 
 not seem to chill the ardent welcome which greeted her from 
 every side, when the services of the morning were over. She 
 was the village favourite and Stella's envious heart sickened 
 at the demonstrations of interest and affection lavished upon 
 her. Dr. Clifford, as he passed down the aisle, where his 
 loving people pressed round him, to catch one benignant smile, 
 one kind word, took both her hands in his, calling her the 
 lamb of his flock, the child of his prayers; the matrons ca 
 ressed her with maternal tenderness ; the young girls with sis 
 terly affection ; and the boys and young men crowded round 
 the sleigh, and wrapped the buffalo skins round her feet, with 
 as much zeal as if it were a Russian princess enthroned upon 
 the furs. It is true they gazed admiringly at Stella ; but she 
 did not absorb their admiration, she did not blind, dazzle them, 
 as she had the girlish Henry. They contemplated Rena with 
 delight ; and Stella hated her in proportion as others seemed 
 to love her. She could not imagine what charm she bore 
 about her. It could not be mere beauty, for was she not her 
 self fairer and far more beautiful ? It could not be wealth 
 or rank, for she was only a plain farmer's daughter. It is no 
 wonder Stella was puzzled to discover the amulet she wore 
 But she did wear one, as we have before asserted, which, like 
 the opal ring of the Genii, drew towards her all within the 
 circle of her influence. The amulet was love, self-forgetting, 
 self-sacrificing love that love which has smiles for the joyous 
 and tears for the sad, and sympathy, tenderness, and kindness 
 for all who need or ask. 
 
 About night, the clouds, which had worn a bluish gray tint 
 during the day, opened their bosoms and discharged the trea- 
 pures of snow with which they were laden First it came
 
 186 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 down in light flurries, gentle and soft as down, melting as it 
 fell, then in gathering flakes, feather-like, and forming into 
 plumes on the naked and icy branches. But after a while the 
 wind blew in stormy gusts, and sent it drifting against the 
 windows, and. tossing tempestuously in the atmosphere. Boys 
 and men, too, were seen scudding along before the mighty snow- 
 spirit that followed, covering them with a cold, white mantle; 
 with the collars of their great-coats turned high above their 
 ears ; their faces tingling as if a razor were passing over them. 
 Blessed on such an evening is the genial fireside, and bright 
 and happy was the group that gathered round the hearth of 
 Colonel Fay. Even Rena, who had been running out of doors, 
 catching the snow as it fell, and making it into balls, with which 
 she threatened to snow-ball Henry and Stella, while they sat 
 comfortably by the fire, even she was glad to escape from the 
 keen edge of the blast, and warm her aching hands. 
 
 " I fear you must wait till to-morrow, before I make my 
 snow image," she cried, pressing Henry's soft cheek with her 
 icy hand. " Henry, do you ever do such boyish things ia 
 college ?" 
 
 "We are famous for snow-balling," he replied; but it is 
 doubtful whether he himself ever won any laurels in the game. 
 Rena looked thoughtfully and dreamily at the flashing coals. She 
 recollected how she and Sherwood had toiled together one win 
 ter's night in their yard, making what he called her palace of 
 snow, where he enthroned her as the Empress of the Frost, and 
 she thought she would give all that royalty ever called its own, if 
 he were only near, seated at her side by that thanksgiving fire. 
 
 " Where are you going, father ?" she cried, seeing him enter 
 with his great-coat, fur cap, and woollen gloves, " you are not 
 going out such a night as this?" 
 
 " Why not, my child ? I am well defended, and have been 
 abroad in many a worse storm than this." 
 
 " But this is Thanksgiving evening, and you ought to stay 
 at home with u& Indeed, we cannot spare you."
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 137 
 
 "No, we cannot," said Mrs. Fay; "the guests we have in 
 vited will not venture out in such weather, and Rena, I know, 
 will be discontented if you are away." 
 
 The Colonel smiled gratefully on his wife and children, but 
 shook his head, and buttoned up his coat. 
 
 " I must go and see a poor man, who is not expected to live 
 through the night. A little boy has waded through the snow 
 to bear me his dying request ; I would not refuse it if the drifts 
 were piled mountains high." 
 
 " Ah ! it is poor Peter Foote, who has been sick so long. 
 Is it not ? He lives the other side of Green hridge. I am 
 sorry you have to pass that bridge, for since the ice has broken 
 up, such masses are gathered there, at the confluence of the 
 two streams, I hear it is considered dangerous to ride over it." 
 
 " I shall walk," said the Colonel. " I should not like to 
 expose a horse to such a cutting wind. It is Thanksgiving for 
 beast as well as man, 'for the beast of the forest is His, and 
 His are the cattle on a thousand hills/ " 
 
 His eye, lifted for a moment, acknowledged the Great Sove 
 reignty of the universe, then rested on his family with tender 
 ness and gratitude : gratitude for their boundless affection. 
 
 All bade him an affectionate adieu, but Rena followed him 
 to the door, shuddering at the wild gust that came rushing in 
 like a strong man, the moment it was opened. But he was 
 going on an errand of mercy, and she was sure, if she was not 
 looking through a glass darkly, she could see beautiful shining 
 wings severing the storm clouds, and shielding his head from 
 the fury of the blast. 
 
 " I wish I could go with you, father," she cried, " and help 
 you to comfort the dying man. Doctor Clifford will be there, 
 I know, for wherever there is sorrow and death, he follows to 
 heal and sustain. Dear father, pray walk very carefully over 
 that dangerous bridge. Step very lightly, for you are tail and 
 heavy, and may break through."
 
 188 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 The Colonel could not help laughing at her reiterated cau 
 tions, but he promised not to touch the planks if he could help it, 
 " God blessed her," and plunged out into the driving storm. 
 The little boy who brought the message was not to return, as he 
 was not the son of the sick man, so the Colonel was entirely 
 alone, and he strided along before the wind, thinking how much 
 better off he was, thus strong and powerful, and able to wrestle 
 with the elements, than the feeble, expiring being, whose couch 
 he was about to visit. It was rather more than a mile to the 
 bridge, and it was not long before he heard the dull murmurs 
 of the river, chafing against the piers. The season, so far, had 
 been unusually cold, and the river frozen over earlier than it 
 had been, in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. This river, 
 though not wide, had a remarkably serpentine course, and re 
 ceived in its meanderings some tributary streams, as broad and 
 voluminous as itself. Several bridges spanned it, as it wound 
 its silver coils through green meadows and sunny plains. In 
 summer this beautiful, blue, pellucid stream, so sportive and 
 capricious in its ways, now laughing in sunshine, now mur 
 muring in shade, then gliding placidly, silently along, mar 
 gined by " bonny spreading bushes" betraying its presence 
 only by a richer, deeper, more luxuriant herbage ; this sweet, 
 joyous, shining river, gave inexpressible life and beauty to the 
 landscape. And even in winter, when, bound in fetters of ice, 
 it glassed the moonbeams on its bosom, it was still beautiful, 
 and when those fetters were suddenly broken by the thaw-spirit, 
 and the waters tossed about the glittering ice chains and rev 
 elled madly in their recovered freedom, beauty and sublimity 
 mingled in the scene. 
 
 The bridge was called Green bridge, because a man of that 
 name lived just above it. It was far from new, and had been 
 repaired several times, for the pressure of the breaking ice in 
 winter was of an immense weight. The Colonel, when he first 
 placed his foot on the planks, thought of Rena's parting
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 189 
 
 injunction, and he did step rather lighter than usual. He 
 saw a very heavily loaded wood sledge right before him. 
 and he was sure that if he was heavy, he was not as much 
 so as the burden that preceded him. He passed along over 
 the central arch, the sledge touched the opposite bank, and 
 he stepped with a firmer, more assured tread, when, instanta 
 neous as the lightning's flash, the plank gave way beneath 
 his feet, there was a terrible crash of falling timbers, of 
 shivering ice, and he was hurled down with the ruins, and 
 dashed into the water, among fragments of ice, with a force 
 that stunned and produced a transient suspension of all his 
 faculties. He soon, however, revived to a full sense of ths 
 horrors of his situation. He was a good swimmer, but tbx 
 current was so strong, dashing through large, jagged cakes of 
 ice, that, impeding its course, only lashed it into wilder foam, 
 and his heavy outside garment added such weight to his 
 limbs, benumbed and chilled as they were, he was scarcely 
 capable- of any muscular exertion. Still he struggled, like a 
 strong man with his fate, the great law of self-preservation 
 urging him on, even when failing nature was ready to yield. 
 If he could reach the bank where the slender willows bent 
 over the stream, and grasp one of the branches, he could swing 
 himself to the shore j but for this, he had to breast the current, 
 rushing against him, full of sharp, cold, icy fragments, as well 
 as large blocks, whirling and plunging about and wrestling 
 with each other, yet all combining their forces against him. 
 Though unseen, the moon was rolling cold and dull behind the 
 snow-clouds, blunting the edge of darkness, and revealing the 
 perils to which he was exposed. He called for help, till his 
 hoarse voice could utter no sound, but the only answer he 
 heard was a mocking echo from the opposite bank. While 
 forcing his way desperately, almost despairingly, towards the 
 bending willows, his mind, with supernatural clearness and 
 power, gathered into that one drop of time all the thoughts,
 
 190 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 feelings, and events of his whole life. Incidents and emotions 
 over which the waves of oblivion had rolled and apparently 
 washed out every trace, came up in as strong relief as the 
 ruined bridge against the stormy sky. The past was like a 
 scroll, written in invisible ink, dim and colourless, but which 
 he now read by the strong blaze of an enkindled conscience, 
 and every letter and line emerged in characters of fire. Real 
 izing awfully, grandly the eternity of his being, and the might 
 and glory of Him who gave it, he felt willing to die, trusting 
 in that divine love, which is stronger than death and deeper 
 than the grave. He remembered the dying man, to whose 
 bed-side he was hastening, and whom he was about to precede 
 to the dark confines of an unknown world. He thought of 
 the loving family, from which he had just parted, and which 
 he might never again behold on earth, and a paroxysm of 
 agony shook his frame. 
 
 " Oh, thou great and glorious God," he cried, out of the 
 depths of his spirit, in the midst of the whirling waters. 
 " Oh ! thou Father of Mercies thou Giver and Guardian of 
 life spare me a little longer, for their sakes not mine ! My 
 wife my son my darling, darling Rena !" 
 
 Hark ! to the sound of fast-coming bells ! Faintly they 
 tinkled through the whirling drifts, but still they came nearer 
 and nearer. Suddenly the sound ceased. It was probably 
 some traveller, who had reached the verge of the chasm made 
 by the fallen timbers, and was arrested timely on the brink. 
 
 " Help, help !" he cried, collecting all the remaining ener 
 gies of life, in that one last appeal " help, in the name of 
 God, for a drowning man I" 
 
 At this moment, a gigantic block of ice, driven along, made 
 euch an eddy in the water that he was whirled near the spot 
 to which his straining eyes had been turned. He clutched at 
 one of the willow boughs, but icy, slippery, and slender, it 
 eluded his. stiffening fingers, and sinking back with a deeper 
 plunge, light, motion, and consciousness forsook him.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 191 
 
 In the mean time, the family circle surrounded the merry 
 blaze, unconscious of the danger of him they loved so well. 
 It is true when the blast came rushing and howling against 
 the window, shaking the glass as if it would shiver it into 
 atoms, and they saw the snow-wreaths hang thicker and thick 
 er on the sashes, till they formed an impenetrable curtain 
 without, they would wish he was at home, and pile on the 
 wood, as if he could be sensible of its warmth. Aunt Debby 
 exerted herself for the entertainment of all, and opening the 
 store-house of her memory, she told many a wondrous tale of 
 persons frozen in snow-drifts, wedged in ice-bergs, or drowned 
 in the dark river. From these, by a natural association of 
 ideas, she proceeded to ghost-stories, and related one after 
 another, till one could fancy they saw one of these dwellers 
 of the " pale realms of shade," rising from their dim abodes, 
 to wander about at the midnight hour and point the spectra] 
 finger at the undetected murderer. At last Rena covered her 
 ears with her hands and declared she would not listen any 
 longer, for it filled her with direful apprehensions about her 
 father, for there was something so solemn in his being called 
 out on such a night to visit a dying man. 
 
 " Pray, don't infect me with your fears, Rena !" cried Mrs. 
 Fay, in an anxious voice. " Your father knows how to take 
 care of himself." 
 
 Rena started up. She was sure she heard the gate open 
 she was sure she heard her father's step. Without stop 
 ping for a candle, which the wind would have extinguished, 
 she ran through the passage, into which the snow had drifted 
 in fantastic heaps, and unclosed the door, though the frosty 
 latch seemed glued to her fingers. 
 
 " Father !" she exclaimed. 
 
 " Rena !" It was not the voice of her father, but she knew 
 it well, and lightning flashes of electric joy illumined her 
 inmost being. A pair of arms, dripping and cold, slasped her 
 to a bosom of ice.
 
 192 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " I come like a river-god to my beloved Undine I" he 
 cried ; " but forgive me I chill you, I congeal you I" 
 
 " I thought it was my father," said she, as she had done 
 four years before, when clasped in his victorious arms. " Bui 
 where have you been for it is water, not snow, that is turn 
 ing to ice on your garments ? Come, where the fire is 
 blazing. Come you will perish here !" 
 
 " Your father is near, Rena. Be not alarmed he is safe 
 now." 
 
 " Now ! good Heavens ! what has happened ?" 
 
 " Now I" exclaimed Mrs. Fay, who supposing that it was 
 her Kusband who entered, had followed Rena into the passage, 
 and Mstened with astonishment to the stranger's voice. " Tell 
 me, I beseech you, what evil has befallen my husband ?" 
 
 " Be not alarmed, madam. He was in danger of drowning, 
 but is now safe. A friend is accompanying him home. I 
 hastened forward to prepare you for the accident, and allay 
 your fears. The sleigh is already at the gate I will go and 
 assist him." 
 
 Rena sprang over the threshhold into a drift almost as high 
 as her head, but the snow blew fiercely in her face, blinding 
 her eyes, and she would have fallen before the resisting wind 
 had not Sherwood again caught her in his freezing arms and 
 borne her into the house. 
 
 " This is madness, Rena ! You can do no good, and again 
 I repeat, your father is safe." 
 
 Yes ! he was safe from a drowning death but no words 
 can describe the consternation and dismay of his family when 
 they saw him brought in, supported by Sherwood and another 
 gentleman, his face pale as a corpse, save where it was dis 
 coloured with purple, and his powerful and energetic frame 
 drooping and collapsed. 
 
 " I live !" said he, faintly, taking in with a dim glance the 
 pale and agitated group around him ; " and this is my pre-
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 193 
 
 server !" pressing the hand of Sherwood " take care of 
 him !" 
 
 Mrs. Fay was a woman of great feeling and remarkable 
 presence of mind, and, assisted by Aunt Debby, who, in 
 alarm for her brother, forgot all selfish emotions, they soon 
 had hot blankets and warm draughts, which restored life and 
 warmth and action to the chilled limbs and almost frozen 
 blood. It was not long before his pale, discoloured face 
 assumed a more natural hue ; and feeling a grateful contrast 
 in the downy bed that pressed softly round his bruised and 
 aching frame to the icy couch in which he had been laid, he 
 sank into a deep and soothing sleep. 
 
 Meanwhile Henry, with unwonted animation, had attended 
 to Sherwood's freezing condition, for he was literally covered 
 with a coat of ice, and icicles glittered in his hair. He brought 
 in his valise, took him to his own room, assisted him to exchange 
 his saturated garments, and dry the melting sleet from his 
 dankened locks. The transition was very grateful, but a still 
 more grateful one awaited him in the family sitting-room. 
 As he entered at one door, Aunt Debby was coming in at 
 another, and she met the young man face to face. But the 
 lightnings were quenched in her coal black eyes they looked 
 as if they had been moistened by tears ! 
 
 " Young man/' said she, holding out her hand, " you have 
 saved my brother's life, and I thank you. I am not a woman 
 to waste words ; but you will find my remembrance of bene 
 fits, is deep and strong as that of injuries. Here, take the 
 colonel's seat, next the fire, and drink a glass of this hot, 
 mulled wine; I am sure you need it. Rena, give him a 
 bumper." 
 
 Sherwood took the brimming glass from Rena's trembling 
 hand, and pledging everlasting respect to Aunt Debby in 
 words, and everlasting love to Rena in looks, drained the 
 spicy and spirit-warming beverage. The beautiful Stella be-
 
 104 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 held the interchange of glances, where soul flashed to soul ; 
 and the evil demon of her nature, like a serpent roused 
 from its torpor, began to sting and coil. She tried to think 
 it was Henry who had induced him to come that it was a 
 mere desire for a Thanksgiving frolic; even the wild hope 
 that she herself was the magnet, had elated her with mo 
 mentary triumph. As she looked on Rena's face, now literally 
 resplendent with the light and glow of the heart, she did not 
 know that baleful passions were darkening her own. Astro 
 logy speaks of malignant stars ; if there ever were such, they 
 were shining now coldly, wickedly, under Stella's pencilled 
 brows. If she could devise any means of depriving Rena of 
 the loadstone she seemed to possess ! but deep was the 
 casket that contained it, and it could only be reached through 
 the blood of her heart. Ah ! if the thoughts that glance 
 into the minds of the envious and jealous were daguerreotyped 
 on the walls that enclose them, how startling and awful would 
 be the revelation ! How black would be the shades, how 
 deep the lines, how appalling the combinations ! But there 
 is a tablet, unseen by mortal vision, where these thoughts are 
 delineated, not by the sunbeams of heaven, but the blazing 
 eye of Omnipotence; and no chemic art can ever obliterate 
 the burning lines. But one stream has power to efface them ; 
 and wo be to thee, fair and beautiful Stella, if it flows not 
 over thy polluted heart ! 
 
 " And now," said Aunt Debby, drawing her chair next to 
 Sherwood, while Rena sat on a low stool leaning on her lap 
 a habit which she had acquired at Sunny Dell " will you tell 
 us the history of my brother's danger and deliverance ? If 
 your tongue is not yet thawed, another glass of mulled wine 
 will do it." 
 
 "I fear my head would not bear another," replied Sher 
 wood ; " that or some other influences have made it feel won 
 drous light."
 
 RENA; OR, THK SNOWBIRD. 195 
 
 "Nonsense !" said Aunt Debby; "who ever heard of one's 
 being touched in the brain, Thanksgiving eve? God be 
 praised I" added she, with gravity, " we may now truly call 
 it Thanksgiving eve." 
 
 " And next to God, him," said Rena, in a low voice. But 
 low as it was, Sherwood heard her, and would again nave buf- 
 fete^l the cold waters for such a reward. 
 
 " The history of his deliverance is short," said Sherwood ; 
 "of his danger, I know not how long. I was urging my 
 weary horse through the snow-blast that blinded us both, 
 when he suddenly stopped on the confines of the bridge. 
 Without looking to see the cause, and attributing it to weari 
 ness, I was base enough to whip him, so impatient was I to 
 reach the haven to which I was bound. The resisting animal 
 would not move, and, clearing away the snow-flakes from my 
 vision, I rose and looked forward. A black and yawning 
 chasm opened right before the horse's head ; the bridge had 
 fallen, and its ruins mingled with the dashing waters. Ap 
 palled at the danger I had escaped, I felt as if I ought to 
 have got down on my knees to my horse and asked his pardon 
 for the lash I had given him when a cry such as only man 
 can utter in the extremity of mortal agony, came up from the 
 depth of the river, and pierced my ears like sharp steel. 
 ( Help !' cried the voice ' help, in the name of God ! for a 
 drowning man !' " 
 
 " Oh, my father !" exclaimed Rena, bursting into tears. 
 
