TWIN ROSES
 
 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 A NARRATIVE. 
 
 BY ANNA CORA RITCHIE. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ACTRESS," " MIMIC LIFE," 
 " AKMAND," ETC. 
 
 " How have you made division of yourself ? 
 An apple, cleft in two. is not more twin 
 Thau these two creatures." 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 TICKNOR AND FIELDS. 
 
 M DCCC LVII.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 
 
 WlLl.HW FoUSUKi: UlTYIIlK, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetto 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 TCRKOTTPID AMD P R I If T P. D BY 
 
 H. 0. HOUUHTON AMD CX)Mi
 
 MY SISTERS, 
 
 NINE OF THE BRIGHTEST LINKS IN LIFE'S CHAIN, 
 THIS NARRATIVE IS DEDICATED 
 BY 
 
 ANNA CORA RITCHIE. 
 
 1703372
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 " TWIN ROSES " belongs to the series of narra- 
 tives commenced in " Mimic Life." 
 
 A friend asks, " Why do you devote yourself to 
 writing of the stage ? could you not be inspired 
 with equal interest in other subjects ? " Yes ; 
 but it was not designed that the experiences of 
 ten years should be wasted. There are abun- 
 dant workers in other fields; the invisible hand 
 that rules events points out my humbler task in 
 
 this. 
 
 A. C. R.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOI 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE WHITE ROSE 1 
 
 CHAPTER U. 
 HERMAN AND JEANNIE 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A SERPENT TONGUE 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 DEARLY-BOUGHT EXPERIENCE 46 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE RED ROSE 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE LOVERS 78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 A BRIDAL 90 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TEMPTATION ] 04
 
 COXTKNTS. 
 
 PAQB 
 
 CHAl'TKK IX. 
 
 AN uran IN i;n BOUM 
 
 CHAPTER X, 
 OCKAN I'l l:u - ................................... 133 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THB MISSING BOAT ............................... 146 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 8TRUOOI.KS IV llll NI.\V WOI'.I.D .................. 153 
 
 CH.MTKK XIII. 
 ..................................... 166 
 
 niAi-iTi; xiv. 
 
 ................................. 182 
 
 CHAI'IKI: XV. 
 mi N\III:\I i.i:ii>i,i: ............................ 193 
 
 \\ I. 
 \ i ................................... 208 
 
 THAI 1 ll.!! XVII. 
 CLOUDS .......................................... 218 
 
 CIIAIMI.I; xvni. 
 . i> VM. INK in I.HN< ii ..................... 228 
 
 cii\rn:i: MX. 
 t>TKt .................................... 242 
 
 259
 
 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE WHITE ROSE. 
 
 THEY chatted merrily over their work, that 
 group of pale-faced women. Their fingers were 
 weary, and their eyes heavy ; but the employ- 
 ment in which they were engaged elicited a 
 transient interest. The raiment they were fash- 
 ioning, was of garish hues and seemingly rich 
 materials. Here an ermine mantle swept the 
 ground, there lay a robe of ruby-colored velvet, 
 sparkling with festal gold ; scattered spangles 
 wasted their brightness on the uncarpeted floor, 
 and bullion glittered in prodigal profusion. 
 
 The room was long and narrow. The waUs 
 were lined with rows of shelves mounting to the 
 ceiling. Many a tedious flight of ladder-like 
 stair must be climbed before that apartment 
 could be reached. It was a theatrical wardrobe. 
 i
 
 2 TWIN K' 
 
 The mirthful voices are suddenly hushed, 
 the busy needles dart in and out with fresh 
 velocity. Mr. Brown has stolen into the room 
 unheard, and, with rebuking visage, confronts the 
 gossiping group. These slaves of the needle 
 are his subjects, and this Prince of "masking 
 stall'" is a merciless despot. 
 
 The little shrivelled up costumer has, by logi- 
 cal deducements, arrived at the conclusion that 
 he is the most consummate and important artist 
 in the temple of dramatic art, from which our 
 narrative starts. He is perfect master of the'mys- 
 t cries of " snip and nip, and cut, and slish, and 
 slash, according to the fashion and the time." 
 !!' boasts of intimate acquaintance with the 
 sics, and has great respect for the old fogies 
 of antiquity, especially for one Plato, who sage- 
 ly defines man to be " an animal, with two legs 
 and without feathers."* Mr. Brown's diminutive 
 heart beats high in his circumscribed bosom as 
 he p-llccts that h< converts this animal man into 
 a hero, by supplying the absent plumage. 
 
 Mr. Hrown is well versed in history, but, to 
 hi in the historic page only unfolds one vast, con- 
 timioii- illustration of costume. All great polit- 
 
 Apophthegnuta of Diogenes Laertius.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 3 
 
 ical convulsions are chronicled by variation of 
 outward adornment. A strict adherence to his- 
 torical authority, Mr. Brown regards as the relig- 
 ion of his craft. He descants with unmeasured 
 disgust upon the days when Garrick played Mac- 
 beth in the costume of a general officer, with 
 scarlet coat, gold lace, and powdered wig. Mr. 
 Brown has done away with all such anachronisms 
 in the dramas he " dresses." Oh, of course ; 
 who doubts it ? 
 
 These toiling women he regards as mere human 
 sewing-machines out of every one the greatest 
 possible amount of work must be extracted. He 
 has the privilege of engaging or discharging them, 
 i. e., of enabling them to exist or giving them a 
 fair chance of starvation. What wonder that the 
 presence of the Schneider- King excites awe ? 
 
 Mr. Brown now carried on one arm portions of 
 a black velvet costume, and on the other trim- 
 mings of purple satin. 
 
 " Chatter chatter chatter ! always chatter- 
 ing ! Set of lazy magpies ! Lavish of your 
 tongues and sparing of your needles. Pity I 
 can't employ your tongues to do the stitching. 
 That would be a bargain worth something. Now 
 stir yourselves and take this in hand at once. 
 Hamlet dress just taken measure."
 
 4 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 " Who is going to play Hamlet ? " asked sev- 
 eral voices at once. 
 
 " A Tyro who can afford to do the handsome 
 tiling for his stage bravery. That's the most im- 
 portant point. Wants the grandest Hamlet fit- 
 out that ever dilated the eyes of the British pub- 
 lic. We'll do Hamlet for him in first-rate style." 
 
 " Is he young ? Is he handsome ? Has he 
 ever appeared before ? " asked Liza, the most 
 juvenile of the group. 
 
 What if he is ? What if he hasn't ? " replied 
 Mr. Brown with decorous sternness. " What's 
 that to you, Miss Liza ? Mind your work or 
 we can find somebody who will. This trimming 
 must be extra rich. Can only trust that to Jeannie 
 Garnett's dainty fingers. You, Liza, lazy bones, 
 hunt up the black bugles and take them in to 
 Jeannie. Tell her we want some of her finest 
 L, r ns. Be off with you ! " 
 
 " When is the dress to be completed ? " asked 
 one of the women timidly. 
 
 ' IimneiliiiU'ly of course, immediately. Let's 
 
 have no napping over your thimbles. I shall 
 
 :i -quint at you again by and bye, so look 
 
 rp mid no more chattering. Wish some one 
 
 would invent a inuxxle for women's tongues. 
 
 Valuable patent that."
 
 TWIN ROSES. 5 
 
 Mr. Brown withdrew. Liza selected the bugles, 
 gathered up the purple trimmings, and opened a 
 door which led into an inner chamber. 
 
 What a delicious perfume came floating on 
 the musty, tinsel-tainted atmosphere! A gale of 
 Araby wafted into a workhouse. What had the 
 breath of flowers to do there ? 
 
 The single window of that small apartment 
 was visible as the door unclosed. At the first 
 glance, you fancied there must be a bower with- 
 out. A broad shelf a species of rude balcony 
 or tiny, hanging garden, shot out beneath the 
 casement. Roses and heliotropes, bright-hued 
 geraniums, odorous verbena, sweet-scented mign- 
 onette and spring violets crowded one another 
 in loving proximity. From either extremity of 
 this miniature parterre sprang jasmine and 
 cypress vines, intermingling their pearly white 
 and scarlet flowers, and clambering upwards 
 until the twining tendrils formed an arch over 
 the window. They partly screened the dingy 
 house-tops, but revealed one glimpse of blue 
 sky, and gave to the casement that bower-like 
 aspect. 
 
 From a rustic basket, suspended just within 
 the room, a luxuriant air plant spread out its 
 rich, green drapery, and embowered a wicker 
 1 *
 
 6 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 cage that hung beneath. A tame bulfinch made 
 music within. 
 
 In that chamber's narrow circuit, how many 
 objects arrest and charm the eye! And with 
 what humble appliances have these picturesque 
 surroundings been produced ! 
 
 The whitewashed walls are covered with 
 simple engravings, but the subjects are exquisite. 
 There is the marriage of St. Catherine here 
 Carlo Dolci's Virgin and Child there St. Cathe- 
 rine bome to heaven by The Angels Raphael's 
 Holy Family Hubner's Guardian Angels 
 illo's St. John, and Raphael's Vision of 
 
 The frames are constructed of pine and fir, 
 and hemlock cones perchance poverty could 
 aspire to no costlier. 
 
 A small bracket between every picture, holds 
 a statuette of humble plaster, it is true, but 
 embodying almost as eloquently as marble the 
 sculptor's inspiration. 
 
 Blessed are the brush, the chisel, the pen- 
 <il! Who shall say that artists are not posi- 
 ncfactors of mankind? To render the 
 beautiful ideal an actual presence, to fill the 
 mind, through tin- medium of the eyes, with 
 lovely images to raise the hearts to refine UK-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 7 
 
 daily thoughts are not these works of bene- 
 faction ? 
 
 But let us return to Jeannie's chamber. 
 
 The pictures are interrupted by a hanging 
 library abundantly supplied with books. 
 
 A white curtained bed fills one corner of the 
 room. Before it stands a rudely cushioned 
 bench it could hardly be termed a sofa. A 
 pair of crutches lie near. 
 
 Upon this couch reclines a fragile girl. Her 
 shoulders are supported with pillows, her hands 
 are busily employed upon some glittering labor. 
 Her features, delicate and faultlessly regular, 
 bear the impress of that highest beauty which 
 betokens the all-pervading loveliness within. 
 The dominant expression of her countenance is 
 one of tender thoughtfulness. 
 
 An extreme love of the beautiful, that love 
 which draws its heavenly origin from an affec- 
 tion for the holy and true that love which the 
 dull utilitarian cannot comprehend, because he 
 never reflects that God might have created the 
 earth, and supplied man's fullest need, without 
 rainbows, without flowers, without the glorious 
 pageantry of the sunrise, and the more gorgeous 
 sunset sky without the mystic splendors of 
 the moonlight without the myriad shapes of
 
 g TWIN ROSES. 
 
 symmetry and grace that hourly sweep before 
 our careless eyes ; that innate love in Jeannie 
 Garnett's bosom had found expression in the 
 only utterance which poverty permitted un- 
 costly adornments gathered into graceful com- 
 binations by the magical fingers of taste. 
 
 Consonant with her own harmonious nature 
 were the forms around her. They counteracted 
 the hardening influence of life's daily prosaisms. 
 They lulled her into self-forgetfulness. They 
 lifted her thoughts above the day's weary routine 
 and riveted them in holy contemplation. 
 
 That little chamber was her world. For four 
 years she had not crossed its threshold. Well 
 might she surround herself with objects upon 
 \vhich those mild, dark eyes could rest with 
 thoughtful pleasure! 
 
 Jeannie and Jessie Garnett were twin sisters ; 
 
 the only children of an actress who held the 
 
 position next in rank to that of leading lady in 
 
 a London theatre. Its name is of little moment, 
 
 for it has changed its appellation since the days 
 
 of which we write. The father of the twins died 
 
 (luring thrir infancy. The mother labored dili- 
 
 ly in IMT profession, but her children were 
 
 "ployed on the stage. It was generally 
 
 supposed that she did not design them for the
 
 TWIN ROSES. 9 
 
 boards ; though she made no declaration on the 
 subject. 
 
 In her intercourse she was exceedingly re- 
 served, a woman not easily comprehended. 
 Many regarded her as a visionary, because she 
 entertained, and, with modest firmness, avowed, 
 religious convictions which unreflecting minds 
 could not make the exertion to investigate, or 
 had not the power to grasp; bepause to her it 
 was a refreshment and delight to read "truths 
 of power in words immortal," truths which super- 
 ficial thinkers termed deep, abstruse, unintelli- 
 gible. But her life commanded respect, and her 
 unobtrusive mildness won affection. 
 
 Her children were the chief joy of her exist- 
 ence. With loving assiduity she planted the 
 seeds of knowledge in their infantile hearts, and 
 held to their young lips fresh waters from the 
 fountain of heavenly life. 
 
 The twins had just entered their fifteenth 
 year when their mother was seized with a nerv- 
 ous fever, the consequence of incessant exertion 
 in her profession. Her illness was brief, but it 
 closed the book of her earthly sorrows. 
 
 The orphans, even in the wild agony of their 
 first grief, felt that their mother was not wholly 
 sundered from them. Her angel guardianship
 
 10 TWIN K' 
 
 . 
 
 infused fortitude and patience into their stricken 
 spirits. Such had been her teachings. 
 
 They had no relatives no friends, save the 
 casual professional associates of their mother. 
 When her funeral expenses and other liabilities 
 \vrre defrayed, the sura that remained would 
 keep want's grim visage from their hearthstone 
 for a few months only. "What was to become 
 of the bereaved ones ? 
 
 N:iiur:illy the manager, and members of the 
 company, advised the only course which to them 
 appeared feasible the children must adopt their 
 mother's vocation. 
 
 Bewildered by the sudden shock, and clinging 
 \\ ith passionate fondness to each other, the sis- 
 ters were induced to listen to this proposition 
 because it did not separate them. Their scenic 
 powers had never been tested, but they had in- 
 trlligence, education, grace of form, and remark- 
 able beauty. The position of first and second 
 tlking ladies" did not demand brilliant tal- 
 
 
 r resemblance was so extraordinary that 
 by thr audience they were constantly mistaken. 
 Thi- UVnrss was not of person only, but of 
 mind, character, and feeling. Their hearts ever 
 beat responsive to each other. They thought
 
 TWIN ROSES. 11 
 
 alike suffered alike hoped alike-Wnjoyed the 
 same pleasures loved the same persons. 
 
 A year after they entered the profession, a 
 magnificent mythological spectacle was repre- 
 sented with great splendor. Jeannie personated 
 Proserpine and Jessie, Juno. 
 
 As Proserpine is gathering flowers in the fields 
 of Enna, she is captured by Pluto. He forces 
 her into his chariot, the ground suddenly opens, 
 and they descend to the regions over which he 
 reigns. 
 
 This classical feat, transferred to the boards, is 
 necessarily executed by means of a trap. The 
 cords which sustained the descending platform 
 chanced to be insecure they slackened gave 
 way! Pluto and Proserpine were precipitated 
 into the vault beneath the stage. The lower 
 regions, indeed! Both were severely injured. 
 The actor broke his leg. Jeannie's calamity was 
 of a more complicated description and produced 
 a spinal disease. 
 
 We pass over the horror and anguish of 
 Jessie, Jeannie's long illness the mutual suf- 
 ferings of the twins. 
 
 It was six months before Jeannie, by the aid 
 of crutches, could stand. Even with their help, 
 every attempt at locomotion was attended with
 
 12 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 severe pair!? Her entire restoration was doubtful 
 hardly to be anticipated. 
 
 The sisters had always displayed the most pic- 
 turesque taste in their stage apparel the work 
 of their own hands. Their embroideries, in par- 
 ticular, were the wonder and admiration of the 
 company. Even the self-sufficient Mr. Brown 
 had once or twice condescended to beg that they 
 would favor him with a copy of some flowery 
 design. 
 
 " Though I have nearly lost the use of my 
 feet, my hands are left me," said Jeannie to her 
 sister, " and I must not forget their value. I can 
 never act again, but Mr. Brown will employ me 
 in the wardrobe, I am sure." 
 
 She was right. Mr. Brown, with a satisfac- 
 tion which was transparent even through his 
 fresh assumption of dignity, condescended to 
 accept her offer. 
 
 There was one great drawback. Even in the 
 best regulated theatre the work of the wardrobe 
 must be rapidly executed, and may be demanded 
 at any unlocked for moment. Jeannie's lodg- 
 ings were a mile distant ; time was lost in carry- 
 ing the work to her and sending for it home 
 again. 
 
 Mr. Budd, the housekeeper of the establish-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 13 
 
 tnent, had a peculiar veneration for Mr. Brown. 
 His wishes were her laws. He was a bachelor, 
 she a widow but that might have had nothing to 
 do with the matter. Mr. Brown wanted his new 
 needle-slave constantly at hand. Mrs. Budd im- 
 mediately proposed that the small chamber ad- 
 joining the wardrobe should be appropriated to 
 the twins. Jeannie could thus be always at his 
 command. Mrs. Budd's plan was carried into 
 execution, though the removal cost the invalid 
 intense suffering. 
 
 Our tale commences four years later. 
 
 That little chamber, high up above the mock- 
 ery and revelry the glare and false show of the 
 stage world beneath, was like a hidden sanctuary 
 in some crowded, godless city. A tabernacle 
 tenanted by two unaware angels. A spot of 
 holy ground in a desert. And these twin roses 
 blooming in secret perfumed and purified the 
 strife-tainted atmosphere with the heavenly in- 
 cense of pious, patient, grateful hearts. 
 
 Could it be that a being suddenly smitten 
 down in the plenitude of health and beauty 
 isolated condemned to labor in seclusion and 
 poverty so sorely, hopelessly afflicted as Jeannie 
 Garnett, could be content ? That tranquil, fur- 
 rowless countenance, over which soft smiles
 
 14 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 are rippling as she lifts her eyes to the flowers, 
 the pictures, the simple statuettes, the caged 
 songster, give an unmistakable answer. The 
 truths she has learned from her mother are treas- 
 ured in the calm depths of her spirit, and enrich 
 her life with that wealth which alone purchases 
 happiness. She believes she feels she knows 
 that every being has his allotted part to fulfil in 
 the grand scheme divine however humble yet 
 important to the great whole. She labors in 
 one remote comer of her master's vineyard 
 the ground is rough the soil unfruitful the 
 corner dark but the lord of the vineyard bids 
 her toil tln're! that spot needs most the labor 
 she can bestow. She is content to perform the 
 
 . assigned her, and humbly deems that it 
 must be the one for which she is best fitted. 
 
 At the period of which we write, Jessie was 
 absent. 
 
 Owing to a sudden influx of visitors on the 
 titiful Isle of Wight, the miniature theatre at 
 Ryde had been hastily opened. The manager 
 the friend of Mr. Linkum, the London man- 
 ager, in whose establishment the two sisters were 
 permanently engaged. Mn Linkum agreed to 
 send a portion of his company to Ryde. Jessie 
 
 \Va~ line (if ihr number selected.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 15 
 
 This was the first parting of the sisters a 
 sorrow they had never anticipated, and found it 
 difficult to endure. 
 
 Good Mrs. Budd promised, over and over 
 again, to take excellent care of Jeannie, but very 
 few were the moments which that bustling, busy 
 personage could spend in the invalid's apartment. 
 The worthy housekeeper was always hurrying 
 onward, panting for breath as though pursued 
 by some invisible foe always complaining that 
 life was too short that there was so little time 
 for any thing always laboring, but with Sisy- 
 phus-like result. 
 
 The members of the company, however, paid 
 Jeannie frequent visits and discharged the kind 
 offices which her helplessness demanded. The 
 patience with which she bore her misfortune ren- 
 dered even callous natures compassionate. 
 
 Liza had given Jeannie the purple trimmings, 
 delivered Mr. Brown's order, and retired. Jeannie 
 was sketching a rich border of grape-vines and 
 leaves when the door flew open. 
 
 " Oh, Jeannie, I thought I must come and tell 
 you I am afraid I shall expire of laughter. Oh ! 
 if you could but have seen the exhibition." 
 
 The young girl who uttered these words threw 
 herself on the low chair by Jeannie's couch 
 Jessie's favorite seat, and laughed immoderately.
 
 16 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 " What is it, Dolly dear ? " asked Jeannie, 
 adding a few touches to her grape-vine. 
 
 A stage-struck youth ! The first rehearsal is 
 just over! What fun we have had guying him ! 
 Oh, these unfortunate, facile amateurs! That's 
 the border of his Hamlet dress, I warrant." 
 
 Yes I expect so, but I did not hear who 
 was to wear it" 
 
 " The handsomest youth you need ever hope 
 to steal a look at through those long lashes of 
 yours. A perfect Apollo ! Such a noble form 
 such clustering brown curls such brilliantly 
 blue eyes florid complexion magnificent teeth 
 mouth "like Cupid's bow," as the poets say. 
 Can't you see him in imagination ? But there's 
 a soft place under those glossy locks. The man 
 imagines himself destined to become a great 
 actor. He is the very incarnation of ruddy 
 health and happy spirits, yet he confidently 
 informed me that there was a singular affin- 
 ity between his character and that of the mel- 
 ancholy Hamlet! He had felt it from boy- 
 hood ! He first studied the role when he was a 
 mere youth. Now that he has resolved to 
 become a dramatic artist, he has chosen the char- 
 acter with which lie 1ms such perfect sympathy 
 for his dSbut! He looked quite shocked when
 
 TWIN ROSES. 17 
 
 I told him it would take an extra quantity of 
 chalk and powder to suppress the natural and 
 most un-Hamlet-like carnations on his cheeks." 
 
 " Was it well to mortify him ? " 
 
 " I should not have dared had I been a man, 
 for I fancy he has plenty of fight in him. He 
 reminded me of the anecdotes we hear of chival- 
 rous gentlemen at Donny Brook Fair, who draw 
 a line of chalk around their hats and knock 
 down any one who is bold enough to declare 
 that it is not silver lace. This youth pronounces 
 himself an actor, and there is a challenge in his 
 eyes for those who have the courage to gainsay 
 him, at their peril." 
 
 " But who is he, Dolly ? Where does he come 
 from?" 
 
 " That is what everybody has been eagerly 
 inquiring. At last Mr. Linkum, fearing that un- 
 satisfied curiosity would be injurious to our 
 general health, kindly administered relief. The 
 neophyte's father owns a hanosome estate in 
 Devonshire, and there resides. He made his 
 gold out of iron, and is connected with The Low 
 Moor Iron Company. Of course, he is old- 
 fashioned and prim, and cherishes exploded 
 notions. This is his only son. He is college 
 bred went from Eton to Oxford has been 
 2*
 
 18 TWIN il- 
 
 liberally supplied with funds and indulged in 
 all imaginable whims. He came to London a 
 few weeks ago took the stage fever pro- 
 nounced himself incurable consequently must 
 become an actor. I suppose the old governor 
 at home will get up a domestic earthquake when 
 he hears the news. The young man has bought 
 the house from Mr. Linkum for one night, as he 
 could not obtain an appearance in any other 
 way; pays some round figures for his experi- 
 ment, I'll wager. Next week he is to give us 
 such a Hamlet as the world never saw. I don't 
 doubt it ! It will be good fun, I tell you, judg- 
 ing by the rehearsal." 
 
 Dorothy broke out into another fit of laughter 
 at the recollection. 
 
 She was the boy-heroine of the company : 
 The representative of all the pages, mischievous 
 boys, dashing youths; the Sniikes, the Grinders, 
 the Oliver Twists, She was somewhat diminu- 
 tive in stature, and very plump, but finely pro- 
 portioned. That she was instinctively, unarti- 
 ficially masculine, cannot be denied ; but it was 
 masculine on a small scale. Her only feminine 
 trait .li.-phiycd itself in her intense love for her 
 brother. That puny stripling occupied the posi- 
 tion of second low comedian in the theatre.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 19 
 
 Nature, in one of her many frolics, had given to 
 the sister the manly, independent spirit formed 
 to battle with circumstances and the world to 
 the brother the soft and yielding character that 
 belongs to womanhood. 
 
 " How I wish Jessie were here to see this hand- 
 some crazy-brains," said Dolly, " don't you miss 
 her, Jeannie ? " 
 
 " Every hour every minute," replied Jeannie. 
 
 " Somebody else misses her not a little," re- 
 plied Dorothy significantly. " Sylvester, ever 
 since she left, goes moping about as though he 
 were looking for something belonging to him 
 which he could not find. Poor fellow ! He really 
 is infatuated about that girl, and I hope his de- 
 votion will be rewarded one of these days." 
 
 " I think not, Dorothy," answered Jeannie with 
 seriousness. " You know Jessie's views you 
 know she has rejected suitors in abundance. She 
 will never marry until she feels so strong an 
 attraction to some human being that she recog- 
 nizes an internal similitude a harmony of spirit 
 which will be a lasting bond of union." 
 
 " Oh, bother ! There you go with your high- 
 flown nonsense about affinity of spirits. All 
 visionary stuff. I wonder girls of so much sense 
 can talk so ridiculously. I suppose there is some
 
 20 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 spirit floating about in space that has an affinity 
 with mine is there not ? I should like to light 
 upon him that's all ! Don't you think I will ? " 
 
 " Why should I tell you what I think, Dolly? 
 You would only sneer. Hear Bulbul singing." 
 
 " You won't throw your pearls to swine, you 
 mean," answered Dorothy. " Very good. I dare 
 say that I could not string them into any shape 
 that I could wear." 
 
 Dorothy, after a few more jesting remarks, 
 withdrew. 
 
 Jeannie sat alone b'stening to the warbling of 
 her bird, and, as she embroidered Hamlet's " inky 
 cloak," involuntarily picturing to herself the des- 
 tined wearer, and musing with a strange, un- 
 wonted fascination upon his past and future.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HERMAN AND JEANNIE. 
 
 HERMAN LANDOR was an enthusiast. High- 
 spirited restless impulsive he plunged head- 
 long in pursuit of every darling object, every 
 ideal happiness. Excitement was his existence. 
 When his pulses throbbed tumultuously, and the 
 impetuous blood darted like fiery flashes through 
 his quivering veins, then only he seemed to 
 himself to live. His exuberant energies strug- 
 gled for some outlet. A poetic temperament, 
 inflamed by the fascination of the drama, im- 
 pelled their current towards the stage. He 
 readily persuaded himself that he was designed 
 for and destined to become a great tragic actor. 
 If he labored under a delusion, he soon taught 
 his associates of the hour that to trifle with the 
 cherished hallucination to refuse credence to his 
 settled conviction, were dangerous amusements. 
 
 At his second rehearsal the cynical Mr. Hawk- 
 wood, who personated the ghost of Hamlet's 
 father, sneeringly asked whether Mr. Landor was
 
 2'1 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 particularly fond of Michaelmas season. This is 
 an old joke among Thespians, but Herman was 
 not yet one of the initiated. He courteously 
 inquired the meaning of Mr. Hawkwood's in- 
 quiry. 
 
 " You won't object to sibilations as a running 
 accompaniment when you are doing Hamlet ? " 
 replied he, with mock gravity. 
 
 Mr. Hawkwood did not quickly forget the 
 flashing eye that looked into his as Landor 
 seized him with the grasp of a young Hercules, 
 and in an instant transferred his locality to the 
 orchestra, exclaiming, " You can learn another 
 tune there, my Mend." 
 
 That single exhibition of spirit and muscular 
 strength spared Herman not a few annoyances. 
 
 The actors applauded the feat, for Hawkwood 
 was generally detested. His growled-out revenge 
 broke through their peals of laughter. 
 
 The business of the scene forced him to return 
 to the stage. Landor had recovered his good- 
 humor, and comported himself as coolly as 
 though nothing extraordinary had occurred. 
 Hawkwood gave him one threatening glance 
 ol haired, and thru resumed his part. 
 
 The warmth and frankness of Lander's man- 
 ners readily captivated his theatrical companions.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 23 
 
 By the time his third rehearsal was over, he had 
 made friends with almost every individual in the 
 establishment. To be sure, the friendship was 
 of a rather dubious kind. It is always difficult 
 to conciliate the regular members of the company 
 to an amateur; but the charm of Lander's ad- 
 dress could not wholly be resisted. 
 
 During the week he paid frequent visits to Mr. 
 Brown, and finally begged to be allowed to see 
 " the trappings and the suits of woe " that were 
 to bedeck the noble Dane. 
 
 On this occasion Mrs. Budd chanced to be 
 present. She added her entreaties that the young 
 gentleman might be allowed to inspect his cos- 
 tume, and particularly the exquisite embroidery 
 executed by Jeannie Garnett. Had Mr. Landor 
 ever heard of poor Jeannie Garnett ? No ? Oh ! 
 of course not how stupid of her to inquire. 
 
 Then Mrs. Budd drew quite a romantic sketch 
 of the young invalid. Herman was quickly in- 
 terested. He conceived a strong desire to behold 
 this lovely recluse this hidden attic flower this 
 " diamond in a dust hole," as Mrs. Budd fanci- 
 fully styled her. 
 
 Mr. Brown looked grave, and shook his head 
 he did not like his employees disturbed at their 
 labors.
 
 24 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 We cannot explain by what course of reason- 
 ing Herman overcame the costumer's scruples, 
 but shortly after the request was made, Mrs. 
 Budd and the young dramatic candidate were 
 on their way to Jeannie's apartments. 
 
 There was quite a stir in the wardrobe, a lift- 
 ing of bended heads and of wondering eyes, as 
 they passed through. Mrs. Budd opened Jeannie's 
 door, but left the young man standing on the 
 outside. 
 
 She could be heard asking whether Mr. Lan- 
 dor might not be permitted to admire the bugling 
 of his Hamlet cloak. 
 
 Jeannie probably offered to hand her the 
 mantle, for Mrs. Budd replied in her hurried, 
 noisy way ; 
 
 " No no don't leave off your work. I've no 
 time to carry it to him, so I brought him with me. 
 Dear me ! dear me ! life's too short for one to be 
 constantly carrying things about and bringing 
 them back. Come in, Mr. Landor. Here's the 
 nrnainrntal bugling, and here is Miss Garnett. 
 Miss .Irani lie Garnett; Miss Jessie's absent; twin 
 sisters as I told you. There ! look at the trim- 
 mint,', ami make haste. I've no time for clawd- 
 ling." 
 
 But Herman only advanced one step into the
 
 TWIN ROSES. 25 
 
 apartment, and gazed around him with an ex- 
 pression of mute amazement. The bowered 
 window the odorous air the warbling bird 
 the simple, tasteful adornments of the chamber 
 that lovely, recumbent form surely he beheld 
 them in a dream ! 
 
 Jeannie looked up. The surprise mirrored on 
 her eloquent countenance might have changed to 
 admiration, had not the dropped lids quickly veiled 
 her tell-tale eyes. 
 
 She resumed her work with an effort, scattering 
 the bugles in her attempt to string them. 
 
 Herman, who had stood motionless for an in- 
 stant, now sprang forward and stooped to gather 
 the glittering beads. 
 
 There was ample excuse for the bowed knee, 
 but it was strangely in accordance with his sen- 
 sations. For 
 
 " A face flashed like a cymbal on his face, 
 And shook with silent clangour brain and heart, 
 Transfiguring him to music." 
 
 " Come, come, make haste," in the jarring 
 tones of Mrs. Budd, broke the harmony of two 
 spirits that were already attuning themselves to 
 each other. " Look at the work, young man, and 
 let's be going. Time's precious lost time is 
 3
 
 26 TWIN KOSES. 
 
 lost money neither should be parted with too 
 hastily." 
 
 Herman arose. Jeannie held out the mantle, 
 there was the promise of a smile hovering about 
 her lips. 
 
 " Beautiful ! most beautiful ! " he exclaimed 
 with ardor but his eyes were not riveted on the 
 embroidery. 
 
 Jeannie had not requested him to be seated, 
 yet, with apparent unconsciousness, he had taken 
 the low chair that always stood by her couch. 
 The velvet mantle was in his hands he essayed 
 to scrutinize the design with which it was bor- 
 dered. 
 
 " Now, you've seen it and this pretty little 
 snuggery up here let's be off! " suggested Mrs. 
 Budd. 
 
 Herman gave her a pleading look. 
 
 " Oh ! I understand that. Young folks always 
 in haste about some things, and not about others. 
 It makes no odds I can't stay. If Miss Jeannie 
 will allow it, you may take your own time but 
 mine's too precious," 
 
 Will Miss Jeannie allow me to remain a few 
 minutes? " 
 
 niic did not answer immediately. 
 -t just to make some suggestions about 
 the style the design of this trimming ? "
 
 TWIN ROSES. 27 
 
 Jeannie's reply was not very audible, but Her- 
 man interpreted it into an assent 
 
 " Suit yourselves, young people, and you'll suit 
 me. Only I hope I havn't been doing any mis- 
 chief, bringing you up here, young man, since its 
 so hard to get you away. I've no time for this 
 sort of thing make haste down, will you ? If 
 Miss Jeannie's work don't progress rapidly, Mr. 
 Brown will throw the blarne on me." 
 
 Mrs. Budd disappeared, very properly leaving 
 the door which opened into the wardrobe open. 
 
 The busy group who sat there, without any 
 design of premeditated eaves-dropping, became 
 silent. 
 
 They could hear the full, rich tones of Herman, 
 and the soft voice of Jeannie replying, but the 
 bulfinch sang such a vociferous welcome to the 
 stranger, that only a word now and then was dis- 
 tinctly audible. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances, Herman's visit 
 would have been a prolific theme for laughter, and 
 sneering, and backbiting. But Jeannie's helpful 
 hands had often made their tasks easier her 
 comforting words had rendered their grief-burdens 
 lighter. She rejoiced with those who rejoiced, 
 and wept with those who wept. She had the 
 faculty of identifying herself with the interests of
 
 28 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 others, until their interests became her own. 
 Thus, in return, they felt for her and with her. 
 Far from jesting at the singular interview, they 
 only hoped that the stranger's presence might re- 
 lieve the monotony of her existence. 
 
 Jeannie's visitors were necessarily received in 
 the chamber she never left ; consequently the ad- 
 mission of Mr. Landor was not viewed in the 
 light of an impropriety. 
 
 " He's right handsome, and I hope he'll come 
 to see poor Jeannie often," whispered the giddy 
 Liza. 
 
 The needlewomen laughed assent. 
 
 They heard Herman rise to depart. He seemed 
 to be pleading for something. They could not 
 distinguish whether his petition were granted or 
 refused. Then he asked in a more audible key 
 whether he might return to see Jeannie but cor- 
 rected himself, stammering and laughing to 
 watch the progress of the embroidery, he should 
 have said. 
 
 Here Liza tittered with such delight that they 
 could hear no answer; perhaps none was given. 
 
 The glow of triumph upon Herman's animated 
 countenance as he passed out of the chamber 
 the quirk, clastic tread with which he traversed 
 the wardrobe, indicated that the request had not 
 been denied.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 29 
 
 He bowed politely to the needlewomen, and 
 retired. 
 
 Soon after, Liza entered Jeannie's apartment. 
 She found her sitting, lost in thought. Her up- 
 raised eyes were filled with tears. A faint, rose- 
 ate tinge suffused her usually pallid face voice- 
 less words seemed to issue from her parted and 
 slightly moving lips her work had fallen from 
 her clasped hands and lay upon the floor. 
 
 She started as Liza advanced into the room. 
 
 What is it ? What is it, Liza ? " she asked 
 hastily. 
 
 " I came to see if you wanted any thing. But 
 what ails you ? You have dropped your work 
 are you ill ? Are you unhappy ? 
 
 There was a little sly mischief in Liza's queries. 
 
 " 111 ! unhappy ! oh, no ! " answered Jeannie, 
 with an intonation that seemed to convey the un- 
 spoken works, " I was never so happy never so 
 dreamily, thrillingly, perfectly happy." 
 
 She tried to resume her occupation. 
 
 For a few moments this appeared to be diffi- 
 cult. Then perhaps she remembered for whom 
 that flowery design was wrought, for the work 
 was held more tightly in her hands and she bent 
 over it with deeper interest. 
 
 Day after day, Herman Landor returned. At 
 
 3*
 
 80 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 first he made some transparent excuse, but soon 
 his visits became a matter of daily expecta- 
 tion. 
 
 He was one of those beings who receive im- 
 pressions with electrical rapidity. All his actions 
 were prompt, bold, and defiant of future conse- 
 quences. Spontaneity was his chief character- 
 istic. 
 
 No language was needed to tell Jeannie that 
 Herman loved her no words to inform him that 
 he had found the golden key which unlocked the 
 inmost chamber of her soul. Her heart gave out 
 its love unconsciously as flowers exhale their 
 perfume as leaves shed then: dew. 
 
 The lovers formed no definite plans. Jeannie's 
 helplessness had prevented her contemplating the 
 possibility of marriage but now there seemed a 
 health-imparting vitality communicated by Her- 
 man's loving words. Already his thoughtful ten- 
 derness had ameliorated her condition. A veloci- 
 pede chair enabled her to move at will about 
 h-r own and the adjacent apartment. Herman 
 had sent itwilh the hopeful, suggestive request 
 that it \vould be used until she needed it no 
 longir. His sanguine spirit caused him con- 
 s.t:mily to look fonvard to her thorough restora- 
 tion. Iinpin-d by his confidence, she sometimes
 
 TWIN ROSES. 31 
 
 beguiled herself into the belief that this happy 
 period was one which might which must arrive. 
 
 Jeannie's chair enabled her frequently to join 
 the busy group assembled in the wardrobe. 
 " Here comes Jeannie ! " was a salutation always 
 gladly uttered. They all felt what Liza alone 
 told her that the room grew brighter and 
 warmer when she entered, as though a visible 
 radiance emanated from her that her presence 
 was like a sudden stream of sunshine breaking 
 through a stormy sky. 
 
 " And stilling even Mr. Brown's thunder ! " 
 added one of the women ; " for there is no one 
 but Jeannie who can do that." 
 
 Jeannie had frequent tidings from Jessie. She 
 delighted in communicating them to Herman, 
 and in discoursing fondly of that heart-sister. 
 He listened with his speaking eyes fastened 
 admiringly on her face, and sometimes replied, 
 " I must surely love her if she resembles you as 
 much as they say she does." 
 
 Jeannie's letters to her sister grew shorter after 
 her acquaintance with Herman. She wrote of 
 his pleasant society his daily floral tokens the 
 invaluable chair he had sent her the books with 
 which he supplied her, but she could find no lan- 
 guage to communicate more on paper.
 
 32 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 It never occurred to Jessie that he was a suitor 
 of her sisters. She replied in her earnest way, 
 " I love that unknown friend already for his kind- 
 ness to you." 
 
