University of California Berkeley 
 
MABEL YAUGHAN 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE LAMPLIGHTER.' 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.. 
 
 CLETELAND, OHIO: 
 HENKY P. B. JEWETT. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO. 
 1857. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 
 
 JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY, 
 In the Clerk's Office o f Mie District Court for the District of Massachusetts 
 
 LITHOTYPED BY COWLES AND COMPANY, 
 
 Office of American Stereotype Company, 
 
 PHCENIX BUILDING, BOSTON. 
 
 Priated by G. C. Rand & Ayery. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Fear is the virtue of slaves; but the heart that loveth is willing; 
 Perfect was, before God, and perfect is Love, and Love only. 
 
 LONGFELLOW'S TEGXER. 
 
 ON a pleasant midsummer's afternoon, a middle-aged lady, 
 with a mild and thoughtful face, sat alone in her quiet parlor, 
 busily engaged in sewing. It was a country home in which 
 she dwelt, and her low window opened directly into a green 
 and sloping orchard, now fragrant with new-mown hay, the 
 sweet breath of which was borne in on every passing breeze. 
 &he was a woman of many cares, and but little leisure, and for 
 more than an hour had not lifted her eyes from her work, 
 when, suddenly attracted by the merry voices of children, she 
 arrested herself in the act of setting a stitch, and, with her 
 needle still poised between finger and thumb, leaned her elbow 
 on the window-sill and for several minutes gazed earnestly and 
 attentively upon a little group collected beneath an opposite 
 tree. They were too far off for their words to be distinguish- 
 able, but happiness shone in their faces, mirth rang in their 
 careless shout, and joy danced in all their motions. Whether 
 chasing the light butterfly, pelting each other with tufts of hay, 
 or, in the very exuberance of their spirits, scampering without 
 purpose or rest in the sunshine, they were in every view pict- 
 ures of infant glee, cheering and happy sights to a mother's 
 heart. Though now and then smiling on their sport, however, 
 the gentle-faced lady at the window was watching them with a 
 
 M555075 
 
6 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 more thoughtful and observant gaze than the occasion seemea 
 to warrant, for she saw amid their play what a less careful eye 
 might have failed to discern, and from it she drew a moral. 
 
 Three among this little group, were her own children ; but 
 while they shared her notice, and from time to time excited 
 her sympathy in their innocent enjoyment, it was not by them 
 that her thoughts were at this time peculiarly engrossed. 
 
 There was among them a fourth, who, although not hers by 
 the tie of nature, might almost be said to have become so by 
 adoption, since she had now been three years under her roof, 
 with the prospect of continuing there for an indefinite period ; 
 and it was on this little girl, who stood to her in the relation 
 of a pupil, that the teacher's thoughtful atiention was fixed. 
 
 She was between eleven and twelve years of age, and the 
 eldest of the little band; a bright, rosy-cheeked, animated 
 child, of a lively, adventurous spirit, the invariable leader 
 in every youthful pastime. But on the present occasion 
 she seemed only partially to share in the sport, for after 
 every outburst of glee in which she indulged, far outdoing her 
 companions in extravagant merriment, and inciting them to 
 new hilarity, she would hastily resume her seat at the foot of 
 an old apple-tree, snatch a well-worn book from the grass where 
 she had thrown it, and appear for a time wholly engrossed in 
 study. Her fits of diligence, however, were but short lived. 
 At the first temptation held out by her companions, she would 
 again fling aside the volume, spring to her feet, and bound with 
 them to the farthest corner of the orchard, from which excur- 
 sion she would return, heated, weary, and out of breath. Now 
 a mischievous urchin had stolen her bonnet, and dared her to 
 its recovery ; and now a pet rabbit had just rushed past, and 
 she must follow with the others in full pursuit. It was in vain 
 that after each fresh interruption she applied herself anew to 
 her lesson, and placing her fingers to her ears, strove to shut 
 out the bewildering voices of her playmates. The effort, after 
 all, was but a mock endeavor, for her heart was anywhere but 
 in her book ; and, at length, an unseen hand having snatched 
 the much abused grammar from her lap and thrown it over the 
 
MADEL VAUGHAN. 7 
 
 boundary wall, the unwilling student felt a sense of relief at its 
 disappearance, and was the first to raise the shout of approval 
 that succeeded. 
 
 Just at this moment a bell sounded, and with a glance of 
 surprise and alarm in the direction of the house, the girl has- 
 tened to recover the book and proceed to her recitation, for 
 which this was the signal. 
 
 She came into the presence of her instructress with a flushed 
 face, and, in place of her recent smiles, a half-mortified, half- 
 vexed expression. 
 
 The teacher took the book from her pupil's hand without 
 comment, and commenced hearing the lesson, which, as mav 
 well be pposed, proved a failure in the very onset. 
 
 The child stood in silence for a few moments, and then said, 
 while tears of impatience rushed into her eyes, " I can't leara 
 th!s lesson, Mrs. Herbert, it is too hard." 
 
 " You have not tried, Mabel," said Mrs. Herbert, mildiy. 
 
 " Yes I have," answered Mabel : " I have tried just as hard 
 as I could, and I can't learn it. I wish I need n't study Latin." 
 
 " Were you studying, my dear, when you lay for ten minutes 
 b.id in the hay, while the children tried in vain to find you, or 
 tfhen you stood on the highest bough of a cherry-tree and 
 trained your eyes with looking into a robin's nest ? " 
 
 Mabel gave a quick glance out of the window from whence 
 she had thus been observed, then looked up into the friendly 
 face of Mrs. Herbert, and seeing there a smile, which invited 
 confidence and disarmed her of timidity, exclaimed, with natural 
 and childlike frankness, " How could I study any better, when 
 they were all having such a good time ? " 
 
 " Ah I that is the true secret of the matter," said Mrs. Her- 
 bert, drawing Mabel towards her and wiping the moisture from 
 the child's heated brow. " I have been watching you for this 
 half hour,- and knew very well how it would be with the lesson. 
 Do you remember what I told you about it this morning ? " 
 
 " You said it was hard, the hardest thing in the book." 
 
 " Not exactly, my dear ; I told you, to be sure, that it was 
 more difficult than any task you had yet attempted ; but, at the 
 
8 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 same time, I assured you that with a little patience you could 
 quickly learn it, and that this verb once mastered, all the rest 
 would seem comparatively easy. I did not promise, however, 
 that you would find the orchard a good place to study in, or 
 that the noise of the children would help you to fix your 
 thoughts on your book. You should have gone to your own 
 room, shut the door, and made up your mind to apply yourself 
 diligently for an hour at least. Will you do so now ? " 
 
 Mabel hesitated, gave a longing look at her recent play- 
 ground, and then cast down her eyes, which were fast filling 
 with tears. 
 
 After waiting in vain for a reply, Mrs. Herbert passed her 
 arm round the waist of her pupil, fixed her mild eyes upon her 
 face with a look which enforced attention, and gently but forci- 
 bly made use of such arguments as were most likely to excite 
 her ambition and prompt her to the necessary effort. The girl 
 was possessed of excellent capacity, but had not yet formed 
 habits of application, and needed powerful motives to stimulate 
 ner to exertion. These Mrs. Herbert was able to supply, and 
 soon had the satisfaction of witnessing the effect produced by 
 her words, for Mabel gradually withdrew from her side, straight- 
 ened her figure with a determined air, and exclaimed, with 
 energy, " I suppose I can learn it, and I will" 
 
 "And remember," said' Mrs. Herbert, as she bestowed a 
 glance of affectionate interest and approval upon her hastily 
 retreating pupil, " remember for your encouragement what I 
 told you yesterday, that the more perfectly you learn this one 
 lesson, the easier will every future task become." 
 
 It was the, verb amare to love of the first regular con- 
 jugation, and a formidable task did it appear in Mabel's eyes. 
 
 She was, however, possessed of an excellent memory, and 
 every requisite for successful study, and bringing, as she now 
 did, her whole heart to the labor, she was able in less than the 
 allotted time, to overcome all its difficulties. 
 
 Before the hour had expired,, she presented herself once 
 more, grammar in hand, and her face bright with smiles, to 
 beg that Mrs. Herbert would hear her recite, assuring her 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 9 
 
 that she knew every word perfectly, and had twice repeated 
 the synopsis to herself without looking on the book. It was 
 true, and the young student went triumphantly through the 
 lesson. 
 
 " And see," exclaimed she, as, after receiving the praise her 
 efforts had merited, she took the grammar from her teacher's 
 hand, " it is just as you said. I have been looking at the verb 
 that comes next, and it is so much like this that it will not be 
 hard at all," and Mabel eagerly pointed out the tokens of simi- 
 larity. 
 
 Mrs. Herbert, smiling at the little girl's earnestness, sug- 
 gested still further marks of resemblance, congratulated Mabel 
 upon the advantage she had gained, and then, laying her hand 
 upon the child's shoulder, said, impressively, " And so it is with 
 life, my dear Mabel. The great lesson of love once learned, 
 learned patiently, truly, and with the whole heart, not carelessly 
 scanned, or foolishly toyed with, but diligently received into 
 the soul, and planted there forever this lesson will relieve all 
 life's trials and illumine all its mysteries. But, believe me, 
 my child, it is seldom learned amid life's sunshine and its joy. 
 Its teachings come to us in the silent chambers of thought, 
 when noise is shut out, and the voice of mirth for a time is 
 stilled, and eager pleasure gives place to patient duty. While 
 chasing the butterflies of folly, or wasting the summer hours in 
 play, we cannot take life's great lesson to heart ; but, planted 
 perhaps in sorrow, and nourished perhaps in tears, it will one 
 day blossom in joy and peace. Rouse yourself to this last 
 lesson, Mabel, bring to it your soul's best powers, pursue it 
 with the energy which has been victorious to-day, and I shall 
 have no fear for your future." 
 
 Mabel did not quite understand at the time, the full force of 
 these spontaneous words, which, prompted by earnest feeling, 
 took rather the form of soliloquy, than an address suited to 
 the child's years. But they were not lost upon her. Like 
 seeds of future promise, they were planted in her young heart; 
 memory kept them warm, and at last, matured by time, they 
 brought forth fruits unto righteousness. 
 
10 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 And once again. When Mabel had reached her eighteenth 
 year, and the summons had at length been received, which was 
 to call the pupil from the teacher who, during more than half 
 of the young girl's existence, had been to her less an instruc- 
 tress than a parent, words of a similar import were the last 
 warning and the last charge which fell from the revered lips 
 of age and experience upon the listening ear of youth. 
 
 " Learn above all things, my dear girl," said Mrs Herbert, 
 as they sat together the evening before Mabel's departure, 
 " to beware of self-love, and cultivate to the utmost degree a 
 universal charity. It is the best advice I can give you for 
 your safety, and the surest for your happiness." 
 
 " Do you think me so selfish then ? " exclaimed Mabel, half 
 grieved at the implication conveyed in her teacher's words. 
 " Oh, there are so many whom I love better than myself! " 
 
 " I accuse you of no unamiable quality, my dear Mabel, and 
 your generosity has always been proverbial among us ; but, 
 when I charge you to cultivate love for others, even to the for- 
 getfulness of self, you must not misunderstand my meaning. 
 It is because it is so easy and natural to you, my dear child, to 
 love all and everybody, that I wish to warn you of a time, 
 when, instead of being your happiness, and so demanding of 
 you no sacrifice, it may become your trial and your misery ; 
 and it is then that I bid you love on as woman can and must. 
 O, Mabel, there is nothing so insidious as self-love, nothing so 
 noble and so womanly as that divine love which finds its hap- 
 piness in duty." 
 
 Mrs Herbert's voice trembled with emotion as she spoke, 
 and had anything been wanting to impress her words upon 
 Mabel's heart, that want would have been supplied when she 
 looked in the face of her revered friend, and felt that the les- 
 son she was now so earnestly imparting, was one taught her by 
 experience and proved by faithful practice. 
 
 Amid the pain of parting with old friends, and the joys and 
 hopes attendant upon her entrance into a new home, this les- 
 son, and that equally impressive one of her early childhood 
 which it had served to call up, were both for a time effaced 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 11 
 
 from Mabel's recollection. But they were not lost. There 
 are lessons which penetrate our hearts like Heaven-sent whis- 
 perings, lessons, simply spoken, scarce heeded when uttered, 
 but proving by their deep and lasting influence that they have 
 their source in the eternal fountain of truth. 
 
 And so it was with these simple teachings of a faithful, true- 
 hearted woman. It was not the power with which they were 
 spoken, it was not eloquence nor a passion-stirring voice, nor 
 was it the effect of time or circumstance, that stamped them so 
 indelibly on Mabel's heart, but nevertheless they struck upon 
 a chord within, which thrilled at the word, and vibrating 
 through many years, reminded her again and again of the 
 Heavenly lesson which her soul needed for its purification. 
 
 It was long before the page fully unfolded itself on which that 
 lesson of love was written, and only by years of patient striv- 
 ing were its difficulties overcome ; but often amid the struggle 
 did memory whisper in Mabel's ear the encouraging assurance, 
 that this task once learned, the rest of life's path would be 
 made easy. 
 
 And is it not so ? Is not woman's mission truly a mission 
 of love ? And can she fail to fulfil all its duties nobly, and 
 find all its trials lightened and relieved when she has once 
 taken to heart that lesson, once fortified herself with that spirit 
 so beautifully exemplified in Him whose life on earth was a 
 glorious manifestation of love made perfect? 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 A lovely being scarcely formed or moulded, 
 A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded. 
 
 BTEON. 
 
 MABEL Vaughan was the daughter of a New York mer- 
 chant, a man of remarkable business capacity, undoubted 
 integrity, and reputed wealth ; one who although of highly 
 respectable parentage, good education, and fair advantages for 
 a start in life, had nevertheless been in a great degree the fram- 
 er of his own fortunes, having passed through all the phases 
 incident to the accumulation of a large property. 
 
 While thus sacrificing his youth, however, and with it all 
 his best and noblest powers to the pursuit of wealth, he found 
 no opportunity for the forming of domestic ties, and it was not 
 until he was fast verging upon middle life that he even medi- 
 tated, matrimony. He had by this time gained that point in 
 the social scale, when he was marked as a rising man of wide 
 commercial influence, and this distinction, together with his 
 gentlemanly bearing, found him favor in the eyes of a beauti- 
 ful and fashionable woman, whose fair face had captivated his 
 fancy, and whose family connection was such as to gratify his 
 ambition. 
 
 There was between them no similarity of taste or habit, 
 however, and the union which succeeded their short acquain- 
 tance, was productive of but little happiness to either party. 
 Mr. Vaughan had hoped to find at his own fireside that quiet 
 and relaxation from care, of which he had experienced the 
 want, and failing in this, he sought amid the speculation and 
 excitement of business to forget the disappointment he had 
 experienced in his home, while his wife, after pursuing for a 
 time those gaieties which her husband refused to share, became 
 
MABEL VATJGHAN. 13 
 
 the victim, first, of complaining self-indulgence, and li ally of 
 positive ill health. 
 
 Fatal as this utter want of sympathy proved to the welfare 
 of the ill-assorted pair, its consequences were still more ii juri- 
 ous to their children, especially to the eldest, a daughter, who 
 from infancy to womanhood was exposed to all its unfortun te 
 influences. At the birth of this little girl, Mr. Vaughan's 
 interests and affections were again turned from his counting- 
 house, to centre in the home where he once more began to 
 meditate upon those fireside and domestic joys which hald 
 always figured in his dreams of married life. But his wife 
 did not share these fond aspirations, and the child proving an 
 insufficient object to win her from a course of dissipated gayety, 
 was soon abandoned to the care of strangers, save as the father 
 strove at intervals, by fond and injudicious indulgence to atone 
 for the mother's neglect. During six succeeding years, this 
 daughter continued the sole occupant of the nursery, and the 
 sole victim of her parent's mismanagement. At the end of 
 that time a boy, and, a few years after, another girl were added 
 to the household. Louise, however, the eldest, was by this 
 time promoted to the companionship of her mother, who now 
 become a restless and nervous invalid, sought to divert her 
 mind with the pretty and graceful child, whose education and 
 accomplishments she resolved herself to superintend. And 
 the result of such superintendence was this. Louise, at six- 
 teen was a fine dancer, a tolerably skilful musician, and a 
 complete mistress of all the arts of coquetry. Nature had 
 given her a pretty face, and symmetry of form, and early prac- 
 tice had taught her to turn both to good account. Despite her 
 youth, too, she had, by sedulous cultivation, acquired many so- 
 called fascinations of manner, which acted powerfully upon 
 those who shut their eyes to her extreme affectation ; and her 
 utter want of mental and moral discipline was atoned for in 
 the eves of her mother's circle of friends, by a natural quick- 
 ness of intellect, and a proverbial amiability of disposition. 
 
 These latter qualities, however, so far as she in reality pos- 
 sessed them, were given her at birth. They could not be 
 
14 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 numbered among her acquirements, for unfortunately her heart, 
 mind, and soul had been quite overlooked in her education. 
 
 Such being the consequence ' of the mother's supervision, it 
 could scarcely be a matter of regret that Harry and Mabel 
 were, for the most part, shut out from her presence and her 
 care. Harry was so noisy, and his little sister had adopted so 
 many of his rude ways, that both were unfit for her sacred 
 precincts, even if she had considered them of a suitable age 
 to profit by her instruction ; and as it was, she condemned 
 them wholly to the care of a newly-hired nurse. 
 
 Fortunately this nurse, though ignorant, was faithful ; though 
 severe, impartial ; and though unimaginative, true. She could 
 rarely give satisfactory replies to the questions suggested by 
 their innocent curiosity, but at the same time she taught them 
 no evil. Her management was often such as to thwart their 
 favorite schemes, but she never punished them unjustly, or 
 complained of them without reason ; and if her dull and uncul- 
 tivated intellect failed to furnish diversion for theirs, she at 
 least practised upon them no deception, and entertained them 
 with no gossip. 
 
 Thus, while their young natures failed to ripen as rapidly as 
 they might have done under other tutelage, and their faculties 
 found little scope for development or growth, they were spared 
 many of the evil influences which had early corrupted the 
 mind of the less fortunate Louise ; and if their young souls 
 were checked in their infant expansion, they at least were not 
 poisoned in the bud. 
 
 Before Harry had reached his ninth year his impatient spirit 
 burst the bounds of nursery restraint, and obtaining from his 
 indulgent father permission to attend school, he was sent from 
 home to form boyish connections and friendships, leaving his 
 little sister deprived of her cherished playmate, her only com- 
 panion in thraldom. 
 
 Then followed a dreary season, long remembered by^poor 
 Mabel, when, during many tedious months, she kept on with her 
 lonesome plays, having no variety in her monotonous life, save 
 a daily walk with her nurse, a short visit from her often ab- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 15 
 
 stracted father, or a summons to the parlor, from which she 
 was sure to be banished on occasion of the slightest childish 
 offence. 
 
 And then came the release ! Alas, that a mother's death 
 should have imparted new life to her child ! But so it was, 
 though none but angel eyes perhaps traced out the workings of 
 that infinite love which recalled the unfaithful, earthly parent, 
 that a heavenly father's hand might furnish a better guardian- 
 ship for his child. The well-dressed groups who assembled to 
 pay the last honors to her who had once been the ornament of 
 their circle, and wlio bestowed upon her awe-struck and sable- 
 clad daughter the epithets "Poor Mabel!" "Poor little 
 motherless one ! " this short-sighted group would have started, 
 perhaps, at the lesson and shrunk from .the warning, had the 
 voice of truth whispered in their ears that the holiest trust 
 committed to the parent is sometimes recalled, in mercy to the 
 child. 
 
 Mabel was eight years old when her mother died, and being 
 the only one of the children who was under the paternal roof 
 at the time, she became the more immediate object of her wid- 
 owed father's thoughts. Louise had recently been sent to a fash- 
 ionable boarding-school ; Harry still continued at his academy ; 
 but Mabel must be provided for. Both the calls of business 
 and his own choice combined to render Mr. Vaughan desirous 
 of leaving the country and closing his house for an indefinite 
 period ; but in this case some arrangement must be made 
 which would furnish a suitable home for his little girl. 
 
 As she sat on his knee one evening, about a week after his 
 wife's death, and his thoughts, sobered by that solemn event, 
 and concentrated more ardently than was their wont upon his 
 children's future welfare, were especially bent upon the promo- 
 tion of Mabel's happiness and improvement, there darted into 
 his mind one of those Heaven-directed ideas, whose happy and 
 far-reaching results seem to prove the divinity of their source. 
 
 Pe had, within the past month, received a letter informing 
 him of the death of an old friend, one who had been a play- 
 mate of his boyhood, and for whom he had ever continued to 
 
16 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 feel a warm and consistent regard. This regard had recently 
 been attested by the loan of a sum of money, trifling in the 
 eyes of the wealthy merchant, but of infinite importance to his 
 friend, who, with an increasing family and pursuing a poorly- 
 paid literary career, had become sadly embarrassed for the 
 want of this small amount. 
 
 He died, however, before an opportunity had ever arrived for 
 defraying the debt, and Mr. Vaughan's recent letter from his 
 widow was written less with the view of informing him of her 
 loss, than to acquaint him with her inability to meet his just 
 demands, and to request his indulgence for the present. This 
 was readily accorded, and with a sigh of regret for his friend, 
 Mr. Vaughan dismissed the subject from his mind. 
 
 Now, however, as h gazed in the face of his little daughter, 
 reflected upon the disappointment he could not but feel in 
 Louise, and resolved that a wholly different course should be 
 pursued with Mabel's education, he conceived a sudden desire 
 to place her under the sole charge of Mrs. Herbert, the widow 
 of his friend, confide to her the trust of which he felt con- 
 scious he was scarcely more worthy than his wife had been, and 
 delegate to her the entire authority which had thus far been 
 neglected and abused. 
 
 Mrs. Herbert was poor ; she had three children to support 
 by her own exertions, and was eager and anxious to employ 
 herself profitably. The proposal, therefore, which Mr. Vaughan 
 made without delay, accompanying it with the most generous 
 pecuniary offers, was as promptly accepted ; and thus it hap- 
 pened that Mabel became, as we* have seen, one of Mrs. 
 Herbert's household. 
 
 We may not pause to trace the benefits which resulted from 
 this event to the widow and her family. The child's coming, 
 indeed, was the signal and forerunner of many blessings ; it 
 roused Mrs. Herbert to hope and to exertion ; it laid the founda- 
 tion for what became in time a well-established and prosperous 
 school ; and long after, when she had acquired independence 
 for herself, and beheld with joy the prosperity of her children, 
 she failed not to look back to Mabel's entrance into her house- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 17 
 
 hold as the date of all her after success. Often are mercies 
 thus combined, and far-reaching are the schemes of Provi- 
 dence ; but it is with their influence upon Mabel alone that we 
 now have anything to do. 
 
 She. remained ten years under Mrs. Herbert's care, often 
 passing her vacations in that home which was to her the 
 happiest she had ever known, and never, during this long 
 period, revisiting her native city, save on the occasion of 
 her sister's marriage with a wealthy banker, which took place 
 when Mabel was still a mere child. Mr.Vaughan's house was at 
 that time leased to strangers, and the wedding ceremonies were 
 held under the hospitable roof of a Mrs. Vannecker, a distant 
 relative of the late Mrs. Vaughan, who had been proud to 
 usher Louise into society, and now boasted that she had made 
 the match. 
 
 Here the family were assembled to participate in the prep- 
 arations and festivities attendant upon the event, all of which 
 were entered into with eager zest by Mabel, and remembered 
 by her afterwards rather as a brilliant dream than an actual 
 reality. 
 
 With this exception she never left her school, save for a 
 yearly visit to her grandmother, whose residence was within a 
 day's journey from Mrs. Herbert's ; and these visits were of 
 longer or shorter continuance, according to the old lady's state 
 of health, or the convenience of Mabel's aunt, Miss Sabiah 
 Vaughan, who continued to live with her mother, and had 
 charge of the housekeeping. From these absences, however, 
 which from one cause or another were usually of limited dura- 
 tion, she invariably returned with joy to her kind teacher and 
 beloved playmates, by whom she was sure to have been sadly 
 missed, and was always warmly welcomed back, for Mabel was 
 the life of the household. 
 
 And here, amid healthful influences, and under the judicious 
 training of one of the best of women, she' rapidly developed 
 those powers and capacities which had in her early childhood 
 found little scope for their expansion. 
 
 Mrs. Herbert was a religious woman, and she spared no 
 
18 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 paius to impart to Mabel the knowledge and love of virtue. 
 She had sound judgment and a highly cultivated intellect, and 
 patiently sought to guide and strengthen the mind of her pupil, 
 and store it with lasting treasures. She was possessed, too, of 
 those social qualities which give a charm to home and .render 
 a fireside comfortable and happy ; and the youthful group 
 around her were encouraged by her example to the cultivation 
 of every endearing and feminine grace. 
 
 Nor was she less a practical than an accomplished woman. 
 She understood every branch of house keeping, every art in 
 needle-work, and had acquired, through years of rigid practice, 
 economy, prudence and skill, in. all of which branches her 
 pupils reaped, in a greater or less degree, the benefit of her 
 experience. 
 
 Thus, during ten years passed in a plain but well-ordered 
 New England homestead, where the highest mental discipline 
 was combined with instruction in the simplest female duties, Ma- 
 bel acquired strength of principle, soundness of knowledge, cheer- 
 fulness of disposition, and useful and industrious habits. Mean- 
 time, her physical development had kept pace with her mental 
 and moral growth ; pure air, healthful exercise, and whole- 
 some diet, strengthening and hardening her frame, while with 
 every succeeding year she grew in beauty and grace, until Mrs. 
 Herbert gazed at length with inward pride and delight upon 
 the fair blossom that her own hand had reared, and which had 
 ripened beneath her very eye. 
 
 When Mabel, at eight years of age, was first placed under 
 Mrs. Herbert's charge, she was a shy, unformed child, rude in 
 her manners and speech, and wholly unused to any kind of 
 application. At eighteen she was not only beautiful in person, 
 cultivated in mind, and amiable and affectionate in disposition, 
 but to her rich personal and mental gifts she added a winning 
 frankness and cordiality of manner, which, springing as they 
 did from a warm and sincere heart, combined with her other 
 attractions to render her the favorite as well as the pride of 
 her companions. 
 
 But ]\Iiv. Herbert was not infallible, nor Mabel faultless. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 19 
 
 True, the former had labored diligently for the improvement 
 of one who, next to her own children, was the principal object 
 of her endeavors and prayers, and had met undoubtedly with a 
 proportionate degree of success. But there were faults in 
 Mabel's character which time and diligence had not yet 
 uprooted ; faults of whose full extent Mrs. Herbert was scarcely 
 aware, and which were fostered by circumstances beyond her con- 
 trol. Mabel's very popularity among her schoolmates exposed 
 her to danger; and amid the varying characters with which she 
 came in familiar contact, she could not wholly escape perni- 
 cious influences, especially during the latter years of her school 
 life, when the number of Mrs. Herbert's pupils had greatly 
 increased. 
 
 These faults, however, were not vital. They were such only 
 as are common to most girls of her age, and we need not pause 
 to dwell upon them, for in due season they will present them- 
 selves to notice as we follow her in her after career. 
 
 Conscious as Mrs. Herbert was of a faithful discharge of 
 duty, and well rewarded as her efforts had for the most part 
 been, she had too much good sense, too much knowledge of the 
 waywardness of the human heart, to believe for a moment that 
 Mabel was henceforth secure from temptation, or proof against 
 its assaults. And, therefore, as she read the few hasty lines 
 from Mr. Vaughan, which summoned his daughter to the super- 
 intendence of his house, and the enjoyment of city gayeties, she 
 trembled at the thought that thenceforward Mabel must mark 
 out her own path, unsustained by the guiding hand and almost 
 maternal love which had thus far fostered and protected her. 
 
 It needed, indeed, no prophetic eye to foresee the peculiar 
 exposures and dangers which awaited Mabel's future. Already 
 had Mrs. Herbert observed the pride with which the fond 
 father, in his occasional visits, gazed upon his daughter's daily 
 increasing charms, and already had she more than once been 
 compelled to remonstrate against the lavish and profuse indul- 
 gence with which he proposed to gratify her girlish whims. 
 She knew, too, the gay and thoughtless circles in which 
 Mrs. Vaughan had moved, in which Louise now shone trium- 
 
20 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 pliant, and in which Mabel would be sure to be admired, flat- 
 tered, and caressed. 
 
 And because she knew all this, and because she rightly con- 
 jectured that in this new sphere no pains would be spared to 
 gratify Mabel's vanity, encourage her ambition, foster her 
 pride, and administer to her self-love, did she tremble for her 
 purity of heart and disinterestedness of purpose. 
 
 She feared that in time of trial, when pleasure stood on one 
 side and duty opposed to it on the other, Mabel's unaided 
 strength would fail in the bitter contest. She feared lest sel- 
 fishness, worldliness, and pride, would triumph at last over the 
 barriers of Christian truth and virtue, which she had sought to 
 rear in the young girl's heart. And so, since henceforward she 
 could protect her only with her prayers, she gave her for a 
 watchword and a shield that simple precept, so gentle in its 
 workings, yet so mighty in its power, that potent spell which 
 disarms every spirit of evil, and is woman's surest weapon, both 
 of warfare and defence, for she sent her forth to the conflict 
 with the armor of Christian love. 
 
 And Mrs. Herbert and Mabel never met again. Not that 
 either was speedily called from a career of earthly usefulness ; 
 but their paths henceforth lay apart. Often would Mabel 
 gladly have turned to this well-tried confidant and friend 
 for counsel, sympathy, and advice. But it might not be. 
 Other interests soon became bound up in her own, interests in 
 which Mrs. Herbert might not share ; and only partially, and 
 at long intervals, could she, even by letter, impart to this friend 
 of her childhood and youth the secret cares and anxieties which 
 burdened her woman's heart. 
 
 But there was a spiritual bond between them still, a bond 
 which strengthened with time, and was tempered in adversity, 
 for in her last warning charge, her last earnest lesson, Mrs. 
 Herbert had imparted to Mabel the great truth that woman 
 needs to learn. It slumbered awhile, then awoke in power; 
 at first as a still, small voice, and anon as a flaming sword, 
 it led her on to victory. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ^ Buoyant, cheerful, happy, bright, r 
 
 I see thee with a quiet grace, 
 " Make sunlight in a shady place." 
 
 W. STORY. 
 
 MABEL'S emotions on bidding farewell to the home of her 
 girlhood were of a mingled character, pain alternating with 
 pleasure, according as memory dwelt upon past joys, or antici- 
 pation pictured forth a brilliant future. Had she foreseen the 
 length of time that would elapse ere she would again set foot 
 in a spot endeared to her by a thousand associations, and had 
 imagination hinted to her the changes which that time would 
 effect, both in herself and in those she left behind, the fond 
 whisperings of hope would have been silenced, and sorrow 
 and regret would alone have filled her heart. But she had a 
 happy, buoyant nature, and in planning schemes for many a 
 summer excursion which should restore her to the old home- 
 stead, and many a winter vacation which should bring Mrs. 
 Herbert and her children to share the hospitalities of her father's 
 roof, she forgot the possibility of the separation's being other- 
 wise than temporary. 
 
 The moment of parting was indeed a trying one to her affec- 
 tionate nature, and long after the intervening hills had shut 
 even the village spire from her sight, her thoughts lingered with 
 the beloved teacher and companions, whom she still seemed to 
 see grouped together on the doorstep, where they had assem- 
 bled to bid her a sad and tender farewell. But, although her 
 travelling companions gave one day only to a trip which is 
 usually performed in two, it afforded her ample time to rally 
 from her grief, and long before the journey drew to its terini- 
 
22 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 nation her busy fancy had taken another direction, and gone 
 forth to rehearse the joys attendant upon her welcome home. 
 
 She pictured to herself the reception she should probably 
 meet from her father, whom she had not seen fjr months. 
 Mabel had but little knowledge of him who stood to her in this 
 tender relation, save from his occasional visits and periodical 
 letters ; and the former had often been suspended^br years, 
 owing to his absence from the country. He was, therefore, 
 imaged to her mind as the tall, gray-haired gentleman, whom, 
 some dozen times during her school life, she had been hastily 
 summoned to Mrs. Herbert's parlor to see ; each of which 
 occasions was associated in her recollection with a holiday, a 
 rich gift, and a drive to the railroad station, some six miles 
 distant, to which she always accompanied him on his departure. 
 
 That he was the most indulgent of men he had not a doubt, 
 since she could remember no instance in which he had ever 
 denied her requests, or refused to gratify her whims. Of his 
 liberality, her gold watch, her jewelled rings, her well-stocked 
 wardrobe, and ample allowance, had long since furnished evi- 
 dence ; nor, though he seldom gave expression to his feelings, 
 could she be unconscious of the love and pride with which he 
 watched the development of her intellect and her beauty, and 
 triumphed in every added accomplishment and grace. Her 
 intercourse with him, however, had been wanting in that famili- 
 arity which leads to confidence, and, being wholly unacquainted 
 'with his habits of life and mode of thought, her spirits always 
 received a slight check, and her freedom a slight restraint, in 
 his presence. His letters had been even less indicative of 
 character than his visits ; for, although kind, they were brief 
 and somewhat formal, and, on the whole, he inspired in Mabel 
 more of the respect and gratitude due to a thoughtful guardian, 
 than the trusting love which is wont to subsist between a father 
 and child. 
 
 She felt conscious, however, that this restraint was unnatu- 
 ral, and as the time had now come when she was to make her 
 father's house her permanent abode, busy fancy suggested that 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 23 
 
 the warmth with which he would welcome her to his heart 
 and home would at once break down every barrier of reserve. 
 
 Of her sister Louis^, now Mrs. Leroy, she had still less 
 knowledge. She had seen her but twice since her marriage, 
 and on each occasion for a few hours only. Once she had re- 
 ceived a hasty note, informing her that a party, including the 
 Leroys, were travelling in the vicinity of her school and would 
 dine the following day at a neighboring town, where they 
 begged that she would come and meet them. It was about a 
 year after Louise's marriage, and Mabel, then a child, obtained 
 Mrs. Herbert's consent to the plan, and returned in ecstacies 
 with the whole party, especially her beautiful sister. Nor was 
 this impression weakened when, a few years later, Louise ac- 
 companied her father on one of his periodical visits, and came, 
 richly clad, to pass a day at Mrs. Herbert's ; a day which served 
 to heighten the young school-girl's enthusiasm with regard to 
 the surpassing charms of her sister, an enthusiasm which was 
 kept alive, inasmuch as it was, to a great degree, shared by all 
 her young companions. She looked forward, therefore, to daily 
 companionship with one so lovely, accomplished and fascinating, 
 as scarcely less an honor than a happiness. 
 
 Nor in her visions of a joyous welcome did Mabel fail to 
 give a prominent place to her little nephews, two beautiful 
 boys,' whom she had never yet seen ; and, naturally warm of 
 heart, extravagantly fond of children, and eminently qualified 
 to excite affection on their part, it was no slight addition to her 
 looked-for happiness that fancy pictured these little ones bound- 
 ing to embrace an aunt whom they had doubtless already been 
 taught to love. 
 
 But, although father, sister, and nephews all figured in the 
 vision which Mabel mentally formed of her future home, not 
 one of them stood in the foreground of her imagination for 
 memory furnished no link which associated them with the home 
 of her infancy. Bright and joyous as her anticipations were 
 of what these relatives might become to her in the future, there 
 were no sweet, childish recollections connected with them, to 
 awaken the tender thoughts which cling around a parent's 
 
24 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 hearth. They were all, in truth, more or less strangers to her, 
 and her conjectures concerning them, however pleasing, were 
 necessarily vague and indistinct. 
 
 But there was one member of her family whose very name 
 was suggestive to Mabel's heart of happiness, kindred, and 
 home. There was one whose relation to herself was natural 
 and true; who, from the cradle upwards, had shared her inter- 
 ests, her sorrows, and her joys ; who had been the playmate of 
 her infancy and the confidant and companion of her girlhood. 
 Her dutiful affection for her father and her admiring love for 
 her sister were of comparatively recent growth, but memory 
 could recall no time when she had not dearly loved her brother. 
 With him was connected every association of that early age 
 when, shut out from the sympathy of the rest of the household, 
 they were all in all to each other. Her mother's neglect and 
 her sister's indifference were either unnoticed at the time or 
 had long since been forgotten by Mabel ; so, too, had the bril- 
 liant and richly furnished rooms from which she had often been 
 banished in disgrace ; but there still rose, fresh and clear to her 
 recollection, the nursery where she and Harry played, the little 
 hopes which they had mutually shared, and the little disap- 
 pointments over which they had wept together. Nor were 
 these tender memories all that had hallowed their affection; 
 for, while time, separation, and absence, had built barriers be- 
 tween the other members of the family, Harry and Mabel had 
 been in the habit of yearly intercourse, often passing many 
 weeks in the enjoyment of each other's society. Not only did 
 they usually meet on occasion of the annual visit to old Mrs. 
 Vaughan, but nearly all Harry's school vacations were passed 
 at Mrs. Herbert's, or at a boarding-place in the neighborhood, 
 so that the happy home which Mabel had found with her kind 
 instructress came to be considered scarcely less a home by 
 Harry, who voluntarily went there for the holidays. 
 
 A longer separation than usual intervened during two years, 
 which the latter passed at West Point; but this was atoned for 
 by the happiness with which Mabel welcomed the young cadet 
 on occasion of his short leave of absence, and the mingled pride 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 25 
 
 and delight with which she listened to her schoolmates' whis- 
 pered encomiums of her soldier-brother. 
 
 Arid when, a few months later, he engaged in a boyish frolic, 
 and was suddenly dismissed from the Military Academy, whose 
 strict rules he had infringed, Mabel readily accepted his apolo- 
 gies, allowed herself to be convinced that he was the most 
 injured of mortals, and loved him all the more for the injustice 
 he had suffered. 
 
 Mr. Vanghan then sent him abroad to spend two years at a 
 German University, since which time he had been permitted to 
 make the tour of Europe, a tour which the son had protracted 
 beyond the original intentions of the father, but from which he 
 had now unexpectedly returned. 
 
 This long absence from Mabel, however, had only served to 
 unite him more closely to her in interest and in heart. Their 
 correspondence had been constant. It was, moreover, full, free 
 and unrestrained, being not only a faithful communication of 
 facts and events, a familiar interchange of thoughts and ideas, 
 but an affectionate outpouring of mutual love. 
 
 There was no corner of the old world which Harry's foot had 
 trod to which Mabel had not in spirit followed him ; no city, 
 river, or mountain which was not enshrined in her memory as 
 the spot which had furnished Harry with some gay adventure, 
 some historic musing, or some vision of glory ; and there was 
 no partner in his winter studies or summer wanderings who did 
 not henceforth stand high in her regard, because he was her 
 brother's friend. 
 
 Thus, from childhood upwards they had been united in each 
 other's love, and every year had but served to strengthen the 
 bonds of mutual dependence and mutual trust. Isolated as 
 both had been from any other strong family tie, the repose, the 
 sympathy, the confiding love which are the most hallowed influ- 
 ences of home had been more fully perfected in their relation 
 to each other, and ready as Mabel was to acknowledge the 
 claims of the rest of her family, her heart assured her, as she 
 drew near her father's house, that it was Harry's presence there 
 which alone entitled it, in her estimation, to the name of home. 
 3 
 
26 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 . The first intimation she had received of her brother's return 
 from his foreign tour, was contained in the recent letter from 
 her father, which had summoned her to meet Harry in New 
 York and preside over the festivities attendant upon- the re- 
 union of the long scattered family. 
 
 "I cannot arrange matters," wrote he, "so as to join you at 
 any point on your journey ; you will he rejoiced, however, to 
 hear that not only Louise, the children and myself will be in 
 New York to welcome you, but your brother Harry is on board 
 the steamer which was yesterday reported at Halifax, and he 
 will arrive here by to-morrow at the latest.''* 
 
 It was a dismal autumn afternoon when Mabel reached the 
 city. She had travelled in company with a party of Mr. 
 Vaughan's friends, of whose proffered attendance he had 
 gladly availed himself, and, unfortunately for her hopes of a 
 cordial greeting, she arrived one day sooner than had been 
 anticipated. A less gay and joyous spirit than hers would 
 perhaps have received a sudden check, at the air of soberness 
 and gloom which the paternal mansion wore on her first 
 entrance, at the utter silence which pervaded the hall and par- 
 lors, and the stately formality with which she was received by 
 the grave and elderly footman. At first, indeed, she looked 
 round in some anxiety, lest she had mistaken the house, espe- 
 cially, as the tall, stiff figure of a lady dressed in black was just 
 disappearing, at the head of the staircase, with the air of one 
 who is hastily retreating from the sight of visitors. Mabel 
 knew of no such person in the family, and in order to quiet 
 her doubts turned to the footman, and exclaimed inquiringly, 
 " Tliis is Mr. Vaughan's, my father's ? " " Certainly, Miss," 
 replied the man, " but you were not expected until to-morrow." 
 
 A pretty waiting-maid now advanced from the end of the 
 hall, to offer her services to her new mistress, and at the same 
 moment, the tall, stiff lady who had been leaning over the 
 bannisters to listen, began slowly and cautiously to descend the 
 stairs. Mabel looked up, and to her astonishment, perceived 
 her aun<t, Miss Sabiah Vaughan, the last person in the world 
 whom she had expected to see. Rejoiced, however, at recog- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAX. 27 
 
 nising a familiar face, she sprung to meet her, embracing her 
 with more than her usual warm-heartedness, and exclaiming 
 as she did so " Aunt Sabiah ! How glad I am to see you ! " 
 
 Miss Vaughan partially returned the salutation, although 
 awkwardly, and with evident effort, for she was unaccustomed 
 to such hearty demonstrations of feeling, and putting up her 
 hands, she began nervously to smooth down her collar, which 
 Mabel, in her joy, had slightly disarranged. But although her 
 manner was thus constrained, her face betrayed symptoms of 
 satisfaction which were easily detected by Mabel, who was 
 accustomed to every variation of which her aunt's features 
 were capable. Her nervous agitation, too, Mabel knew to be 
 only the effect of pleasurable excitement, and holding her affec- 
 tionately by the hand, the young girl accompanied her up 
 stairs, the pretty waiting-maid preceding them, and throwing 
 open the doors of the chamber and dressing-room which Mr. 
 Vaughan intended for his daughter's use. 
 
 " But where are all the rest ? where is Harry ? " inquired 
 Mabel eagerly, when she had drawn her aunt into the room, 
 and with some difficulty persuaded her to be seated. 
 
 " Why you were not expected until to-morrow, child," replied 
 Miss Vaughan," and Harry has gone up the river with a party 
 of young fellows, and will not be back until late." 
 
 " He is come then ? he is safe and well ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; and altered so I hardly knew him." 
 
 " Oh, how I long to see him ! " exclaimed Mabel ; and then 
 followed questions and replies concerning the different mem- 
 bers of the family. There was no one at home, however, nor 
 any prospect of an arrival until Mr. Vaughan should return, 
 at six, the usual dinner hour. So, with some difficulty com- 
 posing her excited feelings, Mabel resolved to occupy the 
 intervening time in making those" changes in her dress which 
 the dust and smoke of travelling had rendered necessary, stip- 
 ulating that her aunt should remain where she was, and 
 gratify her curiosity on many points, concerning which she was 
 far from being satisfied. 
 
 She could not conceal her astonishment at finding Miss 
 
28 MABEL VAUGUAN. 
 
 Yaughan apparently domesticated in her father's house, no 
 mention having been made of her in his recent letter. It 
 seemed that Miss Sabiah had reached New York, only the 
 previous day, and had spent the entire morning, unpacking her 
 trunks in an upper chamber, which, being in the most retired 
 part of the house, she had chosen for herself in preference to 
 the room which had first been allotted to her. Since the death 
 of the old lady Vaughan, which took place about a year pre- 
 vious, Sabiah had boarded in her native village, and had now 
 come by special invitation from her brother to pass the winter 
 in his family. She appeared deeply hurt on learning Mabel's 
 utter ignorance of the plan, having supposed that it would be 
 communicated to her niece as a fact of some importance. The 
 poor lady had experienced her share of neglect in this world, 
 but was none the less sensitive on that account. She looked 
 discontented, too, and ill at ease, and so far from contributing 
 to the cheerfulness of the house, and giving it a home-like 
 aspect, her presence seemed to reflect a far more sombre 
 shadow upon the room than those which were cast by the now 
 gradually deepening twilight. Mabel's quick eye and ready 
 sympathies, saw and understood her aunt's state of mind at a 
 glance ; but, although disappointed herself at her father's and 
 brother's absence, and the chilly nature of her reception, her 
 buoyant nature was far from indulging useless regrets, or dis- 
 mal forebodings. Her spirits, on the contrary, rose with the 
 necessity of exerting herself to please and cheer one whom she 
 was really delighted to find an inmate of the household, and 
 she hastened to complete her toilet, and divert her aunt's 
 thoughts by a proposition that she should accompany her on a 
 tour through the house, which the yonng girl was eager to 
 inspect. All was new to Mabel. Mr. Vanghan's residence 
 had recently been subjected to a thorough course of repair 
 and enlargement. Old rooms had been converted into others 
 of far different size and construction, and even the well-re- 
 in timbered nursery, to which Mabel had fancied that instinct 
 would guide her at once, had given place to an octagon apart- 
 ment, lit from the ceiling, and evidently intended for a picture 
 
MAI1KL VAUGHAN. 29 
 
 cabinet. Miss Sabiali, who was even more unaccustomed than 
 Mabel to the display of luxury and elegance which met them 
 at every turn, and who was overawed and oppressed by the 
 magnificence of her brother's house and furniture, felt a sense of 
 relief as she observed the easy and careless step with which 
 her niece trod the velvet carpets, and the confident and uncon- 
 cerned air with which, as they passed through different rooms, 
 she threw open the blinds, raised the curtains, and altered the 
 position of light articles of furniture and adornment. Dark- 
 ness, silence, and gloom, seemed to flee before her, and the 
 shadow upon Miss Sabiah's feelings being proportionately dis- 
 pelled, she at length gave vent to her sentiments in the sudden 
 exclamation "Well Mabel, I am glad you have come to make 
 some of these improvements. Everything is beautiful, to be 
 sure, but it has looked very dull to me, and I believe my 
 brother finds it so too, for he lives entirely in the library, below 
 stairs, and he told me yesterday, that he had not sat in the 
 drawing-room since it was furnished. As for Harry, he has 
 scarcely been at home since I came. Your father asked him 
 at breakfast how he liked the house. I was shocked at the 
 answer he made, and yet I could not wonder much." 
 
 " What did he say ? " questioned Mabel. 
 
 " Why, that it seemed to him pretty much like any other old 
 tomb ; and your father laughed and said ' Oh, well, when Mabel 
 comes she will manage to brighten it up a little.' " 
 
 And Mr.Vaughan prophesied truly. Already had his daugh- 
 ter's fresh young spirit begun to exert its magic influence. 
 Already had the rooms assumed the air of cheerfulness, which 
 youth and ta.ste know so well how to impart. Already had the 
 halls and parlors resounded more than once with her free and 
 joyous peals of laughter. And, stranger still, Miss Sabiah's 
 rigid and indifferent expression had begun to soften into an 
 occasional smile, while her dull eye had caught something of 
 the animation which danced and sparkled in that of her niece. 
 Even the servants, as they heard her merry voice while she 
 passed from room to room, seemed to catch the inspiration of 
 her presence. The neat waiting-maid might be seen tripping 
 
30 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 tlirougb tlie chambers with a freer step and a lighter heart, and 
 even the grave footman, as he took the plate from the side- 
 board and spread the table for dinner, found himself humming 
 a tune which he had not heard since he was a boy. 
 
 Truly there is no sunshine so refreshing as that which beams 
 from a happy youthful heart. 
 
 " Now for your favorite song, aunt Sabiah," exclaimed Ma- 
 bel, as she threw open the grand piano-forte and seated herself 
 before it. " No one praises my singing as you do," and the 
 young girl commenced playing a simple air which she had 
 found, many years before, in an old music-book at her grand- 
 mother's, and often sung, to the accompaniment of a cracked 
 and worn-out instrument, for her aunt's especial benefit. To 
 sing was as natural to Mabel as to laugh, nor was it any won- 
 derful proof of thoughtful love that she should select the song 
 which would be sure to please her listener best. The appeal 
 to Miss Sabiah' s feelings, however, was irresistible ; and, as a 
 moment before, her niece's playful sallies had called a smile to 
 her sunken cheek, so now, at this simple proof of loving re- 
 membrance, a solitary tear started to her eye and was wiped 
 away unseen. What wonder-working power there must have 
 been in the girl, who could thus summon both smiles and tears 
 from out the withered and wasted heart which hud long seemed 
 callous to any strong emotion ! 
 
 Mabel, however, quite unconscious of the effect of her music, 
 had sung but a few lines, when she started from her seat, ex- 
 claiming, " I hear my father's voice," and in an instant more 
 she had bounded down the stair-case to meet him. He was not 
 in the hall, but the familiar tones proceeded from the library, 
 the door of which stood open. An eager word of greeting es- 
 caped Mabel's lips at the threshold of the room, but her step was 
 suddenly arrested by the presence of a stranger, who stood 
 near the door, while her father, with his back towards her, was 
 engaged in unlocking a secretary at the opposite end of the 
 library. Mr. Vaughan turned, howeveiyU the sound of her 
 voice, and throwing on the table a large roll of papers which 
 he had just taken from the shelf of his cabinet, he came towards 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 31 
 
 her with an air of surprise, lifting his spectacles from his nose as 
 if to make sure that the glasses were not deceiving him, and ex- 
 claiming, as he stretched out a welcoming hand, "Mabel? my 
 daughter? is it possible? Why, where did you come from?" 
 
 Mabel answered only by a glad smile ; for, before she could 
 proceed to make any explanation of her unlooked-for arrival, 
 she caught the sudden glance of embarrassment which (the 
 first surprise being past) overspread the countenance of her 
 reserved parent, at the consciousness of the stranger's pres- 
 ence. Mabel, too, shared this sensation of awkwardness, for 
 her father did not introduce the individual, who appeared to be 
 a business-agent, as he had by this time unfolded the papers 
 and spread upon the table a number of maps and charts, 
 which he was diligently studying. 
 
 " You are busy," said Mabel, in an undertone. " I will go 
 back to my aunt." 
 
 Her father hesitated, glanced toward his visitor, but still re- 
 tained her hand in his. 
 
 At the same moment, the stranger, who was handling the 
 charts in a hurried manner, and seemed to be in haste, made 
 an abrupt inquiry as to the extent and value of certain landed 
 property, and as Mr. Vaughan turned to reply, Mabel slipped 
 quietly out of the room. 
 
 Miss Sabiah had but just determined to follow her niece 
 down stairs when she met her returning. 
 
 " Father is busy now," said Mabel, in explanation, " let us 
 go back and finish the song." 
 
 The song was finished, and several others had been succes- 
 sively sung, when Mabel, who had paused between each to 
 listen for the stranger's departure, at length announced that 
 lie had gone, and now at her persuasion her aunt accompanied 
 her to the library. She was once more, however, doomed to 
 disappointment, and to the mortification of feeling herself an 
 intruder. The papers were still spread on the table, and on 
 entering, Mabel thought her ears. must have deceived her, for 
 Mr. Vaughan was still attentively engaged in examining them, 
 with the aid of another person, whose head was bent down so 
 
32 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 as to conceal his face, and whom, at a first glance, Mabel con- 
 cluded to be the man whom she had heard a few moments be- 
 fore bidding her father good-night. 
 
 It proved, however, to be her brother-in-law, Mr. Leroy, 
 who had come in unheard, and who rose on her entrance and 
 greeted her cordially, although with an absent air: so ab- 
 stracted was he that he did not observe Miss Sabiah, until Mr. 
 Vaughan had twice introduced her as his sister, and even then 
 he failed to notice the icy stiffness with which she returned his 
 forced and indifferent bow. His manner was restless and un- 
 easy, and after a few words of inquiry as to Mabel's health 
 and journey, he was evidently anxious to resume the subject 
 in which he and Mr. Vaughan appeared to be mutually inter- 
 ested. 
 
 The latter interfered, however, greatly to the relief of Ma- 
 bel, who was beginning to look with an almost jealous eye upon 
 these important charts, which seemed so many barriers be- 
 tween herself and her father, so many rival claims to his notice 
 and interest. " Not now, Leroy," said he, in a decided tone, 
 thrusting the papers aside and removing his spectacles. " Ma- 
 bel has but just come, I have scarcely seen her. I shall be 
 at leisure to-morrow, and we can then come to a decision ; but 
 about those eastern stocks " and then followed a few hasty 
 words in a low tone, to which Mr. Leroy assented by a quick 
 but earnest nodding of the head, after which he immediately 
 took his hat to depart. Mabel asked after her sister. " I think 
 it probable she is under the hair-dresser's hands," was the re- 
 ply. "I believe she is going to Mrs. D.'s ball to-night." Ma- 
 bel expressed a hope that she would come to see her the next 
 day, if not too much fatigued, and Mr. Leroy, having declined 
 an invitation to dinner, took his leave. 
 
 Mr. Yaughan gathered up the scattered papers, placed them 
 in the secretary, closed and locked the door, and, as he put the 
 ]-} in his pocket, his face assumed a relieved and satisfied ex- 
 pression, which seemed to say that for the present he had done 
 with business and was free to enjoy the society of his sister and 
 child. He was not naturally a talkative man, and Mabel had 
 
MABEL VAUGITAN. 33 
 
 never been in his company without experiencing a conscious- 
 ness of his inability to maintain an animated conversation. He 
 was one of that large class of individuals whose characters un- 
 bend most fully under their own roof, and who neve] 1 appear to 
 such advantage as in the privacy of their domestic circle. He 
 had also many inquiries to make concerning Mabel's journey, 
 her travelling companions, and the hour of her arrival, and, as 
 he drew a chair to the fire, bestowing upon her at the same 
 time a pleased and affectionate glance, she felt emboldened to 
 address him with something of the ease and familiarity of a 
 privileged child. She also by degrees beguiled her aunt into 
 the conversation which was fast assuming a lively tone, and 
 before long, the little group so suddenly brought together, pre- 
 sented the air of a home-circle engaged in familiar fireside 
 intercourse. 
 
 There was no mistaking the proud satisfaction with which 
 Mr. Vaughan presided at his dinner-table, that day, realizing at 
 once the comforts, the freedom, and the retirement of home, 
 from which lie had so long been debarred, and which his in- 
 creasing age now rendered more than ever desirable. The 
 quiet dignity and precision which were his striking characteris- 
 tics could not wholly hide the pleasurable emotions with which 
 he once more felt himself a family man. Beneath the veil of 
 strict courtesy towards Miss Sabiah might be detected no small 
 degree of brotherly kindness, and although his voice dwelt with 
 evident pleasure upon the w T ords "my daughter," his mild eye, 
 as it turned upon Mabel, bespoke a deeper well-spring of 
 fatherly love than any words which his lips knew how to utter. 
 
 Nor was the gleam of pleasure any less evident which over- 
 spread Miss Sabiah's features when Mabel insisted upon her 
 occupying the seat of honor opposite her father, which the 
 elder lady with an awkward show of humility was disposed to 
 resign, but which Mabel disclaimed the possibility of filling, 
 assuring her aunt that she alone was entitled to preside there. 
 Whatever might have been Mr. Vaughan's preference in the 
 matter he was too well-bred to interfere, and the deference with 
 which Mabel thus yielded to her aunt's superior claims gratified 
 
34 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 her sensitive and watchful pride, and was a soothing balm to 
 feelings which had been roughly chafed by her past experience. 
 
 Harry's absence was the only drawback to the happiness of 
 the party. " Do not sit up for him Mabel," said Mr. Vaughan, 
 as, dinner concluded, he prepared to leave the house. " Nor 
 for me either," continued he ; " I have an appointment at nine 
 o'clock, and shall not be in until late. You must be fatigued 
 with your journey, and you will find enough to do to-morrow. 
 Louise will want to take you on a grand shopping expedition, 
 and Harry, I have no doubt, has his head full of plans." 
 
 Once more left to themselves, Mabel and Miss Sabiah re- 
 turned to the cheerful and well-lit library ; and soon the former, 
 taking a low seat near her aunt, begged to hear some account 
 of her solitary journey to town, the particulars of which she 
 had not yet learned. 
 
 Miss Sabiah, pleased and gratified at having so ready an 
 audience to several little misadventures of the previous day, 
 proceeded to relate them at length, and found in Mabel an 
 attentive listener. 
 
 In less time than Miss Sabiah occupied in narrating her trav- 
 els we will take a glance at the history of her life. 
 
 The life of an old maid ! A desert, a blank, an unwritten 
 page to the careless, the thoughtless, the unobservant mind. 
 But to the initiated eye which faithfully scans its past, its pres- 
 ent, and its future experience, may it not prove a world of 
 strong affections, conflicting duties, anxious cares, and busy 
 memories, whose only register is hidden in one human heart ? 
 
 Sabiah Vaughan was the youngest of three children, having 
 besides her brother a sister who was a few years her senior. 
 Their father was a man of good standing in his own town, a 
 respectable country trader, and, during the latter years of his 
 life, president of the village bank. Their mother was a notable 
 housewife, somewhat imperious in her temper and ambitious in 
 her views. This ambition centred principally upon her chil- 
 dren's success in life, and was proportionately gratified when 
 her son became a successful merchant, and her eldest daughter 
 married a man of property and went to reside in a neighboring 
 
MA1JKL VAUGHAN. 35 
 
 town. Sabiah was still young and could afford to wait awhile; 
 or, as her mother used occasionally to say to her neighbors, 
 " Now that John is doing so well, and Margaret is settled so 
 much to my mind, I feel quite easy about my family. I am 
 not particular about Sabiah's marrying at all, or, if she does, 
 there is plenty of time yet for her to look about and make as 
 good a match as her sister has done." 
 
 But, unfortunately, a barrier had already arisen to Sabiah's 
 ever making what her mother considered a good match. Dur- 
 ing those years when Mrs. Vaughan's mind had been chiefly 
 occupied with the welfare of her other children, Sabiah's affec- 
 tions had become fixed upon one whose poverty was his only 
 umvorthiness. But he was a good scholar, and although his 
 father was a farmer in narrow circumstances, the son aspired 
 to one day studying for the ministry ; and in looking forward 
 to becoming a clergyman's wife, Sabiah never dreamed of in- 
 sulting the dignity of her family. So, when the simple-hearted 
 girl made a confidant of her mother, she was as much aston- 
 ished as grieved at the torrent of reproach which her communi- 
 cation called forth. She was reminded of her brother's wealth, 
 her sister's high position, and asked if she were willing to bring 
 disgrace upon her father's house by connecting herself with 
 beggars. She was reluctantly compelled to admit that it would 
 be years before her lover and herself could reasonably hope to 
 marry, and was at length commanded by both her parents to 
 break at once an engagement to which they would never give 
 their consent. 
 
 Sabiah was a gentle-spirited girl. She had been taught from 
 her childhood to yield strict obedience to parental government. 
 She dared not listen to those secret whisperings which termed 
 it, in this instance, parental tyranny, and after a few months of 
 what was, by the united voice of the family, termed obstinate 
 persistence in folly, she at length reluctantly consented to abide 
 by their decision. 
 
 That her heart, however, was not unfaithful, the sorrow of 
 years oore witness. 
 
 Her lover left their village soon after his mortifying dismis- 
 
36 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 sion, studied for the ministry, and eventually married another. 
 Sabiah remained in her father's house, patiently fulfilling o 
 daughter's duties and struggling with a life-long regret. 
 
 Nor did the filial obedience and filial respect which had 
 prompted this greatest of sacrifices, diminish or falter during 
 many years of severe privation and trial. So long as her 
 father lived, her devotion to him was most exemplary ; a devo- 
 tion which was painfully tested during the months of distressing 
 illness which preceded his death, when Sabiah's face grew pale, 
 and her figure wasted with constant care and watching. 
 
 His affairs in the meantime suffered some disorder, and at his 
 death the widow and her daughter were quite cut off from their 
 usual means of subsistence, their only property consisting in 
 the house and a few acres of unproductive land. "They will 
 be very well off, however," said the neighbors. " John will 
 settle something upon his mother, and Margaret is rich." And 
 when, in the course of years, Sabiah's health became feeble and 
 her hair turned gray, and the village gossips remarked tha* her 
 temper was getting sadly soured, they said one to another, 
 " Now what can Sabiah Vaughan have to vex or wear upon 
 her, with such a comfortable home and such a quiet life as she 
 leads ? If she had a husband that was hard to please, and 
 children that were sick and fretful, and a great dairy like mine 
 to attend to, I could conceive of her being irritable now and 
 then, and looking old and careworn, but really there is no ex- 
 cuse for her with nothing in the world to trouble her." 
 
 Was it nothing, then, that for ten long years Sabiah's monot- 
 onous existence had been varied only by the petty and vexa- 
 tious cares and economies which dependence and a narrow 
 income entail ? Was it nothing, that during all that time she 
 had experienced constant trials of spirit in consequence of her 
 mother's arbitrary temper, which, since her husband's death, 
 was deprived of its only check? Was it nothing, that all' her 
 dutiful efforts and habitual sacrifices called forth no praise, 
 while for every omission or neglect she was reproved as if she 
 had still been a child ? Was it nothing that, while the osten- 
 tatious gifts of her wealthy brother and purse-proud sister 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 37 
 
 called forth grateful acknowledgements quite disproportioned to 
 their value, her life-long services were received with coldness 
 and indifference, and that while the wealth and position of these 
 more favored relatives were a constant theme for the old lady's 
 self-congratulation the prospects of Sabiah were seldom referred 
 to saving for the sake of contrast ? 
 
 If with simple faith and childish trust the solitary heart could 
 have found repose in Him who suffereth not these things in 
 vain, such outward trials might not have had power to mar her 
 inward peace; but as, while she yielded submission to her 
 earthly parents, she had been debarred from that great solace 
 and sweetener of existence which is found in human love, so, 
 while she made no outward rebellion to the lot apportioned to 
 her by a Heavenly Father, she failed to recognize in it the 
 hand of love divine. 
 
 Was it strange, then, that her heart grew cold ? Or who 
 can wonder that, with affections chilled, and sympathies blunted, 
 she became at last irritable, distrustful, and reserved ? She 
 had drank from a bitter cup, and the gall had penetrated into 
 her heart. 
 
 That heart was not wholly callous, however. Its sensi- 
 bilities were not wholly destroyed. There was one little oasis 
 in the desert, one little spring of life and hope amid the wilder- 
 ness. It was the only one, but its source lay deep, and its 
 power might be made sufficient to fertilize the whole ; for there 
 was one being in the world in whose welfare Sabiah still felt a 
 tender and affectionate interest. And that was Mabel. 
 
 Strangely enough, this affection for her brother's child was 
 closely associated with that deep parental respect and reverence 
 which formed so strong a trait in Sabiah's character, and which 
 years of injustice had not power to efface. For it was the fact 
 that the child was named for her grandmother Vaughan, which 
 first gave her a claim to Sabiah's love. It seemed to ally her 
 more closely to their side of the house, and distinguish her 
 from her mother's fashionable connections, for whom Sabiah 
 felt a mingled awe and dislike. Moreover, the circumstances 
 of her childhood and school life kept her entirely aloof from 
 
 4 
 
38 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 family ties and prejudices, thus giving to her maiden aunt a 
 tolerable chance to win some share of the little girl's affections. 
 
 Xor was this strong predisposition in Mabel's favor in any 
 degree lessened during those periodical visits to her grand- 
 mother, to which we have already alluded. She was then 
 thrown wholly upon the care of her aunt, and was in great 
 degree dependent upon her companionship, especially during 
 those later years in which Harry had ceased to accompany his 
 sister. And Sabiah welcomed the care, which was her only 
 labor of love throughout the year, and rejoiced in the compan- 
 ionship which cheered and enlivened her otherwise dull and 
 monotonous life, while with every succeeding summer her 
 heart became more and more closely linked to the child. 
 
 Nor did Mabel fail to appreciate this kindness, and recipro- 
 cate this love. It was true she often wearied of her visits, 
 and was impatient to return to her schoolmates, for Mrs. 
 Vaughan's house furnished but little diversion for youth. But 
 Sabiah, nevertheless, had the satisfaction of seeing that she 
 had found a place in the heart of her niece ; and this happy 
 conviction was confirmed by the fact, that as Mabel grew into 
 womanhood, she seemed to find not only contentment, but 
 pleasure in her society, and gave still further evidence of her 
 gratitude and affection by many a word, letter, and token of 
 remembrance. How those words sank into Sabiah's heart, 
 how those letters were read and re-read, and with what fond- 
 ness those gifts were treasured up, Mabel little knew. As 
 little did she guess that a deep love for herself was the one 
 green spot in a withered heart ; that it rested with her to let 
 that heart remain a wilderness, or bid it blossom like the rose. 
 
 How lightly the responsibility rests upon her now ; and yet 
 she is unconsciously fulfilling it in part, while she sits with 
 upturned and attentive face, lending a ready ear to a story of 
 misadventure and alarm, her beautiful and expressive features, 
 as seen in the flickering fire-light, proclaiming her warm-hearted 
 sympathy in the tale. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The world before her smiles its changeful gaze 
 She hath not proved as yet ; her path seems gay 
 With flowers and sunshine, and the voice of praise 
 Is still the joyous herald of her way. 
 
 MRS. HEMANS. 
 
 Two or three hours passed away. Miss Sabiah's recent 
 experience had been fully detailed, more remote reminiscences 
 had in turn been called up and dwelt upon, and now the elder 
 lady began to exhibit manifest signs of weariness. Mabel, 
 although somewhat fatigued, would not allow herself to think 
 of sleep until she had seen Harry ; but, compassionating her 
 aunt, whom she suspected of one or two naps already, she pro- 
 posed that they should ring the bell, inquire if the gas was lit 
 above stairs, and then seek their rooms. She mentally resolved 
 to return to the library and await Harry's arrival, as soon as 
 she had accompanied her aunt to her chamber and ascertained 
 that her wants were all supplied ; but she said nothing of this 
 intention, and after receiving Sabiah's assent to the first prop- 
 osition, she rose to summon a servant. At the same moment 
 the door-bell sounded, and Mabel, who was listening intently 
 for her brother's footsteps, heard a merry peal of laughter, and 
 several lively female voices. In an instant more, a party of 
 ladies, in gay cloaks and full evening toilet, were unceremoni- 
 ously ushered into the room, to the astonishment of Mabel and 
 the discomfiture of her aunt, whose fit of drowsiness was at 
 once dispelled by this unexpected, and, to her, unwelcome 
 arrival. 
 
 Mabel's first glance at their visitors betrayed only surprise 
 and bewilderment, but her face became radiant with pleasure 
 as she recognized Mrs. Leroy, who was foremost in the group, 
 
40 MABEL VAUGHAN 
 
 and who, smiling at the confusion their entrance had occa- 
 sioned, greeted her young sister with a manner which was at 
 once affectionate and marked by perfect grace. She then 
 turned towards her aunt, who maintained a stiff position in 
 front of the sofa, and touched the tips of her fingers with an 
 easy and careless air, at the same time bestowing on her dress 
 and figure a somewhat contemptuous scrutiny. 
 
 Meanwhile, her companions claimed Mabel's attention. The 
 one, a middle-aged lady, dressed in a brocade of butterfly hues, 
 and wearing white ostrich feathers in her hair, waited for no 
 introduction, declaring that forms might be dispensed with in 
 her case, as she loved her already for her dear mother's sake, 
 and for the sake of Louise, who was her most intimate friend. 
 She then presented her daughter, a sylph in tarleton. who 
 pressed Mabel's hand with a warmth which seemed an earnest 
 of the friendship that her mother hoped before long to see 
 existing between them. 
 
 Mabel was both pleased and flattered. She believed them 
 to have left the ball-room at an early hour, in order to bestow 
 on her this unceremonious and cordial welcome, and she met 
 their advances with a proportionate degree of animation and 
 interest. 
 
 At this moment, w^hile they were still standing near the 
 door-way, the bustle which attended their entrance not having 
 wholly subsided, the bell rang again, and this time Mabel dis- 
 tinctly heard Harry's step in the hall. As the familiar sound 
 of his voice at the same instant met her ear, politeness gave 
 way to sudden and joyful excitement, and breaking from her 
 guests without explanation or apology, she ran hastily out of 
 the room. 
 
 They stared at one another in mutual astonishment; but 
 their conjectures concerning her behavior were short lived, for 
 before Louise could follow, to learn the cause of her sister's 
 agitation, Mabel returned, leaning on the arm of her tall and 
 handsome brother, who, unconscious of the presence of visitors, 
 playfully drew her into the strongest light the room afforded, 
 and after scanning her features with evident satisfaction, and 
 
MABEL VAUGHAX. 41 
 
 many an exclamation of surprise and pleasure, sealed his app)*o- 
 bation with several hearty kisses. 
 
 Mrs. Vannecker, the elder of Mrs. Leroy's companions, now 
 betrayed her presence by a loud and boisterous laugh, accom- 
 panied by a slight giggle from her daughter, while Louise 
 exclaimed, in a tone which conveyed astonishment, if not re- 
 proof, " Well, Harry, you are very demonstrative ! " 
 
 Harry, nothing disturbed, however, by the presence of wit- 
 nesses, paid his respects to the ladies with perfect unconcern, 
 still holding his blushing sister by the hand. Mrs. Vannecker 
 commenced some bantering comments upon his brotherly enthu- 
 siasm, while Mabel addressed herself to the difficult task of 
 entertaining Miss Victoria. The latter, however, had neither 
 eyes nor ears for any one but Harry, and the conversation soon 
 became general. 
 
 If Mabel could have had her choice, she would have pre- 
 ferred a more private opportunity for this long-desired meeting 
 with her brother, but now she thought nothing could be more 
 agreeable than the pleasant little confusion of friendly voices 
 which his coming had only served to increase, nothing could 
 be more exciting than the discussion of plans which immediately 
 ensued, nothing more gratifying to her self-love than the fact 
 that all these plans had more or less reference to her enjoy- 
 ment and advantage. 
 
 And happy herself, she did not even notice (naughty girl) 
 that her aunt Sabiah had retreated to a distance from the com- 
 pany, and sat with her back nearly turned towards them, 
 moodily gazing into the fire, and apparently ill at ease ; she did 
 not even pause to consider whether Louise might not, like her- 
 self, have forgotten to introduce her to the strangers in the 
 party, and thus, as it were, excluded her from the conversation. 
 
 Harry, while he expressed many regrets that neither his 
 father nor himself had been at the boat-landing to meet 
 Mabel, seemed greatly satisfied with the result of his after- 
 noon's expedition, declaring that it had been the means of his 
 securing such a pair of horses as could not be matched in the 
 city. " Father gave me unlimited authority to make the pur- 
 
 4* 
 
42 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 chase," said he, " and 1 was determined that Mabel's first drive 
 should be with her own horses, and that there should not be a 
 finer pair to be seen in Broadway." 
 
 " Her first drive must be on a round of shopping," ex- 
 claimed Louise. " I, too, have father's authority for making 
 purchases of equal or even greater importance. If you will 
 postpone your excursion until the next day," continued she, 
 laughing, " I will see that Mabel has a bonnet suitable to the 
 occasion. But Harry are you not going to the ball ? " 
 
 Before he could reply, Mrs. Vannecker began to expostulate 
 warmly against his remaining at home, and Miss Vannecker 
 added in a persuasive tone " Oh, I am sure your sister will 
 excuse you it is to be such a splendid affair, and she has 
 been travelling all day, and must be too much fatigued to enjoy 
 even your society any later." 
 
 It was with some difficulty that Mabel could be brought to 
 realize that they were going to the ball at this hour of the 
 night, instead of returning as she had supposed, and as in her 
 ignorance of city times and seasons she had thus betrayed her 
 own more simple habits, this fact furnished a new argument 
 for Miss Vannecker, who now insisted that it would be but 
 common charity on Harry's part to bid Mabel good-night, and 
 follow them to the ball. 
 
 Mabel accompanied her sister and her new friends to the 
 hall door, to listen to Louise's plans for the morrow, and 
 receive their gay parting words, and while Harry waited upon 
 them to the carriage, she returned to the library, exclaiming, 
 " 0, aunt, isn't my sister beautiful ? " 
 
 " She looks very well," said Miss Sabiah tartly, " but I wish 
 she wasn't so conscious of it herself. It was ridiculous to see 
 her and that Miss what-do-you-call-her looking at themselves 
 in the glass every two minutes, while they were here;" and 
 Miss Sabiah rose from her chair with a jerk, which seemed to 
 say " well ! now they're gone, I suppose we can go to bed! " 
 
 " How good they were," said Mabel, in a half soliloquy, as 
 i-ht.- followed her aunt up stairs, to come here and see us for a 
 few minutes, when they wen- on their way to a ball." 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 43 
 
 "The very reason they came," responded Miss Sabiah, in the 
 same sharp tone in which she had previously spoken ; and a mo- 
 ment after, as if carrying out the same train of thought, she 
 continued, " I hate to see folks make such a display ! it don't 
 impose upon me though." 
 
 Mabel could not find it in her heart to impute the visit to 
 other than the most disinterested and amiable motives, and 
 remembering now, for the first time, that her aunt had kept 
 aloof, and seemed an alien to their gay circle, the suspicion 
 crossed her. mind that a sense of neglect prompted the severity 
 of her remarks. 
 
 Anxious to atone for this, she accompanied her to her room, 
 explained the working of the window-shades, and the manage- 
 ment of the gas (both of which were mysteries to Sabiah), 
 and proposed several plans to be carried out on the morrow, 
 for the promotion of her comfort and convenience. 
 
 Miss Sabiah seemed gratified with these little attentions. 
 The hard expression of her face softened somewhat, and the 
 tone of her voice, as she said good-night, was sufficient evi- 
 dence that whatever might be the cause of her dissatisfaction, 
 she attached no blame to the conduct of her favorite niece. 
 
 As Mabel descended the staircase which led from her aunt's 
 chamber, she observed a bright light streaming from a room, 
 adjoining the parlor, the door of which, although locked in the 
 earlier part of the evening, now stood ajar ; at the same mo- 
 ment, she heard Harry's voice calling to her from within. 
 
 To her surprise, she found him stretched in an indolent atti- 
 tude upon a sofa, attired in dressing gown and slippers, and 
 evidently with no intention of going to the ball. The interest 
 with which he had listened to Miss Vannecker's entreaties, and 
 the apparent assent which his manner implied, had deceived 
 her as to his real intentions. 
 
 " What ! go to a ball the first evening of your arrival," 
 exclaimed he, in reply to her looks and words of astonishment, 
 " and that, too, when I have not seen you these four years ! 
 You must think I care a great deal for balls, or very little for 
 my sister ; " and as he spoke, he drew her affectionately to a 
 
44 MAREL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 seat beside him. " You are not tired," continued he, " at least 
 you do not look so." 
 
 She did not indeed. Not only was her face radiant with 
 pleasure at this proof of her brother's unchanged affection, but 
 every object around her served to summon up such emotions 
 of delighted surprise, as quite put to flight every thought of 
 weariness. The little room, which she had now entered for the 
 first time, seemed to the young school-girl a perfect vision of 
 enchantment. The costly furnished parlors, the well-filled 
 library, the wide stair-cases, and lofty halls, had pleased her by 
 their magnificence, and impressed her with new convictions of 
 her father's wealth. But there was something in this little 
 apartment, which appealed to that higher sense, and that more 
 refined taste which were by no means wanting in Mabel, in 
 spite of her light and thoughtless gaiety. The draperied walls 
 and windows gave to the room that air of seclusion and repose 
 w T hich had been wanting to the rest of the house, while a 
 flower-stand of delicate wire-work was covered with choice 
 plants in full bloom, imparting to the atmosphere the freshness 
 and fragrance of a garden. The pictures were few, but their 
 subjects appealed to Mabel's heart, and she felt, rather than 
 recognized, the power of a master's hand. There was no glare 
 of mirrors, no rich display of gilding to dazzle the eye, but 
 there were vases of classic form, tables exquisitely inlaid, a 
 rich buhl writing desk, a miniature book-case of well chosen 
 books, and a few statuettes, while the silvery light which 
 streamed from an alabaster lamp of curious workmanship, 
 gave to the whole a softened and subdued effect. 
 
 Harry watched his sister with evident satisfaction, while she 
 made an eager survey of each beautiful object, her eye kind- 
 ling with pleasure, and many an expression of enthusiastic 
 delight escaping from her lips. " 0, Harry," exclaimed she, 
 at last, " how beautiful y^our room is ! " 
 
 "Mine!" replied Harry. " You surely do not think all this 
 lady-like trumpery belongs to me. A seat in the corner of the 
 sofa I mean sometimes to claim, but everything else here is at 
 your own disposal." 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 45 
 
 This was too much for Mabel's composure. She had left 
 her brother's side to examine more minutely the attractive 
 decorations of the room, but as he proclaimed her the mistress 
 of them all, she hastily stole behind him, where he could not 
 see the fast gathering tears called up by gratified feeling, and 
 bending her head over his shoulder, she strove, by earnest 
 words and caresses, to manifest her appreciation of his kind- 
 ness, for she rightly conjectured that this little treasure-cabinet 
 contained the gleanings of Harry's foreign tour. 
 
 " You are too lavish of your thanks, my dear," said Harry 
 in a lively tone, after Mabel had again and again enlarged 
 upon his generosity, taste, and forethought. " It cost me no 
 self-denial to spend my father's money, of which I always had 
 such a liberal supply, and I assure you, I had very little to do 
 with the selection of these fancy articles, except it be a few of 
 the books. All you have to thank me for, is the fact that the 
 Terpsichore did not arrive here minus the tips of her fingers, 
 and that Apollo was saved a broken nose. It cost rne a world 
 of pains to get those things properly packed, and passed 
 through the custom-houses in safety. I would not have done 
 it for anybody but you, May, but since you are pleased, I feel 
 very well paid for the trouble." " Can you speak German ? " 
 continued he, rising and walking towards the book-case. 
 
 " No," answered Mabel, " but I read it a little." 
 
 " You must study it with me," said Harry ; " you will soon 
 like it as well as I do ; we will read these together," added 
 he, placing his hand upon the works of some of the best Ger- 
 man authors, "and I will teach you to enjoy Schiller and 
 Klopstock." 
 
 " So you will take me for a pupil ! " exclaimed Mabel. "Oh, 
 that will be delightful ; and this shall be our school-room." 
 
 Harry had taken a richly bound volume from the shelf, and 
 was now glancing at it with the eager and almost fond interest 
 of one who cherishes a keen appreciation of an author; for 
 Harry's intellectual tastes had of late developed rapidly. As 
 he closed the book and replaced it, he said, 
 
 " The only difficulty in the way of your studious plans, is 
 
46 MABEL VAUGIIAX. 
 
 that Louise and the Vannecker set will have the advantage of 
 me, and engross all your time. Louise is a complete woman 
 of fashion, just what you will be in a week," added he, play- 
 fully. 
 
 Mabel eagerly and almost indignantly repelled the sugges- 
 tion. A woman of fashion she should never be, not if he 
 meant by that a mere worldling. She should enjoy society, of 
 course, as she supposed Louise did ; but that need not interfere 
 with her reading, studying, and faithfully keeping up an exten- 
 sive correspondence with her school friends. 
 
 Harry smiled good-naturedly, but with an incredulous look, 
 and an admiring glance at her beautiful face and figure, a 
 glance that seemed to say " the world will claim you, whether 
 you will or not." 
 
 But there was no replying to a smile, however expressive it 
 might be, and Mabel, not appearing to observe its meaning, 
 turned to the Terpsichore, which stood in a little alcove, and, 
 after expatiating upon the shame it would have been if such 
 an exquisite thing had been injured in its removal, she inquired 
 to whom she was indebted for its selection. 
 
 " You tell me that you did not consult your own taste ; do 
 you mean that these gems were recommended to you by the 
 artists themselves ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ; but I had the benefit of counsel more reliable 
 than my own, or the artists' either. Dudley was with me in 
 Florence,- and in most of the studios I visited abroad. His 
 taste is perfect ; more than that, May, he seemed to flatter him- 
 self that he thoroughly understood yours. It was really ridic- 
 ulous, the way in which he insisted upon my bringing that 
 musical genius home ; he declared we had seen nothing in all 
 our travels so suited to your refined and youthful taste ; and 
 the Iris, too, nothing would do but I should secure that gos- 
 samer belle, at any rate. He confidently assured me that they 
 would be of priceless value, in your eyes. I long to have you 
 see Dudley, Mabel ; he is a splendid fellow." 
 
 Mabel turned away to examine the picture, and, at the same 
 
MAI5EL VAUGHAN. 47 
 
 time, to liidc a blush at what she felt to be no ordinary compli- 
 ment from a man like Lincoln Dudley. 
 
 Although some years her brother's senior, Dudley had been 
 his companion, not only during a few months spent in Paris, 
 when Harry first went abroad, but also, more recently, on a 
 most interesting pedestrian excursion through Switzerland, 
 Germany, and some parts of Italy. Thus, for years, his 
 praises had been familiar to her, through Harry's letters; and, 
 from this source, too, she had become inspired with the great- 
 est respect for his uncommon talents, and a most romantic in- 
 terest in his somewhat eccentric character. She was well 
 aware that her weekly correspondence with her brother had 
 brought her to Dudley's knowledge, and, in some degree, to his 
 acquaintance ; still she felt not a little flattered at his having 
 thus studied her character, and divined her tastes, among which, 
 enthusiasm for art was inherent, though, as yet, but little culti- 
 vated. 
 
 " When does Mr. Dudley return ? " asked she, with apparent 
 carelessness. 
 
 " In a few weeks. We should have come together, but he 
 was unexpectedly detained in Paris. You will be unlike most 
 ladies, if you do not admire Dudley ; he is, generally speaking, 
 very popular. I wonder what he will think of those horses I 
 bought to-day ? " 
 
 "Is he a judge of horse-flesh?" asked Mabel, in some sur- 
 prise. 
 
 . " No more than he is of everything. I doubt whether he 
 understands a single point about a horse ; still he could tell at 
 a glance whether a gentleman's equipage was complete, and I 
 would trust to his judgment in a purchase of any sort." 
 
 Here Harry's panegyric of his friend was interrupted by 
 his father's return home. He glanced at his watch, discovered 
 the lateness of the hour, and, blaming himself for keeping Ma- 
 bel up so late, went away in spite of her assurance that she was 
 not in the least fatigued. A few moments after, Mr. Vaughan, 
 hearing her voice, and seeing a light in the room, looked in to 
 
48 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 reprimand her for not being asleep, and bade her a kindly 
 good-night ; after which, she was left to her own thoughts. 
 
 Exciting thoughts they were ; and such as, it may well be 
 imagined, robbed Mabel of sleep during many an hour of that 
 first night spent under her father's roof. 
 
 What indulgence, what love, what pride were evinced in the 
 demeanor of each member of her family towards her ! What 
 plans had they already formed for her happiness ! With what 
 bounty had every want been foreseen, and provided for ! Now 
 the thought of her father's affectionate liberality was uppermost 
 in her mind ; then came the recollection of her manly brother, 
 his warm-hearted welcome, and the promise of future happy 
 days in his society ; and this, in its turn, was dispelled by the 
 vision of her graceful sister, who seemed a fitting type of that 
 select and elegant circle into which Mabel was soon to be in- 
 troduced, and in which she already foresaw the future triumphs 
 that awaited her. 
 
 But there were some things which she did not think of, the 
 very things which Mrs. Herbert had feared she would forget, 
 and had labored to impress upon her memory. She did not 
 think of her kind teacher's last injunction, last warning, and 
 last lesson. She quite forgot the duty which every blessing 
 entails, the obligation which is bound up in every privilege, 
 and while her cup was running over, she forgot to ask whose 
 hand had filled it. Not that her heart was cold, or that gen- 
 erous emotions were lost in selfish satisfaction. The tenderest 
 love shone in her affectionate smile, gratitude sparkled in the 
 quick-starting tear, and the unquestioning trust with which her 
 young heart reposed in each new assurance of affection, proved 
 the depth of her faithful, confiding nature. 
 
 But, alas ! her love is not for Him who has meted out her 
 lot so graciously ; her moist eye is not uplifted in thankfulness to 
 the Source whence all these blessings flow ; her ardent trust is 
 not in Him, without whom all confidence is vain. Not yet has 
 Mabel learned the sacredness of her mission ; not yet has she 
 realized its duties, or its pangs. For the present it is her 
 business to be happy, and her joy to be beloved. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 49 
 
 Well for her, if, when pleasure's altars are shattered, 
 when self-love awakens from its dream, and life be -no longer a 
 pastime, her spirit can bow in meek submission, and the 
 inner temple of the heart be consecrated to the service of Him 
 whose love can impart to a life of toil and trial a foretaste 
 of the joys of Heaven l 
 
CHAPTER \>, 
 
 So forth she sallied, blithe and gay, 
 And met dame Fashion by the way ; 
 And many a kind and friendly greeting 
 
 Passed on their meeting : 
 Nor let the fact your vronder more> 
 Fashion and she are hand and glove. 
 
 MRS. BJLRBAULD. 
 
 MRS. LEROY'S home was on the second floor of a fashion- 
 able hotel. The cares of housekeeping were so irksome to 
 Louise, and so ill-fulfilled, that her husband at length acceded 
 to her often-repeated entreaty that she might be promoted to 
 the independence and luxury of hotel-life ; and she had now 
 been for two successive winters the occupant of an elegant 
 suite of rooms, in close proximity to the apartments of her 
 friend, Mrs. Yannecker, whose example had stimulated the 
 fickle Louise, and encouraged her inherent love of change. 
 
 Mr. Leroy, who at first opposed this arrangement, had now 
 become its warmest advocate ; for, while his natural indolence 
 had prevented his exercising any efficient check upon his 
 wife's domestic mismanagement, he had been the chief sufferer 
 from the anarchy and confusion which pervaded his establish- 
 ment ; and he found under the present system, if not an in- 
 crease of actual happiness, a release from many petty annoy- 
 ances, and a marked lessening of his yearly expenditure. 
 And whatever accustomed comforts his new home failed to 
 supply, were amply compensated for at his club, of which he 
 was a constant frequenter. 
 
 Louise found here, as she had elsewhere, continual sources 
 of discontent, and was often restless and dissatisfied ; espe- 
 cially did she murmur at the peculiar misfortune and hard- 
 
 50 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 51 
 
 ship which restricted her in her present mode of life from 
 many social privileges to which she had been accustomed in 
 her own house, and it was, therefore, with proportionate joy 
 that she received the first intimation of her father's intentions 
 and plans. 
 
 The reception of guests under his roof would be less onerous 
 and far more agreeable than furnishing entertainments of her 
 own. Mabel, being but a school-girl, must be properly intro- 
 duced into society, and who could be so capable as herself of 
 superintending the festivities attendant upon her entrance into 
 city life? What, indeed, was to prevent the rooms of her 
 wealthy parent from becoming the scene of all those fashiona- 
 ble and social gatherings, over which Louise felt herself well 
 fitted to preside ? 
 
 Certainly not any opposition on her father's part, for Mr. 
 Vaughan, while he dreaded to see Mabel become a mere fine 
 lady, or Harry an idle fop, was, nevertheless, too easy-tempered 
 and yielding to oppose any schemes which would tend to his 
 children's gratification and happiness, and, in matters of ex- 
 pense, it was neither his nature nor habit to place restrictions 
 upon the extravagance of his family, certainly not any want 
 of energy on the part of Mrs. Leroy, whose capacities were 
 never so thoroughly called out as on an occasion like the pres- 
 ent, when she was actuated by the three-fold motive of estab- 
 lishing her young relative in the gay world, promoting her 
 own enjoyment, and strengthening her influence in her father's 
 house. 
 
 Nor was she destined to disappointment. It was the univer- 
 sal voice among the leaders of fashion, that nothing could be in 
 better taste than Mr. Vaughan's house and equipage, nothing 
 more successful than the grand reception, held in honor of 
 Mabel and gracefully conducted by Louise, nothing more cer- 
 tain than the fact, that the former would rank as the unrivalled 
 belle of the season, and the latter continue one of its choicest 
 ornaments. 
 
 Thus, borne on the tide of happy fortunes, and launched into 
 gay life under the most flattering auspices, our young school- 
 
52 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 girl achieved, almost without conscious effort, the position to 
 which nature and circumstances seemed to destine her. 
 
 " Let me see ! " exclaimed Harry one morning, looking up 
 from a daily journal and glancing mischievously at Mabel, " it 
 is a week to-day since your arrival in this great city, yes, 
 just a week," added he, " and my prediction fulfilled already!" 
 
 "What prediction?" asked Miss Sabiah, lifting her eyes 
 from an intricate piece of knitting work and fixing them some- 
 what anxiously upon Harry, who, lounging over a late break- 
 fast, was, at the same time, carelessly scanning the morning 
 paper. 
 
 "A piece of shrewd foresight on my part, aunt, which in- 
 formed me, that seven days and seven nights only would be 
 required for the transformation of a chrysalis into a butterfly." 
 
 Aunt Sabiah, to whom Harry's vague and ironical replies 
 were often unintelligible, moved no further inquiry, but looked 
 down at her work, with the vexed and injured expression of 
 one who has failed to obtain a satisfactory answer. 
 
 Mabel, who better understood the allusion, continued to oc- 
 cupy herself with feeding Harry's great dog, holding high 
 above the head of her huge playfellow the dainty bits she had 
 taken from the table, and obstinately refusing to meet the eye 
 of her brother, which she knew to be fixed upon her. 
 
 a Two wedding receptions, and an evening concert, on Tues- 
 day," reckoned Harry, counting with his fingers ; " fashionable 
 promenade, opera, and ball, on Wednesday." 
 
 a Let me disentangle that worsted for you, aunt," exclaimed 
 Mabel, atill feigning inattention, and taking a low seat near 
 Miss Vaughan. 
 
 " Three magnificent parties on Thursday," continued Harry, 
 "and the grand ball of the season on Friday! Well done, 
 Mabel ! well done ! I said one week would make a fine lady 
 of you ; what a pity I did n't take a bet on it." 
 
 " I deny the charge," said Mabel, warmly, " it is n't true, is 
 it, Tartar ? " and she patted the head of the dog ; " fine ladies 
 do n't play with great dogs, nor understand the mysteries of 
 knitting work eithe%" and, as she spoke, she drew the needles 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 53 
 
 from the entangled worsted, unravelled a piece of the work, and 
 began patiently to take up the stitches. 
 
 " Ah ! but I have the proof," said Harry triumphantly, rising 
 from the table; "here we have it in black and white, and what 
 the newspaper says must be true," and he laid before her the 
 paragraph in question. 
 
 It was a description of last night's brilliant ball, and among 
 the noted beauties of the evening, Mabel's name stood first. 
 As she read the flattering description of her own personal and 
 mental charms, an indignant flush overspread her face. "An 
 impertinent paragraph like that proves nothing I" exclaimed 
 she, with spirit. 
 
 " It merely affixes a seal to the fact,* rejoined Harry, " that 
 our school-girl of a week ago has ripened into the woman of 
 fashion," and he pointed to the heading of the article, " Our 
 Fashionable World." 
 
 "Then you meant Mabel," said Miss Sabiah sharply, "when 
 you talked about the chrysalis and the butterfly. A mighty 
 civil speech, I must say. You may think it a compliment to 
 call her a butterfly now, but I 've never seen the time yet when 
 she deserved the name of a chrysalis, an ugly chrysalis. For 
 my part I liked her quite as well last week as this. I expect 
 you will spoil her among you," muttered she in an under tone. 
 
 " Why, Aunt Sabiah," said Harry, with animation, and in a 
 voice whose irony was lost upon Miss Sabiah, " you do n't mean 
 so ! Do you really pretend to say that you were as fond and 
 as proud of Mabel, when she was fresh from Mrs. Herbert's, 
 as now that she has the dress, the polish, and the homage of a 
 city? She was a very good girl, and one of the family, and of 
 course, we felt a regard for her. But just think what she is 
 now. The belle of the metropolis, the queen of fashion, with 
 dozens of brainless coxcombs at her beck and call, and hun- 
 dreds of intimate friends, who live upon her smiles! Think 
 what a transformation, what a victory ! " 
 
 " Do n't be so absurd, Harry," interrupted Mabel, amused 
 herself but dreading lest her aunt should take her brother in 
 earnest, or worse still, be offended at his playful sarcasms ; " we 
 5* ' 
 
54 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 butterflies, for you are one no less than myself, will fold our 
 wings for awhile this promises to be my first rainy day in 
 New York, and \ve will have a charming sociable time at home, 
 to make amends for a week's gaiety." 
 
 " A rainy day ! " cried Harry, walking to the window, and 
 looking anxiously at the clouds; "no, I hope not, our Jersey 
 excursion is to come off this afternoon, and fine weather is in- 
 dispensable ; but, Mabel, how does it happen that you are dis- 
 engaged ? where is the arch enemy ? " 
 
 " How should I know what you mean, Harry? What strange 
 titles you do bestow on people ! " 
 
 " No more than is deserved in this instance. Who is the 
 chief en^my of our domestic peace, the ringleader in all these 
 fashionable plots, despoiling us of your society, and inflicting 
 upon us her own at will ? If you can't guess who I mean, my 
 aunt can. She is no more friendly to the Vannecker influence 
 than I am." 
 
 " O, Harry," said Mabel, laughing, " how ungrateful, when 
 Mrs. Vannecker and Victoria both admire you so much." 
 Harry shrugged his shoulders. "You are safe for to-day," 
 continued Mabel ; Mrs. Vannecker and Louise are going to 
 make visits, at some distance out of town ; happily I am off 
 duty. What a pity you are engaged on that excursion party ; 
 we might have commenced studying our German ! " 
 
 " Hear her !" exclaimed Harry, with mock gravity, " the de- 
 voted and ardent student, only debarred from indulging her 
 intellectual tastes by the unavoidable absence of her tutor ! " 
 
 "Indeed, Harry!" replied Mabel, "I assure you I have 
 looked at those books again and again, with longing eyes ; but 
 I can't find a moment's time for anything but what Mrs. Van- 
 necker calls the claims of society." 
 
 " Oh, hang Mrs. Vannecker ! " retorted Harry, warmly. 
 
 "And her accomplices too?" questioned Mabel, archly. 
 
 " No, spare the innocent," said Harry, yawning ; " give our 
 soft-headed Louise the privileges of youth, and a chance under 
 another leader ; by the way, what a languishing little piece of 
 nonsense "then, meeting Mabel's astonished and reproachful 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 55 
 
 glance, he hesitated, laughed, and interrupted himself with, " Oh, 
 she's our sister, is n't she ? mum's the word." 
 
 The quick and emphatic nodding of Miss Sabiah's head 
 manifested her approval of Harry's half uttered sentiments, and 
 it was with something like animation that she said, in a partial 
 soliloquy, " So, at last, we are going to have a quiet day ! " 
 
 " Yes," responded Mabel. " It will be a fine chance for me 
 to read those old letters of Grandma Yaughan's, and to pin up 
 the bows for your new cap. We '11 have luncheon up stairs, 
 aunt, and not come down until dinner time." 
 
 Miss Sabiah's face lighted up with unmistakable satisfaction 
 at this proposition, but became proportionably overshadowed 
 with disappointment when, a moment after, the impulsive Ma- 
 bel exclaimed to her brother, " Harry, I have a great mind " 
 
 " Well," replied he, stepping into the hall and returning with 
 his overcoat on his arm, "we know you have a great mind, 
 what does it suggest ?" 
 
 " That I should walk down town with you as far as 
 
 Hotel." 
 
 Harry lifted his eyebrows expressively, saying, "but I 
 thought my lady Finery had driven six miles out of town." 
 
 " I know it," said Mabel, " but I want so much to see the 
 children, and they would be at home this morning." 
 
 "Very well," said Harry, " I am going directly by there, and 
 shall be charmed with your company ; but it may rain ; why 
 not take the carriage ?" 
 
 " Louise has our carriage." 
 
 "Our carriage!" exclaimed he, in a half provoked tone; 
 " there's a plot for you ! what has become of her own ?" 
 
 "One of Mr. Leroy's horses is lame, and he has sent them 
 both into the country for the winter." 
 
 Harry whistled expressively, and Mabel, with unfeigned 
 alacrity, declared a preference for walking; she was not at all 
 afraid of the rain was accustomed to brave all sorts of weather, 
 and did not choose to become a hot-house plant. 
 
 " I hope you '11 be paid for your trouble," said Miss Sabiah, 
 
56 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 in a tone of characteristic tartness, " It '11 be one while before I 
 put myself in the way of those children again." 
 
 " How so, aunt ? " questioned Harry, in a tone of lively in- 
 terest. Harry took a mischievous pleasure in encouraging 
 Sabiah's occasional outbursts of antipathy and pique. 
 
 Mabel, who was just leaving the room to prepare- for her 
 walk, did not hear her aunt's reply, but on returning, equipped 
 for the excursion, she found Harry convulsed with half sup- 
 pressed laughter, and was greeted with the exclamation on his 
 part, 
 
 "Ah, Mabel, you are prepared for an encounter with wild 
 beasts, I hope ; according to good authority }^ou are going to 
 face a monkey and a bear this morning ; both are dangerous, 
 but one is open and frequent in his mischievous attacks, while 
 the other sucks his claws and meditates deeper injury ; that is 
 a fair state of the case, as proved by melancholy experience ;" 
 and again Harry laughed immoderately. 
 
 Miss Sabiah's face wore the half-vexed, half-puzzled expres- 
 sion which was invariably called up by Harry's raillery, and 
 Mabel, who was always a little apprehensive when he thus 
 ventured to sharpen his wit on the flat surface of her aunt's 
 obtuseness, hurried him away, playfully remarking, that thus 
 warned she should certainly be on her guard. 
 
 Miss Sabiah gathered up her work, and, with the customary 
 cloud on her countenance, was proceeding up stairs to the 
 retirement of her own room, when Mabel paused at the hall 
 door to assure her that she should soon return, and while in 
 Broadway would avail herself of the opportunity to purchase a 
 tew yards of ribbon which would be required for the cap she 
 proposed to trim. 
 
 Miss Sabiah looked gratified at Mabel's thoughtfulness, and 
 the latter good-naturedly waited, while her aunt counted out 
 from an old-fashioned purse the precise sum required for the 
 purchase, and gave the most minute instructions concerning 
 the quantity and quality of the article, Harry, meantime, 
 impatiently shaking the door-lock with his hand. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 57 
 
 " So you have not seen these wonderful boys yet ? " said 
 Harry to Mabel, as they walked down the street. 
 
 Mabel recounted several disappointments she had experi- 
 enced, with regard to seeing her little nephews, and declared 
 herself quite excited with curiosity and interest concerning 
 them. 
 
 " They must have made a riotous invasion into Aunt Sabiah's 
 room yesterday," said Harry, again giving way to merriment, 
 as he recalled Miss Vaughan's description of the scene. " She 's 
 down on them this morning. She 's too hard upon that little 
 Murray, though; he's a splendid fellow the other, to be 
 sure, has rather a hang-dog look." 
 
 Some passing object here diverted Harry's attention, and, 
 amid various subjects of conversation and interest, the youthful 
 couple ceased to speak or even think of their young relatives. 
 
 Indeed, Mabel's girlish spirits were so elated by the keen 
 morning air, and the lively sallies of Harry, that in the pleasure 
 of the walk she half forgot its object, and was fairly taken by 
 surprise when she found herself at the entrance of the hotel, 
 and her companion pausing to bid her good-morning. Exer- 
 cise had imparted a more than wonted glow to her cheeks, and 
 her face wore its most beaming expression, as, standing for a 
 moment with her hand in Harry's, she gayly urged him to 
 return home in season to make one of their family circle in the 
 evening. He readily promised to do so, and as she disappeared 
 within the doorway, the affectionate glance which followed her 
 for an instant, bespoke a marked degree of brotherly tenderness 
 and pride. 
 
 "Have you turned astronomer, Vaughan ?" asked a well- 
 known voice, close at his side, u you appear to be watching the 
 disappearance of a star of the first magnitude." 
 
 " Dudley, my dear fellow ! " was Harry's quick and eager 
 exclamation, and in the cordial greeting which followed, the lat- 
 ter paid no heed to his friend's first inquiry. Having satisfied 
 Harry's astonishment with regard to his sudden arrival, Dud- 
 ley again glanced in the direction in which Mabel had disap- 
 
58 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 peared, and asked, with evident interest, " "Who is yonder bril- 
 liant constellation ? " 
 
 " A new arrival, almost a stranger in the city," answered 
 Harry, with feigned indifference ; " you will soon see her, I 
 have no doubt, moving in her orbit." 
 
 " Not I," responded Dudley, carelessly ; " I start for Wash- 
 ington this afternoon, and there is no knowing when I shall 
 return." 
 
 Harry felt disappointed, for he was really impatient to intro- 
 duce his friend to Mabel. 
 
 " I have half an hour to spare," said Dudley, looking at his 
 watch, " and a hundred things to say to you, Vaughan," and 
 putting his arm within Harry's, he accompanied him down 
 Broadway. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Oh, when she 's angry, she is keen and shrewd ! 
 She was a vixen when she went to school, 
 And though she be but little, she is fierce. 
 
 SHAKSPEARB. 
 
 As Mabel, after parting with Harry, ascended the wide 
 staircase leading in the direction of her sister's rooms, she 
 heard a loud noise, as if some one were striking the floor above 
 with a heavy stick. In a moment more a little figure appeared 
 in sight, riding upon a stout cane. He was galloping, in imita- 
 tion of the motions of a horse, and at every step the cane rattled 
 upon the floor behind him. At the same time he was shouting 
 to the imaginary steed in a voice which at least bespoke healthy 
 lungs. He was a beautiful child, with long curls of fair hair 
 hanging upon his shoulders, and his dress, though disordered 
 and somewhat slovenly, was gay and fanciful in the extreme. 
 That he was wholly unmanageable was evident from the fact 
 that he paid no attention to the voice of a young, tired-looking 
 girl, who was following and vainly calling upon him to stop. 
 Just as Mabel reached the top of the staircase, the girl over- 
 took the child, and attempted, with a restraining arm, to check, 
 him in his course. At this moment, and when the long pas- 
 sage-way was ringing with the sudden and violent cries of the 
 now angry and excited boy, a door opened from a neighboring 
 room and a gentleman exclaimed, in a severe tone, " Really, 
 if you cannot keep that child still, I must complain to the land- 
 lord, my wife is very ill, and that boy has been troubling us 
 all the morning." The poor girl looked in despair, especially 
 as the little horseman had, in the meantime, escaped from her 
 grasp, and was continuing his sport, regardless of the impatient 
 
60 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 voice and threatening manner in which the gentleman now 
 called to him, in the words " Stop, sir ! " 
 
 In the meantime, Mabel, half-smiling at the scene, kept on 
 her way towards her sister's apartments, which were in an 
 opposite direction, and passing the spacious parlor and bed- 
 room, paused at the door of a chamber beyond, which she knew 
 to be used as a nursery. She knocked slightly, but perceiving 
 at the same moment that the door was ajar, opened it and went 
 in. Directly opposite to her, seated at a high table, and with 
 his feet dangling from his chair, was one of the young gentle- 
 men whom she had come to seek. He could not have been 
 more than eight years of age, but as he sat with his forehead 
 resting on both hands, and his eyes fixed upon a book, there 
 was in his stooping attitude, and the grave, fixed expression of 
 his face, something which it was painful and unnatural to wit- 
 ness in so young a child. There was but little life or anima- 
 tion in his features ; his complexion was dark and sallow, and 
 his thin fingers were thrust through his long hair in such a 
 manner that it fell over them in distinct and heavy locks, 
 shadowing and nearly concealing his otherwise high and open 
 brow. He did not move or change his position as Mabel 
 entered, but glancing at her from beneath his hand with a 
 wholly indifferent air, said, abruptly, " Mother 's gone out ; " 
 and then kept on with his reading. 
 
 Before Mabel had time to reply, she was roughly thrust 
 aside by the same little urchin whom she had seen in the entry, 
 and who now rushed by her into the room, still riding on the 
 stick, with which he made the circuit of the apartment two or 
 three times, drawing in his chin, and opening and shutting his 
 mouth, as if in the act of champing a bit. At length, as he 
 drew near the table of the young student, who had not hitherto 
 bestowed on him the least notice, he commenced a series of 
 caracoles, and then, bobbing his head, as if irritated by the 
 pressure of a tight rein, contrived to hit the book, which had 
 been propped in an upright position on the table, and succeeded 
 in throwing it on the floor. His brother, for both were in 
 truth Mrs. Leroy's children, received this bit of pleasantry 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 61 
 
 with a glow of sullen anger, and stretching forth his foot from 
 beneath the table, bestowed a sudden kick on the unruly author 
 of the mischief. Mabel, still standing near the door, was an 
 attentive witness of the whole proceeding. Alick, the bestower 
 of the reprimand, perfectly aware that he was observed, cast 
 upon her a half-mortified, half-defiant look, which seemed to 
 say, " you saw ! I don't care if you did ; " and then stooping 
 down, he picked up his book and replaced it in precisely the 
 same position which it had occupied before. 
 
 He appeared, meanwhile, quite indifferent to the cries of the 
 younger child, who, although in reality but little hurt by his 
 brother's blow, had thrown himself upon the floor, and was 
 screaming and sobbing with all his might. 
 
 Shocked at Alick's rudeness, and repelled by the sullen ex- 
 pression of his face, Mabel's sympathies were now wholly with 
 the younger boy, who, in spite of his wilful and riotous behavior, 
 seemed the more amiable of the two. She took him, therefore, 
 upon her knee, soothed his cries, and, with the view of reliev- 
 ing the astonishment of the children's attendant, who looked at 
 her with surprise, made haste to announce her relationship. 
 As she said, " I am your Aunt Mabel," Alick looked up quickly 
 from his book, gave her an earnest and searching glance, and 
 then looked down as before. Murray, however, the other, 
 appeared careless and unconcerned on this point, but submitted 
 to her caresses, allowed himself to be comforted, and upon 
 being permitted to search her pockets for the confectionary 
 which she informed him was to be found there, quite, forgot his 
 past injuries, and became sunshiny and good humored. 
 
 Mabel could not win from him, however, any recognition of 
 her claims upon his love. He received her attentions and 
 favors as a part of the homage due to a petted child, but shook 
 his head when she asked him if he did not remember the many 
 kisses Aunt Mabel had sent him in her letters to mamma, and 
 the pretty toys which came in a box at Christmas. Convinced 
 by his manner, that her name awakened no emotion of inter- 
 est in the boy, and failing to perceive the expression of eager 
 scrutiny with which Alick had for an instant regarded her, she 
 6 
 
62 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 felt a momentary pang of disappointment, in the thought that 
 the children she had been so impatient to see, looked upon her 
 as a stranger. But her loving nature would not permit her to 
 be easily repulsed, and she resolved that since it rested wholly 
 with herself to awaken the affection of her little nephews, no 
 pains should be wanting on her part. So she exerted herself 
 most sedulously for the entertainment of the younger boy, at 
 the same time endeavoring to excite the attention of his silent 
 brother. During the half hour that Murray sat upon her 
 knee, the increasing interest with which he gazed into the face 
 of his beautiful young relative, and the eagerness with which 
 he listened to her playful and lively words, were sufficient evi- 
 dence of the success which seldom failed to attend her efforts 
 to engage the ear and win the heart of childhood. She more 
 than once turned from him to address a remark to Alick, but 
 he either gave her no reply or answered in such a sulky tone, 
 that she was at length deterred from any attempt to become 
 better acquainted with him. 
 
 In the meantime, there was still another in the room who, 
 although unnoticed herself, watched Mabel with no small 
 degree of admiration and curiosity. This was the young girl 
 who had the charge of the children, and whose weary-looking 
 face had excited Mabel's compassion as she came up the stairs. 
 Her's was indeed a hard task, a task which under the most 
 favorable circumstances, might have worn upon the strength 
 and spirits of so young a girl, and which was rendered doubly 
 difficult, by reason of her having in Mrs. Leroy's employ sev- 
 eral different parties to please, any one of which it was impos- 
 sible to satisfy. Moreover, she had been delicately brought 
 up, and her present employment was new and irksome to her. 
 
 To have the restless -Murray quiet and amused for one half 
 hour, to be spared the necessity of furnishing diversion for 
 him, and to be permitted to sit by and listen to the pleasant 
 words and lively sallies which were no less entertaining to 
 herself than to her little charge, was a pleasure the more 
 keenly appreciated because so rarely enjoyed; and Mabel 
 little knew with what a smile of satisfaction she was watched 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 63 
 
 by another pair of eyes, beside those which beamed brightly 
 upon her from the face of the child. At length a sudden gust 
 of wind, and heavy rain drops pattering against the window, 
 gave Mabel the first intimation that the storm which was 
 threatening when she left home, had now commenced with 
 great severity. Imprisoned as she thus was, in the hotel, and 
 fearful lest her aunt would be anxious at her continued 
 absence, she was revolving in her mind the possibility of send- 
 ing a messenger to her father's house, when she recognized in 
 the neighboring passage-way the voice of Mrs. Leroy, and 
 the loud laugh of Mrs. Vannecker. At once conjecturing that 
 the storm had hastened their return, she hurried to meet her 
 sister, in hopes that she might be in season to detain the car- 
 riage. But she was too late ; the coachman had already driven 
 off. Louise gaily reproached her, however, for desiring to run 
 away the moment she had reached home. " To whom, pray, 
 was your visit intended ? " asked she. 
 
 " To the children," replied Mabel. " I have seen them at 
 last." 
 
 " And how do you like them ? Is n't my precious Murray a 
 darling little pet ? and as for Alick I hope he was in his 
 usual good humor?" 
 
 Her tone was sincere when she spoke of Murray, but she 
 turned to Mrs. Vannecker with a short laugh, as she uttered 
 the latter clause, and both the laugh and the tone of her voice 
 betrayed that the remark was made in irony. 
 
 Mabel understood the insinuation and, while she wondered 
 that her sister could speak lightly on so grave a matter as the 
 bad temper of her own child, she said to herself, " I have 
 seen him then in his usual mood ; what a very disagreeable 
 boy he must be ! " 
 
 They now bade Mrs. Vaunecker good-morning, and Louise 
 led the way to her own apartments, Mabel following her, at 
 the same time requesting that some one might be sent to sum- 
 mon the carriage, as, on her aunt's account, she felt the impor- 
 tance of returning home at once. 
 
 But she found it impossible to resist the pressing and grace- 
 
64 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 ful manner in which Louise insisted that she should stay, at 
 least until after lunch, assuring her that it was the height of 
 folly to make herself such a slave to the whims and fears of 
 the old lady, who, she plainly saw, was disposed to play the 
 tyrant ; and Mabel, too easily yielding to her sister's persua- 
 sions, consented to remain. As they entered the drawing-room, 
 Murray came bounding to meet his mother, who took him in 
 her arms, lavished upon him many an endearing and flattering 
 epithet, and throwing herself upon the sofa, in an affected 
 and languishing attitude, permitted the indulged child to tram- 
 ple at will upon her rich dress, and play with the artificial 
 - *es that adorned her bonnet. 
 
 As Mabel looked at them, she thought she had never seen a 
 more interesting picture of maternal loveliness, and child-like 
 beauty ; but the scene thus presented was as short-lived as 
 the effect was striking ; for Louise's vanity, both on her own 
 account, and that of her child, being quite satisfied by this lit- 
 tle display of tenderness, she could not long restrain the impa- 
 tience and irritability which rendered such companionship 
 irksome, and after a few moments, the rash and wilful hand 
 of the boy having assailed the delicate lace of her collar, she 
 thrust it hastily aside, and abruptly lifted him from the sofa to 
 the floor. As she did so, he succeeded in snatching a rich 
 ermine mantle from her shoulders, and retreated to the other 
 end of the room, dragging the delicate white fur behind him 
 on the carpet. 
 
 Louise, who was expatiating to Mabel upon the attractions of 
 a dramatic performance to take place that evening at the house 
 of one of the leaders of fashion, seemed at first quite uncon- 
 scious of this feat on the part of the child ; but in a moment 
 more she rose suddenly from her seat, and still continuing in 
 an earnest strain of conversation with Mabel, took a few steps 
 towards Murray, who was roughly playing with his prize, and 
 snatching one end of the mantle, which lay stretched upon the 
 carpet, endeavored to wrest it from his grasp. Her manner 
 was resolute, but the boy was nothing daunted. He clung to 
 his new toy, and by a sudden effort, extricating it from his 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 65 
 
 mother's hands, gathered it in his arms, and escaped to the 
 opposite corner, casting over his shoulder a triumphant glance 
 at his baffled parent. So far from following up the pursuit, 
 however, or uttering a word of reprimand, she appeared rather 
 to glory in the rebellious spirit of the child ; her only comment 
 upon the failure of her attempt consisting in a smile of amuse- 
 ment at the success with which he had asserted his independ- 
 ence of control. Nor did the risk of injury to the mantle fur- 
 ther engage Tier thoughts, but, passively yielding to the little 
 conqueror, she resumed her seat, and continued the scarcely 
 interrupted strain of her discourse upon the music, dresses, and 
 decorations of the evening's entertainment. 
 
 Mabel, while engaging with animation upon the subject of 
 pleasures which had for her all the zest of novelty, scarcely 
 gave a thought to this little contest between parent and child, 
 save as she considered it a proof of that sweet softness, and 
 amiability of character, which forbade Louise to exercise se- 
 verity, or exact obedience. As she sat, however, in full view 
 of the child, who was now mounted upon a chair, acting in his 
 favorite capacity of an imaginary horseman, with the long ends 
 of the mantle serving as a bridle, she more than once had her 
 fears excited for the safety both of the boy, and the ermine. 
 A slight start on her part caused Louise, at one time, to turn 
 her head in that direction, but, dreading a stormy altercation 
 with the little rebel, she closed her eyes to the possibility of 
 the mischief that might ensue, and, with a languid smile, per- 
 mitted him to continue his sport. At length, a sudden jerk on 
 Murray's part, and the mantle, which towards the end was 
 narrow and slender, became rent, and gave way, precipitating 
 the child to the floor, the fragment of the torn fur still grasped 
 tightly in his hand. 
 
 Mabel sprung to his assistance, for, although his fall was not 
 heavy, or from a grea^t height, he uttered a succession of pierc- 
 ing shrieks, and she feared he might be seriously hurt. Louise 
 started at the same moment, but Mabel had lifted the boy to 
 his feet before his mother reached the spot. The eager ques- 
 tion of the former, " are 3-011 hurt, darling ? " was scarcely an- 
 
66 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 swered, and lie still continued sobbing, when Louise caught 
 sight of the torn fur, which she angrily snatched from his 
 hand. Alas ! now, for that softness of manner of which many 
 beside Mabel had often experienced the charm ! It vanished 
 in an instant. The subdued voice of Louise was changed to 
 loud tones of reproach ; words of sudden anger took the place 
 of her usual languid accents, and the little hand, so perfect in 
 contour, so graceful in gesture, now gave added force to her 
 words, as she inflicted with it a sudden blow upon Murray's 
 offending palm. But the 'refractory urchin was no unresisting 
 victim of her displeasure ; he boldly maintained his defence, 
 and Mabel became the witness of a violent and noisy struggle, 
 which ended in Mrs. Leroy's forcibly expelling the child from 
 the room, amid a succession of kicks, screams, and threats, which 
 would, probably, have alarmed the household, had not such 
 outbursts been a matter of almost daily occurrence. Grieved 
 and shocked at the scene, Mabel expected to see her sister 
 still more painfully affected by so unnatural a conflict. But, 
 on the contrary, Louise turned to her with a smile, and on ob- 
 serving her half-embarrassed, half-distressed expression, laughed 
 outright. 
 
 " I am afraid he is hurt," suggested Mabel, " he cried so 
 loud when he first fell." 
 
 " Oh, no," answered Louise, in a careless tone, u he always 
 cries so;" and she proceeded to the examination of her mantle, 
 fitting the piece in her hand into the place from which it was 
 torn, and saying "what a shame! I wonder if I can grt it 
 mended at Lefarge's ? " 
 
 So intent was she in considering the best mode of repairing 
 the damage, that for several minutes she took no notice of Ma- 
 bel, who gradually recovered from her surprise at the contra- 
 dictions in her sister's temper, especially as she found that this 
 little outbreak of maternal indignation exercised no lasting 
 check upon the merriment of the child, wliom she soon heard 
 in the neighboring nursery, engaged in happy play. 
 
 Two or three hours had elapsed, the season of lunch was 
 long passed, and Mabel's conscience beginning once more to re- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 67 
 
 proach her for this continued stay, she had persuaded Louise to 
 send ibr a carriage. It had not yet arrived, and she was some- 
 what impatiently awaiting it, when a loud cry was raised in 
 the nursery, and a moment after, Murray came screaming into 
 the room, evidently in some new distress, and, quite forgetful 
 of past difficulties, running to his mother for sympathy. She 
 opened her arms to receive him, begged to know what was the 
 matter with her sweet pet, and with many tender and exagger- 
 ated expressions of solicitude, promised that whoever had 
 harmed him should be punished. 
 
 Alick had harmed him, had pushed and kicked him, and 
 both he and Lydia had called him ugly names. 
 
 " I called him no ugly names," exclaimed the tired-looking 
 young nurse, appearing at the door, her face, at first pale, be- 
 coming quite red as she observed the presence of Mabel. 
 
 " Be quiet ! " said Mrs. Leroy, in an imperative voice to the 
 girl; and going to the open door of the nursery, she demanded 
 of Alick, in a severe tone, what new injury he had been do- 
 ing his brother, adding, in the same breath, " I know you are 
 always rude to him." 
 
