, 
 
 
 
 CHIP. Imm> IOS
 
 PROFESSOR 
 
 A STORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SOCIAL AND 
 POLITICAL LIFE. 
 
 BT 
 
 HOX. L. S. HUNTINGTON, Q.C., 
 
 (LATE POSTMASTER-GENERAL OF CANADA, <fcc., &o., Ac.) 
 
 It Is not that I adulate the people ; 
 Without me there are demagogues enough. 
 And infidels to pull down every steeple. 
 And set up In their stead some common stuff. 
 * * I do not know I wish men to be free. 
 As much from mobs as kings from you as me. 
 
 LORD BTBON. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 H. WORTHIXGTON, 770 BROADWAY. 
 
 1884.
 
 CoFTPIGHT, 1884, 
 
 BY B. WORTHINGTON.
 
 TO 
 
 PROFESSOR GOLDWIN SMITH, D.C.L., 
 
 | glcbitate ibis little Storg, 
 
 BT PERMISSION, 
 
 AS A. TRIBT7TE OF RESPECT FOR HIS GREAT REFUTATION 
 AB 
 
 AN EMINENT PUBLICIST, 
 
 AN ACUTE AND LIBERAL THINKER, 
 
 AND A ERELLIAXT WRITER, 
 
 AND AS A TOKEN OF 
 
 PERSONAL ESTEEM AND FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 153 W. 46TH ST., 
 
 NEW TORE, APRIL, 1384. 
 
 2130178
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE characters that flit along these pages were 
 pleasant companions of the author's enforced seclusion 
 during the weeks in which they were written. Some of 
 them should be careful thinkers in their various walks 
 of life; and they should all be good talkers, for they 
 are well instructed and they have seen the world. Their 
 discussions are, of course, cursory, for they pick up 
 topics and lay them down again, in rapid succession. 
 If we listen sometimes to an enthusiast, a cool conserva- 
 tive is at hand to reply. The author assumes only the 
 role of a reporter, and the public will judge if he does 
 his work well. He is not responsible for what his char- 
 acters say, but only for giving them the opportunity to 
 say it. 
 
 Their loves and exultations, their griefs and perils, 
 the modest " talks," in which they discuss their plans, 
 and their theories of religious, political and social life 
 became strangely real to him who wrote. The story 
 ceases to be fiction when the great English Lord is 
 found at the feet of the American girl, and when the 
 great English scholar pursues his inquiries among 
 Massachusetts farmers and generally studies Democ- 
 racy as the countries of America are teaching it. We 
 must all learn that lesson, kings and people, or suffer
 
 iv PREFACE. 
 
 for not comprehending it. Carlyle says : " Universal 
 Democracy, whatever we may think of it, has declared 
 itself, as an inevitable fact of the days in which we 
 live," and a greater than Carlyle has ordained that to 
 study the loves of men and women is to court enchant- 
 ment and infatuation. 
 
 The author has thus woven a little romance with 
 characters English, American and Colonial, and has 
 ventured thereby to suggest that fealty to Liberty which 
 Society should exact from those who love and would 
 maintain political freedom ; in the faith, that the more 
 nearly England and America are drawn together in every 
 relation which promotes human happiness, the better 
 service will they render mankind.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A DINNER AT THE TOWER OF LONDON. 1 
 
 II. LORDS AND LADIES 5 
 
 III. BLOOD is THICKER THAN WATER 12 
 
 IV. THE PLOT THICKENS 25 
 
 V. THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LORD 33 
 
 VI. A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACHS 47 
 
 VII. THE JOLLIEST TRIP EVER PROJECTED 62 
 
 VIII. GOING DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS 68 
 
 IX. ALL WENT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL 77 
 
 X. COMING INTO THE TRACK OF A STORM 88 
 
 XI. DE LUYNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS 97 
 
 XII. AVE SANCTISSIMA Ill 
 
 XIII. WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS ? 127 
 
 XIV. THE KING OF TERRORS 141 
 
 XV. DE LUYNES HONORED IN DEATH 156 
 
 XVI. THE FLAGS BLEND WITH GRACEFUL HARMONY 171 
 
 XVII. THE JESUIT AND THE ORANGEMAN 183 
 
 XVIII. THE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON 190 
 
 XIX. WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS 203 
 
 XX. THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA 227 
 
 XXI. HOMEWARD BOUND 250 
 
 XXII. THINE AND MINE 255 
 
 XXIII. THE BRITISH LION FONDLES THE PROFESSOR 273 
 
 XXIV. GATHERING IN THE THREADS 280 
 
 XXV. Nous VERRONS.. . . 290
 
 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 A DINNER AT THE TOWER OF LONDON. 
 
 "On, the fool !" said Tom Conant, "to sell himself to 
 Hymen for an ugly woman and two thousand a year. 
 "Why not have gone to America, where, I am told, pretty 
 women abound, handsome and rich too, by Jove, who are 
 crying their eyes out for foreigners of high birth ?" 
 
 "Not so fast, young man," replied the person ad- 
 dressed, " she was a pretty girl and is a most interesting 
 woman ; I only thought her a little exacting, and that 
 George was somewhat under restraint. Pray, don't 
 quote me as an authority if you are to say these naughty 
 things. Mrs. George is a prophetess as well as an 
 heiress, and there are little birds to carry, far into the 
 North, the story of our confabulating here. I'll wager 
 you that when we next meet her she will wear an odd 
 smile of contempt for our opinions." 
 
 " Nonsense, Edgar, I am too much in earnest to heed 
 your badinage. Poor Wallace is the type of a class ; a 
 brave soldier, an impecunious gentleman, beloved by 
 his friends and crazed by the usurers. He wins the 
 usual distinctions of a fast life debts and other doubt- 
 ful things, and then he sells out and marries." 
 
 "Well, Tom, that seems to me better than suicide. 
 1 1
 
 2 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 If George might have done better he might have done 
 worse ; and, after all, the bonnie bride may even run 
 more risk than her Lord. My sojourn was very pleasant 
 in Scotland ; but the Scotch are a canny, clannish people. 
 It was my first visit, and they could scarcely understand 
 my early neglect of their country. ' Did I know,' they 
 asked, ' when I first stepped foot in Glasgow, that I was 
 in the second city of the Empire? And what had I 
 thought when I saw the crowds pouring towards George's 
 Square ?' I bethought me of the Cockney's answer, but 
 I dared not repeat it. What did I think? Why, I 
 thought what numbers of Scotchmen there are still to 
 come South !" Tom laughed. 
 
 " That's a good joke. But, if you put it in a book, only 
 London Scotchmen will understand it. I will not quote 
 the familiar slander about a surgical operation ; but 
 look at his Lordship now, to come near home, and tell 
 me if you think he would take it in ! " 
 
 " Ah, no," replied Col. Lyons, " his Lordship never 
 laughs at anything Scotch. He told me himself that he 
 thought Dean Ramsay's ' Reminiscences ' an utter waste 
 of powder and shot. But he's no fool, though he is 
 peculiar. I believe, like Dundreary, he might be still 
 in doubt as to whether a certain nondescript young 
 lady likes cheese ; but he's a good fellow, all the same, 
 and now he comes " 
 
 A tall, slight man with an uncertain gait and a nervous 
 manner approached the group. He was reserved but 
 gentle, and you saw that he was welcome and among 
 friends. 
 
 "Is Tom in mischief to-night as usual?" he asked, 
 good humoredly ; but he was only answered with a laugh 
 and a protest from Capt. Conant.
 
 A DINNER AT THE TOWER OF LONDON. 3 
 
 Lord Bolton was older than his companions, though 
 still in the freshness and vigor of life. He never talked 
 of his age ; he never encouraged others to speak of it. 
 He might regret the days of his early youth, or he 
 might dread the knowledge of good and evil that comes 
 with years. Dr. Blair somewhere remarks that "at 
 thirty a man suspects himself a fool, at forty he knows 
 it." My Lord never enlightens you about his suspi- 
 cions. "Don't speak of birthdays," he would say, 
 "their admonitions are unpleasant." 
 
 His finely formed head was " silvered o'er," but you 
 knew it was not the frost of age ; and, if his pleasing 
 face seemed a little weary, you saw it was still young, 
 and had not been worn with years of labor. He spoke, 
 at first, with a slight lisp, and with a diffident manner ; 
 but he had been known to display earnestness, and at 
 times eloquence. His perceptions were not quick, but 
 his good sense was proverbial. Perhaps his sayings 
 would pass into proverbs more readily than those of 
 humbler folk. Some of his young friends were critical, 
 and they found him a laggard in love and slow to inter- 
 pret a joke. All this may change as we see and hear 
 more of him. His associates might differ as to his 
 eccentricities, but he had a kindly word for them all. 
 
 Our friends are guests of Col. Lyons, of the 
 
 Guards, whose regiment had been lately detailed for 
 garrison duty at the old Tower of London. A party of 
 young officers and their friends have assembled and are 
 awaiting dinner in the mess-room, once sacred to the 
 sorrows of great prisoners of State. On the walls 
 around might still be seen lines traced by the delicate 
 hand of the Lady Jane Grey, in the dismal solitude of 
 her last imprisonment.
 
 4 PROFESSOR CONAXT. 
 
 The great fortress slept, with all her landmarks and 
 trophies, her memories of generations of cruelty, and 
 the contests now glorious, anon reeking with infamy- 
 through which the fabric of British liberty was built up. 
 
 The place calls up many reminiscences to-night, for 
 the Lord High Constable is among the guests, but few 
 of them are contemplating the past. The speculations 
 of the antiquaries, if there be any among the present 
 gathering, are not concerned with the early morning 
 of history. Contemplation may come with the morrow ; 
 just now the guests are drowning thought in their 
 happy revels, and their boisterous laughter provokes no 
 echo of remonstrance, or reproach from the illustrious 
 shadows that have so long hovered over the mysteries 
 of the Tower.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LOEDS AND LADIES. 
 
 THE painter in oil and the sculptor in marble produce 
 the form, the pose, perhaps even the expression of 
 features, which it is only left for the word-painter to 
 describe. 
 
 The mass of men think so much by images that they 
 need a palpable figure, a material copy, to create an im- 
 pression, while the word-painter seldom achieves more 
 than the musical jingle of his words. The advantages 
 are reversed when we come to describe qualities instead 
 of things ; the spiritual, instead of the material, agen- 
 cies of being ; not because the word-picture is perfect, 
 but because art cannot scan the domain of the imma- 
 terial, nor, within it, can she " hold nature up to na- 
 ture's God." And yet, it does not follow that one 
 should never paint in words what can be photographed 
 by the sun. Enough may be fairly deduced to shorten 
 many pen-and-ink sketches, and perhaps lighten the 
 labor, and sometimes even the sin, of many readers ; 
 some of whom weary over much description, and others, 
 alas ! wickedly vault it altogether. 
 
 Tom Conant was the son of an Oxford professor of 
 distinction, who had lately added to a life of scholastic 
 honors the dignities of a member of Her Majesty's 
 House of Commons. He was an author of repute, and 
 a gentleman of undoubted culture and bonhomie. Though 
 he still loved his Alma Mater, and maintained his
 
 6 PROFESSOR CON ANT. 
 
 nominal connection with her, he was an ardent Liberal, 
 and gave the best powers of his well-stored mind to his 
 country's service. A " young member," as the phrase 
 goes, he had taken high position in the House, and his 
 learning and industry had been recognized by the 
 appointment to many chairmanships, while his careful 
 and intelligent discussion of questions relating to the 
 higher work of administration was rapidly increasing 
 his influence both in the House and the country. 
 
 Tom was his father's especial weakness. He was 
 proud of the boy's fine qualities, and he knew better 
 than Tom dreamed about his faults, which he regarded 
 as venial, and which he said " Tom would manage 
 in time." " The boy is his mother's son," he would 
 say, " full of nervous energy and faith. He is gener- 
 ous, and perhaps extravagant, but look at what tempta- 
 tions he has in the Guards. He will have sown his 
 wild oats at a younger age than most boys ; yet he has 
 not sown them very thick, if I know him truly. I 
 believe he has kept few secrets from me. Dear me ! 
 Tom will be a man soon. He is twenty-two, if he is a 
 day." 
 
 Tom, on the other hand, was passionately fond of his 
 father. The two were often, so to speak, confidential 
 when they were alone together but when the world 
 was about them, they were men. Did they dream what 
 labors and triumphs each would yet sustain in the 
 other's life ? 
 
 Lord Bolton was heir to a peer of the realm. His 
 ancestors were with "William the Conqueror errone- 
 ously so-called, because he only conquered the usurper, 
 Harold and negotiated terms with the nation whose 
 laws he swore to maintain. My Lord never knew what
 
 LORDS AJ\D LADIES. f 
 
 had been the station of his great progenitor under the 
 Norman monarch. It was enough that he " came over," 
 and, for the rest, he might have been prince or beggar. 
 His family had been ennobled, and, on one side or 
 other, had served England bravely in all her great 
 struggles of war or peace. His grandfather had been a 
 favorite of George the Fourth, and his father was at one 
 time Prime Minister of England. On his mother's side 
 had descended the glories of Blenheim in that direct 
 family-line which for nigh two hundred years has ab- 
 sorbed the national benefactions. His ample estates 
 testified to his substantial lineage, and he was to inherit 
 his father's boundless wealth, including his " cattle on 
 a thousand hills." What need my Lord care for wits, 
 their jokes or their methods? If he was sometimes 
 dull, might he not be a patron, and in his train have a 
 retinue of punsters and poets and painters? What 
 could be denied him, this great Lord, with his mighty 
 name and his vast possessions ? True, the times might 
 change ; they were changing. One could submit to 
 competition from a Rothschild, though the finger-marks 
 of commerce were seen on his doors. A Lord Mayor 
 might be forgiven ducal splendors, for he rules over 
 millions and speaks with the voice of the law. But 
 Commerce levels all things. The costermonger of 
 to-day may be His Grace the Duke de Chemin-de-fer of 
 the near decade ; even now, wealth has no monopoly of 
 rank, for the commonest people are invested with it ; 
 and with all this distribution of wealth, titles them- 
 selves may lose prestige in England. 
 
 " They must be a strange people in America," said 
 my Lord, " if one may judge from the Americans I have 
 met in my travels. They love titles there, I am told,
 
 8 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 though they are growing to be debatable blessings at 
 home. One might do worse than go across. I am 
 going to America, Tom," said my Lord. "Will you 
 come ? " 
 
 Tom did not suppress any involuntary surprise as he 
 answered : " Thanks ! That would be jolly, indeed ; but 
 I must first see my father, and will you bid me try and 
 persuade him to join us ? He needs rest." 
 
 " All right," said my Lord, as if he had been a rail- 
 way guard, and not the titled possessor of millions. 
 
 That night, before Tom retired, he sought his father, 
 and pressed him to be one of Lord Bolton's party. 
 
 "I really need the rest, Tom," said the Professor, 
 " and I have not been in America these ten years. The 
 pleasure of going with you, my boy, would be an addi- 
 tional incentive." 
 
 " Thanks, father," Tom answered gayly ; " Bolton is 
 of the salt of the earth, say what they will about him. 
 I was annoyed by an ill-natured remark of Fred Cuth- 
 bert to-night," continued Tom ; " Bolton will fulfil his 
 mission in life," Fred had said. "How's that?" I 
 asked, half absently. " He will prove that talent is not 
 hereditary," was the rejoinder. 
 
 " Fred will not prove that it is," said the professor, 
 dryly, " if he pretend^ to inherit his gifts from Sir John 
 Cuthbert." 
 
 Tom Conant went to Brighton to spend the Sunday 
 with his mother and some friends. They had just re- 
 turned from church where a great New York preacher 
 had much interested and a little disturbed them. 
 
 " You see," said Tom, " the theme was grand, and the 
 discourse was full of noble thoughts, presented with 
 the skill of a master ; but there was a vein of levity
 
 LORDS AND LADIES. 9 
 
 here and there, which we don't look for in the pulpit 
 One felt there was a charm which one ought to resist. 
 Sometimes I wanted to cheer. Do you remember that 
 story of the old woman who heard the Choral Litany 
 for the first time, and who said it was ' sweet, but it was 
 an awful way to spend the Sabbath ? ' ' 
 
 " Yes," said Tom's mother, " we are accustomed to a 
 certain solemnity in the treatment of sacred things. 
 But vivacity gives warmth and life, and the preacher, 
 no doubt, finds great wealth of illustration in the most 
 familiar fields. There ought to be a via media between 
 the humdrum and the sensational. Worship is an act 
 of adoration ; it is emotional as well as reverent. I like 
 Doctor Elmwood, and have invited him and his niece to 
 lunch with us. The young lady is shy, but you will 
 find the Doctor an intelligent and interesting man." 
 
 " Whew ! " thought Tom, " An American girl ! " But 
 he answered, " Yes, mother, I am sure I shall be de- 
 lighted to meet him." So saying, Tom kissed his 
 mother, and retired to his room. 
 
 " I wonder what she is like," he soliloquized, " this 
 American niece of an American parson ! " And striding 
 up and down his room, he hummed to a pensive air : 
 
 " Or soft black eyes, or melting blue, 
 Which has the darling of the two?" 
 
 Tom Conant had not lost the freshness of his boy- 
 hood, though he had come to man's estate. Without 
 being a great scholar he was well educated, both by 
 study and travel. He had taken a respectable position 
 both at school and college, even a brilliant one, 
 wherever hard knocks could ba dispensed with, and 
 native talent pulled him through.
 
 10 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 His fatter, who had been a great worker, had been 
 willing to spare the son the drudgery he had endured ; 
 and if he had not altogether approved Tom's choice 
 of the army, he had seen in it a relief from the unre- 
 mitting strain of his own occupations. " Tom's tastes 
 do not lead him my way," he said, "and without love for 
 the work, the burden of it would be intolerable." And 
 so the son was left to be what we have found him, an ac- 
 complished, generous, impulsive young man of the world. 
 
 America had been to Tom the usual terra incognita of 
 Britons. The geography of the New World he had been 
 taught, but its people he had never seen; moreover, 
 what he had read was generally inconsistent, and very 
 often uncomplimentary. He knew they were fifty mil- 
 lions a multitudinous people. They had lately emerg- 
 ed from a great war, with a million of men in arms. 
 But the Chinese had numbers, and the society-journals 
 were discussing the points of resemblance between them 
 and his cousins across the sea. 
 
 Notwithstanding the humors of the critics, he re- 
 membered that the people of this mysterious western 
 land were but an offshoot of the old stock Britons 
 modified, if not improved ; and he had a profound re- 
 gard for their history and their achievements. But, at 
 the present moment, it was not with Tom a question of 
 vital or political statistics. He would look into graver 
 questions later. If the truth must be told, Tom, to- 
 day, was neither natural nor characteristic. But we 
 all have had moods we could not explain, and our 
 follies, even consciously to ourselves, have had a begin- 
 ning. Had the new preacher so impressed him, or was 
 he surrendering to the young American girl, whom he 
 had not seen ?
 
 LORDS AND LADIES. H 
 
 Tom's thoughts pursued him in his dreams. He dared 
 not acknowledge to himself how often his imagination 
 had woven fascinating visions, which might be no longer 
 myths, now that this little stranger had come across 
 the sea. How did he know she was little ? His mother 
 had said she was shy ; that was all he knew about her. 
 If she was shy, she ought to be young. And was she 
 pretty ? Was she his fate, and should he hate her ? 
 She could not be rich, but he did not care for that. 
 
 He awoke and shortly after rose, exclaiming to him- 
 self, " What a fool I am !"
 
 CHAPTEB III. 
 
 BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. 
 
 "A ROAST of beef and entremets" comprised what 
 Mrs. Conant called her " quiet Sunday dinner." The 
 Professor, as Mrs. Conant explained to Dr. Elmwood, 
 had been unwillingly detained in London. Tom shared 
 the honors with his mother ; on his right hand sat Miss 
 Agnes Winthrop, of Boston, a young lady of seventeen 
 summers, who was passing her last year at school on 
 the Continent, and at present was spending her vacation 
 in England with friends. 
 
 There was nothing very different from other young 
 ladies to be noted in Miss Winthrop's appearance. She 
 was a tall and graceful blonde, a charming girl, with a 
 bright, intelligent face, a cheery voice and winning man- 
 ners ; and her large, laughing eyes, fringed by long, 
 dark lashes, and a smile of indescribable sweetness with 
 which she welcomed or entertained you, denoted qual- 
 ities of uncommon gentleness, while in other respects 
 you were impressed as if in the presence of one whose 
 character would develop unusual strength. 
 
 She was not "shy," as Mrs. Conant had described 
 her or, perhaps, we should say she was not timid. 
 By nature she seemed to be equal to great things ; 
 but, at the first meeting, neither Tom nor the young 
 lady was free from embarrassment. 
 
 Are these young people thus distrait and self-conscious 
 because, though strangers, they have dreamed of each 
 12
 
 BLOOD IS THICKER TITAN WATER. 13 
 
 other ? TVho shall fix the metes and bounds of common 
 sense, beyond which the extravagance of romance shall 
 not wander, or make plain the mysteries which regulate 
 the dreams of young and inexperienced hearts ? 
 
 Mrs. Conant was an English gentlewoman, and seemed 
 more like the sister than the mother of Tom, who was her 
 only son. She had followed three children, a son and 
 two daughters, to the grave. Perhaps this experience 
 had cast a tinge of sadness over her earnest and expres- 
 sive face, which was more comely than beautiful, but, 
 when lighted by the glow of sympathy, was full of charm. 
 There are those whose whole character is expressed by 
 a look or a smile, who seem to invite your confidence at 
 first sight, and promise you the interest and friendship 
 which might fitly have been born of years. You see the 
 soul in the eyes, and you knoAV its gentleness and purity 
 by a magnetic intuition which you can feel but cannot 
 explain. You wonder how, all these years, you have 
 lived without knowing these people ; and life seems 
 warmer and richer when you have met them. Bound by 
 the tenderest ties, they have room in their hearts for a 
 sympathy which is universal. If one is wrong, their 
 very greeting is a protection ; if right, their simple pres- 
 ence is an encouragement. They are environed by an 
 atmosphere of unconscious worth, and their good in- 
 fluences work quiet results, to which they are strangers. 
 
 There are many such people, though they do not 
 abound in the world ; but good Mrs. Conant was one 
 of their number, and people said Tom was his mother's 
 son. His little sister completed the family circle, but 
 she is in the nursery now, listening to the hoary mys- 
 teries of Santa Glaus and the enchantment of Mother 
 Goose's melodies.
 
 14 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 At table, Dr. Elmwood was beginning to lead the con- 
 versation in a quiet way. He was the rector of a fash- 
 ionable church in New York, the metropolis of the 
 Great West. The Church of England had left her 
 eldest daughter to the occupancy of America. There 
 was little to distinguish the mother from the child. 
 Both had nominally preserved an austere orthodoxy, 
 which the members of each had modified and mollified 
 in practice. The Church was wise enough to look upon 
 diversities without seeing them, and broad enough to 
 embrace the believers of all degrees. If restless spirits 
 sometimes invoked controversy and challenged declara- 
 tions of faith, the members were generally willing to 
 leave mysteries to the spiritual heads, and were content, 
 for themselves, with seeking the wisdom to love God 
 supremely, and their neighbors as themselves. Dr. 
 Elmwood was a Broad Churchman and a devout man. 
 He was the idol of his people, who listened to him with 
 rapt attention, and lavishly put money in his purse. 
 Perhaps, after the weary excitement of the week, there 
 were vivacious passages with which the Doctor some- 
 times interlarded his discourses there was a tinge of 
 exaggeration and hyperbole, an imagery, drawn from 
 familiar things, just a soupgon of quaint humor, or even 
 wit, which, though it had disturbed the unaccustomed 
 ear of Tom, was a grateful stimulant to the Doctor's 
 "Western hearers. 
 
 He was scholarly and logical ; his elocution was 
 faultless, and his oratory masterly. Nobody went to 
 sleep when he preached. If, within such limits, there 
 was scope to practise two styles of expression, who 
 should say when the manner of the preacher, or the 
 taste of the hearer was at fault? If you have no
 
 BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. 15 
 
 accepted standard, who is to decide between Tom and 
 Dr. Elm wood's people ? 
 
 "I suppose you have often seen the pretty town 
 where my niece is at school," said the Doctor, ad- 
 dressing Tom for the first time. Tom replied that ho 
 had not, but should be more interested in seeing it now 
 than ever. 
 
 Mrs. Conant remembered sadly her last visit to 
 Heidelberg. Her little daughter had contracted the 
 cold there, which finally carried her off. 
 
 Tom ventured to ask if Miss Winthrop liked her 
 school, and was answered "yes," with the slightest 
 foreign accent. 
 
 Mr. Holt, who is a stranger to us, as yet, though one 
 of Mrs. Conant's guests, attacked the system of female 
 education altogether. 
 
 Tom curtly disposed of the whole subject in a sin- 
 gle word, whereat Mr. Holt looked flushed and mor- 
 tified. 
 
 Dr. Elmwood admitted its importance, and kind Mrs. 
 Conant felt sure that Mr. Holt was right, for the whole 
 system required revision. 
 
 This smoothed Mr. Holt's ruffled feathers, and, some- 
 what to the disgust of Tom, set him on his legs again. 
 
 Mr. Holt was inveterate, if one may apply that word 
 to a good talker. The famous Doctor was his vis-a-vis 
 and he wanted to bring him out. 
 
 " Capt. Conant thinks, perhaps, one should not intro- 
 duce such a subject in the presence of so distinguished 
 a devotee," said Mr. Holt, smiling grimly. 
 
 "If you refer to me," said the young lady, "don't 
 mind me at all ; I am neither the adjective nor the noun 
 you have mentioned, sir."
 
 16 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 Tom winced, but was silent, and after a pause, Dr. 
 Elinwood said : 
 
 "Without regard to any system, I have serious 
 doubts as to the propriety of educating young Ameri- 
 cans in Europe at all. Of course, I do not refer to 
 the higher work of the universities." 
 
 "Not to go further, sir," said Tom, "such ideas 
 would have deprived us of a great pleasure to-day. 
 Miss Winthrop would not have been spending her Con- 
 tinental vacation in England, and Dr. Elm wood would 
 not have been visiting us with his niece. Seriously, 
 however, if no scholastic advantages are thus ac- 
 quired, are not such studies pursued with the happy 
 result of making the student a cosmopolitan ? " 
 
 "That's what I object to," said the Doctor; "the 
 schools may be more efficient, and pupils may get on 
 faster when away from home, but our schools are im- 
 proving rapidly, and one of our boys educated here, at 
 Kugby or Harrow, or at any public school in England, 
 may become denationalized by going abroad for his 
 education. He will be trained with a class of boys, who 
 belong to an order of society unknown in his own coun- 
 try. He goes home unsettled, unfitted, perhaps, for 
 the pursuits which fortune has assigned him. No 
 doubt, an American boy may be trained at school with 
 the young bloods of this aristocratic land, and go home 
 satisfied to his yard-stick and his counting room, but for 
 every one such there will be another to sigh for the blue 
 blood and heraldic trappings of his school dreams." 
 
 " Dear me, uncle," said Miss Winthrop, " do you not 
 think they would be improved by the superior associa- 
 tions that would surround them ? " 
 
 "Ah ! " said Dr. Elmwood, "I should think so."
 
 BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. 17 
 
 " I should think so too," she continued, " and they 
 might acquire a polish and refinement to last them all 
 their days." 
 
 " And learn to discount the polish and refinement of 
 their homes ! " broke in the Doctor. 
 
 " I quite seize your point, Doctor," said Tom, " but if 
 you will pardon me, I think it more plausible than ex- 
 act. Take English boys ; Lords and Commoners are 
 educated in the same class. Yet, in the great world, 
 the middle classes never bow down before nobility." 
 
 "You are young, Tom," said Mr. Holt, "and may 
 change your views as you extend your observation." 
 
 " Besides," added Dr. Elmwood, " here both classes 
 are English, and there is no question of denationaliza- 
 tion. But a young American who apes the English 
 upper classes have you seen a dude ?" 
 
 " I am not quite sure," said Tom, " but I have seen what 
 the comic papers say about him. He is to be pitied." 
 
 " He is the ideal American dandy at home," said Dr. 
 Elmwood, " striving to imitate English high-life." 
 
 " But he is not the offspring of English schools," said 
 Miss Winthrop, with animation. 
 
 " I do not know," replied Dr. Elmwood, " but I would 
 not lead the boys into temptation." 
 
 "There is another difference between English and 
 American boys," said Mr. Holt, " apropos of the middle 
 classes not bowing the knee to the nobles, if they do 
 not, indeed. An English boy is satisfied to hold the posi- 
 tion his father held before him. He neither expects 
 nor is ambitious, to surpass him. All young Americans, 
 on the contrary, hope to become President some day in 
 their own country, and many of them would like to 
 become Dukes and Lords over here. There is a great 
 
 2
 
 18 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 deal to be proud of, though much to improve, in our 
 schools. But I doubt whether all the benefits Tom 
 Brown derived from his school-days would be compen- 
 sation to an American boy for that love of his country, 
 and that pride in her development, which inhere in 
 every American at home. Just now, after many years 
 of experience, and after all nations, including England, 
 have come to acknowledge that the world is better for 
 what the thirteen colonies did, you don't want to build 
 up a sickly class of tuft-hunters in America, who, for 
 the sake of social chances, would sigh for the old days 
 of dependence." 
 
 As the ladies withdrew, Mrs. Conant politely regretted 
 that she should lose the pleasure of listening further to 
 the conversation ; and we take credit for having reported 
 it, or it might have been lost to the world. 
 
 " My uncle and I rarely disagree ; perhaps I ought to 
 make it a duty that we should never do so," said Miss 
 TVinthrop, in the drawing-room, to the elder lady ; " he 
 is so good and wise that I always feel condemned if I 
 have contradicted him. And, indeed, I love my own 
 country and am proud of my own people ; but I would 
 willingly see more of the grace and culture I see here 
 engrafted upon our popular manners. We have done a 
 great deal in a few years, and, in our hurry to reach 
 results, we are sometimes unmindful of the forms which 
 might add to their grace, without impairing their sub- 
 stance. Speaking of schools, I know a dozen well- 
 educated boys and girls who constantly speak, though 
 they would never write, ungrammatically. And this 
 remark applies to many of our best people in America. 
 From what I have seen, I should think this seldom hap- 
 pens in England."
 
 BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER. 19 
 
 " I have observed something of the kind, but it is a 
 venial sin," said Mrs. Conant, kindly; "a mere educa- 
 tion could not correct it. Theoretically, society is on a 
 common level in America, Our manner of speech is the 
 result of our associations. We speak a language as we 
 are accustomed to hear it spoken. The ear is the edu- 
 cator. Speech is extemporaneous and leaves us no 
 time to apply grammatical rules. The fault that dis- 
 turbs you must be common to all new countries. No 
 doubt the prevalence of education in America is marvel- 
 lous ; and if there is the need, there are also the facili- 
 ties for improvement. But I see the gentlemen are com- 
 ing, and we must take them for a stroll in the garden." 
 
 Tom was devoted to Mr. Holt, as if he wanted to 
 make amends for something, and that gentleman re- 
 ceived his attentions with the lofty grace of one who had 
 not been offended. 
 
 Dr. Elmwood delighted Mrs. Conant with his knowl- 
 edge of flowers, and his ready interpretation of their 
 delicate beauties. Miss Winthrop, who had wandered 
 /rom the others, and stood alone, regarded with 
 rapt and absent gaze the placid waters beyond. Tom 
 had not been unobservant, and rather timidly joined her. 
 
 " Miss Winthrop ! " She started. " Oh, I was dream- 
 ing," she said, " and I had travelled far over the waters." 
 
 " And do you so long for distant scenes ? " was Tom's 
 answer. 
 
 " Yes, and no. I always long for home, though I 
 do not at present wish to go there." 
 
 " I would like to see your home," said Tom, simply. 
 " I hope before long to see America." 
 
 " Oh! I hope you will visit my country, and I wish 
 I could be there to greet you."
 
 20 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " It would not seem to me like your home and you 
 not there," rejoined Tom. 
 
 *' But you would have a warm welcome from those 
 who love me, and who will know before then that you 
 and yours have been kind to me." 
 
 " They ought to love you. Tell me about them," 
 said Tom, eagerly. 
 
 " Not now ; I must know better how you like Ameri- 
 cans first. I am full of my countrymen's sensitiveness 
 about English opinions. But, perhaps, you don't feel 
 much interest, yet " 
 
 " Yes, more than I should dare tell you." 
 
 " Isn't it curious," she continued, interrupting him, 
 " how we wince under the sarcasms of an English book, 
 magazine, or newspaper article ? And we have had 
 many such inflictions to bear. My Lord goes across, 
 and then he writes a book about what he saw when he 
 was there. It is a funny book, written from strange 
 points of observation. It is not a friendly book, though 
 it says kind things ; but it displays a hauteur which 
 chills, and assumes a superiority which affronts us. 
 Have you never seen such works ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Tom, "but they are not always un- 
 friendly." 
 
 " No, they are patronizing," she continued. " I want 
 you to read these books and see if you can verify their 
 statements in your travels. I suppose I am too young 
 to understand such things, but I am always wondering 
 why Englishmen are unjust to us." 
 
 Tom made a deprecatory shrug, and was about to 
 speak, but Miss Winthrop added, "I mean in their 
 books, you know." 
 
 "Why," said Tom, in a conciliatory tone, " I hope you
 
 BLOOD 18 THICKER THAN WATER. 21 
 
 exaggerate, Miss Winthrop. I suppose it may be be- 
 cause we are jealous of your wonderful growth, and are 
 a little on the lookout for our laurels ; but, I am sure 
 there is not much public sentiment to justify them, if 
 they are published." 
 
 " Such books are written to sell," was the quiet re- 
 ply, and the subject was dropped for lighter topics. 
 
 Tea was served in the arbor, but Tom did not leave 
 the young lady to Mr. Holt, or to anybody else ; and 
 later on, when the two separated, each felt that the 
 other was a friend, without having been told so. Will 
 the feeling grow and ripen as years roll on ? or will 
 their paths diverge till it fades into a memory ? 
 
 How little we know of the mysteries of life, except as, 
 one by one, they are unfolded to us ! 
 
 As Mrs. Conant's guests were taking their leave, Mr. 
 Holt lingered, hat in hand, for a last word with his 
 hostess. 
 
 " It was very good of you to take so much trouble, 
 Kobert," she said ; " but your love of charity and your 
 kind action will be their own reward." 
 
 " Don't give me too much credit, Aunt," he answered, 
 sadly. " If I have rendered you a little service, in aiding 
 your good work, leave me to the lesson it teaches, 
 of improving neglected opportunities of doing good. 
 Oh, how slow I was in the work, and how your mis- 
 sion and your instructions have quickened me in it. 
 Men speak truly of charity as a virtue, and of the 
 Golden Kule, as if some sacrifice were entailed in the 
 observance of it. What human pleasure can equal 
 that of having wiped a tear and assuaged a grief? 
 What can Dives buy with all his wealth, that may equal 
 the satisfaction of him who has ministered according to
 
 22 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 his means to the wants of the poor ? What music can 
 equal in harmony the widow's thanks for the food which 
 has fed her starvelings ? What reward of any kind 
 open to human effort, can compare with the conscious- 
 ness of good deeds, well done, which have removed the 
 disabilities and aroused the gratitude of the unfortu- 
 nate ? Human gratitude ! The evidence of acts of 
 kindness, great and small what a witness that will be 
 for us, in the day when we shall need a cloud of wit- 
 nesses ! " 
 
 " You are magnifying a trifle, Eobert," said the lady, 
 modestly. 
 
 " If you had heard the messages I brought you, it 
 would not have seemed a trifle ! \fdt that it was more 
 blessed to give than to receive, and I almost envied you. 
 It may seem a trifle to you, an incident in your life 
 work; but to me it was an experience, and I shall 
 cherish it. And I hope, in some small way, to cultivate 
 the spirit of your act. What men we might become 
 with such angels of mercy to lead us !" he continued, 
 musingly. " What misery and sin we might alleviate or 
 even turn to joy ! " 
 
 " Thank God," she said, " if your little plan has really 
 relieved misery and made the stricken heart light again. 
 We must not lose sight of these poor people. It is your 
 work more than mine. But there is more to do. That 
 woman is not the mother of the little girl, I think, and 
 when they are all well again, we shall have a mystery 
 to unravel." 
 
 "You will command me when you want me," said 
 Robert Holt. " I can wear Heaven's livery in your ser- 
 vice, Mrs. Conant, and never tire of the work you may 
 set me to do."
 
 BLOOD 18 THICKER THAN WATER. 23 
 
 " Thank you," she answered, softly, " I shall see them 
 in London soon. In the meantime our experience must 
 be secret till we know more." 
 
 That night, in his lodgings, Robert Holt wondered 
 that the appearance of these strange people had not 
 suggested more even to him. " But the man and woman 
 were sick with fever," he said. " There was little to 
 denote the condition of life to which they belonged ; 
 and I only noticed the child's wonderful eyes, and 
 thought of the quickest means to rescue her from 
 danger. She is safe with the old nurse at the hospital. 
 She is too young to tell her story, if she has one, but 
 if there is a mystery it may transpire. What a won- 
 derful woman is Mrs. Conant, with all her social and 
 domestic cares, to find time for so much love and good- 
 will for strangers! I wish Tom knew more of his 
 mother's work. He might aid her, and he is equal to 
 great things. But she is afraid to cloud his young 
 spirit with dark pictures, and she trusts me. Well, I 
 am proud of the mother's confidence, and, if I can be 
 worthy of it, I am sure to be led into noble work." 
 
 Robert Holt was the son of Scotch parents, and was 
 related to Mrs. Conant on his mother's side. He had 
 won high honors at Edinburgh, and had left the univer- 
 sity with the reputation of being a clever polemic and a 
 democrat. Everybody liked him, though everybody 
 would not have copied his ways. He was brusque and 
 aggressive in dispute, and toward his equals he was 
 exacting; but toward his inferiors, and those who 
 would need his aid, he was generous to a fault : he had 
 the soul of a prince and the heart of a woman. He was, 
 moreover, a man of wealth and leisure ; he held political 
 opinions which were considered advanced, and he was
 
 24 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 too straightforward and outspoken to tolerate the diplo- 
 mat or the temporizer. He was earnest and sincere 
 before all things. 
 
 Such a character might have fallen little short of 
 petulance ; and he was exacting at times, but he was too 
 full of loving kindness to persist unduly in any course 
 that might wound the feelings of others. 
 
 He has fallen asleep as we have discussed him. 
 
 Bobert Holt, idealist and disputant, au revoir.
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS. 
 
 A FEW afternoons later, Tom attended a reception at 
 Lady D.'s at Bloomington House, and found her Lady- 
 ship exceedingly gracious. 
 
 "Here is Col. Lyons, Mr. Conant," she said, "who 
 tells me that you spent Sunday at Brighton with your 
 good mother, who ought to be here. The Professor has 
 just left me, and I have some American friends whom 
 you must meet. Oh ! here they are." 
 
 Tom greeted Dr. Elmwood and Miss "Winthrop ; he 
 had not met the young lady since Sunday, and, as 
 if by common consent, they selfishly strolled away 
 together. 
 
 "I was afraid I should lose you," said Tom, "I 
 wanted to see you so much." 
 
 "Then I suppose you have something to tell me," 
 was the rejoinder ; " so many things may have hap- 
 pened since we met." 
 
 " No, I did not want to see you on business," was the 
 laughing response. " But I have volunteered to guard 
 you from the crush here. Will you permit me ? " 
 
 " If it please you," answered the young lady, seeming 
 at a loss for words. 
 
 Tom observed her embarrassed manner, and said, 
 " You see I may be my own master for a few moments 
 only. Lord Lester, the Governor-General of Canada, is 
 here, and my father has set his heart on my paying my
 
 28 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 humble respects to him ; but if I have to leave you, I 
 hope I may be able to find you again." 
 
 " I see Mr. Marshall, our minister, and his daughters 
 by the alcove yonder," observed Miss Winthrop ; " let 
 us join them." 
 
 Tom gave a reluctant assent, but he did not hurry 
 forward, and, indeed, for the moment, Miss Y/inthrop 
 did not press him to do so. Their conversation flowed 
 freely enough now ; but, need we relate, it interested 
 them more than it would have done other people. 
 
 Later in the evening, several gentlemen were con- 
 versing together, and among them were Lord Lester and 
 Mr. Marshall. The Professor, with Tom, joined them. 
 
 "Tom tells me you are coming to America," said 
 Lord Lester, addressing the Professor. "I shall re- 
 turn within the month delighted, if I may welcome you 
 to Canada." 
 
 " Our trip is as yet uncertain," said Dr. Conaut, 
 " and, though we shall not exactly be the guests, we are 
 to be the companions of Lord Bolton, who goes to New 
 York. I do not think it has been arranged to include 
 Canada in our route, though I should like it much, if 
 that is possible." 
 
 " Ah, that won't do," said his Lordship ; " England 
 can't afford to send out her best men for journeys of ob- 
 servation through America, which do not even include 
 her own possessions. Canada has the most convenient 
 steamboat and railroad services, and you are alto- 
 gether without the excuses which did duty in former 
 years for neglecting us." 
 
 " Oh, it is not neglect," interposed Tom. 
 
 " We are so sure of Canadian loyalty," remarked Mr. 
 Holt, with a laugh.
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS. 27 
 
 "Yet, there was a good deal said about a separation 
 of the colonies a few years ago," Mr. Marshall observed, 
 somewhat mischievously. 
 
 " More on this side than in Canada," rejoined the 
 Professor, " but Canadian independence was boldly and 
 ably discussed, and found many sympathizers, even 
 there." 
 
 " Oh, that was before the "Washington Treaty," said 
 Mr. Holt, " and while the Alabama claims were pend- 
 ing. There was a dangerous controversy between ua 
 and the States. At that time the peace which ruled 
 was not likely to be lasting. A feeling prevailed 
 largely in England that our North American possessions 
 were not worth fighting for. The Irish Fenians hovered 
 all along the Canadian border, and the question was 
 asked in Canada with some trepidation, Can the Empire 
 defend us ? It was added, If England wants us to go 
 we are ready." 
 
 " It was a very sickly feeling in Canada," said Lord 
 Lester. 
 
 " At least, one Governor-General commended it," re- 
 marked Mr. Holt, significantly. 
 
 "But the Washington Treaty changed all that in 
 both countries," said the Professor. " That was a great 
 experiment, the resort to arbitration instead of to battle ; 
 to reason instead of to the blind rage of war and car- 
 nage. If the controversies, thus happily settled, had 
 been allowed to drift, they would have culminated in 
 war, and the two nations might have reduced each 
 other to a third rate power." 
 
 " We had a good deal to swallow," said Lord Lester. 
 
 "There were concessions on both sides," observed 
 Mr. Marshall
 
 28 PROFESSOR CONAXT. 
 
 " And the best evidence that, on the whole, the set- 
 tlement was a wise one, is to bo found in the concilia- 
 tory and satisfied mood, in which we discuss the 
 whole subject to-day," interjected Dr. Elmwood, with 
 spirit. 
 
 "All this history was made a little before your time, 
 Tom," said Lord Lester, with good humor. 
 
 "I hope its good consequences may be lasting," re- 
 joined Tom. " The thought of going to America incites 
 me to become familiar with these topics." 
 
 "My dear Tom," urged Col. Lyons, "begin your 
 work, by taking your first lesson, which so few English- 
 men have learned, that going to Canada is a voyage to 
 America, as well as going to New York. Canada is a 
 fine country, with five millions of hardy and enterpris- 
 ing people, and after the States, is a land of magnificent 
 promise. You should act upon the hint of Lord Les- 
 ter, and visit it. No loyal Englishman having done so 
 once will ever be disposed to throw the country off." 
 
 "And let me add," said Mr. Marshall, " that whether 
 as a dependency of yours, or as an independent state, 
 my countrymen will always rejoice in her progress to- 
 wards wealth and power. She has a mission of freedom 
 to fulfill by solving in her own way, and on American soil, 
 the problem of British Parliamentary government." 
 
 "When Tom joined the ladies, he was full of funny 
 conceits as to the dangers he had escaped while among 
 the politicians ; but Lady D. told him he was only try- 
 ing his 'prentice hand, and Miss Winthrop declared he 
 had been so absorbed that she had found it impossible 
 to attract his attention. Tom denied, however, having 
 any political ambition, and in the best of spirits he took 
 his leave.
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS. 29 
 
 We will not weary the reader with details of the ad- 
 venture, which for the moment rescued from the jaws 
 of death a man, a woman, and a child, and thus gratified 
 the kindliness of Mrs. Conant, and whetted the appetite 
 of Robert Holt for good works. Mrs. Conant, on her 
 return from Brighton, found these people, of whom we 
 have already spoken, at a private hospital, where they 
 were supported by the beneficence of Holt. The man 
 was deadly ill of fever ; the woman, though stricken, 
 was still able to aid in nursing him, and the child had 
 been removed to a place of safety. 
 
 " The fever is malignant," the Doctor had said to 
 Mrs. Conant; "you must not remain here nor come 
 again, and the woman herself must be removed. The 
 man is well cared for, and the presence of neither of 
 you will do him good. He is quite unconscious." 
 
 The woman was inconsolable, but the Doctor's orders 
 were obeyed. " Oh," she said, " it is a punishment for 
 our sin." And she moaned like one in deep suffering. 
 " You angel ! " she would say to Mrs. Conant, " Why 
 have you sheltered a wretch like me ? " And then she 
 would give herself up to sobs and lamentations. " He 
 did it," she moaned with a convulsive shudder ; " it was 
 not in my heart to wrong the child. Pauvre enfant, I 
 will tell the good lady before I die." She would con- 
 tinue her ravings and say, " Hush, I will not speak ! 
 he will hang if I betray him. He is so sick perhaps ho 
 will die, and then God have mercy ! " 
 
 Mrs. Conant went to the parlor and saw the child a 
 sweet little girl of two years, who could not speak nor 
 give any sign to aid in her identification. It had 
 escaped the plague, it had been dressed in neat clothes, 
 and was beautiful. Such eyes ! though an infant's,
 
 30 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 full of sweetness and expression. The child clung to 
 Mrs. Conant as if it had known her. 
 
 " The child has been wronged," said the nurse. " Do 
 you think she belongs to those people ?" 
 
 "Hush," said Mrs. Conant, "we must not say such 
 
 4/ 
 
 things. But she is lovely," she added, " and we will 
 try to protect her." 
 
 " It may be a mere superstition," said the nurse, " but 
 I think the child inherits those eyes from her mother, 
 who must have been a beautiful woman." 
 
 " You are silly," said Mrs. Conant, musingly, and she 
 went back to the woman, who still talked and wandered. 
 
 " Will he die ? " she asked. 
 
 " I hope not," was the gentle response. 
 
 "Ah, I knew it," continued the woman, " our path led 
 to this in my dream. He was with me, but he had 
 horns and a cloven foot, and he scoffed at my doubts 
 and scruples. He said there was no rule of right and 
 wrong for such as we, and that we should follow our 
 inclinations and desires. That fearful night ! The 
 heavens were overcast with blackness. The lightnings 
 blazed anon, and peal after peal the thunder rolled 
 over the mountains. We climbed the crags, and were 
 pricked by the thorns and terrified by the howling of 
 the wild beasts. It was a dreadful dream. But we 
 reached the summit, and beheld the deep canon below, 
 livid with heat and alive with groans, and yawning to 
 receive us. The wages of sin is death," she continued, 
 after a silence. " I was taught but did not heed that. 
 Do I dream now ? Do I rave ? " she added, fixing her 
 large dark eyes on Mrs. Conant, who stood, tearful, by 
 her side ; " my heart is heavy, but my mind is clear. 
 Before it may be too late I must tell you, not the story
 
 THE PLOT THICKENS. 31 
 
 of my life, which must be buried in shame, but the 
 story of another life which mine has clouded. I did 
 not mean it all," she said, sobbing hysterically ; and 
 after a pause, " no, no, not now! why do you press me? 
 His eyes are upon me. He stands in the door. Oh ! 
 send him away. How he frightens me ! Not now," she 
 repeated, " but I will tell you all to-morrow." 
 
 With a few soothing words, Mrs. Conant took her 
 leave, wearied and disappointed. She surmised that 
 the proffered confidence related to the child, and she 
 was not sure in what state the woman might be on the 
 morrow. There were things to be done, but she knew 
 Mr. Holt would attend to them. In the meantime, 
 she would see the chaplain herself and then return to 
 her home. 
 
 Mrs. Conant was reticent, and the Professor was too 
 busy to be made the confidant of her charitable labors ; 
 but he interposed no obstacles, if he afforded her little 
 aid. He was, nevertheless, proud to have given her a 
 well-filled purse, and gratified at the fact that she went 
 about doing good. 
 
 That night there came a note from the chaplain to 
 say that the child was well, the woman delirious, and 
 the man past all hope. 
 
 " How unfortunate," thought Mrs. Conant, " should 
 the woman die without telling the story of the child ! I 
 felt sure from the first, of what I have never dared to 
 say, that both the man and the woman are adventurers, 
 and that the child has been spirited away from respecta- 
 ble parents. The woman's ravings suggest as much, and 
 perhaps even other and darker crimes. Who can tell 
 whence they have come ? If they die without giving a 
 sign, what means would be left of identification ? Oh,
 
 32 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 what havoc vice makes with happiness ! Somewhere 
 in the wide world there are a frantic mother and 
 a broken household mourning for this little innocent ; 
 and, perhaps, even the wrong-doers are the greatest 
 sufferers, while sinking under their load of infamy and 
 self-reproach into a miserable grave."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LORD. 
 
 LORD BOLTON had just returned after a sojourn of two 
 months in Paris. He had telegraphed a few friends to 
 meet him that night in his rooms, in Piccadilly, and 
 among them were Tom Conant and Robert Holt. His 
 Lordship loved Tom's sprightly good nature and intel- 
 ligence, and he admired Robert's varied accomplish- 
 ments ; while that gentleman's advanced views, and 
 his readiness to maintain them, made him always an 
 object of interest to the eccentric nobleman. His 
 rooms were lighted by electric jets, the glare of which 
 was softened by the fantastic ornaments of various and 
 unique designs which served as lamps and decorations. 
 Everything bespoke luxurious comfort and refinement. 
 
 A number of gentlemen were assembled, and as Tom 
 entered, ho found Lord Bolton in earnest conversation 
 with Holt and Fred Cuthbert. 
 
 "I was saying to his Lordship," said Fred, with a 
 drawl, " that he must have wasted his time in Paris. 
 To have left London, in the height of the season for 
 those frog-eating Frenchmen, was bad enough, but he 
 has learned nothing he can't tell us the name of the 
 reigning falle, or recount the latest scandal." 
 
 "Perhaps he is reticent," remarked Tom, with a 
 laugh. " He may prefer making his confession to the 
 confidante of his choice."
 
 34 PROFESSOR GONANT. 
 
 "No," said Lord Bolton, with simulated irritation, 
 " I did not follow the traditions of my young country- 
 men in the French capital, and I avoided society 
 and dissipation. I was interested, but only as a spec- 
 tator." 
 
 " Well, tell us what you saw, please," said the first 
 speaker. "Imprimis, no doubt, that missing link, the 
 American tourist, for whom there is never room enough 
 and the price is never high enough." 
 
 "They are a queer lot, some of those travellers," 
 said Lord Bolton, "and in the invasion of Paris by 
 these people I have thought at times that the gay capi- 
 tal would altogether lose her identity." 
 
 " No doubt, some of those Americans who have just 
 struck ' bonanzas ' are queer folk," said Robert. "They 
 suddenly acquire boundless wealth by some accident 
 and accidents of that kind are abundant in their 
 country and they have no judgment as to its use. 
 They are like the nouveaux riches everywhere. Sudden 
 wealth does not relieve vulgarity. I know a city where 
 a few men grew fabulously rich in a night. They were 
 equal to their fortunes, to the extent of taking care of 
 them. They secured control of the enormous industry 
 by which they had prospered. They controlled the 
 agencies which manufacture opinion, and they created 
 a speculative mania which engulfed alike the highest 
 and the lowest. The whole community the cautious 
 lawyer, the pious parson, the prudent merchant, as 
 well as the most thrifty and the most impoverished 
 sons and daughters of toil, strained their credit, de- 
 nied themselves necessaries, borrowed, or even begged, 
 the means to buy what rose or fell at the beck of these 
 newly-made millionaires; till that community, from
 
 THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LORD. 35 
 
 the cellar to the garret, was ruined ; and these men 
 counted by hundreds of millions the spoils which their 
 neighbors had lost. Soon some of them commenced 
 to flaunt their vast acquisitions in the faces of the poor. 
 They vied with each other, at home and abroad, in 
 the vulgar display of money ; they bought high offices, 
 which they neglected and disgraced; they chartered 
 special trains; built royal palaces, and corrupted for 
 their purposes such influence as they could not crush 
 or otherwise control. Is it strange that though their 
 wealth was kingly their manners were boorish? If 
 they were vulgar, there was excuse for them. Do 
 we not, sometimes, see rich and educated men of our 
 own country playing, according to their means, the same 
 role ? These men are not the outcome of democratic 
 institutions. They are only possible among such ex- 
 traordinary material developments as one sees in that 
 wonderful country. Ah uno disce omnes" 
 
 "Put a pin there, Bob," said his Lordship ; "I have 
 been thinking of all this, but I could not have said it. 
 I want to hear the rest. I must stroll among my 
 guests for a little while, but I will rejoin you." 
 
 "Now that he has gone," said Fred, "you may re- 
 fresh yourself, and, during recess, tell us quietly, who 
 these nabobs were, Holt ? " 
 
 Tom, willing to rescue him, recited slowly, 
 
 " Once in the flight of ages past, 
 There lived a man, and who was ho ? 
 Mortal ! Howe'er thy lot be cast, 
 That man resembled thee." 
 
 "If your muse sings of me," said Fred, "I would 
 risk that my ' lot be cast ' in the very midst of those
 
 86 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 frightful millions. And apropos of Americans, Holt," 
 he continued, "as I don't worship those democratic 
 people at home or abroad, you may be glad to know 
 that I recognize exceptions to my rule. I met at a 
 friend's last night some charming people, who called 
 themselves Americans. But I fancy they owe a good deal 
 to the education of schools and to travel, which they did 
 not acquire at home. I always liked old Marshall and 
 his daughters ; but then, you know, they have lived 
 mostly in England. The people I refer to are a Dr. 
 Elmwood, of New York, and his charming niece, Miss 
 Winthrop, of Boston. Winthrop, you know, is a good 
 old English name, and, I believe, in America, it is the 
 cognomen of a fine family." 
 