 " It was indeed an awful moment," added Sherwood, in a 
 Boftened voice ; " but had I known it was your father, Rena, 
 I could not have winged my way with more rapidity to the 
 spot whence the sound proceeded. It was the cry of human 
 misery, and it was enough. Before I arrived, no noise was? 
 heard but the roaring of the river mingling with the howling 
 of the storm. I perceived a quick, strong vibration in one of 
 *he willows, that did not seem to be caused by the wind
 
 196 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 which only swayed its branches aside, and I thought the drown 
 ing person must have caught hold of it in vain. Rena, how 
 pale you look ; I dare not go on I" 
 
 11 Oh yes, tell how you saved him ! for you did save him ; 
 oh, he is safe now !" 
 
 " That I find it difficult to relate. I remember seeing a 
 dark object rising above the water, then sinking, and rising 
 again ; and my plunging in and grappling with the ice that 
 rushed between it and me, and hurling it from me with a 
 strength I had never had before. I remember grasping the 
 body at last and bearing it towards the shore, how, I know 
 not. Tfy <m we reached the bank I was nearly as lifeless as 
 himself; but I soon recovered, and taking my cloak, which I 
 had thrown from me ere I plunged, wrapped it round his body. 
 I recognised him, for the moon's light was strong through the 
 clouds ; and I felt as if I would willingly sacrifice my life for 
 his. I tried to drag him to my sleigh, which I had left by 
 the bridge, but the exhaustion following unnatural effort, 
 made it an unavailing attempt. I chafed his benumbed hands, 
 and laying my face to his, breathed my vitality through hia 
 pallid lips. He lived, he moved " Here Sherwood's voice 
 choked, and he looked down to hide his glistening eyes. 
 Oh ! how Rena loved him at that moment ! how she longed 
 to take that hand, that heroic hand, which had saved her . 
 father's life, and cover it with her pure and grateful kisses ! 
 But Aunt Debby did what she dared not she took his hand 
 and pressed it in silence, for she could not speak. Tears stole 
 down the cheeks of the gentle Henry; no eye was dry but 
 Stella's. The dew that moistens the tender herbage and the 
 flower leaves the rock and sand arid as before. 
 
 " And this is all," said Sherwood, with reviving anima 
 tion. " The gentleman who accompanied me here, most 
 opportunely rode up at this moment, and adding his cloak to 
 mine, which already covered him, and his strength to mine,
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 197 
 
 assisted me in placing him in my sleigh, and directed me to 
 another road, which we could travel in security. I ought to 
 rejoice in this occurrence, if Colonel Fay is not too great a 
 sufferer, since I have won a welcome of which I was a little 
 doubtful an uninvited guest on Thanksgiving eve should 
 bring powerful credentials with him." 
 
 " But how did you know we were here ?" suddenly asked 
 Aunt Debby. 
 
 Rena blushed as if she knew more than she was willing to 
 tell ; but Sherwood answered. 
 
 " I knew that Henry was here and it was natural for me 
 to think that you would all follow the time-honoured custom 
 of meeting around the Thanksgiving board." 
 
 A sumptuous board was spread for Sherwood, and as tte 
 Colonel still slept calmly and soundly as an infant, Mrs. Fay 
 came forth to do the honours of hospitality in compliment and 
 gratitude to the preserver of her husband. 
 
 The evening closed with hilarity. Henry, like another 
 Cymon, warmed into life by the magic of beauty, was even 
 gay, but Rena, in the midst of her own happiness, felt a pain 
 ful misgiving for his future peace, when she witnessed the 
 fascinating influence Stella exercised over him. She did not 
 want him to love Stella. But what could she do to prevent 
 it ? She was sorry she had asked her to come home with her; 
 but then it would have been selfish and unkind to have left 
 her behind, and her father had told her it was perfectly right. 
 She tried to banish these unpleasant feelings, but still, when 
 ever she saw Henry's large, soft, innocent black eyes follow 
 ing her every movement, she could not help thinking of the 
 moth fluttering round the flame that is to consume it ; the 
 bird charmed by the glittering serpent, attracting but tc 
 destroy.
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 'Endearing! endearing! 
 
 Why so endearing 
 Are those dark lustrous eyes 
 
 Through their silk lashes peering ? 
 They love me they love me 
 
 Deeply sincerely 
 And more than aught else on earth 
 
 I love them dearly." MOTHERWELL. 
 
 "I cannot bear that cold, cold look, 
 
 That chilling glance to me ; 
 Contempt I may from others brook, 
 But never scorn from thee !" * * * * 
 
 IT w A several days before Colonel Fay recovered from the 
 effects of his terrible bath. When he again took his seat in 
 the family circle, it was affecting to see the looks of anxious 
 love bent on his pale but smiling countenance. Never before 
 had his strong form been bowed by weakness, and though it 
 was caused by an accident which human foresight might have 
 prevented, instead of one of those direct visitations of the 
 Almighty in which no immediate agency is visible, still his 
 hold on life had been loosened, and they felt its insecurity. 
 The lofty pillar had leaned from its base it might fall, and 
 the happiness of the household be crushed by the ruin. Rena 
 hovered round him, like the Snowbird, whose name she bore. 
 She had always adored her father, and now the life that Sher 
 wood had preserved seemed doubly dear. Then to see him 
 and Aunt Debby such cordial friends, after such bitter enmity 
 >n her part, seemed more like a dream than a reality. She 
 
 (198)
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. x99 
 
 never called him by the name of Lindsey, and the family also 
 avoided a sound which awakened such wounding associations. 
 It was nothing but Sherwood, and he would not have exchanged 
 this cordial, endearing familiarity for all the cold Mr. Lindseys 
 in the world. He felt upon the same footing with Henry, 
 and the freedom of the house was his. When a young man 
 who visits a northern farmer can enter the kitchen with 
 impunity, he may esteem himself a privileged guest. The 
 kitchens of New England are palaces to what they are in 
 Southern regions, where the sable race alone preside. It is 
 no unfrequent thing to see them handsomely carpeted and 
 curtained, and the mantel-piece tastefully adorned. There is 
 always a back kitchen, and a multiplicity of closets, where 
 the macninery of washing and cooking is kept ; so that nothing 
 that looks like drudgery defaces the room, which is often ad 
 joining the parlour or family sitting-room. Mrs. Fay's kitchen 
 was a proverb for neatness, and there Rachel presided, an hon 
 oured and beloved member of the family. Faithful as the sun, 
 industrious as the bee, and cheerful and tireless as the lark, 
 she accomplished more work with her single arm than half a 
 dozen common servants. Her brasses shone like burnished 
 gold. Right in the centre of the mantel-piece was an immense 
 brass platter, an heir-loom of the family, resembling one of 
 the ancient ancilla, which, though never used, Rachel scoured 
 regularly every Saturday morning with enthusiastic industry. 
 Rena was very fond of the poetry of the kitchen, such as beat 
 ing the whites of eggs, till they foamed like the cascade at 
 Sunny Dell, seasoning puddings and pies and cutting pastry 
 in various original forms. There was a nice domestic carpet 
 in front of the fire, a black varnished settee by the side of the 
 chimney, which answered the double purpose of a seat and a 
 shelter from the blast made by the opening door. Sherwood 
 had a wonderful fancy for this settee, whenever Rena was 
 engaged in her poetry, though the print of a Kttle pair of mis- 
 47
 
 200 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 chievous hands were often left in white flour on his dark 
 broadcloth coat. Rena never looked more charming thai 
 when flitting about the kitchen, in her crimson merino frocl 
 and white apron, her sleeves pushed up to the elbows, witl 
 smiles coming and going on her sweet lips and dimpled cheeks 
 
 Stella thought it very strange, that the son of the Hon 
 Mr. Lindsey should condescend to sit in a farmer's kitchen 
 a place she avoided herself, as uncongenial, and rather vul 
 gar. She was maturing a great plan in her head, which cir 
 cumstances seemed to favour, and which, if successful, woulc 
 have the twofold advantage of planting distrust and unhappi 
 ness in the bosom of Rena, and fill with wrath the prouc 
 Senator. Stella was skilled in all the mysteries of needle 
 work, for she had served a long apprenticeship at this art 
 In all her homes she was employed in this manner, and hei 
 hands were unsoiled by any household drudgery. She hac 
 heard of beautiful milliners in the city, who had become greai 
 ladies, and married into aristocratic families. If she coulc 
 once get there, and enter an establishment of this kind, sh< 
 was sure her fortune would be made. The sudden and blind 
 ing admiration of Henry was a proof of the influence she coulc 
 exert. She intended to seek an interview with Sherwood, jus< 
 before he started, and, throwing herself on his protection 
 entreat him to carry her to the metropolis, whither he was 
 himself bound. He could not refuse this. Rena would doubl 
 the faith of her lover Mr. Lindsey the integrity of his son, 
 What a glorious scheme ! 
 
 The evening before Sherwood's departure, he found himself 
 alone with Colonel Fay. He felt that it was due to the latter, 
 to speak to him openly of his attachment to his daughter, but 
 a strange embarrassment impeded his usually fluent tongue. 
 Colonel Fay unconsciously removed it by saying, " I know not 
 how I can ever recompense you for my prolonged life. As sure 
 as I feel the beating of my heart now, it would have been lying
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 201 
 
 cold beneath the clods of the valley, had you not found me 
 under the deep water." 
 
 " I ask no recompense for a mere impulse of humanity, sir ; 
 I am a thousand times repaid already. But I would ask of 
 you what would bind me to you by obligations which I can 
 ne^er cancel. Colonel Fay," he added, impetuously, "you 
 mast have seen that I love Rena ; you must know it. May 
 I consider the warm and cordial welcome I have received, as a 
 sanction to my love ?" 
 
 " I have seen it," replied the Colonel, frankly ; " and if I 
 thought your father would offer no more impediments than 
 hers, the path before you would be smooth." 
 
 " My father" said Sherwood, with hesitation 
 
 "Is a proud and haughty man," resumed the Colonel; "he 
 will probably look down with scorn upon an alliance with a 
 farmer's daughter. You remember, when several years ago, 
 my wild skating girl introduced you, I gave you but a frozen 
 greeting. You told me that I did not like your father, and I 
 did not ; I never can like him, never wish to have any com 
 munion with him." 
 
 Sherwood's brow darkened, and it gave him a wonderful , 
 lesemblance to his father. It was well that Aunt Debby was 
 not present. 
 
 " I do not wish to wound your feelings," continued Colonel 
 Fay, " for there is not a young man in the world whom I es 
 teem more highly esteem is a cold word whom I love more 
 cordially than you, Sherwood, and whom I would rejoice more 
 to call my son." 
 
 Sherwood grasped his hand fervently 
 
 " But" 
 
 " But" repeated Sherwood, impatiently 
 
 " But," said the Colonel, " if your father makes the least 
 opposition, I never can allow my daughter to steal into the 
 family of the man who inflicted such a deadly injury on mine
 
 202 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 To vindicate this resolution, I ought to tell you what that in 
 jury was. If you love my daughter, as I believe you do, ycu 
 can understand the length and the breadth thereof. When my 
 sister, whom you call Aunt Debby, was of the age of Rena, 
 she was a gay, beautiful, and attractive girl, living in rural 
 retirement, perfectly ignorant of the world, with a heart as 
 warm and trusting as Rena's, as open to the influence of love. 
 Your father won that heart with art and guile I may be mis 
 taken there, perhaps it was an easy conquest, for he was pos 
 sessed of wondrous fascination pledged her his faith, and 
 received hers in undoubting confidence. I am really sorry, 
 grieved to be obliged to reveal to you a story of treachery so 
 black and unprecedented. He allowed the marriage prepara 
 tions to go on, the bride to adorn herself for the nuptials, which 
 he never intended to celebrate. Even then he was wedded to 
 another. My sister had a proud, independent spirit. She 
 scorned the idea of her family's avenging the insult, but she 
 felt it to her heart's core. Yes, her heart became indurated 
 seared as with a red-hot iron her feelings turned to gall 
 her life made a barren waste. Can you wonder now, that she 
 abhors the name you bear ? Can you wonder that she has 
 sought to shield her niece from an influence, which proved so 
 fatal to herself? Can you wonder that I, her brother, should 
 have at first looked coldly on the son of him who had mur 
 dered, yes, murdered, coldly, and deliberately, the life of a 
 sister's heart I" 
 
 Sherwood had never seen the Colonel so greatly excited. 
 His blue eye sparkled like steel clashing against steel. He, 
 himself, listened with burning veins to the history of his 
 father's dishonour. He felt it reflected on him ; and his love, 
 the love of the proud Senator's son for the farmer's daughter, 
 seemed arrogance and presumption. 
 
 "No, I cannot wonder," said he, in a voice husky with 
 suppressed emotion ; " I only wonder you did not shoot me at
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 20 3 
 
 once. I wonder Aunt Debby did not annihilate, as well as 
 scorch me, with her lightnings. But is it possible that nay 
 father has done this ? There must be some extenuating cir 
 cumstances. I know him proud, ambitious as an archangel, 
 but I never knew him guilty of meanness. All his faults 
 seemed lofty. Colonel Fay, I would put my right hand in 
 this blaze and consume it, if I could disbelieve this tale." 
 
 " I have nothing extenuated, nor set down aught in malice," 
 said the Colonel, in a calm tone. " Nothing but a sense of 
 duty caused me to inflict on you so much pain. Had I not 
 feared my God more than man, his blood or mine would, long 
 ago, have reddened the ground. I have no doubt your father 
 thinks me a coward because I never challenged him ; but I 
 would as soon have sought him in his chamber, and 
 plunged a dagger in his breast, for duelling is nothing but 
 cold-blooded murder. Tell me now, if you think your father 
 will approve your choice ?" 
 
 " He will not approve, but he may, in time, be brought to 
 consent," replied Sherwood ; " but surely, Colonel Fay, you 
 will not sacrifice your daughter's happiness, I will not speak 
 of my own, to a parent's pride or your own just resent 
 ment ?" 
 
 " Are you sure that her happiness is involved ? has she told 
 you as much ?" 
 
 " I know that she loves me, and I judge of her heart by my 
 own. I have no thought of happiness, independent of her 
 participation ; no dream of ambition that she has not inspired. 
 I loved her when she was a child of six years old. Even then 
 she entwined herself with the chords of my heart. Time has 
 only tightened and strengthened the fold. It will never 
 loosen till the life -strings ar r jut." 
 
 " My poor little Snowbird !" said the father, tenderly and 
 sadly ; " I wish she had folded her wings a little closer over 
 her heart; I cannot bear to think of her drooping and joy 
 less. She is so young, so loving."
 
 204 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 "She shall not droop," interrupted Sherwood, passionately; 
 "I will bear her up, as on an eagle's wing ! she shall bask in 
 the eternal sunshine of love. Only give me time, a littl: 
 time, and I know my father will consent. He loves me ! I 
 have felt his tears upon my cheek. Yes ! he has a heart 1 
 Be not more inexorable than he." 
 
 " Time !" repeated Colonel Fay, thoughtfully ; " yes, time 
 does wondrous things! Let us leave it to time. You are 
 both very young ; you have not yet acquired your profession ; 
 she is a mere child. Do not keep up any clandestine inter 
 course. Tempt her not into a correspondence. I would not 
 that a letter, written by a child of mine, should fall into your 
 father's hands. In the mean time, be assured of my affections, 
 my gratitude, and my confidence. As I said before, time does 
 wondrous things, and you are yet in the morning of life. Be 
 satisfied with the promise I now give you. My sister's 
 wrongs, my own deep sense of them, shall not present an 
 insurmountable obstacle to your union. I will sacrifice all 
 personal animosity for your mutual happiness. But your 
 father must sacrifice his pride also. He must meet me at the 
 altar, and present his burnt offering too. My child must not 
 be the victim." 
 
 Sherwood felt there was dignity and truth and justice in 
 this decree ; and there was something about Colonel Fay that 
 stamped it with immutability. But he was young and hope 
 ful, and was sure that every obstacle must give way at last, 
 before the omnipotence of love. The stain upon his father's 
 honour, however, was ineffaceable, and it darkened his name. 
 It shook his trust in the honour and integrity of man. He 
 treated Aunt Debby with a respect, a deference he had never 
 done before. Her wrongs made her sacred in his eyes. He now 
 understood the idiosyncrasy of her character, and upbraided 
 himself for his past injustice. 
 
 This was the last night of Sherwood's stay. It was one of
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 205 
 
 those still, cold, shining nights, that so often gild the gloom 
 of winter, when every ray that falls upon the earth's bosom 
 of snow is reflected, not one absorbed. The young people of 
 the village had planned a sleigh-ride, to indemnify themselves 
 for their disappointment on Thanksgiving eve, when the storm 
 kept them so closely within doors. This is one of the most 
 exhilarating pleasures of a northern winter, and youth enters 
 into it with a zest which more quiet in-door enjoyments can 
 never inspire. The dazzling expanse, the apparent infinitude 
 of the scene, where, far as the eye can reach, there is nothing 
 but spotless white; the sparkling atmosphere, the brilliant 
 scinctillations of the stars, that sparkle with aurora borealian 
 lustre ; the gay music of the silvery tinkling bells, the swift 
 motion of the gliding sleighs, the bird-like flight of the horses, 
 as they skim, with noiseless hoofs, the smooth-trodden path 
 all these exciting influences make the tide of youthful spirits 
 flow high; and bright flashing eyes, glowing cheeks, and 
 merry, bell-like laughter, harmonize with them as beautifully 
 as the crystalline heavens with the white, shining earth. 
 Henry and Stella, Sherwood and Rena, joined the gay party. 
 As the girls were shawling and cloaking, Rena, who had 
 noticed Stella's predilection for the red mantle, was about to 
 throw it over her shoulders, when Sherwood caught it and 
 wrapped it round her own. 
 
 "You must be in uniform to-night, Rena," said he, un 
 twisting a little scarlet band from his neck, and twining it 
 round her head in Creolian style. The " sprite, gipsy, snow 
 bird," stood confused. Stella cast a withering glance upon 
 her, as, with her vermilion crown flashing on the darkness of 
 her hair, and scarlet drapery so carelessly, gracefully arranged, 
 she bowed her eyes before the gaze of Sherwood. As he 
 turned towards Colonel Fay, who approached him, he arrested 
 this withering glance, and though the moment she was aware 
 that he saw her, she called back the starry beam to her ceru-
 
 206 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 lean orbs, she had made an impression that could not be 
 effaced. It is a pity Henry had not seen the glance, and 
 felt the same recoil ; but never had the young syren so com 
 pletely bewitched him as when, seated at his side, under the 
 same buffalo skin, she reflected from her face the brightness 
 'of the heavens till it became almost insupportable to him. 
 Her golden hair formed a halo round her brow, such as is 
 seen in the pictures of tha Virgin Mary. It glorified her 
 beauty; and Henry could have scarcely restrained himself 
 from kneeling down and worshipping her, in the madness of 
 his devotion, if he could have done so and sustained his cha 
 racter as a driver. As it was, he had the reins in his hand 
 and the horse to guide ; but as he looked at Stella much more 
 than the horse, he did upset her in a snow-bank, to her own 
 mortification and the excessive merriment of the whole party. 
 A sleigh-ride, without some one's getting a somerset in the 
 enow, would be an anomaly; and as there is seldom any dan 
 ger in such accidents, they only give a spring to mirth at the 
 moment, and a subject for after jests. 
 