 Mr. Brown grumbled at the invasion of the 
 stage novice into his dominion. He sternly in- 
 formed Mrs. Budd that she had too strong a pro- 
 pensity for bringing people together she had 
 treacherously opened the doors to this young 
 man and unpleasant consequences might ensue. 
 Mrs. Budd was duly contrite, but failed in her 
 attempts to close the gates against the enemy she 
 had admitted. 
 
 Jeannie's design for this particular dress, Mr. 
 Brown found needlessly elaborate. And what 
 time she had consumed in executing the work ! 
 Never had she been so dilatory before. Then he 
 could not comprehend the meaning of those em- 
 blematical devices. 
 
 As the disguised Imogen carved into fantastic 
 shapes the roots she cooked for her unknown 
 brothers, so Jeannie's imagination and loving 
 nature found expression through the humble 
 medium of her needle. 
 
 The night of II m nan's expected debut was 
 postponed from week to week. The manager 
 found that he could not break in upon pressing
 
 TWIN ROSES. 33 
 
 and more lucrative engagements. Herman was 
 quite satisfied with the delay. The Hamlet dress 
 was completed long before it was required. 
 
 When Herman Landor in his simplicity of 
 heart told Dorothy that there was an affinity 
 between his character and that of the melan- 
 choly, grief-crazed Hamlet, he should have said 
 that his intense admiration for Shakspeare's won- 
 drous creation had excited a strong sympathy 
 with all Hamlet's changing moods. To mistake 
 the character of the noble Dane for a type of his 
 own, was a very common error among histrionic 
 aspirants. Few of them fail to imagine that 
 they recognize their own portraits sketched by 
 the master-hand of the great dramatist. It is 
 one of the evidences of the vitality and reality 
 of his ideal pictures. 
 
 In Jeannie's presence Herman quite forgot the 
 passing infatuation. 
 
 At last the night for the dSbut was definitely 
 fixed. Herman saw his name pompously pla- 
 carded throughout the streets and announced in 
 the principal journals. On the following night 
 he was to be tried before the critic's merciless 
 tribunal and weighed in the uncertain scale of 
 popular favor. 
 
 Doubts and fears of the final decision he had 
 none.
 
 34 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 He earnestly entreated Jeannie to allow herself 
 to be carried down to the wing to witness his 
 triumph. 
 
 If she had consented, it would have been with 
 the hope of consoling and cheering him, should 
 his powers not keep pace with his soaring am- 
 bition. Her knowledge of the profession, its 
 exigencies and difficulties, filled her mind with 
 anxiety. But she resisted his supplication. She 
 had never beheld the stage since the night of 
 that fearful catastrophe. She was not certain of 
 her own self-command. Her want of composure 
 might destroy Herman's equanimity might im- 
 peril rather than contribute to his success. Her 
 thoughts her prayers, would circle him round, 
 but she must abide in her remote little chamber, 
 and patiently await some messenger of good 
 tidings.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 35 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 A SERPENT TONGUE. 
 
 HERMAN duly communicated his dramatic 
 aspirations and intentions to his father. Mr. 
 Landor, senior, had received so many proofs of 
 his son's unquiet, excitement-loving disposition, 
 that he was inclined to look upon this histrionic 
 venture in the light of a youthful frolic. 
 
 Grave, kind letters of remonstrance were care- 
 fully written by the father. Glowing rhapsodies 
 on the beauties of dramatic bards the social 
 influence of the drama the glorious career of 
 the actor, were returned, in reply, by the son. 
 
 Herman inherited from his mother an organi- 
 zation highly sensitive to all beautiful impres- 
 sions ; exuberant spirits a vehement, volcanic 
 temperament. But this sudden passion for the 
 stage had certainly never been transmitted to 
 him by -either parent. Very slight was their 
 acquaintance with the drama. Their visits to 
 London had usually been made a little after the 
 holiday season. They had witnessed sundry
 
 36 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 pantomimes and extravaganzas, within the walls 
 of a theatre, but few representations of more 
 elevated character. 
 
 Mr. Landor had amassed a large fortune by 
 his transactions in iron. He was anticipating a 
 peaceful retirement from the turmoil of business 
 as soon as his son was prepared to assume his 
 duties. 
 
 At an early age Herman had exhibited scholarly 
 tastes. After many urgent entreaties, his father 
 gratified his youthful ambition, by placing him at 
 Eton ; from thence he made his way to Oxford, 
 and graduated with distinction. 
 
 On his return to Devonshire he passed a few 
 weeks conjugating the verb s*ennuyer, under the 
 paternal roof, and then started to make the tour 
 of the British Isles. On the eve of extending his 
 wanderings to the continent, his plans were 
 changed, during a sojourn in London, by the sud- 
 den passion for the stage which we have de- 
 scribed. 
 
 Mr. Landor entertained strong doubts that his 
 
 son's wild project would be carried into execution. 
 
 Consequently, when the announcement in the 
 
 London journals reached Devonshire, both parents 
 
 thrown into a state of sudden cousin-nation. 
 
 ripples had ever stirred the smooth current
 
 TWIN ROSES. 37 
 
 of their lives. "Well might this startling event 
 agitate the placid waters, and toss the perplexed 
 couple on a sea of doubt and anxiety. 
 
 Their hearts were fresh and simple unhard- 
 ened by contact with the world. They knew 
 much of nature, very little of human nature. 
 
 That very night Mr. Landor started for the 
 metropolis. He would argue with his son he 
 would bring him to reason ; if he could not 
 prevent this unfortunate public appearance, he 
 would, at least, carry him home as soon as the 
 jest was over. 
 
 It could not be said that Mr. Lander's mind 
 was wholly untainted by the popular prejudice 
 against the theatrical profession, but that preju- 
 dice was not deeply rooted. He acknowledged 
 his own ignorance, and his innate sense of justice 
 was too full of vitality to allow him to adopt a 
 rash, unauthorized opinion. 
 
 He reached his son's lodgings on the morning 
 of the expected debut. 
 
 Mr. Landor found Herman animatedly declaim- 
 ing Hamlet's soliloquy. He broke off to welcome 
 his father, with unsuspecting warmth. His ex- 
 ultant mood was only heightened by Mr. Lander's 
 arrival. It was so kind of him, Herman said, to 
 be present on the great occasion the proudest 
 
 4
 
 88 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 day of his existence the day which would usher 
 in a night of triumph ! 
 
 Mr. Landor saw that argument would be 
 thrown away at this crisis. He only, with great 
 simplicity, asked Herman to promise that he 
 would return to Devonshire the next day. 
 
 The young enthusiast replied by painting in 
 vivid colors the attractions of theatrical life, and 
 descanting upon the votaries of Thespis them- 
 selves, as though all the virtues were monopolized 
 by and concentrated in their persons. 
 
 " Ah ! my son ! you are so easily deceived so 
 unsuspecting! That's not the account I have 
 heard. I wish you had nothing to do with these 
 people ; or I hope that it will all be over after 
 to-night Have your frolic out, and go home 
 ^ ith me to-morrow." 
 
 " Wait until to-night is over to-morrow you 
 may not renew that request," replied Herman 
 confidently. " It's just the hour for rehearsal I 
 must be going." 
 
 Mr. Landor pondered a long time after Herman 
 left Finally, he determined to try and fall in 
 with some of those mysterious beings who dwelt 
 behind the curtain, and with whom his son was 
 associated. He remembered to have heard a 
 certain eating saloon mentioned as the one in
 
 TWIN ROSES. 39 
 
 which actors, who had no wives at home, con- 
 gregated to dine. He sought the place at an 
 early hour secured a seat that commanded a 
 good view of the room, and tipped one of the 
 waiters to point out the actors when they en- 
 tered. 
 
 The members of several companies poured in 
 before long. 
 
 One of the party, a man whose head was 
 white as Mr. Lander's own, called for his dinner 
 at a table not far from his. 
 
 The latter was reminded to order his own re- 
 past, but it stood untasted before him. 
 
 He was seeking for some avenue that might 
 open to a conversation with his neighbor. 
 
 The actor had nearly concluded his rapid meal. 
 In a few moments he might be gone the oppor- 
 tunity would be lost. 
 
 Mr. Landor suddenly rose, with his pewter pot 
 of half and half in his hand. He approached Mr. 
 Hawkwood bowed with timid courtesy, and 
 placed the mug on the latter's table. The actor's 
 name had been communicated by the waiter. 
 Mr. Landor seated himself, and made an em- 
 barrassed apology as he offered the beverage, 
 which it is not unusual, in England, for two 
 persons to imbibe out of the same vessel.
 
 40 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 There was a striking dissimilarity between the 
 two old men. The benign face, smooth, ample 
 brow, and simple manners of the country gentle- 
 man became impressive in their calm dignity 
 when thrown in contrast with the sharply fur- 
 rowed, hard visage, the speculative eyes, the 
 sneering, thin-lipped mouth of the player. 
 
 Mr. Hawkwood was a man impervious to all 
 kind feeling, and to all sentiment ; a being who 
 distrusted the motives of the whole world who 
 looked for guile under the fairest forms. In one 
 thing he was thoroughly honest his disbelief of 
 honesty itself, unallied with policy. 
 
 Mr. Landor, on the contrary, was a stranger to 
 dissimulation. He never thought of obtaining a 
 desired object save in a frank, straight-forward 
 manner. He told Mr. Hawkwood at once that 
 he had sought his acquaintance to inquire about 
 one Herman Landor, who was announced on the 
 play bills to make his appearance that night as 
 Hamlet 
 
 Hawkwood had not forgotten the summary 
 treatment he had received at Herman's hands on 
 ilie day of his second rehearsal. There was no 
 n-ity of forgiveness in his nature. He had 
 wain-d patiently for the hour of revenge. He 
 well knew that his professional relationship to-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 41 
 
 wards Herman would offer opportunities in 
 abundance. He now gave his opinion of Her- 
 man in the most unsparing terms of contempt. 
 
 " You think that the boy will make an ass 
 of himself will fail ? " asked Mr. Land or quietly. 
 
 " No question of it ; I took the gauge of his 
 talents the first day we met. A presumptuous, 
 inflated coxcomb. He pays an enormous sum 
 for the house, or he could never have obtained an 
 appearance. He is so thickly mailed in conceit 
 that the shafts of ridicule don't reach him. He 
 don't see that he is the laughing-stock of the 
 whole company." 
 
 " He will fail ! It will cure him of wanting to 
 be an actor!" said Mr. Landor, in a tone of 
 relief. 
 
 " Can't answer for that. Once bitten with the 
 stage mania one is always rabid afterwards. 
 But he'll get a dose to-night that would cure any 
 man of whose recovery there was hope." 
 
 " Will it seem impertinent to you, Sir, if I ask 
 your opinion of your own profession of the 
 theatre as an institution? I confess to total 
 ignorance and some interest on the subject." 
 
 Who does not know that from the same flower 
 that yields honey to the bee, the spider extracts 
 poison? Mr. Hawkwood possessed in an emi- 
 
 4 #
 
 42 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 nent degree the faculty of that obnoxious insect 
 He hated his profession he would have hated 
 any other, for his heart was all bitterness his 
 tongue all venom. He looked through a dis- 
 torted medium that made the fairest pictures 
 hideous. He could see through no other. 
 
 " My opinion of it," he answered in a some- 
 what measured and theatrical tone, for his vanity 
 was flattered; "sir, I don't believe it would be 
 easy to have a worse. I would rather be a wood- 
 sawyer, or a coal-heaver, or a black-leg, or a pick- 
 pocket, than an actor. If I had children, I'd 
 rather bring them up in an almshouse than a 
 theatre!" 
 
 " Bless my soul ! you don't say so ! " cried Mr. 
 Landor aghast, and his cheek grew pale with 
 genuine horror. " Is it as bad as all that ? I 
 am shocked indeed. But I beg your pardon 
 you belong to the profession yourself ? " 
 
 " Yes of course ; that's the reason I know it 
 so well ! " 
 
 " But you continue in it ? " 
 
 " Yes of course ; what's a man to do ? he 
 inii-i live. I don't know what evil fate cast me 
 into that slough, but there's no struggling one's 
 way out." 
 
 " Make an effort make the endeavor, my dear
 
 TWIN ROSES. 43 
 
 sir;" said the old man earnestly; "never tole- 
 rate an evil that you can remedy. 'There are 
 abundant occupations open to honest and willing 
 hands. Don't remain in such a "wretched state ! " 
 he pleaded with increased earnestness. " I'd try 
 to give you a lift myself. You might be a clerk, 
 might you not ? " 
 
 A cold, satirical smile darted about Mr. Hawk- 
 wood's lips at the zealousness of this unknown 
 friend, who seemed intent upon saving him from 
 some imminent peril. 
 
 " No, no it's too late ; I must go on as I 
 began." 
 
 " Never too late t6 mend ; never too late while 
 the Lord grants us life. Take heart, man, and 
 tell me if there's nothing to which you could turn 
 your hand." 
 
 No no, thank you. I'm bound to the wheel 
 a dramatic Ixion there is no breaking the 
 chain, or dissolving the enchantment. You can't 
 conceive the effect of this profession on the mind 
 and character. We may hate the spell, but 
 cannot free ourselves. Nay, if that young, stage- 
 struck donkey had wit enough to make a hit to 
 night, he'd bind himself sell himself to the same 
 magical slavery. The only hope for him is that 
 he will make a fool of himself and get disgusted
 
 44 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 at the want of discernment of the public who 
 won't discover his brilliant worth." 
 
 " He is my son, sir my only son ! " replied 
 Mr. Landor with emotion. "I rejoice that you 
 think he can never become an actor. I believe 
 you to be an honest man, and I thank you for 
 the information you have given me on an im- 
 portant subject. I know that it can be relied 
 upon. You have done me a great service, Mr. 
 Hawkwood. As for my son, I would a thousand 
 times rather have him endure the mortification 
 of this failure than have him run the risk of even 
 desiring to enter the profession. He is high- 
 spirited a great enthusiast, sir, and the disap- 
 pointment will tame him down. That's all he 
 needs. A noble boy, but too fond of excitement 
 too unsteady, and not content to walk in the 
 same track that those who went before him found 
 good enough. Ah! well, we were all young 
 once." 
 
 " Yes and I don't see what good it did us ;" 
 remarked Mr. Hawkwood drily. " Since this 
 youngster's your son, I'll keep an eye on him for 
 your sake, sir." There was a malicious twinkle 
 in Mr. Hawk wood's snaky eyes as he spoke, 
 th;it might have conveyed to a more sophis- 
 ticated observer than Lander's the kind of eye 
 he would probably keep.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 45 
 
 " Sir, you make me your debtor I thank you 
 from my soul ! " and the father shook the wily 
 actor's hand. " The boy is very dear to us our 
 only child ; you will help me to save him from 
 this terrible fate, at all hazards. If he were to 
 persist in becoming an actor, I would wholly 
 discard him that would bring him to reason. 
 But it would be dreadful for his motKer to bear 
 and hard on me, very hard ; but I would do my 
 duty without flinching." 
 
 " It would be harder, I fancy, to see him be- 
 come a low, unprincipled fellow of the same 
 stamp as most of his companions." 
 
 " Yes yes ; there it is the association, the 
 association is so dangerous ; he must break that 
 off' at once. I will talk to him to-morrow it 
 would be useless to-day. I cannot go to see him 
 play the harlequin to night I couldn't stand 
 it ; but perhaps you will have the goodness to 
 meet me here after the play. I will esteem it a 
 great favor. I can trust your account." 
 
 " Certainly, certainly, Mr. Landor." 
 
 " I do not know how I can repay you ! " said 
 Mr. Landor gratefully. " It may be in my power 
 some day. This evening I will expect you." 
 
 And thus parted the grey-haired deceiver and 
 his venerable, simple-hearted dupe.
 
 46 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DEARLY-BOUGHT EXPERIENCE. 
 
 JEANNIE sat in her lonely chamber. Ten 
 o'clock had sounded from the neighboring steeple, 
 and still no tidings of the debutant but Hamlet 
 is a long play. The door of her apartment, and 
 that of the now deserted wardrobe adjoining, 
 stood open. With love-quickened ears she lis- 
 tened to the far-off sounds that now and then 
 rose, even to her remote retreat. They were con- 
 fused and indistinct. Ah! would that they 
 might be the thundered plaudits the clamorous 
 ecstacies of the crowd, though they only reached 
 her in faint echoes ! 
 
 She grew anxious restless ; she could not 
 work ; she tried to read. Books to her were liv- 
 ing friends the wisest, best beloved of tutors 
 tlu; gentlest of comforters immortal companions, 
 to whom she could always turn and find them 
 waiting to shed their cheering, strengthening, 
 elevating influence upon her spirit But now 
 she listlessly turned leaf after leaf her ears
 
 TWIN ROSES. 4T 
 
 could not hearken to the voice that spoke from 
 their pages. At last she reverently lifted one 
 volume which had its place apart sacred in its 
 very locality. Very soon a soft, peaceful ex- 
 pression stole over her hitherto disturbed coun- 
 tenance as she pondered on 
 
 " Laws which holy writ unfold 
 Worthy to be graved in gold." 
 
 She was comforted. She forgot her hopes and 
 fears for Herman. The higher love absorbed the 
 lower the temporal was swallowed up by the 
 eternal. 
 
 There came a sound of rapid feet on the stair. 
 They mounted very fast. The steps were too 
 heavy for those of any of the needle-women who 
 sewed in the wardrobe. Jeannie closed her 
 book. Her breath came short and thick, and her 
 eyes were riveted on the door. She half sprang 
 up as the figure of a young man, booted and 
 spurred, rushed into the room. 
 
 In her surprise and agitation she did not recog- 
 nize the youth, until she heard Dorothy's hila- 
 rious voice. Dolly had made her toilette for 
 some boy-hero of the farce at an early hour, that 
 she might watch the performance of Hamlet to 
 its close.
 
 48 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 " Your make-up is so perfect that you quite 
 startled me, Dolly," said Jeannie laughing. " But 
 speak quickly if you bring the music of good 
 news." 
 
 " Let me get my breath, will you ? Jeannie, 
 Jeannie, such fun ! Just as I predicted ! Oh ! 
 what a pity that you lost the sport ! I shall have 
 something to make me laugh as long as I live. 
 I should laugh though I were dying, if I only 
 thought of to-night's doings. As for the audi- 
 ence, it's a mercy some of them didn't expire 
 outright ! " 
 
 "Then he has failed!" exclaimed Jeannie 
 tremulously. 
 
 "Failed? That's not the word! There was 
 no chance of his succeeding. We have had the 
 most amusing travestie of Hamlet that was ever 
 witnessed. I never saw an audience more de- 
 lighted. The pit and galleries joined the actors 
 in guying the Danish Prince from the beginning 
 to the end of his original personation. Why, my 
 dear, they even encored his combat and begged 
 him to die over again! Some wags in the gal- 
 Irry gave vivd voce imitations of his very key 
 notes. The pit, now and then, prompted him 
 when he made a long p;uise no doubt to pro- 
 duce some premeditated effect of his own aston-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 49 
 
 ishing conception. There was one man who 
 actually recited a passage before the would-be 
 Hamlet came to it, with the most precise mimick- 
 ing of his delivery. 
 
 " How he must have suffered ! " sighed Jeannie 
 in a low tone. 
 
 " Oh ! I suppose so ; fun to the boys but death 
 to the frogs, you know. But don't look so down- 
 hearted, though he is a good friend of yours. 
 Matters might have been worse. The audience 
 might have hissed him in good earnest, might 
 have hissed him off! That would have been a 
 disgrace. Now it's all a joke. The people are 
 delighted with him for amusing them by making 
 a fool of himself. Look on the bright side, my 
 dear, it might have been worse." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; but go on, tell me all." 
 
 " I only wish that I had time. Curtain has 
 just rung down, farce will be on in ten minutes, 
 and I am in the second scene. In the first place 
 you never saw a piece of male humanity look 
 more magnificent than he did in his stage 
 bravery. He was a picture only it was the 
 picture of a disguised Alcibiades, not a Hamlet. 
 He seemed quite self-possessed dare say he was 
 equally self-satisfied. But the moment he walked 
 on the stage, his face, and you know it's usually 
 5
 
 50 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 jnst like a mirror with changing scenes flying 
 across well, his face became perfectly stony ; 
 lost all sort of expression. His eyes stared va- 
 cantly his mouth was drawn down he looked 
 like a man struck dumb or walking in his sleep. 
 The actors played all sorts of pranks upon him. 
 You should have seen Hawkwood, as the ghost, 
 turning his back to the audience and putting 
 his right thumb to his nose and extending his 
 fingers with the left thumb to the little finger of 
 the right hand this fashion but delivering the 
 text with mock gravity. Landor looked con- 
 founded but he did not laugh as Hawkwood 
 meant that he should. I was half afraid the 
 young Nemean lion would fling him into the 
 pit. You remember that he has a fine, full- 
 toned voice, but, when he tried to speak, I assure 
 you it seemed to have run down into his shoes 
 and had to be forcibly pumped up. The queen 
 mother patted him maternally on the shoulder, 
 and the kingly step-father made the audience 
 shout by his mock encouragement. Even Ophe- 
 lia rendered his madness more ludicrously mad 
 by her comical way of staring at him. Then the 
 first grave-digger, with whose exit he found fault 
 at rehearsal, chose, at night, to make his exit into 
 the grave and wouldn't come out. It was a rich
 
 TWIN HOSES. 51 
 
 scene! But I warrant Lander's cured of his 
 infatuation. There I must go more to-mor- 
 row. Don't look so sorrowful it might have 
 been worse. Look at the bright side, I tell you." 
 
 Jeannie shook her head. 
 
 " Oh! yes, it might be worse. By the way, I 
 wish you could have seen Sylvester to-night. 
 The dear fellow really showed talent as the 
 second grave-digger. Jessie would have been 
 compelled to admit that there's a deal of stuff 
 in him. She might do worse than marry Sylly. 
 I'm sure he's worthy of even her. But I'm afraid 
 the curtain has risen, so good-bye." 
 
 Dorothy, with clattering boots, ran down the 
 stair again. 
 
 Jeannie sat, lost in thought, until the sewing 
 women, who had all wandered down to witness 
 the debut, returned to their work. They pro- 
 posed to make up for lost time by stitching 
 away a few hours longer that night. 
 
 Their jokes struck harshly upon poor Jeannie's 
 ears. Not one of them seemed to have the least 
 pity for the unlucky debutant, though they all 
 esteemed and liked Herman. 
 
 Stage fright generally excites as little commis- 
 eration as sea sickness, yet is even more soul- 
 trying in its effects.
 
 52 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Jeannie begged Liza to close the door. Then 
 Liza came in to assist her in disrobing for this 
 was her especial office in Jessie's absence. Liza 
 could not but notice Jeannie's dispirited ex- 
 pression of countenance. The kind-hearted girl 
 divined the cause, and, stealing out of the room, 
 silenced the noisy tongues in the wardrobe ; for 
 there was not a being there who would willingly 
 have given Jeannie pain. 
 
 Herman, as may be imagined, had left the 
 theatre in a state bordering on despair. 
 
 Man like, he would have rested the burden too 
 heavy for him to bear on the weaker shoulders of 
 woman. He would have flown to Jeannie for 
 consolation ; but his respect would not permit 
 him to break through the rule she had estab- 
 lished. She never received his visits in the eve- 
 ning. He had not been able to induce her to 
 make an exception of that eventful night. He 
 had pleaded to be allowed to come to her in the 
 full flush of his triumph to cast down before 
 her the laurels he had won and to find his 
 dearest guerdon in the joy sparkling in her eyes. 
 If he had looked forward to success as lacking 
 its sweetest element because he could not at 
 UK v inakr her the sharer of his exultation, how 
 strong must have been his impulse to seek her
 
 TWIN ROSES. 53 
 
 cheering presence under the pressure of unlocked 
 for mortification 
 
 On Herman's buoyant, mercurial tempera- 
 ment, sad and disheartening events made no 
 deep impression. When Jeannie heard his step 
 the next morning, and rose to greet him with 
 words and looks of sympathy, she was surprised 
 to find his countenance so much less grave than 
 she anticipated. 
 
 Never is woman more dear to man than when 
 she stands before him in the guise of the angel 
 of consolation, her legitimate character when 
 her tenderness and tact fling the mantle of ob- 
 livion over baffled hopes and mortified vanity. 
 Herman felt as though he had never truly loved 
 Jeannie until that hour. 
 
 It is natural to suppose that the unsuccessful 
 debutant would, at once, have abandoned the 
 scene of his mortification. Jeannie urged him 
 to do so. No he had no intention of the kind. 
 He cited numerous instances of great actors 
 whose first appearances were failures, but who 
 became eminent tragedians at a later day. His 
 plans were changed, but that was all. He would 
 not try to scale the ladder at one bound. He 
 would begin at the lowest step and mount 
 upwards. He would sign an engagement that 
 
 5* 
 
 ^
 
 54 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 very day for walking gentleman, at a low 
 salary. 
 
 " Some kinds of baseness 
 Are nobly undergone." 
 
 He would drudge awhile, and earn palms worth 
 winning, through toil and indomitable persever- 
 ance. And he would always be near his inspira- 
 tion near Jeannie ! His was not a character to 
 succumb, to be conquered by obstacles. This 
 one misstep could not unseat him from the 
 unruly dramatic charger he had backed. Rat- 
 tling on in this style, he talked himself into 
 positively high spirits. 
 
 As soon as he left Jeannie, he presented him- 
 self to the manager, and, in a manly, ingenuous 
 manner, told Mr. Linkum he was quite aware 
 that he had made a fool of himself ; he was, never- 
 theless, determined to study the profession, and 
 requested to be engaged for the season. 
 
 In a few minutes a contract was drawn out 
 and signed. Herman's name was enrolled among 
 those of the regular members of the company as 
 walking gentleman, with a trifling salary. 
 
 Meantime his father had been anxiously seek- 
 ing him. 
 
 Mr. Hawkwood had kept his appointment on 
 the night pn-vious, and communicated, with
 
 TWIN ROSES. 55 
 
 malicious exaggeration, the fulfilment of his own 
 prophecy. In his usual cynical, satirical style, he 
 helped to confirm the bad impressions he had 
 already given to the old man. 
 
 When Herman returned to his lodgings, after 
 his interview with Mr. Linkum, he found his 
 father impatiently awaiting him. 
 
 The old man greeted his son with a kind smile 
 and an outstretched hand. 
 
 " Well, my boy, I did not see you last night. 
 I couldn't do that but I heard all about it. I 
 have a friend who gave me an accurate account. 
 Cheer up, my dear fellow, it needn't make you 
 downcast. Your mother and I will only look 
 upon the whole affair as a frolic, well ended. 
 A sowing of wild oats that brought up a sudden 
 harvest of tares. But it has cured you, and 
 there's an end of it. Let us go back to the Re- 
 treat by to-night's train." 
 
 " I can't, sir, I told you before that I meant to 
 become an actor." 
 
 " An actor, I thought that folly was quite 
 driven out of your head. I thought you had 
 made the most consummate failure." 
 
 " People may be pleased to style my histrionic 
 efforts a failure, and I do not gainsay them ; but 
 great actors have failed before now, in their first
 
 56 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 attempts. I intend to devote myself to the study 
 of the profession from its A, B, C." 
 
 " Herman ! for Heaven's sake listen to reason! " 
 
 " Just what I wish you to do, sir. You know 
 very well I cannot lead a humdrum, every day 
 life. I grow weary of content and monotonous 
 prosperity. I should die of mental plethora 
 or rather I should break loose and let your busi- 
 ness fly to the four winds of heaven. I need 
 an exciting occupation. What objection can you 
 have to the stage ? " 
 
 " The weightiest ; I have heard what kind of 
 lives actors lead, from one of the corps ; an old 
 man who has lived upon the stage too long to 
 leave it now, though he rues the day he ever saw 
 a theatre. He despises the profession and him- 
 self. He is an honest man, and dared to tell me 
 the truth. If you have one particle of reverence, 
 of affection for your mother, you will give up 
 this unwise determination. Come, my boy, 
 firmness and obstinacy have a striking family 
 resemblance, but they are not twin brothers. 
 \(m may be firm in doing right, you are only 
 obstinate if you persist in doing wrong. Yield 
 to us this once." 
 
 " It's too late, sir. I've signed a contract with 
 the manager this very day. And if I had not, I
 
 TWIN ROSES. 57 
 
 could not yield; my heart is in the profession. 
 It cannot be renounced." 
 
 " Herman, do not drive me to threats ! " said 
 the old man in an imploring tone. 
 
 " I do not wish to do so, but I cannot alter my 
 resolution." 
 
 " It is hard to be angry with you, my son 
 hard to treat you as though your father's wrath 
 was upon you ; no, not wrath I could not feel 
 wrath towards you, my only boy, but," and Mr. 
 Landor recovered from the weakness to which he 
 felt he was giving way, and resumed in a firmer 
 tone " but you know how true I am to my 
 word you know that I will not swerve one hair's 
 breadth from the path of principle. I give you 
 one month to decide. If you adopt the stage as 
 a profession, at the end of that time, your allow- 
 ance, and how liberal it has been I need not 
 
 remind you, will cease. And " the old man 
 
 made a desperate effort 'before he could com- 
 plete the sentence, " so must your intercourse with 
 your parents. We must forget that you were 
 our son. The words are spoken. Herman, you 
 know that I will abide by them." 
 
 Mr. Landor passed his handkerchief over his 
 face and brushed from his brow the profuse drops 
 with which it was bedewed. His mild counte-
 
 58 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 nance wore a look of painful entreaty, mingled 
 with sternness, if an expression so soft in its 
 determination could be stern. On his visage 
 even severity wore a gentle aspect. 
 
 " Father, you are carried away by common 
 prejudices you are misled " 
 
 " No, my boy, I wish it were so. But I have 
 not taken counsel from strangers to the profes- 
 sion, or from its enemies those might be preju- 
 diced. I tell you, my authority is one of its own 
 members. I have heard a true and unbiased 
 opinion ; that opinion has more than confirmed 
 me in the evil report of the world. We need 
 not talk any more on the subject, my mind is 
 made up." 
 
 " And mine," replied Herman, in as resolved a 
 tone. 
 
 " I will wait one month for your final decision. 
 Good-bye, my boy ; think of your mother some- 
 times before you decide." He wrung his son's 
 hand warmly and departed. 
 
 Herman well knew that his father would not 
 waver would not alter his sentence; that 
 mildly as it had been passed, it was far more 
 unchangeable than that of a man who spoke 
 from the impulse of anger. 
 
 Herman was troubled vexed. The stage
 
 TWIN ROSES. m 59 
 
 fever was coursing like re through his veins. 
 The intense passion for excitement took a syren 
 like possession of his spirit. His love for Jeannie 
 rendered him indignant that the temple where his 
 idol was enshrined had been assailed. But he 
 soon banished all thought of his father's inter- 
 view, and went forth to seek the floral love-token 
 which he daily presented to his betrothed. 
 
 As the company was tolerably large, it was a 
 fortnight before his new duties as walking gentle- 
 man commenced, and he devoted his leisure to 
 diligent preparation.
 
 60 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE RED ROSE. 
 
 IN two weeks Herman again appeared upon 
 the boards. There was now no flourish of play- 
 house trumpets. He glided unmarked into his 
 unpretending place among the members of the 
 company. They were touched by the candor 
 and good sense with which he freely confessed 
 his failure and admitted the necessity of study- 
 ing their art before it could be mastered. The 
 insignificant parts he nightly personated afforded 
 no scope for the display of histrionic genius, but 
 his commanding form, expressive countenance, 
 richly toned voice, and refined bearing, won favor 
 with the audience. 
 
 Apparently he was content with his humble 
 position. In his heart he was always looking 
 upwards to the high pinnacle he hoped even- 
 tually to reach, and dreaming of the time when 
 his name would be coupled with that of a Cooke, 
 a Kean, or a Kemble. 
 
 About this time Jeannie received a letter from
 
 TWIN ROSES. 61 
 
 Jessie, with the glad information that she would 
 return home in a few days. The theatre at Ryde 
 was shortly to close. The precise night was not 
 yet fixed. 
 
 Jeannie's heart was filled with delight at these 
 tidings. Her sister's arrival would complete the 
 full measure of her happiness ; good measure, 
 shaken together, pressed down, and running over. 
 
 The letter had been accidentally delayed. Her- 
 man was sitting with Jeannie the morning after 
 its reception. The door of Jeannie's room as 
 usual stood open. All at once they heard a stir 
 in the wardrobe. Then followed the exclamations, 
 in various voices, " Jessie ! Jessie Garnett ! Is it 
 "you indeed ? How glad we are to see you ! " 
 
 Jeannie tried to spring up, forgetful of her 
 crutches. She had just failed in the attempt 
 when Jessie, who had not paused in her rapid 
 greeting of the seamstresses, darted into the room, 
 swept by Herman, and threw herself on Jeannie's 
 neck, weeping with joy. 
 
 In a few moments she disengaged herself from 
 her sister's circling arms, and scattering a fragrant 
 bunch of hawthorn branches on her lap said, " I 
 have brought you some of the May bloom, you 
 love so much, all the way from the Island. 
 Look ! the blossoms have not withered yet. Ah ! 
 6
 
 62 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 how I wished for you, my sister, in the earthly 
 paradise where this May bloom grew ! " 
 
 The sisters seemed only conscious of each 
 other's presence. Herman contemplated them 
 with wondering admiration. Their resemblance 
 was almost marvellous. " An apple cleft in two 
 was not more twin," and yet he was struck by 
 a striking dissimilarity. 
 
 There was the same profusion of shining dark 
 hair, with its natural wave, that, if permitted, 
 would have flowed into curls. The same large, 
 liquid, black eyes; drooping lids, with long, 
 curled fringes ; narrow, finely traced eyebrows. 
 The smile that broke into dimples. But a saint- 
 like meekness gave to Jeannie's countenance an 
 almost supernatural expression, while Jessie's 
 face was perfectly rayonnant with the fresh, 
 auroral beauty of a May morning; brilliant 
 flashing, .but more earthly than her sister's. 
 Jeannie's transparent complexion was nearly 
 hueless, but on Jessie's cheek glowed the rich 
 bloom that fills the eye with lustre, 
 
 " While exertion's humid crimson 
 Like a wet rose made her fece." 
 
 Jeannie's form was fragile, almost to attenua- 
 tion ; Jessie's, though light and flexile, was ex- 
 quisitely rounded, and bespoke the plenitude of 
 health and strength.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 63 
 
 The pale, pure white, and the velvety damask 
 rose ; blooming, cheek to cheek, and upon one 
 stalk. 
 
 Strange, tumultuous thoughts, scarce defined 
 to himself, flashed with electrical rapidity through 
 Herman's mind, as he gazed. 
 
 At length Jeannie turned to him and said, " I 
 fear you will think you are quite forgotten. 
 Jessie, this is the friend of whom I wrote Mr. 
 Landor Herman Landor." 
 
 Jessie, wholly engrossed by her sister, was not 
 aware of a stranger's presence. She started 
 slightly, and the hue deepened on her cheek as 
 she rose from her knees beside Jeannie's couch. 
 
 In spite of her confusion, she extended her 
 hand with a bewitching smile. " I have to thank 
 you; you have been so kind to my dear sister 
 and I fear she must have missed me so 
 much." 
 
 " At this moment I can hardly conceive how 
 she could have endured your absence," answered 
 Herman, fervently. 
 
 The sisters sat with hands fondly locked ; the 
 May bloom scattered on their knees, and diffus- 
 ing its peculiar, delicate perfume through the 
 chamber, while Herman conversed with them. 
 He seemed to address both when he spoke to
 
 64 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 either, and was apparently unconscious of their 
 separate existence. 
 
 Jeannie's voice was low, and somewhat plain- 
 
 
 
 tive in its sweetness. Jessie's was more bugle- 
 like and mirthfully melodious, yet even in their 
 tones there was a singular, an almost bewildering 
 resemblance. 
 
 Herman lingered long beyond the usual hour 
 of his visit, and it is uncertain when he would 
 have departed, had not the chamber been sud- 
 denly invaded by Mrs. Budd, Dorothy, Sylvester, 
 and various members of the company, who had 
 come to welcome Jessie home. 
 
 Then Herman gained courage to tear himself 
 away. As he pressed Jeannie's hand in adieu, 
 he took Jessie's also, and the close of his fingers 
 upon hers was equally, though inadvertently, as 
 tender. 
 
 " Jess, dear, I really think your coming has 
 saved Sylvester's life. The poor fellow has pined 
 sadly in your absence. Don't you think he looks 
 ill ? " asked Dorothy, with unaffected concern. 
 
 If there was any doubt about Sylvester's look- 
 ing ill, there was none about his looking sheepish. 
 He gave his sister a little shove, then mutely ap- 
 pealed to Jessie for the sympathy she seemed in- 
 clined to withhold.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 65 
 
 " It's waste time talking over such things," 
 suggested Mrs. Budd, breaking the somewhat 
 perplexing silence which followed Dorothy's in- 
 quiry. " If he's been fretting at her absence, he's 
 got her back now, and he'd better make the best 
 of his time and see what she's got to say to him." 
 
 " Exactly my advice," chimed in Dorothy. 
 " It might have been worse with poor Sylly. 
 She might have lost her heart on the Island, and 
 that would have been far worse. I warrant she 
 didn't do that did you, Jess ? " 
 
 " No I really did not," answered Jessie, laugh- 
 ing. But I wish Dolly " 
 
 " Oh ! I know what you wish, and you know 
 what Sylly wishes, and if you wiU grant the dear 
 boy's wishes, why, of course, I'll grant yours. 
 It's a bargain, and, as Mrs. Budd says, there's no 
 time to be lost." 
 
 Accustomed as Jessie was to this kind of 
 rattle-brained badinage, it made her feel unusu- 
 ally awkward and uncomfortable. She busied 
 herself with arranging the hawthorn branches in 
 water, greeted the bulfinch, which hopped upon 
 her finger and pecked its food from between her 
 ruby lips, then examined all the flowers, took 
 up the fresh bouquet that stood near Jeannie's 
 couch, and asked from whence it came. 
 6*
 
 66 TWIN HOSES. 
 
 " It was sent by Mr. Landor," answered 
 Jeannie. 
 
 " How good of him ! " replied Jessie gratefully. 
 " Truly this chamber of yours, Jeannie, deserves 
 to be called * a bower,' as poets, with less pro- 
 priety, always designate the apartments of the 
 fair ones whom they sing." 
 
 After Jessie had flitted about the room, remind- 
 ing one of a humming-bird flying around a honey- 
 suckle vine, she seated herself close to Jeannie's 
 couch, with her face turned towards her in a 
 manner which shut out the other occupants of 
 the apartment. 
 
