AM ANDAM, DOUGHS
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 BT 
 
 AMANDA M. DOUGLAS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "SEVEN DAUGHTERS," "HOME NOOK," &c. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. 
 
 1876.
 
 COPYBIGHT, 
 BY LEE AND SHEPARD. 
 
 1876. 
 
 FRANKLIN PRESS .' 
 STEREOTYPBD AND PRINTED BY 
 
 RAND, AVKRY, & Co.
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 TO 
 
 MR. AND MRS. GEORGE G. HARDY. 
 
 THEY wno CLASP HANDS IN PILGRIM WISE, 
 AND FIND BENEATH THE CLASP A FRIEND, 
 
 NEED ASK OF FATE NO FAIRER PRIZE, 
 
 TO BLESS THE WAY, OR CROWN THE END. 
 
 WOODSIDE, 1876. 
 
 1318625
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " A strange, sweet path formed day by day, 
 How, when, or wherefore, we cannot say: 
 No more than of our life-paths we know 
 Whither they lead us, why we go." Miss MITLOCH. 
 
 " IT is all settled then, Nelly? You are certain that 
 papa and mamma approve? " 
 
 I suppose I did look at her dubiously. Nelly glanced 
 up merrily, and smiled. 
 
 " Of course, it is all settled, or I should not be here. 
 Much as I liked him, I shouldn't have^gone against 
 mamma's wishes.-" 
 
 " It seems so strange ! " 
 
 " You dear, little perplexed matron ! Are not love- 
 affairs always new and strange ? I think that is why they 
 never lose their charm. It is like a new spring. The 
 weather is about the same ; trees grow, and flowers 
 bloom ; there is rain and sun, cloudy and clear morn 
 ings, evenings of dew, and evenings of drought : and yet 
 one never complains of the sameness. There is a little 
 difference everj'where. You are surprised by some 
 change that is rare and delightful ; and }'ou enjoy it just 
 as if there had never been a spring before, or as if it had 
 been changed expressly for you." 
 
 " How eloquent you are, Nelly ! quite a philosopher." 
 
 8
 
 4 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 She flushed, and laughed gayly. 
 
 "I have an idea, Rose, that my eloquence is second 
 hand, from some of papa's sennons ; and yet it suits. 
 Your marriage and Fan's were quite regular and ortho 
 dox ; while mine will be a little out of the order of events. 
 Dr. Kinnard is so much older, so different from most 
 young girl's fancies ! " 
 
 " O Nelly ! " I cried, as her eyes drooped in a thoughtful 
 pause, " it is not that so much as the children. another 
 woman's children ! I used to think babies such lovely, 
 helpless things, 'that one must perforce be good to all 
 children ; but these are not babies, and will, no doubt, 
 have a prejudice against a stepmother. And there are 
 others to suit. It seems as if it would take the first 
 bloom and sacredness right out of }*our marriage." 
 
 " Yes : mamma said something like this at first. Then 
 Dr. Kinnard and I talked it over in a very friendly man 
 ner, not at all like lovers. Rose, I think I am like an 
 agate, with plain brown practical veins, and next a light, 
 air}-, changeful one, romantic, if 3*011 please ; and I go 
 from one mood to another in a prismatic fashion, affected 
 by the rays of light and the turning of circumstances. 
 But the foundation always remains ; and there is some 
 thing under the practical, the fanciful, and the jagged, 
 streaked veins, full of crooks and turns. My plain brown 
 side came uppermost then. I said to him, ' I do not think 
 it at all natural that any stranger can go into a household 
 of children and grown people, and love every one to order 
 at once. I will do my best in a kind and conscientious 
 manner ; but you must be patient with me, and wait for 
 love to come, to be drawn by the little tendrils of associ 
 ation and every-da}* tenderness. I could not promise to 
 love any one immediately.' And he said that was just 
 his view of the case ; that he alwaj'S mistrusted the ex 
 travagant admiration that was so often bestowed upon a 
 widower's children. And, Rose, I think it absurd."
 
 NELLY HOWARD'S KINGDOM. 5 
 
 I stared at her, a tall, slender girl, with quite a dif 
 ferent loveliness from that of Fan, who had been consid 
 ered the family beauty in my time, four years ago. How 
 odd it seemed to think of her marrying ! and how very 
 elder-sisterly I felt with my j-ears of wedded experience ! 
 Yet what had they been ? A housekeeper who was per 
 fection, a most indulgent husband, prosperity, and one 
 bright, enchanting baby-boy, two years old. Still I had 
 that inexplicable feeling of wifehood and motherhood, that, 
 after all, sets married women apart. Yet Nelly's experi 
 ence must needs be widely different from Fan's or mine. 
 How could I advise or warn ? I felt suddenly the small- 
 ness of my pretensions. 
 
 "I daresay you think me heterodox," Nelly went on ; 
 4 ' but there is a great deal of sentiment in this world that 
 will not stand the wear and tear of life. Mamma under 
 stands just what I mean, and is willing to trust me. I 
 have said to nryself many times, ' Here are two children, 
 a son and a daughter, old enough to know that I am not 
 their mother, and perhaps grudge me a little of their 
 father's love. I must alwa3 r s remember that they had it 
 first, and that, in any case, I must try not to defraud 
 them." 
 
 " And that is what I should think so hard," I rejoined 
 eagerly. " And the fact of his having loved" 
 
 "Rose," and Nelly's eyes softened strangely with 
 a luminous beauty, so like papa's when he was deepty 
 moved, "I do not believe it was the highest and finest 
 love that Dr. Kinnard is capable of experiencing. He 
 became engaged to this girl when he was in college, partly 
 to please his mother, and, I fancj 7 , without much regard 
 for the sacredness of affection. Then he spent three 
 years in Germany, where he absolutely buried himself 
 alive in books and lectures, and was married as soon as 
 he came home. It seems to me ihey could hardly have 
 had a taste in common. He loved country-life, and she
 
 6 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 hated it. She had been a belle, and cared most for 
 dressing and dancing, and always spent her winters in 
 the city, until she became a querulous, exacting invalid ; 
 and then her sister came to take care of her. I cannot 
 imagine why she wanted to marry him, when there were 
 other men in the world, I suppose." 
 
 " She couldn't help being sick," I said, bristling up a 
 little ; for somehow the thought of such a life stirred me 
 to profound pity. 
 
 " No, dear, perhaps not. And one of the first things 
 I heard of Dr. Kinnard was, that he had been unexcep- 
 tionably kind and tender. It is not his nature to be 
 impatient, or easily anno3'ed. I like that quaint old- 
 fashionedness, reminding me so much of papa ; and, do 
 you know, he seems almost as old to me. But what I 
 mean to do, if God gives me grace, is to bring back the 
 lost youth, the youth he missed somehow. Surely I 
 have enough for both." 
 
 She looked so radiant and hopeful, that I could not 
 doubt it. We had all marvelled a little at Nelly's choice. 
 Dr. Kinnard appeared an older man than his thirtj'-five 
 years gave him a right to be. Studious and philosophi 
 cal, rather dreanrv, and absent as to moods, and much 
 engrossed with his profession, I could hardly understand 
 how he had caught Nelly's heart. He and papa had 
 made friends in some delightful manner ; and he had been 
 a regular visitor at the house long before any one sus 
 pected him of a warmer liking. He resided on the out 
 skirts of a flourishing town some twenty miles distant ; 
 and papa was quite satisfied with the friendly neighbor 
 hood commendations. Mrs. Kinnard had been dead five 
 years. Her sister, who had come at the birth of her second 
 child, still remained ; and for three j'ears his mother had 
 been an inmate of the famil}'. There was a daughter 
 eleven years of age, and a son between eight and nine. 
 
 And our Nelly had elected to reign over this incon-
 
 NELLY KUSTNARD'S KINGDOM. 7 
 
 gruous household. She had spent one winter in the city 
 with me, and been very much admired : indeed, there had 
 been no little youthful adoration laid at her feet. She 
 had a vein of Fan's fun and auclacit}', and*not a little of 
 mother's good sense and sweetness. 
 
 All the household were reconciled to it sooner than I, 
 perhaps because they knew Dr. Kinnard better. Nelly 
 was twenty now ; and, though the engagement had been 
 of but six months' duration, the wedding-day was already 
 appointed. She was not a romantic girl ; and this made 
 her choice appear the more peculiar to me. 
 
 " Well, I hope }'ou will be very happy," I said pres 
 ently, "and that the children will not prove too much 
 for you. If j-ou could have them alone" 
 
 "That has troubled me, I must confess;" and a per 
 plexed line crossed Nelly's fair brow. " If I could have 
 just them and their father ! though, Rose, I must admit 
 that they are not entrancing specimens of childhood. 
 Maud is tall for her age, slender and sallow, with straight 
 light brown hair, and light hazel eyes, and the oddest, 
 pursed-up mouth, what we would call a regular little 
 prink. Bertie has beautiful dark brown e}-es, like his 
 father, and dark hair that curls a little ; but there is a 
 kind of obstinacy in his face that I dread somewhat, 
 though he is more inclined to be joll}', I think. But }'ou 
 see their aunt has always had charge of them, and pro 
 poses now to become their governess, as she has some 
 peculiar views about education. She is their only relative 
 on their mother's side." 
 
 " And, of course, she must live with you?" 
 
 "I must live with her;" and Nelly made a humorous 
 grimace. "She was older than her sister, and must be 
 nearl}" forty. Then the doctor's mother is past sixty. 
 Rose, do }-ou remember how we used to wish that we had 
 a grandmother?" 
 
 Oh, that grandmother ! How we had talked about her
 
 8 XELLY KLNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 in our childish days ! the very dearest old woman in the 
 world, rather small, but straight and brisk and bright; 
 with a lovely, soft, wrinkled complexion, white as milk ; 
 blue eyes that*were tender and merry, and with the pecu 
 liar content you sometimes see in eyes that have used their 
 time and privileges well, as if they had seen much, and 
 remembered -a great deal, and could relate chapters of 
 those wonderful bits and fragments of things that hap 
 pened " when I was young." Her hair was to be silvery, 
 and she was to wear caps with full lace borders around her 
 sweet face. Her dresses were to be soft gra}"s and browns, 
 raw silk, I think the Quaker material is called. Mamma 
 had a little square shawl in the identical stuff', laid away 
 in a drawer, which had once been her grandmother's. 
 How many pictures we drew of this dear, charming old 
 lady, sitting in her rocking-chair, knitting, and telling us 
 stories ! Only we could never quite decide whether she 
 was papa's mother, or mamma's mother. I smiled now 
 to think of it. 
 
 " And how we envied other girls' grandmothers ! But 
 we made ours to order ; and I shall have to take Grandma 
 Kinnard just as she is." 
 
 "Do you think you shall like her?" I asked rather 
 timidly, glancing up. 
 
 "She sets all my ideas at defiance," returned Nelly 
 with an odd smile. " Her eyes are very black, and her 
 face is long and thin. She wears no caps, or aprons, or 
 little neckerchiefs crossed over her bosom, but ruffles and 
 overskirts and chignons, and is ver}', very modern. O 
 Rose ! when we grow old, let us accept the fact gracefully. 
 You can't think how disappointed I was when I saw her."' 
 
 " Nelly, I wonder at your courage. It is not a lova 
 ble household. You cannot even deceive yourself on the 
 subject." 
 
 " Nor do I desire to, Eose. Mamma says the part of 
 true wisdom is to look at facts as they are, and then do
 
 NELLY KINNAHD'S KINGDOM. 9 
 
 the best. Fann} r had no trouble ; yet she went into a 
 household of clderlj* people." 
 
 " But they all liked her so beforehand, and wanted her 
 to come. And the Churchills were lovety people." 
 
 " It seems to me that more attention ought to be paid 
 to the relatives on both sides than is commonly done. 
 Why should we make up our minds that we are going to 
 dislike each other, and, instead of commencing with the 
 graceful and tender courtesies of life, bristle all over with 
 thorns, and command every one to keep at a distance ? 
 There is not even Christian charity in it." 
 
 " We cannot alwaj's love people to order, as you said 
 yourself." 
 
 " True enough. I do not expect any wonderful wel 
 come. Indeed, I fancy that both ladies would rather go 
 on in their own way ; but, after having fulfilled all past 
 trusts, Dr. Kinnard surety has some right to happiness. 
 Neither of these women is dependent on him. And 
 we love each other ! I know you think it absurd of me, 
 Rose," she cries in a sort of defiant way, as if it would 
 hardl}' be safe for me to say so. 
 
 "I suppose }x>u have the right of choice;" and I 
 smile. 
 
 "Thank you ! " With that she makes a stately 
 courtes}'. 
 
 " How they will miss you at home ! " I say presently. 
 
 " But there are four left ; and Daisy is almost eighteen. 
 Think of it ! O Rose, what a dear old home it has been 
 for all ! A crowded country rectory, a clergj'man ' pass 
 ing rich ' on his thousand a year, and seven girls ! But 
 with it all, the best and sweetest mother in the whole 
 world. It does seem ungrateful to go away ; but it is the 
 fashion of this world." 
 
 The tears glistened in her eyes a moment ; but she 
 laughed them away. 
 
 " To think of being sentimental over your parents,
 
 10 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 V 
 
 ingtead of your lover ! But, Rose, I must be up and 
 doing. Since, like Benedick, I do purpose marriage, I 
 will think of nothing the world can say against it. When 
 are we to shop? For there is only a month, you know." 
 
 As I was in the city, right in the midst of every thing, 
 with Mrs. Whitcomb for my " right-hand man," Nelly 
 had come to me to help her plan and arrange her bridal 
 outfit. 
 
 When Fanny and I (the two elder daughters) were 
 married, there had been very plain and inexpensive 
 trousseaus. As papa said with his fine discrimination, 
 we were married from our station, not from our lovers'. 
 Since that period, however, matters had gone on quite 
 prosperously in the old home-nest. 
 
 Fan had married into one of the oldest and wealthiest 
 families in Wachusett. Her husband's uncle and aunt 
 had adopted them. Winthrop Ogden had come home to 
 live, and was already looked upon as a young man who 
 would make his mark. He was connected with the bank, 
 and was taking a warm interest in local politics ; and some 
 of the stead}* -going old men predicted a brilliant future 
 for him. 
 
 Mrs. Ogden was quite a lad}', and rode in her carriage, 
 had a nurse for her children, and numerous indulgences 
 of which her mother had never dreamed. More than one 
 of the belles in town who thought themselves quite above 
 her then, envied her now. But prosperity agreed with 
 her. She was the same bright, joyous, Avarm-hearted 
 Fan who had brightened the quaint old rectory. 
 
 So, when this third marriage was settled, she one day 
 slipped a crisp little roll in Nelly's hand. 
 
 "That is for some wedding-finery, my dear," she said 
 gayly. " I told Winthrop that he might do the ornamen 
 tal part, silver and gold, and all that, but that I should 
 be strictly useful." 
 
 Papa and mamma had made their additions ; and
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 11 
 
 Stephen had said to me privatel}-, the evening before, that 
 he wanted to give Nelly a pretty silk dress of a soft, 
 exquisite shade that he had seen in a store. 
 
 I fanc}^ that we all took a greater pride in Nelly's " look 
 ing nice," because the first Mrs. Kinnard had been quite 
 an heiress ; and her sister, Miss Grove, would still be 
 there to inspect and comment upon Nelly's belongings. 
 We had grown quite worldly-wise, j'ou see. 
 
 The doctor had a good comfortable income from his 
 practice, owned his house and several acres of ground. 
 Mrs. Kinnard had some money of her own. The mother's 
 fortune was to be divided equally between her children, 
 though she had spent quite a large portion of it. Miss 
 Grove had been of a much more economical turn of mind, 
 it was said. 
 
 I did wonder what Nelly saw in that grave, absent man 
 to love so well, when she might have had youth and its 
 accompaniments. He was not rich enough for that to be 
 a temptation. But he was very fond of her in a fatherly 
 fashion ; and there was something quite touching in the 
 watchful, wistful look out of the entreating brown eyes. 
 Yet he was rather peculiar and set in his ways. 
 
 Mrs. "VVhitcomb came in with baby at this juncture. I 
 had hardly been allowed to miss mamma in her tender 
 love and sj'mpathy. She had taken the real care of my 
 house ; and she had been such a good friend to Stephen 
 and the boys ! Indeed, every one who came in contact 
 with her could not fail of being indebted for some love 
 or kindness. She gave so continualty. Sister of Mercy, 
 husband first called her ; then Louis changed it to Sister 
 Clare. Now and then she took a vacation, and spent a 
 month with mamma, or with the Churchills, who had 
 learned to love her. 
 
 "O Stevie ! " cried Nelly, holding out her hands, and 
 kissing him rapturously. ' ' Do you ever realize how 
 beautiful he is, Rose? He is like a picture, or a dream. 
 I am afraid of him, and yet he enchants me."
 
 12 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " But mamma is not afraid of him ; " and I took him in 
 m}' arms. Ah, I did know that he was rarely beautiful. 
 Two 3 - ears old, fair, strong, and princely looking, running 
 about b}' himself, talking every thing, and making such 
 quaint, wise remarks, that I sometimes felt startled, and, 
 at others laughed at their oddness. As I recall them 
 now, I think of that other mother of whom it was said, 
 "A sword shall pierce even through thine own soul." 
 But in those days I was perfectly happy. How good it 
 is even to have had a few golden years ! 
 
 We fondled and made much of him, as foolish mothers 
 and aunts do. It is a great comfort that Providence has 
 provided some outlet for .yearning, demonstrative affec 
 tion. If there were no babies, we should be perched for 
 ever on the high stilts of propriety and good sense. 
 
 Here we called Mrs. Whitcomb into council, and dis 
 cussed wedding-clothes. 
 
 " It is so odd to think of another girl going out of the 
 home-nest ! " she said, studying Nell}' with a kind of 
 motherly pride. "Why, it is only the other day Rose 
 and Fan were married." 
 
 "And thought ourselves grand over one light silk 
 dress ; while Nell}' here is planning for half a dozen. But 
 I am not jealous, Nell." 
 
 "If 3'ou were, I should report you to Stephen," sa}'s 
 Nell}' merrily. 
 
 We kiss baby again and again, make him say and do 
 hosts of pretty things, then sally out to attack dry-goods' 
 stores. It is a clear, cold March morning, or almost noon 
 rather. Nelly is bright and gleeful ; but I keep thinking 
 of the grave man and his two children, his mother, and 
 sister-in-law, and wonder if her sunshine will not fail 
 when the glamour of courtship wears off. Does it wear 
 off ? Has Stephen's and mine vanished ? Ah, no, no ! 
 Why, then, can I not trust Nelly's to endure? 
 
 Ah, mine has really never been tried ! Stephen so good
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 13 
 
 and tender ; the boys, his two brothers, doing well, for all 
 their troublesome boyhood ; Louis, having taken a degree 
 with honors, is now stuclpng theolog}' ; Stuart, bright 
 and handsome, is in a flourishing mercantile house, and, 
 though somewhat wild and careless, displays energy 
 enough to make a fortune. Nothing to fret, or cross, or 
 to depress. Why, it almost seems as if I was defrauding 
 some other human being by having so much ! 
 
 There will be thorns in Nelly's path from the outset. 
 I know she will do her best ; and she is no weak, easily 
 disheartened girl. If Dr. Kinuard loves her truly, and is 
 not won merely b}" the fair face and beguiling manner ; if 
 he possesses the rare attribute of justice, and remembers 
 that she is a woman, and not a plaything, or a higher 
 order of slave, to minister to one's personal comfort only ; 
 if 
 
 Then I come back to the silks and laces, the pretty 
 soft woollen cloths the clerk drapes so deftly, the glisten 
 ing grenadines and June-day organdies, all abloom with 
 loveliness ; for it will be almost summer when she is 
 married. She smiles with the seductive grace of j'outh, 
 chooses this, rejects that, talks of carriage-dresses, dinner- 
 toilets, colors that show by lamplight, until I wonder 
 where she has gained her wisdom. Nelly Endicott from 
 a simple country rectory ! Yet the clerk looks at her in 
 respectful admiration, as if she might be a princess in 
 disguise. 
 
 We come home late and tired, and find that some of 
 the bundles have preceded us. Stephen brings out his 
 package, and begs Nelly to inspect it without delay. 
 Under the gaslight, it falls in folds of glistening sheen, 
 something that is hardly pearl, hardly gra}-, but moonlight, 
 sunlight, and starlight interfused, a regular bride's 
 color. 
 
 "0 you magnificent Stephen!" she cries. "How" 
 could you ? ' ' And then she straightway s throws her arms 
 2
 
 14 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 about his neck, and kisses him. A son and a brother he 
 is truly to all the Endicott household. 
 
 After dinner Louis comes in the sitting-room to help 
 criticise and admire. He is taller than Stephen, but still 
 slender, and with a kind of fragile look that occasionally 
 pains me. Thsse four years have been years of great 
 watchfulness to him. Trials and failures have marked the 
 way ; doubts, perplexities, and discouragements have beset 
 him : yet there has been a steady upward endeavor. He, 
 of all others, must needs be strong in the Lord ; for he 
 finds his own strength too often but a broken reed. But 
 I think it will enable him the more clearly to comprehend 
 the infirmities of others, and work in him a patience much 
 needed by those who do the Master's bidding. 
 
 Singularly enough, without knowing it, he gives the 
 preference to Stephen's gift, though they are all beautiful 
 in their way, adapted to the purpose. 
 
 " Why, I shall be clad like a princess ! " Nell}' cries, 
 " almost in ' silken shoon.' I shall grow vain with so 
 many fine clothes." 
 
 " Like Rose, here," sa} T s Stephen. 
 
 "Vain! I?" and my cheeks are scarlet, at which 
 everybody laughs. 
 
 " If she were not going to marry Dr. Kinnard," I say 
 to Stephen when we are alone for the night. 
 
 He looks up oddly and archly. l ' Why shouldn't one 
 of you girls go out as a missionary?" he asks. " Does 
 not Dr. Kinnard need a bright, cheerful home, and a 
 pretty, loving wife? What is more, I think he deserves 
 it, after all these unsatisfactory A'ears." 
 
 " But if Nelly should find out too late " 
 
 " Perhaps there is not any river, and no need of a 
 bridge : so why do you want to run out, and see if Nelly 
 could cross it? " and he laughs.' "I should like her to 
 have her home alone ; but she is taking the broad Christian 
 view of it. The spiritually lame and halt and blind need
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 15 
 
 to be ministered unto as much now as eighteen hundred 
 years ago. Have we a right to push them out one side 
 from a selfish regard for our own comfort? Nelly is a 
 brave girl. If my mother had been alive, Rose " 
 
 " Oh, she would have been so different ! " 
 
 "We cannot tell. Old age is not always lovely. I 
 like to think that you would have been kind and sweet 
 and patient with the whims and crotchets of ill health and 
 failing judgment. It seems so sad to me to see an old 
 person who has lost most of the friends and companions 
 of middle life, who has known sorrow and trials, and is 
 living in a kind of loneliness that youth can know nothing 
 about, pushed aside with careless coldness, because this 
 same overflowing youth is not willing to give out of its 
 abundance." 
 
 " O Stephen ! do not think that hardly of me," I cried 
 earnestly. 
 
 "It is not a thought of you, little woman. Nay, do 
 not look so grave, but rather help, than hinder, Nell}' in 
 her new duties. Some one has the hard work to do in 
 this world. I am just selfish enough to be glad that 
 it is not you; but I believe you are brave enough to 
 do it." 
 
 " Thank you," I said humbly, with tears in my eyes. 
 
 Mrs. Whitcomb and I had found a treasure of a dress 
 maker, a poor 3*oung girl who taught Sunda}-s in the 
 mission-school ; and she was to give us a fortnight on 
 Nelly's attire. We were very bus}-, you may be sure. 
 We all helped; and we "rectory girls" were almost 
 dressmakers ourselves. Then there were some fine con 
 certs just at this time, and some lectures that Stephen 
 wanted us to hear ; and the days passed rapidly. Dr. 
 Kinnard kept his love in remembrance by frequent letters, 
 and came for her when she was read}' to return. 
 
 I began to understand better Nelly's sterling good 
 sense, and. the solemnity with which she had already con-
 
 16 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 sidered her life-work. Her love was not a simple, girlish 
 fancy, caught by something a little out of the ordinary 
 course. I began to fear less for her, and leave her more 
 to the care of the watchful Father, who has promised that 
 all things shall work together for good. 9
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 " For it may be proclaimed with truth, 
 If Bruce hath loved sincerely, 
 That Gordon loves as dearly." WORDSWORTH. 
 
 THE marriage took place the middle of Ma} T , in church. 
 with Nelly dressed in the simplest of white, at papa's 
 request. The Kinnard household had all been invited ; 
 but only the two ladies came, their silks almost as stiff 
 as their manners. They brought with them a different 
 atmosphere, not the cordiality of our circle, nor the high 
 breeding of the West Side, but the bristling-up of little 
 boundary lines, lest some one might be inclined to 
 trespass upon his neighbor's lawn. 
 
 " I did not consider it a proper thing to bring the 
 children," Miss Grove explained to mamma. " They 
 are too young to understand such a ceremony ; and it 
 would always be a puzzle to them." 
 
 Whether Dr. Kinnard cared, no one knew ; for he made 
 no comment. He looked unusually well, I thought, and 
 so happj-, that the last vestige of my reluctance vanished. 
 A little graver than our double marriage ; for that had 
 the flush and exuberance of kindred youth and consenting 
 friendship. 
 
 We came home to an elegant little reception at the 
 rectory. Fan had supervised that, with Daisy and Lily 
 for handmaidens, who were growing up in the same sis 
 terly companionship that had characterized Fan and I. 
 
 Nelly had but an hour's grace, and then they were to 
 start for Washington. Mamma was fresh and lovely : 
 2* 17
 
 18 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 indeed, it seemed quite absurd to think of her being a 
 grandmother. Papa had gained a little flesh ; and I was 
 really elated to see how he held his own with Mrs. Kin- 
 nard, who took the marriage none too cordially, and 
 hoped it was for the best, in the tone of a person Avho 
 would not be heartbroken at seeing a little of the worst 
 happen. 
 
 " The traditional mother-in-law," said Winihrop Ogden 
 with a queer little smile. ' ' I think she will have hard 
 work to extinguish Nelly." 
 
 Mamma shook her head at him. 
 
 " And, Fan, if you think you would like to exchange 
 Aunt Esther for Miss Grove ' ' 
 
 "You incorrigible!" whispered Fan with a pinch. 
 " It is against good breeding and religion to gossip about 
 your neighbors." 
 
 " I am not gossiping, Mrs. Ogden. If I knew twenty 
 stories to their detriment, I positively wouldn't tell more 
 than ten. Rose, look at those two women : Miss Grove 
 is the old maid in every severe and proper line ; while 
 Aunt Essie, her senior certainly, is the very picture of 
 a noble and lovable woman. What makes so wide a 
 difference ? ' ' 
 
 "It is in the women themselves," I replied. "One 
 has narrowed her life : the other has broadened it. One 
 has made herself lovely through generous feelings, and 
 deeds of charity and tenderness ; and the other no, I 
 will not talk about my neighbors either;" and I ended 
 with a little laugh. 
 
 There was a stir just then. Nelly and the doctor were 
 saying their good-bys ; Winthrop and papa were going to 
 drive to the station with them ; and the Kinuards' train 
 was to start half an hour later. Mamma pressed them 
 to remain until the next train ; but Miss Grove explained 
 that they seldom went out together, and left the children 
 alone, and that, under the circumstances, they would
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 19 
 
 excuse her feelings. Nothing but her high regard for 
 Dr. Kinnard could have induced her to come; "for my 
 poor sister is still a reality to me. In time I shall no 
 doubt become accustomed to seeing her place filled ; ' ' and 
 Miss Grove sighed. 
 
 I wondered how mamma could answer her with such 
 wisdom and such sweetness. I should have stumbled 
 with the very best intentions. And yet I felt sorry for 
 the poor lady ; and, for a moment, it seemed as if Nelly 
 had no right, that she was an intruder. 
 
 I suppose the vexed question of second marriages 
 never can be settled to every one's satisfaction. Whether 
 they are wise, whether they are necessar}-, is - a question 
 that no one can resolve, except the parties thereto. It 
 was the first little shade that had come in to jar our 
 family harmony. 
 
 We bade the ladies a cordial farewell ; but it must be 
 confessed that we felt more at ease after they were gone. 
 In fact, when some of the poor parishioners who had been 
 invited b}" papa began to come in, there was a sudden 
 jollity. 
 
 How pleasant it was to be among old friends and 
 neighbors ! I had only made brief visits a,t home since 
 baby's birth ; but now I had come for a good long stay. 
 For this afternoon and evening I was a daughter of the 
 house ; and one or two old ladies actually called me Rose 
 Endicott. 
 
 Yet I felt a little bewildered, trying to fit myself into 
 the niche out of which I had grown. Was this tall, shy 
 girl, baby Edith, whose advent had made a stir h* the 
 parish, and led to such ever-widening circles? I remem 
 bered the morning Aunt Letty Perkins had sat before the 
 fire, bewailing another girl ; and I had wondered if papa 
 were not secretly sorry to have so many of us. He 
 looked uncommonly joyous now, jesting with one and 
 another, and talking about his sons. Why, it was absurd,
 
 20 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 to "father" such a man as Dr. Kinnard: Stephen and 
 "Winthrop did very well. 
 
 About midnight, I think, we settled into quiet. The 
 next morning Stephen and Mrs. Whitcomb returned to 
 the city. Mamma still kept but one girl : indeed, now 
 there seemed very little to do ; and Daisy was a born 
 housekeeper. Beauty seemed to descend alternately. 
 Daisy had a sweet, good, honest face ; but she would 
 never be as handsome as Fan or Nelly. Lily and Ger 
 trude took their share of the household work ; and there 
 was no bab}'. Mamma sat a good deal in the study with 
 some trifle of sewing while papa wrote, or read aloud to 
 him when His eyes were tired. They drew closer together 
 as the breaches were made in the outer walls. 
 
 Fan and I hoped they would live for a golden wedding. 
 I could almost see how they would look. Our children 
 would have the coveted grandmother. She would be 
 taller than our ideal, and not quite so full of centum-old 
 remembrances ; but it would be delightfully entertaining 
 to hear about " When your grandfather went to -his first 
 parish." 
 
 I liked their nearness and devotion to one another ; the 
 delicate, old-fashioned ghiishness that came back to 
 mamma ; the thoughtful, chivalrous politeness that papa 
 clisplaj'ed. It might have been a lesson to modern sons : 
 at all events, it was worth living for. 
 
 First I began to visit the parishioners. The little girls 
 who had been in my Sunday-school class were young 
 ladies, and really gave me a feeling of diffidence. And 
 the old ladies who exclaimed, "Lawful sus ! Why, I 
 remember when j*our pa first came here, and you was a 
 little mite of a girl." 
 
 Papa had said of Aunt Letty Perkins, " You must call 
 on her as soon as you can, daughter ; for she is confined 
 to the house by the rheumatism. I begin to believe there 
 may be a beneficial use in gossip, the poor old soul is so 
 glad to have some one drop in and talk."
 
 NELLY KENNABD'S KINGDOM. 21 
 
 So I had to tell her over again about my husband and 
 my house, how well the boys were doing, how smart 
 the baby was, and all the salient points of my life. 
 
 " Well, I do say, and allers did, that there was no one 
 like your mar for luck. Three girls well married ! And 
 you may notice it as a rule, that, if the oldest goes off first, 
 the rest foller like a flock o' sheep. But if the oldest 
 hangs on till two or three are gone, she's sure to be an 
 old maid." 
 
 Which seemed to Aunt Letty the worst fate that could 
 befall a woman. 
 
 Then there was Jennie Fairlie, living a charming life 
 with her husband, her mother, and her babies. Mrs. 
 Fairlie and Kate spent much of their time in the city. 
 Wachusett the}* found very slow and dull ; and the young 
 men " alwaj-s were stupid, }-ou know," Kate declared. 
 
 "I feel sorry for her," said Fanny one day. "Her 
 great aim in this life was to make a brilliant marriage. 
 She is attractive, too, in a certain way ; but she does 
 not seem to accomplish her desire. She is quite faded 
 with so much dissipation ; and I do believe her mother 
 would be willing to come back to the every-day living 
 she once thought so tiresome. I can never be thankful 
 enough that Dick Fairlie chose so wisely, and has such a 
 delightful home. Papa says he is growing very much 
 like his father. He stands by his wife and his faith in a 
 manful fashion. Rose, it does seem as if papa was 
 already reaping the fruits of his labor in some of the 
 3'oung men whose boyhood he watched over." 
 
 Dear, conscientious, painstaking papa ! I am sure he 
 deserved it. Though the reward does not always come 
 in this life. ; 
 
 At the West Side they were still cheerful and serene ; 
 but Miss Lucy's fluctuations as to hope were over. She 
 was thinner and weaker, and lay on the sofa by the 
 windows most of the time. Her room was a marvel of
 
 22 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 brightness and comfort. True, the Churchills had wealth 
 enough for every indulgence ; but there was something 
 more here than mere wealth could give, a noble and 
 heavenly Christian resignation, a cheerfulness that in 
 spired one, and took away the melancholy of death. It 
 made me think of Sydney Smith's brave sweetness when 
 he found that he was stricken with a mortal disease, and 
 how he kept his friends from turning to the dark side of 
 the picture. Now and then Miss Lucy said, "After I 
 am gone, I want you to do thus or so," as if it was only 
 a little journey. 
 
 She would not even admit that the babies troubled her, 
 -a charming little girl of three, who was named after 
 both aunts, but called Essie ; and a frolicsome boy of ten 
 months. Fan had grown a little stouter and rosier, and 
 "Winthrop more manly. They were a most fortunately 
 matched couple, still inclining to the enjoyment and the 
 amusement of life. She was quite a great lady in the 
 parish, helping papa in many nameless ways, and wdVk- 
 ing for the welfare and advancement of her kind. Cer 
 tainly wealth could not have fallen into better hands. 
 And what seemed loveliest of all to me was, that Win 
 throp was really a son to papa. He paid him a peculiar, 
 well-bred deference ; but I think that true and noble 
 respect was in the Churchill blood. 
 
 Uncle Churchill was mellowing into the most delight 
 ful of old gentlemen. Small Essie tyrannized over him 
 completely. Miss Churchill had hardly changed at all, 
 unless it was to have her sphere of affection widened by 
 the new-comers she took in so cordially. 
 
 "O Fan!" I said laughingly, as I sat in her pretty 
 room, half listening to my baby, who was telling Miss 
 Lucy, across the hall, marvellous stories of his papa's 
 house, " doesn't it sometimes seem to }'ou as if we were 
 masquerading? Think of the day we were cleaning 
 house, and the Maynards came in their carriage, and how
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 23 
 
 J T OU hurried me off down stairs to entertain them ! And 
 the many pinches and small economics, and how grand 
 we felt over the money the summer the boys boarded with 
 us ! Think of the carpet and chair and our new dresses ! 
 Why, Cinderella's godmother was as nothing to it. "We 
 were happy ! " 
 
 "Of course we were ! " cries Fan. " I can't think of a 
 bit of unhappiness that I've ever had in my whole life, 
 though we had to squeeze hard sometimes to make the 
 great American eagle come out 'and do his duty nobly by 
 us. And, Rose, I think the experience was just the thing 
 for us, at least for me. I can understand the feelings 
 and wants of nice poor people, and see where the bright 
 ness is needed in their lives. And it is a pleasure to have 
 something to give. Wealth has its responsibilities ; but I 
 do not see why people should wrap themselves up like 
 mummies, with swaddling-clothes of ease, and never look 
 out beyond." 
 
 " That sounds like papa ; " and I smiled. 
 
 " We all borrow a little of him, I daresay. Sermons 
 must be excellent, when one's own family remembers 
 them. Bat there isn't his like in all the world." 
 
 Were we foolish about him? Perhaps so. It is well 
 that there should be a little of such foolishness left in this 
 material world, where feeling is fast being reduced to a 
 nonentity by the march of scientific facts, and affection 
 is laughed to scorn on the highway. Parents may 
 keep their children's respect ; but the adoring love we 
 all felt for him was above respect. To us he was the 
 embodiment of truth, tenderness, honor, and generosity. 
 The exceeding purity of his nature made him a com 
 panion for the most delicate girl ; and, that he could meet 
 a boy's strength and wants, Louis Duncan had fully 
 tested ; perhaps many another in a scale of degradation 
 that we knew nothing about. No one rebuked a wrong 
 more fearlessly, no matter in what sphere the offender
 
 24 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 might stand ; no one detected a sophism sooner : but 
 with his rebuke was mingled the quality of heavenly kind 
 ness ; with his exposed error, he never disdained to give 
 a reason for the faith that was in him. 
 
 My visit took me back to my girlhood more than any 
 other had done. Mamma and I fell into the old confi 
 dences. She was not yet done with the struggle of ways 
 and means : indeed, I think she would always have 
 planned closely, and bestowed the rest upon the poor. 
 How unfeignedly she rejoiced that we three girls would 
 never be likely to know the struggles of poverty ! 
 
 And so I was feasted and feted, and baby spoiled to his 
 heart's content. But, when I crossed my own threshold 
 once more, two strong arms infolded me ; and the brave, 
 manly voice, with a strand of pathetic tenderness in it, 
 cried, 
 
 ' ' My little wife ! Thank God you are come ! It has 
 been a lonesome time without you." 
 
 "But if you had written, if you had spoken one 
 word ; " and my heart beat almost guiltily. 
 
 "As if I could not fight my own selfishness down ! 
 No : I am glad you staid, and were happy, but a hundred 
 fold more glad to have you home again." 
 
 For this love's sake, they shall leave father and mother. 
 And thus new homes are made all the world over. Ah, 
 who could ever open them to discontent and sin !
 
 CHAPTER IH. 
 
 " The little griefs, the petty wound's, 
 
 The stabs of daily care, 
 ' Crackling of thorns beneath the pot ' 
 As life's fire burns, now cold, now hot, 
 How hard they are to bear I " 
 
 DR. KINNARD handed his young wife out of the car 
 riage before the wide, hospitable porch, now abloom with 
 roses. That certainly gave a generous welcome to the 
 new bride, even if its voice was a silent one. Their month 
 of pleasure had been a rare holiday for the doctor. He 
 was looking younger, and a healthy color suffused his face, 
 a shrewd, humorous face withal, despite its gravit} r , 
 which had been more of circumstances and studious habits 
 than any original bent. He wore a full beard, cropped 
 short now, after the Vandyke pattern, which the shape of 
 the lower part of his face intensified ; a broad forehead, 
 with dark hair, curling a little at the temples, slow-mov 
 ing, dark brown eyes, that were brooding over some 
 internal theme, as well as external surrounding. When 
 he seemed most oblivious of passing events, he surprised 
 you by some remark that betrayed his keen sight. He 
 was a trifle above the average height, with a little bend 
 in the shoulders, that detracted still further from youth- 
 fulness. 
 
 A glorious summer day it had been, with the coolness 
 of a recent shower in the air. At four they had reached 
 Edgerly Station. From this point, you had the main 
 business-part directly ahead of you ; and the engine 
 
 3 25
 
 26 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 pushed on through it. The river made a sharp turn just 
 above ; and over the bridge lay much the prettiest part 
 of the town, country and town intermingled. 
 
 Mat had come down in the family carriage, with a 
 hearty welcome for his master, and a rather shy one for 
 his new mistress. But he was quite alone. Dr. Kinnard 
 looked surprised, and knitted his brows, and asked if all 
 were well at home. 
 
 "Very well, indeed, your Honor. And it's a good 
 thing to see you back. I hope } r ou and the missis will 
 like it so well, that you'll never want to go again." 
 
 A half-smile shone in the doctor's eye as he replied. 
 
 They wound in and out through clumps of trees ; modern 
 improvement not yet having cast its severe eye upon the 
 crooks in the road, though perhaps it secured immunity 
 by following the river. Then there was a more direct 
 way for those whose time was more precious than their 
 enjoyment. 
 
 Nelly noted the many beautiful points with intense 
 appreciation. Dr. Kinnard liked the quick look and the 
 silence. Nois}^ effusion was his abomination. He was 
 thinking now what a delightful companion she would 
 make for his hitherto solitary rides. She was thinking, 
 with a strange awe, of her new home, and offering up a 
 little womanly thanksgiving for having had her husband 
 all to herself four delicious weeks. 
 
 Nelly Endicott had not married blindly ; though, at 
 times, it seemed a little odd, even to herself, and so unlike 
 her sisters' brief, bright love-making. Dr. Kinnard had 
 met Mr. Endicott at a clerical dinner given at the house 
 of an intimate friend. A pleasant* chord of sympathy was 
 touched by some trifling bit of experience. The double 
 marriage had but recently occurred ; and some one joked 
 the good man on his houseful of girls. 
 
 "Seven!" exclaimed Dr. Kinnard. "Really, friend 
 Endicott, I should like to see this happy family."
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 27 
 
 " It is shorn of its glory," was the reply. " There are 
 but five left." 
 
 A hearty laugh followed this announcement. 
 
 Later, they were discussing some new scientific discov 
 ery, in a corner by themselves. 
 
 " My wife was reading it aloud to me last evening; 
 and we had quite a little argument. She inclines to Frere's 
 opinion. I like to go over these things several times, 
 before I form a positive decision." 
 
 The mother of seven girls reading heavy science aloud 
 to her husband, instead of hunting up lovers for her 
 daughters ! Dr. Kinnard stared. 
 
 One day, being in the vicinity of Wachusett, he looked 
 up the pleasant rectory, and found himself beguiled by a 
 sort of pastoral idyl that he had hardly thought to meet 
 outside of books. The exquisite and simple home-charm 
 did its appointed work again, and touched a heart border 
 ing on faithlessness and cynicism. He heard of Rose 
 and the boys, that remarkable first irruption of boys 
 at the rectory ; he met Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop, the 
 Churchills, and presently bowed with unfeigned rever 
 ence to that pure and noble embodiment of womanhood, 
 Mrs. Enclicott. 
 
 So went on three years of friendship. Nelly, mean 
 while, unfolded and blossomed, pretty, arch, lovable, and 
 with a spice of innocent girlish coquetry, the love of 
 pleasing and being liked. Her city experience did her 
 no harm. 
 
 If he had such a daughter ! 
 
 It was absurd, of course. He could not imagine his 
 little girl blooming into any of these Endicott graces. 
 Yet if she had proper training ; if aunt and grand 
 mother ; if the petty differences, bickerings, and fussi- 
 ness, but there his thoughts came to a sudden blank. 
 It was not a pleasant home ; neither could he alter these 
 women's natures. He had hardened himself to them
 
 28 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 instead; kept to his own "den," where they were for 
 bidden entrance. But twenty or thirty years of such 
 home isolation suddenly looked unendurable to him. 
 
 Then he made an astounding, and at first mortifying 
 discovery. His regard for sweet Nelly Endicott was not 
 of the fatherly type. He had blundered into something 
 deliciously different, yet positively ridiculous. Why, 
 she would laugh at such an ancient stick presuming to 
 make love to her. No : he was not quite such an old 
 fool as that ! 
 
 So he kept away, shutting himself up in his secluded den, 
 or taking long drives. The reading, speculations, and 
 metaphysical themes, became dull. He would not think 
 of her : so he thought of his past life, and was amazed 
 at its bareness, its solitar}^ monotony. 
 
 He had been a hard student, and early graduate, look 
 ing forward to three years in Germany as the crowning 
 pleasure of this toil. But his mother, having no daugh 
 ters, busied herself with matrimonial projects for her son, 
 and had selected Miss Mary Grove, an heiress, and a 
 very stylish girl. She took them both to Saratoga with 
 her, and managed to bring about an engagement in a 
 month's time. 
 
 It did not keep him at home, though, to her great 
 disappointment. Miss Grove flirted meanwhile ; and, 
 if she had met with a better offer, would have thrown 
 over her betrothed with small compunction. But on his 
 return she was twenty-five, and beginning to fade : so 
 she speedily became Mrs. Kinnard. The mother, mean 
 while, had gone to a neighboring State to be with an 
 ou\y and invalid sister. He thought that marriage would 
 give him a better position ; and in those days love was a 
 secondarj 7 consideration. 
 
 After three years of city living and practice, he felt 
 that he must retrench somewhat. He was fond of the 
 country ; and hearing of this place at Edgerly, where a
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 29 
 
 physician had just died, and whose estate, being heavily 
 involved, was offered much below its real value, he made 
 his bargain, and then announced his plans. 
 
 It was spring ; and, since they must make a change, 
 it would be rather stylish to go into the country. The 
 house was large, roomy, delightful ; and she could fill 
 it with guests. And, if she was not satisfied, of course 
 there could be another change. 
 
 The marriage had not been a happy one so far, one 
 engrossed with the world, the other with his profession. 
 She might have persuaded with love and patience, but 
 she had neither ; and Dr. Kinnard objected stoutly to 
 being driven. A husband, in Miss Mary Grove's estima 
 tion, was a sort of major-domo for outside affairs, pro 
 viding houses and carriages, servants and monej* ; asking 
 no questions, and making few demands ; obejang readily, 
 and keeping out of the way for the most part. Fortunate 
 circumstances had not brought them into collision hith 
 erto ; but now they really came face to face in the 
 struggle for power. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard was, of all men, the hardest to struggle 
 against. He had a warm interest outside : he had, also, 
 the rare power of holding his tongue. He would not 
 quarrel or dispute with a woman. He said what he would 
 do ; and, when others had expended their energy in 
 wrangling, he simply reiterated his purpose. At the 
 birth of the second baby, Miss Adelaide Grove was 
 added to the family. After that, Mrs. Kiunard went 
 to the city whenever she chose, and staid as long as 
 she liked, without even consulting her husband. She 
 was not going to be buried alive in a stupid country- 
 place. But health failed, making her more dependent 
 and exacting, but not more gentle. When she had 
 played out neai'ly all her hand, and won nothing, she 
 bethought herself of a last resort. She demanded him, 
 his time and attention. If she could, she would fain 
 
 3*
 
 30 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 have kept him from every other patient. She upbraided 
 him with coldness and neglect. Many a sharp-pointed 
 arrow she launched at him ; but he, knowing that the end 
 could not be long delayed, was patient. 
 
 It came at last. It is a sad thing so to have lived, 
 that those who should be nearest and dearest experience 
 a sense of relief. Dr. Kinnard did not affect any violent 
 sorrow. He was grave habitually. The neighbors 
 pitied him and his motherless children, but admitted 
 that both had an excellent friend in Miss Grove. He 
 felt in those early days as if Adelaide was almost an 
 angel, so quiet and orderly was the house kept, so peace 
 ful was the atmosphere. 
 
 It had gone on up to' this date. Now he began to 
 brood a little over the happiness he had missed, to 
 realize that matrimony was not the unalloyed evil he had 
 once believed it. He told himself, that, if he did marry 
 again, it should be some grave, kindly, domestic woman, 
 who would be satisfied with the quiet pleasures of home. 
 A bright young^girl was folly. 
 
 One day he strayed over to Wachusett again. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Endicott were out in the Churchill carriage. 
 Daisy and Lily were engrossed with croquet and some 
 young friends. Nelly came to receive the visitor. 
 
 " Oh, you will stay ! " she cried with her most persua 
 sive smile. "Papa would be so disappointed! He has 
 been wondering what kept you away." 
 
 She asked it out of innocent eyes and frankest lips. 
 He saw it, and turned away. He could tell her no 
 shambling, evasive lie, nor yet the truth. 
 
 She remarked the strange demeanor. " Has any one 
 offended you, Dr. Kinnard?" and then she took his 
 hand, amazed at the vehement clasp. 
 
 "It is this, Nelly : you. have a right to know. I have 
 been an old fool ! If I come frequently again, it must 
 be as your lover, or else I must teach myself to stay 
 away."
 
 NELLY KLNNARD'S KINGDOM. 31 
 
 If he had kissed the scarlet face, or clasped the swaying 
 figure in his arms, in short, indulged in any vehement 
 demonstration, he might have wrecked his cause. He 
 abstained, from a fine and rare delicacy, walked beside 
 her to the study, seated himself on "the capacious lounge, 
 and began an indifferent conversation. Nelly sat amazed. 
 Had she missed any thing more than her father's friend 
 during these weeks ? 
 
 The sound of carriage- wheels, and the familiar voices, 
 broke in upon her dreamy mood. Fan was there with 
 little Essie, who clapped her hands, and begged to kiss 
 " Edif " just one little time. Then they came out on 
 the porch again ; and there was a cordial welcome, a 
 merry chat, supper, and train-time almost before he 
 knew. Ah, it would go hard with him if he could not 
 win a daughter of this happy household. 
 
 With his good-by he said, just under his breath, " Am 
 I to come, Nelly? Be generous, if you can." 
 
 Without raising her eyes, she held out her hand, saying 
 softly and shyly, " I think you may." 
 
 A few weeks of half-covert courtship, and the regard 
 was declared. Mrs. Endicott had wisely discussed some 
 of the difficulties with her daughter, and then left her to 
 the guiding hand of love, and that wiser Power to whom 
 they had all been taught to turn, not only in sorrow, 
 but in joy. He had proved a somewhat impatient lover, 
 consenting to an engagement of six months only. 
 
 And now Nelly Kinnard had come to her husband's 
 home and her husband's children. He was no longer all 
 hers ; yet with a bright, happy smile, she walked up the 
 wide, flower-bordered path. They should see how willing 
 she was to meet them more than half-wa}*. 
 
 The hall-door opened, and Mrs. Kinnard appeared, 
 rather stiff and uncertain ; but the doctor's smile thawed 
 her, and she kissed Nelly's winsome face. 
 
 "Where is Aunt Adelaide and the children?" the 
 doctor asked in a quick tone.
 
 32 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Miss Grove answered the question by sweeping down 
 the broad staircase in her voluminous silk robe. Tall 
 and austere-looking, she held out her hand frigidty, 
 uttered her precise welcome, "hoped the journey had 
 been pleasant, as the weather had proved exceedingly 
 fine. No doubt Mrs. Kinnard would prefer to go to her 
 room immediately, as travelling Avas a rather tiresome 
 and dusty pleasure. She would find every thing con 
 venient. Will you go up, Barton, and show Mat what 
 you wish to have done with the trunks that came this 
 morning ? " 
 
 Mat had shouldered the travelling-trunk. Dr. Kin 
 nard led his wife up stairs. 
 
 The house was large, low-ceiled, with broad doorways 
 and a great hall, the back part of which was used for 
 dining-purposes. The oaken stairs were uncarpeted and 
 polished. Above, half a dozen doors seemed to open ; 
 but the space was wide and airy. They crossed the 
 threshold of the front chamber ; and, for a moment, Dr. 
 Kinnard stared oddly, almost angrily. 
 
 The floor was covered with matting which had an aged 
 and rather dingy look. An old-fashioned bedstead and 
 bureau of mahogany, some rush-bottomed chairs ranged 
 against the wall, a few faded pictures, and, on the mantle, 
 two tall silver candlesticks, with snuffers and tray in the 
 middle. 
 
 "Upon my word!" and he laughed heartily; while 
 Nelly glanced around blankly. " Not very inviting, eh, 
 Nelly? I will tell you how it came. This has been 
 kept as a spare chamber for some time ; but Adelaide 
 thought the furniture, which belonged to Maud's mother, 
 ought to be saved for her. When I bought the house, 
 I took a lot of old traps with it ; and I daresay those are 
 some. I wanted to refurnish to please you : so I simpty 
 said, " Take out the things, and make it comfortable. It 
 certainly has not been made beautiful ; but we will change 
 it in a day or two."
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 33 
 
 " Was this your room? " Nelly asked in a low tone. 
 
 He seemed to understand the unspoken question as 
 well. 
 
 " No. It was the other side of the hall, next to 
 Adelaide's. It is to be Maud's, I believe. I am in 
 the habit of sleeping down stairs a great deal. Are you 
 tired ? Shall I unlock your trunk ? " 
 
 A strange, unhomelike feeling grew upon Nelly every 
 moment ; but she tried to smile. Her husband had 
 been awkwardly and bashfully loverlike these few weeks ; 
 and now he unstrapped, unlocked, and lifted out the 
 tray. Suddenly he paused. 
 
 " Are you not going to take off your hat? Nelly, my 
 dear little woman, I want j'ou to feel that I, and all I 
 have, belongs to ycu, and is at your service. I want you 
 to help me give this place the cosey snugness of the 
 rectory. I have never had such a home." 
 
 Very little had been said concerning his household, 
 except in the vague, incidental way that people skirmish 
 about subjects that may have a little unpleasantness in 
 them. 
 
 The place seemed queer to her, as if she had gone to 
 the verge of civilization. But she laid aside her hat, 
 then hid her face on her husband's shoulder. 
 
 " O Barton ! " she cried, " do you think they will love 
 me?" 
 
 "We decided, you know, Nelly, that it would be a 
 work of time. You must be brave, and not easily dis 
 heartened, my little girl. There are few homes and few 
 mothers like yours, more's the pity, in this weary world." 
 
 "And the children?" 
 
 " Aunt Adelaide has them in very good training. To 
 tell the truth," and he sat down on the edge of the bed, 
 " I haven't bothered my head much about domestic man 
 agement. My womenkind have been glad to take the 
 authority, and I am so irregular indoors."
 
 34 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 He felt, too, that he was not the kind of father Nell}' 
 Endicott had known and loved. Strange that his chil-. 
 dren's stepmother should be first to make him aware of his 
 shortcomings in that respect ! Children were something of 
 a bore to him when he had them year by year. 
 
 "I am to be their mother, you know," she said in a 
 soft, pleading voice. 
 
 He was not quite sure but that he had married her for 
 his own pleasure, first of all, and that every thing else 
 must be a secondary consideration. 
 
 " Don't perplex yourself about these matters until you 
 begin to feel at home," he returned in a tender tone. " I 
 hope we shall all be good friends ; but if you please and 
 satisfy me, no one else in the world shall find fault. But 
 are you not going to dress? Put on the blue silk, will 
 you not? I like so to see you in it." 
 
 " Is there to be company? " 
 
 "Oh, no! And, while you are getting ready, I will 
 run down to my ' den ' a moment." 
 
 Some one called to him as he ims passing through the 
 hall. Her ear was on the alert for children's voices ; but 
 the door was quickly shut. She bathed her hands and 
 face, laid aside her travelling-dress, and began to adorn 
 herself for her husband's sake. She could hardly believe 
 that he cared so much about dress ; and yet she was 
 pleased too. " I hope he will always take an interest in 
 what I wear," she thought. 
 
 He returned presently, and was barely ready when the 
 tea-bell rang. He had gathered a cluster of roses for her 
 hair ; and she placed one in his buttonhole as they went 
 down together. The children stood in the hall. 
 
 " Children," Dr. Kinnard began with a certain pleasant 
 firmness and sense of authority in his voice, which carried 
 weight, as a man's most positive utterances should, 
 " children, I want to make you acquainted with this lady, 
 whom I love, and have brought home as my wife and your
 
 NELLY KLNNARD'S KINGDOM. 35 
 
 mother. I want you to love and respect her as well, and 
 obey her in all things as you would me." 
 
 Maud made a prim little courtesj* ; while Bertie shyly 
 took refuge in the folds of his grandmother's gown. 
 Nelly stooped, and kissed them both. Maud gave her 
 cheek coldly. Bertie flushed, and, perhaps with a boy's 
 intuitive chivalry, returned the caress. 
 
 The table was the perfection of neatness and good old- 
 fashioned feasting, several kinds of preserves, besides 
 the strawberries, half a dozen kinds of cake, bread, and 
 biscuits. Nellie smiled, thinking of the simple rectory 
 suppers. But this was in honor of the bride, no doubt. 
 Instinctively she thought of the " dinner of herbs." 
 
 It was a silent, constrained meal. Dr. Kinnard talked 
 but little at home ; and his meals were oftenest taken 
 alone. Maud copied her aunt's formal politeness, and 
 the airs of a grown-up lady. Nelly could hardly forbear 
 smiling at the unchildlike assumption. The prim, sallow 
 little face with its pursed-up mouth, the light brown hair 
 drawn tightly back from the temples with a comb, and 
 tied in a sort of flowing knot behind. Her dress was a 
 light plaid silk much flounced and puffed, finished with a 
 wrought linen collar and cuffs, to which were added pin 
 and ear-rings of handsome dark cameo (her mother's), 
 and gold bracelets much too large. 
 
 " I wonder if she ever runs and plays like other little 
 girls," Nelly commented inwardly. " How Miss Grove 
 would be shocked by Tiny Tim's cognomen, mishaps and 
 misadventures, and a host of children in the dooryard 
 playing tea, and frolicking in the grass ! " 
 
 At home, the table at meal-times had been a kind of 
 domestic altar, on which each one laid some cheerful 
 offering, a bright thought, a pleasant incident, anecdote, 
 plans, inquiry, interest. Every one looked forward to 
 the meeting, glad to be together, and share each other's 
 delights, content with the simplest fare and unfailing 
 love.
 
 36 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 This was cold and wearisome. Nelly was glad to rise, 
 and followed the doctor's mother into the parlor. It had 
 been furnished by the first Mrs. Kinnard, and was a rather 
 strange medley. The carpet was dulled by the furniture 
 (faded scarlet satin) ; and it seemed to have been some 
 one's stud} r to crowd in it every thing ornamental that 
 could be had. The walls were adorned with pictures in 
 worsted-work, which had been Mrs. Kinnard's girlish 
 passion. But "Rebecca at the Well" looked dingy in 
 her faded attire, and little Moses was very red in the face, 
 while the princess was brown. " Pocahontas rescuing 
 Capt. John Smith " puzzled Nelly for a long while. 
 
 Conversation languished. Dr. Kinnard plainly fidg 
 eted. "When Nelly could endure the restraint no longer, 
 she suddenly exclaimed, 
 
 ' ' Can we not go out and walk among the flowers ? It 
 looks so tempting ! and the air is delightful." 
 
 " Why, yes ; " and Dr. Kinnard rose with alacrit}'. 
 
 "Will you not come?" said Nelly, holding out her 
 hand to Maud in friendly overture. 
 
 "No, I thank 3'ou," answered the precise little voice ; 
 and she spread her ruffled skirts farther over the ottoman. 
 
 Nelly took her husband's arm, and sprang lightly down 
 the steps. 
 
 Aunt Adelaide turned to Mrs. Kinnard as if she said, 
 " There, I told you how it would be ! " 
 
 " Can I go? " asked Bertie timidly. 
 
 " Indeed you cannot. Do you suppose they would be 
 bothered with you? I was glad to see you decline, Maud : 
 she only asked you out of compliment. You must re 
 member this, my dear, and not put yourself forward. 
 Poor children ! You have lost your father as surely as if 
 he were dead."
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " We have a vision of our own, 
 Ah, why should we undo it? " WOKDSWOKTH. 
 
 THE house stood a hundred feet or so from the street. 
 On one side was a chestnut-grove ; on the other flower, 
 fruit, and vegetable gardens. It was on high ground, 
 and at the back sloped quite precipitately, with an air of 
 wildness. .A small stream ran through this, which was a 
 favorite resort with the doctor, who wended his way to the 
 brow of it with a familiar unconsciousness. 
 
 ' ' What an enchanting nook ! " and Nellie paused 
 suddenly. 
 
 " Do you like it? I am so glad! " with a sense of 
 relief. " I am an old fogy, I suspect, although I have 
 been so uncommonly frisky for a month ; and I was just 
 wondering, Nelly ah, you are going to laugh at me." 
 
 "And, like the children, ' you won't tell me just for 
 that. ' But I am not going to laugh at you ; and I do want 
 3'our confidence." 
 
 She glanced up with a sweet frankness that won him to 
 proceed. 
 
 "I was just wondering whether I had any right to 
 covet 3'our youth and brightness, when I could give you 
 so little in return." 
 
 "Little! Do you call your love a small thing? Is it 
 to be that tell me? " in her pretty, imperious manner. 
 
 "God forbid ! " he answered solemnly. " It is the pas 
 sion of my life." Then with a sudden change of color 
 
 4 37
 
 38 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 and tone, "But the house seems a dull cage to put you 
 in, my darling. Will you show me how to make it 
 brighter, like the home I took you from? " 
 
 " Gladly, if I may. I shall want to spend half the 
 summer in these enchanting woods. I have no sewing to 
 do, and no parish-visiting : so I shall be as idle as a 
 butterfly." 
 
 " I shall take you out to drive with me. There are 
 many pretty little villages around. Then there is a very 
 passable library in town, to which I always subscribe, as a 
 public-spirited citizen should. And there are some pleas 
 ant people, only I don't seem to know much about the 
 women in a social way ; " and he made a grimace as he 
 drew her down beside him on a rustic seat. 
 
 It was so peaceful and dream}', that Nelly, instead of 
 replying, fell into a re very. Her dream of the new home 
 had been rather highly colored, perhaps. Dr. Kinnard 
 was as unlike her father as possible, though a fancied 
 resemblance had won her in the beginning. He thought 
 a great deal of his own personal comfort, and the things 
 which pleased him ; tender, and with a deep sympathy 
 when his nature was roused, yet lacking altogether that 
 profound and vital Christian principle which actuated Mr. 
 Endicott. Nelly had learned this during her month of 
 honeymoon. He had been boundlessly indulgent to her, 
 partly because he loved her very much, and partly because 
 he had nothing else to do. She was not so unreasonable 
 as to expect this always : in fact, life was too serious a 
 problem to her to be spent in such sweet idleness. A 
 great work lay before her ; but how was she to begin ? 
 Would he help her in it, guide with his maturer judgment, 
 strengthen her with the earnest manliness that was a part 
 of his nature in his profession? 
 
 "What now, little one?" for the keen eyes had been 
 studying her. Down in his heart he had a fear of yearn 
 ing homesickness for kith and kin at Wachusett.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 39 
 
 She flashed and smiled. "I was only thinking," she 
 made answer. 
 
 " Of home? " he asked almost jealously. 
 
 "No, not of home," in her clear, frank tone, raising 
 her soft dark eyes to his, " of my life here ; of what 
 I must do." 
 
 ' ' The great thing is to be happy. I am not going to 
 have your young face clouded with cares and worries." 
 
 " I hope it will not cloud easily," she replied with 
 tender gravity. 
 
 " I want it bright and sweet for mj T self, selfish old fel 
 low that I am ; " and he laughed. 
 
 There seemed so much to say ! }-et how could she 
 approach so delicate a matter? When Dr. Kinnard 
 chose to ignore, or pass over any subject, he did it in a 
 quietly persistent manner. Circumstances, and the kind 
 of women with whom his life had been passed, had ren 
 dered this necessary as a sort of armor. He allowed the 
 household to have its own way, except where it interfered 
 with him personalty. When his mother had first come to 
 Edgerly, there had been an undercurrent of bickering and 
 complaint. He tried his best to heal and smooth, then gave 
 it up firmly. " Settle your own affairs," he would say. 
 By holding aloof, he preserved the better his own authority 
 when he did speak. Both women found there was a limit 
 they could not pass, and that he would not commit him 
 self to either side. The eternal discussion of things, that 
 seems to afford many women unalloyed satisfaction, proves 
 a bore to most men. 
 
 And, though Nelly felt in a most confidential and ques 
 tioning mood, she wisely refrained, turning her attention 
 to the landscape, and picking out two or three points that 
 were great favorites with him. It was so delightful to 
 have a companion who could appreciate something beyond 
 a ball-dress. And there they sat until the twilight gloom 
 began to gather.
 
 40 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " Come, it is growing damp," he said suddenly. 
 
 ' ' And we have staid away too long already ; but it was 
 so beautiful ! Why, it is all like a picture." 
 
 " It was pretty rough and wild when I first came here, 
 and had been shamefully neglected. But I was tired of 
 the city, and took a great fancy to it. Mat has a good 
 deal of taste too. He is always surprising me by some 
 improvement. I like to have such work done without 
 being pestered by a thousand questions. I don't expect 
 him to understand a case of fever ; but I might reasonably 
 imagine him to know about landscape-gardening." 
 
 " He is very fond of you, isn't he? " 
 
 "Well, yes. I was his friend through some hard 
 trouble. He had a drunken termagant for a wife ; and I 
 do suppose she beat and neglected his little baby so that 
 it was a clear case of murder ; only the law couldn't well 
 take hold of it. Then Mat fell sick, and I had him 
 brought over here, and put her in jail to keep her away 
 from him. One day she was going on worse than usual, 
 when she was taken with a fit, fell down stairs, and broke 
 her neck, and poor Mat was free." 
 
 ' ' What a terrible story ! " 
 
 " Yes. So the poor fellow staid right along with me. 
 That must be seven years ago. He is as good as any two 
 men I ever had, and, in some ways, handy as a woman. 
 He always sweeps my rooms, and looks after my belong 
 ings. Then he has that old country respect, which is quite 
 refreshing in these days of insolent independence." 
 
 They sauntered indoors, unconscious of the unfriendly 
 criticisms of the last half-hour. The lamp was already 
 lighted ; and Nelly felt a little conscience-smitten. 
 
 ' ' Where is Bertie ? ' ' asked his father with a quick 
 glance. 
 
 " His hour for retiring is invariably eight. I think, 
 Mrs. Kinnard," addressing Nelly, " that there is nothing 
 like regularity in bringing up children. I have had the
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 41 
 
 care of Herbert from his birth, and he has a peculiar 
 will," " like his father," she longed to add, " and it 
 does not answer to allow him to overstep the slightest 
 boundary." 
 
 Nelly acknowledged with a slight bow the honor of a 
 remark addressed exclusively to herself. She glanced 
 at Maud, who seemed to be in the same position on the 
 ottoman that she was an hour ago ; but in her eyes there 
 was a very weary look. 
 
 " Doctor," began Miss Grove presently, " your mother 
 and I have been discussing another point, which we refer 
 to you. Of course, you will have some kind of a recep 
 tion to introduce Mrs. Kinnard into her new sphere. 
 What do you say to next Wednesday evening?" 
 
 Dr. Kinnard looked helplessly at his new wife. 
 
 "Is it necessary? Do }^ou care, Nelly? " 
 
 "Necessary!" echoed Miss Grove indignantly. 
 " Why, } T es, unless a man marries a woman of whom he 
 is ashamed." 
 
 " Then let us have it, by all means. Next week 
 Wednesdaj'. I must remember and not make any en 
 gagement. There must be some kind of supper, I sup 
 pose ? And what else ? Dancing, and all that fol-de-rol ? " 
 
 " If Mrs. Kinnard desires dancing. I do not dance 
 myself," was the severe rejoinder. 
 
 ' ' I think a simple wedding-reception with a supper 
 would be the best," said Nelly quietly. "It is always 
 pleasant to know the people among whom one's lot is 
 cast." 
 
 ' ' There is some very good society at Edgerly and 
 Westwood, though, no doubt, quite different from the 
 narrow bounds of a single parish," said Miss Grove. 
 
 " Our parish bounds were not very narrow," was the 
 gentle reply. 
 
 " Excuse me, I have alwaj-s heard that Episcopalians 
 were exceedingly exclusive. Of course, Mrs. Kinnard, 
 
 4*
 
 42 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 3-011 will make your first appearance in your husband's 
 church, as we have a famity pew. And really, I believe 
 the Episcopalians have not gained much of a foothold 
 here. The old church is at the extreme end of the town, 
 and is not considered at all fashionable." 
 
 "Adelaide, we were discussing the party, if you 
 please," said the doctor pointedly. "Will you take 
 the management of it ? There are a few people whom I 
 would like to ask. And, Nelty, I think you must send 
 for Daisy. And will you," glancing at Miss Grove, 
 " learn what will be needed, and let Mat order it?" 
 
 " Certainly, since you put it into my hands. Then we 
 will say Wednesday evening of next week. I shall write 
 the invitations myself, as they are considered much more 
 stjiish. You can hand me your list to-morrow. Is that 
 nine? Maud, we must say good-evening, and retire. 
 Mrs. Kinnard, breakfast is at eight, dinner at half-past 
 twelve, and supper at six, invariably, whether the doctor 
 is here or not. Irregular meals betoken a very careless 
 household, in my estimation ; and there is nothing like 
 system for young people. Say good- night, Maud." 
 
 The elder lady bowed with sweeping stiffness, and 
 Maud with almost comical primness. No tender good 
 night kiss, no cordial wishes. The doctor gave a care 
 less nod, as if he was glad to be rid of them thus easily. 
 Then he turned to his mother, and began to make some 
 casual inquiries as to what had transpired in his absence. 
 
 Mrs. Kinnard, senior, had been scrutinizing the pretty 
 doll her son had so foolishly married. Oddly enough, 
 from her first entrance as an inmate of her son's house, 
 she had been afraid he would marry Adelaide Grove. 
 Both women had tried hard for the supremacy ; but Miss 
 Grove kept that over the children, and the rule of the 
 household, in some degree. But when his engagement to 
 that designing young flirt, Miss Endicott, was announced, 
 his mother was astounded.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 43 
 
 "Barton," she said, "there is no need whatever of 
 your marrying again. Adelaide can look after the chil 
 dren ; and I can supervise the house. You will find that 
 you are plunging yourself into a sea of trouble. But, if 
 you must marry, Adelaide would be so much more suita 
 ble. She is nearer to the children than any stranger can 
 be ; she is experienced, and" 
 
 But Mrs. Kinnard was not suffered to recount the 
 newty discovered virtues of Adelaide Grove. 
 
 "Mother," said Dr. Kinnard, with a solemnity that 
 effectually hushed caviling, "I pleased you } T ears ago 
 by marrjing Mary Grove : now I shall please myself by 
 marrying Nelly Endicott. As for the children, in their 
 own mother's lifetime they were left to the care of ser 
 vants and Aunt Adelaide. When they are old enough, I 
 shall send them away to school. Miss Endicott has been 
 brought up amongst children ; and, if I were to die in a 
 3*ear's time, I could leave mine in no better hands. I 
 hope you will love and welcome her as a daughter ; but 
 I am marrying her for nr^self alone." 
 
 Mrs. Kinnard was awed by her son's manner ; and she 
 admitted to herself that he was of an obstinate turn. 
 But now she fancied that it really had been the desire of 
 her life, instead of the dread, that Adelaide should fill 
 this position. So the two women formed a tacit league, 
 cemented by mutual disappointment. If Dr. Kinnard 
 had not married at all, Miss Grove would have been 
 satisfied ; but that he should dare to choose youth and 
 beauty in preference to experience and money was an 
 insult. Since she could not venture to retaliate upon 
 him, she nursed her indignation, and kept it warm for 
 the new-comer. 
 
 Nelly understood, and was chilled by the coldness. 
 She tried to keep up a little conversation ; but it was 
 difficult. Dr. Kinnard was annoyed by his mother's 
 want of cordiality, yet he felt that some excuse was due
 
 44 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 her age, and that, at her time of life, people did not readily 
 adapt themselves to changes. But it was so different at 
 the rectory ! That atmosphere of love, and frank, unaf 
 fected gayety, had in it such an air of wholesome, winning 
 warmth ; it so soon broke through the crust of selfish 
 reserve ; it gave so freely of its best, making a contin 
 ual feast, alike for the chosen guest, the wayfarer, and 
 the home-circle. 
 
 It was a relief when the elder lady retired. Aunt Ade 
 laide had not condescended to make a second appearance. 
 
 Nelly drew a long breath. Dr. Kinnard roused him 
 self from a mood of though tfulness. 
 
 " I daresay you are tired to death. I'll take a look in 
 the office, and then we will go up stairs." 
 
 " Oh ! let me go with you. I want to see your den ; " 
 and Nelly's face was so animated and eager, that he 
 smiled fondly. 
 
 " Come along, then. I'll call Jane to shut up the 
 parlor. It's a dreary place to me: parlors alwaj-s are 
 except yours at the rectory." 
 
 " That was hardly a parlor. Do you know I like the 
 old term so much better, drawing-room ? It seems as 
 if people might draw together from mutual interest and 
 sympathy ; but the word ' parlor ' makes me think of a 
 room handsomely furnished, and darkened to sombreness, 
 where you receive ceremonious calls." 
 
 He laughed. They had crossed the hall ; and, finding 
 the door locked, he said, 
 
 " I will go around and open it. Nay, don't come. 
 You'll break your neck over the rubbish." 
 
 She had learned in her month of honej^moon that Dr. 
 Kinnard was prompt to exact obedience in little things. It 
 fretted him to have a person disregard his orders, and do 
 something a little different, when the first request would 
 have been no more trouble. There was no foolish pride 
 on Nelly's part ; perhaps because her mother had set that
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 45 
 
 noblest of all examples, obedience. There had been 
 a certain riotous lawlessness at the rectory, though it was 
 more exuberance of spirit than any positive disregard of 
 authority. 
 
 " I have kept you waiting," he said in apology. " My 
 lamp was not in perfect order. This is my office. Does 
 it wear a formidable aspect ? ' ' 
 
 " On the contrary, I think it the most homelike place 
 I have seen. Why, you are a very king here," she said 
 gayly. 
 
 The room was large, with three windows across the 
 front, and a side-entrance leading out on a smaller porch, 
 much used by the doctor and his patients. On the hall- 
 side it was filled with book-shelves, with the exception of 
 the doorway, and also the corner by the chimney. On 
 the opposite side stood a great Turkish lounge, covered 
 in russet leather, and several capacious arm-chairs. The 
 carpet was soft, and in rich, subdued colors. There was 
 a large table in the centre, covered with books and pam 
 phlets, and just over this a swinging-lamp, with a white 
 porcelain shade. Then there were pictures, brackets, 
 busts, antique vases, and various odds and ends, that 
 only a man with a peculiar and cultivated taste would be 
 likely to collect. 
 
 "And this is my 'den.' It is in confusion now; for 
 Adelaide sent down some of the things that used to be in 
 the sleeping-room." 
 
 " I thought that looked exceedingly bare and prim," 
 Nelly said mirthfully. "May I not make a raid, and 
 reclaim some of them? or do you delight in confusion?" 
 