 Tom was intently reading an illustrated book, and 
 Holt was amused to notice his apparent abstraction. 
 
 " The uncle is a thorough gentleman," Fred went on, 
 " and Lawson, of our Embassy at Washington, told me 
 that his grandfather was General Somebody, of the re- 
 bellion or revolution, or something of that sort, which 
 Washington made after the apple-tree failed him. I 
 had never heard of the apple-tree, and I had never 
 supposed that Americans had grandfathers. But the 
 young lady was charming. I cannot say that she is 
 beautiful, but her sweetness and grace and aje ne sais 
 quoi of good sense and good breeding quite won me. I 
 did not ask the Parson, but I suppose there is no end 
 to her wealth, and you know in regard to that I am not 
 insured against the weakness which has so often 
 befallen my sex." 
 
 "The American nation will be profoundly moved," 
 said Holt, " when this news is wired across the water." 
 
 " Fancy the flaring headings," said Tom ; " ' An Aris-
 
 THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LORD. 37 
 
 tocrat Caught !' ' Flirtation in High Life ! ' ' Another 
 American Triumph ! ' ' 
 
 " Oh, she's not an American," said Fred. " The "Win- 
 throps were English, and she has been educated on this 
 side of the water." 
 
 "Nonsense!" growled Holt; "how many of the 
 people are of English descent, with a British par- 
 entage as good as ours, whom you misrepresent and 
 deride because you fear that, following their example, 
 the masses in this country may become as powerful as 
 their brethren in that ? If you would give them here 
 the blessings they enjoy there, the masses of England, 
 imitating the masses in America, would multiply vastly 
 the power and prestige of their country." 
 
 " I shall leave you, gentlemen," said Tom, " till his 
 Lordship returns. It is not fair to waste so much elo- 
 quence in his absence." 
 
 At that moment they were handed a message from 
 Lord Bolton, asking them to join him in the library at 
 ten, at which hour he would be free to receive them. 
 
 "That means business," said Cuthbert ; "you must 
 dilute your splendid oration for the simplest digestion 
 to assimilate, Bob." 
 
 " Bah !" said Tom, turning away ; " why must you say 
 disagreeable things? " 
 
 The guests were dispersed in little knots about the 
 room. Some were discussing the latest novel, others 
 the latest play. A young author, who had just electri- 
 fied London, was in the middle of a distinguished 
 group, and wit and repartee, if we may so distinguish, 
 were holding high holiday. On his right, under an 
 alcove, mellow with shaded lights, stood the great mon- 
 arch of the English stage ; and his vis-a-vis was the
 
 38 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 eldest son 6f the legitimate drama in America. Lord 
 Lester and Mr. Marshall were on the right, and the 
 Professor and Dr. Elmwood, who had come late, were 
 on the left ; and the question was, how to arrest the 
 downfall of Shakespeare, which seemed imminent, and 
 restore the ballet and the sensuous stage to their proper 
 place after the legitimate drama. It was admitted that 
 much depends on the actor's conception of his work 
 and upon his genius in the interpretation of it. 
 
 " The world is running mad after display," the Pro- 
 fessor had said. " The beautiful thoughts of the olden 
 time are supplanted by the beautiful ankles and the 
 realistic scenes which the stage puts on exhibition to- 
 day. Once the stage roused men to great deeds by the 
 presentation of great thoughts. Virtue found an ally in 
 the drama, and a private life that fell short was only 
 condoned by great gifts. To-day the popular favorite 
 wins if she is graceful or beautiful, or, above all, if she 
 is known to be a professional beauty, or to have trans- 
 fixed a royal heart. The world must be amused, but 
 amusements that are not instructive have no place 
 among the agencies of good works." 
 
 " There is force in what you say, Professor," said the 
 great English actor, "but the evil is not local. My 
 American friend will tell you that in his country the 
 legitimate drama struggles and wanes, and that scenic 
 display is the goddess of the h'our." 
 
 "The stage cannot tread the higher paths if the 
 people will not sustain it there," said the American. 
 " The tendency of all amusements is the same. The 
 old-fashioned ballads and their sweet airs have fallen 
 into neglect, though more heavenly music was never 
 rendered ; and now our favorites are snatches from 
 Patience and lolanthe."
 
 THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LOUD. 39 
 
 "All this decadence," said Lord Lester, "may be 
 traced to the upheavals of modern social life to the 
 democratic sub-soiling which is constantly raising the 
 lowest stratum and imparting its clammy chill to the 
 surface. You can only maintain the standard of refine- 
 ment in communities that are not over-weighted with 
 the elements of degradation. You must not elevate ig- 
 norance too rapidly, or you drag intelligence down to its 
 level. You may vitiate popular taste exactly as you de- 
 grade popular opinion, by giving vulgarity a jurisdiction 
 which, in the nature of things, it cannot comprehend." 
 
 "I fear your position is more plausible than defensi- 
 ble," said Mr. Marshall. " I do not know how far the 
 stage is supported by the lower stratum. There are 
 multitudes who have not, as yet, been raised to the sur- 
 face ; and as to this question of vitiated taste, it remains 
 to be proved that it is not inherent in the upper classes. 
 "We are all living in great haste. Men are absorbed in 
 the bustle of affairs. They patronize the amusements 
 for rest and relaxation. The day's excitement has 
 wearied them. They are in no mood to study serious 
 things, and they go rather where they are invited to 
 laugh than to think." 
 
 "Nero was a cultivated man, but Eome was profli- 
 gate. Complaints against the popular taste are not new 
 to history," said Dr. Elmwood ; " only a sound educa- 
 tion can really elevate it or maintain the standard when 
 once it is established. There is great need of reform 
 and vast room for individual effort. We shall have 
 gained much when we have agreed upon what we want, 
 and can then clear the deck for action. In the mean- 
 time, the stage itself might do much of the work ; it 
 should labor to create good taste, instead of catering to 
 a bad one."
 
 40 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 A pleasant evening was far spent, and most of the 
 guests had departed. The old-fashioned library was 
 aglow with light and warmth, and Lord Bolton had 
 gathered a few choice spirits about him. Wine and the 
 fragrant cigar were there doing duty, and Tom was 
 chiding Mr. Cuthbert, who had grown impulsive and 
 loquacious, and who felt moved to sing 
 
 " We won't go home till morning." 
 
 Holt had not forgotten his theme, and had more to 
 say if the hint had been given him, but his Lordship 
 " took the word," as the French say. 
 
 " I don't think your picture would have been over- 
 drawn, Holt, if I had allowed you to finish it," he said ; 
 " you always startle me a little with your strong words 
 and your radical views. You can't expect me to be a 
 democrat, though, thanks to you, no doubt, I can't help 
 leaning that way." 
 
 " No, no, let me go on," he exclaimed, as Holt seemed 
 about to interrupt him. " I know what it would mean 
 for me and my class. But it may be a fair question, 
 why should we be pampered? Why should the poor 
 delve and we idle in affluence ? If it were my clear 
 duty, I could lay down my rank. Conscious of what is 
 duty, there are many of my class who would follow suit. 
 But would the State profit by this ? And how would 
 our degradation exalt the poor? " 
 
 " My dear Lord Bolton," ejaculated Holt, with warmth, 
 " I have not proposed such a thing ! " 
 
 " Oh, you are very kind, no doubt, and would do no- 
 body harm ; but your doctrines lead up to that or they 
 mean nothing. That is a grand doctrine the equality
 
 THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LORD. \ 
 
 of man. But hereditary distinctions must go when that 
 comes." He paused, and then exclaimed : " How many 
 men are my superiors but for the maintenance of these 
 class distinctions ? The ennobled class must think of 
 these things. We are not called to act now, but we 
 ought to form intelligent and defensible opinions. You 
 are young yet, Holt, and have no titles to throw away, 
 but how wouldst thou like to sell all that thou hast 
 and give to the poor ? What a strange melange is the 
 French Republic ! How the old traditions bear against 
 the democratic faith. ' Egalite,' but the noble confronts 
 the citizen at every turn. ' Liberte,' yet old restrictions 
 are not yet removed. ' Fraternite ! ' look at the vir- 
 ulence of the press and the deadly malice that pervades 
 discussions. Are they better or worse for the new 
 regime ? I don't know, though I am trying to study 
 them. Has the Revolution, that great reaction against 
 centuries of abuse, done its work ? In '30 and '48 and 
 '71 had it ended? Pardon me, gentlemen, but these 
 things weigh upon me, and to whom should I speak but 
 to my friends? In Paris, there was no devotion to 
 equality, in the ostentatious display of wealth among 
 the favored sons of the model American Republic. 
 They had not come over as propagandists, to teach the 
 world that all men were born free and equal. They 
 outstripped the Shah in extravagance, and their dia- 
 monds outshone the stars of the firmament in splendor. 
 They counted their wealth by millions. They must 
 have hoarded the gold of the people the hard earn- 
 ings of the poor and there must be some startling 
 wrong that makes such exactions possible ! If wealth 
 is to be hoarded in a few hands, are these nouveaux 
 riches better than an ancient nobility ? "
 
 42 PROFESSOR CON ANT. 
 
 " Much learning hatli made thee mad," said Cuthberfc, 
 interrupting ; but he continued : 
 
 "Gentlemen, do I surprise you? Did you fancy I 
 only thought of revels and sports ? I have been taught 
 the maxim, noblesse oblige, and have been thinking over 
 grave questions, though I have not solved thsm. I see 
 difficulties both ways." 
 
 " Holt shall help you," said Cuthbert. 
 
 " Yes, but not to-night," said his Lordship, gravely. 
 " I turn to a brighter side of my Paris picture. There 
 is an inner circle of American life in Paris into which I 
 have never penetrated. I have met delightful Americans 
 here, but I thought their associations had been English. 
 A dozen of my friends married lovely American wives, 
 but they had for the most part been educated here. And 
 when I met these noisy, showy people in France I in- 
 stinctively avoided the whole race. How much I have 
 lost has only now been revealed to me. One night, I 
 met a gentleman at the American Minister's, whose 
 conversation entertained and delighted me. He told 
 me he was in Europe for the first time ; his wife and 
 sister were in Paris with him, and the next day he 
 asked me to dine with them. I met a large party, 
 and was sumptuously entertained. I never enjoyed 
 myself more thoroughly; my host excelled; his wife 
 was a perfect hostess, and the sister was the finest 
 woman I had ever seen. The whole evening was to 
 me a social and intellectual treat and I have rarely 
 enjoyed myself more. In the course of conversation, I 
 acknowledged bluntly that I was glad to find myself at 
 an exclusively American entertainment. 
 
 " Had I never been in America ? the hostess asked 
 me, and had I never known Americans ?
 
 THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LOUD. 43 
 
 ' Yes,' I answered, * I had a few American friends in 
 London.' 
 
 ' Oh, they are really English, I suppose,' she said. 
 
 ' They are generally residents with us,' I admitted. 
 
 'But you must come to America,' said both my host 
 and hostess. 
 
 " I admitted that it was my wish and my intention to 
 do so. There was a shout of welcome for me, in ad- 
 vance, from the whole delightful party. They promised 
 me no end of attention, for myself and my friends, and 
 they would all be at home next month to receive us. 
 I said I could not speak for my friends, but I would 
 myself try and arrange to go over soon. May I depend 
 upon you, Tom, to hasten the expedition? The Pro- 
 fessor will be responsible for us. We must have Holt 
 for spokesman, and Cuthbert to do the disagreeable 
 without which Englishmen in a foreign country would 
 not be recognized." 
 
 Torn thought things might be arranged. Fred was 
 asleep by this time, and Robert vouchsafed no remark. 
 
 " But to return to my dinner," said Lord Bolton ; 
 " my hostess asked me if I had seen many Americans in 
 Paris." I answered, ' yes, but mostly in the streets and 
 Boulevards.' ' They make some show and perhaps some 
 noise,' she said, apologetically. But a great deal that 
 is unfair is said of these people. They are sometimes 
 vulgar, but they are not unkind, and if they are ostenta- 
 tious, they are generous. They are not all million- 
 aires, but they have been blessed with thrift; they 
 can't stay at home in the hot cities, and it is as eay to 
 spend the summer in Europe as at the extravagant 
 watering places of their own country. They measure 
 blessings by what they cost, because they have not a
 
 44 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 better standard. They know, for example, that pictures 
 are evidences of refinement ; but how should they know 
 the difference between a mere daub and a work of 
 genius? Many of them have grown suddenly rich 
 without any refined ideas of the use of money. And 
 after all, they are only a fraction of the Americans who 
 travel. They attract attention, and you judge us all by 
 their ostentation. Americans generally here are polite 
 and cultivated people. But of course this noisy class 
 provokes prejudice. You have examples of the same 
 fortunates in England, but they don't occur in swarms 
 as with us. American vulgarity, indeed ! What do you 
 think a Shoreditch cabman would do, going to bed poor 
 at night and awaking the master of millions ? He would 
 build a castle, first rival Buckingham Palace, or Marl- 
 boro' House, that he might be master of a mansion in 
 the like of which, and in its humbler rooms, he had 
 waited for charity crusts in his boyhood. You will find 
 vulgar Englishmen enough here, but they are gentle- 
 men at home ; that's only their traditional character in 
 a foreign country ; but you do not find Englishmen of 
 the same class as our tourists with the same fortunes. 
 
 ' Far from being ashamed of my countrymen, because 
 they are vulgar, I am inclined to pity yours, who are 
 tied to poverty and have not the means to air their vul- 
 garity at foreign courts." 
 
 " That was an eye-opener," said Fred, who was awake 
 now, " and, my Lord, you recite with wonderful pre- 
 cision ; you were born for the stage." 
 
 " Thank you," said my Lord in good humor, " I half 
 think I have surpassed myself. "Well, these excellent 
 people will go to America with us, and you will see if I 
 have been too cheaply charmed."
 
 THE AMERICAN COUSIN DAZZLES MY LORD. 45 
 
 All London, for a week, had been chanting the praises 
 of Professor Conant's first speech in Parliament. It 
 had displayed great power in the House, and had struck 
 the popular key-note in the country. It was a masterly 
 arraignment of his opponents on the dangers of their 
 policy and the shortcomings of their latest adminis- 
 tration. It was what ought to have been said before, 
 and just what the popular ear had been longing for. 
 The friendly newspapers recognized its worth, though 
 they had not been prepared for its oratorical complete- 
 ness. They saw in Dr. Conant the coming man, and 
 it was time to see a firmer hand grasp public affairs, 
 for all interests, at home and abroad. Economy must 
 be rigorously enforced, and the British lion must growl, 
 if the British people would be respected by foreign 
 nations. Not that Dr. Conant had spoken in this 
 strain, but the leaders of opinion used hackneyed battle 
 cries, and rode over country with a loose reign when pop- 
 ular enthusiasm was to be aroused. But the adversary 
 was on the alert, and feared the speech had been impru- 
 dent and dangerous. Great learning, eloquence of dic- 
 tion, oratorical power all these were conceded ; but na- 
 tions were ruled by concession and compromise, and not 
 by rhetoric, however polished, or logic, however exact. 
 But these deprecations fell upon unwilling ears. The peo- 
 ple still heard the graceful periods, the pathetic appeals, 
 and the wise admonitions of the orator, and from that 
 moment he became their idol. He had won his spurs 
 in the House and the nation claimed him as a leader. 
 
 While all this was going on in the city, a very warm 
 and pardonable interest was felt in the Conant mansion. 
 Mrs. Conant had never been too well reconciled to her 
 husband's entering public life. She knew that political
 
 46 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 \ 
 
 and parliamentary duties would sadly encroach on the 
 Professor's home-life, and Tom had thought that his 
 father's studious habits and quiet tastes would be sadly 
 broken in upon by the exactions and excitements of 
 active political duties. But the die was cast, the prize 
 was won, and doubts and regrets were forgotten. Mrs. 
 Conant confessed that she received congratulations 
 upon her husband's success with assumed indifference, 
 though her heart was full of interest and pride ; but 
 Tom was outspoken at all times, and declared without 
 reserve that he would rather be the son of his father 
 than heir to the proudest earldom in the Kingdom. 
 
 The Doctor himself was worn with the great labor of 
 preparation and the exhaustion of long speech, and, as 
 he said, was " laid up a few days for repairs." He had 
 gained a great success, to which, however, he always 
 felt himself equal; and he was thankful. If he was 
 destined to higher honors, he would strive to bear them 
 meekly and well ; but if he knew himself, his highest 
 ambitions were not personal ; he would be gratified by 
 successful service to his country and his kind. He 
 had been overwhelmed by congratulations, which were 
 grateful to him, and by hints of higher work to which 
 he must shortly be called. He was ready for greater 
 burdens, but he knew they would detain him still more 
 from his favorite studies and his sweet domestic life. 
 The soft strains of "Home, Sweet Home," were heard 
 in an adjoining room, and he knew that his wife was re- 
 calling the melody. 
 
 " Yes, darling," he said, and the tears filled his eyes, 
 " let it ever be ' Home, Sweet Home ! ' What are these 
 huzzas and plaudits but the changing breath of an 
 hour ? Love and rest abide only by one's hearthstone."
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACHS. 
 
 AT breakfast, one morning, Tom received a dainty 
 
 little note, addressed "Capt. Thomas Conant, 
 
 Guards, Belmont House, May Fair." And that gentle- 
 man read aloud the words following : 
 
 Cox's HOTEL, 
 
 JERMYN ST., , 18 
 
 MY DEAU CAPT. COXANT : 
 
 We have just returned from Scotland, where we have been visit- 
 ing friends, and where everybody is wild about your father's great 
 speech in the House of Commons last week. My uncle says it re- 
 calls the days of Burke and Sheridan, and would you mind if I tell 
 you that he added Webster, too ? 
 
 I read every word of it by a Trossachs' lamp light, and though I 
 am only a girl, and I dare say did not understand it all, I thought 
 it magnificent, like Macaulay. I could not sleep for hours, and I 
 did not wonder that the people were roused and electrified. I wish 
 I could have heard the rich tones as they fell upon the enchanted 
 ears of the listeners. What a God-given gift is speech! And ex- 
 cept that their work remains, how inferior is the painter or the 
 sculptor to the great masters of eloquence ! My uncle is calling out 
 that my letter will be too long. But you won't misunderstand me, 
 Capt. Conant. You will forgive my enthusiasm over the grer.t 
 event which has electrified a nation, but in which I am chiefly con- 
 cerned with what it brings to my friends. Surely Dr. Conant is 
 pleased with his great triumph, and Mrs. Conant will regard hers 
 as the lot which only falls to few women while her devoted son 
 will not misinterpret the interest and the friendship which move 
 me to write this.
 
 48 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 With kindest love to your father and mother, and regards to 
 yourself, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 AGNES WINTHROP. 
 
 " Oh, she is a good girl," said Mrs. Conant ; " I wish 
 you could have seen more of Dr. Elmwood, dear ; I 
 think them charming people." 
 
 The Professor said he had met Dr. Elmwood several 
 times, and had found him a man of good breeding and 
 of enlightened views. " It was no surprise to me, as it 
 seems to have been with some of our friends, to meet an 
 accomplished gentleman from America, because I knew 
 he was as likely to be found there as in the most 
 polished European society. The prevalence of sudden 
 wealth in the large American cities, to an extent not 
 known in other countries, brings the rough class to 
 the surface, and it will require a generation to refine 
 them ; but there is a charming and necessarily exclusive 
 society in America, equal in all the essentials of good 
 breeding to anything you will find on this side of the 
 water, and it bears as large a proportion to the whole 
 population as does refined society here ; while you see 
 influences disturbing the lower strata, the masses, and 
 setting before them the incentives to improve themselves 
 and elevate their children, in a degree unknown to us." 
 
 " Miss Winthrop is a lovely girl," said Mrs. Conant. 
 " She is a child yet, but she has the tact of a woman 
 and the information and culture of mature years. This 
 is a noble little letter she has written, and we must 
 waive ceremony and call upon them this very morning." 
 
 "I am disengaged," said the Professor. Tom said 
 nothing, but perhaps he thought, they had forgotten
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACHS. 49 
 
 that the dear little note had been written to him. So 
 they paid a morning call at the dingy old English 
 Hotel, to find their friends at home, and delighted to 
 receive them. The Professor was the hero, and the 
 young lady was full of kindness and compliments. 
 Mrs. Conant, too, was remembered with the gentlest 
 and most undemonstrative flattery. And Tom, who 
 might have been forgotten but for little Miss Win- 
 throp's ready tact, was made the happiest of the morn- 
 ing callers. 
 
 " I like this dingy old hotel," said Dr. Elmwood to 
 the Professor, looking round at the capacious and well- 
 furnished rooms. 
 
 " You generally find the best people here," said the 
 Professor. "The late proprietor was a remarkable 
 man and an advanced spiritualist He used to tell 
 strange stories of his experiences. In his time, Wilson, 
 the great apostle of Spiritualism, made his home here. 
 It was in this room that Lord Brougham and Sir David 
 Brewster held their memorable investigations. It was 
 said that Brougham was staggered at first by what he 
 saw, but Sir David was consistently orthodox. I think 
 they both agreed at last to report in a sense adverse to 
 the pretensions of Wilson." 
 
 Dr. Elmwood, who was greatly interested in what he 
 had seen in London, called it the survival of the seven 
 wonders of the world. And, manifestly, he wanted to 
 talk about it. To him, it was the great centre of 
 thought, of boundless wealth and fabulous develop- 
 ment. There was want of taste, there were November 
 fogs and smoke ; but where else do you encounter the 
 traditions, the antiquities, Dick Whittington, Prince 
 
 Hal, Queen Bess, Charles the First, and Cromwell ? It 
 3
 
 50 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 was with a strange emotion, lie said, that an American 
 descendant of Englishmen trod for the first time the old 
 soil. In all the busy throng about him there might not 
 be one of his kith or kin : but, for the nonce, he had 
 gone back to the musty ages when his fathers occupied 
 where he was now a reverent stranger. He had stood 
 at the tomb of Napoleon in the Hotel des Invcdides, in 
 Paris, and while a thoughtless multitude chattered 
 around, he was over awed in the great presence. He 
 heard the clangor of arms, the shouts of battle from 
 Austerlitz, Marengo, and Waterloo, and, as if to recall 
 still earlier conflicts, there seemed to fall upon his ear 
 the echoes of that voice, " Soldiers ! from these pyra- 
 mids the deeds of forty centuries look down upon you !" 
 So to him, in Westminster, the dead past was animate 
 with the living memory of deeds. His imagination 
 peopled the chambers of death, and re-enacted the his- 
 torical activities of the past. A Londoner is open to 
 the misfortune of regarding all such thoughts with the 
 familiarity that breeds contempt ; but they are sacredly 
 enshrined in the heart of the American, who is capable 
 of reverent emotions, and who knows the history of 
 England and understands his own. 
 
 As Mrs. Conant rose to go, Tom proposed a drive in 
 the park ; but the Professor pleaded an engagement, 
 and finally it was arranged that, as Miss Winthrop pre- 
 ferred to walk, she and Tom should stroll together. " I 
 like to be self-reliant," she said to Tom's mother. 
 "Some of my English young lady friends are half- 
 scandalized at my original views; but I never took 
 kindly to a chaperon." 
 
 "You can't come to harm with my Tom to guard 
 you," said Mrs. Conant, proudly ; and the young people
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACES. 51 
 
 sauntered toward an aimless destination, each conscious 
 only of the other's presence, and both caring only, if the 
 truth must be told, to be left to themselves. To that 
 extent, it was a natural, but not of necessity a 
 very serious feeling, and might have been shared by 
 dozens of their young friends, who only occupied a 
 half-interested, and half-indifferent relation to each 
 other. 
 
 " You received my note this morning ? " she asked. 
 "Was it in bad taste for a little girl to feel so 
 much interested in a great man ? Uncle was doubt- 
 ful if I should write it, because he was not sure of the 
 customs here. But I felt an irresistible desire to share 
 my joy with you all, and I said, What is the difference 
 between telling him what I would say if I saw him, and 
 writing the same thing in a note ? I hope I did not 
 shock you, Capt. Conant." 
 
 "You delighted us all, Miss Winthrop, with your 
 great kindness, and you honored me most by ad- 
 dressing me." 
 
 "Then let it pass for the right thing," said Miss 
 Winthrop ; " one does not know always where to ' draw 
 the line ' among the customs of a strange country." 
 
 " We were pleased for my father's sake," said Tom, 
 "but we had as much faith in him before the great 
 speech, as we had afterwards. We loved him neither 
 more nor less ; and, as to his distinctions, he had won 
 honors in other fields before he entered Parliament." 
 
 " I have a great veneration for the English House of 
 Commons," said his fair companion, u the first body of 
 gentlemen in the world. I was taught that at school in 
 my own country, and I hope I am not the less an 
 American, because I learned that the British Parlia-
 
 52 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 ment affords one of the broadest fields for the exercise 
 of a noble human effort. To have excelled in tho 
 ancient halls, that have echoed with the eloquence of 
 Pitt, and Fox, and Burke, and Sheridan, seems wonder- 
 ful to me, in these degenerate days, when eloquence is 
 so rare a gift, and popular fervor is so slow to kindle ; 
 but I see you laugh, and I know I am beyond my 
 depth ; my uncle says young girls are such talkers." 
 
 " Pray don't excuse yourself," said Tom, " for talk- 
 ing well. I often feel it would be a great boon to know 
 what to say. I should envy your gifts if I were not so 
 proud to see you exercise them, and only second to 
 graceful speech is a facile pen. Your note was charm- 
 ing." 
 
 " Do you remember where Falstaff says ' No more o' 
 that Hal, an' thou lovest me ? " She had not intended 
 to make the occasion for him, but what man would not 
 have thought of it? And yet he was not precipitate, 
 but let it pass, and, looking earnestly into her face, 
 said : " I hope you have not written me your last note, 
 and I also hope that I may be permitted to write you 
 when I cannot see you. May I ? " he asked in a low 
 voice ; and after a long pause, during which she re- 
 turned his earnest look, she answered : " Great occa- 
 sions may excuse some divergence, but we must observe 
 the rules in steady weather." 
 
 " How much I wish you could be in America when I 
 am there," he said ; " it would be so jolly to meet such 
 a friend in a strange country." 
 
 " What is your object in going ? " she asked abruptly ; 
 " Is it fun, or information ? Is Mr. Cuthbert a friend 
 of yours ? He told me he was to be one of your party. 
 I do not think he will lead you to deep study. Would
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACIIS. 53 
 
 you heed a real friend, who would love to serve you ? 
 The son of Professor Conant will have great oppor- 
 tunities in America. Fashion will open wide her doors, 
 but literature, art, science, all the rational agencies and 
 economies of life will gladly contribute to your store 
 if you find time to encourage them. You are startled 
 at such views from me, but I have been a little trained 
 in these matters. I must tell you more of my people 
 before you go. They all know you now, and I have a 
 darling brother, who will be eager to meet and welcome 
 you when you arrive. Boston, you will find like an 
 English city ; it abounds in wealth and culture, but 
 society is quiet there. New York is more mercurial 
 and versatile ; but you will see for yourself. It is 
 worth your while to make America a study. I know 
 this from my brother. He says young Englishmen go 
 over for ' a spree,' and neglect their opportunities of 
 observation. Avoid that, for your own sake. I want 
 you, and you ought, to understand my country as well 
 as your own." 
 
 " You shall teach me," said Tom, " now and here." 
 
 " Are you candid ? " was her response, " or do you 
 trifle with me ? I have heard, though I do not believe 
 it, that a rational confidence is impossible between a 
 man and a woman. Is that true ? Are you to verify 
 it this morning ? " 
 
 " Upon my word," said Tom, " I listen, with the 
 deepest interest to all you say, and I will follow your 
 advice, but you amaze me with the breadth of your 
 views, and the apparent maturity of your thought." 
 
 " Are you candid, again ? Oh, perhaps I am preco- 
 cious," she said, " or it may be that unusual interest has 
 developed unusual powers."
 
 54 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 "Are you interested in me, Miss Winthrop ?" Tom 
 awkwardly rejoined. 
 
 "Why ask me a question which my actions have 
 answered ? " said the young lady, archly. 
 
 " Your interest is reciprocated, my dear Miss Win- 
 throp." 
 
 "Ah, now we are approaching forbidden ground," 
 said the lady, as she pointed to an impassable barrier 
 in front of them, which they were nearing. " The 
 poor Heidelberg school-girl may need a chaperon after 
 all, unless you promise to be very good, and only say 
 such things as a school-girl ought to hear. I am going 
 back to Germany in a few days, and when we have to 
 say 'good-bye' there should be no blush, or pang, 
 born of imprudent confidences, or premature avowals. 
 Another year at school ! And in that time the world 
 must be a sealed book to me ! " 
 
 " But may I not hope ? " said Tom passionately. 
 
 " We will return," said Miss Winthrop, " wiser and 
 better for the experiences of the morning." And so, at 
 the door of the old hotel, they parted as they had met, 
 in good spirits Tom to seek his rooms, and to be en- 
 grossed in his meditations, and little Miss Winthrop to 
 hide her emotions as she stood with pretended uncon- 
 cern at the door. 
 
 On her return from the hotel that morning, Mrs. 
 Con ant found a note from Robert Holt, which agitated 
 and alarmed her. It related to her proteges at the hos- 
 pital. The man, as Mrs. Conant knew, had died somo 
 days before of the fever. The unfortunate woman had 
 breathed her last the previous night. Both had re- 
 mained unconscious or delirious to the last. The 
 woman sometimes had raved about a crime and a con-
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACHS. 55 
 
 fession, but all attempts to obtain information from her 
 had failed, and she died with her secret, such as it was, 
 locked in her poor, stricken heart. Holt was himself 
 ill, but he had provided for such service as remained 
 to be rendered. The child was well, and would be fur- 
 ther cared for. Mr. Holt begged his aunt not to 
 trouble herself, as there was nothing she could do. 
 Above all things, she must not go to the hospital, nor 
 visit him, as his physician entertained fears that he 
 might have contracted the fever there ; but to provide 
 against the worst, he must put his house in order, and 
 would make ample provision for the wants of the child. 
 
 " There is nothing to show," the letter said, " that 
 this child Avas not born of these parents. The woman 
 spoke French as well as English. Did they come 
 from France ? I believe the child is of gentle blood, 
 but where are her friends, and how can we find 
 them? The child's life will be blighted if it grows up 
 as the acknowledged offspring of vulgarity and vice. 
 Can we keep her secret ? Or ought we not to advertise 
 her story in hope of tracing her friends ? I am irrita- 
 ble, and these things worry me. In a day or two, when 
 I am well again, you will let me call and talk to you. It 
 all seems to me of so much importance, that I want to 
 take the Professor into my confidence." 
 
 " Eobert is right," mused Mrs. Conant, " my husband 
 must advise us. But in the meantime, the poor boy is 
 ill, and I must go to him. Is it safe ? I have found 
 myself a hundred times impervious to contagion, and I 
 don't believe Robert is stricken with any contagious 
 disease. It may be only a simple fever, or more likely 
 it may be a false alarm. Even if there were danger, I 
 must go. And yet, perhaps, that would mean danger to
 
 55 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 our little daughter, my husband's darling and my own. 
 But this letter was written in the early morning. Hours 
 have intervened. The conditions may have changed 
 he may be better or worse. I must see." In the after- 
 noon there came a message from Robert again. He 
 was better and apprehended no further trouble. He 
 would pay his respects on the morrow. At that mo- 
 ment there arose a great noise as of an earthquake from 
 the dining-room below. "That is a frolic, indeed," 
 thought Mrs. Conant ; " that's Tom's way of entertaining 
 his little sister," and the child, who had escaped from 
 both Tom and the nurse, ran wildly to her mother for 
 protection. 
 
 " Oh, Tom," said his mother, " how can you tease her 
 so ? " The child from the shelter of its mother's arms, 
 regarded him with defiance, and cried out, " Do it again, 
 Tom." 
 
 " You see," he said, " she has not been teased against 
 her will, mother. She is father's child. How little she 
 resembles you ! It follows that she is not a beauty in 
 the esthetic sense ; but to me her strong, lithe little 
 form, with its romping grace and poetry of motion, is 
 superior to all conventional beauty, and then her bound- 
 less good nature and joyous spirits make her the jolli- 
 est of little girls with whom to kick up a row. Then 
 look at her face, the red pouting lips, made on purpose 
 to kiss, the honest gray eyes, with arched brows that 
 nose is father's own and the whole likeness, except 
 that it is a smaller type, is so exact, that I often laugh 
 over it." 
 
 " Oh yes, she is like her father in looks, in dispo- 
 sition, in everything," said Mrs. Conant ; " but, some- 
 times, I think her side face is like yours, and, you know,
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACHS. 57 
 
 they used to say you resembled me, Tom. It was a 
 poor compliment to you, perhaps, but do you know, I 
 used to be proud of it. I don't know that I wouldn't 
 be so to this day. She is as mischievous as you used 
 to be, at any rate, and in your most boisterous moods 
 you Were more noisy than your mother, and she is liko 
 you there again ; and I may say for you both, that when 
 your attention is arrested, by anything touching, or 
 pathetic, you are full of self-denial, and as gentle and 
 sympathetic as a nun. But I suppose the more aggress- 
 ive and masculine traits, would be a tower of strength 
 in more trying times, and when rougher work is to 
 be done. You will soon go away from me, Tom, and it 
 will be a great trial to part with you, though I know 
 it will be in the way of duty as well as of pleasure ; 
 but a mother's love is selfish, let the poets sing as they 
 may." 
 
 " Oh, I shall not be gone long, and I shall come back 
 to you laden with tales of the unknown land, and it is 
 a land of mystery, of great resources, of vast possi- 
 bilities, and of a future that may some day outshine 
 the splendors of all climes and countries. I hope I 
 may have time, as I am sure I have the inclination, 
 to make myself acquainted with all I see. You, my 
 dear little mother, will miss me, I know, but you will 
 always feel sure of my love and my prayers. What a 
 home I leave, and what a mother ! "What have I ever 
 done to be worthy of them ? But I have an ambition 
 so to labor in the days to come, that honors may be- 
 fall me in my country's service ; that some day it may 
 be fairly said of me, that I left the world not unworthy 
 of my family and its fame." 
 
 Holt called the next morning, and found Mrs. Conant
 
 58 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 with the Professor, waiting for him. He said he had 
 been ill the morning before, and the doctor's fears 
 added to his discomfort, but he had grown speedily 
 better, and a good night's sleep had restored him to 
 his wonted good health. Ho had been worried lately 
 and had naturally felt the wear and tear. 
 
 "Well, you seem to bo all right now," said the Pro- 
 fessor. " After what your aunt told me, I waited for 
 you. Indiscriminate charity often leads to embarrass- 
 ment, and your poor proteges did not gain much by 
 your benevolence, I am sure. If they had been relieved 
 through the recognized channels, something might have 
 been got from the woman, to shed light on your pres- 
 ent darkness. It might have been found out that the 
 poor child was hers, or the story of its abduction might 
 have been told." 
 
 " I don't think so," said Mrs. Conant. " The vaga- 
 ries of the woman were the result of disease and 
 would have displayed themselves all the same, to 
 whatever influence she had been subjected. But it is 
 a sad story wo have to tell, and there is a fearful dark- 
 ness nil around us." 
 
 " There is left us only the child," said Robert, " and 
 that is so innocent and sprightly in the midst of its 
 misfortunes, that it nestles strangely into my heart. It 
 would be a sad blight on its life, to grow up as the 
 acknowledged offspring of these unknown outcasts. 
 Secrecy is the only safeguard, and the sad story is 
 known only to us three. My faith is strong in the idea 
 that they abducted the child from respectable parents, 
 who, probably, were expected to pay a ransom ; but I 
 have no proof. The child itself is evidence to me that it 
 was born to better things. It has nothing in common
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACHS. 59 
 
 with those vagrants. But there is not a shred of evidence 
 to speak of better days. The woman let fall enough to 
 suggest that the child had been abducted, though she 
 fell short of any statement. She raved of a crime, she 
 promised a confession, and once, in her wanderings, she 
 declared that she had never intended to do the child 
 harm. She spoke of him, who had misled her, as a 
 monster, and she seemed to have a conscience, and, 
 at times, some refined feeling. But if the child has 
 friends, we should hear of them. The newspapers 
 ought to be full of the outrage ; if it has been stolen, 
 the crime must have occurred within a few weeks. If 
 this were a romance, a clever novelist would find some 
 family mark, locket, or needlework, or a convenient scar 
 to serve as a means of identification. But we are 
 absolutelv in the dark, and the child is too voung to 
 
 / v 
 
 aid us. The woman spoke French like a native. It is 
 not likely that she learned the language in London. 
 Had they come from a foreign country, Belgium or 
 France perhaps ? Might the abduction have occurred 
 in one of the provinces, and the news not have reached 
 the metropolitan journals ? Suppose, first, that the 
 parents had been travelling, and that the child had been 
 left with this woman, as nurse, and then that the man 
 had seduced the woman from her duty, and the parents 
 
 had not yet returned . Ah me ! how could they ? all 
 
 that is absurd. They must have left friends, who would 
 have noticed the child's disappearance, and the alarm 
 would have been given. I speculate upon all this night 
 and day. While the woman lived there was still hope, 
 but now the darkness grows thicker, hour by hour. I 
 am weary and disheartened, and I brood over the 
 calamity as if it were, as it really is, my own."
 
 60 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " The misfortunes of life are distributed among mill- 
 ions of sufferers," said the Professor, " and the duty of 
 the charitable is to alleviate want and woe ; but while 
 our benevolence is God-like, and our sympathies 
 heaven-born, we cannot personally take upon ourselves 
 the load of suffering of all these poor multitudes. That 
 has only been done once ; unaided human nature is not 
 equal to it." 
 
 " Oh, I know what you mean, and you are right," 
 said Holt, "but my sympathies are exceptional, and 
 irresistible. I have tried to be reasonable, but I am 
 the helpless creature of uncontrollable impulse. Some- 
 times when I am alone, in the shadows of the wee sma' 
 hours, I seem to hear a sublime voice urging me on, as 
 if some great work were underlying all this mystery. I 
 am not superstitious, and I know better, yet, in my 
 calmest moments, I would not dare withdraw a hair's 
 breadth from the line I have laid down for myself. You 
 may think mo demented, but you must deal with me as 
 I am, and who knows but that child, and these events, 
 are in some way connected with my destiny." 
 
 "This is dreadful, Eobert," said Mrs. Conant. "You 
 suffer from a strange prostration ; perhaps change of 
 scene would restore you." 
 
 "Well, no," said Holt, " I do not act an unwilling 
 part. When once I have settled upon my course it will 
 be easy enough. Aunt, I must adopt that child as my 
 own ! " 
 
 " Nonsense," said the Professor ; " that course would 
 expose you to ridicule and possibly to scandal. But we 
 have talked enough about this to-day. The riddle will 
 some day solve itself, and perhaps unexpectedly. 
 Meantime, you are right, the affair should be kept as
 
 A VOICE FROM THE TROSSACHS. (ft 
 
 quiet as possible ; and, perhaps, in a few days, we shall 
 find ourselves guided as to the course you should pur- 
 sue. So off, now, with your aunt, for a drive and recrea- 
 tion, and I will go to an engagement for which, I fear, 
 I am late."
 
 CHAPTEE YIL 
 
 "THE JOLLTEST TRIP EVEE PEOJECTED." 
 
 AFTEE a sojourn of two or three days in London, 
 Lord Bolton had returned to Paris, and had spent the 
 week in the society of his American friends. His in- 
 terest in them had increased as he knew them better, 
 
 and they , how could they be indifferent to the 
 
 attentions of a man of Lord Bolton's parts and station? 
 He had written Tom to get his leave, and to muster 
 friends for an early voyage. His Lordship spoke 
 kindly of the Professor, and of his late distinction, 
 and expressed the belief that he would be speedily 
 called to higher duties ; but he hoped that they would 
 not interfere with this American trip, upon which 
 he had set his heart. "The Professor must go," 
 he wrote ; " who more than he, after this harassing 
 session, needs change of scene and relaxation? I 
 know there will be strong pressure brought to detain 
 him by some of his friends, as well as by the agents of 
 party; but I leave you to plead our cause as best 
 you may, and I am sure not vainly. We shall have 
 the addition of this charming party of Americans, if we 
 are ready to go by the same steamer. I think I told 
 you who they are, but they have been recruited by a 
 young couple who were in Switzerland when I was 
 here before. The lady is from the States, and is of 
 remarkable beauty and refinement ; the gentleman is of
 
 " THE JOLLIEST TRIP EVER PROJECTED." 63 
 
 Canadian birth, but of French descent, and is the head 
 of a family of the old noblesse, of which there are still 
 some scions in Canada. They are people of large 
 wealth, I believe, and they reside in Quebec, the classic 
 scene of Wolfe's conquest, and the only walled town in 
 America. The lady wears an expression of sadness, 
 which, to my mind, is not complimentary to her hand- 
 some lord, whom, nevertheless, her large blue eyes 
 seem always to follow with nervous adoration, which 
 she does not disguise. He met her, while he was 
 ' sowing his wild oats,' in the capital of his fatherland. 
 I am told that these young French provincials of rank 
 and fortune are both wicked and extravagant in the 
 world of fashion here, and are much in request in some 
 circles. At all events, these people married here, only a 
 few years ago, and they will be our compagnons de voyage. 
 Could we not catch the fine steamer Alaric, and sail on 
 the fifteenth proximo, from Liverpool, with our friends 
 for New York? You will, I am sure, forgive this 
 trouble, as you are the only friend who has leisure, 
 whom I could trust with a delicate mission." 
 
 " It never rains, but it pours," thought Tom ; which 
 wise and original observation was explained by the fact 
 that he had just met Dr. Elm wood in the Strand, who 
 had told him that Miss "Winthrop would probably go 
 home with him by the same steamer, on account of 
 recent occurrences in her family. That night Tom tele- 
 graphed to Lord Bolton, that Col. Lyons, Fred Cuth- 
 bert, and himself were ready ; but, that his father and 
 Robert Holt could not answer for a day or two. 
 
 "Tell them not to spoil the jolliest 'trip ever pro- 
 jected," was wired back, in reply, and Tom, weary with 
 his day's work, retired early. But it was not decreed
 
 64 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 that the trip should be spoiled, or that my Lord 
 should be disappointed. The Professor had managed 
 it by promising to return early, and Robert, by the 
 assurance of Mrs. Conant that she would look after the 
 baby. As to that very young lady, it had been agreed 
 that for the present her secret should be kept, although 
 the necessity was apparent that the nurse should be 
 more or less trusted. Robert had confidence in her, 
 and kept her in his service. Cautious advertisements 
 addressed to " the parents of a lost child," were insert- 
 ed in the Frei^h and English metropolitan journals, 
 and we may as well anticipate the future by avowing 
 that they led to no results ; nobody thought of America 
 as a possible field oi inquiry. Meantime, the infant 
 grew and prospered, and was not even interested in the 
 photographs which its foster-father insisted on taking 
 with him across the water, or conscious of the emotion 
 with which, on the eve of his journey, he bade her a 
 tender farewell. 
 
 Tom took Dr. Elmwood to the House of Commons 
 one night, where they heard the veteran Prime Minis- 
 ter summing up the work of the session. Every- 
 thing, but the conduct of the opposition, which he 
 mildly regretted, was painted coukur de rose. The ad- 
 ministration of the year had apparently paved the way 
 for the millennium to be rung in ; abroad, peace pre- 
 vailed, where war had threatened ; at home, except 
 that there was some obstruction in the House, and 
 some turbulence outside of it, contentment and pros- 
 perity prevailed. "A loyal Englishman may safely 
 leave the country in such hands," said the Doctor. 
 " The House will be dull after this. You shall first 
 point out to me a few of the distinguished men in
 
 " THE JOLLIEST TRIP EVER PROJECTED." 65 
 
 the House, whom I have not met, and then we will re- 
 pair to my rooms, where we shall find friends, who will 
 be glad to welcome us." 
 
 " Do you see the benignant face of that old gentle- 
 man," said Tom, " who is speaking to my father just 
 now ? He is the great leader of the Peace party, and 
 the finest orator in England." 
 
 " Oh, I know him well," said the Doctor, " his name 
 is a household word in America." 
 
 "Well, he has a difficult path to tread, sometimes, 
 and one could not subscribe to all his teaching ; but I 
 would rather enjoy his reputation than sit with the 
 peers of the realm. And that nervous young man 
 who sits opposite him, near the table, is Lord North, a 
 cousin of Bolton's. He leads a Tory faction of the 
 House. He has been making rather a fiery record here, 
 but his industry and pluck, and above all, his long and 
 noble lineage, will bring him to the front, when his time 
 comes. That tall, graceful member standing on the 
 right of the speaker's chair, is Mr. O'Halloran, the 
 leader of the Irish Home Rulers. He and his party 
 have been the ' obstructives ' of the session, claiming that 
 the way to get concessions from John Bull is to bully 
 and annoy him. It is our national calamity, this Irish 
 question, and Ireland is the avenging Nemesis of Eng- 
 land, as you well know. But, I believe, there are few 
 Englishmen who would not be glad to do her justice, if 
 they could see their way without pulling the temple 
 about their heads." 
 
 "After all, I know these men by appearance and 
 reputation," said the Doctor, " but I had not recognized 
 them in the distant gaslight." 
 
 "Heigho," said Tom, "lam tired and prosy. Let
 
 66 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 us go ; " and the two gentlemen walked rapidly in the 
 direction of Jermyn Street, to find Miss "Winthrop 
 entertaining Fred Cuthbert and half a dozen young 
 friends. " Oh, Capt. Conant," she said, "I do hope you 
 are coming by the Alaric, so that we may all go home 
 together. Mr. Cuthbert speaks doubtfully of the time 
 you are likely to sail, but I think it would be wicked if 
 you do not come with us." 
 
 "Oh, Fred teases everybody with his uncertain 
 ways," said his sister, Miss Alice Cuthbert, saucily; 
 " and if he had been the good brother he pretends, he 
 might have induced Capt. Conant to persuade his mother 
 to accompany the Professor, and I might go under 
 her protection." 
 
 " At first we did not propose," said Tom, 
 
 " To burden yourself with ladies," chimed in Miss 
 Alice, with assumed petulance ; " but a party, now in 
 Paris, is likely to join us, and when I found Miss Win- 
 throp would also do us that honor, I did try to per- 
 suade my mother to come ; but she pleaded inconven- 
 ience, and finally said she had absolute engagements, 
 which must detain her here for the next few weeks. 
 You know she has a colony of poor people under her 
 charge ; she has to distribute to some, and provide for 
 others, and I do believe she is fast becoming one of the 
 hardest worked women in England." 
 
 "It is a noble work," said Dr. Elmwood. 
 
 "Yes, I would rather be a successful dispenser of 
 charities ; I would rather devote my life to elevate the 
 poor, or to feed them to bind up the wounds of those 
 who have fallen by the way, to wipe the tears and 
 assuage the grief of the broken hearted, than to reign 
 as Queen of England."
 
 " THE JOLLIEST TRIP EVER PROJECTED." 67 
 
 " Yes, Agnes ! " said several young ladies in concert. 
 But Miss Cuthbert, nothing daunted, returned to the 
 charge. 
 
 " Mrs. Conant might surely be just as good, and at 
 the same time enjoy recreation and pleasure. The poor 
 she will always have with her, but she can't always go 
 to America with me." 
 
 "Oh, Alice," said her brother, "you should think be- 
 fore you speak ; your pug would die of sea-sickness on 
 the voyage, and surely you could not think of leaving 
 it behind." 
 
 " My husband shall punish your impertinence some 
 day, sir," she retorted. Further discussion showed 
 what the company thought, and the current opinion 
 convinced Tom that his mother ought to go ; but he 
 was not able to persuade her. He did not know of her 
 engagements to Robert Holt's child.
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 "GOING DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS." 
 
 TIME sped, and our travellers were busy with their 
 adieux to friends, and with their preparations for the 
 voyage. Lord Bolton, whose confidence in the Captain 
 and his good ship did not extend to what he called her 
 library, her larder, or her cellar, had furnished choice 
 books, rare delicacies, and old wines ; and every one 
 provided necessaries which were never again seen dur- 
 ing the voyage. Fred gathered prescriptions, given 
 him by anxious friends, at the clubs and the street 
 corners, against that terrible ailment mal de mer. 
 The Professor, overwhelmed with work, was still doubt- 
 ful whether he could go or not, and when Tom took an 
 affectionate leave of his family, it was an open question 
 whether his father would or would not be able to join 
 them at Queenstown, by a Sunday flight through Ire- 
 land, by rail. He dreaded to start. He half dreaded, 
 he told Mrs. Conant, lest some calamity should befall 
 her while he was gone. But she who had committed 
 her darling son to the merciless deep, felt that all 
 would be safer if her husband bore him company. Be- 
 sides, the Professor needed rest. She would persuade 
 him gently, by-and-bye, she said to Tom ; for the pres- 
 sent, she did not doubt he would go. Fred tenderly 
 embraced his family, and had been overwhelmed with 
 mock reproaches from his sister, who still com- 
 plained.
 
 "GOING DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS." 69 
 
 The time of the ship's departure depends upon the 
 tide, and it was by a night journey to Liverpool that 
 our tourists reached the sea. That sprightly town was 
 shrouded in fog, and drenched in its accustomed rains, 
 on the eventful morning. The hotels were thronged 
 with passengers, bound for the Alaric, and for other 
 steamers ; and the piles of baggage, from the tiny 
 valise to the huge " Saratoga " of fashion, that blocked 
 the streets, had rather the appearance of a military ex- 
 pedition than the peaceful outfit of quiet travellers. 
 
 The fine steamer lay, a majestic sight, in the distant 
 waters ; a dingy tug was the only means of approaching 
 her. The shop-keepers are on the alert, the hack-men 
 are reaping fortunes, everybody hurries, as if the first 
 on the tug would be the first at home. The crowds on 
 the little tug can find no rest or comfort, except in the 
 hope that they may soon be able to leave her; and, 
 when Tom had climbed up the side of the great steamer, 
 and went to the state-room that had been allotted him, 
 he found two or three excited people claiming it, and 
 the purser explaining that their own quarters were this 
 way or that, and they themselves declaring that the 
 geography of the ship was an impenetrable puzzle. It 
 would all be plain enough in a day or two, but one 
 could not master the magnificent distances at first sight. 
 Tom sought the deck, and was crushed* by the crowd of 
 jostling and excited passengers. On the one hand, 
 was the broad expanse of the sea around him ; on the 
 other, lay the great city in the distance, with its mag- 
 nificent wharves and its far-stretching environs. The 
 fresh breeze, freighted with briny odors, fanned his 
 cheeks, and the fleecy clouds, far away, assumed the 
 fantastic shapes of antique men and women, who beck-
 
 70 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 oned him out to the deep waters. It was the begin- 
 ning of a new life. "What had it in store for him? 
 Would the peaceful wave befriend him, or was he to 
 be lashed and overwhelmed with the dangers which 
 had made seafaring perilous since the earliest days, 
 when men "went down to the sea in ships?" From 
 the times of Jonah and Ulysses, no skill guaranteed 
 immunity from the dangers of angry waters. He did 
 not fear ; he only pondered, as the bravest and most 
 experienced mariners had done in all time before. 
 What was his life compared with the vast waste of ages, 
 which could only be computed when the " sea should 
 give up her dead?" But he would rouse and re- 
 assure himself, and look after the comfort of his 
 friends. 
 
 "Have you seen Mr. Holt?" he asked of his ser- 
 vant. 
 
 " No, sir ; but Col. Lyons is in his cabin, and Mr. 
 Cuthbert is beyond the wheel-house yonder." 
 
 " What are you doing there, Fred ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'm rehearsing," said the other, as he leaned 
 over the ship's rail ; " I dare say I shall get used to it, 
 and I am learning to go it alone." 
 
 " Are you sick in these still waters, and the ship not 
 ui motion? " 
 
 "I am discounting the future," said Fred, slowly, 
 " after the manner of the Jews. I am practising atti- 
 tudes in my hour of strength, and against the day of 
 need ; I am drawing on my imagination at about two 
 hours sight. I expect to attract attention. I shall be- 
 come the distinguished passenger. Don't you see the 
 advantage of my studying my pose ? " 
 
 Tom, with an ejaculation of " nonsense," turned away ;
 
 "GOING DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS." 71 
 
 he was in no mood for badinage, and lie would see if he 
 could be useful to others. 
 
 " Why, Holt," he said, " you look desolate. Are you 
 really forlorn at leaving home? Well, I am sad my- 
 self ; and yet we English are notorious wanderers. Per- 
 haps the race is running out." 
 
 " I am not cheerful I confess," said Robert, " and yet 
 I don't know why, for nothing would have deterred 
 me from taking this voyage. It is an event in my life. 
 I am not going half willingly, for I seem drawn by un- 
 seen hands. There is some mystery for me in this 
 journey. You will see, perhaps, when it is solved." 
 
 " You are out of sorts, Robert," said Tom ; " the sea 
 air will restore you." 
 
 Lord Bolton sauntered into the saloon with Tom, 
 to note the long tables groaning with delf and crystal, 
 and to watch the ample preparations for dinner. 
 
 " Can I have a private table for my party ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 The steward looked puzzled. " Have you made no 
 arrangements, sir ? " 
 
 "None," said his Lordship. "James should have 
 seen to this." 
 
 " They do not know his rank," said Tom, aside. 
 
 "We are crowded, sir," said the steward; "your 
 friends will be safer to take the seats first, as they want 
 them." 
 
 " Oh, I'll see the captain," said Tom. 
 
 " No, stay," said my Lord ; " we will take our chances. 
 Things will regulate themselves in a day or two, and 
 we will commence the practice of equality in our own 
 waters." 
 
 The great ship steamed slowly out to sea, and by the
 
 72 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 time she was fairly under way dinner was served at a 
 table which could accommodate three hundred, in 
 a ship numbering five hundred first-class passengers. 
 There was ill-concealed irritation from the unfor- 
 tunates left to wait, and whose keen relish of the 
 savory odors did not improve their tempers ; while, 
 as in the outer world, the well provided classes paid 
 little heed to the tempted and famished. 
 
 After dinner, Lord Bolton had been unremitting in 
 his endeavors to bring his friends together at the earli- 
 est moment ; and they had indulged in the cordial com- 
 mon places of strangers. But, in the evening, when 
 they were all ensconced on the broad deck, en famille, 
 and the waves gently washed the ship, and the pale 
 moon looked wistfully down upon them, they forgot the 
 restraints of their first meeting, and their conversation 
 sparkled with wit, and abounded in good nature. 
 