 Dorothy meantime was chattering in her lively 
 way, and among other play-house gossip, giving 
 an account of Lander's amusing dbut. 
 
 Sylvester looked askance at Jessie, and seized 
 every opportunity to throw in a broad, ill-timed 
 compliment. Dolly invariably repeated his words 
 to render them more impressive. Sometimes 
 'Sylvester rebuked her ; sometimes, when she 
 improved on his idea, he simpered, and said, 
 " yes, that's what I intended just what I 
 meant." 
 
 His nervous fingers were constantly twitch- 
 ing his hair, constantly passing over his upper 
 lip, as though coaxing an invisible moustache
 
 TWIN ROSES. 67 
 
 while sudden smiles, apparently without any 
 cause, broke over his face and faded away 
 again. 
 
 After all other visitors had departed, the brother 
 and sister still tarried, until the lateness of the 
 hour forced them to return to their professional 
 duties. 
 
 When they were all gone, Jessie once more 
 fondly embraced her sister, exclaiming, " Oh ! 
 what a delight it is to be with you, my heart's 
 sister ! to be alone with you once more ! How 
 trying it is to have Dolly so constantly flinging 
 her brother at my feet, and striving to exhibit me 
 in the light of a human Juggernaut because I 
 pass over him ! How can she suppose it pos- 
 sible for me to waste a thought upon such a soft- 
 brained creature ? What a contrast between 
 him and your friend, Mr. Landor ! Do you 
 know, Jeannie, dear, I was never so much im- 
 pressed with any human being before! How 
 gentle yet dignified, how handsome yet manly he 
 is ! His very voice affected me singularly, as 
 though it touched some chord deep in my spirit 
 that had never given out a sound. But how 
 pale you are ! You have not been taken care of 
 in my absence you look really ill." 
 
 A deadly pallor had indeed spread itself over
 
 68 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Jeannie's countenance. Her slight frame shook 
 with a cold tremor, she sank back nerveless on 
 her pillow. 
 
 Jessie's loving inquiries elicited no word which 
 betrayed the cause of her sister's agitation. 
 Once only she made an effort to confide to her 
 that she was Mr. Lander's affianced bride, but 
 her lips moved inaudibly some prophetic fore- 
 boding paralyzed them. She was choking with 
 her strong emotion ; but the more fondly Jessie 
 sought to discover its source, the more closely the 
 secret was locked, by adamantine gates, within 
 Jeannie's agitated heart. 
 
 The next morning Herman came as usual. 
 He was welcomed warmly by Jessie ; but by 
 Jeannie with nervous confusion, with unwonted 
 reserve. 
 
 That day Jessie took part in a drama in which 
 Herman also appeared. He could spend but a 
 few moments with Jeannie before rehearsal com- 
 menced. Jessie, very naturally, accompanied 
 him to the stage. 
 
 Jeannie tried in vain to stifle the groan-like 
 sigh that burst from her lips as she saw them 
 d'-part. Herman did not hear it but Jessie 
 turned back "Are you suffering? Are you ill, 
 dear Jeannie ? "
 
 TWIN ROSES. 69 
 
 " No no no. Mr. Landor is waiting for you 
 
 -go." 
 
 Three hours elapsed before Jessie returned to 
 her sister's side. Jeannie noted that her eyes 
 flashed with even more than usual brilliancy 
 the roses on her cheek had deepened her beauty 
 was heightened by the atmosphere of joy that 
 seemed to encircle her. 
 
 Jessie talked constantly of Landor, and every 
 word she uttered more firmly sealed the lips of 
 poor Jeannie. 
 
 Herman came not again that day. His usual 
 floral token was brought by the call-boy, but 
 without message. Jeannie hardly allowed her- 
 self to look at the flowers. Jessie held them 
 long and admiringly. 
 
 " They are sent to you, Jeannie, but I may 
 wear them to night ? " 
 
 " Yes, darling, I transfer them to you ; what is 
 mine was mine is yours. It is on your bosom 
 that such emblems of bright hours should bloom. 
 Enough for me that I may give them to you." 
 
 Jeannie spoke so quietly that her sister never 
 divined how much hidden meaning there was in 
 her words. 
 
 Herman did not fail to recognize the flowers 
 that night.
 
 70 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Except when the duties of his part compelled, 
 he never left Jessie's side. The number of times 
 that two beings meet has nothing to do with 
 their acquaintance. Herman and Jessie felt as 
 though they had known each other for months 
 for years. 
 
 Mr. Hawkwood passed them several times as 
 they were walking up and down behind the 
 scenes. But they were so wholly engrossed in 
 each other that his sneering looks and muttered 
 sarcasms fell pointless. 
 
 When the labors of the evening were over, and 
 Jessie sat down beside her sister, she murmured, 
 " I have had such a happy, happy evening." 
 
 Jeannie pressed her lips on her sister's fair 
 brow as she replied, " I rejoice so much for you ! " 
 but she did not, could not add, " what has ren- 
 dered you so happy ? " she knew too well. 
 
 Jessie's eyes soon closed, and 
 
 " Celestial dreams 
 
 Began to glimmer through the deepening shadows 
 Of soft oblivion." 
 
 Hrr sister sat watching her. Terrible was the 
 conflict within Jeannie's soul. Her very heart- 
 strings writhed with her great agony. Then she 
 gathered strength as she gazed on that tranquil,
 
 - 
 
 TWIN ROSES. 71 
 
 beautiful face which betokened a spirit unbruised, 
 unworn. 
 
 Inspired with fortitude from Heaven, Jeannie 
 thought 
 
 " Of those of old 
 
 Who carved in brass these words of gold, 
 No cross, no crown! " 
 
 and bowed meekly to receive this heavy cross, 
 and lifted up her heart in supplication that she 
 might bear it, uncrushed to earth. 
 
 Herman's visits to Jeannie were short, and 
 Jessie was always present. His attentions, dur- 
 ing these visits, seemed equally divided between 
 the twins. But Jeannie was not for a moment 
 deceived. With woman's instinctive quickness, 
 she saw and comprehended the change that had 
 stolen over him, involuntarily, without his own 
 consent. One fire puts out another's burning. 
 The dazzling orb of day had extinguished the 
 pallid star. 
 
 His love for her had been but "the perfume 
 and suppliance of a minute." And how unfitted 
 was her brow to wear the bridal wreath. How 
 ill could she preside over the domestic hearth. 
 While Jessie was all that man could desire, 
 though he were most ambitious all that Heaven 
 could grant when Heaven is most bountiful.
 
 72 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 And was it possible that Herman had so 
 quickly given Jeannie's place to another ? Call 
 the sudden transfer of affection unnatural, un- 
 pardonable it may be so ; but, alas ! the his- 
 tory of too many broken hearts and blighted 
 spirits will prove that recording angels daily 
 inscribe such changes in the books of men's 
 lives. 
 
 Jeannie saw that in spite of Herman's absorb- 
 ing passion for her sister, he was suffering from 
 the stings of self-reproach. In some unguarded 
 hour he might confide to Jessie his former attach- 
 ment. And Jessie would assume the sacrifice 
 which it was her sister's duty to make. For 
 Jessie would surely reject Herman if she learned 
 that she had robbed Jeannie of his heart. Jeannie 
 gained courage as she looked boldly at this 
 evil which menaced an existence so cloudlessly 
 happy. Her feeble arm grew strong when 
 stretched out to shield her sister. 
 
 It was now about a fortnight after Jessie's 
 return. Herman was paying his usual morning 
 visit At the hour of rehearsal, when he rose to 
 accompany Jessie, Jeannie turned to him, and, 
 with a calm smile, said, " You have no rehearsal 
 ihi- morning have you? Let Jessie go will 
 you not sit awhile with me ? "
 
 TWIN ROSES. 73 
 
 Herman stood uncertain ; he would gladly 
 have avoided this interview. 
 
 " Oh, yes stay with sister, by all means," 
 replied Jessie. " She is too often left alone. I 
 am so glad you have no part this morning to 
 call you away." 
 
 Herman resumed his seat in silence. 
 
 He despised himself he felt like a coward a 
 culprit brought before some heavenly tribunal ; 
 but he could not escape. 
 
 Jessie smiled brightly on them both, and with 
 airy step, passed out of the room. 
 
 For a few moments there was silence.. Then 
 Jeannie looked up, her countenance unruffled, 
 and said, " Will you close that door ? " 
 
 Herman obeyed, and once more sat down ; but 
 before she could speak again he started up ex- 
 claiming, " What a scoundrel you must think 
 me, Jeannie ! I know, I know what is passing 
 in your heart." 
 
 " No, Herman," she answered softly, and ex- 
 tending to him her thin, pale hand ; " No I wish 
 you could see my heart, for I have long seen 
 what passed in yours. It was for this I wanted 
 to speak with you. Let us not dwell upon the 
 past. I comprehend all my sister is so lovely 
 she is every thing that man could ask for as the
 
 74 TWIN R" 
 
 companion of his life; and I love her so well 
 myself that how could I feel less less kindly 
 towards you for loving her ? No no I do not." 
 
 " Jeannie " commenced Herman deprecat- 
 ingly, almost as though he would have denied 
 the charge. 
 
 " I know it " resumed Jeanuie hurriedly, " I 
 am content I wanted to tell you so ; to tell you 
 this, and to make you feel that if Jessie loves 
 you but I know she does I accept you joy- 
 fully for a dear brother. Now tell me that all is 
 well and leave me, Herman." 
 
 " How meanly you must think of me dearest, 
 dearest Jeannie! What a fickle, contemptible 
 fellow I must seem in your eyes. How little 
 you can understand " 
 
 " But I do I do understand. If I thought 
 you unworthy, I would not trust my sister's happi- 
 ness in your hands. Only render Jessie very, very 
 happy. Be tender to her. Be all that her loving 
 heart expects in a husband and that is much, 
 very much ; I ask but this, and let MS ever be as 
 dear sister and brother." Jeannie now spoke 
 calmly and with little apparent effort. 
 
 Hi-miau clasped her hand in both his and 
 bowed his head, and reverently kissed the hand 
 he held, to hide his emotion.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 75 
 
 " And now, Herman, pray leave me. Speak 
 to Jessie as soon as you will. The sooner, per- 
 haps, the better. Be true to her Oh ! Herman, 
 be true to her ; that is all I pray of you." 
 
 She did not mean that there should be a touch 
 of reproach in her voice, but Herman felt there 
 was, and it pierced him to the soul. Alas! he 
 had been too false to the one who now implored 
 him to be true to another. 
 
 " I will, so Heaven help me ! " He answered 
 with fervor. 
 
 " I trust you, Herman, my brother adieu." 
 
 When Herman left the room Jeannie sank 
 motionless on her pillow. She seemed hardly to 
 breathe her very pulses almost ceased to beat. 
 After a time her lips gently moved and her eyes 
 were uplifted ; then adown her pallid cheeks one 
 large, glittering tear stole after another. They 
 washed away the last rebellious regret they 
 bleached the last faint spot of selfishness that 
 shadowed her pure spirit. Her life was despoiled, 
 and oh ! the poverty, the hunger of the heart of 
 those who have yielded up the idol interwound 
 with the fibres of their existence ! Yet Jeannie 
 knew it was well. To glide smoothly through 
 life without trials, without sacrifices, would seem- 
 ingly be good but it would be a purely earthly,
 
 76 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 transitory good. To bear sorrow meekly to 
 learn all the lessons of wisdom it imparts to 
 extract from adversity its purifying, maturing 
 influences, this is an eternal, not a temporary 
 good. In the furrows ploughed through the heart 
 by such sorrow, angels sow the seeds that spring 
 up trees of paradise and bear fruits of eternal 
 bliss. The brightest rainbow of promise in our 
 earthly sky is formed of tears. 
 
 When Jessie returned from rehearsal, her sister 
 was reclining in her usual position and quietly 
 embroidering. 
 
 " Jeannie ! I am so blessed, so happy ! " mur- 
 mured Jessie, kneeling down beside her. 
 
 "I divine the cause, dearest, Herman has let 
 me guess his secret. I rejoice with you. May 
 all your bright dreams be realities." 
 
 " Ah ! how could it be otherwise ! " exclaimed 
 Jessie. " Herman is my beau ideal. All that I 
 ever pictured to myself as most admirable, most 
 lovable in manhood. We think alike feel 
 alike. He is my other self! Day by day we will 
 become nearer to each other will be more inte- 
 riorly united! Our spirits will be perfected 
 together. We will grow better and purer more 
 regenerate, side by side ; we will advance hand 
 in hand towards the throne of mercy ! Our
 
 TWIN ROSES. 77 
 
 lives here will be but the commencement of that 
 holy life eternal which we will pass as true part- 
 ners forever inseparable." 
 
 " Our Lord grant it, my sister. Blessed be he 
 for all his mercies ! " 
 
 7*
 
 78 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE LOVERS. 
 
 LOVE ardent, all-engrossing love transforms 
 even common-place men into poets not poets 
 who pen their inspirations for the world's eye, 
 but who pour them out, with passion's re- 
 sistless emphasis, to charm the ear of the be- 
 loved. Upon such a temperament as Herman 
 Lander's, love had the most exalting, spiritualiz- 
 ing influence. His most captivating attributes 
 were all drawn forth into full light. His failings 
 sank back into obscurity. Bathed in the smiling 
 sunshine of courtship, how resplendently every 
 man's virtues shine ! 
 
 Herman had looked up to Jeannie with the 
 worship of a devotee for a saint ; but, when he 
 beheld Jessie, his saint seemed clothed witli 
 mortal loveliness, and stood beside him upon the 
 earth. 
 
 He could not endure to be absent from her side 
 if her eyes turned from him a shadow passed 
 over his spirit ; her wishes were anticipated be-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 79 
 
 fore they faltered into language ; the assured pos- 
 session of her love did not impart a sense of secu- 
 rity to his untranquil nature. A vague dread of 
 losing what he had gained, added constant fuel 
 to his passion. Even his wild infatuation for the 
 stage was swallowed up in this more absorbing 
 attachment. He might have said with Valentine, 
 
 u Now, no discourse except it be of love ; 
 Now, can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, 
 Upon the naked very name of love." 
 
 There was a change, too, in Jessie, since the 
 "holy close of lips" that sealed her betrothal. 
 She was more timid, less mirthful in Herman's 
 presence, but softer and meeker. Though her 
 words were always the echoes of her heart, 
 love's language found no voice upon her lips. 
 She hardly ever breathed his name save to her 
 sister, though every lip that gave utterance to the 
 sound was full of music to her ears. 
 
 A life-pervading piety guided every act of the 
 twin sisters. Perhaps it was a heavenly con- 
 tagion caught from them perhaps the soul- 
 expanding, uplifting influence of love itself which 
 caused Herman, for the first time, to experience 
 devotional emotions. He began to ponder upon 
 the relationship of God's creatures to their Maker 
 to trace out the myriad springs of blessedness
 
 80 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 with which their existence is flooded to waken 
 to a sense of the obligations of the receivers to- 
 wards the Great Giver. 
 
 According to the strict laws of order, woman 
 is not man's appointed instructor in heavenly 
 truths. Wisdom is his essential attribute love 
 is hers. But there are men whose souls could 
 not be unlocked save by the key of human love 
 placed in a woman's hand, and thus only could 
 an influx of love for the Divine flow into their 
 hearts. Herman was one of these. 
 
 Often on Sabbath mornings would he sit by 
 Jessie's side, mutely listening while Jeannie read 
 to them the spiritual interpretation of the Scrip- 
 tures. Many a passage sank deep into Herman's 
 memory. Ever and anon he pressed the hand he 
 held, in token of assent, and the pressure was 
 lightly, timidly returned. Then would Jessie's 
 heart throb with new joy, for she felt that their 
 inner bond of union, at that moment, was 
 strengthening. She more confidently than ever 
 cherished the belief that its links were heaven- 
 forged the only ones that time, trial, adverse cir- 
 cumstances, and the power of man, cannot sever. 
 
 Jeannie appeared to have grown suddenly 
 older, and to have become the guide and guard- 
 ian of these two. Though heavy darkness en-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 81 
 
 veloped her life, there remained to her the high 
 privilege of rendering others happy. Could she 
 deem herself wretched while that felicity was still 
 accorded her ? She could not be called happy 
 but she was what is far better blessed ! 
 
 The tranquillity of her manner had lured Her- 
 man into the belief that her attachment for him 
 had been as evanescent as his own that she did 
 not suffer ; and thus he was spared many a pang 
 which his generous nature must otherwise have 
 endured. 
 
 Herman pleaded, with lover-like warmth, that 
 the day of the nuptials might be appointed, and 
 vehemently protested against delay. But Jessie 
 refused compliance until he had written to his 
 parents and received their reply. 
 
 Herman wrote. The epistle was one long 
 panegyric upon the loveliness of the young and 
 innocent being who was his affianced wife. 
 
 He had received an appealing letter from his 
 father at the end of the month which had been 
 given him for decision. He had replied firmly 
 but respectfully, announcing that his resolution 
 was unshaken he had determined to adopt the 
 stage as a profession. 
 
 There had been no further communication be- 
 tween the father and son, but Herman learned at
 
 82 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 his banker's that his allowance had ceased. It 
 had been so liberal that a considerable sum re- 
 mained to his credit. 
 
 It would be difficult to picture the amazement, 
 the grief of the worthy couple when Herman's 
 letter, communicating his matrimonial intentions, 
 was received. Their son had been entrapped 
 lured into an evil path, and this connection would 
 probably complete his ruin ! The mother with 
 tears, and the father with anguish that could find 
 no such relief, pondered over Herman's rhapsody. 
 
 " But if what he writes be true," at length said 
 Mrs. Lander ; " if the girl should be as good and 
 as innocent as our boy says " 
 
 "If! IF, indeed, wife! Can any good thing 
 come out of Nazareth ? An actress ! Bred in a 
 theatre ! No no it is not possible. I couldn't 
 believe it possible after all that unfortunate Mr. 
 Hawkwood told me. And some things he rather 
 hinted than said in so many words. They were 
 too shocking for language." 
 
 " But might there not be an exception ? " re- 
 plied the mother, clinging to a faint hope. " You 
 know a good thing did come out of Nazareth, in 
 spite of the doubts of Nathanael. This girl has a 
 crippled sister, of whom Herman speaks so affec- 
 tionately might not these two girls be excep-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 83 
 
 tions to general rules ? Is it right, is it charitable, 
 is it befitting a godly man to condemn all because 
 many deserve condemnation ? " 
 
 A sudden gleam irradiated the old man's coun- 
 tenance. " You are right, wife ; it is not charita- 
 ble. I will go to London I will see for myself." 
 
 " And if the girl be all that he says " 
 
 " If she should be even then it is a bad busi- 
 ness, I fear, but this I will do ; I will offer to 
 bless their union, and to take them to our home if 
 they will both give up the stage, and if Herman 
 will adopt the honorable calling of his father." 
 
 " If our boy truly love this girl, he will consent ; 
 if she truly love him, she will not refuse be sure 
 of that." 
 
 Mr. Landor made rapid preparations for his 
 departure to London. But, when he arrived 
 there, instead of at once seeking his son, he 
 thought an interview with Mr. Hawkwood ad- 
 visable. 
 
 Hawkwood, the moment he saw the old man, 
 comprehended his mission, and secretly exulted 
 in his power to injure the detested Herman. 
 
 Mr. Landor's cordial greeting, his confiding 
 manner, and his troubled look, made no impres- 
 sion on the scandal-monger's callous heart. Even 
 had he borne Herman no enmity, so strong was
 
 84 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 his ruling love that he could not have resisted the 
 temptation to backbite and defame to nod and 
 hint away a reputation by looks, and shrugs, and 
 innuendoes more dangerous than express charges. 
 And the habit had made " such a sinner of his 
 memory," that he often credited his own lie. 
 
 Unsuspecting Mr. Landor received the baleful 
 droppings from the actor's venomous tongue 
 with a too credulous ear. He could not have 
 repeated a single direct charge made by Hawk- 
 wood against the twin sisters, yet he was im- 
 pressed with the conviction that they were artful, 
 designing girls who had thrown their syren-like 
 spells around Herman, and ensnared him to his 
 ruin. 
 
 " One word more," said the old man in an 
 agitated tone. " Am I to understand you that 
 these young women do not bear stainless char- 
 acters ? " 
 
 Mr. Hawkwood made a wry face as he looked 
 down upon his plate ; then, assuming an air of 
 frankness, he replied, with pompous intonation, 
 " the serpent scales of sin have a glitter that 
 blind the eyes of a youth, such as your son. 
 These girls were bred to simulate to act what 
 they are not I would not trust them any fur- 
 ther than I could see them. You really must not
 
 TWIN ROSES. 85 
 
 press me to say any thing more definite. I leave 
 you to draw your own inferences." 
 
 To the old man's unsophisticated mind, these 
 words conveyed irrefragable confirmation of all 
 that he most dreaded. 
 
 His resolution was quickly formed. He has- 
 tened to his son's lodgings. He was not at home. 
 When Herman returned, two hours later, he found 
 his father seated by the table, turning over the leaves 
 of one of the plays which lay scattered about. 
 
 He looked up and said kindly, " You see how 
 I am employed. I don't wonder that these books 
 interest you. I feel the spell myself, old as I 
 am. This Shakspeare is a great wizard. I quite 
 lost myself and forgot your absence, while read- 
 ing about Julius Caesar and Mark Antony." 
 
 Herman, amazed and overjoyed at this greet- 
 ing, augured the fulfilment of hopes which he had 
 hardly dared to nurture. 
 
 " Julius Caasar ! it's a glorious play, -is it not ? " 
 he exclaimed. " I enacted Casca ; did you notice 
 that part? I really wish you could have seen 
 my personation, father ! " 
 
 " Heaven forbid!" ejaculated Mr. Landor. " I 
 could not have borne to have seen my son tricked 
 out as a mountebank, strutting and bellowing to 
 please a mob." 
 
 8
 
 86 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Herman turned away impatiently. 
 
 Mr. Landor stood up before him with a calm 
 dignity that almost awed the impetuous young 
 man. 
 
 " My son, you divine you know my errand 
 here. Your conscience tells it to you. It is to 
 save you, if possible, from a fatal error which 
 you are about to commit ; to prevent this mar- 
 riage with an actress." 
 
 " Father, you have not seen her, you know 
 nothing of her " 
 
 " Nothing ? " interrupted Mr. Landor in a tone 
 almost of horror ; " too much too much ! Had 
 she been such a woman as I would rejoice to call 
 my son's wife, I should have said, if you love 
 each other truly, make one sacrifice in proof give 
 up this profession, both of you ; marry and come 
 home to Devonshire, come home to your father 
 and mother. But as it is " 
 
 " Stop, father, who has ever who ever could 
 have breathed one word against Jessie Garnett ? 
 You have only to see her to hear her that is 
 all I ask." 
 
 " And to that I will never consent. Her beauty 
 may t>r da/xling her manners captivating; so 
 alluring that they might even warp the judgment 
 of a stupid old man, such as I am. But beauty
 
 TWIN ROSES. 87 
 
 of mind and character, they are what I desire for 
 my son's wife." 
 
 " And these Jessie possesses in an eminent 
 degree; the charms of her person are far trans- 
 cended by those of her mind." 
 
 " I do not doubt that you believe so. I could 
 not think of my son so poorly as to imagine that 
 he could yield himself up wholly captive to a 
 woman who had not the art to make him believe 
 her worthy. But your infatuation blinds you. I 
 have information from sources not to be doubted. 
 I know all that concerns this unfortunate girl. I 
 do not desire to see her, and could I prevent it, 
 you should never behold her again." 
 
 " Impossible ! she is to be my wife. Father, 
 my spirit is as determined as your own, my reso- 
 lution as inflexible. It may be that I inherit 
 your firmness. I have plighted my faith to this 
 true-hearted, pure-minded girl, and my wife she 
 must shortly become." 
 
 While his son spoke, the lines of sorrow on 
 Mr. Landor's countenance deepened until they 
 assumed a stony hardness. His limbs were set 
 and almost rigid. 
 
 " Entreaties are vain, then," he answered 
 slowly. " Listen to what I have to say. If you 
 marry this girl, if you give your virtuous mother
 
 88 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 a daughter who does not bear an unblemished 
 name, I discard you wholly and forever! The 
 threshold of my door you shall never cross. The 
 hard earnings of my life of toil shall never enrich 
 you. I renounce all communication with you. 
 You are no longer son of mine. A vow regis- 
 tered in Heaven cannot be more sacred than my 
 word. Do not decide rashly." 
 
 Mr. Landor moved towards the door. 
 
 " Consent to see her," pleaded Herman. 
 
 " No I will not trust myself." 
 
 Mr. Landor turned back and hesitated. " Her- 
 man, my son, think better of it conquer this 
 unworthy passion " 
 
 Herman's eyes flashed fire. 
 
 " It is not unworthy ! You will not listen to 
 me when I would convince you of that. Relin- 
 linquish her ? Never ! She is my life, my soul, 
 my whole existence ! Nothing human can part 
 us ! " 
 
 "Not the severing of all nature's ties? I 
 cannot believe that," said Mr. Landor in quaver- 
 ing tones. 
 
 With bowed head he turned once more to 
 deport. 
 
 ll Tina n made no attempt to detain him. 
 That evening he gave Jessie a very brief account
 
 TWIN ROSES. 89 
 
 of his father's visit. He confessed that Mr. 
 Landor would not consent to his marriage any 
 more than he would consent to his profession as 
 an actor. He added that he was of age, and 
 had the right of law and reason to judge for him- 
 self, and he had done so. This was all he told 
 her. 
 
 When Jessie made a faint attempt to remon- 
 strate, he silenced her with love's sophistry, so 
 successfully poured forth that he finally ob- 
 tained her consent to become his wife in another 
 month. 
 
 Mr. Landor left the same evening for Devon- 
 shire. 
 
 8*
 
 90 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 A BRIDAL. 
 
 WHEN Sylvester heard of Jessie's intended 
 marriage, the enamoured youth exhibited demon- 
 strations of despair so impotently tragic in their 
 violence that they degenerated into comedy. But 
 his brusque, kind-hearted sister, with threatening 
 air, silenced the mirth of his associates, and pro- 
 tectingly consoled him in her own peculiar fashion. 
 
 " It might be worse, Sylly, might be far worse," 
 she said, giving him a gentle shake to arouse 
 him. " Suppose the girl was going to die sup- 
 pose she had fallen through a trap-door as her 
 sister did suppose she were taken down with 
 smallpox suppose she was clean dead and 
 gone? How would you feel then? All that 
 would be worse, wouldn't it be ? There's a deal 
 of consolation in contrast. Always contrast 
 what looks unfortunate with something a deal 
 more unfortunate the effect is wonderfully con- 
 soling so never forget to do that You see it's 
 not as bad as it might be."
 
 TWIN ROSES. 91 
 
 " Could hardly be worse for me," replied Syl- 
 vester, dolefully. 
 
 " What ? You'd rather have her dead, would 
 you, you inhuman piece of flesh?" exclaimed 
 Dorothy with indignation. 
 
 " No, no, I don't say that ; of course not." 
 
 " Then you must admit that matters might be 
 worse, and there's no use fretting until the very 
 worst that can happen comes. I wish you could 
 turn your thoughts to Jeannie. It would be but 
 a fair exchange, for I'm mightily mistaken if 
 young Landor hadn't her in his mind before 
 Jessie came home. Couldn't you fancy Jean- 
 nie ? " 
 
 " How you talk ! " replied Sylvester dubiously. 
 
 " Might have a worse wife than Jeannie 
 Garnett, though she is lame, and always likely 
 to be an invalid. You and I would take care 
 of her, wouldn't we ? I love her quite as much 
 as though she were my own sister already. I 
 don't know but that I prefer her to Jessie after 
 all. Yes, you might do worse ; so cheer up, and 
 think about Jeannie." 
 
 Dorothy had many similar conversations with 
 her brother. She lost no opportunity of proving 
 the feasibility of forgetting one sister by tenderly 
 remembering the other. Sylvester, ever facile in
 
 92 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 her hands, began unconsciously to pay Jeannie 
 the most devoted attention. 
 
 And where was Mr. Hawkwood? Nightly 
 watching the betrothed pair with hard, malignant 
 eyes, speculating on mischief but half engendered 
 in his brain. 
 
 He had separated Landor from his father ; he 
 had placed Herman in peril of being disinherited 
 but he had failed to render him miserable. Might 
 he not raise a barrier between him and Jessie ? 
 There would be the vulnerable spot which his 
 arrow might pierce. Was there no gall that 
 could be dropped in the nectarean juice of that 
 joy-brimmed cup of theirs ? 
 
 Herman was so constantly at Jessie's side that 
 the wily schemer waited long and patiently be- 
 fore an opportunity of approaching her presented 
 itself. 
 
 At last, one night, her lover was on the stage 
 during a long scene in which neither Hawkwood 
 nor Jessie appeared. She was standing at the 
 wing where Herman made his entrance, watching 
 him with eager interest. 
 
 Mr. Hawkwood drew near. Jessie shrank 
 from him instinctively, and would have retired; 
 but he said, " Remain awhile, Miss Garnett ; I 
 have a word to say to you."
 
 TWIN ROSES. 93 
 
 Jessie, always timid, had not courage to stir. 
 
 " You are going to be married ? " 
 
 The young girl did not reply, but the conscious 
 blood that suffused her cheek made answer. 
 
 " Do you know that Herman Lander's father 
 refuses his consent ? " 
 
 " Yes I fear he does," she stammered out. 
 
 "Ah ! you know that ? Do you also know 
 that he will cast off his son, disinherit him, dis- 
 own him ? Are you aware that he despises you ? 
 that he will never see you ? that there is misery 
 enough in store for you ? I, as a friend, tell you 
 this." Hawkwood poured out his enumeration 
 of evils with a sort of savage delight. 
 
 " No it can't be. Herman's father is not so 
 inhuman," said Jessie, bursting into tears. 
 
 " Isn't he ? Just give him a chance, that's 
 all. These cranky old fellows like to show their 
 authority. They despise us actors, look upon 
 us as a vile set. And so we are, Heaven knows. 
 What do you suppose the old man thinks of 
 you ? Would you like to hear ? " 
 
 " Oh ! don't torture me ! you have made me 
 wretched enough. What, what shall I do ? " 
 
 " Send the young fellow adrift. Between our- 
 selves he's not worthy of a pretty girl such as 
 you are. If you knew all that I know ! But I'll
 
 94 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 not ' reveal the secrets of the prison-house,' or I 
 might ' a tale unfold ' that would startle you a 
 little." 
 
 And Mr. Hawkwood ominously shook his 
 head. 
 
 Jessie ceased weeping, and looked up with an 
 expression of mingled surprise and horror, as she 
 replied indignantly, " I don't believe it ! I won't 
 listen to another word. It's all equally false. 
 Do you suppose you could make me credit any 
 thing against Herman ? " 
 
 And before Hawkwood could prevent her, she 
 had darted away. 
 
 When Landor left the stage, he was surprised 
 not to find Jessie waiting for him where she 
 knew that he made his exit. This had been the 
 custom of the lovers. He sought her in the 
 green room, and then behind the scenes. He 
 found her seated in a retired corner, with her 
 head leaning against the wall. She was weep- 
 ing bitterly. These were the first tears she had 
 ever shed in his presence. 
 
 She had determined not to relate to Herman 
 what had passed until she had consulted her 
 sister. Her mind was sorely perplexed. Was it 
 not possible that Mr. Hawkwood had spoken 
 truth of Herman's father? Herman had ad-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 95 
 
 mitted that he objected to their union, but was 
 his opposition of this violent nature ? 
 
 Herman's presence broke in upon her sad 
 reflections. His tenderness, his entreaties were 
 irresistible. Her resolution melted before them. 
 She repeated the cruel words that had wrung her 
 heart. 
 
 After a burst of indignation at Hawkwood's 
 malice, Herman dexterously threw such flattering 
 lights upon the picture his enemy had drawn, 
 that it took a new aspect, without wholly losing 
 its resemblance. The dark shadows were illum- 
 ined, and the painful strokes erased. Mr. Landor 
 appeared to Jessie a fond, forgiving father whose 
 judgment was slightly warped by popular pre- 
 judices, but whose affection for his son was un- 
 alterable. 
 
 An hour later, Jessie narrated to her sister the 
 incidents of the evening. Jeannie shuddered as 
 she listened, and dark forebodings crowded fast 
 and thick into her mind. Unless Jessie's happi- 
 ness were secured, how valueless was her own 
 sacrifice ! 
 
 Herman and Jessie were to be united early in 
 August. The bans had already been published. 
 
 Herman had taken lodgings near one of the 
 spacious parks that enliven and beautify the
 
 96 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 great metropolis. To adorn this modest bridal 
 home, to supply it with comforts and luxuries to 
 which Jessie was a stranger, became one of his 
 most fascinating occupations. But when, with 
 lover-like rapture, he discoursed to Jessie of his 
 employment, she could not repress a sigh. She 
 could not reconcile herself at once to the separa- 
 tion from her sister, she could not think of any 
 other spot but that bower-like chamber as her 
 home. 
 
 Few and simple were Jessie's bridal prepara- 
 tions. But, evening after evening, when Jean- 
 nie's daily tasks were completed when the hour 
 came for the companionship of books in her soli- 
 tude, she would forego their refreshment to ply 
 her needle. That pure white muslin robe on 
 \vhich she wrought so diligently, was to be her 
 sister's bridal garment. 
 
 When the curtain had fallen for the last time, 
 and the weary players sought their homes, Jessie 
 constantly found her sister thus tenderly em- 
 ployed, and would pray her to put by her work. 
 
 " Not yet, dear, I am not tired. But do you 
 go to sleep, or those roses in your cheeks will 
 fa-le. :iiid lint would grieve Herman." 1 
 
 Soon Jessie was softly slumbering under the 
 white curtains.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 97 
 
 The orange blossoms grew beneath Jeannie's 
 fingers, sometimes until earth's own dewy off- 
 spring were expanding at Aurora's kiss. And 
 Jeannie, as she worked, breathed a blessing with 
 every bud, and fondly fancied that it might be 
 interwoven with the threads. 
 
 Now and then she gazed at the lovely slum- 
 berer, and whispered, " who could help loving 
 her ? better thus better thus ! " 
 
 At these moments many a gust of bygone 
 memories thrilled her frame. No mortal eyes 
 were upon her, and she might weep her full heart 
 lighter. But when Herman or Jessie was near, 
 her forced calmness was never ruffled. No 
 chance-dropped words ever betrayed the throes 
 of her perturbed spirit. Even to the end, she 
 succeeded in guarding Herman from the life-long 
 pang which a knowledge a suspicion of her 
 anguish, would have inflicted. If there can be 
 holy artifice, it was that which caused him to 
 think that she had mistaken her own heart that 
 she had never really surrendered it to his false 
 guardianship. 
 
 Dorothy had entreated Jessie to allow her to 
 officiate as bridesmaid. Jessie, who felt that no 
 one could fill the place her sister was unable to 
 occupy, reluctantly consented.
 
 98 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Then Sylvester diffidently solicited the honor 
 of being groomsman. His sister had hinted to 
 him that this mark of generosity on his part 
 would please Jeannie. 
 
 Herman could not refuse. 
 
 The morning of the bridal arrived. The 
 theatre had closed on the night previous for a 
 week, as there was a grand spectacle in prepara- 
 tion. 
 
 Herman had thus the opportunity of bearing 
 away his bride to some rural seclusion. He had 
 chosen Hampstead. 
 
 The marriage ceremony was to take place at 
 nine o'clock. 
 
 It was early morning. Jeannie and Jessie had 
 risen, had knelt side by side, had each silently 
 offered up a prayer, but the prayers of the sisters 
 were, oh ! how different ! 
 
 Jessie, after assisting her sister as usual to 
 make her toilet, hurriedly commenced her own. 
 How brightly she smiled as she held up the soft, 
 white, bridal robe ! How admiringly she gazed 
 upon the delicate embroidery! How little she 
 dreamed of the tears with which those flowers 
 had been watered ! Of the blessings (their 
 heavenly sunshine) under which they had grown! 
 
 And now Jessie kneels by h.-r sister's side, and
 
 TWIN ROSES. 99 
 
 Jeannie's loving fingers fasten white blossoms in 
 the young bride's darkly shining locks. Those 
 flowers were gathered from the tiny hanging-gar- 
 den beneath the window. Jessie would wear no 
 others. 
 
 Suddenly Mrs. Budd bursts into the room, fol- 
 lowed by Dorothy. 
 
 " Not ready yet ! Not ready ! Make haste 
 no time to lose ; not a moment to spare. How 
 beautiful you do look, to be sure ! " 
 
 " I think so myself, Jess," chimed in Dorothy. 
 " Poor Syl " but she checked herself, and added, 
 "might be worse, might be worse. I dare say 
 something will happen that will please me as 
 well." 
 
 Jeannie could not accompany her sister to the 
 church ; her lameness, which of late seemed to 
 have increased, forbade. 
 
 The needlewomen of the wardrobe now prayed 
 to be admitted, and every one had a kind word 
 for Jessie. Many of them presented her with 
 humble tokens of affection. 
 
 Though the theatre was closed, this was no 
 holiday for them. There was wardrobe- work al- 
 ways to be done. Their task-master, Mr. Brown, 
 had grumbled at their desire to accompany Jessie 
 to church. When they promised to sew for a
 
 100 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 couple of hours extra that night, he sulkily con- 
 sented, adding that he should go with them to 
 the wedding, just to see that they returned home 
 and got to work without delay. 
 
 " Is not that Mr. Lander's step ?" asked Liza. 
 
 At the words Jessie flung herself into Jeannie's 
 arms and clung to her tightly. They were to 
 part she felt it now she could never believe it 
 before ! Life was to become wholly new to her ! 
 Strange sensations, never experienced until that 
 moment, came sweeping over her spirit, until they 
 wholly overpowered her. 
 
 Herman entered. The bridegroom spoke in 
 his looks, his steps, his mien, his voice. 
 
 Jessie's face was hidden in her sister's bosom. 
 As he approached and tenderly sought to disen- 
 gage her from that trie resting-place, Jeannie's 
 eyes met his ! Involuntarily, in spite of all her 
 strong self-control, she gave him one agonized 
 look, and a sharp cry, which startled every one, 
 broke from her pale lips. 
 
 Jessie lifted up her head, affrighted. 
 
 "What is it, sister?" 
 
 " What is the matter, Jeannie ? What is the 
 matter ? " asked many voices. 
 
 " Nothing ! " she murmured faintly. Her eyes 
 closed as though she were about to swoon. But
 
 TWIN ROSES. 101 
 
 no they were only shutting out what they 
 could not dared not look upon. 
 