 The next morning, when Sherwood commenced his solitary 
 ride, there was no smile on his lip, no radiance in his eye. 
 He felt as if he were leaving all smiles and brightness behind 
 him. Casting one glance to an upper window, where the 
 folds of the curtain trembled, showing that some one was con 
 cealed by the drapery, he drew his hat over his brow and 
 passed under the naked branches that bowed over the gate. 
 He was obliged to take a road that curved round the back of 
 the house, in consequence of the ruined bridge, quite an 
 unfrequented path, where the snow was unusually deep. So 
 completely was he absorbed in his own reflection?, that he did 
 not observe a light figure standing by the way-side, till he 
 heard his name softly spoken, and looking up, he beheld 
 Stella, enveloped in her cloak, with a small bundle in her 
 hand.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 207 
 
 " Will Mr. Sherwood Lindsey give me a seat in his sleigh, 
 if it is not asking too great a favour ?" asked she with an 
 enchanting smile. 
 
 Vexed at being disturbed at a moment sacred to remem 
 brance, astonished at her being abroad, when he had so re 
 cently bade her good-bye in the sitting-room, in her usual 
 apparel, he nevertheless had too much habitual politeness to 
 refuse a seat to a lady, who was standing ankle-deep in snow. 
 Stella sprang in with a glow of triumph that neutralized the 
 chill of the morning air. They rode on in silence a short 
 distance, for Sherwood was too much displeased to enter into 
 conversation. He had not forgotten the malignant glance he 
 had arrested the preceding evening, and which the effulgence 
 of her beauty rendered dazzlingly wicked, and the manner in 
 which she forced herself upon him, after knowing his father's 
 prohibition and his own promise, was bold and indelicate. It 
 seemed sacrilege to the feelings he cherished for Rena to have 
 Stella seated at his side, while Rena's parting tear was scarcely 
 dried upon his cheeks, and the throbbings of her pure and lov 
 ing heart yet warm upon his own. Finding that she did not 
 give any evidence of a desire to stop, he asked rather impa 
 tiently, 
 
 " How far do you think of going this morning ?" 
 
 There was something so cold and haughty in his manner, 
 so different from his usual gentleness and courtesy, that the 
 bold, intriguing girl began to think she might possibly have 
 gone too far, and that he would refuse to co-operate with her 
 in her wild purpose. But she hazarded nothing but the loss 
 of his esteem, and she resolved to risk everything in the hope 
 of success. 
 
 " Be not astonished, Sherwood," said she, calmly; "when 
 you know all my reasons, you will justify me. I wish to 
 accompany you to the city, where I am determined to find a 
 home, where the degraded name of the charity girl was never 
 heard."
 
 208 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " To the city !" exclaimed Sherwood, stopping his horse so 
 suddenly, that it fell back on its haunches. "Are you mad, 
 Stella ? or do you think I am ? What, in the name of reason 
 and common sense, do you expect me to do with you, after 
 you get there ?" 
 
 "Nothing," cried she, proudly, stung to the soul by his 
 disdain ; " I only want your protection on the journey. When 
 we arrive, I can take care of myself." 
 
 " Take care of yourself !" repeated he, " a fine self-guar 
 dian you would be, so young and inexperienced, in the heart 
 of a great city ! You know not what you are thinking of ! I 
 begin to think you are a candidate for the Insane Asylum !" 
 
 He looked inquiringly and anxiously in her face, to detect 
 the symptoms of incipient insanity. 
 
 " No, Sherwood, I am not crazy. This is no sudden frenzy. 
 I have long resolved to enter a milliner's establishment in the 
 city, as soon as I had a fitting opportunity. I will not stay 
 where I am only looked upon as the child of charity, the 
 foundling of the almshouse. There I can make myself a name 
 and fame too ;" added she, her eyes kindling with anticipated 
 admiration. 
 
 " Poor, deluded Stella !" said Sherwood, in a kinder tone, 
 for he felt intense pity for her infatuation " relinquish your 
 impracticable design, and return to the friends who have 
 cherished you from your orphan infancy, and whose counsels 
 will guide your unprotected youth. Once more, I say, make 
 a friend of Rena, who would cherish you as a sister, if you 
 would let her." 
 
 " Sherwood ! you love Rena I" cried she, bitterly ; " and you 
 despise me, because I am poor !" 
 
 " I acknowledge the truth and the whole truth of your first 
 assertion, and I glory in it ! I do love Rena ! I love her for 
 her truth, goodness, and purity; her warm and generous heart; 
 that heart which never felt for you any but the teoderest emo-
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 209 
 
 tions, and whose kindness you ungratefully spurn. I do not 
 despise you, nor contemn your poverty. I did feel for you a 
 brotherly interest and affection, Stella, which will revive the 
 moment you recall your better nature. But what will people 
 think of us, sitting here so long talking in the cold ? I have 
 a long day's journey before me. This is too ridiculous. 
 Really, Stella, you must excuse me. Let me help you out of 
 the sleigh." 
 
 Stella jumped out and turned upon him with the fierceness 
 of a young panther, baffled of its prey. All her passions 
 were excited and blazing in her breast. 
 
 " Then you will not take me !" she cried ; " you cast me 
 into the snow-drift, less cold than yourself! You have not 
 the spirit of a man, and I despise you ! You are cruel and 
 selfish, and I hate you ! You are afraid of your proud father, 
 who turned me out of doors ! You are afraid of the jealousy 
 of a fond and passionate girl ! There is not another young 
 man in the world who would have slighted and scorned me 
 thus ! I know there is not !" 
 
 " I do not scorn you," repeated he, with a calmness that 
 exasperated her more than the most angry reproaches would 
 have done. " You will think of me hereafter with gratitude, 
 and thank me for saving you from the consequences of your 
 own rashness. Return, I beseech you, to the hospitable roof 
 you have just quitted. Return, and make yourself worthy 
 of the esteem of the excellent Aunt Debby; the just, the 
 noble Colonel Fay ; the tender and disinterested Rena. Fare 
 well. Maj God bless you, and make you worthy of his bless- 
 ing." 
 
 Thus gravely speaking, calm in youthful beauty, he bowed 
 his head, drew the dark fur drapery of his sleigh more slosely 
 round him, lightly touched the neck of his spirited horse with 
 his whip, and darted off, while the buffalo skin sweeping ovtr
 
 210 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 the back of the cutter, looked like the wing of in eagle float 
 ing near the earth. 
 
 Stella stood still a moment, gazing after him darkly, vin 
 dictively; then throwing herself down in the snow, she 
 clutched it with her hands, like a desperate, impotent child. 
 
 " I will stay here and let them run over me !" said she to 
 herself. " I don't care I don't want to live I hate myself 
 and everybody else !" 
 
 Poor, sinful, undisciplined child of passion ! " You don't 
 want to live ?" Can you quench the burning spark of vitality 
 by burying your bosom in the snow-drift ? Do you expect 
 even by a change of existence to escape the tortures of your 
 evil and goading thoughts ? Do you think when you have no 
 dull, clogging flesh, to impede your spirit's action, no sheath 
 for your fiery nerves, no prison-cage for your wild passions ; 
 when you are given up, a bodiless soul, to their unchained 
 fury, do you expect happiness and peace ? Ungrateful child ! 
 you murmur at your lot of dependence and orphanage. We 
 are all orphans all exiles from our heavenly home. The 
 earth is one vast almshouse, where the poor and needy are 
 gathered together, sustained by a common benefactor, protected 
 by a universal guardian ; yet we all hunger after food that is 
 not given to our craving lips we all pant for waters which flow 
 back from our burning thirst ; we reject the bounties bestowed, 
 and pine for those which are in mercy withheld. Like thee, 
 rash girl, when disappointed in the fruition of our hopes, we 
 fall into the impotence of despair, and exclaim "we would 
 not live !" as if we could hurl back into the face of the 
 Almighty Griver the glorious gift of immortality, and stifle, at 
 our own will, the flame that eternity burns to renew. 
 
 Slowly and stiffly Stella rose, and shaking the snow from 
 her cloak, turned her steps homeward. She entered the house 
 by the back way, and had nearly reached her chamber, when 
 she met Aunt Debby at a turning of the stairs. There was
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 211 
 
 such a strange expression in the pale face of the girl, that 
 Aunt Debby stopped in alarm. 
 
 " Where have you been so early ?" said she, observing the 
 thick wreaths of snow that still clung to her dark cloak. 
 " And what makes you look so pale ? are you ill, child ?" 
 
 "No," answered Stella, petulantly; "I have been to take 
 a walk ! I am cold, that is all. Please, let me pass." 
 
 She said please, but her tone was that of command ; and 
 with an air, which Aunt Debby did not think at all graceful 
 or becoming, she swept by her, and hurried to her room. 
 
 " That girl has, an evil spirit in her," muttered Aunt Debby, 
 as she went down stairs ; " I do really think she has ; there 
 is a depth of cunning in her I can't fathom, young as she is. 
 I wish I had not brought her here. But Rena hung round 
 me with her coaxing ways, and said, 'Dear Aunt Debby, I 
 pity her so much, she has no kind father and mother like me 
 to welcome her to a Thanksgiving feast.' Bless that kind 
 little heart of hers, it carries all before it All," repeated she, 
 in a dubious tone ; " I hope it will, I hope it will." 
 
 When Stella entered the room, she found Kena sitting by 
 the fire in a dejected attitude. The expression of her face 
 was sad, and there was a shadow round her eyes that showed 
 she had been weeping. She knew the conditions her father 
 had imposed on Sherwood, and though her heart did not rebel, 
 it had a leaden weight upon it, that pressed it down more 
 heavily than any other sorrow had done. She believed in 
 Mr. Lindsey's implacable pride, and thought if her union with 
 Sherwood depended upon the bending of his iron will, it was 
 a case of desperation. Still she was of too hopeful a nature 
 to give up to despair, as she was too tender and confiding not 
 to wish for sympathy. She knew she had sympathy ; for her 
 father had kissed her pale cheek and called her his darling 
 again and again. Aunt Debby had tenderly caressed her, and 
 told her it was all nonsense to feel sad at her time of life ;
 
 212 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 then adding, with a solemn voice, " to reserve her tears till 
 his confidence was betrayed." But she longed for some 
 youthful confidante, to whom she could unbosom all her feel 
 ings, and pour out the aching fulness of her love. If Stella 
 were such a friend, with what eagerness would she turn to 
 her, with what trust confide in her ! 
 
 She lifted up her saddened eyes as Stella came near, 
 and wondered, as Aunt Debby did, to see her in such a 
 costume. 
 
 " Have you been walking, Stella ?" said she, making room 
 for her at the fire-side. 
 
 " I don't know what there is so strange if I have, that every 
 body should question me so closely," answered she, pulling 
 impatiently at the strings of her cloak and hood. 
 
 " I did not think of offending you by asking," said Rena, 
 gently. " You seem very cold; let me untie this string; your 
 hands are numb ; there, take my seat, it is the warmest." 
 
 Rena took Stella's snowy cloak and hung it over the back 
 of a chair, and began to chafe her cold hands in hers, though 
 Stella evidently tried to release them. She avoided Rena's 
 soft, wistful eyes, and folded her arms round herself with a 
 nervous shudder. Rena stood by her in silence, a few moments, 
 then throwing her arms impulsively round her neck, she pressed 
 her cheek on those glittering ringlets, fit only to encircle an 
 angel's brow. 
 
 " Oh ! Stella," she exclaimed, " close not up your heart 
 against me. Let me love you, and love me back again. I feel 
 so desolate just now. It seems as if I had lost all I love on 
 earth, and I yearn for something to fill the aching void. I 
 have been so happy these few days, so very happy. The 
 world seemed a Paradise." 
 
 " Yes, Rena, I know you have been happy," replied Stella, 
 gloomily, " and if I were in your place, I would be happy now. 
 You have memory to live upon, I have nothing nothing."
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 213 
 
 The reaction that follows great excitement, pressed heavily 
 on Stella's spirits. Even a faint gleam of sympathy for Kena 
 lighted up the darkness of het selfishness. Rena, dejected 
 and alone, was very different from Rena gay and triumphant, 
 sunning herself in Sherwood's beaming eyes. 
 
 And now Sherwood had so disdainfully shaken off the 
 snare she had endeavoured to throw around him, she turned 
 her thoughts to Henry, and determined to make him subservi 
 ent to her designs. She could twist him into an easy and con 
 venient tool. So, as reflection calmed the artful girl, and 
 brought her back to a sense of her true condition, she thought 
 it best to smooth her ruffled brow, dissemble her bitter disap 
 pointment, and return with false tenderness Rena's endearing 
 caresses. 
 
 It was strange that Colonel Fay and Aunt Debby did xiot 
 seem to fear her influence on Henry, but they had been so ac 
 customed to look upon Henry as a girlish boy? they could not 
 think of him as the lover of a girl ; and they both were so 
 deeply interested in Rena's prospects, so intent upon the cloud 
 that darkened them, they suffered minor things to pass unheeded. 
 Rena was the only one whose anxiety was awakened for Henry. 
 She had so many contradictory feelings herself with regard to 
 Stella, that she was bewildered and unhappy. Sometimes 
 she distrusted and disliked her, then again she was attracted, 
 charmed, and reproached herself, that she had not always loved 
 her, and resolved that she never would suspect her truth. A 
 glance perhaps, a smile, a certain indescribable something, 
 would bring back distrust and fear and repulsion. Stella waa 
 an eu'gma which the single-hearted Rena tried in vain to 
 solve.
 
 CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 " Oh ! stay thy hand, deluded one, 
 Oh ! stay thy hand !" she said ; 
 The gold is accursed that is not thy own, 
 
 'Twill burn like molten lead!" BALLAD 
 
 " WELCOME to Sunny Dell, Henry !" exclaimed Aunt Debby. 
 " It is long since you have been my guest." 
 
 " I can hardly call myself a guest, aunt, since I have to leave 
 jou so soon," replied the young collegian. " To-morrow morn 
 ing, long before sunrise, I must be away, for my holidays are 
 over." 
 
 Henry had accompanied the travellers on their homeward 
 journey, though by so doing he doubled the length of his 
 own. Stella had hinted a wish for his companionship, and he 
 would willingly have walked in the snow the whole distance if 
 he could have secured a place near Tier at the same time. 
 
 Stella, who had by no means relinquished her bold design, 
 watched her opportunity of speaking alone with Henry, and, 
 unfortunately for him, it was thrown in her way so naturally 
 as to escape observation. They were left together accidentally, 
 and, fearful of interruption, she at once revealed to the as 
 tounded and infatuated boy her wild plans, and her confidence 
 in his will and power to assist her. He had too little worldly 
 wisdom to understand all the rashness of the enterprise, or the 
 discredit it might reflect on himself. He was only awake to 
 the incredible, the maddening idea that Stella was going with 
 him, under his guardianship, going where he could have abun 
 dant opportunities of seeing her, and gating on the beautiful 
 
 (214)
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 215 
 
 being who had absorbed all the rays of his heart. She en 
 joined on him the most perfect secrecy, promising to arrange 
 everything for her own departure. He must bid his aunt and 
 sister farewell before they retired to rest, as the stage started 
 in the darkness of night, and he would not wish to disturb 
 their repose. 
 
 Henry was so agitated by this disclosure he was obliged to 
 take a long walk in the cold air, before his mind was composed 
 enough to speak rationally. At supper, he committed so many 
 blunders Rena looked at him in astonishment. He held out 
 his tea-cup for a slice of butter, and poured ham-gravy, in 
 stead of cream, in a saucer of preserves. He blushed at his 
 own awkwardness, wondering at the serene self-possession of 
 Stella, who smiled at his mistakes and kindly rectified them. 
 
 It sometimes seems as if Providence smoothed the way in 
 the path of the evil, and allowed them every facility for the 
 accomplishment of their purposes; \nd man, in his blindness, 
 might be tempted to believe that the great Power which per 
 mitted this combination of favouring circumstances, sanctioned 
 their deeds. But sooner or later a day of reckoning comes, 
 and the revealed angel of Providence justifies its dealings to 
 the world. 
 
 As they all sat round the evening fire, a gentleman called 
 on Aunt Debby, to pay her the interest of some money. He 
 was her agent in business, and as she had considerable -noney 
 at interest, it was a responsible situation. 
 
 "Rena, child," said her aunt, when the man of business 
 had retired, " take these bank-bills and put them in the little 
 right-hand desk-drawer in your summer room. I am going to 
 make you my treasurer and secretary. It is time you were 
 learning business habits." 
 
 Aunt Debby took a key suspended from a black cord, and 
 hung it round Rena's neck, who, telling her aunt she felt 
 
 highly honoured by her confidence and would never abuse it, 
 
 48
 
 216 REN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 ran up stairs and deposited the money in a small drawer, 
 within the outside drawer, and after having locked it, she 
 gave the handles a strong pull, to he certain she had secured 
 it tight. This summer room of Rena's was situated on the 
 north side of the house, and commanded a prospect of Belle- 
 vue and its lordly environs. It was separated from the cham 
 ber she now occupied, by a long passage. Aunt Debby slept 
 in a bed-room below, so this apartment was left in its lone 
 stillness, undisturbed by the echoes of the more busy part of 
 the house. Perhaps it would have been wiser for Aunt Debby 
 to have had her money placed in an occupied room, but that 
 was emphatically the money -drawer, and a robbery had never 
 been committed in that part of the world. She dreamed not 
 of such a contingency. 
 
 As Rena passed Stella, with the roll in her hand, the latter 
 was about to accompany her and hold the light for her, but 
 something held her back and whispered she had better stay 
 behind. The Tempter was at her elbow, his hissing tongue in 
 her ear, his poison in her heart. All she wanted was money, 
 to carry out her plans triumphantly. She had no fears on 
 this account, when she hoped for the assistance of Sherwood, 
 but the farmer's son might not be so liberally supplied, and 
 she had been brooding over this want in deep anxiety. The 
 child who secreted the golden pippins, and suffered the odium 
 of the act to rest on her innocent companion, showed a moral 
 obliquity as great as the girl of seventeen who meditated the 
 midnight -robbery, under the roof of a benefactress. 
 
 Aunt Debby proposed an early hour for retiring, as they 
 were all weary, and Henry must get what sleep he could 
 before his departure. 
 
 " Good-bye, my dear boy \" said Aunt Debby, taking his 
 hand, and patting him affectionately on his head, her favour 
 ite love-token, " we shall all be asleep when you start, so we 
 jrist bid you God-speed to-night. Make a man of yourself
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 217 
 
 this year, for it is your last in college. I'm glad to see you've 
 cut off those dangling curls. Get a little wholesome brown 
 on your cheek, and a little more iron here," transferring her 
 hand from the head to the heart, " and you will get along. 
 God bless you, Henry !" 
 
 Henry's heart swelled almost to bursting at his aunt's part 
 ing blessing. He felt that he did not deserve it. He was 
 about to deceive her, and engage in an acf, which, if known, 
 would draw upon him her displeasure and that of all his 
 friends. And when Rena put her arms round his neck, call 
 ing him her dear, darling, only brother, and kissing the good 
 bye her faltering lips refused to utter, the poor youth, bur 
 dened with his secret, could not repress the tears that he was 
 ashamed of shedding. Stella, she too must bid him farewell, 
 to avoid suspicion. 
 
 " Good-bye, Henry !" said she, pressing his cold hand, and 
 giving him a dazzling glance, as she followed Rena's lingering 
 steps. 
 