 How often has the friendship of a life-time been 
 kindled at sea? Social intercourse is more unre- 
 strained, and there is an unconscious search for novelty 
 and adventure on shipboard; each has the same re- 
 stricted amusements and common interests, the feelings 
 are more easily touched, and there is less distracting 
 competition and variety than are found in the great 
 world of society, with the fixed rules that govern it. 
 Some may cavil at this solution, and we do not insist 
 upon it ; but these pages will bear witness to the fact 
 that friendships grow rapidly at sea. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Roberts and Miss Roberts, of Wash- 
 ington, and M. and Madame De Luynes, of Quebec, 
 Lord Bolton's friends in Paris, were what he had de- 
 scribed them, " charming people ;" and Fred Cuthbert, 
 aside to Miss Winthrop, had maliciously whispered,
 
 "GOING DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS." 73 
 
 that there would shortly be another case of a great 
 Lord prostrate before aii American beauty. 
 
 Our travellers were spending a pleasant evening, and 
 were already on the footing of friends. Fred was in 
 unusual spirits, and had forgotten his sea-sickness and 
 his cynicism. Tom and Miss Winthrop were rather 
 selfishly absorbed in each other ; and Robert Holt was 
 full of fun and anecdotes. The latter seemed to have 
 forgotten the mysteries of his destiny, toward which 
 he had dreamed the ship was bearing him. 
 
 M. De Luynes, Eobert thought, was an excitable 
 and impetuous talker, intolerant, but witty and clever; 
 and Robert observed that his wife was ill at ease 
 when he spoke, as if she feared an extravagance of 
 some sort, perhaps only an imprudence of expression. 
 De Luynes was tall, handsome and intellectual ; but his 
 eyes were restless, and his manner unassured. His 
 fine young face wore a weary look of care, beyond his 
 years, and might have denoted one not unfamiliar with 
 " revelry by night." 
 
 Madame De Luynes' great beauty was not marred by 
 the tinge of melancholy which had touched her face ; and 
 when her expression was animated by sympathy or by 
 thought, Robert felt that he had never seen anything 
 so lovely. Her sweet voice and gentle manner had at 
 first touched him as indescribably charming ; and as the 
 evening wore on, he wondered, could it be that this 
 rollicking husband was indifferent to such unusual fasci- 
 nations. 
 
 She, on her part, had not been unobservant of the 
 young man's interest; and her husband had spoken 
 to her in terms of admiration for him. "He is a 
 scholar and a thinker, and I shall be deceived if you
 
 74 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 do not find him a Christian gentleman," De Luynes 
 said; and she had answered that his quiet dignity 
 inspired a feeling of restfulness and confidence, as if 
 he were equal to great occasions one who might defy 
 dangers and rescue the unfortunate from perils. 
 
 In the midst of these conversations, the heavens 
 were suddenly overcast, and the wind freshened, 
 to be succeeded by mists and fogs, as so often 
 happens in these weary nights along the coast of Ire- 
 land. The ladies, therefore, heeded the warning to 
 retire. 
 
 Fred Cuthbert, who had felt a little de trop, up- 
 braided Tom for his dulness all the evening. "Where 
 have you been, and what have you done for the welfare 
 of my fellow travellers and myself ? " said Fred. " I 
 wish I had brought Alice, who would at least have 
 scolded me, and that would have been better than to 
 be left without attention." Looking at Lord Bolton, 
 he added, " Why could you not follow an illustrious ex- 
 ample, Tom, and give initial lessons in the only art 
 which is not in danger of being lost? Why, you've 
 been sitting alone the whole evening." 
 
 "Don't be disagreeable, Fred," said Robert, half 
 alarmed. 
 
 " Impertinence is not wit, Mr. Cuthbert," said Lord 
 Bolton, with assumed severity ; " but that I love your 
 father I should be tempted to throw you overboard." 
 
 " I am my father's debtor in many ways," said Fred ; 
 " but this great forbearance of my Lord I shall credit 
 to his own prudent kindness." 
 
 There was a laugh, and with cordial " good-nights," 
 the party separated. 
 
 Half an hour later, Robert found himself discussing
 
 "GOING DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS." 75 
 
 sardines on toast, among other tilings, with M. Maurice 
 De Luynes, in the saloon. 
 
 " The Canadian trip to Liverpool is lovely in sum- 
 mer," De Luynes said ; " you descend the river to the 
 Gulf, and the Straits, and you are three days in sight 
 of land before reaching the sea. The ships are fine, 
 the service reasonable, and the voyage out from our 
 Canadian shores is much patronized by people from 
 the States." 
 
 " I have heard that it is beset with dangers," said 
 Robert. 
 
 " Oh, the navigation of the whole Northern Atlantic 
 is somewhat perilous," replied De Luynes. " In earlier 
 days the St. Lawrence route was not well-known, and 
 there were many terrible disasters ; but for years there 
 has been apparent safety. I would not care to return 
 by these boats, they are so crowded with steerage pas- 
 sengers. In the event of serious accident, the number 
 on board would greatly diminish the chances of escape. 
 I always go out from home and return by New York in 
 the Saturday boats for this reason. You have never 
 been in Quebec? The old city will interest one of 
 your taste and acquirements. It is not a commercial 
 city, though its harbor is magnificent, and its railway 
 facilities are, and will be, ample for any trade ; but we 
 are slow to take advantage of our opportunities, and 
 have been over-matched, and often outstripped by more 
 enterprising commercial rivals. A great man once 
 slandered us by saying that no one had as yet been 
 born in Quebec who could see beyond her walls. But 
 I love the old city, though I wish that, in many 
 things, I had the power to reform her. She has 
 many historical landmarks, and is full of interesting
 
 76 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 reminiscences. Quebec, moreover, was the theatre upon 
 which those great Apostles, who sought to create 
 French empire on this continent, labored, and if they 
 failed, their successors have maintained a supremacy 
 under foreign rule, which if it had been foreseen a hun- 
 dred years ago, would have shocked her conquerors. 
 These influences have entrenched themselves in their 
 own little province, and are preparing the machinery of 
 a propagandism which nobody understands, and against 
 which nobody provides, but which will make itself felt 
 by-and-bye, in the controversies of the New World. 
 These people have not learned the lessons of liberty, 
 and they are dangerous to her ; but, beyond their own 
 small jurisdiction, their methods are not understood, 
 and no one is preparing to withstand their aggressions 
 when the time comes. It seems a small affair by the 
 light of the moment; but a great contest is brewing 
 between those who love freedom and those who have 
 been its traditional enemies ; and Englishmen will re- 
 pent in sack-cloth and ashes the hostile forces they 
 have been unconsciously fostering, in territories they 
 once wrenched from old France in America." 
 
 " You surprise me," said Eobert, with deep interest. 
 
 " It is a long, sad story," added De Luynes, slowly ; 
 " but if it interests you, we will talk more about it by- 
 and-bye."
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 "ALL WENT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL." 
 
 IT was a beautiful Sunday morning as they neared 
 the lovely harbor of Queenstown, and dropped anchor 
 to await the arrival of the Saturday night's mails and 
 the passengers from London. The Professor, bright 
 and cheery, was the first to put foot upon the ship, and 
 was hilariously welcomed by the friends who had ex- 
 pected him. Tom was eager for news from home. 
 But, beyond a private, and it seemed reassuring, word 
 to Kobert, the Professor had nothing to tell. 
 
 " I am afraid Tom was hoping ,you would not come," 
 said Fred Cuthbert in a low tone ; " his attentions to 
 us all have been so extravagantly general that you 
 might not approve." 
 
 " What a tease you are, Fred," said Holt, who had 
 caught enough to guess at the drift ; " Is nobody to 
 escape you ? " 
 
 " At any rate, you are safe till we reach deep water," 
 was the reply. 
 
 The Professor laughingly observed that Fred was a 
 better fellow than he wanted the world to believe. And 
 Tom advised his father to reserve his judgment till he 
 had experience of the young man's life on the " ocean 
 wave." 
 
 Miss Roberts offered to champion him at any time, 
 when he found himself hard pressed by his rough com-
 
 78 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 panions, and Fred declared that with such a prospect, 
 he should invite assaults from all the ill-conditioned 
 passengers. 
 
 " Oh ! the blarney stone ! " cried Miss Roberts ; " Did 
 you find it this morning, or have you been here be- 
 fore?" 
 
 " I am glad to say I never embraced it," replied Fred, 
 " and I am sure no Irishman whose privilege it is to 
 cross with us will ever kiss it again." 
 
 " What a national revulsion," said Lord Bolton. 
 " Pray, Fred, could you trace it to its cause ? " 
 
 " I might, if my station were such that nobody would 
 dare resent what I say," was the retort. 
 
 "Oh, you are ambitious for the cap and bells," 
 laughingly observed his Lordship. 
 
 " Mr. Cuthbert, come with me," said Miss Winthrop. 
 
 " Can you find me a harbor of refuge near by ? " re- 
 joined Fred, as he obeyed the summons and sauntered 
 down the deck by her side. 
 
 Col. Lyons, who was a sailor, pointed out the objects 
 of interest, as the Alaric steamed away through the 
 placid waters, and, as every one on his last look is ob- 
 servant, there were few talkers and the conversation 
 flagged. 
 
 Lord Bolton was the exception ; his accustomed 
 reticence in the society of ladies had given way to a 
 strain of loquacious mirth, which surprised his friends 
 and amused everybody, and he was so persistently at 
 Miss Roberts's side, that she seemed at first disposed to 
 avoid him. " But the besieged must always surrender," 
 Fred was saying to Miss Winthrop, " if he is short of 
 rations, and the enemy is equipped with titles and no 
 end of thousands a year."
 
 "ALL WENT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL." 79 
 
 " Is she not a lovely brunette of the Southern type, 
 graceful as a queen and beautiful as a houri? I have 
 been struck by the apparent gentleness and sweetness 
 of her disposition. No wonder Lord Bolton is charmed. 
 If he win\her, it must be through her heart. If she 
 is mercenary I shall despair of my sex, and never at- 
 tempt to read character again. If I were a man, I 
 should fall in love with that girl myself," said the 
 young lady. 
 
 " Oh, then there would be bloodshed between you 
 and my Lord," remarked her companion. " He was 
 never in love in his life, and he won't be easy to tame." 
 
 "How absurd," she rejoined. "I see nothing to 
 justify these jokes." 
 
 " Oh, if you don't see," said Fred, " with all your 
 experience, 
 
 "Have a care !" she said, "Mr. Cynic! " 
 
 " Then, of course, I am blind ! " he added, without 
 heeding the interruption. 
 
 "Do you like Lord Bolton? " she asked with a young 
 girl's directness. 
 
 " Do you think that it is impossible because I some- 
 times laugh at his expense ? " 
 
 " Please answer my question," she persisted. 
 
 " Miss Winthrop," he said, with a drawl; "do you 
 think a cockney could be sensible, or a cynic serious ? 
 I am going to surprise you. I do more than like Lord 
 Bolton, I love him. He is never the great Lord, but 
 always the dear friend, to me. Sometimes I mimic his 
 aristocratic lisp, and laugh at his eccentric idiosyn- 
 crasies, because it suits my humor, and this as often 
 before his face as behind his back. I really believe it 
 amuses him more than others. He is a great Lord,
 
 80 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 but lie is a good man. He lias a clumsy manner but a 
 kind heart. And what to him are the little graces 
 which he might display in common with his tailor? 
 As he grows older, higher hereditary honors will fall to 
 him, and he will become a great man in England. He 
 will be better known for his benevolence than for his 
 exalted honors; and to enjoy his friendship will be 
 abundant pleasure for those who deserve it. His love 
 for man or woman will be a precious gift. He is ear- 
 nest and honest before all things ; Miss Roberts must 
 not trifle with him." 
 
 " I believe every word you say," said Miss Winthrop. 
 "I knew you were not really a cynic all the time." 
 
 Lord Bolton and Miss Roberts approached. "We 
 came to remind you of something you had forgotten, 
 Fred," he said gaily. 
 
 "What? My Lord!" 
 
 " Tour prescriptions ; you need not have gone to Epps 
 of Piccadilly, if you had known what antidotes were to 
 be found here." 
 
 " Tour cheerful face saved me," replied Fred, with a 
 polite bow to Miss Eoberts. "As a faithful retainer, I 
 must give precedence to you." 
 
 "Are you not a good sailor? " asked Miss Winthrop. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know," he answered " everybody told 
 me of the terrible ordeal, and everybody gave me a 
 remedy ; of course I imparted my secret to my friends, 
 and they became cognizant of my tremors when I first 
 came on board ; but I have not thought of them since. 
 His Lordship's unusual spirits remind me I can think 
 of something that would give him a more terrible shock 
 than I dreaded. It seems to me Miss Eoberts is re- 
 served and coy. Miss Winthrop, do you think it possi-
 
 "ALL WENT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL." 81 
 
 ble for an American girl to be indifferent to a great 
 Lord who loves her? " 
 
 " Why, yes, I should think so of any girl who did 
 not reciprocate his affection. Why do you distin- 
 guish American girls? Are they more wicked than 
 others?" 
 
 " I am afraid I should have said, yes, a month ago, 
 as to this particular sin ; but I don't believe it now," 
 said Fred. Cuthbert. " We live to learn " 
 
 They saw Robert and Mme. De Luynes promenading 
 the deck, and Miss Winthrop motioned Tom to join her. 
 
 "She is a charming person," remarked Miss Win- 
 throp. 
 
 " I did not observe her much," said Tom, " but Rob- 
 ert says she is most interesting and accomplished." 
 
 " Her husband is a dry stick," added Fred, shrug- 
 ging his shoulders. 
 
 "Not at all," Tom replied. "Robert says he is a 
 man of brilliant parts. At first Robert thought he had 
 a dissolute look, though he is handsome and distingue, 
 but he says he has met no man on board ship from 
 whom we are likely to derive so much useful informa- 
 tion. He was educated in Paris, and I believe he 
 sowed his wild oats there. At any rate, in his young 
 days, he won his beautiful wife in that fashionable 
 city ; but Robert says he has the whole history of 
 America at his tongue's end and that we may expect 
 pleasure from intercourse with him." 
 
 "I dare say he will be my fate," said Fred, "but 
 Robert seems to prefer Madame." 
 
 "You don't think he expects to marry her," rejoined 
 Tom, in tones of disgust. 
 
 "Not in this world," remarked Fred.
 
 82 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " Well, in the next world, they neither marry nor are 
 given in marriage," said Miss Winthrop. 
 
 "So you have been reading up that subject, my 
 young friend," replied the cynic. "That rule was 
 needed to meet the case of the seven brothers in the 
 old days ; but now it would be more imperative under 
 the jurisdiction of the divorce courts." 
 
 "As we are all unmarried," said Tom, " let us leave 
 these things to the benedicts ! " and he led Miss "Win- 
 throp to a seat which his father had reserved for her. 
 
 "Do you know," said the Professor, "I feel like a 
 school-boy off for his holidays? No letters, no tele- 
 grams for ten days." 
 
 " It might be nine," remarked Tom. 
 
 " Or eight," said Miss Winthrop ; " I believe the 
 Alaska has made the voyage in seven days, some odd 
 hours." 
 
 " It has been, and will be greatly shortened," said 
 the Professor. " There is already direct railway com- 
 munication to Halifax, and it is proposed to traverse 
 Newfoundland by rail. Four to five days will be the 
 extent of the ocean trip before we are much older." 
 
 " I should rather go all the way by sea," said Miss 
 Winthrop. "It is such a trouble to change." 
 
 " Oh, yes, if you are a good sailor," interposed Dr. 
 Elmwood. " But if you were ill, from the moment you 
 took the ship till you left it, I think you would tolerate 
 the proposed new route. Five days instead of ten 
 would be a relief incalculable to a bad sailor." 
 
 Robert was busy in conversation with Madame De 
 Luynes. She was telling him that she was born in a 
 Connecticut village, had been educated in Paris, and, on 
 the Continent and while still a school-girl, had met her
 
 LITTLE ETHEL AS CARLOTTA LEFT HER. 
 
 "Dear old Quebec," she continued, musingly, * * "I left my baby, a dear 
 tittle girl of two years, there." Page 83.
 
 "ALL WENT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL." 83 
 
 husband in Paris and married him, and had become a 
 resident of Quebec. She loved the old city. There 
 was a respectable English contingent there, but the 
 people were chiefly French, and they had been devoted 
 to her, as they always were to an American speaking 
 their language. She loved the French people. She 
 was a protestaut, but they made her faith no reproach 
 to her, as they would to a pervert from their own faith ; 
 and she thought the melange of French and English in 
 society charming. The brusquerie of the English man- 
 ners was softened by the politesse of the French, and 
 gave an inimitable charm to the society of the old 
 capital. She hoped to welcome him there, and, that 
 as he had so much impressed her husband, he would 
 accept the hospitalities of their house when he came to 
 Canada. 
 
 Robert was not slow to reciprocate these kind senti- 
 ments, and declared that he had been charmed by her 
 husband's knowledge of affairs, his sound political 
 views, and the ready tact with which he expressed 
 them. 
 
 She remarked that her husband had not been a fortu- 
 nate politician, as he would have been in Connecticut 
 or in Paris ; for Lower Canada was peculiar, and no- 
 body came to distinction without the confidence of the 
 priests. " Dear old Quebec," she continued, musingly, 
 " I never longed to see the place so much as I do now. 
 I left my baby, a dear little girl of two years there. 
 She is well, and with a faithful old nurse in a quiet vil- 
 lage by the sea ; but of late I have rarely heard of her. 
 I have worried incessantly about this. We ought not 
 to have left the child ; and we are returning a month 
 before my husband was ready to come. He is not
 
 84 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 alarmed, of course ; lie is a man, and says I am cherish- 
 ing imaginary fears ; but I cannot rest until I see my 
 child. Are you married, Mr. Holt ? " she asked ab- 
 ruptly. 
 
 Robert answered "No." And he thought tenderly 
 of the little girl he, too, had left behind. Should he see 
 her again ? Would she become an influence in his life, 
 this little waif who had drifted to him ? 
 
 " Oh, I thought if you had children," Mme. De Luynes 
 remarked, " you might feel an interest in my story." 
 
 Robert avowed his interest, but said nothing of the 
 child he was himself interested in, and they joined the 
 others who were basking in the warm rays of the set- 
 ting sun, by the door of the captain's cabin. 
 
 Capt. Graham was a short, stout man, with a ruddy 
 sunburnt face, and a cheery, kind expression. " Ladies," 
 he said, with the rich brogue which comes only from 
 the north of the Tweed, " we are fortunate to have a 
 cloudless sky, and the sunset is peerless. You could 
 not match it on land. Many travellers have tried, but 
 always in vain, to portray the beauties of a brilliant 
 sunset at sea." 
 
 "But there are clouds," interposed Miss Roberts; 
 "and oh, how magnificent!" 
 
 "They are only the illuminated background of this 
 great picture," remarked De Luynes absently. " What 
 a wealth of golden lights and fleecy shades enlivens the 
 heavenly canvas ! " 
 
 " What animated coloring ! " said one. " And what 
 blending ! " " And what variegations ! " said the others. 
 And they stood there enraptured with the scene till the 
 sun went down, and the twilight deepened into night. 
 
 In the old days, when the passenger list was smaller,
 
 "ALL WEXT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL." 85 
 
 everybody came to know everybody else, during the 
 passage, and indeed, the captain, as head of the ship's 
 family, was accustomed to present the notables to each 
 other, early in the voyage. But modern passengers 
 herd in such numbers on the great ships, that, except 
 in small circles, they generally remain indifferent 
 strangers to their fellows ; and this isolation amid a 
 crowd promotes a warmer sympathy in the narrow 
 circle of one's friends. The resources of each are un- 
 consciously taxed for the general amusement. If a 
 fourth is wanted at whist you are ready for the sac- 
 rifice, though you neither love the game, nor understand 
 it ; and if you are asked to sing, you seat yourself at 
 the piano, without any of the coyness which might be 
 excused in a country house ashore. 
 
 There was a pretty little parlor, just off the saloon, 
 which Lord Bolton and his friends had already appro- 
 priated. There were an organ, a harp, and a guitar, 
 with soiled sheets of music ; a church hymnal and the 
 Moody and Sankey hymns, waiting to be made use of ; 
 and De Luynes, seating himself at the organ, called his 
 wife, saying, " Come, Carlotta, let us set these young 
 people an example." He ran his fingers along the keys 
 as if testing the qualities of the instrument, and then 
 with the self-absorbed air of an enthusiast brought 
 forth strains so pathetic and full of harmony that one 
 wondered at the skill that could summon at will such 
 melodies. 
 
 " It is Sunday night, Maurice," said his wife gently. 
 " There may be those who prefer a hymn to your weird 
 improvisations." 
 
 " To me, those chords were beautiful," he said. " I 
 expect some day to hear them with you, in heaven."
 
 86 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 The instrument gave out "The sweet by-and-bye," 
 with exquisite variations, and the De Luynes accom- 
 panied the music with their fine voices through a sweet 
 rendering of the words. By this time, the room and 
 the approaches were crowded with passengers, whom 
 the music had attracted, but De Luynes was lost to all 
 but the strains he was producing. As these died away 
 and they commenced to sing " Nearer my God to Thee," 
 the strains were taken up by the throng, and carried 
 along the ship till it seemed that the inspiration was 
 general, and as if a thousand voices were singing with 
 a marvellous harmony the touching and beautiful 
 hymn. "Women wept and strong men sought to hide 
 their emotion. 
 
 After a little, De Luynes arose composedly and said, 
 " We Catholics do not practise these hymns as a religi- 
 ous duty ; but I love to sing them with my wife, and 
 sometimes in this way we entertain our neighbors." 
 Politely excusing themselves, M. and Mme. De Luynes 
 retired. 
 
 "They are charming people," said the Professor, a 
 remark which was warmly seconded by Dr. Elmwood. 
 
 " I knew De Luynes' father," said Col. Lyons, " when 
 I was in Canada some years ago. He was a clever 
 man, and at one time, wielded great political power, but 
 he was not in accord with the clergy on the question 
 of the tithes and some other things, and, notwithstand-* 
 ing his lineage and his wealth, his high character and the 
 distinguished services he had rendered the people, his 
 public life was soon at an end. Maurice was then in 
 France pursuing his studies, but I always heard him 
 spoken of as a young man of great promise ; it is said 
 he has cultivated his father's independence and is not
 
 "ALL WENT MERRY AS A MARRIAGE BELL." 87 
 
 a favorite with the church, which means a good deal in 
 the way of trouble for him in Canada, if he looks to 
 politics as an occupation." 
 
 " How sadly one may misjudge at first," said Tom. 
 " We all looked askance at him, and traced his lovely 
 wife's melancholy to his neglect and persecution. Now 
 we find him a model domestic man, of rare acquire- 
 ments and virtues." 
 
 " "We certainly did misjudge them," remarked Eobert. 
 " Even the wife's melancholy has found a solution which 
 fully exonerates the husband, and accounts in the most 
 positive way for her nervous and anxious manner." 
 
 " Let us give up reading character and take to read- 
 ing books," said Fred. 
 
 " You may do both things profitably, by devoting to 
 each a little care," interpolated the Professor; "half 
 the misunderstandings of life are precipitated by jump- 
 ing to conclusions." 
 
 " It is a rule of polite society to avoid hurting the 
 feelings of others," said Col. Lyons, " and it would be 
 as good a rule, perhaps, to avoid speaking against 
 them." 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Elmwood, " or you might copy the 
 newspapers and only speak ill of your neighbors, when 
 the public interest demands it." 
 
 " That would be a pressing alternative," said Fred ; 
 " the sea is rough," he added, looking out, " and the 
 ship is lurching. Let us woo tired nature's sweet 
 restorer "
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 "COMING INTO THE TEACK or A STORM." 
 
 THE orthodox occupation of a passenger at sea is 
 killing time. At first this is easy, for everything is 
 new and fresh at the outset ; but there is no " infinite 
 variety " at one's service. He treads the same measure 
 day after day, and by-and-bye the time " hangs heavy 
 on his hands." He begins to count the days, and anon, 
 the hours. He has seen the whale and the porpoise, 
 and perhaps, the iceberg. He has watched the ship 
 speed in her spiritless race, from day to day, against 
 her own time. The Captain on the bridge and the 
 sailors in the rigging cease to amuse him. All this, 
 unless he can enjoy good books, or that better resource 
 at sea, good company. 
 
 Our own travellers were among the fortunate few. 
 They were good sailors, good talkers, and good listen- 
 ers ; and they were, moreover, interested in each other. 
 Their first day had been a delightful experience to 
 each, and even at this early hour if a requisition had 
 been circulated to prolong the voyage, they would all 
 (if we except Madame De Luynes and Dr. Elmwood), 
 have signed it. 
 
 All were early astir on that bright Monday morning ; 
 they had been refreshed and were happy ; and their 
 greetings were as cheery and affectionate as if they
 
 " COMING INTO THE TRACK OF A STORM." 89 
 
 had known each other for years. The decks and saloons 
 were less crowded than they were yesterday, for many 
 had yielded to the discomforts of the sea. And the 
 jolly Captain, who knew the misfortune had its limits, 
 was willing to have his joke about it. 
 
 " Your sympathy with sea-sickness does you credit, 
 ladies," he said, " but sea-sickness is not always an un- 
 mixed evil. I was sailing from New York once in Octo- 
 ber with a long passenger list ; room was a sacred trust 
 everywhere. Two rather distinguished New York ladies, 
 not acquainted with each other, had been placed in my 
 charge for the voyage. Their husbands had been de- 
 tained at the last moment, but were to follow them next 
 month. Neither of the ladies knew me. They had 
 each two children, and they all had seats at my left, or 
 rather, they should have had ; but, as it turned out, the 
 steward had only reserved two seats instead of four. 
 As we steamed out of the harbor late in the afternoon, 
 I was engaged, and asked a friend to take my place at 
 the dinner-table. He was a good lawyer, but he didn't 
 know the difference between a jib-boom and a rudder. 
 The day was beautiful, and nobody who enjoyed it 
 could have thought there was anything but happiness 
 in store. The ladies came to the table without the 
 children, and each claimed the two seats. They spoke 
 with the frigid politeness of people who did not intend 
 to yield an inch. 'These seats belong to my little 
 girl and boy,' said Number One. ' You are mistaken, 
 madame, they were reserved for my two children,' said 
 Number Two. ' The captain shall decide between us,' 
 they both said, appealing to my friend. He was, how- 
 ever, 'wise in his generation,' and, without nautical 
 skill, settled a delicate nautical matter.
 
 90 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " ' Ladies,' he said, ' Rome was not built in a day ; it 
 is a rule of this service to take twenty-four hours for 
 consideration, when embarrassing questions are sub- 
 mitted. It has happened that in this way such ques- 
 tions settled themselves.' Each, confident of victory, 
 was satisfied. Would you believe it, those ladies were 
 not at the table again till we sighted land, ten days 
 afterwards. So you see, le mal de mer is not an un- 
 mixed evil." 
 
 " You are cruel, captain," said the ladies. 
 
 "I am practical, ladies," he replied, with a loud 
 laugh, which bespoke the measure of his good humor. 
 
 "Do you like to answer questions, captain?" said 
 Miss Roberts. 
 
 " Yes, when I know how," he rejoined. 
 
 " I have heard that some captains regard curiosity 
 with ill-favor." 
 
 " "Well, yes, and no," he said. " It depends upon the 
 man and the circumstances. But if we are crusty we 
 sometimes get the worst of it. The commodore of our 
 line, in the midst of a storm, was asked by a lady some 
 simple question. 'Do you take me for the steward, 
 Madame ? ' he said gruffly. * I mistook you for a gen- 
 tleman, sir,' was the quiet reply." 
 
 The day was beautiful but uneventful to the ordinary 
 passenger, and, unheeded by our friends, some of whom 
 discussed books, finance, and politics, according to their 
 tastes; others were engaged in gentler and perhaps 
 more engrossing studies. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Roberts sought to shield their young 
 charge from the too pronounced attentions of Lord 
 Bolton, who seemed to have forgotten the rest of the 
 party, and could not understand why he should be
 
 " COMING INTO THE TRACK OF A STORM." 91 
 
 shunned. He had even complained to Mr. Roberts, 
 and protested his sincerity ; but that gentleman had 
 only met him with mysterious and conventional as- 
 surances. Finally, he told him frankly, that his sister 
 had a high sense of the honor he intended her, but that 
 he would explain later a reason why she could only re- 
 ceive him on the footing of a friend, and that there 
 must be no thought of any more serious relations. 
 
 His Lordship had accepted the situation, and the 
 young lady was once more cheerful and reassured. 
 
 Tom and Miss Winthrop were still engaged in a 
 sort of old-fashioned flirtation, which did not threaten 
 to be serious, and seemed to include Fred Cuthbert 
 in their confidence. The De Luynes and Eobert were 
 inseparable, and the lively and sparkling conversa- 
 tion of these interesting and accomplished people was 
 a treat to the Professor and to Dr. Elmwood. The 
 captain, as an old friend of Col. Lyons, rather mon- 
 opolized that gentleman, and so all were delightfully 
 occupied, and the time sped and they did not heed 
 it till another day had been reeled off their voyage. 
 
 That night there was heavy weather, and a rougher 
 sea, and an old sailor said they were coming into the 
 track of a storm. 
 
 The next morning at breakfast the tables were 
 ornamented with the traditional "racks." The passen- 
 gers were thinly represented in the saloon, and these 
 seemed serious and apprehensive ; but, though the 
 wind was growing fresher, and the sea boiled with agita- 
 tion, the sky was clear and the sun was bright. There 
 were but few ladies visible, and these threaded their 
 unaccustomed way with difficulty in the ship's uncer- 
 tain motion. The dishes rattled, the Alaric groaned,
 
 92 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 and now and then as the vessel plunged, some luck- 
 less promenader was caught, and hurled against chairs 
 and tables to the opposite corner. At last, the general 
 gloom was lifted and a hearty laugh ran "along the 
 line " while the victims looked silly and crestfallen. 
 
 Our travellers were on deck, clinging to the ropes 
 and rails, with supreme indifference to their sufferings. 
 Poor Madame De Luynes had not reported, though 
 Maurice said she was not ill, but only a little dis- 
 quieted. The other ladies were with difficulty dissuaded 
 from going at once in search of her, but her hus- 
 band thought she would be better if left to such re- 
 pose as, in the circumstances, was possible. He prom- 
 ised to bring her to them as good as new, in an hour or 
 two. 
 
 The Captain had just left the bridge and was making 
 cautiously for his cabin, and the young ladies began to 
 ply him with jokes and questions. He was polite, but 
 stern and reserved, another man altogether than him 
 they had left the night before, full of fun and anecdote. 
 He was responsible for a large property, and a thousand 
 lives, and the sea was giving signs that troubled him. 
 From stem to stern the ship was playing pitch and toss 
 in the liveliest manner, and the great waves were pound- 
 ing her sides like battering-rams, now and then drench- 
 ing her decks with spray. The Captain half listened 
 as if he were expecting something, and dreaded it. Our 
 observers watched his anxious face and were silent. 
 Then, as the ship plunged her nose under the waters, 
 there was a slight scraping sound like the friction of 
 timbers, and momently she halted and trembled; 
 women screamed and men held their breath. 
 
 " Port your helm ! " shouted an unknown voice. The
 
 " COMING INTO THE TRACK OF A STORM." 93 
 
 man at the wheel obeyed, and the ship rocked and 
 groaned under the awkward pressure. 
 
 " Steady your wheel ! " roared the Captain, rushing 
 forward. The scraping was repeated tenfold, and there 
 was a terrible bump ! bump ! bump ! ! as if they were 
 rushing at full speed over boulders, and the ship leaped 
 above the waters as if she were being hurled out of the sea. 
 Men and women were thrown indiscriminately athwart 
 the vessel, which seemed to hang hesitatingly between 
 the air and ocean, and writhed and quivered as if in 
 bodily pain. The ship righted herself quickly, and 
 stood still during two awful minutes of suspense before 
 the engine resumed work. 
 
 " Look yonder ! " shouted the first officer, pointing 
 to her wake behind the stern. The water was black 
 with the debris, which consisted of spars and timbers 
 that were leaping from the depths to the surface. 
 
 " Is the danger past, Captain ? " inquired a passen- 
 ger, who had recovered himself, and was eager for an 
 explanation, for which he would have to wait. 
 
 " That was a queer snag," remarked the Captain. 
 
 " "We ran into a wreck, sir," said the first officer. 
 
 "Its rebound was tremendous against the bottom of 
 the Alaric" observed the Captain. " It is a mercy we 
 are not disabled." 
 
 "We must examine her first," was the reply. 
 
 The Captain explained to Lord Bolton what had 
 happened, and asked him to reassure his friends. Then 
 he proceeded to find out to what extent the ship had 
 suffered ; meantime, the usual word was passed along 
 among those of the crew and servants who were likely to 
 encounter inquisitive passengers, to respond to all ques- 
 tions with the answer, " all is right." The noble ship,
 
 94 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 nevertheless, continued to speed on her usual course, 
 across the rough waters, and quiet and confidence were 
 slowly restored. 
 
 " I always feel that I have taken my life in my hands 
 when I go to sea," said Madame De Luynes. 
 
 " Oh, I think that in a computation of chances it 
 would be found the accidents are not in greater pro- 
 portion at sea than by other means of travel," her hus- 
 band replied. " But the imagination has much to do 
 with our impressions. Look at the fatalities by rail ; 
 and yet, we are so accustomed to that mode of travel, 
 that a journey does not terrify us. "We take steamer 
 voyages so seldom that we do not get used to them, as 
 in the other case. And yet, now-a-days, with first-class 
 ships there are fewer casualties." 
 
 "Do you not think we have just escaped a great 
 calamity ? " inquired Miss Winthrop. 
 
 " Oh, a miss is as good as a mile," Fred Cuthbert 
 answered. 
 
 " How very original," said Tom. " Why don't you 
 give us something familiar?" 
 
 "Because familiarity breeds contempt," rejoined 
 Fred. 
 
 "All this is too serious to make fun of," mildly sug- 
 gested Robert Holt. " How fearful are the perils of 
 the deep ! It is not that shipwreck means death, or 
 that one is afraid to die. But we are surrounded by 
 such majesty of power, that our own puny helplessness 
 is made plainer to us. Where does nature marshal 
 more awful strength and grandeur than surround us 
 here ? And yet there is a relief to our humiliation in 
 the thought that if the hand of man cannot control, we 
 may utilize and enjoy them. What changeful scenes !
 
 " COMING INTO THE TRACK OF A STORM." 95 
 
 The quiet sea is a symbol of tranquillity, but who docs 
 not tremble, as he commits himself to the awful forces 
 of the storm ? " 
 
 "They say drowning is a peaceful death," remarked 
 Miss Roberts ; " but they must be speaking of the calm 
 waters, and the heavenly view which one beholds, 
 yielding his life in the watery depths, from which he 
 may gaze upward to the broad heavens radiant in the 
 bright sunshine." 
 
 " From battle and murder, and from sudden death, 
 good Lord, deliver us," said Mrs. Roberts. 
 
 " Amen," said Lord Bolton, solemnly. 
 
 " What wo need is constant preparation for death," 
 interposed Dr. Elmwood. 
 
 " And these startling adventures are intended to pre- 
 pare us," said the Professor. " Let us all thank God 
 for his mercies," and there was an acquiescence of silent 
 meditation and prayer, which lasted several minutes. 
 Throughout the steamer the merciful deliverance had 
 disposed many hearts to thankfulness ; and for the mo- 
 ment, at least, it had awakened many to a sense of the 
 uncertainty of human life. 
 
 Prayer is not always a sign of piety. A reverent 
 man, from a sense of duty, may offer up petitions 
 which are formal and without fervor ; while the man 
 without any sense of duty may pray earnestly for help, 
 when he feels that he has need and is dependent. We 
 put aside the theory that the skeptic has no care, nor 
 wish for Divine aid ; not doubting that ho unconsciously 
 leans on a higher power, and that in severe stress of 
 weather he would be one of the first to cry out, " God 
 be merciful ; " and so, we doubt not, great perils dispose 
 the human heart, good or bad, to hope in God, and to
 
 96 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 turn to him. The feeling is not the less real because it 
 is fitful and undisciplined. That was a sudden con- 
 version of the thief on the cross ; yet, had he lived 
 he might have back-slidden. No doubt, a great and 
 common terror rouses the emotions of men, and rever- 
 ence may be religious and is often emotional. The 
 passengers of the Alaric were no exception ; they felt 
 that they had an almost miraculous escape, and they 
 thanked God for it. It may be, they would soon for- 
 get, but such gratitude inspired them to prayer, and 
 brought them nearer Divine things. They had asked 
 Dr. Elmwood to conduct a religious service in the eve- 
 ning, and almost to a man and a woman the passengers 
 assembled to join with him. There were appropriate 
 devotions and a short address, followed by a generous 
 collection for that noble charity, the " Seamen's Fund." 
 The Professor had been surprised at the large amount 
 collected ; and the Captain said to him, with grateful 
 tears, that " the Americans are always liberal givers."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DE LUYNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS. 
 
 THE night was dark, the sea was rough, and after 
 such a day the ladies wisely retired early. The smok- 
 ing-room was almost deserted when De Luynes and 
 Robert took possession of it ; but other friends dropped 
 in, and general conversation was in progress. Robert 
 reminded Maurice that he had promised another chap- 
 ter of his observations, begun a few nights before. 
 CoL Lyons knew how to interest him, and asked if he 
 had taken part in the politics of his country. 
 
 "Not a distinguished part," he replied, "and yet I 
 am not an indifferent observer. Like my father, I 
 have the misfortune to quarrel with a powerful in- 
 fluence among us on some questions, and that shuts the 
 door of public life against me. I have been in Parliament 
 twice, but only sat a few months and was beaten, osten- 
 sibly because my people were told that I was a Free- 
 mason which was false ; though they did not know 
 what it meant. The real reason, however, was that an 
 unseen influence, which controlled them, was hostile to 
 me. In my youth, the clergy of my district offered me 
 their support in an election then pending for my 
 county, but by my father's advice I refused it, because 
 it would involve a bondage to which no man of spirit 
 could submit. I bore my father's name ; I had followed 
 his advice against theirs, and they never forgave
 
 98 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 me. I am a Catholic, and I want to be a true son of 
 the Church ; but to me there is a difference between 
 the spiritual and the temporal. I accept her teachings 
 as to matters of faith and morals, but as to the fran- 
 chise, the taxation, the public administration of affairs, 
 I cannot allow her to dictate my course. Other young 
 men have held the same views, and have suffered the 
 same disabilities. In England and France you see 
 gentlemen of wealth preferred to positions of great 
 political distinction on both sides. If you do not obey 
 these men, there is an iron heel always waiting to crush 
 you. Kind gentlemen in religious and private life, they 
 are intolerant above all things in that which relates to 
 political freedom of speech or action. Their influence 
 is enormous ; some of my friends have often said to me : 
 * Why not go with the tide ? Why slam the door of 
 preferment forever in your face? Your name, your 
 rank, the loyalty of your people, would maintain you 
 in influence and honor, if you would conciliate this 
 hostile power.' It, however, is not always absolutely 
 dominant ; thanks to influences beyond its control, its 
 party has been sometimes beaten, though it has formed 
 such strange alliances that its influence seems as great 
 among its traditional enemies as among its own people. 
 When the Liberals are in power, it happens, of course, 
 that independent French Canadians who do not follow 
 it are appointed to office. But this happens only when 
 they cannot help it. When their own party rules, they 
 are absolute masters of Lower Canada ; and as to 
 patronage and toleration, they rule with a rod of iron." 
 " I suppose," said the Professor, " it is a revival of 
 the old controversies we have known so well in 
 England."
 
 DE LUYNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS. 09 
 
 " That is not altogether true of modern controversy," 
 rejoined Maurice. "With you, the Catholics, if they 
 were British subjects, fought for emancipation ; that 
 cause was plausible and just. But these men fight for 
 power, for the education of the young, for the control 
 of the franchise, and of the avenues which lead to the 
 preferment of their own people. There was once a 
 great controversy between the Gallicans and the Ultra- 
 montanes in France. You know its history, and how 
 the former kept faith with the nation; substitute 
 Canada for France, and we could work with the Gallican 
 Churchmen. But these men would practically set the 
 Church over the State, giving to the latter only the 
 power to register the decrees of the former ; if you 
 chide them for this, you will be denounced from a 
 hundred pulpits. The more intelligent revolt against 
 these extreme views. Did I say revolt ? But I spoke 
 of their intelligence ; they do not want to ' kick against 
 the pricks,' and so they drift along with the current, 
 and reap the easy rewards of complaisance. An 
 Englishman thrown casually into our society would 
 see little and hear less of these troubles. He would 
 meet men of letters and men of the world at the 
 head of these influences, and they would charm him 
 with their manners. The mailed hand is shown when 
 there is resistance to be crushed among their own 
 people. Thirty years ago my father and a dozen young 
 men of culture, formed an association, founded a news- 
 paper, and published a political programme. Their 
 platform embraced nearly all the measures of reform 
 which have been enacted since that time ; but the pro- 
 jectors were denounced and vilified by men who, ever 
 since, have maintained their hostility, but have taken
 
 100 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 credit for the work. But why do I speak of these 
 things to comparative strangers ? It is because you 
 are Englishmen of rank, statesmen, soldiers, and men 
 of affairs ; you are studying the forces which in coming 
 years are to guide opinion in the wide British Empire. 
 You have a dependency across this water, weak it may 
 be in numbers, but in territory, and in possibilities, 
 large like the United States, and larger than Europe 
 with her family of nations. It is a self-governing 
 country, and you do not wish to interfere with it. 
 But you should study the forces which at least control 
 one-fourth of its population, forces which hold the 
 balance of power and control it. You will find the bulk 
 of your own race there careless and lukewarm, singing to 
 the air that Nero must have played, Apres moi le, Deluge. 
 Do I appeal to strangers against my race ? God forbid ! 
 I love my countrymen. They belong to liberty and I 
 would save them. I tell their sad tale to strong men 
 who have loved and upheld freedom, not that you 
 could coerce or restrain them ; but while you might 
 do something to open their eyes, you would render a 
 service to your own race, as well as mine, in dispelling 
 clouds that to-day may seem to you no bigger than 
 a man's hand, but which are fraught with storm and 
 peril." 
 
 He ceased, his fine face aglow with the excitement of 
 his earnest pleadings ; all were in sympathy with his 
 burning words, and no one seemed willing to break the 
 silence. 
 
 After De Luynes retired there was another pause, 
 which was finally broken by Col. Lyons, who observed, 
 " He is a superior but disappointed man. He has med- 
 itated upon his wrongs till they have colored his life."
 
 DE LUYNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS. 101 
 
 " His is a blighted career, I fear," said Dr. Elmwood, 
 " But he seems to have been a philosopher, and to have 
 acted as well as he speaks." 
 
 "It might have been better taste not to pronounce 
 that harangue in mixed company," observed a stranger, 
 who had been listening. " It is calculated to wound 
 some, and to produce a false impression upon others." 
 
 " Were the clergy to stand idly by, and permit a lot 
 of hair-brained youths to paralyze the Church and 
 sever British connection ? These Liberals are irreligious 
 and disloyal." The speaker was a middle-aged man of 
 easy speech and dignified bearing. 
 
 Robert had noticed the interest with which the lat- 
 ter had followed De Luynes ; and his slightly foreign 
 accent suggested that perhaps he was a countryman of 
 De Luynes, and probably a political opponent. 
 
 " Oh, these are charges easy to make," he said. 
 
 " I have not studied their teachings, but I suspect 
 they are not new ; no doubt, under altered conditions, 
 the same controversies are current in Europe as well as 
 in Canada. But what have these Liberals done?" 
 " Nothing," said the stranger, " but disturb and agitate 
 the people." 
 
 " They have held office," persisted Robert. " Did 
 they undermine society ? or legislate against the inter- 
 ests of the Church ? or the Crown ? " 
 
 " They never administered long, because their policy 
 was distrusted by our people." 
 
 " I should like to hear this discussion," said the Pro- 
 fessor, "but I propose we adjourn it. Our time is 
 far spent, and the night is stormy." 
 
 A wave broke over the deck, which crushed the door 
 of the room like a piece of brittle glass, and washed its
 
 102 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 way among the unfortunate occupants, who were de- 
 luged for a moment and thrown hither and thither with 
 the advancing and receding element. A deck steward 
 had fractured a rib against one of the arms of the long 
 seat, and our friends had been shaken and drenched ; 
 but they speedily gathered themselves up and made for 
 their berths, thankful for another almost miraculous 
 escape. In the morning the storm had abated, the 
 weather was bright, and the waters more tranquil. The 
 deck was alive with passengers, who seemed to have 
 forgotten the discomforts of yesterday, and completely 
 to have regained their spirits. The spar-deck was 
 lined with chairs which the ladies, covered with wraps, 
 chiefly occupied ; and, ere long, the amusements and 
 hilarities were resumed. 
 
 " Sail, ho ! " cried the lookout from forward. 
 
 " "Where away ? " said the officer of the deck. 
 
 " Dead ahead, sir." 
 
 "Give me the long glass, Quartermaster," shouted 
 the officer. 
 
 " Aye, aye, sir," he responded. 
 
 The officer took the glass and made an observa- 
 tion. " Report to the Captain a steamer ahead, Quar- 
 termaster." 
 
 " Tell the officer to hoist an ensign, and set our 
 numbers, and when he makes out the ship, report to 
 me," said the Captain, turning again to the passengers 
 with whom he had been conversing. 
 
 By this time the passengers were on the alert ; trifles 
 create an excitement at sea. The vessel proved to be 
 the homeward-bound steamer of the same line. It was 
 a beautiful sight as the ships passed each other, dip- 
 ping their flags and saluting. Everybody felt as if
 
 DE LUTNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS. 1Q3 
 
 they had been calling at a station in mid-ocean and 
 meeting friends who formed a link with home. Our 
 friends were not the only distinguished people on 
 board, and there had already been pleasant recognitions 
 and presentations. The Governor of Connecticut, 
 with his family, was returning after a three months' ab- 
 sence ; so were a distinguished Senator from Michigan 
 and the Attorney-General of the United States. Not- 
 withstanding the untowardness so far of the voyage, 
 the two parties had mingled and grown intimate. There 
 were also half a dozen young English travellers going 
 out to " do " America, whom Lord Bolton had welcomed 
 and presented to his friends. One of them had just 
 been saying to Miss Eoberts, " If the winds had been 
 propitious our journey would have been awfully jolly." 
 
 " Oh, there is plenty of time for fine weather," was 
 her reply. " Do you remain long in America? " 
 
 " Only the few weeks of my vacation," he answered. 
 " All the fellows will return then. To see the States has 
 now become the rage, and we have just snatched a 
 chance open to us." 
 
 The Professor was answering questions of the Ameri- 
 can statesman regarding Civil Service Reform in Eng- 
 land. Fred Cuthbert was amusing the American ladies 
 with his drolleries, and De Luynes was explaining to 
 the young men the mysteries of such Canadian winter 
 sports as flourish in the deep snow with a low ther- 
 mometer. Tom and Miss Winthrop had ensconced 
 themselves in a cosy corner ; and the others were all 
 taking good care of themselves. 
 
 "Oh, you may laugh," said Miss "Winthrop ; " but I 
 think enthusiasm about Boston is a very common and 
 very venial sin among Bostonians. But I shall leave you
 
 104 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 to study the place for yourself and form your own con- 
 clusions. My own egotism will be satisfied by talking 
 a little about myself. My poor mother's younger 
 brother is Dr. Elmwood. My father's only brother 
 is Horace Winthrop, of Boston. He is a lawyer at 
 home, and a United States Senator at Washington ; his 
 time is divided between the two cities. My brother 
 George and myself are his adopted children ; and," she 
 added, her eyes filling with tears, "we are orphans. 
 To you, who have always felt the strength of a father's 
 arm, and the warmth and tenderness of a mother's love, 
 I cannot explain the loneliness, the isolation, which that 
 means. George was graduated at Harvard. He has 
 always lived with my uncle in Boston, and is a lawyer. 
 I have been much with Dr. Elmwood, but both uncles 
 have been our tender and generous protectors. I 
 know of no love stronger than I bear them both ; but I 
 dream of a deeper, tenderer feeling I might have cher- 
 ished toward her I could have called my mother." 
 
 " I can understand it all, Miss Winthrop," said Tom, 
 with emotion. " Experience is not the only teacher." 
 
 '* My experience has been confined to the want of a 
 mother's love, which I have never known," she said. 
 " It is harder for a girl than for a boy to bear. It is 
 the elixir of her life, transfused through her whole be- 
 ing. With that love she is exalted, beatified ; her place 
 is little lower than the angels ; without it the most 
 cherished delights are cold, and the first place in her 
 heart is vacant. But why speak of what I have lost, 
 since my life is so full of compensations ? You must 
 know my brother, and then you will understand what 
 I enjoy in his affection." 
 
 " He is no doubt a good brother," said Tom, " but
 
 DE LUYNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS. 1Q5 
 
 no one should claim credit for loving you. I have 
 striven in vain myself to avoid that." Noticing that 
 she was disturbed, he added, "I will remember my 
 promise, but why bind me to it? " 
 
 " I will tell you by-and-bye," rejoined Miss "Winthrop, 
 " but at present I am to speak of myself. I was sent 
 to Germany with an aunt, whom you did not see, 
 though she was with us in London. This was my last 
 year, but we had spent the vacation in the British 
 Isles, and the time was approaching for my return to 
 school, when my uncle announced that I must go home 
 with him, on the plea that family matters required it, 
 though he declined, for the present, to explain. He 
 merely assured me that everyone was well, but said 
 further confidence would be unwise till we reached 
 home. You can fancy my disquietude and apprehen- 
 sion. Here is a secret which I cannot fathom. It was 
 of sufficient importance to call me home. George does 
 not know it, for I have weekly letters from him ; it is 
 a mystery. Is it a romance ? Both my uncles are un- 
 married ; Dr. Elmwood buried his wife years ago, and 
 my uncle Horace is a bachelor. Do you think me only 
 curious when I feel myself a prey to these anxieties ? 
 But why seek to explain the impenetrable ? I long to 
 see my brother, and other dear friends await me. I 
 have a score or so of relations in the country round 
 about. They may lack the fashionable refinements, 
 but they love me, and they are very dear to me." 
 
 "Of course they love you," said Tom. "I must 
 speak ! Why do you smother my words, when yoij 
 know my heart ? " 
 
 " I must insist upon your promise, my dear friend," 
 she said firmly. " You know nothing of me, and little
 
 10G PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 of my family, or of my position in life. You ought not 
 to be compromised : Is there no middle course for a 
 man and a woman between indifference and infatuation ? 
 Be just to yourself and do not embarrass me. I am 
 only a school-girl, though I may seem older than my 
 years. I give you my friendship, and am grateful for 
 your preference. Let us stop here and leave the rest 
 to time." 
 
 " I am silenced but not convinced," said Tom, " but I 
 will not press you. Miss Winthrop, there are voices 
 in life, which, if one heed not, become silent such a 
 voice in your inmost heart, I still hope is pleading for 
 me." 
 
 Miss Winthrop's emotion was apparent, but she 
 stifled it. 
 
 " Let me join my uncle," she said. 
 
 " I only ask for a hope, Miss Roberts," said Lord Bol- 
 ton ; " for permission to renew, at another time, the suit 
 which you deny me now ; perhaps I have been too 
 vehement, but forgive me, for my heart has inspired 
 every word I have uttered." 
 
 " What you ask is impossible," replied Miss Roberts. 
 "Your attentions honor me, and I cannot say what 
 might happen, were I in a position to receive them, but 
 there is an impassable gulf between us." 
 
 " Can you not tell me this mystery ? Am I unworthy 
 of your confidence ?" he interrupted. " It is dreadful 
 that you should have a secret locked against me in your 
 heart." 
 
 " My secret belongs to another. If it were mine to 
 tell, it should be yours ; and in that case you would not 
 esteem me less, but you would pity me more." 
 
 Tom and Miss Winthrop caught only these words as
 
 DE LUYNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS. 1QJ 
 
 they strolled along, and the voices died away in the dis- 
 tance. " How he loves her," said Miss Winthrop, look- 
 ing with tearful eyes into Tom's face. " She has re- 
 fused him. Does she love him ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Miss Winthrop, after a pause. 
 
 "What can be her secret? " asked Tom. "She spoke 
 of a gulf that separates them ; I wonder if she would 
 really cross it, if her own inclinations were alone con- 
 sulted." 
 
 " I think so," replied Miss Winthrop ; " and yet she 
 did not plead for delay." 
 
 " Would there have been hope in that ? " Tom asked. 
 " What a strange coincidence ! " she continued, but her 
 uncle was waiting for her, and Tom politely took his 
 leave. He found De Luynes, with other gentlemen, in 
 earnest conversation. He was in no mood to be inter- 
 ested, but he could not refuse to hear. 
 
 " I have always believed," said Mr. Burrows, the 
 Attorney-General, " that the destiny of your country is 
 annexation to mine." 
 
 " She would thus become part of a glorious Repub- 
 lic," observed De Luynes, " and it may be that such a 
 change is in store for us. Might not the interests of 
 the Continent be better served if Canada grew to be a 
 great and friendly neighbor? No doubt annexation 
 would solve great commercial and political questions. 
 Canada is growing too rapidly to remain forever as she 
 is. In local matters she is only a nominal dependency, 
 enjoying, practically, control of her own affairs. But 
 the day will come, though perhaps not soon, when she 
 will outgrow this tutelage which sits lightly on her 
 now. Then why should she turn to you ? Her chil- 
 dren are the offsDrinsj of the two foremost nations of the
 
 108 PEOFESSOB CONANT. 
 
 world ; they both know how to govern. Canadians have 
 had experience in the methods of constitutional reform ; 
 as to her local jurisdiction Canada is a free country; 
 she is working out the problem of British Parliament- 
 ary government. There are, indeed, enemies within 
 her borders, but, if the people are wise, they will over- 
 come them. She has verge and scope enough to satisfy 
 the wildest hopes of an ambitious people. "Why not 
 encourage her to set up for herself, that there may be 
 wrought out on this Continent two systems of constitu- 
 tional liberty, so much akin as to create friendship 
 among both peoples, and divergent enough to form a 
 contrast and enable us to compare the two systems ?" 
 