 Jessie's anxious queries and caresses forced her 
 to make one more mighty effort. 
 
 " Our Lord bless you, my sister, and him too ! 
 Now go go ! " 
 
 She did not again lift her eyes to Herman's 
 face. He took Jessie's hand and paused as 
 though about to utter a few words to Jeannie. 
 
 She repeated again, and in a tone so suppli- 
 cating that no one could disobey. " Go ! go 
 all go at once ! " 
 
 Sylvester had entered with Herman. He set 
 the example by giving his arm to his sister, and 
 leaving the chamber, to show his prompt com- 
 pliance with Jeannie' s request. Mrs. Budd, for 
 once tongue-tied, passed out in silence. The 
 others followed. 
 
 Last of all, Herman led Jessie away. 
 
 But her head was turned towards her eyes 
 fixed upon, her sister. 
 
 Just as they crossed the door-sill the bulfinch 
 burst forth in one of his most joyous songs. 
 Jessie smiled her thanks for the unexpected 
 epithalamium. The song drowned the faint 
 groan which escaped Jeannie's lips, and it did 
 not reach Jessie's happy ear. 
 9*
 
 102 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 As Herman's arm fondly encircled her waist, 
 and his loving words sank deep into her heart, 
 she only felt, in the fulness, the completeness of 
 her joy, that 
 
 " God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame." 
 
 But Jeannie alas! for her. The last golden 
 gleam of her one day-dream of love had faded 
 out of life's horizon forever. 
 
 They were all gone. Their retreating steps no 
 longer reached her ears. The only sound that 
 broke the silence was the loud warbling of the 
 bird. 
 
 She lay with closed eyes, yet she still beheld 
 that bridal pair. She saw that young bride who 
 was so thoroughly one with herself that to yield 
 her to another caused a pang as full of anguish 
 as that which severs soul and body, she saw 
 that young bridegroom whom she had loved with 
 all the strength, the tenderness of her newly 
 awakened heart, saw him plight a lasting troth, 
 and then her bosom heaved convulsively, the 
 great sobs gushed forth, until the startled bird 
 suddenly ceased his song. Blessed blessed 
 relief of tears! not utterly wretched are they who 
 can weep. 
 
 " Strengthen me, oh ! my God ! Teach me
 
 TWIN ROSES. 103 
 
 perfect self-renunciation ! Teach me to give up 
 all, not in outward act only, but in spirit ! Let 
 him be wholly hers as she is wholly his wholly, 
 wholly!" 
 
 The dove of peace descended as this prayer 
 rose to the gates of Heaven. A heavenly calm 
 spread itself over her almost glorified counte- 
 nance. An expression of dependent love, of un- 
 alloyed resignation, of ineffable serenity, beamed 
 in her upraised eyes. The victory was won! 
 She had triumphed over the last rebellious upris- 
 ing of her nature ! 
 
 When the nuptial party returned, she greeted, 
 not the bride only, but her bridegroom, greeted 
 them almost gaily. She offered her cheek to 
 Herman as to a brother. 
 
 He pressed it with glowing lips and exclaimed, 
 " Doubly doubly my sister, how much I owe 
 you!" 
 
 " Yes," she answered smiling, " I have given 
 you all I have ; my dearer self for wife, myself 
 for sister. Shall we not be very happy in the 
 husband and brother we gain ? "
 
 104 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TEMPTATION. 
 
 WITH Herman and Jessie, time fled on pinions, 
 rainbow-tinted, during that bridal week, but 
 dropped his sands slowly, evenly, in Jeannie's 
 quiet chamber. Yet, day after day, those sands 
 seemed to grow brighter as they fell and the 
 shadow that rested on her spirit hourly became 
 lighter. The heart-rending struggle was quite 
 over. Tempting spirits, that had tortured with 
 their vaguely whispered hopes, were all silenced 
 now. The cross was heavy, but the uplifting, 
 not the bearing, caused her agony. With reso- 
 lute hands she had placed it on her shoulder ; 
 once there, its burden was endurable. 
 
 The mirthful Dorothy and her lachrymose 
 brother, noisy Mrs. Budd, and busy Mr. Brown, 
 paid the recluse frequent visits ; to prevent her 
 being lonely, they said. But solitude, to her, 
 brought no loneliness. She found companion- 
 ship in the images of beauty, the storied present- 
 ments, that surrounded her ; in books that talked
 
 TWIN ROSES. 105 
 
 to her, and peopled her chamber with ideal crea- 
 tions, in her pleasant, placid thoughts. 
 
 The meeting of the twin sisters, at the expira- 
 tion of the week, was full of rapture. Jeannie 
 and Herman greeted each other with the affec- 
 tionate frankness of brother and sister. Jessie's 
 countenance was radiant with perfected joy. All 
 her day-dreams of thorough congeniality of heart, 
 and mind, and tastes, were fulfilled. She had 
 nothing left to ask of Heaven. 
 
 Hour after hour she sat by her sister's side 
 and her fresh, innocent transport flowed forth in 
 words. She told her of the exhilarating rides on 
 Hampstead heath of the long, delightful ram- 
 bles of the hours that glided away as they 
 reclined beneath the trees, while Herman read to 
 her and she listened, entranced. And who ever 
 read so eloquently as Herman ? 
 
 " I almost forgot I had ever breathed the close, 
 gasodorous atmosphere of a theatre, in my life ! 
 How dim and dreary, and full of hollo wn ess and 
 vanity everything looked when I returned! 
 everything but this sweet chamber, that always 
 appears to be a sanctuary." 
 
 With the reopening of the theatre, Herman 
 and Jessie resumed their professional duties. 
 
 A few months passed on and Herman's lover-
 
 106 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 like devotion had scarcely abated, and Jessie's 
 full chalice was still brimming over in sparkling, 
 bubbling sweetness. 
 
 Herman's resources at the banker's were now 
 exhausted ; he and Jessie were wholly dependent 
 upon their small salary. His means had never 
 before been restricted. Economy had seemed 
 easy in theory but its practice subjected him to 
 continual irritation and mortification. In his 
 thoughtlessness he constantly plunged into need- 
 lessly lavish expenditures, while Jessie silently 
 stinted herself even of necessaries. His generous 
 nature, and the liberality to which he had been 
 accustomed, rendered him peculiarly sensitive to 
 any chance allusion to their poverty. Thus Jessie 
 could not press upon him the need of retrenchment. 
 
 Herman still enacted the roles of second walk- 
 ing gentlemen, characters, as Washington Irving 
 styles them, " above the fear of a hiss, below the 
 hope of applause." These could not satisfy his 
 histrionic ambition could not supply the excite- 
 ment for which his restless spirit constantly 
 craved. Now that Jessie was his, he lacked the 
 stirring alternations of hope and fear the stimu- 
 lus of uncertainty the inspiring ardor of pursuit. 
 His superabundant energies once more struggled 
 wildly to find some satisfying vent.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 107 
 
 Slowly, unwillingly, Jessie marked a change 
 which she could not comprehend. She no longer 
 shared all his thoughts ; there was no longer per- 
 fect community of feeling between them ; that 
 certainty forced itself upon her startled conscious- 
 ness. 
 
 He often absented himself the instant rehearsal 
 was over ; he had an engagement, he said, but 
 without explaining its nature. Jessie was too 
 timid, and too confiding, to question him. At 
 night, when the play was over, Herman and 
 Jessie usually passed a few minutes with Jeannie, 
 and returned to their lodgings. Then Herman 
 would make some hurried or laughing excuse, 
 kiss her hastily, tell her to " go to bed like a good 
 girl," and, adding that he would be back soon, 
 precipitately leave her. 
 
 Jessie pondered, wondered over these myste- 
 rious engagements ; but she trusted him wholly. 
 She persuaded herself that he had good and wise 
 reasons for not communicating them to her. She 
 never arraigned him before the tribunal of her 
 own judgment, and there convicted him of un- 
 kindness. She struggled resolutely against a 
 sense of desolation. She had never before felt 
 alone. Often she sat musing, arguing with her- 
 self, counting the strokes which rang from the
 
 108 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 neighboring steeples, until she heard Herman's 
 returning step, it might be at one, two, or three 
 o'clock in the morning. As she sprang to meet 
 him, his absence was forgotten in the joy of his 
 return. 
 
 It was on one of these occasions that a re- 
 proach, for the first time, fell from Herman's lips. 
 Why had she not retired? Why did she sit 
 there watching at what hour he returned, to 
 rebuke him for his absence ? 
 
 " Rebuke you, Herman ? " exclaimed Jessie in 
 surprise. 
 
 " Yes, your sitting up rebukes me," he an- 
 swered with asperity. 
 
 His cheeks were flushed, his eyes glittered, his 
 hand was tremulous. But these were signs that 
 Jessie had not learned to interpret. 
 
 From that night she always retired when Her- 
 man left her. When he gazed upon her counte- 
 nance, on his return, he found her eyes closed 
 and believed that the seal of unconsciousness 
 was upon them. Like Desdemona, she was " a 
 child to chiding," and shrank from unmerited 
 blame. Poor trembler, it was her first deception. 
 
 The roseate hues that hitherto insphered her 
 life, seemed slowly, incomprehensibly melting 
 away.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 109 
 
 One disappointment, one trial, far exceeded all 
 others. Religion was the first, the strongest im- 
 pulse of her nature. She could more easily have 
 existed without light and heat than without daily 
 recognition of the blessings, the mercies of her 
 Lord. 
 
 During the sunshiny days of courtship, the 
 happy months of early marriage, Herman ap- 
 peared fully to share in these devotional aspira- 
 tions. Then the subject gradually occupied fewer 
 and fewer of his thoughts. His passionate love 
 for Jessie had awakened, or included, love for all 
 things holy. As that love calmed in its ardor, 
 the love of heavenly things grew cold. Not that 
 he was ever skeptical; not that he doubted the 
 existence, the goodness of a Creator, a Saviour. 
 But man's duty to his God, his accountability 
 for every moment of his existence, ceased to be 
 matters of constant reflection, of daily, hourly 
 importance, as they were to the sisters. 
 
 To what bosom but Jeannie's could Jessie fly 
 for refuge? To whom but Jeannie could she 
 confide her grief, her fears ? 
 
 Jeannie strove to reassure her. " The good 
 
 seed takes time to grow ; it cannot bring forth 
 
 fruit at once. Let us believe that it is planted 
 
 in his mind with the divine truths he has learned, 
 
 10
 
 110 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 and that there will be fruition at some future 
 day." 
 
 " But should it be as the good seed described 
 in the Word, which springs up at once, and 
 having no root endureth but for a season ! " 
 answered Jessie in a tone of anguish. 
 
 " I cannot think that," replied Jeannie. " His 
 very love for you will protect and make it bear 
 hereafter." 
 
 " His love for me ! Ah, Jeannie, I cannot for- 
 get my day-dreams; how thoroughly united I 
 believed our hearts to be ; how responsive all our 
 thoughts ; how Heaven-centred our hopes ! How 
 perfect I thought our oneness of spirit ! " 
 
 " My sister, it was well, it was right that you 
 should have thought so before you united your- 
 self to him or to any man. But that perfect 
 spiritual union of which you are thinking can 
 only exist where both parties are regenerate ; and 
 it must be progressive, even as regeneration is 
 progressive. Our Lord regenerates no two be- 
 ings in the same way; not even us who are 
 twin sisters. My trials are different from your 
 yours from mine, because we need different sor- 
 rows as means of purification." 
 
 " But should the day the dreadful day, ever 
 come when I shalj feel that our hearts are di-
 
 TWIN ROSES. Ill 
 
 vided that our union is not for here and here- 
 after that " 
 
 Jeannie interrupted her with great tenderness, 
 " Heaven leads us to such beings upon earth as 
 we can most benefit, or, to such as can most 
 benefit us. Where there is deep attachment, 
 internal dissimilitudes do not appear before mar- 
 riage. Love may be intense, and yet not spirit- 
 ual. But it is only a selfish spirit that is im- 
 mersed in sorrowful yearnings for congeniality, 
 and neglects the holy offices it may perform for 
 the one to whom it is united. In many cases, if 
 two thoroughly congenial beings were conjoined 
 in this world, they would confirm each other in 
 evils ; or, dormant evil, lying deep in the soul, 
 might not be excited, and thus made known and 
 combated. Bear in mind, dear sister, that life 
 is but a preparatory school in which we are fit- 
 ting for a higher ; and learn its lessons meekly." 
 
 " I will I will," answered Jessie with emotion. 
 " Our Lord knows in what manner his children 
 can best be brought nearer to him, and gathered 
 into his fold." 
 
 " Let us not talk of it any more to-day, sister," 
 added Jeannie. " Perhaps we had better not talk 
 of it too often at all. It is a subject upon which 
 it is difficult for us to have clear light. Let us
 
 112 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 go on and do our duty patiently, and trust the 
 rest to Heaven." 
 
 That very night Jessie had a new and fearful 
 trial to undergo. It was late before Herman 
 came to take her to the theatre. They both ap- 
 peared in the first scene of the drama to be 
 enacted. It was almost impossible, rapidly as 
 she moved, to complete her toilette before the 
 curtain rose. 
 
 She parted with Herman at the door of her 
 dressing-room, and did not see him again until 
 they met on the stage. She entered upon the 
 scene a few moments before him. What was 
 her consternation when she beheld him approach 
 in a costume disordered and incomplete! He 
 wore no cap, though the scene was in the street ; 
 his cavalier cloak, his sash and sword, had been 
 forgotten. The last omission was of moment, 
 as the sword was needed in a combat to be 
 fought before he left the stage. 
 
 Fortunately Jessie made her exit before the 
 encounter commenced. She flew to his dressing- 
 room, found the sword, returned with it to the 
 nearest wing, and stood trying to attract Her- 
 man's attention. 
 
 He caught her signal only at the moment 
 when his "trusty blade" was needed, snatched
 
 TWIN ROSES. 113 
 
 the weapon hastily from her hand, and without 
 the faintest token of thanks, returned to his posi- 
 tion on the stage. 
 
 Jessie's breast heaved with suppressed emo- 
 tion. She was turning away but Hawkwood 
 stood at her elbow. His cat-like eyes peered into 
 her face with malicious triumph. 
 
 " Our noble consort is doing himself credit 
 to-night, is he not ? Reflecting new honor upon 
 his adopted profession. Not very grateful, I 
 must say, for your wifely attentions. Rather 
 weak in the memory too ! I suppose you know 
 the meaning of that ? " he added significantly. 
 
 " Of what ? " she questioned in an absent 
 manner. 
 
 " Of that forgetfulness that unfinished cos- 
 tume that uncertain step. Look ! look at it ! " 
 and he pointed to Herman as he crossed the stage 
 with a gait very different from his usual firm 
 and manly tread. 
 
 " "What do you mean ? " asked Jessie hurriedly. 
 
 " Mean ? Only that he is making daily friends 
 with the bottle fiend ! " cried Hawkwood with a 
 bitter laugh. 
 
 For the first time the truth, or rather a portion 
 of the fatal truth, flashed with withering vivid- 
 ness on Jessie's mind. She was blinded and 
 10*
 
 114 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 stunned for a moment. If she had not grasped 
 the arm of Hawkwood, she must have fallen. 
 
 " Poor thing ! " he said in a tone that was 
 meant for one of pity; "You have made your 
 bed and must lie upon it, as the saying is." 
 
 " Don't ! don't speak to me ! " gasped Jessie 
 feebly, and making an effort to support herself 
 without his assistance. " If it be true but no 
 it cannot be ! " 
 
 At that moment Herman passed from the stage 
 at an exit just below where they stood. Jessie 
 ran to him and took his arm. As her loving, 
 anxious eyes scanned his face, he seemed half 
 inclined to shake her off; but no he could not 
 do that ! He only assumed an air of unmeaning 
 hilurity and said, " What's the matter, little wife? 
 Have you lost something that you expect to find 
 in my face ? " 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Herman, dear ? " 
 she asked with serious tenderness. 
 
 It was an ill-advised question ; it irritated 
 Herman, who was not perfect master of himself. 
 He broke forth in a confused torrent of re- 
 proaches ; charging her with suspicions with 
 watching him with want of trust want of 
 proper respect and affection. 
 
 Jessie clung to his arm, trembling violently ; she
 
 TWIN ROSES. 115 
 
 could only shake her head, but neither expostu- 
 lated with him nor defended herself. Instinct 
 taught her that, at this crisis, words would be 
 useless. 
 
 The next moment both were summoned to the 
 stage. 
 
 Wherever Jessie moved, whatever by-play the 
 business of the scene required, her eyes could not 
 turn from her husband, but his eyes never once 
 met hers. 
 
 That night she spent but a minute at her sis- 
 ter's side. Though Herman did not accompany 
 her to Jeannie's chamber, she never thought of 
 confiding, even to that sister, the new sorrow 
 with which she had been visited. Her husband's 
 short-comings were sacred. It was not for a 
 wife to make them known to any human being. 
 
 In silence Herman conducted her to their lodg- 
 ings then left her. 
 
 He did not return until the first morning 
 streaks were glowing in the sky. Jessie seemed 
 to be slumbering she did not dare to greet 
 him to utter a word to stir, until his heavy 
 breathing attested that he had sunk into profound 
 repose. 
 
 The next morning brought its ten o'clock 
 rehearsal, as usual. Herman looked pale and
 
 116 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 haggard. His eyes rolled wildly his lips con- 
 stantly moved, now inaudibly, now muttered 
 numbers could be heard. Even as he stood on 
 the stage, rehearsing, his abstraction was appar- 
 ent to every one. His hands seemed to hold 
 something in fancy which he was shuffling. His 
 fingers moved nervously. 
 
 With vulture-like ferocity Mr. Hawkwood 
 hovered around Jessie, ready to make a sudden 
 stoop, and plunge his cruel beak into her heart. 
 The frightened dove beheld him, but fluttered 
 vainly to escape. The first moment that she 
 stands alone, he is at her side, and his harsh voice 
 jarring every chord of her spirit. 
 
 " Have you solved the rest of the riddle ? Do 
 you know the meaning of that ? " he questioned 
 savagely. 
 
 " Pray don't talk to me ! I am busy I am 
 trying to study my part ; " and Jessie opened the 
 book in her hand and looked intently on the 
 page. 
 
 " You have been studying a more difficult part 
 all the morning ; are you quite up in it ? Do you 
 find the Gambler's wife easy ? " 
 
 "Gambler! oh! Heaven!" 
 
 " Oh ! you didn't know it before eh ? Didn't 
 know that the gaming table, and its conse-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 117 
 
 quences, had stolen from you your husband, and 
 that he is going fast to ruin ! " 
 
 " Not ruin not " 
 
 " Ask him then, I've been watching him for 
 some time. I predicted that young man's fate, 
 and I usually see my predictions verified. 
 Though, of course, it's very repugnant to my 
 feelings. One night he wins largely the next 
 he loses more largely; thus the excitement is 
 always kept up. But the end oh ! that's the 
 rub the end ! " 
 
 " What are you doing, you old brute, making 
 this poor, young creature wretched with your 
 wicked tales ? " broke in the shrill voice of Dor- 
 othy. 
 
 Jessie turned to her for refuge. 
 
 " Did you hear him, Dolly ? It is not true, is 
 it ? " and she looked as though existence hung on 
 the answer. 
 
 " Let her deny it if she can ! She's no fool ! 
 She knows what everybody else knows," said 
 Hawkwood. 
 
 " I dare say he plays a little most men do ; 
 that's nothing ! " retorted Dorothy, apologetically. 
 " It might be a great deal worse I don't believe 
 he ventures everything. And he don't ill treat 
 you. He's a kind husband. You see it might
 
 118 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 be much much worse. He loves you, I'm 
 sure." 
 
 Oh! Dolly! Dolly!" 
 
 " There, dear lamb, don't take on about it ! 
 I wish that abominable Hawkwood had his 
 tongue slit. That's your call. Go on and play 
 your best. Don't let these little troubles interfere 
 with business that would be to make matters 
 worse, indeed." 
 
 The revelation of that night did not alienate 
 Jessie from her husband. She became gentler, 
 more affectionate to him than ever. She knew 
 that our own states affect those around us and 
 that a loving heart will draw down heavenly 
 influences into the most adverse circumstances. 
 When Herman, in his moments of excitement, 
 spoke roughly to her, she remembered that "kind- 
 ness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the 
 sting of unkindness in others." * She forbore to 
 reproach him even in thought. She whispered 
 to herself those comforting lines : 
 
 " The fall thou darest to despise, 
 May be the slackened angel's hand 
 Has suil'i-ivil it tluit he in:iy rise 
 And take :i lininT, surer stand, 
 Or, trusting less to earthly tilings, 
 May henceforth le:irn to use his wings." 
 
 * \V. S. Landor.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 119 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AN ANGEL IN THE HOUSE. 
 
 SOON after the incidents related in the preced- 
 ing chapter, the precious promise of maternity 
 compelled Jessie to retire from the stage. 
 
 A portion of every day, and all heV evenings, 
 were now passed in Jeannie's little chamber. 
 This constant, intimate communion of the sisters 
 reclasped that one link of the holy chain which 
 Jessie's marriage threatened to sever. 
 
 Herman alternated between states of induced 
 exhilaration, and fits of depression and contrition, 
 only betrayed in overflowings of tenderness to 
 his wife. Her influence affected him uncon- 
 sciously. Patience, with its silent, hidden work- 
 ings, is all-powerful in its sway. No truly manly 
 nature was ever yet impervious to woman's for- 
 bearing, smiling patience. It is the invisible 
 sceptre which she never wields in vain. 
 
 Thus months passed on. 
 
 It is morning in the tiny, picturesque apart- 
 ment at the top of the theatre. Jeannie has fed
 
 120 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 her bulfinch, and watered and trimmed her 
 flowers, for, with the support of her crutches, she 
 manages to perform these pleasant duties, un- 
 aided. She has lain down again and taken up 
 her work. She is growing anxious, for the hour 
 of Jessie's daily visit has passed. 
 
 There is a hurried knock at the door. Before 
 she can answer, Herman rushes in. His lips are 
 colorless, his countenance livid from agitation. 
 
 " Jeannie, you must come come to her 
 quickly ! 43he will die my poor Jessie she will 
 die!" 
 
 Jeannie only replied by her terrified look as 
 she sprang up and seized a shawl which lay 
 near. 
 
 " I have a cab at the door I will carry you in 
 my arms." 
 
 She assented. He lifted her light form with 
 as little effort as though she had been a child, and 
 bore her rapidly through the wardrobe. 
 
 Jeannie's presence of mind did not totally for- 
 sake her. " Send Mrs. Budd to us, Liza, my 
 sister is very ill," she said, without desiring Her- 
 man to pause. 
 
 They drove rapidly to Jessie's lodgings. Her- 
 man's emotion was too intense for language. 
 He had exchanged but few words with Jeannie
 
 TWIN HOSES. 121 
 
 when he carried her into the chamber and placed 
 her on one side of the bed where lay her sister. 
 
 Jessie, whose face was convulsed by throes of 
 agony, looked the gratitude she could not utter. 
 
 For two days her spirit hovered on the borders 
 of eternity. 
 
 Jeannie never left her side never slept, hardly 
 unlocked for an instant the hand that tightly 
 grasped hers. 
 
 Neither the entreaties of Mrs. Budd, who 
 had obeyed Jeannie's summons, nor the com- 
 mands of the physician, could force Herman from 
 the chamber. He hung over his wife with frantic 
 devotion, reproached himself as unworthy of the 
 treasure that was now to be snatched away from 
 him, and every instant thought to see the thread of 
 life, drawn to its utmost tension, wholly broken. 
 
 Suddenly the low moans which tortured the 
 ears of the watchers, were changed to a great cry 
 of mingled agony and joy. It was followed by 
 a faint wail. The piercing, yet half-jubilant cry, 
 broke from the young mother's lips the wail 
 issued, with its first breath, from the tiny mouth 
 of her infant daughter. 
 
 What language can paint the ecstacy of the 
 father the joyful, but voiceless thanksgiving of 
 the young mother, and her twin sister! What 
 11
 
 122 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 pen aye, what brush could transfer to paper or 
 canvass, the ineffable beauty of Jessie's counte- 
 nance, illumined by the first glorifying ray of 
 maternity ? The angelic light that threw an 
 almost visible halo around her brow, such as 
 Raphael might have striven in vain to catch, when 
 the infant was laid in her arms, and she looked 
 up from its soft face into Herman's ! 
 
 When Jeannie, in her rapt felicity, felt that 
 celestial beings filled the chamber, and gathered 
 around the new-born soul they were commis- 
 sioned to guard, was she merely a dreamer a 
 senseless visionary ? 
 
 The curtains are drawn, and there is darkness 
 and silence in the room, for the exhausted mother, 
 " faint with the sense of pain-bought happiness," 
 sleeps'with the infant on her bosom. 
 
 Jeannie still lies beside her sister, with closed 
 eyes, but waking thoughts. Herman has been 
 banished from the apartment. Mrs. Budd is 
 comfortably curled in her arm chair, and, if cer- 
 tain discordant signals may be trusted, she too is 
 slumbering after her protracted vigil. 
 
 When Jessie awoke, fever, attended with deli- 
 rium, became apparent. She saw myriads of 
 cherub heads floating about her bed, and each 
 countenance resembled that of the babe in her
 
 TWIN HOSES. 123 
 
 arms. She could not shut out the infantile band. 
 Ever and anon she sank to rest, but the instant 
 her eyes unclosed she beheld it again. 
 
 Another night and another day and the fever 
 had subsided. Her state had changed to one of 
 calm consciousness. All her symptoms now 
 argued a steady, though not very rapid, recovery. 
 
 Few men are attracted towards very young in- 
 fants. The masculine imagination is seldom fine 
 enough to picture, while gazing on the small un- 
 expanded bud, the brilliant tints, the graceful 
 unfolding of the flower. But Herman was an 
 exception to this rule. To him the very helpless- 
 ness of infancy pleaded for love and subdued his 
 heart. He was drawn, as by a spell, to his child's 
 cradle, and while he lingered there, all the finest, 
 purest emotions of father and husband were 
 quickened within him. 
 
 Jeannie did not return to her own home for six 
 weeks. By that time Jessie was able to visit 
 her. 
 
 The gates of a new paradise had been thrown 
 open to the young mother. The simplest, com- 
 monest wild flowers that grew there filled her 
 with delight. The touch of her infant's little 
 hand communicated a thrill of joy its first smile 
 made her heart leap and swell its baby-crowing
 
 124 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 seemed to her a sort of miraculous music, and 
 when its tiny fingers were outstretched to catch 
 a sunbeam that played around its pillow, she 
 thought that baby hand had indeed seized and 
 brought down from on high a beam to irradiate 
 her life. 
 
 That little hand too had touched the rock in 
 Herman's bosom, and the pent-up waters gushed 
 freely forth. He now found relief in pouring out 
 his contrition in portraying to Jessie his temp- 
 tations his errors ; and in assuring her that the 
 dread of forfeiting her esteem had alone induced 
 concealment 
 
 Herman had a new incentive for exertion, and 
 he could now devote himself to his profession 
 with an unburdened bosom. He had abandoned 
 T!K- gaming table. He had internally vowed that 
 he would regain his own self-respect by resisting 
 its allurements. Man may fall, but demons only 
 do not rise again. 
 
 Herman, in the gladness of his heart, had 
 written to his father, announcing the birth of 
 the little Mildred so called after his mother. 
 No answer was returned. Herman should have 
 known the consistency and firmness of his father's 
 character too well to have expected one. 
 
 Jessie's health continued very delicate, but
 
 TWIN HOSES. 125 
 
 before her child was three months old, she felt 
 herself compelled to return to her professional 
 duties. Herman remonstrated at first ; but they 
 were already in debt. Herman's salary could 
 not supply even the pressing wants of his little 
 family, though all the product of Jeannie's labor 
 was secretly transferred to her sister. He was 
 forced to consent to Jessie's exertions. 
 
 They could not afford an attendant for the 
 child. During rehearsal the little one lay in 
 Jeannie's chamber. At night, too, it was brought t 
 to the theatre, well wrapped up, and carried 
 home in the young father's arms, when the play 
 was over. 
 
 Herman was still galled by the sense of pov- 
 erty. His sensitive nature was nightly wounded 
 to the quick when he beheld Jessie overtaxing 
 her strength to aid in obtaining the livelihood 
 which he felt it was his duty to supply. Yet he 
 resisted the entreaties of his former gay associates 
 to " redeem his fortunes," as they called it, at the 
 gaming table. 
 
 Mildred was now a year old. 
 
 This first year of her maternity threw no 
 
 shadows on Jessie. The child was a new and 
 
 adamantine link of union between her and her 
 
 husband. To the heaven-sent little messenger 
 
 11 *
 
 126 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 there seemed to have been appointed the earthly 
 office of more closely intertwining those two 
 spirits. 
 
 The ensuing year Herman began to develop 
 very decided scenic talent. Its existence would 
 never have been divined by those who beheld his 
 first crude and bombastic impersonation of 
 Hamlet. The captious audience rewarded him, 
 not with fluctuating approval, but with steady 
 marks of favor. His ambition, and his yearning 
 for stage triumphs, were rekindled. Applause 
 was an exhilarating stimulus. The delight of 
 embodying ideal heroes thrilled and captivated 
 him anew. Unusually full pieces threw him into 
 a range of characters where his dramatic powers 
 had unwonted scope. Actors who held a higher 
 position were seized with jealousy when he 
 startled the audience into bursts of genuine en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 From the moment that they regarded him in 
 the light of a rival, his persecution was certain. 
 He had now gained so firm a foothold on the 
 boards that he would not have yielded an inch in 
 fair and open combat. But against the foe in 
 ambush, what weapons avail ? 
 
 Private influence, exerted over the manager, 
 kept him out of parts which he had proved him-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 12T 
 
 self capable of delineating. When new plays 
 were placed upon the stage, the roles that legi- 
 timately belonged to him were given to inferior 
 artists ; he was tormented in a thousand ways 
 which those uninitiated in the mysteries of thea- 
 trical life cannot comprehend. 
 
 The old spirit of restlessness and discontent 
 returned. This field was not wide enough his 
 limbs were chained his faculties paralyzed he 
 could not breathe in this confined atmosphere 
 he must seek a freer, more extensive sphere of 
 activity ; the sense of incompletion, of stagnation 
 was prostrating. 
 
 It was while these thoughts were agitating his 
 mind that, in an evil hour, he met some of his 
 former reckless associates. They once more 
 essayed, and, with some difficulty, induced him 
 to accompany them. He protested that he would 
 only watch the game, he would not play himself; 
 but before long he had become so deeply inter- 
 ested that he forgot every thing, and yielding to 
 an irresistible, almost maddening impulse, had 
 broken his resolution ! 
 
 He won largely, and was highly elated with 
 his success. He returned home in rollicking 
 spirits, inwardly vowing that he would make the 
 best of his good luck, but never touch a card 
 again.
 
 128 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Jessie's quick, wifely eyes saw something un- 
 usual in his manner, but she stifled down the 
 rising suspicion. 
 
 The next day he made a number of purchases 
 for his wife and child which, though needful 
 enough, were too extravagant for their means. 
 Jessie gently warned him that they had not For- 
 tunatus's purse in their possession. 
 
 He answered hilariously, " It's all right, dearest. 
 You see I'm not running in debt; I have paid 
 for them." 
 
 " Have you heard from your father, then ? " 
 exclaimed Jessie hopefully. 
 
 " No don't ask saucy questions, little wo- 
 man." 
 
 A shadow passed over Jessie's lucid counte- 
 nance. "Ah! Herman " she said imploringly. 
 
 " There there, go to the child, she wants you ; 
 and don't trouble yourself about my affairs." 
 
 " Your affairs ! Are not our affairs the same ? " 
 rose to Jessie's lips, but she did not speak the 
 words. 
 
 The fever and its unslaked thirst again pos- 
 sessed him. He grew impatient, untranquil, 
 neglectful of study. To his wife and child he 
 was, if possible, more affectionate than ever. 
 Yet he spent fewer hours in their society ; and
 
 TWIN ROSES. 129 
 
 even while they were by his side, his thoughts 
 were wandering elsewhere. 
 
 He could hardly have told how it occurred, but 
 he found himself again before the fatal table. 
 
 He went to look on, as before, and, as before, 
 he played as before, he won and again left the 
 table with the suddenly acquired gold swelling 
 his purse and making his heart big. 
 
 Intoxicated with success, he could not now 
 withstand the temptation. Every day brought 
 its exciting risks. Sometimes he won, sometimes 
 he lost heavily. 
 
 One night Herman returned to his home, al- 
 most in despair. He had met with startling 
 losses in the morning ; in the evening he had 
 been forced to enact a part which he detested, 
 and which did not belong to the line of business 
 for which he was engaged ; he had seen the char- 
 acter which he should have filled winning ap- 
 plause for another ; he had offended the audience 
 by his careless performance ; had been reproved 
 by the manager ; had answered haughtily, and 
 accused him of partiality and injustice ! Jessie 
 witnessed his mortification, and strove in wo- 
 manly ways to extract its sting. Her sympathy 
 was so sWeet to him that once more he wholly 
 opened his heart. He avowed that he had been
 
 130 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 tempted again, that he had again fallen into 
 error. 
 
 " I knew it, Herman," said Jessie mildly. 
 
 " Knew it ? " he answered with a fierce intona- 
 tion. " Who told you ? "Was it that venomous, 
 back-biting Hawkwood ? " 
 
 " No one. Your manner, your actions told me. 
 But I thought it wejl not to speak. I hoped, I 
 felt sure that this would not last that you would 
 see the the " Jessie hesitated. 
 
 " Speak the word out boldly, I deserve it. I 
 am a brute speak it out; let me hear it from 
 your lips." 
 
 " It is enough that you confide in me now. 
 That is all I ask. You know how I trust you, 
 Herman nothing can shake that trust." 
 
 " Oh ! Jessie, if I were worthy of you ! " cried 
 Herman. 
 
 What said Jessie's eyes as she laid her head 
 fondly on his shoulder? 
 
 She resumed the conversation by saying, " You 
 told me just now that you had some plan to pro- 
 pose. What is it ? Let me hear it now." 
 
 " You will be startled, Jessie; but the thought 
 has been running in my head for a long time. 
 The temptation* here, I confess it, are so great 
 that I cannot always be certain of resisting
 
 TWIN ROSES. 131 
 
 them. Then I have not a fair chance of rising in 
 the profession and of earning a salary by which 
 I may comfortably support you and the little one. 
 I must go elsewhere." 
 
 " I will go any where with you," replied Jessie 
 warmly. Then she thought of Jeannie, and 
 there was a choking sensation in her throat. 
 
 " We hear glowing accounts of the success of 
 English actors in America of the large sums 
 they earn of the position they hold I must go 
 to America!" 
 
 " America ! " exclaimed Jessie aghast. 
 
 " There, I feared I should startle you ! It is 
 so far away so far from your sister and the 
 child. We could not well take Mildred with 
 us. She would be an encumbrance on such a 
 journey. We should be obliged to leave her 
 with Jeannie." 
 
 For a few moments Jessie was incapable of 
 replying. These blows fell so thick and fast! 
 Part with her beloved sister part with her idol- 
 ized child bid adieu to her native land to all 
 her old associations ! Would these sacrifices, 
 indeed, be required of her ? But Herman's wel- 
 fare stood foremost in the mind-drawn picture 
 and overshadowed all the rest. If she could save 
 him from evil companions restore to him peace
 
 132 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 of mind, the universe weighed as nothing in the 
 opposite scale ! 
 
 She turned to him, her small hand clasped his 
 with a strong pressure her lovely, uplifted face 
 was beaming with hope and devotion as she re- 
 plied, " I will go with you, Herman, any where 
 the whole world over! I will leave Jeannie, 
 leave our child, leave everything, to go with 
 you ! "
 
 TWIN ROSES. 133 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OCEAN PERILS. 
 
 How keenly Jeannie suffered when the new 
 project was communicated to her, not even her 
 twin sister divined, no word expressed dissent, 
 no look betrayed her anguish at the proposed 
 separation. With characteristic self-forgetfulness, 
 she strengthened her sister's resolution to accom- 
 pany her husband though it rendered Jeannie's 
 own life more desolate than ever. 
 
 The child was to remain with her there waa 
 some comfort in that a solace alas ! stolen from 
 Jessie's scanty store. 
 
 Little Mildred throve wonderfully. Healthy, 
 strong, eager, vivacious, never for a moment quiet 
 when she was awake she evidently inherited 
 her father's mercurial, excitable temperament. 
 
 Her fits of turbulent joyousness, her bursts of 
 tempestuous love were succeeded by contrarious 
 moods when she perversely refused to return the 
 caresses even of her parents. Already it was 
 apparent that she was self-willed, and violent, and 
 the thwarting of her baby volitions caused the 
 12
 
 134 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 outbreak of sudden gusts of passion. Yet her 
 very waywardness threw around her an inexpli- 
 cable fascination, as though some attracting, en- 
 dearing element had been infused even into her 
 imperfections. 
 
 The same strange contradiction, that gave sin- 
 gularity to her character, manifested itself in her 
 personal appearance. 
 
 Her hair was almost golden, yet her mother's 
 dark eyes, finely drawn, black eyebrows, and 
 sweeping lashes were repeated in her face; a 
 singular combination which resulted in striking 
 and uncommon loveliness. 
 
 That she was the privileged pet and plaything 
 of the theatre may well be imagined. Even Mr. 
 Hawkwood, one day, involuntarily chucked the 
 child beneath the chin until it laughed aloud, 
 revealing those bewitching dimples that its 
 mother carried on either cheek. Perhaps that 
 infantine merriment stirred the gall with which 
 his heart overflowed, for he said in accents of 
 mock pity, " That's right, little monkey, laugh 
 now, for there are plenty of tears in store for 
 you, by and bye ! " 
 
 Poor Jessie strained the child to her breast and 
 hurried away, as though she would fly with it out 
 of the reach of that cruel prophecy.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 135 
 
 Herman's preparations were rapidly made. 
 The sale of the luxurious household furniture, 
 with which he had surrounded his bride, now 
 produced the expenses of the voyage. A very 
 moderate sum would remain on their arrival in 
 America. But, in that land of abundance, Her- 
 man was confident of reaping a golden harvest 
 with the sickle of his talent. 
 
 They took passage in a steamer that left Liver- 
 pool on the first of March. Jessie suggested 
 the more economical transportation qf a sailing 
 vessel, but Herman rebelled. He had made little 
 progress in the difficult science of economy. 
 
 The parting of the sisters tested the heroism 
 of both. 
 