 The house was soon dark and still dark, save a lamp left 
 burning in the dining-room, for Henry's accommodation. 
 Rena, completely overcome by fatigue, in consequence of hav 
 ing travelled the preceding night, fell asleep almost as soon 
 as her cheek pressed the pillow. Stella, who had oniy par 
 tially undressed, wrapped her cloak around her, and sat down 
 till Rena's slumbers deepened into a sound repose. Then ris 
 ing, she purposely overturned a chair to test the depth of hei 
 sleep. Still the soft uniform breathing continued, and Stella, 
 emboldened, took down the key Rena had hung from one of 
 the knobs that supported the looking-glass, and wound the 
 cord round her fingers. Everything had been still a long 
 time in Aunt Debby's room, which was directly below ; and 
 at last, shading the light with one hand, so as to prevent its 
 rays from flashing on the bed, she stole out of the room in 
 her stocking-feet, and gliding through the long passage, en-
 
 218 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 tered the chamber, the same chamber in which Rena hrd lis 
 tened to Aunt Debby's thrilling story. There is something 
 solemn in moving about in the silence of night, making a lit 
 tle narrow path through the darkness with a solitary lamp. 
 One feels as if they were the only living, breathing thing on 
 earth, and the beating of one's own heart has a loud, strange, 
 and warning sound. If such are the emotions when a good 
 and holy purpose calls one from the couch of rest, how must 
 they be aggravated when crime is the incentive, and the shadow 
 of guilt falls darkly behind ? 
 
 Stella started and with difficulty suppressed a shriek, as 
 passing the looking-glass, she beheld a white face, glittering 
 eyes that shone like ignited steel, and a dark, shrouded form, 
 skulking along by her side. She did not at first recognise 
 herself, and recoiled as from a detecting ghost. At length her 
 clammy hands turned the key, opened the drawers, and seized 
 the money. Just in front of the desk she dropped a kid 
 glove, which she drew from her bosom. It was small as a 
 girl's, but on the margin was written a boy's name. It was 
 Henry's, that she had stolen from his hat in the course of the 
 evening. If Aunt Debby or Rena saw this token, they would 
 believe him the robber, and from family pride or affection keep 
 their lips sealed. So coolly, so deliberately, had this youthful 
 offender planned and executed her first daring transgression. 
 Slipping the money in her pocket, and avoiding the glass as 
 she passed by, a new terror awaited her at the door. The 
 arm-hole of her cloak caught in the latch, and she believed 
 the avenger of sin was behind her. She heard the ticking of 
 the clock down in the family sitting-room, and every stroke 
 sounded as if "Thief! thief!" rung from its brazen tongue. 
 " If I ever steal again," thought she, " I will never do it in 
 the night never !" 
 
 The guilty girl re-entered the chamber of sleeping inno- 
 ,ence, and put back the key where Rena had hung it. Sweetly
 
 RENA; on, THE SNOWBIRD. ' 219 
 
 as an infant Rena still slept, unconscious that the footsteps of 
 crime were stealing near her. 
 
 Stella, whose trunk was down stairs, packed and ready, just 
 as it was brought in from the journey, had no preparation to 
 make. She was almost frozen, and scarcely could she keep 
 her teeth from chattering under her icy lips. As she was 
 about to extinguish the light, knowing she would find one 
 burning in the room below, she cast a last glance on Rena's 
 sweet and peaceful face. Softly, almost imperceptibly, the 
 white sheet rose and fell to her gentle breathing, and softly 
 the shadow of her long dark lashes fell upon her cheek. 
 Stella contrasted the countenance before her with the one she 
 had seen mirrored in the glass a few moments before, and a 
 pang sharp as the stab of a stiletto cut right through her heart. 
 " It is not too late. That anguish may be thy salvation yet. 
 Return the money, unburden thy guilty conscience, lie down 
 by the side of that virgin innocence, and let her virtues be 
 transfused into thy own bosom. The recording angel has a 
 blotting tear for thee. Return ! lost girl, return !" Thus ap 
 pealed the guardian spirit, that had not yet forsaken her ; and 
 even after she had quitted that charmed atmosphere, and sat 
 crouching over the smouldering embers below, starting as the 
 watch-dog howled or the chickens crowed, the " still, small 
 voice" murmured in her ear " Return ! return !" 
 
 The next morning when Rena arose, she saw, with asto 
 nishment, that the pillow of Stella was unpressed the room 
 bore no traces of her presence. She might have arisen and 
 dressed, and descended without awaking her; but the un 
 ruffled pillow was a mystery. She hurried through her toilet, 
 and went down stairs as quickly as possible. 
 " Have you seen Stella?" asked she of the housemaid. 
 
 " Have you seen Stella ?" asked she of Aunt Debby. The 
 answer was still "No." 
 
 Breakfast came and passed, and nothing was seen of Stella.
 
 220 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 At length they perceived that her trunk was gone, and a sus 
 picion of the truth glanced into their minds. This suspicion 
 assumed the character of certainty when they discerned the 
 track of slender feet in the snow, by the side of Henry's, on 
 the spot where the stage stopped. She had never spoken of 
 her scheme of entering a milliner's establishment to them ; 
 and their only idea was, that she had eloped with Henry, 
 mere boy as he was ignorant as a girl of the arts of the 
 world whose weak mind she had misguided, whose young 
 heart she had captured and led astray. 
 
 Rena was inconsolable at the thought of her brother's 
 duplicity. She would not have grieved so much at Stella's 
 flight, if she had fled with any one else ; for, much as she had 
 tried to love her, she could not help distrusting and condemn 
 ing her. Aunt Debby's indignation was lofty, but Stella was 
 the chief object. 
 
 " Poor, silly, weak boy !" she cried ; " to be lured by a 
 pair of pink cheeks and blue eyes, and a golden net ! It is 
 all her doings, the cunning, artful, specious young hussy ! 
 Poor baby ! what will he do with her ? take her to college 
 with him ? It is the most astonishing, ridiculous thing I ever 
 heard of. It is all nonsense it is worse than nonsense; I 
 must write to brother; he must see about the matter." 
 
 " Wait a little while, dear aunt," said Rena ; " she may 
 not have gone with him, after all. She is such a strange girl ! 
 she may have gone to some of the families where she has lived. 
 Let us send and inquire." 
 
 Before night, a countryman called who had just returned 
 from the city, where he had executed some commands for 
 Aunt Debby. Of course he had met the stage, and it chanced 
 that it stopped to change horses at the inn where he was 
 resting his own. He told her, in answer to her eager inqui 
 ries about the passengers, " that there was one of the prettiest 
 yiung men he ever saw in his life, and the prettiest young girl
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 221 
 
 he ever did see, with hair like dripping dandelions all frisking 
 about her face, and that they seemed desperately taken with 
 each other." 
 
 " I will write to brother this moment !" cried Aunt Debby. 
 " But stop, Kena, pay the man what money I owe him ; you 
 are my treasurer, you know." 
 
 Rena obeyed her aunt, her heart for the first time swelling 
 with indignation against her brother for thus disappointing 
 his noble father's hopes. As she put the key in the drawer, 
 she spied the glove on the floor, and picking it up, read his 
 name upon it. 
 
 "How came Henry's glove here ?" exclaimed she; "itia 
 very, very strange !" 
 
 She felt faint and sick at the sight of that glove. She 
 could not account for her awful sensations ; she could not bear 
 to open the drawer, the key trembled in her hand. Recol 
 lecting that the man was waiting for his money, and that it 
 was foolish to allow such a trifle to affect her so, she unlocked 
 the drawer. 
 
 " Gone I" cried she, sinking down in a chair, trembling like 
 the mimosa plant. 
 
 " Gone I" she repeated, clenching the glove in agony. " He 
 did not take it ! No, he did not take it no, no !" she kept 
 saying; for it seemed to her there were jeering voices all 
 round the room, whispering deridingly, " He did, he did I" 
 
 As Rena stayed so long, and the countryman was waiting, 
 Aunt Debby grew impatient, and came up to see what was the 
 matter ; for Rena's steps were usually fleet as a fawn's. Sho 
 found her in a chair by the side of the desk, her face as hue- 
 less as marble, and such a look of anguish in her eyes as she 
 never saw before. 
 
 " Rena, my child, what ails you ?" she cried, going up and 
 laying her hand quickly on her shoulder. 
 
 Rena looked wildly at her, clenching the glove to her breast ;
 
 222 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " He did not take it/' she exclaimed ; " Oh no, aunt he 
 never, never took it \" 
 
 Aunt Debby beheld the empty drawer, and associating 
 Rena's frantic asseveration with the glove she convulsively 
 grasped, she said, in a tone of forced calmness, 
 
 "Give me that glove, Rena, and tell me where you 
 found it." 
 
 " No, no," cried she, pressing it closer, and trying to hide 
 it entirely in her clasp. " Don't, dear aunt, for mercy's sake, 
 don't take it from me. He did not drop it there himself." 
 
 But Aunt Debby did take it, though, in the act, she tore 
 the margin from the other part, which remained in the fingers 
 which would not unclose. She read the name distinctly 
 printed on the white kid inside. She looked at it steadily, 
 till the blood left her face, leaving even her lips colourless. 
 
 " It is not the money," she said, slowly, " but the dis 
 grace the shame the crime. Henry Fay, my brother's son 
 my nephew your brother, a thief ! a vile thief ! and all for 
 that girl that ungrateful, artful girl ! Don't speak to me, 
 child not one word ! I must think I must think what 
 to do." 
 
 She put her hand to her forehead and knit her brows, 
 labouring in thought. 
 
 "But the man is waiting for his money," said she with a 
 sudden transition of manner, for which she was remarkable ; 
 " thank heaven, I have a plenty left." 
 
 Then opening a small drawer on the left hand, correspond 
 ing to the one which she called her " interest drawer," she 
 took out the sum required, locked it, and hung the key round 
 Rena's neck. Rena caught it off as if it was a cord of fire. 
 
 " Take it back ! why did you ever intrust me with it ? If 
 it had not been for that, it never would have been taken." 
 
 Aunt Debby had already left the room to discharge her 
 debt, which having done, she sat down immediately to her
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 223 
 
 writing-desk. Rena found her bending over the paper, her 
 pen making rapid and decisive movements. She went up and 
 laid her hand pleadingly on her arm 
 
 " Please let me speak one word, aunt. You are writing to 
 father ! Pray do not tell him of this now for, as I believe 
 in the God that made me, I know Henry could not have taken 
 that money." 
 
 " The money is gone, and his glove lying by the desk," 
 said Aunt Debby, coldly. " What could he do with that girl 
 without money ? He had only enough to pay his college 
 expenses. I remember now his trepidation and blunders in 
 the evening. Guilt, guilt cowardice and shame ! My bro 
 ther must know it." 
 
 Resuming her bending position, the scratching of her pen 
 on the paper was like the stroke of a knife on Rena's heart. 
 She thought of the agony it would inflict on her high-minded 
 and trusting father. She remembered the death-bed of her 
 mother, when, turning her dying eyes on herself, and clasping 
 her hand in one on which the dew of dissolution was already 
 gathered, she committed her brother to her sisterly tenderness 
 and care. " Oh, Rena," murmured the expiring woman, 
 " watch over him. He is too gentle, too yielding to take care 
 of himself. I have made him weak; I have done wrong. 
 May God forgive me, and save my darling boy from evil !" 
 Rena remembered all this, and she felt that she had thrown 
 temptation in his path, in the form of the beautiful charity 
 girl. If he had committed this shameful deed, it was, it must 
 have been, at Stella's instigation. He might be led into sin 
 through the weakness his mother deplored. He could not 
 think evil from his own untempted nature. 
 
 She could not stand by and see her aunt writing the history 
 of his infamy without a struggle. Her only thought was to 
 save her father from sorrow, her brother from shame. She 
 threw herself on her knees before her aunt, she arrested the
 
 224 AENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 hand that guided the pen, and entreating her to spare him, 
 wept and sobbed in passionate grief. Aunt Debby laid down 
 her pen^ and putting her arms tenderly round the weeping 
 girl, addressed her in solemn, soothing accents : 
 
 " Do you think I do not suffer, child ? Do you think my 
 nature is impassive ? I am not going to expose Henry to the 
 world. Far be from me such a thought. Regard for the 
 family honour, if not for him, would prevent me. But I 
 must do my duty. His father must know his conduct, must 
 follow him and save him from himself. I pity the poor, de 
 luded boy ! pity him more than I condemn. He was exposed 
 to the wiles of a serpent, subtle as the one that tempted the 
 mother of mankind. Do you want him to remain in her 
 coils?" 
 
 " Oh, no, I see you are right, aunt. You will not expose 
 him to the world that is kind Sherwood will never know it 
 then I" burst from her lips. 
 
 " I would not have the Hon. Herbert Lindsey know that 
 one of the name of Fay had disgraced himself in thi? man 
 ner," exclaimed Aunt Debby, with one of her old flashes of 
 passion ; " I would not, for all the kingdoms of earth and 
 the glory of them. Be assured this stigma shall not be 
 known beyond the family, unless," she added, "you excite 
 suspicion by your stormy emotions." 
 
 " I will be calm, aunt," she replied, " I will not shed an 
 other tear." 
 
 " Go and wash your face, comb your hair, and take a walk. 
 Dismiss the subject. We had better not speak of it again at 
 present. Learn self-control, my child ; it is one of the first 
 lessons we need the last we learn. Poor pupils that we are ! 
 How little we profit by the discipline of suffering !" 
 
 Rena obeyed her aunt, and suppressed as far as possible all 
 outward demonstrations of sorrow; but her happiness had 
 received a terrible blow, one for which there was no remedy.
 
 RENA; On, THE SNOWBIRD. 225 
 
 She waited with feverish impatience to hear from her father, 
 but it would be some time before they could look for an answer 
 to Aunt Debby's letter, as he would doubtless start immedi 
 ately after his son, and not write till he could tell the result 
 of the interview. Slowly and heavily the days dragged after 
 each other. One of those cold, dismal north-east storms set 
 in, that often sweep over the northern Atlantic coasts, and 
 penetrate the very marrow of the bones. We have described 
 some of the pleasures, the exhilarations, the glories of a hyper 
 borean winter. We have given the lights, but truth requires 
 us to introduce the shadows also. The snow-storm on Thanks 
 giving eve, it is true, might pass for one, but that was an April 
 gust, compared to this long, bleak, chilling north-easter. The 
 sleet drove against the windows and shook the panes, leaving 
 behind a dull crust, impeding the passage of the dim rays 
 that struggled for admittance. It mixed with the dark red 
 pine bark, with which the house was embanked, and left a 
 dismal-looking discolouration on the grayish paint. It beat 
 against the listed doors, and came headlong down the chim 
 neys of the unoccupied rooms. The snow no longer wore its 
 tint of unsullied whiteness, but assumed a dingy hue, and 
 little, ragged-looking twigs broken off from the naked branch 
 es, as the wind rattled through them, gave it a slovenly, deso 
 late aspect. Sometimes a poor little snowbird would peck at 
 the window, and Rena would take it in, and nestle it on her 
 bosom, only to sigh over its last, expiring pang. If there 
 had been peace within, Rena could have triumphed over the 
 desolation abroad she could have wandered in fairy land and 
 found green bowers, and sweet blossoms enough of her own, 
 to make her independent of all of which winter had robbed 
 her. But within, as without, was gloom. Rena saw that her 
 aunt suffered, and she endeavoured heroically to rise above 
 her own depression, that she might cheer and interest her. 
 She knit strenuously, an occupation whose monotony was
 
 226 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 always distasteful to her; assisted her in quilting a large star 
 bed-quilt, another task she especially disliked; read to her, 
 Bung for her; 
 
 " But nothing could a charm impart" 
 
 to soothe her own restless and wounded spirit. At length, 
 the gilded top of the arrow that surmounted the stable veered 
 towards the west, and the clouds went drifting after it. The 
 sun burst forth gloriously, and the sleet that covered the 
 undulating surface of the snow, shone like billows of glass. 
 With an exultant feeling of liberation, a sense of renewed 
 joy in existence, Rena bounded into the sunshine, and forget 
 ting for awhile every source of sorrow, told Aunt Debby that 
 she felt " as if she could skate all over the world I" 
 
 It was not many days before a letter arrived from Colonel 
 Fay. While the aunt and niece are absorbed by its contents, 
 we will relate the incidents it records. 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 " Beautiful tyrant 1 fiend angelical 
 Dove-feathered raven : wolf-devouring lamb ! 
 Oh! serpent heart hid in a flowering cave ! 
 Did e'er deceit dwell in so fair a mansion ?" 
 
 ROMEO AND JULIET. 
 
 " For thee, rash girl ! no suppliant sues 
 For thee may vengeance claim her dues, 
 Who, nurtured underneath our smiles, 
 Hast paid our care with treacherous wiles." 
 
 LADY or THE LAKE. 
 
 WE will not attempt to describe the feelings of Colonel 
 Fay, on the reception of his sister's letter. It arrived 
 about the commencement of the storm, whose blasts swept all
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 227 
 
 along the north-eastern shores of the Atlantic. He felt for 
 the first time the influence of those blasts on his athletio 
 frame. The cold water with which he was saturated Thanks 
 giving eve, seemed still lingering in the pores of his system, 
 producing occasional chillness and pain. But he had scarcely 
 perused the letter, before he ordered his sleigh, and resisting 
 all the pleadings of his wife to wait for the subsiding of the 
 storm, commenced his melancholy journey. He felt not the 
 benumbing wind, the driving sleet; all physical suffering 
 was forgotten in the anguish of the mind. 
 
 It was a day's journey ; but, as he started in the after part 
 of the day, he was obliged to travel during the night, and 
 arrived at his son's lodgings in the morning. Henry was 
 alone in his room, poring over the pages of a Grceca Majora 
 with his eyes, while his thoughts were wandering to a form 
 of bewildering loveliness, when the door opened and his father 
 stood before him, pale, sorrowful, and stern. He started up, 
 his face crimsoned with shame. He knew of but one offence, 
 and the bashful boy trembled and blushed, fearing that his 
 father had discovered the secret of his heart, and had proba 
 bly come to upbraid him for his folly. 
 
 " Where is the young girl you have taken from her friends ?" 
 said his father, in his usual straightforward, downright man 
 ner. But this manner, generally softened by tenderness when 
 addressing any member of his family, was now severe and 
 cold. The double offence of which he supposed his son guilty, 
 was enough to excite parental indignation. Still, he wished 
 to draw him gradually to a full confession ; and had he been 
 aware of the sternness of his countenance, he would have 
 endeavoured to mitigate it. 
 
 " I left her at an hotel in the city, before I came out here," 
 answered Henry, with a stammering tongue. 
 
 " And how came you to take this disgraceful and unwarrant 
 able step, young man beai iless boy, as I should say ? How
 
 228 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 came you to decoy a young girl from my sister's protection, 
 and throw her into the heart of a corrupt city? I did not 
 think a son of mine would be guilty of an act like this." 
 
 "I am very, very sorry," again stammered Henry; "I 
 feared you would be angry ; but I did not decoy her, father 
 she asked me to take charge of her, and I could not well 
 refuse. She did not wish her friends to know of her going, 
 for they would have opposed it. She is going into a milliner's 
 shop." 
 
 There was such an ingenuous expression in Henry's face 
 as he uttered these simple truths, notwithstanding his burn 
 ing blushes at the consciousness of the rapture he felt under 
 the guardianship imposed, that Colonel Fay could not but 
 place implicit reliance on his statement. One great burden 
 was removed, but the robbery the mystery of the glove ! He 
 approached the subject with fear and caution. After rebuking 
 bis son for committing a clandestine act, which had caused his 
 friends so much anxiety, and exposed him to censure and 
 obloquy after blaming the rash and imprudent girl who had 
 led him into the temptation, he asked 
 
 " Henry, do you remember losing a pair of gloves the even 
 ing you left Sunny Dell ?" 
 
