JGstes %Lauriat
 
 3
 
 UNIFORM VOLUMES BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Published at $1.50 each. 
 
 SUMMER REST. 
 
 SKIRMISHES AND SKETCHES. 
 
 A NEW ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 S TUMBLING-BLOCKS. 
 
 GALA-DA YS. 
 
 COUNTRY LIVING AND COUNTRY THINKING. 
 
 WOOL GATHERING. 
 
 WOMAN S WRONGS. 
 
 SERMONS TO THE CLERGY. 
 
 FIRST LOVE IS BEST.
 
 FIRST LOVE IS BEST, 
 
 FV 
 
 4 Sentimental ketcn* 
 
 
 BY GAIL HAMILTON. 
 
 vJ 
 
 U 
 
 What is it all? an ancient rhyme, 
 Ten thousand times besung ; 
 
 That part of Paradise which man 
 Without the portal knows 
 
 Which hath iwen since the world began, 
 And shall be till its close." 
 
 BOSTON : 
 ESTES AND LAURIAT. 
 
 1877.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 
 
 ESTES AND LAURIAT. 
 
 1877. 
 
 Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 
 No. 19 Spring Lane.
 
 PEEF ACE. 
 
 I DESIRE to present to the novelists of whom I am a 
 constant reader and ardent admirer the most abject 
 apology for poaching on their manor. 
 
 But it is their own fault ! The hard-heartedness dis 
 played of late years by novelists towards their own crea 
 tions is such as to demand the establishment of a Society 
 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Heroes and Heroines. 
 There is nothing left for a reader of sensibility but to 
 follow the track of these luckless yet often excellent young 
 men and women, and lay out for them a happier fate than 
 the unnatural authors of their being have provided. I give 
 the novelists fair warning that without assuming ability to 
 write even their poorest novel, I assert my right to rebel 
 against their best and rescue their helpless victims. Nor 
 let any writer fancy himself to have secured immunity from 
 me by throwing a final gleam of joy over previous reams 
 of wretchedness. Years of misunderstanding, misrepre 
 sentation, and misery are hardly atoned for by the brief 
 formula : " She leaned her lovely head upon his lordly 
 shoulder and sweetly sighed, My Frederic ! 
 The End." 
 
 5
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 I confess that many otherwise idle moments have been 
 spent in these works of necessity and mercy. But the 
 present is the first one I have ever so much as thought of 
 committing to paper ; and the only excuse I have to offer 
 is the unusually aggravated, not to say impious, woes 
 heaped upon the heads of some very worthy persons at a 
 time when I happened to be spending winter weeks in a 
 climate so wooing and winning that the devout church-goer 
 had to dig through five feet of snow at his own garden- 
 gate on his way to the sanctuary, and then have the snow- 
 shovel pitched over at him when he got back, that he might 
 dig his way in through another snowbank on the same 
 spot, as exactly like the first as two peas in a pod ! If any 
 one thinks that, under similar circumstances, he can get 
 more enjoyment out of less mischief, I should like to see 
 him try it. 
 
 In further apology though no apology can lower me 
 so deep into the Valley of Humiliation as I wish to burrow 
 I will only add that my wildest aspirations originally 
 touched no more than a single chapter in some gasping 
 Magazine ; but 
 
 " Who can contend with his lords ? " 
 
 and ladies ? I thought I was but letting a few fancies stray 
 into a snowbank ; and there came out this calf! 
 
 As there is now, on this I3th April, only a foot of snow 
 under the north wall, I have no further use for him. I 
 therefore deck him with ribbons and lead him forth to 
 sacrifice a free-will offering to all who are tolerant of 
 
 veal. 
 
 G. H.
 
 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 I. 
 
 JTATIIERINE HAVILAND emerged from 
 JLV her school-days as strong as a young moose. 
 If she had lived a little later she would have 
 had more regard for the exigencies of science ; 
 but, as it was, she never in her ignorance sus 
 pected that anything ailed her, and was there 
 fore practically as well off as if nothing had 
 ailed her. This was not at all because she did 
 not violate every rule of mental and physical 
 health which the wisest experience has estab 
 lished. She took six " studies " and held them 
 all well in hand, and read Butler s " Hudibras " 
 hidden under her " Corinne," while the rest of 
 the class were stumbling through their transla 
 tion, always keeping sufficiently on the watch 
 to be ready when her own turn should come. 
 She learned no art and no science thoroughly 
 except the art of concentrated attention, and 
 
 7
 
 8 FIRST LOVE IS EST. 
 
 that she mastered by learning each lesson per 
 fectly, and that she did not from principle but 
 from instinct. 
 
 Because she was an ignoramus, she got up at 
 three o clock in the morning to study ; but be 
 cause, with all her ignorance, she had common 
 sense, she soon saw that nothing was to be 
 gained by this, and gave it up of her own ac 
 cord, instead of having it put into her obituary 
 like a simpleton, or prohibited her by written 
 law. She ate cake and candy and mince-pie, 
 not inordinately, but whenever it came in her 
 way, and, if she thought of it in season on 
 Saturday night, always laid in sufficient store of 
 nuts and figs to carry her over Sunday; and 
 whenever a box was expected from home, was 
 careful to enjoin the senders by mail to BE SURE 
 and put in a jar of PICKLES. For a day or two 
 afterwards, half a dozen girls might be seen 
 through silent study hours hunting up Latin 
 definitions in a big dictionary with one hand, 
 and brandishing a cracker and pickle in the 
 other. She took no regular exercise whatever, 
 except possibly jumping down stairs five at a 
 time when no teacher was by, and running off 
 blushing and shamefaced if she were caught in 
 the act. Gymnastics there were none in the 
 school, and calisthenics she could not abide, and 
 begged off on the most barefaced pretext ; but 
 sometimes, when the mood took her, she would
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 9 
 
 wander away with two or three friends over the 
 hills, and across the rocks, and into the swamps, 
 on the wildest ten-mile tramp, without path or 
 guide, declaiming Byron, and conjecturing all 
 sorts of astronomical fancies and mid-earth 
 myths, and come home late to supper, and 
 assure her alarmed teachers that she had not the 
 least idea it was so late, nor how far or where 
 she had been, but she had had a glorious time ! 
 and then would she fall to on her bread and 
 butter, or brown brewis, with the appetite of a 
 Wantley dragon. She did not hate her teachers 
 or play tricks upon them, but for the most part 
 loved them devotedly, admired them with en 
 thusiasm, and had no higher ambition than to 
 become a teacher herself. Flirtation never en 
 tered her heart or mind ; the butcher s boy, and 
 the green-grocer s son, and the slim, trim little 
 dry-goods clerk, and similar available beaux, she 
 no more thought of as belonging to her world, 
 or as human beings, than she did of the ram 
 pant, painted Indian that stood forever prof 
 fering his huge bunch of wooden cigars at the 
 druggist s door. She had indeed her dreams of 
 a future, in which love and knighthood loomed 
 heroic and alluring, but these dreams were vague 
 and far off. For the present, she had a grand 
 passion for Macaulay. She took sides strongly 
 against successful and selfish JEneas, and gave 
 all her sympathy to war-worn and love-lorn,
 
 10 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 brave, beaten Turnus. She was alive and alert 
 in all great causes, in all warring nations, though 
 they had been dead for centuries. She browsed 
 in the library among all the old English Reviews 
 and all the cloudy German poetry. She read 
 " Jane Eyre," and was led captive, and saw no 
 badness in it ; and lay on the bed and talked it 
 over with her most intimate friend, who had 
 read it with her, chapter after chapter ; and 
 entered into a mutual vow that she never would 
 read it with any other person except the man 
 she should be engaged to marry, believing 
 that to be the deepest mark of confidence it 
 would be possible to show that remote and con 
 tingent, but unparalleled hero. 
 
 So, then, as I have intimated, my Katherine 
 left school, knowing nothing of any consequence, 
 endowed only with the much-deprecated smat 
 tering of many sciences and many tongues, but 
 with a power of close and continued application, 
 with an ability and a will to accomplish results, 
 with a knowledge of the difference between 
 mastery and feeble attempt, with an enthusiasm 
 for letters and science, with an eager love of life 
 and activity, fearless, careless, honest, high 
 hearted, and of exuberant health ! 
 
 Have I lingered too long? That is because I 
 love her so. And I love the class to which she 
 belongs ; and I do not gladly see them spoiled, 
 by over-much interfering, into self-inspection
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. H 
 
 and self-absorption. Katherine came out of her 
 school-room brave and buoyant, not because she 
 had done the wisest thing, still less because she 
 had done many unwise ones ; but because she 
 was of sturdy stock that never meddled with its 
 functions and never knew it had any ; that sel 
 dom talked or thought of duty or principle, but 
 simply did the thing that ought to be done, 
 through an upright instinct developed by gen 
 erations of honorable ancestry ; because she had 
 lived a free, natural life, in which inclination 
 alone compelled exercise, and health and happi 
 ness wrought unconsciousness, and left ample room 
 and verge enough for all the mistakes a well- 
 brought-up girl of good family is likely to make. 
 
 And if the new gospel of girlhood is to pre 
 vail ; if the reticence, the delicacy, and the dig 
 nity of nature are to be coldly and coarsely 
 violated in the name of science ; if girls are to 
 be held up before the public gaze to be dis 
 cussed, and dissected, and vivisected, analyzed 
 and anatomized, cosseted and coddled to keep 
 breath in their lungs and blood in their veins, 
 the puny wretches might as well die out alto 
 gether and make an end of it. 
 
 At least, this is what Katherine says, glancing 
 around with careless pride upon her own romp 
 ing girl and lusty boys, and aglow with the un- 
 marred, mantling modesty of her own pure 
 maidenhood and matronhood.
 
 12 FIRST LOVE IS EEST. 
 
 But this is later. 
 
 Thus it befell Katheriue in the days of her 
 novitiate. She was filled with great thoughts, 
 and meant to do great things. Chiefly her aspi 
 ration took the rather unromantic, the decidedly 
 prosaic form of establishing a school. It should 
 be a school founded on a unique system ; a 
 school in which mere continuance should be a 
 certificate equal to the diploma in other schools. 
 Fresh from the impatience of her own enforced 
 delaying, she decreed that in her school, stupid 
 girls, dull girls, girls who were slow and stum 
 bling in recitation, who made ridiculous, literal 
 translations, and blundered and cried over prob 
 lems, and professed a profound indifference as to 
 whether or not the stars were inhabited, these 
 girls should be turned out of school instantly, 
 though they were saints, and models of de 
 meanor. There should be no rules and no pun 
 ishments, but the bright, alert, conquering girls 
 should stay, and the dull girls should go, on the 
 first symptom of dulness, and then we should 
 see what girls could do ! 
 
 " But, Katy," would meekly murmur Mr. Hav- 
 iland, venturing a mild remonstrance to this 
 brilliant young priestess of the future, "is not 
 this rather branding a weakness as a disgrace ? 
 Is it not punishing a trait ? " 
 
 " It is only following the Vestiges of Crea 
 tion, " would Kate reply, airily. " I do not
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 13 
 
 make them stupid. I only recognize stupidity, 
 and accommodate myself to it." 
 
 " By turning it out, neck and heels." 
 
 "Just as you would do, father, if your life 
 had been worn out of you, hearing girls try to 
 remember a theorem instead of getting hold 
 of it." 
 
 k< Are not they the very ones who need teach 
 ing ? Those who can get hold of it may be let 
 alone." 
 
 " O, there are plenty of schools for them al 
 ready ; and there is not one where a girl can go 
 ahead as fast as she wishes to ; and there won t 
 be till I set it up." 
 
 " And when will that be ? " 
 
 " O, when my trunks are unpacked, and the 
 garret is sorted, and I have made a visit or two, 
 and have had a mound built in the garden, and 
 been to Niagara and the Mammoth Cave. One 
 wants some experience before starting a school." 
 
 " I hope you mean to start it in the neighbor 
 hood, Katy." 
 
 " Not at all. I should never be anything here 
 but Kitty Haviland. Every one would prophesy 
 failure, and I should not be able to impose upon 
 people enough to make them think me dignified. 
 I must go far away, where I have never been 
 heard of. Then I shall be stately. I shall be 
 Miss Haviland. I wish it could be Madame 
 Haviland. I am sure that would strike awe into
 
 14 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 the beholder. But I suppose Madame would 
 not do ; " with a little sigh. 
 
 " I think Madame would do beautifully," says 
 a chance, and, it is needless to add, a male inter 
 locutor ; " but I question if the Haviland would 
 be equally acceptable." 
 
 " If I were Katherine Haviland, I should lay 
 out something else than a school for my course 
 in life," Martha Midkins would say, in response 
 to Katherine s enthusiastic educational plots. 
 Martha was the daughter of Mr. Haviland s good 
 old housekeeper, and a few years older than 
 Katherine. She had been an industrious and 
 faithful pupil of the district school, and had 
 made the most of her opportunities. She was 
 an affectionate creature, with a taste for poetry 
 and melancholy, foredoomed to martyrdom. She 
 had mind and education enough to be unhappy 
 in her lowly circumstances, but not enough to 
 lift her out of them. She was sufficiently accom 
 plished to talk with considerable correctness and 
 a certain precision, but the courage of her gram 
 mar she never attained. 
 
 " Why should not I school it, I should like to 
 know?" cried Katherine, mounting her high 
 horse instantly on suspicion that her ability was 
 called in question. 
 
 " Because the dreams of ambition can never 
 give such lasting happiness as the sweets of 
 domestic life."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 15 
 
 " Well," said Kate, rather descending from her 
 altitude, and quite unaware that she had been 
 cherishing dreams of ambition, " I don t intend 
 to murder all my relations before getting out 
 my prospectus." 
 
 " I am hardly adequate to criticise your syn 
 tax, but is it not a provincialism to preface a 
 remark with well ? " 
 
 " Very likely. But I am a provincial myself, 
 so it is all in character." 
 
 " But ought not one to assist in erasing little 
 superfluities of that sort rather than aggravate 
 them?" 
 
 " I don t consider well a superfluity. It is 
 an expression of acquiescence in the existing 
 order of things means that you don t fly out 
 against fate. All is well. You had better say it 
 yourself, Martha, and stand by it, and not flout 
 at my school." 
 
 " I should not flout at it if it were necessary 
 to enable you to obtain a livelihood. But with 
 a parent ever ready to respond to your slightest 
 wish, you will need only to accept happiness, and 
 where will you find it so rich and inexhaustible 
 as in the sweet, safe corner of the household fire, 
 behind the heads of children ? " 
 
 " Yes, a hundred and fifty of them. We had 
 a hundred and twenty-five at school, but I expect 
 there will be a rush when I show the true 
 capabilities of girls, Miss Midkins ! "
 
 16 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " The true capability of a girl is to give her 
 hand with her heart in it to a noble, true man, 
 who will sympathize with her in joy and sorrow, 
 and protect her in all the storms of life." 
 
 " Horribly tame, Martha. Storms are fun if you 
 don t have on your best clothes. I like them." 
 
 " And no doubt your strong woman s heart 
 would be a staff of strength to the object of your 
 devoted love. That is your present and highest 
 mission, I am sure." 
 
 " Don t you believe it, Martha Midkins. My 
 woman s heart is not going to hobble along after 
 a man who can t go alone." 
 
 " Ah, Kate, you laugh ; but you will yet find 
 yourself under the strong necessity of loving. 
 And then your school will be but a bruised reed 
 to lean on." 
 
 " But dont I love fifty people already? I am 
 tired to death of loving now, and long for some 
 body to hate. You could not recommend any 
 body, could you, that wants to be soundly 
 drubbed?" 
 
 " Ah, Kate, youth and beauty are defiant ; but 
 the time will come when you will want a loving 
 breast to lean on, and a strong arm to encircle 
 you, and then you will learn that general love 
 can never satisfy a void and aching heart." 
 
 But Martha went away from Katherine to 
 sprinkle and fold the clothes, which she did care 
 fully and cheerfully. It was the gay and happy
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 17 
 
 Kate who sat down in the sunshine and emitted 
 the following dismal 
 
 WAIL. 
 
 " Moaning, sobbing, howling, shrieking, 
 
 Sweeps the night-wind by ; 
 Fearful wailings, fierce contendings 
 
 In the wrathful sky. 
 But within, the fire-light reckless 
 
 Of the wreathing snow, 
 Flickereth, danceth, leapeth, setteth 
 
 All the room aglow. 
 
 " Yet in vain the airy prancing 
 
 Of the rosy light; 
 Vain to keep the brooding shadows 
 
 Off my heart to-night ; 
 Heeding nevermore the beauty 
 
 Which it loveth best, 
 But the writhings of the storm-god 
 
 In his wild unrest. 
 
 " So my soul takes up the dirge, 
 
 And my eyes arc dimmed, 
 Thinking of the hopes that flourished 
 
 When life s cup was brimmed ; 
 Thinking of the dew-wet garlands 
 
 That entwined my brow ; 
 Thinking of the desolation 
 
 That enshrouds it now. 
 
 " O, the bliss, the thrill, the madness, 
 
 Of my early dreaming ! 
 O, the brilliance of that sunshine, 
 
 O er my pathway streaming ! 
 O, the weary, hopeless aching, 
 
 O, the dull, hard sorrow, 
 Shrouding the relentless present, 
 
 Shadowing the morrow ! 
 
 " In yon village churchyard resteth 
 Many a weary sleeper, 
 
 2
 
 18 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 BuJ my heart outnumbereth all, 
 
 And its graves are deeper. 
 They shall yet with life immortal 
 
 Up to glory soar, 
 Glide my buried through death s portal, 
 
 Never, never more. 
 
 " And on, still on the great world goeth, 
 
 Sparing not my pain ; 
 Trampling on my quivering heart-strings 
 
 With a calm disdain.: 
 Mocking all my fairy fancies, 
 
 Scorning my appealing ; 
 Heartless to my agony, 
 
 For its stern revealing. 
 
 " And is this life ? O God in heaven, 
 
 Hear my earnest prayer, 
 In the darkness lost, bewildered, 
 Groping cveiy " 
 
 How long tliis liowl would have lasted, we can 
 only conjecture, for at this moment Kate was 
 startled by the alarm-cry of her favorite hen, 
 mother and foster-mother to a brood of fifteen 
 tiny chicks ; and Katherine, with a premonition 
 of hawks, rushed down into the yard, brandish 
 ing her arms, and uttering high-pitched trills, to 
 scare away that bird of prey ; and her poem 
 was consigned to the limbo of Lost Arts, where 
 it remains to this day. But even from its 
 fragmentary, though long drawn-out bitterness, 
 we can see to what straits the happy heart is 
 reduced in order to exercise its power of suffer 
 ing, and what very bad verses a girl may write 
 without being a very bad girl.
 
 II. 
 
 AS time went on, Katherine s school retreated 
 farther and farther into the future, and the 
 farther it went the less persistently and win- 
 somely it beckoned to her. Her life was so full, 
 calls upon her time, her ingenuity, her sympathy, 
 were so many, that she seemed to have neither 
 space nor leisure for a plan. Even her Latin 
 and German studies slipped away from her, and 
 the stars and the under-world were left very 
 much to themselves, while she became absorbed 
 in the concerns of this world. 
 
 So much absorbed that a footstep on the 
 threshold quite startled her. She looked up, 
 however, to behold only the very honest face 
 of a neighbor, Mr. Glynn. To be sure, Kitty 
 would quite as soon have been left alone to her 
 own busy, happy thoughts ; but Mr. Glynn s 
 look was so hearty and cheery that she flung 
 open the wire doors and welcomed him in, at 
 first with politeness, and then with real hospi 
 tality. 
 
 19
 
 20 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 t 
 
 "Have you just come from the city, Mr. 
 Glynn?" 
 
 " Yes; I have not even been home." 
 
 " Did not my father come down in the train 
 with you ? " 
 
 " No ; I saw him half an hour before I left, 
 and he begged me to call and say to you that he 
 should not be able to come until the late train, 
 and then he would like you to send Donald to 
 the station for him." 
 
 " You may say to the gentleman that you 
 delivered his message faithfully, but that I de 
 clined to comply, and insisted on going myself." 
 
 " But I shall add that, foreseeing this insur 
 rection, I forestalled it on the way up by deter 
 mining to take Miss Katherine for a drive, and 
 bringing her father from the station at the end 
 of it." 
 
 " O," replied Katherine, joyfully, " that would 
 be delightful. Go immediately home. Go at once, 
 and get your supper, that we may lose no time." 
 
 "Does it not occur to you, Miss Haviland, 
 that it would be more hospitable in you, and 
 more comfortable for me, to invite me cordially 
 to stop and take tea with you ? " 
 
 " There is no tea to take, Mr. Glynn. There 
 is only coffee and cold meat, which my father 
 likes after a day in town. And as for the bis 
 cuit, they are a sight to behold ; I made them 
 myself."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 21 
 
 " The biscuit, I doubt not, are a great success." 
 
 " No ; but they are a yery brilliant failure. 
 Because there is absolutely no doubt about them. 
 You do not labor under the disadvantage of 
 eating them with misgiving. You cannot eat 
 them at all. Even Towser howled at beholding 
 them." 
 
 " But you have a cracker or two in the house?" 
 
 " I cannot deny that." 
 
 " And you will make me one little cup of tea ? " 
 
 "Why, yes, I suppose if I must I must. But 
 I wanted you to go home and get the ponies. 
 It does not suit me to drive with one horse." 
 
 " I have often seen you driving with one 
 horse." 
 
 "That is my own. But what is the good of 
 having rich neighbors if you cannot drive all 
 their horses at once ? Let ine hereafter only 
 associate with paupers." 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! I will tell Andrew to drive 
 home and bring the ponies." 
 
 A little later, Mr. Glynn glowered about him 
 savagely as he was invited out to tea on the back 
 piazza. 
 
 " Is this what my friend Haviland is daily 
 doomed to?" 
 
 "No," said Katherine. "In snow-storms we 
 always eat in the house." 
 
 " Is not the sky a little threatening ? Or sup 
 pose we sup at my house on our return. I shall
 
 22 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 be sure to upset these little tables, and not a 
 chair here is strong enough to hold me." 
 
 " Of all forms of pride," observed Katherine, 
 pouring tea from an odd and ugly little Japanese 
 teapot into an equally odd and ugly little flat 
 Chinese teacup, " of all forms of pride, I have 
 ever observed that pride of wealth is most offen 
 sive. Pride of birth presupposes merit in your 
 ancestors. Pride of power implies merit in 
 yourself. But pride of money ! " And Katy 
 handed the tea with an air of ineffable disdain, 
 but with a smile that took all the sting out of it. 
 
 Mr. Glynn received the tea in one hand, and 
 tested the stoutest chair with the other. " It is 
 tempting fate," he said, seating himself dubi 
 ously ; " but they do very well for you." 
 
 Indeed they did. The tables were anything 
 but safe, for the slightest push would have sent 
 them over; but they were small and bright with 
 their dainty burdens, and the honeysuckle and 
 roses, and the soft sky, and the gay, green gar 
 den, and the smiling, fresh, happy, young girl 
 were certainly very winsome. Mr. Glynn might 
 bemoan himself for pitfalls which beset him, but 
 he took in the loveliness of it all the same. 
 
 " If only you w"0uld stay just as you are, with 
 all this trumpery, and let me go in and eat like 
 a Christian off the dining-room table, and look 
 at you through the window, it would be per 
 fect."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 23 
 
 "It is perfect as it is," said Kitty, compos 
 edly. "You cannot help being a man." 
 
 "Why, what has that to do with it?" replied 
 Mr. Glynn. 
 
 "Only that being a man prevents you from 
 adding to the picturesqueness. Being a man, 
 you can have no lines and no colors. Being a 
 man" and she scanned him circumspectly 
 " you must be gray and grewsome. You do not 
 blend. There is always a certain immovability 
 about a man, a sort of obstinate, protruding 
 selfhood that makes it difficult to harmonize 
 him with a landscape. Still, it is an estate not 
 without its advantages." 
 
 " Thank you, ma am," said Mr. Glynn, hum 
 bly. " If you would be good enough to pass me 
 your table, I would like another of your minute 
 bits of chicken. If I were a humming-bird, I 
 think your carving would suit me exactly. But 
 of all forms of pride, pride of beauty seems to 
 me the most " 
 
 " There are the ponies ! " cried Kitty. " O, the 
 beauties ! O, who would not be proud of such 
 beauty ? Mr. Glynn, there are a great many 
 chickens in the larder; you will have time to 
 eat them all while I am putting on my boots. 
 If you will excuse me " and she left him un 
 ceremoniously to feel his way as best he could 
 among the uncertain toy tables and the doll 
 morsels. He contrived, however, to make a
 
 24 FIRST LOVE IS ZEST. 
 
 very substantial repast; and when he finally 
 arose, behold, Miss Katherine was safely be 
 stowed in the wagon, awaiting his advent, and 
 chatting learnedly on horses with Andrew. Mr. 
 Glynn smilingly took his seat, gathered the lines 
 into his grasp, and away they flew over the hard, 
 winding roads, under the greenwood trees and 
 out again into the brilliant western sunshine. 
 
 "Well," said Mr. Glynn, when they had 
 bowled along some two or three miles without 
 uttering a word, " w r hat have you to say ? " 
 
 "Nothing just nothing," said Katy, with 
 sparkling eyes and glowing cheeks, and clasped 
 hands of intense enjoyment. 
 
 " Nothing ? Then I shall pull up to a soberer 
 gait. I want to hear you talk." 
 
 " O, one can talk any time ; but this is just 
 scorning the earth. It is power. It is tram 
 pling all things under your feet. O, Mr. Glynn, 
 does it not make you feel strong and brave and 
 and overpoAvering ? Does it not seem to 
 you now that you could do anything ? " 
 
 "No, Miss Kitty, it does not. At this mo 
 ment I feel myself the most arrant coward upon 
 earth." 
 
 " That is because you have come down from 
 that splendid, all-conquering gait, and are just 
 trotting mildly along in a subdued sort of way." 
 
 " Which you do not like ? 
 
 " O, yes ; this, too, is charming, but in a dif-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 25 
 
 ferent way. It is delicious and tranquil. See 
 how loosely the lines lie. The ponies go of 
 themselves. All the evening softness sinks into 
 me. Those workmen in the fields yonder are a 
 part of the dream of tree and sky. We are all 
 alone in the world. And this is the whole 
 world, and all the universe. Mr. Glynn, are 
 you so very, very rich ? " 
 
 Why yes no," said Mr. Glynn, laughing 
 at the rapid transition ; "rich perhaps, very rich, 
 possibly ; but when it comes to the very, very 
 rich, I think I must draw back." 
 
 "Is it not delightful, Mr. Glynn? " 
 
 "It is very comfortable, Miss Katherine. I 
 never did have a taste for crusts and curb 
 stones." 
 
 " No, I do not mean that ; but the command 
 it gives you over time, and space, and earth, and 
 air. Now, we are rich enough for comfort and 
 independence, my father and I. We do not 
 have anxiety for the morrow, and we do not 
 have hard, grinding, disagreeable work to do. 
 But we have not had a new, nice, out-and-out 
 carpet since I can remember ; and the house is 
 only painted once in a generation ; and my turn 
 has not come yet; and the horses stiffen their 
 bones with working ; and such a pair of horses 
 and carriage as this would take a very generous 
 slice out of our income, if not the income 
 itself, and are not to be dreamed of, even in a
 
 26 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 delirium. Not that I am complaining, you un 
 derstand," said Kitty, arching her neck as indig 
 nantly as if she had been suddenly accused. 
 
 "Not at all," Mr. Glynn hastened to assure 
 her, being forewarned. 
 
 " It is only that I was thinking how powerful 
 money is a great deal of money. I am very 
 happy as it is, but to have oceans of money, that 
 would be brilliant I Still, I really do not care." 
 
 " No, indeed, Miss Kitty. Money is extremely 
 convenient. I am not the man to speak ill of it ; 
 but there is so much that it cannot bring, that 
 sometimes it seems worse than worthless, a 
 mockery." 
 
 " And, after all," continued Katherine, bent on 
 self-consolation, " what it brings is not the best 
 things." 
 
 " Very far from it." 
 
 " But if you have the best things, then money 
 comes in very handsomely for the setting." 
 
 " What do you mean by best things? " 
 
 " O, I mean strength, and nerve, and will, the 
 power to be grand. I don t mean simply to be 
 good, though of course that is in it ; but corn- 
 manding goodness." 
 
 " Nothing else ? Friends, for instance ? " 
 
 "Yes, indeed; but we always have friends. 
 Besides, friends are not really necessary." 
 
 " Is that flattering ? " 
 
 " Ver}- pleasant, but not absolutely essential.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 27 
 
 You can fancy that it would be possible to be 
 very happy, inwardly and exultantly happy, 
 though you had estranged all your friends, if you 
 could feel that you had done it for some great 
 and adequate cause. But no love of friends 
 could give you the least satisfaction, if you felt 
 that you had sacrificed to it your integrity, your 
 heroism. So I say that friends are pleasant, but 
 not necessary." 
 
 " Katy, you are a friend not only pleasant, but 
 necessary." 
 
 The words were nothing. Katherine could 
 have returned fire a hundred times, but there 
 was a pause preceding them, and they were 
 uttered in a constrained and muffled voice that 
 gave them an intensity which silenced and 
 shocked her. She sat still in a cold tremor 
 of wonder and waiting. 
 
 " What my money will not give me, Katy, is 
 you. Will anything give me you ? " 
 
 And still Katy was stunned into throbbing 
 speechlessness. 
 
 " Katy," he went on, a little more clearly, since 
 she was clearly not mistress of the situation, 
 " all that I have I would give to be able to tell 
 you how I love you. Because, if I could tell 
 you that, if I could make you see it, I think you 
 would love me a little in return, I think you 
 could not turn wholly away from me." 
 
 "O, please don t, Mr. Glynn! Pray, pray
 
 28 FIRST LOVE IS JBEST. 
 
 don t ! " cried Katy, wildly, as soon as her yoice 
 could find way. 
 
 " Must I not ? " 
 
 " No, indeed ! " 
 
 " Am I then so disagreeable ? " 
 
 "No, indeed. Not at all. But it is so un 
 natural. I never thought of such a thing." 
 
 " Why is it unnatural ? " 
 
 " O, I cannot tell. It turns the world upside 
 down. I do not like to think of it. Please let 
 us forget all about it." 
 
 " Miss Kitty," said Mr. Glynn, after a pause, 
 " I do not mean to distress you, and if you will 
 let me say a few words more, perhaps we can 
 then forget all about it. But if you force me to 
 stop here, it will be impossible to forget. Will 
 you not trust me enough, have you not friend 
 ship enough for me, to hear me ? 
 
 Katy moaned a feeble assent. 
 
 " Will you not, then, Katy," sweeping into her 
 assent a little more than his question contained, 
 " will you not tell me just how you feel towards 
 me?" 
 
 " I don t feel at all," said Katy, with uncom 
 plimentary frankness; but she was too much 
 startled to disguise the truth. " I never thought 
 about you at all, that way." 
 
 "But now that you do think of it, do you 
 hate me, and despise me, and shudder away from 
 me?"
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 29 
 
 "No not if you will never mention this 
 again." 
 
 "But suppose I will not promise never to 
 mention it again? Suppose I will not mention 
 it for six months ? Will you promise to think it 
 over? " 
 
 " O, no, no, no, no. I never can think of it. 
 It never must be thought of. It would spoil all 
 my happiness and pleasure. O, Mr. Glynn, we 
 have liked you so much, and it has all been so 
 pleasant. It was perfect. You were just as nice 
 as nobody. And now it will spoil all. O, why 
 did you spoil everything ? " cried Katy, tower 
 ing out of her amazement into wrath at this 
 unlooked-for invasion of her domestic tran 
 quillity, this unparalleled outrage upon her most 
 sacred rights. 
 
 Poor Mr. Glynn had thought that he had made 
 up his mind for every form of rejection, and was 
 fortified at all points ; yet, after all, he found 
 himself taken by surprise, for he had not expect 
 ed to be scolded. And indeed, it must be 
 admitted that, though a proposal of marriage 
 from a respectable and responsible gentleman 
 may be declined by a young woman, it is not 
 usually considered a flagrant offence against 
 propriety. 
 
 " But, Katy," said Mr. Glynn, gently, " noth 
 ing need be spoiled. If it was nice and pleasant 
 before, it can still be pleasant, even if it never
 
 30 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 can be anything more. You will not shut the 
 door against me ? " 
 
 " But it never will be the same again. You 
 will be thinking something. I know you will 
 be thinking something," said Kate, viciously. 
 
 "And, Katy, if I really have been nice and 
 pleasant to you, why " 
 
 "You are thinking it now! after what I 
 said. O, Mr. Glynn, I have lost you. There is 
 no use. Let us go home." 
 
 " Let me talk to you a little, Katy. I will not 
 tease you about this. I will not urge you or 
 worry you ; but let me speak as if it were some 
 other persons than you and I. This all comes 
 suddenly to you, Katy. I suppose I have made 
 a very awkward bungle of it all. Perhaps that 
 made no difference. But there has never been a 
 day since I first knew you, when you were a 
 little toddling baby, and I a great lonely, bash 
 ful, awkward boy, that you have not been the 
 dearest and sweetest and heavenliest thing in 
 my life." 
 
 A great pang tore Katherine s heart, but she 
 said nothing. 
 
 " Can t you tell me what it is that makes me 
 repugnant to you ? " 
 
 " O, you are not repugnant at all," groaned 
 Katy, in despair at being able ever to make him 
 understand. " You are not repugnant, only 
 indifferent."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 31 
 
 The poor man may have winced inwardly, 
 but he gave no sign. 
 
 " You mean that you do not care about me one 
 way or the other ? " 
 
 "In the way that you mean yes. I have 
 always liked you as you are well enough a 
 good deal." 
 
 " Why, then, does it seem so impossible to you 
 that your liking should ever grow into anything 
 else ? You have never O, Katy, forgive me 
 but I have so much at stake. Do you love 
 any one else?" 
 
 " No, indeed! " said Katherine, as energetically 
 as if she were repelling an unjust accusation. 
 " I have never seen any one ; " dismissing with 
 a superb, unconscious scorn, a tolerably large 
 circle of male acquaintances. 
 
 " You have seen a good many people ? " 
 
 " None of any account," said Katy, tranquilly ; 
 " no one that was worth while. Still, I know 
 exactly what he would be." Then she blushed, 
 and that somehow encouraged her lover. 
 
 " And you think I never could become that ? " 
 
 " O, no ; you are " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Nothing bad at all ; only " 
 
 " Only what ? " 
 
 "O, why do you make me say things I don t 
 want to say, and ought not to say, and it is 
 brutal to say ? "
 
 32 FTRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 "Because, Katy, I want to know everything 
 that is in your mind. What am I that you can 
 not get over ? " 
 
 Katy looked up into his face, and away across 
 the fields, and down upon her helpless hands, 
 and wished sorely that the horses would run 
 away, or the wagon break down; but nothing 
 of the sort happened, and still lie waited for an 
 answer, and in a sort of remorseful desperation 
 she faltered out, 
 
 " Only just commonplace" 
 
 He stared at her. 
 
 "Not for a neighbor, you know," pursued 
 Katy, rather incoherently ; " or your father s 
 friend or or a husband somebody else s 
 but, O, just think of giving up all your 
 dreams for a banker that you have known 
 as long as you can remember ! " 
 
 The response to this dreadful revelation was a 
 downright hearty laugh very inappropriate to 
 a discarded lover ; but what can you expect in a 
 banker ? 
 
 " You dear little puss," said that common 
 place, good-natured man. 
 
 " Why ! " ejaculated Katherine, somewhat 
 amazed and discomfited, " I thought you would 
 feel badly." 
 
 " Not at all. I am a banker. Why should I 
 try to blink it out of sight. If you had dis 
 approved of a burglar, now, perhaps I should 
 have had something to say."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 33 
 
 " You are laughing at me," said Katy, ruefully. 
 
 " Partly, perhaps, but partly also because I am 
 glad it is no worse." 
 
 " It is just as bad as it can be, now. It would 
 not be any worse if it were worse," said Katy, 
 lucidly. 
 
 " Katy," he continued, when they had gone 
 on for some time in silence, "you don t want 
 to be teased, and I have promised not to tease 
 you. Let me speak this once and make an 
 end of it. I love you. That is the beginning, 
 and the middle, and the end, and that never can 
 be changed. But I cannot dragoon you into 
 loving me. Let everything be just as it was 
 before. Do not be embarrassed. Do not be 
 afraid to be just as free and friendly as you have 
 always been. I will not misunderstand you. I 
 promise you to take no advantage of it. Order 
 me, use me, scold me, be kind to me as you have 
 always been ; but let me stay near you, and be 
 still your neighbor and friend. And by friend, 
 Katy, I mean such a friend as never was a 
 friend who will give you everything, more than 
 friendship, and will ask for nothing again. Will 
 you remember, Katy, that here is a man who 
 loves you, and to whom, since you cannot love 
 him, the greatest happiness you can give is 
 the opportunity of serving you? Count just as 
 confidently on me as if I were to you all that 
 you are to me. Will you do that, Katy?" 
 3
 
 34 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Why if I can yes, Mr. Glynn ; but you 
 are very generous." 
 
 " I am not generous at all, only selfish. I 
 want to save myself from an utterly dreary life, 
 that is all. Don t say, If you can, Katy. Say 
 that you will. I have great faith in your word." 
 
 " I don t know that I quite understand." 
 
 " If you and your father were in any trouble, 
 had been before to-day, would you not have 
 come to me first?" 
 
 " Yes, certainly. That is, he would." 
 
 " Do just the same now. And when you are 
 not in trouble always be just the same as 
 you have been. Forget all that I have said, and 
 let us be on the same footing as yesterday, ex 
 cept that you know now what you did not 
 know then that all my life and soul are in 
 you, and that my happiness is in your friend 
 ship. Friendship, mind, is all I ask." 
 
 And Katy so little appreciated, and so little 
 deserved the generous love of a sincere, if some 
 what limited nature, that she could go home and 
 tear his passion to tatters this way : 
 
 "ANSWERED. . 
 
 " Gold, and gear, and princely birthright, take the gilded trum 
 pery up ! 
 
 Life may bring me gall and wormwood, but I scorn your hon 
 eyed cup. 
 
 Meekness lends its graceful semblance as you come with bended 
 knee, 
 
 But I read your inmost soul, and I know its mockery.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 35 
 
 " Ha ! your white hand, diamond-flashing, it would clasp my hand, 
 
 forsooth ! 
 
 You would condescend to give your name in barter for my youth. 
 At your footstool I should grateful lay my eager spirit down, 
 You would stoop and place the jewel somewhat kindly in your 
 
 crown ! 
 
 " Long the doubt has been, and bitter was the trial to your pride. 
 Should you through those grand old portals lead a nameless, 
 
 dowcrless bride ? 
 
 Should the blood to you transmitted in a pure, untainted flow, 
 Through a thousand generations, now a base admixture know ? 
 
 " Up rose love and showed the maiden, as you saw her day by day, 
 How the magic of her presence wrought red gold of coarsest clay, 
 How her grateful love would halo with its warmth your calm, 
 
 cold life, 
 And her gracious service be the guerdon that you called her wife ! 
 
 " So you breathed a requiescat to the dead within their graves. 
 Blood is strong, but love is stronger; blood claims service, love 
 
 makes slaves. 
 
 Thus with smiling self-excuse far flung back my garden-gate, 
 Soothing Pride s Cerberean mouths with the home-made sop 
 
 of Fate. 
 
 "Listen ! When we stood last evening underneath the apple-tree, 
 And you, in your self-complacence, dared to speak those word? 
 
 to me, 
 
 Dared invade my tropic summer with your pale and nerveless cold, 
 Dared to set your tawdry tinsel off against my beaten gold ; 
 
 " Though my heart flamed out in passion fit to scathe you where 
 
 you stood, 
 
 Flinging up your puny soul blindly to my womanhood, 
 Yet I spared you, for the past s sake, thinking it were better so, 
 Bade my white lips hide their scorning, and breathe back a 
 
 kindly No. 
 
 "Fool ! that would not be enlightened by the simple words I spoke, 
 For the threefold brazen armor of your pride turned back the 
 stroke,
 
 36 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 But must goad my slender patience with your weak essays to win, 
 Though I stab you to the heart, shall my soul be free of sin ! 
 
 "Listen! Were you humblest ploughboy, horny hands em 
 browned with toil, 
 
 Scanty life for soul and body wresting from a surly soil, 
 And an honest heart had proffered, with its holy deeps all stirred, 
 Baby-breath had not been softer than my sorely smiting word. 
 
 "Wherefore prate of summer mornings, musical with laugh and 
 
 song ? 
 
 Do not airs from Trovatore make a summer day less long ? 
 llippling laughter in the pauses was it never heard before ? 
 Did I blush and smile for you, sir ? So I did for twenty more ! 
 
 " But in singing, did I ever sing my mother s songs to you ? 
 Did a silver silence ever fall upon us with the dew ? 
 Did we ever wander vaguely from the common ways of speech, 
 Or the soul scale higher summits than the lips essayed to reach ? 
 
 " If I frolic in the garden with my keen-eyed pointer here, 
 Docs it justify his claiming to be recognized my peer ? 
 Oil the banners of my jesting, to all common eyes unfurled, 
 Shall be read the Open Sesame to my divinest world ? 
 
 " Faith, born of self-adulation, holds in store but inward smart, 
 You could move me, but not sway me while my time, not touch 
 
 my heart. 
 
 If, in your blind ego-worship, some dim phantom passed before you, 
 Must I vindicate my womanhood by kneeling to adore you ? 
 
 " Go your way. The world is wider than that you and I should tend 
 With unequal steps discordant, down one pathway to the end. 
 Leave me, if so be the silence soothe me to a calmer state ; 
 Leave me, lest, with petty urgencc, my indifference change to hate. 
 
 "June s fresh roses, bloom above me ! Bud and blossom, hide my 
 
 pain ! 
 
 Murmuring music, lull my senses ! Subtile odors, pierce my brain 
 0, to sleep a hundred cycles, if the guerdou they should bring 
 Were a thrill along my pulses at the coming of The King ! "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH, 37 
 
 All of which was not only very haughty and 
 disagreeable, but unjust and misrepresenting; 
 since Mr. Glynn, though richer than Miss Havi- 
 land, was not, and never claimed to be, better 
 born, was the farthest in the world from purse- 
 proud, never wore nor owned a diamond in his 
 life, and had wooed her with all modesty, devo 
 tion, and deference. But Katy, like all immor 
 tal poets, only needed a picket-point of fact to 
 start her fancies from, and away they flew, out 
 of sight and sound and earthly recognition. 
 Quoting from memory, I believe I have left out 
 some of the stanzas; but here are enough. I 
 should apologize rather for giving so many than 
 for not giving all. It is appalling to reflect that 
 at this moment there are probably ten thousand 
 girls in our beloved country wreaking their 
 emotions in just such verse. Sad stuff as it all 
 was, Kate thought it was good, and on a sudden 
 audacious impulse sent it off to " Harper s 
 Monthly," walking five miles to the next village 
 to deposit it in a post-office not familiar with 
 her handwriting. Thereupon was she instantly 
 panic-struck lest Mr. Glynn should see and 
 know the poem, and experienced a strong re 
 action in his favor as being most unfairly 
 treated. Luckily, " Harper s Monthly " had an 
 editor who knew that it would never do to make 
 up his moon of such green cheese as this, and 
 sent it back to her with a respectful intimation
 
 38 
 
 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 that she had read Elizabeth Barrett Browning 
 to some purpose. Kate s relief at having the 
 offending verses under her own control again 
 completely extinguished her literary mortifica 
 tion at their rejection, and she felt greatly elated 
 at the thought that she had got near enough to 
 Mrs. Browning to be suspected of attempting to 
 imitate her. So, on the whole, she came off 
 much more handsomely than she deserved.
 
 III. 
 
 AS for Mr. Glynn, the most casual observer 
 cannot fail to see that he was no expert in 
 affairs of the heart. All the experience he had 
 ever had was the very simple one of loving Katy 
 out and out, boy and man, straight along for 
 about eighteen years. That he was a rather 
 slow-going, stupid sort of man, this single fact is 
 enough to indicate. Nevertheless, in this par 
 ticular case, I think he was as wise, and his un 
 educated instinct and unpractised heart led him 
 to as true a course, as if he had flirted with a 
 dozen women in the course of the eighteen years. 
 For, in spite of all his magnificent renunciation 
 of love and love-talk, there was the one fact 
 securely lodged in Katy s mind, and thence easily 
 transmissible to her heart that he loved her ; 
 and in spite of himself, all his old kindness and 
 friendliness and home w*ays would take on a new 
 tenderness, would have for Katy a new meaning ; 
 and as Mr. Glynn was, and knew himself to be, 
 an honest man, albeit no hero, a man of prin- 
 
 39
 
 40 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 ciple and intelligence, of honorable fame and 
 gentle manners, Katy s ideal knight was in im 
 minent danger of being gradually dethroned, 
 and of finding a banker reigning in his stead. 
 Of course, this might never happen; but if it 
 ever could happen, surely he took the right way 
 to make it happen. Katy s suspicions and ap 
 prehensions being lulled to sleep, and perhaps 
 the enemy s too, there was nothing for the 
 enemy to do but noiselessly march in and take 
 possession, without any especial consciousness or 
 design on either side. 
 
 Whether Mr. Glynn deliberately thought this 
 out with malice prepense, or whether he simply 
 acted from the impulse of the moment, I do 
 not know. The latter, most likely ; but it would 
 not have been so very bad a thought if he had 
 thought it. 
 
 But it seemed otherwise to the gods. Down 
 upon the scene, down into Katherine s life, down 
 upon Mr. Glynn s hopes and plans, to his infinite 
 discomposure, swooped Mr. Walter Laballe, tall, 
 dark, gay. rather handsome, frank, careless, with 
 impressive eyes that could be pensive, and with 
 a certain devotedness of manner that was quite 
 natural to him and became him wonderfully. 
 He was born to the patronymic Ball, and chris 
 tened Samuel Walters, and had been tossed up 
 through his childhood as simple Sam Ball, all 
 of which he told Katherine with a laughing
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 41 
 
 grace that quite robbed the fact of what other 
 wise might have been considered finical. But 
 when he grew old enough to pursue historical 
 investigations, he discovered, or decided that he 
 discovered, descent from an old Huguenot fam 
 ily exiled for principle, La Balle by name ; and 
 solely out of compliment to them he assured 
 Katherine he had reinvested the somewhat 
 demoralized and curtailed name with its ancient 
 dignity. For the discarded Samuel he had no 
 better excuse than a distaste for the Sam into 
 which it usually degenerated, and he merely 
 sent the final letter of his middle name to keep 
 it company. He had lived in different cities, he 
 had been abroad, he knew a great deal of the 
 world at least, so it seemed to Katherine, who 
 knew very little of it. He could ride, and row, 
 and play croquet, and, better than all, he could 
 sit under the trees the long, shimmering summer 
 mornings through, and recite poetry, and talk 
 eloquently of all things in heaven and earth. 
 And sometimes there came into his eyes a 
 dreamy sadness, and into his voice a patient 
 pathos the lingering echo of a half forgotten 
 sorrow, that won for him Katy s young and 
 ready sympathy or ever he had so much as be 
 spoken it. 
 
 He was spending his vacation with family 
 connections in Katherine s vicinity, though of 
 his occupation when he was not taking a va-
 
 42 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 cation Katherine had but a vague idea. His 
 cousins he found rather dull, which did not sur 
 prise Katherine, as she had found them rather 
 dull herself, though she did not say so. And so 
 it got to be that the mornings were very few in 
 which he did not saunter in on his way from the 
 post-office, and sit down to read his letters and 
 papers on the shady piazza ; and the evenings 
 were few that did not find them together: at 
 first playing croquet on the grassy slope that 
 served for a lawn, then resting on their mallets 
 as they discussed earnestly some interesting 
 theme ; and then gradually croquet and mallets 
 were left behind, and they strolled slowly 
 through the orchard, or down by the brook, till 
 the evening dew lay heavy on the earth and the 
 happy stars sparkled in the perfumed sky. 
 
 And Mr. Glynn looked on with bitter pain. 
 He had borne that Kitty had said him no, for 
 he looked forward to long companionship, and 
 tender waiting, and ever present friendliness, 
 and she was so dear to him that that was almost 
 happiness enough; and at the end was hope, 
 unspoken, perhaps unacknowledged, but vivid 
 and vital. And now this man had come in 
 and changed the aspect of all things. Kath 
 erine was preoccupied. She was always kind 
 and gentle and polite to him, never saucy and 
 tyrannical as in the old days. But he could 
 have borne that, because with the change had
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 43 
 
 come also a half timidity, the least little touch 
 of shyness, that was infinitely sweet to him. 
 How he would have loved to watch it, and 
 caress it, and conquer it ! How he fed his fancy 
 with the delight of living all outside of Katy as 
 it were, yet bringing all his force of will and 
 love to her subjugation! She should imagine 
 herself free. She should suppose her decision 
 final. She should fancy him to have relinquished 
 all intention in any other direction than that of 
 friendship. But he knew now that he had made 
 no such relinquishment. He had not even men 
 tally framed the resolution; but he meant, if 
 there was any strength in him, to draw her to 
 himself. He meant to enchain her in the same 
 bonds which he found so dear. By self-suppres 
 sion and self-assertion, by patient waiting and 
 eager devotion, by ministering to her intellect 
 and to her heart, by gratifying her taste and her 
 frank, girlish, innocent pride, by every outlay of 
 love and power, he meant to fasten upon her life, 
 to take possession of her, as she had long ago 
 taken him in thrall ; and he meant it none the 
 less because he made no ado about it, because he 
 never even formulated the resolve to himself in 
 words, but only silently lived his purpose, as he 
 went to and fro in his commonplace banking- 
 house days. 
 
 As for Katherine, something new had come 
 into her life. The young men around her were
 
 44 FIRST LOVE TS BEST. 
 
 only "the boys." They had grown up with her, 
 and while she had a friendly comradeship with 
 them, she had not a particle of sentiment about 
 them. Bearing herself towards them with a 
 sincere though superficial cordiality, they had 
 no existence in the world of dreams which was 
 to her as real, as absorbing, and as satisfactory 
 as the visible universe. But this man had come 
 in from the great old-new world beyond her 
 horizon. He was to her all novel and mysteri 
 ous. He was not a growth of her every-day 
 hills, not tied down by hours and cares, not a 
 creature of duties and days works. He had a 
 past, fruitful of story, a future big with promise. 
 Something of the atmosphere of poetry clung 
 about him. All his walks might have been down 
 the paths that bloom in romance. He was gay 
 and graceful, bright and brave, cavalier and 
 debonair. He was never moody ; he was too 
 deferential to be moody; but sometimes he 
 seemed to brush away unshed tears from the 
 depths of some divine despair, and Katy mused 
 and marvelled whether into that arcana her 
 trivial feet should ever be permitted to tread. 
 And with the deepening summer their compan 
 ionship and confidence took on a deepening 
 color, and Katy s question was gradually answer 
 ing itself. 
 
 Walter Laballe told her of his past life some 
 thing more than the half jesting story of his
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 45 
 
 name. He told her in many a pleasant, pensive 
 hour, of his father s early death and the loss of 
 his mother s fortune, of his own disappointments 
 and struggles, of his hope and resolve to win 
 name and place ; and Katherine listened with her 
 heart in her eyes, and gave him that sweetest of 
 all flattery, utter belief and sympathy ; nor 
 withdrew it when he remarked one morning, in 
 the course of conversation, that this had been so 
 very much the happiest summer of his life, that 
 it should not even stand at the head of the list. 
 It could only have a place by itself. It was the 
 summer of all his life. 
 
 "Whereat Katherine, inwardly tremulous, but 
 outwardly bold, remarked carelessly that the 
 summer was not half through yet. Why be 
 retrospective ? And there is the Indian summer, 
 too. 
 
 " O ! but I was not thinking of the weather 
 exclusively. I believe I am under a spell of 
 enchantment. The whole summer seems like a 
 dream, and you. and I have been wandering 
 through it together. Miss Kitty, I wish it might 
 never stop." 
 
 " Do you ? " said Katy, stupidly, frightened out 
 of her senses, but not shocked or chagrined, as 
 she had once before been. 
 
 " It never shall stop if I can help it, Katy ; 
 there is nobody in the world like you ! " 
 
 And then it all came out the old, old story
 
 46 FIRST LOVE IS fiEST. 
 
 when the language of flattery ceases to he 
 flattery, and became the all-inadequate expression 
 of feeling that never can be spoken ; when youth, 
 and expectancy, and aspiration meet and recog 
 nize their own ; and Katherine, with new and 
 novel humility, marvelled within herself what 
 strange fate it was that should have brought so 
 rich an experience to her. " My hero," she said 
 softly, " whom I hardly thought to see, and 
 yet I always knew I should see him, and he 
 walks in through my own garden-gate." 
 
 An idea which Walter always combated 
 fervently, albeit not altogether sorry to stand as 
 a hero before the eyes that looked into his so soft 
 and clear. " I am no hero, my Katy. I am a sad 
 humbug. My only safety is in making you so 
 much in love with me that you will never find 
 me out." 
 