 " He 's rude to me," was the boy's surly reply. 
 
 His mother, unsparing of words and threats, continued to 
 reprove him, but he made no further apology, receiving her 
 rebukes with indifference, not to say inattention, and deigning 
 no answers to her inquiries into his behavior. He found an 
 advocate, however, in Lydia, who commenced at once, "Alick 
 was not to blame, Mrs. Leroy, : " 
 
 "You need not tell me that, Lydia," replied her mistress, 
 "I know who is always to blame in these quarrels." 
 
 " He called me names," muttered Murray, " he did. He said 
 I was a beggar ! " 
 
 " I did n't ! " retorted Alick, speaking bluntly, and between 
 his teeth. 
 
 " No, ma'am," exclaimed Lydia, earnestly. " I was telling 
 them what a good little sister I had at home ; Alick said he 
 should like to see her, ma'am, and I promised to take him 
 there, if you had no objections. It was Murray himself who 
 
68 MABEL- VAUGIIAN. 
 
 spoke of beggars. I 'm sure Rosy is no beggar, and if my 
 mother is n't rich, she is very respectable." 
 
 " I said I did n't want to go and see any beggar girls, and nc 
 I do n't ! " said Murray, " and then Alick said I was n't any 
 better than a beggar myself. I am, aint I, mother ? } ' 
 
 " Certainly, my dear. Alick you are a bad boy to talk sc 
 to your brother, and, Lydia, don't let me hear any more of 
 this. Of course, you are not to take either of the boys to any 
 low places. The children you are used to may be good chil- 
 dren, and they may not, but, at all events, they are not fit 
 company for my children." 
 
 " Indeed, Mrs. Leroy," exclaimed Lydia, her face becoming 
 suffused with the deepest crimson, her eye flashing angrily, but 
 the trembling of her lip, at the same time, giving evidence of 
 an emotion deeper than wounded pride, " indeed, ma'am, I 
 only wish you could see such children as I am used to ; there's 
 some among 'em that might teach a lesson even to a lady." 
 
 If there was incivility in this remark from a young girl to 
 her mistress, it was almost lost sight of by Mabel, who was 
 struck by the deep earnestness and feeling with which it was 
 spoken. Not so with Louise. She viewed the girl's words 
 merely as an outbreak of impertinence, and passed judgment 
 upon them accordingly. It would have been well for her dig- 
 nity, if she could have so far commanded her temper as to 
 peak Lydia's dismissal with calmness. But this was not the 
 case. In the violent and abusive language with which she as- 
 sailed her for forgetfulness of place, and neglect of the respect 
 due to her superiors, she more than forfeited her own position 
 as a lady, nor could Mabel feel otherwise than shocked at the 
 harshness with which she assured the po r girl that she had 
 forfeited 1 m month's wages, at the same time forbidding her 
 to leave her service until a new nurse was provided. 
 
 It was some consolation to perceive that these fits of temper 
 were as transient as they were severe. As Louise closed 
 the nursery door upon Lydia, she seemed to exhaust her dis- 
 pleasure in the words, " there, I have done with her; now 
 1 shall have the trouble of finding another nurse for those 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. C9 
 
 children, little plagues ; " and the next moment she ad- 
 dressed some light remark to Mabel on the subject of her 
 dress for the approaching evening, adding, " I will go this 
 minute and borrow Mrs. Vannecker's ear-rings, to try if coral 
 is becoming to me ! " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Not every flower that blossoms 
 
 Diffuses sweets around ; 
 Not every scene hope gilds with light 
 
 Will fair be found. 
 
 MRS. S. J. HALE. 
 
 ENGROSSED with this new scheme for the indulgence of 
 her vanity, Louis-? hastened at once to her friend's apartment, 
 and lingered there so long, that before her return the carriage 
 came for Mabel, who could not find her scarf, and supposing 
 that she must have left it in the nursery was compelled to go 
 there and seek it. As she opened the door unheard, and stood 
 unperceived in the room, a sight met her eyes which excited 
 both her sympathy and her interest. Poor Lydia, overcome 
 with grief, had thrown herself upon the narrow bed usually 
 occupied by one of the children, and so vehement were the 
 sobs she uttered, that they shook her whole frame convulsively. 
 Her eyes were fixed and vacant, and there was an hysterical 
 gasping in her throat, which frightened Mabel, lest the girl 
 might be choking with an emotion which she evidently could 
 not control. Alick was standing beside her, his face no 
 longer apathetic and indifferent, but expressive both of sorrow 
 and indignation. He seemed to be making an endeavor to 
 soothe her, and as Mabel entered the room she heard him 
 say, " I should n't care for her, Lydia, she 's a cross old 
 thing." At first Murray was no where to be seen ; but on 
 taking a nearer view, Mabel perceived the little fellow, who, 
 really affectionate in his disposition and truly grieved at his 
 own share in causing Lydia's distress, had crept upon the bed, 
 and was nestled close beside her, with one arm round her neck. 
 At the sound of Mabel's voice speaking kindly to her, Lydia 
 gave a sudden start, and the presence of a stranger seeming 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 71 
 
 to act as a powerful motive for self-control, she succeeded in 
 somewhat mastering her agitation. Mabel took a glass of 
 water from the table and sprinkled a little of it on her face, as 
 she had seen Mrs. Herbert do on a similar occasion. The 
 shock acted as a restorative, and after a few more gasps tha 
 excited girl found relief in natural and fast flowing tears. 
 
 Mabel, although a stranger to such emergencies, spoke A 
 few words of comfort to her, which drew forth in return an 
 expression of poor Lydia's overcharged feelings. "Indeed, 
 miss," she sobbed forth, " I meant no harm, but I felt so bad 
 at what she said about the children, you would n't wonder if 
 you knew " here her words were lost in tears, but she soon 
 recovered herself and added, " So now I 've lost my place, 
 and I don't know what I shall do." 
 
 "I'll ask mother to keep you," said Murray, in a soothing 
 tone. 
 
 Lydia smiled upon the wayward child, but said nothing. 
 Alick, in the meantime, stood a little in the background, 
 gazing in the face of Mabel, who looked concerned for the 
 girl, but uncertain what part to take in the matter herself. 
 As, after a few moment's pause, she turned to leave the room, 
 she was arrested by Alick, who exclaimed, as if in further 
 explanation of Lydia's conduct, " She can 't get her money 
 now, and its too bad ; she wanted it for her mother and Rosy. 
 Mother said she would n't pay her, and she won't, she 's just 
 so ugly." 
 
 Mabel's countenance evinced how much she was shocked 
 by the boy's unfilial language, but he did not perceive this ; 
 his eyes were following the hand with which she now sought 
 her purse. Poor Lydia, in the meantime, was the picture of 
 mortification and distress. Words of bitter disappointment on 
 her part had betrayed to the observing Alick the secret of 
 her family's necessity, but despite her dependent situation, 
 she had a sensitive pride which shrank from Mabel's becoming 
 a partner to this knowledge. 
 
 Mabel, scarcely less disconcerted, for she was a novice in 
 
72 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 such circumstances, inquired the amount due her for the ser- 
 vices which were now at an end. 
 
 " Six dollars," said Lydia, in a faltering voice, " but, O miss, 
 it 's no matter." 
 
 The sum was in her hand before she had finished speaking. 
 " Never mind," said Mabel, soothingly, and putting aside the 
 hand which offered to return the money, " keep it, do, and 
 I will arrange the matter with Mrs. Leroy some other time." 
 
 Then, anxious to escape the half-audible thanks of Lydia, 
 she hastily left the room, followed by the wondering, admiring 
 gaze of Alick. Murray manifesting his satisfaction in an 
 equally characteristic manner, by attempting to turn a somer- 
 set on the bed. 
 
 A quick blush of surprise and embarrassment overspread 
 her face, as, on re-entering the drawing-room, she discovered 
 Louise standing near the half-open door of the nursery, where 
 she must have plainly overheard all that had passed within. 
 She was trying the effect of the coral ear-rings at an opposite 
 mirror, and did not even turn her head, on Mabel's sudden 
 entrance. Had the latter been detected in a mean, instead of 
 a generous action, she could scarcely have been more discon- 
 certed than she now felt, at the consciousness of having played 
 what her sister might consider an officious and censorious part 
 in a matter with which she had no immediate concern. There 
 was an awkward silence between them, interrupted at length 
 by Louise, who, after impatiently jerking one of the ear-rings, 
 and finally entangling it in her hair, exclaimed in an imperious 
 and ruffled tone of voice, " Do, Mabel, see what is the matter 
 with this, I can 't do anything with it ! " 
 
 Mabel hastened to extricate and clasp the refractory orna- 
 ment, and then stood by the side of the irritable little beauty, 
 who, after surveying herself for a moment with no slight 
 degree of satisfaction, exclaimed, " How pretty they are ! I 
 wish they were mine ! If I had money to throw away," con- 
 tinued she in a meaning tone, " as some folks have, I would 
 buy me a pair this very day ! " 
 
 " Yes, they are quite pretty and becoming," said Mabel, with 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 73 
 
 an absent air. She understood her sister's allusion, and fear- 
 ing she had given deep offence, was meditating an excuse for 
 her own presumption on the score of poor Lydia's necessities. 
 
 "I hope," added Louise, tartly, and with a short, con- 
 temptuous laugh, " that you do not mean to charge me with 
 all that wastefulness you have been guilty of in the next 
 room ; your purse must be longer than mine if you can afford 
 to pay people for putting on airs and getting up scenes." 
 
 Mabel, astonished at her sister's meanness and indifference 
 to Distress, was at a loss for a reply to this unexpected out- 
 burst; but Louise, having thus given vent to her vexation, 
 and at the same time disowned a debt which she never in- 
 tended to discharge, seemed to be immediately restored to 
 good humor, and dismissing the subject with the same ease 
 with which a child forgets its little annoyance at the sight of 
 a new toy, she entered with flippant and eager gaiety upon 
 the subject of the evening's entertainment. 
 
 Mabel could not so easily free herself from the agitation 
 and embarrassment to which her sister's words and her own 
 awkward situation had given rise ; but, "relieved to find the 
 affair amicably settled, although at the expense both of her 
 purse and her feelings, she lent a ready ear to all the theatri- 
 cal details which Mrs. Leroy had gleaned from Mrs. Van- 
 necker, and from Victoria, who was to take part in the per- 
 formance. It would be a charming occasion, but it was on 
 Mabel's account, chiefly, that Mrs. Leroy professed to con- 
 gratulate herself at the opportunity ; it would be something 
 so new to her, and so interesting. Harry, too, would be de- 
 lighted to escort them. 
 
 Mabel hesitated. She was strongly tempted by her sister's 
 glowing description of the exciting scene they should witness, 
 the lovely little theatre, its decorations, etc.; but at the mention 
 of Harry's name, she remembered the understanding between 
 herself and her brother, that they were to have a quiet even- 
 ing at home. She mentioned this circumstance to Louise as a 
 motive for relinquishing the project, and once more the good- 
 humored smile vanished from the face of the latter, who, 
 7 
 
74: MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 resuming, as it were, her previous right to be angry with 
 Mabel, turned coldly away, saying in an offended tone, " Very 
 well, I shall stay at home then, of course ; I have no wish 
 to go alone." 
 
 Mabel's countenance betrayed signs of indecision at sight 
 of Louise's disappointment and displeasure. She had already 
 given offence once this morning ; she could not bear to be 
 thought censorious or disobliging ; but what would Harry think 
 of the proposal ? 
 
 Reflections of this and a similar nature were interrupted by 
 a fretful expostulation from Louise, who, comprehending her 
 chief cause of hesitation, exclaimed, " It is nonsense to think of 
 staying at home on Harry's account, for I will venture to say, 
 he is full of the idea himself before this time. Several of his 
 friends are among the dramatis persona ; he will hear of the 
 performance in the course of the day, and be quite enthusiastic 
 on the subject. 
 
 This last suggestion had the effect of overruling Mabel's 
 scruples, and just as she was on the point of departure she 
 yielded a reluctant promise to send the carriage to the hotel, 
 and be herself in readiness at an appointed hour, for which 
 obliging concession she was rewarded by a radiant smile, and 
 affectionate pressure of the hand, from the conciliated and satis- 
 fied Louise. 
 
 But though Louise was satisfied, the case was far otherwise 
 with Mabel; and the shadow which, during the homeward 
 drive, clouded her usually happy features, had its rise in many 
 contending, contradictory, but alike painful emotions. 
 
 A young girl of eighteen, of a happy temperament, impulsive 
 character, and warm affections, is not likely to prove a strict or 
 severe judge of those faults and foibles which are concealed or 
 atoned for by a pleasing and fascinating exterior ; but Mabel, 
 with all the romance, sensibility, and ardent imagination of 
 girlhood, had a deep and steady love of justice, an unsophisti- 
 cated sense of right, and an honest contempt for meanness and 
 duplicity. She could not be blind or indifferent to those unex- 
 pected traits in her sister's character, which the events of the 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 75 
 
 morning had brought to light, and in proportion as fancy had 
 hitherto Invested Louise with mental and moral loveliness, did 
 she shrink from the reality disclosed on a nearer view. The 
 emotions awakened in Mabel's mind, however, were somewhat 
 indistinct and undefined, and she did not even attempt to ana- 
 lyze them. She felt, but did not reason, and the rambling 
 nature of her reflections resulted only in a general sense of dis- 
 satisfaction and disappointment. 
 
 The succession of vague doubts, regrets, and apprehensions, 
 which chased each other through her mind, was suddenly put 
 to -flight as the carriage stopped at her father's door, and a 
 more immediate and pressing cause of anxiety forced itself 
 upon her recollection. " What will Aunt Sabiah say to my 
 long absence?" was her mental inquiry as she entered the 
 house. The hall clock struck four as she gassed up the stair- 
 case. " So late," was her inward exclamation ; " is it possi- 
 ble ?" And then came the still more startling remembrance, 
 that she had returned without the promised bit of ribbon. 
 Truly, thought she, this is one of the days when everything 
 goes wrong. 
 
 Everything had certainly gone wrong thus far. Miss Sabiah 
 had passed a lonely, cheerless day, and was proportionately de- 
 pressed. With martyr-like spirit she had declined taking lun- 
 cheon, a meal of no slight importance to one of her country 
 habits, and it was with difficulty that she could be persuaded 
 that it was not yet too late for a biscuit and a cup of chocolate, 
 \vhich Mabel brought with her own hands from the dining 
 room ; she declared that Mabel's forgetfulriess to purchase the 
 riobon was of no consequence, O, no, not the least: what 
 consequence could it be whether she wore a new cap or an old 
 one ? 
 
 From this hopeless state of despondency it would have been 
 in vain for any one but Mabel to attempt to arouse her ; but in 
 the partial eyes of the aunt the favorite niece was never the 
 chief delinquent; and after inveighing at intervals against 
 Louise's growing influence over her sister, and declaring her- 
 self quite resigned to the loss of Mabel's future society, Miss 
 
76 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Sabiali allowed herself to be cheered and comforted by listen- 
 ing to the contents of a bundle of old letters, which Mabel read 
 aloud until dark, manifesting a degree of girlish interest in the 
 musty heap of ancestral details which truly warmed the heart 
 of her maiden aunt. 
 
 : Both then and afterwards, Mabel carefully avoided all refer- 
 ence to her visit at the hotel, unwilling to excite her aunt's 
 prejudices by relating the stormy occurrences of the morning, 
 and Miss Sabiah, on her part, scorned to make any inquiries 
 concerning Louise and her mode of life, subjects on which she 
 professed perfect indifference. 
 
 But the perplexities and annoyances of this unfortunate day 
 were not yet at an end. At dinner, Mabel waited in vain in 
 the hope that Harry, who had returned home from his excur- 
 sion-party fatigue^ but in high spirits, would broach the subject 
 of the theatricals ; he remained provokingly silent on the sub- 
 ject, however, and when, after dinner, he called for his slippers 
 and proposed going for his flute to accompany her on the piano, 
 she was reluctantly compelled to confess the promise she had 
 made to Louise, explaining at the same time her own reluct- 
 ance to accede to the proposal, until over-persuaded by her 
 sister's confident assurance that he would be delighted to ac- 
 company them. 
 
 She hardly knew whether to be hurt or amused at the rail- 
 lery which her communication called forth. "And so you 
 really believed that humbuggery ! " exclaimed Harry. " Here 
 have I been, these last two days, employing all the arts of a 
 blackleg to keep clear of those jackanapes, who were trying to 
 entice me into that nonsensical farce. Why, I have hardly 
 dared show myself in any of their haunts, and have been half 
 afraid of my own shadow lest it should take the form of a stage 
 manager ; and you, innocent lamb that you are, would lead me 
 into the very thick of the fight. Why, they would condemn me, 
 without mercy, to the part of Julius Caesar, or worse still, that 
 of Vic Vannecker's lover ; upon my word, my dear, they are 
 a perfect set of harpies." 
 
 Miss Sabiah now began to expostulate against Mabel's life 
 
MABEL VAUGUAN. 77 
 
 being sacrificed to late hours and bad weather, and Mr. Vaughan 
 taking alarm at these intimations, looked up from his news- 
 paper to remark, that it was a very wet evening, and that he 
 hoped she did not think of going out. 
 
 The discussion, however, was interrupted by the arrival of 
 Mrs. Leroy, whose wilful obstinacy was proof against all oppo- 
 sition. Mabel would now gladly have retracted her promise, 
 but , Louise exacted its fulfilment, and the most that could be 
 peaceably effected was a compromise, by which it was agreed 
 that they should return home early. At Mabel's earnest en- 
 treaty, seconded by that of her father, Harry was persuaded to 
 accompany them, with the express understanding that he was 
 at liberty to make his escape, if there was any attempt made to 
 enlist him for future service among the theatrical corps. At 
 the carriage door, however, they were greeted by the voices of 
 Mrs. Vannecker and her daughter, who were comfortably en- 
 sconced on the back seat. 
 
 A low exclamation of impatience escaped from Harry. 
 " I 'in off," whispered he to Mabel ; then added aloud, " there 
 are enough of you to take care of each other, I see good 
 night." 
 
 If Mabel felt vexed at this inauspicious commencement of 
 the evening, this feeling was scarcely allayed by the events 
 that succeeded. The much vaunted performance proved to be 
 merely a rehearsal ; the parts were ill-learned, the stage ill- 
 lighted, the actors out of humor. Louise betook herself be- 
 hind the scenes and mingled in the petty contentions of the 
 rival aspirants ; while Mrs. Vannecker wearied Mabel's ears 
 with an excited recital of Victoria's wrongs, and her successful 
 retaliation upon the offenders. Long before Miss Vannecker 
 and Louise could be persuaded to depart, which was not until 
 near midnight, Mabel had, despite her good-nature, arrived at 
 the uneasy conclusion that her sister and friends were making 
 her the tool of their own love of pleasure, and ceasing to feel 
 any interest in the histrionic disputes and failures, her 
 thoughts became occupied with compassion for her aunt and 
 Harry, who were awaiting her at home, and sympathy for her 
 
78 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 weary coachman and restless horses, exposed to a wintry rain, 
 and, like herself, the victims of imposition. 
 
 But the vexations of the evening did not end here. A more 
 provoking disappointment was yet to come. 
 
 It was half-revealed in the triumphant expression of counte- 
 nance which met her on her return home, and Mabel felt a 
 deeper sense of regret than she would have been willing to ac- 
 knowledge, when she learned that during nearly the whole of 
 her absence, Harry and Miss Sabiah had been in the enjoyment 
 of Lincoln Dudley's society, listening to his rich strains of anec- 
 dote, poetry, and learning, borne, as her imagination suggested, 
 into those regions of thought and fancy to which such a mind 
 as his could not fail to lead the way. She even fancied there 
 was something malicious in the relish with which Harry quoted 
 some of his friend's best sayings, something positively taunting 
 in the assurance of her usually unimpressible aunt, that she 
 would not probably have any opportunity during the winter to 
 make the acquaintance of this uncommonly agreeable man, for 
 that he had missed the cars by accident that afternoon, had 
 devoted his only evening to them, and would leave for Phila- 
 delphia in the Sunday morning train. 
 
 So ended a day of vexations ; and Mabel's weekly calendar 
 of pleasure, excitement, and gratified pride, closed with a con- 
 fused but certain sense of weariness, regret, and disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 How impossible it is to please everybody, thought she, as 
 in the retirement of her own room, she mentally reviewed the 
 events of the day, dwelling with peculiar bitterness upon that 
 climax of misfortunes, the loss of Dudley's visit. 
 
 And having thus come to the conclusion that it was impossi- 
 ble to please everybody, she composed herself to sleep with 
 the half-formed resolve, that henceforth she would attempt 
 only to please herself. 
 
 Happily, neither this dangerous resolve, nor the painful 
 emotions which had given it birth, were destined to survive a 
 night's repose, and the Sabbath sun shone on no more radiant 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 79 
 
 face tjian Mabel's, and enkindled in no youthful breast more 
 generous impulses. 
 
 A deeper cloud may one day settle on her pathway, and in- 
 volve her bright spirit in a deeper conflict. Well for her then, 
 if the powers of darkness flee away at the dawn of light, while 
 faith whispers to her burdened heart that earth has no night 
 of trouble and despair from which the Sun of Righteousness 
 may not at length arise with healing in his wings. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 How wondrous are God's secret ways ! 
 
 The chastening furnace of affliction 
 Taught this young maiden's heart to praise 
 
 Her Lord in streams of benediction ! 
 Sorrow, and poverty, and pain, 
 
 Might hide from sight the blessing streaming 
 From Heaven on her fair head ; but plain 
 
 Unto the eye of faith 'twas gleaming. 
 
 E. L. NIGHT WATCHES. 
 
 LEAVING Mabel to the soothing influence of youthful slum- 
 ber, let us follow one of equal years, but of far different fortunes, 
 who, at a somewhat earlier hour in the evening, might be seen, 
 alone, unprotected, and on foot, hastening down a neighboring 
 street. 
 
 The duties of the day fulfilled, the children sunk in sleep, 
 and her mistress' evening toilette complete^, .ne weary Lydia 
 sought Mrs. Vannecker's apartments, and having persuaded 
 that lady's good-natured maid to take her place in Mrs. Leroy's 
 nursery, threw on a well-worn bonnet and shawl, and promis- 
 ing to return in an hour, passed down a back stair-case and 
 left the hotel at a quick pace. 
 
 The night was dark, and the walking bad, being in some 
 places wet, and in others slippery with the half-congealed rain. 
 Lydia was thinly shod, and had not walked many rods before 
 her feet were thoroughly soaked, and her whole frame shiver- 
 ing with the cold. She felt timid, too, at being alone in the 
 streets at so late an hour, and as she ventured into the nar- 
 rower and darker lanes of the city, cast more and more anx- 
 ious glances around her. Once, in her haste, she slipped, and 
 would have fallen, but a rude, though kindly hand, was sud- 
 denly stretched forth for her safety, and before she could see 
 
MABEL VAUC11AN. 81 
 
 whence came the friendly aid which had abruptly restored her 
 to her feet, her beggarly-looking benefactor had passed on. 
 Still more alarmed at the attention which this little circum- 
 stance attracted, and disturbed at the quick, and as the over- 
 excited girl imagined, the curious glances bestowed upon her 1 
 by one or two passers-by, she now commenced running, and 
 had proceeded some paces without looking to the right or left, 
 when, as she gained a street corner, a hand was suddenly laid 
 upon her shoulder. She gave a quick and nervous start, 
 but, re-assured by the sound of a familiar laugh, checked her- 
 self in her rapid progress, and exclaimed, quite out of breath, 
 but in a tone of evident relief, " Why Jack, is that you ? How 
 you frightened me ? " 
 
 " What are you afraid of?" asked the other, in a rough, but 
 boyish tone. 
 
 " Afraid of everything," said Lydia. " I am not used to be- 
 ing out in the night, and you ought not to be either ; who is 
 that with you ? " added she, in an undertone, as she caught 
 sight of a figure lingering near them. 
 
 Jack hesitated, and then replied, somewhat reluctantly, 
 " Bob Martin." 
 
 " Oh, Jack ! " was the only response the girl made, but the 
 tone of her voice conveyed reproof. 
 
 Her brother, for such was the relation between the two, 
 looked down, marked a little circle on the snow with his foot, 
 and was silent. 
 
 " Come," said Lydia, " I am going home, and I am in a 
 hurry. I have only an hour to stay. Come with me, Jack." 
 
 The boy made a reluctant movement to accompany her, at 
 the same time whistling significantly to his companion, a youth 
 much taller than himself, and who, with an independent and 
 swaggering air, had sauntered down the street in the direction 
 the brother and sister were pursuing. 
 
 " Hush ! " whispered Lydia ; " do n't call that boy, I do n't 
 want him." 
 
 u Well, come along, then," said Jack, roughly, and he moved 
 in the direction of home. They had not proceeded far, how- 
 
82 MABEL VAUOHAN. 
 
 ever, before they overtook Bob Martin, who was purposely 
 loitering under the shadow of a building, and as they passed 
 him, Jack spoke, under his breath, but loud enough to be dis- 
 tinctly heard by Lydia, "You wait here, Bob, I'll be back 
 in a jiffy." 
 
 The two walked on for a few moment in silence, then Lydia 
 exclaimed, with considerable irritation of manner, " I wonder 
 what mother would say, Jack, if she knew you were out with 
 Bob Martin at this time of night ! " 
 
 " Mother does n't know anything about him," replied the 
 boy, " nor .you either. Bob 's a real good fellow ! " 
 
 " Why Jack," cried Lydia, " how can you say so ? You 
 know he is the most idle, profane boy in the neighborhood ; I 
 should think you had had warning enough to keep out of his 
 way." 
 
 " I do n't care," said Jack, " he is a real good-hearted fellow, 
 anyhow." 
 
 " I should think you would be ashamed of yourself, Jack," 
 said Lydia, vehemently, " to be standing up for such a fellow 
 as he is ! " 
 
 " Did n't he stand up for me, I should like to know ? " re- 
 torted Jack, angrily. 
 
 A glance of scorn shot from Lydia's eyes, as she replied in 
 a contemptuous tone of voice, " Well, if I were in your place, I 
 would n't say much about that." 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Jack, turning almost fiercely upon her. 
 
 " Because," answered she, with temper, " if you like to talk 
 about it, I do n't." 
 
 " Poh ! " exclaimed Jack, attempting a braggart tone, in 
 spite of the evident mortification which overspread his face at 
 his sister's words. 
 
 A long silence ensued, broken only by an occasional w r histle 
 from the boy, who walked at Lydia's side with a shuffling gait 
 and a forced air of unconcern. At length, the latter asked, with 
 some abruptness, " How is Rosy ? " 
 
 The question seemed to have a magical effect upon the boy. 
 He ceased whistling, and the careless, blustering tone in which 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 83 
 
 he had "previously spoken, became subdued and tremulous as 
 he replied, " She aint any better ; I do n't believe, Lyddy, she 
 ever will be." 
 
 Lydia did not answer, and they reached their destination 
 without another word being spoken. Jack, having accompa- 
 nied her to the door, now drew back, as if he had no thought 
 of entering, and she, seeing the movement, paused and looked 
 in his face with eager scrutiny, while she said, " You do n't 
 mean to go back to him to-night ? " 
 
 " But I do, though," was the defiant reply. 
 -Lydia expostulated with injudicious warmth, and a short 
 and somewhat sharp dialogue between the two, resulted 
 finally in the irritation of both parties, and a resolve in the 
 mind of the self-willed boy to enjoy the society of his friend 
 whenever he pleased, in spite of his sister's well-meant but 
 unavailing .interference. 
 
 The truth of the case was this. The Hope family, of which 
 Lydia and Jack were members, had, a few weeks before, been 
 subjected to agitation and alarm by the sudden tidings that the 
 latter, with a party of rude companions, had been engaged in 
 a street brawl, and was shut up in the watch-house for the night, 
 with the prospect of being next day committed to jail. From 
 this situation he had only been rescued upon the payment of a 
 heavy fine, which consumed the hard-earned savings of his 
 motherland compelled his hitherto indulged sister to seek tha 
 service she now fulfilled at Mrs. Leroy's. 
 
 The poor widow, already nearly weighed down by misfor- 
 tune, bowed her head in silence at this new stroke, uttered few 
 complaints, greeted her son on his return home with few re- 
 proaches, save those which were conveyed in every line of her 
 despairing countenance, and pursued her daily labor with a 
 slow step and apathetic air, which spoke of a weary, care-worn 
 frame, and a heart grown old and seared amid anxiety and 
 trouble. 
 
 But Lydia had not yet reached that degree of hopeless sub- 
 mission, nor had she learned in the school of hardship and dis- 
 appointment that meek forbearance which has its source in 
 
84 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 Christian faith. Moreover, her spirit could not easily brook 
 the mortification and distress which Jack's misconduct had en- 
 tailed upon them all, and she assumed more than an elder sis- 
 ter's privilege in the harsh rebukes which she bestowed upon 
 the offender, and the bitter scorn which she heaped upon his 
 idle and profligate companions, especially Bob Martin, a recent 
 and most unprofitable associate. 
 
 Jack could not deny the fact that Bob had led him into diffi- 
 culty, but he still insisted, with grateful warmth, on the debt 
 he owed him for the ability and shrewdness with which he had 
 conducted their mutual defence, obtaining their liberation after 
 a single night's imprisonment at the police station. 
 
 To every accusation brought against his new friend by the 
 incensed Lydia, he was ready, as we have seen, with the prompt 
 rejoinder, " He 's a good-hearted fellow, any way, and stood up 
 for me when all the rest were only thinking how they should 
 get clear of the scrape themselves." 
 
 Thus, this mortifying adventure served, on the whole, to 
 confirm rather than weaken the influence which the experienced 
 offender had gained over his young and unsophisticated com- 
 panion, who, long since emancipated from his mother's control, 
 and still less disposed to submit to Lydia's dictation, now ap- 
 peared to acknowledge no authority save that of the city mag- 
 istrates, of which his recent experience still held him in awe. 
 
 But, although blind to the silent woe painted on his mother's 
 features, deaf to the unsparing rebukes of the injured Lydia, 
 and steeled against the ill-opinion of the neighborhood, there 
 was one gentle influence against which the boy's rebellious 
 spirit was not proof. There was one eye which followed him, 
 even when absent from its presence, one voice which never 
 spoke to his ear unheard, one little hand whose restraining 
 pressure had power to check him in his headlong career. 
 Gently and noiselessly had the spell been cast around him ; but 
 the boy's rude nature softened, and his heart bowed down with 
 something like holy awe, when he listened to the sweet, loving 
 words, or gazed upon the little withered form of his invalid 
 sister, Rosy. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 85 
 
 
 
 She alone had received him after his disgrace, in that spirit 
 which at once whispers to the contrite heart of sorrow, forgive- 
 ness, love, and hope. She had extended her little trembling 
 hand, and while the tear started to her large blue eye, had 
 pressed it to her fevered cheek, and murmured, in broken 
 accents, " you will not stay away from Rosy another night ? " 
 and he had laid his head on her pillow and wept, though no 
 one but Rosy knew it. 
 
 There was a chord in his heart, the secret spring of which 
 this sick little sufferer alone had power to touch. Often, amid 
 noisy and contentious scenes, did this one tender and plaintive 
 note break in upon the discord ; and thus it happened that, on 
 the evening in question, when Lydia, in the tumult of excited 
 feeling, was about to lay an impetuous hand upon the latch of 
 her mother's door, she was checked by a sudden and hasty cau- 
 tion from Jack, who, immediately after a storm of angry 
 invective, exclaimed, in a more gentle tone, " Hush ! Lyd, 
 don't make a noise, like enough Rosy 's asleep, she was 
 when I came away." 
 
 This door, the upper part of which consisted of glass, and 
 thus answered the purpose also of a window, led directly into 
 a low, dimly lighted, and ill-furnished shop; and notwithstanding 
 Lydia's precautions, a little bell attached to the entrance tinkled 
 loudly as she entered. She paused a moment, until the sound 
 should have died away, and was then advancing into an inner 
 room, when she was met by her mother, whose quick ear had 
 caught the ever-welcome sound of the bell, and who was eagerly 
 hastening to wait upon the supposed customer. 
 
 " Why, Lyddy, is that you ? " she exclaimed, her sober face 
 relieved by a sickly smile, as the parent prevailed over the 
 shop-keeper, and her disappointed hopes of a purchaser for her 
 goods gave place to maternal satisfaction at the sight of her 
 child. 
 
 Then, bestowing on her a more careful glance, she added, in 
 an anxious tone, the smile at the same time dying away from 
 her pale face, " What is the matter, child ? How wet you are ! 
 here, come into the back room I've got a fire in the stove ;" 
 
86 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 and she stepped into a small apartment behind the shop, Lydia 
 following her with a languid step and quivering lip. It was a 
 mere box of a place, uncarpeted, scantily furnished, and with a 
 close, unwholesome atmosphere. The flames which were crack- 
 ling in the stove had evidently been but recently kindled, for 
 the mixture contained in a large kettle, placed directly over 
 them, had not commenced boiling, and the air in the room was 
 chilly. Lydia threw her bonnet on a table, seated herself in a 
 chair beside it, and fixed her eyes moodily in the direction of 
 the stove. Her mother stirred the mixture. Neither of them 
 spoke. At length a long sigh from Lydia broke the silence. 
 " Do tell me what has happened," said Mrs. Plope ; " some- 
 thing has gone wrong, and I may as well know first as last ; " 
 and as she spoke she stretched out her hand and gently closed 
 the door which led into a little sleeping-room beyond. Then, 
 as Lydia still continued silent, she added, " have you left your 
 place?" 
 
 " Not yet," exclaimed Lydia, the self-control which had been 
 but ill-maintained before, now giving way entirely, and her 
 voice half-choked with sobs ; " nothing so dreadful is the mat- 
 ter, and I wish I had n't come here to-night ; I don't see what 
 I did for, only only " and here she covered her face with 
 her hands, and fell to weeping so bitterly that she found it 
 impossible to utter another word. 
 
 The poor mother looked distressed, and continued her opera- 
 tions at the stove with a vacant air, her eye resting on her 
 child. A somewhat commonplace and practical character, and 
 constant familiarity with trouble, forbade any more marked 
 demonstration of anxiety. Her sympathy was none the less 
 keen, however, and from time to time she uttered interjectional 
 phrases, designed to call forth an explanation of this new sor- 
 row, and subdue its effects. 
 
 Not until the girl had indulged in a short but hearty fit of 
 weeping, did she pay any regard to the " Come, Lyddy ! now 
 don't Lyddy ! " with which her mother from time to time ad- 
 dressed her. At length, however, she lifted up her head, shook 
 it with a determined air, wiped the tears from her stained face, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 87 
 
 Q 
 
 and drawing near the stove, took off her shoes and placed her 
 wet feet upon the hearth. Encouraged by these favorable 
 symptoms, Mrs. Hope seated herself in an opposite chair, and 
 soon had the satisfaction of hearing from the now loosened and 
 voluble tongue of Lydia an explanation of her agitated state of 
 mind. Greatly relieved was she, also, to become assured 
 that this unusual agitation had sprung from causes far less 
 serious than her imagination had pictured. 
 
 Still the poor woman could not listen unmoved to a detailed 
 account of the injustice and abuse which her child had suffered, 
 nor could she fail to share the suspicion and dread which had 
 been excited in Lydia's mind by Jack's recent display of obsti- 
 nacy and self-will, a full report of which was unhesitatingly 
 poured into her ear. 
 
 Had Lydia been a heroine, had she even been a girl of 
 spirit, she would not have fled to her mother with this long list 
 of troubles. She would either have staid away from the abode 
 of poverty and sickness, or would have come hither with a 
 cheerful countenance. She would have drawn a veil over her 
 own grievances, and pondered deeply upon Jack's disposition 
 for bad company, before she had saddened her mother's heart, 
 and perhaps caused her a sleepless night, by expatiating upon 
 his violence and folly. 
 
 But Lydia was no heroine ; she was only a tired, irritated 
 servant girl, whose fortunes and spirits were both under a 
 cloud ; and so she came as hundreds of us have done in our 
 turn to pour all her grievances into a mother's ear, and lay 
 her weight of sorrows on a heart already sufficiently burdened 
 with its own. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Hope, with a deep groan, " if you can't 
 stay at your place you must come home that 's all. AVe 
 can't be -much worse off than we have been ; and as to Jack, 
 why if he will go to ruin, he will, and its no use to worry 
 about it." 
 
 Such philosophy was not very consoling ; still Lydia's load 
 of care seemed lighter, now that her mother had taken up the 
 burden; and recalling the one bright feature in her day's expe- 
 
88 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 rience, she proceeded to relate the incident of Mabel's inter- 
 ference, at the same time drawing from her pocket the price of 
 her painful services, advanced to her from such an unexpected 
 quarter. But, greatly to her surprise and grief, her mother 
 refused to receive the money. " You will find plenty of use 
 for it yourself, before you get another place," said the poor 
 widow, who inwardly shrunk from appropriating the wages of 
 Lydia's daily slavery. " You have n't a decent pair of shoes 
 to your feet," added she, glancing at the worn and almost use- 
 less slippers now drying on the stove. 
 
 " Oh, take it, mother, do take it ! " exclaimed the mortified 
 and repentant Lydia, at once perceiving the effect of her own 
 selfish murmurings. 
 
 " Hark ! " said Mrs. Hope, softly, without seeming to notice 
 her extended hand. They both listened. A low sound was 
 distinctly audible through the closed door of the bed-room. 
 Mrs. Hope made a motion to rise, and at the same instant 
 the shop-bell was heard to ring. Lydia started forward, say- 
 ing, eagerly, " I will see if Rosy wants anything, mother, while 
 you mind the shop." 
 
 Let us follow Lydia into the bed-roonic There is a taper 
 dimly burning there, an indulgence always craved by the sick 
 child, who propped up by pillows is reclining on the bed. It 
 would be difficult to guess her age; for though her little 
 wasted limbs and tiny hands would seem those of a young 
 child, there is no youthful glow in the pale and sunken face 
 resting on the pillow. Her hair is light, and has a golden 
 tinge ; her transparent forehead is marked with deep blue 
 veins ; there is a dark circle beneath her eyes ; her features are 
 narrow and contracted ; her thin lips pressed close together as 
 if sealed in that position by long and persevering efforts to 
 repress every indication of the pain which has, nevertheless, 
 set its seal on each line of her expressive face. There is no 
 beauty, no loveliness, no childish promise in that pinched and 
 narrow countenance, on which disease has stamped itself for 
 years. Only in the deep blue eyes, which like brilliant jewels 
 seem starting from their withered settings can one read aught 
 
MAIiKL VAUGIIAN. 80 
 
 
 
 of hope ; nor is it any earthly hope with which the soul seems 
 ever looking forth from those bright windows, on on through 
 the mists of time, to some happy, though unknown land, where 
 the patient little sufferer may hope to rest. 
 
 Lydia opened the door so noiselessly, that the sound was 
 unheard by her sister, who had awaked from sleep with the 
 moan which had been heard in the next room, but who now 
 commenced singing, if that could be termed singing which con- 
 sisted merely of* a low, warbling sound, a few soft syllables, 
 chanted again and again, to a tune of her own composing. 
 Her eyes were fixed on the opposite wall, and she did not ob- 
 serve Lydia's entrance, until the latter stood close beside her. 
 She then turned her head slightly, unclasped her thin hands 
 and laid one of them on the hand of her sister, saying softly, 
 Lyddy ! " 
 
 Lydia sat down on the side of the bed. Who. would have 
 believed, to see the pretty, well-grown young woman, and the 
 puny, sickly child, that there was a difference of but five years 
 in their ages ! but so it was, for Rosy's little withered form 
 had already numbered thirteen summers. 
 
 " Have you been very sick to-day, Rose ? " asked Lydia in 
 a low voice. 
 
 " O Lyddy," said the child " I've had to sing all the time 
 when I have been awake." 
 
 Lydia sighed, for Rose had told her in confidence, just 
 before she left home, that she never sang except when in 
 great pain. 
 
 " 0, poor Rosy ! " she exclaimed, in a tone of deep compas- 
 sion. 
 
 " No, not poor," said Rose, thoughtfully, " not poor ;" and 
 fixing her eyes upon the opposite wall with that earnest gaze 
 which seemed to look far off into the future, she added 
 "little pilgrim and I have kept each other company all day, 
 the path is dark, Lyddy, but God's blessed angels keep watch 
 above the clouds, and the way grows brighter at the end, you 
 know." 
 
 As Rosy spoke, Lydia's eyes unconsciously sought the 
 
 8* 
 
90 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 object to which the child's attention seemed riveted, as if striv- 
 ing to discern in it the source of that rapt and serene joy, 
 which now lent a momentary glow to her sister's sunken fea- 
 tures. The feeble light of the taper shone directly upon a 
 small, but exquisite engraving, which, neatly and even richly 
 framed, was strangely incongruous with the meagre furniture 
 and time-stained walls of the apartment, being the only object 
 of taste or luxury which the room afforded. A portion of the 
 picture was in shadow, but the figure of a youthful traveller 
 was discernible in the foreground, above whose head rolled 
 many a dark and threatening cloud, while the path beneath 
 his feet was obscure and narrow. He trod with an assured 
 step, however, and an eye uplifted to the spot where, in the 
 clearer firmament, three cherub heads might be distinctly seen, 
 looking forth from above the silvery summits of those very 
 clouds, which at their base w^re so dark and fearful. 
 
 It was no new appeal which this little fellow pilgrim made 
 to the sympathizing heart of Rosy, no fresh lesson of encour- 
 agement and hope which she drew from the sight of the angel- 
 guard, set above life's dreary pathway. For many a year, the 
 picture had accompanied her from one room to another, hang- 
 ing always opposite her bed, during the long weeks of illness 
 that had often confined her to her pillow. But its eloquence 
 was not exhausted yet. Every day, on the contrary, her spirit 
 drank deeper of its heavenly lesson, and became more and 
 more convinced of the reality of its blessed promises ; while to 
 her lonely hours of pain, it acted as a soothing balm, none the 
 less effectual from the frequency of its application. 
 
 A moment's glance at the familiar picture was sufficient for 
 Lydia, whose mind was not open to the language of art, more 
 especially to those things which are spiritually discerned. 
 None could be blind to its sacred truths, however, as they were 
 seen reflected in the holy patience, the religious calm, which 
 overspread the pale face of Rosy ; and a deep and humble 
 sense of contrition stole into the heart of Lydia, as she com- 
 pared her own fretful murn airings with the saint-like submis- 
 sion of the child. " O RO.-.C ! " cried she, her self-reproach 
 
t MABEL VAUGHAN. 91 
 
 bursting forth with a sudden vehemence which startled the 
 invalid girl, " you make me quite ashamed of myself in- 
 deed you do ! I wish I were half as good as you are. My 
 troubles are nothing to yours, and yet I make myself and 
 everybody else miserable; while you, you make the best of 
 everything ? " 
 
 Rose looked anxiously into her sister's face, and answered 
 soothingly " 0,Lyddy ! no wonder you get discouraged, you 
 have so much to do, and so many to please, while I only 
 have to be patient with myself. I have thought about you all 
 the week, and have wished Oh, how I have wished, I could 
 see you once in a while, an$ know how you were getting along, 
 and whether the boys were very naughty, and if you had to sit 
 up late every night for Mrs. Leroy. You are all tired out, 
 aint you Lyddy?" continued she, observing the languid, and 
 despairing attitude into which the weary girl had thrown her 
 self. " Here, lie down by me a few minutes and rest ! " 
 Rose threw her arm over her sister, and as the latter laid 
 down beside her, she went on in a soft and soothing voice, 
 " tell mo all about them, Lyddy dear." 
 
 " What shall I tell ? " asked Lydia. 
 
 "Oh, everything, whatever troubles you most?" 
 
 But that Lydia could not do. The petty vexations of the 
 week, had sunk into insignificance in view of Rose's patient 
 endurance, nor could she relate to the sick child the deeper 
 wound she had suffered on her account, with all its unhappy 
 consequences. 
 
 " I will tell you," said she, after a moment's hesitation, " of 
 some one I have seen to-day, who is as beautiful as 
 
 " As Mrs. Leroy ? " inquired Rose, interrupting her. 
 
 " Oh, yes indeed," answered Lydi'a, in a tone which seemed 
 to disdain the comparison. 
 
 " But you thought her so pretty at first ! " 
 
 " Did I ? "Well, I don't now ; but never mind. Miss Mabel 
 does n't look one bit like her, though she is her sister ;" and 
 warming with the subject, Lydia lifted her head from the pil- 
 low, and leaning on her elbow with her eyes fixed upon Rosy, 
 
92 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 entered upon a glowing panegyric of her new and kind young 
 friend. 
 
 Rose seemed to catch her enthusiasm as she proceeded, and 
 at length exclaimed with eager interest, as Lydia paused in 
 her animated description, " Tell me more ; what did she say to 
 Alick ? did he like her ? " 
 
 Lydia, once embarked on the subject, gave a faithful narra- 
 tive of Mabel's visit, with the exception of those particulars 
 which related to her own difficulty with Mrs. Leroy and con- 
 sequent dismission. 
 
 " Fresh, bright and beautiful ! and just from the country ! " 
 said Rose meditatively, " Oh, how I should like to see her!" 
 
 Lydia sighed as she thought how improbable it was that this 
 wish would ever be gratified. 
 
 " You will see her again ? " said Rose in an inquiring tone. 
 
 " Perhaps so." 
 
 "And you will remember everything she says, and does, 
 so as to tell me ? " 
 
 " I will try." 
 
 " Just from the country ! " again soliloquized Rose. " How 
 I should like to see some one from the country." Poor Rose 
 had never in her life been beyond the city streets, and the 
 country, to her imagination, was an earthly Paradise. 
 
 " Rose," said Lydia, in a hopeful tone of voice, " you must 
 get better, so that next summer you and I can go up to the old 
 farm." 
 
 Rose shook her head, and then as if a thought had suddenly 
 occurred to her mind, said in a quiet whisper, " Lyddy, where 's 
 Jack?" 
 
 " Gone off with Bob Martin," replied Lydia, some return- 
 ing bitterness mingling with her tone of voice," and I may as 
 well go back alone," continued she, making a movement to 
 rise from her place by Rose's side, " for like enough he won't 
 be home till morning." 
 
 " Yes he will," said Rose confidently; "he will come to give 
 me my drops at ten ; he has never forgotten it since you went 
 away. Is it near that time now ? " 
 
MAP. HI, VAU*;iIAN. 93 
 
 " It cdn't be far from it," said Lydhi. " I will go and get 
 my bonnet and see if my shoes are dry." 
 
 At this moment Jack's voice was heard in the shop, and just 
 as a church clock near by struck the hour of ten, he entered 
 Rose's room on tiptoe, holding in his hand a cup and phial. 
 Lydia had not yet left the room, but sat behind the bed, quite 
 out of sight, and Bob Martin himself could scarcely have been 
 more astonished than she was at the sight which now met her 
 eyes. 
 
 Could this be Jack, the noisy and oftentimes profane boy, 
 who now stood near the light, carefully measuring out and 
 counting the drops ? Could it be his rough hand which was 
 tenderly passed beneath his sister's neck, while he gently 
 rested her head on his shoulder, and placed the medicine to 
 her lips ? Above all, could it be his rude accents which were 
 now softened to the affectionate inquiry, "Do you feel any 
 better, Rosy ? " 
 
 Yes, it was Jack ; there could be no doubt of that, for as 
 Lydia followed him into the kitchen, after his labors as a nurse 
 were completed, he betrayed his ordinary self by the abrupt 
 and harsh manner in which he addressd her with, " Well, Lyd ! 
 you here yet ? " 
 
 " Of course I am," said Lydia, half provoked, half grieved, 
 at his surly manner towards her ; " did you suppose I had 
 gone back alone ? " 
 
 "Jack ! " called Rose from the next room. 
 
 He was instantly by her side. 
 
 " You '11 go home with Lyddy ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And then come back to me ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " That 's a good boy." 
 
 " Good night, Rose," said Lydia, stooping over her" bed to 
 kiss her, while Jack went to look for his cap. " I can 't tell 
 when I shall see you again ; give this to mother when I am 
 gone. Good night, darling;" and she left in Rose's hands the 
 bank-bills which her poor mother had declined receiving. 
 
94 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 It was a very dreary walk back to the hotel still raining, 
 and very wet under foot. Jack and Lydia proceeded rapidly 
 and in silence, the former somewhat in advance, while the latter 
 tried to pick her way so as to avoid the puddles in the side- 
 walk. Both were thoughtful ; both perhaps a little mortified 
 at their recent ill humor ; at all events, neither felt disposed 
 for conversation, and a hasty good-night from Lydia, and a 
 sulky response from her brother were all that passed between 
 them. 
 
 Perhaps the walk, with the meditations to which it gave 
 rise, left an impression upon Lydia's mind, for her sleep that 
 night was haunted by the vision of a dark and dreary road on 
 which she and Jack were travelling ; sometimes Mabel seemed 
 to be with them, leading her little nephews by the hand ; and 
 always the path was hard, and the sky overshadowed with 
 clouds. But they went on, it seemed to her, in safety, and 
 the way grew brighter as they went, while on every cloud an 
 angel rode triumphant, and every angel wore the face of 
 Rosy. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 And oft though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps 
 At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity 
 Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill 
 Where no ill seems. 
 
 MlLTOX. 
 
 SEVERAL weeks passed away, during which Mabel con- 
 tinued to enjoy an almost uninterrupted round of gaiety. A 
 city belle, however, should, notwithstanding the precautions of 
 modern luxury, be possessed of a constitution insensible to 
 every injurious influence ; and Mabel, despite her usual high 
 health, was not proof against the combined effects of excite- 
 ment, exposure, and fatigue. A sudden cold, accompanied by 
 feverish symptoms, compelled her, at length, to forego all 
 society, save that which her home afforded; and now for the 
 first time, perhaps, did she learn to estimate the full extent of 
 that solicitude of which she was the cherished object. Her 
 father's affectionate anxiety, her aunt's assiduous and patient 
 nursing, and Harry's brotherly attention and devotedness, far 
 outweighed the gratification derived from the numerous bou- 
 quets and notes of condolence which covered her dressing- 
 room table ; and during a few days of positive illness, and a 
 week of convalescence, she had an ample opportunity of ap- 
 preciating the value of those domestic blessings and privileges, 
 which had hitherto been obscured by the more brilliant plea- 
 sures of fashion and the world. 
 
 This temporary and forced seclusion from society occurred, 
 too, at the time when Mabel was first beginning to be conscious 
 of the monotony which existed in those gay circles, which to 
 Louise constituted the world. A certain fondness for admiration, 
 and a natural gratification at the large share of it which 
 
96 MABEL VACGIIAN. 
 
 her position and charms excited, had served for a time to 
 blind her to the insipidity of the sources from whence it was 
 bestowed ; and the attractions of dress, excitement, and dis- 
 play, enlisted her interest so long as they continued to be 
 novelties. But she had too much freshness of feeling to find 
 any lasting pleasure in the same unvaried round of engage- 
 ments, especially as her intellect occasionally rebelled at the 
 endless repetition of ball-room nonsense, which constituted the 
 conversation of Mrs. Leroy's set. 
 
 The power of habit is strong, however, and she probably 
 would not have had the force of will to break through the 
 charmed ring of fashion, had not necessity laid its iron hand 
 upon her. Her cheerful and loving disposition now found the 
 means of both receiving and conferring pleasure in her home, 
 and her conscience more than once reproached her for previous 
 neglect of the spot, to which her presence, even as an invalid, 
 evidently had the power to impart sunshine. 
 
 Aunt Sabiah was like a new being, now that she had the 
 happiness of Mabel's society and the occupation of officiating 
 as a nurse. Mr. Vaughan went later to his office in the morn- 
 ing, and passed his evenings with his family in the library, 
 where the numerous charts, which usually engrossed his mind 
 were never once unrolled. As for Harry, he seemed suddenly 
 relieved from his wonted press of convivial engagements, and 
 found time to read aloud to his aunt and Mabel, translate Ger- 
 man songs for the latter, and entertain himself and torment Sa- 
 biah by rallying her upon the subject of the ill-shaped stock- 
 ings which constituted her favorite knitting work, and which, 
 although displaced in the parlor by some more elegant employ- 
 ment, were gladly resumed in the retirement of an invalid's 
 room. Their distorted calves and shrivelled ancles afforded 
 Harry's fancy continual play, as to the sort of animal for whose 
 use they might be intended; and although he never called 
 forth any other than the invariable retort, that " it was a poor 
 leg that would n't shape its own stocking," he seemed quite 
 contented to have the war of wits all to himself. So happy 
 was he, apparently, under this new order of things, that he 
 

 MABEL VAUGHAN. 97 
 
 seldom left the house for any great length of time, except 
 when warned away by the arrival of Mrs. Leroy, who made 
 a daily visit of hustle and inquiry, and the rattling of whose 
 flounces was usually the signal for her brother to walk off, 
 whistling an opera air. 
 
 Louise was half provoked at the contentment with which 
 Mabel submitted to a week's imprisonment; more especially as 
 she i'elt herself in some degree called upon to enliven her 
 seclusion now and then with her presence, a species of self- 
 sacrifice which she found intolerably irksome. She always 
 contrived, however, to make some plausible apology for the 
 shortness of her visits, and came and went with such graceful 
 ease, and so many affectionate inquiries and complimentary 
 messages, that Mabel was very naturally gratified by her 
 attentions, and far from disposed to question her sincerity. 
 
 But the very circumstance which repelled Mrs. Leroy, 
 opened a new source of happiness to her children, who now, 
 for the first time, began to enjoy the privileges of a grand- 
 father's house. Mabel sent for them occasionally during her 
 short illness ; and though Harry thought it a bore to have* 
 Alick poring over a book in the corner of the room, or staring 
 moodily out of the window, and aunt Sabiah was sure that 
 Murray's noise would throw Mabel into a fever-fit, these visits 
 served, on the whole, to establish natural relations between 
 the boys and the different members of the family, and to sow tho 
 seeds of that future influence which each was destined to exer- 
 cise upon all the rest. How far this experience of domestic 
 joys, with the reflections and sentiments to which it gave rise, 
 might have served to divert Mabel's mind from the enjoyments 
 of gay life, and dispose her to serious and lasting considera- 
 tions of her own responsibilities and powers, it is impossible 
 to determine ; for by the time she was restored to health, and 
 consequently to society, a new weight was added to the scale 
 of influence heretofore possessed by the outward world, and a 
 new sentiment engrossed both her intellect and heart, to the 
 exclusion of all rival claims. 
 
 Lincoln Dudley returned unexpectedly to the city, and 
 
1)8 MABEL VAUGIIAIST. 
 
 M.ibel met him under circumstances calculated to encourage 
 and increase the romantic interest she had long cherished for 
 her brother's friend. 
 
 A birth-night ball was given by one of her young friends, 
 who, not content with urging Mabel's attendance, both by note 
 and message, came herself to protest against the disappoint- 
 ment of being refused. Mabel had not been exposed to the 
 evening air since her illness, and the invitation was only ac- 
 cepted with the proviso, on the part of her father, that she 
 should not dance. Louise declared that, under such conditions, 
 it would be better to stay at home ; but Mabel, with her usual 
 amiability, was glad to gratify her friend on such easy terms. 
 
 She was surrounded by a gay group of flatterers, when she 
 first caught sight of a gentleman, who, leaning against a mantel- 
 piece with an easy and self-possessed air, appeared to be 
 leisurely scanning the assembly. Perhaps there Avas a mag- 
 netic power in those dark, dreamy eyes, for, at the moment 
 when Mabel glanced at the spot where he stood, they were 
 fixed upon her with a glance of scrutiny as well as admi- 
 ration. When she next observed him, however, he was con- 
 versing in an animated manner with a sprightly lady, who 
 evidently found great pleasure in his conversation. 
 
 Had his previous criticism of Mabel been less marked, he 
 could scarcely have failed to engage her attention, he was so 
 very unlike any one she had ever met before. His personal 
 appearance was striking, for, although scarcely of the medium 
 height, his figure was well-formed and graceful, while his atti- 
 tude and manners denoted an independence, and a freedom from 
 conventional restraint, which distinguished him amid the com- 
 pany as one who could venture to dispense with the minor rules 
 of etiquette. Nevertheless, he was courtly in his demeanor, 
 especially towards ladies, and had evidently the power of mak- 
 ing himself generally agreeable for, as Mabel continued her 
 ob ervations, she could not fail to remark the eager reception 
 which his civilities met with from persons of various ages and 
 tast s. 
 
 He soon disappeared amid the crowd, however, and the 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. i) ( J 
 
 thoughts of the city belle were once more engrossed by the 
 little thrpng of admirers who were congratulating themselves 
 upon her reappearance in society, and who remained true to 
 their allegiance, in spite of the music and dancing in an adjoin- 
 ing saloon. 
 
 Jt was with some surprise, therefore, that she felt the light 
 touch of a fan upon her shoulder, and turning, found Mrs. 
 Leroy beside her, accompanied by the stranger, who had evi- 
 dently sought Louise for the purpose of obtaining an introduc- 
 tion to her sister. 
 
 Either Louise, in her haste to return to the dance, failed to 
 pronounce his name in an audible tone, or a little confusion on 
 Mabel's part prevented her catching the sound distinctly ; at 
 all events, she remained quite in ignorance of the fact that she 
 was making the acquaintance of Dudley. 
 
 The self-possessed serenity of his manners, however, quickly 
 restored her wonted composure ; and she kne^w not how it was, 
 that before many minutes she found herself engaged in a con- 
 versation wholly free from the restraint usually consequent 
 upon an abrupt and hasty introduction. Neither did she 
 attempt to account for the fact that, one after another, even the 
 boldest among her attendant beaux retreated to the ball-room 
 or elsewhere, leaving Dudley in full possession of the field. 
 
 She only knew that she was listening to one, who, in beauty 
 of language, originality of thought, and play of fancy, was, in 
 comparison with those who had just left her side, like a being 
 of a different order in nature ; and, flattered at finding herself 
 the object of attraction to a superior mind, and inspired, per- 
 haps, by the glance of Dudley's eloquent eyes, she felt conscious 
 of mental aspirations which her intercourse with society had 
 never before awakened. Finding that she did not dance, 
 Dudley obtained a seat for her, and leaning against an opposite 
 window-frame in his wonted easy and half-indolent attitude, 
 continued to exert his own brilliant powers of conversation, at 
 the same time emboldening her, by his apparently careless 
 address, to do justice to that native grace and force of intellect 
 with which she was amply endowed. 
 
100 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Not until Mr. Leroy, who chanced to be present on this 
 occasion, came to inform her that the carriage was waiting, and 
 Louise also in readiness to depart, did she realize the length 
 of time in which she had been so agreeably entertained ; and, 
 although the acquaintance of an evening only, she could not 
 conceal from herself the satisfaction she felt at Dudley's part- 
 ing assurance that he hoped to have the pleasure of soon seeing 
 her again. 
 
 Harry, contrary to expectation, had not made his appear- 
 ance ; detained, as it proved, by some friends whom he met at 
 his club; and it was not until the next day at dinner that Mabel 
 had any opportunity to speak to him concerning the occurrences 
 of the evening. Her communications then were somewhat 
 involuntary, and only drawn from her by pointed questions on 
 his part. He compelled her at length, however, to acknowledge 
 the new acquaintance she had formed, and even drew her on 
 to give a somewhat minute description of the individual. After 
 amusing himself with her conjectures concerning him, and es- 
 pecially her suspicion that he must be a poet, because he had 
 dark eyes, was guilty of long hair, and some little eccentricities 
 of dress, and was, moreover, very agreeable, he astonished her 
 with the abrupt remark, "In a word, you have seen Lincoln 
 Dudley, and the satisfaction seems to be mutual." 
 
 A glow of delighted surprise overspread Mabel's face at the 
 first part of Harry's announcement, while a quickly succeeding 
 blush betrayed her sensibility to Dudley's good opinion. Aunt 
 Sabiah at once became interested to learn Mabel's opinion of 
 one who had impressed her most favorably. Mr. Vaughan 
 had some curiosity concerning Harry's friend, and Harry him- 
 self was disposed to ply Mabel with further questions. 
 
 But Mabel perseveringly evaded all inquiries, and at length 
 contrived to change the topic of conversation. It continued 
 none the less the subject of her thoughts, however. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no flattery to which a young girl is so 
 susceptible, as that of finding herself an object of interest to a 
 man some years her senior, possessed of a superior mind, and, 
 moreover, one of the most popular and influential members of 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 101 
 
 the society in which she moves. More especially is this the 
 case, when natural refinement of thought and feeling have 
 fitted he'r for the enjoyment of more elevated and intellectual 
 pleasures than those which are ordinarily furnished in the 
 world of fashion. Even Louise, and the frivolous set with 
 which she had entire sympathy, felt the honor which Mr. 
 Dudley's attentions were capable of conferring, and diligently 
 strove to attain them ; for his social standing was as confirmed 
 as his abilities were acknowledged. How much more highly, 
 then, might Mabel be expected to appreciate the man, who 
 satisfied at once the demands of the most select circles, and 
 inspired that mvoluntary respect which youth is ever ready to 
 offer at the shrine of genius. 
 
 Dudley's genius, indeed, was of a most universal character. 
 Educated mostly abroad, passing rapidly from one school of 
 knowledge to another, viewing European society in all its 
 phases, and profiting by opportunities which are open to but 
 few, he had become cosmopolitan in his habits, artistic in his 
 tastes, completely versed in the knowledge of society, and 
 everywhere fitted to shine. Those who knew him best de- 
 clared him qualified for success in whatever profession he 
 might adopt; but, although now nearly thirty years of age, his 
 choice was yet undetermined. 
 
 Thus, at the time of his introduction to Mabel, he was still a 
 gentleman of leisure, enjoying a moderate income, which was 
 sufficient for the wants of one who, though fastidious and lux- 
 urious in his mode of life, was not disposed to reckless extrav- 
 agance, and whose weight and influence in society were, strange 
 to say, wholly independent of wealth. 
 
 We shall soon see the effect which this uncommon influence 
 had power to produce upon the young and enthusiastic Mabel. 
 
 Her acquaintance with him ripened rapidly. His intimacy 
 with Harry, and the certainty of a cordial reception at Mr. 
 Vaughan's house, would alone have favored this. But, al- 
 though he frequently made one of their family circle at dinner, 
 and was received at all hours with the familiarity of a privi- 
 leged guest, these were not the only occasions which afforded 
 
 9* 
 
102 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 him the opportunity of exciting Mabel's interest, and winning 
 her confidence. She met him everywhere in society ; and his 
 singular powers of fascination were never more successfully 
 exercised than when, amid the distractions of a crowded assem- 
 bly, he would now and then seek her side, and, for a longer or 
 shorter time, as the case might be, enchain her thoughts, en- 
 kindle her imagination, or excite her merriment, by drawing 
 upon his seemingly inexhaustible stores of information, poetry, 
 wit, and satire. He never danced ; and from the period of 
 Mabel's introduction to him her love of this amusement became 
 less engrossing. Not that he sought to win her from gayer 
 pleasures by the charm of his conversation, or strove to monop- 
 olize any considerable portion of her time. On the contrary, 
 he had too much delicacy and tact to make his attentions con- 
 ppicuous ; and his preference and admiration were only to be 
 inferred from the eagerness and self-gratulation with which 
 he availed himself of those accidental opportunities which 
 chance or good fortune might throw in his way. 
 
 But, while Mabel's general popularity continued undiminish- 
 ed, and she was still the ornament and life of the ball-room, 
 her face was never animated by a more brilliant glow than 
 when, owing to a pause in the music, or a casual movement 
 among the company, she found herself released from her recent 
 partner in the dance, and brought within the magic influence 
 which Dudley's musical voice and eloquent eye had power to 
 exercise upon her imaginative spirit. 
 
 All the other events of the evening might well serve to 
 minister to her vanity and self-love, but these little episodes 
 had a deeper significance, and produced a more subtle and 
 lasting effect upon her heart and life. 
 
 A new ambition, as well as a new sentiment, had been sud- 
 denly awakened ; and the young girl, who a month before could 
 scarcely credit the triumph which had placed her beyond the 
 rivalry of fashionable competitors, now felt a deeper thrill of 
 gratified pride as she became conscious of those more ennobling 
 gifts, which caused her to be appreciated by a man of rare 
 cultivation and fastidious taste. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 103 
 
 A fresh impulse was thus given to mental powers which had 
 hitherto lain dormant; and although the routine of her daily 
 lif<; underwent little change, a close observer might detect many 
 an indication of the new direction which had been given to her 
 motives and aims, and the unwonted interest which was im- 
 parted to every scene in which Dudley played a part. 
 
 And while the charm which his presence exercised in the 
 gayer circles effectually vanquished the hesitation with which 
 she resumed her round of fashionable engagements, the ascend- 
 ency of his empire over her thoughts was no less perceptible 
 in her moments of retirement and meditation. The topics on 
 which he had awakened her interest became the subject of 
 after thought ; the books from which he had quoted, frequently 
 lay open upon her dressing-table, and the little apartment so 
 choicely furnished by Harry was frequently resorted to for the 
 more careful study of those works of art which possessed the 
 merit of having been selected by Dudley. 
 
 Mr. Vaughan, who had been over-anxious on account of his 
 daughter's health, felt too deep a satisfaction in her entire resto- 
 ration to complain of his deserted fire-side, and patiently betook 
 himself to the usual resource afforded by his papers and charts. 
 Harry, at first gratified by his friend's evident admiration of 
 his sister, began at length to weary of the subordinate part 
 which he filled in relation to them both, and occasionally, in 
 the domestic circle as well as the public assembly, would quietly 
 absent himself from their society, without being much missed 
 by either party. Miss Sabiah, whose prejudices were all in 
 Dudley's favor, forbore to utter any reproaches at the thought- 
 less and unintentional neglect which sometimes fell to her lot, 
 and fostered her niece's growing preference by the unqualified 
 praise which she bestowed upon its object. 
 
 What wonder, then, that Mabel, unquestioned, unchecked, 
 and unwarned, lent herself without fear or doubt to the emo- 
 tion of the hour ? "What wonder if he, whom all the world 
 admired as the scholar, the poet, and the wit, became in her 
 eyes the noble, the generous, the true, and the disinterested 
 man which he should have been, but which, alas! he was not? 
 
104 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 "With all his varied acquisitions, his knowledge, taste, 
 culture and refinement, with all his appreciation of the beau- 
 tiful, both in art and nature, and all the seeming fairness of a 
 reputation which knew no stain, there yet lurked within the 
 well-springs of his being a secret but fatal poison, dwarfing all 
 his higher purposes, and blighting all his nobler hopes. 
 
 Free from all outward forms of vice, he had, nevertheless, 
 no true love of virtue ; bowing at the shrine of female loveli- 
 ness, he had no high faith in woman ; and scorning the world in 
 which he lived, he had no power to rise above it. 
 
 Early distrust of all things good had palsied the noblest 
 gifts of nature ; and the life which might have been a blessing 
 to mankind had thus far proved a failure. 
 
 And shall Mabel's trusting heart be exposed to this chilling 
 influence? Shall the young mind yearning for truth and 
 knowledge share the sophistries of a perverted intellect ? Shall 
 the soul open to great and lasting impressions find all its gen- 
 erous aspirations quenched in the cold reasoning of a false 
 experience ? 
 
 Ambition, self-love, pride of heart, a deceived imagination, 
 and a host of worldly allies, will urge her on in the dangerous 
 path which her feet seem doomed to tread. But one shall 
 meet them by the way, a childlike form, clad in holy faith, 
 who shall oppose them with the gentle might of an humble 
 heart, a pure life, and a whispered prayer. Unequal seems 
 the contest, but it is God who giveth the victory. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A thousand pretty ways we'll find 
 
 To mock old Winter's starving reign ; 
 
 "We '11 dress his withered cheeks in flowers, 
 
 And on his smooth bald head 
 
 Fantastic garlands bind. MRS. BARKAULB. 
 
 ABOUT a fortnight after the period of Dudley's return to the 
 city, the patience of Miss Vanghan and the good nature of the 
 whole family were put to a somewhat severe test, by an instance 
 of Mabel's generous but inconsiderate hospitality. 
 
 Some children, at the same hotel where Mrs. Leroy resided, 
 were seized with a prevailing epidemic, and Mabel, hearing 
 her sister complain of a circumstance which threatened the 
 health of the boys, cordially urged their coming to their grand- 
 father's, to remain until the danger of infection should have 
 passed. The little fellows were delighted to exchange the 
 restrictions of the nursery for the freedom they enjoyed in Mr. 
 Vaughan's spacious house, and their mother was only too eager 
 to take advantage of a proposal which freed her from a most 
 unwelcome responsibility. They came at once, therefore, 
 accompanied by Lydia Hope, who, in spite of her abrupt dis- 
 missal, still continued in Mrs. Leroy's service. Louise's tem- 
 per being always subservient to her selfish convenience, 
 Murray's pleadings had scarcely been needed to induce her to 
 retain in her employment a girl of such unquestioned capability 
 as Lydia ; and although it was only by the exercise of great 
 self-control that the latter could receive her mistress' conces- 
 sion in a becoming spirit of gratitude and humility, she felt 
 amply repaid for the effort, in the opportunity now afforded her 
 of spending some weeks in the home of her youthful bene- 
 factress. 
 
106 MABKL VAUGHAN. 
 
 This invasion of the domestic peace was, at first, endured 
 with a very good grace by the whole household ; but Murray's 
 riotous behavior, and Alick's dogged obstinacy, soon gave rise 
 to difficulty and disturbance. Mr. Vaughan escaped the annoy- 
 ance by shutting himself up in his library, and Harry, after 
 amusing himself awhile by sharing the boys' noisy sports, 
 exciting their spirits, and often involving them in quarrelsome 
 disputes, would hurry out of the house, leaving others to reap 
 the fruits of the mischief which he had sown. Miss Sabiah 
 and the much tornicLced servants were the chief sufferers from 
 the introduction of these unruly and rebellious inmates ; for 
 Mabel, when not engrossed with other objects, seldom failed to 
 find pleasure in the companionship of her young guests. It 
 was true, she was often called upon to quiet the disputes and 
 reconcile the disagreements which were continually arising, 
 but she had a happy, careless way of settling every vexed 
 question to the satisfaction of all parties ; and by a mingling of 
 kindness and authority she contrived to exercise a certain 
 degree of government over her little nephews. 
 
 This restraining influence was due, in part, to the respect 
 which her consistent truthfulness inspired in children who had 
 hitherto been subjected to a system of artifice and bribery, and 
 still more to the cordial interest with which she occasionally 
 entered into their plans and participated in their enjoyments ; 
 for, preoccupied as her mind might be, nothing could dispel 
 her earnest love of childhood and her sympathy in its pleasures. 
 
 Thus a long-talked-of sleigh-ride, to which the boys had been 
 looking forward from the commencement of the winter, was 
 anticipated with scarcely less zest by Mabel ; and the snow- 
 storm, which was its precursor, was hailed by her, as well as 
 by the children, with unfeigned satisfaction. 
 
 It commenced falling at dusk, and the next morning the en- 
 tire city was decked in a rich garb of white, untrodden snow, 
 which certainly presented a tempting prospect to pleasure-seek- 
 ers, of all ages. Before noon, Broadway and the principal 
 avenues were thronged with sleighs of every shape and hue, 
 which, with their joyous occupants and eager, prancing horses, 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 107 
 
 gave to the scene the aspect of a Carnival; while among the 
 many rich and gorgeous equipages, none was to be seen more 
 graceful i its style, or more complete in its appointments 
 than that which contained the happy, blooming Mabel and her 
 triumphant and excited little companions. 
 
 They glided rapidly up and down the principal thorough- 
 fares, threading a swift course among the crowd of huge, 
 open omnibuses, gay with decorations and laden with passen- 
 gers ; fashionable turn-outs, with liveried servants, and rich 
 draperies of fur ; miniature boats, drawn by fast horses, and 
 driven by fast young men ; in a word, vehicles of all descrip- 
 tions, and every grade of pretension, thus suddenly introduced 
 upon the scene of action, and rivalling one another in beauty, 
 grotesqueness, display, or speed. 
 
 " See ! " cried Murray, springing to his feet in the enthusi- 
 asm of his joy, " there 's mamma, with Miss Vannecker, in Mr. 
 Earle's new sleigh. Drive faster, Donald ! " shouted he to the 
 coachman, " drive faster, and see if we can 't beat those gray 
 horses ahead !" and as they dashed gaily past Mrs. Leroy's 
 party, and, one after another, distanced all competitors, Mabel 
 was obliged to grasp the arm of the excited child, lest in the 
 exuberance of his spirits he should lose his balance and be 
 thrown from the sleigh. 
 
 " Look, aunt Mabel," exclaimed the equally observing, but 
 more composed Alick, " look at that beautiful little white sea- 
 shell that seems to be cutting through foam ; the wolf's robe, 
 the horse, and even the harness, as white as the snow rtself. 
 Oh, that is the handsomest of all ! Mr. Dudley is driving, and 
 he sees us, I am sure he does, he is trying to catch up ! " 
 
 " But he can 't ? " cried Murray, whose attention was attract- 
 ed by this new rival, " I '11 bet he can 't beat our bays, won't 
 you, aunt Mabel ? " 
 
 " He will, though," said Alick, who was carefully measuring 
 the chances. 
 
 Mabel's heightened color and kindling eye betokened the 
 interest with which she watched the race, but she was far 
 from sharing Murray's disappointment when the snow-white 
 
108 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 steed gradually gained upon them ; and if she experienced 
 any mortification, at the consciousness of approaching defeat, 
 there certainly was no evidence of it in the brilliant smiles 
 with which she welcomed Dudley, as the little equipage finally 
 came alongside. 
 
 The latter, on his part, seemed indisposed to make any show 
 of success ; but, satisfied with having thus achieved a parallel 
 position, continued, in spite of obstacles, to maintain it for some 
 minutes; a species of compromise which, flattering and agreea- 
 ble as it might be to Mabel, was far otherwise to her impetu- 
 ous little nephew, who, still anxious to achieve a victory, per- 
 sisted in exclaiming to the coachman, " Hurry up, Donald ! 
 whip 'em up ! " 
 
 The man, however, who read a contradictory order in the 
 expression of his mistress' countenance, as she responded to 
 Dudley's congratulation upon the pleasures of the day, forbore 
 pressing his horses to the top of their speed, a fact of which 
 Murray soon became conscious. " See here, Al ! " exclaimed 
 he, after an interval which he had occupied in clumsily mould- 
 ing a snow-ball, for which a huge drift furnished the material, 
 "I'll make 'em go!" Then, watching an opportunity when 
 Mabel was most deeply engrossed with some object to which 
 Dudley had directed her attention, he raised himself upon the 
 front seat, and flung his missile at the head of one of the 
 horses. His aim proved as accurate as its effect was instanta- 
 neous. The spirited and startled animal gave one 'wild 
 lea}), then dashed suddenly forward ; and the panic being thus 
 communicated to its mate, the pair were, in an instant more, 
 rushing madly down the wide avenue, clearing for themselves 
 a passage through the quickly-parting throng of vehicles, but 
 utterly beyond the control or guidance of the coachman. 
 
 Meanwhile, in another part of the city, and under circum- 
 stances of a wholly different character, a pair of watchful, 
 thoughtful eyes were busily engaged in scanning the various 
 individuals and scenes which came within the scope of the ob- 
 server's vision. It was a limited prospect, of no very inviting na- 
 ture ; but, such as it was, little Rose Hope had found in it ma- 
 
MABEL YAUGIIAN. 109 
 
 tcriul for thought and study during many a long year. The 
 dingy shop, which constituted her mother's principal support, 
 was situated in a narrow street, and the floor of the sunken 
 building was considerably below the level of the sidewalk. 
 Thus, the cheerful sun, which rose behind the house, and set 
 behind that on the opposite side of the street, never found its 
 way into the close, cellar-like apartment where the Widow 
 Hope sold needles, tape, and various other articles of trifling 
 value, including candy of her own manufacture. 
 
 There were two windows to this room, both fronting the street. 
 One contained samples of the widow's scanty stock in trade, 
 arranged and re-arranged many times a year, for the purpose 
 of producing a more marked effect upon her patrons, but sel- 
 dom diminished by an active custom, or increased by dint of 
 surplus capital. A few cards of buttons, discolored by expos- 
 ure, or soiled by time ; a few clay pipes, in an earthen mug, 
 which had long been deficient in a handle ; with here and there 
 a paper of pins, a skein of coarse thread, or a last year's alma- 
 nac, sufficed to give the public an intimation of what might be 
 found within. 
 
 Besides these articles of positive significance, there were 
 some little attempts at ornament, which should not be omitted, 
 as they constituted the more marked tokens of Mrs. Hope's 
 establishment. These were two clumsy wooden figures, the 
 one representing a parrot, gorgeous in green and yellow paint, 
 which, in aristocratic and proud disdain of its unworthy sur- 
 roundings, seemed to challenge the passer-by to remove it to a 
 more congenial sphere ; the other, a laughing, portly, old sailor, 
 who, with his hands on his sides, and his feet in the position 
 for commencing a hornpipe, appeared resolved to be jolly, in 
 spite of circumstances. 
 
 But the parrot had maintained its dignity, and the sailor his 
 light-heartedness, for years, without this commendable perse- 
 verance having won a purchaser for either. 
 
 These decorations were hung out as symbols for the public 
 generally ; but for the immediate neighborhood, the opposite 
 and ungarnished window had a deeper and far more impressive 
 
 10 
 
110 MABEL VAUGFIAN. 
 
 moaning ; for here might invariably be seen the little arm- 
 chair of the invalid child, whose emaciated face was as famil- 
 iar as the day, to every individual who frequented the narrow 
 street. 
 
 Few w r ere so indifferent, so thoughtless, or so hurried, as to 
 pass the widow's shop without bestowing a kindly glance upon 
 one who was the object of universal love and compassion. 
 Little children, on their way to school, paused a moment to 
 look smilingly up at the well-known window, assured of an 
 answering smile in return ; old women pressed their faces 
 against the glass and spoke a word of inquiry or kindness ; 
 and hard-faced men assumed a softened air while they ex- 
 changed some friendly signal with Rosy. Or if, as was some- 
 times the case, the arm-chair was vacant for a day, many an eye 
 missed the little invalid from her accustomed place, and peer- 
 ing anxiously into the room beyond, wondered how it fared 
 with the child. 
 
 Thus, a good understanding had come to subsist between 
 Rose and the humble neighborhood in which she lived ; and, 
 who shall measure the priceless value of that chain of tender, 
 though often unspoken friendships, which the force of human 
 sympathy had wrought from out the hard material of busy life ? 
 
 More numerous than usual were the tokens of pleasure and 
 congratulation which greeted her on the morning after the 
 snow-storm. For some days past she had been absent from 
 the window, confined to her bed in the little room behind the 
 shop ; but this bright morning found her better, and her re-ap- 
 pearance was observed and hailed with general satisfaction. 
 
 The men who were removing the snow from the sidewalks, 
 paused now and then, and leaning on their shovels looked up, 
 as if to bespeak her approbation of their work ; the women 
 who came out with their pitchers to meet the noisy milk-boy, 
 nodded a kindly good-morning, as they caught sight of her 
 welcome countenance ; and the milk-boy himself, despite his 
 somewhat surly countenance, forbore the customary harsh cry 
 as he paused at the shop door, and patiently awaited the widow's 
 coming, whistling in the meantime a popular air, and glancing 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. Ill 
 
 good-naturedly up at Rosy, as he thrashed his arms to and fro 
 to keep himself warm. 
 
 These and many other familiar greetings were responded to 
 by Rose, with her usual touching smile ; but now and then 
 some simple incident served to call up a deeper glow of ani- 
 mation or pleasure. Such was the appearance of a little deaf 
 and dumb child, who was in the habit of daily presenting him- 
 self at her window, tapping on the glass to attract attention, 
 then making various gesticulations of delight when Rose feigned 
 a sudden surprise at seeing him, and whose happiness on this 
 morning, reached its climax upon his being summoned within 
 to receive a bit of crisp, brown candy, which she had begged 
 for him from her mother. The Mttle fellow was one of Rose's 
 most devoted friends ; and, among those with whom she had 
 never exchanged a word, he had but one rival to her partiality. 
 This was a tall and rosy-faced youth, the driver of a heavy 
 team, which, punctual to a moment, might be regularly seen 
 emerging from beneath an opposite arch-way. 
 
 On the present occasion the passage was so much impeded 
 by snow as to create some doubt in Rosy's mind, whether the 
 young teamster might not be deterred from venturing forth to 
 his daily duties. But no ; just as the clock struck eight, the 
 spirited leader appeared in sight, flinging the snow like powder 
 from his hoofs, and tossing his wavy mane as if in defiance of 
 obstacles. The sun, which never shone on Rosy's side ot the 
 street, was reflected in glittering rays from the brazen knobs 
 that ornamented the head-piece and bridle of the noble animal 
 and which, thickly set and polished to the last degree, dangled 
 and glistened like a dandy's watch-chain. Not a whit less 
 proud were the step and bearing of the shaft-horse, a fit com- 
 panion and a perfect match to the tall and well-shaped leader ; 
 and both, in truth, formed a striking contrast to the broken- 
 down and half-starved hacks which performed most of the 
 draught labor of the city. Rose had watched and hailed their 
 approach for so many successive days and months, that she nad 
 come to feel a sort of ownership in the handsome pair ; a senti- 
 ment which acted, perhaps, as a bond of sympathy between her 
 
112 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 and their smart young driver, who took no small pride in their 
 fine forms, glossy coats, and perfect training. There was some- 
 thing healthy and cheery about the whole establishment, and 
 especially in the ruddy face of the teamster, who, standing up- 
 right and firm, issued punctually from beneath the archway, a 
 fit type of honest labor coming forth to its daily toil. 
 
 The horses always made their exit with a slow and stately 
 pace, but the moment they gained the street the lad would 
 crack his long cart-whip, with a sound which made the neigh- 
 borhood ring, but which was a token of his coming intended for 
 Rosy's ear, if one might judge by his cheerful smile and wave 
 of the hand in the direction of her window, while the horses, 
 which seldom suffered from the application of the lash, pricked 
 up their ears as if at the sound of music, and broke into a brisk 
 and voluntary trot. 
 
 To Rosy, who had no opportunity of seeing the costly equi- 
 pages which were thronging the great avenues of the city, and 
 the courteous salutations which were being exchanged in the 
 world of fashion, there was nothing more imposing than the 
 bearing of these working steeds, nothing more truly kind and 
 courtly than the demeanor of her assured friend, the healthy 
 and robust teamster. 
 
 The passage of this and many similar vehicles, however, of 
 clumsy construction, and moving on wheels in defiance of the 
 snow, soon had the effect of marring the purity and roughening 
 the surface of the streets in this, the business quarter of the city, 
 and the view became gradually less fair to the eye than even on 
 ordinary occasions. The day was wearing towards noon, and 
 Rosy's eyes, dazzled by the snow and weary from past sleep- 
 lessness, were closed in momentary slumber, when she was 
 startled by a rushing noise, accompanied by the sound of bells 
 in rapid motion, and a sudden cry of alarm. In a moment 
 more a pair of unmanageable horses might be seen rushing 
 furiously down the street, dragging after them a light but richly 
 ornamented sleigh, gay with showy trappings and the rich 
 dresses of its occupants. It was in vain that the skilful coach- 
 man endeavored to guide the frightened animals, which bound- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 113 
 
 cd forward in uncontrolled terror, threatening the destruction 
 of the whole party. As they approached the widow's shop 
 their driver made a final effort to check their progress, by 
 turning them suddenly under the opposite arch-way, but the 
 attempt was ineffectual ; they bounded aside, bringing one of 
 the runners of the sleigh upon a heap of bricks which lay, just 
 beyond the sidewalk, deceitfully covered with snow, and the 
 vehicle was at once overturned. Fortunately, however, for its 
 inmates, they were all, with the exception of the coachman, who 
 still clung tc his reins, thrown upon a soft snow-bank in front 
 of the shop door, and thus escaped wholly uninjured. 
 
 A young lady, who was no other than Mabel, was upon her 
 feet in an instant, and, without pausing to shake the snow from 
 her garments, she hastened to the assistance of Murray, vho, 
 half buried in snow, was screaming lustily, but making no effort 
 to rise. Alick, however, who had, from the first moment of 
 alarm, shown a manly degree of courage and composure, had 
 already dashed the snow from his own clothes and bounded off 
 to recover Mabel's muff, which was tossed to some little dis- 
 tance, and the ostrich feather, which had escaped from Murray's 
 hat, and was borne by a gust of wind rapidly down the street. 
 
 " Why, what a splendid fall we have had, and how beauti- 
 fully we came down in the snow, didn't we, Murray?" ex- 
 Maimed Mabel, speaking in a gay tone for the encouragement 
 of her little nephew, and at the same time lifting him from his 
 soft resting-place to the side-walk ; then, as he still continued 
 to cry so loudly as to attract the attention of a crowd of 
 people who were rapidly collecting around the scene of the 
 accident, she hastily lifted the latch of the widow Hope's door, 
 hesitating whether or not to seek shelter within. At the same 
 moment she caught sight of Rosy, looking eagerly from the 
 window and beckoning, as if inviting them to enter. This 
 hospitable indication decided her ; and, leading Murray by 
 the hand, and calling to Alick to follow, she stepped quickly 
 into the shop, too quickly, indeed, for, in her haste, she 
 failed to perceive the little step downward from the side-walk, 
 and would have fallen but for the support afforded by the 
 10* 
 
114 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 door-latch, while Murray, startled by the loud ringing of the 
 shop bell, and stumbling at the unexpected descent, was thrown 
 head-foremost upon the floor. This inauspicious entrance 
 alarmed the widow Hope, whose slow movements now brought 
 her upon the scene, where her offers of assistance proved very 
 acceptable. The little party indeed, in spite of their recent 
 deliverance from danger, were in a somewhat deplorable con- 
 dition. Murray was, in reality, slightly bruised by his second 
 fall, and, although he could scarcely cry any louder than he had 
 done before, he made as much tumult as possible, and required 
 all Mabel's attention. It was almost unconsciously, therefore, 
 that the latter was relieved of her cloak, now dripping with the 
 fast melting snow, and it was not until the child was somewhat 
 quitted that she even thought of attempting to remove her 
 delicate gloves, which, thoroughly soaked, were clinging obsti- 
 nately to her half-frozen fingers. Her bonnet, also, was so 
 crushed as to be almost shapeless, Murray had lost a shoe, 
 and Alick, although he made no complaint, had grazed his knee 
 against the pavement, which he had struck in falling. 
 
 These causes of discomfiture, trifling as they were, created 
 no little excitement in the contracted limits which the shop 
 afforded ; and for some minutes a general confusion prevailed, 
 of which Rose was a silent spectator, her infirmities disabling 
 her from being of any service. A chair was at length prcP 
 cured from the back room for Mabel, who, disencumbered of 
 bonnet and cloak, soon made herself quite at home, with Mur- 
 ray sitting on her knee, and now gradually becoming soothed 
 and quiet. Alick declined a low seat which was offered him, 
 and, stationing himself directly opposite Rose, stood gazing at 
 her with unmistakable wonder and curiosity. 
 
 Mabel's only anxiety now was for the safety of the coach- 
 man, who soon, however, appeared at the door unharmed, but 
 presenting a rueful countenance, as he informed her that his 
 master's sleigh lay an utter wreck upon the sidewalk. 
 
 " No matter, Donald/' answered Mabel promptly, " since we 
 are all safe." 
 
MABEL VAUGITAN. 115 
 
 " But what shall be clone, Miss Mabel?" inquired the man; 
 " how will you get home ? " 
 
 " What has become of the horses?" asked Mabel, with diffi- 
 
 
 
 enlty restraining a smile at the man's utterly disconcerted 
 countenance. 
 
 " They are just at the end of the street, Miss, at a poor kind 
 of a livery, but there isn't a sleigh to be had hereabouts none, 
 sartain, that would be fit for you and the young gentlemen. 
 I 'm afeard Mr. Harry will be a good deal disappinted, Miss, 
 when he sees what a smash-up we 've had down yonder." 
 
 " O, never mind that," said Mabel, good-naturedly ; " you 
 did the best you could, Donald. Mr. Harry will be only too 
 glad to see us home in safety. " And having learned that the 
 horses were uninjured, and quite sobered from their recent 
 fright, she suggested that Donald should lead them back to 
 their stable, inform the family of what had occurred, and return 
 with the carriage for herself and the boys. 
 
 The man hesitated, expressed a fear that it would take a 
 long time to accomplish this, especially as wheels would not 
 run well on the snow ; and at the same time, looked around 
 the dark shop, as if he considered it a very unworthy place of 
 refuge for his young mistress; but Mabel, understanding the 
 look, declared herself quite content to remain in her present 
 quarters during whatever time might be required ; " That is," 
 continued she, turning with true courtesy to Mrs. Hope, " if 
 our good friend will give us permission to stay so long." 
 
 The pale, rigid features of the widow assumed an expres- 
 sion that might be pronounced sincere, if not positively cor- 
 dial, as, in answer to this appeal, she expressed in a few words 
 her desire to accommodate, and make them as comfortable as 
 possible in so poor a place. 
 
 Thus assured, Mabel dismissed the man, calling to him, how- 
 ever, just as he was leaving the shop, and adding, " Donald, 
 tell Lydia that I should like to have her come in the carriage ; 
 and ask her to bring a pair of shoes for Murray, and my cloth 
 cloak." 
 
 " Mother," exclaimed Rose, drawing a deep breath the, mo- 
 
116 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 ment the door was closed, and speaking as if giving vent to 
 suppressed feeling, " Mother, it is her ! it 's Miss Mabel ! " 
 
 Mabel turned and looked at the sick child in utter astonish- 
 ment at this unexpected recognition. 
 
 " Aunty," said Alick, approaching Mabel's side and speaking 
 in a whisper, " I should n't wonder if that girl was Rose 
 Lydia's sister Hose." 
 
 " What makes you think so ? " asked Mabel, speaking aloud 
 and glancing at Rose as she spoke. 
 
 " I know it is," answered Alick, confirming the remark by a 
 confident nodding of his head ; " she 's just so little, and sick 
 and good, and sits all day in an arm-chair with a pillow in it." 
 
 Mabel rose and moved her seat nearer to that of Rose, at 
 the same time displacing Murray from her knee. "Alick 
 thinks," said she, laying her hand on the arm of Rose's chair, 
 " that this is little Rose Hope ; and I begin to think so, too," 
 added she, observing the ray of pleasure which overspread 
 Rosy's face at her words. 
 
 The fact certainly needed no other confirmation than that 
 expressed in the little invalid's countenance, as she discovered 
 the recognition to be mutual. " Only think," exclaimed she to 
 her mother, who w r as incredulously surveying her visitors, " of 
 my seeing Miss Mabel ! What will Lyddy say ? O, Mother ! 
 what will she say when she comes in the carriage ! " 
 
 Mabel, amused and gratified at the child's enthusiasm, has- 
 tened to express her own sense of the good fortune which had 
 brought her to the shop of Lydia's mother, and won that 
 mother's heart by the friendly interest with which she spoke of 
 her daughter's capability and faithfulness. 
 
 Meantime Alick, contrary to his usual custom with strangers, 
 entered into eager conversation with Rose, betraying, in a 
 rapid series of questions, a knowledge of the sick child's tastes, 
 habits, and character, which, together with his unwonted socia- 
 bility, astonished Mabel, who was unaware of the interest 
 which Lydia's description of her sister had awakened in the 
 mind of the thoughtful boy. 
 
 " Is that your slate ? " asked he, glancing at one which Jay 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 117 
 
 on the wide window-sill, and whose well-worn frame and scanty 
 bit of pencil attested the frequency of its use ; " and is this 
 wlmt has been sold to-day ? " he added, pointing to a neat list 
 of figures in 'one corner. Then, having received an affirmative 
 reply to both inquiries, he continued, " That 's your big Bible 
 it 's a real old one, is 'nt it ? But here 's a cunning little 
 book," and he eagerly seized her " Daily Food," which was 
 seldom absent from her side, and opening at the first page 
 commenced reading, but seemed disappointed in its contents, 
 as he quickly threw it aside and looked about him for other 
 objects of interest. 
 
 " Don't trouble the little girl, Alick," interposed Mabel, who 
 was struck with Rose's pallor and evident feebleness; "you 
 must remember she is sick and will not like to be tired with 
 questions." 
 
 " O, no, no ! he will not tire me," said Rose, disclaiming such 
 a possibility with an earnestness which seemed to beseech Ma- 
 bel not to repress his curiosity. 
 
 Alick's eye now fell upon a rough wooden box, upon which 
 he pounced with an eagerness that denoted a knowledge of its 
 contents. "These are the jack-straws, ar'n't they?" said he, 
 looking inquiringly in Rose's face, as he vainly tried to remove 
 the cover. 
 
 Rose assured him that he was right, and taking the box from 
 his hand, she slid aside its ingenious fastening, and emptied the 
 neat little articles upon the window sill for his easier inspection. 
 
 Alick had jack-straws of his own, but they did not compare 
 with Rosy's in variety, number, or neatness of finish. " Here 's 
 the bow ! " exclaimed he, as if he recognized a familiar object, 
 " it 's finished, and it's a beauty! But where is the arrow? 
 has n't Jack made the arrow yet ? " 
 
 " Ye?, he made one last evening," answered Rose ; " but it 
 was too slender, and it got broken ; I guess he '11 make another 
 to-night." 
 
 Murray's attention was by this time attracted. He had 
 hitherto stood at a distance, out of humor and disdainful, but 
 he now came forward a few steps, and leaning on Mabel's 
 
11 a MABEL VAUQHAN. 
 
 knee, stood on tiptoe and peered over Alick's shoulder at the 
 toys. Rose perceived the motion, and, gently drawing aside, 
 made room for him between herself and the window. Alick 
 was disposed to keep him at a distance and engross the enjoy- 
 ment of the jack-straws, but yielded at once to Rose's gentle 
 remonstrance, " Let Murray see, too, Alick." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 No mortal doth know 
 
 What he can bestow, 
 What light, strength, and comfort do after him go ; 
 
 Lo ! onward I move, 
 
 And, but Christ above, 
 None gue.sses how wondrous the journey will prove. 
 
 GAMBOLD. 
 
 A BRISK conversation, consisting for the most part of ques- 
 tions and answers, was now maintained between the three chil- 
 dren ; Rose every now and then stealing a glance at Mabel, 
 who was observing the little trio with evident interest. Mrs. 
 Hope had returned to some employment in the kitchen, which 
 had been interrupted by the arrival of her visitors, and Mabel 
 sat quietly watching the progress of this singular intercourse 
 between the children, responding to Rose's occasional glances 
 by a smile of approval and encouragement. She would gladly 
 have taken part in the conversation and expressed in some 
 way her sympathy with Rosy's misfortunes, but she found her- 
 self disconcerted at the first attempt, being utterly at a loss 
 how to treat a child whose serious gravity inspired a respect 
 scarcely warranted by her years, and the patient contentment 
 of whose countenance forbade the pity which her infirmities 
 would otherwise have awakened. So she left it to the boys to 
 draw out the singular characteristics of their novel acquaint- 
 ance, an office for which they proved themselves amply com- 
 petent. 
 
 Rose explained to them the use of various articles of which 
 the jack-straws furnished models, interesting the boys by the 
 clearness of her descriptions, and astonishing Mabel by the 
 intelligence they displayed. Things which could never, by 
 
120 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 any possibility, have come within the sick child's observation 
 gardening utensils, carpenters and joiners' tools, and even com- 
 plicated pieces of machinery, were explained and their pur- 
 poses illustrated, with a force and accuracy which fascinated 
 the attention of Alick, and even imparted information to Mabel, 
 while Murray stood leaning on Rose's knee in a listening atti- 
 tude, his eyes fixed reverently on the face of their youthful 
 entertainer, who sat winding his long glossy curls around her 
 thin and wasted fingers. 
 
 It was certainly an incongruous group thus assembled in the 
 widow's shop. The sons of wealth, in gay attire and radiant 
 with health and vitality, drinking in knowledge at the feet of 
 one who, reared in poverty, wasted by disease, and isolated 
 from the world, formed a no less striking contrast to her youth- 
 ful listeners, from the superiority of her mental powers. 
 
 Perhaps Mabel felt conscious of the mortifying deficiencies 
 in her sister's children, for she asked herself, for the first time, 
 how it happened that the boys had never been sent to school, 
 and had been suffered to remain in such deplorable ignorance. 
 
 That they were not destitute of intellect, however, was evi- 
 dent from the interest which they both manifested in Rosy's 
 engaging conversation; and the subjects to which the jackstraws 
 had given rise, might have engrossed the whole period of their 
 stay, had not their attention been at length attracted by another 
 object. 
 
 A sudden movement caused Alick to hit his head against a 
 sharp corner, and looking up he espied Rosy's engraving, 
 which, removed from the little bed-room, hung against the 
 window frame. He immediately claimed acquaintance with 
 it. " Your picture ! " cried he, " the picture of little pilgrim 
 and the angels ! Let me see it do ! Lydia has told me 
 about that ; " and he stretched forth his hand to snatch it from 
 the nail where it hung. It was beyond his reach, however, 
 and Mabel, after asking Rose's consent, assisted him in taking 
 it down, and placing it in an upright position on the window 
 sill. 
 
 As she did so she observed the chaste richness of its oval 
 
MABEt VAUGHAN. 121 
 
 frame ; and when she resumed her seat, and for the first time 
 saw the picture in a good light, she was struck with the exqui- 
 site finish of the engraving, and the simple beauty of the subject. 
 
 "Where did you get it?" asked Alick, who, like Mabel, 
 perceived at 'once how inconsistent it seemed to be with its 
 surroundings. 
 
 " It was brought to the hospital while I was there trying to 
 be cured. It belonged to a young gentleman ; and a lady, who 
 was one of the directresses, brought it there for me to see. 
 She left it for a week hanging at the foot of my bed, and then 
 it was that the doctor said I never could be cured, and might 
 as well come home again. I had got very fond of the picture, 
 it told me stories and kept me company, and so, because I 
 loved it, and because I never could be cured, the gentleman. 
 (I think it was the lady's son,) sent word for me to keep it 
 always. " 
 
 " Was n't he good ? " exclaimed Alick, with feeling, at the 
 same time looking anxiously into the face of Rose, from whose 
 eyes, as she recalled the past, one or two tears had escaped 
 and were slowly trickling down her cheeks. 
 
 " What tells a story ? " asked Murray, pulling at Rose's 
 sleeve " Can the picture speak ? " 
 
 " It speaks to me," answered Rose, smiling sweetly through 
 her tears. " I can't tell you all it says, but some of the stories 
 are very plain to be seen, don't you think so ? " 
 
 " I do n't," answered Murray, with a dissatisfied air, while 
 Alick carefully examined the picture. 
 
 " Why, you see," said Rose, " that is little pilgrim going a 
 journey, and those three angels go with him." Here Rose 
 paused, and looked inquiringly and diffidently into the face of 
 Mabel, as if seeking encouragement to continue the story. 
 Mabel answered by rising so as to obtain a better view, while 
 she herself listened attentively to Rose's description of her 
 picture. 
 
 Rose went on. "That is Hope," said she, pointing to a 
 cherub figure peering above the clouds, with its hand out- 
 stretched, and its eye fixed upon a light spot in the distance, 
 11 
 
122 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 which seemed intended to represent the glow of a brilliant 
 sunset. 
 
 " And what does he say ? " asked Murray. 
 
 " Oh, he says, * keep up a good heart, little pilgrim.' " 
 
 "And what is that one's name?" inquired Alick, pointing 
 to another on the right, whose head was thrown back, while 
 both eye and hand were turned heavenward in an attitude of 
 rapt devotion. 
 
 " That is Faith," replied Rose, and he says, ' trust in God.' " 
 
 u But that is the prettiest," said Murray eagerly, placing his 
 finger on the central figure, whose eyes were downward bent, 
 and whose hand was pointing earthward, while the counte- 
 nance was illumined .with the benignant smile of a pure bene- 
 volence. 
 
 " Yes, that is the prettiest," said Rose, " and the best ; that 
 is Charity, or Love, for it goes by both names." 
 
 " We '11 call it Love, then," said Alick, " won't we ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Rose, " that is Love." 
 
 " And what does Love say to Pilgrim ? " continued Alick. 
 
 " Oh, a great many things," answered Rose. " It tells him 
 to lend a helping hand to everybody he meets on the way, and 
 do all the good he can, and be patient, and gentle, and kind." 
 
 " And is he ? Does he do it ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed." 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 " Can 't you see ? " asked Rose " it is all told in the pic- 
 ture." 
 
 The boys looked intently so did Mabel but neither 
 detected the proofs which seemed so evident to Rosy. Mabel 
 kept silent, but the boys confessed their ignorance. 
 
 " Don 't you see," said Rose, after a pause, " all the flowers 
 that have sprung up behind him as he goes ; the path is dark, 
 and overhung with brushwood, so that he cannot see a step 
 before him on the road ; but look where his feet have worn 
 that little track, and you will see all along beside it the flowers 
 that he has strewn there. Some have taken root and grown 
 up tall ; there is a rose that has nearly climbed to the top ot 
 
MACE& VAUOHAN. 12u 
 
 that high tree. How sweet it will smell to the next traveller 
 that comes along that way ! " Those are his virtues," added 
 Rose, after another pause, during which her listeners stood 
 carefully scanning the objects she had pointed out ; " it was 
 Chanty that went with him and helped him strew the flowers, 
 don't you see he has a basket in his hand ? that contains 
 the roots and seeds, and Charity shows him the best places to 
 plant them in, and how to make them grow." 
 
 " He 's got a cane," said Murray " what does he carry a 
 cane for ? " 
 
 Rose looked up at Mabel and smiled. " That is the staff 
 of faith," said she, " he leans on it when he is tired." 
 
 " Where is he going ? " asked Alick. " Is it a long journey." 
 
 "Not very long; some people find it very short. He is 
 going to that city in the distance ; do n't you see it with the 
 light shining on its walls and towers ? That is the Eternal 
 City, Alick the city of our God," added she, solemnly, lay- 
 ing her thin hand on Alick's arm ; " we are all travelling on 
 the same road as pilgrim, and we must try to strew flowers 
 behind us as we go." 
 
 Children are always much impressed with anything in the 
 nature of an allegory. They wholly understand the actual 
 story, while they often catch a dim conception of its hidden 
 meaning. Murray was only capable of comprehending the 
 former, but Alick caught an idea, faint indeed, but still impres- 
 sive in its character, of the lesson which Rose's story had par- 
 tially revealed to his untaught soul ; and Mabel, who, in spite 
 of good principles and high aspirations, was a child in religious 
 experience, felt awed by the simple teachings of virtue, and 
 subdued by the sublime power of truth. Thus Rose herself 
 had unconsciously planted seed by the wayside ; and who shall 
 tell when and how such seed may spring up into everlasting 
 life? 
 
 There was a silence in the little company for a short time 
 after Rose had finished; then Murray yawned, as children 
 will yawn when they have been agreeably entertained and 
 find the entertainment suddenly withdrawn. " How soon are 
 
124 MABEL VAUGHAN* 
 
 we going home?" asked he of Mabel, "I'm hungry." 
 
 " Hush !" said Mabel softly, unwilling to make further claim 
 upon the widow's hospitality by the expression of any new 
 wants ; we shall go soon ; it is time for Donald to be here 
 now ; " then bethinking herself of the best mode of repaying 
 those attentions which she had already received, she proposed 
 to make some purchases from the widow's stock. It was diffi- 
 cult to make a selection of articles in any degree appropriate 
 to her station in life, Mrs. Hope's goods being intended for the 
 accommodation of her own humble neighborhood. With the 
 children's assistance, however, she contrived to expend, in 
 trifling purchases, all the money she had in her purse; and 
 Murray had just received into his arms the gorgeous, but 
 long-neglected parrot, when the shop door was suddenly thrown 
 open, and Lydia entered with a flushed and excited counte- 
 nance. 
 
 She was laden with shawls and wrappers, which, in addition 
 to the articles sent for by Mabel, had been despatched by her 
 anxious aunt, and was so breathless with haste and astonish- 
 ment that Mabel strove in vain to obtain from her an intelli- 
 gent reply to her inquiries, what had become of the coachman 
 and horses, and why she herself had come thither on foot. 
 
 The half-laughing, half-crying girl, overjoyed at the safety 
 of Mabel and the. children, and excited to the last degree by 
 the circumstance of their having taken refuge in her mother's 
 shop, could only embrace Rose and the boys by turns, uttering, 
 meanwhile, interjectional phrases, expressive of her own and 
 Miss Saliiali's fears, and the prompt action of Mr. Dudley, 
 whose name was strangely mingled with her exclamations. 
 
 Finding it impossible to calm her, Mabel hastily opened the 
 shop door, to satisfy herself whether or not the carriage was 
 in sight, and as she did so, encountered Dudley at the very 
 threshold. She blushed with pleased surprise, not having in 
 the least understood Lydia's broken communication, and the 
 color deepened in her cheeks when he seized her hand with an 
 eagerness that betrayed his anxiety on her account, an anxiety 
 which evidently had not been wholly quieted by Donald's assur- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 125 
 
 ance of her safety. His fears were wholly allayed, however, 
 at the sight of her smiles, and she now learned that the carriage 
 awaited them at some little distance, Mr. Dudley having judged 
 it imprudent to venture on wheels into the narrow, crowded 
 street, encumbered as it was with snow. 
 
 He also informed her, in few words, that he had pursued her 
 sleigh as long as he could keep the frantic horses in sight, and 
 then, not being able to recover their track, had, after a fruitless 
 search, hastened to Mr. Vaughan's house, hoping that, though 
 the frightened animals were beyond the coachman's control, 
 instinct would guide them thither. He arrived there but a 
 few moments in advance of Donald, and having learned from 
 him the welcome tidings of her safety, resolved still further to 
 assure himself of it by accompanying him on his return to the 
 spot where she had found shelter. 
 
 " What a wretched place you have been obliged to wait in ! " 
 exclaimed he, looking down into the low, dark shop, and seem- 
 ing to shrink from its close atmosphere. 
 
 " We have been hospitably, and even agreeably, entertained 
 here," answered Mabel ; " the boys and I have made, the 
 acquaintance of a sick child, who proves io be the sister of 
 their nurse ; she is an interesting little creature, do come in 
 and see her, Mr. Dudley." 
 
 " The room seems to be pretty well stocked already, in pro- 
 portion to its dimensions," answered Dudley, smiling, " espe- 
 cially as you pronounce it to be a sick-room ; and in view of the 
 latter fact, Miss Mabel, I feel bound in conscience to hurry 
 you away from this miserable place. I have made myself 
 responsible to Miss Vaughan for your safe return, and a heated, 
 distempered air may sometimes prove as fatal as a pair of 
 runaway horses." 
 
 Mabel made haste to repel this suggestion, assuring Dudley 
 that the child's illness was chronic, and not of a contagious 
 character, and that the room, though naturally close, from its 
 low, damp situation, was otherwise comfortable, and in all 
 respects neat. 
 
 He smiled complacently at the warmth with which she 
 
126 MABEL VArGHAN. 
 
 defended her place of refuge from unjust aspersions, and, as if 
 to satisfy her that lie had no fears on his own account, stepped 
 within the door, and still holding it ajar, awaited her pleasure. 
 
 As there was no motive for further delay, the little party 
 were not long in making ready to depart ; especially as Mabel 
 had previously resumed her cloak and bonnet, now restored by 
 Mrs. Hope's care to their original appearance, and Lydia had 
 recovered her composure and partially equipped the boys for 
 their return home. Mabel was much touched at the deep feel- 
 ing evinced by Rose, as she spoke her simple farewell, express- 
 ing in a few words how happy the visit had made her, and 
 pressing Mabel's hand to her lips with mingled respect and 
 fervor. " I will come again, Rose," said Mabel, in a low voice. 
 
 She would gladly have said more, being anxious to testify 
 in some way the tender sympathy she felt for the little invalid. 
 But Dudley stood looking on ; he would mentally accuse her 
 of affectation or parade; so she contented herself with the 
 promise to repeat her visit, and with a lightly spoken good- 
 by, took her friend's offered arm to accompany him to the 
 carriage, leaving the boys to follow with Lydia. 
 
 " The fresh air is really delightful," exclaimed she, as the 
 clear, wintry breeze, tempered by the warmth of a noon-day 
 sun, fanned her cheek, which was slightly feverish with the 
 excitement of the morning. 
 
 "If I maybe allowed to advise, and you will pardon what- 
 ever there may be of selfishness in the suggestion," said her 
 companion, "I should declare a walk home preferable to a 
 drive, under existing circumstances." 
 
 The sight of the carriage, which they had now reached, 
 served to enforce Dudley's opinion. The wheels were so 
 clogged with snow that it was evident they could move but 
 slowly, and in a lumbering manner, through the streets, and as 
 Alick also expressed a preference for walking, it was decided 
 that Murray and Lydia should proceed in the carriage, and 
 the others continue up Broadway on foot. 
 
 Although the hour passed in the widow's humble dwelling 
 had been replete with interest, the sudden change from the 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 127 
 
 confined atmosphere and narrow limits of the shop to the brac- 
 ing air, active exercise, and brilliant spectacle afforded by the 
 crowded street, had a corresponding effect upon the spirits of 
 Alick and Mabel. The former, whose movements were usually 
 slow and languid, trod with a light step, as if rejoicing in an 
 unwonted share of liberty, which he was, in truth, experiencing, 
 since it was rarely that he went out on foot, except for a short 
 and monotonous walk with Lydia. Availing himself of the 
 license afforded on the present occasion, he would now and 
 then pause to survey at his leisure whatever object attracted 
 his attention, and then bounding forward, overtake his some- 
 what careless protectors, who, engrossed with each other, left 
 him at liberty to do as he pleased ; a freedom of which, how- 
 ever, he took no undue advantage. Mabel, meanwhile, flat- 
 tered by Dudley's marked interest in her safety, and rejoicing 
 in the exuberance of youthful spirits, excited the increased 
 admiration of her companion by the variety of her conversa- 
 tion and her natural and eager enjoyment of the gay, wintry 
 scene. It was, in truth, the simple and unperverted freshness 
 of this child of nature which had captivated the experienced 
 man of the world. The inborn dignity, grace, and animated 
 sweetness of manner, which had fitted her to take at once a 
 distinguished place in society, might have existed independently 
 of that child-like enthusiasm which was, perhaps, the most 
 interesting feature of her character; but this latter trait had at 
 once been discerned by Dudley, and, cautious as he was of 
 yielding to impressions, its charm had completely fascinated 
 him. So true it is, that a mutual attraction often exists between 
 contrasts. 
 
 The prevailing character of the incidents in which their walk 
 invited them to participate, was that of mirth and laughter ; 
 but an opportunity soon occurred for the further and more 
 complete development of Mabel's ready and universal sympa- 
 thies. At just that point in Broadway where the crowd was 
 most dense, and their movements the most hurried, our party 
 suddenly encountered a little boy, ragged, dirty, and bending 
 beneath the weight of an old basket filled with half-burnt coals. 
 
128 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 The little urchin was directly in the path of the throng of foot 
 passengers, who were hurrying up and down the side-walk, and 
 in endeavoring to avoid a collision, he stumbled and fell upon 
 one knee, striking his burden heavily upon the pavement. 
 The time-worn and shattered basket had hardly held together 
 before, and now, as he lifted it to resume his progress, it gave 
 way entirely, and its whole contents were scattered in the deep 
 snow which bordered the side-walk. Some of the passers-by 
 laughed, some looked compassionately over their shoulders, 
 and one or two paused for an instant, out of curiosity, to see 
 whether the boy would attempt to repair the misfortune. 
 
 " Oh ! poor little fellow ; " exclaimed Mabel, who reached 
 the spot at the moment of the accident, and whose compassion 
 was at once excited by the expression of blank dismay which 
 overspread his childish face at the sight of his lost and wasted 
 property. 
 
 The boy, hearing a kindly voice, and seeing the shadow of 
 some person who evinced a pitying interest by coming to a full 
 stop, looked up from the wreck on which his gaze had been 
 hitherto fixed, and met the glance of Mabel's eye with such a 
 look of appeal as went straight to her heart. It was an inno- 
 cent countenance, and a sad one, and told a story of want and 
 disappointment somewhere. 
 
 " It 's a pity ! " said Mabel, glancing from the face of the boy 
 to the spilt coal and useless basket ; and, as the mournful eyes, 
 now fast filling with tears, still spoke a touching entreaty, a 
 moisture gathered in her own, and her hand, as usual, sought 
 her pocket. 
 
 Alick, who had been lingering behind, now came up, and, 
 with childhood's quick instinct, reading the whole story, ex- 
 claimed eagerly and confidently, " Oh, Aunt Mabel, do give 
 him some money ! " 
 
 But alas, the purse was empty ; the money had all been 
 spent at the widow's shop ! The consciousness of this did not 
 flash upon Mabel, until she had drawn the little silver reticule 
 from her pocket and exposed her destitution; then blushing 
 with mortification and disappointrn mt at having encouraged the 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 129 
 
 child's hopes, to dash them the next instant, she turned to Dud- 
 ley, supposing that the act had awakened his observation, and 
 would induce him to supply her deficiencies by a prompt con- 
 tribution on his part. But the case seemed not to have touched 
 his sympathies, at least not in such a way as to conduce to the 
 boy's benefit. He stood at the distance of a step or two, 
 quietly surveying the scene with an interested and amused air, 
 and, although manifesting no impatience, seemed to be viewing 
 Mabel's proceedings as those of a capricious child indulging a 
 wayward impulse. 
 
 Mabel could not be sure whether he perceived her embar- 
 rassment ; but it being very evident that he felt no disposition 
 to charity, she was reluctantly compelled to restore her purse 
 to her pocket, and leave the child to bear his misfortune as he 
 best might, with no other encouragement than that conveyed 
 in a kind word. " My money is all gone," said she ; " I am 
 sorry, perhaps some other lady will give you a sixpence." 
 
 She spoke confusedly, and with evident regret, which in- 
 creased to actual pain as the little fellow replied, with sad sim- 
 plicity, "It's very hard to find a lady that'll give me a sixpence." 
 
 Grieved as she felt for the little fellow, there was nothing 
 more to be said or done, and the next moment she was continu- 
 ing her walk, exchanging salutations with gay friends, and 
 listening to Dudley's conversation. 
 
 Alick staid behind a moment, to scan the boy's face with his 
 ever-curious eyes, and solace his disappointment, if possible, by 
 saying, " She has spent all her money, I have not got any 
 either it's too bad." 
 
 " Your compassion is awake I see, Miss Vaughan, like 
 every other amiable emotion," said Dudley, as they proceeded 
 up the street. " You are new to scenes like that yonder, but 
 you will soon, I fear, become accustomed to them, if you go out 
 frequently in New York, especially on foot." 
 
 " Oil, I have seen a great many miserable objects already," 
 said Mabel; "enough to make my heart ache; but that little fel- 
 low interested me particularly, he had such a plaintive look ; " 
 
13U MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 and Mabel sighed, as her thoughts again recurred to the un- 
 spoken appeal which had moved her so forcibly. 
 
 " That boy had rather a beautiful countenance," said Dudley ; 
 " he reminded me of a most exquisite group I saw in Florence 
 last winter, Picciotti's Beggars. I wish you could see that 
 piece of statuary, Miss Vaughan I am sure you would appre- 
 ciate it ; it is his masterpiece a wonderful work of art ! I 
 was struck immediately with that boy's resemblance to the 
 younger of the two beggars." 
 
 " He was not a beggar ! " exclaimed Alick, who had joined 
 them unobserved, and caught Dudley's last word only. " He 
 did n't ask for anything ! " 
 
 " There are various kinds of begging," responded Dudley, 
 replying to Alick's remark, though not looking at him, or ap- 
 pearing to observe from what quarter the suggestion had pro- 
 ceeded, for he seldom took much notice of children. " That is 
 the most specious, certainly, which addresses itself to the eye 
 and not the ear. That stroke was capitally executed, how- 
 ever," added he, laughing good humoredly; "it would have 
 done credit to one of the junior members of the Ravel troupe. 
 It is astonishing how quickly those little practitioners become 
 adepts in their art." 
 
 "Why, you surely do not think " exclaimed Mabel, in 
 surprise 
 
 " That that was an accident done on purpose ?" said Dudley, 
 in continuation of her query, and smiling at her genuine aston- 
 ishment; "perhaps so perhaps not;" and he shrugged his 
 shoulders expressively. "At all events," continued he, as if 
 hesitating to pronounce decisively in the present instance, " we 
 will not be severe upon him, since your judgment is evidently 
 in his favor, Miss Vaughan ; but these artifices to excite sym- 
 pathy are no doubt very common. Modern institutions are 
 partially responsible for it ; they cry out against street begging, 
 and street cunning rises up in its stead. Ah, they manage 
 these things much better abroad ! a few bajocchi will disperse an 
 Italian rabble, and there is the end of it ; but here, society is 
 to be reorganized, poverty put down, and I don't know what 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 131 
 
 not. Very well ; I am willing to give philanthropists a fair 
 chance for my part but if they will put restrictions on our 
 benevolence, the poor must take the consequences, I suppose, 
 if they starve." 
 
 And having thus involved what had previously seemed 
 a simple appeal To charity, into a complicated case of po- 
 litical economy, Dudley gracefully and easily waived any 
 further consideration of the difficult question, by resuming 
 his analysis of the merits of Picciotti's Beggars, and leading 
 Mabel's thoughts into the wide field of beauty and of art. 
 Here he was completely at home ; and, with his wonderful 
 gift at description, and his unrivalled and varied powers of en- 
 tertainment, he completely enchained her attention for the 
 remainder of the walk. 
 