 " I did not exactly lose them," answered he, with renewed 
 embarrassment. 
 
 " What became of them, then ? Be candid, a great deal 
 may depend on your confession." 
 
 " They were taken from my hat in the course of the even 
 ing, but it was only in sport, father." 
 
 " By whom ? tell me all the circumstances without prevari 
 cation !" 
 
 " Stella took them in play, just to tease me." 
 
 " Did you see her take them ? did she do it before your 
 face ?" 
 
 " I cannot conceive what importance you attach to a com-
 
 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 229 
 
 mon pair of gloves. She will return them, if I ask her. She 
 did it in stealth, but I saw her in the glass, the opposite side 
 of the room. I am sure I do not see any harm in it, an 
 innocent trick, such as Rena would play. Please don't be 
 angry with her for such a trifle as that." 
 
 " It may be a trifle in itself, but great consequences are 
 involved in it I" said the Colonel, deliberately fixing his clear, 
 penetrating eye on the gloomy face of his son. "One of 
 those gloves was found, the day after you left, lying right in 
 front of your aunt's desk, from which some daring hand had 
 taken all the money confided the night before to your sister's 
 , care ! That trifle, as you call it, fixes the crime on you ! 
 Tell me, as you will abide by the consequences, before the 
 judgment bar of Grod, tell me, while you look me, your 
 father, steadfastly in the eye, are you guilty, Henry, or not ?" 
 
 " What, /f / rob my aunt ? / steal, and from my own 
 aunt ? Oh ! father, how can you believe me guilty of such 
 an awful crime ?" 
 
 All the time that he was speaking, his earnest, beautiful 
 dark eyes were fixed upon his father, with the security of 
 conscious innocence. Then the tears gathered slowly, in large 
 drops, and began to roll down his cheeks. His knees knocked 
 together, and sinking in a chair, he covered his face with his 
 hands and sobbed convulsively. 
 
 " And does my aunt," cried he, " and does Rena believe me 
 guilty ? Do they think I could be so base, so wicked ? 
 Father you do not speak ! You cannot think your son, my 
 mother's son, could curse you by such an act ?" 
 
 " No, Henry, I cannot, I could not, though the evidence, the 
 circumstantial evidence is strong enough to convict you in a 
 court of justice. It is evident who is the criminal the un 
 principled girl, who lured you into an act of imprudence, and 
 who artfully stole your gloves, to fasten this guilt on you.'' 
 
 " Oh, no, father, she is innocent I know she is V
 
 230 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " How came your glove there, then ?" 
 
 " It was dropped there by accident, indeed it was. I would 
 suspect an angel of such a thing, as soon as Stella." 
 
 " Then it was your sister." 
 
 " Father." 
 
 " Henry, I say it was either yourself, that girl, or your own 
 Bister. The money is gone. It was placed under your sister's 
 care. Your glove was found near the empty drawer. Your 
 gloves were abducted by the girl the same evening. Now, 
 assume the guilt yourself, fasten it on your sister, or let it 
 rest on her, who is, I firmly believe, the true criminal." 
 
 " Some robber must have broken in the house," gasped 
 Henry, appalled by the shadows that were darkening round him. 
 
 " Give me the direction of the girl," said the Colonel ; 
 " she must be examined." 
 
 " Oh ! father, have mercy ! It will kill her, if you accuse 
 her of such a crime. If I could lie in the face of my Maker, 
 I would say I took it, rather than you should suspect her of 
 such a thing." 
 
 " Is she dearer to you than your own honour, or the honour 
 of your family ?" 
 
 " I should die if she suffered wrong at my father's hands," 
 he answered, in a tone of indescribable anguish. 
 
 " Have you ever known me cruel or unjust, my son ?" said 
 the Colonel, overcome with pity for his unhappy son. 
 
 " Never, sir, forgive me ; but I hardly know what I am 
 saying." 
 
 " Write her direction on this slip of paper," said he, placing 
 one before his son, " and be assured that I will proceed in this 
 matter with as much delicacy and forbearance as it is possible 
 to use. I shall rejoice as much as yourself to prove her inno 
 cence Henry, do not make any unnecessary delay. It was 
 for no child's play that I confronted a blast like this." 
 
 Henry traced the lines with ringers, that were not conscious 
 of their own motion.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 231 
 
 " Be gentle with her, my father. Be gentle, for my sake !" 
 said he, grasping his father's hand, and pressing upon it hia 
 feverish brow. 
 
 " I will, my son, I will. Now resume your studies, and be 
 ready for the recitation hour. And remember, if I should 
 return with convincing proofs of her guilt, I shall expect from 
 the purity of your heart, and the past uprightness of your 
 character, a full surrender of all interest in one so utterly un 
 worthy." 
 
 Henry's only answer was another pressure of his father's 
 hand, but he was strong in his conviction of Stella's inno 
 cence. His anguish was for the outrage that was to be inflicted 
 upon it. 
 
 When Colonel Fay inquired at the hotel for the young girl 
 Stella Lightner, and was told no person of that name was there, 
 he began to tremble for his son's truth. But at length he 
 learned from a head servant that the person who bore that 
 name had been there, but was now with a fashionable milliner 
 by the name of Modely. The Colonel took down the new 
 direction, and after winding about various streets, he found the 
 shop of the milliner. lie entered, but looked in vain behind 
 the counter, for the beautiful face of the charity girl. There 
 was a glass door that divided the shop from a back parlour, 
 partly shaded by a green silk curtain. Through this, he caught 
 a glimpse of a profusion of sunny curls, and a profile of pure, 
 classic beauty, which could belong to no other face than Stella's. 
 She turned her eyes towards the door, those star-bright eyes, 
 and immediately recognised, with a thrill of horror, the tall, 
 commanding figure of Colonel Fay. The needle dropped from 
 her hand the work fell from her lap; then starting, she 
 gathered it up and retreated to the remotest corner of the 
 apartment, hoping she had escaped the observation she so much 
 dreaded. 
 
 In the mean time the Colonel addressed the lady who 
 
 49
 
 232 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 seemed to preside in the shop, and requested an interview with 
 the young girl a private interview if possible. 
 
 " Do you know her, sir ?" asked the lady, drawing him one 
 side, so that her remarks could not be heard by the apprentice 
 girls behind the counter. 
 
 "I have known her from a child," was the reply. 
 
 " She has been with me but a short time," she continued, 
 " and as she came without any recommendations, I have been 
 in doubt about the propriety of taking her. Her youth and 
 remarkable beauty interested me, and the skill she manifested 
 in needle-work when put upon trial, showed that she would be 
 a valuable acquisition to my establishment." 
 
 The lady, who seemed gratified that so gentleman-like a 
 person as the Colonel was acquainted with her young protegee, 
 called Stella, who came forward with ill-concealed reluctance, 
 and leading the way to a private parlour, showily and fashion 
 ably furnished, left them together. 
 
 " You have taken a very extraordinary step, young lady," 
 said the Colonel, in a grave voice. " It was rash and unad 
 vised." 
 
 Stella breathed more freely, believing that it was to censure 
 her for making his son a partner in her flight, that he had 
 honoured her with a visit. For that venial offence she was 
 ready to justify herself, secure that the darker secret of her 
 crime was unrevealed. 
 
 " I have found a respectable home," she replied, " where I 
 shall not be taunted with my poverty, and the situation from 
 which I was taken. They will not know and despise me as a 
 low charity girl, unless you tell them, sir, who I am, and rob 
 me of the patronage I have obtained." 
 
 Colonel Fay felt the peculiarity and delicacy of his situation 
 painfully. He was a man of unusual tenderness and gentle 
 ness of character in his intercourse with women ; and here was 
 a young girl of angelic beauty and heavenly innocence of ap-
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 233 
 
 pearance, whom he was come to accuse of one of the most 
 degrading of crimes. Had it been murder, committed by the 
 frantic hand of passion, it would have been less opprobrious 
 and revolting. When with his son, and he had convinced 
 himself of her guilt, he had armed himself with sufficient 
 indignation to convict her face to face of the sinful deed she 
 had done ; but when he looked upon her his purpose faltered. 
 "With Henry he believed it was impossible. Deliberate wick 
 edness never could clothe itself in a garb so fair. He walked 
 about the room irresolute and troubled. He knew not what 
 to do. If he told her of the loss of the money, and asked 
 her to allow her trunk to be examined, to vindicate her inno 
 cence, she might leave the room to hide the bills before ho 
 had an opportunity of searching it. It would put her on her 
 guard, and effectually baffle his attempts to fathom the mys 
 tery Were it merely the money that was in question, he 
 would far rather have paid its value from his own purse, than 
 mention his suspicions ; but his son's character was at stake, 
 and it must be cleared. He had only his own word r" y, 
 against the most powerful evidence. If innocent, he mudt be 
 acquitted; if guilty, condemned. 
 
 While revolving these weighty thoughts, Stella watched him 
 with the most intense anxiety. She could not bear the into 
 lerable suspense caused by his silence and troubled movements. 
 She rose, saying she thought Mrs. Modely would be displeased 
 if she remained longer from her work, and was leaving the 
 room, when, having recalled a portion of his moral courage, 
 he went up to her, and taking her hand said 
 
 "We may be intruded on in this parlour. Take me to 
 your own private room. I have that to say to you which no 
 ears but your own ought to hear." 
 
 " I have no room of my own," she cried, her whole face 
 suffused with the deepest crimson. "I share the chamber of 
 anotln- girl. I am sure this parlour is retired enough," added
 
 234 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 she, assuming a haughty air. " No gentleman would insist 
 upon greater privacy." 
 
 " Stella, you must take me to your own room, or I must 
 speak to Mrs. Modely on the subject that brought me here. 
 If you wish, she can be present ; but for your own sake, I would 
 advise not." 
 
 "I will not go with you, sir. You have no right to ask it. 
 You can have nothing to say to me that the whole world may 
 not hear. Let go my hand, sir, you hurt me." 
 
 It is probable that the strong hand of the Colonel did hurt 
 the slender fingers he grasped so tightly, but he was excited 
 by her resistance, and the difficulty of the undertaking called 
 forth a more determined and vigorous will. 
 
 " Stella," said he, without releasing her, " I would not be 
 harsh or unkind, unless you force me to be so. If you value 
 your present situation, come with me, and I will treat you as 
 gently as if you were my own daughter. My age sanctions 
 the liberty I ask." 
 
 Trembling, panting with suppressed rage and fear, Stella 
 looked round as if she would jump through the windows, rather 
 than yield submission to his requirement. He had gradually 
 drawn her to the door of the shop, where Mrs. Modely met 
 them, her countenance animated with^uriosity. 
 
 "Excuse me, madam," said he, "if I appear to ask an 
 unusual liberty. I wish to speak with this young girl in her 
 own room. As I have just told her, my age sanctions the 
 freedom, as well as my motive. Will you permit her to show 
 me the way ?" 
 
 " It is a strange request," replied Mrs. Modely, looking with 
 doubt and astonishment at Stella, who was scarlet one moment, 
 and snow-white the next; "she seems very much agitated, I 
 know not what to think of it." 
 
 " She has some important papers in her trunk which I wish 
 to examine, which it is necessary that I should. If you will
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWliTRD. 235 
 
 have the goodness to have it brought into the parlour, and see 
 that we are uninterrupted for a short time, I should prefer it." 
 
 " Certainly, certainly," replied the lady, " that is a much 
 better arrangement." She resolved that she would apply her 
 ear to the key-hole, and learn the mystery of a visit, evidently 
 so unwelcome to Stella. 
 
 Stella dared not resist, before the curious eyes *bent upon her 
 in the shop, but when she found herself again in the parlour, she 
 burst into a passion of tears, and declared that he never should 
 look in her trunk ; she would not submit to such an insult, she 
 would die first. The trunk was brought in the door closed, 
 a listening ear applied to the key-hole. The Colonel, whose 
 courage was now equal to the occasion, took both her hands 
 and forcibly seated her. 
 
 " Stella," he cried, "be calm, and listen to reason. I will 
 now tell you what I wish to discover. A robbery was com 
 mitted at Sunny Dell, on the night of your departure. The 
 clandestine manner in which you left, has thrown suspicion on 
 you. My sister has authorized me to investigate the matter. 
 If you are innocent, an examination of your trunk ought to 
 inspire no dread. I suffer great pain in wounding your feel 
 ings. I would gladly have spared you this trial, if I could." 
 
 " Cruel, cruel and unjust !" cried Stella, wringing her hands, 
 and looking distractedly round her, " why should I do it more 
 than your own son ? why accuse me more than him ?" 
 
 "I have accused him, and he denies it. I sought him first. 
 I did not spare my own son." 
 
 " Does he dare to say that I took it ? Has he the cowardice 
 to accuse me a girl ?" she cried, with a look of insufferable 
 scorn. 
 
 "No, he stakes his life upon your innocence, and I, Stella, 
 would give twenty times this sum to prove you so, this moment 
 Give me the key, and clear yourself at once of suspicion." 
 
 " Never I will die first !"
 
 236 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " Then I must force it open," laying his powerful hand 
 upon the lid. 
 
 Stella sprang forward and threv herself across the trunk, 
 desperately, fiercely. All the animal in her was roused. 
 With her long, waving hair floating wildly over her, her head 
 partly raised, her eyes flashing like poniards, and her lips 
 parted, showing her glittering teeth, she looked like a young 
 lioness, confronted in her native wilderness. The Colonel 
 was baffled. He could have faced the lions of the Indian 
 forests with a more undaunted spirit than this slender girl. 
 Of her guilt he had no longer a doubt. To obtain the proofs 
 of it, so as to clear his son, seemed an Herculean task. 
 
 " Stella, unhappy girl," said he, "I know your guilt ! do not 
 seek to hide it. There was one who saw the deed, whom you 
 cannot escape, whose justice you cannot elude." 
 
 "Who saw me?" she exclaimed, springing up with a 
 bound ; " who saw me ? there was no one there. It is false, 
 there was no one there." 
 
 " Yes ! self-convicted criminal," said he, in a solemn voice, 
 raising his hand slowly upward, and pointing towards Heaven, 
 " Grod was there he saw you. God is here his awful eye 
 is on you now. He sees into the depths of your heart. He 
 sees its fear, its agony, and, oh ! may he see its remorse ! 
 Confess now, child of sin confess your crime, restore the 
 money, and I will not expose your shame. I will not blast 
 your young life by telling the story of your infamy. Let the 
 anguish you now suffer be a foretaste of those undying pangs 
 which await the impenitent and unpardoned sinner. Make 
 the only atonement left, by restoring what, if kept, will burn 
 your conscience with consuming fire." 
 
 The solemnity of his manner, the awful force of his lan 
 guage, the imposing dignity of his attitude, the consciousness 
 that her own words had admitted the crime, the conviction 
 that she was entirely in his power, and that a call for help
 
 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 237 
 
 would only expose her shame to others, all pressed upon her 
 so crushingly she had no strength or resistance left. When 
 Colonel Fay bent down and took the black silk ribbon, from 
 which a key was suspended, from her neck, her nerveless 
 hands fell passive at her side ; she bowed forward and fell 
 prostrate on the floor, like one in a collapsed state. She had 
 not fainted, she had only given up in despair. She heard the 
 key turn, the trunk open, she felt that the bills were in the 
 Colonel's hand, though her face was pressed against the floor. 
 She heard the key again turn, the trunk closed, and felt the 
 ribbon encircle her neck. 
 
 Colonel Fay was now in possession of indubitable evidence 
 of her guilt. His sister, who was remarkable for the method 
 ical manner in which she transacted business, always had the 
 initials D. W. marked on the back of her bank notes in red 
 ink. Her agent never failed to attend to this sign, before 
 placing them in her hands. Every note bore this blood-red 
 symbol. And near them, too, was the fellow of the glove found 
 in front of the desk at least he supposed so, for there was an 
 odd glove, bearing the name of his son. The stigma was 
 removed from his family, but the guilt of this youthful orphan 
 weighed heavily on his heart. She had been under his roof, 
 and sat down at his board ; she had been the companion of 
 his children, the protegee of his sister. 
 
 " I will not add to your sufferings by useless reproaches," 
 said he, trying to raise her prostrate form. " You see that 
 the path of sin is strewed with thorns, that the way of the 
 transgressor is hard. I will not leave you penniless, nor will 
 I reveal to the lady, whose protection you have sought, this 
 shameful transaction. Perhaps I ought to put her on her 
 guard, but I cannot close upon you the doors of hope, for 
 there is hope, Stella hope in repentance, reformation, and 
 expiation." 
 
 " I thank you, sir, for your good advice to the young lady
 
 238 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 and I hope she will profit by it," cried Mrs. Modely, suddenly 
 opening the door; " but she is not to be left under my roof, I 
 can assure you. I overheard enough just now, as I was com 
 ing in, to know what she is, and I am not going to harbour 
 a thief, to destroy the reputation of nay establishment. I 
 thought it was strange that she had no recommendations. I 
 suppose she thought her pretty face was sufficient. To try to 
 deceive me, in this shameless manner. I tell you what, Miss, 
 the sooner you leave my house the better." 
 
 " Take me to prison, sir," said Stella, in a tone of bitter 
 ness and despair ; " I have no home to go to 1" 
 
 " Come with me, poor outcast," said the Colonel, " I will 
 carry you back to the friends you have deserted, and who are 
 still ignorant of your crime." 
 
 " No., oh, no, not to Aunt Debby I dare not I cannot 
 I would rather die at once !" 
 
 " You have but one choice left either to go into the 
 streets in the wind and sleet, or to accept the protection I am 
 willing to afford you." 
 
 He spoke calmly, resolutely, and the wretched girl seeing 
 indeed no alternative, went to her room to prepare herself for 
 the journey. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," said Mrs. Modely ; " I must follow her 
 and see that she does not steal anything from me." 
 
 " Speak not, I entreat you, of this unhappy affair, madam. 
 Have pity on her youth." 
 
 " Certainly, sir," said she, hurrying away, to watch the 
 detected culprit. 
 
 In silence and shame Stella followed her merciful judge to 
 the sleigh, where her trunk was already deposited, while the 
 apprentice girls, whose envy her beauty had excited, looked 
 after her with scorn and contempt. 
 
 The Colonel stopped at the hotel long enough to write a 
 note to his son, informing him of the discovery he had made, 
 and his conviction tnat his infatuation could not survive the
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 239 
 
 knowledge of Stella's worthlessness. He also wtote to his 
 sister, telling her of what he had done, and of his wish that 
 she would make some arrangement with the ladies of the cha 
 ritable association, to receive Stella, of whose crime they were 
 not aware, and who might be forgiven for the youthful impru 
 dence of taking a flight to the city, under apparently favox\r- 
 able auspices. 
 
 The journey was cold and comfortless. Stella listened in 
 sullen silence to the kind and earnest counsels of this excel 
 lent man. If anything could have redeemed her, it would 
 have been an influence so pure and holy, acting upon her, 
 from the highest, most disinterested of motives. And while 
 with him, while his mild, persuasive accents were murmuring 
 in her ears, she did resolve to abstain from crime, to avoid all 
 appearance of evil, she even had some heart-yearnings after 
 goodness, and wished that heaven had given Tier a father as 
 good to watch over her. But she did not go down to the 
 depths of her heart, to strangle the scorpions brooding there. 
 She had been so accustomed to dwell on evil thoughts, it had 
 become the habit of her life. Habit ! whose iron chains 
 require an unshorn giant's strength to break. Habit ! that 
 indelible dye of the soul, which is compared, in the language 
 of inspiration, to the Ethiopian's skin and the leopard's spots. 
 