 " Ah, stupid ! " would Kate respond, with pretty 
 petulance, " he thinks because he wears no hel 
 met and bears no sword, he is no hero. It is 
 only that the fashion is changed." 
 
 " But I love pleasant things. It just suits me 
 to sit here and talk with you, and look at you. 
 It is peace after the long storm of my turbulent 
 life. Your hair is really brown, but just as the 
 sun lights it up under the leaves, it is all spark 
 ling with little gold stars." 
 
 " Because it is your vacation. If the trumpet 
 should sound, you would leave all my gold stars
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 47 
 
 instantly and take up arms. It is not unheroic 
 to be comfortable, but it is heroic not to mind 
 comfort, or think of it when a grand thing is to 
 be done." 
 
 " But it would not be a grand thing to leave 
 you, Katy ; and I will not do it for any war or 
 battle sound that is to be heard the world around. 
 So you must make up your mind to it." And 
 the dark, handsome eyes looked into Katherine s 
 with such a careless arrogance, such a laughing 
 confidence of love, that Katherine bent to the 
 love and the arrogance, and held the carelessness 
 and self-scorn to be only raillery, as they were, 
 and dreamed her dreams of heaven all the 
 same. 
 
 And as the happy summer droned on, honey- 
 sweet with bee and bird and blossom, heavy- 
 scented and vocal, opening all the world to the 
 heavens by day and by night, the little hamlet 
 was thronged with summer guests ; and in the 
 round of garden parties, and boating parties, 
 berry parties, and bug-huntings, and picnics, and 
 amusements of all sorts, Walter Laballe took 
 a prominent part. Katherine had no especial 
 knack at organizing or executing amusements 
 simply, perhaps, that she found life so exceed 
 ingly interesting that she felt no need of amuse 
 ments herself, or that she really lacked the devis 
 ing faculty ; but she made an excellent audience. 
 Without the ability to be a leader, she was sin-
 
 48 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 gularly successful as rank and file. It tired her 
 merely to think of the paraphernalia of prepa 
 ration, but when there was a call for sympathetic 
 enjoyment and admiration, Katherine came to 
 the front. Mr. Laballe, on the contrary, was 
 first and foremost in every plan. If it was 
 drama or tableau, he was the cleverest of all 
 obdurate fathers, or knightly warriors, or princely 
 suitors. If it was Shaker-singing, the sheet was 
 wrapped about him with the foiiornest asperity, 
 his countenance was marked with the deepest 
 gloom, his voice intoned the drollest, the most 
 lugubrious cadences. If it was charades, he 
 found the best words and made the wittiest of 
 conversation. In rowing, in croquet, in anagram, 
 in the Virginia reel, in clam-chowder, and fried 
 potatoes on the rocks, in every form of fun, he 
 was ready, fertile, indefatigable. Kate was 
 invaluable when it came to inspiring the actors 
 with " inextinguishable laughter," or sitting in 
 the stern of the boat with speechless delight in the 
 molten water and glowing sky. She could even 
 bear a respectable hand in croquet if she were 
 allowed to shove and cheat when necessary, to 
 take a mallet s length with or without reason, 
 and quietly lift her ball to the desired side of the 
 wicket. But she really found far more pleasure 
 in looking on admiring Mr. Laballe s splendid 
 split-shots, the easy sweep of his oars, his vigor 
 ous and vigilant ladling of hot soup than in any
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 49 
 
 more personal share in whatever was going on. 
 " Happy me ! " would Katy muse. " He does 
 everything well. How came all this to me when 
 it is just what I wanted? His lightest touch is 
 grace and vigor. How strong he must be in real 
 things? He who is so admirable in trifles, how 
 all-commanding when he takes hold on life ! 
 Wretched me ! I can do nothing well. I can do 
 almost nothing in any way. I am not good 
 enough for him. O, I am not fit for him. He 
 should have fallen in love with a royal woman 
 tall, and statuesque, and fascinating a superb 
 woman who could sing the wild woods into hush, 
 and walk sister and wife of the gods, and " 
 By that time a new scene had opened, and Kathe- 
 rine was called on to admire Mr. Laballe anew, 
 as he stooped, in the character of Leicester, over 
 some pretty imploring Amy Robsart, and so 
 never quite gave him up to the superb Juno, to 
 whom the fascinating creature really belonged. 
 
 Mr. Glynn seldom mingled in these gay com 
 panies. As Mr. Laballe rose above the horizon, 
 Mr. Glynn sunk out of sight. His visits to 
 Kate s father, even, diminished, to that gentle 
 man s consciousness and dissatisfaction. When 
 ever Kate met him she was almost over-kind. 
 At home she could never quite free herself from 
 embarrassment; but in company she talked to 
 him, she deferred to him, she showed him 
 every sign of regard, respect, and even honor, so 
 4
 
 50 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 that he felt in his deepest heart that there was 
 no hope for him, that his cause was lost. Katy 
 was trying to make up to him in what he did not 
 want for what she could not give. 
 
 When the summer festivities broke up and 
 the summer sojourners began to go, Katherine 
 was not sorry. She lapsed again into the life 
 that she loved best. Light, pleasant household 
 work, tidy, thrifty housewifely cares, replenish 
 ing, rearranging, freshening, brightening; over 
 looking stores of spotless, sweet-smelling napery, 
 redding and refilling ample closets, devising little 
 plans for kitchen convenience and kitchen pleas 
 ure ; darning the flour-sieve with a fine wire 
 thread, greatly to Tishy s astonishment and 
 admiration ; and changing the outworn of the 
 old red sandstone period, as Katy used to say, 
 into the bright and new of the alluvial age ; in 
 short, making all common things snug, comforta 
 ble, and agreeable, such was Katy s ignoble 
 but interesting work ; and from the depths of 
 the camphor-chest, and the inmost recesses of the 
 china closet, her voice rang out as blithe and 
 free as if she had been singing to the listening 
 spheres. Then the solid delight of reading 
 novels, history, essays, poetry torn copies of 
 Godey s Lady s Book, and the American Tract 
 Society s stirring Appeals to the Sinner in con 
 venient barrels "up garret; " Whelpley s Bacon, 
 and Burton s " Anatomy of Melancholy ; " and
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 51 
 
 poor old Charlotte Temple, in their own, not over 
 stocked library, everything that she could buy, 
 borrow, or otherwise lay hands on, good, bad 
 and indifferent, that was Katherine s solace and 
 society. And O, the exquisite rapture of long, 
 solitary walks through the wild, wet woods, 
 cushioned with heavy moss, alive with every 
 grace of springing vine and drooping spray ; 
 over the dry, crisp hills pungent with the breath 
 of the Indian summer, delicious with the melan 
 choly of departing bloom and the languor of 
 reposing growth! Beyond the encircling line of 
 dense, blue sea, Katy s thought was wont to 
 penetrate into the romance and mystery of the 
 wise old world, and sometimes, by some mirage, 
 the far sea swept its white beach inland, and lay 
 in a lovely amethystine haze over against the 
 still, low-lying fields that stretched at the 
 maiden s feet. All this had been rapture when 
 only an atmosphere of dreams enveloped her. 
 Now the soft skies bent over her as of old, and 
 the smoky hills rose warm around her, and the 
 yellow sunshine trembled into her most secret 
 heart ; but the banner over all was love. So, for 
 Katy s happiness, there was no speech nor lan 
 guage.
 
 fTUIE only drawback was a lack of warmth in 
 JL her father s liking for her lover. He did not 
 oppose him. He seldom thought of opposing 
 Katy in anything. Nor is it to be conjectured 
 that he was in the least degree chagrined that 
 Mr. Glynn and Katy could not make up their 
 minds to each other. Katherine had never lisped 
 to her father a syllable of Mr. Glynn s wish, and 
 Mr. Haviland was an innocent, straightforward, 
 royal old gentleman, who had seen little Kate and 
 big Richard Glynn growing up together, the latter 
 having the start by a respectable and disarming 
 number of years, and he never any more thought 
 of a marriage between them than between the 
 two rose-bushes hob-a-nobbing at the garden-gate. 
 In fact, it was a good deal of a shock to him to 
 come all of a sudden upon Kate as a grown-up 
 girl. It never disturbed him in the least that 
 Mr. Glynn should come to his house. Mr. 
 Glynn had always been coming to his house. 
 The various young men and maidens who pulled 
 
 52
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 53 
 
 his latch-string were but the boys and girls who 
 had grown up with Katy. A woman might 
 have enlightened him. But the one woman of 
 his life had gone out of his sight long years 
 before, and, alone as he was, it was probably for 
 his happiness that there was no one else to 
 ravage the late-lingering bliss of his ignorance. 
 But when "Walter Laballe came, there was no 
 misunderstanding the situation longer. This 
 was no old schoolmate chatting with a girl about 
 old times, but a man grown, come out of the 
 great world, wooing Kate as a woman ; and Mr. 
 Haviland sorrowfully tried to comprehend it, and 
 adjust himself to it. What he would have 
 liked, what he, perhaps, unconsciously hoped for, 
 was a continuance of things exactly as they had 
 been. Katy, home from school, Katy about the 
 house, cheerful, courageous, energetic, if some 
 times a little dreamy and impracticable on the one 
 side, a little impatient, impetuous, and imperious 
 on the other striking out occasionally into the 
 border-lands of home, but never overstepping their 
 boundary-line; gone only long enough to give 
 the zest of return, and coming back with fresh 
 store of pleasant girl-gossip of church and state, 
 of science and society, and every living thing 
 under the sun, Katy, the bright Hnk between 
 his past and his future, the rosy, radiant medium 
 through which the world looked in upon him, 
 and he out upon the world, this was what he
 
 56 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Says he is waiting for a summons from his 
 partner, I suppose." 
 
 "Lays it all to me. Says he should have 
 gone to town a month ago but for me. Did you 
 ever hear the like of that, when I have a fresh 
 surprise every day at seeing him ? " 
 
 " But, my dear, he is a j r oung man, and with 
 out money, and he has made no real start in life 
 yet." 
 
 "Yes, dear, I know he is poor. He has no 
 money. That is the only point on which we are 
 really equal " 
 
 " No, Katherine, you are not equal there. It 
 is not right to say you have no money. You are 
 not rich, but I have provided for your comfort 
 and independence as long as you live." 
 
 " That you have, you dear old daddy ! I could 
 not be a happier girl if you had earned millions. 
 So I can t be frightened at poverty, or be wor 
 ried because Walter is not rich." 
 
 " Nor I either, Katy. It is not poverty I am 
 thinking of, though you know nothing about 
 poverty, and I hope you never will. But the 
 habits that prevent poverty are the thing." 
 
 " Habits ! Walter s habits ! O, my dear, 
 what are you thinking of? " 
 
 " Of you, Katy. Always and only of you, 
 my child." 
 
 " That is a wicked story, now ; for I know you 
 are thinking of poor Walter, whose habits are
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 57 
 
 perfect. That is, he does smoke ; I wish he did 
 not; I admit I wish he did not. But, as he says, 
 very truly, What else do I do ? Tolerate this 
 one little wickedness. And I confess, papa, that 
 with the closest scrutiny, and after a long and 
 intimate acquaintance, there is not another sin 
 gle thing that I want him not to do. Now, dear, 
 admit yourself that I have made a pretty narrow 
 escape." 
 
 A laugh met Katherine s quaint defence, but 
 Mr. Havilaiid was not satisfied. 
 
 " Don t be fretted, lovey ; but what I want to 
 see is that Laballe is a man " 
 
 " Pap must not call names. It is not civil." 
 
 " Call names ? " 
 
 " Certainly. Pap says Laballe. Don t say 
 Laballe. It sounds hard and cold, as if he 
 were only anybody and not Walter. Wal 
 ter, Walter, Walter, is it not a lovely name ? 
 Even Mr. Laballe sounds more as if he were 
 to be respected. Won t you say Mr. Laballe, 
 when you don t feel equal to saying Walter ?" 
 
 " Mr. Laballe Lord Laballe anything you 
 like." 
 
 " O, I like that amazingly ! Why, gentle 
 shepherd, tell me why I was not born in marble 
 halls, and christened Lady Katherine? Instead 
 of Tishy calling after me Kath-er-rme, you ll 
 get your death o cold ; come back, and put on 
 your shawl ; it would be, 4 Will your ladyship
 
 56 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Says he is waiting for a summons from his 
 partner, I suppose." 
 
 " Lays it all to me. Says he should have 
 gone to town a month ago but for me. Did you 
 ever hear the like of that, when I have a fresh 
 surprise every day at seeing him ? " 
 
 " But, my dear, he is a young man, and with 
 out money, and he has made no real start in life 
 yet." 
 
 "Yes, dear, I know he is poor. He has no 
 money. That is the only point on which we are 
 really equal " 
 
 " No, Katherine, you are not equal there. It 
 is not right to say you have no money. You are 
 not rich, but I have provided for your comfort 
 and independence as long as you live." 
 
 " That you have, you dear old daddy ! I could 
 not be a happier girl if you had earned millions. 
 So I can t be frightened at poverty, or be wor 
 ried because Walter is not rich." 
 
 " Nor I either, Katy. It is not poverty I am 
 thinking of, though you know nothing about 
 poverty, and I hope you never will. But the 
 habits that prevent poverty are the thing." 
 
 " Habits ! Walter s habits ! O, my dear, 
 what are you thinking of? " 
 
 " Of you, Katy. Always and only of you, 
 my child." 
 
 " That is a wicked story, now ; for I know you 
 are thinking of poor Walter, whose habits are
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 57 
 
 perfect. That is, he does smoke ; I wish he did 
 not; I admit I wish he did not. But, as he says, 
 very truly, What else do I do ? Tolerate this 
 one little wickedness. And I confess, papa, that 
 with the closest scrutiny, and after a long and 
 intimate acquaintance, there is not another sin 
 gle thing that I want him not to do. Now, dear, 
 admit yourself that I have made a pretty narrow 
 escape." 
 
 A laugh met Katherine s quaint defence, but 
 Mr. Havilaiid was not satisfied. 
 
 " Don t be fretted, lovey ; but what I want to 
 see is that Laballe is a man " 
 
 " Pap must not call names. It is not civil." 
 
 " Call names ? " 
 
 " Certainly. Pap saj^s Laballe. Don t say 
 * Laballe. It sounds hard and cold, as if he 
 were only anybody and not Walter. Wal 
 ter, Walter, Walter, is it not a lovely name ? 
 Even Mr. Laballe sounds more as if he were 
 to be respected. Won t you say Mr. Laballe, 
 w T hen you don t feel equal to saying Walter ?" 
 
 " Mr. Laballe Lord Laballe anything you 
 like." 
 
 " O, I like that amazingly ! Why, gentle 
 shepherd, tell me why I was not born in marble 
 halls, and christened Lady Katherine? Instead 
 of Tishy calling after me Kath-er-rme, you ll 
 get your death o cold ; come back, and put on 
 your shawl ; it would be, Will your ladyship
 
 58 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 wrap your ladyship in your ladyship s diamond- 
 dew velvet, or in your ladyship s sultana shawl ? 
 What does your ducal highness think of that? " 
 
 " That you are a silly chatterbox, and will 
 stay so to the end," said Mr. Haviland, with a 
 smile. 
 
 " Dear old duck ! " cried Kate, encouraged. 
 Then, more softly, "Say you love Walter." 
 
 " Love Walter ! Bless your heart, / am not 
 going to marry him. Why should I love him ? " 
 
 " Because I I care for him, papa, and he 
 cares for me." 
 
 " Yes, dear, he is very fond of you. I am not 
 worried about that " And down would go 
 Kate s fingers, over not to say into his eyes, 
 with a shy, laughing, chiding, " What business 
 have these meddlesome eyes to be seeing what 
 does not belong to them ? " 
 
 " But, Katy, I should feel easier about you if 
 I could see him showing a sense of responsibil 
 ity, taking hold of things with any sort of 
 grip. I don t see that he is up and astir. In 
 my day, we used to call it dawdling." 
 
 " O, papa dear," cried Kate, shocked. " Just 
 because he stays a week or two into September. 
 That is not fair. That is not like you. Why, 
 he is studying all the time." 
 
 "But his business is in Branch & Hale s 
 law-office in town, and he cannot transact it fifty 
 miles away. Besides, he is seven-and-twenty,
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 59 
 
 and his studying ought to be in connection with 
 cases, and on the spot; at least, so it seems 
 to me." 
 
 " And it is, a good deal of the time, you know, 
 father. It is only just now just this little, 
 lovely fall, that he takes a longer vacation than 
 usual. And you know, dear, you must go shares 
 with me in being to blame for that. But this is 
 not really the whole reason. I assure you, Wal 
 ter has thought very seriously of everything. 
 And many things which he seems to do simply 
 for amusement, from self-indulgence, he does 
 from a really high and noble motive. You see, 
 papa, I have talked about this myself. We have 
 talked it all over. Indeed, we talk over most 
 things," added Kate, simply. 
 
 " And what is the high and noble motive here, 
 Katy?" 
 
 " Don t be sarcastic, there s a love ! It is a 
 dear old daddy when it is simple and docile ; but 
 when it is sarcastic, I really must have recourse 
 to discipline. Promise? Yes. Well, then, 
 Walter says and I think it is very true, and 
 so do you that the great trouble with our 
 country is, that every one does everything. We 
 are eager and hurried. We are not restful. 
 Now, it is necessary to do things, but it is just 
 as necessary to the country s dignity to have a 
 class that shall not be over-eager to do, but that 
 shall be tranquil to judge. We need to take
 
 60 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 account of stock, just as much as to accumulate 
 stock. We want not only geniuses to make 
 discoveries, and invent machines, and write 
 books, but we want a cultivated, discriminating, 
 and appreciative people, to create the receptive 
 atmosphere that stimulates genius." 
 
 " So Mr. Laballe is going to act the part of 
 atmosphere to other people s genius." 
 
 " There, you are at it again, papa ! But I for 
 give you, in consideration of your benighted 
 ignorance. No, Mr. Haviland, Mr. Laballe is 
 not going to limit himself to being atmosphere. 
 On the contrary, I shall be much surprised if he 
 does not before long, and in many ways, appear 
 in the role of genius. In fact I think he has 
 already done so. But don t you see, dear, that 
 it keeps him from over-eagerness, from that 
 fierce restlessness which makes life such a hurry, 
 such a race and a wrestle, and precludes all 
 leisurely and rational enjoyment ? Would you 
 not, now, papa, tell me honest, true, would 
 you not rather live with people who are quiet, 
 and take pleasure as it goes, than with people 
 who are in a frenzy of hurry to work from 
 morning till night ? " 
 
 " That may be, lovey ; but when a young man 
 has his fortune to make, and his burdens to take 
 from other people s shoulders, I should rather 
 see him hurry too much than take it too easy." 
 
 " I don t understand you, papa."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 61 
 
 " Why, dear, for instance : Laballe s excuse 
 me, Mr, Laballe s mother lives with her brother, 
 and is maintained by him. Now, if I were a 
 young fellow, with two hands of my own, I 
 could not stand that for a day. I should let 
 atmospheres slide, and look out for my mother. 
 It is a humiliation for a woman to depend upon 
 her brother when she has a son." 
 
 "I do not know anything about that," 
 faltered Katherine, the painful blood crimsoning 
 her cheeks ; but her father did not see it. It 
 was a rude transition, that must be admitted ; 
 from high purposes of fashioning your life on 
 broad, patriotic, and philosophic principles, down 
 to this petty, prudential, domestic arrangement. 
 
 " It is all very well," Mr. Haviland meandered 
 on, not knowing how sharp was the wound he 
 had inflicted ; " it is all well enough for a young 
 man to think how he would like to live if things 
 were to his mind ; but it is another thing to live 
 in that way when things are not to his mind. I 
 am not finding fault, Kitty, but I can t exactly 
 like the lay of the land. Laballe may be only 
 thoughtless, but thoughtlessness is as bad in its 
 results as malice, when it is well rooted down. 
 I can t trust my girl gladly to any one who 
 would not rather be rough-shod and honest, than 
 tiptoe fine and make somebody else pay the bills. 
 Don t be blind, Katherine. Don t be too sure." 
 
 This was a great deal for Mr. Haviland to
 
 62 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 say a violent opposition for him to set up 
 against Kate. Kate felt it, but she could not go 
 to Walter Laballe, and remark, casually, "Do 
 you come here and set up for a leisure class, and 
 talk about being the judgment-seat before which 
 the workers are to present themselves, while you 
 allow your mother you, who have been a 
 grown man and a voter for six years, allow your 
 mother to be dependent upon her brother; allow 
 another man to perform the duty which should 
 be your highest pleasure ; allow her to be subor 
 dinate to one on whom she has but an inferior 
 claim, instead of being mistress of your house, 
 on whom she has the supreme claim?" That, 
 of course, would be a lecture, and an insult to 
 Walter. Neither could Katy go to work clan 
 destinely to find out something against her Wal 
 ter. She was very sure that the case, if known, 
 would not count up against him. She was sure 
 that in some way unknown to common observa 
 tion he was bearing himself as became a son 
 towards his mother. If she had had doubts of 
 him herself, she felt that she could speak them 
 boldly, or boldly wait the issue. But she only 
 believed that some one had given her father 
 wrong impressions, he, in the anxiety of his 
 great love for her, being naturally open to wrong 
 impressions. She wanted to be able to convince 
 her father, without Walter s suffering the dis 
 tress or the shame of being aware that he was
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 63 
 
 misunderstood by her own father. So she led 
 him, at the earliest opportunity, to speak of his 
 mother, which he did with great frankness and 
 great affection, to Kate s unbounded delight. 
 
 "She must miss you so much," said Katherine, 
 when a niche came for her to interpose that little 
 remark. " It is such a pity that you cannot live 
 together, when you are both free." 
 
 " Only that the dear dame is so much happier 
 with Uncle Ned and Aunt Eva, and the children, 
 and the open country life, than she could be 
 cooped up in such a home as I should be able 
 to give her in the city. Katy, I have one 
 dream, by day and by night to live with the 
 two women that I love, my mother, and my 
 wife." 
 
 Of course, Katy had nothing to say to this, and 
 Walter went on, " to give them, I mean, such 
 a home as is worthy of them. I confess it would 
 be no pleasure to me to see them restricted, 
 hampered, economizing, bringing all their 
 minds to bear on making both ends meet. None 
 of that for me, if you please. But when I can 
 see them dispensing a liberal and elegant hospi 
 tality, living in the state that befits them, 
 Fly swiftly round, ye wheels of time ! 
 
 " But," said Kate, running the risk of seeming 
 to argue her own case in unmaidenly fashion, in 
 her eagerness to argue the mother s case, " to be 
 with you is the main thing, after all. Your
 
 64 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 mother would rather be with you in ever so 
 small a house, than away from you in a large 
 one." 
 
 " Don t be too sure of that, Katy. My lady- 
 mother is not one of the kind that takes grace 
 fully to poverty. She has always been used to 
 wealth and she becomes wealth ; and I would 
 not be the one to use her to anything else. 
 Bless my soul, Kate, I can t think of anything 
 more comical than to see my mother pottering 
 about in an economical way. You ought to see 
 her." 
 
 " I know she must be tall, and stately, and 
 handsome. I shall be afraid of her." 
 
 " She is, and you won t. She will take you 
 straight into her heart. She will patronize you 
 a little at first, but you must put up with that. 
 She would patronize the king on his throne. 
 When she enters heaven she will make a gra 
 cious courtesy to all the angels standing around, 
 and will consider in her heart that good society 
 there has received a valuable accession." 
 
 " Then I should like to know why I am not 
 going to be afraid of her." 
 
 " O, she is very amiable, thoroughly good- 
 natured. And she has the weakness of being a 
 devout believer in your humble servant ; so if 
 you had no other charm for her, you would have 
 the charm of being one of my little belongings, 
 and that would secure her allegiance at once."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 65 
 
 " It is so vexatious that she should not be able 
 to live with you, when she loves you so." 
 
 "Vexatious! It is condemnable! There 
 never was anything so unreasonable as the way 
 things are divided in this world. There is old 
 Glynn, with nobody on earth to care for, and 
 not a thought beyond note-shaving, leading his 
 dog-trot life, solid-stiff with mone} that he does 
 not know how to dispose of; and here am I, with 
 everything under heaven to bless myself with 
 except money. I declare, Kate, I feel some 
 times as if I could rob a bank. If Glynn is 
 found some morning under his window, bound, 
 gagged, and plundered, don t you report this 
 conversation, will you ? " 
 
 Kate did not quite like the way in which Mr. 
 Glynn was mentioned, but she could not say 
 so, and the blush which the allusion called up 
 passed to the account of her general embar 
 rassment. But altogether the talk was highly 
 satisfactory until Kate was left alone, and 
 began to think over how she should present 
 it informally to her father ; and then she grad 
 ually discovered that she had made little head 
 way. A very honest regard and admiration for 
 his mother Mr. Laballe had expressed, but the 
 impertinent little fact remained that she was 
 living on what might be called a brother s 
 charity while the son was taking life easily else 
 where. That he was too poor to support his 
 5
 
 66 FIRST LOVE IS HEST. 
 
 mother as lie wished did not at all mitigate the 
 fact that he was amusing himself, without any 
 very strenuous devotion to business, and doing it 
 on the ground that the country needed a class of 
 elegant, learned, and leisurely men, to encourage 
 art, science, and literature ! So, on the whole, 
 Katy did not exactly conclude not to mention 
 the subject to her father again, but she pon 
 dered it in her heart so long, that the time 
 slipped away till it seemed to her that to bring 
 it up would look like lugging it in, and as if it 
 were a more serious matter than it really was. 
 For Katy herself was not in doubt. Walter was 
 all right. It was only that she could not make 
 the thing look to her father as it looked to her. 
 But she pleased herself with portraying the sly 
 revenge she would one day take upon him, when 
 Walter s name began to be known ; when he 
 should be sought, both in his avowed and in his 
 silent profession; when the lawyer should link 
 his name with great causes, and the critic should 
 adjudge righteous judgment. She heard the 
 vague voices saying, " At last a good time has 
 come for our country. We have a man who has 
 sought greatness, and whom also greatness has 
 sought. We have a mind keen and commanding 
 in its own pursuits, but so liberally cultured that 
 it is an authority in the pursuits of others : a 
 many-sided man ; one who, of his own will and 
 wisdom, against all the trend of his time and his
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 67 
 
 country, has attained the calm, ripe, judicial 
 comprehension which has hitherto been the re 
 sult of generations of liberal leisure." O, Katy 
 grew eloquent in uttering her Walter s praises, 
 and smiled through all her soul at the thought 
 of her father s pleased discomfiture. She in 
 wardly vowed that she would show him no 
 mercy. She would make him confess to within 
 an inch of his life. He should repeat his recan 
 tation aloud, word for word, at her dictation : 
 " I was wrong ; mea culpa. Walter Laballe s 
 idleness was more fruitful of the best results 
 than other men s labor." And then she would 
 forgive him rapturously and they would pass 
 the rest of their lives in a state of mutual 
 exultation over their happiness and harmonious 
 adoration of Walter. 
 
 This was all the easier a picture to paint, as 
 Walter presently went to town. It would be a 
 little severe, perhaps, to say that Katherine felt 
 relieved by his going ; and yet it was something 
 like relief she felt. Indeed, Walter found it so 
 hard to tear himself away, and Katherine helped 
 him to the sacrifice so cheerfully, without giving 
 him the least excuse by encouragement to delay 
 his departure a day beyond the specified time, 
 that he quite scolded her for her hard-hearted- 
 ness. " It seems to me, Miss Haviland," he re 
 marked, in his grandest manner, "that }*ou are 
 altogether too resigned to a separation."
 
 68 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Too resigned to your quickly finding your 
 true place in the world and making all men see 
 you as I see you," said Katy, with a smiling com 
 posure, a proud confidence, that could but flatter. 
 
 " To think ho\v a woman will sacrifice love to 
 ambition," said W alter, essaying a futile frown. 
 
 " How a woman will sacrifice a momentary 
 enjoyment to the life-long ennobling of love, 
 that is what you mean." 
 
 " But I must remember, Katy, that you can 
 only love in your own measure. Of course, a 
 woman can t love like a man. Here are you 
 holding the balance as prudently and accurately 
 as a grocer s apprentice, and coolly setting me 
 adrift for the mere sake of getting on in the 
 world; while I madman that I am am ready 
 to cut loose from everything just to stay in your 
 sight. That is love, Miss Katy." 
 
 " Yes," said Katy, smiling over a rose into the 
 sunset sky, " a weak love, a feeble love, that may 
 one day grow to stand alone, but cannot yet. 
 Now I see the difference between a man s love 
 and a woman s love. I have read of it but 
 never before perceived it. A woman s love is 
 all strong, full-statured in an hour. It does not 
 need to be nourished and strengthened by con 
 stant presence and association. It can go into 
 the wilderness, and live alone, and grow and 
 flourish, biding its time. But a man must feed 
 his love every day at the shrine of sight and
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 69 
 
 sound, or it slips away from him. Poor dear, 
 poor dear ! You are honest, and love as well as 
 you can in your feeble-forcible way ; " and she 
 gently stroked his coat-sleeve with the dainty 
 rose before she fastened it in his button-hole. 
 
 I am not sure that Katherine was not happier 
 after Walter went away. If there had been 
 mind, I do not say there was, but if there had been 
 the least little strain of dissatisfaction or even 
 ^satisfaction with him, suggested by her father s 
 doubts, that disappeared wholly and Kate had 
 only the lover of her fancies to worship. Him she 
 could endow with every virtue as well as every 
 grace under heaven. And to him she wrote letters 
 of such length as must try any but a lover s pa 
 tience letters full of the glory of youth and love 
 and unchecked life, plucking from earth, and sea, 
 and sky wherewithal to minister to its joy. And 
 Walter s letters in return were charming. All 
 this beautiful romantic world was not lost upon 
 him that was certain. Kate felt that if one half 
 the fire, and poetry, and eloquence of his letters 
 could appear at the bar or in the magazines they 
 would set the world aglow. And that is where 
 they will one day appear, said Katy to herself, 
 confidently. 
 
 More and more she felt that day drawing on 
 apace as Walter spoke from time to time of the 
 busy occupation in which he was engaged, the 
 many calls upon his time, and the impossibility
 
 70 FIRST LOVE 7S BEST. 
 
 of answering her dear letters as they should 
 be answered. To all of which Katy listened 
 delighted, and begged him not to think she cared 
 more for his letters than she did for himself. 
 She was not set up for a stumbling-block and a 
 rock of offence to him. No, indeed. He need 
 not answer her letters at all. She should write 
 and write, because the reading would cost him no 
 mental effort alas! interjected Katy archly 
 but he need not even read them till it was quite 
 convenient. Perhaps when he came home late 
 and tired too tired to deep, it would soothe 
 him, would lull him asleep to have a long, pros 
 ing letter of hers to read in which, dear Wal 
 ter, there is nothing at all of the least conse 
 quence, nothing new or exacting or that cannot 
 wait only one thing that is old and new, and 
 that the letter is full of, full, full, full, and 
 always will be, only you cannot guess what it is, 
 poor little dullard that you are and know noth 
 ing about it. So every morning when Kate got 
 a letter from the post-office she was unspeaka 
 bly glad, and read it at all odd hours, and even 
 ones too and went home across the fields 
 that she might read it unobserved without wait 
 ing to be at home ; went into her own room as 
 soon as she was at home that she might really 
 read it at her leisure ; remembered all through 
 lunch that something delicious was coming after 
 lunch, viz., reading Walter s letter ; and " read-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 71 
 
 ing Walter s letter," meant reading it about six 
 times every time. And when Katy got no letter 
 from the post-office she was glad too, and walked 
 blithely home, dreaming of Walter s eager, active 
 life and quick-coming success, and pleasing her 
 self with reflecting that no one but herself knew 
 what efforts he was bringing to the fight because 
 no one but herself knew how much rather he 
 would be writing to her than poring over pon 
 derous law-books or attending in dingy court 
 rooms. " I do have some influence over him," 
 smiled Katy to herself. " I make him work, 
 poor dear. But I will reward him." So Katy 
 was glad and happy well-nigh all the time. 
 
 Only when Mr. Glynn obtruded into her 
 thoughts. He was not, indeed, the ideal of a 
 despairing lover any more than he had been the 
 ideal of a successful one. In fact, the casual 
 observer might think he was a little stolid in 
 both characters. He never was very finical in 
 dress, but he dressed neither more nor less care 
 lessly than before. He went to town every day, 
 and he drove his horses and his ponies though 
 never drove Katy behind them again. He came 
 to Mr. Haviland s oftener after Walter had left 
 them than before, and he was always sufficiently 
 cheerful, and always kind and friendly. But 
 Katy, whose eyes experience had sharpened, 
 noted often a wistfulness that none other saw, and 
 felt it really seemed to her that she felt in her-
 
 72 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 self the loneliness which must have been his, not 
 hers she was so utterly happy that she experi 
 enced a profound pity for him. She never 
 thought of such a thing as that time should have 
 the least effect in softening his disappointment. 
 She was too loyal a lover herself to think that 
 even failure could conquer love. She tried to 
 imagine how she should feel if Walter did not 
 care for her ; but that was such an evil case as 
 she shuddered to contemplate, and such an 
 impossible case, that even her imagination could 
 not take it in. So she fell back on the rather 
 cold comfort, that things did happen, and you 
 could not help it. And in the next world she 
 thought Mr. Glynn would recognize his mistake, 
 and see clearly that it was not she who was 
 appointed to him but some other angel. But it 
 seemed to her a very cheerless and forlorn way 
 along which he must go through the world to 
 meet that angel, and she was heavenly-kind to 
 the poor man ; and he saw through it, and smiled 
 upon her pleasantly, and bantered her about the 
 looking-glass, which she fully believed the moon- 
 men had set up as a signal to us earth-folk, and 
 ground the gravel of his garden-walks under 
 foot half the night, wild with despair at what he 
 was losing and another man was gaining.
 
 V. 
 
 ~I7"IND Heaven, that does sometimes find it 
 J\. moral to give people just what they want, 
 permitted Katherine s only aunt, about this time, 
 to remove from the rural city of her long resi 
 dence to the great city where Mr. Laballe was 
 making his furious fight for fame and Kate. And 
 
 o o 
 
 the letter announcing the change, announced also 
 to Kate that her annual visit this winter would 
 be an altogether more brilliant and stirring affair 
 than the tame little tea-drinkings and juvenile 
 junketings which had hitherto characterized 
 Kate s visit, a change proper both to the en 
 larged sphere of operations and to the dignity of 
 the visitor, who had now become a full-fledged 
 young lady. 
 
 {Catherine, ever devout, felt that now she was 
 placed under perpetual bonds to be good, since 
 Providence had specially interposed to give her 
 this opportunity to be near Walter. For that 
 was what it all meant to Katy. Her aunt was 
 highly respectable, in easy circumstances, and 
 
 .7.3
 
 74 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 sufficiently well known to give Kate immediate 
 access to good company and agreeable entertain 
 ment. And is not the city always a great, mys 
 terious, fairy palace to the young country-girl, 
 full of beauty and activity and promise of unim- 
 agined pleasure ? But though Katherine loved all 
 this with the love natural to her youth, the one 
 absorbing interest which the city had for her now 
 was that it was the theatre of Walter s life, the 
 field of his knightly contest. Here he was lay 
 ing broad and deep the foundations of greatness. 
 And, to do Katy justice, it was not the plaudits 
 of the multitude that pleased her most, but the 
 underlying fact which those plaudits should cer 
 tify, and chiefly, good girl, to her father s heart. 
 She would have been more disdainful of a false 
 renown, of a catchpenny reputation, than of utter 
 obscurity. If, she said to herself, if Walter worked 
 for fame simply for fame s sake, he would not be 
 Walter at all. Underneath was the strong, solid 
 substance, only partially manifest as yet, known 
 in its real possibility only to her. Acknowledg 
 ment she wanted, for without that could not 
 come the power to help and heal the world s 
 hurts. And now she was going up to see Walter 
 no longer first and foremost in holiday amuse 
 ment, no longer at her beck and call, but stead 
 fastly treading the vague, mysterious road along 
 which men pass to achievement and victory. I 
 shall not know him, mused Katy. I must make
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 75 
 
 up iny mind not to see him much. He will be 
 there to meet me. He will come sometimes in 
 the evenings, but I shall know he is near me. I 
 shall be in the same town with him and I shall 
 always be thinking he may come in any moment, 
 if it is only for a moment. And I wonder if he 
 will be very far away. I shall, perhaps I shall, 
 just possibly, hear people speak of him, but I sup 
 pose not yet. I suppose it is too soon for him to be 
 known. But if I should chance to overhear his 
 name, perhaps as a rising young lawyer, or as a 
 clever young author, how shall I ever keep my 
 face ? And even in vestal solitude, Katy began a 
 series of furious anticipatory blushes, and laughed 
 at herself silently for a silly, silly, good-for-noth 
 ing girl. 
 
 Time lagged and lagged, and ran with light 
 ning swiftness, and the winter days came, and 
 the one day of days that never would come, but 
 came, and bore her to the city and to Walter. 
 And Walter was there at the station, in the 
 coach, at her aunt s, and Kate had no difficulty 
 in knowing him the same Walter, dark and 
 devoted, handsome and gay, strong and smiling. 
 " Indeed," said Katy, " winter and summer are 
 alike to you. You will not need go into the 
 country to recover health next summer ! " 
 
 " No, Kitty, it is something else than health I 
 shall go into the country for something that 
 has come into the city for me ! "
 
 76 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Sanciness ! I came to see my aunt ! " 
 
 " O ! yes. That is what I called for to-night. 
 My aunt, solely. To-morrow, perhaps, I may 
 come to see you, and take you to see the city ; 
 or will you be too tired ? Perhaps you would 
 better stay quietly at home to-morrow, and I will 
 look in upon you. I think I ought to be show 
 enough for one day." 
 
 " O ! but, Walter, you must not mind me. 
 You must not think I have come to take up 
 your time. Aunt Fanny will look after me, and 
 anything and everything will be interesting to 
 me. Don t think of me ever in the day-time, 
 then in the evenings I shall enjoy you with a 
 clear conscience." 
 
 " And pray, Miss, what is there so reprehensi 
 ble about me that I am to be so summarily dis 
 missed in the day-time, and allowed only to stalk 
 forth from my lair at night? " 
 
 "O, Walter," laughed Kitty, "I was only 
 thinking of you." 
 
 " So I suppose. What I wish to know is, 
 what crime you have been so good as to fasten 
 on me that shall keep me hid by day." 
 
 " Absurd ! You know just as well as I what 
 I mean : that I don t wish to be, and will not be, 
 a drag on you ; and that you are not to think for 
 a moment that I am exacting your leisure or your 
 time. Now understand me, Walter dear. Don t 
 even in jest pretend you don t."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 77 
 
 " But you don t mean, Kitty, that I am to dig 
 and delve all the time you are here and leave 
 you by yourself." 
 
 " I thought," said Katherine, faltering a little, 
 " you would be busy all the days, just as if I 
 were not here, but that in the evenings, if you 
 were not too tired, and Sundays and perhaps 
 some other times, I should see you, when you are 
 not too tired." 
 
 "Tired! Nonsense! I am never tired of 
 seeing you, at any rate. And as for business, 
 Missy, you let that alone. You are my business 
 now and I mean to transact you thoroughly. I 
 suppose you know that you have already three 
 invitations. I hope you have come in fighting 
 cut." 
 
 " Fighting cut ! what is that? " 
 
 " O, plenty of flimsy gowns to look like a cloud 
 in the evening, and shiny gowns to look a sun in 
 the morning, with all the wampum thereunto ap 
 pertaining." 
 
 " I have not a great many gowns flimsy or 
 shiny ; but I dare say I shall do very well. I 
 shall depend upon Aunt Fanny to see that I am 
 strictly orthodox in the matter of dress." 
 
 " I don t know whether that is quite safe, 
 Kitty. Aunt Fanny is nice, but she is, begging 
 your pardon and hers, rather verging on the 
 heavy composite order. You must look light, 
 and airy, and youthful. Now don t let her make
 
 78 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 you up stiff and poky. I hope you have brought 
 fluffy-up dresses, haven t you ; such as they would 
 call you crazy to wear at home and in mid 
 winter ? " 
 
 " I have a blue flannel wrapper, very soft, and 
 light, and warm," said Kate, mischievously ; " but 
 I shall not wear that on week-days. That I shall 
 keep for Sundays." 
 
 " O, the vixen ! But what will you wear to 
 morrow night ? " 
 
 " A gown, I think, dear ; I am resolved I will 
 not wear my water-proof." 
 
 " Now, Katy, if you are going to develop into 
 a quiz it is all up with me. Be civil to a fel 
 low, there s a dear ! You think this is all non 
 sense, but I tell you honestly that I am very 
 proud of you and I want to be sure you don t 
 make any mistake. It is folly to say that dress 
 is insignificant. Dress makes all the difference 
 in the world. You are twice as pretty and four 
 times as sensible as anybody else here. If you 
 lived in town you would lead society before it 
 could say Jack Robinson ; and your taste Avould 
 be perfect. But you have had no chance down 
 in the country. That is why I wrote to you not 
 to make any preparations but buy your outfit 
 here. Then you would be sure of the style and 
 look like other people." 
 
 " Don t I now ? " said Kate, quietly. 
 
 " My darling, yes ; only no one else looks so
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 79 
 
 fresh and nice as you. But these day-time frocks 
 can be seen of men and women everywhere. A 
 rustic dressmaker could copy those and we 
 should be sure of her. But how could she have 
 a notion of an evening costume when she never 
 saw one in her life ? " 
 
 " O, I could give it to her." 
 
 " Why, you " 
 
 " Are not much better ! you were going to 
 say." 
 
 u O, if you have been giving your mind to it 
 no doubt it will be all right. Still, I think you 
 had better have acted on my suggestion, and put 
 yourself into the hands of a regular modiste." 
 
 " O," said Kate, carelessly, " Miss Brimmer 
 and I are very clever, and you will find that I 
 shall pass without special rebuke. But since you 
 asked, I will tell you that my dress is not very 
 cloudy, but quite appropriate to the weather and 
 me, warm, woolly, and comfortable." 
 
 Walter shrugged his shoulders, and gave a 
 faint laugh. He was not pleased, but Kate was 
 impracticable, and he had to make the best of it. 
 To help him out, came a little uncertainty as to 
 whether she was teasing him or really unversed 
 in gala-dress. " One thing I will do nolens vo- 
 lens," he muttered, playfully resolute, fingering 
 her little vinaigrette, "douse you with German 
 cologne. You shall not smell this vile American 
 stuff."
 
 80 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 "How do you know it is American ?" asked 
 Kate. 
 
 " What else did I grow a nose for ? " 
 " Why is not American as good as German ? 
 " Why is not a pinchbeck dollar as good as a 
 gold one ? " 
 
 " What is the chief end of man ? " 
 " Man s chief end is to make a fool of himself 
 for a woman, and be snubbed for his pains ; " and 
 so Walter laughed her into good humor again. 
 
 Nevertheless Kate was uncomfortable, not to 
 say angry, though it was so strange and unex 
 pected a thing to be angry, and with Walter, that 
 she hardly knew what to make of it herself. She 
 resented his lack of confidence in her taste. I 
 don t say that this was reasonable in her. In 
 point of logic I think it was rather unreasonable. 
 Walter was right. Katy was a country girl, and 
 naturally would not know what was appropriate 
 to a society with which she was unfamiliar, and 
 she ought to have considered it very kind and 
 helpful in Walter to take thought for her rai 
 ment, about which, also, it would have been 
 more amiable that she herself should have some 
 misgivings. Perhaps she had ; but she was not 
 for that to permit Walter to have any. In fact, 
 she was not pleased that the matter should have 
 occurred to him at all. She thought of Walter, 
 not of his clothes, and she was vexed to find that 
 he was not equally absorbed in her. She had
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 81 
 
 prepared herself to encounter a rival in his law- 
 books and briefs. She had reconciled her heart 
 beforehand to being put off by business and 
 study. But she did expect his moments of leis 
 ure, his evening hours, to be preoccupied with 
 herself; and she was doubly disappointed that 
 not only did he seem to have as much control of 
 his time and as much familiarity with all sorts 
 of amusement here as in the country, but also 
 that he was not so absorbed in the pleasure of 
 being with her that he could not take thought 
 for what she should put on, and feel that it 
 was necessary to take thought, or she would not 
 put on the right thing ! And she did not like a 
 man to think about such things. It was a 
 man s business to wonder, love and praise her 
 dress, but not to know anything about it. She 
 had really spared no pains with her wardrobe. 
 She had studied the fashion-plates and such shop- 
 windows as she could command, and had held 
 sweet counsel with a dressmaker imported from 
 the neighboring town, and had no one but Wal 
 ter in mind all the time. Would he like this ? 
 Would that suit him ? She had not once dreamed 
 of what society would think or say of her, or 
 that it would say anything ; but she had a very 
 earnest, honest wish to be lovely and pleasing in 
 his eyes. While a gown was under her hands, 
 her cheeks grew warm and her heart beat fast 
 with thinking that when she put it on Walter 
 6
 
 82 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 would be awaiting her ; she should go down 
 stairs half ashamed, yet half expectant to re 
 ceive his glad greeting, and enjoy his wonder 
 ing, surprised glance over her unwonted finery, 
 and the somewhat stupid compliments which she 
 should pardon to the love that pointed them. 
 But she meant to make him look at the bows 
 that her own hands made, and the folds she 
 draped, and the flowers she grouped, and he 
 would not half see them, but would say he did 
 and and now he was asking her before 
 hand what she was going to wear, and his eyes 
 would be critical, and somehow suddenly all 
 pleasure in her dress was gone, and what made 
 him care about such things ? The idea of a man 
 knowing one kind of cologne from another ! 
 What business had a man to know there was 
 such a thing as cologne ? It was not knightly. 
 She wanted a grand scorn, rather a sublime 
 ignorance, of such propria quce feminis ! And 
 poor Katy cried herself to sleep that night and 
 did not know exactly why. 
 
 But things looked brighter next day. Walter 
 came and never mentioned dress, but was light- 
 hearted and glad to be with her, and yet had to 
 go away early to meet his partner, and could not 
 see her again till he came to join her and her 
 aunt for the evening. And Katy put on her 
 evening gown with greater tranquillity than 
 she had supposed would be possible. It was a
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 83 
 
 very pretty gown too. Walter might have 
 spared himself the trouble of being anxious. 
 White, soft, clinging stuff, lightened up with 
 silk, and poetized with lace, and brightened 
 with such floriculture as girls love and adorn 
 not at all dazzling the ball-room vision, but very 
 restful and pleasing to eyes that chanced to fall 
 upon it, and chiefly to those that love it ; and 
 Walter was pleased, too. He was forced to 
 admit that it was very soft and graceful and 
 becoming " though I still maintain I was 
 
 o o 
 
 right," he added, after admitting he was wrong. 
 " I would have chosen differently something 
 that would have fluffed out like waves of surf 
 all around looked all filmy and glittering and 
 splendid." 
 
 " But it can t be filmy and glittering at the 
 same time," said Kate, not so much discomposed 
 by his qualified praise, nor so much heartened 
 by his cordial admiration, as she would have im 
 agined. 
 
 If Kate had gone to this her first state party 
 with her heart disengaged, she would probably 
 have been a little more excited or agitated than 
 she was ; yet, perhaps, not much. For Kate 
 had an intimate acquaintance with, and a great 
 reverence for, certain persons in the best society, 
 which somehow fortified her against feeling any 
 uncomfortable bashfulness towards persons of 
 inferior claims. Lord Macaulay, and Lord Byron,
 
 84 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 and Mr. Dan Chaucer, and Mr. Whittier, and Sir 
 Walter Scott, and Mrs. Oliphant, and Mrs. Stowe, 
 and Charlotte Bronte were habitues of Kate s so 
 ciety, and she would have gone to meet them 
 with eagerness and delight not unmingled with 
 trepidation. But she had all the arrogance, ex- 
 actingness, and severity of youth. Except where 
 she was swayed by personal likings, except that 
 she was loyal to love, and blood, and -to the 
 duties and sympathies actually near her, she had 
 small respect for abstract goodness unallied with 
 distinction. The dull, honest ways of dull, hon 
 est men, the homely virtues of self-sacrifice and 
 self-denial in ordinary mothers and wives, the 
 shallow sentiment and affection of good, shallow 
 girls, commanded little respect and no reverence 
 in Kate. No amount of wealth awed her. On 
 the contrary, she did not give it its due, either 
 in respect of what it implied or what it could 
 accomplish. She did not credit to the rich the 
 sagacity and prudence which most often amass 
 wealth, nor that catholic culture which wealth so 
 largely insures. She had a very unusual, almost 
 an unnatural indifference to style and fashion. 
 Brought up in a community where fashion was 
 a staid and slow-paced thing, moving according 
 to fixed laws and not eager for change, she had 
 little knowledge, and therefore little awe of a 
 community where fashion is strenuous, versatile, 
 and imperious. So Katy always wondered at
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 85 
 
 flurries over an incursion into an assembly. 
 Why, what of it ? was Katy s mode of reason 
 ing. There is no one in particular who has 
 done anything. Some are rich and some are 
 not, but nobody s opinion of me is worth more 
 than mine of him. (The audacious little minx!) 
 Most of us might as well have been some one 
 else as ourselves. If Mr. Brown had never been 
 born, Mr. Smith would have answered every pur 
 pose. Other people would have sold sugar, and 
 made shoes, and preached sermons, and worn 
 silk gowns if these people had not. Why should 
 I be afraid of them ? But Mrs. Stowe, now ! 
 There is but one woman in all the world who 
 ever wrote Uncle Tom s Cabin, and if it had not 
 been for her, America would never have had a wo 
 man who could write a book that should be trans 
 lated into all languages and set the whole world 
 astir. If I were going to meet Mrs. Stowe, 
 well, I don t suppose I should be able to help 
 trembling, I should be so full of excitement. 
 But five hundred people in a city are only four 
 hundred and fifty more than fifty people in the 
 country, and silks and laces are the same kind 
 of things as cashmere and cambric. Thus rea 
 soned Katy more or less as occasion required. If 
 she had been differently brought up and a great 
 deal wiser, she would probably have had more 
 respect for the elaborations of society, technically 
 so called ; but as it was, she was utterly sincere,
 
 86 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 and so escaped being disagreeable about it as she 
 could not have done had her opinion been what 
 such opinion often is the mere echo, simula 
 tion, and cant of simplicity. 
 
 Wherefore Kate went to her first city party, 
 and was not bewildered. Also she was stimu 
 lated by a lingering resentment which made her 
 resolute to show Walter that she could sustain 
 herself that she could be trusted in dress and 
 demeanor, as well as in life and death. And she 
 succeeded very respectabty. It is true she did 
 not occasion a general buzz of inquiry, nor the 
 general stare of admiration which the entrance 
 of the novelist s heroine and beauty into a ball 
 room causes ; and, in fact, I never saw any one 
 who did ! A woman may be never so beautiful, 
 but the evening light and the evening dress cast 
 an illusion over the most ugly ; and moreover 
 the guests are standing in all corners, and look 
 ing in all directions, and talking in all keys, and 
 walking in all corridors, and there is not unity 
 enough in the crowd to produce a common sensa 
 tion, or even to see the beauty when she comes 
 sweeping in. No, Katy did nothing of the sort, 
 and probably would have made no world-wide 
 impression, even had the wide world been gazing 
 at her. But she was straight and lithe, healthy 
 and self-possessed, less self-conscious than if she 
 had been thinking less about herself. She danced 
 two or three times, and could have danced more
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 87 
 
 had she chosen, but she preferred not. She saw 
 some friends of her aunt, but she was not re 
 quired to say much to them, and she did not say 
 much. When W alter brought up his friends she 
 was more on the alert. Some girls were dressed 
 more handsomely, more richly, more showily 
 than herself, but many were dressed as plainly, 
 and some less becomingly. Some were lively 
 and chatty, and some had scarcely a word to 
 say for themselves. Walter s male friends were 
 mostly young men, and those who were not she 
 did not particularly affect. In fact Katy was so 
 young herself that she did not care much for 
 young men. For one young man she had great 
 regard, but for the rest she loved to smite her 
 strong stubborn young convictions against the 
 experience of old men ; she loved to sun herself 
 in the mellow wisdom of ripened years. She, all 
 whose eager life lay in the future, would fain 
 add to her pleasure the joy of retrospect, and 
 that she could only do by sympathy and contact 
 with those whose lives lay serenely behind them. 
 And when Fate brought her that evening a col 
 lege president, who was a little gray and a little 
 bald, and the least little in the world profes 
 sional, she rose with a bound to the situation 
 and tasted solid happiness. It was such a mo 
 ment of triumph as she had never expected 
 least of all in this visit, least of all at an evening 
 party. Fortunately for Katy, her eye did not
 
 88 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 disappoint her hope. He was a very jewel of 
 a college president, at least for her purpose. He 
 had not only at his tongue s end all the learning 
 of the schools, but he had travelled far and wide, 
 and quite off the usual tracks of travel, so that 
 he had stores of information not to be found in 
 books ; and he was withal, though somewhat 
 grave, or otherwise Kate would have been griev 
 ously disappointed, also with a keen sense of hu 
 mor, and with a mind still not only active, but 
 alert and impressible. And while Kate instantly 
 fell down and worshipped him with intellectual 
 adoration, he too was won by her bright, rapt, 
 sympathetic listening ; he questioned her with 
 a half amused, half tender, but altogether pleas 
 ing and stimulating curiosity ; he talked to her 
 with a flattering accuracy and minuteness ; he 
 talked to her, in short, as if he considered her 
 worth while, and as if he were himself inter 
 ested ; and when it was time to go home, Kate 
 was found by Walter, brilliant, animated, in a 
 seventh heaven of delight. Nay, so mysterious 
 are the ways of Providence that I doubt not the 
 learned president enjoyed the little rencontre 
 with almost equal zest, though he was mature, 
 and wise, and learned, while Katherine was alto 
 gether ignorant, crude, and positive. But a 
 bright, fresh, happy young woman has got to 
 be very objectionable indeed in order to make 
 herself disagreeable to an intelligent elderly
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 89 
 
 gentleman who is the object of her admiration 
 and reverence. 
 