 "Well, not exactly. You see, the women are forbidden 
 this part of the house. I like Mat's care better. He 
 does not stow articles away in unheard-of places, and then 
 argue an hour concerning the fitness and propriety of it." 
 
 Nelly had too much wisdom to resent the exclusion of 
 the family in general. Yet a kind of nearness and home-
 
 46 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 feeling was established at once between her and the 
 rooms. This one contained an odd collection, a large 
 piece of furniture, not unlike an old-fashioned mahogany 
 sideboard, with capacious closets at the bottom, and sev 
 eral rather curiously carved shelves at the top, on which 
 was a promiscuous collection ; a wardrobe ; a roomy 
 writing-desk ; and a great square-cornered sofa, where one 
 might sleep very comfortably indeed. 
 
 " You see," went on the doctor in an explanatory 
 manner, " I do sleep here a great deal. Mother, Aunt 
 Adelaide, and the children have the rooms over opposite. 
 There is a stairway here, which leads to the room above : 
 so you see, by that means, I keep quite to myself. That 
 connects again with the spare chamber, our room." 
 
 " Then I can visit you without any trouble, as I foresee 
 already that I shall take a great fancy to this ' den ' of 
 yours. Do not be surprised if I bring a work-basket and 
 a rocking-chair, and make myself at home." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders, and bestowed upon her a 
 humorous smile. 
 
 "Will you allow me to light a cigar, Mrs. Kinnard? 
 I am full of confirmed bachelor-habits ; and I cannot 
 give up the privileges of this den." 
 
 She nodded a gay little assent. He came and sat down 
 on the sofa, put his arm around her, and drew her nearer 
 to him. It was so strange, and yet so delightful, to have 
 some one to pet ; though there was an occasional shy 
 awkwardness that amused Nelly. 
 
 " I hope you will soon get to feeling at home," he 
 began presently. 
 
 ' ' I shall do my best. And if they will all love me a 
 little" 
 
 " Will not my love satisfy? " 
 
 " But have I not taken upon myself duties towards 
 the others as well? The children " 
 
 " Aunt Adelaide is to teach them, for the present.
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 47 
 
 When they are a little older, I shall pack them off to 
 school." 
 
 It sounded so hard and unsympathetic to her, fresh 
 from a centre of family affection. It would be an easy 
 way of solving the difficulty, no doubt. 
 
 " I cannot help but think that home is the best place 
 for a girl ; that is, if it is the right kind of a home." 
 
 " Exactly, Nelly. But, with all due deference to your 
 loving and generous heart, I think a few weeks will con 
 vince you that there are some very inharmonious influ 
 ences here, and that this cannot truly be called a model 
 home. Maud, as you must have seen to-night, is a per 
 fect little prig. I don't complain of her quiet, or her 
 nice manners, but the primness, and air of consequence. 
 She knows that when she is of age she will have quite a 
 little fortune. The money their mother left was invested, 
 and will not be touched until then. Bertie is rough in 
 many waj's, and has serious faults ; but I have insisted 
 that he should not be clipped and trained into a Miss 
 Nancy. I cannot abide girlish boys. Aunt Adelaide has 
 queer notions, and is sure her way is best and right." 
 
 ' ' Must she have charge of the children ? ' ' asked Nelly 
 timidly. 
 
 "I couldn't well send her away. She came here at 
 Bertie's birth ; and she was needed sorely enough, God 
 knows. She was very different from the children's 
 mother. After her death, she took sole charge of them ; 
 and I must admit they have not lacked any material 
 comfort. I daresay you have discovered by this time, 
 Nelly, that I am not extravagantly fond of children." 
 
 She had, indeed. She saw how very easily she could 
 crowd them out of their father's heart. 
 
 " I suppose it is a fault. While I could never beat or 
 starve a little child, or thwart it of any needful pleasure, 
 still children do not interest me as a book or an educated 
 companion does. Therefore I was relieved to have Aunt
 
 48 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Adelaide take them so completely off my hands. And 
 I felt it would be really ungenerous to refuse her a year 
 or two more, because I had consulted my own pleasure in 
 marrying you." 
 
 " You were quite right there, I think. It would have 
 been very hard." 
 
 " You see, I never expected to marry. But at last I 
 began to long for a little dark-eyed witch, my neighbor's 
 daughter ; and my resolves were scattered to the winds." 
 
 ' ' And if you should repent ? " 
 
 "Nelly, you must not let me!" and he pressed her 
 closer, with a vehement clasp. U I am not fickle or 
 unreasonable in my demands, queer, I may be. Can't 
 you take some of the quirks out of me? not b}^ any 
 sudden wrenching-off, but the gentler treatment, when a 
 man's vanity is not wounded, and he doesn't realize that 
 he is being managed. I think there may be some good 
 traits in my nature ; but they have been overlaid with 
 rubbish of all sorts." 
 
 " It will be my first entertaining duty to go on a 
 vo3~age of discovery," she answered playfully. 
 
 "What were we talking of? Oh! Aunt Adelaide. 
 Well, j'ou see at this juncture, I could not well send 
 her away, or refuse her the oversight of her sister's 
 children for a while longer. But when they go to school, 
 ah, Nelly, I have solved the puzzle ! " and he laughed 
 heartily, in his mellow, wholesome manner. 
 
 "You will prescribe matrimony? Ah, you see I am 
 good at guessing ; " and she gave an audacious little smile. 
 
 ' ' But who will bell the cat ? " and an expression of 
 comical anxiety pervaded his face. 
 
 "Ah! your expedient has one weak side. No doubt 
 there are men who would be only too glad to take Miss 
 Grove and her money ; but she is too wise a woman to 
 make a very poor bargain. And she may have had 
 some "
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 49 
 
 "Love-episode, you think? No: I don't believe her 
 heart is in any one's grave. But we must make the best 
 of her as she is ; and you must not feel hurt, my darling, 
 at any coldness or reserve on her part." 
 
 He pressed his young wife to his heart. She was 
 prett}?- and sweet, and had that beguiling way of womanly 
 wisdom which enchanted him, while he had not abounding 
 faith in it. He had seen so much of life, of women, of 
 matrimony, that sometimes he was tempted to scoff a 
 little. And yet he felt, that, for the first time, a true and 
 simple love had blossomed in his pathway. No one 
 should snatch it from him : he even hated to think that 
 any one should share it. With the unreasonableness of 
 a man's strong and imperious passion, he half wished 
 they could go away by themselves, and shut out the rest 
 of the world.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " He that hath a victory lost 
 May discomfit yet a host ; 
 And it often doth befall, 
 He who conquers loses all." 
 
 NELLY slept late the next morning, and had just time to 
 hurry down to breakfast. Jane was inexorable about the 
 meals, as far as the family were concerned, and agreed 
 famously on this point with Miss Adelaide ; but to the 
 master she was all indulgence. She would leave any 
 work to spread a dainty feast for him. She had not ap 
 proved of this marriage. 
 
 ' ' It's a foolish thing ; and the doctor will be sorry 
 enough when he comes to his senses," she said to Mat on 
 the wedding-day. "But men never do know when they 
 are well off. I'm not going to have any pert young thing 
 ordering around in my kitchen, I can tell you ! " 
 
 So when Jane met her in the hall, in the bloom and 
 freshness of her youth, and her pretty white morning- 
 dress, with roses at her throat, leaning so familiarly on 
 the arm of the doctor (whom she respected to the utter 
 most, and really felt a little afraid of) , a frown darkened 
 her face. 
 
 The rest were in their places. Maud looked thinner 
 and more sallow in her yellowish brown-linen dress, elab 
 orately embroidered with black, the ruffle of the same 
 not relieved in the slightest. Both children responded 
 rather shyly to Nelly's joyous good-morning. The ladies 
 made a few commonplace comments ; the doctor talked a 
 60
 
 NELLY KDSTNAKD'S KINGDOM. 51 
 
 little business ; and the meal was hurried through. Out 
 side, countless roses were blooming ; but not one graced 
 the table or the apartment. 
 
 ' ' Will you give me the list of people whom you would 
 like invited next week ? " asked Miss Grove, as she rose. 
 
 "Yes. Nelly, come in the office a moment, will you?" 
 and the doctor placed his hand on her shoulder. 
 
 Maud stared. So did Jane, who had just entered to 
 remove the breakfast-dishes. Asked in the office, where 
 no one else was tolerated ! 
 
 Nelly followed, unconscious of the great favor. 
 
 Mrs. Kiunard turned to Miss Grove. " What shall we 
 order for dinner to-day?" She always consulted Miss 
 Grove, though at first she had made a great effort to get 
 the supreme power in her hands. She looked after the 
 house, did the mending, and was the intermediate link 
 between Jane and Miss Grove. 
 
 All parties would have been still further scandalized 
 had they seen the doctor kiss Nelly's peachy cheek, and 
 turn her around in undisguised admiration. 
 
 " Now, my dear girl, if you will sit down and scribble 
 off a list of names for me, "while I look over a few busi 
 ness matters. I ought to have done it last night, instead 
 of making love to you ; and there will be no rest for 
 Aunt Adelaide until this party is well under way." 
 
 " And you don't like parties? " 
 
 "Who said I didn't, eh? I am not quite an old bear! 
 There will be some pleasant people, whom I really do 
 want you to know. And it is the fashion, I suppose. 
 The part I shall not enjoy is the being up on exhibition. 
 But, if people will dance, they must pay the piper." 
 
 Nelly smiled, and said she was ready. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard repeated a few names, and then lost him 
 self in some perplexing figures. Rousing suddenly, and 
 seeing Nell}- in an expectant attitude, he went on, with 
 sundry breaks, until the list was finished.
 
 52 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 He ran his eyes over it. "I daresa} T it will vex Aunt 
 Adelaide a little ; but I want some of my friends as well. 
 Now run and get yourself ready, and we will go in town." 
 
 Nelly made her bed, dusted her antique furniture, ex 
 plored her closets, hung up a few dresses, and then put 
 on her pretty silvery gray suit. She laid her hat and 
 gloves on the bed, and sat down by the window to wait, 
 espying. Bertie off in the distance, climbing a fence. 
 The scene was delightful, varied by little hills with breaks 
 between, and the river winding about in the distance. 
 Presentl}' a bell rang that set Nelly to wondering. 
 
 It was for Herbert, but had to be rung sharply a second 
 time. Then he came hurrying up the steps in a noisy 
 fashion. 
 
 "Herbert," said his aunt, "go down stairs, and come 
 up as a gentleman should. I am ashamed of you this 
 morning. Ever since you have been allowed to go over 
 in the woods, you have grown wilder and ruder." 
 
 He came up, and the door was closed. Nelly was tired 
 of her lonely idleness, and began to unpack a few articles. 
 What a dreary look the room had, and the parlor down 
 stairs ! Would she ever feel at home ? Would she ever 
 dare to say, "Mother" to Mrs. Kinnard. She winked 
 a tear out of the corner of her eye. And here were her 
 pretty vases and ornaments, bridal gifts some of them. 
 She would have the brackets put up ; and, when the new 
 furniture came, her room should be bright and cheerful. 
 
 " Nelly," called the doctor ; and she ran down. 
 
 " Here is one of my good friends, to whom I want to 
 introduce you, Judge Denslow." 
 
 Nelly bowed to a short, stout, fresh-colored, and good- 
 humored person ; and there followed a little pleasantry, 
 with congratulations. 
 
 " Are you out for a morning-walk?" noticing her hat. 
 
 " Oh, no ! I " and Nelly looked at her husband with 
 a sudden flush.
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 53 
 
 " I was to take her out," interposed the doctor. 
 
 " Really, Mrs. Kinnard, you have made a good begin 
 ning. Now, I always have to wait for my women-folks. 
 The sex, as a general thing, is half an hour behindhand." 
 
 "That is something of a libel. TSay the exceptions 
 are," she returned. 
 
 "It wouldn't do for me to go back on my word, you 
 see: I should lose weight;" and there was a mirthful 
 twinkle in his eye. 
 
 Another interruption occurred. " The doctor was 
 wanted right away at Mis' Gale's. Mr. Gale had been in 
 cramps all night. They only heard an hour ago that the 
 doctor was home. The wagon was here, and he could go 
 right back." 
 
 "Very well: I won't be long, Nelly. Don't hurry 
 off, judge;" and, seizing his hat, the doctor vanished. 
 Judge Denslow remained a while longer, then made his 
 adieus. Nelly looked over the books, straightened a pic 
 ture, dusted the furniture, and gave an air of tidiness to 
 the place, without any officious meddling or neatness. 
 Then she glanced in the " den." How she should like to 
 take some nice quiet da}", ah ! all days would be quiet 
 enough here, and make this room pretty and homelike ! 
 She had an inward famry that she should use it a great 
 deal. The sitting-room did not look very cosey or invit 
 ing ; and there was no other refuge beside her own 
 apartment. She could sew here, and read ; and, her hus 
 band would have a welcome smile the instant he entered 
 the house. 
 
 He rushed in then. "Oh, here you are ! v . he cried 
 in a quick tone. " I was detained longer than I expected. 
 Mat has Dolly all ready : so come along." 
 
 With that he hurried her out, and packed her into the 
 buggy ; and in a minute they were spinning down the 
 road. She thought about the list of invitations that was 
 lying on the study-table ; but she would not annoy him 
 now by speaking of it. 5 *
 
 54 NELLY KIKNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 There were a few calls on the way ; and several friends 
 came out to the carriage to see the doctor's new wife. His 
 marriage had taken Edgerly quite by surprise ; because 
 most people, if they thought about it at all, fancied he 
 would end by marrying Miss Grove. 
 
 Edgerly was a rather pretty town, being built partly on 
 the side-hill, where the rows of cottages and terraced 
 gardens reminded Nelly of a Swiss picture. The business 
 streets wore a brisk air, with their stores and offices, and 
 the continual passing of pedestrians. 
 
 "We haven't said a word about what we want," ex 
 claimed the doctor suddenly. " I don't believe I know 
 much about such affairs. I never furnished a room in my 
 life. When it is done, I can tell whether I like it or 
 not." 
 
 "You mean to refurnish it completely?" asked Nelly 
 rather timidly. 
 
 " Why, of course. We must have something that 
 looks a little more like jon. We need a pretty carpet to 
 begin with ; and here is just the place." 
 
 So they went in ; and the clerks displayed their wares 
 with alacrity. For a moment an odd misgiving crossed 
 Nelly's mind. How rich was Dr. Kinnard, and ought she 
 to buy a beautiful Brussels carpet for her sleeping-room ? 
 But the doctor tumbled them over, examined, and finally 
 narrowed the choice to three, all of which were unusually 
 pretty, Nelry thought : so her scruples went to the winds, 
 and she made her selection. 
 
 "And now for some furniture. Nelly, I suppose you 
 have a woman's love for the regulation black walnut ? " 
 
 " I really do not know," was the slow reply. 
 
 " Perhaps I associate it a great deal with sickness," he 
 said. " But, in spite of its richness, it has a gloomy look 
 to me, as if it was more fit for dowagers than }'oung 
 wives. I am a queer old fellow, am I not?" 
 
 Nelly smiled, and resolved that the room should be
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 55 
 
 light and bright. After some search, the}- found a suit to 
 their taste, and ordered it. 
 
 " Upon my word," declared the doctor, " you must be 
 an exception in shopping. Here we are all through, and 
 with some time still on our hands. Let me see we can 
 drop into the library ; and I will introduce you to Mr. 
 Grey. And there is quite a pretty picture-store, where 
 I have fallen into the bad habit of idling away my time. 
 It will not look quite so grand after our city experiences ; 
 but now we have come back to plain country-life." 
 
 Nelly thought of the dinner, and would not allow him 
 to loiter so much to-day. But then he wanted to show 
 her one of his favorite drives, and it was the longest ~wa,y 
 home. The family were seated around the table, and the 
 dessert had been brought on. 
 
 " You left no word," began Miss Grove ; " and I do 
 endeavor to make my own and the children's habits 
 regular." 
 
 "Oh, that is all right enough!" he replied, as Nelly 
 went to take off her hat and gloves. Then he glanced 
 over the table. "Has anything been kept warm?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "How could Jane, when she did not know what time 
 you might be expected ? " was the reply, in a complaining 
 tone. 
 
 Nelly returned at that moment, and took her seat beside 
 her husband. Miss Grove sat at the head of the table, 
 with a child on either hand. Dr. Kinnard was a trifle 
 touched and mortified to have Nelly crowded into a 
 secondary place. She ought to be mistress. And this 
 cold meat wasi not very inviting, carved half an hour ago, 
 nor the lukewarm vegetables. But, while he was con 
 sidering, an imperative summons came for him. 
 
 "I must go straight to Lakeland," he said; " and I 
 may not be back until evening." Then he lapsed into 
 silence and hurried eating ; while Mrs. Kinnard and Miss 
 Grove kept up a small stream of neighborhood gossip.
 
 56 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Nelly followed him to the office, and made her adieus 
 out of the reach of prying eyes. 
 
 "Don't get lonesome, little girl. I wish I could take 
 you ; but I cannot now. Good-by." 
 
 She had not the courage to go back and finish her des 
 sert, though she admitted rather grimly to herself that 
 she was still hungry. Bertie had half an hour for play at 
 noon; while Maud 'went to her music-practice. Nelly 
 retired to her room, and settled a few more articles in the 
 pantry. Then she bethought herself of letters to write ; 
 and she had a presentiment that she could write better 
 now than when she came to have more experience with 
 the household, since at present she could judge them as 
 strangers. 
 
 She went down to the office, and ensconced herself in 
 an easy-chair, finding so much to say, that the time passed 
 rapidly. Once her attention was aroused by a prettj r 
 pony-phaeton being driven to the door. Aunt Adelaide 
 and Maud stepped off the porch, and took their seats. 
 Then the house grew lonesomely quiet ; for Bertie had 
 gone out to play. After her letters were finished, she 
 took a short walk, but met no one. Even Mrs. Kinnard 
 did not seem to be visible anywhere. She was thapkful 
 to hear the tea-bell ring, though she felt something like 
 an interloper, as she went out alone. 
 
 " Did you have a pleasant drive this afternoon, Maud," 
 she asked, when the silence grew oppressive. 
 
 Maud glanced at Aunt Adelaide ; then, pursing up he r 
 mouth, replied that it was pleasant. 
 
 " And you are very fond of it, I daresay. The pony 
 and phaeton are a perfect match." 
 
 " They are Aunt Adelaide's," volunteered Bertie. 
 
 " Herbert ! " said his aunt warning!}'. 
 
 4 ' I suppose you would like to have a pony of 3'our very 
 own, Bertie?" Nelly ventured in a friendly tone, desirous 
 of being social with some one.
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 57 
 
 " You bet ! " was the eager, boyish reply. 
 
 "Herbert, leave the table immediately. How often 
 have I told } T OU that I will not tolerate slang ; and this is 
 the second time I have had to speak to you," said his 
 annt in a severe tone. 
 
 "O Miss Grove! allow me to intercede for him," 
 exclaimed Nelly, blushing like a culprit herself; and 
 Bertie hesitated a moment, with his eyes fixed upon 
 her. 
 
 ' ' Herbert, you will go straight to bed for this disobe 
 dience. I shall come up to your room presently. Mrs. 
 Kinnard, I beg leave to explain that I have the care of 
 these motherless children. Your good sense will show 
 you that any interference is not only injudicious, but quite 
 unfortunate in regard to them. Too many masters end 
 by spoiling the child, as I have explained to the doctor ; 
 and 3 - ou will admit that obedience is a child's first and 
 best lesson. Without that, you cannot do any thing." 
 
 Herbert went reluctantly. For an instant, indignation 
 threatened to overmaster Nelly ; but, with a strong effort 
 at self-control, she kept silent, though her face was 
 burning with a crimson flush. She felt, that, if Dr. 
 Kinnard had been present, Miss Grove would not have 
 dared quite so much. It was cruel, too, to send a hungry 
 child to bed supperless ; and she could not but feel that 
 all this assumption of authority was an insult to her. 
 
 "We called a^t the Blairs' to-day," began Miss Grove, 
 addressing the elder Mrs. Kinnard. " They are still in 
 grief about their son's unfortunate marriage." 
 
 "Oh, do tell me! Will they recognize her? Such a 
 shameless thing as it was ! " 
 
 ' ' They have not asked her home yet. Walter Blair has 
 come into possession of his uncle's estate, you know ; and 
 they mean to go to housekeeping there immediately. I 
 suppose she cannot be kept out of society." 
 
 Nelly was not paying much attention to the subject ;
 
 58 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 but she learned presently that Mrs. Walter Blair had been 
 a mill-hand, and that her mother, who was a widow, kept 
 some boarders. And that this young woman should 
 presume to marry into one of the old families was con 
 sidered a capital crime on her part. The dividing lines, 
 it seemed, were very strongly drawn at Edgerly ; and, 
 as Nell} 7 listened to the narrow and selfish strictures, she 
 was thankful that her father was a clergyman, even if he 
 was poor. 
 
 Mrs. Kinuard retired to the sitting-room, and took up 
 some netting. Maud followed her aunt. Nelly sat silent, 
 every pulse still flaming with resentment. It was plain 
 that these women meant to do nothing for her comfort 
 or happiness. She had said she would be patient, and 
 win their love ; but, oh, how hard the task was likely to 
 prove ! 
 
 A few tears dropped silently as the keen sense of in 
 justice burned at her heart. Jane cleared away the 
 things, lighted the hall-lamp, and disappeared amid her 
 kitchen - duties. Nelly counted the weary moments. 
 She knew it would be useless to settle herself to read 
 ing : so she sat and thought of the happy home she had 
 left, of the community of kindly interests, the tender 
 affection that was not ashamed of making itself known. 
 
 Did she hear a wagon? Yes: that was her husband. 
 
 She sprang up, and ran through the hall, to find both 
 
 doors locked on the inside. He had entered evidently 
 
 from the side- way ; for now she could hear his step. 
 
 ' " Barton ! " she cried eagerly, " Barton, let me in ! " 
 
 The door was opened. 
 
 ' ' Who locked this door ? ' ' she said with sudden heat. 
 Was she to be considered an intruder everywhere ? 
 
 " Why, Jane must have turned the keys. She has 
 done it a good deal to keep Bertie out, as he has a pro 
 pensity for meddling ; and didn't Aunt Adelaide go out?" 
 
 " But I was here myself until after five ; and, Barton,
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 59 
 
 no servant has a right to lock me out of any room in my 
 husband's house ! " 
 
 " Upon my word, you are brilliant enough for a tragedy 
 queen ! I don't imagine she thought of you. She might 
 have heard you going out, and come to see who it was, 
 then turned the ke}-s by way of precaution. I sometimes 
 leave chemicals about. There, don't get so excited over a 
 trifle. "What, cr} T ing too!" for, as he kissed her, he felt 
 a tear on her cheek. 
 
 " I have been so miserably lonesome, and " but she 
 checked herself. This was no time for complaint : so she 
 added, " Have you had any supper? " 
 
 " No ; but Jane will give me a cup of tea. She looks 
 out for me at such times." 
 
 " Cannot I go and make it for you? " she asked with a 
 sudden intense longing to have some active share in his 
 life. 
 
 " Not to-night, dear. There, that is Jane's signal," 
 as a little bell was rung. " Stay here until I return. 
 When I want extra meals, I go out in the kitchen, and sup 
 by mj-self. You see, it would make no end of trouble to 
 keep the table standing, or reset it." 
 
 "Well, let me go with you;" and she glanced up 
 beseechingly. 
 
 " I will not be five minutes." 
 
 She clung closer to him. "Why should I not go out 
 and pour your tea, or cut your bread?" she cried. 
 " Surely I am no fine lady ; and }*ou know it well." 
 
 " Jane doesn't arrange for company ; and she might 
 feel in fact, it was a sort of agreement entered into 
 long ago. Once cannot make much difference to 3'ou." 
 
 " It makes a good deal of difference to-night," she said 
 gravely. "Am I not to be Jane's mistress? " 
 
 " My dear Nelly, I am afraid Jane would not brook a 
 mistress in the ordinary use of the term. Mother and 
 Aunt Adelaide have both tried it ; and it came to an open
 
 60 NELLY KINNAHD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 contest. If Jane remained, no one was to interfere with 
 her in the kitchen. She is a faithful and capable woman, 
 and I should be sorry to lose her. I had trouble enough 
 before she came." 
 
 "As if my going out and sitting beside J T OU would 
 make any trouble," persisted Nelly. 
 
 " Jane would take umbrage. I know her well. There, 
 my dear, let me go for this once. Next time we will have 
 it different." 
 
 He unclasped her hands, and she sat down quietly, but 
 with a swelling heart. Had they all conspired against 
 her ? Had they bound her husband to certain regulations 
 before she came? and was he weak enough to purchase 
 peace in that manner? 
 
 He was not absent long. On his return, he picked her 
 up from the arm-chair, sat down, and took her on his 
 knee. 
 
 " Well," he began presently, seeing that she was silent, 
 "what have you been doing this afternoon? Did you 
 get very lonesome ? " 
 
 "I was not lonesome until this evening," she made 
 answer. - 
 
 " It is a great change for you. I think we must ask 
 one of the girls over ; for sometimes I cannot help sta}*ing 
 out late. Are you homesick so soon?" 
 
 " No, Barton, I am not homesick. I simply want a 
 place, and something to do, some interest. Jane, it 
 seems, is to take charge of the house, and desires no inter 
 ference. Miss Grove takes charge of the children, and 
 desires no interference : so I almost wonder what }'ou 
 brought me here for." 
 
 " To love me a little," he answered with a tender 
 gravity. " I saw a pretty rose in my neighbor Endicott's 
 garden ; and I was foolish enough to sigh for its sweet 
 ness. Will its thorns prick me, or will it fade with 
 dissatisfaction ? Or will it be oatient a while, until cir 
 cumstances turn in its favor? "
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 61 
 
 Nelly's heart beat tumultuously ; and she glanced up 
 with tears shining in her eyes. 
 
 ' ' Perhaps it was not right or sensible in an old chap 
 like me to so covet rny neighbor's goods ; " and a sweet, 
 rather humorous smile broke over the face. " But I have 
 done it, and, what is more, climbed the garden-wall, and 
 carried off the rose which had lived in sunshine, calm, and 
 sweet ; and here it finds the shade. Nelly, I have had a 
 good deal of it in my life ; " and his voice sank to a 
 sudden seriousness. " I have learned many things by 
 experience, best of all, patience. There is a great deal 
 that one can do by degrees, especially with women ; " and 
 here he smiled with a peculiar twinkle in his eye. 
 
 " Oh ! " she cried with remorseful tenderness, throwing 
 her arms around his neck, " I did mean to be so patient 
 and tender and wise ; and here I am." 
 
 " Not very thorny, after all, but quite as reasonable as 
 one can expect at twenty, and only a month married." 
 
 " How good 3*011 are ! And you are tired too: I can 
 see it in your face. Can I not do something to comfort 
 you?" 
 
 He studied her for several moments with a curious 
 interest, then said quietly, 
 
 " Was there any trouble beside locking the door, and 
 being lonesome ? " 
 
 She colored a little. "I did feel indignant at that, 
 perhaps unwisely so," she made answer, wondering if it 
 was best to relate the other episode. Tale-bearing seemed 
 so despicable to her. And, though Miss Grove appeared 
 unreasonably severe, perhaps some check was necessar} r 
 for Bertie. They might be different from most of the 
 children she had seen : indeed, she thought they were. 
 
 " Because," said the doctor, still watching her, " that 
 is not to happen again. The doors are not to be locked, 
 except when we are both out. Only you must be a little 
 watchful over my affairs." 
 6
 
 62 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " I promise. Is Bertie never to be allowed in here? " 
 
 " Isn't the rest of the house large enough for two 
 children? I like to have one place sacred to myself." 
 
 " Very well. Oh ! did you know that you did not give 
 your list to Miss Grove? It is there on the table." 
 
 " How stupid ! Why did you not help me to remem 
 ber it? I wonder if Adelaide wrote out the invitations. 
 I must call to her." 
 
 Miss Grove could not come down ; but would Dr. 
 Kinnard come up? 
 
 The invitations had been written, and sent. However, 
 she would look these over ; and she glanced down the list 
 in dismay. 
 
 " It will not be at all select, if you mean to ask all 
 these people," she returned haughtily. 
 
 " I don't care about the selectness. When I ask my 
 friends, it is because I want them. But I would like to 
 have the thing well over. It bores me thinking of it." 
 
 He was not as patient then as he had been with her. 
 Nelly heard the words, and hugged a little secret joy close 
 to her heart. It was just the transition, the holiday 
 laid aside, and the every-day life beginning ; and she could 
 not expect it to be adjusted all in a minute. 
 
 " God give me wisdom and grace," she prayed softly. 
 *' Let not all the golden years of my childhood and girl 
 hood be without fruit for autumn."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "Men are made to be eternally shaken about; but women are 
 flowers that lose their beautiful color in the noise and tumult of 
 life." JEAN PAUL. 
 
 THE carpet and furniture came ; and Nelly made her 
 room a perfect bower. Some pictures were brought 
 up stairs : she had her choice of them. She put up her 
 brackets, and filled vases with flowers, until it quite 
 reminded her of the rectory, except that it was more 
 beautiful. She went at the "den" too, in a frag 
 mentary, piecemeal way, straightening and retouching 
 so by degrees, that her husband hardly remarked the 
 change. Indeed, she was not ready for him to do so yet. 
 
 Then began the great party preparations. Jane was 
 deep in the mysteries of cooking and compounding, and 
 cross accordingly. Her sister, quite a young woman, 
 who staid at home with their invalid mother, and took 
 in sewing, came over to help. The house was opened, 
 swept, dusted, and every thing beaten about as- if it had 
 the accumulation of a century in it. Mrs. Kinnard was 
 giving orders here and there, quite in her element. The 
 refreshment-table was to be arranged in the sitting-room, 
 and the hall kept clear. Nelly smiled a little over the 
 fuss and confusion, half of it quite unnecessary. Just a 
 cold lunch at dinner, and then on with the preparations. 
 And at dusk it all looked stiff and formal, and was quiet 
 as the grave ; for everybody had gone to dress. 
 
 Nelly had spoken once of flowers. Aunt Adelaide 
 would make a bouquet for the table. 63
 
 64 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " But what I mean is to fill the vases, and stand them 
 everywhere around." 
 
 " The} T fall, and litter up the floor ; and I think flowers 
 in rooms very unhealthy," was Mrs. Kinnard's reply, 
 in no gracious tone. 
 
 The children had been very shy since Bertie's unfortu 
 nate episode, and Nelly had been busy ; beside that, 
 a secret sensitiveness which she did not want wounded. 
 It was best to wait. 
 
 Edgerly did credit to itself and the wife of its favorite 
 physician. Very few sent regrets. There was, no doubt, 
 a good share of curiosity ; and it was amply satisfied. 
 Nelly looked her very prettiest in her light silk, Ste 
 phen's gift. She was sweet and gracious, and perfectly 
 self-possessed. A young thing, to be sure ; but there 
 would be years enough for her to grow older. 
 
 Miss Grove would fain have kept the reception select. 
 She had a great horror of mixed companies ; and, to her, 
 "set" was every thing. It was not at all likely that 
 Mrs. Kinnard would be guided by any one in her choice 
 of friends, as she was a very headstrong young person. 
 But Miss Grove could not resist explaining the position 
 of a few of the guests. 
 
 They ate and drank, and congratulated their host. 
 The women talked gossip in knots ; and some of the men 
 went into the office for a good comfortable smoke. The 
 children remained up until ten, and were feasted no little, 
 in spite of Aunt Adelaide's sharp eyes : at least, Bertie 
 managed to abstract a good share. Nelly was a little 
 shocked at the greediness. Maud was stiff and woman 
 ish, and showed herself quite capable of criticising her 
 new mother, as there were not lacking ill-judging people 
 whose curiosity had to be appeased. 
 
 Bat, somewhere about midnight, it was all over, to 
 Nelly's great relief. A few guests who came from a 
 distance were to remain all night ; and the confusion
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 65 
 
 seemed so odd a thing in this house, that Nelly smiled 
 to herself as she was drawn a little into the responsibility 
 of providing for the comfort of others, in the .capacity 
 of hostess. It was destined to do a good work in this 
 respect, to open the way to her new sphere. 
 
 She stood in the hall the next morning, rather awk 
 wardly waiting for all the family to assemble. Bertie's 
 festive indulgence had taken effect in the shape of a 
 severe attack of indigestion ; and for once Aunt Adelaide 
 was a trifle late. Was it a golden opportunity? 
 
 She touched her husband's arm. " Barton," she began 
 softly, flushing as she spoke, "do you not think it time 
 that I took the head of my own table? I ought not 
 always to be considered a visitor." 
 
 For a moment he looked puzzled. 
 
 " Would you rather that Miss Grove kept it? " 
 
 "Why, no. I did not think about it. Yes, it is 
 right. You are mistress of me and mine : so come." 
 
 Miss Grove swept down stairs at that moment, a little 
 flurried. "I am sorry to have kept } T OU waiting," she 
 began ; " but sickness is sometimes peremptory." 
 
 " You are scarcely five minutes behind, Adelaide ; and 
 it does not signif}'. I think, too, we will release you 
 from a few of your duties ; so that you may be able to 
 feel more at liberty. Therefore I will install Mrs. Kin- 
 nard at the head of the table. She is quite old enough a 
 bride." 
 
 Miss Grove was pale naturally ; but an ashen hue 
 overspread her countenance. They had chosen their time 
 opportunely, when there were visitors, and when she had 
 failed a little in promptness. It would be ill bred to 
 contest the point ; and, for the instant, she could think 
 of nothing bitter to say, at least, that she dared say to 
 her brother-in-law. 
 
 Nelly took her seat with a quiet grace, and poured the 
 coffee. Two of the gentlemen fell into a discussion with 
 6*
 
 66 NELLY KENNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard concerning the property, and the improve 
 ments that had been made since it came into his hands. 
 
 "The credit being principally due to Mat," he said 
 in a gay tone. " He is my right-hand man. He never 
 bothers me with details, but goes straight about his 
 work, and calls me to look at it when it is done." 
 
 "Is the doctor as liberally indulgent to you?" asked 
 one of the ladies, turning to Nelly. " If so, I think I 
 should remodel the house." 
 
 "What is there about the house, Mrs. Glyndon?" and 
 the doctor glanced up sharply. 
 
 "Well, this great hall, for instance. It seems so 
 much waste room." 
 
 " Oh, I like it ! " cried Nelly hastily. " It has such 
 an hospitable air." 
 
 "But doesn't it seem almost like eating out of doors? 
 Now I should put in some sort of partition, and shut off 
 the stairs, and make a snug little room." 
 
 "Little rooms are my abomination," returned the doc 
 tor. " And, since you can go up and down from the 
 kitchen-way, and from the office, there is no great pub 
 licity in these stairs. They serve, too, to shut off this 
 end from the hall-door. I shall not allow you to stir up 
 Mrs. Kinnard to rebel against my hall. It is the apple 
 of my e}"e, the one thing that decided me in buying the 
 house. Now, if }*ou could improve upon the rooms, 
 they are rather gloom}', I think." 
 
 " Mrs. Kinnard, don't allow this golden opportunity to 
 slip. It is your time now ; for husbands are more indul 
 gent in the first six months of matrimony than ever 
 afterwards." 
 
 " What treason!" 
 
 "Indeed, it is not," persisted Mrs. Glyndon. " Can't 
 you have a bay-window put in somewhere? I have a 
 mania for altering." 
 
 " As I know to my cost," said Mr. Glyndon. " I
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 67 
 
 occasionally wonder if it would not be cheaper to give her 
 a course of study on architecture, and have her experi 
 ment on my neighbors. Didn't I hear of a woman once 
 who built a house that was all closets? " 
 
 " But ours is not, I am sure. I want Mrs. Kinnard to 
 come over and see it. And I have a lovely conservatory. 
 You are fond of flowers, of course? " 
 
 "I have always lived among flowers," returned Nelly. 
 " We used to have them in every room at home." 
 
 "Why don't we have them here?" said the doctor 
 suddenly. " I like flowers myself. It always goes to 
 my heart to see a solitary plant blooming on some poor 
 woman's window-sill, or by the bed of a sick child. 
 Nelly, Mat will be glad to cut them for you. They go 
 to waste out of doors." 
 
 "And I shall be glad to bring them in, and cherish 
 them a while. They add such an air of cheerfulness." 
 
 "But do you think them healthy?" asked the elder 
 Mrs. Kinnard. 
 
 " I never heard that florists died any sooner than other 
 people," said the doctor dryly. 
 
 Mrs. Glyndon began to relate some of her experiences 
 in floriculture. She was very bright and entertaining 
 certainly. The group sipped their coffee, and chatted, 
 warming with the peculiar cordiality that lingering around 
 a table invariably inspires. 
 
 Miss Grove rose presently, straight and severe. 
 
 " I am afraid Jane will think us exceedingly dilatory," 
 she began, "our household generally goes on with such 
 regularity ; and you know a domestic, who has a great 
 deal on her hands, feels the delay of an hour or two very 
 sensibly. Maud, you must go directly to your music. 
 Doctor, will you look at Herbert again, before you go 
 out?" 
 
 Dr. Kinnard bit his lip ; but there was a general disper 
 sion. And then Mr. Glyndon found that he had some
 
 68 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 business to do in town before he returned, and Mrs. Glyn- 
 don's trifle of shopping must be attended to ; Mrs. 
 Howard was anxious to take the next train ; and the gen 
 tlemen had interests and employments. 
 
 " How do you manage with the dragon?" whispered 
 Mrs. Glyndon slyly as she was tying her bonnet. " That 
 woman would be the bane of my life. Do you know, we 
 always fancied she would marry the doctor ? and I said it 
 would be a shame. I am half in love with him myself; 
 and he deserves to be a very happy man. But I don't 
 quite see how you are to manage comfortably." 
 
 Nell} 7 gave a little embarrassed laugh, not knowing 
 what to say in reply. 
 
 " Everybody's experience goes to prove that relations 
 never do get along well together. I think it a pity to 
 have them here." 
 
 " I should be sorry to find myself the cause of a rup 
 ture," Nelly returned a little coldly. 
 
 " Well, you may try ; but you'll have to be very sharp 
 if those two women do not out-general you. And you 
 are such a sweet, attractive body, that I've taken a great 
 fancy to you. Now, you will come to Melcombe, it is 
 such a pretty place ; and the doctor has ever so many 
 patients there. I want to show you my house. It is a 
 perfect little nest, if I do say it ; but then I've neither 
 chick nor child to put me in disorder." 
 
 They all said their good-bys ; and the doctor went out at 
 the same time. He was in a mood of high good-humor. 
 The social air of the party inspired him. 
 
 " And now every thing is to be cleared up," began 
 Mrs. Kinnard fretfully. " Parties are such senseless 
 things to me ! You slave yourself to death beforehand ; 
 and, when you are all tired out, the whole house is to be 
 put in order again. And Jane is as cross as a bear. 
 She wasn't any too pleasant before ; but loitering over 
 meals always does vex her."
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 69 
 
 " I think we can soon restore the house to order," said 
 Nelly gravely. " I have been used to both work and 
 company all my life, and am not easily annoyed or dis 
 couraged. Would Jane like any help in the kitchen? 
 Did her sister go home last night ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but she came again this morning. They are at 
 the dishes now." 
 
 " It is not worth while to cook any thing fresh to-day. 
 There must be cold ham and chicken, and there is enough, 
 certainly. That will lessen the work somewhat." 
 
 Mrs. Kinnard stared hard at her daughter-in-law. 
 
 " Jane will do what she thinks best," was the reply. 
 
 An indignant flush flamed up in Nelly's face. If she 
 dared to go out there, and be mistress of the kitchen ! 
 
 Her own room was finished. She dusted the office and 
 the adjoining room ; then she opened the par lor- windows, 
 and let in some sunshine. It was not yet eleven, and 
 she might sweep both of these rooms. It was uncomforta 
 ble to hear everybody's fling about extra work, when any 
 thing out of the ordinary routine occurred. At home no 
 one grumbled. Cheerfulness reigned supreme. 
 
 She put on a loose sack and dainty sweeping-cap, and 
 went down to the parlor. The furniture -covers were in 
 the hall closet : so she took them out, tied them on, and 
 began her work. No one came to disturb her. While 
 she waited for the dust to settle, she attacked the sitting- 
 room. Leaning on her broom, she took a survey of the 
 apartment. If they could have it altered ! If there could 
 be folding-doors between this and the parlor, and the 
 walls freshly papered with something different from brown 
 roses and impossible leaves on a buff ground ; and if 
 there could be a bay-window toward the south, filled with 
 flowers and ferns in the winter, a few pretty and con 
 venient book-shelves, some easy-chairs instead of these 
 stiff-backed mahogany ones, with uncomfortable mounds 
 of seats, off of which you always slipped, how homelike 
 it would all be !
 
 70 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Then she went at her dusting, and soon had the rooms 
 in the neatest of order. It had not been so very much, 
 after all. Once or twice Miss Grove had gone up and 
 down without a word. Nelly had an odd, guilty feeling, 
 as if this had been in some sense a forbidden pleasure, a 
 kind of interest that she had no right to take. So she 
 ran up stairs, and brushed out her soft hair, making her 
 self presentable, and none too soon ; for she heard her 
 husband's voice. 
 
 " How blooming you look ! " he exclaimed. " Parties 
 seem to agree with you. I was wondering if you would 
 like to go for a good long ride this afternoon." 
 
 "Why, yes ! I shall be delighted to," she answered. 
 
 "And glad to get out of the hubbub, I daresay. It 
 will be nothing but clean and scold for a week." 
 
 " If guests make that much trouble, they would scarcely 
 thank us for an invitation." 
 
 " I don't know how it comes about ; but that generally 
 seems the result. Have you looked in upon Herbert this 
 morning?" 
 
 " I have not," said Nell}', coloring. " I have not been 
 asked into the schoolroom or the children's apartments." 
 
 " Well, come along with me, then." 
 
 He put his arm around her, and led her through the 
 hall. After a light tap on the door, he opened it. One 
 corner of the apartment was fitted up with two small 
 tables ; but the rest was an ordinary sitting-room. Ad 
 joining, the sleeping-chamber shared by Maud and her 
 aunt, and a small one for Bertie, who was tossing rest 
 lessly on his cot, still with some fever symptoms. 
 
 Miss Grove bowed distantly, surprised at what she 
 considered the intrusion. 
 
 The dinner-bell rang at that moment. Nelly bent over 
 Bertie, and kissed the flushed forehead. He looked up 
 with a sudden gleam of pleasure. 
 
 "Opapa! mayn't I get up? I am so tired of lying 
 here ! And if I could come down to dinner ! "
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 71 
 
 " Dr. Kinnard laughed. " You are better off here, my 
 boy ; and a little toast is all you can have to-day. 
 Parties are quite too much for you." 
 
 " If you had listened to me, doctor," said Miss Grove 
 in an injured tone, " the child would have been spared 
 this. No consideration would induce me to keep children 
 up beyond their usual bedtime ; and such indulgences in 
 diet are always injurious." 
 
 " Once or twice in a lifetime will not kill anybody. 
 Bertie will be all right to-morrow. I don't think you are 
 looking especially well, Maud." 
 
 There was such a contrast between the blooming woman 
 and the pale, dull-eyed child, that it startled the doctor. 
 
 "Maud is not out in the sun enough, Adelaide," said 
 the doctor. "It is a shame to my profession, that my 
 own children should be such poor exponents of health." 
 
 " Maud is always well ; but she inherits a certain deli 
 cacy from her mother's famity. And I cannot say that I 
 admire high-colored women greatly. There is a degree 
 of coarseness in the rude health of farmers' children." 
 
 " Humbug ! " declared the doctor. " Be a good boy, 
 Bertie. Come, dinner is waiting ; and I must go to 
 Kelly's Falls this afternoon." With that he whisked 
 Nelly out of the room, and down the stairs, to find the 
 elder Mrs. Kinnard in her place, the picture of neglected 
 merit. Nelly was tempted to smile. 
 
 They ate silently, as usual. What a difference from 
 the cheerful breakfast ! 
 
 Afterward Nelly was standing in the hall, with her hat 
 on, waiting, when Jane came in to remove the dishes. 
 
 " Jane," said Miss Grove, " can you find time to 
 sweep the parlor this afternoon? I will come and assist 
 
 you." 
 
 Nelly was astounded for a moment ; then she stepped 
 forward, confronting the two women, before Jane had 
 resolved whether to be amiable or not.
 
 72 KELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " Both rooms are swept and dusted," she said clearly. 
 " I surely had some right, in my husband's house, to 
 restore order, seeing that I was the occasion of last even 
 ing's entertainment. I knew that Jane had already done 
 a great deal of extra work." 
 
 " Since the parlor contains my sister's furniture, Mrs. 
 Kinnard, and has reminiscences for me that it can have 
 for no other, I prefer to take charge of it mj'self." 
 
 What Nelly might have said further, she scarcely knew ; 
 but she heard her husband's voice calling her, and left 
 them to any discussion that pleased them best. But her 
 heart swelled with indignation. Already she could see 
 that Mrs. Kinnarcl and Miss Grove had resolved that she 
 should have as few rights as possible in the house. 
 They must have planned it before, or they could not have 
 acted in such perfect accord. 
 
 " Well," the doctor said, after they had gone some 
 distance in silence, " is the bay-window all settled in 
 your mind ? and do you see, by the eye of faith, geraniums 
 blossoming in it? " 
 
 A bright color stole up into her face, and the serious 
 lines relaxed. 
 
 ' ' Would it be worth while to have such visions ? ' ' she 
 asked with a smile. 
 
 " Well, I don't know. They are generally quite 
 expensive. Still, if you did not take too man} 7 of 
 Mrs. Glyndon's ideas, I might see about it." 
 
 " I planned it all myself as I was dusting this morning, 
 Barton," and she placed her small hand over his driving- 
 glove ; but he felt the pressure, gentle as it was. " Will 
 you be perfectly honest with me in one thing ? Will you 
 tell me if my ideas are ever too extravagant? " 
 
 He was very fond of his wife, foolishly fond ; and, 
 somehow, he felt in an excellent mood. There had been 
 all along a fear in his mind, lest some of his friends might 
 think he had made himself ridiculous by marrying this
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 73 
 
 pretty young girl. But he fancied, last evening, they (that 
 is those for whom he cared most) considered him a for 
 tunate man. And so he was. But he was possessed with 
 a boy's eager desire, at times, to take her off to the fairy 
 isles of love's first dreams, _ where they two might be 
 alone together. He never told even her of this nonsen 
 sical idea ; but it always gave him a mood of special 
 indulgence. 
 
 "Yes, I will tell you. I ought to be a rich man for 
 your sake." 
 
 ' ' Why ? I have never had riches ; ' ' and she gave him 
 her most winsome smile. " I do not care much, I think. 
 Only there are a few things that will make the place more 
 homelike." 
 
 " The bay-window, for instance. Is it to be in the 
 parlor?" 
 
 Then she began with her plans, which he declared 
 excellent, and quite within his means. 
 
 "Adelaide will go somewhere jn August, and take 
 Maud with her : she always does. Then we will com 
 mence repairs and alterations." 
 
 Neither spoke of new furnishing ; but it was strongly 
 in the doctor's mind, and, along with it, the compunction 
 of uprooting old ties and memories. If he had been 
 happy in them ; but every day he felt more and more 
 how utterly barren that life had proved. And that gave 
 him a peculiar tenderness, the desire to do his duty 
 justly and honorably when there was no love to inspire 
 it. 
 
 He made his calls, a long distance apart they were 
 this afternoon, and then they reached a lovely little 
 nook, sheltered by a high peak on one side, with a cluster 
 of twenty or thirty cottages at its foot. Up on the moun 
 tain-top was a spring that trickled over a rocky bed, 
 broken many places in its descent, but at the last falling 
 some fifteen feet. It caught the rays of the setting sun 
 7
 
 74 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 through an opening in the trees, and gave back the most 
 exquisite rainbow tints. All the banks were lined with 
 rhododendron, now in its fullest bloom ; and it seemed 
 to Nelly that she had never seen any thing so enchant- 
 ingly beautiful. The work^was done ; and they lingered 
 in the sunset, watching the orange-red as it faded into 
 rose and violet. A quiet summer evening was coming 
 slowly on, calm, like all the utterances of God. Why 
 was -it that souls drifted away from him, trying to find 
 peace for themselves, when it was freely offered at his 
 hands ? 
 
 They were late home, of course. Miss Grove was 
 nowhere to be seen, Mrs. Kinnard was fretful, Jane sul 
 len, as she brought in some hot tea. Without a word, 
 Nelly cleared a little space at the head of the table, 
 brought up her husband's plate and two or three dishes. 
 
 "Sit here by me," she said in a quiet but tender 
 tone, waiting upon him with the grace that had so won 
 him in the quaint rectory. 
 
 " She can twist him round her finger," muttered Jane ; 
 "but she shall see that she cannot rule everybody else. 
 I am glad Miss Adelaide has a little spirit ! " 
 
 And Jane tossed her head, as if she might use hers on 
 the very first occasion.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " If the round truth lie 
 Somewhere between us, and I see the face, 
 It turns to me in stronger light than you." HOLLAND. 
 
 IT seemed to Nelly Kinnard that there had never been 
 three such long weeks as those three of her married life 
 at Edgerly. Her husband was going to drive her over to 
 the station now for her first visit at home. Late in the 
 afternoon he would come for her ; and they would return 
 in the evening train together. 
 
 Papa was at the other station to meet her, papa, 
 sweet and smiling, and Gerty with a host of questions. 
 Everybody was well, and longing to see her. They had 
 missed her so much ! Almost two months since she had 
 gone away ! 
 
 How delightful it was ! She felt glad that no watchful 
 eyes were there to see her first joy. She could run about 
 in girlish freedom. What made thisi simple old house so 
 much sweeter than the other, with its large rooms and 
 really spacious grounds, its abundance of every thing, 
 and the straitened income here? Could she ever fight 
 against the great odds, and bring about some kind of 
 homelikeness ? She had not done any thing as yet, save 
 to smile upon her husband, and be petted by him. Was 
 that all of her duty? 
 
 She had been thinking, of late, whether it was better 
 to rouse herself, or just float with the tide. Dr. Kinnard 
 had married her entirely for himself. The children were 
 
 75
 
 7ft NELLY KIKNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 well enough off. Aunt Adelaide attended to their moral 
 and physical welfare, and enjoyed it. She wanted no 
 interference. Jane took command of the kitchen, and 
 would brook no mistress or control there. Grandmother 
 Kinnard considered herself, in another waj', as the female 
 head of the house, partly in virtue of her age ; partly 
 from the fact that she was the doctor's mother, and had 
 a longer and earlier right to him than any other person. 
 
 But as Nelly Endicott she had grown in a larger 
 sphere. A little kissing and love, a few pleasant neigh 
 bors to come in and chat on the small gossip of the day, 
 a ride with her husband, or a walk alone, and the day 
 ending with chapters o 4 ut of some interesting book was 
 that all? 
 
 "I think that is where so many women dwarf their 
 lives," said Mrs.* Endicott in answer to some of Nelly's 
 queries. " After a while, a new dress, or a bit of gossip, 
 seems the great event of their days. It is so easy, then, 
 to sink into a course of novel-reading for amusement, 
 and live only in the highty wrought creations of some 
 facile pen, forgetting, that, for the one exceptional life 
 written out, there are thousands of commonplace, strug 
 gling ones." 
 
 " Yet it seems so hard to begin ! I have really nothing 
 to do but just gratif}' my own selfish ease. When Fanny 
 was married, she kept her church and social relations, 
 and her sphere was widened. People came into it con 
 tinually. And Rose found work enough. There was 
 Stephen and Louis interested in mission-schools and 
 chapels, and Mrs. Whitcomb to help " 
 
 Nelly made a long pause, and flushed a little as her 
 mother's fond eyes studied her. Perhaps part was due 
 to that secret consciousness that both had thought of the 
 same underlying current that would shape Nell's life, 
 if she did not resist, and put up some strong barriers. 
 Dr. Kinnard was used to thinking of others only in a pro-
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 77 
 
 fessional or theoretical way. He could discuss the wants, 
 mistakes, and failures of the age ; he could be tender and 
 watchful when physical life was in danger : but of the 
 active, comprehensive charity which is the substratum of 
 that most thorough human good, he had very little. He 
 could tell 3 r ou what to do ; but he could not take the 
 trouble to help. The labors of his profession were suf 
 ficient. The remainder of the time, he might surely 
 devote to himself. 
 
 Circumstances had hitherto been against him, as well. 
 There had been no delightful home-interest to stimulate 
 and quicken the deeper part of his nature. Only petty 
 matters had appealed to him there. He knew other 
 professional men whose wives amused and entertained 
 themselves while their husbands were at more important 
 affairs. So he had come to think of home as a select 
 sort of lodging-place ; and if the house was kept clean 
 and peaceable, the meals well served, it was sufficient. 
 It had not always been so. Miss Grove and Jane had 
 brought into his household more of order and regularity 
 than had ever been it : so no wonder he dreaded to have 
 their regime disturbed. 
 
 "Nelly," began her mother presently with a sympa 
 thetic smile, ' ' perhaps your mission-work is from within. 
 All are not called to go into the highways, or even the 
 temples. There are wayside shrines in many lowly 
 valleys. And, as in the creation, to every work there is- 
 its appointed day." 
 
 ' ' I wonder if I am a little impatient ? But, if I felt 
 that I was doing ever so small a work, I should be more 
 content. Really, mamma, I feel afraid of my tempta 
 tion to idleness and listlessness. I realize the truth of 
 the adage, that ' labor is worship.' ' 
 
 " And that home is the central pivot. It is one of 
 the misfortunes, Nelly, that your life should be taken on 
 such terms : so you must look to other duties to counter-
 
 78 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 balance it. The difficulties were there when you took 
 it." 
 
 "Yes: I cannot plead being deceived in any point. 
 But neither does it seem right to give up idly, to fritter 
 away my days in uselessness." 
 
 " It is not right. Human life is too short." 
 
 " Then I must find some way out, and some duties. 
 O mamma ! how' did you make your life so rich and full 
 and outflowing? " 
 
 " It was not so all at once, Nelly. And then I had 
 papa to counsel me." 
 
 Papa, who was then twenty-eight. Ah ! it was not the 
 years alone, but something finer and deeper in the man ; 
 and Nelly Kinnard had seen glimpses of it in her 
 husband, long before he had become that to her. How 
 did one get at all. these deep and hidden things? the 
 precious stones on which every true soul builds its way up ; 
 for shifting sand never yet reared a stable character. 
 She understood, then, the long years of study that were 
 needed, the undoing of some other persons' work, just as 
 it had been teaching Gerty to sew. It would have been 
 so much easier to do it the first time herself ; but there 
 was given us in this world a good deal of second-hand 
 work to do ; with crumpled and frayed edges, and puckered 
 seams. And, in gardens, how many weeds come up to 
 one flower ! 
 
 Then papa sauntered in, and looked at his darling with 
 an odd, wistful expression, as if he was not sure how much 
 belonged to him any more. She must see some new books 
 in the study, and some new flowers in the garden ; and 
 there was the girls' room to inspect, with its pretty new 
 carpet, and the picture that Fan had painted for the birth 
 day of Queen Bess, as they had taken to calling her since 
 she had shot up into such a tall, elegant-looking girl. 
 
 Then there was dinner, and, after that, Fan and the 
 babies. And Nelly drove down to the station in the
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 79 
 
 Churchill carriage for her husband, who sat and studied 
 her curiously all the way back. 
 
 He was in a very bright, jolly mood, and would fain 
 have taken some of the numerous sisters home with them ; 
 but mamma was to have the honor of a first visit. 
 
 "If you like, Nelly, I'll ask Henderson to exchange 
 with me ; and then we can spend Sunday," said her fa 
 ther. 
 
 ' ' Excellent ! " returned Dr. Kinnard with a cordial 
 shake of the hand. 
 
 Then he placed his wife in the corner of the seat by the 
 open window, and seated himself beside her. 
 
 " Are you sorry?" he asked. 
 
 " Sorry for what?" 
 
 " That you are leaving the Delectable Mountains be 
 hind ; " and a half-smile crossed his face. 
 
 " But the Delectable Mountains were not the last, nor 
 the best thing in the journey." 
 
 " I am glad you think so, very glad ; " and he gave her 
 hand a fond pressure. 
 
 And Nelly Kinnard realized more deeply than ever, 
 as they entered the quiet house together that evening, 
 the magnitude of her work here, to make a home, a 
 woman's duty and province : it had never been a home 
 yet. She was not to have the sweet and tender assistance 
 that had been vouchsafed to both Rose and Fan. When 
 there was peace in the house, Dr. Kinnard did not want 
 it disturbed. So long as squabbles were kept out of his 
 sight and hearing, the rest of the family might indulge 
 in them twenty times a day. The little time he was in 
 the house, he insisted upon having peace; and.it had 
 been every one's desire to stand well with him. In fact, 
 the three women of his household had each adored him 
 in her way, his mother, because he was her only son, 
 and had been, in the earlier part of his life, very man 
 ageable. Aunt Adelaide honored him, secretly, for his
 
 80 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 patience with her sister ; then he had the sort of half-im- 
 periousness that sways women irresistibly. Perhaps, too, 
 she had allowed herself to care as much for him as a 
 woman of her temperament could care for a man before 
 marriage ; and that he should be foolish enough to choose 
 a young thing of twenty, so liberally endowed with girlish 
 prettiness, was another affront. Jane tyrannized over him 
 in some respects, and was his slave in others. Every thing 
 that could minister to his appetite was liberally provided. 
 Meals at any time were no trouble, if they were for him ; 
 but she would hardly go out of her way for another mem 
 ber of the household. 
 
 Great had been the consternation when the proposed 
 marriage was known to be a certainty. 
 
 " New wives make new laws," Mrs. Kinnard had said 
 to her son. " I suppose, in my old age, 'I must seek 
 another home. I did hope, Barton, never to have to 
 separate from }^ou again. If it had only been Adelaide, 
 we could have gone right along, without any change. But 
 a g a J 3 r oung girl? like Miss Endicott, will want her 
 own friends and pleasures ; and old people must be pushed 
 aside." 
 
 "What nonsense, mother! This is to be your home 
 as long as you care to stay in it, which I hope will be 
 always. I don't see why two or three women in a house 
 cannot agree." 
 
 ' ' I am sure I should like to stay here while I live ; and 
 T sometimes feel that will not be very long. Our people 
 are healthy while they do live ; but none of them have 
 reached old age ; " and Mrs. Kinnard wiped her eyes 
 pathetically. 
 
 He hated to see a woman cry : so he comforted her, and 
 assured her that she would soon learn to love Nelly 
 Endicott like a daughter. 
 
 Which might not have been so difficult a thing, after 
 all, if Aunt Adelaide had not been there. The ready
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 81 
 
 affection of Nell} 7 Endicott would have thrown out some 
 irresistible tendril ; for, at heart, she was not an unkind 
 woman : but her son, certainly, had not inherited his self- 
 reliance and sturdy independence from her. She had, 
 too, a fatal facility of believing and mistrusting the worst ; 
 and her fears had been easilj- swa3 r ed by Miss Grove's 
 strong and rigid mind. 
 
 " I consider it my duty to stay and look after these 
 motherless children, who will have no real friend now but 
 me. I have seen too often the influence a second wife 
 gains over a man. She can persuade him into any line 
 of conduct respecting his children. ' Second mothers are 
 invariabl}' jealous and envious unless, as it sometimes 
 happens, they are a connection of the first." 
 
 "If he had only married you, Adelaide!" groaned 
 Mrs. Kinnard. 
 
 " I have no necessity for marrying any man," returned 
 Miss Grove in her loftiest, tone. " Miss Endicott, of 
 course, feels differently. There are a host of girls ; and 
 their mother, no doubt, understands the art of getting 
 them off her hands. Not that I blame the poor woman. 
 Girls with no means of their own have no resource but 
 marriage ; while a woman who has an assured income 
 can afford to be independent. My sister and I enjoyed 
 this exceedingly, I do not understand how any woman 
 can endure the thought of marrying a man for a mere 
 support." 
 
 " And I daresay she is idle and extravagant," went 
 on the elder. "If Barton could have seen! And now 
 he has come to a time when he ought to be saving up 
 something for old age. I wouldn't have thought he could 
 be so short-sighted." 
 
 " It may not have been all his fault,*' said Miss Grove 
 with stinging graciousness. " I am thankful that I have 
 not a family of girls to settle in life ; though I should 
 endeavor to bring them up to something better than hus 
 band-hunting."
 
 82 NELLY KLNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Thus discoursed the two women frequently, until the 
 subject was varied by Nelly's actual presence, and her 
 daily sins. That her room should have been refurnished, 
 when there was so much furniture in the house ; that she 
 should go off, day after day, riding with her husband, and 
 pay no attention to household affairs, except to litter up 
 the rooms with foolish flowers, stamped their misgivings 
 with the force of certainty. 
 
 And Nelly admitted to herself that she had not made 
 much headway. Everywhere she was frustrated. The 
 parlor was kept sacredly shut up, though it was not an 
 attractive place to her. The piano was in Miss Grove's 
 room ; and, so far, she had not been invited within these 
 sacred precincts. The children were kept studiously out 
 of her reach, and they did not appear to care to venture 
 within it. Now and then Bertie responded shyly to some 
 demonstration ; but untoward circumstances were sure to 
 nip it in the bud. It was too, earl}' yet for neighborhood 
 familiarities : indeed, the one or two people Nelly had 
 ventured to admire appeared particularly obnoxious to 
 Miss Grove. Yet there were no open hostilities : so Dr. 
 Kinnard prided himself on his wisdom of waiting until 
 both parties gradually fell into a friendly connection. 
 
 On this afternoon Nelly had taken a book, and rambled 
 to the chestnut-grove, where she sat at the foot of a large 
 tree, thinking, rather than reading, and raising her eyes 
 now and then to the soft, floating clouds that moved 
 through the interstices of waving grain. Occasionally a 
 bird sang overhead, or a squirrel scampered through the 
 dry leaves, pausing to peer curiously at her. Then another 
 sound broke the peaceful stillness. 
 
 " I won't, either! I ain't going to mind a girl like 
 you!" 
 
 " You will go directty into the house, Herbert." 
 
 Nelly could not forbear smiling at the authoritative 
 tone, that, save in its youthfulness, was so like Miss 
 Grove's.
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. ' 83 
 
 " I tell you I won't, either. I always play in the 
 afternoon. Papa said I should." 
 
 There was some sort of scuffle, and a sharp blow, fol 
 lowed by a scream on Maud's part. Nelly ran forward. 
 
 Herbert's cheek was still red with the print of his 
 sister's hand. She had caught him by both arms ; and he 
 was struggling to get away, kicking viciously, which she 
 adroitly tried to evade. Her dull eyes were in a glow of 
 passion, and her usually pale face flushed with anger. 
 
 "Children!" 
 
 They both paused, and glared at her, instead of each 
 other. 
 
 " Herbert must come immediately into the house," said 
 Maud sharply, recovering herself the first. 
 
 " Why, Maud? I believe it is his papa's wish that he 
 shall remain out of doors until tea-time." 
 
 " Aunt Adelaide wants him. He meddled with her 
 bracelet, which was lying on the table, and broke it." 
 
 Bertie glanced up sullenly. 
 
 " I didn't break it," he said. 
 
 For a moment Nelly felt puzzled, as she looked from 
 one to the other. 
 
 " Where was the bracelet, Maud?" 
 
 The little girl raised her eyes insolently, as if to 
 question Nelly's right to ask, then answered, rather 
 reluctantly, 
 
 "In a box on the table;" but more briskly, "He 
 had no right to touch it. He is always meddling. And 
 you'll get soundly punished too." 
 
 Bertie began to cry, and protest that he did not break 
 it, he only just raised it up, and then put it back. 
 
 "You dropped it on the floor. Don't tell any more 
 stories, Herbert Kinnard ! " 
 
 " Hush, Maud ! " said Nelly with a dignity that over 
 awed her childish pretensions. " Tell me truly, Herbert, 
 did you break it?'"
 
 84 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " No, I didn't. I just looked at it, and put it back." 
 
 "It's no such thing! Aunt Adelaide found it on the 
 floor, broken ; and no one touched it but you." 
 
 "Maud, either return to the house, or keep silence 
 until you are spoken to. Bertie, had you not better go 
 to Aunt Adelaide, and tell her just how it was ? " 
 
 "No, I don't want- to. She won't believe me: she 
 never does." And Bertie began to cry with a perfect 
 boyish uproar. Then, as if for greater safety, he buried 
 his face in the skirt of Nelly's gown, and clung to it with 
 both hands. 
 
 " My dear child," began Nelly soothingly. 
 
 "Why can't you, if you are my mother?" he inter 
 rupted, with a child's inconsequence. 
 
 ' ' She is not your mother ! " again exclaimed Maud 
 sharply ; for her wounded self-love had seethed to boiling- 
 point. ' ' Our own dear mamma is dead and buried ; and 
 she is only " 
 
 ' ' Only what ? " and the clear eyes arraigned the child's 
 bravado. But Maud was angry now. Under the calm 
 and formal exterior, there was a depth of passion and 
 temper that never found a vent, save upon Herbert. 
 
 "Only a stepmother" she said defiantly. "Because 
 papa chose to marry you, it doesn't make you any real 
 relation to us ; and we need not love or obey you, if we 
 don't want to." 
 
 "Who told you that, Maud, your papa?" Nelly asked 
 gravely. 
 
 " Aunt Adelaide told her." And Bertie paused in his 
 crying. 
 
 " Grandmamma said we could not be expected to love 
 3"ou," began Maud, taking up arms for Aunt Adelaide ; 
 ' ' and I knew it myself without an}' telling. You see what 
 Aunt Adelaide will give you ! I shall go straight and 
 tell her." And Maud made a sudden dash across the 
 cleared space.
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 85 
 
 Nelly felt that a collision was inevitable. "Herbert,'' 
 she began again, "will you not go in and tell Aunt 
 Adelaide how it was, and that you are sorry? " 
 
 "I didn't break it! I didn't throw it on the floor! 
 Maud tells lies to get me punished." 
 
 ' ' How does Aunt Adelaide punish you ? ' ' she asked 
 with some curiosity. 
 
 "Shuts me up in a dark closet; and I'm so afraid! 
 And she snaps my ears, and won't let me have any sup 
 per. I'll run away, and drown myself in the river some 
 day, and then I'll bet she'll feel bad!" And Master 
 Bertie shook his head with a defiance that was ludicrous. 
 
 Nelly stood, with the child still clinging to her, un 
 decided, with a kind of helplessness that was quite new 
 to her, expecting every moment that Miss Grove would 
 make her appearance. Instead, Maud again came in 
 sight. 
 
 " Herbert, you are to come in, or Aunt Adelaide will 
 tell papa as soon as he comes home, and you'll get an 
 awful whipping." 
 
 Nelly turned, and walked with him. The child took 
 a dozen or so reluctant steps, then, suddenly breaking 
 away, ran in the opposite direction with the fleetness of a 
 deer. It was an ignoble retreat, and most embarrassing 
 for her ; yet she could not help smiling. 
 
 Maud turned short about with a contemptuous expres 
 sion upon her small face. 
 
 " Maud, come here," said Nelly. 
 
 " I am going in town with Aunt Adelaide," she replied 
 over her shoulder, and hurried on. 
 
 "Very well, then. I will try to find Herbert." 
 
 She retraced her steps ; but her search was in vain as 
 well as her calls ; and presently she returned to the 
 house. Mrs. Kinnard sat at the farther end of the hall 
 by the window, with some netting in her hand. Nelly 
 thought she would go through to the office ; but she paused
 
 86 NELLY IUNNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 to make some trifling comment. The old lady's face was 
 full of displeasure. 
 
 "Mrs. Kinnard," she began in a severe tone, "I am 
 sorry that any thing unpleasant should have occurred about 
 the children. We have all tried our best to live at peace. 
 We resolved there should be no quarrelling on our p;irt 
 when you came into the house. But I must say it is very 
 injudicious for you to interfere with Miss Grove. She 
 has always had charge of the children, and they are her 
 sister's. No one, of course, has the affection for them 
 that she has ; for a man soon forgets in new claims. 
 Herbert is a very trying child, and needs a firm hand ; 
 and your unwarrantable indulgence makes it worse for 
 him in the end, as your good sense must tell you." 
 
 Nelly's indignation threatened to master her for the 
 moment. At first she could hardly steady her voice ; but, 
 when she felt she could trust it, she replied courteously, 
 
 "I cannot forget that the children are also my hus 
 band's. In marrying him, I certainly did not lessen their 
 claim to his attention. I have a right to exercise a 
 mother's supervision over them ; and I have not inter 
 fered, save in a childish quarrel which was not creditable 
 to Maud or her instructress. The rest of the matter we 
 will leave for Dr. Kinnard's decision. Even Miss Grove 
 must allow that his right is first." 
 
 " I am sure I don't know what the children would have 
 done without their aunt." 
 
 Nelly made no reply, but passed from the room. Once 
 in the office, she threw herself on the sofa, and gave vent 
 to a flood of hysterical tears, that carried off the nervous 
 ness, and left her calmer. Then she began to feel dis 
 tressed about Herbert, and again sallied out, and sought 
 Mat. 
 
 " The youngster'll come to light, never you fear," was 
 his encouraging comment. "But I'll keep my eye out 
 a bit." 
 
 \
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 87 
 
 If Dr. Kinnard would but return ! Nelly waited anx 
 iously, hoping to be able to explain her share in the mat 
 ter before the family assembled for supper. But Maud 
 and her aunt returned ; and presently the bell rang. One 
 glance assured her that there was no Bertie to be seen. 
 She ran out, and intercepted Mat in the walk, questioning 
 him eagerly. 
 
 " Oh, he is right enough somewhere ! He will want 
 something to eat, you may count on that." 
 
 " Then you haven't seen him?" and now her face was 
 pale with apprehension. 
 
 "Well, I didn't; but I know he will come to light. 
 Every thing does ; and children are no exception." 
 
 "Will you go out and call in the woods again, Mat? 
 He might be lost, or have fallen and injured himself. 
 The doctor will be so worried ! " 
 
 "He couldn't get lost; and his- father has forbidden 
 his going off the grounds. He's afraid of his father too, 
 is that little chap. But I'll go."
 
 CHAPTER VIH. 
 
 " But he who says light does not necessarily say joy." 
 VICTOE HUGO. 
 
 THE women around the table looked exasperatingly 
 patient as Nelly entered, much disturbed in mind and 
 manner. 
 
 " May I venture to inquire about Herbert, Mrs. Kin- 
 nard?" began Miss Grove, as Nelly was nervously pour 
 ing tea. " Since you have taken him under j^our jurisdic 
 tion, I suppose he is safe, at least ; " and there was a 
 little sneer in the words. 
 
 " I have not seen Herbert since since he ran away 
 in the grove," returned Nelly tremulously. 
 
 ' ' Of course you are quite prepared to answer to his 
 father for whatever befalls him ? " 
 
 " I will answer to his father as far as I am concerned," 
 she made answer quietly. 
 
 It did not seem as if any thing evil could happen to 
 the child. It was still broad daylight ; and he was used 
 to roaming about. If Miss Grove believed him in danger, 
 could she sit there so calmly? Maud wore the same look 
 of insolent defiance that had characterized her in the 
 afternoon. Nelly experienced a strange sinking about 
 the heart, feeling pitted, as it were, against them in a 
 cruel struggle. 
 
 " But it is unusual for the child to stay so," said grand 
 mother, with much alarm in her countenance. 
 
 " I have always insisted upon promptness ; but then 
 88
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 89 
 
 / like regularity in all matters, and have accustomed 
 m} T self to such habits. For years we have gone on in 
 complete order ; but I am no longer mistress, and there 
 fore not responsible. Still, since I have consented to 
 remain solely on account of these motherless children, 
 my only sister's children, I do desire to do my duty by 
 them without any interference. It was a very simple 
 thing that occurred this afternoon. The child is meddle 
 some and destructive to the last degree, and I sent for 
 him, as I had a perfect right to do ; for I found he had 
 broken my bracelet, and it was my place to punish him. 
 You must sec, Mrs. Kinnard, how utterly uncalled for 
 3*our imprudent indulgence was in shielding him, and in 
 thus enabling him to defy me. I think his father can 
 hardly fail to say so." 
 
 Nelh- heard her through with a quiet dignity. 
 
 " I did not shield him in any respect, Miss Grove. I 
 should not have taken any notice of the matter ; but he 
 and Maud were wrangling in a very improper manner. 
 I am not fully acquainted with your method of bringing 
 up children. But in our family, where there was a much 
 greater difference in regard to ages, one child was never 
 allowed to strike another ; and Maud had given him a 
 severe blow." 
 
 " He kicked me," said Maud in eager justification. 
 
 " I think Maud will also bear me witness, if she cares 
 to tell the truth, that I insisted upon his obeying you." 
 
 A dull blush suffused Maud's face. 
 
 "You had him in your lap, with your dress around 
 him," the young lady returned with a most offensive 
 self-complacency. 
 
 Nelty could have shaken her ; for it flashed into her 
 mind that Maud might not have repeated the transaction 
 correct!}'. 
 
 ' I am not much used to children's quarrels ; and we 
 were carefully trained not to misrepresent if it was ever 
 8*
 
 90 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 necessary to bear evidence against one another. Will 
 you be kind enough to tell me, Maud, what you said to 
 j-our aunt? I shall take the liberty of repeating 3'our 
 whole conversation to your father ; for I must say I 
 considered it very impertinent in a little girl." 
 
 " Indeed ! Maud gives me no trouble that way. 
 Answer Mrs. Kinnard, Maud. You told me" 
 
 " That that " and the child's voice faltered, while 
 her eyes sought her aunt's with a sort of frightened 
 entreaty. 
 
 Miss Grove generally scorned any thing like falsehood ; 
 but now her anger at Dr. Kinnard' s wife was greater 
 than her vaunted love of truth. Maud had most impru 
 dently colored the whole transaction, and had said of 
 her stepmother, " She won't let him come in." 
 