 She was ashamed of the detection, rather than the crime ; 
 she mourned for the consequences of the guilt, not the guilt 
 itself. She shuddered at the dark shadow, more than the 
 black reality. 
 
 Colonel Fay did not carry her to Sunny Dell, but left her 
 at an inn, while he went to ascertain from his sister what home 
 would open to receive her. It was her doom to be p^ced 
 again under the surveillance of Mrs. Brown, from whose 
 house she had a glimpse of the almshouse, her early abode. 
 There we will leave her for the present, grieved to have 
 recorded such proofs of depravity in one whom God had .'.re- 
 ated so fair.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 '* 'Tis long since I beheld that eye, 
 That gave me bliss or misery, 
 And I have striven, but in vain, 
 Never to think of it again." 
 
 "Yes! 'tis a glorious thought to me, 
 Nor longer shall my soul repine 
 Whate'er thou art, or e'er shalt be, 
 Thou hast been dearly, solely mine." BYRON. 
 
 SINCE the record of Stella's transgression, we have allowed 
 the stream of time to flow on for a while, without any register 
 of the events that marked its course. But it did flow, bear 
 ing on its swift current human hopes and joys and fears. 
 The wind-blown blossom, the green leaflet, the broken branch, 
 and the uprooted tree all were drifted along on the tide that, 
 unrefluent and unebbing, rolls on to the ocean of eternity. It 
 rushes on, leaving many a gallant bark and stately vessel 
 wrecked upon its waves, but pauses not for the shriek of the 
 drowning or the moan of the surviving. But all is not deso 
 lation and ruin where its billows dash ! Green islets, like 
 emerald gems, sparkle on its waters, new-born flowers margin 
 its shores, and other barks, with snowy sails and gallant crew, 
 leave their glittering wake on the swelling flood. 
 
 Winter and summer, seed-time and harvest came and weat, 
 and the principal characters in our drama of life experienced 
 but little change in themselves or surrounding circumstances. 
 The inflexible pride of the Hon. Mr. Lindsey remained un 
 bent his ambition, as towering as ever. Sherwood had 
 
 (240)
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 241 
 
 finished the reading, and commenced the practice of lanr. He 
 felt himself an independent being; and, could he have obtained 
 Colonel Fay's consent to a union with Rena, in spite of the 
 opposition of his father, he would have braved his displeasure, 
 and dared the penalty of disinheritance and banishment from 
 the paternal roof. He had visited Rena at Sunny Dell for 
 Aunt Debby no longer issued her ban at the threshold; but 
 the long hours of absence, unrelieved by written communica 
 tions, were becoming more and more intolerable. Sherwood 
 chafed under his father's despotic pride and Colonel Fay's 
 inexorable sense of justice ; and Rena began to feel that if 
 love had its sunlight, it had its shadow also. 
 
 Aunt Debby, around whose softening heart Rena had 
 twined herself closer and closer, making the once waste place 
 green and blossoming with new-born affections, beheld with 
 sorrow the dejection that succeeds baffled hope settling on the 
 spirits. She dwelt upon the subject more and more, and 
 again and again the thought returned to her, that if she saw 
 Herbert Lindsey herself, she might possibly awaken in his 
 heart, cold and worldly as it might be, one spark of nature, 
 one feeling of sympathy, for the youthful attachment of his 
 eon. She would claim it as an atonement for her own unex- 
 piated wrongs. She knew he could not have forgotten all 
 remembrance of his life's romance ; he had once loved her. 
 Shamefully as he had deserted, cruelly as he had wronged, 
 he had once loved her ; and she knew, by her own heart's 
 ineffaceable memories, that time could not obliterate the im 
 pressions of youth. They might be overgrown, obscured by 
 cares and sins and worldliness, but let a bold hand sweep 
 aside the rank luxuriance, the engraven characters would once 
 more reappear. 
 
 Aunt Debby, too, was more and more deeply impressed 
 with a sense of her responsibility to God and her obligations 
 to man, as a part of the great brotherhood of humanity. She
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 felt her own need of forgiveness as a fallible and sinning 
 mortal ; and when she bent her knee in prayer, to supplicate 
 pardon for herself, the words often trembled on her lips, from 
 the consciousness that the wrongs inflicted on herself were 
 unpirdoned, and often remembered with vindictive bitterness. 
 Perhaps (for the heart is a strange and complicated thing !) a 
 lingering desire to speak once again to the man she had 
 loved with such impassioned tenderness, and whose fascinations 
 resisted the power of time, mingled with her more disin 
 terested feelings. She could not go to Bellevue, and ask 
 admission to its haughty master, but should he chance to 
 cross her path, perhaps she might " open her lips in parables 
 and utter dark sayings of old." 
 
 Aunt Debby was kind to the sick and afflicted, but she 
 always tried to do them good by stealth. As we have said 
 before, she was ashamed of being thought too amiable ; and 
 though she was gradually conquering this shame, the habit 
 of concealing her good deeds as much as possible remained. 
 She loved to go alone, when she sought their dwellings, and 
 to walk through the most retired paths and most unfrequented 
 roads. 
 
 One afternoon, late in the autumnal season, she was return 
 ing from a visit to a poor sick woman, who lived on the road 
 running back of Bellevue. It was a lonely and untravelled 
 path; and even in the depth of summer, when everything 
 wears a bright and glowing aspect, this shaded and solitary 
 road was one which a mourner might seek, as congenial to his 
 melancholy contemplations. Now, the trees were tinged 
 with autumn's prophetic gold, and here and there a fallen 
 leaf, sere and russet, breathed its moral to the heart. The 
 grass, instead of yielding, like soft velvet, noiselessly to the 
 pressure, crumpled under the foot, that broke as it tcuched 
 the brittle blades. A smoky haze dimmed the atmosphere, so 
 that the blue outline of the distant hills was scarcely distin-
 
 RENA; on, THE SNOWBIRD. 243 
 
 guished from the horizon on which they rested. It was in 
 this lone path, with her mind solemnized by the sight of 
 human suffering, and by reflections on the fading glory of the 
 year, that Aunt Debby, who was walking slowly along, with 
 her eyes bent upon the ground, became aware, by some internal 
 evidence, that some one was approaching, for it was neither 
 by signs or sound, so deeply was she abstracted, and looking 
 up 1 , she beheld the well-remembered face and form of Herbert 
 Lindsey. He was himself absorbed in meditation, and merelj 
 noticed that a woman was in the path before him. He knew 
 not who that woman was till he was very near, and felt her 
 deep black eyes riveted upon him, not in scorn and vengeance, 
 as he had sometimes met them, but with a solemn earnestness 
 of expression that strangely impressed him. He was so close 
 that her rustling dress might have touched him, and he invo 
 luntarily paused, arrested by the spell of that prophet-like 
 glance, when, recollecting himself, he touched his hat with 
 his hand and was passing on. 
 
 " Herbert Lindsey !" said she, and her voice, mellowed by 
 the memories that came rushing in upon her, sounded like a 
 strain of long-forgotten music. She hardly recognised it her 
 self, so different was it from the tones of the mistress of Sunny 
 Dell. " Herbert Lindsey ! we have met before. Perhaps we 
 may not meet again till the day when you and I shall read 
 each other's hearts in the light of God's eternal day. I would 
 speak with you one moment." 
 
 The sound of a voice which had so long been dead to him, 
 addressing him, too, by his youthful name, caused a quick 
 vibration of the nerves and a sudden rush of blood to his 
 unusually pale face. Had she spoken to him in a harsh, 
 iudignant tone, he would have wrapped the mantle of his 
 pride more closely round him and passed coldly by. But the 
 suddenness of the appeal, the solemn words she uttered, coming 
 lik < an awful climax to the silent thoughts on which he was
 
 244 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 brooding, and the emphasis of her thrilling glance all rooted 
 him to the spot. He was hurled back, as it were, in the abyss 
 of the past, the present was annihilated the future forgotten 
 for one moment, so strong was the illusion created by the 
 voice, addressing him by the almost forgotten name of Her 
 bert. He seemed to wander in the green shades of her forest 
 home, breathing words of impassioned love to a charmed and 
 believing ear. For one moment, the purest, most unworldly 
 period of his life was restored to him ; for he had loved the 
 wild country girl, whose heart he had awakened to such luxu 
 riant growth by the tropic rays of passion. The impression 
 faded, like a dissolving scene, for there was little in the person 
 of Aunt Debby to recall the form and features of her who had 
 once arrested his roving fancy. Still, she was as different from 
 the harsh and defying woman whom he had occasionally met 
 in his daily rides, as the blooming maiden, in whose eye love 
 was once enthroned. Never, perhaps, in his whole life had 
 he felt more fully her unexpiated and inexpiable wrongs. 
 Aunt Debby, who had once learned and never had forgotten 
 the study of that splendid countenance, perceived the traces 
 of emotions she had not dreamed of exciting. And if he, the 
 proud, cold, worldly devotee of ambition, was moved to a tran 
 sient exhibition of feeling, surely she, a woman, whose heart, 
 unnaturally hardened, had lately been fusing in the warmth 
 of household affections she, who, in the midst of all her 
 injuries, and in the time of vindictive remembrance, could say, 
 " There are moments when I love him still I" she felt that 
 inner current which flows far below the surface stirred to its 
 very depths. It was astonishing what youthfulness was brought 
 back to her face as the light and the glow of other days kindled 
 and flitted like flame across her features. 
 
 It must not be supposed, because many words have been 
 used to express the simultaneous emotions that agitated the 
 bosoms of each that they stood long in silence ; gazing into
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 245 
 
 each other's faces. Thought and feeling are like the light 
 ning's flash, darting instantaneously over the clouds of the 
 soul, and often leaving as little trace after its burning passage. 
 
 " This is an unexpected greeting," said he, in that rich, 
 deep-toned voice, on which a listening Senate had often hung 
 entranced. " You would speak with xe, madam ; I wait your 
 commands." 
 
 How strange it sounded to hear him, Herbert Lindsey, call 
 her Madam. It recalled her at once to a sense of their pre 
 sent position. The abyss again opened, which for a moment 
 had closed, and she felt how wide a chasm separated tne pre 
 sent from the past. Right by the spot where they stood, in 
 the shadow of the wall that ran along the way-side, there was 
 a fallen tree with its gnarled and gigantic roots coiling in 
 the air, and its withered branches pressing on the earth. 
 Aunt Debby was weary from her long walk, and that gray 
 old ruin seemed a fitting resting-place for the interview she 
 desired. Seating herself there, and motioning with her hand 
 for him to take a seat by her side, she said 
 
 " It is not to reproach you for the past, or to call up from 
 the grave of years, memories long buried, and, perhaps, for 
 gotten by you, that I thus force my presence on you. Had 
 any one told me three years ago, that I could ever have done 
 this, I would have scoffed at them as lying prophets." 
 
 " I certainly did not expect this honour," said he, " aftei 
 so many years of estrangement and hostility on your part. 
 You have always treated me as a deadly enemy, and as such I 
 have learned to look upon myself." 
 
 " Estrangement on my part ?" repeated she, the fire coming 
 back to her eye and the sting to her heart. " Estrangement 
 on my part ! Herbert Lindsey, I did not intend to speak of 
 what is now irremediable, only as it might save others from 
 misery ; but I must give vent to the words that are now suffo 
 cating me. Can you look towards me and say that estrange
 
 246 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 ment began with me ? Did I not wait you at the altar, till I 
 wished my bridal raiments were my shroud, and the dark- 
 robed clergyman" sitting gravely and solemnly before me, a 
 priest performing my funeral rites ? Did you not make me a 
 scorn, and a mockery, and a by-word among men ? Did you 
 not but it is no matter now it will be no matter when we 
 are both lying in the cold arms of death when we are both 
 facing the great white throne above. But, let me tell you 
 this, this one feeling that has never forsaken me ; had you 
 told me, frankly and sincerely, that you no longer loved me, 
 that you loved another, that your youthful fancy for me had 
 faded away, and that another image was placed upon the ruins 
 of mine, I would have released you, forgiven you, prayed for 
 you, and loved you still. Heaven knows I would. Heaven 
 knows I always marvelled what you ever saw in one like ma 
 to love." 
 
 " I did write to you I did ask you to release me ; telling 
 you of the opposition of my father and my friends. You 
 answered not my letter, and I supposed you scorned my 
 appeal. I do not justify myself for my broken vows ; but I 
 was not so remorseless a villain as to suffer you, knowingly, to 
 go to the altar, waiting for one who was then the bridegroom 
 of another. No, I have many crimes to answer for, but I 
 was not capable of an act of such wanton cruelty to one, 
 whose only fault was loving me too well. I had written, and 
 I looked upon your silence as a proof of your scorn, I tried 
 to think, of your indifference." 
 
 " I never received that letter ! never !" said Aunt Debby, 
 with a deep sigh. " I wish I had it would have saved me 
 years of bitterness at least. My heart might have been 
 blighted, but not embittered, hardened as it was. I never 
 blamed you for loving her you wedded better than you did me. 
 She was worthy of the preference. But it was the public 
 insult, the irremediable disgrace, that goaded me to madness."
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 247 
 
 " You have indeed had reason to execrate me," said the 
 Senator, leaning his brow upon his hand and suffering his raven 
 hair to fall in shadows over it " and so has she, too. You 
 have been the happier of the two, and have reason to rejoice 
 in the destiny that separated you from me. I was not formed 
 for domestic happiness. The flowers of the valley never 
 bloomed for me. I was created to climb the dizzy heights of 
 ambition, and, like the bird of the sun, to dip my wings in its 
 beams I" He raised his head as he spoke, and throwing back 
 his hair, his proud spirit flashed from his eagle eyes. 
 
 (' Have you found happiness in your lofty career ?" asked 
 Aunt Debby. " Have the beams warmed, while they illu 
 mined you?" * 
 
 " Happiness !" repeated he, with a disdainful smile. " Who 
 ever found happiness in this world ? It is the dream of youth ! 
 the meteor of manhood ! But in the stormy strife with 
 other minds, the stern struggle for distinction, I have escaped 
 that dull stagnation, that mouldering away of the being, worse 
 a thousand times than the vulture's fangs or the thunder's 
 bolt !" 
 
 Aunt Debby, finding a singular fascination in the interview, 
 had almost forgotten the object for which she sought it; but 
 the turn the conversation had taken pressed it upon her recol 
 lection. 
 
 "If happiness is only the dream of youth," she cried, 
 " woe be to those who destroy the bright illusion ! You have 
 a son, Herbert Lindsey ; do you not desire his happiness ? 
 Even if you have found it a shadow yourself; even if you 
 believe it a mockery ; do you not, in your secret heart, desire 
 that he may be happy ?" 
 
 " I do," said he, his countenance resuming that haughty 
 expression now habitual to it. 
 
 " Your son loves my niece has loved her from childhood !" 
 
 "Enough enough !" he exclaimed, folding his arms over hia 
 50
 
 248 RENA; on, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 breast, as if he thus closed up every avenue to his heart. " I 
 do not allow the least dictation in my domestic affairs. As I 
 nave chosen for myself, so have I chosen for my son a shi 
 ning mark a lofty goal I" 
 
 " I do not dictate," she cried, earnestly, " I entreat for two 
 youthful beings, whose happiness hangs trembling on your 
 will. If your conscience ever tells you that you have injured 
 me, as you but now expressed, let th^ be the only expiation 
 I shall ever ask." 
 
 " Ask anything for yourself and it shall be granted. My 
 son belongs to me." 
 
 " For myself! this is mockery ! What is there left for me 
 to ask ? Can you give m% back my blighted youth, undoubt- 
 ing faith, and unshaken trust ? Oan you turn back the river 
 of time and restore the hopes buried in its waters ? No ! I 
 ask nothing for myself nor would I accept a kingdom from 
 your hands. But I do demand, as an atonement for the past, 
 your sanction to a union on which the happiness of one far 
 dearer to me than my own self depends." 
 
 "Your language is imperative, madam," said he, rising 
 with a darkened countenance. " I am not accustomed to de 
 mands. It is probable that within a short time I shall leave 
 this country for a foreign court, where I must maintain in my 
 own person the honour and dignity of the land of my birth. 
 My son will accompany me ; and in the great scenes unfolding 
 to his view, he will lose sight of the follies of his boyhood. 
 Any request, any command even, independent of family ag 
 grandizement, shall be courteously listened to/' 
 
 " You have no heart!" she cried, rising, too, and crushing 
 under her feet, the dry, yellow leaves, rustling beneath herj 
 " I have wasted words on a man of iron. I believed for one 
 moment, that you were accessible to human feeling, but I was 
 mistaken. I have humbled myself in vain before an inexora 
 ble will. But my purpose was holy, and God be the judge
 
 REN A J OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 249 
 
 between us, which has most cause for shame, you or I ! Look 
 around you : everything breathes of decay, the withered leaves, 
 this fallen tree, the mournful autumn gale. We too are 
 passing away. Time is short, Eternity is long. Farewell, 
 Herbert Lindsey ; something tells me, that it is the last time 
 we shall ever meet on this side of the grave I" 
 
 Her voice gradually sunk into a low tone of deep solemnity, 
 and as she turned slowly away, the proud anger of the Sena 
 tor subsided, under the melancholy influence of her prophetic 
 words. He walked along in silence by her side, through the 
 narrow, darkly shaded path, that led towards her home. When 
 they came to the open road, where the habitations of men 
 began to appear, she stopped and said 
 
 " We part here. Think of all I have said, and perhaps I 
 may not, after all, have spoken in vain. In the silence of night, 
 the secrecy of darkness, it will come back to you, and mingling 
 with the whispers of conscience, still have power. Once 
 again, farewell ! May God forgive you all your offences against 
 Him, as freely as I forgive those committed against me !" 
 
 She extended her hand, and swept, with one rapid glance, 
 that kingly figure she might never again behold. How strangely 
 she felt, as his hand closed over hers ! that hand which had never 
 before met her touch without awakening a thrill of ecstasy ; 
 now, it seemed to her the token of an everlasting farewell, and 
 cold shivers ran through her frame. 
 
 " Farewell, Deborah Fay !" said he; "I deserve your curse, 
 and not your forgiveness ; but I thank you for it. You arc 
 right ; I shall remember your words. This strange meeting 
 will haunt me like a ghost. It is like the awakening of the 
 dead." 
 
 His grasp tightened momentarily, round her cold fingers, 
 relaxed again, and they parted, never to meet again, as she had 
 said, on this side of the grave. She walked slowly homeward, 
 without looking back, though her thoughts were all rolling
 
 250 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 bohind. So overpowering had been her emotions, that her 
 limbs suddenly lost their strength, and she was obliged to lean 
 against the fence for support. It is a false idea that the feel 
 ings and passions are strongest in early life. As the beams 
 of the noonday sun are stronger and warmer than his dawning 
 rays, so does the heart at life's zenith hour, throb with stronger, 
 warmer pulsations, than in the morning twilight, or glowing 
 antemeridian of being. As she clung to the gray railing that 
 formed part of the boundary of Sunny Dell, and thought of 
 the past so vividly, forcibly recalled, she asked herself, if she 
 bad power to live over again her vanished hours, whether she 
 would wish the name of Herbert Lindsey blotted from the 
 record, and strange as it may seem, she answered " No." She 
 would not go down into the grave, as too many do, without 
 knowing the unbounded capacities of her own heart, that fore 
 taste of an immortal existence. Much as she had suffered, 
 and might still suffer, she had been awakened to the full joy 
 of loving, and that memory was worth an age of indifference. 
 And when, carried out of herself, she remembered Rena, and 
 the grounds on which her hopes rested, she felt a conviction 
 that notwithstanding the cold repelling words which had met 
 her warm appeal, it was not lost in air. She was glad that 
 she had been strengthened to perform what she believed a duty, 
 and she went on her way with a firmer tread. 
 