 Jeannie, though shaken to the centre of her 
 being, bade adieu with pale composure and 
 powerful self-control that held her very pulses to 
 then: usual temperate beating. 
 
 Jessie wept profusely convulsively as she 
 embraced her sister and her child. 
 
 Herman was in that state of joyous elation 
 which change of scene new hopes a fresh pro- 
 ject, always produced. But when he kissed 
 Jeannie, and pressed little Mildred to his heart, 
 when she clung to him, affrighted by her mother's 
 emotion a few misgivings began to battie with
 
 136 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 his bright visions. He placed the child in Jean- 
 nie's arms bade an inarticulate adieu to the 
 friends that crowded around Jessie, and hurried 
 her away. 
 
 They reached Liverpool that night, and the 
 next morning embarked for Boston. 
 
 The sea was a new, a strange and beautiful 
 revelation to the young travellers. The bracing 
 air had an invigorating, champagne-like effect 
 on Herman, the unusual motion created no 
 distress. 
 
 In a few days even Jessie was pronounced an 
 excellent sailor. 
 
 As she paced the deck with Herman, and lis- 
 tened to his plans for the future, or sat beside him 
 (his arm around her to guard against the sudden 
 heavings of the ship) and watched the phosphoric 
 lights dancing like a shower of diamonds on the 
 waters, or the moon rising in sublime splendor 
 from its ocean bed and transmuting the waves 
 into a silver mirror, Jessie was happy beyond 
 expression. Yes, happy in spite of her heart- 
 yearnings for those whom she had left behind. 
 Herman's buoyancy and enthusiasm seemed ever 
 ascending to a higher and higher climax. What 
 wonder that Jessie found them contagious ? 
 
 The 'delicacy and refinement of Mrs. Lander's
 
 TWIN ROSES. 137 
 
 appearance, the tender devotion of her husband, 
 and her extreme beauty, combined to render her 
 an object of interest to her fellow passengers. 
 But her sensitive nature shrank from intercourse 
 with strangers. Of the many who sought to ap- 
 proach her, one only succeeded in melting the 
 barrier of her reserve. 
 
 Miss Pomeroy was born and educated in the 
 Athens of the new land Boston. Her enfran- 
 chisement from school was succeeded by a sojourn 
 of two years in Europe. She was now returning 
 home. 
 
 This young girl was an admirable type of the 
 Massachusetts maiden ; highly educated, self-re- 
 liant, unprejudiced, consulting the dictates of 
 strong good sense and a warm heart, rather than 
 the world's opinion. She was unawed by the 
 quen dira Von of society when she was intent 
 upon performing a kind action, we might almost 
 add when she was bent on gratifying a whim. 
 
 She learned that the young actress was making 
 her way to a land where she was a total stranger. 
 She might, she must need friendly aid and coun- 
 sel. She offered her own with a straightforward 
 earnestness that, while it startled the timid Jessie, 
 did not fail to captivate her. She received Miss 
 Pomeroy r s proffered services " not with vain 
 12*
 
 138 TWIX K" 
 
 thanks, but with acceptance bounteous." This 
 was Jessie's only acquaintance on ship-board. 
 
 For the first ten days the weather was unusu- 
 ally mild. Boisterous March had not threatened 
 to exhibit his turbulent disposition. But this 
 delusive calm was broken, without menace, by a 
 sudden whirlwind. So at least it seemed to 
 Jessie, who was sitting contentedly in her state- 
 room. 
 
 The violent tossing of the vessel the sound of 
 rushing feet the hoarse voice of the captain giv- 
 ing rapid orders the swift pulling of ropes, the 
 confusion and tumult above, caused her to start 
 up and call upon Herman. There was no answer 
 to the repeated cry. He was not within hearing. 
 
 It was still early morning. Jessie remembered 
 that he had gone upon deck a short time before 
 she rose. 
 
 In spite of the heavy pitching of the vessel, 
 Jessie made her staggering way through the 
 ladies' cabin to the dining saloon. She passed a 
 group of panic-stricken supplicants sending up 
 prayers, wrung from terror, not from love. Can 
 such supplications ever reach the gates of Heaven ? 
 Suddenly the waves rushed down the companion- 
 way. Then the clamorous shrieks of women and 
 children rent the air.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 139 
 
 Jessie clung to the banister with a firm hold. 
 Though the sea passed over her, she did not re- 
 lease her grasp. To ascend to Herman was her 
 one thought. The water could not drive her 
 back. After several desperate efforts, she suc- 
 ceeded in mounting. 
 
 What a scene burst on her eyes when she 
 reached the round-house, and held herself erect by 
 clinging to the door that opened on the deck! 
 The sky was black with flying clouds. The 
 angry flood, frothing in its fury, seemed to 
 dash against the heavens, literally " pelting the 
 skies." On one side the sea rose in a huge 
 mountain on the other sank into a deep chasm 
 that threatened to engulf the groaning ship. 
 Then the yawning abyss was filled the ship 
 was tossed up towards the clouds the moun- 
 tain of a moment before, sank into a valley. 
 The strained vessel quivered and shook, as with 
 a mighty spasm. A sail was torn from its fast- 
 enings and flapped like the wing of some gigantic 
 bird, sending forth an ominous sound that rose 
 above the howling of the gale. The waves that 
 constantly rushed over the deck carried overboard 
 every article that their violence could loosen. 
 
 Jessie stood awe-struck spell-bound. Her 
 natural fears were swallowed up in amazement
 
 140 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 and admiration of the grandeur of this combat 
 between the sea and sky. It was marvellous how 
 steadily she kept her position. 
 
 All at once she caught sight of Herman. 
 
 He had made a vain attempt to reach the 
 cabin, and was now clinging to a rope passed 
 around a mast. His gaze was riveted on Jessie 
 before she beheld him. But to advance a step 
 without being washed overboard was impossible. 
 And Jessie, as she clung to the door of the round- 
 house, could neither press forward nor retreat. 
 Though so near, they seemed miles and miles 
 apart. 
 
 An expression of horror passes over Herman's 
 countenance. What is it he sees ? Jessie's eyes 
 follow the direction of his. A huge object is 
 floating towards them, bearing directly down 
 upon the steamship. A glittering, shining hill, 
 that, in awful, menacing grandeur, glides nearer 
 and nearer it is an iceberg ! 
 
 That sight has stricken terror into the bravest 
 hearts. 
 
 Jessie heard the cry of the sailors and the 
 captain's thundered order to the helmsman. The 
 n'\t moment there was a violent shock a crash ! 
 Hen nan had loosened his hold perhaps in his 
 attempt to reach her ; he had disappeared. The
 
 TWIN ROSES. 141 
 
 mast, the very mast to which he had clung was 
 snapped in twain ! The iceberg was sweeping 
 triumphantly onward huge fragments of the 
 torn vessel following in its track. 
 
 Jessie's agonized gaze in vain sought Herman. 
 He had surely been washed into the sea ! The 
 instinct of self-preservation was lost in grief she 
 relaxed her hold she felt herself whirled violently 
 forward she was conscious that the waves were 
 beating over her, a sound as of a thousand 
 chariot wheels was in her ears she knew no 
 more. 
 
 When her senses returned, the blue sky greeted 
 her opening eyes. She was lying on the deck. 
 The storm had partially ceased. She heard the 
 working of the pumps the firing of guns that 
 gave signal of a ship in distress ; she remembered 
 all and oh ! what anguish unutterable seized 
 her with one vivid recollection! She made an 
 effort to rise, there was an arm around her a 
 breath on her cheek a voice in her ears it was 
 Herman's ! 
 
 The blood streamed from a deep gash in his 
 brow. Its flow had probably recalled him to his 
 senses. He awoke to find Jessie stretched upon 
 the deck a few paces from him. 
 
 The vessel was tossed less frantically from side
 
 142 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 to side, and Herman was enabled to rise and lift 
 up Jessie in his arms. But the danger was im- 
 minent as ever ; though the pumps were kept 
 in motion without pause, the ship was rapidly 
 filling and must soon sink. 
 
 Jessie could look calmly upon death death at 
 Herman's side death in Herman's arms. The 
 flight of her spirit to the land which was not afar 
 off, which she so often regarded in thought, was 
 not appalling even in the midst of the wide 
 waters. 
 
 But Herman's sanguine temperament clung to 
 hope to life. He had been used to think of the 
 shores beyond the grave as an "unknown 
 bourne ; " his soul shrank from the dark plunge. 
 He was a brave man, and Jessie might have been 
 accounted a coward, but she could contemplate, 
 with steady eyes, the threatened change which he 
 could not look upon. 
 
 The captain orders the life-boats to be manned ; 
 in them now lies the only hope. 
 
 The pale, fear-sick wretches upon the deck all 
 press madly forward, dashing aside every obstacle 
 and trampling upon each other; brute force 
 rules the hour the strongest would leap first into 
 the boats. But the gallant captain, sternly calm 
 in this great jx ril tluit places a hundred lives in
 
 TWIN ROSES. 143 
 
 his hand, guards the passage-way himself, ex- 
 claiming, " I will shoot the first man that jumps 
 into a boat without my order ! " 
 
 The pistol is ready in his grasp to execute his 
 threat. He has foreseen the danger and met it, 
 prepared to conquer. 
 
 " The women and children first, and four men 
 with them to take charge of that boat. Martin 
 Chalmers, Tom Anson, Mackinstry, Stodart 
 in with you ! Now the women." 
 
 His orders were obeyed with silent alacrity. 
 The four men took their seats the women were 
 rapidly placed in the boat. 
 
 Jesssie stood on the deck, clinging to Herman. 
 One of the sailors approached to lift her into the 
 life-boat, but she would not release her hold. 
 
 " With him ! with my husband ! Not without 
 him ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 In vain Herman entreated her to go she 
 wildly implored to remain with him. 
 
 " For God's sake, make haste ! " cried out the 
 sturdy captain. " Not a man shall move until 
 this woman is safe ! " 
 
 "Jessie! Jessie! do you hear that order? 
 Every moment is precious ! " pleaded Herman. 
 " Until you are in the boat, not another life will 
 stand a chance of being saved ! "
 
 144 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 " Oh ! Herman not without you ! I cannot 
 will not go ! " 
 
 " I will follow, love, if it be possible ; but see, 
 the ship is sinking, there are two more boats 
 empty, and until you enter this, not one life more 
 can be saved." 
 
 " Mrs. Landor ! Mrs. Landor ! " supplicated 
 Miss Pomeroy from the boat where she had just 
 taken her seat. " I implore you not to delay. 
 You peril your husband's life as well as your 
 own. Pray come ! here here by my side is a 
 place for you. Oh ! come." 
 
 The captain gave some inaudible order to the 
 sailors who stood beside him. They seized Jessie 
 in their arms, tore her from Herman, who firmly, 
 though with tenderness, assisted their efforts, and 
 in a moment more the boat was lowered and 
 consigned to the waves. 
 
 Well might Jessie's shriek of terror thrill 
 through Herman! As the boat was borne furtlirr 
 and further away, he could see her uplifted arms 
 extended towards him and catch the expression 
 of despair on her white face. Miss Pomeroy 
 was supporting her striving to comfort her 
 holding her in the seat from which she made a 
 violent effort to rise. 
 
 The warm heart of the- c-aptain had been
 
 TWIN ROSES. 145 
 
 touched by the scene, though he would not 
 swerve from his duty. Herman was the first 
 man whom he ordered to descend into the second 
 boat. Jessie was still near enough to see him leap 
 in near enough for that yet oh ! how distant ! 
 
 The three boats are filled the ship is slowly 
 subsiding beneath the waves. 
 
 The boats are driven about for some time 
 within sight of each other. Herman and Jessie 
 are leaning over the sides, gazing in mute agony. 
 Towards evening the boats separate. Slowly 
 they cease to be visible. Husband and wife are 
 parted when to meet again? It may be not 
 until they are reunited on that eternal shore to 
 which the raging of this furious sea may drift 
 them. 
 
 Soon after morning broke, a dark object was 
 indistinctly apparent to those in the boat where 
 Herman was seated. It elicited a cry of horror 
 from the passengers could it be another floating 
 iceberg ! It approached nearer and nearer oh ! 
 the joyful relief of that sight! It was a steam- 
 ship! 
 
 Half an hour later the shivering occupants of 
 the boat were gathered on the deck of the Pacific 
 bound for New York. Three days afterwards 
 they entered their destined port. 
 13
 
 146 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE MISSING BOAT. 
 
 HERMAN'S paroxysms of grief, when, miserable 
 and solitary, he arrived in a strange land, baffle 
 all description. 
 
 A week a fortnight slowly, torturingly ebbed 
 away. Still, no tidings had been received of the 
 two other boats that had left the sinking ship. 
 The conviction gradually forced itself upon his 
 mind that he should behold Jessie no more on 
 earth that the boat, into which she was placed 
 against her will, had been swallowed up by the 
 angry sea ! 
 
 All the days that he had passed in her sweet 
 society rose in panoramic array before him. Bit- 
 ter and hopeless was his remorse. He had not 
 prized her to her full worth. The husband had 
 broken promises made by the lover ; he had 
 fallen short in a hundred duties; he had been 
 heedless, neglectful, cruel, and there was no 
 future in which he could make reparation. He 
 must drag on his wretched existence with the
 
 TWIN ROSES. 147 
 
 arrow of self-reproach always festering in his 
 soul. 
 
 And Jeannie how overwhelming would her 
 sorrow be ! He shrank from writing to her the 
 fatal tidings. His blood froze at the thought 
 that this blow must come through his hand his 
 hand which had already inflicted the first wound 
 that pierced her heart. But if he delayed longer, 
 would she not learn her bereavement through 
 some less tender medium ? That must not be. 
 
 He forced himself to write, but with a hopeful- 
 ness which he could not feel. He summed up all 
 the probabilities that the boats might yet be 
 heard from. It was but a fortnight. What a 
 century that brief space seemed to him as he 
 wrote those words ! 
 
 The letter was dispatched. The next day he 
 searched the papers as usual with eager avidity 
 his first duty every morning. How his pulses 
 leaped and throbbed ! The chamber was flooded 
 with light, and then swam around him! He 
 read that the passengers of one of the boats that 
 had left the unfortunate steamer a boat filled 
 with women, had been rescued by a sailing vessel 
 which had just reached Boston in safety. Then 
 followed the names of the saved. His eyes were 
 almost blinded as he strove to read them. With
 
 148 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 suspended breath he glanced through the list 
 Again and again he read many names he 
 recognized, but Jessie's was not there! Not 
 there! 
 
 Had she been swept from the boat ? Had she 
 been left upon it by some strange mischance ? 
 Had she died through exposure and grief? "Who 
 could answer these questions ? One thing only 
 was certain, her name was not on the list of the 
 saved. 
 
 To whom could he turn ? Miss Pomeroy she 
 was among the first mentioned. In a state bor- 
 dering upon insanity he started for Boston that 
 night 
 
 Soon after daybreak, the next morning, a hag- 
 gard, tottering man, who seemed to have become 
 suddenly aged, whom few would have recognized 
 as the vivacious and handsome Herman Landor, 
 was seen ascending the steps of a stately house 
 in Mount Vernon street His trembling hands 
 have pulled the bell several times before a sleepy 
 maid-servant opens the door. 
 
 " Miss Pomeroy does she live here ? " 
 
 " Deed and she does." 
 
 " Is she at home ? " 
 
 " Yes in course," replies the astonished Irish 
 lass, with a rebuke on her rosy visage at the sup-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 149 
 
 position that her young mistress could be out at 
 such an unseemly hour. 
 
 " I wish to see her." 
 
 " Deed and you can't, for she's not out of her 
 bed yet." 
 
 " It is a matter of the utmost importance. 
 Will you not carry a message to her ? " 
 
 " Sure, and you'd better call again just about 
 the breakfast hour. I shouldn't like to be after 
 disturbing her, for it's a sore journey she's had, 
 and she isn't too well. She'll breakfast at eight 
 o'the clock." 
 
 Herman's entreaties were useless, the girl re- 
 fused to carry note or message until Miss Pome- 
 roy came down to breakfast. 
 
 He left the house, and paced up and down the 
 street in a half-frenzied state, watching the win- 
 dows of the houses around as they slowly un- 
 closed, and from within came tokens of reawaken- 
 ing life. 
 
 It was not eight o'clock when he presented 
 himself at the door again. He was refused ad- 
 mittance as before. The young lady had not 
 come down to breakfast yet. He was expostu- 
 lating with the servant in an impassioned, sup- 
 plicating tone, when he caught sight of a flutter 
 of white drapery, and an instant after the form 
 13*
 
 150 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 it enveloped descended the stair. Impetuously 
 thrusting the servant aside, he rushed into the 
 hall. 
 
 " Miss Pomeroy ! " was all he could gasp 
 out. 
 
 " Mr. Landor ! Thank Heaven ! it is you." 
 
 And she caught his hand warmly as though it 
 had been that of an old friend. There was no 
 sorrow on her countenance no sympathy for his 
 grief she was radiant with smiles. 
 
 His white quivering lips could not frame a 
 question. " Jessie ! Jessie ! " at length broke 
 from them. 
 
 " Yes yes come in," said Miss Pomeroy, 
 leading the way to the parlor. 
 
 She was taking him there to prepare him for 
 her sad history. 
 
 Herman, losing all self-control, sank into a 
 chair, burying his head in his hands, and burst 
 into tears. For a time he struggled in vain for 
 utterance, and then sobbed out in accents of 
 deepest anguish, " Oh ! my God ! my God ! She 
 is dead, then ! " 
 
 " Dead ? For Heaven's sake, Mr. Landor, what 
 do you mean ? Dead ? No, no ! " 
 
 Herman sprang up as though from an elec- 
 trical shock.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 151 
 
 " My wife ! Is she alive ? Her name was not 
 on the list!" 
 
 " Yes, she is alive she is here with me, and 
 not very ill. By some accident her name was 
 omitted on the list. I had a correction made in 
 to-day's paper, for I knew that it would meet 
 your eye. We had heard of the safety of your 
 boat. Jessie has expected you every moment 
 since we arrived." 
 
 The reaction was so powerful that Herman's 
 very transport rendered him mute, and seemed to 
 paralyze his faculties. When he could command 
 his voice, he begged to be taken to Jessie at 
 once. 
 
 Miss Pomeroy told him that Jessie's health had 
 received a severe shock. The kind young hostess 
 was too deeply interested in the invalid to allow 
 her to run any risk. Mr. Landor must wait 
 patiently until she had prepared her patient for 
 the good news. 
 
 She left Herman ; but before even his impa- 
 tience could complain of the delay, returned. 
 Tears of joy were sparkling upon her cheeks. 
 " Come ! " was the only word she spoke. With 
 rapid steps she remounted the stair, and Herman 
 followed. She opened the door of a chamber, 
 and withdrew.
 
 152 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 That meeting who could describe it in lan- 
 guage that would not seem feeble to those who 
 have met after such a parting? To those who 
 have not, how could it ever be pictured ?
 
 TWIN KOSES. 153 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 STRUGGLES IN THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 FOR a few days Herman became the guest of 
 Miss Pomeroy's father. 
 
 The joy of again beholding her husband acted 
 as a powerful restorative upon the suffering 
 Jessie. She was soon able to drive out in the 
 carriage which Miss Pomeroy pressed her to use, 
 and even to accompany Herman in search of 
 lodgings. 
 
 Jessie had received the most lavish kind- 
 ness from the warm-hearted New England girl, 
 who did not fear to offer hospitality to her 
 fellow voyager, the sharer of her great peril, 
 though she chanced to be an actress a stranger, 
 of whose history she knew little or nothing. 
 Jessie and Herman carried credentials, Heaven- 
 inscribed, on theh* faces. There were no floating 
 atoms of prejudice in Miss Pomeroy's atmos- 
 phere that dimmed her eyes from reading these 
 aright.
 
 154 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy was a widower a man of 
 scholarly attainments and liberal views. He had 
 ventured to give his daughter an almost mascu- 
 line education, but had not committed the com- 
 mon error of drawing drafts upon her head which 
 would impoverish her heart. 
 
 Our English travellers took it for granted that 
 it was as easy to procure furnished lodgings in 
 Boston as in London. Very severe was their dis- 
 appointment when Miss Pomeroy explained to 
 them that boarding-houses in the former took 
 the place of suites of apartments in the great 
 metropolis. The seclusion which Jessie loved, 
 which her mimosa-like nature demanded, was 
 impracticable. 
 
 Miss Pomeroy accompanied them to an estab- 
 lishment located very near the beautiful Boston 
 Common. Herman was quite startled at the rate 
 of charges. But he consoled himself with the re- 
 flection that these seemingly exorbitant demands 
 were surely signs of the prosperity of the country. 
 Large sums were so easily acquired that ordinary 
 comforts commanded high prices ! 
 
 Jeannie's almost prophetic thoughtfulness had 
 prevented Herman from finding himself wholly 
 without means, in spite of his shipwreck. She 
 had begged him to convert into gold the little
 
 TWIN ROSES. 155 
 
 store of wealth that remained after the sale of 
 his furniture, and to allow her to sew it into a 
 belt which he could always wear. His entire 
 wardrobe, and that of Jessie, had been lost in 
 the wreck, but Jeannie's girdle was about his 
 waist. 
 
 Jessie selected a very small and unpretending 
 room, somewhat loftily situated, and persuaded 
 Herman, who inclined to the extravagance of a 
 more comfortable arrangement, that this was just 
 what she desired. 
 
 Mrs. Lawson, who kept the establishment, 
 might have been inclined to sneer at her choice, 
 and treat the new comers with that disdain 
 which poverty too often excites, but she was re- 
 strained by Miss Pomeroy's presence and patron- 
 age. 
 
 The next morning, after bidding a grateful 
 adieu to their hospitable host and hostess, they 
 took possession of their humble apartment. 
 
 To Herman the world now looked brighter 
 than ever especially this new world, towards 
 which his soul expanded, for he was a republican 
 at heart. The spirit of energy and rapid progress, 
 and busy activity that characterized the land, har- 
 monized with his untranquil, vehement nature. 
 He felt that there was indeed
 
 156 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 " No clime so bright and beautiful, 
 
 As that where sets the sun ; 
 
 No land so fertile, fair, and free, 
 
 As that of Washington." * 
 
 The State of Massachusetts was endowed with 
 especial interest. This earth was consecrated by 
 the first blood ^shed in the great revolutionary 
 struggle for freedom. But our young and hope- 
 ful Englishman was inspired with the belief that 
 no more of this fraternal blood would ever 
 crimson and defile the ground. Henceforth the 
 " only contest with the fatherland would be a 
 generous emulation in the arts of peace." f 
 
 He was impatient to visit the localities hal- 
 lowed by great historic events. Jessie was too 
 feeble to accompany him on the excursions which 
 he projected with so much ardor. A few steps 
 would take them to the Common that reminded 
 her of their own parks at home, and she longed 
 to wander with Herman beneath the noble old 
 trees. They went, but, overcome by fatigue, she 
 was quickly forced to return. 
 
 " I will sleep awhile," she said, as she sank 
 wearily on her couch, " go you and see the city, 
 and let me see it through your description ; that 
 \\ill please me as well, and not tire me at all." 
 
 * G. P. Morris. t Kdward Kverett.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 157 
 
 Herman, at first, refused to leave her, but Jessie, 
 with womanly tact, divining that his thoughts 
 would be roaming abroad, though he sat in bodily 
 presence by her side, urged him to go, until he 
 consented. 
 
 As he passed through the streets, every thing 
 looked so bright and bustling, so orderly and 
 prosperous, so free from all signs of poverty or 
 distress, that Herman's pulses leaped higher and 
 higher. The spirit of success floated on the very 
 atmosphere was inhaled with the exhilarating 
 air he breathed. 
 
 On his return Jessie was amply compensated 
 for her solitary hours by his outburst of en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 Her thoughts were constantly wandering back 
 to her child, and her twin sister, yet she forced 
 herself to participate in his elation, that no 
 mournful shadow might be reflected on him. 
 
 For some days he was eagerly engaged in ex- 
 ploring Boston and its picturesque environs. 
 
 American history, so little investigated by Eng- 
 lishmen in general, Herman had found one of his 
 most fascinating studies. He now seemed to 
 imagine that to visit the places rendered famous 
 by heroic deeds was the object of then: voyage. 
 With glowing eloquence he pictured to Jessie his 
 
 14
 
 158 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 emotions as the majestic granite shaft of Bunker 
 Hill rose before his sight, described to her the 
 incidents of the tremendous conflict it commemo- 
 rated a defeat more glorious than a victory ! 
 He portrayed that valiant band of Americans 
 from the perilous heights of Breed's Hill firing on 
 their English oppressors, while Charlestown was 
 in flames the retreat of the patriots to Bunker 
 Hill their dauntless valor the fall of that first 
 great martyr of the noble cause the youthful 
 Warren. He repeated Gerry's prophetic warn- 
 ing, that as surely as Warren went to the hill he 
 would be slain, and the young hero's inspired 
 reply 
 
 " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori ; " 
 
 and he told her how Warren rushed where the 
 conflict was hottest, while glory sent the echo 
 of his words in trumpet-notes to heaven, and 
 crowned him as he fell. 
 
 And Herman, while he dwelt upon the glorious 
 struggle of those champions who guarded the 
 cradle of infant liberty, gave utterance to senti- 
 ments, at a later day more beautifully expressed 
 by Everett, when his soul-stirring eloquence 
 thrilled the crowd assembled to do honor to the 
 New England patriot whose statue was reared
 
 TWIN ROSES. 159 
 
 near Bunker Hill.* " The principles of free gov- 
 ernment for which they laid down their lives ; the 
 national independence which by united counsels 
 and painful sacrifices they achieved on hard- 
 fought fields ; this great family of States which, 
 with prophetic foresight, they bound together in 
 a fraternal confederacy; this admirable adjust- 
 ment of local and federal government; the most 
 exquisite contrivance of political wisdom which 
 the world has seen these shall be their enduring 
 monument. No less eloquent in their praise shall 
 be the material prosperity which resulted from 
 their wise and patriotic measures." 
 
 Herman broke off from these reflections and 
 laughed as he told her that, when man had failed 
 to rear that stately shaft, it had been piled up by 
 the delicate hands of women, adding that he had 
 brought her to a land where they were the 
 acknowledged sovereigns. What the strength 
 of their brothers failed to accomplish, the mys- 
 terious potency of woman's weakness wrought 
 by magic. 
 
 He was hardly less enthusiastic when he trans- 
 ported her by his narrative to that Elm-tree at 
 Cambridge, beneath which Washington first 
 
 * Inauguration of Statue of Warren, June 17, 1857.
 
 160 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 wheeled his horse and drew his sword as com- 
 mander in chief of the armies. 
 
 Then he drew a vivid picture of the band of 
 patriots who assembled beneath the spreading 
 branches of the Charter-oak. 
 
 He discoursed to her of the peerless Washing- 
 ton, and beguiled the hours with stirring themes, 
 as though he had no cares for the morrow to lure 
 his thoughts from the contemplation of those 
 momentous achievements which raised up, out of 
 weakness and oppression, wrong and misery, the 
 earth's most powerful nation. 
 
 But Jessie's heart, like Martha's of old, was 
 " troubled about many things," and she at length 
 startled her husband from his heroic musings by 
 a suggestion that their humble store of worldly 
 wealth would not long support a pair of dream- 
 ers of idlers. 
 
 Their fellow lodgers hardly caught a glimpse 
 of the new comers save at meals. During those 
 brief repasts how often Jessie, surrounded by 
 curious eyes, longed for the privacy of her own 
 chamber ! But she agreed with Herman that it 
 was best to try and conform to the customs of 
 the land in which they sojourned. 
 
 Herman never found it difficult to exchange 
 one occupation for another. Constant mental
 
 TWIN ROSES. 161 
 
 employment supplied life-giving nourishment to 
 body and spirit. He would cordially have agreed 
 with Hillard, that, " to have something to do, and 
 to do it, is the best appointment for us all." 
 
 Jessie's gentle admonition brought the sight- 
 seeing excursions to a sudden close. The next 
 day, and the next, and the next, he devoted to 
 interviews with managers. The season was so 
 far advanced that situations in every stock com- 
 pany were filled. 
 
 The exuberant flow of Herman's spirits now 
 began to ebb. 
 
 He had gone to make one more trial. Jessie 
 was musing upon the beloved ones far away, 
 when Miss Pomeroy's card was placed in her 
 hand, accompanied by a request that she might 
 be received in Jessie's apartment. The petition 
 was joyfully granted. 
 
 In a few minutes Miss Pomeroy had drawn 
 from Jessie the history of Herman's disappoint- 
 ment. Before the advice on her lips could find 
 utterance, Herman himself entered. 
 
 Jessie's wistful eyes had read his face as he 
 greeted her visitor. 
 
 "I fear you have been unsuccessful again, 
 Herman ! " she said in a sympathizing tone. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 14*
 
 162 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 " Have you applied at the Museum ? " asked 
 Miss Pomeroy. 
 
 No Herman had not done that. He was 
 rather shocked at the suggestion. He had never 
 contemplated the possibility of acting at a 
 museum ! That would be a degradation for 
 which he was hardly prepared. Better travel with 
 a strolling company at once and exhibit in barns ! 
 
 Miss Pomeroy readily explained to him that 
 " Museum " was only another name given to 
 a theatre, by means of which a certain narrow 
 prejudice was "whipped round the post " of con- 
 science. That the same plays were represented 
 in one as in the other the same actors were the 
 personators. The audiences of the Museum were 
 high-toned and appreciative. They were chiefly 
 composed of the religious portion of the com- 
 munity who eschew theatres. Even quakers 
 flock to the museums. Herman must not quarrel 
 with names. 
 
 Her listeners were only too willing to be con- 
 vinced. Before her visit concluded, Herman was 
 on his way to the Museum. When Miss Pom- 
 eroy took her leave, she bore with her the delight- 
 ful consciousness that two heavy hearts had been 
 lightened by her presence. 
 
 Herman was not thoroughly successful in his
 
 TWIN ROSES. 163 
 
 first interview with Mr. Saunders, the manager 
 of the Museum but he received some ground 
 for hope to find a precarious footing upon. After 
 several visits, and protracted discussions, a con- 
 tract was finally drawn up, and Herman and 
 Jessie were engaged to share the business of 
 leading lady and gentleman a much higher 
 position than they had occupied in the London 
 theatre they had just left. 
 
 On the same day a commodious, closely 
 packed trunk was sent to Jessie's chamber. It 
 contained a variety of valuable contributions to 
 her wardrobe. It was accompanied by no mes- 
 sage, no name, but she knew that there was only 
 one friend to whom she could be thus indebted. 
 
 A comfortable chair had also mysteriously 
 made its appearance in her room a large, cush- 
 ioned, roe/MWg'-chair, which her English notions at 
 first thought very odd but which she soon pro- 
 nounced comfortable and soothing in the extreme. 
 It amused her to see how soon the restless Her- 
 man fell into the American fashion of rocking 
 unconsciously, while he was thinking, talking 
 even reading. Rocking-chairs were certainly 
 invented to meet the demands of something in 
 the unquiet American temperament with which 
 Herman sympathized.
 
 164 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 One day, when Jessie returned from a short 
 walk, she found some pots of geranium in full 
 bloom standing in her window. How she 
 wept at the sight! They reminded her so for- 
 cibly of Jeannie's hanging garden of that 
 pleasant chamber where poor Jeannie now sat 
 alone. 
 
 Another day, upon her table, lay several vol- 
 umes that could not fail to interest her publica- 
 tions of standard American literature, but quite 
 new to her. 
 
 At another time, the most deliciously tempting 
 basket of fruit awaited her. But there was never 
 note or card attached to these tokens, nor did 
 any message accompany them. They always 
 found their way to her room in some mysterious 
 manner when she was absent. 
 
 When she attempted to thank Miss Pomeroy, 
 the latter laughingly disclaimed all knowledge 
 of her meaning. Jessie's gratitude could find no 
 expression in words, but it spoke in her looks, 
 her eyes that filled with tears, her hand that 
 grasped that of her new friend with speaking 
 tenderness. 
 
 For the next two months, Herman and Jessie 
 toiled nightly for the public amusement. They 
 were required to memorize new parts almost
 
 TWIN ROSES. 165 
 
 daily; to enact two characters every night; to 
 study incessantly, but before the close of the 
 season they were established favorites. 
 
 Herman still cherished his day-dreams still 
 intertwined those two words as inseparable, 
 "America and Prosperity."
 
 166 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 A MusEUM-season often continues throughout 
 the summer. The members have no holidays as 
 in other theatrical companies. When the period 
 of Herman and Jessie's engagement expired, 
 their contract was instantly renewed. The man- 
 ager had found them valuable acquisitions to his 
 corps. 
 
 Through the intense heat of a witheringly 
 sultry summer such a summer as the young 
 strangers had never dreamed of in then: native 
 land, their labors, mental and physical, continued 
 unabated. 
 
 Jessie was frequently visited by Miss Pome- 
 roy, enlivened by her cheerful conversation, and 
 soothed by her manifold delicate attentions. 
 
 " How good you are ! I feel as though I 
 ought to thank you so much ! " one day ex- 
 claimed the young actress to her friend. 
 
 " Really ? Then you feel as though you
 
 TWIN ROSES. 167 
 
 ought to make me very uncomfortable, and I 
 hardly expected that from you. Listen, and be- 
 lieve me, when I tell you that it gives me more 
 delight to be able to offer you these trivial ser- 
 vices than some really great benefit you might 
 receive could possibly impart to you. Thus, you 
 see, you are not my debtor. I am in debt to 
 Heaven for the opportunity which it affords me 
 of scattering a few humble flowers in your stony 
 pathway. Do you not know that it is far more 
 blessed to give than to receive ? " 
 
 After that Jessie was silent ; not less grateful, 
 but she felt that Miss Pomeroy spoke truth, that 
 the greater felicity was the giver's. 
 
 But Jessie had little leisure to devote to the 
 sweet, heart-refreshing communings of friendship. 
 Her mornings were passed at rehearsal; her 
 evenings on the stage, and the brief intervening 
 period in study and the preparation of her ward- 
 robe. 
 
 Herman was as constantly occupied, but to 
 him the incessant employment was invigorating, 
 and satisfied the cravings of his aspiring, ener- 
 getic nature. 
 
 He was developing unquestionable talents ; he 
 was learning to use his powers artistically; he 
 revelled in the sense of inspiration produced by
 
 168 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 an entire abandonment to the witchery of per- 
 sonation. 
 
 Sometimes he was saddened by the thought 
 that his once bright-hued English rose was droop- 
 ing, fading ; that it struck no root in this foreign 
 soil. But no, that could not be; it was but 
 the oppressive atmosphere that had sapped its 
 strength and paled its vivid colors ; the bracing 
 autumn winds would revive and retint the trans- 
 planted flower. He reassured himself with these 
 reflections, and Jessie smiled assent until they 
 became convictions. 
 
 Autumn came with its sharp, easterly blasts ; 
 winter with its piercing cold ; its hills of snow ; 
 its frosted trees glittering with pendant icicles. 
 The wellspring of life seemed chilled and frozen 
 in Jessie's feeble frame. She struggled on, with 
 fitful strength, until December. Christmas morn- 
 ing that broke so brightly, in spite of its severe 
 greeting, upon thousands of merry hearts, found 
 Jessie unable to leave her couch. Her illness 
 took the form of debility, amounting to complete 
 prostration, and attended by a slight cough. 
 
 For several weeks, her entreaties, conveyed to 
 the manager through Herman, prevented the 
 permanent engagement of any substitute who 
 could take her place in the company. But it
 
 TWIN HOSES. 169 
 
 was soon apparent that her efforts to rally were 
 fruitless. Her situation was transferred to an- 
 other. 
 
 Every moment of Herman's time, not engrossed 
 within the walls of the Museum, was passed by 
 Jessie's couch. He even studied his parts, seated 
 by her side. Her fond eyes rested on his face ; 
 she heard the low murmuring of his voice ; she 
 would not distract his attention by a word, but 
 his presence soothed and comforted her. 
 
 Never before had Jessie's likeness to her sister 
 been so striking. Sometimes Herman almost 
 fancied that fragile, recumbent form, that worn 
 face, those soft, mournful eyes, were Jeannie's. 
 For Jessie's eyes had ever been filled with lustre ; 
 her countenance dimpled with animation ; her 
 cheeks had stolen their bloom from the peach ; 
 her form was a model of rounded symmetry. 
 
 Thus the winter snows melted away and spring 
 put on her robe of vivid green, and summer her 
 mantle, embroidered with flowers and gemmed 
 with fruits, but Herman's Rose of beauty revived 
 not with the spring bloomed not again with the 
 kindred summer flowers. 
 
 It was strange to see how gentle and patient 
 he had become through this long season of watch- 
 ing and anxiety. The attrition of sorrow had 
 15
 
 170 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 rounded and smoothed down the sharpnesses of 
 his impulsive character. In tending the dear 
 invalid, all the softness of his nature had been 
 called forth. He saw her bright spirit hovering 
 on the borders of the eternal land, and he 
 thought, as he had never done before, of his 
 fitness (or rather unfitness) to follow her there 
 to walk with her hand in hand through the glori- 
 ous realms of the hereafter. 
 
 Every week Jessie received a letter of love from 
 her far-off sister. Jeannie wrote so graphically 
 that when her letters were received she became 
 present she was holding her beloved sister's 
 hand, and her dulcet tones were sounding in 
 Jessie's ears. Jessie always kept the last letter 
 beside her, or beneath her pillow, until it was 
 replaced by another. Many times, ach day, 
 when Herman was absent, it was unfolded and 
 reperused ; sometimes she kissed the senseless 
 paper messenger and talked to it as if it were a 
 living thing. Jessie, in spite of her exhausted 
 state, answered these loved epistles with never- 
 failing regularity. But she forbore to tell her 
 sister how she yearned and pined for her compan- 
 ionship for her child's presence for the hum- 
 blest home or shelter in "that sweet Isle of Isles 
 the Queen," how impossible it seemed for her
 
 TWIN HOSES. 171 
 
 hopes and affections to shoot their fibres into, or 
 draw their nourishment from, this foreign earth. 
 
 Miss Pomeroy had brought to Jessie's bedside 
 her own family physician. He pronounced the 
 case to be one over which medical skill has little 
 power. 
 
 " This climate is too rough and positive for 
 such an ethereal being you must take her to the 
 South " he said to Herman. 
 
 The tide of prosperity had flowed with a full 
 sea towards Herman. His prospects in Boston 
 nightly grew more brilliant. When the manager 
 received an intimation that Herman Landor 
 must relinquish his engagement, he made an offer 
 to double or treble his salary. He had already 
 separated his name from that of the stock com- 
 pany and announced him as a star. 
 