 That evening, however, as she stood in front of a brilliant 
 fire which was burning in the dining room, and heard the cold 
 wind whistle round the corner of the house, she thought again 
 of the little boy and the spilt coals. lie might be an impostor, 
 the very prince of rogues, but, despite her reason, instinct and 
 good heart whispered otherwise, and, do what she would to 
 restrain them, painful visions rose before her of dreary garrets, 
 where half-starved children and despairing mothers crouched 
 beneath scanty coverings, and cried and shivered with the cold. 
 
 Mabel's experience and knowledge would not warrant her in 
 deciding the comparative claims of beggars and philanthropists ; 
 but one thing at least was certain, misused as her bounty might 
 have been by the boy, it's bestowal would have left a blessing 
 with the giver. As it was, she could only sigh for the poverty 
 which was beyond her reach, and soothe her regret with the 
 newly awakened idea, that a too liberal distribution of money 
 was dangerous, and might defeat the best interests of society. 
 Not that she could persuade herself that it would have done 
 harm in the present case, for she felt an honest conviction of 
 the truthfulness of her first impressions. Who shall say, how- 
 ever, that her heart warmed as readily towards the next child 
 of misfortune that came in her path ? or, that the spirit of dis- 
 trust once awakened in her hitherto unsuspecting bosom could 
 
132 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 be easily laid to rest ? Rosy was right in saying, that we need 
 in life's pathway an angel guide, to teach us where to plant the 
 flowers of charity. Alas for earth's youthful pilgrims, when a 
 cold and worldly calculation banishes the gentle spirit of human 
 love and sympathy ! More fatal still, when the sister spirits of 
 faith and hope give place to gloomy doubts and discouraging 
 suspicions. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Who scoffs these sympathies, 
 Makes mock of the divinity within ; 
 Nor feels he gently through his breathing soul 
 
 The universal spirit. K. H. DANA. 
 
 AMONG the engagements of the following week, there was 
 one of a somewhat different character from the gay assemblies 
 which constituted the chief social enjoyment of M*abel's circle. 
 This was a party given on occasion of some family anniversary, 
 by a lady of high position, whose wealth, accomplishments, and 
 superior cultivation, gave her an undisputed preeminence in the 
 eyes both of people of consequence and of those who considered 
 themselves such. 
 
 Even Mr. Vaughan was induced to accept an invitation to a 
 house where he would be sure to meet many guests of his own 
 age, and no small number of persons distinguished in the lite- 
 rary and political world. Louise was not willing to lose the 
 honor of being present at an entertainment where the company 
 would undeniably be the most select the city afforded. Harry, 
 while he voted these old Knickerbocker affairs pretty slow con- 
 cerns, declared it an object to see things done up in good shape 
 once in a while ; and Mabel, for all these reasons combined, 
 and, perhaps, also from the knowledge that the hostess was a 
 near connection of Dudley's, looked forward to the evening 
 with unusual interest. 
 
 Miss Sabiah was seldom included in the numerous invitations 
 received by her brother's family, not from any intentional 
 slight, but because she had systematically avoided becoming 
 generally known as an inmate of the household, and had nerv- 
 ously shrunk from being found in the drawing-room on recep- 
 tion daygi She would never have dreamed, however, of ming 
 
134 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 ling in society ; and was satisfied, for her part, with the simple 
 enjoyment derived from the sight of her favorite Mabel, richly 
 attired, and appearing on each new occasion more beautiful in 
 the eyes of her aunt. Therefore, on the evening in question, 
 she experienced no small satisfaction from the survey of a 
 superb dress, worn for the first time by Mabel, and her elation 
 reached its height as she observed the ill-concealed envy which 
 it awakened in Louise, who entered the dressing-room just as 
 her sister's toilette was completed. It was no wonder that the 
 partisan spirit of the aunt was gratified, for Mabel certainly 
 outshone herself. 
 
 She wore a white flounced silk, each flounce being bordered 
 with a pattern of delicately wrought green leaves and half- 
 blown roses, and the graceful garland of flowers on her hair 
 was in perfect harmony with the Parisian fabric. The waist 
 fitted closely to the throat, where a collar of point lace was 
 fastened with a brilliant spray of diamonds ; and sleeves of the 
 same delicate material as the collar, lightly draped her well- 
 rounded arms. 
 
 Louise, whose little, fairy-like form never looked so well as 
 in the light and gossamer fabrics in which she floated or 
 whirled through the dance, felt a sharp pang of jealousy, as 
 she noted the almost regal figure of her sister, set off to advan- 
 tage by the closely-fitting and heavy material which would 
 have severely tested a less exquisite shape than Mabel's. 
 
 " I hate to go to these half-and-half parties," said she, in a 
 sharp and irritable tone, as she drew out the folds of her vel- 
 vet dress to give it a more graceful flow, and straitening her 
 figure at the mirror, tried to believe herself just the right 
 height, and Mabel a little too tall. " One has to dress up as 
 if afraid of the rheumatism, and no wonder, for if ever people 
 do take cold, it is from standing round in corners, as we shall 
 do to-night. It will be shockingly stupid. I Ve half a mind 
 not to go ; " and although she could not resolve to stay away 
 from an entertainment which anybody else thought worth at- 
 tending, Louise contrived by her ill-humor to make herself 
 and every one about her so uncomfortable, that her friends 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 135 
 
 were glad at last to arrive at their destination, and to see her 
 established in one of the corners she had spoken of, where, 
 with Victoria Vannecker, and a little knot of companions, she 
 amused herself with making comments upon the company. 
 
 The assembly was not large, and there was no music, but, 
 as Harry had foreseen, everything was conducted in good taste, 
 and spacious and superb as were the house and furniture, 
 nothing gave evidence of. extraneous ornament, or an attempt 
 at display. 
 
 Some of the company had evidently been their hostess* 
 guests at dinner, and coffee was passed round promiscously at 
 quite a late hour. 
 
 This circumstance, and the fact that the size and number of 
 the rooms thrown open afforded opportunity for the disper- 
 sion of the visitors into little knots, gave the whole assem- 
 blage the air of a somewhat overgrown tea-party. A few 
 elderly gentlemen, grouped together on the hearth-rug and 
 occasionally sipping their coffee, were holding a political dis- 
 cussion ; and a similar association of literary friends were 
 laughing heartily at a series of amusing anecdotes related by 
 one of their number. A travelled lady and a boyish artist 
 were examining a book of etchings together ; and a group of 
 youths and girls, scarcely beyond childhood, had taken posses- 
 sion of the music room, and while one played the piano, the 
 rest were having a merry dance. 
 
 These, and various other social scenes, were indicative of 
 the different ages, tastes, and characters, which were blended 
 in the company; and although nonsense, scandal and ill-natured 
 criticism, were not without their representatives, they instinc- 
 tively felt themselves out of their sphere, and kept in the back- 
 ground ; while the assembly, as a whole, was eminently distin- 
 guished for harmony, elegance, good breeding, and refinement. 
 
 Mabel felt, from the first moment of her entrance, the total 
 dissimilarity between this and most of the fashionable parties 
 which she frequented ; but, unlike Louise, at onee recognized 
 its superiority. Nor, although the youthful circle which claimed 
 her as its ornament could assemble here but a small number 
 
136 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 of its members, did she find herself by any means destitute o. 
 acquaintances. 
 
 Dudley's partiality had not only awakened her ambition fo; 
 cultivated society, but had, to some degree, gratified this pref- 
 erence, and already, through his introduction, had she been 
 brought into occasional intercourse with persons of distinction, 
 taste, and learning. 
 
 Politicians, artists, noted travellers, titled foreigners, and 
 literary lions in every department, were included in Lincoln 
 Dudley's extensive circle of friends ; and more than one indi- 
 vidual of some distinction among the present company, now 
 seized the opportunity to revive and strengthen his knowl- 
 edge of the beautiful girl, whose naturalness of manner, fresh- 
 ness of feeling, and exuberance of thought and fancy, had 
 increased the admiration inspired by her personal charms. 
 
 But, although this species of homage was an undoubted 
 triumph, there was no evidence of gratified pride in the de- 
 meanor of Mabel, whose sparkling eye and intelligent smile 
 denoted an eager interest and an animated pleasure in the 
 conversation of a select group, of which she was the central 
 attraction. Conscious, as she could not fail to be, of her power 
 of pleasing, she, nevertheless, employed it without affectation 
 or artifice ; and in whatever estimation her success might be 
 held, no one could fail to acknowledge that it was fairly won. 
 
 Unwilling as Dudley was to yield allegiance to any single 
 object, and often as he absented himself from her neighbor- 
 hood, to pay his addresses elsewhere, an irresistible attraction 
 drew him back, and a short interval only would elapse, before 
 his clear tones would mingle again in the conversation of the 
 little group, to which his racy and eloquent, or occasionally 
 abrupt and ironical, contributions invariably imparted addi- 
 tional zest ; nor did the consciousness of his vicinity fail to 
 give an added glow to Mabel's features, and a renewed lustre 
 to her eye. 
 
 " Do you see that magnificent girl yonder ? " said an elderly 
 painter of repute, to one whom he knew to be a lover of his 
 art. " I will paint her picture, before the winter is over. I 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 137 
 
 promise you I shall accomplish the point, and obtain a sitting. 
 How superb she would be as Corinne crowned in the temple ! " 
 
 " There is talent there," exclaimed a first-rate lawyer, sig- 
 nificantly glancing at Mabel, with whom he had been convers- 
 ing. " She has beat me in an argument, just now, good- 
 naturedly, and without pedantry, too, and before I knew what 
 she was at." 
 
 " I would not trust myself against her before a jury, inde- 
 pendently of argument," replied the gentleman to whom the 
 remark was addressed. 
 
 " Your sister is a young lady to be proud of," said a some- 
 what taciturn old bachelor, who, standing near Louise, had 
 been silently observing Mabel. " I see she is amiable, as well 
 as agreeable, and dispenses her smiles with equal favor upon 
 all." 
 
 " Rather too much so, I should think," said Louise, with a 
 short laugh, "judging from some of her friends. Pray, who is 
 that Father Noah whom she seems to find so interesting ? " 
 
 " That thin gentleman in the long-bodied coat ? I forget his 
 name, a clergyman, I believe." 
 
 Louise now turned to Miss Vannecker, and exclaimed, in a 
 low and half-confidential tone : " It is very ridiculous for Mabel 
 to stand there, directly in the centre of the room, and talk to 
 everybody that chooses to be introduced to her. She '11 make 
 some most absurd acquaintances ! " 
 
 A little later in the evening, when Mabel was listening, in a 
 reverential manner, to the conversation of the interesting cler- 
 gyman, Louise and Miss Vannecker paused as they were 
 crossing the room, and the former remarked abruptly to her 
 sister : " You have chosen a conspicuous place for holding your 
 court, this evening, my dear ; the news-papers to-morrow will 
 describe the assembly room, and say the centre ornament was 
 a flower-piece of exquisite form, consisting of successive tiers 
 of rose-wreaths, surmounted with a garland ? " 
 
 " Besides," added Miss Vannecker, as if taking it for granted 
 that Louise's remark was designed to be censorious, " it is 
 
138 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 very unbecoming to stand directly beneath the gas-light." And 
 having thus rebuked her vanity, they passed on. 
 
 Mabel blushed and looked somewhat disconcerted, but inno- 
 cent of any intention at display, maintained a dignified com- 
 posure, and, covering her vexation with a smile, confirmed the 
 good opinion already formed of her by her new friend. 
 
 Dudley chanced to be standing near, and overheard the 
 rude speeches of Louise and her companion. Always courte- 
 ous himself, he could not endure rudeness in others, especially 
 when its motive was as palpable as in the present instance ; 
 for his knowledge of Louise's character, at once suggested to 
 his discerning mind the jealousy by which she was actuated. 
 
 Anxious, therefore, to free Mabel from the slight embarrass- 
 ment which he detected in spite of her assumed serenity, he 
 availed himself of the first opportunity to invite her to visit 
 the conservatory, which contained a choice collection of plants. 
 Mabel, relieved by the proposal, the thoughtful delicacy of 
 which she fully appreciated, gladly accepted his offered arm 
 for the purpose. 
 
 Dudley was just enough of a botanist and florist to make his 
 observations upon flowers attractive and charming ; he forbore 
 the use of scientific terms, called them all by their simple and 
 expressive names, and, without sentimentality, understood and 
 expatiated on the poetic and touching language which they 
 were capable of conveying. 
 
 There might be minds to which these gifts of nature appealed 
 with deeper significance, but few who could more gracefully 
 express the gratification afforded by them to a refined sense of 
 the beautiful. 
 
 While admiring, however, his knowledge of every species of 
 plant, including the rarest exotics, and sympathizing in most 
 of his preferences, Mabel was astonished at his indifference to 
 many of- her favorites, especially among the common wild 
 flowers of our fields and woods. She could not resist paying 
 the tribute of affection to these wayside friends, and in answer 
 fo his inquiry which of all llie summer blossoms she preferred? 
 she answered frankly, " If \ on ask me which I love the best, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 139 
 
 I must confess, though you will wonder to hear me say so, 
 the dandelion the friendly, yellow dandelion." 
 
 Dudley smiled incredulously. 
 
 " I truly mean so," said Mabel, earnestly ; " it comes so early 
 and stays so long. It is earth's golden star of promise, speak- 
 ing of warmth, and sunshine, and summer. It has such sweet 
 associations, too. Why, did you never," exclaimed she, forget- 
 ting for the moment that she was addressing the polished man 
 of the world, " did you never sit on the grass and make long 
 chains of the hollow stems, and sigh to think how frail they 
 were?" 
 
 " Never," replied Dudley with decision. 
 
 " Nor tear them to shreds with idle fingers, and float them 
 in the brook to watch how they would curl ? Nor pluck the 
 downy seed-vessels, on your way from school, and blow on 
 them three times to see if your mother wanted you ? " 
 
 " Never," replied Dudley again, in a tone which intimated 
 that his childish reminiscences included no such follies. 
 
 " Then you cannot imagine," said Mabel, her enthusiasm a 
 little damped by his manner, " how many happy hours I asso- 
 ciate with their common, familiar faces." 
 
 " I suppose not ; but I nevertheless love flowers for the sake 
 of association," said Dudley ; and, stooping down, he picked 
 up a sprig of mignonette, which she had held in her hand a 
 moment before and then thrown negligently away. 
 
 Mabel blushed as she observed the action, and if at the same 
 moment she did not feel absolutely ashamed of her love for 
 dandelions, she was ready to confess it a childish folly, for 
 which she had no right to expect the sympathy of grown 
 people. 
 
 In the criticism of works of art Dudley was even more 
 skilled than in the analysis of the floral kingdom ; and he next 
 directed Mabel's attention to a number of paintings and statues 
 which adorned the spacious hall adjoining the conservatory. 
 Under his tutelage Mabel had already acquired some little 
 skill in judging of an artist's merit, and almost fancied that she 
 could distinguish between the works of rival schools. She was 
 
140 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 still so unsophisticated, however, as always to bestow her first 
 thoughts on the subject, rather than the execution of a piece ; 
 and her attention was at once attracted by an ancient-looking 
 picture, representing an angel-messenger bearing to Heaven 
 the tidings of a sinner's repentance. The seraphic beauty of 
 the countenance, the joy, love, and holy triumph which it de- 
 picted, inspired in Mabel an emotion of religious awe. She 
 gazed at it a moment in silence, then turned from it to her 
 companion, with a look which bespoke her admiration. 
 
 " Miserable tiling 1 " observed he, without appearing to notice 
 the sentiment it had awakened in Mabel. I never can see it 
 without smiling at the absurd discussion it has caused. You 
 must know that my honored cousin he here lowered his 
 voice expressively and looked over his shoulder to see if any 
 of the family were within hearing has the vanity, or the 
 credulity, to believe that picture a work of one of the old mas- 
 ters. No one, with the slightest knowledge of paintings, could 
 cherish such a supposition for a moment. It is unquestionably 
 a counterfeit, or at most a mere copy." 
 
 Whether copy or counterfeit it had its value, as was evident 
 from the emotion it had awakened in Mabel ; but she had no 
 further opportunity to examine it. The seraph face having 
 been pronounced the guilty medium of a deception, she was 
 hurried away from it by Dudley, who assured her that it was 
 a daub a mere imposture, not worth a moment's study. 
 
 So, also, in passing judgment on the statues. Two figures 
 of Mercy and Truth absorbed Mabel's notice, and were, in 
 many respects, the finest in the collection ; but Dudley could 
 see nothing in the former but a most remarkable distortion in 
 the little finger ; and the latter, unless his eye was more incor- 
 rect than usual, betrayed a slight disproportion in the size of 
 the throat. 
 
 No one could dispute, however, the accuracy with which he 
 pointed out the exquisite finish observable in the painting of a 
 Dutch kitchen, the work of a celebrated artist, or the justice 
 with which he commented upon the remarkable lightness of limb 
 portrayed in a favorite bronze Mercury. For the true enjoy- 
 
tfABKL TAUGHAN. 141 
 
 mont of art, Dudley evidently considered it necessary to com- 
 prehend it in detail. He had no conception of the highest 
 power which it is capable of exercising, restricting its influence, 
 as he did, to the enlightened and aristocratic few, and wholly 
 ignoring its agency in ennobling and elevating the masses. 
 
 The conversation naturally passed from art to artists ; and 
 as Dudley had an intimate acquaintance with many persons 
 of this profession, he was able to impart much curious and in- 
 teresting information concerning the labors and struggles, the 
 triumphs and failures of genius. 
 
 They. now occupied a position where the company, most of 
 whom were promenading the hall, passed successively under 
 their review ; and, forsaking abstract topics, he proceeded to 
 entertain her for some time with his comments upon various 
 individuals their peculiar characteristics, family histories, or 
 public services. 
 
 She listened with interested and often amused attention, but 
 at length her eye wandered to the farther end of the hall ; and 
 Dudley, observing the direction of her earnest gaze, perceived 
 at once the object that had attracted her notice. An elderly 
 lady, accompanied by a stout and stately military gentleman, 
 had entered the hall at its farther extremity, and was slowly 
 approaching the spot where they stood. She was considerably 
 above the ordinary height of woman, with an erect and im- 
 posing figure, while her manner and bearing at once commanded 
 respect by their composed and serene dignity. There was 
 nothing forbidding, however, in her mild and benignant face, 
 shaded and softened by the snowy flutings of her widow's cap, 
 and her features were such as must in youth have rendered 
 her preeminently beautiful. Nor had time had power to dis- 
 possess her of personal charms, although she had numbered 
 nearly threescore years and ten. Her skin was still fair, her 
 eye bright, and her silver hair, which was smoothly parted on 
 her forehead, escaped from her cap in the form of a few soft 
 and shining curls, which hung over either cheek. Her step, 
 too, was firm almost elastic and her hand rested lightly 
 on the arm of the portly officer 
 
142 
 
 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Mabel's eye followed her with curiosity not unmixed with 
 respectful admiration, as moving leisurely up the hall she 
 acknowledged the courtesies of numerous friends, and at length 
 approached the spot which Dudley had chosen as a favorable 
 point of observation. 
 
 " Here comes the salt of the earth, Miss Vaughan," said he, 
 in a tone of irony ; she is leaning on an arm, too, of the highest 
 respectability." 
 
 " They are a noble-looking couple," said Mabel with warmth, 
 at the same time turning to him with an inquiring eye, as if 
 she would gladly hear more concerning them. 
 
 " That woman," continued Dudley, " is generallissimo of the 
 forces of modern innovation the chief of a battalion of ama- 
 zonian philanthropists who carry all before* them ; she will 
 drag us before a court-martial," exclaimed he, feigning a sud- 
 den alarm as she drew near. " How shall we escape ? We 
 shall be caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced in less than five 
 minutes." 
 
 " She seems to carry only peaceable weapons," said Mabel 
 with a smile ; " and allowing it were otherwise, what have we 
 done to expose ourselves to an attack ? " 
 
 " We are fair subjects for it," replied Dudley ; " yourself 
 especially. Do you not see that she is on the recruiting ser- 
 vice ? " 
 
 The venerable lady of whom Dudley ventured to speak so 
 lightly had just encountered some young girls, who were cross- 
 ing the hall, and as she stood for a moment conversing with 
 the more sprightly of the two, her hand rested tenderly on 
 the head of the other, a slight, fair-haired creature, who looked 
 up at her aged friend with a countenance full of affectionate 
 respect. 
 
 It had seemed to Mabel, as she saw the evident affection the 
 old lady inspired, that nothing would delight her more than 
 to be honored with her friendship ; and although Dudley's 
 manner somewhat damped her enthusiasm, she could not resist 
 watching every motion of one whose appearance seemed to 
 rebuke ridicule. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 143 
 
 "You see," continued he, "Madam Percival is supreme 
 among her subalterns. Her energies are unparalleled, and her 
 valor invariably places her in the front rank of every quixotic 
 enterprise. She carries a current coin of golden opinions, and 
 her credit is unlimited. It is astonishing what capital can be 
 made now-a-days out of the sufferings of the poorer classes." 
 
 Mabel still continued silent, revolving her companions words, 
 and waiting to hear more. 
 
 " She wears the same uniform as ever, I see," said Dudley, 
 after a pause " black satin and brussels lace, and has the 
 same military escort ; the gentleman with her is her step-son, 
 General Percival, of the regular army. They have appeared 
 together on parade for these twenty years. It tells vastly well 
 for family concord and unanimity under trying relations ; I 
 have heard, however, that there was great difficulty in settling 
 the family estate." 
 
 Dudley lowered his voice, as he concluded, for the subject 
 of his remarks was now within a few steps of them, and, as if 
 in confirmation of his fears, had fixed her eye upon him intel- 
 ligently. 
 
 " Shall you venture to meet the charge, and be victimized ? " 
 asked Dudley, in an undertone, and at the same time looking 
 about him, as if for a place of refuge. 
 
 " I have no fears," answered Mabel, " I am not the object 
 of her notice." 
 
 " You will allow me, then," said he, with ready tact, " to 
 hand you some refreshment ; " and he darted off in pursuit of 
 a servant, who was passing with a tray of ices, thus avoiding 
 the necessity of the apparently dreaded recognition. 
 
 There was such a mingling of humor and satire throughout 
 this conversation, that Mabel could not possibly determine 
 whether a single word of it was spoken in earnest ; nor was 
 she convinced that Dudley's anxiety to avoid the lady was 
 otherwise than feigned. Still his words and conduct were not 
 without effect, and her generous, confiding disposition was 
 tinged with unpleasant conjectures. So impressed was she, 
 indeed, with a suspicion of the old lady's eccentricities, that 
 
 
144 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 when the latter paused directly in front of her, she was fully 
 prepared to be addressed, without the ceremony of an intro- 
 duction, and was consequently somewhat disconcerted when 
 a person seated behind her, and whom she was unconsciously 
 obscuring, laid a hand upon her arm and said, in a gentle voice, 
 " I think that lady is looking for me : will you please move a 
 little to the right ?" Mabel instantly stepped aside, and as she 
 did so, brushed against a pair of crutches, which, falling to the 
 floor, revealed the helplessness of the object of her seeming 
 incivility. 
 
 As she stooped and restored the crutches to their owner, at 
 the same time apologizing for her unintentional rudeness, the 
 sincere grace of her manner called forth an approving smile 
 from Madam Percival, who, however, took no further notice of 
 her, but entered into conversation with the interesting lame 
 lady, and before Dudley returned with the iced sherbet, accom- 
 panied her and Gen. Percival into another room. 
 
 Later in the evening Mabel accepted, with her usual good 
 nature, an invitation to join the youthful dancers, who had 
 taken possession of the music room and wanted one more 
 couple to complete their set. Young as she was, they were 
 nearly all her juniors, privileged to be present on this occa- 
 sion, which partook of the character of a family jubilee, and 
 her boyish partner scarcely equalled her in height. She 
 entered with ready glee, however, into their juvenile gaiety, 
 and won the hearts of the youthful company by her sympathy 
 in their enjoyment. It was an old-fashioned country dance, 
 and Mabel, after faithfully fulfilling her part, reached the bot- 
 tom laughing and out of breath. 
 
 " Your dance is going off gloriously, grandmama !" exclaimed 
 her partner, stepping gaily within the open door of ah adjoin- 
 ing room, and addressing Madam Percival, who, while watch- 
 ing the progress of the dance with evident pleasure and 
 interest, was conversing in an animated manner with the gen- 
 tleman in the long-bodied coat, whom Louise had denominated 
 Father Noah. She smiled and nodded pleasantly in acknow- 
 ledgment of the boy's congratulations ; and Mabel observed 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 145 
 
 that each successive couple, as they came down the dance, 
 exchanged with her similar tokens of satisfaction. 
 
 " This performance was undertaken for grandmother's bene- 
 fit," said Mabel's partner to her, by way of explanation. It 
 was danced at our hostess's wedding twenty-five years ago. 
 My mother was bridesmaid on the occasion, and grandmother 
 proposed the dance to-night, for the sake of old times." As 
 the boy named his mother he glanced affectionately towards 
 the lady who was presiding at the piano, and Mabel, for the 
 first time, observed that the owner of the crutches had been 
 furnishing the youthful party with music. 
 
 What a charming bond of sympathy subsists among these 
 people, thought she ; and that remarkable old lady is evidently 
 the connecting link. Can there be hypocrisy beneath such a 
 countenance as hers ? Mr. Dudley must have been joking. 
 
 This latter conviction was still further strengthened in the 
 cloak room, where she had an opportunity of witnessing the 
 affectionate care which Madam Percival bestowed on her lame 
 friend, declining for herself the attentions to which her years 
 entitled her, and anxious only for the comfort of the invalid. 
 " Offer your arm to your mother, my dear," said she to her 
 grandson, who came to the head of Ilie stairs to escort them to 
 their carriage ; and General Percival not being in sight, the 
 venerable lady herself followed, unattended. 
 
 " She is a noble woman ! I am sure of it," thought Mabel, 
 K but what could Mr. Dudley have Vacant ? " 
 
 The ingenuous tribute of praise, and the intruding inquiry 
 which followed it, were alike indicative of Mabel's impressible 
 character. In the former her heart spoke out, in the latter 
 might be detected the haunting influence of an enkindled 
 doubt. Alas, what a shadow may be flung over the fairest 
 things by a single whisper from the brooding demon of dis- 
 trust ! 
 
 13 
 
CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 And who art thou that, in the littleness 
 
 Of thine own selfish purpose, would 'st set bounds 
 
 To the free current of all noble thought 
 
 And generous action, bidding its bright waves 
 
 Bo stay'd, and flow no further ? 
 
 MRS. HEMANS. 
 
 JT was not strange that Mabel was susceptible to the subtle 
 influence cf Dudley's insinuations, for she possessed a quick 
 and active mind, ever open to the teachings cf those whose 
 knowledge and experience might entitle them to be the guides 
 of youth. It was, indeed, one of her sweetest, gentlest, and 
 most womanly qualities, which made her thus open to convic- 
 tion ; and great, therefore, was the responsibility incurred by 
 any who presumed to check the genuine impulses of her 
 nature. Not that Mabel was alike destitute of character and 
 principle, ready, like the pliant wax, to be moulded by every 
 fluctuating circumstance. On the contrary, she had a high 
 sense of duty, a stern reverence for virtue, and a noble desire 
 to excel, while certain fixed principles of right served as the 
 outposts to guard the citadel of her conscience. 
 
 But duty does not always assert itself with a force which 
 may not be evaded ; the standards of virtue and excellence 
 are capable of variation; and the citadel which would repel 
 an open attack, may, insiduously, be undermined. Thus, al- 
 though Mabel's temper might occasionally be irritated, and her 
 good nature put to the proof by Louise's flagrant and open 
 violations of truth and justice, her character stood in far less 
 danger from this source, than from the plausible, specious, 
 and yet pernicious opinions and principles which Dudley 
 intimated, rather than openly avowed. 
 
 The day succeeding the evening abc ( described, was that 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 147 
 
 oil which Mabel held a weekly reception for guests, when, as 
 usual, she was assisted by Louise, who seldom failed to be 
 present, to share the honors and responsibilities which might 
 accrue. There had been an unusual number of guests, but 
 all had left save Dudley. Mr. Vauglian, contrary to his usual 
 custom, was to give a dinner party that evening, and Dudley, 
 who was to make one of the guests, had come early, bring- 
 ing with him some very rare and valuable prints. These con- 
 sisted of accurate and beautiful representations of foreign cos- 
 tumes, and Dudley, Mrs. Leroy, and Mabel, were examining 
 them with interest, for the purpose of selecting characters for 
 an approaching fancy ball, when there was a sudden ring of 
 the door bell. 
 
 It was too late to expect morning visitors, and too early for 
 the arrival of the strangers who were to constitute the dinner 
 party. 
 
 " Who can that be at this hour ? " said Mabel, and with 
 girlish curiosity she stepped within the shadow of a bay win- 
 dow, and looked out into the street. " There is no carriage 
 here," said she ; " it must be father or Harry." 
 
 As she turned from the window, however, she observed 
 Mrs. Leroy carelessly twirling a card round her forefinger, 
 and at the same time giving a hasty message to the footman 
 from whom she had received it. 
 
 As the man withdrew into the hall, Louise flung the card 
 upon the table, exclaiming, "Was there ever anything so ridic- 
 ulous ? Father Noah will be coming here next ! " and she 
 glanced reproachfully at Mabel. 
 
 The latter, slightly coloring, took up the card and read, 
 " Mrs. Abraham Percival." 
 
 A ray of manifest pleasure shone on her face, as she ejacu- 
 lated, in a low voice, and a manner full of expectation, " Oh ! 
 that beautiful old lady ! " 
 
 Louise, with a scornful expression, resumed the study of the 
 plates, while Mabel, apprehensive of some rudeness on her 
 sister's part, walked towards the door to receive her guest, her 
 
 
148 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 countenance evincing some surprise and embarrassment at the 
 unexpected visit. 
 
 After waiting a moment, however, she heard the hall door 
 close, and the footman retreat into the back passage. A new 
 light seemed to break in upon her at these significant indica- 
 tions, and she turned upon Louise with the sudden inquiry, 
 " Can she have gone ? " 
 
 " I suppose so," replied Louise, feigning astonishment at the 
 question; "you surely would not have had her admitted! 
 Though there is no knowing what you might do," added she, 
 with a contemptuous laugh, " you seem to have such a fancy 
 for antiquities." 
 
 " I have," said Mabel, decidedly ; " did she ask for me ? " 
 
 " She certainly did," answered Louise, assuming a somewhat 
 defiant manner, as she observed the color mount into Mabel's 
 cheek, a and I did you good service, and saved you from a most 
 intolerable bore, by sending word that Miss Vaughan was not 
 at home, for which, I think, you might at least thank me." 
 
 " Louise ! " exclaimed Mabel, expressing in the simple enun- 
 ciation of her sister's name all the amazement, regret, and 
 mortification which were roused by this cool declaration for 
 there was not even the conventional excuse for the falsehood, 
 it being Mabel's reception day. 
 
 Louise, who, however much she might be in fault, was always 
 ready with a retort, met Mabel's indignant expression of cen- 
 sure with the retaliating and cutting observation, " Do not be 
 so angry, my dear, Mr. Dudley will think you are a vixen. 
 When father Noah comes," added she, in a mockingly soothing 
 tone, " you shall give your own orders, and have his society all 
 to yourself, for I trust I shall not be present to share the honor," 
 and with her usual light laugh and tripping air, the little lady 
 stepped to the open piano and commenced playing a lively 
 tune, accompanying it with the words, " Oh, no, I shall not be 
 there ! " 
 
 The righteous indignation which had overspread Mabel's 
 face, and given rise to her sister's accusation of anger, now 
 yielded to an expression of grieved and wounded feeling, and 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 149 
 
 a tear glistened in her eye, as she said, with a mildness that 
 was truly dignified, " I am not angry, Louise, but I am sorry 
 on every account ;" and then, embarassed at the consciousness 
 that Dudley's eye was upon her, she hastily walked to the bay 
 window, and, half hid beneath the shadow of its heavy curtains, 
 watched the retreating figure of Madam Percival, who, in 
 serene unconsciousness of irreverent treatment, was moving 
 leisurely down the street 
 
 Mabel still stood engaged in painful meditation, when she 
 was slightly startled by Dudley's voice close beside her, saying, 
 in a low and sympathetic tone, " I am sorry, too." 
 
 " Sorry for what ? " asked Mabel, confusedly. 
 
 "That you should have been so disturbed. It was very 
 unfair, certainly, there can be no question who ought to be 
 mistress here." 
 
 " Oh, it was not that," said Mabel, quickly ; " I beg you not 
 to think me so childish ;" and her eye again followed Madam 
 $*ercival, u but she is so much older than I, and she came 
 on foot, too, besides," added she, with simplicity, " I am at 
 home." 
 
 " Very true," said Dudley ; and then ensued a momentary 
 pause ; for to condemn Louise was scarcely to satisfy Mabel, 
 and it seemed impossible to give the matter an agreeable turn. 
 
 Dudley found means, however, to place it in a new light. 
 "A most unchivalrous mode of escape, without doubt," said he, 
 meditatively ; an artifice such as you would have scorned to 
 employ, Miss Mabel ; but, while questioning the means, I can- 
 not help congratulating you on the deliverance." 
 
 " Do you count it as a fortunate escape ? " asked Mabel, 
 looking at him with some surprise. " The visit seems to me a 
 most unmerited, as it was unexpected, honor." 
 
 " Unexpected to you," said Dudley, with a meaning smile, 
 and his peculiar and expressive shrug of the shoulders, " but I 
 felt assured you would be too valuable a recruit to be over- 
 looked. I have trembled for you ever since I observed that 
 YOU had attracted the attention of the gentleman whom Mrs. 
 Leroy styles Father INoah. He is a minister at large, which 
 
150 MABEL VAUG1TAN. 
 
 
 
 means a recruiting sergeant. He has, no doubt, reported you 
 to the comraander-in-chief, who would 'scarcely overlook the 
 auxiliary forces you would be able to bring into the field." 
 
 " I ! " 
 
 "Yes, certainly; have you not time, influence, and money, 
 all at command ? " 
 
 Mabel's countenance fell, and a shadow passed over her face. 
 " It was not myself, then," thought she, " who was capable of 
 inspiring interest, but my father's position, and the length of 
 his purse." 
 
 "Yes, certainly," continued Dudley, in a self-gratulatory 
 tone ; " my mind is relieved, I assure you, from many distress- 
 ing visions which that lady's card conjured up. I had already 
 imagined you in the sober gray uniform of a professor in some 
 foundling educational institute, rapping the heads of unruly 
 members with the knuckles of one hand, and holding up the 
 forefinger of the other, in a monitory manner, while you cried, 
 ' attention ! ' " 
 
 Mabel smiled. 
 
 " Or, attired in a long apron of factory cotton, and armed 
 with a huge pair of shears, officiating as assistant directress in 
 a scientific cutting-and-basting academy, for the elevation of 
 indigent needle-women ; or, with a pen behind your ear, and 
 a huge account-book under your arm, your brow wrinkled with 
 the responsible duties of treasurer to the corporation for encour- 
 aging the emigration of foreign paupers." 
 
 Mabel laughed outright at the ludicrous and, in point of 
 taste, repulsive picture thus represented. 
 
 " Come ! " exclaimed Louise, rising from the piano, ' why 
 don't we go on selecting our characters ? I have almost made 
 up my mind to be comedy, if you will only be tragedy, 
 Mabel." 
 
 " I have been suggesting tragic characters to your sister," 
 said Dudley, with readiness, " but I do not think any of them 
 exactly meet her approbation. Some fifty years hence," added 
 he, in a side voice, to Mabel, " will surely be time enough to 
 
MABEL VAUOHAN. 151 
 
 hide your smiles behind the black hood of a sister of charity. 
 In the mean time, let us seek something more attractive." 
 
 And in the indulgence of idle fancies that succeeded, the 
 venerable Christian matron and her noble schemes of useful- 
 ness passed from Mabel's mind; or, if remembered, the former 
 was henceforward dimly characterized as one who had desired 
 to divert Mr. Vaughan's wealth to her own quixotic enter- 
 prises, and decoy his daughter into sacrificing her youth to 
 painful and, at best, unprofitable labors. 
 
 It was not until nearly a month after Madam Percival's 
 visit, that Mabel bethought herself of the necessity of acknowl- 
 edging the civility ; and this she did by merely leaving a card 
 at her address. 
 
 Such is the power of ridicule and wounded self-love. 
 
 At the commencement of dinner, Louise's want of truth and 
 decorum found another opportunity for display, and here, also, 
 Dudley acted as mediator. Miss Sabiah was being handed in 
 to dinner by a grave, elderly gentleman, who naturally looked 
 upon her as the hostess, when Louise, accompanied by a more 
 youthful escort, brushed past them and took the lead, saying, 
 over her shoulder, as she did so, " by your leave, aunt ; father 
 desires me to preside to-day ;" and the next moment found her 
 seated at the head of her father's table, gracefully and unblush- 
 ingly filling the post always heretofore occupied by Miss 
 Sabiah. 
 
 It would have been amusing, if it had been one whit less 
 provoking, to witness the audacious effrontery of this usurpa- 
 tion. It was lost upon most of the company, who were stran- 
 gers in the city ; but Mabel, who overheard this second bare- 
 faced falsehood, and stood aghast at the presumption of her 
 sister, could scarcely contain her agitation and annoyance; 
 while Harry's eye flashed angrily from the opposite end of the 
 table, and Mr. Vaughan's mild countenance betrayed signs of 
 discomfiture. 
 
 As for Miss Sabiah, her nervous distress was such as must 
 have attracted the notice of any one in her neighborhood, had 
 not Dudley, who chanced to sit next to her, covered her confu- 
 
152 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 sion, by engaging her for a few minutes in a conversation of 
 which he bore the whole burden himself, thus giving her time 
 to rally her usual stiff and formal self-possession. 
 
 This high-bred facility in playing the part of a gentleman, 
 which always imparted to Dudley an extremely obliging air, 
 was never more appreciated by Mabel than in this instance ; 
 for her indignation at the conduct of Louise was only equalled 
 by grief at her aunt's wounded feelings. She could not thank 
 him in words, but her grateful smile sufficiently indicated her 
 sense of his considerate kindness. His seat was between her's 
 and her aunt's and as he turned from the latter and met Mabel's 
 approving glance, he remarked, in a low voice, " Miss Vaughan's 
 nerves are sensitive." 
 
 "Very," said Mabel, glancing anxiously at Miss Sabiah, who 
 was now attempting monosyllabic replies to her next neighbor 
 on the other side. 
 
 " We are all creatures of habit," remarked Dudley, " and I 
 notice that elderly ladies love the little dignities of office. If 
 called upon to resign them, they ought at least to have the satis- 
 faction of seeing the heir apparent installed in their place." 
 
 His countenance plainly expressed it as his opinion, that of 
 the two sisters, Mabel was best entitled to the place at the head 
 of her father's table, and he even expressed himself more plainly 
 in the words, " Miss Vaughan is, I presume, a visitor merely, 
 and scarcely endowed with the qualifications for playing the 
 part of a hostess, but Miss Mabel is unquestionably the pre- 
 siding genius here, arid we naturally look to see her enthroned 
 in the chair of state." 
 
 " He is right," thought Mabel ; and for the first time she 
 realized her aunt's awkwardness and ignorance of society, felt 
 her own competence to shine in the position Miss Vaughan had 
 hitherto occupied, and half regretted the generous, and, as it 
 now seemed, inconsiderate impulse, which had prompted her, 
 on her first return home, unhesitatingly, to resign it. 
 
 Who shall venture to say how far self-love mingled in this 
 r-grot, and how much of her natural reverence for old 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 153 
 
 ations and superior years was extinguished in the cold calcu- 
 lations of expediency ! 
 
 But this was not the only, nor the most vital form in which 
 her sentiments of veneration were this day destined to be as- 
 sailed. Mabel had a sincere love of her native country, a 
 strong faith in its republican institutions, and its Heaven- 
 designed destiny among nations, and when the conversation of 
 some talented members of the company took a political turn, 
 her interest and attention were at once awakened. 
 
 More than one political party were ably represented, but the 
 discussion was conducted in an amicable though earnest spirit, 
 and all were united in the depth of their patriotic zeal for the 
 honor and welfare of their country, and a deep conviction of 
 the influence she was destined to exercise in the establishment 
 of liberal principles throughout the world. 
 
 Mabel's face glowed, and her eyes sparkled, as she listened 
 to the hopeful and stirring prophecy of one, who, having sur- 
 vived several administrations, watched the working of our gov- 
 ernmental system, and exulted in the growth of truth and 
 justice in the national heart, ventured to predict, that the day 
 would come at last, when, purged from the stain of entailed 
 abuses, she would become a perfect model for future republics. 
 
 " You are a politician, I see, Miss Vaughan," said Dudley, 
 who had watched her \vith an interest equal to that with which 
 she had watched the speaker. 
 
 " I ! " exclaimed Mabel, turning suddenly towards him and 
 blushing, as she always did at the consciousness of her betrayed 
 enthusiasm, " Oh, no ! " 
 
 " A female patriot, then ? " 
 
 " Hardly that," replied Mabel. " I am afraid I have not the 
 heroism of a patriot, but I do hope that prophesied day of glory 
 will come at last, and that I shall live to see it." 
 
 " I hope," said Dudley, with a tone that was calculated to 
 chill the ardor of her feelings, " that you will not, on the other 
 hand, see this much-boasted confederacy sink as low in the 
 scale of nations as my fears predict. The elements of disor- 
 ganization and failure are already at work ; it is astonishing to 
 
154 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 see the blind confidence with which these self-styled statesmen 
 endeavor to uphold, with high-sounding words, the crumbling 
 edifice of national prosperity;" and, turning to the individual 
 whose eloquence had inspired Mabel with a kindred zeal, he 
 begged a solution of some of those difficult and intricate prob- 
 lems in the future career of the republic which distract the 
 common mind and tax the best abilities of the wisest. 
 
 The question called forth a response, which, in its turn, gave 
 rise to a short but spirited debate, conducted ably on both sides, 
 but with especial skill on the part of Dudley, whose opponent 
 was no match for him in clearness of argument and subtle force 
 of reasoning ; and not Mabel alone, but older and wiser heads 
 than hers, were compelled to acknowledge the justness of his 
 apprehensions, and almost felt the social fabric totter beneath 
 them, as he enlarged upon the imminent peril which threat- 
 ened it. 
 
 It was neither his taste nor his policy, however, to push the 
 controversy beyond the interchange of a few prominent ideas 
 and suggestions, and he gracefully and ingeniously waived the 
 continuance of a subject ill-suited to the time and place, even 
 suffering his antagonist to enjoy the benefit of the last word, 
 which was to the effect, that no one could foresee how these 
 things would terminate, that Mr. Dudley's queries were, 
 doubtless, unanswerable but, as he had said before, he had 
 confidence in the nation at large, and the over-ruling Providence 
 which had thus far sustained it. 
 
 " The gentleman has an astonishing confidence in the ele- 
 ments of which this community is composed," said Dudley to 
 Mabel, when conversation around the table had again become 
 general; "he seems to place great reliance too on tne Divine 
 partiality. Does he think the American Republic superior in 
 intelligence to those of classic Greece and Rome ? or that the 
 former is destined to perennial growth, while the latter were 
 doomed to decay ? " 
 
 The inquiry was specious, and acted powerfully upon Mabel's 
 mind, for there was no one to suggest the re ply, that in the 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 155 
 
 Christianity of the nation lay the true safety of its children, and 
 the hope of its future glory. 
 
 It was not strange that Dudley should cherish dark and 
 gloomy doubts of a triumph whose germ he totally overlooked. 
 Alas, how much he overlooked in this world, so rich to him in 
 its arts, its sciences, its wealth, its knowledge, and its pride ! 
 How poor are all these treasures in comparison with that pearl 
 of price, which he, in his self-reliance, scornfully disdains, and 
 scorning it himself, hesitates not to despoil another of that child- 
 like simplicity and trust, which invest earth with a halo of 
 heavenly brightness, and constitute the choicest gem in her 
 womanly crown ! 
 
 And what shall he give her in return ? 
 
 He may ransack the stores of learning, exhaust the mines of 
 knowledge, or drain to their utmost depths the resources of 
 fancy, wit, and imagination but he can never give her back 
 the holy joy that springs from the love of common things, the 
 cherishing of natural sentiment, the faith in human virtue and 
 the providence of God. 
 
 The time is coming when she will need them all. Ah ! 
 what shall atone for their fatal loss, when her heart crieth out 
 in its bitter agony and no answering voice replieth ? 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Oh ! but ill, 
 
 When with rich hopes o'er fraught, the young high heart 
 Bears its first blow ! it knows not yet the part 
 Which life will teach to suffer and be still. 
 
 MRS. HEMAXS. 
 
 A FEW weeks more pass away. The gay world is as gay as 
 ever. Music, laughter, dancing, fashion, and display, still gild 
 the surface of that phase of humanity, which hides its throbbing 
 heart behind the veil of conventional usages, or crushes down 
 its aching sorrows beneath the weight of an assumed gayety. 
 A little while ago, and Mabel was one among the crowd who 
 wore no such veil, and bent beneath no such weight. Her 
 motions were free, her smiles genuine, and her heart light. 
 But the case is altered now; the immunity exists no longer; 
 and Mabel is changed. It is not that the world has withdrawn 
 its favor, though its admiration is, perchance, somewhat tainted 
 with envy. It is not that her health is undermined, though the 
 roses have paled a little in her cheeks ; nor is it the effect of 
 satiety, for the new element, which a superior mind has had 
 power to infuse into her daily life, has lost nothing of its charm. 
 Yet the once buoyant, happy, careless Mabel, is suddenly and 
 strangely changed. 
 
 The dull-eyed world notes it not; even affection is blinded to 
 the fact, and scarcely does her own heart acknowledge its pain- 
 ful but unutterable burden. 
 
 Still its influence penetrates every spring of action, and 
 modifies every thought ; for, hid as it might be from others, and 
 struggled with as it might be by herself, Mabel, the hitherto 
 light-hearted Mabel, has something on her mind. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 15 / 
 
 Whatever it may be, it is something of a saddening nature ; 
 for the spirits which were wont to be spontaneous are now 
 forced and fitful ; it is something alarming, if one may judge 
 from the nervous starts and occasional tremblings which are 
 significant of anxiety and dread ; it is something secret, for she 
 tells no one, maintains an assumed composure herself, and scans 
 the faces of others with eager scrutiny. 
 
 Her altered habits, moreover, betray a corresponding change 
 in her feelings, motives, and designs. She no longer approaches 
 the breakfast-room carolling a gay song, or trips with a light 
 step to her aunt's door, and bids her a lighter good morning, 
 but pauses within her own room, listens for the footsteps of the 
 rest of the household assembling for the morning meal, and 
 when she makes her own appearance, glances around the table 
 with a troubled air and an inquiring eye. And when she re- 
 turns at night from those gay scenes, into which she plunges 
 with more eagerness than ever, she seems quite forgetful of 
 the rest which youthful weariness is wont to crave, and, dismiss- 
 ing her maid, paces her room with unequal steps, looks out of 
 her window at the night, or, noiselessly turning the door-lock, 
 moves through the house like a ghost, listening at cracks and 
 peeping through key holes ; then, startled by some slight noise, 
 retreats hastily within her own room, perhaps brushes away a 
 tear, and retires for the night with a lamp still burning. 
 
 In society, also, many and frequent are the indications which, 
 though unmarked by others, betray to one observant eye, at 
 least, the secret fear which is ever present to her thoughts. 
 The quick flush upon the countenance, the rapid and excited 
 conversations upon subjects of trifling interest, the nervous 
 start on being suddenly addressed, and an occasional absence 
 of mind all bear witness to the fact, which it is now the chief 
 anxiety of her life to conceal. 
 
 Yes, even her pathway, sunny as it seemed, stretches across 
 those dreary wastes which humanity is doomed to tread. She, 
 like the rest, has taken up her burden, and must bear it as best 
 she may. It came upon her suddenly. A premonitory shadow, 
 indeed an undefined dread had once or twice taken posses- 
 
 14 
 
-.58 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 eion of her mind; but the blow aimed by cruel hands finally 
 struck home without preface or warning. 
 
 It happened thus. She was sitting for her portrait to the 
 very artist who had been so earnest to obtain the opportunity, 
 and who, with Dudley's recommendation in his favor, met Mr. 
 Vaughan's ready encouragement. 
 
 It was the morning after the fancy ball, already alluded to 
 as in course of preparation. The festivities having been pro- 
 longed until a late hour, it was with some reluctance that Mabel 
 made the effort to keep her appointment with the artist ; but 
 his time was valuable, and she was unwilling to disappoint him. 
 Miss Sabiah usually accompanied her on these occasions, but 
 as the venerable years and character of the portrait painter 
 rendered her presence superfluous, and the coachman had 
 taken his horses to be shod that morning, Mabel proceeded 
 alone and on foot to the studio, requesting her aunt to send the 
 carriage to meet her at an appointed hour. 
 
 Mr. Geraldi, whose conversational gifts rivalled those of the 
 pencil, and who seldom failed to relieve the monotony of these 
 sittings by his agreeable discourse, had this morning enlarged 
 with more than ordinary enthusiasm upon topics connected 
 with his profession, and either accidentally or with conscious 
 tact, had, by a warm eulogium upon his friend Dudley's knowl- 
 edge and taste, called up in Mabel's face that expression of 
 animation and interest which he was most anxious to transfer 
 to his canvas. He had reached a critical point in his labors, 
 and his countenance consequently manifested no little annoy- 
 ance, when the outer door of his studio was unceremoniously 
 thrown open, and a party of fashionable young ladies entered, 
 having come thither, out of idle curiosity, to inspect some por- 
 traits which were on exhibition. 
 
 A wide screen, which stretched the whole length of the 
 apartment, concealed Mr. Geraldi and Mabel from the observa- 
 tion of the visitors, but their loud voices and extravagant mirth 
 were scarcely less embarrassing to the artist than their actual 
 presence would have been; more especially as, however he 
 might profess to despise the criticism of the uninitiated, he 
 
MAHEL VAUGIIAN. 150 
 
 could not be wholly insensible to the unqualified comments 
 which they bestowed upon his works. 
 
 " Do see," cried one, " that is Mrs. Leonard ! " " Looks 
 about as much like her as it does like me," cried a second. " I 
 hope she has paid him well for making a beauty of her," again 
 exclaimed the first speaker; while a third, exposing to view an 
 unfinished portrait which was turned towards the wall, pro- 
 nounced it a genuine likeness of Miss Oldbelle, minus her 
 rouge and hair-dye. 
 
 Mr. Geraldi smiled. Mabel blushed, recognizing as she did 
 the voices of some of her friends, and anxiously anticipating 
 some more cutting sarcasm. 
 
 "Well might she tremble but not for the artist; the poison- 
 ous shafts of these idle tongues were destined to take a nearer, 
 closer aim, and pierce her own heart. 
 
 " Where 's Mabel Vaughan ? " cried Victoria Vannecker. 
 " Geraldi is painting her ; that 's the only picture I care about 
 seeing." 
 
 " You feel a sisterly interest, Vic ! " exclaimed another voice. 
 " No wonder ! " And then followed many foolish and coarse 
 jokes, implying the near relations likely to exist between Miss 
 Vannecker and the Vaughan family. 
 
 Mabel's lips, as she listened, curled with a slight expression 
 of scorn at these unwelcome and preposterous projects of alli- 
 ance. 
 
 " I will do the Ilammerlys the credit of saying," cried the 
 eldest and loudest-spoken of Victoria's companions, " that there 
 has been nothing this winter that has gone off half as well as 
 that ball last night. The whole thing was managed splendidly, 
 and that last dance was so exciting it almost takes me off 
 my feet to think of it ! " and she concluded by humming a few 
 notes of the most popular waltz of the season. 
 
 " They say there was no end to the champagne that was 
 drank," said Victoria. 
 
 " I should think so," said another and somewhat gentler 
 voice ; " did you see Mr. Van Rosberg and that young creole 
 
1GO MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 that wore a Spanish dress ? I was afraid they would really 
 get to fighting. I am sure they were both excited with wine." 
 
 " Oh, that is nothing," cried the loud-voiced lady. " I know 
 from good authority, that two or three of our set did n't go 
 home until daylight, and then not without help. Your Knight 
 of Malta, Vic, had his share of the champagne, if any body 
 did." 
 
 Miss Vannecker laughed. 
 
 " What were you doing in the supper-room just before the 
 last dance ? drinking healths ? " 
 
 " Oh, Robin Hood gave the funniest toast," said Victoria ; " I 
 wish I could remember it it was something about a horn ; 
 and Little John that was Fred Earle, you know he re- 
 sponded ; and my Maltese Knight made a Mttle bit of a speech 
 all to ourselves, you know, up in that corner of the room ; 
 but oh, it was so funny ! Fan and I laughed so ! I declare, 
 Fan Fan Broadhead, the fairy queen was so diverted, 
 that she forgot to take care of her gauze wings, and that great, 
 stout Mrs. Makeway brushed against her and crushed one of 
 them, so that it looked ridiculously. Fan was dreadfully pro- 
 voked ! It served her right, though, for she never would have 
 dreamed of taking that part if she had not known that I thought 
 of it for myself. How mad she was when the Malta Knight 
 said something about its proving that she was a false fairy. 
 That was just as we "went off to dance," added Victoria, with 
 an affected and self-satisfied air, " and I do n't know how she 
 managed to repair the mischief." 
 
 " Your devoted knight was very light, both of head and 
 heels, at that time in the evening," said her friend. " What 
 with my partner and yours, Vic, the dance had a right to be 
 lively. They do say, though," and here she lowered her voice 
 sufficiently to impart added meaning to her words "the Ham- 
 merlys, and some others who have a right to know, do say, that 
 it is not the first time that the Knight of Malta has needed the 
 services of his father's footman. But, lah! they say so of 
 half the young men ! " 
 
 "To be sure," said Victoria, as the party, who had long 
 
MAIJEL VAUGIIAN. 1G1 
 
 ceased their inspection of the pictures, prepared to take leave, 
 and the door closed behind them with these words from the 
 frivolous lips of one of their number 
 
 " Poh ! "What is champagne made for if not to drink ? " 
 
 Mr. Geraldi, who with his head bent over his palette had 
 been mixing a few colors, while he impatiently awaited the 
 departure of the talkative group of visitors, now looked up at 
 Mabel, with the view of resuming his labors at the easel, but 
 could scarcely believe that he saw before him the same face 
 which he had been studying a few moments before. The 
 mobile features had become rigid, the lips compressed, the 
 complexion almost colorless ; while the expression of animated 
 intelligence, which he had been so anxious to retain, had wholly 
 vanished, giving place to that vacant and absent air which 
 often takes possession of the countenance when the mind is 
 engaged in painful introspection. 
 
 Thought was almost suspended in Mabel, but memory and 
 imagination had called up in vivid colors a long array of living 
 facts, upon which her mental gaze was riveted. She had ex- 
 perienced strange doubts and questionings before. It was all 
 explained now. The coldness between Dudley and Harry 
 the latter's exaggerated attentions to Miss Vannecker his 
 avoidance of herself her solitary return home the previous 
 night and the unusual noise upon the stairs which had dis- 
 turbed her slumbers at daybreak these idle tattlers had ac- 
 counted for it all for Harry was the Knight of Malta. 
 
 Not until the loud banging of the street door and the sudden 
 silence which succeeded, recalled her to herself, did she realize 
 the necessity for self-control. As she looked up and found Mr. 
 Geralcli's eyes fixed upon her, a sudden flush overspread her 
 cheeks and brow, and she rose quickly from her chair, as if 
 deprecating any further analysis of her face and, possibly, of 
 her emotions. 
 
 " You are fatigued, my dear youg lady. I have kept you 
 too long ! " said the kind old artist, who had heard but a por- 
 tion of the conversation that had just transpired in his studio, 
 14* 
 
1G2 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 and who had recognized nothing in it which could have power 
 to agitate her. 
 
 " Yes," said Mabel, in a broken voice, and scarcely knowing 
 what she said, "I will go now;" and rising, she mechanically 
 resumed her cloak and bonnet, and walked to the door, forget- 
 t'ng, until she had nearly left the room, her customary saluta- 
 tion and farewell, which were at length performed with but 
 little of her wonted grace. 
 
 She had gained the sidewalk before she even thought of the 
 carriage, but then perceiving that it had not arrived, she walked 
 slowly up the street, and turning, walked back for a little dis- 
 tance, and this she did, again and again, unconscious of ob- 
 servation, and thankful only to be in the fresh air and alone. 
 
 " Miss Mabel ! " called Donald, as she was unconsciously 
 passing the carriage, which had at length reached the artist's 
 door. He was obliged to follow his young mistress and repeat 
 the call, before he could arrest her attention. 
 
 " 0, Donald ! is that you ? " she exclaimed, in sudden sur- 
 prise ; and then, without any explanation of her singular pre- 
 occupation, she turned, hastened to the carriage, and springing 
 in, threw herself upon the back seat with evident relief, and 
 told him to drive on. 
 
 " Where ? " asked he, and receiving no answer, repeated the 
 question. 
 
 " Home," cried she, at length, in answer to his inquiries, and 
 for the first time astonishing him by the irritability of her tone 
 of voice. 
 
 Fortunately it was a quiet street, and there was no one but 
 Donald to feel or express any astonishment at her movements. 
 
 They had gone but a few steps, when she suddenly pulled 
 the check-string. " Drive to Mrs. Leroy's ! " exclaimed she, a 
 little imperatively, as if the man had wilfully misunderstood 
 her first direction. 
 
 Poor girl ! she scarcely knew what she said or did. Louise 
 was at home, and Mabel found her attired in a rich dressing- 
 gown, and lying on a sofa, loo much fatigued with the dissipa- 
 tion of the previous evening :o attempt any exertion. 
 
3IABEL VAUGI1AN. 1G3 
 
 Not till she was seated opposite to her sister, and a pause 
 succeeded the usual interchange of civilities, did Mabel a-k 
 herself for what purpose she had come. Certainly not to be- 
 tray to Mrs. Leroy the subject which was uppermost in her 
 thoughts. Perhaps, though she could not herself be sure, it was 
 to learn whether Louise was yet conscious of the fatal secret, 
 which was no secret ; and if so, to discover the nature of her 
 sentiments in relation to the melancholy fact. 
 
 " Been at Geraldi's ever since ten o'clock ? " was the excla- 
 mation with which Mrs. Leroy broke the momentary silence. 
 "O, Mabel," continued she, languidly, and settling herself 
 more comfortably on her pillows, " how strong you are ; why, 
 I hardly felt able to go to the breakfast-table, after the fatigue 
 of last night." 
 
 " You danced more than I did," said Mabel with an absent 
 tone, and the half-timid, half-searching glance at her sister, 
 which she had worn from her first entrance. 
 
 " Yes, very true," responded Louise, with the flattered air 
 of a youthful belle, " somehow I never can get excused. How 
 do you manage, Mabel ? However," continued she, without 
 waiting for a reply, " you are not so passionately fond of it as 
 I am ; I was brought up to it. I danced the cracovienne with 
 castanets, when I was only four years old, for the entertain- 
 ment of mamma's visitors. There was a Count in the room 
 one evening, I can't think of his name, but I remember 
 perfectly what he said to me about my dancing." 
 
 Once launched upon this topic, Louise did not pause until 
 she had detailed, for Mabel's benefit, the successive tributes of 
 flattery which had poisoned the ear, first of the child, and then 
 of the woman, up to the present period ; and Mabel, to whom 
 these petty parades of vanity were nothing new, breathed more 
 freely as she listened. She could never be thinking of herself, 
 and of such trifles, if she knew what I know, thought Mabel ; 
 and she felt a sense of relief in the idea that there was one of 
 the family, at least, who was ignorant of Harry's disgrace. 
 
 At length, after Louise had roamed from one frivolous topic 
 to another, for the space of half an hour, failing amid her own 
 
164 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 volubility to take note of Mabel's unusual silence and con- 
 straint, the latter rose to go. 
 
 " Do hand me that cologne, Mabel," said her sister ; and re- 
 ceiving the bottle from Mabel's hand, she poured some of its 
 contents on her handkerchief, and applied it to her forehead. 
 " I believe I have got a headache to-day," drawled she, " I feel 
 very dull and stupid, at any rate; I suppose it's the cham- 
 pagne I drank last night. Close the shutters, will you, Mabel ? 
 if Lydia will only keep those children out, I may get a nap. 
 Was Harry up to breakfast this morning ? " added she, laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 Mabel's hand trembled, as with her back to Louise, she at- 
 tempted to close the shutters, and her voice betrayed no slight 
 agitation, as she answered, " Why ? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing," replied Louise, " only I fancy he returned 
 rather late, and had a pretty heavy dose to sleep off." 
 
 Mabel made no answer, except by rattling the latch of the 
 shutter, which she tried in vain to fasten. 
 
 " It was two o'clock when we came away," continued Louise, 
 " and Mr. Leroy says that some of the young men in the hotel 
 did not come home until three or four hours later. I will ven- 
 ture to say, Harry was one of the last to leave, for nobody 
 seemed to enjoy it more than he did. I never saw him in 
 such spirits in his life thanks to the supper, I think, rather 
 than Vic Vannecker's wit, though Vic would not thank me for 
 saying so," added she, in a somewhat indifferent tone. 
 
 Mabel turned slowly round, lifted her long lashes, and fixed 
 her eyes full and wonderingly upon her sister's face. Louise 
 met this glance of deep concern and reproach with her usual 
 light and scornful laugh. 
 
 " Do n't look so shocked," exclaimed she at length, a little 
 irritated by Mabel's silence, which was far more expressive 
 than any words of which she could have made use ; " you are 
 just like Mr. Leroy. He talks about Harry's having got into 
 a bad set, and all that nonsense. I am sure his acquaintances 
 are the first young men about town. For my part, I like to 
 see gentlemen have a little life and spirit about them ; I can 't 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 1G5 
 
 bear these spoonies who are always measuring their conduct ; 
 afraid of losing caste among the saints ; they do n't turn out 
 a bit better in the end. But, la, Mabel, how solemn you 
 look," added Louise, almost angrily. " You 'd make an an- 
 chorite of Harry, I dare say, and advise me to become a nun, 
 and go out into the wilderness, next month, with Mr. Leroy, 
 as he proposed I should do this morning. My motto is, to en- 
 joy as much as one can, and take life easy." And once more 
 composing herself upon her couch, she commenced putting her 
 motto into practice by closing her eyes for a nap. 
 
 Mabel was not slow to avail herself of the hint which this 
 action afforded, and now hastening from the house, gave the 
 Coachman the unhesitating order to drive home. 
 
 In that one long, silent look which she had fastened upon 
 her sister's face, she had pierced, as it were, to the depths of 
 that shallow and worldly nature, she had measured the wide 
 difference between her own vehement heart-throbs, and the 
 feeble pulsations of feeling in Louise, and had learned the sad 
 truth, that in the deep experiences of life she must seek in 
 vain, in this direction, for a sister's counsel and sympathy. 
 
 To whom, then, shall she look for comfort in this hour of 
 Bitterness ? Not to her father, who, she trusts, may long be 
 left in ignorance of his son's misconduct ; not to her aunt, who 
 would inveigh against it with a severity of which Mabel could 
 not bear to think ; and of higher and heavenly aid, though she 
 was far from denying its power, she had not yet learned to 
 avail herself. So, for the first time in her life, as she sought 
 her solitary room, she felt herself truly alone, alone with an 
 aching sorrow. 
 
 With what crushing force did it weigh down and paralyze 
 her heart! The world might excuse the folly at which it 
 laughed so lightly, the frivolous might defend, and the weak 
 applaud, but Mabel could only tremble and weep. 
 
 She looked not to the end, she measured not the fearful con- 
 sequences that might ensue in the future ; her feelings had 
 received too severe a shock to admit of any other conscious- 
 ness, than that of a deep and irreparable calamity. 
 
1G6 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Harry, her noble brother, a laughing stock and a by-word! 
 his rnanly figure and handsome face a mark for the finger of 
 scorn, his intellectual nature lowered to the level of a brute ! 
 It was too much; and the necessity for self-control being past, 
 she threw herself on her bed, and gave way to a paroxysm of 
 grief. 
 
 Who shall tell the agony of the mental conflict that she ex- 
 perienced? It is sufficient that she rose from that suffering crisis 
 a new and altered being. The iron hand was upon her which 
 moulds the child into the woman, and she went her way, shrink 
 ing beneath its cruel touch. Henceforth, her inner and outer 
 world were no longer in harmony. The drama of her life was 
 double, and she had two parts to play. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Oh, that men should put an enemy in 
 Their mouths, to steal away their brains ! that we 
 Should, with joy, pleasure, revel and applause, 
 Transform ourselves to beasts. SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 THERE is a species of brutish self-indulgence which takes 
 possession of the poor, the hard-working and the untaught 
 nature. It revels in the low, degrading, and under-ground 
 haunts of vice. It walks both by night and day, striding before 
 the eyes of men in all its unglossed deformity, telling of starva- 
 tion and rags, of wayside gutters and unmarked graves. It 
 excites the disgust of the refined worldling, and the efforts 
 of the brave philanthropist. 
 
 There is another, and a like species of consuming demon, 
 which treads the high places of the earth, its ugliness clothed 
 in the garments of pride, and its depravity hid beneath the veil 
 of luxury. Wealth ministers to its grasping influence, and 
 oftentimes, youthful beauty and woman's smile foster the devour- 
 ing flame. Not until its fell work is well-nigh done, does the 
 world take note of the destruction which lies in its path ; but 
 the record of its fearful march is written on many a bowed 
 head and broken heart, while secret tears and midnight watch- 
 ings, and the unuttered groans of disappointed hope, sap the 
 very life-springs of a mourning household. 
 
 The friend of humanity spares no effort to baffle the brutish 
 wayside enemy which drags the once honest and industrious 
 laborer down to idleness, poverty, and ruin. Shall no voice, 
 then, be lifted up to warn, threaten, and perchance to save, 
 the victim of that far more insidious and equally ruinous foe, 
 which walks hand in hand with pleasure, is sanctioned by fash- 
 ion and encouraged by wealth, but which leaves behind it< 
 
168 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 when its easy victory is won, a blighted intellect, a shattered 
 frame, and all the conscious degradation of an abused and 
 fallen nature ? 
 
 Oh, that the silent and secret agony which has wrung so 
 many an innocent heart could find for itself an utterance ! 
 that the voiceless and anguished groan of the repentant spirit 
 could give vent to its warning cry ! Then might the youth 
 just launched on a career of dissipation, vice and folly, be 
 startled betimes by the fearful knell of disappointed hope, which 
 rings out from the shoals and quicksands that are scattered 
 amid the sea of pleasure. 
 
 But, alas ! the ill-fated victim who learns his first lessens in 
 self-indulgence within the charmed ring of fashionable conviv- 
 iality, and plunges thence into the deeper haunts of iniquity 
 and vice, comes not back to shake the skeleton finger at those 
 who yet linger on the threshold. Lost to self-respect, and 
 banished from the courts which lured him on to ruin, he sinks 
 into disgraceful oblivion, while the hearts that his misconduct 
 has broken, betray him not with a cry. 
 
 It was no sudden bound which had brought Harry to the 
 verge of this dark gulf. Freedom from parental restraint, 
 unlimited supplies of money, and a naturally gay and adventur- 
 ous disposition, had early exposed him to the temptations which 
 beset boyhood and youth. The love of mischief that resulted 
 in his banishment from West Point, had been succeeded by 
 a course of foolish extravagance, which was, however, in some 
 degree checked by the simple mode of life that prevailed in 
 the German university which he next attended, and the inter- 
 est in literary and scientific pursuits which was there awakened. 
 The two following years of travel served to make him well 
 acquainted with men and manners ; and amid the various trials 
 and tests to which the youth was subjected, it must be acknowl- 
 edged that he sometimes overleaped the bounds of prudence 
 and sobriety. Fortunately the excitement of journeying, and 
 the generous aspirations which it awakened, furnished a vent 
 to the ardor and impetuosity of his disposition, and tempered 
 the exposures which threatened him on every hand ; still his 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 169 
 
 character became gradually marked by a certain recklessness 
 and self-indulgence which boded ill for the future. 
 
 But it was not until his return to his native city that he gave 
 himself up to a life of pleasure, and relinquished nobler pur- 
 suits for the petty gratifications of the day and hour. Idleness, 
 however, the difficulty in choosing a profession, and the satiety 
 of his present mode of life, all combined to undermine his 
 strength of manly purpose ; while his convivial traits and com- 
 mand of money, caused his society to be appreciated, and his 
 presence sought by those who were alike skilled in administer- 
 ing flattery and in contaminating the heart. 
 
 The point where a man loses his self-respect, usually pre- 
 cedes that in which he loses the respect of others. 
 
 Mabel became conscious that a barrier had arisen between 
 herself and her brother, before she suspected its cause. 
 
 Perhaps, had she been less engaged with a new sentiment, 
 she would have felt more keenly the gradual withdrawal of 
 Harry's confidence, and would have probed more deeply the 
 secret of his seemingly diminished affection ; at least, she would 
 have asked herself why it was that their pleasures, interests, 
 and tastes, which had hitherto lain in the same direction, had 
 ceased to be in harmony. 
 
 As it was, the conviction that Harry was in some degree 
 supplanted in her own heart, forbade her to question too closely 
 any want of devotion on his part ; and if she occasionally felt 
 wounded at his reposing less trust in her than formerly, she 
 doubted her right to complain of a reserve which she knew to 
 be in some degree mutual. 
 
 But if the consciousness of his own unworthiness caused 
 Harry to dread his sister's scrutiny, the barrier between them 
 was doubled now that she had come to share this knowledge. 
 He no longer had occasion to avoid the eye which nervously 
 shrunk from encountering his, or dread any expression of those 
 suspicions on her part which, though they were ever on the 
 alert, she sought only to hide from his observation. And yet, 
 while Mabel had no anxiety so great as to conceal from him 
 her participation*^ his fatal secret^ her very anxiety betrayed 
 
 15 
 
170 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 her ; and lie became instinctively conscious that his innocent 
 sister was suffering for his misdeeds. 
 
 The consequence was, a painful and daily increasing estrange- 
 ment ; not the estrangement which springs from harsh looks, 
 angry words, and mutual accusations ; there were none of these. 
 Scarcely less bitter to Mabel's heart, however, were the averted 
 n* stealthy glance, the unexplained absence, the constrained 
 silence, or the ill-timed hilarity, which proclaimed a mind ill at 
 ease. 
 
 How far Mr. Vaughan and his sister shared her solicitude, it 
 was difficult to determine. The former, in spite of his daily 
 increasing abstraction of mind, now and then cast on his son a 
 look of deep concern and scrutiny ; and the puzzled air with 
 which Sabiah was wont to regard her nephew, occasionally 
 gave place to a sharp glance of reproof, as she observed his 
 growing indifference to the happiness and convenience of the 
 whole household. No further utterance, however, was given to 
 their thoughts, nor was there as yet any positive evidence that 
 the indications of misconduct in Harry had not wholly escaped 
 their observation. Still, it could not be denied that an air of 
 constraint had gradually crept over the family, while whatever 
 might be the apparent subject of interest, an under current of 
 feeling evidently pervaded their little circle. 
 
 To shun the society of her aunt and father became at length 
 scarcely less an object with Mabel, than to avoid encountering 
 the eye of Harry. She never paused to ask herself whether 
 it was wise or right to shrink from meeting, face to face, the 
 calamity which she saw no way to avert; but blindly following 
 the instinct of nature, she sought to flee from the harrowing 
 dread which, nevertheless, pursued her like a shadow. 
 
 Thus she now rushed more recklessly than ever into that life 
 of excitement and fashion which, in reality, had lost for her 
 the charm that it once possessed, seeking in the gay and heart- 
 less whirl of society to drown the bitter *ears and forebodings 
 which pressed painfully upon her in her home. 
 It must be confessed, too, that her first agony of regret at 
 Harry's disgrace had been succeeded by a less disinterested 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 171 
 
 emotion, as she thought of the mortification it would entail 
 upon herself; and, shrinking from the companionship of her 
 brother, she almost unconsciously gave the preference to those 
 scenes of gaiety from which he would be sure to absent him- 
 self. 
 
 The time had been when Mabel would have repelled every 
 pleasure or honor which Harry might not share, and would 
 have scorned to possess any interest distinct and separate from 
 his. The school-girl of six months ago would boldly have 
 declared, that in the face of all the world she and her brother 
 would fall or rise together. But the Mabel of to-day, be it 
 remembered, was not the simple-hearted pupil of Mrs. Her- 
 bert. She had recently been trained in another school, and 
 had unconsciously imbibed other maxims. It was not the 
 influence of fashionable life ; for that, though it might engross 
 her time with frivolous pursuits, had failed to corrupt the 
 generous emotions of her heart. It was the deeper, subtler 
 influence of one who, knowing no disinterested sentiments, 
 and believing the rest of the world as false and hollow as him- 
 self, had insidiously contaminated her innocent and affectionate 
 nature with that refined species of selfishness which shrinks 
 from contact with the rough edges of this world's experience, 
 and wards off with shrinking dread the realizing sense of 
 aught that might interfere with its luxurious repose. 
 
 Thus striving, as she did, to free herself from the conse- 
 quences of Harry's misconduct, the gulf between the brother 
 and sister was widening day by day; and Mabel, if not aiding 
 in the downfall of the misguided youth, was lending no 
 hand to rescue him from ruin. 
 
 Nor did she escape the mortification which she was so 
 anxious to evade* Frequently did her cheek blanch, and the 
 light word tremble on her lip, as she suddenly became con- 
 scious of Harry's unexpected presence on an occasion when 
 she had least apprehended his approach. Sometimes he would 
 enter the assembly-room at a late hour, his face flushed with 
 wine, and his voice elevated a pitch above its usual tone ; 
 sometimes she would meet him on her drives, careering 
 
172 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 through one of the avenues in an open gig, drawn by a steed 
 noted on the race-course ; and more than once he had attracted 
 attention to her opera-box, by the boisterous conversation and 
 merriment with which he had disturbed the rest of the au- 
 dience. 
 
 In the eyes of some of Mabel's fashionable companions 
 these might be evidences of spirit ; but to her credit be it 
 said her good sense, no less than her sensitive affection, 
 were keenly alive to the disgrace and censure which they 
 merited. 
 
 Such experiences, and the apprehension of them, were suffi- 
 cient to cloud her joyousness. But this was not all. Other 
 evils soon followed in their train. Mabel's excitable, and appa- 
 rently inconsistent demeanor, exposed her to misconstruction, 
 and that, too, in a quarter where she was most anxious that 
 her conduct should be favorably interpreted. In the early 
 stages of her acquaintance with Dudley, when he merely 
 sought a mental stimulus in the satisfaction of awakening her 
 genius and developing her intellectual nature, he had felt no 
 disposition to put a check upon her lighter enjoyments, and 
 had been coolly indifferent to competition. But, in proportion 
 as he realized the power he had gained over her mind and 
 heart, did he become jealous of any interference, real or 
 imaginary. He made no open profession of that deeper 
 interest with which she had inspired him an interest which 
 had awakened in his sophisticated soul something like a ge- 
 nuine emotion. He even refused to acknowledge to himself 
 the force of the feelings by which he was actuated. Their 
 manifestation, however, took precisely the form which might 
 have been anticipated from one of his distrustful character ; 
 and often did Mabel find herself controlled by a jealous tyranny 
 which she could not understand, or grieved by a displeasure 
 for which she could not account. It was easy, however, to 
 submit to a tyranny which usually took the form of watchful 
 devotion, and to allay a displeasure which was seldom more 
 than momentary; and until the period when Mabel's mind 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 173 
 
 became harassed by contending emotions, no serious cause of 
 alienation had arisen between herself and Dudley. 
 
 But experience now proved that, although there was no one 
 who could so effectually win her from the painful thoughts by 
 which she was oppressed, Dudley was not her most efficient 
 aid in moments of sudden agitation. Her only refuge, then, 
 was in assumed gaiety ; and it often happened that there was 
 an individual in her vicinity who possessed at once the ability 
 and the will to second her efforts at animation, and afford her 
 the most easy and obvious means of concealing and overcoming 
 her mortification and chagrin. This was a young man of lively 
 temperament, unfailing spirits, and proverbial good nature, who 
 was ever ready to join in a playful war of words, laugh at a 
 pleasant joke, or take the lead in those popular and fashionable 
 dances in which he excelled. These available qualities were 
 always at Mabel's disposal, for Mr. Marston was one of a 
 numerous throng who perseveringly sought to render them- 
 selves acceptable to the belle of the season. 
 
 Anxious only to maintain her composure, at any cost, Mabel 
 did not realize the undue encouragement she was bestowing 
 on her highly flattered admirer, or the severity with which 
 Dudley inwardly commented upon her coquetry and frivolity. 
 
 One evening, however, when, being more than usually 
 oppressed by anxiety, she had sought to divert her feelings 
 and ward off the observation of others, by accepting Mr. 
 Marston's invitation to join in a rapid and giddy dance, she 
 was startled, on coming to a pause, by perceiving Dudley 
 standing directly opposite to her, with an expression of unmis- 
 takable scorn upon his features, while Harry was at the same 
 moment rendering himself conspicuous, by bestowing upon 
 Miss Vannecker, in an audible tone, a series of absurd com- 
 pliments, which he would never have uttered in his sober 
 senses. 
 
 Half fainting from a conflict of painful emotions, she sank 
 upon a chair, and her agitation reached its height when Dud- 
 ley crossed the room, and addressed her in the sarcastic tone 
 which he so well knew how to assume : " Miss Vaughan," 
 
 15* 
 
174 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 said he, "I am glad to see you in such spirits to-night; 
 the recollection of your animated enjoyment of this scene will 
 cheer me during my absence from the city." And with a 
 frigid bow he left the room. 
 
 He despises me, thought Mabel, for my frivolity and seem- 
 ing indifference to what every one must perceive. But, too 
 proud to bend beneath the weight of his displeasure, she 
 returned his salutation with haughty coldness, and accepted 
 Mr. Marston's invitation to take another turn in the dance. 
 
 Bitter, almost heart-breaking, were Mabel's reflections that 
 night. For the first time, she began to doubt the wisdom, the 
 propriety even, of the course she had thought proper to adopt, 
 in order to veil her actual sufferings from the eye of the world. 
 Even Dudley, thought she, believes me heartless ; for attri- 
 buting to him a worthier motive than that by which he was 
 really actuated, she never doubted that it was his warm friend- 
 ship for Harry which caused him to be shocked at her levity ; 
 nor dreamed that it was an overwrought and involuntary jeal- 
 ousy on his own account, which prompted his sarcastic com- 
 ment upon her apparent enjoyment of Mr. Marston's society. 
 
 And thus mistaking, as she did, the cause of his disappro- 
 bation, nothing could exceed her regret at having given offence 
 to the friend who, valued as he had long been, was never so 
 deeply prized as in this her time of painful and humiliating 
 sorrow. His desertion of her at this crisis seemed more than 
 she could bear. 
 
 Disappointed in her brother, blamed and forsaken by him 
 whose voice had hitherto been a charm against utter despon- 
 dency, and dreading the watchful eyes of her father and 
 aunt, she dared not fathom her own unhappiness ; but, con- 
 tinuing her customary round of engagements, performed her 
 part with automaton accuracy, masking her face in smiles, and 
 crushing down the emotions to which she dared not give way. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Humble love, 
 
 And not proud science, keeps the door of Heaven ; 
 Love finds admission where proud science fails. 
 
 YOUNG. 
 
 DURING the fortnight that Dudley continued absent from 
 the city, which was also the limit of his estrangement from 
 Mabel, the only companionship from which she obtained any 
 relief was that of her sister's children. Her efforts to win the 
 affections of the boys had not been without success ; and each 
 in his way gave evidence of a strength of attachment to their 
 young aunt, which she, in her turn, reciprocated with all the 
 warmth of a loving heart. The shout of joy with which Mur- 
 ray hailed her presence, was only equalled by the glow of 
 unspoken pleasure which overspread the face of Alick, and 
 their mutual admiration of their aunt Mabel was the one point 
 on which they never disagreed. Murray's restlessness sub- 
 sided into happy, childish enjoyment, when he was permitted 
 to climb her knee at the twilight hour, and prattle to her of 
 the events of the day ; and nothing made him so supremely 
 happy, as to fall asleep at night with his hand locked fast 
 in hers. Often, while he was visiting at his grandfather's, 
 had Mabel loitered from the fashionable dinner party to listen 
 to the little nothings which he was so eager to impart; 
 and more than once her rich evening dress had swept the 
 carpet while she knelt beside his couch and soothed his infant 
 slumbers. Both nature and habit had made Alick independent 
 of caresses ; but the gratified look with which he glanced up 
 from his book the first time she questioned him upon the sub- 
 ject of his reading, had taught her the way to his heart, and the 
 boy never again had reason to complain that no one was inter- 
 ested in his pleasure and improvement. 
 
176 MABEL VAUGHJLN. 
 
 She had her reward. Childish love is a refreshing balm to 
 the soul ; arid nothing so quieted her restless spirit as to fed 
 around her the pressure of Murray's little arms, and observe 
 the sturdy manliness with which Alick, on all occasions, ap- 
 pointed himself her attendant and champion. 
 
 She had nothing to dread, moreover, in her intercourse with 
 the children. They would neither suspect her uneasiness, nor 
 seek to pry into its source, and experiencing a sense of security 
 in their presence, Mabel availed herself of their society on 
 every possible occasion. 
 
 One Sunday they accompanied her home from church after 
 the morning service, and, the early dinner being concluded, 
 followed her, with their pockets full of nuts, into the little 
 apartment adjoining the drawing-room, which she could never 
 enter now without feelings of inexpressible sadness. The boys 
 seated themselves in the window and commenced eating their 
 nuts, while Mabel wandered listlessly about the room, reading, 
 in its abundant decorations, the evidences of Harry's affection, 
 and wondering where he might be spending the Sabbath, for 
 she had not seen him since morning. 
 
 She paused in front of her richly inlaid writing-desk, and, 
 lifting the lid, took up a little heap of letters recently received 
 from her former teacher and schoolmates. They were in reply 
 to some she had written a few weeks ago in all the extravagance 
 of youthful spirits, and their tone grated strangely on her pres- 
 ent feelings. The dear girls congratulated and envied her, and 
 her beloved friend, Mrs. Herbert, believing her to be happy, 
 wrote only a brief message of affection, sympathizing in the 
 pleasures of her lot, and gently cautioning her not to be too 
 confident of their continuance. Alas! the caution came too 
 late. 
 
 She closed the desk, and taking a book threw herself upon 
 the sofa and tried to read ; but her mind wandered from the 
 page, and, after indulging a long fit of gloomy meditation, she 
 rose and walked to the window, where the children were watch- 
 ing the numerous passers by. The day, though cold, was clear 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 177 
 
 and bright, and the family groups that moved through the 
 street formed a pleasant picture. 
 
 "Should you like to take a walk?" asked she, moved by a 
 sudden impulse to run away from her thoughts. 
 
 The proposition was hailed with acclamations of delight. 
 The boys ran for their coats and hats, while Mabel prepared 
 for the excursion with an air of indifference strangely at vari- 
 ance with her once elastic movements. They had proceeded 
 some distance down one of the avenues, without any special 
 destination in view, when Alick suddenly exclaimed, U O 
 Aunt Mabel, why can't we go and see Rosy ? " 
 
 " We can," said Mabel, " if it will not be too long a walk for 
 Murray." 
 
 Murray protested against the possibility of his being fatigued, 
 and they at once took the direction toward Mrs. Hope's humble 
 dwelling. The quarter in which she lived was poor, but 
 respectable and orderly, and they reached the house without 
 adventure, though not without attracting the attention of the 
 neighborhood, who seldom had an opportunity to witness (he 
 dress and bearing of the wealthier classes. They found the 
 windows of the little shop closed, with wooden shutters ; and 
 the door, too, was fastened ; so that Mabel's repeated knocks 
 were unanswered. Disappointed at having come so far to no 
 purpose, and fearful that some misfortune had befallen the 
 family, she looked about her to find, if possible, some other 
 mode of entrance and, at length, proceeding to the end of the 
 building, discovered a IOAV, dark alley, which appeared to lead 
 to the rear of the dilapidated tenement. 
 
 She felt some hesitation in entering this unexplored passage- 
 way, but it was no part of her character to be turned from a 
 worthy purpose by the indulgence of idle fears, and bidding 
 the children follow her closely, she penetrated to the extremity 
 of the alley, and found herself in a narrow yard, enclosed by 
 mouldy walls of brick, encumbered with rubbish, but extending, 
 as she had conjectured, across the rear of the entire building. 
 Several doors opened upon this common court-yard, and she 
 was at a loss to distinguish that qf Mrs. Hope, when the widow 
 
178 MABEL VAUGHAN 
 
 herself emerged from one of them with a pail in her hand, and 
 was proceeding in the direction of the pump that stood against 
 the wall ; but seeing and recognizing Mabel, she gave a quick 
 start of surprise, and, setting down her pail, came to meet her, 
 with an air of mingled pleasure and embarrassment. 
 
 The latter feeling partially subsided, as Mabel made haste to 
 apologize for her seemingly clandestine entrance, and inquired 
 with cordial interest concerning Mrs. Hope's welfare, and that 
 of Rose. 
 
 " Hose is pretty well, just now, for her," said the widow. 
 " She '11 be right glad to see you, Miss Vaughan. She 's got 
 her little Sunday-school in the back room this afternoon, and I 
 suppose it was their singing that drowned your knock ; they Ve 
 got considerable voice, little tots as they are. They are most 
 through now ; walk in, Miss Vaughan, it's a sort of a pretty 
 sight. You wont disturb them," added she, observing that 
 Mabel hesitated and, stepping within the woodshed at the 
 rear of her own contracted tenement, she threw open the door 
 of the kitchen, and motioned to Mabel to advance as far as the 
 threshold. 
 
 She did so without attracting observation, and, holding up 
 her finger, she enforced silence upon the boys, who also pressed 
 forward and peeped in. 
 
 Rose was seated in her little arm-chair in the centre of the 
 room, and around her were grouped some half dozen children, 
 none of whom could have been more than seven or eight years 
 of age. Their eyes were fixed upon Rose's face, while she re- 
 peated, slowly and distinctly, the last verse of the hymn they 
 were singing. It ran thus : 
 
 Bright in that happy land 
 
 Beams every eye ; 
 Fed by the Father's hand, 
 
 Love cannot die ; 
 Oh ! we shall happy be, 
 When, from sin and sorrow free, 
 Lord, we shall reign with thce, 
 
 Blest, blestj for aye. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 179 
 
 As Rose spoke the last word, the children commenced sing- 
 ing. It was sweet and touching to hear their childish voices 
 uniting in the simple melody which Rose had taught them. 
 But it was sweeter and more touching still to see them, when 
 the hymn was finished, assume a kneeling posture, and repeat 
 after her the words of the little closing prayer with which they 
 were accustomed to separate. 
 
 The tears started to Mabel's eyes, and with instinctive def- 
 erence to the solemnity of the service, she retreated at its con- 
 clusion, and, drawing Alick and Murray back into the outer 
 shed, closed the door noiselessly, that the little company might 
 not be conscious of intrusion. 
 
 "They're mostly German children," said Mrs. Hope to 
 Mabel, in explanation; "this is a German neighborhood, 
 rather ; they can't get much education in the schools for want 
 of knowing the language. Rosy first taught them English, and 
 then how to read and say their prayers ; singing comes natural 
 to 'em That makes fifteen she 's taught, and some of 'em are 
 bigger than she is, poor child. It aint much," added the mother 
 with a meditative air, " but then it's better than nothing, to be 
 sure ; and it makes Rose happy." 
 
 " Better than nothing ! " exclaimed Mabel earnestly, " yes, 
 indeed, it is everything." 
 
 And Mabel felt what she said. In that moment of excited 
 feelings, the wealth, the learning, and the pride of this world 
 sank into nothingness, in comparison with the pure and child- 
 like faith which takes hold on eternal life. 
 
 Alick and Murray were no less impressed than Mabel, as 
 was evident from their awe-struck silence and inquiring faces ; 
 there was no opportunity, however, for any further expression 
 of interest, for a confused murmur within the room was fol- 
 lowed by the sudden exit of the little band of children, who, 
 after casting curious and lingering glances at Mabel and her 
 nephews, dispersed in different directions while Mrs. Hope 
 ushered the freshly arrived visitors into her neat though hum- 
 ble kitchen. 
 
 Rose, somewhat exhausted with her labors, had thrown her- 
 
180 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 self back in her chair, but she revived at sight of Mabel, and 
 exclaimed with fervor, " O dear Miss Mabel, how glad I am 
 to see you ! " 
 
 It was with something like reverence that Mabel seated her- 
 self beside Rose on a low stool, from which one of the children 
 had just risen, and taking her little shrunken hand, pressed it 
 with affectionate fervor. 
 
 " I am glad to see you looking so well, Rose," said she, gazing 
 into the child's face with a warm expression of interest. " She 
 really has a color in her cheeks," observed she to Mrs. Hope, 
 who stood watching Rose's countenance with mingled pleasure 
 and anxiety. 
 
 " Yes," replied the widow, with some hesitation, " I 'm afraid 
 it ain't quite natural, though; she's apt to be feverish about 
 this time of day." 
 
 " You are tired. Rose, with teaching your little class," said 
 Mabel. " It is too much for your strength, I think." 
 
 " Oh, no ! " exclaimed Rose, eagerly. " It is very easy teach- 
 ing them I love to." And then, as if anxious to turn the 
 conversation from herself, she addressed numerous inquiries to 
 Alick and Murray, both of whom had pressed close to her 
 side, asking them concerning Lydia, their mamma, and the 
 mode in which they had come thither. Now and then she 
 turned her smiling countenance upon Mabel, with deep and 
 admiring affection, her glance in some degree expressing the 
 two-fold happiness which she experienced in the presence of 
 one in whom her own loving nature recognized a kindred spirit, 
 while the appreciation of the beautiful, which was inherent in 
 the little invalid, found in this new friend the perfect and only 
 illustration of its ideal. 
 
 It was with mingled emotions that Mabel perceived the in- 
 fluence she exercised. As she met the admiring glance of 
 Rose, a glow of self-satisfaction overspread her face, such as 
 all the flatteries of the ball-room could not call up. But this 
 sentiment of gratified vanity was chastened and subdued by 
 an unwonted sense of un worthiness, which forced itself upon 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 181 
 
 her as she compared her own aimless life with the self-devotion 
 of the invalid child. 
 
 This latter sentiment asserted itself still more strongly before 
 the conclusion of the visit. 
 
 The little company were met together on more free and 
 familiar terms than on the occasion of their first becoming ac- 
 quainted. Mabel's easy cordiality disarmed all embarrassment 
 and reserve, and even the awkward constraint of the widow 
 Hope was not proof against the considerate kindness of her 
 manner. Thus the conversation became brisk and general, 
 the contrast in social position was well-nigh forgotten, and the 
 previous good understanding of the parties was ripening into 
 the confidence of friendship. 
 
 Something of Mrs. Hope's family history was elicited, some 
 reminiscences of her better days were called up, and her hopes 
 and fears for the future welfare of herself and family, touched 
 upon. Rose's week-day employments, and her Sabbath labors 
 and pleasures, were enumerated and discussed, and Jack was 
 for the first time brought to Mabel's knowledge, through the 
 frequent mention which was made of him. 
 
 Into all this Mabel entered with ready interest, while a 
 corresponding sympathy was expressed in return, in the coun- 
 tenances of both Rose and Mrs. Hope, when allusion was 
 incidentally made to the circumstance of her having been 
 motherless from her childhood. 
 
 Alick, meanwhile, was content to listen to the conversation, 
 but Murray, not satisfied with playing the part of a silent spec- 
 tator, began to look about him for amusement ; and, espying 
 on the table an exceedingly ragged and shabby-looking book, 
 he tossed it on the floor, and commenced kicking it contemptu- 
 ously from one end of the kitchen to the other. Observing 
 Rose's eye wander towards him, Mabel turned, saw the nature 
 of his occupation, and starting forward, checked his play and 
 rescued the volume, at the same time saying, good-naturedly, 
 
 " Murray, do n't kick the poor old book. I 'm afraid you 
 have no respect for age, my dear." 
 16 
 
182 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Rose smiled. " It has clone good service," said she. " Per- 
 haps I like it better for that." 
 
 Mabel opened it ; it was an ancient copy of " Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress." As she turned over the leaves she directed Alick's 
 attention to the fact, that it was a copy of the same work she 
 had bought for him, at his own request, a few weeks before, 
 when he chanced to be with her in a bookstore and took a 
 fancy to the richly-bound and beautifully illustrated book. 
 
 " Mine ain't like that," said he, with rude disdain ; " Mine is 
 handsome that is a real ugly old thing." 
 
 As he finished speaking, his quick eye detected the mortifi- 
 cation which Rose's face evinced at his unflattering compari- 
 son ; and, regretting his thoughtlessness, he at once endeavored 
 to atone for it, by exclaiming 
 
 " Rose ought to have one like mine, aunt Mabel." 
 
 " She shall have one," said Mabel, unhesitatingly. " I will 
 bring you one like Alick's, with pleasure, Rose, if you would 
 like it." 
 
 Rose smiled pensively, but with evident satisfaction. 
 
 Alick's face glowed with delight as, without giving Rose 
 time to reply, he proceeded to expatiate to her upon the rich 
 binding, gilt-edged leaves, and illuminated margins of the vol- 
 ume she was to possess. 
 
 " Sha n't you like it, Rose ? " said he, when he had finished 
 the description. 
 
 " Will it cost much ? " asked Rose, thoughtfully. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " said Alick, confidently. 
 
 " As much," said Rose, looking at Mabel, and at the same 
 time taking up a well-worn testament which lay beside her, 
 and a few stray leaves from a primer, "As much as two new 
 ones like these would cost ? " 
 
 " As much as half a dozen like each of those," replied Mabel, 
 a little astonished at the question. 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Rose, with deep-drawn breath, " I should 
 rather have them." Then, the excitement of her tone sub- 
 siding, she added, with slight hesitation, " But perhaps I ought 
 not to be the one to choose." 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 183 
 
 " Yes, you ought," replied Mabel, while Alick looked greatly 
 disappointed. " You shall have whichever you please, or both." 
 
 " Oh, yes, both ! " said Alick, with a relieved and brightened 
 expression of countenance. 
 
 " No, not both," said Rose, with unmistakable decision. Her 
 practical mind, trained in the school of necessity, had seen no 
 impropriety in suggesting the change, but her deeply sensitive 
 nature recoiled from voluntarily placing herself under a double 
 obligation. 
 
 " You shall have your own way, Rose," said Mabel, who had 
 been watching her face with intense interest. 
 
 " Then I should like the testament and primers, best," said 
 Rose. " These are all we have had to read and study in, Sun- 
 day afternoons, and they are almost worn out. The little chil- 
 dren can't read mother's bible, because the long ff 's puzzle 
 them so ; how glad they will be to have each a testament of 
 their own and how good you are, Miss Mabel." 
 
 " I good ! " exclaimed Mabel, with the deepest sense of hu- 
 mility she had ever known, " It is nothing for me to furnish 
 the books, but how much they owe to you, Rosy ? " And rising 
 from her low seat and drawing her fur mantle around her, as 
 if about to depart, she stooped down and imprinted a kiss upon 
 Rose's forehead, the action at the same time serving to hide 
 the emotion which had been excited by the child's unhesitating 
 generosity. 
 
 " Is there nothing else I can bring you ? " asked she. " Can 
 not you think of something that you could relish something 
 that would relieve you when you felt feverish at night ? " 
 
 " Oranges ! " shouted Murray, from a corner of the room, 
 where he had seated himself astride of one of the low stools. 
 Murray had but one pleasant association with fevers and sick 
 rooms, and that was oranges. Every body smiled, and Mabel 
 availed herself of the suggestion. 
 
 " I will bring her some oranges, certainly," said she, glancing 
 at Mrs. Hope, " if you think they would be wholesome for her. 
 
 " I dare say they might be refreshing," said Mrs. Hope ; 
 " she usually has a pretty hot spell towards morning. I tell 
 
184 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 her it would not be so if she 'd go to bed early, and not have 
 any excitementeevenings ; but she sits up, playing jack-straws 
 and so on, and sometimes after she 's in bed Jack props her up 
 with one thing and another, and there she stays working out 
 puzzles, and models, and I do n't know what they call 'em, until 
 her poor back aches and she can't go to sleep." 
 
 Rose looked uneasily at her mother as she entered this com- 
 plaint, and Mabel glanced inquiringly at Hose, surprised at a 
 charge which seemed to intimate a want of prudence and do- 
 cility in the youthful invalid. 
 
 " You should not do that, Rose," said she, as with both her 
 soft hands she smoothed the light hair from the child's trans- 
 parent temples. " Do you like games and puzzles so much ? " 
 
 " Jack does," said Rose, in a soft, meaning whisper, meant 
 only for Mabel's ear. 
 
 The words penetrated to the heart of the listener. There was 
 a depth of sisterly love, and a power of self-sacrifice expressed 
 in that simple utterance, which were irresistibly touching in 
 one whose feebleness might seem to excuse her from all respon- 
 sibility. 
 
 Mabel felt the full force of the example, which was to her, 
 at once, a lesson and a reproach. For a moment she stood 
 gazing at Rose, as if striving to read in her face the secret of 
 that divine strength which was victorious over the infirmities 
 of the flesh; then, at a loss for words, and afraid perhaps of 
 betraying how deeply she was moved, she made haste to bid 
 her farewell ; and the boys having also taken leave of the little 
 invalid, they all followed Mrs. Hope into the shop, from 
 whence, having unbarred the front door, she ushered them into 
 the street. Before taking her leave, Mabel begged that she 
 might be kept informed through Lydia of Rpse's state of health, 
 and be applied to without reserve if there was any way in which 
 she could minister to her comfort. 
 
 The day was fast drawing to a close, and after accompanying 
 her little nephews to the hotel, Mabel proceeded with haste to- 
 wards her own home. 
 
 "What a change had two short hours effected in her air, her 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 185 
 
 countenance, and her thoughts ! She had gone forth excited, 
 restless, and unhappy, and thus, also, she returned; but 
 how chastened, subdued, and changed, were all these emotions ! 
 Then, she was excited by vehement regrets, restless with vain 
 longings, and unhappy from disappointed hopes. Now, her 
 spirit was disturbed, but it was by a new revelation of things 
 hitherto unseen ; she was eager and uneasy, but it was with a 
 vague longing to rise above her former self; she was dissatis- 
 fied, but it was the discontent whose fruit is repentance unto 
 life eternal. 
 
 How soft, how gentle was the voice which had thus uncon- 
 sciously roused a sleeping conscience ! It was no startling 
 warning, no stern alarum, which had awed and bewildered the 
 trembling soul. It was but the soft breathing of a loving 
 heart, giving utterance to the gentlest tones ; but a still small 
 voice within responded to the whisper, and thenceforth could 
 not be silenced. She might resist it, she did resist it, for 
 earthly temptations are strong, and heavenly impulses brief 
 and evanescent. But it came again, an unw3lcome intruder 
 on her gayer hours, a patient supplicant pleading with her in 
 her solitude. Like an angel sitting at the gate, warding off all 
 hostile influences and ever waiting to be heard, it silently, se- 
 cretly gathered strength for the hour when the heart should be 
 aroused by its trumpet-call, when the conflict should be ended, 
 and the victory won. 
 
CHAPTER XVII, 
 
 But deeper signs 
 Than the radient blush of beauty, 
 
 The maiden finds, 
 "Whenever his name is heard ; 
 
 The young heart thrills, 
 Forgetting herself, her duty, 
 
 Her dark eye fills, 
 And her pulse with hope is stirred. 
 
 MRS. OSGOOD. 
 
 WHILE under the influence of her visit to Rosy, and while 
 actuated by the gentle charities it had awakened, Mabel made 
 more than one effort to recover her former influence with 
 Harry, and regain his confidence. 
 
 She met with partial success. He seemed, at once, touched 
 and pained by the revival of those little sisterly attentions, 
 which had of late been carelessly performed, or wholly omit- 
 ted. Occasionally, he manifested something of his old pleasure 
 in her society ; but in other instances, hurried away, as if her 
 presence were an unwelcome restraint. He avoided the slightest 
 .reference to his late irregularities of conduct, but at the same 
 time hesitated not to express a deep disgust and weariness with 
 what he termed New York life. 
 
 Sisterly sympathy and perseverance on Mabel's part, might, 
 in time, have done much toward restoring the confidential rela- 
 tions which had been wont to subsist between them ; but it must 
 be confessed, she soon met with a signal discouragement to her 
 efforts. 
 
 She had returned home at a late hour one evening, had 
 learned from the footman that Harry had not come in, and 
 feeling herself oppressed w'nh more than usual anxiety, had 
 determined to await his arrival before retiring to rest. Youth, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 187 
 
 however, craves its season of refreshment, and weariness grad- 
 ually overpowering her senses, she threw herself upon a couch 
 in her own room and fell asleep. 
 
 She was awakened some hours later by the shuffling of feet 
 out-side her chamber door, accompanied by a confused and 
 noisy altercation. Starting up, her nerves trembling and her 
 whole frame agitated with a sudden dread, she distinctly recog- 
 nised the voice of her father's footman, uttering vain and fruit- 
 less expostulations, while Harry, in rough and abusive lan- 
 guage, heaped upon him the most unsparing invectives and 
 threats. At the same instant a neighboring door was suddenly 
 thrown open, and a third, and equally well-known voice min- 
 gled in the debate, addressing Harry in stern, though suppressed 
 tones of command. A moment more, and there was the tread 
 of several feet upon the stair-case leading to the next floor ; a 
 muttered resistance was evident on Harry's part, which grad- 
 ually became lost in the distance, and then all was silent. 
 
 For several minutes Mabel stood, pale and breathless, with 
 her ear pressed close to the key-hole, but hearing no sound, at 
 length ventured to open her door and look out. She started 
 back, however, as if pierced by an arrow ; for, though she 
 gave but one glance without, it had revealed to her the figure 
 of her father descending the stair-case, wrapped in his dressing- 
 gown, and shading with his hand the lamp which he carried, 
 while its light, falling full upon his face, proclaimed that he 
 knew the worst. 
 
 Mabel had long anticipated this or a similar scene ; still, as 
 her eye met the woe-struck countenance of her parent, pity 
 for Harry and mortification for herself gave place to a deep 
 and indignant resentment against the youth who could thus 
 bring down his father's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. 
 She did not weep, she threw herself into no despairing attitude, 
 but slowly paced up and down the room, her soft hazel eye 
 glowing with an unwonted excitement, her delicately arched 
 lip curved with something not unlike scorn. It was long be- 
 fore she could calm the tumult of her feelings, and when she 
 did so, there remained a dull, heavy, and despairing conscious- 
 
188 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 ness of misfortune, such as she had never felt before. The 
 family calamity had reached its crisis ; it was no longer a se- 
 cret, stinging anxiety, hid in her own bosom ; it was a mel- 
 ancholy but acknowledged fact. 
 
 With this thought, however, painful as it was, there yet 
 mingled a sense of relief. She had hoped that her father 
 might long be spared this blow, but, since it had come, it 
 rested with him to ward off, if possible, future strokes. Some 
 decisive means might yet be adopted for reclaiming the mis- 
 guided youth, and if so, the afflicted parent would not fail to 
 take the necessary steps. ^Whether or not these bolder meas- 
 ures required the aid of her gentle influence, she did not pause 
 to consider ; but too easily discouraged in her own feeble en- 
 deavors, and too readily excusing herself from further partici- 
 pation in efforts for the reformation of her prodigal brother, she 
 gladly cast off her share of the burden. Thus, with a heavier 
 heart, but a lightened sense of personal responsibility, she 
 finally sought her couch. 
 
 It was at this crisis that Dudley returned to the city. Two 
 week's sojourn in the climate of Canada, to which place anxi- 
 ety concerning some property had suddenly called him, had 
 effectually cooled his petty jealousy, and he now strove sedu- 
 lously to obliterate the recollection of it from Mabel's mind. 
 It was no difficult task. In the quick beating of her heart at 
 his presence, she forgot all past estrangement, while the light 
 in her eye, and the glow on her cheek, proved that no pain- 
 ful remembrance was suffered to interfere with her pleasure at 
 his return. 
 
 It was now the month of March. The winter gayeties of the 
 city had subsided, and the fashionable world were already be- 
 ginning to look forward, with eager anticipation, to the ap- 
 proaching summer campaign. In this comparative lull between 
 the dissipations of the metropolis and the watering-place, Dud- 
 ley found the opportunity to engross more exclusively than 
 ever the mind and heart of Mabel. The brilliant scenes of 
 fashion no longer claimed their queen ; the accomplished opera 
 troupe had sailed for Havana ; Mabel's circle of admirers had, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 189 
 
 for the most part, either boldly urged their unsuccessful suits, 
 or timidly withdrawn their hopeless claims to her favor ; the 
 weather was unfavorable for the popular drive or promenade ; 
 and now, if ever, was the time when intellectual amusements, 
 refined tastes, and artistic pursuits, might easily claim their 
 empire. 
 
 Scarcely a day passed without affording Mabel the pleasure 
 of Dudley's society. A new book, a rare flower, the announce- 
 ment of an exhibition of choice paintings, the discovery of 
 some interesting fact in the scientific world, any of these were 
 sufficient excuse for a visit ; or, if these failed, such were his 
 address and tact, that he well knew how to render himself 
 essential in any scheme of pleasure or entertainment which 
 met her approbation. In Dudley's society, within the magic 
 sound of his low, persuasive voice, and under the fascinating 
 influence of his dark, dreamy eyes, Mabel had no leisure for 
 any other contemplations or thoughts than those which his 
 presence awakened ; while, in searching with him after the 
 beautiful in poetry, nature, and art, she was unconscious that 
 life afforded the opportunity for higher or nobler pursuits. 
 
 Fatal as this ascendancy was to her truest and purest aspi- 
 rations, it may well be believed that it did not tend to encour- 
 age those schemes of sisterly benevolence and charity which 
 she might otherwise have cherished ; for Dudley was not the 
 man, under any circumstances, to risk his own unstained repu- 
 tation by the attempt to countenance and uphold a falling 
 friend. Mabel was not long in becoming conscious of the 
 gradual decay of his intimacy with Harry, and thus both his 
 example and influence tended to discourage her efforts and 
 hopes in her brother's behalf; while his dominion over her 
 thoughts was such as to soothe the mortification she suffered 
 at the misconduct of the unhappy youth, and allay her fears 
 for his possible fate. 
 
 Whatever might be his motive, or even if he had no 
 serious motive at all, Dudley spared no pains to establish 
 an exclusive empire over Mabel's heart and life, and volunta- 
 rily submitting to his guidance, she yielded herself to his wishes 
 
190 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 and tastes, allowed herself to be swayed by his opinions, and 
 blindly adopted his maxims. 
 
 Thus he was satisfied, and she was happy. 
 
 At least she believed herself happy. It was a strange, 
 fitful, capricious mingling of emotions, unworthy of that name 
 which expresses what is rarely found on earth, the essence of 
 all joy. It was a happiness purchased at the price of much 
 imagined, much hoped for, much forgotten. It was but the 
 fluttering of a young heart which had not yet found a resting- 
 place. Alas ! like the dove let loose from the ark, it would 
 long seek repose in vain. 
 
 Such as this so-called happiness was, it was subject to many 
 interruptions. Like all selfish natures, Dudley was ungenerous 
 even in his affections. He demanded more than he gave. He 
 scrupulously avoided any other declaration of his sentiments 
 toward her than that which his whole manner conveyed ; but 
 still, assuming rights to which he had established no claim, he 
 hesitated not to exercise his influence over her habits of 
 thought and life, and even presumed to criticise, and occasion- 
 ally, as we have seen, take umbrage at her conduct. 
 
 It was true, he possessed a grace and tact which knew how 
 to veil what was in reality officious, beneath an air of flattering 
 assiduity, and his eccentricities furnished an excuse for what 
 would have been overbearing in another ; still, Mabel's spirit 
 could not easily brook the inequalities of his manner toward 
 her, and she occasionally met his sudden coldness and con- 
 straint with a haughtiness equal to his own air of petrified 
 reserve. 
 
 Then followed intervals of unacknowledged but evident 
 alienation, when Mabel, suddenly thrown upon her own re- 
 sources, experienced a reaction which made her past elation of 
 spirit seem a delusion and a mockery. 
 
 During these intervals, all the elements of unhappiness in 
 her home presented themselves with redoubled force. 
 
 Her aunt's complaints and inuendoes, which had formerly 
 been limited to the unamiable deportment of Mrs. Leroy, and 
 the impositions she continually practised upon her circle of 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 191 
 
 relatives, had now found a new and inexhaustible subject, 
 in that still greater cause of apprehension and distress, which 
 Mabel had so dreaded to have come to her knowledge, but 
 with which she had inevitably become acquainted. Louise 
 had acquired more boldness than ever in her schemes of de- 
 ception and self-indulgence ; while Mabel's temper was inces- 
 santly tried by her sister's heartless indifference to her pleasure 
 and convenience. A certain fixed rigidity of expression served 
 to cover and conceal the emotions and purposes of Mr. Vaugh- 
 an's mind, but there was a stoop in his hitherto erect figure, 
 and a hollowness in his pale cheeks, which stamped him as an 
 old man, worn with care. And Harry ! Ah ! poor Harry ! 
 Where and what was he? Mabel dared not ask or think. 
 But the eye that could no longer look fearlessly into that of 
 his fellow-man; the hand that hesitated ere it grasped the 
 hand of him who had once been a friend ; the face from which 
 youth and beauty were rapidly passing away ; all these were 
 silent witnesses to a sad and sorrowful tale. 
 
 But, not only did these intervals of solitary reflection bring 
 up in long array the trials of Mabel's lot ; they brought with 
 them, also, another remembrance, which was banished from 
 her gayer and happier hours, the remembrance of one who, 
 amid privation, hardship, and pain, had learned life's holiest 
 lesson, and finding in her little sphere a humble path of duty, 
 trod it with the heroism of a martyr and the patience of a 
 saint. She could not be blind to this living example, nor deaf 
 to the secret monitor it had awakened in her heart. False 
 theories and selfish reasonings might shake her faith in ab- 
 stract principles, but no sophistry could refute or obscure the 
 sacred truth which emanated from the life of Rosy. 
 
 The thought of this pious little pilgrim, and her daily walk 
 with God, could not fail to awaken in a nature so candid and 
 impressible as Mabel's, many a pang of self-questioning and 
 self-reproach ; but with these salutary stings of conscience 
 there came other and no less beneficent influences, which were 
 at once welcome and sweet. 
 
 The heart that was wounded and grieved by unkindness, 
 
192 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 misconstruction, and reserve, found repose and refreshment in 
 the thought of one, whose spirit, bathed in divine love, scat- 
 tered abroad the heavenly dew of a true and tender sympathy ; 
 while hopes that were rudely crushed under a weight of trial, 
 were renewed and sanctified by the blessed assurance that there 
 is a rest, even on earth, which remaineth for the people of 
 God. 
 
 Mabel's spirits were invariably calmed and soothed by a 
 visit to Rosy ; her mind at once subdued and strengthened. 
 She felt something of the patience which springs from submis- 
 sion ; some ray of the hope that conies by faith. She went her 
 way, if not fortified with a holy purpose, at least imbued Avith 
 a humble desire to imitate, while self was for the time forgot- 
 ten in the strong and living desire to do something for the 
 welfare and happiness of others. 
 
 These disinterested and generous aspirations were often dis- 
 couraged by difficulties, or palsied by indifference, before an 
 opportunity presented itself for proving their existence ; but 
 occasionally their influence might be detected in the generous 
 earnestness with which she sought to carry out some benevo- 
 lent or praiseworthy purpose. 
 
 She was driving one day through a street not very distant 
 from Mrs. Hope's residence, when her attention was attracted 
 by some uncommonly fine fruit, displayed in the window of a 
 grocer's shop. She had observed, on a recent visit to Rosy, 
 that the stock of oranges with which she had of late kept her 
 constantly provided, was nearly exhausted, and it occurred to 
 her that she would take advantage of being in the neighbor- 
 hood to renew the supply. She hastily pulled the check 
 string, and Donald, in obedience to her orders, drew up his 
 horses in front of the shop, his somewhat scornful countenance 
 expressing the surprise he felt that his young mistress should 
 have occasion to enter so insignificant a grocery establishment. 
 Mabel, however, much more independent than her fastidious 
 coachman, quite unconscious indeed of derogating from her 
 dignity, alighted without hesitation, and entering, commenced 
 making her purchases. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 193 
 
 While the youth who waited on her was engaged in weigh- 
 ing some grapes, her attention was attracted to a couple of 
 boys who were lounging outside the counter. 
 
 " I say, Jack," said the taller of the two, " if you '11 wheel 
 that 'ere load o' shells down to Tattam's, at the river side, I '11 
 treat to seats in the pit at the Bowery, to-night. Come, old 
 feller, what do you say to that? Tom Ratlin plays * The 
 Devil among the Scullions' that'll be sport. Tom Rat- 
 liri 's the boy for me ! Come, say done to that." 
 
 " I won't touch none o' your old oyster shells," answered 
 the boy who was thus addressed, a short, stout, freckled, 
 and thick-lipped urchin, whose great prominent teeth gave a 
 peculiar expression to his face, but who had, nevertheless, a 
 frank, honest, and on the whole, prepossessing countenance. 
 
 " You won't ? " answered the first speaker " more fool 
 you. It pays enough sight better than sellin' your mother's 
 'lasses candy ; " and he glanced contemptuously at a tray loaded 
 with that article, suspended by a leather strap around the neck 
 of his companion. 
 
 The latter, evidently mortified and touched by this allusion 
 to his occupation, which he had in truth somewhat outgrown, 
 turned very red in the face, and with mingled shame and 
 anger retorted, " Candy sellin' is better business, any how, than 
 workin' for folks that promise big and do n't pay at all. Better 
 settle old scores 'fore you talk o' runnin' up new ones." 
 
 " I do n't owe yer nothin'," replied the first speaker angrily. 
 
 " Do n't yer ? " exclaimed Jack. " What did ever I get, I 
 want to know, for luggin' them two kegs of oysters from your 
 old man's cellar down to the Jersey ferry ? Nice kind o' busi- 
 ness, was n't it ? to see you jump on board the boat with your 
 kegs, and go off a leavin' me in the lurch. I ain't forgot it, I 
 tell yer." 
 
 The larger boy laughed boisterously at this reminiscence, 
 seeming to think it a capital joke. " Why, what could I 
 do ? " exclaimed he " could n't keep the boat a wait'n 
 had n't no chance to bribe the capt'n ; had to be off in a 
 jiffy. But, look here Jack," continued he persuasively, " you 
 17 
 
104 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 \vlieel the shells down to Tattarn's, and I '11 pay up honor 
 bright ! " 
 
 " What, pay for both jobs this and t' other one too ? " 
 
 " I guess so. I '11 see," said the tall boy evasively. 
 
 " No, none o' yer guessin', Bob, we '11 have a clear bargain 
 this time." 
 
 " Well, well," said Bob, " you shall have a chance at the 
 theatre, any way." 
 
 " And the cock-tail, too ? " 
 
 " 'T wa'n't a cock-tail I promised," said Bob. 
 
 " 'T was a cock-tail, 't wa'n't nothin' else," retorted Jack, 
 with spirit. 
 
 " Oh, Jack ! you 're a goin' it like a fine feller," exclaimed 
 Bob, slapping him on the shoulder ; " Tom Ratlin and a cock- 
 tail. Well, you shall have both on 'em if you '11 go right away. 
 I '11 have the shells round here in the wink o* your eye. I 
 left the wheelbarrow just round the corner ; you hold on till I 
 fetch it," and with these words Bob shot off through a side door, 
 to complete his bargain. * 
 
 " What does he mean ? what is he going to give that boy ? " 
 asked Mabel, of the youth who was tying up her purchases. 
 
 The lad looked up, met her earnest, inquiring eye, and 
 stooping down to bite off a piece of twine, endeavored to hide 
 a smile which was creeping over his face. 
 
 Mabel, observing his hesitation, repeated her question, and 
 the youth looking up again, and seeing the immovable gravity 
 of her features, composed his own, while he said, in answer to 
 the second query 
 
 " Mean by what, ma'am ? a cock-tail ? " 
 
 <Yes." 
 
 Something to drink," replied the young man ; and unable 
 w to conceal how much he was amused at Mabel's curiosity, 
 e laughed outright, at the same time collecting his parcels 
 vvith the view of taking them to the carriage. 
 
 " I thought so I was afraid so," said Mabel, her features 
 still grave and reproachful ; " it is a shame ! " Then, as the 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 195 
 
 shopman's clerk passed out with the packages, she hesitated, 
 and finally walked directly up to Jack, who was casting a side- 
 long glance at her, as if he suspected himself to be the subject 
 of remark. 
 
 " Don't you take it," said she kindly and impressively, at 
 the same time giving more force to her words by laying a gen- 
 tle, restraining hand on Jack's arm. 
 
 Jack Jack Hope, for he it was, though Mabel had no sus- 
 picion of the fact looked up, met her mild, reproving glance, 
 cast an eye at the same time at her rich garments, striking air, 
 and noble figure, and then looking down with a half-defiant, 
 half-mortified expression, stood kicking one foot against the 
 counter. 
 
 " What shall I give you not to take it ? " asked Mabel, after 
 a pause. 
 
 Once more Jack's eye met hers, but drooped the next instant 
 beneath the compassionate and imploring expression with 
 which she gazed into his face. 
 