 In the mean time, Herbert Lindsey approached Bellevue, with 
 very different feelings from those with which he had left it. A 
 shaft had found its way to his heart, winged by the hand of truth, 
 and it fastened and rankled there. It seemed as if he were 
 destined to rouse all the scorpions of memory, in that autumnal 
 walk. Just before turning into the path that led directly to 
 his own home, he met the young charity girl, whom he had 
 not beheld since he had banished her from his own roof. He 
 remembered the promise he had made his son, that she should 
 never want while he lived, a promise he had not yet fulfilled.
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 251 
 
 As he no longer feared an attachment for her on the part of 
 his son, he felt with more remorse the claims of this poor, 
 disregarded girl. She started when she saw him, and a cloud 
 of fear and aversion passed over her face. There was an air 
 of neglect about her person, a weariness and gloom in her 
 countenance, that, while it marred the splendour of her beauty, 
 excited more interest in him, than a brighter, more joyous ex 
 terior would have done. 
 
 "Girl, where do you live now?" said he, stopping and 
 addressing her, to her unspeakable astonishment. She pointed 
 to the house of Mrs. Brown, just seen through the many- 
 coloured leaves for she was too much disconcerted to speak. 
 That lady, who had discovered that she had such a superior 
 talent for managing young girls, had assumed the almost 
 exclusive guardianship of Stella, who, defeated in all her 
 wild, ambitious schemes, dragged on, in sullen endurance, her 
 eleemosynary existence. 
 
 " I promised Mrs. Lindsey," continued he, " when I refused 
 you a home, to see that you never suffered want. Take this 
 pocket-book, and when you have exhausted the supply it con 
 tains, it shall be replenished." 
 
 Stella felt the pocket-book in her hands, or she would 
 have doubted the evidence of her hearing. Such sudden 
 and unlooked-for liberality overpowered her. 
 
 " You are very kind, sir," she said, stammering, feeling 
 more shame at receiving money from the proud man she so 
 hated, than in stealing it from one who was sheltering her 
 under their roof. 
 
 " Have you a comfortable home ?" he asked, with still more 
 remarkable condescension. 
 
 " No, sir," said she, bitterly ; " I am nothing but a slave 
 from morning till night. If I ever complain of my lot, my 
 mistress points to yonder almshouse, my early home, and 
 threatens to send me back."
 
 252 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 " Why do you remain with her ?" he inquired, following 
 the direction of her eye to the low-roofed building, that stood 
 on a lone common, as if set apart from social communion. 
 There were dark memories hanging there, and he turned 
 away with an involuntary shudder. 
 
 " I cannot go where I would," she answered, in a tone of 
 hopeless despondency. " Everybody is getting tired of me ; 
 everybody despises me because I am poor." 
 
 " Do you remember your mother ?" he asked, with an irre 
 sistible impulse. 
 
 " She died when I was an infant." 
 
 " Have you any memorial of her ?" he continued, carried 
 away by the strong impulse which was mastering him, and 
 forgetting the strange impression his questions might make. 
 
 " Nothing but this locket," replied she, looking at him 
 with intense curiosity ; but his eyes were fixed upon the 
 medallion she lifted from her neck, and he observed it not. 
 She pressed her fingers on the edge, and it flew open, reveal 
 ing a glass case, in which two locks of hair were linked toge 
 ther, one of paly gold, the other of raven blackness. 
 
 " Did you know my mother, sir ?" she exclaimed, fixing her 
 eyes, with a sudden gleam, on the Senator's sable locks. 
 
 " Yes, I saw her once, when a girl like you," he answered, 
 recalled to a sense of his imprudence, and turning proudly 
 from her. 
 
 ' And my father I" she cried, springing after him and 
 seizing with daring hand the sleeve of his coat ; " tell me if 
 you know him tell me where I may find him, and claim his 
 protection." 
 
 " How should / know your father, presuming girl ?" cried 
 he, his lips turning of ashy paleness. " I felt an interest in 
 your fate, and condescended to question you. Release me," 
 added he, with such an air of imperial haughtiness, she dared 
 not resist; "and remember the next time ; to whom you 
 upeak."
 
 REN A; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. x 253 
 
 ' I do remember ;" folding her hands with an air of mock 
 humility over her breast. She was tempted to hurl the pock 
 et-book after him, so galling was it to receive a gift, accom 
 panied by such haughty words ; but the money might serve to 
 release her from her present bondage. The wild suspicion 
 excited by the jetty locks still lurked in her mind. She 
 recollected his dark, troubled countenance, when he first met 
 her at the gate, his denunciations when he found her a guest 
 at his house, his passionate interdictions of all intercourse be 
 tween her and his son. Pride alone could not excite such stormy 
 passions, such maddening fears. Hugging her thoughts in 
 secrecy, she determined to visit the almshouse, and inquire 
 more particularly of her parentage, and her mother's history. 
 Till now, she had felt no interest in searching for more than 
 had been revealed. She knew that her mother had died in 
 unwedded misery, and that no father claimed her as his child. 
 The locket she wore upon her neck was her only inheritance 
 even her name was the gift of fancy, for it seemed her mo 
 ther did not wish her to wear hers, associated as it was with 
 degradation and sorrow. 
 
 Mr. Lindsey entered his house and walked at once into the 
 library. He was warm from exercise and tumultuous emo 
 tions, and leaving the door unclosed, he threw himself into a 
 chair. 
 
 " Fool !" thought he, " I came very near exposing myself 
 by my insane questions. My meeting with that woman has 
 unnerved me." 
 
 As he sat thus, with his door open, he heard voices in the 
 antechamber, in earnest conversation. One was that of Mrs. 
 Lindsey, the other of a stranger. He paid no attention to 
 the sounds, which murmured with a kind of waterfall mono 
 tony, till he heard the name of Stella Lightuer, pronounced 
 with emphasis by the strange lady, and he was roused to lis- 
 ien. She was from the metropolis, and was relating the story
 
 254 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 of Stella's theft and detection, as she had heard it from the 
 gossipping milliner, whose shop was the resort of the fashion 
 able loungers of the day. Hearing that the young girl, who 
 was the heroine of the disgraceful story, resided in the neigh 
 bourhood, she felt a natural curiosity to learn something more 
 of her history, for Mrs. Modely had represented her as having 
 the beauty of an .angel. Mrs. Lindsey seemed exceedingly 
 distressed, for she had felt an uncommon interest in her beau 
 tiful protegee. She mourned over the depravity which she 
 said must have had its "origin in early neglect. The poor 
 mother had expiated her sins by her life, and was dead before 
 her child was capable of receiving moral lessons, but the un 
 natural father on him must rest the burthen of her guilt. 
 Every word she uttered fell like drops of molten lead on her 
 husband's sore and wounded conscience. On him rested the 
 burthen of that guilt. Against his name, must the accusing 
 spirit, that bore up the accents of his pure and gentle wife, 
 record the denunciation. He could not bear to remain a lis 
 tener to a conversation so blasting. He could close the doors 
 and exclude the sound from his own ears; but he wanted to 
 stop it ; he did not want such things said, as if silence could 
 avert the curse, that must fall from no human lips. He rose 
 and walked in the piazza, till the stranger guest departed, 
 when he went into the apartment where his wife was seated, 
 whose pale, sweet face was illumined with a smile of welcome, 
 as his well-known step drew near.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " Oh ! ye, whose hour-glass shifts its tranquil sands 
 In the unvexed silence of the student's cell ; 
 Ye whose untempted hearts have never tossed 
 Upon the dark and stormy sea where life 
 Gives battle to the elements and man 
 Wrestles with man, for some slight plank 
 Whose weight will bear but one to me alike 
 Or day or night ambition has no rest." BULWEK, 
 
 " HAVE my letters been brought from the office ?" asked 
 the Senator. Mrs. Lindsey answered by putting in his hand 
 a large packet, bearing the Washington post-mark. It was 
 with no common interest he broke the wax that sealed these 
 important papers. He had been anxiously expecting them. 
 They probably announced his appointment as Minister Pleni 
 potentiary to the foreign court to which his eyes had been long 
 turned an office congenial to his own ambition, and doubly 
 desirable, as his most powerful political rival and bitterest 
 enemy was also a candidate. Conscious of his commanding 
 talents, irresistible eloquence, and remarkable personal influ 
 ence, he never dreamed of defeat. He rejoiced that his enemy 
 was a rival candidate, for the downfall of his aspiring hopes 
 would only glorify his own success. He had spoken openly 
 to his family of his going abroad, and of his plans for the 
 future, for he had signified to the President his willingness to 
 accept the situation, thinking he conferred a far greater honour 
 in receiving, than the Chief Magistrate did in bestowing it 
 With a kindling eye he broke the seal, and his glance ran 
 rapidly over the contents. A cloud black as night lowered 
 
 (255)
 
 256 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 upon his brow. He dropped the letter and ground it fiercely 
 with his iron heel. 
 
 " And this is my reward !" he exclaimed, forgetting the 
 presence of his wife in his overwhelming rage and mortifica 
 tion " for this have I toiled and intrigued, and bartered my 
 soul's peace to be set aside for the blackest villain that ever 
 dared to usurp Congressional honours ! Had it been anybody 
 else I might have borne it. But for him to triumph over me ! 
 By Heaven ! I'll not endure it \" 
 
 Stooping down, he took up the trampled paper and tore it in 
 a thousand pieces. 
 
 " My husband my dear husband," said his trembling 
 wife " be not thus moved. You are already burdened with 
 public honours. I should think you would be weary of them. 
 Oh ! if this disappointment led you to withdraw from the 
 world to the quiet of domestic life ; to the bosom of your 
 family; the circle of your friends ; how happy, how blest we 
 might be I" 
 
 She spoke with unwonted energy, for the hope that, baffled 
 in ambition, he might yet turn to domestic love for consola 
 tion, revived her poor, wilted heart. Her meek eyes were 
 bent sympathizingly, beseechingly upon him. 
 
 " This is the way all women talk !" cried he, in a contempt 
 uous, bitter tone. " What do they know about it ? Have I not 
 been toiling year after year, step by step, up a rugged ascent ? 
 And now, when I find myself on the summit, ready to look 
 down on my enemies in a blaze of triumph, I am hurled from 
 it ungratefully, shamefully, and my worst enemy elevated on 
 my ruin ! Friends ! talk to me of friends ! I have none ! 
 I never had one ! I have sacrificed friendship, love, joy, every 
 thing to ambition and this is my reward !" 
 
 Throwing himself on the sofa, he leaned his head on the arm 
 and covered his face with his hands. Mrs. Lindsey turned 
 towards him. It was the first time she had ever seen that
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 257 
 
 stately head bowed as if in sorrow, and her timidity ranishecl 
 at the sight. She went and knelt at his side, that she might 
 not look down upon him in this prostration of his spirit. She 
 even ventured to put her yearning arms around him and whis 
 per words of tenderness and sympathy. 
 
 " Herbert, my husband ! say not that you have no friends. 
 Am not I your friend ? Does not our noble boy love you with 
 devoted affection? Oh ! by the love that no neglect or cold 
 ness could destroy, let me entreat you to discard an ungrate 
 ful public, and live henceforth for the wife and son whose 
 happiness is bound up in yours !" 
 
 The Senator lifted his head, and his bloodshot eyes met 
 t"he tearful glance of his wife. He looked at her steadfastly 
 for a moment, and his face was " a tablet of unutterable 
 thoughts." 
 
 "Yes, Emily," said he, in an altered voice; "you have 
 been a devoted wife you have deserved a better fate, and I 
 > pray that some calmer, happier hours are yet in store for you. 
 You are right I will discard an ungrateful world. I have 
 sought the laurel wreath, and won the crown of thorns. Rise, 
 and sit down by my side your presence is soothing to me." 
 
 She rose, with a feeling of happiness long a stranger to her 
 heart, and seating herself by him, surrendered herself to hopes 
 she thought for ever blighted. He still retained her hand, 
 but, closing his eyes and leaning back on the sofa, he seemed 
 to indicate a wish for silence. The twilight was gradually 
 deepening, and at length darkness gathered round them. She 
 sat motionless, fearful of moving, lest she should disturb medi 
 tations so profound lest he should withdraw his hand, and 
 rouse her from her dream of felicity. 
 
 " You had better ring for lights," said he, suddenly rising. 
 " I will take one to the library. Do not call me to supper, 
 for I do not wish any. I have a great many letters to write 
 to-night, and do not like to be disturbed. Retire without
 
 258 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 waiting for me. I shall probably be up till long past mid 
 night." 
 
 Taking a candle from the servant, who brought them to the 
 door, he reached the threshold; then turning back, to whtere 
 his wife stood, with her pale, anxious, subdued countenance 
 
 " Emily," said he, "I thank you for your sympathy your 
 devoted affection. I have not deserved it. Forgive my harsh 
 ness and coldness. I am going to begin a new life. The past 
 will be all a dream. Good night !" 
 
 Then, bending down, he kissed her forehead, and left her, 
 happier than she had felt since the early days of her mar 
 riage. It was no unusual thing for her husband to go with 
 out his supper, and to sit up beyond the midnight hour. She 
 did not feel any solicitude on that account, but she hoped this 
 was one of the last sacrifices he would have to make for the 
 world, and that his evenings would henceforth be devoted to 
 domestic tranquillity. The words " I am going to begin a 
 new life," were so soothing, so full of promise, she sat down 
 that night to her lonely supper, rejoicing in the dawning rays 
 of the millennium of her wedded life. 
 
 The Senator entered his library, locked the door, lighted 
 the astral lamp on the centre of the table, and seating himself, 
 he leaned his elbows on the table and his head upon his hands. 
 He sat thus for more than an hour, in abstraction so deep, 
 that he lost all consciousness of his actual position, and when 
 he looked up and pushed back the heavy locks from his brow, 
 he started back from the ghostly company that surrounded 
 him. The marble busts standing out so cold, and white, and 
 ghastly in the pale lamp-light, resembled the faces of the dead, 
 and never had the shadows, resting in the folds of the dark, 
 green curtains seemed so thick and gloomy. With a cold, 
 faint smile at his involuntary recoil, he gazed round the whole 
 apartment, taking in all the massy volumes, over which he 
 had pored so many long hours, then heaving a deep sigh, he
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 259 
 
 drew towards him pen, ink, and paper, and began to write. 
 Sometimes he would write rapidly, as if his pen was burning 
 under his fingers, then he would throw it down and sink into 
 a long fit of abstraction. Letter after letter was thus written, - 
 sealed, and directed; but how strange were the superscrip 
 tions of some of them ! one to his son, and another to Debo 
 rah Fay he must have forgotten her married name. There 
 were many others devoted to business ; and the clock struck 
 the midnight hour before he had concluded. Thick drops of 
 perspiration stood upon his forehead when he rose from his 
 chair, after arranging the letters in a conspicuous manner 
 around the lamp. 
 
 " 'Tis done," he cried, " I shall soon be ready !" Ready 
 for what ? methinks some anxious voice inquires. Alas ! that 
 the most magnificent gifts of nature should be thus madly 
 abused, thus ungratefully thrown back to the giver ! Herbert 
 Lindsey had told his wife that he intended to " begin a new 
 life " but with a far different meaning from what entered her 
 misguided heart. He had wrought himself up to the despe 
 rate determination of quitting a world which the tyranny of 
 his own passions had converted into a prison-house of anguish, 
 as if he could annihilate those passions with his rash, heaven- 
 daring hand. He believed in the G-od of creation, but not of 
 redemption. He rejected the lamp which revelation offered 
 to illumine the darkness of the future, proudly walking in the 
 light of unassisted reason. He had lived for the god of this 
 world ; and now when he was spurned from the altar of the 
 deity he worshipped, he resolved to die the proud master of his 
 own destiny; to enter futurity like a victor, with bold step 
 and resolute hand, rather than a vassal, awaiting with trem 
 bling spirit the summons of his Lord. Yes! he would fall, 
 like the monarch of the forest, struck by the lightning's bolt, 
 in the fulness of its leafy honours, rather than moulder away 
 by the slow decay of age or diseasa There were momenta,
 
 260 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 when invisible hands seemed to hold him back from the tre 
 mendous brink on which he stood j when his son rose before 
 him in the beauty of his young manhood, and fixing on him 
 his clear, dark, rebuking eyes, entreated him to stay his sui 
 cidal hand ; when his wife seemed clinging round him, im 
 ploring him not to pierce Tier heart through the lifeblood of 
 his. There were moments, too, when the billows of the dark 
 ocean, in which he was about to plunge, seemed waving 
 beneath his feet, so black, so deep, so awful, so boundless, 
 even his undaunted spirit recoiled with horror and dismay. 
 But if there was an unfathomable gulf before him, there were 
 spectres behind, mocking and goading him onward, which he 
 would not turn back and face. 
 
 "Yes!" repeated he, "I shall soon be ready." Then 
 rising and walking to the window, and sweeping aside the 
 heavy curtains, he stood and gazed upon the beautiful world 
 he was never more to behold. The harvest moon, shining in 
 her zenith glory, with the rich, golden lustre of autumn, was 
 rolling slowly, grandly above, while the stars and " the planets 
 were lost in her blaze." He lifted the sash that he might 
 inhale once more the breath of heaven, and the night-breeze 
 came in and rustled softly through his hair. There he stood, 
 covered with the moonlight as with a mantle, the wind, like 
 the breath of the Deity, whispering to his spirit ; looking up 
 into the illimitable arch of Heaven, meditating the most awful 
 crime that man, with unclouded reason, can ever perpetrate. 
 
 " Farewell, beautiful, but vain, unsatisfying earth !" he 
 cried ; " I have tasted all thy pleasures, and they have left 
 ashes and gall behind them ; I have enjoyed thy honours, and 
 they have turned into tortures and stings. Farewell, brief 
 dream of life, farewell ! The hour of my awakening is at 
 hand; I go to solve the great mystery of my being, that 
 sublime enigma human wisdom never yet has fathomed. 
 When to-niorrow's sun shall rise, I shall know the secret of
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 261 
 
 its beams ; I shall be an archangel in knowledge, or be lost in 
 the blackness of annihilation." 
 
 He turned and quenched the flaming lamp that illumined 
 the centre of the apartment, and a flood of heavenly light 
 swept through the room. 
 
 In the mean time Mrs. Lindsey occupied her solitary cham 
 ber above, listening for the footsteps of him who was never to 
 approach her more. She had been so excited by the con 
 versation before supper, and the thoughts it had awakened 
 so full of hope, so bright with promise, that she could not 
 sleep. The moon, too, shone with such surpassing radiance, 
 she could not close her eyes to shut out the beams. She 
 heard the clock strike twelve, and she was sure her vigils 
 would soon be at an end ; and yet, every stroke sounded like 
 a knell, and she imagined there was a deep, unusual pause 
 between each counted hour. Another hour might have glided 
 away, when the sudden, sharp report of a pistol, and the 
 heavy sound of a falling body in the room below, went right 
 through her head and heart, shivering every nerve and fibre 
 of her being. That room was the library that noise She 
 sprang from the bed with a shriek so terrible it rang through 
 the silent house, wakening a thousand echoes. She rushed 
 through the passage, down stairs, darting through moonbeam 
 and shadow, till she reached the door of the library. It was 
 locked ! 
 
 " Oh, my God !" she shrieked, " have mercy upon me I" 
 and fell fainting against the door. 
 