 " That Mrs. Kinnard was his mother, or something of 
 that sort, and he clung to her for protection. I suppose it 
 was as much your manner that influenced Maud as any 
 thing you said," returned Miss Grove with a covert air 
 of triumph. 
 
 " Did I tell him to go to your aunt, Maud, or did I 
 not? Answer simply yes, or no." 
 
 " I don't remember ; " and Maud began to cry. 
 
 " She gave me the impression that you were shielding 
 Herbert. But she was greatly excited, I must confess ; 
 and ordinarily Herbert obeys me." 
 
 There was the sound of a breezy voice in the office ; 
 and Nelly's heart leaped with joy. He entered with a 
 gay salutation, passed around and kissed his wife, noting 
 with the quick eye of affection that something had dis 
 composed her. 
 
 "Where is Bertie?" he asked as he took his cup of 
 tea. " Dismissed on account of some meritorious deed? " 
 
 "Mrs. Kinnard was the last person who saw him, I 
 believe," returned Miss Grove. 
 
 " I will tell you after supper," Nelly said quietly.
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 91 
 
 Dr. Kinnard glanced from one to the other. There 
 had evidently been a storm ; but he was most unromanti- 
 cally hungry, and thankful for Nell}*'s good sense. Then 
 he had a message to deliver to his mother from a distant 
 friend ; and the conversation took a general turn. 
 
 Miss Grove rose when he was through. " Will you 
 be kind enough to remain," asked Nelh', "while I 
 make my explanations ; ' ' and the lady stood in a haughty 
 dignity, with one hand on the back of her chair, her face 
 curved with a scornful half-smile. 
 
 Nelly went briefly over the incidents of the afternoon. 
 She did not repeat all Maud's insolence, for she did not 
 desire to bring either of the elder ladies into personal 
 conflict with herself ; and she was by far too kind-hearted 
 to thus mortify them in the presence of the son and 
 brother. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard turned abruptly. " Where was the brace 
 let, Adelaide ? " he asked. 
 
 "On my dressing-table, when I left it: on the floor, 
 when I found it, and broken. I had been out of the 
 room for a few moments." 
 
 ' ' How I wish you would not keep gimcracks around 
 where that boy can get at them, or, better still, not have 
 him everlastingly in your room ! I have told you a hun 
 dred times to send him out just as soon as his lessons 
 were through. Is it badly broken? Maud, go and fetch 
 it- And he has not come in yet? Has any one sent- Mat 
 to see?" 
 
 "I have," said Nelly ; for she could see that her hus 
 band was much annoyed. 
 
 " He hasn't spunk enough to run away, so never fear," 
 glancing at Nelly's face of alarm. " And, if he did, he 
 would run back again. I shall have to take him in hand, 
 Adelaide. I have always said women could not manage 
 boys." 
 
 "I am sure I have managed him until" and an 
 angry light shot out of Miss Grove's eyes.
 
 92 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 ' ' But now lie is growing out of your reach ; that is the 
 truth. He must either be a molly-coddle (which no son 
 of mine ever shall, if I can prevent) , or there must be a 
 different state of affairs. Ask Jane if Mat has come yet. 
 Oh ! " for at that moment Maud entered with her. aunt's 
 bracelet, and handed it to her father, who examined it 
 minutely. 
 
 " It has been trodden on," he said. "I'll settle this 
 matter myself, Adelaide ; and, if the boy has told a false 
 hood, he shall be severely punished. I have a horror of 
 children's lying. And, Maud, you are not called upon 
 to administer any correction whatever to Bertie. Did 
 you strike first, or did he kick? " 
 
 " He he struck me." 
 
 " Keep your hands off him in the future," said the 
 doctor in a voice which strongly suggested obedience. 
 
 Nelly glanced at the pale, stolid face. Could she 
 understand that her misrepresentation was absolute 
 falsehood? or was she wrapped about with that terrible 
 self-complacency which deadened all finer distinctions? 
 Not a lovable little girl ; and yet Nelly felt as if she 
 wanted the doctor to take her on his knee, and talk to 
 her until the cold and rigid little heart should melt. She 
 could not quite approve of this hardness and indifference 
 on his part. 
 
 " I have two or three prescriptions to compound ; so I 
 must go to the office. Send Bertie right to me." Then, 
 catching a glimpse of Nelly's sad face, he put his arm 
 around her, and drew her in the office with him. But 
 his departure was a signal for the loosening of tongues. 
 Maud listened to the injudicious strictures of aunt and 
 grandmother, which were not calculated to increase her 
 respect for her stepmother, and felt how absolute^ cruel 
 it was of her father to thus transfer his love and interest 
 to that young thing, as her aunt termed her, whose pretty 
 face had caught his attention, while her own dear 
 mamma was lying in the grave.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 93 
 
 Dr. Kinnard compounded his two prescriptions silently, 
 while Nelly sat and watched him. There were twenty 
 things she wanted to say ; but she knew he could not bear 
 to be interrupted while he was engaged in any such matter. 
 Perhaps the whole secret of his tolerating her in the office 
 was, that she did not bother him with subjects foreign to 
 the one he had in hand. Then he turned suddenly. 
 
 " Nelly, did you tell me all that happened this after 
 noon, all that both children did and said?" 
 
 The question took her so by surprise, that she colored 
 violently the first instant, and was silent. 
 
 "There was something else?" and he fixed his keen 
 eyes upon her. 
 
 " I told you all that was necessary," she answered. 
 
 " But I want to know every word ; " and, coming around 
 the table, he sat down, taking both hands in his. 
 
 "I am not used to telling tales, or making complaints," 
 she said almost haughtily. 
 
 ' ' First case of insubordination ; " and there was a 
 shrewd half-smile in his ej'e, which hardly covered the 
 persistent determination. " I am very sorry the incident 
 should have occurred, Nelly. I hoped there would be no 
 conflict until matters had settled into a somewhat com 
 fortable groove for us all ; but I understood from your 
 face and voice that you were keeping something back. 
 I trusted your judgment then : can you not trust mine 
 now?" 
 
 Poor Nelly ! The one thing she had strongly resolved 
 not to do, was, to estrange the father from the chil 
 dren ; to prejudice him in any way while his love for 
 her was so strong and new. Maud's disrespect looked 
 worse to her now than it had out in the grove ; and, if she 
 told it all, it must make Dr. Kinnard angry in her behalf. 
 
 " Oh," she cried with girlish eagerness, " let it all go ! 
 Let us think of Bertie, and what must be done. Little as 
 I know about boys, this does not seem the right influence 
 for him."
 
 94 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "One thing at a time. You have not -answered my 
 question. I want that first of all." 
 
 "I think you are a little cruel," Nelly said with spirit. 
 " I do not desire to make any complaint. You must see 
 how very embarrassing the position is for me." 
 
 "Let us get through with it, then. Come, be frank 
 and honest with me. Don't you suppose that I realize 
 the awkward position, that you are stepmother to these 
 children ? " 
 
 The tears came into Nelly's eyes ; and she hid her face 
 suddenly upon her huband's breast. " I will tell you," 
 she said, " if you will promise not to be severe with Maud. 
 They are your children : they have even a greater right to 
 your love than I." 
 
 ' ' Love ! What foolish distinctions you women do 
 make ! Nelly, I hope I have sense enough to be just in 
 any event. You are over-sensitive." 
 
 Nelly delayed no longer, but repeated the scene, leaving 
 out, it must be confessed, a little of the worst. Then she 
 glanced timidly up in her husband's face. 
 
 " Oh ! I am not going to scold you," he said with a faint 
 smile ; " but you know, Nelly, that I have a great dislike 
 of evasions, or, rather, understanding only part of a mat 
 ter in which I am to judge. Maud is an insolent little 
 vixen ! " and, springing up, the doctor began to pace the 
 floor. 
 
 " But you will forgive her this time, for my sake? Oh, 
 please do, Barton ! It would make it worse for me. She 
 is Aunt Adelaide's favorite ; and, if I brought her into 
 disgrace with you " 
 
 "There, there, Nelly ! Don't go to crying about it. I 
 will not say a word, if it pleases you better : in fact, I do 
 suppose I should get myself into a hornet's nest. But 
 Maud must not be allowed in any such conduct. You shall 
 be respected by the children : of that I am resolved." 
 
 Just then there was a tap at the door ; and the doctor 
 opened it.
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 95 
 
 " I don't think Master Bertie is anywhere on the place," 
 said Mat. " Would he have gone away, think?" 
 
 ' ' Have you looked in the barn ? You found him there 
 once asleep, you know. Or, stay " And he called up 
 the stairway to Miss Grove, 
 
 " Look in Bertie's room, will you? " 
 
 There was an entrance to this room from the kitchen 
 part. While it was yet early, Bertie had stolen home, and 
 hurried into bed. He was frightened and hungry ; and, 
 hearing his aunt's voice on her return, he had covered 
 himself smoothly over. But, though she might have looked 
 into his room under any other circumstances, she certainly 
 had not done so now, until requested b} T his father. He 
 was soundly asleep. Had his punishment been in her 
 hands, she would have roused him in a moment ; but now 
 she only glanced at him with a bitter, self-satisfied smile, 
 and went quietly down stairs. 
 
 " He is there, Barton. I suppose he was too guilty and 
 ashamed to face any one, and had a dread of the punish 
 ment that he knew was sure to come. He is a very cow 
 ardly child. Shall I wake him up ? " 
 
 The doctor thought a moment. " No : let him sleep. I 
 will attend to his case in the morning. . Tell Maud to come 
 down to me." 
 
 Miss Grove bit her lip, and hesitated, then said, 
 
 "Barton, she is very much excited, and in a highly 
 nervous state. I think you had better defer any thing you 
 have to say to her until breakfast-time. I was just about 
 to send her to bed." 
 
 There was the least possible entreaty in Miss Grove's 
 voice ; but her brother-in-law did not heed it. 
 
 " I will not keep her but a moment or two. It is best 
 for me to see her to-night." 
 
 Maud entered the office, pale and trembling. Her aunt 
 had half a mind to brave all, and accompany her. But 
 being requested to retire would have proved too great an
 
 96 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 humiliation ; and she knew Dr. Kinnard to be quite 
 capable of such a course. 
 
 There was a look of sullen fear in the child's eyes ; and 
 her features seemed sharper and thinner than ever. Nelly 
 felt really sorry for her. ^ 
 
 "Maud," began her father, eying her with a half-con 
 tempt, " if 3*ou were at all disrespectful to your mother 
 this afternoon, I want you to beg her pardon. And, in 
 future, I want you and Bertie to understand that you are 
 to obey her as promptly in any matter as } r ou do me." 
 
 That was all, then. She hated to beg Mrs. Kinnard's 
 pardon ; but that was better than her having told all, and 
 being in no end of a difficulty. So she collected her self- 
 possession, and the certain obtuseness of feeling that so 
 largely characterized her, and did as she was bid, in a 
 formal way that was extremely annoying to Nelly. 
 
 " My little girl," she returned, compelling herself to 
 speak kindly, "I hope you will soon begin to feel that I 
 am your friend, at least. I know your own mamma is 
 dead, and that is a great loss to any child ; but I shall try 
 to fill her place as well as you will allow me. I am ready 
 to love you, and sympathize in all your pleasures and 
 pursuits when you feel well enough acquainted to give me 
 a share. It is our duty to try to make papa happy by 
 our loving one another, as well as loving him. Will you 
 try?" 
 
 Maud colored, and then became pale again, averted her 
 face, and murmured a few indistinct words, turning toward 
 the door. Then she opened it, said good-night briefly, 
 and vanished. 
 
 The doctor went on pacrng the room, with his hands 
 folded behind him. Suddenly he broke out with, 
 
 "It is not what you have been used to, Nelly. The 
 elements of affection and kindliness that formed so large 
 a part in your household life are altogether wanting here. 
 With all a man's solemn truth, I say I am sorry for it. 
 But what to do "
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 97 
 
 " Let me help you ; " and she slipped her hand within 
 his arm, joining his walk. 
 
 " That was all a farce with Maud ; I saw it as well as 
 you, but I was determined that she should pay you some 
 outward respect. Nelly, the world has a great prejudice 
 against stepmothers, and perhaps daughters-in-law. I 
 think the matter is about evenly balanced. There are 
 good and bad on both sides, just as there are good and bad 
 husbands and fathers. Why, think of a man beating his 
 poor little child, and sending him out on a cold winter day 
 to beg for money to bu} 7 rum with ! Think how cruel 
 Mat's wife was to their little child ! And yet I am sorry 
 that 3'ou must suffer in the world's estimation for the in 
 justice of other people." 
 
 "But isn't that just one of the things the Saviour com 
 mends ? What virtue is there in suffering patiently the 
 result of our own faults? " 
 
 " I don't pretend to understand these things," and he 
 looked a little puzzled. " And I hate to have you. pre 
 judged, suspected of any thing so foreign to your nature. 
 But I had my way in bringing you here : so I must endure 
 the other with what grace I can ; " and he smiled grimly. 
 ' ' Aunt Adelaide would take nothing short of a positive 
 dismissal, I fancy ; for she exaggerates her point of duty 
 most heroically. Yet I think sometimes, if she managed 
 the children differently, they might not be so so unlike 
 childhood in its natural state." 
 
 "Can't you do something for them? can't we both?" 
 cried Nelly earnestly. " It seems to me that they are 
 not being brought up judiciously." 
 
 " I don't know how much I love children, whether I 
 have any of that overwhelming passion that women in 
 dulge in ; but I have a great tenderness in some ways. I 
 can't bear to see a child abused ' or ill treated ; and 
 you'll laugh at me, Nelly ; but I positively cannot endure 
 to see a child beaten, so much of it comes under my
 
 98 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 notice ! Mothers are tried and angry, and worn out with 
 their labors : so, when a child is troublesome or dis 
 obedient, a whipping settles it the quickest of an} 7 thing ; 
 therefore it is resorted to. Half the time, it is merely 
 indulgence in one's own temper. I found out, a year ago, 
 that Adelaide was in the habit of giving Bertie liberal 
 allowances with a strap : so I took that away, and told 
 her, when Bertie did any thing grave enough for such 
 punishment, she must send him to me." 
 
 " And so you were tried frequently ; was that it? " 
 
 On the contrary. She has appealed to me a few times ; 
 and Bertie has managed to commit some depredations in 
 my office. I will candidly own that I can only strike a 
 child in the heat of anger. There seems something so 
 cowardly, so obnoxious, in the unequal warfare of a strong 
 man pitted against a little child that he could crush and 
 kill, and does sometimes maim. It may be necessary in 
 schools, where a crowd of boys are herded together ; but it 
 seems to me there might be other punishments devised in 
 a household, that would not injure a child in any way. 
 But I cannot see that Bertie has improved much under 
 the new regime" 
 
 "Yet I think he is a good deal afraid of Aunt Ade 
 laide." 
 
 "That is true. There is something cowardly about 
 the child, that annoys me. I like fearless, outspoken 
 children, who are honestly sorry for a fault, and who, 
 perhaps, forget the next day, and do the same thing. 
 Adelaide is an excellent teacher ; but 1 do believe the 
 boy would be better off in a school with other children." 
 
 " He certainly would," said Nell} 7 decisively. 
 
 "I promised Adelaide that I would make no change 
 for the coming year ; but I think I must. I want him to 
 be manly, truthful, honest in principle ; not that mere 
 outward honesty that refrains from stealing your neigh 
 bor's coat or his money. And I wish but here I arn
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 99 
 
 shifting these burthens on your shoulders ; a thing I had 
 resolved not to do." 
 
 "And why not?" Nelly stood up with a sweet 
 bravery shining in her eyes. " Am I not to help in this 
 work as well? Is it merely to take your love and service, 
 and give nothing in return? I did not marry you for 
 that." 
 
 He stooped, and kissed her. " I wish you had been 
 their mother," he said huskily ; " and yet 3^ou are such a 
 child yourself. No, I must not make the burthen too 
 heavy. I suspect I am something of a coward and a 
 shirk myself," he appended grimly. " I ought to take 
 the responsibility of my bo} T ." 
 
 " I think you ought," returned Nelly gravely. 
 
 ' ' But I had promised myself a sort of holiday house 
 hold life," he continued with a shrug and a half-smile. 
 
 "Barton, life isn't all meant for a holiday. We have 
 had a verj* bright golden one ; and now I want you to let 
 me help } T OU with the work. Bertie needs a father's care 
 and interest and love. Let him come a little more into 
 3'our life. It will b,e a trouble, I know ; but it brings 
 with it a sweet reward. I wouldn't give up my remem 
 brance of papa's sympathy and tenderness for all the 
 wealth of the world." 
 
 " Mr. Endicott is a better man than I," said Dr. Kin- 
 nard simply. Then, with a smile, "I hope you have 
 brought a little of his goodness with you to leaven us ; for 
 we all need it." 
 
 He sat down, and took her on his knee, holding the fair 
 hand in his, and resting his chin upon it. 
 
 " What will you do with Bertie? " she asked presently. 
 
 " It puzzles me. The bracelet has certainly been 
 stepped upon. Just falling from a table could not injure 
 it in that manner. It seems as if Bertie ought to have 
 told 3'ou the truth. And, if he should persist in his state 
 ment, Aunt Adelaide will not believe it I am afraid. So 
 I am between two fires."
 
 100 NELLY KESTNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " You will not punish him, then, unless you are con 
 vinced ? " 
 
 "Most assuredly not." 
 
 " I think we shall be able to tell. It seems to me that 
 Miss Grove's method with him tends to make him con 
 ceal trifles, rather than admit them. She is strict and 
 stern, putting him down continually, and finding fault. 
 The child really has no freedom of ideas in any direc 
 tion." 
 
 " Except mischief." 
 
 " And how much of this is due to unemployed re 
 sources ? " Nelly asked with a smile. " I do think, Barton, 
 a little judicious praise is ever so much better than repres 
 sion and fault-finding. And I shall be so glad to have 
 you take him more under your care." 
 
 " Well, we will see. There, let Bertie and his troubles 
 rest until to-morrow." 
 
 She wisely said no more. He looked over a late maga 
 zine, and read her some extracts from a scientific article. 
 Meanwhile she was thinking. What if this episode, 
 beginning so uncomfortably, should open the door to the 
 duties she had been longing for, and that wider sphere, 
 the opportunity of bringing in a fresh current to the 
 household so becalmed on the stagnant shores of for 
 mality and selfishness? And if she could render these 
 children dearer to their father, and more worthy of his 
 love, she would, at least, have achieved something that 
 would justify her standing in their mother's place.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " The wheels of time work heavily: 
 
 We marvel, day by day, 
 To see how from the chain of life 
 The gilding wears away." L. E. L. 
 
 BERTIE KINNARD came down to breakfast the next morn 
 ing, ashamed, frightened, and sullen. How much of it was 
 due to Miss Grove's previous lecture, and the methods 
 she had taken to convince him of his heinousness in seek 
 ing shelter at his stepmother's side, and daring to disobey 
 7ier, his father certainly could not know. A long list of 
 punishments were held in store, small daily privations 
 and trials. She always exacted the most rigorous justice. 
 
 " Come here," said his father after the meal was con 
 cluded. " I want you to tell me the exact truth about 
 the bracelet. Did you break it ? " 
 
 "No," was the. brief reply. 
 
 " What did you do with it? " 
 
 "I I looked at it." 
 
 " Here, hold up your head, so. If you are telling the 
 truth, you need not be ashamed. What else did you do?" 
 
 Bertie glanced about uneasily, and picked at the buttons 
 on his coat. There was a dogged look in his face, that 
 betrayed a very persistent will, after all. 
 
 "I took it out and looked at it, and put it back 
 again," he said slowly. 
 
 ' ' You are very sure ? '" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 " Very well, Bertie, I am going to believe exactly what 
 
 9* 101
 
 102 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 you say. I do not think you could be so cowardly or so 
 dishonorable as to tell your father a falsehood. There, 
 put on your hat, and take a good long run, and see if 
 you cannot find a pleasanter face." 
 
 "Barton!" exclaimed Miss Grove, while her brow 
 crimsoned with anger, "you don't mean to say that you 
 believe that child ! " 
 
 " I said it certainly." 
 
 ' ' Do you suppose I could have trodden on that brace 
 let (the theory you advanced last night) , and not known 
 or remembered it? Maud, I know, never injured it. And 
 Bertie does tell falsehoods. He will deny any thing when 
 there is the slightest chance of getting clear." 
 
 "I cannot explain the mystery, Adelaide. The boy 
 would not be so hardened as to deny it without a blush 
 surely : if so, it speaks badly for his past training." 
 
 He knew that clinched the matter for his sister-in-law. 
 She turned almost swarthy in her passion, being deprived 
 thus of her strongest weapon. 
 
 "Very well," she snapped. " If the child is ruined 
 by your foolish indulgence, so let it be. It is what I told 
 you a year ago. ' Spare the rod, and spoil the child.' I 
 should have made him confess it." 
 
 "I am afraid I don't put as much faith in Solomon's 
 wisdom as you do," said the doctor dryly. "His one 
 son was not a very brilliant exponent of his father's 
 theory, if I recollect rightly. We have had quite enough 
 of this, I fancy. I'll take your bracelet into town, and 
 get it repaired." 
 
 " Thank you. I can attend to it myself; " and she 
 swept out of the hall indignantly. 
 
 "Well," said the doctor when his mother had left 
 the room, " I suppose it has ended very unsatisfactorily. 
 Still I couldn't think the child would persist in a false 
 hood ; and I was anxious to have the matter ended. I 
 have made Adelaide very angry. Have I pleased any 
 one?"
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 103 
 
 "Bertie, no doubt. I have an odd feeling about it. 
 I should hate to say that I was not convinced ; and, in 
 any case, you did the best. It is something to a child to 
 be believed." 
 
 "I daresay Aunt Adelaide will make it up to him. 
 However, she cannot abridge his playtime, nor give him 
 a thrashing. Do you want to go out with me ? If so, be 
 ready in half an hour. ' ' 
 
 Bertie's school-bell rang ten minutes earlier than usual ; 
 and it always rang fifteen minutes before the time, in order 
 to give him a chance to get in, and wash his hands and face 
 before school-hours began. These few minutes were a 
 great gratification to Miss Grove. Then Bertie had his ears 
 snapped soundly until they were like a bit of red flannel. 
 Boxing had been interdicted by the doctor. In fact, the 
 whole morning was one continuation of sundry small and 
 aggravated punishments, which made Bertie dull at his 
 lessons, and perfect!}" vicious in his hatred of his aunt. 
 If he dared to tell his stepmother ! "Wouldn't she take 
 his part again ? 
 
 Nelly had not been at all satisfied with the doctor's 
 manner of examining into the case. The child had been 
 disobedient to his aunt, ugly to his sister, and cowardly 
 at the end of it all. But, seen in the morning light, the 
 affair appeared trivial to his father ; and he was glad to 
 dismiss it with as few words as possible. However, she 
 made no further comment. There was nothing small or 
 nagging in her nature. 
 
 But that afternoon, when she saw Bertie cross the field 
 on his way to the grove, she tied on her sun-hat, and fol 
 lowed him. When quite out of hearing of the house, she 
 called to him. He watched her shyly at first, and did not 
 seem inclined to be very friendly. But, after a while, he 
 ventured to sit down beside her. 
 
 " Oh ! what are you doing, Bertie? " she cried in sur 
 prise.
 
 104 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 The child had a grasshopper in his hand, which he was 
 rapidly dismembering. 
 
 " That is very, very cruel," she went on quickl}*. 
 "Bertie, would you like to have some great giant come 
 along, and pull out your arms and legs ? Would it not 
 hurt you?" 
 
 " There are no giants ; " and he looked up triumphant 
 ly. " Aunt Adelaide said so. She wouldn't let me read 
 about them, because it was not true." 
 
 ' ' But there are men large enough and strong enough 
 to tear you limb from limb. Look at that poor grass 
 hopper. You have killed it. Are you not sorry ? The 
 poor little thing did you no harm." 
 
 " Well, it was only a grasshopper. It wasn't good 
 for any thing." 
 
 " What are you good for, Bertie? " 
 
 The child hung his head. 
 
 " God made you ; and he made the grasshopper also. 
 Suppose papa was to say, ' Bertie, you are not good for 
 any thing : so I will cut you up with some of my sharp 
 knives.' How would you like that? " 
 
 " But he wouldn't," said Bertie confidently. 
 
 " No, he would not, because he loves you. And God 
 wants you to love whatever helpless and innocent little 
 things he creates." 
 
 Bertie was studying a knotty problem, and had not 
 followed the last clause of the argument. 
 
 "Does he love me since he went to Wachusett, and 
 married you ? " he asked. 
 
 Nelly was startled and annoyed. She thought of Miss 
 Grove's exceeding conscientiousness that the children 
 should not witness their father's marriage ; yet she had 
 not hesitated to explain it to them, greatly in her dis 
 favor. Her heart swelled with the sense of injustice. 
 She realized that she must fight her way through preju 
 dices and opposition, if she gained any thing. The
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 105 
 
 prospect of such bitter warfare was not pleasant. And 
 much of it must be borne alone. She could not make 
 Dr. Kinnard see the necessity of what she wished to do, 
 much that she considered her absolute duty. 
 
 " Bertie, papa loves you just as well now as he did 
 then ; and he wants you to be a good and noble boy, so 
 that he can love you better every day." 
 
 " But what did he marry you for, then? " 
 
 " That I might come here, and love you also. Your 
 own mamma is dead, and I am to take her place, to show 
 you how to be a good boy, and please papa. Will you 
 not try to love me a little? " and Nelly's voice trembled. 
 
 But the question had no seriousness in it for him. He 
 looked up stolidly, his mind intent on his own thoughts. 
 
 " Sa}V he began presently, " won't you make Aunt 
 Adelaide let me have some supper when papa doesn't 
 come home? I'm so hungry always." 
 
 " Were you hungry last night? " 
 
 Bertie hung his head, and looked ashamed. 
 
 " It was not at all brave, Bertie, to skulk off to bed 
 when you knew you had been naughty. If }*ou were tell 
 ing the truth about the bracelet, you should have come 
 in, and said to Aunt Adelaide that you were sorry for 
 disobeying her, and begged sister's pardon for kicking 
 her" 
 
 "But she struck me," he interrupted. "Aunt Ade 
 laide always lets her." 
 
 " But papa told her that she must not do so any more. 
 If she should, you are to tell him. It is very rough and 
 ungentlemanly to strike or kick a girl." 
 
 " I'll tell papa next time ; " and Bertie shook his head 
 with emphasis. 
 
 " And 3^ou will be kind to her, will you not? " 
 
 The child stared vacantly. 
 
 " And to the grasshoppers. It is wicked to be so 
 cruel ; and God does not love cruel children. Do you 
 know who God is, Bertie? "
 
 106 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " God lives up in the sky. He sees all I do ; and, if I 
 am a bad boy, he will punish me everlastingly." 
 
 He said it like a lesson learned by rote, with no more 
 real feeling than if he had been stating the commonest 
 fact about the earth at his feet. Nelly looked at him in 
 amaze. 
 
 " And are you not afraid of being punished? " 
 
 " I'm afraid of Aunt Adelaide. God can't come here 
 and punish me ; and I'll tell you what I mean to do," 
 bending his- head confidentially " I shall be a big man 
 then, and I won't go where he is. I'd like to run away 
 from Aunt Adelaide." 
 
 " Why did you not last night? You had a good oppor 
 tunity." 
 
 " Because I am only a little boy. I'll wait until I get 
 to be a man. I'll see if she'll snap my ears then, and 
 make me hold a big book so she can rap my knuckles. 
 I'll kill her if she does ! " 
 
 "O Bertie, Bertie !" cried Nelly, aghast. Poor little 
 heathen ! And this had been the result of his training. 
 He understood fear and hate ; but did he know the mean 
 ing of love? She would try him again. 
 
 " Bertie, do you love papa?" 
 
 " Yes," returned Bertie readily. 
 
 " What do you do when you love a person? " 
 
 Bertie drew a long breath, and thought for a moment ; 
 then wisely and truly answered, "I don't know." 
 
 "You try to please them; you obey them when they 
 ask 3'ou to do any thing; you would never strike them, 
 nor do any thing cruel to them, nor tell them a falsehood. 
 Can you remember this?" 
 
 Bertie gave her a searching glance. He felt, somehow, 
 that he had lost caste ; and, with a child's eager vanity, 
 he wanted to redeem himself. 
 
 "But I know my tables," he said, "and who all the 
 great generals were ; and I'm studying Latin. Caesar
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 107 
 
 conquered Gaul, and a great part of Britain. Afterwards, 
 the Normans went over with William the Conqueror ; 
 and, oh ! I know all of the kings of England and France. 
 Sometimes they have had emperors. And the King of 
 Russia is called a czar. Russia is the largest division in 
 Europe. Switzerland is the only republic ; " and the child 
 paused for a breath. 
 
 "What a purely mechanical being!" Nelly thought 
 with a sad smile. 
 
 " Never mind," she said : " we will talk of other mat 
 ters, though you have studied well, Bertie." And then 
 she endeavored to rouse his mind into some kind of per 
 sonal activity ; but it was disheartening work. Miss 
 Grove was no believer in filling a child's head with any 
 thing but good, substantial facts. She snubbed and 
 discouraged all curiosity on the part of a young pupil. 
 Very methodical, very precise, cold by nature, she had no 
 patience with the sentimental part of humanity. To dress 
 well, and keep neat and clean ; to behave properly on all 
 occasions ; to have the mind well stored with knowledge, 
 the taste cultivated in certain respects ; to be dignified and 
 ladylike for a girl, manly and stoical for a boy, she held 
 the most necessary requirements of life. The children 
 had known none of the caressing tenderness and sympathy 
 that had been daily food to the Endicotts. Their mother 
 consigned them to a nurse. Their father saw them but 
 seldom ; and he had not been a demonstrative man in those 
 earlier years. Though they had been rather delicate, yet 
 no dangerous illness had ever roused his anxiety concern 
 ing them ; and, under Miss Grove's government, they were 
 still farther removed from him. Nelly's first feeling about 
 them had been quite true : they were not dear, naughty, 
 sweet, delightful children. 
 
 No : there was nothing to call out the mother-love that 
 glorifies so many women. These Endicott girls had been 
 nourished on it, first from their mother, and then the
 
 108 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 habit each older girl fell into of loving and caring for 
 younger ones, of playing mother, in turn. For a little 
 while Nelly felt cold and sick at heart. Might she not as 
 well let it go? The children would have all physical 
 comforts, be well educated, well dressed, make average 
 people, no doubt, and be just as grateful to her as if she 
 gave her very life for them. Their father did not bring 
 her here for their comfort, but his own. And here was 
 their aunt, who desired the sole charge. How easily she 
 could slip off any responsibility ! 
 
 But her duty ! Was it not to bring into these pinched, 
 bleak, and barren lives some of the sweetness and 
 strength, the beauty and comfort, that had been put in 
 hers, scattered all along her twenty years of richness and 
 fulness? Perhaps that was just what God had given it 
 all for, so wide and delightful a kingdom ! that she 
 might call in not only the charming, the refined, and 
 those quick of sight and mood, but the halt and the 
 blind, those by the great wayside, that, after all, compre 
 hends so much. 
 
 At the very alphabet of love she must begin, and raise 
 the ignorant, careless feet that would stumble so often. 
 Bertie sat there studying the beautiful but perturbed face, 
 and thinking, child-fashion, of himself. 
 
 "Couldn't you teach me my lessons?" he asked pres 
 ently. " I'd try not to miss a word ; and, if you wouldn't 
 make me stand in the corner " 
 
 ' ' What do you do in the corner ? " 
 
 "Why, I hold a big book, so." And he jumped up, 
 taking a broken stick in his hands to represent the book, 
 which he held about on a level with his chin. " Then, if 
 I don't keep it just straight, she cracks me with a ruler. 
 It makes me so tired ! " and he sighed. 
 
 Indeed, all manner of pett}* punishments had been 
 invented by Miss Grove since the whipping was tabooed. 
 Her rigid sense of justice must be satisfied in some 
 manner.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 109 
 
 "The best way, Bertie, is to be a good boy. Try to 
 please Aunt Adelaide." 
 
 "But Maud tells on me alwa} T s ; and, when I tell on 
 her, Aunt Adelaide won't listen." 
 
 Maud was evidently Aunt Adelaide's favorite. Bertie 
 was too old and too sharp-eyed not to be injured by the 
 show of partiality. Yet, if Miss Grove did not love him, 
 even in her rigid manner, why should she strive to keep 
 him so completely within her influence ? 
 
 Yet, in her way, Miss Grove was extremely conscien 
 tious. Her duty to her dead sister's children, that was 
 her watchword ; and, undemonstrative as her regard for 
 them appeared, she would have fought for them, if occasion 
 required. She would have watched every sharp word or 
 look from Dr. Kinnard's new wife, resented any thing like 
 a show of authority, and made the children's interests 
 paramount in the family, if she could. She even hated 
 their father's interference. Already she was jealous of 
 the 3'oung stepmother ; and that was one reason of her 
 great coldness. If Dr. Kinnard had gone over to the 
 fair enem}-, the children should not, without a great 
 struggle on her part. 
 
 " No wife can love another woman's children," she had 
 said to the doctor's mother. " They will not expect it. 
 Poor things ! It is little they will have of their father's 
 affection, either. But I think it my duty to stay, and 
 see that they are not unjustly treated. Nothing else 
 would keep me here a da} r ." 
 
 So she judged that she had a right to put the children 
 on their guard, as she phrased it. How much of this 
 bitter duty-work is done in the world ! 
 
 But that evening, as Nelly Kinnard sat by her hus 
 band's side, talking over various small household matters, 
 she said, 
 
 " Barton, I do believe it would be better to send Bertie 
 to school. He wants companionship. Does he never 
 play with any neighboring children ? "
 
 110 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " I really don't know. There are children about. I 
 have been thinking of it myself to-day. I like boys to 
 be boys. The} 7 are to fill men's places in the world, not 
 women's. But Adelaide would feel dreadfully vexed 
 about it." 
 
 ' ' I suppose there are no good day-schools nearer than 
 the village?" 
 
 " Oh ! " the doctor said, with a nod or two. " I had 
 thought of boarding-school." 
 
 " But he is so 3'oung ! No : I should not like to have 
 him sent away from home, this year, at least ; " and she 
 colored delicately. 
 
 He inferred her reason, and respected it. " There are 
 two or three excellent schools in the village. He could be 
 taken in the morning, I suppose. But I don't alwaj-s go 
 in one direction; which makes me think, Nelly how 
 would you like to have a horse of your own ? " 
 
 " Oh, delightful ! And yet I always go out with you." 
 
 " But some time the girls will be here, I hope ; or are 
 you keeping them away out of pure jealousy, Mrs. Kin- 
 iiard? I do admire Queen Bess exceedingly. Well, 
 then, you would like to have a separate establishment of 
 your own ? " 
 
 ' ' How good you are to me ! " 
 
 ' ' Am I ? No doubt but that I shall be a stern tyrant 
 in the course of a few years. You had better make your 
 hay during this fine spell of weather." 
 
 " Barton," she said a little shyly, " I had a reason for 
 putting off the promised visit. You said Miss Grove 
 always went away in August." 
 
 " Exactly. We should enjoy ourselves better, I think. 
 Only the house is to be altered then." 
 
 " I shall not mind that. There is so much room 
 beside ! And I don't believe you would mind our using 
 the ' den ' occasionally." 
 
 "Well, that is cool too. I don't seem to know the
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. Ill 
 
 place any more. What with your tidiness, }^our flowers, 
 and 3'our changes here and there, I am almost afraid to 
 set down my old boots in a corner when I come home 
 tired." 
 
 " You may, for all that ; " and she laughed gayly. 
 
 " What were we talking about? Oh ! a pony. I think 
 I will keep a lookout for a suitable animal ; for I should 
 find it a convenience myself." 
 
 " And I could take Bertie to school. It will be ever so 
 much better for him ! " 
 
 " Let me see : why, this is the last of July ! Adelaide 
 has not said a word as yet ; " and Dr. Kinnard looked at 
 his wife in the utmost surprise. " I have spoken to Bailey, 
 too gave him that plan of yours ; and he is to drop in 
 some day to take dinner with us, and then view the 
 premises. But I do hope Adelaide goes away." 
 
 " You will speak of it, though? " 
 
 ' ' No. Why should I ? She will advance twenty good 
 reasons why it should not be done ; and I shall have to 
 combat each one singly, and the whole in a lump. I hate 
 women's arguments ; " and a little frown settled between 
 the doctor's eyes. 
 
 " I am afraid she would think it And, if the furni 
 ture was injured " 
 
 ' ' I wish every one of those things was out of the 
 house!" cried the doctor testily. "Nelly, I am thank 
 ful that you haven't any money, and can't buy so much as 
 a salt-cup. I have heard about them all my life, and 
 am likely to hear until I fall into my dotage unless I 
 make a bonfire of them." 
 
 " But that would be a matter of courtesy, speaking, 
 I mean. Miss Grove is very choice of the parlor, and 
 feels that she has a prior claim. She might suppose it 
 my idea ; ' ' and Nelly paused in a flush of embarrass 
 ment. 
 
 "As if it wasn't!" said the doctor banteringly.
 
 112 NELLY KLNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " But you know, Nelly, how I hate fuss and long argu 
 ments." 
 
 He was evidently bent upon having his own way, and 
 she said no more. If she had found a weak side to her 
 husband, this was it. It was no real lack of moral cour 
 age, but the putting-off of an evil day, a species of 
 procrastination that peace-loving people indulge in fre 
 quently. 
 
 The first of August came in. Vacation began for the 
 children, though it could hardly be called that. Aunt 
 Adelaide was strict about the music practices, and ques 
 tioned Bertie every night concerning the summer's les 
 sons. During the past fortnight, he and Nelh r had made 
 some very faint advances ; but Aunt Adelaide's eyes were 
 sharp. Then the pony and a new phaeton came home, 
 and he was promised a ride. 
 
 And then happened a most unlucky contretemps. Mr. 
 Bailey " dropped in," according to promise. Dr. Kinnard 
 was expected home, but did not come ; and they sat down 
 to dinner promptl}". If Nelly could have summoned 
 sufficient courage to beg of him not to mention the altera 
 tion ; but it seemed small and underhand. So she exerted 
 herself, and was so entertaining, that she led the worthy 
 man completely away from business until there was a 
 lull during the dessert. 
 
 "I am sorry the doctor stays so," he began suddenly. 
 " You think he will be home presently, Mrs. Kinnard? I 
 wanted to discuss his new project with him, and get to 
 work next week. I liked that plan of yours ever so 
 much ; for it strikes me those rooms are gloomy ; ' ' and 
 he turned his head to take a survey. " But why not 
 have a small room there at the back for flowers, instead 
 of a bay-window merely? " 
 
 Miss Grove fixed her eyes upon Nelly with a sort 
 of astonished deliberation that called the color to the 
 fair young face.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 113 
 
 "I don't know," she stammered rather hesitatingly. 
 "As the doctor fancies." 
 
 " Of course, of course ! we bow to his decision ; " and 
 Mr. Bailey gave a cheerful smile. " I wonder that he 
 never had folding-doors cut through there before. It 
 looks so much more sociable, and is convenient in many 
 cases ; such as a large company, for instance. Realty, 
 Mrs. Kinnard, your coming will work a great change in 
 the doctor. He was making quite a hermit of himself. 
 Doesn't the good book say it is not good for man to be 
 alone?" 
 
 " Though it can hardly be said that Dr. Kinnard was 
 alone," was Miss Grove's pointed rebuke. 
 
 "Well, no not exactly;" and Mr. Bailey gave a 
 rather uncomfortable laugh. "But then, you see, Miss 
 Grove, no one is quite like a wife to a man." 
 
 "Herbert!" cried Miss Grove sharply, "you are 
 eating with jour spoon. Take your fork, sir ! " and she 
 straightened up her tall figure with a severe air. 
 
 Mr. Bailey pushed back his chair. "Yes," he con 
 tinued, "I am right sorry the doctor is not here; but 
 I suppose you can tell me the particulars all the same. 
 A good wife and a good husband generally agree ; " with 
 an effort at geniality. " If you wouldn't mind taking a 
 survey of the rooms with me, and making any sugges 
 tions. I shall be likely to come across the doctor in the 
 village afterwards." 
 
 Nelly rose, and marshalled him through. If it only 
 had not happened in this manner ! 
 
 Mr. Bailey took measurements, sounded the walls, and 
 made sundry business-like comments. Then he examined 
 the place for the bay-window. 
 
 "Yes, it is just as I told the doctor. You 'see, the 
 kitchen runs out here in a jog ; and that is going to make 
 a bad shade for one side of }"our window. Now, if this 
 was a kind of extension, instead, the end all glass,
 
 114 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 and shelved, you see. And this window might be changed 
 to a door, giving you an entrance, and a pretty porch, 
 here on the west side." 
 
 "That would be convenient and delightful." And 
 Nelly's eyes were aglow with pleasure. 
 
 "That is what I should have, if the house was mine. 
 You will like it, I know. Now may I see the parlor? " 
 
 Nelly looked helplessly at Miss Grove a moment, then 
 opened the door in great fear and trembling. It was 
 the first time she had entered the place of her own 
 accord. It seemed to be kept sacred to the memory of 
 "m}' poor dead sister," and embalmed with sighs. The 
 tight shutters were alwa3*s tightly closed, except at the 
 weekly dustings. It was dark as a prison now, and she 
 groped her way, stumbling over an ottoman ; but, after 
 much exertion, she managed to get a ray of light. 
 
 "Yes, j'ou'll find folding-doors a decided advantage, so 
 much more cheerful. It will be a great improvement, 
 a very great improvement. Just talk it over with the 
 doctor : we surely ought to be able to convince him. 
 Tell him how sorry I was to miss him." 
 
 And so on, until Mr. Bailey had talked himself out of 
 the parlor, and out of the hall, expatiating in his most 
 convincing tone upon the benefit the alteration would be, 
 and at last wishing her a hearty good-day.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 How happy is he born and taught, 
 
 That serveth not another's will, 
 Whose armor is his honest thought, 
 
 And simple truth his utmost skill. WOTTON. 
 
 NELLY KINNARD turned with a flushing face toward the 
 two women who she knew were sitting in judgment upon 
 her. Bertie had been dismissed ; but Maud was standing 
 by the window with her self-complacent smirk. 
 
 " Mrs. Kinnard," Miss Grove began with asperity, 
 " may I venture to inquire the meaning of this business? 
 Is the one room that I hoped could be kept in some degree 
 sacred to the memory of ' my poor dear sister,' for her 
 children's sake, to be turned into a common thoroughfare ? 
 My brother-in-law has given you his office for a sitting- 
 room" (and this was uttered spitefully) ; " yet it seems 
 you are not content." 
 
 " And what did he say about that window? " exclaimed 
 Mother Kinnard. " It is the only spot on this floor where 
 I sit and sew. It has been my window ever since I came 
 into the house. But, Adelaide, we are of trifling account 
 now. Our years of care and devotion can go for noth 
 ing." 
 
 Miss Grove made a lofty gesture, as much as to say, 
 ' ' Your j-ears of devotion what are they compared with 
 mine? " Then, confronting Mrs. Kinnard, she continued 
 in an injured tone, " At least, I might have had sufficient 
 .warning to remove my poor dead sister's furniture. That 
 belongs to her children. It was bought with her money." 
 
 115
 
 116 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " I have no doubt Dr. Kinnard will make ample 
 arrangements for every thing. He has spoken to Mr. 
 Bailey about some alterations ; and, when he has decided, 
 he will no doubt inform you," Nelly said quietly, and 
 would have passed on. But Miss Grove did not mean 
 that she should escape so easily. 
 
 " You are very innocent of the whole thing, Mrs. Kin 
 nard ! ' ' she retorted scornfully. ' ' Mr. Bailey spoke of 
 the plan being yours. I have made it a rule of my life 
 to set an example of truth before children at least," 
 and she glanced at Maud. 
 
 " We have discussed it together, Miss Grove ; and I 
 did plan a bay-window for some flowers. Dr. Kinnard 
 is to settle the matter as he chooses." 
 
 " And a sweet penny it will cost before you get 
 through! " cried the elder lady. " I suppose the whole 
 house must be refurnished, and changes upon changes ! 
 My son is not a rich man by any means, Mrs. Kinnard." 
 
 Nelly's blood rushed to her heart tumultuousl}*, and her 
 face was scarlet with indignation. Yet she would not be 
 drawn into a quarrel with either of these women : so she 
 made great effort at self-control. 
 
 " You will have the same right to discuss the matter 
 with Dr. Kinnard that I have," she returned with dignity. 
 "If there are any complaints, make them to him." 
 Then she passed by the irate sister-in-law, and almost 
 flew up stairs. 
 
 She heard the tongues long afterward. Why could 
 they not concede gracefully that she had some rights in 
 the house, since the}' knew well that they could not drive 
 her out of it by any amount of opposition? The little 
 sneers and invidious comments were bad enough, and 
 often stung her sorely ; but open quarrels she considered 
 disgraceful. She had a pride, too, about not being drawn 
 into them. The neighborhood should not feast over the 
 fact of the " Kinnard disagreements," if she could help 
 it.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 117 
 
 The whole afternoon passed, and no husband. She had 
 not even the heart to try her pony. Did they grudge her 
 her husband's gifts? It would seem so; and yet both 
 women were blessed with an abundance of their own. 
 
 He came at last, tired out, and a little cross it must be 
 confessed ; and he dropped down on the great lounge 
 with only a brief word or two, and laid there until the 
 bell rang for supper. 
 
 " How pleasant it is to have you here, Nelly ! " he said 
 then. " I used to think I would never be able to endure 
 a woman about my office ; but I really believe you im 
 prove it, 3 7 ou dark-eyed gypsy. What has happened 
 to-day? Been to ride, or had any letters? " 
 
 " Neither. I sewed all the morning. But come, or 
 we shall keep supper waiting. After that, I want a talk 
 with you." 
 
 He kissed her fondly. He did love her very much ; 
 and she suddenly felt strong again. 
 
 The supper-table atmosphere was not a genial one. 
 Bertie was very unfortunate. Nothing but his father's 
 presence saved his being sent from the table. Nelly's 
 heart swelled with a sense of injustice. Once Dr. Kin- 
 nard said rather shortly, " Adelaide, the child would do 
 better if you did not badger him continually." 
 
 Miss Grove raised her head with a most exasperating, 
 martyr-like endurance, but, for a wonder, did not reply. 
 
 "Well," questioned the doctor when they were again 
 alone, " are you going to scold because I absented my 
 self all day? I really could not help it, I assure you. 
 And I met Mrs. Glyndon at the house of a patient. I 
 am to take you to her house to dinner to-morrow." 
 
 " It will be very entertaining to go," said Nelly with 
 a smile. 
 
 "Yes. What a talker that woman is! Her head is 
 crammed full of ' isms ' and ' ologies ' and quips and 
 quirks. She should have had half a dozen babies ! "
 
 118 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " Mr. Bailey was here to dinner," Nelly ventured in 
 the pause. 
 
 "No! Was he? Did he talk business ?" And there 
 was an amused twinkle in the doctor's eye. 
 
 " Yes. Your mother and Miss Grove were very much 
 surprised," she answered in a low tone. 
 
 "And there was a declaration of war afterward? I 
 can just imagine how the avalanche descended on their 
 devoted heads. ' 'Twas ever thus from childhood's hour.' 
 I believe I never undertook any thing without having to 
 fight my way through a storm of women's reasons ; " and 
 he gave a low laugh. 
 
 " It was not at all funny to me," exclaimed Nelly in 
 a grave tone. 
 
 ' ' They surely did not dare ' ' 
 
 " They were indignant, and fancied that I was at the 
 bottom of the concealment." 
 
 The doctor indulged in a prolonged whistle, though 
 Nelly's face made him feel rather conscience-stricken. 
 
 "My dear girl, I ought to have explained: that is a 
 fact. But I thought to be here, and I hate so much talking 
 about a thing. Surely a man .of my age has a right to 
 jiave some voice in his own house. But I will have it 
 settled to-morrow ; and, Nelly, if you want a bay-window 
 in every room in the house, you shall have it. Come, 
 tell me what was said." 
 
 Nelly repeated a little of the talk, while her inmost 
 soul made a protest against tale-bearing. But, after all, 
 she should only lose by keeping silence. She could no 
 touch the hearts of either of these women by the m 
 heroic self-abnegation. They were determined to reduce 
 her sphere to its smallest compass. If they would 
 attempt it openly, before her husband. But they stood in 
 awe of him ; and she had to suffer in a dozen underhand 
 ways. Could she go on doing it, and keep her grace, her 
 sweetness, her patience, the household virtues that had 
 been cultivated in the home of her girlhood ?
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 119 
 
 Could she do it ? Why, was not this the very work of 
 life ? What did it avail to be charming in temper and 
 moods when the whole world was brilliant with sunshine, 
 and glowing with tenderness? The Saviour had said, 
 " My grace is sufficient for thee," why, then, should she 
 doubt? Was it not for such times and seasons that it 
 had been promised ? And there stole over her face a soft 
 half-smile. He would keep her safely. 
 
 " What is it?" and, coming around, Dr. Kinnard took 
 his wife's hand in his, and stooped to kiss the soft lips as 
 he seated himself beside her. "What lighted up your 
 face in that lovely glow? " 
 
 She flushed a little, and her eyes drooped. 
 
 "I don't know as I can quite make you understand," 
 she said with a touch of hesitation. " I was somewhat 
 discouraged at the thought of my own weakness ; and 
 then came to me a glimpse of the other strength. If I 
 can keep clinging to it when I feel cross and impatient 
 and troubled. If I can keep in the midst of the blessed 
 ness given out daily, and then give again, as I have 
 received. O Barton ! I do hope I shall be a good wife 
 to you. I always mean to." 
 
 ' ' Good ! You are like a little angel ! "he said with a 
 voice that had something in it like a forced laugh, lest 
 the undercurrent of quiver should betray itself. And yet 
 he was strangely touched, moved in a way that he would 
 have been ashamed, in his man's fashion, to explain. 
 
 He righted himself at the breakfast-table the next 
 morning. 
 
 " I am going to have the house altered a little, Ade 
 laide," he said, turning to Miss Grove. " Are you going 
 to take a summer vacation? If so, I will wait until you 
 and the children are away, as it will make a rather 
 troublesome time during a week, at least. Shall you go 
 to the seashore ? ' ' 
 
 " I really have not decided," returned the lady indif 
 ferently.
 
 120 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " The work will be down here on the parlor-floor, and 
 not interfere with the sleeping-rooms. I shall have 
 folding-doors put in between the rooms, and some kind 
 of a place built out at the southern end. Nelly, I think 
 that idea of Bailey's, about a porch there, was excel 
 lent." 
 
 " I don't see what you want to tear the house to pieces 
 for, Barton," said his mother peevishly. "It is good 
 and substantial, and there is plenty of room in it at 
 least, there always was. And that south window is my 
 favorite place." 
 
 " There will still be windows to the south, and favorite 
 places, all the same." 
 
 " But, if 3 r ou are going to put flowers there, I can have 
 no good of it at all. Flowers are unhealthy. I should 
 think you, being a ph}-sician " 
 
 "But recent scientific facts have shown that flowers 
 are healthy, even in sleeping-rooms. And there will be 
 all summer when they are out of doors. I want the 
 place brightened up a bit, and opened occasionally. I 
 never did like the shut-in feeling those two rooms give 
 any one." t 
 
 " But it always was good enough." 
 
 " Was it ? " rejoined the doctor dryly. " I think I have 
 heard a deal of complaining in my da}-." 
 
 Both women remembered, sorely against their will, that 
 nothing about it had ever suited " Mary." 
 
 "I suppose you mean to furnish anew?" said Miss 
 Grove loftily. 
 
 "Well really I had not thought about that," was 
 the rather slow answer. 
 
 " I have endeavored, since my poor dear sister's death, 
 to keep her furniture as nicely as possible. Maud will be 
 grown aip, some day ; and the articles may have a sacred- 
 ness for her that they fail to keep for any one else. And 
 I do object to having the parlor made a common thorough-
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 121 
 
 fare. It always seems decidedly vulgar to me to have 
 every thing in a glare of light and shabbiness." 
 
 She had gone a little too far. There was an ominous 
 sparkle in the doctor's eye. . 
 
 "I suppose the house is mine, if the furniture is not, 
 Adelaide," he returned in that intensely quiet tone he 
 used when he meant to speak but once. " If 3 r ou prefer 
 keeping it for Maud, I am quite willing. I would much 
 rather furnish anew. There is a nice room up in the attic 
 that you can use for storage ; and in future there need be 
 no fears about opening or using the room. I intend to 
 see Bailey to-day, and want to begin the first of next week. 
 Mat shall be at your service in carrying up the furniture, 
 or an}' thing else you need." 
 
 The scarlet blaze of anger had died out of Miss Grove's 
 face, and an ashen pallor of hate succeeded it. It was not 
 her house : she was here on sufferance only. Easy and 
 indulgent as Dr. Kinnard had been in most household mat 
 ters, she knew it would not be wisdom to tr} r him too far. 
 If she were dependent upon him, he would think some time 
 before he could summon sufficient decision to turn her out 
 homeless : but she had not even that claim on him, and 
 she meant to stay. Aggrieved she was by the fact of this 
 second wife ; but her duty to her poor sister's children gave 
 her courage to surmount any unpleasantness. 
 
 " Very well," she returned with a bitter emphasis. " I 
 can never forget that Maud's mother chose every article 
 there ; that it will always have a peculiar remembrance 
 for her. I will pack them safely in the garret." 
 
 The doctor winced a little ; yet in his secret heart he felt 
 relieved. That furniture had been the bane of his life ; 
 and he was glad to get rid of it with no greater fuss. It 
 did seem rather disgraceful that every reminder of his 
 first wife should be stored in a garret ; and he was half 
 ashamed for the moment. Yet it was a fact that he was 
 obliged to face and abide by : there could be no inmic-
 
 122 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 diate softening of it. The world at large, propriety, and 
 even his sister-in-law, could not justly complain of any 
 disrespect he had shown to Mary Grove's memory. 
 As for that rubbishy, faded red furniture, he could not 
 get up any warm sentiment over it. 
 
 Nelly sat there with a burning face and beating heart, 
 thinking it hard to be crowded out of love and remem 
 brance when one had come to dust and daisies. But Mrs. 
 Kinnard broke the awkward silence by saying, 
 
 " Barton, have you thought how much this is all to 
 cost? A man at your time of life, and with a family 
 around him, ought to consider a little." 
 
 " I have considered," very briefly; for the end of his 
 patience was almost reached. " If I should happen to 
 ruin myself by this experiment, the children will not be 
 left penniless. As for my wife, if we have to be sold out 
 by the sheriff, she and I will try love in a cottage with a 
 crust and water, and peace. Now, Nelly," and he 
 rose, " you will not have a great deal of spare time. I 
 want to start pretty early ; for I have a long list of 
 morning-calls before we get to Melcombe. Business 
 seems to be rather thriving. I am not quite on the verge 
 of bankruptcy. " 
 
 " Barton has certainly lost his senses ! " And Mrs. Kin 
 nard began to cry when they were within a safe distance 
 for such a proceeding. ' ' Set a beggar on horseback ! A 
 poor minister's daughter, and nothing good enough for 
 her ! And I never could endure that Mrs. Glyndon." 
 
 ' ' A very underbred and superficial woman. But, my 
 dear Mrs. Kinnard, we may be thankful to be allowed to 
 stay on any terms. If it were not for my poor sister's 
 children, I should go as soon as I could pack up my 
 clothes." 
 
 " But he is all the near relative I have now; and it 
 would be very hard to be separated from my own son. 
 Though I am not beholden to him. I have enough of my
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 123 
 
 own ; and I am resolved that it shall go to poor Mary's 
 children, when I am done with it. Not a penny shall 
 they have to waste on their foolery," she flung out 
 vindictively. 
 
 u I do think it your duty," said Miss Grove. " These 
 children are dearer to you than any others can ever be. 
 It is fortunate there is some little provision for them." 
 
 "If he could have chosen sensibty, as he did at first. 
 I can never forgive them for dragging him into such an 
 imprudent marriage ! " 
 
 Maud sat drinking in every word. She had quite too 
 much of that narrow-minded, precocious wisdom, and, 
 even thus early, felt elated at the thought of her own for 
 tune. Bertie, not being interested in this strife of tongues, 
 had gone around to his father's place, and was regaling 
 himself with the second cup of coffee, which the doctor 
 had left untasted ; and had swallowed it nearly all before 
 he was discovered. 
 
 ' ' That child gets worse and worse every day ! ' ' de 
 clared Miss Grove as she snapped his ears viciously. " If 
 I could have him to myself; but she will interfere, and she 
 knows no more about bringing up children than a cat. 
 You'll have nothing for your dinner but a piece of dry 
 bread, Master Herbert, remember that ! Go straight up 
 stairs, and practise your music one hour. Maud, keep 
 watch of him, and report the slightest inattention." 
 
 These music practices were a sore punishment to poor 
 Bertie. He had no ear and no love for music. Every 
 mistake was followed by a rap over the knuckles, until he 
 had come to hate the sight of a piano. 
 
 Nelly put her room in order, and then donned one of 
 her simple gray dresses with a thoughtful air. 
 
 " Barton," she said, when they were comfortably seated 
 in the buggy, " I want you to tell me one thing truly. 
 The cottage and the crust have no terrors for me ; " and 
 she smiled amusedly. " I have never been at all rich. I
 
 124 NELLY KINTSTARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 even think I could do my own work, and enjoy it, if the 
 house were not too large. Can you afford all this " 
 
 " Tremendous luxury and expense?" and he laughed 
 good-humoredly. "Yes; I may safely say that I can. 
 You are my wife, Nelly ; and you have a right to know 
 just how matters stand with me, if you care." 
 
 " I certainly do," she made answer. 
 
 " It is odd ; but I have never been in the habit of ex 
 plaining my own affairs to any extent. I can't endure 
 questioning, as you have no doubt discovered ; and I don't 
 enjoy many comments. But you are a wise little woman, 
 and have hit the happy medium between curiosity and in 
 terest. I would rather tell you, for another reason. My 
 mother has reached that period of life when she begins to 
 think of coming to want ; " and he smiled humorously out 
 of his eyes. "You may chance to hear comments that 
 would trouble you, if you did not know. The place is 
 clear. I am owing no debts ; and have a comfortable 
 income, three thousand or so a year. Not a rich 
 man, by any means ; and I am afraid I have no real 
 ambition to be one. I should like a few enjoyable years 
 before I die ; but the happiness that I want is not 
 altogether that which money brings. I have a little 
 beside, for a rainy day, and provision made when death 
 overtakes me. Can we not jog on together, and enjoy 
 our daily bread, without vexing our souls about the iced 
 fruit-cake for to-morrow ? ' ' 
 
 " We can and we will,'.' responded Nelly with a bright 
 glow. 
 
 " Jane, I find, manages household matters much better 
 than they were ever administered before. That is one 
 reason why I have not allowed an}' general interference. 
 And now for the rest. I can ampty afford the few hun 
 dreds this alteration will cost ; also the new furniture, 
 if your ideas are not very extravagant." 
 
 "I will endeavor to moderate them," she said with a 
 cunning little smile.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 125 
 
 So they jogged on and on, past knolls of maple, birch, 
 and elm, or chestnuts, now in brown bloom, evergreen 
 coverts that were shady and deep, bits and flashes of the 
 winding river, bits and flashes of the blue sky overhead. 
 Here a squirrel ran out ; there a bird sang, or a great waft 
 of odorous sweetness crossed her path, blown from the 
 countless shrubs and flowers. She took it all in, the 
 freshness, the abundance, the changeful beauty, and 
 thanked God for it, for the chance of getting away from 
 the narrow boundaries of care and fret. 
 
 " I do not wonder a man's world is broader than a 
 woman's," she said presently: "he has the whole wide 
 out-of-doors." 
 
 " And she has the extra ruffle on her neighbor's gown, 
 and the new pudding with one more egg in it, dancing 
 continually before her vision. I wish I could persuade 
 some of these poor tired mothers to put a clean calico 
 dress upon their children, and go out to the woods for a 
 whole long day. John could get his own dinner for once. 
 There are so many senseless things in the world ; and it 
 is often quite useless to doctor bodies, when the disease is 
 in the mind." 
 
 And so chatting off and on, bits of talks laid between- 
 the thought and the enjoyment, remembered afterward 
 like the scent of sweet-clover laid among linen. Now and 
 then she held the reins, while he went in for a call, and 
 gave him a sweet smile of welcome as he came out. She 
 was so companionable, that was it, not merely the lov 
 ing, or the being his wife, but that peculiar adaptiveness 
 so delightful when one does meet with it. 
 
 He was loath to leave her at Mrs. Glyndon's after dinner ; 
 but he made a little jest of it, and went away. And there 
 she was in an enchanted house, with a woman who had 
 been blest with nearly all of this world's gifts, health, 
 wealth, beauty, taste, education, refinement, and, in a 
 certain wa} r , genius ; a fascinating woman, moreover, 
 11*
 
 126 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 who had travelled and enjoyed, who was witty, satirical, 
 daring, and sweet enough when she took fancies, as she 
 had to Dr. Kinnard's young wife. 
 
 She questioned her a little about home-matters, deli 
 cately, it must be confessed ; and was rather free in her 
 comments upon Miss Grove. Nelly felt half inclined to 
 make a friend and confidante of her ; and yet she shrank 
 from admitting any family grievance outside the walls of 
 home. 
 
 When they returned, they found the parlor despoiled, 
 and the shutters thrown wide open. Everybody was quiet 
 and sullen, and chilly as a November morning. 
 
 And the next day Mr. Bailey came over again, and 
 plans were redrawn for porch and extension. Work was 
 to be commenced immediately. Madame Kinnard grum 
 bled about the expense, and fretted about her window, 
 and wondered if there would be room for anybody in the 
 house presently. Miss Grove said nothing about going 
 away. The doctor went to Wachusett, and brought home 
 with him stately little Queen Bess, as he called her, and 
 Gertrude, who had not yet given up romping. Nelly's 
 phaeton was in constant requisition ; and Bertie was 
 charmed and won by the girl who could climb trees, jump 
 ditches, and even waded in the brook. 
 
 ' ' A horrid hoiden ! ' ' declared Maud to her few select 
 friends, while Dr. Kinnard longed to transfer the glowing 
 pink cheeks, laughing healthful eyes, and round, supple 
 figure to his own prim, stiff little daughter, who was so 
 flounced and puffed and ribboned, that she looked like a 
 French wax doll in a fancy-store. Often he wondered 
 how he could best place her in the care of her sensible 
 young stepmother. 
 
 The porch was completed ; and even Mother Kinnard 
 admitted it to be a great improvement. There was still 
 one pleasant west window left, and the extension was 
 really quite a room ; one corner being left for a comforta-
 
 NELLY KLNNARD'S KINGDOM. 127 
 
 ble chair and workstand, the rest shelved prettily, the 
 wood-work being held up by tasteful iron brackets. 
 Already it presented a homelike appearance. 
 
 Nelly had made one stipulation about the furniture. 
 
 "Let it be neat and pretty," she said, "but not ex 
 pensive ; something we can all enjoy, and that will not 
 bring Bertie into punishment if he should chance to 
 climb on it ; for I think Bertie is slowly being given over 
 to my tender mercies." 
 
 It was too true. When Miss Grove was informed that 
 the doctor had resolved to send Bertie to school in the 
 village as soon as the fall term commenced, her anger 
 was deep, not loud. It seemed as if she took a malicious 
 pleasure in having the child positively disagreeable to his 
 stepmother. 
 
 The crowning point of all delight to Nelly had been a 
 new piano. 
 
 " It seems as if I was just beginning to live," Nelly 
 said to her own dear mother. " I am getting fitted into 
 my place, and trying to make it a centre of pleasure : if 
 I can only be wise and patient." 
 
 " One doesn't get fitted instantly ; and after that is the 
 becoming settled and easy and familiar ; and then the 
 bits of love, and bits of work, the flowers to gather, and 
 the flowers that one must let seed for next year's growing. 
 A little kingdom every household is that to render it 
 fitter for the great kingdom ; to shape and garnish and 
 color with good words and works, so that there may be a 
 great joy when the other household is entered upon. It 
 comes with time. None of us get finished and furnished 
 in a few weeks." 
 
 No. All this was a type of something greater. Lessons 
 to be learned every da} r , blurred and crooked writing to be 
 gone over, until the angel of the Lord turned the clean 
 white page in the other country. She had only gone a 
 little distance in this, the kingdom of Here and Now, 
 through which we must all make our way.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Still, when we purpose to enjoy ourselves, 
 To try our valor, fortune sends a foe ; 
 To try our equanimity, a friend." GOETHE. 
 
 Six months had come and gone since Nelly Kinnard 
 had said her bridal vows in the pretty old parish church 
 of her childhood. At Edgerly there was one old, sleepy 
 church, and a new and rather struggling chapel. It had 
 proved a source of mortification to Miss Grove that Mrs. 
 Kinnard had elected to cast in her lot with this poor 
 interest. What could attract a person of any taste and 
 culture ? 
 
 " I must say," answered Nelly pleasantly, " that I 
 like Mr. Dudley ever so much better than Dr. Henderson. 
 He is so thoroughly in earnest with his work, that it 
 inspires one to come to his aid. And where one is needed 
 urgently, always seems to me the proper place." 
 
 " But there is so much in desirable church associa 
 tions, especially in country-places. One's position is 
 established by the society one is known to keep, and 
 judged too. I regret there should be any division in 
 the family in such matters. I think it sets a very bad 
 example before children ; but I must insist upon my 
 sister's children being brought up in her faith, since the 
 doctor is not a member an}- where." 
 
 Her faith? Alas ! it had not been much of an}* thing, 
 
 except to go to church on a pleasant Sunday, when she 
 
 had some elegant new garments ; and then she found the 
 
 sermon tiresome, the prayers too long, and the singing 
 
 123
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 129 
 
 miserably poor. But Miss Grove had allied herself with 
 the most aristocratic church in Edgerly, a society com 
 posed largely of " good old families," who scarcely con 
 descended to look at their neighbors, the mill-owners and 
 factory-masters, to say nothing of the under-strata, 
 workers, whom they held in supreme contempt. 
 
 Nelly had felt a little delicate, at first, about the divis 
 ion in religious matters, that of belonging to different 
 denominations. 
 
 " Go just where you. like," said the doctor. " I do 
 not attend much, anyhow ; but I'll accompany yon when 
 I can. And, if you like the chapel best, why, take that, 
 then. Many of my poor patients belong there ; and I 
 must sa} r , if ever there was an earnest, self-denying man, 
 a man who studied the real good of his fellow-crea 
 tures, body and soul, Dudley is that one. And there 
 are many cases, more, perhaps, than ministers would 
 care to acknowledge, where you can only get at a man's 
 soul through his body. How much of religion, I wonder, 
 is made up of comfortable incomes, pleasant homes, good 
 clothes, and nothing special to worry one? Put some of 
 these simpering saints in the place of poor Jim Lane's 
 wife, with her drunken husband, her five little children, 
 and her daily toil of washing and ironing to get them 
 bread, and see how patient, how trusting, how resigned to 
 God's will, they would be. And she brings her little gift 
 weekly, Dudley tells me ; saves it out of her hard-earned 
 wages. I declare, it shames us eas3'-going people. There, 
 my dear, I have preached you quite a sermon ; but the 
 upshot of it is, if you like to go there, and can help them 
 along in any way, never mind Aunt Adelaide." 
 
 She remembered the lessons inculcated in her girlhood : 
 she could even look back and see how her dear father had 
 labored to break down these petty social distinctions, and 
 that, year by }*ear, the rich and poor had come nearer to 
 each other. The}" did not turn out in a mass, and clamor
 
 130 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 for entrance at rich people's parties, as Mrs. Fairlie had 
 so much dreaded that they would, unless kept in their 
 place. 
 
 In spite of what Miss Grove termed "her unfortunate 
 church associations," 3 T oung Mrs. Kinnard had been quite 
 a social success. She was undeniabl} 7 stylish, even in her 
 plainest dressing. Her slender, elegant figure ; her realty 
 lovely face, in its 3'outh and brightness ; and the something 
 in her voice, which was, I think, the cheerful ring - r the 
 unaffected tone of warmth and interest, attracted strong 
 ly. People who had made formal calls once or twice a 
 year at the doctor's began to drop in oftener. Others 
 good-hearted, social people, without much cultivation, but 
 who adored him for saving, -as they always believed, 
 the life of a dear child, or wife, or husband were de 
 lighted to come, from that overflowing sense of gratitude, 
 and said afterwards, " I had such a delightful time ! 
 Mrs. Kinnard is as lovely as she can be. Why, I almost 
 felt as if she was some relation ; so different from Miss 
 Grove ! If there ever was an out-and-out old maid, she's 
 one. I do wonder how they all get along ; but the doctor's 
 just as happy as he can be. You can see that in his 
 face." 
 
 Which was true enough. He did not grow young or 
 radiant : he had too many grave cares for that, too 
 great a responsibility of life and death, and carried about 
 with him a continual burthen of others' sorrows and per 
 plexities. For of all people, perhaps, a physician feels this 
 most keenly, the undertow of want or care or unhappi- 
 ness that keeps dragging back his patient, and too often 
 sets at nought the finest skill, at last, perhaps, drifting 
 the poor being out beyond the reach of help. His whole 
 heart and soul were in his profession : in fact, for 3*ears it 
 had been his solace, and taken the best of his life and 
 interest. The new influence softened and mellowed. 
 Sometimes, in secret, he called himself an old fool, and
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 131 
 
 tried to be a little cold or pre-occupied ; but the beseech 
 ing eyes thawed the deceitful crust, that was not ice at 
 all, but only a shameful make-believe. 
 
 The alteration in the house became a subject of neigh 
 borhood comment and congratulation. Nelly opened the 
 parlor-windows every morning, and let in a cheerful, soft- 
 toned light here, and a long arrowy ray of sunshine there, 
 that gave it an inviting look, without any glare. She was 
 an artist by perception. She could have arranged all the 
 accessories of a picture, though the genius to paint it was 
 not hers. Fan had seemed to inherit that mother-gift. 
 But Nelty's chairs were never ranged stiff against the wall ; 
 rather in dainty groups of twos and threes, just as if a 
 social part} r sat there a moment ago, chatting. Vases of 
 beautiful grasses and fern-leaves, and some brilliant 
 autumn trophies, peeped out here and there, instead of 
 the ugly, expensive things that had adorned it formerly. 
 Its furnishing had not cost half that " my poor, dear 
 sister" had spent; and the doctor felt quite at home, 
 lounging on the sofa, while Nelly played and sang. 
 
 She had not left her impress quite so strongly on the 
 so-called sitting-room. Mother Kinnard had a way of 
 re- arranging. She would straighten out chairs, pile up 
 books, push the workstand into some corner, and, not 
 infrequently, set the vase of flowers on the mantle-piece, 
 after Nelly had placed it on the centre-table. But the 
 flower-corner was complete. Nelly had stocked it quite 
 to her fane}', with Mat for aide-de-camp. The man had a 
 great passion for flowers, and had picked up a little knowl 
 edge, here and there, of their needs and culture. But 
 there had never been any place to keep them in the 
 winter : so he saw them all die with a sad heart at the 
 touch of autumn frosts ; and, when the small greenhouse 
 was begun, his delight was boundless. 
 
 " You have won Mat's heart," declared the doctor. 
 " I hardly know whether to be jealous or not. I'm
 
 132 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 afraid he will be petitioning for a greenhouse in good 
 earnest presently." 
 
 They had discussed it a little between them : so Nelly 
 smiled. 
 
 " I don't believe but what I could build one, another 
 summer, at a small expense," Mat had said, tangling up 
 his curly chestnut hair. " There'd be the heating, to be 
 sure ; and I don't just know " 
 
 " You might be studying up on the subject, Mat. I 
 have several books that you may look over at your 
 leisure. And we will see how this succeeds." 
 
 " You are very kind, I'm sure. I've always had a han- 
 kerin' after such things. I had a little one once, ma'am 
 maybe the doctor told you? and she used to be forever 
 bringin' in little nosegays, if 'twas no more than a clover- 
 head and a buttercup, any thing that had a little color 
 in it. I never see a bit of clover, but her eyes seem to 
 look out of it at me. I wasn't caring much for such 
 simple things before ; but they seem so near since she 
 has gone ! ' ' 
 
 Ferns had been brought in from the woods, and a great 
 box filled. Then there were geraniums, monthly roses, 
 carnation-pinks, and flowering vines put out in corners. 
 Odd plants, too, that one and another of the neighbors 
 sent in, and now that very little was left out of doors, 
 save chrysanthemums, the bright bower was a delight 
 to Nelly, and gave her bloom enough for some parlor- 
 bouquets, or a few to send to a sick patient. 
 
 But, as Mat had taken a liking to the mistress for her 
 bonn} r face and pleasant ways, Jane's prejudice had 
 grown more bitter and unreasonable. That she was 
 young ; that she " knew nothing about housekeeping, you 
 may be sure, girls never do now-a-days ; " that she put 
 on airs ; that she had the' doctor " completely under her 
 thumb " were a few of Jane's grievances ; for Jane had 
 taken great pride that the doctor could not be ruled by
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 133 
 
 womenkind, and was not to be caught by the best of 
 them. He had been caught. He allowed his wife privi 
 leges in the office and the ' ' den ' ' that were unheard of 
 before. He had turned out the first wife's furniture to 
 make room for her nonsense and flummery. Jane was 
 severely and intensely practical. She would have had 
 nothing in the world but what was useful ; and she would 
 have shut up the best of that in the parlor, to be dusted 
 out once a week, and swept on rare occasions. One 
 da}', daring innovation ! Nelly had set an obnoxious 
 vase of flowers on the dining-table. There had been two 
 brackets put up in the hall, on which they were generally 
 kept. Jane caught it up indignantly, and restored it to 
 its usual place. 
 