 There was another instant of silence, for Jack made no reply 
 to her question. 
 
 Mabel now drew a gold dollar from her purse, and laid it on 
 the counter. Jack glanced at it with an eager longing that 
 could not be mistaken, but this time he did not venture to look 
 up at Mabel. 
 
 " Do you want that ? " said she. 
 
 "I want it bad," said the boy, "but but " 
 
 " But what ? " 
 
 Jack hesitated, then said, bringing out his words with a jerk, 
 as if they were forced from him, " I don't like to be bought oft", 
 it 's mean." 
 
 Mabel was struck with the boy's rude sense of honor ; she 
 looked puzzled for a moment, then said, " Is n't there some one 
 at home you could spend it for ? have n't you a mother, or a 
 sister ? it would not be mean, if you bought something for 
 them." 
 
 Unconsciously she had struck the master-chord. Jack looked 
 
196 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 searchingly up in her face, forgetting his former awe in the 
 deeper curiosity to discover how she had pierced his secret 
 thoughts. 
 
 Mabel saw her advantage, and acted upon it. 
 
 " Do not take what that wicked boy promised you," said she, 
 " and do n't go to the theatre either ; keep out of such bad com- 
 pany, or you will be ruined ; here, you shall have the dollar, 
 and welcome, only do n't put it to a bad use ; perhaps you can 
 think of something to buy with it that will please them all at 
 home, and make them proud and happy." 
 
 " I do want it for somethin' particklar," said the boy ; " it 
 a'n't nothin' bad, as true as the world it a'n't." 
 
 " Well, then," said Mabel, " take it ; I believe you, for you 
 look as if you were speaking the truth ; here, put it in your 
 pocket." 
 
 " What shall I tell Bob ? " said the boy, in audible soliloquy. 
 
 " Oh, don't tell him anything, run off before he comes back 
 that 's the best way." 
 
 Jack smiled at the earnestness of his beautiful mentor, and 
 lifted his tray of candy, which he had lain down in anticipation 
 of entering Bob's service. 
 
 In her eagerness to see him depart, Mabel stretched out her 
 delicately gloved hand and assisted him in fitting the leather 
 strap to his shoulder. 
 
 " There, now, run," said she, smiling with pleasure at her 
 own success. " Good-bye ! remember ! " and Jack trudged off, 
 looked back once or twice to watch her as she entered her car- 
 riage, and then took to his heels, according to her recommenda- 
 tion. 
 
 About half an hour afterwards, as Mabel was sitting in the 
 widow Hope's shop, talking with Rose, while Donald was 
 pacing his horses up and down at some little distance from the 
 house, the shop-door was violently flung open, the bell which 
 was attached to it rung unmercifully, and Jack rushed hastily 
 in, holding up his dollar and exclaiming, " Hurrah, Rose ! no 
 matter now where I got it, but here is just money enough to 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 197 
 
 pay for " he had reached this point in his exclamation, when 
 lie suddenly caught sight of Mabel, who had hitherto been con- 
 cealed by the door behind which she sat. He stopped short, 
 staggered back in his astonishment, turned very red in the 
 face, and without pausing for question or apology, clapped 
 both fists to his mouth and darted out as abruptly as he had 
 entered. 
 
 Rose, sadly mortified at this unmannerly entrance and exit, 
 endeavored to excuse him to Mabel by remarking, "That is 
 Jack he is n't much used to company." 
 
 But Mabel, whose mind was wholly occupied with the coin- 
 cidence which had thus proved the candy-boy to be identical 
 with Rose's brother, did not seem to hear her, and Rose, fear- 
 ing from her silence that she was displeased, suggested in fur- 
 ther extenuation of Jack's behavior, " He is not always so rude, 
 Miss Mabel." 
 
 " Rude, Oh, no ! " answered Mabel promptly, recovering from 
 her momentary abstraction, and observing Rosy's troubled ex- 
 pression ; " he did not mean to be rude ; he was surprised, 
 that was all. I feel very much interested in Jack, Rose. He 
 seems to be a good-hearted boy." 
 
 Rose looked inexpressibly gratified. "He is he is, Miss 
 Mabel," exclaimed she earnestly; and thus encouraged to 
 speak on the subject, she did not pause until she had exhausted 
 the catalogue of his good qualities. 
 
 Mingled with her praises, however, it was not difficult to 
 detect a secret anxiety and doubt lest these very good qualities 
 snould become corrupted by the evil influences to which his 
 street traffic inevitably exposed him, and with the cl ie furnished 
 her by the occurrences of the morning, Mabel understood better 
 than ever before the self-devotion and perseverance with which 
 his little invalid sister strove to keep him as much as possible 
 at her side. 
 
 This little incident failed not to leave a strong impression on 
 Mabel's mind. It had afforded her the happiness of perform- 
 ing a benevolent action ; it had created a new bond of sympa- 
 17* 
 
198 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 thy between herself and Rose, above all, it had revealed to 
 her a fresh proof of the beauty and power of that holy love 
 which no selfish doubts can chill or blight, but which, living on 
 through suffering, change, decay, and death, beareth all things, 
 believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 And some we trusted with a fond believing, 
 
 Have turned and stung us to the bosom's core 
 
 And life hath seemed but as a vain deceiving, 
 From which we turn aside heart-sick and sore. 
 
 MRS. M, T. TV. CHANDLER. 
 
 THE early spring months had passed away, the silent process 
 of nature had nearly reached its full development, and summer 
 was close at hand. The city parks were carpeted with a bright 
 green sod, and the elm trees waved over them the opening buds 
 and tassels of verdure, which were daily forming a thicker and 
 thicker canopy of shade. Birds sang in the branches, and now 
 and then perched on the eaves or open windows of the tall city 
 houses, while the soft breezes, the warmth of the mid-day sun, 
 the sound of children's voices, and the glow of animal life and 
 spirit which pervaded the streets and thoroughfares, gave evi- 
 dence of the renewing and revivifying power with which sum- 
 mer and sunshine penetrate even to the heart of the great 
 metropolis. 
 
 It was a lovely morning, towards the close of the month of 
 May, when Mabel, with a miniature watering-pot in her hand, 
 stood listlessly gazing from out her dressing-room window into 
 a beautiful open square directly opposite. She hadbeen en- 
 gaged in watering a few plants. Harry's thoughtful gift many 
 months before ; but her mind had wandered from her occupa- 
 tion, and though her eye was fixed upon the sunny green sward 
 of the little park, the dreamy smile upon her countenance pro- 
 claimed her to be roaming far away in the pleasant fields of 
 imagination. Home still had its cares ; the present, its bitter- 
 ness; the future, its anxiety; but these had no part in her 
 present reverie, for, giving the reins to a charmed fancy, and, 
 
200 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 for the time, banishing every painful thought, she was dwelling 
 with fond and eager anticipation upon that ever fruitful pros- 
 pect of enjoyment, a young girl's first journey. 
 
 Even before she left school, when all the pleasures of free- 
 dom were yet untasted, there had been no theme more exciting 
 to her youthful enthusiasm, than the confident hope of one day 
 visiting the romantic Falls of Trenton, the gigantic cataract of 
 Niagara, and the St. Lawrence, with its Thousand Isles 
 national elements of beauty and grandeur, with which she 
 rightly deemed it desirable to become acquainted, before in- 
 dulging still more glowing anticipations of foreign travel. 
 
 These were but vague yearnings, however, in comparison 
 with the alluring visions which had recently been awakened in 
 her youthful and ardent nature, by one who, himself familiar 
 with the beauties of American scenery, possessed the power to 
 kindle her imagination and excite her feelings by his animated 
 description of the scenes of his boyish homage. 
 
 And if the eloquent tongue of Dudley had power to clothe 
 these grand and picturesque regions with a new halo of beauty 
 and romance, it may well be believed that Mabel's heart was 
 stirred with no common glow of delighted anticipation, at the 
 added hope she w r as now indulging, of visiting these favored 
 spots in his companionship, being initiated by him into the pe- 
 culiar charms which pertain to each, and being suffered to 
 believe that the sight of her fresh enjoyment would awaken in 
 him a pleasure, equal, if not superior, to that he had once 
 experienced in his own. 
 
 Early in the spring, when Mabel's friends were discussing 
 their plans for the season, she had frequently mentioned her 
 expectation of spending the month of June in travelling. As 
 the time drew near, however, and Mr. Vaughan declared his 
 engagements to be such as to forbid all thought of the journey, 
 she freely expressed, amid her own little circle, the disappoint- 
 ment which she felt at the project's being thus unexpectedly 
 abandoned. 
 
 " Why cannot we make an excursion party to the Falls ? " 
 exclaimed Dudley, one evening when, a small party being as- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 201 
 
 in Mrs. Leroy's drawing-room, the subject was acci- 
 dentally introduced. 
 
 "Mrs. Leroy, Mrs. Broadhead, does the idea strike you 
 agreeably? Come, Mr. Earle; you just confessed yourself at 
 a loss how to get rid of next month," and turning to various 
 others, who chanced to be present, he found some ingenious 
 method of recommending his proposition to each. 
 
 The challenge, though playfully made, met with general ac- 
 ceptance, and Dudley had the satisfaction of seeing his appar- 
 ently careless suggestion acted upon at once. Most of the 
 company consisted of this world's idlers, the acknowledged 
 drones of society, who were restricted by no claims of business 
 or of duty, and the plan and route which Dudley proceeded 
 to sketch were unanimously adopted. 
 
 Mr. Leroy had left New York early in May, to attend to 
 some important transactions at the West, and Louise was at 
 liberty to follow her own inclinations; while Mabel, never 
 doubting the consent of her indulgent father, lent a ready ear 
 to a scheme which she believed to be designed for her especial 
 benefit. 
 
 Thus a plan was concerted, which, gaining in popularity from 
 day to day, soon became the engrossing topic of interest and 
 conversation between Mabel and her friends ; and while all 
 found in it a welcome source of pleasure, Mabel's heart thrilled 
 with a dreamy ecstacy of delight, as she listened to the low- 
 spoken words of hope and expectation which Dudley breathed 
 into her ear, as he talked of the promised journey, or as she 
 pondered in secret on the vague, half-uttered terms in which he 
 confessed his happiness to be in this, as in all things, dependent 
 on her own. 
 
 None of the party were willing to leave New York until after 
 a fashionable and long-talked-of wedding reception, which was 
 to take place at a country seat a few miles from the city, and, 
 in anticipation of which, the fashionable world had been content 
 to linger in town to a later period than usual. 
 
 This festive occasion was n6w close at hand, and, as Mabel 
 stood at the window and counted up the days which must elapse 
 
202 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 before the commencement of her little tour, her pleasant reflec- 
 tions were interrupted by the thought, that she had not yet 
 found an opportunity to broach the matter to her father. So 
 confident was she, however, that the independence she had 
 hitherto enjoyed would not be interfered with in this particular, 
 that she was dismissing the subject from her mind, with the 
 simple conclusion, I must not forget to mention it to him to- 
 morrow, when her meditations were still further disturbed by 
 the unusual sound of his footsteps within her room, and looking 
 up, she found him close beside her with an open letter in his 
 hand. 
 
 He replied at once to the inquiring expression of her face, 
 saying, " I have news from your Aunt Margaret, my dear." 
 
 Mabel started, and a look of sudden alarm passed over her 
 face, for her Aunt Sabiah had left them a week before, in com- 
 pliance with an invitation to pass the summer with her recently 
 widowed sister, and Mabel feared some accident had befallen 
 her. "Is anything the matter?" asked she quickly. "Aunt 
 Sabiah" 
 
 " Your aunts are both well," interrupted her father ; " this 
 letter is in reply to a message I sent by your Aunt Sabiah last 
 week ; it conies very opportunely, it is very kind, very hos- 
 pitable in your Aunt Margaret ; it gratifies me exceedingly," 
 and he handed the letter for her perusal. 
 
 Mabel's face was expressive of mingled emotions as she read, 
 but puzzled surprise predominated ; and as she finished, she 
 looked up with the abrupt remark, "About Harry? I do not 
 understand it father." 
 
 " Harry goes to L. next week," said Mr. Vaughan, speaking 
 decidedly, with compressed lips, and in a tone which deprecated 
 curiosity or inquiry. " He is to study law with my old friend, 
 Judge Paradox, and will commence immediately." 
 
 Mabel was about to express astonishment at this sudden 
 choice of a profession, and question her father more closely, 
 but observing the expression of his countenance, she checked 
 herself, satisfied rather to await such explanation as he might 
 think proper to give. 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 203 
 
 g 
 
 He gave none, however, but, as if deeming the announce- 
 ment of his intentions with regard to Harry sufficient, went on 
 to say, in quick disjointed sentences, and much as if soliloquiz- 
 ing, " Your aunt not only proposes to receive Harry until his 
 rooms are in readiness, but gives you, I think, a very cordial 
 invitation to accompany him. I am very glad of this, I wish 
 you to know your aunt, I have not seen her myself for these 
 five years, it will be pleasant for you to be with Harry, and 
 the plan will in every way be a great relief to me. I have just 
 heard from Mr. Leroy, and find that my affairs will compel me 
 to join him at the West, immediately ; so I shall close the house, 
 and come to L. to meet you when I return, which I hope will 
 be before many weeks. I dread the journey very much, but it 
 cannot be postponed any longer." 
 
 Mabel's countenance fell, as she listened to this programme 
 of her father's intentions and wishes; even the sight of his 
 haggard and anxious face, failed to win her from the contem- 
 plation of her own disappointment. She stood silent and 
 thoughtful, looked out of the window, bit her lip, and made no 
 reply. 
 
 Mr. Vaughan, who was slowly pacing the room, glanced up at 
 length, as if awaiting some response to his own expressions of 
 satisfaction, and then said, watching her face meanwhile, and 
 speaking in the tone of considerate kindness with which he 
 always addressed her "I hope you like the plan, my daugh- 
 ter ; your Aunt Margaret is a stranger, to be sure, but Sabiah 
 is there, you know." Already he had detected her repugnance 
 to the arrangement, and was solicitous to place it in the best 
 possible light. 
 
 " Yes," said Mabel, hesitating, " but I was in hopes " 
 
 Her voice faltered as she spoke, but her father reassured 
 her, drawing near, standing with his hands clasped behind him, 
 and patiently awaiting what she had to say, while he aided her 
 with the inquiry " What did you hope, my dear ? had you 
 any other plan at heart ? " 
 
 Thus encouraged, she acknowledged the scheme of pleasure 
 which she found it so hard to forego, explained the route, enu- 
 
204 MABEL VAUGUAN. 
 
 merated the party, and, while she forbore to urge the point, 
 made no secret of her preference. 
 
 " Louise is going ? " asked Mr. Vaughan, as he thoughtfully 
 resumed his walk up and down the room. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And Harry ? " added he, with hesitation, " did he expect 
 to make one of the party ? " 
 
 " No," answered Mabel, with a thrill of pain which was like 
 the sting of conscience, for she well knew that no one had 
 requested Harry's company on the excursion. 
 
 " And you are very anxious to go ? " 
 
 " I was," said Mabel, hesitatingly, " Yes." And with nervous 
 agitation she stood picking the withered leaves from a geranium, 
 while she awaited her father's decision. 
 
 Her cause was in safe hands. Mr. Vaughan had no courage 
 to disappoint her ; he could far better bear to be disappointed 
 himself. So, after a short pause, he said, "Very well, you 
 shall do as you please, my dear ; only I hope in the course of 
 the summer you will find time to make your aunt Margaret a 
 short visit, at least. Suppose you answer the letter, and tell 
 her you will come in July or August." 
 
 Mabel promised to do so, and the matter being settled, Mr. 
 Vaughan, who had no time to waste, hurried away to his office. 
 
 Mabel stood and looked after him as he crossed the little 
 park her kind, indulgent father, who could refuse her nothing. 
 How she thanked and blessed him ! Her aged and care-worn 
 father, with a stooping gait and a shadow on his brow, was 
 the deeper whisper of her conscience. Did she deserve from 
 him a blessing in return ? 
 
 Her pathway, it is true, is free. He has left her at liberty 
 to go when and where she will ; his restraining hand places no 
 clog upon her footsteps, his love has broken down every barrier 
 to her looked-for happiness every barrier save one, and that 
 a dull, heavy, impatient knocking at her heart, an intruding 
 thought, a stern and solemn appeal, striving to make itself 
 heard. Shall she give the strange, unwelcome guest admit- 
 tance? 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 205 
 
 The question was answered by the sudden entrance of Louise, 
 .who was full of excitement in view of the approaching wedding 
 and pleasure-party, and whose voluble tongue soon put to flight 
 every serious thought which had taken possession of her sister's 
 mind. She was criticising and commenting upon various rich 
 articles of dress which formed a part of Mabel's spring ward- 
 robe, when a figure of ample proportions presented itself within 
 the door of the dressing-room, and a loud voice exclaimed, 
 " Ah, here you are ! Cecilia admitted me, and I ventured to 
 come up stairs without waiting to be invited. Oh, Mabel, what 
 a sweet bonnet ! fresh from Paris, I '11 bet a trifle ! And 
 this is your travelling suit a shade darker than Vic's, but 
 beautifully trimmed, isn't it Lu ?" And the stout Mrs. Van- 
 necker, exhausted and breathless, sank panting upon the sofa. 
 
 u Throw off your rnantle, and take a seat at this open win- 
 dow," said Mabel, observing the flushed and heated condition 
 of her visitor. 
 
 " No, no, thank you, let me sit here," replied the lady, taking 
 a fan which Mabel offered, and fanning herself vigorously. 
 " Oh, these are lovely ! " observed she, examining some rich 
 flounced silks which, just received from the dressmaker's, hung 
 over the arm of the couch. " That shade of green is very try- 
 ing, though, and the pink is rather pale. I dare say it will 
 light up well, though. Vanity of vanities ! " she continued, in 
 a theatrical manner, uttering at the same time something be- 
 tween a sigh and an endeavor to catch her breath ; " What 
 would Mr. Lincoln Dudley say, with his contempt for finery, 
 if he should see all this exhibition of the fine arts, as he 
 calls it?" 
 
 Mabel looked up quickly, as Mrs. Vannecker thus quoted 
 her friend, but the tongue of the loquacious lady did not need 
 even the encouragement of a look. 
 
 " I declare, girls," exclaimed she, " I say to you as I said to 
 
 Vic, this morning, I almost wish Mr. Dudley was n't going 
 
 with us on our journey. I can't say I think him much of an 
 
 addition to the party, he has become such a, stoic cynic, I 
 
 18 
 
206 MAKKL V A UGH AN. 
 
 mean," added she, after a pause, during which she discovered 
 her mistaken use of terms. 
 
 Mabel turned away and smiled not at the mistake, but at 
 Mrs. Yanneeker's desire to exclude Mr. Dudley from a party 
 of his own arranging, into which she had intruded herself and 
 her daughter, uninvited. 
 
 "Is he a cynic?" said Louise, absently. " Mabel, what did 
 De Trou make you pay for those flowers ? " 
 
 u To be sure he is," said Mrs. Vannecker, replying to the 
 first question. " I don't know any better name for him. You 
 heard how he abused every body and every thing that night 
 at your house; and last evening I met him at the Earle's, and 
 such a setting-down as he gave the New Yorkers ! so many 
 iackanapes among the young men so many fine women 
 spoiled by fashion ! I assure you, I felt myself called upon to 
 act as their champion, and trust I was tolerably successful. I 
 talked him down, at all events that was one comfort." 
 
 " It must have required a large slock of w r ords, I should 
 think, Mrs. Vannecker, to defend so poor a cause," said Mabel, 
 betraying in her manner, no less than her remark, a disposition 
 to justify Dudley's severity. 
 
 " A poor cause ! " exclaimed Mrs. Vannecker. " So you side 
 with my lord Dudley, do you, Mabel, and condemn society in 
 the same wholesale manner? Well, I have understood you 
 were a pupil of his." 
 
 " I do not speak of society generally," resumed Mabel, " but 
 an intellectual man, like Mr. Dudley, can not be expected to 
 have much sympathy with silly women and coxcombs." 
 
 " And how many of us, do you suppose, he excludes from 
 that list ? Not me, though I came under the privileged head 
 of ' Present company,' nor you, my dear," added she with a 
 coarse laugh, " though you are so ready to ratify his opinions. 
 You had your share of the lash, as well as the rest of us; 
 however, do n't look so crest-fallen," added she, seeing Mabel 
 suddenly change color and look down ; " one must pay some 
 penalty for being the most popular belle of the season ; and if 
 nobody finds fault with you but a crusty old bachelor, like Mr. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 207 
 
 Dudley, you mustn't complain, even if the world does give him 
 the credit of being a genius and all that." 
 
 " Old ! " remarked Louise, who engaged in trying on Mabel's 
 new bonnet only caught a word, now and then, of a conversa- 
 tion to which she felt wholly indifferent. " I do n't call Mr. 
 Dudley old ; he can't be much over thirty." 
 
 " I do n't know his age," answered Mrs. Vannecker, tartly. 
 " I only know he has outlived his good humor. Why, when 
 Mr. Earle said something about Theodore Marston's beauty 
 and accomplishments, and the splendid establishment in which 
 he would instate the lady of his choice," and she gave a 
 meaning glance at Mabel, "Mr. Dudley snarled as if some- 
 body had stepped on his toes. I declare, if it had not always 
 been said that he never bowed at any shrine, and was 
 not a marrying man, I should certainly think he had been 
 refused years ago by some reigning star, and had not yet recov- 
 ered from the mortification. I suppose he comes under the 
 head of ' poor and proud,' and that accounts for his being such 
 a fault-finder." 
 
 " Why, I thought Mr. Dudley liked society," said Louise ; 
 " we always meet him everywhere." 
 
 " To be sure," said Mrs. Vannecker, " and what is he there 
 for? To play the agreeable in company, and abuse people 
 behind their backs. Now, that is what I call being a down- 
 right hypocrite ! For instance : we all know how much he 
 has patronized Mabel this winter all because he thought it a 
 feather in his cap to be in the van of her admirers and now, 
 I will just tell what he said about her, if it 's only to convince 
 the child that I didn't waste words, as she calls it, without 
 provocation." 
 
 Mabel stooped down and appeared to be busily searching for 
 some missing article in her bureau drawer, while Mrs. Van- 
 necker continued 
 
 " You must know we were talking, as every body is now, 
 about Fan Broadhead's marriage with the colonel, and Mrs. 
 Earle remarked that she thought it a capital match." 
 
 " ' Capital ! ' said Mr. Dudley, echoing Mrs. Earle's word;;. 
 
208 MABEL VAUCIIAN. 
 
 1 A most thorough-going, complete, and satisfactory conformity 
 with the usages of society. Beauty, youth, and all the modern 
 accomplishments set off against a town-house, a country-house, 
 a cottage at Newport, and a carriage for every season of the 
 year. Capital, upon my word ! ' 
 
 " You can't imagine," said Mrs. Vannecker, " how bitter and 
 sarcastic his tone was ; and Mr. Earle, who is Fan's cousin, 
 you know, could not help noticing it." 
 
 "'So, Mr. Dudley,' said he, 'you don't think there is much 
 sentiment in the matter/ 
 
 " ' Sentiment, pshaw ! ' said Mr. Dudley, ' what has a 
 fashionable girl to do with sentiment? The heart is the last 
 thing to be consulted when a New York belle marries.' 
 
 "'Why,' said I, 'there's Mabel Vaughan and Mr. Mars- 
 ton'" 
 
 " Mrs. Vannecker ! " exclaimed Mabel, looking up with 
 crimson face and flashing eyes, " how could you couple my 
 name " 
 
 " It was only by way of argument, my dear," responded 
 Mrs. Vannecker. 
 
 "Yes, but connected as you are," faltered Mabel, "it would 
 be thought " 
 
 " Nothing would be thought, but what is true, I suspect, or 
 will be one of these days; if not, you can contradict the reports 
 that are circulating, my dear ; but let me go on with my story, 
 and you shall judge what Lincoln Dudley's opinion of you is. 
 
 "'There's Mabel Vaughan and Mr. Marston,' said I, ' they 
 are both young, and handsome, and accomplished ; do you 
 mean to say that is a match where there is no romance, no 
 affection between the parties ? ' 
 
 "'I do,' said he, looking at me as if I had insulted him. 
 'Miss Vaughan has too much sense to bestow her affections 
 on such a paltry bit of frippery.* 
 
 "'And yet, you believe she will bestow her hand on him?' 
 said I. 
 
 " ' I do not pretend to question it,' said he, in his decided 
 way. ' Why should she not ? All fashionable girls are alike ; 
 
MABEL VACGHAN. 209 
 
 they live for the world, many to please the world, and 
 would die sooner than defy the world's opinion. Love in a 
 cottage is no longer to be thought of. I will venture to say 
 that I do not know a woman in New York capable of sacri- 
 ficing the love of display to any higher sentiment ; and Miss 
 Vaughan is the last who could be expected to prove an excep- 
 tion to the rule. She has passed through all the phases of a 
 fashionable career, except the phase matrimonial, she will 
 scarcely stop short of the blissful climax.' " 
 
 " There, that was a long speech, but I treasured up every 
 word of it, Mabel, for I was determined to tell you. I assure 
 you I was quite indignant at hearing him talk as if girls now- 
 a-days had n't any feeling. I gave him a pretty sharp piece of 
 my mind, too, and I dare say he felt it, though he never made 
 me a bit of an answer, but bowed all round the room, in his 
 provokingly graceful manner, and went off as unconcerned as 
 you please. What do you think now, Mabel, of the justice of 
 Mr. Dudley's criticisms? " 
 
 Wounded feeling, pride, and indignation, were all depicted 
 in Mabel's countenance. <f l think, Mrs. Vannecker," said 
 she, evading a direct reply, " that it is very unpleasant to be 
 made the subject of a drawing-room discussion, and in future 
 I must beg " 
 
 " O, my dear," interrupted Mrs. Vannecker, in a concilia- 
 ting tone, " it was not an occasion of any consequence, there 
 were only half a dozen persons present, and I only mentioned 
 you and Mr. Marston, as an instance of a young couple who 
 were every way suited to each other." 
 
 "But it was a very mistaken instance," persisted Mabel. 
 " I have no interest whatever in Mr. Marston, and wish it to 
 be so understood." 
 
 "Oh, la! what a fuss about nothing !" exclaimed Louise. 
 " You know, May, if you are not engaged to Theodore Mars- 
 ton, very likely you will be one of these days, there is not 
 another such match in the city." 
 
 " Why, Louise, I do n't know what you mean," exclaimed 
 Mabel, tears of vexation starting to her eyes. 
 
 18* 
 
210 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Louise only replied by glancing with an incredulous smile 
 at Mrs. Vannecker, at the same time humming a popular air, 
 and practising before the mirror a few steps of a new and diffi- 
 cult dance. "It is growing very warm," drawled she, in a lan- 
 guishing manner, " I must go before it is any hotter. You '11 
 call for me in good season Thursday morning, May. I won- 
 der if Fan Broadhead will make a handsome bride." 
 
 " Wait a moment, Lu," said Mrs. Vannecker, snatching 
 up her parasol and scarf, and looking about her for her 
 gloves. " Vic will wonder what has become of me. So you 
 do n't mean to have your engagement with Mr. Marston come 
 out yet, pet ? " said she, tapping Mabel lightly under the chin, 
 as the latter stooped to pick up one of the fallen gloves. 
 
 " No, never ! " said Mabel, with a vehemence unusual to 
 her. 
 
 " Oh, do n't say that," replied Mrs. Vannecker, coaxingly, as 
 she squeezed through the doorway. " Ask Harry to come in, 
 dear, and talk the journey over with us. Vic has twenty ques- 
 tions to put to him." 
 
 " Harry is not going on the journey," said Mabel, quickly. 
 
 " Not going ! " ejaculated Mrs. Vannecker, in a tone of un- 
 mistakable chagrin. " Do you really mean so ? Why, you 
 astonish me. I took it for granted he was going, so did 
 Vic. How came we to be so mistaken ? " 
 
 Mabel did not reply ; and the dismayed lady, after repeated 
 expressions of self-condolence, left the room, with the words, 
 " I am disappointed, Harry not going, what will Vic 
 say?" 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 O changing child and woman, 
 Thou hadst not second sight ! 
 Or bending down thy forehead white, 
 
 The human to the human, 
 The idol's shadow would have made 
 Its light to vanish like a shade. MRS. BROWNING. 
 
 MABEL returned to her dressing-room, threw herself into a 
 seat at the open window, and, with her hands dropped listlessly 
 on her lap, and her eyes gazing vacantly into a piece of blue 
 sky opposite, became lost in thought. 
 
 " So, Dudley thinks me a complete fashionist, a mere world- 
 ling," was her inward meditation. "Who has had such an 
 opportunity of knowing me as he has ? To whom have I con- 
 fided my thoughts, hopes, and aspirations, so freely as to him ? 
 and, can he have thus misunderstood me ? Can he really be- 
 lieve me the cold, calculating, mercenary creature, whom he 
 professes to despise ? How unjust ! how cruel ! Is it my 
 fault that I move in a circle of fashion ? Is it anything but the 
 accident of my lot that placed me here ? Are my views, mo- 
 tions, actions, all to be measured by the standard of my frivo- 
 lous acquaintances ? I did not choose them, they were chosen 
 for me, and I only play my part in the sphere assigned by na- 
 ture. These fine clothes," thought she, as rising impatiently from 
 her seat, her eyes fell on the rich silks and laces which were 
 profusely scattered around, " do I want them ? do I care for 
 them ? Are they not the mere accompaniments of my present 
 position? This face and figure which the world calls beautiful," 
 and she paused before the mirror, " do I covet beauty, save 
 as it may make me attractive in his eyes ? He must know 
 he does know, that all else may frown and I care not, so he 
 
212 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 only smiles. He talks of sacrifice, and yet believes that I 
 would crush my heart down rather than relinquish the prospect 
 of a brilliant establishment. Ah, which would be the greater 
 sacrifice ? He does not know the power of a woman's love. I 
 knew he despised others, but I never dreamed that he had no 
 faith in me." 
 
 Ah ! that was a bitter pang indeed, that he should place her 
 thus on a level with the vain crowds, at whom she had so often 
 heard him sneer. Poor child ! She had trusted, with all the 
 warmth of her generous affections, in one who knew not what 
 it was to trust. The poisoned arrows, with which she had 
 thoughtlessly played, had rebounded and pierced her to the 
 heart. No wonder that she smarted at the sudden wound. 
 
 But her generous confidence was not weary yet, and the first 
 struggle with injured feeling being past, she was ready, with a 
 true woman's inventive charity, both to palliate the offence, and 
 excuse and pardon the offender. 
 
 " Mrs. Vannecker dislikes Mr. Dudley," thought she, " and 
 has no doubt given her own coloring to his words ; things 
 sound so differently when repeated ; besides, she says he is 
 poor, I never thought of that. He can not be poor, and 
 his talents would be priceless in any profession; but in compar- 
 ison with Mr. Marston's, his present means, perhaps, are lim- 
 ited." And Mabel's heart softened as she reflected on the bit- 
 terness which a sensitive man might feel, as he contrasted his 
 narrow estate with the princely fortune of his rival. " I have 
 been careless and imprudent, too," thought she ; " no wonder 
 he is vexed, when strangers even are deceived." And here 
 Mabel called to mind the frequent instances, unexplained till 
 now, when Mr. Dudley had turned coldly away at Mr. Mars- 
 ton's approach, or, with harsh and cutting sarcasm, had com- 
 mented on the frivolous tastes and manners of the amiable and 
 harmless young man. 
 
 " I must be more careful in future," thought she. " For my 
 own sake, and the sake of the world's opinion, I shall be cir- 
 cumspect, and he shall never again have cause to feel vexed 
 with me on this point. 
 
MABEL VAUGTIAN. 213 
 
 " And so he believed me dazzled by the prospect of a bril- 
 liant fortune ; and is that so very strange ? it has blinded 
 many a better girl than I. What should he know of my 
 actual tastes, my love of simplicity, my hatred of display ? He 
 has seen me only surrounded by the trappings of wealth, and 
 the object of the greatest flattery. Can he picture me as I was 
 in my country home at Mrs. Herbert's ? or imagine with what 
 joy I should shake off the fetters and chains of this artificial 
 life, and devote myself to the sweet and welcome tasks which 
 constitute the comfort of a domestic fireside ? I have been 
 unjust to myself and to him ; I have appeared before him only 
 in a false character, and yet I expect him to believe me true. 
 Henceforward he shall know me as I am." 
 
 Thus, by a process of reasoning, in which the heart, and not 
 the head, furnished arguments, Mabel had finally arrived at a 
 conclusion which left her, as she believed, still mistress of her 
 own destiny. She had but to exercise the frankness, simplicity, 
 and truth, which were her own native characteristics, and, with 
 the knowledge she had obtained of Dudley's sensitive distrust, 
 she should have no difficulty in removing it. 
 
 More precious than ever now seemed the opportunity 
 afforded by the approaching journey! We have seen with 
 what fond and romantic anticipations she had already looked 
 forward to the escape from city thraldom, to the enjoyment of 
 a few weeks commune with nature, and with one whom she 
 deemed nature's fit interpreter, but now this long-talked-of 
 excursion had suddenly assumed a new significance, a vital 
 interest; it had become, as it were, the crisis of her life. 
 
 " No need of all this finery," thought she, as she hastily 
 folded and put out of sight the offending articles of dress, the 
 nervous trembling of her busy fingers keeping time to the 
 impatient fluttering of the young heart yearning for an occa- 
 sion to prove the genuineness of its devotion. " Travelling 
 furnishes no necessity for elaborate toilettes," was her exulting 
 reflection ; " it imposes none of the restrictions of city life. 
 For a while, at least, I can act myself, and be happy in the 
 way I love best." 
 
214 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 And how were these sentiments responded to by the man 
 for whose sake this devoted young heart would have deemed 
 nothing a sacrifice ? Was this ready self-consecration met 
 with corresponding zeal ? 
 
 Alas! Mrs. Vannecker maneuvering, gossiping, worldly 
 woman though she was had spoken some homely truths. 
 The cold, calculating, selfish Dudley well deserved the name 
 of hypocrite, for who is a greater hypocrite than he who 
 stamps another as a coward, while he himself is ready to play 
 the poltroon. He had dared to question Mabel's disinterested- 
 ness and capability of self-sacrifice ; could his own soul have 
 denied the truth, that he himself was guilty of the very weak- 
 ness he contemned in another ? Mrs. Vannecker had pro- 
 claimed his want of confidence in the woman he professed to 
 love, but this was but half the truth ; for truer, sadder, more 
 fatal still he had no confidence in himself, the idol whom he 
 loved supremely. 
 
 Thus, while seeing more plainly than Mabel did the obsta- 
 cles to their union, unlike her he felt no generous ardor to 
 overleap them at a bound. It was true her habits were ex- 
 pensive, but so too were his, and confirmed by long indulgence. 
 The whole of his moderate income was but just sufficient for 
 his selfish wants ; was there, then, anything to spare ? He 
 knew very well that only by a strenuous and manly exercise 
 of his talents and gifts, only by entering heart and hand into 
 the contest with fortune, could he achieve such a position of 
 usefulness and honor as would bring with it the pecuniary 
 independence which he lacked. And for this he had neither 
 the energy, the will, nor, above all, the faith ; faith in his own 
 powers of persevering endeavor, faith in noble purpose, and 
 in the providence which is sure to reward well directed effort 
 with success. 
 
 What ! forego his wayward journeyings, desultory studies, 
 and artistic pursuits, and, plunging into the vortex of busy 
 life, task all his powers to win for himself a place among 
 earnest men! His self-indulgent sensitiveness recoiled from 
 the idea. Abandon the refined circles of conventional society, 
 

 MABEL VAUGHAN. 215 
 
 forego the privilege of intellectual opportunity, and relinquish 
 the luxurious ease of a bachelor's establishment, for the seclu- 
 sion, the privations, and the every day responsibilities of do- 
 mestic life ! His aristocratic and fastidious nature spurned 
 the thought. 
 
 " A few weeks more within the sphere of pretty Mabel's 
 smiles," was his reflection, as whiling away the warm hours of 
 the day, stretched on a couch in an apartment at his club, he 
 lazily watched the blue curling smoke of his cigar "a jour- 
 ney to the Falls in company with this interesting and beautiful 
 young enthusiast, and then," he sighed, for he would have 
 loved Mabel, had there been room in his heart for so disin- 
 terested an emotion. " Well ah, well ! each season brings 
 with it its pleasures and its claims. A trip to the Sandwich 
 Islands next, perhaps, they say the climate is unsurpassed." 
 
 Had there been an electric communication between his heart 
 and Mabel's, her airy castles of bliss would have fallen as 
 beneath the lightning blast ; but there was no such magnetic 
 link, and she went dreaming on. 
 
 She was still occupied with her own glowing and painfully 
 exciting meditations, when her solitude was suddenly broken in 
 upon by one, who of late seldom intruded within her precincts. 
 
 It was Harry. He came in, heated with exercise, and there 
 was something of the ease and freedom of his old manner in 
 the unconcerned air with which he stretched himself on his 
 sister's comfortable sofa, and wiped the moisture from his 
 brow. 
 
 " It is very warm," said Mabel. 
 
 " Confounded hot," replied Harry, taking up the fan Mrs. 
 Vannecker had been using. " I never knew such weather in 
 May before. I believe you 've got the coolest place in the 
 house, though." 
 
 There was a pause ; the subject of the weather exhausted, 
 this brother and sister, once so confiding, were at a loss for 
 anything to say. 
 
 After a few moments, however, Harry broke at once tlie 
 silence and constraint with the abrupt remark, " So we are to 
 
216 MABEL V A UGH AN. 
 
 have a new character in the family." Mabel colored and ex- 
 perienced a nervous tremor ; she feared the re-mark had some 
 reference to herself. She was reassured on this point, how- 
 ever, as Harry continued in a tone of half-playful, half-indig- 
 nant irony, "Yes, nothing less than a lawyer, a rusty, fusty 
 lawyer. It is all cut and dried, without the slightest reference 
 to the principal party concerned ; old Judge Paradox's office 
 in L. is, I am told, the mint in which I am to be coined into a 
 legal instrument ; " and Harry laughed a bitter laugh. 
 
 Mabel made no reply to this communication ; she felt reluc- 
 tant to acknowledge to Harry that she had already learned the 
 tidings from her father. 
 
 Harry, evidently engaged in some mental process, uttered 
 at intervals an exclamation of angry scorn, then at length 
 gave further vent to his feelings in the sudden outbreak ; 
 " A pretty piece of business ! a ridiculous farce ! to undertake 
 to treat a man as if he were still a boy ! Though a boy, even, 
 if he had any spirit, would object, I think, to being disposed 
 of in this way ! " 
 
 Mabel now understood that Mr. Vanghan's arrangements 
 had been made without Harry's knowledge, or the slightest 
 reference to his wishes, and her quick mind saw at once the 
 probable consequences of this injudicious step. She knew 
 how vain it was to endeavor thus to control the youth, who 
 never, from his infancy, had submitted to restraint. 
 
 As if to give plausibility to tlie scheme, however, she re- 
 marked, "But, Harry, you always preferred that profession; 
 I always supposed you would decide upon it." 
 
 " What if I did," said Harry, sharply. " Is this the season 
 of the year to commence a dry study ; and is the atmosphere 
 of L. likely to awaken a man's ambition ? No, my father is 
 much mistaken if he thinks I shall put myself under the gov- 
 ernment of an antediluvian judge, or be tied to the apron 
 strings of two old women. You can take up your residence 
 with the aunties if you choose, and sit between them all day, 
 learning the art of stocking-knitting ; but as for me, I can 
 assure you, my imagination takes a higher flight." And as he 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 217 
 
 finished speaking, he compressed his lips, and threw his head 
 back on the sofa cushions with an air of resolution not to be 
 mistaken. 
 
 " But, Harry," exclaimed Mabel, " think how you will dis- 
 appoint father. I have no doubt his arrangements with his 
 old friend are all completed." Her conscience smote her as 
 she spoke. Was it for her to remind her brother of his duty ? 
 Had she not also been included in her father's plans, and had 
 she not in like manner proved refractory ? 
 
 " Look well to your diplomacy, then," said Harry. " I 
 shall charge you with a commission to his old friend, and trust 
 to you to execute it faithfully. Tell him that the air of his 
 neighborhood does not suit my constitution, that I feel my- 
 self called upon to try a different climate, that I have a 
 great repugnance to being buried in L. You start next week, 
 I suppose, on your enviable visit ? " 
 
 " Mine ? " asked Mabel, with evident embarrassment. 
 " What, my visit to my aunt Margaret ? " 
 
 " Certainly ; have you not yet been informed of your agree- 
 able destiny ?" 
 
 "Yes no," said Mabel with hesitation; "at least, I 
 mean " 
 
 "You don't mean to back out, I hope," said Harry, drawing 
 down the corners of his mouth, and speaking in a tone of mock 
 reproof. 
 
 With mortification and difficulty, Mabel faltered out the 
 words, " Why it happened so, that I was thinking of another 
 journey just at this time, and I concluded that that " 
 
 " That the air of L. would not suit you," said Harry, with 
 emphasis, and a meaning laugh ; and here he precisely echoed 
 her tones of a moment before, " think how you will disappoint 
 father." 
 
 " Oh, but it does not matter so much where I go," said 
 Mabel, anxious to excuse herself. 
 
 Harry would listen to no such excuse, however. Her self- 
 indulgence and opposition to their father had, for the present, 
 placed her precisely upon his own level. He rallied her upon 
 19 
 
218 MABEL VAUGHJLN. 
 
 her hypocritical attempt to awaken his filial sentiments, con- 
 gratulated her upon her escape from parental thraldom, and on 
 the strength of the kindred tie established by their mutual re- 
 bellion, so far resumed his brotherly right to her confidence as 
 to inquire into the nature of the trip she had in view, and the 
 expected companions of the journey. 
 
 Mabel sketched the plan of the tour, and enumerated the 
 party, closing with the name of Lincoln Dudley 
 
 At the last utterance, Harry's only comment \>as an audible 
 a pshaw ! " which Mabel well understood ; for she had become 
 instinctively conscious that the friendship once existing between 
 her brother and Dudley had given place to something less than 
 indifference. 
 
 Harry had risen from his recumbent posture on the sofa, and 
 flood apparently surveying a picture which hung on the wall, 
 but there was a bitterness in his expression that could scarcely 
 have been called up by the subject represented on the canvas. 
 
 " If you don't go to L.," said Mabel, diffidently, and with 
 painful hesitation, " you had better go with us." 
 
 " I ! " exclaimed Harry, turning upon her almost fiercely 
 " not I. I certainly should start for L. at once, if joining that 
 party were the only alternative;" and, with these words, he 
 abruptly turned on his heel and left the room. 
 
 Once more alone, Mabel would gladly have resumed her 
 castle building but in vain; flattering visions might dazzle 
 and bewilder her, but she no longer dared unhesitatingly pur- 
 sue them. There was a something which held her back. 
 Never had the simple voice of duty asserted itself with such 
 force as now. It seemed to whisper in stern and solemn tones, 
 " Child of earth, beware ! thy pathway here divides ; thou art 
 free to turn either to the right hand or the left, but thou canst 
 not act for thyself alone. Perhaps thy choice may involve 
 thine aged father's peace, and determine the ruin or reforma- 
 tion of thy brother. Mark then, and choose aright." 
 
 It haunted her until nightfall. It robbed her of her earlier 
 nours of sleep, it mingled in her later dreams, it greeted her at 
 ihe morning light, and still she refused to listen. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 They who have rarest joy, know joy's true measure ; 
 
 They who most suffer, value sufferings pause ; 
 They who but seldom taste the simplest pleasure, 
 
 Kneel oftenest to the Giver and the Cause. 
 
 MRS. JsTOETOBT, 
 
 SUMMER, gentle, balmy summer, had found its way even to 
 the dreary part of the city in which Rosy lived. It came not 
 in bright streams of sunshine, breezes heavily laden with 
 sweets, or the music of gaily singing birds. The close, dark 
 rows of buildings obscured the light, barred out the prospect, 
 and interrupted the refreshing gales, while the harsh and un- 
 harmonious noises of the street alone fell on the listening ear. 
 Still Rosy, patiently sitting at her open casement, with a soul 
 alive to its opportunities and a heart grateful to their source, 
 saw more of nature's handiwork, and read in it more of God, 
 than many a dull-eyed, thoughtless traveller who, permitted to 
 rove amid earth's fairest scenes, shuts his eye to their beauty 
 and grandeur, and closes his ear to their sacred influence. 
 
 The little tufts of grass which had sprung up at the corners 
 of the opposite archway, had been watched in their growth by 
 Rosy, ever since the first green blade obtruded between the 
 uneven pavement and the foundation stones of the wall. The 
 morning sun, for an hour or more, shone on them with its 
 cheering beams, the afternoon shower refreshed them with its 
 gentle moisture, and day by day the sick child gleaned from this 
 her humble garden plot fresh proofs of the love of Him who 
 watcheth over all. Within the narrow range of her vision, 
 early vegetables and summer fruits were disposed in tempting 
 array, each rivalling the other in its perfection and richness; 
 and every successive luxury of the season, as it appeared in its 
 
220 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 turn, awakened in HOST'S heart, loving and grateful thoughts 
 of Him who is the universal and bountiful Provider. The 
 noble team-horses, whose morning exit from the archway she 
 hailed with a daily smile of welcome, seldom now returned at 
 noon or nightfall without a branch of oak, willow, or birch, 
 waving above their heads, while the glow of contentment and 
 self-satisfaction which shone in the young teamster's face, no 
 less than the sprig of lilac which occasionally adorned his hat, 
 proved that he had been engaged in more cheering labors, and 
 among more exhilarating scenes, than those which the city- 
 afforded. 
 
 The little tufts of grass were all that poor Rosy knew* of 
 green fields and verdant waysides ; the early vegetables and 
 fruits which she saw, but seldom tasted, furnished her sole ex- 
 perience of summer's wealth and bounty ; and the branches 
 which waved over the heads of the heated and weary team- 
 horses, alone afforded proof of the sweet and refreshing repose 
 which might be found beneath the greenwood shade. 
 
 But it was something to know, that somewhere beyond the 
 city lay the country, as beyond this world the Heaven of her 
 hopes; and imagination could sun itself in the joys of the one, 
 as the yearning soul could long and pant for the glory, the 
 peace, and the final rest of the other. 
 
 As she watched the grass grow beneath the archway, in the 
 sweet dreams of fancy her crippled form strayed among ver- 
 dant fields and sat down by rippling streams ; as she surveyed 
 the tempting display in the green-grocer's shop, she tasted, by 
 means of some inward sense, rich fruits whose names she 
 scarcely knew ; as the gentle breeze waved the green boughs 
 above the horses' heads, she seemed to hear the soft sighing of 
 the summer wind as it swept through the arches of a boundless 
 forest. And when, to crown her satisfaction, the ruddy, laugh- 
 ing teamster gaily lifted his hat, removed the lilac branch from 
 its crown, and flung the cluster of purple flowers into the lap 
 of the pleased, astonished child, Ceres herself, with all her 
 treasures, was not more richly laden. 
 
 But summer, among its precious gifts, has brought no glow 
 
MABEL VADGIIAN. 221 
 
 of health to the cheek, no renewal of strength to the limbs of 
 the wasted girl. The close confinement of the long winter had 
 left her more enfeebled than ever ; the rough winds of the early 
 spring had rudely pierced to the seat of her fragile life ; and 
 now, the sudden heat which has succeeded serves only to ener- 
 vate still further her sunken and perishing frame. Cheerfully, 
 serenely, hopefully as ever, the calm blue eyes are searching 
 with their earnest, steadfast gaze, into the things which are not 
 but are soon to be ; looking into the depths of that future, no 
 longer distant, but seemingly close at hand. Like the pilgrim 
 who, after long wanderings, arrives at last without the walls of 
 the promised city, and is anxious only for the morning light 
 which shall admit him within its gates, so she, standing at 
 Heaven's portal, seems only to await the dawn which shall 
 usher her in. 
 
 The widow Hope moves about her little domain with the 
 same measured, dragging step as ever, presides at her narrow 
 counter, and displays her humble wares with the same mechani- 
 cal, half-vacant air, and betrays in her demeanor a rigid, unal- 
 tered apathy of grief and disappointment. Now and then, 
 however, her dull eye is fixed upon her child with a deep, 
 searching glance of maternal anxiety and dread, and as she 
 turns away and engages in some household task, a deep-drawn 
 sigh, or half-uttered groan, gives evidence that the poor heart's 
 capacity for suffering is not exhausted yet. 
 
 Nor is the remembrance of past happiness effaced beyond 
 recall. The softness of the summer air, the sight of Rosy's 
 lilac branch, the well-known perfume of its flowers, all serve 
 to awaken within her the recollection of days gone by. She 
 lifts the broken-handled mug which contains the fragrant blos- 
 soms, and, as she inhales their familiar breath, a vision rises 
 before her of her childhood's homej the green and sloping 
 meadow which stretched before the door, the old stone step, 
 worn smooth by childish feet, the lilac bushes which graced it 
 on either side, and the robins which yearly built their nests 
 and sang there. She hears her brothers and sisters at their 
 play, her mother's step within the house, her father's voice 
 19* . 
 
222 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 outside, and the voice of Rosy's father whispering in her ear. 
 It might be sad to muse on joys forever flown, but, if so, it was 
 a pleasing sadness, for again and again she bends her care- 
 worn head over the rustic nosegay, reads, in it a record of her 
 girlhood, and turns away to muse upon the page. 
 
 " O Rose ! " exclaimed she, as her thoughts, after straying 
 awhile amid the past, led her back to the stern reality of the 
 present, " O Rose ! how I wish you could go up to the old 
 farm, if it were only for a week ; your uncle Jonas would be 
 glad to have you come, I know, and the very sight of the place 
 would do you good!" And as the poor mother reflected on 
 the impossibility of carrying this wish into effect, she drew the 
 deepest sigh that had escaped her yet. 
 
 Rose sighed, too a soft, low, scarcely audible sigh. If the 
 poor child had a selfish wish on earth, it was to visit the old 
 farm. 
 
 The same bright morning which bore witness to the widow's 
 heart-sick despondency, and the hopelessness of Rose's earthly 
 longings, found the fashionable world of New York elated and 
 eager in the prospect of a festive occasion, which promised to 
 be as brilliant and successful as it was exciting and novel. It 
 was the day of Fan Broadhead's marriage with the Colonel, 
 and after the nuptial ceremony at Grace church, the bridal 
 party were to proceed to the bridegroom's country residence, a 
 few miles up the Hudson, where a grand reception of guests 
 was to be held in the open air ; the beautiful grounds belonging 
 to the estate having been decorated and prepared in a style 
 rarely attempted in our fickle and unpropitious climate. Every- 
 thing, therefore, depended on the weather ; and if sunshine and 
 gentle breezes could have been propitiated or bribed, a more 
 perfect day could not have cheered the hearts of the numerous 
 aspirants after pleasure. Hair-dressers and ladies-maids were 
 called into requisition at day-break ; spring bonnets, whose ex- 
 quisite array of buds and flowers had been carefully secreted 
 until now, bloomed out of their various band-boxes ; the flounces 
 of rich silks rustled and rattled as if asserting their rival merits ; 
 and white-gloved coachmen, mounted on the boxes of freshly- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAIV. 223 
 
 varnished carriages, surveyed their own stately equipages with 
 pride, and bestowed disparaging glances on those of their mas- 
 ters' neighbors. 
 
 And now, one after another, these showy establishments, 
 decked like their occupants in all the panoply of pride, rolled 
 in various directions from street to street, and finally swept up 
 the wide avenue leading from the city, bearing with them the 
 beauty, the wealth, and the fashion of the metropolis. 
 
 " Mabel, what in the world can have become of Donald ? " 
 exclaimed Mrs. Leroy, in an agony of impatience ; a state of 
 mind which was not improved by a sudden rent in her delicate 
 glove, the consequence of an angry twitch on the part of the 
 irritated lady. 
 
 " I can not imagine," replied Mabel, outwardly more calm 
 than her sister, but betraying scarcely less annoyance, as she 
 glanced at a clock on the mantle-piece, and then looked anx- 
 iously down the street. 
 
 " We shall be too late," said Louise, in a reproachful tone ; 
 " every body has driven by. I wish I had gone by myself. 
 Donald is always behind the time." 
 
 Mabel made no reply, but continued gazing from the win- 
 dow, not a little chafed at the selfishness of her sister's com- 
 plaints. 
 
 This unforeseen delay and disappointment were the result 
 of a discovery made by Mabel's coachman, as she alighted at 
 the hotel where she had, according to agreement, called for 
 Mrs. Leroy. One of the wheels of the new barouche, a recent 
 birth-day gift from her father, was imperfectly adjusted, and 
 Donald declared it impossible to take the anticipated drive until 
 the difficulty was remedied. He was suffered to depart, there- 
 fore, for this purpose, upon the assurance that he should be 
 absent half an hour only, at the most. 
 
 The time was long past, however, and still he did not return. 
 Mrs. Leroy's childish and fretful impatience increased every 
 moment ; and Mabel, in addition to her own share of vexation, 
 found herself the victim of Louise's uncontrollable ill temper 
 and unsparing invective. She should not have suffered Donald 
 
224 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 out of her sight for a moment on such an important oc 
 faithless creature that he was. Or, at least, why did she i. 
 tell him to bring the close carriage .instead of the barouche? 
 he could have made the exchange in half the time that he had 
 kept them waiting it would have been better to go in that 
 stifled thing than not to go at all. It was no more than fair 
 that Mabel should abide by her own poor management, but it 
 was hard yes, she must say it was a little too hard that 
 she also should be* the sufferer by such folly. And angrily 
 calling to Lydia to bring her a fresh pair of gloves, and harshly 
 repulsing Murray, who accidentally trod on one end of her lace 
 mantilla, she threw herself into a seat in a despairing attitude, 
 and pouted and sulked for some minutes like a spoiled child. 
 
 " Hark ! " exclaimed she at length. " Is n't that Mr. Earle's 
 voice ? Yes, it certainly is ; he was to call here for young 
 Van Rosberg, and Van Rosberg is gone. He was invited to 
 act as groomsman, and went early with the bridal party." And 
 the next moment her light figure disappeared through the door 
 which opened into the hall, and Mabel lost her final words, 
 which were to the effect that there would probably then be a 
 vacant seat in Mr. Earle's carriage. " How fortunate if it 
 were so ! " 
 
 A moment after, a waiter appeared at the drawing-room door, 
 to say that Mrs. Leroy had gone to Riverside with Mrs. Earle, 
 and hoped Miss Vaughan would be in season to overtake them 
 on the road. 
 
 Characteristic as this manoeuvre was in Mrs. Leroy, Mabel's 
 feelings were deeply hurt at the selfishness and unsisterly 
 effrontery which it evinced. "I can not go now, at any 
 rate," thought she. " Louise knew very well that I should 
 give it up altogether if she deserted me in this way." And no 
 longer anxious for the arrival of the carriage, she deliberately 
 removed her bonnet and sat down to meditate on her disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 Unconsciously to herself, she had looked forward to this fes- 
 tivity with an interest never before awakened by any similar 
 occasion. Not because the bride and bridegroom were at the 
 
3IABEL VAUGHAN. 225 
 
 height of fashion; not because all the world would be present to 
 do them honor; nor because it would be for her a new opportu- 
 nity to achieve conquests and triumphs: such motives and reflec- 
 tions had given no glow to her anticipations, and now added no 
 sting to her disappointment. The simple thought of her heart 
 had been, " Dudley is the bridegroom's nephew ; Dudley will 
 be there. I shall read my triumph in his presence, and achieve 
 in his approving smile the only conquest that I crave." 
 
 Perhaps, too, though she knew it not, her secret soul looked 
 to him to exorcise with his eye, his voice, his smile, the spirits 
 of disquiet and self-questioning which had for the last few days 
 warred constantly with her peace ; perhaps she trusted to his 
 magnetic influence to hush the voice of warning, make a treaty 
 with her conscience, and reconcile her to herself. 
 
 How aggravating, then, the loss of this opportunity, the only 
 one she could possibly expect before starting on her journey, 
 it being Dudley's well-known purpose to accompany the bridal 
 party to Albany, where other festivities awaited them, and join 
 the excursionists on their arrival at that city, which was to be 
 the first point on their route. 
 
 Whatever hopes she might have based on this long-antici- 
 pated occasion, she now found them suddenly annihilated, and 
 herself oppressed with a painful sense of loneliness, injustice, 
 and injury. She would have given vent to her feelings in a 
 burst of tears, but for the presence of her sister's children, who, 
 while they acted as a restraint upon her, evinced at the same 
 time a childlike sympathy in her disappointment, which touched 
 and soothed her sensitive nature. 
 
 " Has mother gone without you, auntie ? " exclaimed Alick ; 
 " that 's real mean ! " while Murray, climbing into a chair, 
 stretched his head out of the window and made, every instant, 
 eager but, as it proved, false reports of the arrival of the car- 
 riage. 
 
 " Never mind, Murray, I sha'n't go now," said Mabel, after 
 nearly an hour had elapsed ; " it is too late." 
 
 "Oh, here it is, really," shouted Murray, "I see Donald 
 driving like any thing ! Oh, what a splendid barouche ! " and 
 
226 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Alick, convinced that this time his brother's announcement was 
 to be relied upon, ran to the window and confirmed the joyful 
 fact, by joining in Murray's panegyric upon the gay and beau- 
 tiful equipage. 
 
 " Are n't you going, after all ? " inquired he, in a disappointed 
 tone, observing that Mabel was standing behind him, gazing 
 moodily and vacantly into the street, and making no movement 
 to resume her bonnet. 
 
 "No, Alick." 
 
 The boy hung down his head, as if a veto had been put upon 
 some favorite scheme of his own, but Murray, conceiving a 
 new idea, cried out, eagerly, " Then, auntie, take me to ride. 
 Oh, do, take me a little way in the new barouche." 
 
 " Very well," said Mabel, indifferently ; " ask Lydia for your 
 hat, get yours, too, Alick," and pleased at the delight ex- 
 hibited by Murray, she tried to assume a gay tone, as she said, 
 " \Ve will go and have a good time by ourselves." 
 
 Alick's face brightened, as Mabel seemed thus to promise 
 herself a compensation for being excluded from the wedding 
 festival, and by the time they gained the carriage, the boys, at 
 least, were both in high spirits. 
 
 Donald, comprehending at once the consequences of his long 
 delay, had a tedious story to relate in reference to its cause ; 
 but Mabel, scarcely hearing his explanation, and caring little 
 for the trivial details which had resulted, as she deemed, so 
 disastrously, accepted his apology in silence, and bade him 
 drive on, purposely choosing a direction opposite to that leading 
 to Riverside. 
 
 They had proceeded but a little distance down Broadway, 
 however, when, seized with a new idea, she suddenly altered 
 her purpose, and requested the coachman to turn and drive 
 home. Alick looked at her inquiringly; Murray began to 
 whimper ; but her smile re-assured them. " Only for a moment, 
 darling," said she, in a soothing tone, to Murray ; " I shall not 
 get out of the carriage, I wish to speak to Cecilia. Ring the 
 bell, Donald," said she, as they stopped before her father's 
 door; and as the footman appeared and ran down the steps to 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 227 
 
 take her orders, she exclaimed, to the astonishment of her 
 hearers, " ask Cecilia to bring my warm Scotch shawl and a 
 pillow two pillows, Robert," continued she, as he turned to 
 fulfil her directions. 
 
 The smiling Cecilia soon appeared with the articles, which 
 were deposited in the carriage. 
 
 " Are we going to be gone all night ? " asked Murray, in 
 some alarm, while Alick's face contained a volume of ques- 
 tions. 
 
 But Mabel only smiled in reply. 
 
 " Turn here," said she, at length, to Donald, as they reached 
 the entrance of a narrow street. 
 
 " Oh ! I know, I know ! " shouted the usually quiet Alick, as 
 he observed that they were taking the direction leading to the 
 widow Hope's, " you are going to take Rosy out to drive." 
 
 Mabel nodded in assent. 
 
 Murray sprang up and down on the carriage seat, and clapped 
 his hands in an extasy of delight. 
 
 Alick scanned his aunt's face pensively, admiringly. Mabel 
 almost forgot her recent and bitter disappointment, in the 
 thought of the pleasure she was about to impart. 
 
 But who shall paint the rapture of surprise, excitement, and 
 delight, which reigned in the widow's home, when the prancing 
 horses were reined in before the door, when the object of their 
 coming was announced, and the thoughtful preparations for the 
 little invalid's comfort placed the incredible fact beyond a doubt. 
 Tears streamed down the cheeks of the happy, grateful child, 
 and the undemonstrative mother so far forgot her wonted re- 
 serve as -to lay her hand on Mabel's shoulder and exclaim, 
 " Bless your heart, she was just longing to have a peep at the 
 country ! Why, it will be like taking her to paradise ! " 
 
 A few moments more, and Rose, supported by pillows, and 
 with Mabel's shawl across her lap, was rolling down Broadway, 
 in the easy, luxurious carriage, her thin, pale face, and slight, 
 attenuated figure, forming a striking contrast to the rich beauty 
 and graceful proportions of Mabel, who was leaning forward, 
 re-arranging the cushions at her feet, and gently inquiring 
 
228 MABEL VJLUGHAN. 
 
 whether the motion of the carriage fatigued her. Rose's eyes 
 wandered up and down the street, taking in at a glance a 
 thousand interesting objects, while Alick and Murray, as they 
 watched her from the opposite seat, directed her attention now 
 to one thing and now to another, betraying in their animated 
 faces how deeply they enjoyed and participated in her pleasure. 
 
 But city sights and sounds were comparatively familiar to 
 Rosy, and although the drive was enlarging her knowledge 
 and experience, nothing as yet had served to arouse emotions 
 altogether unprecedented and novel. As they approached the 
 battery, however, and through the arches of its lofty elms she 
 caught sight of the deep blue waters of the bay, the white sails 
 glistening in the sun, and the green islands beyond, her large 
 eyes dilated, her little form seemed to expand and elevate 
 itself, her breast heaved, she clasped her thin transparent hands, 
 and uttered a long-drawn exclamation of wonder, reverence, 
 and awe. Mabel and the boys gazed in silent satisfaction at 
 the rapt and excited child, as, lost in the contemplation of this 
 panorama of ocean, earth, and sky, she manifested in her face 
 and gestures an extasy of delight such as words would have 
 been powerless to express. 
 
 With parted lips and straining eyes she continued to gaze, 
 as if every other sense was absorbed in that of sight, and not 
 until some overshadowing buildings shut out the bewildering 
 prospect, did she relapse into her wonted composure. As the 
 carriage paused a moment at the ferry, while awaiting the boat 
 which should transport it to the opposite shore, the child slowly 
 turned her head, met Mabel's sympathetic glance, drew a long 
 breath, and, with a smile of holy joy, sought the hand of her 
 friend and pressed it with grateful fervor. Still she spoke not 
 a word, as if fearful to break the spell that was upon her, but 
 with patient though trembling expectation, waited until the 
 revelation of beauty and enchantment should again burst upon 
 her sight. 
 
 A moment more and they were launched upon the transpa- 
 rent waters of the bay, where, with nothing to interrupt the 
 vision or disturb the harmony of the scene, the eye might rove 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 229 
 
 at will in all directions, and sweep to the very verge of the 
 distant horizon. With her head bent forward, the light breeze 
 stirring the hair on her blue-veined temples, and her cheek 
 tinged with the faint flush which pleasure and excitement had 
 called up, the invalid girl seemed borne into a new creation 
 and animated by a new life. As if some earth-born mortal 
 had strayed beyond its native sphere, and stood with bounding 
 pulse on the threshold of a higher existence, so this suffering 
 child, emerging from the darkness, seclusion, and obscurity in 
 which her life had hitherto been shrouded, seemed to rejoicCj 
 expand, and glow, as if in the presence of Deity. 
 
 Nor were her emotions unshared by her companions. Ma- 
 bel's heart beat high with unselfish joy, as she beheld the 
 light which sparkled in Rose's eye, and the rapture which shone 
 in her beaming features ; while Alick forgot his wonted interest 
 in the shipping of the harbor, to follow her earnest gaze as it 
 peered now into the azure depths of sky, then watched the 
 motion of the rolling waves, and finally rested with serene 
 repose on the luxurious verdure of the shore. Even Murray 
 now and then threw himself on the carriage floor at her feet, 
 looked up, and reading her pleasure in her face, exclaimed, 
 " Rosy likes it, do n't you Rosy ? " to which Rose responded 
 with a smile so expressive that the little questioner compre- 
 hended its meaning and was satisfied. 
 
 Nor were these the only friends destined to sympathize in 
 her enjoyment this day. Scarcely had they gained the streets 
 of New York's sister city, when a familiar rumble greeted 
 Rose's ear, and coming towards them from the opposite direc- 
 tion, she saw the well-known cart horses which she had that 
 morning hailed as they came through the arch-way. Never 
 had the brazen knobs of the harness glittered as now in the 
 afternoon sunlight, never had the cart seemed of so deep a 
 blue, never had the young teamster's face worn so astonished 
 an expression, so joyous and cheering a glow, as that with 
 which he now saw and recognized his little invalid neighbor. 
 With one glance of his quick eye, he took in the whole estab- 
 lishment, the spirited horses, their showy accoutrements, the 
 20 
 
230 MABEL VAL'GHAN. 
 
 beautiful carriage, its pleasure-bound occupants, and Rose 
 preeminent in their midst. It was too much for his equanimity. 
 As he passed, he laughed, cracked his long whip, took off his 
 hat, swung it round his head three times, and then gracefully 
 kissed his hand to her in tokon of congratulation. 
 
 This gay and exultant salutation exerted a corresponding 
 effect upon the spirits of the little party. The boys became 
 quite excited in view of it ; and Hose, to whose satisfaction this 
 little incident had imparted additional zest, leaned out of the 
 carriage and waved her hand in triumphal glee. 
 
 " He knows you ! he is looking back after you ! he is glad 
 you are taking a ride ! " cried the voices of Alick and Murray, 
 while Mabel herself could not resist turning round for another 
 glimpse of the honest face, which evinced such an evident par- 
 ticipation in Rose's joy. 
 
 Truly this was a great day for Rose, the one gala day of 
 her life. Not only nature, but the heart of man, seemed to 
 rejoice and sympathize in the occasion. Even Donald, that 
 proud, handsome Donald, who presided on the box, manifested 
 a certain tenderness for her infirmities, drove gently over the 
 pavement, and avoided every rough spot in the road, as if to 
 spare her any unnecessary jolting or fatigue. 
 
 And now they gradually left the city behind them, and 
 struck out into the open country. Green fields and smiling 
 gardens met them at every turn ; sweeping elms overarched the 
 roads and refreshed them with their shade ; birds flitted among 
 the branches, and flowering shrubs rejoiced the senses with 
 their perfume. Here and there, at intervals, might be seen 
 the neat Dutch farm-houses, each of which seemed in turn, 
 to Rose, the counterpart of her mother's early home, while, 
 occasionally, as they gained some slight elevation, there burst 
 upon them in one comprehensive view the wide range of roll- 
 ing meadows, green orchards, and sunny slopes, which mark 
 the scenery of Long Island ; while in the distance, the eye 
 might discern, at intervals, the blue waters of the sea. 
 
 At sight of the rural homesteads, the cattle peacefully graz- 
 ing, or reposing in the shade, and innumerable other objects 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 231 
 
 with which frequent descriptions had rendered Rose partially 
 familiar, her enthusiastic and artless delight would find vent in 
 words; and Mabel's heart was deeply touched as the child re- 
 counted, in simple phrase, the oft-repeated tale of her mother's 
 happy life at the old farm, the revisiting of which blessed spot 
 had ever constituted the day-dream of her city-bred children. 
 
 " You must go there, Rose ! " exclaimed Mabel, eagerly, as 
 she observed the child's intense and ill-concealed longing; "you 
 must go there with your mother one of these days, and see the 
 good old place." 
 
 Rose only replied, however, by shaking her head with an air 
 of sad and pensive resignation and Mabel forbore to urge the 
 point, for they had now gained the height of a hill up which 
 the horses had long been toiling, and were greeted by one of 
 those lovely and extensive views, the sight of which effectually 
 sealed Rose's lips, while a hush of holy awe crept over the 
 little face, the working of which, nevertheless, revealed unut- 
 terable things. Who shall tell how much she discerned which 
 is shut from the eye of sense, how much she heard which 
 is whispered only to the ear of the spirit ? 
 
 The happiness of Alick and Murray was only secondary on 
 this occasion to that of Rose. Like her, they were privileged 
 beyond their wont, and evinced their satisfaction, the one in 
 the eagerness of his observations and questions, and the other 
 in the laughter, shouts, and unchecked glee of childhood. 
 Now and then, at some shady point in the road, or some pleas- 
 ant opening in the prospect, the horses were drawn up for a 
 few moments, and the boys were suffered to alight, to challenge 
 each other to a run, or to pluck the wild flowers by the road- 
 side, with which they playfully showered their indulgent aunt 
 and her happy little companion. 
 
 Occasionally Mabel's thoughts would wander to the gay 
 scene at Riverside ; a slight pang of envy would pierce her 
 heart as she mused upon the happy throng assembled there, 
 and she would anxiously ask herself, " Am I missed amid the 
 crowd?" But a look at Rose's enraptured face, or the shouts 
 of the joyous boys, were sufficient to chase away every obtrud- 
 
232 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 ing regret, and satisfy her with the reflection, " They surely 
 could not spare me here." 
 
 But time is a tyrant, and though Mabel had left her watch 
 at home, the slowly descending sun began to give notice of the 
 day's decline. In spite of innumerable pauses and delays, 
 they had more than half completed the circuit appointed for 
 their afternoon's excursion, and were already homeward bound. 
 Alick and Murray were somewhat weary with unusual exer- 
 cise, and a quiet, placid sense of enjoyment had crept over 
 the little party to the exclusion of conversation and merriment. 
 The road, following the undulations of the bay, now and then 
 swept close to the shore, on whose pebbly margin the light 
 waves broke with a soft and pleasant murmur, and all nature 
 wore that air of repose which marks the close of a summer's 
 day. Reclining on her cushions, with her head gently resting 
 on Mabel's shoulder, Rose lay watching the light, airy clouds, 
 which, gradually forming into masses of greater volume and 
 richer coloring, hung suspended above the western horizon. 
 So soft and soothing was the scene, so still and motionless the 
 figure of the child, who was revolving in new wonder the mir- 
 acle of creation, that Mabel believed and hoped she had fallen 
 asleep, and forbore to disturb her by a word. As a sudden 
 turn in the road, however, brought them in full view of the 
 city, Rose raised her head, and, like one abruptly awakened 
 from a pleasant dream, gazed long and fixedly at the huge as- 
 semblage of buildings, amid which her young life had hitherto 
 been imprisoned. 
 
 Mabel divined her thoughts. " New York is but a poor 
 place compared with the country, is it, Rosy ? " asked she. 
 
 Rose smiled and shook her head. 
 
 " I have thought of a fine plan for you," continued Mabel, 
 "and one that I am sure you will like. You and your mother, 
 Rose, must go up to the old farm and stay until you get strong 
 and well. There you can see plenty of woods, and fields, and 
 wild flowers, and watch the sun set every night. It is not a 
 long journey," added she, with animation, her interest in the 
 scheme increasing as she observed the ray'-of pleasure and 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 233 
 
 hope which had overspread Rose's face at the suggestion, " it 
 will only take one day. I will see that it is no expense to you, 
 and Jack will stay at liome and take care of the house and 
 shop. We will talk it over with your mother this very even- 
 ing." 
 
 The glow of delight which had been called up in Rose's 
 countenance, as Mabel first named this welcome proposal, gave 
 place to an expression of pain and anxiety as she pronounced 
 the concluding phrases of the plan. Tears started into her 
 eyes, and she made haste to lay her hand on Mabel's arm, and 
 check the glowing anticipations she was indulging of her little 
 friend's happiness and possible restoration to health, in the 
 broken words, " Dear Miss Mabel ! you are very good, but 
 do n't mention it to mother, please do n't ; I can 't go, in- 
 deed I can't!" 
 
 " But why not, Rose ? you feel strong enough for the jour- 
 ney ? you will go if your mother consents ? " 
 
 "Yes, no, please don't ask her, indeed I had far 
 rather stay in New York." 
 
 Mabel looked puzzled and disappointed ; she could not 
 understand the child's eagerness to deny herself so great a 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Miss Mabel," added Rose, after a little hesitation, seeing 
 that Mabel still awaited an explanation, " you would n't think 
 anybody needed me here, a poor sick girl that has been a care 
 and a trouble all my life, but I could not be happy to go away 
 and leave my dear Jack. Miss Mabel, he is a rough boy, per- 
 haps, but he is never rough to me. Lyddy says he has learned 
 wicked words, but he uses good words to me ; they tell me he 
 loves bad company, but I know that he loves his little Rose. 
 He has sat up all night to bathe my aching head, he has 
 carried me in his arms all day. He would miss me from my 
 little room ; the bad boys would whistle round the corner, and 
 there would be no little voice to say, ' Oh, Jack ! stay with 
 Rosy ! ' " 
 
 Innocent, artless Rose ! Little did she think that every word 
 of her simple apology pierced like an arrow to the heart of 
 
 20* 
 
234 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Mabel ; little did she comprehend the sudden sting of conscience 
 which caused the quick blush to flood the face, the t eyes to 
 droop, and the hand to be nervously withdrawn from her fond 
 and affectionate clasp. She thought she had offended her 
 friend, and continued in urgent tones, "indeed indeed, I am 
 very thankful, and you are too good ; I do not deserve it ; but 
 you are not vexed with me ? " And laying her hand on Ma- 
 bel's arm, and fixing her large eyes full and searchingly upon 
 her, she added, in a touching, pleading tone, " O, dear Miss 
 Mabel, have you a brother, and do you love him as I love 
 Jack?" 
 
 The look, the question seemed empowered with authority to 
 probe Mabel's very heart. Shrinking from their scrutiny, she 
 sought to evade the one and respond to the other by hiding her 
 face in the folds of Rosy's -shawl, as she drew her to her in a 
 close embrace ; and Rose believed herself understood and was 
 satisfied. 
 
 And now they have bid farewell to the blue waters of the 
 bay, the verdant islands, the sky still glowing with the lingering 
 rays of crimson light, and once more are dashing through the 
 city thoroughfares, crowded with vehicles and ringing with be- 
 wildering sounds. Many an eye follows them with loving and 
 grateful interest, as they sweep down the narrow street, where, 
 at her humble door, the widow Hope watches for the return of 
 her child. All the neighborhood has missed her, has learned 
 her whereabouts, and is sympathizing in her joy. The mother 
 greets her with an eager smile; the old woman over the way 
 hobbles to the door, doubting her very eyes, and adjusting her 
 spectacles to be sure that she sees aright. The little deaf and 
 dumb boy stands braced against the side of the house, transfixed 
 in mute astonishment ; and, as the restive horses, panting for 
 their stable, require the restraining hand of Donald, the brisk, 
 young teamster makes his appearance from beneath the arch- 
 way, hastens to the carriage, lifts Rose gently in his arms, bears 
 her into the house, and places her in her arm-chair. She looks 
 up, smiles at Mabel and the boys, receives answering smiles in 
 return, and the carriage whirls rapidly away. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 235 
 
 Many a noble steed has that day returned to the city heated, 
 dusty, and jaded. But how many of their gay and fashionable 
 owners have been engaged in a like labor of love ? Certain it 
 is, that in after years, and amid other scenes, memory could 
 recall no festive occasion in the annals of the New York belle 
 so blessed in its simple pleasures, so hallowed in its lasting 
 results, as that which constituted to little Rose Hope the one 
 bright spot on this side Heaven. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 She hath put on 
 
 Courage, and faith, and generous constancy, 
 Ev'n as a breastplate. 
 
 MRS. HE MANS. 
 
 , I believe I have told you all that is of any conse- 
 quence, all that is worth telling. It was a fine affair ! I would 
 not but have been there for the world." Thus exclaimed the 
 unabashed Louise, who, adopting her usual tactics, and ignoring 
 any unsisterly conduct on her own part, had, with many affect- 
 ed airs and a more than ordinary toss of the head, detailed for 
 Mabel's benefit such particulars of the wedding reception as 
 seemed to her most noteworthy. As these consisted chiefly of 
 the compliments paid to herself on the occasion, the attention she 
 had received from various quarters, the admiration and envy 
 her new mantilla had excited, and the striking contrast between 
 the awkward arrangement of Fan Brodhead's veil and the taste 
 displayed on the event of her own bridal, it may well be sup- 
 posed that Mabel's interest in the subject was soon exhausted, 
 especially as Louise declared that she had a thousand messages 
 of regret from her sister's numerous friends, but could not 
 remember a word of them, or say exactly who inquired for her, 
 and who did not. " But, mercy ! I did not come here to talk 
 about the wedding," exclaimed Louise. " Tired as I am, and 
 with so much to think about, only conceive of my being plagued 
 to death as usual by that provoking Lydia ! To think of her 
 declaring now, at this last minute, that she had never had any 
 idea of staying in my service after last month was out, and that 
 she supposed I had got some one else to go with me on the 
 journey ! " 
 
 " Had n't she given you any notice ? " asked Mabel,' in sur- 
 prise. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. . 237 
 
 " Oh, yes ; she says she has told me several times that she 
 could not go so far away, and I dare say she has, but I never 
 believed her ; servants are always threatening in that sort of 
 way, just to show their consequence. She says her sister is 
 failing very fast ; her mother needs her, and so on." 
 
 " It is very true," replied Mabel, gravely. " Rose can not 
 live long ; I do not wonder Lydia does not like to leave her." 
 
 "Rose!" exclaimed Louise, sneeringly. "You speak her 
 name with as much familiarity as if she were an intimate ac- 
 quaintance ! I heard about your taking her out to drive yes- 
 terday ; my children are full of it. I can't conceive of your 
 doing anything so ridiculous." 
 
 Mabel made no reply ; she had learned by experience that 
 it was vain to argue with Louise. 
 
 " That child," added the latter, in a provoked tone, as if Rose 
 had intentionally done her a serious injury,- " has been dying 
 ever since Lydia lived with me ; if she is really going to die 
 now, Lydia can't keep her alive ; and what difference does it 
 make whether she's here, or in some other part of the country?" 
 
 Mabel looked deeply shocked at her sister's heartlessness, 
 and answered, " A very great difference I should think, Louise." 
 
 The temper of Mrs. Leroy, however, becoming more excited, 
 as she saw how little her sister sympathized in her view of the 
 matter, now burst forth with redoubled vehemence ; she did 
 not believe in the child's illness ; it was all counterfeited ; 
 Lydia was the most ungrateful of mortals, and Mabel was silly 
 enough to be the dupe of this miserable family's impositions. 
 She could not conceive of her being so indifferent to the welfare 
 of the boys, of whom she professed to be so fond ; poor children, 
 they were accustomed to Lydia ; how would they like being 
 away from home, and travelling too, under the care of a perfect 
 stranger ? 
 
 This appeal was irresistible to Mabel, and, with prompt 
 generosity, she exclaimed, without a moment's hesitation, " take 
 Cecilia, Louise. I can spare her. I can do without any maid; 
 she is a good girl, and is used to the boys." 
 
 Mrs. Leroy walked to the window, to hide her satisfaction at 
 
238 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 this proposition. It was the point at which all her diplomacy 
 had been directed, for, however Cecilia might supply Lydia's 
 place to the children, her skill as lady's maid and hair-dresser 
 was such that her services had loftg been coveted by the mother. 
 
 Unwilling, however, to acknowledge her obligation to her 
 sister, she continued to make an excessive show of annoyance ; 
 declared Cecilia to be wanting in every quality requisite in one 
 who was to fill Lydia's place, and finally ended by Baying, in a 
 condescending tone, that if the latter persisted in leaving, and 
 she could not do better, which it was not very probable she 
 could at this late hour, she would try and be satisfied with 
 Cecilia, and should be glad at all events to have her come to 
 the hotel for a while, and assist in packing her trunks. 
 
 The consequence was, that in less than an hour after Mrs. 
 Leroy reached home, a messenger was dispatched for Cecilia, 
 requesting that she should come to the hotel without delay, and 
 Mabel, thus unceremoniously deprived of her skilful attendant, 
 was left to complete those personal preparations for travelling 
 which had unexpectedly devolved upon her. 
 
 It was night, and she was alone in her qui.'.t room. Her 
 mind was troubled ; and inwardly congratulating herself on the 
 absence c-bw maid, whose presence would havi*. been a re- 
 straint, she was, with alternate listlessness and feverish energy, 
 engaged in packing for the morrow's journey. Various articles 
 of her wardrobe were spread out upon the bed. She folded a 
 rich dress with care, as if to place it in the trunk, then, forget- 
 ful of her purpose, laid it away on the closet shelf. Now she 
 hastily opened and shut her drawers and caskets, then withdrew 
 to the window, and leaning her head on her hand looked out 
 into the moonlight. The tempter, though absent from her side, 
 was present to her thoughts ; but ever as her heart dwelt fondly 
 on his last persuasive words, there came between her and his 
 treacherous image, the form of her better angel, the sick and 
 saintly Rose, whose mild, searching eyes seemed to follow 
 her with a reproachful glance, whose little hand seemed lifted 
 in timid yet fervent appeal, and whose low, childlike voice was 
 continually whispering in her ear the simple words, "Miss 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 239 
 
 Mabel, luivc you a brother, and do you love him as I love 
 Jack ? " 
 
 Her heart told her that she had not loved him thus, and she 
 felt humbled at the contrast between her own shrinking, doubt- 
 ful spirit, and the child's unhesitating generosity. She pressed 
 her throbbing head against the cool glass, and while she medi- 
 tated on the pleasures of the morrow, strove to shut out every 
 thought that preyed upon her peace. But conscience was 
 aroused and would not be thus easily silenced, and the neces- 
 sary preparation for the journey was forgotten, while her heart 
 struggled with contending emotions. 
 
 Just then quick steps were heard in the street below, and, as 
 they drew nearer, voices also were distinguishable. Mabel 
 held her breath to listen, for she recognized the familiar tones 
 of Harry, who paused at the street door, and seemed to be bid- 
 ding adieu to one of his companions. 
 
 " Family all going out of town ! House going to be shut up. 
 Ah ! " exclaimed the voice of a strange individual, in reply to 
 a remark from Harry, the words of which had escaped her ear. 
 " And you, Vaughan, what is to become of you ? Where are 
 you bound for the summer ? Come, I'll play your cicerone," 
 continued the person, in a course and yet insinuating tone, "I'll 
 back you up for any place you '11 name." 
 
 " You may well say that," replied Harry, in a tone of bitter 
 irony ; " I 'm going to the devil, as you very well know, but 
 I '11 warrant you '11 keep me company ; " and the unhappy 
 youth accompanied this desperate acknowledgment with a hol- 
 low and joyless laugh, which was loudly and boisterously echoed 
 by his companion, who, as Harry abruptly entered the house, 
 proceeded down the street. 
 
 Bitter as were Harry's words of despairing self-abandon- 
 ment, his mocking laugh was more bitter still. It thrilled 
 through every fibre of Mabel's frame. Jt seemed to ring out 
 the knell of hope, and fix a seal to his impending doom. And 
 yet it was so indescribably sad, so heart-rending in its mourn- 
 ful significance, it told such a story of vain struggles, use- 
 
240 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 less regrets, and final desperation. It was like the cry of a 
 fallen spirit, which sneeringly derides itself. 
 
 All the tender compassion of Mabel's nature was aroused 
 " My poor brother ! my poor Harry ! " was her mental excla- 
 mation, " is there no good angel to save him yet? " 
 
 She listened to his heavy and measured steps, as, after part- 
 ing with his evil associate, he came slowly up the staircase ; 
 he paused a moment at her door ; she thought he meant to 
 enter, and bid her farewell, for he knew she was to depart 
 early on the morrow ; but no, he passed on and ascended 
 the next flight to his own chamber, which he entered, and 
 closed the door. 
 
 " I cannot leave him thus," thought Mabel, as she pictured 
 him to herself, alone, ruined, uncared for ; and yielding to a 
 sudden and tender impulse, she resolved to seek him, speak an 
 affectionate word, and assure him of her love. 
 
 She feared to knock at his door, lest she should be repulsed, 
 or dismissed with a hasty good-bye ; so, gently opening it, she 
 presented herself unexpectedly before him. He was pacing 
 restlessly up and down the room, seemed almost angry at 
 being intruded upon, as if he suspected that she had come to 
 pry into his secret thoughts, and turning upon her with an 
 abrupt, imperative air, appeared to demand the object of her 
 errand. 
 
 "Harry," said she, her lip trembling with the effort to 
 speak in a natural tone of voice, " I could not bear to go away 
 without bidding you good-bye ; " she passed her arm, coax- 
 ingly, through his as she spoke, and accompanied him for a 
 few steps in his walk up and down the room. 
 
 With his face now obstinately turned from her, he answered 
 only in the brief words, " Are you going early in the morn- 
 ing?" 
 
 " Yes, and I was afraid you would not be up in season to 
 see me off; but you will write to me, won't you, Harry ? " 
 
 " I sha' n't know where you are," he replied curtly. 
 
 " I will write, and tell you where to direct." 
 
 Still he did not promise. 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 241 
 
 " I shall have no one else to write to me ; father will be 
 away, and I have always depended on you, Harry," added 
 she, in a tone calculated to impress him with the value she 
 should place upon his letters. 
 
 " Poh ! " exclaimed he, with a slight nervous jerk, which 
 was sufficient to induce her to let go his arm "I shall have 
 nothing worth telling, you'll have plenty of better enter- 
 tainment." 
 
 " Where shall you be ? " she asked timidly. 
 
 " I ? I do n't know, I 'm sure. I have not made up my 
 mind." 
 
 She found it hard to press the subject further, he was so 
 short in his answers. She walked to the window and looked 
 out, then strayed to the bureau and occupied herself in examin- 
 ing the trinkets which lay upon it, hoping Harry would broach 
 some topic of mutual interest, but he remained perseveringly 
 silent. She would gladly have drawn near, thrown her arms 
 round his neck, and entreated his confidence, his^ renewed 
 affection at parting, but he gave her no encouragement. " It 
 is late, I suppose," said she at length, seeing that he appeared 
 surprised, if not impatient, at her lingering. " So good-bye, 
 Harry," and approaching him, she laid her hand on his shoul- 
 der. 
 
 He started as if her touch pained him. She looked in his 
 face earnestly, imploringly ; his features twitched, and there 
 was a nervous embarrassment in his manner as, studiously 
 avoiding her eye, he stooped down, returned her parting kiss, 
 and responded to her good-bye. 
 
 With hurried and tremulous step Mabel hastened back to 
 her room, threw herself on a low seat opposite the empty 
 trunk, and burst into tears. She had sought her brother with 
 a view to appeasing her .overcharged feelings, and defraying a 
 debt to her conscience, but neither purpose had been effected 
 by the brief and unsatisfactory interview. 
 
 She had found him in a desperate mood, she had read in 
 his face the mental torture under which he writhed, she 
 had failed to break down the barrier between her own heart 
 21 
 
242 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 and his, and with little more than a mechanical farewell she 
 had turned her back upon his misery. 
 
 Should she leave him thus, abandoned by his sister as well 
 as by his better self? 
 
 The deep and almost hysterical sobs which escaped her, 
 proved that the struggle of contending feelings had now 
 reached its height, and for some minutes she wept as children 
 weep, without any effort at self-control. As this storm of 
 grief subsided, and she sat for a while maintaining an inward 
 war, but apparently gazing into vacancy, she stretched forth 
 her hand with an absent ah* and raised the inner lid of her 
 trunk. As she did so she caught sight of a little package 
 lying in a corner, directed to herself, in the familiar handwrit- 
 ing of Mrs. Herbert. It had been placed there when she left 
 school, and, by Cecilia's carelessness, had remained undis- 
 covered until now. Almost believing it to be a message of 
 counsel and advice from that friend who had always come to 
 her aid in moments when she was at a loss for guidance, she 
 hastily tore off the wrapper, and found it to contain a little 
 pocket bible. Touched by this proof of affection, and by the 
 nature of the gift, she opened the book, with reverence, at the 
 first epistle of St. John, where a slip of paper was inserted, 
 and her eye at once fell on the words, carefully marked, as if 
 to attract her attention : " My little children, let us not love 
 in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." 
 
 Awed by the solemn charge, which she realized to be armed 
 with divine authority, Mabel bowed her head upon the lid of 
 her trunk, and, with the volume clasped in her hands, sunk 
 upon her knees. 
 
 Now rose before her that long forgotten scene in her child- 
 hood, when first Mrs. Herbert had striven to impress upon 
 her this great lesson. How vividly still did memory recall 
 that last evening of her school life, when her faithful teacher 
 had bid her beware of that insidious foe, whose existence in 
 her heart she had so proudly denied, that demon of self- 
 love, which undermines the holiest affections and enslaves the 
 corrupted soul. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 243 
 
 She could no longer deceive herself ; with all her enlarged 
 opportunities, with all her self-confidence and pride, with all 
 her boasted love for Harry, she felt that she had been weighed 
 in the balance and found wanting, that she had been out- 
 done in generosity by a feeble, invalid child, that she had 
 not loved like Rosy. 
 
 Contrite, humbled, eager to be enlightened in the path of 
 duty, she lifted her bowed head and again opened the inspired 
 book ; but this time her eyes fell on the words, " For if our 
 hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth 
 all things." 
 
 As if suddenly, and for the first time in her life, made con- 
 scious of the invisible presence of Him to whom all hearts 
 are open, all desires known, she now ceased to wrestle with 
 herself, and looking up for the help she so earnestly craved, 
 she poured out her soul in prayer. The form, the attitude, 
 the words of devotion, if not habitual, were at least not new 
 to one who had been a member of a religious household, and 
 shared the benefits of religious instruction. But never before 
 had she come, in all the submission of a child, to lay before 
 God's throne the sincere offering of a humble, contrite heart ; 
 never before had she approached in that spirit of self-conse- 
 cration which cries out, " Thy will, not mine, be done." 
 
 And with prayer came strength. She rose from her knees 
 armed with a Christian resolution, and fortified with a 
 Christian hope ; the resolution to meet evil face to face ; 
 the hope to triumph at length over sin. It was not her own 
 sin only that she was thus to combat; for in that hour of 
 high communing she had dedicated herself to a sacred cause, 
 and charged herself with a solemn trust. Not in word and 
 tongue only, but in deed and in truth, would she prove a 
 sister's devotion, and labor for a brother's welfare. With her 
 watchword, duty, and her banner, love, she would place herself 
 boldly at Harry's side, and, with the blessing of God, prove 
 herself the good angel who would save him yet. 
 
 It was with no blind zeal, no inconsiderate impulse, that 
 she had thus set herself to the fulfilment of her heaven-. 
 
244 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 appointed mission. She had thoroughly measured and fully 
 understood the sacrifice it would involve. She knew that, in 
 consecrating herself to duty and to God, she must dethrone 
 her young heart's earthly idol ; that the selfish love must yield 
 to the purely disinterested, the human to the divine. Had it 
 been otherwise, she would not so long have been deaf to the 
 call which summoned her to her Master's service. 
 
 Beguiled by a persuasive intellect, enthralled by the power 
 of genius, and a willing captive in the chains which flattery so 
 well knows how to forge, she had wandered awhile through 
 the flowery fields of pleasure, had reached the pinnacle of her 
 ambition, had sunned herself in dreams of future bliss ; but 
 there came a time when the simple words of an infant tongue 
 had aroused the voice of a sleeping conscience, and, led by the 
 hand of a little child, she had at length been brought back to 
 the feet of that faithful monitor of her youth, by the memory 
 of whose warning counsels and by the aid of whose blessed 
 gift she would henceforth pursue in patience the path which 
 leadeth unto life; ambitious only to accomplish the work which 
 was given her to do, and cheered by the hopes which are full 
 of immortality. 
 
 In this hour of exaltation, this season of the spirit's victory, 
 the task did not seem hard. Already was the self-imposed 
 duty lightened by that sweetener of life's heaviest toils which 
 relieves the laborer of half his burthen ; for, in the moment 
 when, denying self, she assumed with holy fortitude the sacred 
 guardianship of her brother, back to her heart, in a full, strong 
 tide, came all the depth and tenderness of that sisterly love 
 which had only been subdued and crushed by the force of a 
 rival passion. Thus, not only would she devote herself to 
 Harry's cause because duty pointed in that direction, but be- 
 cause, in view of every touching memory of their childhood, 
 every sweet record of their maturer years, her heart forbade 
 her to desert him. 
 
 As she now moved through the room preparing to put her 
 purpose into execution, her countenance was marked by the 
 serene composure of one animated by a high resolve and in- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 245 
 
 spired by a holy mission. Her manner was no longer indica- 
 tive of hesitation or uncertainty ; and the hands which an hour 
 ago had trembled with nervous indecision, performed what they 
 had to do quickly and well. 
 
 She wrote a hasty note to Louise, explaining her change of 
 plan, but giving no other reason for abandoning the journey 
 than the simple truth that, at the last moment, she had be- 
 come convinced that her presence was needed at home. She 
 begged her sister to write to her frequently, sent her love to 
 the boys, hoped Cecilia would faithfully supply Lydia's place, 
 and that Louise would in the enjoyment of other society have 
 little occasion to regret her absence ; which latter hope, we will 
 remark in passing, she might reasonably indulge, since Mrs. 
 Leroy was, when in general society, extremely indifferent to 
 family ties. 
 
 It was nearly midnight when Cecilia returned from the hotel, 
 weary, and with her own preparations for the journey still in- 
 complete. She was amazed at the sight of Mabel's trunk, 
 which wf.s still empty, while every article of her scattered 
 wardrobe was restored to its customary place. 
 
 " I am not going, Cecilia," said Mabel calmly, in answer to 
 her look of astonishment. " Take this note to my sister in the 
 morning, when you meet her at the boat. Robert will see to 
 your baggage; remember, and take good care of the boys." 
 And she dismissed her with a parting charge to retire as soon 
 as possible, as she would be obliged to rise early. 
 
 Not until she had thus confirmed by act the heroic resolution 
 of her mind, did she realize the exhaustion consequent upon 
 agitation and excitement ; but now, with a welcome sense of 
 relief from tormenting doubts, and a humble reliance upon the 
 power to which she had looked for strength, she gladly sought 
 the rest which tired nature craves, and fell into a sweet and 
 dreamless sleep, such as for many a week had deserted her 
 pillow. 
 
 21* 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 In her deep, melancholy eye, 
 Life's brilliant hues no longer lie , 
 And love itself, its sweetest light, 
 Has left behind a starless night. 
 A night'? Ah, no ! "Pis early dawn 
 The long, dark, hopeless hours are gone ; 
 And Faith, the day-spring from on high, 
 Is beaming through her heavenward eye. 
 
 MRS. S. C. E. MAYO. 
 
 IF the exaltation of soul under which a high resolve is 
 usually formed could be maintained during the period required 
 for its fulfilment, the battle would be fought and the victory 
 achieved almost without an effort. But who has not expe- 
 rienced the reaction, weakness, and self-distrust which are the 
 natural consequence of an unwonted strain upon the physical 
 and mental powers. Then, indeed, do we learn how little we 
 can depend upon our own feeble efforts, unless sustained and 
 strengthened by help and guidance from on high. 
 
 So it was with Mabel, w r hen she awoke the morning after 
 her supposed self-conquest, oppressed with a painful sense of 
 lassitude and despondency, which made it an effort to rise and 
 dress, and a still greater effort to look back upon the past with 
 composure, and forward into the future with cheerfulness. She 
 fully realized the unexpected truth, that not by one spasmodic 
 effort can the soul achieve the sublime heights of self-denying 
 virtue, but only by continual and persevering struggles, and a 
 patient resting upon Him whose promise is steadfast, " I will 
 never leave you nor forsake you." 
 
 Fortunately, her little Bible was close at hand, with its 
 blessed words of encouragement and peace ; and after resorting 
 to its pages for counsel, and commending herself to Heaven in 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 247 
 
 prayer, she felt in some degree prepared to meet the events of 
 the day. In the hall leading to the dining-room she met Robert, 
 who reported the departure of the pleasure-party, all, accord- 
 ing to his account, in high spirits except Alick and Murray, 
 both of whom were crying with disappointment at her absence. 
 
 Mabel felt a rising in the throat, and a painful sinking of 
 the spirits, as she thought of the dear children's grief and the 
 still greater void which would be felt in the company by one 
 who would join them at noon, would look for her amid the 
 party, and, astonished at her absence, perhaps misconstruing 
 its cause, would vainly seek from Louise a satisfactory solution 
 of the mystery. Her drooping courage revived, however, at 
 the unmistakable satisfaction which succeeded her father's 
 first glance of surprise, as she entered the dining-room and 
 approached the table where he was seated at breakfast. He 
 had seen Robert return with the carriage, and supposed her 
 already on her way to Albany; but listened with evident 
 pleasure to her assurance that she had concluded, since she 
 parted from him the previous day, to abandon the scheme alto- 
 gether. 
 
 Attributing this change in her plans to some trilling disa- 
 greement with Louise, or dissatisfaction with the proposed 
 arrangements, he forbore questioning her as to the cause of 
 her apparently fickle conduct, but quite contented with the 
 result, expressed himself with more than his ordinary decision 
 in the words, " I am glad of it, my dear, very glad. I have 
 not approved, from the first, of your travelling with so large a 
 party. Now, I trust, there is nothing to interfere with your 
 visit to your aunt Margaret." So much was he gratified, in- 
 deed, that as he rose to leave the room, having finished his 
 early breakfast, he laid his hand upon her head in an affection- 
 ate and paternal manner, which, considering his usual undem- 
 onstrative and reserved character, might almost be termed a 
 caress, and at least signified a marked degree of approval. 
 
 Light as was the touch, it drew tears from Mabel's eyes, and 
 left its impress on her heart for many a long day afterward. 
 It seemed to reward her sacrifice with a father's blessing. 
 
248 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Harry's views and feelings, as he entered a moment after, 
 were not so easy to determine. 
 
 " You see I have not gone," said Mabel, with an attempt at 
 playfulness, as he made his appearance in the door-way and 
 stopped short at sight of her. 
 
 " So I perceive," said he, advancing into the room and seat- 
 ing himself at the table with a languid air. 
 
 " We women have such a blessed privilege of changing our 
 minds, you know," added she in the same tone. 
 
 " Yes, I should think so ; you seem to have veered about 
 with as much ease as a weather-cock. It is not many hours 
 ago that I saw you plumed and winged for flight." 
 
 " My plumes drooped and my wings refused to soar, when 
 it came to the trial ! " 
 
 " Are n't you well ? " asked he quickly, at the same time 
 looking her anxiously and inquiringly in the face. 
 
 " Oh, yes, quite well, but I concluded to stay at home and 
 make tea and coffee for father and you ; taste and see if that 
 is sweet enough," continued she, as she handed him a cup of 
 steaming Mocha which she had been preparing. 
 
 He received the cup with an unsteady hand, rattled the 
 spoon nervously, added several lumps of sugar in an absent 
 way, then ladled them out carefully into his saucer, helped 
 himself to a piece of steak, ate voraciously for a minute or two, 
 and, finally, laying down his knife and fork, pushed back his 
 ;hair and seized the newspaper, which had fallen on the floor 
 beside him. 
 
 Mabel could not be sure whether he were suspicious or not 
 that her journey had been abandoned on his account ; but she 
 was pained at the evident annoyance which her presence and 
 attentions occasioned him. So manifest was his desire to escape 
 her observations, that she strayed to the window, busied her- 
 self in feeding a canary, whose cage was suspended there, and 
 when Harry suddenly and impatiently started up and left the 
 .oom, forbore to question or follow him. She knew very well 
 that the recovery of her influence over her brother must be 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 249 
 
 the work of time and patience, and that he would not endure 
 to be either watched or catechised. 
 
 So this day proved no exception to the ordinary rule, and, 
 as usual, he strolled from home soon after breakfast, with- 
 out giving her any hint of his destination, or the probable time 
 of his return. 
 
 It was hard to see him walk away so indifferent to her newly 
 roused affection, her anxiety, her prayers in his behalf, and to 
 be left alone to reflect on the seeming uselessness of the 
 sacrifice she had made. Had this sacrifice involved some 
 active labor, some constant employment for head and hands, it 
 M r ould have been comparatively easy to one of Mabel's ener- 
 getic temperament. But passive endurance, patient waiting, 
 hoping against hope, heroic virtues as they are, offer little 
 stimulus to resolution, and require the severest exercise of self- 
 denying fortitude. 
 
 Thus it was not strange that her spirits flagged, as she 
 wandered listlessly from room to room; that her thoughts 
 strayed to the pleasure-bound company of whom she had hoped 
 to make one ; and that as the remembrance of a still dearer 
 hope agitated her heart, she could not resist the obtruding 
 regret or check the rising tear. 
 
 But Mabel by nature was neither weak nor desponding ; 
 uncertainty and doubt had, it is true, to some degree paralyzed 
 her powers, and while halting between two opinions her irres- 
 olute conduct had betrayed the indecision of her mind. 
 
 The path of right made plain, however, and conscientiously 
 adopted, there was a firmness, stability, and self-respect in her 
 character which, with the aid of Christian principle, gave 
 promise that, cost her what it might, she would pursue it faith- 
 fully to the end. " I have made my choice," thought she, as, 
 starting up from an indolent and meditative posture, she seemed 
 at the same time to shake off the. morbid and discouraging fan- 
 cies which were gradually settling down upon her mind. " If 
 Dudley loves me truly, he can trust me; if not, but I will 
 not suppose that possible, he knows how much I depended 
 on the journey, he will believe that no slight cause has detained 
 
250 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 me here, he will return and assure himself of the truth. In 
 the mean time I will not waste my energies in useless repin- 
 ing." 
 
 So, resorting to the well-remembered remedy always recom- 
 mended by Mrs. Herbert in cases of home-sickness and other 
 mental maladies, she at once sought employment, and com- 
 menced, reluctantly, the task of answering numerous letters 
 from her school-mates. She made every effort to write in u 
 cheerful strain, and her young friends saw nothing in her com- 
 munications to indicate the circumstances under which they 
 were written ; but as Mrs. Herbert, who was permitted to 
 peruse them, observed that her once glowing descriptions of 
 city life were wholly superseded by tender and touching remi- 
 niscences of her school days, she inwardly suspected that the 
 former had already palled upon her taste, and that she yearned 
 once more for the simple joys of her childhod and her country 
 home. 
 
 Mabel made more than one attempt to thank this long-tried 
 friend for her recently discovered and precious gift, to express 
 some sense of the earnest gratitude she felt for all her love and 
 counsel, and rejoice her heart with the assurance that the les- 
 sons so faithfully imparted to her in youth were destined to be 
 the guide of her womanhood ; but each time she shrunk from 
 the difficulties involved in such an attempt, and at length laid 
 down her pen in despair of succeeding to her own satisfaction. 
 She dared not boast of resolutions not yet confirmed by prac- 
 tice ; she feared to betray the secret of her disquiet and unhap- 
 piness, nor could she compromise Harry by replying truthfully 
 to the many inquiries concerning him, which Mrs. Herbert's 
 affectionate interest in his welfare had suggested. So the diffi- 
 cult duty was for the present abandoned altogether. 
 
 At two o'clock Mr. Vaughan came home to an early dinner, 
 as had been his custom since the weather became warm. Harry 
 did not make his appearance, however, and Mabel, as she sat 
 opposite her father at table, was struck with his extremely 
 anxious and haggard countenance. He was more than usually 
 taciturn, only rousing himself from his abstraction once during 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 251 
 
 the meal, and then to remark, rather abruptly, " You are all 
 alone, my dear, it is very dull for you, I hope we shall 
 break up here before many days." 
 
 Mabel declared herself ready to go or remain, as he thought 
 best, and no more was said on the subject ; but after a hurried 
 repast, he rose to repair to his office. 
 
 The weather was tempting, there was no prospect of Harry's 
 return for some hours, and Mabel proposed to accompany her 
 father a part of the way. 
 
 He assented to the proposition in an absent manner, and 
 paced the hall impatiently until she appeared ready for the 
 walk. So silent and self-engrossed was he, that Mabel walked 
 beside him for the distance of several squares, without his 
 addressing a syllable to her, nor could she fail to observe with 
 pain an increased stoop in his figure, and tremulousness in his 
 gait. She left him at the corner of the street leading to the 
 widow Hope's dwelling; and as she proceeded thither to inquire 
 after Rose, her sadness at these symptoms of old age and de- 
 bility in her recently strong and vigorous parent, was mingled 
 with a fresh glow of self-gratulation that she had not suffered 
 herself to act in direct opposition to his wishes. 
 
 Rosy was overjoyed at seeing her, and Lydia, who stood 
 behind the counter waiting upon a customer, was so excited 
 with pleasure that she could scarcely command sufficient arith- 
 metic to make the simple calculations which her office involved. 
 None of the family had seen her since Rosy's never-to-be-for- 
 gotten drive ; and of all the kindnesses she had rendered them 
 none had ever called forth so warm an expression of gratitude. 
 
 " She 's been brighter and better ever since," exclaimed the 
 mother, with tears in her eyes, " and so happy ! " 
 
 " Miss Mabel," cried the excited Lydia, " it was splendid ; 
 how came you to think of it ? it has half cured her ! and those 
 dear boys, they were as pleased as if they 'd never had a 
 ride before, and all on Rosy's account, too, look at her, Miss 
 Mabel, see how she has brightened up." 
 
 She did, indeed, seem changed ; there was an expression on 
 the little face such as Mabel had never seen there before; it 
 
252 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 seemed to tell of some inward rapture, some foretaste of coming 
 glory. 
 
 " Miss Mabel," said Rose, in her little quiet voice, when her 
 mother had walked away, and Lydia had returned to the 
 counter, " it is n't that I am any better, but it has given me 
 such beautiful thoughts all day, and such beautiful dreams all 
 night. I know T I shan't be here long, but I am not afraid to 
 go. Oh, Miss Mabel, if God's earth is so glorious, what must 
 his Heaven be ! " 
 
 " Earth is but a sad place, after all, Rosy," said Mabel, with 
 a sigh. 
 
 The child's ear, tuned to that plaintive minor chord which 
 reveals the suffering of the heart, recognized as by intuition 
 the mood of Mabel's mind, and turning upon her a face full of 
 tender anxiety, she said, " Do you call it sad ? are you a weary 
 pilgrim, too ? and is your path ever dark ? I thought it was 
 always as bright as sunshine." 
 
 " Oh, Rosy," said Mabel, glancing up at the engraving from 
 which, as usual, Rose's figure was drawn, " I cannot see my 
 way at all, there is such a thick cloud over head." 
 
 She had not calculated upon the effect of this acknowledg- 
 ment, which she would have shrunk from making to one less 
 simple-hearted and innocent than Rose. It seemed to estab- 
 lish at once the only bond of sympathy ever wanting between 
 herself and the suffering child, who seized her hand, pressed it 
 to her thin lips, and exclaimed, fervently, " God will show the 
 way, Miss Mabel ; he will lighten your path as he has light- 
 ened mine." 
 
 The child's solemn and prophetic assurance of heavenly 
 guidance, both awed and touched the soul that yearned for 
 encouragement and strength. Mabel could not answer, except 
 by the tears which started to her eyes. Rose went on. 
 
 " There used to be long days and nights, Miss Mabel, when 
 I lay on my little bed in great pain, worrying to think how 
 much trouble I gave, how poor we were, and, more than all, 
 about Jack, and what would become of him. I could not see 
 God always then. I could not understand how so many sor- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 25e3 
 
 rows could be sent in love. I tried to be patient. I tried to 
 be hopeful and believing ; but I could not understand. I see 
 it all now, though," she added, a glow overspreading and 
 irradiating her pale face, while the eyes that had lost their 
 strained appeara!fe^%eemed calmly to contemplate a near and 
 visible joy. " The pain is all gone. I am not anxious now, 
 not even about Jack ; the picture promised truly, the end 
 has almost come, and the light I see is that which streams 
 from the Paradise of God." 
 
 She looked, indeed, like one already half translated, as, borne 
 on the wings of faith, she saw all her past sufferings merged 
 in the fulness of joy. 
 
 Such a clear discerning of God's providence in one who had 
 groped her way through a sea of suffering, was like a light 
 shining in a dark place. The cloud seemed lifted from Mabel's 
 future, as she listened to the child's grateful tribute to the love 
 which had crowned her days. 
 
 " Dear Rose, dear child," said she, " it does me good to see 
 you so happy. You certainly have a heaven in your heart, 
 I must try and learn some of your secrets." 
 
 The child smiled at the last word, then with mingled sweet- 
 ness and gravity, whispered, drawing Mabel down so that her 
 mouth came close to her ear, " God will send his blessed an- 
 gels to teach you all my secrets, and I will pray to Him every 
 night to take away your cloud." 
 
 From this time, the relations hitherto subsisting between 
 Mabel and Rose seemed totally reversed. Until now, the for- 
 mer had acted the part of the elder, stronger, wiser friend, but 
 in this, and in all their future interviews, the strength, the w r is- 
 dom, and the riper years, which had constituted her superior- 
 ity, instinctively gave place to that experience in Heavenly 
 truth, that knowledge of things divine, in which Rose was the 
 thoroughly-gifted teacher, and she but the humble disciple. It 
 is true there was no outward and visible token of their altered 
 position. Beauty, wealth, and a high place in the social scale, 
 all combined to render Mabel, as she had ever been, the object 
 of the sick girl's respectful admiration ; and the infirmities of 
 
 22 
 
254 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Rose, more than ever, claimed the tenderest compassion in re- 
 turn ; but a shadow had fallen on the path of the one, while 
 the other had reached the point where all shadows flee away ; 
 and the maiden who had but just begun to meet the battle of 
 life, gladly caught up the sacred weapons with which the child 
 had achieved her victory. 
 
 Thus, almost daily, she found herself drawn to that little 
 sanctuary of holy hopes, devout meditations, and serene joy, 
 where not she alone, but many a troubled heart besides, learned 
 a true and lasting lesson from the unconscious glow of piety 
 which illumined the face of the wasted and now dying girl. 
 
 Almost to the last, she occupied her little flag-bottomed arm- 
 chair, in the window of her mother's shop, reluctant to give up 
 her daily and loving intercourse with the numerous friends 
 who looked to see her there, and so much was Mabel with her 
 during the last fortnight of her life, that her face, too, became 
 familiar to the neighborhood, which seemed animated by a 
 grateful affection for Rosy's beautiful friend. 
 
 They knew how unsparing she had been in attentions and 
 gifts to the little invalid ; they had measured with their eyes 
 many a parcel of books, fruit, and wholesome food, which they 
 had seen carried into the widow's dwelling, and they had re- 
 joiced in Rosy's joy on the eventful day of the drive. 
 
 But they did not know the precious blessings she had carried 
 away, they could not measure the refreshing nourishment her 
 soul had imbibed from this fountain of childish wisdom, they 
 could not rejoice in the holy and penitent emotions there 
 awakened emotions such as make joy .in Heaven. 
 
 Only in after years did Mabel herself fully realize the source 
 whence most of her holy aspirations were drawn ; only when 
 she had proved the fallacy of more presumptuous teachers, and 
 learned that the sublimest truths are often those which God has 
 hid from the wise and prudent, and has revealed unto babes ! 
 
 On the day of the conversation with Rose, some portion of 
 which has been related in detail, she left the widow Hope's 
 shop to return home, with a heart wonderfully cheered and 
 lightened of its burthen. It was nearly dark, when, as she 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 255 
 
 crossed the little park in the direction leading to her father's 
 house, she overtook Harry. He had entered the square from 
 a different street, and seeing her hastening towards him, stop- 
 ped and waited for her. 
 
 " You have been walking fast," said he, as she came up. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, a little out of breath, " I saw it was 
 getting dark." 
 
 He did not ask where she had been, but walked beside her 
 in silence, and when they reached the house, accompanied her 
 up the steps and rang tli bell. 
 
 As Robert appeared, however, and opened the door, he 
 turned to walk away. 
 
 " Oh, do n't go, Harry ! " exclaimed she, adding with wo- 
 manly tact, " I shall be all alone." She knew how much more 
 readily in his present mood he would confer than receive a 
 favor. " Father has not come in, has he ? " asked she, turning 
 quickly to Robert. 
 
 " No, Miss." 
 
 " Oh, do stay then, Harry, and take tea with me." 
 
 " Tea," muttered he, as he reluctantly followed her into the 
 hall, " who wants tea such a warm evening ? " 
 
 " Aunt Sabiah says one is always cooler after tea in sum- 
 mer," replied she playfully, leading the way as she spoke to 
 her little treasure apartment. 
 
 " Because the sun has gone down," replied he, with a smile, 
 almost with a laugh. 
 
 Far as it was from being a genuine, hearty laugh, Mabel 
 hailed it as of good omen, and flinging her bonnet upon the 
 table, and throwing open the blinds of a wide window extend- 
 ing to the floor, she at once gave admittance to the breeze, and 
 imparted an attractive air to the little apartment. Harry drew 
 an arm chair to the window, threw himself into it, and looked 
 out. Mabel sat down on the window-sill resting her feet on a 
 little balcony outside. The moon presently began to shine on 
 the little park, and the trees to cast long shadows. It was a 
 pleasant scene, presented by this June evening, even in the 
 city. It reminded Mabel of similar evenings at her grand- 
 
256 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 mother's, or Mrs. Herbert's, when she and Harry bad sat to- 
 gether for hours on the door-step in the moon-light. She ven- 
 tured some reference to those bygone days, and Harry, falling 
 in with her train of thought, listened without impatience to her 
 reminiscences, and even called up incidents in thejr childhood 
 which had quite escaped her recollection. 
 
 Tremblingly rejoicing in the success which was attending 
 her efforts, Mabel spared no pains to render the occasion 
 agreeable. She ordered tea to be brought to them instead of 
 descending to the dining-room, and bade Robert light the ala- 
 baster lamp, which threw a scarcely less soft and pleasant 
 glow of light through the room than that which prevailed out- 
 side. 
 
 Now and then Harry rose and paced the room nervously, as 
 if on the point of leaving her ; then, seeming to think she 
 would be lonely, possibly timid, for there was an unusual 
 noise of voices in the street below, he sat down again, and so 
 the evening passed away. Mabel could not but suspect that 
 he had staid with her reluctantly, but it was no slight triumph 
 that he had remained on any terms, and it was an inexpressi- 
 ble satisfaction to bid him good-night, and see him ascend to 
 bis own room, like the Harry of former times. 
 
 Taught by this instance of success, she afterwards made fre- 
 quent appeals to his kind and brotherly feeling, and occasion- 
 ally with a similar result. She needed exercise, would he 
 take a walk with her ? she longed for the country air, would 
 he not drive her out ? selfish pleas, which she might reasonably 
 urge, for her life was one of unusual restraint and monotony. 
 She chose for her constant occupancy a seat in her little room, 
 where Harry was almost sure to find her whenever he felt the 
 disposition, and it soon became evident that his desire to avoid 
 her society was somewhat abated, as he often lounged in for a 
 few moments at a time, either after breakfast, or when he 
 chanced to return home to dinner. But though he no longer 
 seemed to look upon her as one seeking occasion to watch and 
 censure him, and though now and then she succeeded in engross- 
 ing a short interval of his time, these grounds of hope were slight 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 257 
 
 and infrequent, while her discouragements were continual and 
 pressing. Day by day his countenance grew more unnatural, 
 his step more unsteady, while his expression of nervous dis- 
 tress and uneasiness had become fixed and habitual. Midnight 
 and the early morning hours often found Mabel at her solitary 
 window, awaiting his return ; and the disappointment of his 
 failing to come at all was less bitter than the coarse jokes, an- 
 gry oaths, or wild, wandering glances, which at times betrayed 
 his sad condition. 
 
 Her father, too, was evidently the subject of more than one 
 harassing anxiety. Those fatal charts over which he had 
 pored all winter, engrossed his time whenever he chanced to 
 be at home, and, frequently, when he left the house, he rolled 
 them up and took them under his arm, while Mabel watched 
 him as he came and went every time with a deeper shadow on 
 his brow. 
 
 And there was still another for whom she watched and 
 waited, who came not at all ; another footstep whose fancied echo 
 now and then caused her a sudden start; another form which 
 haunted her by day and stole into her dreams at night; but step 
 and form were alike imaginary. Had there been a letter, or a 
 message simply, it might have afforded some solace to her 
 aching heart had Louise even written, and incidentally allud- 
 ed to the companions of her journey ; but no, all was blank 
 silence, and Mabel was forced to the conclusion he does not 
 trust, perhaps he never loved. 
 
 All her faith, indeed, was needed to sustain her drooping 
 spirits in the many lonely hours to which she was condemned. 
 As she wandered through the solitary rooms of her father's 
 spacious house, she sometimes longed for the idle rattle of 
 Louise, the merry voices of the boys, or even the light foot and 
 busy tongue of Cecilia, to break the dreary silence and mo- 
 notony. 
 
 But in these seasons of sad and solitary reflection, deprived 
 
 of all human sympathy, Mabel began to experience how sweet 
 
 it is to draw near to the ever-present friend, who has bid His 
 
 children cast all their cares upon Him, for He careth for them; 
 
 22* 
 
258 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 she learned to realize in these bitter hours of life, that there is 
 one eye that never sleepeth, one ear that is ever open to the 
 suppliant's cry; and often, rising above her sorrows and forget- 
 ting her solitude, she was ready to exclaim, " I am not alone, 
 because the Father is with me." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 No studied words of sympathy 
 
 Were coldly whispered round ; 
 Tne silence of the humble throng 
 
 Told more than measured sound. 
 And children touched the cold, white brow, 
 
 And then in awe stood by, 
 Their new-learnt lesson thinking o'er, 
 
 Of angels in the sky. A. M. F. ANNAN. 
 