 " But why maintain the two systems ? " interposed 
 Mr. Burrows, " with the expense and annoyance of two 
 long lines of custom-houses, and the general adminis- 
 tration of two governments ? Why not let us welcome 
 you to our markets, and to the protection and the pres- 
 tige of our power ? These are not myths ; they have 
 been founded in blood and treasure. I honor your at- 
 tachment to the Old Country that has served you so 
 well, but which would not hold you a moment after it 
 was manifestly your interest to go. We, too, are your 
 kinsmen, and United North America would be to us all 
 a guarantee of prosperity and peace." 
 
 " Oh, why do you covet more ? " said De Luynes, 
 " with your boundless territories and your varieties of 
 climate, soil and production ? If we were safely in- 
 trenched against foreign foes, might there not grow up 
 greater dangers in the way of domestic discord ? This 
 question will be settled by the generation which has 
 to solve it, and possibly by lights that are obscure to us 
 now ; but, do you not think greed of territory grows
 
 DE LUTNES DISCUSSES BURNING QUESTIONS. 109 
 
 like love of accumulation? If you had Canada, how 
 long would Mexico remain out in the cold ? and which 
 of the mongrel Spanish-American States could resist, 
 after that, your powerful fascination ? All this might 
 increase commerce, but where would remain that sheet- 
 anchor of freedom, intelligent popular opinion? If my 
 thought suggests danger, the peril would threaten us 
 all." 
 
 " I had never regarded it in that light," said Mr. 
 Burrows, " and yours is a plausible view." 
 
 "I admire your great republic," De Luynes re- 
 marked, " and have been rebuked among my own people 
 for my out-spoken opinions. There is a class with 
 us who regard friendship for the ' States ' as incom- 
 patible with loyalty to the Empire. But if I could 
 return here in a hundred years, I should like to find in 
 North America two great countries which had been true 
 to their traditions, and had promoted the enjoyment of 
 liberty under those two systems among hundreds of 
 millions of prosperous freemen. To have achieved such 
 results would have required wisdom and forbearance, 
 for there are evils now, which, if not suppressed, will 
 insure the destruction of both countries. I have 
 always advocated an extended franchise, but it is a 
 source of danger where the people are mercenary, or 
 where they do not understand their rights. The dema- 
 gogue is a perpetual menace to free governments. The 
 mere politician looks only to the moment. What we need 
 are statesmen of honor and worth, to lead the people to 
 look beyond for ulterior results. Despotism, with all 
 its hatefulness, moves in a narrow circle, and, controlling 
 few influences, may be comparatively pure. The worst 
 forms of corruption are found where a corrupt people
 
 HO PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 govern. And you have but one safeguard a healthy 
 public opinion. We must treat as an enemy of the 
 state the man who would debauch it. Thus protected, 
 our free peoples, separate or united, will have before 
 them a glorious future." 
 
 "These are noble sentiments," said the Professor, 
 " the stateman's work would be easy where such princi- 
 ples prevailed." 
 
 " Utopia ! " exclaimed our stranger of the night 
 before. 
 
 " We cannot always realize in practice our theories 
 of excellence," remarked the Professor. " But we can 
 set before us a high standard and strive to reach it, and 
 our efforts will improve if they do not perfect us." 
 
 The conversation was continued, but Tom was too 
 preoccupied to listen further.
 
 CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 AVE SANCTISSIMA. 
 
 WE left Dr. Elmwood and Miss Winthrop together. 
 " My darling, you seem agitated," said the Doctor, ad- 
 dressing her tenderly. " Are you troubled ? " 
 
 "You shall judge when you know all, my dear uncle," 
 and she told him the story of her relations with Tom. 
 
 "Bless me," said the uncle, "I might have suspected 
 this, but you both seemed so old-fashioned that I 
 thought you the most prudent of friends." 
 
 Then there was a long silence, broken at intervals by 
 the girl's stifled sobs. At length he took her hand af- 
 fectionately : " Poor child," he said, " are you really dis- 
 tressed? " She did not answer, and he continued, "You 
 have done right ; you are both too young, and you have 
 acted nobly ; and the poor young man was he greatly 
 disappointed by your refusal ? " 
 
 " Oh, uncle," she sobbed, " I only meant to say that I 
 asked him to wait." 
 
 " Cheer up, little one," said the Doctor, " I will tell 
 you a secret. You always like to think of others, and 
 now it will do you good. I only kept the news from 
 you to please George, who wanted to tell you himself. 
 You are going home at his request, and he is shortly 
 to be married." 
 
 The young lady clutched his arm nervously. "To 
 whom ? Tell me all," she said with a changed and im-
 
 112 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 perious manner. " George has wronged me ! What 
 does it mean ? " 
 
 " Compose yourself, my dear," said her uncle, "George 
 has intended no wrong. He was undergoing a new expe- 
 rience, and his course has been eccentric toward us all. 
 He besought me to help him in his own way, and how 
 could I refuse the boy ? He formed a sudden attach- 
 ment for a young lady in Washington last winter. They 
 were in every way worthy of each other, and she re- 
 turned his love, but persisted in postponing the engage- 
 ment. George and her friends remonstrated, but she 
 was going abroad in the spring and desired to be free 
 till her return. Finally, she yielded, but only to the 
 extent that their plighted troth should not be an- 
 nounced till the autumn." 
 
 " Who is she ? " interrupted the young lady passion- 
 ately. " Has she been in Europe this summer ? " 
 
 " Yes, but you did not see her," said he. " George 
 must have pressed her with letters, for she has con- 
 sented to return and marry him. By his invitation 
 we are going home to the wedding." 
 
 " The naughty boy ! I ought to refuse my consent, 
 but how can I while the bride is a stranger. I know 
 George would make a wise choice. But this terrible 
 mystery ! " 
 
 " It was foolish," said the Doctor ; " but it will -soon 
 be solved, and I shall have betrayed my trust." 
 
 " George will forgive you," she whispered. " Tell 
 me all." 
 
 " By a strange coincidence," he continued, " the young 
 lady is on board this ship." 
 
 " Here, uncle ! " she cried excitedly, " lead me to my 
 sister."
 
 AVE SANCTISSIMA. 113 
 
 " Hush, child," urged the Doctor ; " you will need all 
 your prudence and composure. From what I have seen 
 here, there may be trouble in store for poor George. 
 The young lady is Miss Roberts ! " 
 
 " Then I will answer for her with my life, uncle," 
 she added. 
 
 "How can you tell that George may not find a 
 dangerous rival in Lord Bolton ? " asked the uncle. 
 
 " Never ! " she said with emphasis ; " I know it." And 
 she told him of the conversation to which she had in- 
 voluntarily been a listener. 
 
 But it did not altogether reassure either of them. 
 Miss Roberts was true, but was her heart engaged in 
 her refusal of Lord Bolton's suit ? 
 
 " She is a noble girl," observed the Doctor, " and she 
 has resisted a great temptation." 
 
 " Not if she loves George," said his companion. 
 
 " All the same," he continued, " I wish this contretemps 
 could have been avoided." 
 
 " I wish I might tell Capt. Conant this strange story," 
 said Miss Winthrop musingly. 
 
 " I see no objection, but it should be in confidence," 
 remarked the uncle. " I will send him to you." 
 
 " No, bring him to me, please ; we will consult him 
 together." 
 
 " He must be a dull scholar if he does not understand 
 what it means that she needs to confide in him," mused 
 the Doctor, and, almost momently, he returned with 
 Tom on his arm. 
 
 " I sent for you, Capt. Conant," she began with a con- 
 strained manner, "to tell you a family secret and a 
 strange story." 
 
 " I shall be proud of your confidence, Miss Winthop,"
 
 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 he replied with polite reserve, " and if in any way I 
 can serve you " 
 
 " "Wait a little," remarked Miss "Winthrop, " till you 
 have heard my story." And she related the particulars 
 as her uncle had told them. 
 
 " That is a strange story," said Tom ; " has it distressed 
 you very much, Miss Winthrop ? " 
 
 " Oh, I have not thought of myself," she replied. " Do 
 you think I ought to be troubled? My uncle and 
 I wanted the opinion of a third person and we could 
 only trust our secret to you." 
 
 " The position is delicate," observed the Doctor, " and 
 suggests thoughts which one dares not express. Have 
 the conditions changed since Miss Roberts accepted 
 my nephew? " 
 
 "I think not," Tom replied, "except that I don't 
 believe she is indifferent to Bolton's attentions. He is 
 madly in love with her, at any rate. Many a girl would 
 be fascinated by his wealth and station." 
 
 " In our country, George's position is as good as his," 
 said Miss Winthrop curtly. " Oh, I am speaking from 
 an English point of view, some gfrls regard titles as an 
 unusual distinction," Tom rejoined. 
 
 "And they are universally so regarded," remarked 
 Dr. Elmwood. 
 
 "But she has refused Lord Bolton, though we have 
 no right to know it," said Tom. 
 
 " Was it because she loved George, or that she is in 
 honor bound to him ? " inquired his sister. " Some- 
 thing makes me feel that it was an unwilling refusal. 
 George shall know this." 
 
 " B,ut she will tell him herself, if it is true," said 
 Tom. "For I believe she is a noble woman." "At
 
 AVE SANCTISSIMA. 115 
 
 any rate, it is a matter they must settle themselves, and 
 an affair about which no one should speak to either of 
 them till they have had the opportunity." 
 
 " It is strange," said the young lady, musingly, "but 
 I have felt that Miss Roberts avoids me. Can it be 
 that they know who I am ? They must have known I 
 was in Europe, and, probably, that I was returning for 
 the wedding." 
 
 "One would think," said Tom, "that finding Miss 
 Winthrop of Boston here would suggest your brother." 
 
 " One thing seems clear," remarked Dr. Elmwood, 
 "we must avoid embarrassing recognitions." 
 
 "If I knew she loved George still, I would throw 
 myself upon her neck ; but how awkward, if she should 
 really be struggling to smother another passion," said 
 George's sister. 
 
 "Yes, you ought to preserve an incognito toward 
 her. Things have gone so far that it is your wiser 
 course," remarked Tom. " It is a pity you came out 
 in the same steamer ; but she must know that Bolton's 
 attentions have been remarked, and it would be embar- 
 rassing to discuss them with the sister of her/cmce." 
 
 " And they ought to have been embarrassing in the 
 presence of that sister," observed Miss Winthrop. 
 
 " True," said Tom, " but I don't believe she knows 
 you after all ; your name is not uncommon. It may 
 have suggested nothing to her." 
 
 It was agreed that Miss Winthrop should be reticent, 
 and for the rest of the voyage maintain the status quo. 
 The conversation was interrupted by the announcement 
 of dinner. 
 
 In the evening, our friends again assembled in the 
 small parlor off the saloon. The social atmosphere
 
 116 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 was dull and enervating ; for the buoyancy of spirit was 
 lacking which had distinguished their former reunions. 
 Miss Winthrop in one corner and Miss Roberts in 
 another, each with book in hand, and in no mood for 
 reading, appeared taciturn and melancholy. Lord Bol- 
 ton looked like one in the depths of despair. It was 
 easy for Tom to follow suit. Fred Cuthbert said he 
 was gloomy, because it was the fashion, and one might 
 as well be out of the world as out of the fashion, you 
 know. 
 
 " Our friends are out of sorts," said Robert to De 
 Luynes. " You must pour sweet music into their 
 souls." 
 
 " Carlotta," he whispered to his wife, " are you, 
 too, under the spell that prevails here?" He ran his 
 fingers over the keys, and, striking a few chords, they 
 sang together that touching invocation : 
 
 Ave Sanctissima 
 We lift our souls to thcc, 
 
 Ora pro nobis, 
 'Tis nightfall on the sea. 
 
 Watch us while shadows lie, 
 Far o'er the water spread, 
 Hear the heart's lonely sigh, 
 Thine too hath bled. 
 
 Thou that hast looked on death, 
 Aid us when death is near ; 
 Whisper of heaven to faith, 
 Sweet Mother, hear! 
 
 Ora pro nobis, 
 The wave must rock our sleep, 
 
 Ora, Mater, Ora, 
 Star of the deep.
 
 AVE 8ANCTI8SIXA. 117 
 
 " Something sparkling," said his wife, leaning over 
 De Luynes' shoulder. And the instrument gave forth 
 one of Strauss' inspiriting airs. The mercurial audi- 
 ence was once more all smiles. Such charms hath 
 music to sadden or delight the heart. 
 
 " Where is Miss Roberts," inquired Fred Cuthbert 
 of Lord Bolton. " She sings divinely." 
 
 " She would have need to do so to follow the music 
 we have heard," replied his Lordship. 
 
 "There is a magnetism about the De Luynes that 
 strangely affects me. Husband and wife are alike 
 fascinating," said Robert Holt. 
 
 " And they are so accomplished," Fred added. 
 
 "Nobody will sing to-night after what has gone be- 
 fore," remarked Lord Bolton. " It is stifling here ; I 
 must seek the fresh air." 
 
 As he ascended the stairs, Lord Bolton met a lady 
 emerging from the companion-way. " Will you join me 
 in a promenade, Miss Roberts? " he asked. 
 
 She assented, and they walked slowly up and down 
 the deck, in the moonlight. 
 
 " ' Ave Sanctissima,' the heavenly hymn," said Lord 
 Bolton. 
 
 "And with what sweetness they rendered it," was 
 the rejoinder ; " it touched me as so appropriate at sea.'* 
 
 " I could hardly master my emotion," observed his 
 Lordship. " Its pathos vibrated into the recesses of my 
 soul. I wanted to thank them, but I shrank from trust- 
 ing myself with words." 
 
 " Were you indeed so overpowered ? " inquired his 
 companion. " I thought I alone had been weak." 
 
 " Oh, emotion is not weakness," Lord Bolton replied. 
 " It springs from the noblest hearts," and the most
 
 118 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 generous impulse. If I dared I -would say a word 
 more." 
 
 "Go on," was the reply. 
 
 " Miss Koberts," lie continued, " you and I have been 
 prepared for such emotions by our interview, which was 
 the most important event of my life, and I know you 
 were not indifferent. Am I unkind to speak to you 
 again? You would forgive me if you could realize 
 how my hopes have centered in you. You are the 
 light of my life. With you I could welcome death 
 and defy misfortune; without you who shall be my 
 deliverer ? " 
 
 " God," she answered ; " we must trust in Him." 
 
 " Oh ! if we could trust in each other, too. 
 
 ' Yes loving is a painful thrill, 
 And not to love more painful still; 
 But surely 'tis the worst of pain 
 To love and not be loved again.' " 
 
 " Lord Bolton," she said, " Why wring my heart ? 
 It pains me if you suffer, but you do not suffer alone. 
 More than this I ought not, must not, tell you ; you 
 must spare me and forget me. My troth is plighted to 
 another. It was his secret, and your persistent suit 
 wrung it from me." 
 
 " This is a cruel fate," said Lord Bolton, like one 
 stunned. " You are my first love, and I shall never 
 forget you, but I will speak no more of it." 
 
 " Great trials are not everlasting," she answered ; 
 "they mellow into tender memories as time passes. 
 Let us find my sister." 
 
 Meantime, the others had quietly taken their leave, 
 and De Luynes and Eobert found themselves alone.
 
 LITTLE ETHEL AS ROBERT LEFT HER. 
 
 " A few weeks ngo, M said Holt, " I found at a police station in London, a man 
 and a woman, with this child." Page 119.
 
 AYE SANCTISSIMA. 119 
 
 Bobert invited his companion to a quiet smoke in his 
 room, where they could talk without molestation. 
 
 " I always give myself this little recreation, here, be- 
 fore retiring," he said, " and it delights me to have you 
 share it." 
 
 " Thanks, very much," said De Luynes, as he absently 
 examined some books on a shelf against the walL 
 " May I look at these pictures, Holt ? " he asked, as he 
 picked up some photographs that were lying there. 
 " Good heavens ! this is the likeness of my child ; my 
 little Ethel ! where did you get this ? " 
 
 " Nonsense," said Holt, " I left that child the other 
 day in my own house in London." 
 
 " The likeness is unmistakable," persisted De Luynes ; 
 " of course it is impossible. Let me show it to my 
 wife ; " and he started to go. 
 
 " Stay," said Holt, " you must not take it." 
 
 " Is there a mystery ? " inquired the other. 
 
 "I can tell you nothing," was the reply; "but it 
 would be iinwise to excite your wife." 
 
 "It seems more serious than I thought," said De 
 Luynes. " Is there a secret involved that you cannot 
 confide to me ? " 
 
 "Compose yourself," said Holt. "Give me time to 
 think," and after a moment's pause, he added, " I will 
 tell you all I know." 
 
 " It cannot be," mused Maurice ; " the child looks 
 younger." 
 
 " A few weeks ago," said Holt, " I found at a police 
 station in London a man and a woman with this child. 
 They had been picked up destitute in the street. The 
 man was silent and morose, but the woman was comely 
 and had an air of patient resignation that attracted me.
 
 120 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 They had been without food for two days, the woman 
 said, except what she had begged for the child. They 
 had seen better days but were reduced by misfortune. 
 The child was pale and wan, but her beautiful eyes 
 seemed to appeal to me. An irresistible impulse bade 
 me shield her. The man and woman seemed ill, and 
 not knowing what else to do, I sent them to a private 
 hospital and provided a favorite nurse for the little girl." 
 
 " Those eyes are Ethel's," interrupted De Luynes, 
 absently regarding the picture. " Describe the child." 
 
 " No, let me go on in my own way." 
 
 "Pardon me, but I am so impatient," added De 
 Luynes. 
 
 " My aunt, who devotes her life to charity, visited 
 these people often afterward, and ministered to the 
 comfort of the child. It was shortly removed because 
 the man and woman were stricken with what seemed a 
 deadly illness. In a few days they both died of a 
 malignant fever. The man was unconscious to the 
 last ; the woman raved of some great crime, and her 
 desire to confess it. She continued delirious, however. 
 Once only she alluded to the child, which she averred 
 she had not intended to wrong. It is my aunt's belief 
 that the poor little thing had been abducted from 
 respectable parents ; but we had no proof. We adver- 
 tised but without result in the London and Paris 
 journals tor 'the parents of a lost child.' Nothing was 
 left us but to provide for it. I placed it, with its nurse, 
 in my own house and under the direct supervision of 
 my aunt. It was obvious that, if the child lived, what 
 we knew of its origin ought to be kept secret. I must 
 depend upon your discretion. You are the second per- 
 son only to whom the story has been told."
 
 AVE SANCTISSIMA. 121 
 
 " It is Ethel ! " said De Luynes, as if dreaming ; and 
 rousing himself, he added, " describe the nurse to me." 
 
 Robert endeavored to do so. 
 
 "It seems like Nora, the dear old nurse, whom we 
 have so trusted," said De Luynes ; " but who was the 
 man?" 
 
 " He may have been the father of the child," Holt 
 replied ; " but we believe and hope not" 
 
 " My God ! " ejaculated Maurice, " it is all plain to 
 me now. What if he persuaded the weak woman to 
 elope with him ; she loved the child and would not 
 have abandoned it. Moreover, he may have had hope 
 of a ransom. It might have all happened; my poor 
 old mother is an invalid at home. The child was not 
 expected back for the season. There is more than ono 
 way they might have managed to deceive her. Holy 
 Virgin! Was Carlotta's disquietude a miraculous 
 warning ! Oh ! no, I am raving. Yet, for the moment, 
 it all seemed so real." Then, looking at the likeness 
 again, he pursued, " It is the child ; if I could return to 
 
 England by an inward bound vessel but Carlotta 
 
 would know all and it would madden her." 
 
 "If the child is yours, she is safe," said Robert, 
 soothingly. "So Madame De Luynes' ignorance is 
 bliss, and the child does not suffer. A few days, more 
 or less, will solve the mystery ; after all, your Ethel is 
 probably safe at home." 
 
 " Poor Nora ! " murmured Maurice. 
 
 " Compose yourself," pleaded Holt. 
 
 " Is it such a tale as would inspire me with com- 
 posure? My home robbed, my child lost, the treach- 
 ery of my servants Heavens ! and you would have 
 
 me tranquil over it ? " 
 6
 
 122 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " My poor friend ! " said Robert, " your child is safe 
 at tlie worst, either in your home or in mine. There 
 would be room for frenzy if she were lost to you alto- 
 gether. As a strong man it is your duty to be com- 
 posed. There must be no outward sign of agitation ; 
 remember your wife, and save her from the terrible 
 ordeal." 
 
 " You are right, Holt," said Maurice, giving him his 
 hand. " I must seek the fresh air and solitude. Let 
 me keep the picture. Au revoir." And he was gone. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " said Robert, " I honor his emotions, 
 but he was made for a romantic life. Madame De 
 Luynes need never know that the child was lost till it 
 has again been found." The next morning Robert told 
 the Professor of his interview with Maurice the night 
 before, but that gentleman saw nothing remarkable in 
 what he had to relate, and did not sympathize with 
 Robert's impressions that the parents of the lost child 
 had been found. " A romance of this sort must be re- 
 served for the novels," he said; "such coincidences 
 rarely happen in real life. The child is as likely to 
 have been abducted in London as in Canada, and if 
 you admit this, your fabric falls to the ground." 
 
 Tom enjoyed a tete-a-tete with Madame De Luynes, 
 and Fred Cuthbert was indefatigable in his attention 
 to Miss Winthrop. Neither Lord Bolton nor Miss 
 Roberts was yet visible; Maurice was absent and 
 pre-occupied, and parried the attempts of his Ameri- 
 can friends to draw him into further conversation. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Roberts and Dr. Elmwood were watching 
 the sports of the passengers ; and thus the day passed 
 from one thing to another without excitement or ad- 
 venture.
 
 AVE SANCTISS1MA. 123 
 
 There was an attempt to renew the previous evening's 
 entertainment, but the De Luyiies did not sing, and the 
 music languished for want of inspiration. Thus it hap- 
 pens at sea that our feelings are alternately depressed 
 and excited, and the jokes which arouse hilarity to-day 
 will to-morrow fall upon listless and unwilling ears. 
 With our friends the rule had no exception ; and if 
 there was cause for want of spirits, it was apparent 
 only to those who knew it. 
 
 The next day, and the next, except that the weather 
 was beautiful and that the Alaric was making good 
 speed, witnessed nothing of great interest. But on the 
 following morning a ship was sighted which signalled a 
 desire to communicate. The ship " hove to," and the 
 stranger lowered a boat with a single passenger, which 
 quickly made for the Alaric. There was great excite- 
 ment on board at this unusual proceeding, and, as the 
 boat neared the ship, De Luynes, recognizing some one, 
 motioned to his wife and shouted, " Gustave ! " To 
 climb up the side of the vessel was the work of a 
 moment. 
 
 The greeting between Maurice and his friend was 
 most cordial. 
 
 "Gustave, my cousin, you bring bad news," said 
 Madame De Luynes. 
 
 " No, no," he answered, embracing her tenderly. " I 
 have but a moment, let me speak to Maurice alone." 
 
 "Is Ethel alive? Only tell me that," she persisted. 
 
 " Oh ! Carlotta, she was quite well when last I saw 
 her. I wanted to save you, but my bad news is that 
 Madame De Luynes is dead." 
 
 Carlotta dropped passively into her chair, and Mau- 
 rice stepped aside with his cousin.
 
 124: PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " My poor friend, prepare yourself for worse news ; 
 I knew you were coming on the Alaric. Your little 
 Ethel is lost. Nora cannot be found and the country is 
 being searched for them." 
 
 "I know it," said Maurice, motioning to Holt to join 
 them. " Give me my child's address in London." 
 
 Holt wrote it with a puzzled air ; Maurice continued, 
 " Gustave, Nora ran away with the child, and died the 
 other day in London ; this good friend rescued my dar- 
 ling, and she is now safe in his house. Carlotta knows 
 nothing, but she has been wild with imaginary fears ; 
 she has had a supernatural prescience that something 
 was wrong, though she knew not what. Look at that 
 likeness ! " handing him the portrait. 
 
 " Great heaven ! that is Ethel," said Gustave. 
 
 " It is the likeness of the child my friend rescued," 
 continued Maurice. " You are bound for Paris, but go 
 at once to London, identify the child and cable me." 
 
 Holt, who had divined his motive in calling him, had 
 scribbled a hasty note which he handed to Gustave. 
 "Present this," he said, "and if you recognize the baby 
 your course will be easy." 
 
 "Good-bye," cried Gustave. "I must go. Salute 
 Carlotta for me. It was this shock that killed your 
 poor mother. Trust me." And bowing to the Captain 
 he re-entered the boat and returned to the ship in wait- 
 ing- 
 
 " I should have gone with him," said Maurice to Holt, 
 "if I could have left my wife. Oh God! my poor 
 mother." 
 
 The De Luynes retired, and the lively curiosity of the 
 inquiring passengers was not gratified. 
 
 " This has been an unusual incident," remarked the
 
 AVE SANCT1SSIMA. 125 
 
 Captain, as he watched Gustave going off; " the De 
 Luynes must be people of some influence." 
 
 In the evening, the Professor and Dr. Elmwood sat 
 alone in a quiet corner of the saloon discussing a toddy 
 before retiring. Eight or wrong, this was a custom they 
 both enjoyed and never abused. They did not approach 
 excess; perhaps, as they lingered over the generous 
 glass, where others would have become hilarious, they 
 might have been convivial, reaching just a faint tinge 
 of exaggeration, just a little mellowing of their confi- 
 dences in and to each other; but never transcending 
 the orthodox limits. They had been speaking of vari- 
 ous subjects, of theories of navigation, of the economies 
 of the ship, of its log, its record as to speed, and the 
 manner in which adverse winds had delayed her, the 
 events of the past day, of the way in which Gustave had 
 boarded her, which they thought extraordinary, De 
 Luynes being a mystery to them both. They thought 
 him clever, versatile, and possessed of remarkable qual- 
 ities. The Professor felt that he might safely confide 
 in his friend, and he told him all we know of poor De 
 Luynes' distractions, including an account of the inter- 
 view with Robert and the revelations of Gustave. 
 
 The Doctor was profoundly impressed ; he was, 
 moreover, proud of the confidence, and of the fact that 
 he was in some measure in a position to return it. He 
 told the Professor what he knew of the story of Tom 
 and his niece. 
 
 The Professor thanked him, but he already knew it. 
 His boy, he said tenderly, had no secrets from him. 
 The young people he hoped would come to understand 
 each other, but he thought the best way to deal with 
 such matters was to leave them to themselves.
 
 126 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 "With increasing confidence, Dr. Elmwood then re- 
 lated the story of Miss Roberts and Lord Bolton. 
 There again Tom had forestalled him, but this only left 
 them in a better position to discuss the subject, which 
 seemed full of interest to both. The voyage was not 
 uneventful, they both said, and they agreed that it was 
 better to look on than to interfere ; but they expressed 
 their opinions freely, as if nobody could ever know 
 what each had said to the other. So, calmly, do men 
 of middle-age look down upon the tumults that agitate 
 the young. They have had their trials and overcome 
 them ; they know that life is full of sorrow, and that 
 time is the great healer ; they have learned, also, that 
 one door of enjoyment opens as another closes. They 
 do not expect to enjoy happiness unalloyed, and they 
 know that every cloud has a silver lining. After a 
 while, both retired, sympathetic, but confident that all 
 would come right in the end.
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 "WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS?" 
 
 THE night was beautiful ; and there was only a gen- 
 tle motion of the waters, and 
 
 ' Every wave with dimpled face, 
 
 That leaped up in the air, 
 Had caught a star in its embrace, 
 And held it trembling there.' 
 
 There was silence in the haunts of the passengers, 
 and the great ship moved majestically all the long night 
 over the quiet sea. Who could foresee perils or dream 
 that her strength would fail ? 
 
 Towards morning the fog-horn, that terror of passen- 
 gers, began to send forth unearthly sounds. These 
 were warnings to approaching vessels of danger ahead, 
 and they also warned the experienced passenger that 
 a thick fog was prevailing. The sharp eye of the 
 " look-out " could scarcely penetrate the mist, and the 
 chances of collision with vessels in the track were immi- 
 nent. No position is more calculated to arouse the 
 anxiety of travellers at sea. 
 
 " The Marie is a fine ship," said De Luynes, " and 
 well manned ; as things go, she is considered to be 
 finely equipped, but she is on a fast line and there is 
 the danger. No human eye could descry a ship in this
 
 128 PROFESSOR CON ANT. 
 
 thick mist, making towards her in time to arrest an in- 
 evitable crash ; and yet she will rush on at full speed 
 in order to make time, when she ought to go slowly and 
 cautiously. In case of accident, what provision have 
 we for saving life '? The boats, if they could be safely 
 lowered, would not accommodate two hundred passen- 
 gers, and, including cabin and steerage, we have on 
 board well nigh a thousand souls. The life-preservers 
 would be useless to most of us, because we have not 
 been taught how to wear them, and, awkwardly ad- 
 justed, they would create more danger than they would 
 avoid. All is delightful in smooth sailing, but who 
 shall say that disasters may not occur which would put 
 human life in unnecessary jeopardy ? " 
 
 " Let us count the boats," said the Professor ; they 
 did so and found there were but ten ; each could carry 
 safely but twenty people. " This is fearful," he added ; 
 " what can we do ? " 
 
 " Oh, we must take our chances, accidents are the 
 exception ; the ships generally make prosperous voy- 
 ages, and so these defects are not exposed. They are 
 neither noticed nor remedied." 
 
 "I hope the fog will lift soon," said Robert Holt. 
 "This darkness is becoming intolerable." 
 
 But all day long it enveloped them, and the dreadful 
 whistle continued to herald the fact. The passengers 
 became gloomy and apprehensive as the night closed 
 in, and there seemed on every countenance a common 
 dread of danger. The decks and the saloons were early 
 deserted ; the anxieties of some were forgotten in sleep, 
 but most people wooed it in vain. 
 
 There was a timid rap at Dr. Elmwood's door. " May 
 I come in, dear uncle ? I am distracted with this terri-
 
 " WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS!" 129 
 
 ble whistle and with these gloomy surroundings. May 
 I sit with you ?" 
 
 "Sit down, child," he responded; "we are mak- 
 ing splendid time, and I see no cause for alarm ; yet 
 life is uncertain and apprehensions are natural. We 
 must look above for strength. 
 
 " What a field of thought is open to one who watches 
 at midnight in such a sea, feeling that the next 
 moment may precipitate a crash which might engulf 
 every one in the deep waters. How the far-off past re- 
 turns to one with forgotten scenes which are now made 
 familiar again ; one's boyhood, one's school days, the 
 companions of one's youth and how the minutest 
 details of one's life are lived over again. Home and 
 friends are with him, and it seems as if their presence 
 were real ; the good he has done, the wrongs he has 
 suffered, and been guilty of, how all are reviewed and 
 re-enacted, and how he thinks he would undo this and 
 do that could he live his life over again. Clearly he 
 sees now the path of duty, and feels that it would have 
 been easy to follow it ; in such a mood, the triumphs 
 of his life are trifles light as air and his trials not worth 
 remembering. He will make amends if he is spared by 
 becoming the almoner of God's bounties to the poor. 
 He wonders at his own indifference in the past, and as 
 for the future he piously pledges himself to do unto 
 others as he would they should do unto him. 
 
 " Of all the hundreds in this great ship, how many are 
 realizing this description ? How many, being fearful 
 would amend their lives ? How many, once safe again, 
 would renew them ? But thank God we are in no such 
 extremity ; we are sailing over a smooth sea, in a strong 
 
 ship, which has weathered the voyage these fifty times, 
 6*
 
 130 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 and not always in fine weather. Humanly speaking, 
 the conditions are all in our favor, and whatever hap- 
 pens will be under the eye of Him without whose 
 knowledge 'not a sparrow falls.' 
 
 "You are weary and excited, and you need repose," 
 continued the Doctor. " The morning will bring relief 
 and further evidences of God's mercies. "We are rapidly 
 nearing home now, and in a few days you will be 
 recounting these trials with a smile, to your friends. 
 You may have great need of strength when you reach 
 them. Summon courage and seek rest." 
 
 " Pray with me, uncle," she said ; and they joined 
 in a fervent prayer of thanksgiving, petitioning the 
 Almighty Father for protection and peace. 
 
 " I feel better, uncle ; you have soothed and comforted 
 me ; I can sleep now ; good night." 
 
 " Poor girl ! " said Dr. Elm wood, musingly, after she 
 left. " I wish I could comfort myself with the confi- 
 dence which I tried to impart to her. She will have a 
 fearful burden to carry when she reaches home. I won- 
 der, would she not have been better able to meet it had 
 she accepted Tom's suit?" 
 
 It was late at night, but De Luynes and the young 
 men were still on deck. " I cannot sleep," said De 
 Luynes ; " this fog is so dense and our speed is so great, 
 that I am afraid ; we are within the chapter of accidents, 
 and a collision would sink us ; beyond the whistle, the 
 ship can take no precautions. The sea is alive with 
 steamships and coasters. I have been trying in vain to 
 persuade the Captain to slacken speed ; he was not rude, 
 but he gave me to understand that he was in command 
 of the vessel. Heavens ! that light ! " There was a 
 cry of " ship ahead ! "
 
 " WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS!" 131 
 
 " Port your helm ! " shouted the officer ; it was too 
 late ; a brig had struck them, and a terrible crash fol- 
 lowed ; everybody was hurled prostrate. In two min- 
 utes the deck was covered with half-dressed and ter- 
 rified passengers. The confusion was fearful ; the ex- 
 citement had no bounds ; women and children rushed 
 aimlessly about uttering piteous cries and supplications; 
 and, with few exceptions, the men were equally frantic. 
 
 Above all the tumult was heard the clear, ringing 
 voice of De Luynes shouting, " Silence ! We are all 
 safe ; let us have order and all may yet be well." 
 
 Courage always inspires hope, and there was a lull, 
 as if men waited to see what he would do next. The 
 ship had righted herself, but the engine and machinery 
 had stopped. There were cries of distress from the 
 neighboring brig. She was disabled and sinking. 
 Her crew had taken to the water. To lower the 
 boats of the Alaric was but the work of a few min- 
 utes ; they moved toward the wreck cautiously in 
 the darkness, that they might avoid the suction of the 
 sinking ship while they sought to rescue her people. 
 The lanterns could not penetrate the thick fog, and the 
 sailors, who could not see, shouted that help was at 
 hand, and thus encouraged the desperate swimmers. 
 Some were pulled into the boats ; some having made 
 for the ship's signal lights, were assisted to climb up 
 her side, while others, alas ! less fortunate, were lost. 
 
 The passengers of the Alaric had, momently, for- 
 gotten their own troubles in striving to watch the strug- 
 gles for life going on around them. Of course, they 
 could see nothing, but they heard the cries of distress 
 with, now and again, a word of encouragement. At 
 length all was silent, except the voices of the men as
 
 132 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 the boats were returning. Meantime, the Captain had 
 been examining the ship and had found her sadly dam- 
 aged. Her bow had been crushed in; some of tho 
 rigging of the lost vessel had been entangled with tho 
 screw, and had stopped the engine, leaving no motive 
 power, except the canvas, which, under the most favor- 
 able circumstances could only propel the steamer a 
 few miles an hour. 
 
 The rescued sailors reported their vessel as the Span- 
 ish brig Isabella, bound from the West Indies to Liver- 
 pool. She had been struck amidships and cut in two. 
 The Captain, his wife and children were among the lost. 
 
 " Poor sufferers," said our Captain, " only with this 
 brief record do their lives come into ours ; perhaps he 
 was a brave seaman and his wife a lovely help-meet ; 
 was it not after all a mercy that when they were called 
 they might tread together the shoreless depths of the 
 sea of death ? They were not like the two women grind- 
 ing at the mill ; the one taken and the other left ; they 
 died as they had lived, united." 
 
 The passengers began slowly to withdraw from the 
 deck, and thus quiet was restored ; for notwithstanding 
 all their misfortunes, there was as yet no actual dis- 
 comfort. They had now to depend on the sails, and 
 might be days longer at sea ; but if they could avoid 
 a storm, the good ship would weather it out. 
 
 What a day was that which followed ! the presence 
 of death, the sense of danger escaped; the reaction 
 from intense excitement and fear, was like the bruised 
 sensation that follows extreme tension of the muscles. 
 Each had lived a life-time in a few hours, and yet all 
 felt that their sufferings had been rewarded, because 
 comparative safety had succeeded the hour of trial
 
 " WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS!" 133 
 
 Our travellers were not so prostrated, for they pos- 
 sessed more than the average of courage and self-re- 
 liance ; but they were thoughtful and disquieted. Per- 
 haps all this strain had been a mercy to those who had 
 suffered. At any rate, it had brought the lovers to- 
 gether again, and for the moment they had forgotten the 
 cause of their recent separation. Was it because they 
 were dear that they were again near to each other? 
 The distraction was a positive relief to the De Luynes, 
 who had been so much oppressed by their own troubles. 
 
 " Carlotta," De Luynes said to his wife, " I felt at 
 one time that the hope you have so often expressed 
 would be realized that we should die together." 
 
 " Oh ! Maurice," she answered, " if it had come to 
 that, I could not have borne that you should go alone." 
 She spoke of home, which they were nearing, of their 
 poor old mother, whom they should meet no more. 
 
 " What a sweet, pure life she led, Maurice ! Oh that 
 my life could be such a blessing to others ! How 
 calmly I am sure she went to her reward. But she 
 loves us still. Do you not think she watches over us 
 now in our perils ? " 
 
 " She loves us still, dear Carlotta," he said to her, as 
 the eyes of both filled with tears. " She sent Gustavo 
 with that message," he added aside. " It is all clear to 
 me now. Is this an inspiration ? Are hidden things 
 revealed to us as we grow older?" 
 
 " Good morning, Holt," he said aloud, as that gentle- 
 man with a polite bow to Carlotta joined them. They 
 spoke of the accident ; Holt was hopeful, nay, confident. 
 
 The machinery was disabled, Holt remarked; but 
 apart from that, the ship as good as new. The sailing 
 would be slow, but it was not dangerous.
 
 134 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 All had words of sympathy for the poor fellows who 
 had been lost from the unfortunate vessel. 
 
 " Sister Ethel will be waiting for us with our dear 
 little one," said Madame De Luynes abruptly. " God 
 grant that we may reach them safely ; my sister would 
 start for Quebec yesterday; you must see my sister 
 Ethel, Mr. Holt ; she is a dear girl, and they natter me 
 by saying that she resembles me." 
 
 " Yes," said Maurice, " Sister Ethel is among the 
 loveliest of women, and in appearance and disposition 
 she is like my wife." 
 
 Robert responded politely. 
 
 "Oh, my baby," resumed Madame De Luynes; "how 
 I long to embrace her ! I wonder if she has changed 
 much, and will she know me, Maurice ? Of course, you 
 don't care for babies, Mr. Holt, but you would be struck 
 with the child's great, lustrous eyes." 
 
 " They are like her mother's," said Maurice. 
 
 "Dear old Nora, her nurse, has been so faithful," 
 continued the child's mother ; " I am glad we brought 
 her presents from Paris. I don't mean that she is 
 ' old ' in years ; one uses the word as a term of endear- 
 ment ; " and so the fond mother continued to speak of 
 her darling, till her husband and friend persuaded her 
 to seek rest and composure. 
 
 It was mid-day ; the ship was doing poor work and 
 the sky was overcast and lowering. The wind had 
 freshened and the fog was lifting ; but the most power- 
 ful glass showed no signs of the lost vessel ; all hope 
 was abandoned for the safety of those who had not 
 been rescued in the morning. 
 
 " I fear that our troubles are not over," Dr. Elmwood 
 observed to the Professor ; " there is a storm gathering,
 
 " WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS!" 135 
 
 and in a storm we should navigate poorly -with a dis- 
 abled ship." 
 
 " I have great confidence in the Captain," was the 
 answer. "These ships maintain the discipline of a 
 man-of-war ; our position is not unprecedented, and we 
 can depend upon the best of human skill to bring us 
 safely into port." 
 
 " Yet we owe our misfortune to a palpable blunder, 
 or worse," remarked the Doctor ; " running at full speed 
 through a dense fog. It might have saved us a day, if 
 there had been no accident, but it multiplied our 
 chances of disaster. Do you believe the collision 
 would have occurred if we had been running at half 
 speed ? De Luynes was frantic about it all last 
 evening, and, I am told, had sharp words with the 
 Captain, 
 
 " Who, I suppose, was simply obeying his orders," 
 interrupted the Professor. 
 
 " Oh, as to that, the criticism is just the same, whether 
 the responsibility rests with the Company or with the 
 officers of the ship ; already, lives have been lost and 
 more are in jeopardy. It would be a poor compensation 
 to say that the Alaric tried to make better time than 
 vessels of another line." 
 
 " There is truth in what you say," said the Professor. 
 "When we commit ourselves to the mercies of the deep 
 we are entitled to every protection from those who are 
 amply paid for transporting us safely." 
 
 " Yes," rejoined the Doctor, " and if we are lost, there 
 will be censure and, perhaps for a time, more caution ; 
 but if we come safely into port our adventures will be 
 forgotten, and the abuse will go on till others, less for- 
 tunate, are lost by the blunders which threatened us.
 
 136 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 Men are slow to prevent mishaps, even when the danger 
 is plain enough ; we are apt to move against them, with 
 a strong hand, after they have occurred." 
 
 " Cheer up," said the Professor ; " you are morbid, 
 my dear friend." 
 
 " "We are in God's hands," remarked the Doctor, as 
 he walked leisurely away. 
 
 Knots of passengers were talking earnestly here and 
 there. There were now none of the amusements and 
 hilarities of the early days of the voyage. During the 
 afternoon the storm continued to threaten, and a stiff 
 north-easterly wind set in. The sea, which had been 
 tranquil, became agitated, and the ship drifted at its 
 mercy. Her bow had been stove in, and the forward 
 compartment was filled with water. 
 
 " If this should increase to a gale we shall have a 
 rough night," the captain said to the first officer. 
 " We are prepared for the worst, sir ; the side lights 
 have been screwed up, and everything about the deck 
 is securely lashed." " She seems to lie easy now, with 
 the help of this aft-sail, but I am afraid, with a heavy 
 sea, she might fall off into the trough of it." 
 
 " That's so, sir," responded the first officer. " And, 
 in that case, we might lose our boats and start the 
 bulkhead." "We must do our best; though the 
 chances are against us." 
 
 Toward the night the wind blew a gale, and the out- 
 look was gloomy and threatening. The terrors of the 
 morning were reviving among the passengers. De 
 Luynes, calm and resolute, his wife leaning on his arm, 
 was everywhere seeking to encourage them. The ship 
 tumbled and rolled on the agitated waters ; a heavy 
 sea washed the deck and bore two unfortunate sailors to
 
 " WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS!" 137 
 
 destruction. A third clung to the lee-rigging and was 
 rescued in a stats of exhaustion. 
 
 De Luynes summoned his friends to his cabin and 
 instructed them as to the use of the life-preservers. 
 
 "Our danger is," he said, "that our ship may be 
 swamped in a trough of the sea and founder. That 
 risk may ba remote, but it is well to prepare for it." 
 
 " The danger is not imminent," remarked Lord Bol- 
 ton, " but it is right to adopt precautions." 
 
 All this time the ship was pitching and lurching, as 
 if each strain might be her last ; everywhere children 
 were crying, women were moaning and screaming, and 
 men and women, more composed, were kneeling ; some 
 in silent, others in audible, prayer. It was a scene 
 which few have witnessed, and, once witnessed, no one 
 can forget. There was a universal bidding adieu to 
 life and a supplication for mercy. 
 
 At length the storm burst, the wind blew a gale, and 
 the waves became rolling mountains of water ; yet, up 
 to this time, the ship had kept her course, and the sails 
 had assisted to steady her. The wind suddenly shifted 
 and blew a hurricane, which made a cross-sea. She 
 reeled and tumbled, under the strange pressure, like 
 one who was becoming weary in an unequal fight, and 
 was attacked by fresh enemies ; twisting and turning, 
 in the fierce conflict, she was at length caught in a 
 trough of the sea. It was a peril from which it seemed 
 she could never be rescued. The commotion on board 
 was frightful. Passengers clung to whatever was strong 
 enough to support them, or were hurled, helpless and 
 bruised, along the deck. Some shrieked with pain from 
 their hurts ; others from the terror of the surround- 
 ings. This state of things continued all night, but in the
 
 138 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 morning the wind had moderated, and there was a 
 lull. 
 
 " Captain," said Lord Bolton, clinging to a life-line, 
 " will you lower a boat and allow me with my compan- 
 ions to put to sea in her ? " 
 
 " Impossible," was the reply. " No boat could live in 
 this sea, and we have neither men nor officers to spare." 
 
 " We want no help," urged Lord Bolton. " Half a 
 dozen of us have been in the navy and can manage a 
 boat in a storm. I would risk one in the open sea 
 sooner than this." 
 
 The captain always said in excuse afterward that he 
 had been magnetized by Lord Bolton's vehement man- 
 ner. His lordship had already gathered his friends. 
 One of the boats, that had done service yesternight, 
 was lowered. His friends at first assented and then re- 
 fused to accompany him. " There is no time to be 
 lost," he said ; "it is a choice of evils." He had trusty 
 companions to aid in managing the boat, and the 
 majesty of his manner persuaded them. The passen- 
 gers looked on, but nobody would have taken the risk. 
 The difficulty of boarding her seemed insurmountable. 
 
 " Come with us, De Luynes, you will be safer," said 
 he. " The boat will be well manned and the chances 
 are a hundred to one in our favor." 
 
 " Shall we go, Carlotta ? " 
 
 " As you like," she responded. 
 
 After many attempts, they were finally successful, 
 and Lord Bolton's boat, manned by his friends and laden 
 with his party, was launched upon the turbulent waters. 
 
 " Now, boys, keep her before the wind," he cried ; 
 "we are all safe if you obey me;" and they sailed 
 away, and were soon out of sight of the ship. There
 
 WHO COULD FORESEE PERILS f" 139 
 
 was no panic, such was the magnetic influence of their 
 brave pilot ; and there was even little apprehension. 
 
 On board the ship things went from bad to worse, 
 with no prospect, except of that final relief, which, at 
 first, they had all so much dreaded. The sails were 
 blown away, the sea had been breaking over the ship, 
 and the water, rushing down the sky-lights and com- 
 panion-ways, was slowly filling her. At this moment a 
 steamer was reported coming toward them. Signals of 
 distress were hoisted, and, to their intense relief, were 
 promptly answered. The reaction aboard ship was 
 instantaneous ; despair was replaced by hope and even 
 confidence, and the emotions of the passengers were 
 scarcely less manifest under the latter conditions than 
 they had been in the former. 
 
 The captain of the sinking steamer signalled his con- 
 dition, and asked the stranger for aid. She approached 
 and promised by signals to send out boats. The boats 
 of the Alaric, except two on the lee-quarter, were 
 washed away, as were also her life-rafts, and the decks 
 had been swept of everything movable ; but torn 
 shreds of sail hung from the broken yards, and the 
 whistling of the winds over the deck, and through the 
 cordage, was like a concert of fiends in the ears of the 
 imprisoned passengers. The gale exhausted itself in 
 fitful squalls and copious showers, which the sailors 
 knew would shortly smooth the waters. On board the 
 succoring ship strong and willing hands were at work 
 swinging out the boats preparatory to lowering them 
 for the rescue of the doomed ship's passengers. Within 
 three hours, so skilfully had the work been managed, 
 every man, woman and child had been transferred 
 to the stranger vessel, and not too soon ; for scarcely
 
 140 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 had an liour elapsed before the ill-fated Alaric, dipping 
 and plunging, sank beneath the sea. 
 
 It was night now, and darkness prevailed. The res- 
 cued passengers were safe on board the good steamer 
 Thiers, bound for Havre. At the suggestion of the 
 Captain of the Alaric, the Thiers passed the night and a 
 great part of the next day in a fruitless search for the 
 missing life-boat. There would be many discomforts 
 in a crowded ship, but the most fastidious would bear 
 them for the sake of security and rest. But where were 
 Lord Bolton and his friends? The most callous would 
 have been glad to know, and wished them kindly. 
 Would they be all lost ? Would they not have been 
 safer to have remained with the ship ?
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 "THE KING OF TERIIORS." 
 
 THE next morning was bright, but there was a remi- 
 niscence of the storm in the agitation of the waters. A 
 life-boat was lying to, and a single glass was seeking to 
 descry a saiL It was Lord Bolton's. The night had 
 been stormy and perilous to his frail craft. Precious 
 lives had been lost ; and the survivors were in mourn- 
 ing. Early the night before, a dip of the boat had 
 thrown Miss Roberts into the sea ; half a dozen bold 
 swimmers had leaped after her, but she had not been 
 rescued, and only half of those who had gone to her 
 aid returned. Lord Bolton, Tom, Cuthbert, and Holt 
 were 'saved, but two of the young men, and alas! Do 
 Luynes, who had almost saved the young girl, and had 
 performed prodigies of daring, had finally succumbed 
 and been drowned. Overwhelmed by this calamity, 
 Madame De Luynes had swooned and was still uncon- 
 scious. Such restoratives as they had, were applied 
 without effect, and the greatest anxiety was enter- 
 tained. Mrs. Roberts was scarcely less overcome. 
 Lord Bolton, mindful of his responsibilities, exer- 
 cised a wonderful self-command, and did everything 
 to give his friends comfort and confidence. In his 
 management of the boat he had displayed the skill 
 of a sailor and the courage of a hero ; they were well 
 provided with rations, but all were anxious to sight a
 
 142 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 ship, and had been watching for a sail the whole morn- 
 ing. The ranks of the crew had been sadly thinned, and 
 those who were left were mourners ; but they had stout 
 hearts and brawny arms ; and they made for the west, 
 the sun and the stars guiding them, and as the waves 
 would permit. Their invalids for some time did not 
 improve. Mrs. Roberts had regained consciousness, 
 but was still suffering from nervous prostration. 
 Madame De Luynes remained in an unconscious state 
 and without much sign of vitality. Taken all in all, it 
 was a lamentable outlook, and stronger hearts, if one 
 could have found them, might have quailed. But the 
 sea grew quieter as the day wore on, and they hoisted a 
 sail and sped onward as best they could. 
 
 Miss Winthrop was unceasing in her attentions to 
 Madame De Luynes. Lord Bolton thought it better to 
 let her rest ; but Miss "Winthrop feared that the pro- 
 longed swoon would endanger her chances of resuscita- 
 tion. They all expressed hopes or fears, but no one 
 could give advice as to treatment ; and so it happened 
 that nature was left to herself, and sometimes she is 
 the best physician. At all events, while the intellect 
 was obscured, her deadly misfortunes did not haunt 
 her, and returning consciousness might set her faculties 
 on edge and render grief more wearing than prostra- 
 tion. She remained thus till toward evening, when a 
 deep sigh denoted returning animation. She spoke, 
 but her voice was hoarse and unnatural ; opening her 
 eyes, she regarded them with the vacant stare of one 
 dazad and trying to remember. 
 
 " Papa will meet us at the station, darling," she said ; 
 " he has been waiting long for us, and, oh, how his lit- 
 tle Ethel and mamma will love him !" There was not
 
 " THE KING OF TERRORS." 143 
 
 a dry eye among them. " Dear Maurice," she contin- 
 ued, " how cruelly he has been misunderstood by his 
 enemies ; he only wanted to do good, but they painted 
 him black to his own dear people whom he loved, and 
 they thwarted him at every turn. But he was patient, 
 he never cursed them. ' I must render good for evil,' 
 he said to me. Maurice, darling, did I chide you some- 
 times ? "Well, it's all over now ; I was exacting, per- 
 haps ; my love was selfish. Come, let us embrace and 
 forgive each other." Then she would seem to fondle 
 her child and address her dear friends, and finally she 
 lapsed into stupor again. 
 
 " This is dreadful," said Lord Bolton ; and so they 
 passed the long night, some of them between waking 
 and sleeping, others on the watch and at the tiller. 
 Carlotta alternately slept and wandered ; but she ut- 
 tered no word to indicate consciousness of her sad be- 
 reavement. 
 
 " Sister Ethel," she said once, " we met a young gen- 
 tleman in our travels, he was, oh, so kind ! If I had 
 been young I should have admired him. "We told him 
 about you." 
 
 Next morning a sail was in view and they tried to sig- 
 nal her by every means available. At length she made 
 toward them, and they felt that deliverance was near. 
 They were rescued and received every kindness and at- 
 tention. The relieving vessel was the good ship 
 Waterloo, bound from Havana to Quebec, and they 
 were within two days of the latter port. Lord Bolton 
 looked at once after the comfort of his friends. Mrs. 
 Roberts was convalescent ; he pressed her hand and left 
 her without speaking. She understood his emotion and 
 burst into tears.
 
 144 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " Oh ! my lost sister," she said, " why could you not 
 have lived to make him happy ? " 
 
 Carlotta did not recognize him, but addressed him 
 as " Mons. le Cure," and upbraided'him for his animos- 
 ity towards her husband. 
 
 "If you knew him as I know him," she said, " you 
 would mourn for your mistake in having crushed him. 
 Maurice," she continued, " your mother has gone away. 
 You must go and fetch her. Little Ethel is at home 
 now with Nora. The sweet child ! we shall see her to- 
 morrow ; and oh, Maurice, did I tell you, that awful 
 day, that if you should die, I would lie by your side in 
 the grave ? And so I would, my precious husband ; 
 where you go, I must follow. * Thy people shall be my 
 people, and thy God, my God.' " 
 
 Lord Bolton left her in tears. " The first I have shed 
 for years," he soliloquized. " I wonder when her eyes 
 are opened, will her heart be as heavy as mine ? " He 
 found the Professor and Dr. Elrnwood fatigued but 
 comfortable ; Col. Lyons had not accompanied him in 
 the boat, and his young friends were about seeking that 
 rest which all so sadly needed. He sought his cabin, 
 and kneeling, prayed, " Oh, God, have mercy upon me ! 
 My punishment is greater than I can bear. Lead me 
 to become the almoner of charities in her name, and to 
 such a lifetime of good works as would have been pleas- 
 ing in her sight ; for I know that upon my faithfulness 
 in these things it depends whether I shall meet her 
 again." What vicissitudes these weary sufferers have 
 experienced, within the last few hours, and yet what 
 mercies have been vouchsafed to them ! Which one of 
 them will remember all and profit by them to the end ? 
 