 Herman turned his eyes from the letter that 
 contained this proposal, to the pallid face of his 
 young wife, and did not for an instant waver in 
 his decision. 
 
 He applied at once to southern managers. 
 
 As though to test his power of resisting tempta- 
 tion, he now received an offer from the theatre of 
 highest standing in Boston. He was ambitious, 
 as we have seen. He gloried in the profession in 
 which he now found himself qualified to shine,
 
 172 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 but his love for Jessie stifled the noisy promptings 
 of ambition and professional pride. He returned 
 a grateful, but unqualified, refusal. The same 
 day he accepted a very moderate proposal for his 
 services as leading man in the only theatre at 
 Richmond, Virginia. Easily reconciled to change, 
 he contemplated his visit to the Queen State with 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Massachusetts and Virginia ! the two States 
 in the days of Washington most prominent and 
 most closely leagued in the bonds of fellowship 
 I shall have seen them both ! " he exclaimed en- 
 thusiastically. 
 
 It was in the month of October that the young 
 actor and his invalid wife turned their faces 
 southward. They journeyed very slowly, for the 
 slightest exertion seemed to exhaust Jessie's 
 almost expended strength. 
 
 Herman constructed a rude couch, composed of 
 slats of wood, resembling those of a bed, and fas- 
 tened together by small strips of leather. These 
 wooden slats, folded into a small compass, could 
 be readily carried about. In the railway car- 
 riages they were spread out, supported by oppo- 
 site seats, and covered with shawls, travelling 
 blankets, &c. With a pillow for the head, a 
 tolerably comfortable couch was thus ingeniously
 
 TWIN ROSES. 173 
 
 provided. Jessie seldom sat up during the jour- 
 ney. 
 
 Miss Pomeroy, with her characteristic thought- 
 fulness, had written to some friends in Rlch'mond, 
 to secure the travellers pleasant apartments in a 
 quiet hotel. 
 
 Though the journey could be accomplished in 
 a couple of days, it had consumed a week when 
 Herman bore his half-lifeless wife to her chamber 
 in their winter home. 
 
 Miss Pomeroy's southern friends were prompt 
 in calling upon the suffering stranger. But 
 Jessie could not overcome her truly English 
 reserve, and her natural timidity was greatly 
 increased when she accidentally learned that, in 
 Virginia, a canon of the church prohibits its 
 members from attending dramatic representa- 
 tions.* Thus the acted drama seemed placed 
 without the pale of good. She knew nothing of 
 the arguments which might be used in extenua- 
 tion of so narrow an edict. Much that to her 
 seemed the growth of bigotry did not deserve a 
 name so solemnly harsh. Traditional prejudice 
 the excitement produced by the burning of a 
 theatre, in which many valuable lives were lost 
 
 # Canon XIX. of the revised Constitution and Canons of the Pro- 
 testant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia. 
 15*
 
 174 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 perhaps some abuses of the theatre itself, and a 
 want of desire, or power, to suppress them, on the 
 part of the public these causes might have fur- 
 nished a fitter appellation for the source whence 
 this edict emanated. 
 
 To an English actress the bare fact of such a 
 restriction augured contracted minds and unex- 
 panded hearts. If the drama was denounced, so 
 must its exponents be ! She shrank from all 
 association with those who regarded with scorn 
 that profession which, to her, a mother had dig- 
 nified and sanctified. 
 
 Truly spoke the lips of a wise and God-loving 
 minister of the Gospel* at a later day, " He is no 
 benefactor of the human race who invents new 
 and imaginary sins. We have plenty of old and 
 real ones." * * * " Let us not fancy that we 
 are serving the cause of godliness, when we are 
 discouraging recreations. Let us be hearty in 
 our pleasures as in our work, and not think that 
 the gracious Being who has made us so open- 
 hearted to delight, looks with dissatisfaction at 
 our enjoyment, as a hard task-master might, who 
 in the glee of his slaves could see only a hin- 
 derance to their profitable working." 
 
 * Rev. Dr. Bellows.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 175 
 
 Even had Jessie's strength permitted, she 
 would have had no desire to leave her chamber. 
 
 In vain Herman described to her the landscape 
 beauties of this city, reared on hills, whose every 
 street, at sudden bends, reveals some picturesque 
 prospect ; or told her of the garden-begirt houses, 
 the magnificent magnolia-trees (especial objects 
 of admiration to all northern strangers) that stood, 
 green-liveried sentinels, at so many doors. Jessie 
 clung to retirement. She knew nothing of the 
 hospitable hearts that dwelt in those tasteful 
 mansions. This city must ever seem to her a 
 place in which her body sojourned in isolation, 
 but where her heart was not. She was more a 
 recluse in this crowded town, than the crippled 
 Jeannie in her solitary little chamber at the top 
 of the theatre. 
 
 Jessie wronged not a few kind and liberal spirits 
 by her conclusions, drawn from appearances. 
 There was at least a trio of ladies of unquestion- 
 able social position, of high cultivation, of blame- 
 less lives, whose generous natures led them to 
 stretch out a ready hand to cheer the faltering 
 step, to wreathe the aching brow, to watch over 
 the uncertain fate of the struggling artist; a trio 
 whose names were embalmed in the heart of many 
 a poor actor and actress as the most precious and
 
 176 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 revered memory to which gratitude could cling. 
 But Jessie, through her own fault, knew them not. 
 
 In Herman's absence a colored domestic, desig- 
 nated as "Aunt Sylvia," was Jessie's sole, but 
 constant companion. 
 
 Aunt Sylvia, in common with those of her race, 
 looked down with supreme contempt upon " poor 
 white trash." This is the appellation commonly 
 given by negroes to persons who are not sur- 
 rounded by the appliances of wealth and family. 
 She at first treated the actor's wife as though it 
 were a condescension to serve her. But Jessie's 
 mild tones and gentle ways soon found an avenue 
 to the kind heart that beat in her swarthy bosom. 
 
 Then Aunt Sylvia had " gotten religion," and 
 was a devotee after her own peculiar fashion. 
 There is little doubt that the religious impulses 
 of the colored population are remarkably strong. 
 But religion, to be received by them, must take 
 some boisterous, highly stimulating form. It 
 must find vent in declamation, and groans, and 
 protestations, and constant psalm-singing, and 
 the rejection of certain so-called amusements. 
 The calm, certain faith, the settled principle, the 
 life of daily, unostentatious goodness, which con- 
 stituted Jessie's piety, Aunt Sylvia could nrvi-r 
 have comprehended.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 177 
 
 The generality of colored people, in Richmond, 
 are Baptists. Aunt Sylvia had been immersed 
 had made open profession of faith had renounced 
 certain vain pleasures, such as dancing, sight- 
 seeing, and merry making. A theatre, to which 
 the husband of her invalid charge belonged ay, 
 that was the devil's workshop, and no mistake! 
 Aunt Sylvia had great concern about poor 
 Jessie's soul ; she hoped that it might be saved ; 
 she was quite secure about her own, and was 
 always hankering after the guardianship of other 
 people's. 
 
 " Ah ! Missus, I wish you'd made your blessed 
 bed in Heaven. I wish you had ! I'se done 
 gone and renounced de world myself. I don't 
 believe but dat you couldn't do no better dan 
 jus follow old Sylvy. Fse been wrastlin in 
 prayer for ye, and I want to hear ye a shoutin 
 hallelujahs ! " 
 
 Thus she would address Jessie, in pitying tones, 
 and with many doleful shakes ob her Madras 
 kerchiefed head. 
 
 " You're very good to think of me," answered 
 Jessie meekly. 
 
 " It's de Lord dats a thinking ob you, honey, 
 and it's his mouthpiece I am, jus as Aaron was 
 Moseses. I tell you, young marster ought jus to
 
 178 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 give up dem courses ob play acting. Oh ! its 
 fearful in de sight ob de Lord ! " and Aunt 
 Sylvia wrung her hands and groaned deeply. 
 
 Jessie was too feeble to remonstrate ; she could 
 only answer, " I will talk to you about that when 
 I am better, Aunt Sylvia." 
 
 " It's too weak you are now, honey, sure 
 enough, but you'll give de matter an early sidera- 
 tion, won't ye ? And I'll send up a prayer to de 
 Lord dat he'll give ye your own time for repent- 
 ing. For I'm afraid your salvation's dubersome, 
 any how. So now, go you to sleep, honey, for dis 
 present." 
 
 Aunt Sylvia, on many other occasions, strove 
 to lure Jessie into religious discussions. Jessie 
 admired the old black woman's earnestness, but 
 she would not argue with her. All contention 
 was so revolting to her mild nature that, as 
 Goethe said, " If Raphael had painted it, and 
 Shakespeare dramatized it, it would not be en- 
 durable." 
 
 Herman had his way to make in a fresh field, 
 before this unknown audience. He came to 
 them an unheralded stranger, and he had all 
 his laurels to win anew. He toiled untiringly, 
 but reward came slowly. His impatience \v:is 
 calmed down in the severe schools through which
 
 TWIN ROSES. 179 
 
 he was passing. Perseverance had taken its 
 place and walked hand in hand with energy. 
 
 The theatre closed at the end of April. The 
 season had been unusually prosperous. Herman 
 received an offer to take the head of the company 
 again in the autumn. He hesitated about ac- 
 cepting. The climate had not materially bene- 
 fited Jessie. The cold was much less intense 
 than in Boston, but the houses were lightly built, 
 and did not offer the same protection against the 
 weather. True, the balmy spring air that revivi- 
 fied all nature, had not breathed on Jessie in vain. 
 She recovered sufficiently to be able to take short 
 rambles, leaning on Herman's arm, and a faint 
 hue returned to her cheek ; but the low, deep 
 cough still struck like a knell upon his ear ; and 
 the hurried pulse, and burning hands, told that the 
 fires of disease were only smothered, not extin- 
 guished; they were slowly consuming the sources 
 of life. 
 
 " Travel with your wife," was the medical ad- 
 vice he received. " Change of scene fresh air 
 beautiful prospects, will do more to invigorate her 
 than all the medicine that was ever concocted." 
 
 Travel ! that was always a delightful sound to 
 Herman, .and Jessie smiled hopefully when it was 
 uttered, for she too shared her husband's passion
 
 180 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 for picturesque scenery, and note-worthy sights. 
 And they were in Virginia that Queen of States, 
 so richly endowed with mountains, forests, rivers, 
 springs, mines! Virginia, the Mother of the 
 English Colonies, in whose bosom Freedom was 
 born Virginia, the home of Washington, the 
 greatest of heroes and of men! They agreed 
 that their first pilgrimage should be to the spot 
 he had called home, while living, and where his 
 ashes were entombed. 
 
 Then, if Jessie's strength permitted, they would 
 cross that magnificent chain of mountains the 
 Blue Ridge, would visit the wonderful Natural 
 Bridge, and Weyer's far-famed cave, and some 
 of those much-talked of springs, the white sul- 
 phur, or the red, or the yellow, the Alum Springs, 
 or the Sweet Springs ! " They might perhaps 
 restore you ! " said Herman. 
 
 But a nervous tremor seized Jessie at the 
 very thought of this last proposition. To be 
 brought in contact with strangers at a fashion- 
 able watering-place would have been torture. 
 
 " Not to the Springs, Herman. Let us leave 
 them out of the journey. They would not 
 benefit me." 
 
 "As you will, little wife, but where shall we 
 go first ? "
 
 TWIN ROSES. 181 
 
 " Oh ! to Mount Vernon," exclaimed Jessie. 
 " If there were but one spot that I could visit in 
 this beautiful land, it would be the memory- 
 hallowed home and grave of the father of his 
 country. No land contains such ashes as those ! " 
 
 16
 
 182 TWIN KOSES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MOUNT VERNON. 
 
 AUNT SYLVIA was not sparing of tender ad- 
 monitions to Herman and Jessie on the morning 
 that they started on their excursion. With truly 
 maternal interest she made the needful prepara- 
 tions, busied herself with oacking, in the most 
 efficient manner, and spared Jessie all avoidable 
 fatigue. 
 
 Jessie gratefully clasped the ebon hand of the 
 affectionate old woman", and promised that she 
 would return, looking much stronger, in three days. 
 
 On a balmy May morning they took their 
 seats in the early train to Aquia Creek, and 
 reached Washington, by steamboat, at two 
 o'clock. 
 
 Jessie was so much fatigued that she at once 
 sought repose, but she read Herman's inclina- 
 tions too clearly to desire that he would remain 
 at her side. At her earnest request he left lu-r, 
 and was soon exploring the seat of government 
 in his usual impetuous, rapid style, gathering
 
 TWIN ROSES. 183 
 
 information as he went from every chance asso- 
 ciate of the hour. 
 
 The next morning found Jessie wonderfully 
 revived. It was long since Herman had beheld 
 her so cheerful, so almost merry as when they 
 went on board the small steamboat that conveyed 
 pilgrims to " Washington's beloved Mount 
 Vernon," his " earthly paradise," as it is styled 
 by his illustrious chronicler, Washington Irving. 
 Her look and tone recalled the image of her 
 former buoyant self, and Herman sighed when 
 he remembered what a change love for him had 
 wrought. 
 
 During her residence in Virginia she had ap- 
 peared singularly depressed. Her mind had be- 
 come almost morbidly sensitive on the subject 
 of her husband's profession. She held herself 
 so .shrinkingly aloof from those who would wil- 
 lingly have become her friends, that there was no 
 opportunity of discovering that she labored under 
 a delusion, and misjudged the opinions and incli- 
 nations of many. 
 
 Her thoughts constantly and painfully dwelt 
 on one subject. Even as she sat, musingly, on 
 the deck of the steamboat, gazing upon the calm 
 waters, through which they were somewhat 
 slowly ploughing their way, she turned to Her-
 
 V 
 184 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 man and exclaimed, " Washington was a mem- 
 ber of the Episcopal church, was he not ? His 
 piety was the crown of his greatness? Who 
 can dispute that he was as good as he was 
 heroic ? that he set a public example by his own 
 irreproachable line of conduct ? Yet history tes- 
 tifies that he was a lover of the drama ; that he 
 delighted in theatrical representations ; that when 
 he entered a theatre, he was cheered by the audi- 
 ence, and with cordial dignity acknowledged the 
 greeting. Can his countrymen, then, his Vir- 
 ginia brethren in particular, have the temerity to 
 denounce what he approved? They must ap- 
 proach, surpass his virtues before they gain the 
 right to judge, condemn his actions." 
 
 " Two facts ! " replied Herman gaily. " The 
 one to be drawn from inference, the former his- 
 torical, and most pleasant for such as you and I 
 to contemplate. Washington certainly approved 
 of dramatic representations, and apparently some 
 of his countrymen differ with him in opinion. 
 His predilection for the drama is further proved 
 by the private theatricals over which he himself 
 presided in the Presidential mansion." 
 
 " True it cheers me to remember that ! I 
 have had need of such recollections since I lived 
 in Virginia. The oppression which the heavy
 
 TWIN ROSES. 185 
 
 hand of opinion has laid upon me is removed 
 when I reflect that this is the man to whose 
 greatness and goodness both continents have 
 done homage. Do you remember those lines of 
 Byron's, 
 
 1 Where may the wearied eye repose 
 
 When gazing on the Great; 
 Where neither guilty glory glows 
 
 Xor despicable state ? 
 Yes one, the first, the best, the last, 
 The Cincinnatus of the West, 
 Whom envy dared not hate, 
 Bequeathed the name of Washington 
 To make men blush there was but one ! ' " 
 
 At this moment they drew near the rude 
 wharf ; the boat stopped ; and the crowd of pas- 
 sengers landed. 
 
 By a narrow pathway they ascended a majes- 
 tic hill thickly draped with trees. The sun 
 scarcely found its way through the luxuriant 
 foliage. They mounted slowly, but had only 
 spent a few minutes in ascending, when they 
 came suddenly upon a picturesque nook, where a 
 cluster of unostentatious, white marble shafts, 
 shot from greenly sodded earth, inclosed by iron 
 railings. These unpretending monuments mark 
 the localities where repose the mortal remains of 
 Washington's kindred. 
 
 Just beyond stands a square brick-building. 
 16*
 
 186 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 In the centre you see an iron gate. Here the 
 crowd pauses in reverential silence. Men lift 
 their hats and women bow their heads. You 
 behold within, two sarcophagi. In those mould- 
 ering tombs lie the ashes of the great Washington 
 and his wife. 
 
 Not a word is uttered as the crowd stand 
 gazing on this lowly receptacle of the dust of 
 America's mighty dead. 
 
 Are there any in that group who can say, 
 " this was our country's father ? " If there be, 
 can they stand pilgrims at that grave without 
 Washington's examples, his counsels, his words, 
 heretofore, it may be, half forgotten, stealing back 
 into their minds, until the sense of reverence and 
 gratitude is deepened almost to awe ? Do they 
 not feel that Washington's spirit is abroad in 
 the world, filling the souls of a heaven-favored 
 people with the love of freedom and of country, 
 though his ashes are gathered here ? 
 
 Some one moves to pass on, and with that 
 first step the spell is broken ; others follow. Her- 
 man and Jessie linger last. After a period of 
 mute and moving reflection, they turn away and 
 slowly approach the mansion that in simple, 
 rural stateliness, stands upon a noble promontory, 
 belted with woods, and half-girdled by the spark-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 187 
 
 ling waters of the Potomac which flow in a semi- 
 circle around a portion of the mount. 
 
 The water and woodland view from the por- 
 tico is highly imposing. But it was not the mere 
 recognition of the picturesque and beautiful in 
 nature that moved Herman and Jessie. They 
 would have felt that they were on holy ground, 
 had the landscape been devoid of natural charm. 
 Here the feet of the first of heroes had trod ; 
 here in boyhood he had sported with his beloved 
 brother Lawrence ; in those forests, those deep- 
 wooded glens, he had hunted, when a stripling, 
 by the side of old Lord Fairfax ; here he took 
 his first lessons in the art of war ; to this home 
 he brought his bride ; by this old-fashioned, 
 hospitable-looking fireside, he sat with that dear 
 and faithful wife ; beneath yonder alley of lofty 
 trees he has often wandered by her side ; here 
 he indulged the agricultural tastes in which he 
 delighted; here resigned his Cincinnatus voca- 
 tion and bade adieu to his cherished home at the 
 summons of his country. Here his wife received 
 the letter which told her that he had been ap- 
 pointed command er-in-chief of the army; here, 
 when the glorious struggle closed at the trumpet 
 notes of victory when the British had retired 
 when, with tears coursing down his benignant,
 
 188 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 manly countenance, he had uttered a touching 
 farewell bestowed a paternal benediction on the 
 American army, and resigned all public service 
 here he returned, thinking to resume the rural 
 pursuits that charmed him, and to end his days 
 in peace ! Here are the trees the shrubbery he 
 planted with his own hands, and noted in his 
 diary ; here are the columns of the portico round 
 which he twined the coral honeysuckle ; the ivy 
 he transplanted still clings to yonder garden 
 wall ; these vistas he opened through yon pine 
 groves to command far-off views ! Here the 
 valiant Lafayette sojourned with him ; there 
 hangs the key of the Bastile which he presented. 
 Here flocked the illustrious men of all climes, and 
 were received with warm, unpretending, almost 
 rustic hospitality. Here the French Houdon 
 modelled his statue, and the English Pine painted 
 his portrait, and caused that jocose remark, " I am 
 so hackneyed to the touches of the painters' 
 pencil that I am altogether at their beck, and sit 
 like ' Patience on a monument ! ' ' 
 
 Then came another summons from the land he 
 had saved, and he was chosen by unanimous 
 voice its chief ruler. 
 
 Thousands of men, women, and children, sent 
 up acclamations, and called down blessings on his
 
 TWIN ROSES. 189 
 
 head, as he made his triumphal progress from 
 Mount Vernon to New York, to take the Presi- 
 dential oath. The roar of cannon rent the air. 
 The streets, through which he passed, were illumi- 
 nated and decked with flags and wreaths. Bon- 
 fires blazed on the hills. From ships and boats 
 floated festive decorations. At Gray's Ferry he 
 passed under triumphal arches. On the bridge 
 across the Assumpink, (the very bridge over which 
 he had retreated in such blank despair before the 
 army of Cornwallis on the eve of the battle of 
 Princeton,) thirteen pillars, twined with laurel and 
 evergreens, were reared by woman's hands. The 
 foremost of the arches those columns supported, 
 bore the inscription, " The Defender of the 
 Mothers will be the Protector of the Daughters." 
 Mothers, with their white-robed daughters, were 
 assembled beneath the vernal arcade. Thirteen 
 maidens scattered flowers beneath his feet as they 
 sang an ode of gratulation. The people's hero 
 ever after spoke of this tribute as the one that 
 touched him most deeply. 
 
 When his first Presidential term expired and 
 his heart yearned for the peace of his domestic 
 hearth, the entreaties of Jefferson, Randolph, and 
 Hamilton, forced him to forget that home for the 
 one he held in the hearts of patriots, and to allow
 
 190 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 his name to be used a second time. A second 
 time he was unanimously elected to preside over 
 his country's welfare. But, the period happily 
 expired, he thankfully laid aside the mantle of 
 state, the sceptre of power, and, five days after- 
 the inauguration of Adams, returned here to his 
 Mount Vernon home. And here the good ser- 
 vant, whom his Lord, when he came, found watch- 
 ing and ready, calmly yielded up his breath, ex- 
 claiming, " It is well ! " and his spirit was wafted 
 to Heaven by the blessings of his enfranchised 
 countrymen. 
 
 Such were the events upon which Herman and 
 Jessie conversed during the hours that glided 
 away at Mount Vernon. 
 
 Herman could not but wonder, and not wholly 
 without indignation, that while the earthly dwell- 
 ings of so many men, rendered illustrious by their 
 genius or their great deeds, were held sacred in the 
 old world, this home of America's peerless patriot, 
 the most hallowed ground of the new land, had 
 not been snatched from the chances of profana- 
 tion and ruin, and set apart as a shrine to which 
 young and old might make pilgrimages, and be 
 inspired with holy and patriotic emotions as they 
 visited the scenes consecrated by the memory 
 the virtues, of the departed hero.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 191 
 
 " The day for that token of a nation's reverence 
 must will come " answered Jessie confidently. 
 " The land is young it has not had time, in its 
 bustling struggle for existence, to claim to itself 
 the tomb upon which the spirit of liberty sits en- 
 throned. But Mount Vernon will not be dese- 
 crated. If governments are forgetful, there are 
 too many grateful hearts in the breasts of Ameri- 
 can women for Mount Vernon, the home of their 
 father, to become a ruin. What did you tell me of 
 the raising of the Bunker Hill Monument ? When 
 men shrank at the prospect of failure, did not 
 woman press forward and finish what their 
 brothers began ? And may not the efforts of the 
 faithful and devoted women of the land preserve, 
 enshrine Mount Vernon?" 
 
 " Enthusiast ! " said Herman, " do you suppose 
 they could accomplish such an Herculean task ? " 
 
 " Yes " replied Jessie with fervor, " that, or any 
 good and holy work to which they devote their 
 best energies. Let but a master-spirit (Heaven- 
 appointed) lead them and mark out the way one 
 noble, self-sacrificing and wholly unselfish, patri- 
 otic woman, and thousands of hands and hearts 
 will labor with her they will share her laurels, 
 but the work will truly be hers, and it will surely 
 be accomplished."
 
 192 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 At this moment the sounding of a bell gave 
 warning that the boat was about to return, 
 and they reluctantly retraced their steps to the 
 wharf.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 193 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE NATURAL BRIDGE. 
 
 THE next morning Herman and Jessie returned 
 to Richmond. Aunt Sylvia's shining ebon face 
 was the first to greet them as they entered the 
 hotel. What a row of glittering teeth her broad 
 smile of welcome disclosed ! Herman had hardly 
 lifted Jessie from the carriagfe when she found 
 herself in the old Auntie's arms, almost stifled by 
 the heartiness of her hug. 
 
 " It's old Sylvy dat's glad in her heart to see 
 you, my young missus ! Fse gwine to send up a 
 shout ob thanksgiving dis night cause I'se got ye 
 back safe. Ye always peared just like a lamb to 
 old Sylvy, and she missed ye strayed from de fold. 
 How you do, young marster ? " shaking hands 
 violently, in the warmth of her affection, with 
 Herman. " Are you gwine to take up de young 
 missus, or has she gotten her legs again ? " 
 
 " I can walk, thank you, Aunt Sylvia," said 
 Jessie gratefully. " You see travelling has done 
 me good. I am much stronger already." 
 
 17
 
 194 TWIN KOSES. 
 
 As Jessie and Herman ascended the stair, Aunt 
 Sylvia followed, ejaculating, " De Lord's had 
 mercy on her, sure enough She'll be spared to 
 become a servant ob de Lord's yet a brand 
 snatched from de burning! She'll sing her 
 hallelujah before de tabernacle ob de Lord she 
 will!" 
 
 After two days' rest, Jessie declared herself 
 quite refreshed. She begged that they might 
 commence their journey to the Natural Bridge 
 on the next morning. They were to start early. 
 Aunt Sylvia roused them just as the sun shot his 
 first golden rays through the night clouds. The 
 motherly old woman had prepared for Jessie and 
 insisted upon her drinking a cup of hot coffee 
 " to keep out de damp ah-," and thrust into her 
 travelling reticule a " snack," wrapped in paper, 
 to refresh her on the road. 
 
 The travellers were comfortably seated in the 
 Danville cars a little before six, and reached 
 Lynchburg at one o'clock, whirling onward to 
 Buford's Gap, where they arrived at half-past 
 two. 
 
 Herman and Jessie were lost in admiration of 
 the constantly changing but ever pictorial beauty 
 of the scenery which they flew past, on " vapory 
 pinions;" the rolling, undulating ground, now
 
 TWIN ROSES. 195 
 
 swelling into verdant hills, now sinking into 
 smooth, green valleys ; the pleasant groves of 
 pine, cedar, arbor vitae, scattered at intervals ; 
 the lofty umbrage of majestic oaks, with their 
 shining, sharply cut leaves; the bright foliage 
 of the mountain laurel, in its first, soft, spring 
 freshness ; the tremulous sunbeams quivering 
 through a vernal screen, and flinging shadows 
 over the living landscape that vary in tint as the 
 hues of a kaleidoscope ; the ground, " fresh cloven 
 by the plough," and giving promise of golden 
 harvests ; the James River, winding its murmur- 
 ing way through willow-fringed banks, and break- 
 ing ever and anon at unexpected turns upon the 
 eager sight! 
 
 And now they catch a momentary glimpse of 
 the magnificent mountain range called the Blue 
 Ridge. The regal mountains disappear as the 
 train rushes onward. Now, in the purple dis- 
 tance, the Peaks of Otter, crowned with an aerial 
 diadem of amethysts, shoot up in stately, solitary 
 grandeur against the horizon. 
 
 The train has reached its destination. 
 
 " Can it be eight hours and a half since we left 
 Richmond ? " exclaimed Jessie. 
 
 " It hardly seemed one hour to me ! " answered 
 Herman.
 
 196 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 They are at Buford's Gap. They enter the 
 stagecoach. Jessie declares she has never seen 
 a coach so comfortable. It is not three o'clock 
 when they commence ascending the Blue Ridge, 
 which they must traverse before they can reach 
 Buchanan. The winding road runs through a 
 noble forest of gigantic growth. At every in- 
 stant new views of the wonderful mountain-chain 
 burst on the enraptured gaze of the travellers. 
 And what marvellous variety of coloring ! One 
 mountain appears tinged with a rich purple hue 
 so dark that it becomes almost black, contrasted 
 with the ethereal blue against which it reposes; 
 the neighboring mountain seems a shelving sea 
 of vivid green, with the shadow of the clouds 
 trembling on its bosom. And that mountain 
 yonder a pearly light drops down its sides be- 
 tween long streaks of gray ; its bride-like com- 
 panion is robed in a filmy white garment, with 
 misty folds of opal. 
 
 Jessie's keen enjoyment of the sublime and 
 beautiful is quickened to ecstasy, because Her- 
 man's arm is about her, his voice in her ears, his 
 eyes, when turned from nature's glorious pano- 
 rama, are looking into hers. Their spirits are 
 attuned to the same key of exalted admiration. 
 It is a halcyon season for them. There must be
 
 TWIN ROSES. 197 
 
 heaven within to make heaven around we 
 carry our heaven about with us, thus they 
 made and found theirs. 
 
 The stage moved very slowly. 
 
 " Oh ! let us walk," said Jessie, " we can easily 
 keep up with the coach. We must not lose the 
 least portion of this grandly beautiful scenery." 
 
 " Are you strong enough ? " asked Herman 
 tenderly. 
 
 " Yes yes these mountains quite lift me out 
 of myself, and make me forget my own feeble- 
 ness." 
 
 Herman descended, and Jessie sprang from the 
 coach with an elastic bound to which she had 
 long been a stranger. 
 
 The earth exhaled a refreshing odor, that min- 
 gled with the delicious aroma of the blossoming 
 locust, and greeted them with a fragrant wel- 
 come. The dogwood spread wide its branching 
 arms, covered with white blossoms, as though to 
 overshadow them. Wild flowers, in luxuriant 
 profusion, had pierced the tender earth, and 
 hung their floral wreaths on the mountain's 
 side to gladden their eyes. 
 
 Herman hardly waited for Jessie's bidding to 
 clamber up the steep ascent and gather violets 
 (very large ones, of darkly rich hue), mountain
 
 198 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 pinks ; bright scarlet flowers, for which they knew 
 no name ; the lily-shaped, snowy clusters of the 
 whortleberry blossoms; honeysuckles in abun- 
 dance, some rose-tinted, some of a coral hue, 
 some of a deep salmon color. The luxuriant 
 buds of the rhododendron gave abundant prom- 
 ise, but none were yet in bloom. 
 
 Jessie paused in admiration before a tree 
 decorated, from its very crown, with white tassels 
 that swept the ground, or floated on the air when 
 stirred by the lightest breeze. 
 
 " Pray, Herman, inquire the name of that tree. 
 I have never seen one like it. How graceful! 
 how delicate ! how beautiful ! " 
 
 " They call it the fringe-tree," replied the driver 
 to Herman's inquiry. 
 
 A more apposite name could not have been 
 chosen. 
 
 Just then Herman caught sight of a hawthorn, 
 upon which a single branch still lingered in 
 bloom ; he broke it off hastily, and brought it to 
 Jessie. 
 
 " Do you remember the day upon which I first 
 saw you, Jessie ? Your arms were filled with 
 May-bloom! But the flowers of the hawthorn 
 here, you see, are smaller, and have not so roseate 
 a tint as in England."
 
 TWIN HOSES. 199 
 
 As Jessie took the branch, her thoughts flew 
 back to the little chamber which she had entered 
 with such a joyous, careless heart on that memor- 
 able morning. The mystic branch had invoked 
 the image of her far-off sister a vision of her 
 absent child ! She had felt no fatigue until that 
 moment. Now she clung to Herman's arm, and 
 begged him to place her again in the coach. 
 These memories have suddenly sapped her 
 strength. 
 
 Herman had not noticed her agitation ; he 
 thought she was simply tired. She sat silent, 
 with the bright flowers heaped on her lap, and 
 the one hawthorn branch laid above the rest, 
 her eyes were fixed on that alone; but Herman 
 was gazing from the window with unabated 
 enjoyment. 
 
 They had reached the summit, and Jessie was 
 roused from her reverie by the grand descent 
 which the coach made with locked wheels. They 
 were rushing, plunging down an almost perpen- 
 dicular road. The heaven-embracing mountains 
 around were bathed in the crimson and gold of 
 the setting sun now fading into violet, now 
 melting into gray. The rapid motion of the 
 coach, the gazing down upon the lofty eminences 
 to which they before looked up, the dashing past
 
 200 TWIN. ROSES. 
 
 them, was startling, almost bewildering. Perhaps 
 nothing less exciting could have recalled Jessie's 
 thoughts to a consciousness of the present hour. 
 
 About seven in the evening, the travellers 
 arrived at the pretty village of Buchanan, in the 
 valley of Virginia, and entered a modest, well- 
 kept hotel. 
 
 Behind the house looms up Purgatory moun- 
 tain, with its bleak, burnt, rugged surface con- 
 trasting strangely with its richly wooded moun- 
 tain neighbors. 
 
 Purgatory creek runs from the mountain's 
 base, its dark, sluggish waters not inappropriately 
 named. 
 
 This mountain had been set on fire some years 
 before, and its verdure completely destroyed. 
 
 As the queen of night rose above the unsightly 
 pile, her beautifying presence changed the sombre 
 mists to silver, and enveloped the arid mountain 
 in a mantle of glittering haze. So the heavenly 
 light of truth clothes some harsh reality of life 
 with comforting loveliness. 
 
 At eight in the morning, Herman and Jessie 
 seated themselves in a light vehicle, which they 
 hired at the inn, and took their way through the 
 verdant valley of Virginia towards the Natural 
 Bridge.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 201 
 
 The Blue Ridge, with amaranthine wreaths 
 of mist encircling its august brows, was con- 
 stantly in view. The land was 
 
 " Dimpled close with hill and valley, 
 Dimpled very close with shade." 
 
 Fertile glades spread their emerald carpeting on 
 every side. All nature was instinct with life. 
 Now and then the murmur of some silver-toned 
 brook caught the ear, and its waters, irrigating 
 the green pastures, flashed and danced in the 
 sunshine. 
 
 A jocose driver, yclept Camper, amused the 
 travellers by his comic snatches of songs, often 
 appropriate to the subject of conversation, his 
 apt queries, and quaint, unsolicited discussions 
 of the topics of the day. 
 
 They drove across the wonderful bridge with- 
 out being aware of their passage. The sides are 
 fenced in to guard against accidents. When 
 Camper laughingly informed them that they had 
 passed over, Jessie's disappointment was so great 
 that he repented of the trick with which he was 
 wont to surprise travellers. 
 
 They had travelled one hundred and seventy- 
 two miles west of the city of Richmond. 
 
 Just beyond the bridge is a small rustic hotel,
 
 202 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 (with somewhat primitive accommodations,) and 
 here the party alight. They are impatient to 
 behold the wondrous arch, and a guide is fur- 
 nished at once. 
 
 He conducted them down a steep declivity, on 
 the mountain's side, which led beneath the bridge. 
 The road was rough and wild, but its sylvan 
 beauty made amends. Herman was intent on 
 supporting Jessie, for the sharp stones, more than 
 once, cut through the too delicate covering of her 
 feet. He did not note what progress they made ; 
 he hardly looked up. 
 
 They were just half-way to the bridge. " Let 
 me sit here for a moment," said Jessie ; " I am 
 so much exhausted, I must rest." 
 
 They sat down on a smooth stone beneath the 
 shadow of a spreading cedar. They raised their 
 eyes an involuntary exclamation of amazement 
 broke from their lips at the stupendous sight 
 before them ! They had caught the first glimpse 
 of the mighty bridge, standing out from the ver- 
 dant woodland that mantled its sides. 
 
 For a few moments they gazed, awe-struck, 
 upon the imposing spectacle. Then adown 
 Jessie's cheeks the tears rained in rapid showers. 
 
 To her who sought for God's presence every- 
 where who traced the workings of his Almighty
 
 TWIN EOSES. 203 
 
 hand in humblest things, how overwhelmingly 
 was its potent touch revealed here ! 
 
 The grandeur the sublimity of this architec- 
 ture of Divine execution seemed to raise her up 
 so near to her Creator that her whole soul was 
 thrilled with emotion. 
 
 Herman gazed in rapt astonishment, as one 
 suddenly petrified. 
 
 " Can Niagara be more wonderful than this 
 gigantic arch ? " he ejaculated after a long silence. 
 
 " Not so high," answered the guide, interpreting 
 his words literally. " The bridge is fifty-five feet 
 higher than the falls of Niagara." 
 
 " Let us go on ! Let us approach," half whis- 
 pered Jessie. 
 
 With slow, almost with reverent steps, they 
 drew nearer and nearer. 
 
 Beneath the bridge runs Cedar Creek, leaping 
 over the stones with a low, gurgling, musical 
 voice, as though it were murmuring a continual 
 hymn of praise for the mighty work above. 
 
 The water sometimes rises six or seven feet, 
 but it was now so low that Herman, Jessie, and 
 then: guide could pass beneath the bridge, spring- 
 ing from rock to rock, until they reached a little 
 island perfectly dry, and directly under the centre 
 of the arch.
 
 204 TWIN KOSES. 
 
 Here they sat down in the cool shadow of the 
 towering bulwark, and contemplated the scene. 
 
 The guide told them that the bridge was 
 formed of limestone rock was three hundred 
 feet high was forty feet thick the chasm fifty 
 feet wide at the bottom and forty at the top but 
 these arithmetical calculations rather jarred on 
 their ears. 
 
 How Jessie wished that the guide would leave 
 them to muse alone! As she looked up with 
 swimming eyes, it seemed to her as though this 
 triumphal arch of nature touched the cerulean 
 dome above. 
 
 The summit is fringed with trees that lean over 
 as if peering into the abyss beneath. Here and 
 there, along the sides of the rocky wall, a hardy 
 child of the forest has planted firmly clasping 
 roots and spread out its verdant arms. 
 
 The vigorous growth of the arbor vitae, in par- 
 ticular, which, in these regions, obtains unusual 
 size and beauty, attracted their attention. 
 
 Now the guide points out to them the names 
 carved on the inner side of the bridge. Wash- 
 ington, who had performed the feat of throwing 
 half a dollar from below to the top, clambered 
 high, and inscribed his name. A few years ago, 
 a young Virginian a member of the legislature,
 
 TWIN ROSES. 205 
 
 with a sudden impulse of ambition, determined 
 to place his name far above every other. He 
 climbed so high that he could not return. He had 
 to cut holes in the limestone, with his penknife, 
 to support himself. His fingers were torn and 
 bleeding his horror baffles description. He was 
 forced to go on and try to pass over the bridge, 
 as he could not descend the spectators expected 
 every moment to see him dashed to pieces. At 
 length ropes were lowered to him from the side 
 opposite to the one where he had commenced his 
 perilous ascent. He seized them, with the energy 
 of despair, and was rescued! He never wholly 
 recovered the effects of the shock. He could not 
 cease to reproach himself with this wanton peril 
 of his life. He became a victim to melancholy, 
 and could not bear to hear his folly mentioned. 
 He only lived a few years, but, it is said, became 
 very pious before he died. 
 
 The same feat (so the guide told them) had 
 since been repeated more successfully, without 
 the aid of ropes, by some Lexington students. 
 