 THE month of June had nearly half expired. Mr. Vaughan 
 still delayed his journey to the West, and gave Mabel no new 
 intimation of his wish that she should start for L. Perhaps he 
 still hoped that Harry, who had listened in moody silence to 
 the declaration of his wishes in respect to his profession, and 
 had thus far shown no disposition to carry them into effect, 
 would at length manifest some symptoms of compliance and 
 accompany her. He forbore to urge the point, however, and 
 in spite of the increasing heat, no departure from the city was 
 alluded to, until one evening, when all three having been pres- 
 ent at dinner, Mr. Vaughan rose at its conclusion and gravely 
 announced to Harry his wish to speak with him in the library, 
 to which room he himself immediately repaired. Harry lin- 
 gered a few moments at the table, then rising with the air of a 
 detected culprit, followed his father, closed the door behind 
 him, and the two were closeted together for nearly an hour. 
 
 This period was one to Mabel of painful suspense ; the for- 
 mality of the interview left her little doubt of its importance, 
 and she could easily conjecture the nature of the subjects likely 
 to be brought up. Deeply agitated, trembling so that she could 
 scarcely stand, and straining her ears to catch the slightest 
 sound, she remained in the spot where they had left her, until 
 she heard the library door open and saw Harry leave the house, 
 
260 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 followed soon after by Mr. Vaughan, who, walking slowly, with 
 his hands behind him, looked like one upon whom trouble has 
 fallen with a sudden weight, which he is calculating the chances 
 and possibilities of relieving. 
 
 She learned, afterwards, that her father and brother had been 
 engaged in settling the preliminaries of the latter's leaving New 
 York for L. ; and that these preliminaries consisted of a con- 
 fession on Harry's part of a heavy debt (a debt of honor, so 
 called, contracted at the gaming table), which effectually pre- 
 vented his leaving the city, and of an agreement, with difficulty 
 entered into by his already embarrassed parent, to meet the 
 demand and free him from the mortifying shackles, upon con- 
 dition of his conforming strictly to his views, and at once com- 
 mencing the study of law with Judge Paradox. She learned, 
 too, to her surprise, that this was the first interview Mr. 
 Vaughan had ever had with Harry on the subject of his mis- 
 conduct, and that even now, he received his confession and dis- 
 missed him without any other reprimand than that which the 
 dullest eye might detect in his countenance ; this course being 
 simply characteristic of his extreme reserve, even with his 
 family, and want of force in regulating the conduct of his house- 
 hold. It was only after a considerable lapse of time, however, 
 that Mabel became aware of these facts, and at present she was 
 left to all the pain of uncertainty and apprehension. 
 
 This was somewhat allayed by the circumstance that her 
 father and Harry both returned home at an earlier hour than 
 usual, and by her observing that, though excessively constrained 
 in each other's society, they seemed individually to be relieved, 
 and in a slight degree cheered ; the one that he had made a 
 confession which it was no longer possible to escape, and the 
 other from a conviction that, bad as the case was, he now knew 
 the worst. 
 
 Mr. Vaughan took an early opportunity of informing his 
 daughter that it was his desire that she should leave for L., the 
 following week, with Harry, and the latter indirectly confirmed 
 the tidings of his intended departure, by some accidental refer- 
 ence to the journey. Mabel also learned that her father's long 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 261 
 
 postponed trip to the West would take place immediately upon 
 his having dismissed the servants, and closed the house, meas- 
 ures which he had resolved to adopt, as he should be absent 
 for an indefinite period. 
 
 She had now plenty of employment. For the first time she 
 realized the necessity of looking over her father's wardrobe, 
 and providing for his comfort, during the many weeks of his 
 absence ; and this, with similar cares for herself and Harry, 
 promised ample occupation, and caused her to rejoice in that 
 womanly skill and capability which made her independent of 
 Cecilia, who had usually officiated with her needle in this de- 
 partment. 
 
 She was busily engaged the next morning, going from room 
 to room, collecting various articles which were in need of some 
 slight repair, when she received a summons to the hall door, 
 where a little girl stood waiting to deliver a message from Mrs. 
 Hope. Rose was very low, had been anxious to see her, 
 would she try and come at once ? 
 
 Had Mabel had more experience in cases of slow decline 
 she would not have been astonished at this summons, for, to 
 those who understood Hose's symptoms, it was only a matter 
 of surprise that she had lingered so long ; but Mabel had not 
 realized, until now, how surely and speedily death must follow 
 the decay, whose progress she had marked step by step, and a 
 chill and shudder crept over her frame as she hastily prepared 
 to follow the little messenger, who had run back as swiftly as 
 she came. Although the day was oppressively hot, she would 
 not wait for the carriage, but walking a short distance, and then 
 availing herself of a Broadway omnibus, she soon reached her 
 destination. 
 
 An air of unusual quiet and sadness seemed to pervade the 
 little street ; the neighbors looked after Mabel as she passed, 
 wondering whether she, like them, knew of the fearful change 
 which a few hours had made ; the children had ceased their 
 play, and two of the elder ones sat weeping on the door-step of 
 the closed shop. Mabel approached the little alley which com- 
 municated with the rear of the building, and at its entrance en- 
 
262 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 countered Rosy's sturdy friend, the youthful teamster, who was 
 brushing his rough sleeve across his eyes, and did not see her 
 until she paused to let him pass. As he looked up, recognized 
 her, and read an anxious inquiry in her face, he said in a low, 
 tremulous voice, " She 's going, they tell me she can't last 
 the day out." Then pressing his lips firmly together, as strong 
 men do when their feelings threaten to get the mastery of them, 
 he rushed by her, crossed the street, and darted down the arch- 
 way. 
 
 In the humble courtyard, women were engaged at their wash- 
 tubs, or in hanging out clothes, and as she stooped in passing 
 beneath the wet linen more than one eye followed her with 
 mournful interest, while now and then a childish face glanced 
 up with a pitiful, imploring look, as if hoping she had come 
 indued with some magic power to make Rosy well again. Just 
 as she reached the widow's door, she stopped short, believing 
 that the angel of death had preceded her, for outside the shed, 
 stretched across a little wood-pile, lay a forlorn figure, con- 
 vulsed with sobs, which she at once recognized as that of Jack. 
 The poor boy had evidently thrown himself there in an agony 
 of grief, and in the self-abandonment of a first heart-breaking 
 sorrow was utterly unconscious of everything around. His 
 head rested on his arms, and his hands clutched at the wood, 
 as if he were wrestling with outward obstacles to ease his in- 
 ward woe, the depth of which might in some degree be meas- 
 ured by the spasmodic heaving of his chest, and an hysterical 
 choking in his throat. 
 
 Overwhelmed with pity for the boy, to whom she could not 
 venture to speak, and suspecting that a similar scene prevailed 
 in doors, Mabel was hesitating whether she should not depart 
 without intruding into the house of mourning, when the widow, 
 who had caught sight of her figure through the window, came 
 out to meet her. Mabel took her hand and glanced from her 
 face, which was perfectly calm, to that of the agitated Jack. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " said Mrs. Hope, compassionately, " he takes 
 it hard, and no wonder. She 's been talking to him," added 
 she in a whisper, " and so beautifully, he won't forget it to 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 2G3 
 
 bis dying day. She 'a asleep now, as quiet as a lamb ; it 's a 
 chance whether she ever wakes, but if she should, Miss Mabel, 
 I thought she'd like to rest her eyes on your face .again ; she 
 asked for you once or twice in the night, so if you '11 come 
 in " 
 
 Mabel followed without speaking, for she could not speak, 
 into the little room. She was indeed sleeping sweetly, her 
 little hands clasped on her breast, her golden hair thrown back 
 upon the pillow, and a smile upon her face, which seemed to 
 tell of heavenly dreams. An hour passed on and still she 
 slept ; the room was so quiet, that each breath of the little 
 sleeper might be counted ; there was no noise outside, for love 
 had set its faithful guard around the house, and every footfall 
 in the neighborhood was softened, every loud voice hushed. 
 By-and-by a flushed, swollen, and tear-stained face appeared 
 in the doorway, and Jack, in his stocking-feet, came slowly, cau- 
 tiously in, and sat down among the watchers. There was 
 another pause, and at length softly, and without warning, the 
 blue eyes once more unclosed, with one more fond, loving 
 glance, they rested in turn on each of the assembled group, 
 not eye to eye, but soul to soul, they seemed to stand, taking 
 their last farewell of her who, in a moment more, would be a 
 disembodied spirit. The breath grew shorter, the blue orbs 
 closed, they listened, there was no breath at all, and then 
 the glory came and settled on the little face. 
 
 As if the parting spirit, which had left its radiance on the 
 mortal clay, still hovered above their heads, they all for a 
 while stood motionless and awed ; then, as a consciousness of 
 the dread reality rushed upon them, Jack darted from (he 
 room with a loud cry of anguish, Lydia buried her head in 
 her mother's lap, and Mabel, drawing her veil over her face, 
 glided noiselessly away. 
 
 The little form which had taken birth within the clo-c 
 atmosphere of the city, and pined and perished in the nar- 
 row limits of a dark and gloomy street, was not destined to 
 sleep its last sleep within those crowded and imprisoning 
 walls. They buried her on a quiet hill-side, where the grass 
 
264 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 and wild flowers might grow on the little grave, where summer 
 insects and soaring birds might chirp and sing above it, and 
 where the murmur of running water fell upon the ear. 
 
 " Will they give her a place among the city poor," asked 
 the milk-boy of the ruddy teamster, nodding his head signifi- 
 cantly in the direction of the vacant window. 
 
 Owen Dowst, for that was the teamster's name, feared 
 so, but it seemed to him a pity. 
 
 He but echoed the thought of the boisterous milk-boy, 
 who had a heart as big and tender as his voice was deep and 
 sonorous. "There's a little Dutch burying-ground in the 
 corner of my father's milk-farm," said the boy ; " it slopes 
 down to the East River, and is out o' use now. There 's no 
 crowding there, room enough, and a plenty for many a 
 child like that ; tell 'em so ; and look here, Owen, if the idea 
 suits the widder, drive out with your team to-night, and 1 '11 
 be there myself with a spade." 
 
 And so it was that no hired hands dug the little grave. 
 
 " The blessed Lord spared our Jemmy to us, it 's now six 
 months ago, wife," said a pale-faced undertaker, whose work- 
 shop was not far off, " and there 's the box I worked away at, 
 that long week, while you watched to see him die. I could n't 
 ever sell it, no how. I 've cried over it many a time, and 
 often thought, when I 've laid eyes on 't since, that it seemed 
 like a keepsake, to remind me o' the mercy o' the Lord. But 
 I've been a thinkin' to part with it. If 'twould n't be no 
 offence to anybody, I 'd like to see the little golden-haired gal, 
 that had such a pretty smile for everybody, laid in the cradle 
 I made for my boy. It 's the best o' stuff, and I driv every 
 nail myself. S'posen you go round to-night and speak on 't 
 to the poor woman. Speak kind o' gentle, wife ; poor soul, 
 her child is gone." 
 
 A messenger was dispatched in due season by Mabel, to 
 make every possible offer of assistance, but all that love 
 could dictate had been done already ; the humble neighbors 
 had vied with each other in their efforts to comfort the family 
 and honor the memory of the angel child. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 265 
 
 The funeral was appointed for the day preceding that on 
 which Mabel was to leave New York, and she was in attend- 
 ance at an early hour. The house was quiet and in perfect 
 order ; she entered at the shop door, but the bell was muffled 
 and gave forth no sound. The kitchen into which she passed 
 w r as vacant, save that the child, clad in her snow white robes, 
 seemingly lay sleeping there. The little hands were peace- 
 fully folded on the breast, the serene smile still rested on the 
 face, and beauty was stamped upon the features from which 
 pain had forever fled. Death had not only glorified the soul, 
 but had transfigured the mortal part, 
 
 " She is not here, she is risen," said a low, solemn voice, 
 close at Mabel's side. 
 
 She looked up, unconscious that any one had entered the 
 room, where she stood absorbed in contemplation. It was the 
 tall and venerable man, known to us as Father Noah. Mabel 
 recognized him 'at once, though she could not recall his name. 
 He seemed regardless, however, of ceremony, in resuming his 
 acquaintance with her, and continued 
 
 " You have known this child, for she was a child in 
 years," he added, as if feeling that in some sense the term 
 was misapplied. 
 
 . Mabel bowed in assent, her tearful face speaking plainly of 
 the affection she had felt for her. 
 
 " She was a wonderful child," he exclaimed, meditatively, 
 " wonderful ! She has accomplished a beautiful work in this 
 neighborhood, it puts to shame many of my profession. 
 Death has no power over such as she, except to release them 
 from pain. I am glad you knew her," he said, after a pause. 
 
 Perhaps Mabel's expression as he spoke, revealed some sur- 
 prise at the personal interest implied in his remark, for he 
 said again, " Yes, I am very glad you knew her. I have 
 no doubt it has been a benefit to her, I am sure it has been 
 to you." 
 
 " She, she has been my better angel ! " exclaimed Mabel 
 fervently, " she is still." 
 
 " Her life has been a lesson to us all," said the good clergy - 
 
 23 
 
266 MABEL V A UGH AN. 
 
 man. " I pray God," he continued, laying his hand solemnly 
 on Mabel's head, " that He will perfect and finish the good 
 work which, through one of his humblest servants, He has 
 begun iii you." So saying, he went to meet Mrs. Hope in the 
 little inner room, and Mabel turned away to recover her self- 
 command. 
 
 As she stood resting her hand on the mantel-piece above 
 the kitchen stove, she caught sight of an open daguerreotype 
 case, which, on a nearer inspection, she discovered to contain a 
 likeness of Rosy. It had been taken at some happy moment 
 when the gentle smile was on her face, and the little arm- 
 chair, her simple dress, and all the features of her ordinary 
 life, were faithfully impressed by the magic instrument. 
 Mabel was wondering that she had never seen it before, and 
 was blessing God in her heart for that beneficent invention in 
 which rich and poor may almost be said to share alike, when 
 Jack appeared at her side and attempted to speak. Except 
 at Rosy's death-bed, Mabel had never seen him since the day 
 they met in the grocer's shop, and the latter scene rose full 
 before her as she turned and met his eager face. Impressed 
 by her glance, and half choked with his own grief, the boy 
 made one or two vain attempts to articulate. Then, pointing 
 at the likeness of his sister, he gasped out, in broken phrase, 
 the words, "I I paid for it with that dollar," and 
 overcome by his emotion, he clapped his rough hands to his 
 face and disappeared through the doorway. 
 
 The little neighborhood now began to assemble, and Mabel, 
 retreating to a corner, was touched to see them enter. There 
 was no formality, no ceremony, in receiving them or awarding 
 them their place ; they came in crowds, but there was no con- 
 fusion ; the little house could not contain half of them, and 
 they entered in turn to gaze once more at the features of the 
 neighborhood's child, and those for whom there was no room 
 patiently waited without. All ages were represented. Old 
 women were there, leaning on their staffs, and children were 
 borne in their father's arms to take one more look at Rosy. 
 The girls of her little class were there, wearing no badge of 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 267 
 
 mourning, but each, with instinctive -and grateful prompting, 
 bearing under her arm the little testament, pledge of Rose's 
 love. 
 
 The service at length commenced. It was performed by 
 the clergyman already alluded to, and was simple, solemn, 
 beautiful, interrupted only by the sobs which rung through the 
 house. It concluded with a hymn a voluntary and touching 
 tribute, the sweet lifting up of childish voices, the simple offer- 
 ing of loving hearts. There was a pause, and then the crowd 
 began to file away, lingering without the door until the little 
 form should be borne through their midst, There had been 
 no concerted arrangements with regard to bearers, and a slight 
 hesitation ensued in consequence, when a tall youth stepped 
 forward, closed the casket, lifted it gently in his strong arm?, 
 and bore it slowly and tenderly through the parting crowd. 
 The widow and her children followed Owen Dowst as he thus 
 cleared for them a passage through the friendly throng, took 
 their place in the humble vehicle which awaited them, and in 
 a moment more moved on. With one consent the assembled 
 neighborhood formed in long and regular procession, and tread- 
 ing the sidewalk with slow and solemn pace, kept the carriage 
 in sight for the distance of a mile or two and then reluctantly 
 and sadly dispersed. 
 
 Mabel found herself alone in the deserted house. She had 
 left her carriage at some little distance, feeling that its rich 
 trappings would be a mockery in this place of humble, sacred 
 sorrow. She looked round the little shop as if bidding it a 
 long farewell, then stepped upon the sidewalk. An old woman 
 stood there leaning upon her staff a very old woman, too 
 infirm to follow the mourning procession the same old wo- 
 man who lived in the opposite house and had been accustomed 
 to watch llosy from the window. 
 
 " We sha n't ever see her there no more," said she to Mabel, 
 pointing with her crutch to the little empty arm-chair, " but," 
 and she looked up to the sky above, " Heaven do n't seem so 
 far off to an old body like me, now that I know she 's sittin' at 
 some bright winder up there, watchin' to see me comin' in." 
 
268 MABEL VAUHIIAN. 
 
 " Drive out on the Bloomingdale road, Donald," said Mabel, 
 when she reached the carriage. " You will overtake the child's 
 funeral ; follow, but keqp at a distance." 
 
 They did so; and as the little train moved into the unpre- 
 tending cemetery, Mabel alighted and joined the mourners, 
 who were grouped around the grave. They saw the child laid 
 in her quiet resting-place, they waited and listened with sad 
 hearts, while Owen and the milk-boy, who had reached the 
 spot before them, gently heaped the earth upon her grave, and 
 then they went away. Mabel lingered a little behind the rest, 
 feeling, as the earth closed over the remains of her little friend, 
 scarcely less bereaved than the broken-hearted group who had 
 looked their last upon the darling of their hearts. " Dear 
 Rosy," thought she, as seating herself on the grass of the sloping 
 hill-side, she strewed the mound with the flowers which she 
 had brought for the purpose, " ' He maketh thee to lie down in 
 green pastures, he leadeth thee beside the-still waters;' thine 
 earthly pilgrimage was hard, but its end is peace, joy, and 
 everlasting life." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV, 
 
 Her love is firme, her care continuall, 
 
 So oft as he, through his own foolish pride 
 
 Or weakncs, is to sinful bands made tbralL 
 
 SPENSER. 
 
 " MY daughter Margaret takes after me," was a favorite 
 exclamation of the old lady Vaughan. " She has more shrewd- 
 ness in her little finger than Sabiah has in her whole body." 
 
 This was very true ; for Mrs., now the widow, Ridgway, was 
 preeminent for nearly all the qualities which were conspicuous 
 in her mother, and in which Sabiah was totally deficient. Thus 
 she was proud, ambitious, calculating, and selfish. Money was 
 in her eyes the chief good; and the social standing and distinc- 
 tion which it helped to purchase were among the most precious 
 consequences of its possession. Keen and far-seeing in her 
 observation of men and things, she rarely failed .to gain her 
 point, and no one was ever known to win the advantage of her 
 in an argument or a bargain. She prided herself upon being a 
 good manager and upon conducting her household on the most 
 thorough, economical and saving principles. The neighbor- 
 hood always gave her the credit, also, of managing her husband, 
 a patient, plodding man, who set an exalted estimate upon her 
 capacity, and practically acknowledged her as his better half. 
 
 Hospitality was a virtue to which she had no claim ; for, 
 unless prompted by some ulterior motive, she was seldom 
 known to throw open her doors for the entertainment of guests. 
 After the death of Mr. Ridgway, indeed, her utter solitude 
 might seem sufficient to render her sister's society desirable ; 
 but this was by no means the prominent cause of her extending 
 an invitation to Sabiah. In the first place, her brother John 
 had set her the example, and she wouM not be outdone by him 
 
 23* 
 
270 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 in patronizing their destitute relative ; and secondly, her saga- 
 cious mind saw various ways and means by which Sabiah 
 might be made a useful auxiliary in her household. It was 
 pride and policy, therefore, rather than natural affection, which 
 induced her to offer her sister a home. 
 
 Nor was the apparent cordiality with which she begged a 
 visit from her nephew and niece due to any more disinterested 
 motives. Though Mrs. Ridgway would never have acknowl- 
 edged the fact, she did not feel quite satisfied with her social 
 
 position in L ; and as the town of L was to her the 
 
 world, the attainment of this desirable position was her highest 
 earthly ambition. It was true, her husband had long been the 
 moneyed man of the place, and so had his father before him. 
 There was scarcely a family of standing in the neighborhood 
 which had not, in some remote generation, or in the person of 
 some one of its members, been brought into close business rela- 
 tions, or even under personal obligations, to the elder or younger 
 Ridgway ; and the widow of the latter could boast an acquaint- 
 ance with every onward and retrograde step of their affairs, 
 every intermarriage they had made, every inch of their pedi- 
 gree. 
 
 This intimate knowledge of the aristocracy of L , how- 
 ever, had never ripened into that actual intimacy with them 
 which Mrs. Margaret Ridgway coveted. The member of 
 Congress for the district had been in the habit of talking freely 
 with Mr. Ridgway on the church steps ; the handsome daugh- 
 ters of Judge Paradox bowed politely to his widow, when they 
 met her in the street or the shops ; and all subscription papers 
 and charity petitions were promptly handed to her door. 
 
 Still there was an easy, every-day intercourse prevailing in 
 this choice circle, which existed quite independently of the 
 loud-spoken, bustling, and not over-refined woman of wealth, 
 who eagerly sought admittance within its pale ; and it was with 
 the view of breaking down this nicely-defined line of separation, 
 that she now proposed to add to her own claims those of her 
 nephew and niece. 
 
 Though her sphere of action and observation had been lim- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 271 
 
 ited, Mrs. Ridgway understood the world and was not deceived 
 in lier calculations. Mr. John Vaughan was known by repute 
 in this his native county. New York was not so far distant 
 but that reports of b.is wealth, standing, and fashionable alliance 
 had reached the ears of those who remembered him in his boy- 
 hood, and the busy tongue of Mrs. Ridgway was not needed to 
 circulate the beauty of his daughter or the accomplishments of 
 his foreign-bred son. 
 
 Thus, when the aunt, presuming upon the attractions of her 
 expected visitors, ventured to stop the carriage of the member 
 of Congress, converse somewhat more familiarly than usual 
 with his wife, and close with " I expect my nephew and niece 
 next week your young people must call," a girlish face on 
 the front seat looked very bright and animated, and the lady 
 herself replied without hesitation, " They will do so, certainly ; 
 what day did you say you expected them ? " 
 
 And when, too, she joined Mrs. Paradox, coming down 
 the church aisle, and remarked somewhat abruptly, " So my 
 nephew is to study law with your husband, I hear ! " the stately 
 Mrs. Paradox pressed Mrs. Ridgway's hand with ratln'-r more 
 warmth than usual, saying, " Yes, a very agreeable addition to 
 our circle," and thinking, " a capital chance for one of my 
 handsome daughters." 
 
 Thus the arrival of the judge's student, and his sister, the 
 New York belle, imparted no little excitement to the place. 
 Mabel's first appearance with Mrs. Ridgway at church, was 
 the realization of a long delayed hope, and it was with pro- 
 portionate disappointment that many an eye looked in vain for 
 her brother, who, in spite of his aunt's offended looks and 
 protestations, lay stretched on a sofa at home. It was well, 
 perhaps, that he staid away on this occasion, for the presence 
 of Mabel alone proved sufficient to turn the heads of all the 
 young girls in the congregation. Her height, her dress, her 
 complexion, were duly studied, and more than one little piece 
 of vanity spent the whole of the sermon time mentally en- 
 deavoring to cut the pattern of a graceful fall of lace, which 
 gave Miss Vaughan's straw bonnet such a genteel air. 
 
272 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 In the course of the week everybody called, and various 
 festivities, purposely postponed until now, began to be talked 
 of and prepared for. The young strangers, meanwhile, were 
 the universal subjects of notice and conversation. Mabel's man- 
 ners, beauty, and becoming attire, furnished no small source of 
 novelty and interest, but the innovations and surprises which 
 Harry introduced, were of a still more startling and original 
 nature in the eyes of the quiet towns people. His English 
 gig was of a style never before seen in L. ; his long-tailed 
 gray ponies were not to be surpassed in the country ; but these 
 wonders were eclipsed by the arrival of his famous trotting 
 mare, Mad Sallie, which he had ordered to be sent after him, 
 and which, with its fancy blanket and braided tail, was talked 
 of and canvassed for ten miles round. 
 
 Thus the town of L., so far from proving a place of summer 
 retirement and repose, had been suddenly thrown into a fer- 
 ment, and Mabel and Harry found themselves in the very 
 centre of a whirl and excitement of their own creating. 
 
 " Why need I go down, Aunt Sabiah ? " Mabel would say, 
 when morning visitors were announced. "They do not 
 come to see me, and it is so pleasant to be quiet and at leisure 
 in the country." 
 
 " Oh, do n't call i( country, dear," Sabiah would reply, in a 
 deprecating voice ; " she wo n't like it, besides, you must go 
 down. Why, they have called on purpose to see you, she '11 
 be dreadfully -put out " she, with Sabiah, always meaning 
 her sister Margaret. 
 
 In a moment more the bustling, flurried, impatient Mrs. 
 Ridgway would put her head inside the door, exclaiming, 
 "Make haste, Mabel. child, I wish you had on your 
 lilac dress ! It 's the So and So's ; do hurry down, they 're 
 such pleasant people, been so attentive to me since Mr. 
 Hidgway died," and Mabel, dressing her face in the smile which 
 masked a heavy heart, would go down and do her best to give 
 satisfaction. 
 
 As for Harry, he soon found his level in this new sphere. 
 There is a freemasonry among fast young men, and, go where 
 
MAR ML VA COHAN. 273 
 
 thoy will, they speedily find their compeers, and are recognized 
 in their turn. Change of scene, and relief from the embar- 
 rassments he had woven around himself in New York, for a 
 time checked him in his self-indulgent course, and Mabel 
 began to hope that her never-ceasing care and influence, the 
 restraints of her aunt's house, and interest in the study of his 
 profession, would prove efficient and salutary safeguards, and 
 finally restore him to himself. It happened unfortunately, 
 however, that a neighboring university had just released its 
 students for a summer vacation, and among the idle young 
 men thus thrown upon the community, Harry found more con- 
 genial minds than those which were embalmed on the walls of 
 Judge Paradox's office. The dashing city blade, whose fast 
 horses were the admiration of the neighborhood, and whose 
 attractive manners and generous habits won him universal 
 popularity, could not resist the temptation to forsake the musty 
 study of the law, and engage in those excursions, drives, sport- 
 ing and fishing parties, which would have been harmless, but 
 for the loss of time they involved, and the imprudence, folly, 
 and extravagance to which they eventually led. 
 
 Whatever good resolutions he might have formed, whatever 
 efforts at self-control he might have made, it soon became evi- 
 dent that the former had become undermined by temptation, 
 and the latter had proved insufficient to resist it. With aching 
 heart, Mabel saw her short-lived hopes extinguished, and trem- 
 bled more than ever for the consequences of her brother's 
 reckless and wild career. She had but two rules for her own 
 conduct regarding him, there were but two agents which 
 she employed for his salvation, and these were love and prayer. 
 Not by word or look did she censure or blame him. She well 
 knew that judgment belongeth unto God, and can only be 
 rashly assumed by any, least of all by a sister. But she un- 
 derstood in all its force the right which that sweet relationship 
 implies, and, counselled by her tender affection alone, she 
 patiently strove to be true to its faithful dictates. 
 
 Not less gentle, beneficent, and self-sacrificing, were these 
 loving counsels, from the fact that they had their source in the 
 
274 MABEL VAUGTTAN. 
 
 secret depths of a humble and contrite, as well as deceived, 
 forsaken, and disappointed heart. Though forbearing to re- 
 proach her brother, bitterly did Mabel now reproach herself 
 for the many wasted and misspent hours which had robbed her 
 of his society and confidence, and given her in return only 
 blighted hopes, wasted affections, and a grieved and wounded 
 spirit. Shrink from it as she might, disown, as she long did, 
 the cruel thought, the conviction gradually forced itself upon 
 her, that her heart had been perseveringly sought to be lightly 
 discarded, that it had garnered up its treasures in one who 
 prized not the gift, and that the friendship which to her had 
 seemed the crowning circumstance of life, had been to him 
 but a winter's pastime. 
 
 Had this conjecture still admitted of a doubt, that doubt- 
 would have been effectually removed by a letter received from 
 Mrs. Leroy about a fortnight after Mabel's arrival in L. 
 
 It was dated from Trenton, where the party, after spending 
 four weeks in travelling, had agreed to pass a few days before 
 finally separating. After giving a general account of the 
 journey, Louise added, " It has not been so very pleasant after 
 all, there has been so much disagreement about our route, 
 and as to who were entitled to the best rooms in the hotels. 
 Fan Broadhead seemed to think the world was made for her. 
 Mrs. Vannecker maneuvered, as she always does, to get the 
 best of everything, and I stood up for my rights now and then, 
 for I had no idea of being trampled on by anybody. Fan and 
 the Colonel quarrel so, it's perfectly scandalous ; and Mrs. 
 Earle has given a great deal of trouble too ; she has been 
 ill ever since we left Niagara ; and my boys have plagued me 
 to death, Cecilia can 't manage them at all. Nobody has 
 seemed to enjoy it much but Mr. Dudley and a Mrs. Wolfe, the 
 English widow who was at Fan's wedding, and joined her and 
 the Colonel on the trip. She is young, and pretty, and sen- 
 timental, talks poetry and so on, and Mr. Dudley is per- 
 fectly devoted to her. They take moonlight walks, and sit on 
 the rocks and compose sonnets. It is a regular flirtation. 
 Mr. Earle calls her Mr. Dudley's last. I can 't see what he 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 275 
 
 finds to fancy in her ; she makes herself very disagreeable to 
 every body else. I shall go from here to Newport, and advise 
 you to join me there ; if you have been at Aunt Ridgway's a 
 fortnight, you must need change of air and scene. I made her 
 a visit once when I was a little girl, and I never shall forget it. 
 I haven't heard from Mr. Leroy for a month. I suppose 
 there are letters for me in New York. Tell Harry he had 
 better come to Newport and bring his horses." 
 
 Mabel had read and re-read this letter some half dozen 
 times ; had thought and wept over its contents, and it still lay 
 open on her lap, when her solitude was broken in upon by 
 the entrance of her aunt Sabiah ; it was one of her trials now, 
 that she seldom had an hour which she could enjoy without 
 interruption. Sabiah was rarely the intruder, however, it 
 being usually the bustling Mrs. Ridgway, who robbed her of 
 all peace and quiet. She tried to look a welcome, therefore, 
 as her aunt came cautiously in, glanced around, and then care- 
 fully shut the door behind her. 
 
 " Seems to me I would go to the party to-night, Mabel," 
 said she in a subdued voice, as if she believed some one were 
 listening at the key-hole, " she 's got her heart so set on it." 
 
 " Oh, do n't ask me to do that, aunt," replied Mabel, a little 
 impatiently, rising abruptly from her seat, and thrusting her 
 letter into her pocket. " I can 't go, I do not feel like it, 
 I 'm out of spirits. Every body is at times," added she, as 
 Sabiali glanced from the letter to her face. 
 
 " Well, I dare say you 've got a letter from Louise ; no 
 wonder it has put you out of sorts it Avould me. But, la ! 
 you'd feel better to go to the party and see all the young 
 people, and have a good time. She did n't like what you said 
 yesterday about not going." 
 
 " It can 't make any difference to her," said Mabel. " She 
 thinks I enjoy these things, but I do not in the least, Aunt. I 
 can't bear to see so many people. She does not go to such 
 places herself, and I had rather stay at home with her and 
 you." 
 
 " Well, but you see, my dear, this is n't a common occasion. 
 
276 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Mrs. Blooclgood, who gives this party, is wife to the member 
 of Congress from this district. They 're a very fine family 
 one of the oldest families anywhere round. I used to hear of 
 them and of all their fine doings when I lived at home. She 
 never knew them much before you came, and she counts on 
 your going and making a fine show and all that. 'T would be 
 a pity to put her out ; you don't know how set she is about a 
 thing, when she has made up her mind to it." Sabiah spoke 
 rapidly, urging her sister's cause as if it had been her own, 
 and betraying at the same time her dread of that displeasure 
 of which she had early learned to stand in awe. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances Mabel would have felt bound 
 to comply with the wishes of either of her aunts, 3ven at some 
 sacrifice to herself; but her present state of mind rendered the 
 thought of appearing among a crowd of strangers harrowing in 
 the extreme ; and she endeavored to parry Sabiah's arguments 
 with the words, "But I should not make a fine show. I 
 could n't do any credit to myself or Aunt Margaret either I 
 do not feel well I am sad, unhappy, miserable." 
 
 She spoke the last words almost at random ; but Sabiah, 
 putting a very natural interpretation upon them, replied in a 
 half sympathizing, half expostulatory tone, "Well, child, I 
 suppose you are a part of the time, at least. It 's not strange 
 you should be. No doubt you are worrying about Harry, and 
 thinking he has come here to run the same rig he did in New 
 York. But, la, you can't help the matter, and it's no use to 
 think any thing about it. He won't go to the party, you may 
 depend, so it is n't worth while to be troubled about that. It is 
 a beautiful ride out to Mr. Bloodgood's place, and a beautiful 
 place w r hen you get there. Mrs. Paradox just sent round to 
 invite you to go in her carriage, and you can send back word 
 that you will, and so it will be all settled, and you '11 have a 
 nice time, and Margaret will be suited, and " 
 
 Sabiah's enumeration of the happy results of Mabel's com- 
 pliance was here interrupted by the loud voice of Mrs. Ridg- 
 way, calling to her on some household matter, and she was 
 compelled to hurry away, Mabel saying to her as she went, " I 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 277 
 
 can not go, Aunt Sabiah ; indeed, I can not. I wish you would 
 tell Aunt Margaret so." 
 
 Quite a new turn was given to the affair, however, when at 
 dinner Harry unexpectedly declared his intention of accepting 
 the invitation. 
 
 "That's right, Harry!" cried his aunt Margaret, who, hav- 
 ing heard him express his contempt for parties of this descrip- 
 tion, had scarcely expected he would be prevailed upon to 
 attend. " You won't be the loser by improving your acquaint- 
 ance with the Bloodgoods, I '11 venture to say ; there 's nobody 
 in this part of the country entertains as they do." 
 
 " It is a pleasant drive out there, at any rate," said Harry, 
 with a somew r hat indifferent air. " Every body seems to be 
 going. I was introduced to young Bloodgood at the Lake 
 House, this morning, where I went fishing, and he 's a right fine 
 fellow. He urged my coming to his father's this evening, and 
 I told him I would. It seems there 's a young man in town 
 I 've forgotten his name some one that has visited here in 
 college vacations and is very popular in the neighborhood, 
 this affair is got up on his account. He 's been somewhere at 
 the other end of the world, and is to start again to-morrow ; 
 just here to have a peep at his friends and then be off." 
 
 " Who can it be ? " exclaimed Mrs. Ridgway ; " Can 't you 
 remember his name, Harry ? Did you say he was a relation 
 of the family ? " 
 
 But Harry could tell nothing more ; and the curiosity and 
 speculative wonder of his aunt being excited to the utmost, she 
 now rehearsed the Bloodgood pedigree in all its branches, 
 enumerating the ages of all the male members, and endeavor- 
 ing to fix upon the identical individual whom the family w r ere 
 so eager to honor. The fortune and merits of some half dozen 
 having been fully discussed, and each in turn pronounced the 
 undoubted object of so much attention, she at length arrived at 
 the satisfactory conclusion that, if it was not one of these, it 
 must be somebody else at all events, somebody of wealth, 
 family, and distinction. "There, Miss, think what you will 
 
 24 
 
278 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 lose ! " said she sharply, turning upon Mabel, whose interest 
 she had evidently been striving to awaken all the while. 
 
 Mabel, who, lost in a reverie, had been conscious of nothing 
 beyond Harry's announcement of his intentions, looked up with 
 an absent air, and when he immediately added, " Why, you 
 mean to go, do n't you, May ? " she faltered out, " Yes, if you 
 will take me with you." 
 
 "Ah, ah !" exclaimed her aunt, in a manner at once taunt- 
 ing and self-gratulatory, " So you can not resist this hand- 
 some young stranger. I thought that was all that was wanting 
 some distinguished guest for whom it was worth while to 
 put on your best smiles." 
 
 With only a dim conception of her aunt's meaning, but will- 
 ing that her change of purpose should be attributed to any 
 thing rather than the real motive, Mabel allowed the remark 
 to pass unchallenged, and even submitted patiently to a succes- 
 sion of similar petty sarcasms, which were coarse rather than 
 ill-natured, for Mrs. Ridgway was too well satisfied with the 
 triumph she had achieved to be intentionally severe. She 
 little suspected, meanwhile, the far greater triumph Mabel had 
 gained over her own feelings in thus consenting to accompany 
 Harry, for whom she dreaded some less desirable companion- 
 ship if she should indulge her own wishes by remaining at 
 home. 
 
 u Now wear something handsome," was the eager and almost 
 imperative remark with which poor Mabel was assailed a few 
 hours later, when, seated alone in her room, with Louise's 
 letter once more in her hand, she had for the moment forgotten 
 the cruel ordeal in store for her that evening. " Come, let me 
 see your dresses;" and, without ceremony, her pertinacious 
 aunt lifted the lid of a travelling-box which contained the 
 richer articles of her wardrobe, and one after another spread 
 them out for inspection. 
 
 As might have been expected, she at once made choice of 
 the gayest and richest ball-dress among them all, and Mabel 
 could have cried with vexation at the persevering energy with 
 which she insisted upon her niece's appearing in a costume as 
 
MABEL VAUOIIAN. 279 
 
 ill-suited to the occasion as to her painfully depressed state of 
 mind. A compromise was at length effected, by which an 
 exquisite flounced muslin was substituted for the gay silken 
 fabric ; and although the delicate texture of the former, and 
 its choice trimming and embroidery, rendered it unsuitable in 
 Mabel's eyes for a six miles' drive, she was thankful to have 
 in some degree overruled her aunt's bad taste, and to be allowed 
 to indulge the hope that, clothed in spotless white, she should, 
 at least, fail to be conspicuous. 
 
 It was a proud moment for Mrs. Ridgway when Harry's 
 little phaeton drove to the door; when her handsome niece 
 came down stairs, attired in the newest fashion though she 
 did wish she had put on a gayer sash when Harry appeared 
 with such beautiful little shirt-frills as she had no idea young 
 gentlemen wore now-a-days; when she accompanied them down 
 to the gate, to tuck in Mabel's dress and spread a shawl across 
 her lap ; when Judge Paradox passed by at the moment and 
 bowed ; when the neighbors ran to the window to see the young 
 New Yorkers start ; and when, finally, the intractable mare, 
 after many vain attempts to get away, dashed furiously down 
 the street, Sabiah in the meantime standing in the doorway, 
 vexing her poor heart lest Mad Sallie should break Mabel's 
 neck, and she never forgive herself for having persuaded the 
 dear child to run such an awful risk. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The ear inclined to every voice of grief, 
 
 The hand that oped spontaneous to relief, 
 
 The heart, whose impulse stay'd not for the mind 
 
 To freeze to doubt what charity enjoin'd, 
 
 But sprang to man's warm instinct for mankind. 
 
 NEW TIM ox. 
 
 " HAVE you seen her, Uncle Bayard ? tell me, have you ? " 
 eagerly exclaimed the animated sixteen-year-old girl, who was 
 seated in the carriage of the member of Congress on the day 
 when Mrs. Ridgway* proclaimed the expected arrival of her 
 guests. This earnest remark was addressed to a tall young 
 man, with a broad forehead, and singularly frank and noble 
 countenance, whom the little fairy had joined, on the evening" 
 of the party at Mrs. Bloodgood's house, and playfully caught 
 by the arm while she put the important question. 
 
 " Seen who ? " asked the gentleman, with a smile which be- 
 trayed that he knew very well whom she meant. " Seen 
 who ? " repeated the girl with a mocking air. " Oh, now. Uncle 
 Bayard, you need n't pretend ; I saw you watching her for as 
 much as five minutes ; so tell me, what do you think of her ? " 
 
 " "What ought I to think of her ? come, teach me my lesson 
 again, puss," said the young man, evading a direct reply. 
 
 " Ah ! you need n't ask me, said the pretty little miss, looking 
 archly up into his face. " You have been studying at the 
 fountain head ; I saw you in the looking-glass, and you never 
 took your eyes off her for five, yes, for ten minutes." 
 
 " And what was the result ? Did you see my thoughts re- 
 flected in the mirror too ? " 
 
 "Yes, pretty clearly ; you thought her the most beauti- 
 ful, elegant, magnificent creature that ever you beheld in your 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 281 
 
 life; if you didn't, I'll never forgive you. Now tell me," 
 continued she coaxingly. " is n't she splendid?" 
 
 " Yes, Bessie, and so is an iceberg." 
 
 " Oh, what a cruel, wicked, unjust comparison ! " exclaimed 
 the enthusiastic Bessie, resentfully flinging away the hand 
 which in her earnestness she had a moment before affection- 
 ately clasped. " You would not say so if you knew her. She 
 is as pleasant and charming as she is beautiful." 
 
 " I would n't know her on any account," persisted the pro- 
 voking Bayard. 
 
 " Now why not ? " challenged Bessie, throwing back her 
 head with a defiant air. 
 
 " I should be afraid of a chill," and he feigned a slight shud- 
 der, as if he suddenly felt a current of cold air. 
 
 " It is enough to give one a chill to hear you talk," retorted 
 beauty's champion, with spirit. " You do n't deserve to get ac- 
 quainted with her, and I almost hope you won't have a chance. 
 I won't introduce you." 
 
 "A charitable resolution," responded her youthful uncle. 
 I cannot conceive of a greater danger than being brought into 
 collision with that brilliant " 
 
 " Stop ! stop ! don't you speak that word again," cried Bes- 
 sie, trying to reach his lips with her little hand. 
 
 The tall young man threw back his head, to escape this check 
 upon his freedom of speech, and laughingly continued "I am 
 ready to admire her to your heart's content, Bessie, only at a 
 distance, mind." 
 
 " Fie, uncle, what a coward ! " 
 
 "True enough, little Bess, I plead guilty to the charge," 
 said Bayard, assuming a more serious tone than that in which 
 the dialogue had hitherto been conducted. " A man living as 
 I do, where life is plain, simple, and robbed of all convention- 
 alities, learns to love, esteem, and reverence, to the last degree, 
 a warm-hearted, true, devoted woman, one who can quite forget 
 herself in the glow of her zeal for another, as a little friend of 
 mine has done to-night; but, Bessie, if I read her face 
 
 24* 
 
282 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 aright, this Miss Vaughan of yours is cold, proud, and self- 
 confident. I confess I am afraid of such a woman." 
 
 " uncle ! her smile is bewitching and her manners are full 
 of warmth," exclaimed Bessie. 
 
 " But the smile seems to come by rule, and her manners are 
 too studied to be attractive. All the graces in the world will 
 not compensate for the want of natural cheerfulness and sim- 
 ple" He here checked himself abruptly, as Bessie put up 
 her finger in a warning manner. This time she was evidently 
 in earnest, and a slight rustling movement in the immediate 
 vicinity of the speaker likewise recommended a caution, which 
 had, however, come too late to save the embarrassment which 
 ensued. 
 
 The conversation had taken place in Mrs. Bloodgood's libra- 
 ry, which chanced to be vacated at the moment by the crowd 
 of visitors which thronged the hall and parlors, and the parties 
 engaged in it had been quite oblivious of the fact, that, stand- 
 ing as they did close to the open folding-doors which led thence 
 into one of the drawing-rooms, every word of their animated 
 dispute could be distinctly heard by any person standing on the 
 other side of the partition. Weary with the unsuccessful effort 
 to rally her wounded and agitated spirits, Mabel had a moment 
 before sought refuge in a recess formed by a projecting mantel 
 piece and the partition wall of the library, and, while ostensibly 
 endeavoring to make the acquaintance of a child permitted to 
 sit up beyond its usual bed-time, she was striving to collect 
 and refresh her scattered senses, and already exhausted powers. 
 It may well be believed that she was but little aided in the 
 effort by the above dialogue, every word of which reached her 
 ears, though until her name was spoken at its close, she had no 
 suspicion to whom it referred. Like a hunted deer, which in 
 seeking a place of rest only finds itself the subject of new and 
 painful embarassments, she started, and without looking in the 
 direction of the voices, crossed with a quick step to the other 
 extremity of the well-filled room, thus putting a little throng 
 of people between herself and the unwary speakers. She had 
 recognized Bessie's lively tunes, but those of her uncle were 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 283 
 
 
 
 unfamiliar ; and having gained the shelter of the crowd, the 
 impulse was irresistible to look back and discover who it might 
 be who had judged her with so much severity. She had crossed 
 the room in such a direction that she would have been enabled 
 f .o do this, had Bayard retained his former position, but a like 
 impulse had led him to step within the archway of the folding- 
 doors; and as she timidly lifted her face, suffused as it was with 
 a deep and burning blush, she met the clear, blue, honest eye 
 of the young man fixed full upon her, and her own dropped 
 again instinctively, while her agitation visibly increased as she 
 thus encountered his gaze and felt that her quick movement 
 was understood and appreciated. 
 
 Had his good heart experienced anything but pain and re- 
 gret at his censorious words having been thus overheard, the 
 latter emotions would have been at once excited by the patient, 
 deprecating, reproachful glance of the misjudged and sensitive 
 girl. There was no proud contempt, no haughty defiance in 
 the gentle drooping of the head, the painful blush which over- 
 spread her cheeks and brow on thus hearing herself condemned 
 for emotions the very reverse of those by which she was in 
 reality actuated ; there was no shade of anger in the counte- 
 nance which expressed hurt and wounded, but not bitter or 
 resentful, feelings. 
 
 " O Uncle Bayard," exclaimed Bessie, as soon as she could 
 .recover from her consternation, " she has heard every word ! " 
 
 " She must have," said Bayard, in a tone which indicated his 
 regret. 
 
 The good-natured Bessie forbore to reproach him, though 
 feeling scarcely less grieved than Mabel herself. She experi- 
 enced a partial triumph, however, when the young man, after 
 following with his eyes the object of his remarks, and watching 
 the quick blood mount to her temples, turned to his little niece 
 and said, " Bessie, she has convinced me, where you have failed. 
 I yield the point, and stand convicted ; she is not an iceberg." 
 
 It was the. concession of a candid, truth-loving mind, but 
 Mabel, unfortunately, could not have the benefit of it, and 
 was left, as many have been under like circumstances, to the 
 
284 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 
 
 stinging consciousness that a burdened, humiliated, anxious 
 heart, while seeking to hide its oppressive secrets from the un- 
 sympathizing eye of the world, too frequently lays itself open 
 to misconstruction and undeserved reproach. But it was some 
 consolation to believe, that, except in one unguarded moment, 
 she had successfully feigned a composure which she did not 
 feel, and this thought once more restoring her to apparent calm- 
 ness, she continued to measure out her words and smiles, which 
 Bayard, with no little discrimination, had discovered to be 
 artificial and forced. It was a relief, however, when music 
 was proposed, and all save the performers were permitted to 
 relapse into silence. 
 
 There w r ere several fine voices among the company, and 
 some popular glees being called for, Mabel readily consented 
 to preside at the piano, and furnish the accompaniment, a diffi- 
 cult accomplishment for one who does not take part in the sing- 
 ing ; but, although diffident in respect to her vocal powers, she 
 had an exquisite ear for music, and this had always at school 
 been her disinterested province. 
 
 Satisfied with an office which, to one so familiar with it, 
 involved little more than a mechanical effort, and soothed and 
 cheered by the sound of Harry's fine bass voice, which she 
 rejoiced to hear, lending depth to the song, she played a long 
 time without consciousness of fatigue, and finally received, with 
 much of her natural sweetness and grace, the thanks of the 
 group who were assembled around the piano. She still occu- 
 pied the music-stool, and was engaged in conversation with the 
 senior Mr. Bloodgood, who stood beside her, when she sud- 
 denly became conscious that some one was waiting to take her 
 place at the instrument, and looking quickly up, she recognized 
 the individual, who, a little while ago, had made her the sub- 
 ject of his criticism. 
 
 Perhaps, as she promptly vacated the place and withdrew 
 outside the circle, he was reminded of the dread he had ex- 
 pressed of her vicinity. If so, however, it must Jiave been his 
 conscience rather than her manner which so reminded him, for 
 she returned his gentlemanly acknowledgement of her rising 
 

 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 285 
 
 with a graceful courtesy, and there was nothing marked or rude 
 in her quietly retreating to a distance. 
 
 As the instrument was so situated that the performer faced 
 the company, and she dreaded the embarrassment of again 
 meeting his eye, she purposely strolled through the back parlor 
 into the library, leaning on the arm of her obliging host, who 
 was soon after summoned away by a servant. Thus left alone 
 among strangers, she could not resist listening with pleasure to 
 the slow, impressive, and beautiful symphony which proceeded 
 from the piano, and was inwardly commenting on the taste and 
 skill of the performer, when he suddenly commenced singing ; 
 and, as a lull among the company immediately succeeded, the 
 rich, mellow notes of his voice fell upon her ear, the effect 
 seemingly unmarred by distance. 
 
 Never before had Mabel heard such music. It was true her 
 enjoyment of the art had been limited, but a far wider experi- 
 ence might well have failed to awaken such impressions as 
 those which were inspired by the strains of this gifted singer. 
 His voice, of great natural breadth and sweetness, possessed, 
 also, the advantage of the highest cultivation, and these quali- 
 ties were enhanced and their effect heightened in no slight 
 degree by the purity of his enunciation and the expressive 
 power and pathos which he imparted to the words. It was 
 eloquence married unto harmony. He now sang, by request, 
 a glorious air from Rossini's " Stabat Mater." and the effect of 
 the sublime music was evident in the hush which prevailed 
 throughout the rooms, and the strained and eager attention of 
 those even who were not ordinarily susceptible to emotion from 
 a similar source. Though the clear, full notes penetrated 
 through all the lower apartments of the house, Mabel found 
 herself instinctively drawn in the direction whence they pro- 
 ceeded, as if to make sure that they did not have their source 
 in some illusion of the senses, and, half forgetting, wholly disre- 
 garding her previous desire to avoid the presence of the young 
 stranger, she noiselessly but unhesitatingly glided through the 
 hall and stationed herself among a little throng of listeners, in 
 the doorway opposite the piano. She had not dared to scan 
 
286 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 his face attentively before ; now she could not resist doing so, 
 nor could she fail to acknowledge that it was a countenance 
 worthy of the inspired song, a countenance in which gentle- 
 ness and force were most harmoniously blended. lie might 
 have been five and twenty years of age, though the freshness 
 and fairness of his complexion gave him a more youthful ap- 
 pearance, lie wore no beard, and his light, wavy hair was 
 tossed back in some careless fashion, revealing a finely devel- 
 oped and intellectual brow ; his full, blue eye was calm, clear, 
 and truthful, and all his features were indicative of resolution 
 and energy. His unusual heighth and breadth of figure, his 
 well expanded chest, and firm, erect position, were all signifi- 
 cant, moreover, of physical power and endurance ; in short, his 
 whole appearance might be pronounced typical of those ancient 
 northern races, noted both for beauty and hardihood. In proof 
 of this, Mabel was forcibly reminded by his striking exterior, 
 of a picture she had once seen representing some youthful 
 Norsemen of the times of Hengist and Horsa, to one figure in 
 which group she detected in him a marked resemblance. 
 
 It added not a little to the effect produced by his music that 
 he sang with no apparent effort, and seemed quite unconscious 
 of the impression produced upon his audience, while the half 
 smile upon his face indicated the joyousness with which he thus 
 gave vent, as it were, to the natural emotions of his soul ; and 
 when he at length finished and rose from his seat amid the 
 breathless silence of the assembly, there was not the slightest 
 evidence of triumph in his manner ; but receiving without affec- 
 tation the plaudits of those in his neighborhood, and declining 
 to reseat himself at the instrument, he entered, with respectful 
 earnestness, into conversation with Mrs. Bloodgood's father. 
 The latter, an extremely elderly gentleman, appeared to be 
 questioning him with interest, and listening with attention to 
 his animated replies ; while the youngest child of the household, 
 who had leaned against him, looking up in his face while he 
 sang, continued in the same trusting attitude, and suffered him 
 to toss her silken curls with his hand ; his relation to both being 
 significant of his rare and beautiful character ; for noble firm- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 287 
 
 ness of heart and will was in him so united with gentle and 
 cheerful benignity, that he was one whom old men might rever- 
 ence, and little children love. 
 
 Though Mabel might be excused for terming the neighbor- 
 hood of L. a country district, in comparison with New York, 
 Mrs. Ridgway was right in asserting that no one could enter- 
 tain company more elegantly than their Member of Congress ; 
 and she might also have added, with truth, that no city could 
 furnish a choicer collection of guests than would be sure to 
 assemble at his house. All the most cultivated families for 
 ten miles around were represented, men of political note were 
 present from a still greater distance, and pretty girls and gay 
 young collegians made the time pass merrily ; while no pains 
 were spared on the part of the host to render the occasion a 
 memorable one. The beautifully decorated supper-room had 
 been thrown open from the commencement of the evening ; 
 and from the moment supper was announced until the company 
 left the house, it was more or less frequented. During the lat- 
 ter portion of the time, however, it was almost exclusively 
 occupied by gentlemen, who, after devoting themselves assidu- 
 ously to the ladies in the first instance, returned thither to par- 
 take of the second course of hot oysters, and drink each other's 
 health with more freedom than they had ventured upon in the 
 presence of their mothers, daughters, and wives. It was with 
 trembling heart that, towards the close of the evening, Mabel 
 lingered near the door of this room, vainly hoping to attract 
 Harry's attention and, under the plea of a long drive, persuade 
 him to return home. He stood directly opposite to her, but the 
 supper-table was between them, and in the increasing hilarity 
 which prevailed she found it impossible to catch his eye, while 
 every moment of delay rendered it more doubtful whether he 
 would regard a sister's summons. Several of her acquaint- 
 ances passed and re-passed, and more than ouu invited her to 
 ^ return to the drawing-room; but she persisted in declining, 
 remarking that she found it cooler in the hall. Now and then 
 a loud peal of laughter rang through her ears like a sudden 
 pain, while the rapid uncorking of fresh bottles of wine caused 
 
288 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 a nervous shudder to agitate her whole frame. In the midst 
 of a circle of thoughtless young men stood Harry, no, not 
 Harry, but the strange, unnatural being that Harry became, 
 when no longer master of himself. The light joke was passing 
 from lip to lip, and each had his foaming glass raised awaiting 
 the coming toast, when Bayard, approaching with a quick step 
 from the drawing-room, passed Mabel without observing her, 
 and stepping to the table took from it a tumbler and a pitcher, 
 which proved to be empty. 
 
 "Ah, Lewis!" exclaimed he, to a man-servant who stood 
 near, and whom he evidently knew r , " there is no w r ater here ; 
 I want a glass of water for Miss Bessie." 
 
 The servant took the pitcher to replenish it, and, during the 
 instant of delay which ensued, the young man stood gazing at 
 the convivial group opposite to him, with a serious, contempla- 
 tive face, which had in it, however, less of contempt than 
 anxiety and commiseration. As the servant presently handed 
 him the glass of water and he started to leave the room, he 
 was followed by two or three of the noisiest of the youths, who, 
 passing through the door-way at the same moment as himself, 
 were heard to say to one another, u Fred has bet with that young 
 New York chap, as to which will drink the most champagne, 
 and Bloodgood is to stand umpire. Fred has beat already ; 
 New York is making a fool of himself. I am going to hand 
 my mother into her carriage and then come back and see the 
 sport." At the same moment the voice of Harry within the 
 room boisterously exclaimed, " Look here, waiter ! bring on 
 some more wine." 
 
 In the hurry and excitement of their movements, one of the 
 reckless youths who passed through the door at the same mo- 
 ment with Bayard, roughly jostled the arm of the latter, causing 
 a large proportion of the water which he carried to be suddenly 
 spilled on the dress and arm of Mabel, who stood, as we have 
 said, just within the hall. He turned quickly to apologize for 
 the accident ; but the words died on his lips as he recognized 
 her and observed the expression of her countenance, realizing 
 as he did, at the same moment, the painfulness of her situation. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 289 
 
 Pier face was deathly pale, her colorless lips were tightly com- 
 pressed, and her hand nervously clasped the railing of a hat- 
 tree which was within her reach ; while the intense suffering 
 which was written on her features, the earnest, pleading, and 
 half-bewildered look with which she met the eye, now fired 
 upon her, were such as to excite the tenderest compassion in 
 her behalf. 
 
 Unconscious as was this silent appeal on the part of the un- 
 happy girl, Bayard was not the man to be insensible to it ; and 
 though she could not have explained the reason, she took 
 encouragement from his answering glance, although he passed 
 on without a word, without even an apology for spattering her 
 hand and arm with cold water ; a circumstance for which she 
 could almost have thanked him, since she felt as if it had saved 
 her from fainting. 
 
 A moment after, and the brave youth, who feared neither 
 censure nor ridicule in the cause of truth and humanity, had 
 passed through the parlor, disposed of his glass of water, and 
 returning through a side entrance, stood beside his friend 
 Bloodgood, in the spacious china closet, adjoining the supper- 
 room, where the latter had been superintending the unpacking 
 of a new supply of wine, and now held a bottle which he was 
 preparing to uncork. 
 
 u Charlie ! " exclaimed he, laying his hand on the shoulder 
 of his friend. 
 
 Young Bloodgood turned, colored, and became confused, as 
 he met the calm, reproachful eye of Bayard, and answered 
 with some embarrassment. 
 
 " Ah ! Bayard, you here ? You '11 find a glass " 
 
 " No, no, Charlie," continued Bayard, " you know that is not 
 what I am here for." " Come, added he, coaxingly, " you have 
 proved your hospitality enough to-night ; let Lewis keep this out 
 of sight ; it is the greatest kindness you can do those fellows." 
 
 u Poh, nonsense ! Bayard," replied the other ; " we are 
 bound to entertain our guests " 
 
 "But not to shame and ruin them. This plot to disgrace a 
 stranger here to-night is scandalous and ought not to go on." 
 
 25 
 
290 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 "It's a plot of his own contriving," answered Bloodgood, 
 laughing. " If a man will make a buffoon of himself, he is the 
 best judge of his own conduct and the only sufferer by it." 
 
 " Oh, no, Charlie, you are mistaken," responded Bayard, 
 earnestly. " The greatest sufferer is that noble looking, beau- 
 tiful, unhappy girl, who stands in the doorway with a heart 
 bleeding for her poor brother. I will not see her proud head 
 brought low by his glaring folly and misconduct ; 1 will not 
 look on and not lend a word and a hand to save her from mor- 
 tification and him from scorn." 
 
 A shout of merriment from the next room, and an impatient 
 cry of " \VTiat has become of Bloodgood," now caused the 
 well-intentioned, but somewhat irresolute youth to endeavor to 
 parry his friend's arguments, and break away from him alto- 
 gether, with the lightly-uttered words, " Ah, ha, Bayard ! the 
 girl has made a conquest of you, I see, and expects you to run 
 a tilt on her light-headed brother's account ; but you cannot 
 expect to make such a Don Quixote of me a man is not 
 responsible for his guests." 
 
 " Bloodgood," exclaimed Bayard, in a tone which had 
 changed from simple earnestness to that of a just and 
 righteous indignation, "I think a man is, to a great de- 
 gree, responsible for his guests, and to them. It is folly for 
 you to talk of any personal interest I can feel in either Miss 
 Yaughan or her brother ; I, who ha\ e never spoken a word 
 to either, and to-morrow leave this j art of the country for as 
 many years, perhaps, as have passed since I was last an 
 inmate of your father's house. But one is a woman, and as 
 such has a claim on your tenderness, and the other is a fellow- 
 man, and is thus entitled to your sympathy. Charlie," added 
 he, in a tone at once affectionate and firm, " we have known 
 each other from boys, have passed our college life and vaca- 
 tions in each other's company, and I have hoped most ear- 
 nestly to welcome you one day to my distant home ; but you 
 and I cannot clasp hands in friendship to-night, or meet as 
 friends in years to come, if you compel me to believe that 
 
MABEL YA.UGHAN. 291 
 
 you can be indifferent to a fellow being's reputation and his 
 sister's peace." 
 
 The young man thus addressed hung down his head for a 
 moment, fumbled with the cork-screw, which he held in his 
 hand, then threw it on the closet shelf, and, with a candor 
 which did him infinite credit, caught the hand of Bayard and 
 shook it with hearty warmth, exclaiming, " Bayard, I cannot 
 afford to lose your friendship ; it has been the greatest bless- 
 ing of my life ; this is not the first time you have saved me 
 from folly, if from nothing worse," and energetically kicking 
 the champagne basket underneath the shelf, he locked his arm 
 in that of his friend, and they entered the supper-room toge- 
 ther, when Charlie, following Bayard's example, employed 
 himself with ready tact in dispersing the group awaiting him 
 around the supper-table. 
 
 *' No, no, Fred," said he, shaking his head emphatically, 
 " Vaughan has drank enough, it is too bad. Boone, I be- 
 lieve your sisters are wishing to say good-night to my mother. 
 Lander, will you come into the library and see the picture I 
 have had taken of my dog ? " 
 
 Bayard, in the meantime, after intimating to such as would 
 be likely to heed the suggestion, that the young ladies in the 
 drawing-room were wondering what had become of the gentle- 
 men, obtained through Bloodgood an introduction to Harry, 
 and gradually contriving to withdraw him from his now scat- 
 tering circle of associates, led the way to a little room where 
 coffee was served. As the maniac, or the wild beast, may 
 frequently be calmed and subdued by the power of a fixed eye 
 and a resolute will, so the unfortunate young man, dispossessed 
 at once of reason and self-government, yielded himself, with- 
 out resistance, to the guidance and control of one who, by a 
 union of persuasion, tact, and unyielding purpose, contrived to 
 gain an immediate and complete mastery over his bewildered 
 and excited mind. With wandering eye and unsteady hand 
 he lifted to his lips the cup of coffee, which Bayard hoped 
 might in some degree serve as a restorative ; and then, with a 
 strange mingling of submission and free-will, suffered the latter 
 
292 MABEL VAUGIIAX. 
 
 to lock his arm within his, and conduct him through a low, 
 open casement, leading to the piazza "which ran around the 
 house. Once only, as they left the lighted room behind them, 
 and stepped out into the cool night-air, Harry manifested some 
 slight uneasiness, and a disposition to break away from his new 
 acquaintance ; but either the animated conversation, the firm 
 grasp, or the determined eye of Bayard, restrained him from 
 this purpose ; for it was abandoned as suddenly as formed, and 
 he made no further opposition to the effectual ascendancy of 
 superior physical and mental force. 
 
 From the moment when Bayard thus came to the rescue, 
 until that Avhen he left the house with his self-assumed charge, 
 he was followed by the anxious gaze of the agitated and 
 trembling Mabel. She watched his face, his motions, under- 
 stood his generous intentions at a glance, read the secret of 
 his power, witnessed his success, and at length, with a heart 
 relieved from an inexpressible weight, comforted herself with 
 the assurance, that come what might, both she and her brother 
 were under safe and certain guardianship. 
 
 It was comparatively easy now to rally her self-possession, 
 to converse with the friends, who almost at the same moment 
 claimed her attention , to accompany them to the drawing- 
 room, and once more resume her part in that social scene, 
 which to all but her seemed replete with gaiety and pleasure. 
 From the window near which she stood she could distinguish 
 two tall figures walking slowly up and down at a distance 
 beneath the trees. As if they had been the sentinels stationed 
 without some post of danger, she felt herself animated with 
 new confidence and hope, as at regular intervals they passed 
 and repassed within her sight. So long as they continued 
 thus to pace the grounds, Harry was saved from further ex- 
 posure, and herself from embarrassment and shame. This 
 knowledge afforded security for the present moment, and 
 beyond that she dared not think. 
 
 It was growing late, however. Some persons who lived at 
 a distance had left already, and there was a murmur among the 
 company, such as usually precedes departure. The figures of 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 29-3 
 
 the young men were no longer discernible in the dim moon- 
 light, and Mabel began once more to experience a painful 
 uncertainty and dread, which reached its height, when, on 
 looking up, she saw Bayard standing just within the room, 
 unaccompanied by Harry, and apparently looking about him 
 in search of some one. Suddenly he caught her eye, and 
 instantly crossing the room, approached, and spoke in a voice 
 inaudible to any one but herself. 
 
 " Miss Vaughan," said he, as if certain of being understood, 
 "your brother is engaged in giving some orders about his 
 horse : if you will allow me the honor, I shall be happy to 
 accompany you to our hostess, and afterwards see you to your 
 carriage." 
 
 Unhesitatingly, and without a word, she took his offered 
 arm ; in some mechanical manner, she scarcely knew how, said 
 farewell to Mrs. Bloodgood, and with a hurried step ran up 
 stairs for her cloak. He awaited her in the hall on her re- 
 turn, but so hasty had been her preparations for the drive, 
 that when they reached the door-step the carriage was not 
 brought up. By this time she shook and trembled violently ; 
 the night air was damp and chilly, and Bayard, perceiving 
 her agitation to be such that she could scarcely stand, proposed 
 her re-entering the house for a few moments. 
 
 She shook her head to express her unwillingness to return, 
 but did not speak ; and he, seeing that she trembled more and 
 more, unfolded a heavy shawl which she had brought down 
 stairs over her arm, and wrapped it around her. As he did 
 so, one or two hot tears fell upon his hand, while a shiver ran 
 through her whole frame, which was not the effect of cold. 
 Unwilling to leave her, and yet anxious concerning Harry, 
 fearful, too, that others of the company would pour out upon 
 the door-steps, he begged her to take his arm again, and pro- 
 posed that they should walk a short distance in the direction 
 of the stable, to learn the cause of the delay. 
 
 With the simple confidence of a child she did as he requested, 
 and just at the rear of the house they encountered Harry, who, 
 engaged in an idle dispute with a groom on the subject of his 
 
294 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 mare's harness, seemed quite unconscious that his sister was 
 awaiting his movements. Mad Sallie, meanwhile, irritated and 
 unmanageable beyond her wont, was starting from side to side 
 and now and then plunging furiously forward. 
 
 Bayard's presence and prompt interference soon restored 
 harmony, however. Both Harry and the groom were ready 
 to submit their difference to him, and even Mad Sallie was 
 soothed into quietness by his voice and hand, as he spoke 
 gently to her and stroked her mane while he critically examined 
 every point of the harness. " Do not be afraid," said he in a 
 low voice as he handed Mabel into the light vehicle ; " I am 
 confident you will reach town in safety." He drew back as he 
 ceased speaking, for Harry, who was already seated in the 
 carriage, had taken up the reins and now incautiously snapped 
 his whip. Mad Sallie started, reared, plunged forward, then 
 backed for a pace or two, and finally dashed off at full speed. 
 The groom held up his lantern once more to see that all was 
 right, and as the carriage swept rapidly round the corner of 
 the house, the glare fell full on the face of Mabel, who had 
 lifted her hitherto bowed head, and turned to bestow a parting 
 glance on her own and her brother's benefactor. 
 
 How much of grief and how much of gratitude may be 
 revealed in a single look ! Had Bayard's humane and gen- 
 erous deed involved a tenfold effort, and demanded a tenfold 
 sacrifice, his noble heart would have asked no higher reward 
 than the glow of deep, fervent, and grateful feeling which 
 flashed out from that pale, tearful, sorrow-struck face, turned 
 towards him for an instant, and then borne away into the 
 darkness. 
 
 " Only by bearing each other's burdens can we read the 
 secrets of each other's hearts," thought he, as he stood listening 
 until the carriage had passed in safety through the gateway at 
 the end of the avenue. " How strangely did I misjudge and 
 wrong that suffering girl." 
 
 His mental recantation was interrupted by the blunt voice of 
 the Irish groom. " Go it, yer young rascal ;" exclaimed the man, 
 " and the blessed angel beside ye be the savin' o' yer bones". 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 205 
 
 " Bring up my horse as quick as you can, Patrick," said 
 Bayard, turning abruptly to the fellow, who was starting in the 
 direction of the stable. 
 
 " Sure, Misther Bayard, ye '11 not be afther goin' to L 
 
 to-night." 
 
 " Yes, I have concluded to sleep at the hotel there ; and, 
 Patrick, I shall be much obliged to you if you will bring my 
 luggage over in the morning in season for the early train. I 
 will speak to Mr. Charles about it," and so saying he hastened 
 into the house. 
 
 Mabel's first sensations as she drove down the avenue arid 
 gained the open road, were those only of indescribable relief 
 and deliverance from dreaded danger. But though her brother 
 was rescued from further disgrace, no trifling peril of a far 
 different nature awaited them both. She could not disguise 
 from herself the fact that Harry was incapable of managing 
 his spirited steed or of distinguishing the road, the intricacy of 
 which she well remembered. The night was dark ; there was 
 more than one bridge to be crossed, while, at a certain point, 
 their way wound along the verge of a precipitous bank, and 
 was protected only by a slender railing. Fortunately, fur the 
 first mile or two the road was wide and unencumbered, so that 
 the rapid pace at which they started was maintained for awhile 
 without disaster of any kind. Then Harry, who had been 
 boisterous and talkative, relapsed into silence, slackened his 
 reins, and suffered the mare to fall into a walk. They pro- 
 ceeded at this rate for some little distance, and were just 
 approaching a point where the road branched, when Harry's 
 head sank upon Mabel's shoulder, and she perceived that he 
 had fallen asleep. Tremblingly she caught the reins as they 
 dropped from his powerless hands, and suffering him to retain 
 his recumbent posture, assumed for the first time and under 
 the most painful circumstances, the responsible office that had 
 thus devolved upon her. 
 
 At this crisis, she heard the welcome sound of horses' hoofs, 
 and although in the darkness she could distinguish nothing 
 with certainty, she soon became convinced that for her all 
 
296 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 danger was past. A horseman soon overtook them, and then 
 slackening the pace at which he rode, silently performed for 
 the remainder of the drive the combined duties of protector, 
 guide, and friend. At every fork in the road he led the way, 
 and Mad Sallie instinctively followed. At every point of dan- 
 ger he kept perseveringly at the animal's side, and more than 
 once Mabel was conscious that he led her by the rein. Now 
 in advance and now in the rear, sometimes quite obscured in 
 the darkness, and again dimly discerned as he loitered on the 
 brow of a hill, but always near enough for the sound of his 
 horse's feet to be distinctly audible, he might have been deemed 
 an accidental traveller on the road, but for the watchful and 
 efficient care which he exercised over his voluntarily assumed 
 charge. It was a strange situation for a young and delicately- 
 reared girl; supporting with one arm the sleeping form of 
 him who should have been her natural protector, grasping with 
 her white-gloved and trembling hand the reins which ordinarily 
 she would not have dared to touch, and dependent in the dark- 
 ness of midnight and the solitude of the lonely road, upon the 
 guardianship of a stranger. Such was the confidence, however, 
 with which Bayard had inspired her, that from the moment 
 when she instinctively realized the presence of one whom in 
 the obscurity she could not otherwise recognize, she experienced 
 an undoubted sense of security, and felt the force of his pro- 
 phetic assurance, that there was no cause for fear. Not until 
 they gained the partially lit streets of the town did he fail to 
 keep within her hearing. As they rattled over the pavements 
 of the principal thoroughfare, however, the sound of his horse's 
 feet in the rear gradually became more and more indistinct ; 
 and Mabel, as she now realized her position more fully by the 
 light of the street lamps, and attempted to rouse her sleeping 
 brother, was almost tempted to believe that she herself had 
 been under the influence of a strange, wild dream, and that 
 their fancied outrider was merely an hallucination of the senses. 
 It was no easy task to arouse Harry's slumbering faculties, and 
 even after they had reached their aunt's door in safety, Mabel 
 hesitated and feared to alight, lest he should prove incapable 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 207 
 
 of guiding Mad Sallie to her stable at some distance down the 
 street. 
 
 Trusting partly to the creature's instinct, and encouraged by 
 some signs of renewed vivacity and intelligence in Harry, who 
 stretched himself energetically, declared it was a deused bore to 
 ride so far at night, and pettishly shook the reins which he had 
 snatched from her hand, she stepped, unassisted and at some 
 risk upon the sidewalk, and stood watching him as he continued 
 on his way. At this moment her doubts, if such actually ex- 
 isted, concerning the reality of their midnight escort were at 
 once dispersed, for as she lingered anxiously in the gate-way, 
 looking down the street, he rode suddenly past her, and disap- 
 peared in the direction Harry had taken. Nor was his identity 
 with Bayard any less evident, when, a half-hour later, she 
 cautiously opened the door of her aunt's house to admit her 
 recreant brother, and, as he staggered in, the light shone full on 
 the retreating figure of one who, from first to last, had proved 
 himself a friend. 
 
 It mattered not to Mabel that he had misunderstood and 
 falsely interpreted her character. On the contrary, it but added 
 to the heroism of his conduct, that it admitted of no selfish 
 construction, that it was as disinterested as it was manly and 
 humane. He had freely expressed, in her hearing, his unflat- 
 tering opinion of herself, and of Harry he might almost be- 
 lieve the worst, and yet to both he had acted a Christian part. 
 Mabel was not ungrateful for his kindness to the beauty and 
 the belle, the general admiration of whom he did not profess 
 to share, but it was not for this that she most fervently thanked 
 and blessed him. It was for the benefit conferred on Harry, 
 and through him, on her. It was because he alone of all the 
 world had lent a willing and a helping hand to her sinking, 
 sunken brother. 
 
 We rejoice and triumph when the world bestows its homage 
 and its smiles upon our great, our noble, and our virtuous be- 
 loved ; but the deeper fountains of the heart are stirred when 
 a hand is stretched out in sympathy and in aid to our poor, our 
 fallen, and our sinful ones. We feel that the honor paid to 
 
298 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 worth is a sentiment which ennobles humanity ; but the voice 
 that whispers of hope to the fallen is more than half divine. 
 Thus, the emotion which Bayard had awakened in Mabel was 
 that of reverent gratitude, and was treasured in after years as 
 a sacred memory. They had met, as it were, on one of the 
 cross roads of life ; she dimly comprehended that on the mor- 
 row he was to depart into some unknown but distant exile ; she 
 had parted from him without a word of acknowledgement or of 
 thanks. Still she felt that for his service to virtue and hu- 
 manity he would never go unrewarded, and on bended knee, 
 in the silence of the night, she prayed that the God of Heaven 
 might be with him in his wanderings, and that He might min- 
 ister to him in his hour of need, who has said of the simplest 
 deed of charity, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
 least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Something was there, that, through the lingering night, 
 Outwatches patiently the taper's light ; 
 Something that faints not through the day's distress, 
 That fears not toil, that knows not weariness. 
 
 MRS. HEMANS. 
 
 MRS. RIDGWAY was very indignant the next morning, when, 
 in reply to her pointed questions, Mabel assured her that she 
 had not been introduced to the distinguished guest of Mrs. 
 Bloodgood, whom she supposed, however, to be a Mr. Bayard, 
 such an individual having been present. So much was the 
 ambitious aunt piqued at this neglect, that she effectually re- 
 strained her curiosity, and forbore making any inquiries of her 
 neighbors concerning the stranger, lest she should be compelled 
 to acknowledge that her niece had not made his acquaintance ; 
 and thus, much to Mabel's relief, he was not again referred to 
 in her presence. 
 
 But the vexation which this circumstance occasioned to Mrs. 
 Ridgway was slight in comparison with the resentment she felt 
 against her nephew, when, in the course of the day, she heard 
 from Hannah, her cook, who had it from Mrs. Paradox's par- 
 lor girl, who had it from Mr. Bloodgood's man, Patrick, that 
 " the young New York chap, who was a stayin' at the widder 
 Ridgway's, had been pretty considerable sprung," the previous 
 night, and " must have got back to town by a miracle, with his 
 dragon of a baste." 
 
 So long as Harry maintained the position of a gentleman, 
 and was courted throughout the vicinity as a foreign-bred youth, 
 of wealth, accomplishments, and spirit, Mrs. Ridgway, prudent 
 as she was in her own affairs, cared not how thoughtlessly he 
 idled away his time, or how recklessly he squandered his 
 
300 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 father's money. The moment, however, that he overstepped 
 the outermost limits of that decorum which society enjoins, 
 her worldly-wise sagacity took alarm ; and now that she heard 
 his name lightly used even by servants, she began to appre- 
 hend that instead of an honor, he would prove a cause of dis- 
 credit and disgrace to her house. She was not one to be 
 restrained by motives of delicacy from expressing, in Mabel's 
 hearing, her contempt and disgust at what she termed this 
 scandalous exposure, nor did she hesitate to acquaint Harry, 
 by the broadest hints and inuendoes, with her knowledge of the 
 shameful events of the evening, which she declared to be com- 
 mon talk, and against which she inveighed as reflecting not only 
 upon the delinquent, but upon all who had the misfortune to be 
 connected with him. 
 
 Whatever indifference Harry might feel or feign at these 
 home thrusts and sarcasms with which he was constantly 
 assailed, they were the cause of the most poignant suffering 
 to Mabel, and the more so as she plainly saw that although 
 apparently listened to by Harry in dogged unconcern, they 
 cooperated with other circumstances in angering and driving 
 him to desperation. 
 
 Conscious that he had disgraced himself in the estimation of 
 the respectable portion of the community, feeling it little less 
 than an insult to the venerable Judge Paradox to present him- 
 self in the office, where he was but a nominal student, and 
 driven from his aunt's house by her worse than useless invec- 
 tives, he now gave himself wholly up to a life of excitement, 
 and sought only those associates among whom he was sure to 
 find a ready welcome. Thus, he was sometimes absent for 
 days together; the time of his return was always uncertain, and 
 although his departure was invariably the signal for Mrs. Ridg- 
 way to denounce his idle and reckless habits, the ungracious 
 reception which she gave him after every absence, was little 
 calculated to render his excursions from home less frequent or 
 protracted. 
 
 The rooms which he had expected to occupy were in a new 
 building, not yet completed. The work might, perhaps, have 
 
MABEL VAUCIIAN. 301 
 
 been hastened, but neither he nor his aunt eared to press the 
 point, for it was now generally conceded that Harry's residence 
 in L was not destined to be permanent. Nothing, how- 
 ever, had been heard from Mr. Vaughan with reference to the 
 probable time of his return, and, although the presence of his 
 children in Mrs. Ridgway's house was fast becoming burden- 
 some, there seemed no other alternative than for them to remain 
 there for the present. 
 
 "Do go to bed, child! Dear me, you'll make yourself 
 sick ! " Aunt Sabiah would anxiously exclaim, when creeping 
 cautiously into Mabel's room at the midnight hour, she would 
 find the faithful sister watching at the window for her brother's 
 return. 
 
 But Mabel would gently shake her head in reply to her 
 aunt's expostulations, and say, " O no, aunt ; I am not tired. I 
 could not sleep." 
 
 " There is n't one chance in ten that he '11 come home to- 
 night," Sabiah would, perhaps, rejoin. " You 're getting pale 
 and miserable, and what 's the use, after all ? " 
 
 " I feel anxious," was sure to be the answer. " He '11 come 
 soon, I think," and with a few persuasive words, Sabiah would 
 be coaxed back to bed, and Mabel would persist in her lonely 
 vigils. 
 
 It was a principle with Mrs. Ridgway that her doors should 
 be locked at ten o'clock precisely, a rule which had been 
 occasionally infringed during the few weeks succeeding the 
 arrival of her young visitors, but which had been rigidly en- 
 forced from the time of her becoming acquainted with Harry's 
 irregularities. Thus, it was only by the most unwearied 
 watchfulness that Mabel could ensure her brother's ready ad- 
 mittance; and who shall tell how often the wanderer was 
 beguiled back by the certainty that, come at what hour he 
 might, whether of the night or day, the same gentle voice 
 which had lamented his departure, would greet him at his 
 return, and the same sweet face which had anxiously watched 
 him as he/ went, would welcome him with a smile, mournful, 
 perhaps, but always kind ? 
 26 
 
302 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 All the fatigues and dissipations of the previous winter had 
 not so weighed upon Mabel's frame and exhausted her strength, 
 as did these prolonged and midnight vigils, when, with strain- 
 ing eye and car, she thus waited and hoped and prayed. But 
 though the color was each day fading from her cheek, and her 
 step had lost its elasticity, she gained, in these lonely commun- 
 ings with God and her own heart, a power which is horn of 
 endurance, and a strength which comes only through suffering. 
 With the world and its bewildering sounds shut out, and the 
 page of duty open before her, she was patiently learning that 
 great lesson of life which is the key to all the rest ; and in hum- 
 ble forgetfulness of self, and serene reliance on Heavenly aid, 
 she was gradually divining that precious secret which had ren- 
 dered Rosy's little life a blessed ministry. 
 
 Her willingness both to do and to suffer was soon put to the 
 very test of which she had long had a foreshadowing and 
 presentiment. She was sitting one moonlight night at her 
 accustomed window, which commanded a view of the street, 
 and with her tired head resting on her hand, was listening for 
 the familiar sounds which betokened Harry's return, when she 
 was startled by a vehicle, which was none of his, approaching 
 her aunt's door, and the strange, hurried voices, significant 
 motions and words of caution and alarm which succeeded, 
 served at once to confirm the cruel conviction which had al- 
 ready flashed upon her. The scene was precisely such as her 
 imagination had long since conjured up. Mad Sallie had but 
 executed the destructive work which might well have been 
 anticipated from a refractory beast driven by a mad man, and 
 Harry was brought home insensible, perhaps already bereft of 
 life. 
 
 "Don't be scared; I guess he'll come to," said a rough but 
 kindly voice, as Mabel met, at the door, the benevolent farmer 
 and his sturdy sons, when bearing in their heavy burden. 
 
 " Oh, he is dead ! " exclaimed she, in a hollow whisper, as 
 she fixed her eyes with a rigid stare upon her brother's ghastly 
 countenance. 
 
 " No, no, not a bit of it ; don't you believe any such thing," 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. SOS 
 
 said the countryman, as having laid the helpless form of the 
 young man on the entry sofa, he took a silk handkerchief from 
 his luit and wiped his heated brow. Then, seeing that Ma!>4 
 stood like one turned to stone, watching his face as if to read 
 in it her brother's fate, he went on to state in earnest terms his 
 belief that the young fellow was only stunned ; that he had 
 spoken since they lifted him from the ground ; that he appeared 
 to have no broken bones ; that he had been on a bit of spree 
 and was pretty well corned; no offence to the young woman 
 he hoped she was n't a near relation of the poor dog whose 
 horse, devil of a beast as it was, seemed to have the most 
 sense of the two ; " never you mind," added he, in a truly 
 fatherly tone, patting with his rough hand the head of Mabel, 
 who now leaned over Harry's*prostrate form, listening to his 
 feeble but regular breathing " he 's got a lesson that 's bet- 
 ter 'n preachin', p'r'aps Vll be the savin' on him, soul and 
 body." 
 
 " Bring him up stairs," ejaculated Mabel, in a low, implor- 
 ing voice ; her subdued tones proving, even at this exciting 
 moment, the force of that habit of watchful stillness with 
 which, night after night, she had evaded her aunt Ridgway's 
 hearing. 
 
 The precaution was unnecessary now, however. The house 
 was by this time fully aroused, and poor Harry's bearers were 
 met on the staircase by its bustling and voluble mistress, who, 
 but for the old farmer's obstinate resistance, would have com- 
 pelled them to pause then and there, and acquaint her with 
 every circumstance of the accident, before they were suffered 
 to proceed with their burden. The bustle and confusion which 
 ensued, were such as usually attend similar events in a house- 
 hold, save that in this instance, they were aggravated by the 
 irritation and annoyance which succeeded Mrs. Ridgway's first 
 outburst of astonishment and alarm. Her earliest impulse 
 was, as we have said, to possess herself of every particular ; 
 her next, to rid the house of strangers ; and her last thought 
 seemed to be of the poor sufferer, over whom Mabel hung, in 
 an agony of suspense, while Sabiah wrung her hands, groaned 
 
304 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 and anxiously asked herself " how will sister Margaret put 
 up with this new trouble?" Mabel, though the most afflicted, 
 was the only one of the household who had the presence of 
 mind to send for a physician or attempt to apply restoratives ; 
 and her simple efforts, unavailing as they were, served to calm 
 her mind and render her capable of affording that assistance 
 which the medical man required on his arrival. While Sabiah 
 gave up to the despair which had taken possession of her, and 
 while Mrs. Ridgway examined her parlor carpet to discover 
 whether it had been stepped on by dirty feet, and looked into 
 the kitchen cupboards to make sure that no stragglers had taken 
 advantage of the confusion to conceal themselves there, Mabel 
 held the lamp for the doctor, furnished him with bandages and 
 other necessary articles, replied to all his questions, and re- 
 ceived at last the comforting assurance that, except some severe 
 bruises and a slight cut on the back of the head, there was no 
 perceptible injury, and that nothing serious need be appre- 
 hended, unless fever supervened. 
 
 " Cannot you do something to restore him to consciousness?" 
 she anxiously asked. 
 
 The doctor shook his head. "I cannot judge," said he, 
 "how much his present condition is to be attributed to the acci- 
 dent, and how much to previous excitement of the brain. I can 
 tell better to-morrow." 
 
 Morning, however, brought no change for the better, and be- 
 fore night the fever, which had been the chief cause of appre- 
 hension, set in. Now followed days and weeks of continued 
 nursing, anxiety, and suspense, during which Mabel was the 
 constant and unwearied attendant at the bedside of her brother. 
 As the stupor, in which he had lain for some hours, gave place 
 to feverish excitement, he manifested, in no measured terms, 
 his preference for his sister's presence and care ; barely toler- 
 ating his aunt Sabiah, and, with fierce imprecations and threats, 
 driving Mrs. Ridgway from the room whenever she ventured 
 to set her foot within the door. From Mabel's hand only would 
 he receive the cooling draught, and to her alone was he gentle 
 and submissive. 
 
MAHKL VAUOJIAN. 305 
 
 The wild words of delirium would die upon his lips as his 
 eye met her loving glance, and his excited gestures would 
 often give place to quiet and repose when he felt the pres- 
 sure of her soft hand on his burning temples. Sometimes, as 
 she sat patiently by his side through the long watches of the 
 night, he would reveal to her in measured whispers the confes- 
 sion of his past folly, extravagance, and dissipation ; gazing into 
 her face meanwhile with a holy awe, as if he believed her some 
 angel messenger sent thither to gather up the burdensome 
 secrets which lay upon his conscience. A less excited imagi- 
 nation, indeed, might almost have mistaken her for an appa- 
 rition, as, clothed in a long white wrapper, and becoming each 
 day more pale and worn, she moved noiselessly about the 
 darkened chamber, anticipating the sufferer's slightest want, 
 and patiently soothing his restlessness. 
 
 Her aunt Margaret, exasperated by the abuse with which 
 Harry assailed her, washed her hands, as she said, of all re- 
 sponsibility in regard to him, and both by her own indignant 
 and unaccommodating spirit, and by the strict orders which she 
 gave her servants, contrived to double Mabel's cares and anxi- 
 eties, and impress upon her a most painful sense of the difficul- 
 ties which sickness made in a household. Poor Sabiah, divided 
 between love for Mabel and dread of her sister's anger, hovered 
 stealthily in the vicinity of Harry's room, haunted the staircase 
 and passage-way, and patiently strove to relieve her niece's 
 weariness; but in her perturbed state of feeling, she effected but 
 little in Mabel's favor, and brought down on her own head a 
 torrent of reproaches from Mrs. Ridgway, who, having no other 
 hearer, took every opportunity of expressing to Sabiah a piece 
 of her mind, and declaring that she had no idea of being im- 
 posed upon by her relations. 
 
 But, although Mabel's task was at once solitary and trying, 
 it had its alleviations. It was far better to see Harry lying 
 there in his helplessness, than to picture him amid scenes of 
 folly and vice; and in the gentle ministries of affection her own 
 bruised and wounded spirit found a healing balm, while in the 
 hearts of both, a silent influence was at work which hallowed 
 
 26* 
 
306 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 those lonely hours, and made that quiet chamber the nursery 
 of blessed and immortal fruits. 
 
 It was about three weeks after the accident, and at the dim 
 hour of twilight, when Mabel, believing her brother to have 
 fallen asleep, threw herself on her knees beside him, and re- 
 mained awhile lost in meditation and prayer. It had been to 
 her a day of no ordinary suspense. The doctor pronounced 
 his patient to be nearly free from fever, declared that the crisjs 
 was past, and gave her encouragement that he would soon be 
 well. This assurance had, however, failed to satisfy her. It 
 was true that Harry now" slept quietly, breathed with ease, and 
 took submissively the nourishment that was offered him. Still 
 she felt that there was something about him unnatural and 
 strange. Since he ceased his incoherent ravings, he had not 
 been heard to utter a syllable ; and although she was conscious 
 that he watched her continually, he made no reply to her gentle 
 inquiries, and, when she approached him, turned away his head, 
 closed his eyes, and remained in one position for hours. Could 
 his intellect have become dimmed? did he cherish bitter 
 thoughts toward her? or what was the cloud which had thus 
 settled upon him ? 
 
 Exhausted by harrowing doubts and fears, she had rested a 
 long time with her face shrouded in the bed clothes, and her 
 soul laid bare to the all-seeing Father, when a hand was gently 
 laid upon her head, and a faint, broken voice, murmured, 
 " Mabel." She looked hastily up, and met the earnest, tearful 
 gaze of Harry, fixed full and eagerly upon her. The tender 
 glance, and penitent tones of the chastened spirit wem not to be 
 mistaken ; he stretched out both his feeble arms, and, with a 
 cry of joy, she fell upon his bosom, and they wept together. 
 As in the days of their innocent childhood, when nestled on one 
 pillow, they had mourned over their little griefs, and soothed 
 each other's little sorrows, so now, with cheek pressed to cheek, 
 every shadow of past estrangement was washed away in a soft 
 rain of tears, while ninny a cherished hope for the future 
 dawned amid that refreshing dew of sympathy. Not a word 
 was spoken, not an explanaiory phrase was breathed by either; 
 
MABEL VAUCHAN. 307 
 
 nor were they needed. In that moment of the heart's recog- 
 nition, that outpouring of mutual confidence and restored affec- 
 tion, Mabel felt herself repaid for every trial, every sacrifice, 
 every suffering. She had watched, and waited, and hoped, and 
 prayed. In spite of weariness, alienation, disgrace, and sin, 
 led by patience, fortitude, and holy love, she had sought and 
 found her brother. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 From the sun's might, away may the calm planet rove ? 
 How easy, then, for man to wander from God's love ! 
 Yet from each circle's point to the centre lies a track ; 
 And there 's a way to God from furthest error back. 
 
 RUCKERT. 
 
 " HARRY, I promised to give you these as soon as you were 
 well enough. Perhaps you will feel able to look them over 
 to-day," said Mabel, and she put a little bundle of papers into 
 her brother's hand and hastily left the room. 
 
 The young man, pale and thin from the effects of his recent 
 illness, but so far recovered as to be seated in an arm-chair at 
 a table from which he had been breakfasting, unfolded the 
 papers one by one, examined their contents, and, with an air 
 of mingled thoughtfulness and shame, spread them out before 
 him. They were bills of various amounts, including many con- 
 tracted under circumstances of which he had no recollection, 
 and nearly all of a nature calculated to make a sober man blush 
 at his own folly and extravagance ; long accounts at a neigh- 
 boring hotel for dinners and suppers shared by unworthy and 
 ungrateful associates, petty debts contracted at most of the 
 places of resort and entertainment for a dozen miles around, 
 heavy charges at stable-keeper's and blacksmiths, and an 
 alarming balance in favor of an unprincipled horse-jockey with 
 whom he had had frequent dealings. During the hour that 
 Mabel purposely continued absent from the room, Harry sat 
 studying these written records of his own disgrace, anxiously 
 calculating the extent of his creditors' demands, and revolving 
 with still deeper bitterness the far heavier account which lay 
 upon his conscience. 
 
 When she at length returned, he was systematically filing 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 309 
 
 the bills and noting the sum of each on a slip of paper. 
 " Mabel," said he, looking up as she entered, " will you write a 
 note for me to young Bloodgood ? My hand is not quite steady 
 yet, and I want to ask him to call and see me this evening, if 
 convenient." 
 
 Mabel did as she was requested, and Charlie responded to 
 the summons by presenting himself at an early hour. Harry, 
 who had not yet been below stairs, received him in his own 
 room; and so earnest and prolonged was the conversation 
 between them, that Mabel, as she sat in the adjoining chamber, 
 became fearful that her brother would be over-fatigued, and 
 listened impatiently for the visitor's departure. " Good bye, 
 Vaughan," he was at length heard to say, as he left the room 
 and lingered a moment in the passage-way. " I will see you 
 again in a day or two. There will be no trouble in disposing 
 of the greys. I know of one or two persons who would take 
 them and the phaeton off your hands at any moment. Mad 
 Sallie will bring a better price perhaps in the city, but do n't 
 give yourself any uneasiness about the business I '11 attend 
 to it with pleasure. I am glad to find you so much better." 
 
 Later in the evening, when Mabel was sitting beside her 
 brother and there had been a short silence between them, 
 Harry exclaimed in a tone of deep and mournful feeling, 
 
 "Mabel, do you believe in such a thing as repentance?" 
 
 " O Harry," she promptly replied, " what hope would there 
 be for any of us, if we were cut off from that blessed refuge ? " 
 
 " But I do not mean any common sorrow for a common 
 fault; do you believe in a repentance broad and deep enough 
 to cover such a record of folly as that?" and he pointed to 
 the roll of bills "or to wipe out such a sense of shame and 
 sin as is written here ? " and he placed his hand upon his heart. 
 
 " Do not doubt it for a moment, dear Harry," replied Mabel, 
 in a tone of affectionate encouragement. " The sin which we 
 have learned to hate is robbed of half its power, and the soul 
 is never so strong as when it realizes its own weakness. 
 
 " But the sting of memory ! " exclaimed Harry with bitter- 
 ness ; " the burning sting ! Can that ever be rooted out ? " 
 
310 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 " It may become the spur to a higher virtue than we ever 
 dreamed of before. Harry!" she continued, her voice 
 half choked with sobs and her face hid upon his shoulder, " I 
 know, for I have felt it. Nothing has ever so fortified me 
 against my own weak and selfish indulgence, as the remorse 
 and penitence with which I now look back upon a wasted, 
 misspent, and dissipated winter." 
 
 " You ! " responded Harry, fondly caressing her, for she was 
 striving in vain to repress her tears ; " dear child ! What do 
 you know of misspent and dissipated time ? You shame me 
 more than ever, when you try to lighten my load by pretending 
 to share it." 
 
 "It is no pretence, Harry. .1 can never forgive myself for 
 being so faithless to a plain and simple duty. We had such a 
 beautiful home, and might all have been so happy together ! I 
 might have done so much to make it pleasant for you and my 
 father and aunt ! But your prophecy of me was true I was 
 the first to yield to temptation, and to become the slave of my 
 own vanity and self-love. Yes, it is in vain to deny it I 
 was not the daughter and sister that I should have been." 
 
 " You have been a faithful sister to me, Mabel," said Harry. 
 " If you had a fault in the world, it was because your nature 
 was so open to impressions that, like your poor brother, you 
 were easily led captive ; but you women have a deeper insight 
 than we into the depths of human character, and so you can 
 stop short where we must fall, unless some gentle hand follows 
 and upholds us." What a confiding look he gave her while he 
 spoke the last words proving by it how fully he realized 
 that she was the staff on which he leaned. 
 
 She made no reply, and he went on. " There was a time 
 when I thought that the same plausible, treacherous mind that 
 had brought me to the verge of ruin and there left me to stand 
 or fall as I best might, was striving with all his powers to 
 establish an influence over you. I thought you cherished his 
 opinions, trusted his false professions, and would sacrifice every 
 other friend for one whom all must acknowledge to be the most 
 insinuating of men. I knew my interference would fail to 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. oil 
 
 open your eyes, for lie was the chosen companion of my better 
 days, and it was I who had filled your ears with his praises. 
 The self-willed, ruined dog (for so I once heard him call me) 
 could not hope to establish his testimony against the accom- 
 plished, spotless Dudley. But instinct taught you, I believe, 
 to repel the hypocrite, and something better than instinct bids 
 you cling to the poor dog, who is at least sincere when he tells 
 you how much he loves you." 
 
 Mabel clung to him the closer, but was silent. 
 
 " Yes," continued he, with forced and bitter composure, " I 
 have no right to blame any one but myself for my fall ; but if 
 there is one man more than another who is in any degree 
 responsible for it, it is Lincoln Dudley. It was he whose 
 elegant taste for play first led me to the gaming-table ; whose 
 systematic self-indulgence fostered in me the love of wine ; 
 whose professed idleness robbed me of all impulse to exertion, 
 and whose sceptical principles made me question the very 
 existence of virtue. He would leave the gaming-house with 
 moderate winnings, while I had staked and lost every thing ; 
 he would coolly drain the bottle, one glass from which had set 
 my hot blood to boiling ; and when at last, in some unguarded 
 moment, I had betrayed my weakness, this polished favorite of 
 society was the first to point at me the finger of scorn, and 
 drive me to desperation by his contemptuous neglect. I de- 
 served contempt, but not from him. Nor was it the least of 
 my torments that, while turning his back upon me, he dared 
 offer his unworthy homage to the person I loved best in the 
 world. Thank Heaven, Mabel, you had the discernment and 
 the strength of mind which are needed to understand and cope 
 with such a man." 
 
 " O Harry," exclaimed Mabel, making an effort to speak, 
 only as she felt herself called upon to disclaim this tribute 
 of praise, " I am not the strong-minded girl you think me. I 
 did not question his sincerity. I believed him everything that 
 was noble and true. I would gladly believe him so still, but 
 I cannot." 
 
 The tone of her voice betrayed her ; it told of misplaced 
 
312 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 affection, disappointed trust, and weariness of spirit. Harry 
 put his arm around her, drew her face close to his, and whis- 
 pered, " You gave him up for my sake ? " 
 
 " I could not find it in my heart to leave you alone, Harry," 
 was her simple answer. 
 
 " Bless your loving heart, Mabel," responded he, kissing her 
 tenderly ; " Dudley and I are alike unworthy of it." 
 
 This conversation, serving as it did to throw new light upon 
 the cold and artificial character of Dudley, had at the same 
 time the effect of sensibly weakening the hold which he still 
 had upon Mabel's interest and imagination. Conscious as she 
 was of his duplicity towards herself, she was still more deeply 
 shocked as she contemplated the faithlessness of his once 
 boasted friendship for Harry, "and she henceforth began to 
 realize that in freeing herself from the influence of this selfish 
 and worldly-wise man, she had secured her own no less than 
 her brother's welfare. 
 
 It was one morning towards the end of August when Harry, 
 who had now wholly recovered, entered his aunt Ridgway's 
 sitting-room with a New York paper in his hand, and glancing 
 over the items of intelligence, read them aloud for the benefit 
 of his aunt Sabiah and Mabel, who were seated there. 
 
 " Regatta next week at Cape May Disastrous fire in 
 Canal street Splendid fancy ball at Newport, the beauti- 
 ful Mrs. Leroy of New York one of the belles of the even- 
 ing." 
 
 " More shame for her," muttered Sabiah, in an under tone. 
 " Where 's her husband, I wonder ? " 
 
 " Shocking railroad accident," continued Harry, disregarding 
 the interruption ; " nineteen persons killed and wounded." 
 
 " Oh, dear, how common those things are becoming ! " said 
 Mabel. " Where was it, Harry ? " 
 
 " Good heavens ! " exclaimed the latter, making no reply to 
 the question, and turning suddenly pale. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " cried Mabel in alarm. " Did the 
 accident happen at the West ? Father " 
 
MABEL J^AUGHAN. 313 
 
 " Father is safe," said Harry, at once relieving her fears, 
 but Mr. Leroy " 
 
 " Is killed ? " gasped Mabel, with a countenance full of 
 dread, while Sabiah laid down h. work and stared at Harry 
 with strained and horror-stricken features. 
 
 Harry answered by covering his face with one hand and 
 passing Mabel the paper, with his thumb on the following 
 paragraph : 
 
 " We regret to learn that our esteemed fellow-citizen, Alex- 
 ander Leroy, Esq., was among the victims of this fatal catas- 
 trophe. Mr. John Vaughan, a well-known and highly respected 
 merchant of our city, was also a passenger on board the train, 
 and, at the moment of the accident, occupied the same seat with 
 his son-in-law, Mr. Leroy ; but the former providentially 
 escaped with only a few bruises, while the latter was instantly 
 killed." 
 
 Mabel ran her eye hastily over this account, and, as she 
 read the partial confirmation of her fear, uttered a low cry, 
 and handed the paper to her Aunt Sabiah. Not a word was 
 spoken for some minutes, all seemed struck dumb by the 
 sudden and awful nature of the shock, and solemn thoughts 
 chased each other through the minds of each. 
 
 Thanksgiving for her father's deliverance was mingled in 
 Mabel's mind with horror and grief at the sudden death of 
 Mr. Leroy ; and in spite of her sister's cold-hearted frivolity, 
 she shuddered as she thought of the heavy blow which awaited, 
 if it had not already reached, her. Perhaps Harry experienced 
 the same train of thought, for he at length broke the silence 
 by the abrupt inquiry, " Mabel, where is Louise ? " 
 
 " I do not know," replied Mabel ; " I wish I did, so that I 
 might go to her." 
 
 " She is not at Newport, then ? " 
 
 "No. She was to give up her rooms the day after the 
 ball, and either visit the Earles at West Point, or go to Cape 
 May with Mrs. Vannecker, it was quite undecided when 
 she wrote last." 
 
 " You will slay here then, I suppose, until you hear from 
 
 27 
 
314 MABEL YAtJGIIAN. 
 
 her," said he ; " but I think I had better go immediately to 
 father." 
 
 "Yes, do, Harry," replied Mabel eagerly; "he may b. 
 more hurt than we suppose ; at all events, he will need you. 
 Oh, how I wish we could learn the particulars, and be sure of 
 his safety." 
 
 Mrs. Ridgway at this moment entered the room, and seeing 
 the unusual agitation which was written in every countenance 
 exclaimed with her wonted abruptness, " "Well, what 's to pay 
 here ? Sabiah, what 's given you such a long face ? " 
 
 Sabiah gravely communicated the intelligence to her. 
 
 " Upon my word," cried she, " brother John has had a nar- 
 row escape. And so that gad-about of a Louise is left a 
 widow, is she? Well, I daresay she has not found it out 
 herself yet. The blow that reaches her has got to strike her 
 on the wing." 
 
 No one, not even Sabiah, felt disposed at this moment to 
 echo Mrs. Ridgway's remark, while the roughness of her 
 words and manner grated so painfully upon Mabel's over- 
 charged feelings, and she hastened to her own room to give 
 vent to the emotions which she could no longer control. 
 
 An hour or two afterwards she was joined by Harry. He 
 had made some inquiries concerning the route which it would 
 be advisable for him to take, in order to reach the distant 
 scene of the accident in the shortest possible time, and had 
 decided that it would be best to start that evening. Mabel 
 could not but perceive, even at this agitating season, that he 
 seemed inspired with new energy, by the sudden necessity for 
 exerting himself in other's behalf; nor could she help hoping; 
 that in the breaking up of evil associations, and the escape 
 from the scene of his recent mortification, he would gain new 
 strength for carrying out his earnest and manly purpose of 
 reformation. 
 
 By the judicious management of young Bloodgood in the 
 sale of Harry's horses and their expensive equipment, a suffi- 
 cient sum had been raised to defray his numerous debts. 
 There was but little remaining, however, and he was obliged 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 315 
 
 to bog assistance from Mabel's purse, to furnish him with funds 
 for the journey. Proud of the promptness with which he had 
 rendered justice to his creditors, and feeling this expedition to 
 be one in which they had a common interest, Mabel would 
 gladly have transferred to him every cent of her ample supply 
 of pocket money. But he would receive only what his actual 
 expenses demanded, forcing back the rest into her hand, and 
 saying, " You forget how much you may need it yourself." 
 
 It had been agreed that Mabel should write to Louise at 
 both the points where a letter might possibly reach her, and 
 that, until she had some certain knowledge of her sister's 
 plans, she should remain at L., to which place Plarry's letters 
 should be directed, whenever he had anything to communi- 
 cate. 
 
 Two days after her brother's departure, Mabel's suspense 
 was to some degree relieved by a few hasty lines from her 
 father, dated from a Western post-town, and simply confirming 
 the fact of Mr. Leroy's death, and his own safety. 
 
 The next mail, also, brought tidings from Louise. Mrs. 
 Vannecker wrote from Cape May, stating that Mrs. Leroy had 
 accompanied her thither the preceding week, and had learned 
 the terrible news the day after her arrival. 
 
 " She bears the stroke with more composure than I had ex- 
 pected," added Mrs. Vannecker. " At times she is excited and 
 hysterical, but for the most part she is tolerably cheerful, and 
 allows herself to be comforted and consoled by the attention 
 and sympathy which she receives from every one in the hotel. 
 Alick seems to feel his father's death, but Murray, poor child, 
 is too young, I suppose, to realize the loss. Louise is now 
 asleep on a couch in my room. When she awakes, she will 
 add a postscript in reply to your sweet, affectionate letter which 
 was received last evening." 
 
 Mrs. Leroy's postscript consisted of a strange medley of 
 self-compassionating and congratulatory phrases, the former, 
 that she had experienced such a cruel shock to her nerves, and 
 lost such a kind, indulgent husband ; the latter, that she had 
 foreseen this or some similar catastrophe, and had wisely 
 refused to accompany Mr. Lcroy into that shocking Western 
 
316 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 wilderness. The only really coherent passage was that in which 
 she deprecated the idea of her sister's coming to Cape May 
 where the house was so crowded, on account of the approaching 
 regatta, that it would be impossible to obtain any accommodation. 
 She expected to return to New York in the course of a week 
 or two ; should be glad to have Mabel meet her there, and 
 would write again to let her know when she should leave the 
 sea-side. 
 
 The next ten days were wear}- ones to Mabel. She seemed 
 to be oppressed by a fever of the spirits, and to be weighed 
 down by some haunting fear. She found it impossible to rally 
 her cheerfulness notwithstanding Mrs. Ridgway's declaration 
 that it was nonsense to pretend she was so much overcome by 
 the death of Mr. Leroy, who could have been little more than a 
 stranger to her. The violence of the shock she had received, 
 a not unreasonable anxiety concerning her father, and a painful 
 sense of the impropriety of her sister's situation at a public 
 watering-place, all acting as they did on a system weakened 
 by protracted labors in a sick-room, might well account for 
 this seemingly unnatural depression. But so heavy was the 
 cloud which hung over her mind during this interval, that 
 Mabel was afterwards tempted to believe it a foreshadowing of 
 the calamities about to ensue. 
 
 A letter, at length, arrived from Harry, and with it an awk- 
 ward, square-shaped epistle, directed in a strange, unsteady 
 hand, and post-marked New York. In her eagerness to learn 
 the contents of the former, Mabel threw the latter aside, while 
 she perused her brother's communication. It ran as follows : 
 
 " DEAREST MAT : After three days and nights of constant 
 travelling, I arrived at the miserable town from which father 
 wrote to you, arid found him wretchedly accommodated in a 
 mere barn of a place, every tolerable room in the tavern, and 
 every spare corner in the few private houses, having been 
 appropriated to those of the passengers who were more seri- 
 ously injured. Fathers escape seems almost miraculous, as 
 he was in the front car, which rolled over twice as it fell down 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 317 
 
 the embankment. He lias suffered considerably from a bruise 
 on his back, and a sprain in the ancle, which made him quite 
 helpless for a few days. He has, also, had an uncomfortable 
 sensation of dizziness in the head, but that is merely the natural 
 effect of the jar, and has already begun to subside. Do not be 
 anxious about him, for I flatter myself I make a capital doctor, 
 nurse, cook, and housekeeper, all of which offices have devolved 
 upon me. 
 
 " As soon as he could be moved without pain, we came to 
 the farm-house, situated on father's property, where he and Mr. 
 Leroy have had a temporary residence this summer. It may 
 truly be termed a lodge in the vast wilderness, for though situ- 
 ated on a street of imposing breadth, in the heart of an exten- 
 sive township, the place is literally a city in prospective, a few 
 straggling houses constituting the village, while a wide, rolling 
 orairie stretches from the rear of our habitation to the verge of 
 Jie horizon. The situation, however, is at once grand and 
 picturesque ; for on the western side we overlook a beautiful, 
 A'inding river, whose well-wooded banks form a refreshing belt 
 of shade, and in the grove, which is but a short walk from 
 he house, we have buried poor Leroy. You would be amused 
 with our house-keeping. The man who has had charge of the 
 r^lace is unmarried, and we keep a complete bachelor's hall. 
 The house, however, is convenient, and has been tolerably well 
 fitted up during the summer campaign, so that, although we 
 are not luxuriously accommodated, we are very comfortable ; 
 as much so, at least, as men can be independent of woman's 
 genius and aid. I tell you this because we shall probably 
 remain some time in our present quarters, and you will be 
 desirous to know how we are situated. 
 
 " Father's affairs, which were somewhat involved, are ren- 
 dered more so by Mr. Leroy 's sudden death. I find I can be of 
 essential service, especially as an amanuensis, and shall not think 
 of leaving him until his business is settled. He seems to take 
 it for granted that you will continue in L. for the present, 
 and that Louise will remain at the sea-side, or go to some 
 quiet boarding-place in the country. If we should be detained 
 
 27* 
 
318 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 here into the winter, however, winch I have little doubt will be 
 the case, he will probably suggest some other plan. At pres- 
 ent he is too weak, and too much harassed by perplexities, to 
 decide upon anything more than a temporary arrangement. 
 I cannot bear to think, dear May, of your being subjected any 
 longe-r to Aunt Ridgway's over-bearing temper and restrictions. 
 I can almost believe you would be happier here, where, at 
 least, one is independent. This is indeed a glorious country. 
 I feel a larger life stirring within me, when I breathe the free 
 air of these noble woods and prairies. It inspires me with 
 new energy, and gives me strength to believe that with God's 
 help I may yet live to some worthy purpose, and that my dar- 
 ling sister may never again have cause to weep at the disgrace 
 of her brother, HARRY." 
 
 It is doubtful how long Mabel might have ?at pondering the 
 contents of Harry's letter, and especially its final clause, had 
 not her aunt Ridgway, as she crossed the room, observed the 
 other document laying in her niece's lap, and exclaimed, " What 
 a queer looking letter! Missent twice/' added she, as she 
 took it up and surveyed it with those keen eyes which had 
 never yet required spectacles. " Strange that anybody who 
 could write at all should n't know how to spell the name of 
 this town." 
 
 Mabel's curiosity being thus reawakened, she tore open the 
 letter. It was -from Lydia Hope, and dated a week back. 
 
 "DEAR Miss MABEL," wrote Lydia, "I'm afraid you don't 
 know that Mrs. Leroy is very sick at the hotel here in New 
 York. I hated to frighten you, and did n't know how to tell 
 you of it without ; but mother says you ought to know, for it 
 wouldn't be like you not to come right away. When she first 
 took sick, Cecilia sent for us, and we Ve been here ever since. 
 Cecilia has gone back to Cape May to wait on another lady. 
 Mother does the best she can, and I try to be of some use. 
 The folks in the hotel are very good, and the doctor comes 
 ever so often ; but he can 't seem to help her, and she 's getting 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 319 
 
 very bad. Oh, Miss Mabel, we wish you were here, and we 
 hope you will start as soon as you get this. 
 
 " Very dutifully and respectfully yours, 
 
 "LYDIA HOPE." 
 
 With a trembling heart, but maintaining, nevertheless, that 
 self-command and energy with which a strong mind braces itself 
 to meet every emergency, Mabel at once prepared to obey this 
 trying summons. There was no time to be lost, for she might 
 already be too late to render any assistance to poor Louise ; 
 and her resolution to depart immediately, was equally unshaken 
 by her aunt Margaret's inveighing against the solitary journey, 
 as being the height of impropriety, and her aunt Sabiah's tear- 
 fully remonstrating against the exposure to a disease which she 
 felt sure was something contagious. By starting a little before 
 day-break the next morning, she could reach New York at 
 night-fall ; and whatever dread she might at another time have 
 felt at the thought of travelling unprotected and alone, the still 
 greater dread of delay banished every minor consideration. 
 
 Mrs. Ridgway, who, if she agreed with Sabiah on no other 
 point, shared all her prejudices against Louise, and felt lor her 
 neither affection nor sympathy, took more than one opportunity 
 of protesting that this hot-headed proceeding on Mabel's part 
 was entered on with her entire disapprobation, and that she 
 never again would undertake the responsibility of having 
 young people in her house. As this expression of her 
 resolution was still further enforced by the energetic orders 
 which she that evening gave her servants, in Mabel's hearing, 
 to take up the carpets the next day, and otherwise prepare to 
 renovate the rooms which had been occupied by herself and 
 Harry, Mabel plainly understood that she had nothing further 
 to expect from her aunt's hospitality ; and when, therefore, she 
 drove, from the door, in the dim morning light, it was with the 
 full consciousness that she was bidding the town of L. a iinal 
 adieu. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 The songs of joy arc funeral cries become, 
 And luxury's board is covered Avith a pall ; 
 The chamber of the banquet is a tomb ; 
 Death, the pale autocrat, he rules o'er all. 
 
 DERZHAVIN. 
 
 IT was between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, and an 
 unusual bustle prevailed in the lower hall and offices of a pop- 
 ular New York hotel. It was the principal season for Southern 
 and Western travel ; the British mail steamer had come to her 
 dock that morning ; the coaches were just driving up from the 
 Eastern railroad, and porters, waiters, and other officials were 
 clattering over the pavement and jostling each other in the 
 passages. A boy about nine years of age was leaning heavily 
 over the bannisters of the wide staircase, his listless attitude 
 and gloomy countenance betokening his indifference to the 
 exciting scene which was transpiring below, while a younger 
 and gayer little fellow, mounted on the clerk's desk, was smok- 
 ing a cigarette, and declaiming, in a droll, bombastic style, for 
 the entertainment and applause of a crowd of idlers, who now 
 and then interrupted him with cheers and peals of laughter. 
 
 " Hallo ! hold on ! give us some more, young America,'' 
 shouted several voices, as the little orator, Hinging away the 
 cigaretto with which he had been bribed, made a sudden effort 
 to spring from the arms of the individual who supported him 
 on his elevated platform. 
 
 " Let me go, let me go," cried the boy, struggling lustily to 
 escape; " my aunt Mabel has come, I see my auntie ; let 
 me go, I say." 
 
 . " Don't keep the boy from his auntie," exclaimed one or two 
 of the spectators, at the same time turning to give a broad stare 
 
MABEL VADGHAN. 321 
 
 at Mabel, who had been observed by Murray the moment she 
 entered the hotel, but whose face was hid as she now stooped 
 to embrace the eager child. The light laugh and the meaning 
 whisper which succeeded, gave place to respectful silence, how- 
 ever, as Mabel glanced around with grave and dignified wonder, 
 and then, with the boy still clinging to. her neck, hastened up 
 the staircase. 
 
 Alick did not advance to meet her as she approached; he 
 even tried to hide his face ; but when she took his forehead 
 between her hands and tenderly kissed him, questioning him, 
 meanwhile, with her earnest look, he uttered a smothered cry, 
 and, grasping her by the dress, followed, sobbing. 
 
 " Take me to my mamma, Aunt Mabel," cried Murray, ve- 
 hemently ; " they won't let me see my pretty mamma." Not 
 daring to breathe to the children the question which trembled 
 on her lips, Mabel hurried on in the direction of the rooms her 
 sister had been wont to occupy, and, as she turned a corner, 
 encountered Lydia Hope, who, hearing Murray's voice, had 
 hastened to meet and quiet him. In the dim light, she did not 
 recognize Mabel, until the latter caught her by the hand and 
 said, in a low, unnatural voice, " Lydia, how is Mrs. Leroy ? 
 is she living ? " 
 
 " O Miss Mabel, is that you ? " cried Lydia ; " you have 
 come at last." 
 
 " Is she living ? " asked Mabel, repeating her inquiry, as 
 she observed that Lydia evaded a direct reply. 
 
 " Yes, she is ; I can just say that." replied Lydia, with hesi- 
 tation ; "but Oh, he mustn't go in," added she, interrupting 
 herself, in a distressed voice, as Murray attempted to rush 
 past. 
 
 " Stop, Murray ; stop, darling," exclaimed Mabel, intercept- 
 ing and staying him in his progress. " I will go and see if you 
 can come in, and will come back by-and-by and tell you. Alick 
 will try to amuse you, and so will Lydia. Stay with them, 
 Lydia, and coax them down for a few minutes, if you can," 
 she added, in an under tone. " I will go in by myself." 
 