 And now our travellers have retired. The great
 
 " THE KING OF TERRORS." 145 
 
 strain has been removed ; exhausted nature yields to 
 the reaction. Poor Carlotta, left to the care of her 
 maid and the surgeon, passed the time between stupor 
 and wandering, and the day and the night were un- 
 eventful. The next morning broke bright and beauti- 
 ful. The hills were visible in the distance, for the ship 
 was navigating the broad bosom of the river. Telegrams 
 would be sent from the first station to the friends of 
 the rescued. Lord Bolton had sent inquiries after all 
 his friends. The condition of the invalid continued 
 without change, but the others of the party were re- 
 freshed and comforted. 
 
 " That scene yonder is magnificent," said Dr. Elm- 
 wood, pointing to the shore they were nearing, " if one 
 had tli3 heart to enjoy it. The altitude of the mount- 
 ains S3ems prodigious, and how beautiful is the varie- 
 gated foliage with which, here and there, they are 
 adorned." 
 
 " Beauties will multiply as we ascend the river," ob- 
 served the Professor, " and reach the bounds of habita- 
 tion and culture. On either side are rich lands, pos- 
 sessed by thrifty habitants, who maintain there the 
 habits and customs which they brought from France 
 generations ago. These settlements were originally 
 foundod under the feudal system. There were the 
 Lord and his tenant, the seigneur and his censitaire. The 
 latter paid various tributes, and could not even take a 
 bushel of corn to be ground, except at the mill of his 
 master." 
 
 " Is not all that changed ? " asked the Doctor. 
 
 " Yos," was the reply, " but you cannot in a moment 
 change the consequences of an old aristocratic system. 
 It educates a people to the idea of superiority on the
 
 146 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 one side and to dependence on the other. One class is 
 born to command and the other to obey, and when you 
 destroy this system you may only have changed the yoke. 
 The people so trained are still waiting to obey, and 
 would fall an easy prey to illegitimate masters. Poor 
 De Luynes had large property down here, and he 
 often spoke of these conditions; he complained that 
 the system of education was not calculated to elevate 
 the people, and he despaired of improvement while 
 matters remained as at present." 
 
 "He was rather hopeless of Lower Canada," said 
 Dr. Elmwood, " and he was a man of great parts and 
 wide reading." 
 
 "Yes, Maurice De Luynes was an accomplished 
 man," remarked the Professor. " I knew his father by 
 reputation, and had even met him in London and in 
 Paris. He was a man of rare gifts, which his son 
 seems to have inherited. His talents might have been 
 of great service in a country where there was inde- 
 pendent public opinion ; but here there was no field 
 for them in politics. Science, art, belles-lettres and 
 benevolence, father and son might have pursued with 
 their ample means, and their cultivated, charitable tastes, 
 had the restrictions been less galling. But the scope 
 was too narrow, and their penchant was for public life. 
 The father died of a broken heart, and the son seemed 
 to have inherited his despondency. I had formed an 
 exalted opinion of him and of his fitness for the high- 
 est occupations. The broad views which made him un- 
 acceptable at home would have recommended him in 
 more tolerant circles. The Imperial service might have 
 profited by what his own country lost. I hinted 
 as much to him, but he did not seem ambitious of
 
 " THE KING OF TERRORS." 147 
 
 distinction, and said that he was too old to begin a 
 new life. So my views did not prevail." 
 
 "He has entered a higher service now, poor fellow," 
 said the Doctor, sadly, "and from what I hear, his wife 
 may soon follow him." 
 
 Tom and Miss Winthrop met for the first time since 
 their rescue, that morning, and at sight of him she 
 burst into tears. "Pray forgive my weakness," she 
 said at length, " but I am not strong yet, and every- 
 thing has been so dreadful. What shall I say to my 
 brother ? How can I comfort him ? " 
 
 " Great griefs are not assuaged with words," replied 
 Tom, " and perhaps you will find guidance when you 
 have need. His trials might have been sore, even if no 
 accident had befallen us. He must suffer as others 
 have suffered, and he will find strength and aid where 
 others have found them. Am I a clumsy comforter? 
 And yet I can pity him, for I know what desolation 
 would have overwhelmed my heart if I had lost you." 
 
 Miss Winthrop bade him be silent, but gave him her 
 hand. " We must not be selfish," she said ; " if our 
 burdens are lighter than those of others, we have so 
 much the more sympathy to spare. But what can 1 
 say to my poor brother ? " 
 
 " Wait," said Tom, " till ho comes ; the occasion will 
 inspire you." 
 
 "Will he come here," she asked, "on board the 
 ship?" 
 
 " No, that will be impossible, but he will not lose 
 time ; if ho does not meet you at Quebec, I shall go 
 with you to Boston; but, ah, I had forgotten your 
 uncle." 
 
 " You shall come, my friend," said the young lady,
 
 148 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " if my uncle and my brother are both there. Who 
 can be nearer to me than you, who have shielded me 
 on this terrible voyage of death ? " she added, passion- 
 ately. 
 
 Tom saw the change with delight, but he did not 
 notice it openly. " She loves me," he thought, enrapt- 
 ured ; " but I must not press her now." 
 
 All the other young men were in a group around Mr. 
 and Mrs. Koberts, but their sympathy was conveyed by 
 looks rather than by words. 
 
 " That is a touching picture," said Dr. Elmwood to 
 the Professor, as the sad group caught their attention. 
 " But where is Bolton ? He was on deck this morning 
 to inquire for us, but usually he has clung to the soli- 
 tude of his cabin ; his heart is terribly wrung." 
 
 Holt, catching the last words, said, "Yes, poor fel- 
 low ; he is dreadfully broken and has entirely given up 
 at last. He mastered himself with a strong will while 
 his responsibilities lasted. I never knew his fine quali- 
 ties as they have been displayed in this great trial, though 
 I have always admired him. Bat it is pitiable to see 
 him now." 
 
 "You should go to him," said the Professor to Dr. 
 Elmwood. 
 
 " I was with him last night," was the reply. " He 
 was full of reverence and resignation ; it is better to 
 leave him alone now that his marvelous self-command 
 has yielded to a natural grief. He will find relief and 
 composure after giving way to it. I will seek him by- 
 and-bye. He is one to gather strength from spiritual 
 consolation. He feels himself crushed, but he speaks 
 beautifully of his trust in Divine aid, and his longing to 
 lead that better life which he knows will draw him
 
 " TEE KING OF TERRORS." 149 
 
 nearer to her whom lie has lost." " He is less resigned 
 now," said Robert ; " he regards his bereavement as 
 punishment, and incessantly mourns that it is greater 
 than he can bear." 
 
 "But his sense of duty will make him strong again," 
 observed the Doctor. " There are other sufferers, and 
 Bolton is not the man to give way to what he calls self- 
 ish griefs, while others need his assistance." 
 
 " Yes, we are all sufferers," remarked Kobert, " and 
 we have all been objects of his solicitude. But he 
 blames himself about the De Luynes. He says that 
 but for him they would have remained on the Alaric" 
 
 " And both have been lost," said a voice. 
 
 " Then, in grieving over the loss of Miss Roberts," 
 continued Holt, " he fears that he over-persuaded her ; 
 and says that her brother, until finally pressed by her, 
 seemed unwilling to go in the life-boat. Sometimes he 
 feels that he was reckless and wonders does Roberts 
 blame him." 
 
 Roberts overheard this, and said to his wife : ""We 
 must go to him, poor fellow ; he has behaved so nobly 
 and now he needs us." 
 
 " Miss Roberts was a noble character," Holt continued. 
 
 " And both noble and lovely were the De Luynes," 
 added the Doctor. 
 
 " Yes. I was intimate with Maurice for days, and 
 we spoke of many things which I am now glad to have 
 discussed with him. It is strange how I at first mis- 
 judged him, but toward the end, as I knew him better, 
 he inspired me with a tender regard which one man 
 rarely entertains for another. He was too sensitive 
 and deprecatory of himself ; he regarded his life as a 
 failure because he had not won success in a single path,
 
 150 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 but he said that, in his circumstances, there was noth- 
 ing left for him of political usefulness, and that public 
 opinion was too superstitious and credulous to afford 
 him a fair field. He was brought up under the eye of 
 his father, who had delegated to an old friend, a Jesuit, 
 the duty of instructing his boy. De Luynes' quick per- 
 ceptions revolted against some of the lessons he had 
 been taught, but he found a strange delight in others. 
 He had a taste neither for exaggerated humiliations 
 and self-denials, nor for the unreasoning obedience 
 which he was taught. His imagination was fascinated 
 by pictures of celestial purity and by the mystic phi- 
 losophy he learned ; but such was the natural and out- 
 spoken frankness of his character that he was in little 
 danger of ever acting upon such teachings as would 
 lead him, for any cause, to pervert the truth, or 
 to do evil that good might come. The old Jesuit loved 
 him, but, of course, subordinately to the interests of his 
 Order ; and he marked out for him a career in life very 
 different from that which the young man actually fol- 
 lowed. Maurice's father watched the progress of his 
 son with satisfaction, for he saw that he was gaining 
 knowledge without imbibing a spirit of hostility to 
 liberty. Finally, when he went to Paris to complete 
 his education, he was carefully guarded from extremes, 
 and was trained to be, at once, a loyal son of his 
 Church and an earnest advocate of freedom. He loved 
 the genius but deplored the skepticism of the popular 
 litterateurs; and he would have restrained the people 
 through the influence of a holy faith and the spiritual 
 teachings of the Church, which left them room to think 
 and act for themselves in matters public and secular. 
 I suggested that there might be difficulty in drawing
 
 " TUE KING OF TERRORS." 
 
 the line, but he said, * No, there could be nothing in- 
 compatible between the service of God and an inde- 
 pendent and conscientious devotion to one's country. 
 The Church might denounce free-thinkers in religious 
 matters, but she must not interfere with free speech 
 and free opinions in the service of the State.' He read 
 law in Paris, but he frequented society at the same 
 time, and perhaps learned more of the world than of 
 jurisprudence. There, too, he met Carlotta Lytton, of 
 Connecticut, whose father had, at one time, been 
 attached to the American Embassy. Carlotta was a 
 New England girl, but had spent some time in France 
 with her mother's friends, and was a favorite of society 
 there. The year after, he married her, and they took 
 up their residence on his estate in Canada. About this 
 time his father died and left him a large fortune. He 
 was ambitious to serve his people, and was elected to 
 parliament. But you have learned from his own lips 
 that he was overmatched and crushed by his enemies. 
 He made no secret of his disappointment, regarding 
 himself a victim of intolerance and bigotry. The rest 
 you know. His young wife, as you have all seen, is 
 worthy of him, and may soon rejoin him. If she lives, 
 what sorrow and desolation await her! There is a 
 strange romance about their child, the shock of whose 
 loss killed De Luynes' mother ; but I believe the child 
 is safe and will soon be restored to her desolate home." 
 
 " Truth is stranger than fiction," said the Professor. 
 " What a sad romance it all is ! " 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Roberts had sent a message to Lord 
 Bolton, desiring an interview, and he had promised to 
 come to them in an hour. He entered their presence 
 with a firm step and an air of self-control.
 
 152 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " I have sent for you," said Mr. Roberts, " because 
 my wife and I felt that we must see you ; but not to in- 
 dulge in any formal expressions. Perhaps, in view of 
 our terrible loss, words are more trying than solitude. 
 You, who have loved her so much, ought to know that 
 sho was not indifferent to your attentions. You may 
 have divined as much, but she felt that in her position 
 she could not tell you all. After a short acquaintance 
 last winter my sister became engaged to an excellent 
 and most promising young man. He was impatient 
 to be married at once, but though she loved him, she 
 sought to postpone the marriage. His letters were im- 
 portunate, however, and she finally consented to marry 
 him shortly after our return. After her acquaintance 
 with you, she began to have doubts about herself, and 
 of her real love for George Winthrop ; ' but I have 
 promised him,' she would say to me, ' and I must dis- 
 cuss this matter with George before I harbor a thought 
 of being disloyal to him. He is noble and generous 
 and would release me, but I am bewildered and miser- 
 able. George and the world might think that wealth 
 and position had influenced me, and I am bound in 
 honor to be true to my pledge ' Her one idea was to 
 hide her heart and be worthy of her fiance. Had she 
 lived, she would have told you all this, but now it be- 
 comes my duty to do so." 
 
 " I knew it all," said Lord Bolton, "and I was selfish 
 to press my attentions ; she acted the part of a 
 true woman. Under the discipline of the last few 
 days, I might have learned unselfishness ; but as things 
 were, I never could have given her up to another. "Was 
 it to rebuke my assurance that she was snatched from 
 me in this dreadful way? Does the hand of a kind
 
 " THE KINO OF TERRORS." 153 
 
 Providence rule over these things ? Oh, God ! Why 
 couldst Thou not in some other way have afflicted 
 me?" And overcome by his emotions he sobbed 
 aloud. They all wept ; and after a pause, Mrs. Roberts, 
 recovering herself, placed her hand upon Lord Bolton's 
 shoulder and said : " My dear friend : 
 
 " ' There is no Death! What seems so, is transition . 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 
 Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 
 
 Whose portal we call death. 
 
 " ' In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, 
 By guardian angels led, 
 
 Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, 
 She lives whom we call dead.' " 
 
 The scene on either side of the river was beauti- 
 ful ; but nobody was in a mood to enjoy it ; aud when 
 night set in, everybody gladly retired for the last 
 time during this untoward voyage. Next morning the 
 roofs and spires of the old city were visible, and as 
 the ship finally came alongside of her wharf, Miss 
 "Wmthrop espied her brother, and there was mutual 
 recognition. Ethel Lytton, with friends, was also in 
 waiting and prepared to board the ship for her sad in- 
 terview, though not prepared for the shock produced 
 by the condition of her widowed sister. Carlotta, still 
 wandering in mind, recognized no one, but spoke plain- 
 tively of her husband and child. She was taken in lov- 
 ing arms to a carriage, and was driven rapidly to her 
 desolate home, which she called an hotel, and in which 
 she expected Maurice and little Ethel soon to join her. 
 Lord Bolfcon and Holt followed to make inquiries and 
 to offer assistance, and met Miss Lytton, who was 
 7*
 
 154 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 strangely calm and self-possessed. The doctor was with 
 her sister, and had less fear for her life than for her 
 reason; but all thought unconsciousness a mercy, 
 so dreadful would have been her condition had she 
 realized all her loss. 
 
 At this moment a cable was handed Miss Lytton, ad- 
 dressed to Maurice De Luynes. She was overcome for 
 the moment. Robert's quick eye caught the situation, 
 and he asked politely to be allowed to read it to her. It 
 was from Gustave. Little Ethel was found safe and 
 well, and would return with him by the next steamer. 
 
 " Be tranquil, I can explain it all," he said, and he 
 told her of Gustave's interview with Maurice and his 
 own relations to the child. 
 
 " She will be here in a week," said Miss Lytton, 
 much excited. " You have saved her ; pray remain 
 with us till she arrives." 
 
 Holt readily assented. 
 
 " You will stay with me, Bolton," he said. 
 
 "With all my heart, if you desire it," and addressing 
 Miss Lytton, he added ; " I have a superstitious faith 
 that the arrival of the child will restore the mother ; I 
 have known such things." 
 
 " God grant that it may be so," she said, nervously. 
 
 As the visitors were taking their leave, Miss Lytton 
 and her friends pressed them to take up their lodgings 
 at the mansion. 
 
 " This is no place to accept hospitalities," consider- 
 ately remarked Lord Bolton ; " we can remain only if 
 we may be of service." 
 
 " If it would not . incommode you," said the young 
 lady, " you would gratify me by remaining. I cannot 
 regard you as strangers."
 
 " THE KING OF TERRORS." 155 
 
 So it was arranged that they should return later. 
 Their luggage was lost, and a fresh wardrobe must be 
 provided. But that night they slept under what had 
 been the roof of Maurice De Luynes. 
 
 There was no change in Carlotta's condition ; the first 
 impression of the physician was confirmed, that her life 
 was not in danger but that her reason was overthrown. 
 A severe illness, a sudden shock, or, time might restore 
 her ; but at present quiet and good nursing were all that 
 were needed. An uncle and aunt of De Luynes were 
 in the house with Miss Lytton, and occasionally friends 
 and relations stayed for a few days at the mansion, 
 but the care of the stricken household fell upon her. 
 The young lady was equal to her responsibilities. 
 She had been carefully trained for such emergencies, 
 while, at the same time, her polite education had not 
 been neglected. 
 
 " What a beautiful girl," both her guests exclaimed 
 as she retired, and left them for the first time alone 
 together. 
 
 " How she resembles her sister," Lord Bolton said. 
 " Except that she has a younger and more cheery look, 
 I would swear that she was Madame De Luynes." 
 
 "Yes, Maurice told me that," Holt observed, "almost 
 the last time we spoke together on the Alaric." 
 
 " Poor Maurice ! " said Lord Bolton ; " how little he 
 dreamed of what was in store for his ' dear Carlotta,' as 
 he called her."
 
 CHAPTEE XV, 
 
 "DE LUYNES HONOEED IN DEATH." 
 
 left Miss Winthrop and her brother at the ship. 
 Their meeting was quiet but affectionate, and they 
 reserved, till they should be alone, the sorrowful 
 explanations which he expected. George Winthrop 
 was a tall, handsome young man, with fine features and 
 a commanding presence. Miss Winthrop presented him 
 hastily to the Professor and Tom, and they all went to 
 the hotel together. 
 
 "As we have no baggage," said Cuthbert, "Boniface 
 will require a deposit in cash." 
 
 If this observation was intended as a joke the re- 
 mark fell unheeded. George explained to his sister 
 that his uncle Horace was in Washington, but could 
 not come for a day or two, although he had telegraphed 
 kind greetings. The whole party was anxious to leave, 
 though none of them had been in Quebec before ; they 
 were in no mood, however, for sight-seeing, and had 
 little desire to remain. They would all travel together 
 as far as Montreal, where they would separate, some 
 going to New York, others to Boston. Dr. Elmwood 
 decided to accompany his niece, and Tom determined 
 to go on with his father. " They could go up the river 
 to Montreal," Tom said, " which they might reach by 
 steamer in the morning, or they could go comfortably 
 by rail in five hours."
 
 "DE LUYNES HONORED IN DEATH. 157 
 
 " I vote for the cars," cried Miss Winthrop. " Let us 
 have variety, even in our perils." 
 
 "Yes, just for once," said Fred, aside ; " I'd rather be 
 shattered than smothered." 
 
 It was agreed that Tom should pay his respects at 
 the De Luynes mansion, to make inquiries, and after 
 that they should leave in an hour. " It is such a 
 short job to pack," said Fred ; so they left without see- 
 ing anything of the classic and historic city. 
 
 That night they rested safely at Montreal in a magnif- 
 icent hotel,, which could not be surpassed in comfort by 
 any hostelry they would afterwards visit. Early next 
 morning they pursued their journey, and the following 
 night, Dr. Elmwood, with George and his sister arrived 
 at their uncle's in Boston ; while the Professor, with 
 Tom and his friends, took fashionable quarters in New 
 York. 
 
 The newspapers were filled with sensational accounts 
 of the loss of the ill-fated Alaric, and the trials and 
 escapes of the rescued passengers. A few days later, 
 the safe arrival of the Thiers was telegraphed from 
 Havre, and all the passengers were reported well. The 
 worst was now known, and a sense of relief followed. 
 
 "We must leave the Professor and his friends to the 
 quiet and rehabilitation they needed. Meantime, Lord 
 Bolton and Kobert were still at the De Luynes man- 
 sion, whose mistress continued in the same unsatisfac- 
 tory condition. 
 
 Ottawa is the capital of Canada, two or three hun- 
 dred miles above Quebec, and there the Yice-Kegal 
 family generally resides ; at some seasons, however, 
 the old military castle or citadel of Quebec, is occupied 
 by the Queen's representative. Lord Lester was there
 
 158 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 now, and had tendered hearty hospitalities to Lord 
 Bolton and Robert, which they, for obvious reasons, had 
 politely declined. They called to pay their respects, 
 however, and found the Governor full of sympathy. 
 Her Excellency, the Countess, though a person of very 
 exalted rank in her own right, was full of womanly sym- 
 pathy and went herself each day to inquire after 
 Madame De Luynes, and tendered Miss Lytton every 
 assistance possible. At first, she had insisted upon 
 visiting the patient personally, but Carlotta did not rec- 
 ognize her, though they had known each other well. 
 
 " The city, with its environs, is beautiful," said Lord 
 Bolton to Holt, one fine morning, as they were strolling 
 together, " and we ought to visit some of its principal 
 sights." 
 
 " It is classic ground in North America, but I have 
 no heart for all that," replied Holt. " To my mind it is 
 chiefly distinguished, now, as the home of the loveliest 
 and most unhappy of women." 
 
 " You are right," said his companion ; " wlien will the 
 child come ? My prophetic spirit tells me that the lit- 
 tle one will restore the mother. But, upon what deso- 
 lation will she open her eyes ! The ship is due to-mor- 
 row, and we shall soon see the little Ethel. With what 
 charming tact Miss Lytton manages everything; she 
 was made for such occasions as this ; she has a strong 
 head and a tender heart." 
 
 " I am told that the tone of the press here, French 
 and English, has been generally friendly to De Luynes," 
 said Lord Bolton, " while, what they call the Rouge, or 
 Radical press, is full of encomium and panegyric. Two 
 or three newspapers, it is said, however, have heaped 
 obloquy on poor Maurice in his watery sepulchre ; but
 
 "DE LUYNES HONORED IN DEATH." 159 
 
 human nature is nowhere altogether free from mean- 
 ness, and you may everywhere find some vile creature 
 who would be willing to carry his animosities beyond 
 the grave. There is to be a public funeral, I learn ; 
 they were a little slow about it, but the people are now 
 taking it in hand, and so the authorities are beginning 
 to move. There is an article, I should think very full 
 and fair, on Maurice De Luynes, in the morning paper, 
 which fell into my hands last night. It concludes by 
 quoting these beautiful lines : 
 
 " ' Tender as woman ; manliness and meekness 
 
 In him were so allied 
 That they who judged him by his strength or weakness, 
 
 Saw but a single side. 
 Men failed, betrayed him, but his zeal seemed nourished 
 
 By failure and by fall. 
 Still, a large faith in human-kind he cherished 
 
 And in God's love for all . 
 But now he rests ; his greatness and his sweetness 
 
 No more shall seem at strife ; 
 And death has moulded into calm completeness 
 
 The statue of his life.' " 
 
 The next day Gustave arrived with little Ethel. Who 
 cannot picture to himself the delight of the friends who 
 welcomed her, or the terrible shock to Gustave himself, 
 when he heard that De Luynes was no more. They had 
 been cousins by blood as well as brothers in affection. 
 He was so stunned that the state of Madame De Luynes 
 scarcely interested him, and his solicitude for the child 
 for the moment ceased ; but he was soon aroused again. 
 
 Little Ethel shrank from the transport of those around 
 her, but responded to Holt, and clung to him. All were 
 overcome with emotion, and yet, the greatest trial was
 
 160 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 still to come the presentation to the mother of her 
 child. Carlotta sat in an easy chair ; they told her they 
 were bringing little Ethel to her. Holt entered with 
 the baby in his arms. 
 
 " Here is your little Ethel," said her sister. 
 
 " No, Ethel is not here ; she has gone with Maurice 
 for his mother." 
 
 Holt cama nearer, and the child made a spring for 
 some flowers on the table at her mother's elbow, and 
 the vase fell with a crash. 
 
 Carlotta sprang to her feet with excitement and 
 vaguely regarded the ruin. Then, looking at the child, 
 " Lcs yeux sont beaux," she murmured. 
 
 The doctor motioned them to take the child away, 
 and she was not affected by its absence. For that day the 
 trial failed. Robert returned to the library and de- 
 clined all offers to relieve him of the little one. 
 
 " I have often caressed her," he said to Miss Lytton, 
 " when I thought she was likely to become mine by 
 adoption. I am very fond of her ; I am glad to see her 
 in her own home, and I wish that home were happier ; 
 but it will be painful to me to give her up. How the 
 dear little thing nestled into my heart when I first found 
 her in the police station in London." 
 
 "You have never told me about that," remarked Miss 
 Lytton. 
 
 " I thought I had," said Holt, musingly, and then he 
 remembered that it was only to poor Maurice he had 
 related the full particulars. " When you have time I 
 shall tell you all the sad story, Miss Lytton, and you 
 will not be surprised that I grew to believe that this 
 child's destiny and mine were strangely entangled." 
 
 " Tell me now, Mr. Holt."
 
 "DE LUYNES HONORED IN DEATH." 101 
 
 Then he repeated to her the sad story he had related 
 to Maurice, and the conditions under which he had told 
 it to him. 
 
 "And did Maurice know little Ethel was lost? " in- 
 quired Miss Lytton. 
 
 " Yes, from Gustave, who met him at sea, but who 
 believed she was saved, from what I told him, and from 
 this portrait which he saw," answered Holt, handing 
 her Ethel's likeness. 
 
 "How wonderful! " she said, thoughtfully, " and yet 
 how dreadful ! What joy there would have been in this 
 house to-day if poor Maurice could have lived to wel- 
 come his child. No wonder dear Carlotta lost her rea- 
 son with all these accumulated horrors." 
 
 " She knew nothing of the child's loss," said Holt, 
 " or of its recovery. Maurice kept all that to himself." 
 
 " The noble man," she said; "and so he died with the 
 secret locked in his heart, for the sake of her whom he 
 would not let the winds of heaven visit too roughly, and 
 yet his death was more dreadful to her than all. 'L'hom- 
 me propose ct Dieu dispose' But I must go to my sister. My 
 more than brother," she continued, weeping, and giving 
 him her hand, " in her name and for myself, I thank you." 
 
 The nurse took the child, and after dispatching a 
 cable to his aunt, Holt left the house. He met Lord 
 Bolton just returning from the Citadel. 
 
 " Lester tells me he has heard of Prof. Conant," said 
 his Lordship, " and that New York is to give him a 
 great public reception in a few days. Lester will be 
 present and is anxious we should join him." 
 
 " It would surprise me if the Professor were not heartily 
 welcomed in America," observed Holt ; " his magnificent 
 tribute to her greatness, in his speech the other day,
 
 162 PROFESSOR COFANT. 
 
 and his life-long friendship for her institutions, 
 should have endeared his name to that people. The 
 Americans are not ungrateful, however, to their friends 
 abroad, though they are perhaps over sensitive to 
 criticism ; but then, they are so often criticised in an 
 unfriendly way at home by those who fear that our 
 people may envy their prosperity and imitate their 
 management of public affairs." 
 
 " England, too, suffers criticism at the hands of 
 Americans," replied Lord Bolton. " The two countries 
 are friendly, but each contains a class of busy-bodies 
 and mischief-makers who live by propagating rancor 
 and ill-will. The oftener there can be demonstra- 
 tions in both countries calculated to promote mutual 
 good-will the better. We do not quarrel with the man 
 whom we are proud to entertain ; and friendly inter- 
 course may protect us from hostilities." 
 
 " Prof. Conant is the man for the occasion," said 
 Holt. " I wish the President could be received among 
 the people of every town and hamlet in England." 
 
 " I am of no use here, Robert, and I am ill at ease," 
 continued Lord Bolton; "I propose to start to-morrow 
 and join the Professor and Tom. Do you know it was 
 my suggestion that Tom should come to America with 
 his father ? Life, as he will see it, will be so different 
 from that seen by an ordinary traveller. From beginning 
 to end, this trip will be full of lessons to him, with his 
 father always at hand to modify and apply them. There 
 is good stuff in that boy, but the life he is living is not 
 calculated to make the best of him. Society has its uses, 
 but with young fellows of promise the frivolous age 
 should be short, and I think Tom ought to have passed it. 
 'He might aspire to anything in a political way, and make
 
 DE LUYNES HONORED IN DEATH." 163 
 
 his visit to America liis first step. Social and popular 
 forces here present themselves as they do in England, 
 but their activities may be witnessed from various points 
 of view, and the same problems are solved in different 
 ways. The ' why and the wherefore ' he needs to learn, 
 and his present experience should help him. A British- 
 er, cramped and prejudiced by insular restrictions, 
 may have many good points, but let his views be 
 broadened by contact with, and comprehension of, 
 the world, and you have another and more civilized 
 creature. This is doubly true of the Englishman, as he 
 follows the institutions of his own country in America, 
 where his own race has transplanted and nourished 
 them. He studies the whole machinery of government, 
 as it seems to have sprung from his own books, and as 
 it has been enlarged and modified by the conditions of 
 the New "World. I wanted to impress all this upon 
 Tom, but I have been prevented ; it is no child's play 
 the work he ought to do during his visit ; after all, he 
 will find such work more pleasant than the mere frivol- 
 ities which otherwise might engross him." 
 
 " I expect Tom is likely to have pleasanter occupation 
 in America just now," said Robert ; ''and even if things 
 were serious, I would not forbid the banns. I believe 
 with you that he has a career before him, which an 
 early marriage with such a woman would not retard. 
 His indolence is his only fault ; you should speak to 
 him, Lord Bolton. After his father no living man could 
 influence him like yourself." 
 
 " I have always loved and admired him," was the 
 answer, " and I doubt not he has force enough to form 
 his career ; his father has been too lenient with him ; 
 all he needs is an inducement ; perhaps the examples
 
 164 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 he will see and the attachments he will form in America 
 will help him. At any rate, we will talk to him and to 
 his father too. I do not despair of seeing Capt. Tom 
 Conant a great and useful man. I am convinced he has 
 no taste for the army, Holt ; it might be all right for him 
 during the engrossing occupations of war, and Capt. 
 Tom Conant on a peace footing would be a gem in 
 society ; but he would not too often adorn the haunts 
 of the studious, nor pry into the mysteries which only 
 intense application could solve. He will inherit great 
 wealth on his mother's side, and that prospect will not 
 push him to work." On the next street they met his 
 Worship, the Mayor, who had come lately to office, and 
 whom they had met casually before. That functionary, 
 like many of his countrymen, was strongly impressed in 
 the presence of an English Lord. He had grown rich 
 in an humble way, and had some time before risen to the 
 dignity of an Alderman. He was ambitious, without 
 many qualifications, and he had the Commons and the 
 Senate in his- eye, but it had happened that a predeces- 
 sor in office had been knighted and his dream, like that 
 of his Lady Mayoress was, that some day he might kneel 
 before the Queen's representative, and rise up, Sir Peter 
 McGinn ! And it was not at all unlikely that good Mrs. 
 McGinn would before long flourish in society as ' My 
 Lady,' and look down from her high eminence upon 
 those who had been her companions in the service of a 
 neighboring pastry-cook's shop, only a few years before. 
 No doubt many cooks would better grace the position 
 than some who have occupied it, and if these aristo- 
 cratic distinctions are to be regarded as indigenous 
 in our democratic soil, it would not be strange to see 
 them fitfully conferred.
 
 "BE LUYNES HONORED IN DEATU." 165 
 
 " Good morning, my Lord. I was going to your Lord- 
 ship ; I hope your Lordship is well," said the Mayor, 
 approaching them cautiously. "I seen you coming this 
 way and ventured to intercept you. I was dining at 
 his excellency's last night, and his Lordship told me 
 that your Lordship and his Honor, Mr. Holt, were 
 about leaving the city. I wanted to speak with you 
 five minutes, my Lord." 
 
 "Let us go to our rooms," said Lord Bolton, with 
 just a perceptible effort at recovering his breath ; " the 
 morning is too cold to stand here." 
 
 " I expect my carriage," said the Mayor pompously ; 
 " would your Lordship join me in a drive ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," said Robert, " it is only a walk of ten 
 minutes." 
 
 " This dreadful business of poor De Luynes is what 
 I come to your Lordship about," observed the Mayor, 
 when they were seated. " The city council would not 
 have allowed your Lordship (nor would your Lordship's 
 humble servant have permitted them,) to remain in the 
 city without any attention in ordinary times ; but we 
 have been overcome by those terrible things, my Lord. 
 De Luynes was one of our foremost men, my Lord, 
 though it was true there was them as went against him. 
 The common people are excited ; your Lordship knows 
 they are more independent and difficult to manage 
 in the cities than in the rural parts ; but they say he 
 was wronged and crushed, and they want to honor 
 him, my Lord, by a public funeral, and a dozen 
 societies of which he was a patron are moving, and 
 wo have decided that the city must give him a public 
 funeral ; and we want to know if your Lordship and 
 his Honor, being as you was his friends and fellow-
 
 166 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 passengers, would honor the occasion by your presence 
 as bearers." 
 
 Lord Bolton informed the Mayor that any attention to 
 the memory of De Luynes would engage their sympathy ; 
 though it would be as a mourner only that he would wish 
 to go. He added, however, it would be impossible for 
 him to remain so long in the city. 
 
 Robert asked him, " Was there really a reaction in 
 favor of De Luynes ? " 
 
 " Very strong, yer Honor," said the Mayor. 
 
 " And would it strengthen De Luynes' political friends 
 in the country ? " Kobert continued. 
 
 "Oh, no," said the Mayor, thrown off his guard (for 
 he was not one of them). " There will be a short-lived 
 excitement in the city, but the rural districts will be as 
 solid as ever. Considering who were his enemies, M. 
 De Luynes had undertaken impossible work." 
 
 " The time will come, as it has come in all countries," 
 said Holt, " where abuses have prevailed under a 
 smothered public opinion, that they will be destroyed. 
 Some infuriated rabble will do it, perhaps, but if they 
 had been fairly trained in constitutional matters they 
 might have d6ne better work in a less objectionable 
 way." 
 
 Later in the day they met a Senator, an accomplished 
 and sympathetic French Canadian gentleman. He 
 spoke tenderly of De Luynes, of his many gifts and 
 manifold virtues. They had been schoolmates and 
 friends, and he was much affected at the harrowing 
 misfortune that had befallen him. 
 
 "My countrymen will never cease to thank you, 
 gentlemen, for the kindness and attention you have 
 shown this unfortunate family. "We all regret that the
 
 "DE LUYNES HONORED IN DEATH." 167 
 
 sad circumstances prevent us showing our gratitude in 
 a more demonstrative "way, but we all know tlie whole 
 story and shall never forget you." 
 
 Our friends saw and conversed with other kindly 
 people and were impressed with the tenderness of 
 sympathy displayed for De Luynes and his stricken 
 family. 
 
 The next morning, Lord Bolton and Robert Holt took 
 their leave, having expressed the greatest anxiety for 
 Carlotta's condition, the former persisting in his belief 
 that her reason would be shortly regained. It was ar- 
 ranged that Miss Lytton would write to Bobert inform- 
 ing him of the condition of her sister and the child. 
 
 At New York they found the Professor much re- 
 'freshed and Tom full of enthusiasm about the city. 
 Fred Cuthbert, they also learned, already knew many 
 people, and had been installed at many fashionable clubs. 
 
 " If these are what you call vulgar people," said Fred, 
 " commend me to luxury and vulgarity." 
 
 The Professor had accepted an invitation to a recep- 
 tion in one of the great hotels for which New York is 
 famous, and the newspapers, by copious notes and com- 
 ments, were indicating that the affair would be magnif- 
 icent and enthusiastic. 
 
 " I have been telling Tom that I am a little nervous 
 about this new character of the distinguished foreigner 
 in which I am to appear," remarked the Professor, 
 " and I am afraid I have not the ready tact to sus- 
 tain it." 
 
 Lord Bolton and Holt reassured him, and both de- 
 clared, what they had said before in our presence, that 
 tho Professor was the man, and America the country, 
 for such a demonstration.
 
 168 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " You have paid so many eloquent tributes to these 
 people at home," said Lord Bolton ; " have defended 
 them so bravely in former years when they were 
 attacked ; have shown such trust in their free institu- 
 tions, and faith in their ability to maintain them, that 
 you have contributed not a little to the enviable repu- 
 tation which America bears among the European 
 masses, and these people honor themselves by the 
 honor they are to confer upon you." 
 
 "That is what I tell my father," said Tom, "but he 
 is so modest, and laughs at the idea of a single man 
 having been able to do anything toward earning the 
 gratitude of a foreign country." 
 
 "I have made some charming acquaintances here and 
 renewed some old ones," observed the Professor. "The 
 great kindness I have received, so far, makes me feel that 
 I have fallen among a nation of friends. But I have a 
 letter from your aunt ; would you like to read it ? 
 
 Tom was greatly puzzled by its mysteries." 
 
 "You are a jolly old fraud, Robert," said Tom, "with 
 your mysterious children and charities. Why did not 
 you and mother tell me about that infant when we were 
 at Brighton ? " 
 
 "You were interested in a grown-up infant at 
 Brighton, if I remember." 
 
 "But one does not like to be kept in the dark." 
 
 " Well, you know it all now ; " said the Professor, 
 " and it is too late to make amends ; " and he handed 
 Holt Mrs. Conant's letter. It was a kindly and affect- 
 ionate epistle, full of social and domestic news. It con- 
 tained tender messages to Tom, to whom she promised 
 to write in a day or two, and then Robert's eye rested 
 on the following : " Tell Robert Holt, with my love,
 
 "DE LUTNES HONORED IN DEATH:' 169 
 
 that his child has been tenderly nursed and is well, but 
 a strange thing happened to-day ; a Frenchman, who 
 says he is from Canada, called at Robert's house this 
 morning while I was there, and presented a scrawl in 
 pencil, purporting to be from Robert on ship board. 
 It was evidently in his hand-writing, bidding us let the 
 stranger see the child, and deliver it to him, if he recog- 
 nized and claimed it. The stranger declared that the 
 child belonged to Maurice De Luynes, a gentleman of 
 quality residing in Quebec, who was with his wife on 
 board the Alaric with you all going out. He pretended 
 that he had boarded your ship at sea, and had taken 
 his orders from the father of the infant and from Robert. 
 It seemed an improbable story, but he recognized the 
 child and claimed her. The note might have been 
 forged ; why had not Robert sent me some token ? "Was 
 it usual for vessels to lie alongside to allow passengers 
 to go on board? And yet the young man seemed a 
 gentleman, and if he demanded the child, what had I 
 to oppose to Robert's order, which I must admit seemed 
 to be genuine ? I thought of cabling you, but there 
 might be delays, and when I appealed to friends hero 
 they were unable to advise me. The child, moreover, 
 almost seemed to recognize the stranger, and the like- 
 ness he had brought was perfect. Nevertheless, I 
 was irresolute, and my dreams were disturbed. How 
 did I know the motive which might prompt others in 
 seeking to obtain possession of the poor little one ? It 
 might be another abduction ; of course, the nurse 
 would go with it, but what do I know about her? Well, 
 I adopted the only course that seemed open to me. I 
 gave up the child, but I will send our good old servant, 
 John, on a confidential mission, with instructions to 
 8
 
 170 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 keep watch of the little one, till he knows it is safely 
 delivered. Of course, he must go in disguise ; neither 
 the nurse nor the stranger must know it. Heigho ! it 
 has been a weary business ; I dreaded to part with the 
 little thing, though I do believe it is all right ; but I 
 shall send John as a precaution." 
 
 " Strange, I didn't see John," said Robert, looking 
 up, to find in his abstraction, that everybody had left 
 the room without his notice.
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 THE FLAGS BLEND WITH GRACEFUL HARMONT. 
 
 MEANTIME, the visit of Prof. Alexander Conant, M.P., 
 of England, was exciting wide attention and universal 
 sympathy throughout the States. The newspapers 
 were recalling how he championed the slave in former 
 years, and upheld the cause of the North during the 
 war, when friends were more needed and scarcer than 
 now ; and busy men, everywhere, seemed disposed to 
 spend a day with an Englishman who had defended 
 their country when she wanted aid, and to raise a 
 national cheer for him. Letters of congratulation from 
 leading public men, and invitations to visit various parts 
 of the country, daily poured in upon him. These, 
 owing to the shortness of his visit, he could not accept ; 
 but he responded to all alike in a tone of courtesy, and 
 his work was expedited by Tom's ready assistance. 
 The day was approaching for the reception in New 
 York, and a leading Western journal thus spoke of it : 
 
 " In a trying hour aristocratic Europe believed that 
 the time had come to compass the destruction of this 
 Eepublic. It was ruled, they thought, by the ' scum 
 of the earth,' and was a bad example to the ' scum ' 
 of their parts of it. "What cared they for the blood of 
 brothers to be poured out like water in the conflict they 
 prayed for ? France, led by one despot, and aided by
 
 172 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 others, planted a hostile power on our borders to harry 
 us, and the ruling classes of England, our own kin, 
 gloated over our desperate situation, and bullied and 
 threatened us. We knew we were the masters in our 
 legitimate fight, but we could not hope to over- 
 come the world in arms against us. Then it was we 
 found the truth of the assertion of a great man, that 
 there are two Englands ; our friends then came to the 
 surface, as, misled by our enemies, our mother was 
 about to declare cruel war against us. There was a 
 man in England whose teachings contributed to thwart 
 these machinations. He was Alexander Conant, then 
 an Oxford Professor, and now a leading member of the 
 British Parliament. His burning eloquence, which 
 marked him for obloquy at the time, has since won him 
 a foremost place in the House of Commons of England ; 
 and after all these years, his last great speech, which 
 the other day electrified England, and challenged the 
 admiration alike of friend and foe in that country, was 
 marked by an eloquent apostrophe, full of sympathy 
 and good- will to us and our country. 
 
 "Alexander Conant came to New York, the other day, 
 without parade or ostentation ; he is merely seeking 
 rest, after the pressing work of a trying session. Ameri- 
 cans! let us make him at home on this side of the 
 water; let us open our hearts to this great scholar, 
 philanthropist and statesman, and let us show him that 
 he has not hoped for democracy in vain." 
 
 A leading city morning journal after reciting Prof. 
 Conant's friendly services to " this country," added : 
 "It may be that we have given too much occasion 
 for the want of confidence which certain classes in 
 Europe have felt for us. Could we present, for ex-
 
 THE FLAGS BLEND WITH GRACEFUL HARMONY. 173 
 
 ample, the great American city of New York as a 
 model of self-government? The frauds we denounce, 
 sometimes justly and sometimes with wild exaggera- 
 tions, would these inspire foreigners with confidence 
 and respect ? They can know us only by what they see 
 and hear, and perhaps our press has not been altogether 
 blameless. Among ourselves, we know that these 
 spots are only excrescences, and that they do not 
 really endanger, though they embarrass, our Republican 
 system. But when men like Prof. Conant are willing 
 to study and understand us, and for the sake of the 
 masses, who generally so much profit by these labors, 
 trust us to the end, what attention too great, or what 
 honor too pronounced, can we render them? " 
 
 There was, of course, some journalistic dissent to the 
 strain of eulogy generally indulged in, for there are 
 always two currents of opinion; and excellent Irish 
 friends of America doubted whether she could afford 
 to forget that Englishmen were her traditional ene- 
 mies. But the tide was too strong, and the malcon- 
 tents subsided. 
 
 On the eveniug of the reception, the great hall was 
 ablaze with illuminations, and the walls were profusely 
 decorated. The dais, upon which the guest of the even- 
 ing was to be welcomed, was ornamented with flowers, 
 and tropical plants, and overhead the Stars and Stripes 
 and the Union Jack blended with graceful harmony. 
 
 When Professor Conant entered, the great multitude 
 rose as one man, and he was greeted with enthusiastic 
 cheers. An eloquent address was presented to him, 
 through the ministry of a distinguished committee. It 
 recited his relations to science and to literature, and his 
 eminent services to freedom. It acknowledged the obli-
 
 174 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 gations and the admiration of America, and proffered 
 him a hearty and universal welcome. The address was 
 supported by able speeches, full of compliment, from 
 eminent men, and when finally the Professor rose to 
 reply, the cheers were renewed and the ovation was 
 magnificent. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," he modestly began, " ten 
 years ago I paid a quiet visit to your great country, be- 
 lieving then, as I believe now, that its organization was 
 an incalculable benefit to mankind ; and I can see how 
 the institutions of my country, transplanted here and 
 tended and cultured by my own race, have multiplied 
 and improved under altered conditions, and become 
 indigenous in a fruitful soil. Englishmen can never be 
 indifferent observers of what goes on in America. They 
 have made some successful experiments as promoters of 
 constitutional liberty, but good men among them had 
 been cautious and dreaded the distribution of power 
 among the people, whom they loved, but dared not 
 trust ; and you Americans might have thrown free Eng- 
 land back a hundred years if you had proved un- 
 worthy to play the role of freedom. As it is, you have 
 not wholly met with success, but you have surpassed 
 the attempts of all ages to confer freedom upon the 
 people, and encourage industry and thrift. As com- 
 pared with other people, it may be said that you did 
 not make the country, nor create all the conditions of 
 its marvellous development ; but it will be sufficient for 
 you, as a people, to establish that you have loyally im- 
 proved your opportunities. You had from the first a 
 great problem to solve. Could the people govern? 
 And no doubt your vast and rapid, and shall I add, un- 
 expected growth, had multiplied obstacles and created
 
 THE FLAGS BLEND WITH GRACEFUL HARMONY. 175 
 
 dangers, which the enemies of your political system 
 were not slow to exaggerate. You might be all right 
 enough in peace, they admitted ; but what of peril? If 
 the national life were in danger, who would care for or 
 protect it ? How could you expect a rabble to submit 
 to restraints and self-sacrifice ? It was a fair question, 
 and your friends in Europe hoped that you would 
 answer it welL In all time it had been said we might 
 trust the masses with anything but self-government; 
 and the privileged classes were always willing, if they 
 did not usurp the right of government, to undertake it. 
 There was, moreover, a deep blot on your system, which 
 nobody could justify. Claiming that all men were free 
 and equal, you held some of them in bondage with the 
 sanction of your laws and the concurrence of your 
 people ; you ostracised the black man and you hunted 
 the slave. At first, we in Europe tried to be your 
 apologists. ' They inherited the system,' we said, ' they 
 are not responsible.' But for a long time we were em- 
 barrassed by the fact that you took to it kindly. When 
 we wanted reform, to extend the franchise, and thus 
 to gain more power for the people in England, our 
 enemies and yours said to us, ' Look at America, which 
 you imitate, with her social color-lines and her blood- 
 hounds on the track of her slaves ! ' What could we 
 answer beyond expressing our hopes? But a little 
 later, 'with malice toward none, and charity toward 
 all,' you did the great work of your national life ; you 
 emancipated your slaves! I never saw Mr. Lincoln, 
 except in my dreams, but by that one act he won im- 
 mortality. Whatever his motive, the fact remains. 
 Then it was that you, as a people, showed how you could 
 fight to maintain your liberties and your nationality ;
 
 176 PMOFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 and then the world, rather tardily, perhaps, recognized 
 you as a brave and independent nation. But there 
 were more unprecedented events still in this succession 
 of marvels ; the North and the South, shaking hands 
 over the bloody chasm ; the leaders of the great Rebel- 
 lion engaging unmolested in ordinary pursuits, and 
 under the very government they plotted to ruin ; the 
 vast armies, on both sides, peace having been restored, 
 returning voluntarily to the farms, the mills, the mines, 
 and the work-shops of the country. And this last fol- 
 lows from the universal franchise you have adopted. 
 There should be no mercenaries where all are mas- 
 ters, and where each personally loses or gains, as it 
 goes ill or well with the country. If the people of 
 America will recognize this in their administration of 
 affairs, and continue true to the precepts of their great 
 teachers, mankind will be the gainers, and the masses 
 of Europe, will ere long become in their own homes, 
 what the Americans are to-day the free citizens of a 
 free country." 
 
 He deprecated great individual wealth and luxury, as 
 carrying with them corresponding poverty nnd squalor, 
 and besought the people never to forget this, when 
 advised by kindly people in his own country or in 
 theirs, to abandon simplicity and organize a govern- 
 ment of aristocratic landlords and hereditary senators, 
 with all which that change would imply. He adjured 
 the great British and American people to love each 
 other. In the main, they were the same stock, and, 
 at any rate, they owed the same fealties to freedom ; 
 and, barring petty rivalries, their interests were the 
 same in their relations to the world. Twice they 
 had been at war, and a third and more terrible conflict
 
 THE FLAGS BLEND WITH GRACEFUL HARMONY. 177 
 
 had been averted only by the alternative of arbitration. 
 He hoped the alternative would be repeated, and when- 
 ever national disputes threatened, that arbitration 
 would be the result. He continued, in words which we 
 cannot repeat, and with an eloquence we cannot de- 
 scribe, to express his confidence in American Kepub- 
 lican progress. He wanted America to stand side by 
 side with England, among the foremost nations who 
 were displaying the torch-light of liberty to the world ; 
 and, thanking them all, he invoked the blessing of God 
 upon the two kindred nations, mother and child, de- 
 siring that they might go on in unity, and multiply the 
 advantages which each had conferred upon the world. 
 
 There was renewed enthusiasm when the speaker 
 took his seat, and a large number of ladies and gentle- 
 men were presented to him. There was room for only 
 casual, though kindly words, and at length the great 
 throng moved slowly into an adjoining hall, where a 
 splendid collation had been prepared. The Professor's 
 friends were chiefly in the body of the hall ; Lord Les- 
 ter had thought better of coming down, and Lord Bol- 
 ton, for reasons about which the public speculated, 
 though we can understand them, declined a conspicuous 
 place. The young men, as the chairman had said, 
 would soon be all right ; once presented to two or three 
 ladies, they would swim without help, or, as Fred sug- 
 gested, " like ducks in deep water." The latter young 
 gentleman had made the most of his time in New York ; 
 he seemed to know everybody, which was not difficult, 
 as he was well accredited, being the son of Sir John 
 Cuthbert, Baronet, as well as a favorite member of the 
 Professor's party. 
 
 " I have been telling these gentlemen," he said, nod- 
 8*
 
 178 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 ding to Tom and Holt, and addressing a pretty bru- 
 nette, the daughter of a late Secretary of State, " that I 
 want to become an American citizen. I' suppose there 
 may have been no end of reasons for it, these hundred 
 years back, but the Professor's speech puts us in mind, 
 that it is the thing to do ; first of all, you govern your- 
 self ; then you do it with so much personal credit to 
 yourself; you do honor to your country, and your 
 country does honor to you ; and all the world looks on 
 and applauds. And when you say, ' Romanus sum,' the 
 effect is terrific." 
 
 " Don't be facetious at our expense," said the young 
 lady; " we might refuse you the freedom of the city." 
 
 "I was never more serious," said Fred; "and be- 
 sides you are not an American citizen." 
 
 "I might be that sooner than you expect," she re- 
 torted, " when women get their rights ; and I am strong- 
 minded enough to defend Prof. Conant any time." 
 
 "Oh, I didn't attack the Professor," said Fred ; "I 
 only orated a little about citizenship." 
 
 " Is ' orated ' good English?" she asked, mischiev- 
 ously. 
 
 "Perhaps nothing English is good," he replied. 
 "Can't I celebrate my new allegiance by coining a 
 word? Has such a thing never been done here be- 
 fore?" 
 
 " May be you think it is the fashion," she interrupted. 
 "Now, tell me, Mr. Cuthbert, do Englishmen ever 
 boast? " 
 
 "Never." 
 
 " Hardly ever ? " 
 
 " To tell the truth, they haven't much chance," said 
 Fred. " England is an effete old monarchy, and she is
 
 THE FLAGS BLEND WITH GRACEFUL HARMONY. 179 
 
 outshone by her eldest daughter. An Englishman can't 
 boast much of his titles, because they are about to abol- 
 ish the House of Lords ; nor of his fortune, because his 
 cousins over here outstrip him. John Bull never did 
 boast of his younger sons like me, but they say the 
 lower stratum is coming to the surface, and that may 
 afford a chance to utilize waste material ; so I think, 
 Miss Douglas, we shall have to conclude that English- 
 men never boast except of their relations over here, 
 and these are sometimes the wife's relations, as Artemus 
 Ward used to call them." 
 
 "Mothers-in-law, for instance," said Miss Douglas, 
 "and he would ' sacrifice ' them." 
 
 " Artemus only spoke of sacrifice to the Juggernaut 
 of war ; our intentions are peaceable. But I have been 
 reading, and I find the Americans are not always good 
 historians. For instance, they were whipped at Bunker 
 Hill, but Boston has celebrated the anniversary of that 
 fight for a victory ever since." 
 
 " Oh, our people did not escape reverses," said Miss 
 Douglas, with a laugh. " We got along very well, but 
 we lost a beautiful and highly cultivated island with 
 chalk cliffs, that would have been part of our booty if 
 our triumphs had been complete." 
 
 " That is no doubt a pleasure to come," Fred re- 
 joined ; " but do let us move away from the band, the 
 noise is deafening." 
 
 They were soon lost in the crowd, Tom and Robert 
 going off in another direction. 
 
 Five minutes later Tom and his friend encountered 
 Mr. Roberts walking arm in arm with Lord Bolton ; Mrs. 
 Roberts was convalescent and had gone to Washington. 
 He had come to the entertainment expecting to see
 
 180 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 without being seen, but his Lordship's quick eye 
 detected him, and after all why should he not seek dis- 
 traction in this way ? 
 
 " You have seen a New York gathering of the best 
 people," said Koberts. "I do not mean the richest, 
 though great wealth is represented here ; but people 
 of culture and refinement, such people as would nat- 
 urally be attracted by a great reputation like that of 
 Prof. Conant. I presume, you will have observed little 
 of the vulgar parade and over-dressing which some of 
 our critics attribute to American society. The people 
 you see here, so far as they are traditional New Yorkers, 
 are chiefly descended from old Dutch and English 
 families, added to that larger class of men who came 
 here from New England in search of fortune, imbued 
 with that firm and masculine self-reliance, and devo- 
 tion to the old political ideas, born of New England 
 training. Indeed, the western part of this State has 
 been almost wholly settled from New England. The 
 English vastly preponderate in the interior, but the 
 city population is a medley of races, and its political 
 and city government is altogether in the hands of men 
 who were but lately foreigners." 
 
 " I suppose you have still a good many of the old 
 Knickerbocker families," observed Holt. 
 
 " Well, yes ; we have old families like the Schuylers 
 and Van Rensselaers. They were landlords, and main- 
 tained a local jurisdiction. Their descendants may be 
 found in New York society to this day, but I do not 
 think they call themselves ' Knickerbockers.' A Knick- 
 erbocker was originally a cracker-baker ; that is the 
 literal signification of the word, I believe ; and how 
 "Washington Irving wove his fancies about it, and made
 
 THE FLA OS BLEND WITH GRACEFUL HARMONY. 181 
 
 the wide world accept them, has always been a mystery 
 to me." 
 
 " Well, that's new to me," said Tom, " and destroys 
 half a dozen romances that have found a lodgment in 
 my brain." 
 
 " But, can you swear to that ? " inquired Lord Bol- 
 ton. " I have always understood that the old Dutch 
 families accepted this Knickerbocker distinction." 
 