 " Did you see anything to discourage you in 
 the way of dress ? " said Mrs. Ford to Katy, as 
 they were performing that imperative and final 
 duty of " talking it over." 
 
 " Discourage me ? No, unless I had to make 
 it, and then I should be discouraged at the out 
 set." 
 
 " Nor did I. Bella Stacy was all train, with 
 her waist crowded down into sixteen inches ! " 
 
 " So," said Walter, emphatically, " I had to 
 put my arm round her twice to get any kind of 
 leverage for waltzing." 
 
 " I suppose she has organs," said Mrs. Ford, 
 natural-philosophically, " but I don t know what 
 she does with them when she is dressed." 
 
 " That was a nice-looking girl with you, Wal 
 ter, with hair." 
 
 " An exhaustive description," laughed Walter. 
 
 " Jane Courcy," said Mrs. Ford, whose vigi 
 lance nothing escaped ; " ridiculous to see a 
 young girl with such a wig piled atop puffed 
 up, and fluffed out, and rolled over, and flatted 
 down, and twisted round. It is strange people 
 can t see that hair is hair, and not a mere market 
 able commodity." 
 
 " She had a beautiful complexion, too, Aunt 
 Fanny." 
 
 " It won t wash."
 
 90 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 "O, no!" 
 
 " O, yes ! " 
 
 " It was too beautiful and natural." 
 
 " Katherine Havilaud, do you think I don t 
 know paint when I see it?" 
 
 " /don t, then," said Katy. "Was that tall 
 Miss May painted ? " 
 
 " Not she. She has too much sense, and I 
 never can tell where she got it, nor her coffee- 
 colored face, for her mother was the handsomest 
 fool of my early acquaintance." 
 
 "Mrs. Ford," said Walter, laughing, "you 
 are a chaperon in a thousand, warding off every 
 one s charms from Kate, who does not need it, 
 by the way." 
 
 " I trust I am not afraid to use my eyes for 
 fear it should be called backbiting," said Mrs. 
 Ford scornful alike of men and metaphors. 
 " Mary May is a sensible girl, and I am very 
 fond of her, but she is coffee-colored, and does 
 not know how to wear clothes." 
 
 " Who does?" asked Katy, "for an ensample." 
 
 " Harriet Clapham. She looked just as if she 
 had stepped out of a picture ; and Bessie Averill, 
 who was a picture herself in that lovely muslin, 
 all ferns and lilies. Kate, she painted that gown 
 herself." 
 
 " Yes," said Kate, " that is the kind of paint 
 even /know."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 91 
 
 " Mr. Laballe, is that young Fraser engaged to 
 her, or is he only flirting ? " 
 
 " Engaged, I am afraid, Mrs. Ford. It ought 
 to be a statutory offence." 
 
 " What is his crime ? " asked Kate. 
 
 " Looking like the idiot he is, for one thing," 
 answered Mrs. Ford. " He was standing near 
 you half an hour, Kate, with eye-glass in one 
 eye, and chin in the air. Did you not see 
 him?" 
 
 " I don t remember any suspended chin, Aunt 
 Fanny." 
 
 " Don t ask Kate any questions this side of 
 the Silurian epoch, Mrs. Ford. She had no 
 eyes for anybody but that fossil in spectacles. 
 I had to wrench her off from the old red sand 
 stone to bring her home." 
 
 " It was the only real enjoyment I had for the 
 evening," said Kate, naively. 
 
 " Why, Kate ! " 
 
 " O, of course I had nice little common times. 
 But this was something really splendid, and to 
 be remembered." 
 
 * It was a veritable conquest oil both sides, 
 Mrs. Ford, I assure you," said Walter to her 
 aunt. " Kate, I shall be desperately jealous if 
 you go on in this way. A demure little country- 
 girl, and to develop into an arrant flirt the very 
 first night ! " 
 
 " O, don t talk so, Walter," said Katherine, a
 
 92 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 little impatiently. " I don t like to have you 
 talk so, even in jest. It seems to demean Mr. 
 Franklin to use his name in such a way." 
 
 " O, of course he is altogether too superior and 
 remote for such familiar and frivolous words; but 
 upon my honor, Mrs. Ford, if you had kept an 
 eye on the corner behind you, you would have 
 seen something uncommonly like the thing under 
 your very wing." 
 
 " If Kate enjoyed herself, I am content," said 
 Mrs. Ford. " She certainly did not interfere 
 with my enjoyment." 
 
 " If flirting is to have the most delightful talk 
 with people who know things and like to tell 
 them, then I shall always have a good word to 
 say for flirting," added Kate. 
 
 " That is the way they all think, only they 
 don t all speak out quite so frankly." 
 
 " Who is it that you mean by they, Walter? " 
 
 " Innocent little heart-breakers like you the 
 most vicious kind of all." 
 
 " Aunt Fanny, don t you think you ought to 
 come to my defence, seeing I am under your 
 protection ? " 
 
 " If I needed to come to your defence, you 
 would not be under my protection," said Mrs. 
 Ford, in her best Johnsonese. 
 
 " Certainly not," cried Mr. Laballe, gayly cap 
 ping Johnson with Webster. "There she is. 
 Behold her, and judge for yourselves. Going
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 93 
 
 at the rate of sixty revolutions the minute. 
 The venerable Prex had so much ado to keep 
 up with her that his spectacles flashed like a 
 hundred-faceted lens, cutting around sharp cor 
 ners after her." 
 
 " What did you talk about ? " asked Mrs. 
 Ford. 
 
 " O, many things. The Brahmins, and all 
 about Unitarians, and how there is always, and 
 always will be, a right and left in all religions " 
 
 " That is the French Assembly," interjaculated 
 Walter. " You have got your religion mixed up 
 with other things this time." 
 
 " It would not be worth much as a religion if 
 it weren t," retorted Kate. " President Franklin 
 has been in India and he was very interesting, 
 telling me about the old astronomy, and the one 
 ness in everything, and the Aztecs, and why you 
 can hope for immortality outside of the Bible, 
 though, of course," added Kate, argumentatively 
 and reflectively, " life and immortality are brought 
 to light only through the gospel, and about the 
 Catacombs." 
 
 " A lively old party," muttered Walter, strok 
 ing his whiskers. 
 
 "Well," parried Kate, laughing, "it sounds 
 differently when you just name it over. But it 
 was not a bit funereal to talk." 
 
 "So it was for the Aztecs, and the skeletons, 
 and such trash, that you threw me over ? "
 
 94 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Threw you over ? " 
 
 " Did you not do me the honor to say that all 
 you enjoyed was the president ? " 
 
 " O, but I scarcely saw you for the evening, 
 only to walk with you a little at first, and to 
 dance with you once. I did not expect it, of 
 course," added Kate, quickly. " Of course peo 
 ple don t go to parties to see you ! " blushing 
 a little at her unspoken thought. 
 
 " No ; I think we can devise something better 
 than that," said Walter, " when it comes to per 
 sonal enjoyment. All the same, don t you de 
 vote yourself too exclusively to college presi 
 dents, and that sort of truck. I am not jealous, 
 Kitty, so I can speak my mind. There s a wife 
 or two, not to mention a dozen or so children 
 scattered along that presidential path, so he 
 won t be likely to cut across mine. But you 
 let the Sanscrit folks alone." 
 
 " In my humble sphere," said Kate, tartly, 
 " we think learned people very respectable." 
 
 " So do we," said Walter, imitating her tone. 
 " We take off our hats to them. We plume our 
 selves on being able to take off our hats to them. 
 But we never make much headway in point of 
 social prestige by flirting with them." 
 
 " O, there you are saying that again." 
 
 " Well, then, we don t come up from the 
 country and put on our purple and fine linen 
 for the sake of declining dances with half a
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 95 
 
 dozen of the first men in society, and standing 
 in a corner to talk mammoths and mastodons 
 all the evening with a blear-eyed antique in 
 gold-bowed glasses, who does not know whether 
 we are dressed in gold tissue or swathed in a 
 mummy cloth." 
 
 " O, Walter, you don t really care that I did 
 not dance more ! Indeed, I did not feel in the 
 mood at all." 
 
 " No, Kitty, not really. If you enjoyed your 
 self, that is all. But I am ambitious for you, I 
 own. I want you to shine out with the bril 
 liancy that belongs to you. But you need not 
 hurry. Take your own time. I only want 
 really under all the badinage that you shall 
 not waste yourself. Talk as much as you like 
 to respectable old coves, like the president. It 
 is an advantage to be known to be on good 
 terms with the like of him. But don t let your 
 self be monopolized by them. Your star will 
 rise far more rapidly if you circulate well among 
 people shallower, perhaps, but far more brilliant 
 and fashionable. It is they who will stamp you 
 as current coin. He may certify the bullion. I 
 want you to be reckoned sensible, dear, but I 
 also want you to be counted gay not to say 
 now, Miss Puss, don t be shocked if I say 
 fashionable. I am not sure that I want you to 
 be intellectual. That is, be as intellectual as 
 you like, but don t have the name of it. Am I
 
 96 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 an exacting old wretch, Katy, wholly given over 
 to the god of this world ? " 
 
 " But, Walter, why do you care so much how 
 one is considered ? What difference does it 
 make ? Why not be something, and never mind 
 what you are thought to be ? " 
 
 " Because, my dear, that is not possible. It 
 sounds very well. I admire it as a sentiment, 
 but nobody is ever indifferent to what is thought 
 of him." 
 
 " Not wholly indifferent. I do not mean that. 
 But, for instance, now, if I do like President 
 Franklin, why not let it be? What possible 
 reason is there why I should be known to like 
 him, or not known ? " 
 
 " You would not like to have the reputation 
 of being in request only among the Antiques and 
 Horribles. You don t want to be courted by 
 people who court a Greek root or a new kind of 
 fish in the same way they do you ! " 
 
 " I don t know," said Kate, laughing and 
 blushing. "I certainly don t want to be courted 
 any other way." 
 
 " The trouble with you, Kate, is that you have 
 made your market, and the marketing is here 
 under your own eye, as snug and safe as Betsy 
 Trotwood s bandbox, and you are altogether 
 too independent in consequence. If you weren t 
 BO deuced sure of me ! " 
 
 " O, Walter ! "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 97 
 
 " Pardon me, dear Kate, and don t avenge 
 yourself by flirting with all the young fellows 
 who will flock around you as soon as you hold 
 out the golden sceptre." 
 
 "But I don t want to flirt at all, Walter. I 
 don t know what you mean by it, and I don t care 
 anything about it." 
 
 " O, but you will take it the natural way, 
 when the time comes. Such austerity of virtue 
 is too heavenly for home consumption. A girl 
 must have a spice of coquetry to be perfect, and 
 you are perfect, Katy. Have I not turned that 
 well ? The rose that all are praising, O, that s 
 the rose for me." 
 
 " I can only be what I am, "Walter. I can t 
 make myself into anything else." 
 
 " And if you should dare go and make your 
 self into anything that you are not now, into 
 anything other than you are, it would be all 
 over between us. It is you that I want, not 
 somebody else." And then they drifted into 
 pleasant little foolish talk, that says so little and 
 means so much, and the party and the talk ended 
 amicably. 
 
 7
 
 VI. 
 
 BUT all the same the winter went on disas 
 trously. Katherine fought unheeding, but 
 ail-valiantly against the misgiving that Walter 
 was not the hero she had imagined him. He was 
 fond and faithful, he was cheerful and gay ; but 
 she could have better borne that he was grave 
 and absorbed, less ready to attend her, less sat 
 isfied with the present. He was always kind ; 
 but he was always more or less anxious, even as 
 regarded her, about matters which seemed to her 
 insignificant and frivolous. She was always, at 
 least generally, gentle, suggestive, and acquies 
 cent ; yet she was always more or less indirectly, 
 though not impalpably, urging him to serious 
 ness, to duty, to application, to something which 
 should satisfy her ideal of manhood. And some 
 times he parried her, and sometimes he jested, and 
 sometimes he overcame her with tenderness; but 
 sometimes, too, he grew a little restive. His very 
 absorption in amusement made Kate draw off from 
 it. Her natural liking for fun and frolic was lost 
 
 98
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 99 
 
 in anxiety for Walter, in resentment against 
 what seemed to her the insidious foe of his abil 
 ity and his manhood. Had he been too much 
 devoted to business, too much instigated by am 
 bition, too desirous of securing place and power, 
 Katy was just the one to have lured him into 
 saner ways. It would have been her delight to 
 win him to repose and relaxation, to give her 
 own bright spirit play for his diversion and de 
 light. But somehow she felt now as if all the 
 weight of sobriety and responsibility were on 
 her, as if to join and sympathize in his merry 
 making were to add to the velocity, the strength, 
 the momentum of the current that was trying to 
 drag him down not down to ruin she did 
 not fear that, but to a lower level than was his 
 birthright ; to a position, to a standing, which, 
 however satisfactory to others, would enlist her 
 regret, her pity, rather than her pride. Her 
 pity ! She was startled at the word, at the 
 thought, and then she was startled again at per 
 ceiving for the first time how much her fear for 
 Walter preponderated over her hope how 
 much more apprehension she felt for him than 
 she had rest in him. " I wonder can it be " 
 thought Katy, " that this is the common way ! 
 It cannot be. It is not the way I thought of, 
 certainly." 
 
 So they drew more and more apart. Not for 
 mally, not consciously, perhaps. It is marvellous
 
 100 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 how much of our mental life goes on without our 
 perceiving it. It is as if the mind were absorbed 
 in working out its problems, and only when the 
 solution is complete is the mind at leisure to re 
 view its work and know what it has done. Long 
 after these thoughts, these convictions, of which 
 we were unaware, have crj^stallized into actions, 
 we go back and interpret ourselves to ourselves. 
 So Walter and Kate went on as they had done, 
 long after they were really all out of harmony 
 with each other ; went on faltering, stumbling, 
 falling out of line, but bravely keeping the same 
 path, and not really aware that they were not 
 keeping step. But Walter, of course, could not 
 fail to be influenced by Katherine s misgivings. 
 A man may be never so little inclined to change 
 his course in life, but he knows whether his mis 
 tress adores him or criticises him. And he basks 
 in the adoration, and is made uncomfortable by 
 the criticism, especially if he feels within him 
 self that the criticism is just, and has not the 
 smallest intention of seeking to deserve it less. 
 Katherine, too, felt the jar of Walter s dissatis 
 faction, or if that is too strong, his lack of 
 utter, absolute satisfaction with her, and she 
 had tho additional advantage or disadvantage, 
 whichever it might be, of being annoyed with 
 the cause of dissatisfaction. She was, unhappily, 
 less disturbed at not being his ideal, than at his 
 ideal itself. She had no ambition to become
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 101 
 
 what it seemed to be his ambition she should be 
 come. And at length, slowly, sadly, almost un 
 awares, but surely, the question arose in Kate s 
 mind : were they suited to each other ? Day and 
 night, alone and in societj^, Kate revolved that 
 question, tried many a test, decided now this way 
 and now that, and as constantly revoked her de 
 cision ; felt sometimes that she was wronging 
 Walter, and then lavished tenderness on him by 
 way of atonement ; felt then discouraged and 
 distrait, and as if she were beating against wind 
 
 o o 
 
 and tide. Then she resolved upon strong meas 
 ures, and taking counsel of no one, wrote one day: 
 
 " MY DEAR WALTER." (Then, frightened, 
 she waited till she was on the eve of returning 
 home, and in desperation and weakness finished 
 her letter, and left it for him.) " It is not quite 
 fair, perhaps, to write to you as I am about to do ; 
 but I admit frankly that I am a coward, and have 
 not the courage to say it. Besides, it is very 
 serious, and I do not wish to be turned away by 
 anything which you or I might feel. It is for all 
 our life, dear Walter, so please to look at it ex 
 actly as it is. I think you love me. I have not 
 a doubt of you, and not a reproach for you ; but 
 I do think we are not suited to each other. At 
 least, I am not suited to you. I am too sober and 
 old not old in years, I mean, but old in my feel 
 ings. The things that you like much, I do not
 
 102 FIAST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 care for. I do not know how to say that you do 
 not suit me, for that would not be true. I think 
 if you would be what Heaven meant you to be, 
 you would be everything that I should desire ; 
 but it seems to me, dear, that you never will be 
 that, because you are so waylaid by little things, 
 and you do not put them down, and give your 
 self to large things ; and that would make me 
 always discontented. This sounds as if I were 
 setting myself up above you. You know that is 
 not true, dear Walter. It is only for yourself, 
 and of yourself, that I want great things, and 
 that because I am sure they are in you. Don t 
 think I am leaving you disgusted; but you know 
 it would be no good my staying with you, and 
 just teasing you. I cannot believe it is at all the 
 thing for married people to have to adjust them 
 selves to each other. You have to adjust your 
 self to everybody else ; but people ought to marry 
 only because they are already adapted to each 
 other by nature. Dear Walter, the least little 
 jar coming between us would be suspicious ; and 
 if you look back, you will perceive that there 
 has been a continuity of jar all along. Not in 
 tentionally, dear ; not your fault, nor mine ; but 
 just that we do not harmonize. 
 
 " Dear Walter, if you only would be your 
 best, everything would be as I thought it. But 
 as it is, let us be good friends, and never any 
 thing more. I must always be your true friend ;
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 1Q3 
 
 but I cannot consent to be an obstacle in your 
 path because you will not consent to take mine. 
 
 " As I read this letter over it seems to be 
 cold and fault-finding. Let all the fault-finding 
 be turned towards myself, if you choose, for it 
 may be that I alone am wrong. But it makes no 
 difference who is right and who is wrong ; if one 
 is one way and the other the other, we are not 
 together, whichever you call wrong. I am not 
 cold, and I do not pretend I am happy. But it 
 seems to me I am doing what is best. It is very 
 little to say that I shall always be your friend." 
 
 And Katy put this letter into the post-office 
 herself, and said good-by to her aunt and to 
 Walter, feeling altogether a coward and a trai 
 tor ; and went home to her father, and in the new 
 gladness of welcome tried to forget that she had 
 written any letter. But she had written it; and 
 when the well-known handsome handwriting 
 that she loved appeared again, she tore open the 
 letter with an eagerness and a hopefulness which 
 she would have been at a loss to explain, and 
 read : 
 
 " MY DEAR KATE : Your letter distressed, 
 but did not surprise me. I do not know that I 
 can say aught to change your decision.. I never 
 supposed I was good enough fpr you, for I think 
 you are a good girl, Kate, if there ever was one.
 
 104 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 and I know that I am a good-for-nothing fellow. 
 Sometimes when I have been talking with you, 
 in your most fiery-souled moods, I have felt a stir, 
 and if there had been any push in me, you 
 would have pushed me ahead. But there isn t. 
 I can t lie to you, Katy, and it would be no use 
 if I did. I am a humbug, and I know it, and 
 despise myself for it ; but I am not any the less 
 a humbug for that, and the worst of it is that 
 you have all along been finding it out. I was not 
 a humbug in loving you, for I do love you hon 
 estly and dearly, and if I had anything to live 
 on I should not let you go so easily ; but should 
 hold you fast, and let you try your hand at mak 
 ing me over. But as it is, I only jog along from 
 hand to mouth, half the time, as you know, at 
 the mercy of my crabbed old uncle, who doles 
 out his dollars with innuendos and lectures that 
 swallow up more than the money is worth, and 
 be hanged to it all. I hate my profession, and 
 I don t love any other. I was born to spend 
 money, not to earn it, and it is a confounded 
 shame and misplacement that I was not endowed 
 according to my talents. I hate to give you up. 
 The best thing in my life will leave me when 
 you go from me. I would be a good husband to 
 3 7 ou, Katy, if I could be your husband at all. But, 
 miscreant as I am, I have too much manhood to 
 keep you watching and waiting for an improve 
 ment that will never come; or to waste the bright
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 105 
 
 years of your youth in bothering over a man 
 who will never do you the least credit. I am 
 no great shakes, but I am too great a shake for 
 that. 
 
 " So here ends the first lesson. You certainly 
 are not wrong. I think sometimes you have 
 been a little hard on me, just because you were 
 built on so energetic a scale that you could not 
 appreciate the difficulties that beset a fellow 
 whose walls and dome looked strong enough, but 
 whose underpinning was somehow left out. But 
 I don t know that it is any use to quarrel with 
 Destiny. I suppose I can breast fate that dooms 
 me from within as well as another who is ruined 
 from without. I have at least pluck enough not 
 to whine. The burning tears are in my eyes, 
 but I can dash them all away. God bless you, 
 Kate, and give you to some man more worthy of 
 you than I. I have felt all along that I did not 
 suit you, and I knew the tears you shed at part 
 ing were more of disappointment in me than sor 
 row at leaving me. 
 
 Good-by." 
 
 Katherine sat stunned after reading this letter. 
 She had received a blow as violent as unex 
 pected. She did not ask herself what reply she 
 had looked for to her letter. She knew perfectly 
 well that she had not contemplated any such 
 issue as this. She was not a hypocrite ; but in
 
 106 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 writing to Walter, in thinking to give him up, 
 she had not really looked such relinquishment in 
 the face. She had all along an underlying hope 
 that her heroic treatment would cure the patient, 
 not kill the physician. What she had really 
 counted on was that Walter would see the seri 
 ousness of the emergency, that he would be once 
 for all shocked out of his versatile life, out of 
 his unworthy aims, which hardly seemed more 
 than aimlessness, that he would concentrate his 
 power, grasp the opportunity that awaited him, 
 and bring forth fruit meet for repentance. Kate 
 looked for a letter full of love and pleading, self- 
 reproach, and resolution, and remonstrance, and 
 she was in a melting mood before it came, and 
 prepared to forgive, and encourage, and console, 
 poor girl. And now Walter had taken her at 
 her word ! and she was as amazed and appalled 
 as if the blow had originated with him. She 
 read and re-read the letter, comprehending more 
 and more clearly with each perusal that it was 
 final. She was so wretched, so forlorn, so de 
 spairing, that she felt one moment as if she must 
 go to him, must throw herself at his feet, and 
 beg him to forgive her and take her back, let 
 come what might. Then she re-read the letter, 
 and her self-respect, beaten down by her love, 
 rose again, miserable but inflexible, and told her 
 that he had relinquished her without a struggle. 
 He had accepted the first overture of release.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 107 
 
 He made no resistance. He begged no delay. 
 He resigned himself to the situation without re- 
 
 o 
 
 monstrance, and it was not for her to rebel 
 against it. Besides, was it not even too evident 
 that, though she had taken the initiative, he had 
 been sensible of relief ? There was love ; Kate 
 felt that he had been sincere. He had not simu 
 lated a feeling which he had not. But O ! what 
 kind of love was it ? She who had so worshipped 
 heroism ; she who had been so exacting ; she 
 who would admit nothing less than the greatest, 
 who demanded that love should be unperverted 
 and ail-conquering, she had been able to inspire 
 only this feeble and powerless passion, some 
 thing subordinate to commonest circumstances, 
 something that had no influence and no impulse, 
 something that gave way under the first stress, 
 why, how was Walter weighted in the race more 
 than other men ? And then she stabbed herself 
 for having stabbed him, and saw it was only be 
 cause she was not strong enough to inspire him. 
 Katy was so perturbed and miserable over the 
 main point that she had no eye for side issues. 
 She was not amused by the weak, whimsical 
 frankness with which Walter admitted his short 
 comings. She did not observe the comical ease 
 with which, towards the close, he lapsed into 
 self-pity, quite warming into enthusiasm at the 
 thought of his own wrongs and sufferings. She 
 did not clearly see the fatal selfishness out of
 
 108 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 which neither duty nor shame could rouse him ; 
 the manhood, the bravery which would nerve 
 itself to relinquish her calmly, but not to become 
 worthy of retaining her. She only saw that be 
 tween herself and Walter all was over ; that she 
 had suggested it, that he would have it so, and 
 that it was better it should be so. Her pride, 
 her dignity, her love, her perception were alike 
 aggrieved. She was wounded and suffering at 
 every point. 
 
 Nothing of all this showed itself in her de 
 meanor. She received and returned all glad 
 greetings. She interested herself in all home 
 ways and in all the happenings of her absence. 
 When she was alone, it is true, she often found 
 herself arrested midway in any errand whatever, 
 and gazing fixedly at nothing, while her sad mind 
 travelled its weary round of reflection and fore 
 casting. But one day at erentide, when she had 
 become so familiar with her loneliness and mis 
 ery that she thought she could mention it lightly, 
 she said, gently, " Papa, I have a thing to tell 
 you that you will not grieve to hear. It is all 
 over between Mr. Laballe and me." 
 
 " No, Katy ; but is it, really ? " 
 
 " Really, papa." 
 
 " How came that ? " 
 
 " There was nothing else, dear. It was best," 
 she replied, thoughtfully. 
 
 " Did it seem best to yourself, Kate? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 109 
 
 " Yes, papa, to me. You were right from the 
 beginning. I am sorry, but you were right." 
 
 " Did it come about because you found I was 
 right, or from some other reason? " 
 
 " Only that. Walter was not to blame at all, 
 and I do not think I was, or that he thinks I was. 
 It is simply that I feared we were not suited to 
 each other. I was not quite content with him, 
 nor, indeed, was he with me ; and I suppose we 
 never should have been content. But the sug 
 gestion came wholly from me, without any provo 
 cation from him, and he accepted it as the best 
 thing. He is utterly blameless, papa. You need 
 have no feeling against him, even in your 
 thoughts." 
 
 u My dear Kate, I am too glad it is over to 
 blame him. Even if it had come from him I 
 should still have been glad. But that your good 
 sense should have discerned him, that you should 
 have done this of your own free will, is too good 
 news for me to higgle over the manner of it. I 
 would never spoil your happiness, and I certainly 
 would never force your will, (as if the dear man 
 ever would have tried ! Katy did a much larger 
 business in forcing his ;) but I never thought him 
 a fit mate for you, and I shall breathe the easier 
 that you have found it out." 
 
 "But don t be severe on him, papa. I have 
 given him up wholly. We shall never be any 
 thing more to each other than we are now. But
 
 110 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 I feel very warmly and kindly towards him, and 
 I think he was true to me in his way. You 
 must think very kindly of him." 
 
 " Trust me for that, Kitty. I shall not think 
 of him at all, so make yourself easy. He is not a 
 man I should ever think of twice, except for you." 
 
 Kate was too absorbed to feel the slight 
 put upon her choice. She was silent, and her 
 father said presently, as a new thought struck 
 him, 
 
 " How is it, Kate, you are not unhappy ? You 
 have done this of your own choice ? " 
 
 " Entirely of my own choice, papa. But you 
 know I was very much in earnest, and and I 
 cannot say it would not be worth while to be 
 perfectly light-hearted after having made so se 
 rious a mistake. I feel sure I am right now ; but 
 of course I don t feel yet quite as I did before." 
 
 " Yes, deary, I understand. You would not be 
 yourself if you did. I cannot, to be sure," said 
 Mr. Haviland, reflectively, " understand how you 
 ever could have set a value upon him. You are 
 so clever and discerning, and he is such light 
 weight. But never mind. I cannot tell you, 
 Kate, how relieved I am that it is over." And 
 so Mr. Haviland dismissed the subject. It is 
 really wonderful how an elderly gentleman can 
 be exceedingly fond of his daughter and yet fail 
 to put himself in her place. Mr. Haviland simply 
 transferred to Katy his own opinion of her lover,
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. HI 
 
 and had no idea of the blank dismay which lay 
 over her mind, brooding and shadowing it. 
 
 Otherwise, matters went on much as before. 
 It was not a village where engagements are con 
 sidered as public matters as marriage. Girls did 
 not treat their lovers as wives treat their hus 
 bands, and had not forgotten to blush at the 
 mention of one name, or the approach of a certain 
 footstep. It is all very right and proper, no 
 doubt, to do away with all this blushing and 
 backwardness and shy secrecy ; but somehow, in 
 laughing away the bashful ness of love, is not 
 something of the bloom of love also brushed 
 away ? 
 
 So had Katherine no questioning, surmise, 
 or banter to meet. The engagement had not 
 been known, the acquaintance had not been vis 
 ibly interrupted. Only to Mr. Glynn of all 
 persons in the world Katherine felt, was the 
 revelation due. Utterly sad and straightforward, 
 it did not occur to her that her motive might be 
 misconstrued. She had as yet learned to look 
 only, or chiefly, at the thing to be done, and not 
 at the attitude she might present in doing it. 
 Fortunately for Katherine, her lack of wisdom 
 was not revealed to the world, but only to one 
 man. who knew her too well to mistake simplicity 
 for design ; though even he did not at first quite 
 comprehend the purpose which actuated her, 
 while yet fully comprehending what was not her
 
 112 FIRST LCVE IS BEST. 
 
 purpose. Nevertheless, a great rush of joy filled 
 his heart, every trace of which he sought sedu 
 lously to banish from his face. 
 
 " Miss Katy, I don t know how you expect me 
 to feel about this, but I cannot regret anything 
 in it except your trouble. I don t know what to 
 say," he confessed, ingenuously, a fact which 
 must have been clear to the most casual observer. 
 
 " I do not expect you to feel, and you need 
 not say anything," said Katherine, Avith the 
 ghost of a smile ; " only I wanted to tell you be 
 cause it makes me feel easier towards you about 
 you." 
 
 "You do not mean " he began, eagerly, and 
 stopped abruptly. He knew she did not mean 
 that, and throttled the suggestion on the spot. 
 
 " When I was most happy, I could not forget 
 that you were not, and that it was my doing. 
 It seems strange that I should have power to 
 make you unhappy and none to make you happy 
 nor myself nor any one " Kate threatened 
 here to go off into a long, silent reverie ; but she 
 thought better of it, evidently, " Everything is 
 so strange. But it seemed as if it was selfish and 
 heartless to be as happy as I could be ; because 
 why should I be favored and you not ? If some 
 one else had troubled you, it would have been 
 bad enough ; but it was all through me. All my 
 joy was your sorrow. Now I do not know 
 that I can make you quite understand but I
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. H3 
 
 feel that it is a sort of justice fate owes you, to 
 know that we are equal in trouble." 
 
 " Kitty, you surely do not think I could be so 
 base as to rejoice in any misfortune that could 
 befall you. To be unhappy in one love will not, 
 I suppose, make another more acceptable." 
 
 " I do not mean that at all, or anything against 
 you. But it satisfies me towards you. I no 
 longer must conceal my feelings from you lest 
 they give you pain. I do not have to feel heart 
 less in being happy when you are not. I want 
 you to know that if I ever caused you any 
 bitterness, I have tasted that bitterness myself 
 in full measure." 
 
 " Yet the separation was your own doing ? " 
 
 " In a sense it was. In any sense to be indig 
 nant about, I did it. But I am so lost, why should 
 I conceal it ? It was he who rejected me. On 
 the outside I released him first. But I feel more 
 and more, every day, that he was glad to be re 
 leased. Yes, Mr. Glynn," looking straight into 
 his eyes, "it is I who was rejected." 
 
 " Fool ! " ejaculated Mr. Glynn. 
 
 " No, he was no fool. In some points he was 
 not wholly strong. But he had every talent, and 
 if I had but possessed the power to influence 
 him, he would be a king among men." 
 
 "Better be content with a republic," said 
 shall I say sneered? Mr. Glynn, divided be 
 tween anger and such is man delight.
 
 114 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " At some time," continued Katherine, " there 
 may come a woman who will be able to inspire 
 him with a love so warm as to kindle his pur 
 pose. That is what he needs that is what I 
 thought to do ; and then I shall be surprised at 
 no achievement. But I do not hide from myself, 
 nor from you, that I failed." 
 
 " Katy," cried Mr. Glynn, with a gesture of 
 impatience, " I can t say what I think, because it 
 would vex you and pain you, and perhaps do 
 me a mischief; but I want you to understand 
 that " that Laballe is a fool, and you are an 
 other, was what was in his mind, but the one fool 
 occupied in his esteem so different a position 
 from the other, the folly of the first had served 
 him so good a turn, and the folly of the second 
 was so harmless and even pathetic, and moreover 
 he was a man and she was a woman, so, alto 
 gether, he minced words and ended lamely, 
 " that I don t subscribe to your opinions." 
 
 " Do you not ? " said Kate, listlessly. 
 
 " Not a jot. It is simple nonsense, as I could 
 show you if you would stand it, which you will 
 not. You are a sensible girl, but you have not 
 the data." 
 
 " I do not know whether it is sense or non 
 sense," said Kate, only half heeding him, and 
 gazing steadfastly into the fire, " but I have lost 
 my life." 
 
 " And I have found mine," cried Mr. Glynn,
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 115 
 
 abruptly. Katharine looked up with languid in 
 quiry. She could not have seen the color flush 
 into his swarthy face even had not the firelight 
 cast its glamour over him ; and she was in any 
 case too much concerned with her own thoughts 
 to know how deeply he was moved. 
 
 " Kate, I do not know how I should have felt 
 to see you married to a man worthy of you. It 
 might have been a sharper pain in some ways, but 
 there could not have been the madness of seeing 
 you fall into the hands of one incapable of appre 
 ciating you. I have escaped so great a danger 
 that I count myself this day a happy man." 
 
 "You?" 
 
 " Yes, I," (half impatient at the slight surprise 
 in her tone, it so plainly asked what had he to do 
 with it.) " I thought you were going to be lost 
 to me in that worst of all deeps, an unequal 
 marriage. And here I have you, before me, in 
 your own house, free, never to be sullied by that 
 not to waste your life in trying to hold up a 
 dead weight ; never to experience the long an 
 guish of a slow undeceiving, when it is too late. 
 Now it is not too late. Thank God, everything 
 is saved." 
 
 " I thought not," said Katy, with a touch of 
 her old mischief. "But never mind. I have told 
 you what I wished you to know, and we need 
 speak of it no more." 
 
 " But, Katy, I want you to be happy."
 
 116 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Happy ! " said Kate, incredulously. Happi 
 ness was a thing from which she had so long 
 parted, a thing from which she seemed so for 
 ever remote, that the mention of it appeared in 
 congruous. 
 
 " O, I do not mind happiness. I shall do very 
 well. It is only that my life is over. I wonder 
 how long one can live after one is dead. O, I 
 wonder if in the stars one can ever, ever forget ! " 
 
 Mr. Glj r nu left the room abruptly, and Kathe- 
 rine did not so much as know that he went. 
 
 The days dragged on, and Katherine nerved 
 herself to pleasant words and cheerful looks and 
 apparent interest, though heavy at heart. Every 
 thing seemed to her so insignificant. She found 
 herself in a certain set of circumstances, and 
 though it by no means seemed worth while to try 
 to get out of them as, indeed, what was there 
 desirable outside? still, there seemed nothing 
 worth while where she was. She marvelled that 
 Tishy should feel concerned about the white 
 washing, or that her father should be particular 
 to have the morning paper, or that Donald should 
 be in loud-voiced grief because a brood of chick 
 ens, too impatient of life to wait the slow coming 
 of summer-warmth, had perished in the cold 
 spring storms. What joy was there in farming, or 
 politics, or housekeeping? 
 
 But a heavier blow was to shake Katherine out 
 of the apathy of her grief.
 
 VII. 
 
 MR. HAVILAND had never aspired to be a 
 rich man, but he would have scorned to be a 
 poor one. He was born and bred of a stock that 
 looked upon debt with horror, and counted inde 
 pendence the one necessity of life. He was by 
 no means a money-making or a money-loving man. 
 He had inherited the ancestral farm with the 
 ancestral principles and the ancestral pride. He 
 knew very little about stocks or bonds, and dealt 
 scarcely at all in them. He made what little 
 money he had added to his inheritance by the 
 old-fashioned, commonplace methods industry, 
 prudence, thrift a very slow and ridiculous 
 way of making money, but still adhered to more 
 or less in the rural districts. But in this com 
 ical way he had accumulated a modest for 
 tune, quite ample for his own wants, and enough 
 to assure him of Katy s wellbeing through life. 
 In an evil hour, in one of those lapses from pru 
 dence to which the wisest are subject no, I 
 will not say that, for the wisdom of an act is riot 
 
 117
 
 118 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 determined by its event ; the highest wisdom 
 may result in disaster. Rather let me say that 
 Mr. Haviland, though himself well content 
 with narrow ways, distrustful of experiments, 
 and particularly adverse to meddling with what 
 he did not understand, was nevertheless of a 
 most kindly and obliging disposition. One of 
 his neighbors, a farmer of ingenuity and intelli 
 gence, believed himself to have discovered a 
 chemical process by which certain farm products 
 could be so treated as to become of vastly more 
 than their ordinary market value. The process 
 was not costly, but to make the matter a business, 
 buildings and machinery were necessary, and 
 Mr. Haviland and one or two others were asked 
 to form a joint-stock company, which, not hav 
 ing any of the immunities of ordinary corpora 
 tions, left each partner responsible for the debts 
 of the whole. Of this, however, Mr. Haviland 
 was not aware. 
 
 He had not much faith in the project, but 
 rather from a general lack of faith in projects 
 than from any special mistrust of this. Indeed, 
 if all men were like Mr. Haviland, enterprise 
 would soon come to a dead stop. But if there 
 were not some men like Mr. Haviland, who 
 would foot the bills of the enterprising who fail ? 
 Mr. Haviland, then, was not confident that his 
 neighbor had found the philosophers stone in 
 his cornfields and orchards ; but he did not
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 119 
 
 wish to be unsympathetic and churlish, and as 
 the sum required from him was not large, not 
 so large that its loss would cripple Katy, he 
 pleased his friend and himself by putting down 
 his name and paying in lys money. The first 
 year there were no dividends because the busi 
 ness had not been under way long enough to reach 
 the remunerative point ; the second year, Mr. 
 Haviland jocosely promised Katy, who was then 
 at school, a fur cloak with the proceeds ; but 
 some mischance happened to the crops, and they 
 did not harvest a fur cloak. Then the machinery 
 moved on undisturbed by Mr. Haviland, and the 
 capital and dividends occupied his mind only 
 enough to point an occasional rnild jest. But 
 Fate was moving on him from another quarter. 
 
 He and his neighbors shared the habit of 
 investing their surplus funds in the county 
 treasury and the neighboring savings-banks, 
 contented with small percentage for the sake of 
 greater security. But one day a scheme arose, 
 smiling rich promise, and the next it swept the 
 land with the besom of destruction. It was 
 a scheme of public benefit, in the hands not 
 simply of honorable but of religious men. It 
 was advertised and advocated in the religious 
 papers. The clergy and the church patronized 
 it; and men who would have been deaf to the 
 cries of " wild-cat banks," and who reckoned 
 " speculation " as one of the seven deadly sins,
 
 120 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 left their county funds and their savings-banks, 
 and followed this golden-mouthed Chrysostom 
 into the wilderness. 
 
 But the religious men blundered, just as if 
 they had been worldlings, and the counsels of 
 the religious papers were brought to naught; 
 and just as wide-spread disaster fell upon clergy 
 and churchmen, farmers, and widows and or 
 phans, as if the trap had been set by scoundrels. 
 It was a disaster that fell not alone, nor chiefly, 
 upon men of business, whose losses of to-day 
 are neutralized by the gains of to-morrow ; to 
 whom loss means only checkmate; only a little 
 change in their account-books, or at most a 
 temporary crippling of business. It was a disas 
 ter that smote the weak with an irretrievable 
 blow. It went into the country towns and swept 
 away the hard earnings that could never be 
 replaced. It made in many a home the difference 
 between ease and uncertainty, between rest and 
 comfort for old age and harassing uncertainty, 
 or a chilling and hopeless certainty. It went 
 into Mr. Haviland s house. It found him a 
 healthy and happy man, content with himself, 
 at peace with the world. It dealt the blow, and 
 left him dazed, smitten, overwhelmed. 
 
 The disaster was no direct fault of his own. 
 He had invested no money in the ruinous scheme. 
 But the sudden collapse touched many other 
 affairs. The neighbor, in the application of
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 121 
 
 whose invention Mr. Haviland had helped, was 
 an honest and ingenious man, but he had, like 
 many other inventors, small business ability. 
 His affairs had been financially mismanaged, and 
 the sudden pressure of the times forced a stop 
 page and a settlement. Then the ruin began to 
 disclose itself. There had been not only no 
 profit, but the debts, for a rural village, were of 
 appalling magnitude. Then the law crept into 
 light, and showed the unsuspected fact that the 
 corporation and contract had, perhaps unwit 
 tingly, made each stockholder responsible for the 
 whole business. Since the firm had been formed 
 one partner had died, and his estate had been 
 divided and scattered; another found himself 
 involved and destroyed in the larger disaster ; 
 the chief and inventor had nothing, and in short 
 Mr. Haviland was left to bear almost alone the 
 whole liability a liability before which his 
 small but sufficient estate would disappear. 
 
 The shock of the loss was scarcely less than 
 the shock of the surprise. The original occasion 
 of it was so slight as to have almost passed from 
 his memory. Many a time had he good-natured 
 ly lent money to a needy neighbor, and not 
 infrequently had this bread cast upon the waters 
 failed to return even after the lapse of many 
 days ; but he had always been scrupulous never 
 to scatter insecurely more than he could afford 
 to lose, and these small lapses had never dis-
 
 122 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 turbed him. Precisely this was what he sup 
 posed himself to have done in the present case, 
 and he stood not only appalled but confounded. 
 In earlier years he might have thrown it off, 
 though he was never of the temperament to rise 
 gayly above it; but whatever his possibilities 
 might have been, the time for elasticity and 
 conquest of circumstances had gone by. Kate 
 Kate was stripped of her possessions, of her 
 inheritance, of her independence. Nor did the 
 proud man fail to feel the wound in his pride. It 
 was himself that had done it. His own cherished 
 prudence had failed to discern the fatal flaw. 
 His own hand had robbed his beloved of the 
 ease and luxury and dignity of life. In his 
 sudden anguish he grew weak and almost wild. 
 He made incoherent statements to Katy, explana 
 tions that were half confessions and half bemoan- 
 ings ; and Katy, who by no means comprehended 
 him, but who saw clearly and instantly that there 
 was great loss and trouble, and that he was in 
 mental confusion and distress, came up instantly 
 out of her depths, kissed him, fondled him, 
 scolded him, and enveloped him with comfort 
 and consolation. Money, money ! what did she 
 care for money ? And in her own temporary 
 suspension of hope and happiness, she spoke 
 with more real indifference than she might 
 otherwise have felt, though, perhaps, not more 
 than she would in any case have assumed.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 123 
 
 Poor, indeed ! As if she were not fully able to 
 take care of herself and him too ! Bad, avari 
 cious man ! Ungrateful, unnatural parent ! To 
 think she minded anything, if only her dear, 
 sweet, cross old daddy would behave himself, 
 and not think she would mind the loss of a little 
 money, or a good deal either ! Not she ! And 
 Katy hung about him, and caressed him, and 
 read to him, and sung to him, and soothed him. 
 But for all that was the wound not stanched, 
 arid the yellow dawn of one peaceful Sunday 
 morning found him stretched upon his couch, 
 stricken, speechless, unconscious. 
 
 Katherine, unacquainted with illness, and 
 hitherto unshadowed by the mystery of death, 
 was awed but incredulous. This familiar and 
 beloved being had passed through the portals of 
 a subtile and awful change. All her heart and 
 soul and life seemed to fuse itself in his with an 
 imperious and inextinguishable sympathy that 
 would but could not penetrate his secret. 
 Neighborly kindness and succor were uninter- 
 mitting, as they always are in our village life. 
 Mr. Glynn, who from the beginning of the per 
 plexity and danger had occupied himself almost 
 unceasingly with Mr. Haviland s affairs, to 
 whom, indeed, the unhappy gentleman had re 
 linquished them with pathetic hopelessness and 
 helplessness, was unwearied in attendance and 
 service. As hours and days went on, the as-
 
 124 FIRST LOVE fS BEST. 
 
 sailed and overpowered soul struggled faintly 
 back to life and love. Into the eyes there came 
 wistfulness, recognition, affection ; and then, 
 alas ! pain ; and Katherine hushed her breaking 
 heart, forced her sad face into smiles, and softly 
 soothed the trouble into peace. But always the 
 pain came back. Only it seemed to Kate that 
 when Mr. Glynn was by, the eyes whose every 
 glance she noted rested upon him with peculiar 
 satisfaction, followed him with interest, watched 
 for him sometimes with strange intentness ; and 
 Katy told Mr. Glynn her fancy, and he left as 
 little as possible the sick man s side. Once, 
 when they had been sitting long in quiet and 
 silence, thinking he slept, the dear eyes opened 
 suddenly, and fastened on Mr. Glynn with start 
 ling eagerness ; the feeble lips made such earnest 
 effort to speak, the vanishing mind strove so 
 forcibly to convey its wish, that both eager 
 watchers bent over him with eye and ear alert, 
 to grasp the smallest fragment of his meaning. 
 " O, can t you catch one word?" moaned 
 Katy, wringing her hands in helpless agony. 
 
 " Hush," said Mr. Glynn, softly ; and then in 
 clear, tranquil, assuring tones to the dying man : 
 " Katy ? yes, I will take care of Katy. Never 
 fear. I will take every care of Katy always. 
 Trust me." The assent, the satisfaction were so 
 immediate and obvious, that Kate, who thought 
 not of herself at all, cried, joyously, " O, dar-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 125 
 
 ling, is it that ? Is it only me ? O, don t think 
 of me, dearest, dearest ! " Slowly into the pale 
 and beautiful face stole a look of repose, of 
 ineffable tranquillity, of immortal holiness, and 
 from the calm and peaceful sleep that followed 
 there was no awakening. 
 
 If sympathy could have lightened Katherine s 
 burden, that burden would have been small to 
 bear ; for none but sorrowed with the kind, 
 happy young girl, motherless from infancy, and 
 now fatherless and alone in her desolate youth. 
 And this sympathy found its way to her heart, 
 and was sweet and- consoling ; yet was there 
 nothing she so much wanted as to be alone. 
 She was so young, she knew so little of affairs, 
 that she contemplated her situation only on its 
 emotional side. She did not think of the mate 
 rial change that menaced her. She wanted her 
 guests to go when the sad occasion of their 
 assembling should be past ; she wanted the 
 house to settle into its old ways, that she might 
 face her loss in its worst aspects, and see what it 
 was to be, with this void that should never be 
 filled. And while her relatives, friends, and 
 neighbors were wondering what course she 
 
 O O 
 
 would take, and hesitating what suggestions to 
 make, and fearing to seem rough and hard by 
 intruding business upon her sorrow, Kate was 
 entirely unaware that there was any cause for
 
 126 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 suggestion. Her nearest relative was her aunt ; 
 and Mrs. Ford, finding Mr. Glynn already ap 
 parently in charge of affairs, knowing him some 
 what in his business relations, and still more as 
 Mr. Haviland s long-time friend and neighbor, 
 naturally took counsel with him, and leaned 
 upon him as the nearest strength, after the man 
 ner of women. And, having vainly tried to 
 induce Kate to return home with herself, not as 
 a matter of necessity, but of sympathy, Mrs. 
 Ford was insensibly persuaded by Mr. Glynn 
 so insensibly that she fancied the idea originated 
 with herself that it was not best to obtrude 
 any change or suggestion upon Kate, but to 
 leave her a while to her coveted solitude, to the 
 tranquillizing touch of time and the healing 
 springs of youth. 
 
 " I would so much rather take you home with 
 me, dear Kate ; but if you really cannot bring 
 yourself " 
 
 " Yes, dear aunt " 
 
 " We are leaving you only for a little rest and 
 quiet. But our house you must always consider 
 your home, and I shall run down again before 
 long." 
 
 " You are so kind always, Aunt Fanny." 
 
 " It is no kindness, Kate ; it is only the nat 
 ural order of things. And you will send for me 
 immediately if you want anything. I should 
 be so happy to take you home with us."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 127 
 
 " O, no, aunt." 
 
 " I know, dear. I shall not urge it any more. 
 I have no doubt it is best ; but we cannot bring 
 ourselves to be content at leaving you here 
 alone." 
 
 " I shall really be so much happier here than 
 anywhere else." 
 
 " So you say, dear ; and I suppose it is so. 
 And there is no hurry." 
 
 " Hurry about what ? " 
 
 " Nothing, my dear ; nothing at all. There is 
 no hurry about arranging your future." 
 
 " I think perhaps that will arrange itself." 
 
 " Perhaps so ; and at any rate we shall not 
 help matters by worrying about them." 
 
 So it came to pass that Katy had her heart s 
 desire, and was left alone in the deserted house ; 
 and the clock ticked on the stairway so loud 
 that it seemed to ring through space ; and the 
 easy-chair stood empty by the south window; 
 and the cat purred in the sunshine that moved 
 slowly along its old round over the carpet ; and 
 Tishy s voice sounded strange in the distant 
 kitchen ; and the house seemed hopelessly given 
 over to the deafening resonances of silence and 
 the heart-breaking order of an ever-present 
 absence. 
 
 " I could bear it all," said Katherine to Mr. 
 Glynn, to whom she could talk more freely than 
 to others, because he needed no explanations ;
 
 128 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " I could bear the separation, the being without 
 him, because that is all my own. It is those last 
 days of mental torture. To know that his dear, 
 good life was clouded at the last that I cannot 
 bear." 
 
 " But it was only for a little. It is all over. 
 And your love never failed him, nor even your 
 cheerfulness. I could see how he rested on that, 
 even at the worst." 
 
 " O, I am afraid not even that." 
 
 " My dear child, you cannot see clearly now. 
 You are tired and grieving, and you dwell on 
 regrets. But try to believe me. The heaviest 
 blow was softened to your father when he found 
 you unchanged." 
 
 " But he never could have supposed that any 
 such thing could have changed me towards him." 
 
 " No ; and he was also too unselfish to care 
 less for your loss than for your reception of the 
 news of loss. Nevertheless, I know well how 
 your loving-kindness and good cheer comforted 
 him. I assure you, Kate, that to me he spoke 
 of it quite as much as of this trouble which you 
 did not mind." 
 
 " Ah, but I minded the other too much." 
 
 " I think he did not know it," said Mr. Glynn, 
 after a pause. 
 
 "I hope not not wholly. But I thought 
 because I was not happy, there was no other 
 unbappiriess but that. It did not seem to me
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 129 
 
 anything then, that I had my father. To think 
 of it that I should not have thought any 
 thing about that ! And I fear I was often mo 
 rose, at least sad. I thought of myself more 
 than of an}^ one else. O, if I had known that 
 papa was in trouble ! if I had known, if I had 
 thought I could lose him so soon, how I 
 should have thought of him and no other ! " 
 Vain regret ! and old as vain. 
 9
 
 VIII. 
 
 KATY, said Mr. Glynn, one day, apropos to 
 nothing, " do you remember a question I 
 asked you long ago last year?" 
 
 "A question?" said Katy, quite at a loss for 
 his meaning. 
 
 " A request that you could not grant on the 
 last drive we ever took together." 
 
 " O ! " sighed Kate, faintly, and blushing a 
 deeper crimson than her cheeks had known for 
 many a wan week. 
 
 " Pray don t remember that," she said, softly, 
 as Mr. Glynn was silent. " Pray do not remem 
 ber it ; I do not." 
 
 " I do not renew that request, Katy. I make 
 you another, wholly different. I want you to 
 marry me." 
 
 " I do not understand," faltered Katy. 
 
 " When I asked you then, I thought I might 
 win your love, but I could not." 
 
 " I am very grateful to you," said Katy, piti 
 fully. " I can never tell you how grateful I am. 
 
 130
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 131 
 
 You have been the truest of friends. My fa 
 ther " and her voice failed her. 
 
 " I know it," he exclaimed, suddenly taking 
 her hand, and as suddenly dropping it. " I 
 know. You have been sweet and perfect, as 
 you always were. You would have loved me if 
 you could. As you could not, you have been 
 everything that was kind and gentle. I also 
 would have kept from loving you if I could. 
 No, not that," he checked himself, smiling, "I 
 would rather love you, Katy, hopelessly, with 
 out return, than to love triumphantly an} r other 
 woman ! " And after a pause he added : " That 
 is an amusement not in your books, is it, 
 Kate ? " 
 
 Kate could on!} 7 turn away her eyes ill si 
 lence. 
 