 How the paltry distinctions and petty vanities of life disap- 
 
322 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 pear before that mighty leveller which overleaps the bulwarks 
 of custom, and tramples into the dust the boasted elements of 
 beauty, power and pride ! Disease, which spares neither prince 
 nor beggar, now reigned triumphant in that apartment, where, 
 a little while ago, fashion and luxury had held undisputed 
 sway. The spacious mirrors were shrouded, lest they should 
 reflect too vividly the harrowing scene within. The appli- 
 ances of dress and ornament had given place to the stern 
 necessities of illness, and the rich draperies that shaded the 
 windows and couch had been removed for the freer admission 
 of air. All these were signs of the desolation and fear which 
 cometh like a whirlwind ; but what were these to that deeper 
 seal which was set on the face of her against whom the fiat had 
 gone forth ! Though believing that she had armed herself 
 against the worst, Mabel felt all her powers paralyzed with 
 horror, as entering the chamber, unwarned and unannounced, 
 she beheld the face and form of her who, but a few weeks 
 before, had graced the dance and been the ornament of the 
 ball-room. Her beautiful wavy hair was cut short to her tem- 
 ples, the once laughing eye was sunken, fixed and glassy, a 
 deep red spot mounted in each hollow cheek, while a dark line 
 around the mouth gave added ghastliness to the countenance. 
 The little hand, no longer graceful and bewitching in its ges- 
 tures, now nervously clutched the counter-pane ; the breath was 
 short and interrupted, and a vehement, and, at times, incoherent 
 muttering, betrayed the disordered mind. The grave physician, 
 stationed at the bedside, with his fingers on the feeble pulse, 
 shook his head discouragingly, as the widow Hope applied to 
 the dry lips of the patient a spoonful of liquid, which she had 
 no longer the power to swallow. 
 
 Heart-rending as was this picture, its painful effect was still 
 further enhanced by the nature of the wild words which burst 
 at intervals from the poor sufferer, who retained, even in this 
 awful moment, the imperfect power of speech. " What ! give 
 up my beautiful rooms ! " exclaimed she, in a strained and hol- 
 low tone, " and go out into that dreadful prairie ! No, no, I 
 say ; I will not bury myself in the country ! Do you hear me, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 323 
 
 Mr. Leroy?" then, again, after a few low mutterings, her 
 wandering thoughts seemed to take a different turn, and she 
 cried out as if disputing a contested point ; " They shall not 
 take my jewels no, nor my plate ! Diamonds are not property; 
 they cannot be seized to pay his debts ! " and then, exhausted 
 by this outburst, her clenched hands dropped powerless and 
 her lips suddenly closed. 
 
 With form bent forward, and eyes dilated with sudden fear 
 and dread, Mabel stood for a moment unobserved, just within 
 the doorway, taking in at a glance the whole agonizing scene ; 
 then a sudden faintness seized her, a film overspread her sight, 
 her heart seemed to cease its beating, and she sank upon the 
 floor. 
 
 They carried her into the next room, where she was speedily 
 restored to consciousness, and having drank a cup of tea (for 
 she had fasted since morning), she was enabled to overcome her 
 temporary weakness, and assume a composure which, with 
 heroic effort, she succeeded in maintaining to the end. 
 
 "You have arrived at a distressing hour, Miss Vaughan," 
 said the physician ; " is there no one whom you would like to 
 send for, to be with you to-night?" 
 
 Mabel thought a moment, then shook her head. Among her 
 wide circle of acquaintances there were none whose presence 
 could sustain her at such a moment ; and, looking gratefully at 
 Mrs. Hope and Lydia, she answered "No one; I have no 
 better friends than these." 
 
 It was a terrible night. A -violent thunder-storm came on, 
 and seemed to shake the house to its foundations ; the inmates 
 of the hotel were excited and noisy ; a number of arrivals and 
 departures served to increase the tumult ; and few, if any, who 
 shared that public shelter, enjoyed an hour's repose. 
 
 And while the lightning flash and the reverberating roar 
 caused many a heart to tremble, while the wind rattled the 
 window-panes and whistled through the chimneys, while doors 
 banged loudly and hurried footsteps tramped across the marble 
 floors, and voices shouted from the halls below, and bells rang 
 in angry rivalry from every quarter of the building, and heaven 
 
324 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 and earth seemed alike contentious, a fiercer conflict still went 
 on within those narrow walls where an imprisoned soul sought 
 to burst its tenement of clay ; and amid the noise, the hurry, 
 the discord, and the strife, the flattered favorite of fashion and 
 the world encountered the merciless foe, did battle with the 
 keen destroyer , experienced the last dread struggle and the 
 mortal agony. 
 
 " If I can be of any use to you, I beg you will command my 
 services, Miss Vaughan," said the gentlemanly, but somewhat 
 formal physician, who had spent the night at the hotel, but 
 whose professional attendance being no longer required Avas 
 about to take leave. 
 
 " You will send the person of whom you spoke ? " 
 
 " Yes. I have already despatched a messenger for him ; he 
 is usually employed on these occasions, and will see that every 
 thing is properly arranged." 
 
 " Thank you ; that is all the assistance I require," said Ma- 
 bel, and the medical man bowed and left her. 
 
 She went and lay down on the foot of the children's bed, 
 not to sleep, but to be still and watch the peaceful slumber to 
 which she herself had soothed them; She was there when they 
 awoke, and when, amid their morning caresses, they questioned 
 her concerning their mother, she gently told them the truth. 
 
 " Mamma is dead, and so is papa," said Murray, " and so is 
 Rosy. But auntie, you wrote us in a letter that Rosy had 
 gone to a beautiful world, and so then has my mamma ! And 
 I shall go too, one of these days," added he, with a sort of tri- 
 umph. " Oh, won't they be glad when they see me coming*! " 
 
 Alick did not speak, he only wept ; not because he had more 
 reason than Murray to love his parents but because his heart 
 was more deeply sensitive, and his mind mature beyond his 
 years. He could not be comforted, nor would he give any 
 reply to Murray's often repeated inquiry why he cried. 
 
 Mabel was soon obliged to leave them, being summoned to 
 meet the individual whom the doctor had sent to her assistance. 
 She listened calmly and patiently while, taking the matter into 
 his own hands, he informed her that he needed no directions ; he 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 325 
 
 understood the circumstances perfectly, and knew what the occa- 
 sion demanded ; what would be expected from Mrs. Leroy's 
 position in society, and-ehould see that the whole ceremony 
 was conducted with taste and elegance. It was a sad thing, 
 he added, that Mr. Leroy should have been taken off so sud- 
 denly, and left his affairs insolvent too Mabel here gave u 
 slight start of surprise ; she need not fear, however, that he 
 should regard this circumstance in his arrangements, for he had 
 faith to believe, in spite of reports to the contrary, that her 
 respected father was not so deeply involved but that he would 
 retrieve himself, and be happy to meet every demand. 
 
 " The only wishes I have in this matter," sajd Mabel, with 
 difficulty concealing the alarm and embarrassment excited by 
 these inuendoes, " are, that my sister's funeral should be con- 
 ducted as simply as possible, and should take place from my 
 father's house." 
 
 She was answered by a look of utter astonishment, and the 
 abrupt words, " Is it possible, Miss Vaughan, that you are igno- 
 rant of the sale which took place last week ; your father's estate 
 was put up at auction, and knocked off at considerably less than 
 its value, I should judge." 
 
 " Sold ! Are you sure?" asked Mabel. "I speak of the 
 family residence in town." 
 
 " Certainly ; I am not likely to be mistaken," replied the 
 man, whose authority in all matters connected with the good or 
 ill fortune of his patrons was seldom called in question, and 
 who felt, therefore, a little piqued at the implied doubt. " It 
 all went under the hammer; house and contents. I heard 
 there were some orders sent on in regard to pictures and other 
 ornamental articles, but they came too late, and nothing could 
 be reclaimed. It is very unfortunate, to be sure," continued 
 he, in a tone of compassion, but studying her face meanwhile 
 with vulgar curiosity ; " these little knick-knackeries that one 
 naturally sets by, are the very things that give a certain style 
 to an establishment, and our rich upstarts that snap at such a 
 wholesale chance would not part with one of them no, not if 
 they had comj down from your great-great-grandfather." 
 28 
 
326 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 He would have declaimed still further on the subject, but 
 Mabel, shocked at the unexpected revelations thus made 
 through a stranger, unwilling to accept condolence from such a 
 quarter, and only anxious to terminate the conversation, inter- 
 rupted him before he had time to proceed. " I have been in 
 the country," said she, with an air of reserve, " and had not 
 become aware of these particulars ; they are of no consequence 
 at present. If the house has been disposed of, as you say, the 
 funeral will, of course, take place from here;" and, leaving to 
 him the furtherance of all other arrangements, she hastened 
 from the apartment. 
 
 In the hall, she met a porter with a trunk upon his shoulder, 
 and the next instant encountered a gentleman, who was just 
 vacating a neighboring room, and who, coming hurriedly out 
 with a cloak over his arm, had nearly run against her in the 
 passage. He stepped politely aside to let her pass, and com- 
 menced a graceful apology, but checked himself with ill-dis- 
 guised embarrassment ; and for once, the courtly and accom- 
 plished Dudley (for he it was), stood humbled and awed in the 
 presence of the young and unsophisticated girl. Not that 
 Mabel, in this moment of mutual recognition, made any as- 
 sumption of arrogance or disdain, or that indifference had 
 already succeeded to her first romantic preference ; but Borrow 
 has a dignity all its own, and great calamities calmly niH. and 
 solemn duties bravely done, set a seal upon the countenance 
 which may well make the selfish and the worldly tremble. 
 Thus, while she returned his awkward salutation with forced 
 but serene composure, and the blood, which rushed wildly to 
 her heart, never tinged the marble pallor of her cheek, the se'lf- 
 convicted man of the world shrank from her glance as if it had 
 power to penetrate to the depths of his cowardly soul, and felt 
 himself abased by the consciousness that he was detected in the 
 very act of wilfully forsaking, in her hour of need, one whom he 
 had once professed to love ; for Dudley had arrived the previous 
 night, had learned, in common with the rest of the household? 
 the sad events of the last few hours, and was seeking, by an 
 abrupt flight, to excuse himself from any call upon his sympa- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 327 
 
 thy or aid. So heartless were the calculations and so contemp- 
 tible the devices of this self-seeking, time-serving man, who, 
 never knowing a genuine emotion himself, was as incompetent 
 as he was reluctant to enter into another's woes. 
 
 It was in vain, therefore, that he strove to rally his self-pos- 
 session. Mabel had the superiority and she maintained it; and 
 when, after a bow of feigned solemnity in deference to her 
 bereavement, and a gesture of imperative haste as an apology 
 for his brevity, he kept on his way with a downcast eye, which 
 had ventured to meet hers for an instant only, she looked after 
 him less in anger, less in pride, and less in wounded affection, 
 than with the generous compassion which virtue must ever feel 
 for meanness and duplicity. 
 
 " Poor, dear child ! " exclaimed the widow Hope, who met 
 her at the door of the children's bed-room, where she had once 
 more sought a safe place of refuge ; " you look dead beat, and 
 no wonder, poor lamb ! How Rosy would have felt to see you 
 in such a strait as this!" and the widow wiped her eyes. 
 " Come, lie down again, and let me fetch you some breakfast. 
 Lyddy has taken the children down to get some, and I told her 
 to keep them out of the way for a while, so that you might 
 manage to get a nap." 
 
 Utterly exhausted in heart and mind, Mabel had not the 
 strength to resist the persuasions of her kind friend ; so she ate 
 without appetite a few morsels of food, and permitted herself 
 to be coaxed into putting on a wrapper and lying down in a 
 darkened room. How long she thus lay quiet an 3 undisturbed 
 she scarcely knew, for although slumber never once visited her 
 senses, thought was sharpened to such intensity as to forbid 
 her taking note of time ; and so unconscious was she of all that 
 was passing around, that she gave a start of surprise when, 
 after the lapse of some hours, she opened her eyes and saw the 
 good Mrs. Hope, who believing her to be asleep, was patiently 
 watching beside her. That these hours of quiet meditation 
 had not, however, been fruitless in resolve, was at once made 
 evident by the conversation which ensued between the care- 
 
328 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 worn but heroic girl and her humble but faithful counsellor 
 and friend. 
 
 " Mrs. Hope," said Mabel, speaking with calm decision, but 
 at the same time looking fixedly in the face of the widow, as 
 if to judge of the effect of her announcement, " I intend to take 
 the boys and go out West to my father." 
 
 " You do n't really mean so, Miss Mabel," said the widow in 
 a deprecating tone, but looking less surprised than had been 
 anticipated by her hearer. 
 
 " I have been thinking it over," continued Mabel, " and have 
 come to the conclusion it is the best thing I can do." 
 
 " Well, Lyddy said perhaps you 'd be for going out there," 
 remarked the widow, " but, laws me, it seeins such a long way 
 off." 
 
 " Yes, it is a long journey," said Mabel, rising from the bed 
 as she spoke, with a countenance and manner which were 
 suggestive of the fresh energy inspired by the greatness of the 
 enterprise, " but I am not afraid, Mrs. Hope. Alick and Mur- 
 ray will be brave little travellers, and I have learned already 
 that in this country a lady can always depend on the public for 
 kindness and protection." 
 
 " Dear me, what would your pa say," asked Mrs. Hope, 
 " if he knew you had such an idea in your head ? " 
 
 " He does not, of course, know how I am situated," said 
 Mabel, " and I can not be sure what he would think best ; so I 
 am obliged to judge for myself. We have no longer a home 
 in New York ; I cannot take the children to my aunt Ridg- 
 way's, even if I felt at liberty to go back there myself; I can 
 not stay here or anywhere else in the city ; besides," continued 
 she, as if bringing forward the strongest point in her argument, 
 " my father needs me I am sure of it. He is still suffering 
 from the accident, and has nobody but my brother to nurse 
 him ; they both need my help, and I must go." 
 
 " Go where, mother ? " asked Lydia in a whisper ; " out 
 West?" 
 
 She had come in unperceived, and Mabel could not but 
 observe the earnestness of her inquiry. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 329 
 
 Mrs. Hope nodded in assent. Lydia looked significantly at 
 her mother, whispered again, and then turned away and busied 
 herself at the other end of the room. Mrs. Hope hesitated, 
 and Mabel, perceiving that she wished to make some sugges- 
 tion but was waiting for encouragement, said, with a faint 
 attempt at a smile, " What is it, Mrs. Hope ? tell me." 
 
 " Why, we were thinking," said the widow, " that is, we 
 were talking it over this morning and if we felt sure you * 
 would not take it amiss Lyddy has a friend I mean we 
 have a friend, who is going out West day after to-morrow." 
 
 "Well, Lydia," said Mabel, "and what of this friend?" 
 
 Lydia did not look round nor answer ; the tips of he? ears 
 were very red, and she pretended to be exceedingly busy 
 so her mother saved her the necessity of replying. " Why, he 
 is a very clever fellow," said the latter, " and knows his place. 
 Yes, Owen is too proud to be presuming, and he knows all 
 about the railroads and steamboats, and you might be sure 
 he 'd do his best to be of service and take care of your baggage 
 and so on." 
 
 Mabel now understood that these thoughtful friends had 
 foreseen the probability of her projecting this long and trying 
 journey, and were anxious to provide her with a trusty attend- 
 ant and escort. So far from being offended at the proposition, 
 she thanked them cordially for their considerate kindness, and 
 reserving any decision in the matter, expressed a wish to see 
 the young man, who, she was told, would be at the hotel that 
 evening. Accordingly, when Owen Dowst presented himself, 
 and Mabel recognized in him the ruddy teamster who had 
 been Rose's friend, she at once decided in her own mind to* 
 accept his protection, which was offered with a respectful 
 civility accompanied by manly independence. 
 
 It seemed that Owen had relinquished his former business, 
 having been induced to part with his noble horses by the liberal 
 offer of a gentleman who coveted the superb stud for his family 
 carriage, and that he was now about to seek his fortune at 
 what was then termed the far West. As the point to 
 which he was bound was within one day's journey of Mr. 
 28* 
 
330 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 Vauglian's estate, and as lie intended to accomplish the distance 
 in the shortest possible time by travelling day and night, his 
 purpose and route were found to correspond wholly with Ma- 
 bel's ; and it was agreed that, on the following day but one, she 
 and the children should proceed- to Albany, and thence on their 
 westward trip, under the guardianship of their honest though 
 unpretending escort. 
 
 "Well, now that it's all settled, and it seems probable you'll 
 get there safe," said Mrs. Hope, in a confidential tone to Mabel 
 when she was alone with her that night. " I must say, I think 
 it 's the very best thing you could do, and I 'm glad you made 
 up yo*ur mind to it. You do n't seem to have many relations 
 any where 'round, and we 're only humble folks, and I for one 
 could n't bear you should stay here and be slighted." 
 
 " How do you mean, Mrs. Hope ? " said Mabel ; " the people 
 in the house are civil, I believe." 
 
 " Well, ye?, after a fashion ; only, you see, they 've got it all 
 'round about the ' smash-up,' as they call it, among the high- 
 feelin' folks. Not that anybody 's any reason to say that of 
 you, Miss Mabel ; but your poor sister there it was a pretty 
 hard rub for her. She heard sort o' rumors down to the sea- 
 shore, and she hurried up, Cecilia said, to find out if it was 
 true, and look after the things she 'd left here that she thought 
 were her own by right, and they weren't very ready to let her 
 have the rooms ; and the servants, they 'd got their mouths full 
 of it, and kind of flung it at her and it seemed as if every 
 thing came together. Laws me ! 't was that more 'n the heat 
 or any thing else that took her down." 
 
 Mabel shuddered as she thought of the trial that must have 
 been so bitter to her vain and worldly sister, and wept as she 
 meditated on its fearful consequences. She had no fear of 
 disrespect herself, but she could well imagine the nature of the 
 retaliation which had been visited on Mrs. Leroy, whose super- 
 cilious manners, barely tolerated in her clays of prosperity, 
 would have been sure to excite ridicule and contempt for her 
 in her fallen fortunes. 
 
 Alas for the honor which has wealth alone for its foundation, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 331 
 
 and the hope which is dependent on frail mortality! With 
 one blast of misfortune, the former is changed to ignominy and 
 insult, and the latter gives place to desperation, decay, and 
 death. 
 
 In spite of Mabel's directions to the contrary, there was yet 
 one more scene of worldly show, in which the remains of the 
 once brilliant Mrs. Leroy were destined to form a part. Sim- 
 plicity was not in the code of that professed fashionist, who had 
 charge of the funeral arrangements ; and they were therefore 
 conducted with all that pomp and parade which he deemed 
 essential to his own dignity, if not that of their more immedi- 
 ate object. Due notice had been given of the time and place 
 of the solemnities ; but, except by Mabel, the children, Mrs. 
 Hope and Lydia, whose feelings were sincerely affected, and 
 a few of the residents and servants of the hotel, who came 
 out of curiosity, the services were unattended. The clergyman 
 at whose church Mrs. Leroy had now and then occupied a 
 richly furnished pew, was absent from the city, and 'the cere- 
 mony was performed by a stranger. Still, except that Mabel 
 wore no mourning, which she had neither the time nor the 
 means to procure, there was no omission of any of the custom 
 ary symbols of grief, and every thing was conducted on a 
 scale of profuse magnificence. The carriages, nearly all of 
 which were empty, filed off one by one, a melancholy pageant 
 a seeming mockery of her whose whole life had been a 
 pageant and, in an expensive tomb, in the heart of the noisy 
 city, the strange officials, each wearing a solemn badge, laid 
 the form of her who was destined to be speedily unmissed and 
 forgotten in the very scene of her boasted triumphs. 
 
 It was the dim hour of twilight, and Mabel, who had a few 
 hours before returned from paying the last tribute of respect 
 and affection to her sister, was seated, with Murray on her 
 knee, and one arm round the waist of the other orphan boy. 
 A note had just been handed to her, written on rose-colored 
 paper, and expressing in high-flown terms the regret of Mrs. 
 Vannecker that she could not come to her aid. " Cecilia re- 
 turned to the Cape yesterday," wrote she, " to engage as waiting 
 
332 MABEL VAUGHAN- 
 
 maid to a Southern lady, and brought me news of dear Louise's 
 distressing illness. It is truly shocking. My heart yearns to 
 be with her and to comfort you, if you have arrived, as was 
 expected ; but the regatta is to take place to-morrow, and Vic 
 has so set her heart upon it, that we cannot leave until it is 
 over. I shall then hope to see you, my darling, and to find 
 that our dear Louise's illness is taking a favorable turn. Of 
 course you employ Gregory ; there is nobody like him." 
 
 Mabel was placing the note in her pocket, with a long sigh, 
 when there was an abrupt knock at the door. An unfamiliar 
 name was spoken by the servant, and a visitor was unceremo- 
 niously ushered into the room. She started up, violently 
 agitated, as if the venerable form before her had been that of 
 a spectre ; for, as she recognized the aged man, known to us 
 as Father Noah, there flashed across her the remembrance 
 that Louise had once prophesied this visit, and that, in the same 
 breath, she had lightly and confidently sung the equally pro- 
 phetic words, " But, oh, I shall not be there." 
 
 Where was she ? We may not question the mercy of an 
 infinite Providence ; but the thrill which shot through Mabel's 
 heart at the moment, proved the strength of her conviction, 
 that her poor sister had not, while on earth, earned a title to a 
 heavenly birthright. 
 
 The good clergyman saw her agitation ; but in no degree 
 attributing it to his own presence, took her hand gently and 
 sat down beside her. " If Mrs. Hope tells me truly, my dear 
 young lady," said he, " you are realizing the truth, which has 
 passed into a proverb, that misfortunes seldom come singly." 
 
 " I am," said Mabel, solemnly. 
 
 " Can I help you ? " he asked, -in a simple, fatherly tone. 
 
 " Your kindness helps me," sobbed Mabel, " and I would 
 gladly have a place in your prayers." 
 
 " Shall I pray with you ? " he added. 
 
 Mabel sunk upon her knees, and the children instinctively 
 followed her example, while the old man asked a blessing on 
 them. 
 
 It was no common prayer tluit followed. It betrayed a per- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 333 
 
 feet knowledge of the sorrows and the wants of the little 
 group ; and as it commended them to the mercy of Heaven, 
 and besought for her, who was to be the guide of youth, the 
 strength which cometh from God only, Mabel felt herself sanc- 
 tified for the work that was given her to do, and ready to go 
 out into the wilderness, with a brave heart, at the command- 
 ment of the Lord. 
 
 She rose up, therefore, composed and strengthened ; and, as 
 the venerable man sat down, drew the children to his knee, and 
 expressed the simple interest which he had long cherished in 
 Mabel's welfare, she felt her heart opened towards him, and 
 talked freely of her coming experience and its possible duties 
 and trials. He gave her much wise counsel, expressed for her 
 much tender sympathy, and did not forget to impress upon the 
 children, and especially upon Alick, who was listening to him 
 with respectful attention, the obligation which rested upon them 
 to behave, as he said, like little men, and be to her a comfort 
 rather than a care. 
 
 Thus, in the hour of her spirit's need, when those who had 
 walked with her in high places shrank from the gentle minis- 
 tries which affliction craves, this faithful servant of the poor 
 had learned the story of Mabel's grief from the lips of her 
 humble friends, and had come to soothe her with his sympathy 
 and fortify her with his prayers ; while, actuated by a like spirit 
 of Christian love, the family whom Louise had injured, and 
 the venerable man whom she had despised, had vied with each 
 other in offices of love to herself and her orphan children. 
 
 " Your visit has done me good, sir," said Mabel, taking both 
 his hands, as he rose to go ; "I thank you for it with all my 
 heart. It has made me strong." 
 
 " May the Lord strengthen and bless you," said he, fervently, 
 in reply, " and may the peace of God, which passeth all un- 
 derstanding, dwell in your heart forevermore." 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 In the dark winter of affliction's hour, 
 
 When summer, friends, and pleasures haste away, 
 
 And the wrecked heart perceives how frail each power 
 
 It made a refuge, and belieA-ed a stay ; 
 
 When man, all wild and weak is seen to be 
 
 There 's none like Thee, O Lord ! there 's none like Thee ! 
 
 MRS. JEWSBURY. 
 
 THE morning of departure came. The landlord of the 
 hotel had been summoned, and on Mabel's expressing her 
 regret that her funds were only sufficient for her present 
 wants, had cordially assured her of his perfect readiness to 
 wait Mr. Vaughan's convenience for the settlement of his 
 accounts, and had himself accompanied her to the steamboat. 
 Mrs. Hope was there with shawls over her arm, and parcels 
 in her hand ; Jack was there with a huge basket of cakes and 
 candy, provided by his thoughtful mother ; Lydia was there, 
 her eyes red with crying, and her hands busy in giving the 
 finishing touch to Murray's curls ; and Owen Dowst was at 
 the further end of the wharf attending to the baggage. 
 
 At length they took their places, Mabel and the boys in the 
 centre of the deck, where they were protected by an ample 
 awning, and Owen modestly choosing a seat at the stern of 
 the boat, where, without intrusion, he could keep the little 
 party in sight. The bell rang and they moved off; Jack 
 waved his cap, Mrs. Hope cried out " Good-bye," and Lydia 
 timidly threw a kiss, not at Mabel, however, or the boys, 
 but in response to one from the stern of the vessel, where 
 Owen stood, leaning over the railing, and looking back with a 
 tear in his honest eye. 
 
 The first day's journey passed without any important inci- 
 dent. The weather, which had promised to be fair, soon 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 335 
 
 became dull, and at length a pouring rain drove the passen- 
 gers to the cabin, where, for many successive hours, they were 
 crowded together, deprived of fresh air, and with no prospect 
 of being able to venture again on deck. 
 
 Here all Mabel's powers were called into action, for the 
 diversion and entertainment of Murray, whose restlessness 
 could ill brook the restraint to which he was subjected in the 
 ladies' saloon, and who continually threatened to stray beyond 
 its limits. Fortunately, however, Owen, who had stationed 
 himself in the vicinity of the door, contrived to decoy him to 
 a place on his knee, and amused and entertained him there 
 until the bell sounded for dinner. While watching the good- 
 natured youth, as he cut an apple into a fanciful shape, or 
 whittled a figure from a bit of wood, the child was completely 
 happy, and Mabel was freed from all anxiety concerning him. 
 
 These ingenious and friendly devices, hpwever, though not 
 lost upon Alick, had no power to win him from his position 
 beside Mabel, where, with the basket of provisions at his 
 feet, and his arm passed through the handle of the carpet 
 bag, he sat upright and firm as a sentinel at his post. Whether 
 Father Noah's exhortation, to "behave like a little man," 
 still influenced him, or whether he felt a proud and instinctive 
 consciousness of being in some degree his aunt's protector, he 
 manifested no sign of weariness, and never once during the 
 day uttered a single complaint. 
 
 They dined and supped on board the boat, the thoughtful 
 Owen having secured seats, and recommended them to the 
 care of one of the waiters, whom he chanced to know, and 
 with whom he afterwards took his own repasts at the second 
 table. 
 
 But although the gentle motion of the boat, the comparative 
 privacy of the ladies' cabin, and the respectful devotion of her 
 attendant, contrived to render this first day's experience satis- 
 factory to Mabel and soothing to her anxieties, the interval 
 between the arrival of the party in Albany, and their depar- 
 ture in the night-train for Buffalo, was replete with those 
 incidents which constitute the trials of the traveller, and ren- 
 
336 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 der journeying an uncertain and hazardous experiment. The 
 boat was late at her wharf ; there was some delay and diffi- 
 culty in the distribution of baggage ; noise and confusion 
 prevailed in every direction, and before Owen could collect 
 his own boxes and Mabel's trunks, the carriages, loaded with 
 passengers for the cars, had all driven off. Among the coaches 
 that remained, all had one or more occupants bound in a dif- 
 ferent direction, and none of the drivers would agree to reach 
 the station in season for the Western train. Mabel's counte- 
 nance betrayed her agitation and alarm, Alick looked piteously 
 from one rough face to another, and Murray, dimly compre- 
 hending that something was the matter, as usual began to 
 cry. 
 
 " Look here I say," cried Owen, catching a burly, round- 
 faced fellow by the button, and glancing significantly towards 
 Mabel, " don't disappoint that lady now, it 's too bad, her 
 folks were hurt, one on 'em killed by that bad accident last 
 week, she 's a goin' out there to her father, do n't you b j 
 the means of her losin' the train." 
 
 What a revulsion of feeling such an appeal will oftentimes 
 produce. " Do tell," said the man. " I^ow that 's a case. 
 Hullo, Sam, haul those trunks up here, will yer? Give a 
 hand, boy, her father" (in his turn, nodding at Mabel,) 
 " was killed on the cars last week. Look here, you," speaking 
 to a gaily dressed fop inside, who, seeing his valise uncere- 
 moniously thrown on to the sidewalk, was alreacjy preparing 
 to alight ; " this gentleman," (waving his hand towards Sam) 
 "will take you up to the hotel ; I'm bound to get these tother 
 folks down to the Buffalo cars ; in with you, Bub," and he 
 lifted Alick, basket, carpet-bag and all, into the carriage ; 
 Mabel and Murray followed ; Owen sprung up outside, and 
 they were off. 
 
 There are few things more trying to the patience, and more 
 exciting to the nerves, than driving through the crowded 
 streets of a city, with the apprehension that every moment's 
 delay may be fatal to one's hopes. During the ten minutes 
 that they were hurrying and rattling over the pavements, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 337 
 
 Mabel endeavored in vain to quiet her disturbed feelings, and 
 strove, with equal want of success, to soothe the weeping Mur- 
 ray, while Alick silently watched his aunt's countenance, as 
 if it were the dial-plate of destiny. They were barely in sea- 
 son after all ; there was just time for the luggage to be thrown 
 hastily on board, and the last bell was sounding as Owen 
 entered a car, with Murray in his arms, followed by Mabel 
 and Alick, almost breathless with the haste they had made, 
 and carrying between them the basket and travelling bag, 
 which Alick could not transport alone, but which the sturdy 
 boy w r as unwilling to relinquish. 
 
 This little incident served at once to excite Mabel's anxi- 
 eties for the future, and to impress her with a sense of her 
 dependence on Owen. She felt sick at heart, as imagination 
 conjured up the possible disasters and delays which might 
 ensue before the termination of the journey, and, as the dark- 
 ness of the night came on, and a thick gloom settled over 
 every object, an undefined dread took possession of her ; and 
 when Murray exclaimed with convulsive sobbing, "Auntie, 
 Murray is tired, Murray can't ride all night," she was 
 tempted to fold the child to her bosom, and weep with him 
 over their multiplied misfortunes. 
 
 Her weakness was rebuked, however, by the confiding tone 
 in which Alick responded to his brother's complaint, "I 
 ain't tired, Murray," said he, "I would n't mind going any- 
 where with Aunt Mabel." 
 
 " I would," said Murray. " I want to go home." 
 
 "Let me take him a little while, Miss Vaughan," said 
 Owen, who had observed his fretfulness ; " I see he 's getting 
 pretty uneasy. Will you come and sit by me, Murray ? " 
 
 The child hesitated, too thoroughly weary to have any pre- 
 ference. 
 
 " I '11 coax the little fellow off to sleep," said Owen, lifting 
 him in his strong arms, and bearing him to his own seat at the 
 further end of the car, where, wrapped hi a heavy pilot-cloth 
 coat, and with his head resting on Owen's shoulder, he soon 
 fell into a quiet slumber. Two or three hours passed away, 
 29 
 
338 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Alick, despite his efforts to the contrary, had fallen asleep, 
 though still sitting as upright as a grenadier, and Mabel had 
 once or twice forgotten her anxieties, and enjoyed a few mo- 
 ments' repose, when a bright light shone in their faces, and 
 suddenly awaking, they discovered that the train was stopping 
 at a place of some importance, if one might judge by the 
 bustle which pervaded the platform in front of the station. 
 Murray, also, awakened by the noise and lights, ran to his 
 aunt, rubbing his eyes, and petitioning for something to eat. 
 
 " Milk, too, Auntie I must have some milk," he cried, as 
 she proceeded to open the luncheon-basket. 
 
 " No, Murray, I have no milk for you," was the reply ; " a 
 cake will do without milk, won't it ? " 
 
 " I can get him a glass of milk, or some water, at least, Miss 
 Vaughan," said Owen, who was about to leave the car, and 
 paused to offer his servic.es. "The train stops here five 
 minutes plenty of time, Miss. I '11 hand it in at the win- 
 dow." 
 
 " Take my purse, Owen," said Mabel, " and pay for it, if 
 you please." 
 
 The milk was brought to the window in a pitcher. Owen 
 had a tumbler in his hand, and all were by turns refreshed 
 with the sweet and wholesome beverage. There was still a 
 moment or two of delay at the station ample time for the 
 young man to return, pay for the milk, and take his place in 
 the cars. Still, the bell rang, and the train proceeded on its 
 way without his having made his appearance. Mabel looked 
 back with some anxiety, but supposing that he had entered a 
 rear car and would soon make his way to them, she did not 
 feel any positive alarm and was therefore wholly taken by 
 surprise when a few moments after, the conductor, as he passed 
 with his lantern in hand, held it up to her face and said inquir- 
 ingly, " Was n't that young fellow in the pilot-cloth coat with 
 you, ma 'am ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered Mabel. Why ? " 
 
 " He got left behind at the last station," said the man coolly. 
 
 " Got left ! " exclaimed Mabel, repeating his words in aston- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 339 
 
 ishment and fright, while Alick groaned aloud and Murray set 
 up a shrill and prolonged cry. 
 
 " Yes, they took some of his boxes out there by mistake, go 
 the baggage-master says, and he caught sight of 'em and sprung 
 off the platform just as we' were starting." 
 
 " Could n't you stop for him ? " asked Mabel, in a tone of 
 mingled appeal and reproach. 
 
 " Could n't, no how," said the man, though speaking in a tone 
 of regret. "We're behind our time now. If there's any 
 mistake it ain't our fault; he couldn't have had his things 
 marked right in Albany. He '11 come on to-morrow, I reckon." 
 
 " To-morrow," thought Mabel, " but where shall we be by 
 that time ? " And at the same instant the remembrance flashed 
 upon her that lie was in possession of her purse, containing all 
 the money she had in the world. 
 
 " What shall I do ? " was the involuntary exclamation which 
 burst from her lips as, trembling with agitation, she started up 
 impulsively, then in a despairing manner sank back into her 
 seat. 
 
 " Can 't we go on without him, Auntie ? " asked Alick anx- 
 iously, while Murray continued to cry, loudly threatening, amid 
 his sobs, to " beat fhat old conductor, and make him go back 
 for Owen." 
 
 " Oh, I do n't know, Alick. what we shall do," said Mabel, the 
 self-command which she had hitherto maintained in the presence 
 of the children forsaking her at this unforeseen crisis. 
 
 The interest and compassion of the other passengers were 
 evidently awakened. Many outstretched forms were suddenly 
 raised from a recumbent position, and many sleepy eyes turned 
 in the direction of our little group of travellers, while a murmur 
 of inquiry and response ran through the car. The conductor, 
 however, had passed hastily out with his lantern, and as the 
 feeble and expiring light from an ill-trimmed lamp above 
 afforded little satisfaction to curiosity, most of the weary com- 
 pany soon subsided into their former dreamy state of uncon 
 sciousness. 
 
340 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 " God will take care of us, Auntie," said Alick, in a comfort- 
 ing tone ; " that old minister said so, and I believe him." 
 
 " So do I/' answered Mabel, drawing - both the children as 
 closely to her as possible, and feeling, for the second time, 
 rebuked by Alick's child-like faith first in her, and now in a 
 higher power. 
 
 At the same instant, a voice proceeding from the seat directly 
 behind them, addressed Mabel in a tone of gentle but earnest 
 inquiry. " I have been asleep, my dear ; but, if I understand 
 right, your servant has got left at Utica." 
 
 " Not my servant, except by free-will, ma 'am," answered 
 Mabel, her face as she turned being brought close to that of 
 the person who was leaning forward to speak to her, but whose 
 features were undistinguishable in the dim light. 
 
 " Oh, I was mistaken, then," said the lady, apologetically. " I 
 only judged from appearances, when you came into the car at 
 dusk." 
 
 " Yes, ma 'am, it is not strange," said Mabel ; " I do n't 
 wonder at it, he was so kind to the boys and so civil to me. 
 He was a good friend, and we depended upon him, and now, 
 now " 
 
 Her voice choked ; she could not go on/ 
 
 The old lady for the stranger was advanced in years 
 quietly rose, came forward, and taking the seat beside Mabel 
 from which Alick had risen in the moment of excitement, said 
 kindly, " And do you need a friend now, my dear ? " 
 
 Mabel could not answer except by putting her hand into that 
 of the old lady, who pressed it tenderly. 
 
 " Little brothers ? " said she, drawing Alick toward her, and 
 gently soothing Murray with the words, " Poor boy ! there, 
 do n't cry ! " 
 
 " She 's our auntie," said Alick, proudly. 
 
 " And where 's mamma? " 
 
 " She 's gone to another world," answered Murray, promptly. 
 
 " She died last Saturday," whispered Alick. 
 
 Their new friend uttered an exclamation of pity, and, grieved 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 341 
 
 at the result of her natural inquiry, forbore all further ques- 
 tioning. 
 
 " Poor little fellows ! you must both be tired," said she. 
 " Come, I will put you to bed." And rising, she beckoned to 
 a woman just behind them, and with her assistance proceeded 
 to carry her purpose into execution. " Do n't stir ; we will 
 make them very comfortable," she added, as Mabel proposed 
 to assist her. And taking advantage of some vacant seats 
 opposite, she spread upon them her own and the woman's sur- 
 plus supply of shawk, and in a few moments the exhausted 
 children were disposed of for the rest of the night 
 
 " My child, you have seen trouble, I fear/' said the benevo- 
 lent lady, as, resuming her seat by Mabel, she passed one arm 
 round the young girl's waist, and drew her head upon her 
 shoulder. 
 
 Mabel had in some degree steeled herself against the hard- 
 ships and trials which she might encounter, but this unexpected 
 kindness wholly overpowered her ; the floodgates of her soul 
 were opened, and her tears poured forth like rain. Her judi- 
 cious comforter did not attempt to restrain her. She well 
 knew the relief it sometimes is to weep, and without interrupt- 
 ing her by a word, suffered her feelings to have vent. 
 
 "Lie still, dear," said she, as Mabel, having at length become 
 more composed, made a movement to sit upright. 
 
 " You are very good ; but I shall fatigue and distress 
 you." 
 
 " Do not disturb yourself on my account," was the reply. 
 " I only require a few hours sleep, and I have had that already. 
 I want to see you take some rest." 
 
 " Oh, I cannot sleep," said Mabel, "I am too unhappy." 
 
 " Perhaps I can help you," said the old lady. " There are 
 two sides to trouble, let us try and look at the bright side." 
 
 " I never gave up so before," said Mabel, " and I know I 
 ought not to now, but this seemed too much." 
 
 u Was this young man so essential to you, then, that you 
 cannot get on without him ? " 
 
 " He was very considerate and kind," said Mabel. u 1 shall 
 
342 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 miss him, and so will the boys; but that is not the worst, he 
 has got all ray money. I gave him my purse to pay for some 
 milk for the children just before he left the cars." 
 
 " Well, that is bad," said the old lady, " but not beyond rem- 
 edy. How far are you expecting to travel ? " 
 
 Mabel named the town and county in the eastern part of 
 Illinois, which were her destination. 
 
 " And you were to take the steamer at Buffalo ? " 
 
 " Yes, to-morrow night." 
 
 " There is no boat until the night following," said the old 
 lady, confidently. " I have made particular inquiries, as I am 
 to pursue the same route myself. So you see Owen will have 
 time to join you, and, meanwhile, you shall be under my care ; 
 and afterwards, too," added she, " if you can feel confidence in 
 an old lady who is a stranger to you, but who has seen much 
 of the world, and is an experienced traveller." 
 
 Mabel thanked her heartily in her own name and the chil- 
 dren's. 
 
 " Do not thank me," said her kind friend, " the benefit will 
 be mutual. I am fond of young people, and glad to be of use in 
 the world. If my three score years and ten can afford you 
 comfort and protection, then I have not grown old in vain." 
 
 " Oh, I cannot tell you the relief it will be, if you will only 
 let me keep within sight of you," exclaimed Mabel, eagerly. 
 Then, as she recalled the lady's previous allusion to her being 
 a stranger, she added, with simple candor, at the same time 
 lifting her head, and speaking with great earnestness, " But 
 you are very good, ma'am, to feel confidence in me. It must 
 seem strange to you that I should be travelling so far, with the 
 charge of these children, and dependent myself upon a young 
 man who is not of my own station in life." 
 
 " Yes, a little singular, perhaps," answered the lady, " but no 
 more so than many things which admit of easy explanation; or, 
 even if I were still left to wonder at the circumstance, it would 
 not deter me from offering my aid to one who seems to need 
 it." 
 
 "May I tell you how it happened?" asked Mabel. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 343 
 
 " Certainly, my child, if you please to do so. Tell me any- 
 thing that you feel willing to confide to one old enough to be a 
 safe, but not too old to be a sympathizing friend." 
 
 Thus encouraged, Mabel suffered her head to drop once 
 more upon the shoulder of the tall and strongly-framed, though 
 venerable lady, and in the darkness of the night, and amid the 
 hush which prevailed among the sleepers who were stretched 
 around, she poured into her willing ear, in a low and broken 
 voice, the story of her recent family bereavements, and the 
 sufferings, responsibilities, and perplexities, which had ensued. 
 Her bitterest griefs and anxieties were such, indeed, as can be 
 breathed only in the ear of Heaven, but the partial revelation 
 which she made was enough and more than enough to excite 
 all the tender compassion of her aged friend, as was evident 
 from the gentle expressions of condolence which escaped her, 
 and the affectionate solicitude with which she drew a cloak 
 round the weary girl, and now and then pressed her closer to 
 her side. So sweet, indeed, was this welcome assurance of 
 protection and sympathy, that, at length, the tale being ended, 
 and the aching heart, in some measure, relieved of its burden, 
 tired nature asserted its claims, and a soft and refreshing sleep 
 stole over Mabel's senses. 
 
 It was daylight when she awoke. The sun was streaming 
 through the car ; most of the passengers were sitting bolt up- 
 right in their seats, their firm attitudes seeming to defy any one 
 who should accuse them of having slept a wink on the journey; 
 and the whole scene was so different from that which had pre- 
 vailed a few hours before, that Mabel could not for a moment 
 realize where she was, or whether the events of the previous 
 night had not all been a dream. There could be nothing 
 imaginary, however, in the friendly shoulder on which her 
 aead was comfortably pillowed, nor could anything be more 
 kind and cordial than the smile which reassured her, as start- 
 ing up, .she suddenly exclaimed, " Why, how long I have lain 
 here ! How I must have tired you ! " 
 
 " No, you have not tired me in the least. I am rejoiced 
 
344 MABEL VADGHAN. 
 
 that you have slept so long. How do you feel this morning, 
 my dear ? " 
 
 But Mabel did not seem to heed the kind inquiry. Her 
 eyes were fixed earnestly on the face of her new friend, while 
 a glow of pleasure radiated her features. There could be no 
 mistaking that benevolent countenance, that dignified form, 
 those silver curls peeping from the snowy fluting of the widow's 
 cap, above all, that cheering and animating smile ; and, snatch- 
 ing the hand of the good lady, Mabel pressed it to her lip>, 
 exclaiming, "You are not a stranger after all! I have seen 
 you before. You are Mrs. Abraham Percival ! " 
 
 " Do you know me, then ? " was the reply. " That is pleas- 
 ant. I have been studying your face, my dear, and thought 
 it seemed familiar, but you must help my memory a little. I 
 cannot recall the name." 
 
 "Mabel Vnughan ; but perhaps you have never heard the 
 whole name." 
 
 Madam Percival shook her head. " No," said she, afu.-r a 
 moment's thought, " never ; but I once knew a Miss Vaughan, 
 possibly a relative of yours. She must be somewhat advanced 
 if she is still living, which I presume to be the case, as I ex- 
 changed cards with her in New York last winter, though we 
 had not the pleasure of meeting. We used to call her Sabiah, 
 in her younger days." 
 
 " My aunt," faltered Mabel, a new light dawning upon her 
 in reference to the memorable visit, which had, as it proved, 
 been so wholly misinterpreted. 
 
 "Ah! then you are a daughter of her brother John. You 
 see," added she, with her winning smile, " we old-fashioned 
 folks arc always acquainted with the family tree ; however, I 
 lived in your father's native town some years; I was an assist- 
 ant teacher in the village academy, and your aunt was one of 
 my pupils." 
 
 ' Was she, indeed ? " >aid Mabel, with interest. " Dear 
 aunt Sabiah, how she would like to see you !" 
 
 " I was in hopes to revive our acquaintance last winter," 
 said Madam Percival. " I have alwavs continued to foci au 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 345 
 
 interest in your aunt, and as I happened to learn her address 
 in New York, through one of her village friends, I took an 
 early opportunity to call; but I think it probable she has 
 nearly or wholly forgotten me, or perhaps would only recog- 
 nize me by my maiden name." 
 
 " She never knew of your visit," said Mabel, with a blush 
 of mortification, " she never had a chance to know. I had the 
 vanity to take it to myself, and I was the Miss Vaughan who 
 left a card at your door. Ofr, how sorry I am ! " 
 
 A shade of disappointment passed over Madam Percival's 
 countenance also, for a moment, then she exclaimed quickly, as 
 if anxious to relieve Mabel's evident regret, "It was very 
 natural, however. Your aunt probably lived a retired life." 
 
 " Yes, very," said Mabel, u but she would have been so glad 
 to see you." 
 
 " Ah, well ! " said Madam Percival, " do not lament it too 
 seriously, my child. Time has made great changes with us 
 both, and the meeting might not have been wholly pleasurable. 
 But tell me, my dear, where it is that I have seen your face 
 before." 
 
 Mabel named the occasion. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, I remember now," said Madam Percival, with 
 evident pleasure in the recollection. "You were my grand- 
 son's partner, in the country-dance. Ah ! that was a 'pleasant 
 evening. We all enjoyed it much." 
 
 This reference to her own enjoyment, and that of her 
 friends, led Mabel to speak in grateful terms of one of their 
 number, the good clergyman, to whom she was so much in- 
 debted. Madam Percival was deeply interested by the young 
 girl's narrative of his deeds of Christian charity, and by the 
 time it was concluded, the boys awoke, eager to make an attack 
 upon the luncheon. Madam Percival left room for the children 
 beside their aunt, by herself returning to the seat next the 
 female attendant, who was the companion of her journey, and 
 for some hours the ordinary events of travelling succeeded. 
 
 " We shall soon be in Buffalo, my dear," said Madam Perci- 
 
346 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 val at length, leaning forward and laying her hand on Mabel's 
 shoulder, to attract her attention. 
 
 Mabel, thus suddenly roused from a sad and painful reverie, 
 into which she had fallen, a train of thought superinduced no 
 doubt by the disclosures and coincidences of the morning, 
 started, turned, and said, in an abstracted manner, " Yes, and 
 what shall we do then ? " 
 
 " Whatever you like, my poor, tried child ; you need rest 
 and refreshment for body and mind. I was thinking where 
 W could best find it?" 
 
 " Wherever you please," said Mabel. " I shall be only too 
 contented and thankful to stay with you." 
 
 " Have you ever been to Niagara ? " 
 
 " Never, ma'am," answered Mabel, with a slight tremulous- 
 ness in her voice, at the mention of a spot she had once so 
 yearned to visit, but which was now associated with many a 
 bitter memory. 
 
 " We shall have twenty-four hours to spare before the steam 
 boat leaves," said Madam Percival. "I have consulted my 
 little friend here (and she tapped with her spectacles the rail- 
 road guide which she held in her hand), and find that we can, 
 if we choose, proceed directly to Niagara, and remain there 
 until within a few hours of the boat's sailing." It will be an 
 uncomfortable night in the city. I am well known at the Cata- 
 ract House, and we shall be sure of every outward comfort, to 
 say nothing of the inexpressible pleasure of having a glimpse 
 at the Falls. Do you like the plan ? " 
 
 "I don't know," said Mabel, hesitating. "I would rather 
 you should decide." 
 
 " You can scarcely be expected to have any preference under 
 the circumstances, my dear," said Madam Percival, laying her 
 hand anxiously on Mabel's flushed cheek, "but I am convinced 
 there could be no better prescription for you than the one I recom- 
 mend. The boys require rest and fresh cool air to invigorate 
 them after the journey, but you need something more; it is the 
 tired heart and brain which sends this feverish blood to your 
 cheek, rather than any physical fatigue, though you have had 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 347 
 
 your share of that. You are my guests for the present, my 
 adopted children I would say, and so I feel myself at liberty 
 to study your wants, and endeavor to supply them. Besides," 
 added she, with a persuasive smile and tone, which made it 
 almost appear that she was begging, instead of conferring a 
 favor, " we old folks, who pride ourselves on our experience, 
 love to try our favorite remedies ; so, if you leave the decision 
 to me, we will keep on to Niagara, and risk the additional 
 fatigue in consideration of the benefits we hope to derive from 
 the effort." 
 
 Comprehending at once the disinterestedness of this scheme 
 to divert her troubled mind from the contemplation of its sor- 
 rows, Mabel hastened to deprecate the idea of her aged friend's 
 incurring any unnecessary fatigue on her account ; but Madam 
 Percival assured her that she never suffered from the effects 
 of travelling, and that in the present case, the necessity for one 
 day's delay rendered the temptation to visit the Falls irresisti- 
 ble, apart from the satisfaction it would be to introduce her 
 young friends to one of the grandest wonders of nature, in 
 which, as Americans, they had all a common birthright. 
 
 So the excursion was determined on ; and night found them 
 established in a comfortable hotel, where, within hearing of the 
 roar of the mighty cataract, they all experienced the welcome 
 refreshment and repose which weary travellers crave. 
 
CHAPTER XXX, 
 
 My soul were dark 
 
 But for the golden light and rainbow hue 
 That, sweeping heaven with their triumphal arc, 
 
 Break on the view. 
 
 Enough to feel 
 
 That God indeed is good ! enough to know 
 Without the gloomy clouds he could reveal 
 
 No beauteous bow. 
 
 WILLIAM CJIOSWELL. 
 
 AT an early hour, the next morning, a pleasant voice was 
 heard outside Mabel's door, saying, softly, " Are you awake, 
 my dear ? " and was answered by Mabel's presenting herself, 
 already dressed and equipped for going out. 
 
 " You are on the alert, I see," said Madam Percival, who 
 also wore her bonnet and shawl, as if prepared for a walk. 
 " I thought I heard your step in the room, or I would not 
 have disturbed you. How have you slept ? " 
 
 " Very soundly until daylight ; but then I awoke, and, hear- 
 ing the noise of the Falls, could not resist going out to see 
 them before breakfast." 
 
 " Ah, you are a girl after my own heart," said Madam Per- 
 cival, drawing Mabel's arm through hers. " I have left word 
 with my woman, Mrs. Patten, to go in and attend to the 
 children's wants, whenever they awake, so you need feel no 
 anxiety about them ; " and the old and the young lady left the 
 hotel together. 
 
 " This is the direction leading to the bridge over the rapids," 
 said Madam Percival, when they had gained a side street. 
 " I see an old acquaintance of mine that Indian woman, just 
 opening her little store of wares over opposite she knows 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 349 
 
 me ; " and Madarn Percival bowed in kindly recognition to the 
 dusky squaw, whose face was full of eagerness. " I must go 
 and speak to her. Do not wait for me ; I will overtake you." 
 Thus speaking, Madam Percival crossed the road leading to 
 the bridge, and Mabel proceeded alone. ^ 
 
 How tumultuous and how mingled was the rushing tide of 
 thought which assailed her during that short, lonely walk! 
 The time, the place, the solitude how suggestive were they 
 all ! How many of her childhood's hopes, her girlish anticipa- 
 tions had centred around Niagara ! How fondly had she looked 
 forward to this fulfilment of her early dreams ! How little 
 had she foreseen the cruel chain of circumstances which had 
 brought her to the spot at last, disappointed, forsaken, and 
 bereaved. A moment more, and, in the stillness of the morn- 
 ing, for the sun had not yet risen, she found herself alone on 
 the bridge, beneath which flowed the angry torrent. Panting 
 from exercise, breathless with her own agitating reflections, and 
 dumb with astonishment and awe, she stood, with parted lips, 
 gazing up that gigantic slope, down which, in wild and frantic 
 speed, the waters were hastening to their fearful plunge. 
 Whence came they and whither did they go those mad, 
 triumphant waves which, scorning all opposition and beating 
 down all obstacles, seemed like the very messengers of doom ! 
 An instinctive dread took possession of Mabel's mind, as, gazing 
 long and fixedly at these witnesses . to God's power and 
 majesty, she saw in them types of those recent events which, 
 bearing down like a mighty flood and overwhelming her be- 
 neath a torrent of trouble, had left her to struggle helplessly 
 with the current. " All thy waves and thy billows have gone 
 over me, great God," she exclaimed aloud, at length withdraw- 
 ing her gaze from a scene whose sublime and solemn grandeur 
 was, to the excited girl, almost lost in a nervous sense of terror. 
 
 Then, as the roar still continued sounding in her ears, an 
 irresistible impulse seized her to hasten on and witness the end, 
 which, at present, she could image to herself only as a dire 
 catastrophe ; and, as if fearful that, by a moment's delay, she 
 should lose something of the aAvful spectacle which she half 
 30 
 
350 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 longed, half dreaded to behold, she commenced running, and, 
 without pausing to take breath, continued at the same rapid 
 pace until she suddenly gained an elevated point, where, at a 
 glance, she could discern the two rival divisions of the far- 
 famed cataract. She gazed for an instant only, at the dark 
 and angry waters, on which the sun, now just below the verge 
 of the horizon, had not yet shed his beams, and which, as they 
 plunged down the fearful vortex, seemed to her bewildered 
 senses to utter only a message of stern and angry wrath ; then 
 throwing herself on the ground, with her face hid against a 
 huge overhanging rock, she burst into a fit of passionate and 
 uncontrollable weeping. Her excited feelings having thus 
 found vent, however, and her strained nerves being relieved by 
 this free and natural outburst, she soon became more calm, and 
 at length lay quite still, listening, without terror, to the roar 
 of the waters, when, suddenly, she heard, close beside her, in 
 measured and familiar accents, the solemn words, " And I 
 heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the 
 voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, 
 saying, Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 
 
 There was a pause ; then a long-drawn sigh escaped Mabel, 
 and attracted the attention of Madam Percival, who had not 
 until then perceived her. 
 
 " What ! are you here before me, and in my favorite spot, my 
 child ? " exclaimed she ; then seeing the despairing attitude and 
 covered face of Mabel, and at once conjecturing that, in the 
 weak state of her nervous system, she had been overcome by 
 the scene, she sat down beside her and said, in a self-reproving 
 tone, " All ! I should not have let you come here alone." 
 
 " It frightens me/' said Mabel, with a shudder. " I should 
 not have minded the fall so much, but those dreadful rapids!" 
 and again a slight shudder passed over her frame. " It seemed 
 as if everything were pouring down at once just as just as" 
 
 "Just as trouble comes upon us poor mortals, you would say, 
 my dear." 
 
 " Yes, I could not help thinking of myself." 
 
 - ; I have often had the same thought," said Madam Percival, 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 351 
 
 soothingly ; " but I have also found here a lesson of faith and 
 hope, which has fortified me in the hour of trouble, and which 
 I trusted you would have learned here, too. Often are we 
 borne through the rushing waves of anxiety, suspense, and 
 pain, and plunged at last down the gulf of a mighty sorrow ; 
 but let us not be faithless or despairing. He who has meted 
 out the bounds of the earth has said to human suffering, as to 
 the mighty torrent, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther;' 
 and even amid the shock of a great calamity, we know that 
 the raging torrent of affliction is spanned by the rainbow of 
 His love. Look up, my dear, look up." 
 
 Mabel lifted her head quickly, as her attention was thus 
 earnestly claimed, and above the watery abyss, which a few 
 moments before had been so dark and fearful, a glorious rain- 
 bow danced and quivered in the beams of the newly-risen sun ; 
 and, as the glittering spray caught and reflected the rays of 
 light in new forms of radiance, another and another brilliant 
 arch stretched its graceful curve across the foaming flood. 
 
 A smile of joy flashed out from Mabel's face, effecting in it 
 a transformation scarcely less striking than that which had so 
 suddenly been wrought in the face of nature ; she clasped her 
 hands, and stood for some moments in a rapt and serene 
 silence. 
 
 Madam Percival watched the play of her features with 
 affectionate interest ; and, as the anxious and troubled expres- 
 sion of her countenance was gradually superseded by the glow 
 of a Heavenly peace, she said in a low and fervent tone, 
 " Ah ! my child, it is only when the light of the Sun of Right- 
 eousness comes to illumine our darkened hearts, that we can 
 comprehend the love of Him who is continually confirming his 
 ancient promise "It shall come to pass when I bring a 
 cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud." 
 
 "I have realized it many times," said Mabel, eagerly ; "I 
 realize it now." 
 
 " It is shining in your "face, my love," said Madam Percival. 
 " Come, let us go back to the hotel, and cheer with it the little 
 
352 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 orphan hearts which must look to you henceforward to be the 
 sunshine of their lives. 
 
 "Is it not grand? is it not encouraging and ennobling?" said 
 Madam Percival, when, some hours later, they sat together on 
 the flat surface of Table Rock, watching the gigantic waters 
 of the Horse Shoe Fall. "In the course of a long life, I 
 have visited this spot many times, and I have invariably gone 
 away refreshed and strengthened, as if I had been listening to 
 the voice of a sacred oracle. Especially when the chastening 
 of God's providence was heavy upon me, have I been cheered 
 by this glorious proclamation of the truth, that His power 
 goes hand in hand with His love." 
 
 "I cannot thank you enough for bringing me here," said 
 Mabel ; "it is a remembrance for a life-time." 
 
 " I confess," said the old lady, " my first thought was merely 
 to divert your mind from dwelling too fixedly on your recent 
 trials. I did not realize how fully you were open to impres- 
 sions from nature. Now I cannot be too thankful for the 
 prompting which bade me lead you to this school of high 
 thoughts and noble purposes. God grant, my child, that your 
 young life, sanctified by the divine blessing, may flow on in as 
 strong, deep, and tranquil a current, as that of this noble river, 
 whose waters, henceforward, with only now and then a tempo- 
 rary interruption, sweep calmly on to the eternal ocean. You, 
 indeed, need moral courage and strength, my child, for it is a 
 noble mission which you have before you." 
 
 " You mean the care of the children," said Mabel, observing 
 that Madam Percival's eye was fixed upon the boys, who were 
 playing at a little distance ? " 
 
 " Yes, the training of these young minds and hearts is 
 an office of true dignity and greatness, and one in which you 
 have all my sympathy. I, too, have educated boys, and my 
 work is not yet finished. If I read those little fellows' charac- 
 ters aright, your responsibility is as great as your influence is 
 unbounded. That eldest child loves you with a devotion which 
 } have rarely seen equalled in one of his years. It is through 
 that love that he must learn to cherish those universal sym- 
 
MABEL V A UGH AN. 353 
 
 pathies, in which I suspect him to be deficient, and that happy, 
 affectionate, beautiful, spoiled plaything yonder, who is at this 
 moment attracting the attention of strangers, will develope 
 impulses and propensities of so wide a range, that all the ardor 
 of his nature must be early taught to concentrate itself on the 
 pure, the elevated, and the good. Remember, my dear, that 
 your counsels may rule in many generations of hearts, and, if 
 the thought will add sanctity to your office, cherish the belief 
 that the principles you instil, may help to mould the future 
 fortunes of this free republic." 
 
 A shade of earnest thought and holy resolution was stamped 
 on Mabel's attentive face, as, with her eyes intently fixed on 
 the children, she listened to the solemn charge of her experi- 
 enced and venerable friend. It would have been difficult to 
 pronounce which was the nobler countenance of the two ; that 
 of the benevolent and Christian matron who thus uttered the 
 words of warning and of wisdom, or that of the enthusiastic 
 and truth-loving girl, into whose heart they sunk with a deep 
 and lasting power. Madam Percival gazed into the earnest 
 face of Mabel, and her heart warmed anew towards her, as 
 she read in every expressive feature a hopeful prophecy for the 
 future, a prophecy which after years saw gloriously fulfilled. 
 
 We pass over the departure from Niagara, after a visit 
 which, though brief, was memorable to at least two of the 
 little company, between whom there had, then and there, been 
 sealed the compact of a friendship, rendered the more sacred 
 by the wide difference in their years. All were refreshed 
 and strengthened for continuing the journey ; and the joy of 
 the children, and the relief and satisfaction of Mabel were 
 complete, when, at the steamboat wharf in Buffalo, they met 
 Owen, who, poor fellow, had suffered the most intense anxiety 
 on their account, and who at once became a sharer in their 
 gratitude to Madam Percival, as was evident from his clumsy 
 but honest expression of thanks, and still more from his un- 
 wearied and deferential services to her during the remainder 
 of the journey. " Upon ray word, Ma'am," said he, ' ; when I 
 tbiind they were off, and nobody to see to 'em, I was e'en 
 
 30* 
 
354 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 a'most crazed ; and when, to crown the whole, I found Miss 
 Vaughan's purse in ray pocket, I believe I went clean mad. 
 Why, I M a fired one of the engines, and come off on my own 
 hook, but 'twas no use; I just had to cool down and learn 
 patience by waitin'. But I see, and bless the Lord for it too, 
 the young lady wa' n't without a protector, nor never will be in 
 this world, I've a notion, sartin not if she has her deserts; 
 and I make bold to thank you for your goodness on my own 
 account. Ma'am, and for the relief it is to my conscience ;" and 
 taking off his hat and bowing, as he had been wont to bow to 
 Rosy, he drew back a step and added, " Owen Dowst 's your 
 servant for life, Ma'am." Madam Percival was one who could 
 appreciate the simplicity and worth of Mabel's humble escort ; 
 and before their travels together were at an end, he had learned 
 to look upon this lady, as almost every one did who came under 
 her influence, as a reliable friend. She talked intelligently 
 with him of farms, stock and crops ; gave him much valuable 
 information regarding Western life, and when he finally ven- 
 tured to consult her with reference to the investment of his little 
 property, she entered into his schemes with as ready an inter- 
 est as if she had been a professed land-agent and he a wealthy 
 speculator. 
 
 Thus all went on happily and harmoniously, and Mabel, 
 with Madam Percival for her counsellor and friend, Owen as 
 the devoted attendant of herself and the children, and Mrs. 
 Patten, who shared all the interests of her beloved mistress, 
 to minister to her wants, and relieve her of little cares, found 
 her formidable journey drawing- to a safe conclusion, and 
 almost sighed as she thought how soon she must part from 
 these valued and tried friends of her adversity. 
 
 The last night of their sojourn in each other's company was 
 passed on board a canal-boat. The children had gone to 
 sleep in the cabin ; Mrs. Patten was watching beside them ; 
 Owen, at the stern of the boat, was giving voluntary aid in 
 the stowing of some freight, and Madam Percival and Mabel 
 were seated on deck, holding the last of those pleasant and 
 valuable conversations which they had enjoyed together. 
 
MABEL V A UGH AN. 355 
 
 "I am glad you like this Western country," said Madam 
 Percival, " and that you do not feel discouraged by its yet 
 rougli and undeveloped character. It is a great field, and one 
 in which comparatively little has yet been accomplished. You 
 will find much that is strange, uncouth, and utterly at variance 
 with all your preconceived ideas ; but to a noble mind there is 
 a satisfaction in overcoming difficulties, and every effort is 
 sure to find its reward in a land which makes such a rich 
 return for the labor bestowed on it." 
 
 " It excites all my enthusiasm," said Mabel. " I have felt, 
 a hundred times on our journey, as if I would gladly stop 
 short at any given point, and remain a year or more, to watch 
 the progress which could almost be seen in passing, and of 
 which 1 hear such wonderful accounts on every side." 
 
 " Say rather," said Madam Percival, " to take part in that 
 progress. Do not consider yourself excluded by your age or 
 sex from exerting an active influence on the growth and true 
 civilization of any spot in which you are either temporarily or 
 permanently a resident. In a country whose physical devel- 
 opment is so unexampled as this, too much effort cannot be 
 made to insure a proportionate advance in moral and spiritual 
 growth. It may be that your influence and example must be 
 confined to a narrow circle, but do not forget that, however 
 restricted may be your sphere, it is woman's peculiar privilege 
 and province to exert that softening, elevating, purifying spirit, 
 which sanctifies the ruder labors of life, and sheds abroad 
 in the community a nobler ambition than that of building 
 cities in the wilderness, and subduing the elements to human 
 will. Above all, my dear, do not consider your life in the 
 West a period of exile ; this is but a part of our mother 
 country, destined, in time perhaps, to become in its influence, 
 what it already is in its locality, the centre and heart of the 
 republic." 
 
 "I am already accustoming myself," said Mabel, " to look 
 upon it as my future home, for such it may eventually be- 
 come." 
 
 " Make it a home, my dear," said Madam Percival, " for 
 
356 MAB^L VAUGHAN. 
 
 yourself and your family ; at least, while you remain in it, 
 give it your affection and your best efforts, it is the only 
 way to render it a happy residence or a useful one. I have 
 homes in several parts of our country, and it would be hard 
 for me to say which I love best. It is now fifteen years since 
 I accompanied my husband into this then unsettled region. 
 He was one of the pioneers of civilization, and the affection 
 which I then conceived for this "Western valley has continued 
 in full force ever since. It has been with great satisfaction 
 that I have made successive pilgrimages hither, and now that 
 I have come to finish my days, perhaps, in this land of prom- 
 ise, I do not feel willing to consider it the home of my adop- 
 tion, but simply my native soil." 
 
 " If you were only to be near me," said Mabel, " it would be 
 such a comfort ; your counsel would be so precious." 
 
 " Forty miles is not counted a very great distance in this 
 part of the world, my dear; and that, as nearly as I can judge, 
 is the distance between your father's estate and that of my 
 son. My hand, owing to one of the infirmities of age, has 
 recently been disabled from writing, but I shall find a way, 
 one of these days, to communicate with my young friends, and 
 shall always be rejoiced to hear from you in return. But, 
 good night ; I will not keep you up any longer to listen to an 
 old woman's preaching." 
 
 Before morning they had reached the bustling Western city 
 where their united route terminated. Mabel and the children 
 took passage in the clumsy carriage in which they were to 
 commence their last day's journey ; Owen set out for another 
 part of the country ; and Madam Percival, having seen her 
 adopted charges on their way, proceeded to the house of a 
 friend, where she was to await her son's arrival in the city. 
 
 It was a cold, rainy, and uncomfortable evening, when, with 
 the horses weary and steaming, and the children exhausted 
 with cold and fatigue, Mabel, almost hopeless of ever reaching 
 their destination, which had seemed all day to recede as they 
 advanced, at length heard from their driver the joyful words, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 357 
 
 " That 'ere 's Mr. Vaughan's house where you see the light 
 over yonder." 
 
 " Don't cry ; we are almost there, Murray ! " she exclaimed, 
 encouragingly, to the poor weeping child, who, sadly feeling 
 the want of Madam Percival's shawls and Owen's pilot cloth 
 coat, was shivering with the cold, from which all Mabel's care 
 could ill protect him, and who, hungry, dissatisfied, arid out of 
 humor, had complained and cried bitterly for the last half hour. 
 " Look over there, beyond the river that is grandpa's house; 
 you will soon see him and Uncle Harry." 
 
 " I don't want to see them ! I hate this place ! I won't 
 stay here ! " sobbed Murray. 
 
 " It will be better than riding all night, though, Murray ; 
 won't it ? " said Alick, in the same patient, philosophical tone 
 which the little man had maintained from the commencement 
 of the journey. 
 
 " Ye '11 have to get out here and step up a piece," said the 
 driver, halting within a few rods of the house. "My road 
 turns off here to the post-office, and these horses is dead beat, 
 that 's a fact." 
 
 Mabel needed no second bidding ; she was only too glad to 
 trust to her own feet, to which eagerness lent wings, and in an 
 instant more, with Murray in her arms and Alick close beside 
 her, she hastened in the direction of the light, opened the un- 
 locked door of the house, and entered. She found herself in a, 
 dark passage, and was groping for the inner door, when it was 
 suddenly thrown open; and, with a cry of joy, she set Murray 
 on the floor, and flung her arms around the neck of her aston- 
 ished brother. 
 
 Had it been the ghost of Mabel instead of Mabel herself, it 
 could have created no greater surprise and consternation. Mr. 
 Vaughan, who was sitting in an arm-chair by the fire, turned 
 his head as Harry uttered her name, and seeing his daughter 
 before him, became pale, tried twice to rise from his seat, then 
 sank back as if seized by sudden giddiness, while a look of 
 deep distress passed over his haggard features. 
 
 " Mabel here ! " was his exclamation. 
 
358 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 She had thrown herself on the floor beside him, and with 
 both arms resting on his knee, was looking him earnestly in 
 the face before he had finished speaking the words. " Yes, 
 lather ; Mabel and the boys." 
 
 " Alick ! Murray ! What does it all mean ? " cried the old 
 man, greatly agitated " their mother ? " 
 
 There was a pause a long, long pause no one spoke. 
 Alick hung down his head. Murray crept to the fire and kept 
 on sobbing. 
 
 "Their mother, Mabel?" said Mr. Vauglian, again, in a 
 tone of anxious inquiry. 
 
 " They have no mother in this world but me, father," an- 
 swered Mabel, in a hollow whisper. 
 
 The head of the afflicted parent dropped upon his bosom. 
 Harry came up, untied Mabel's bonnet, smoothed her hair with 
 his hands, kissed her hastily, and walked to the other end of 
 the room to hide his agitation. She rose and stood looking 
 into the fire. 
 
 " Is she dead ? How did it happen ? When did she die ? 
 Where ? " asked Mr. Vaughan, at last, in a choked voice. 
 
 Mabel gave a simple outline of the facts. Mr. Vaughan 
 held fast to the sides of his chair, as if needing support, and 
 presently Harry came back, and watching Mabel's countenance, 
 listened also to the story. Now and then, one or the other 
 asked some anxious question, and at length amid sighs, sobs, 
 and secret shudderirigs, the sad tale was fully told. There 
 was a second long silence, broken only by Murray's cries, and 
 then succeeded other questionings and other cares ; the weary- 
 young travellers their long, hard journey; the trying expe- 
 riences of Mabel ; the exposures and deprivations of the poor 
 children; their present necessities and wants all in turn de- 
 manded consideration, and w r ere in turn discussed. Murray's 
 loud complaints of cold and hunger were promptly responded 
 to by Harry, who piled on more wood and went to consult the 
 larder, and, through his good housekeeping and Mabel's inge- 
 nuity, arrangements were soon made by which the newly- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 359 
 
 arrived party could be comfortably accommodated for the 
 night. 
 
 " How happened you to think of coming here, Mabel?" asked 
 Mr. Vaughan, when, supper being concluded and the children 
 gone to bed, she had quietly seated herself beside him, with the 
 satisfied, contented air of one who having suffered much has 
 found a place of repose at last. 
 
 " I did not know what else to do, father," was her simple 
 answer. 
 
 The same distressed look returned to his face which had 
 marked it on the first announcement of her arrival ; he moved 
 uneasily in his chair, glanced at the bare, plastered walls and 
 meagre furniture of their only parlor, and then, gazing at her 
 with mingled pride and pity, ejaculated mournfully, "It is 
 not a fit place for you, my child. I would have spared you 
 this." 
 
 Mabel, grieved at perceiving how deeply he felt the trial of 
 seeing his beloved daughter reduced to such humble fortunes, 
 made haste to assure him of her perfect satisfaction and joy in 
 sharing his Western abode. He interrupted her, however, 
 shook his head in a troubled, discontented manner, and glanced 
 once more around the room, saying, " Ah, well ! it may do for 
 awhile, perhaps a week or so, until I get my affairs settled." 
 
 It seemed, indeed, as if his paternal grief at the death of 
 Louise was secondary to this one absorbing regret ; and as if 
 in contemplating the trials and mortifications to which his 
 favorite child had been suddenly reduced, he had forgotten 
 every other cause of sorrow; for, when at last he took his 
 candle to retire for the night, he laid his hand on Mabel's head, 
 and said in a consolatory tone, " Never mind, my daughter ! 
 It is only for a season, while Harry practises a little shooting 
 and I settle up my affairs, and then we will all go home again." 
 
 " I am afraid father is sorry I came, Harry," said Mabel, as 
 the brother and sister were also about to separate. 
 
 "No, no, indeed," replied Harry; "only he feels, as any 
 body must, that this is a new style of things for you to be 
 
360 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 brought to this bivouac in the wilderness this hunting- 
 lodge in the prairie for that is all it is fit for." 
 
 " If he only cares on my account if you are sure of that, 
 Harry, I am content," said Mabel. " He shall see how happy 
 I can be here." 
 
 " Dear Mabel," said Harry, looking at her tenderly, " how 
 much you have suffered how much you have been through 
 since we parted ! " 
 
 " We will not think of it now," said she, smiling through her 
 tears. " I am with my father and you, Harry. I have nothing 
 more to ask." 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 But never, in her varied sphere, 
 Is woman to the soul more dear 
 Than when the homely task she plies, 
 "With cheerful duty in her eyes ; 
 And, every lowly path well trod, 
 Looks meekly upward to her God 
 
 CAROLINE OILMAN. 
 
 "OuT WEST" is an indefinite term, whose limit has never 
 been circumscribed, and never can be fairly reached until civili- 
 zation, marching on with its measured stride, has set its foot 
 upon every inch of ground between the Atlantic and (.he Pacific 
 shores. At the time of which we write, however, the States 
 which form the eastern and western boundaries of the Missis- 
 sippi were the chief theatre of emigration ; though many a bold 
 trapper and backwoodsman began to feel the atmosphere op- 
 pressive with the breath of numbers, and to yearn for still 
 deeper solitudes. 
 
 The tract of land which, about a year before, had recom- 
 mended itself to Mr. Leroy as a favorable object of speculation, 
 and had subsequently become the joint property of himself and 
 his father-in-law, was a wide and level belt of alternate wood- 
 land and prairie, which, stretching for many miles along the 
 shore of a considerable river, afforded an obvious and practica- 
 ble route for a newly projected railroad. It was with the view 
 of monopolizing the locality, and profiting by the enormous rise 
 in value which was anticipated, that the original purchase had 
 been determined on; and. as the scheme gained new favor in 
 the eyes of the eager speculators, and the subject became more 
 engrossing, larger arid larger investments were made, until, at 
 length, all other considerations were excluded, and their landed 
 interests became to both gentlemen a subject of vital importance. 
 
3G2 MABEL VAUOHAX. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, for the realization of their hopes, the 
 River Valley Railroad, with all the expectations which were 
 centred in it, still continued a mere project of the brain. True, 
 it was thought of, talked of, and planned, but as yet the fulfil- 
 ment of the enterprise was postponed ; some believed that the 
 cities which it was destined to connect were not of sufficient 
 importance to warrant the undertaking, and all were agreed to 
 wait until the time was more fully ripe for action; all, save 
 the disappointed land-owners, whose fortunes and patience 
 could ill brook this unforeseen and fatal delay. Meanwhile, 
 Mr. Leroy's affairs began to suffer embarrassment; a large 
 portion of his capital was embarked in an adventure which 
 yielded him no returns; he was obliged to look to Mr. Vaughan 
 for assistance, and by degrees nearly all his share of the West- 
 ern property was transferred to his father-in-law, in considera- 
 tion of heavy sums advanced for his relief. Nor could Mr. 
 Vaughan long sustain the double burden of his own and Mr. 
 Leroy's responsibilities. His resources became gradually crip- 
 pled, and a train of pecuniary disasters succeeded, which, to- 
 gether with Harry's debts, involved him in financial difficulties 
 to an alarming extent. It was at this crisis that he hastened to 
 the scene where all his hopes for the future were centred, firm 
 in the belief that his presence and influence would give new 
 vigor to the enterprise which was destined to restore and re- 
 double his fortune, and resolved at all hazards and at every 
 sacrifice to pursue the object of his excited anticipations. Thus, 
 when Mr. Leroy's sudden death, his declared insolvency, and 
 the fresh embarrassments which ensued, rendered a large 
 amount of capital necessary for redeeming his remaining share 
 of the property and confirming Mr. Vaughan's shattered credit, 
 the latter hesitated not to adopt the only expedient left him, 
 and part with his residence in New York rather than relinquish 
 his great financial scheme, or admit any new partner to his 
 plans and prospects. And when, finally, having by this despe- 
 rate remedy secured himself from interference, he relaxed his 
 zealous efforts, and, worn with labor, anxiety, and the shock of 
 disaster, sought for awhile the repose and seclusion of his Wi/si- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 363 
 
 cm farm-house, it was merely with the view of recruiting his 
 exhausted energies and preparing for a further contest with 
 difficulties and opposition. 
 
 That his residence there would be otherwise than temporary, 
 that Mabel would ever dream of joining him, and sharing his 
 deprivations, still less that his grandchildren would be brought 
 thither for protection and shelter, had never once entered the 
 old man's busy and overtasked brain ; and yet, by a train of 
 circumstances, at once natural and strange, the remnant of his 
 diminished family were united under the humble roof, where 
 they seemed destined for an indefinite period to constitute a 
 common household. 
 
 Mabel Vaughan was not the first among the women of this 
 fair land who have suddenly waked from a dream of luxury to 
 the homely realities of Western life. Many are the daughters, 
 mothers, and wives, who, born and reared amid wealth and 
 fashion, have gone out into the wilderness with hearts brave 
 enough to meet adversity, and strong enough to conquer it ; 
 proving by their self-denying fortitude, that there is no sphere 
 of life so exalted that it may not be made the school of the 
 humblest virtues, and none so lowly, that it may not become 
 the scene of the purest and most lasting triumphs. Nor is it 
 too much to affirm, that, while manly enterprise and vigor have 
 been put forth with unparalleled energy, the success which has 
 redeemed the waste land, and made the wilderness glad, is no 
 less due to the cheerful sacrifices, the patient toil, and the sym- 
 pathizing heart of woman. 
 
 The sphere into which Mabel was thus suddenly introdu 
 was one which gave scope to every faculty, and taxed her pow- 
 ers to the utmost. There was not only much to do, but much 
 that was to be undone and recommenced, for Harry's boasted 
 housekeeping presented a singular medley of successes and 
 failures, and, in the eyes of a capable woman, a gradual but 
 thorough reformation was essential to domestic comfort. The 
 establishing of order in the household was, however, but a small 
 part of her task. There was an aged father to cheer, a brother 
 to whom her sympathy and companionship were the only safe- 
 
3o4 MABEL VACGIIAH. 
 
 guard, and two orphan boys to be cared for, governed, and 
 educated. The contemplation of the toils and trials which 
 these duties must necessarily involve, might well cause the 
 heart to shrink with dismay, and the hands to refuse their un- 
 wonted office. But Mabel did not pause to contemplate them, 
 and here lay her chief security from dejection or apathy. She 
 was strong in youth and health ; with spirits which had retained 
 their elasticity in spite of severe discipline, and a heart so 
 imbued with earnest faith and Christian self-devotion that, in 
 the cause of those she loved, no effort could be hopeless, and 
 no labor burdensome. Thus she counted not up her toils, and 
 brooded not upon her difficulties, but setting herself with cheer- 
 ful alacrity to the work which lay nearest at hand, she per- 
 formed it with ready zeal, and one by one, unconsciously to 
 herself, the various offices which she filled assumed their due 
 order and significance, and her daily life became a beautiful 
 and a sacred mission. 
 
 " Doesn't the tea-kettle boil j y et, Harry?" exclaimed she, in 
 a lively tone, as she joined her brother in the kitchen the 
 morning after her arrival, and found him engaged in his bache- 
 lor task of preparing breakfast. 
 
 " Alick," she cried to her little nephew, who w r as cowering 
 over the fire, " do you see that great heap of pine chips out by 
 the wood pile ? suppose you run out and get some ; let Murray 
 go with you, and carry the basket, that's a good boy; run 
 Murray, and get warm. Oh, Harry!" and she lifted a cover, 
 "how beautifully you have broiled that chicken! you are 
 equal to any French cook, but you have forgotten the coffee ! " 
 and she glanced at the empty coffee-pot. 
 
 "Just like me," said Harry, good humoredly; "a fair speci- 
 men of my ability. I have nearly let the fire out, too." 
 
 "Never mind, here comes Alick with his chips ; how many 
 times I have helped Mrs. Herbert make the tea-kettle boil on a 
 Sunday evening, when Bridget was away." 
 
 A few moments more, and the important omission on Harry's 
 part was amply atoned for ; the coffee was foaming and bub- 
 bling merrily. Mabel had placed the white bread, and sweet, 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 3Ci) 
 
 fresh butter, upon the table a few new-laid eggs had been 
 produced from the cupboard, and everything gave promise of a 
 sumptuous meal. 
 
 " Here comes Murray ; what has he got ? " shouted Alick, 
 as the little fellow entered, rosy and eager with excitement, and 
 hugging to his breast a small, fur-clad animal. 
 
 "A 'possum," answered the child, " a live 'possum ! James, 
 the farmer, gave it to me." 
 
 Alick pressed forward to see this novel pet, Harry laughed, 
 and Mabel exclaimed, " Why, Murray, what would the New 
 York boys say, if they knew you had an opossum? You must 
 get James to make a house for it to live in. Go and take hold 
 of grandfather's hand, Alick," whispered she, " and ask him to 
 walk in to breakfast." 
 
 " Boots on top of the flour-barrel, and powder and shot on 
 the same shelf with the sugar-bowl ! " was Mabel's inward 
 comment, as, an hour or two later, she made a careful inspec- 
 tion of some of the closets. " That will never do ! What is 
 there in that cupboard under the stairs, Alick ? " she inquired 
 aloud of her active and willing little assistant. 
 
 " Nothing." 
 
 '* Then that is just the place for boots and shoes ; it must 
 have been made for the purpose. The sporting materials must 
 stay here, I suppose, until Uncle Harry can find a better place 
 for them. But this nice China tea-set must be taught to keep 
 better company ; how came it among all this crockery and 
 earthen ware, I wonder ! " 
 
 These and similar marks of carelessness could be corrected 
 on the instant ; but it was a less easy task to remedy the nu- 
 merous inconsistencies which the house and furniture every- 
 where exhibited. 
 
 The plain wooden dwelling, though in many respects con- 
 venient, was utterly destitute of ornament, and, in its' interior 
 finish, was rough and homely in the extreme. It was one of 
 those cheap structures, which, in the order of progress, rank 
 nexl to the log house, and which, built solely for purposes of 
 practical utility, offer nothing attractive to the eye, and barely 
 
S66 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 insure the comfort of their occupants. It had been furnished 
 with the simple necessaries of life by the former owner of the 
 land on which it stood, and came thus into the possession of 
 Mr. Vaughan, having been included in the original purchase 
 of the estate. 
 
 Immediately upon Mr. Leroy's arrival in the "West, however, 
 when this place became his head-quarters, he had endeavored 
 to make it a comfortable summer residence for himself and his 
 father-in-law, by sending thither from the nearest city those 
 articles of luxurious living, in which it was most obviously 
 deficient.; and these being purchased for temporary use, and 
 with little care and discretion, constituted, together with the 
 rude specimens of furniture which had been found there, an 
 incongruous mass of household utensils and appliances, which, 
 thrown together in utter disregard of convenience or good taste, 
 imparted to the rooms a most unsettled and desolate appear- 
 ance. 
 
 But the same quick eye and hand which, a year before, had 
 been so prompt in relieving the dull uniformity of a superb 
 city mansion, knew how to reduce this bewildering chaos to 
 harmony and order; and, although Harry still persisted in 
 playfully styling it a bivouac and an encampment, their dwell- 
 ing soon assumed, under Mabel's superintendence, all the 
 essential characteristics of a home. It was true no one could 
 be blind to the fact, that the rich and gaily-colored carpet of 
 their only parlor contrasted painfully with the bare, plastered 
 walls and smoke-stained ceiling ; that the heavy brass andirons 
 were but little in keeping with the rough, ill-painted chimney- 
 piece and wide brick hearth ; that the stuffed arm-chairs and 
 sofa, which were among the imported articles, were strangely 
 at variance with an old pine table and wooden clock, which 
 were as indispensable as they were ugly ; and that silver forks 
 and damask napkins only served to make the rude cutlery and 
 clumsy tin coffee-pot more conspicuous features in the breakfast 
 service. 
 
 Woman, however, has an art unknown to man, by which due 
 prominence may be given to the attractive side of the domestic 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 367 
 
 picture, while the reverse is atoned for or kept wholly out of 
 sight ; and Mr. Vaughan and Harry were not the first who 
 have felt the power of a cleanly swept hearth, a neat table- 
 cover, a we 11 -ordered meal, a tasteful work-basket, and a box 
 of mignionette in the window, without being able to define the 
 cause of their unwonted sense of comfort. 
 
 Upon the unpacking of Mabel's trunk, a treasure had come 
 to light, which had awakened in her many a touching reminis- 
 cence and emotion, and which excited Alick to tears and Murray 
 to an ecstasy of delight. It was Rosy's picture of the little 
 pilgrim, packed in a snug corner *by Mrs. Hope, and marked 
 on the back in Lydia's hand-writing, with Rosy's dying mes- 
 sage, " Give this to my dear Miss Mabel." They hung it on 
 that side of the plastered wall to which Mr. Vaughan's eyes 
 were often turned in his half-absent fits of dejection, where it 
 stood out from the cold white surface, as much alone and as 
 highly prized as in Rosy's humble room, and silently pro- 
 claimed those blessed truths of which Rosy's voice and life 
 had furnished the interpretation. 
 
 It had been obvious, from the first moment of Mabel's 
 arrival, that nothing would so mortify and distress hrr father 
 as to see her reduced to the performance of menial offices ; and 
 this feeling, which his whole manner conveyed, was expressed 
 almost immediately in the decisive words, < Harry, we must 
 look out at once for servants. James has done very well for 
 us, with what assistance he has been able to obtain in the 
 neighborhood ; but the case is quite different now. Kven if 
 Mabel should only be here for a week or two, we must have 
 female servants, if there are any such to be obtained, and make 
 her as comfortable as possible." 
 
 The saving clause in Mr. Vaughan's remark was well intro- 
 duced, for the difficulty of securing female help in a new 
 country is proverbial ; and, though Harry fully coincided with 
 his father's views, and was indefatigable in his efforts, he met 
 with only partial success, and that not until he was nearly 
 discouraged. At length, however, a young and inexperienced 
 girl, daughter of a recent settler in the vicinity, consented to 
 
368 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 enter Mabel's service, and through the latter's perseverance in 
 training both herself and her hand-maiden, some degree of 
 system was introduced into the kitchen department, and there 
 was at least the show of a waiting woman in the establishment. 
 
 Of the trials, disappointments, and difficulties, which a young 
 house-keeper endures during her novitiate, most women know 
 something by experience, and most men by hearsay ; while all 
 will agree, that no small credit was due to the girl who bore 
 her trials cheerfully, laughed over her disappointments, pa- 
 tiently contended with difficulties, and maintained, meanwhile, 
 a happy contentment of spirit, which spread sunshine through 
 the house, and even forbade her anxious parent to consider her 
 an object of compassion. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mr. Vaughan was frequently absent from home, 
 on those excursions which had reference to his scheme of future 
 wealth and aggrandizement, and, on his return, his mind was 
 generally too much abstracted to admit of his making any 
 observation upon his family circumstances, beyond that of the 
 general health and welfare of the household. He accepted the 
 arrangements which were made for his comfort, without seem- 
 ing to trace them to their source, and sometimes came and 
 went without communicating a single fact connected with his 
 journeyings, or making a single inquiry concerning the events 
 which had transpired in his absence. The roll of charts, 
 descriptive of his landed property, was usually spread out 
 before him, upon the table, and when not actually engaged in 
 consulting it, he would restlessly pace the room ; while, more 
 'than once, Mabel was startled by hearing his step in the 
 night time, and, on hastily descending the stairs, discovered 
 him, in night-cap and dressing-gown, poring over the engross- 
 ing maps, tracing out the course of the river, or the boundary 
 line of his estates. " Go back to bed, my child," he would say, 
 looking up from his labors, but not removing his finger from the 
 place which it marked ; " I am sorry I disturbed you ; I only 
 wished to satisfy my mind upon a certain point." 
 
 " I thought you might be ill," Mabel would perhaps remark ; 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 309 
 
 and he in his turn would answer, a little impatiently, "111? Oh, 
 no, I am perfectly well, perfectly." 
 
 The autumn, however, was fast changing into winter, and 
 the subject of a return to New York was as wholly dropped as 
 if such a thing had never been contemplated. Time did not 
 appear to hang heavily upon Harry's hands ; he was out almost 
 constantly with his dog and gun, and his health and figure 
 were becoming robust under the influence of this active life. 
 Nor did Mabel's high hopes suffer any diminution, nor her 
 fears become in any degree excited, on his account, although 
 his frequent and prolonged shooting excursions brought him into 
 contact, not only with the reckless hunter and backwoodsman, 
 but, also, with many a gay sporting-party from Canada and 
 the Western cities, who were, at this season, finding recreation 
 in the hunting grounds of the West. lie invariably returned 
 home laden with game, which was no trifling feature in their 
 larder; and, by his though tfuln ess for Mabel's comfort, by his 
 anxiety to lighten her cares in providing for the wants of the 
 family, and by the exercise of a discretion and good judgment 
 which had never before characterized him, he gave evidence 
 of his growth in manly purpose and true generosity of heart. 
 
 Mabel's social deprivations might seem one of the most 
 striking trials of her lot. But although her father and brother 
 were much from home, and the neighborhood ofjered few 
 advantages, she found more than enough in her present situa- 
 tion to compensate for all she had lost by the exchange of a 
 crowded city for a life on the open prairie. 
 
 The children were her constant companions. Alick could not 
 long be contented out of her sight, and the chivalrous devotion 
 which had marked his demeanor on their journey suffered no 
 diminution at its termination. He was her invariable attend- 
 ant and fellow laborer, and under her sunny influence the best 
 traits of his character were rapidly developing ; while Murray, 
 in the keen enjoyment of simple pleasures, was overcoming 
 the false tastes and unreasonable temper which were due to 
 flattery, and the injurious influences that hotel life is sure to 
 exert upon a child. 
 
370 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 But there wag still another source from which Mabel derived 
 sweet and welcome companionship, learning in the exercise 
 of a warm and tender friendship how much more precious is 
 the intercourse with one true and congenial mind, than with 
 hundreds of those chance acquaintances who are thoughtlessly 
 termed friends. 
 
 She was standing one day at the front window of her parlor, 
 watching the boys who were at play outside, when her atten- 
 tion was attracted by a little, shaggy, white pony, approaching 
 the house at a quick canter. As the village had been laid out 
 with reference to that immense growth which it had not yet 
 attained, and a wide open common intervened between Mr. 
 Vaughan's residence and the opposite street, the figure of the 
 rider, who, regardless of the beaten track, pursued a direct 
 course over the rolling prairie ground, was strongly defined on 
 the open space and against the clear blue sky, and was watched 
 by Mabel with intense interest and curiosity. It was a young, 
 slight, and delicate-looking girl, who, dressed in a light gray 
 habit, with a straw hat, bound and tied with green ribbon, and 
 her fair hair floating on the breeze, presented a novel and pic- 
 turesque appearance. She rode with careless ease and grace, 
 and seemed to guide and control her little steed by a species 
 of magic, for as she drew near the house she suddenly threw 
 the reins^on its neck, checked it with a word, and springing 
 lightly from its back, apparently bestowed no further thought 
 upon the animal, which followed her for a few paces, then 
 tossed its head, snuffed the air, and bounded to a little distance, 
 where it stopped and quietly commenced grazing. 
 
 Gathering her skirts lightly in her hand, they were not so 
 long as to interfere materially with her walking, she came trip- 
 ping up to the door, but did not appear to be in haste, for see- 
 ing the children, she paused in evident surprise, stooped down 
 and stroked the head of Harry's dog, with which they were 
 playing, and asked them a few questions, to which, however, 
 she failed to obtain satisfactory answers. Mabel was just con- 
 sidering whether she should go to meet this unexpected visitor, 
 when, without the ceremony of a knock, the door was opened 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 371 
 
 and she entered unannounced, with several letters and papers 
 in her hand, which she was about to lay upon the table and 
 retire; but seeing Mabel, she paused, blushed slightly, then 
 with the simple confidence of one who has never known cause 
 for more than momentary embarrassment, advanced and cor- 
 dially extended her hand. " It is Miss Vaughan," exclaimed 
 she, with unaffected astonishment and pleasure. " But I did 
 not know you had come. I had no idea you thought of com- 
 ing. I am very glad to see you." 
 
 Mabel shook the young girl's hand warmly, for her appear- 
 ance was very prepossessing ; she could not, however, disguise 
 the curiosity she felt concerning her, and the little horsewoman 
 ingenuously responded to it in the words "I am Helen 
 Gracie, the clergyman's daughter, the village letter carrier, 
 my father's curate, and your father's earliest acquaintance in 
 the place, and medical adviser, too, I may say, if you will not 
 think me proud." 
 
 Many more were the titles to honor and to love which Helen 
 might with equal truth, though not with equal modesty, have 
 claimed; for this fair flower of the wilderness, this lily of the 
 prairie, as she was rightly termed, was known and beloved for 
 a circuit of twenty miles around, and the various offices she 
 filled were as numerous as they were beneficent. 
 
 It was enough for Mabel, however, that she recognized in 
 her the gentle nurse who had ministered to her father's wants, 
 and earnestly pressing the little hand which had applied the 
 healing balsam and prepared the wholesome nourishment for 
 her wounded and invalid parent, she proceeded to thank her 
 in no measured terms for the friendly and neighborly part 
 she had played. She had heard her father speak frequently 
 of Miss Gracie's attentions, and Harry, too, had referred to 
 her by name ; but having pictured to herself some ancient and 
 withered crone, laden with a huge bag of herbs, and prating 
 of her skill, she could not sufficiently express her pleasure at 
 this agreeable surprise. 
 
 Helen, however, disclaimed all praise ; she had merely 
 recommended an application for Mr. Yaughan's sprain, which 
 
372 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 had fortunately proved effectual, and the dear old gentleman's 
 kindness had made it a pleasure to ride over and inquire after 
 his health. She then apologized for her present intrusion, by 
 saying that she had frequently been in the habit, during the 
 summer, of calling and leaving the letters, on her way from the 
 post-office to a neighboring settlement which she visited almost 
 daily, and as Mr. Vaughan and Mr. Leroy were seldom at 
 home, she usually came in and left them on the table. Mabel, 
 charmed with her fresh and lady-like simplicity, begged that she 
 would always thus dispense with ceremony ; and, Helen having 
 been persuaded to take a seat, the two girls were soon chatting 
 together with a freedom which gave the promise of speedy 
 intimacy and mutual happiness in each other's society. 
 
 There was no question which Mabel could ask concerning the 
 country, or the neighborhood, to which Helen could not give a 
 prompt and intelligent answer, and no advice or counsel which 
 she required in her present circumstances, which her new 
 friend was not competent to bestow ; for Helen had been born 
 in the West, and the greater part of her young life had bi-*n 
 passed in this very locality, to which her father, a devoted 
 minister of the gospel, had brought his only child in her 
 infancy, and where, unbiassed by worldly prejudice, he had 
 reared and educated her according to his own ideas of female 
 loveliness and duty. 
 
 " You have been a housekeeper ten years ! " exclaimed 
 Mabel, as Helen laughingly declared that her experience dated 
 back to that remote period. Then, reviewing with a smile the 
 sweet, infantile features which seemed to mock the assertion, 
 she added, " No one would believe you such a veteran in the 
 service ; but I shall take you at your word, and rely on your 
 advice in all domestic matters, as well as in the wider range of 
 subjects we have been discussing. If you please, before you go," 
 for Helen was about to depart, " will you step into the kitchen, 
 and tell rne if Melissa's bread is risen enough to put imo the 
 pans ? " 
 
 And Helen accepted the invitation with the same playful 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 373 
 
 air with which it was given, and the bread was all the better 
 for her suggestions. 
 
 She then spoke her farewell, and the pony, obedient to its 
 mistress' call, came trotting up with the playful and waggish 
 capers of a little dog. " Will you take a ride, sir ?" said Helen 
 to Murray, who stood attentively watching the animal's motions. 
 
 The courageous boy answered readily in the affirmative, and 
 in an instant the lively girl had lifted him to the saddle, and 
 was laughing merrily at his delight, as she led the docile pony 
 round in a wide circle ; then helping him to alight, she sprung 
 into his place, waved her hand gaily to Mabel, who stood 
 watching them in the doorway, and cantered off over the prairie 
 in an opposite direction to that from which she had come. 
 
 A moment after Harry crossed the bridge, and emerging 
 from the thicket which bordered the river, joined Mabel on 
 the doorstep, while the figure of Helen was still in sight, 
 though gradually lessening in the distance. 
 
 " I do believe," exclaimed he, " you have had a visit from 
 that little desert sprite. This is the third time I have come 
 up just in season to see her beat a retreat, and never yet have 
 I had a glimpse of her face, though father speaks of her so 
 familiarly that she can not be utterly a myth." 
 
 " Harry," said Mabel with enthusiasm, " she is the dearest 
 little creature in the world." 
 
 " I have had a suspicion of the fact," replied Harry, " but 
 that is all. I invariably catch sight of her riding off as she is 
 now, with her curls floating behind her, and almost think she 
 sees me coming and makes her escape on the instant." 
 
 " She lives in the cottage yonder ; you can see the smoke 
 from the chimney," said Mabel. " We are the best of friends 
 already, and I have promised to return her visit soon ; you 
 must go with me." 
 
 Harry did so, not unwillingly ; and as time passed on and 
 the intimacy between the families continued to ripen, Mabel's 
 declaration and his suspicions regarding their new friend seemed 
 destined to become confirmed. 
 
 32 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Labour is good for man, bracing up his energies to conquest, 
 And without it life is dull, the man perceiving himself useless. 
 
 M. F. TUPPER. 
 
 THE short, frosty days of winter were gradually giving way 
 to the bright influences of spring, though as yet there was little 
 indication in the bare, brown prairie, the leafless trees, or the 
 chilly atmosphere, of any other reign than that of the wintry 
 tyrant. The sun, however, rode higher in the firmament and 
 continued longer above the horizon, and the light snows which 
 fell now and then during the night, could not resist the power 
 which his rays had acquired at noon. It was that season when 
 good housewives improve the long days for the accomplishment 
 of what they term their spring work ; and Mabel, in virtue of 
 her thriftiness, devoted all the time she could spare from her 
 other vocations, to the diligent plying of her needle, a species 
 of industry which the family wants imperatively demanded. 
 
 She was sitting at the window towards the close of an after- 
 noon in the early part of April, busily occupied at her sewing, 
 and Harry, at the opposite side of the room, was engaged with 
 a book. Mr. Vaughan was absent on one of his frequent 
 excursions ; the boys, wrapped in their warm great coats, had 
 gone with James the farmer to enjoy his skill in calling together 
 the cows, which had strayed to a distance, and the house was 
 quiet and undisturbed. Occasionally Harry laid down his 
 book and yawned, then rose, gazed first from one window 
 and then another, and finally resuming his seat, with his 
 elbow resting on the half-closed volume, watched Mabel atten- 
 tively and thoughtfully, as, unconscious of observation she 
 stitched away on the garment, which she was anxious to finish 
 that evening. Neither of them had spoken for a half hour or 
 
JIABEL VAUGHAN. 375 
 
 more, when Harry suddenly startled his sister with the abrupt 
 remark, " Mabel, I am tired of this kind of life ; I am going to 
 work." 
 
 She lifted her earnest, brown eyes for an instant to his face, 
 with a half incredulous, half inquiring look, then dropped them 
 again and kept on sewing. 
 
 " It does very well," continued he, " to call our farm-house 
 here a bivouac, an encampment, and a hunting-lodge. It sounds 
 temporary, and seems encouraging, and answers for a jest ; but 
 it is no jesting matter, this Western life to which we have 
 become reduced it is a sober reality." 
 
 Mabel made no reply ; she only looked more steadily at her 
 work. He studied her face for a moment, but could not read 
 its expression, the features were so fixed. " All we can do 
 now is to make the best of it," said he, as he rose once more 
 and walked up and down the room. Then pausing opposite to 
 her he exclaimed, in a tone at once emphatic and full of deep 
 and tender feeling, " Mabel, this is all a humbug this great 
 scheme of father's. The poor old gentleman is laboring under 
 a delusion." 
 
 Her head dropped lower and lower on her bosom, a great 
 tear fell upon her needle and glittered like a dewdrop, 
 another blinded her eye ; still she feigned to be busy as ever 
 with her work. 
 
 " He is wasting his life away chasing after a shadow. Did 
 you know it ? " asked Harry, in a tone of gentle, anxious in- 
 quiry. 
 
 She answered only by an affirmative nod. She had known 
 it so long ; she had read it so many times in the old man's face ; 
 she had felt it so to her heart's core, and treasured it there so 
 religiously, as a fatal secret, that now to hear it spoken out, 
 and to find herself assenting to the truth, seemed almost like a 
 sacrilege, or the betrayal of a trust. 
 
 " And you knew that the rest of the property was lost ; that 
 every thing had been sacrificed to this hopeless speculation ; 
 that the New York house and all its contents went under the 
 hammer long ago ; and that this was our only home ? " 
 
376 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Harry put these questions in quick succession, as each 
 received the same silent but expressive reply with which 
 Mabel had responded to his first query ; then added, gazing 
 into her face meanwhile with wonder and admiration, " So 
 you have never been blinded for a moment to the true state 
 of things ? You have never been deceived by all the proph- 
 ecies of better days? You have realized from the begin- 
 ning that we were a ruined family, and yet you have seemed 
 as cheerful as if we were at the top of fortune's ladder, and 
 have labored as steadily as if you had the most brilliant ends 
 in view! I never would have believed it of any woman. 
 Mabel, you are an angel ! " 
 
 " No, I am not an angel," said she, looking up with a half 
 smile ; " nor are we a ruined family. I have learned to appre- 
 ciate a home if it is ever so humble ; and if it were not for his 
 disappointment, of which I can not bear to think, we might be 
 very happy yet. You, and the boys, and I, will all acknowledge 
 that this winter has been much better spent than the last." 
 
 " Yes, in the highest and best sense, we have all improved," 
 said Harry; "and we know who we have to thank for it. 
 You and I have been but .idle dogs," continued he, patting the 
 head of his favorite setter, " but we have at least done no harm 
 for the last six months, and one of us has not found the time 
 wholly wasted, since it has sown the seeds of some good reso- 
 lutions. Yes, Mabel, your industry and patience have been at 
 once a reproach and an incentive to me. I am determined to 
 be no longer a drone in the hive I am going to work." 
 
 There was a manly earnestness in Harry's tone which made 
 it impossible to doubt his sincerity, and Mabel, both by voice 
 and countenance, expressed an eager interest and pleasure in 
 his declaration, which encouraged him to explain himself still 
 further. 
 
 It seemed that the young man's time during the winter 
 months had not been wholly devoted to hunting, though it was 
 on an excursion of this nature that the impulse became awak- 
 ened which eventually led to important results. He had gone 
 to a greater distance than usual from home, and in company 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 377 
 
 with some young English officers from beyond the Canadian 
 frontier, had been on the track of a deer which had recently 
 been seen in the vicinity, and, in the engrossing interest of the 
 chase, had become separated from his companions just at the 
 close of the short winter's day. In the darkness which imme- 
 diately ensued, he was for some hours lost in the forest ; but 
 at length, guided by the friendly light of a log hut, he succeeded 
 in reaching a place of shelter, which he recognized as the cabin 
 of an Indian half-breed who had once before been his host on 
 a similar occasion. 
 
 But he was not now, as before, the only guest. A rival 
 huntsman had preceded him, and, outside the door, lay the car- 
 cass of the deer, slain by this successful follower of the chase. 
 It proved, however, to be neither of Harry's previous compan- 
 ions who had thus borne away the honors, but an accidental 
 competitor for the prize, who, travelling in the neighborhood, 
 was indebted to his quick eye and ready rifle for a success 
 which he could scarcely be said to have sought. The stranger 
 was a young man, not many years Harry's senior, and in the 
 close proximity to which the new lodgers were subjected in 
 their narrow quarters, an acquaintance naturally ensued, which 
 the next day's journey, passed in each other's society, was also 
 destined to confirm. 
 
 The manners and bearing of the expert hunter had at once 
 proclaimed him to be a gentleman, and his knowledge and culti- 
 vation proved him to be one of no ordinary attainments ; for, 
 while his whole conversation was marked by elevation of sen- 
 timent and refinement of taste, his information ranged over a 
 wide field of topics, and he seemed equally at home on a ques- 
 tion of foreign policy, or the details of Western farming. Of 
 the latter he had, considering his youth, enjoyed a large experi- 
 ence enjoyment being most truly the term for expressing the 
 enthusiastic and hearty interest which he felt in the growth and 
 development of the resources afforded by the extensive planta- 
 tion lands of which he was the proprietor. These lands were 
 not very far distant from one portion of Mr. Vaughan's estate ; 
 and as Harry listened to the young stranger's animated account 
 32* 
 
378 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 of his own successful experiments in agriculture, and the almost 
 fabulous crops which the rich soil was capable of yielding, his 
 attention was, for the first time, directed to the uncommon 
 facilities he himself possessed for embarking in similar pur- 
 suits. 
 
 Mr. Vaughan's Western property, although purchased solely 
 with reference to one absorbing scheme, included large tracts 
 of arable land, which, at present lying waste, might be easily 
 brought under cultivation. Industry and perseverance alone 
 were wanting to compel them to yield their tribute. The 
 broad acres which had disappointed the eager speculator might 
 yet reward the patient husbandman ; and while the father only 
 dreamed of golden harvests, the son might sow and reap them. 
 
 The ambition thus awakened was not destined to die out for 
 want of encouragement. The accident which had introduced 
 Harry to the owner of a model farm, had also secured to him. 
 a wise counsellor and a judicious friend; a man who had the 
 force and energy of character which are calculated to command 
 influence, and the disinterested and lofty aims which insure its 
 being exercised in a right direction. Moreover, he seemed to 
 have Harry's welfare particularly at heart, and spared no pains 
 to establish his manly purposes, and aid him in their accom- 
 plishment. He invited him to visit his estate, pointed out the 
 evidences of remarkable success and occasional failure which 
 constituted his own experience, and accompanied him on a sur- 
 vey of that part of his father's land which was best adapted 
 to agricultural purposes. 
 
 Thus, at the opening of spring, Harry's plans were ripe, and 
 he himself ready and eager for action. The simple structure 
 which was for the present to constitute his dwelling, was 
 already in process of erection, and he had only delayed com- 
 municating these facts to Mabel because he dreaded to disclose 
 those other truths which were involved in his decision, and 
 which, he feared, would prove crushing to her hopes. 
 
 He had not counted on that womanly instinct which could 
 not be deceived in reference to their broken fortunes, nor 
 measured the strength of thin woman's heart which rose superior 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 379 
 
 to the shock. Nor had he anticipated, therefore, the exultant 
 and joyful emotions which the revelation of his own projects 
 awakened in his warm-hearted and sympathizing sister. Not 
 only was the thought of honest labor, in the tilling of the gen- 
 erous soil, attractive to her newly-developed tastes, but, in 
 devoting himself with such ardor to the work, Harry had set 
 the seal, as it were, to his hoped-for reformation. If there was 
 one thing she had dreaded for him more than another, it was 
 idleness, the almost certain harbinger of evil. That temptation 
 was now at an end ; and, looking through the long vista of 
 coming years, Mabel seemed, with prophetic vision to behold 
 her stripling brother, over whose idleness and folly she had 
 often wept bitter tears, developing into the athletic, honored, 
 redeemed, and useful citizen. 
 
 " We shall miss you sadly, Harry," said she, when the story 
 of his plans and expectations was fully told ; " but oh, how 
 happy you will be ! and what a fund of interest we shall have 
 in your ne\v farm and its prospects ! " 
 
 " You will not be ashamed of me then, when I come home 
 on my Sunday visits?" 
 
 " Ashamed? I shall glory in you, Harry. I only wish you 
 were to be with us constantly ; and I do not quite understand 
 now why you thought it best to commence operations on such 
 a distant part of the property." 
 
 " For many reasons," answered Harry. " First and fore- 
 most, the advantages of transportation are infinitely better 
 there. For more than two miles the land borders on the canal, 
 and there is a large and growing city some twenty miles dis- 
 tant, which will furnish a permanent market for grain. Then, 
 although you and I appreciate the dignity of labor, and feel its 
 necessity, it is quite the reverse with father, who still clings to 
 his charts, and sees a fortune marked out on them. It would 
 be a daily torture to him to watch the upturning of this land, 
 for any purpose so humble as that to which I propose to con- 
 vert it. Besides, I am not sure but what influences me more 
 than anything else is the fact that n\y friend Percival's farm 
 will be within half a day's ride of my own. By the way, 
 
380 MAR EL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Mabel," added he, observing an eager lighting up of her coun- 
 tenance, " I did not think, did I, to tell you that my excellent, 
 whole-souled neighbor is the son of your charming old lady 
 and she is a fine old lady, to be sure. I saw her for the first 
 time last week. She inquired particularly after you and the 
 children, and sent her love, which I should think you would be 
 proud to have." 
 
 " I am, indeed," exclaimed Mabel with delight, " and proud 
 that you should have her son for a friend ; he must be a noble 
 man, educated by such a mother. Why did you not tell me 
 this before ? It wholly alters the case. What a pleasant coin- 
 cidence ! and how fortunate you are, Harry ! You will have 
 constant enjoyment in the society of that family. I almost 
 envy you the privilege of living near our dear Madam Per- 
 cival." 
 
 Harry laughed at her enthusiasm, but, at the same time 
 acknowledged how fully he shared it. " Although I have 
 learned by experience," said he, "to be cautious in forming 
 friendships, or boasting of them, I do believe that Percival's 
 example, and the influence of his cheerful, high-toned charac- 
 ter, will do more than anything else to save me from becoming 
 disheartened and desponding, especially as I shall not always 
 have you at hand, May. It is strange what a recollection 
 constantly haunts me of having seen his handsome face some- 
 where before. I cannot help thinking I must have met him 
 when I was travelling in Europe. I told him so the other 
 clay, when he spoke of having been abroad, but he only an- 
 swered ' possibly.' " 
 
 As the season was now nearly at hand w T hen Harry's pres- 
 ence would be constantly required at his farm, and many of 
 his arrangements were still incomplete, his communication to 
 Mabel was but the precursor to his bidding her farewell, and 
 a few weeks later saw him established in his bachelor's cot- 
 tage, at about thirty miles distance, which, with the exception 
 of an occasional visit to his family, thenceforward constituted 
 his permanent residence. His father, incredulous of his per- 
 severance, and indifferent to such trivial schemes, assented 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 381 
 
 readily to the proposition which his son made, in due form, for 
 the use of the land, but manifested neither interest nor con- 
 fidence in the result. Mabel, on the other hand, strong in 
 hope, and relying on Harry's diligence and skill, encouraged 
 him with her strong faith, and strengthened him with words 
 of cheer; and Harry, remembering and believing in the 
 promises, sowed his seed in the morning, and in the evening 
 withheld not his hand; and the early and the latter rain 
 watered and refreshed his furrows, and finally, when the 
 autumn came, the earth brought forth her increase. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 To nurse the sickness, to assuage the care, 
 To charm the sigh into the happier prayer ; 
 Forestall the unuttered wish with ready guess ; 
 Wise in the exquisite tact of tenderness. 
 
 NEW TIMON. 
 
 A LETTER from Mabel to Mrs. Herbert, written about a 
 year and a half subsequent to her arrival in the West, fur- 
 nishes, in her own words, the best index to her mode of life, 
 and the successive changes which had, within that period, 
 transpired in the household. It ran as follows : 
 
 " DEAR MRS. HERBERT : Your kind New Year's letter, 
 with all the pleasant reminiscences, affectionate messages, and 
 loving inquiries from yourself and the dear girls, was a most 
 welcome proof of the tender interest with which you have 
 followed me to my new home, and claims a hearty response ; 
 though before I have answered half your questions, I fear 
 you will weary of my Western experiences. We have now 
 passed two winters in our new home, and begin to feel our- 
 selves old settlers ; the more so, as no less than thirty fami- 
 lies have established themselves in the village since our arrival. 
 As we are a little on the outskirts of the town, however, we 
 have no near neighbor, except Mr. Gracie, the clergyman, 
 who lives across the opposite bit of prairie, and who, with his 
 daughter, are our most intimate and esteemed friends. I have 
 frequently spoken of Helen in my letters, so her name and many 
 points of her disposition and character are no doubt familiar to 
 you. But you cannot imagine the treasure she has been 
 to me, ever since the first moment of our acquaintance. Next 
 to yourself, there is no one to whom I am so much indebted 
 for the ease and pleasure with which I have been enabled to 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 383 
 
 adapt myself to our new circumstances. Care sits so lightly 
 on her shoulders, and she knows so well how to combine em- 
 ployment and recreation, that in her society the most impor- 
 tant duties cease to be burdensome, and little mishaps afford 
 only new occasion for merriment. The children of the rough 
 backwoodsmen, who are among her father's parishioners, hear 
 the sound of her horse's feet, and run to meet her the moment 
 she is in sight, sure of some trifling gift, a story, or a ride on 
 the pony, which seems to be common property. If she goes 
 with her basket of medicines to visit the sick, at a distance, 
 she comes back so laden with flowers, you would think she 
 had been a Maying ; and an old Canadian Indian woman, to 
 whom she daily reads a chapter in her French Bible, declares 
 her voice more musical than running water. I have never 
 seen father so abstracted with the cares of business that he 
 has not a pleasant word for his fairy nurse, as he calls her, 
 and no bribe is so effectual with the boys, or inducement 
 rather (for I, like you, scorn the use of bribes), as the prom- 
 ise of an evening visit to Helen. As for Harry but never 
 mind about Harry sisters are so suspicious, you know, where 
 their brothers are concerned. 
 
 " I wish you could see Harry, Mrs. Herbert ; you would 
 never recognize in him the youthful dandy who wore such ex- 
 quisite straw-colored kid gloves, and boasted such a faultless 
 necktie. Not that he has grown slovenly quite the reverse 
 but, except under his curls, where his forehead is as white as 
 ever, his complexion is completely embrowned by the sun ; his 
 figure has become broad and firmly knit, and he lifts me in his 
 arms as if I was only a feather's weight ; while the lassitude of 
 manner which was always apparent in him, has given place to 
 the quick, earnest movements of a man with determined motives 
 in life and an honorable aim. Then too, he is so happy, and 
 brings such animation into the house whenever he returns home 
 for a day or two, and I am so proud of him ! Dear Mrs. Her- 
 bert, you must come out here sometime or other, and see what 
 a worthy member of society you have helped, by your influence, 
 to rear. My boys, too, I 9onsider in some degree objects of 
 
384 MABEL YAUGHAN. 
 
 your training, for they are daily practising the same round of 
 lessons in which. I now thank you most sincerely for having 
 me thoroughly drilled. I am their only teacher, except that 
 Alick studies Greek for an hour every day with Mr. Gracie, 
 and their improvement is regular and encouraging. Murray 
 is backward and rather dull at his books, though a very smart 
 boy at his play. He is a good reader, but has not yet learned 
 to spell correctly ; and he experiences all the distaste I once 
 had for the Latin Grammar, which he is just commencing ; he 
 has lately made great progress in his Arithmetic, which I 
 attribute entirely to his uncle Harry's having told him, on his 
 last visit to us, that he must devote himself especially to Mathe- 
 matics, if he ever wished to become an engineer, a vocation on 
 which he has set his heart. I hope I shall be equally fortunate 
 in suggesting an impulse which shall influence him in other 
 pursuits. With Alick I am obliged to adopt quite another 
 course ; the only fear being, that he will injure himself by his 
 devotion to books. He devours all the reading matter which 
 comes in his way, and his greediness for knowledge is insatiable. 
 I am obliged to invent out-of-door employments for him, and 
 entice him into the open air by every possible means, lest his 
 health should suffer from too close application. He is a re- 
 markable child, and the responsibility of his moral and mental 
 training would alarm me, if I were not blessed with the aid of 
 our good Mr. Gracie, who is as judicious and lovely in his dis- 
 position as he is wonderful in his attainments. We do, indeed, 
 enjoy a rare privilege in having such a man for our friend and 
 pastor. His little church is a fountain of good works, and his 
 life, as well as his preaching, is a beautiful illustration of the 
 Christian doctrine. Beside Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, in 
 which he is a proficient, he is an excellent French and German 
 scholar, and is so versed in the natural sciences that he is able 
 to impart a lively interest to all our simple pursuits and 
 pleasures. You will naturally wonder that the talents of this 
 gifted man should be restricted to so narrow a sphere; but it 
 gives added power and beauty to his self-sacrificing labors, that 
 he left a flourishing church at the Eastward, and came hither 
 
MA.ISKL V A U Gil AN. 385 
 
 in a truly missionary spirit. He is the only man in the neigh- 
 borhood who is my father's equal in years, and each seems to 
 find pleasure and benefit in the other's society. 
 
 " Of my housekeeping I have already furnished you, in past 
 letters, with many of the details. I never can be thankful 
 enough for those lessons in domestic economy which 1 learned 
 under your roof, and which, although uncalled for during one 
 short winter in New York, have been invaluable ever since. 
 I do not believe that people generally realize how much girls 
 acquire from observation, and how much of their future skill in 
 every branch of household matters is due to this sort of uncon- 
 scious training. 
 