 " You may be right," replied the other ; " but a 
 ' Knickerbocker ' was a ' cracker-baker ' all the same. 
 This is of consequence, however, only for the sake of 
 accuracy. In spite of the old families the social ' gates 
 are ajar,' and men, who sprang from the toiling masses, 
 are daily gliding through into the charmed circle." 
 
 " That is as it should be," remarked Robert. " Why 
 should social distinctions be monopolized by an heredi- 
 tary class ? " 
 
 " But will they be desirable distinctions," observed 
 Tom, " if they grow cheap ? " 
 
 " Ah ! that's an old question," rejoined Eoberts ; " but 
 I see the Professor is moving away, and I must follow 
 him, as I wish to whisper a word in his ear." 
 
 An hour later, the great hall was deserted. The 
 morning journals would announce that the reception to 
 Prof. Conant had been a splendid success. Holt had 
 received letters from Miss Lytton, which were merely 
 a pathetic diary of what occurred from day to day in 
 Carlotta's rooms, with an added account of how the 
 child grew and prospered. It had not then been re- 
 cognized by its mother, though she had sometimes 
 noticed and petted it. The name of little Ethel seemed 
 to awaken no interest in her, and she always repulsed 
 friends by saying, " No, it is not Ethel, she has gone with
 
 182 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 Maurice to bring his mother." The doctor saw hope- 
 ful signs of restoration. Sometimes she seemed to 
 falter and hesitate, as if her intellect flickered. But 
 these symptoms were succeeded by a return of the 
 mental paralysis.
 
 CHAPTEE XVH. 
 
 THE JESUIT AND THE ORANGEMAN. 
 
 NEXT morning, Holt received a telegram from Miss 
 Lytton, with this startling intelligence : " Child badly 
 burned ; Carlotta conscious, but prostrate ; calls con- 
 stantly for you." Without loss of time, Holt despatched 
 the following answer : " Will go to you by next train." 
 
 " May I go with you, Holt ? " inquired Lord Bolton 
 after Robert had explained the nature of these communi- 
 cations ; and it was agreed that both should return 
 together. 
 
 They took up quarters at a hotel in Quebec, on their 
 arrival, but hurried at the earliest moment to the De 
 Luynes's, where they found Gustave and Miss Lytton 
 waiting for them. 
 
 " She is conscious and knows all," was Miss Lytton's 
 greeting; " but the child's recovery does not compensate 
 for the loss of poor Maurice. Tuesday night little 
 Ethel was in Carlotta's room and for the moment they 
 were alone. Playing about the grate, the child's 
 clothes caught fire, and her screams roused the mother, 
 who rushed toward her, and, wrapping her shawl about 
 the little one, extinguished the flames in a most 
 rational manner, but the dear little thing was badly 
 burnt. Its cries seemed to distress Carlotta, whom we 
 found pacing the room with it in her arms, and striv-
 
 184: PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 ing to soothe it. She helped to dress its wounds and 
 to nurse it, and was often noticed gazing into its eyes 
 with an interested and inquiring look. Presently, she 
 said, ' It is little Ethel ; but where is Maurice ? Oh 
 heavens ! ' she screamed, ' I remember it all now.' And 
 with these words she fainted. 
 
 " Carlotta was soon restored, however, but suffered 
 great prostration ; she seemed conscious, and I thought 
 she realized everything. She moaned for Maurice and 
 called urgently for you. That was the state of things 
 when I telegraphed. The child is better, and Carlotta 
 seems conscious. I shall notify her of your presence, 
 and I hope your visit will strengthen her." 
 
 Eeturning shortly, Miss Lytton said, " My sister is 
 eager to see you." 
 
 The interview was short but affecting. Why should 
 we recite what was said by the pallid sufferer, or expose 
 to the curious gaze the wailings of a broken heart ? 
 
 What could Holt say? Words could not comfort 
 her ; he bade her be strong for her child's sake, and 
 for the sake of friends who loved her. He spoke of 
 trust in God, to whom Maurice had gone, but she 
 answered, " No, it was too cruel ; God could not havo 
 taken him. Why should he be snatched from me, while 
 so many less worthy are left ? " 
 
 " God knows best," observed Holt ; " not a sparrow 
 falls to the ground without His notice." 
 
 " If I could pray ! " she said sadly. " But how can I 
 return thanks when my brain reels, and my heart is 
 broken?" 
 
 " Ask for help," Robert replied soothingly. 
 
 " Oh ! I need help, and it is for that I sent for you, 
 who had been with us in the last days we spent together."
 
 THE JESUIT AND THE ORANGEMAN. 185 
 
 Carlotta seemed exhausted and fell into a gentle 
 sleep, and Holt noiselessly left the room and found her 
 sister at the door. 
 
 "She sleeps," he said; "I shall return if I am 
 needed." He found Lord Bolton in earnest conversa- 
 tion with Gustavo. They were going over the history 
 of the De Luynes family. 
 
 "In most countries my cousin would have had a 
 career," said Gustave, " but here we all have to bow 
 the knee to Baal. He commenced his political career 
 by refusing to accept clerical support, and was crushed 
 by clerical animosity. It was never the aim of the 
 clergy to defend the Church, which neither Maurice nor 
 his father assailed ; on the contrary, they were its most 
 generous patrons and defenders. The clergy were madly 
 allied to one party, which they knew they could control, 
 and the principles of Maurice led him to affiliate with 
 another. The Church, of which he was as true a son as 
 any of them, had fairly nothing to do with the con- 
 troversy. His name was denounced, and it pleased them 
 to magnify one of her children at the expense of another. 
 History will put us right, but we can expect little from 
 the present generation. Generally, the press is an agency 
 of freedom, but these men can forbid their people to read 
 a certain newspaper ; that crushes it, of course. Thero 
 is a Liberal press, but on these topics it must be silent. 
 They are only discussed in the by-ways, and with bated 
 breath. The English papers are as prudent as the French, 
 and the politicians are still more careful ; so that nobody 
 ever hears of this great abuse which goes on under the 
 very eyes of liberty, and nobody dares to speak 
 about it. You will meet these men, and they will be 
 models of politeness and toleration ; but independence of
 
 186 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 thought among their own people, there is none. They 
 assume to think and act for all, and in the name 
 of religion endeavor to crush every obstacle which may 
 oppose them. The men who enjoy their confidence 
 in Parliament are merely their overseers. You would 
 think the press, the great champion of those who 
 think for themselves, would aid us, but upon all these 
 topics the press is muzzled. Now and then some 
 adventurous journal makes a dash, but the people are 
 forbidden to read it, and, after a bitter experience, it 
 collapses. There is a good deal of independent criticism 
 in secluded nooks, but the press of Quebec, French and 
 English, is too prudent ' to beard the lion in his den,' 
 and as for the politicians, bless your soul ! if there have 
 been a few who took the risk, they have been crushed 
 like poor Maurice of unhappy memory. There is no 
 hope of public opinion, left to itself, but our people are 
 a minority, and the other provinces may awaken to the 
 danger. I would rather we could seek another remedy, 
 but I believe the madness of the hour will be checked 
 from Eome, and that the Propaganda will decree that 
 our priests shall abstain from partisan politics. If that 
 happens, they will, at least, profess to obey ; but I know 
 them well, and they will be more loyal to the Pope, pro- 
 claiming the programme, than to the Pope, cultivating 
 the freedom of political opinions for all. Lower Canada 
 is a little corner of the world, but she is the paradise of 
 the reactionaries. What is possible among her simple 
 and uninstructed people, will be attempted in every 
 corner of North America. To study our troubles is to 
 be warned in time. The policy pursued among us is 
 faintly resisted by the best instructed and more liberal 
 among the clergy, but they are powerless. The tra-
 
 THE JESUIT AND TEE ORANGEMAN. 187 
 
 ditions of our good old priesthood are despised and for- 
 gotten, and the power of the cures, which was intended 
 to lead the people aright in spiritual matters, is some- 
 times degraded to the lowest work of the most merce- 
 nary politicians. The path of our public life is strewn 
 with the carcasses of those who have striven to resist, 
 and the readiest tools of this uncatholic slaughter are 
 the men of your race among us." 
 
 " How bitterly they all seem to feel this clerical in- 
 terference," remarked Holt after Gustave had retired. 
 
 "No doubt it is a great power," said Lord Bolton. 
 " One wonders would they have resented it as much if 
 it had always been exercised in their favor ; in great 
 emergencies the Church always appeals to the loyalty 
 of the people." 
 
 " Ah ! but that is when questions which affect 
 the interest of the Church are concerned," observed 
 Robert. 
 
 " Do you think that when no great question was in- 
 volved, Cardinal Manning would encourage his people 
 to interfere in an election, simply because one of his 
 priests had preferences for one side or the other ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I don't know," rejoined Lord Bolton, " and I 
 can't bother to think about it ; yet it is a pity if the 
 priests carry the consciences of their people in their 
 pockets. But what can we do when the people want to 
 have it so ? As to our own race here, politicians have 
 not much conscience, and so, I suppose, not feeling 
 much interest, they ally themselves with the stronger 
 side." 
 
 " Yes," said Robert, " that's the view of the practical 
 politician ; but if it goes to the extent I am told 
 it does, of making the Jesuit and the Orangeman
 
 188 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 brothers-in-arms, it does not suggest anything very 
 noble to my mind." 
 
 Shortly dropping this conversation, Robert explained 
 to Lord Boltou the touching interview he had had with 
 Carlotta, and the ground of his hope for mother and 
 child. 
 
 " "We cannot remain long," Robert said to Miss Lyt- 
 ton in the course of the day, " on account of other en- 
 gagements. I would not leave Madame De Luynes 
 so long as I could cheer her ; but, do you know, I fear 
 my presence summons sad thoughts to her mind, and 
 that she will thrive better among those who have not 
 witnessed her great bereavement." 
 
 But presently Carlotta sent for him again, and he 
 found her more composed and self-reliant. 
 
 " You did me good this morning, my dear friend," 
 she said, "but I must not detain you here. I see it all 
 now, and though I have many friends, I must tread my 
 desolate path alone. At first, in my helplessness, I in- 
 voluntarily turned to you who had been near to us and 
 were my husband's last friend. Now I must release 
 you, and ask pardon for the trouble I have given in ask- 
 ing you to come hither." Extending her hand, she 
 added, "You interested my husband, you saved my 
 child ; what recompense can I offer ? " 
 
 "I did little at best," replied Robert, "but I did 
 nothing for reward. To feel that I was the friend of 
 Maurice De Luynes, or that I could perform the least 
 service to his widow and child, would be a satisfaction 
 to me more than words could express. If I can serve 
 you, or give you strength at any moment, you have but 
 to command me, and my delay will be measured only by 
 the distance I have to travel."
 
 THE JESUIT AND THE ORANGEMAN. 189 
 
 Later in the day she received Lord Bolton, and was 
 more calm and self-possessed than they expected. 
 Robert spent much of his time with the child, who 
 evinced a fondness for him, and a day or two after, 
 with many tender adieux, he and Lord Bolton took 
 their leave.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON. 
 
 ONE morning Dr. Elmwood called on the Professor 
 at his lodgings in New York. He had just returned 
 from Boston, where he left Miss Winthrop well, but 
 weary with her efforts to reconcile George to his fate. 
 At first he had been inconsolable, but they had thought 
 it better not to disguise anything from him, and had 
 expressed their belief that poor Miss Roberts had not 
 been indifferent to Lord Bolton's attentions. They told 
 him what they knew, and what they surmised, which 
 amounted to this, that Miss Roberts had been loyal to 
 her engagement with George, but had not been sure of 
 her affection, and that had she lived, she might have 
 asked him to release her altogether. As the story was 
 told him, there was left no cause for resentment ; hence 
 he felt that his mourning was more for a beautiful 
 woman and a dear friend than for her whom he was 
 shortly to marry. As his thoughts became more rational, 
 he felt like reproving himself for indulging in any vio- 
 lent grief. He understood that Miss Roberts had dis- 
 couraged Lord Bolton's suit because she was pledged 
 to himself, and not because it was disagreeable to her. 
 " She was a noble girl," he would say. " Our engage- 
 ment was so sudden that she did not know her own heart. 
 I have nothing to forgive, but it would have been dread- 
 ful to have found out our mistake when it was too late."
 
 THE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON. 191 
 
 His sister was full of kind words for the memory of 
 the lost one, and he clung to her more than ever. 
 
 The Doctor had explained all this to the Professor, 
 and had politely expressed satisfaction with the recep- 
 tion accorded him. " I knew there would be enthusi- 
 asm," he said, " the moment it was known you had set 
 foot upon our soil. My brother Horace will ask you 
 to spend a few days with him in Boston, and you will 
 find an equally kind, though somewhat different, wel- 
 come. Boston is more distinctively an American city 
 than New York. It is one of the old landmarks in our 
 history, and a great centre of Republican thrift and re- 
 finement. My brother is an eminent lawyer, but he is 
 a statesman and a man of letters as well. He is eager 
 for your expected visit ; I hope Tom will go with you, 
 and I shall try to drop down while you are there." 
 
 " Your brother is very kind," said the Professor, 
 " and we must go. I want to make his acquaintance 
 and to see Miss Winthrop ; besides, a visit to America, 
 which does not include Boston, would be like the play 
 of Hamlet with Hamlet left out." 
 
 They spoke of New York, of its marvellous growth 
 and ever-increasing facilities, as one of the wonders of 
 the world. " She is the mistress of our commerce," 
 said Dr. Elmwood, " the centre of our wealth, and her 
 activities are an unfailing index in denoting the expan- 
 sion or decline of the national prosperity. Here are 
 found representatives of every race and creed which 
 our diversified immigration confides to us. Wealth and 
 squalor, education and ignorance, and all the extremes 
 of the overburdened and strained social conditions of 
 the countries from which our immigrants come, are to 
 be found here ; but the great multitude walk the peace-
 
 192 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 ful paths of industry, and quietly reap their legitimate 
 reward." 
 
 That morning, in Boston, Miss Winthrop received a 
 letter from Miss Lytton; it was dated Quebec, and 
 was an answer to a note of inquiry about Madame De 
 Luynes. It told her all we know of Carlotta De Luynes, 
 and of the recovery and condition of the child. It 
 drew a sad picture of the life they had led at the De 
 Luynes mansion, which was now brightened by Car- 
 lotta's convalescence, and by hope of her early recovery. 
 It contained a photograph and thus explained the en- 
 closure : " Something Carlotta said to me this morning 
 made me wonder could her friend Miss Winthrop, of 
 whom she speaks so lovingly, have been the little Aggie 
 "Winthrop, whom I knew and loved at Madame Char- 
 land's school, on Beacon Street. Pardon the photo- 
 graph, which is sent, if indeed you are the same, to 
 help your memory in recognizing your old friend. I do 
 not think I am mistaken. I remember the honest gray 
 eyes so well ; they always looked lovingly into mine, 
 and what romantic stories you used to tell me about 
 your home, and about your big brother who came for 
 you every Saturday ! I can scarcely tell you how I 
 cling to this theory, which would make Miss Winthrop 
 the accidental friend of my poor sister, my own sweet 
 little Aggie Winthrop of the old days." The letter con- 
 tinued, " My sister speaks often of you ; she seems al- 
 ways reaching out to those who were with her in the 
 last days of her poor husband. Could you not come 
 and see. us? If you are, as I believe, my little Agnes, 
 accept a kiss, and my imperative order to come here 
 at once." 
 
 "Dear girl," said Miss Winthrop, "I had lost sight
 
 TEE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON. 193 
 
 of yon, but I have not forgotten to love you, for your 
 kindness to me in those old school days. The likeness 
 is perfect, though the face is a little older. It is more 
 like Madame De Luynes. I always thought she re- 
 minded me of some one ; I will go to them both for a 
 day, and George shall take me." 
 
 The young man heard the story. 
 
 " Will you come, George ? " said his sister. 
 
 " I am not invited, little one," he replied. 
 
 "Trust me for a welcome ; " and they went to Quebec 
 together. Miss Winthrop was received warmly by her 
 friend, and George was pleased with her beauty and 
 grace, and particularly with the cordial greeting. There 
 is this compensation for the stricken in heart, that grief 
 yields to reaction ; were it not so, the thread would 
 break under a constant tension. The three chatted 
 pleasantly of old times ; even Carlotta received them 
 with a smile, and seemed for the moment to forget her 
 own great sorrow. 
 
 George and Ethel compared notes, and remembered 
 having met before, and as the day advanced they all 
 seemed like a family reunited. Thus, sometimes, even 
 in grief, we tread lightly over the green sod that presses 
 our loved ones, and take in exhilaration and strength 
 from the warm earth and fresh breeze. 
 
 In the afternoon Miss Winthrop remained with Car- 
 lotta, and George and Ethel drove out round the city. 
 She showed him where Montgomery fell, and the castle 
 on the " heights," and told him something of its classic 
 history. They saw the Plains of Abraham, where 
 Wolfe and Montcalm won immortality, and the falls of 
 Montmorenci, distinguished for their, height and vol- 
 ume. The frozen spray of these waters, she told him, 
 

 
 194 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 formed a huge cone of ice in winter, which was cov- 
 ered with snow, and down whose precipitous sides 
 pleasure seekers were fond of making swift, but peril- 
 ous voyages. At its base, she had known large rooms 
 to be skilfully cut out, with furniture exquisitely carved 
 in ice. There was a bar, with a counter ornamented 
 with bottles and glasses ; there were saloons furnished 
 with sofas, chairs and tables, and figures of men and 
 women grouped, as if in conversation, and liveried serv- 
 ants, all cut and carved from solid ice with marvellous 
 skill. 
 
 " The tale would seem incredible," said George, 
 " if one heard it in any ordinary way. How much 
 one loses when one travels without an intelligent 
 guide." 
 
 " But the story must be at least founded on facts, 
 for I have seen all myself, and more than I have de- 
 scribed to you, except the figures of men and women, 
 and these would not be more difficult than the rest." 
 They had a long drive home, but the way was beauti- 
 ful, along the high ground overlooking the great river 
 and the old city. They talked pleasantly together, as if 
 neither had seen trouble, and as if they were old friends 
 who had come together after a long separation. 
 
 " I have to thank you for a very pleasant afternoon," 
 he said, as they turned in at the gate of the De Luynes 
 mansion. 
 
 " The pleasure has been mutual," replied Ethel ; "I 
 suppose I shall condemn myself, by-and bye, for having 
 escaped from the dark cloud into the pleasant world 
 again." 
 
 " You ought not," George answered ; " in great be- 
 reavements those who go first are perhaps most fortu-
 
 THE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON. 195 
 
 nate, but those who remain cannot always keep their 
 hearts in the grave, else mourning would be the busi- 
 ness of life ; and as everybody has been stricken, we 
 should all be Rachels refusing to be comforted." If 
 Miss Lytton had known the truth, she might have 
 thought he was taking comfort early, but as it was she 
 agreed with him and determined to cultivate, at least 
 a reasonable self-control. 
 
 " They seem more cheerful," thought Miss Winthrop, 
 as she welcomed them in the hall, but she only asked, 
 had they enjoyed themselves, and declared that, strange 
 as it might seem, she, too, had spent a pleasant after- 
 noon. Carlotta had been in a calmer mood ; she had 
 caressed the child, and chatted cheerfully, and they 
 all expressed hopes that verged upon cheerfulness, as 
 if a black cloud had been lifted from the house. Little 
 Ethel was in gay spirits, which tended to dispel the 
 gloom. In the evening, Carlotta asked them to sing 
 some hymns ; they reminded her of Maurice, she said ; 
 and when they rendered the " Sweet by-and-bye," and 
 " Nearer my God to Thee," she melted into tears, and 
 spoke calmly of that night on the Alaric, and what she 
 called the heavenly enthusiasm that prevailed among 
 the passengers. It was a quiet, pleasant evening, and 
 gave promise of restoration that unconsciously cheered 
 them all. 
 
 " We must go to-morrow," said Miss Winthrop. 
 Ethel persisted, and George thought it reasonable 
 that they should remain another day ; but Agnes 
 explained that her uncle expected friends, and it was 
 agreed that they should go the following night. Both 
 George and Miss Winthrop urged upon Miss Lytton 
 that the whole family needed change, that is to say,
 
 196 PXOFESSOIi CONANT. 
 
 Madame De Luynes, Miss Ethel, and " baby Ethel ;" 
 and they won a conditional promise of a visit later. 
 
 "Now that Madame De Luynes is so much im- 
 proved," said Agnes, " we should try to engage her at- 
 tention with new thoughts and new scenes ; our home 
 in Boston will be quiet for some time after the Profes- 
 sor has left us, and you shall meet no one whom you do 
 not wish to see, and will be as completely at home as 
 you are here. Little Ethel shall have command of all 
 the pets, and you, poor, weary Ethel, shall be my es- 
 pecial care. Here, nobody will know where you have 
 gone, and there, nobody will know who you are ; and 
 the change will do you as much good as if it were alto- 
 gether fashionable and orthodox to go." 
 
 Carlotta bore up bravely as they took their leave, 
 and spoke almost cheerfully of returning their visit. 
 Miss Lytton, however, promised nothing, though she 
 said that the visit would be grateful to her, but she 
 must watch and wait a little. To Agnes she said the 
 visit had given them new life. Uncle Horace Winthrop 
 was not advanced in years, though he was a Senator, 
 and he was not worn by hard work, though he stood at 
 the head of the bar. He was a great student and led a 
 laborious life, but there was always a corner in his heart 
 for his friends and for any innocent recreation ; and the 
 wish of Agnes was law with him. He was proud of 
 George, who had inherited his gifts and his enormous 
 practice, and he was as much their confidant in all that 
 interested them as if he were of their own age. He was 
 a great scholar, and Massachusetts admired him ; a 
 great orator, and so she lent him her ear. It was fitting 
 that he should entertain Prof. Conant ; they were a dis- 
 tinguished host and a distinguished guest. The Pro-
 
 THE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON. 197 
 
 fessor and Tom were the guests of Mr. Winthrop, but 
 their friends took lodgings near by. The first day was 
 spent in visiting the sights of the city, and in driving 
 about the suburbs, which are among the finest in the 
 world. The next night, Senator Winthrop was to give 
 a grand reception in honor of Prof. Conant, and the elite 
 of Boston were to be present. Modern Athens would 
 be seen at her best that night. Iler statesmen and 
 scholars, her poets and litterateurs, would be well rep- 
 resented, in honor of England's foremost thinker a 
 great orator, a rising statesman, and a good man. 
 
 Everybody, and especially George, was pleased with 
 Capt. Tom Conant. He was full of spirits, and dis- 
 played the greatest interest in and admiration for every- 
 thing American, so far as he had seen the country and 
 the people, and was thus accepted as a most liberal and 
 intelligent Britisher. 
 
 " Do you know," said Tom, in conversation with some 
 callers, " this visit of mine to New England is the reali- 
 zation of a long cherished dream ? In the early days, 
 the story of your people was so full of trial and tragedy ; 
 there was so much human nature in first fleeing from 
 persecution and then exercising it, such heroic sacrifice 
 of everything to principle, that one recalls with pride 
 the fact that one belongs to the same race. It may be a 
 question whether a modern softening of the severe and 
 rigid morality of those times has been really a blessing 
 to mankind. Be that as it may, the hardy, honest and 
 uncalculating devotion to principle of the early settlers, 
 makes one almost regret that he had not descended 
 from the Plymouth fathers." 
 
 " Nous avons change tout cela" said a voice near him. 
 
 "Well," said Tom, taking up the remark, "history
 
 198 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 changes, conditions alter, but principles are for all time. 
 You may restrict or enlarge their application, or modify 
 it in a hundred ways, but the people who have followed 
 the Puritans as teachers, must, indeed, have fallen, if 
 they have ceased to be independent and self-reliant, and 
 fail to put honesty of purpose before success in life." 
 
 " Ours is a comparatively short history, but it is in- 
 structive," said a city editor who was present, " and in 
 the main you interpret it aright ; but you do not allow 
 for the fact, which is growing every day more apparent, 
 that the people of New England are not all descended 
 from the Puritans." 
 
 " Then I should think those who are not would envy 
 those who are," remarked Tom. 
 
 " From envy, hatred and malice, and all uncharitable- 
 ness, good Lord deliver us," said the Professor, coming 
 to Tom's relief. 
 
 " The population of America is so diversified, you 
 have so many classes in your broad country (I use the 
 word for convenience, for I know, constitutionally speak- 
 ing, you have no classes here), and they have all in 
 their own way contributed so much to your prosperity, 
 that it would be invidious to discriminate ; yet it can- 
 not be denied that the Puritans displayed great quali- 
 ties, though others have done the same, and nobody 
 need be called upon to envy them." 
 
 " The descendants of the Puritans claim so much," 
 observed the editor, " that they do not give others fair 
 play." 
 
 " It has been well said that a Puritan cannot be an 
 aristocrat, nor could he conceive of heaven as an aris- 
 tocracy," remarked Mr. "Winthrop, epigrammatically. 
 
 " Yes," said Eobert, " Green has that idea in his essay
 
 THE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON. 199 
 
 on Paradise Lost. He says it is time God ruled all, but 
 He demanded obedience because He is pure goodness. 
 This is not our idea of the ground of imperial rule ; 
 Milton nowhere gives the Imperial title to the Almighty ; 
 He is the Almighty Father, the King of Heaven, but 
 never the Emperor. That title is reserved for Satan. 
 The heaven of Milton is a Republic under the dominion 
 of goodness. Satan rebelled because the Son was 
 placed over the angels, who were free and equal. Ab- 
 diel allows the equality and the freedom, but defends 
 the supremacy, the Son is the ' Visible form of God, 
 and is at one with Him.' The only change is that now 
 through the creation of the Son, through God himself, 
 becoming as an angel, he has lifted the whole angelic 
 body into higher dignity. And of our dignity 'How 
 provident He is, how far from thought to make us less, 
 bent rather to exalt our happy state under one Head 
 more near united.' History has given the Puritans a 
 high niche among those whom she makes famous in the 
 service of liberty, but they did not live in tolerant days ; 
 they prepared the way for freedom rather than con- 
 ferred it." 
 
 " Their influence is still great in New England," 
 said the Journalist, " but I think even Mr. Winthrop 
 will admit that it is fading." 
 
 " I am sorry if I misapprehend," said Tom. " I am 
 a stranger, but I thought New England was a Puritan 
 stronghold, and that though she did not applaud their 
 severities, of either doctrine or discipline, her institu- 
 tions were chiefly moulded after their teaching. Bight 
 or wrong, I have been a great admirer of their history in 
 my own country, and I was prepared to admire it here." 
 
 " Oh, you are to a certain extent right," said the Edi-
 
 209 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 tor, who was descended in a direct line from a neigh- 
 bor and friend of Miles Standish, " but we must never 
 forget what we owe to Americans whose citizenship, if 
 more recent, has not been less conspicuous." 
 
 The conversation now sought other topics; but at 
 lunch Tom, who was not altogether satisfied with his 
 part in it, alluded to the incident, and his regret that 
 he should have given matters a controversial turn. 
 
 "What you said was true enough," said Mr. Win- 
 throp, " but one or two citizens of foreign descent were 
 present, and our friend Taylor of the ' Press,' saw his 
 chance to pay them a compliment, and he took advan- 
 tage of the occasion." 
 
 " I said just what I thought," said Tom, bluntly. 
 
 " It is best to be guarded in mixed company," moral- 
 ized the Professor. 
 
 "It is not worth remembering," rejoined Mr. Win- 
 throp. " You expressed your opinion, Taylor improved 
 his chance, and the gentlemen of foreign descent will 
 vote for him." 
 
 " These gentlemen are becoming a great power with 
 us," said George. " The politicians pander to them and 
 they are very exacting. The streets are full of people 
 who seek opportunity to speak for and natter these 
 gentlemen of foreign birth or descent; the Irish- 
 Americans, the French-Canadian-Americans, and other 
 Americans of promiscuous foreign stock the Indians, 
 if they had votes, would be included but the poor 
 descendants of the Puritans, and in general the real 
 Americans are growing silent about themselves, or are 
 struggling, like Tom Taylor, to win favor with the men 
 who are becoming their masters ! " 
 
 " Well, America owes a great deal to these people,"
 
 THE PROFESSOR VISITS BOSTON. 201 
 
 observed the Professor; "she invited them to her 
 shores, the poor, the halt and the lame, and promised 
 them employment and citizenship. You asked them to 
 come over and help you to develop and govern the 
 country. Most of them were needy and ignorant, and 
 had never been trained to govern themselves. 'The 
 mills of the gods grind slow.' They are hewing down 
 your forests, cultivating your farms, and building your 
 railroads. But you must wait for the full fruition. 
 Train their sons in your admirable schools, and the 
 second generation will be intelligent and patriotic 
 Americans." 
 
 " Many of them sneer at our schools ; they prefer 
 the system they have cultivated for ages, one that has 
 made them what they are," said George. " At least 
 half a million of one foreign nationality in New Eng- 
 land to-day, and one which is increasing largely, came 
 to us instructed by their teachers at home, and are 
 constantly exhorted to abstain from intercourse with 
 us, like the Chinese ; not to intermarry with us, nor 
 become citizens ; and if these things have roused some 
 of our public men to denounce immigration of this 
 class, and recommend its discouragement, they raise a 
 cry of persecution, and declare that we are false to the 
 traditions of our government. God forbid we should 
 discriminate against the foreign-born population ; but 
 they ought not to discriminate against us." 
 
 ' To a great extent you may expect narrow and igno- 
 rant views to prevail with the first generation of these 
 people," observed the Professor. "They are your 
 national raw material ; but your system of universal 
 education, and the atmosphere of thrift and intelligence 
 they will breathe, will make good citizens of the
 
 202 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 second generation. Meantime, it may be awkward, 
 considering your extended franchise, that they should 
 exercise power over matters they do not understand. 
 But they are adding constantly and immensely to your 
 national wealth. The statement is startling, but it has 
 been computed that during the four years of your civil 
 war and all the terrible destruction to be expected from 
 two millions of men in arms, the total wealth of the 
 nation did not decrease, owing chiefly to the vast volume 
 of immigration that bolstered it. In fairness you must 
 credit these people to that extent, while they are 
 chargeable with whatever they do in the way of lower- 
 ing the standard of public morality among you. But 
 we are making things too serious for the ladies," he 
 added, bowing to Miss Winthrop. 
 
 " Oh no," said Miss Winthrop, " I am sure we are all 
 delighted, but you must give us your views about 
 women's rights," she added laughingly, as they rose to 
 withdraw. 
 
 " Yes, we have talked enough about ' men's wrongs,' " 
 the Professor responded good-humoredly.
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 " Y\TE ABE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 
 
 THE Professor and the Senator were to drive, but we 
 will not accompany them, for what could they see in or 
 around Boston which has not already been described 
 by a hundred facile pens ? They would see landmarks 
 and recall traditions enough for scores of romances ; but 
 have not all these been written and illustrated in a hun- 
 dred ways in the chronicles for which literary and art- 
 istic Boston is famous? The young men, with the ex- 
 ception of George, joined the ladies, and for the first 
 time in their lives they found themselves entertained 
 by half a dozen jolly Boston girls in a fine old Boston 
 house which overlooked Boston Common. Of course, 
 they had seen Miss "Winthrop, but they found her first in 
 Europe, and they claimed her as belonging to their 
 party. Alas, how evanescent are preconceived notions ! 
 There was not a pair of eye-glasses, nor a pert blue- 
 stocking, in the room. There ought to be scores of the 
 latter in Boston, and no doubt they are very charming 
 people, wherever they are to be found ; but Miss Win- 
 throp's friends were all quiet and pleasant young ladies 
 like herself ; most of them were older, and had seen 
 more of society ; many of them had travelled, and all 
 had enjoyed such advantages as belong everywhere to 
 young gentlewomen ; in conversation, they wore spark- 
 ling, lively u,nd entertaining ; and our young friends had
 
 204 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 not spent a happier afternoon since they came to Amer- 
 ica. Not that they were so misled as to have expected 
 vulgarity ; they had rather been taught to look for hy- 
 percritical culture, and they had a half-defined idea of 
 a Boston girl as a philosopher and a mathematician, 
 who was never without a book under her arm. On the 
 other hand, these young girls had equal occasion for 
 disappointment. They had read, though they had 
 travelled and knew better, that Englishmen abroad 
 were always churlish and disagreeable ; that they 
 were impatient with American women, because they 
 called a " jug " a " pitcher," and tolerated too much 
 crust under their tarts. If the truth must be told, they 
 were glad to meet these young Englishmen. They were 
 surprised to see nothing brusque in their manner ; and 
 that they were always agreeable and careful of the com- 
 fort of others. On the whole we must say, that the 
 afternoon afforded mutual delight and mutual disap- 
 pointment ; because they had found, on the one side, 
 that the young ladies were neither frigid nor strong- 
 minded, and on the other, that the young gentlemen 
 were not upstarts nor bores. So they soon forgot their 
 apprehensions, and became as thoroughly acquainted 
 as if all parties had been brought up together on one 
 side or other of the water. 
 
 Among the young ladies was a cousin of Miss Win- 
 throp, a Miss Mattie Elmwood, from Bloomfield, a small 
 suburban village near by. The young lady was midway, 
 as she told Fred, between the eldest and the youngest 
 of nine children. Her parents were humble people, and 
 they lived in a quiet way ; but she hoped Agnes would 
 fulfil her promise of driving Fred out to see them. 
 
 "If you want to understand America, Captain Co-
 
 " WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 205 
 
 nant," she said, "you must extend your observations 
 to the poor, who are an important element of this com- 
 monwealth, but who, like all true Americans, think 
 themselves as good as their neighbors. We can't give 
 you a practical lesson from an extreme point of view ; 
 but we are Massachusetts farmers, and, in that qual- 
 ity, belong to a class which one of your countrymen, 
 who once travelled among us, described as 'the finest 
 peasantry on the face of God's earth.' I should like 
 to take you among the farmers whose lands ars smaller 
 than ours ; but who sleep under their own roof and 
 cultivate their own soil. Do English girls never speak 
 of such things ? " 
 
 Tom hoped they did speak of them. 
 
 "Well," she added, "we hear so much of the diffu- 
 sion of the good things among the people, not alto- 
 gether of wealth and culture, but comfort and intelli- 
 gence, which the higher classes for we have classes 
 used to absorb more than they do now ; and we are 
 so taught to find the solution in the fact that each man 
 cultivates his own here, that even to children it all 
 seems rudimentary, so my father says, and he worships 
 your father. He says you can't exactly understand 
 our system, unless you see it in a prosperous community 
 of farmers with small holdings. It is not very hard to 
 get the idea, or I should not myself have got it ; but 
 father's heart is set on having you come to Bloomfield, 
 and stay until he has shown it all to you. He says 
 your father has been teaching him for twenty years, 
 and now he wants to return the compliment. He says 
 the farmers of Bloomfield are what the English agricul- 
 tural laborers ought to be." 
 
 "I am sure my father will go if he can," said Tom ;
 
 206 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 "it is just in the line of his studies, but I shall be more 
 diffident. You ought to teach me." 
 
 "You are joking," said Miss Elm wood ; " but I think 
 I could teach a new-comer, for I have been among these 
 scenes all my life." 
 
 Robert had found a young lady, familiar with art, 
 who knew " Kingsmere," his estate in Scotland, and 
 who had in her own house sketches of landscape she 
 had taken there. " You must come and see them, Mr. 
 Holt," she said. 
 
 Robert politely promised to call the next morning. 
 To himself he said, " After all, how small the world is ! 
 Here I am, away in America, and I find among strangers 
 sketches of my old home. I wonder shall I recognize 
 them ? " 
 
 Fred Cuthbert's attentions had been general as well 
 as delightful to the young ladies, and they declared him 
 to be a most agreeable young man. The Professor im- 
 mensely enjoyed his long drive behind Mr. Winthrop's 
 fine bays, and he found out for himself, what others in- 
 deed had told him, that his host was an able man. 
 At dinner that night there were, besides the Professor's 
 party, only three or four distinguished men. One was 
 a fashionable preacher, though a man of great eloquence 
 and high spiritual life ; one was a poet, whose wit and 
 genius were proverbial, and whose muse for forty years 
 had been appreciated on both sides of the Atlantic ; 
 another was a learned and well-known philanthropist^ 
 somewhat up in years, an advanced radical and an orator 
 of great versatility and power. 
 
 " I knew you were fatigued," Mr. Winthrop had said 
 after the guests retired, " but I thought I must present 
 to you a few of our remarkable men."
 
 "WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 207 
 
 Miss Winthrop extolled the clergyman, eulogized 
 tlie "dear old poet," but was more guarded in her 
 praise of the eloquent philanthropist, who, though she 
 admired him, she wished was less rancorous and exer- 
 cised more charity. " I remember when his life was not 
 safe in the streets of Boston, because he sought freedom 
 for the slaves," observed the Professor. " By the way, 
 Agnes had an uncle, a little way out of town, who has 
 always been a bosom-friend and a firm supporter of 
 our philanthropist. He knows him as well as any man 
 living, and says that he is at heart full of benevolence 
 and tenderness ; that his scathing satire and extrav- 
 agant denunciation are only tricks of his rhetoric, and 
 that his private life is full of sweetness and charity." 
 
 " To have met these men is ample recompense for my 
 journey across the water, perilous though it was," said 
 the Professor politely. " I shall always be your debtor, 
 Mr. Winthrop." 
 
 " Pardon me," was the reply," America is honored 
 by that journey and is hastening to say so. My guests 
 are honored by their experience to-night, and, I have 
 no doubt, you felt yourself to be surrounded by kindred 
 spirits, and that an unseen magnetism circulated among 
 you." 
 
 "I am sure your compliments are kindly meant," 
 continued Prof. Conant, " but you exaggerate. What 
 have been my puny efforts compared with the services 
 of those who struck the shackles from the slave ? " 
 
 " If my admiration and gratitude have led me astray," 
 rejoined the Senator, " my countrymen have all fallen 
 into the same error." 
 
 That night George and his sister gave Tom and Holt 
 an account of their visit to Quebec, of their recognition
 
 208 PROFESSOR CON ANT. 
 
 of Miss Lytton, the recovery of the child, and the im- 
 provement in the condition of Madame De Luynes, and 
 of their expected visit to them in Boston. 
 
 " You must both come and see them," said Miss Win- 
 throp. " As was proper, we have promised them to 
 have no company ; the visit is only an experiment to 
 try what change of scene will do ; but we will, I am 
 sure, with their consent, treat you as members of the 
 family. George is more cheerful," she said aside to 
 Tom, " and I do what I can, without shocking him, to 
 keep his mind diverted. Don't you think Ethel Lyt- 
 ton beautiful? " 
 
 Tom assented, but he thought he knew a fairer than 
 she. 
 
 "Ethel was kind to George," she continued, "she 
 talked and drove out with him, and at times seemed to 
 make him forget his own sorrow. It is all so distress- 
 ing though," she added. " Do you know, Capt. Co- 
 nant, there is a lost link in my life, and I only found it 
 out lately ? " 
 
 Tom pressed for an explanation with great interest, 
 but was a little disappointed when she exclaimed, 
 " Oh ! if George could have known Ethel before he met 
 poor Miss Roberts ! Is that wicked ? " she asked. 
 
 " No," said Tom, " time flies ; in a few short months 
 what may not happen, which you and I tremble to 
 speak of now ! " 
 
 "I thank you," was all she said, but her manner 
 seemed to add, "I must lean on you for advice." And 
 he answered with a kiss. 
 
 " You have done wrong," she said coquettishly ; " let 
 this never happen again." 
 
 "When Tom bade George "good night," he was so
 
 "WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 209 
 
 much at peace with the world that he congratulated him 
 on his seeming more cheerful, and said, " If you ever 
 want a friend, your sister will tell you that you may 
 trust me." 
 
 Next morning Robert called with Fred to see the 
 sketches, and found two or three young ladies waiting 
 to receive them. The artist had done her work well, 
 alike in choosing her company and in selecting her land- 
 scapes. They admired the one and applauded the 
 other, and spent the morning in a most delightful way. 
 Fred became convinced that no one in England, save 
 perhaps his sister Alice, could compare with a young 
 Boston lady, and Robert, candid Robert, was inclined 
 to admit as much, though, as usual, he kept such 
 thoughts to himself. 
 
 The Professor and the Senator were fast growing in- 
 separable friends. They talked of politics, of books 
 and statecraft, as if they had been born to agree ; and 
 some of the young people, though less learned in their 
 conversation, seemed equally fascinated and drawn to- 
 gether. Some were serious ; would they be constant ? 
 and others, alas ! were just flirting/omfe de mieux. 
 
 During the day, many of the elite of Boston called to 
 pay their respects to the Professor magnates from the 
 State House, savans from the colleges and schools 
 and thus the day passed and the night came which was to 
 witness Prof. Conant's first reception in Boston. It was 
 private and select ; only such as were invited guests 
 attended. But " the solid men " and their wives and 
 daughters were there men eminent in theology, law, 
 medicine, commerce and letters ; do we put the first 
 last? but in that congenial atmosphere they were 
 numerous and distinguished.
 
 210 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 The Professor and his friends received an ovation 
 that charmed and delighted them, and accepted it in 
 the highest of good spirits, and for the whole week 
 Boston threw wide open her homes and hearts to greet 
 the great English statesman. 
 
 The Professor had already made the acquaintance of 
 Gen. Enoch Elmwood, of Bloomfield, and the whole 
 party had promised to spend a day with him. Dr. 
 Elmwood, his brother, would join him there. Agnes 
 was in high spirits about the visit, till she found it 
 would be impossible to persuade George to go. The 
 last time he had visited his uncle, he said, had been to 
 confide to him the secret of his engagement and ap- 
 proaching marriage. To revisit him now would be to 
 recall painful memories. 
 
 Tom endeavored to persuade him with cheering words, 
 and his sister besought him to yield ; they all expected 
 him, she said, and everyone would be disappointed. 
 
 " Don't press me, little one," George answered, " it is 
 hard to refuse you, but I should only be a cloud upon 
 the spirits of the whole party." 
 
 Enoch Elmwood was an only brother of the Doctor. 
 He was older by several years, and had struggled with 
 poverty in early life ; but he now enjoyed a comfortable 
 competence, though he had always snatched from the 
 pursuits of his frugal life time enough to study public 
 affairs, and to comprehend the principles which he 
 thought should guide them. He was earnest and 
 intense in his convictions, and was a typical Puritan in 
 his exacting devotion to duty. He was kind and tender- 
 hearted toward all who suffered ; but he could hold no 
 truce with wrong-doers ; so long as they were perverse, 
 he was intolerant, and would smite them hip and thigh.
 
 "WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 211 
 
 He loved his country, whose government he believed 
 was the best in the world, and which had been estab- 
 lished after much persecution and was maintained in 
 the midst of many trials. He had been conspicuous in 
 the anti-slavery controversies of Massachusetts before 
 the war, and had gone to the front when, finally, the 
 sword was drawn and the scabbard thrown away. He 
 had raised a company of the three months' men, first 
 called out by President Lincoln ; but he had continued 
 in the service as long as he was needed, and adorned it 
 with many brave deeds. He had gone out a captain, 
 but returned a general of brigade, " thankful," as he 
 said, when his country's enemies had surrendered, " to 
 return to the quiet cultivation of the farm." " I went 
 with two sons tc the war," he remarked ; " they both 
 fought at my side, and laid down their lives there. 
 Tens of thousands did like me with no thought of gain, 
 and yet our critics called us mercenary, and said that 
 we had shown our patriotism by hiring foreign sub- 
 stitutes to carry on the war. I was in the Massachu- 
 setts First Regiment," said he to the Professor, " and 
 their time had expired, and we expected to have been 
 mustered out, just before the battle of the 'Wilder- 
 ness ; ' but we remained till after the engagement, and 
 suffered seriously in dead and wounded. The troops 
 were then transported to Boston direct, but I came in 
 before them. It was a touching sight as those worn 
 and shattered veterans marched through the streets of 
 the city. I think there was a public welcome ; but 
 what touched me was the manner in which the common 
 people, whose battles they had been fighting, mingled 
 with, recognized and embraced them. Discipline was 
 almost impossible. There had been no accurate news
 
 212 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 of the casualties in the last fight, and the friends of the 
 brave soldiers did not yet know who were returning to 
 them. Fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, from the 
 door-steps, from the wagons, from every elevation, were 
 peering into those serried ranks for the sight of some 
 dear one whom they expected and whom sometimes 
 they found, but who as often had fallen by the way. 
 It was a touching sight, but war is full of such pathetic 
 incidents." 
 
 General Elmwood was a religious man, his soul was 
 full of reverence, but he had not preserved the severe 
 orthodoxy of his Puritan fathers. Punishment, to his 
 mind, was sure to follow sin, but he hoped it was to be 
 a beneficial discipline ; he dwelt most, however, upon 
 God's goodness, and Christ's sacrifice for all men, and 
 his kind nature was agonized at the thought that any 
 soul could be lost. " Our fathers would turn in their 
 graves," he said, " if they could realize how the New 
 England of to-day is softening the rigors of her austere 
 theology ; but I have given the subject much thought, 
 and cannot believe we are the worse for it." 
 
 Bloomfield was a tranquil New England village, clean 
 and thrifty, such as everybody has seen, and General 
 Elmwood's hospitable farm-house stood like a country 
 bungalow, on an eminence above the town. Somo peo- 
 ple, of local importance, had been invited to lunch, and 
 altogether they were a large party, but the long dining- 
 hall, which, at the busy season, was used to serve meals 
 in to those whom the General usually called his 
 " helps," was made to do service, and there was ample 
 room for all. One faature of the entertainment was 
 especially noticeable to Fred Cuthbert. When they all 
 sat down to their mid-day meal, what he would have
 
 " WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 213 
 
 called tlie "servants," took their places at the table 
 with the family, and, more than once, the farm hands 
 contributed to the conversation. It was a new depart- 
 ure for our friends, though they were too well bred to 
 notice it ; but Fred whispered, " we have all men free 
 and equal at last." 
 
 The Professor listened more than he talked. He 
 drew out the village schoolmaster on the subject of 
 graded schools ; the county sheriff on the causes and 
 expenses of land-sales ; and a bright little woman, who 
 was understood to write for " the Press," told him 
 what she knew of the kindergarten and Chautauqua 
 systems. The village editor diecussed the temperance 
 question, and expressed the hope that his friends 
 would make it a party shibboleth by-and-bye. 
 
 "Yes," said the General, "that is one of the great 
 questions of the future. Is the State to furnish poison 
 which induces crime, and then punish the people for 
 committing it? Another question of the near future, 
 is that of woman's rights ; it is making its way, though 
 I confess I don't see through it in all its bearings as 
 yet. I have no doubt about a woman's right to vote ; 
 what troubles me is to know whether its exercise would 
 elevate or degrade her." 
 
 " Male politicians are not a great success, but you 
 would not take the franchise from men on that account," 
 said the Professor. The conversation soon became 
 general, and everybody seemed to take an intelligent 
 interest in it. After lunch the Professor received a 
 committee of farmers who called to present resolutions 
 of a public meeting held the night before, and who at 
 the earnest solicitation of General Elmwood remained 
 after their business was over.
 
 214 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 "I wanted you to meet these gentlemen," said the 
 General, "because they represent important interests 
 in this country of the agricultural class, as the proprie- 
 tors of their own farms, who are neither pestered by 
 landlords nor by rents ; who are sheltered by their 
 own roofs and till their own acres. If a feudal, instead 
 of a democratic society had grown up here, its revenues 
 would have gone to the lords, who would have become 
 rich, while these men would be correspondingly poor. 
 Now, if you will visit a hundred farms about this place, 
 you will find reasonable comfort, a surprising intelli- 
 gence, and a general independence of thought and 
 action, which come of having been trained to call no 
 man master." 
 
 " The statement is full of interest," said the Pro- 
 fessor ; " the relations between the land and its tillers 
 furnish in my country what has hitherto been an in- 
 solvable problem. In America you have solved it as 
 you suggest, but at home, where we are required to 
 uproot a bad system of great antiquity, the obstacles 
 are incalculable." 
 
 "The difference is," said Holt, "that here the peo- 
 ple own the land and enjoy the revenues, while, there, 
 they seem born only to pay tribute to noble holders. 
 I could name less than forty families of the titled 
 aristocracy of England, who govern that country. It 
 has been claimed that each of these families averages a 
 supply to every House of Commons of three members, 
 not to mention their seats in the Lords and their hold 
 upon every department of administration. Look at this 
 American picture, and see what might happen if all men 
 could enjoy equal rights as to the acquisition of land 
 in England. "
 
 " WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 215 
 
 "Bloomfield, though a model town," observed the 
 Senator, "I am afraid does not fairly represent the 
 whole range of agricultural prosperity. The "West is 
 the great scene of settlement now ; individuals are 
 holders of large tracts, and railway companies have 
 been granted areas broad enough for kingdoms. A 
 good many things may happen before the settler of to- 
 day is quieted like these Bloomfield folk in their in- 
 dependent holdings." 
 
 " That would not affect the matter, so far as I am 
 concerned," replied the Professor, "though it shows 
 that in some parts of America there are still some les- 
 sons to learn." 
 
 The committee vouchsafed their views like men who 
 understood whereof they were speaking. The school- 
 master said there was a new study of American history, 
 which ought, for the sake of accuracy, to be mentioned, 
 and which to some extent controlled current ideas. 
 The Puritan organization was not original, nor was 
 it precisely in old time as it is now. New England 
 towns were but a survival of Teutonic customs, which 
 Tacitus had described, and which could be traced in 
 Germany to this day. The Saxons carried them into 
 Britain. They survived the Conquest, and the founders 
 of New England brought them here. He had just been 
 reading a book which dealt with this subject, and the 
 agricultural community of the Middle Ages, and was 
 said to solve the old puzzle of the English lawyers about 
 certain customs of village land-holdings, which antedated 
 the feudal system. The New England towns originally 
 were founded on the idea of a village community of 
 allied families, settled near for social intercourse 
 and defense, but there was a common street Fields
 
 216 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 were allotted in the same way to individuals, but they 
 were fenced under the communal plan. These customs 
 were inherited from the Saxons, and have not altogether 
 faded away. Vestiges of these common properties are 
 still to be found. In Plymouth there are two hun- 
 dred acres now known as town-lands. A company of 
 twenty-four proprietors, heirs of the first settlers, own a 
 hundred and thirty acres, called the town-neck, in the 
 old town of Sandwich, on Cape Cod. Every year the 
 proprietors meet to regulate the pasturage, attend to the 
 fencing, and to elect a moderator and a clerk, with juris- 
 diction over the property. And a recent writer, speaking 
 of Virginia and New England, may have had some- 
 thing of this kind in his mind while supposing both to 
 be the most strictly English parts of the United States, 
 and that the mixture of any foreign element in the 
 original settlement must have been very small ; he 
 adds, " the two lands represent two different sides of 
 England. Virginia more nearly followed England at 
 the time of the settlement, and New England, the Eng- 
 land of an earlier time." 
 
 The Professor assured them that their position shed 
 light upon the controversy. "A young man studies 
 law," he said, " from musty books in a dingy hall ; 
 there is a dry statement of principles, but he does not 
 understand them very well until he enters the courts, 
 follows the practice, and applies a procedure ; in short, 
 sees how it all works, then all becomes clear, and he 
 comprehends it. Just so with us, who theorize in our 
 relations to you, who show us what you are doing." 
 
 "A general proprietorship is a strong conservative 
 element in any country," remarked Dr. Elmwood. 
 " What civilization has most to dread is communistic
 
 " WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 217 
 
 teaching among dissatisfied masses of people. It is 
 comparatively easy to convince the man with nothing 
 that the acquisition of property is a sin ; give that man 
 a home of his own, with the blessings of comfort around 
 it, and he will change from being the enemy of society 
 to being its friend and defender." 
 
 "And now I must interrupt you, gentlemen," said 
 the General, " for apropos of agricultural enterprise, I 
 must show the Professor my flocks and herds." They 
 examined the capacious barns, and inspected the broad 
 and highly cultivated meadows, in which occupation 
 the young people, in high spirits, joined. They saw 
 choice breeds of cattle, and the enthusiastic owner 
 explained their best points, and made practical sugges- 
 tions, Before they returned to town, it had been 
 arranged that the General and his daughter should 
 visit them the next morning. Dr. Conant was to dine 
 with the Governor of Massachusetts, an eccentric man 
 of great parts, who had commanded at important posts 
 during the war, and whose military record was still a 
 subject of dispute. He had won his present position 
 by one of those reactions which sometimes befriend 
 popular leaders, and his administration had given rise 
 to controversies in the State, more varied and more 
 bitter than Massachusetts had known for years. Our 
 Senator had declined an invitation, but he told the 
 Doctor he was to meet a remarkable man whose mili- 
 tary record had been cruelly misunderstood in England. 
 Tew men have a better knowledge of public affairs, 
 and you will find his conversation brilliant and instruc- 
 tive.' The young people were to attend the theater, 
 where a celebrated play had been running a hundred 
 nights, and all the actors, men and women, were Ameri- 
 10
 
 218 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 cans. Dr. Elmwood and George spent the evening at 
 home with the Senator. They discussed the events of 
 the week, and all agreed that the visit of Professor 
 Conant and his party had been a rare treat to the good 
 people of Boston. 
 
 " I am in love with Tom Conant," said George. " I 
 believe there is the material for great things in him." 
 
 Both uncles cordially assented, and shortly after 
 withdrew for a game of billiards, leaving George alone. 
 
 "What a strange thing is the human heart," said 
 George, thoughtfully. " A few weeks ago all these 
 people were in the midst of death, but now they have 
 gathered up the threads of life again, and who would 
 dream that they had ever known disaster ? And 
 should it not be so ? for, if a single grief should darken 
 a whole life, there would be no room for poignancy in 
 our later bereavements. And what am I ? Is my heart, 
 which was so stricken, retaining the sting ; or do the 
 mists lift, and are the clouds floating away? Did 
 she love me, or had she turned to another? I can 
 never know. Could I mourn for her if she loved me 
 not ? Lord, lead me aright that I may not cast away 
 grief unduly, nor mourn beyond the measure of my 
 loss." 
 
 The next morning Tom received a letter from Lord 
 Bolton ; he thanked him for an invitation to join their 
 party, spoke of the honor paid to Tom's father in 
 Boston, more cordially, according to a morning jour- 
 nal which he quoted, than had ever been paid to an 
 Englishman in this country. He said the day was 
 "beastly," dark, rainy and cold, and, after a few like 
 commonplaces, added : " I suppose you will be here 
 to-morrow. I am awfully seedy, and I am dying to get
 
 " WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 219 
 
 away. I think of going to the Pacific coast. It would 
 bo rest, and, in any case, distraction. My dear boy, 
 come with me ! I am always happier when I am with 
 you." 
 