 The report of the pistol and the piercing cries of Mrs. 
 Lindsey, roused the servants, who slept in the house. They 
 came with lights, all trembling with terror, to the spot where 
 she lay. The woman raised her insensible mistress and re 
 moved her from the threshold ; but she dared go no farther. 
 She feared to leave her fellow-servant, who was fortunately a 
 man, and, though filled with dread, he had courage enough to
 
 262 RENA; on, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 force open the door, which being locked inside, resisted their 
 efforts. The sight which met his eyes was indeed appalling ! 
 Prostrate on the floor, with the moon shining full upon his 
 face, weltering in his blood, lay the majestic form of the 
 Senator. His features were calm and still as marble; the 
 blood oozed from his heart, where the instantaneous death- 
 wound had been made. 
 
 It is not necessary to describe minutely, the particulars of 
 this awful night. Neighbours gathered in, the physician was 
 summoned, who called back the vanished senses of Mrs. Lind 
 sey, but he had no Promethean touch that could kindle the 
 extinguished flame of life in the cold bosom of the statesman. 
 That flame was quenched in blood. 
 
 Bellevue was surrounded by a kind of inapproachable atmo 
 sphere, in consequence of the indomitable pride of its master ; 
 so that few dared to attempt the task of administering consola 
 tion to the wretched widow. Hannah, the active, considerate 
 and judicious Hannah, assumed a responsibility which could 
 not be given at such a moment. She urged the immediate 
 departure of her husband for Sherwood, despatched the letter 
 to Aunt Debby, whose maiden name she knew ; and watched 
 by Mrs. Lindsey, with a tenderness, one would hardly have 
 thought consistent with her strong and energetic nature. 
 
 Mrs. Lindsey, who, during the remainder of the night, had 
 fallen from one fainting fit to another, at last sunk into a deep 
 slumber. But while the ascending day was excluded from her 
 darkened chamber, and stilly steps glided through the passage, 
 there was one who sat by her, a fellow-mourner, who had come 
 to minister to her like a sister, unknown to her, but not to Mm, 
 who lay in shrouded majesty in the adjoining apartment. When 
 Mrs. Lindsey lifted her heavy lids, she saw in the dim twilight 
 that surrounded her, a stranger, with pale face, and large black 
 und melancholy eyes, bending over her. 
 
 " I am a friend," said Aunt Debby for it was she, who,
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRI 263 
 
 like a sister of charity, had come to the bed-side of the 
 mourner; " let me stay with you. I have suffered, and can 
 feel for you." 
 
 " Suffered !" repeated Mrs. Lindsey, clasping her pale hands, 
 and raising them feebly above her head ; " Merciful Father ! 
 who ever suffered like me ?" 
 
 " We are all born to suffer," said Aunt Debby, in a low, 
 Kid voice, " we pass through a furnace of fire on our way to 
 the kingdom of Heaven. Remember, my sister, it is the hand 
 of God that is laid upon you. Resist, and it will crush you 
 like iron. Submit, and it will be like down upon your heart." 
 
 " But such a blow !" cried the mourner, " Oh, my God, 
 such a blow ! Anything, everything but this I could have 
 borne. But for this, there is no balm on earth, or in Heaven. 
 No hope, no mercy none." 
 
 " The angel of Providence is disguised," said the comforter, 
 " but it is an angel still. We are weak and blind and erring. 
 There is nothing left us but submission. We may struggle 
 with our destiny, but we must be brought to submission at 
 last. God is omnipotent." 
 
 All the while she was speaking, Aunt Debby bathed the 
 brow of the sufferer with balmy waters, and moistened her dry 
 and feverish hands. Soothed by these gentle cares, she again 
 sunk into slumber, for she was under the influence of a pow 
 erful anodyne. 
 
 " And now," thought Aunt Debby, " I may leave her for 
 a few moments, and look for the last time on that face, before 
 Death has stamped upon it the signet of decay." 
 
 She stole noiselessly from the room, and entered that which 
 contained the lifeless body of the suicide. Without speaking, 
 she motioned the watchers to leave her alone. With a cold 
 hand, she turned back the white drapery, and gazed long and 
 steadfastly on that marble brow, once the throne of pride, now 
 
 placid and calm, as if no warring passion had ever disturbed 
 51
 
 264 RENAj OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 its deep repose. Never in life had the matchless beauty of his 
 classic features been so fully revealed, as in the immobility of 
 death. He might have been mistaken for one of those perfect 
 monuments of Grecian art, carved by the hand of the statuary, 
 were it not for the black and shining hair that shaded his tem 
 ples and brows, and the dark lashes that swept mournfully 
 down his colourless cheeks. And that glorious form was 
 nothing but clay ; it must be consigned to the grave, the grave 
 his own impious hands had dug. Aunt Debby groaned as this 
 agonizing thought absorbed every other, and taking his letter 
 from her bosom, she again read it, as the last legacy of the 
 dead. 
 
 " You prophesied truly," said the letter, " that we should 
 never meet again on this side the grave. When these lines - 
 meet your eye, cold in death will be the heart whose falsehood 
 has darkened your existence ! In this solemn hour, when I 
 am winding up all earthly accounts, I cannot deceive you 
 and believe the words of a dying man when I say, that tho 
 short era of my life gladdened by your love was the purest, 
 the happiest, and best. The serpent ambition had not then 
 coiled itself in the Eden of my heart ! I thought you had 
 become my deadly enemy, and hardened myself in the con 
 viction that your nature was cold and impassible to suffering. 
 You have undeceived me. I feel all the injuries I have 
 inflicted. I feel the curse of your unmerited forgiveness ! 
 Keceive the only expiation you ask, my consent to the union 
 for which you supplicated. Since I parted from you, I have 
 learned a bitter tesson of the ingratitude of that world I have 
 BO blindly worshipped ! Let my son, if he will, seek happi 
 ness in the vale I have found the mountain top bleak and 
 bare! 
 
 " I have one confession to make not to my wife lest I 
 plant another thorn in her already bleeding bosom, not to 
 my son, for I would not that he should abhor my memory
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 265 
 
 but to you, who know me as I am a perjured, guilty, and 
 betraying man ! There is one crime, hidden in darkness, 
 which the world knows not which the victim bound herself 
 by an oath never to reveal ! An oath she preserved inviolate 
 in sorrow and in death. I would not have left her in want 
 and destitution, but I never learned the place of her retreat, 
 till she appeared before me, like an avenging spirit, in the 
 person of her daughter the young charity girl, who has often 
 shared your bounty and proved herself so unworthy of your 
 care. To prevent the possibility of an attachment for her on 
 the part of my son, I treated her with cruelty and harshness, 
 drove her from my house, where my wife had received her, 
 and exposed her to the temptations of poverty and neglect. 
 On my head rests the damning sin of her youth ! To my son 
 I have confided the trust of setting apart a portion of my pro 
 perty for her yearly support, as an indemnification for her 
 cruel exile from my home. To you I confide the secret of her 
 birth. In this moment, when the sins of my life seem to rise 
 up incarnate and stare me in the face, those against her wear 
 a black and demon aspect ! Save her, if possible, from a second 
 transgression. Find her, if possible, another and kinder home. 
 One more charge, thou much wronged and much enduring 
 woman, and I have done. You will comfort and sustain my 
 feeble, sinking wife. Let her lean in the hour of her bereave 
 ment on your stronger mind and firmer heart. You will cherish 
 her for my sake. I have chilled her by coldness, bruised her 
 by harshness and yet she loves me still. Oh ! woman, wo 
 man ! great and marvellous is thy love ! Ill-requited, wronged 
 and suffering woman ! surely there must be a heaven for thee, 
 if not for transgressing man ! 
 
 'And now, Deborah true and noble-hearted love of my 
 yorth farewell ! You will not forget me you will not curse 
 m ' f If I curse myself by my life's last fatal act, I, who have 
 d- id the penalty, will still defy the doom I"
 
 266 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 Aunt Debby perused that letter, a second time, by Herbert 
 Lindsey's cold, unbreathing form, then kneeling down, the 
 fountain of the deep of her heart was broken up. Burying 
 her face in the folds of spotless linen that mantled him, she 
 wept tears, which, had they been drops of blood, could hardly 
 have wrung her heart with greater agony. 
 
 "Great and long-sufiering is the Lord," she murmured, 
 "we dare not limit His mercy. But in justice as in mercy 
 His holy will be done !" 
 
 For one moment, she laid her hand on his icy forehead, 
 then slowly drawing over it the folds of the winding-sheet, 
 with lingering footsteps crossed the threshold, and resumed 
 her station by the widow's couch. 
 
 The letter, addressed to Sherwood, though yet unsealed by 
 him, may perhaps excite more interest in the reader, read in 
 connexion with the one just unfolded. It was as follows : 
 
 " My son A few hours ago, I was building great palaces 
 for you and for me, believing they were founded upon a rock ; 
 but their base was sand, and the winds and waves have swept 
 away the stately dome of my pride. I bow with the falling 
 pillars, and make myself a grave among the ruins. I have 
 chosen my destiny mourn not for it. For yourself let 
 your own heart guide you in your choice of life. If you 
 believe there is any happiness to be found, seek it, but not in 
 the high places of the earth. Let my name be a Pharos, 
 warnifag you of the shoals of ambition. I do believe, and 
 take it as my dying record, that if earth can give happiness, 
 it is in the possession of such love as you have won. Take it, 
 keep it, bind it on your heart as a gem more precious than all 
 the false honours and lying vanities of the world. I tell thee, 
 Sherwood the heart of woman is a sacred thing. Trample 
 on everything else if you will, but spare the heart of woman. 
 But why do I speak thus ? I know you will. I remember 
 when you opposed your filial bosom as a shield for the mo-
 
 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 267 
 
 ther, who was sinking beneath the whirlwind of my stormy 
 passions. Sherwood, be still her shield. To your filial ten 
 derness I commit her. You will be faithful to the trust which 
 /have abused. 
 
 " The poor girl, whom you so nobly defended from my per 
 secution, will receive an annual portion of my property for her 
 support, just what your own liberality may prompt. This act 
 of justice will, I know, never be forgotten by you. 
 
 :e Sherwood, my son my only son my noble, noble boy ! 
 the strongest, deepest feeling of my heart is paternal love ! 
 Your image rises before me I see it in the yellow moon 
 light. You come and twine yourself round me closer and 
 closer still my arm grows weak in your grasp. My spirit 
 faints ! Oh ! let me go, my son I must I will be free ! 
 
 " It is enough ! I have conquered the last weakness of na 
 ture ! Again I feel my strength ! Proudly have I lived, 
 victoriously will I die ! I dare not bless you ! It would be 
 mockery but remember, the last word I penned, the last sigh 
 I breathed, was for you !"
 
 CHAPTER XVIH. 
 
 " And now, before the holy man, 
 
 They stood in all their youthful pride, 
 And spoke those words, and vowed those vows 
 Which bind the husband to his bride." DOANH. 
 
 Ashes to ashes dust to dust. It was even so. Herbert 
 Lindsey was laid in the same burying-ground where, seven 
 teen years before, a poor dweller of the almshouse found the 
 six-foot bed of earth which the poorest children of Adam claim 
 as their last inheritance. 
 
 It was all over ! Silence and thick gloom overshadowed 
 the household. Sherwood sat alone in his father's library, 
 that place of dread and awful memories ; yet still he sought 
 it, because it was the scene of that thrilling tragedy, the spot 
 where the letter was penned that last sad legacy of an err 
 ing parent's love. He sat in the same chair where his father 
 had sat, and gazed on a dark-red stain ingrained in the carpet, 
 with dry and burning eyes. The colours seemed to deepen, 
 glow, and glare upon his sight to waver like flame, and cor- 
 ruscate like fiery sparks. Covering his face, he pressed it 
 upon the table to shut out the awful phenomenon. Could he 
 only weep only shed one tear ! but not one had softened his 
 arid grief from the moment he had received the terrible 
 tidings. With dry eyes he had knelt by the bed-side of his 
 mother ; with dry eyes he had stood at the head of his father's 
 grave, and heard the clods rattle on his coffin ; with dry eyes 
 
 (268)
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 269 
 
 he leaned upon the spot where his father's last earthly aspira 
 tions had been breathed for him. 
 
 He heard no door open no footsteps advance ; but he felt 
 a soft iiand on his shoulder a low voice in his ear, whisp-:r 
 sadly, tremulously, "Sherwood!" It was Rena; and, at 
 he opened his arms and drew her to his heart, and felt her 
 tears raining on his cheeks, his own pent-up agony found vent, 
 and he wept wept upon her bosom, like a child, bitter but 
 relieving tears. 
 
 Her aunt had sent for her, believing that as their love was 
 now sanctioned by the highest earthly authority, it was as 
 much her office to pour balm into his wounded heart as if 
 her vows had been breathed at the altar. She came to per 
 form woman's holiest mission on earth; and gently, sweetly, 
 sacredly did she fulfil her task and they both felt that there 
 is no love like that which is sanctified by sorrow, and associ 
 ated with the memories of the dead. 
 
 And now that every obstacle is removed which impeded the 
 union of the son of the statesman and the daughter of the 
 farmer, we feel that the history we have written must draw to 
 a close. We are sorry for it, for we have followed with deep 
 interest the development of their characters. We are sorry, 
 too, to part with Aunt Debby, who has been gradually 
 resuming her original brightness, till she has become an angel 
 of consolation, binding up the broken heart and pouring oil 
 and balm into its welling wounds. 
 
 But we have not quite finished. There are some characters 
 in whose destiny we trust the reader is not entirely uninte 
 rested. The beautiful charity girl ! we hope she may yet bo 
 forgiven for the errors and crime, that sullied the morning of 
 her youth. 
 
 Aunt Debby was faithful to the trust reposed in her by 
 him who knew so well the steadfastness and truth on which
 
 270 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 he relied. As soon as Mrs. Lindsey rose from the bed of 
 languishment on which she was prostrated (for she did yield 
 to the hand that smote, and the iron grasp of despair that 
 would have crushed was loosened) as soon as Aunt Debby 
 felt that she could leave her with her son and Rena, who had 
 wound herself closely and endearingly round her heart, and 
 from whom she refused to be separated, she returned to Sunny 
 Dell and sent for the long-banished Stella, whose faults were 
 now remembered only to be forgiven. 
 
 The hapless life she had led with Mrs. Brown, the monotony 
 of her daily tasks, the close confinement she endured, had 
 wilted the roses of her cheeks and dimmed the lustre of her 
 starry eyes. The excessive fairness and transparency of her 
 skin, the redundance of her golden locks, indicated a corres 
 ponding delicacy of constitution, and a predisposition to that 
 disease which is the relentless scourge of the noEthern clime. 
 Aunt Debby noticed with apprehension the dry cough, that 
 Mrs. Brown had selfishly disregarded. She saw, too, that 
 though in the morning she was of waxen paleness, in the 
 evening a glow, brighter than the petals of the rose, coloured 
 the alabaster of hor cheek. Stella, who since the hour of her 
 detection had looked upon herself as a disgraced and aban 
 doned outcast, felt ft sullen .disregard of life, which ^endered 
 her careless of her growing weakness. She was roused from 
 her indifference by the vague hope excited by Mr. Liudsey's 
 interrogations ; but that hope was dispelled by her visit to the 
 almshouse, where she could learn nothing of her mother's 
 past history. Now the unexpected kindness of Aunt Debby, 
 whose trust she had so shamefully abused, and the legacy of 
 Mr. Lindsey, of which Sherwood had immediately informed 
 her, wakened the first real feelings of gratitude she had ever 
 experienced. She was brought once more within the sphere 
 of social blessings ; and after believing herself for ever excluded
 
 RENA; OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 271 
 
 from them, by her own sin and folly (for the story of her 
 transgression had followed her), she knew how to appreciate 
 their value. But it was too late. Stella's days were num 
 bered. In vain Aunt Debby called in the best medical aid, 
 and faithfully attended to the prescribed remedies. Consump 
 tion had hung its hectic rose upon her cheek, the signet seal 
 of death. And now Aunt Debby, instead of striving with 
 the doom which no human hand could avert, endeavoured to 
 prepare her for the life that is evermore. She felt that she 
 had been brought very near the unseen world by the late 
 startling event, and that her views were clearer and deeper 
 than they had ever been before ; and with earnest and solemn 
 zeal she brought home the divine truths of religion to the now 
 enlightened conscience and repentant heart of the dying girl. 
 Though Rena ministered like a gentle, loving sister, and 
 Sherwood like a true-hearted brother, it was to Aunt Debby 
 she clung with an affection and gratitude that grew deeper and 
 stronger as life waned away. It was her hand that received 
 the last fainf pressure of hers it was to her face her last 
 fading glance was turned. 
 
 Unfortunate Stella ! beautiful, misguided child, of a beau 
 tiful, misguided mother ! may the remembrance of thy errors 
 be lost in pity for thy early doom. More blest in death than 
 in life, may thy example be a warning to those who are 
 tempted to forsake the guide of their youth, and tread the 
 dark and downward path of sin and shame ! 
 
 " There is a time to weep," saith the wise man, " and a 
 time to laugh ; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." 
 
 If it was not a time to laugh and dance, it was one to smile 
 nd hope, when the handsome new house of Colonel Fay was
 
 272 RENAJ OR, THE SNOWBIRD. 
 
 adorned and illuminated for the marriage festival of his daugh 
 ter. There was a large and gay assembly, for all loved the 
 sweet Snowbird of her native valley, and gathered round her 
 to congratulate her on her brilliant prospects. 
 
 It was Doctor Clifford, the beloved and revered, who pro 
 nounced over her the nuptial benediction, with that voice of 
 music and look of prayer, which gave consecration to any act 
 how much more to the solemn rite of marriage ! When 
 Rena heard those deep, melodious accents address her as the 
 wedded wife of Sherwood Lindsey when she turned from tho 
 dark eyes that were beaming upon her unutterable love, to the 
 tearful but happy glance of her father her heart literally 
 ached with the fullness of her gratitude and joy. Henry, too, 
 her dear, gentle brother, he too was bending upon her his 
 beautiful but pensive eyes. The sad fate of Stella, whom he 
 had once so passionately loved, had cast a shadow over his 
 youth ; but there was a sweet girl near him, in the meridian 
 of her teens, whose smiles played upon the shadow, and Rena 
 hoped that ere long it would melt away in their brightness. 
 
 There was one friend whose face was missing in that bridal 
 group. It was Aunt Debby. She longed to be present at 
 the nuptials of the child of her adoption, but there was a 
 lonely mourner at Bellevue, who needed the consolation of 
 her presence. 
 
 " They are happy" thought she " they will not miss 
 Aunt Debby from that gay, bridal throng ! Life is all before 
 them, beautiful with hope and love, blooming with flowers 
 and spanned by rainbows. There are the sunbeams here 
 the clouds ! He told me ' to cherish her for his sake,' 
 and I have tried to be faithful to the solemn charge I will 
 be faithful to the end. No, no Sherwood and Rena are 
 happy in themselves and long, long may they be so ! The 
 blessing of Almighty God rest upon them ! Ah ! little did I
 
 RENA; OB, THE SNOWBIRD. 273 
 
 think that I should ever invoke a blessing on the son of 
 Herbert Lindsey I" 
 
 Aunt Debby bowed her head in the humility of a contrite 
 spirit, and a tear glittered on her lap. Well might Herbert 
 Lindsey say " Oh ! woman, great and marvellous is thy 
 love I" 
 
 THE BH.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 Hentz- 
 
 UCSOUTtNREGONALURARVACOY 
 
 1919 P.ena. 
 
 H4r 
 
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 1919 
 
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