 " Do you remember how perseveringly Em and I used to 
 watch all your operations in the kitchen on baking days, art- 
 fully suggesting the propriety of your testing the heat of the 
 oven with a taster, of whose merits, when well baked, we 
 expected to be the judges? I was reminded of it, and had 
 reason to thank you for your patience with us, when, on occa- 
 sion of my making my first Thanksgiving pies, Helen Gracie 
 came over to assist me, and declared she knew I must be an 
 expert in the business, from the manner in which I held the 
 rolling-pin, buttered the paste, etc., in all which proceedings I 
 was only the creature of imitation. I still retain Melissa in 
 my service, thanks to the attractions of James, the farmer, who 
 seems very slow to comprehend the partiality with which he is 
 regarded by my handmaiden. James is not what our neighbors 
 would call a forehanded man, and is blind to his own interests 
 in more ways than one. He is at liberty to cultivate as much 
 of my father's land as he pleases, at the halves, and yet he is so 
 wanting in energy that I can not perceive the slightest extent 
 in the boundaries of his wheat and corn fields, or in the number 
 of his flocks and herds, which can be maintained so easily in 
 this excellent grazing country. 
 
 " You refer to my lack of books, periodicals, etc., but in this 
 respect I enjoy a rare advantage. Harry resides at onfy ten 
 miles distance from a beautiful estate, called the Lake Farm, 
 owned by a gentleman of taste and cultivation,* with whose 
 
 .33 
 
o MABE-L VAUGHAN. 
 
 venerable mother I have the privilege of claiming a warm 
 friendship. From them I receive regularly everything that is 
 new and valuable in English literature ; and have also derived 
 great encouragement in the study of German, which Helen and 
 I are pursuing together, and for which I contrive to reserve a 
 little time every day, in spite of my numerous avocations ; for 
 I have learned the truth of what you used to tell us, dear Mrs. 
 Herbert, that the more we have to do, the more time we find 
 to do it in. 
 
 " I wish I could close this long letter by giving you favora- 
 ble accounts of my father's health, in which you always express 
 so kind an interest. You would think him. greatly changed ; 
 his hair is snowy white, his figure attenuated and bent, and he 
 suffers from a slight lameness, consequent upon his injuries at 
 the time of the railroad disaster. If, however, he could be per- 
 suaded to relinquish the cares and anxieties of business, which 
 I trust may soon be the case, we might still hope to see him 
 enjoy tranquility and length of days ; and for this happy ter- 
 mination of his arduous life, I never cease to pray. With the 
 warmest love to Sue, Em, and Charlie, and those of the girls 
 who were my fellow pupils, 
 
 " Ever truly and affectionately yours, 
 
 " MABEL YAUGHAN." 
 
 About this time Mabel received a communication through 
 the post-office, which proved the occasion of much thought, 
 and eventually of decisive action. Upon first perusing it, her 
 countenance expressed a just and generous indignation, and 
 tliis continued to be the prevailing tone of her feelings during 
 the remainder of the day. The quiet evening hours afforded, 
 however, an opportunity for meditation, and for holding counsel 
 with her father, who assented to her suggestions with his usual 
 air of indifference to all things connected with their present 
 mode of life, and the next morning gave evidence of the con- 
 clusion to which she had arrived ; for, after carefully inspect- 
 ing the size and furniture of their best vacant room, taking 
 an inventory^ as it were, of its contents, and of the various 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAX. 387 
 
 comforts which that and the house generally afforded, she 
 seated herself at her little table, and committed her thoughts to 
 paper : 
 
 "DEAR AUNT SABIAII : thus she wrote I have been 
 wandering about the house for the last half hour, asking my- 
 self whether the cottage-roofed chamber above can be made 
 warm in winter, and cool in summer, whether the stairs are 
 not too steep for any but youthful feet to climb, whether our 
 parlor is not too contracted for comfort, and the view from its 
 windows too strange and dreary to ever wear the look of home; 
 and I have concluded, in spite of all disadvantages, that, with 
 love on our side, and the earnest wish to make you happy, you 
 would be far more comfortable here, than in my aunt Ilidg- 
 way's spacious and richly-furnished mansion. I never dared 
 say this before. I never ventured to breathe the hope I have 
 long had at heart, for I knew your love of old associations, and 
 your dislike of change. But your last letter has made me 
 bold. I cannot bear the thought that you are subjected to 
 such trials, such hardships, and such absolute indignities, as I 
 plainly perceive you have lately been made to suffer, when 
 here you would be independent, appreciated, and beloved. It 
 is true we have not, as we once had, luxuries to offer, but we 
 have all the necessaries and most of the comforts of life, and 
 these, too, in abundance ; for our Western lands are so lavish 
 in their produce, that hospitality with us almost ceases to be a 
 virtue. Then, too, although my father, as you well know, has 
 sacrificed everything but this Western property for the pay- 
 ment of his debts, and is unwilling to dispose of any portion of 
 the estate at present, Harry is gradually bringing a large part 
 of it under cultivation, and, if his success continues, the rent 
 which he insists upon paying, will not only furnish us with 
 every needed supply, but enable us to lay by something for 
 the children's education. So, even if your poor hands are dis 
 abled with the rheumatism, you need not fear that your pres- 
 ence here will be the burden which you say it is to my aunt 
 Margaret. On the contrary, we shall hail your coming with 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 delight, and shall rejoice to contribute in every way to your 
 happiness. I have consulted father, who quite agrees with me 
 in my view of the matter, and will, I am sure, be rejoiced to 
 welcome you. The boys are improving very much as they 
 grow older, and now that they have such an ample play-ground, 
 you will not suffer at all from their noise. Our village shop- 
 keeper goes to the eastward every spring for the purchase of 
 goods, and will be a most excellent escort on the journey. You 
 see I am quite taking it for granted you will come, but it is 
 because I feel so truly, dear aunt, that your rightful and 
 natural place is at our hearth-stone, as well as in our hearts ; 
 and because I know you so well that I venture to believe you 
 will not disappoint the earnest wishes and hopes of 
 
 '' Your own dear, loving 
 
 " MABEL." 
 
 This cordial invitation, as Mabel had justly anticipated, 
 resulted in the arrival of Aunt Sabiah, who, so far from refus- 
 ing the summons, accepted it with joyful gratitude; and one 
 evening in the month of May, the parlor door was suddenly 
 thrown open, and Murray rushed in, waving a stick in his 
 hand, and exclaiming, " She 's come ! I 've seen her ! I saw 
 her old black bonnet just getting out of the stage." 
 
 " Run, then, and help bring her parcels up to the house," 
 cried Mabel. " See, Alick has got the start of you already," 
 and, without waiting for bonnet or shawl, she herself hastened 
 to meet her aunt, who, left by the inexorable stage-driver, 
 according to his custom, at the turn of the road, was looking 
 about her with a bewildered air. A moment more, and Sabiah 
 was toiling up the gentle slope which led to the house, leaning 
 on the arm of her joyfully excited niece, whose circle of loved 
 ones was now complete, while Alick and Murray, whose shout 
 of welcome had been followed by eager offers of assistance, 
 were stumbling along as they best might, laden with the trav- 
 eller's smaller articles of baggage. 
 
 " Bless my heart, do see them boys ! " cried Sabiah, as Mur- 
 ray rushed past with a band-box on his head (upside down, as 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 389 
 
 an examination of its contents afterwards proved), and Alick 
 might be heard breathing hard, as he followed behind, tugging 
 at a small, old-fashioned trunk. " Now ain't they grown con- 
 siderate and strong ? La's me ! they do n't look like the 
 same children ; and how civil spoken they are, too ! And so 
 I Ve got here at last, have I ? " continued she, as she entered 
 the family sitting-room, and weary with her long journey, sank 
 into the nearest chair, exhausted, and not a little agitated. 
 "Well, it's a long road, but it has come to a blessed end;" and 
 after fumbling in vain with a trembling hand at her shawl pin 
 and bonnet strings, she submitted, as she never had sub- 
 mitted in her life before, while Mabel, kneeling on the floor 
 beside her, gently removed her various wrappings, and suc- 
 ceeded in discovering her cap amid the chaos which Murray 
 had created in the band-box. 
 
 Nor was it merely the fatigue of travelling, and the agita- 
 tion of arrival, which had reduced Sabiah to helplessness and 
 dependence. Two years residence with Mrs. Ridgway had 
 accomplished what her mother's injustice and fretfulness, and 
 years of loneliness and neglect had failed to do ; and with a 
 spirit and health utterly broken, and a self-reliant will entirely 
 subdued by her sister's hard and overbearing treatment, the 
 crushed, enfeebled, and prematurely aged woman had thank- 
 fully sought the repose and shelter of her brother's humble 
 home, and Mabel's unquestioned affection. 
 
 And how welcome wei'3 they to the aching heart which, 
 amid the ' abodes of wealth, had sighed for some quiet, unpre 
 tending spot, where, without the oppressive sense of intrusion 
 or restraint, she might spend the remainder of her days in a 
 round of simple usefulness, and in an atmosphere of love. 
 Mabel would scarcely have apologized in her letter for the 
 plain furniture, the clumsy stair-case, the low-roofed rooms, or 
 the solitude of the place, could she have foreseen the sense of 
 peace and security which their very simplicity imparted to her 
 aunt, awakening at once the thought, " Here I can feel at 
 home ! " Nor would she for a moment have doubted her own 
 unaided power to make the new inmate happy, could she have 
 
y MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 realized the ever increasing satisfaction with which the deso- 
 late heart would treasure up for days and years her first im- 
 pulsive outbreak, as she threw her arms around the tottering 
 figure, exclaiming, " Dear aunt, we have got you back at last ; 
 we shall never let you go again ! " 
 
 " Well, really now, Mabel," said Sabiah. as she seated herself 
 after tea, at a window, and drawing a huge ball of yam from 
 her pocket, commenced setting up a stocking, "I don't see such 
 a great ditference, after all, between this country and what I've 
 been used to at the East. That 'ere great field, prairie, or what- 
 ever you call it, is pretty much like our meadows at home, only 
 it ain't fenced off; and ri\ r ers are rivers anywhere, and always 
 will run down hill, and trees are trees, and sky's sky, and as to 
 the people, you say they 're most all New England settlers so 
 I do n't see as there 's anything heathenish about the place after 
 all." 
 
 " Heathenish ! " exclaimed Mabel, who had been replacing 
 the tea-cups in the closet, putting the room in order, and arrang- 
 ing everything pleasantly for the evening, but who now came 
 and stood looking over her aunt's shoulder, " who calls this 
 noble country heathenish ? " 
 
 " Oil, your aunt Margaret calls it by that name, and plenty 
 that are worse." 
 
 " I was going to say T should resent the charge," said Mabel, 
 laughing ; "but I should have so many more serious ones to 
 settle with her first on your account, aunt, that her abuse of 
 the country merely, would come very low on the list ; so we 
 must let it pass, I suppose. But- these boundless woods, and 
 lakes, and prairies, are well able to defend themselves; they 
 excite one's activity and energy, too, by their richness and 
 munificence. I am sure I never look upon them without feel- 
 ing strengthened for everything that is good, and great, and 
 generous." 
 
 " La, dear," said Aunt Sabiah. " you never needed to look 
 out of doors to learn that ; you always had it in you. Have n't 
 you given up everything for other folks? Didn't Louise 
 impose upon you as long as she lived ? And were n't you the 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 391 
 
 making of Harry ? And do n't these healthy, good behaved 
 boys speak for themselves ? And I well, I can't speak 
 I can only just thank the Lord inwardly for my share of the 
 blessing, and pray that you may get your reward one of these 
 days that's all." 
 
 u Reward, aunt ! " said Mabel, fervently, " I have done little 
 enough, and have wasted many a good opportunity that will 
 never come again, but what reward can I ask that I have 
 not got already ? my duties all bring their pleasures with 
 them. I am so proud of Harry, and the boys and I love each 
 other so dearly, and I have got my good auntie back to knit 
 stockings for us all, and but here comes my father," and her 
 playful tone changed to one of deep sadness ; " I cannot boast 
 that I have kept him well and strong; poor old gentleman 
 see how changed he is." 
 
 "Can that be my brother John? Well, he is altered, I 
 declare, but it is n't your fault, child ; he has grown old, 
 to be sure, though," and Mabel and her aunt watched him with 
 mournful interest, as, alighting from a shabby wagon, he fast- 
 ened his jaded horse to a post, with the air of one not yet 
 familiarized to the necessity of performing such offices for him- 
 self, and then walked feebly in the direction of the house. He 
 seemed really glad to see Sabiah; there was something touch- 
 ing, too, in his reception of her, as if misfortunes had replaced 
 him in the position from which she had never arisen, and so 
 united them more closely in interest and in heart. He felt 
 instinctively that she would not perceive or suffer from the 
 deficiences in his present establishment, and there was some- 
 thing soothing in the sight of her, and in the thought that she 
 would relieve Mabel's solitude, and perhaps share the labors to 
 which he could not, though he strove to, be blind ; and so, 
 whatever her fears might have been in regard to the welcome 
 she should receive from her brother, they were relieved at once 
 by his manner, and Sabiah felt herself fully installed in the 
 household. 
 
 And now succeeded days, months, and even years, of almost 
 uninterrupted calm. Mabel's life, like most human lives, had 
 
392 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 presented a period of rapid incident, startling vicissitudes, sud- 
 den bereavement, and great and increasing responsibilities. 
 But to her, as to most persons who have experienced such a 
 crisis, there had come a season when the spirits of revolution, 
 disquiet, and change, which are ever rife in the world, seemed 
 for a time to have forsaken Mr. \ r aughan's quiet dwelling, and 
 time in its noiseless and scarcely realized progress, marked no 
 striking or memorable event on the household calendar. Harry 
 still continued at his farm, gradually widening the limits of his 
 rich grain lands, planting young orchards, building store-houses 
 and barns, and reaping the fruits of his manly toil in the high 
 health, cheerful spirits, and sturdy independence, which are the 
 sure rewards of honest and well-directed labor. From this 
 source, too, his father's family derived their chief means of sup- 
 port; for though Mr. Vaughan had scorned to receive his son's 
 yearly appropriation in the form of rent, and seemed with 
 strange pertinacity to ignore the wants of his household, he 
 could not shut his eyes to the fact that all the family supplies 
 were forwarded by Harry, nor could he be insensible to the 
 comforts which were purchased with the surplus cash, paid 
 regularly into Mabel's hands, and by her expended for the 
 common good. 
 
 The old man persisted, however, in considering these mere 
 temporary expedients, and still continued to dream by night 
 and day of the prospective fortune which he and his children 
 were yet to realize, forgetting, in his sad infatuation, that on a 
 swifter and a surer road than that for the success of which he 
 planned and schemed, his only adversary, relentless time, was 
 steadily bearing him downward to the grave. 
 
 Meanwhile, Sabiah's bruised and wounded spirit revived 
 under the soothing influence of affection ; her stiff and angular 
 traits, both of thought and action, became softened by Mabel's 
 persuasive and winning grace, and gently and unconsciously 
 she slid into that household niche for which nature had seemed 
 to destine her. The light and irresponsible, though somewhat 
 monotonous duties which she voluntarily assumed, became her 
 pastime and her pride ; the respectful attention with which she 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 393 
 
 was invariably treated laid to rest every suspicion that she 
 might be deemed an intruder ; and the confidence with which 
 she was received into family discussions and counsels, made 
 her interests one with those of her young relatives. 
 
 Her dread of strangers seemed as great as ever, for Mabel 
 could not but observe that the first allusion to Helen Gracie, 
 as a neighbor and friend, caused her aunt to start and shrink 
 with seeming annoyance and alarm, exclaiming at the same 
 time, " Who io she ? I never heard of her before." And when 
 Mabel replied, " A dear little friend of ours, daughter of our 
 minister," Sabiah turned away rather shortly, as if (at least, so 
 Mabel interpreted the movement,) ministers and their daugh- 
 ters were among the inevitable trials of earth. It-was surpris- 
 ing, therefore, what a cordial and tender friendship eventually 
 sprang up between the faded spinster and this sweet fragile 
 flower of the prairie. At first Sabiah only watched her with 
 an observant, critical eye ; then, after a few interviews, spoke 
 to her with a more than common interest, and Mabel smiled to 
 see how frequently she would lay her hand on the fair girl's 
 head with a degree of tenderness which she was not wont to 
 manifest. Finally, no one could tell how or why, it became 
 an established custom and a well-confirmed understanding, that 
 the seat next to Aunt Sabiah, whether at the table or the fire- 
 side, was sacred to Helen whenever she chose to occupy it ; 
 and it was an equally acknowledged fact, that no one, not even 
 Mabel herself, held a more certain place in her shrunken and 
 exclusive heart, than the minister's lovely and loving child. 
 
 With the minister himself, however, Sabiah never seemed 
 disposed to cultivate any acquaintance. Perhaps his conver- 
 sation was too elevated to please her taste ; for he was such a 
 philosopher, scholar, and naturalist, that he frequently soared 
 into the regions of scholastic lore, and it might be that such 
 " high talk," as Sabiah used in old times to stigmatize conver- 
 sation of this class, wearied her; for she never engaged with 
 Mr. Gracie in conversation upon any topic, often left the parlor 
 when he was seen approaching, and sometimes, when every one 
 
394 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 else thought him uncommonly interesting, she would quietly 
 slip out of the room and go to bed. 
 
 These very circumstances, however, were a manifestation of 
 that independence which, in her present simple and unartilicial 
 life, Sabiah now enjoyed, and in all things it was easy to per- 
 ceive that at last the solitary woman had found the sanctuary 
 which her spirit craved, and was an honored, respected member 
 of a happy home. 
 
 And in this home Mabel continued to be as she had been 
 from the beginning the presiding genius. She walked, talked, 
 studied, and played with the boys, encouraging them by her 
 example, inciting them by her earnestness, cheering them by 
 her mirth, and governing them by her love. 
 
 And if she sometimes felt half impatient with the tedious 
 and self-imposed tasks which their education involved, and 
 sighed with weariness as she bent her head over the difficult 
 translation or intricate problem which she must herself master 
 before she could play the part of instructress to her nephews, 
 she was more than recompensed for the effort when she noticed 
 the respect which they involuntarily paid to her superior 
 knowledge. Nor was the advantage which she thus acquired 
 confined to a single occasion. It served to confirm her general 
 influence, and strengthen her power to guide and direct their 
 minds; for no boy is less susceptible to the loving sway of 
 woman because his intellect, as well as his heart, pays her 
 homage. 
 
 With her own and Harry's friends at Lake Farm she was 
 in constant correspondence; and though, as yet, there had*been 
 no opportunity for an often-projected exchange of visits, she 
 was daily brought into close proximity with their minds and 
 thoughts. Madam Percival seemed ever to have her happi- 
 ness and improvement at heart. Books, pamphlets, and news- 
 papers were forwarded to her almost weekly, and during a 
 period of more than a year, which was passed by the good lady 
 herself in New York, there was no deficiency in the supply. 
 While thus receiving continual proof of the thoughtfulness of 
 her brother's friend, she was also, by the selection of authors, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 395 
 
 the marked passages, and the notes pencilled in a manly hand, 
 brought into familiar intercourse with the vigorous, cultivated, 
 and original intellect, the generous, expansive, and philanthropic 
 heart of Percival. Nor was it by these means only that she 
 learned to set an exalted estimate upon the character of this 
 noble-spirited, enterprising, and truly gifted man. The voice 
 of public opinion, as likewise Harry's confirming testimony, 
 soon marked him as one destined to do honor to his country 
 and the world. Though his flourishing estate, which he had 
 himself redeemed from the wilderness, was the place dearest 
 to his affections, it was not here alone, or principally, that his 
 duties centred, for he had been trained to the profession of the 
 law ; and while all his leisure time was devoted to agricultural 
 pursuits, the large and rapidly increasing city, at some ten 
 miles' distance, was the scene of his legal labors. Here it was 
 his exalted province, and one which he strove to prove worthy 
 of man's highest powers, not to foster differences, but to allay 
 them ; not to embitter the heart, but to reconcile human disa- 
 greements and rights; at once seeking to promote peace on 
 earth and good will to men, and redeeming one of the noblest 
 professions from the discredit which has been heaped upon it 
 by false, designing, and self-seeking slaves of sin, unworthy to 
 style themselves servants of the law. Nor holding, as he did, 
 to the highest standard of truth and right, and bringing to the 
 cause the most shining abilities, could his talents long continue 
 obscure, or his name unknown. He was acknowledged far 
 and wide as the man whom the people trusted, and though he 
 had perseveringly declined all public office, his personal influ- 
 ence and sway were widely felt and exercised. 
 
 Had Mabel known no other interest in him than that which 
 one earnest, truth-loving mind cherishes for another of the same 
 scope and order, her enthusiasm would have been readily 
 enkindled by the reports which reached her of his honorable 
 and well-earned fame. As it was, she read his arguments 
 with as intense a zeal as if the cause had been her own ; studied 
 his character through the various means which were open to 
 her; sympathized in his principles, and, unconsciously to herself, 
 
396 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 made him the model by which she strove to mould her nephews 
 to the stature of honest and upright men. 
 
 Thus, dwelling in a neighborhood which presented but few 
 of the refinements of life, associating constantly with boys just 
 ripening into manhood, engaging with them in some of the 
 sterner studies usually confined to their sex, and cultivating an 
 intimate acquaintance with a mind accustomed to grapple with 
 subjects of vital interest to society and the State, it might have 
 been feared that Mabel's manners would lose something of their 
 delicacy ; that the sweet and feminine graces which constitute 
 woman's highest charm, would give place to bustling activity, 
 or misplaced enthusiasm, and that her tone of thought, if not 
 her mode of expression, would become masculine and harsh. 
 
 But could Mabel have been so utterly false to her truer self, 
 to that divine and saintly spirit, by the aid of which all her 
 victories had hitherto been won, there was an influence ever at 
 work to keep alive the tenderest emotions of her heart, and 
 call into action all those gentle sympathies which soften, chasten, 
 and subdue the soul. 
 
 For there was one shadow ever darkening on the hearth- 
 stone, and reflecting itself in the heart and on the countenance 
 of the young girl, who watched over her aged, care-worn, dis- 
 appointed father, as if she had been the fostering parent and 
 he a feeble child. And, as a mother's heart grows purer, 
 stronger, holier, amid her anxieties, cares, and fears for her 
 suffering infant, the soul of Mabel became more and more im- 
 bued with sweet, womanly tenderness, as she learned a new 
 lesson of sacred love at the altar of filial duty. 
 
 Thus, as time passed on, and every succeeding year ripened 
 and enlarged her mind, and her genial and sunny temper shed 
 light and gladness on her earthly sphere, there was ever one 
 sad and plaintive strain mingling in the harmony of her life, 
 one subject of faith, and hope, and prayer, which kept her heart 
 turned heavenward. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 The heart's affection secret thing ! 
 Is like the cleft rock's ceaseless spring, 
 Which free and independent flows 
 Of summer rains or winter snows. 
 The fox-glove from its side may fall, 
 
 The heath-bloom fade, or moss flower white ; 
 But still its runlet, bright though small, 
 
 Will issue sweetly to the light. 
 
 JOANNA BAILLIB. 
 
 OF Mabel Vaughan, the brilliant ball-room beauty, we have 
 given no detailed description ; merely hinting at the peculiar 
 charms which characterized her, and leaving it to the reader's 
 fancy to fill out the picture, since beauty is the same all the 
 world over, subject only to differences of taste. Mabel Vaughan 
 at twenty-five, however, merits a less brief introduction ; for 
 time, without robbing her of youthful bloom, has developed in 
 her traits which are less universally recognized, which are felt 
 rather than acknowledged, and which are but the outward sign 
 and expression of an inward truth. The face, doubtless, is the 
 same. The complexion has lost nothing of its fairness ; the 
 full brown eye glows with as soft a light ; the smile which plays 
 around the mouth is as spontaneous and attractive ; and the 
 chestnut hair, on which Cecilia had been proud to lavish all her 
 skill, is as rich and glossy as ever, though far less elaborately 
 arranged. But the face is the mirror of the soul, and as such 
 it unconsciously reveals the emotions that are passing within, 
 and borrows from the chastened heart a serene and holy radi- 
 ance, which illuminates every feature, like a halo on the brow 
 of a saint. Thus, the light which now beams from her eye is 
 not excited by gratified vanity, nor by flattering tongues, but by 
 the quick fire of earnest purpose and of ardent truth the smile 
 
 34 
 
398 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 upon her countenance springs not from the mere effervescence 
 of girlish spirits, but from unfailing cheerfulness and sympathy 
 with others' joy ; the serene peace which enfolds her like a 
 mantle, has not its source in the promise of pleasure, or luxu- 
 rious ease, but in calm, confiding trust, and in the reflection of 
 each day's duty done. 
 
 It is a balmy summer's evening, and, with her head resting 
 on her hand, she sits on the door-step of her father's house, 
 looking out upon the wide prairie, on which the moonlight falls 
 in an unbroken sheet of silver light, giving to the long grass, as 
 it waves to and fro in the gentle breeze, a strange likeness to 
 the rolling swell of ocean. The prospect is vast, grand, and 
 unbroken ; the hour is a quiet one, and Mabel is lost in medita- 
 tion, not in a meditation proportioned to the sublimity of the 
 scene, though she now and then gazes into the dim distance, 
 with reverential awe, but in simple, loving thoughts, concerning 
 her home and its various members wondering where the 
 boys can be, for they went fishing early in the afternoon, and 
 whether her father may not be spending the evening with Mr. 
 Gracie, and if it is not probable that her aunt, in the inner 
 room, has fallen asleep in her chair, and what can have become 
 of Harry, who is at home for a day, but has been out of sight 
 for some hours. The latter subject of self-inquiry is presently 
 set at rest, as, looking in the direction of the grove by the river 
 bank, she sees him approaching, and some one with him. 
 " Yes no yes, to be sure, it is Helen." But she does not 
 wonder at that ; they are walking slowly and talking confiden- 
 tially, too but neither does she wonder at that. She does 
 wonder, however, as, on drawing near the house, Harry leaves 
 his companion and goes off to speak with farmer James, while 
 Helen, seeing her on the door-step, springs towards her, throws 
 her arms around her neck, hides her cheek against hers, and 
 sobs like a child. 
 
 " Why Helen, dear Helen," cries Mabel, in alarm, " what is 
 the matter ? Have you and Harry had a quarrel? " 
 
 " No. Oh, no, we never had a quarrel in our lives," exclaims 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 399 
 
 Helen. " Dear Mabel, how I love you. I never knew until 
 now, how much reason I had to love you ! " 
 
 "What! for Harry's sake?" 
 
 " Yes, and for mine, and for everybody's that loves him, and 
 is proud of him ; he has been telling me," said she, lowering 
 her voice to the softest whisper, " what he never told me before, 
 how he struggled and fell, and never could have risen again 
 but for you ; how you followed him and prayed for him, and 
 loved him, and saved him." 
 
 Helen's tones were broken, as she uttered these few words. 
 Mabel tried to speak, but her voice also failed her, and, for a 
 few moments, the two girls mingled their tears. 
 
 Helen was the first to recover herself. " Think how noble 
 he has been, Mabel!" exclaimed she. "He never asked me to 
 be his wife before*. I do not believe he would have now, 
 if__if__ 
 
 " I know," exclaimed Mabel, with a soothing tenderness of 
 tone ; " dear child, I know ! " 
 
 " Papa spoke in his hearing, this afternoon, of leaving me all 
 alone in the world," said Helen, " and I could not bear to hear 
 him talk so ; and Harry could not bear it, and so it gave him 
 courage to say to me to-night what he never dared say before. 
 Oh, the coward, to think I would not trust him ! " 
 
 " Poor fellow, he has undergone a long probation," said 
 Mabel. 
 
 "Five whole years," said Helen. "Think of it! It has 
 been so different for me ; I knew all the time that he loved me, 
 and I had so much to do for father and the people, and we have 
 all been so happy together, hearing from Harry, and enjoying 
 his little visits, and the time has seemed so short ; and I never 
 looked forward to the future but he, living all alone, serving 
 out an apprenticeship to his conscience, with nobody to cheer 
 him, and all the while dwelling on the past, and doubtful for the 
 future O Mabel, he has proved himself a hero ! " 
 
 " You do not love him any the less then, Helen, for his con- 
 fessions ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ! but far, far better ; he has gained a victory 
 
400 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 over himself, and is greater in my. eyes than if he were the 
 conqueror of nations." 
 
 " ITe has his reward," said Mabel ; " he \vill be able to boast 
 of the best little wife in the world, and I of the dearest of sis- 
 ters," and she kissed her affectionately. 
 
 " We ought to love one another, all of us," said Helen, with 
 deep feeling, as she returned Mabel's embrace, " and the more 
 so, because we do not know how soon it may be God's will to 
 part us. Oh, how our best blessings and bitterest sorrows are 
 mingled together in this world. My dear, dear papa ! I must 
 go home to him now ;" and, as Harry made his appearance 
 round the corner of the house, she bade Mabel good night, 
 joined him, and, putting her arm confidingly in his, Avalked 
 away in the direction of the parsonage. 
 
 Mabel was still sitting on the steps when Harry returned, 
 although he had been gone an hour, for he staid to receive an 
 old man's blessing and the free gift of his only child. It was 
 now his turn to claim her loving sympathy. "Mabel," said he, 
 as he took a seat beside her, and put his arm around her waist, 
 " have I. done wrong?" 
 
 " Wrong in waiting so long, Harry, and enduring so much 
 unnecessary suspense?" 
 
 " No, in claiming Helen at last. What right have I to such 
 a blessing?" 
 
 " The right of a man who has proved himself worthy of it." 
 
 "But, ought I thus to take advantage of Helen's guileless, 
 simple-hearted nature ? Would a less unworldly woman con- 
 fide in me as she does, knowing all?" 
 
 "A less unworldly woman could not appreciate your self- 
 conquest, Harry; it is only the humble, Christian heart which 
 can sympathize with human weakness, and rightly estimate 
 human victories. I should not think Helen worthy of you, 
 if she undervalued the firm and noble effort by which you 
 have overcome evil with good. It is because she knows how 
 to prize the hero of such a hard-fought battle, that I feel 
 sure she can be trusted with the future happiness of my 
 brother." 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 401 
 
 " There are few who have such encouragements for effort, 
 and such motives for perseverance as I have had," said Harry. 
 " Helen's love may be my reward, but it is yours, Mabel, 
 which has saved me. God bless you for it ! There would be 
 more such victories among men, if there were more such sisters 
 as mine in the world." 
 
 The failure in the health of the village pastor, and the pro- 
 phetic warning of his approaching death, which had brought 
 about the. mutual acknowledgment of a five years attachment 
 between his daughter and Harry, were followed by still more 
 alarming signs of physical prostration, and it soon became evi- 
 dent that this faithful servant of God must soon be called from 
 the sphere of hif earthly usefulness. He had for many weeks 
 ceased to officiate in his church a neat edifice recently erected 
 by his now prosperous congregation and though his interest 
 in the people of his affections was undiminished, his labors 
 among them were at an end, and his duties were about to be 
 assumed by another. This immediate choice of a successor 
 had been made at Mr. Grade's urgent request, as it was. his- 
 wish, before his departure, to see one fitted for the sacred office 
 installed in his place; and, although now reduced to excessive 
 feebleness, he listened with eager attention as, from Sabbath to 
 Sabbath, he was cheered with accounts of the success with 
 which the new laborer wrought in the vineyard of his planting. 
 
 "I have left papa alone," said Helen, one Sunday afternoon 
 at midsummer, as she presented herself at Mr. Vaughan's door, 
 " but he insisted upon it ; he is so anxious I should hear the 
 continuation of this morning's discourse. Come Mabel ! Alick, 
 you are going too, I hope ; your memories are better than mine, 
 and papa will depend upon a full report of the sermon." 
 
 Mabel and both the boys at once rose to accompany her ; 
 Mr. Vaughan took his hat and cane, and, in an absent way, 
 offered Helen his arm he was such a gentleman still in spite 
 of cares and years ; but Sabiah, contrary to custom, for 
 she was usually a regular attendant at church, expressed 
 no wish to go, even resisted a little persuasion, and was left at 
 home alone. 
 
 34* 
 
402 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 She sat listening until the last sound of the church bell had 
 died away into silence, then rose, went to the door, and watched 
 until the last straggler had entered the church, which was just 
 within sight ; and finally, when all was still, calm, and peace- 
 ful, put on her black bonnet, took her old-fashioned parasol, 
 and prepared for a walk. First, however, she crept quietly 
 into the milk cellar, lifted from under a cover a little cottage 
 cheese, which her own hands had made the day before, and 
 covering it with a snowy napkin, carried it carefully in her 
 hand. To whom could she be going ? and for whom could 
 the choice and delicate preparation be intended ? 
 
 It was one of those rare summer days when all nature 
 seems wrapt in the luxury of repose. Ther^ was scarcely a 
 breath stirring in the air, the wild flowers scarcely bent on 
 their slender stalks, the grass could not be seen to wave. The 
 birds in the thicket by the river had forgotten to sing ; even 
 the hum of the insects under foot seemed an almost uncon- 
 scious murmur. All around was quiet and beautiful, wrapt 
 in the holy hush of a summer Sabbath ; why, then, was there 
 such a restless beating, such an impatient flutter, in the heart 
 of the lonely woman, who, with an unequal step, was pursuing 
 the narrow path across the village green ? Perhaps she was 
 thinking of such Sabbath days, long, long ago, of such 
 pleasant strolls across a village green, when she was not 
 alone ; perhaps, as she carefully handled the plate which held 
 the little cheese, she was reminded of some loved friend who 
 had been wont, in times long past, to esteem this work of her 
 hands a luxury ; or perhaps she was recalling the words with 
 which beloved lips Bad been heard to praise her skill. What- 
 ever might be the thought, it was one so all-engrossing, that 
 she heeded not the heat of the burning sun beating down upon 
 her head, and was unaware of the trembling of her aged 
 limbs, until at length she stood hesitating in the shade of a 
 blooming locust tree in front of the minister's dwelling. 
 
 The open door led directly into the principal room of the 
 house, a cheerful, pleasant Apartment, at once the study of the 
 
MA1JKL VAUGIIAN. 403 
 
 father, the sitting-room of his child, and the favorite resort of 
 the young and old of his parish. 
 
 Now, for the first time, however, Sabiah stood upon its 
 threshold, and looking in, beheld the form of the feeble inva- 
 lid, wrapped in a calico dressing-gown, and seated in an arm- 
 chair, his head carefully propped up by pillows. His back 
 was towards her, his eye fixed upon the window opposite 
 which he sat, and his thoughts soaring into those blue heavens, 
 at which he gazed through a net-work of woodbine and fra- 
 grant roses now in full bloom. Beside him lay a number of holy 
 books, and a volume of sacred hymns was open on his knee. 
 
 Sabiah knew not how long she had stood silently within the 
 room, when the rustling of her dress, the reflection of her 
 shadow, the sigh which escaped her, or, possibly, only the 
 instinctive consciousness of human presence, caused the in- 
 valid to turn his head slowly round, and their eyes met. A 
 look of sweet benignity overspread the pale face ; he held out 
 his thin, transparent hand ; she laid her burden gently on the 
 table, and, coming forward, took the offered hand in her own 
 withered palm, murmuring, " Reuben ! " 
 
 " Sabiah ! " said the aged man with a glance of touching 
 tenderness, " this is kind." 
 
 Not another word was spoken, but he lifted the pile of 
 books from the chair close beside him, and Sabiah, compre- 
 hending the action, sat down, with her hand still locked in 
 his. 
 
 " I have been thinking all day," said he, at last breaking the 
 expressive silence, "of a Sabbath like this, many years ago 
 when we both were young. Do you remember that July 
 afternoon when you wore the bonnet trimmed with blue, and 
 we sat together in the choir, and the last tune sung was 'Ar- 
 lington.'? We walked home, I know, through the meadows, 
 and sat down under the walnut tree, and spoke but little, and 
 yet were very happy ; we loved one another then, Sabiah." 
 
 " We did, Reuben." 
 
 " It seemed good in the sight of God that our earthly paths 
 should lie widely apart ; it has seemed good to Him, also, that 
 
404 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 we who rejoiced in each other's affection in the morning of 
 our days, should clasp hands once more in friendship at life's 
 solemn close. How precious the thought, that there shall 
 dawn for us both a brighter morning, when those who have 
 truly loved one another shall be once more united where there 
 are no more partings." 
 
 " Life is a hard journey, Reuben," said Sabiah ; then added 
 with a half-complaining sigh, " I trust it leads to rest." 
 
 " It is hard, my dear friend," said the good clergyman, 
 bestowing on her a look of half-anxious, half-pitying interest, 
 " but the soul's true rest may yet begin below. Our painful 
 discipline is lost upon us, unless it teaches meek submission to 
 God's will ; but a patient confidence in His love is rest, and 
 joy, and peace to the burdened soul." 
 
 " You have found that rest, Reuben ? " 
 
 " I have, Sabiah, but only through the struggle of a bitter 
 and early disappointment ; without the trial, comes not vic- 
 tory, nor without the cross, the crown. Once found, however, 
 it is an all-sufficient balm, and let every other consolation 
 perish, that precious love will atone." 
 
 " I will seek it," said Sabiah. 
 
 " Do so," exclaimed the old man, " and I pray God," he 
 added fervently, " that His peace may descend upon you like 
 the heavenly dew." 
 
 There was another long pause, like the first ; then Sabiah 
 made a movement to rise. 
 
 " Must you go ? " said the sick man quietly. " It is very 
 sweet and pleasant to feel that you are here beside me. I 
 even forget to speak, my mind is so busy with the past." 
 
 Sabiah, even more hesitating and irresolute than usual, sank 
 back into her seat. 
 
 " Time has laid his hand on both our heads, Sabiah," said 
 the old man, " but the heart is true to its tender memories. I 
 have loved and lost a good and faithful wife since our youthful 
 days ; but now, in the evening of my life, the thought of her 
 has been strangely mingled with the memory of an earlier 
 love. A few days more, and one of us shall depart and )>< 
 no more seen ; but true affection is not a thing of time, and I 
 
1IABEL VAUGHAN. 405 
 
 cannot but hope this renewal of sacred ties may be sanctified 
 to us both. God bless you, Sabiah ! You were very kind to 
 come." 
 
 " I am very glad I came, Retioen," said Sabiah ; " I felt I 
 must see you once more." 
 
 " Farewell, dear friend," said he, for she had again risen to 
 go, " we shall meet again beyond yonder blue vault of heaven." 
 He pressed her withered hand to his thin, sunken lips, they 
 exchanged one more farewell and she passed slowly out of 
 the house. 
 
 Turning in his arm chair, he watched her retreating figure 
 as she re-crossed the green, then looked upward, and breathed 
 a silent prayer. She entered the door of her home, wiped a 
 tear from each dim eye, and sat down in her accustomed seat. 
 
 The romance of her life was over, but not so its mighty 
 influence. Thenceforth her heart, already softened towards 
 humanity, was subdued towards God, and from the solitary 
 rock in the desert there gushed forth a fountain of calm, relig- 
 ious joy. 
 
 All around her felt it, but none knew the source of this well- 
 spring of heavenly peace, for the ancient lovers passed away, 
 and no one shared their secret. 
 
 Not until Helen came to bring back the plate and napkin, 
 was Sabiah reminded of the cottage cheese which, without a 
 word of explanation, she had left on the pastor's table. 
 
 " Papa enjoyed your cheese so much, Aunt Sabiah," said the 
 unconscious girl ; " it is the only thing he has relished for a 
 week past." 
 
 Mabel lifted her large, brown eyes inquiringly to her aunt, 
 but Sabiah made no reply, and the circumstance was forgotten, 
 save that the thought passed through the mind of Mabel, "how 
 illness excites one's sympathy, even Aunt Sabiah, it seems, 
 has done her part in ministering to dear Mr. Gracie, whom she 
 always used to avoid in his healthier days." 
 
 A few weeks more, and the good pastor was laid in the 
 village church-yard ; and, shortly after, a weeping-willow was 
 planted above his grave; but it was never suspected whose 
 trembling hands had placed it there. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 Ay, years had passed, 
 Severing our paths, brave friend, and thus we meet at last . 
 
 MRS. HEMAXS. 
 
 ONE bright morning in September, a few months after the 
 events related in the last chapter, a modest equipage might be 
 seen stationed at Mr. Vaughan's door, awaiting a youthful party 
 who were about to start on a short pleasure excursion. The 
 first shock of bereavement being past, the orphaned Helen had 
 not refused to admit Harry's claim to constitute himself hence- 
 forth her protector by the holiest ties ; and about a week pre- 
 viously she had exchanged the sympathy and hospitality of 
 Mr. Vaughan's roof for a permanent ai?d honored place in the 
 home and heart of Harry. The neat dwelling-house which the 
 prosperous young farmer had recently built, and furnished witli 
 tasteful simplicity for the reception of his bride, had never yet 
 been seen by any of his own family, and it was, therefore, with 
 no ordinary interest and excitement, that Mabel, Alick, and 
 Murray had projected a visit to the newly wedded pair. 
 
 The weather being lovely, but the road in some places heavy 
 and rough, a light, open wagon had been procured, as the most 
 desirable vehicle for a thirty miles drive, and old Sorrel, a 
 strongly-built animal belonging to Mr. Vaughan, was expected 
 to perform the labor of the journey. Murray, a handsome, 
 animated boy of thirteen, stood outside the door, cracking his 
 long whip-lash and his dry jokes, while Alick, two years older, 
 and nearly grown to man's stature, was patiently stowing away 
 numerous packages under the seats and on the floor of the 
 wagon. 
 
 " Aunt Mabel, are you thinking of establishing an express 
 line ? " cried Murray, " you seem to be testing the capacity of 
 this wagon to the utmost." 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 407 
 
 Mabel laughed. " Those are articles of Helen's property, 
 left in my care," said she ; " handle that gently, Alick, it is her 
 mother's picture. Oh, there is the luncheon basket! we 
 must not forget that ! " 
 
 " No, nor old Sorrel's dinner," cried Murray, snatching up a 
 little bag of oats which lay on the ground. 
 
 " Here is the box of papers and books," exclaimed Sabiah, 
 anxiously, as she stood looking on from, the doorway ; " you 
 are leaving no room for that, and it is the most important of 
 all." 
 
 " That is true," responded Mabel ; " Helen would be disap- 
 pointed enough, if her father's letters and sermons were left 
 behind. What shall we do with that box, Alick ? " 
 
 Poor Alick glanced at it with a blank expression of counte- 
 nance ; but he was not one easily to be discouraged, and lifting 
 it to the back of the wagon, he tried it one way, then turned 
 it round and tried it the other way, but the vacant space would 
 not accommodate it. 
 
 " It 's no use, Al ! " exclaimed Murray ; " you '11 have to 
 take out the back seat ; it is the only way." 
 
 Alick hesitated. 
 
 "Never mind," cried Murray, who, when Alick's patient 
 expedients failed, was always good-naturedly ready to accom- 
 modate even at a personal sacrifice ; " out with the old bench ! 
 now, you and Aunt Mabel sit in front and I'll ride on the 
 box the favorite seat always for sporting characters." And, 
 suiting the action to the word he vigorously exerted himself in 
 the proposed arrangement, threw a buffalo robe over the rough 
 packing-case, and sprung upon it, with his back to the horse 
 and his feet dangling behind. " It 's pretty much like an Eng- 
 lish dog-cart, after all, is n't it, grandfather ? " continued he, as 
 the spare form of old Mr. Vaughan appeared on the door-step, 
 " only a thousand times more jolly ! " 
 
 The old gentleman, whose face had worn a most mournful 
 gravity, at what appeared to him the degrading dilemma to 
 which the party were reduced, could not resist a faint smile, as 
 he seldom could when challenged to it by this merry-andrew 
 
408 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 of the family ; and, descending one step more, he handed Mabel 
 to her seat. 
 
 Aliek gathered up the reins. " Now give him the road, Al ! " 
 cried Murray, flinging back his head and speaking over his 
 shoulder. " I saw that the old fellow had four quarts extra 
 last night, and this morning, too hurrah ! " and, as they left 
 the village behind them, and passed through the adjacent farms, 
 he waved his hand to the sturdy husbandmen, whom they met 
 by the way-side, with a mingled joyousness and civility, which 
 drew smiles from many an honest face. 
 
 For some miles their road led directly along the bank of the 
 river, which was glowing brightly in the morning sunshine ; 
 then, branching to the left, it stretched across the rolling prairie 
 and through the rich grain-fields, now ripening for the harvest ; 
 and anon, a heavy oak thicket refreshed them with its shade. 
 Towards noon, they again halted by the river bank, when the 
 boys released the horse from the wagon, removed his bridle, 
 and placed before him his provender. Mabel, meanwhile, con- 
 verted the packing-case to a new use, by spreading a napkin 
 over it, and making it answer the purpose of a table, from 
 which she and her nephews enjoyed an excellent luncheon. 
 
 Then, after refreshing themselves and old Sorrel with a 
 draught of cool water from the river, they proceeded on their 
 way. It still wanted some hours of sun-set, when they came 
 within sight of Harry's new residence, which Alick and 
 Murray recognized even more readily than Mabel, as occa- 
 sional, visits to their uncle, in times past, had made them 
 familiar with the situation and out-buildings, while she had 
 been there once only, and that some three years before. 
 
 We pass over the cordial greeting which they received on 
 their arrival, the delight they expressed at the evidences 
 of comfort and taste which met them on every hand, and the 
 cheerful evening which they passed around the fireside, when, 
 as the night proved chilly, a bright blaze was kindled, and the 
 young couple had, literally, their first house-warming. It would 
 be equally in vain to attempt to follow them through the suc- 
 ceeding day, when the boys accompanied Harry for miles about 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 409 
 
 his farm, took an inventory of bis promised crops, examined 
 his fat cattle, and drove a pair of newly-broken colts, while 
 Mabel, beside bestowing her time and praise upon all these 
 objects, had a thousand and one subjects of in-door interest to 
 which Helen was eager to call her attention. 
 
 " You ought to stay with us a week, a month, a year, Mabel, 
 before we should be satisfied," exclaimed Harry, on the second 
 evening of their visit, as he drew her to a seat beside him. 
 " But, since you must go home to-morrow^ there is one thing 
 which reconciles me to it : my friend Percival is to speak in 
 your town hall to-morrow night, on some of the great political 
 subjects that are being agitated at present, and I ventured to 
 extend the family hospitalities to him. I felt sure you would 
 be glad to give him a welcome." 
 
 " Glad ! we shall be delighted," exclaimed Mabel ; " I shall, 
 and so will father, I have no doubt. Boys, do you hear that ? 
 Mr. Percival is to give us a political address to-morrow night. 
 I say ' us/ Harry," added she, with an arch smile. " I hope 
 ladies are not excluded." 
 
 " No, indeed ; you must go by all means, May. I would not 
 have you lose such an opportunity on any account. He is the 
 most eloquent man I ever heard speak, and he is bringing his 
 whole power into the field, for his heart is in the work he has 
 undertaken. If father should not* feel able to attend the lec- 
 ture, the civilities of the house will devolve on you, Alick. 
 Judging from your face, you will not think the occasion an 
 unworthy one for their exercise." 
 
 Alick's countenance was indeed full of enthusiasm at the 
 prospect of seeing and hearing this gifted stranger, and Mur- 
 ray's scarcely less so ; for while the elder lad aspired eagerly 
 to an intercourse with a man famed for high moral and intel- 
 lectual attainments, the mind of the younger was equally well 
 stored with facts illustrative of his taste for manly exercises, 
 and his skill in all those physical exploits which captivate the 
 mind of an adventurous boy. 
 
 "It was a mere accident which prevented you from seeing 
 Percival, Mabel, when you were here- three years ago/' said 
 
 35 
 
410 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Harry, " and both seasons since, he would gladly have accom- 
 panied me on a visit to my father's, but I could not leave home 
 at the time agreed upon. Now, however, he is sure to be 
 there, for he never fails to .keep an appointment ; and, lest 
 the duties of hostess should devolve after all upon poor Aunt 
 Sabiah, Helen and I will speed the parting guests with an 
 early breakfast to-morrow ; eh, Helen ? " 
 
 Helen consented to this disinterested act of hospitality on 
 condition of a long visit from Mabel a few weeks later, and a 
 partial promise to that effect having been obtained, the hour 
 for departure was fixed upon, and shortly after sunrise the 
 travellers were on their homeward road. 
 
 Old Sorrel, however, did not, like the rest of the party, ap- 
 preciate the importance of the occasion, and had no sympathy 
 with their desire to make a quick passage. The creature did 
 not even seem, like most animals of his class, to comprehend 
 the fact that his face was turned towards home ; for Sorrel's 
 earlier and happier days had been passed among a drove of 
 wild horses which enjoyed all the freedom of the open prairie ; 
 and, although now for many years reduced to servitude, he had 
 imbibed few of the instincts of civilized life, and his temper 
 was surly and pertinacious in the extreme. He had rewarded 
 Murray's care by travelling with unusual promptness, on the 
 upward trip, but no coaxing could induce him to repeat the 
 experiment, and at mid-day the travellers had not yet reached 
 their previous halting place, which marked somewhat less than 
 half the journey. It was, therefore, towards the middle of the 
 afternoon when they at length found themselves at a point 
 where the road, leaving the river bank, took a direct line across 
 a prairie some six miles in extent. For the last half hour, 
 their winding course had led them through a belt of rich wood- 
 land, under whose refreshing shade, they had paused to rest 
 their horse, and Mabel, meantime, removing her bonnet for 
 the freer enjoyment of the breeze, while Murray crept down 
 the river bank and made a collection of brilliant wild flowers, 
 which, as they continued their drive, he busied himself, on 
 his box behind, in wreathing into a tasteful garland. * Come, 
 
MABEL VAUOHAN. 411 
 
 old Sorrel," cried he, standing upright on the now empty box, 
 and, as he spoke, placing the wreath, with an air of playful 
 homage, on the uncovered head of Mabel, " here 's a glorious 
 race-course for you. Try now and do some credit to your 
 mistress, while I crown her queen of the prairie." 
 
 He had scarcely uttered these words, accompanied as they 
 were by a quick snapping of the whip on Alick's part, when a 
 sudden jerk and wrenching of the vehicle threw him from his 
 elevated position, prostrate to the ground, and a scene ensued 
 which wholly altered the face of affairs, leaving old Sorrel 
 master of the race-course indeed, and Mabel an enthroned, but 
 utterly helpless queen. 
 
 The road, where it left the thicket, diverged into two trav- 
 elled routes across the prairie, which, though pursuing the 
 same general direction, were wholly distinct from one another, 
 and Alick had purposly avoided that which they had chosen on 
 their previous trip, on account of a wide gully that intersected 
 it, and which recent rains had transformed into a slough of 
 deep, black mud. This same gully stretched across the oppo- 
 site road, but a bridge of logs had been thrown over it for 
 the convenience of travellers. Unfortunately, however, the rain 
 which had made the one almost impracticable, had rendered 
 the other positively dangerous, by displacing one of the logs, 
 and leaving a most insidious flaw in the rough and hastily- 
 constructed bridge. With a stumble and a plunge, old Sorrel 
 had escaped falling into this trap for the unwary, but the im- 
 petus given to the animal's speed both by Alick's stroke of the 
 whip, and the disaster which immediately followed, proved 
 fatal to the safety of the vehicle. 
 
 In a single moment of time, before the travellers had dis- 
 covered their danger, the front wheels of the wagon were pre- 
 cipitated into the hollow between the logs, the shafts were 
 instantaneously broken into shivers, and the frightened horse 
 had succeeded in clearing himself from the traces and bounded 
 off to a distance. 
 
 oSTo one was injured, for Alick and Mabel had maintained 
 their seats in spite of the shock, and Murray was unharmed by 
 
412 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 his sudden fall ; but their situation was ludicrous and provoking 
 in the extreme. Before them lay the wide expanse of prairie, 
 on which not a single object was discernible save the figure of 
 their raw-boned steed, who, prancing and throwing up his heels 
 in the distance, seemed to be taunting them with their misfor- 
 tune and triumphing in the sense of freedom. Behind them 
 was the little thicket from which they had just emerged, and 
 they well knew that there was not a human habitation within a 
 distance of several miles in either direction. But desperate as 
 the case might seem in a practical point of view, its comic effect 
 was irresistible ; and, after exchanging with each other a single 
 glance of dismay, the united trio broke into a simultaneous fit 
 of laughter. Alick and Mabel presently controlled their sense 
 of the ridiculous so far as to utter a few ejaculations of inquiry 
 and regret, but Murray, as he stood first glancing at the pair 
 wlio occupied in regal state the seat of the broken wagon, and 
 then at the enfranchised horse who at a safe distance was per- 
 forming an evolution around them, shook with a merriment so 
 hearty and contagious, that it was impossible to take counsel 
 in reference to their difficulties. 
 
 At this crisis a sound was heard proceeding from the adja- 
 cent thicket, which had the effect of composing the group into 
 an attentive and listening attitude; and in the silence which 
 now reigned among them, it was not difficult to recognize a 
 human voice breaking on the air in most harmonious song, a 
 song so deep, full, and clear that its music seemed to make the 
 wild prairie ring. 
 
 All strained their ears to catch the welcome notes, and as 
 they came nearer and nearer, Mabel's face flushed with excite- 
 ment and expectancy. She had heard the voice, the words, 
 the glorious harmony but once before, and yet, though years 
 had passed over her since, and it seemed a marvel too great 
 to be fully realized, she knew that she could not be mistaken 
 in their source. 
 
 A moment more, and a figure on horseback emerged from 
 the wood, and as he caught sight of his unexpected audience, 
 ( eased singing and came forward, looking about him as if 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 413 
 
 striving to comprehend the scene. lie was a young and pow- 
 erfully-built man, dressed in a simple hunting-suit; and the 
 rifle which was slung over his shoulder, and the string of 
 prairie-fowl suspended from his horse's neck, proclaimed him 
 to have been shooting successfully in the vicinity. He was a 
 traveller, moreover, as might be conjectured from the saddle- 
 bags and heavy surveyor's blanket strapped to his saddle, and 
 travelling quite at his leisure, too, if one might judge from the 
 pace at which he rode. ISor was it strange that the natural 
 burst of song died upon his lips, and his face indicated inquiry 
 and surprise at the novel and picturesque scene which presented 
 itself before him. Two youths, one a boy, the other a mere 
 stripling, stood beside the broken vehicle (for Alick had by 
 this time alighted), and alone in her elevated position, in the 
 midst of an unbroken prairie, sat a young and beautiful girl, 
 unconsciously crowned with the brilliant wreath which Murray 
 had placed on her head at the moment of the accident, while, 
 at some distance, the sorrel steed, with a portion of his. harness 
 sweeping the ground, was triumphantly curvetting in forgetful- 
 ness of his years. The ludicrous nature of the occasion would 
 have provoked the most stoical nature to a smile, and such was 
 the effect of a first glance at the little group, upon the face of 
 the new-comer. As he drew nearer, however, and surveyed 
 the party more attentively, other and less easily defined emo- 
 tions were depicted on the young man's countenance, and 
 Mabel's face was suffused with the deep and conscious blush 
 of the mutual recognition. For they were, and yet they were 
 not, strangers. They had met before, and then, as now, he 
 had come to her rescue, though in a far different cause. It 
 was six years and more since, in Mr. Bloodgood's dwelling, on 
 the night of Harry's disgrace, she had first beheld that manly 
 form and those noble features ; and now, after this lapse of time 
 and under the most opposite circumstances, they had met again 
 in the solitude of a Western prairie. 
 
 The embarrassment which ensued, however, was but mo- 
 mentary, for Bayard was a man of action ; and before a second 
 glance could be exchanged between them, he had read with his 
 35* 
 
414 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 quick eye the exact condition of affairs, and, without drawing 
 near enough to ask or obtain a syllable of explanation, lie had 
 darted off in pursuit of the runaway steed. The task which 
 he had thus promptly undertaken was no easy one ; to . an un- 
 practised rider it would have been next to impossible, for time 
 and habit have no power to efface from the once wild horse of 
 the prairie the recollection of his ancient freedom, and the 
 sudden recovery of it seemed at once to have restored old Sorrel 
 to his juvenile strength and fleetness. 
 
 But Sorrel, even in his best days, had never been a match for 
 the superior animal on which Bayard was mounted; and this 
 fact, combined with a degree of dexterity which the young man 
 had acquired from experience, gave him an advantage over the 
 runaway which resulted in his speedy capture. Mabel and 
 the boys looked on with intense and eager interest, while now 
 describing a rapid circle, and now darting in an unforeseen 
 direction, the accomplished horseman, partly by speed and 
 partly by skilful manoeuvre, gained the advantage of the de- 
 serter, and, after a few moments' hot pursuit, grasped him by 
 the bridle and came bounding over the prairie with his unwil- 
 ling captive. Mabel, who had stood upright in the wagon 
 during the excitement of the chase, now gave her hand to 
 Alick and sprang to the ground, just in time to greet with a 
 smile of acknowledgment and thanks the victor in the animated 
 chase, who rode up, laughing himself at the nature and success 
 of his exploit ; and springing lightly from the saddle, put the 
 bridle of old Sorrel into the hand of the admiring Murray, and, 
 with one arm passed through that of his own horse, lifted his 
 hat and bowed respectfully and gracefully to Mabel, saying 
 "You have met with a serious accident and delay, Miss 
 Vaughan, but I hope you have none of you suffered any per- 
 sonal injury." 
 
 "None at all, thank you," replied Mabel; while the boys 
 looked their astonishment at hearing her name so confidently 
 spoken by the stranger. " You have paid the heaviest penalty 
 for our mishap, in the exertion you have so kindly made. We 
 wore truly fortunate in having a friend at hand." 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 415 
 
 She spoke the simple word friend with an accent which 
 expressed how deeply and gratefully she felt its force ; perhaps 
 he understood that it had reference to the past as well as the 
 present, for he replied in a tone equally impressive in its sin- 
 cerity, "Nothing can make me happier than to be of service to 
 you;" and then, as Murray eagerly commenced relating the 
 circumstances of the accident, he proceeded to an examination 
 of the disabled vehicle, which, with the boys' assistance, he 
 easily raised from the hollow into which it had sunk. 
 
 Its shattered condition, however, proved to be such as to 
 wholly unfit it for use, and the possibility of removing it across 
 the prairie was even doubtful. Some of the principal bolts had 
 given way, and the springs were also broken ; but Alick volun- 
 teered to supply the place of the former by strong wooden pegs, 
 while Bayard, placing his saddle-bags and blanket on the floor 
 of the wagon, employed the straps by which they had been 
 fastened in binding up the splintered shafts ; after which, old 
 Sorrel was once more harnessed to the wreck, and it was found 
 that by carefully leading the horse over the level road, the 
 decrepit equipage could be safely transported. 
 
 " The frail nature of our repairs, Miss Vaughan, and the 
 broken springs, render it impossible to occupy the wagon," said 
 Bayard, approaching Mabel, who stood a little apart, " but if 
 you will do me the honor to make use of my horse, we can 
 render the saddle comfortable for you with the help of this 
 blanket;" and, as he spoke, he unfolded the rich and ample 
 mantle of deep blue cloth and commenced laying it in heavy 
 masses over the back of the animal, which stood arching its 
 glossy neck, as if it, as well as its master, were proud of the 
 proposed honor. 
 
 Mabel earnestly deprecated the arrangement ; begged that 
 he would not suffer them to interfere further with his journey, 
 and insisted that she could walk, in company witli her nephews; 
 but Bayard, having assured himself that her refusal did not 
 proceed from any fear of his high-spirited horse, answered all 
 her objections with the simple assurance that fye was not in 
 haste ; that a walk of ten miles, which was the distance to the 
 
416 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 village, their common destination, was a trifle to one of his 
 pedestrian habits ; and the boys having united their persuasions 
 to his, she blushingly and gratefully suffered herself to 'be 
 assisted to the saddle. 
 
 " Have you seen my bonnet, Alick ? " said she, as they were 
 about to start. He handed it to her from the wagon, and as 
 she prepared to put it on she became, for the first time, con- 
 scious that the garland, which she had noticed when Murray 
 commenced weaving it in the wood, rested on her brow. 
 
 " Murray, you rogue ! " exclaimed she accusingly, as she 
 snatched it from her head, and flung it with such precision that 
 it rested on the crown of his hat. 
 
 All burst into an involuntary laugh, in which Mabel could 
 not resist joining, though glad to hide beneath her bonnet the 
 face which became crimson as she reflected on the singular and 
 ludicrous inconsistency which Bayard must have detected be- 
 tween her crowned head and the awkward dilemma in which 
 he had discovered their party. She little knew that she had 
 never, in all her life, looked so radiantly lovely as when he first 
 caught sight of her, with the drooping scarlet blossoms con- 
 trasting with the pure whiteness of her noble brow, and ming- 
 ling with the smooth folds of chestnut hair, to which the suu 
 imparted that golden tinge at once so rare and so beautiful. 
 
 There is nothing which more effectually relieves embarass- 
 ment than the presence of children; and whatever constraint 
 might have been occasioned by the peculiar reminiscences sub- 
 sisting between Bayard and Mabel was at once subdued by the 
 mediatory influence of the two lads, who, excited by their recent 
 adventure, were unusually loquacious and animated. Even 
 Alick, though looking up with enthusiastic admiration at the 
 stranger, whose attention to Mabel was alone sufficient to insure 
 his grateful regard, shook off, to a great degree, the modest 
 reserve which characterized him, and won, in his turn, the 
 friendly interest of the young man, who never undervalued the 
 ingenuous and original, though immature, intellect of boyhood. 
 
 Thus, witlj Bayard and Alick walking on either side of tht^ 
 hor&e which Mabel rode, and Murray a little in the n-itr, |>LT- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 417 
 
 forming the self-appointed office of leading old Sorrel, and 
 interlarding the others' conversation with his drollery, they pro- 
 ceeded at the moderate, though regular pace suited to good 
 pedestrians, with a ten miles' journey in prospect. 
 
 "At what hour is this caravan expected to arrive at its 
 destination," cried Murray, when they had gone about a mile. 
 
 Mabel locked at her watch. " It is now five o'clock," said 
 she, then added in a tone of regret, " I had no idea it was so 
 late." 
 
 " I thought of Uncle Harry," said Alick, " at the moment 
 of the crash. I believe, when he hears of this delay and dis- 
 appointment, he will complain of the broken bridge more bit- 
 terly than any of us." 
 
 "More haste, worse speed," said Murray. "It was that 
 last cut of the whip, Al, which settled the business so thor- 
 oughly for us." 
 
 " The boys were urging our old horse to tlfe top of his speed 
 at the moment of the accident," said Mabel to Bayard, by way 
 of explaining this little dialogue. " We already felt ourselves 
 somewhat belated, being anxious to reach home in good season, 
 on account of a lecture that is to be delivered in our village 
 this evening, which we are all anxious to attend." 
 
 " 1 think you will yet have an opportunity of doing so," 
 said Bayard, glancing at his own watch ; " it is now five. A 
 lecture at this season would not commence before eight, or 
 half past seven at the earliest. "We ought, certainly, to be 
 able to accomplish the remaining distance in two hours and a 
 half." 
 
 " But Auntie is expected to play the part of hostess to the 
 orator," said Murray. " If we meet with any further delay, I 
 fear she will strike spurs to your horse and leave us." 
 
 Mabel smiled. " Your grandfather will be prompt in claim- 
 ing the privilege of having Mr. Percival for his guest, Mur- 
 ray," said she. " I fear I can plead only selfish motives for 
 being in haste. This gentleman is a stranger to us," added 
 she, turning to Bayard, " but one for whom we have reason 
 
418 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 to feel the* most grateful esteem, and we anticipate the highest 
 pleasure from his oratory." 
 
 " We shall do but little credit to our physical training if we 
 are so late as to deprive you of the opportunity of hearing 
 him," said Bayard. " I have less fear of that than of your 
 being disappointed in the orator, whose abilities you, perhaps, 
 estimate too highly." 
 
 " I think not," said Mabel confidently. " If we are in sea- 
 son, and we have not caused you too much fatigue, I hope you 
 will share our enjoyment by being present at the address." 
 
 Bayard bowed, and a moment after gave a new turn to the 
 conversation. 
 
 It was nearly sunset when the party reached the extremity 
 of the prairie ; the road then followed the river bank, and as 
 day was merging into night, and their path was, at intervals, 
 overshadowed by foliage, the figures of the little group were 
 gradually obscured in the twilight gloom, and their brisk and 
 lively discourse, now and then relapsed into thoughtful silence. 
 The church bell was ringing out clear and loud, when, at 
 length, shortly after dark, they entered the outskirts of the 
 now populous and thriving village. 
 
 " That bell must be for the lecture," said Alick ; " it is a 
 new acquisition to the church," continued he, addressing Bay- 
 ard, " and the sexton loves to make it heard on all occasions," 
 and the little party simultaneously quickened their pace. 
 
 " Here we are at last," cried Murray, as they came in sight 
 of the familiar homestead. " Aunt Sabiah has put a light in 
 the window, and is, no doubt, watching anxiously for our ar- 
 rival." 
 
 Murray was right ; Aunt Sabiah was not only watching, 
 but listening, and his merry voice and laugh brought her 
 directly to the door. 
 
 "Will you not come in, Sir, and take some refreshment 
 with us ? " said Mabel to Bayard, as he assisted her from his 
 horse. 
 
 He thanked her, but politely declined, he had an appoint- 
 ment, and was expected elsewhere. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 419 
 
 "I am greatly indebted to you," said Mabel, with feeling, at 
 the same time frankly offering him her hand. " I do not know- 
 how to express my sense of your repeated kindness." 
 
 " Do not speak of it," said he, receiving her hand with the 
 same unaffected cordiality with which it was offered ; " it is I 
 who am under a lasting obligation. You have made my jour- 
 ney across the prairie a delightful and a memorable one." 
 
 Alick, meanwhile, was industriously restoring the saddle- 
 bags and blanket to their original places. "Keep those, if 
 you please," said Bayard, as the youth was also about to sus- 
 pend the fruits of his shooting excursion around the horse's 
 neck; " if the poor fowls can be made serviceable for your 
 grandfather's table, my conscience will acquit me of mere 
 wanton destructiveness ; " and, having shaken hands with Alick 
 and Murray, and glanced up at the house, where Mabel now 
 stood in the doorway, gaily relating their adventures to her 
 aunt, he mounted his horse and rode off at full speed. 
 
 " Father has gone to the lecture already," said Mabel to the 
 boys, when, having delivered their dilapidated equipage into 
 the charge of James, they came bounding into the house ; " but 
 see, Aunt Sabiah has a tempting supper prepared for us." 
 
 " Let us make haste and devour it, then," cried Murray, 
 throwing down his cap. " I am as hungry as a bear." 
 
 " Are n't you tired, Auntie ? " inquired Alick." 
 
 " Not at all," was the answer. " I have had a charming 
 ride." 
 
 " You 11 all feel the better for your supper, I should think," 
 said Aunt Sabiah, as she poured out tea for them. " I never 
 did see anything like you, though, you, every one of you, 
 look as fresh as roses. I believe you could travel from Dan 
 to Beersheba and never feel tired." 
 
 " It would depend considerably upon the kind of company 
 we had on the way, would n't it, Aunt Mabel ? " said Mur- 
 ray, somewhat mischievously. 
 
 Mabel colored slightly, but with an unhesitating and intelli- 
 gent smile assented to Murray's remark, 
 
 " Auntie." said Alick, " that gentleman knew you ; he called 
 
420 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 you by name once or twice. How do you suppose that hap- 
 pened ? Did you ever see him before ? " 
 
 " Yes, I met him in company once, Alick, some years ago, 
 when I was staying at Aunt Ridgway's, in L." 
 
 " Well, now, if that is n't a coincidence ! " exclaimed Sabiah. 
 " But/' added she, with a sigh scarcely warranted by the occa- 
 sion, " this is a strange world we live in ; people are brought 
 together one way and another, who never expected to meet 
 again this side of the grave." 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 " Men of thought ! be up and stirring 
 
 Night and day ; 
 Sow the seed, withdraw the curtain, 
 
 Clear the way ! 
 Men of action, aid and cheer them, 
 
 As ye may ! 
 There' 's a midnight blackness changing 
 
 Into grey; 
 Men of thought and action, 
 
 Clear the way ! " 
 
 THE village in which Mr. Vaughan's homestead was located 
 was fortunate in having been started (to use a familiar expres- 
 sion) by a number of intelligent and enterprising men, who 
 had, through their praiseworthy exertions, given the place an 
 established character and a prominence among the thriving 
 towns of the country. Beside churches of three different 
 denominations, it now boasted a neat school-house, an extensive 
 flour-mill, and a handsome block of stores, the upper story of 
 which constituted a convenient and capacious town-hall, which 
 was first made use of for the purpose of public speaking on the 
 night of PercivaPs address. This latter circumstance, together 
 with the wide-spread popularity of the young orator, caused 
 the occasion to be one of universal interest, and at an early 
 hour the spacious room was thronged by an eager and attentive 
 audience. A stout and honest trader, a supervisor of the 
 of the town, occupied a seat on the platform at the left of 
 that intended for the speaker ; and in a similar place of honor 
 on the right sat Mr. Vaughan, who, as the oldest citizen, the 
 largest land-owner, and, above all, the perfect type of a grave, 
 respectable gentleman, invariably received from his fellow- 
 townsmen similar voluntary marks of distinction and deference. 
 3G 
 
422 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 The hour appointed for the address was just at hand. No 
 orator had yet made his appearance, and a murmur of disap- 
 pointment and inquiry was beginning to circulate through the 
 crowd, when the tall and commanding form of Percival issued 
 from its midst. With a perfectly calm, unruffled air he 
 ascended the platform, shook hands with Mr. Vaughan and 
 the supervisor, and looking round upon his audience with a 
 smile of approbation, sat down and exchanged a few words 
 with the gentlemen on either side of him. Then, observing 
 that the hand of the clock pointed exactly the time agreed 
 upon, he signified by a gesture his readiness to commence, and 
 the sturdy trader, in fulfilment of his functions, rose and intro- 
 duced him to the audience, who having in the meantime scanned 
 his countenance and proportions, and, as American citizens 
 are wont to do, established their individual opinions of his 
 merits, greeted him with a unanimous and unqualified round 
 of applause. 
 
 It was at this moment that Mabel and her nephews, some- 
 what heated and out of breath from their hasty meal and rapid 
 walk, entered the gallery, which, although the entire assembly 
 was freely interspersed with females, had been especially 
 reserved for ladies. 
 
 " There 's Miss Vaughan and her boys," said a cousin of 
 Melissa, wife to the innkeeper, addressing herself to two young 
 girls whom Mabel was in the habit of instructing in the Sabbath 
 School. "Move up, Elizy. Can't you make a little room, 
 Euphemy ? I want to offer her this seat here in front. La, 
 now! don't she look splendid? If the speaker could only 
 catch sight of her, would n't he be inspired ? " And standing up 
 and gesticulating violently to Alick, she contrived to let him 
 understand that his aunt could be accommodated beside her, to 
 which place Mabel was with some difficulty piloted ; and after 
 thanking the obliging landlady and expressing a hope that she 
 should not incommode any one, she seated herself, and as the 
 din of applause subsided, her eye for the first time sought the 
 platform. 
 
 TTad the young man indeed depended on Mabel for his inspi- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 423 
 
 ration, he could scarcely have bestowed on her a more earnest 
 look than that which met her gaze, as at this moment he lifted 
 his face and fixed his full blue eye upon her. As she encoun- 
 tered that expressive glance, her face, neck, and brow were 
 suffused with crimson ; and when next it was turned upon his 
 audience, she listened with straining ear and breath suspended, 
 as if the fate of nations hung upon his first word. 
 
 "Aunt Mabel," exclaimed Murray, in an eager, excited 
 whisper, at the same time leaning forward from a seat behind 
 her and striving to attract her attention, " It is, yes, it is our 
 hunter our prairie friend our fellow-traveller!" 
 
 " Hush ! " cried Alick, in an earnest, dissuasive tone ; his 
 quicker sensibilities revealing to him at a glance the emotions 
 which were (Dieted in Mabel's countenance ; " There is no" 
 need to tell her that ; she sees, she knows." 
 
 There was indeed no mistaking the identity of the two indi- 
 viduals, for except that the wide-awake hat was laid aside and 
 the hunting-suit exchanged for one of plain black cloth, the 
 Percival who stood before them now, was the Bayard who had 
 bade them farewell less than half, an hour ago. 
 
 The silence that succeeded the first burst of enthusiastic 
 welcome which had greeted the speaker was so intense and 
 profound, that even the warning words of Alick sank to the 
 faintest whisper, lest they might disturb the motionless expec- 
 tancy which prevailed through the assembly, as Percival, in a 
 clear and melodious voice, opened his address by a simple 
 statement of the causes and motives for his presenting himself 
 before them. 
 
 His calm but earnest manner, his language, at once plain, 
 forcible, and marked by perfect truth, and, perhaps, more than 
 all, his commanding presence, and an eye which seemed to ad- 
 dress its appeal to each individual heart, had the effect of at 
 once concentrating and riveting the attention of an audience 
 composed, for the most part, of plain and unpretending, but 
 intelligent and self-respecting men. Accustomed to the noisy 
 rant and bombastic parade of professed caucus oratory, and 
 manfully steeled against the wily sophistry and noisy partizan- 
 
42-1- MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 ship of the greedy aspirants after popular favor, they were all 
 the more ready to give a willing and impartial hearing to one 
 who, unshackled by the excitement of political ambition, made 
 no appeal to their prejudices or their passions, but addressed 
 himself, and recommended his cause, to that sound reason and 
 enlightened conscience on which they prided themselves as free 
 men and worthy citizens. Thus, as he stated his argument in 
 plain, unvarnished terms, many a corroborating and assenting 
 nod, on the part of the audience, proclaimed their conviction of 
 its truth. As he announced the conclusion to which he himself 
 had been led, a murmur of approbation seemed to intimate that 
 each mind acknowledged him as its fit interpreter ; and when, 
 finally, with that pathos and eloquence which have their source 
 in the deep emotions of a true and noble natiifl^ he sought to 
 rouse them, and bid them listen to the solemn call of duty, the 
 heart of the multitude throbbed responsively, like the heart of 
 one man. 
 
 No studied oratory, no hollow declamation, could thus have 
 fired with generous warmth that rude, but candid and earnest 
 assemblage. The secret of the speaker's power lay in his sin- 
 cerity ; in the fact that the cause which he came to proclaim 
 had stirred and roused his own spirit like a trumpet-call. He 
 had hitherto voted at the polls, and expressed his political views, 
 as a simple, conscientious discharge of manly duty ; but, busy at 
 home, and seeking nothing from abroad, he had wisely forborne 
 to put himself forward as a gladiator in party strife. The case, 
 however, was changed now. A great issue had arisen and a 
 great crisis was at hand an issue between injustice and op- 
 pression on one side, and the law of right and humanity on the 
 other. The crisis involved a country's prosperity and a nation's 
 honor. Therefore a true man (and such was Bayard Percival) 
 could not remain a silent and inactive spectator, in a scene 
 where he was nobly fitted to bear a part. He knew his power 
 and felt his responsibility. His power was that of an honest 
 man ; his responsibility, that of a Christian. Had it been oth- 
 cnvise, he might have spoken to closed ears and failed to 
 convince a single heart. But a character as free from wild 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 425 
 
 fanaticism on the one hand, as from cold conservatism on the 
 other, had given him the people's confidence ; while the purity 
 of his motives and aims inspired him with a wisdom and a 
 power which caused his words to be received as little less than 
 oracles. 
 
 " Had one come among you," exclaimed he, " who, possessed 
 of the spirit of misrule, prompted by one-sided and misdi- 
 rected zeal, or excited by a blind enthusiasm, should bid you 
 set at defiance every claim but that which he came to advo- 
 cate, and rush into indiscriminate warfare with the enemy 
 against whom all his passions were inflamed, I would simply 
 charge you to beware, lest, while seeking by desperate and 
 unsanctified means to promote the welfare of one brotherhood 
 of men, you trampled under foot the rights, the property, and 
 the lives of another, which should be to you equally dear and 
 sacred. 
 
 " But, on the other hand, I would with equal fervor bid you 
 beware of that sluggishness of the soul, that fatal indifference 
 to truth and humanity, to which our very prosperity renders us 
 prone, and would charge you as freemen, as citizens, and as 
 Christians, to maintain inviolate the principles which you pro- 
 fess, and stand ever as sentinels on the watch-tower reared for 
 the protection of civil liberty and the promotion of individual 
 freedom. We may not at once extirpate the poison which has 
 distilled itself into some portion of our body politic ; but we 
 can at least guard the members which are free from its subtle 
 influence, and preserve pure and unsullied those fresh fountains 
 of strength which are at length destined to infuse new health 
 and vigor throughout the length and breadth of the Republic." 
 
 Then, changing his tone from that of earnest appeal to one 
 of simple, descriptive power, he directed the thoughts and 
 attention of his audience to that beautiful sister soil, then be- 
 ginning to be the subject of national legislation, and painted, 
 with all the warmth of the enthusiastic traveller, and all the 
 simplicity and force of the practical husbandman, the beauty. 
 the wealth, and the resources of that favored land. His coun- 
 tenance and words bore the impress of perfect truth, as, in 
 
 36* 
 
426 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 
 an unvarnished narrative of facts, lie described the richness of 
 her virgin soil, and the nature and extent of the productions it 
 was capable of yielding. His eye glowed with the animation 
 of the sportsman, and the inspiration of the poetic soul, as he 
 dwelt on the grandeur of those primeval forests in which he 
 had hunted, and roamed, and meditated, his broad chest seemed 
 to expand and his form to rear itself to increased height, as lie 
 expatiated on the generations of noble men and women which 
 such a land was capable of inspiring to high thoughts and gen- 
 erous deeds. And when, finally, having stirred the hearts of 
 the assembly by his faithful representation of what this fair 
 domain might, at no distant period, become, he commended her 
 to their brotherly love, all were not only ready, but eager to 
 extend the right hand of fellowship to their young and prom- 
 ising neighbor. 
 
 But there was another and darker side to the picture, and this 
 he now hastened to set before them, in all its sad deformity 
 and gloom. He employed no fanatical abuse or tirade for the 
 furtherance, of his purpose, but with calm, prophetic warning, 
 pointed to the blight already hovering in the air, the cloud already 
 darkening in the distance and threatening to overshadow and 
 destroy the fair harvest of men's hopes. " To what," asked he, 
 "are you indebted for your own unexampled prosperity ? is it 
 not to the equality of human rights, the dignity which attends 
 free and honest labor, the universal education of your chil- 
 dren and the spread of Gospel truth? And shall any or all 
 of these be denied to our sister territory ? I charge you, as those 
 who have a voice in this great decision, to answer the solunn 
 question shall that fatal institution be suffered to settle down 
 upon the land, which dooms one race to slavery and dishonor 
 and another to stagnation and decay? Shall that rich soil be- 
 come the ground of the task-master, those noble woods the 
 retreat of the fugit ive ? Shall progress be checked, and i he voice 
 of truth be silenced, and man's better nature crushed ? Forbid 
 it, Heaven! Forbid it, ye who by word, by look, by honest 
 vote, \\r.\y command one breath of influence and bear a freeman's 
 part in averting so fearful a catastrophe ; L<-i it M,,; b. -aid 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 427 
 
 that the poison has penetrated to the seat of life, and that here, 
 in the heart of our free and enlightened State, there are traitors 
 to the cause of truth. Let us at least, a united and determined 
 band, present our cloned ranks against the inroads of perfidious 
 counsels, and let the district which we serve be foremost in 
 proclaiming that Nebraska shall be free." 
 
 At this period in Percival's address, the audience, who had 
 more than once expressed their enthusiasm by unqualified 
 applause, rose simultaneously from their seats, and amid the 
 waving of hands, hats and handkerchiefs, caught up and echoed 
 by common consent his closing words " Nebraska shall be 
 free." 
 
 Great as was the clamor, however, it subsided almost instantly, 
 as looking around him with unmoved countenance he continued 
 in a calm, earnest tone. " I have not come hither my friends, 
 so much to excite, as to convince you not merely to rouse 
 your generous patriotism, but to urge upon you now, and in 
 view of similar contingencies, that fair, firm and consistent ac- 
 tion by which alone you can lend your aid to the security and 
 extension of the cause of freedom. It is because a crisis has 
 arisen, to which the nation at large seems strangely indifferent, 
 and because such occasions must from time to time occur so 
 long as we are a people divided upon one great topic, that I have 
 endeavored to awaken you to the importance of the event ; for 
 while I may speak and you may honor me by a hearing, respon- 
 sibility and action belong to us all alike. As good men and 
 true, let us see to it then that in our hearts and in our homes, 
 in the every-day walks of life, and at the polls, we cherish and 
 maintain those high and sacred principles which policy, reason, 
 and an enlightened Christianity, alike approve." Then, with the 
 solemnity and fervor of one whose daily walk with God kept 
 hint ever mindful of the Sacred Presence, he commended the 
 assembly to the guidance and direction of Him in whose hands 
 all men are but as instruments, and the address was ended. 
 
 From the commencement of the lecture to the moment when 
 applause was at its height, the impulsive and excitable disposi- 
 tion of Murray had exhibited itself in the animation of his 
 
^28 MADE VAUGHAN. 
 
 countenance, the eagerness of his gestures, and the vehemence 
 of his cheers ; Alick, in the meantime, remaining thoughtful, 
 quiet and attentive, manifesting to those around him no other 
 sign of emotion than that conveyed by the intense earnestness 
 with which his eye was fixed upon the speaker. The most 
 ardent sensibilities, however, are seldom those which appear on 
 the surface, and the soul of the elder boy was none the less 
 stirred, that it found no outward expression save in a single 
 movement, which appealed to but one person present, and that 
 perhaps the only one in the throng capable of appreciating his 
 delicately organized and susceptible nature. At that crisis in 
 the feelings of the assembly when with one accord they rose 
 and joined in common acclamation, the youth might have been 
 observed to leave his seat, a little in the rear of Mabel, and dart- 
 ing down the aisle which divided the gallery, ensconce himself 
 on the lowest step directly beside his young aunt, who turned, 
 met the earnest look which he fixed upon her face, responded 
 to it with an answering smile, clasped his extended hand, and 
 the boy feeling himself to be understood by the only being whose 
 sympathy and approbation he craved, was satisfied and content ; 
 nor did he once again change his position or remove his eye 
 from that of Percival until the close of the oration. 
 
 We may not probe the reflections which coursed through 
 the mind of the boy, far less can we follow all the windings of 
 that train of thought and emotion which partially revealed 
 itself in the face of Mabel, as she, too, watched the expression 
 of Percival's countenance, and drank in the inspiration of his 
 words. For the first : half-hour succeeding her entrance she 
 was wholly engrossed by the tumultuous and agitating thoughts 
 which attended her recognition of the speaker. Already, 
 though known to her only by the report of his manly virtues, 
 she had imaged him to herself as the impersonation of all that 
 was truly noble, disinterested, and heroic ; and now, in addition 
 to every other claim which he possessed to her esteem, re- 
 spect, and gratitude, he had suddenly proved to be identical 
 with the man who, years before, in the hour of her bitter r.gony 
 and humiliation, had won for himself a lasting place in her 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 429 
 
 memory and her prayers, and who once more, on this very day, 
 had by his zealous efforts in her behalf confirmed her sense of 
 deep and personal obligation. No wonder then, that from the 
 moment when the harmonious tones of his voice fell upon her 
 ear, confirming, as it were, the evidence of her other senses, she 
 was for a while unconscious of the subject of his discourse, 
 and realized only his individual presence. 
 
 She could not long, however, continue indifferent to the topic 
 which evidently, for the time, engrossed all the powers of his 
 master mind, and reacted proportionately upon his audience. 
 Her kindling eye and cheek soon gave evidence of the intelli- 
 gence with which she grasped the ideas, and the fulness with 
 which she shared the enthusiasm of the speaker; the tear 
 which now and then trembled on her eyelid, was significant 
 of the sensibility awakened by the pathos which marked some 
 portions of his appeal, and when, finally, the Christian orator 
 commended them all to the keeping of their common Father, 
 her face was expressive of the fervent aspirations of the up- 
 lifted soul. 
 
 The heart that has been stirred to its utmost depths by the 
 power of an eloquent and truthful tongue, shrinks almost with 
 a sense of pain from those common-place questionings and 
 rejoinders which disturb an elevated train of thought, and grate 
 harshly upon the refined taste. Thus, the impulse which led 
 the shy and reserved Alick to exclaim in a whisper to Mabel, 
 as soon as the address drew to a termination, " Let us try and 
 get out before the crowd, Auntie," met with a corresponding 
 prompting on her part ; but finding that the suggestion could 
 not be carried into effect without indecorous haste, and the pos- 
 sibility of giving offence, she made the best of her situation, 
 suffered herself to be carried along with the rest of the throng, 
 and responded good-naturedly to the various comments and 
 criticisms upon the orator and the oration which saluted her 
 on every side. Murray, meanwhile, acting as their pilot, made 
 himself, as he never failed to do, universally popular by his 
 boyish gallantry to the farmers' wives, his rattling and jocose 
 conversation with sturdy and rough-looking men, and his droll 
 
430 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 and mischievous pranks with little children, and boys of his own 
 age, preserving, at the same time, a spice of aristocratic dignity 
 which characterised him, and so marshalling his aunt and 
 brother through the thickest of the press, that to their aston- 
 ishment they found themselves among the earliest to leave the 
 building. 
 
 " Is n't he a splendid fellow, Aunt Mabel ? " exclaimed Mur- 
 ray, as they hastened in the direction of home. " Did n't you 
 feel proud of him ? I did. Was n't it grand to think our 
 prairie friend turned out, after all, to be the orator of the 
 evening ? " 
 
 " Yes, very," replied Mabel, in an absent way ; but Murray, 
 too much excited to need further encouragement, rattled on 
 for some time in a similar strain, and closed by saying in a 
 tone of confidence, " Al liked it, I know, because he did n't say 
 a word ; he never does when he 's pleased ; but," added the boy, 
 who had now learned to love and appreciate his brother, 
 " he '11 prove it to us one of these days, I expect, in a way 
 that speaks louder than words." 
 
 " Alick will not forget it very soon, shall you, Alick ? " said 
 Mabel. 
 
 " Nobody who heard it will ever forget it," said Alick. 
 
 " Aunt Mabel," cried Murray, " did you see how interested 
 grand-father was ? " 
 
 " Yes, Murray, he looked ten years younger than usual 
 to-night." 
 
 "And he "will bring Mr. Percival home with him, wont he ? 
 I saw him shaking hands with him after the lecture." 
 
 Mabel had no doubt of it, as their uncle Harry had assured 
 her that his friend brought a note of introduction to her 
 father. 
 
 " Well here we are," cried Murray, as he threw open the 
 house door. "Aunt Sabiah talks about coincidences. We 
 have got one to tell her now that will make her open her 
 eyes." 
 
 "My sister, Miss Vaughan my daughter my grand- 
 sons," said Mr. Vaughan, with ceremonious gravity, as about 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 431 
 
 half an hour later he ushered Percival into the parlor, and 
 introduced him to his family. 
 
 Miss Sabiah made her usual stiff courtesy, but the young 
 people, to the no small astonishment of Mr. Vaughan, came 
 forward, almost before the words had left his lips, and shook 
 hands with their guest, not with the air of those who are mak- 
 ing a new acquaintance, but with the prompt cordiality with 
 which one welcomes a familiar friend ; while the smiles which 
 were interchanged, and the mutual congratulations and good 
 understanding which succeeded, proved them to have previous 
 knowledge of one another. 
 
 " You perceive, Sir, that I am not a stranger to your fam- 
 ily," said Percival. " I had the pleasure of travelling in com- 
 pany with them, this afternoon." 
 
 "And we," said Mabel, "in our anxiety to do honor to our 
 expected guest, suffered him to walk nearly a dozen miles over 
 the prairie. We could not have taken advantage of your kind- 
 ness with a quiet conscience, if we had known the effort you 
 would be called upon to make this evening." 
 
 " I assure you, that neither walking nor public speaking are 
 an effort to me," said Percival. " I have accustomed myself, 
 in the superintendence of my farm, to twice the amount of 
 exercise I have had to-day, and, perhaps, the same cause has 
 insured me healthy lungs. I only hope that yourself and my 
 young friends here feel as little sense of fatigue as I do." 
 
 They all disclaimed any weariness from their journey ; and 
 then, to relieve Mr. Vaughan's perplexity, Percival gave an 
 outline of their little adventure, treating the matter lightly, 
 however, and claiming no merit for the essential aid he had 
 rendered. 
 
 As it appeared, upon inquiry, that he had had no opportunity 
 for refreshment of any sort since he halted at a village tavern, 
 a little before mid-day, Mabel hastened from the room, " on 
 hospitable thought intent," and while Mr. Percival engaged 
 her father upon the subject of agriculture, and especially Har- 
 ry's successful farming, in which the old gentleman had never 
 before appeared to take the slightest interest, she assisted 
 
432 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Melissa in spreading a table and preparing an inviting repast 
 All were soon gathered round the neat and plentiful board, at 
 which Mabel presided with as much grace and dignity as if she 
 had held the seat of honor in her father's 'New York mansion, 
 with Robert, the well-trained waiter, standing behind her chair. 
 Aunt Sabiali, who had long since resigned all responsible 
 offices, occupied a seat at her niece's right hand, and, as she 
 only joined the rest for sociability's sake, kept on with her knit- 
 ting that favorite employment which she now no longer pur- 
 sued from habit merely, since Alick, Murray, and even Harry, 
 despite his former raillery, had long since found a way to give 
 shape to the warm stockings, for which they were indebted to 
 her industry. Mr. Vaughan, contrary to his usual habits, 
 sipped a cup of chocolate, while Percival and the boys (boys 
 are always hungry) did justice to the cold ham, bread, and 
 tarts. The appetites of all were fully satisfied, however, and 
 still they lingered at the table. Mr. Vaughan, ordinarily silent 
 and reserved, was roused to animation and interest, as he con- 
 versed with Percival on the great events of the day. Sabiah 
 forgot her shyness, and the drowsiness which usually overtook 
 her at intervals was effectually dispersed, as their young guest 
 illustrated the subjects under discussion by many a sparkling 
 anecdote or striking incident. The boys were encouraged to 
 contribute their share to the social interchange of thought; and 
 Mabel's opinions and feelings were deferred to with that con- 
 sideration which highminded men are ever ready to pay to 
 intelligent women. Thus midnight found them still enjoying 
 each other's society, and it was not until the loud striking clock 
 reminded them of the hour, that, with mutual expressions of 
 surprise at its being so late, the little party separated for the 
 night. 
 
 " Good morning, Auntie," cried Murray, as, the next day soon 
 after sunrise, he called to her from outside the pantry, adjoining 
 the kitchen, where she was busy in making some preparation 
 for breakfast ; and, as he spoke, the affectionate, thoughtless 
 boy flung open the blinds and disclosed the figure of Mabel 
 
MABEL VAUGTIAN. 4 .3.3 
 
 standing just withiivihe open window moulding some biscuit 
 with the cover of the dredging-box which she held in her hand. 
 
 His salutation was responded to with heartiness and good 
 humor, nor did the young housewife blush, or seem in the le.'i.-4 
 disconcerted, upon perceiving their guest, who, dressed in his 
 hunting suit, and with rifle on his shoulder, was leaving the 
 house with the boys, and who, like them, paused to inquire 
 after her health and speak of the beauty of the morning. 
 
 And why should she blush? On the contrary, she had 
 reason to be proud of the picture which the sunshine revealed, 
 as it streamed through the apartment. The spotless shelves, 
 with their glittering rows of pans, the almost polished floor, the 
 exquisite order and neatness of all the domestic paraphernalia, 
 were only equalled by the good taste and harmony observable 
 in the person of the fair mistress of the establishment, who, 
 attired in a simple lilac print (none the less becoming to her 
 faultless figure because .her own hands had made it), with a 
 snowy collar, and smooth, glossy hair, stood radiant with the 
 beauty of the girl, and serene with the chastened benignity of 
 womanhood. 
 
 "We have heard some wild ducks in the direction of the 
 river," said Percival, "and are going to have a shot at them." 
 
 " I shall come home -with a proof of my skill ; see if I don't, 
 Aunt Mabel ! " cried Murray, running forward and gaily toss- 
 ing his cap in the air. 
 
 Percival and Alick followed, laughing at Murray's confidence 
 and zeal. Mabel wished them success, and stood looking after 
 them a moment, her rosy-tipped fingers, slightly besprinkled 
 with flour, resting meanwhile on the moulding board ; then 
 closing the blinds, without, however, shutting out 'from the 
 mind's eye the image of that manly form and open countenance 
 which carried with them a cheerful and magical influence, she 
 quietly resumed her occupation. After delivering the pan of 
 biscuit to Melissa's charge, and leaving to her, also, the cooking 
 of Bayard's prairie fowl, in the serving of which she was an 
 adept, Mabel joined her aunt in the parlor, and had not yet laid 
 down the Bible, from which she had, by Sabiah's request, been 
 37 
 
434 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 reading a chapter aloud, when the sportsmen returned from 
 their excursion to the river-side. 
 
 "Ah, you have been fortunate, Murray !" said she, as she 
 observed a pair of silver-breasted ducks, which the latter had 
 thrown down upon the grass. 
 
 " Yes," said the boy, in a slightly disappointed tone, " but 
 Alick shot them." 
 
 " Murray spoke just before he fired," said Percival, " and 
 startled them so that they rose ; then Alick fired the other bar- 
 rel and shot them on the wing." 
 
 Mabel looked meaningly at Murray and laughed. 
 
 " I know," said Murray, good-naturedly. " I thought of it 
 myself; it is just as you always say, Auntie; I do the boasting 
 and Al carries away the prize." 
 
 " Must you leave us so early?" said Mr. Vaughan, in a tone 
 of positive regret, as immediately after breakfast Bayard's 
 horse was brought to the door. 
 
 "I fear I must, sir," replied Percival, turning away from 
 Rosy's picture, at which he had been gazing attentively ; " a 
 similar duty to that which brought me here last night summons 
 me to-day to a distance of some forty miles ; but I hope at some 
 future time to have the privilege of enjoying and returning 
 your hospitality." 
 
 Mr. Vaughan, seeming for the first time to realize that his 
 present home could be rendered attractive, pressed upon Bay- 
 ard his desire to welcome him there as often as might be, and 
 still further astonished his family by declaring that he was soon 
 going to see Harry, and would take the same opportunity of 
 paying Mr. Percival a visit. 
 
 Mabel was standing on the door-step when Bayard came to 
 bid her farewell. He had shaken hands with Sabiah in the 
 inner room. Mr. Vaughan and the boys had walked down to 
 the roadside, where James was attaching the saddlebags to the 
 saddle. For the first time, therefore, she saw him apart from 
 the rest of the household. She gave him a few last messages 
 for his mother ; then, as he lingered, evidently loth to depart, 
 she said in a hesitating, tremulous voice, " It is now more than 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 435 
 
 six years, Mr. Percival, since you did me a kindness which 
 few would have attempted, and which few could have done. 
 I have never thanked you ; I never can, but I trust you 
 believe that I can never forget it." 
 
 " Miss Vaughan," said he, " I did only what common hu- 
 manity demanded of one who had the soul of a man ; it has 
 been left for you to teach me the higher and holier lesson of 
 what may be accomplished by a woman. Your brother makes 
 no secret, with his friends, at least, of the priceless blessings 
 which he owes to a sister's love." 
 
 " Harry has an appreciating disposition," said Mabel, " and 
 his good heart makes him grateful for the affection and kind- 
 ness which he always feels to be beyond his merits. The 
 events of that night, which are so fixed in my memory, hav 
 happily passed from his, but of your consistent friendship in 
 later years he can never saj enough." 
 
 " It is a friendship which is invaluable to me," said Percival. 
 " Harry is a noble fellow, worthy of the sister who has mad* 
 him what he is. I am most proud and happy to have met 
 you again, Miss Vaughan." He paused, seemed anxious to add 
 something more, hesitated, and then, with an embarrassment 
 foreign to his usual manner, bade her an abrupt farewell. 
 
 Mr. Vaughan and the boys, after seeing him ride off, walked 
 slowly back to the house, and the ordinary events of their 
 daily life succeeded. But, although Percival had been their 
 guest for one night only, his presence and influence had left 
 no ordinary impression upon every individual of the family, 
 and it was long before any of them could cease to be conscious 
 of the void which his departure had created in their circle. 
 
C II A PTER XXXVII. 
 
 Bread of our souls ! \vhereon we feed ; 
 
 True manna from on high ! 
 Our guide and chart ! wherein we read 
 
 Of realms beyond the sky. 
 
 BERNARD BARTON, 
 
 EVER since the period of Mr. Gracie's sickness and death, 
 the mind of Mr. Vauglian had seemed to some degree weaned 
 from the one haunting and harrowing subject to which its 
 energies had for the last ten years been directed, and the 
 River Valley Railroad, with all the expectations involved in 
 it, though not abandoned by him, had ceased to absorb his 
 thoughts. The saddening and solemnizing event which had 
 deprived him of a valued friend, could not fail to remind him 
 of the mortality which sets bounds to all earthly schemes. 
 The presence of the bereaved orphan in his household had 
 excited in him a truly paternal sympathy; and finally, her 
 marriage with his son, in which he took a deeper satisfaction 
 than was suffered to appear, had imparted to his present ex- 
 perience a genuine and touching interest, which had for a time 
 dispelled the eager and calculating spirit by which he had 
 hitherto been actuated. 
 
 Thus he was, as we have seen on the Occasion of Percival's 
 visit, more than usually alive to topics relating to the public 
 welfare, and not only took upon himself readily the duties of 
 a host, but manifested in the young man's society a pleasure 
 and animation truly astonishing to those who knew him only 
 as the abstracted, self-absorbed, and disappointed man. 
 
 Scarcely had this agreeable episode in his ordinary life 
 terminated, however, when the old man once more became a 
 prey to the all-engrossing object of his fond aspirations, and 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 437 
 
 the mind which had partially recovered its equanimity, was 
 plunged into the mad vortex of bewildering and exciting emo- 
 tions. 
 
 That effervescent and speculative portion of the community, 
 which is ever anxious to push the car of progress to an alarm- 
 ing rate of speed, and on whom Mr. Vaughan had throughout 
 based all his reliance, began once more to turn their eyes to 
 that comprehensive scheme of public improvement, which in- 
 cluded the realization of his hopes ; and the torch thus kindled 
 proved all-sufficient to fire his slumbering energies with a 
 new and lively enthusiasm. Communications were received 
 and dispatched by every mail; Mabel and the boys being em- 
 ployed as amanuenses by the enfeebled man, whose trembling 
 hand could no longer keep pace with his excited ideas. Mes- 
 sengers arrived from various directions, engineers and survey- 
 ors made their appearance in the vicinity, and routes, bounda- 
 ries and grades, stocks, contracts, and government appropria- 
 tions, were the engrossing subjects of thought, conversation, 
 and correspondence. Once more the roll of charts, recently 
 fallen into comparative disuse, was brought forward, examined, 
 and allotted a conspicuous place on the table of the little par- 
 lor, now become the scene of eager consultations ; and onct 
 more old Sorrel was called into requisition for those journey- 
 ings which Mr. Vaughan, despite his years, undertook as rea- 
 dily as in former times, usually accompanied, however, by one 
 of his grandsons, both of whom shared Mabel's anxious sense 
 of responsibility concerning him. 
 
 But this period of suspense and agitation proved as short- 
 lived as it was sudden and engrossing. Difficulties presented 
 themselves on every hand, public appropriations were refused, 
 private resources failed to be forthcoming, discouragement 
 succeeded discouragement, and finally, after a fortnight of 
 vain discussion, the originators of the movement, having ex- 
 hausted their fruitless zeal, dropped off one by one, and the 
 early pilot on this voyage of adventure found himself, as he 
 had so often done before, standing solitary and deserted amid 
 the wreck of his fallen hopes. 
 37* 
 
438 MABEL V A UGH AN. 
 
 It was loo much for him; and on the day when, forsaken by 
 his allies, he beheld the downfall of the last stronghold on 
 which his expectations had been founded, he turned his steps 
 homeward, and, with a despairing countenance, trembling gait, 
 and hoary head sunk 'upon his breast, declined all nourish- 
 ment, and sought his bed, from which he seemed destined 
 never to rise again. 
 
 Nor was it mental despondency alone which had thus re- 
 duced him. In his eager pursuit of the fortune which he felt 
 to be at length almost within his grasp, he had spared himself 
 neither privation, exposure, nor fatigue, frequently continuing 
 abroad until a late hour, unprotected from the heavy night- 
 dews, eating his meals with but little appetite or regularity, 
 and deprived, by excitement, of all natural and refreshing 
 rest. These circumstances, acting upon a constitution already 
 enfeebled by anxiety and years, could have but one result ; 
 and when, at last, the suspense was ended, and the blow of 
 final disappointment struck home, it was disease no less than 
 despair, which prostrated the aged man, and alarmed his family 
 at once for his reason and his life. 
 
 He asked no questions, expressed no wants, and made no 
 complaints ; his only sign of intelligence being conveyed in the 
 mournful inquiry with which he scanned the faces about him, 
 as if seeking to discover whether his family shared his anguish 
 at the bursting of fortune's bubble ; and it was not until symp- 
 toms of pneumonia made their appearance, that the village 
 physician was summoned and his condition rightly understood. 
 
 All ordinary avocations were now abandoned, and the whole 
 household united in attentions and devotion to one w r hom 
 Mabel's example, no less than their own feelings, had taught 
 them to regard with that tenderness which is usually paid 
 exclusively to infancy. His comfortable bed-room opened 
 directly into their only parlor; but the perfect quiet which 
 reigned there was never disturbed by this circumstance, for 
 even Murray shared the general solicitude, and softened his 
 voice instinctively the moment he entered the house. Mabel, 
 whose capabilities as a nurse had been well proved already, 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 409 
 
 was ever at the post of duty, reinforced and aided, however, 
 by Alick, who, patient, gentle, and capable as a woman, placed 
 himself at his grandfather's bedside and waited on him with an 
 assiduity which was touching in a youth of his years. Thus 
 nursed with the most faithful devotion, and preserved from 
 every agitating sight and sound, it soon became evident that 
 while Mr. Yaughan's outward man was wrestling with deep- 
 seated disease, and his life hung, as it were, upon a thread, 
 his mind was gradually resuming more than its wonted calm- 
 ness, and his face was marked with serenity and repose. His 
 eye, which at times had been penetrating in its stare, or blank 
 with vacuity, now wore a mild, benignant expression as it was 
 turned upon his daughter, sister, and grandchildren; and as he 
 watched their movements about his room, his countenance 
 indicated pleasure and satisfaction at the peace, harmony, and 
 good order which pervaded the apartment. 
 
 As his disease approached the stage when the physician 
 confessed apprehensions for the life of his patient, Murray was 
 despatched to communicate the tidings to Harry and Helen, 
 who hastened to him without delay; but, on their arrival, the 
 crisis had already passed, the patient had rallied, and there 
 was now a prospect of his speedy recovery. 
 
 " I thought I never should see you again, my boy," said the 
 feeble invalid, as he stretched out his wasted hand and clasped 
 that of his son in cordial and tender greeting. " I have been 
 very ill." 
 
 The strong man was subdued in Harry, as he beheld the 
 wasted form of his father, and marked the unusual depth and 
 pathos of his tones. He could not trust himself to speak, but 
 sat down at the head of the bed, a little out of sight. 
 
 " I have had another disappointment, Harry," said the old 
 man, in a low, expressive tone, at the same time turning his 
 head a little that he might see his son's face. " Did you know 
 that?" 
 
 " Yes, father," said Harry ; " I know all about it, and I hope 
 it is the last you will ever have on the subject. It is not worth 
 a regret, except for the illness it has caused you. No advan- 
 
440 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 tage we could have from that quarter could make us half so 
 happy as we shall be now, when we see you well again." 
 
 Mr. Vaughan, who had turned his eyes in another direction, 
 once more fixed them on his son, as if to judge of his sincerity; 
 then, apparently satisfied, he inquired for Helen, who at once 
 came forward, saying, "Here I am, Sir, only waiting my turn !" 
 
 He smiled affectionately upon her, thanked her for coming 
 so far to see a sick old man, made her sit down on the side of 
 his bed, and would have wearied himself with questioning her 
 concerning her new home, but the doctor fortunately came in 
 at the moment and saved him from the consequences of too 
 much fatigue. 
 
 " Leave the door open, Mabel," said he, when his daughter, 
 who, later in the evening came to bring him a cup of tea, was 
 about to close the door opening into the parlor. " Do not be 
 afraid of disturbing me ; I like to hear you talk. Inquire of 
 Harry about his farm and his crops, and tell him about Mr. 
 Percival's visit to us and his address to the people." 
 
 TVondering, scarcely daring to trust the evidence of her 
 senses, Mabel did as she was requested, asking herself, mean- 
 while, what could have awakened in her hitherto self-absorbed 
 and indifferent parent, such a thoughtful interest in his children's 
 conversation and pursuits. She half suspected that it had its 
 source in feverish excitement, and that he would experience, 
 in consequence, a wakeful night, possibly a relapse. But, on 
 the contrary, the soft murmur of pleasant voices seemed to 
 have a soothing influence upon the invalid, for his sleep was 
 more than usually refreshing, and, so far from his suffering a 
 relapse, two days after, when Harry and Helen left to return 
 home, he was decidedly convalescent. 
 
 One evening, while he was still confined to his bed, Mabel, 
 who had been sitting beside him for an hour or more, rose, 
 listened a moment to his regular breathing, then, believing him 
 to be asleep, went cautiously out into the parlor, and, in her 
 anxiety to close the latch gently, unintentionally left the door 
 ajar. It was the season of the brilliant harvest moon, whose 
 rays were streaming across the floor, and Sabiah, who always 
 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 441 
 
 loved a moonlight night, was enjoying it at her favorite window. 
 Weary with the labors of the day, and suffering also from a 
 headache, which was unusual to her, Mabel approached with a 
 languid step, and, sitting down on a low footstool, leaned against 
 her aunt's knee. They had remained thus in silence for some 
 time, when Sabiah almost startled her niece by the abruptness 
 and warmth with which she exclaimed, "Mabel,-! am afraid 
 you will be an old maid ! " 
 
 The low, merry laugh which succeeded Mabel's first aston- 
 ishment at her aunt's earnestness, seemed to signify how little 
 she dreaded the doom of which Sabiah had such a fearful fore- 
 boding. 
 
 " Ay, you may laugh now," said Sabiah, " but it will be a 
 different thing when you come to be an old woman and have 
 nobody to love you or take care of you. You think you can 't 
 do enough for those boys, and Harry, and your father, and me, 
 and you never stop to ask what is going to become of yourself. 
 It 's well enough, now, while you can have the comfort of feel- 
 ing that we could n't do without yon, but what if you should 
 find yourself at last all alone in the world, with nobody to care 
 whether you lived or died ? " 
 
 " Has it been so with you, Aunt ? " asked Mabel. 
 
 " No, child ! " answered Sabiah, with feeling, at the same 
 time smoothing Mabel's hair tenderly with her hand. " I thank 
 God for the mercy with which he is leading me on the down- 
 hill of life. But don't trust to my experience. You won't 
 find another Mabel in the world.'* 
 
 " I shall always find somebody to love," said Mabel; "some- 
 body to whom I can be of use." 
 
 u Yes, I am sure of that," said Sabiah. " You '11 find such, 
 if any body can; but if there was one thing more than another 
 that 1 have prayed might come to pass, it was that I might 
 live to see you a happy wife. But, oh! there's disappointments 
 everywhere. When you were in New York I used always to 
 be afraid some scapegrace would be hanging round after your 
 father's money. There was Mr. Dudley to be sure, I always 
 liked him, and thought something would come of his following 
 
442 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 you up so sharp, but you could n't seem between you to make 
 that go." 
 
 Mabel smiled thoughtfully, as she remembered the indiscrim- 
 inate zeal with which her aunt had always espoused Dudley's 
 interests. There was no other emotion awakened in her heart, 
 however, at the mention of his name. The events connected 
 with this early preference, viewed as they were through the 
 glass of a memory laden with anxieties and care, seemed to be 
 rather a part of her child-life, than a bitter and realized fact in 
 her womanhood. 
 
 " And now, out here," continued Sabiah, " well, they used 
 to say, when I was a gal, if you are meant to be married, you 
 will be, and you may as well sit in the chimney corner and 
 wait ; but, la, one might wait here to all eternity and never 
 see any body that was good enough for you. Ah, that 's the 
 rub, after all, to find any body that's good enough for you, 
 Mabel!" 
 
 " I never saw but one person that was good enough for her," 
 said Alick, who had come in unperceived. 
 
 " And who was that, pray ? " asked Sabiah. 
 
 " Mr. Percival." 
 
 " Well," said Sabiah, " I know you boys think there never 
 was anything that could hold a candle to him. And so he is a 
 handsome fellow, and very entertaining ; but he is n't thinking 
 about a wife. His head is full of politics. Besides, I always 
 have a dread of your political characters they make the 
 most miserable husbands." 
 
 " Aunt Mabel," said Alick, whose thoughtful mind often led 
 him from the special topic of conversation into the wider field 
 of philosophy, " do you think a man is any more likely to for- 
 get simple, every-day duties, because he is engaged in a great 
 work, and has a great object in view ? " 
 
 " I think it depends altogether upon his motives, Alick," 
 replied Mabel. " If he is influenced merely by selfishness and 
 ambition, he would probably pursue his prize at the expense of 
 every other claim, whether small or great ; but I do not believe 
 that a man who is actuated by pure Christian benevolence is 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 443 
 
 any less faithful to simple duties, because he is also striving to 
 benefit humanity in a larger sphere of usefulness." 
 
 " Nobody can doubt that Mr. Percival is disinterested," said 
 Alick ; " he proved it when he was not much older than I am. 
 Did you know, Auntie, that he inherited a handsome property 
 from an uncle of his mother's, when he was only eighteen 
 years old, and that, as soon as he became of age, he insisted 
 upon dividing it with his half-sister, a widow, who has several 
 children and is lame ? He took this "Western property for his 
 share, at a very high valuation, and gave up air the rest, except 
 a portion which was secured to his mother for her life time. 
 General Percival objected very much to the arrangement, be- 
 cause he feared his brother would regret it when he grew older. 
 But so far from that, a few years ago, when the General was 
 ill, and on half pay, Bayard assisted him very much in the 
 education of his family, and even had his daughter, Bessie, 
 thoroughly instructed in music." 
 
 " Who told you this, Alick ? Not Mr. Percival ? " said Ma- 
 bel, at the same time pondering in her mind Dudley's insinua- 
 tions concerning the difficulty which had existed in the family 
 with regard to settling the estate. 
 
 " Oh, no ! Uncle Harry heard of it from a gentleman whose 
 father was one of the trustees of the property. But I know 
 that it cost Mr. Percival a sacrifice ; because I mentioned to 
 him the other morning that I had a great desire to go into one 
 of the territories and settle, when I got older, and he remarked, 
 that when he was of my age he had a strong preference for 
 living in New York, but that he was very glad he decided as 
 he did." 
 
 " Auntie," said Murray, who had come in while Alick was 
 speaking, "I wonder why grandfather cares so much about 
 making a great fortune. Uncle Harry says that Al and I 
 ought to be very thankful we have got our own living to earn, 
 for that money came very near being the ruin of him, and that 
 Mr. Percival, although he would have been a fine man any- 
 where, would never have been the man he is if he had not been 
 obliged to exert himself." 
 
444 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 " Wealth is a great temptation, and a great responsibility ," 
 said Mabel. " I hope, if you ever possess it, you will have first 
 learned how to make it truly valuable." 
 
 A conversation now ensued with reference to the boys' 
 future choice of professions, in which they might hope for use- 
 fulness and success ; a not infrequent subject of discussion, but 
 which was, on this occasion, terminated by Mabel's remarking, 
 " It is getting late, boys ; Aunt Sabiah looks tired, and we shall 
 have ample time to consider the comparative merits of the dif- 
 ferent professions before either of you are obliged to come to a 
 decision. In the mean time, we will remember that the most 
 honorable calling for each of us, is that which we are best 
 capable of fulfilling. Murray, please ask Melissa for a light. 
 Shall W T C read now, Aunt Sabiah?" and rising from her low seat, 
 Mabel took the Bible and prayer-book from the table, and 
 when Murray came back with the lamp, read, according to their 
 evening custom, a portion of Scripture and a simple prayer, 
 such as she and the boys had become familiar with from long 
 use of their little service-book. Aunt Sabiah, who had formerly 
 held herself aloof from this act of social worship, now joined 
 in it with humble fervor ; while as the sound of their united 
 voices penetrated to the ears^ of one, who, through the open 
 door of the adjoining room, had overheard every syllable that 
 fell from their lips during the evening, another aged heart 
 was touched, and another voice responded in an earnest Amen. 
 
 " Good night, my daughter," said Mr. Vaughan, as Mabel 
 was leaving his room, after moving about with a light step to 
 see that everything was arranged for his comfort, shading the 
 lamp with her hand, lest its rays might wake the supposed 
 sleeper. 
 
 " Are you awake, father ? " asked she, in some surprise. 
 
 " Yes, my child, wide awake ; -more so than for many a long 
 year. My eyes are opened at last, Mabel, to the truths to 
 which they have long too long been closed ; come and kiss 
 me before you go to bed." And as she stooped over him to 
 fulfil the unusual request, he added, " you are a good girl, my 
 dear a great blessing to your old father." 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 445 
 
 The next evening, when one of the boys went to seek the 
 Bible in its customary place, it could not be found. Mabel 
 rose to assist in the search, and at length discovered it on the 
 little table beside her father's bed, with his spectacles between 
 its covers. Occasionally, afterwards, it was missing, and \vas 
 found in the same place ; and once Mabel observed the old 
 man attentively reading it. He laid it down, upon perceiving 
 her, however, and no remark was made on either side. 
 
 At length his strength, which was only restored by slow de- 
 grees, became so far established that he was able to leave his 
 room, and once more take his place at the parlor fireside. One 
 day, when he had been thus seated for some hours, gazing into 
 the fire, communing with his own thoughts and apparently 
 unconscious of everything around him, he suddenly lifted his 
 head and exclaimed to his daughter, who was the only person 
 present, " Mabel, bring me my charts ! " 
 
 With trembling reluctance she obeyed him; though as she 
 placed the roll in his hand she still retained a slight hold upon it, 
 longing to intercede and beg him to refrain from harassing 
 his mind with the dreaded subject, but restrained by filial 
 deference from thus interfering. His manner, however, was 
 decisive, and she relinquished the papers, still maintaining her 
 place beside him, and awaiting his movements. To her aston- 
 ishment, he deliberately unrolled the outside chart, and with- 
 out hesitation tore it down the middle, and committed the 
 fragments to the flames ; then removing the next, he dealt with 
 it in like manner, and so on, successively, until the whole were 
 consumed. 
 
 Great as had been Mabel's horror of this deceitful schedule 
 of future fortune, she could not resist a sudden shudder and 
 sensation of alarm, as she thus witnessed the annihilation of 
 the time-worn papers, which she had learned to regard with a 
 species of awe. She was reassured, however, by the calm, 
 self-satisfied smile with which her father looked up at her, 
 when the work of destruction was accomplished. More com- 
 pletely still was she conscious of the sanity of his purpose, 
 when, laying his hand upon the Bible, which rested on the 
 38 
 
446 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 table beside him, he said, solemnly, " Henceforward, Mabel, 
 this is my only chart ; and the only road which shall engross 
 my thoughts, is that which leadeth to eternal rest. I have 
 striven too long after the things which perish, forgetful of those 
 which endure unto everlasting life. I have coveted for my 
 children the wealth which would have been to them but a 
 snare, while they, without my aid, have sought and found the 
 pearl of great price. Yes, Mabel, I have been strangely blind 
 to the welfare of my family ; but God has done for me and 
 mine more and better than I could ask or think." 
 
 " We are very happy, father," said Mabel, " far more so than 
 when the world envied our good fortune." 
 
 " I see it, my child ; I understand it now," said the old man, 
 with a serene smile. " The Lord has dealt bountifully with me ; 
 He has given me the true riches, and made my children a 
 crown of glory to my aged head. Henceforth my prayer shall 
 be. ' Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths !' " 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 God calls our loved ones, but we lose not wholly 
 
 What He hath given ; 
 They live on earth, in thought and deed, as truly 
 
 As in His Heaven. 
 
 J. G. WHITTIER. 
 
 As soon as Harry could be released from the cares attend- 
 ing the harvesting of his crops, he came again to his father's, 
 partly to share his sister's joy in the old gentleman's restoration 
 to health and peace of mind, and still more to persuade Mabel, 
 if possible, to return home with him. Both he and Helen had, 
 on their former visit, observed her unusual paleness, varied 
 only by a feverish flush which seemed to denote an exhausted 
 state of the system ; and they had only awaited Mr. Vaughan's 
 complete recovery, to insist upon her coming to them for rec- 
 reation and change of scene. 
 
 .Mabel, who felt no other symptoms of illness than an unusual 
 lassitude and occasional headache, would have resisted Harry's 
 pleadings ; but her father, realizing how severely her strength 
 had recently been taxed, warmly seconded the proposition, and 
 even intimated the probability that, if they found themselves 
 equal to the jaunt, he and Sabiah would join -her at the farm, 
 in the course of a few weeks. 
 
 It was pleasant to see the joyousness which mantled Harry's 
 face at this voluntary suggestion on the part of Mr. Vaughan. 
 " Come up early next month," exclaimed he (it was now Octo- 
 ber), "and stay with us until after Thanksgiving ! All of you, 
 I mean," added he, glancing at Sabiah, and from her to the 
 boys; "that is a day which allows of no exceptions; and Helen 
 and I shall be rejoiced to make it an occasion for welcoming 
 you all at once." 
 
448 MABEL VA T JG11AN. 
 
 " We have everything to be thankful for, my son," said Mr. 
 Vaughan, surveying the little group collected around him, with 
 a pride far deeper than that of former days; "we will meet 
 together as you propose, and praise God in our hearts for his 
 wonderful goodness to us." 
 