 " I must go to him, father," said Tom, and he glanced 
 furtively at Agnes, whose color came and went. " Poor 
 old Bolton is in trouble and he needs me." 
 
 " You won't go to California, Capt. Conant ? " Agnes 
 inquired. 
 
 " No," replied Tom, with a look that reassured her. 
 
 " We must all go to-morrow," said the Professor, " my 
 time is drawing near." 
 
 In the meanwhile Dr. Elmwood, with the General 
 and his daughter, arrived, and there was an excitement 
 of welcome and greeting. The General was in high 
 spirits. " I reckon you don't have such sunshine as this in 
 England," he remarked to the Professor as he wandered 
 off with him in a conversation about the weather, the 
 crops, and other topics, into which we shall not follow 
 them. 
 
 Tom was deprecating the acceptance of hospitalities 
 for such a " crowd," as he called the Professor's party. 
 
 " My uncle says he never enjoyed a week so much in 
 his life," observed Agnes. 
 
 "Well, we can all say that," Tom replied; "but I 
 don't know how it would be if we had to bear the bur- 
 dens of the host. The fact is, I don't think I can judge 
 for the others." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because my circumstances are so different." 
 
 " Tell me how," she inquired coyly, pretending not to 
 Understand him. 
 
 "Well," said Tom, "I have ' a friend at court.' My
 
 220 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 dear little friend is a fairy ; I have only to wish and 
 my wish is gratified." 
 
 " You will have to be more explicit if you want me to 
 understand you," Agnes responded. 
 
 Then he made his meaning so plain to her that she 
 comprehended it all. " You are my fairy," he said. 
 
 " No, no, not that," murmured Agnes ; " let us be 
 serious. Have you enjoyed your visit to Boston ? " 
 
 "More than I can find words to express," Tom 
 answered. 
 
 " And your friends ? " 
 
 " They have all been delighted beyond measure." 
 
 " "What do you think of the people you have met ? " 
 
 " Men and women, one could not find their superiors 
 anywhere." 
 
 " Dear old Boston seems very charming to me," 
 Agnes said, absently. 
 
 " Why, I should have thought myself in an English 
 city," observed Tom. 
 
 " Do you still believe it is so very essential that a 
 city must be English in order to charm you ? " 
 
 " Well, no," replied Tom, " but to find it English 
 would be the highest compliment I could pay it. You 
 know England is my home, and I haven't been long 
 enough in America to forget my attachment to it ; but 
 every day I am here I find something to surprise and 
 delight me. When I came to Boston I at once felt at 
 home. My opinions are of small consequence, except 
 perhaps to you. What I say, I feel. Would you ask 
 me to say more ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! " she responded ; " that you and your father 
 have been pleased with your visit is gratifying to us all, 
 and to no one more than to me."
 
 " WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 221 
 
 " Some time you will be English," he said, caressingly. 
 
 "And -would that involve forgetting Boston ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh, no ! " was the reply ; " all our lives we will to- 
 gether love and admire Boston." 
 
 " My darling ! " he continued, " places go for little in 
 the calculation I invite you to make. Could you leave 
 Boston and come to London?" 
 
 " I know what I could do," she said ; " but we won't 
 speak of that now. Let us be happy and not think of 
 such startling changes." 
 
 " But when may I speak? You know we are to leave in 
 the morning," urged Tom. " I can't keep silent forever." 
 
 " Speak when you are bidden, sir," she answered ; 
 " and now come to the drawing-room with me." 
 
 Tom gently tried to detain her, but she bounded 
 away with his hand in hers, and thus ended another 
 attempt to declare himself. 
 
 Fred Cuthbert and Miss Elmwood had been enjoying 
 a tete-a-tete. The latter had been giving Fred her ideas 
 of American life and manners. " I have never been in 
 Europe," Miss Elm wood remarked ; " but I suppose you 
 are ever so much wiser and more polished there." 
 
 " "Well, no," Fred answered ; " we are older, and of 
 course that counts for something. I used to give Eng- 
 land credit for greater superiority before I came here. 
 And as for Bloomfield, I don't know what could sur- 
 pass the interest one feels in those old farmers and 
 their wives and daughters whom we met there. Do you 
 know I begin to think that we attach too much import- 
 ance to more geographical distinctions? It isn't because 
 a man is English or American that he is refined or 
 agreeable. Gentle manners everywhere denote the
 
 222 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 same thing. In England we have titles and wealth, and 
 here you have wealth without titles ; but they all mean 
 little without the adornment of cultivated minds." 
 
 " Well, it appears to me that is a very democratic 
 statement," said Miss Elmwood. " To the aristocracy 
 of intellect we all subscribe, but I never expected to 
 hear such doctrines from you." 
 
 " Perhaps I am a little off the beaten track, and I 
 may have seen America through the ministry of unusual 
 fascinations ; but you and I shall never get far apart if 
 all you ask me to believe is that mind should be more 
 powerful than millions ; and if the common people, as 
 we call them, were fairly represented by some of the 
 gentlemen we have met here, who escaped early from 
 their ranks, and have been for a life-time undergoing 
 the polish of study and thought, then even that distinc- 
 tion might be abandoned." 
 
 It was to be the Professor's last night in Boston ; 
 a good many friends were calling to take an uncere- 
 monious leave ; and that good man was warmly thank- 
 ing everybody for the generous welcome he had re- 
 ceived. "It is not strange," he said, "that England 
 and America sometimes find it difficult to understand 
 each other. There are rivalries of commerce, opposing 
 fiscal systems, and many men in each country hostile to 
 the other ; but as to our great mission of freedom we 
 have a common work to perform. We have each our 
 national faults and failings, which require a season of 
 peace and prosperity to get rid of. It is the interest 
 of each that the other should grow freer and stronger. 
 There ought to be a united English-speaking race 
 throughout the world. I do not speak of a union of 
 treaties and alliances, but one of common aims and pur-
 
 "TTJ7 ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 223 
 
 poses, which spring from sentiments of universal brother- 
 hood, and a sense of common duties each has to fulfill. 
 
 The young people had been busy in paying calls and 
 bidding adieu to friends, but now that they were at 
 home again, the parlors were thronged with Boston 
 folk who had " just dropped in " to say good-bye ; and 
 there was in the appearance of things a suspicion of 
 impending change and the obvious din of preparation, 
 as if one's engagements had been fulfilled, and the hour 
 of departure were at hand. 
 
 " To-morrow will be Evacuation day," said Fred to 
 Miss "Winthrop, "and then the weary may rest." 
 
 " Are you studying our patriotic nomenclature ? " she 
 inquired. 
 
 "One may learn without study here," replied Fred. 
 " Everything is in such big print, you can read it like 
 Sam Slick by moonlight." 
 
 " Then you shall read to ma by-and-bye," she said 
 gayly, " but you must read to my guests now." 
 
 As he mingled with the bright throng and was lost 
 to view, she remarked to Kobert who approached her : 
 " How saucily he carries himself ; what a fund he has of 
 humor and wit ! " 
 
 " Ho is a fine fellow," said Robert, " and full of good 
 nature, though we call him ' the cynic.' But really if 
 he was intended for a wit I think his make-up is rather 
 feeble." 
 
 " Oh, you are serious, Mr. Holt ; you are not in a 
 mood to appreciate funny things." 
 
 " Well, I sometimes laugh, at any rate, as I did at 
 poor Fred's expense this morning. We were driving 
 along the river-side, and found a countryman lazily fish- 
 ing from its banks.
 
 224 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " ' What are you fishing for there, my man/ asked 
 Fred, with an air of hauteur, which the countryman re- 
 sented. 
 
 " ' I'm fishin' a'ter Britishers,' he answered quizzically, 
 " but 'taint no kind o' use. They don't bite here's as 
 they did in 76.' " 
 
 George had responded to Tom's invitation, and had 
 unreservedly given him his full confidence. " She was 
 so good, and so beautiful," he said ; " I thought her the 
 loveliest of women. My sister spoke of another man's 
 brilliant and dazzling suit. Something in her last letter 
 had almost prepared me for it. Would she have asked 
 me to release her? Agnes does not help me. She 
 knows nothing, she says." 
 
 Tom knew that Agnes refrained from defending the 
 memory of Miss Roberts, because she saw in George's 
 doubts a mitigation of his grief. 
 
 "It is not all clear, even to me," she had said; "she 
 was loyal to him, but did she love him? " 
 
 " That is what we can never know," Tom answered ; 
 but he gave no hint of all this to George, as silence had 
 been enjoined upon him by his sister. 
 
 And then they spoke of Agnes, whom both worshiped, 
 from different points of view ; and George related how, 
 since her return, she was devoting herself to charities, 
 hunting out and relieving the destitution of the poor ; 
 and Tom's big heart throbbed quicker as he recognized 
 in Miss Winthrop an early follower of his good mother's 
 example. 
 
 " Now I must go, George," he said ; " but if you ever 
 need a sympathetic friend, you will always know where 
 to find Tom Conant." 
 
 He sought Miss Winthrop and was distressed to find
 
 "WE ARE MASSACHUSETTS FARMERS." 225 
 
 her in low spirits. " Why are you sad, my darling," 
 he inquired ; but she gave him her hand without heed- 
 ing his question. 
 
 " Has something happened ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Then why are you sad ? " he persisted. 
 
 " But something is about to happen ; are not you going 
 away ? " she asked, and her gray eyes filled with tears. 
 
 Tom rendered his answer as he had done before, but 
 this time without reproof, and she nestled in his strong 
 arms for a moment, as if she were unable to break 
 away. 
 
 " Sweet one," said Tom, " let me speak to your uncle, 
 now that my father is here." 
 
 "Not now," she replied; "I have been weak, but we 
 must wait. Is that dreadful? You have known me but 
 three months," she added, smiling ; "but you will come 
 to me again soon and we shall learn to know each other 
 better." 
 
 " Do you doubt me ? " asked Tom. 
 
 "My dear friend," she responded caressingly, "when 
 you are with me, I doubt nothing ; I forget that you are 
 not mine, and that your good heart might change ; but 
 when you are gone my faith relaxes, and in your absence 
 I tremble lest I may not see you again. You think I 
 am weak ; well, strength is not born of this strange new 
 influence under which I am falling. I must resist it, 
 and we must wait ; but my uncle says you may write me 
 sometimes. We shall not see each other alone again. 
 We will go to the others. Good-bye," and in spite of 
 all, they embraced like young people who almost under- 
 stood each other. 
 
 " Good-bye," Tom repeated ; " you are a cruel little 
 10*
 
 226 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 darling, but God bless you." And as they rejoined their 
 friends the great pictures on the walls smiled upon 
 them in the gaslight, as if their choice was approved 
 and their secret safe. 
 
 Next morning our travellers returned through a 
 rough but beautiful country, flanked with small villages 
 and thrifty towns. The press had given notice of the 
 train by which they would journey, and all along the 
 route crowds of people beset the station and thronged 
 the cars, eager to catch sight of the great Englishman 
 who stood by their country's cause in her hour of peril. 
 Everywhere, as the train approached and departed 
 from the stations, the Professor . was welcomed and 
 cheered on by the heartiest salutations. 
 
 On his arrival in New York, Tom found a note from 
 Lord Bolton, saying that he was too restless to remain, 
 and had gone to Canada for a day or two. They all 
 found " letters from home," full of congratulations on 
 their escape from peril, and abounding in kind wishes 
 for the homeward voyage. Letters from home are as 
 the " bread of life " to the far-off wanderer ; and these 
 letters cheered our friends and they passed their even- 
 ing happily together.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 
 
 NEXT day the Professor called to pay his respects to 
 the President of the United States, who was spending 
 a few days, like any private gentleman, at one of the 
 leading hotels. He was cordially received, and was 
 struck by the absence of ostentation and parade in the 
 going and coming of the people's king in America. 
 Among the Professor's callers was an old gentleman, 
 well stricken in years, a famous philanthropist, who had 
 spent millions in benevolence, himself superintending 
 the administration of his gifts and securing the best 
 results, " instead of," as the Professor observed, " clutch- 
 ing his filthy lucre to the end, and then, perhaps, leaving 
 his vast estates to some extent burdened with charita- 
 ble bequests, which interested neither his heirs nor his 
 executors, who would be only too ready to set aside his 
 charities altogether if they could." 
 
 The same afternoon he was waited on by a deputa- 
 tion of " the Irish National Land League of America," 
 to congratulate him on the noble sentiments he had 
 from time to time expressed, and to ask his good offices 
 in their behalf, who were seeking " Home Rule for Ire- 
 land ; " so much had this good man opened his great 
 heart to all the people, that he had won them all. Such 
 things would oftener happen if public men were more 
 sympathetic and sincere.
 
 228 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 That night the party -was to be entertained by the 
 Hon. Mr. Douglas, a former Secretary of State, who 
 had flourished in earlier days, when the native popula- 
 tion had organized to check the influence of the foreign 
 element, and claimed " America for the Americans." 
 
 "And we were right, too," he said to the Professor, as 
 they discussed this subject ; " we violated no traditions 
 and we preached no intolerance ; but we, who were 
 Americans by birth, whose all was at stake here, found 
 ourselves in many places outnumbered and outvoted 
 by foreigners, who knew nothing about government, 
 either of the country or of themselves, and who could 
 hardly read the Constitution in the vulgar tongue. 
 The movement was not a success, and brought down 
 the vengeance of the foreign population upon those who 
 promoted it. It was a conspiracy against them, they 
 said ; but had we not a right to conspire ? The classes 
 at which we aimed were always against us, in a solid 
 body." 
 
 " This is all very dangerous in a mixed population," 
 remarked the Professor. " I suppose, for example, our 
 Irish friends who honored me to-day, and would at 
 least be included among those you discriminated against, 
 were influenced chiefly by the labor question and the 
 possibility of rivalry from the negro." 
 
 "Well, yes, but not chiefly," said Mr. Douglas; 
 " their hostility dates farther back. When our govern- 
 ment was in its infancy, the followers of Washington 
 and Hamilton dreaded such immigration as came over to 
 us, inflamed with the passions of the French Revolu- 
 tion ; party strife ran high, and party spirit was rancor- 
 ous. The Whigs sought to impose restrictions, and the 
 Democrats defended these people. Their resentment
 
 THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 229 
 
 on the one hand, and their debt of gratitude on the 
 other, have moulded their politics to this day ; and the 
 Republicans inherited from the Whigs. No doubt the 
 dissension has been kept alive, as more recent antago- 
 nism developed, but the negro question has been only 
 one of many." 
 
 " We must always expect human nature to develop 
 two currents of opinion," observed the Professor, " but 
 there is positive danger to any community whenever 
 the wrangles of race and creed underlie the differences 
 of party. They may smoulder but they are not to 
 be quenched ; it is moreover the manifest interest of 
 demagogues to keep them alive." 
 
 " At the worst the pressing danger is confined to the 
 cities," said Mr. Douglas. " The immigrant who settles 
 on the prairies or in the nearer rural districts, has quiet 
 and steady occupation, and speedily becomes a good 
 citizen. He is not educated as his son will be, but he 
 has a house to be taxed and defended, which gives him 
 an interest in good government, and he is removed 
 from the worst schools of vice and dissipation. So 
 there is a chance for the first generation, and the 
 country will have a stronger hold on the second." 
 
 "Yes, your safety lies there," remarked the Pro- 
 fessor, " in the distribution and assimilation of foreign 
 comers, and in the thorough adaptation and efficiency 
 of your schools. But I am afraid I am a sad trial to 
 you ladies," he said, rising, and bowing to Miss Doug- 
 las, " my time is so short, and I have so much to learn, 
 that I set every body speaking to me of public ques- 
 tions." 
 
 "I am sure Papa is not unhappy," was Miss Doug- 
 las's answer ; " I have enjoyed so much, when I have
 
 230 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 heard you speak, but I did come to interrupt you. His 
 Excellency, the President, is here, and desires me to 
 present his compliments to Professor Conant, and to 
 you Papa, which means, I expect, that he wants to see 
 you both." 
 
 " Tour Republican King abroad among his subjects ! " 
 said the Professor, briskly. 
 
 "Not his subjects, but his people" interposed Miss 
 Douglas. And they withdrew to meet the great man 
 who helps fifty odd millions of people to govern them- 
 selves. 
 
 They found the President awaiting them, and after 
 cordial greetings, he led them into conversation about 
 ordinary topics. A new interest had been lately given 
 to the question of Civil Eights, as it affected the col- 
 ored people ; " Were they to be recognized in law as the 
 equals of white men? Could they be discriminated 
 against, as guests in hotels, as passengers on the routes 
 of travel, or as worshipers in the churches ? " 
 
 The Professor would have been glad to know the 
 President's views, and he introduced the subject cau- 
 tiously. 
 
 " Oh, we have spent blood and treasure enough for 
 the negro," observed Mr. Douglas ; " he must let us 
 rest." 
 
 " In all we have done for the negro we were really 
 serving ourselves," said the President ; " as to his social 
 status he must help to make that. A gentleman is a 
 man of intelligence and refinement, black or white ; 
 men stand with each other, all things being equal, ac- 
 cording to their work as men. "We must not insist on 
 privileges for the negro which we deny to the white 
 man, and which he is unfitted to enjoy. His wrongs
 
 "THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 231 
 
 while he was a slave have directed great sympathy to- 
 ward him. But he must not force impossible issues ; 
 there is an unjust prejudice against him now, which is 
 gradually fading away. We may let it fade, but we can- 
 not obliterate it by force. The Civil Bights question 
 will settle itself. This discrimination against race on 
 account of color will disappear. Public sentiment is 
 tending that way. The negro will be a guest at the 
 same hotels, and a passenger on the same trains, as the 
 white man. Some white men will, and some will not, 
 invite him to dinner. That question of social inequal- 
 ity may involve hardships, but it is only a relic of 
 greater hardships which have been wiped out. It, too, 
 may go in time and perhaps sooner than the negro him- 
 self could have believed emancipation would come, a 
 few years ago. By attempting to force it now we might 
 perpetrate another tyranny. Festina lente, in this, as in 
 most other things, is the safe motto." 
 
 " Yes," rejoined the Professor, " among mixed popu- 
 lations iron rules are dangerous pacificators. Some re- 
 spect must be paid to the habits, and even the preju- 
 dices, of a people. We must have reasonable patience 
 and sooner or later the right will prevail." 
 
 " Y-e-s," observed Mr. Douglas, " but we are dealing 
 with old enemies. We must not imitate the dough- 
 faces, and for the sake of quiet, plead for delay." 
 
 They all went to the drawing-room, to find the guests. 
 The President was a familiar figure, and had gone in 
 and out among these people for years. The Professor 
 noticed that they greeted him respectfully and cordially ; 
 but there was nothing abject or servile in their manner 
 toward him. To the eminence he now occupied they 
 might all aspire.
 
 232 PROFESSOR CON ANT. 
 
 Fred Cutlibert was in his usual good spirits. He had 
 been catechised by Miss Douglas, as to his opinion of 
 America. We, who saw him falter in Boston, might 
 expect him to capitulate to Miss Douglas, but he was 
 more wayward, and peals of laughter were provoked by 
 his hits and drolleries. As he was taking his leave, he 
 said to Miss Douglas, " the one thing I do envy Amer- 
 ica is her young ladies." 
 
 " You might have spared us that," she said, curtly. 
 
 " Upon my honor," Fred gallantly remarked, " I have 
 never met in any society before such a proportion of 
 brilliant and fascinating women." 
 
 " Good-night, Mr. Cutlibert, I shall expect you at 
 eleven. You should go and study your part for to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Next morning Tom received a letter from Lord Bolton, 
 who was the guest of the Governor of Canada at Que- 
 bec. It reasserted his Lordship's intention to visit the 
 west, and his desire that Tom should go with him. " I 
 cannot give you any gossiping news," the letter went 
 on, " but what seemed to me a strange thing happened 
 last night at dinner. There were covers for fourteen. 
 One of the guests at the last moment sent an excuse on 
 account of indisposition ; this left us to be thirteen at 
 table ! Lord Lester refused to be seated till a young 
 officer had been sent for and had been given time to 
 array himself. ' You know the superstition ! ' he said 
 to me. I laughingly told him I had heard of it, but 
 never saw it officially recognized before. 'Well,' he 
 said, 'a painful case greatly shocked society here 
 lately. A gentleman, whose hospitalities were proverb- 
 ial, here, found himself and thirteen guests about sit- 
 ting down at table, when one of them was peremptorily
 
 "THE PEOPLE'S KINO IN AMERICA." 233 
 
 called away. ' This leaves us thirteen,' said the host, 
 carelessly, ' but if it means death, I shall be the victim, 
 for I am much older than any of you.' They made an 
 unsuccessful effort to fill the vacant seat, and the party 
 was constrained and gloomy. Next morning the host 
 died of apoplexy. The sad circumstance created a pro- 
 found impression. I am not superstitious, but I would 
 not risk making my guests uncomfortable.' I was in 
 the mood to be impressed, and I brooded over the 
 superstition long after I had retired." 
 
 " Let me say about that, before you proceed," inter- 
 rupted the Professor, " that this mystic superstition 
 dates back to the beginning of the Christian era, and 
 there is a legend that good King Arthur's Round Table 
 was provided among others with thirteen seats to repre- 
 sent the Apostles of our Lord ; twelve for the faithful, 
 and one for Judas, who betrayed Him. The most val- 
 iant knights occupied the twelve, and if one of these 
 died, his seat was unoccupied till some Knight of equal 
 distinction could be found worthy to take the vacant 
 place. An unworthy candidate was repelled by magic. 
 Only once was the thirteenth seat taken, and then the 
 haughty Saracen Knight, who intruded, was rewarded 
 by the earth yawning beneath and swallowing him. 
 From that time, thirteen hundred years ago, men have 
 dreaded the thirteenth seat, and the disasters which 
 from time to time have befallen its occupants have mul- 
 tiplied into fatal precedents, and taken the place of the 
 lost tradition." 
 
 All were silent till at last Tom asked permission, and 
 resumed his reading. " But you will want to hear from 
 the De Luynes. They are better and less wretched there, 
 and I visit them daily. I have long conversations with
 
 231 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 Madame De Luynes, which seem to do her good, and 
 she bears her bereavement better as time passes, and 
 speaks beautifully of death and the hereafter. Miss 
 Ethel Lytton is her sister reproduced, which means 
 everything complimentary of a woman. Tell Robert, 
 little Ethel progresses finely, and the child's mother 
 wants to add Holt to the name she is called by. She 
 says she dreamed Maurice bade her do so, and she 
 knows the idea would have pleased him as it has 
 pleased her. In that case he would have to address 
 his little protegee, as ' Ethel Carlotta Holt De Luynes.' 
 ' Carlotta Holt ' would sound well, but the whole name 
 does not euphonize." 
 
 " Strange ! the child must have been christened," 
 said Tom. 
 
 " Oh, yes," added Robert, " but another name might 
 be used conventionally." 
 
 " He has thought of that before," remarked Tom to 
 his father, when next they were alone. But the Pro- 
 fessor saw nothing astray in Carlo tta's suggestion, nor 
 in Robert's willingness to lend his name to the child. 
 
 " Yes," observed Tom, with a faint smile. " The 
 child is dear to him, and its mother feels the warmest 
 gratitude toward Robert Holt, while she suffers the 
 deepest of human afflictions. Bolton wrote, though I 
 did not read it aloud, ' Miss Lytton will shortly visit 
 the Winthrops in Boston, quietly? whatever that means, 
 and as if one could be quiet in that hospitable old 
 mansion." 
 
 " I suppose Madame De Luynes will accompany her," 
 said the Professor. " I understood the journey was 
 merely for her, and to try the effects of change. Of 
 course they will be quiet and will not receive."
 
 " THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 235 
 
 Father and son read for some time in silence. At 
 length the Professor handed him a letter and said, 
 " Tom, your dear little mother seems disquieted about 
 
 you." 
 
 " About me ! " Tom answered, astonished. 
 
 "Well, she gathers from your letters that you have 
 formed an attachment, but you do not seem to have 
 shown her any purpose in your suit. She thinks this 
 unfair to yourself and to the young lady. As usual, 
 she is right. Head the letter, and we will speak about 
 it again. Your mother made an early marriage, and she 
 believes in it." 
 
 " I have had no secrets from you, father. When I learn 
 more, you shall know it ; if I am not to be married early, 
 the fault will not be mine." 
 
 " You know I must leave Amarica now in a few days," 
 observed the Professor. " I supposa you will remain." 
 
 " Yes, if my leave can be extended," replied Tom. 
 
 " We must see to that," the father answered ; and they 
 went out to pay calls. 
 
 An hour later Tom returned alone ; he picked up the 
 evening paper, and his eye caught in flaring headings 
 over a British cable, " The Times demands reorganiza- 
 tion and a dissolution. Professor Conant to be Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the Commons." 
 As usual, the real text was a little milder than the 
 flaring caption ; but the Times did urge that dissolution 
 was desirable, and stated that no Liberal Cabinet would 
 be acceptable which did not include the Professor. 
 
 "Things seem almost settled," said Tom, after his 
 father came back. 
 
 "It is only a newspaper paragraph," observed the 
 Professor, modestly.
 
 236 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " But Bolton says it is sure to come," said Tom with 
 confidence. 
 
 "And when it comes, my son," slowly replied the 
 Professor, "it will add loads of care and burden to 
 your father's life. But if all this fleeting popularity 
 would sustain me, I might do good ; yet, perhaps, ere 
 my feet were in the stirrups the people would abandon 
 me, and be found running after new idols." 
 
 Tom had just now received a letter from Agnes, which 
 he hastened away to read, and which put him in great 
 spirits. The letter was promptly answered, but we will 
 not disclose the secrets of the correspondence further 
 than this, that it announced Carlotta's expected visit in 
 two weeks with Miss Lytton and little Ethel. The visit 
 was a secret, known only to Uncle Horace and George. 
 But Agnes felt very sure that Madame De Luynes would 
 forgive them if Tom and Eobert should come, and she 
 notified them to govern themselves accordingly. 
 
 That night, Lord Bolton arrived, and was full of his 
 projected visit to the "West, but disappointed that Tom 
 could not go. He took leave of his friends, and was to 
 undertake the journey next morning. 
 
 Tom parted from him with regret. His Lordship 
 promised to write often, and to return in a few weeks. 
 
 The Professor, on the invitation of the British Minis- 
 ter, was to pay a flying visit to Washington, and Mr. 
 "Winthrop was to meet him there : the party was to be 
 absent for a week. There was an extra session of Con- 
 gress, so that the Professor met some of the great men, 
 and saw 'all the politicians in Washington. Of course 
 current political topics engrossed attention. 
 
 Professor Conant listened to the debates and was 
 instructed in the theories of those who see prosperity
 
 " THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 237 
 
 for the poor man in high prices. He was astonished to 
 learn that England was scattering gold throughout 
 America, to bribe the way for the starvation of the toil- 
 ing masses here. He did not believe the theory, but he 
 was prejudiced, perhaps, and his ear inclined to those 
 who pleaded for such fiscal provisions as would enable 
 them to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest 
 market. " I am a free-trader, but theories may be 
 plausible, and even practicable here, which in our dif- 
 ferent circumstances we could not tolerate in England. 
 Your vast resources leave you room for waste, which 
 we could not afford in my country," said Dr. Conant. 
 "When his attention was called to the enormous national 
 surplus, he simply observed, " I suppose all the money 
 is derived from the taxation of your people. It might 
 have been a half more, or a half less, as the taxation 
 was increased or diminished. But your vast resources, 
 and varieties of climate and production, especially in 
 your prosperous days, will accumulate wealth, in spite 
 of burdens. I suppose you must have revenues here for 
 the general expenses of administration. Your people 
 would not bear direct taxation, though that would be 
 cheaper and more logical, so that in this country it is 
 not a question of whether you will impose duties, but 
 at what point you will draw the line." 
 
 The Professor attended a reception at the White 
 House that night, and when he saw how the crowd 
 persecuted the poor President with their loyal atten- 
 tions, he laughingly said, " It might be worth a battle 
 or two to fight democracy back a little, and put the 
 President on an elevation, as to the familiar greet- 
 ings he encountered, so that everybody could not un- 
 ceremoniously reach him."
 
 238 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 He was delighted, in conversation with high digni- 
 taries, at the freedom they indulged in the discussion 
 of affairs, and he specially noted some remarks about a 
 case which involved bribery. 
 
 " Other crimes," said one of the Judges, " according 
 to the popular idea, may involve greater depravity, but 
 nothing can be more dangerous to the public welfare. 
 We have lately emerged from a great war, and as it has 
 been among other people in similar circumstances, the 
 plain truth is that corruption abounds. It carries a 
 dagger aimed at the national heart, and is full of dan- 
 ger to our liberties and a menace to the existence of 
 the government ; the people should combine to crush 
 it as one man. You cannot reach it in the ordinary 
 way ; it is so often exercised in the interest of one or 
 other political party." 
 
 " Bribery is common among us in England," the 
 Professor said to himself, " but its putrid breath is not 
 perhaps so often detected in high places." 
 
 And so, from group after group, as they passed and 
 repassed each other, he learned something new on sub- 
 jects which he might have read or thought of before, 
 but which he had never heard discussed by human lips 
 on the threshold of Democratic authority. Men were 
 not less honest here, he thought, even if corruption 
 were more extended, because in this country every man 
 has a voice, though some men might be open to influ- 
 ences that would silence it ; but in older countries, 
 the voice of the same class is- silent, and having no 
 influences to sell, these people are not liable to be 
 tempted. It was the old story over again, of Democracy 
 and the tempter abroad. 
 
 The young men had met kindred spirits among the
 
 " THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 233 
 
 Civil Service, at tlie Embassy, and among young officers 
 of the Army. Tom s position, as the son of his father, 
 would have given him the entree anywhere ; but he was 
 not less run after because he was an officer of the 
 Guards ; and Robert and Fred were not less esteemed 
 chiefly on their own merits, let us hope, and because 
 they were pleasant and entertaining gentlemen ; but it 
 may have entered the heads of their entertainers that 
 the one was the son of a rich Baronet, and the other 
 well connected himself a young man of fortune. How- 
 ever it was, they were petted and pampered by the 
 simple Republican society of the capital They re- 
 ceived callers, and they returned calls. Hops were 
 fashionable, and they attended them, and to their seduc- 
 tive influence, they all, more or less, succumbed, and 
 Boston ran the risk of being forgotten as Fred's respon- 
 sive heart glowed with admiration of the women he met 
 in Washington. 
 
 The Professor, with his friends, drove about the 
 beautiful city next day, but everything they saw has 
 been so often described by cunning pens that we abstain 
 from following them. There was a dinner at the Brit- 
 ish Embassy, and Attorney-General Burrows, who had 
 parted from him under duress, was a fellow-guest, as he 
 had been lately a fellow-passenger. He was full of the 
 disasters of the Alaric, which had grown an old story 
 with the Professor, and he listened to it as to a twice- 
 told tale ; when Mr. Burrows recalled his acquaintance 
 witli De Luynes, whose accomplishments and brilliant 
 talk he admired, the Professor's sympathies were ex- 
 cited, and his eyes were moistened with tears. 
 
 " He was a fine fellow," said Mr. Burrows, " gentle, 
 with a heart full of kindness, and mental faculties of a
 
 240 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 rare order." He explained that his own family and 
 friends had arrived safely, and listened with interest to 
 what the Professor told him of the experiences of him- 
 self and party. " Poor Miss Boberts," he added, " she 
 was a lovely character ; I knew her well. For the last 
 two years she had adorned society here." 
 
 The Professor sat at the right of the British Minister, 
 and for some time they spoke of home gossip and 
 political affairs. At length his Lordship said, "The 
 Americans are striving to correct a great abuse, and I 
 hope not with indifferent success. They are reforming 
 their Civil Service. As things have been, this service 
 was a creature of the party patronage, and its reforma- 
 tion was difficult to approach. The rule here has been 
 * to the victors belong the spoils,' and many civil ser- 
 vants knew that their appointments were not for fitness, 
 and that their successors would have their places when 
 their enemies came into power. Their party levied on 
 them for a percentage of their emoluments wherever 
 expenditures were required. They knew that in that 
 way the party disbursements were really paid out of 
 the general public fund, so they might naturally say, 
 why should not these funds contribute to our conven- 
 ience as well as theirs ? If they became dishonest pub- 
 lic servants, here was the entering wedge ; and they 
 knew, moreover, no matter how distinguished their ser- 
 vices, that they were likely to be bundled out with their 
 party when its time came. There was little encourage- 
 ment for honest service, and it was, to a great extent, 
 both dishonest and inefficient. We understand the 
 question at home, and we know how important it is 
 that the Civil Service should be removed from party 
 patronage. They are trying the experiment here now,
 
 " THE PEOPLE'S KINO IN AMERICA." 241 
 
 because there is a clamor for a change ; but it may be 
 doubted if either party is honestly ready to promote it. 
 Political patronage," added the Professor, " is a great 
 source of corruption if dishonestly dispensed ; there are 
 many things to be said against us, but in this particular 
 we are moving in the right direction." 
 
 " Our politics has this great advantage," observed 
 the Minister. " There are multitudes in this country to 
 whom politics is a trade. With civil service reform, 
 the occupation of these men would be gone ; so, you 
 see, it will not be really accomplished without a battle." 
 
 "It seems to ma very plain," remarked the Professor, 
 " that the civil servant is an officer of the State, and 
 should be the henchman of neither one party nor the 
 other. His services should be rendered as is his fealty, 
 which is due to the whole country. He should have 
 no favorites, he should hold office only during good 
 behavior, and should neither look for, nor accept a 
 favor. The public service could not otherwise be well 
 conducted. On what other principle could the affairs 
 of a bank or a private corporation be administered? 
 How could a merchant conduct his business with 
 ignorant clerks, who are never to be depended upon 
 and who are always changing? " 
 
 " These are questions which in this country the peo- 
 ple have to answer," said Lord Gough, " and the 
 nation can never have an honest service nor an efficient 
 administration till they have settled them." 
 
 " It will all come in good time," said the Professor. 
 " Fifty years ago we could not have dreamed of the 
 purity of administration which we have since achieved 
 in England." 
 
 " Do you think it fair," inquired Mr. Burrows, " that 
 11
 
 242 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 there should be no rotation in office ? Is one man to 
 be forever preferred, and his neighbor forever debarred, 
 from enjoying it?" "Assuredly," replied the Pro- 
 fessor, " unless the public good requires a change. 
 Office is not one of the privileges which the State under- 
 takes to confer upon the citizen. If it were so, every 
 man would have a claim, and there is no safety except 
 in the country's demanding the best service and the 
 highest qualifications from her men in office." " That 
 is a plausible doctrine," remarked Mr. Winthrop, " but 
 under its teaching parties would be shorn of half their 
 strength." 
 
 "Then the sooner the better," responded the Pro- 
 fessor. " Petty patronage is the curse of parties, and 
 their selfish exercise of it is a menace to the free in- 
 stitutions of any country." 
 
 " What a pity it is that the subject could not be as 
 summarily disposed of before the country as we can 
 treat it here," observed the Attorney General. 
 
 The conversation here grew more diffused; they 
 spoke of Mexico and the labor strikes, of research and 
 the exploration of the Polar seas ; of Germany and her 
 massive concentrations ; of Republican France, her 
 strength and her peril ; and of Ireland, her progress 
 and her reaction, her desperation and her hope. 
 
 " Why do you not give her Home Rule ? " said a 
 voice. " My countrymen would grant that if she would 
 be satisfied," replied the Professor. "The disposition 
 to do Ireland that measure of justice is growing, but 
 the effect of extreme and violent courses is to retard it." 
 
 There were to be no toasts, and the host, who evi- 
 dently dreaded an explosion, rose from the table and 
 his guests followed him. They found Lady Gough
 
 " THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 243 
 
 with several distinguished ladies in the drawing-room. 
 Meantime, His Excellency the President had dropped 
 in unceremoniously, and the kindly interchange of 
 thought and of courtesies continued until a late hour. 
 
 " I ought to apologize to your Ladyship," said the 
 Professor in taking his leave, "and to the ladies every- 
 where during my visit ; for I suppose it is altogether 
 my fault that the conversation wanders among dry 
 political subjects." 
 
 "Nothing could be more interesting in this country," 
 said an American lady. "You won our hearts by 
 appreciating our public affairs at a critical period, and 
 it is fitting, now you are among us, that we should 
 enjoy your counsel and criticism. We can always dis- 
 cuss society, the balls and the opera, the latest novels 
 and plays, or the more recent flirtations and engage- 
 ments ; but Prof. Conant is not always with us, to shed 
 light upon graver questions, and besides, they are fuller 
 of interest to us all than you imagine." 
 
 " Well, yes. If I were to write a book of my travels, 
 and describe all the startling incidents of my tour and 
 the accidents we have encountered, I think perhaps 
 some serious talks on popular subjects might be tolera- 
 ted as padding -, and besides its being instructive, my 
 story would be relieved by it." 
 
 " Yes, you ought to write such a work," urged Lady 
 Gough. " I know you would speak racily of many 
 things and prosily of none ; not dwelling too long on 
 descriptions, and thus magnifying ths author at the ex- 
 pense of the reader." 
 
 "When I send you an advance copy of my book, 
 you will see that your hints have been remembered," 
 laughingly remarked the Professor.
 
 244 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 Fred Cuthbert had been, as usual, one of the even- 
 ing's entertainments. " He is so full of good nature, 
 and so determined to please," said one of the ladies. 
 " And everything he says is so sparkling and piquant" 
 added another. 
 
 " Do you think him a wit ? " asked a young officer, 
 who was half inclined to be piqued at the attention Fred 
 received from the ladies, or, as he put it more tersely, 
 at "the infernal noise he made." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! I am not a judge of wit," replied the lady 
 addressed, half startled at his tone ; " but what he does 
 and says is funny if it is not witty. His manner is so 
 droll, when he chooses, and all his hits are good- 
 natured and make us laugh. Don't you like him, Capt. 
 Strong?" 
 
 " Oh, immensely ! " was the latter's reply. 
 
 Fred had said some frivolous thing at the club that 
 afternoon which had been misunderstood, and he 
 frankly apologized. He forgot the incident soon after, 
 but Capt. Strong remembered it. " These English- 
 men," he had remarked, " are churlish and unbearable." 
 There was nothing more of it then, but a year afterward 
 Fred would heap coals of fire on his head in London, 
 and he would tell Miss Alice in a mood of confidence 
 how much he admired her brother here, and how little 
 he had understood him in America. We shall violate 
 no confidence by informing the reader that the hand- 
 some young officer would not have said so much, but 
 that he and Miss Alice, with Fred's consent, had been 
 cultivating great interest in each other. 
 
 Robert and Tom had not been idle observers of the 
 evening s picture. They were accustomed to society, 
 to luxurious rooms and magnificent decorations, and
 
 . " THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 245 
 
 they were no strangers to the social elegance in which 
 they mingled ; but it did happen that they saw here a 
 man and there a woman blazing in diamonds and in 
 dress at once ill-fitting and extravagant, while they ex- 
 pressed eccentric views in a version of the English lan- 
 guage which Lindley Murray would never have recog- 
 nized. 
 
 " Wall, I done it once for them fellers," said an old 
 Bonanza Politician in their hearing, " and I ain't agoin' 
 to do it agin." 
 
 "And 'tain't no kind o' use," said his pretty young 
 wife, whose diamonds fairly dazzled Tom. " They 
 don't know nothin' about society, and English folks is 
 kind o' pa'tic'lar, and wouldn't want 'em ; if 'twant that 
 you're a Politician, you might a run after him for a week 
 and Lord Gough wouldn't 'ave asked 'em." 
 
 " And they ain't no ornament when they git here," 
 said the husband haughtily. 
 
 " They're good but they ain't cultsred," added the 
 wife, " and I don't see why we should carry 'em into 
 good society if they did vote for us. I guess they got 
 paid out o' that one hundred thousand dollars it cost." 
 
 " They'll be darned mad," said the Magnate appre- 
 hensively. 
 
 " Well, let 'em," rejoined the woman, " you can buy 
 'em agin." 
 
 Tom laughed and turned away. Democratic as he 
 was, it was too much even for Robert. . " Who are 
 they ? " he asked a young attache at his side. 
 
 " They are a product of American Democracy," 
 replied the latter. " A rich mine, vulgar ambition, and 
 corruptible electors did it all. I know the old man 
 well ; he is pursuing a claim upon an estate in England,
 
 PROFESSOR CONANT. t 
 
 and sometimes comes to talk to me about it. It cost 
 him a great deal to get here, but he has no idea of his 
 unfitness or his vulgarity. He says public life is a 
 great burden and expense, but he intends to reimburse 
 himself. He tells us that the lobbyists won't get much 
 out of him if they don't * chalk up,' and if they aro 
 stingy, he'll ' jine the anti-monopolists.' He is an acci- 
 dent ; there are not many such men." 
 
 " One is enough," quietly observed Eobert. 
 
 " His position gives him the entree ; we have to invite 
 such people now and then," said the attache. " His 
 pretty wife has friends among the newspapers, and 
 the British Lion would fare hard if she were slighted 
 by the British Minister. There are only two or three 
 such people here to-night. They are too feeble to per- 
 vert the ways of fashion. Everybody expects to meet 
 them and they disturb nobody." 
 
 " Oh, it's nothing strange," said Tom, " though the 
 language in such a place as this did startle one a little, 
 as the whole coarse broadside came down upon us. 
 Such a scene would be impossible in such surroundings 
 in England." 
 
 " Yes," observed Eobert, " because the same class of 
 people would not be represented at all there, and it is 
 only politics anywhere which would throw a man of 
 this kind among such people, but probably twenty 
 years from now, or less, you may meet his sons as 
 . educated gentlemen. Everybody votes in the United 
 States ; but in the United Kingdom a population of 
 thirty-five millions furnishes a constituency of only four 
 millions, because the poorest classes are not included. 
 That saves us some exhibitions of coarseness, though 
 poor people are not always vulgar ; but what about the
 
 " THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 247 
 
 material prosperity ? Do you think the ignorant, un- 
 enfranchised poor in England contribute as much to 
 the national wealth as the people this old man repre- 
 sents do in America? And don't you think the eleva- 
 tion of the poor, in the same way in England, would 
 create an element of national strength there as it does 
 here ? The people, long degraded, may sometimes 
 stagger under new responsibilities, their backs unac- 
 customed and their muscles untrained. But depend 
 upon it, on our part, we might train them for citizenship, 
 and they, on theirs, might contribute vastly more to the 
 wealth and prosperity of the state." 
 
 " Oh, Holt," said a voice, " you are always finding 
 excuses for the Yankees and damning England with 
 faint praise ; you are like John Bright, a friend of 
 every country but his own." 
 
 " I have often thought myself," said Tom, " that 
 Robert resembled Mr. Bright; but I don't think this 
 uncomplimentary to him." 
 
 The next morning the Professor received among his 
 callers several leading workingmen, who expressed 
 pride in his career ; and a deputation of colored citizens 
 signified their appreciation of his good work and their 
 hope that he might long be spared to pursue it. 
 
 To each of these deputations the Professor gave the 
 same advice : " Elevate your people ; educate your 
 children ; in no other way can you join the aristocracy 
 of intelligence, or enter the charmed circle of refine- 
 ment. You must study public questions. Ignorance 
 will be a barrier for all time, and in all countries. I do 
 not urge you to pursue the difficult paths of profound 
 scientific and classical learning ; you have not perhaps 
 the time, the opportunity, nor the inclination. But you
 
 248 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 may have access to books, and all you need will be 
 found in these, if well selected. You may be poor, but 
 so were most of the lights of your country. What they 
 accomplished you may imitate with more or less suc- 
 cess ; and if you never cast a vote until you have studied 
 its consequences, nor support a measure till you under- 
 stand it, and believe it will work for your country's 
 good, you will follow the best examples and reach the 
 highest rewards." He told the laboring men that 
 America was their paradise, and reminded their colored 
 brethren of the oceans of blood and treasure the nation 
 had expended for them. No record more glorious had 
 been written for any country, and no people more than 
 they owed gratitude and fealty to their government. 
 
 " These noble sentiments will be recorded everywhere, 
 sir," said an enthusiastic son of toil, " and will endear 
 your name to the people. In the past few weeks you 
 have done more than any Englishman, since Chatham, to 
 win for the masses you represent the sympathies of the 
 workingmen of this country." 
 
 " Would that the public men of both countries did 
 more such \vork as this," said Mr. Roberts. 
 
 " It would be more than difficult to do it in the same 
 way," observed Mr. Burrows. " The people of this 
 country are now ripe for such lessons ; and Conant is 
 the man from whom they want to learn them." 
 
 " With such men to lead both countries," remarked 
 Mr. Winthrop, "we should become practically one 
 people." 
 
 " Do you think England is likely to go back to pro- 
 tection ? " asked a rich manufacturer, who had been 
 waiting his chance. 
 
 " I do not," said the Professor.
 
 "THE PEOPLE'S KING IN AMERICA." 249 
 
 " We hear a good deal about fair trade." 
 
 " Yes, that has been spoken of," was the reply. 
 
 " I suppose by fair trade they mean protection," said 
 the other. 
 
 " No doubt," said the Professor, " but they dare not 
 say so. I think that English people are free traders ; 
 we all know what they were in the last generation, 
 under the teachings of Cobden and Bright. But they 
 were instructed on a large scale then, and could all 
 give reasons for the hope that was in them. The sub- 
 ject has not been much treated of late years in a popu- 
 lar way. Nearly all the writers on Political, Economy 
 have been free traders, but their books did not reach 
 the people as did the literature of the great agitators 
 in Cobden's time. The masses of the present genera- 
 tion of Englishmen have not much studied the question. 
 There may come a wave of popular discontent, and 
 there may be extraordinary changes. "We have be- 
 come so democratic now, and it is so .hard to tell what 
 popular opinion is on abstract questions, till you have 
 counted the votes, that it is dangerous to prophesy. 
 Notwithstanding all, you may class England as a free- 
 trade country. We should be glad to say as much of 
 yours ; but we can afford to wait. The late Mr. Web- 
 ster was a free-trader in early life. Some of his finest 
 speeches defend that theory. When reproached for in- 
 consistency in after-life, he said in effect, ' Yes, T advo- 
 cated free trade, and my State prospered under it. But 
 you forced us into a protective system, and now I strive 
 under that system to make the best terms possible for 
 her.' I think he still believed in the old doctrine ; but 
 I am not here to provoke controversy, and we may each 
 prosper walking our separate ways." 
 11*
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 HOMEWAED BOUND. 
 
 THEY were all to take a quiet tea next evening with 
 Mrs. Eoberts, whom they found greatly improved, 
 though a touching sadness pervaded the house, and on 
 the morrow they left Washington for New York by an 
 early train, through Baltimore and Philadelphia, cities 
 which the Professor regretted to pass without a visit. 
 He was anxious also to visit Chicago and the great 
 "West, but pressing cablegrams and letters admonished 
 Mm that he could not claim his own time further. So 
 he arranged to sail by the Wednesday steamer. 
 
 Professor Conant's occupations were henceforth en- 
 grossing, and he was obliged in consequence to decline 
 all invitations. The night before he left, however, he 
 gave at his hotel a dinner, followed by a reception, which 
 was made a notable event in New York society. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop, and Dr. Elmwood and his niece were 
 among the guests. George declined an invitation, 
 though he wrote a kind, sad letter of farewell. The 
 uncle and niece were to leave for Boston by the early 
 morning train, and as the Professor said, his instruc- 
 tive visit to America would soon be over. 
 
 At the dinner the Professor was profuse in his ex- 
 pressions of gratitude for the welcome he had received, 
 and his guests were warm and sympathetic as to the 
 pleasure his visit had given them.
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 251 
 
 " It has been a month of unusual interest to us all," 
 Dr. Elmwood observed, " and will be followed by happy 
 and far-reaching results." 
 
 Tom and Agnes had only a moment together, but 
 she reminded him of Carlotta's hurried visit next 
 week, and he promised for himself and Robert that 
 they would join them. Agnes reminded him that 
 Carlotta's friends were only seeking change for her, 
 and that nobody must know she was there. "With the 
 near prospect of bidding adieu to his father, and with 
 the sad scenes which the name of Madame De Luynes 
 suggested, Tom was moody and ill at ease. He ex- 
 plained all this to Agnes, who admired him for his ten- 
 derness of heart, and told him so; and though their 
 parting was sad, each knew, without saying so, that the 
 other was nearer and dearer than ever before. So 
 the evening passed, and the great party separated, 
 more like the members of a family saying farewell, 
 than like fashionable strangers who might never meet 
 again. 
 
 Next morning at breakfast, and just before the Pro- 
 fessor was leaving, he received a letter from Lord Les- 
 ter at Ottawa, expressing regret that he should not have 
 the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Conant at Government 
 House. " You ought to have come, if for nothing but 
 to show our people that they are within the range of a 
 British statesman's sympathies." The letter continued, 
 " Your visit to the States, your sayings and doings, and 
 every incident of your stay on this side are regarded by 
 us with the greatest interest. We all feel pride in your 
 success ; but, if I might take such a liberty with an old 
 friend, I would say that some of your compliments 
 might have been paid to your own colony. I fear this
 
 252 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 pompous gallop on the Democratic horse may raise 
 hopes among the common people at home, which, as 
 your responsibilities increase, you will find it difficult 
 to gratify. But as we began to disagree at college, and 
 have never been the worse friends for disagreeing, I sup- 
 pose we shall go on to the end, differing as to the best 
 way to govern, but always happy in our esteem for each 
 other. What else can I say but to wish you lion voyage, 
 my dear old friend, not only across the water, but 
 throughout your noble and laborious life, for I know 
 that you are going home to heavy work as well as to 
 high distinctions. As you are giving me the slip, how- 
 ever, I want your son to make a point of coming to see 
 me. I dare say we can amuse him, and I shall give 
 him carte Uanclie to bring his friends." 
 
 " What a gorgeous ass ! " said Fred. " He has been 
 sitting alone up there in the cold, till he is positively 
 jealous. Tho idea of his subjects being hurt because 
 you have said America is a great country ! Though I 
 do think it was a pity you could not go to Ottawa." 
 
 "Yes," said the Professor, "I have missed a great 
 deal, but I came here to take a rest." 
 
 "Which you have not done," observed Tom. 
 
 " Well, I should not have improved matters by taking 
 on double labor," remonstrated his father. " You must 
 write Lester, Tom, and visit him." 
 
 They drove to the wharf and found a number of 
 friends already aboard the steamer waiting to say 
 good-bye to Dr. Conant, and, as the boat steamed 
 slowly away, they sent after her hearty and repeated 
 cheers. 
 
 " God bless him ! he has done good work here," cried 
 Mr. Douglas.
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 253 
 
 " And he goes home even better fitted to be a leader 
 of the people," a voice replied. 
 
 " Trust him, oh, my countrymen ! " said Robert, " for 
 he dedicates a noble life to you ! " 
 
 Tom returned to his lodgings weary after a restless 
 night, and the still more restless excitement of the morn- 
 ing. His father was gone, to tempt again the perils he 
 had only lately escaped, and if he reached home safely, 
 which the son did not doubt, for he believed there was 
 still a great work for him to do to re-enter the turmoil of 
 politics, under conditions which would make him a con- 
 spicuous and responsible figure. Tom knew how much 
 of domestic sacrifice this maant ; at another time his re- 
 grets would have been chiefly for his mother ; but to- 
 day he was worried and lonely, and he felt that his father 
 was making a great personal sacrifice to the state. 
 "What would home be without him? " he asked him- 
 self, " and yet all his faculties will be absorbed now in 
 what they call higher work. Perhaps his love for us 
 will be as great, and his devotion as tender, but it will 
 be only an abstraction ; the living man will be occupied 
 and absorbed in public affairs. To me he has been 
 everything, my father, my brother, and friend. There 
 was always a kind word and a leisure hour at my ser- 
 vice. I shall only know him now on the hustings, in 
 the newspapers, and in Parliament. He will be a dis- 
 tinguished statesman, and his head and his heart will be 
 enlisted in the work of his country. General Elmwood 
 spoke Avith pride of his two sons who fought by his 
 side. Why should not I fight by the side of my father? 
 He discourages me because he would give me an easier 
 life. Have I no duties ? Would it be ignoble to throw 
 aside my profession of arms and enlist under his ban-
 
 254 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 ner ? He says I have the necessary gifts, but advises 
 me to shun the hardships of public life. Why should I 
 shun work ? I am but a creature of society ; why might 
 I not do good, win honors, and perhaps carry forward the 
 prestige of my name ? I am not altogether ignorant of 
 men or of public affairs. There will be a dissolution. 
 Why not win a seat in the Commons? That would 
 afford me opportunity. Why not make a career ? But I 
 should require to imitate my father's industry, his hon- 
 esty, his devotion to duty. I could do that, and I might 
 fall far behind him in many things, and yet be the equal 
 of men who have been useful and famous." After a 
 pause, he added, " No, marriage would not retard my 
 career; it would aid me. She is clever and good, 
 and would grace any position. But I must win her 
 first, and the way will then be open and clear before 
 me." 
 
 Tom fell asleep in his easy chair and dreamed that 
 he was at sea again. Far away, in a waste of waters, he 
 saw Agnes buffeting the waves and calling to him for 
 help. He was riveted to his chair by an unseen force. 
 He suffered agonies, but could neither move nor speak. 
 By-and-bye, a great white cloud gathered and rested 
 above the fainting and exhausted girl. Then the forms 
 of De Luynes and Miss Roberts emerged therefrom and 
 turned their smiling faces toward him. Agnes was 
 rescued and brought to his arms. He woke to find that 
 the grate was cold, and that a chilly blast was entering 
 the open window.
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 "THINE AND MINE." 
 
 OUR friends had all been invited to spend a few days 
 with Mr. Douglas at Newport. Robert and Fred would 
 go, but Tom was too dull, he said, and wanted to com- 
 mune with himself a little. The custom was growing 
 to prolong the summer at the watering-places, and many 
 families still remained. The young men were favorites 
 in society, and saw life in new colors. Robert, as usual, 
 enjoyed it all in a quiet way, but Fred was as rollicking 
 and boisterous as ever. He was in search of pleasure 
 and it abounded ; he desired to please and he succeeded ; 
 his droll conceits amused his friends and his sunny dis- 
 position shone for all. " His nature seems changed," 
 Holt wrote Tom; "we called him petulant, but his 
 good-nature is inexhaustible ; a cynic, but he never 
 snarls. He was to reform abuses, he used to tell us ; 
 but he has fallen in love with everything he came 
 out to condemn." 
 