 Nell}' came in a moment afterward. She had seen the 
 movement indistinctly from the sitting-room. 
 
 " Jane," she said in a quiet tone, " will you please put 
 that vase back on the table? I desire to have it there." 
 
 "It's only in the way," snapped Jane, going steadily 
 about her business. 
 
 " That, I think, is my affair, as it is my table ; " and 
 the voice kept its even, cheerful tenor. " You will oblige 
 me by restoring it to its place." 
 
 Jane had not the courage to actually disobey in so 
 trifling a matter. It was not in her department, and 
 could in no wise interfere with her work or her comfort. 
 Something stronger than her own angry reasoning im 
 pelled her ; but it came down with a thump that splashed 
 the water, and shook off some of the leaves. 
 
 " If you had let it be at first, we should not have had 
 this litter," said her mistress. 
 
 Jane slammed the door. For days afterward, she 
 snapped, instead of speaking like a reasonable woman. 
 Even the doctor remarked it. 
 
 " Jane has a great deal to do," said Miss Grove ; " and 
 the regular habits of the family have been so broken up,
 
 134 NELLY KTNNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 that it makes twice the work. And servants, I suppose, 
 have much the same feelings and tempers that other peo 
 ple consider their rights." 
 
 " It would be better to devote half a day to the tan 
 trum, and get over it;" and the odd twinkle gleamed .in 
 the doctor's eye. " I think I can understand how a person 
 can and does get fearfully angry ; but it always seemed so 
 small and narrow to me to be venting one's spite for days 
 iipon all sorts of inoffending objects. Jane is not as good 
 tempered as she used to be ; and, at her best, she is rather 
 trying. But yesterday Mat was complaining of her." 
 
 "It is hardly wisdom to pay attention to servants' 
 tales," returned Miss Grove with asperity. 
 
 " I desire to have every one well treated in my house," 
 was the doctor's pointed rejoinder. 
 
 And so the daring innovation of having flowers on the 
 table at meal-times stood its ground in spite of Miss 
 Grove's covert sneers, and Mother Kinnard's complaints. 
 Nelly took them off before the table was cleared ; so that 
 Jane should have no excuse for carelessly breaking the 
 vase. The former had none of the fine sense of beauty 
 in her soul. What society, or "our set," ordained, was 
 fit and proper : to swerve a hair' s-breadth was out of 
 taste. Her sphere of thought had grown narrower with 
 every year, as her circle had grown smaller. Mrs. 
 Kinnard had an old person's dislike of things and ways 
 which she had not been accustomed all her life, or that 
 were not brought directly from the city. If Barton 
 only had married Adelaide, how smoothly matters would 
 have gone ! 
 
 Bertie was still a bone of contention under the surface. 
 Nelly wished sometimes, in moments of vexation, that 
 they would do or say the same things in the doctor's 
 presence ; but her enemies were of the wary kind, and 
 she was much too proud for complaint, even if she could 
 have thought it right. The new liberty emboldened the
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 135 
 
 child greatly, like all children wn*o have been completely 
 under the domination of a strong will. He was not espe 
 cially bright or companionable : in fact, only Nelly, so 
 used to children, realized the darkness and vacancy in the 
 poor child's soul ; while in all matters acquired through 
 study, or any process of memory, he was far in advance 
 of most children of his age. He took his stepmother's 
 overtures of friendliness in a wondering manner, as if 
 he could not quite fathom them, and half suspected 
 some ulterior motive ; but, with a sort of animal instinct, 
 he was fascinated by her magnetic voice, the glance of 
 her dark, soulful eyes, the touch of her soft hand ; and 
 when he began fairly to understand that he, too, had a 
 claim upon her, he was quite inclined to make it para 
 mount and troublesome. He brought her the largest and 
 showiest flowers for her hair, and could hardly be made 
 to understand why they were not suitable. If he stood 
 by her, his feet always became entangled in her dress, 
 and a stumble would be the result : if he sat by her, 
 he managed to rumple every thing within his reach, and 
 sometimes she felt that he was a heavy burthen. 
 
 This preference and awakening of an unreasoning 
 affection stirred a passion of jealousy in Miss Grove's 
 soul. That any child of her " poor dead sister's," so 
 wronged by having a young and pretty stepmother 
 appointed over it, should hug its chain, and caress its 
 jailer, was unendurable. Her claim to this home lay in 
 her hold on the children's hearts ; and how had she 
 striven to endear herself to them? Maud, it is true, had 
 much in common with her aunt ; but, when Bertie grew 
 out of authority, he grew out of every thing. 
 
 She made one effort to persuade Dr. Kinnard to give 
 up the school-plan, but found him immovable. 
 
 " You will have enough to do with Maud's educa 
 tion," he said briefly. " The boy wants to be with other 
 boys."
 
 136 IJTELLY KJNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " I warn you that he will not learn half as much. I 
 have taken a great deal of pains with these children of my 
 ' poor dear sister.' I cannot, of course, expect them to 
 be as dear to an}*- one else. And, since they are to have 
 something of their own, it is necessary that they should 
 be trained to fill their proper position," said Miss Grove 
 with a kind of injured dignity. 
 
 ' ' Very few children are any the better for being brought 
 up with money expectations," returned the doctor impa- 
 tierrtby. " I do not want any such foolish idea put into 
 Bertie's head. He must take his chance with other 
 boys." 
 
 "As I said, I do not expect any one to be as much 
 interested in their welfare as I am ' ' 
 
 "That is all pure nonsense, Adelaide," interrupted the 
 doctor, this time angrily. " They are my children, you 
 will please remember ; and, if I have little of a father's 
 foolish vanity, no one shall question my fatherly interest 
 or authority." 
 
 She knew she had gone far enough then : so she wisely 
 let the subject drop. But she managed to work upon 
 Bertie's fears. 
 
 "Will the teacher whip me a great deal?" Bertie 
 asked his new mamma one day. 
 
 "He will not whip you at all, Bertie, unless you are 
 very, very naughty." * 
 
 " But I am always bad," the child returned in a most 
 matter-of-fact way. " Aunt Adelaide says so." 
 
 " Not always, I think. You obey papa and me pretty 
 well." 
 
 ' ' But you never give me any hard things to do, and 
 you take me out driving, and never send me away from 
 the table. You are good, although Aunt Adelaide says 
 you are not." 
 
 Nelly flushed indignantty. " Bertie," and her tone was 
 very decisive, "you must not repeat to me what Aunt
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 137 
 
 Adelaide says. If you do, I cannot take you out driv 
 ing. Remember that, will you ? And I do mean to be 
 good to 3*011, and love you, for you are my little boy." 
 
 " Can I always say mamma to you? " he asked timidly. 
 
 "Always." Ah, if she could make him understand! 
 If she could have him alone ; but the conflicting influences 
 confused his brain, so little used to reasoning. 
 
 " But I can't to Aunt Adelaide. She makes me say, 
 ' stepmother.' " 
 
 The child had a most unfortunate habit of frankness. 
 The only redeeming point in it was, that he was not a 
 very communicative child, and somewhat shy of stran 
 gers. Nelly had worked hard for her little influence over 
 him. 
 
 This came to the doctor's attention one day. 
 
 " Adelaide," he said sharply, " when you speak to the 
 children of Mrs. Kinnard, I want you to call her mamma, 
 or mother. Stepmother is a hateful term anyhow ; and I 
 will not have it used in my house." 
 
 "Can I help what the world says, Barton? If you 
 wanted it to approximate nearer a fact, you should have 
 married an older woman. The relation is apparent at a 
 glance. And people will call things by their true names," 
 with a somewhat bitter emphasis. 
 
 " I married to suit myself. I have giving the children 
 a kind, affectionate, pleasant-tempered mother; and I will 
 have her respected as such in this house. If you, or any 
 one, try to widen the breach, it will be at the risk of my 
 most serious displeasure." 
 
 Maud studiously refrained from giving Nelly any name 
 while in her presence ; but elsewhere she always said, 
 " My stepmother," with a kind of martyr-like air; and, 
 when she and Aunt Adelaide were together, they used no 
 other term. Jane, too, had been rebuked by the doctor ; 
 and it added another fagot to the smouldering embers of 
 her dislike. 
 
 12*
 
 138 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 So far, it must be conceded, Jane had held her way 
 ro}'ally. She was housekeeper at Dr. Kinnard's ; and 
 woe betide the unlucky wight who dared to speak of her 
 as a servant ! A woman came in on Monday to help with 
 the washing. The last piece must be up by three o'clock, 
 and then commenced the ironing of the plain clothes, as 
 they were taken down from the line. There was cold 
 meat for dinner ; but it was always nice, and much tart 
 ness until the ironing was finished. After that Jane 
 devoted herself heart and soul to cooking until Friday 
 morning, when she swept the house through. The dust 
 ing could be done by each individual at her leisure. In 
 the afternoon came scrubbing ; and on Saturday the house 
 was like a new pin. She was proud of her abilities ; 
 and they were of the old-fashioned, severe order. Nelly 
 accepted her, as every one else had, though she managed 
 to make a few alterations in the rigid rule. When the 
 doctor was out past meal-time, she arranged a dainty 
 table in the " den," which was certainly outgrowing its 
 name, and taking on an inviting and hospitable appear 
 ance. She brought in the daring innovation first on 
 washing-day ; and Dr. Kinnard was delighted beyond 
 measure. To be sure, Jane's kitchen was large and 
 clean : there were two or three be}'ond, and it would have 
 answered well for a dining-room. But the doctor enjoyed 
 the cosey meal alone with his wife so very much, that he 
 proposed releasing Jane from such service in the future. 
 True, there were many little snubs and discomforts ; but 
 Nelly took them patiently. No one should say with truth 
 that she had made the first difficult}' in the house. 
 
 Every one except Aunt Adelaide agreed that having 
 Bertie away at school was a decided success. The house 
 was so much quieter. At half-past eight some one was 
 generally read}' to take him to the village ; and, as he fre 
 quently walked home, he was not back until four. He 
 liked it too. Truth to tell, he did not have to study half
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 as hard as under his aunt's regime. After a week or 
 two Mr. Herrick had said to the doctor, 
 
 " Kinnard, that boy of yours has been dreadfully 
 crammed. He has a very retentive memory, and fair 
 powers of application; but he has not been taught to 
 think, or to depend upon himself. I shall have to take 
 quite a different method with him, and he may seem not 
 to improve so rapidly ; but it will be better for him in the 
 end. He will be a*boy, not a prodigy." 
 
 " Very well," returned the doctor : " it is just what 1 
 want. I don't delight in prodigies myself." 
 
 The latent brightness in Bertie, repressed by his aunt's 
 rigidity and sternness, cropped out now and then. He 
 grew rougher and noisier : he even had the temerity to 
 indulge in a whistle now and then. Nelly had hard work 
 to keep him within bounds ; for Miss Grove seemed to 
 take delight in bringing out his worst points. If they 
 only could pull together, Nelly thought regretfully ; but 
 she saw with pain, that, whatever she joined in, Miss 
 Grove would not only leave, but throw covert obsta 
 cles in her way. No authority in the* house was to be 
 shared. 
 
 " Mrs. Kinnard is a very headstrong and self-willed 
 young person, with no experience whatever," Miss Grove 
 was fond of explaining to her friends. " I can plainly 
 foresee that the child will be ruined. When he becomes 
 perfect!}' unmanageable, no doubt he will be thrown back 
 upon my hands." 
 
 Nelly Kinnard was not thinking of the children, as she 
 stood, in a rather abstracted manner, pinching dead leaves 
 from her plants, and training up tender shoots that showed 
 a disposition to go astray. That morning she had taken 
 Bertie to school, made a few purchases in the village ; 
 and, as she was driving slowly homeward, Mr. Dudley 
 had overtaken her. 
 
 " O Mrs. Kinnard ! " he exclaimed, " I was just going
 
 140 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 out to see you. I have a matter of importance to talk 
 over." 
 
 " Very well. Will you take a little drive with me, and 
 explain it? " she said cordially. 
 
 "Would you mind driving toward Northrup's Mill? 
 There is a sick woman I must see ; and the morning is 
 glorious." 
 
 " With pleasure." 
 
 He sprang in, and, after a few pleasant comments on 
 various matters, launched into his plan. 
 
 " What I want is something to bring the people together 
 socially. We had a Mite Society last winter ; but it was 
 given over into the hands of the younger members, who, 
 after a while, did not care to go, unless they could have a 
 good time. Our sewing-society languished also. I should 
 like to unite the two, and mingle the young and the elders 
 together. Now, if we could have a sewing-society meet, 
 sa}', once a month, in the afternoon, to make up garments 
 for the poor, or perhaps fancy articles, with a simple 
 tea, and gentlemen coming in the evening, and young 
 people who might not be able to give the whole afternoon. 
 We could have conversation and music, and whatever 
 other diversions were thought best;" and he glanced at 
 her questioningly. 
 
 " Why, I think it an admirable idea. I do not see 
 that you need any help in the plan ; " and she smiled. 
 
 " I am glad it meets your approval. You see, neither 
 young nor old could fancy themselves justified in staj'ing 
 away. And now what I want is some one to take hold 
 of it with a vim, and make it a success. I would have 
 them meet first at the rectory, but I have no wife to enter 
 into the scheme ; and, though Mrs. Chase is an excellent 
 housekeeper, I am quite afraid this would be bej'ond her. 
 She could do every thing perfectly but the entertaining ; 
 and that would frighten her to death. So much depends 
 upon the manner in which a plan blossoms out ! " he con 
 tinued anxiously.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 141 
 
 " Indeed it does," said Nelly warmly. 
 
 "And that brings me to the point of my errand. I 
 want to persuade you to undertake it. You have the 
 prestige of being a clergyman's daughter, and know how 
 these matters ought to be managed. Then you are Dr. 
 Kinnard's wife, and occupy that broad, middle-ground 
 position, not unlike that of a clergyman's household. 
 Neither highest nor lowest would be afraid to come. 
 Then I think you could make it a success. Seventeenthly 
 and lastly, and this is an important part," glancing at 
 her with a piquant smile, "I fancy you would have the 
 courage to give the assembled multitude a plain tea. 
 You would not be afraid of being called ' stingy ; ' ' ' and 
 he laughed. " If Mrs. Dr. Kinnard gave people sandwiches 
 and one kind of cake, with perhaps a plate of grapes or 
 apples, Mrs. Newbury or Mrs. Thornton might follow in 
 such sensible footsteps. I have thought of seven people 
 who could have this entertainment ; and that will take us 
 quite along. Now have I made a bad beginning? " 
 
 " I should like very much to do it," said Nelly frankly. 
 " I will consult the doctor;" and then she thought of 
 the home-arrangements that could not be explained. 
 
 "But I had his permission first for consulting you," 
 Mr. Dudley announced with an expression of amusement. 
 
 " Then you may consider it settled. I have been 
 thinking, ever since I came to Edgerly, that there ought 
 to be some attractive social life in the church." 
 
 " We did quite well last winter ; but I felt that I wanted 
 it placed on a new basis. If you will only help me," he 
 said entreatingly. 
 
 " Begin with a moderate estimate of my abilities," she 
 returned gayly . ' ' I am a stranger, for one thing, a new 
 comer ; and my ways may not be as attractive as you 
 think." 
 
 V 
 
 " I am quite willing to risk that." 
 
 Then they went on to discuss the minor points, the
 
 142 NELLY KENNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 hard work it had been with this small and poor interest, 
 since most of the well-to-do people preferred to go to the 
 wealthier church. They arranged their plan satisfactorily ; 
 and afterward Nelly laid it before the doctor, who assented 
 willingly. On Sunday notice had been given out for the 
 Wednesday evening following. Nelly had not deemed it 
 prudent to inform Jane on Monday ; and here it was 
 Tuesday morning. She found that she, like the rest, 
 had fallen a little in awe of Jane ; and she smiled at 
 herself, thinking of it. But domestic altercations were 
 not pleasant ; and they had marked every step of the 
 way in her new home. Was it strange that she should 
 sigh a little for the sweet peace left behind with her 
 girlhood ? 
 
 "I am actually growing cowardly," she said, giving 
 herself a kind of mental shaking. "I will not put it off a 
 moment longer."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " A warm hearth, and a bright hearth, and a hearth swept clean, 
 Where the tongs don't raise a dust, and the broom isn't seen ; 
 Where the coals never fly abroad, and the soot doesn't fall, 
 Oh ! that's the fire for a man like me, in cottage or in hall." 
 
 THE large kitchen was almost painfully tidy : Jane 
 stood at the farther end, ironing, as Mrs. Kinnard en 
 tered. She glanced up, then down again at her work. 
 
 " Jane," said her mistress in a pleasant tone, " I have 
 a little matter to to lay before you, and consult you 
 about. The sewing-society of St. Mark's Church is to 
 meet here to-morrow afternoon. The new regulation is 
 to be a simple supper, sandwiches and one kind of cake. 
 But it will make some extra work ; and you had better 
 have help in washing the dishes. Biscuits and bread, 
 and boiled ham or tongue ' ' 
 
 Jane sat down her iron with decision, and looked her 
 young mistress square in the face. 
 
 "Who is going to make bread and biscuits?" she 
 demanded in a tone that would have been insolent, but 
 for its unsympathetic hardness. "I sha' n't be through 
 ironing until mid-afternoon." 
 
 " I don't know how you will manage with Jane," the 
 doctor had said. ''Wait until after washing-day, and 
 then go carefully." 
 
 ' ' I shall be very glad to make them myself. The 
 doctor sent home some tongues 3*esterday, and there is 
 part of a cold ham ; enough, I think. I might prepare 
 the tongues for boiling while you have your ironing-fire. 
 
 143
 
 144 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 The bread, I suppose, is nearly out. To-morrow is 
 baking-day " 
 
 " Family baking. But you don't suppose there would 
 be enough for a raft of people?" was the gruff' assump 
 tion. "I haven't been used to such doings. If I'd had 
 a longer notice ; but as it is " 
 
 Jane looked up again to take the measure of her mis 
 tress. She had had several battles with Miss Grove and 
 Mother Kinnard, before she made them "understand their 
 places," as she phrased it. " For I won't have any one 
 poking around a kitchen of mine," was her favorite 
 announcement. " I'm here to do the work ; and I can do 
 it too." Once Miss Grove had gone so far as to dis 
 charge her ; but the doctor had reinstated her, and begged 
 that bis sister-in-law would not interfere in the future. 
 
 This slender, girlish figure, this youthful face, almost 
 pleading in its desire for reconciliation, did not appear a 
 very formidable adversary. Jane set her lips firmly, and 
 stared out of her steel-blue eyes. 
 
 " We shall not want the biscuit made before to-morrow 
 morning, in any event ; and nothing could have been done 
 yesterday, as you well know. Indeed," to give her 
 authority more weight, * ' the doctor preferred that I 
 should not speak of it yesterday. I have been used 
 to cooking and baking, sometimes for a large number, 
 and could get the things ready myself ; will be glad to, 
 since you are so busy. If I can have the fire this after 
 noon, therefore " 
 
 " Well, you can't," interrupted Jane fiercely. " What 
 ever is done in this kitchen, Jdo : it's what I'm here for. 
 I can't work with anybody fussing round, as the doctor 
 knows. If I'm to cook, and get meals, and do the work 
 generally, I must plan for myself. I can't be ordered 
 about, nor have other people planning ' ' 
 
 " Jane," Mrs. Kinnard said with unmistakable dignity, 
 ' ' I think you forget to whom you are talking. I am Dr.
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 145 
 
 Kinnard's wife, and, by virtue of that, mistress in this 
 house. It is not my duty to consult you as to who shall 
 come in it, or at what particular time they shall come ; 
 and it is my privilege, at least, to enter and inspect every 
 room in my house ; and, if I choose to do any kind of 
 work, I shall do it." 
 
 This was not just the kind of enemy that Jane had 
 vanquished before ; but she was resolved not to haul down 
 her colors. She tossed her head with an indignant air, 
 and confronted her mistress boldly. 
 
 ' ' Dr. Kinnard is my employer ; and my bargain is 
 made with him," she retorted angrily. "I've always 
 said I never would bargain with a woman, and I never 
 will. And if he wants any thing " 
 
 ' ' He does not want any thing. The members of my 
 own church have been invited to hold their sewing-society 
 at this house to-morrow afternoon. It is my entertain 
 ment. I shall see that the supper is prepared." 
 
 " See to it, then," and Jane gave a scornful laugh. 
 " Perhaps you will see to the ironing, and to the 
 dinner?" 
 
 Nelly could not endure that. Indeed, she wondered 
 now how she had endured Jane's insolent bearing from 
 the first. Her eyes flashed forth their indignation ; and, 
 though her lip quivered, her voice was steady. 
 
 "Jane," she said, "I want you to give the matter a 
 little calm thought, and then decide. If you stay, you 
 will remember that I am mistress in this house, that I 
 have a right to give orders, and expect to have them 
 obeyed. If you choose to apologize for this unwarranted 
 conduct, you can remain, otherwise you may consider 
 yourself discharged. Leave your ironing." 
 
 ' ' Finish it, then, and get your dinner ! I am not 
 beholden to any one for a living. But I guess Dr. Kin 
 nard will have something to say about it." 
 
 " Very well ; " and the- mistress stood her ground fear 
 lessly. !3
 
 146 KELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Jane marched off in high dudgeon, and, a minute later, 
 was regaling Mother Kinnard with a somewhat exagge 
 rated description of the affair. 
 
 Nelly took 'a survej* of the situation. It was ten 
 o'clock. There was steak for dinner, vegetables to be 
 prepared, and dessert to be made. In nothing must she 
 fail. Seeing Mat pass the window, she called to him. 
 
 " Will you go to Mrs. Daly's, Mat, and ask her to 
 come here at once. Tell her that I wish to see her par 
 ticularly." 
 
 Mat was off in an instant. Nelly finished ironing the 
 skirt Jane had left, and had begun with another piece, 
 when Mrs. Daly made her appearance, a nice, pleasant- 
 looking woman of thirty-five, in a pretty calico gown, and 
 linen collar, and with a cheerful face that won you at 
 once. She was a widow, and did sewing generally ; though 
 now and then she went out to help a neighbor in sickness 
 or trouble. 
 
 "Mrs. Dal}*," began Nelly with a smile, " I am in a 
 little perplexity, and took the liberty of sending for you. 
 Jane has mutinied, and I want some assistance. The 
 prospect of the sewing-society seemed too much for her." 
 
 "I wonder that you. stood her even this long, Mrs. 
 Kinnard. She's a splendid hand at work ; but she has a 
 queer temper. She had it as a girl. She never would 
 work under any one. And now what shall I do?" 
 "With that, Mrs. Daly took off her bonnet and shawl. 
 
 "There is dinner to get, and the ironing to finish. I 
 am really anxious to go on promptly. When a girl like 
 Jane gets to thinking herself so absolutely necessary as 
 she has been for the past two or three years, it is as well 
 for her to have a lesson. But, first, were you busy?" 
 
 " Fortunately riot. I had just finished some shirts for 
 Mr. Hildreth, and thought I would take a holiday. What 
 is there for dinner? The inevitable potato, of course. 
 Can I not see to the vegetables first? "
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 147 
 
 " If you will. How good you are to me, Mrs. Daly ! " 
 Nell}- said impulsively. " Sending for you came like an 
 inspiration to me." 
 
 " I am glad you did." 
 
 They went at the dinner in earnest, although some time 
 was wasted iu finding what they needed, being new to the 
 place. Then Nelly bethought herself of a pudding that 
 was a great favorite with them at home, and tried her 
 hand at it. When Mrs. Daily had her part in train, she 
 went back to the ironing ; and the two had a rather merry 
 visiting-time. But, when Nelly went to set the table, she 
 found Mother Kinnard seated in one of the great easy- 
 chairs, looking very solemn indeed. She went around in 
 .^silence for a few minutes ; then the elder lady broke it, 
 saying, in a rather sharp tone, 
 
 ' ' I think you have made a great mistake quarrelling 
 with Jane." 
 
 The color flashed to Nelly's brow. She hated so to be 
 accused of quarrelling. 
 
 " There was no cause of dispute. I was explaining a 
 matter to Jane, and she took umbrage at it, and was very 
 insolent. I suppose I am mistress of the house ; at least, 
 sufficiently so to have a servant attend to any request." 
 
 " My son will never give up Jane, never. You have 
 had very little experience with servants, or you would be 
 able to recognize her superior capabilities at once." 
 
 "I do consider her an excellent woman in many 
 respects ; and yet it does not seem right to me that a 
 whole household should come under the domination of a 
 domestic." 
 
 " Well, you will see. You, at least, had no right to 
 discharge her. Although she will not go away." 
 
 Nelly bit her lip hard to keep from an indignant reply. 
 Arguing the point was useless ; so she went on with her 
 work. The dinner-bell rang promptly, and the table was 
 in its usual order. Nelly had bathed her face, and put on
 
 148 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 a dainty white ruffled apron. Miss Grove came down 
 stairs the moment the doctor entered the hall. He kissed 
 his wife quietly, the foolishness both women sneered 
 at, and took his place. 
 
 " How elegantly this steak is broiled ! " was his rather 
 unusual comment. " Jane has exceeded herself, which is 
 saying a good deal, especially on ironing-day. My idea 
 of comfortable living is and when I am rich enough I 
 shall indulge in it to have a laundry entirety distinct 
 from the house, and to keep an extra person to manage 
 it, who need not bring her temper into the regular house 
 hold ^lepartment. How will that do, Nelly? " 
 
 "It would answer admirably, and not be very expen 
 sive, either." 
 
 " I proposed it once to Jane ; but she did not seem to 
 understand the manifold advantages." 
 
 Mother Kinnard had planned an attack very nicely, 
 she thought ; but the doctor's commendation quite de 
 stroyed the point of it, and she preserved a discreet 
 silence. Nelly changed the current of the conversation ; 
 but she knew it must come presently. She touched the 
 bell, and Mrs. Daly entered to remove the plates. Dr. 
 Kinnard glanced up, and nodded cheerfully ; but his 
 mind had settled then on the rather puzzling symptoms 
 of a patient. 
 
 Miss Grove ate a little of her pudding. "Was the whole 
 meal to pass, and nothing to be said? So she entered the 
 wedge herself. 
 
 "Maud, my dear," in a peculiarly marked tone, "I 
 am sorry to deprive you of dessert ; but this pudding is 
 quite too rich for you. Do not eat any more." 
 
 The doctor glanced up. 
 
 " I was thinking it delightful. It has quite a new taste 
 to me. Is it ruinously rich, fit food for dyspepsia? " 
 
 " I should think it certainly was." 
 
 " On the contrary, Miss Grove, it is not as rich as one
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 149 
 
 or two that Jane makes, which are eaten with great com- 
 placencj 7 ," returned Nelly, trying to keep her voice 
 steady. 
 
 "Why, where is Jane? called home? Her mother 
 was no worse yesterday. I was in there." 
 
 " I will explain the matter by, and by," returned his 
 wife. " Will you have some more pudding? " 
 
 "Well, yes. Is it a preparation of your fairy 
 fingers? " 
 
 She laughed and blushed, happy to have satisfied him 
 in this her first meal, and feeling that she had vanquished 
 Jane. Her husband questioned no further, to Miss 
 Grove's great dissatisfaction. 
 
 Afterward, in the office, Nelly told her story. Dr. 
 Jvinnard looked very grave. 
 
 " You, see," he said in return, " I had to take Jane's 
 part in the beginning. Mother and Adelaide would never 
 have agreed in ordering a servant. She has grown into 
 authority b}' degrees ; and, honestly, we have all helped to 
 make her of consequence. But, when it comes to such an 
 issue as this, there is but one course. I shall be sorry to 
 lose her, and you will have a good deal of trouble and 
 anxiety before you are suited again ; but you are mistress 
 of this department." 
 
 " Oh, thank you a thousand times, Barton ! " and s& 
 kissed his broad forehead. " I was so afraid you would 
 blame me ; but I did try to be patient." 
 
 " I have been thinking for some time that a change 
 might be beneficial. Mat complains a good deal. The 
 truth is, Jane is somewhat of a tyrant. Now, if you will 
 send her to me, we will have the matter settled. Possibly 
 your dinner took me on the weak side ; " and he smiled. 
 
 " I would rather have her discharged, Barton. I cer 
 tainly can manage. So please do not take an apolog}*." 
 
 Then she sent Mrs. Daly to summon Jane. The irate 
 woman went down to the office with a lofty air, having 
 
 13*
 
 150 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 fortified herself with various points and arguments which 
 were quite needless. Indeed, she was so surprised and 
 stunned by the sudden turn in affairs, that she allowed 
 herself to be overwhelmed by the first flood, and then 
 could not regain her footing. Consequently she propped 
 up her failing cause with anger, and lost it. 
 
 After dinner she packed her trunk, and retired from the 
 scene of action, taking with her the warm sj'mpathy of 
 two members of the family. And yet, down in her heart, 
 Mother Kinnard felt rather relieved ; for she had not 
 enjoyed Jane's supreme power. 
 
 "But that is the first move," she said to Miss Grove. 
 " She winds Barton completely around her finger. We 
 cannot tell whose turn it will be to go next." 
 
 Nelly and Mrs. Daly made ready for the sewing-societ} r , 
 and found it no wonderful burthen. Mrs. Daly knew of 
 a young girl who was very ready to come in and help wait 
 on the supper-table. Soon after dinner a wagon arrived 
 with baskets and bundles of sewing-materials ; and pres 
 ently the people began to gather. 
 
 The hall stove had been put up, and diffused a cheerful 
 warmth throughout. All the doors were open, and the 
 windows arranged to let in sufficient light and sunshine 
 without making a glare. The state-parlor looked cosey 
 and inviting. Pictures were shadowed with a bit of over 
 hanging green, intermixed with scarlet autumn foliage. 
 There were clusters of ferns that seemed endued with life 
 and freshness, as they made a background for a bust or 
 small statuette. The open piano had an hospitable air ; 
 and the books and engravings were provocative of idleness, 
 rather than industry. 
 
 Mr. Dudley soon made his appearance. He had prom 
 ised to come in time for re-organizing. Here were the 
 officers of the old society ; and everj-body went to tell 
 ing what it had been. Nelly helped Mr. Dudley to lead 
 them back to business, and, after a little, the heads agreed.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 151 
 
 The afternoon would be for work, the evening for 
 entertainment ; and the clause was inserted for simple 
 suppers, though each woman made a mental reservation, 
 until she saw what Mrs. Kinnard had. Then the work 
 was drawn out. A few garments, a little half-finished 
 fanc}'-work, patchwork, planning, and gossiping. Nelly 
 tried to keep the latter very friendly in its tone. No 
 minister's wife could have been more judicious. 
 
 There was another quiet little triumph that Nelly wae 
 enjoying immensely : this was the presence of Mother 
 Kinnard, who in the beginning had ten minds out of the 
 dozen against coming in. It wasn't " our church," and it 
 wasn't exactly "my son's company ;" and she still felt 
 sore about Jane's discharge, and predicted that the thing 
 would be a failure. But there was Mrs. Woodbury dressed 
 in black silk and lovely old laces, taking, in a thankful 
 spirit, Nelly's pretty adornment of a sprig of purple helio 
 trope in her waving, silvery hair, and saying, " Thank you, 
 my dear ! I would have gone twice as far for a bit of 
 heliotrope." Then, when she brought her work over by 
 Mrs. Kinnard, the old lady could not help thawing out a 
 little; for Mrs. Woodbury belonged to one of the "old 
 families," and her son was a representative at Washington. 
 Then Nelly coaxed Mrs. Irwin into their circle, and left 
 them chatting amiably. And so she moved from one to 
 another, introducing some shy-looking girls, bringing 
 groups together, and drawing out the social element. 
 Others kept dropping in, and adding a stir and gentle 
 confusion. "How much the "rooms were improved!" 
 "What a pretty conservatory!" "And how did Mrs. 
 Kinnard manage to have so many flowers in bloom during 
 the transition season ? " " And who ever thought of hav 
 ing such lovely pansies in the fall ! quite as large as hot 
 house pansies." Of course she had been to Colden's 
 Rock for ferns ; and wasn't Kelly's Falls a beautiful spot? 
 And then had she read this or that? and did she know 
 how this apron was to be put together?
 
 152 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "I declare," Mrs. Woodbury said with a cordial, 
 motherly smile, " you might be a minister's wife ! I am 
 almost sorry that Mr. Dudley did not get the start of 
 our good doctor. Why, I never saw a sewing-society 
 managed so admirably ; and still the people come." 
 
 It was getting dusk now. Dr. Kinnard hurried through 
 with the last of his patients, and was home early, as Nelly 
 had begged of him. Mrs. Daly was arranging the table 
 quietly, without the rattling of spoons and knives and 
 forks, Jane's usual accompaniment. Some of the elder 
 gentlemen came to tea, and talked over church-matters 
 and business-matters. The coffee and tea were fragrant, 
 the bread and biscuit delightful, the cake plain, and great 
 dishes of grapes afterward. When the long dining-table 
 had been filled, Nelly brought out some cosey little tables, 
 and seated two or four at them. The younger people 
 stood up, or rambled around, with a plate in their hands, 
 laughing and chatting. Dr. Kinnard did himself more 
 than justice. He added life and zest, told two or three 
 capital stories, and made everybody admire him more 
 than ever. 
 
 They lingered over the table as if loath to break up the 
 sociality ; and at last Nelly begged her husband to take 
 the crowd around him into the parlor. Miss Grove had 
 condescended to come down to tea, and brought Maud, 
 dressed like a fashion-plate. 
 
 " I suppose j T ou hardly lay claim to your little daughter 
 yet," Mrs. Woodbury said in a low aside, when she 
 found herself in a recess with Nelly. ' ' Miss Grove 
 is an admirable woman in some respects ; but it doesn't 
 seem to me that she understands childhood at all. She 
 acts as if it were something to be ashamed of, and laid 
 aside as soon as possible. Now, I think true, pretty- 
 behaved children are as much addition to a house as a 
 beautiful picture, just in appearance merely ; and then, 
 when we think of them as our future men and women, we
 
 NELLY KDTNAED'S KINGDOM. 153 
 
 long to have their lives complete and harmonious, with a 
 springtime to them. And that poor little thing looks to 
 me as if she never ran and played, or laughed freely. 
 And she is dressed as if for a ball." 
 
 " Her aunt takes entire charge of her," Nelly said 
 slowly. 
 
 "Yes. But I can't help wishing Providence would 
 place her in your hands. Your own childhood is not so 
 far back, but that you remember it." 
 
 There was a little shyness among the young folks about 
 playing. If Mrs. Kinnard would only give them some 
 thing first. So Mrs. Kinnard played a very spirited quick 
 step, and, at Mr. Dudley's desire, sang that sweet little 
 home-song, "Don't be sorrowful, darling." Twenty 
 years from this, would she sing with a still sweet voice? 
 
 " We have had our May, my darling, 
 
 And our roses long ago ; 
 And the time of the year, is coming, my dear, 
 For the silent night and the snow." 
 
 The only trouble with the evening was its brevity. 
 Everybody was glad they had come, and sorry for those 
 who had staid away. Mrs. Woodbury proposed to have 
 the society next time at her house. 
 
 "But yon will surely come," she entreated of Mrs. 
 Kinnard. "And, my dear, I want to see more of you. 
 I am an old lady, to be sure ; but I still enjoy youth and 
 brightness. And the doctor has always been such a favo 
 rite of ours. Come over and take tea with me in an in 
 formal way, and then ask me to spend the day with you. 
 I get quite lonesome at times. My children are all 
 married, and away ; and my grandchildren can only come 
 during vacations. Now remember. I do not ask favors 
 very often ; ' ' and she kissed the fair face with motherly 
 warmth. 
 
 The elder Mrs. Kinnard stood at a little distance, and
 
 154 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 saw not only that, but some other very cordial partings 
 She understood, too, how very proud her son hsd been of 
 his wife all the evening. Hardly another girl or woman 
 in the room was as pretty ; and yet she had no self-con 
 sciousness about it, cordial, winsome, with a peculiar 
 dignity that did not detach her from her husband, but 
 made the years between less apparent. And to-night 
 Miss Grove looked undeniably old. Whether it was her 
 sage-green siik, which was very unbecoming, but had the 
 merit of being a new color, or her supercilious air, Mrs. 
 Kinnard could not decide. She had a misgiving, how 
 ever, that ' ' dear Adelaide ' ' could never have made these 
 people so enjoy themselves, or have won such golden 
 opinicms, or even brought the proud and happy look to 
 41 my son's face." She had not been called upon to 
 love- her first daughter-in-law. Mary Grove was not 
 given to sentiment ; and then, too, she had many other 
 interests to life at that time. She seemed to feel a little 
 jealous now of Mrs. "Woodbury's fondness. There are 
 natures in this world that never can appreciate any thing 
 until the verdict of others settles the claim ; and Mrs. 
 Kinnard's was of this stamp. She might always consider 
 her son foolish because he chose a poor wife when he 
 might have had a rich one : but to-night she felt how 
 sweet youth and beauty were to him ; how he basked in 
 it, as if it were sunshine. And even Mr. Dudley had 
 studied curiously this bright, entertaining woman, with 
 her exquisite social tact, her charming variety and 
 adaptiveness, that infused a broad and generous charm 
 outside of herself. The wedding-party, under Miss 
 Grove's management, had been stiff and lifeless in com 
 parison with this. 
 
 And when they had all gone with merry good-nights 
 and warm invitations, Dr. Kinnard took a long glance out 
 into the frosty air and starry sky, while his wife and 
 mother stood there together.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 155 
 
 " Did yon think it was pleasant?" Nelly asked timidly, 
 remarking the softened lines about the other's face. 
 
 "Why yes," with some hesitation. "I had no 
 idea as many good families went to St. Mark's. They 
 used to go to Grace. And you've done very well to 
 night, better than I thought you could, without Jane." 
 
 The doctor shut the door at that moment. " To tell 
 the truth," he said laughingly, " Jane has been a sort of 
 * family ogre to us. I am glad she has gone. Mat says 
 the kitchen is like paradise : so we will put up with a 
 few mishaps and blunders for a while, hoping to end 
 happily with a new servant who is not a scold." 
 
 " Mrs. Mercer told me of a woman that I am going to 
 see .to-morrow, a German woman, whose husband was 
 killed in a mill some months ago. She has one little 
 child, a girl, and has gone out washing ; but the girl at 
 Mrs. Mercer's said she wanted a service place for the 
 winter." 
 
 "Be sure to learn what her cooking capabilities are. 
 I can't have you in the kitchen all the time, getting your 
 face burned. What was her name? " 
 
 " Mary Berkman ; and she lives in Allen's Row." 
 
 "Berkman yes, I do remember was caught in the 
 machinery, poor fellow ! Do you know that it is almost 
 midnight, Mrs. Kinnard? #nd those society people were 
 to go home at ten o'clock." 
 
 "They did begin at that -time," returned Nelly laugh 
 ingly. 
 
 " Dudley's delighted. He told me privately that they 
 had taken in twenty- three dollars, and that he is quite 
 sure no one could have made it such a success as you 
 did. I really thought it very enjoyable ; and I'm not 
 much used to such things." 
 
 Nelly Kinnard laid a tired head upon her pillow ; and 
 yet she could not go to sleep. There were so many 
 ideas floating through her brain worlds to conquer ; and 
 Mother Kinnard had actually praised her.
 
 156 NELLY KESTNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "If it wasn't for Aunt Adelaide, I am quite confident 
 that I could make her love me," the yornig wife thought. 
 " And she ought to love Barton ever so much better. 
 Why is there not more real, vital love in the world that 
 is not afraid to speak or to act for itself? "
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 " A creature not too bright or good 
 For human nature's daily food, 
 For transient sorrows, simple wiles, 
 Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles." 
 
 WOBDSWOBTH. 
 
 "THEY'LL be glad enough to take me back again," 
 Jane had said to her sister the day she left the Kin- 
 nards'. " I've been through this before, and don't feel 
 at all alarmed. I know how to get along with those 
 women ; and not another girl in this town could manage 
 either one of them. Mrs. Kinnard thinks she's wonder 
 fully smart ; but she'll see ! " 
 
 And she did see. She found Mary Berkman the next 
 morning, a somewhat stout, rosy, good-natured looking 
 woman, who could wash and iron with any one, and do 
 plain cooking. " She could learn other things," she 
 said with a cheerful smile. But she must take her little 
 girl. She would go for less wages, if she could have her ; 
 and the child was very handy and quiet, and quick to 
 mind. So Nelly proposed she should come a month on 
 trial. Her cottage she could rent ; and thus the bargain 
 was concluded. 
 
 Mrs. Daly remained until Mary made her appearance. 
 Mother Kinnard fretted about the child ; but Nelly 
 smoothed the matter by saying, that, if she proved a 
 trouble, it was only for a month. So Mary took her 
 place in the kitchen ; and with a pleasant mistress to 
 induct her, and explain the ways of the family, she 
 
 14 157
 
 158 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. * 
 
 soon felt at home. Little Katy was very shy and quiet, 
 and ready enough to do errands out of school. 
 
 Nelly astonished both her husband and his mother by 
 her housewifely ways. Never was revolution in Dr. 
 Kinnard's house more quietly effected. Not that they 
 came to clear sailing at once. Miss Grove had some 
 fault to find, and Jane's cooking appeared now to be her 
 ideal. 
 
 "I must say, Adelaide, I do not observe any wonder 
 ful difference, except the variety in desserts ; " and he 
 glanced mischievously at his wife. "And the house is 
 quieter. It must be acknowledged that Jane was that 
 bad thing in woman, a scold. I, for one, do not 
 feel inclined to regret her, or to have her memory 
 embalmed in my household." 
 
 Mother Kinnard ventured to make herself again at 
 home in the kitchen. Nelly managed that she should 
 not annoy Marj^, and often consulted her upon some 
 point that rendered her quite happ}'. Ve^ slow work it 
 was ; but the young wife felt that she did gain a little in 
 the esteem of the elder woman. A few times Mrs. Kin 
 nard had said " Nelly" in speaking to her, which made 
 her heart beat with unwonted emotion. Generally she 
 evaded any name. 
 
 And Christmas came presently ; for the last two months 
 had gone very rapidly. It had never been made of much 
 account in the doctor's famity, a rather formal presen 
 tation of gifts in the morning, but with no genial holiday 
 aspect after that. It fell on Monday : so Nellie resolved, 
 if her husband did not object, to spend three or four days 
 at home, and keep the festival in the olden manner. 
 
 " I couldn't go with you, could I?" said Bertie wist 
 fully. " And there's no school for a fortnight, either." 
 
 " Would you like to go? There are no little boys to 
 play with ;" and Nelly hesitated, thinking whether she 
 wanted the bother on her holidaj 7 .
 
 NELLY KTNNARD'S KINGDOM. 159 
 
 " I wouldn't mind. Couldn't I ride down on my sled? 
 I might take it, you. know." 
 
 u Herbert ! " exclaimed a sharp voice, as Aunt Adelaide 
 passed through the hall : it was late twilight, though the 
 lamps were not lighted, "Herbert, I am ashamed of 
 you! Mrs. Kinnard, do not, I pray, fill the child's 
 head with any such foil}'. Children's visiting is a thing I 
 should never allow, except at the home of a near relative, 
 and I think I have some rights with my sister's children. 
 I shall beg }*our father not to let you, even if he is weak 
 enough to listen to such a preposterous idea." 
 
 Bertie began to whine. 
 
 " Never mind," said his mamma softly. " Let me tell 
 you a Christmas story." 
 
 For once Aunt Adelaide took the start of them, and 
 gained her point. The doctor coincided with her, that it 
 would be quite absurd. Nell}- said no more ; and 3"et, 
 from her heart, she pitied any children condemned to 
 such a dreary holiday. Once she had half a mind to 
 stay at home. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said the doctor peremptorily. 
 
 She went on Saturday, and had a lovely Christmas 
 Sunday, a preparation for the higher feast. How good 
 it was to enjoy herself with the dear home-circle once 
 more ! Then, when they returned from the Christmas 
 morning services, they found Dr. Kinnard ready to take 
 dinner with them. 
 
 " But I must go back this evening," he said. " I have 
 two quite critical cases on hand. However, it shall not 
 spoil your holida3% You deserve a good long one, little 
 woman, though Mary gave me private instructions to 
 bring you home with me." 
 
 Nelly only smiled then ; but some curious presentiment 
 decided her to return. They had the tree just at dusk ; 
 and no one was more delighted with his remembrances 
 than the doctor, who kissed his rosy sisters-in-law all
 
 160 NELLY KINNAIID'S KINGDOM. 
 
 round, and declared that they were enough to spoil any 
 man. 
 
 Nelly came down presently, warmly wrapped in her 
 furs. 
 
 " But you are not going ! " he cried in astonishment. 
 
 " Don't you want me? " she asked saucily. 
 
 "It is too bad!-" said Gertrude. "Can't you make 
 her stay, doctor?" 
 
 " Wh}', yes, I could, because, you see, she has promised 
 to obey me. But then she looks so pretty, all muffled up 
 to the tip of the nose, that really I cannot resist. I am 
 afraid I do want to take her." 
 
 "I should go to-morrow anyhow," said Nelly with a 
 shower of kisses. " And }x>u are all to come and keep 
 New Year's with me, remember." 
 
 So they gave each other a fond good-by. Dr. Kinnard 
 drew his wife tenderly under his wing ; and they walked 
 briskly toward the station. 
 
 "It was so generous of you to come! " he said once, 
 as, making a slight misstep, he took occasion to draw her 
 nearer. " You might have staid all the week, you know. 
 I had promised not to grumble ; though I must admit that 
 I am always a little jealous of the circle at the rectory." 
 
 " And unjustly too," she answered with a gay laugh. 
 
 " They are girls, to be sure. Well, when I have had 
 you twenty years, I may begin to feel quite assured of 3 T our 
 regard." 
 
 "Twenty years!" she exclaimed. "Why, think how 
 old I shall be !" 
 
 " And think how old I shall be ! hobbling round with 
 a cane, no doubt; " and there was a sound of humorous 
 complaint in his tone. 
 
 "We shall have had a glad, sweet summer, I trust," 
 she made answer. 
 
 It seemed to him that he had just touched the bounda 
 ries of spring, mid- winter though it might be around.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 161 
 
 And so they journeyed on until the familiar station came 
 in sight with Mat awaiting them. 
 
 " Mat," said the doctor, " I wish you would drive right 
 over to the Rltchies'. They are a good deal alarmed 
 about their little girl ; and I promised to drop in this 
 evening. I feel anxious myself. Such a pretty little 
 thing ! 3'ou never saw her, Nelly, and their only 
 child." 
 
 They flew like the wind. It was realty exhilarating to 
 Nelly. And now the moon was coming up, glinting 
 every point of snow and ice with a thousand fairy spar 
 kles. 
 
 "I think the symptoms are more favorable," said the 
 doctor as he emerged from the Rltchies'. " I changed 
 the remedies this morning, and I do believe now that I 
 shall raise her. Did you get chilly, waiting? " 
 
 " No," returned Nelly. 
 
 " Why, Mat, you are in a hurry to-night," was his next 
 comment. " Are you longing for your snug corner, with 
 no Jane to scold ? Nelly, that was a masterstroke of 
 yours ; ' ' and the doctor laughed gayly. 
 
 Mat made no reply until they reached the broad avenue. 
 Then he loosed the reins, and, leaning over a little, said 
 hesitatingly, 
 
 "There's been an accident, doctor. Bertie had a fall, 
 and broke his arm." 
 
 " Bertie ! broken his arm ! When ? " 
 
 " About three this afternoon. He was playing in the 
 barn. He was pretty bad at first " 
 
 "Is it set? What did you do?" and Dr. Kinnard 
 sprang out of the sleigh. 
 
 ' ' I went for Dr. Searles straight off ; and he set it. 
 But he kept fainting so often." 
 
 " Oh ! " and Nelly uttered a little cry. " I am so glad 
 I came with you ! ' ' 
 
 They entered the hall. The office-door was wide open. 
 14*
 
 162 NELLY EDWARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Bertie lay on the couch, with Maud and Aunt Adelaide for 
 attendants. The doctor marched over, and took his little 
 son's limp hand. 
 
 "Bad business, Bertie," he said, but in a rather cheery 
 tone. " Does it hurt much? " 
 
 " Has mamma come? Did you bring her? " 
 
 " Bad business indeed ! " exclaimed Miss Grove, rising 
 directly in Nelly's way. "Yet I must saj*, Barton, the 
 child is justly punished. I hope it will be a lesson to him 
 in the future. A more disobedient child I never saw. 
 He has been completely ruined by foolish indulgence. 
 He is no more the boy he was a year ago than a noxious 
 weed is like a trained garden-plant. I look upon this as 
 a direct interposition of Providence to call you all to your 
 senses." 
 
 ' ' What is all this about ? ' ' asked the doctor sharply, 
 turning to his sister-in-law. " Can any one give me a 
 coherent account ? ' ' 
 
 " I am trying to, if } r ou will onty have a little patience. 
 How different you have grown of late ! ' ' and she cast an 
 indignant glance upon him. "This morning Herbert 
 was very impertinent ; and I told him that he should keep 
 Ms room the whole afternoon. I am sorry I did not lock 
 the door ; for he has come to have no sense of honor what 
 ever. I went down stairs for a few moments ; and, coward 
 that he was, he took that opportunity to escape. So I say 
 he deserved severe enough punishment to make him re 
 member it one while. You had better take him up to bed 
 now." 
 
 u No, don't!" almost screamed Bertie. " I want to 
 stay just here. It hurts me to stir. Mamma, keep me 
 licre^ ' ' and he stretched out his well arm imploringly. 
 
 ' ' You see the display of temper ; ' ' and Miss Grove 
 raised her head majesticalty. ' ' Barton, do you mean 
 that the child shall be ruined, body and soul? He always 
 did need a strong hand. I'm sure I do not see where he
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 163 
 
 inherited his temper, not from our side. Maud is like 
 her own dear mother. I never have any trouble with her. 
 And Bertie was quite manageable until " 
 
 " That will do, Adelaide. I have yet to learn where 
 and how the child fell, and how much he is injured. 
 There, hush, Bertie ; " for he had begun an hysterical 
 crying. 
 
 " Why, he ran out to the barn to hide himself, and fell 
 from some of the rafters, and broke his arm," said Miss 
 Grove with spiteful impatience, which she called just 
 indignation. " Dr. Searles said it was a simple fracture, 
 and, with care, would be well in a month. As if no one 
 had ever broken a bone before ! " 
 
 " Are you hurt in any other place, Bertie? " his father 
 asked in a calm, tranquillizing tone. 
 
 " I am hurt all over. Oh, don't touch me, papa ! " and 
 he shrunk away. 
 
 "You and Maud maybe dismissed," the doctor said 
 briefly to his sister-in-law. " I want to make a slight 
 examination ; and I think he had better stay here for this 
 night." 
 
 " It surprises me to see you indulge that child so 
 ruinously. If his poor mother had lived " 
 
 "That will do." 
 
 " Very well. I wash my hands of the whole matter. I 
 would have devoted my life to my ' poor dead sister's ' 
 children ; but, if you will interfere, take the risk yourself. 
 If the child grows up a trouble to you and everybody else, 
 remember that I warned you. Come, Maud." 
 
 The doctor dropped into a chair. How many such 
 scenes of angry persistence he had gone through in the 
 past was known only to himself and God. Nothing can 
 be more wearing and wearisome than people who are 
 always in the right, and always ready to dispute to the 
 last straw. 
 
 Nelly, meanwhile, had been taking off her hat, and
 
 164 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 warm fur sack. Now she knelt by Bertie's couch. Suf 
 fering appealed to her strongly ; and she knew by the 
 sunken eyes, the pinched and tense lines, and ashen 
 pallor, that the pain had not all proceeded from a child's 
 irrational terror. She kissed the hand that la} 7 there so 
 limp and white. 
 
 "O mamma! don't go away and leave me! 1 like 
 you better than any one else in the wide world, only Tom 
 Lester at school. But 3 - ou don't care for that, do you? 
 He has such a splendid lot of things, and a real workshop ; 
 and his father is going to give him a pony next summer. 
 He promised me a ride on it. But I'd rather live with 
 you, if Aunt Adelaide wasn't here. Oh ! " 
 
 A sudden spasm seemed to shake the child. His eyes 
 rolled wildly ; and his lips were thin and blue. Nelly 
 chafed the cold palm, and watched the face that had been 
 so rosy an hour or two ago. Bertie drew a long, shudder 
 ing breath, and lay very quiet. 
 
 "It is something more than a broken arm," she said 
 in a tremulous tone. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard started, came to the couch, and bent over 
 his boy, over Nelly kneeling there, as he had never 
 seen any woman kneeling in his house beside a child. 
 Some peculiar emotion touched him deeply, a vision of 
 motherhood glorified with her tenderness, a lovely 
 mother and a lovely child. He had seen it ; but it had 
 never been his. 
 
 "Bertie, my child, where was the pain?" But Bertie 
 only moaned ; and his father felt quite helpless. 
 
 "Nelly, you are making me chicken-hearted," he said 
 with a little tremble in his tone. "I think I had better 
 send you away as well." 
 
 " The child ought to be undressed. Will 3 r ou keep 
 him down here all night?" 
 
 " Bertie," and his father's hand was laid on his shoul 
 der, tenderly now as any woman's, " my son, you must
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 165 
 
 be a brave little fellow, and let me see if you are injured 
 elsewhere than in the arm. Yes, if you could get his 
 wrapper, Nelly." 
 
 Nelly ran up stairs ; and Miss Grove handed it out 
 with a severely indignant sniff. Then she brought down 
 one of her own pretty cologne-bottles that Bertie admired 
 so much. Dr. Kinnard had been coaxing him gently, and 
 now lifted up his shoulder ; but, uttering an excruciating 
 cry, the child fainted quite away. 
 
 " Quick, Nelly, take off his clothes. There is some 
 thing very serious, I fear." 
 
 With deft and rapid fingers, she disrobed him, and, 
 with the doctor's assistance, put on the wrapper. Con 
 sciousness being restored, he began a brief examination. 
 There was an internal injury ; but whether it was merely 
 the jar of the fall, or something more critical, could not 
 as yet be told. 
 
 Bertie cried, and shrank from the handling, gentle as it 
 was ; but Nelly's sweet voice comforted and re-assured 
 with a bravery not above the child's comprehension. 
 She kissed him, too, with a soothing tenderness that 
 quite magnetized him. 
 
 " I think I will go out, and question Mat a moment. 
 You seem to be doing very well with him." 
 
 But Mat could throw no further light upon the subject. 
 Bertie had climbed to the loft, and must have made a mis 
 step, as there was no floor laid there. Mat had found 
 him lying on his side, insensible, brought him into the 
 house, and gone imrnediatety for Dr. Searles, who thought 
 there was no damage done beside the fractured arm and 
 a few bruises. He had not complained much until 
 within an hour, though he had refused utterly to be taken 
 up stairs. 
 
 " I must wait a day or two before I decide," the doctor 
 said as he returned to Nelly, who was holding the child's 
 hand. " And now, my dear girl, had you not better
 
 166 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 make some preparation for retiring? It is nearly eleven. 
 I shall roll the other lounge in here, though I do not 
 think I will have to watch absolutely." 
 
 " Oh, let me stay with you ! " she pleaded. 
 
 " There is no need ; and I would rather have you get a 
 good night's sleep." 
 
 " I am so glad I came ! " 
 
 "Why, you must have had a presentiment. Thank 
 heaven you are here!" he said fervently, kissing the 
 bright cheek. 
 
 But Bertie would not so easily relinquish his hold. 
 Scarlet flushes were succeeding the deadty pallor ; and he 
 moved his head uneasily, crying out now and then with 
 pain, and insisting on Nelly's keeping close beside him. 
 "Don't let her take me away!" he would exclaim 
 vehemently. 
 
 " I had better stay for a while," she said in a quiet 
 tone. Then she hushed him, singing some childish hymn 
 in her low soothing voice. The fever was coming on 
 rapidly, and with it delirium. Dr. Kinnard sat grave 
 and thoughtful. He had never seen his own children 
 seriously ill. To a man of his theorizing and speculative 
 turn of mind, Nelly presented an entertaining study as 
 she lingered there in the dim light, watching the child, a 
 bit of faded flower in her dark hair, that Gertrude had 
 placed in it before dinner, the ruff of soft, wraith-like 
 illusion around her shapely neck, the fair and slender 
 hands, untiring it seemed to him. How different women 
 were ! He had seen many mothers, fond, tender, indul 
 gent ; wise and foolish mothers, careless and indifferent 
 ones, and others who seemed to take their children as a 
 special grievance. He remembered well one who had 
 done so. From their birth, they had been banished to the 
 nursery. He generally found them crying or asleep in his 
 brief visits. And he had never been, made very welcome 
 there. She could not endure to have him bestow any
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 167 
 
 attention on the children ; indeed, she took every courtesy 
 proffered to any one else as a personal affront. Yet 
 people outside had often found her very charming. 
 
 True, he might have grown fond of them afterward ; 
 but well, he had not cared. It brought a flush to his 
 cheek as he remembered it. Aunt Adelaide was peculiar 
 too. Authority was the one thing she did not desire to 
 share. She had her own ideas, her own plans, her own 
 waj's, matured, she fancied, after much thought and ex 
 perience. But how much of the vaunted experience of this 
 life is simply a determination to carry out one's will, to 
 have one's own way, and bend others to it ! And so she 
 wanted people to be good and happy after her set plan. 
 No bed of Procrustes was ever more rigid. She lopped 
 off mercilessly. She compressed, flattened, stretched 
 out, when there was really nothing to stretch. With 
 Maud she had succeeded very well. The child was 
 ladylike and high bred, as she considered high breeding. 
 She knew more than most girls of her age : she had no 
 foolish passion for dolls, or fairy-stories, or rude boisterous 
 plays. Already she was a miniature woman, could de 
 tect imitation laces from real, and was quite a judge of 
 silks and velvets, and very free to criticise the attire of 
 any one in which there was any make-believe. But what 
 of the poor starved little soul that never even knew the 
 divine hungering for love? 
 
 Dr. Kinnard had not been blind to all this, it was 
 true. Still he had a great respect for Aunt Adelaide's 
 love. He had seen the working of stepmothers in 
 more than one family ; and his mind had in it the breadth 
 of patience that can respect another's prejudices. He 
 would not hurry her faith in Nelly's capacities ; neither 
 would he burthen Nelly with so much in the beginning. 
 There was a little selfishness in that. He wanted her 
 time, her attention, and sweetness for the present. No 
 one had ever ministered to him in this delightful fashion.
 
 168 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Ah, Nelly ! you never guessed how miser like he treasured 
 up every smile, every caress, and called himself an old 
 idiot for so doing. 
 
 But, as he. watched her there, he did not grudge the 
 kisses. Something seemed awakening within him, tardi 
 ly, as if after a long sleep. Had he ever felt the rapture 
 over his children that he had seen men indulge in ? And 
 why? He would suffer physical pain for them, hunger, 
 cold, labor, if need were. He would gladly take Bertie's 
 place, and endure courageously the few weeks' suffering : 
 why not that deep, exquisite emotion, that thrill of 
 fatherhood? And Nelly there was playing at imaginary 
 motherhood. He could see the soft flushes rise in her 
 face, the struggle of girlish bashfulness, the fear of taking 
 too much of another woman's child. If her own were 
 in her arms, her own as entrancingly lovely as that 
 cherub of Mrs. Duncan's. 
 
 He rose to give Bertie some fever-drops. " Don't take 
 me away! " the child screamed, clinging to her: so she 
 held the spoon, and persuaded him. 
 
 Somewhere toward morning the stupor gained ground ; 
 and though Bertie moaned, and cried out occasionally, he 
 could no longer distinguish between them. 
 
 "Now you must go to bed, Nelly," the doctor said, 
 taking her in his arms, and kissing the tired face fondly. 
 "There will be nursing enough after to-night; for I am 
 afraid the poor little chap is not to get off so easily. If 
 he is very restless, I promise to call you. Can you not 
 trust him to me? " 
 
 Something in his voice caused her to glance up. Was 
 there a new tenderness in his shady eyes? He flushed at 
 her unspoken question. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I may have been too well satisfied 
 to have them crowded out. How did your heart fill with 
 this tender, bounteous love, my darling ? You shower it 
 broadcast, as if there never could be any lack."
 
 ISTELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 169 
 
 "There cannot be, since it is of God, who giveth 
 liberally." 
 
 They stood in silence for many minutes, then she 
 kissed him good-night softly, and went away. 
 
 Like a dim dream, some sentence heard in an idle hour 
 floated back to him, "A new creature in Christ Jesus." 
 What was this abounding faith of Nelly's? 
 16
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " Life counts not hours by joys or pangs, 
 But just by duties done." 
 
 DR. KINNARD'S words proved too sadly true. There 
 was nursing enough in store for Nelly. By the next 
 morning the fever had gained rapid headway. Dr. 
 Searles came over, and found there had been not a little 
 congestion from the force of the fall. That there was 
 something besides, was painfully evident. Even at the 
 height of delirium and apparent unconsciousness, he 
 would scream if moved from certain positions. 
 
 The "den" was speedily turned into a sick-room. It 
 made less going up and down stairs, and was a very 
 quiet place at this season of the year ; there being fewer 
 office-callers for pleasure. Nelly had the kitchen at her 
 command, and chance visitors also ; and the doctor found 
 it more convenient than an upstairs room. 
 
 Thus passed a fortnight in anxious suspense. Aunt 
 Adelaide affected to disbelieve in the danger, and felt still 
 more offended when piano practice was interdicted. 
 Under other circumstances, no doubt but that she would 
 have compelled the house to bow down to the illness of 
 one of my " poor sister's children ; " but now her injured 
 dignity was paramount. 
 
 Mother Kinnard was quite frightened. Deaths and 
 funerals filled her with nervous apprehension and dread. 
 Something in Nelly's devotion touched her ; and, in her 
 secret heart, she admitted the child's own mother would 
 not so have spent herself. 
 
 170
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 171 
 
 "Why should she not?" said Aunt Adelaide tartly. 
 " Before she came in the house, Herbert never thought of 
 disobeying me. It was the result of her foolish indul 
 gence ; and she ought to suffer for it." 
 
 "Stepmothers haven't the name of being indulgent 
 usual!}'," returned Mrs. Kinnard rather dryly. 
 
 " Any one can see that it is done for effect. When 
 she comes to have children, ' my dear Bertie ' will be 
 pushed aside quickly enough," was the scornful re 
 joinder. 
 
 " Barton," she said one morning, stopping her brother- 
 in-law in the hall, " there is one subject on which I want 
 to speak. If Herbert should die, I believe you are his 
 natural heir ; but I think his portion ought to go to 
 Maud. It was my ' poor dear sister's ' money." 
 
 " Hang the money !" he flung out angrily. "Do you 
 suppose I would touch a penny of it if I was starving ? 
 I wish there had never been a dollar ! Never mention 
 it to me again." 
 
 But Bertie did not die. He seemed to go to the very 
 verge of the grave. There was one night when his father 
 sat by him, administering stimulants, and counting the 
 faint pulsation. His child ! How strange it seemed ! 
 
 He inherited his father's constitution ; and the freedom 
 of the j'ear, with active exercise, had strengthened it 
 greatly, for it had been somewhat injured by an injudi 
 cious childhood. So he came feebly back to life, lay wan 
 and white for many days, dependent as a baby on Nelly's 
 motherly care. She fed him, she bathed the shrunken 
 limbs, read to him, or sang, watching every change in 
 the pale face, so little now, so spiritualized, until she 
 began to think him absolutely prett} r : at least, he had 
 his father's fine eyes, all the more noticeable now that the 
 stupid look had gone out of them. There came into 
 Nelly's heart an earnest sympathy, a tender love, a desire 
 to fill a mother's place truly, and train the neglected
 
 172 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 heart to better uses than the repressed and chilling years 
 had known. 
 
 And the worst had not yet been confessed. For a while 
 Dr. Kinnard had feared it ; and, taking Dr. Searles into 
 counsel, they had made a painful examination to find 
 that the joint of the hip had been injured by striking hard 
 upon it. 
 
 "And my poor boy will be lame for life!" he ex 
 claimed with passionate regret. " O Bertie ! if you had 
 not been " and then he checked himself. 
 
 That evening he confessed to Nelly the certainty. 
 
 ' ' Oh ! are you sure ? Can nothing be done ? Lame 
 for life ! " 
 
 Dr. Kinnard walked up and down the office with his 
 hands clasped behind him, his brain in a chaos of unrea 
 son. Why should this be sent upon him? All his life, 
 so far, there had been something, a thorn in the flesh to 
 wound him. 
 
 Nelly slipped one hand within his, and leaned her head 
 upon his shoulder. 
 
 " Barton," she said softly, "it is verj^, very hard for 
 you to bear, I know. And yet there is some wisdom 
 in it that will be shown us after a while. I think you 
 have begun to love him better ; and this very love will 
 bring with it a grace." 
 
 He took the fair face in both hands, kissed brow and 
 lips, and she saw there were tears in his e} T es. 
 
 " Let me comfort you," she cried. "Perhaps God 
 gave me to you for this purpose. For the next few years 
 he will sorely need a mother's affection and patience ; 
 and so I have found my work, my duty." 
 
 " And j'ou welcome it? O Nelly! you have reached a 
 height quite beyond me. I can only see the wearisome, 
 disappointing present. Bertie was not a dull scholar ; 
 Mr. Herrick said so. I thought to take a pride in him as 
 he grew older, to send him to college, to give him a
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 173 
 
 profession, or establish him in business, to make a man 
 of him ; and Heaven knows there is sore enough need of 
 true, strong men in- this world. How can I endure " 
 
 "It may not be so bad. Bertie" is a child yet; and 
 there is a hope of his outgrowing it." 
 
 "Hardly, if this should be a confirmed case of hip- 
 disease. And, Nelly, it is weak, wicked perhaps ; but I 
 have a shrinking from all kinds of deformity and lame 
 ness. I pity any one profoundly ; but I am always 
 thankful that it is not mine. And now it has come to 
 me. If I had listened, and let you take him home " 
 
 Nelly had thought of it many times. It had been on 
 her lips that first evening ; but it seemed too much of a 
 reproach to utter. 
 
 "You shall not blame yourself," she cried. "I am 
 not quite sure that I wanted to take him. And we must 
 not hurry God's meanings, or distrust them, but feel that 
 there is something in this for us to study or work out for 
 a new satisfaction. It is the part for to-day that concerns 
 us : next year will bring its own strength. We have to 
 do with Bertie's childhood now ; and the man he will 
 make will be such as pleases God, I hope." 
 
 "My darling! " 
 
 " Perhaps it will not be so bad. Is there no more 
 experienced authority to consult? " 
 
 ' ' I think I will go to the city. If any thing can be 
 done ! " 
 
 " Poor child, poor baby! for he seems that now, with 
 his wan little face. What suffering it would be, and yet 
 much better, I suppose, than " 
 
 " Oh ! I can't have him lame, and to go limping about 
 all his life ! Yes, I must go to New York. There are 
 two physicians in whom I place great confidence. If an 
 operation is possible, it shall be attended to without 
 delay." 
 
 Nelly shivered. 
 15*
 
 174 NELLY KLNoSTABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "Little tender heart! Ah, at least I did one good 
 thing, even in my own selfishness. I have given him a 
 mother such as " 
 
 Nelly placed her soft fingers over her husband's lips. 
 She knew the rest of the sentence would have been, " such 
 as he never had." But, in her sweet and bounteous 
 nature, there was no such thing as grudging another any 
 due or praise, or gaining herself by that other's dispar 
 agement. And, somehow, she felt tender and pitiful to 
 tho woman in her grave, knowing now how she had 
 missed establishing herself in her husband's heart; ever 
 plucking fruit that turned to ashes, and hewing out broken 
 cisterns, when the bread and wine of love's own sacrament 
 was within her reach. 
 
 " You are right," he said humbly. 
 
 A week afterward he went to the city, and returned 
 with one of his old preceptors, now an eminent and expe 
 rienced ph}-sician. If he had ever such a lingering hope 
 of a mistake in his own diagnosis, it was dispelled. 
 There was an exceeding faint chance of tha child's out 
 growing it, with a trifling lameness. There was a later 
 operation, when he had more strength and maturity ; but 
 the disease would also have gained greater headway. 
 There was the present operation with all its risk. 
 
 " The most important thing will be the care afterward. 
 I should advise his being sent to a hospital, like St. 
 Luke's for instance. Then he would have experienced 
 nursing," said Dr. Francis. 
 
 This opinion was imparted to Nelly. 
 
 " Could you not be as watchful of the case as the best 
 nurse there? " she asked of her husband. 
 
 " Of course. But there are a hundred and one little 
 things ; and it will be a very heavy tax on you." 
 
 " If I were the child's own mother, I hardly know how 
 I should decide ; but I think then, I should keep him, 
 and try my best. As the case stands, I ask you as a
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 175 
 
 favor not to send him away. He will be nearer to us 
 both, if we go with him every step of the sad way. If 
 you have confidence in me ' ' 
 
 " I would trust my own life in your hands," was his 
 vehement answer. " Confidence ! " 
 
 " Then let us keep him. I should be sorry to have the 
 world, or Aunt Adelaide," and she smiled with tears in 
 her eyes, "think that I was glad to escape the solemn 
 duties I took upon myself. And, if any thing should go 
 wrong, we will not look back upon our decision regret 
 fully." 
 
 " How generous you are, Nelly!" and he studied her 
 in amaze. "Honestly, I would rather keep him under 
 my own eye ; but it is a great deal to ask of one young 
 as you are. It may be a year or two ; and here is your 
 own life ' ' 
 
 i-'Xarn young enough surely to give away a little of it. 
 Shall I not have you and your love to comfort and sus 
 tain? " 
 
 " God bless j-ou, my darling ! " 
 
 There was coming into his soul a solemn reverence for 
 womanhood. True, he had seen it under many phases ; 
 but it is one thing to look at a flower in your neighbor's 
 garden, without knowing all the particulars of soil and 
 culture, and quite another to have it under your very eye, 
 growing thriftily through shine and shade, dispensing 
 fragrance and beauty da} r by day in the most bounteous 
 manner. Nothing under his hand had ever so bloomed be 
 fore. He had believed that nearness dispelled the charm ; 
 that daily using brushed off the pink of peach, and purple 
 of grape ; that household virtues throve oftener in books 
 than in daily life. Nelly's strength and sweetness touched 
 him with a dim amaze ; and he hardly dared place full 
 faith in it, lest it should vanish. 
 
 For herself, she had become quite strongly attached to 
 Bertie. She could see how much his training had injured
 
 176 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 him. With a sort of moral cowardice he united great 
 persistencj" ; so that, when he had once told what was not 
 true, he was very apt to keep to the stor}', and impress it 
 upon his hearers. His sense of injustice was veiy keen ; 
 and the s} r stem of depriving him of every possible pleasure, 
 of being always on the lookout for faults and naughti 
 ness, of showing that he never, for a moment, was 
 trusted, had worked much evil in the child's nature. 
 There was another point in which Aunt Adelaide did con 
 stant battle. Bertie had a vein of humor and drollery that 
 his aunt could not understand. She never made jokes, 
 and never saw the point of them ; and repartee, she con 
 sidered, for the most part, ill bred. All this she called 
 impertinence, and punished it severely ; until the child, 
 between ignorance and fear, had come to have a sort of 
 half-stupid hesitation. 
 
 It was such a strange, new thing for him to be caressed, 
 that at first he took it with a wondering, half-funny 
 complacency. Miss Grove thought all such matters 
 simply foolish, and declared that she always mistrusted 
 people who were eager to make such a parade, besides the 
 fact of its being under-bred. Her idea of manliness 
 seemed to be stoicism. Unemotional herself, and living 
 according to a code of formal rules that she had gathered 
 from her very small world, she fancied, like many narrow- 
 minded people, that it was adapted to age and infancy 
 alike, to any kind of circumstances and position. Maud 
 had never troubled her by any excess of feeling ; but she 
 had been fighting the tendency in Bertie ever since his 
 birth. It was her pride that the children had never been 
 ill, and that the3 r knew more than any children of their 
 age. So that they behaved properly, what more w r as 
 needed ? 
 
 Nelly had touched the deadened chords of the child's 
 soul. It was so nice to be made much of; to have his 
 face and hands bathed, sometimes with cologne at that ;
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 177 
 
 to have his hair brushed, and Nelly had trained quite a 
 curly crop around his white temples ; to have dainty little 
 meals served in the sick-room, just for mamma and him 
 self ; to be shown pictures ; to be read stories ; to talk in 
 that changeful, discursive style so natural to children, 
 without having to go over a sentence, apd pick out all its 
 needless words. 
 
 Not that the child had been transformed into an angel. 
 He was fretful and impatient at times, and had restless 
 moods, when nothing seemed to suit. Once, when he 
 was much better, he proved exceedingly troublesome in 
 this respect ; and Nelly, finding herself tired, and with 
 a tendency to speak sharply, bethought herself a moment. 
 
 " Bertie," she said in a quiet tone, " I believe you are 
 tired of me ; for what I do fails to please you. Now I am 
 going out of the room for half an hour : look at the clock. 
 You will be much better alone : so good-bj- for a little 
 while." And she went away with a cheerful smile, shutting 
 the door softly behind her. 
 
 Bertie thought he did not care. He was pillowed in a 
 corner of the wide lounge ; and for several moments he 
 studied the fire in the grate, then his book of engrav 
 ings, after that the solitaire-board ; and, to his amaze, 
 only fifteen minutes were gone. The clock ticked so 
 solemnly, the cat would sleep on the rug ; and there was 
 absolutely nothing more to do. But then mamma would 
 come in ten minutes. Oh, how long they were ! He 
 tried to count the seconds, and was quite sure there were 
 more than sixty. 
 
 Through it all ran an undercurrent of conscience. 
 There was no purely physical punishment or deprivation, 
 but something that stirred his deeper feelings. 
 
 The door opened presently. " Do you want me now, 
 Beftie? " asked the soft voice. 
 