 The patriots of the Revolution used this bridge 
 to make their shot. The liquid lead was dropped 
 from above into a receptacle in the creek. In 
 this utilitarian land even the most marvellous 
 works of nature have been called upon to per- 
 18
 
 206 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 form their use. Does not Niagara turn sundry 
 busy mills ? 
 
 Now the guide bids them look up directly 
 beneath the centre of the arch, and asks them 
 what they see. 
 
 " An eagle ! An eagle with outspread wings ? " 
 exclaimed Herman. 
 
 It was indeed a representation of the bird that 
 typifies America, distinctly graven on the stone. 
 There needed no stretch of! imagination to trace 
 its outline. 
 
 " There's a lion too," said the guide ; " the 
 British lion beneath the American eagle, some 
 call it but the lion is not cut out so clearly." 
 
 The English couple could not trace the lion. 
 Herman defined the head, but the lion stamped on 
 the natural wall was somewhat dubious, though 
 it is indisputable that the eagle is carved there. 
 Other fantastic figures could be traced, but none 
 with the same certainty as that national emblem. 
 
 They had lingered some hours beneath the 
 bridge, its marvels still unexhausted, when the 
 guide proposed that they should reascend to 
 obtain a view from above. 
 
 They were loath to tear themselves away, but, 
 as they proposed to reach Lexington that night, 
 there was little more time to spare.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 207 
 
 The ascent was very fatiguing, and Jessie 
 paused to rest many times before they found 
 themselves upon the rocky parapets, looking down 
 on the deep abyss. They passed from cliff to 
 cliff to command different prospects. 
 
 Jessie's cheek grew ashy pale as she gazed 
 down the precipice, and the huge yawning chasm 
 swam before her sight. She was forced to turn 
 away, ashamed of her own weakness. But Her- 
 man consoled her by recalling to her mind that 
 the renowned Jefferson had declared his own 
 head had grown sick and giddy at that appalling 
 sight. 
 
 The travellers returned to the hotel partook 
 of a light repast, and at three o'clock, reluctantly 
 proceeded onwards. They reached the lovely 
 village of Lexington, thirty-seven miles distant, 
 by seven. Then* humorous driver, whose loquac- 
 ity seemed inexhaustible, indulged them by the 
 way with songs and anecdotes innumerable.
 
 208 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 WEYER'S CAVE. 
 
 JESSIE was too much overcome by fatigue to 
 proceed to Staunton the next morning. She 
 rested for three days in perfect quiet, before Her- 
 man thought her able to resume her journey. 
 
 She did not attempt to accompany him on his 
 visits to the Virginia Military Institute, the 
 Washington College, etc. But he entertained her, 
 as usual, with minute and graphic descriptions. 
 
 At eleven o'clock, on the morning of the fourth 
 day, they took their places in the stagecoach, and 
 reached Staunton at sunset. 
 
 The next day Jessie was impatient to start for 
 Weyer's Cave, and assured Herman that she was 
 quite able to encounter the fatigue of the drive. 
 
 It was a cool, delicious morning. They started 
 in a light carriage, at eight o'clock, travelled north- 
 ward for seventeen miles, and, in three hours, 
 reached the pretty little inn kept by the Mohlers. 
 It is to a portion of the Mohler family the cave 
 belongs. 
 
 Jessie was charmed by the tasteful garden that
 
 TWIN ROSES. 209 
 
 surrounded the house the neatness and sylvan 
 simplicity of the miniature domain. 
 
 They were received by a juvenile party, who 
 discharged the duties of hosts. A remarkably 
 handsome youth, of twelve years, with an intelli- 
 gent countenance, and keen, black eyes ; his 
 brother, about two years younger, sons of the 
 proprietor ; a mulatto boy of eleven, and his sister, 
 Rachel, some five years his senior, a maiden 
 who might have laid claims to oriental beauty. 
 Her luminous smile, which displayed immaculate 
 teeth ; her eyes, large, soft, and lustrous, the rich 
 crimson glowing through her clear olive com- 
 plexion, her manners indescribably winning, but 
 modest withal, attracted them strongly. The 
 elder portion of the household were absent and 
 not expected to return until the following day. 
 It was astonishing to the English travellers to 
 witness the ease and gravity with which this 
 juvenile band greeted the guests, learned their 
 wishes, and made preparations for their comfort. 
 
 Jessie and Herman preferred sitting on the 
 porch to enjoy the prospect ; and Rachel set before 
 them a tray with snowy bread, delicious butter, 
 and creamy milk. Her little brother, she said, 
 would guide them through the cave when they 
 were sufficiently refreshed. 
 18*
 
 210 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 This boy's whole appearance formed a strong 
 contrast to that of his sister. He was silent, 
 unsmiling, and moved about mechanically, as 
 though he were going through some forced and 
 most undelightful duty. But he knew every 
 nook and corner of the cave. He had been 
 through it hundreds of times, and could find his 
 way in the dark, so said his sister Rachel. 
 
 After the rural repast, they set out, accom- 
 panied by the boy. The walk to the cave, which 
 lies in the heart of a mountain, occupied about a 
 quarter of an hour. The road was replete with 
 interest and beauty. On the left runs a branch 
 of the noble Shenandoah, greeting the ears of the 
 travellers with its musical ripples, its bright 
 waters sparkling at intervals through the green 
 foliage that overshadowed its banks. In the 
 distance rises the august mountain chain, and to 
 the left the stately Massannutten towers in lonely 
 grandeur. 
 
 The narrow path that shoots up the side of the 
 mountain, leading to the cavern, is cut through 
 the wood. It is steep and difficult of access. 
 Though Herman's strong arm is around her, 
 Jessie has to pause many times. At last they 
 reach the rude vestibule which is built over the 
 entrance of the cave. The wooden benches are
 
 TWIN ROSES. 211 
 
 a welcome sight. But there, close upon them, 
 yawns a dark, cavernous mouth, somewhat ap- 
 palling, at the first glance. 
 
 Herman, who never loses any opportunity of 
 gathering information, learned the history of this 
 cave from young Mohler, when Jessie was mak- 
 ing some change in her attire. 
 
 While they are resting, and the boy-guide is 
 preparing the lights, and filling the huge pockets 
 of his jacket with an abundance of candles and 
 matches, Herman recounts to her that in 1804 
 one Bernard Weyer was troubled by the depreda- 
 tions of a hedgehog. He set traps for the in- 
 truder, but the traps were sagaciously carried off. 
 At last he hunted the enemy to his den, and dis- 
 covered this cave, where the traps were safely 
 stored. 
 
 Madison's cave is in the same mountain. It 
 was discovered long before Weyer's Cave, and 
 looked upon with wonder ; but the transcendent 
 attractions of the latter have robbed the former 
 of all interest. It is seldom visited. 
 
 The lights are ready. The boy hands to Her- 
 man a candle placed in a tin reflector, another 
 to Jessie, and bears two himself. Without a 
 word he marches onward, and, with a stolid air, 
 enters the awful mouth. Herman and Jessie 
 follow.
 
 212 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 The first impression was terrifying to the latter, 
 but that sensation was quickly dispelled by won- 
 dering delight. 
 
 To trace their exact route, step by step, through 
 all the labyrinthine windings that led to those 
 thirty-five chambers of marvels, would be diffi- 
 cult They could not have narrated the course 
 of their subterranean journey themselves. They 
 only knew that, descending slowly, they had been 
 suddenly introduced into a hall, which in the dim 
 light seemed ornamented with statues antique 
 works of art ; that they passed on, as though in 
 a dream, fancying themselves in some magical 
 cell, or wizard's cave, to encounter a succession 
 of surprises ; now looking into deep abysses ; 
 now climbing stone-cut, narrow steps, and trav- 
 ersing vast halls ; now they found themselves in 
 the temple of Solomon, before a throne which 
 might have rivalled the great Prophet's in the 
 elaborate beauty of its canopied state. Now they 
 stand contemplating a petrified waterfall a 
 miniature Niagara, that seemed as though its 
 frothy torrent, while pouring furiously downward, 
 had been suddenly congealed ; now they stand 
 in llu- tapestry chamber, rich curtains fall from 
 the ceiling to the ground in folds of classic grace 
 that would have made an upholsterer, in the
 
 TWIN ROSES. 213 
 
 days of Louis XV., die of despair. They place 
 the candles between the transparent foldings, and 
 orient hues are suddenly revealed. Now they are 
 gazing at a huge organ. The boy strikes with 
 his pole its clearly cut, well-defined pipes. Each 
 one gives out a soft, musical sound, varying in 
 tone. A skilful musician might easily have 
 called forth an air from the resonant instrument. 
 Here stands a mammoth drum. A blow upon 
 that is answered by a deep, sonorous reverbera- 
 tion that echoes through the cave like distant 
 thunder. What an alarum ! 
 
 All at once they find themselves in a vast and 
 lofty gallery with a majestic dome. In the centre 
 stands a single figure. Surely the chisel of the 
 statuary has wrought here ! That Roman drap- 
 ery, through which the outlines of the limbs are 
 visible that truncheon in the hand that regal 
 head those half familiar features could they 
 all be carved by the hand of Nature ? This is 
 called the hall of Washington, and the statue is 
 designated as that of the Father of his country. 
 
 Next they enter the chamber of Mrs. Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 That steep stair they are ascending is styled 
 Jacob's ladder. And there is Jacob's tea table 
 (Did Jacob drink tea ?) and yonder is Jacob's ice-
 
 214 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 house. (The young guide is quite certain he 
 had one.) 
 
 Now they are walking amid cathedral-like 
 aisles. Are they not formed of trees ? What a 
 bower-like place ! 
 
 " The garden of Paradise ! " exclaims the boy- 
 guide, and they acknowledge the fitness of the 
 name. 
 
 Ever and anon they have to stoop low and 
 almost crawl through narrow passages, but this 
 inconvenience is of brief duration and quite for- 
 gotten, when they stand erect again in some new 
 chamber of wonder. 
 
 A clear spring runs through the cave. They 
 drink of the cold, pellucid water, and declare they 
 have never tasted a more refreshing draught. 
 
 Now they are ushered into the ball room, with 
 its smooth floor, its decorated walls, its orchestra 
 for musicians its ottomans for the weary. They 
 seat themselves while the youthful guide, in a *>t, 
 sullen way, recounts how many balls are given 
 there how the walls are illuminated by thou- 
 sands of candles how the dancers foot it for 
 hours to merry music how the feast is spread, 
 and how the old cave rings with the sound of 
 revelry. But he relates all this as though there 
 was nothing in the recollection of the fete to sur-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 215 
 
 prise or please him ; as though he had undoubt- 
 edly witnessed these festive scenes, but his sombre 
 dulness had never been stirred by them. 
 
 They have no time to linger they pass on. 
 
 "The leaning tower of Pisa!" ejaculates the 
 guide " The Natural Bridge." 
 
 Yes they behold remarkable representations 
 of both. They wander into another chamber 
 still. Jessie is the first to stop. She exclaims, 
 gazing upwards with a radiant countenance, 
 " Oh ! how exquisite ! " 
 
 " The bridal comb and veil ! " quoth the 
 guide. 
 
 It is indeed a Spanish-shaped comb over which 
 droops a long, snow-white veil of finest texture, 
 glittering as though inwrought with brightest 
 gems. Beyond is the " shower of diamonds," a 
 perfect rain of effulgence and near, a sparkling 
 chandelier. 
 
 But it would consume pages to enumerate all 
 the strange, grotesque, fantastic creations in that 
 marvellous cave. Pause we here. 
 
 The wanderings of Herman and Jessie, through 
 its intricate windings, occupied from four to five 
 hours. 
 
 The air was so cool and invigorating that 
 Jessie, in spite of her feebleness, was hardly con-
 
 216 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 scious of fatigue until she once more found her- 
 self in the passage near the cavern's mouth. 
 
 The light that streamed in resembled that of a 
 soft moon. They extinguished their candles, that 
 it might become more apparent. 
 
 After resting awhile in the vestibule, they return 
 to the quiet little inn. Jessie was obliged to seek 
 her couch at once. The pretty Rachel, as she 
 helped to disrobe her, proved an amusing and 
 efficient handmaiden. 
 
 Jessie lay for several hours in a half dreamy 
 state, wandering in thought through the en- 
 chanted halls of the cave, and recalling all its 
 beauties. 
 
 The next morning they bade adieu to their 
 juvenile hosts and returned to Staunton. 
 
 The morning after, they started at six o'clock, 
 in the Central train for Richmond. Once more 
 they passed over the magnificent Blue Ridge. 
 The passage was now made at Rockfish Gap, 
 and in the railway cars. 
 
 They seemed floating in some steam-engine 
 balloon over the tops of mountains over grand, 
 extensive forests over verdant glebes, intersected 
 here and there with leaping rivulets over cottage 
 homes, and well-tilled farms. The descent ap- 
 peared to be more perilous, though it was far less
 
 TWIN ROSES. 217 
 
 rapid than the rushing down of the stagecoach 
 when they crossed at Buford's Gap. 
 
 They obtained a fine view of the noble Uni- 
 versity of Virginia. 
 
 At half-past one o'clock, they reached Rich- 
 mond. At the hotel they were once more wel- 
 comed by a group of colored attendants, foremost 
 among which stood Aunt Sylvia, who quickly 
 espied and took bodily possession of her favorite. 
 
 19
 
 218 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 CLOUDS. 
 
 JESSIE delighted to retrace in thought her brief 
 journey through the grand " old dominion." She 
 had stored up a vast gallery of beautiful images 
 in the chambers of memory and contemplated 
 them with unwearied pleasure. Is not to embel- 
 lish those temple walls of the mind one of the 
 highest uses of travel ? 
 
 Her health had undergone a wonderful change. 
 Her step had regained something of its former 
 airiness. The summer roses had once more 
 faintly reflected their bloom upon her cheeks. 
 Her eyes were less heavily shaded by their 
 drooping lids. Her whole mien had lost its op- 
 pressive languor. 
 
 Herman noted these happy prognostics with a 
 throbbing heart. He thought they augured a 
 complete restoration. His own gushing flow of 
 animal spirits had been checked when he saw her 
 fading by his side. Now his lively organization 
 resumed its native tone. 
 
 The first sweet days of unclouded anticipation,
 
 TWIN ROSES. 219 
 
 which they had spent in Boston, seemed to return. 
 She was now his constant companion, the good 
 angel ever by his side. Until the close of the 
 theatre, his time had been so wholly engrossed 
 by her illness, and the claims of his profession, 
 that he could not, according to his wont, search 
 out every object of interest within reach. He had 
 seen but very little of " the city of hills and of 
 schools," as it is not inappropriately called, for 
 certainly no city in the United States, of the 
 same dimensions, can boast of so large a number 
 of either. May we look upon these natural and 
 acquired advantages as signs of elevation and 
 education extraordinary? Now Herman con- 
 ducted Jessie to the Capitol, where, directly 
 beneath the dome, stood Houdon's unsurpassed 
 statue of Washington, modelled from exact meas- 
 urement of the living man. They wandered 
 through the well-ordered Capitol grounds and 
 examined the granite structure where, facing the 
 Governor's mansion, Crawford's master-piece of 
 art, the Washington Monument, was in process 
 of erection. Herman took her to the spot where 
 the first theatre was burned to the ground. The 
 Monumental Church stands in its place, with the 
 ashes of the sixty, who lost their lives in the 
 flames, inurned- before its portals.
 
 220 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 On Sunday they visited the African church, 
 saw the throng of devout colored disciples listen- 
 ing to the exhortation of their pastor with rapt 
 attention ; and heard their melodious voices raised 
 in adoration. Jessie could distinguish Aunt Syl- 
 via's piercing tones, the loudest among the loud. 
 
 The next day they drove to that most pic- 
 turesque of cemeteries, Hollywood, and gave the 
 tribute of their ever ready admiration to its groves 
 of holly, its gentle hills, its sequestered dells, its 
 low- voiced brook, its glorious prospects ! 
 
 Then they drove to Church Hill and Gamble's 
 Hill, and contemplated the lovely landscapes 
 revealed from their heights. 
 
 Herman was very desirous of beholding the 
 far-famed site of the royal -residence of the Indian 
 chief Powhatan ; some affirm, the scene of Poca- 
 hontas's heroic rescue of Captain Smith. It is 
 now a private country seat, though often resorted 
 to by strangers. All Herman's persuasions could 
 not induce Jessie to allow him to obtain permis- 
 sion for them to visit the famous locality. Her 
 sensitiveness and her reserve were unconquerable. 
 
 When every noteworthy locality in Richmond 
 and its environs had been exhausted, no doubt 
 the ever restless motion of Herman's blood would 
 have impelled him to seek change or occupa-
 
 TWIN KOSES. 221 
 
 tion. Both were unexpectedly provided before 
 he began to feel their need. 
 
 He received an urgent letter from his old friend, 
 the manager of the Boston Museum, soliciting 
 him to enter, into a new engagement. All the 
 theatres were closed during the summer season, 
 and the Museum had the prospect, so the man- 
 ager assured Herman, of a "terrific business." He 
 concluded by offering very tempting terms. 
 
 Jessie saw how Herman's countenance kindled 
 as he read the letter, how his whole frame 
 seemed penetrated with delightful emotion as 
 the olden charm of personation stole over him 
 like a spell. 
 
 " Let us go ! " she exclaimed, " let us go back 
 to Boston let us go at once. We shall see my 
 only friend on this side of the ocean, Miss Pome- 
 roy. I can make ready in a day." 
 
 An assent was dispatched by the next mail. 
 
 Aunt Sylvia was once more busily employed 
 in packing. She parted very reluctantly with her 
 charge. As she grasped both of Jessie's hands in 
 adieu, she said, " Seek de Lord, young Missus 
 seek de Lord ! Make your blessed bed in Heaven. 
 There aint no peace nowhar but dar. Jordan's 
 a hard road to travel, but it's blessed to dem dat 
 gets to de end ont. Don't you go to forget old 
 19*
 
 222 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Sylvy, and jus mind her words to seek de Lord. 
 Dem's her partin monitions." 
 
 Two days after the reception of the letter, 
 Jessie and Herman left Richmond in one of the 
 admirable steamers that run, twice every week, to 
 New York. In thirty-six hours they reached that 
 city, and the same afternoon took the Fall River 
 steamboat for Boston. At daydawn they beheld 
 again the familiar objects they had first looked 
 upon in this new land. 
 
 A line to Miss Pomeroy brought her quickly 
 to the hotel, where they now took up their abode. 
 They preferred it to a boarding-house, for Jessie 
 had more privacy, and that was her first requi- 
 site. 
 
 Very precious to Jessie was the intercourse of 
 friendship. She welcomed Miss Pomeroy with a 
 sisterly warmth which she had never bestowed on 
 any one except Jeannie. 
 
 Jessie listened meekly to Miss Pomeroy 's chid- 
 ing. She was wounded that the young actress 
 had refused to receive the friends to whom she 
 wished to present her in Richmond; that Jessie 
 had persisted in such entire seclusion; she had 
 wronged, by her judgment of them, many warm, 
 liberal hearts ; she had needlessly shut herself out 
 of much social enjoyment.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 223 
 
 " It may be so," said Jessie, " but I never could 
 get that canon of the Episcopal church in Vir- 
 ginia out of my head. I may have been unjust 
 in my conclusions. I fear I have been, but you 
 know I dread strangers at all times." 
 
 Herman was received by the Boston audience 
 with demonstrations of the most genuine enthu- 
 siasm. Inspired by this token of remembrance 
 and approval, he surpassed all his former efforts. 
 
 Jessie accompanied him to the Museum every 
 night. She sat at the wing in a high-backed 
 chair brought from the property room, and often 
 used on the stage as the uneasy seat of royalty. 
 With what tender emotion she watched him ! 
 
 It was nearly a year since she had witnessed 
 any of his personations, and she was astonished 
 at the originality and beauty of his embodiment. 
 His talents for the stage were indisputable. But 
 they had required time to develop. He had 
 wrongly imagined that an unpractised hand could 
 strike the chords of Melpomene's lyre, and draw 
 forth music. Study alone could teach the trick 
 of sounding the strings. 
 
 Night after night, and week after week passed 
 on, and Herman took firmer hold of his audience 
 than ever. Yet his powers to achieve hardly kept 
 pace with his ambition. He was highly elated,
 
 224 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 but his exaltation of mind plunged him into no 
 excess. With a strong hand he could now bridle 
 his rash impulses. 
 
 His acquaintance was sought by gay young 
 men, habitues of the theatre ; he was courted and 
 caressed ; he was the star of the hour ; but the 
 temptations that once led him astray had no 
 longer power over him. 
 
 Herman had very inadequate female support. 
 The manager proposed that Jessie should resume 
 her professional duties. Herman would not listen 
 to this suggestion ; she should never toil again 
 while he had the power to supply her wants, 
 and that power had happily been granted him. 
 
 A higher pinnacle was soon pointed out for his 
 climbing. He received overtures from the first 
 theatre in Boston. But there his engagement 
 would have been but for a few weeks' duration. 
 In those days stars of magnitude were not fixed ; 
 they travelled from city to city, displaying their 
 light for a brief season, then giving place to some 
 other luminary. 
 
 Herman had ceased to act on impulse. He 
 declined this flattering offer, and accepted one 
 from the manager of the Museum, which occupied 
 his time until the coming spring. After that, he 
 proposed making the tour of the States, and
 
 TWIN ROSES. 225 
 
 appearing in every city where he could obtain an 
 engagement. 
 
 Jessie would have shared his pleasure in form- 
 ing these plans, if her heart had not constantly 
 yearned for her English home her sister her 
 child. She saw that, after the present year 
 dragged to its close, they would still be separated ; 
 still another year must be endured in a foreign 
 land. 
 
 But Herman's fondly laid plans were doomed 
 to be frustrated. Hardly had the cold weather set 
 in, when Jessie's health again began to decline. 
 She struggled bravely to conceal her weakness 
 to stifle her cough in Herman's presence, that 
 she might not render him uneasy. She still ac- 
 companied him to the Museum and watched 
 his performances with unflagging interest. The 
 members of the company treated her with the 
 utmost kindness though she formed no intima- 
 cies. 
 
 One night, as Herman was enacting St. Pierre, 
 she grew unusually excited by his personation. 
 Her cough increased in violence, but was hardly 
 heeded until the handkerchief that she held to her 
 lips was dyed a deep red. Jessie was startled, 
 yet she feared to alarm Herman perhaps to mar 
 his grand conclusion of a performance which was
 
 226 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 winning his greenest laurels, she resolutely con- 
 trolled her emotion. 
 
 When he left the stage, at the close of the 
 fourth act, and tenderly leaning over her, told her 
 how much he regretted to hear her cough so often, 
 she smiled, though faintly, and answered without 
 disclosing the sad discovery she had made. She 
 even hurried him away to arrange his costume 
 for the dying scene, and told him how impres- 
 sively he was acting. 
 
 He obeyed her in happy unconsciousness of 
 her state. 
 
 Through the whole of the fifth act every cough 
 of Jessie's was followed by that red tide, yet she 
 made no sign. The curtain fell, Herman was 
 vociferously cheered. He acknowledged the sum- 
 mons of the audience, and then, radiant with 
 smiles, joined his wife, to listen, as he thought, to 
 her dearer praises. The deadly pallor of her 
 countenance alarmed him. 
 
 " Good Heavens! Jessie, what has happened? 
 You are very ill." 
 
 " Take me home quickly ! " was all she could 
 say in answer. 
 
 Without changing his cavalier costume he 
 caught her in his arms, solicited one of the scene- 
 shifters who stood near to go for the physician by
 
 TWIN ROSES. 227 
 
 whom Jessie had been attended, placed her in a 
 carriage, and they drove home. Her cough was 
 so incessant that she did not attempt to reply, 
 save by the pressure of her hand, to his tender 
 words. Herman never divined the sad truth until 
 they reached their apartment and he had laid her 
 on her bed. 
 
 The physician, who quickly arrived, found it 
 difficult to calm the distracted husband's paroxysm 
 of terror. Jessie's danger was imminent that 
 could not be denied. It was some hours before 
 the flow of blood was arrested, and then she lay 
 exhausted, and but half conscious. 
 
 The next day Herman never left her side for a 
 moment, but at night he was forced to enact the 
 hero while he was in reality playing the martyr. 
 He returned home with a heavy heart to his wife, 
 to see her strength, her life, slowly, yet visibly 
 wasting away, while it seemed as though no 
 earthly power could arrest the ebbing tide.
 
 228 TWIN KOSES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MILDRED AND THE BULFINCH. 
 
 AND Jeannie how fared it with her during 
 this long interval of separation these weary 
 years that she had been severed from herself in 
 being divided from her heart's sister her twin 
 spirit ? 
 
 The care of little Mildred had been a mingled 
 source of joy and painful anxiety. It would be 
 difficult to conceive a more bewitching, captivat- 
 ing creature than this wayward, yet lovely child. 
 She was now five years of age the incarnation 
 of riante, fro ward, jocund infancy. In spite of 
 the beautiful heritage of her mother's dark eyes 
 and brows, she strangely resembled her father in 
 appearance. Her hair, which twined itself into a 
 wild mass of untaught ringlets, was of the sunny 
 hue that his had been in babyhood. He had 
 transmitted to her his buoyant, vehement tem- 
 perament his spontaneity and restlessness. Her 
 lit tit; heart seemed ever overflowing with the un- 
 reasoning, gushing mirth of childhood; her affec-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 tions were easily excited; but she was wilful, 
 domineering, always engaged in some merry mis- 
 chief, always plunging headlong into danger, 
 and extricating herself with a coolness and 
 bravery that startled and confounded those who 
 beheld her. She at once delighted and per- 
 plexed 
 
 " With her moods of shade and sunshine, 
 Eyes that smiled and frowned alternate, 
 Feet as rapid as the river, 
 Tresses flowing like the water, 
 And as musical a laughter." # 
 
 Jeannie, unable to follow her from place to place, 
 often sought in vain to chain or charm the child 
 to her side. Heedless of the gentle but imploring 
 voice that bade her stay, she would bound from 
 the chamber and disappear. 
 
 Before Liza, at Jeannie's request, could cap- 
 ture her, she was down on the stage, or up in 
 " the flies," or in the scenic artist's room, hand- 
 ling his brushes, daubing over his painting, upset- 
 ting glue pots, and playing all sorts of elfin 
 pranks. She seemed to be thoroughly imbued 
 with her father's passion for the stage. Not un- 
 frequently she was discovered in some of the 
 dressing-rooms of the theatre, decked out with 
 
 * Longfellow. 
 20
 
 230 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 finery, which she had abstracted from the ward- 
 robe, enacting improvised heroines to a host of 
 juvenile spectators. 
 
 More than once, when a pantomime was repre- 
 sented, she eluded Jeannie's vigilance, stole to the 
 tiring-room of the children, and coaxing off one 
 of the little girl's dresses, arrayed herself as one 
 of the goblin band, and accompanied the group 
 upon the stage. But the unusual abandon and 
 frolicsomeness of the strange imp invariably 
 betrayed her. When she was detected, Mr. 
 Hawkwood took especial pleasure in carrying the 
 screaming, struggling child to Jeannie's apart- 
 ment. As he delivered her into custody, he often 
 froze Jeannie's blood by his solemn prophecy that 
 this young one would come to no good. He was 
 sure of that let Jeannie remember his words 
 when his prediction was fulfilled ! 
 
 Jeannie would begin a grave reproof, but Mil- 
 dred's chubby arms were flung around her neck, 
 and her mouth was stopped with kisses. When 
 she insisted on speaking, the child's comical 
 antics, and arch defence of her histrionic predi- 
 lections, made it impossible to preserve a serious 
 countenance. 
 
 Jeannie devoted several hours every day to her 
 instruction. Whatever she chose to acquire, she
 
 TWIN ROSES. 231 
 
 learned with astonishing rapidity but the knowl- 
 edge she preferred was usually of a fanciful and 
 unpractical character. Her powers of imitation 
 were wonderful. She would often burst into 
 Jeannie's room, and throwing herself into a start- 
 ling attitude, correctly execute the most difficult 
 evolutions of the dancers who were practising on 
 the stage below. There was not a person in the 
 theatre whom she could not accurately mimic, 
 and there was only one whom she would not. 
 She always replied with petulant indignation, 
 when any of the actors dared her " take off" 
 Aunt Jeannie. 
 
 In spite of her perverse ways she fondly loved 
 Jeannie, and a tear in her eye would do more to 
 check her waywardness than remonstrances, re- 
 proaches, or threats of punishment could ever 
 have effected. 
 
 Mildred was strong, vigorous her physique 
 remarkably developed. She would easily have 
 been mistaken for a child in her seventh or eighth 
 year. 
 
 Since Jessie's departure, Jeannie's apartment 
 had been more resorted to, by the members of 
 the company, than ever. It was a spot where 
 almost all loved to congregate. The quietude of 
 that picturesque little chamber imparted a sense
 
 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 of repose even amidst toil. Then Jeannie's pres- 
 ence had a composing influence over untranquil 
 spirits. There was seldom a discussion or quar- 
 rel in the theatre that the parties did not bring 
 their grievances before Jeannie. Both sides ap- 
 pealed to her as umpire of their wrongs. And 
 she, with the faculty which a life-pervading charity 
 imparts, 
 
 " from some slender vein 
 
 Of goodness, which surrounding gloom concealed, 
 Struck sunlight o'er" 
 
 actions which both were resolved to regard in the 
 blackness of blind wrath. 
 
 " I can't understand it, Jeannie," said Dorothy 
 to her on one of these occasions " there's no 
 making yco blame either party there's no get- 
 ting you indignant or making you feel that 
 there's no earthly excuse for such conduct. I 
 don't understand the secret of it. Why can't you 
 come out boldly and say it's a horrid shame, and 
 they deserve the worst they can get ! " 
 
 "So I would, perhaps, if I had nothing to 
 accuse myself of; " answered Jeannie mildly. 
 u I, myself, have only to recall the evil I have not 
 avoided in the past which I may not have the 
 strength to shun in the future ; I have only to 
 think of the good I might have done and have
 
 TWIN ROSES. 233 
 
 not done, and I dare not lift my voice to censure 
 a weak fellow-mortal." 
 
 " You not do all the good you could ? You ever 
 do any harm ? I don't believe it ! " replied Dolly 
 energetically. 
 
 " I wish the angels, who see us always, did not." 
 
 " As to that," answered Dolly in her reckless 
 way, " I don't know that I should believe any 
 thing about angels, if I didn't think that you were 
 one yourself. Of this I'm certain, I can't feel 
 half so wicked when I'm sitting here beside you, 
 as I can at other times." 
 
 It was true that Jeannie had the lovable 
 power to conjure up all the slumbering goodness, 
 all the gentler, better attributes of the natures 
 with which she was brought in contact. We are 
 all of us musical instruments, heaven-strung, and 
 designed to give forth sweet strains in praise of 
 the creating hand, but most of us are vilely out 
 of tune. Jeannie's accordant touch had the gift 
 of bringing into harmony the discordant heart- 
 strings of others, until they marvelled at their 
 own unwonted melody. 
 
 It was this faculty which Dorothy recognized, 
 though she could not have analyzed her emotions, 
 or framed them into language. 
 
 And where was Sylvester ? He had long since 
 20*
 
 234 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 made declaration of his passion and had been 
 quietly assured that it could never be returned. 
 Still, with wonderful patience, he leaned upon 
 Hope, " a lover's staff," as Shakespeare styles it, 
 and "managed it against despairing thoughts." 
 He still hovered around Jeannie, too happy when 
 he could sometimes catch 
 
 " The falling music of a gracious word, 
 Or the stray sunshine of a smile." 
 
 It was now the third spring that the sisters had 
 been separated. 
 
 Jeannie was sitting in her chamber, musing 
 mournfully over the tidings of Jessie's protracted 
 illness, and striving to familiarize her thoughts 
 with the heart-rending possibility of never again 
 meeting her in this life. 
 
 Mildred was playing with the bulfinch, imitat- 
 ing his sweet notes, feeding him from her lips, 
 and teaching him to obey her call. She closed 
 the window, as usual, before she took him from 
 his cage. Tame as he was, Jeannie had always 
 been fearful of tempting him with offered liberty. 
 
 Jeannie was bending over her endless embroid- 
 ery, when she was startled from her sad thoughts 
 by a loud cry from the child. 
 
 " Oh ! Bulbul ! Bulbul ! My bird ! he's gone ! 
 he's gone ! he's flown ! "
 
 TWIN ROSES. 235 
 
 Mildred was standing at the window. She had 
 raised it out of sport just to see if the bird 
 would want to fly. She had stretched her hand 
 out of the casement with the bird resting on her 
 finger. The soft breeze, the blue sky had called 
 him he had obeyed the summons. 
 
 When Jeannie reached the window, the bird 
 had alighted upon the roof of a neighboring resi- 
 dence. Mildred was screaming violently and 
 calling to him. Either her cries, or the approach 
 of some supposed danger, frightened the truant. 
 He again spread his wings, and Mildred shouted 
 louder than ever. She saw him fly through an 
 open window of the adjacent hotel. 
 
 " Oh ! I see where he has gone ! I can catch 
 him there ! " 
 
 Before Jeannie could stop her, away darted the 
 child. Jeannie knew that it was in vain to call 
 her back, or to send after her. She stood watch- 
 ing at the window until she saw Mildred gain 
 admission into the house ; then returned to her 
 work, patiently to await the result. 
 
 Jeannie was strongly attached to the bulfinch. 
 There were sweet associations conjured up by his 
 warbling no other bird could ever sing half so 
 tunefully to her ears. 
 
 Mildred, with a few hurried, unintelligible
 
 236 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 words, rushed by the servant who opened the 
 door, hastened up stairs, made a rapid search 
 through several apartments, and at last entered 
 the one where the bird had taken refuge. 
 
 There was but one occupant of the chamber ; 
 a gray-haired man, thin, pale, and evidently worn 
 with sorrow. He sat in an arm-chair, his head 
 gloomily resting on his hands. He was appar- 
 ently waiting for some expected visiter. He 
 had not noticed the bird fluttering around the 
 room, but the vision of that beautiful child, with 
 her fair hair floating luxuriantly over her shoul- 
 ders, her black, flashing eyes, her crimsoned 
 cheeks, her quick, undulating movements, rouM-d 
 him from a mournful reverie. 
 
 " See ! there he is ! our Bulbul our pretty 
 Bulbul ! oh, help me to catch him ! Aunt Jean- 
 nie's pet and my pet, we can't part with our 
 bird ! " and Mildred sprang from side to side, pur- 
 suing the terrified bird which fluttered out of her 
 reach and struck his head constantly against the 
 ceiling. 
 
 The old man, involuntarily interested in the 
 child and her attempts, rose, and prudently closed 
 thr window and door. 
 
 " Now, little girl, we will see what we can do. 
 Be patient, child. Don't frighten the poor flut-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 237 
 
 terer. Sit still awhile and perhaps he will alight 
 somewhere. You will make him kill himself, 
 bumping against the ceiling, if you chase him 
 so." 
 
 He resumed his seat, drew the reluctant and 
 excited child to him, and held her by her wrist. 
 
 With face upturned, and glistening eyes, she 
 watched the bird and murmured in a low, sweet 
 voice, " poor Bulbul ! pretty Bulbul ! " 
 
 Several times she made an effort to pursue him 
 again, but the old man restrained her. 
 
 " You can't do it that way, my dear. He is 
 tiring himself out. Wait until he alights we 
 will have him presently." 
 
 " Oh ! you are so good ! such a dear, good old 
 man ! " said Mildred, giving one glance at her 
 new friend, and then turning her eyes upon the 
 bird again. 
 
 At last the panting bird, after dashing against 
 the window frames, high out of reach, suddenly 
 received such a blow that he fell, half-stunned, to 
 the ground. 
 
 Mildred broke from the stranger's grasp, but, as 
 she approached, the bird flew upwards again. As 
 he rose, he struck the lower panes the old man 
 threw his handkerchief over him he fell again 
 to the ground, and this time was captured.
 
 238 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 " See, we have him safe at last, my little one ; " 
 said he, as he carefully took the bird from the 
 folds of the handkerchief. 
 
 Mildred gave a wild bound of delight, and a 
 shout ofjoy then took the trembling bird and 
 caresse^Pftim, and lavished all sorts of tender 
 epithets upon him, and mimicked his musical 
 notes, regardless of the presence of the stranger. 
 
 He stood gazing upon her in affectionate ad- 
 miration, waiting for an opportunity when he 
 could question her, and learn to whom she 
 belonged, for his heart yearned towards infancy. 
 
 " Oh ! I'm so glad so glad ! " said Mildred, as 
 she caught his eye. " It was so good of you." 
 
 " Now that you have the bird safe, won't you 
 speak a few words to me, my child ? Won't you 
 tell me your name ? " 
 
 "Millie Mildred!" 
 
 " Mildred ! " repeated the stranger with a half 
 sigh ; it was not a common name, and it was the 
 name of his wife. " Mildred, and what else ? " 
 he asked with increased interest. 
 
 " Mildred Landor ! " 
 
 The old man gave a violent start. 
 
 " Mildred Landor ! Mildred Landor ! " he re- 
 peated, almost overpowered with agitation. " Oh ! 
 my God!"
 
 TWIN ROSES. 239 
 
 He covered his face, and seemed to be weeping. 
 Then recovering himself, as though he felt assured 
 that this was but some strange coincidence, he 
 addressed the wondering child again. She had 
 laid her hand on his shoulder when she saw his 
 sudden burst of grief, and now stood quietly 
 beside him. 
 
 " And your father and mother, where do they 
 live ? " 
 
 " Over in America," replied the child with a 
 sorrowful countenance, as though she had been 
 taught to lament the absence of parents she could 
 not even remember. 
 
 " America ! " gasped the old man, now more 
 strongly moved than ever. " And you where do 
 you live ? " 
 
 " Come and I will show you it's not far. I 
 must take Bulbul to his cage see how he flutters 
 and pants." 
 
 " Where ? where ? " again asked the stranger. 
 
 " With Aunt Jeannie," replied the child, begin- 
 ning to be alarmed by his manner, though she 
 was a dauntless little creature. 
 
 " Where ? " was all he could repeat, and the 
 word was uttered with great difficulty. 
 
 " Close by over in the theatre yonder." 
 
 " Then it is so ! My child ! My child ! How
 
 240 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 could I help knowing that face that look so 
 like my boy's ? It is his child my child ! " and 
 he strained the reluctant little girl to his bosom. 
 
 Her alarm increased at this inexplicable demon- 
 stration, and she struggled to free herself from the 
 arms that clasped her so fondly. 
 
 Witha violent effort, she at length broke from 
 his embrace, and bounded towards the door 
 looked back, and seeing the old man's moistened 
 cheek, said pityingly, " What you cry for ? " and 
 returned to him. 
 