 " Poor Fred," mused Tom, as he read this, " Robert 
 never understood him. His attempts at ill-nature were 
 always affectations, and since he has been here kind 
 feelings have been so much at high tide that he has 
 floated away from the old shoals ; and as for liking 
 what he sees here, all Englishmen will condemn 
 America less as they understand her better."
 
 256 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 No doubt our friends were all disposed to see tilings 
 couleur de rose; faults and misfortunes common to all 
 countries were passing every day under their eyes ; 
 peculiar abuses and prevailing extravagances, such as 
 could only exist under a system of democratic rule, 
 were not unobserved. Some, or all, of these were open 
 to improvement, or perhaps, to be reformed altogether ; 
 all around them lay abundant work for the statesman 
 and the philanthropist. They criticised as they went, 
 but their criticism was more in sorrow than in anger ; 
 and they meant it to be just and fair. If they saw an 
 abuse, they asked could it not be remedied ? If they en- 
 countered suffering, they looked for the means of relief. 
 Other critics, less fair, had fastened eagerly upon what- 
 ever they could unequivocally condemn. Was there 
 vulgarity ? Was there crime ? Was there political 
 maladministration? Their work was done con amore, 
 and they saw none of the conditions which might ex- 
 plain or extenuate the evils. But our travellers, like 
 Dr. Conant, noticed what they saw amiss, and they 
 studied the true cause and sought out the true remedy. 
 They had no prejudice against the government by the 
 people, and they hoped and believed the experiment 
 would not fail. 
 
 Tom had spent nearly a week alone at his lodgings ; 
 his despondency was wearing away among the good old 
 books he had been reading, many of whose ideas were 
 fresh to him, and dozens of Avhose heroes had undergone 
 greater trials than had befallen him. He had just re- 
 ceived a hurried letter from Agnes, which announced the 
 arrival of the De Luynes the day before. Of the party 
 there were, she said, Madame De Luynes, Ethel Lytton, 
 and the baby, and they were accompanied by Gustave
 
 " THINE AND MINE." 257 
 
 Lamothe, who would only remain a day longer, and had 
 taken lodgings at the hotel Carlotta was still improv- 
 ing. It was touching to see her habited in deep mourn- 
 ing. She was all grace and loveliness, but so frail, that 
 a breath might blow her away. Uncle Horace took a 
 deep interest in her sad story, and she seemed to turn 
 to him as if for rest and help. George had greeted 
 Ethel like an old friend, and seemed to be his old self 
 again. She, dear girl, was stronger and more cheerful, 
 and then the baby came in for a paragraph of tender 
 caresses. Mr. Gustave Lamothe, she said, was last 
 but not least, for she liked him. Ethel had told her 
 he was a man of great worth, and had been, not only the 
 cousin, but the most trusted friend, of poor Maurice De 
 Luynes. He seemed worthy of all that ; and Agnes want- 
 ed Tom to know him, because he should know all good 
 people. " After all," she continued, " he is not half so 
 good as somebody I know, who shall be nameless, and why 
 should I care ? Ah, but I do ! there must be a reason, 
 do you know it ? And I have never explained it even to 
 you. To-day some ladies called on Madame De Luynes, 
 but they were told she did not receive. I hope that 
 will finish the callers. But she joins us all in wishing 
 to see you and Mr. Holt ; she spoke of him much to- 
 day, as she fondled little Ethel. ' Dear Eobert Holt,' 
 she said passionately, * where would my darling have 
 been now but for you ? ' And now I must close, and 
 you will come at once, won't you ? Uncle says you 
 should take the morning train. Dear good Uncle 
 Horace ! he has promised to spend the week at home, 
 and help to entertain my friends. Is he not kind ? " 
 
 " Is he disinterested," thought Tom, but he was alone, 
 and said nothing. " Horace Winthrop is still a young
 
 258 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 man," he went on musing, " full of poetry and of a fas- 
 cinating presence. His high position and his great 
 gifts should not tell against him. The human heart is 
 unfathomable. Is it true that sometimes great bereave- 
 ments dispose us to new friendships, and that, as time 
 passes, these ripen into tenderness ? " Robert, he was 
 sure, would meet him in Boston next day. 
 
 Tom rose the next morning full of new purposes in 
 life. He thought he saw the way, and he had already 
 written his father ; he knew the Professor would not per- 
 sistently dissuade him, if he was really in earnest. He 
 knew, too, if he decided to go to work, it was because 
 he would have a helpmeet who would profit by his ex- 
 ertions. That Agnes loved him, he never doubted, 
 though she had never told him so ; she knew his love, 
 and she encouraged it with her innocent and girlish 
 ways, but when he was serious, she parried his ques- 
 tions ; yet he had not dreamed he could live without 
 her or that she expected him to do so. Perhaps their 
 lives had run too smoothly and their intercourse had 
 been too unrestrained for the exercise of exaggerated 
 romantic feeling. He expected her to take her seat at 
 his side in the new English life he was proposing, and 
 he knew she would comfort him with her love, and sus- 
 tain him with her sympathy and good sense. They 
 were both young, would it be wise to delay ? Not as 
 Tom accounted wisdom. Agnes Winthrop was his idol 
 and his ideal. Without her he could not live, and with 
 her all things would be possible. 
 
 Absorbed with such thoughts he journeyed to Boston 
 alone, and arrived at Mr. Winthrop's in time for dinner, 
 where he found only the De Luynes and Holt. Agnes 
 welcomed him in high spirits ; all their friends were so
 
 " THINE AND MINE." 259 
 
 much improved, she said, and George and Ethel had 
 just returned from a drive. Madame De Luynes's wel- 
 come was sad but cordial, and as she went into dinner 
 on the Senator's arm, Tom thought he had never seen 
 more sweetness and grace. "I have just met your 
 friend, Mr. Cuthbert, on the street," said Agnes ; " he 
 has been staying with my uncle in Bloomfield a day or 
 two, and they came up to the city together. I ventured 
 so far to relax a certain rule as to ask them to call in 
 the morning, and Madame De Luynes has forgiven me," 
 she added, smiling. 
 
 " Yes," explained Eobsrt, " he tired of Newport, and 
 went to pay a promissd visit to Bloomfield." 
 
 " Queer," said Tom, " I did not know of his promise." 
 
 " I dare say my cousin will make it jolly for him," 
 observed Agnes, " and he is sure to make it pleasant for 
 them all." 
 
 They were interrupted by the laughter of little Ethel 
 who made her way to Robert's knee. His face wore a 
 look of triumph, and everybody had compliments for 
 the child. The conversation was at first quiet and re- 
 strained, and each feared the suggestion of painful 
 thoughts, till Gustave inadvertently replied to some 
 observation in French, and then the others all followed 
 his example, and the good old English was banished for 
 the evening. 
 
 The Senator understood the language, he said, yet 
 from want of practice he was not an expert talker ; but 
 Gustave declared his pronunciation was perfect, and 
 Madame De Luynes observed that all he said he said 
 well. 
 
 " Oh ! you are a nation of flatterers," the Senator 
 said laughingly; but the diversion relieved the re-
 
 260 PEOFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 straints, and the conversation was once more lively and 
 general. 
 
 Madame De Luynes recalled her school days in Bos- 
 ton, and inquired for her early friends, and Mr. Win- 
 throp gave charming pictures of Boston life and man- 
 ners twenty years ago. He spoke of his home and 
 his work in Washington, of society there, its elegance 
 and its eccentricities. There was magnetism in his 
 manner, and grace and humor in his descriptions. 
 Robert delivered himself of his impressions of New- 
 port, which were pleasant, and he spoke of the great 
 kindness he had received from many cultivated people 
 there. What struck him unfavorably, he said, was that 
 some of the people of great wealth seemed engaged in 
 a struggle as to who could display the greatest number 
 of ducats in the most ostentatious and extravagant 
 style. 
 
 Tom and Agnes remarked to each other that George 
 and Miss Lytton were speaking English, but as they 
 made no accusations the offence was not noticed, and 
 the fact has not been established to this day. Gustave 
 was a good talker and took an active share in the con- 
 versation. 
 
 " Canada affords peculiar facilities for acquiring the 
 French language. I have wondere d that Americans do 
 not more generally patronize our schools. For such 
 a purpose they are as good and more convenient than 
 those of France and Germany." Miss Lytton suggested 
 that many Catholic children were sent to Canada from 
 the States. 
 
 " And do you think that but for religious difference 
 more Protestants would study the language there ? " 
 
 " It may be so. But the chief cause is to be found
 
 " THINE AND MINE." 261 
 
 in the belief which prevails more or less in this country 
 that the French in Canada speak and write a patois" 
 
 " Ah ! we are provincials, of course, but they have 
 these in France, and they differ in their pronunciation. 
 The Greek has dialects, but we have not corrupted la 
 belle langue. Do you remember that our young Poet 
 Laureate received an ovation from his countrymen in 
 New England the other day ? Well, during his brilliant 
 speech, he apostrophized the native-born American, and 
 alluded especially to this subject. He had just at- 
 tained high literary distinction, and had lately published 
 two additional collections of poems for which he had been 
 crowned by the French Academy an honor, I believe, 
 not hitherto conferred upon any other American. He 
 said : ' There is a class of people who would teach you 
 that French can only be spoken in Paris, or by those 
 who have been educated there. I would not sound my 
 own praises, but I must meet slander with truth. I 
 never studied in France ; I was educated at the Quebec 
 Seminary, and I speak and write French as it was taught 
 me there. I offer you the opinion of the French Acad- 
 emy which recognized merit in my works, and honored 
 me, an humble Canadian poet and student, against the 
 teachings of those who would disparage the literature 
 and the scholarship of my native land.' Depend upon 
 it," Gustave continued, "that Harvard is not more 
 adept in the graces of the English than is the Univer- 
 sity of Laval in the belles lettres of her mother tongue. 
 All the conditions are so different that it is only in this 
 respect I should dare institute a comparison." 
 
 He gave his ideas upon the opera, the drama and 
 other subjects of more or less practical interest. To 
 him oratory was the highest gift, and music the most
 
 262 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 divine art ; but sometimes, lie said, the great masters 
 failed to impress him, while humbler performers often 
 enthralled him. He thought humor an outcome of 
 genius, and wit a scintillation from a higher life. He 
 related how, years before, he had loitered alone in the 
 streets of Boston, and had wandered aimlessly into the 
 Boston Museum. Poor John Brougham was producing 
 an Irish character, which was new to him. He had no 
 doubt the piece was now forgotten. He could not re- 
 call either the incidents or its name ; but partly, per- 
 haps because it was good, and it maybe chiefly because 
 his mood was propitious, he had all the time been con- 
 vulsed with laughter, and had never enjoyed a play 
 more. 
 
 When the ladies were about to withdraw, the Senator 
 asked permission to waive ceremony and accompany 
 them, and they passed the evening cosily in the little 
 parlor like a quiet family, at peace with themselves and 
 the world. 
 
 Next morning Gen. Elmwood, with his daughter and 
 Fred, came, and Agnes noticing their hilarity bade the 
 young people remember in whose presence they were. 
 They promised obedience, but Fred seemed to treat the 
 restraint as an excuse for closer communion, and they 
 consequently did not lose sight of each other. The 
 General was full of the glories of the exhibition, which 
 Avas being held in the city, and to which he was again 
 hastening, and the house continued as quiet as it had 
 been the day before. Tom had spoken seriously to 
 Agnes; she was not indifferent to his overtures, but 
 they were young and they could wait, she said. 
 
 " Do you love me, Agnes ? " 
 
 " Yes, with all my heart and soul," was the reply.
 
 "THINE AND MINE." 263 
 
 What could he do ? What did he do ? That after- 
 noon Mr. Winthrop had given his consent. " She is too 
 young," he had said to Tom. " But your father and I 
 have spoken of the matter, and I am acting for him as 
 well as for my sell Agnes is the apple of my eye, Capt. 
 Conant ; but I don't fear to give her to you." 
 
 " May God so deal with me as I shall deal with her," 
 said Tom with emotion. 
 
 He caught her in his arms ; " My darling," was all 
 he uttered, and she, permitting his embraces, whispered, 
 "Thine and Mine ! " From that hour Tom Conant and 
 Agnes Winthrop were to be all and all to each other. 
 It was arranged that Tom would return to England and 
 come back for her in the summer ; but the engagement 
 was to be a secret until after the holidays. 
 
 Presently the young couple sought the seclusion of 
 the park, where they were alone among hundreds 
 of people. For a time they were too selfish in their 
 happiness to care for the presence of others. Lan- 
 guage to them was no longer a symbol of ideas, and 
 they made scant use of it. The vocabulary of love is 
 not made up of spoken words ; a look, a pose, a smile, 
 a pressure of the hand may express unnumbered lights 
 and shades of passion. Words of endearment were too 
 faint and expressionless to paint their deep and over- 
 powering attachment. They had just entered a new 
 life, a paradise of bliss, a revelation, a beatitude ; they 
 did not for the time understand that others had been 
 there before, and that still others would follow them. 
 If he called her, " my darling," and she responded " my 
 love," what were these but common words which all the 
 world had used? Theirs was a grand exceptional pas- 
 sion. There was no othor man like Tom to love, and np
 
 264 PBOISS80& CONANT. 
 
 otlier woman like Agnes to love in return, and yet these 
 raptures must consume themselves and they must see 
 the world moving about them. 
 
 Let the artist who copied the sunbeam portray the 
 rhapsodies of love, and leave us the simpler pleasure of 
 wishing God-speed to the young lovers ! 
 
 " So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed 
 That withers away to let others succeed. 
 So the multitude comes, even those we behold, 
 To repeat every tale that has often been told." 
 
 Tom was to write at once to his father and mother the 
 joyful news which they were both expecting ; and Agnes, 
 who remembered to have met Lord Lester in London, 
 would try and persuade Uncle Horace and George to 
 accompany her on her visit to his Lordship in Canada. 
 George she thought would go, if Ethel could be induced 
 to join them. Tom took the hint and promised to do 
 his best to bring about this arrangement. 
 
 Meantime our prudent young lovers had permitted no 
 word of their new and happy relation to escape them ; 
 but perhaps if the others had been less absorbed, signs 
 might have been detected ; as it was the day passed and 
 the night fell without any suspicion among Mr. Win- 
 throp's guests that unusual events were transpiring. 
 Only George knew, and he seemed almost gay in his 
 congratulations. 
 
 "I think I could have loved you before Agnes, Tom," 
 said George, " if I had seen you as soon as she did. I 
 began to love you from the day you set your foot here. 
 Such things must happen, only it is hard to lose my 
 little sister. But even yet I may take my revenge," he 
 continued ; " and I shall find compensation in a big
 
 " THINE AND MINE." 265 
 
 brother. Take my blessing," he added, resting a hand 
 upon each, " and as for you, dear Agnes, may your joys 
 be as boundless as your brother's love." 
 
 " Oh, if you were happy, George ! " she said, nestling 
 close to his bosom. 
 
 " I dare not hope too much, little one, but it may 
 come sooner than you dream." 
 
 George went to the library in answer to a message 
 from his uncle, who awaited him there. " I have given 
 our little Agnes away, George," said Mr. Winthrop in a 
 tremulous voice. 
 
 " They have told me all, and you have done right," 
 replied George. " She will leave us next summer. Tom 
 was impatient of delay, but Agues must study another 
 year. It will all be over soon enough now." 
 
 " Yes, and ours will be a lonely house," observed his 
 uncle. " You ought to marry, my boy." 
 
 George was silent. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop continued, "You have suffered, but with 
 your temperament you should marry young ; and you 
 may even profit by the discipline of disappointment. 
 The companionship of a good woman will be the sheet- 
 anchor of your life ; without it you may grow morose 
 and misanthropic." 
 
 " This from you, sir ? " inquired George. 
 
 " You allude to the great mistake of my life," observed 
 the uncle. 
 
 " It is not too late to correct it," rejoined George. 
 "You are not old, and you have all the qualities that 
 should make a good woman happy." 
 
 " Wo will speak of my own case later," remarked Mr. 
 Winthrop, "but I have lately dreamed of conditions 
 which may in time render my case even hopeful ; the ex- 
 12
 
 266 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 amplo of dear little Agnes may make us a marrying 
 family ; but yours is more pressing ; the prize is within 
 your reach and should be appreciated." 
 
 " I know what you mean," returned George ; "-my posi- 
 tion is equivocal ; but, believe me, I am not indifferent." 
 
 " Your position will not distress a true woman ; she 
 will not love you less on account of your lost love. 
 Any woman knows that 
 
 " A stricken heart which loves anew 
 May be more tender and more true," 
 
 Gustave, pressed by engagements, was about to take 
 his leave, and it was arranged that Madame De Luynes 
 would return to Quebec, accompanied by Tom's party, 
 on a visit to Lord Lester. Tom had received a cable 
 from home, announcing his father's safe arrival, his find- 
 ing all well, and that important letters would follow by 
 mail. The week flew past like a happy dream to the 
 young people and the hour of Carlotta's departure was at 
 hand. They were all to go with her as far as Montreal, 
 a common point in their journey, and from thence 
 George and Bobert would escort Mme. De Luynes to 
 Quebec, the others ascending the river to Ottawa. 
 
 Ottawa is a prettily situated town on the river of that 
 name, having some beautiful natural scenery, a com- 
 manding position, and distinguished by a magnificent pile 
 of public buildings, of the Gothic style of architecture. 
 
 Government House, Lord Lester's residence, is situ- 
 ated in a fine park, some two miles from the town, but the 
 residence is only remarkable because the Queen's rep- 
 resentative lives there. It is long, low and rambling, and 
 has been made up piecemeal as the growing import- 
 ance of what has been miscalled Canada's court-life
 
 " THINE AND MINE." 267 
 
 expanded and required further accommodations ; but 
 it lias witnessed gay scenes and magnificent entertain- 
 ments under the patronage of quasi-royal forms and 
 ceremonies. A former Governor, whose successes in life 
 have been remarkable, made the place distinguished for 
 its princely hospitalities, and for the genial qualities 
 and rare gifts of its temporary incumbent. More than 
 any previous Governor he had endeared himself to his 
 guests and to the people, while his lovely Countess lent 
 grace and fascination to the scenes. As the successor 
 of such an incumbent, Lord Lester's task was difficult, 
 but he had proved equal to his work, while his august 
 wife, bearing a sweet presence and a great name, added 
 lustre to his administration. 
 
 The Parliament of the Dominion had been called 
 early this year, and would be re-opened on the morrow 
 by the Governor in person. The night before the open- 
 ing, His Excellency annually gave a great dinner, to 
 which his Ministers and Privy Councillors and the 
 great officers of State were invited. Of course the din- 
 ner would take place that night, and Tom and his 
 friends who had been invited, modestly asked permis- 
 sion to decline, as, being strangers, they would feel 
 themselves out of place at a great state dinner ; but 
 they were told by the aide-de-camp in waiting that they 
 must accept the invitation in deference to the wishes 
 of Her Excellency, who had requested that ceremony 
 should be waived in their favor. 
 
 The old house was en fete under the gas-light, and its 
 tasteful decorations made the scene a gay one. As 
 they entered the great dining-hall, Tom noticed that 
 there were covers for a large party, and that no ladies 
 were present ; but he was told that the wives and
 
 2G8 PROFESSOR CON ANT. 
 
 daughters of the ministers and other guests would 
 arrive later in the evening. A fine band discoursed 
 music at a convenient distance, and a Highland piper 
 now and then strolled majestically round the table, and 
 contributed to swell the melodies. 
 
 It was a goodly company ; the varied uniforms and 
 decorations blended prettily, and it was all more like 
 "home" than anything Tom had seen in America. 
 " Poor De Luynes," he thought, "should have had a 
 place among these magnates. I wonder which of them 
 all does not at heart, though he may bask in the favor 
 of the men who crushed Maurice, cherish the doctrines 
 for which they proscribed him ? " 
 
 There sat next to Tom a civil servant, an intelligent 
 man who had been a Member of Parliament, and who 
 seemed disposed to be sociable. They discussed the 
 civil service, which Tom thought nearly perfect in 
 England ; but his neighbor only thought it better as it 
 was farther removed from politics. 
 
 " But your civil service is not political, is it ? " in- 
 quired Tom. 
 
 " Theoretically, no," was the reply ; " but I suppose 
 the incumbents generally owe their position to politics." 
 
 " Yes, they are all appointed on the recommendation 
 of Ministers, no doubt," said Tom ; " but the system is 
 different here from that in the States." 
 
 "To this extent we appoint for life." 
 
 "Are there ever dismissals for political reasons? " 
 
 " Such reasons would not be avowed,' 5 replied the 
 other cautiously. " But there are advantages in having 
 the sympathy of the strong side, and disadvantages 
 in being known to have sprung from the weak one. 
 Suppose I had been appointed by the last government,
 
 " THINE AND MINE." 269 
 
 it would be a miracle if I should get favors from the 
 present." 
 
 " That seems hard," observed Tom ; "I should not 
 think Lester would permit it. A great deal was ex- 
 pected at home from his administration here." 
 
 " Pardon me if I say," said his friend, " that there is 
 misapprehension at home about the functions of the 
 Queen's representative here. It is common to read in 
 the leading journals of Lord So-and-So's (meaning the 
 Governor's) successful administration in Canada. I do 
 not discuss his constitutional powers, but if they gave 
 him the right to mould the policy of his administration, 
 it has fallen into disuse. Practically speaking, His Ex- 
 cellency is a figure-head ; the government is that of his 
 Prime Minister. Once in a while, if there happens to 
 be friction, we hear of the Governor's constitutional 
 powers ; but in moulding a policy, any power he is 
 supposed to have, is exercised so seldom that our 
 people have forgotten that he possesses any, or that it 
 amounts to much." 
 
 " He is one of the estates of the realm," said Tom. 
 
 " Yes, and as such he assents to bills, replies to ad- 
 dresses, and entertains by giving dinners and balls." 
 
 " Then, why not abolish the office ? " Tom persisted. 
 
 " Because it is almost the last remnant of Imperial 
 connection," was the significant reply. "We love Eng- 
 land because we sprang from her and she fostered us ; 
 but year by year our relations have grown anomalous 
 and illogical. Our people will not listen to the truth, 
 and you Englishmen are too busy to consider it. But 
 there would be an awakening if we should. elect our 
 Governor some day." 
 
 " This is plain talk from headquarters," Tom thought
 
 270 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 " One wonders to what extent this gentleman represents 
 Canadian opinion. Oh ! if there were an enchantment 
 to disclose what the people want, what public opinion 
 is, or will be, at a given time, what statesmen we might 
 all become, and how many ruthless political disappoint- 
 ments might be avoided ! " 
 
 When dinner was over and they had all sought the 
 drawing-room, they found a largo number of ladies and 
 gentlemen, guests who had been bidden to come later 
 in the evening, together with the ladies of the house- 
 hold, mingling among them. Her Excellency was in 
 earnest conversation with Miss Winthrop. She sig- 
 nalled Tom to approach them. 
 
 "You can help us," said my lady. "Miss Winthrop 
 is trying to explain to me your late dreadful experiences 
 at sea." Tom answered her questions respectfully, and 
 at length she complained of cold, and picking up a bit 
 of wood from the corner in which she was standing she 
 cast it into the grate as unconcernedly as though it had 
 been the business of her life. She asked Tom if he 
 liked the country, and remarked that she had herself 
 been very fond of it since she came to it. Her physi- 
 cians, however, had found it too cold for her health, 
 and the newspapers had construed her absence into 
 dislike. They had done her a great injustice, and she 
 hopsd her friends would everywhere contradict the 
 story on her authority. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop enjoyed an evening's conversation on 
 favorite topics with charming people, and Fred told of 
 a high dignitary who had been polite to him, but was 
 very rude to Lindley Murray. The dignitary in ques- 
 tion had adopted a very aristocratic and exclusive tone, 
 and had told him that he always regretted the Liberals
 
 "THINE AND MINE." 271 
 
 coming into power, not on account of politics, but be- 
 cause it gave vulgar people the entree to society, add- 
 ing, with a confidential shake of his head, " I seen it 
 much degraded thereby." 
 
 " He shall offset our "Washington friend," observed 
 Tom to Mr. Winthrop. 
 
 " He was more pretentious but not less vulgar," Fred 
 continued. "He spoke to me of his daughters, and 
 presented me to them. Would you believe it, they are 
 not only pretty, but accomplished girls. I was curious 
 to know about the father, and found he had laid the 
 foundation of his fortune by keeping a corner grocery 
 in one of the large towns." 
 
 "That explains his relation to politics," remarked 
 Mr. "Winthrop, " and clears his way to the Senate, 
 no doubt. He would pass with you as a licensed 
 victualler. No doubt the young ladies have been well 
 trained and illustrate the Professor's hopes for the 
 second generation." 
 
 "We meet most desirable acquaintances in both 
 countries ; there is no need to leave home to find 
 vulgar people," said Tom. 
 
 " You are already beginning to feel the responsibility 
 for your associates, Capt. Conant," said Fred, with a 
 mischievous grin ; " perhaps you won't be the only 
 fellow with an American wife." 
 
 Mr. Winthrop laughed, Tom whistled, and they all 
 thought it was time to retire. 
 
 Next morning there was a cable from Dr. Conant in 
 these words : "If letter serious come home at once." 
 "Which means," explained Tom to Lord Lester, "that 
 if I have really determined to stand for the Commons, 
 I ought to return and go to work "
 
 272 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 There -were but three days now to catch the outward- 
 bound steamer, and they all understood that there was 
 no time to lose ; so the same afternoon saw them de- 
 parting, Tom for England, and Agnes, as she told him, 
 for her great, lonesome Boston home. Both Robert 
 and Fred Cuthbert'were to remain longer in America, 
 but Tom sailed for home alone.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE BRITISH LION FONDLES THE PROFESSOR. 
 
 WE must take a three months' vacation now, though, 
 meantime, the world will move, and some things of 
 interest to us will happen. Politics had been running 
 high in England ; there was a popular clamor against 
 the Ministry, and a wide-spread demand for conces- 
 sions ; all the by-elections had lately gone against the 
 Government. "It never rains but it pours." The 
 health of the Prime Minister had been seriously af- 
 fected, and the story of his early resignation was 
 bruited about and believed. There were the usual 
 intrigues and party defections ; opposing interests were 
 on the alert ; rival factions were pushing extreme claims, 
 and the nation was aglow with excitement, or appre- 
 hensive of impending danger. There was no real 
 leadership, and the claims of personal aspirants were 
 hotly discussed. Dr. Conant, who had hitherto stood 
 well in the country, was now the idol of the laboring 
 classes ; public meetings were everywhere held to pro- 
 mote this or to denounce that set of opinions, and the 
 kingdom resounded with the eloquence of local orators 
 and budding statesmen. 
 
 In other countries such unwonted heat might have 
 generated an explosion ; but these Englishmen, .arrayed 
 for contest as they were, would fight their bitter battles 
 
 at the polls. When victory was declared, or defeat 
 12*
 
 274 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 assured, they would for the time accept the result as 
 inevitable. A less stolid or more mercurial people 
 might have persisted in agitation and precipitated dis- 
 aster, but the English understood constitutional govern- 
 ment, and they knew that majorities must rule. The 
 Government were not indifferent spectators. They had 
 asked for a dissolution, but it had been denied them. 
 The people shouted for reconstruction and an amended 
 policy, until finally Lord Bramley, broken in health and 
 spirits, resigned. The great Whig, Lord Elton, was 
 sent for by the Sovereign, and undertook the duty of 
 forming a new Government, but his duties and his dif- 
 ficulties began together. He had given an unpopular 
 Irish vote, and the Radicals dreaded his too conserva- 
 tive leanings. Finally, after a week of ineffectual effort, 
 he abandoned the task as hopeless, and recommended 
 that Dr. Conant be called. The masses were already 
 demanding this, but for reasons, perhaps connected 
 with the American trip, the advice was at first un- 
 heeded. After other trials and further delays, and 
 still greater excitement, Professor Conant was sent 
 for and accepted the high duty, on condition that a 
 dissolution should take place. 
 
 There was a coolness at first among the more conserv- 
 ative "Whigs, but, barring this, the popular enthusiasm 
 knew no bounds ; and his administration was formed 
 without difficulty. The dissolution that followed, and 
 the Prime Minister who appealed to them, were what 
 the people demanded. It was a long struggle between 
 mighty forces. But the popular star was in the ascend- 
 ant, and the Government was sustained by an immense 
 majority. 
 
 The new Parliament was distinguished for a large in-
 
 THE BRITISH LION FONDLES THE PROFESSOR. 275 
 
 fusion of young men, and a well-known North-of-Eng- 
 land County had returned our old friends, Col. Lyons 
 and Capt. Tom Conant. 
 
 " Tom," Iris father said, " had developed into a won- 
 derful stump orator, thanks, perhaps, to his recent visit 
 to the States." At any rate, he had been indefatigable, 
 and was prepared to enjoy the rest and triumph which, 
 followed his victory. 
 
 Parliament was immediately summoned, and the 
 speech contained propositions which the enemies of the 
 Government pronounced startling, but which were gen- 
 erally regarded as wise by the supporters of the Prime 
 Minister, and were especially satisfactory to the Radi- 
 cals. Caution and Conservatism are generally cultiva- 
 ted by the English people ; but with their minds once 
 fixed upon accomplishing progressive changes, they un- 
 dertake the work with vigor, and with a confidence in 
 the masses which is not often misplaced. Capt. Thomas 
 Conant, as a young member, was to move the resolu- 
 tions on which would be founded the address in reply 
 to the Speech from the Throne. Nobody ever expects 
 anything from the orator on such occasions. He fol- 
 lows a conventional form, and his style, to be orthodox, 
 should be prosy and spiritless. The reply itself is 
 usually an echo of the Speech from the Throne, and 
 the mover and seconder follow the text without 
 originality or amplification. In the first part of his 
 speech Capt. Conant followed this rule in a tremulous 
 voice and was supported by conventional cheers ; but 
 as he came to topics of interest his words began to 
 ring out upon the Chamber, and he spoke like an en- 
 thusiast who believed what he said. " It is a glorious 
 privilege," Tom said, " to sit in this hall and legislate
 
 276 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 for a great people. We are the successors of former 
 Parliaments, in a long line and from the earliest days, 
 which had moulded the policy and guided the destiny 
 of the kingdom. To say that we have grown more 
 wealthy and powerful, that the country is more free and 
 the people are better informed than in the days of their 
 ancestors, is speaking only the truth, and paying a 
 just compliment to the liberty and progress which the 
 British Constitution has gradually developed. Some 
 people profess to be alarmed at the larger liberties 
 which the Speech from the Throne proposes should be 
 secured for the people ; and in prophesying anarchy 
 and revolution as a consequence of such concessions, 
 they are but repeating the tactics of those obstruc- 
 tionists who, from age to age, as privilege has been 
 gradually restricted and freedom enlarged, have made 
 themselves prophets of evil, and foretold consequences 
 which have never followed reform. Which of those 
 ameliorations of the people's condition lias been sig- 
 nalized by the people's abuse of the power given them ? 
 Which of the steps would you retrace that you have 
 taken toward a nearer Democratic rule ? Your confi- 
 dence is in the rich," he said, his eyes resting on the 
 Opposition benches. " You dread the masses as if they 
 were the enemies of the State, but as history records 
 our national troubles, can you fairly say that the great 
 body of the people has been less loyal and devoted 
 than the aristocratic and privileged classes upon which 
 you prefer to depend ? By multiplying their liberties 
 you have made the masses an element of strength. 
 Then why should we dread, in the light of such experi- 
 ence, these further concessions ? " (A voice derisively : 
 " Oh, America is the land of liberty.") " I am not
 
 THE BRITISH LION FONDLES THE PROFESSOR. 277 
 
 sure," continued Oapt. Conant, " that, barring the fact 
 that her franchise is more extended, America is a freer 
 country than ours ; but this proposition of the Govern- 
 ment will tend to equalize whatever difference there is. 
 I have seen nothing in America, let me tell this House, 
 to compensate for the tyranny which a four years' 
 Presidential term of hostile estates might render pos- 
 sible. In this country, or in Canada, the power of the 
 executive would ba measured by its ability to con- 
 trol the popular branch of the Legislature; the bal- 
 ances are adjusted to a delicate touch, and the Govern- 
 ment must fall the moment it ceases to command a 
 majority. In Washington, the power of the President 
 is assumed for a definite term. It is only incidentally 
 that the people could reach their President during his 
 term of office, even if he were in open or flagrant op- 
 position to their views, as expressed by their represent- 
 atives." (An honorable member : " It is a relief to 
 know that there is something to criticise in America.") 
 Capt. Conant " There are wise men in America who 
 court criticism and understand the abuses of their po- 
 litical system. There are others, no doubt, who, perhaps, 
 like the honorable gentleman, believe that * nothing 
 good can come out of Nazareth ; ' but the fact remains 
 that the teachings of American history enlighten and 
 guide us, and that we in England are wisely borrow- 
 ing from the store of American experience. I hope 
 I did not detect a sneer in the interruption of the hon- 
 orable gentleman. England and America have to teach 
 each other lessons of liberty. Only the enemies of 
 both countries could gloat over the embarrassments of 
 either. Their people, mindful of the perils which in 
 other times have overtaken liberty, should stand man
 
 278 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 to man for her defense, and should treat as a public 
 enemy the incendiaries of either country, who would 
 sow dissensions among them." Tom continued, pass- 
 ing on to other topics, but this episode we have men- 
 tioned pleased the House, whose enthusiasm was ex- 
 pressed in repeated cheers, and finally, when Capt. 
 Conant resumed his seat, the manifestations of satisfac- 
 tion were abundant, and several old members crossed 
 the floor to compliment him heartily. He had scored a 
 point, which it is not often the privilege of young mem- 
 bers to do. He had moved the reply to a Queen's 
 Speech, and, in any event, the journals would treat him 
 to the conventional encomium the next morning, but he 
 
 o* 
 
 had done more ; during the greater part of his speech 
 he had been really eloquent ; and he had gained what is 
 tantamount to success in public life, he had won the 
 fastidious ear of the English House of Commons. 
 
 The Prime Minister made no attempt to disguise his 
 interest and his emotion ; for the moment, the father's 
 heart gave way in the august presence of the nation, 
 and his friends said he had not only consecrated his 
 own life to the State but was giving a son, who was 
 worthy of him, to her service. 
 
 Tom did not fail to measure his own success, but his 
 first thought was for a little girl who was thinking of 
 him far across the water. Could she know instinctively 
 of this first triumph in his public life ? Could he allow 
 her to wait the slow course of the mail before she knew 
 that the success she coveted for him had been won? It 
 was the first step in his career. He was not an egotist, 
 but he had triumphed, and he was in love. It must 
 have been at his suggestion that the following cable- 
 gram was sent :
 
 111E BRITISH LION FONDLES THE PROFESSOR. 279 
 
 "HOUSE OF COMMONS, LONDON. 
 " Senator Winthrop, 
 
 " Boston, Mass. : 
 
 " For Miss Winthrop. 
 " Tom's maiden speech a great success. 
 
 " ALEXANDER CONAXT."
 
 CHAPTEK XXIV. 
 
 GATHERING IN THE THBEADS. 
 
 IN the quiet of a Sunday morning breakfast, the 
 Conants were speaking of the events of the past week. 
 Tom described his diffidence at opening on the night of 
 his speech. "At first you might have heard my heart 
 beat, and seen my knees knock together," he said ; " but 
 that I felt as if I enjoyed a little official protection, be- 
 cause I was replying to the Royal speech, I might have 
 failed." 
 
 "You did not fail," said his father; "some parts of 
 your speech were very able. But your triumph con- 
 sisted in showing that you can do better. You must 
 not speak again till you are thoroughly master both of 
 your subject and the occasion. The House listened 
 and applauded to-day. You won its ear. You must do 
 not only as well but a great deal better next time, and 
 then you will have won your spurs. " 
 
 " Thanks for your kind opinion," said Tom ; " I will 
 do my best." 
 
 Quiet Mrs. Conant was happy, but she was not proud ; 
 of course, distinctions were worth winning, and it was 
 yet nobler to do good. But she had given her husband 
 to the public service, and sometimes she pined for the 
 old days when she saw him more and before he was so 
 absent and absorbed. Was it her duty to give her son 
 too, or would he be not so much lost to her ?
 
 GATHERING IN THE THREADS. 281 
 
 In the midst of his triumphs Tom received a letter 
 from Lord Bolton. There had been several short notes 
 from that nobleman, from which it was gleaned that he 
 had been passing his time pleasantly in California. His 
 letter began by reminding Tom of the strange incident 
 which had induced Lord Lester to avoid the dinner 
 party of thirteen in Quebec, and of the Professor's ex- 
 planations as to the origin of the superstition. " I have 
 found here," it went on, " a strange society, consist- 
 ing of the best people and organized in the form of a 
 club, solely to rebuke this superstition. It is called 
 the Thirteen Club, and its motto is 'Morituri te scdu- 
 tamus.' 
 
 " The club is composed of thirteen original mem- 
 bers, and it is incorporated by an act of the legislature 
 of the state. The act of incorporation declares that its 
 object, besides being charitable, is to combat by argu- 
 ment, by essays, and by example, the prevalent super- 
 stition against "unlucky Fridays and against the pre- 
 judice in setting thirteen at dinner, a prejudice which 
 is believed to be at variance with the enlightened intel- 
 ligence of the age. The regular meetings are all held 
 on the thirteenth day of each month. The dinners are 
 to be served with thirteen courses at each table, non- 
 attendance or non-payment of dues for thirteen months 
 is made the cause of suspension of membership. The 
 menu, the wine bill, and all the literature of the club are 
 in keeping with this object. I sometimes dine there, 
 and am supposed to have been fitted for initiation by 
 the experiences which I have related to you. It is, to 
 say the least, a coincidence, and I think the idea is 
 original ; perhaps it will interest our friends. This is a 
 strange country, as is the history of its marvellous de-
 
 282 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 velopment. The city of San Francisco is beautiful, 
 though the buildings are generally low to avoid the risk 
 of earthquakes, which are not infrequent here. The 
 society is cosmopolitan, and the business of the town is 
 conducted by the people of all nations. Some of the 
 most fabulous fortunes in the United States have been 
 made here ; and the palaces of men who started life a 
 few years ago would rival in splendor the royal palaces 
 at home. There is in California almost every variety of 
 soil and production. At any season you may journey in 
 a day from almost tropical heat to continual snow, in- 
 cluding nearly all varieties of temperature. Of course, 
 the country is young, but its progress has been magical. 
 There is a great deal of refinement in this particular 
 city, as well as over the state. I like the people. You 
 find travelled men and women here, who would do credit 
 to the drawing-rooms of our great capitals. I have spent 
 some days in the mountains, and have visited several 
 towns ; two or three of which are beautiful. One little 
 town of five thousand people nestling in a basin among 
 the mountains, and inhabited largely by miners, has 
 scarcely a house (if you except the Chinese quarters) 
 which is not neat, surrounded by grounds well cultivated, 
 and abounding in choice flowers. The people are in- 
 telligent, hospitable and law-abiding. I have never seen 
 a mining town where the evidences of thrift and taste 
 and contentment are so general. You approach the 
 town, which is a county seat, by a unique little railway ; 
 a narrow-gauge road connects it with the main line, and 
 passes over mountains, crags and canons, which would 
 make your head dizzy, and curves about in a way that 
 would have generated lunacy among the railway engi- 
 neers of a few years ago. I like the country, and have
 
 GATHERING IN THE THREADS. 283 
 
 purchased a largo ranch in one of the valleys, -which I 
 propose to stock with fifty thousand sheep in the proper 
 season. I have reserved a place for you as herdsman, 
 which I think you will grace, and I expect to make my- 
 self useful under your supervision. Seriously, you 
 must arrange to come out next summer en route, per- 
 haps, for China on a government mission. I shall re- 
 turn East in a week or two, and possibly spend some 
 time with Lester in Canada." 
 
 A few days later, a letter was received from Miss 
 "Winthrop. She had to acknowledge the Professor's 
 cablegram, and was profuse in expressions of thankful- 
 ness and congratulation. Robert Holt had lately re- 
 turned from England, and George had met him in Quebec, 
 but Mr. Cuthbert was not expected until summer. In 
 the meantime, a correspondence, she thought, was going 
 on between General Elmwood and Sir John Cuthbert, 
 about which she only knew what her little cousin, Miss 
 Elmwood, had told her, under a strict promise to keep 
 it from Tom ; so, of course, she could not tell him. 
 But he knew it all from Fred, who only the night before 
 had been raving about a certain event which was " to 
 come off " at Bloomfield, as if it were really of interna- 
 tional importance. "At any rate, it will make you and 
 me cousins," Fred had said to Tom. "Is it not strange 
 that I should have gone out intent upon slaughtering 
 the Americans, and here I am a captive bound by 
 silken cords ? " 
 
 " George," Miss Winthrop reported to Tom, " had 
 been two or three times in Quebec, and had met Ethel 
 in Hartford ; and Carlotta had lately written Agnes a 
 long, sweet letter, stronger and more confident in spirit, 
 and evincing earnest religious feeling." Then the letter
 
 284 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 took Torn aside to private thoughts whither we must 
 not follow him. 
 
 " My thoughts of thee too sacred are, 
 
 For daylight's common beam, 
 I can but know thee as my star, 
 My angel, and my dream ! " 
 
 Mrs. Conant thought it was strange Robert should 
 have gone out again in mid-winter. " It can't be the 
 child," she said to the Professor, " there must be some 
 other, if not stronger, fascination. I remember that 
 when I pressed Tom's example upon him, he spoke in 
 a mysterious way of the only woman he could love 
 being wedded to the grave. I knew what he meant, 
 but it did not at the time impress me. Yet I should 
 have known, for he spoke much of a life devoted to 
 good works ; and an ambition to consecrate himself to 
 the priesthood of charity. I was so much occupied with 
 my own cares, and so thankful for what it was my duty 
 to regard as special mercies, that I am afraid I neg- 
 lected the poor boy ; but I had no idea he was going 
 away then, and I felt that it was safe to put him off a 
 little. Why did you not bring him into Parliament ? " 
 she inquired of the Professor. 
 
 "I sought to persuade him," replied Dr. Conant, 
 " but he was averse." 
 
 "It is not too late; his own county of Kingsmere 
 will be open presently. Nobody could well oppose him 
 there." 
 
 "Then I must write him at once," remarked good 
 Mrs. Conant. " Robert has great gifts ; but what ho 
 needs now is absorbing occupation. I dread for a
 
 GATHERING IN THE THREADS. 285 
 
 -woman tho character of political intriguer, but my hus- 
 band will forgive me if I ask so much for my sister's 
 onl}' boy." 
 
 " It will bo no gift of mine," replied the Professor ; 
 " the constituency is his own family stronghold. Ho 
 can win it himself if he chooses. But whatever ho 
 needs shall be done for him. There would be no favor- 
 itism. A worthier member for Kingsmere could not bo 
 found in the kingdom." 
 
 And so it was agreed that Mrs. Conant should write 
 Kobert at Quebec, from which place his last letter had 
 been dated. After explaining to him the chances, sho 
 told him that he needed work, and that there could be 
 no nobler occupation than to sit with the first body of 
 gentlemen in tho world, and to help to administer tho 
 affairs of the freest and most powerful of nations. Be- 
 nevolence would be still open to him, and public affairs 
 need not stand in the way of the most far-reaching of 
 his charities. Even if honors did not entice him, in no 
 other position could he enjoy greater opportunities of 
 doing good to his race ; and she wanted him to stand 
 for Kingsmere, and, if possible, to enter the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 How could good Mrs. Conant know that when Robert 
 received the letter he would be prostrate with grief, 
 and regard himself as withered and blighted ? So sud- 
 den and startling are sometimes tho vicissitudes of life, 
 and so rapid the accumulations of disaster ! We must 
 take the liberty of reading the sad tale which he told in 
 his letter to his aunt. We may find love, hope, friend- 
 ship, grief and despair illogically interwoven ; but a sad 
 story excites the sympathy and perhaps ennobles the 
 purposes of the human heart, and here it follows :
 
 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 "QUEBEC, , 18. 
 
 "Mv OWN DEAR AUNT: 
 
 "If my servant had asked me an hour ago, ' Could you -write a 
 letter to Mrs. Conant to-day, sir ? ' I am sure I should have answered, 
 ' Not to-day ; ' f or I felt so weary, so stricken and overcome that 
 the task would have seemed impossible ; but your letter has given 
 me new life, though I cannot obey your wishes ; and it makes me 
 ask, 'What am I that I should set myself against fate, or by my 
 rcpinings accuse the Inevitable ? ' You shall know all. The mys- 
 terious fascination of little Ethel over me is no secret to you. "When 
 I thought that her destiny was interwoven with mine, my friends 
 found me superstitious and hysterical ; others might have sneered, 
 you were full of charity, though you feared my reason was giv- 
 ing way to my imagination. But explain it .is you may, I was a 
 prophet, and saw as clearly as could have done Elijah of old. When 
 I met the poor father I was drawn to him as I had been drawn to 
 the child, and I knew that the sweet woman, who is her mother, 
 was in some way to absorb my life in hers. In two days poor De 
 Luyncs had become my dearest friend, and I knew that we two 
 had something approaching fascination for each other. Was it 
 superstition, or rather was it not a prescience? I had no idea what 
 was to happen, but I was impressed that startling events, which 
 would relate to our mutual interest and happiness, were pending. 
 I pondered weary days and sleepless nights. Why did these people 
 impress me so much? Why was my soul aglow at sight of this 
 accomplished man? and my heart melted in the presence of this 
 fascinating woman? Up to that time there was no thought of the 
 child. By degrees it became plain to me that little Ethel was 
 theirs. Here might have been, but was not, a solution. The 
 finger of fate still pointed forward, the weird influence still per- 
 meated my being, and the nameless prophet still foretold that in 
 some way this beautiful woman was unconsciously to mould and 
 fashion my life. Then on that terrible night at sea, Maurice was 
 taken, and by little less than a miracle, his wife was saved ; but 
 she struggled long between life and death, and yet I instinctively 
 knew she would recover. I had an assurance which I could not 
 explain, and of which I could not have spoken to others. She was 
 to live and guide me. I saw that clearly. But in what way I
 
 GATHERING IN THE THREADS. 287 
 
 could only conjecture. What wonder if my heart interpreted the 
 mystery? She teas to l>c mine. The very thought -was a profanation 
 of grief ; but I entertained though I would not have expressed it. 
 She -was drawn toward me because I had saved her child, as well 
 as by the memory of her husband's friendship for me. Did I de- 
 ceive myself if I hoped there might in time grow a stronger feel- 
 ing ? Since DC Luyncs's death she has been much with the Sisters, 
 and I was jealous of the influence they exerted over her. The 
 priests could not have reached her, I thought, because they had 
 dealt unfairly with her husband ; but the ladies were gentle, 
 affectionate and pious, and they represented the Church that her 
 husband loved. I thought they were propagandists before all 
 things, and I dreaded lest she should desert the religion of her 
 fathers. It was to guard her, to dissuade her, that I left England 
 BO suddenly in the winter. She admitted to me that her ideas of a 
 woman's doing good were associated with conventual life, and that 
 it had been an object dear to the heart of Maurice that she should 
 worship with him within the same communion. She allowed mo 
 to expostulate, but she was not much impressed. ' Christ,' she 
 said, ' would be found wherever two or three of His sen-ants are 
 gathered in His name.' She preferred Christian to sectarian work, 
 and she regarded charity as the holiest of Christian efforts. She 
 pictured to me the sweet, holy life of the Sisters ; how they visited 
 the sick, and ' bound up the wounds of the broken-hearted.' She 
 spoke kindly and even tenderly to me, but I was not pleased with 
 the success of my mission. Then a terrible blow fell upon us all 
 little Ethel -was stricken with a deadly malady, which frightened 
 the servants from the house, and we were left dependent upon the 
 ministrations of the Sisters. Then I realized all I had read of the 
 noble devotion of these holy women. They nursed the child night 
 and day, and they gave strength and consolation to the mother. 
 Little Ethel died; I was prostrate with grief, but Carlotta was 
 calm, strong and hopeful. She had given the child to God, she 
 said, and to its father. One night, when she fervently prayed for 
 its life, she saw the face of Maurice looking reproachfully at her, 
 as if he would say, ' Can you not spare me the child?' She had 
 vowed to devote her life to the Church its father loved. In the 
 presence of death I told her all, and she said, 'if Ethel had lived it
 
 288 PROFESSOR CONANT. 
 
 might have been.' My dear aunt, is it a strange, unreal story ? 
 Could I have strength to face the world just as Carlotta DC Luyncs 
 retires from it ? Your letter was kind, and the prospect you hold 
 out would once have been alluring. I cannot feel as if time will 
 heal all things, nor as if old ambitions will return." 
 
 Mrs. Conant understood the letter and sympathized 
 deeply with Robert and mourned for the dear little 
 child, which had so recently left her, but it was at her 
 suggestion that Robert was put in nomination for 
 Kingsmere, and three months afterward, though he was 
 still in America, he was elected to serve in Parliament. 
 "He will thank us by-and-by," she said, "when the 
 days of his mourning are over and when he finds him- 
 self face to face with great duties." 
 
 Meantime, Ethel had written George, and Tom had 
 thus heard, that tho illness of the little one had been 
 terrible, but Carlotta had almost accepted its death as 
 a relief, and was strong and brave afterward. " The 
 sweet Sisters," as Ethel thought, "had given her 
 strength and courage. They directed her to God and 
 she trusted in Him." Perhaps she had been so stunned 
 by the first blow that she was less sensitive to what 
 followed ; and there was no doubt the good ladies, and 
 their ministrations, had smoothed her path and strewn 
 the tomb with flowers. They taught her that afflictions 
 were the admonitions of Heaven, and that a great sor- 
 row was a privilege and a distinction. Ethel thought 
 her sister's heart was full of noble resolutions, but she 
 dreaded lest she might take the veil and be altogether 
 lost to her. She spoke of Robert Holt, of his grief at 
 the child's loss, and said Carlotta's composure seemed 
 to disturb him. She thought it would be a personal
 
 GATHERING IN THE THREADS. 289 
 
 bereavement to Holt if her sister should abandon the 
 world. Then she spoke of her own loneliness, and of 
 the comfort she found in her letters from George ; of 
 Lord Bolton and his kind and delicate attentions, and 
 hoped Agnes was happy far away from the gloom she 
 felt in the De Luynes mansion. 
 
 " What changes the year has brought us ; how have 
 our hearts been torn and our loved ones taken. Do we 
 see the end yet ? There are joys in life. Will it go on 
 alternating between pleasure and pain ? New friends 
 and fresh bereavements, till we lay down the threads, 
 and rest at the journey's end?" "Dear girl," Miss 
 Winthrop wrote Tom (she had copied this letter for 
 him), " Ethel has had her own trials. Only a day or 
 two before the child Ethel fell ill, Lord Bolton, whom 
 she greatly esteemed, proposed for her hand in mar- 
 riage. He did not sue like an ardent lover ; he told her 
 frankly of his bereavements, but there was no one on 
 earth, he said, whom he should so gladly call his 
 wife. Ethel was surprised and pained ; ' I wish this 
 had not happened,' she told him, ' you are so kind, and 
 you honor me so much, that I would not cause you a 
 regret. What you propose is impossible, for reasons 
 which you will understand, and which you will not 
 desire me to explain. Forget this passing fancy, Lord 
 Bolton, and honor me with your friendship which I 
 shall highly prize.' ' May I ask if you are engaged ? ' 
 said Lord Bolton, kindly. ' Yes, to George Winthrop,' 
 she answered. * George Winthrop, whom I have never 
 seen/ repeated his Lordship slowly. ' How strangely 
 we two have crossed each other's path.' " 
 
 13
 
 CHAPTEK XXV. 
 
 NOUS VERRONS. 
 
 MONTHS have passed, and there has been high holiday 
 at the Winthrop mansion in Boston. It is the anni- 
 versary of Tom's first meeting with Agnes, and the 
 wedding day of Capt. Thomas Conant, M.P., and Miss 
 Agnes Winthrop, and of Frederick Cuthbert, Esq., and 
 Miss Elmwood, of Bloomfield. 
 
 Tom's mother and Miss Alice Cuthbert had come out 
 from England to witness the nuptials. Agnes had 
 desired that the names of a third couple should be 
 added to the happy list, but George and Ethel felt that 
 the days of their mourning were not over. The cere- 
 mony was strictly private, and only relatives had been 
 invited. Capt. Strong was the only exception, and the 
 sweet young life of Alice was pledged to him, but her 
 father had said she was too young, and they must wait 
 another year. Lord Bolton and Robert were in Eng- 
 land. Uncle Horace had been indefatigable in his 
 attentions during the day, but it was evening now, and 
 the shadows seemed to have clouded his spirits. 
 
 "He has been unstrung for weeks," said Agnes to 
 Tom. 
 
 "He mourns for you," he answered. "Yes," con- 
 tinued the young wife, " he will miss me ; but he has 
 another and deeper grief. We are not lost to him, but
 
 NOUS VERRONS. 291 
 
 his good heart has refused to be comforted since Car- 
 lotta left the world. It is one short year since we knew 
 each other ; our love has made us so happy in spite of 
 many trials ! My dear husband, how mercifully we 
 have been spared, while our path has been shadowed 
 by the sad experiences of our friends." 
 
 " They would indeed make a book," he rejoined. 
 " A sad story ! Our lives have skimmed along social 
 and national issues, and we have discussed them under 
 the guidance of great and sympathetic minds. We 
 have set an example to those who should strengthen 
 the bonds which might bind kindred peoples closer 
 together ; while our trials have kept us mindful of the 
 vicissitudes of life, and may thus point a moral and 
 adorn a tale. The fascinations of romance are not 
 wanting. Will you write, Agnes?" 
 
 "How dare I?" 
 
 " But it need not see the light." 
 
 " Some of the best characters would be unfinished. 
 Where could I leave Lord Bolton and Robert Holt?" 
 
 " Oh, all our lives will go on. and if your book were a 
 success, you might, by-and-by, follow it with a sequel." 
 
 " Nous verrons, my darling," said Agnes, " but if I 
 wrote, I should say a great deal about you and our 
 other friends, and with tears I should christen my book 
 ' Maurice De Luynes.' " 
 
 Time has sped happily with Agnes, but absorbed with 
 social and domestic care, she has not yet written ; per- 
 haps these hasty chronicles may touch her heart, and 
 it may be, her more finished work will shortly follow 
 them.
 
 if/6,