 " I do, mamma, please." 
 
 She entered with some sewing, and drew her chair close
 
 178 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 beside the lounge, saying cheerfully, " What shall we 
 talk about, Bertie? You must have thought of a great 
 many things." 
 
 " No: never mind about talking, mamma. I want to 
 lie here and look at you a little while." Then, after a 
 silence, " How pretty you are, mamma ! " 
 
 She blushed, and gave a little embarrassed laugh. 
 
 " And you are very good to me, mamma. I thought 
 at least, people say" (hesitatingly) "that step 
 mothers never are good." 
 
 ' ' What do you think of it, Bertie ? ' ' and she raised her 
 grave, sweet eyes. 
 
 "It isn't true. I'll fight any boy at school who ever 
 says it again; and I'll" But what could he do to 
 Aunt Adelaide ? 
 
 "No, my child: you can do better than that, love 
 me ; love papa, and obey him." 
 
 " I used to feel so afraid of papa," he went on in a 
 half-musing tone. " And I am not afraid any more. His 
 arms are so strong when he lifts me. And he does care 
 about me, doesn't he? They all said that he wouldn't 
 love Maud and me any after j*ou came." 
 
 " Which was not true, as you have found out by this 
 time," was her quiet comment. 
 
 " Yes. Do you believe he would buy me a pony ? And 
 will I ever get well? I asked him this morning." 
 
 "What did he say?" demanded Nelly with sudden 
 earnestness. 
 
 " That he hoped so. But why does my back keep so 
 weak and stiff? " 
 
 He was to know ere long. They had decided upon 
 the operation, as his general health was quite restored. 
 However, nothing was said to him about it until the last 
 morning. Ether was to be given. Dr. Francis and I)r. 
 Searles came ; and Nelly kissed her boy with a face that 
 was braver than her heart.
 
 NELLY KESTNAKD'S KINGDOM. 179 
 
 "It's dreadful ! " said Mother Kinnard, who had soft 
 ened unconsciously to Nelly; "and I am afraid it will 
 not do a bit of good. I doubt if the child lives, anyhow. 
 Tf he could only have minded his aunt ! Children were not 
 so disobedient in my day. I don't believe Adelaide will 
 ever get over it. No, do not go away : I am too nervous 
 to stay alone. I feel as if we should hear, every moment, 
 that he had died under the operation." 
 
 It appeared to Nelly as if the inconsequent and unceas 
 ing chatter would kill her. How she endured it those 
 two mortal hours, she never knew. Dr. Kinnard entered 
 the room at last, very pale, and with lips that had not 
 yet lost the force of their compression. 
 
 "It is through with, and was very successful," he 
 announced rather huskily. ' ' Nelly y will you see to 
 having a little luncheon? " 
 
 She went about it immediately, but did not question 
 him any further. Dr. Francis afterwards gave her some 
 hints and suggestions, ending with, " He may be deli 
 cate for a year or two ; but I think he will recover 
 entirely." 
 
 And now began another siege of nursing. They tried 
 to take care of Nelly, on whom so much depended. Dr. 
 Kinnard insisted on her taking frequent rides, and having 
 cheerful society. Daisy came *to stay with her ; and little 
 Katy Berkman was found very useful. And thus Nelly 
 Kinnard reached the first anniversary of her wedding- 
 day, a quiet but pleasant time with the home-folks, and 
 Mr. Dudley, who was getting to be a great favorite with 
 the doctor. Aunt Adelaide condescended to be quite 
 gracious ; and Mrs. Kinnard said afterward, 
 
 " What a really delightful person your mother is, Nelty ! 
 I have a fancy, that, when she was young, she looked a 
 great deal as you do now." 
 
 Nelly smiled at the commendation. 
 
 " My dear," said Dr. Kinnard that night, " I have had a
 
 180 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 queer notion in ray head all day. I believe I shall turn 
 match-maker. I think Dudley is really taken with your 
 sister. And what a charming clergyman's wife she would 
 make ! Though he is not very rich in this world's goods ; 
 but then your father is, without doubt, the very happiest 
 man I have ever known. So it is not riches." 
 
 " I cannot have you mapping out Daisy's life," she 
 said rather confusedty. 
 
 "But, since I have found a treasure, I am anxious to 
 point out to my brethren the wonderful mine," he 
 returned laughingly.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " The ordinary use of acquaintance is the sharing of talk, news, 
 and mirth together ; but sorrow is the right of a friend, as a thing 
 nearer the heart, and to be delivered with it." BISHOP SELDEX. 
 
 THERE had been quite a commotion in the house with 
 shopping and dressmakers, and plans for a summer tour. 
 Aunt Adelaide and Maud were to go to Niagara and the 
 Lakes and Canada, and wherever else their fancj 7 led them. 
 The large trunk was packed at last, and brought down to 
 the hall, and beside it stood the smaller travelling-satchel 
 for present emergencies. Maud was shooting up into a 
 tall girl, and gave herself the airs of a young lady. Her 
 father disapproved of it ; but what could he do at present 
 with Bertie still a burthen on their hands? In truth, 
 Nelly was losing her bloom somewhat with this close 
 attendance. 
 
 They said their good-bys at length, and were off. 
 Then Dr. Kinnard bethought himself of what must be 
 done for the others. Bertie had gone on well for a while ; 
 but it was evident that he, too, needed a change. 
 
 " I should try seaside,'' said Dr. Searles. " And Mrs. 
 Kinnakl needs it also. The child's limb is doing as 
 well as can be expected ; but five or six months of this 
 would pull down any little chap, or large one either, for 
 that matter. He must get his strength up again." 
 
 To send them away ! To part with Nelly ! Why, she 
 had become stay and comfort and pleasure to him. How 
 had he ever done without her? How could he do with 
 out her now ? 
 
 16 181
 
 182 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " Bertie, you are an unconscious rival," he said to 
 himself in a half-petulant mood. 
 
 " The whole house must be rendered subservient to 
 that child ! ' ' complained Grandmother Kiunard. ' ' I 
 don't see any sense in it." 
 
 " But it is his health, and perhaps his life," pleaded 
 Nelly. " There will be so many after-years with us." 
 
 "Will there?" and a quaint little pucker came into 
 the doctor's face. 
 
 The neighbors came in, and said their say. Here and 
 there was recommended and discussed. 
 
 Mrs. Glyndon settled it. She had taken a wonderful 
 liking to the doctor' s young wife from the first ; and she 
 was one of those women with progressive, restless, gener 
 ous natures, who wanted to bring all the lights from under 
 the bushels, and set them on hills. She had no children, 
 plenty of mone}-, plenty of time, servants, and a hus 
 band who was indulgent, though he laughed at her a 
 good deal, and was much occupied with various inven 
 tions, alwaj-s having some poor fellow in hand. And 
 then every thing came right in Mrs. Glyndon' s way. 
 There are some people fairly inundated by streams of 
 good fortune, while others are left dry and barren. 
 
 An intimate friend said to her, 
 
 "We are going to Europe this summer. Do you not 
 want to take our cottage at Severn Point? There is a 
 garden and stable, and plenty of room everywhere ; and 
 the house is well furnished. It is just a step to the 
 beach, with excellent bathing and fishing." 
 
 She had been to the mountains and the springs, and 
 was just wondering what there was to amuse her this 
 summer. 
 
 A week after she had taken her cottage, while she wag 
 considering what guests or friends she would ask, she 
 met Dr. Kinnard driving rather soberly through the town, 
 and stopped him. How Avas the boy progressing ? Would 
 he ever get well? And how was Mrs. Kinnard?
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 183 
 
 " How fortunate ! " when the doctor had mentioned the 
 seaside plan. ' ' You are just the people I was in search 
 of! I shall drive straight out to the house, and when you 
 come home to dinner it will be all settled. There, don't 
 ask a question, but go industriously about your busi 
 ness." 
 
 She entered the house in her usual breezy fashion, hav 
 ing sent her horse down to the barn ; and by dinner 
 time the plan was well digested. They should go to 
 Severn Point with her. It was on the Sound, and easy 
 of access by rail. They would keep house together, 
 she taking two servants ; and if Miss Endicott would go 
 it was so pleasant to have a 3*oung girl in the family ! 
 They would each take a horse and carriage. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard could pick no flaws for once. He could 
 run down now and then, and spend a day or two, or 
 Sunday ; and Mr. Glyndon would be dropping in occa 
 sionally. Providence seemed to have thrown it right in 
 their way. 
 
 " I shall like it so much better than either hotel or 
 boarding-house ! " said Nelly. And Bertie was quite 
 elated with the idea of something different from the place 
 where he had passed so much of his life. Mother Kiu- 
 nard was equally delighted with the opportunity of man 
 aging the house, and taking care of her son. 
 
 "Is it any thing of a fashionable resort ? ' ' Nelly had 
 asked. 
 
 " I really can't say, my dear. I was there five years 
 ago, when the Randolphs first bought, their place. It 
 was not very remarkable then, as to style ; but I have 
 heard, now and then, of its improvements. There is a 
 rather rocky point stretching out into the sound, and 
 then a delightful strip of beach, without the usual glare 
 and sterility of seasides ; for right back of the point are 
 some pretty farms, and a range of hills, which makes 
 very entertaining driving. You cannot fail to like it."
 
 184 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 So the second party made ready. Dr. Kinnard took 
 them down ; and Mrs. Glyndon was there beforehand, to 
 welcome them. Bertie was tired with his journey, and 
 fretful ; and Nelly was looking quite worn. They were 
 so glad to add Daisy Endicott's cheerful good-nature as 
 a kind of mental balance ! 
 
 But there was the broad Sound, with the monotone of 
 the sea, and the bracing, salty, suggestive flavor, the 
 ripples and swells crested with spray. The house stood 
 on a little. elevation ; and you had the hills at the back ; 
 farms, and gardens, and waving trees westward ; to the 
 south, the long, level beach with cottages and hotels ; to 
 the east, the rocky point, that spread itself out to twi 
 light purple in the distance ; and in front of them the 
 miniature ocean, dotted with vessels of various kinds. 
 Besides the railroad accommodation, there was a steam 
 boat landing ; and, indeed, it seemed quite a thriving 
 watering-place. 
 
 "I hope it will give you all some color," said the 
 doctor. " I do think you ought to have some one to help 
 with Bertie. Daisy, will you promise to keep watch and 
 ward, and send me word if she doesn't improve in a 
 week? Every day you must go out driving. And Bertie, 
 my son, you must not depend so entirely upon mamma. 
 I am afraid you are spoiling him, Nelly : you are over 
 conscientious." 
 
 Nelly smiled a little. All along she had understood 
 how much more than mere physical care was needed. 
 
 They soon settled themselves in their new abode. It 
 was indeed roomy ; a great hall through the middle, that 
 reminded her of home. Two rooms on one side were to 
 be devoted to her ; for, though Bertie could get about on 
 a crutch, it was not deemed advisable to have him go up 
 stairs. Opposite were reception and dining rooms, and 
 large airy chambers above. Daisy took the one at the 
 head of the stairs, so as to be within call. Mrs. Glyndon
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 185 
 
 had brought a man and two maids ; so that there really 
 was nothing for. Nelly to add in that respect. 
 
 Bertie was delighted with the drive on the beach the 
 next morning. Daisy took him out, while Nelly unpacked, 
 and put her house in order. She admitted to herself that 
 she did feel very languid. Six months of wear and 
 anxiety told their story. Where was the blooming girl- 
 face of a year ago ? 
 
 Did she regret the service that had taken its roundness 
 and color ? No : she was glad to give it, to win the child's 
 soul and the child's love, to awaken the chilled pulses into 
 new life, to give him back to his father in glad surprise 
 as something different and richer than before. 
 
 But she was thankful to have a little rest for a few 
 da}-s. . There were so many objects of interest, that Daisy 
 quite sufficed the invalid for the present. 
 
 Mrs. Glyndon returned one afternoon, especially impor 
 tant, her face radiant with pleasure and success. 
 
 " My dear," she began, " do you mean to get rested 
 up, and ever have that pretty peach-bloom again ? I want 
 to see you bright and sparkling once more ; for we are 
 going to have just the nicest summer imaginable. I am 
 so glad we came to Severn Point ! I declare, it has all 
 come around like a novel ! " 
 
 " What has? " asked Nelly smilingly. 
 
 " Well, events and people," with a little pause 
 between. " Why, I have found a whole settlement of 
 old friends ! When I was in New York last winter, I just 
 happened upon a charming clique, two or three artists, 
 some literary people, and some shall I say strong-minded 
 women? Not of the ultra type, though one of them is 
 studying medicine, I believe ; and another has a sort of 
 professorship or higher teachership in a college at the 
 moon, or among the planets. They are cultured and 
 refined people, and up in all charming society ways. So, 
 just as soon as you are in the humor, I want to give a 
 
 16*
 
 186 NELLY KESTNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 little tea, rather Frenchy and enjoyable, with the best 
 of it in talk. I hate crowds where people do nothing 
 but stuff themselves." 
 
 "You need not wait on my account," returned Nelly. 
 " I think I shall not care very much for society." 
 
 "Nonsense! at one and twenty too. You need a 
 good mental shaking up and rousing. I should think 
 you would have grown rusty and dull ; though, with that 
 stiff Aunt Adelaide, and old Mrs. Kinnard, to say noth 
 ing of troublesome Bertie No, don't hold up j-ourhand 
 in that threatening fashion : it is a pretty white hand, 
 and I noticed it long ago. You do not know that Dr. 
 Kinnard gave you over into my power, and begged me to 
 keep you from getting dull. You must la}^ in a stock of 
 roses and ideas for next winter. Perhaps Miss Grove 
 will fall and break her back, (who knows ?) and 3*ou may 
 see a good opening to heap coals of fire upon her head, 
 though be careful of her hair. It is growing rather thin, 
 I noticed." 
 
 Nelly laughed outright then, amused at her friend's 
 manner. 
 
 " There, that is something like it. I am invited over 
 to the hotel to-morrow to dinner. If you did not mind, I 
 should like to take Daisy, she is so sweet and fresh, 
 though she doesn't compare with you in looks. And 
 then, as I said, I shall give a little entertainment here." 
 
 Daisy was pleased with her invitation ; and Nelly set 
 about making her as pretty as possible. At half-past 
 seven they set out, and then it was Bertie's bed-time. 
 He said his prayers reverentially, and kissed her many 
 times. 
 
 "Won't you stay with me a little while," he asked, 
 " since they are all gone out? " and so she sat by the cot, 
 and talked until he fell fast asleep. 
 
 It was midnight when the revellers returned. Nellj T had 
 been lying on the sofa in a wrapper. She experienced an
 
 NELLY KINKAED'S KINGDOM. 187 
 
 odd, motherly feeling and interest in Daisy, as if she 
 were a decade older, rather than three years. And, like 
 a child, she came in to talk over her enjoyment. It had* 
 been just lovely. 
 
 "And the hero of the evening danced with her: I 
 may as well tell you all her triumphs. There, now, not 
 another word ! Mrs. Kinnard, you should have been in 
 bed two hours ago." 
 
 So Dais}' was warmly enlisted in the tea-party. They 
 made out a list the next morning, and wrote the invita 
 tions. Then, in the afternoon, they were to go to a beach 
 picnic, and to-morrow out rowing, which would finish the 
 week. 
 
 " And you'll drive with me, mamma? " says Bertie in a 
 glow of delight. 
 
 " Then you don't love me best of all? " cries Daisy, 
 making a dainty little moue at him. 
 
 " I love you a great deal ; but I don't quite think it is 
 best of all. But then, you see, she is my mamma ; " and 
 he looks up, much relieved at finding so good and respon 
 sible a reason. 
 
 Down on the beach they go in the pony phaeton ; and 
 Bertie is allowed to drive. Jenny is as gentle as a road 
 side cow. There are not a great many out, mostly elderly 
 people and young children, for whom the picnic has no 
 charms, or forbidden ones. 
 
 Nelly sits there, and dreams. How long the time 
 appears since she parted from her husband ! She has 
 heard, and all is going on nicely ; but she misses him 
 much more than she would like to admit. She has grown 
 to love him very much, and he has come to depend on 
 her for so many things. She wondered, a year ago, 
 whether she could ever be useful to him, and, ah ! now 
 she is quite necessary. Oh ! 
 
 It was all just like a flash. A stj'lish turnout, contain 
 ing two very young men with a spirited horse, had borne
 
 188 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 down upon them ; and Bertie, in the moment's confusion, 
 had checked to the left, instead of the right. A hand had 
 been interposed, and there they stood, quiet, out of possi 
 ble danger ; but her heart beat rapidly, and her face 
 flushed with that lovety, peachy glow so admired by Mrs. 
 Glj'ndon. 
 
 "I am very much indebted. Allow me to thank you 
 most sincere!} 7 ; ' ' and she bent over a trifle to look at 
 their preserver. " It was unpardonably careless in me." 
 
 " The carelessness was on the other side. Do not blame 
 yourself in the slightest. I am happy to have been at 
 your service, even in this trifle ; " and he bowed. 
 
 She bowed too, then glanced back, and found him doing 
 the same thing, as often happens. 
 
 " How handsome he was, mamma ! "as handsome as 
 as you are. What was the matter ? " 
 
 " Let me drive a little while. It was nothing much ; " 
 for she did not want to stamp the incident with any 
 significance. 
 
 A handsome man, Bertie had spoken truly. Tall, 
 supple, and graceful, abounding in the tints that are not 
 blonde, yet far from the other extreme ; bronze-brown as 
 to hair and beard, though at present he wore only a 
 mustache, which was silken-soft and fine ; a clear com 
 plexion just a trifle sunburnt ; a broad, dimpled chin ; a 
 straight, rather haughty nose ; and eyes of so dark a gray 
 as to be nearly black. She wondered why she remem 
 bered him like a picture. It was not all gratitude ; for 
 now she was not sure there had been an}' real danger. 
 
 There was an early moon ; and the picnic party did not 
 reach home until after ten. Some one had persuaded an 
 old colored fiddler to come down after sunset ; and the 
 merry party had wound up with dancing on the smooth, 
 hard beach. 
 
 "And Daisy is getting to be an absolute belle. She 
 alwa}~s begins so shyly, and colors up in the most tempt-
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 189 
 
 ing way ; and the men who are sick and tired of the last 
 seven-years' blossoms are drawn to her like so many 
 bees. And she deals out ever such a little bit of sweet 
 ness : if she had practised half a dozen seasons, she could 
 not do better." 
 
 " O Mrs. Glyndon ! " cried Daisy, in blushing dismay. 
 
 "You have the right of it, Daisy. No, Mrs. Kinnard, 
 there are to be no lectures in this house, but what I give 
 nryself. I am commander-in-chief in a direct line. And, 
 Dais}', youth is the time when you gather roses, and take 
 pleasures, as you do sunshine. Don't ever give out more 
 than a bit of sweetness : they are not worth it, the very 
 best of them. Just think of them as of the picnic to-day : 
 that was very nice indeed, and there let it end. Some 
 thing new will come to-morrow, it always does. But a 
 young girl should be able to sleep soundly upon it, and 
 not lay any greater burthen on her pillow than rolls off 
 in her first nap. Now run to bed." 
 
 Mrs. Glj-ndon lingered a moment to quiet any fears 
 Mrs. Kinnard might indulge in foolishly. 
 
 "Innocence is the very best protection the child can 
 have," she said earnestly. " She thinks she is not 
 specially pretty, and that no one will be caring to fall in 
 love with her : so she may as well go on thinking it, and 
 have a delightful summer. To put her on her guard will 
 give her an unpleasant consciousness, and make her sus 
 picious of every thing that is said. Just let her alone." 
 
 Nelly thought of it a long while after she was in bed. 
 She must be elder sister in turn, as Rose and Fanny had 
 been to her. No, Daisy was not beautiful ; and yet how 
 pretty she had looked to-night with that sort of fire 
 fly glow in her eyes, and her red lips full of smiling 
 curves. But there were handsome and brilliant women 
 here ; and it was not likel}" any crowd would flutter about 
 this meek little dove. If only Daisy but then Daisy 
 had good sense. She had not been much elated over Mr.
 
 190 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Dudley's coming and going, and driving her to the 
 village, or to see poor women, or a sunset here, or a bit 
 of spring greenery and bloom there. No : she had taken 
 it in that pleasant, friendly manner, ending, but not 
 bothering her brains as to whether every word had a 
 meaning. Yes, it was best so. Simple, sweet, and fresh, 
 not made suspicious or worldly wise : if love came, wel 
 coming it ; and, if not, losing none of the fairer womanly 
 graces. And yet she resolved to watch a little, that no 
 enemy might creep in unawares. 
 
 Then the rowing-party came off; and Mrs. Glyndon 
 insisted upon their both resting up, and using plentiful 
 lotions of cream and rose-glycerine to be in nice order 
 for her evening. 
 
 She had a "way" of doing things with a grace and 
 newness that made you almost believe you had never 
 seen any thing of the kind before. The shutters were 
 all open, and the lights streamed about outside, while 
 within came wafts of the sea, of the cool, twilight air, of 
 the pungent, aromatic pines ; and inside she had massed 
 great bunches of grass-heads, and wheat and oats, and 
 quantities of sweet-clover, that she had been half the 
 day hunting up. And 'in among these feather-grasses 
 she had placed half a dozen scarlet poppies ; there some 
 flaming lilies ; here a few cool-looking ferns and meadow- 
 daisies ; and over there a great trail of old-fashioned 
 woodbine, with its clusters of minute red trumpets, lined 
 with a soft, yellow-like gold. The sofas and chairs were 
 pulled out of corners, and looked sociable by themselves. 
 There was a feeling of rest and refreshing. The com 
 pany dropped down into little clusters, gathered into 
 knots, rambled through hall and dining-room ; for there 
 was no formal table set. They laughed and talked, 
 sciences, politics, newspapers, new books, fashions, health, 
 the attractions of Severn Point, of Newport, of Yosemite 
 Valley, and Germany. Then the tea was brought in, and
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 191 
 
 diffused a fragrant flavor. The little tables were arranged 
 here and there. The gentlemen carried the tea after Mrr-.. 
 Gtyndon poured it ; and some of the younger ladies 
 handed plates of dainty sandwiches, creamy biscuit, 
 Graham gems, cake and berries ; and after this was 
 eaten, and the dishes taken away, which a light-footed 
 servant accomplished without much clatter, the cream 
 was brought in. 
 
 Early in the evening Mrs. Glyndon had brought one 
 very noticeable gentleman to Mrs. Kinnard, and intro 
 duced him as Mr. Van Alst3'ne. They did more than 
 bow : they shook hands cordially. 
 
 " I am very glad to meet you, Mrs. Kinnard," he said 
 with a smile that was friendhy and charming. 
 
 "And I hope you did not consider me ungracious a 
 few da\-s ago, when you did me such a kindness." 
 
 " That is just what it was, and aZZ," he returned 
 pointedly. " There was no danger ; only 3'our horse 
 might have started suddenly. And please do not 
 imagine that I did any thing at all heroic. Indeed, upon 
 looking at your horse afterward, I felt that it would not 
 have been startled in a greater peril." 
 
 "Is that meant for a libel upon Jenny? She is the 
 gentlest creature in the world, and very intelligent too." 
 
 " If she had been fien-, there might have been danger. 
 And who was that pale little boy ? your brother ? ' ' 
 
 She colored and laughed, with a dainty embarrassment. 
 
 " It is my son, or, at least, Dr. Kinnard' s son." 
 
 " Oh ! " and he, in turn, flushed. But just then Daisy 
 came up, and held out her hand frankly. 
 
 " So this is your sister? " he asked with a smile. " I 
 thought some one said, the other evening, she was an 
 invalid ? ' ' 
 
 "Mrs. Glyndon said she was not well, that was all. 
 Will you have some tea here, Mr. Van Alstyne, or will 
 3-011" and Dais\- glanced around.
 
 192 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "I should like to stay here, if Mrs. Kinnard doesn't 
 object. This table is just large enough for two." 
 
 " Then I will wait on you," said Daisy delightedly. 
 
 They sat and chatted, and amused themselves by 
 glancing around the room. Mr. Van Alstyne seemed 
 to know everybody. That little near-sighted fellow over 
 yonder was an artist who had made a name and fortune 
 by having a picture put in chromo ; and that tall, fine- 
 looking girl was Miss Wilson, the senator's daughter, who 
 had been publishing a wonderful book on entomology 
 studied under Agassiz ; and that little dot of a Miss 
 Howe was going to be a physician ; and so on, in an 
 entertaining and good-humored manner ; telling bright 
 little things, but none that were sharp or bitter, and mak 
 ing her talk in a piquant manner. Then 3'oung Conover 
 brought his cup of tea over, because Miss Keith had 
 rejected him ; and Miss Keith came over to explain ; and 
 somehow, presently, Mrs. Kinnard' s table became a centre 
 of attraction. Miss Howe's father had known Dr. Kin 
 nard. "Wasn't it his little boy that Dr. Francis operated 
 on last winter, or spring ? and how was he doing ? Every 
 body wondered just a little how such a pretty and stylish 
 woman could make up her mind to be stepmother to any 
 one's children. 
 
 After the cream went out, Mr. Transome plaj-ed, then 
 some one sang, and some one else ; and Mrs. Glyndon 
 begged Mrs. Kinnard to sing an old Scotch ballad she 
 had heard her playing a few da}"S ago. She would so 
 much rather not ; but eve^-bodj' thought those old Scotch 
 songs so wonderfully pathetic. 
 
 Nelly Kinnard had just the voice for them ; and her 
 pronunciation was so quaint, that all the little elisions 
 and contractions and hard words were extremely bewitch 
 ing. Then some one Avondered if she did not know 
 " Roy's Wife." That was ,a rather saucy, coquettish 
 thing ; but sing it she must.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 193 
 
 George Van Alstyne stood leaning lazily against the 
 door-jamb, watching her. He was eight and twenty, 
 very good-looking, very gentlemanly, educated, accom 
 plished, travelled ; had run through one fortune, and was 
 spending another, and had been blase so long, that a new 
 sensation was a godsend to him ; but new women were 
 generall}' bores. More than one society belle had tried 
 her best, and failed to catch him ; more than one little 
 modest waj'side flower had given him her heart to tread 
 on daintily as one crushes a butterfly. And now the 
 women who knew him best had come to the conclusion 
 that he was not a marrying man : so he had settled into a 
 general favorite. They laughed at him, and made much 
 of him, and really admired his superb laziness, since he 
 was never rude, but always exquisitely well bred. 
 
 Nelly sang, 
 
 " But Eoy's age is three times mine; 
 
 I think his years they can't be mony, 
 And then, perhaps, his canty queen, 
 
 Forgetting churl, will take her Johnny," 
 
 and gave it the happy audacity of a daring, and not 
 despairing lover. 
 
 It came into his mind then to speculate upon what Dr. 
 Kinnard was like. Dr. Francis was quite an elderly 
 man, and so was Mr. Howe. If they were all friends, 
 and had been young together what romantic folly could 
 have induced this handsome girl to marry in that fashion, 
 and devote herself to the pale little youngster? Yet he 
 liked affairs and people that were out of the ever3 T -day 
 common groove. He was beginning to think a fortnight 
 at Severn Point quite long enough : now he resolved to 
 take another week of it, and study this new chapter in 
 womankind. As she was married, there was no danger 
 to her ; and he never was in danger. 
 
 Mrs. Glyndon's evening proved a perfect success. 
 17
 
 194 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Somebody wanted to know if she wouldn't ask them to 
 tea soon again. 
 
 " I am going to have a dancing-party next, for the 
 young people. I like to take in everybody. After that, 
 I will consider." 
 
 "I am not going to wait for parties," said Van Al- 
 styne. " Won't you take pity on me, and let me drop in 
 to-morrow? I get dreadfully bored, and want a change." 
 
 It was quite flattering to have him ask in that spoiled- 
 child way. 
 
 " Of course you can drop in. I will give you a card of 
 admission for let me see a week. Then you will be 
 tired of us. Good-night."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " The love that I hae chosen 
 I'll therewith be content: 
 The saut sea shall be frozen 
 Before that I repent." 
 
 GEORGE VAN ALSTTNE came early the next afternoon. 
 Some one had insisted upon taking Daisy out. Nelly 
 knew now that this was Daisy's handsome hero of her 
 first evening's entertainment ; and she felt a little afraid 
 of him where a j'oung girl was concerned. Mrs. Glj'n- 
 don was busy looking up dresses for tableaux : so she 
 brought him into Mrs. Kinnard's sitting-room. 
 
 "You must take care of him for a little while," she 
 said. " My business is of importance. But it is too 
 bad to have you so heavily burthened. Bertie, don't you 
 want to come with me for a change ? ' ' 
 
 The child was pleased ; for he delighted in Mrs. Glyn- 
 don's chatter. Van, as by that name he knew himself 
 best, dropped down into an easy-chair by the window, and 
 loitered over a book of engravings. They soon fell into 
 an easy talk, so easy, that Nell}' took up some trifle of 
 sewing. Ordinarily he hated to have a woman do any 
 thing, except pay attention to him. But he could watch 
 the face as it drooped a little : he had an artist's quick 
 perception of the harmonious lines of beauty. The 
 rounded cheek, the delicate pink ear, the snowy throat, 
 and symmetrical slope of shoulder, were worth a painter's 
 study ; and the white, slender wrist, with the tapering 
 
 195
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 fingers and soft palm he knew it was soft by the tint of 
 rosiness. 
 
 They discussed the city a little ; and he told her of 
 Paris, Vienna, and Venice. Bits of anecdote, legends, or 
 a quaint verse, were happily interspersed, } r et with no 
 effort at entertaining. Then Mrs. Gtyndon entered, and 
 consulted them both about some costumes. Bertie fid 
 geted, and whispered once or twice to his mamma. 
 
 " O Mrs. Kinnard ! " he said suddenly, " don't you go 
 out for your drive about this time? Isn't it that the 
 little boy wants ? Do not let me detain you. You have 
 been very good to be bothered with my indolent self so 
 long ;" and he rose. 
 
 " Why, J am just ready to entertain you now," said 
 Mrs. Glyndon. " You need not feel compelled to go. 
 Bertie, can you not ring the bell for mamma? " 
 
 Mrs. Glyndon ordered the phaeton, and gave Nelly a 
 commission for " down in town." Then she carried off 
 Van Alstyne ; and Daisy returned before the}' had fin 
 ished their talk. 
 
 She told him he might stay to tea, if he would drive 
 her and Miss Endicott on the beach afterward ; and so 
 Nelly found him on the veranda when she returned. 
 
 That was the beginning. 
 
 ' Don't you worry about it," said Mrs. Glyndon. " A 
 week from this time he will be bored with us, and go 
 somewhere else, leave Severn Point, doubtless. In 
 fact, / rather enjoy our conquest. I cannot decide to 
 whom the credit belongs." 
 
 Then Dr. Kinnard came on Saturday to stay over until 
 Monday. 
 
 " Why, how blooming you look ! he exclaimed to 
 Nelly. "I need not ask if the place agrees with you. 
 And where is Bertie ? ' ' 
 
 " A gentleman has taken him out. You see, we did 
 not expect you until the next train, and I meant to drive
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 197 
 
 down ; but this Mr. Van Alstyne wanted to take Bertie, 
 and they were going to bring Daisy home. You will 
 think him so much improved. He walks quite well with 
 out his crutch. O Barton, how thankful I am!" and 
 there was a soft break in her voice. 
 
 " My darling, it is a good part owing to your courage 
 and patience. I shall never forget that; "-and his tone 
 deepens with sudden emotion. " And you are happy ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Glyndon is bewitching to us all. She makes it 
 a perfect holiday. If you could only stay!" and she 
 passes her fingers caressingly through his soft hair. 
 " You are looking tired." 
 
 " There has been a good deal of sickness among the mill- 
 hands, intermittent, with bad symptoms. I am really 
 glad you are down here, Nelly. Then Searles goes away 
 next week for a fortnight, and I shall be busier than ever. 
 But I do mean to have a holiday with you before summer 
 ends." 
 
 Then she inquires about home-matters. " Mary and 
 mother agree excellently," says the doctor with a rather 
 amused expression. A note had come from Aunt Ade 
 laide, leaving the travellers in good health. Old friends 
 had dispersed for recreation; " and, of course, I am too 
 busy to hunt up gossip." With that he laughs. Then a 
 sound of wheels breaks their Darby-and-Joan confidence. 
 
 ' ' There they come ! Let us go and receive them in 
 state." 
 
 "Has Daisy captured that handsome fellow?" is the 
 surprised question. 
 
 "He is not the kind to be captured," laughed she, 
 " least of all by such a wayside Daisy. I have come to 
 think him safe on that account. And he is a very enter 
 taining companion." 
 
 " Remember that I put in a claim for Dudley." 
 
 " There is time enough," answers Nelly, coloring deli 
 cately. " Barton, I have felt lately what a solemn thing 
 17*
 
 198 NELLY KIXNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 it is to have a sweet 3 r oung girl in your charge, to keep 
 out worldliness and conceit and folly amid worldly and 
 frivolous surroundings, and yet not thrust aside the true 
 pleasures of youth." 
 
 "There, I will not have you borrowing, trouble. I 
 have great faith in the Endicott good sense." 
 
 "Papa, papa! " cries a joyous voice with a ring in it 
 that the father has never heard in past days. 
 
 Mr. Van Alstyne lifted Bertie Kinnard out carefully, 
 and Miss Endicott courteously, then touched his hat, and 
 was about to drive away, when Nelly's voice arrested him. 
 
 "Do not go just yet, Mr. Van Alstyne. I want to 
 present j'ou to Dr. Kinnard, and thank you for the trouble 
 you have taken." 
 
 " "We went down to meet the train," explained Daisy, 
 " and thought we must bring home a disappointment. 
 Instead, you stole a march upon us. I am so glad, 
 Nelly!" 
 
 Mr. Van Alstyne responded politely ; but his gentle 
 manly manner did not prevent his taking a society meas 
 ure and estimate of " that handsome girl's husband." 
 
 "How could the marriage have come about?" he 
 mused in some curiosity, on his homeward way, having 
 declined an invitation to supper. " Something on the 
 Venus and Vulcan order, or Proserpine and Pluto. 
 Queer alliances happen to ordinary mortals, as well as to 
 the old gods. She was a minister's daughter ; and he was 
 the best that came to hand in a little country town, I 
 suppose. She may imagine she loves him;" and there 
 was an incredulous curl on his handsome lip. 
 
 " After all," he went on, " women are much alike, the 
 world over. I do believe all who are capable of the 
 grand passion have it once in their lives. She certainly 
 is. What eyes ! What a wealth of dormant passion, 
 fire, and tenderness, just under the surface, that she never 
 dreams of, but wastes her sweetness on that insensate
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 199 
 
 cub, who kisses her as if she was a china doll, and hangs 
 around her neck until I could give his a twist ! The 
 Endicott isn't bad, either, with her flavor of meadows and 
 wild roses, but not to be compared to the other. By 
 Jove, Van ! 3-011 have fallen into fresh pastures." 
 
 They at the cottage did not need to think of him. 
 Once in the sitting-room, Dr. Kinnard took Bertie upon 
 his knee, and looked him over in strange amaze. There 
 had come a gradual but great change to the child, and he 
 realized it suddenly. These months of Nelly's winsome, 
 gentle influence, began to bear fruit. The boyish rough 
 ness and ungraciousness, engendered in fear and repres 
 sion, fell away like an outside husk, and disclosed a warm, 
 childish heart. It had been a favorite sneer of Aunt 
 Adelaide's, when he was particularly intractable, that this 
 or that trait was just like his father. Nelly admitted that 
 she was nearer right than she seemed. So many faults 
 are bu virtues gnarled and trained awry. And now a 
 shaft of that sweet human love had pierced the child's 
 spiritual being, making a tender radiance. A touch of 
 moral braveiy, a bit of unselfishness, a courteous little 
 act done for her, and a careful avoidance of what she did 
 not like. And when she saw him spring forward with a 
 glad cry of welcome, or sitting, as he was now, half 
 bashfully on his father's knee, there was no jealousy in 
 her fine nature. She had brought these two nearer 
 together ; but it did not crowd her out. Love was not 
 such poor brittle stuff, that it must snap if another laid 
 a finger on it. 
 
 "He has improved wonderfullj-." But the words 
 covered more than mere plrysical advance. 
 
 " And I can walk very well without any crutch. O 
 papa ! can' t I throw it awaj r ? the ugly old thing ! ' ' 
 And the child looked up with pleading impetuosity. 
 
 " Not quite so fast, my son. We must not undo the 
 good work by impatience."
 
 200 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " Mamma said I might ask 3'ou." 
 
 " We will talk about it next time I come. And you 
 must always do just as she sa3 7 s." 
 
 " I do try, don't I, mamma? But then she lets me do 
 so many things, and drive the pony too. It's just 
 splendid ! ' ' 
 
 "Oh, my darling!" exclaimed the doctor when they 
 were alone, " how can I ever be sufficiently grateful for 
 all this care and good work? I feel sometimes as if you 
 had given the child a soul. It appeared so terrible to me 
 at first ; but, now that it is so nearly and successfully 
 ended, I forget the trouble, and see only the good." 
 
 " As it is right and best for you to do. It would bo 
 rank ingratitude for you to keep looking on the dark side, 
 and thinking of the grief that might have been. God 
 means us to enjoy the delight that he places right in our 
 way." 
 
 ' ' I begin to think he placed you in my way with a 
 definite purpose ; ' ' and there was a sweet, solemn light 
 in the soft brown e} T es. "My dear girl, I understand 
 occasionally that you have a wisdom of which I know 
 nothing." 
 
 If George Van Alstyne could have penetrated the holy 
 of holies in this wedded confidence, he might have found 
 his opinion quite at fault. 
 
 Two delightfully happy days there were for Nelly. The 
 doctor and Mrs. Glyndon had a spicy time. They always 
 made war upon each other's prejudices and beliefs with 
 gay good nature and freedom. He was satisfied with 
 their pleasant surroundings, and tore himself away with 
 great regret, promising to come soon again. 
 
 " I think he is as nice as anybody's papa," said Ber 
 tie confidentially. 
 
 The tide rolled back to every-day enjoyment. There 
 were continual feasts of delight, rowing-parties, when 
 the sun was not too hot ; boat-races, in which there was
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 201 
 
 much eager rivalry, the }'oung ladies wearing their favor 
 ite's colors ; driving on the beach, or through shady 
 lanes ; clambering over rocks ; unearthing strange treas 
 ures ; playing at science, for one cannot do much more on 
 a summer holiday. The poets took their pens, and wrote 
 idyls. The artists studied the changes of the glowing 
 midsummer sea in translucent greens, from opal paleness 
 to purple depths, or when the light reflected the azure 
 heavens, and crested each wave with sapphire tints. 
 Cool mornings, with a soft gray tinder-roof of cloud or 
 vapor ; brilliant evenings, when the setting sun seemed to 
 melt and transfuse all that was magnificent in coloring. 
 The} 7 discussed art over their cream, and the wonders of 
 the deep amid their dances, and picturesque views from 
 hill and hollow. Surely there was enough without playing 
 fast and loose with human hearts. 
 
 Mrs. Gl}'ndon's household had grown rapidly into favor. 
 There was a bit of romance about Mrs. Kinnard and her 
 lame step-son. Daisy Endicott was also in great demand. 
 Her infectious frankness, her clear, rejoicing nature, so 
 ready either to give or to hold, whichever seemed best ; to 
 fill up the uninviting corners of life's great harmony, and 
 give them the same glory as if they were high places ; 
 cheerfully illumining the dull parts and out-of-the-way 
 nooks that others disdained. 
 
 Old ladies said, " What a pretty, bright little body that 
 Miss Endicott is ! so full of life, and yet not frivolous, so 
 different from society-girls ! Why, it quite takes one back 
 to one's own youth. It is so good to see a 3'oung lady 
 free from the miserable vice of husband-hunting ! ' ' 
 
 The current set toward the cottage. The refined and 
 intellectual part of Severn Point counted on these little 
 teas and re-unions. Nelly, gracious and beautiful, moved 
 among them quite a social queen. She enjoyed the wider 
 talk, the breadth and freshness of ideas : she criticised 
 with a delicacy and force that gave tone to her opinions,
 
 202 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 formed, as many of them had been, in her father's stud} T . 
 There was a fascination in her cordial smile and the 
 depths of her clear, dark eyes. In this world, truth is 
 overlaid with so many disguises, that when one meets 
 with it in the absolute glory of its simpleness, one looks 
 about, like a man who has discovered a new and curious 
 gem, and wonders what name it shall have, as if God 
 had not named it long before ! 
 
 Mrs. Glyndon had also taken George Van Alstyne in 
 hand. Some woman is always seeing the capabilities of 
 these lazy, handsome fellows. She was not one of those 
 reprehensible persons, a married flirt ; but she liked a wide 
 sphere, and plenty of people to manage. The -half-dozen 
 children that Dr. Kinnard suggested would have been 
 admirable, after they had outgrown their unsatisfactory 
 babyhood. She did not like helplessness nor ignorance, 
 but wanted fully-developed material : to that she could 
 have been mother, friend, teacher. So she said of Van 
 
 " He wants a good sound shaking-up. He has talent 
 enough for any thing. I do believe, if he was to lose 
 every dollar, and be compelled to work for daily bread, 
 we should soon hear something from him. But there ! I 
 daresay some one would rise from an unheardof quarter 
 of the earth or the moon, and leave him half a million. 
 It's a shame when he might do so much ! " 
 
 He liked the humorous, half-petulant, and wholly 
 sensible scolding. He made himself quite necessary, 
 assisting her with pleasure-parties, picnics, and home- 
 entertainments. She took good care not to throw Daisy 
 Endicott in his way. Beach rambles, and moonlight 
 drives, plaintive little songs, and shady corners of the 
 porch through drows}- afternoons, provocative of much 
 reading of poetry, were wisely discountenanced, 
 guarded against rather than forbidden. 
 
 But he had been used to pleasing himself all his life,
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KIKGDOM. 203 
 
 without thinking of consequences. For him there were 
 none. He never staid to taste the bitter draught, or 
 waited for autumn frosts. Rather better than the majority 
 of men, he fancied himself. There .had been one brief 
 gambling-fever in his life ; and it had not proved a bad 
 lesson. He had never run away with any man's wife, 
 or betra}'ed any }'oung girl. Low company of all kinds 
 disgusted him : drinking and racing had no charms. 
 Surely his was the " primrose way." 
 
 It must be conceded that his estimate of women had 
 been formed, and perhaps not unjustly, from those he 
 was in the habit of mingling with, pure society-women ; 
 3"oung wives to whom dancing, dressing, and flirting was 
 the ultima thule of enjoyment, and who were glad to 
 take in their train so refined and attractive a man. The 
 other class were marriageable daughters, with managing 
 mammas or chaperones, who were ready to tear each other 
 in 'pieces for even a forlorn hope. He rather liked to 
 be the centre of this rivalry. He laughed at the pains 
 and allurements, the petty spite, the small stabs, and 
 selfish triumphs of these young women. That he helped 
 to lower them in his own and each other's estimation, 
 never once occurred to him. He spiced his reflections 
 with dainty bits of philosophy picked up here and there 
 in his reading, not of an elevating kind where the fair 
 sex were concerned. He meant to have a good time, and 
 plenty of what he called enjoyment. 
 
 He also had access to a higher circle, and found in it a 
 degree of piquant pleasure, women, who, from innate 
 force of character, stepped out of the rigid routine of 
 society. There was such a clique at Severn Point. He 
 could discuss painting and poetry, medicine and politics, 
 and the questions of the day regarding the social status 
 of women. His reading had not boen altogether frivolous ; 
 and his powers of observation were good, in the main. 
 They looked upon him as a step above a brilliant butterfly,
 
 204 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 but would never have thought of demanding a honey-bee's 
 labor from him. 
 
 He had gone the round of simple pleasures in that far- 
 back youth, when he thought a waltz with a handsome 
 girl divine. But he must have some excitement beyond 
 bread and tea. So he laid siege to Mrs. Kinnard's igno 
 rance of her own wants and powers. She should learn 
 that there was something higher and keener in the world 
 than the pleasure of ministering to the wants and whims 
 of a country doctor, and calling out her exquisite mother- 
 liness for this commonplace fledgeling. 
 
 And when she had learned her lesson what then, Mr. 
 Van Alstyne? When }-ou had taught her to believe her 
 present surroundings dull and narrow, her simple duties 
 distasteful ; when she aimed at greater heights of intel 
 lectual and pyschological pleasure, and felt herself bound 
 hand and foot, what had you to offer her for her olden 
 content, her unalloyed faith, her unstained sweetness? 
 Ah, then you would say pityingly, " Well, she was foolish 
 to marry such a clod ; but, having done it, there is 
 nothing but to abide by her bargain-," and leave her to 
 find her way back to the despoiled altar alone, if, haply, 
 it might be found at all. Would she bless her fatal 
 knowledge, think J T OU? 
 
 As for her, she never dreamed of his speculations. He 
 was an entertaining companion ; but she did not even seek 
 to make a friend of him. Their acquaintance would end 
 with this summer idling. It was like walking through 
 some palace garden ; but she felt no desire to pluck 
 blossoms simply because they were forbidden, and were 
 for other hands. She had no small vanity to be elated. 
 She had won the heart of one man, and was therewith 
 content.
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 "Such things, however, he used to do aforetime, also, he used 
 to offer you a little of what he received ; but he used to set before 
 himself the greater part." ARISTOPHANES' COMEDY. 
 
 IT was a musical evening this time. The performers 
 had been put down for certain parts, and were acquitting 
 themselves creditably, without any halts or demurs. The 
 audience were genially appreciative. In the pauses little 
 knots and groups chatted gayly. 
 
 Over in this corner, with a portfolio of Hogarth's satires 
 between them, sat Mrs. Kinnard and Mr. Van Alstyne. 
 She had done her part in singing, been very agreeable to 
 some new-comers ; and now, rather to her surprise, she 
 found herself alone with him in a somewhat earnest dis 
 cussion. 
 
 "Then you do not think," he was saying, " that this 
 soul we have been speaking of has a right to free itself 
 from the customs and shackles of society, and live out a 
 higher life, one more true to itself ? " 
 
 " Now you generalize quite too much, Mr. Van Al 
 styne," she answered with a frank smile. "Isn't being 
 'true to one's self ' a rather confusing term ? What if 
 the self were wrong? In such a case, would the life have 
 an}' greater freedom ? Would not the restless soul come 
 to another bar presently, and fret against that ? Do not 
 people occasionally mistake restlessness for develop 
 ment?" 
 
 " But one cannot remain forever in the same old groove. 
 
 18 205
 
 206 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 It is not natural or right. I hate people who fancy they 
 are fitted, once for all, in some corner." 
 
 " But it may fit them ; " and she glanced up brightly. 
 " It seems to me a fortunate thing for the stability of the 
 world, for progress even, that all do not want to change." 
 
 " But you would take away improvement. And pardon 
 me, Mrs. Kinnard, but that does not seem like you. I 
 have admired you in man}' things, I cannot help it ; and 
 one has been this very breadth and liberality of opinion." 
 
 It was most delicate flatten". His eyes vouched for 
 his earnestness, if not his truth. 
 
 "What I mean is this, Mr. Van Alstyne," she said 
 with the most direct simplicity. " There are certain 
 known laws of right and wrong, subject to small modifica 
 tions perhaps. But it seems hardly safe to me to stray 
 out of the beaten path. When one begins to make new 
 laws, there is no limit. Might it not be possible for these 
 souls to improve under existing circumstances? Have 
 they tried all in their own sphere, all work, all prayer, 
 all patience ? ' ' 
 
 He was not prepared to meet so important a question, 
 and said, rather evasively, 
 
 " Then you don't think anybody in this world is mis 
 fitted, out of place? I do, I can't help it. Neither can 
 I blame them for trying to get somewhere else. They 
 may -make many mistakes before they find their true 
 sphere." 
 
 A grave light filled her beautiful eyes. 
 
 " Yes : I have seen people whom I thought were out of 
 place ; but, if they endeavored earnestly and patiently to 
 fulfil their allotted tasks, there was a heroism about it that 
 taught a grander lesson than any mere personal enjo}'- 
 ment. Do you not think, when a person sets out to have 
 happiness or indulgence at any cost, he may take that 
 which is clearly another's? What is a strong desire of 
 that to which some other has attained, but covetous- 
 ness?"
 
 KELLY KESTNARD'S KINGDOM. 207 
 
 " It might not be another person's." 
 
 " But that was where we started from. This poor soul, 
 seeing the richness and fulness of other lives, longs for 
 liberty to get out of its sphere, to leave its duties behind, 
 to seek pleasure wherever it can be found, perhaps the 
 very thing, that God, for some wise purpose, is keeping 
 out of its way. I have thought sometimes, that when a 
 person desires a thing very much, a thing that others 
 could see was wrong and improper, - God allowed him to 
 attain it, and take the bitter consequences that followed 
 in its train." 
 
 " But it seems hard, when one has made a mistake, to 
 forbid him to try again. Are you not a fatalist in happi 
 ness?" and he smiled with a dangerous, alluring light. 
 " If it comes, well and good : if not, make no search for 
 it." 
 
 "Not quite. The trouble is in making it the chief 
 good, in searching so restlessly for it. "We are talking 
 unwarrantably at an evening party, are we not? Miss 
 Graham is going to sing ' Three Fishers ; ' and 3-011 must 
 listen. And there is Miss Howe." 
 
 She beckoned for the latter to join them. Van Alstyne 
 bit his lip. Any other woman would have been delighted 
 to keep him to herself. He was not used to friendly in 
 difference on the part of the sex. And he wished she 
 were not so horribly practical with her right and wrong. 
 Wh}' could she not compare and analyze feelings, emo 
 tions, even wishes, and stray to that farther verge where 
 love trenched upon passion ? Was there any thing intense 
 or enthusiastic in her nature ? 
 
 Provoked, he stra3~ed off to another group. Daisy En- 
 dicott had been talking earnestly ; and the flush was still 
 on her face : her eyes had a peculiar, dew} r softness. He 
 was bored by the music, and in a mood of vexed despera 
 tion : so he brought out all his fascinations, and charmed 
 her.
 
 208 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 }' happened to glance up, and caught sight of 
 Daisy's rapt, attentive face. She crossed over to them, 
 and would have detached her ; but it was not so easily 
 done. He was a skilful tactician on his own ground. 
 
 " Can she be jealous? " he thought with secret exulta 
 tion. "Is she like other women in this? If so, I hold 
 the trump-card." 
 
 He had no fine scruples upon this point. It amused 
 him to see one woman pitted against another. He had 
 been good quite long enough. Not a single spicy flirta 
 tion this whole summer ! 
 
 He was tired of these intellectual arguments, compari 
 sons of old and new truths, intricate and toilsome reason 
 ings, higher culture, mental progress, growth, evolution, 
 and all that. He was here in the world to have a good 
 time. A long afternoon in some blossomy nook, watch 
 ing the color come and go on a woman's cheek, her eyes 
 droop, and the lids tremble, the scarlet lip quiver with 
 contending emotions, the white hands clasp of themselves 
 now and then, as if they were longing for some other 
 clasp ah ! that was worth all the metaphysics in the 
 world for him. 
 
 " I don't object to the enjoyment of others : why should 
 they to mine?" he reasoned petulantly to himself. "To 
 show a woman that she has a heart is surely no great 
 crime, so long as you do not win it." 
 
 But where did he mean the knowledge to end, and the 
 experience to begin? 
 
 So far, Daisy Endicott had passed unscathed. While 
 there had been much pleasure at Severn Point, flirtations 
 had been kept in the background. Mrs. Glyndon was 
 not the kind of woman to allow a man to drift into fond 
 ness for her. She had very little sentiment ; and that was 
 of the highest order. Nelly Kinnard would have blushed 
 with shame at any one daring to esteem her in but one 
 light, that of Dr. Kiuiiard's wife. Her theory was,
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 209 
 
 that, in these cases, a woman must hold out some encour 
 agement ; and she experienced a pitying sympathy for' 
 those unfortunates who turned from ill-chosen companions 
 to the dangerous sympathy and fascinating possibility that 
 occasionally opened before them. 
 
 But in Van Alstyne's code there were no fine distinctions. 
 That subtle understanding must flash out when the right 
 souls met. They need not cause a scandal (he would be 
 the last one to do that) ; but they might admit in their 
 secret hearts, that, if fate had led them in different paths 
 
 Would he be content to stay in this path with this or 
 that woman? It was a question he never asked himself. 
 To him there was always an outgrowing, a sense of further 
 development. But if, on the other side, there was not this 
 fatal changing ? The most fickle man demands that the 
 woman he loves shall be true to him. 
 
 It was an easy matter to be a little more to Daisy 
 Endicott. They had been such frank, good friends, this 
 man of the world, and the simple-hearted girl. Why 
 could he not let her grow and blossom for the one hand to 
 pluck presently, to have and to hold forever? 
 
 It was only a deeper meaning in the smiles ; the peculiar 
 turn of a word or sentence ; a choice flower ; a bit of 
 poetry, the pathos of which she could readily understand, 
 and that he would hardly ofier at any other shrine on 
 account of its rare simplicity ; asking aid and comfort 
 in some weary moment, and showing her the despondency 
 of his moods, while others believed he never had a serious 
 feeling. 
 
 " She will be none the worse for a little experience 
 of her own," he argued selfishly, salving thereby his 
 conscience. 
 
 Opportunities, as I have said, were not wanting. Mat 
 ters had settled into so comfortable a groove, that Mrs. 
 Glj-ndon was no longer watchful. lie did not mean to 
 draw any other person's attention to his idling ; and this 
 18*
 
 210 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 very fact was calculated to blind an unsuspicious girl. 
 Daisy Endicott knew so little of the fatal craving for ex 
 citement ; her life had been so healthful, her duties fresh 
 and varied, if simple. Her affection flowed in natural 
 channels, and did not need to tread daintily and daringly 
 to the verge of danger. There was no continual intro 
 spection or morbid analysis : she lived daily in the ' ' open 
 sunshine of God's love," and was content. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard had made two brief visits at Severn Point, 
 one of a night's duration, the other a little longer ; but 
 he did not come for society. Nelly asked when they were 
 to return home. 
 
 ' ' Are you not happy and content here ? ' ' was his half- 
 humorous query. 
 
 " Yes, both. But when I think of you in your lonely 
 home, and with your pressing duties, I feel as if my place 
 was at your side." 
 
 " Thank you, my dear ; " and he drew her closer to his 
 side with a fond pressure, though the grave little frown, 
 that seldom meant any thing more than a puzzle, settled 
 between his brows. "I may as well tell you the truth, 
 Nelly ; " and then it cleared up. " The fever at Edgerly 
 has been worse than I at first expected. At times I have 
 felt quite discouraged. "What can 3-011 do when people 
 are so afraid of fresh air and cleanliness ; when they spread 
 their beds as soon as they are out of them ; allow all 
 manner of refuse to gather in cellars, or lay festering in 
 back-yards ; who are ignorant of the first laws of health, 
 and stick obstinately to what their grandfathers and 
 grandmothers did under widely different circumstances ? 
 If it was only the poor and careless who sickened and 
 died as the result of their own inefficiency but these 
 things spread, as they have at Edgerly. "We are high, 
 and out of reach of malaria ; but still it is a relief to have 
 you and Bertie away. I have less to think of. I can 
 come and go as I please ; and 3 - ou may imagine that I am 
 kept pretty busj r ."
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 211 
 
 ' ' But j-our own danger ! You think nothing of that ! ' ' 
 she cried vehemently. 
 
 " My own danger is not very alarming," he returned 
 rather gaj'ly. " I have not lived in this world six and 
 thirty years without learning to take care of nryself. 
 Don't make a bugbear of that now ! I will promise you, 
 that, at the first S3'mptom of any thing like indisposition, 
 I will rejoin you here. There, is not that enough? It 
 would be cowardly to desert my post in my present 
 robust health." 
 
 "But does Mary keep you quite comfortable?" the 
 young wife inquired anxiously. 
 
 " Mary is a jewel. Little Katy has been rather ailing : 
 so we sent her away. I wanted mother to go; but" 
 and he shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " You could not manage her as easily as you do me." 
 
 ' ' Exactly, Nelly ; ' ' and he gave a mellow laugh. ' ' She 
 is on the spot, j'ou see, and will not go ; and, somehow " 
 
 He rose in the long pause, and began to pace the floor 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "Yes," he went on directty, " somehow matters have 
 changed between us. She seems to care for watching 
 over me, and doesn't fret as she used. Maybe I am 
 more patient: I don't know. Actually, Nelty, she keeps 
 fresh flowers on the dining-table, and has come to have 
 wa} r s like you. It is very pleasant," in a kind of dreamy 
 tone. 
 
 "Very pleasant!" Nelly Kinnard crowded down 
 something that seemed to rise with her breath. Another 
 woman ministering in her place, standing in her stead, 
 copying her ways, breathing soft and tender words, teach 
 ing him to miss her less and less? There was a quick, 
 sharp pang to be crowded out! Why, the child was 
 not half to her that he was, her chosen husband. 
 Should she not demand her right? 
 
 She thrust out the foul temptation. If any jealous
 
 212 KELLY KINKABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 feeling entered in, it should not take possession. God 
 had made him a son long before human love made him a 
 husband. She ought to feel glad and satisfied that there 
 was some one to cheer his solitude. 
 
 She sprang up suddenly, holding out her hands with 
 wordless entreat}'. He took them with a little caress, 
 then, infolding her with his arm, went on pacing the room 
 with her at his side. 
 
 " Nell}-," and a touch of emotion trembled in his 
 voice, " I think }'our life at Edgerly has been thorn}' in 
 many ways. I might have helped some of it at first, if 
 I had known how ; but I was afraid of making matters 
 worse. And men cannot see with women's eyes, lucky for 
 them sometimes that they do not ;" and he laughed with 
 a flavor of iron}'. " I have to thank you for a great deal 
 of patience and sweetness : nay, let me go on. I had a 
 man's fancy that I was marrying you all for myself. I 
 meant that you should be troubled with no responsibility 
 of children, until it pleased God to grant you some of 
 your.own. As for mother and Aunt Adelaide, what they 
 thought was of small importance to me. But (shall I 
 say it?) Providence" and there was a reverential in 
 flection to his voice "has changed much of this. You 
 have won a mother's sacred place in Bertie's affection, 
 given him more tenderness than many mothers bestow. 
 You have made him nearer to me : you have brought the 
 solemn responsibility of fatherhood before me in its 
 divine light. When I look back " 
 
 She felt the arm tremble that clasped her so closely. 
 Ah ! could any thing shut her out of his heart ? 
 
 He was not much given to talking matters over. She 
 would never know just what this separation was doing for 
 him, for her ; how he missed her in a thousand ways 
 that he could never have put in words ; how he lingered 
 over her courage and tenderness of the past winter, 
 discovering the exquisite delicacy and richness of a true
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 213 
 
 woman's nature, thanking God with a strange humility 
 for the rare gift vouchsafed to him. 
 
 In this softened mood, he turned to his mother with a 
 sympathy she had seldom received before. A century of 
 living alone with her would never have brought out his 
 best points. She fretted and jarred too much : he with 
 drew to inward solitudes. Her stubborn pride would not 
 have allowed her to soften perceptibly before Nelly ; and 
 even now she would have fiercely resented any suspicion 
 of copying such an inexperienced 3"oung woman. But 
 she did many things with no higher motive, it must be 
 confessed, than to please him ; and, in his changed mood, 
 he was touched by these little evidences of affection on 
 her part. People are not so widely separated as they 
 imagine. Often the partition-wall is hardly more than 
 paper, and needs but the right touch to break it down. 
 These son-like ways were not as new to Ms thought, 
 perhaps, as to the outward expression of them. There 
 was no Aunt Adelaide to nip sentiment in the bud with 
 her cold sneers. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard bent, and kissed his wife tenderly. 
 
 " I think we shall find a smoother way in the future, 
 little woman," he went on with an effort at gayety, hard 
 ly venturing to trust his voice further among the deep 
 emotions of the soul. "And, when you return, I hope 
 there will await you what you have not yet had, a 
 mother's cordial welcome." 
 
 Nelly gave the arm that encircled her a caressing 
 pressure. 
 
 " You will stay, and be content? You will not worry 
 about me ? Have this much confidence in me, my dear 
 child, that I shall not run any unnecessary risks. But 
 it is hardly so bad as that." 
 
 Yes, she would have faith in him, not only in the mat 
 ter of the sickness, but in others of deeper moment. 
 Nothing should impair the sweetness of her trust.
 
 214 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. , 
 
 And yet there were hours when she would have pre 
 ferred toil beside him to the dreamy indolence to which 
 she seemed condemned. True, Bertie improved every 
 day. They resumed some of the discarded lessons, 
 though it was more object than book teaching. She 
 interested herself in household affairs with her gracious 
 tact. 
 
 "My asking you here was a positive inspiration," 
 Mrs. Glyndon would exclaim. " What could I have 
 done without you ? ' ' 
 
 Mr. Van Alstyne remarked her pre-occupation. Did it 
 betoken some secret dissatisfaction ? She watched Daisy 
 with a quiet but unflagging solicitude. Was it a touch of 
 jealousy, just enough to make her piquant, a fear lest 
 he should prove too attractive ? He felt strangely elated 
 by either view of the case. If he could only succeed in 
 rousing her to any thing ! To see the fine dark e}-es grow 
 lustrous, to deepen the color on the beautiful cheek, or 
 rouse the lips out of their placid curves ! Why, he could 
 have won almost any other woman's soul with half the 
 effort but, Mr. Van Alstyne, it would not have been 
 this order of woman. 
 
 An incident occurred just at this time that served to 
 heighten his interest in both, and hasten the catastrophe 
 Nelly was studying to avert. 
 
 "I am going to send Dudley to Severn Point," said 
 Dr. Kinnard in one of his letters. " He has worked him 
 self out, and needs change and rest. Tell Mrs. Glyndon 
 to take him in hand, while I prescribe negatives, no 
 sermons, no theological points, no plans for parish work, 
 nothing but eating, sleeping, and diversion." 
 
 There had been a thinning-out at the hotels. Vacation 
 had ended for some of the young men ; and the ladies 
 needed fresh pastures. Tableaux had grown tiresome ; 
 amateur concerts were on the wane ; picnics with gypsy 
 suppers had lost their charm. Indeed, Mrs. Glyndon's
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 215 
 
 evenings were the only entertainments that kept their 
 piquancy and freshness. 
 
 "Mr. Dudley will be quite an excitement," said Mrs. 
 Gtyndon with a wonderful accession of interest. " Let 
 me see the Edgecombes will just suit him; and they 
 have that delightful second-story room empty. Nelty, 
 we must go over and see." 
 
 " That is the way with you women. You must always 
 have some one new in your train, a tame bear, or a pet 
 lion. Will I be eaten up, or growled at? " 
 
 Mrs. Glyndon laughed heartily. 
 
 " Upon my word, Mr. Van Alstyne, it is odd to rouse 
 you to such fierceness. Why, I thought you were asleep 
 there on the sofa : so Mrs. Kinnard and I would be quite 
 at libert} T to discuss ways and means. And then he is 
 Mrs. Kinnard' s clergyman." 
 
 ' ' Father-confessor ? ' ' 
 
 "Well not exactly;" and Mrs. Glyndon gave a 
 funny perk to her brows. 
 
 "So you throw me overboard. Well, republics are 
 ungrateful." 
 
 " Why, no. But you were complaining of dulness no 
 longer ago than yesterday." 
 
 " Was I? A man can repent, I suppose," raising his 
 slow-moving, magnificent eyes. " I am tired of hanging 
 around with hands full of shawls and baskets. The dewy 
 uplands are wet ; the sun scorches you ; and the gnats 
 sting in the shade " 
 
 " And the spray wets 3*ou, the dancing heats you, the 
 driving bores you. You are a spoiled child, Van 
 Alstyne. You have been indulged until you think the 
 whole world ought to revolve around j'ou. It is high 
 time I took you in hand, and set you in your proper 
 place." 
 
 The pretty assumption of motherliness did not in the 
 least offend him. When Mrs. Glyndon said she scolded,
 
 216 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 3'ou might know of a truth that she was extra good- 
 humored. 
 
 " Why, we ought to go this \ery afternoon," she says 
 presentlj-, jumping up in a little fluster. " To-day is 
 Friday ; and Mr. Dudle3 r will be here on Monday. You 
 can amuse jxnirself, can you not, Van Alstyne? " 
 
 " Oh, don't mind me ! I must go and sa}^ good-by to 
 half a dozen women who set sail to-morrow ; " and he rises 
 in a lazily-petulant manner while they are making their 
 plans. Mr. Dudley's coming is not a pleasant prospect to 
 him. 
 
 " Addio," \vith regretful grace and ease.
 
 CHAPTER XVIH. 
 
 " But had I wist, when first I kist, 
 
 That love hae been sae ill to win, 
 I'd locked my heart in case o' gowd, 
 And pinned it wi' a siller pin." OLD BALLAD. 
 
 No, it was not a pleasant prospect. He hated to be 
 pushed aside for any man : he was not used to it where 
 women were concerned. He was sauntering along in a 
 vexed mood, when he met Miss Endicott, her hands full 
 of feathery grasses, and looking like a "Watteau shepherd 
 ess in her wide seaside hat with its white frilling and 
 cheny-colored bows. 
 
 " They are discussing Mr. Dudley, and will be out the 
 next hour, hunting him up a domicile of some kind. So 
 they don't need you, and I do ; for I am in a horridly ill- 
 humor. "Will j'oii not take a ramble down to the Point, 
 good Samaritan?" 
 
 She glanced up into the handsome face with some 
 indecision ; but the entreating eyes and beseeching smile 
 conquered it. 
 
 " I have been out all the afternoon with Miss Gra 
 ham ' ' 
 
 "Then finish it with me. There, we will lay the 
 grasses in this sheltered nook ; " and he took them from 
 her hand, slipping it within his arm. He knew well that 
 taking possession was better than arguing half an hour. 
 
 On they went to the gray ledges of rock, where they 
 could sit with the shining sand at their feet, and the 
 
 19 217
 
 218 NELLY KJNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 wide waters spread out before them. They were quite 
 alone too. Out in the hazy distance, some fishermen 
 were singing. The billows, crested -in pale emerald and 
 frost-white, came in like fairy squadrons on some enchanted 
 quest. The pale clear sun went dropping down in the 
 west beyond the distant town, shedding a softened glory, 
 instead of his usual fiery rays. The sky was of palest 
 blue with long sapphire streaks. Bars of dim 3'ellow, 
 faint violet, and delicate rose, crossed the golden back 
 ground, and presently mingled into cool, dreamy gray, 
 that left a peculiar luminous track on the waves. 
 
 He talked, and she listened with shy, girlish gladness. 
 It was not so much what he said as his manner of saying 
 it. She could not have repeated one entire sentence 
 afterward; but the impression sank into her soul. She 
 had a feeling that it would be delightful to stay here for 
 ever, listening to the caressing sweetness of his voice, that 
 chorded so exquisitely with the twilight rhythm of the sea. 
 And, after a while, it was all gray about them, the 
 purple and dun gray of coming night. 
 
 " Oh ! " she cried, rousing herself, " we must go home. 
 I did not dream it was so late." 
 
 He started at the full, rich depths of her voice, the 
 tone that comes from a soul that has been quaffing draughts 
 from Circean fountains. He had willed to be fascinating, 
 to stir the depths of her nature ; and he had succeeded. 
 If he preserved that grave, brotherly demeanor, she would 
 never know how near she had been to the fatal shore. 
 Could he ? It was only pastime, on his part ; and he had 
 gone far enough. Would he? 
 
 They walked slowly back. She was in too much of an 
 enchanted atmosphere to be disturbed by any anxiety of 
 what was to come. They found the grasses ; and he went 
 with her to the gate. Ah ! after all, had he the manliness 
 to let her* go? the soft, brown fluttering dove. 
 
 They said good-night. Then he turned. It was a 
 cruel deed on his part.
 
 NELLY KQTNAKD'S KINGDOM. 219 
 
 " Daisy," he had always called her Miss Enclicott 
 before, " Daisj^, you will not allow this new-comer to 
 crowd me out? I ought to retain some of the rights of a 
 friend, surely." His voice sank to that low, entreating 
 sweetness. "Promise." 
 
 " Yes," she answered softly, overcome by some subtle 
 knowledge. Then he raised her hand, and pressed an 
 eager kiss upon it. 
 
 She did not think, " He loves me." Her shyness and 
 humility would have forbidden that until he confessed it. 
 She was on a wide, delicious sea, satisfied to drift care 
 lessly into port. 
 
 She opened the hall-door slowly. A softened light 
 came from the dining-room, where they were at the table, 
 with the addition of Miss Howe, who had " run over" to 
 discuss her new plans. She was to go to Paris in Septem 
 ber. 
 
 " Well, truant ! " was the gay exclamation. " You and 
 Miss Graham did not quite conclude to play babes in the 
 wood. Oh, what beautiful grasses ! Did you go to the 
 hotel?" 
 
 " Yes," answered Daisy. Miss Howe's voice restored 
 her to ever3'-day life. 
 
 " Did you see her dress? Isn't it exquisite? You are 
 not going to the hop? It is the last at Eastwoods." 
 
 " No," returned Mrs. Glyndon. 
 
 "You staid late," said Nelly gently. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Kinnard, think of girls' confidences 
 over new gowns ! I remember of holding some lengthy 
 ones a decade ago ; and I am still fond of pretty dresses. 
 What were we talking of, Mrs. Glyndoii? Oh, those 
 French apartments ! I think the}^ would be pleasanter. 
 We shall have Mrs. McLean to matronize us, you know. 
 Yv T hen I went before with papa, we were at hotels ; but 
 that was merely touring. Now I expect to live." 
 
 Daisy took her place, and ate her supper. Afterward,
 
 220 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 she changed her dress ; for some one always dropped in. 
 Circumstances, and not any design of her own, had given 
 her a secret, too rare and precious to be brought out to 
 common day. And with secrets begins danger. 
 
 Van Alstyne was over the next afternoon with Miss 
 Howe, who teased him concerning a rosebud one of the 
 ladies at the hotel had given him. 
 
 " I think you are envious," he said plaj-fully. " Here, 
 I am going to leave it to perish in Miss Endicott's hair. 
 It could not have a better fate." 
 
 He leaned over and fastened it, hiding the blushing 
 face in a friendly manner, and giving one daring glance 
 into the frightened eyes. 
 
 "Wiry, Severn Point will be almost deserted when 
 your party go," said Mrs. Glyndon. "What will you 
 do? " and she turned to Van Alstyne. 
 
 " I don't see why I should rush off to the city amid 
 the sweltering heat of August," he replied impatiently. 
 " If 3'ou are tired of me, I might take a hunting-tour to 
 the Rocky Mountains until New York gets habitable 
 once more." 
 
 "Why, no: we are not tired of you," and she gave 
 him a rather puzzled look ; " but I think, sometimes, that 
 3*ou are tired of j'ourself. Summer holidays are delight 
 ful ; but life is not all summer." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders daintily. " It will be time 
 enough to think of winter by and b}'. I daresay I shall 
 astonish you, some day, by a vast amount of hidden and 
 well seasoned talent." 
 
 "I only hope you will," said Miss Howe. "I know 
 well enough that }'ou could." 
 
 " For instance, when the divining-finger of love touches 
 me;" and his eyes wandered in a downcast manner to 
 Daisy Endicott. 
 
 " Van Alstyne ! " cried Miss Howe sharply. " A man 
 who depends upon love for his redemption is hardly worth 
 saving."
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 221 
 
 "Perhaps I am not. I don't know," he said with 
 strange, sad softness. 
 
 Mr. Dudley came, according to arrangement. He was 
 looking quite worn now. There was nothing in his 
 appearance to compare with Mr. Van Alstyne, it was 
 true ; and yet his was a fine, scholarly face, with truthful 
 63-68, and a frank smile, a man who gave the impres 
 sion of much quiet courage and persistence ; who, though 
 not lacking in energy, would win more souls by his tire 
 less patience than by hurrying them out of danger. 
 
 They had to talk, first of all, about Edgerly. The fever 
 had been worse than Dr. Kinnard had admitted to them. 
 
 "But he is just the man to take such a matter in 
 hand," explained Mr. Dudley in a glow of admiration. 
 " He did one good thing, cleared out Hull's Row root 
 and branch ; and the whole block is torn down to make 
 room for something better. Why, the basement-walls were 
 thick with mould. The worst cases of fever were there ; 
 and, when three died in one day, the authorities found it 
 was high time to bestir themselves. I wish he could be 
 put in president of the Board of Health : he wouldn't go 
 at evils with light kid gloves, I assure you." 
 
 Nelly smiled appreciatively. " I have been afraid all 
 the time that something would happen to him." 
 
 " He has such a magnificent physique, Mrs. Kinnard! 
 And then didn't you leave a little of yourself in the 
 house?" with a quick, questioning smile. "Mrs. Chase 
 went away ; and the doctor, j*ou see, made me come but 
 and spend the nights with him. It is all so different from 
 what it used to be ! I can't exactly tell, but wonderfully 
 enjoyable ; and it made me think continually of you." 
 
 Mr. Van Alstyne felt a good deal annoyed at the 
 "parson's freedom," as he termed it. In a fit of morti 
 fied vanity, he half resolved to go away. The little 
 Endicott might get fond of him." 
 
 Then he discovered, with a man's sharp eyes, that 
 
 19*
 
 222 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Arthur Dudley was not altogether insensible to her 
 charms. No, he would stay and see the fun out. 
 
 The party had diminished so much, that Mr. Dudley 
 and Mr. Van Alstyne were the only constant attendants. 
 The drives, the sails, and rambles were to be taken over 
 again. He had either Daisy or Mrs. Kinnard for a 
 companion. 
 