 " But," he continued, " that is not what I 
 came to say. What I wanted then was your 
 love. Without that I could have nothing. 
 Now I want you. Katy, if you had married 
 me then, I should have stood in the way of 
 your happiness. I should not stand in the way 
 of your happiness now ? " 
 
 u No. Because but " 
 
 " Loving you as I did, dear, I could never 
 have been willing to make you wretched, Had 
 fate put you into my hands, you not consenting, 
 I would not have consented. But now " 
 
 " O, now I am not worth your taking. O,
 
 132 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 Mr. Glynn, you know I have no love to give. 
 No, you do not know how desolate I am." 
 
 " I think I do know, however." 
 
 " Then you could not want me." 
 
 " But, Katy, I love you. That you naturally 
 forget, because you do not love me." 
 
 " I have a great respect and a real liking 
 for you, Mr. Glynn." 
 
 " That is right. That I hoped for, because 
 without that we should have little to go on in 
 deed. This other love, Katy, you do not count 
 on ? " 
 
 O, no." 
 
 " Answer me, Katy, truly, and forgive me, but 
 answer me for the sake of your father s friend 
 ship. You do not mean ever to marry Walter 
 Laballe ? " 
 
 44 O, no ; never, never ! " 
 
 44 And you have no thought of any other love ? " 
 
 44 How could I ? No, no." 
 
 4 As a friend and neighbor you do like me ? 
 I am not disagreeable to you? It is not unpleas 
 ant to you to see me and talk to me ? " 
 
 " O, no ; much more than that. I am very 
 grateful to you. It is more. Grateful sounds 
 cold, hard. My gratitude is very warm. I have 
 great confidence and trust in you. But O, Mr. 
 Glynn, you. do not want that. You are too good 
 to be put off with that." 
 
 41 Little Katy, I am not too good to be put off
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 133 
 
 with anything you can give me. If it could have 
 been love but that we will not speak of. What 
 I want now, what will make me happier than 
 anything else can, is that you should come and 
 live with me, and let me take care of you. It is 
 all that is left me in life, Katy. It would not be 
 robbing you, and it would be giving me infinite 
 wealth." 
 
 " But, Mr. Glynn, I will be just as good friends 
 and live here. I will always be your true, faith 
 ful friend. I will never marry any one else, and 
 I will never go away. I should like always to 
 live here. I could be just as much to you here 
 as to change." 
 
 " No, Katy, that is not possible. There are 
 many reasons. Do not ask me to give them, but 
 trust me. You say you have confidence in me 
 that it is not possible. You must either do this 
 one thing for me, or you will go away out of this 
 house, out of my life ; and that I cannot bear. 
 I thought I had lost you once. Now that you 
 have come back, it would be worse to lose you 
 than if you had never gone. You are tired 
 arid lonely. You have no heart to leave all the 
 old life, and strike out into new paths. You 
 would be successful by-and-by, because you 
 are young, and strong, and buoyant. But it 
 would be a weary way." 
 
 " I have not thought of it," said Katy, shrink- 
 ingly. " I do not want to go away."
 
 134 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " No, you do not ; and you shall not go away. 
 Come to me, Katy. I will take the most faith 
 ful care of you. I know you better than you 
 know yourself I have studied you more. I will 
 be so careful of you, dear, that you shall as little 
 as possible miss what you have lost. You shall 
 have just the life you like best. You shall be 
 wholly free and independent to go your own way. 
 Remember, you lose nothing, and if there is any 
 happiness for you in life, I will find it for you." 
 
 " But, O Mr. Glynn, it would be wicked, and 
 base, and mean, and vile in me to go to you 
 as I should have to go." 
 
 " No, my Katy, not with a full and fair 
 understanding. If you should come to me pre 
 tending to love me, and I should find afterwards 
 that you did not, that would be fatal. But you 
 have never deceived me. You have never been 
 otherwise than wholly frank and true. I know 
 what I have to expect." 
 
 " But you you could not be happy with so 
 little." 
 
 " Should I be happier with nothing ? " 
 
 " But suppose it should not always be nothing. 
 It might be that that some other fate, some 
 other love should come to you. Then you, too, 
 would be wretched, and it would be a horrible 
 and hopeless sort of wretchedness." 
 
 " Let me be the judge of that; " and he added, 
 with a quiet smile, " If you had done me the
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 135 
 
 honor to become a little acquainted with, me, 
 you would know very well that no danger is to 
 be less dreaded." 
 
 And Katy smiled too, in a sort of hopeless 
 recognition of the love that was so patient, so 
 frank, alike in its assertion and its abnegation. 
 
 " Katy, dear little Katy, you were the dearest 
 little pet and plaything in the old times infi 
 nitely dearer now. Do not be afraid of me. I 
 will never be hard or harsh with you, or con 
 strain you in any way. I will never be dis 
 pleased with you, whatever happens. I will not 
 ask you what is in your heart. That shall come 
 in its own time. But will you trust me enough 
 to tell me whether you are held by any, ever so 
 lingering a doubt whether you might be barring 
 the way to your own happiness. Is there still 
 in your mind a hope that one day a way may be 
 open to you for another marriage ? Do not mis 
 understand me. I ask you out of the very depths 
 of my love and my reverence. Nothing is so 
 sacred to me as your confidence. O Katy, be 
 kind to me ! " 
 
 " Mr. Glynn, it is all one as if I were dead ; 
 any marriage is impossible. What you want is 
 not natural. You are very, very good but 
 I cannot think it would be right. Right for 
 you, because but not right for me. It would 
 be false for me." 
 
 " Not false assuredly. No one is concerned
 
 136 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 except you and me. You shall not be bound by 
 any promises that you cannot fulfil. Listen, 
 dear, would it be unnatural for you to come and 
 live with me and let me take care of you if you 
 were my sister ? " 
 
 " O, no. If I could be born again, and be your 
 real sister, I would do that. I would be glad to 
 do that. That shows how much I like you, how 
 truly I like you." 
 
 " You think your father trusted me ? Did you 
 never think, dear, that your father wished to in 
 trust you to my care ? " 
 
 " Not in this way. I never thought that. I 
 do not think he thought it. O, I know he never 
 thought that ! " 
 
 " But if he could have thought it, if he could 
 know it now, do you not think he would ap 
 prove ? " 
 
 " If if it were all right. He would not wish 
 me to do wrong." 
 
 " Nor do I wish you to do wrong. Trust me 
 a little, Katy." 
 
 " I do indeed. I trust you wholly in every 
 thing but this." 
 
 " Your father s wish would have been in any 
 case a sacred obligation. But in this case it is 
 my dearest wish too, and my strongest hope. 
 But how can I fulfil it unless you will come to 
 me ? How can I take care of you unless you 
 will give yourself to me ? Mind, dear, I am not
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 137 
 
 threatening. If you refuse me, I shall stay by 
 you and keep Avatch for you all I can ; but that 
 is so little, and you are alone, and you will go 
 away, and I shall lose you. O Katy, come to 
 me and let me fulfil the promise that gave your 
 father peace ! " 
 
 " But let me live here. I will do everything 
 as you wish if you will only let me stay here 
 and not be married." 
 
 " O, my dear, you must be married, of course I 
 That is a little ceremony quite indispensable. 
 But that need riot frighten you. Just let me 
 come over quietly some morning and take you 
 home with me. Do not fancy you will be en 
 slaved by it. I will not even weary and worry 
 you with my love. I will not. Did I not keep 
 my promise before ? Did I not, Katy ? Speak 
 to me." 
 
 " I suppose so," faltered Kate, not in the least 
 remembering any promise given or taken. 
 
 " It shall be so in the future. I give you my 
 word. Do not vex yourself with fancies. Think 
 of me as your best friend. You can let me be 
 that. You shall have no duties only such as 
 you choose. I will impose nothing on you." 
 
 "Mr. Glynn, I do not know how to answer 
 you. I cannot do it ; I cannot accept it. My 
 father will know. You are good and generous 
 and kind ; I feel that. I do not know what to 
 say ; but I cannot do it."
 
 138 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " But you can do it, Katy. This is just what 
 you can do. I do not ask the impossible. Hear 
 me, Katy. I am not used to ask favors ; but 
 see to you I beg, I plead. Katy, Katy, my life 
 is in this ; all that I ever wanted in all my life is 
 this." 
 
 " But I must save you. You do not know 
 what you are asking. I should be taking all, 
 and giving nothing. You do not know what a 
 forlorn and spiritless ghost I am of the girl I once 
 was, of the girl you knew. O, Mr. Glynn, please 
 go please let me go ! You are good and true ; 
 I thank you from my heart ; but you do not 
 know what you are asking. I will save you 
 from your own generosity." 
 
 " I know perfectly well what I am doing, and 
 I am not at all generous. Good heavens, Katy, 
 look at it ! Here," he grasped her hands and 
 drew her nearer to him, "here is everything 
 in the world that I love. Without you, the world 
 is empty to me. What I want is you, in my 
 house, before my eyes. You, unhappy, that I 
 may console you ; alone, that I may take care of 
 you. Think of that supreme happiness when I 
 thought you were gone from me forever. Did I 
 dream of this ? There seemed no way open to 
 me ; riot a ray of light. And now my happi 
 ness will not diminish yours. Perhaps it may 
 bring something of yours back. Darling, I am 
 not thinking of } ou at all. I forget your poor
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 139 
 
 little broken heart. I only think of the great 
 joy coming to me, to live with you, and see you 
 my care, my charge to love you, Katy, to lav 
 ish all my life on you. Katy, say that this shall 
 be!" 
 
 " But I have nothing to give you in return," 
 gasped Katy. 
 
 " Give me the opportunity. It is all I ask ; 
 nothing more. Be at peace, my dearest. I love 
 you wholly. I ask nothing from you. You shall 
 settle it all with your own heart at your leisure. 
 Just to live for you, with you, is is my heaven, 
 Katy!" 
 
 " But tell me ! " cried Kate, earnestly. " O, 
 please be careful ! Do not let me destroy you. 
 You think you will be content. But are you not 
 deceiving yourself ? Is there not in your heart a 
 thought that I shall one day change ? When the 
 days and the years go by, and the Katy of old 
 never comes back again, and there is only a 
 colorless woman in her place, with a pallid mind 
 and a dull, dead heart, and all the spring and 
 vigor gone out of her, then will you not be dis 
 mayed and disgusted ? Then even in the grave 
 where I live I shall feel another pain of death. 
 Tell me if you really look this in the face and 
 accept it ? You are thinking that some day I 
 will change ; but I cannot change." And Kate s 
 voice was shrill and tremulous with excitement. 
 Ah ! it was not the voice of the dead. Out of
 
 140 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 no grave of feeling came that eager, wailing cry ! 
 And her innocent, searching eyes pierced deeper 
 than they knew. Again his swart face flushed 
 unseen as a gentle hand unwittingly touched the 
 heart s hidden secret, revealing it thus first, per 
 haps, to the slower mind. The flush and throb 
 passed swiftly by. 
 
 " Katy," he said, looking honestly into her hon 
 est eyes, " who can tell ? Perhaps I do think 
 that my love may win to your heart in time. I do 
 not know. Perhaps if you do not hate me at the 
 beginning, it may be that I have a hidden hope 
 that a little love will come to me by-and-b}% But 
 I assure you, Katy, it is not that which moves 
 me. I put that out of sight. I am sure of your 
 kindness, of your sweetness, of your friendliness. 
 And to breathe in always that kind, sweet friend 
 liness from the eyes I love, and the heart I love, 
 when I thought I was doomed to utter dreari 
 ness ! O Katy, Katy, how can I show you what 
 love is ! " 
 
 " I wish I had loved you," cried Kate, ingen 
 uously. "I wish it had been you that I loved." 
 
 " But since it was not, let it be me that you 
 will bless. I would not ask this if it were not 
 for that other love. I should not dare I should 
 not know to what fate, from what future, you 
 might presently find yourself bound. But now 
 I think I do know, and I dare. Have no mis 
 givings, Katy. If I knew surely that you would
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 141 
 
 never look at me with other eyes than now, if 
 you should surely never have another shade of 
 tenderness in your heart, it would be all the 
 same. If you lay before me helpless, wrecked, 
 with only the breath of life on your lips, it would 
 still be the same. It would be my dearest joy to 
 serve you, to cherish you, even if you did not see 
 my hand or know my voice. What will it be 
 with your dear eyes looking upon me clear, if 
 sad ? Your heart is heavy ; but I shall know 
 that it answers me. Do you not see that I am 
 wholly self-seeking ? " 
 
 " But if I cannot be true to you ? If I can 
 not wholly cut myself off from the past, even 
 though the past must be outwardly as if it had 
 never been ? " 
 
 " Dearest, for name and fame I lay my honor 
 in your sweet hands, and it shall bind me to their 
 sweetness and sanctity. For happiness, for tran 
 quillity even, I am content to wait for yours. 
 Mine is already assured. 
 
 " But," he added, hastily, " I put no check, no 
 guard, upon you in word or thought. You shall 
 not be true to me by rule. You shall not curb 
 your heart. If you think of that other, you 
 shall not feel you are wronging me. Think of 
 him all you must. For your own sake I shall 
 wish it otherwise ; but you shall not bend your 
 thoughts to my pleasure. I will not be your ty 
 rant. Katy, how can I make you see that it is
 
 142 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 not to imprisonment I urge you, but to the largest 
 liberty? only to protection and care that I can 
 not give you here ? Grant me this, Katy, which 
 you can, which you surely can, and out of the 
 wreck which menaced both our lives you will 
 have saved me something most precious." 
 
 Beaten down by her own griefs, disappointed 
 of her young dreams, uncertain and despairing 
 of herself, overborne by his unsuspected impet 
 uosity, with no words or strength to withstand 
 him longer, yet with the instinct not to yield, 
 Katherine looked up into his eyes, silent, implor 
 ing she knew not what. And as he met that 
 upturned face, so innocent, so sorrowful, so ap 
 pealing, a sudden passion seized him, a sudden 
 flame leaped along his veins, a sudden wrath 
 against the fate that had barred her from him, a 
 sudden frenzy of will to grasp and gain her. In 
 an instant he had swept aside all pleading. He 
 gathered her in his strong arm, he crushed the 
 soft hands to his breast, his flaming eyes held 
 her. " Katy ! " he cried, " I will no longer ask 
 you. I will take it into my own hands. You 
 shall come to me. You are mine. You belong 
 to me. You are mine mine mine from 
 the beginning. Kiss me, my own. I will not 
 ask it again ; but this once this once for a seal, 
 for a pledge that I am come to my own." And 
 he bent to her troubled brow, he pressed close 
 the drooping eyes, he touched the trembling lips
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 143 
 
 with long caress, as if the repressed passion of his 
 life should pass into her soul in that one slow, 
 sweet moment. And as Katy, pale, panting, 
 powerless, sank to the storm that swept over her, 
 as she felt herself held in that iron clasp, felt 
 the smothered fire of his burning eyes, and the 
 firm lips compelling tenderness, some wild, new 
 thrill quivered through heart and soul and spirit, 
 and she was suddenly aware that this man had 
 forced in from the outer darkness of indifference 
 where he was wont to dwell, across the line of 
 complaisant liking or calm, instinctive dismissal, 
 in to her own warm world. It was not love, but 
 it was recognition. It was no lesson learned, it 
 was an illumination.
 
 IX. 
 
 SO then Mr. Glynn having snatched victory in 
 high-handed fashion, carried it with a high 
 hand. He knew well that if he would secure 
 the momentary conquest he had gained, he must 
 make sure of Katherine while she was yet in the 
 trough of the sea. Once riding the waves again, 
 stanch and sound, with sails set and colors fly 
 ing, she would slip away from him over unknown 
 seas. It would have been wise and prudent for 
 him to reflect whether wooing and winning in 
 this Sabine fashion were safe and suitable in our 
 day, whether a reluctant will, overborne in 
 weakness, would not rise again with returning 
 strength, not only to reluctance but repulsion. 
 But Mr. Glynn, moderate and cautious in the 
 ordinary affairs of life, in this most vital affair 
 of all was neither cautious nor moderate. He 
 took counsel neither of prudence nor wisdom. 
 He was a man. He was bent on the one sole 
 purpose, to get possession of this woman, to have 
 
 144
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 145 
 
 her within his reach, to hold her in his power. 
 It is true that he meant everything that was high 
 and honorable by her. He would bear himself 
 chivalrously towards her. But, had it not been 
 his own love that was in question, he would 
 have seen how little that detracted from the risk. 
 But it was love that impelled him, and he tram 
 pled under foot all doubt, all hazard. He did 
 not pause to consider what fatal consequences 
 might result to himself or to Katy should heart 
 and soul and will awake from their temporary 
 trance to find that tranquil liking, too hard 
 pressed into unnatural service, had changed into 
 irrepressible distaste. He never faltered at 
 thought of what would come should all his hope 
 crumble, and, availing himself of her depression 
 and despair to secure her passive acquiescence, 
 he should fail to possess himself of his ultimate 
 object, her inward and spiritual allegiance. 
 
 He was a man, and he resolutely refused to 
 be hampered by any secondary consideration. 
 He loved Katy; he wanted her, and he would 
 have her. He sincerely believed let it be 
 said for his extenuation that he could secure 
 her happiness. She had followed her own path, 
 . and stumbled, and been sorely bruised. He 
 believed he could have prevented that if she 
 would have permitted; and he believed that 
 now he could take her and heal her and hold 
 her up. At anv rate he could take her ! And 
 
 id
 
 146 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 he looked neither to the rig] it hand nor to the 
 left till his purpose was accomplished. 
 
 Mrs. Ford was instantly summoned, and to 
 that excellent lady, who could neither bring 
 herself to burial with Katy in the country, nor 
 coax Katy away to her own city home, and who 
 was in sore perplexity over her much-loved and 
 not quite comprehended niece, Richard Glynn 
 seemed the angel of the Lord sent from Heaven 
 for her deliverance. Although her own mar 
 riage had been very far from an ideal one, none 
 the less did this devout believer in the existing 
 order of things count marriage the one gateway 
 to female dignity, the sole path in which life 
 could move forward with decorum and cohe 
 rence. Partly in thoughtlessness and partly in 
 misliking for such speech, and partly in the rush 
 of events, Katherine had never told her aunt of 
 the sundering of her engagement to Walter La- 
 balle, though a tolerably certain suspicion of the 
 true state of things had crept into the lady s 
 mind. Nor was she by any means sorry ; for, 
 though she liked the young man well enough, she 
 had not been able to discover that he possessed 
 those solid charms which could never claim her 
 approval alone, yet without which all others 
 would have been equally vain. She would have 
 been very much and very justly shocked to have 
 been called mercenary, or to have supposed her 
 self willing to assist in a marriage of convenience
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 147 
 
 for her niece. Only if she could have seen in 
 black and white a convincing evidence that 
 Walter Laballe had, either in possession or in 
 fair prospect, a handsome and well-established 
 income, she would have been inclined to pass 
 over any little traits of instability, or even in 
 ability, as belonging to his years and desultory 
 life, and altogether likely to yield to the exigen 
 cies of his profession and the serious responsi 
 bilities of married life. She certainly would 
 not have descended upon Kate to find the en 
 gagement off and a marriage with a questionable 
 income immediately impending, without making 
 the most vigorous efforts to stem so disastrous 
 a tide. But to find this doubtful affair closed, 
 and Kate claimed by a man of high standing 
 and ample wealth the good lady folded her 
 hands in pious resignation, devoutly thanked 
 Providence for uncovenanted mercies, and felt 
 that her cup was running over. 
 
 That Katherine should be quiet, undemon 
 strative, even uninterested, seemed to Mrs. 
 Ford but natural. That she should be indif 
 ferent to so admirable a marriage, that she 
 should have anything to oppose to so perfect 
 an arrangement of all her difficulties, that let 
 us be just Kate could for a moment contem 
 plate a marriage in which her heart was not 
 enlisted, Mrs. Ford could not suspect, would 
 not have admitted to herself if she had sus-
 
 148 FIRST LOVE SS BEST. 
 
 pected it. Mr. Glynn saved Katy the trouble 
 of explanation, and Mrs. Ford the perplexity of 
 surmises. He made known to her all of the sit 
 uation that it was proper so near a relative and 
 so warm a friend should know, and thus seen, 
 the situation commended itself entirely to Mrs. 
 Ford s reason and approval. The intimacy of 
 the families was sufficiently significant of the 
 satisfaction with which Mr. Haviland would 
 have greeted such a marriage. Kate s loneliness 
 and the condition of her affairs were ample rea 
 sons for the apparent precipitancy. Mr. Glynn s 
 assurances to Mrs. Ford were calculated to sat 
 isfy and gratify the most devoted mother. And 
 in short it came to pass that, compassionate, 
 dutiful, bewildered, and sore beset, Katherine 
 found herself in that most immoral of all posi 
 tions, the position of an unloving wife, yet did 
 not deem herself degraded and did not feel her 
 self debased. 
 
 For weeks after her marriage Kat}- was like a 
 flower beaten down untimely by an untimely 
 storm. The long-continued sorrow and fatigue 
 to which she was wholly unused culminated in a 
 low, slow fever which seized her impalpably, but 
 held her fast in its languid yet deadly clutch, 
 and Katy looked for an easy path out of all her 
 confusion through the gradual slipping away of 
 life. Mr. Glynn was even more alarmed than 
 Kate, who, for that matter, was not alarmed at
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 149 
 
 all. Unversed in feminine ways, Katherine 
 seemed to him so small, so fragile, so unable to 
 cope with illness, that he felt his hold upon her 
 loosening, and had, too late, a terrible misgiving 
 as to whether his own inexorable insistence 
 might not have helped to lay her low. But Doc 
 tor Blount, who was familiar with every droop 
 and drag of ailing womanhood, who had known 
 Kate from a very early period in her life, who 
 saw Mr. Glynn s misery but did not see all its 
 cause, and laid it only to the account of his 
 over-anxious love, Doctor Blount laughed his 
 fears to scorn, assured him that it was but the 
 natural reaction from her great excitement and 
 grief; that Kate was a sensible girl, and knew 
 what she was about, and was doing the best 
 thing possible under the circumstances, namely, 
 lying by; that when this enforced rest had 
 brought about the desired equilibrium she would 
 be all right again ; that as for Kate being del 
 icate bah! the thing was absurd ! She was as 
 strong as her husband, and likely to live as 
 long and longer if he could not keep a stiff 
 upper lip. He knew her stock, and could take 
 out a life-insurance on Kate any day. She was 
 as sound as a nut. There was not an infirm 
 fibre in her. Good G-ad, Glynn, every man has 
 his price, and it took a wife, it seems, to show 
 what an uncommon fool you are. And in all 
 those anxious weeks nothing was so cheering to
 
 150 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 the poor man as the doctor s unmeasured abuse. 
 And presently, sure enough, Katy honored the 
 good doctor s faith, and was herself infinitely 
 surprised to perceive that not only was vigor 
 slowly surging back into her veins, but the elas 
 ticity of life into her heart. She began to feel 
 that the years which could not bring her satis 
 faction might bring tranquillity ; that though 
 she might find little to enjoy, there might be 
 much to do. And then she went even further, 
 and fancied that, though she might never meas 
 ure the heights and depths of happiness, she 
 might walk in serene peace on the table-lands. 
 And as for this friend of her father, this 
 friend of her own as she could not choose but 
 consider him, though she could not bring her 
 self to call him husband even in her thought, 
 coming out of the far-off, listless atmosphere 
 of illness into the clear light of health, she 
 felt towards him the moving of a strong, com 
 passionate gratitude. She could not love him. 
 Her love had gone from her past recall. Her 
 power to love was exhausted. Power to love 
 him had never existed. This was fate, and no 
 wish could change it. There was no room for 
 duty here. But this man who claimed nothing 
 from her, who with all his importunity had 
 sought only the opportunity to bestow, seemed 
 to her worthy of exertion to a cheerful and 
 helpful life. All the love she had lavished had
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH, 151 
 
 brought her 110 return. If his must be alike 
 wasted, it should at least not be wasted on self 
 ishness and self-indulgence. Through her illness 
 she had only vague recollections of a kindly 
 face, of words inexpressibly gentle and reas 
 suring, of loth and lingering withdrawals. But 
 as she climbed slowly back to health, and as 
 with health came observation, reflection, and 
 renewal of interest in all outward objects, Kate 
 saw not only how constant and watchful he was, 
 but how solitary and self-contained. Her own 
 home had been full of sunshine and companion 
 ship. Everywhere was friendliness, equality, 
 confidence. Her father had not been a man to 
 be formally feared or obeyed or respected, but 
 to be loved and fondled and made much of, to 
 be teased and confided in and first considered, 
 not from duty but instinct. Tishy was no ser 
 vant, but sovereign in her own right, worship 
 ping Katy, and tyrannizing over her, and re 
 joicing beyond measure in every good thing that 
 befell her. From that house to this the transi 
 tion was but gloomy. Even Tishy, who came 
 up often to tend her, looked strange, sat about 
 forlorn, and was evidently ill at ease. Mrs. Pal- 
 ker, the housekeeper, Kate fancied, looked at 
 her as if she were a curiosity, and poured out 
 volumes of confidence, which tired Kate inex 
 pressibly. In the house was too much stateli-
 
 152 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 ness and too little sunshine, and Kate, home-sick 
 and heart-sick, shed some bitter tears, unseen, for 
 herself ; and then went back over the lonely life 
 that Mr. Glynn must have led, and cried again 
 for him ; and then suddenly thought with a pang 
 of something like horror that she was his wife, 
 that she was married, that all her hopes and im 
 aginings had ended in this his wife, his wife, 
 his wife, forever and forever; there was no 
 way out ; all the dreadful, eternal future shut 
 her in against this blank wall. And if there 
 were a way out, if she were herself outside, 
 what then ? Would the grave give back its 
 dead? "Would she find life other than she had 
 left it? If she had not been borne hither, 
 would she have found herself still in her home 
 of sunshine, full-fed with hope and love, buoy 
 ant, unstricken ? Katy uttered an inarticulate 
 cry to Heaven, and if in it were mingled some 
 unspoken invocation to the saints, some instinc 
 tive, dumb appeal to the father so lately lost, to 
 the mother never known, why, Heaven I think 
 is not jealous of such prayer, and not for that 
 should Katy forswear her firm Protestant faith ; 
 and then for Katy s moods and tenses fol 
 lowed close upon each other s heels a swift 
 thought came to her, and she looked at the 
 clock, and dried her eyes, and put up her hair, 
 and put on a gown, and adorned herself, and
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 
 
 153 
 
 went down stairs with heart throbbing and ears 
 ringing, not daring to hesitate, knowing she 
 should not have the courage to conquer hesita 
 tion. And even with her hand on the door-knob 
 of the dining-room, her courage gave way, and 
 she shrank back trembling.
 
 X. 
 
 BUT somehow, whether through the diaboli 
 cal acuteness of love, Heaven knows if 
 Heaven will pardon the collocation that irreso 
 lute feeble fumbling at the door reached the ears 
 of Mr. Glynn, who was about taking his seat 
 at his solitary dinner-table. He came quickly to 
 the door, opened it with an eager, expectant 
 look, which, on seeing Kate, changed swiftly 
 into such gladness of surprise and gratification 
 as smote her like a reproach. He drew her into 
 the room, and stood for a moment holding her 
 two hands, intent, battling valiantly with the 
 impulse to shiver all his promises, and had grace 
 given him to conquer and be wise let us not 
 say honest and speak lightly to Kate, who had 
 too much ado to keep herself well in hand to be 
 very observant of him. 
 
 " It is not possible that you have really come 
 to dine with me, Kate ? " 
 
 " Then, perhaps, to give you your dinner, if 
 you like." 
 
 154
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 155 
 
 " If I like ! If I adore ! But, dear, how you 
 tremble ! You are cold." 
 
 " No indeed, I am not cold, not at all. It is 
 only the the coming down stairs. I have not 
 been down before." 
 
 " And you are weak. You should not have 
 attempted it alone. That was very imprudent. 
 I was so glad to see you that I forgot to scold. 
 Will you consider yourself scolded ? Will you 
 send for me and let me bring you down the next 
 time ? " 
 
 " O, there is no need. I am quite strong. It 
 was not that alone, but coming here and 
 all." 
 
 " And feeling that I should certainly eat you 
 up. Confess, Katy. I confess that I should 
 like to." 
 
 " I should certainly disagree with you," said 
 Kate, grasping out feebly after Sydney Smith s 
 baked missionary, by way of support. 
 
 " Don t mind manners, Katy. Especially don t 
 mind or mend mine. I must stare at you. I was 
 hungering and thirsting for you, and it was 
 angelic in you to come down of your own 
 accord." 
 
 " I suppose angels always come down of their 
 own accord when they come at all," said Kate, 
 demurely. 
 
 " I know one angel who did not come down to 
 this house of her own accord, and for a while I
 
 156 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 surely thought she would spread her wings and 
 glide away after I had got her here. But you 
 won t now, will you, Kate ? Promise me you will 
 not be so cruel and inconsiderate as to fall ill 
 again." 
 
 " Not if you are good to me," said Kate, smil 
 ing. 
 
 "Good? Just wait and see. But get well 
 while you are waiting." 
 
 " But I am well now, quite well." 
 
 " Yes, to be sure. You are so well that you 
 are almost dangerous. But come, this is giving 
 you the cold shoulder for your first dinner, which 
 is not hospitable. Now, what shall we eat and 
 what shall we drink ? Katy, why did you not 
 tell me you were coming, that I might kill the 
 fatted calf ? " 
 
 " I was not coming till the moment I thought 
 of it. But it does not signify. I am not a very 
 prodigal son." 
 
 " Was not that an unlucky figure ? You 
 must lay it to the account of a general mental 
 perturbation. See here, Katy, I fear I don t 
 know how to keep house for a lady." 
 
 " And I am sure I don t know how to keep 
 house for a gentleman ; so we are even there." 
 
 " But you," said Mr. Glynn, " you don t have 
 to do it while I here I am and very much 
 afraid of you, Katy. I am indeed. If I only 
 had the knack of trembling, you would hear the
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 157 
 
 very spoons rattle. Tell me, Kate, is this a nice 
 table to ask you to sit down to or not ? " 
 
 " Indeed," said Kate, laughing, " it is a nice 
 enough table, but if I can t tell a lie I think 
 I could do better." 
 
 " Bless your heart, so you shall turn and 
 overturn, as the good parson asks the good God 
 to do at five minutes before eleven every Sunday 
 morning. And I remember that you are a wor 
 shipper of idols graven images, and table- 
 tackling in particular. You will have a wide field 
 for operations in this house. But first you must 
 eat. Shall it be here ? " he added gently, indi 
 cating the seat of honor at the head of the 
 table. 
 
 "Just as you please," said Kate, growing 
 tremulous again. 
 
 " Then you shall be an invalid still, and sit by 
 me and be dictated to. And a well-ordered 
 dinner-party we shall be ; for you being a con 
 valescent ought to be hungry, and will naturally 
 eat when you have nothing to say, and I who 
 have been hard at work all day am ditto, and so 
 willing to listen between whiles. Whereas if we 
 were both determined to talk all the time, how 
 sad it would be ! " 
 
 Poor Kate felt that she would be more than 
 willing to give up her share of the conversation, 
 but she did not say so. She had come down 
 determined to put her own self aside and to
 
 158 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 pleasure him, not at all virtuously, but for self- 
 preservation, and she was not the girl to give 
 in lightly. 
 
 " Mr. Glynn," she said, somewhat abruptly, 
 trying heroically to work the stiffness out of the 
 situation, moved also by real sympathy, "have 
 you always lived alone ? " She had thought so 
 much of this in her solitary musings. 
 
 "For years, Katy. Ever since the death of 
 my grandmother. You remember her ? " 
 
 " Just a little. And of course I ought to know- 
 that you were alone. But somehow I seem never 
 to have really thought about you till lately. 
 How could you bear it ? " 
 
 "Very ill indeed. But I hope you will make 
 it up to me now by thinking of me frequently." 
 
 Katy stared at him a moment, half deceived 
 by his sober look. " I shall begin to think you 
 deserve to be alone," she said at length, " if you 
 take pains to misunderstand." 
 
 " I think perhaps if I have a genius fo r any 
 thing, it is for living alone. Why I want you, 
 Katy, is because it is you, not for dread of 
 solitude." 
 
 " I wish it were for dread of solitude." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because then I should be sure you would not 
 be disappointed." 
 
 " O ! but I have you ; so I am just as well 
 secured against disappointment. You see, Katy,
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 159 
 
 if it were any one supposed trait, or person, or 
 influence that I sought, I might be mistaken ; 
 but you can t fail to be Katy." 
 
 " And I suppose you are so used to solitude 
 that you do not mind it ? " said Kate instinctive 
 ly, bearing away from the point upon which he 
 was as instinctively verging. 
 
 " So, so. My father died before I was born, 
 and my mother I do not remember. Fancy what 
 a savage I must be. But you will civilize me 
 gradually, only be patient at the slowness of the 
 process. Of course my life would have been 
 different if they had lived, but I cannot miss 
 what I never knew. It was natural to me to be 
 alone." 
 
 " You had only your grandmother, and her not 
 long." 
 
 " And though but a boy at the time of her 
 death, I had long felt more care of her than 
 from her. Her loss was a great sorrow to me, 
 but it did not leave me orphaned, or deprived 
 of any protection. It did leave me alone. I 
 think I was as happy as most boys, but in a 
 different way. I was very grave and sober. 
 I had a frolicsome little neighbor then for a 
 companion." 
 
 "Yes," said Kate, " I have heard of her." 
 
 " She was the most wild, whimsical, wilful 
 little witch in the world, and she kept me in 
 spirits constantly."
 
 160 FIRST LOVE IS LEST. 
 
 "She has grown grave and sober herself, 
 now." 
 
 " I wish I might be able to give back to her a 
 little of the heart and courage she gave me." 
 
 Kate thanked him with a look. " I am glad 
 you were rich," she said, " so you could have 
 everything else." 
 
 "Yes, little lady; but I remember you have 
 not a great respect for money ! " Mr. Glynn 
 glanced mischievously at her and she blushed 
 scarlet, for she too had vivid recollections. 
 
 " However," he added, " you will do well to 
 think twice before condemning it outright. 
 Don t you know the Bible meanders into a gold 
 mine at the very outset. The gold of Havilah 
 is good. Moses was a sound financier, and 
 hardly got the thing started before he slapped in 
 gold as the running-gear of the whole machine!" 
 
 " And how long do you suppose it was before 
 the Pentateuch people got tired of specie pay 
 ment, and set up their First National Bank ? " 
 
 " But banks presuppose bankers, and that you 
 know is taboo in a mixed audience like you and 
 me." 
 
 " O, I did not know you had so inconvenient 
 a memory," said Katy, frowning away another 
 blush. 
 
 "Ah, Katy, my memory is a merely local and 
 partial one. I think I remember all the things 
 that you ever said or did. Otherwise my memory
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 161 
 
 is not remarkable. It certainly does not go back 
 to the Pentateuchs. I don t believe a mother s 
 son of them ever had an honest five-dollar bill in 
 his life." 
 
 " Then they were spared the vexation of hav 
 ing their porte-moimaies bursting out at the ends, 
 because they were always made a little too 
 short." 
 
 " No, that is because they are too full ! We 
 have changed all that now. Am I not a man 
 and a tyrant? " 
 
 "But a rich one, as you have confessed in 
 many a thoughtless hour. How came you to be 
 rich?" 
 
 "Inheritance, partly, and partly indifference. 
 I never cared much for money, and so it came in 
 from all quarters. My poverty in relatives is 
 the rather grim cause of some accumulation of 
 property." 
 
 " And I suppose you have been doing it your 
 self, too ? " 
 
 "Certainly; I like business. I like activity 
 and adventure, combination and calculation. I 
 like to see means converging to ends. I like the 
 game, that is, I care not overmuch for the prize. 
 I dare say if I had had a more attractive home 
 life, I should have been a poorer man. But now, 
 Katy, I am very glad I am not a poor man. You 
 have instantly put value on all my possessions." 
 
 Kate s quick and vivid blush was not only 
 11
 
 1G2 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 a shy retreat from praise, but a sad, regretful 
 consciousness of the meagre part her heart acted 
 in the drama. She resolutely, though silently, 
 pledged herself never to fail his faith. If self- 
 abnegation and self-consecration could avail, he 
 should have all the happiness she could give him, 
 if not all that he deserved. 
 
 Mr. Glynn noted the suffusing color, and 
 quickly changed the subject. 
 
 " This is a great improvement on yester- 
 day." 
 
 " What was yesterday ? " asked Kate, bril 
 liantly. 
 
 " A club-supper in town." 
 
 " O ! did you stay in town yesterday ? " 
 
 "You mean to say you did not miss me?" 
 And then, as Kate looked up guiltily, "Don t 
 look so horrified, dear. I always thought that a 
 selfish, whining, not to say snivelling song, Do 
 they miss me at home ? Do they miss me ? 
 Yes, I came down in the theatre train." 
 
 " I did know that you did not come up to 
 see me, but I thought you were busy. I did not 
 know that you had not come home. What is a 
 club-supper ? " 
 
 " Tobacco-smoke, whiskey, cards, and men 
 which things I hate." 
 
 " Why do you eat club-suppers, then ? " 
 
 " Heaven only knows or the other place." 
 
 " If it were not for the cards and the whiskey
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 163 
 
 and the tobacco, I should think the men would 
 be nice." 
 
 " The men, to be sure, I do barely tolerate." 
 
 " I should think men would like to be by 
 themselves best. Clever men, I mean. If there 
 are women you. have to be polite to them." 
 
 " As if that would come hard." 
 
 " But men know so much more than women." 
 
 " Is Saul also among the prophets ? I never 
 thought you would turn traitor, Katherine." 
 
 "You must not say it, but /may. One would 
 not permit it in public, but in secret, I fear it 
 is true." 
 
 " I see. Officially you let the feminine light 
 shine, but personally you think it ought to be 
 hidden under a bushel." 
 
 " But women have no chance to know things, 
 and men have. So many things happen to them 
 that are interesting." 
 
 " But don t you remember the Chinese proverb, 
 All knowledge is by nature implanted in the 
 heart of a woman ? " 
 
 " I shall quarrel with you about that some 
 time. I shall not quietly let you consign women 
 to ignorance, even in polite phrase." 
 
 " But you will wait until I have forgotten that 
 you began the quarrel by yourself concluding all 
 women in ignorance." 
 
 " Of course that was only in a general way. 
 Some women are very learned. There was a
 
 1C4 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 Mrs. "Winstone, whom I met at Aunt Fanny s 
 last winter. It is just like reading a book to 
 hear her/ 
 
 " I don t like people to talk like books." 
 
 " You could not fail to like her. It was not a 
 stiff, dull book, but a lively and entertaining one. 
 What I mean is that now you know for 
 instance, when I talk, I talk all disorderly, in a 
 heap. I can t get things to come right, and I 
 go back and begin again. But she talks in 
 sentences that are just perfect." 
 
 " O, you cannot convince me. I shall never, I 
 trust, have to take her out to dinner. I suspect 
 perfection here below. Give me Miss Ready-to- 
 Halt, who has to dance with one crutch in her 
 hand, but who foots it well, I promise you." 
 
 " If j ou could only once see her you would 
 agree with me instantly. And there was another, 
 Mrs. Leveridge." 
 
 " You don t mean to say you saw Mrs. Lev 
 eridge ! " 
 
 " Yes ; do you know her ? " 
 
 " Know her ? She was the best, almost the 
 only female friend I ever had. And you met 
 her ? She is a brilliant woman indeed. I shall 
 agree with anything you say about her." 
 
 " If I had known " said Kate, and blushed 
 into silence. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Glynn, laughing, " if you had 
 known and known, how you would have talked
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 165 
 
 me over, would you not ? But I suspect it was 
 lucky for me, for she knows five times as many of 
 my sins as I ever committed. She has a wonder 
 ful faculty of setting things out what we may 
 elegantly call the gift of language. I have no 
 doubt that if you had been at all interested in 
 the subject, she would have readily given you 
 sixteen graphic descriptions of my character, 
 which she would call analyzing it, each one 
 clearly and cleverly drawn, and standing out 
 in bold, strong relief, and no two alike ; but 
 where I should scramble into daylight under 
 such a superimposed weight of portraiture, you 
 would be puzzled to ascertain." 
 
 " That is true," said Kate, with interest. " I 
 have seen that myself. She had been to see 
 some pictures one day with me. She was very 
 good and took me. And afterwards people came 
 in, and she talked about them, and it was won 
 derful. And I had not liked the pictures much. 
 Of course it was because I did not know enough 
 to see in them what she did. It was as if she 
 had seen a dozen pictures, one under the other, 
 like a palimpsest. I liked her talk a great deal 
 better than the pictures." 
 
 " Of course you did. There was a good deal 
 more in it. I used to be under the same spell 
 when I was in college, and she was a brilliant 
 young lady in town, ruling with absolute sway, 
 no sister near the throne."
 
 166 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " O ! " breathed Katherine, looking up with 
 smiling inquiry. 
 
 " O ! are you there ? Not quite. I believe it 
 is generally understood that all the men on the 
 Merrimac River have at one time or another 
 passed under her yoke. But I never aspired so 
 high. She patronized me, and younger-brothered 
 me to the endangering of my soul through pride 
 and vainglory ; but she was too good and sim 
 ple and dignified to trifle with me. We were 
 very good friends then ; but, dear me, she has 
 since taken a husband and children, and I hon 
 estly think she now cares more for her smallest 
 child than she does for me ! Eh ? " to Kate s 
 little laugh of surprise. 
 
 " I am glad you think she is good," said Kath 
 erine. " I think she is magnificently good." 
 
 " She has need to be. If she were not the 
 best woman in the world, she would be the 
 worst." 
 
 "O, no!" 
 
 " O, yes. Don t you see ? She is so diaboli 
 cally clever and creative. Give her the knee-pan 
 of a man s character, and she builds up the whole 
 beast on it. It may be a quite different being 
 from the original animal, but it is sure to be so 
 strong and spirited, whether for good or evil, that 
 it instantly supplants the original in the gaze of 
 all beholders. Now, if she were ill-disposed, 
 don t you see how mischievous she would be ? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 167 
 
 " But she is not ill-disposed." 
 
 " Just what I say. On the contrary, she over 
 flows with benevolence towards all created be 
 ings. Like all great members of the universe, 
 she is ruled by two forces. Her preternatural 
 clearness shows her all salient points, and her 
 wit instantly seizes them, while her inexhausti 
 ble kindness claims all her sympathy for the side 
 of humanity. So between the two she takes the 
 curve of piquant popularity." 
 
 "Yes," said Kate, "every one brings her 
 tribute." 
 
 " O ! but does she not come down hard on a 
 poor fellow if he takes the wrong tack ! " said 
 Mr. Glynn, evidently with vivid recollections of 
 such descents upon himself. 
 
 " He should not take the wrong tack." 
 
 " To be sure. But only few of us are per 
 fect." 
 
 " But it is only certain kinds of bad things 
 that Mrs. Leveiidge will not tolerate. A great 
 many things she is far more patient with than I 
 could be." 
 
 " Ah, Katy ! the mischief with all you good 
 women is, that none of you have charitableness. 
 I suppose it is the necessary result of being good. 
 Spots must show blacker against white than 
 against the party-color of weather-beaten hu 
 manity." 
 
 " Your pill is round and sweet, and looks like
 
 168 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 a sugar-plum ; but as I roll it around in my 
 mind, it seems to me that it is a pill." 
 
 " O, you have great store of Christian charity, 
 broad enough for the human race, unlimited 
 forgiveness for sin in the abstract, the wildest 
 schemes of redemption for sinners in general; but 
 let one of your friends do a definite wrong thing, 
 and there is no atonement." 
 
 " Well," said Kate, stoutly, " the Bible only 
 says forgive your enemies. I don t know that 
 we are anywhere commanded to forgive our 
 friends." 
 
 " Well done, Kate. It is you for the applica 
 tion of Christian precepts to daily life ! But is 
 it worth while to keep a small flaw of a friend 
 or even a large flaw so near the eye as to shut 
 out the whole character ? " 
 
 My friends do not have flaws," said Kate, 
 sententiously. 
 
 " Stick to that, Katy," said Mr. Glynn, laugh 
 ing. " I think I like your law better than your 
 gospel ; a fellow feels safer under it ; only don t 
 turn it around. But you are certainly getting 
 better. You hit back." 
 
 " Are you afraid ? " 
 
 " Of course I am. I have been afraid of you, 
 you little witch, ever since you were two years 
 old, and used to go into the divinest little rages. 
 What fun it was to see you sputter, and scold, 
 and stamp your little feet, and strike out with
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 169 
 
 your little fists like chain-lightning, a great deal 
 faster than you could talk " 
 
 " Amiable creature ! If I may be allowed to 
 interrupt." 
 
 " O, a comment is not an interruption. The 
 worst thing about ladies symposiums, Katy, is 
 not that they don t know things, but they are 
 always passing the salt or something in the mid 
 dle of the sentence. Of course I cannot be stim 
 ulated by an intimation that a potato is of more 
 value than my remarks. Now you, Katy, have 
 not really interrupted me once." 
 
 " No," said Katherine, " I was not hungry." 
 
 " The saints defend us ! They are certainly 
 attacking us. And in truth, Katy, you have 
 eaten nothing, and you are tired, dear." 
 
 " Just a little. I think I will " 
 
 " O, don t go. Don t run away. Come into 
 the library. I will settle you as comfortably as 
 you can be in your own room. I won t even 
 talk to you. Only stay a little while with me." 
 And Katherine suffered herself to be drawn into 
 the library. 
 
 It was a large, low-browed, and not altogether 
 cheerful room. Books were everywhere not 
 only ranged against the walls, but under the 
 tables, piled in zigzag rows and tottering col 
 umns along the floor, and overstrewn with pam 
 phlets and papers, which also obtruded from 
 behind every shelf or frame that would hold
 
 170 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 them up ; so that it required no little care in 
 Kate to pick her way safely among the ddbris. 
 Old engravings in old frames, quaint and odd, 
 coarse and fine, were hanging, and standing, and 
 falling everywhere, very curious and valuable as 
 illustrating the progress of the art, but less suc 
 cessful as ornamentation. Most of the chairs had 
 their arms full, and most of the drawers were 
 open, and all that were open staid open, because 
 they were too full to shut. Wherever the over 
 burdened carpet could dim twinkle through the 
 storm, it did not serve to mend matters. One or 
 two fine bronzes were shall I say chucked 
 out of harm s way under the bay-window, but 
 not in a position to bring out their beauties to 
 advantage. A plaster Socrates with a very dirty 
 face, as is perhaps biographically proper, viewed 
 the world sidewise from the top of a book-shelf* 
 the heads of several Roman emperors kept him 
 in distinguished company, and an unhappy Cle 
 opatra glared with broken-nosed disgust upon 
 the situation. Evidently Mr. Glynn was no dis 
 ciple of Eastlake, no devotee of the Renaissance, 
 but a heathen man and a publican whom the 
 Gospel of Furniture had never reached, dead in 
 trespasses and sins against Morris and Household 
 Art and the Expression of Rooms. But he, good 
 man, had no misgivings. He brought Kate into 
 this den in perfect good faith. He gave the 
 dying embers on the hearth a vigorous poke.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 171 
 
 and thrust and piled on the wood till the danc 
 ing flames sent a glow through the gloom. He 
 cleared a large reclining-chair by the simple pro 
 cess of suddenly tipping it aslant enough for 
 eveiy book and paper to slide out, and with 
 great muscular force ploughed it through the 
 rough field, scattering books right and left, to 
 a small clearing in front of the hearth. Therein 
 he bestowed Katheriue, and with such careful 
 and gentle arrangement of cushions and foot-rest 
 and fire-screen, that she could but admit she was 
 very comfortable. And even as she smiled her 
 thanks, the treacherous tears rushed into her 
 eyes, and her wilful breath came in a quick, 
 gasping sob. 
 
 " O Katy ! " was all her unhappy husband 
 could moan, standing over her in helpless blank 
 dismay. 
 
 " I am not ungrateful, believe me," cried Kath- 
 erine. " I am not unhappy." 
 
 " You must not speak or think of gratitude, 
 dear," he said, softly. 
 
 " But I must. You are so good. Do not 
 think I do not feel how kind you are. You 
 have been ever since ever since " 
 
 " It is you who are good to me, Katy. You 
 gave up the solitude you craved and came to 
 me. All my life I can never thank you enough 
 for this this, which I know was a sacrifice." 
 
 " But it shall not be a sacrifice," cried Kate.
 
 172 F7RST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " I did not mean it for that. I do mean to make 
 you happy and be pleasant to you." If he smiled 
 inwardly at the under-meaning which Kate did 
 not intend to convey, his face gave no sign. 
 
 " My dear little girl, you are pleasanter to me 
 than words can tell. You have made me happy 
 already. You do not need to intend anything 
 The mere fact that you are here, never to go 
 away again from me, is enough. It is like per 
 petual sunshine. When I am in town all day, 
 I am never without a secret consciousness of 
 something pleasant awaiting me. When I come 
 in sight of the house, I look up first at your 
 windows, and think what is behind them for me, 
 not to-day merely, but for all the days of my 
 life. You see, Katy, how I am past remedy. 
 Be at peace, dear little heart, for my happi 
 ness." 
 
 " You will not think I am troublesome." 
 
 " Never ; " smiling in spite of himself. 
 
 " Nor unhappy." 
 
 " Not if you tell me you are not." 
 
 " Indeed I am not. Truly I am not. Only 
 be patient with me. Give me time. It is all 
 so strange." 
 
 " I know, Katy. You have had a great loss 
 and a great change. It will take time to adjust 
 yourself to your new life. You have been ill 
 too. You must remember that, and not be im 
 patient with yourself. You are a brave, good
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 173 
 
 girl, and all will surely come right if you will 
 be patient. It is not J that am waiting, dear. 
 I am happ3 T because I have you. I cannot be 
 happier only in seeing you grow strong and 
 cheerful. Unless O my darling, have, I done 
 you a harm ? Do you feel I have wronged you 
 in bringing you here ? " 
 
 " O, no, no," said Kate, eagerly and sincerely. 
 
 " Does it trouble you to be here ? " 
 
 " I do not think it does ; " trying to be at 
 once honest and kind. " Nothing could make 
 me anywhere light-hearted." 
 
 " No, dear, you never could have taken up 
 the old life. It is only that you begin the new 
 with me instead of alone to my infinite con 
 tent. So you must try and think friendly 
 thoughts of me." 
 
 And then he sat by her side in the soft idealiz 
 ing fire-light, silent, caressing the passive hand, 
 firm and strong no longer, but dearer grown by 
 weakness. 
 
 " You don t care for this," he said, playfully. 
 " Kissing hands is only a sovereign courtesy. 
 That is not breaking my pact." 
 
 " You need not do that," said Katherine, in 
 the fullness of her remorseful gratitude. " You 
 may kiss me if you wish." 
 
 " Ah, Kitty, it is very sweet in you to say so ; 
 but the kiss I am waiting for is not the kiss you 
 will offer me."
 
 174 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 Nevertheless he did not decline the offer, 
 though fearful as soon as he had spoken lest 
 Kate should take alarm and feel herself called 
 upon for a love which had no value and no exist 
 ence except by spontaneity an alarm which 
 he knew would only delay if not defeat his eager 
 hope of one day possessing her heart. But Kath- 
 erine was not yet sufficiently released from her 
 self to take much heed of him, and she detected 
 no plot against her peaceful, if monotonous, 
 future. Mr. Glynn rang for lights, and busied 
 himself with books and papers and watching 
 Kate; -and Kate lay flushing in the fire-light s 
 rosy glow, wide-eyed and thoughtful, trying to 
 realize rather than to remember, but remember 
 ing only and not realizing, till it was in good 
 earnest time to go ; and when she left him, his 
 last words lingering softly in her ears and fall 
 ing softly on her heart, rewarded her for the 
 effort she had made to come. 
 
 " You have given me the happiest evening of 
 my life." And she was comforted.
 
 XI. 
 