 It being thus arranged that the rest of the household were 
 to follow in a few weeks, Harry hurried Mabel with her prep- 
 arations, and the next day she accompanied him to the abode 
 of plenty and contentment, where his happy young wife was 
 impatiently awaiting their arrival. 
 
 " Now remember, Mabel," said Helen, when the former was 
 at length installed in the room which Harry in building the 
 house had denominated Mabel's, "you are to do nothing while 
 you are here, but ride, and walk, and talk, and waste time, if 
 you choose to term it so, in every possible way. You have 
 had more than your share of cares and duties for the last five 
 years, and lately have been quite worn out with them ; so now 
 you are to consider that no one has the slightest claim upon 
 you. You are to keep your hands folded in this fashion (and 
 she playfully placed them in a most indolent attitude), and are 
 to make it the chief business of your life to be idle." 
 
 Mabel declared with a languid air, which was more felt than 
 feigned, that she should have no difficulty in obeying these 
 rules, for if the weather continued as at present, she could 
 spend whole days satisfactorily in gazing out of the window. 
 
 This unusual lassitude, and low, feverish tendency, which 
 had been observed in her before she left home, became more 
 marked, now that she was freed from all necessity for exertion; 
 and Harry, no less than Helen, sought to dissipate the effects 
 of too much anxiety and confinement, by insisting that she 
 should spare herself all fatigue, and keep as much as possible 
 in the open air. Thus, eveiy day, upon some pretext or other, 
 her brother persuaded her to accompany him in his drives 
 about the form, usually leaving her in some shaded spot, while 
 he went to oversee his laborers ; when she, partly occupied 
 with a book, and partly engaged in the observation of nature, 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 449 
 
 enjoyed the healthy recreation, and quiet sense of repose, of 
 which she stood greatly in need. 
 
 One morning, \vhen they were returning from one of these 
 excursions, they perceived a neat little pleasure carriage stand- 
 ing before the door, which Harry recognized as belonging to 
 Percival ; and, at the same moment, Mabel saw through the 
 window the unmistakable form of his venerable mother who, 
 at the announcement of Mabel's approach, had risen from her 
 seat, and with a smiling countenance was awaiting the arrival 
 of her young friend. 
 
 The old lady's figure was firm and erect as ever ; her eye 
 had lost nothing of its brightness ; and her countenance, though 
 more strongly marked with the lines of age, still wore its mild 
 and winning benignity of expression. Nor had time had 
 power to diminish the tender interest which she cherished for 
 Mabel, as was evident from the heartiness with which she 
 advanced to meet the eager and excited girl, and fold her in a 
 warm embrace, saying, " Ah, my dear child, I see you then at 
 last. I began to think this was a pleasure which was to be 
 forever denied me ! " 
 
 Mabel could not find words to express the joy she felt at the 
 unexpected meeting ; but Madam Percival who read her coun- 
 tenance aright, and saw that she was well nigh overpowered by 
 the train of moving associations which it called up, responded to 
 her broken ejaculations of surprise and delight, by pressing her 
 once more to her side, saying " These re-unions are blessed 
 things my dear ! and here is my patient Bessie, too, waiting 
 to claim you as an old friend." 
 
 Mabel, who had not had a thought for any one but Madam 
 Persival, now followed the direction of the old lady's eyes, and 
 her face lighted up with fresh satisfaction as she beheld Bayard's 
 favorite niece and her own devoted champion, scarcely altered in 
 appearance since she had seen her last, and with her enthusiasm 
 for Mabel undiminished, as was evident from the beaming face 
 with which she watched her movements, and now, as she saw 
 herself recognized, came forward vvith outstretched hand. 
 
 "And do you know my sister? have you made the acquaint- 
 38* 
 
450 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 ance of Mrs. Vaughan," asked Mabel, as having exchanged 
 cordial salutations with Bessie, she glanced towards Helen, who 
 was a deeply interested and smiling spectator of the scene. 
 
 " Yes, my dear/' said Madam Percival, " I have been im- 
 patient for some time past to make Mrs. Vanghan's acquaint- 
 ance, and must acknowledge that she was the sole object of 
 our visit to-day ; we had no idea of the double pleasure that 
 was in store for us." 
 
 Numerous questions and responses now succeeded. Madam 
 Percival had earnest inquiries to make concerning every 
 member of Mr. Vaughan's family, especially the boys, to an 
 account of whose growth and progress she was lending a most 
 attentive ear, while Helen and Bessie were busily chatting 
 together, when the entrance of Harry, who had been detained 
 by one of his neighbors, served to give a more general tone to 
 the conversation. 
 
 Madam. Percival still kept Malel close beside her, however, 
 and at length remarked, with some little anxiety in her tone, 
 44 They tell me, my dear, that you are not well that you have 
 had too much care of late ; so, though I should not judge it 
 from your face (Mabel's face was a little flushed by the excite- 
 ment of the interview), I wish to make it a plea for begging 
 you away from Mrs. Vaughan for a few days ; that is if you 
 will trust yourself to an old friend's care, as readily as you once 
 did when she was a stranger. Come," added she, laying her 
 hand earnestly on Mabel's shoulder, by way of enforcing the 
 request " will you indulge me so far as to go home with us 
 to-day ? we w r ill restore you on Sunday when we meet your 
 brother at church." 
 
 Mabel thanked her most warmly, professed unbounded con- 
 fidence in that kindness and care of which she had formerly 
 experienced the benefit, but at the same time hesitated, and 
 gave a somewhat evasive reply to the invitation, saying that 
 slie considered herself under Helen's orders, and doubted her 
 out, 
 
 u Oh. j>len*e do as grandmamma proposes." exclaimed Bessie, 
 while Madam Percival turned to Helen to urge her claims; 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 451 
 
 " we shall be so delighted to have you with us ! uncle Bayard 
 is absent attending court all the time and we miss him so 
 much ! " 
 
 Perhaps Bessie, who still cherished a painful recollection of 
 her uncle's severe and unjust criticism of Mabel, might have 
 suspected that he was an object of her avoidance and dislike, and 
 so artfully added this last clause by way of assuring her that 
 she would not be subjected to his society ; if so, her suspicions 
 were probably confirmed by the fact that when Madam Per- 
 cival triumphantly announced Helen's consent to grant the re- 
 quired leave of absence, Mabel no longer manifested any want 
 of alacrity in accepting the invitation, and expressed without 
 reserve the pleasure she should have in accompanying them. 
 
 " But, there is a condition ! " exclaimed Harry. " My dear 
 Madam you will not overlook the proviso in the case. I have 
 already had your horses led to the stable, and Mrs. Vaughan 
 depends upon your company to dinner." v 
 
 " I intended to return immediately," said Madam Percival, 
 * and left word to that effect at home ; but as Mrs. Vaughan 
 assures me that an early dinner is no inconvenience in her 
 household, and my young friend here may need a little time to 
 prepare for a three days absence, I think, Bessie, we will aston- 
 ish Mrs. Patten by playing truant to-day." 
 
 And the venerable lady, who knew how to accommodate her- 
 self with ready grace to all circumstances in life, allowed Mabel 
 to assist in the removal of her bonnet and shawl, and during 
 the space of a couple of hours, which was the limit of her visit, 
 entered with cordial zeal into the interests of the youthful group 
 by whom she was surrounded, and by the charm of her man- 
 ners and conversation imparted both ease and spirit to the social 
 occasion, without once derogating in the least from the dignity 
 which became her years. 
 
 As dinner was served with great punctuality, and Madam 
 Percival was anxious to reach home before sundown, no further 
 delay was suffered to interfere with her departure, and at an 
 early hour in the afternoon the party set olf; Mabel and the old 
 lady on the back seat of the light pleasure carriage, and Br-sit; 
 
452 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 stationed in front, beside a serious looking youth who officiated 
 as coachman to the establishment. 
 
 It was one of those lovely days belonging to the somewhat 
 disputed period of the Indian summer, which, whether it occurs 
 earlier or later, is maiked by characteristics peculiar to the 
 American Autumn. The atmosphere was suffused with that 
 peculiar haziness which, without obscuring the sun, subdues 
 and mellows its rays, and imparts a singular brilliancy to the 
 rich and variegated foliage. The sky, unspotted by a cloud, 
 was of the clearest and brightest blue, while the outline of the 
 distant horizon was rendered shadowy and indistinct by the 
 light curtain of mist which enveloped all nature; and as the eye 
 at intervals roamed across the boundless waves of the rolling 
 prairie, the great hay ricks discerned through the distance and 
 fog might almost be mistaken for islands in mid ocean or ships 
 with outspread sails. For the last half of the way, the road 
 leading to Lake Farm stretched through Percival's own land, 
 now winding like a thread amid corn and wheat fields of nearly 
 a mile in extent, where the golden grain was peeping from the 
 husk and inviting the sickle of the husbandman, and now lead- 
 ing the traveller beneath the refreshing shade of grand primeval 
 forests, which an English nobleman might covet. Sometimes 
 the sound of the horses' feet would startle a squirrel or a rabbit 
 and send it darting across their path ; or a partridge would rise 
 with a whirring sound from the tall waving grain; or, as the 
 travellers entered the cool thicket, birds of various note would 
 greet them with a concert of song. 
 
 Nor was this harmony of sight and sound marred by any 
 sense of effort or constraint on the part of Mabel and her com- 
 panions, who discoursed with unaffected ease, or maintained, at 
 pleasure, that silence which is sometimes so satisfactory among 
 those w r ho are confident of each other's sympathetic enjoyment. 
 As they drew within half a mile of their destination, the road 
 led through a little grove of maples and oaks, gorgeous with 
 brilliantly-dyed leaves, a portion of which had already fallen 
 and bestrewed the ground; and, for the rest of the distune*-, 
 Mabel r/as conscious that they were gradually ascending to a 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 453 
 
 higher point of land. She was not prepared, however, for the 
 scene which awaited her, when at length, emerging from the 
 wood, she saw the house directly before her, and took in at a 
 glance the expansive view which the little eminence com- 
 manded. The simple but tasteful structure was built of the 
 pale yellow stone peculiar to the region, forming a soft and 
 beautiful contrast to the heavy verdure of a few old pines and 
 hemlocks which stood in its immediate vicinity. It was long 
 and low, being only a story and a half in height, but covering a 
 wide extent of ground, having wings on either side, and includ- 
 ing all the principal rooms on the lower floor; while across the 
 front ran a light verandah, festooned with the graceful Ameri- 
 can woodbine, now crimson with the tints of autumn. As far 
 as the eye could reach in every direction, save one, it was met 
 by an open expanse of prairie, grain land, and forest, with here 
 and there a little collection of farm-houses and a village church, 
 but fair and extensive as was this view of the rich and open 
 country, the involuntary exclamation of delight which burst 
 from Mabel's lips, as she looked forth upon the prospect, was 
 chiefly due to the emotion of joyful surprise with which she 
 beheld, stretching far out to the eastern horizon, dancing and 
 sparkling in the sunlight, the clear, blue waters of Lake Michi- 
 gan. 
 
 "It is beautiful!" said Madam Percival, in response to 
 Mabel's half-expressed ecstasy of pleasure; while Bessie turned 
 her back upon the prospect to read its reflection in Mabel's 
 eyes. " Familiar as I am with the scene/' continued the old 
 lady, " I never drive up this slope without a fresh sense of the 
 greatness and beauty of that vast inland-ocean, in which the 
 giant nature of the West mirrors its face ; and I am always 
 ready to congratulate my son anew on the patience with which 
 he occupied a most primitive dwelling, until he had acquired 
 the means to build a house to his own taste, and on the spot of 
 his choice. It looks uncommonly pleasant this afternoon. 
 Home is home, after a twenty miles trip, especially when Mrs. 
 Patten stands at the door to give one welcome." 
 
 The faithful serving-woman was already on the verandah to 
 
454 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 meet her mistress, whose unusual excursion and lengthened 
 absence had occasioned her some anxiety. " You will not 
 think I have been gone too long, Patten," said Madam Perci- 
 val, " when you see whom I have brought back with me ; " 
 and, as Mabel leaned forward, bowed, and was recognized, the 
 good woman confirmed her mistress' remark, by holding up 
 both hands and exclaiming, " Bless my eyes'! it's Miss Vaugh- 
 an, for all the world ; and the nicest young lady that ever I 
 see, asking your pardon, Miss Bessie," she added in a low 
 voice, " for you never was so tried, and there 's no knowing 
 what folks is till they're tried. And, how's them children, 
 Miss ? " she continued, when Mabel had alighted, and cordially 
 shaken her by the hand. "Almost men now, I dare say?" 
 
 " Yes, almost, Mrs. Patten ; and I was afraid I had got be- 
 yond your knowledge too." 
 
 "You? dear me, no, you look just as much like a pictur 
 as ever, only a little pale like ; but I dare say you 're tired, and 
 my mistress too, so do walk in walk in and get rested." 
 And the good soul led the way to the sitting-room, where a fire 
 was already kindled, in anticipation of a cool evening. And for 
 one half hour she was unwearied in her efforts to render them 
 all, as she said, " right comfortable." 
 
 And right comfortable it seemed to Mabel, as the twilight 
 hours came on and found them grouped round the wide hearth ; 
 Madam Percival, as she sat upright in her easy-chair, relating 
 to the girls on either side of her those most delightful of all 
 narratives, the experiences of bygone days ; while the flicker- 
 ing flames cast a subdued, but cheerful light round the room, 
 and were reflected in the polished furniture and the old family 
 tea-urn under the antiquated sideboard. 
 
 The rough, new, and undeveloped character of almost every 
 thing pertaining to Western life furnishing a wide field for the 
 energy and activity both of body and mind, may nerve and 
 strengthen the powers for the performance of many a trying 
 task ; but to one wearied from the overtasking of these powers, 
 and yearning for the rest which even the youthful spirit occa- 
 sionally craves, there is something unspeakably refreshing in 
 
MABEL VAUCHAN. 455 
 
 such ancient, and time-honored tokens as everywhere pervaded 
 the establishment over which Madam Percival presided with that 
 venerable dignity characteristic of the past. To Mabel espe- 
 cially, who had been taxed with a responsibility disproportioned 
 to her years, and had well nigh sunk beneath the burden of 
 recent labors, there was sweet and welcome repose in being 
 thus sheltered under the wing of her aged friend's tender and 
 protecting care ; and even the heavily-carved chairs and tables, 
 the Turkey carpet, the antique fire-set, and the quaint, old 
 family plate, which were here preserved as ancestral heirlooms, 
 all bore their part in giving to the place the secluded and 
 familiar air of a cherished home. Thus, the first evening of 
 her visit proved one of unmixed satisfaction, and the night that 
 followed, brought with it sweet and dreamless rest. 
 
 " Do you feel equal to a short walk, my dear ? " said Madam 
 Percival, as she joined her young friends on the verandah the 
 next morning, and addressed herself to Mabel, who, under 
 Bessie's instruction, was becoming acquainted with every 
 feature in the wide landscape. 
 
 Mabel promptly replied in the affirmative. 
 
 " Then," said Madam Percival, " I should be happy to have 
 you both go with me to the house of my son's agent. It is 
 only about half a mile distant ; you can see the smoke from the 
 chimney yonder ; the path leads directly through the maple 
 grove, which will furnish us with a gay carpet and awning, 
 and the good man's wife will give us all a hearty welcome, I 
 am sure." 
 
 Bessie, no less than Mabel, expressed her pleasure at the 
 proposition, and, while the latter went to her room to prepare 
 for the walk, the former ran for her own and her grand- 
 mother's bonnets. 
 
 " Now, my dear," said Madam Percival, as she took Mabel's 
 offered arm, bearing no weight upon it, however, for she was 
 at present the stronger of the two, "I must tell you some- 
 thing of the individual whom we hope to see this morning." 
 She then proceeded with an interesting narative of their trusty 
 farm-agent's experiences, dated from the young man's arrival 
 
456 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 in the West, and continued up to the present period. He had 
 brought a small sum of money with him, but his first invest- 
 ment had been disastrous, the situation of his land proving 
 unhealthy, and his crops suffering from blight ; while, to crown 
 his misfortunes, the title to his estate became a matter of dis- 
 pute, and he suddenly found himself involved in legal difficul. 
 ties. It was at this crisis, that he was first brought to the 
 notice of Mr. Percival, to whom he applied for professional 
 assistance; and Bayard's favorable impressions of the man 
 being confirmed by a slight knowledge which his mother had 
 previously gained of his character and worth, a proposition 
 was made and accepted, which proved equally advantageous to 
 both parties ; the young lawyer, who was now oppressed with 
 business, gaining a valuable and reliable agent, and the disap- 
 pointed, but manly and energetic farmer, obtaining a sure and 
 gradually increasing competence." 
 
 " And how ended the law-suit ? " asked Mabel. 
 
 " It resulted in favor of my son's client," replied Madam 
 Percival, " and he still holds possession of his estate, which, 
 in spite of its disadvantages, has nearly doubled in value." 
 
 " And this is the farm-house ! " said Mabel, as they now 
 came in sight of a comfortable two story dwelling, surrounded 
 by spacious and substantial barns and granaries. " How neat 
 and thrifty everything looks ! " 
 
 " That is due in no small degree to our farmer's wife," said 
 Madam Percival ; " she is one of the most good-humored, 
 capable, and industrious women in the neighborhood, and very 
 attractive too, as you will think when you see her pretty, round 
 face. That row of glittering pans and pails hanging outside 
 the house, will give you an idea of the extent of her dairy, 
 and it was some of her sweet butter which you praised at 
 breakfast. We may .go in without knocking," she continued, 
 as they approached, " our good housewife is always ready 
 for company." 
 
 Thus invited, Mabel entered at the door which stood hos- 
 pitably open, and passed on to a sitting-room on the right. 
 It was furnished in the simple style of a farmer's family ; was 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 457 
 
 in perfect order, and unoccupied ; there seemed nothing to 
 startle and astonish a visitor, and yet Mabel stopped short, 
 and stood gazing at the opposite window, like one lo in a 
 dream. What was there in a little rush-bottomed arm-chair, 
 a wooden foot-stool, an old leather-covered bible, and an open 
 daguerreotype case, which could have power to transfix her in 
 silent wonder, and send the tears coursing down her cheek ? 
 what but the power of association, that deep, magnetic 
 thrill with which we gaze on the simplest memorials of one 
 who has passed from earth, but still lives enshrined amid love's 
 sacred memories ? what but the holy awe which fills the soul 
 as imagination calls up in vivid array, the form, the counte- 
 nance, the voice, of one whose mortal has put on immortality? 
 
 Yes, there was no mistaking these mute witnesses, which 
 had seemed a part of Rosy's little life ; and for an instant 
 Mabel stood transfixed opposite the vacant arm-chair, tearful, 
 bewildered, and unconscious of the surpris*she herself excited 
 in Madam Percival and Bessie by her singular demeanor. 
 The next moment, a door opened from the kitchen, and an 
 elderly woman, with an infant in her arms, entered, and was 
 advancing with a respectful air to speak to Madam Percival, 
 but, seeing Mabel, she stopped short, uttered an exclamation 
 of joy, and forgetting her customary awe of her more stately 
 visitor, forgetting everything but the engrossing interest of 
 the moment, she placed the child, without apology, in Bessie's 
 arms, and exclaiming in a broken voice, " Dear Miss Mabel ! 
 my own darling child's best friend ! " she ran towards the lat- 
 ter, threw her arms impulsively around her, then sat down in 
 Rosy's chair, covered her face with her hands, and wept. 
 
 Mabel, who at the sound of her voice had recognized the 
 mother of Rose, and had cordially returned her greeting, now 
 turned to Madam Percival to ask an explanation from one 
 who, on her part, wore a countenance full of astonishment and 
 inquiry, when Lydia, who had been summoned by a loud cry 
 from the baby, made her appearance on the scene, smoothing 
 down her apron, and buttoning the sleeves which had been 
 turned up to her elbows. If Madam Percival and Bessie 
 
 39 
 
458 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 were already astonished spectators, it may well be believed 
 that their amazement now reached its height, as Lydia, the 
 same excitable creature as ever, gave a sudden start, threw 
 herself on her knees beside Mabel, caught her hand, kissed it 
 repeatedly, laughed, cried, then laughed again, and, snatching 
 her infant from Bessie, placed it in Mabel's arms, saying, 
 "See my baby! isn't she a beauty?" and finally burst into 
 tears once more, as she whispered, " Her name is Rose." 
 
 " Excuse us, Ma'am ! excuse us, Miss Bessie ! " said she, 
 as, with an attempt to recover her self-possession, she came 
 forward to pay her respects to Madam Percival and her grand- 
 daughter, " but Miss Vaughan has been such an angel of good- 
 ness to us, and our dear little Rose loved her so much ! " 
 
 The excuse was not needed, however, as was evident from 
 the cordial sympathy which shone in Madam Percival's face, 
 as she gleaned from the mutual expressions of interest which 
 were exchanged Between Mabel and these humble friends, the 
 nature of the tie which bound them so strongly to one another ; 
 and the good-hearted Bessie had only waited to be relieved 
 from the care of the child, to turn her face towards the win- 
 dow and wipe away a tear. 
 
 "" I have been telling you, my dear, as we carae through the 
 wood," said Madam Percival to Mabel, who was caressing the 
 infant, " the experience of a mutual friend of ours, but I little 
 suspected that I was omitting the most interesting feature of 
 the tale ; here he is, however, to speak for himself. Good 
 morning, Mr. Dowst ! You are the only person wanting to 
 make this scene complete." 
 
 The astonishment of Mabel, the blushing bashfulness of 
 Lydia, the contented smile of her mother, the crowing ap- 
 plause on the part of the baby, and the sympathetic satisfaction 
 of Madam Percival and Bessie, indeed reached their climax, 
 as the sturdy form of the honest Owen now appeared in the 
 door-way, his eye bright with pleasure, and his face glowing 
 with earnestness. " Miss Vaughan ! " exclaimed he, taking off 
 his hat, and coming forward with both his strong, hard hands 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 459 
 
 extended, " this is a day to be thankful for, and a sight to 
 make a humble man proud." 
 
 " You speak the truth, Mr. Dowst," said Mabel. " Such a 
 home, and wife, and child, and good name, as you can call 
 yours, are indeed something to be proud of; and I am proud, 
 I assure you, to claim you as an old friend." 
 
 " Ah, miss," said Owen, with his own genial smile, " I Ve 
 many blessings as you say, but it 's the crowning one of all 
 that brings you under our roof. Where is my little woman ? " 
 continued he, searching round the room with his eyes for 
 Lyclia, who stood behind him, with a modest, blushing face. 
 " She 's been looking forward to this day ever since she first 
 set foot on a prairie, though one would think to see her now, 
 that she was ashamed of being an honest man's wife." 
 
 " She is ashamed of having kept her secret from me so long," 
 said Mabel. " What will the boys say when they learn that 
 Lydia is Mrs. Owen Dowst ? " 
 
 "Well, 'twas all along of her love for you, Miss Mabel," 
 paid Owen, apologetically. " Owen, says she, do n't you hint 
 to Mr. Harry Vaughan, or any of 'em, who you Ve got for a 
 wife, just wait till Miss Mabel comes into these parts, and 
 sees for herself." 
 
 "A true woman," interposed Madam Percival. "I can 
 understand it, Mrs. Dowst, for, old as I am, I have been count- 
 ing ever since Miss Vaughan arrived on her surprise at finding 
 your husband settled among us, little suspecting that there was 
 a still greater pleasure in store for her." 
 
 " And how is Jack ? " asked Mabel, when, composure being 
 at length restored, she found herself seated next to Mrs. Hope, 
 who had by this time claimed her sacred prerogative, the 
 charge of Rosy's namesake. 
 
 " Bless your heart, dear, for remembering my boy ! " said 
 the mother, with animation. "Lyddy is a good child, and 
 never shows any of her little tempers now-a-days, and Owen 
 has been a faithful friend to me and mine, first for Ilosy's sake, 
 and then for the love that grew out of that ; but I sometimes 
 think it 's Jack, after all, that 's to be the joy of my old age. 
 
460 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 There never was a mother had a better son, Miss Mabel. 
 He 's foreman of some works not far from here, where they 
 manufacture farming machines ; he always was an ingenious 
 fellow, and what with Rosy helping him with his plans and 
 figures, and so on, he got an extra good idea of mechanics, 
 and now it stands him in good stead. He makes a handsome 
 living, Jack does, and is frugal, too, though he 's got an 
 open hand and heart." 
 
 " Oh, I am very glad ! " said Mabel. " I always liked Jack ; 
 I thought he would live to be a comfort to you, Mrs. Hope." 
 
 " How could he help it ? " asked the widow in a low, earnest 
 voice. " As long as Rosy lived, did n't he have his sister to 
 keep him in the right way? and ever since she died, hasn't he 
 had an angel ? Jack was a silent boy, always ; and he 's a 
 silent sort of a man. He do n't tell his mind as some folks 
 do, but if you could see him when he sits down in her chair, 
 or reads in her bible, or calls this baby by her name, you 'd 
 think as I do, that though it's a voice for the heart only, Rosy, 
 like the holy man in Scripture, * being dead, yet speaketh.' " 
 
 " She does indeed speak to us all," said Mabel. " Though 
 her life was short and full of suffering, it is a beautiful thought 
 how many have been made better for the dear child's having 
 lived, and loved, and died. I, as well as Jack, have often felt, 
 Mrs. Hope, that the memory of Rose's virtues w r as like a con- 
 tinual message of good cheer from a glorified saint." 
 
 " She was a precious lamb ! " said the mother, sobbing. " The 
 Lord has her in His holy keeping. I only hope we '11 all find 
 our way one of these days into that same fold." 
 
 " Such heartfelt gratitude and affection as have been mani- 
 fested towards you to-day, my clear," said Madam Percival to 
 Mabel, when they were once more returning homeward through 
 the grove, " are a sweet compensation for the hours stolen from 
 gayer pleasures and devoted to works of charity and love." 
 
 " The sincere regard of these goad friends is of priceless 
 value to me," answered Mabel, " but it is a voluntary offering, 
 not a compensation. The hours were few, indeed, which, dur- 
 ing my New York life, were devoted to anything but selfish 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 461 
 
 pleasures. This family is the only one to whom I rendered the 
 slightest service, and in this instance I was always the princi- 
 pal gainer. I can feel nothing but mortification, when I reflect 
 how wholly I neglected my opportunities of usefulness." 
 
 " You do yourself an injustice," said Madam Percival. " I 
 have not yet to learn the particulars of your kindness to Mrs. 
 Hope and her sick child. They have been related to me with 
 all a mother's enthusiasm, though I never until now knew the 
 name of Rosy's benefactor. I was peculiarly interested in the 
 account, for I, too, had some tender recollections of Rose, hav- 
 ing seen her frequently, when many years ago she was under 
 medical treatment at a public institution in Kew York ; and I 
 could in some degree estimate the love she cherished for you, 
 my dear, when I learned that she bequeathed you, as a dying 
 legacy, a little engraving, originally presented to her by my 
 son, and always prized (so her mother tells me) as zealously 
 as when her intense admiration for it first appealed to Bayard's 
 generosity. Have you the picture yet ? " 
 
 " I have," said Mabel. " It hangs in our parlor at home ; " 
 ind as she spoke she called to mind the interest, even amount- 
 ing to curiosity, with which Percival, on his recent visit, had 
 appeared to examine both engraving and frame, no doubt iden- 
 tifying them as having once been his property. 
 
 " Its subject is one," said Madam Percival, " which appealed 
 strongly to the child's heart, and which she fully exemplified 
 in her life. She has long since gained the rest of the Eternal 
 City ; but her works yet follow her, and the road which her 
 feet have trod is fragrant with her virtues, encouraging the 
 succession of pilgrims who follow in her pathway, to exclaim, 
 with consecrated purpose and will, ' In the name of our God, 
 will we set up our banners ' ' 
 
 39* 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 Their liome is home ; (heir chosen lot 
 
 A private place uml private name, 
 But, if the world's want calls, they '11 not 
 
 Refuse the indignities of fame. 
 
 THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE. 
 
 THE Sabbath which was to terminate Mabel's visit at Lake 
 Farm dawned clear and beautiful. Since the day succeeding 
 her arrival the weather had been cold and cloudy, and the 
 pleasures of the household had been mostly of an indoor char- 
 acter. Once more, however, that soft, fragrant breath which 
 seems to linger lovingly in the recesses of nature, had asserted 
 its power over the early frosts ; and the cloudless sky, the deep 
 blue lake, and the gorgeously-tinted forests were radiant with 
 the last smile of summer. It still wanted a few moments to 
 the breakfast hour, and Mabel, with the bed-room window 
 thrown open, stood enjoying the beauty of the landscape, and 
 refreshing her spirit with the meditations to which it gave rise, 
 when a few soft, long-drawn notes of music fell upon her ear, 
 so harmonious and so perfectly in unison with the scene and 
 the hour, that they might almost be mistaken for the sighing 
 of the breeze through the old hemlock in front of her window. 
 Even when gradually swelling in sound and volume they filled 
 the air with sacred melody, there was something so soothing, 
 so grand, and so inspiring in the strain, that she scarcely cared 
 to question herself concerning its source, but stood enraptured 
 and engrossed, all other senses absorbed in that of hearing. It 
 was eridently the music of an organ, played with no ordinary 
 power and skill ; and Mabel, who had observed such an instru- 
 ment in the library, experienced a dim consciousness that the 
 sound proceeded from its pipes. But although Bessie hud 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 463 
 
 assured her that she could play only simple airs upon it, and 
 the tribute of praise which now rang through the house was a 
 difficult and sublime composition of one of the old masters, she 
 forgot the seeming inconsistency, and, until the piece was 
 finished, and the glorious symphony died away into silence, 
 she indulged no thought save the soaring aspirations to which 
 it could not fail to give rise. As the continued and almost 
 oppressive stillness which succeeded at length convinced her, 
 however, that there was to be no repetition of the harmony, 
 she started from her attitude of fixed attention, actuated by the 
 sudden thought, " Could Bessie have deceived both herself and 
 me in respect to her powers, or is she the subject of a sudden 
 inspiration ? " And hastily throwing a mantle over her head, 
 she stepped from her low window upon the wide verandah, and 
 proceeded around the front of the house in the direction of the 
 library, mentally ejaculating, " She will be self-convicted, when 
 I detect her with her fingers on the keys ! " 
 
 The library, which was also the usual break fast-room of the 
 family, was situated in one of the wings at the extremity of 
 the building; and it being Mabel's purpose to surprise her 
 friend by unexpectedly making her appearance at the window, 
 she was tripping lightly round an angle of the verandah, when 
 she suddenly stopped short, and blushed with embarrassment 
 as she encountered, face to face, the true author of the music, 
 the young master of the house, who, having in a characteristic 
 manner given notice of his return home, had sallied forth upon 
 the piazza to enjoy the beauty of the morning. 
 
 Their meeting upon the lonely prairie a few weeks before 
 was scarcely more unexpected to either party; but, as the 
 good sense of Mabel and the active benevolence of Percival 
 had dispelled the awkwardness of that occasion, so, now, the 
 simple candor of the one, and the utter freedom from self-con- 
 sciousness on the part of the other, quickly restored their mutual 
 equanimity, which had for a moment been disturbed. 
 
 " I was hastening to thank Bessie for my share of enjoyment 
 in that beautiful symphony," said Mabel, after exchanging a 
 cordial greeting with Percival, who could not, if he would, have 
 
464 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 disguised his pleasure at meeting her. " If I had not believed 
 you to be nearly a dozen miles away, I should have known, 
 without a doubt, to whom we were indebted for the music." 
 
 " I did not get released from my duties until a very late hour 
 last evening," said Percival ; " but I then felt an irresistible 
 attraction towards home, which I can not now consider any 
 thing less than a presentiment. 
 
 "Have you been well since I saw you last?" added he, 
 glancing inquiringly at her face, which, the glow of sudden 
 surprise having subsided, certainly presented a marked contrast 
 to the hue of health which it had worn on the day of their 
 prairie excursion. 
 
 u My friends say not," replied she, smiling, " but I scarcely 
 own it myself, I am so little accustomed to play the part of an 
 invalid." 
 
 " I fear it is too cold for you on this side of the house," said 
 Bayard, who observed that the breeze had blown the scarf 
 from her head and left it unprotected ; and, with a respectful 
 gallantry most becoming to a man of his commanding presence, 
 he offered his arm, to accompany her to that part of the veran- 
 dah which was warmed by the morning sun. As she had no 
 longer any object in proceeding to the library, she accepted the 
 proposition and the offered arm, and, Madam Percival not 
 having left her room, and there being as yet no summons to 
 breakfast, they continued to walk slowly up and down for a 
 few minutes, w.hile Bayard inquired with interest concerning 
 the various members of Mr. Vaughan's family, and expressed 
 his sincere regret at the old gentleman's illness, which he 
 rightly conjectured to be in no slight degree connected with 
 the evident change in Mabel. 
 
 " Upon my word ! " exclaimed the lively Bessie, whom they 
 had already passed once or twice without observing, as she 
 stood in the doorway, but who now interrupted both their pro- 
 gress and their conversation by her raillery, " You seem to be 
 a man of parts, Uncle Bayard; you enter the house like a 
 midnight robber, rouse us out of our beds at daylight with an 
 extravaganza furiosa, and now, lo and behold ! I find you pre- 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 4 O 
 
 scribing a new regimen to our invalid, whom grandmamma 
 does not allow to take the air before breakfast." 
 
 "Indeed!" said Bayard, appearing to notice the last clause 
 only in Bessie's threefold reproof, " Then I should have invited 
 you into the library, where we have a bright fire." 
 
 " By no means," said Mabel, smiling, but at the same time 
 withdrawing her han'd from his arm and stepping inside the 
 doorway. " No one could suffer from breathing such an atmos- 
 phere as this ; Bessie is a would-be tyrant, that is all." 
 
 " She is a little scold," said Bayard, at the same time sealing 
 with a kiss the lips which were preparing to utter a further 
 torrent of abuse. " I never anticipate any more flattering 
 greeting from her than that I have just received. For whom 
 do you reserve all your fine speeches, Bessie ? " 
 
 " For people whom it is no flattery to praise," said she, 
 breaking away from him, and putting her arm within that of 
 Mabel, in a defiant manner, which seemed to imply that they 
 two constituted a coalition against him ; " Miss Vaughan never 
 heard me say anything but good of her." 
 
 The words might have escaped Bessie accidentally ; but 
 Bayard evidently felt them, for he bit his lip and seemed slightly 
 confused by the reminiscence which they awakened, while 
 Mabel lifted her eyes for an instant to his face, and then turn- 
 ing away made some abrupt remark upon the extent of the 
 prospect. 
 
 It was a relief as well as a satisfaction, therefore, to at least 
 two of the party, when, a moment after, a slow, measured, but 
 touchingly tender voice was heard to say, " Good morning, my 
 son ! " and, at the same time, a soft and still beautifully formed 
 hand was laid upon the broad white forehead of Percival, who 
 recognizing his mother's accent and touch, turned quickly, and 
 with a glad countenance, to receive her welcome. 
 
 It was a striking picture which was thus presented by the 
 stately matron, and her tall, manly, Saxon-featured son, whose 
 manner towards her was a beautiful mingling of respect, confi- 
 dence, and almost boyish affection. Mabel had seen them both 
 in many and varied relations ; but never had either more fully 
 
 
406 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 commanded her admiration and interest, than at this moment, 
 when the young man stood encircling his mother's waist with 
 his strong arm, while she looked fondly up into his clear blue 
 eye, in which she seemed to read the fulfilment of all a parent's 
 hopes. 
 
 " You must have travelled late, Bayard," said she. " I sat 
 at my bed-room window watching for you until twelve o'clock, 
 which was more than an hour after the rest of the family 
 retired." 
 
 " I did not leave the city until midnight," replied Bayard, 
 and it was between two and three when I arrived here ; but 
 I am astonished at your expecting me ; I sent you no message." 
 
 " True ; but I knew you could not resist having a peep at 
 your garden while this fine weather lasted, to say nothing of 
 the other attractions of home. Besides, as we wish, we are 
 apt to believe; and I felt sure you would be disappointed if you 
 wholly missed the pleasure of our young friend's visit," and she 
 laid her hand expressively on Mabel's shoulder. " You had 
 but a cheerless arrival last night," continued she, addressing 
 Bayard ; " I hope you waked Mrs. Patten, and were made 
 comfortable." 
 
 " My only endeavor was not to disturb any one," said Bay- 
 ard. " The long window in the library was unfastened, and I 
 found matches and candles in my room. I wanted nothing 
 more." 
 
 " Always thoughtful, my son ! " said his mother, with a smile 
 of approval ; " come, shall we go to breakfast ? " And taking 
 Mabel's hand in hers, she accompanied her across the hall, 
 making amends for having in the parent half-forgotten the 
 hostess, by the affectionate solicitude with which she now ques- 
 tioned her concerning her health. 
 
 " Uncle Bayard," whispered Bessie, as she followed with her 
 uncle, " I thought there was a certain style of beauty which 
 you only admired at a safe distance. I am afraid you have had 
 a chill this morning." 
 
 "Hush, hush, Bessie," said Bayard; "I humbly crave a 
 truce. Your memory is as provoking as your tongue." 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 467 
 
 As there is nothing which leaves such a void in the family 
 circle as the departure of its head, so there is no transformation 
 so effectual and complete as that which is created by his sudden 
 and unexpected return. Especially is this the case when he 
 comes as Bayard did, in all that joyousness of spirit which 
 marks a true love of home, and brings with him, for its enter- 
 tainment and benefit, the choicest and best of all the influences 
 and experiences which have attended him in his absence. 
 Thus, every member of the household at Lake Farm, felt a 
 conscious exhilaration of spirits in the mere presence of its 
 young master. Even the servants seemed inspired with fresh 
 energy for the performance of every duty ; and the old family 
 cat, who was exclusive in her preferences, deliberately forsook 
 her place on the hearth-rug, and ensconced herself under his 
 chair. Add to this the ready zeal with which he took upon 
 himself every office, both small and great, which affection or 
 hospitality demanded, and no one could be insensible to the fact 
 that a wide sphere of action abroad does not necessarily unfit a 
 man for the amenities of domestic life. 
 
 Towards Mabel, his manner was at once marked by sincere 
 respect and cordial friendliness; nor, although conscious that 
 Bessie was watching him with an eye full of mischief, did he 
 fail in any of those thoughtful attentions which become a gen- 
 tleman and a host ; for, however he might feel annoyed by his 
 niece's raillery, he was not one to be deterred by self-conscious 
 shyness or awkward embarrassment from that chivalrous devo- 
 tion to which Mabel was entitled as his mother's guest, inde- 
 pendently of her personal claims as a young and beautiful 
 woman. 
 
 " This is what my mother terms my garden, Miss Vaughan," 
 said he, as, breakfast being ended, he rose and walked to the 
 window, where, with folded arms, he stood looking out for a few 
 moments on the almost interminable grain-fields which lay 
 stretched before him, with all their golden treasures bursting 
 from the stalk or waving heavily in the breeze. 
 
 " A noble field of labor," said Mabel, who sat where she too 
 could command the prospect. " I confess I am almost awed by 
 the immensity of the work and its promised rewards." 
 
468 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 "And yet, my dear," said Madam Percival, " if you did but 
 realize it, you have been laboring for the last six years in a far 
 wider field, and a richer soil, where, if my son is not mistaken, 
 the fruit is already ripe unto the harvest : I mean the hearts 
 and minds of those two boys of yours," added she, observing 
 Mabel's puzzled and inquiring look. " Bayard tells me that he 
 has never seen lads more full of early promise." 
 
 Mabel colored with mingled modesty and pride at this praise 
 of her own faithfulness and its results; and Bayard, turning 
 round, hastened to confirm his mother's remark, congratulating 
 her on the hopes which might reasonably be indulged in refer- 
 ence to her nephews, with whom he had evidently been most 
 favorably impressed. 
 
 " Bayard's animated description of our young friends," said 
 Madam Percival, " interested and gratified me beyond meas- 
 ure. It is evident, my dear, that the lads still exhibit the same 
 marked individuality of character which distinguished them as 
 children ; but that, while the good in each has continued to gain 
 strength, both have overcome the evil tendencies w-hich were 
 so apparent six years ago as to make me tremble for them and 
 for you. As I look back to the day when we sat on the rocks 
 at Niagara, and contemplated the solemn nature of your re- 
 sponsibility, I am disposed to feel no slight triumph in your 
 success." 
 
 "If you have succeeded in the management of such rude 
 creatures as boys are, Miss Vaughan," said Bessie, " I think 
 you ought to write out a theory of education, for the benefit of 
 society." 
 
 " I ! " said Mabel, with simplicity, " indeed, I have had no 
 rules, no theory ; I sometimes think that the boys have taught 
 me far more than I have them." 
 
 " Her theory may be laid down in one word," said Madam 
 Percival, " she has loved her little nephews ; love is an inspired 
 teacher, Bessie, and one that may be trusted in every emer- 
 gency. It has been Miss Vaughan's counsellor from the begin- 
 ning. I am quite impatient " said she turning to Mabel, " for 
 the day when you shall introduce these young gentlemen to 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 4G9 
 
 me once more. But my clear girls," she continued glancing at 
 lu-r watch, "if we are going to church this morning, it is time 
 we were making our preparations ; Bayard, have you given 
 any directions about the horses?" 
 
 Bayard started, apologized for his absent mindedness, for he 
 had been for the last few moments apparently lost in thought, 
 and hastily left the room. His mother proceeded to express 
 her regret at the prospect of so soon parting from Mabel, and 
 at the same time suggested the possibility of obtaining a longer 
 leave of absence from Helen; but Mabel gratefully, though 
 firmly declined prolonging her visit, at the same time expressing 
 the pleasure it had afforded her, and the three ladies then sepa- 
 rated until it should be time to leave for church. 
 
 " Does not Miss Vaughan intend to return with us Bessie ? " 
 asked Bayard in a low tone as he saw Mabel's small travelling 
 box brought from her room to be placed in the carriage. 
 
 " No, of course not/' answered Bessie, feigning great aston- 
 ishment at the inquiry; "she would not have come at all, if I 
 had not taken care to let her know that you were not at home." 
 
 Though uttered in a mocking tone, this reply effectually dis- 
 concerted Bayard ; the expostulations which had risen to his 
 lips, at the signs of their guest's departure, were instantaneously 
 checked ; he stood by in constrained silence, while his mother 
 made one more attempt to change Mabel's resolution, and even 
 assisted in the convenient arranging of her luggage without 
 expressing a syllable of surprise or regret. This conduct was 
 so foreign to his usual hospitality that his mother could not fail 
 to observe it, and Bessie, whose heart was as tender as her tongue 
 was tantalizing felt a pang of self-reproach, as she observed 
 how completely her revengeful shaft had struck home. 
 
 This constraint was but momentary, however, and the drive 
 which succeeded was one of exquisite pleasure to all parties ; 
 the softness of the air and the quiet beauty of the scene serv- 
 ing to compose their minds to that calm, religious meditation, 
 which was suited to the occasion and the hour; while for con- 
 versation, Madam Percival who occupied the back seat with 
 Mabel, gave her an account of the growth and prospects of the 
 
 40 
 
470 MABEL YAUGHAN. 
 
 little church, which was situated midway between Bayard's 
 estate and that of her brother. 
 
 Helen and Harry had arrived in advance, and were on the 
 steps to welcome them and* to reclaim Mabel, whom Harry 
 boasted it was no slight generosity in them to have relin- 
 quished for so long a period. As the church was situated at 
 the junction of four different roads, in a part of the country 
 where the farms w r ere large and the population scattered, there 
 was but one service during the day, and that proportionately 
 prolonged. The simplicity with which it was conducted, how- 
 ever, the earnestness of the preacher and the attention of the 
 audience, made the occasion both profitable and interesting, and 
 effectually beguiled Mabel of all sense of weariness. Within 
 sight of her, in a neighboring pew, were her humble friends, 
 the Hopes, clothed in their Sunday attire, and decked in the 
 smiles which bespeak cheerfulness and content. Preeminent 
 among them was Jack, now Mr. John Hope, one of the pillars 
 of the church and the township ; his tall figure, modified feat- 
 ures and shining suit of broadcloth, rendering it difficult to 
 identify him with the shabby urchin of former days. Madam 
 Percival's pew was a little in the rear of Harry's, and Mabel, 
 who had followed her brother and Helen into church, while the 
 old lady and Bessie were still lingering in the porch, had for a 
 time lost sight of her friends. Their vicinity was soon made 
 evident, however, when the congregation joined in the opening 
 hymn ; for never had the rich voice of Bayard, which had 
 power to enchain select audiences, and make the wild prairie 
 ring with its full, clear song, sounded so melodious in Mabel's 
 ear, as now, that it was consecrated to a sacred service and led 
 the voices of the multitude in a united chorus of praise. 
 
 The numerous vehicles which surrounded the church during 
 the service, had at its conclusion nearly all driven off, crowded 
 with occupants, while our little group of friends still loitered to 
 bid one another farewell and petition for a future interchange 
 of visits. Mabel's box had been transferred to Harry's rocka- 
 way, which together with Mr. Percival's carriage stood before 
 
MABEL VAUCHAN. 471 
 
 the door, and the horses being restless, the ladies made luisle to 
 exchange their last words. 
 
 " Bessie forewarned me, Miss Vaughan," said Percival, while 
 handing Mabel down the steps, " that it was hopeless to urge a 
 continuance of your visit to my mother ; but as Harry and Mrs. 
 Vaughan give me the freedom of their house, I hope I may soon 
 have the pleasure of seeing you again, in my character of a 
 friend and neighbor." 
 
 Mabel frankly replied, that nothing would give her greater 
 pleasure. Harry, who overheard the remark, endorsed it by 
 grasping Bayard's hand and exclaiming with generous warm- 
 heartedness, "Let us see you as often as possible my dear 
 fellow I have no patience with that law term which has en- 
 grossed so much of your time of late ;" and Helen's sweet smile 
 was premonitory of future welcomes on the part of one who 
 had none of the jealousy of her husband's friends which is some- 
 times attributed to young wives. A moment more and both 
 carriages were off on different roads, which stretched across a 
 plain so level and so uninterrupted that at the distance of nearly 
 two miles Mabel could clearly distinguish a handkerchief which 
 Bessie was waving in her hand as a farewell signal. 
 
 But Mabel had yet to learn what is was to l}e a friend and 
 neighbor in the sense in which Bayard understood those terms. 
 Though for six years a resident of the West, which is truly a 
 country of gigantic distances, she had never believed it possible 
 that ten miles of space could be so practically annihilated, as 
 w r as instanced during the few following weeks, when, if Bayard's 
 and Harry's estates had been but a stone's throw apart, they 
 could not have been more strictly pronounced within the limits 
 of good neighborhood. It was not that Bayard's promised vis- 
 its were regular or prolonged, or that the attractions of the 
 house were suffered to interfere with the young man's ordinary 
 occupations. On the contrary, his landed estate had never re- 
 quired more active superintendence than at present ; when the 
 harvesting was yet to be completed, and those marks of negli- 
 gence which had escaped even the careful Owen's observation 
 were to be rectified, under the discriminating eye of the master ; 
 
472 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 while, in addition to his cares at Lake Farm, the business of his 
 profession in the neighboring city frequently called him thither. 
 
 But, although his agricultural and legal labors were per- 
 formed with promptness and efficiency, and his mental and 
 physical powers were taxed to a degree which would have 
 exhausted an ordinary man, he still found time and opportunity 
 for that social enjoyment which constituted his highest recrea- 
 tion ; deeming a ten miles ride, whatever might have been his 
 previous fatigue, a light penalty to pay for half an hour's inter- 
 course with congenial minds. It was true, he came and went 
 at such odd, uncertain seasons astonishing the household 
 equally by his arrival and departure that such surprises be- 
 came familiar, and they scarcely realized the number and fre- 
 quency of his visits ; still, as they looked back through the 
 weekly calendar, they could not but be reminded that there 
 was scarcely a day, some portion of which had not been glad- 
 dened by his cheerful voice and smile. Whatever might be 
 the object which called him from home, he was sure to take 
 them in his way; and even when summoned to the city, which 
 was in the opposite direction, he more than once contrived to 
 make a circuit which brought him to Harry's door; thus proving 
 the truth of the old proverb, that " the longest way round is the 
 shortest way home/' If Mabel went out to ride, as she fre- 
 quently did on Helen's white pony, still a cherished favorite of 
 its mistress, she was not unlikely to come back attended by 
 their gallant neighbor ; and, on one occasion when she had 
 accompanied Harry into the woods and been left by him in a 
 shady retreat while he explored a more distant part of the 
 forest, she was unexpectedly joined by Percival, who seated 
 himself on the pine-strewn ground at her feet, caught up the 
 book from which she had been reading, and conversed with her 
 for nearly an hour upon literary themes, with the air of a man 
 never more utterly at leisure to play the agreeable; then 
 mounting his horse, which had been fastened to a tree, rode off 
 to meet a distant appointment, at the almost fearful rate of speed 
 rendered unavoidable by his voluntary delay. 
 
 With Madam Percival and Bessie, Mabel's intercourse was 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 473 
 
 necessarily much restricted by the intervening distance, which 
 they could not ignore as Bayard did ; and except on one or 
 two occasions, when Bessie drove over with her uncle and 
 passed an evening, and once when Mabel accompanied Helen 
 to return Madam Percival's visit, there was, for a fortnight or 
 more, no personal communication between the ladies of the two 
 households. It was scarcely possible to realize any barrier of 
 separation, however, so long as Bayard continued the medium 
 of their reciprocal friendship ; and, although he often made his 
 appearance under circumstances seemingly fortuitous, Mabel 
 could not but consider him as in some sort the representative 
 of her aged friend, and even attributed to her partiality many 
 of those evidences of kindness and attention for which she was 
 in reality indebted to him alone. 
 
 It seemed, indeed, an understanding in the household, that 
 Bayard's visits, and his evident enjoyment in them, should be 
 a subject of no surprise, and should be attributed to no partial 
 or ulterior motive. 
 
 If Harry observed their frequency and questioned himself in 
 reference to their object, he never betrayed his thoughts, even 
 to his wife, merely remarking with an air of self-congratulation, 
 " It is so gratifying to be able to return some of Percival's hos- 
 pitalities, and make him happy in our home ! " 
 
 If Helen, through the power of an exquisite tenderness, saw 
 more than met the eye, and suspected far more than she saw 
 that same tenderness forbade her, by word or look, to ruffle 
 even the surface of Mabel's feelings ; and remembering how, 
 through long years, her own unspoken attachment to Harry 
 had received a sister's silent sympathy, she reverenced the 
 heart's sacred secrets, and guarded them as if they had been 
 her own. 
 
 And if Harry and Helen generously refrained from disturb- 
 ing the quiet current of her thoughts, by so much as an embar- 
 rassing suggestion or whispered inuendo, Mabel was still less 
 disposed to interpret in her own favor, those daily visits and 
 civilities, which, however gratifying they might prove, she 
 deemed a valued privilege of the common household. 
 40* 
 
474: MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 The time had been, when vanity and self-love would have 
 lent a more flattering construction to anything so marked as 
 Bayard's evident partiality for the society which her brother's 
 house afforded. But the bitter experience of Mabel's early 
 womanhood, and the chastening influences of succeeding years, 
 had effectually guarded her against the indulgence of vain and 
 delusive imaginations ; and it was no part of her present charac- 
 ter, to assume for herself any distinction, or claim for herself 
 any especial title to regard. 
 
 Thus, while every circumstance of their daily intercourse 
 served to increase her esteem for Percival, and exhibit his per- 
 sonal and social traits in a new and attractive light, she never 
 even dreamed of establishing any exclusive ascendancy over a 
 heart which seemed to be world-wide in its benevolent sympa- 
 thies, lie might enter with animated and eager interest into 
 her favorite studies and pursuits ; but w r as not this characteris- 
 tic of him in whatever society he might be thrown ? He might 
 omit no opportunity of rendering her a service ; but was not 
 his simplicity of manner so tempered with chivalrous gallantry, 
 that he would have done the same for the humblest of her sex ? 
 lie might express no slight anxiety concerning her health ; but 
 could he do less in the case of one who was at once his friend's 
 sister and his mother's friend? It must be confessed, too, that 
 although leaving it wholly to Bessie to avenge her cause, Mabel 
 could not quite forget the unfavorable nature of Bayard's early 
 impressions concerning her. And if now and then she expe- 
 rienced a conscious sense of elation, at some involuntary tribute 
 of praise from the truthful lips which were guiltless of flattery, 
 the emotion was instantly checked by the thought, "it is but 
 an endeavor to atone for past censure, a confession wrung 
 from him by a sense of justice." 
 
 But while Mabel indulged no ideal visions of conquest or of 
 power, and was innocent as a child of any attempt at influence 
 or display, the friendship, which was the natural growth of 
 gratitude and respect, became daily more and more an element 
 of her being; and, in an atmosphere free from every restraint, 
 it was enjoyed without check or hindrance. 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 475 
 
 , it was with unaffected pleasure that she greeted Per- 
 cival, with undisguised regret that she saw him depart; and 
 with confident, though serene anticipation, that she looked for- 
 ward to his speedy return ; deriving calm enjoyment, meantime, 
 in the society of Harry and Helen, entering cordially into all 
 their interests and schemes, and never attempting to analyze 
 the sources of that perfect contentment and repose, both of 
 body and mind, which were gradually restoring her to her 
 wonted health. 
 
 One evening, Harry, who had been to the neighboring city, 
 returned home at so late an hour that Mabel had already 
 retired, and did not see him until the following morning, when 
 they met at breakfast. " I have news for you, May," said he, 
 as she entered and took her seat at the table. His face was 
 glowing with animation, and Mabel, observing it, eagerly in- 
 quired into the nature of the tidings. 
 
 " Nothing less," 'replied he, " than the promise of an exciting 
 election. I found every body in the city engrossed with one 
 topic, which was the nomination of a candidate for the va- 
 cancy that has lately been created in Congress by the sudden 
 death of our representative. I never witnessed a more excit- 
 ing scene than prevailed in the convention yesterday ; not as 
 usual, on account of party conflicts and politicaldisputes, but 
 because the whole assembly were so enthusiastic in their 
 opinions and their choice. There seemed to be but one heart, 
 one voice, one mind among them, and the unanimous vote was 
 welcomed by an almost deafening round of cheers. I only 
 wished the nominee could have been present to hear the 
 applause which accompanied the proclamation of his name." 
 
 " I hope he is a worthy subject of their enthusiasm," said 
 Mabel. 
 
 " You can judge for yourself," replied Harry. " He is no 
 other than our friend Percival ! " 
 
 It would have been difficult to discover, amid the mass- 
 meeting of the day before, a more deeply interested and de- 
 lighted countenance than that which Mabel turned upon her 
 brother at this unexpected announcement. There was a dan- 
 
476 MABEL YAUGIIAN. 
 
 cing light in her eye, and a smile of proud satisfaction in her 
 face, which fully expressed her sympathy with the vote of the 
 people ; while her astonishment found expression in the words : 
 " Is it possible, Harry? But I had no idea that Mr. Percival 
 thought of entering political life, or that he had any taste 
 for it." 
 
 " I believe both his thoughts and his tastes to be wholly 
 averse to it," said Harry, " and I am by no means sure he will 
 accept the nomination." 
 
 " That would seem a pity," remarked Helen, " he would be 
 such an honor to the State." 
 
 " True," said Harry ; " there is not a man in the common- 
 wealth who could carry anything like his strength and ability 
 into the counsels of the country. But, if he relinquishes his 
 present mode of life to enter upon a political career, I am con- 
 fident that it will be at a great personal sacrifice. I was one 
 of a delegation who waited upon him last evening, to inform 
 him of his nomination. We found him quietly reading law in 
 his office, and I assure you he looked positively pained when 
 he learned the object for which he was sought. * Mr. S.,' said 
 he to the gentleman who was the spokesman of our committee, 
 'I was never more completely surprised, and, I may almost say, 
 troubled, than I am by your communication. I am very much 
 flattered at being thought worthy to fill this vacancy in Con- 
 gress, but a political office of any kind is a thing which I have 
 never desired, and certainly have never sought.' 
 
 "'We all know that, Mr. Pcrcival,' said Mr. S., 'and that 
 is the very reason -why we and the district at large will be 
 satisfied with nobody else. ' Give us a man,' our honest 
 back-country people say, ' in whom we can have confidence ; 
 one who would scorn to buy our votes, and who will never sell 
 his own conscience or the nation's rights, for any political or 
 party bribe. Give us a man of whom we can say, * He will 
 support the weak, and maintain the right, and be just towards 
 all ! We are united as to measures, but w r e are no less so in re- 
 spectto him who is to maintain them and we want our man.' " 
 
 "I saw that Percival was moved. He passed Iris hand 
 
MABEL V A UGH AN. 477 
 
 across that broad, white forehead of his, and then rose and 
 walked up and down his office. Mr. S. and some of the other 
 gentlemen continued to urge their point in the same strain; 
 alluded to the critical state of the times, and the anxiety of 
 every thoughtful mind to see the district represented by one 
 who had the confidence of the people, and was so universally 
 popular that he might remain long in the chair of office and be 
 a, permanent pillar of the public welfare. 
 
 " Percival listened respectfully and courteously to every thing 
 they had to say ; thanked them, and promised that he would 
 inform them of his decision to-day." 
 
 " And you think his reply will be in the affirmative," asked 
 Helen, while Mabel wore an earnest, thoughtful expression of 
 countenance, but said nothing. 
 
 " He gave us no encouragement," said Harry: " and I confess 
 I am at a loss with reference to his probable decision. There 
 can be no question that great issues are at hand in our national 
 counsels, and that, in no generation more than the present, 
 have such men as Percival been needed at the seat of govern- 
 ment. At no other time, and in no other way, can his eloquence, 
 wisdom, moderation, and fearless disinterestedness be made so 
 available for his country's good. Still, when I remember his 
 passionate love for the free life of the West ; the enthusiasm 
 with which he has sketched out future improvements ; the ad- 
 venturous spirit with which he undertakes distant explorations ; 
 the zest with which he engages in a sportsman's pursuits ; 
 and the independence with which he has ever held himself 
 aloof from the clash of party strife and political conflict : I must 
 acknowledge (and Harry shook his head doubtfully) that it is 
 hard to picture our friend setting out for Washington, to be 
 cooped up for the greater part of the year within the contracted 
 limits of a dull city, and condemned to the toilsome routine 
 and hotly-contested controversies of congressional duty, upon 
 which, if he engages in them at all, he will enter with all the 
 faithfulness and ardor of his nature. I confess that, viewing it 
 in this light, I shall not wonder if he shrinks from the sacrifice ; 
 shall you, my dear?" and he glanced at Helen, inquiringly. 
 
478 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 " I scarcely know," said Helen, as she at this moment looked 
 up, while a smile overspread her face which was not intended 
 for her husband. " I will not venture an opinion until I have 
 heard him speak for himself." 
 
 " And you, May ? " said Harry, who, not following the direc- 
 tion of Helen's eye, failed to comprehend her arch and mean- 
 ing smile, "you know the Avhole story, and I see by your 
 face that your mind is made up, whether Percival's is, by this 
 time or not. Will he stay or go ? " 
 
 " If I know him in the least," said Mabel, with a firm and 
 unhesitating air, " he will go at any sacrifice." 
 
 At this instant Harry caught tTie expression of Helen's face, 
 and turned abruptly round in his chair. Mabel also looked 
 up, and directly behind her, in the doorway, stood Percival, 
 his face flushed with exercise, his riding boots bespattered with 
 mud, his fine hair tossed back from his forehead, which was 
 resting on his hand, as he stood leaning against the door- 
 frame, and his eyes, now that she had turned her face, fixed 
 full and expressively upon Mabel. 
 
 " My dear friend ! " exclaimed Harry, springing from his 
 seat and grasping Bayard's hand, "you are very welcome! 
 You have come to breakfast, I hope ! " 
 
 " Xo, not to breakfast, Harry," said Bayard, glancing apolo- 
 getically at his spattered boots, and slightly resisting Harry's 
 hospitable endeavor to draw him to a place at the table. " I 
 scarcely know for what I came, since I have only a moment 
 to spare. Advice, sympathy, encouragement, I believe, were 
 what I felt the want of; I have obtained them all, though 
 somewhat clandestinely, I fear, and now I must be on my way 
 again. Harry, have } r ou the address of the gentleman who 
 was the chairman of your committee yesterday ? I forgot to 
 take it, and I must write to him when I reach home. Yes, 
 thank you, Mrs. Vaughan," continued he, in reply to a propo- 
 sition from Helen that he should at least take a cup of hot 
 coffee ; "I will with pleasure, if you will let me have it stand- 
 ing." And while Harry went to look for the address, and 
 Helen ran to a cupboard in the next room for a cup and 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 479 
 
 saucer, he approached Mabel, who, in her confusion, had for- 
 gotten to even bid him good-morning, and said, at the same 
 time taking her hand : " I trust you are not displeased, Miss 
 Mabel, at my overhearing your remark ; if I had one doubt 
 left in regard to my duty, you have laid it at rest ; and believe 
 me, I will endeavor not to disappoint your kind confidence, 
 for which I am the more deeply grateful, that it is far beyond 
 my deserts. 
 
 "I should not have spoken with such decision if I had 
 known by whom I was overheard," said Mabel, with a smile, 
 which, though embarrassed, denoted anything but displeasure ; 
 " still, I am not disposed to retract." 
 
 " You have no need, in this case," said Percival, " for I will 
 prove your words true; though since my decision has your 
 approval, the sacrifice will be comparatively light." 
 
 There was neither occasion nor opportunity for any further 
 remark, for Harry had by this time returned with the address, 
 and Helen, also, brought the coffee, which Percival swallowed 
 hastily, then bade them all farewell, and in a moment more 
 was off on his homeward road. 
 
 "Mabel," exclaimed Harry, laughing heartily as he sat 
 down to finish his breakfast, " I think the convention should 
 assemble once more, and tender you public thanks for the spur 
 you have given to their future representative. I suppose," 
 added he, " we have seen the last of our candidate for some 
 four weeks to come ; he will be so much occupied in view of 
 the approaching election." And Harry, for the first time, 
 cast a mischievous glance at his wife, which the dear, kind- 
 hearted Helen pretended not to see, and took care not to 
 return. 
 
 But whether this prophecy of Harry's was made with play- 
 ful irony, or in all seriousness, its falsehood Avas not loiiix in 
 being proved ; for while he canvassed the county, and brought 
 home daily reports of Percival's universal popularity and un- 
 doubted triumph, and Mabel indulged prophetic visions of his 
 future eminence and usefulness in a public career, the young 
 man himself, after writing his letter of acceptance, appeared 
 
480 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 to give himself no further thought in the matter; but, leaving 
 the fortunes of his election in the hands of his constituents, 
 devoted himself with increasing assiduity to these other plea- 
 sures and cares, which had their source and centre, not in the 
 field of political agitation, but in the domestic circle of his 
 friends. And, as day after day found him still faithful at his 
 post of allegiance, Harry and Helen were tempted to whisper 
 to one another, under the strictest pledge of secresy, their 
 mutual and growing suspicion, that, though indifferent to pub- 
 lic favor, he was the ambitious and self-appointed candidate 
 for higher honors than the people had power to bestow ; and 
 that he had almost forgotten his popular election, while bend- 
 ing all his powers to win for himself the pre-eminence in one 
 priceless heart. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 I from the influence of thy looks receive 
 Access in every virtue, in thy sight 
 More wise, more watchful, stronger, if need were 
 Of outward strength. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 IF there is one season more than another, which, in its 
 moving associations, appeals to the American heart, and finds 
 there a sure response, it is that of the annual Thanksgiving. 
 Originally a New England festival, almost the only one 
 established by our pilgrim ancestors, apd therefore, perhaps, 
 the more highly honored, it has now become a welcome and 
 hallowed institution in every part of our wide-spread land, 
 where New England's sons and daughters have found a home. 
 Sacred to family and social ties, gathering the scattered mem- 
 bers of the flock into one fold, awakening the liveliest emo- 
 tions of gratitude, and touching the heart's secret springs, it is 
 to the young a period of unmingled pleasure and excitement, 
 to those in middle life a time of zealous and disinterested 
 effort to, promote the common enjoyment, and to the old, a 
 season of solemn musings, touching memories, and immortal 
 hopes. 
 
 It had been the cherished wish of Harry and Helen, as 
 well as the expectation of the whole family, that this anni- 
 versary, now close at hand, should be celebrated at the house 
 of the young couple ; and their friends at Lake Farm had 
 been cordially invited to join them there. But when Madam 
 Percival learned that old Mr. Yaughan, his sister, and grand- 
 sons, intended to prolong their visit during the whole of 
 Thanksgiving week, she lost no time in presenting an urgent 
 request, that on the actual day of the festival she- might be 
 
 41 
 
482 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 permitted to welcome their united family circle under her 
 son's roof. 
 
 " It is the only way, my dear sir," said she, in a note which 
 Bessie wrote to the elder Mr. Yaughan at her dictation, " in 
 which I can be enabled to participate in the pleasure of the 
 occasion, as a recent attack of rheumatism forbids my travel- 
 ling at this season ; nor would I suggest such an exposure to 
 yourself after your recent severe illness, but I am assured 
 that you do not fear to brave even winter weather, if spared 
 from breathing the evening air ; and, as our accommodations 
 are ample, we should insist upon your all spending the night 
 at Lake Farm. It is long since I have been privileged to col- 
 lect a pleasant circle about me on this most interesting of occa- 
 sions; but by the memory which you, as well as myself, cannot 
 fail to entertain of many happy Thanksgivings in our New 
 England homes, let me beseech you to make my cause good in 
 your children's estimation, and gratify both my son and myself 
 by your company on Thursday." 
 
 Harry and Helen, upon the receipt of this note, were dis- 
 posed to resist such an invasion of their claims. Sabiah de- 
 murred greatly at the thought of accepting an invitation, which 
 was none the less formidable to the timid, retiring woman, from 
 Madam Percival's being dimly remembered as the sympathiz- 
 ing friend of her girlhood. Mabel seemed a little embarrassed 
 at the idea of this change in the family plans; and the boys' 
 faces were full of eager expectancy and doubt. Mr. Vaughan, 
 however, at once put an end to all hesitation, by exclaiming 
 with cheerful gallantry, "We can not possibly refuse, Harry ; 
 do not say a word, my dear Helen, the excellent lady must 
 not be disappointed ; " and the honored head of the house, hav- 
 ing thus promptly expressed himself in Madam Percival's 
 favor, all acquiesced in his decision, and an affirmative reply 
 
 as dispatched to the general invitation. 
 
 As if to facilitate the views of all parties, and give added 
 
 spirit to the events of the day, a light snow fell during the 
 
 previous night and hardened to a smooth, crisp surface, mak- 
 
 ng admirable sleighing. According to an agreement entered 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 483 
 
 into in anticipation of a snow-storm, Bayard drove over in the 
 morning, in a covered vehicle which had been put on runners 
 the previous winter for his mother's convenience, and returned 
 wilh Sabiah, Mr. Yaughan, and Helen, while Mabel, now 
 restored to her usual health, accompanied Harry and the boys 
 in an open sleigh ; and all were, borne rapidly over the level 
 prairie, to the cheerful sound of bells. A warm house and 
 a Avarm reception awaited them on their arrival ; dinner suc- 
 ceeded, with its social joys and abundant good cheer; other 
 entertainments, for young and old, presented themselves in 
 due course, and the hours wore pleasantly on. 
 
 It was now twilight of the festive -day, and a happy and 
 animated group were assembled in the pnrlor at Lake Farm, 
 which, partially illumined by the long lines of light that streaked 
 the western sky, and still further cheered by the huge wood 
 fire which shed abroad its fantastic and fitful glare, presented 
 a rare picture of cheerfulness and comfort. In a large arm- 
 chair on the right, sat Mr. Vaughan, his hoary hair and atten- 
 uated figure still marking him as one who had not been left 
 untouched by time and disease, but his face, glowing with a 
 peaceful and even joyous serenity, which proclaimed that new- 
 ness of life into which the old man had been born again. Near 
 him might be seen the venerable mistress of the household, 
 with her soft, white hands folded on her lap, the snowy folds 
 of her muslin neckerchief, and the flutings of her widow's cap, 
 contrasting with her dress of rich black satin, and her whole 
 attire adding, as far as anything foreign to herself could add, 
 to the dignity and grace of her noble person. Sabiah, too, 
 had found her niche in a corner of the opposite sofa, had re- 
 covered from the awe with which Madam Percival had at first 
 inspired her, and learning to recognize in her the beloved Miss 
 I:iyard of her school-days, had settled herself into a composed 
 attitude, and now formed one of the aged trio, who were 
 watching the more youthful members of the company and par- 
 ticipating in their enjoyment. 
 
 They were all in high spirits, having just returned from an 
 expedition to the farm-house of Owen Dowst, where they had 
 
484 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 been since dinner, according to invitation, to attend the bap- 
 tism of the little Rose, purposely appointed for this day, that 
 the occasion might be honored by their presence. 
 
 The pleasing incidents attendant on the ceremony, the brisk 
 walk over the frozen and glistening snow, and their animated 
 satisfaction in each other's society, had given a fine glow to 
 their faces, and loosened their voluble tongues. Helen, always 
 keenly sensitive to cold, and rejoicing in the bright blaze which 
 greeted f -.em on their return, had seated herself on a low foot- 
 stool between Aunt Sabiah's corner of the sofa and the wide 
 hearth-stone, and with her hand locked affectionately in that of 
 her old friend, was the very picture of sweet and gentle content. 
 In front of the sofa stood Mabel, her beautiful face lit up with 
 the fire-light, while she entertained her aunt with a spirited 
 account of the afternoon's proceedings ; Alick on one side, as- 
 sisting her to deliver with faithfulness, a torrent of respectful 
 messages, of which Lydia had made her the bearer ; and Mur- 
 ray, leaning over the arm of the sofa, and now and then aiding 
 the interest of the narrative by his graphic and witty allu- 
 sions. 
 
 And while Sabiah listened attentively, and uttered many an 
 ejaculation of astonishment, at Lydia's good fortune, Bessie, on 
 her part, was exciting the gratified smiles of Mr. Vaughan 
 and Madam Percival, as she recounted with that spice of play- 
 ful exaggeration for which every one knew how to make allow- 
 ance, the simple honors, which, in connection with the christen- 
 ing, had been paid to Mabel, Bayard, and the boys, quite to 
 the exclusion, as she declared, of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Vaughan 
 and herself. 
 
 Harry and Percival, in the meantime, were stationed outside 
 the rest of the group, in the recess of a window, the latter 
 divided between his close observance of Mabel's varying ex- 
 pression and his attempt to explain to Harry the principles of 
 a new reaping machine, just invented by Mr. John Hope, and 
 for which the ingenious young man was about to take out a 
 patent. 
 
 At this moment horses, hoofs were heard crackling the crisp 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 485 
 
 snow beneath their hoofs, as they came up the avenue ; and in 
 an instant more a figure on horseback shot rapidly past the 
 window. It is John, my man, said Harry, with no little ear- 
 nestness in his voice and manner. I sent him to the city this 
 morning ; he has probably just returned." And thus speak- 
 ing, he went hastily from the room to meet his messenger, 
 leaving Bayard at liberty to consult his inclinations, and, if he 
 pleased, join the little group collected round the sofa. He did 
 not do so, however, but remained immovable in the recess of 
 the window, while, had the room afforded a stronger light, a 
 slight flush of anticipation and excitement might have been 
 seen to mount to his temples ; for although the rest of the 
 company had either failed to observe Harry's messenger, or 
 were unconscious of the tidings which he brought, Bayard him- 
 self was well aware that the next moment would be to him 
 one of political defeat or triumph. 
 
 No one present was ignorant of the fact that the previous day 
 had witnessed the casting of the electoral vote, in which Bay- 
 ard had so deep an interest. But it had not been thought 
 possible that the result could yet be determined ; and although 
 all hearts beat with expectancy, silence had, by common con- 
 sent, been maintained on the subject, and it had been suffered to 
 interfere as little as possible with the Thanksgiving festivities. 
 
 The committee, of which Harry was a member, had, how- 
 ever, adopted such energetic measures for obtaining the returns, 
 that, in spite of the snow-storm and the obstacle it proved to 
 their efforts, the exact result of the election had been pro- 
 claimed in the city less than two hours before, and Harry's 
 messenger, who was on the spot for the purpose, had been at 
 once dispatched by the chairman, to announce the intelligence 
 to the successful candidate. The eagerness which shone on the 
 man's face, no less than the abruptness of Harry's manner and 
 words, had at once betrayed to Bayard the nature of his errand ; 
 and, whatever emotions this knowledge excited, they were still 
 in full force, when Harry, who had apparently scarcely had time 
 to receive his despatch from the hand of the man, rushed back 
 into the room, and, waving the document triumphantly above 
 
 41*' 
 
486 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 his head, came forward, with all the warm-heartedness of friend- 
 ship, and grasped Percival by the hand, exclaiming, " Let me 
 be the first to congratulate you, my dear fellow, on this glorious 
 victory ! " and then glancing at the official communication before 
 him, he read aloud the statement of Bayard's election by an 
 overwhelming majority. 
 
 The tide of feeling which had agitated the hearts of the little 
 company, in view of the approaching crisis, and which had 
 swelled to a fuller flood in proportion as it had been forcibly 
 suppressed all day, now burst forth without restraint ; and 
 Bayard was at once surrounded by eager, excited faces, and 
 greeted on every side by a chorus of congratulations. Nor, 
 though seemingly less excited than the rest, was he the man to 
 be insensible or indifferent to these evidences of sympathy 
 and affection. The popular demonstrations, the eager accla- 
 mations of the tumultuous crowd, could have no power to move 
 him, as did these simple tokens of social friendship and family 
 love; and he responded to each with cordial and unaffected 
 satisfaction, while, as he felt the soft pressure of his mother's 
 hand, a tear started to his eye, which did no discredit to his 
 manhood. 
 
 But there was one satisfaction, and that the greatest, which 
 was wanting to him in this his hour of triumph ; one voice, and 
 that the one most powerful to stir his soul, which alone was 
 silent ; one form, which, while all the rest pressed eagerly for- 
 ward, still lingered in the back ground. Yes, strangely enough, 
 while every one else was emboldened or inspired to some char- 
 acteristic expression of delight, Mabel, hitherto zealous in her 
 friendly partizanship, seemed to be suddenly struck dumb. 
 Once, indeed, as Bayard's unsatisfied eye wandered round the 
 little circle, it met hers, fixed full upon him, with an eloquent, 
 answering glance ; but her heart drooped as she encountered 
 his earnest gaze, and the next moment the whole face was hid- 
 den from him, as she hastily withdrew into the shadow afforded 
 by her brother's tall figure. 
 
 Both the silence and the quick retreat were involuntary, 
 however; and if this apparent coolness and reserve were painful 
 
MABEL VAUGHAX. 487 
 
 to Percival they were no less so to Mabel herself. For a 
 few moments, indeed, she had stood, intently watching the coun- 
 tenance of the young man, as he received the congratulations 
 of the rest, quite forgetful that some similar demonstration 
 might be expected on her own part ; nor was it until she 
 encountered his searching glance that the consciousness flashed 
 upon her, that she had as yet given no expression to her sym- 
 pathy in the universal joy. She would then gladly have 
 repaired the omission ; but the very intensity of her emotions 
 checked and forbade their utterance. There was a quick beat- 
 ing of the heart, which she found it impossible to subdue ; and 
 her instinctive retreat, beyond the outermost edge of the little 
 circle, was but the natural impulse of a sensitive mind, which 
 shrank from betraying its own unseasonable and vexatious 
 embarrassment. 
 
 Here, secure from observation, she strove to recover her 
 composure ; nervously watching a favorable opportunity for 
 addressing the hero of the occasion, and vainly endeavoring to 
 frame her thoughts into suitable words. But while she thus 
 waited and delayed, a new turn was given to affairs, Bayard 
 was suddenly summoned from the room and the opportunity was 
 lost. 
 
 A delegation of citizens had just arrived, having come hither 
 to rejoice over their victory, and shake hands with the popular 
 young representative. The confusion of tongues which had 
 prevailed in the drawing-room was now superseded by the loud 
 shuffling of feet on the verandah, the violent ringing of the 
 door-bell, and the tumultuous and eager voices of the throng, 
 who, met by Bayard at the threshold, eagerly tendered their 
 congratulations and received his acknowledgments in return. 
 The sudden withdrawal of both Harry and Percival, conse- 
 quent on this arrival, and the sound of laughter and conversa- 
 tion proceeding from the dining-room, on the opposite side of 
 the hall, into which the new comers had been ushered, had the 
 effect of composing the little family circle into a thoughtful, 
 listening attitude ; and one after another they resumed their 
 ts, and a comparative quiet reigned throughout the room. 
 
38 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 In a retired corner, a little apart from the rest, Mabel mused 
 with her own thoughts, and gave ear to the occasional dialogues 
 vhich took place around her, seriously vexed, meanwhile, at her 
 own inability to assume a natural and unconstrained air, and 
 wondering whether, in the general excitement, her own indi- 
 vidual deportment had been observed and commented on. 
 
 No observation could be more critical or severe, however, 
 than that which she exercised over herself. "What is the 
 meaning of this, Mabel Vaughan ? " was her inward interroga- 
 tory. " Who can be more pleased than you with the result of 
 this election ? You have scarcely thought of anything else for 
 two or three wrecks past ; it has been the object and end in 
 which all your hopes have been centred; nowhere has the young 
 candidate found a more zealous champion ; from no one could 
 he reasonably anticipate warmer sympathy and congratulations ! 
 You certainly are very, very glad of his success ! Why not 
 tell him so, then, in those frank, simple terms which are all that 
 the occasion demands, and which would be sure to be under- 
 stood?" 
 
 Why not ? Indeed, she could not answer the question satis- 
 factorily even to herself. She would have given worlds, had 
 they been at her disposal, rather than that Bayard should suffer 
 a defeat. Still, the announcement was so sudden it involved 
 so much ! Perhaps she realized more than others the respon- 
 sibility that rested upon the young man the bias that was to 
 be given to his whole future life. Perhaps she took into the 
 account, that it was an event not merely of private, but of 
 national interest. Why, otherwise, should she have experienced 
 that quick beating of the heart which effectually forbade 
 her utterance ? Yes, she was glad, very glad, that was a 
 question which did not admit of a doubt. But she could not 
 speak so lightly as the rest did on a matter of such grave con- 
 cern she could not so readily subdue the emotions which an 
 event of such serious moment was calculated to excite. 
 
 The voice of Mr. Vaughan was now heard amid the general 
 silence, gravely remarking to Madam Percival : u The?<- political 
 constituents have snatched our young friend iiom lid ui aa 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 489 
 
 interesting crisis; but this little circumstance only illustrates 
 the general truth, that private friendship must yield to the call 
 of public duty ; nor must we complain of our personal loss in 
 view of this election, since it introduces your son upon an arena 
 where he is sure to play a worthy part. I congratulate you, 
 Madam, with all my heart, upon the honors which he has 
 achieved to-night." 
 
 " I have never coveted any higher honor for my son/' said 
 Madam Percival, in reply, " than that which belongs to every 
 man who faithfully does his duty. I thank you most sincerely, 
 my dear sir, for your friendly sympathy. But new responsi- 
 bilities are a new test'of character and ability ; and, as a parent, 
 I almost shrink from congratulation until such a time as Bayard 
 shall have proved that this is indeed a true occasion for it." 
 
 " The past, however, is, to a great degree, prophetic of the 
 future," replied Mr. Vaughan ; " and you will not forbid me to 
 wish you joy, that there is in the young man himself such good 
 foundation for a people's confidence and a parent's hopes." 
 
 " I will not deny, sir," said Madam Percival, with a placid 
 smile, while her eye glistened with a maternal pride which 
 could not be wholly concealed, " that now, as always, I find in 
 this my highest satisfaction; and, to do Bayard justice, I believe 
 that his aims are pure, and his strength of will indomitable. I 
 pray God that he may be found as wise as I know him to Ifc 
 brave and true." 
 
 "Who can doubt his fitness for every emergency?" thought 
 Mabel, as, while she watched Madam Percival's face, she felt 
 her own heart swell with a pride none the less deep, and far 
 more ardent than that which now sent a sudden glow to the 
 aged woman's cheek. " Has he not nobly fulfilled every trust 
 reposed in him as counsellor, brother, son, and friend ! The 
 mother may modestly disclaim the laurels which yet await his 
 brow ; but what honor is there in the nation's gift which we 
 may not hope one day to see him wear ? How thankful we 
 should be, and how rejoiced we are, that the public have claimed 
 him as their representative, and have destined him to an ele- 
 vated and conspicuous career." 
 
490 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 This thankfulness, this joy, however, were not of the ^a 
 serene and placid character as Madam Percival's. Perhaps 
 they were none the less generous, none the less sincere, that 
 another, and in some degree, rival emotion, now and then 
 asserted itself, and was only kept down by the vehemence and 
 resolution with which Mabel strove to convince herself that the 
 occasion was one of perfect and unqualified satisfaction. This 
 honorable and public service might imperatively summon its 
 votary from the domestic circle, it might engross his ttme, to 
 the exclusion of all minor claims. She did not need her 
 father's suggestion, to remind her that private pleasures may 
 sometimes clash with public duties ; for the thought had flashed 
 upon her in the very moment of Bayard's victory. But what 
 then! Was there one among his friends so cowardly as to 
 shrink from the sacrifice ? Was there one so selfish as wil- 
 lingly to detain him a moment from his post ? one so mean as 
 to estimate personal loss against the public gain? Reason 
 proudly answered in the negative ; but a pang shot through her 
 heart at the question ; a sigh was the only audible answer ; and 
 while joy sat on her countenance, her spirits waged an inward 
 war. 
 
 "I have been in the dining-room, where the gentlemen are!" 
 exclaimed Murray, approaching the spot where she sat, and 
 shaking in a tone of exultation. " There are as many as 
 fifteen or twenty, standing round the fire, talking with Mr. 
 Percival and Uncle Harry. They are all so triumphant and 
 delighted about the election ! it's capital fun to stand by and 
 listen. Come, Al ! come in and hear them ! " and he hurried 
 his brother away. 
 
 " How gratifying the presence of these friends must be to 
 Mr. Percival ! " thought Mabel, as through the open door, by 
 which the boys left the room, she heard the indistinct murmur 
 of voices, and pictured to herself the animated scene. "How 
 great must be the zeal which prompted them to a ten miles ride 
 on this wintry night ! What staunch and true supporters they 
 will be to him in the future ! How closely their interests will 
 be allied to his ! How mutually confidential will be the rela- 
 
MABEL VAUGIIAN. 491 
 
 tions existing between them! What a pleasant excitement 
 their arrival adds to the other events of the evening ! " 
 
 Such were Mabel's sentiments ; the only sentiments, at least, 
 which she acknowledged, or of which she was distinctly con- 
 scious. Why then that undefined sadness which crept over her, 
 as she mentally contrasted the partially deserted drawing-room 
 with the well-filled apartment at the other extreme of the house, 
 where Percival gave reception to his political guests ? Why 
 that distinct remembrance which darted into her mind, of her 
 aunt Sabiah's late denunciation of men engaged in public life, 
 and her assertion of its proverbial effect in weakening social 
 sympathies and ties ? Why the restless tapping of her little 
 foot on the carpet as she impatiently awaited the departure of 
 the district committee, and the sense of weariness and discon- 
 tent with which she mentally ejaculated " How long they 
 stay ! " then secretly glanced at her watch, adding, as she did 
 so, " only eight o'clock ! I thought it had been nine." 
 
 These latter shades of feeling were, however, but an under- 
 current, and were outwardly veiled by her usual calm and 
 cheerful demeanor, to which she had been restored almost 
 immediately upon Bayard's leaving the room ; nor, whatever 
 might be the source of her secret uneasiness, could it be attrib- 
 uted to any conscious yearning for the society of the absentees ; 
 for when, a*t length, the gentlemen from the city took their 
 departure, and Bayard and Harry hastened back to the draw- 
 ing-room, she seemed disconcerted rather than gratified by their 
 presence, and lost no time in ensconcing herself behind the tea- 
 table, in one corner of the apartment. Here, she begged from 
 Madam Percival the privilege of making tea for the company, 
 an office which she performed in silence and with methodical 
 precision ; nor did she leave her place of retreat until Percival 
 was seated at the piano in the adjoining library, and nearly all 
 the rest had resorted thither for the enjoyment of some music. 
 
 So closely do national and familiar airs interweave them- 
 selves with associations of the past, that on the anniversary of 
 Thanksgiving scarcely any one could fail to express some pre- 
 ference or ask for some favorite tune. Thus Bayard was de- 
 
492 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 tained long at his post, and Bessie, whose catalogue of songs 
 was as exhaustless as her good nature, maintained her place 
 beside him, turning over the leaves of the music book and 
 accompanying him with power and spirit, while Harry, as 
 occasion offered, aided them with his deep bass voice. Helen, 
 to whom the day had been fraught with many a tender memory, 
 waited patiently until the rest were satisfied, and then in a 
 tremulous tone begged that Percival would open the organ and 
 play upon it one or two sacred anthems which her father had 
 dearly loved, a request which Bayard with his usual prompt 
 courtesy immediately complied with. 
 
 Mabel meanwhile, still courting seclusion, had entered the 
 room with a noiseless step and seated herself in an ample bay- 
 window at the extremity of the apartment, in which sheltered 
 nook, partially screened by some heavy old-fashoned draperies, 
 she might enjoy the music undisturbed. Her attitude was 
 scarcely that of a gratified listener, however, as she sat gazing 
 fixedly out on the smooth shining surface of snow, and now and 
 then pressing her aching head against the cool glass. Once or 
 twice, indeed, she might have been seen to start, as if the chorus 
 of a joyous glee grated harshly on her feelings ; but with these 
 exceptions, she seemed scarcely conscious of the protracted con- 
 cert save as it afforded her a welcome opportunity of undis- 
 turbed thought and repose. 
 
 At length there was a pause in the music and Mabel, although 
 insensible to the ordinary conversation which had been going 
 on around her, distinctly heard /Harry remark to his friend, 
 " w r e shall miss you sadly, Percival, this winter. I suppose you 
 will be obliged to leave for Washington next month." 
 
 "I cannot tell perhaps not until January," replied Bay- 
 ard in an under tone, then added emphatically and with com- 
 pressed lips, " perhaps immediately." 
 
 The last word only reached Mabel's attentive ear. It struck 
 cold upon her heart. Involuntarily she repeated it to herself. 
 It seemed to give form and shape to those vague and undefined 
 emotions which she could not comprehend and would fain have 
 crushed. " Immediately ! " was the thought which forced itself 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 493 
 
 upon her " the fiat has gone forth, and he must obey the call 
 without hesitation and without delay. He must turn his back 
 upon the home which lie loves and the friends to whom he is 
 so justly dear. They will no longer hear his cheerful voice as 
 he enters the house unexpectedly at dusk, nor listen to his 
 horse's feet as he retreats in the distance, nor count upon his 
 aid when in difficulty or need, nor enjoy his books, nor have the 
 benefit of his advice. The woods and prairies will moan him 
 in silence ; even his horse and dog Will miss him ; his departure 
 will spread a cloud over the landscape, only to be dispersed by 
 his return. 
 
 " It is true he goes on a noble errand ; he will serve the 
 cause of humanity and the best interests of his country ; he 
 will give her his time, his efforts, his affections ; he will meet 
 with a just reward ; he will be honest, beloved and happy ; 
 but we " 
 
 Alas, she could deceive herself no longer. Exultant, proud, 
 and thankful she might endeavor to be in this his hour of triumph ; 
 but she could not be blind to the fact, that the shadow which his 
 departure would fling upon all nature was reflected most deeply 
 on her own heart; that others might regret the absence of a 
 friend, but that for her, the sun of her life Would be gone down. 
 
 As thus painfully self-engrossed she peered tremblingly into 
 that night of the spirit, which was threatening to overtake her, 
 she failed to observe that the library had become well-nigh 
 deserted of its occupants, who one by one had received their 
 meed of satisfaction from the music and had returned to the 
 drawing-room. The organ still gave forth the soft, long-drawn 
 strains of a beautiful symphony, and the pathetic minor tones, 
 keeping pace with her train of thought, were listened to 
 almost unconsciously. Not until they were suddenly brought 
 to a close, therefore, and a solemn silence succeeded did she 
 become aware that Helen, who, overcome by the music, had 
 been the last to leave the room, had inadvertently closed the 
 door behind her; that the candles attached to the organ were 
 extinguished, and she and the organist were the sole inmates of 
 the quiet library, now lit only by the pale light of the moon, 
 42 
 
404 MABEL VAUGHAN 
 
 which was streaming through the window at which she sat. 
 Her first impulse was to steal noiselessly away ; her next, to 
 wait in her place of partial concealment until Percival, who was 
 closing the organ lid, should have preceded her, but both 
 schemes were rendered equally abortive, for, so far from leav- 
 ing the room after shutting up the instrumeut, Bayard folded his 
 arms and with a deliberate air walked straight to the window 
 to look out into the night. She started at his approach, and 
 with a fluttered air was hurrying past him in silence, but, 
 though scarcely less disconcerted than herself at his discovery 
 (for he believed her to have spent the entire evening in the 
 drawing-room), he arrested her with the words, "Do not 
 go," at the same time standing aside to let her pass. 
 
 She stopped checked not so much by his words as by the 
 power of his mild blue eye, which was fixed upon her with a 
 gaze at once penetrating and persuasive. 
 
 " I did not mean to intrude upon you," said he, as she stood 
 hesitating and irresolute " but since I am here, indulge me for 
 a moment." 
 
 He would have taken her hand to detain her, but she would 
 not trust it to him, conscious that it trembled ; and without 
 appearing to notice the movement on his part, she voluntarily 
 resumed her place in the window. 
 
 " You are the only* one of my friends who has not congratu- 
 lated me to-night," said he, as he seated himself beside her. 
 44 1 was half disposed at first to reproach you with indifference, 
 but on second thoughts I thank you rather for sparing me such 
 a mockery." 
 
 She repeated his last word in a questioning tone, at the same 
 time looking up at him for an explanation of its meaning. 
 
 " Yes, it is a strong term," continued he, with a vehemence 
 of manner unusual to him, " but congratulations from your lips 
 would have seemed to me scarcely less than a mockery to-night. 
 Others might be blind to the truth, and their well-meant words 
 might be both acceptable and sincere, but I would fain flatter 
 myself that you understand me better, that you dome the justice 
 to believe, that the events which outwardly wear a flattering air, 
 
MADKL VAUGIIAN. 495 
 
 have caused me nothing but pain that no sentence of exile or 
 banishment could be more bitter than this unwelcome summons, 
 which calls me away from everything that is dearest to me on 
 earth." 
 
 There was a tremulous depth to his voice as he thus spoke, 
 such as Mabel had never heard in it before. It almost startled 
 her. She felt his eye fixed piercingly upon her ; but, without 
 daring now to look up and meet it, she faltered out, " Harry 
 said it would cost you a sacrifice." 
 
 " Harry ! What does he know of it ? What does any one 
 know ? " exclaimed Bayard, with an impetuous, almost an im- 
 patient gesture. " Who but myself can measure the pang it 
 costs me? I do not look for sympathy! I am stung with 
 congratulations ! But you," and his voice changed to one of 
 almost feminine tenderness and appeal, " you, who by your 
 holy confidence in my sense of right strengthened me for this 
 task, you will not at least refuse to wish me God-speed?" 
 
 " I ? Oh, no ! " replied Mabel ; and then added, hesitatingly, 
 and scarcely knowing what she said, " I I wish you every 
 thing that is good." 
 
 " And you will shrive me before I go ? " 
 
 She answered only by looking timidly, anxiously up at him ; 
 then her glance wandered quickly round the room, as if she 
 meditated making her escape. 
 
 " Yes, let this be my confessional," said Bayard, his words 
 following fast upon one another, as if he understood her inten- 
 tion and would not be frustrated in his own purpose. " I may 
 not depart with a light heart, but I would at least carry away 
 with me an easy conscience. I would disburden it of a weight 
 which has laid on it ever since the evening we first met, when, 
 in the blindness of a false and hasty judgment, I spoke, and 
 you overheard the unworthy words, which were repented of as 
 soon as littered. Can you, will you, forgive me for the blind- 
 ness, the presumption, the folly for which I have never for- 
 given myself? Can you deem it a sufficient atonement for 
 my fault, that your first reproachful glance convicted me at 
 once of injustice and libel- that it has haunted my memory 
 
496 MABEL VAUCHAN. 
 
 ever since ; and that I can not be at peace, as long as its 
 shadow is upon my heart." 
 
 " And is that all ? " said Mabel, breathing more freely, while 
 a pensive smile overspread her face, as memory, which had 
 failed to treasure up the wrongs of that eventful evening, led 
 her back to the contemplation of the never-to-be-forgotten 
 benefits which Bayard had generously rendered her in her hour 
 of need. 
 
 " No, it is not all," exclaimed he, with a returning vehemence 
 and fervor, which he struggled with, vainly endeavoring to be 
 calm. " You overheard me, when I rashly undertook to inter- 
 pret the character which I had neither the wisdom nor the 
 charity to read aright. I beseech you, then, to listen to have 
 patience with me to believe me, when I tell you, that the 
 lesson of goodness, beauty, and truth which you have been 
 teaching me ever since, is such as to make me ready to hide 
 my face and exclaim, ' So, this is your cold, artificial, worldly 
 woman ! Never trust yourself again, Bayard Percival.' " 
 
 " Mr. Percival," said Mabel, her calmness partially restored, 
 as she saw how much Bayard was moved, " you wrong your- 
 self and me, when you waste so much regret on words spoken 
 at random, and forgiven, I assure you, as promptly as they 
 were truly atoned for. If my mind often recurs to the evening 
 of which you speak, it is not to dwell on my own wounded 
 vanity, but on a kindness which touched me to the heart. Do 
 not ever think of the occasion again, unless you should some 
 day be tempted to doubt that I know what it is to be grateful." 
 
 Her voice shook and quivered as she uttered the last syllable ; 
 and, once more impelled to take refuge in flight, she sprang 
 from her seat and would have darted from the room. But 
 Bayard was on the watch. Something in her manner had led 
 him to anticipate the movement, and, starting up, he caught 
 her by the hand. 
 
 " Stay, Mabel stay," cried he, in a voice of deep emotion, 
 while the eyes, usually so mild and gentle, seemed to emit a 
 burning light as he fixed them full on hers. " You must not 
 you shall not go. I have made but half my confession yet. 
 
MABEL VAUG1IAN. 497 
 
 Hear me for a moment only, and then, if you bid me, I will 
 depart and you shall never see me more." 
 
 She stopped short mute, transfixed, and statue-like. Even 
 the hand, which had shaken with a nervous tremor, ceased to 
 flutter, as he held it in his firm grasp. There was something 
 awful and impressive in the agitation of this strong man, usually 
 so calm and self-possessed ; and Mabel's heart almost ceased 
 to beat, as she observed how his broad chest heaved, and his 
 lips refused to give utterance to the thoughts which were work- 
 ing within. But when they came at. last, those words of pathos 
 and of power, they seemed to sweep through all the chambers 
 of her soul, penetrating to the very seat of her life, and telling 
 of a love as mighty and strong as the heart that had conceived 
 it was elevated and noble. With all the simplicity and ardor 
 of youth, with all the eloquence and force of mature manhood, 
 did lie plead his cause, pouring into her ear the story of a deep 
 and true affection, which had implanted itself in the fibres of 
 his nature more than six years before, and had silently and 
 secretly taken root in the gcncrou.; soil, to expand and blossom 
 at last in the sunshine of her presence and her smiles. 
 
 " I have loved my Western home with a boyish enthusiasm," 
 exclaimed he, at length, as having poured forth the tale of his 
 hopes and fears, he scanned her colorless features, and in their 
 marble-like pallor and rigidity could not as yet read his answer. 
 I have rejoiced in the freedom and independence of my un- 
 shackled life ; I have shrunk from every thing that had a ten- 
 dency to win me from my favorite pursuits. Still, I could have 
 broken away at the call of duty ; I could have looked even 
 exile cheerfully in the face, and dared fortune to do her worst, 
 glorying in my native strength. But it is so no longer. My 
 resolutions are weaker than any child's ; my courage fails me 
 in the most critical moment of my life. I dare not say but that I 
 should have evaded the present call, had not your generous 
 confidence urged me on. But now there is no drawing back. 
 I must break up the habits and associations which have come 
 to possess a nameless charm ; I must bid farewell to the spots 
 round which your image will forever cling. Duty bids me 
 
 42* 
 
498 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 depart ; and you, too, echo her voice. O Mabel ! " His tone 
 was low, sweet, and full of touching earnestness, as he made 
 this final appeal. " O Mabel ! must I go alone ? " 
 
 The heart which had seemed to stand still, while Bayard 
 unfolded, with passionate fervor, the indwelling secret of his 
 strong love, vibrated with sudden motion as his impetuous 
 words thus gave place to low, half-whispered entreaty; the 
 blood which had seemed to ebb away in a cold, stagnant 
 stream, rushed back in a warm, living current, and the long 
 suppressed, subdued, and hidden emotion of Mabel's soul was 
 stirred into sudden life. It was no blind sentiment, no tran- 
 sient preference, which thus lay treasured in the inmost re- 
 cesses of her being ; it was a holy and pure affection, born of 
 gratitude, nursed by time, strengthened by respect, and per- 
 fected by that union of habit, principle, thought, and feeling, 
 which moulds two hearts into one. It lay deep, and she had 
 concealed it well ; so well, that until now she herself had sus- 
 pected but half its power. The time had come, however, 
 when it could be repressed no longer. She felt it in the trem- 
 bling agitation which, commencing within, vibrated through her 
 whole frame, until she tottered where she stood ; she betrayed 
 it in the hot, rushing tide which suffused her neck, her cheek, 
 her brow, with crimson, and tingled to her fingers' ends. She 
 could not speak, but she laid the hand that was free on the 
 hand which Bayard still firmly held ; he clasped tlx j m both in 
 his, and was a.iSAvered. The nervous agitation which caused 
 her to tremble like an asperi leaf, was subdued and tranquilixed 
 as she felt herself folded in his strong embrace ; and the heart 
 which had been schooled by experience, purified by suffering, 
 and ennobled by patient endurance, realized that it had found 
 
 at last its true, its perfect earthly rest. 
 
 ****** * 
 
 And what did they all say when Mabel's engagement was 
 announced ? for engagements must come out, and everybody 
 must say something. 
 
 It did not come out until the next day, for Bayard returned 
 to the drawing-room at length without his promised bride, who 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 499 
 
 
 
 was lost to the family for the remainder of the evening. Mur- 
 ray went to look for her, being anxious that she should witness 
 a brilliant aurora which was visible in the north, but returned 
 to say, that he feared Aunt Mabel had a headache, as she did 
 not open her room door, but begged him to excuse her to 
 Madam Percival and the rest of the company. 
 
 When she awoke, however, the following morning, she found 
 her venerable hostess sitting by her bedside. " Good morning, 
 my dear child, my dear daughter!" said she, leaning over 
 her, smoothing the hair back from her forehead, and kissing 
 her tenderly. " Bayard has told me all, it is as I have 
 fondly wished, I could ask no better comfort for my old age. 
 My son will be very happy, and you excuse a mother's par- 
 tiality, but you \vill have a husband worthy of you." 
 
 Mabel sprang up and threw her arms round her dear, re- 
 spected friend. " Oh, the blessing," exclaimed she, with tear- 
 ful eyes, " of knowing, for the first time within my recollection, 
 what it is to claim a mother's love !" 
 
 "Your union with Bayard, my dear," said the old lady, "will 
 but set a seal to the compact which my heart made with you 
 long ago. You are mine by adoption, no less than by his choice ; 
 it is sweet to me to feel that my affections went out instinctively 
 to meet the daughter soon to become mine by a most holy tie ;" 
 and once more pressing Mabel to her bosom, she hastened from 
 the room, to recover the composure which this interview had 
 sensibly disturbed. 
 
 " Come with me," said Mabel to Bayard, who had been pac- 
 ing up and down the hall, just outside her door, and was, con- 
 sequently, the first person whom she met when she left her 
 room. " Come with me to my father." 
 
 The old gentleman was an early riser, and, as Mabel had 
 anticipated, was up, and sitting alone in front of the library fire. 
 lie laid down his spectacles and book as his daughter and their 
 youthful host entered the room together, and gazed at them with 
 no little surprise, for they had the earnest look of persons with 
 a positive object in view. Mabel went behind his chair and 
 whispered in his ear. He looked round at her, half incredu- 
 
500 MABEL VAUGHAX. 
 
 lously, then bestowed an earnest, inquiring glance on Percival. 
 " You will be to her the friend that she deserves ? " said he at 
 length. 
 
 "I will, Sir, with God's help," answered the young man 
 solemnly. 
 
 " Take her, then," said the father, rising from his chair, and 
 laying a hand on the head of each. " This is unexpected to 
 me, but not unwelcome. If, having been a good daughter is 
 any security that she will be a good wife," continued he, ad- 
 dressing Bayard, " you will never repent your choice. God 
 bless you both." 
 
 " Two elections in one day, you lucky fellow ! " exclaimed 
 Harry, who came in at the moment, and understood at a 
 glance how matters stood. "I give you joy ! and I hope it will 
 not be considered in any degree disparaging to the district 
 which you represent, if I remark, that I consider the last vic- 
 tory you have achieved greater than the first, and a more wor- 
 thy subject of rejoicing, not only for your sake, but, for that of 
 my dear sister, and of every one who has her happiness at heart.' 
 Though Harry addressed himself to Bayard, his look of affec- 
 tion was fixed on Mabel, whom he drew towards him as he 
 finished speaking, and clasped in a fraternal embrace. 
 
 " I hope you will both be as happy as we are, Mabel dear," 
 whispered Helen, who had followed her husband into the room. 
 " I can offer you no warmer wish." 
 
 Bessie now made her appearance in a state of great excite- 
 ment. She had learned the news from her grandmother, and 
 her delight, which was, no doubt, extreme, was almost lost in 
 the excess of her astonishment. " I never was so cheated in 
 my life," exclaimed she. "I am provoked, beyond all patience, 
 to think what a game you have been playing almost before my 
 face and eyes, and I as blind as a bat to the whole thing ! 
 Why ! is n't anybody else astonished ? I want to know," and 
 she gazed inquiringly from one face to another. " I thought 
 you disliked my uncle, Miss Vaughan," said she in an expos- 
 tulatory tone. "I thought you had an old grudge against him. 
 And so you, Uncle Bayard, propose uniting yourself to an ice- 
 
MAI5KL VAUCIIAN. 501 
 
 be rg. after all?" Bayard smiled. Bessie saw that her cut- 
 ting allusion failed to exercise its accustomed effect. "Mabel 
 has forgiven me," said Percival. "Your tongue, my little 
 Bessie, has lost its power to wound." 
 
 There was a marked contrast in the manner with which the 
 boys received the announcement. Murray shouted with joy, 
 and civilly asked Madam Percival's leave to give three cheers. 
 Alick scanned Percival's face with as keen and anxious a 
 scrutiny as if he would have pierced to his very soul, kissed 
 Mabel impulsively, rushed from the room and (he was sixteen 
 years old, and a tall boy for his age, but, nevertheless, it must 
 be confessed) he wept. j )9 
 
 " Well, now," said Sabiah, whom Mabel sought, and informed 
 privately of the event, "you don't mean so ! Upon my word 
 it's so sudden I don't know what to think ! Why, you never 
 saw him more than half a dozen times in your life, did you, 
 Mabel ? " 
 
 Mabel confessed the frequency with which they had met 
 during her visit at Harry's. 
 
 ' La's sakes ! Then all the 'time other folks have been 
 electioneering, and so on, he's spent his time a courtin'. 
 Well, he 's a fine young man ; I never had anything in the 
 world against him, except his being so mixed up with politics ; 
 and if he has neglected his public interests, as they say, after 
 this fashion, to play the agreeable to his lady-love, I 'm think- 
 ing his wife will never be second best whatever may turn up ; 
 so I guess the heart you 've won you 're pretty sure to keep 
 against all odds ! " 
 
 And Sabiah was right ; for with Bayard Percival to love 
 once was to love forever. 
 
CHAPTER XL I. 
 
 I have seen one, whose eloquence commanding 
 Roused the rich echoes of the human breast, 
 The blandishments of wealth and ease withstanding, 
 That hope might reach the suffering and oppressed 
 
 And by his side there moved a form of beauty, 
 Strewing sweet flowers along his path of life, 
 And looking up with meek and love-lent duty; 
 I called her angel, but he called her, wife. 
 
 AXON. 
 
 IT was near the close of a December day. Mr. Vaughnn 
 and his family had been now for some weeks re-established jn 
 their home, and Mabel, who, amid manifold cares and occupa- 
 tions, had secured one half hour of leisure, had seated herself 
 for the last time at her little desk, in front of the familiar 
 window which commanded a view of the wide-spreading prai- 
 rie. The light busy foot of Helen was astir in the house, the 
 voice of Melissa might be heard now and then in the adjoining 
 kitchen, in the elated and authoritative tone of one who mag- 
 nified her office. The boys were passing to and from the 
 barn, taking a final look at their favorites among the flocks 
 and herds, and giving their parting charges to farmer James. 
 Everything gave token of some great event near at hand, 
 some thorough breaking up of old ties, some grand migration 
 among the household. The little sitting-room, however, was 
 quiet and peaceful; business and preparation might prevail 
 outside, but neither were permitted to intrude into this domes- 
 tic sanctuary, where Mr. Vaugban and his sister sat in their 
 accustomed arm-chairs, before the fire, while the old house- 
 dog was asleep on the rug. For a moment or two Mab-.-l 
 retained a thoughtful attitude, with her head resting on h<v 
 hand, her eyes now straying over the wide winery landscape 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 503 
 
 without, now fixed with tender interest upon the picture of 
 serene repose within the room ; then taking up a pen, she bent 
 over her desk and wrote the following letter: 
 
 " DEAR MRS. HERBERT : When I look back to the days 
 of my childhood, there ever arises before me the image of one 
 dear friend, whose tender love and devoted care made it a 
 blessed and happy portion of my life, on which memory loves 
 to dwell. When I consider the years which have since inter- 
 vened, I can not fail to be reminded, that at every step I have 
 been counselled, strengthened and cheered, by the advice, the 
 warnings, and the lessons of this same dear friend ; and now 
 that I am about to enter upon a new sphere of duty, I feel an 
 instinctive yearning to still claim a place in her good wishes, 
 her affection, and her prayers. You have cherished the child, 
 encouraged the woman let me bespeak your loving sympathy 
 for the wife. It does not become me to say much of him to 
 whom, to-morrow, I expect to stand in this new and near 
 relation. Some day, I trust, you will see and know Mr. 
 Percival, and be enabled to judge for yourself. But if genuine 
 simplicity and true manliness of heart and life entitle a man to 
 honor, I may well be proud of the station which he holds, both 
 independently, and in the world's opinion ; and if strength of 
 Christian principle is the surest foundation for confidence and 
 trust, I may well believe that the sentiments which he now 
 professes are sincere, and will be lasting. I trust I have not 
 said too much ; but indeed, dear Mrs. Herbert, my only fear is 
 that I am not worthy to be the object of his choice ; and it is 
 that I may become so, that I chiefly beg an interest in your 
 prayers. Bayard (for you will wish to know him by his Chris- 
 tian name also) is the son of Counsellor Percival, as he was 
 usually called, a lawyer, formerly of high standing in New 
 York city, but now for some years deceased. His widow is 
 still living, vigorous and active, although nearly seventy-six 
 years of age. She, too, is well known in New York and else- 
 where, for the active part she has taken in every philanthropic 
 and benevolent scheme ; nor does she, even at her present 
 
504 MABEL VAUGIIAN. 
 
 advanced period of life, feel herself excused from exertion, or 
 unfitted for active duty. You will realize this, when I tell you 
 that she has recently taken a house in Cambridge, with the 
 view of furnishing a home for two of her grandsons, now stu- 
 dents at Harvard, and that she has invited Alick and Murray 
 also to become members of her family. No proposition could 
 have been more opportune, so far as the boys are concerned ; 
 for Alick hopes to be prepared for admission to the University 
 at the commencement of the next collegiate year, and Murray 
 could nowhere pursue, to such advantage, the mathematical 
 studies which are to fit him for his chosen profession that 
 of an engineer. At first, we all opposed the plan, fearing 
 Madam Percival was assuming too much care ; but she over- 
 persuaded my father and Harry, convinced me that she antici- 
 pated only pleasure from the charge, and finally carried her 
 point. 
 
 " I could have wept, as on my last visit to Lake Farm, Mr. 
 Percival's residence, she half playfully, half solemnly, resigned 
 to me all her responsibilities there, at the same time assuring 
 me that nothing but her unwillingness to leave Bayard alone, 
 prevented her from carrying into operation, nearly a year be- 
 fore, this cherished plan for the benefit of her grandsons. My 
 capacity for filling her honored place at Lake Farm is not at 
 present to be put to the test, as Mr. Percival has recently been 
 elected member of Congress from this district, and we are to 
 set out for Washington immediately after the marriage cere- 
 mony. My dear father will accompany us. I could not endure 
 the thought of being separated from him ; and he, on his part, 
 seems to find pleasure in the prospect of a winter at the seat 
 of government, where I hope that the milder climate will 
 strengthen his constitution, and that the interest which he 
 already begins to feel in the debates will employ his mind 
 agreeably. You will be glad to hear that he has quite relin- 
 quished all business and pecuniary cares, and is in the enjoy- 
 ment of a contentment and serenity which it is delightful to 
 witness. Aunt Sabiah is to spend the winter with Harry and 
 Helen ; but next summer will, I trust, restore her to me ; for 
 
MABEL VAUGHAN. 505 
 
 f 
 
 I shall never relinquish my claim to this beloved member of 
 our family. It is a fortunate circumstance for us, that, after 
 half a dozen years of persevering effort, Melissa has at last 
 succeeded in bringing farmer James to the point. They were 
 married, with no little parade and ceremony, during our ab- 
 sence at Thanksgiving time, and will probably continue to 
 occupy the house and the adjacent land for as many years as 
 they see fit. 
 
 " To-morrow, therefore, will be an eventful day to us all ; a 
 day when, not I alone, but all the rest of the household, will 
 be called upon to bid farewell to that Western home, which, 
 humble as it is, has become to us a dear and honored spot, and 
 will be cherished in years to come, as the blessed haven of rest, 
 which afforded us a safe and welcome shelter from the storm of 
 adversity and trial. Blessings on its bare white walls, its plain 
 brick hearth, its low-roofed rooms ! they have taught us that 
 happiness is independent of ornament ; that contentment brings 
 joy to the humblest fireside; and that love knows no limits and 
 often expands the widest in the narrowest space. We may go 
 the world over, and view with admiration its monuments of 
 grandeur and pride ; but our grateful hearts can never forget 
 what we owe to our prairie home. 
 
 " I take great pleasure in the thought, that in the approach- 
 ing spring or summer, the claims of love and duty will probably 
 call us to New England. I shall then hope to see you once 
 more, my dear and honored friend. Meanwhile, believe me 
 now, as ever, your tenderly attached, 
 
 MABEL VAUGHAN." 
 
 Tn that hour of sweet anticipation and happy imagining, 
 fancy might well robe the future in its fairest colorings, but the 
 hope expressed in the latter clause of Mabel's letter, was, 
 nevertheless, destined to disappointment. Not many weeks 
 after the receipt of these welcome tidings from her beloved 
 pupil, Mrs. Herbert met the great summons which awaits all 
 the living, and when Mabel, at length, visited the home of her 
 childhood, it was but to weep over the grave of this early 
 
 friend. 
 
 43 
 
506 MABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 Not less vain too, was her fond trust, that change of climate 
 and scene might tend to strengthen and prolong the life of her 
 venerable parent. Mr. Vaughan's health was too much en- 
 feehled to admit of anything more than a temporary improve- 
 ment, and, although he rallied during the winter, and evidently 
 reaped both pleasure and benefit from his residence in "Wash- 
 ington, spring found him wasting under a slow disease, and 
 when summer came he was like a shock of corn fully ripe. 
 Serenely, quietly, peacefully, however, his long life drew to a 
 close; and in his daughter's beautiful Western home, sur- 
 rounded by those whom he loved, soothed by their tender 
 offices, and sustained and cheered by a calm and heavenly 
 
 hope, he gently passed away. 
 
 ********* 
 
 " Harry," said Percival, one evening when the two friends 
 were sitting on the verandah at Lake Farm, " I think I have 
 heard you say that you formerly knew Lincoln Dudley-'" 
 
 " Yes ; 1 knew him well," replied Harry ; " what of him ? " 
 
 " I saw to-day, in looking over the passenger list, that he 
 had sailed for Liverpool in the Canada. Poor fellow ! he is 
 still restlessly striving, I suppose, to get away from that worst 
 enemy himself." 
 
 " As if it were possible," responded Harry, " to break loose 
 at last from the object of nearly forty years assiduous devo- 
 tion ! Or, if he could succeed, what a void the world would 
 necessarily present to the man who never had a hope, or an 
 aim, which had not ultimate reference to his own benefit." 
 
 " I have seldom known a more complete instance of per- 
 verted and wasted powers than may be witnessed in Dudley/' 
 
 said Percival. " J , an old class-mate of his, gave Mabel 
 
 and myself, last winter, a truly pitiable account of his condi- 
 tion. It seems he has become a most wretched dyspeptic ; 
 weighs his food with scrupulous exactness, limits himself in 
 respect to exercise and fresh air. and analyzes his physical 
 symptoms with morbid accuracy. His once brilliant intellect 
 is thought to be seriously impaired, and there is every prospect 
 of his becoming a complete hypochondriac." 
 
HABEL VAUGHAN. 507 
 
 "Indeed!" exclaimed Harry; " what a melancholy picture 
 his case presents! What an object of compassion he has be- 
 come ; and what a warning ! " 
 
 " Yes," replied Percival, " there could be no more striking 
 proof of the fact, that refinement, self-culture, and polished 
 address, are worse than useless, unless accompanied by earnest 
 faith, manly purpose, and generosity of heart. Dudley was 
 at one time my father's ward, and an occasional inmate of his 
 house. I well remember the admiration which his talents and 
 accomplishments excited in me as a boy ; and I have often 
 heard my mother regret the selfishness and vanity which had 
 been early encouraged in him, and which were so fostered ic 
 succeeding years as effectually to steel him against her own 
 and my father's counsels. He is an example of a class, un- 
 fortunately too common in the world, who with the fairest pros- 
 pects before them, nevertheless make shipwreck of their own 
 fortunes, and exert an influence upon others as disastrous and 
 fatal as it is fascinating and insidious." 
 
 " How he w r ould once have ridiculed such a specimen of 
 humanity as he now presents ! " said Harry, musingly. 
 
 " Yes," said Bayard ; " but ' where fools may laugh, wise 
 
 men can only weep.' " 
 
 ******* 
 
 As if to prove the fallacy of earthly longings, and manifest 
 the mysterious working of God's providence, in less than a 
 year after Mr. Vaughan's death, the long-talked-of road to 
 which the old man's thoughts had in vain turned, as the iron- 
 bound link between his past and his preseir r ortunes, the path- 
 way to better days, the only hope for his own and his children's 
 future ceased to be the vision of soaring imaginations, and 
 became a solid reality. The schemes and plans which had 
 wearied the brain of the hoary man, and the failure of which 
 had well-nigh broken his heart, were at length brought to a 
 successful fulfilment, without the aid of his mediation ; and the 
 waste lands of the wilderness became, in time, a noble patri- 
 mony to Harry, the young Leroys, and Mabel. Not, however, 
 until Harry's good resolutions, his firm self-control, his patient 
 
508 31ABEL VAUGHAN. 
 
 industry, had been tested by years of privation and labor; not 
 until Alick and Murray, one in classical pursuits, and the other 
 in more practical studies, had won their meed of praise, nobly 
 iv.-isting the temptations of youth and laboring with the ardor 
 inspired by necessity and self-dependence; not until Mabel, 
 amid the cares which she assumed as a wife, and the responsi- 
 bilities attendant upon a new scene of action, had proved her- 
 self worthy of a man whose aims were as exalted as his life 
 was useful ; and not until her noble husband had found, amid 
 competence and frugality, a happiness to which money could 
 bring no increase, and had earned among his fellow-men a high 
 and honorable position to which wealth could add no dignity. 
 
 To follow Mabel in her after career would be to anticipate 
 the future. Her lot is but that of humanity ; and time, while it 
 serves to ripen and perfect her joys, must bring with it changes, 
 anxieties, and sorrows. It may lead her through pleasant and 
 flowery paths ; it may call her to mount the hill of difficulty, 
 and drink the bitter waters of affliction ; but may we not have 
 faith to believe, that every circumstance and every change will 
 serve to minister to her final peace, and that earth's short pil- 
 grimage will prove the pathway to an eternal rest? Yes, to 
 her, as to all who early learn life's holiest lesson, pleasure is 
 henceforth sanctified, anxiety relieved, and pain and disappoint- 
 ment robbed of their bitterest sting ; while, alike amid the sun- 
 shine and the storm, the purified heart sees God, sees Him 
 not only as the Almighty Judge, but as the Infinite Father, the 
 source whence all those sweet affections flow which illume, and 
 strengthen, and redeem the world : and seeing Him, believes 
 that all the varied dispensations of His providence are alike 
 good, since all flow from the hands of One who afflicts but in 
 mercy, who wounds but to heal, and who, amid all life's varied 
 discipline, is ever proving to the eye of Faith that His banner 
 over us is Love. 
 
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