 He used to fancy sometimes, that, if he had met her 
 before her foolish marriage, it was always foolish to 
 him, she might have been the one woman to awaken 
 his ambition, and lead him in some useful path. He 
 quite forgot the many brilliant and rarely endowed women 
 who had crossed his way. Still there was something 
 eminently attractive in her very directness, her truth, and 
 honor. Even a friendship with her there would be no 
 breach of decorum in that. 
 
 Ah ! her eyes were too clear. She had been trained, in 
 her simple home, to finer reasonings than the picturesque 
 imaginings of what might have been under different cir 
 cumstances, or the so-called metaphysical distinctions 
 that confuse vice and virtue. He was a handsome, 
 attractive, cultured man ; but his specious arguments had 
 no more weight with her from that fact. His dangerous 
 beauty could make no impression on this woman ; and it 
 stung him keenly. 
 
 There was a week or ten days of odd, under-current 
 skirmishing. Mrs. Kinnard was throwing her sister into 
 Mr. Dudley's hands, that was evident ; and Dudley was 
 going into the realms of fancy with rapid strides. But 
 he could summon Miss Endicott back again. There was 
 a subtle understanding between, something that would 
 have been quite indescribable on Daisy's part, had she 
 wanted to confess it ; and no pure, sweet soul like hers 
 could have talked over a suspected love. It had not come 
 near enough to isolate her, not even to set her thinking 
 what this friendly tenderness on Mr. Dudley's part meant.
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 223 
 
 September came in brilliantly, with magnificent sun 
 sets that made the sea a glow of fire. Dr. Kinnard was 
 to come for a week, and then the household would break 
 np ; Mrs. Glyndon going on a westward tour with her 
 husband. Nelly counted the daj's from no spirit of 
 ungraciousness, but a positive longing for relief from the 
 strain upon her. A thrilling fear had taken possession 
 of her. Save Daisy she must, if she exerted herself to 
 the utmost ; and never had Van Alstyne made himself 
 more dangerous. She had the strong safeguard of a 
 husband's love., and her own honor; but how was Daisy, 
 to know the shoals and quicksands of this desperate 
 tide! 
 
 This was what Van Alstyne liked. He could not 
 understand her noble impulse ; but he saw she was re 
 solved to keep him away from her sister, even if she 
 made the utmost exertion. It brought out the latent 
 forces of her nature, many charming little ways that a 
 society-belle might have envied for their daint} 7 piquancy. 
 
 "I shall have one more entertainment," said Mrs. 
 Gbyndon. ' ' I want to ask the Daventrj-s and the Max 
 wells ; but I am a little puzzled ; ' ' and there she 
 paused. 
 
 "About what?" asked Daisy, looking up from her 
 game of chess with Van Alstyne, who was playing shame 
 fully into her hands. 
 
 "I want it to be real charming, of course. If the 
 Howe party were here, we would make it music and con 
 versation ; but the Daventry girls are extravagantby fond 
 of dancing. Dr. Kinnard and Mr. Dudley will be here, 
 and how to suit the different tastes " 
 
 " "Why, have everything," said Van Alstyne, looking 
 up with a glow of interest, talking for the sedate, music 
 for the sentimental, and dancing for such commonplace 
 people as Miss Endicott and I. There ! why do you not 
 say ' check ? ' You may never have so good a chance 
 again."
 
 224 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " You have not been tiying in real earnest." 
 
 "And j-ou consider me of so little worth, that you 
 won't even take me at a game of chess." 
 
 "I oh!" and Daisj' blushed distressfully under the 
 glance of the deep eyes. 
 
 " Yes, Mrs. Glyndon, that will be the best of all," he 
 went on. " And then one of your dainty suppers." 
 
 " There is not much space for dancing; but, if I do 
 undertake it, I want your very best assistance, Mr. Van 
 Alstyne. No indolent indifference, mind 3*011. I should 
 hate to have a failure." 
 
 " We could open Nelly's room, you know," said Daisy. 
 
 " And have the band from the hotel. Why, let me see, 
 next Wednesdaj-, it will be almost full moon." 
 
 ' ' Just magnificent ! Now you have it all without any 
 trouble." 
 
 "I think we might make it really delightful. And 
 there is Mrs. Kinnard and Bertie." 
 
 Van Alstyne bent over to pick up a fallen chessman. 
 "Remember," he said, "you are engaged to me fora 
 good share of the dancing. Have you forgotten that my 
 very first introduction to you was as partner for a qua 
 drille?" 
 
 No, she had not. And she was touched by his remem 
 brance of it. 
 
 They sent out their invitations, and everybody began to 
 count on the pleasure. Afterward there would be a gen 
 eral dispersion. Even Van Alstj'ne spoke of taking a 
 little run up in Canada. 
 
 Tuesday brought Dr. Kinnard. Nelly welcomed him 
 with an hysterical cry of joy. 
 
 " Well, you see I am not worn to skin and bone by 
 any means," he said laughingly. " I think I could go 
 through another summer with tolerable comfort, though I 
 prefer an autumn sandwiched between. But I am quite 
 satisfied with you. Why, }-ou are positively radiant. 
 Won't you be ashamed of an old chap like me? "
 
 NELLY KLNSTABD'S KINGDOM. 225 
 
 " I am so glad to have you, so glad ! " she cried with 
 quivering lips. 
 
 " I do bolieve } - ou are. No handsome j'oung man has 
 put you out of conceit with j*our old fellow? Come, I 
 will not have any tears for my welcome." 
 
 They rambled together out of doors all the evening. 
 Van Alstyne supposed her in her room, and was a little 
 vexed at her sudden desertion, enforced, as he insisted it 
 must be. Mrs. Glyndon sent both men home early, 
 declaring she and Miss Endicott could not afford to lose 
 their beauty sleep. 
 
 They were busy enough the next day, preparing, and 
 adorning the rooms. Mr. Dudley brought in some 
 branches of sumach, and clusters of scarlet maple-leaves. 
 The weather was still warm ; and the evening promised to 
 be exceptionally fine. The band came, and was stationed 
 on the balcony. The rooms were all thrown open ; the 
 guests began to assemble with most cordial greetings. 
 Colored lanterns had been hung around, giving the house 
 quite a gala appearance. 
 
 George Van Alstyne was in a most daring and bewil 
 dering mood. Mrs. Kinnard looked radiant to-night, and 
 he meant to make her bestow a good deal of attention 
 upon him, if he flirted desperately with Daisy Endicott to 
 gain it. 
 
 And Daisy? She, too, was touched by the vague 
 something in the atmosphere. A peculiar knowledge had 
 come to her, like a blinding flash of light ; and it had not 
 brought happiness. When she first came down, Arthur 
 Dudley stood in the hall. He turned for one quick 
 glance. 
 
 Her soft white dress and white sash gave her a sugges 
 tive bridal look, relieved only by a knot of scarlet leaves 
 in her hair, and another at her throat. The dewy eyes, 
 the faint tint in the checks, the smiling, summer-ripe lips, 
 and the fair, clear skin, made her beautiful as youth.
 
 226 KELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 health, and happiness only can. Oddly enough, Van Al- 
 styne had chosen her attire. She was thinking of that. 
 Arthur Dudley thought, " How fair she is ! the one woman 
 in the world for me. Does she know, does she guess, that 
 I love her? " and then some fatal impetuosity lured him 
 forward. He crossed the hall, took both hands in his, 
 stooped and kissed her, and then would have given any 
 thing to recall the hasty impulse. 
 
 " Forgive," he murmured softly, entreating^. 
 
 She turned with a blushing face. Some one spoke in 
 the hall above. There was a stir out of doors ; and she 
 was glad to escape. 
 
 There was no thrill of joy, rather a shiver of pain. 
 And why ? Last spring and summer she had liked him 
 so much ! Had these ten weeks changed her feelings ? 
 She was ignorant no longer. Her eyes were opened to 
 that sweet mystery. 
 
 " But I cannot, cannot love him ! " she cried to her 
 self despairingly ; and her whole being seemed tossed in 
 a rebellion of unrest. 
 
 The guests were coming. She flitted from one to an 
 other 5 she welcomed with e}-es that had never been so 
 brilliant, in their agony of shame and pain. She must 
 evade him, at any cost. Ah ! here was a cool masterty 
 voice. 
 
 " Come out and walk a little. Why, you are all flushed 
 and heated : what have } T OU been doing ? There is 3- our 
 sister and Mrs. Glyndon to play hostess." 
 
 He led her down the steps. Nelly Kinnard saw it. 
 What words of his could have so excited the sunny, 
 tranquil-hearted child. Where were they going? 
 
 "What or who are 3'ou looking for, Nelly?" asked 
 her husband. 
 
 " Not much of any thing," she answered incoherently 
 with a nervous laugh. 
 
 The company gathered into little knots for talk, or to
 
 NELLY KESTNAKD'S KINGDOM. 227 
 
 look at engravings. Mrs. Glyndon moved among them 
 with charming social tact and grace. 
 
 ' ' Do you know where Van Alstyne has gone ? ' she 
 asked suddenly of Nelly. 
 
 A sudden accession of color overspread Nelly Kinnard's 
 face, and her eyes drooped. 
 
 " Isn't he in the hall somewhere?" 
 
 There were two shrewd eyes watching her. It was so 
 unusual to see her evade any thing. She gave a quick, 
 startled glance around. Dr. Kinnard was talking with 
 portly Mrs. Daventry : so she slipped away. Ten minutes 
 afterward that handsome Van Alstyne was in her train. 
 Had she known where he was ? 
 
 They two kept up quite a brilliant circle until the dan 
 cing began. Van Alstyne hunted up Daisy for the first 
 quadrille. To-night he really danced ; and it was a swift, 
 beautiful tracery, winding in and out, curves, halts, steps, 
 and swaying to and fro like some great shadowy bird. 
 He let her go from him with a lingering glance ; and his 
 outstretched hands welcomed her back, claimed her with a 
 sweetness and tenderness doubty dangerous. Nelly saw 
 it all. Did he love her ? but no. It was amusement to 
 him what to her ? 
 
 Afterward he had Miss Maxwell for a partner ; but 
 Daisy was in the same quadrille. Then there was a gal 
 lop with him. It seemed to Nelly as if she could not 
 endure it. And in the pause she summoned him to her 
 side again. Should she warn Daisy? Well, of what? 
 These other girls plainly put themselves in his way : she 
 did not. Oh if the evening would come to an end ! 
 
 There was another round of dancing, then supper, one 
 of Mrs. Glynclon's elegant little feasts, with the first- 
 fruits of the season, luscious peaches, grapes in frosty 
 purple bloom, pears in yellow with satin-smooth skins, or 
 in russet crimson. Van Alstyne did his part well here. 
 
 Talking, promenading, and dancing. Gay little laughs.
 
 228 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 bright faces, soft voices, entrancing moonlight, and that 
 stirring, passionate music that touched some chord in 
 every heart, a pretty, bewildering scene. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard missed his wife, and walked slow^ down 
 the balcony steps. He was rather proud of the admira 
 tion she had won, only 
 
 Yonder in the path were two people, Daisy and Mr. 
 Maxwell. They came up slowly, and passed him. Two 
 more were lingering behind, talking earnestly. Could it 
 be? Yes, Nelly and that audacious gallant. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard stood quite still in a tempest of passion 
 that sent his blood to white-heat. He had never before 
 been jealous of a woman in the ordinarj^ sense. He had 
 seen his first wife waltzing in the arms of other men ; and, 
 though he had mildly disapproved, it had stirred no hot 
 blood within him. But now there flashed over him a 
 remembrance of Nelly's almost electrical nervousness, 
 her restless going to and fro, her apparent delight in, 
 and almost effort to gain, Van Alstyne's society, her 
 embarrassment at Mrs. Glyndon's question, a sudden, 
 appalling, overwhelming flash, striking at and twisting 
 his strength as lightning might an oak. All summer she 
 had been here with that man, handsome and tempting as 
 Lucifer himself 
 
 Some one passed him ; then another step, a flutter 
 ing dress, a pause he had sunk on a rustic seat some 
 moments before. 
 
 "O Barton! " 
 
 Two soft arms were about his neck. He shook them 
 off roughly. "Don't!" he said in a hoarse, strained 
 voice, rising. 
 
 She stood before him. The movement had turned her 
 toward the light while he was still in the shade. 
 
 "O Barton!" she cried in sweet, piercing accents, 
 " wh.it is it?" 
 
 For an instant longer, he writhed in the grasp of the
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 229 
 
 foul fiend. Oh ! he must believe in her, or life would not 
 be woi'th the having. He knew then how a man could 
 love ; he realized, too, that the strength of their bridal 
 tenderness was but a pj'gmy to this giant. He studied 
 her face with a fierce, hungry eagerness. Could one line 
 of it be false or weak ? 
 
 It was very pale now, the ej-es with a piteous, fright 
 ened look, the lips quivering, the lines tense ; and she put 
 out her hand in an uncertain way, as if groping about. 
 
 He took her in his arms, and reseated himself. There 
 was a moment of strange silence between them. 
 
 " Nelly, do you remember our bridal day? If it were 
 to be done over again " 
 
 " Well, if it were," and there was a tremulous, cry 
 ing sound in her voice "I should be glad only that I 
 might give myself to }"ou again." 
 
 He pressed her closer. Could he, dared he, doubt? He 
 understood now the immeasurable power of loving that 
 he possessed. He was not a naturally suspicious man ; 
 but there was a certain degree of faithlesness in his 
 temperament that had led him to question somewhat the 
 entireness of the " divine passion." Not an hour through 
 all this separation, but he had longed for her so earnestly, 
 that, more than once, it had seemed quite impossible to do 
 without her, even though important duties pressed him 
 on every side. But his engrossing and single-hearted 
 love demanded the same quality in return. Had she 
 
 "O Barton, Barton!" she cried with a strange 
 anguish in her voice, "what is it? Tell me what I 
 have done ? ' ' 
 
 So entirely true had she been to him in her thoughts, 
 that she did not even suspect what thus suddenly roused 
 him. 
 
 There was a quick revulsion of feeling on his part. 
 
 ' ' I have been an old fool, Nell}'," he said with a grim 
 sort of tremulousness in his voice. "Forgive me. It 
 was all my own"
 
 230 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 How could he confess his suspicion ? 
 
 A tremor ran through her frame. A glimmer of light 
 dawned upon her. 
 
 " Barton, you did not think" and there was a sort 
 of hysterical tenderness in her tone, perhaps because she 
 knew by that tight clasp how dear she was to him. 
 
 "I am afraid I did, Nelly. Let us have the foul fiend 
 out now, and then bury him forever. I know you love 
 me. Good heavens ! to doubt that would be to plunge 
 me to unknown depths." 
 
 " Was it because I was there in the walk with Mr. 
 Van Alstyne?" she asked with a certain breathless- 
 ness. 
 
 "Not altogether. I may as well confess wholly. 
 Nelly, I never knew you to act an untruth, even. But 
 to-night when Mrs. Glyndon asked about him and then 
 you found him in a little while. Don't torment me, my 
 darling, though I admit I deserve it. I know you can 
 make a fair and straight story of it." 
 
 She was trembling violently now. It seemed almost 
 cruel to ask her to speak. 
 
 " I will tell 3-011 just the truth. I did not know where 
 he was ; but I felt that he was with Daisy. Barton, I 
 have come to think him a dangerous man for a young 
 girl, or a woman who had no safeguard," and she paused 
 to kiss him impulsively. " It is only lately that he has 
 appeared to be specially interested in Daisy." 
 
 "I see it all, my dear, dear wife! How horribly 
 unjust of me ! What shall I do to make amends? Nelly, 
 you must know how much you are to me, when " 
 
 Perhaps she liked him none the less for his quick and 
 jealous regard. She almost smiled now, and gave him 
 a tender little caress that quite assured him of her 
 forgiveness. 
 
 "And Daisy? But you don't think why, Dudley 
 cares for her, I know ; and I hoped "
 
 NELLY KJNNAJRD'S KINGDOM. 231 
 
 "I trust Daisy does not care for him. It would be 
 quite useless," with a great tremble in her voice. 
 "Neither do I think this is love on his part." 
 
 " And lias Mrs. Glyndon no more sense than to give 
 that handsome and fascinating fellow the run of the 
 house?" asked the doctor with much warmth. 
 
 " Mrs. Glyndon has managed beautifull}'. If }-ou had 
 been here, j'ou would have given her credit for unbounded 
 wisdom. She put him in his proper place, a society-man, 
 who liked amusement, and was not of the marrying kind. 
 While Miss Howe's party was here, there were several 
 brilliant women, and every thing appeared so different ! 
 It has only been lately ; and to-night he is like one 
 bewitched. I felt that I must save her. We are going 
 back so soon ! " 
 
 "My darling, yes. I thank you for your truth and 
 simplicity. I may be hasty and passionate, Nelly, when 
 something rouses me bej-ond reason and judgment ; but 
 my faith in you is perfect for all time to come. Still I 
 shall not forget that }-ou might have married a 3'ounger 
 and more attractive man ; and that God means, in so bright 
 and brief a season as youth, that one shall see things 
 with enchanted eyes. I want to make you very, very 
 happy : I may blunder in it at times ; but it is my heart's 
 desire." 
 
 " It is not all on your side," she replied quickly. " I 
 have something to give and to do. And there will alwaj's 
 be perfect confidence between us." 
 
 It was very sweet to think of, such confidence ; not 
 the mere gossip of every-day affairs, but the true magnet 
 that attracted the higher nobility of love, the finest per 
 ceptions of spiritual as well as ordinary life, sjinpathies, 
 tenderness, and mutual regard to the one grand centre. 
 
 She had needed him so much, that she would gladly 
 have staid until the last light was out ; but his practical 
 mood recalled him presently.
 
 232 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " Had we not better return? " he asked in a half-regret 
 ful tone. "I suppose it is a crime against modern 
 manners to make love to 3'our own wife, while the state 
 of modern ethics does not prohibit making love to your 
 neighbor's ; " and he gave a drj-, humorous laugh. 
 
 " "We must, indeed ; " and she rose. 
 
 The tide of enjoyment had begun to wane a little, or 
 taken on a quieter tone. Groups were listening to the 
 music now, with a pleased, languid air. Some one said, 
 ' 4 O Mrs. Kinnard ! " and she turned. Mr. Van Alstyne 
 was talking to Miss Daventry, and there were half a 
 do.zen others around. 
 
 She stood there beside her husband in her glowing and 
 serene womanhood, larger than any pure girl-life could 
 be, no matter how beautiful. She was proud of his man 
 liness, his strength, his simple justice, and, oh ! above all, 
 of his deep, underlying love. It never could fail or for 
 sake, or grow exacting, through any narrowness. And 
 Van Alstyne understood then the secret of her gracious- 
 ness, the good companionship that could entertain a 
 friend apart from any personal attraction, any exercise 
 of self-love. A whole lifetime of the rarest and most 
 delicate flattery would not cause her allegiance to waver. 
 He understood then that she loved her husband as 
 women seldom do, not a mere negative trust because they 
 have found no strong comparison or temptation, neither 
 the shallow engrossment of sentimental fondness ; for she 
 had been tried, and escaped quite scathless. He could 
 not recall one smile : he had never even ventured to kiss 
 her hand. Always she had been hedged around with 
 that halo better than propriety, the sacredness of 
 love. 
 
 I ought to saj- it touched him and moved him deeply, 
 and turned his wavering fondness toward Daisy Endicott, 
 who would be hardlj' less to her husband. But the man 
 was too innately selfish for any good impression to last
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 233 
 
 long. As his wife, a woman of Daisy Endicott's tem 
 perament would have died, in a few years, of mental 
 atrophy. He would have absorbed all, and given nothing 
 back, but kept himself for the worfd, society. 
 20*
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " How given for nought her priceless gift! 
 How spoiled the bread, and spilled the wine ! 
 Which, spent with due respective thrift, 
 Had made all lives alike divine." 
 
 THE evening was not to close without another impor 
 tant incident. 
 
 Since his unlucky half-confession, Mr. Dudley had 
 hesitated to encounter Dais}', although he felt that some 
 explanation and apology were due her. He could not 
 believe that he had entirety ruined his cause by his pre 
 cipitancy. There had been a simple, girlish charm in 
 Daisy's frankness through the earlier part of their 
 acquaintance. He had treasured up man} T a little episode, 
 and dreamed over it for the last two months. 
 
 The rides and rambles they had taken together, the 
 times he had come upon her suddenly, ministering in Mrs. 
 Kinnard's stead to some of her poor parishioners, the 
 chapel improvements they had discussed, the books and 
 pictures they both liked, the pleasant temper (he had seen 
 it tried a little), the inspiriting sunniness that would 
 brighten a house so delightfully. Unconscioush", perhaps, 
 one of the charms that rendered Dr. Kinnard's hospitality 
 so beguiling was the fact that the house was still filled 
 with her presence. He had watched her bending over 
 this couch where Bertie had lain, her face full of genuine 
 sympath} r and hopefulness. Here the small, graceful 
 figure had been half lost in a great easy-chair, suggest 
 ively large enough for two. Over opposite, she had sung 
 
 234
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 235 
 
 through, dreamy twilights, sweet low songs, tender, plain 
 tive Irymns, that were enough of themselves to draw souls 
 to Christ. 
 
 It would be worth one's while to strive for such a 
 woman. How invaluable she would be in parish work 
 with her ready kindness and homelike graces ! How 
 doubly dear by the fireside, when the waves of the trou 
 blesome world ran high, the sweet cheer and adaptiveness 
 of her temperament soothing, adjusting, bringing bit by 
 bit out of the golden treasurj* of the soul, that one might 
 not be overwhelmed, or afraid to choose, or, on the other 
 hand, stinted in any thing ! 
 
 Yet he was not the sort of man to dream listlessly 
 about love. When he felt the august power penetrating 
 eveiy pulse with its subtle vitality, when he realized how 
 much fuller and more blessed life would be with her at 
 his side, he confessed the truth simply to himself, and 
 resolved to win her. He did not think much about his 
 poverty, since he had youth and health. God would send 
 labor and wages in the right time. From her mother she 
 must have learned the cares and rewards of such a life, 
 the struggles and bits of rare pleasure, the toil and rest, 
 the pain and joy following, and lapping over into one 
 another like the seasons of the year, and of the going-on 
 to riper days, leaving 3'outh behind, yet not growing old, 
 and of the kingdom of heaven from within. 
 
 So he went over to Severn Point prepared to ask her, 
 expecting to come back a happy man, with a lovely house^ 
 hold vision before him, the holy duty of caring for her, 
 of smoothing rough ways, of sheltering in his strong 
 arms, of ministering to, and of receiving in turn, of 
 rounding, satisfying, and slipping into rest and peaca 
 together. 
 
 They welcomed him so cordially into their midst ! they 
 brought out their olden pleasures, not grown trite with 
 repetition. She was changed, in some way, become
 
 236 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 larger and richer, it seemed, with an ease and culture 
 that served to make her more beguiling, not better worth 
 the winning : that could never be in his thought of her. 
 
 He hardly disturbed himself about Van Alstyne. He 
 had taken the man at his true estimate, as he had Daisy 
 Endicott. He could see her on all sides, outwardly, and 
 judged her with a more generous understanding than a 
 narrower-minded man could have done. And he knew 
 now how deep and fervent a reality his love was. 
 
 When she came down stairs so fresh and simply sweet, 
 her face aglow with the radiance of youth and pleasure, 
 propriety was swept away. He forgot the things he had 
 dreamed over so often might be quite new to her, and 
 took her in his arms with that spontaneous outburst of 
 love, capable of making them one indeed, had their 
 hearts beat in unison, the caress that would have told 
 all without a word. 
 
 He could not decide whether her strange, shy emotion, 
 and her evasion of him all the evening, was displeasure, 
 or delicacy. He was ready to blame himself with every 
 breath ; yet it had been so sweet to hold her there, even 
 for that brief moment, that he could hardly regret. 
 
 But he felt there must be an explanation before he left, 
 an apology for so disturbing the tranquillity of her girl- 
 heart. He waited half-breathlessly, watching her as she 
 flitted here and there, and struck by a strange sense of 
 loss whenever she was out of his sight. 
 
 The guests began to disperse with cordial good-nights 
 and many expressions of enjoyment. Some one was 
 going now ; and Daisy ran down to the walk for a last 
 word or two. She surely would not be needed for a few 
 moments. He picked up her shawl, he knew it by the 
 fleecy, pale-blue border, came down, and, folding it 
 about her, said quickly, 
 
 " May I detain you, Miss Endicott? " 
 
 The suddenness and certain air of authority took her
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 237 
 
 so by surprise, that she had hardly time to start and 
 tremble, before he resumed, 
 
 " I want to ask your pardon for my rudeness ear ty in 
 the evening. But you must know what it meant, that I 
 love you, that I have loved and dreamed about you ever 
 since }*ou left Edgerly. The depth and force of my 
 feeling swept me over the boundaries of propriety ; but I 
 am ready to answer for my daring ' ' 
 
 " Oh! " she interrupted with a sharp, sudden cry, out 
 of which the joy had gone. 
 
 He stood still, catching at his own breath, bewildered, 
 and quite at sea. Then he turned her round, and studied 
 her face with feverish impatience, reading something 
 more than mere surprise, terror. 
 
 "Have I spoken too soon? Forgive me. I fancied 
 you must know ; for no man of honor could offer such a 
 caress to a woman without ' ' 
 
 She saw it all in a blinding flash, the love that lay at 
 her feet. Two months ago, she might have answered 
 him to his happiness. Why not now? What had come 
 between ? 
 
 In the same glare she saw another man. If he stood 
 speaking, if his hand were on her arm, there would be 
 a consenting tenderness instead of repulsion, a great joy 
 instead of trembling pain and regret. Even now her 
 cheek burned with shame at the remembrance of the kiss 
 wherewith he had expressed his love. An overwhelming 
 flood seemed almost to sweep her away from any secure 
 mooring. 
 
 "Oh, if you had not spoken! if j*ou would take it 
 back forget it ! " she cried in passionate anguish. 
 
 He studied her face of pain and dismay. A brave 
 man was Arthur Dudley ; but this was like being swept 
 from the spar on which he had meant to float to a prom 
 ised haven. There *was nothing else at hand : he had 
 trusted the life of his affection to that. Still, if he must
 
 238 NELLY EZNNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 go down, it should be bravely, not with any cowardly 
 clinging to a woman's pity. 
 
 "Then yon do not love me?" His incisive tone 
 seemed to cleave the summer air, and let in a waft of 
 arctic coldness. 
 
 "I " she covered her face with her hands. It filled 
 him with infinite sorrow as she swaj'ed to and fro. " I 
 am so sorry ! " in the humblest of tones. " I did not 
 mean to mislead any one. Oh ! what have I done? " 
 
 Her distress was so deep and genuine, that he was sin 
 cerely moved. 
 
 " My dear child," he said with all the comfort he could 
 put in his voice, " it was nothing you did with any pur 
 pose. God gave you the lovely graces of womanhood, 
 and you have not overlaid them with any false or meretri 
 cious ornament. It was my misfortune to see and to 
 desire. But I am a man, and not blind, which must be 
 my excuse. I see that I have surprised you greatly ; 
 but, Daisy, when you come to understand and realize 
 how deep and ardent my regard surely is, may you not 
 learn ' ' 
 
 " No, no ! do not think of that ! " and she wrung her 
 hands with vague apprehension. " Not but what you are 
 noble enough for any woman's love, only it would be 
 cruel to to hold out a hope that could come to noth 
 ing ;" and she shivered as if in a midnight blast. "I 
 am so sony ! Oh, let me go back to the house ! They 
 will wonder " 
 
 " Tranquillize }*ourself a little ; remember that you will 
 alwa3's have in me a friend." Yet he paused to wonder 
 if he could be friend again. He led her back to the 
 house, and lingered outside while she mounted the steps 
 wearily, his heart aching to assist her with his strong, 
 fond clasp ; but his delicacy assuring him that she would 
 rather enter alone. "* 
 
 If he had spoken before they came to Severn Point,
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 239 
 
 would it have been any better? She certainly had liked 
 him then, given him a shy, pleased preference. He felt 
 bewildered, pained, incredulous. There must be some 
 mistake, surety. He would watch her to-morrow, and for 
 daj-s to come ; and if he saw a sign of relenting, such as 
 she must make if she felt she had been over-hast}", he 
 would speak again. He possessed a rare quality of both 
 patience and hope. 
 
 The guests had all dispersed when he went in. Mrs. 
 Glyndon.and Mrs. Kinnard were talking the evening 
 over, after the manner of women. Pie said a quiet good 
 night, and then, as if bethinking himself, left one for 
 Miss Endicott. 
 
 They were all tired, and glad to go to bed. Once in 
 her own room, Daisy closed the door, and looked 
 around in wild affright, as if she was always to be haunted 
 by some distrustful phantom. She shrank from it with 
 pain and dread. There came a piteous look into her 
 eyes, a quivering about the tender mouth. Even now 
 she could give it no name ; but she felt what might have 
 been the blissful perfection that could have rounded her 
 life, but, instead, had left it flawed, roughened, scathed 
 as if by lightning. With a sad prescience that had in it 
 none of the delightful suggestions of hope, she looked 
 into the dreary future, a long life, perhaps, shorn of its 
 keenest joy. And she could have worshipped so wholly ! 
 
 After a restless night, she woke, at last, with a severe 
 headache. Breakfast was late. There were no rigid 
 rules in the household on this subject. Dr. Kinnard had 
 taken Bertie out to ride before she came down. 
 
 " You do look really fagged out ! " cried Mrs. Glyndon. 
 "And you were so bright and fresh yesterday! I am 
 glad of that, for obviously selfish reasons. Never mind : 
 after the feast, crumbs, of course. Let me give }*ou a cup 
 of tea, and then you. had better go back to bed. There is 
 the rowing to Golden Rock this afternoon, you know."
 
 240 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 She should not go, she had resolved upon that; but 
 she was extremely glad of a reasonable excuse for soli 
 tude. Dr. Kinnard teased her a little at noon, but 
 desisted, when he saw that it really pained her. 
 
 " You had better stay at home, and be quiet," he said 
 kindly. " You have had so many pleasures, that it will 
 be no great trial to relinquish this." 
 
 "No," she answered with a tremulous smile, glad to 
 be left with no further comment. For Arthur Dudley 
 was to be of the rowing-party, oarsman, in fact ; and she 
 could not meet him just yet. 
 
 She lay on the sofa the whole long afternoon, in a 
 mood of the most painful and bewildering uncertaint}-, 
 revolving the endless tangle, and wondering what could 
 be the conclusion, dreading it with great pangs of appre 
 hension. 
 
 Just at dusk, the bell rang. She had been in a half- 
 doze, and did not catch the inquiry, but heard the last of 
 Susan's answer, "and Miss Endicott is in bed, I be 
 lieve, with a bad headache. Shall I speak to her? " 
 
 "No; don't disturb her. I will drop in to-morrow. 
 Partings are the order of the day now ; and I shall be off 
 in a day or two. Give them all my compliments." 
 
 A great pang of agony and pain surged over Daisy 
 Endicott. She buried her face in the pillow, her shrink 
 ing, crimson face, into which the sound of that voice 
 brought the blazing light of her secret. How had she come 
 to love him (for it was that : she could not conceal it from 
 herself), and there had never been any hope, from the 
 first? Ah, she had not selfishly thought of that. It had 
 been so delightful! the low tones, the changeful and 
 tender lights in the eyes (false lights to lure the unwary) , 
 the bits and fragments of sentences meant for her alone. 
 And last evening why, it seemed as if he had almost 
 said ah, almost, he had never meant to say it quite. 
 And she had not thought there could be danger.
 
 KELLY KDTNAED'S KINGDOM. 541 
 
 To-day he had come and gone, not caring to see her ; 
 and in a day or two he would go forever. Oh ! how could 
 she endure that bitter parting, the awful sense of loss ? 
 If she could see him occasionally, if there could still be 
 some delightful hours of friendship. She would not ask 
 any greater love. She had not sufficient charm to fill the 
 whole life of such a man. If she had been made beautiful 
 as Nelly ; for he had been very strongly attracted toward 
 her, that she had seen. 
 
 But her plain, modest life had in it no bewildering 
 grace, either to gain such a prize, or to comfort in this 
 hour of bitter loss and self-abasement. Some women 
 would have fought fiercely with fate : she only accepted 
 despair. The desolation must come upon her, must be 
 borne. She was none the less Daisy Endicott. She had 
 sisterly, daughterly, and friendly ties and duties in this 
 world, and they must be met bravely. She could not 
 confess to any one how she had been met and vanquished 
 in the very outset of life ; perhaps weakly, for she had 
 been warned. 
 
 She rose, then, bathed her face, brushed out her soft, 
 shining hair, put on a white dress and bit of cherry ribbon. 
 Outwardly she was to be the same to every one. Then 
 the family returned, and she went down, glad to have 
 something to do, to take up her burthen right away. 
 
 Arthur Dudley had been a trifle grave all the afternoon, 
 though the short excursion proved a decided success. 
 But he declined their friendly solicitations to come home 
 and take a cup of tea. 
 
 " I am absolutely going to bed with the chickens," he 
 declared gayly. " I hope j-ou will find Miss Endicott 
 better. To-morrow I shall give myself the pleasure of 
 your hospitality, Mrs. Glyndon. Bertie, don't }'ou be 
 lieve you could take me out driving ? ' ' 
 
 " Oh ! couldn't I, papa? " exclaimed the^ child eagerly 
 " Mamma lets me drive." 
 
 21
 
 242 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " I think so." 
 
 Bertie came home, elated with his project. After a 
 quiet meal, there was a little talking of the coming dis 
 persion. . 
 
 " I must go back on Tuescla}*, at the latest," said Dr. 
 Kinnard. " Can you get all packed up on Monday, 
 Nelly?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " was the ready reply. 
 
 " Then we have two more days to devote to pleasure, 
 Sunday to rest " 
 
 " And Monday to a general disturbance of the spheres," 
 interrupted Mrs. Glyndon merrily. " Well, we have had 
 a bright, pleasant summer. Mrs. Kinnard has gone back 
 to the enchantment of eighteen. Bertie has entirely 
 recovered; don't 3-011 think so, doctor? Daisj^ seems to 
 have had a 3'oung girl's good time ; and I have been 
 happy as a queen. We have lived together eleven weeks 
 without quarrelling what do }*ou say to that for women's 
 tempers? " 
 
 " Pretty good ; pretty good ! " and the doctor laughed. 
 
 Two more days of pleasure ! It rang in Daisy's ears 
 like the saddest knell. 
 
 Mr. Dudley came over the next morning, and went out 
 with Bertie. Then Mrs. Glyndon kept him to dinner. 
 Two ladies had dropped in also. Daisy's avoidance of 
 him was not marked : he made it very easy for her. 
 
 Then, late in the afternoon, Van Alst3'ne made his 
 appearance, with his usual jaunty, elegant ease. JHe 
 made quite sure that the ladies were all at home ; for he- 
 did not mean to risk any special rencounter with Daisy. 
 Such partings were awkward things. 
 
 He had decided to go to Maine for a month, with a 
 hunting-part3*, and was to leave to-morrow. 
 
 " I wonder if 3-011 will be in New York in the winter, 
 Mrs. Gl3'ndon. One does have a chance to see you occa 
 sionally. And it may be that I shall stumble over you
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 243 
 
 all, somewhere, again : I shall hope so, at all events. 
 We have had such a delightful summer ! " 
 
 He shook hands cordially with them all. Daisy's white 
 fingers were cold and inert. He did not care to look into 
 her eyes : the lids were downcast and tremulous. But he 
 uttered the commonplaces of society over her with his 
 serene and careless air ; and they were separated for all 
 time. 
 
 " I am afraid the little Endicott has been hit," he 
 mused. " It wouldn't have done to go on for a day 
 longer. However, I daresay Dudley will make it all 
 right with her some day. By Jove ! she's just cut out for 
 a minister's wife ; and she is a good little girl too. I'm 
 glad I never did any thing more than kiss her hand. 
 Van, my boy, you have withstood a good deal of tempta 
 tion." 
 
 Saturday was marked by other partings. Sunday was 
 lovely and tranquil, a perfect da)' of rest, a golden life 
 and glory in it, as if summer's richness just stood still, 
 and ripened. Mr. Dudley took the service in the church ; 
 and Daisy listened to his voice with a peculiar tender 
 reverence, as if, having once hurt him so sorely, she must 
 make it up to herself with another kind of worship. 
 
 Then the packing, and the journey home, the mother 
 welcome that had been promised Nelly, a little awk 
 ward, with a sense of being unfamiliar, but pleasant in 
 not saying or doing too much. 
 
 "And look at me, grandmamma! I am alt well. I 
 can run and jump ; and I've had a first-rate time. I've 
 learned to drive ; and I am going to take you out some 
 day. Mamma says I can have her pony." 
 
 All this with his arms around his grandmother's neck, 
 where they had rarely been before. 
 
 " Why, Barton, how well he looks ! And, I declare, he 
 has grown quite pretty ; something as you used to look." 
 And she held him off to study him.
 
 244 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "Yes," said the doctor humorously: "my handsome 
 da}'s were in childhood, I believe." 
 
 They would fain have kept Daisy ; but she wanted to 
 get home, and shut out all reminders of the summer. So 
 the doctor took her over, and brought back saucy Queen 
 Bess, who was tall and straight, and full of rippling, 
 girlish beauty. Bertie was puzzled to decide which he 
 liked the better. Bessie was so bright and funnj^. 
 
 " If only there were no Aunt Adelaide to come in like 
 a dismal gray shadow ! " thought Mistress Nelly Kinnard. 

 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 But on the fire burns, clear and still ; 
 
 The cankering sorrow dies ; 
 The small wounds heal; the clouds are rent; 
 And through this shattered mortal tent 
 
 Shine down the eternal skies. 
 
 A CHANGE had surely come over Mother Kinnard ; that 
 Nelly saw presently. 
 
 She had been upheld in such a rigid way between Jane 
 and Aunt Adelaide ! We borrow more easily some influ 
 ence or manner of our neighbor than we are willing to 
 believe ; and household frettings are so readily taken up : 
 coldnesses and unkindnesses are grafts that flourish 
 rapidly in a congenial soil. If we do not plant grain, 
 weeds surely will grow : we see that all over. No inch 
 of ground, no human soul, is utterly barren. 
 
 She seemed to have grown older too. There were 
 more wrinkles in her face, a little softness and quivering 
 in her voice, a sort of uncertain air now and then, as if 
 she was trying to remember what came next. 
 
 She admitted to having been lonesome while the doctor 
 was away ; but, for the rest, she had not enjoyed any 
 thing so much since her own housekeeping days. Mary 
 was such a treasure! "And I hope you'll find every 
 thing as you like it. I have tried to keep the house well 
 aired and in order." 
 
 " It looks very bright and fresh, I am sure," was 
 Nelty's reply. 
 
 And now came disastrous tidings. With some blush- 
 
 21 . 245
 
 246 NELLY KINNAHD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 ing hesitation, Mary announced to her mistress that she 
 should be compelled to leave, as she was about to be 
 married. 
 
 "I've been very well satisfied, ma'am, and I hate to 
 leave you and the doctor. I never thought I should get 
 along so well with everybody. But you see, ma'am, 
 this is an old affair with Henry. When we were both 
 young, I was the older by two years, he took a great 
 fancy about me. I couldn't have married him then, any 
 how. Mr. Berkman was just beginning to come, and I 
 liked him ; and Henry seemed so very young at twentj r . 
 Well, his mother, she had word of it ; and she made a 
 terrible time. There was a farm that she had her rights 
 in ; and she was a very unreasonable woman, high- 
 tempered, and all that : so she declared Henry should 
 never bring home a wife ; and he couldn't go away, 
 because there was no one else to till the farm. It didn't 
 make any difference to me, you see ; and yet I felt very 
 sorry for him. bo she just grew queerer and crosser, and, 
 finally, wouldn't let any but very old women come into 
 the house. He was a good son to her, better than many 
 a man, I'm thinking. Well, last May she died. Henry 
 came to see me soon after you had gone away. It was 
 a kind of first love, you see ; what with his mother being 
 so cranky, it had never been quite taken out of his mind. 
 He's a good, clever, steady man ; has a nice farm; and 
 the old lady was a master hand to save, and make bed 
 ding. The house is full of furniture, and he's fond of 
 little Katy. I'm sure I hope we'll have some children 
 of our own : it would be such a joy to him. So I think, 
 ma'am, it's too good to let slip, since I do like him very 
 much, and can make him happ}*." 
 
 Mary looked up blushingly at the end of her con 
 fession. 
 
 u I caunot blame you," rejoined Nelly, " though I am 
 very sorry to lose }-ou ; and I hope you will be happy.
 
 NELLY KESTNAKD'S KINGDOM. 247 
 
 At all events, Henry will get a good wife. When will 
 you want to leave? " 
 
 "Just as soon as you can spare me, ma'am. I told 
 him I wouldn't be later than the first of October." 
 
 Nelly gave a sigh. 
 
 " If it wasn't for this, I'd staj r always with 3*ou," said 
 the faithful creature. " And if the farm wasn't so far 
 it's about a mile the other side of Kelly's Falls." 
 
 "And you will have your hands full," said Mrs. Kinnard 
 with a smile, that she had some ado to make cheerful. 
 
 "I supposed as much," was the doctor's comment, 
 when he heard it. " Henry Kline has been coming 
 steadily all summer. Well, it's tne way of the world. 
 I set a bad example myself: so I cannot complain." 
 And he smiled humorously. 
 
 Aunt Adelaide would be home the last of the month : 
 she trusted all danger of the fever would be over, as she 
 could not think of exposing Maud to it. Bertie recom 
 menced school, though his father exercised a careful 
 supervision over him. The fall cleaning and changes 
 were attended to ; the flowers put in train for winter 
 blooming ; and Nelly was as busy as a bee. Bess was 
 bright and helpful, and a great comfort. 
 
 And then fell upon Nelly the first real sorrow of her 
 life, so far. Rose's bab}', that almost marvellous embodi 
 ment of infantile grace, beauty, and sweetness, sickened 
 and died. Its short week of illness had not prepared any 
 one for the loss : it did not seem, indeed, as if he could 
 die. So Nelly went to her for a few days. 
 
 A month before, Mrs. Whitcomb had gone to Europe 
 with a dear invalid friend. Rose and Stephen had given 
 a rather sad but not unwilling assent. Surely Mrs. Whit- 
 comb had earned this pleasure. 
 
 Daisy was to remain, and help her bear the pain and 
 anguish. The first death in their little circle, the loveli 
 est flower of all. Dr. Kinnard was profoundly stirred.
 
 248 KELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " I really believe I have coveted that baby, Nelly," he 
 said in a tone of deep emotion that thrilled her strangely. 
 
 But she had to return home. Here was Aunt Adelakb 
 and Maud, the first severely consequential ; the latter, a 
 good deal improved, but with many airs of fine ladyism. 
 Nelly's heart sank within her. The pleasantness of life 
 seemed suddenly dimmed. 
 
 Bertie's sleeping-room had been changed to one at the 
 head of the hall, taking him quite out of his aunt's care. 
 She treated him with a lofty contempt, and took every 
 occasion to snub him. Mother Kinnard's half-defection 
 angered her secretly. She was compelled to admit that 
 she could no longer be prime mover of the forces. But 
 there were many ways to anno} T "my brother-in-law's 
 second wife," as she usually termed her; and none more 
 effective than an almost insulting deference when visitors 
 were present, indicating that she was in the house merely 
 on sufferance, because related to the children. 
 
 And then began another great perplex! tj^. Mrs. Berk- 
 man was married, and went to her new home ; but her 
 successor found it "so lonesome of evenings," and 
 wanted to go farther in town. There followed a list of 
 incapables. The once tidy kitchen was a scene of dis 
 order. Meals were irregular and half cooked, unless Nelly 
 supervised everything. The ironing dragged around all 
 the week. One great brawny Irishwoman found the work 
 so hard she couldn't stand it : " she woodent worruk her 
 . fingers to the bone for any one, that she woodent ! " 
 
 Jane Ferris heard of it with peculiar delight. Mrs. 
 Kinnard's good fortune had been a personal affront to 
 her. 
 
 "I said they'd see!" and she tossed her head with 
 emphasis. " But I'd never go back for a soul of them, 
 save the doctor. I've seen ladies enough in my day to 
 tell the genuine article when I do meet with it." 
 
 However, no one asked Jane to come back. Mat was
 
 NELLY KIKNAED'S KINGDOM. 249 
 
 almost as good as a girl to Ms young mistress, and very 
 helpful. She gave tip her rides, her books, her music, her 
 village calling, and tried her best to fight it through. If 
 she had only been alone, or if Mother Kinnard had fought 
 with her! But that lady held secret sessions with the 
 enemy, that were detrimental to a firm faith in her 
 daughter-in-law. . 
 
 How hard Nelly Kinnard worked all this time to keep 
 her temper, and her pleasant household ways, no one but 
 Him who seeth in secret knew. There were days when 
 heart and mind and hands were so overtasked, that her 
 husband's voice almost failed to charm ; nights when she 
 laid her throbbing temples on the pillow, and cried softly, 
 so that he might not hear, out of pure weariness and 
 discouragement. 
 
 It came to an end just after the holidays, in the person 
 of a rather stolid German, who had been well trained, and 
 was exceedingly good natured, though rather slow. But 
 poor Nelly had not reached any promised land yet. Mrs. 
 Kinnard was taken ill with fever and rheumatism ; and, 
 from that time until spring, there was nursing and amus 
 ing. Yet out of this came an abundant reward. She 
 conquered here a lasting peace. Feeble, querulous, and 
 oftentimes tiresome ; yet the elder woman learned to love 
 and appreciate her son's wife, to give her her due un 
 grudgingly. 
 
 Had it not been worth striving for? Two years, and 
 two souls brought into her kingdom. Youth and age 
 bowing down in simple homage, watching her with longing, 
 wistful eyes, bringing her some first-fruit of love, tiying to 
 make smooth ways for the often tired feet. 
 
 Bertie paid his mother a chivalrous homage in spite of 
 Aunt Adelaide's sneers, and would have thrashed imy boy 
 of his size who dared to breathe a suspicion against step 
 mothers. Mr. Herrick considered him a promising pupil ; 
 and he had become quite a companion to his father.
 
 250 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Slow of thought in some matters, yet he had a quaint, 
 droll quickness in others. He grew fonder of his grand 
 mother, too, and was delighted when he was allowed to 
 take her out to drive. 
 
 She had broken very much, and was quite an old \acly. 
 The rather massive chignon was discarded ; and Nelly used 
 to make a pretty coil of braids (for her hair was still 
 abundant) , and some becoming finger-puffs brought down 
 on the somewhat too high forehead. A dainty little 
 square of lace with a bit of purple ribbon, and a soft 
 ruche around her neck, quite transformed her. She would 
 always be tall, and rather severe looking ; but the dark 
 eyes had softened a little, and the voice taken on a gentler 
 chord in weakness. 
 
 " I'm sure no daughter ever could be better," she 
 would occasionally say to Nelly. ' ' I never thought to be 
 beholden to any one ; but you have such a sweet way of 
 doing favors, as if it was no trouble. But I know well 
 enough a sick old woman is a burthen." 
 
 "Don't say 'beholden,'" and then Nelly gives her 
 most beguiling smile. "It is such a hard, ungracious 
 sort of a word. Am I not your daughter really, Barton's 
 wife?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear ; and I've come to see the da}- that I'm 
 thankful. I don't believe he was ever very happy with 
 Mary, though I picked her out, and thought she would 
 make a good wife. She was alwa3's sweet enough to me ; 
 but she had a terrible temper, and no prett}* little ways 
 toward him, as }~ou have. And then I never can forgive 
 myself, though it didn't <lo any harm ; but I wanted him 
 to marry Adelaide, if he married at all. One does dread 
 stepmothers for young children ; and I did not know any 
 thing about you, except that you were a veiy 3'oung girl. 
 But I am sure no one could have been tenderer toward 
 Bertie ; and, if he wasn't so large, you would make people 
 believe he was your own child. It was all for the best,
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 251 
 
 dear ; and I am sorry for the many times I must have 
 pained you . You are quite sure you do not remember it 
 against me? " 
 
 "Mother dear!" and kisses stop the garrulous, wrin 
 kled lips. 
 
 " If you had not a sweet, forgiving nature, my dear, it 
 would come up every now and then. But I shall try to 
 make you happy in my poor way. You see I have only 
 been used to doing, not loving ; and to me it is like learn 
 ing new lessons. And I'm like Bertie. I sometimes 
 forget when I don't really mean to ; but }-our sweetness 
 sets it all straight. There's Barton's carriage ; and you. 
 must run down to him. I can't have my son defrauded 
 of an} T happiness, Mrs. Kinnard ; " and there is a twinkle 
 in her eye that stops short of pure pleasantrj-, because 
 it meets with a tear. 
 
 Such bits of confidence have become quite frequent. 
 And, when Mrs. Kinnard is well enough to get down 
 stairs, she finds a delightful easy-chair in her corner, and 
 her own workstancl, as if she might have left it 3-esterda}-. 
 Then, across the opposite corner, a luxurious lounge, and 
 on it a pretty Afghan that Nelly has found time to 
 crotchet, to throw over one's shoulders, if the room is 
 chilly. 
 
 " It was such a bright thought of yours, Nelly, having 
 this place altered," says the mother. "The sun and 
 the flowers make it so cheerful ! And I used to think 
 flowers unhealthy, the absurd idea ! Why, the very 
 sight of them is cheering, and makes a perpetual summer. 
 My dear, it's because you have so much summer in your 
 heart, I think, that your ideas are all so bright." 
 
 " Halloo ! " cries the doctor with a genial laugh, as he 
 comes in, and finds Bertie reading Kingsley's grand old 
 fairy-tales aloud. "Why, this is quite a grandmother's 
 corner, isn't it? I do believe mamma likes it better than 
 she does my ' den.' I am quite jealous."
 
 252 NELLY KLNNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "The old lady has failed very much," says Miss Grove 
 as she goes around making calls, stiffer and colder than 
 ever. "She has grown absolutely childish ; and Bertie 
 will be good for nothing at all, she indulges him so. That 
 child doesn't know as much as he did when his father first 
 put him in school. He spends his time reading all kinds 
 of nonsense. I always shall believe that novels and such 
 things are very detrimental to any child. But, if they 
 ruin him now, it cannot be helped : he is quite out of my 
 hands. It is enough to make my poor sister turn in her 
 grave." 
 
 Mrs. Woodbury comes to spend the day with the child 
 ish old lady, and finds her very companionable indeed ; 
 quite agrees with her as to the virtues of " my son's wife." 
 
 Rachel keeps the kitchen tidy, and sings at her work. 
 Household matters go on smoothly ; and Nelly is out once 
 more, riding beside her husband, and receiving friendly 
 greetings. And then she thinks how little she has seen 
 of Mr. Dudley this winter. She has had the sewing- 
 society, and one or two business-meetings of church- 
 women to consider waj-s and means ; for the chapel is 
 getting over-crowded : but the good companionship of a 
 year ago has vanished. She speaks of it now. 
 
 "Oh ! that reminds me to mention well, I'll drive you 
 around to see it," begins the doctor, rather disconnectedly. 
 But N.elly knows his sentences always join somewhere. 
 "You know the Warners, the new people who bought 
 out the Chatham Mills ? Mr. James Warner has gone in 
 heart and hand with Dudley, and has offered him ground 
 enough for a church and rectory, if he will build both." 
 
 " Why, that is magnificent ! " 
 
 "Yes ; down Arlington Avenue the new end. It is a 
 beautiful location. Dudley told me yesterday ; but it 
 went out of my mind. There has been something just a 
 little queer about him. " Nelly, did you ever think " 
 And the doctor falls into a very brown study.
 
 NELLY KLNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 253 
 
 "Think what?" and her soft voice rouses him. 
 
 " That Daisy well, I cannot make it quite clear in my 
 mind. He was in love with Daisy last summer, if ever 
 man was in love at all. Whether he asked her, or whether 
 she made it clear without asking, as some women can, 
 anyhow, I know he was quite down-hearted in the winter. 
 And the other day I joked him about the rectory. His 
 face flushed a moment ; then there came in it such a look 
 of intense pain, that I could have bit my tongue for 
 punishment. I had really set my heart on it. But Daisy 
 went off to stay with Rose, }*ou know ; and something 
 surely has happened between them." 
 
 Nelly looks grave. Daisy has shown very little dis 
 position to come to Edgerly this spring. She has a new 
 seriousness in her face, that appeared first during Rose's 
 sore trouble : perhaps some experience of her own is 
 blended with it. 
 
 " So the church is to be built? " sa}-s Nelly, trying to 
 shake olT a sense of pain that makes a discordance in the 
 heavenly spring-air. 
 
 ' ' There is to be a vestry-meeting next week, when the 
 matter will come up. Oh! of course, it is as good as 
 settled ; and Dudley is just the man to carry it through. 
 There, here is the spot ! When West Street is cut through, 
 it will be on the corner. The rectory will stand here at 
 the south side. In time, the property will be very valu 
 able ; and it is a nice neighborhood already." 
 
 ' ' I am so glad and grateful ! ' ' 
 
 " If 3'ou would like to subscribe a hundred dollars, 
 Nell}-, I thought we might each be put down for that, 
 and, if they get hard up next year, we might help them 
 out a little then." . 
 
 "O Barton, how good j-ou are!" and the tears are 
 shining in her eyes ; for her heart is very tender, thinking 
 of Rose and Daisy. 
 
 "I want to be good to 3*ou, little woman," he says 
 
 22
 
 254 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 almost gruffly ; and then makes a pretence of clearing his 
 throat. 
 
 A long while after, he breaks the silence with, "I 
 can't get over it, Nelly. I have been so happy (thanks 
 to your sweetness and patience), that I want Dudley to 
 have a draught out of the same cup. Daisy and he would 
 suit each other admirably. If they could only see and 
 understand." 
 
 "It may not be quite as you think," she says tremu 
 lously. But, oh ! in her heart she is afraid of something 
 sadder still behind it all, something that comes just 
 like a flash, and opens her long blind eyes. 
 
 They ride home in the soft spring twilight, winding in 
 and out by the same river as when he brought her home a 
 bride. The trees are in their first } T oung greenish brown 
 leaves and buds, the spruce and firs odorous, the meadows 
 looking fit for fairy-rings. A blessedness springs up in 
 the high places of their being : the flow of the river brings 
 a great peace, a tenderness, a unison of heart and soul. 
 To him it was a t3~pe of their close and peaceful affection : 
 to her came a deeper thought, a remembrance of the 
 river that made glad the City of God. Would they both 
 wander there ?
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 " Oh the little more ; and how much it is ! 
 And the little less, and what worlds away ! " 
 
 CIRCUMSTANCES had befriended both Daisy and Mr. 
 Dudley in the concealment of -their unfortunate episode. 
 That Daisy should be a little tired and grave was not 
 wondered at when she reached home. Mrs. Endicott 
 never worried at her girls for any confidence or confes 
 sion, If there was any thing to tell, it came sooner or 
 later. 
 
 After a day or two, she exerted herself to talk about the 
 many delightful events of the summer, Mrs. Gtyndon's 
 perfect friendliness, Miss Howe's quaint originalit}*, Miss 
 Graham's beautiful voice, the rides, walks, sails, and the 
 pleasure-parties, that were so entertaining to Bess and 
 Gertrude. When she once began, she found it a relief to 
 herself. 
 
 After the sad tidings, and her visit with Rose, no one 
 questioned her right to a gentle sadness. - 
 
 But she had not given up weakly to despondency. 
 She realized that she had made a great and painful mis 
 take. Her natural candor would not allow her to deceive 
 herself. She had had a glimpse of a bewildering " might 
 have been ; ' ' and yet it was not for her. She had loved 
 this handsome, fascinating man unwittingly. Perhaps she 
 would not have been so hard upon her own weakness, if 
 she had known how he had tried to stir her girlish soul, 
 what careful siege he had laid to her sincere innocence. 
 
 255
 
 256 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 In the depths of her heart there was a hungry, unap- 
 peasecl desire to hear his rich and tender voice, to catch a 
 glimpse of his ardent eyes, and feel all her pulses thrill 
 and bound. There was such a wide, delicious possibility 
 of love shown and withdrawn, like the blinding light we 
 see when the heavens open. 
 
 It was like a death to her. If she had been compelled 
 to meet him frequently, she must have schooled herself to 
 a certain tranquillit}', and uprooted all remembrance ; 
 rather it would have withered away for want of suste 
 nance. As it was, she made daily pilgrimages to a grave. 
 She would not allow herself to weep over the grassy 
 mound, nor plant the daisies of pathetic tenderness ; but 
 still it was a grave, and in it lay something that had 
 gone out of the world for her. God would give many 
 other things in his own good time ; and she could wait. 
 
 As for Arthur Dudle}', he did not relinquish hope at 
 once. It seemed to him that Daisv Endicott must belong 
 
 j O 
 
 to him some daj-, because she fitted so cntirelj- into his 
 life. He came home, and went to work with undismayed 
 courage ; but, as the months passed, he began to think 
 there was a positive avoidance on her part, and a great 
 fear thrilled his soul with a shivering pain. Once he had 
 exchanged with Mr. Endicott while she was away. 
 
 The certainty seemed to gather itself into a vital pang 
 without any further asking. The thing he so desired 
 could not be. Instead of living in the very midst of 
 breathless stillness and hope, he was in the outer ring of 
 chaos. And he said then that he could not endure stay 
 ing right along with so many remembrances of her, and 
 not her own sweet, guileless self; that he must go away, 
 and begin a new life. 
 
 Go away like a fretful child, because God had set one 
 thing out of his reach ? Refuse the daily blessings, and 
 turn them from the bread of life into stone? No : he, of 
 all other men, had no right to do this. He was to gather
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 257 
 
 up the grains from that exhaustless storehouse, God's 
 divinely appointed waj's, and inherit with that spirit 
 apprehension other joys in the place of this one. 
 
 So a new courage and manliness took possession of him. 
 When the boats and bridges are burned at the river's edge, 
 the soldiers fight on : there is no retreat. Wiry should 
 he be ashamed of loving a sweet, pure woman, even if 
 she never came to gladden his life ? 
 
 He threw himself heart and soul into his work, infused 
 a new vigor and earnestness into every sermon, every 
 prayer, even the reading of a Irymn. People who had 
 rather despised the small wayside chapel began to flock 
 in ; and its straitness overflowed. Then came Mr. Warner 
 with his generous offer. 
 
 He had seen much less of the Kinnards than usual. 
 Mrs. Kinnard had been so kept at home ; and there was no 
 reason wiry he should run out there every few daj-s. But 
 Dr. Kinnard' s cordial and unspoken sympathy was very 
 sweet. A kind of brotherly nearness was growing up 
 between the two men who were never to know the divinely 
 appointed kinship of blood. Their temperaments were 
 widely different. This broad-shouldered, deep-breathing 
 man, with his intense vitality, his hobby of clean, strong 
 bodies for pure and active souls, his free speaking, had a 
 common-sense way of taking up the great problems of 
 human life, that sometimes bordered almost upon irrever 
 ence. His half doubt of religion as it was commonly prac 
 tised, and his keen looking for fruit at the end of the season, 
 were things with which he never disturbed Nelly. He used 
 to admit to her that he had great faith in the Endicott 
 religion, and smile to see her blush so distressfully. 
 
 To Arthur Dudley, God was a living, ever-present 
 reality. He had that calm serenity, the outgrowth of a 
 generous faith, rather than severe spiritual exaltation, 
 though he often found solace in those high regions of 
 thought and devotion. To him, the ever-present spirit 
 
 22*
 
 258 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 of love was nearest ; a childlike directness to accept the 
 promises, to take what was offered, without question or 
 cavilling. He took the beautiful signs with thankfulness, 
 and read the underlying meanings in the heart of the 
 great Father. He was to sow with faith, nothing waver 
 ing : he was not to go outside the living pastures for 
 strange gods or strange blossoms. But he did not make 
 the bounds any narrower than they were set in the first 
 instance. 
 
 So Dr. Kinnard was drawn into the church-building 
 project " for Nelly's sake," he said. Mr. Dudley found 
 his strong, practical ideas of much importance. lie even 
 asked two or three of his richer patients, who Avere quite 
 inaccessible to Mr. Dudle}", to subscribe toward the 
 building. 
 
 " It will really be an ornament to this end of the town ; 
 and, the prettier it is, the more attractive it will be," he 
 would say with his shrewd, humorous smile. 
 
 And then came summer, with its plans. Mrs. Ogden 
 had one, and, with the new baby and the nurse, came to 
 spend two or three days, and talk it over with Nelly. 
 The new baby was a wee, sweet little girl. 
 
 Miss Lucy Churchill had gone quietly to her appointed 
 rest ; but it had made a great difference to those left 
 behind. Not even little Rose could fill up the gap. 
 
 " I think it is best for us to go- awa}', and have some 
 thing quite different," said Fan, "something that will 
 take us out of our old groove. Aunt Churchill spoke of 
 Martha's Vineyard ; but that would bring back Lucy 
 eveiywhere. You were at the seaside last summer ; and 
 you will want mountains this year. Mother, father, and 
 Bessie and Edith, will join us. Louis Duncan, who is 
 just in orders, you know, is coming to take papa's place 
 for a good long vacation. Isn't it odd? Louis is as 
 much of a son to him as Stephen. Then Rose will come 
 and stay with Daisy poor Rose. I feel occasionally as
 
 NELLY HOWARD'S KINGDOM. 259 
 
 if I was taking what ought to go to the rest ; for it does 
 seem as if I had every thing, quite enough to spoil me. 
 So Winthrop decides for us. We are to stay right in 
 the vicinity of the AVhite Mountains, have a great roomy 
 old-fashioned cottage and farm to ourselves, take our 
 own servants, and keep house. Winthrop cannot spend 
 all the time with us ; but there will be papa and Uncle 
 Churchill. And now, Nelly, if you will cast in your lot, it 
 will be just perfect." 
 
 When Mother Kinnard added her fancy, it turned the 
 scale. 
 
 " Why, 3*es," said the doctor, " I think you had better 
 join, you and Bertie and mother; and I might get .off 
 a week or two when Ogdcn comes up. The plan is 
 really splendid, Mrs. Ogden. And Nelly has had so 
 maivj- household worries this year, that she needs a rest. 
 She has nothing to ke.ep her at home, either." 
 
 "Ought we not ask Aunt Adelaide and Maud?" said 
 Nelly, when she was alone with her husband. 
 
 " It would be a daring piece of Irypocris}*, little woman 
 for you know you do not want them. They would spoil 
 your pleasure." 
 
 " Is it Irypocritlcal to use every act of conciliation ? ' ' 
 she returned with wistful eyes. 
 
 " I pray devoutly that they will not care to go." 
 
 And they did not. Maud " had seen the White Moun 
 tains, and thought a whole summer there would be 
 stupid." 
 
 " And we have enough of them the rest of the year," 
 was Aunt Adelaide's scornful comment. "Your father 
 is so taken with the Endicott tribe, that he forgets he ever 
 had an}- other relatives. I did not think your poor mother 
 would fade out of his mind so soon; but s/ie," with a 
 bitter emphasis, " has worked for that end since the first 
 da}- she entered the house. I hope she is satisfied. But 
 there is not a bit of style to any of them."
 
 260 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Fan's visit was an unalloyed delight. She was so 
 bright and gladsome, so full of winning and gracious 
 ways, infusing blessedness in every little stream that 
 flowed out; and there were many. And why not? God 
 had given her all things richly to enjoy ; and her father 
 had taught her, among her first lessons, that she was to 
 give as she had received. There was an exquisite girlish 
 sweetness about her motherhood, something rare and fine, 
 a little, perhaps, of the charm of her own mother. 
 
 But the baby was hardly out of Nelly's arms. Dr. 
 Kinnard watched her with a strange, new emotion, as 
 she hovered about it with sweet, caressing touches, or 
 pressed the tiny pink-and-white face close to her own 
 brilliant cheek, or smiled into e3 T es that were but half 
 awake with a sense of living ; the white robe clinging 
 around her like a cloud, the soft coo and gurgle to which 
 she gave an answering laugh, as soft in return. 
 
 If and two } r ears of wedded life had gone by ! 
 
 Well, he had her ; and that was no little. She should 
 never know but what his content was supreme, perfect. 
 
 There was another bustle, and pleasant huriyings to 
 and fro, eager anticipations on Bertie's part, and a sort 
 of tremulous fear on grandmother's. Miss Grove went 
 about loftily. Maud aired her small pretensions when 
 her father was not there : he was very apt to take the 
 breeze of vanity out of them with a touch of humorous 
 sarcasm, which she alwa} r s imagined she owed to her 
 " stepmother's influence." 
 
 The journey was rather tiresome, to be sure ; but the 
 resting-place made amends for all, situated in a valley 
 (though that was high), with "the everlasting hills" 
 'above, around, at their very feet, even, speaking in 
 tongues of grandeur, of peace, like a heavenly benedic 
 tion. Somehow, Nell}' liked it better than the restless, 
 shifting sea, with its blaze of molten gloiy, and dia 
 monded waves. And then she suddenly felt how much 
 she needed rest.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 261 
 
 A household that might have been incongruous but for 
 the kindly love permeating it, Mr. Churchill, still of the 
 old school, with little courteous formalisms, that were 
 akin to his low-tied shoes and his frilled bosom, an air of 
 society before it had fallen into the free and easy ways 
 of to-day ; Mr. Endicott, with his gentle, half absent- 
 minded demeanor, and quaint, rippling bits of speech, 
 the same homelikeness out here on a grand rock as by 
 the study fireside at home ; and three grandmothers, two 
 who were, and one who " might have been," going down 
 to a serene, beautiful old age, more of a mother to her 
 sister's son than his own, and, to these three babies, a 
 relative quite indescribable ; (she almost rivalled Mrs. 
 Endicott ; for was not Fan really and truly hers, from 
 morning till night, lent out, now and then, for visits, as 
 she had once borrowed her in the old da}-s ?) and then a 
 " big boy," such a thing as the Endicotts had never pos 
 sessed before, past twelve, and at a very trj'ing age. It 
 often took all Nelly's motherliness to restrain and guide, 
 to keep him from teasing the little Ogdens, or leading 
 them into danger, to make him courteous to his elders, to 
 temper his frequent effusiveness. How much he did for 
 love of her ! 
 
 ' ' Remember that you are to take good care of mam 
 ma," had been his father's parting injunction. 
 
 At first Grandmother Kinnard was a little stiff, and 
 bristled up with some of her long-ago society-polish, 
 whose tone and color had been set again by Aunt Ade 
 laide ; but it wore away gradually, and she began to take 
 a more thorough enjoyment than she had ever known in 
 her life before. 
 
 They were out among the farms. But a few miles 
 distant were halting-places for larger parties, scattering 
 hotels, boarding-houses, and wafts of patchoul}* and 
 jockc3'-club to be stirred in with the scent of clover- 
 blooms, freshly-cut grass, and the breezy odor of grow-
 
 262 NELLY KINNAIID'S KINGDOM. 
 
 ing trees. And there were excursions for one, two, or 
 three daj-s, planned alwaj-s by Fan in the most felicitous 
 manner. She never had to stop to turn her money over, 
 to see how far it would go. Up on the grand peaks, where 
 one seems to get nearer the Infinite, to take great breaths 
 of the feast prepared centuries beforehand, to read the 
 writing that God's finger had traced in these signs of 
 grandeur, a glory that quivered and duplicated itself in 
 air and sky, that pulsed and trembled, reaching up and 
 up, changing, undulating, widening, diminishing, brought 
 close and revealed with an answering blessedness that 
 entered the deep places of the soul. 
 
 They were scrambling over the moss and lichened 
 rocks one day, half listening to some gay voices at a little 
 distance, half looking to their own ways, three girls and 
 their father, when a sudden turn brought them together. 
 
 " O Mrs. Kinnard ! " cried some one. 
 
 " What an unlooked-for pleasure!" This voice was 
 deep, rich, and familiar. 
 
 It was Elsie Graham and Mr. Van Alstyne, with a 
 background of other people. For a moment Mrs. Kin 
 nard was silent with astonishment. 
 
 " That we should stumble over one another here ! Is 
 Mrs. Glyndon with you? That would make it about even ; 
 for we have some half-dozen Severn-point people at the 
 hotel. Allow me to introduce m}- friends, Mrs. Sherrard, 
 Mrs. Payne, Mr. Payne, Mr. St. John, Mr. Mallory." 
 
 Mrs. Kinnard recovered from her surprise, and intro 
 duced her party, in turn. 
 
 There was a general asking of questions. Where were 
 the} T sta}'ing? What were they doing? And for all 
 summer? 
 
 Mrs. Sherrard was a magnificent woman certainty. 
 Mrs. Pa3'ne looked very plain beside her. But there was 
 something, too much of the flashing of silks and dia 
 monds, too much of her in every waj-, from the bold,
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 263 
 
 black ej'e down to the shapely foot that made itself con 
 spicuous. 
 
 They were all going up to the mountain- top. Both 
 parties had brought lunch-baskets. 
 
 " So there is no law against our making a social time 
 of it," said Mr. Van Alstyne, beginning to conciliate 
 Mr. Endicott at once. The rest paired off ; but Nelly 
 kept Bess close beside her. Miss Graham joined them ; 
 and presently they fell a little behind. Mrs. Sherrard 
 was laughing and sparkling with repartee. 
 
 "Isn't she just horrid!" exclaimed Miss Graham 
 angrily. " And yet, you can't think, she has them all in 
 her train, everybody worth noticing. I don't see how 
 the men like her so ! You can see she is making a dead 
 set at Mr. Van Alstyne ; and I never saw him so so" 
 
 There was a bright red flush on the young girl's cheek, 
 and a half-smothered fire in her eye. 
 
 " Captivated? " appended Mrs. Kinnard at a venture. 
 
 "Well," in a reluctant tone, " though I don't really 
 believe it. But at the hotel they predict it will make a 
 match. She met him in the spring. She had just come 
 from Europe, and had trunks full of elegant clothes ; and 
 ever since then she has followed him up." 
 
 A troubled light crossed Nelly's face. It pained her 
 to hear this 3'oung girl discussing these matters in such a 
 tone. She looked at Bessie in all her fair ness and inno 
 cence, and wished that fate had not led them in this 
 direction to-day. To change the conversation, she asked 
 who of the past summer's friends were at the hotel. 
 
 " The Daventrys, and that Miss Ashton and hermother. 
 She is going on the stage in the fall, with an opera troupe. 
 Isn't it queer how we met? Mamma was so undecided 
 about coming to the White Mountains ; and I almost 
 wish" 
 
 There was a fretted look on the face that marred its 
 youthful sweetness. It seemed such a pity. Had she,
 
 264 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 too, poor moth, been caught in the net that looked so 
 smooth and shining when Van Alstyne shook it out before 
 women's faces? 
 
 " But it's just royal ever} r where," declared Bessie. " I 
 feel as if I could not get enough of it ; " and she drew a 
 long, delicious breath. 
 
 Miss Graham glanced at her sharply. Nelly noted the 
 difference in the two faces, one tired, and a trifle faded, 
 with a little frown between the brows, and a sharp com- 
 jpression of the lips ; the other sweet, fresh, noble, and 
 with the peculiar graciousness of a generous nature 
 shining in it. And yet she, too, might sip some poisoned 
 chalice. 
 
 Presently Van Alstyne drifted back to them. Miss 
 Graham's whole nature seemed to warm and change. 
 She cared so much for him then ! 
 
 By and by they reached a level spot, where the}* all sat 
 down to rest ; and the lunch-baskets came out, for it was 
 past noon. The conversation became general. Mrs. 
 Ogden's brilliancy was heightened by her fine breeding, 
 though Mrs. Sherrard was witty, and had that peculiar 
 something termed fascination ; or was it a seductive 
 aggressiveness? Her fine dark e3~es were languishing; 
 she put herself in picturesque attitudes ; she dazzled ; she 
 smiled in the faces of her companions, showing pearly 
 teeth, and tempting scarlet lips. Mrs. Payne evidently 
 adored her. 
 
 Mr. Mallory and Mr. Endicott had a discussion quite 
 to themselves upon geological formations. Nelly stole a 
 glance at this wayfarer. 
 
 Six and twenty, perhaps, with a firm, vigorous but 
 elastic frame, rather above middle height, and a certain 
 slow grace in every movement. A face full of fine and 
 kindly feeling ; handsome, too, in a manly way, quite 
 different from Van Alstyne. His hair was a light, sunny 
 brown ; but the brows and lashes were much darker, and
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 265 
 
 gave the clear blue eyes a deeper shade. A broad fore 
 head, firm and thoughtful, a kind of decisive nose, that 
 seemed to strengthen the face, and a mouth that was arch 
 and humorous, rich in kindly expressive lines, and not 
 lacking firmness. Nelly felt drawn to him more than to 
 any of the others. 
 
 Up to the top of the glorious mountain after that ; 
 but the additional party spoiled it somewhat for Nelly ; 
 they filled it so with littleness and worldliness. Mrs. 
 Payne thought " mountains were pretty much alike, 
 after all." Mrs. Sherrard had Van Alst3 r ne's arm 
 now, and was very effusive. Miss Graham was rather 
 sullen. 
 
 Nelly and Bess seated themselves on a gray rock, and 
 Mr. Mallory came and talked to them. 
 
 "What a delightful party you must have ! " he said. 
 " Your father was tailing me about it. My mother and I 
 have met your sister in New York, Mrs. Duncan : so I 
 do not feel quite like a stranger. I wonder if it would 
 be too great a favor or ought I to ask Mrs. Ogden ? 
 if I might drive my mother over some day to call on }*ou? 
 She is the loveliest old lady ' ' and he stopped with a 
 blushing laugh. 
 
 ' ' Why, we should be very glad to see her, if she will 
 come," answered Mrs. Kinnard. 
 
 " You are most kind. To tell the truth, I fancy she is 
 a little dull at the hotel. Don't you know that sometimes 
 you happen to fall in with a host of agreeable people ; and 
 at others " he stopped there, bit'his lip, and ended with 
 a bright laugh. "I think it must be because there are 
 no old ladies." 
 