 " Millie, my darling child, you do not know 
 who is talking to you it's your own grandfather ; 
 your father's father." 
 
 "Aunt Jeannie said I had a grandpapa, but 
 that she never saw him. Won't you come and 
 see Aunt Jeannie now, grandpapa ? " asked the 
 child, with winning trustfulness, acknowledging 
 the kinship. 
 
 Mr. Landor hesitated " where is she ? " 
 
 " Oh ! she's always in her room, you know in 
 the theatre yonder. She can't walk out they 
 call Aunt Jeannie a cripple. She lives way up 
 top of the old place in a little room all by her- 
 self. She and I live there together." 
 
 " The theatre ! " muttered Mr. Landor with a 
 slight shudder. Then he gazed again at the
 
 TWIN ROSES. 241 
 
 child very fondly. " I have discarded him that's 
 done my word is passed; but I did not say 
 that my wrath should be visited on his child I 
 said nothing of this innocent little one. I will 
 see this aunt and judge for myself. I will beg 
 the child of her; I will take the deaf creature 
 home to its grandmother, and perhaps that may 
 keep her poor heart from wholly breaking. Little 
 Millie is too young to have learned harm over 
 there. I'll take her home to comfort the old 
 woman." 
 
 While Mr. Landor was making these internal 
 reflections, Millie was pulling impatiently at his 
 coat. 
 
 " Come, come, I want to put Bulbul back into 
 his cage. Aunt Jeannie will be fretting for me. 
 Come and see her, grandpapa won't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I'll go, I'll go." 
 
 The old man and little girl went out together, 
 she as his conductor. 
 
 21
 
 242 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A DISCOVERY. 
 
 MR. LANDOR had visited London for the ex- 
 press purpose of learning some tidings of Her- 
 man. Direct communication with him he could 
 not have sought that his oath forbade. His 
 wife, since her alienation from her only son, had 
 been subject to fits of deep despondency. The 
 birth of Herman's child had at first filled her 
 heart with joyous emotions. Bright visions of 
 the future, to which she gave no utterance, 
 floated before her, and stirred her heart with long 
 departed joy. But, as year after year passed on, 
 and no further intelligence was received, she 
 gradually sank into a state of hopeless melan- 
 choly. She knew that it was useless to argue 
 with her husband. He was bound by principle, 
 and martyred himself and her from a sense of 
 right He could not be moved. She had prom- 
 ised him to hold no communication with Herman, 
 and though her maternal feelings often prompted 
 her to break her word, it was sacredly kept.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 243 
 
 How eagerly she searched the papers to catch 
 but a glimpse of his name! She found it, at 
 last, accompanied by the brief information that 
 he was becoming a great favorite with the Amer- 
 ican public ! 
 
 " See," she said, holding out the paper to her 
 husband, while the tears coursed down her with- 
 ered cheeks, " he has crossed the water he is 
 further from us than ever ! My son ! I shall 
 never behold him again ! " 
 
 A long interval elapsed without additional 
 tidings. 
 
 Every day Mrs. Landor sat for hours, eagerly 
 poring over the newspapers, which she unfolded 
 with trembling hands. She searched in vain. 
 At last, Mr. Landor, overcome by the sight of 
 his wife's silent but ever-increasing anguish, 
 resolved to go to London, to seek Hawkwood, 
 and learn from this valued friend some intelli- 
 gence of Herman, which he could bring back to 
 cheer his wife. 
 
 Immediately after Mr. Lander's arrival, he had 
 dispatched a note to the wily actor, and waited 
 at a hotel, near the theatre, for him to answer it 
 in person. Hawkwood was detained by a long 
 rehearsal. When, at its close, he obeyed Mr. 
 Landor' s summons with malicious glee, he found
 
 244 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 that his friend had departed, and without leaving 
 any message. He sat down to await his return. 
 
 Meantime Mr. Landor had followed little Mil- 
 dred, who guided him, through the private en- 
 trance of the theatre, up the long flights of 
 narrow stairs, to the busy wardrobe room. 
 
 The pale needlewomen looked up wonderingly 
 from their work at the sight of the stranger led 
 by little Mildred. As they passed on, she was 
 chattering merrily and with the self-important 
 air of an accomplished cicerone. 
 
 " This is aunt Jeannie's room come in ! " said 
 little Millie, throwing open the door, and bound- 
 ing into the chamber with the bird in her out- 
 stretched hand. 
 
 " See I have Bulbul safe I caught him ; 
 see how he flutters ! I must put him in prison, 
 to punish him for flying away;" and Millie 
 sprang upon a chair and opened the cage, for- 
 getting in her delight to introduce her com- 
 panion. 
 
 Mr. Landor stood on the threshold of that 
 chamber, as his son had paused there, for the 
 first time, years before, inhaling (even as he had 
 done) the perfume-laden air, and gazing around 
 (as he did) with an expression of mingled amaze- 
 ment and pleasure.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 245 
 
 Jeannie, when she beheld the stranger, laid 
 down her work in some confusion, and placed 
 her hand on the crutches, which always stood 
 near her couch. She made an attempt to rise. 
 
 " Do not disturb yourself," said Mr. Landor 
 kindly, and entering the chamber. " Pardon my 
 abrupt intrusion. Little Mildred found me in 
 the hotel yonder. I helped her to capture the 
 bird, and I only learned by accident though I 
 ought to have known from her strong resem- 
 blance" here he paused a moment "whose 
 child she was. She has forgotten to introduce 
 me." 
 
 " Yes it was I brought grandpapa to see you, 
 Aunt Jeannie." 
 
 " Grandpapa ! Is it possible ? " exclaimed 
 Jeannie, in her turn strongly moved. 
 
 " Yes, if this be the child of Herman Landor 
 for he is my son my only son ! The son who 
 has so cruelly abandoned father and mother in 
 their old age ! " 
 
 " Oh ! sir, I never thought to have the pleasure 
 of seeing you, of talking to you of him and of 
 my dear sister. I knew that you objected to the 
 marriage because she, poor child, was an actress, 
 and the daughter of an actress; but Herman 
 
 would never give us any particulars of your dis- 
 21
 
 246 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 pleasure, and we were too delicate to press the 
 subject." 
 
 " Not because she was an actress ! I would 
 not have been so cruel and unjust as that I 
 would not have discarded ray son for marrying 
 any honest woman." 
 
 Jeannie, her dark eyes dilated with wonder and 
 horror, looked at him for some time with steady 
 gaze, before she spoke. The power of utterance 
 seemed suspended. 
 
 When at last the fetters of her tongue were 
 loosed, she exclaimed indignantly, "Is there a 
 being living who could venture to hint even that 
 my sister, my own, noble, pure-hearted Jessie 
 was not worthy of any man, if virtue and good- 
 ness could render her worthy ? Mr. Landor, you 
 could not mean to insult her to insult me by 
 suggesting " Jeannie shuddered, and could not 
 finish the sentence. 
 
 There was something in her manner more con- 
 vincing to Mr. Landor than the most eloquent rep- 
 resentations and expostulations could have been. 
 
 " God forgive me ! " he replied in a conscience- 
 stricken tone, " if I have done her wrong done my 
 own son wrong ! But I did not act impulsively, 
 nor hastily. When I received my son's letter, I 
 came to London to make inquiries. I saw one
 
 TWIN ROSES. 247 
 
 of the members of this company, an old man who 
 knew you both from childhood. His exact words 
 I cannot repeat, but he gave me impressions that 
 made me revolt from this union with my son. If 
 they have been false if they have been oh 
 God ! how much I have to answer for ! " 
 
 Jeannie disdained to reply to the latter portion 
 of his sentence, and inquired with calm dignity, 
 " the actor's name ? " 
 
 " Hawkwood Joseph Hawkwood ! " 
 
 There was more indignation in Jeannie's tone 
 than perhaps she had ever used in her life, as she 
 replied, " And you could credit the word of such 
 a man ? A man who was never known to speak 
 well of any human being whose name is a bye- 
 word, another term for slander, beneath whose 
 tongue lies the venom of a serpent's ? And you 
 never inquired if his words were true? You 
 sought no other authority ? " 
 
 " What motive could he have for, deceiving 
 me ? " asked Mr. Landor deprecatingly, and with 
 the air of a man who feels that he is justly 
 accused, and has little plea for his own defence. 
 
 " The delight of traducing was motive enough, 
 for to defame is his ruling passion. I have also 
 heard of Herman's giving him offence at one of 
 his first rehearsals. Go ask Mr. Hawkwood's
 
 248 TWIN EOSES. 
 
 character of any one who knows him, and learn 
 whether his word can be trusted. Go ask my 
 dear sister's, and see whether a shadow has ever 
 rested upon her stainless name." 
 
 " If this be true " began the old man in a 
 tone of anguish. 
 
 " If it be true," interrupted Jeannie, " sir, it is 
 true." 
 
 "Oh! I feel it! I am sure of it!" said Mr. 
 Landor, taking her hand. " What reparation can 
 I make you can I make my boy ? " 
 
 "Aunt Jeannie," broke in little Mildred, " what's 
 the matter with you, and what's the matter with 
 grandpapa ? What you both cry for ? I won't 
 love grandpapa if he makes you cry no I 
 won't," added she petulantly, snatching her hand 
 away as her grandfather attempted to draw her 
 to him. " I don't love him one bit, and papa and 
 mamma shan't love him either no they shan't ! " 
 
 " They have had too little cause too little 
 cause ! Heaven forgive me ! " sighed Mr. Landor 
 with contrition. " Oh ! that evil-tongued man ! 
 And I credited him never thought of learning 
 his own character before I believed he had faith- 
 fully painted the object of my dear boy's choice. 
 Brainless, doting fool! It is /, not Herman, I 
 who have nearly killed his mother ! "
 
 TWIN ROSES. 249 
 
 t; I have a recent letter from Herman," said 
 Jeannie soothingly, for she could not witness the 
 old man's violent sorrow and self-reproach, un- 
 moved. 
 
 "And he is well happy too, perhaps, without 
 a thought of us ! " 
 
 " He is well, and doing well ; but my sister, 
 I fear, is poor Jessie ! poor Jessie ! She has 
 suffered much in a strange land. But Herman 
 could not be contented here, and she followed- 
 him ; and now now we shall never see her 
 again, for even Herman seems to despair ! She 
 is failing so fast, he gives me little hope ! The 
 Lord's will be done ! " 
 
 " He must bring her back bring her home ! I 
 will write this very day. I will make no con- 
 ditions. I will only say, ' Come back come back 
 and bring your wife to us! Come all! wife, 
 child, sister ; share our home. Pursue what occu- 
 pation you please the stage, any thing you like, 
 as you honor any vocation by your conduct; 
 but, come back quickly ! ' Means he shall have 
 ample means ! What has my wealth been 
 worth since it was unshared by him? Nothing, 
 worse than nothing ! " Excitement choked his 
 utterance. 
 
 " What music your words are to me ! " said
 
 250 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Jeannie, " and my sister will return ; her husband 
 will be restored to your love ; her child will oh ! 
 Millie, darling, throw your arms around grand- 
 papa's neck, and bless him and thank him ! " 
 
 " No, no, no ! He made you cry, aunt Jeannie ; 
 I don't love him I won't kiss him." And she 
 lavished upon her aunt the most tender caresses. 
 
 But, even after explanations and remonstrances, 
 she could not be made to approach her grand- 
 father. She had some indefinite feeling that he 
 had caused pain to one she loved, and was not 
 willing to pardon him. 
 
 Jeannie knew that it was in vain to argue with 
 the froward child. Mr. Landor looked wounded, 
 and tried fruitlessly to lure her to him. Jeannie 
 was compelled to beg him to desist, saying that 
 Millie would be more reasonable when she com- 
 prehended matters better. 
 
 Mr. Landor relinquished his attempts with 
 reluctance. 
 
 Turning once more to Jeannie, he said, " And 
 you live here all alone ; you work for your liveli- 
 hood," (glancing at the rich embroidery lying on 
 the floor ;) " you, an invalid, work ; you are poor, 
 doubtless ? " 
 
 " * Poor and content, is rich, and rich enough,' " 
 replied Jeannie, in a cheerful tone.
 
 TWIN HOSES. 251 
 
 " But how dreadful it must be for you to be 
 compelled to labor, for it is easy to see that you 
 are weak, that you have suffered." 
 
 " Not dreadful, while my faith is strong that, 
 whether little or much of worldly goods is re- 
 ceived, we all receive as much as is profitable for 
 us, little they to whom little is profitable, and 
 much they to whom much is profitable. The 
 Lord alone knows how much is good for me, 
 and he has the final, eternal good, always in 
 view. Thus I have not found it dreadful to have 
 no more than he willed. Are they not wise 
 words, ' A man's life consisteth not in the abun- 
 dance of the things he possesseth ? ' ' 
 
 " Would that you could teach that lesson to 
 the many who murmur ! But, you must toil no 
 more ; you must come home with me ; come 
 home at once to cheer Herman's mother; you 
 will be a dear companion to her." 
 
 " Thank you, for your great goodness, but I 
 had better wait until I hear from my sister and 
 brother. Still, I am equally grateful." 
 
 " Wait ! No, that can't be. You must come 
 and talk to my wife of her son, her darling boy, 
 and bring the little daughter to cheer her. We 
 may save her yet, for I have sometimes feared 
 she was dying of grief. No, we can't wait."
 
 252 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 Jeannie still hesitated. 
 
 " Can you refuse to perform such an office of 
 mercy ? Will you not show me that I am fully 
 pardoned for my blind inhumanity, by consent- 
 ing ? When will you go with me ? You shall 
 have birds and flowers in abundance, and the 
 most beautiful of views from your window, in- 
 stead of that patch of blue sky just showing 
 above the chimney tops. When will you go with 
 me?" 
 
 " No no, Aunt Jeannie shan't go with you ! 
 you made her cry we won't go ! " cried out little 
 Mildred. " We won't ! " stamping her tiny foot 
 with a determined air. 
 
 " Yes, Mildred grandpapa will make us 
 happy, and papa and momma will return. Yes, 
 we will go in a few days as soon as I can get 
 ready." 
 
 " A few days ! No that won't do either. I 
 suppose you can't pull up stakes in time for this 
 afternoon's train? Then, say to-morrow. You 
 can't have much to pack." And he smiled signi- 
 ficantly, as he glanced around the room. 
 
 Jeannie reflected his smile in assent to what 
 was so obvious. 
 
 " Then say to-morrow! No doubt there are 
 plenty to help you in getting your extensive prop-
 
 TWIN ROSES. 253 
 
 erty together. I wish I was skilful enough in 
 such matters to turn to and lend a hand myself. 
 But my old woman never would allow me to 
 touch an article when she was busy packing, so I 
 can't boast of experience. Say to-morrow, there's 
 a dear girl. I feel as though I could not part 
 with you again. Already my heart clings to you. 
 I hope your sister is like you. Such a wife is 
 just what I could have wished for my boy. Oh ! 
 if I could but have seen you before." 
 
 The warm blood crimsoned Jeannie's cheeks 
 and brow at those words, and she experienced a 
 stilling, blinding sensation, as old dreams rushed 
 back uninvoked, and the book of memory lay 
 open at a forbidden page. The leaves were 
 quickly sealed down again, and she replied with 
 tolerable calmness, " We are twin sisters, and 
 very much alike, every one says, except that 
 Jessie was fresh, and strong, and well, and full 
 of life and joyousness, until until after the trials 
 of her marriage. Now, I fear, she resembles me 
 far more than she did when she became a bride. 
 She was the incarnation of health and loveliness." 
 
 " And she owes to me to my folly and obsti- 
 nacy, the change. Miserable dotard that I am ! 
 But we will take tender care of her when she is 
 once at home with us. We will atone, a thousand 
 22
 
 254 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 times over, for all the past. But you and I will 
 lay plans together for all that. Only say that I 
 may come for you to-morrow, and that you will 
 leave by the early train. Don't refuse you will 
 not?" 
 
 " No," replied Jeannie, " I will go, if I can be 
 spared. Fortunately, at this moment the ward- 
 robe is not crowded with work." 
 
 " That's a noble girl ! You shall ever be a 
 daughter to me. Your sister is my son's wife, 
 and her twin sister shall be equally my daughter. 
 Now, farewell. To-morrow I will come for you. 
 Farewell, my daughter ! Farewell, Millie." 
 
 He stooped down to kiss her, but the child 
 still drew away, unreconciled. Jeannie signed to 
 him not to urge her ; entreaty was useless, and 
 only confirmed her waywardness. 
 
 With a lighter heart than he had carried in his 
 breast for years, and his benign countenance 
 illumined with newly kindled hope, the old man 
 departed.' 
 
 We will not dwell upon his interview with Mr. 
 Hawkwood, who still awaited him at the hotel. 
 
 Mr. Landor uttered few reproaches. Self-re- 
 proach, within his own heart, spoke with too loud 
 a voice for him to rebuke another. He cut the 
 discomfited actor short in his wily explanations
 
 TWIN ROSES. 255 
 
 and assurances that he had only spoken what he 
 believed to be the truth. 
 
 " You must pardon me if I have not time to 
 hear any more," said Mr. Landor, coldly. " Good 
 morning." 
 
 Hawkwood, white with impotent rage, turned 
 away, pondering over the possibility of avenging 
 such an insult. The only consolation of which 
 his nature was susceptible, was drawn from the 
 belief that some revenge would be in his 
 power. 
 
 How Mrs. Budd bustled about Jeannie's cham- 
 ber for the rest of the day ! How she talked of 
 the shortness of the time allowed her to pack 
 the shortness of life in general and the time 
 habitually squandered by young people ! How 
 the members of the company poured in to con- 
 gratulate Jeannie, as soon as they heard the 
 news! 
 
 Dorothy and Sylvester were the only two 
 whose personal feelings would not allow them to 
 rejoice. 
 
 Dorothy, with characteristic philosophy, soon 
 made the best of what was inevitable. She 
 vehemently told her lovelorn brother that matters 
 might have been worse, and that, since Jeannie 
 had made up her mind not to return his affection,
 
 256 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 it was well she was going to be removed out of 
 his sight. That was his best chance of getting 
 over it and forgetting her. 
 
 But Sylvester did not take kindly to the pro- 
 posed cure ; he preferred the disease. 
 
 All at once, Mr. Brown, with a portentous 
 countenance, appeared in the midst of the group 
 now congregated in Jeannie's apartment. He 
 was dismayed by the news which had just reached 
 him. It was quite impossible, he declared, lor 
 him to consent to Jeannie Garnett's removal. 
 He knew of no one who could supply her place 
 no one to whom he could entrust his finest em- 
 broideries. He must insist upon her relinquish- 
 ing her intention to leave the establishment. It 
 could hardly exist without her, as it certainly 
 could not without him. 
 
 Jeannie found it very difficult to convince him 
 that her resolution was unalterable. The inter- 
 ests of the theatre, of the wardrobe, in particular, 
 were in his estimation paramount to all other 
 matters. She could not be spared ; that ought to 
 be enough. 
 
 Jeannie, having exhausted her arguments, 
 hailed Mrs. Budd's timely intervention. That 
 well-intentioned person succeeded in luring Mr. 
 Brown from the apartment, and in what manner
 
 TWIN ROSES. 257 
 
 she reconciled him to Jeannie's departure, did 
 not transpire. It is said he talked, for some 
 time, of instituting a lawsuit against Jeannie for 
 her desertion, but finally abandoned his intention ; 
 or perhaps the complaint he made to Mr. Landor 
 was answered in so satisfactory a manner that he 
 was silenced thereby. 
 
 When Mr. Landor came for Jeannie and Mil- 
 dred the next morning, he found them surrounded 
 by a crowd of humble friends taking an affec- 
 tionate adieu. 
 
 Millie carried the bird cage. She was en- 
 chanted by the excitement and bustle, and was 
 inclined to regard her grandfather with some 
 affection, as its originator. 
 
 Jeannie was, of course, unable to walk. Syl- 
 vester prayed, as a great favor, that he might be 
 the one selected to carry her to the carriage. 
 
 " Yes," said Dorothy, trying to gulp down her 
 sobs ; " don't refuse the poor fellow that. It 
 might be more that he asked it might be 
 worse " a great sob took her breath, and she 
 could not conclude her sentence. 
 
 " Certainly, Sylvester," said Jeannie mildly. 
 " I can trust myself to you ; I am sure you will 
 carry me safely, and I believe I am not heavy." 
 
 Light, however, as was that fragile form, Syl- 
 22*
 
 258 TWIN KOSES. 
 
 Tester's arms trembled so much when he lifted 
 her that he could hardly totter down the stairway 
 with his beloved burden. 
 
 Dorothy, who followed him closely, now gave 
 him a sharp blow on his back, and said, " Be a 
 man, can't you? It would have been worse, if 
 she had refused you even that ! " 
 
 Jeannie was placed safely in the carriage. 
 Millie, her bird-cage in hand, jumped in and 
 took the seat beside her. Mr. Landor followed. 
 
 Her favorite flowers Jeannie had left in charge 
 of Mrs. Budd, and she hoped some day to re- 
 claim them, though she hardly liked to ask Mr. 
 Landor to take them now. 
 
 Not the members of the company merely, but 
 every one connected with the theatre, scenic 
 artists, carpenters, scene-shifters, door-keepers, 
 crowded around the coach to speak one last word 
 to Jeannie, who was beloved by all. As the 
 carriage drove away, they gave a shout of tri- 
 umph that brought tears of gratitude to her eyes.
 
 TWIN EOSES. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE physician rose to depart. Herman fol- 
 lowed him from the chamber, where they had 
 sat through the long night, watching the faint 
 gaspings of the exhausted invalid. 
 
 Herman's temperament was too sanguine to 
 yield wholly to despair, but few and faint were 
 the glimmerings of hope that now feebly pierced 
 the darkness in which his spirit was immersed. 
 
 " She is very low, doctor, but she will re- 
 cover ? " 
 
 " It is not impossible ; but I must warn you to 
 prepare yourself for the worst. To arouse her 
 from this semi-lethargy, I have tried the most 
 potent restoratives ; you have seen how fruitlessly. 
 Her life seems to be slowly fading out without 
 a struggle." 
 
 Herman listened to these fatal words as though 
 he heard her death-warrant pronounced. Stag- 
 gering under the weight of the blow, he reentered 
 the chamber and with uncertain steps approached
 
 260 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 the bed. Long and earnestly he scanned her 
 lovely features, hoping to read some denial there. 
 She slept, or appeared to sleep, yet her eyes were 
 not wholly closed. Under the half-shut lids, 
 through the silky fringes, the dark orbs shone 
 glassily. Not the faintest hue tinged her mouth 
 or hollow cheeks. The breath that issued through 
 those parted lips was scarcely perceptible, and 
 left her bosom motionless. Herman gently raised 
 the small, lily-white hand, and tried to discover 
 the beating of a pulse. Was it the tumultuous 
 throbbing of his own which prevented his detect- 
 ing the faint fluttering of hers, or was she indeed 
 dying ? 
 
 He has fallen upon his knees beside the bed in 
 convulsive agony. The door softly opens. A 
 stealthy foot crosses the chamber. A letter is 
 silently laid beside him. One glance he recog- 
 nizes his father's familiar characters ! With an 
 irrepressible cry of joy he tears the letter open, 
 and reads pantingly. 
 
 That strange, wild cry has broken Jessie's 
 stupor-like slumber. She is staring at him wit h 
 a look of feeble surprise. 
 
 His countenance, his whole frame quivers with 
 strong agitation. Still grasping the letter, he 
 folds her in his arms, his hot tears are rained
 
 TWIN ROSES. 261 
 
 upon her, and the breast on which she lies heaves 
 like a turbulent sea. 
 
 Herman ! " 
 
 It was the first word she had uttered for several 
 days. 
 
 " Jessie, my wife ! my love ! revive live to be 
 happy! Here are tidings that I fear to tell you 
 I fear the joy will be almost too great. Can you 
 bear it ? " 
 
 " Is it of Millie and Jeannie ? " she murmured. 
 
 " Yes, of them, and of my father ! " 
 
 Jessie raised herself suddenly at that last word, 
 a new light shot from her dim eye, and the long 
 absent rose-tint flashed back to her wan cheek. 
 
 " He has seen Jeannie and our daughter," con- 
 tinued Herman. " He loves them, he has taken 
 them to his own house to ' The Retreat,' in 
 Devonshire. You know how often I have 
 described it to you. He bids me bring you there, 
 he makes no conditions he calls us back to be 
 his children ! " 
 
 " Now I can die happy ! " exclaimed Jessie 
 fervently. 
 
 It was months since Herman had heard her 
 tones so clear and strong. 
 
 " Die, Jessie ! And what would my life be 
 without you ? What would even the joy of
 
 262 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 restoration to my parents be worth? Oh! that 
 you might live that we might return together 
 that I might place you in my mother's arms! 
 We will sail at once ! " 
 
 " For England ? " ejaculated Jessie. 
 
 " Yes for England! We will go to Devon- 
 shire to ' The Retreat,' to our future home." 
 
 " Oh ! Heavenly father ! through how much 
 sorrow thou hast fitted us to endure these abun- 
 dant blessings ! " 
 
 As Jessie spoke, her face had kindled as though 
 new vitality had been infused into her frame. 
 
 " Thank God with me, my husband, or my 
 heart will burst with its load of gratitude." 
 
 Together their fervent thanksgivings ascended 
 to the eternal throne, and into their expanded and 
 uplifted hearts a heavenly influx descended, and 
 strength serenity all that was most needed, 
 was poured upon them in affluent measure. 
 
 By prayer we draw down the light and heat 
 divine, or rather we unclose the portals of the 
 heart, to receive the light which is always shin- 
 ing the " daily bread " of the soul, always wait- 
 ing to be appropriated. It is given when fer- 
 vently solicited, simply because the fervent asking 
 opens the heart and enables us to take. The 
 Lord's bounty is only limited by our capacity
 
 TWIN ROSES. 263 
 
 for reception. Prayer increases not His desire to 
 
 give, but our power to receive. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Jeannie had found a home in Devonshire such 
 as she had never before known. Herman's 
 parents strove to outvie each other in surround- 
 ing her with comforts, with luxuries, and in en- 
 deavoring to render her happy. She was first in 
 their hearts as she had been first in that of their 
 son. She was only preparing, so she fondly 
 hoped, a place, a dearer, holier place for her 
 cherished sister. 
 
 Jeannie found Mrs. Landor a superior woman, 
 though suspense and grief had somewhat broken 
 her spirit, and impaired her health. It was easy 
 to perceive that Herman inherited from her his 
 buoyant temperament, his eccentric tendencies, 
 his earnestness of purpose, his untiring activity. 
 She only regarded life in its poetical aspects; 
 thus her joys were brighter, her sorrows deeper, 
 than those of more prosaic organizations. Thus 
 she had gained the vague appellation of " ro- 
 mantic." She had never comprehended the ex- 
 istence of that matter-loving class to whom, as to 
 the senseless Peter Bell, 
 
 " The primrose on the river's brim, 
 A yellow primrose is to him, 
 And it is nothing more.'"
 
 264 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 With her whole heart she responded to the 
 opinions of an English writer who says, " strip 
 an individual existence down to its bare prose, 
 and we at once revolt against the monstrous in- 
 justice. We know that the prose is only borne 
 only toiled through from the poetry which our 
 fancy, our hopes, our affections, our faith, inter- 
 weave with it, and because we are able to throw 
 over the most squalid rags, and the most horrible 
 misery, the purple robe of our dreams." 
 
 Mr. Landor was twenty years her senior. Her 
 affection for him was mingled with a touch of 
 awe and reverence. Their tastes and views had 
 not always been accordant. He had been dis- 
 ciplined in the rigidly practical school ; all her 
 knowledge had been acquired in the imaginative ; 
 there she created to herself a world that preserved 
 her heart in its early freshness. 
 
 As for little Mildred, 
 
 " That late and high-prized gift, 
 A little smiling grandchild," 
 
 she became so much the idol of the old couple 
 that her own welfare was endangered. The child 
 soon tyranized over the whole household. She 
 took the most unwarrantable liberties with her 
 grandfather. But whether she powdered his coat, 
 or put pepper in his snuff-box, or tied him to hia
 
 TWIN ROSES. 265 
 
 chair while he was napping, or fastened comical 
 labels on his back, she was unreproved. He was 
 only too happy that the frolicsome little elf would 
 sometimes, when tired of play, nestle on his 
 shoulder and submit to his caresses. 
 
 Though Millie was quite as much at home 
 with her grandmother, though she as ardently 
 loved her, she reserved all her mischievous mirth 
 for the old man. 
 
 Jeannie's chamber is on the first floor, and 
 opens into the drawing-room. It is a large, airy 
 apartment. The bow-window uncloses upon a 
 velvet lawn, beyond is a lovely woodland pros- 
 pect. And Jeannie has had the little hanging 
 garden, with its parterre of familiar flowers, trans- 
 ported to this window, and enlarged to suit its 
 more expansive proportions. The air-plant too 
 waves its pendent tendrils over the bulfinch's 
 cage, occupying the same position as in Jeannie's 
 lofty, many-year home. And there is the same 
 rude hanging-library the same engravings in 
 their rustic frames the same statuettes disposed 
 about the walls. They formed the links of so 
 many holy associations that Jeannie would not 
 part with one of these humble adornments. 
 
 Mr. Landor has made an excursion to London, 
 on important business, he said, but his visit added 
 23
 
 266 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 largely to the pictorial embellishment of Jeannie's 
 apartment, and it was never proved that he had 
 any other errand to the great metropolis. Jeannie 
 little thought that her chamber would one day 
 boast of really valuable works of art. 
 
 In yonder corner stands the velocipede chair 
 Herman's first gift Who would have ventured 
 to predict that . it would ever have been used in 
 his paternal home ? 
 
 The family group in Devonshire are anxiously 
 anticipating a letter from Herman in reply to 
 his father. The day on which it will be due 
 is near at hand. But Herman had written no 
 letter. 
 
 The sun is setting in prophetic splendor. 
 Jeannie's couch is drawn to the window. She 
 no longer bends over the wearisome embroidery 
 ordered by Mr. Brown. In its place she holds a 
 volume of Longfellow's poems. Herman and 
 Jessie have taught her to love the poets of 
 America. To the delicious soundings of this 
 transatlantic minstrel's harp, she has hearkened 
 with never-wearying delight. 
 
 Sometimes she lifts her eyes from the volume, 
 to gaze on the distant horizon bathed in sapphire 
 light then turns to the book again. Mrs. Lan- 
 der .sits beside her, listening. Is it the rolled ion
 
 TWIN ROSES. 267 
 
 of that sunset sky, or her rapt enthusiasm, 
 that has restored so - much youth to her counte- 
 nance ? 
 
 Jeannie reads in a clear, liquid, rapidly vary- 
 ing tone, that conjures the glowing images of the 
 poet into vivid life before the eyes. 
 
 Millie and her grandfather are strolling through 
 the adjacent woods. She has made him bear the 
 willow basket which she is filling with bouquets 
 of wild flowers. His arms are laden with blos- 
 soming boughs ; he has ravished the trees at her 
 regal pleasure. It is May-bloom he is carrying, 
 for the queen-month of the year has just been 
 crowned by the earth, with her floral coronal. 
 
 Hawthorn brighter than the pale bough Her- 
 man gathered for Jessie on the heights of the 
 Blue Ridge! Hawthorn as roseate as that her 
 fair hands grasped when that lovely vision first 
 burst upon Herman's sight ! 
 
 Jeannie started at the sound of approaching 
 wheels she hardly knew why. Raising her eyes 
 from the book, she beheld a carriage, driving 
 rapidly through the long avenue of trees, and 
 approaching the house. 
 
 Her joyful exclamation caused Mrs. Landor to 
 spring up. She saw a face looking from the car- 
 riage window, as though eager to recognize the
 
 TWIN no 
 
 dear, familiar scenes a bright, glowing, manly 
 face it was that of her son ! 
 
 " Herman ! My boy ! " broke from the mother's 
 quivering lips as with the step of girlhood she 
 hurried to greet him, and flung the door wide 
 wide as the portals of her heart had long been 
 thrown, for him to enter once more. 
 
 For a moment, Jeannie's agitation deprived 
 her of motion she sat with her hand pressed 
 tightly on her heart as though to still its tumul- 
 tuous throbbings her eyes riveted on the car- 
 riage. It stops. Herman leaps out. His mother 
 is clinging to his neck. Where is Jessie ? 
 
 A thousand torturing thoughts rush, with the 
 lightning's scathing rapidity, through Je;innic's 
 brain, in answer to that question. He is alone 
 he is surely alone! See, he kisses his mother 
 again and again he is weeping yet he dries 
 her tears with a tender hand. She presses him 
 to her heart anew she is uttering words of con- 
 solation. Alas for Jeannie ! The earth swam 
 before her eyes the universe seemed receding 
 from her sight, sinking beneath her feet that 
 world where she might never more behold her 
 sister, her dearer self! 
 
 Herman has returned to the carriage. Well 
 might Jeannie utter a convulsive cry of joy and
 
 TWIN RO.-KS. 269 
 
 cling to the window for support ! Well might 
 the sudden reaction stun overpower her ! It is 
 his wife that Herman has gently lifted from the 
 coach and whom he is leading to his mother! 
 Jeannie once more beheld that beloved face, 
 though so faded, so altered. Her sister lived 
 she was there she was restored ! 
 
 Jeannie seized her crutches and hurried to the 
 hall with all the speed her motion, and her mis- 
 fortune, permitted. 
 
 The young wife, even as she embraced her 
 new mother, looked around for her sister. Before 
 the others were aware of Jeannie's presence, 
 Jessie saw her approaching in the distance. The 
 twins were once more locked in each other's 
 arms. 
 
 Mr. Landor, and his fro ward little granddaugh- 
 ter, were ignorant of the arrival, though a servant 
 had been sent in search of them. 
 
 Anxious as were the youthful parents to 
 behold their child their father how sweet, how 
 purely, calmly happy was the half-hour that in- 
 tervened before their appearance ! 
 
 Herman sat by his mother's side, with his arm 
 about her waist, relating to her all that had passed 
 since they parted. 
 
 Jeannie had lured Jessie into her own apart-
 
 270 TWIN ROSES. 
 
 ment, and the twin sisters, hand clasped in hand, 
 conversed with heart-communion. 
 
 " You look as though you had suffered, Jessie 
 dear, how much ! how very much ! You are 
 very pale, my own Jessie, and even thinner than 
 I. Yet you are happy ? " 
 
 " Beyond expression ! All my sufferings have 
 been good for me. I do not regret one hour's 
 pain nor one moment's trial. And Herman has 
 been drawn nearer to me than he might ever 
 have been but for our sorrows. Under the pres- 
 sure of affliction, his spirit has expanded has 
 attracted to itself good influences has been 
 
 ' Bleached beneath the winds of trial, 
 Washed by sorrow's clearing rain.' * 
 
 " Day by day he grows more and more what I 
 once despaired of his ever becoming. Ah, Jean- 
 nie ! Every day I am more thoroughly convinced 
 that, let us murmur as we will at our lot, and 
 bemoan its trials, each individual is surrounded 
 by the circumstances (the apparently accidental 
 circumstances) that fit him best to bring forth the 
 whole strength, capacity, beauty of his soul." 
 
 A gleeful shout and a bounding step, in the 
 adjoining apartment, fell on Jessie's ear and in- 
 terrupted her. 
 
 * Epes Sargent.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 271 
 
 " It is Millie," said Jeannie, but Jessie was sure 
 of that before she spoke. In a moment she was 
 in the other room. 
 
 A sportive child, with her arms full of May- 
 bloom, was leaping out of Herman's reach, for 
 he had started up to embrace her. 
 
 " It is your father," said Mrs. Landor. 
 
 But Millie only turned her riante face and 
 gave a shy look over her shoulder as she was 
 running away. 
 
 " Your mother, too, my darling," said the 
 grandmother, when she saw Jessie. 
 
 Perhaps the striking likeness to her beloved 
 aunt, attracted the wayward child, for she invol- 
 untarily dropped the May-bloom and sprang into 
 Jessie's extended arms. After that long, maternal 
 greeting, she permitted herself to be led to her 
 father. 
 
 Just then Mr. Landor entered. Millie's rapid 
 feet had outstripped his. He came in loaded, as 
 the child had been, with hawthorn branches, and 
 carrying her basket of wild flower*. 
 
 Surprise and joy rendered him speechless as he 
 embraced his son, for a mere grasp of the hand, 
 however warm, would not have satisfied either of 
 them. 
 
 When Jessie's turn came, he regained his voice
 
 272 T\\"IX ROSES. 
 
 and said in a broken tone : " I have done you 
 wrong, my daughter ; and my life all that 
 remains of it, shall be devoted to atonement. 
 Here is your home, but I place no restrictions on 
 you or your husband. Let him be an actor if he 
 will. Henceforth I honor the profession that has 
 given me such a daughter two such daughters!" 
 extending his hand to Jeannie and clasping hers 
 with her sister's. 
 
 " No my father," replied Herman. " I am 
 now able to comply with your wishes. I have 
 sown the wild oats, and reaped them, and I trust 
 another, better harvest will testify to the fertility 
 of the soil. I will make this my home and 
 Jessie's, I will embrace the occupation you 
 desire. I resented the attempt at compulsion 
 I cannot resist your love, your kindness to my 
 dear wife my sister my child." 
 
 Herman was true to his word. 
 
 Surrounded by an atmosphere of unambitious 
 content, he and Jessie 
 
 " Yoked in all exercise of noble end," 
 
 walked cheerfully on their way in life's journey. 
 The shadows of the past formed a background 
 of clouds upon which the present and future 
 painted all their landscapes with orient hti .-.
 
 TWIN ROSES. 273 
 
 The aged couple their parents gently de- 
 scended the vale of life with thankful hearts. 
 
 Millie it is difficult to prophesy her future. 
 She early evinces her father's unconquerable 
 predilection for the stage. While he regrets this 
 bias of her mind, Herman resolves to profit by 
 his own lessons, to guide, not force her inclina- 
 tions. The germs of goodness and truth are 
 thickly grafted in her mind, and, be her destiny 
 what it may, these, through Divine Providence, 
 will be her safeguard. 
 
 Jeannie's holy renunciation her silent heroism, 
 won for her 
 
 " The night that calms the day that cheers." 
 
 She never married. One only love-light had 
 thrown its radiance over her path that quenched, 
 perchance half-forgotten, it could be rekindled by 
 no second torch. It has been truly said, " The 
 largest heart is that which only one can rest upon 
 or impress." 
 
 FINIS.
 
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 DECEMBER, 1857. 
 
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