 4 FTER this nothing seemed so hard. The ice 
 J\. was broken ; and she could meet Mr. Glynn, 
 and take her place at his table, and feel herself 
 not wholly a stranger. He helped her much by 
 his cheery and genial, but unchanged, scarce 
 ly more than accented friendliness. He never 
 frightened her by even seeming to wish for more 
 than she was glad to give. He betrayed no dis 
 content if she was pensive. Whenever she came 
 to him, she was received with such warm wel 
 come as could not fail to put her in heart with 
 herself. If she held to solitude, she was not chid 
 den or questioned by so much as a look. In all 
 things she felt herself wholly free to consult her 
 own pleasure ; nor could she ever fail to see that 
 he sought the same end. There seemed to be no 
 effort, no duty, about it. It was only that his 
 life lay in hers. He found his happiness in the 
 paths where her feet wandered. Of course Kate 
 would have been a monster to disregard this gen 
 erous seeking. And Kate was no monster, but 
 
 175
 
 176 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 a good girl, somewhat cast down by adverse fate, 
 but trying earnestly to do the right thing, albeit 
 with a heavy heart ; and in so doing and so try 
 ing, her heart came gradually to be lightened of 
 its load. In the steadfast love of this strong 
 friend she felt no triumph. It was to her no 
 opportunity for self-indulgence, for pride, or ca 
 price, or petty tyranny ; but a great trust, which 
 had been committed to her unsought from 
 which, indeed, she had shrunk ; but which, ac 
 cepted, she must discharge with sacred fidelity. 
 If she had loved him, not as she did regard him, 
 with a true respect and friendship, but if she 
 had loved him as she could love, she would have 
 known what to do. But well and if she 
 loved him, what would she do ? Why, of course, 
 make his life as happy as possible ; and first of 
 all, make herself and the house pleasant to him. 
 And after all, why was not that the very best 
 thing to do as it was ? Besides, said Kate to her 
 self, resolute to be at least for him victorious, 
 how many girls have married the right man, and 
 have found him bad ! I have not gone my own 
 way ; but how good he is ! Nobody could be 
 better. And if he had been bad and tyrannical 
 and selfish, and yet had made me marry him all 
 the same ! Such thoughts were running through 
 Kate s mind in an under-current while she was 
 listening to her loving aunt, who had come down 
 on a visit of mingled inquiry, condolence, and
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 177 
 
 congratulation to her niece. Many praiseworthy 
 sentiments regarding her good fortune in having 
 attracted so unexceptionable a man, and secured 
 so desirable a husband ; the unbounded duty she 
 owed him ; and it must be added, too, the un 
 bounded use she must make of her position and 
 possibilities, were passing tranquilly over the un- 
 rippled surface of Kate s mind without at all dis 
 turbing her real thoughts. But presently a little 
 too pronounced emphasis on her good luck jarred 
 upon her. Kate was ready and forward herself 
 to ascribe all goodness and unselfishness to Mr. 
 Glynn ; but it was a matter altogether between 
 herself and him. She had no mind to be con 
 gratulated as a lucky girl who had made a good 
 match. 
 
 "Aunty dear," she said, a little mischievously, 
 " what a very poor opinion you must have of 
 me." 
 
 " A poor opinion of you ! What can you be 
 thinking of, Kate ? " 
 
 " Certainly you must have supposed my deserts 
 of the feeblest, or you would not make so much 
 of my having married a respectable man. Now, 
 for my part, I don t think I was a bad match for 
 any one. Your niece, aunty ! It is not very 
 manly in you to put me down." 
 
 " Put you down, Katherine ? " 
 
 u Certainly, aunty. You have been edging me 
 down into the Valley of Humiliation ever since 
 12
 
 178 FIRST LOVE fS BEST. 
 
 you have been here. Why don t you say what a 
 lucky man is Mr. Glynn to have coaxed such a 
 nice girl as I into marrying him ? handsome, 
 stylish now, aunty, you look severe. Don t 
 say I am not handsome, if you can help it ; but, 
 above all things, don t say I am not stylish, for I 
 cannot bear it not in my present weak state. 
 You know I have not recovered my full strength 
 yet, and if I am not humored I shall have a re 
 lapse." 
 
 " You little trollop ! to be talking to me this 
 way ! " said Mrs. Ford, with good-humored in 
 dignation. 
 
 " I never saw such austere virtue, aunt. You 
 won t even be dragooned into a compliment. 
 And you have been praising Mr. Glynn for the 
 last half hour, without once stopping." 
 
 " Well, my dear, I never heard that praise of 
 a husband was dispraise of a wife." 
 
 " Nor I, aunty, until this sad hour." 
 
 " I don t mean to say, Katherine, that you are 
 not good enough for any man in the country ; but, 
 at the same time, there was no reason why you 
 should expect anything remarkable. You were 
 a match for anybody, but not a catch." 
 
 " An epigram ! " said Kate, solemnly. " A 
 match, but not a catch ! " 
 
 "And Mr. Glynn has behaved so extraordi 
 narily well about the property." 
 
 " What property, aunt ? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 179 
 
 " Yours, my child ; or what should have been 
 yours." 
 
 " You mean about poor papa s trouble ? " 
 
 " Yes ; the whole arrangement." 
 
 " I do not know what you mean by his behaving 
 well. He had no chance to behave ill, if he had 
 been ever so ill-disposed. My father lost all the 
 money before Mr. Glynn had anything to do with 
 it. I don t know that he could have done any 
 thing except turn around and make faces at me. 
 But then, you know, I should not have married 
 him." 
 
 " My dear Kate, you are a little fool, especial 
 ly for thinking I am such a great one. I suppose 
 Mr. Glynn has not told you the whole state of 
 the case. He asked me to say nothing about it 
 at first, as you had trouble enough, and we were 
 very glad to save you any more. But I supposed 
 you did know now." 
 
 " I did not know there was anything to know," 
 said Kate, faintly. " I have been ill, you must 
 remember. And perhaps," she added, with some 
 thing of shame-faced loyalty to the relation in 
 which she stood to Mr. Glynn, " perhaps you 
 ought not to say anything now, if Mr. Glynn 
 chooses not." 
 
 " Nonsense, Katy. It is my affair as much as 
 Mr. Glynn s. And besides, you ought to know, 
 that you may understand what I have been say 
 ing ; besides, there is nothing to tell. I think
 
 180 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 your poor dear father died without realizing the 
 extent of his losses." 
 
 " I am glad of that," gasped Kate. 
 
 " So am I. It was the most extraordinary 
 thing that a man so careful, so prudent, and I 
 think I may say so wise, but there," and she 
 dried her good old eyes, " did you know, Kate, 
 that he lost everything ? " 
 
 " I did not know particularly. I knew he had 
 great losses that troubled him much." 
 
 " He gave everything over into Richard Glynn s 
 hands, and he was still at work on it when your 
 dear father was taken ill. It was as bad as it 
 could be, Kate. The farm would have been sold 
 under your feet and the house over your head ; 
 and what does Mr. Glynn do but pay the whole 
 valuation himself, declaring to me that you should 
 not be disturbed in your trouble, and simply mak 
 ing it a matter of business with the other side ! 
 And not a word was to be said to you about it. 
 But now that you are married, and moved, why 
 should 3 r ou not know it ? " 
 
 " Why, indeed ? " said Kate. 
 
 " Now you know very little, Kate, about any 
 thing ; but I can tell you that there are very few 
 men who would have done that, especially when 
 they were just going to marry you, and would 
 naturally have said, Why, let it all go. You 
 are to have another home. What could you do 
 with two ? A good many people would call it
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 181 
 
 mere sentimentalism, and I don t say they would 
 call names ! " 
 
 "Mr. Glynn," said Kate that evening, looking 
 up from the book she had been vainly trying to 
 read, " I know about the farm." 
 
 " About the farm ? " he queried, guilty but 
 parrying. 
 
 " Aunt Fanny told me." 
 
 " Is it possible you two had come to the end 
 of your tether and were reduced to real estate 
 for conversation? " 
 
 " O, Mr. Glynn, I know why you did it ; but 
 you must see it comes a little hard on me." 
 
 " If I must, I must ; but as a mere matter of 
 fact, I don t." 
 
 " I did not know that, added to everything 
 else, I came to you a beggar." 
 
 " No more did I. As I remember the course 
 of human events, it seems to me that I was the 
 one who did the begging. You only granted 
 grace and not even that. I took grace by 
 main force and carried it off." 
 
 "But, Mr. Glynn it was kindly done, I 
 know, most generously done " 
 
 " Not a bit of it. It was bare-faced pillage. 
 You could prosecute me for abduction in any 
 court in Christendom and stand a round chance 
 for damages. But mind, Kate, I will fight you 
 to the very last, and I will carry you off at the 
 end. So you won t make much by that move."
 
 182 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " But do you think," said Kate, not to be di 
 verted from her purpose, " that it was quite fair 
 to let me go on so, knowing nothing. I was a 
 woman grown. Ought not I to have known 
 where I stood ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. Because, if you had, you 
 would not have stood there ! " 
 
 " How could I know, then, what I was do- 
 ing?" 
 
 " You could not, dear. That is the very thing 
 I did not want you to know, because then you 
 would not have done it. Don t you see ? It is 
 as plain as a pike-staff to me." 
 
 " But I was in a false position all the time." 
 
 " I should have been in a falser one if you had 
 not been." 
 
 " I do not see why." 
 
 "Why? Because, as it was, all I had to do 
 was lie low. If you had known, I should have 
 had to lie high and low, right and left. And I 
 have a conscience which never permits me to 
 deceive more tlian is absolutely necessary to the 
 end in view. Don t corrupt me, Katy." 
 
 " And you feel perfectly justified, even now, 
 looking back upon it ? " 
 
 " Justified ? Glorified ! Why, look at her ! I 
 had hard work enough to get you, as it was. If 
 the question had been complicated with penni- 
 lessness, independence, working for a living, and 
 such high and mighty abstractions, when would
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 183 
 
 I have seen the end of it? Justified indeed! 
 See here, Kate. I would have burned the old 
 mill and machinery with my own hands, rather 
 than not have the chance at you ! " Thus this 
 unblushing machinator. 
 
 "And I was thinking all the while I could 
 stay on the farm," said Kate, musingly. 
 
 " Well, so you could. It was your own. Only 
 I ordered you off. But don t you know of a cer 
 tainty that if you had been told the farm was 
 forfeit you would have flown instantly into a 
 factory, or a school-house, or some demnition 
 grind or other, (it is a quotation, Katy ; it is not 
 original sin. There is a vast difference between 
 literature and profaneness,) and then where 
 should I have been? Instead of that, I kept 
 you under my own eye where I could work to 
 advantage." 
 
 "But in your honest, inner mind, don t you 
 think you ought to have given me a chance ? " 
 
 " Chance to what ? " 
 
 " To manage my own affairs ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it. I wanted to manage them 
 myself ! In my own interests ! I could do it a 
 great deal better than you." 
 
 " But I ought to have done I ought to have 
 had a chance to do what was dignified and self- 
 respectful." 
 
 " Ah, that is precisely the tangent you would 
 have gone off on dignity ! Did I not know,
 
 184 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 Kate, what a close shave it was ? Now you may 
 dignify as much as you like, I have got the law 
 on you ! A pretty piece of business it would 
 have been before you were in my hands. That 
 is the beauty of the existing order of things. 
 Once get a woman in the clutch of marriage and 
 she can t help herself. So, Katy ! " 
 
 " But I am a Woman s-rights woman," said 
 Katherine, dubiously. 
 
 " So am I," said Mr. Glynn, cheerfully, soaring 
 above sex. 
 
 " Then I think I ought to have my rights." 
 
 " You shall, Kate, if I can get them for you. 
 What, to begin with ? " 
 
 " The right to be poor, and know I am poor 
 and earn my own bread and butter." 
 
 " But you are not, Kitty. You are really quite 
 a rich woman. You own a good house two, 
 for that matter and considerable land, and 
 some live-stock, and bank stock, and state and 
 city bonds, upon my word, Kate, it is a pretty 
 joke calling yourself poor." 
 
 " But I did not come fairly by it. How would 
 you feel to find that you had just nothing and 
 took all from me ? " 
 
 " I will make it all over to you and see." 
 
 " I don t believe you would dare try that," 
 said Kate, smiling. 
 
 " Dare ! It would not make a day s difference. 
 I would have it all out of your hands again so
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 185 
 
 quick that you would not know it had ever 
 been in." 
 
 "You would not speak so contemptuously of 
 my business abilities if I were a man." 
 
 " Of course not. I should not think so." 
 
 " But you have never tried me to know 
 whether I had any financial sagacity or not." 
 
 " I never mean to." 
 
 " Mr. Glynu, you are perfectly lost in the gall 
 of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity." 
 
 "I am afraid I am." 
 
 "Why can a man not treat a woman on the 
 basis of equality with himself at least till he 
 finds out to the contrary ? I don t mean," con 
 tinued Kate, hastily, " that I knew about things 
 as you did, but if I had been a boy as old as I 
 was, even though I had known no more than I 
 did, 3*ou would have acted so differently." 
 
 " Certainly I should. What did I want of a 
 great lubberly boy ? " 
 
 " But you would have consulted him. If a 
 man found a great lubberly boy sitting idle in 
 a house not his own, he would never pay his 
 debts and say nothing to him about it." 
 
 " By no means. He would take him by the 
 scruff of the neck and pitch him into the street." 
 
 " And don t 3-011 think it would be better for 
 girls I won t say to be pitched into the street 
 by the scruff of their necks I don t know what 
 that is. It does not sound very elegant."
 
 186 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 "It is not, Katy. It applies only to boys. 
 Girls have a ruff instead, which is very elegant." 
 
 " Well, then, don t you think it would be bet 
 ter if these girls were taught to depend upon 
 their own resources and make their lives strong 
 and self-supporting, and so command respect 
 instead of extorting pity ?" 
 
 " No, I do not. I think the best thing for a 
 girl, if she is in trouble or if she is not, is to have 
 the man who loves her go to her and take her, 
 peaceably if he can, forcibly if he must, and bring 
 her to his own home to love her and serve her, 
 and keep her out of harm s way all the days of 
 his life, for the good of his soul." 
 
 " That does not seem to have the ring of re 
 form. What are the girls to do who don t have 
 a Thracian and a soldier to carry them off? " 
 
 " Katy, you need not try to convince me of 
 sin. I will agree to everything you say, up and 
 down. You can t bring forward a theory that I 
 won t subscribe to. All the same, I am glad I 
 hoodwinked you, and blindfolded you, and be- 
 juggled you into this house. I have been glad 
 ever since. I would do it again, twice as bad, if 
 necessary. I wish I could look back upon any vir 
 tue I ever practised with half as much compla 
 cency as I do on this flat burglary. Come, now." 
 
 " Why, this is being dead in trespasses and 
 sin," sighed Kate, her breath fairly taken away 
 by his audacity.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 187 
 
 " Katrina, come and sit here by me. You are 
 not really vexed ? " 
 
 " O, no, not vexed. Not that at all." 
 
 " If you are, there is one way you can have 
 revenge." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 " By thanking me." 
 
 The blood rushed into Kate s cheeks, the tears 
 into her eyes. 
 
 " My dearest, sweetest, best," he cried, serious 
 enough now, "it is such a little thing you are 
 beating against ! If I had loved you less, if I 
 had been only a common friend, a decent neigh 
 bor, I could hardly have done otherwise. As it 
 was, what was it? I would not have had you 
 leave me then not for a thousand fortunes. I 
 made a pen-scratch and kept you. That was 
 all. What were a few thousand dollars, more or 
 less, to me ? I wanted you. It was a pure piece 
 of selfishness, Katy, and it has prospered greatly, 
 as most selfishness does." 
 
 " I do not believe a word you are saying," said 
 Kate, smiling through her tears. 
 
 " Never mind, dear ; I have got you, and you 
 have got the farm, and possession is. nine points 
 of the law, thank Heaven ! Now, what shall we 
 do with it?" 
 
 " O, I should like to keep it," said Kate, ear 
 nestly ; " that is now " 
 
 " Of course you will keep it. You would be
 
 188 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 a very mercenary girl to go and sell it after I 
 have run the risk of my life to prevent its being 
 sold. Besides, I shall not let you. I am a Wo- 
 man s-rights man ! " 
 
 " That you are ! " said Kate, energetically. 
 " One of a thousand ! " 
 
 "So the farm shall not be sold; that is de 
 cided." 
 
 " Then what else can we do ? " 
 
 " Ah, that is a sweet word, Katy. That little 
 we pays for the farm twice over." 
 
 " I thought it was men who kept to the point," 
 said Kate, shyly. 
 
 " Not when women drop little golden apples 
 for them to nibble at." 
 
 " Please to nibble at my farm, then." 
 
 " What shall we do with our farm, then ? 
 Well, dear, anything that will give us pleasure 
 to think of. We must remember that this is the 
 home where our Katy was born, and where she 
 lived all her happy years, and grew to be " 
 
 " O now, Mr. Glynn," interrupted Kate, " I 
 am not anything remarkable. Please not think 
 I am, because you will surely be disappointed." 
 
 "Remarkable! Did I ever accuse you of it?" 
 
 " No ; " blushing a little ; " but I know you 
 were going to say something not very wise." 
 
 " I was going to say that you are the light 
 of my eyes; and that you are, and you can t 
 swear off. If this be folly, make the most of it.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 189 
 
 Kate, do you think I am a fool to be loving 
 you so?" 
 
 " It begins to look like it." 
 
 "Well, 
 
 Among all the follies that I know, 
 The sweetest folly in the world is love. 
 
 Now I have quoted poetry at you ; so you may 
 be sure the evidence is all in. Katy, I don t 
 know whether you are remarkable. I don t even 
 know whether you are pretty. I only know that 
 you are Katy my one woman in all the world 
 my little old Katy-girl." 
 
 " I will tell you what I should like to do with 
 the house." 
 
 " What house ? " 
 
 " The one you bought away from me with 
 malice aforethought." 
 " Whose house now ? " 
 
 " O, I believe it is a sort of joint-stock prop 
 erty a Glynn-Haviland affair." 
 " Very handsomely spoken. Go on." 
 " I am afraid you will think it foolish and im 
 practicable, but I don t see why it should be." 
 " Nor I either." + 
 
 " Why, you don t know what it is." 
 " I assume that is the very reason." 
 " O, please don t laugh at me. I am really in 
 earnest. I want to do something very much. I 
 used to think about it a great deal before long 
 ago. I never could quite see how to bring it
 
 190 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 about, but I used to picture it all out to myself 
 many and many a time. And now I think per 
 haps it may be possible ; but please don t laugh 
 even if it is not." 
 
 "I promise you I won t, dear, as soon as I 
 know what it is. I only laugh because I am in 
 the dark and have nothing else to do, and be 
 cause I am so happy." 
 
 " Well, you know the charity-places for chil 
 dren in Homes and Convents and such places ? " 
 
 u I have seen a little of them ; yes." 
 
 " Of course they are all very good, and there 
 is no help for them, but they seem to me dread 
 ful. Do you not think they are dreadful ? " 
 
 " To be wholly truthful, Katy, I cannot say 
 that I ever thought much about them. I know 
 there are such places, and I thought it was a fine 
 thing to have the little oafs made comfortable. 
 But I can t claim any credit beyond putting my 
 name down for any Institution that was pre 
 sented, and Heaven knows that is very meagre 
 credit." 
 
 " I suppose, naturally, you would not mind it 
 particularly, but to me it always seemed dreadful 
 to have little children in an institution. They 
 need some one in particular so much ; and to 
 have them sleeping all in rows, and living all in 
 rooms together, and only one place to play in, 
 it looks as if they were cheated of their birth 
 right."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 191 
 
 "My dear Kate, if you knew the wretched 
 ness from which they come." 
 
 "And the impossibility of doing otherwise. 
 Yes. But what if I could do a little other 
 wise ? " 
 
 " What could you do, dear ? " 
 
 " Why could I not turn my house " 
 
 " What house ? " 
 
 " The house of commons," smiled Kate. 
 " Why could I not you see, Mr. Gtynu, I can 
 not bear to think of of its going the way of 
 all houses. There is no real reason why it 
 should not. It is not that it is better than other 
 houses, only I love it so." 
 
 " Perhaps that is the way of all love," said 
 Mr. Glynn, softly. And Kate gave him a grate 
 ful glance. 
 
 " And so I do not like to think of some one 
 else of anybody there. O, I think I could 
 not bear to see " and poor Kate s voice was 
 choked by tender memories. 
 
 " You shall not," -said Mr. Glynn, hastily. 
 " Everything shall be just as you want it just 
 as you will like it best." 
 
 " At the same time," continued Kate, bravely 
 recovering herself, " I do not want it to be 
 wasted. That would not be better. It would 
 not be pleasant and it would not be right." 
 
 " You are right, dear Katy." 
 
 "Now, then, why would it be impracticable
 
 192 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 for me to find three or four, or five poor little 
 children little wee children even little bits 
 of babies, the smaller the better enough to 
 make a nice little family ; not a hospital, not a 
 regiment of them, but a lovely little home fam 
 ily, and make for them a home there ? I think 
 I should like to see the poor little innocents tod 
 dling and rolling about in my old places ; and 
 there they could be real children, and natural 
 and wild and bad, you know, and grow up 
 healthy and happy. I think that would be per 
 petual sunshine and blessing falling on the 
 dear old house. O, I should like it so much ! " 
 and Katherine clasped her hands eagerly, and 
 looked into her husband s face intently for his 
 opinion. 
 
 " You shall certainly have your liking, Kate. 
 Bless your sweet heart for thinking of it ! " 
 
 " You think it is nice yourself ; do you not ? " 
 
 " I think it is very charming indeed." 
 
 " O, thank you a thousand, thousand times ! 
 Not in the way you don t like," she added, 
 quickly, "but because I can t help it. It is so 
 nice of you not to laugh at me or ask me down 
 with unanswerable questions." 
 
 " Not I. I am too much relieved. I was hor 
 ribly afraid you were going to adopt the brats 
 yourself." 
 
 " The what ? " queried indignant Kate. 
 
 " The the cherubs ; " putting up his hands
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 193 
 
 as if to ward off a blow. Kate laughed, but 
 discreetly concluded to accept the amendment. 
 
 " It will cost a great deal of money. Have 
 you thought of that?" 
 
 " But I have married a woman who has some 
 money in her own right, and a good deal more 
 by marriage. Don t grow avaricious, Kate. I 
 shall be disappointed if you turn out to be a 
 miserly woman." 
 
 "And it won t be all expense, because there is 
 the farm." 
 
 " Don t try to get out of it that way. Do you 
 expect the infants to carry on the farm ? " 
 
 " No ; but the farm ought to carry them on, 
 and a good deal more. You will see. You may 
 be able to bank better than I ; but I know all 
 about a farm witch-grass, and timothy, and 
 ploughing in clover, and seeding down. But 
 then I don t suppose they will eat much but milk 
 for a good while." 
 
 " Undoubtedly the consumption of witch-grass 
 will be small the first year or two ; }~ou are right 
 there. See what it is to have a knowledge of 
 farming especially baby-farming. Who is to 
 be farm superintendent?" 
 
 " There is not going to be any superintendent. 
 
 That is the very thing I don t want. Don t you 
 
 see I am going to set up an opposition to this 
 
 forlorn superintendence, which is what makes 
 
 13
 
 194 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 the orphan-houses so dreary. What babies need 
 is a mother, and I have one all picked out." 
 
 " You have ! And does she take kindly to 
 being picked ? " 
 
 "She will as soon as she knows it. It is 
 Tishy s daughter, who used to live with us. The 
 best creature ! Only she would be married." 
 
 " That was a downfall." 
 
 " It was indeed, for he was a wretch. She 
 never would have looked at him, for she had a 
 good deal of sense at least about most things. 
 But it was his three children. She could not 
 stand the temptation of those children. And 
 she thought she was going to have a home, poor 
 thing ! O, shall I not make Martha a happy 
 woman ? And Tishy will stay and keep every 
 thing just as it was. This I could not have 
 done at all. This is your doing ; " and Kate 
 fairly beamed upon him. 
 
 " But, my dear, are you sure this ne er-do-weel 
 of hers will be the right kind of man to have 
 about our infantry ? " 
 
 " O, he is gone. Nobody knows where he is. 
 He went away and left his three children for her 
 to take care of; and then her own little baby 
 was born, and she had four on her hands. But 
 it was just as well. He never was any good 
 only to throw the spare-rib at her when it di d 
 not suit him."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 195 
 
 " A greasy scamp ! And what is become of 
 the three children she married?" 
 
 " I believe Tishy engineered them upon their 
 mother s relatives. Tishy was enraged with 
 Martha for marrying, but after he went away 
 she came forward and said she would take care 
 of Martha and the baby ; but his what you 
 call cherubs she would none of. So as 
 Martha had a baby of her own, she consented to 
 let the others go. She is fond of them, too. I 
 suppose she would like to have them here with 
 her, but I will not. It is bad blood; and be 
 sides, they are too big, and they are already 
 taken care of. I will have only little, helpless, 
 friendless midgets that don t know any better. 
 And Martha has no home, and she is a beautiful 
 housekeeper, and the silliest soft heart you ever 
 saw, and will just turn slave for children. She 
 shall have how many do you suppose she can 
 take care of ? No ; I will hunt up only just as 
 many as she can be a real mother to. O, how 
 shall I begin ? I must see Tishy instantly. 
 You will help me, won t you? Not about Tishy, 
 but about finding the children, and getting 
 started. I won t trouble you. in the least after 
 wards, if you will only help me a little at the 
 beginning." 
 
 "No. I certainly shall not enter into any 
 such limited partnership. You want me to 
 throw the whole weight of my intellect into the
 
 196 
 
 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 business, and then retire. Thanks, madam. I 
 enlist for the war or I enlist not at all." 
 
 "But you are a man," said Kate, frankly. 
 " You won t be any use. Besides that I did not 
 wish to trouble you, you can t do anything." 
 
 " I might milk the cows and bring the wood." 
 
 " O, you may do anything you like outside 
 the house. I was only thinking of the inside. 
 Yes, certainly, you can be very serviceable in 
 supporting the family." 
 
 " A trifling duty, and a humble, but still 
 something."
 
 XII. 
 
 old project of Katharine s, fanned into 
 JL new life, gave new life to herself. She 
 had Tishy up for frequent and animated con 
 sultations, and found in her an enthusiastic 
 partner. 
 
 " It is too good news to be true, Katherme," 
 said Tishy. " I never \vas so put to t in my life 
 to know what to do." 
 
 " What to do when, Tishy ? " 
 
 " Ever since you was married, dear. Mr. 
 Glynn he just told me to hold on, but I knew 
 there must be a change some time." 
 
 " But, you dear Tishy, you did not think I 
 should let you be turned out-doors ? " 
 
 " Well, of course, Katherwe, I wa n t going to 
 be beholden to nobody. Nor I don t mean that 
 I was afraid of comin on the town. I have got 
 money in bank, and my two hands into the bar 
 gain. But it is dretful hard to change, dear, at 
 my time of life." 
 
 " You won t call this a change ? " 
 
 197
 
 198 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Not to speak of. Nothin to what I was 
 afraid of. I have been dretful uneasy. I was 
 afraid you might want me to come up here." 
 
 44 Afraid, Letitia Midkius \ And I here ! " 
 
 " I know, dear child, but you are young. 
 Twould be dretful new and strange-like for me 
 to come up here with them foreigners-like. I 
 have had my swing too long to play second 
 fiddle." 
 
 " And now, Tishy, you will play first fiddle 
 in your own house. You will get along com 
 fortably with Martha, won t you? You and 
 I alwaj^s got along well together." 
 
 44 You and I ? Lud-a-mercy ! " and Tishy 
 rivalled Lord Ronald with her laugh of merry 
 scorn. 44 You, child? Well, you re Mis Glynn 
 now, but I can t realize to myself you re any 
 thing but Katy." 
 
 And Tishy laughed again at the idea of her 
 getting along well with Kate Kate whom she 
 had served with a devotion so unswerving and 
 so affectionate that it never called itself service. 
 
 44 And you must remember, Tishy, that Mar 
 tha is married too, and has a son of her own, and 
 must be treated like a mother as well as like a 
 daughter." 
 
 44 If I can t manage Martha Midkins without 
 your help, Kather-ine HavilamZ, I can t with " 
 said Tishy, with good-natured but very Tishy-an 
 asperity.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 199 
 
 " Yes," said Kate, laughing ; " but you lorded 
 it over us both so long when we were under 
 you, that I am afraid you will forget to treat us 
 with proper respect." 
 
 " I will look out for respect, Mis Glynn 
 I suppose that is respect. But if you think I 
 am going to call Martha Midkins Mis Bost- 
 wick, you will lose your guess, I can tell you. 
 Ketch me calling a child of mine after one of 
 the Old Boy s unaccountables, if she married 
 him seven times over ! r> 
 
 " Tishy, that is the only misgiving I have 
 for fear he will come back and trouble us." 
 
 " I ain t in the least worried about that," said 
 Tishy, rocking back and forth in her chair, teeth 
 hard set, and looking altogether vicious. 
 
 " But if he should come ? " 
 
 " I ll pay him my compliments with the skillet. 
 It s what I ought to a done in the first place. 
 Instead of which I tried to reason with Martha. 
 But, Lord! I didn t rightly know what carron 
 he was then." 
 
 " Very well, Tishy, I will come down as soon 
 as I possibly can and look over the rooms, and 
 we will see what needs to be done ; and I think 
 Martha better come as soon as she can. Now 
 you remember, won t you, that Martha is to be 
 the mother and you the matron. And you won t 
 encroach upon her will you ? " 
 
 " Lord love you, child ! Martha is Martha, and
 
 200 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 I am Tishy, and I ain t likely to forget it, nor 
 she nuther. Don t you worry. But I wanted 
 to tell you, and come nigh forgettin , that there s 
 a poor creetur up there near Avhere Martha lives. 
 She was a weak, washy little thing never had 
 no hold onto her. I used to tell em she d ketch 
 cold going to bed barefoot. Well, her hus 
 band he was a carpenter a clever sort of man 
 enough, but no faculty never forehanded, and 
 he fell from a roof now goin on three months 
 ago, and only lived about a week, and his wife 
 she went into a gallopin consumption, and last 
 week she died, and there s the baby just four 
 months old a poor little pindlin thing that 
 must go to the poor-house, and that means the 
 grave. Martha she has nussed it the last week, 
 but, Lor ! thinks I, there s a windfall for Kath- 
 erme." 
 
 "I don t know about taking such a baby," 
 reflected Kate. 
 
 " Why, it is the Lord s poorest," said Tishy, 
 piously. 
 
 " True ; but I am afraid it will die, and then 
 we shall be discouraged. Don t you think we 
 ought to begin with babies that will live? " 
 
 " Wh} 7 , law, Katy, no babies don t have a sure 
 lease of life, and sometimes the ones you least 
 expect it of clings the longest and strongest." 
 
 " But you say this poor baby s mother died of 
 consumption ? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 201 
 
 " So she did ; but consumption ain t ketching." 
 
 " Only, Tishy, it seems as if it is as much as 
 ever a baby can live, any way, little weak thing ! 
 and if it is born to consumption, there isn t much 
 hope." 
 
 " O, law now, Katy, you re all out there. 
 You ve no idea what a sight of hold-on there 
 is in babies. Why, they live through what 
 would kill a grown man. You see they haven t 
 no nerves and no worries, and they only have to 
 take what comes, nor never fret about to-morrow. 
 Very like the child took all the health the poor 
 mother had, and left her to die ; but the child 
 will grow up into an old woman." 
 
 " Very well ; if you think the chances are that 
 she will live, we will take her." 
 
 " There s no chance at all she will live if we 
 don t take her. She s dying daily where she is 
 now, and the poor-house 11 fetch her up. But 
 then, if she dies, it will do no harm to ease 
 her off." 
 
 " Certainly ; but what I think is, the babies 
 that die go quickly into the hands of the good 
 God, and are sure to be happy there. But those 
 that live must take what comes, and so they 
 ought to be well furnished with health and good 
 principles and good habits. If we could take 
 them all, we would ; but as we can only have a 
 very few, I don t think we can afford to waste 
 ourselves on those who are going to be happy
 
 202 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 in Heaven so soon. We must help those who 
 must stay here. That is not hard-hearted, 
 Tishy, don t you see, though it sounds sort of 
 business-like." 
 
 " O, well, Katy, you can t tell who is going to 
 live and who isn t. We must just trust the Lord 
 for that. And, besides, wouldn t it be sunthin 
 to take a poor peaked baby and build him up 
 till he s as strong and frisky and antic as a 
 kitten ? " 
 
 " Yes, if he is suffering only from want of care, 
 and can be cured into firm health. But if he is 
 inwardly sick and weak, and can only be kept in 
 a feeble half-and-half life, I think I would not do 
 that. I think I would let him die." 
 
 " Why, Kitty, you frighten me ! " 
 
 * O, I will not kill any of your babies, Tishy, 
 don t fear. But, don t you see, where is the fun 
 of being miserable ? Why should any one live 
 in disease and discomfort ? " 
 
 " But, don t you know the Lord works some 
 of his mightiest wonders in poor, feeble folks 
 that never did a day s work in their lives, nor 
 knew a minute free of pain ? " 
 
 " O, I know he does not actually throw us 
 overboard when we have made wrecks of our 
 selves. But, all the same, Tishy, I want to take 
 care of the children that have got to live whether 
 or no, or that have bodies at least worth saving. 
 So you better look out and keep your charges in
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 203 
 
 good condition, or I shall gobble them up some 
 fine morning." 
 
 Kate had not expected to open her nursery 
 quite so soon, but Mr. Glynn agreed with her 
 that the prompt appearance and the unquestion 
 able forlornness of this very young person were 
 signs not to be disregarded. Tishy indeed de 
 clared that she would rather begin with the two, 
 and get the hang of it, than have all come to 
 gether. So then it became necessary for Kate 
 to visit the old house at once. She had not 
 entered it since she passed out from its shelter 
 on the morning of her marriage. 
 
 " I am going with you," said Mr. Glynn, when 
 she asked him for the keys of some of the rooms 
 which had been closed at Tishy s request. 
 
 She could not help it that a blank disappoint 
 ment fell for a moment on her face at this an 
 nouncement, and he could not help it that his 
 eyes darkened with a sudden pain at that un 
 intentional avowal. Yet he had been as well 
 aware of her preference as if she had spoken it. 
 But she put down her disappointment instantly, 
 and he thrust back the useless regret. 
 
 " I knew you would rather go alone," he said, 
 simply, " but indeed I cannot let you." 
 
 " I only thought of going alone," said Kate, as 
 simply, " but it does not hurt me to have you 
 go ; " and then they walked down the silent 
 road tosrether.
 
 204 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 Afterwards Kate felt that it was well she had 
 been companioned. The little restraint helped 
 her to self-possession. Mr. Glynn had ordered 
 all the rooms to be opened ; cheerful fires were 
 burning, and the familiar sunshine flooded the 
 familiar rooms. It would have been a luxury to 
 Kate to sit alone in the silence and solitude, and 
 dream herself back into the irrecoverable past ; 
 but it would not have been strengthening, and 
 what Kate wanted now was strength. So it 
 was well that she could not abandon herself 
 to tender and sorrowful recollections, while yet 
 she felt herself held back only by the most 
 heartfelt sympathy and consideration to which 
 she was in honor bound to respond with defer 
 ence at least. And while every word and look 
 of her husband s was softened with the memory 
 of the past, he gradually, almost imperceptibly, 
 won her to think and speak of the future, so 
 that somehow the tearful and tender forms of 
 a vanished home melted into the bright and 
 beckoning fancies of joyful promise, and Kate s 
 vision peopled the rooms with dimpled figures, 
 round, rosy faces laughed up at her from the 
 cosy corners, and hope and cheer nestled in the 
 nooks that she had feared to find so desolate. 
 It was only the old story of the chilled traveller 
 warmed and saved by the loving effort lavished 
 on his frozen comrade.
 
 XIII. 
 
 TTEARTENED and energized by her success- 
 _LJL ful activity in this direction, Kate next 
 turned her energetic attention to the house, 
 which was now her own home. It was old and 
 square, and spacious and stately, with broad pi 
 azzas for summer shade, and broad balconies for 
 winter sunshine ; low-roofed and heavily raftered, 
 with ample corridors and a hospitable hall, and 
 wide, welcoming rooms ; and wise beyond its 
 generation in great, windowed closets with over 
 grown drawers and sweet-smelling chests. The 
 
 o o 
 
 debris of a seafaring and foreign-trading ancestry 
 had drifted down the years, and lay scattered 
 about in jars of priceless value, huge and hideous, 
 convolute with dragons and serpents and scaly 
 monsters in heat of fiercest action ; chairs and 
 tables curiously twisted of bamboo work, or end 
 lessly carved in a gloom of massive blackness ; 
 wondrously wrought cabinets ; inlaid boxes, iri 
 descent with mother-of-pearl ; lustrous trays be- 
 skirnmed by impossible birds, berayed with the 
 
 205
 
 206 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 golden glint of impossible suns ; many-folded 
 screens, brilliant with peacocks and butterflies 
 and slender-legged storks in radiant embroidery 
 of vivid silk and shining gold ; caskets polished 
 and quaint, opening one within another, like a 
 fairy story, or hiding each its treasure of fra 
 grant fan, or hieroglyphic silk, or mystic neck 
 lace, or ivory ball and bauble cunningly carven, 
 sphere within sphere. Wider travel, cosmopoli 
 tan taste, and the Great Exposition, have brought 
 these things home to men s business and bosoms 
 especially to women s; but to Kate they were 
 utterly novel and fascinating like a peep into 
 the Orient itself. Her earliest convalescence had 
 dallied languidly with such curiosities as lay 
 around her, and with each fresh accession of 
 health she penetrated further into the fastnesses 
 of the house, freshly enchanted with each new 
 discovery, till the faint, sweet, pungent, musty 
 old sandal-wood smells seemed the verj- breath 
 of Araby the Blest, wooing her over purple seas 
 to the grotesque Barbaric Lands. The wide 
 waste of garret, uncrossed by partition-walls, 
 was itself a museum. It was not simply that the 
 taste for bric-a-brac had not then become a fash 
 ion, but the absence of any mistress of the house 
 had rather ruled out taste and banished to the 
 garret s safe shelter much that was rare and per 
 ishable. The burden of broken crockery and 
 yellowing silk and moth-eaten tissue weighed
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 207 
 
 heavily on the righteous American soul of the 
 good housekeeper, and many a bit of exquisite 
 porcelain had mounted from mantel and cabinet 
 and the flirt of the chambermaid s duster to the 
 strong, solid cupboards of this unvisited wilder 
 ness. Persian rugs, heavy and dense and dim, 
 with blended beauty of hue, had been folded 
 away in camphor, against summer depredations, 
 and been deliberately forgotten upon return of 
 winter, wasting their dusk splendor in cedar 
 chests. India shawls, faded and soft ; creamy 
 crape, overswept with dense floriage and foliage 
 of silken handiwork; golden-fretted velvet and 
 finest silken sheen, that had draped the fair forms 
 of dead women, were folded into forgetfulness 
 beneath the cobwebbed eaves. The sweet dead 
 women had passed away, and of their memory 
 remained to Kate not so much as a name ; but 
 she left all reverently, as it lay, undisturbed. 
 She was too new a comer, she was too much of 
 the outer world to touch the inbreathed life of 
 these personal belongings. But what else was 
 there she inspected with fearless minuteness. 
 Many an unheeded hour she spent over vases 
 and bowls, and nondescript bits of translucent 
 fabric and spirited drawing and marvellous chan 
 ging color. A tiny tea-set, the very soul of fra 
 gile loveliness, made her fall a-moaning with 
 delight. And one day Mr. Glynn coming home 
 unexpectedly early from town, vainly hunting
 
 208 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 for Katherine, followed the clue of the open 
 garret-door, and came upon her shawled and 
 muffled, and crouching before a motley group of 
 Chinese mandarins, beggars, mugs, and vases. 
 
 " At your devotions, Kitty. Saying your 
 prayers to your little gods. So I have been 
 harboring a pagan." 
 
 "I did not know you had got home," said Kate. 
 " I am trying to draw this high-shouldered jar 
 for Aunt Fanny ; the shape is so lovely. I am 
 making sad work of it I know ; " as Mr. Glynn 
 looked over her shoulder ; " but it will give her 
 some idea." 
 
 " You have blocked the shape out very accu 
 rately. Are you going to try to capture those 
 fellows cavorting across the bulge ? " 
 
 " I have been studying those. Is that a man 
 in the boat, and are those two women in the 
 water, and is he trying to get away from them 
 frightened ? Or are they frightened, and he 
 mocking them, and they begging him ? " 
 
 " Life-like, to give such scope for argument 
 but / am frightened," feeling her purple-cold 
 hands. " Katy, you are thoroughly chilled I You 
 must not do this. You must come down in 
 stantly." 
 
 " No indeed. Don t be disagreeable. I come 
 up every day, and it does not hurt me in the 
 least. No ; I won t go down till I have fin 
 ished;" clutching her paper, laughingly, as Mr.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 209 
 
 Glynn would have taken it from her. Whereat, 
 without further protest, he quietly picked up 
 sketch, artist, and all, and carried them down 
 stairs together. It might be considered a friv 
 olous attempt at wit to sa} r that Katherine was 
 very much taken aback ; but she had the pres 
 ence of mind not further to sacrifice her dignity 
 by resisting. 
 
 " There," said Mr. Glynn, debarking her be 
 fore the library fire, " that is the way we Blue 
 beards treat our wives when they don t obey 
 us." 
 
 " And you call yourself a Woman s-rights 
 man?" 
 
 "What do you call it?" 
 
 " A rose by any other name would be more 
 correct." 
 
 " But could not be sweeter. "Why don t you 
 have that truck brought down stairs into a Chris 
 tian climate if you want to see it ? " 
 
 " O ! there is so much of it." 
 
 " Room enough here." 
 
 " And I have not thought of it. I have nofc 
 been cold, really. Only my hands were cold be 
 cause I could not wear my gloves. You need not 
 be afraid. I do not wish to be sick again any 
 more than you wish to have me." 
 
 " But you must not continue these garret ex 
 plorations ; not till warm weather." 
 
 " I will tell you what I should like to do," she 
 14
 
 210 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 exclaimed suddenly. " It has been coming into 
 my mind a long time, and it is all in now." 
 
 " Out with it, then." 
 
 " I have a strong impulse to commit sacrilege. 
 I suppose it is that." 
 
 " Upon my word, Katy," said he, surveying 
 her critically, her hair was somewhat rough 
 ened, her dress somewhat tumbled, her face aglow 
 with fervent heat after the long cold, and she had 
 a mingled air of adventure, resolution, and spar- 
 Ide, " upon my word, you look at this moment 
 capable of achieving anything you undertake. 
 You surely won t need any assistance from me in 
 rifling a church." 
 
 " It is only the church in thy house that I want 
 to rifle." 
 
 " Whose house ? " 
 
 " Philemon s ! " 
 
 " Checkmate." 
 
 " I suppose you want everything in this house 
 to stay just as it is." 
 
 " Only you, Katy. I want you to stay just as 
 you are. Everything else may slide." 
 
 " And I am the very thing that will change. 
 I shall grow wrinkled, and my teeth will come 
 out, and my hair will get gray, and I shall have 
 an ear-trumpet and 4 roomatiz ; and that is the 
 time when I shall depend upon your liking me 
 vastly. It is not much matter now ; but then I 
 expect you to come out strong."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 211 
 
 " I must begin now, then, so as to get my 
 hand in." 
 
 " I want to tell you what I should like to do." 
 
 " That is just what I am pining to hear." 
 
 " But I am really afraid that you will not 
 like it." 
 
 " I promise faithfully not to murder you, in any 
 case. I will not even imprison you in your cham 
 ber with one grim warden for the remainder of 
 your life." 
 
 " Will you promise not to be in the least degree 
 vexed, or even inwardly annoyed, or think I am 
 finding fault or want to break things ? " 
 
 " So completely that even if you do break 
 them I am ready to swear you did it as a military 
 necessity." 
 
 " I think this is a beautiful house, a most inter 
 esting house. I don t want to alter it in the least 
 particle not to harm it; but I should like to 
 develop it ; you understand ? " 
 
 " I shall, as soon as you have enlightened me a 
 little more." 
 
 " I used to think about it when I was getting 
 well ; just lie and think idly of this and that as 
 my eyes happened to fall. You did not suspect 
 you were nursing such a viper back into life, did 
 you ? But I had no plan, really ; only idle, sick 
 fancies. But now I am all alive and awake and 
 well." 
 
 " You look like it."
 
 212 . FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 "And as a a housekeeper," said Kate, 
 blushing and hesitating a little, " of course I 
 must know everything and do everything." 
 
 " So that is the limited scale on which the op 
 pressed sex acts," sighed Mr. Glynn. 
 
 "And if I say there are some incongruities 
 in the house, you will not mind it." 
 
 "I will fling them out of window. I never 
 ordered an incongruity into my house in my life." 
 
 " No ; it was Mrs. Palker. She told me her 
 self, dear soul, as innocently as possible. She was 
 only too conscientious and careful. But I would 
 rather have things where I could see them and 
 enjoy them, even if they do get broken and worn ; 
 would not you ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " When I first came here it looked I am 
 afraid you will not quite understand." 
 
 " I will make a violent effort." 
 
 " Cold and cheerless a little. I was so sick 
 and faint-hearted, I had no courage. I am not 
 complaining ; don t think that. Every one was 
 as kind as could be. But the very sun seemed 
 gone." 
 
 " I know you had a hard old time of it." 
 
 " And on the top of it all I was sentimental. 
 That was silly, but I could not help it then. And 
 this kept going through and through my mind : 
 
 They ve made her a grave too cold and damp 
 For a soul so warm and true. "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 13 
 
 "You poor little Kitty ! " 
 
 " O, that was only sentimental," said Kate, 
 surveying her past self loftily from towering 
 heights of superiority. "You don t mind my 
 telling you this now ? " 
 
 " I want you to tell me everything." 
 
 " Now," said Kate, " I can see, not by melan 
 choly, but as a matter of fact, that the house is 
 a little dark and gloomy ; but it need not be. 
 And it is a little not to say dingy O ! " 
 
 " Dingy eh ? " said Mr. Glynn, with the 
 utmost good-humor. Dingy was not half so 
 dreadful a word to him as it was to Kate. 
 
 " Not an antique, Oriental dingy, but " 
 
 "Dirty-dingy!" 
 
 " Well, a worn dingy at least." 
 
 "And American dirt is so much less pictu 
 resque a thing than Persian or Turkish grime. 
 Item : to order scrubbing-brushes." 
 
 " No, indeed. That would not do at all. Mrs. 
 Palker is very neat. She would surely slay us. 
 That is not the kind I mean. It does not look 
 fresh and cheerful. And where it is fresh, it is 
 horrid," said Kate, candidly. 
 
 " That is right, Kitty," laughed Mr. Glynn ; 
 " free your mind." 
 
 " Now in my room there are many things that 
 are exquisite well, poetic, finer than I ever 
 saw in my life before. But it is spoiled by such 
 an ever-present carpet. I would far rather have
 
 214 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 Tishy s rag-carpet that she wove herself. All 
 the time I was sick I could not help staring at 
 it. I think I might have got well sooner if that 
 had not given me a congestion of the brain. I 
 don t mind it now I am well. And Mrs. Palker 
 told me twenty times the tale of her search 
 for it." 
 
 " Item : a new carpet for Katy s room, and to 
 fend off Mrs. Palker." 
 
 "And not hurt her feelings. But I don t 
 want to buy things. I never thought of that. 
 If you would let me bring the wasting sweetness 
 down from the attic. That garret is a perfect 
 treasure-house. It is only that the rooms are 
 big, and that makes them look bare, and that 
 makes them look dreary. And some of them 
 are so hermetically sealed, and they haunt me. 
 I do believe the house has been emptied into the 
 garret. Everything down-stairs is fine, and rich, 
 and pretty " 
 
 " Except what is cheap and nasty." 
 " Exactly. Now if you would be willing to 
 let me open the house ; make it look open, and 
 bring those heathen gods and their trappings 
 down into the inhabited country, they would 
 become household gods. I believe myself that 
 they all belong here." 
 
 " They certainly do if you order them down." 
 " A man does not know how to take care of 
 himself, does he ? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 215 
 
 "Not the least in life. I don t quite know 
 whither you are tending, but I strive to double 
 and turn fast enough to keep you in sight." 
 
 " You say that because you do not choose to 
 fight. But it is a solemn truth. I have dis 
 covered it since since I knew you better. I 
 have discovered many things since I came here. 
 Now listen. I am about to utter an immortal 
 saying : A man can take care of a woman a great 
 deal better than a woman can take care of her 
 self ; but also a woman can take care of a man 
 a great deal better than a man can take care of 
 himself! " and Kate nodded defiantly. 
 
 " That is a saying worthy of immortality," 
 returned Mr. Glynn, with a solemn and respon 
 sive nod. " Show your faith by your works." 
 
 " That is what I wish to do," said Katherine. 
 " You are the application of my text. Here are 
 you, saying, no doubt, in your mind this very 
 minute, how absurd it is for me to set up that I 
 can dispose of this house better than you who 
 have lived in it for generations. But I can turn 
 this house upside down in a fortnight so you 
 won t know it. I can do it, Mr. Glynn. You 
 don t know what you are talking about but I 
 can do it ! " 
 
 " Talking about ! I don t even know I am 
 talking. It seems to me I am in the grasp of 
 a young goddess who threatens to tumble my
 
 216 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 roof about my ears, and looks as if she could 
 make her word good." 
 
 "How strange it is to be a man! Of course 
 you were the master of all, yet it was Mrs. 
 Palker who ruled and reigned." 
 
 " Still it was an autocracy tempered with 
 indulgence. Let me beg you to remember that 
 and be merciful." 
 
 " O, I am not blaming Mrs. Palker. She is as 
 nice as possible that is, nice enough for for 
 Mrs. Palker. But why did you not care about 
 things? Did she just go her own way without 
 consulting you ? " 
 
 " O, no ; she often comes to consult me ; but 
 she seldom has time to hear my opinion barely 
 time to express her own." 
 
 " I suppose she would not like very well to 
 have the hands on her dial reversed? " 
 
 " I believe she is to resume a husband soon, so 
 she will not be a constitutional objection." 
 
 " Yes ; she told me she expected to change her 
 situation soon, and then she should work no 
 more." 
 
 " If she would stop talking, too, it would make 
 quite a difference. I think she talks more accord 
 ing to what she says than most of my acquaint 
 ance put together. But she is perfectly harmless, 
 Katy. What next? " 
 
 " Why, next next " said Kate, looking
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 217 
 
 around. " Seems to me this room ought to be 
 humanized. 
 
 " This ? O, my dear, now I think this room 
 is perfect;" and Mr. Glynn surveyed it with 
 serene satisfaction. "Reform, take any shape 
 but that." 
 
 " It is a room capable of perfection," said 
 Kate judicially; "but its light is hidden at 
 present under a bushel, under a great many 
 bushels. It is dark, and light, and romantic " 
 
 " And ever so convenient. It is a rendezvous 
 for all my wants. There s a place for every 
 thing " 
 
 " And everything in it. : 
 
 "Well, at least, then, one is sure to come 
 across it in time. Ah, Katy, I think you must 
 leave me to taste the sweets of liberty here." 
 
 " I don t know. If the mania for improve 
 ment fairly gets possession of me, I won t promise 
 1 can keep my hands off you." 
 
 " Don t try," he said, stretching out both arms 
 towards her. 
 
 " You would not like," said Kate smiling, but 
 not choosing to see his gesture, " to be Gid 
 eon s fleece, untouched when all the rest of the 
 world is dewy. And I was struck by a mighty 
 leathery odor when I was in your dressing-room 
 a little while ago." 
 
 "You were?" said Mr. Glynn, innocently. 
 "I can t think where it came from."
 
 218 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Nor I, for there were only eleven pairs of 
 shoes on the closet-floor." 
 
 I know. I always keep my stated supply 
 under the lounge." 
 
 "Yes. I saw them peeping out. Peeping 
 out? Creeping out, tumbling out, fighting out. 
 Eight pairs more. What makes you wear so 
 many shoes? " 
 
 " I don t wear them all at once, ma am." 
 
 "But why do you wear them all at nineteen 
 times ? " 
 
 " Upon my word, Katy, I don t know. I give 
 it up. But I suppose one must have some 
 amusement living alone, and I take it out in 
 shoes. Your coming puts a different face on the 
 matter. Item: to build a new wing on the 
 north end to accommodate shoes. What are 
 you going to root me out of next? This is 
 getting exhilarating." 
 
 " This is only beginning. Things will do 
 themselves when they are fairly started. And 
 I understand that you give me leave to rage 
 through the house ? " 
 
 " How can I give you leave, Katy ? The 
 house is yours the pottery and trumpery are 
 yours. All is yours. Shall you not do what 
 you will with your own ? " 
 
 "It does not seem so," said Katherine, sud 
 denly overcast. 
 
 He was leaning back in the large library-chair
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 219 
 
 looking up at her as she stood before him, rosy, 
 intent, alert, a little disordered in dress and hair, 
 but the very picture of fresh, eager life, with the 
 turbulent sensitiveness of girlhood flooding her 
 cheeks and veiling her eyes that slvyly avoided 
 his serious and tender gaze. He took her hand 
 and drew her to him. He laid her soft, cool 
 palm on his forehead and pressed close the " tired 
 ej^elids upon tired eyes." Kate s cheeks were 
 suffused with a deeper crimson, but she stood by 
 her guns manfully. 
 
 "Have you the headache?" she presently 
 asked, softly, for want of something better to say. 
 
 He shook his head, then gently removed her 
 hand and put her away from him, and Kate left 
 the room quite awed and confounded. 
 