 "We have three," said Bess; "and one of them is 
 just as handsome as any picture ; and one of them is 
 better than any picture in the whole world." 
 
 "And the third?" 
 
 Bessie blushed crimson, and turned to Nelly. 
 
 23
 
 266 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " The third rounds out the group. You can't have 
 them all alike," said Nelly with merry audacitj T . 
 
 " I am quite curious to see them. The one better than 
 a picture is " 
 
 " My mother," answered Bessie proudly. 
 
 There was a sign of breaking up. They ^ scrambled 
 down the mountain-side to where the paths diverged, and 
 then said their good-b}-s. Mrs. Sherrard had tight hold 
 of Van Alstyne's arm. Mrs. Kinnard bad given Miss 
 Graham an invitation, earlier in the day, to visit her : so 
 there were none exchanged now. Mr. Mallory followed 
 them a little farther until they met John and the family 
 carriage, and then said they might look for him to 
 morrow. 
 
 They sat in the moonlight that evening, and discussed 
 the rencounter. 
 
 " I like Mr. Mallo^," said Bessie frankly ; " but there 
 is something about Mr. Van Alstyne that I should never 
 trust. He either does, or pretends to, like Mrs. Sherrard 
 a great deal. And then he acts queevly towards Miss 
 Graham, while it seems as if Mr. St. John was bashfully 
 in love with her ; and she snubs him. What tangles there 
 are in this world ! Now, I think I should like to write 
 a book, and make everybody fall in love with the right 
 person." 
 
 " Don't begin to bother your head about falling in love, 
 Pussy," said her father. 
 
 "I? Papa dear, I have a premonition that I shall be 
 your f amity old maid." 
 
 " So did Rose," saj-s Fan with a laugh. 
 
 The next afternoon Mr. Mallory and his mother came 
 over. 
 
 A handsome old lady, surely, one of the women who 
 are glad to be old, just as they were glad to be young, 
 who keep the great joy of life shining through every 
 thing. She had turned sixty now ; was of middle height
 
 NELLY EZNTSTARD'S KINGDOM. 267 
 
 and middle size, plump, fair, with, pink cheeks, hair of 
 soft silver that had once been flaxen, a dimpled face, a 
 sweet mouth, and a wonderful light gleaming in the blue 
 eyes. Her fine striped gray- and- white silk dress had 
 two ruffles on the skirt, and no overskirt. Her narrow 
 collar, and the edge to her sleeves, was fine point. Her 
 silver-grajr gloves fitted to a hair. Her pretty white chip 
 hat was trimmed with black thread lace. An old- 
 fashioned, ingrained rareness and purity, a clinging 
 sense of fragrance about her, that was as delicate as if 
 her clothes had lain in it for years, rather than any sharp 
 obtrusivcness just sprinkled out of a smart scent-bottle. 
 In her wa}', she was fully a match for Miss Churchill. 
 
 And, with her, her son shone out in a new light. The 
 love that had grown out of her very life had returned to 
 be her stay and support. She wore her grace of mother 
 hood like a crown ; -and his sonship was not less beautiful 
 to see, his quiet, chivalrous attending, as if she were 
 the " fairest lady in all the land." 
 
 The}' sat out on the great porch, some in rocking- 
 chairs, some on the wide wooden benches, and on the 
 grass-plot : they did not call it lawn. Essie and Archie 
 were tumbling about ; the baby was crowing in her nurse's 
 arms ; and Bertie was swinging in a hammock. 
 
 " It is worth coming to see, Eugene," cried his mother, 
 in a tone that was glad and sweet, like herself. "And 
 now, friends, don't leave off doing anything because I am 
 here : the picture is perfect without any alteration. Just 
 let me sit down in the midst." 
 
 Bessie was on the step, crocheting with bright wools. 
 Mr. Mallory found a place beside her, and they all talked. 
 First it was of Mrs. Duncan (Mrs. Mallory had known the 
 elder Duncan family) , then Mrs. Endicott, afterward the 
 girls, before she came to the grandchildren. 
 
 " You ought to be a happy woman with four such 
 daughters," she exclaimed; and there was a tremulous 
 light in her eyes.
 
 268 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 "There are two more at home, and a 'baby' some 
 where," said Mr. Endicott. " Mother, where is Edith? " 
 
 " Seven ! " exclaimed Mrs. Mallory. 
 
 " Seven," laughed Mr. Endicott. 
 
 "And I had four sons; but this is all I have now. 
 God has been very good to you, Mrs. Endicott. I used 
 to think I should like so to have a daughter. But, if I 
 had not gone to him in my trouble and losses, I do not 
 know how I should have lived. ' He brings us to the 
 haven where we would be,' and just asks that we shall 
 trust his promises ;" and her voice fell a little, as one's 
 does unconsciously when speaking of a matter very near 
 the heart, yet long past. " But there seems no lack of 
 sons with j'ou, after all," she went on brightl}*. 
 
 Mr. Endicott turned to her with his soft, friendly smile. 
 
 Then the grandchildren were brought up ; and Bertie 
 came with them. 
 
 "She isn't my very own mamma," Bertie explained, 
 in answer to some wondering comment ; " but papa loves 
 her, and so do I." . -=- - 
 
 "You had a deal of courage," said Mrs. Mallory, 
 glancing almost sharply at Nell}*. 
 
 " She had what is better than courage," remarked the 
 elder Mrs. Kinnard, in an almost jealous tone, " good 
 ness and kindliness." 
 
 What an odd, charming, piquant call it was ! An hour 
 passed before any one thought ; and at parting they urged 
 her to come again. 
 
 " I am sorry that I cannot offer a like entertainment; 
 but I have seen more charming people than there are at 
 our hotel. We were thinking of leaving next week. 
 However, I must come over again ; for I have not half 
 satisfied nryself. So adieu for a brief while." 
 
 Fan, Nclby, Bess, and their father, went out to the gate. 
 Mrs. Mallor} T nodded and smiled again. 
 
 " That is what I call running straight into a rose-gar 
 den, Eugene," she said to her son.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 " All familiar things he touched, 
 All common words he spake, became to me 
 Like forms and sounds of a diviner world." 
 
 SHELLEY. 
 
 Miss GRAHAM brought Mr. Van Alstyne out with her 
 when she came to spend the day at the cottage. She 
 had offered him a great temptation in asking him ; and he 
 did not desire to resist it. But she was full of smoulder 
 ing jealousy because he and Bessie had a few bright 
 passages at arms, and once went off together to look at 
 a bird's nest. 
 
 " I am very soriy for her,'* said Mrs. Ogden. " Why 
 does she cany her heart so plainly on her sleeve ? And 
 one can only suppose that he is trifling with her. Does 
 she not see it ? " 
 
 " She was so nice last summer ! " Nelly remarked in a 
 kind of extenuating tone. 
 
 " Did he care for her then? " 
 
 " Not at all, or not especially. He is not a manying 
 man ; ' ' and Nelly paused to wonder whether Daisy 
 
 " Then he has no business to entangle any woman's 
 affections," spoke out Mr. Churchill strongly. "It is 
 one of the most selfish and cowardly things that can be 
 done. And women should try to frown it down." 
 
 " But too many of our modern girls take it as a tri 
 umph," said Nell}'. 
 
 " And my opinion regarding Mr. Van Alstyne is, that 
 Mrs. Shcrrard will succeed. She is one of the kind who 
 
 23* 26i)
 
 270 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 always win when they make the attempt. I neither 
 liked nor admired her ; but she is handsome and witt}*. 
 Did Miss Graham tell you she had been divorced?" asked 
 Fanny. 
 
 " Yes. Then some one left her a fortune, and she went 
 to Europe." 
 
 " She is rather too pronounced ; but, as we do not care, 
 we can let her alone." 
 
 Mr. Van Alstyne would fain have effected a familiar 
 entree at the cottage ; but the Fates forbade. Then he 
 grew irritated, and started off suddenly ; but among one 
 of the earliest marriages in the autumn was his and Mrs. 
 Sherrard's. How she managed was a mystery. What the 
 world did not know, was, that he had nearly run through 
 with his fortune ; and the fascinating widow was both rich 
 and prodigal. 
 
 Ah, Daisy Endicott ! all the after-years did avenge you 
 grandly. 
 
 Mrs. Sherrard and the Paynes following so soon 
 in the wake of Mr. Van Alstyne 's defection, the Mallorys 
 changed their minds, and decided to stay. There came 
 to be a very pleasant going back and forth. Mrs. Mai- 
 lory was delightful on further acquaintance. She had 
 been ever} T where, and seen so many notable people, 
 kings, queens, great generals, several remarkable artists 
 and authors, and had so many charming reminiscences 
 to relate, that her days were really red-letter da3~s. 
 Her husband had been abroad on several governmental 
 appointments, though Eugene was but fourteen when he 
 died. She added to the quartet of old ladies a won 
 derful grace and interest ; and Mr. Mallory soon made 
 himself a favorite. Yet they could not be blind. Some 
 day papa would have to say, " And this one also." 
 
 But no one spoke or jested. It seemed an almost holy 
 thing that this young girl should go so simply forward to 
 her fate, neither dreading, expecting, nor desiring, until
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 271 
 
 the day came when her eyes should be opened with love's 
 own rosy, beneficent touch. No glare of ball-rooms, no 
 heat and flush of dancing, rivalry, a'nd excitement, no crowd 
 of society -people, anxious to tear off the garment of sim 
 plicity, and make her as worldly-wise as themselves, and 
 dim the puritj^ of face and heart ; little family conven 
 tions rather, a whole group gathered out on the porch, or 
 under the trees ; Bessie playing with a baby, or doing a 
 bit of bright fancy-work, which was her passion. Some 
 where near her lingered Mr. Mallory. She fell into a 
 fashion of referring to him, of asking him questions, 
 sending him on trifling errands that would not take him 
 out of sight, and thanking him with such a bewitching 
 grace. She was piquant and flashing, rather than shy ; 
 but with her it was the bravery of entire innocence, rather 
 than any approach to boldness. Her admiration of Mr. 
 Mallory was very outspoken just as she admired her 
 father or Dr. Kinnard. 
 
 " If I were a French woman, Mr. Endicott," said Mrs. 
 Mallory one day, ' ' I should ask your daughter for my 
 son. In some things, we might study our neighbors to an 
 advantage. Their children have not altogether outgrown 
 filial affection or reverence ; and certainly, the first part 
 of courtship doss not need secrecy and affectation, as if 
 it was a thing to be thrust out of sight He has met many 
 women ; but so far I have been his most intimate friend. 
 He is quite worthy of your daughter, and that is saying a 
 great deal ; for I have seen no person until now that I 
 coveted for him. You need not fear aught but the most 
 motherly welcome for her." 
 
 " She is so young ! " faltered the father, with a secret 
 pang at seeing his household-nest thus despoiled of its 
 treasures. 
 
 " Mr. Endicott, I was sixteen when I married " (and 
 in her more earnest tones there was a not unmusical 
 sharpness, like a sweet-toned bell wildly shaken, that
 
 272 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 somehow thrilled j'ou), "and my husband died a little 
 more than twelve years ago. All that time was not a 
 day too long. I would not give up one hour's remem 
 brance now, for a mint of gold. If my son makes as 
 good a husband" and a tear trembled in the lustrous 
 eye. 
 
 " Yes, yes," said Mr. Endicott hurriedly, clasping the 
 soft, dimpled hand. 
 
 "And now the rest they can settle for themselves," 
 she made answer with a smile. 
 
 There came to be a sweet and gracious rival^ among 
 these old ladies, a bringing-out of what was best and 
 kindliest, just as they wore their pretty laces, fine quaint 
 lawns, with suggestions of other summers in them, and 
 their rich, soft silks. And Nelly could not see her 
 family grandmother fall behind. A touch added here 
 to-day, and there to-morrow, softening and refining ; an 
 act of tender respect or graceful deference that roused 
 the very springs of her nature, though the}* had been 
 quite choked with the debris of other years. She used to 
 go to ride with Bertie with a glad, proud air, as if she 
 discerned the grace in her grandson, and appreciated it. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard and "Winthrop Ogden were added to the 
 party presently ; and there followed a fortnight of whole 
 some, delightful enjoyment, a fresh, live moaning in 
 every thing for them, from the mountain-tops at noon, 
 to the suppers in the twilight ; from the splendor of a 
 sunset to the bits and fragments of c very-day life. 
 
 "I seem to realize more and more how we are giving 
 up our places to others," Miss Churchill said to Mrs. 
 Endicott. " We bring out the old-fashioned carnations 
 that were the great things of our day ; and the new gene 
 ration cultivate them into largeness and richness, though 
 thc3 T can't make them much sweeter," \yth her grand 
 smile. "But it is all right. If we had not labored, 
 the}* might have no carnations to improve upon."
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 273 
 
 "And so my prett}' Queen Bess has been captured in 
 my absence," said Dr. Kinnard to his wife in a rather 
 disconsolate tone. " And she is to ' shine down ' all yon 
 girls, even Mrs. Fan. Stephen Duncan was speaking of 
 them. There is almost no end to Mrs. Mallory's wealth. 
 She was one of the Livingstons, and inherited two or 
 three fortunes in her own right. Now, if Bess had been 
 tricked out in silks and diamonds, and gone to Newport 
 or Saratoga " 
 
 " Are you quite sure? " exclaimed Nelly, aghast at so 
 overwhelming a prospect. "Why, we never thought 
 I wonder that some of the girls at the hotel didn't prefer 
 him to Mr. Van Alstyue, whom they all seemed so 
 bewitched about." 
 
 Nell}- had kept that brief episode to confess personally, 
 rather than trust it to a letter. But her husband had no 
 fears now : " his heart safely trusted her." 
 
 "Young women may not alwa}*s know;" and he 
 shrugged his broad ' shoulders with a touch of humor. 
 " But, if Boss had not liked him, twice that money would 
 not have tempted her. I lay the flattering unction to 
 my soul, that my money did not tempt }'ou," with a 
 funii}' little laugh. 
 
 " Nell}'," he said later, " I cannot understand the mar 
 vellous change 3*011 have worked in mother. She is so 
 much softer and kinder and more gracious ; and you 
 make her look such a pretty old lady, I declare, I am 
 very proud of her." 
 
 "i think she softens herself by loving," Nelly an 
 swered simply. 
 
 And then they began to talk about going home. There 
 were last walks and rides, going about to say good-by to 
 every thing as Bessie phrased it. 
 
 " Mamma," she said, as they sat on the porch one 
 starlight night, when there was no moon, and the babies 
 were all gathered inside, "mamma, I've been so
 
 274 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 happy all summer ! I have so many pictures treasured 
 up, I sometimes wish I had a genius, like you or Fan. 
 But after all," with her brightly-flavored laugh, "that 
 could only take in a few ; and my memoiy is a bstter 
 portfolio. I don't suppose I shall ever see an}- Alps or 
 any Rhine, or streams of Wye or Severn, or even banks 
 and braes of Doon ; but I am quite content and glad and 
 strong, to go back home, and take up the little things, 
 and talk over all these great things. And, if I never 
 have another grand holiday in all my life, I think I shall 
 be satisfied." 
 
 Eugene Mallory sat on the step below, and listened, 
 planning in his heart. And, when the dream became too 
 sweet, he rose suddenly, and said, the thing farthest 
 from his present thought, 
 
 "Are you not cold, Queenie? The nights are begin 
 ning to grow chilly. Let me get your shawl. There ! 
 and now I must go. It is a long ride over to the hotel ; 
 and mother will sit up waiting. Good-night, Mrs. 
 Endicott." 
 
 Bessie walked down to the gate with him, a lithe, 
 graceful girl, with sunshine in her face, her hair, her 
 heart. Some time she would ripen into a gracious and 
 lovely woman, with that better charm than mere physical 
 beauty. She seemed to him like a rosy, cheerful dawn, 
 or a bright, warm spring da}'. How would he dare bring 
 her any nearer, into his very life? It was so delicious, 
 pausing here on the charmed threshold of manhood's 
 sweet mystery. 
 
 But it came of itself, a few days after, a word, a look, 
 a tremulous tone, a sudden scarlet flush, and drooping of 
 eyes, on her part, and a brave, sweet gladness on his, 
 that spoke in every feature as lie took her to his heart. 
 Lovers ! Yesterday they were friends, just touching the 
 rims of each other's boundaries ; and to-day it was so 
 bewilderingly different. The joy almost dazed one.
 
 NELLY KINKARD'S KINGDOM. 275 
 
 She could have lived without it before she had it ; but 
 now to give it up would be a pang bitterer than death. 
 
 " My dear," said Mrs. Mallory, when they began to 
 talk about it a little, " I want you to take me for a 
 mother in deed and in truth. Eugene is all I have in 
 this world ; and I see no reason why a mother should be 
 shut out of her son's life when she is old. He has had 
 the best and richest of hers, much more than she can 
 ever have of his. I know there is a strong prejudice 
 against mothers-in-law ; and young people are said to be 
 better off by themselves, as if their greatest joy should 
 narrow their life and Sj'inpathies at once. You can spare 
 me a little out of these bright, young days ; and I shall 
 try to give it back in mother-love. I cannot be parted 
 from him." 
 
 " No," Bessie said wondering! } r , looking into the eager 
 face, with its pink cheeks, and proud yet beseeching 
 63-68, " no : why should it be? Why shouldn't we both 
 love him? As if anybody could have too much." 
 
 " Thank 3*011, my dear ; " and there was a little huski- 
 ness in the ringing, musical voice. " You will be none 
 the loser." 
 
 Mr. Endicott asked them, in his simply hospitable 
 manner, to spend a few days at the rectory ; and they 
 came. Rose put the guest-chamber in order, just as she 
 had for her own lover, long ago, it seemed, when he was 
 a stranger. And Fan insisted that Nelly should come 
 to West Side with her husband, and spend Sunday, to 
 hear Louis Duncan preach. 
 
 So they were all together again, children and children's 
 children, except the one " who was not," the smiling, 
 angelic baby, who had lived out his folded, rose-leaf life, 
 and left behind a rare fragrance that would never die 
 quite out of their hearts. 
 
 But the little mother looked so piteous with her great 
 asking, sorrowing eyes, and her empty arms, that seemed
 
 276 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 to go out into void space caressingly, as if she hoped to 
 find him again ; her absent, listening expression, as if she 
 was waiting for him to speak from somewhere. There 
 was a black ribbon around the neck of her white dress, 
 and another in her leghorn hat. Step&en did not like her 
 to wear mourning : so she put off all but these small signs. 
 
 An odd, unworldly life they had led in that homely 
 rectory during the past two months. Business had taken 
 Stephen away now and then. Louis had thrown him 
 self heart and soul into the work, with the enthusiasm 
 of a poetic nature which the lad had always possessed ; 
 though, in earlier years, it had only cropped out in irrita 
 tions that rasped him to the core, heart-burnings, anger, 
 and jealousy. But he had found his place and his work. 
 An idealist he would always be, clothing, or longing to 
 clothe, every thing with his exquisite perception of beauty 
 and fitness, to find the hidden types and meanings, to go 
 up on glorified mounts, to see behind the .cloud and pillar 
 of fire, the kind of man of whom, in olden times, 
 devotees were made, who saw Christ as if in a vision. 
 A sense of spiritual exaltation shone in every feature. 
 
 lie was delicate looking, though not unhealthy, and 
 with a glow of mystic worship in his e}'es, a reverence 
 in eveiy movement, a sweetness and persuasiveness that 
 was almost womanlj', 3*et not weak. His sermons indi 
 cated much thought, refinement, and culture ; yet they 
 had the pith of the old teaching, and never lost sight of 
 the great truth in all the flow of poetic imagery. 
 
 Remembering the wayward bo}', Mr. Endicott gave 
 thanks anew ; first-fruits of which he would never need 
 to be ashamed, surely. 
 
 " Between Stephen and Louis, Rose seems a very 
 child," said Nell}- to the doctor as they were walking 
 home from church in the silveiy glow of the September 
 evening, with the air full of delicious, ripening odors. 
 u Why, it seems to me as if Fan and I were ages older ;
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 277 
 
 
 
 or is it because we are so much taller ? Poor girl ! she 
 is the only one that has had a lasting sorrow thus far." 
 
 "I wish she had not taken it to Louis ;" and there 
 was a kind of dissatisfaction in her husband's tone. 
 
 " "Wh}-, it is perfectly natural. He is a clergyman, and 
 the}- always were unusual friends. He thinks she saved 
 him once ; and she did. Barton, I won't have 3*ou even 
 fancj'ing ' ' 
 
 She stopped because she hardly knew what he did 
 fane}*, and there was a jealous warmth in her tone. The 
 one who thought any harm of Rose must answer to her 
 quick and sharp. 
 
 "My darling, I am not imagining anything in the 
 absolute ^nse of wrong. Stephen stands and looks at 
 her in great awe, and then steps aside ; and she turns to 
 his brother, because he is, as jou say, a clergyman. 
 But no person or thing has any right to come between 
 husband and wife no sympathy, any more than love." 
 
 " I will not have }'ou judging her hardly," and Nelly's 
 voice trembled. 
 
 "She is lovely and sweet; and she is an Endicott: 
 can I sa}' any thing greater?" with an abrupt but 
 tender pressure. " But I have had a wider experience 
 than an}' of you ; and marriage seems to me a kind of 
 promised land. It is promised, and you set out for it ; 
 but with some there is forty years in the wilderness,- and 
 they only behold it afar off, never quite entering in. A 
 day or a month doesn't comprise it all ; a kiss and a 
 little caressing is not all the manna : it is the giving and 
 receiving on both sides ; and what is given has no right 
 to be handed over to another ; neither has one any right 
 to withhold. It is the empty place out of which the 
 little child has gone ; and some day she will come to see 
 that only a husband's love can fill it. Yet it is so natural 
 for a woman to crave the finest there is in sympathy." 
 
 "But Louis is so good; and if you could know all 
 
 24
 
 278 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 there was between them in the past. I think two 
 brothers never loved one another as those two Duncans 
 do now." 
 
 Dr. Kinnard Was silent for a few moments, and then 
 changed the talk to some other subject. It was a subtle 
 under-current that he saw with the practised e}-e of a 
 thoughtful physician. Might it not right itself, especiall}- 
 if another child should come to draw them together? 
 For happiness is not a settled and unchanging truth. 
 What satisfied yesterday may be as but crumbs to 
 morrow. 
 
 The addition of the Mallorys to the household attracted 
 and diverted attention. Mrs. Mallory was as charmingly 
 at home as if she had been coming back to some earlier 
 haunt. She possessed the fine grace of thorough breed 
 ing, that would never lead any one to wonder if things 
 were good enough. You forgot what you proffered ; or, 
 rather, she so 'glorified it to 3*ou, that straightway it be 
 came of the best. She flitted in and out ; she was ex 
 quisitely motherly to these 3'oung men, who paid her the 
 purest respect. Even now, had she so willed, she could 
 have drawn an enchanted circle around her equal to that 
 of some of the famous old Frenchwomen. 
 
 Bessie was in a glow and radiance. The blood rippled 
 vividly through her fair skin ; tremulous lights and shad 
 ows fluttered in her eyes ; and her voice had a musical 
 fulness, as if it came from an overflowing soul. She was 
 oddly sh}', now, having lost her friend, and hardl}' daring 
 to accept his attentions in the new light of a lover. But 
 with his mother there was no timidity. 
 
 She was j'oung, and they would not hurry matters. 
 
 " You see," explained Mrs. Mallory, " I am a believ 
 er in pleasant courtships. It is a season in our 3~oung 
 lives that nothing ever blights. It has no cares like 
 
 o o 
 
 marriage, and, in its happy ignorance, sees nothing save 
 endless islands of delight all along the sunshiny shore.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 279 
 
 It is a great thing to believe in the perfection of bliss 
 even for a }-ear or two ; " and her rippling laugh seemed 
 to frame in her sentences. 
 
 " And now, ' gude wife,' we must go home," declared 
 Dr. Kinnard. " I feel as if I had been on a fresh 
 honeymoon, and may do something ridiculous presently, 
 since love-making is all the rage." 
 
 " It has been a wedding-journey," returned Nelly 
 with tender gravity. " I seem to be having delightful 
 holidays here and there, and only a little of the sober 
 work." 
 
 "Ah, you think so!" And he remembered jvhat 
 would have been a grievous burthen to some women.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " Blind and hardened they 
 Who hope for peace amid the storms of care ; 
 Who covet power they know not how to use, 
 And sigh for pleasures they refuse tO'give." 
 
 PKOMETHEUS 
 
 THE Kinnards were at home again, though it was 
 some time before they dropped into their olden groove ; 
 there was so much to see and hear, so many old friends 
 dropping in to welcome them back ! 
 
 The church had gone on beautifully. It was to be 
 built of gray stone, and they had been very fortunate in 
 securing some that had been cut under another contract ; 
 so that the walls, they hoped, would all be up before cold 
 weather. It was to be Gothic, with a clerestory and a 
 tower, a ver} r decided ornament to the town. 
 
 Then Miss Grove and Maud returned home, both im 
 mensely consequential. Nelly had witnessed nothing 
 like it the whole summer. 
 
 "Dr. Kinnard," Miss Grove said the next morning, 
 at the breakfast- table, " I desire to see you privately at 
 your earliest convenience." 
 
 " Ver}- well, come in the office presently," was the 
 undaunted answer. 
 
 Maud looked consciously elated. " What a haughty, 
 disagreeable girl!" thought Nelly. "Will airy one 
 blame me for it, I wonder ? ' ' 
 
 The conference was quite lengtlry. Maud meanwhile 
 was entertaining her stepmother with a description of 
 
 280
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 281 
 
 Saratoga, quite as if she had taken pity on her benighted 
 seclusion. 
 
 " Come, Maud," exclaimed her aunt, sweeping through 
 the hall. 
 
 The doctor beckoned to his wife, who went in, when 
 he closed the door carefully. 
 
 "Wonders will never cease," he began, then gave a 
 hearty laugh, thrusting both hands into his pockets. 
 
 " Then it is nothing bad? " And Nelly looked amused. 
 
 "Some one has been found brave enough to bell the 
 cat : that was our old idea, was it not ? ' ' and his eyes 
 twinkled mirthfull}*. 
 
 "What do you mean?" was her surprised question, 
 for she could not believe the thought that flashed into her 
 mind. 
 
 " That the whole world has gone marriage mad. 
 Auut Adelaide has succumbed to the destiny of women- 
 kind." 
 
 Nelly's face was one ripple of astonishment. 
 
 " She would never have entertained such an idea, but 
 for my misbehavior. She would have been content to 
 devote her life to me and the children, and made an hon 
 orable and happy home : I believe those were her very 
 words. But since this place never can be a home to her 
 again ; since she has been continually thwarted in her 
 endeavors to do her duty by the children, and estranged 
 from them ; since she has been made to feel that she was 
 not welcome (and that vexed me, Nelly," interposed 
 the doctor with a frown) , " there was no other course 
 left. The long and the short of it is, that she has 
 accepted one Mr. Garland, and has been in New York 
 superintending her wedding outfit. Early in October she 
 is to become Mrs. Garland." 
 
 " But who is he? " was Nelly's inquiry. 
 
 " A stock-broker. I do hope Adelaide's vanity and 
 self-complacency have not blinded her into making a bad 
 
 24*
 
 282 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 bargain. She met him at Saratoga. He is about her 
 agj, a widower, with two children married (sons at that) , 
 and, she thinks, wealthy. I trust it may be so. She has 
 a comfortable fortune of her own ; and it would be a 
 shame to have it frittered away. What with accruing 
 interest, it must be at least twenty thousand. She has 
 spent nothing since she came here, except for clothes and 
 occasional journeys.*' 
 
 " I hope she will do well," said Nelly in a tone of 
 great relief. To be quite free ! Whj*, she could hardly 
 realize it. 
 
 " Well I hope so too. It would be folly for either of us 
 to deny that her going is any thing but an unalloyed 
 pleasure. Still I was glad to have her come during her 
 sister's illness ; and I should not have liked to send her 
 away while we could get along amicably together. Is 
 this another intervention of Providence, Nell}'? " And, 
 drawing his fair young wife to him, he pressed lovers' 
 kisses on her lips. 
 
 " Yes, I am thankful," was her fervent reply. 
 
 "There is one bone of contention looming up. She 
 wants to take Maud altogether." 
 
 "O Barton! it does not seem quite right," cried 
 Nelly in genuine anxiety. "It is such a fatal influence 
 for a young girl. I do believe I would rather have her 
 shallow and frivolous than so conceitedly proper, so 
 arrogant, and coldl}" selfish. With all her education, she 
 is narrow, and ignorant of the real aims of life." 
 
 " I know it ; and it is my grief. Nell}', I wish I could 
 have given her into your care two years ago : but it was 
 not possible, and it would have been too great a charge 
 for 3'ou. Then I think Maud is radically ditFerent from 
 Bertie. I have a son, at least," he said proudly.* 
 
 "Will yon let her go?" 
 
 " I think not. Advise me, Nell}' ; " and, coming near 
 her, he leaned both elbows on the table, resting his per-
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 283 
 
 plexed face in his hands. " We could not keep her at 
 home, 3'ou see. She would be dissatisfied, and exagger 
 ate every trifle to her aunt. I would not risk having you 
 thus misrepresented. So she would have to be sent to 
 boarding-school, where she would not be at all content, I 
 suspect. I think Aunt Adelaide really loves her ; and, if 
 any evil befell her, she would never forgive me. Still, on 
 the other hand, I cannot see her ruined without some 
 effort to save her. I am her father." 
 
 "She had better go to school," returned Nelly deci 
 sively. "She is only a little girl yet, barely fourteen; 
 and three years' association with companions of her own 
 age may do a great deal for her. Aunt Adelaide would 
 make her a woman before her time, without a woman's 
 sense or judgment. I never saw any one who had such 
 an uncompromising hostility to childhood pure and sim 
 ple as Miss Grove." 
 
 " The first agreement was, that she should be a kind of 
 governess to the children until the}' were old enough to go 
 to school. But she insists upon keeping Maud ; and I 
 daresa}* we shall have some hard talks over it." 
 
 " She might spend part of her vacations with her aunt, 
 and part here." 
 
 "It shall be, some way. I only needed your verdict 
 about the school to decide me. None of you girls were 
 ever away at school ? ' ' 
 
 " No." And Nelly thought of their happy home-life. 
 
 " Well, my dear, I must go out. I have idled away 
 half the morning, and shall, no doubt, prescribe matrimony 
 for some patient before I am through. So good-by, 
 sweetheart." 
 
 Nelly went around in a maze. " Aunt Adelaide 
 married ! What could Mr. Garland be like ? Would the 
 wedding take place here ? ' ' 
 
 Miss Grove did not deign to inform any person beside 
 " my brother-in-law," as she had always resolutely called
 
 284 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 him. There was a week of much flurr}', assorting of 
 clothes and bedding, driving to the village ; and then she 
 went to New York, taking Maud with her, not troubling 
 any one about permission. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard felt really vexed. Meanwhile, he con 
 sulted two or three friends on the subject of schools, and, 
 with Nelly's advice, chose one in a pretty, healthy, and 
 somewhat old-fashioned town. Melrose Hall was limited 
 to sevent3 r -five pupils, and had three departments, with a 
 very lovely woman for matron, and an efficient corps of 
 teachers. Two of Mrs. Newbury's grand-daughters were 
 there. 
 
 Mr. Dudley had spoken of a church school, one evening 
 at supper. 
 
 " No," said the doctor good-humoredly : "that never 
 would do. Mrs. Kinnard would be accused of proselyt 
 ing. We shall try to keep on the safe side." 
 
 He announced his decision to Maud on her return. 
 
 Maud colored a little. " It was hardly worth while," 
 she said, with the severe air of her aunt. " We visited 
 several schools in New York ; and I am to be entered at 
 Madame Dufresney's establishment. Nothing but French 
 and Italian is allowed to be used at the table. Languages 
 and music are to be my chief studies." 
 
 Dr. Kinnard looked at her in amazement. 
 
 " My child," he answered gravely, ' ; I am your father, 
 and the proper person to decide. When you are older, if 
 you should wish to reside with your aunt, I will interpose 
 no obstacle ; but at present 3-011 are in my charge." 
 
 Maud's lip quivered ; and her 63*6 shot out an angry 
 light. 
 
 " My little girl, 3 r ou may feel disappointed for a while ; 
 but some time 3'ou will see the wisdom of this step. I 
 think I have some right to 3 T our affection and interest ; 
 and I do desire to have 3 r our love." 
 
 All these years Aunt Adelaide had been nursing the
 
 NELLY KTNTSrARD'S KDTGDOM. 285 
 
 child's jealousy and distrust. Under the placid exterior 
 raged fires ready to burst out at a word, temper that used 
 to find a ready vent upon Bertie, but now was seldom 
 crossed. 
 
 " If you desired it," she said with the passionate vehe 
 mence of a woman, " why did you forget my own dear 
 dead mother? Why did you put another in her place? 
 You care for no one but her ; you ' ' 
 
 " Hush, Maud ! " he interrupted sternly. " You have 
 no right to arraign me, or the generous woman I have put 
 in j-our mother's place, when you have received only 
 kindness at both oar hands. She has alwaj-s been ready 
 to love you. If I had wavered before, this exhibition of 
 disrespect and anger would have decided me. After your 
 aunt's marriage, }*ou will go to Melrose Hall to stay until 
 Christmas. No persuasion on any one's part will induce 
 me to relent. I shall explain it to Aunt Adelaide imme 
 diately." 
 
 Miss Grove expressed much indignation, and stigmatized 
 the whole proceeding as cruel. 
 
 "Adelaide," he said, "the child is surely mine. I 
 think I hardly need remind you now of the little care 
 cither of these children received from their mother. Do 
 3'ou suppose, had she been well, and able to go into 
 societ}', she would have attended Bertie through his long 
 illness, as his stepmother did? Did she ever care for my 
 comfort or pleasure ? Truth is truth. It is ungracious to 
 remember the faults of the dead ; but you compel me to. 
 And it is doubly ungenerous of you to set Maud up in 
 rebellion." 
 
 " Of course, of course ! " she retorted fiercely. " The 
 child cannot see a large girl like Maud ! She is capable 
 of forming no conclusion whatever." And her tall figure 
 dilated with angr}' passion. 
 
 " The whole world would be welcome to see and judge. 
 But recrimination is worse than folly. We have lived on
 
 286 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 friendly terms so far ; and I am obliged for ever} r kindly 
 act of j-ours. Do not let us mar the remaining da}*s. 
 My mind is firmly made up in every thing." 
 
 He turned and left her without another word. Yet 
 never had he felt so profound a pity for the woman tying 
 in her grave, that her life should have left so scant a 
 record of love and good deeds. 
 
 Maud and her aunt went into town, and did not appear 
 at either dinner or supper. The nexUmorning both were 
 cold and haughty, Maud's demeanor an absolute and 
 almost laughable caricature on her aunt's. 
 
 The invitations were sent out; and then the family 
 learned that the ceremony would take place at noon, in the 
 church. Mr. Garland would be in town the day before ; 
 and, but for the late unpleasant occurrences, she would 
 be glad to invite him to call. 
 
 " Humbug ! " ejaculated Dr. Kinnard. "Adelaide, any 
 person with ten grains of common sense would admit 
 that I had a right to choose a school for my own child. 
 Ask j-our Mr. Garland here. I should like to meet him." 
 
 Trunks and boxes were packed, and marked for their 
 new destination. Furniture was boxed, and the house in 
 a whirl of disorder, that, had any one attempted in Aunt 
 Adelaide's reign, would have brought about a dire storm. 
 The hall was well-nigh converted into a storage place. 
 
 On Tuesday evening, Mr. Garland made his appear 
 ance, a stout, florid man of middle size, ' with rather 
 small, keen eyes, and suspiciously -brown hair and beard 
 for his fifty j-ears. He was important and self-asserting, 
 and might domineer, if occasion offered, thought Nell}'. 
 His manners had a society-polish ; he was handsomely 
 dressed, and wore a profusion of chain, seals, and rings, 
 with a prominent diamond shirt-stud. 
 
 " I suppose it is well enough, if Aunt Adelaide likes 
 him," was Nelly's comment. 
 
 " But he quite extinguishes plain people like me," said
 
 NELLY KESTNABD'S KINGDOM. 287 
 
 the doctor, with the old humorous twinkle shining in his 
 eye. "I must confess I would like to know something 
 about his standing and general character; but, if Ade 
 laide is satisfied, I surely ought to be content to have her 
 married." 
 
 And married she was in the richest of brown silk, point 
 lace, and diamonds. A fine-looking bride, after all. 
 The Kinnards went to church, and wishe'd her joy as she 
 started for Washington on her tour. 
 
 Maud had been exceedingly sullen and disagreeable, so 
 far as her family behavior went ; but neither father nor 
 mother had made any comment. She came home from 
 church, locked herself in her room, and would have no 
 supper. 
 
 " Maud," her father announced on the following morn 
 ing, " I want you to get your trunk packed to-day. To 
 morrow I shall take you to Melrose Hall." 
 
 A furtive, angry gleam sparkled in the eyes she did not 
 venture to raise. 
 
 There was no softening to her. She did condescend 
 to kiss her grandmother. When Bertie went to school, 
 she had nodded a cold good-by ; and she barely touched 
 her stepmother's hand. 
 
 ' ' How much that child is like Aunt Adelaide ! ' ' said 
 Grandmother Kinnard. " I declare she fairly gives one 
 a chill." 
 
 ' ' That child ' ' solaced herself with many lofty reflec 
 tions. She had some elegant clothes, and she meant to 
 astonish the other girls. She was the happy possessor 
 of diamonds. She was an heiress. She was an injured 
 and desolate girl, and had a cruel young stepmother, 
 whom her father adored. Altogether, she was rather 
 anxious to see what impression this would make upon 
 "the girls." 
 
 Ten days afterward, Aunt Adelaide's boxes and furni 
 ture went away. Mr. Garland owned a house ; and they
 
 288 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 were to go to housekeeping at once. Nelly straightened 
 out her own domain, and drew a long glad breath. She 
 was full and undisputed mistress. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard was rather grave for a while, thinking 
 about his daughter. Had he done his very best? Ah, 
 the mistake had commenced farther back. She inherited. 
 Aunt Adelaide's self-complacency, and her mother's pas 
 sionate, jealous temperament ; and both had been fostered 
 by her injudicious training. What else could he do nov,-? 
 Would she ever see the bright, joj'ous, wholesome life 
 shs was shutting out? 
 
 But he slipped into an easj', delicious existence; and 
 gave himself up to it as completely as he had on his bridal 
 tour. A happy man he counted himself; for there seemed 
 nothing for Nelly to do but enjoy it with him. Rachel 
 remained, and had become a competent housekeeper ; 
 and grandmother was fond of doing little bits and snatches 
 of work. Daisy and Boss came over frequently, Daisy 
 rarely for more than a any ; but Bessie was still quite in 
 love with her dear old doctor. 
 
 He yielded himself completely to the subtle, developing 
 power that was shaping his inner life, the half-hidden, 
 half-revealed tenderness of a pure womanl}- nature. It is 
 one thing to lay down laws and principles of existence 
 from a narrow, one-sided view ; quite another to be in the 
 midst of, nay, to be the object of, a generous regard, that 
 neither exacts nor withholds, but is like a free and boun 
 tiful sunshine in the spring, calling to life and light the 
 hundred tender blossoms in the grass. He had known so. 
 little of what it was exalting and delightful to know ; and 
 now it came as a development of all the higher facul 
 ties, ripening like a late summer. The manifold joys of 
 that sweet trust, when there was absolutely nothing to 
 come between, the searching into each other's faces for 
 meanings that did not need to be thrust out of sight, or 
 saved for rare moments of confidence, but dared to shi
 
 NELLY KIKNTARD'S KINGDOM. 289 
 
 bravely, with a minuteness that was a glimpse of the soul- 
 heaven opened, the kingdom within, that must go on 
 radiating, that could not be contained in a little space 
 any more than the fulness of God's love. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard%ad said to Maud, on parting with her, 
 " I shall expect to hear from you as often as once in a 
 fortnight : so she wrote. Little, formal notes they were, 
 she was well ; the studies were not severe, for she was 
 far in advance of her class ; the girls, for the most part, 
 were ill bred and ignorant ; the French teacher had an 
 execrable accent ; the rooms were poorly furnished : 
 and there was a general air of discontent pervading these 
 epistles. But she reserved her chief complaints for her 
 aunt. 
 
 Mrs. Garland's marriage, it must be confessed, was not 
 altogether the success she had expected. True, Mr. 
 Garland had a position, and did business; but there 
 was more outside show v than actual solidit}'. His house 
 was heavily mortgaged, and part of it rented until the 
 ensuing spring ; and it was an intense mortification to set 
 up housekeeping in apartments. She found that Mr. 
 Garland had counted largely on her fortune. There was 
 this and that investment, sure to double it, large divi 
 dends of such a stock, heavy interest for some wonder 
 ful bonds ; while seven per cont was mere bagatelle. 
 
 But she was not deficient in courage and practical 
 ability ; and she saw that she must make a resolute stand 
 for herself. Mr. Garland was not Dr. Kinnard. True, 
 he never would have been so foolish as to marry a for 
 tuneless 3'oung girl. Her sharp temper helped her, too, 
 to gain an ascendancy in marital affairs, and, perhaps, 
 was none the worse for her husband, though it did gall 
 and fret him. 
 
 " If }-ou are agreed," she announced rather coldly one 
 day, " I will take up the two mortgages on the house. I 
 desire lo keep the whole of it in the spring. But I do 
 
 25
 
 290 NELLY KTNNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 this with the express stipulation that you shall not 
 endeavor to sell the property. For the remainder of my 
 money, I think it safer in government bonds." 
 
 After some discussion, he was forced to assent, as the 
 first mortgage was soon to fall due. 
 
 It was not convenient to have Maud at her Christmas 
 holidays ; neither did the }'oung lady desire to return 
 home : so she was left to follow her own devices. 
 
 Nelly felt quite free, therefore, to keep the feast with 
 her own kin. 
 
 " By all means," said grandmother in a cordially 
 consenting tone. "Bertie and I will have a nice time 
 together." 
 
 Bertie looked wistfully at mamma. 
 
 "You will be sure to come home the next day?" he 
 begged beseechingly." 
 
 "Oh! quite sure." 
 
 Mrs. Mallory and Eugene were the only other guests. 
 Mr. Mallory was to go South immediately afterward to 
 settle some business, and dispose of an estate for his 
 mother. She insisted upon Bessie sharing her solitude; ; 
 and the child was nothing loth. Indeed, she yielded 
 quite enchantingly to the sweet old lady's fascinations. 
 
 But it was not to be all prosperity and jo}'. They had 
 found many precious ways in their journej'ings, hitherto, 
 like a sweet story told on a summer afternoon beside a 
 rippling brook, with widespread trees overhead, and 
 through them shining the wonderful blue, God's care and 
 keeping. Yet there had been no marvellous good for 
 tune, the middle way, the path between, seeing both 
 sides, yet not absolutely touching either. Bessie might 
 go to grandeur ; it seemed fairly promised ; but, with the 
 others, it had been the more moderate kind, in which the 
 gifts are glorified with the kindly using. 
 
 The winter proved a hard one in business circles. The 
 Endicotts took a little here and there out of their store
 
 NELLY KENNARD'S KINGDOM. 291 
 
 of comforts for the poor and needy. The Churchills were 
 ready-handed as usual. Dr. Kinnard sent in smaller 
 bills to the mill people and those working on short time. 
 Nelly widened her charities a little. 
 
 It was to Rose that the misfortune came. There were 
 heavy business-losses, failures of firms in different parts 
 of the country, that at last touched Stephen Duncan. 
 Not from any fault or negligence of his own, rather from 
 the dishonesty and carelessness of others. 
 
 Nelly went over to the rectory to hear more particu 
 larly. 
 
 " It is very disastrous, I believe," said Mrs. Endicott; 
 " but poor Rose bears it bravel} r . It seems as nothing, 
 compared to the loss of her child. . Winthrop went down 
 to see if he could assist Stephen in any way ; but he 
 (Stephen) decided that it was better to give up every 
 thing, and begin anew. He is so strictly honest and 
 honorable. There were two other partners, you know ; 
 but every dollar of his property was liable for the debts 
 of the whole. He bought out his brother's part of the 
 house some time ago, you may remember. It was his 
 intention to settle it upon Rose ; but he had not done so 
 as yet, which seems a great pity. One of the partners, 
 Mr. Lewes, gave his wife a vdfy valuable house last sum 
 mer, it appears, and, besides that, he has nothing. I 
 have a fancy he was not as scrupulous as the other two, 
 by what Winthrop said." 
 
 " But to give up her beputiful home ! " cried Nelly. 
 
 "O mamma! do }'ou remember how we all went to 
 welcome her there when she returned from her' bridal 
 tour? I can't think of Rose in any other place: she 
 wouldn't take root. He has been so kind and generous 
 to his brothers, why can they not " 
 
 " Stuart is soon to be married to a Southern heiress. 
 He had some money in the hands of the firm, which he 
 drew out last fall ; and Stephen looks upon it as a great
 
 292 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 relief now. Louis does lose a little by an unfortunate 
 investment they made some time ago. Winthrop said he 
 was veiy kind indeed." 
 
 "And yet his bo}-hood seemed so much less promising 
 than Stuart's," said Nelly musingly. 
 
 Mrs. Endicott smiled in her beautiful motherly way. 
 
 "There was something else planted in his heart, Nelly," 
 she made answer in a reverent tone," something above 
 brilliancy, or worldly wisdom, or the pure planning for 
 self. And now he has it in his power to pay thsm both 
 back a little. I think he Avill. I can trust God to bring 
 forth his fruit in the right season." 
 
 " If we could do any thing for her poor Ross ! " 
 
 " My dear, there ma}" bo some wisdom in it that we do 
 not see now. I think Rose has grieved a good deal, in a 
 soft, passive manner. She did not ask her baby back, or 
 question God in any daring or fretful vfay ; but she has 
 remained sore at heart. It was as if she kept taking 
 him out of his grave, caressing him a while in a kind of 
 stolen fashion, then putting him back, a sort of covet 
 ing sorrow, after all. And this ma}' rouse her." 
 
 " Oil if Mrs. Whitcomb were only there ! " 
 
 "I think it is best just as it is. Rose Tvas such a 
 clinging little body, so distrustful of herself, so ready 
 to yield, almost fearful in some phases. And this will 
 bring out all her strength, because it touches her love for 
 Stephen. Next week I shall go down and stay a while 
 with her, and see what is to be done." 
 
 Nelly sits in the old low rocker, and thinks of the jo}*- 
 ous time, three 3*ears ago, when she was there, choosing 
 her bride-clothes ; and they were all so ver} r , very 
 happy. Rose's path had gone over green and sunny 
 meadows for a long distance : hers had seemed to start by 
 the briery wayside, and, later on, come out to blossoms. 
 Was there some wiser hand portioning it day by da} r , 
 like the bread and the manna? She had trusted for her 
 self: could she not, then, trust for Rose?
 
 KELLY KINKAHD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 There was a very sweet and cordial sympathy given on 
 every side. A fortnight with mamma seemed to infuse 
 new blessedness into the present and the future. True, 
 Stephen had lost all, in a worldly point of view ; but 
 ha had youth and health and energy, and had, also, 
 acquired some business experience, that would stand him 
 in good stead. Friends had begun to rally around him ; 
 and later, when the spring fairly opened, a new business 
 offer was made him by a house that had stood all the 
 storms bravely, and had watched and appreciated his 
 manliness and integrity. 
 
 There had been another bit of rippling sunshine 
 through it all. Bessie, who declared she was a princess 
 living in an enchanted castle, and pretty, bright Mrs. 
 Mallory, they would have Rose and Stephen come to 
 little suppers, and drive in the park, and share with them 
 the brightness of a wider living. Mrs. Mallory took a 
 warm interest in Louis' chapels and charity projects, 
 and claimed both men for an evening's escort now and 
 then, since there was no Eugene at hand. 
 
 " My dear," she said, after she had been studying 
 Bessie a long while one day, " to have rounded out the 
 romance, I think Louis should have married your sister 
 Dais}-, though there is time enough yet. But I am glad 
 his heart was not unalterably fixed upon you ; for Eugene 
 confessed to me that he fell in love with you at first sight ; 
 and it would have broken my heart to see him crossed in 
 his wishes." 
 
 Bessie throws herself on a footstool, and leans on Mrs. 
 Mallory's lap, kissing the dimpled hands in girlish fervor. 
 
 " I wonder," she saj-s slowly, " if you could not have 
 loved some other girl." 
 
 "But, you see, he did not love any other girl. No. 
 Bessie, I felt just as he did : I wanted you." 
 *25
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " Love that asketh love again 
 Finds the barter nought but pain : 
 Love that giveth in full store 
 Aye receives as much arid more." 
 
 IT was early June. All was bloom and beaut}' again. 
 The breath of the woods, the meadows, the gardens, the 
 winding rivers and still ponds ; the flutter of birds travers 
 ing the dreamy air that reflected all of heaven's own blue, 
 coming nearer and nearer with brooding love ; the whir 
 of bees about their daily business ; the hums ; the rippling 
 among the leaves ; the rustlings in the grass ; joined in 
 giving a sense of wide, sweet abundant life everywhere. 
 
 Something more than that beautiful out-of-doors. Dr. 
 Kinnard stopped and took great whiffs of it, as if he had 
 never half enjoyed it before, never half given thanks 
 before. He glanced around on the loveliness : he listened 
 to a distant warble in a chestnut-thicket. He wanted to 
 utter some sort of psalm, just as he had heard the words 
 go up with glorious organ-tones ; but he could only think 
 of the one strain, " My soul doth magnify the Lord." 
 It was in heart and brain ; but his lips trembled when IIG 
 tried to shape them to any words ; and so he just walked 
 up and down the wide porch where the first roses were in 
 bloom, his head bared to the morning sunshine, and bent 
 in a strange awe, a reverence such as he had never 
 experienced in all his eight and thirty j-ears. 
 
 There was a strange, glorified stillness all through the 
 house. Voices were lowered to a kind of hushed yet 
 
 294
 
 NELLY KLNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 295 
 
 welcoming sweetness ; and steps were light, with the sort 
 of hopeful confidence when one fears a little, and desires 
 to believe much. 
 
 Up stairs, in the room where he had brought her first as 
 a bride, the room whose scant and chilly furnishing had 
 appalled her, and which they two had adorned in an 
 eager, almost childish fashion, she lay now. Sunny flecks 
 and sparkles stole in every crevice of the closed blinds, 
 flickering about the ceiling, hovering over the bed, as if to 
 crown her anew with her joy of motherhood. 
 
 His child ! His little daughter ! There had been other 
 children to Dr. Kinnard, but none that had brought the 
 grace of this. The others had seemed pure natural gifts : 
 this one he had longed for, pra3 - ed for, desired with all 
 the strength and passion of a man's strong soul. And 
 he had them both. Ah, no wonder the day was glorious, 
 and full of sunny lights and shadows, full of fragrance 
 and rare loveliness. It never could have been any other 
 time than June. 
 
 Presently he went into the office. Here in a slender 
 vase were three roses she had gathered j-esterday. Two 
 had blown out full : one was still in bud. He took them 
 out softly, wiped the wet stems with careful fingers, and 
 rolled them in a bit of tissue-paper. They would always 
 have a strange sacredness to him. 
 
 " I know why I'm glad it is a girl," said Bertie that 
 evening, with a confident nod of the head. 
 
 "Why?" asked Dr. Kinnard, with a sense of amuse 
 ment. 
 
 "Because 3-011 see, papa," with great earnestness, 
 " 3"ou can love it ever so much ; and it won't be a bit in 
 my wn3'. But, if it was a bo3 T , 3'ou might not love me as 
 well ; would you ? ' ' 
 
 "And 3~ou care so much for my love, do 3 T ou, Bertie, 
 nrf son ? ' ' 
 
 There was a peculiar softness in the father's brown
 
 296 KELLY KLNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 eyes. Mary Grove's child had never been dearer to him 
 than at that moment. 
 
 " O papa ! " drawing closer, and putting his small arms 
 over the broad shoulders, and giving one long, deep 
 inspiration. 
 
 "Bertie, there can nothing destroy my love for 3-011, 
 and only some great sin on your part take away the pride 
 I hope always to have in 3'ou." 
 
 " And she will be my mother just the same? " 
 
 Ah, could he answer for her, now that she had her own ? 
 Yes : he would. 
 
 " Just the same, Bertie, with God's help and grace." 
 
 There was a little silence ; then he said softly, " Could 
 I go up and kiss her, do j-ou think? " 
 
 " Yes : let us both go." 
 
 Later, when she was beginning to sit up in pretty white 
 frilled wrappers, Dr. Kinnard repeated the incident to his 
 wife. 
 
 " It will not do to be too glad. Suppose there should 
 be seven? " And an amused light shone in her 03-03. 
 
 There was a droll little gesture, a happy smile. 
 
 ' ' I fancy Bertie and I will be able to welcome them 
 all." 
 
 But she thought of the child's words as she sat in the 
 blessed summer silence, with her biiby lying across her 
 lap, that mysterious bundle of soft flannel, fine lawn, 
 and daint3 r embroideiy ; those doubled-up, and then out 
 stretched tiny hands, the little picture-face, with dimpled 
 chin, and mouth like a rosebud, whose wandering eyes 
 opened and shut with that sense of infinite psncc, and 
 supreme indifference to the great world, as if it, indeed, 
 was the greatest thing in the world. Would she never be 
 jealous with a mother's engrossing, absorbing love? 
 Would she never seek for the best places, the whole of 
 papa's knee, his interest, .his affection? It had fallen out 
 so with other very good vroineu.
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 297 
 
 Ah, to narrow her kingdom, and shut others out! As 
 if lovo could be made better and finer b} T compressing it 
 into one or two human hearts, instead of following the 
 pattern He sot, who so loved the world, the whole world, 
 who bid the children first of all in to the feast. 
 
 She uttered a little praj'er, that God would keep her. 
 Then she took in all the pleasantness of the day, of the 
 
 jy- 
 
 " We will stay at home this summer," she said to her 
 husband. "We will have a glad, delightful time with 
 mother and the girls." 
 
 Ever}-body came in to see Dr. Kinnard's bab3 r . In the 
 first year it would have been no great marvel : now it had 
 the grace and rarity of a blessing withheld a while. 
 
 It was a fine, pleasant-natured little thing, though not 
 dowered with the brilliant beauty of Rose's lost treasure. 
 It was healthy, bright, and content. No nights spent in 
 a crowded ball-room, no fashionably false dressing, no 
 ruinous indulgence in heats and passionate tempers, or 
 restless whims, had borne the due fruit of nervous fretful- 
 ness. It slept, it ate, and grew, and was lazily happj*. 
 
 "I never did see such a good baby!" grandmother 
 would say hourly. " It has Barton's eyes, and, somehow, 
 the rest of it looks like your sister Daisy. I never 
 fancied Barton was very fond of babies before ; but no 
 one could help loving this child." 
 
 The doctor brought Daisy over one morning, partly 
 because Mrs. Nurse had been compelled to leave rather 
 soon, and partly because he wanted her. Bessie was now 
 so engrossed with her lover and her bright, piquant 
 mother-in-law elect. The marriage had been set down 
 for the middle of August ; and the bridal tour was to be 
 Europe, all of it. 
 
 One da}- Mrs. Glyndon came ftying in. She did not 
 seem to change, or grow older, or tire of her constant 
 variety and journeyings. Now she was going to Colo-
 
 298 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 rado with her husband, and would see all the wonders of 
 the West before she returned. 
 
 Nelly smiled with generous delight. 
 
 " O Mrs. Kinnard ! " with a sudden accession of vigor 
 in her tone. " You remember Van Alst}'ne, our hero of 
 Severn Point ? I met them when I was in New York 
 everybody says ' them,' now," laughing, and raising her 
 eyebrows. 
 
 " Yes. We saw Mrs. Sherrard at the White Moun 
 tains." 
 
 " I am dreadfully disappointed in that handsome 
 fellow. Mr. Glyndon insists that my heroes always come 
 to grief. He had some fine capabilities. He was so cul 
 tivated and gentlemanly, that I do not see how he could 
 choose such a woman." 
 
 " Perhaps she chose him," said Nelly mirthfully. 
 
 "So report says. There is a tint of scandal about 
 her. She was divorced, and this large fortune was left 
 her by some old man, while she was in Europe ; but quite 
 a doubt is thrown upon the relationship of uncle. He 
 was so fastidious too ; and she is undeniably loud. She 
 drives a pair of fast ba}-s in the Park, takes up any of 
 her gentleman friends, and acts quite as if she were a 
 widow still. It is said there was a little difficulty at first ; 
 but she insisted upon her ' train ; ' and she is just the sort 
 of woman to carry matters with a high hand. And he 
 flirts notoriously. Why in the world did they many ? I 
 think uch husbands and wives are a positive injury to 
 society." 
 
 Nelly thought of his theories of soul growth and devel 
 opment, of companionship, and all the dangerous rest 
 lessness. 
 
 ' ' I am very sorry for one thing. You remember Elsie 
 Graham? I thought her such a nice girl; and so she 
 was. But I believe some entanglement began at Severn 
 Point : at least, she must have fallen in love with him,
 
 NELLY KLNNAKD'S KINGDOM. 299 
 
 and they have been foolish enough to keep it up. She 
 has refused two good offers of marriage since, and her 
 mother is much distressed about her. They go out 
 together, and she makes no secret of her preference ; 
 rather prides herself on her constancy. Where will it 
 end? I do pity Mrs. Graham. Why can't Elsie have 
 the sense to look at it with the world's eyes ? Here she is, 
 wasting all her sweet young life in a feverish dream, a 
 reprehensible passion for a married man, as there isn't 
 the least danger of Mrs. Van Alstyne ever dying." 
 
 "It is extremely sad," returned Nelly, glancing fur 
 tively at her sister. 
 
 " And positively wicked. These things lower the tone 
 of society so much when both parties are tolerably well 
 off, and in good standing. No one seems quite brave 
 enough to sa} r , ' You shall not bring your pernicious doc 
 trines or shameful friendships in here.' If the Grahams 
 were poor, Elsie would lose caste at once. What a dif 
 ference a little money makes ! " 
 
 Daisy Endicott sat there, thinking, after the two wo 
 men went out on the porch. There had been a time 
 when she was almost ready to vow eternal constancy to a 
 dream, a memory ; when she felt that she would be pro 
 faned by any new kiss or caress. Suppose she had been 
 his wife even, and he had insisted upon keeping up the 
 friendship with Miss Graham, making new friendships 
 with other women. Nay, while he seemed to be so drawn 
 to her, perhaps he was giving the same glances, smiles, 
 and meaning pressure of the hand, to others. 
 
 She raised her head with an almost haughty grace, and 
 looked the pure, open, honest day in the face. She even 
 laughed lightly, proudly. Nothing of the old fancy 
 remained : she did not long now to give it sepulture. The 
 sweet, strong, true duties of life had crowded it out. 
 She had come to a correct estimate of the man, bril 
 liant, fascinating, witty, and tender, with that hollow,
 
 300 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 selfish tenderness of sensuous enjoyment and absorption. 
 There was no respect or esteem for foundation-stones ; 
 and her regard had perished slow]}-, inasmuch as her 
 faith had at first refused to receive the shock, but very, 
 very surety. His name did not even call up a wander 
 ing thrill. She had been deceived, because, in her utter 
 innocence of the world and its wiles, she could not 
 believe any man would be so basely, so cowardly, treach 
 erous ; and, having come to understand, there was no 
 more temptation for her. If he were to appear before 
 her now, in entire freedom, though her senses might be 
 pleased with his handsome face, and musical, finely 
 modulated voice, her soul would shrink with something 
 akin to disgust, that he could so put on the semblance 
 of nobleness. 
 
 " How bright and happy you. look, my darling ! " Nelly 
 said, kissing her as she re-entered the room, in a little 
 trepidation, it must be confessed. 
 
 Dais}- smiled cheerily. " Why should I not be happ}-? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " True," in a rather grave, wondering fashion. 
 
 There was a sudden impulse in Daisy's soul to tell her 
 bit of experience ; but, after all, why should she even give 
 it that stamp of consequence ? It was like last year's way 
 side flower, that she had plucked, and carried in her hand 
 until it withered. It would be false and morbid senti 
 ment to place it in prominence beside the roses of to-da}*. 
 
 Dr. -Kinnard went to Melrose Hall, a*d brought Maud 
 home. He had visited her twice in the meanwhile. She 
 was nearing fifteen now, quite tall, and not as thin as for 
 merly, but with much of the olden precision, that would 
 always militate against grace. She had not made her 
 self quite the object of envy at school that she bad 
 desired. There were richer girls, and young ladies of 
 higher social position, that she could not hope to extin-
 
 NELLY KESTNAED'S KINGDOM. 301 
 
 guish : even her vaunted scholarship had hard work to 
 hold its own. She had rendered herself conspicuous by 
 over-dressing at first, and been ver} T properly rebuked for 
 it ; and her arrogance had drawn out a flow of schoolgirl 
 satire. The path had not been one of roses. 
 
 She was doomed to another disappointment. Aunt 
 Adelaide had planned, long before, to have her spend the 
 vacation with her. Mr. Garland had not proved the 
 most tractable of husbands, however. The adverse win 
 ter had shorn him of much of his fictitious wealth. To 
 save herself, Mrs. Garland had been compelled to pur 
 chase the house. It was larger than the}* could afford to 
 maintain : so she lowered her pride sufficiently to take a 
 gentleman and his wife to board. This was a success in 
 another way, as it served to keep Mr. Garland at the 
 highest point of good manners continually. She had 
 spoken of Maud's coming. 
 
 "I think it is hardly worth while for you to burthen 
 3*ourself with her," said Mr. Garland pompously, " unless 
 her father is willing to pay her board. If I were in good 
 circumstances, I would be happy to entertain all your 
 relations ; but, as matters stand at present ' ' 
 
 " I have only one relative whom I shall be likely to 
 ask," she returned with haughty dignity. " I can afford 
 to make the allowance of her board nrysclf." 
 
 " Oh! very well, very well," with a great clearing of 
 his throat, and an impatient rubbing of his hands. 
 
 He had been deeply disappointed in having no chance 
 to handle his wife's money, and in finding that he could 
 not impress her with his importance as easily as the first 
 Mrs. Garland, who had actually trembled at his frown. 
 Still it gave considerable weight to talk about " my wife's 
 money." 
 
 On her part, there was a feeling of smothered but 
 almost vengeful anger. She had been over-reached by 
 her own carelessness. She had asked no counsel, made 
 
 26
 
 302 NELLY KINNAHD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 but few inquiries, and thought mostly of the triumph over 
 her brother-in-law. If it had all been as she expected ; 
 if she could have patronized and thrown into the shade ; 
 if she could have given Maud an entree into grandeur 
 and society : but there was nothing of importance in this 
 rather commonplace life. She was a much greater lady 
 at Edgerly, with her pony phaeton. The money in the 
 house served to decrease her income, which was now 
 barely enough for her personal expenses. She was Mrs, 
 Garland, of course ; and she observed, with a kind of bit 
 ter contempt, that the world paid homage to the magical 
 "Mrs.," even if the husband was a nonentity. She had 
 no love to reconcile her to her keen disappointment, no 
 little touches of romance, that, after all, serve to gild 
 prosaic life wonderfully. 
 
 There could be no tour for herself and Maud this sum 
 mer. Her boarders had gone to the seaside, and the house 
 was undeniably dull ; but she asked Maud for a few weeks. 
 
 Nelly gave the young girl a cordial welcome. Maud 
 just touched her lips to her stepmother's. She had never 
 given her one hearty kiss : such effusiveness, in her opin 
 ion, was not only underbred, but sill}*. She glanced at the 
 new baby, and supposed it was a great care ; did not see 
 what there was in babies to rouse any one's enthusiasm, 
 and had never cared for them. 
 
 Her room was in perfect order. Nell} 7 had ventured 
 upon a trifle of re-arrangement to take off the stiifness. 
 The parlor was opened invitingly. 
 
 " "We must be very good and patient with her, Barton," 
 Nelly said with a pleading look in her eyes. " She will 
 miss Aunt Adelaide so much ! ' ' 
 
 " Do you know, Nell, I feel as if I should like to shake 
 her until all the nonsense and primness came out of her, 
 and the insufferable air that borders on insolence ? She 
 shall pay you outward respect, at least ; " and the doctor's 
 face flushed, while his tone was most decisive.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 303 
 
 " O my darling! don't do or say any thing cross, fot 
 my sake ; ' ' and her arms were around his neck. 
 
 " Nelly, 3'ou twist me around your finger, just as Jane, 
 wise woman, said you did ; " yet he looked as if the pro 
 cess was not altogether uncomfortable. 
 
 " We have so much happiness and joy ! " in a tremu 
 lous tone, and with dewy eyes. 
 
 " And we do not deprive her of any ; but, somehow 
 My darling, 3*ou taught me to love Bertie, teach me 
 to love Maud." 
 
 " I will do ray best, God helping me." 
 
 So the doctor asked Maud to drive with him, and tried, 
 in various ways, to interest her. She was cold.and super 
 cilious, but quite rigid on what she considered her own 
 rights. 
 
 " I must have some new clothes," she announced a 
 few daj-s after her return. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard looked helplessly at his wife. 
 
 " I wonder if you would not rather shop in New York 
 with 3'our aunt ? ' ' inquired Nelby graciously. 
 
 Maud stared. " I suppose it would be as well. There 
 is no one here to attend to any thing." 
 
 A quick, offended light blazed in Dr. Kinnard's eyes. 
 
 " I should be very glad to do any thing for you, Maud, 
 where you like to trust me/' said Nelly in the kindliest 
 of tones, glancing up imploringly. 
 
 " I will not trouble you." 
 
 It seemed as if the father must resent the impertinence. 
 Nel^y quickly interposed. 
 
 " Maud," she replied, and her voice trembled with the 
 effort, though it was clearly sweet, ' ' you must remem 
 ber that I stand in a mother's place to you, and that no 
 duty is a trouble, but a pleasure instead. Neither am I 
 so ignorant of the needs and desires of young girls : I 
 have had my own younger sisters for companions. You 
 will miss Aunt Adelaide greatly ; but I want you to be-
 
 304 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 lieve, even if \ou cannot give me a daughter's affection, 
 that I do at least desire a friend's place in } - our esteem. 
 I shall try to be every thing to you that you will allow." 
 
 Maud sat in silence ; and the storm was sta}'ed. Never 
 had Dr. Kinnard honored his wife more than at that 
 moment of beautiful womanly dignity, softened by the 
 noblest part of charity, love in a brave action, denying 
 the baser portion of self its importance. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard gave his daughter a hundred dollars, and 
 saw her safely seated in the car, having telegraphed to 
 her aunt to meet her at her journey's end. 
 
 " I daresay she will think me stingy. I have been 
 considering this matter, my dear wife ; and I want 3*our 
 counsel. I am not a rich man, and, doubtless, never shall 
 be. What do you think of my setting aside a certain 
 portion for Maud, and not allowing her to overstep the 
 boundary? It would be no more than simple justice to 
 the others." And he glanced up with a perplexed air. 
 
 " Why, yes. I think that would be right." 
 
 " Her tuition is three hundred a year. Allowing a 
 hundred for travelling and incidental expenses, and two 
 hundred for clothes, would make six hundred. It is all 
 I can afford to spend upon her. There is Bertie to be 
 educated as well.". 
 
 " That seems to be a just division," returned Nelly 
 frankly. " And we girls hardly had a hundred a year to 
 spend on our clothes until we were married. We didn't 
 look beggarty, either," and she gave a rarely humorous 
 smile. "I think Aunt- Adelaide has been very injudi 
 cious in Maud's attire. There is no need of a little girl 
 in her position going dressed in silks and the finest of 
 lace. But I suppose we cannot make any great reform 
 at present. I trust somewhat to her good sense as she 
 grows older." 
 
 " If that will not satisfy Aunt Adelaide, the rest must 
 come out of Maud's own money: of that I am re 
 solved."
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 305 
 
 It came to an issue sooner than they expected. Mrs. 
 Garland had the good sense to see, that, at present, it 
 would not be wisdom to take charge of Maud, granting 
 that her father might be induced to consent. She could 
 go to school for three }*ears ; and, after that, Aunt Gar 
 land could "bring her out." By that time, the interest 
 of her money would be a considerable sum, enough to 
 support her, independent of her father. 
 
 ' ' But a paltry hundred dollars ! ' ' she said when Maud 
 stated her affairs. " You want a nice summer silk and a 
 winter silk. "We will do our best with them, and then 
 write to your father. I daresay that remarkable baby is 
 swaddled in the finest of linen and lace." 
 
 Aunt Adelaide had discovered a wonderful dressmaker, 
 a poor young girl with charming taste and deft abilit} T , 
 and who worked for a dollar a day and her board. The 
 two dresses were skilfully fashioned, one or two altered ; 
 and then the doctor was applied to for more means. 
 
 He explained his plan, and enclosed a check for fifty 
 dollars. There would be but fifty more to last her until 
 next July. He particularly desired that Aunt Adelaide 
 would purchase her some useful school-dresses. 
 
 "It is just as I expected, nry dear Maud," said her 
 aunt angrily. " You lost your best friend when you lost 
 3'our mother. And, if your father had treated me as I 
 should have bsen treated, I do not think I should ever 
 have left you. I always told him that I was quite read_y to 
 devote rrry whole life to ' my poor dead sister's ' children. 
 But he had to be foolish enough to many that ignorant 
 3-oung thing, who rules him completely, and who grudges 
 3-011 ever3' dollar. I don't know how 3 - ou will be able to 
 endure it." 
 
 Maud cried a little, and believed herself a veiy ill-used 
 3'oung woman with a cruel stepmother. 
 
 But, after two or three weeks, she decided secretl3 T , that 
 it was not extravagantly delightful here. There were no 
 
 26*
 
 306 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 exhilarating drives in the Park, no stylish callers with 
 gossip of opera and theatre. The shopping was soon 
 clone ; and she did not know any girls with whom she 
 could have a good time. She began to feel very lone 
 some, and wonder whether being " Dr. Kinnard's daugh 
 ter" was not more enlivening. Still her pride would not 
 admit of her going home before the last moment. 
 
 Mrs. Garland made her husband take them to Long 
 Branch for a day .or two. Maud looked at the elegant 
 dressing and showy equipages with an envious eye. Mr. 
 Garland was no longer the devoted lover of a rich 
 woman, but a commonplace, selfish husband, with a strait 
 ened purse. Maud's quick eye drew rather unfavorable 
 contrasts between him and her father. Altogether the 
 visit was not as productive of evil as it might have been 
 under more favorable circumstances. Aunt Adelaide 
 was growing fretful. 
 
 At home, it must be admitted, they felt relieved. Ber 
 tie was developing into a well-behaved, chivalrous boy, 
 and absolute!}' improving in good looks. Grandmother 
 was a little childish and captious at times ; but no one ran 
 against the sharp points when they bristled outwardly. 
 Moreover, she was coming to have a great respect for the 
 Endicott girls. To think that Miss Bessie, without a 
 penny, was about to marry into a rich and stylish family, 
 and that her mother-in-law elect thought the ground was 
 hardly good enough for " Queenic " to walk on; that 
 she should be taken to London and Paris and Rome, 
 where it was hardly likely Dr. Kinnard's wife would ever 
 go ; that she should receive this wonderful good-fortune 
 in such a simply pretty way, without being at all " puffed 
 up with pride," was quite a marvel. When she came 
 over, she alwa3 - s would dress up grandmother in carnation- 
 pinks and heliotrope. 
 
 " I am too old," Mrs. Kinnard would say. "Put 
 them in your own shining hair."
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 307 
 
 " One is never too old to be made pretty," she would 
 rejoin in her rapid, rippling way, that reminded yvu. of 
 nothing so much as a swallow's flight in the sunshine. 
 
 They had been greatly at loss in choosing a name for 
 the wonderful baby. Every thing, almost, had been "tried 
 on." At last, they settled to the appellations of the two 
 grandmothers, Frances Annie. It was to be christ 
 ened in the new church ; and dear old papa was coming 
 over for the Sunday. 
 
 " Nelly," said her husband, " I have asked Mr. Dudley 
 to stand for baby. I think he was very much pleased. 
 I don't know a man that I honor and esteem higher than 
 Arthur Dudley, except your father ; " and he smiled. 
 
 " Oh, how strange ! I don't know" in a wondering, 
 hesitating way. " But it can't make any difference. I 
 asked Daisy this morning. We have grown so near to 
 gether this summer, and she adores baby. Besides, she is 
 a good, conscientious girl." 
 
 " I wish it could make a difference ; " and there was a 
 breathless impatience in the doctor's tone. "If it only 
 would ! Why can't they see how they are fitted for one 
 another? She is the only ' clergyman's wife ' that your 
 mother has raised ; and I cannot bear to see her miss her 
 vocation."
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " She is not dead, and she is not wed, 
 
 And she loves me now, and she loved me then : 
 At the very first word her sweet lips said, 
 My heart grew youthful again." OWEX MEREDITH. 
 
 ARTHUR DUDLEY, after the fii-st keenness of his disap 
 pointment, had thrown himself, heart and soul, into his 
 church-work. The new building had come opportunely. 
 It contented him in staying. It brought him into active, 
 friendly interests with the Kinnards again. He understood 
 now, by Daisy's continued avoidance of him, that her 
 refusal was in earnest ; not from coquetry, or an}* girlish 
 ignorance, or even momentary offencs. 
 
 He saw so little of her through the winter ! During the 
 summer, he exchanged with Mr. Duncan ; and, though 
 warmly pressed to stay at the rectory, he had declined 
 courteously, with the better grace because he had prom 
 ised to spend the time with a friend. He and Miss 
 Endicott had been pleasantly polite ; but the old cordiality 
 was wanting. 
 
 Then the}* had gone through another winter, meeting on 
 rare occasions. Daisy staid so little at Edgerly now ! 
 It was not until the birth of the baby, that she appeared 
 to resume her olden place. Then she rode out with the 
 doctor, and drove Nelly in the pony-carriage. 
 