 " O, what have I done ? " she bethought her 
 self, in the swiftly sought solitude of her own 
 chamber. " I did not think that he would care. 
 I did not mean anything that would be unpleas 
 ant to him, or that he would not like. But I 
 suppose he has lived here so long, and is attached 
 to everything just as it is, and the thought of 
 change pains him ; and he thinks that I am dis 
 satisfied. O, I wish he would know that I do 
 not really care ! Of course it is all very dear to 
 him here. I suppose I should not have been 
 pleased to have any one come in and overhaul 
 things at home. Mine ! As if that made any 
 difference ! As if I could take any pleasure in
 
 220 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 it if it should give him annoyance. How sorry 
 I am I ever mentioned it or thought of it ! " 
 
 The upshot of Katharine s perturbations and 
 meditations was that she went boldly back into 
 the library. 
 
 " Mr. Glynn, do let me take it all back and 
 think no more about it." 
 
 " Take what back, pray ? " 
 
 " All that I was chattering about. It was only 
 talk. I do not really care. I would not tease 
 you for the world." 
 
 " Tease me I Who has been teasing me ? " 
 resounded his cheery voice. 
 
 " Why, I thought I had ; " quite discomfited 
 by his breezy manner. 
 
 " Not you ! You tantalize me horribly, some 
 times, but tease me, never ! " 
 
 " I was afraid that I thought perhaps I 
 did not know but that you might fear I was dis 
 contented and wanted to meddle with what is 
 dear to you." 
 
 " Not a bit of it, little sweet-heart. / want 
 mightily to meddle with what is dear to me, but 
 I don t dare to ! You are mistress here. Every 
 thing that belongs to me, or everything that did 
 belong to me when I was an independent gen 
 tleman, is in your hands. My subjugation is 
 complete. I only and humbly beg leave to make 
 a mental reservation of this room." 
 
 " An Indian Reservation is what you want to
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 221 
 
 make of it," rejoined Katherine, greatly relieved. 
 " Of course I would like to do what I said. 
 It is nice to do, and it would make everything 
 nicer. But I want to please you too." 
 
 " The way to please me, Kate, is to do what 
 ever you like." 
 
 " But I mean that I want to give you pleasure. 
 You must not make me wholly selfish. I want 
 to make it pleasant to you. That is stupid, for 
 of course it was always pleasant ; but I should 
 like to make it more home-like and happy to 
 you. That is selfish too, for that would make 
 me happiest. I wish I could ever say what I 
 mean. Do you understand ? " 
 
 " With all my heart. It is like you. And 
 nothing can make the house seem so happy and 
 homelike as to find you in it, and over it, and 
 about it, doing what you will with your own." 
 
 " You know once you said I was not pretty," 
 said Kate, rather at right angles with the tide of 
 talk, as her manner was. 
 
 " Never ! " said Mr. Glynn, firmly. 
 
 " Or words to that effect." 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " At least you said you did not know if I was 
 pretty ; and of course, after all these years, not 
 to know it is to know that it is not." 
 
 "Non constat!" 
 
 " Now, I am going to return good for evil. 
 Not that you are handsome, exactly "
 
 222 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " But interesting ! " 
 
 " Perhaps I should not quite characterize you 
 as an interesting man, but as a man with inter 
 esting points in you " 
 
 " What an abominably discriminating creature 
 to have about 1 And as to looks, then, what were 
 you going to say ? " 
 
 " Why, that you have a sort of rich face, after 
 all ; as if there had been plenty material to make 
 it of. Don t you know some people have a 
 tightly drawn, pinched look, as if it was a close 
 fit with them ?" 
 
 "Good heavens! Katy, just wait till I can 
 Where are all the looking-glasses ? " 
 
 " You need not look in the glass, for you won t 
 find what is best there. Are you doing me the 
 honor to listen ? " 
 
 " To be sure and will keep at it as long as 
 the listener hears such good of himself." 
 
 " He will hear better. He will hear that you 
 always ring not only true, which I should expect, 
 but understanding which is not so indispen 
 sable. It is a pity sometimes to get at the north 
 east side of people and find it so different from 
 the southerly and sunny exposure. But you, Mr. 
 Richard Glynn, on whichever side one approaches 
 you, you are always southerly and sunny. That 
 is where you get your face ! " 
 
 " I declare, Katy, if you were not talking at a 
 face which has forgotten to blush for these dozen
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 223 
 
 years, you would fancy all the world was turning 
 red. My soul is blushing furiously." 
 
 " O, you need not try to laugh me down. All 
 the time I have been here you have been nice to 
 me. You have not been cross once, nor snubbed 
 me " 
 
 " A remarkable case of self-denial." 
 
 " O, I know. I have been sick and stupid 
 and dull, but I have not been so dull as not to 
 know that I have not been a nice person to have 
 about. Yet, all dead as I have been, I have lived 
 just as keenly, and seen just as clearly as if I 
 had been alive. If you had trespassed I should 
 have been just as severe as if I had been perfec 
 tion myself. But you have never once angered 
 me, or displeased me, or disappointed me only 
 that you have been so much better than I could 
 have dreamed." 
 
 " Why, Katy, I did not know you had so low 
 an opinion of me." 
 
 " I did not have I only never thought much 
 about it. Yet somehow I find that whenever I 
 accost you, you never fail me. And that is quite 
 remarkable, I think. It is so different from 
 O ! " and Kate brought herself up short with a 
 dismayed moan. 
 
 Mr. Glynn mentally finished out her remark 
 to his liking, but gave no sign. 
 
 " Is it not just possible, Katy, that you bring
 
 224 FIRST LOVE IS J3EST. 
 
 a little of the atmosphere you find? You are 
 not exactly a souring ingredient yourself." 
 
 " I will not have you taking up my line of 
 remark," said Kate, loftily. "Be original." 
 
 "But being stigmatized in this categorico- 
 biographical way, I must turn the tables on you, 
 or perish in the attempt. What do women do 
 under a course of flattery? " 
 
 " Flourish like a green bay-tree. It is our na 
 tive air with variations." He began to com 
 pliment, and she began to grin. " But I want 
 you to understand that I have given you a piece 
 of my mind !" 
 
 " And I want you to understand that I shall 
 put in a claim for a great deal more for all the 
 remaining pieces, in fact ; " but Kate skipped 
 away far more light-hearted than she entered.
 
 AND yet it had been a shock to her to find 
 herself actually instituting a comparison be 
 tween Mr. Glynn and Walter Laballe, and to 
 the latter s disadvantage. And then it almost 
 gave her another shock to apprehend vaguely 
 that the thought of Walter had somehow grown 
 indistinct of late. Good heavens ! was he fading 
 out of her mind ? Good heavens ! then, was her 
 mind fading out ? To be sure, she was married to 
 another man, but this other man had, in a way, 
 given her leave to think of him. She had cer 
 tainly not the smallest intention of being false 
 to her husband, but she had as certainly in 
 tended to be true to herself, to Walter, to her 
 idea of love. She had meant to be a living mon 
 ument to constancy. She would prove that love 
 was immortal ; that it could live with no delight 
 to feed on. All her life long she meant to be 
 unfalteringly faithful at this sacred shrine. Poor 
 Walter ! One constant corner in her heart was 
 little to give to him to whom she had once given 
 15 225
 
 226 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 so much, to whom she had looked to give all. 
 And yet it was true that poor Walter had disap 
 pointed her kept disappointing her; that she 
 had always, in some sense, care of him, respon 
 sibility for him, anxiety about him never rest 
 in him ; plenty of pleasure and pride, but never 
 peace. Mr. Glynn was a quiet and sober-going 
 man, though, after all, more lively than she 
 would have supposed. She had fancied him not 
 caring much about anything that she cared for, 
 yet he did have likings and dislikings, opinions 
 and ways of his own, which she had come to 
 respect, and to be interested in finding out. She 
 had only thought of him as a member of the 
 human race, and he had turned out to be a dis 
 tinct personality. He was not so brilliant as 
 Walter. He was not anything like a society 
 man. The stage on which Walter shone he 
 shunned. Kate smiled to herself to think of the 
 incongruity of Mr. Glynn figuring in any of the 
 youthful caprices of play and picnic, but she 
 could not hide from herself that she was gaining 
 a confidence in him, a respect for him that Wal 
 ter had never been able to inspire. She was ac 
 quiring a habit of mentally referring all things 
 to him. He was coming gradually to be her 
 judge, her standard, her oracle. 
 
 Not arrogantly. No man could assume less ; 
 but he was helpful. His opinion, his judgment, 
 was given with a warmth of interest that glad-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 227 
 
 dened and encouraged her in whatever quest 
 she engaged it. And as she gradually entered 
 more deeply into the circle of his life, she saw 
 and was impressed and influenced by the sight 
 that he was held in high esteem of men. The 
 sagacity, the gravity, the even balance of facul 
 ties and steady poise of mind to which she had 
 recourse at will, and for any lightly occurring 
 incident and slight emergency, were sought also 
 as she saw in matters when fate and fortune 
 were at stake. And sometimes Kate resolved 
 that she was too trivial, and that she should 
 forfeit his good opinion if she did not cease to 
 bring upon him the details that at any time per 
 plexed or perhaps only interested her. Yet all 
 such resolutions melted away before his friendly 
 face, and however sagacious and self-contained 
 she had meant to be, she invariably found her 
 self talking out everything that was in her mind 
 and in her life, lured on by she knew not what of 
 playful and sympathetic interest that was in no 
 respect prying or imperious, but a sort of caress 
 ing and constraining solicitude something that 
 asked while it gave. 
 
 And while Kate worked and waited, and won 
 dered whereunto her life should grow, and mar 
 velled to find so tranquil what she had feared to 
 find so troubled, and was grateful to her deepest 
 heart that the white stole of peace should be 
 folded about her who would have snatched the
 
 228 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 glittering garments of happiness lo ! the sum 
 mer had come round again, and all the windows 
 of her house and of her heart she flung open to 
 sunshine and the birds. Her own home had 
 prospered. Her deft swift hands had dispelled 
 what of gloom the years had gathered in it, and 
 her quick wit, her simple and delicate taste, her 
 bright and loving spirit, had disposed its wasting 
 resources in the interests of good cheer, and over 
 its costly and cumbersome magnificence had dif 
 fused the airiness, the grace, the charm of a 
 sweet feminine personality. Kate enjoyed it 
 herself as she enjoyed all pretty and pleasing 
 things. In a quiet way, too, she enjoyed pre 
 siding over its hospitalities. She welcomed her 
 neighbors out of her own loving heart, but she 
 liked also to have Mr. Glynn bring his friends 
 from the city, and to see their pleasant and 
 plain-spoken surprise at the changes wrought. 
 She liked to see them come in all stately, on 
 their best behavior, feeling that a house with a 
 wife in it was not theirs as the bachelor house 
 had been ; and she particularly liked to thaw 
 them out with gracious friendliness and gentle 
 freedom till they " owned up " merrily, and 
 loudly proclaimed themselves unfairly but com 
 pletely conquered, and declared that a house 
 with a wife in it was a thousand times better 
 than a bachelor s den. She enjoyed also order 
 ing Mr. Glynn to enjoy it, which he did with
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 229 
 
 prompt and profound obedience, and needed no 
 order from Kate to admire the ways of Provi 
 dence in bestowing upon a woman the mysteri 
 ous, the incomprehensible gift of creating the 
 domestic world, all blossoming and beautiful, 
 out of those same materials which in masculine 
 hands had but stretched into a wide waste of 
 cold existence. And in all this rose-blooming 
 wilderness of his was nothing so sweet and en 
 trancing to him as she, under whose breath it 
 sprang to blossoming. Deeper and dearer grew 
 she daily into his life, half maddening him some 
 times with the mockery of a possession who did 
 not possess. For what was his opportunity 
 worth if it availed him nothing ? In some 
 sense it availed against him, for he saw clearly 
 that what might have been manly wooing would 
 be most unmanly, since Kate had no resort from 
 himself. What pleasure to command her duty 
 if he could not command her love ? He knew 
 well that he could break her heart, but he could 
 not compel it. So, never for an instant repent 
 ing a single step, feeling that these disturbed and 
 tumultuous months were sweeter than all the 
 tranquil years that had preceded them, he grew 
 ever more discomposed and uncertain, distraught 
 with the storm and stress of a love that was baf 
 fled of its natural outflow, whose tide was ever 
 turning on itself. And sometimes the very 
 depth and intensity of his love made him cow-
 
 230 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 ardly, and he despaired of ever wearing this 
 flower that he had won drooping and forlorn 
 enough indeed when he won it, but lifting itself 
 into fairest freshness and fragrance under his 
 constant and loving tendance. 
 
 And so he could only wait. 
 
 Kate s orphan nursery flourished greatly. Four 
 little waifs, gathered in from the wild wide sea 
 of sorrow and poverty and despair, were already 
 mothered there, and promised fairly not to die 
 under Martha s fond and sagacious watch. And 
 Kate grew learned in baby ways, and found great 
 pleasure in the snapping eyes and outstretched 
 arms and leaping little figures that greeted her 
 approach, and had many grave consultations 
 with Tishy about accounts ; for Tishy deigned 
 to consult her regarding expenses, though dis 
 playing only sovereignest contempt for all sug 
 gestions as to the treatment of the younglings. 
 Thus the world prospered greatly with Kath- 
 erine. 
 
 But when the first picnic of the season loomed 
 above the horizon, Kate said instantly and in 
 cisively No, and then feared she had spoken too 
 positively. 
 
 " Do you want to go ? " she turned to Mr. 
 Glynn. 
 
 "Want to go? My dear Kate, it was peine 
 forte et dure when you were decoy-duck. What
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 231 
 
 use now, when the game is decoyed and done 
 for ? " 
 
 " It will be tiresome won t it ? " 
 
 " I can tell you exactly what it will be a 
 ponderous attempt at pleasure. There will be 
 some very pretty boys and girls in the highest 
 spirits, which will be likely to reveal that they 
 have not the highest breeding joking generally 
 shows the threadbare places of the mind ; there 
 will be several people who would like to enjoy 
 the woods and water, but who cannot because 
 they must talk to people who don t ; and when 
 they are all reduced to the deepest melancholy, 
 the eating will effect a momentary diversion, 
 overshadowed, however, by the speaking which 
 will speedily supplant it, wherein one forlorn 
 automaton will try to pump all the others, who 
 will say, each in his turn, that he did not expect 
 to be called on, but will just say, &c., &c. ; and 
 when human endurance can no more, we shall 
 come home with that elastic cheerfulness which 
 only release from merry-making can produce." 
 
 " That may be your picnic," laughed Kate, 
 " but it is not mine. I think we must go." 
 
 " Young boy, we must." 
 
 For Kate had suddenly and rapidly recognized 
 a reluctance to resume her old associations, and 
 to that she was resolved not to submit. Her 
 future should in no respect be slave to her past. 
 She would cherish her love, but it should not
 
 232 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 rule her. If Mr. Glynn read her purpose, he 
 only rejoiced in it. But neither he nor she was 
 prepared to see Walter Laballe walk upon the 
 scene, jaunty and festive as of old. They had 
 not known he was in town. It was his wraith* 
 not himself, that Kate had feared, and resolved 
 to subdue. 
 
 She saw him before she had alighted from the 
 wagon, while chatting for a moment as to the 
 best place to leave the horse, and Mr. Glynn 
 saw him almost at the same moment. Some 
 sudden impulse laid his hand on Kate s not 
 with a clasp, but a grasp less a grasp than a 
 grip. It was not endearment or succor, but a 
 certain instinctive and imperious assertion of 
 ownership, a swift and forceful dominance that 
 would brook no intermeddling. It was but for 
 an instant, and Kate looked into his eyes with 
 clear, level gaze, pale and proud. 
 
 " Do you wish to stay ? " he asked. 
 
 " I will stay." 
 
 " Shall I stay by you ? " 
 
 " I do not need you." 
 
 There was undaunted strength in the brave, 
 bright face, in the prompt confident voice, and 
 the chilled flood of life rushed back and warmed 
 his heart again. This careless cavalier had once 
 imperilled more than life for him, and he felt 
 that the smiling face boded him no good. It 
 was no vulgar outbreak that he feared, but a
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 233 
 
 check and set-back to the current that he hoped 
 was but with such invincible slowness bring 
 ing Kate to himself. For Walter Laballe as a 
 man he had a mere, perhaps an unwarranted, 
 contempt the contempt of a direct, deter 
 mined, and successful man for one of vague 
 purposes and puerile accomplishment. It was 
 Kate s unfortunate entanglement that lent to 
 Walter Laballe not only importance but exist 
 ence in Mr. Glynn s eyes, and it added a sort of 
 fury to his disappointment that he should be 
 thwarted by one who seemed to him so insignifi 
 cant. His aspiration to Kate and his success with 
 Kate had invested Mr. Laballe with a dignity 
 which Mr. Glynn would never have conferred 
 upon his own claims alone ; but, now that aspi 
 ration and success had been alike swept away 
 by Kate s marriage now that the unsuccessful 
 suitor had nothing to gain, while the successful 
 suitor felt that he had yet everything to gain, 
 what was he here for ? Why should he come 
 to meddle and mar where he certainly could do 
 nothing else ? It was an unreasonable griev 
 ance, for of course a poor man cannot be ban 
 ished from his old haunts because he has failed 
 of his wife. He could not know that his rival s 
 victory was so hollow a victory was as yet no 
 victory at all in regard to the prize which he had 
 set himself to win. But, reasonable or unreason 
 able, there he was, curled and comely, tall and
 
 234 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 impressive, talking to one and another with the 
 same grace as of old, with just a shade more of 
 melancholy perhaps in the large, languid eyes 
 that took so kindly to melancholy, even in his 
 gayest moods. 
 
 Mr. Glyrm and Kate walked leisurely over the 
 grounds, accosting various friends, and greeted 
 Mr. Laballe as they entered his group. 
 
 " I am glad to see you," said Kate, cordially. 
 " I did not know you were in town." 
 
 Mr. Glynn strolled away, and as they talked 
 Mr. Laballe gradually led Kate from the group 
 where they could talk, not unobserved, but un 
 heard. 
 
 " I only came Monday evening. My stay is 
 to be very short, but I shall give myself the 
 pleasure of calling, with your permission. I sup 
 pose I may present my congratulations now ? " 
 
 " Good and evil have befallen me since we 
 met last," said Kate, seriously. " I have lost 
 my father." 
 
 " I know it. I should have written you at the 
 time, but I was in great trouble myself. I was 
 not sure that I had the right." 
 
 " I was as sure of your sympathy as if you had 
 written ; but in such an hour nothing makes any 
 difference. You said you should be here but a 
 little while. Where do you mean to spend your 
 summer? " 
 
 " Nowhere," he said, smiling.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 235 
 
 " That is not easily accessible," rejoined Kate. 
 
 " The fact is, I found myself rather suddenly 
 pulled up by the roots, and I don t take kindly 
 to transplantation. You know all growths do 
 not thrive equally in all soils." 
 
 " Have you left town ? " asked Kate, surprised. 
 
 " No, not permanently ; but I seem to have no 
 hold on anything." 
 
 " I hoped you would have a strong hold on 
 the law by this time. You know I always had 
 the belief that there was nothing you could not 
 accomplish if you tried." 
 
 " I have lost one great incentive to trial." 
 
 " Do you mean me ? " queried Kate, out and 
 out. 
 
 " What else should I mean ? " he said, a little 
 startled out of his melancholy by her directness. 
 
 " It strikes me," said Kate, with slight amuse 
 ment, " that I never was very successful in the 
 character of incentive." 
 
 "No," he said, stung evidently by something 
 disappointing in her manner; "but you suc 
 ceeded extremely well when you went into busi 
 ness on your own account." 
 
 It was very coarse ; but he was very angry. 
 
 Still, if the coarseness had not been there, 
 anger would not have brought it out. And if 
 he were not aware that his little affectation had 
 laid him justly open to ridicule, he would not 
 have been so angry. Kate was slow to compre-
 
 236 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 hend. She had a vague notion of what he 
 meant, but could not really believe her own 
 understanding, and stared at him in sincere sur 
 prise. At length she said slowly, 
 
 " There is much in my relations with you that 
 I regret. But I should regret most of all to 
 despise you." 
 
 " O, Kate, don t say that ! " he exclaimed, the 
 real man in him coming uppermost. 
 
 " No, I won t," said Kate, kindly ; " but you 
 must not make me." 
 
 "But you ought to be fair to me, Kate. I 
 must remember, I suppose, that you are Mrs. 
 Glynn." 
 
 " I am Mrs. Glynn, certainly ; but how am I 
 unfair to you ? " 
 
 " Why, certainly, Kate, Mrs. Glynn, you 
 will not deny that I thought your heart was all 
 mine, and suddenly you left me in the lurch for 
 a poor devil, which I admit I am, and mar 
 ried Glynn hand over fist." 
 
 Kate was breathless with astonishment. The 
 case as he had boldly stated it certainly bore the 
 outlines of truth, though false in its Avhole scope 
 and spirit. That it could ever have presented 
 itself thus to him she had not dreamed. She 
 was too loyal to love ever to have fashioned, 
 even in her thought, such an infidelity. After 
 the first rush of surprise she believed that it 
 never had presented itself thus to Mr. Laballe.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 237 
 
 " "Walter," she said, gravely, " answer me truly, 
 out of your best, your honorable consciousness. 
 Do you think it was because you were poor and 
 Mr. Glynn rich that I left you and married 
 him ? " 
 
 "N no, I do not," he replied, after a mo 
 ment s hesitation. 
 
 " Do you think that before I left you, or at the 
 time I left you, I had any thought of marrying 
 him ? " 
 
 " I cannot think so, indeed." 
 
 " Do you think there was the faintest germ of 
 a grain of insincerity in my regard for you and 
 my interest in you? " 
 
 " I ll be hanged if I do, Kate ; and I was a 
 beast to say what I did. But I have lost you, 
 and Glynn has got you, and all his money into 
 the bargain ; and I am not very happy besides. 
 Forgive me, can t you, Kate ? " 
 
 " Entirely. And now we understand each 
 other, and will be good friends, and never speak 
 of this any more. There can be no more 
 thought or talk of loss or gain, you know, when 
 one is married." 
 
 " But I really meant no harm. Only I am so 
 wretched, and you looked so blooming, and I 
 felt very tender towards you, and you laughed 
 at me ; and then it really was not such a very 
 long time, you know." 
 
 " There is a great deal that you cannot un-
 
 238 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 derstand. But then it is now not at all neces 
 sary that you should understand, only that I 
 wish to be your friend, if you have faith 
 enough in me to make my friendship seem worth 
 while. Why are you wretched ? I want you to 
 be happy." 
 
 " Happiness is not for me," he said, in his 
 most pathetic tones. " Love and life have gone 
 against me." 
 
 " I wish that I could help you, and I know 
 that Mr. Glynn will gladly do anything pos 
 sible." 
 
 " You had better not bespeak him ; " with a 
 sudden dropping into conversational inflections. 
 " He does not look at me as if he loved me." 
 
 " He does not love you," said Kate, simply ; 
 " but he will befriend you for my sake." 
 
 " Well he might. lie has had all the luck in 
 life, while I have gone to the dogs by lightning 
 express every time." 
 
 Kate sighed inwardly. It was the old song ; 
 always luck, never patience, purpose, will. 
 
 " Is it anything in particular that has gone 
 against you, or only that you do not get on as 
 fast as you wish ? " 
 
 " It is that I don t get on at all. The law is 
 a hideous bore. The very smell of the court 
 room is intolerable to me. And then I am 
 having a deuce of a time at home." 
 
 Some one came up to bear Kate off, and she
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 239 
 
 had no more private conversation with Mr. La- 
 balle. Nor indeed did she seek any. She went 
 hither and thither. She was often with him, 
 and there was a good deal of lively talk; but 
 through it all she seemed to be living a sort of 
 double life. She was friendly and facile with 
 old and young. She helped amuse the children, 
 and she helped to lay the tables, and she talked 
 with the old ladies, for whom she had a special 
 liking, and was never wanting to the young men 
 and maidens ; but all the while her own musings 
 seemed to go on uninterruptedly. What was 
 this change that had come upon her ? Or what 
 had come to Walter Laballe? She strangely 
 felt a return of her old disappointment, but in 
 different respects, though she would have been 
 at a loss to say how or in what. She looked at 
 him from time to time, and somehow character, 
 strength, promise seemed to have faded out of 
 his face. It had grown too smooth and round. 
 The dark eyes seemed to be looking not to see, 
 but to divine what others thought. There was 
 in them no repose, no self-confidence. His very 
 paleness seemed to be a pallor of the flesh, not a 
 signal of the spirit. Her glance fell involunta 
 rily on Mr. Glynn, who was sitting near a group 
 of children, listening to the music. What a 
 sombre face it was ! Yes, sombre was not too 
 strong a word for its expression at that moment. 
 But the thought sprang into Kate s mind that it
 
 240 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 was a face into which she had never looked in 
 vain. And while her eyes yet rested on it with 
 wistful intentness, he turned his glance suddenly 
 upon her. And after one fraction of a second 
 Kate came to her senses, and half blushed at the 
 consciousness of being caught in the very act of 
 spying upon him, and smiled a little defiant nod 
 at him, as who should say she did not care if 
 she was. But there was something of good-fel 
 lowship and light-heartedness in the slight pan 
 tomime that communicated itself to him, and it 
 seemed as if a cloud lifted from his brow and 
 the sudden sunshine brightened his whole being. 
 He tapped with his ringers the seat beside him, 
 and answering his look, Kate arose and joined 
 him. 
 
 " Kate, why don t you tell me I am a brute ? " 
 he said, lounging rather indifferent!} perhaps, 
 but thereby disabusing the interview of any look 
 of confidential conversation. 
 
 " That would not be good manners," said 
 Kate, gayly. 
 
 " Did you think I distrusted you ? " 
 " Distrusted me ! When ? " 
 " In the wagon when I clawed at you." 
 " O, no. I think too well of you for that." 
 " Kate, you are an angel. Do you suppose it 
 would surprise the people if I should pounce 
 upon you with a tremendous hug ? I could find 
 in my heart to do it."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 241 
 
 " I think old Mrs. Beardslee over there would 
 stare." 
 
 " Why should she ? You are my wife, you 
 know." 
 
 " The very reason why it might strike her as 
 strange." 
 
 " Katy, I think I felt for an instant like a wild 
 beast when she sees the hunter coming for her 
 cubs. She does not distrust them, you know, 
 but her first impulse is to take tooth and claw to 
 them, and run." 
 
 " How much better is a man than a beast ! It 
 would have been foolish to run." 
 
 " Seeing I had not a fool to run with. Katy, 
 if you were a fool, I suppose I should love you 
 just the same. But you could break my heart." 
 
 " In that case it would be such a foolish heart 
 it might just as well be broken as whole," said 
 Kate the heartless. 
 
 " What a little weak thing a woman is," he 
 presently began to soliloquize in an undertone, 
 looking down askance at her from his brown, 
 brawny heights. " A little bit of soft prettiness 
 lying in her lap there she calls her hand. I 
 could crush it with the mere foreboding of a 
 grasp. And to think that all a man s strength 
 and soul and life and death lie in that little soft 
 hand ! Katy, I think I could not live if it were 
 not a sweet hand, a tender hand, a divinely 
 sweet hand. I wish that boy would tumble out 
 16
 
 242 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 of the swing, to make old Mrs. Beardslee look 
 the other way a minute." 
 
 "See here now," said good Doctor Blount s 
 rough, gruff voice coming up from behind ; " it 
 is too countrified by half, a man sitting down at 
 a picnic and spooning his own wife. I never 
 thought that of you, Dick Glynn. Clear out ! 
 I want to spoon her myself." 
 
 " If you had only come a minute sooner," said 
 Kate, "you would have seen what you never 
 would have believed without seeing, me, 
 obeying a look, and coming away from the big 
 chestnut over there to sit meekly beside a do 
 mestic autocrat. Can you believe I am that 
 high-spirited creature you once knew and 
 loved ? " 
 
 " I could believe anything, seeing you such a 
 wreck," he declared, glowering at her from be 
 neath his shaggy eyebrows. 
 
 " Does me credit, doctor ? " asked Mr. Glynn. 
 " Looks well, does she not ? " 
 
 " Too well, by half. That is sensible, Glynn. 
 Take yourself off. Nobody wants you here. 
 You don t want a molly-coddle for a husband, 
 Kate ? " 
 
 " Yes, I do. Not that I know what a molly 
 coddle is; but 1 am confident it is just what I 
 want," 
 
 " I warrant it ! There never was a woman yet 
 that had a grain of horse-sense. Give her a
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 43 
 
 fuddiduddle that will dance around her on tip 
 toe, and fetch and carry, and she thinks he is a 
 man, and calls it devotion, and for such a pop 
 injay will send to the right-about any time an 
 honest, manly fellow who will lay his life in the 
 dust for her silently, but does not know how to 
 mouth sentiment or make eyes at her." 
 
 " The dear doctor ! He is painting his own 
 portrait. But he has painted out the mole. 
 You never went down into the dust to me ; 
 never ! You were fond, honest, and manly, and 
 all that, fond, but you always scolded me." 
 
 " If Glynn weren t scowling straight at me, I 
 would give you a kiss for your impudence, you 
 jade. Look at that flopdawdle over yonder 
 bowling the silly girls down with his big, black 
 eyes." 
 
 " That ? Why, that is Mr. Laballe ! " 
 " Mr. La Fiddlestick without the fiddle. 
 There is nothing of him but his looks. And yet 
 without a thimbleful of sense in his skull, he 
 has it all his own way with a lot of tittering 
 women." 
 
 "Doctor Blount, you shall not speak so of 
 Mr. Laballe," said Katherine, with rising wrath. 
 " High-diddle-diddle ! Who s to prevent ? " 
 " J prevent. I order you to be civil." 
 " Ho ! " in a sort of subdued howl, and turn 
 ing full upon her ; " I did think the wind was 
 setting in that corner once."
 
 244 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Well, you see it was not," said Kate, crossly. 
 
 " No ; but if it had, I should have been sorry 
 I did not strangle you once upon a time when I 
 had the chance." 
 
 "Here you are," said Kate, "with money and 
 fame and troops of friends, yet devoured with 
 envy of a poor young man because he happens 
 to have a little beauty to recommend him." 
 
 "It is a mighty saucy and snappish little 
 beauty that is recommending him at this mo 
 ment." 
 
 " Now, then, Doctor Blount, as you have got 
 off a pun and a compliment in the same breath, 
 and you know, though punning is easy, compli 
 ments come hard to you, suppose you rest on 
 your oars, and be good-natured, and call it even 
 with Mr. Laballe." 
 
 "Me even with that Jack -i - the- box !" 
 laughed Doctor Blount. 
 
 "What do you mean by your Jack-i -the-box?" 
 fired up Kate again. 
 
 " Come, come, you need not go off in a huff 
 again, Mistress Glynn. You did not marry him." 
 
 " I dare say I should if he had wanted me to," 
 said Kate, careering recklessly along the single- 
 rail track of truth. 
 
 "No," said Doctor Blount, blandly, "if Avorst 
 came to worst, I should have forbidden the 
 banns."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 245 
 
 " I suppose my father would not have been 
 considered authority on the subject." 
 
 "My old friend Haviland was a fool, a soft 
 hearted fool, with sensible streaks in him, as I 
 have often had occasion to remind him. And 
 one of the pleasantest things I look forward to 
 is sitting with him on some heavenly hillside 
 and hearing him confess I was right." 
 
 Katherine smiled. She knew too well the old, 
 close friendship between her father and Doctor 
 Blount to dream for a moment that his sharpest 
 nip was for anything but " true heart and not 
 for harm." 
 
 " But don t you see you are abusing me in 
 abusing Mr. Laballe ? You slight my judgment 
 because you saw for yourself we were friends, 
 and we are friends still." 
 
 "Not at all, my dear," said Doctor Blount, 
 seriously. "A girl may amuse herself with 
 many a young man whom she would demean 
 herself by marrying." 
 
 "But you reviled the poor girls yonder for 
 amusing themselves." 
 
 " O, well," said the doctor, acknowledging 
 with a shrug that he was caught, " I suppose an 
 old fellow may be allowed to growl with an old 
 friend." 
 
 Kate looked at him with a smile that would 
 have made it difficult to growl at her. 
 
 " You see, Kute, I have been fool enough to
 
 246 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 care so much for a silly chit like you that I was 
 desirous you should not throw yourself away. I 
 always had a weakness for your father, and you 
 were a catching sort of girl yourself; and I 
 think, my dear, it was uncommon sensible of 
 you to give the go-by to the like of that moon 
 ing young Laballe, and your hand to my old 
 friend Dick Glynn, as sound-hearted and level 
 headed a man as the round world harbors." 
 
 " Thanks," said Kate, smiling. " I certainly 
 have nothing against your friend. But why are 
 you so bitter against Mr. Laballe ? The world 
 is wide enough for both." 
 
 " Laballe has no substance in him. He is all 
 show and no go. He has never done anything 
 in life but spend his mother s money. Look at 
 it, Kate. He must be hard on to thirty, and has 
 never boned down to anything, but helped his 
 mother through twenty thousand dollars, and 
 leaves her to be handed around from pillar to 
 post in the family, while he goes gallivanting 
 with the girls. That s a pretty kind of man to 
 tie to ! And yet some girl and a fine girl too, 
 no doubt will tie herself to him any time, and 
 minister to his selfishness with her money, or 
 drag down after him into a shameful poverty. 
 Do you think I would have let you do that, Mrs. 
 Glynn ? No, ma am ; I would have shut you up 
 in my drug-shop first, and brayed you in a mor 
 tar with a pestle."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 47 
 
 " Till I came to my senses." 
 
 " Such as they are." 
 
 " Thank you." 
 
 " Or would have been before you could have 
 contemplated such a lapse from common sense." 
 
 " I have a suspicion, dear doctor, that I am 
 hungry." 
 
 " And I suppose I may find and bring you a 
 piece of frosted fruit-cake or lemon-pie. I don t 
 know but that I might find something more 
 senseless and sickish, but I don t think I could. 
 I ll try, if you say so." 
 
 " No, I don t dare trust myself to you. You 
 will be making experiments on me, out of 
 pure love to science, doubtless ; but I am indif 
 ferent to science and devoted to frosted cake. 
 But out of sheer cowardice I will compound on 
 cold chicken. Let us make an onset together." 
 
 It was the same old song of Walter Laballe 
 that had been sung to her once before for warn 
 ing, but somehow it seemed colder and crueler 
 from the lips of the living than it had from those 
 of the dead more cruel, but, alas ! more con 
 vincing.
 
 next day Mr. Laballe called. Katherine 
 J- received him in the little breakfast parlor, 
 where she happened to be sitting. It was cool 
 and shaded, opening through one great window 
 upon a piazza overclimbed with honeysuckle and 
 roses, overlooking a sloping lawn dark now with 
 luxuriant leafage. In Kate s old home every 
 thing had been dainty and refined. In this new 
 home all was costly and elegant as well. No 
 eyes could be quicker to take in the costliness 
 and elegance than Mr. Laballe s, no mind could 
 be more deeply impressed by it, and no heart could 
 set a higher value on it than his. And here was 
 Kate, part and parcel, owner and dispenser of 
 all this state. She, who had never in the least 
 cared for wealth, had come into possession, while 
 he, to whom it would have been the path to fame 
 and fortune, almost the very staff of life, was 
 hopelessly enslaved by narrow and narrowing 
 
 fates. Such bitter thoughts he revolved as he 
 
 
 
 sat in Kate s morning room. To Kate herself, all 
 
 248
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 249 
 
 modest and unpretending as she was, the mild 
 state and splendor were far from unbecoming. 
 She had acquired, perhaps, just a little more dig 
 nity and self-possession, the latter of which at 
 least she sorely needed ; but she had lost noth 
 ing of girlish grace. Too simple and sterling to 
 be awed by or indifferent to position, she wore 
 her matronly honors with gracious and winning 
 meekness. Now, as she sat there, all white and 
 fair and pure and strong, embowered in the warm 
 summer gloom, " green-dense and dim-delicious," 
 breathed upon by the morning s fragrance, sung 
 to by birds and lulled by soft summer sounds 
 droning through the wide-flung lattice, she was 
 the same Katy that so little while ago had flushed 
 at his footfall, had listened to his fluent words 
 with all her soul in her eyes, had flattered him 
 with her highest hopes, her wildest expectations. 
 She had loved him then. Whether or not she 
 loved him now, who could tell ? She certainly 
 was the girl in all the world who would not have 
 married for money ; but severed from him, what 
 might she not have done to gratify and satisfy a 
 dying father ? He himself, Walter Laballe, had 
 loved her. He considered that he had loved her 
 profoundly arid truly, " as a man is able." True, 
 he had lightly let her go ; but then it was be 
 cause he loved her too honorably and unselfishly 
 to bring her down to poverty. If he could have 
 shrined her in such a home as this, would he
 
 250 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 have let her go ? What ideal, what idyl, could 
 be more perfect than the life they would have 
 led had but fate put him in Glynu s place 
 Glynn, who was simply heavy and respectable, 
 who had alertness neither of love nor taste ! To 
 be sure, Glynn had not wronged him. Glynn 
 was not on till he was off. Nor would the house 
 or fortune have come into his hands if they had 
 not been in Glynn s. Still he felt what in 
 deed it was always easy for him to feel a vague 
 sense of outrage. He grudged Glynn the pos 
 session of what had been fairly won, and not 
 from himself. He forgot, indeed, that fortune 
 and love had once been in his own hand and he 
 had lost both through light esteem. He could 
 not cherish a grudge against Kate. He had in 
 dulged in one outburst of anger against her, and 
 she had instantly reduced him to dust and ashes. 
 And as she sat before him, composed, observant, 
 forever removed from him, she had never looked 
 to him so attractive as now. Never, he felt in 
 his inmost heart, never in her free girlhood, when 
 he had wooed her in free fashion, and won her 
 as a young man may, though he had loved and 
 valued her, never had she seemed to him so alto 
 gether lovely, so immeasurably desirable as now, 
 when she was wholly beyond his reach. The 
 very luxury by which she was surrounded height 
 ened her charm to him, who had been content to 
 relinquish her because he could not command
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 251 
 
 luxury. If sudden fortune had come to him, no 
 memory of Kate would have hindered him from 
 amusing himself. If with his own fortunes un 
 changed he had met her in poverty, he would 
 have been full of compunction and friendliness, 
 but would have congratulated himself that he 
 was free from entangling alliances. Seeing her 
 in sanctuary, he abandoned himself on the instant 
 to the remembrance of his love, and rage against 
 his hard fate. 
 
 A subtile change in her manner towards him 
 did not escape his notice ; but he attributed it to 
 anything but the true cause. 
 
 " Mrs. Glynn," he said, abruptly breaking in 
 upon the ordinary topics which they were pleas 
 antly enough discussing, " I can never forgive 
 myself for my rudeness, my brutality towards you 
 yesterday. But you know that I am not given 
 to brutality." 
 
 " I know," said Kate. " Let it all pass. Do 
 not bring it up again. Let us forget all that." 
 
 " I cannot forget. I only want you to do me 
 the small justice of measuring the bitterness of 
 my disappointment by the recklessness of my 
 words. If the bouleversement had been less, my 
 speech would have been more careful." 
 
 " I was sure you meant no harm. I am sure 
 you can never cherish any harshness towards 
 me." 
 
 " Thanks, Kate. You only do me justice there.
 
 252 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 I have blamed you for nothing ; but indeed I have 
 suffered." 
 
 "It would not have been creditable to either of 
 us that such a change should have come without 
 suffering. But it is for all the rest of your life 
 to be better and stronger by it." 
 
 " No, that is not my way. I am like a dial, 
 good for nothing except when the sun shines. 
 Affliction never had the least tendency to sanc 
 tify me. I can but admire the delicate discern 
 ment of Nemesis in hunting about to find the 
 particular kind of things I hate, and then fur 
 nishing them to me in inexhaustible profusion." 
 
 " But, Mr. Laballe," asked Kate, ever ready 
 to enter upon missionary work, " is not that 
 partly because you are too eager in seeking the 
 things you like rather than the things you ought 
 to do ? Does not the trouble come because you 
 are so unwilling to learn the lesson Nemesis 
 wants to teach ? " 
 
 " I dare say. You cannot accuse me of any 
 weakness that I shall not freely admit." 
 
 " O, I am not accusing you am I? I cer 
 tainly did not mean it." 
 
 " I accuse myself, then. I have failed in every 
 relation of life. And I have failed worst of all 
 at the crisis when success was possible." The 
 great eyes grew humid, and this touched Kate. 
 She forgot, or at any rate overlooked for the mo 
 ment, the selfishness which lay at the root of the
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 253 
 
 failure. She relinquished conversion, and gave 
 herself only to consolation. 
 
 "You have surely not failed," she said eager- 
 ly. " You are too young yet to speak of failure 
 or success. Everything is still before you." 
 
 " Everything is before me true ; but I can 
 not touch it ; " and his eyes pointed the meaning 
 of his words. 
 
 " Everything that makes success, and most 
 that makes happiness, you can not only touch, 
 but grasp," said Kate, gravely. 
 
 " Once it was possible to me." 
 
 " It is possible still." 
 
 " No, Kate ; you laughed at me yesterday, and 
 justly enough ; but you do not know, I did not 
 know, what strength went from me when you 
 left me. The one defect of my life is redun 
 dance. I can do too many things tolerably. I 
 needed a power to clamp me to one. O Kate ! 
 if 3 r ou could have borne with me a little longer! " 
 
 "If you could have held me a little stronger ! " 
 was the response that leaped to Kate s lips ; but 
 she wisely forbore, and only said, smiling, " We 
 will look at the may-be now, and not at the 
 might-have-been." 
 
 " But the might-have-been is the only thing 
 that has any attraction for me. Kate, you sit 
 here peaceful and prosperous, and you forget the 
 love that once made your life. You do not know 
 what it is to be beating about the world, barred
 
 254 FIRST LOVE fS BEST. 
 
 from the career you long for, bound to the career 
 you hate, and the one pure spirit you worshipped 
 wrested from you forever. Kate, I feel like a 
 fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth. I cling 
 to you with the grasp of the dying. I cannot 
 loose my hold." 
 
 " I wish you would talk with Mr. Glynu. ] 
 am sure he would help you." 
 
 " The devil he would I " 
 
 There was some excuse for the man s rough 
 speech. What vague evil intent was in his heart, 
 heaven knows, or the other place ; probably the 
 man himself did not. He certainly had not come 
 with any definite design of winning Kate s heart 
 back again, nor even of destroying her peace of 
 mind, or her husband s happiness. He was not 
 so bad as that. But finding himself there, and 
 finding Kate still winsome, and feeling under no 
 obligation to consider Mr. Glynn s happiness as 
 in his keeping, it seemed easy and natural to fall 
 into a semi-love talk with Kate. She was very 
 pleasant to him, and regret and melancholy were 
 very pleasant to him, and her sympathy had al 
 ways been exceeding pleasant to him. He had 
 always been interested in talking about himself, 
 and Kate had never been tired of listening. Now 
 he had a real grievance, a palpable and touching 
 sorrow, and he never inquired whether its indul 
 gence might involve or in any way disturb Kate, 
 or lead to or reveal any dissatisfaction in her life.
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 55 
 
 Whither his talk was tending he had not duly 
 considered, perhaps ; but what he really wanted 
 to make out was, that Kate was not in love with 
 her husband, and was in love with himself, or 
 was not so much in love with her husband as not 
 to be still susceptible. He did not for a moment 
 think of tempting her from duty, from respecta 
 bility rather ; but it would have been exhilarating 
 to find that her husband had not been able to 
 oust her lover from her heart. And then he 
 was just the kind of man for it he would have 
 established himself in a semi-questionable posi 
 tion with her, a sentimental friend with all the 
 immunities of friendship and all the luxury of 
 love, an enjoyment all the more piquant for 
 the flavor of doubt and danger. It could not be 
 a tranquil or a secure, or a happy position for 
 Kate, but it could be a very stimulating and very 
 delightful one for Walter ; far better suited to 
 his poetic temperament and aesthetic culture than 
 a humdrum marriage with its every-day duties 
 and prosy responsibilities. In short, Walter La- 
 balle, without being a very bad man, without 
 formally resolving to be bad in the least degree, 
 was through sheer self-indulgence starting out to 
 be, what many another has been before him, just 
 as bad a man as the woman would let hirn be. 
 His salvation lay in the simple fact that the wo 
 man would not let him be bad at all. She had 
 no thought of rebuffing him, or of reminding him
 
 256 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 of her position. It had never occurred to her as 
 possible that he should put himself in a situation 
 to be rebuffed. Kate was married, and that fact 
 made it as impossible for her to have a sentimen 
 tal talk with Walter Laballe as if she had been 
 dead at least the kind of sentimental talk 
 which he was constantly trying to push into. 
 If his eyes had not been held, he would have 
 seen all along that Kate s instinctive integrity 
 had bereft him of all personal power over her 
 entirely apart from the fact that he had dimin 
 ished in her esteem. But his eyes were held 
 and he did not see it, or only saw it as a scruple 
 of propriet} 7 that was to be swiftly burned away ; 
 and it was with unfeigned chagrin that he found 
 his heart-tragedy lumped in with his debts and 
 disabilities, and coolly turned over to his success 
 ful rival and by the very woman who had been 
 and was to be chief actress in the great drama ! 
 A slight profaneness might perhaps be excused 
 under the circumstances. 
 
 Katherine was profoundly unconscious of her 
 lack of susceptibility. She was entirely unaware 
 of the woful failure she was making. She was 
 only thinking how Walter could be helped out 
 of the Slough of Despond into which he seemed 
 to be sinking, and she referred him to Mr. Gtynn 
 from force of habit. The quiet, silent surprise 
 in her eyes brought Mr. Laballe to his manners
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 257 
 
 again his manners not being entirely the out 
 growth of himself. 
 
 " Excuse me again, Kate, but but I don t 
 think Mr. Glynn would mend matters exactly." 
 
 " You don t know Mr. Glynn s resources per 
 haps so well as I." 
 
 " It is not possible that you love him ? " 
 
 And the manifest sincerity of the question 
 mitigated it a little. But Kate flushed an angry 
 red from brow to chin. 
 
 " It is not possible that you could ask such a 
 question of his wife." 
 
 " I know I have no right to but Kate 
 I was so near you once that I think I might 
 be excused some things. It is a little different 
 from " 
 
 " Were you ever nearer to me than Mr. Glynn 
 is now ? " 
 
 " Of course not," he murmured, utterly cowed. 
 
 " How I feel towards my husband," said Kate, 
 proudly, " is a matter between him and me. 
 What I think of him the whole world is wel 
 come to that he is a man for any woman to 
 thank God for, and to try her whole life long to 
 be worthy of." 
 
 Kate was too much in earnest to mind the con 
 struction of her sentences, but she made herself 
 clearly understood, which is about the best thing, 
 after all, that sentences can do. Mr. Walter La- 
 balle, at any rate, fully understood that he must 
 17
 
 258 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 take his eyes and his woes and his wares gener 
 ally to some other market. But he came into 
 line handsomely first. 
 
 " You are a good woman, Kate," he exclaimed, 
 impulsively. 
 
 " Of course I am a good woman," said Kate, 
 relenting after her little flash of passion, and 
 beginning to scold a sure sign that she was 
 placated. " What did you think I was ? " 
 
 " Nothing else, of course," he stammered, con 
 fused by her unshaded directness. Moreover, 
 her resentment seemed to reveal his meanness 
 to himself. " Heaven knows I think nothing of 
 you but good, and I want nothing of you but 
 good." 
 
 " Then say nothing but good. You have been 
 talking very ill indeed." 
 
 " I suppose, Kate, I was wild enough to think 
 I might not have lost everything. I must re 
 member that we are wholly two persons, and the 
 past is blotted out." 
 
 " Of course there can be nothing else," said 
 Kate, wholesomely. " Why, I am married. That 
 puts a stop to everything in particular." 
 
 Little can be said for Kate s language or 
 her attitude, which were commonplace enough. 
 But at least she was honest and intolerant of 
 sophistry. 
 
 " It does not put out the eyes in a man s head. 
 If it did, I should not have made a fool of my-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 259 
 
 self. Kate, I am going away. Don t think any 
 worse of me than I am." 
 
 " I won t think ill of you at all if you will not 
 keep saying things that make me. Where are 
 you going ? " 
 
 " I don t know. Anywhere, anywhere out of 
 this world." 
 
 " But not for a great while yet." 
 
 " I suppose not. I shall shuffle along some 
 where, like the outcast I am. People don t die 
 because they don t want to live. Good-bye, 
 Kate. Forget that you have seen me. That is 
 the best service you can do me." 
 
 " No," said Kate, giving him her hand in 
 most kindly token ; "I shall remember that I 
 have seen you, and that you were a little dis 
 couraged and desponding, and therefore a little 
 foolish, but meaning nothing but to behave your 
 self. And now," like an experienced matron 
 bidding her eldest son fare forth into life, "now, 
 Walter, don t give way to discouragement, but 
 be brave and earnest and make a good fight, and 
 I know you have every kind of success lying in 
 store for you yet. O, if you only would, you 
 could!" This last was rather an exclamation to 
 herself than an adjuration to him. 
 
 So they parted in friendly guise, neither of 
 them the happier, but both the wiser for the 
 meeting. 
 
 And Mr. Glynn, quietly returning home, saw
 
 260 
 
 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 far off through a vista of open doors the two fig 
 ures standing in the act of farewell, intent eyes 
 meeting, hand lingering in hand, the slow, sad 
 separation ; and turned quickly aside to pursue 
 in solitude meditations that gave him no pleasure 
 and boded him no peace.
 
 XVI. 
 
 17" ATHERINE was neither voluble nor minute 
 JLV in giving an account of this visit to her hus 
 band. It was a theme she did not gladly dwell 
 on, yet in thought she dwelt on it constantly. 
 She was inwardly shamed feeling that some 
 how, unwittingly, she must have betrayed the 
 trust which her husband had most simply and 
 nobly she felt confided in her, or Walter could 
 never have spoken to her as he did. And yet, 
 perversely enough, the more discontented she 
 grew with him inwardly, the more she felt as if 
 she must defend him outwardly. Her unusual 
 reticence and silence did not escape Mr. Glynn s 
 notice, and under the circumstances did not add 
 to his content. 
 
 " I do not believe," she said, rather abrupt 
 ly, " that Walter Laballe ever squandered his 
 mother s fortune. He was extremely fond of 
 his mother." 
 
 " Who has brought so hard a charge against 
 him ? " asked Mr. Glynn. 
 
 261
 
 262 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " There have always been echoes flying about. 
 But I don t imagine any one really knows any 
 thing, only that whereas he was rich he is now 
 poor. But he told me that himself, in the first 
 place. He never made any secret of it. It is 
 not a crime to be unsuccessful." 
 
 " Certainly not; nor to be successful, either;" 
 with a smile that was a request. 
 
 " But everything Dr. Blount has touched, or 
 or you has gone right, so you are hard-hearted 
 towards those who fail." 
 
 "I? " 
 
 " Well, not you perhaps, but Dr. Blount ; " 
 and she repeated, with some softening, what 
 Dr. Blount had said of Mr. Laballe ; adding, 
 " Now do you suppose there is a word of solid 
 truth in this?" 
 
 " Dr. Blount is not a man to speak unadvisedly 
 with his lips." 
 
 " He would not make up a wicked story, but 
 he is not infallible." 
 
 " Nor am I." 
 
 " O, you can tell me what you think ! " cried 
 Kate, a little petulantly, equanimity of temper 
 not being one of her chief charms. 
 
 " I have understood that when Mr. Laballe 
 came of age, he came into twenty thousand dol 
 lars, and his mother inherited the same. Both 
 fortunes are gone, but it is hardly fair to say that 
 he squandered them. I never heard that he gam-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 263 
 
 bled, or was in any way dissipated, but neither he 
 nor she seemed to have the slightest idea that 
 twenty thousand dollars could ever come to an 
 end. But if you never add and constantly sub 
 tract, Katy, it inevitably will come to an end, in 
 that most practical of all races, the long run. 
 They travelled and lived at a rate that would 
 not have been extravagant if it had been their 
 income and not their principal, which was twenty 
 thousand dollars. The consequence was that 
 they came to the ground with a thud." 
 
 " You know that this is true ? " 
 
 " I have had a good deal to do with their busi 
 ness affairs." 
 
 " And you never told me." 
 
 " You never asked me. Besides, Katy, there 
 are many matters of this sort that I should never 
 think of speaking to you about." 
 
 " But don t you see, Mr. Glynn," said Kate, 
 feeling a little rebuked, " that it makes that 
 it shows that it implies an element of what we 
 call meanness or weakness ? " 
 
 " It does not imply exactly what we call man 
 liness. Not that Laballe is a bad fellow, either 
 if he only had a guardian." 
 
 "But I should think you would have told 
 me." 
 
 " I have told you." 
 
 " But before this." 
 
 " When ? "
 
 264 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 "Why why when I was making up my 
 mind?" 
 
 Mr. Glynn smiled. "I don t remember that 
 you confided to me when that time was. Be 
 sides, Madame Kitty, it is not a man s way to go 
 to the girl he wants and say, Pray take me. 
 The other fellow is a vagabond. Such a wooing 
 would hardly recommend itself to the girl." 
 
 " I think Mr. Laballe is in some special per 
 plexity now." 
 
 " I should not wonder. His uncle, who has a 
 considerable family of his own and no more 
 property than the Laballes had, is a little restive 
 under their expenses, and is, in fact, not making 
 it quite comfortable for him." 
 
 Kate found that her mortification and chagrin 
 were not to be removed by an appeal to her hus 
 band. She experienced for Walter Laballe a 
 whimsical sort of pity, with an admixture of 
 scorn both for him and for herself. While he 
 had been present, pity had rather carried it over 
 scorn; but when he was gone, scorn rather got 
 the upper hand. She had given him so much 
 commiseration on the theory that he had been a 
 sort of big Babe in the Wood hardly dealt with 
 by a hard old uncle ; a genius, struggling up 
 into self-expression against adverse circumstances 
 even at his worst only failing in final endur 
 ance, and that partially because of an exquisitely 
 refined if somewhat languid nature. To be sure
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 265 
 
 he had not stated the case in so many words, 
 but certainly from no one else had she or could 
 she have received that impression. Then he had 
 so lived as to seem weak in the eyes of men, and 
 Kate could have as easily forgiven wickedness. 
 And he was not only weak in the original lapse, 
 but there was the unhandsomeness of letting 
 others be unfairly blamed. This was the man 
 she had loved. All her knightly imaginings 
 and her lofty aspirations, her dreams of chivalry 
 and romance this is where they had led and 
 landed her, said Kate, in fierce spasms of self- 
 disgust. She had gone in and out, weaving her 
 fine web of fancy, holding herself too high for 
 any ordinary lot. Mr. Glynn had been common 
 place and Dr. Blount rough, and one and another 
 content with every-day doings. She forsooth 
 must lift her head above the clouds. And her 
 hero of the mighty achievement had achieved a 
 vulgar disaster, and her commonplace fellow- 
 creatures held him in good-natured contempt, 
 and waited and pitied in silence while she had 
 fancied herself dwelling in a palace of dainty 
 delights. What a rare and valuable thing her 
 love must be, indeed ! What a delicate and 
 discriminating creature she, with so subtile an 
 instinct for best things ! O, Kate did not spare 
 herself ! Nothing was too severe and sarcastic 
 to be hurled at that unlucky girl, always known 
 to her friends for a shallow and hollow pre-
 
 2G6 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 tender, but now self-caught in all her high- 
 sounding and specious charlatanry. And then 
 Kate relented a little towards herself, not being 
 naturally hard. After all, she had not the chance 
 to know the man-side of the man ; and was it 
 strange that she should have been misled by the 
 woman-side, which seemed so fair. But, on the 
 other hand, what made it seem so fair? Cer 
 tainly it had not seemed fair of late, even before 
 Dr. Blount wailed his doleful screed. She had 
 been conscious she had even noted the indefina 
 ble change. It was as if a veil had fallen from 
 his face. What had been interesting, interested 
 her no more. What had been impressive and to 
 be studied was common and to be let go. Kate 
 did not yet know that a stronger nature had 
 overpowered the weaker, that a finer character 
 had disenchanted her of the coarser, that a 
 subtler flavor had rendered the old rank and 
 insipid. With an earnestness born of the knowl 
 edge that life-long peace and life-long grief were 
 in the question, for weeks and months had Kate 
 watched a face whose lines had been graven by 
 no dilettante soul. Were the eyes gray, or blue, 
 or brown? Even now, Kate could hardly tell. 
 They were certainly not a languid black. But 
 as Kate thought and mused she was aware that 
 behind those eyes somewhere dwelt a soul that 
 was still a mystery to her. She had neighbored 
 it for many a year and had never suspected its
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 267 
 
 existence. It had ministered to her pleasure, it 
 had waited upon her whims ; her baby fingers had 
 toyed with its strength, and her maiden grace 
 had unconsciously wrought its gentle pleasance 
 into love, and its love into immortal longing 
 herself the while unmoved, untouched, unaware. 
 But there came a day when the slighted soul 
 affirmed its existence and asserted its power. In 
 the rush and tumult of that troubled hour had 
 Kate bent her discrowned head, owned alle 
 giance and sworn fealty. Again and again out 
 of the eyes that she had so long looked at and 
 never seen, saw she now the strong and steadfast 
 soul peering with wistful, watchful gaze into her 
 own. From that scrutiny she had not shrunk, not 
 only because she was vestured in the tranquillity 
 of a sincere and simple heart, but because she 
 knew it was the watch of love vigilant to guard, 
 not of severity lurking to ensnare. All the same 
 she had never passed out from under the shadow 
 of its sovereignty. Through all her hours of 
 gay or serious talk, through all her days of care 
 less care, of tender tyranny and playful indul 
 gence, of light-hearted comradeship and the vital 
 solace and succor of faithful friendship, ever 
 and anon would Katherine catch glimpses of this 
 waiting and silent soul no pallid and pulseless 
 devotee at love s altar, but full of fire as of 
 faith, full of passion as of patience, in its very
 
 268 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 restraint commanding, absolute in gentleness 
 and in courage. 
 
 And how had she responded ? What had she 
 returned for all this high worship ? Light liking 
 while it was yet unspoken ; blank, brusque re 
 pulse when it was proffered ; and since, the grat 
 itude due for service rendered ; while all that 
 she had of love and life to give she had laid at 
 the feet of one who could not discern its value 
 and would not deserve its continuance. Value I 
 value ! would then Kate s just wrath against 
 herself cry out. What value could attach to 
 such a love ? a love that was bat-eyed, mole- 
 eyed, owl-eyed, and if Kate s natural history 
 could have supplied her with any other blind 
 beast she would have marshalled him into line 
 instantly for her own discomfiture she who 
 had loved love, had adored love as the world s 
 one wealth, had dreamed her bright, high dreams 
 of no such mere habit of love as just stirred the 
 stagnation of dull domestic life, but of a grand, 
 absorbing, heroic passion that should realize the 
 ideals of poetry and recreate the Earth with all 
 the hues of Heaven ! 
 
 Was it such love as this that had found her 
 out and that she had calmly and curtly rejected ? 
 Surely never rode knight to maiden so simply 
 bedight. She had, of course, not expected her 
 lover to come plunging along the fern-bordered, 
 daisy-bedecked, sweetbrier-smelling road, clad
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 269 
 
 in mail, and high-mounted on gold-caparisoned 
 steed as they dashed down the old ballads and 
 epics not exactly. Still, she had thought he 
 would be a little out of the common ! Certainly 
 she had not dreamed that he had made oak-leaf 
 wreaths and dandelion necklaces for her baby 
 hood, and washed her face with his handkerchief 
 when she fell into a mud-puddle that in later 
 years he had a bank in town and dropped in 
 occasionally of an evening to talk politics and 
 per cents, or discussed garden seeds and sweet 
 cider across the old gray orchard walls. Who 
 could expect knight in such guise ? 
 
 And yet, man of money, and notes, and Scotch 
 tweed as he was, what could the love of poetry 
 and romance be that his was not ? What could 
 be more stanch, more long-suffering, more unself 
 ish, more slow to grasp, more generous to give ? 
 What of fervor or of fineness did this love lack ? 
 And O, what use to argue, or question, or justify, 
 since here was the dreadful degrading fact that 
 she had failed to recognize it, had rejected it 
 almost scornfully, had turned aside to a meaner 
 meaner what ? She was not yet sunk so low 
 as to call that love ! Kate said to herself, with a 
 little thrill of exultation that even in her low and 
 lost estate there were depths into which she dis 
 dained to descend. But it was not Walter that 
 she blamed. Far from it. He simply lived after 
 his kind. He was as he was made. He loved
 
 270 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 better than he lived, thought Kate, forgetting 
 for a moment her self-abasement and reverting 
 to her original opinions of herself before her 
 misguided experience had laid her self-respect in 
 ruins. It was not his fault that there was no 
 force in him to command either happiness or 
 prosperity. It was her fault not to have seen his 
 feebleness, poor dear ! to have fancied for a mo 
 ment that those dark, restless eyes, or even 
 those dark and languid eyes, could pierce to the 
 substance of things. But had she done any 
 better, seen any clearer herself? O, why did 
 she presume to look down upon Walter Laballe ? 
 He was as good as she. He had blundered no 
 more than she. It was a fit match for her. A 
 woman can rise no higher than her love. The 
 measure of the man she loves is the measure of 
 her own capacity. Mr. Glynn should have stood 
 aside and left her to plod along the valley lands 
 to which she was born. She was not good 
 enough for him. She was altogether too trivial 
 and insensate, altogether shallow and frivolous. 
 But then he loved Tier! That was the worst 
 thing she knew about him. Why had he pinned 
 his faith to such a broken reed? asked Kate, 
 forgetful of the decorum due to metaphors. 
 Yet, except for that fatal feebleness, how noble 
 had his trust been, how magnanimous ! Why, 
 said Kate, feeling about for adequate expression, 
 he is he is the best man I ever knew !
 
 XVII. 
 
 T7" ATRINA, I think it is time for you to come 
 J\_ to moorings," broke in a cheerful voice, 
 the voice of the best man she ever knew, upon 
 one of her numerous mental diatribes. She had 
 been pacing back and forth through the twilight 
 parlors with an energy of abstraction, and Mr. 
 Glynn had been noting her for the last few 
 moments through the open door of the library 
 across the hall. Kate went in to him instantly, 
 glad to be diverted from her own unsatisfactory 
 thoughts. "I am sure you must have got to 
 the sixth act of your tragedy by this time." 
 
 " It is a kind of tragedy," said Kate. 
 
 "What is?" 
 
 " O ! " cried Kate, with barefaced and instant 
 ly detected fraud, but frightened at the possi 
 bility of being forced into an explanation, and 
 catching the sudden sparkle of stars through the 
 broad bay-window, " O, I feel dislodged and 
 discouraged. I always thought we had the stars 
 to go to as a last resort. And it was so sociable 
 
 271
 
 272 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 to look at them and send up friendly thoughts to 
 our unknown kinfolk. And now they are all 
 turned into suns, and the sun is a great roaring 
 hurricane of flaming gas, and there is no living 
 with him, and I feel lonesome." 
 
 " I would not mind it, Katy. Perhaps they 
 are a salamander-folk, and like that kind of 
 thing." 
 
 "But that new invention has felt out and 
 found that the worlds are made of the same 
 stuff we are, iron, and magnesium, and such, 
 so of course the people must be like us too." 
 
 " Not certainly, if you are bent on company. 
 Fishes are made of the same * stuff we are, but 
 you can t live in the water, Mrs. Katy, and a trout 
 can as long as you will let him, and that is a 
 good while for all your hook harms him. You 
 can t slip up into the air either, when the whim 
 takes you, but the thrush can. Depends on how 
 you mix things, don t you see ? " 
 
 " It is not I that mix things. I had it all 
 nicely arranged long ago. I knew just how the 
 world was made, and the whole universe run 
 ning. But now everything is unsettled, and we 
 do not really know anything." 
 
 " Then of course we don t know that people 
 cannot live at a white heat, so it is as broad as 
 it is long." 
 
 " Only the analogy is against it instead of for
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 273 
 
 it. Everything ought to tend one way when 
 you never can get exact proof." 
 
 " Well, you can get some comfort out of your 
 analogies if you must have it. Suppose the sun 
 is not inhabitable, and the stars are all suns. We 
 know that one sun has planets swinging around 
 it, and the only one of those planets whose con 
 dition we certainly know is inhabited by a thou 
 sand millions of souls, as we facetiously call 
 them, and the sun keeps them in fuel and 
 board and clothing. Now why not suppose that 
 the other suns also have their little families to 
 support? We do not see them, but it is the 
 instinct and charm of domestic life to seclude 
 itself. The suns stalk through the skies, carry 
 ing on their business, seen of men ; but the 
 homes of heaven are hidden." 
 
 " Why, yes ; I think I like that." 
 
 " Of course. When you are in trouble, come 
 to me. I shall never allow a few little universes 
 to stand in the way of your peace of mind." 
 
 " That is what the Bible says, too. Canst 
 thou guide Arcturua with his sons ? His sons 
 of course are his planets, that are dependent 
 upon him." 
 
 " That is right, Katy ; back me up with good 
 Scriptural authority." 
 
 " Only I don t feel quite so sure of the planets 
 as I did. I did not mind giving up the moon." 
 18
 
 274 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " No ? Now I always felt rather attached to 
 the moon myself. Our next-door neighbor." 
 
 " Yes ; and it is quite desolate to think of the 
 bleak, cold, dark silence up there. But you can 
 remember that it was once a pleasant, peopled, 
 possible world. But the other planets don t keep 
 faith. Look at Jupiter yonder so splendid he 
 looks, and when you get to him he is only a 
 great, gloomy swash of warm water." 
 
 " I would not go, Katy. Give it all up- 
 Nothing is so unpleasant as to be living in hot 
 water all the time." 
 
 "You have got to live in hot water if you 
 depend on the stars. Now if there was anything 
 I was sure of, it was Saturn seven and two 
 broad rings, for I learned it when I was a speck 
 of a girl." 
 
 " I hope you are not laying up any grudge 
 against Saturn. I have special interest there." 
 
 " Only that he is fickle like all the rest of 
 them. His two broad rings are three rings, 
 then they are many rings, then they are whole 
 systems of rings, and suddenly everything is 
 rings." 
 
 " Exactly, Kate. That is why you must keep 
 the peace with Saturn. We can t afford to 
 lose him, for there i.s where Nature is caught in 
 the act of world-making." 
 
 " What do you mean ? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 75 
 
 " Well, dear, I am not so well up in my 
 astronomy as you seem to be." 
 
 " O, I was always devoted to the stars ; but 
 two or three days ago I came across that big 
 book with the pictures, and I have been read 
 ing it ever since ; but what do you mean by 
 Saturn ? " 
 
 "Is not the last guess at creation a waltz? 
 The gas whirled itself into rings, and the whirl 
 ing rings break up into suns, and the suns keep 
 at it and whirl off other rings which presently 
 break up into planets, and the planets whirl off 
 other rings which break up into moons. For 
 proof, Saturn got a little behindhand, so we 
 caught him before his jig was up, rings and 
 all." 
 
 "Do you suppose Saturn s rings are on the 
 way to be broken ? " 
 
 " Should not wonder. There seems to be 
 a good deal of uncertainty in real estate up 
 there." 
 
 " If the rings are not solid, but little bits of 
 separate bodies dancing around close together 
 and keeping time, I don t see why they should 
 ever break rank." 
 
 " They must keep time in order to keep up. 
 If the rings did not wabble but spun around 
 stiff, they would come down thump ! on Saturn 
 at the slightest provocation. Accordingly they 
 wabble. But there seems to be a new one put-
 
 276 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 ting in an appearance, and does not somebody 
 say the old ones are widening at the rate of 
 thirty miles a day, or so ? That is made land 
 worth talking about. What are your back bay, 
 or Zuyder Zee, compared with such operations in 
 civil-engineering? " 
 
 " And of course if they keep widening, they 
 must touch in time." 
 
 " And when they do touch, won t the fur 
 fly?" 
 
 " Is it not dizzying just to think of it? " 
 
 " Well, these fellows have a long way to go. 
 They can t afford to let the grass grow under 
 their feet. On the whole, it is rather encourag 
 ing to us slow coaches that though our friend at 
 the end of the lane is whizzing along totally 
 regardless of his wind, it takes him a hundred 
 and sixty-five years to lumber around the sun 
 once." 
 
 " And it is such a poor little sun for him to 
 lumber round, too. I should not think it would 
 answer." 
 
 " Suppose he should come to the conclusion 
 that it did not answer, what could he do about 
 it ? Go it alone ? Smash himself up into broken 
 crockery like the asteroids ? Would not you 
 like to live on one of those little pocket-planets 
 pirouetting about among the steady old stars ? 
 Just think of it, you could make the tour of the 
 world in a day and come home to early tea."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 277 
 
 " But there is another reasonable little theory 
 gone ; for your big book says they are not broken 
 crockery, but were made so. What could be 
 nicer than to have one world surely broken up 
 and flying around in pieces?" 
 
 " I should say a world flying around whole. I 
 think I like that way best myself." 
 
 " Not for a theory. The worlds have got to 
 come to some kind of an end." 
 
 " Don t be impatient ; the sun may get out of 
 fuel any day and grab us." 
 
 " But if you are glad to see a world making, 
 like Saturn, why should you not be glad to see a 
 world breaking up ? It corresponds. I did not 
 object to your Saturn. You ought to come to 
 the defence of my asteroids." 
 
 " I will, Katy. I am ready to testify that I 
 saw the pieces. Seeing is believing." 
 
 " Not even that. For we have seen the stars 
 burning up and going out. But now the big 
 book says no they are not burning stars at all, 
 but variable stars probably, and will be just as 
 bright again presently." 
 
 " This fable teaches that what with telescope 
 and spectroscope, and imaginative scope, Astrono 
 my has made great strides in ignorance since you 
 and I were young." 
 
 " Sometimes it makes me faint-hearted to think 
 of it all. Does it seem as if this great, glowing, 
 rushing universe could have taken such an
 
 278 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 eternity to form, and then we little insignificant 
 creatures be made and stuck on the outside ? " 
 
 " Think we grew up out of the iron and 
 magnesium, do you?" 
 
 " Well, it looks just as if simple matter kept 
 growing more and more complex till it became 
 us. If I did not know I was alive, I should not 
 think I could be. I should think I was a sort 
 of animated weed just Tennyson s Talking 
 Oak." 
 
 " But there, Kate, you have hit on the vital 
 point consciousness. There comes in some 
 thing wholly new. No gas whirls that off." 
 
 " But it seems to come up slowly out of the 
 dust through flies, and canaries, and dogs, and 
 horses, to us." 
 
 "No, Katy. I should say that the shadow, 
 the symbol of it, comes up slowly out of matter 
 till it reaches us, and the divine afflatus comes 
 down lowly, out of mind, till it reaches us ; but 
 betwixt the two there is a great gulf fixed. 
 Matter becomes ever finer, more delicately 
 organized, more exquisitely sensitive, till it is fit 
 to receive the breath of the higher life ; but I 
 see no sign whatever that this higher life is 
 evolved out of the organism." 
 
 " And if the gas does whirl itself into worlds, 
 something must have set it spinning in the first 
 place, and our little spark of life came from that. 
 I hate to think I just grew up like a toadstool."
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 279 
 
 "A toadstool has a long life compared with 
 you, my Katy, if this is all. But if Nature runs 
 the firm economically as she pretends, I cannot 
 think she would be so extravagant as to destroy 
 mental force, which is a far more difficult pro 
 duction, so to speak, than physical force." 
 
 " And better worth preserving, I hope Nature 
 thinks." 
 
 "So she should. What is the use in your 
 talking about insignificance, Katy ? We are not 
 as big as Jupiter, if that is what you mean ; but 
 we would knock Jupiter into a cocked hat any 
 day to save the life of one man. What is 
 twenty-five thousand miles of granite and iron 
 and trap-rock, compared to five feet of sweet 
 little feminine flesh and fire?" 
 
 " Five feet two," said Kate, demurely. 
 
 " Is that so ? Certainly. Science should be 
 exact." 
 
 " What you mean is, that the worlds were 
 made for us, not we for the worlds." 
 
 " Exactly. There never was, to my thinking, 
 anything more intrinsically absurd than the no 
 tion that matter is eternal and mind ephemeral. 
 A lot of great lumpish globes, that never knew 
 they existed, and take up more room than all 
 their generations of men, streaking around in 
 space forever, and the living beings who alone 
 make these globes of the smallest value perish
 
 280 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 in a day ! You can t make me believe Nature is 
 such a blockhead." 
 
 " I like to hear you say that, because that 
 means future life." 
 
 " I hope so." 
 
 " And that God made the world." 
 
 "I think so." 
 
 " Can t you say you know so ?" 
 
 "I think there must be, behind all worlds and 
 all existences, a great First Cause, but as I look 
 around, all that I see is man." 
 
 " Mr. Glynn, what are you? " 
 
 Homo sum." 
 
 " But you are not a real born Orthodox, 
 though of course you go to that church I sup 
 pose because there is no other." 
 
 " Happens, Katy, a born Orthodox is just what 
 I am. Being reared under Orthodoxy, I nat 
 urally saw its objectionable points more clearly ; 
 too clearly, perhaps, to be Orthodox by adoption." 
 
 " O, no ! I was born there too, and I never 
 want to be born again." 
 
 " That must be Kitty s Sixth Point of Cal 
 vinism. I don t recognize it as one of the origi 
 nal Five." 
 
 " Just as good. I don t believe in leaving 
 your own religion, whatever it is. I go for my 
 country, right or wrong ; when right to be kept 
 right, when wrong to be put right. "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 281 
 
 "An admirable sentiment! And Orthodoxy 
 is an admirable creed to sharpen its teeth on." 
 
 " You don t hate Orthodoxy, I hope." 
 
 " O, no ! it was the faith of my fathers ; but 
 it is a grim faith, my dear, and it requires a 
 good deal of ingenuity to get the hateful ness 
 out of it. I think you could do it if any one 
 could. I think even a free-thinker could stand 
 a dose of Orthodoxy dissolved in Katherine." 
 
 " Do you mean future punishment? " 
 
 " I don t really know that Orthodoxy is any 
 more menaced by future punishment than by the 
 sin and suffering that are visibly rampaging 
 through this world." 
 
 " And you can t think it all comes from Ad 
 am s sin, and that we suffer for what we never 
 did, thousands of years before we were born ? " 
 
 " Well, my Katy, with you sitting here by me, 
 I feel so certain that in Adam s case I should 
 have eaten too, that I have not the heart to be 
 hard upon him ; and I must say I think it was 
 rather plucky and patriotic for those old divines 
 to stand up like a man and a brother and divide 
 the responsibility. 
 
 In Adam s fall, 
 We sinned all. 
 
 No shirking there. That is true Catholicism ! " 
 " You can t be a Unitarian, then." 
 " I don t know that I want to be ; but if I did, 
 
 what s to hinder? The Unitarians make the
 
 282 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 least possible ado about it. Any one who has 
 no creed at all, but merely believes he ought to 
 be decent, is allowed to call himself a Unitarian. 
 I think I could come in on that count." 
 
 " You would have to give up your total de 
 pravity, then." 
 
 " It would be no great sacrifice. I don t set 
 such store by it as you Orthodox do, though 
 your belief in it is very much mitigated by your 
 unbelief." 
 
 " Why, I believe in it. Don t you ? " 
 
 " Well, I shut myself up sometimes on Sun 
 days, and think over what few sins I am guilty 
 of, but somehow I can t make them fill the bill ; 
 and as I look around on my townsmen, I think 
 they are a pretty clever set of fellows. They 
 are generally honest and civil, and they bear 
 each other s burdens most of the time, though 
 they may occasionally set them down and swear 
 at them." 
 
 " I am afraid that is not the right kind of sin 
 ning exactly." 
 
 " Perhaps not. In fact, I don t think I know 
 what a sinner is. A villain I know, and a 
 drunkard I know, and a liar I know ; but a sin 
 ner is an elusive sort of scamp ; now you see 
 him and now you don t. On the whole, Katy, 
 let us stick to what we know. Why should a 
 man crawl before his Creator any more than be 
 fore his neighbor? It can be no God who is
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 283 
 
 pleased with abjectness. I like to see a man 
 stand up cheerful and hearty, and say, Here 
 I am, Lord, as upright as I know how to be, 
 strong and healthy, and ready to put my shoul 
 der to the wheel. " 
 
 "And yet one does despise one s self some 
 times," said Kate, with fresh memory of her late 
 mental castigations. 
 
 " One despises one s self for definite folly, or 
 treachery, or badness of some sort ; not in a gen 
 eral way, as a work of art. We must not be too 
 hard upon ourselves, lest we thereby reflect upon 
 our Creator." 
 
 " But," said Katherine, softly, hesitatingly, 
 " we must have needed Christ some way." 
 
 " If we needed him, he came." 
 
 "But he did come. Surely you do believe 
 that?" 
 
 " Would it grieve you if I did not ? " he smiled 
 down upon her. 
 
 "It would sadden me inexpressibly," said 
 Kate, with no smile in her earnestness. " I am 
 not good : it is not that ; I know that I am not 
 a good Christian at all. You are infinitely bet 
 ter than I am : it is not that. You must not 
 think of judging by me. You will never think 
 that I think I am better than you because I be 
 long to the church ? But I should like " 
 
 " I shall never think anything of you that is 
 not sweet and good. You may be sure of that.
 
 284 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 But, my darling, if there is a God who made the 
 world, he meant well by the world he made. 
 You may be sure of that, too. The Christ of 
 history came a long while ago, and I confess the 
 evidence is not quite clear to me, and the philos 
 ophy of it is wholly obscure." 
 
 " But you are willing to believe ? " 
 
 " Perfectly. A God would certainly save his 
 world somehow. If by a Christ, then so ; if not, 
 then some other way. But he would certainly 
 save it. Otherwise he would not be God. 
 Whatever his way, I accept it as the best pos 
 sible. But I don t feel sure of the way. Does 
 that distress you, Katy ? " 
 
 " O, I am sure you yourself must be right, 
 whatever you believe. I wish you could be 
 more certain, because then I could be. It would 
 be dreadful to lose out of this life the certain 
 faith in another." 
 
 " It would be very confusing. Unless there is 
 another, this certainly is wholly illogical, and its 
 Creator has a good deal to answer for. We are 
 limited in every direction, and we can afford to 
 wait for full understanding. As at present ad 
 vised, I do not understand, and I cannot afford 
 to say that I do." 
 
 " Do you not like to think of the other world ? 
 Don t you think that just the possibility of 
 Heaven is a great comfort and consolation ? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 285 
 
 " Do you not think we shall both of us feel 
 more at home down here than we shall there ? " 
 
 " O, no, indeed. I think that is the real home, 
 where we shall never feel strange or out of 
 place. If I am only good enough to go, or if I 
 am somehow let in without being very good, as 
 I am afraid I shall have to be if I get in at all, 
 that will be enough. How can it be that you 
 do not care for it ? " 
 
 " My dear, what can there possibly be in that 
 land that I care for ? " 
 
 " Why, everything." 
 
 "Yes, only I take no especial pleasure in 
 everything. I want something. That future is 
 wholly indefinite. Ministers either follow St. 
 John into his revelations about four and twenty 
 elders, and beasts with seven heads and ten 
 horns, which mean absolutely nothing to me, or 
 else they leave the blessed where novelists leave 
 their heroes and heroines, at the very entrance 
 of Paradise." 
 
 "That I suppose is inevitable, because we 
 cannot now comprehend that world. The blind 
 have no conception of light or color, yet light 
 and color exist." 
 
 " But if I can have no conception of Heaven, 
 how can it be real to me ? " 
 
 " Can t you think how nice it would be never 
 to be afraid, never to make mistakes, or do any 
 thing wicked ? To see all the people who are
 
 286 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 there our own, and all the people we could 
 never see in this world? Think of St. Paul 
 telling you all about his coming to Great Brit 
 ain ! I should not wonder if he would like to 
 do it. And Boadicea perhaps sitting by, and 
 putting in a word now and then, poor thing ! " 
 
 " Yes ; and I might find Abraham interesting 
 in the way of early history; and Moses would 
 be good authority in law. Cain, the leading 
 agriculturist of his race, might or might not be 
 of my company. You may chat with Paul, if 
 you please ; but I consider his style rather too 
 logical and hard for light conversation. But, 
 my Katy, the world beyond would look pleas- 
 anter to me if, instead of sitting and talking 
 with Moses and the Prophets, I could be sure 
 of you." 
 
 " O," said Kate, softly, " but I feel sure of 
 those we love." 
 
 " How sure ? I look at you, and see you 
 fresh and changing. I hear you, and your voice 
 is clear and cordial. I take your hand, and the 
 touch is sweet to me. How shall I come at you 
 when the only medium by which now we meet 
 is gone back into the dust whence it came ? " 
 
 " It sounds very dreary," said Kate, with fill 
 ing eyes. 
 
 "It is not dreary, my darling or only dreary 
 when we try to reason it out to pass from the 
 indefinite to the definite. I am not anxious or
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 287 
 
 despairing about the future. I have a very 
 great hope that the same Power which set us in 
 this world will give us a large life beyond. But 
 I can do nothing to bring that about. What I 
 know is that it is good for this world to be hon 
 est and kind, and I do not think it can be bad 
 for any world. I cannot see that it is worth 
 while to trouble ourselves with preparations for 
 a world of which we know so little ; but it is in 
 the highest degree worth while to make the most 
 of the one world we are sure of. God, if He 
 exist at all, is just as much the God of this 
 world as of any other, and we can never be any 
 more in His presence than we are every moment 
 of our lives. There is nothing better than 
 brightness and goodness and love within the 
 limits of my imagination. Is there in yours, 
 Katy?" 
 
 " Nothing can be better." 
 
 "And that we can do, be, have, and enjoy 
 here. I hope," he added, more lightly, and with a 
 half-smile, "I hope there is a world where my 
 little Katy will find it in her heart to love me ; 
 but I own I should feel more sure of her if she 
 could love me a little here." 
 
 Kate flashed upon him a glance of sudden, 
 eager inquiry. " Do you care for me still ? " she 
 asked, obeying some swift, strange impulse. 
 
 " Do I care for you ! " 
 
 " Would you care for me if you knew if I
 
 288 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 were if you knew everything ? " and in un 
 controllable agony of shyness and shame, Kate 
 sank at his feet and buried her face in his hands. 
 
 "My darling! my dearest!" he cried, shocked 
 by this unlooked-for and seemingly uncaused out 
 burst. Unmindful of pledge or pact, he drew 
 her into his arms and clasped her and kissed her, 
 and strove to soothe and reassure her with every 
 endearing word and fond caress. " Tell me 
 everything, little Katy. Nothing is so bad as 
 that you should not trust me wholly. I am sure 
 you are disquieting yourself in vain. Tell me 
 what it is that troubles you, darling. There is 
 not a thought in your heart that you need be 
 afraid to show me. I will smooth it all away ; 
 only trust me." For still his fatuous mind went 
 meandering about after some offence that Kate 
 imagined herself to have perpetrated by a lin 
 gering love for the old lover so lately met, so 
 lothly left, as his own eyes had seen. Kate did 
 not answer him, but she clung to him with un 
 heeding energy ; and when he fain would have 
 got a glimpse into her eyes she wedged and 
 wormed her tousled little head in among his va 
 rious coat-collars with such desperate vehemence 
 to hide her burning face, that presently even 
 into his dull, slow, stolid, commonplace, banking- 
 house brain penetrated some faint glimmer of the 
 eternal truth of things. 
 
 And then, of course, he had it all his own way.
 
 XVIII. 
 
 KATE S troubles were over, and my story is 
 told. It is not so much of a story as it 
 would have been if Kate had not had a way of 
 slipping out of every situation provided for her, 
 by virtue of a simple but sturdy, native honesty. 
 Several times in her life had circumstances so 
 arranged themselves around her as to need but 
 her helping hand to produce an excellent tragedy, 
 and Kate walked straight out of them every time. 
 She had not head enough to perceive their capa 
 bilities, but she had heart enough to discern their 
 duties. She was no poet, artist, saint, or genius 
 of any kind ; she had only her common sense, 
 such as it was, and her rectitude both in the 
 blood. She knew nothing of fate, or tempera 
 ment, or temptation ; she only tried heartily and 
 humbly to be good cheerful, and helpful, and 
 true in whatever position she found herself, 
 even though it were a position not at all to her 
 mind, and in entire opposition to her efforts. 
 How can you make a tragedy with such mate- 
 19 289
 
 290 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 rial ? Only by fibbing, of course ; and I have 
 permanently alienated two of my best friends 
 by firmly refusing to do just that. " O," says 
 my friend, the Woman, seeing Katherine ruth 
 lessly married to her body-snatcher, " there you 
 have a strong situation for tragedy, for of course 
 her love for that little whipper-snapper is not 
 going to last, and she will fall in love with the 
 Great Unknown." That is Woman s way out, 
 is it? "Now," says my friend, the Man, at a 
 little earlier stage of Katherine s life, " you must 
 have a tragedy here. Make her, out of sheer 
 pity and sympathy, almost compromise herself 
 with one, and the other come to the rescue and 
 overpower her with his generosity." So that is 
 the Man s way out, is it? Get thee behind 
 me, Satan. I will have neither my Katherine s 
 honor nor her dignity sacrificed to the exigen 
 cies of your pitiless High Art. Slay your own 
 friends, if you will, with the sword of your evil 
 spirit, but Kate shall not be laid on your altar. 
 Lie under the boundary-wall of morality, and 
 dream your sweet dreams of forbidden fruit 
 beyond, but I will stand by the facts. And if a 
 hot, spiced, high-seasoned world finds the flavor 
 but insipid, the world must make shift to bear 
 it alone ; they shall have no help from Kate. 
 For, as I said, Kate s troubles were over. I do 
 not mean that she was miraculously or excep 
 tionally exempt from the disturbances and per-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 291 
 
 plexities of earth ; but the centre of her life was 
 transferred to another, to a strong, noble, self- 
 restrained nature : and whatever of sorrow came 
 to her was softened, and whatever of joy was 
 sweetened by the sympathy, the confidence, the 
 love which wrapped her around like an atmos 
 phere. It was long before she understood what 
 had happened to her. Brooding over her own 
 heart alone, she had involved herself in a tangle 
 of doubt and dread. She had failed to justify 
 herself to herself. Deploring alike her love and 
 her lack of love, she mistrusted even her power 
 to love. She did not know what her feeling was 
 towards her husband, and she had even ques 
 tioned whether he could himself care what it 
 was, or set a value on so uncertain and variable 
 a possession. She was in danger of becoming 
 morbid, introspective, unhappy. The network 
 in which she had ensnared herself was not the 
 less hampering or calamitous because it was im 
 palpable. But the one moment which caught 
 her off guard revealed her weakness or was 
 it her strength ? and she passed out of her 
 own keeping forever. Her husband, who was 
 perhaps over-cautious, or it might be over-chiv 
 alrous, in not levelling her defences, was not slow 
 to take possession when once she had left the 
 gates ajar. But what became of all her misgiv 
 ings and fears, Kate never could divine. All 
 those inconsistencies and mortifications and hu-
 
 292 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 miliations that had enmeshed her seemed to 
 have simply disappeared. She knew only that 
 whereas she had been wholly doubtful and ap 
 prehensive, and whereas nothing had been ex 
 plained or denied or refuted here she was in 
 a haven and heaven of peace. All the mist of 
 subtilties and gloom of forebodings were dis 
 pelled in the fervid sunshine of a great, manly, 
 generous love. When she tried to bring for 
 ward her self-accusations for formal sentence, 
 that she might be wholly frank, she found that 
 she had nothing to say. Her strongest crimina 
 tions served only to point a jest. Happiness car 
 ried all before it. 
 
 " My love is not worth anything," would Kate 
 say, shame-faced, after some over-lavishment, and 
 artfully but vainly trying to temper present weal 
 with past woe. 
 
 " Then you will have no excuse for hoarding 
 it," would her husband reply, with the most 
 cheerful acquiescence. 
 
 " Watch me closely," she warned him with a 
 frown, when she had grown more confident and 
 careless. " I am a variable function. I shall 
 fall in love with the newspaper agent or the 
 lightning-rod man." 
 
 " I will see you don t ! " was the succinct 
 reply of the unterrified. 
 
 Kate was never tired of her own love-story. 
 In fact, it rather seemed to grow in interest for
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 293 
 
 her ; and had it not been for that inexplicable 
 folly of love which makes one particular woman 
 charming, and everything which she says and 
 does charming in the eyes of one particular 
 man, Kate, I fear, would have bored her hus 
 band sadly with her inexhaustible chatter. As 
 ib was, the best sermons that were preached by 
 the ablest divines, the most exhaustive pleas of 
 the most distinguished lawyers, the most learned 
 financial or political discussions of statesmen and 
 economists, did not give to this man of college- 
 breeding, and travel, and large monetary responsi 
 bilities, half so lively a pleasure as the saucy, 
 sophistical, contradictory, and imperious love- 
 talk of this one useless and ignorant little woman. 
 A scientific and earnest world, bent on philan 
 thropy and the march of intellect, would not 
 believe me if I should say how long this con 
 templative idiot would sit, listening to her airy 
 nothings, toying with her bright hair, watching 
 her flitting color, marvelling at her little shells 
 of ears, admiring even her modest gowns, and 
 thinking and not always careful to refrain 
 from saying that never was such a wonder 
 ful, winsome, and altogether delightful creature 
 as this just as if ten thousand of them were 
 not all around him, with eyes and ears and 
 gowns to match if he would only think so ! 
 44 All our story is an underground story," 
 would Kate suggest, slyly turning over the
 
 294 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 hundredth new leaf of her own cherished ro 
 mance. " Just on the outside it has a bad 
 look, has it not ? " 
 
 " It did have at one time." 
 
 " Ah ! but now. Look at it. It is a two- 
 story story with a basement." 
 
 " But the abasement was all on my part. You 
 never lowered your colors." 
 
 " O, don t frivolize into wit. It always inter 
 rupts to have you levitous when I am seri 
 ous. And the abasement was on my part, too. 
 But on the outside there was no story at all. 
 You and I were just two old neighbors, and we 
 married." 
 
 " No thanks to you." 
 
 " At any rate we married, and there is no help 
 for it. That is the first story, the chambers. But 
 below that, a poor young man was engaged to 
 an ambitious young woman who dismissed him, 
 though she well did not like to, and mar 
 ried a rich man whom she did not love. That 
 sounds well, does it not ? " 
 
 " Moral : Always discard a poor man you love 
 for a rich man you don t, eh ? " 
 
 " Wiry, it looks like that certainly. It shows 
 how delusive appearances are. Well, that is the 
 second story, and an ugly old story it is." 
 
 " But the cream of the joke is not there." 
 
 " No. All the best part of it is underground. 
 The first is commonplace, the second is mercen-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 295 
 
 ary ; but the real romance, the life of life, is 
 where you and I, under the rose, were slowly 
 feeling our way along towards each other." 
 
 " Not a bit of it ! I found rny way to you on 
 the double-quick, and then had to wait in the 
 cold, while you went chirping and fluttering and 
 twittering around Robin Hood s barn forever 
 and a day." 
 
 " O," said Kate, with a wry face, " that is 
 what I never can like to think of." 
 
 " I should imagine not." 
 
 O 
 
 " You don t seem to care about it half so much 
 as I." 
 
 " I have not time to go prowling about in the 
 prehistoric ages for a grievance." 
 
 " It is the one bitter drop in my cup." 
 
 " I will take the taste out of your mouth ; " 
 which he would do effectually for the time 
 being. 
 
 But presently up would come Katherine again, 
 fresh with her whimsical regrets. 
 
 " I think there ought to be a law passed that 
 a girl should never be engaged to any one but 
 the man she marries." 
 
 " Move an amendment to the Constitution of 
 the girls, then, Katy, or give me the pick of the 
 man." 
 
 " I wish, O, I sorely wish," hiding her face 
 in the ample provision made for such contingen-
 
 296 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 cies, "I had never kissed any one but 
 
 you." 
 
 " Constructively you never did, you know. 
 You could carry it up on a writ of error." 
 
 " Really, I never did. Really, myself." 
 
 " Passive voice ? " 
 
 " Entirely." 
 
 " But Saul was consenting ? " 
 
 " Well not to say violently opposing. I 
 wish I had it not to remember." 
 
 " Much, Katy ? " 
 
 "O dear! It seemed much then, but cir 
 cumstances have arisen since so that now it 
 does not. Still, I wish it had not been at all. 
 You don t care ? " 
 
 " Bless your dear heart ! " 
 
 " I am not sure it would not be more compli 
 mentary to me if you did care." 
 
 Or, in more humble mood, Kate would break 
 out, " I never, never, never can make up to you 
 all that time I wasted." 
 
 " You can try, though. It will keep you in a 
 healthy frame of mind towards me." 
 
 " I can t think of any way to make it even 
 between us but for you to stop loving me a year 
 or two, and so give me a chance to catch up." 
 
 " All right. Only you give the word when I 
 am to begin." 
 
 " Richard Glynn ! " towering aloft with indig 
 nation, " if I ever hear you dare to dream that
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 297 
 
 you will stop loving me on any pretext what 
 ever ! It was your own self did it. You just 
 bounced upon me out of a clear sky," Kate 
 was ever reckless in tropes, " and would 
 have ruined us both if I had not intervened. I 
 never saw any one act so entirely without intel 
 ligence." 
 
 " Bounced ! I wonder what form of fixity you 
 would call slowness ! I courted you steadily from 
 the time you were two years old." 
 
 " O, two~3 7 ear-old courting does not count. It 
 is just as I said. I was all ready to love you. 
 You were just the kind of man I had made up 
 my mind for. But instead of letting me know 
 it, you kept on digging potatoes, and one day, 
 in course of conversation, rolled up your eyes, 
 bang ! bang ! bang ! I am in love with you, 
 Miss Katherine ! bang ! bang ! bang ! Natural 
 ly I thought 3 r ou were a lunatic. Any well- 
 brought-up girl would ! " 
 
 " But I got you, Katy ! There was method 
 in my madness," said Mr. Glynn, laughing 
 heartily at Kate s condensed novel. 
 
 " By the skin of my teeth. And that was 
 just as bad. What a horrible risk you ran ! 
 Suppose you had happened not to be you, but 
 an indifferent sort of person, and the real you 
 were somebody else outside?" 
 
 " Should not care a farthing, Kitty, so long as 
 you were inside."
 
 298 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 " Ricardo ; " coaxingly, and striving with an 
 abstracted air to bring his beard and hair into 
 conjunction upon the bridge of his nose, an 
 operation which could not have been comfortable 
 to the subject of it, and which was certainly un 
 becoming, but against which, in his reduced state 
 of mind, he offered no further protest than occa 
 sional growls and sputterings when breathing was 
 too seriously tampered with, " Ricardo, am I 
 as nice as you thought I should be ? " 
 
 "O Lord I" 
 
 " Sweet must not swear." 
 
 " That isn t swear; it s prayer." 
 
 "Amen, then." 
 
 " Ah ! but, Katy, weren t 3^011 hard to woo ? " 
 
 " You need not fling it up at me if I was. I 
 did not force you into it, you know." 
 
 " Yes, you did. Twas the same love that 
 spread the feast, that sweetly forced me in ; and 
 when I was in, did I not have a time taking the 
 kinks out of you ? a good time too ? " 
 
 " There never were any kinks in me, and they 
 are all in still. But it was a horrible risk. I 
 wonder you dared. If you had not happened to 
 be just what you are, there is no telling what 
 might not have happened. Suppose, instead of 
 loving you, I had come to hate you ! " 
 
 " O, you could not. I would not have let 
 you. Think I did not know that before I be- 
 "can ? "
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 299 
 
 "I did not." 
 
 " It was not necessary. I was engineering this 
 thing." 
 
 " What I have always admired in you was your 
 modesty. I fear now that you are losing it. Lo! 
 the conquering hero comes in the tone of your 
 last remarks." 
 
 "Comes to make his blessings known, not hide 
 them under a bushel. You are just learning 
 the a b c of love, Katy. When you get up into 
 the Differential Calculus, say alongside where I 
 am now, you will learn that love knows as well 
 as feels ; knows its own, and will make sure of 
 it with half a chance." 
 
 " I don t think you have anything to boast of 
 in that line. You never made anything of your 
 chance till you lost it." 
 
 " And gave you no peace till I got it again." 
 
 " And not much then. But I was not bad 
 after everything was settled ; was I ? Give me 
 so much credit." 
 
 " O, you were jolly ! We have a good deal to 
 congratulate ourselves on, Katy-did. If I had 
 been a knave, and you had been a fool, or vice 
 versa, instead of being what we are, a half decent 
 sort of chap and a wholly delicious sort of chit 
 why, we might have come to grief. Instead of 
 which ! " 
 
 " But you did have a sad time with me. It was 
 cruel."
 
 300 FIRST LOVE IS BEST, 
 
 " But I never let go, you see. You held out, 
 but I held on." 
 
 " I am so glad you did. Fancy what it would 
 be not to have you ! " 
 
 " Better try and put up with having me." 
 
 " I will tell you what I have decided on as an 
 infallible rule for the right conduct of life : We 
 must never both be cross at the same time." 
 
 " Excellent. We will turn and turn about." 
 
 " Yes ; only that as I can never be sure how 
 much you love me, or whether you are not get 
 ting tired of me, if you are cross I shall fear it 
 means something, and be unhappy. But I shall 
 always know that I love you, and that if I am 
 cross it is merely superficial and insignificant ; so 
 I make Rule Second : That you are never to be 
 cross to me ; but if I am to you, you are not to 
 mind it." 
 
 " I understand : Never be cross at the same 
 time, and Katy to occupy all the time. Agreed." 
 
 And it must be said for Katherine that she 
 rarely abused her privilege. The best of men 
 call into exercise a good deal of patience, and 
 patience was not Katherine s strong point. Luck 
 ily her husband was large-natured, and if Kathe 
 rine was sometimes over-earnest with her Brutus, 
 he never took it to heart. He took her to his 
 heart instead, and was so frankly sorry for the 
 forgetfulness or the inconsiderateness that had 
 annoyed her, and so frankly desirous to make
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 301 
 
 amends, that Kate usually went into spasms of 
 self-abasement over her vile impatience, and 
 into grotesque adulation of the tempter who had 
 wrought her fall, and would work it again with 
 the same bland and blithe unconsciousness. 
 
 There was one thing that always moved Kath- 
 erine to violent, and far be it from me to say un 
 righteous, wrath, and that was the philosophical 
 assumption that conjugal love must by its own 
 weight subside into " tender friendship." " Ten 
 der friendship ! O, yes ; I know what that means. 
 It is love gone to seed ! " would Kate cry sarcas 
 tically, her bucolic antecedents ever reappearing 
 in metaphor and simile. " Richard Glynn, if you 
 love me, say so ; if you don t don t ! But as 
 for your tender friendship, let it not be so much 
 as named between us ! " 
 
 And it never was. Whether it were the shoals 
 and breakers of their early voyage, or some inborn 
 quality of their own, their love never seemed to 
 tone down into that " practical and possible " do 
 mestic convenience which is the accredited heir- 
 at-law of love, but kept always something of its 
 honey-moon, holiday nature. Nay, but how 
 fiercely would my Kate resent such a state 
 ment ! Rather as the happy weeks sped into 
 happy months, and the months into happy years, 
 it seemed to Kate that with each fresh year she 
 was freshly learning love s real, regal meaning. 
 Her husband never became to her uninteresting.
 
 302 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 Not only did his society never cease to be agree 
 able, it never ceased to be exhilarating. His in 
 tellect, trained to more careful observation and 
 more tranquil judgment, stimulated hers, which 
 in turn lent color and glow to his. And neither 
 was separated from the other without a conscious 
 lack, or met without a conscious gladness. In 
 his love, strong, unfailing, free from everything 
 petty, full of trust and help and cheer, and build 
 ing itself into nobler proportions as each succeed 
 ing year laid broader and firmer foundations, 
 Katherine dwelt secure, content, rejoicing, nor 
 refrained ever and anon from breaking forth into 
 exultant thanksgiving. All the little rootlets of 
 her daily life thrust out boldly into the inexhaust 
 ible riches of his unselfishness, and drew thence 
 sustenance and strength, and in the sunshine of 
 his gentleness every shy bud was won to its 
 perfect blossoming. So Kate grew in grace 
 daity. 
 
 What was her ministry of grace to him, the 
 angels desire to look into and perhaps they do. 
 But what they see of Divine purpose toward the 
 world in the sweet and austere mysteries of 
 feminine service, it is not given mortal lips to 
 declare. 
 
 And yet it would not have been Kate if her 
 bright days had not been freaked with fantastic 
 woes. In spite of her Orthodox church-member 
 ship, she was a little heathen at heart, and con-
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 303 
 
 stantly strove with peace-offerings to placate the 
 hostile deities and avert fancied disasters. 
 
 " Meanwhile the best way to escape his ire 
 Is not to seem too happy," 
 
 was the real attitude which this little feminine 
 and Christian Caliban would occasionally assume 
 towards her Setebos. As her own happiness 
 brightened out of the gray twilight into the rosy 
 dawn and the brilliant morning, she was fain to 
 cast about her for danger that menaced or gloom 
 to gladden. Walter s fate proved for some time 
 a very satisfying source of uneasiness, and pre 
 cluded the necessity of other search.. Mr. Glynn 
 could never be brought to take a serious view of 
 the subject, and treated Walter s woes with a 
 cavalier indifference, not to say gayety, which 
 Kate could not pronounce anything but heart 
 less. While himself professing the greatest de 
 light in Katherine s society, he firmly maintained 
 that Mr. Laballe would never be very rash or 
 very wretched at being deprived of it, and stead 
 fastly refused to pay his wife the compliment of 
 fearing in the least degree that her early lover 
 would ever become a Blighted Being on her ac 
 count. And the event proved him right. Mr. 
 Laballe did not marry. The death of a distant 
 relative gave him a small share in a large fortune ; 
 not enough to give him any wide sweep in life, 
 but enough to insure personal comfort in a small 
 way. He held his law-office, but was never slave
 
 304 FIRST LOVE IS BEST. 
 
 to briefs and pleas, and was never called on to 
 waste his time and talents in the preparation 
 and presentation of difficult cases. This left 
 him leisure for the cultivation of his mind and 
 the acquisition of liberal, un- partisan views, in 
 which he was so successful that in any emer 
 gency he could always be relied on for deplor 
 ing and even denouncing the savagery of Ameri 
 can manners, the poverty of American literature, 
 and the corruption of American politics, and 
 so became a valuable member of society. 
 
 All of which did not hinder Kate from indulcr- 
 
 o 
 
 ing now and then in the luxury of woe. She 
 was happy : that, with the best will in the 
 world, she could not deny ; but she had always 
 the one grievance to fall back on, that she was 
 happy at the expense of a shattered ideal ! One 
 love first, last, and always, to live for and to 
 die with that had been the dream of her girl 
 hood, her inexorable demand. Anything less 
 was fickleness, shallowness, unworthy to be 
 named by the sacred name. And here she was, 
 climbing up the heights of one love on the ruins 
 of another ! Pitiless and haughty was her self- 
 disdain till in an unlucky moment even this 
 last fortress of whimsical discontent was wrested 
 from her by a visitor who pointed the moral of a 
 bit of neighborhood gossip with the very senti 
 ment which had been the burden of Kate s life- 
 song. Kate could lecture herself with great
 
 A SENTIMENTAL SKETCH. 305 
 
 volubility, but she bridled instantly when the 
 same lesson, however innocently, was enforced 
 upon her from a foreign source. Mr. Glynu 
 watched Kate s chagrin with great amusement. 
 He even took occasion, rather wickedly, to draw 
 out the offending visitor upon the objectionable 
 topic, after whom no sooner was the door closed 
 than Kate, with great sacrifice of matronly dig 
 nity, shook her fist at the retreating silk. " First 
 love is best, is it ? " repeating her guest s de 
 parting words. " O, yes, first love is best ! and 
 this," turning upon her husband in final surren 
 der, and endangering his life through impeded 
 respiration yet he seemed to like it, "this, 
 tJiis, THIS is first love!" 
 20
 
 Estes fir* Lauriafs Publications. A T ovcls. 
 
 NEW AND POPULAR NOVELS. 
 
 SLAVES OF THE RING. By F. W. ROBINSON, author of " Sec 
 ond Cousin Sarah," "Little Kate Kirby," "For Her Sake," " Poor 
 Humanity," "Her Face was her Fortune," " True to Herself," "A 
 Woman s Ransom," &c. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.26 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** "Slaves of the Ring is a remarkably interesting romance. The 
 story is well written, the characters are well drawn, and racy sketches of 
 rural life are pleasantly interwoven with the action of the narrative." 
 Boston Transcript. 
 
 A WOMAN S RANSOM. By F. W. ROBINSON, author of "Slaves 
 of the Ring," "Little Kate Kirby," "For ller Sake," &c. 1vol. 
 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** " The new novel, by the author of the Slaves of the Ring, is alive 
 with incident; it is ingeniously constructed, and there is a cleverness in 
 incident and management of the story which cannot be denied ; the interest 
 is kept up with singular vividness, and without the extravagant expedients 
 to which popular novelists often resort." Press. 
 
 TOO MUCH ALONE. By Mrs. J. H. RIDDELL, author of /A Life s 
 Assize," "Phcmic Keller," "George Geith," "Above Suspicion," &c. 
 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 * .#* " The story is deeply interesting. It is one of the very best of recent 
 
 fictions." Worcester Spy. 
 
 ABOVE SUSPICION. By arrangement with Mrs. J. H. RIDDELL, 
 author of "Too Much Alone," "A Life s Assize," &c. 1vol. 8vo. 
 Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 A TANGLED SKEIN. By ALBANY BE FONBLANQUE, JR., an 
 author who has inherited genius of an uncommon order. 1 vol. 8vo. 
 Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** "This novel captivates the reader when he first opens it, and holds 
 him in strong and agreeable chains to its closing page." Boston 
 Traveller. 
 
 " It is so well written that, having once taken up the book, it will be im 
 possible to lay it down until the end." Press. 
 
 A FAMILY TREE. By ALBANY DE FONBLANQUE, JR., author of 
 "Cut Adrift," "A Tangled Skein." 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; 
 Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** "It is a well-conceived story, and is presented in a manner to in 
 terest. Toledo Commercial. 
 
 For Sale at all the Bookstores and. Depots, and, 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by IGS -TES Sc LtA. UKLAJr, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, IBoston.
 
 Estes Or* Lauriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 THE WIDOW LEROUGE. By EMILE GABORIAU, author of "The 
 Mystery of Orcival," " File No. 113," " The Clique of Gold," " Other 
 People s Money." 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, 1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 *** " A novel of much power." Journal. 
 
 " Gaboriau is an author whose works arc appreciated for their original 
 ity and ingenuity." Messenger. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF ORCIVAL. By EMILE GABORIAU, author of 
 
 "File No. 113," &c. 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, 1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 "Admirably written, each character finely drawn. It will be read with 
 sorrow, with pleasure, and profit. Head it, and then we have no doubt you 
 will add it to your collection of choice novels with as much pleasure as we 
 do." Lawrence American. 
 
 THE CLIQUE OF GOLD. Translated from the French of EMILE 
 GABORIAU, author of " File No. 113," " Other People s Money," 
 " Within an Inch of His Life," " The Widow Lcrouge," " The Mys 
 tery of Orcival," &c. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, 1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 *$* " It is strongly sensational, but the materials are mauagcd with so 
 
 strong a dramatic insight that one has not time or inclination to think of 
 
 improbabilities. M. GABORIAU is without a peer in this particular style of 
 
 story." Boston Gazette. 
 " Gaboriau s novels increase in power as we become familiar with his 
 
 style." Transcript. 
 
 OTHER PEOPLE S MONEY. From the French of EMILE GABO- 
 KIAU, author of "File No. 113," " The Clique of Gold," "Within an 
 Inch of His Life." 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, 1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 *** "Exciting throughout, the story appeals to refined tastes, and should 
 
 be read widely, as its merit is sterling." Traveller. 
 
 WITHIN AN INCH OF HIS LIFE. From the French of EMILE 
 GABORIAU, author of " The Widow Lerouge," "The Mystery of Orci 
 val," "File No. 113." 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, 1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 *** " An exciting and entertaining novel, full of dramatic incident and 
 
 well-figured character-pictures." Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 FILE No. 113. By EMILE GABORIAU, author of " The Clique of Gold," 
 "Other People s Money," "Within an Inch of His Life," " The Widow 
 Lcrougc," " The Mystery of Orcival." 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, 1.25; 
 Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *#* " As good as Gaboriau s stories of French life and character uniform 
 ly arc, we think this one surpasses all his former efforts." Journal. 
 
 " File No. 113 has created a sensation wherever it has appeared." 
 Critic. 
 
 ITor Sale at all the Bookstores and Depots, and. 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of I>rice, toy ESTES <Sc I^UKXA-I 1 , 3O1 Washing 
 ton. Street,
 
 Estes r Lauriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 WOVE.V OF MANY THREADS. By C. V. HAMILTON, author of 
 " Hopes of Sand," " Crown from the Spear." 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, 
 $1.25 ; Paper, 50 cts. 
 
 *** "As at present advised, we may venture to say that this first novel of 
 the season, from the pen of an American lady, will meet with acceptance 
 from the readers of fiction. The style is free and glowing:, and the author, 
 locating her story in Italy, finds opportunities to show familiarity with the 
 land of song and art, of which she makes incidental use to heighten the 
 interest of the tale." Boston Transcript. 
 
 ROPES OF SAND. By C. V. HAMILTON, author of " Woven of Many 
 Threads," " Crown from the Spear." 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $ 1.25 ; Paper, 
 75 cts. 
 ** " A work woven as well as this in plot, character, general finish, and 
 
 execution, deserves to have its writer publicly heralded upon the title-page." 
 
 Times. 
 
 CROWN FROM THE SPEAR. By C. V. HAMILTON, author of 
 " Woven of Many Threads," " Ropes of Sand." 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, 
 $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *#*" It is a story of French domestic life and character, full of interest, 
 and written in attractive style. The moral of the stoiy is that the crown 
 of happiness may be won after long struggle and suffering." Herald. 
 
 "Coming from the pen of the author of Woven of Many Threads, 
 this stoiy is sure of a warm welcome. In some respects it is an improve 
 ment upon its predecessor, having a more compact and artistic form, and 
 more powerful interest." Phil. Inquirer. 
 
 KATE BEAUMONT. By J. W. DE FOREST, author of " Overland," 
 " Miss Ravenel s Conversion," " Playing the Mischief." 1vol. 8vo. 
 Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *.** " He has written a novel that is very readable, and he has given 
 proof of being able to do more and better work. His painstaking, his 
 careful observation and sprightliness, are qualities which will certainly 
 achieve a more than partial success." Nation. 
 
 " This is one of the best American novels we have ever read. It is writ 
 ten with a vigorous pen that never flags till the last word is written and the 
 last scene closed." People, Concord. 
 
 IHor Sale at all the Bookstores and Depots, and 
 Bent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by KSTKS & LA.TJRI^.T, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estes <Sr* Lauriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 VINETA. From the German of E. WERNER, author of " Good Luck," 
 &c. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 BROKEN CHAINS. Translated by FRANCES A. SHAW, from the 
 German of E. WERNER, author of " Good Luck," &c. 1 vol. Svo. 
 Cloth, 1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 ** "It has spirit and action, united with power and depth of feeling." 
 Transcript. 
 
 "The plot is highly interesting, and is well developed, while an art at 
 mosphere pervades the work, that shows both refinement and aesthetic 
 appreciation on the part of the writer. The style is strong and vigorous, 
 and contains scenes of great power." Gazette. 
 
 GOOD LUCK. By the author of "Broken Chains." 1 vol. Svo. 
 Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cents. 
 
 * # * " An attractive and fascinating volume, with highly dramatic char 
 acters, clearly drawn and well sustained throughout, and containing many 
 pages of absorbing interest. The translation is graceful and natural, one 
 of the happy kind that makes us forget that the story was first written in a 
 foreign tongue." Enquirer. 
 
 " I began to read the proof-sheets last evening, and was compelled by the 
 interest of the story to read into the small hours." L. C. M. 
 
 NOT EASILY JEALOUS. 1vol. Svo. Cloth, 1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 *^* This Not Easily Jealous, has some bright and sparkling charac 
 ters in it. There is not much plot or incident in it ; but the interest is well 
 sustained, and it is written in such a taking sort of style as to make it very 
 fascinating. People. 
 
 EXPIATED. By the author of " Six Months Hence," and " Behind 
 
 the Veil." 1 vol. Svo. Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 * # * "The author shows power of invention, felicity in the management 
 of details, and a keen insight into the mysteries of life." Boston Globe. 
 
 SIX MONTHS HENCE. By the author of " Behind the Veil," " Ex 
 piated." Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *%* " This remarkably well written story comes to us characterized by a 
 most skilful arrangement. Behind the Veil gave promise of considera 
 ble ability in the field of design. Six Months Hence has fully realized 
 this promise." Philadelphia Aye. 
 
 " It is of absorbing interest; and whoever takes it up will not readily put 
 it down till the last scene is enacted, and the curtain falls." People 
 (Concord). 
 
 ITor Sale at all tlie Bookstores and. Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of th.e "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by JCS -TKs* <Sc LA-UKI-A/I?, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estes r Lauriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 CHECKMATE. By J. S. LE FANU, .author of "A Lost Name," 
 " Tenants of Malory," &c. 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 * s *"Full of startling surprises, and written with great power." N. B. 
 Mercury. 
 
 " A powerfully written story, with an excellent plot, well carried out." 
 Farmer. 
 
 " A work of fiction with a plot a3 deep as Wilkie Collins a Woman in 
 White. " Herald. 
 
 OPEN SESAME. By FLORENCE MARRYAT, author of " Love s Con 
 flict," "Prey of the Gods," "Her Lord and Master." With Illustra 
 tions. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cents. 
 
 *** " The plot of this story is deeply laid." Register. 
 " A story of much love." Herald. 
 
 DEEP WATERS. By ANNA II. DRURT, author of " Misrepresenta 
 tion," &c., &c. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 7"> cts. 
 
 *** "A novel full of melancholy and pathos." Democrat. 
 
 "The story opens in one of those old English homes which have been 
 highly respectable and wealthy, and is well worth reading." Commercial, 
 Toledo. 
 
 WOMAN S LOVE ; or, Like and Unlike. By J. F. SMITH, author of 
 "Lady Ashleigh," "Marion Burnard," &c. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, 
 $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 %* " This novel will satisfy the most exacting readers of the old style of 
 romance." Albany Journal. 
 
 STRETTON. By HENRY KINGSLET, author of " Ravenshoe," "Geof 
 frey Hamlyn,"" " Hetty," &c., die. With Illustrations. 1 vol. 8vo. 
 Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 ***" A charming, bright, and sparkling novel for the tourist." Bangor 
 Whig. 
 
 " Henry Kingsley has done more to cultivate a correct taste among 
 readers of modern novels, than any other author of the day." Times, Kew 
 Orleans. 
 
 JETTATRICE. From the French of Madame AUGUSTUS CRAVEN, 
 author of " Fleurange," " A Sister s Story," &c. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, 
 $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *$* " A tale of rare purity and nobility." Press. 
 
 " The scene is laid at Messina, and runs through Naples and Italy." 
 Courier. 
 
 IPor Sale at all the "Bookstores and Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World on receipt 
 of Price, by ESTES <Sc LAUlilA/r, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, JBoston.
 
 Estes & Lauriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 JOCELYN S MISTAKE. By Mrs. J. K. SPENDER, author of " Her 
 Own Fault," "Brothers in Law," &c. 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; 
 Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *#* "Mrs. Spender s English is unusually good, and she has learned the 
 art of working her opinions of men and things into the web of her story, 
 instead of merely intercalating homilies. . . . The Jocelyn of the book is 
 very skilfully drawn. ... It rises in type and diction far above the ephem 
 eral stories of the season." Academy. 
 
 THE LOST DESPATCH. Translated from the German of FRIED- 
 HICH FUIEURICII, by L. A.WILLIAMS. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; 
 Paper, 50 cts. 
 
 *#* " Lovers of pen-pictures and florid writing will not find any of their 
 favorite style. There is no padding, no burning sensation, no bigamy, nor 
 divorce. But there is a well constructed story, well-told, and also some 
 finely-drawn characters. The interest, too, is well sustained. The Lost 
 Despatch will serve to pass a couple of hours pleasantly enough ; and what 
 is more to the purpose, in these days of lilthy novels, it may be read by all 
 without fear or hesitation." N. T. Globe. 
 
 CHOISY. By JAMES P. STORY. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 
 75 cts. 
 
 * # * " We recommend the book for a pleasant companion on listless 
 August days. While shedding a tear of sympathy over the fate of Nina 
 Choisy, its salutary lesson cannot fail to produce lasting results." 
 Transcript. 
 
 " It is full of interesting and thrilling incidents from beginning to end." 
 Press. 
 
 NOBODY S FORTUNE. Jljr EDMUND YATES, author of "Black 
 Sheep," "The Yellow Flag." vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 
 75 cts. 
 
 %* " The fact that Dickens was connected, even thus indirectly, with the 
 work, will give it additional value in the estimation of most readers." 
 Cleveland Herald. 
 
 "The best of his productions." Boston Post. 
 
 THE YELLOW FLAG. By EDMUND YATES, author of "Nobody s 
 Fortune," "Black Sheep." 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 * * "The story is dramatic from opening to close, keeping the reader 
 constantly attent, and each moment giving a gratification." New Bedford 
 Mercury. 
 
 For Sale at all the Bookstores and. Depots, and. 
 eent, postpaid, to any part of the \Vorld, on receipt 
 ot Price, by KSTKS & L^URJAT, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Uoston.
 
 Estes &* Lauriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 ELENA: AN ITALIAN TALE. By L. N. COMTN, author of 
 Athcrstonc Priory," "Ellicc," &c. 1 vol. Cloth, 1.23; Taper, 
 75 cts. 
 
 *#* " Elena, in character and plot, is excellent." Traveller (Boston). 
 
 "An Italian story of great power and beauty; sure to live." Leeds 
 Mercury. , 
 
 "The most elegant and interesting fiction of the season." London 
 Messenyer. 
 
 " A very pleasing and touching story. It is sure to be read." London 
 Daily News. 
 
 ATHERSTONE PRIORY. By L. N. COMTN, author of "Elena," 
 
 " Ellicc," &c. 1 vol. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** "A quiet, charming, English romance of real life. The scenes are 
 life-like, and the story interesting. The heroine at once wins the sympa 
 thy of the reader, which deepens into admiration, and an intense interest 
 in her fortunes and misfortunes." Examiner. 
 
 ETHEL MILDMAY S FOLLIES. By the author of "Petites Ro 
 mance." 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** "A story which we do not hesitate to recommend." Spectator. 
 
 " A taste would be difficult to please which could not find amusement in 
 following the fortunes of the actors developed in this story." Transcript. 
 
 MAUD OR NINA Like Cures Like. By G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE, 
 
 author of " Katcrfelto," "Digby Grand," &c., &c. 1vol. 8vo. Cloth, 
 
 $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** " Sprightly and sensational." Vox Populi. 
 " The most fastidious may read Maud and Nina." Journal. 
 
 ZELD A S FORTUNE. By R. E. FRANCILLON, author of "Earl Dean," 
 " Pearl and Emerald." 1vol. 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 
 75 cts. 
 
 *** " This book shows as much power as Bulwer s early novels did." 
 Springfield Republican. 
 
 " Charles G. Lcland and Louise Chandler Moulton speak of it in very 
 flattering terms." Public. 
 
 THE WICKED WOODS OF TOBEREEVIL. By Miss MtrL- 
 IIOLLAXD, author of "Hester History." 1 vol. 8vo. "Cloth, $ 1.25; 
 Paper, 75 cts. 
 * # * " A talc of Irish life, legend and humor, sketched with vivacity, and 
 
 replete with racy incident, stirring adventures, and well-depicted feeling." 
 
 Inter- Ocean. 
 
 For Sale at all the Bookstores and Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of rrice, by ESTES Sc Jj-A-URIA/r, 3O1 Washing 
 ton. .Slroet, Boston.
 
 Estes & Lanriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 THE FOE IN THE HOUSEHOLD. By CAROLINE CHJESEBUO*. 
 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25 ; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 ** " It is purely domestic in its character, instructive in its moral teach 
 ings, and possesses a subtle interest more absorbing than that which at 
 taches to the conventional style of modern romances." Press. 
 
 CAN THE OLD LOVE. By ZADEL BARNES BUDDINGTON. 1 vol. 
 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 ** " The most unique and original portion exhibits a married man of 
 sixty-three years of age, who falls in love with the child of his friend, on 
 her return from boarding-school." Philadelphia Age. 
 
 RUTH MAXWELL. By Lady BLAKE, author of "Claude," "Lady 
 of Lyndon." 1vol. Svb. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 ** " This stoiy is told with a quiet charm, and contains thoroughly good 
 and pleasant reading." Morning Post. 
 
 "It is a gracefully written story, full of interest, and distinguished by 
 some capital character drawings. The tone is healthy, and the style bright 
 and spirited. The heroine is a charming conception, and is developed 
 with rare skill and effect. We can conscientiously recommend the book 
 as one thoroughly pure in its morality, and peculiarly adapted to summei 
 reading." Globe. 
 
 LADY OF LYNDON. By Lady BLAKE, author of " Claude," " Euth 
 Maxwell." 1vol. Svo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 * # * "There is nothing sensational in its plot; the moral it inculcates is 
 pure, healthy, and instructive, while its literary qualifications cannot be 
 gainsaid." New York Albion. 
 
 A ROSE IN JUNE. By Mrs. OLIPHANT, author of " Story of Valen 
 tine and his Brother," "Squire Ardcn," "For Love and Life," "In 
 nocent." 1vol. Svo. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 50 cts. 
 
 *.$* "In A Eose in June Mrs. Oliphant is at her very best again. The 
 book is full of character, drawn with the most delicate of touches." 
 Aihcnwum. 
 
 " A pleasant novel, agreeably told. Mrs. Oliphant is accomplished in 
 her art; her knowledge of the instrument with which she has to deal, and 
 of the audience for whom she plays upon it, was never more thoroughly 
 exhibited than in her latest work, A Hose in June. " Observer. 
 
 " One of the sweetest, most charming, and most natural stories which 
 that popular writer has given us." Boston Journal. 
 
 Sale at all the ILJookstores and. Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Trice, Toy ESTES <Sc L-A.TJKI.A.T, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston,.
 
 Estes fir* Lauriafs Publications. Novels. 
 
 MISS ROVEL. From the French of VICTOR CHERBULIEZ, author of 
 the "Romance of an Honest Woman," &c. Translated by FRANCES 
 A. SHAW. 1vol. Svo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 50 cts. 
 *V* " This translation of one of the popular French novels is a thorough 
 love story; it is alive with incident, and the interest is kept up with singu 
 lar vividness, and without the extravagant expedients to which popular 
 novelists often resort." Gazette. 
 
 "The story is vciy strong in plot, and the translation is excellent." 
 Commercial. 
 
 BUFFETS. By CHARLES H. DOE. 1 yol. 8ro. Cloth, f 1.25 ; Paper, 
 75 cts. 
 
 *#* " It is very spicy and thoroughly modern." Chicago Journal. 
 
 "There is a great deal of pleasant humor in this novcL" Albany 
 Journal. 
 
 " This novel shows much skill and some delicacy of touch, in which our 
 novelists generally are most wanting." Sprinyfield Republican. 
 
 IN A. By KATHERINE VALERIC. 1 vol. Svo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 
 75 cts. 
 
 *.* " In the construction of the story, we Und proof of considerable inven 
 tive power, a lively and brilliant imagination, and a certain fluency of 
 expression." N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 " There is a freshness in this that is attractive." Messenger. 
 
 " A charming Italian love-story, as mellow, genial, and pure as an 
 Italian sun." 
 
 "A cleverly written stoiy of Italian life, pure in tone." Transcript. 
 
 ONLY THREE WEEKS. 1 vol. Svo. Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 50 cts. 
 
 *V* " Just the kind of a story for reading leisurely on a summer day." 
 Advertiser. 
 
 " The book is a ;good one, full of powerful situations, excellent delinea 
 tions of character, and capital writing." Gazette. 
 
 "A sparkling, racy novel." People (Concord). 
 
 " Charming little story." N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 A COMEDY OF TERRORS. By JAMES DE MILLE, author of 
 "American Ban-on, " "Cryptogram," "Dodge Club." 1 vol. Svo. 
 Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 75 cts. 
 
 *** " Every chapter is full of mirth. DE MILLE is a rare genius with 
 the pen." Press (Providence). 
 
 " It is in many respects the most ingenious of this fertile novelist s 
 books." Boston Journal. 
 
 ZETor Sale at all the Bookstores and. Depots, and, 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by ESTKS <Sc IjA.UitI.AJr, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Uoston,
 
 Estes & Lauriafs Publications. History. 
 
 EPOCHS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND AT SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 The Rev. M. CREIGHTON, M. A., 
 
 Late Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford. 
 
 The object of tins Series is to supply an Elementary History of England, 
 which shall be sound and trustworthy as well as inexpensive. English 
 History conveniently divides itself into eight Periods. By the adoption of 
 this division a more intelligible and more interesting view of the course of 
 English History may be obtained, while the advantage of cheapness will be 
 secured by the separate sale of the several divisions. 
 
 Early England up to the Norman Conquest. By FREDERICK 
 YORK-POWELL, M. A., Law Lecturer Ch. Ch. Oxford; Historical 
 Lecturer Trin. Coll. Oxford. With 4 Maps. 1 vol. IGmo. 50 cts. 
 
 England a Continental Power, from the Conquest to Magna Charta, 
 10GG-121G. By LOUISE CREIGHTOX. With a Colored Map of the Do 
 minions of the Angevin Kings. 1 vol. ICmo. Cloth. 50 cts. 
 
 The Rise of the People, and Growth of Parliament, from the 
 Great Charter to the Accession of Henry VII. (1215-1485. 
 
 By JAMES ROWLEY, M. A. Professor of Modern History and Litera 
 ture, University College, Bristol. With 4 Maps. 1 vol. IGmo. 
 Cloth. 50 cts. 
 
 The Tudors and the Reformation, (1485-1603.) By the Rev. 
 MANDELL CREIGHTOX, M. A., Late Fellow and Tutor of Merton Col 
 lege, Oxford; Editor of the Series. With 3 Maps. 1 vol. IGmo. 
 Cloth. 50 cts. 
 
 The Struggle against Absolute Monarchy, from 1003 to 1088. 
 By B. MERITON CORDERY, author of " King and Commonwealth." 
 With 2 Maps. 1 vol. IGmo. Cloth. 50 cts. 
 
 The Settlement of the Constitution, from 1088 to 1778. By 
 JAMES ROWLEY, M. A., Professor of Modern History and Literature, 
 University College, Bristol. 1 vol. IGmo. Cloth. 50 cts. 
 
 England during the American and European Wars, from 
 1778 to 1820. By O. W. TANCOCK, M. A., Assistant-Master, King s 
 School, Sherborne, Dorset. 1 vol. IGmo. Cloth. 50 cts. 
 
 Modern England from 1820 to 1875. By T. ARNOLD, M. A., 
 author of " A History of English Literature," &c. 1 vol. IGmo. 
 Cloth. 50 cts. 
 
 ITor Sale at all the "Bookstores and Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of" the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by ESTES & LA.TJPil.A. r, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estes 6 Lauriafs Publications. History. 
 
 EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 A scries of books narrating the History of Greece and Rome, and of 
 their relations to other countries, at successive Epochs. Edited by the 
 Rev. G. \V. Cox, M. A., author of the " Aryan Mythology," and jointly 
 by CIIAPLES SANKEY, M. A., late Scholar of Queen s College, Oxford ; 
 Assistant Master, Marlborough College. Uniform with " Epochs of Mod 
 ern History." 
 
 The Greeks and the Persians. By the Rev. GEO. W. Cox, M. A., 
 
 late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, Joint Editor of the Series. 
 With 4 colored Maps. 1 vol. 16mo. Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 The Early Empire. By the Rev. \V. WOLFE CAPES, M. A., Reader 
 of Ancient History in the University of Oxford. With 2 colored Maps. 
 1vol. IGmo. Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 Early Rome, from the Foundation of the City to its Destruc 
 tion by the Gauls. By WILHELM IIINE, author of "Ilistoiy of 
 Rome." With 1 colored Map. 1vol. IGmo. Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 The Athenian Empire, from the Flight of Xerxes to the Fall 
 of Athens. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M. A., late Scholar of Trinity 
 College, Oxford, Joint Editor of the Scries. With 5 colored Maps. 
 1vol. 16mo. Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 The Roman Triumvirates. By the Very Rev. CHARLES MERRI- 
 VALE, D.D., Dean of Ely. With 1 colored Map. 1vol. IGmo. Cloth. 
 $1.00. 
 
 The Age of the Antonines ; or, the Roman Empire of the 
 2d Century. By the Rev. WOLFE CAPES, M. A., Reader of An 
 cient Ilistorv in the University of Oxford. With 2 colored Maps. 
 1 vol. IGmo. Cloth. 
 
 Macedonian Empire, its Rise and Culmination to the Death 
 of Alexander the Great. By A. M. CURTEIS, M. A., Assistant 
 Master, Shcrbornc School. With 8 colored Maps. 1 vol. IGmo. 
 Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 The Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla. By A. H. BEESLY, M, A., As 
 sistant Master, Marlborough College. 1 vol. IGmo. Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 Rome and Carthage, the Punic Wars. ByR. BOSWORTH SMITH, 
 M. A., Assistant Master, Harrow School. 1 vol. IGmo. Cloth. $1.00. 
 
 Spartan and Theban Supremacy. By CHARLES SANKET, M. A., 
 late Scholar of Queen s College, Oxford; Assistant Master, Marl- 
 borough College; Joint Editor of the Series. 1 vol. IGmo. Cloth. 
 $1.00. 
 
 For Sale at all the Bookstores and Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on. receipt 
 of Price, by ESTES <Sc L^TJIiLA-T, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estcs r* Laitriafs Publications. Scientific. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY AND SCIENCE. 
 
 HALF-HOURS WITH INSECTS. A Popular Account of their 
 Habits. Modes of Life, &c. ; which are beneficial, and which are inju 
 rious to vegetation. By A. S. PACKARD, JR., of tlie Peabody Academy 
 of Science. The subjects treated of are: Insects of the Garden; 
 Isolations of Insects to Man; Insects of the Plant-House; Edible 
 Insects ; Insects of the Pond and Stream ; the Population of an Apple- 
 Tree ; Insects of the Field ; Insects of the Forest ; Insects as Mimics ; 
 Insects as Architects; Social Life of Insects and Mental Powers of 
 Insects. The volume contains colored plate, 260 wood-cut illustra 
 tions and 392 pages, bound In one volume. Crown SYo., cloth. 2.00. 
 
 OUR COMMON INSECTS. A Popular Account of the more com 
 mon Insects of our Country, embracing Chapters on Bees and their 
 Parasites, Moths, Flics, Mosqiiitos, Beetles, &c. ; while a Calendar 
 will give a general account of the more common Injurious and Bene 
 ficial Insects, and their Time of Appearance, Habits, &c. 200 pp. 
 Profusely Illustrated. 1 vol., 12mo., cloth. Price $2.00. 
 
 SAY S ENTOMOLOGY. A Description of the Insects of North 
 America. By TIIOMAS SAY. With 54 Hill-page steel-plate Illustra 
 tions, engraved and colored from nature. Edited by J. L. LECOXTE. 
 With a Memoir by GEORGE ORB. 2 vols., Svo., cloth, 15.00 ; half- 
 calf, 20.00. 
 
 * j(f *Tlii3 standard work is now out of print, the plates having been de 
 stroyed. We oiler the balance of the edition at the above prices. It will 
 soon become scarce, and command a very much higher price. 
 
 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY. A Manual of Instruction on Collecting, 
 Preparing, and Preserving Birds. By ELLIOTT COUES. With which 
 is issued a Check-List of North American Birds. 1 vol. Svo., cloth. 
 $2.50. 
 
 KEY TO NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. By ELLIOTT COTTES, 
 M. D. 361) imperial octavo pages. Illustrated by G Steel Plates, ami 
 238 Wood-Cuts. A Manual or Text-Book of the Birds of North 
 America; containing a Synopsis of Living and Fossil Birds, and 
 Descriptions of every North American Species known to this Time. 
 1 vol., royal Svo., cloth. Price, 7.00. 
 
 PACKARD S GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF INSECTS. Bemg 
 a Popular Introduction to the Study of Entomology, and a Treatise on 
 Injurious and Bcnciicial Insects; with Descriptions and Accounts, of 
 the Habits of Insects, their Transformations, Development, and Classi 
 fication. 15 full-page Plates, and 670 Cuts in the Text, embracing 12(50 
 Figures of American Insects. Sixth edition. 1 vol., bvo. Price re 
 duced to 5.00. 
 *** This book is now acknowledged to be the standard > and is used in 
 
 the leading universities and institutions of Europe and America. 
 
 !F"or Sale at all the Bookstores and Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of tlie "World, on. receipt 
 of Price, by KS rEri <Sc JL^A.UIiIA.1.\ 3O1 
 ton Street, Uowtoru
 
 Estcs &* Lauriafs Publications. Scientific. 
 
 Natural History and Science continued. 
 
 LAND AND GAME. The Land and Game Birds of New England. 
 With Descriptions of the Birds, their Nests and Eggs, their Ilahits and 
 Notes. An entirely new and accurate work, which no sportsman or 
 collector can afford to be without. 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $;>.00. 
 
 TYLOR (E. B.). PRIMITIVE CULTURE. Researches into the 
 Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. 
 2 vols., 8vo cloth, 3.00. 
 
 ***" Scanty justice can be done to Mr. Tylor s admirable discussion of 
 animism. It is in the skill and sagacity with which such illustrations are 
 introduced that one principal charm of Mr. Tylor s book consists. The 
 author asks us to admit nothing on priori evidence, for which irrefrag 
 able inductive proof cannot also be cited, and at every step he halts to 
 take his bearings, minutely scrutinizing the whole visible field. Ill track 
 ing the wilderness of primeval speculation, he is a guide no less safe than 
 delightful." JOHN FISKB, in the North American Review. 
 
 LIFE HISTORIES OF ANIMALS, INCLUDING MAN; or, 
 
 Outlines of Comparative Embryology. With numerous Illustrations. 
 1 vol. 8vo. Cloth, $2.50. 
 *** " An ample work of reference for advanced students." Tribune. 
 
 THE UNITY OF NATURAL PHENOMENA. An Introduction 
 to the Study of the Forces of Nature. Being a popular Explanation 
 of the Latest Discoveries in the Domain of Natural Science, including 
 the Correlation of Forces, Mode of Motion, Force of Gravity, and 
 Mutual Convertibility of the Forces of Nature. From the French of 
 EMILE SA.IGEY. \Vith Notes and an Introduction by Prof. T. MOSES, 
 of Urbaua University. 1 vol. Crown JSvo. $1.50. 
 
 A HAND-BOOK OF HARDY TREES, SHRUBS, and Herba 
 ceous Plants. Containing Descriptions, Native Countries, &c., of the 
 best species in cultivation; together with cultural details, comparative 
 hardiness, suitability for particular positions, &c., based on the French 
 work of DECAISNH and NAUDIN, of the Institute of France. By W. 
 B. HEMSLET; with an Introduction by EDWAED fc>. HAND, JR. 300 
 fine Illustrations. 1 vol. 8vo. 700pp. "$7.50. 
 
 TYLOR (E. B.). THE EARLY HISTORY OF MANKIND, 
 
 and Development of Civilization. By EDWARD B. TYL.OR, author of 
 " Primitive Culture," " Mexico and the Mexicans," &c. 1 vol, Svo. 
 $2.50. 
 
 WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW. Being the Anat 
 omy, Physiology, and Hygiene of the Human Reproductive Organs. 
 By Pro I . DUET G. WILDER, of Cornell University. 12mo. $1.50. 
 *** A careful and straightforward essay upon this important subject, by 
 (his distinguished naturalist, and one which is sure to attract great atten 
 tion. 
 
 For Sale at all the IBoolrstoi-es and Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid., to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, Ijy ir.STKS Sc XjA-TJliIA. r r, 3O-L Washing 
 ton. Street, Boston.
 
 Estes 6r Lauriafs Publications. Scientific. 
 
 HALF-HOUR RECREATIONS 
 
 In JPopular Science. "Vol. I. 
 
 Edited by DANA ESTES. 
 1 vol., Crown Svo., Cloth, with Index, $2.50. 
 
 %* The growing demand, in this country, for books on popular scienoe, 
 encouraged the editor and publishers to issue this series of papers, com 
 piled from the works of the most popular scientific writers. 
 
 1. Strange Discoveries respecting the Aurora and recent Solar 
 
 Researches. By RICIIARD A. PROCTOR, F. R. A. S. 
 
 2. Cranial Affinities of Man and the Ape. By Prof. RUDOLPH 
 
 VIRCHOW, of Berlin, author of " Cellular Pathology." Fully illus 
 trated. 
 
 3. Spectrum Analysis Explained, and its Uses to Science Illustrated. 
 
 With a Colored Plate and several Woodcuts. 
 
 4. Spectrum Analysis Discoveries, showing its application in Mi 
 
 croscopical Research, and to Discoveries of the Physical Constitution 
 and Movements of the Heavenly Bodies. From the works of Schelleu, 
 Young, Roscoe, Lockyer, Huggins, and others. 
 
 5. Nebulae, Meteoric Showers and Comets. 
 
 G. Unconscious Action of the Brain, and Epidemic Delusions, 
 
 By Dr. CARPENTER, author of the "Microscope and its Revelations," 
 " Human Physiology," &c. 
 
 7. Geology of the Stars. By Prof. A. WINCHELL, of the University of 
 
 Michigan, author of " Sketches of Creation." 
 
 8. On Yeast. By Prof. HUXLEY, F. R. S. 
 
 9. The Stone Age, Past and Present. By EDWARD B. TTLOR, author 
 
 of " Primitive Culture." 
 
 10. Origin of Metalliferous Deposits. By Prof. T. STERRY HUNT. 
 
 11. Coal as a Reservoir of Power, by ROBERT HUNT; and Atoms. 
 by Prof. CLIFFORD. 
 
 12. The Circulation of the Waters on the Face of the Earth. By 
 
 Prof. H. W. DOVE. 
 
 The above 12 Nos. sold separately. Price 25 cents each. 
 
 ITor Sale at all the Bookstores and Depots, and 
 Bent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by ESTES <Sc XjA-TJIil^-T, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estcs (Sr Lauriafs Publications. Scientific. 
 
 HALF-HOUR RECREATIONS 
 
 In IPopnlar Science. "V^ol. II. 
 
 Twelve Parts. 25 Cts. eacli. Twelve Consecutive Numbers, 
 
 making a Complete Volume, will be sent, postpaid, 
 
 as issued, oil receipt of $2.50. 
 
 We annex a list of some of the papers which appear in Vol. II. of the scries : 
 
 The Transmission oi Sound by the Atmosphere. By JOHN TVN- 
 
 DALL, F. 11. S. Gigantic Ciittle-Fish. By W. SAVILLE KENT, 
 
 F. L. S., of the Natural History Department of the British Museum. 
 
 The Glacial Epoch of our Globe. By ALEX. BRAUN. 
 
 The Sun and the Earth. By Prof. BALFOUK STEWART, F. R. S. 
 
 Force Electrically Fxhibited. By J. W. Phelps. 
 
 The Ice Age in Britain. By Prof. A. GEIKIE, F. 11. S. Causes 
 
 of the Degeneracy of th e Teeth. By Prof. HENRY S. CHASE. 
 The Great Pyramid of Egypt. Photography. 
 
 Plant Life in the Sea. By L. KNY. The Illumination of Bea 
 cons and Buoys. 
 
 Brain and Mind. By Prof. BURT G. WILDER, of Cornell University, 
 author of " What Young People Should Know." 
 
 SPECTRUM ANALYSIS EXPLAINED. An explanation of this 
 
 wonderful discovery, and its uses to science, including the received 
 Theory of Sound, Heat, Light, and Colov : with chapters on the Sun, 
 Stars, Nebulae, Comets, and Meteoric Showers. Abridged from the 
 works of Schellen, lloscoe, Hnggins, Lockyer, Young, and others, 
 by the editor of "Half-Hour Recreations in Popular Science." With 
 2 Colored Plates and 20 Illustrations. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 NORTH AMERICAN SYLVA; or, A Description of the Forest 
 Trees of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia. Containing all 
 the Trees discovered in the Rocky Mountains, in Oregon, down to the 
 shores of the Pacific, and into the confines of California, as well as in 
 various parts of the United States. Considered with respect to their 
 use in the Arts and their introduction into Commerce. By F. ANDREW 
 MICHAUX and THOMAS NUTTALL. Illustrated with 227 beautifully 
 colored Plates. 5 vols. Half morocco, gilt edge. Price $75.00. 
 
 STRUTT S SYLVA BRITANNIC A AND SCOTICA ; or, Por 
 traits of Forest Trees distinguished for their Antiquity, Magnitude, or 
 Beauty. Drawn from Nature and Etched by JACOB GEORGE STRUTT. 
 Imperial folio, comprising 50 very large and highly finished Etchings. 
 Half bound, morocco, extra, gilt edges. $45.00. 
 
 3Tor Sale at all the Bookstores and. Depots, and, 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on. receipt 
 of Price, by ESTES & L^TJRI^X, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estes <Sr Lauriafs Publications. Biography, 
 
 HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY, &c. 
 
 CAMPBELL S LIVES OF THE CHIEF JUSTICES OF ENG 
 LAND. Illustrated with Views of Westminster Hall, and Portraits of 
 the Justices. A new edition, printed on fine tinted paper, and bound 
 in bevel boards. 
 
 Cloth, lettered, 6 vols., Svo $21 00 
 
 Law sheep, " " 2G 00 
 
 Half calf, marbled edges, 6 vols., Svo .... 30 00 
 New edition, cloth, 4 vols., 12mo 8 00 
 
 MEMORIES OF WESTMINSTER HALL. A Collection of Inter 
 esting Incidents, Anecdotes, and Historical Sketches, relating to West 
 minster Hall, its famous Judges and Lawyers, and its Great Trials. 
 With an Historical Introduction by EDWAKD Foss, F. 11. S., author of 
 the "Lives of the Judges of England," &c. Handsomely Illustrated. 
 Superbly printed on tinted paper, and elegantly bound with bevelled 
 boards, uniform with the Svo edition of Campbell s Chief Justices. 
 2 vols. Svo. Cloth, $7.00. 
 
 ADVENTURES OF AN ATTORNEY in Search of Practice. By 
 Sir GEORGE STEPHEN. An amusing account of the mishaps, adven 
 tures, and difficulties experienced by a young attorney who made his 
 way in the world. 1 vol. Crown Svo. Cloth, $2.25. 
 
 CAMPBELL S LIVES OF THE LORD CHANCELLORS and 
 Kecpc -s of the Great Seal of England. From the Earliest Times till 
 the Reign of Victoria, including the Lives of Lords Lyndlmr st and 
 Brougham. Laid paper. Fully Illustrated. Bound uniform with the 
 Svo edition of the Lord Chief Justices. By the same author. 
 
 Cloth, bevelled, 10 vols $35 00 
 
 Law sheep, " " 45 00 
 
 Half calf, extra GO 00 
 
 FAMOUS CASES OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. With 
 an Introduction on the Theory of Presumptive Proof. By S. M. PHIL 
 LIPS, author of "Phillips on Evidence." Second edition, revised and 
 greatly enlarged. 1vol. Svo. Cloth, $3.00. 
 
 ERSKINE S SPEECHES. The Speeches of Lord Erskinc, while at 
 the Bar. Reprinted from the 5-volume Svo edition of 1810. With a 
 Memoir and Notes. By EDWARD WALFORD, M. A. 2 vols. Svo. 
 Portrait. Cloth, $7.50. 
 
 MEMOIR OF THOMAS, FIRST LORD DENMAN, formerly 
 Lord Chief Justice of England. By Sir JOSEPH AKNOULD, late 
 Judge of the High Court of Bombay. Published uniform with 
 Campbell s Lives of the Chief Justices, and making volumes live and 
 six of the Series. 
 
 2 volumes, Svo, tinted paper, cloth, bevelled . . . $7 00 
 
 " " " sheep 9 00 
 
 " " " half calf 12 00 
 
 For Sale at all the Booltstores and Depots, and 
 Bent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by ESTKS & L-A.Ultl-A.T, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estes 6 Lauriafs Publications. Miscellaneoris. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 ROBINSON CRUSOE, Life and Adventures of. With a Biographical 
 Account of DE FOE. Illustrated with 12 characteristic Engravings. 
 Uniform with "Pilgrim s Progress" and "Swiss Family llohinson." 
 1 vol. Crown Svo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON ; or, Adventures on a Desert Island. 
 Uniform with "Robinson Crusoe "and "Pilgrim s Progress." With 
 Illustrations. 1 vol. Crown Svo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 PILGRIM S PROGRESS. Large Type, with fine Illustrations by 
 Dalziel Brothers. Uniform with " Swiss Family Robinson," " Robin 
 son Crusoe," " Arabian Nights." 1vol. Crown 8vo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT; or, The Thousand 
 
 and One Nights. Uniform with "Pilgrim s Progress," "Robinson 
 Crusoe," " Swiss Family Robinson." 1vol. Crown Svo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 THE AMERICAN STATE AND AMERICAN STATESMEN. 
 
 By WILLIAM GILES Dix. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 *** Consisting of Essays on the following 1 subjects: Charles Sumner; 
 Senators and States; The British Parliament; The American Congress; 
 Christianity the Inspirer of Nations; Materialism the Curse of America; 
 America a Christian Power ; Abraham Lincoln ; Origin of the Empire of 
 North America; National Unity the Source of Authority; National Sover 
 eignty ; Arc the United States a Nation ? 
 
 CURRAN S SPEECHES. The Speeches of John Philpot Cm-ran, 
 while at the Bar. With a Portrait, Memoir, and Introductory Notes. 
 Edited by J. A. L. WHITTIEB, Esq. 1 vol. 8vo. Tinted paper. 
 Cloth, $3.50. 
 
 PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE OF CHARLES KNIGHT, 
 
 Publisher, Author, and Leader in the Work of Popular Education ; 
 Editor of the "Penny Encyclopaedia," "The Libraries of Useful and 
 Entertaining Knowledge," and "The Popular History of England." 
 Revised and slightly abridged from the English edition. Large 12mo. 
 500 pp. Cloth extra, $2.50. 
 
 For Sale at all the Bookstores and IDepots, and 
 eent, postpaid, to any part of the World, on receipt 
 of Price, by IGSTP^S & XjA.TJftI^T, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estcs r Lauriafs Publications. A T ovcls. 
 
 NOVELS. 
 
 THACKERAY (W. M.) WORKS. The Kensington Edition. Coin- 
 plctc in Twelve volumes. Crown 8 vo. Cloth, $21.00. 
 
 1. Vanity Fair. 
 
 2. The History of Pcndennis, 
 
 3. The Newcomes. 
 
 4. Esmond and Barry Lyndon. 
 
 5. The Virginians. 
 
 6. The Adventures of Philip. To which is prefixed a SHABBY GEN 
 TEEL STOUT. 
 
 7- Paris, Irish, and Eastern Sketches. 
 
 Paris Sketch Book. | Irish Sketch Book. | Cornhill to Cairo. 
 
 8. Hogarty Diamomd, Yellowplush Papers, and Burlesques. 
 
 The Great Ilogarty Diamond. 
 Yellowplush Papers. 
 Novels by Eminent Hands. 
 Jcamcs s Diary. 
 Adventures of Major Gahagan. 
 
 A Legend of the Rhine. 
 Rebecca and Rowcna. 
 The History of the next French 
 Cox s Diary. [Revolution. 
 
 The Fatal Boots. 
 
 9. The Book of Snobs, and Sketches of Life and Character. 
 
 The Book of Snobs. 
 
 Sketches and Travels in London. 
 
 Character Sketches. 
 
 Men s Wives. 
 
 The Fitzboodle Papers. 
 
 The Bedford Row Conspiracy. 
 
 A Little Dinner at Timmins s. 
 
 10. Roundabout Papers and Lectures. 
 
 Roundabout Papers. I The English Humorists of the 
 
 The Four Georges. | Eighteenth Century. 
 
 The Second Funeral of .Napoleon. 
 
 It. Catherine, <fec. 
 
 Catherine. I Dennis Duval. The Wolves and the Lamb. 
 
 Lovel, the Widower. | Ballads. Critical Reviews. 
 
 Little Travels. 
 
 12. Christmas Books. 
 
 Mrs. Perkins s Ball. I Our Street. 
 
 Dr. Birch. The Kieklcburys on the Rhine. 
 
 The Rose and the Rimr. 
 
 ITor Sale at all tlie TBoolcstores and Depots, arid 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Price, by ESTKlSJ &c Jj^UltLA/r, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston,
 
 Estes & Lauriafs Publications. New Editions. 
 
 NEW EDITIONS. 
 
 NORMANDY PICTURESQUE. By HENBY BLACKBURN. Illus 
 trated. 
 
 ARTISTS AND ARABS. By HENRY BLACKBURN. Illustrated. 
 WORDS OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES PARTON. 
 FAMILIAR LETTERS FROM EUROPE. By C. C. FELTON. 
 
 HAMILTON S (GAIL) WORKS. 16mo. 
 
 Country Living and Country Thinking. 
 
 Gala Days. 
 
 Stumbling-Blocks. 
 
 A New Atmosphere. 
 
 Skirmishes and Sketches. 
 
 Summer Rest. 
 
 Wool-Gathering. 
 
 Woman s Wrongs. 
 
 Sermons to the Clergy. 
 
 First Love is Best. 
 
 THE FOLK-LORE OF ROME. Collected by "Word of Mouth from 
 the People. By K. H. BUSK, author of " Patransas," " Sagas from the 
 Far East," &c. "With Index. 1 vol. Crown 8vo. $2.50. 
 
 MEETING THE SUN. A Journey all Around the World, through 
 Egypt, China, Japan, and California, including an account of the Mar 
 riage Ceremonies of the Emperor of China. By WILLIAM SIMPSON, 
 F. R. G. S., Member of Soc. Bib. Archaeology. With about 50 Ilelio- 
 types and Illustrations engraved on Wood, from Original Drawings by 
 the author. 1 vol. Svo. Cloth, $4.50. 
 
 For Sale at all the Bookstores and Depots, and 
 sent, postpaid, to any part of the "World, on receipt 
 of Frice, Toy ESTES & LA-TIRI^-T, 3O1 Washing 
 ton Street, Boston.
 
 Estes 6 Lauriafs Publications. Subscription Books. 
 
 SUBSCRIPTION BOOKS. 
 
 GTJIZOT S 
 
 POPULAR 
 
 HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 
 
 From the Earliest Times to the Eeign of Victoria. 
 
 BY :&_ O-TJIZOT., 
 
 Author of "A History of Civilization," "Popular History of France," 
 &c., &c. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY F. MOT THOMAS, 
 And magnificently Illustrated with Steel Plates and Woodcuts, by 
 
 A. DE NEUVILLE, EMILE BAYARD, LEYENDECKER, 
 
 SIR JOHN GILBERT, RIOU, WEBER, 
 
 A. MARIE, STAAL, AND OTHERS. 
 
 |3P To be published uniform with the " Popular History of France." 
 
 Thirty-six Parts, paper cover .... I $18 00 
 
 Four vols., cloth extra, gilt side 22 00 
 
 full library sheep, marbled edges 26 00 
 
 half calf, gilt extra, marbled edges .... 30 00 
 
 half morocco extra, marbled edges .... 30 00 
 
 full morocco, gilt edges 40 00 
 
 full tree calf, gilt edges 40 00 
 
 *)!,* The publishers offer this work confidently believing that it will ac 
 quire the position attained by the " History of France," by the same author, 
 and be acknowledged as 
 
 The Standard History of England. 
 
 The well-known eminence and impartiality of the great historian, and the 
 sumptuous style in which the work will be produced, will insure it a wel 
 come by all lovers of good literature and art. 
 
 _ __ Sale to Subscribers only, and sent, postpaid, 
 to any part of the "World, on receipt of 3?rice, by 
 ESTES & LA.TJKI-A. l?, ISTo. 3O1 "Washington Street, 
 Boston.
 
 Estes r Lauriafs Publications. Subscription Books. 
 
 THE GLOBE ENCYCLOPEDIA 
 
 OF UNIVERSAL INFORMATION. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN M. ROSS, LL.D., 
 
 Senior Master of English Literature, High School of Edinburgh ; for 
 merly Assistant Editor of "Chambers Encyclopaedia; " with a 
 numerous and able Staff of Contributors. 
 
 %* (1.) The Globe Encyclopaedia will contain articles on a greater num 
 ber and variety of subjects than any previous work of the same character. 
 
 (2.) Though these articles will, in general, be very condensed, every 
 particular essential to a proper understanding of the subject will be given ; 
 and where space is absolutely required, the new Encyclopaedia will be as 
 complete in treatment as much larger works. 
 
 (3.) In all the more important departments of knowledge, the Globe En 
 cyclopaedia will not only furnish the results of the most exact and solid 
 research, but it will also seek to carry out more thoroughly than any of its 
 predecessors the practice of referring to the best authorities on the subjects 
 discussed or described. 
 
 (4.) The meaning of names of places, &c., always interesting and often 
 suggestive, will be given with a fulness, and, it is believed, with an accu 
 racy, not hitherto attempted. 
 
 (5.) Special attention will be bestowed upon the language, literature, and 
 history of the English Nation, its Colonies and Dependencies. 
 
 (6.) The most recent statistics regarding the population, agriculture, 
 commerce, and social condition of foreign countries, will be given, so that 
 the Globe Encyclopaedia, as the latest work of the kind, will necessarily 
 prove of the most useful. 
 
 (7.) The articles in the scientific departments c. g., Medicine, Chem 
 istry, Natural History, and Botany will be in accordance with the best 
 and latest teaching on these subjects. 
 
 Forty-eight Parts, paper covers $24 00 
 
 Six volumes, quarto, cloth 30 00 
 
 " full library, sheep 36 00 
 
 " " " half morocco, extra 42 00 
 
 " " " calf . 42 00 
 
 3Tor Sale to Subscribers only, ancl sent, postpaid, 
 to any part of tlie "World, on. receipt of Price, by 
 TCSTES <Sc L^OJJRLA.T , No. 3O1 Washington Street, 
 Boston.
 
 Estes &* Lauriafs Publication?. Subscription Books. 
 
 The PICTURES* 
 
 Or, Scenes in Many Lands. 
 
 Unsurpassed in Interest and Beauty of Illustration by any "Work ever 
 
 offered to the American public. It will be profusely Illustrated 
 
 with more than 
 
 One Hundred Steel Engravings, 
 
 AND OVER EIGHT HUNDRED OF THE FINEST SPECIMENS OF 
 WOOD ENGRAVING 
 
 Which have ever been produced in any countiy. These Illustrations arc 
 from designs and paintings by the very best European and American artists, 
 among whom may be mentioned the following : 
 
 GUSTAVE DORE, SIR CHAS. EASTLAKE, R. A., 
 
 ALPH. DE NEUVILLE, W. H. BARTLETT, 
 LEOPOLD FLAMING, J. STARK, R. A., 
 
 GIACOMELLI, KAULBACH, 
 
 ANASTASI, WEBER, 
 
 FRANCAIS, WERNER, 
 
 DAUBIGNY, HERTEL, 
 
 FOULQUIER, GERMANN BOHN, 
 
 LANCELOT, J. M. HART, 
 
 DE LA CHARLEVIE, GRANVILLE PERKINS, 
 
 BROCKEDON, J. D. WOODWARD, 
 
 BATTY, THOMAS MORAN, 
 
 STRUTT, GEORGE L. BROWN, 
 
 And others of equal merit and distinction. 
 It will be prepared under the editorship of 
 
 LEO DE COLANGE, LL.D., 
 
 Editor Zcll s Popular Encyclopaedia and Dictionaiy, &c. The work will 
 be published in forty to forty-eight serial parts, at 50 eta. each. 
 
 ITor Sale to Subscribers only, and sent, postpaid, 
 to any part of the World, on receipt of Price, "by 
 KSTES Sc LA.TJKI.A/.r, JSTo. 3O1 Washington Street, 
 XJoston.
 
 Estcs &* Lauriafs Publications. Subscription Books. 
 
 (PICTOUIAL EDITION.) 
 
 Illustrated with 340 Woodcuts and 30 Full-Page Plates. 
 By Sir JOHN GILBERT, A. R. A. 
 
 Together with Illustrations on Steel, from Pictures by 
 
 C. TV. COPE, R. A., E. M. WARD. R. A., 
 
 W. P. FRITH, R. A., C. CLINT, A. R. A., 
 
 LESLIE, R. A., H. S. MARKS, A. R. A., 
 
 MACLISE, R. A., W. Q. OKCIIARDSON, A. R. A., 
 
 And Others. 
 
 ** The text adopted in the present edition is that recently revised by 
 Mr. CHARLES KNIGHT, who, thirty years ago, issued the first number of 
 his Pictorial Edition of Shakspere. As a "Labor of Love," the work 
 grew under his hands, and on its completion, in England and America, it 
 was universally admitted to be the best edition of the works of Shakspcre, 
 and one of the noblest contributions to the literature of the day. Thor 
 o uglily familiar with all that has been added to our knowledge of the poet s 
 writings, Mr. Knight undertook a revision of his original work. By a col 
 lation of the early editions of the separate plays which are in various pub 
 lic and private collections, he has been enabled to produce 
 
 The Most Accurate Text of Shakspere Extant. 
 
 The size of this edition, being two volumes Royal Octavo, will keep it 
 within the range of the bookcase, as well as render it a handsome addition 
 to books for the drawing-room table, and it is believed to be the cheapest 
 finely illustrated edition ever offered the public. 
 
 In addition to the carefully edited text, and beautiful illustrations, it will 
 contain a full GLOSSARIAL INDEX, and 
 
 Charles Knight s Complete Notes, 
 
 reprinted from the last London edition, without alteration or abridgment, 
 thus making it invaluable to the student, as well as an ornament to the 
 library. 
 The work will be published in thirty-six serial parts, at 50 cts. each. 
 
 For Sale to Subscribers only, and sent, postpaid, 
 to any part of the "World, on receipt of Price, l>y 
 ESTES & ZjA-TIKI^Vr, No. 3O1 Washington Street 
 Boston.
 
 DEC 1 2 1985
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL L BRARYFACIUTY 
 
 A 000 569 464 1