 One day Dr. Kinnard had brought her to inspect the 
 church. The general depression of business had been 
 rather in their favor. One and another, while out of em 
 ployment, had given the labor of their hands ; and, on 
 303
 
 NELLY KINNARD S KINGDOM. 
 
 St. James's Day, the church was to be consecrated, 
 though the tower was not jet completed, and msLny little 
 things remained. The windows had been put in (nearly 
 all of them gifts) ; and the wood-work was being rapidly 
 finished. 
 
 The main part was designed for a permanent structure ; 
 but, at the chancel end, a temporary room had been 
 erected to serve for. the Sunday school and business- 
 meetings at present, and until the church should need 
 enlarging. 
 
 o o 
 
 Daisy and the doctor were rambling about, and com 
 menting. There was much to praise, and very little to 
 blame. It was simple, neat, 3 r et not at all common. 
 
 " The ladies are to have the carpet all ready," said the 
 doctor. " The chancel furniture is to be a gift from 
 Mrs. Warner's mother ; and the O Dudley ! " 
 
 Dais} 7 turned with a quick rift of color, and a smile, so 
 like the Daisy of old times, that he held out his hand with 
 a sudden, cordial movement ; and in that clasp they seemed 
 to renew their friendship. 
 
 " Did she like the windows? What did she think of 
 the color of the wall? They were to have some illumi 
 nated emblems in the chancel. The organ was to stand 
 here, and the choir just within reach. He liked so to hear 
 the voices ? Would she be likely to stay or to come 
 over to the consecration? " 
 
 He asked that hesitatingly, and stooped to pick some 
 thing from the floor. 
 
 " We are going to keep her for a while," said Dr. 
 Kinnard. " Mrs. Kinnard and the baby cannot do with 
 out her." 
 
 ' ' Have j'ou decided upon the christening ? ' ' 
 
 " Yes. We had delayed on account of the difficult}' of 
 finding a name ; " and the doctor laughed. 
 
 A few days after, Daisy had gone to do an errand, ex 
 pecting to meet the doctor, and come back with him ; but,
 
 310 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 after waiting as long as she thought prudent, she started 
 to walk home. Going through a bit of rather dusty 
 woods, to make the way shorter, she had come upon Mr. 
 Dudle}" again. 
 
 " If 3'ou have no especial objection, I will see you 
 home," he said in a tone quite free from hesitation, 
 kind, quiet, but no more. 
 
 " Is it hardly worth while? I am so near now ! " And 
 she made a wavering pause. 
 
 '' It is worth while if it does not displease you." 
 
 " No : I only thought " 
 
 They were both silent for some seconds. Then he 
 began to ask about the household. Maud had come home. 
 
 " I am very glad Miss Grove married, and went'awa^y. 
 I think the doctor feels more free, more certainly the 
 master of his own house. And that little girl has been 
 made too old for a child." 
 
 Thus talking, the}* reached the wide-open, hospitable 
 gate, with its great urns of flowers on either hand. He 
 turned with her. A wild, strange beat fluttered up from 
 her heart. 
 
 " AVill 3'ou come in? I think supper must be ready." 
 
 She made a great effort to say this, when not to have 
 done it would have been ungracious. 
 
 "Thank you, not to-night," in a warm, cheerful tone. 
 Then, reaching out, he took her hand. 
 
 It trembled in a kind of frightened manner, but was not 
 cold. 
 
 He knew she stood there a few seconds ; for he heard 
 her footfall on the step. She was not distant nor of 
 fended. 
 
 He walked slowly homeward, studying upon the ren 
 counter. He had never put himself in her way : he had 
 too much high-bred delicacy for that. But, since the 
 episode at Severn Point, she had had no actual lover : that 
 he knew well. "What if, after all these months But 
 no. He would not dream of it.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 311 
 
 " My wife's sister is to stand," Dr. Kinnard said, when 
 he had made arrangements for the service. " We have 
 kept her for that." 
 
 He had not the courage to call her "Daisy" to Mr. 
 Dude's face. 
 
 " We want you to come to tea. No one else will 
 be in." 
 
 " Very well. I shall be happy to." 
 
 Nelty had mentioned the matter with unwonted trepida 
 tion, ending rather meekly with, " If 3*011 do not mind." 
 
 "Mind! Why should I?" 
 
 Daisy Endicott meant to put a little careless surprise 
 in her tone ; but it was not quite that. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Endicott came over for the Sunday. A 
 quiet, solemn service it was ; and they two stood strangely 
 side by side, never once glancing at each other, but tr} T - 
 ing to think only of the little child, yet unconsciously 
 taking a wider range, both, perhaps, understanding what 
 ttuyr might have been to each other. 
 
 She was very self-possessed at supper, neither coloring 
 nor trembling when any incident brought them nearer. 
 In truth, she wondered at herself. 
 
 "It is because he has forgotten so complete!}*, " she 
 thought. " He has forgotten, and it is better: one could 
 not remember so long without any hope." 
 
 On the Thursda}' following was the consecration. One 
 of the church-wardens was to have a dinner prepared for 
 the clergy. Mrs. Newbury had arranged to give them a 
 supper, as there was to be a service at four. And if Miss 
 Endicott would only come over, and help her about the 
 entertaining ! 
 
 "You are used to clergymen's wants and ways," she 
 said. " I shall feel so much better and safer, if you are 
 there." 
 
 So Daisy went, and made herself not only useful, but 
 agreeable. The girlish timorousness had been succeeded
 
 312 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 by a sweet and genial gracious ness, that forgets all about 
 itself in rendering others at ease, and then learns that 
 this is happiness. 
 
 Arthur Dudley watched her. Not handsome and statel}-, 
 like Mrs. Kinnard ; not with that dazzling wild-bird flutter 
 and lightness of Queen Bess ; but a womanly serenity, a 
 sort of everyday refinement and ease, as if it was no best 
 garment for company, -just the one to adorn a clergy 
 man's house, ^3 friend and companion for all time. 
 
 The brethren sat until quite in the evening. Two or 
 three were to take trains : two were to be Mr. Dudley's 
 guests, and were sent home in the carriage. And, pres 
 ently, they had all said good-night, save one. 
 
 " Are you going, Miss Endicott? I want to walk over 
 to Dr. Kinnard' s." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " she cried eagerly ; and then went for her 
 hat. 
 
 It was a soft, summer night, with a 3'oung moon rising 
 tremulously over the tree-tops. Somewhere in the edge 
 of the woods a whippoorwill sang, mingled with the note 
 of a late homeward-going thrush or was she croon 
 ing over her birdlings? Arthur Dudley drew her hand 
 through his arm in that manly fashion of appropriation 
 that somehow takes possession of a woman for the time. 
 Once she stumbled over some half-bare tree-root grow 
 ing across the path, and he caught her quickly. Both 
 exclaimed "Oh!" with a little laugh, and, recovering, 
 walked on. It broke the spell of silence ; and they went 
 to saying amusing trifles to one another. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard had just come in. He would drive Mr. 
 Dudley, home, and they would have their talk going 
 along. 
 
 " Good-night! " she said, in a sort of joyous, ringing 
 tone, as if she was at peace with every bod}'. 
 
 " I do believe she is still to be won," Arthur Dudley 
 thought to himself. " Her heart has never been touched."
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 313 
 
 He made some excuse to come over the next day. No, 
 she had not changed, but was frank and genial, like her 
 olden self. He would be wary, now, and win her by slow 
 degrees. 
 
 But after a little she had to return home. Bess's 
 wedding was at hand, gay, enchanting Queen Bess, 
 who was hardly more than a child. 
 
 They all liked Eugene Mallory so much. Yet there 
 was an awe in the thought of Bessie going away for 
 years. The others had not fluttered so far, but that, now 
 and then, they could look into the old home-nest. 
 
 And then it sounded so curious to hear Mrs. Mallory 
 settle what she was to have by saying, "You can pur 
 chase such a thing in Paris for a mere trifle : I would 
 not bother about it. I would not waste my time making 
 dresses : }"ou can get them as }T>u want them, fresh, with 
 out any of the crumpling of packing. I would not have 
 this or that,'' until she narrowed the trousseau to the 
 smallest dimensions. AVas it her delicate way of not 
 taking much for Bessie now, when she was to have such 
 an abundance afterwards? 
 
 So she went to church in simple white, one morning, 
 and came back Mrs. Mallory. There was a church full to 
 be sure ; but they did not see any blaze of diamonds, 
 or shimmer of pearls. There were some real orange- 
 flowers in her hair, and a cluster on her bosom ; but she 
 looked sweet and stately, as if she had come back to her 
 child's name, and was a pure white lily. 
 
 They had cake and wine and kisses. Mrs. Mallory was 
 so dazzling in her old-lady brightness, that no one could 
 be sad ; and she talked about the steamer, and the voyage, 
 and the time of reaching Liverpool, with as much noncha 
 lance as if she had said a palace-car and Niagara. They 
 were to spend a day or two in New York. The Duncans 
 went back with them in the afternoon. 
 
 " I cannot believe it, mother," Mr. Endicott said as he 
 27
 
 31-4 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 sat in his quiet study after supper. " Only the other clay, 
 she was a wild little thing. Don't 3*011 remember how 
 she used to swing round, holding on my arm, and scam 
 per off like a kitten? Let me see, how did it all begin? 
 Stephen Duncan came here first, and asked me to take his 
 brothers ; and then and then Mother, arc we grow 
 ing old? It is so strange to have all these married daugh 
 ters and their husbands ! It's a queer sort of addition, 
 that, after all, leaves you but veiy little, I think : " and he 
 paused to wipe his eyes with his white silk handkerchief. 
 Mrs. Mallory had brought him a dozen, the best that 
 could be found. 
 
 Mrs. Endicott came around, and kissed him. 
 
 "How fortunate tnat Edith was born! " with a rift 
 of simple gladness. "For, you see, there will be many 
 years before she is grown." 
 
 The next thing for Nelly Kinnard was her step-daugh 
 ter's return, a week or so before school began. Maud 
 would not have confessed it to a living soul ; but she was 
 really thankful to get away from Aunt Garland's dull 
 house. Her hitherto narrow life and experience had 
 widened somewhat ; while Aunt Adelaide, fretted and 
 soured, drew closer within her shell, and was correspond 
 ingly bitter, though she tried to assume a demeanor of 
 lofty indifference. There were still many things in life 
 that she could have made the best of, if it had been her 
 nature to make the best of incongruous materials, to pick 
 out bits of comfort and brightness among every-day inci 
 dents ; but it was not, and never would be. And, all this 
 time, she held a grudge against Dr. Kinnard, as if he, 
 somehow, had forced her into her present dissatisfaction. 
 
 Maud came from that austere, unloving house to her 
 father's, so radiant with an atmosphere of kindliness. 
 Bertie was quite a little gentleman. Grandmother might 
 have a few childish ways, to be sure ; but they softened her, 
 and were really no detriment. Dr. Kinnard evinced a
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 315 
 
 decided disposition to be jolly. He was fall of odd little 
 jests and half caresses : he no longer shut himself in his 
 " den," and locked the door. The parlor was always 
 open and inviting ; neighbors were dropping in with bits 
 of outflowing social life ; and Mrs. Kinnard was in the 
 midst, the sun around which they converged. 
 
 "When Aunt Adelaide trained Maud in carping, critical 
 ways, she little dreamed that the weapon might be 
 turned against herself. So true it is, that we often get 
 back just the measure we have meted out. She was 
 too sharp and keen, too prematurely a woman, not to 
 remark the contrast. There was an air of distinction and 
 breeding about Mrs. Kinnard ; and a sense of culture 
 and refinement pervaded the house. The talk was not of 
 the stock-market, or recent political developments, rings, 
 and swindlers. For the first time, the forlorn, narrow, 
 empty heart was stirred with a quivering sense of some 
 thing it had never known, or been taught to look upon in 
 a distorted light. No one tyrannized over her : no one 
 nipped the breath of pleasure by snapping frost, or 
 snatched it awaj r with grasping selfishness. She could 
 not even make a martyr of herself: there were neither 
 cross nor fagots, chains nor cells. No one read her 
 wearisome lectures on the meanness and wrong-doing of 
 her neighbors ; but she was taken to ride, asked into the 
 parlor, and introduced to guests, and found Mr. Dudley 
 absolutely entertaining. Ah, Aunt Adelaide ! it was in 
 j'our power to overlay the fine gold with the dust and 
 rubbish of falsehood and injustice ; but you could not 
 take it utterly away : some day it would shine out all the 
 brighter. 
 
 She packed her trunk again ; and her father accompanied 
 her to^ school. Her heart swelled with a new sense of 
 loneliness. They were all at home, bright and happy ; 
 and she 
 
 " Well, I am glad that is off my mind," confessed Dr. 
 Kinnard on his return.
 
 316 NELLY IQNNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 Nelly glanced up with a light in her eyes, partly amuse 
 ment, partly delicate reproach. 
 
 "There, I know just what you want to say, Nelly;" 
 and the odd puckers settled in his face along with a per 
 ceptible flush. " You are so much of an angel, that you 
 can love long beforehand, in season, and out of season, 
 and trust for the fruit to grow in midwinter depths, I do 
 believe ; but I have a good deal of the old, unregenerate 
 Adam in me. I have absolutely longed to give Maud a 
 good scolding, to strip off her furbelows, put on a plain 
 calico gown, and set her in some little girl's place until 
 she knew how to behave herself property. I cannot under 
 stand your patience and sweetness with her. Is it really 
 best?" 
 
 " I think it is. At all events, I want you to let me try 
 it freely, without grudging. There are some fruits and 
 flowers, of which the slow, natural growth is so much better 
 than the forced, hot-house production. She has been so 
 long trained awry, that, if we wrench off all the branches 
 suddenl}*, there will only be a bare, unsightly stump left. 
 At her age, she must learn to know and judge for herself. 
 I think I have seen some indications of a change since 
 her return from her aunt's." 
 
 "O Nelly!" and the doctor gave a mellow, sweet- 
 natured laugh : " you do hang a hope on the smallest peg 
 of any one I ever saw. This one isn't bigger than a thorn 
 on a rosebush, and of the same quality." 
 
 " But 3-011 must admit that it is near the rose?" and 
 she looked up with a meriy archness in her brilliant face. 
 
 "Well, I thought her terrible sometimes, rude and 
 ungracious." 
 
 " I think she Avas occasionally moved by so strange and 
 new a feeling, that the ungraciousness cropped out as a 
 sort of bristling armor, with the instinctive desire of self- 
 defence. She has been trained to expect constant warfare 
 from us ; and she is on the lookout for it : so yon see
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 317 
 
 it is not easy to throw down her arms at the first pleasant 
 word, and believe all at once. And when she finds 
 that we do not expect her to, that we are willing for her to 
 try us, but that the love is always there, waiting for her, 
 I do believe she will take it some day." 
 
 " Oh, j-ou wise little woman ! You do set silken snares 
 for the feet of the wary : the unwary walk into your net 
 without any snares at all. Where is my little moppet, 
 Frank? I must console mj'self with some innocent- 
 minded kisses, that have in them no flavor of new gowns 
 or cunning intentions." 
 
 The next bit of brightness was the tidings of a baby at 
 the Duncans', a little boy come in the stead of the 
 other given up to the Lord, to be set in his garden. 
 
 At the rectory they were oddly changed and quiet ; yet 
 the}' did not narrow their lives. On the contrary, it 
 seemed as if a breadth and richness came to Mr. Endicott, 
 instead of any decline in power. He had used his life so 
 wise!}*, so sweetly ! He was asked to preach a sermon 
 here and there, and had several pamphlets printed, that 
 attracted considerable attention, not only for their sound 
 doctrine, but the ways and methods of practical usefulness 
 set forth. 
 
 Then came a call to a city church, with quite an ac 
 cession of salary. 
 
 "Why, I don't need to consider," he said with his 
 sweet, unworldly smile, when his wife spoke of it. "My 
 people are not tired of me : why should I go? No spot 
 could ever be so clear to us as this old rectorj-, though 
 it is something like a last year's bird's-nest. Religion 
 isn't simpl}* bringing people into the kingdom : it is keep 
 ing them there, teaching them the precious meanings, the 
 use of the promises, the value of the praj-ers. I can do 
 that, and we shall have enough to live upon : so what 
 more do we need, except that ' the everlasting arms ' 
 shall be about us?" 
 27*
 
 318 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 What more, truly ! It would be like spoiling the silken 
 silver hair with strange, obtrusive dyes, or painting the 
 soft, pink, wrinkled cheeks with brilliant carmine. They 
 had come to the autumn ; and they liked the shelter of the 
 friendly trees that had grown about them : no smart new 
 iron fences or brick walls could cast so pleasant and fra 
 grant a shade. 
 
 Dais}' Endicott was glad, too, for many reasons, that 
 she could not put into words. Life had come to have 
 higher and fuller meanings for her. She had reached her 
 twentieth birthday, with a little awe and great gladness. 
 She was beginning to see what there was in the world, to 
 take it, and live in the midst of the delight, not to be 
 asking whether there would be bread for to-morrow, or 
 sunshine, or any scantiness on account of the bountiful 
 to-day. 
 
 There had been no great and heroic struggle for peace. 
 Little by little, she had grown out of the secret restless 
 ness : the way had become lighter and clearer ; and she 
 saw that this desire and pain and sorrow had not been 
 love, in any true sense, and that she had overcome it all. 
 It did not even pain her to. hear that Van Alstyne was 
 married. All the others had bewailed his choice a little. 
 She understood in the depths of her soul how much 
 better it was that his wife should not have that tender, 
 clinging, loving nature, but be able to satisfy herself with 
 outside pleasures. Of them all, she pitied poor Elsie 
 Graham, who was casting away her soul for a vain shadow. 
 
 Daisy had taken her friend back with a clear, honest 
 rejoicing, rather than any thrill of delight. He was so 
 purely friendly. She had given him a great pang and 
 sorrow ; and to know that he had outgrown it was a 
 present joy to her. 
 
 They went through a very pleasant autumn. There 
 seemed so little to do at the rectory ! Gertie and Edith 
 were in school ; there was a good, experienced woman in
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 319 
 
 the kitchen ; and Mrs. Endicott had lost none of her 
 olden art of management. Daisy fluctuated between 
 West Side and Edgerly. But then Fan was always 
 happy and prosperous ; the children were well ; Aunt and 
 Uncle Churchill were good company ; and there was such 
 a wide and friendly life spreading out before her. Nelly 
 seemed rather more alone ; and then they two were nearer 
 in age. Daisy embroidered for the bab}', did this or that 
 trifle for Nelly, and went every week, to spend, at least, 
 one day with her. She was beginning to look upon her 
 future life as settled, this vibrating from one to the 
 other, and taking a kindly interest in her sisters' chil 
 dren. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard looked on with a shrewd gleam of fore 
 sight, yet at times a little puzzled. They were too frank 
 for lovers. There were no sky, pretty embarrassments 
 on Dais3"'s part, none of that half-transparent planning 
 on Mr. Dudle3*'s. Yet he seemed alwa}-s to drop in on 
 the da}-s devoted to Dais}- ; and he, not infrequent!}*, drove 
 her to the station at night. On rare occasions he went 
 over to the rector}*, but not with any lover-like persist 
 ency. 
 
 " If they do not see, they will be the blindest people 
 in the world. He likes Daisy so much ! " was the doc 
 tor's vexed comment. 
 
 Meanwhile the holidaj's were approaching. What 
 would Maud choose to do? 
 
 She made her election. Miss North, her room-mate, 
 had asked her for the ten days, and she wished to go. 
 Not a word about Aunt Adelaide. 
 
 "I do not know that I quite approve of her going away 
 with strange girls," said the doctor decisively. "She 
 had better come home. You do not think so, I can see 
 by 3"our face." 
 
 "Is it so much of a barometer?" asked Nell}*, smil 
 ing. "Well, this is what I do think exactly. You
 
 320 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 have not been to Melrose Hall this season : so suppose 
 you take a journey thither, and see this Miss North in an 
 incidental way. If you can approve of her, I should let 
 Maud go. Pier great need is companions of her own 
 age." 
 
 " But she ought to take some kind of interest in her 
 own home," was the rather dissatisfied reply. 
 
 " Perhaps she will in time." 
 
 " Well, I will tell her that she owes the pleasure to 
 you." 
 
 "You will do DO such thing," returned Nelly quickly. 
 ''That would spoil it for her at once. No, I am quite 
 willing to remain in the background." 
 
 " But she ought to be made to feel that she owes you 
 some kind of respect;" and the doctor paused to study 
 his wife's amused face. 
 
 " My dear Barton, there are many things that you 
 cannot force into people's souls. We may sow virtues 
 all along the wayside ; but if we have the childish habit 
 of digging them up every little while, to see how they are 
 progressing, they cannot take firm root." 
 
 " I freely admit there is a good deal of contrariness to 
 human nature." 
 
 "It is not altogether that. Children dislike to have 
 the leading-strings constantly dangled about their necks. 
 If 3'ou can place some good in their way, and let them 
 think they are the actual discoverers, they take to it twice 
 as kindly. Isn't it sometimes a good deal of vanity* on 
 our part to insist that they shall alwa}-s recognize our 
 share in it? I do believe in a wise freedom." 
 
 "With a managing hand underneath. Ah, you wise' 
 woman ! I shall begin to suspect you of practising your 
 delicate art on me presenthy." 
 
 " Yet you admit that my system is an improvement on 
 Aunt Adelaide's? " 
 
 He laughed pleasantly, and kissed her in token of 
 assent.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 321 
 
 Tho call at Melrose Hall was a decided success. 
 
 " I do think, my dear," he said afterward, " that Maud 
 actually begins to improve. I was surprised when I saw 
 her friend, one of those cordial, good-hearted, jolly 
 girls, in plain attire, whose sensibleness strikes }~ou at 
 ouce. And Maud wants to ask her home next summer. 
 It seems there is a great fa'ruily of these North children 
 and Miss Kitt}', about sixteen, is the eldest. And, since 
 Maud never had any childhood, the sooner she can get 
 back to its shadow, the better. Aunt Adelaide is not 
 ver}' well ; and I think now, Maud's visit of last summer 
 Avas not a brilliant success. I do hope it has not turned 
 out a poor marriage ; for Aunt Adelaide was worthj r of a 
 better fate. Still she has no one but herself to blame. 
 She scouted tho idea of my making any inquiries con- 
 *cerning Mr. Garland's real standing. I must also tell 
 you that Maud inquired very kindly after you and the 
 baby." 
 
 Nell's eyes beamed. 
 
 " I think it will all come around right, if we have 
 patience. Whib I should never try to draw Maud away 
 from her aunt, I still think- a diversity of interest better. 
 And, if she should come to have a strong one at home, I 
 shall feel amply repaid." 
 
 There was a pleasant Christmas, with the usual fes 
 tivities. Mr. Dudley managed to get over to the chil 
 dren's festival, at Mr. Endicott's. Daisy had been her 
 father's vicegerent ; and as Mr. Dudley watched her 
 pretty, helpful wa}*s, the old idea came over him, with 
 the longing that he had quite put away, he fancied, to 
 have her for his wife, the beneficent spirit of his own 
 home. 
 
 She had never given any sign or token that it might be. 
 He could not risk another misunderstanding : the friend 
 liness was so much better than nothing. But if she 
 could have loved him ; if she could love him now ! If
 
 322 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 he could draw her to him in that frank, sweet manner, 
 and have her say the one word ! 
 
 Yet they were unconsciously coming nearer. If some 
 incident would only open their eyes ! Dr. Kinnard 
 fretted over it, and could hardly keep from making some 
 overt demonstration, but was held back b}~ Nelly's finer 
 delicacy and patience, that alwa} T s came like an inspira 
 tion. 
 
 And yet the first hint Daisy had of it came in 
 jesting gossip. Other people began to wonder. 
 
 She paused suddenly in her serene and happy living. 
 Did he care? Did she want him to care? 
 
 There was a confused and painful sensation. She was 
 glad to get away alone, where she could look the terror 
 in the face, where no eyes could see her burning cheeks. 
 If he went quite out of her existence again 
 
 The question was to come sooner than she thought. 
 He received a call to a flourishing Western city, a 
 church to be built up out of much the same material as 
 here at Edgerly, save that it would be larger, more Avidely 
 known, afford him a greater sphere of usefulness, per 
 haps. They urged him very strongty. Some other man 
 could do his work here, and he might be of more service 
 there. 
 
 Dr. Kinnard vetoed the plan at once. "If it is for a 
 larger salary, Dudley," he said in his straightforward 
 way, "half a dozen of the present subscriptions shall be 
 increased." 
 
 " No, it is not that. Do not suspect me of such merce 
 nary motives, nry dear friend." 
 
 "Then, Dudley," for the doctor could keep silence no 
 longer, " my advice to you is, to go on with the rector}', 
 and marry a nice pleasant girl, who will just fit into the 
 niche of a clergyman's wife, and proceed with your work 
 here. I think you can do both." 
 
 Arthur Dudley colored vividly.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 323 
 
 He went over to consult Mr. Endicott. Daisy sat in a 
 corner of the study, crocheting a little tippet for some 
 of her parish poor. 
 
 " No, don't go," Mr. Dudley said with a gesture of 
 the hand. " You may be able to help us to a decision." 
 
 She resumed her seat and her work, and listened. 
 What came over her ? A kind of dismay at first, then a 
 quick sense of loss and loneliness. "Was he more than 
 a friend to her ? 
 
 Dinner was announced before they were through. 
 Daisy rose with averted face, and tried to compose her 
 tumultuous feelings. Mr. Dudley had been reading his 
 friend's letter descriptive of the place and the work. 
 Mr. Endicott had said, " It may be 3'our duty to go." 
 
 She understood presently how it was with her. The 
 hazy pleasantness cleared up sharp and distinct. With 
 Mr. Van Alst}'ne it had been a dazzling glimpse of pos 
 sible love, fervent, delicious, but comprehending nothing 
 beyond, a supremely selfish delight. And this was so 
 different. Yes, she would like to enter into this man's 
 life, the loving, sympathizing, keeping his home pretty 
 and neat and cheerful, as mamma had done in her 
 sphere, reading and talking to him, taking part in that 
 wider work, the whole world. Every thing would be 
 rnado more sacred and beautiful l>y sharing it with him. 
 A sense of soul-life revealed and brought close, an awak 
 ening to a great richness, a consciousness that thrilled, 
 but wavered not, that here might be her abiding-place. 
 
 Might be ! Ah, what if it was too late ? 
 
 If he had taken her at her word ; for in this friendly 
 demeanor of the last year she could not> recall one lover- 
 like look or act, one tone warmer than the clear good 
 Christian fellowship. They had ridden and walked to 
 gether : there had been opportunities 
 
 Like a swift rushing tide it came over her. Whether 
 he went or staid, no matter what his duty or condition, 
 she would be shut out : she had shut herself out.
 
 324 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 She seemed to draw long breaths in an unillumined 
 polar solitude. She was hurt and chilled ; and yet it had 
 been her own sad mistake. Would God give her the 
 grace to live out of this, and ever be calmly happj" again ? 
 
 She helped about clearing away the dinner-dishes. 
 She could not go back to the study again : it would seem 
 strange to sit in her own room alone. If she had an 
 errand to Fan's, or to Mrs. Fairlie's. But no: she could 
 not talk on pleasant indifferent subjects. Then some one 
 came for papa, an urgent summons. 
 
 " Don't go 3 r et, Dudley. I want you to look over that 
 new commentary. Come in, Daisy, and keep him com 
 pany while I am gone. Let me see where did I la}' my 
 gloves? " 
 
 Daisy knew, and brought them. He stooped to kiss her 
 cheek, then gave her an almost startled look. 
 
 " Wh}-, childie, are you not paler than usual? " 
 
 She was brilliant then ; and the^y both laughed a little, 
 he blaming his old eyes. Then she took her seat in the 
 corner, and went on with her work. Mr. Dudley turned 
 the leaves of the book. The fire in the grate sent out a 
 ruddy glow ; and some pale yellow bars of sunshine lay on 
 the floor. Neither of them could begin a conversation : 
 so the ticking of the clock alone broke the silence. 
 
 Arthur Dudley was thinking it over. He knew now 
 that he should never care to many any woman save Daisy 
 Enclicott. /Love and marriage were sacraments to him, 
 not to be profaned by the mere sense of usefulness. A 
 housekeeper or cook could be hired : a tolerably cheerful 
 home could be made with books, pictures, easj'-chairs, and 
 glowing fires. If he could not have her, he would have 
 the other ; but no woman should mar it for him, under 
 the mistaken idea that she was lending it a glory. If he 
 could not have her well, then it would be best to go 
 
 He rose, and crossed over to her corner. As well
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 325 
 
 decide the matter now as to let it hang for days in tor 
 menting alternations. 
 
 "Miss Knclicott," he began (for although, in their 
 household relations, these girls had boon used to various 
 diminutives, for the world they hedged themselves about 
 with that air of fine breeding which did not allow undue 
 familiarit}-) , "Miss Endicott, you have expressed no 
 opinion yet. Ought I to go, or staj'? " 
 
 She did not raise her ej'es, and even her breath seemed 
 to become entangled with that flutter in her throat. Over 
 her face and neck stole a wavering pink ; and her fingers 
 trembled visibly. Perhaps the most cruel impulse of his 
 whole life was to prolong the moment, and read those 
 delicious signs of agitation that could hardly be wrongly 
 translated. 
 
 He placed his hand over the fingers, gathering them up, 
 cold and trembling as they were. 
 
 " If I sta}', Dais3*, I must ask again for the boon I was 
 once denied. If you can, love me with your whole heart : 
 but do not answer out of pit}', or any sentiment less 
 strong than my love for 3*011." 
 
 She did not stir, nor offer to raise her drooping head, 
 not even withdraw her hand from that close, warm pres 
 sure. Oh ! had he failed again ? He stooped a little, brought 
 his face nearer hers : she felt his breath on her cheek. 
 
 "Oh!" she cried, with sudden, eager trcmulousness. 
 " I ought not answer 3*011 until I have told 3*011 something. 
 Then, if 3*ou still care " 
 
 She had loved another, .then. 
 
 " Yes, let me tell 3*011." She raised her blushing face 
 now, with the tears shining in her proud, honest eyes. 
 
 " Yes, tell me," he repeated, sitting down beside her. 
 
 Had she been less morally brave, she could not have 
 confessed her stor\* in such a straightforward manner. It 
 was very simple, after all, her girlish mistake, her 
 socrec3', the one kiss upon her hand. 
 
 28
 
 326 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " And I have come to see now how wild such a thing 
 would have been for me. Only a few months of bliss, 
 and a whole long lifetime of neglect or indifference. I 
 don't know whether it is jealousy or not; but I should 
 want the whole heart of the man I many, and I would 
 strive, oh, so earnestly ! to cherish and return the fullest 
 regard." 
 
 "It is not very much," with a satisfied smile, "yet, 
 Dais}', I am thankful that it has been so little. Some 
 how I think I should not want the love of a woman who 
 had been tr}*ing every one within her reach, as some 
 women do. And now will you answer m}- question? " 
 
 " If I will be your wife? Gladly," with a bright, quiv 
 ering blush. " And I will tiy to make you so happy ! I 
 have been studying mamma ;" and there she paused, con 
 fused by her own naive confession. 
 
 " No, the other question." 
 
 She looked up puzzled, then, taking in the whole ex 
 pression of his face, bent hers lower, until it almost hid 
 itself on his breast. 
 
 " If I love 3'ou," she answered in a soft, trembling whis 
 per. " I think I have loved 3*011 a long while ; though I 
 never realized quite what it was until to-day." 
 
 lie raised the sweet face, and kissed it many times, 
 with a kind of exulting consciousness that he had put in 
 a pre-emption claim with the first kiss of so long ago. 
 
 Papa Euclicott sighed a little ; and yet he welcomed his 
 new son-in-law cordially. 
 
 "I think she will make a good clergyman's wife," he 
 said. 
 
 So they settled that the rectory should go on. There 
 would be work enough in Edgerly ; and being near Nelly 
 added to the pleasure of it. 
 
 Arthur Dudley returned home a very happy man. At 
 the station, he saw the Gale's box-wagon and the man. 
 
 "Are you going right out home?" he asked.
 
 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 327 
 
 " Yes," answered the man. " Can I give you a lift?" 
 
 " As far as Dr. Kinnard's, if you please." 
 
 u All right. Jump in." 
 
 For lie could not rest, until he had told Barton Kinnard 
 that the closest human tie possible between them was 
 henceforth to make them brothers.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 " That all of good the past hath had 
 Eemains to make our own time glad, 
 Our common daily life divine, 
 And every land a Palestine. 
 
 Through the harsh noises of our day 
 
 A low, sweet prelude finds its way: 
 
 Through clouds of doubt, and creeds of fear, 
 
 The light is breaking calm and clear." J. G. WHITTIER. 
 
 "WE often think the story ends with a marriage. It 
 seemed to me, that, when Fan and I were married, the 
 whole world was swept up clean and clear, and had noth 
 ing to do but fold its hands in its silk-aproned lap, and 
 rest. I was so childishly happy. It seemed as if there 
 never could be a great event in the world again, hardly a 
 lover beside Fan's and mine. 
 
 "I suppose I narrowed the great events, because I 
 thought they were done happening to me. But, before the 
 bab} T came, I had found out my mistake. I daresay many 
 of us have a brief season when we think we are the very 
 centre, and the worlds not lighted by us are hardly lighted 
 at all. 
 
 " Then Nelly married Dr. Kinnard. I did not dread 
 so much him or the children, as his mother, and the first 
 Mrs. Kinnard's sister. I think, now, it must have been 
 very hard ; the}" had ruled the house so long, and he was 
 so accustomed to their rule. Then, too, he was peculiar 
 in many things. 
 
 ' ' She had worked some wonders before our first visit to 
 
 328
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 329 
 
 her home, which, though old-fashioned, was really very 
 lovely. Dr. Kinnard treated her in an indulgent, fatherly 
 manner, as if she were a pet or plaything. I wondered 
 if she would ever get into the very middle and heart of 
 his life, as I was in Stephen's. If she ever felt free to 
 talk and laugh over trifles, or confess any little perplexity, 
 or even badness ; for wrong thoughts and tempers will 
 intrude occasionally. I could see there would be trouble 
 about the children. It seemed to me no one in Dr. 
 Kinnard' s household really loved children, not even him 
 self. They were to be endured, to be made to behave 
 properly, and kept out of the way as much as possible. 
 The little boy had gone to school, sorely against his 
 aunt's will ; and Nelly tried to humanize him a little. 
 But his grandmother fretted ; his aunt sneered and cav 
 illed at nearly every thing he did ; and his father was 
 often annoyed by his blundering. 
 
 " ' No one realty wants her to love the children,' said 
 Stephen to me. - It is bad for her too. Unless Nelly 
 is a very exceptional woman, her heart will be centred 
 in her own ; and the}', poor things, will be worse than 
 orphaned. I can't help feeling sorry for them, though 
 they are not lovable in themselves.' 
 
 '"Nell}* must change very much,' I answered deci 
 sively, ' before she can make an unjust or even indifferent 
 stepmother. She will do her very best.' 
 
 " ' Circumstances are so much against her.' 
 
 " I used to think of her often. Her letters were bright 
 and cheery : she had taken up some pleasant church- 
 relations. I liked the clergyman, Mr. Dudley, so much. 
 He was so clear and staunch in his faith. Dr. Kinnard 
 used to argue with him in a kind of half- whimsical, half- 
 in-earnj'st way, and bring up bits of science that seemed 
 overwhelming ; but they never confused, or appeared to 
 trouble him. When the conversation was brisk and 
 animating, I used to think of the old dialogues Louis was 
 28*
 
 330 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 so fond of reading. Here was the modern Christian and 
 the ancient philosopher. 
 
 " I had a great deal of interest in my own home. True, 
 Stephen did not bring his business to me ; but there were 
 mairy subjects besides, and I always had Louis. He was 
 superintendent of a mission Sunday school. He asked 
 two or three of the boys to call around in the evening ; 
 and, after a while, we came to have quite a reading-club in 
 the nice warm kitchen. He supplied them with books 
 and papers ; and I always used to bring out a plate of 
 sandwiches, and another of cake, old-fashioned cookies 
 and queencake, real Dutch crullers and doughnuts. It 
 was such a pleasure to see them eat ! One night Louis 
 asked two of the bo}^ to wash their hands, and took them 
 to the sink. After that, their hands and faces fairly 
 shone. Then, as occasion offered, he and Stephen used 
 to get situations for them. 
 
 " Then Mrs. Whitcoinb had an opportunity to go abroad 
 with a very lovely woman, who possessed an abundance 
 of means, but who was an incurable invalid. She was 
 so well fitted for the post ; and then* too, it would be such 
 a delightful thing to see all Europe, or even a part of it. 
 Mrs. Ra3*mond had already spent five years there. 
 
 "'Yon would like to go?' Stephen said to me. I 
 know my eyes were shining with anticipation for her. 
 
 " ' Oh, how delightful it would be ! ' 
 
 " ' Wiry couldn't we go, Stephen?' said Louis. 'Not 
 jnst now : I would rather wait until I am in orders. 
 You will want a rest from business some time ; and, when 
 the baby is older ' 
 
 " 'Yes,' answered Stephen, rather absently I thought. 
 
 " I wondered if he did not care to go. He had been 
 over the British Isles, to Germany, and Paris. Perhaps 
 but I should never tease him. I could be veiy happy 
 without Europe, when I had so much. 
 
 " Mrs. Whitcomb's leaving gave me a little more care.
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 331 
 
 I was really housekeeper then, planning meals, looking 
 after bed-linen and napen*, counting the sih-er, and 
 seeing that my best china was not kept around for every 
 da}' uses. Then there were visits, too, from all the folks. 
 I did use to enjo}" Fan when she came to shop. We used 
 to talk about all Wachusett ; and now we took in Edgeiiy. 
 Ah, how happy we all were ! Only now and then I used 
 to say, ' Poor Nelly ! ' thinking of aunts and grand 
 mothers, and stepchildren who almost broke their backs, 
 and had to be nursed for months and months. No own 
 mother could have been more devoted than Nelly was. 
 Daisy used to tell over bits of her care and kindliness. 
 ' And it is odd,' she would sa}*, ' but I do believe Nelly 
 is teaching Dr. Kinnard to love his own children.' 
 
 " Fancy any one teaching Stephen to love our little 
 boy ! But, then, he was so rarely beautiful and cunning ! 
 
 " I like to linger over these days. It is a bit of fairy- 
 lifc ; and jet there was not much real grandeur in it, 
 a plain, three-stor}' brick house, just around from a fash 
 ionable avenue, pretty, but not extravagantly furnished. 
 It seemed quite a palace to me when I was first married ; 
 but Stephen had friends living in so much greater style, 
 that I soon began to feel very modest. 
 
 " I used to think, if we could only keep a horse and car 
 riage, I would not ask to live any more elegantly, but for 
 Stephen to have a little more leisure, and the carriage at 
 our command. Not that I suffered much in this respect. 
 Louis used to take baby and me out pleasant afternoons. 
 The income of his part amply sufficed for a few indul 
 gences of this kind ; and then he never cared to go alone. 
 It was having a kind and tender brother to anticipate 
 every want. 
 
 " We did not see so much of Stuart. He was in a large 
 mercantile house, and doing considerable travelling, as he 
 expected, in a year or two more, to have a share in the 
 business. He was considered very promising and bill-
 
 332 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 liant ; and young ladies were beginning to be fascinated 
 with him. 
 
 " Right in the midst of this came the blow and the 
 sorrow. Last week, brightness and laughter ; tiny feet 
 pattering up and down ; silvery tones floating through the 
 atmosphere with such a glad, sunshiny, tremulous vibra 
 tion ; tender kisses at morn ; a little praj-cr at night, a 
 blessedness so perfect, that I used sometimes to ask why 
 I was singled out for the exceeding great joy. 
 
 " And then an awesome, fearful silence ; a little coffin ; 
 flowers whose scent will be indissolubly connected with 
 my first-born, if I should live centuries ; and then a 
 darkened house ; a sorrow so wordless that I could cnly 
 sit in its fearful grasp, holding close and fast to some 
 thing, not God, not heaven where he had gone, not 
 any comfort or consolation, but a strange phantom, a 
 baby that was never out of my heart or arms, who lay 
 there still and motionless, who could not answer my kisses 
 or my passionate longings. 
 
 " I was quiet a good deal, for Stephen's sake ; but, be 
 sides, such an awful terror had fallen upon me, that I did 
 not want to speak. Daisy came to stay with me. I was 
 so glad for Stephen's sake ! She used to talk to him ; 
 and she had such sweet, comforting wa}-s ! I who had 
 measured the ache and agony of his soul could not bear 
 to touch upon it. 
 
 " What daj's they were ! The common duties of life were 
 gone through with. I did not neglect my house, nor my 
 church, nor my poor neighbors, in whom I had taken an 
 interest heretofore. I used to wish there were more for 
 me to do, that every moment could be full, leaving no 
 room for listless sorrow. I fancied I fought against it, in 
 just enduring passively, in not rebelling. 
 
 " The first thing that roused and interested me was 
 Louis's coming ordination. I had meant, all along, to 
 make a surplice for him, I was so fond of fine needle-
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 333 
 
 work and embroidery. He drew patterns for the latter : 
 he had such a genius for designs and emblems and win 
 dows, and finding the hidden meanings, the types that 
 were a soul-substance to our thoughts, that brought us 
 somehow nearer to God, the fine-twined linen, the cun 
 ning work, the beaten gold, the service for him. And so 
 I took it in hand while he sat and talked of examinations, 
 of hope, of a diviner life, all the poetry and ideality of his 
 nature coming out. I used to wonder, sometimes, if this 
 was really the Louis Duncan of years ago. But it was 
 not, altogether. The love of God had constrained him to 
 better thoughts and purposes. I used to feel now, that, if 
 he were not to be a clergj'man, he would be an artist. 
 
 " The time came ; and he took his solemn vows, was set 
 apart to sacred uses. Papa and mamma were present ; 
 and their cup of joy filled to the brim. " Son Louis," 
 father said with tender solemnity ; and he seemed, some 
 how, adopted into our family, made one of us. 
 
 " It came to me then it was a foolish thought, I know ; 
 but there was Daisy. If Louis could but like her ! She 
 would make such a lovely clergyman's wife ! 
 
 " Then Fan planned a grand summering at the White 
 Mountains, not hotel life, with its set routine, but the 
 grand freedom of house-keeping on a farm. Mr. Ogden 
 knew of a house the}* could hire. The Kinnards were to 
 join ; and if we would come ! 
 
 " ' I wish you would, Rose ! ' said Stephen with much 
 solicitude in his tones. ' You need a change. And I 
 think I shall have to go to Chicago presently for two 
 weeks or so. Louis might stay all the time.' 
 
 ' ' Louis looked at me questioningh r . 
 
 " ' No,' I answered : ' I don't want to go. They will 
 all be gay and happj', and I want quiet.' 
 
 " That night he asked me if I would go to Europe. 
 He might get off by August, he thought ; and we could 
 have six months.
 
 334 NELLY KIKNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " ' No,' I returned, not even tempted by that. Aftei*- 
 ward I was so glad I had not caught at the relief. 
 
 "There was another plan presently. Papa was going 
 with the party. His parish would pay expenses, and find 
 a substitute while he was gone. Would not Louis like 
 to come, and Stephen and I? Daisy was to stay to keep 
 house. 
 
 " ' Oh, it would be delightful ! ' exclaimed Louis. ' A 
 whole summer spent there ! Eose, we might live over 
 what was good in the old times.' 
 
 " Stephen studied me then with some anxiety. 
 
 " ' Yes/ I returned: ' I do believe I would like that. 
 Only, can you come, Stephen ? ' 
 
 " ' I will try my best. Yes, I shall be there a good 
 deal.' 
 
 " So it came to pass that we went home for the summer. 
 Not until after the rest had all gone : I did not feel as if 
 I could bear the bustle of getting off, and the good-bys. 
 
 "We came in and took possession. I in the guest- 
 chamber, because it was large and airy ; and I knew, too, 
 that Louis would rather have some other one. There 
 were only Daisy and Gertrude left. So we took up a 
 quiet house-keeping. The Churchill carriage was placed 
 at our convenience. 
 
 " After a fortnight Stephen started for Chicago. Busi 
 ness was in a perplexing state ; and, instead of two weeks, 
 he was detained six ; and then he had to go farther West. 
 Altogether, it was two months before he reached home ; 
 and then he could onl}- make a flying visit with us. Of 
 course, I could not go back with him, and leave the girls. 
 
 " Was I happy that summer? Looking back, I can 
 hardly answer, either way. It was a kind of languid 
 content. Louis was so good and watchful. He would 
 never allo\v me to tire myself out going around with 
 Dais}' ; he drove me out often ; he read to me, talked to 
 me, sat through the twilight evenings with me, and, some-
 
 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 335 
 
 how, I came to be strangely comforted. I gave up my 
 project for him and Daisy. She was too practical : she 
 was a curious mixture of frankness and indifference ; 
 sunny, but not enkindling. He needed a different nature ; 
 and I doubted much whether she would be strongly 
 attracted towards him. 
 
 " So we drifted on very pleasantly. They all returned 
 home at length, with Queenie's brave lover. "We had con 
 sidered Fan a most fortunate girl ; but this would distance 
 her complete]}-. The Mallorys were old friends of the 
 Duncan family : Stephen and I had met them incidentally. 
 Mrs. Mallory was 'such a charming old lady ! I always 
 thought she was like the solitaire diamonds she wore, 
 bright, sparkling, the very finest of their kind, but not too 
 much in any way. She never tired you. When she was 
 going out of the room, yon wished she could stay ten min 
 utes longer : when she ceased talking, you wanted to ask 
 her two or three more questions. She appeared fond of 
 marnma ; but she perfectly adored papa and Bessie. 
 
 ' ' I moved about them quietl}-. They had all distanced 
 me. I was not jealous. Nell}' was so happy, so handsome 
 too. Fan always had her cup running over. No sorrow 
 for an}- of them. I was glad with a pure, unalloyed glad 
 ness ; but I hugged my own sorrow to my heart. 
 
 " ' You are still fretting, Rose,' Stephen said, his brows 
 drawn a little, as if somehow it displeased him. 
 
 " ' No, I am not fretting,' I made answer almost cold 
 ly. ' I have been quite quite happy.' I had meant to 
 say content ; but I altered it to please him. 
 
 " ' You don't look bright : yon are thin and pale.' 
 
 " ' As if I could ever be bright again ! ' 
 
 " I was sorry the moment I had uttered it. Stephen 
 turned and walked away. What had come to him of late? 
 
 " Louis found me afterward, crying, and comforted me. 
 
 "I did not realize any of these things then. I was self 
 ishly wrapped in my own grief. So long as I was not
 
 336 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 obtrusive, I thought I had a right to it. And the almost 
 womanly S3'mpathy of Louis confirmed, instead of rous 
 ing, me. Stephen appeared a good deal pro-occupied. 
 
 " Then we made ready, and went back to the city. Bus 
 iness seemed urgent and perplexing. Some evenings, 
 Stephen did not get home until late ; and then he was 
 tired. We had so few of those sweet little matrimonial 
 privacies, that, though foolish, are very endearing between 
 husband and wife, and, after all, are never meant for the 
 world. I did not bother him about any thing, because I 
 wanted him to rest while he was in the house ; and then 
 I always had Louis. He had taken an assistantship in 
 a church not far distant. I used to go to morning and 
 evening praj-ers ; and 3 r et it was not like the religion of 
 my girlhood. 
 
 " But I had not come to troubles then. 
 
 " Was I growing any better or happier? Life seemed so 
 dreary, I wanted to be away and at rest. I only thought 
 of heaven, in those days, as a place of brooding bliss, 
 where one might wander dreamily by the river-side, and 
 pluck healing fruits to strengthen and refresh their souls 
 as nothing on this earth could help them to do. I was 
 calm and placid : it was not my nature to be fretful. 
 
 " One night after we had gone to our room, Stephen sat 
 down on the edge of the bed. He had been home all the 
 evening, and very quiet. Louis had been explaining to 
 me a guild association, that was to be in working-order 
 another summer to look after sick children and weary 
 mothers, and take them out of the city now and then. 
 My heart had melted over the thought of the poor, wan, 
 poverty-stricken babies. I was planning what I would do 
 to help as I brushed out my hair. I never wore any curls 
 now : they seemed sacred to baby-fingers, laid away as 
 his little clothes were. 
 
 " ' Rose,' Stephen said, ' will you come here a few 
 moments? '
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 337 
 
 '" There was a strained, hollow sound in his voice, that 
 gave me a shiver. I went and stood by him wonderingly. 
 Was he going to be ill ? 
 
 " He twined his arms about my neck, drawing me down 
 beside him, and kissed me with a strange solemnity. 
 
 " ' Rose, how much do you love me? ' 
 
 " It is curious how the pathetic and the ridiculous things 
 in life jostle one another. I could have quoted Shak- 
 speare with a laugh : ' There's beggary in love that can be 
 reckoned.' 
 
 " ' Rose, my darling, is it enough to help you bear a 
 great misfortune ? ' 
 
 " ' What? ' .1 asked in surprise. 
 
 " 'You have a right to know first. It would be coward 
 ly to allow you to hear it from other lips.' 
 
 '"But what is it?' I asked impatiently. Then I 
 looked into the heavy, weary ej-es, noted the tortured 
 brow, the quivering lips, felt the shivering pulsation. 
 ' Oh ! ' I cried in dismay, ' you are going to be ill.' 
 
 "'I hope not. It would come very inopportunely ;' 
 and he gave a dreary smile. 
 
 " ' There can be nothing worse than baby's' 
 
 " 'Ah! I can never make up to you for that, can I, 
 Rose ? Is the child all to the mother ? And now another 
 burthon. Mj r poor little darling, I sometimes wish' 
 
 " I did not hear the last part of the sentence ; for the 
 first part pierced me to the quick. There was a time, 
 before baby came, when we had been perfectly happy. 
 How had I drifted so away? How had I come to think 
 what did I think ? What blackness of darkness was 
 between Stephen and me ? What great gulf ? Where 
 had gone the gladness of youth, of love, of the hundred 
 little secret springs of joy between us? For surely I 
 loved him. I had not wandered there ! 
 
 " ' O Stephen ! ' I cried with a great gasp of agon}', 
 ' what has happened ? Why am I so far away from you, 
 
 29
 
 338 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 out in darkness, and shivering with cold? Take me 
 back into your large, warm heart ! ' 
 
 " I forced mj^self into his arms ; I kissed his cold lips ; 
 I clung to him as if I had been in some imminent peril ; 
 for it seemed as if I had stood on the verge of a yawning 
 abyss. 
 
 " 'Oh, my little darling, I am so glad to take }x>u 
 back ! ' and there was that heavenly satisfaction in his 
 voice, that comes when one has been among the deep 
 things of the soul. 
 
 " ' What was it? ' I went on bewildered. ' Did I love 
 baby too much ? ' And then my own heart answered me, 
 ' Not the love, no one ever yet loved equal to Him who 
 gave "his only -begotten Son," but the passion of grief. 
 I saAV it all now. God had left me to be Stephen's wife, 
 and I had almost spurned the blessing. 
 
 " I slipped out of his arms, and knelt before him, laid 
 my head on his knee like a child, and prayed for myself, 
 for us both. 
 
 "'My dear child, don't; don't blame yourself so. 
 Perhaps the fault was mine. You seemed so sacred in 
 your grief. O Rose, how can I ever tell 3*ou ! It 
 makes it so much the harder ; ' and now I felt his tears 
 on my forehead. 
 
 " ' Stephen,' I said, awed and frightened, ' is it any 
 crime, any sin? Even then I shall not leave you. There 
 is no baby to stand between. I am all, all j-ours.' 
 
 " ' Crime ! " He rose then ; and I laughed in my joy, 
 knowing him to be innocent. ' No, my darling ! Please 
 God, you 'shall never suffer for any positive fault of mine. 
 I do not know that it is even negligence, except in one 
 respect. But my wealth is all swept awa3*. I must pay 
 my debts, and begin anew. I did mean, after I bought 
 the entire right in this house, to settle it upon 3*011. I 
 could have done it when we first came home ; but it did 
 not seem quite honest, when I knew the firm was in a
 
 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 339 
 
 critical state. There have been heavy losses in Chicago 
 and abroad ' 
 
 "'Is that all?' I was brave little Rose Endicott 
 again. ' "Why, Stephen, I shall not mind being poor. I 
 never was rich, yon know, until you took me ; and, if I 
 can comfort you ' 
 
 "I fell into his arms again, weeping; not for any 
 sorrow, not for any lost wealth, but rather, I think, from 
 joj', because the mists had cleared away between us. 
 
 " We talked it over at length ; and I decided, with him, 
 that it would be best to give up every thing. It would be 
 like rending my heart to go out of the house ; for here I 
 had known and loved baby, and here he had died. Yet 
 even that might be best. I should realize how surely then 
 I had onl}' Stephen. 
 
 " I la} r awake much of the night, thinking ; not in any 
 nervous or fretted state, or even despondenc}*, but trying 
 to undo the tangle, and learn how I had drifted so far 
 away from Stephen. There was much to humiliate me. 
 I had held my sorrow as the greatest. I had refused to 
 be comforted. True, it had not been a noisy or aggres 
 sive grief. I had asked nothing ; and I had also declined 
 to take any thing, except from how strange ! Brother 
 Louis. He had known just how to minister to me. I 
 had gone to church, to all the services, been outwardly 
 patient, mild, resigned ; and yet now I saw I had hardly 
 been to God at all. It meant something more than to 
 stand and grope about, and hug myself in the soft, fra 
 grant darkness, where I could cry unnoticed. It meant 
 that I should be believing for mj-self and for Stephen. 
 It meant, too, that I should be thankful for the little life 
 taken before it had been marred, or stained, or defaced by 
 the world's ways. It was so pure and beautiful ; and 
 God was holding it safe in heaven for Stephen and me, 
 when we came. 
 
 " ' Show me the way,' I prayed softly, ' and I will
 
 340 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 walk therein;' not in any path of my own devising, 
 not shrinking, and shut away from my fellow-creatures, 
 not bending all things to minister to my selfish sorrow, 
 but gladly, joyfully, as befits one who has laid up treasure 
 in heaven. 
 
 "I rose in the morning when Stephen did. I brushed 
 out my hair, and curled it over my fingers, laying away the 
 great braid from the hair-dresser's. Then I tied a pale 
 blue ribbon in it, and put on my blue cashmere morning- 
 dress. Stephen came and kissed me wonderingly, without 
 any comment, however. I was adorning for him, just as 
 I had in the first happy year of my marriage. We went 
 down to breakfast. Louis sat by the window, reading. 
 
 " It did not flash upon me all at once, rather it came 
 after long and confused thought, wherein I separated bit by 
 bit, and placed each just where it belonged, looked at my 
 mistake incredulously at first, and then with great shame 
 and remorse. I had been putting another in Stephen's 
 stead. 
 
 " ' Louis,' my husband said when he rose from the 
 table, 'will you come down to the store this morning? 
 There are some complications in which you may be a 
 little concerned. At all events, I want your advice, 
 your ' 
 
 " ' It is nothing worse, Stephen? ' 
 
 " ' I think it has reached the worst,' he answered 
 almost cheerfully. 
 
 " ' I will be down in about an hour.' 
 
 " I did not go out to prayers with him that morning. 
 I thought of the children of Israel in the halting journej^ 
 through the wilderness, when both Moses and Aaron had 
 prayed, and worked wonders, and asked the Lord for 
 guidance. What had he said? ' Not sacrifice and burnt- 
 ofFeriug.' His word had been clear: 'Speak to the 
 children of Israel, that they go forward.' I had just to 
 go forward.
 
 NELLY KDSTNARD'S KINGDOM. 341 
 
 " I went to my bureau after breakfast, and took out 
 baby's clothes, gathered his playthings and some little 
 gifts, and folded them all away in a box, which I locked. 
 I did not do it without many tears ; but I kept brave to 
 the very end. Then I sat down again, and thought. 
 
 "Without meaning any thing wrong, without even a 
 shadow of evil, I had gone out of the right path. I had 
 allowed Stephen to stand aside, while I walked with 
 another in what I said were heavenly ways. A strange, 
 secret perception of things : it could never have been 
 love ; for I was too true to Stephen, loved him too well, 
 and I would have cut off my right hand, and plucked out 
 my right eye, sooner than think such a thing of Louis. 
 It had been a high and fine sympathy, engendered by 
 community of tastes and interest, and indulgence in my 
 great sorrow. But I saw, with a little more, how easily 
 even a good woman might drift into dangerous paths, 
 when there was no truly noble, large-hearted, and brave 
 husband for her to compare her friend with/j And I say 
 now, that no earthty thing child, sympathy, or friend 
 has a right to come between husband and wife v $ When 
 these two have chosen one another from all the world ; 
 when their souls have been filled with that large awaiting 
 of sacred, persistent tenderness, which can discern the 
 face of God, and not be ashamed ; when they have come 
 to the heart-truth and understanding that this life and 
 love is the beginning and foundation of the life to come, 
 that it touches reverently the great secrets of eternit}', 
 they have only to go on. World wisdom and analysis, 
 far-fetched impulses, tortured questionings, and catching 
 at outside things, are not for them ; neither do they want 
 any adviser between them. God has made them one, 
 and woe to the husband or wife who first begins to put 
 the bond asunder, even from a secret consciousness of 
 some higher and finer growth. 
 
 " I do not wonder that both ideals and idols are made 
 27*
 
 342 KELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 of clergymen. We think of them as living nearer to God ; 
 of having a purer and finer conception ; of so standing in 
 the glor} 7 -, that, under their shadow, we may catch some 
 reflected ray ; that they are as pure and strong in their 
 moral power as they are keen in their moral sense ; and 
 with them is a certain blind, unquestioning safety. Yet 
 this adoration brought forth its bitter fruit centuries ago, 
 when mysticism flourished : and, in the end, blackened 
 like a poisonous fungus-growth. Wisely did the Psalmist 
 say, 
 
 " l But no man may deliver his brother, or ma7ce an 
 agreement unto God for him. 
 
 " k For it costs more to redeem their souls; so that lie 
 mtist let that alone forever.' 
 
 " We may believe ourselves strong; but, until the sure 
 test is applied, how can we tell? Sometimes it merely 
 passes us by with a dazzling, bewildering flash : at oth.rs, 
 it comes near, touches like a galvanic shock the suscepti 
 ble spot, quivers around the hidden unsoundness like 
 lightning-play : haply for us that we are not scorched 
 and blackened irremediably. 
 
 " I could not think of all these things deliberately then. 
 I onby saw my mistake, and retraced my steps humbly. 
 It was enough that Stephen needed me : so I arose and 
 washed myself, and laid off my sackcloth ; for it was well 
 with the child. God had that in his keeping. 
 
 " They were some time in going through all the busi 
 ness complications. It was the worst that Stephen had 
 feared ; but there would be enough to pay the debis. If 
 only the house 
 
 '" 'Stephen,' I said one day, 'do you. suppose that I 
 would keep it, if it had been sealed upon me, while yon 
 owed one dollar? It will be very hard to go away " (and 
 I had much ado to keep the tears out of my voice) ; 
 ' but I want you to keep your good name unstained. 
 I have planned how we shall have a few rooms, and
 
 NELLY KINNAED'S KINGDOM. 343 
 
 I will do my own work. Let all the rest go. "We have 
 one another.' 
 
 " I had brought him a little key to put on his ring, and 
 keep until I asked him for it. It belonged to the box 
 that held baby's earthly treasures, and was the token, 
 though he knew it not until afterward, that I gave even 
 that sacred grief to his care. 
 
 " Bessie came to stay with Mrs. Mallory while Eugene 
 went South ; and they were both so good to us ! She 
 treated the boys like sons, and gave us many pleasures, 
 which she asked asf favors to herself. She was such a 
 rare, bright, large-hearted woman, with just a touch of 
 piquant sharpness, a spicy flavoring to her nature, that 
 kept it sweet and wholesome. Bessie suited her so 
 exactly. It is so delightful in this world to meet with 
 these elected relationships that are agreeable in every 
 respect. 
 
 " The business went on to a conclusion, The house was 
 quietly sold, transferred to the creditors, and disposed of. 
 It gave us both a great pang when it was fairly done, 
 though we were to keep possession until May. 
 
 " We sat together one evening, Stephen and I, when 
 Louis entered the room. There had come to be a slight 
 difference between us ; and } - et, somehow, I loved him 
 better. His face had a pure, transfigured look to me ; 
 and he had taken up a fashion of placing Stephen and I 
 alwa} r s together. I had never allowed my own revelation 
 to wander out of my own soul, but gave it into the hands 
 of God, who had seen on all sides, to judge. There I left 
 it content, and just accepted his promises. 
 
 " Louis came in, as I have said. I had been sewing, 
 and Stephen reading ; but we had left off again to talk. 
 There was a little space between our chairs ; and he 
 filled it, dropping something, a folded paper, into my lap, 
 and laying his hand on Stephen's shoulder. 
 
 " ' I want you to look over this with Rose,' he said
 
 344 NELLY KINNABD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 clearly. ' It is my gift to you both ; but I put it in her 
 name, and that of her children, so that there need never 
 be a question, in any future contingenc}', about a transfer. 
 There would never be any place quite as dear to 3*011 both 
 as this : there is no place so dear to me. I shall always 
 remember how she persuaded me to come ; how 3-011 took 
 me in ; and how, with God's help, I began a new life in 
 this very house. I could not see it go into a stranger's 
 hands. I should like, if it pleased you both, to have 
 my home here with yon. I have some money left, 
 which, with my salary, will quite suffice for my wants. 
 I do not think I shall ever marry (not that I make any 
 rash vows on the subject) ; but, if I do, it will be many 
 3'ears hence.' 
 
 " Through this speech, Stephen had been unfolding the 
 paper. Our eyes caught one sentence at the same 
 moment, ' To Rose Endicott Duncan and her children, 
 their heirs and assigns, forever.' 
 
 " Stephen rose, and put his arms about his brother's 
 neck. The silence was better than any words. Then he 
 reached out for me, and brought me into the circle, as if, 
 thereby, he gave Louis a brother's right to me, and 
 me a sister's interest in him. 
 
 " "We went to talking, at length, in that broken, tearful 
 fashion that people always fall into when their souls have 
 been deeply moved. If we could have asked one thing 
 out of the wreck, it would have been the power to keep 
 this. I think Stephen had felt somewhat hurt at Stuart's 
 eagerness to be assured that he was all safe. He was 
 engaged to an heiress, and life lay smiling and prosperous 
 before him ; but there would alwaj's be a strand of half- 
 fascinating selfishness in him. Some friends had already 
 proffered Stephen assistance ; but Stuart, out of his 
 abundance, had not held forward even a hint of promise. 
 And Louis would never be making money to lay up for 
 the future. It was doubly generous in him.
 
 NELLY KCSTNAKD'S KINGDOM. 345 
 
 " ' O Stephen ! ' I said with a glad cry when we were 
 alone, ' he is next to papa in every good word and work. 
 Papa could never have been more nobly generous.' 
 
 " ' It is the grace come back again, my little Rose, the 
 " bread returned," that you cast on the troubled waters 
 of his boyhood. What could either of us have done 
 without you?" 
 
 " 'It is so good to know that you are glad to have 
 me!' 
 
 " ' Glad ! ' and he folded me to Ms heart. ' Can I fill 
 up the one lonely space, Rose? ' 
 
 " ' O Stephen, you do, you do ! ' and I spoke the 
 sweet, solemn truth." 
 
 [What she did not know, what neither of them were to 
 know, until they stood around the great white throne, was 
 the warfare Louis Duncan had been fighting out like a 
 good soldier. The unspoken but perceptible change in 
 Rose puzzled him at first. He had come to look upon 
 her as little less than a saint. To his mind she was 
 purity, devotion, self-abnegation, holiness, she who could 
 be another St. Elizabeth of Hungary if occasion required. 
 He liked to see her in her simple white dresses, with a 
 black chain and cross about her neck, and that expression 
 of rapt devotion in her eyes. 
 
 But what had come over her now ? Was she going back 
 to the vanities of the world in this season of loss and sor 
 row ? Was she turning from the only stronghold to poor 
 human love ? He studied her in amazement : he felt 
 hurt, neglected. Stephen was always with her now, 
 Stephen 
 
 Something rose in his heart, stirred it, made it con 
 scious of a longing and a tenderness, a pain, a dreary 
 looking-for ward. What was it? Surely he was not envi 
 ous of their happiness ?
 
 346 NELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 It was an awful knowledge that has overtaken both 
 men and women before, good, honest, noble hearts. If 
 she were Rose Endicott to-day, and he 
 
 He plucked it out, and trod it under foot, the sweetest 
 part of a man's life, when it does not lead into forbidden 
 paths. He was no weak, sentimental hero. If he could 
 not conquer himself, he had no right to sta} 7 and glance at 
 her even. If he coveted one look, one word, one smile, 
 to have and to hold in his secret heart, it was a sin. He 
 could not help being a man, and seeing what might have 
 been possible to life ; but he rose to thrust it away before 
 it could take root. He would not stain and mar his own 
 soul, hers was safe in her husband's love, he gave 
 thanks for that now. This thing had been deeded to 
 another by God's gift in the beginning; let him keep 
 that clearly before his eyes. 
 
 He went out to the fields of his labor, taking the 
 most unpromising to-day. Here, in these miserable dens, 
 were men and women who had been born with clean 
 souls, but who had overlaid them with selfish desires and 
 indulgence ; who had yielded, little by little ; who had 
 often known the right, but closed their eyes upon it. If 
 heaven is not reached by a single bound, no more are 
 such depths of infamy and sin. But he pitied them with 
 a profound and tender charity : he stretched out one hand, 
 while, with the other, he held the angel by the thigh, like 
 the wrestler of old, and prayed his prayer: " I will not 
 let thee go, unless thou bless me." 
 
 He returned home at night tired, but content. He saw 
 them smile upon one another while he kept quite outside. 
 It was their blessed, God-given right. 
 
 Afterward the plan concerning the house entered his 
 mind. His sta}'ing should be as they elected. He surely 
 could tell by word or sign. He would not take himself 
 out of their presence from any weakness or cowardice, 
 remembering the bidding of the grand old apostle : ' ' Hav 
 ing done all things, to stand."]
 
 KELLY KINNAKD'S KINGDOM. 347 
 
 " It was so delightful to think of going on unchanged ! 
 Stephen had some very good business-friends, who found 
 an opening for him. I sent away one of the servants, 
 and became a regular little housekeeper myself. I think 
 Stephen and I had never been so happy. 
 
 " I began to understand presently, that a new feeling 
 had sprung up between Louis and ourselves. I wondered 
 whether it was because he had given us the house, that 
 he was so careful of assuming any kind of right. He put 
 Stephen in the place of elder brother, and paid him an 
 indescribable deference. They were so dear to each 
 other ! There is alwaj's an exquisite charm about the 
 friendships of men, and particularly that of brothers, 
 which is much rarer in this world than it should be. 
 
 " Indeed, it seemed as if good times were begin 
 ning with us again. First there came the tidings of 
 Nelh-'s baby. The}' all said Dr. Kinnard was overjoyed. 
 I do think a bit of the best fortune to her had been Aunt 
 Adelaide's marriage : it gave her the undisputed possess- 
 orship of her house and of the children, in a greater 
 degree than before. 
 
 " Then Bessie's marriage took place. It had been such 
 a lovely, romantic kind of an engagement ! every thing 
 happening just right, and Mrs. Mallory setting at defi 
 ance the traditional mother-in-law. She would always be 
 with them ; but we could see that Bessie would not have 
 the ghost of a chance for complaint. 
 
 " The}* expected to remain abroad several }-ears. The 
 choice belongings were packed and stored, the house 
 rented, the horses sold ; yet it was a very bright parting : 
 I don't know wh}', except that Mrs. Mallory would not 
 let any one be sad. 
 
 " ' I wonder, little wife, if we shall ever go to Europe,' 
 Stephen said afterward, with something like a sigh. 
 
 " ' I don't care a bit,' I made answer lightly. ' I have 
 resolved to think that whatever God sends is the very 
 best.'
 
 348 NELLY KIKNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " He smiled, and pinched my cheek. It was getting 
 quite round and rosy again. 
 
 "The next was a Heaven-sent blessing to fill baby's 
 place. I took it with a great throb of thankful love. 
 And yet he was so different from Stevie ; not nearly so 
 handsome, with brown-red curly hair, like mine, and blue 
 eyes, but the best, merriest, frolicking baby in the whole 
 world, when he grew large enough to enjoy such things. 
 
 "Louis was exceedingly delighted. "What a brave 
 worker he was in the Master's vinej-ard ! The world was 
 full of wide meaning and rich promises for him. Instead 
 of disdaining it, and sighing for heaven, he tried to make 
 it the better, even for one clean soul rescued from the 
 depths. There was in him a large steadfastness and 
 truth, that seemed to lift e very-day Avork above any mere 
 drudgery. Like, and yet unlike, papa, yet living in the 
 same accord, feeling the continual presence, the shaping 
 and placing of some wiser hand, the going-forth in con 
 tinual gladness, and sowing by the wa3'side, knowing full 
 well that ha should reap, if he fainted not. 
 
 " Oddly enough, there came to us presently the news of 
 Daisy's engagement. It had been a pet plan all along 
 of Dr. Kinnard's, it seemed. There was to be a rectory 
 built at Edgerly (they had finished a very nice church) , 
 and then Daisy was to go in bridal robes, and be its 
 keeper. 
 
 " That spring I was not so well, ' run-down,' as peo 
 ple sa} r . Stephen was a good deal alarmed, and asked 
 Dr. Kinnard to come in and see me. It ended by my 
 being sent to Edgerly for the summer. 
 
 " Daisy was married the first of Juna, and came home a 
 fortnight afterward to take possession of her new house. 
 She was such a sweet, sensible, unaffected bod}' ; and then 
 her experience in parish-work stood her in good stead. 
 Mr. Dudley was very fond of her ; not foolishly so, but 
 Avith a grave, inherent tenderness good to see.
 
 NELLY KDSTNARD'S KINGDOM. 349 
 
 " I think it is best that people should occasionally go out 
 of their own narrow bounds, and study the lives of others. 
 I began to take a great interest in Nelly's. She had 
 grown more like mamma than any of us, and had that 
 s \veet, pleasant wisdom, that large awaiting and hopeful 
 outlook. She kept up with her husband ; and he was a 
 strongly intellectual man, rather severe on shams, and 
 ' isms ' that would not bear clear winnowing, but not an 
 unfair opponent. They had gathered around them a charm 
 ing and cultured circle ; but she was as entertaining to 
 some of the doctor's poor patients, who came in with 
 wan, sickly babies, and wanted comforting, as if they were 
 chosen friends. I told her, one day, that she would be a 
 powerful rival to Daisy. 
 
 " She had managed to gain over her young step-son, 
 who adored her, and grandmother, who was a really 
 pleasant old lady, thinking ' my son's wife ' qould not 
 possibly be mistaken on any point. I knew she had 
 Avorked hard for these two victories. 
 
 " Then Miss Maud came home from school, bringing a 
 friend with her. This was the first time Nelly had really 
 taken her under her care. I used to watch her wise way 
 of planning and working. She made it so pleasant for 
 the two girls, offering them her ponj'-carriage, asking 
 other young people in to tea, arranging some parties to 
 the woods, and, somehow, being in the midst of all with 
 her beautiful, animated face, and her inspiring voice. It 
 was odd to take note of Maud as well. She seemed so 
 afraid of yielding to her stepmother's influence, and 
 regarded her with a kind of distrustful jealousy that was 
 often overpowered by Nelly's pure goodness. Sometimes 
 the doctor would be quite vexed. I used to smile at the 
 manner in which Nelly restrained him. Once, indeed, he 
 appealed to me to know if I did not consider him hen 
 pecked. It was so ridiculous, that we all laughed. 
 
 " After her friend went away, Maud's aunt sent for her. 
 30
 
 350 NELLY KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 I think she did not really care to go ; but no one made 
 any demur. She only remained a fortnight, however ; and, 
 after she returned, we all remarked a little change in her. 
 She began to pay Nelly a pleasant respect. She so 
 seldom gave her any name in speaking to her, and 
 seemed to delight in having different tastes and desires ; 
 but now she deferred to her occasionally, and appeared 
 really glad when circumstances compelled her to adopt 
 her stepmother's way of thinking. Altogether, I thought 
 her much improved. 
 
 " The day before she returned to school, she was up in 
 Nelly's room a long while. I noticed, when she came to 
 supper, that she had been ciying ; but she was so unusu 
 ally gracious, that I knew nothing had gone wrong. 
 
 "That night, of her own accord, she came and kissed 
 Nelly as she was going to bed. 
 
 " Wheu she was quite up stairs, Nelly rose, crossed 
 over to her husband, and, putting her arms around his 
 neck, said in a tone of deep emotion, 
 
 " ' Barton, congratulate me. I have won my kingdom 
 at length. I have entered in, and taken possession.' 
 
 " 'My darling!' 
 
 "If she could be such a mother to another woman's 
 children, what would she not be to her own ! 
 
 " They sent me home well and rosy. I began to have 
 some doubt as to whether I had the very best husband in 
 the family, when there were two such men as Dr. Kinnard 
 and Mr. Dudley. 
 
 " But he was the best to me." 
 
 " Five years after Bessie's marriage, we all met at the 
 rectory to welcome her home, though now it was golden, 
 glowing September. The dear old house overflowed, 
 not only with children and grandchildren, but talk and
 
 NELLY KJNNARD'S KINGDOM. 351 
 
 laughter. Papa's hair was quite silvery, and his gentle, 
 absent-minded waj's were so sweet ; and mamma was a 
 grandmother out of a story-book. Fan was stout and 
 ros3 r . Winthrop had been elected a member of Congress ; 
 and they were getting to be quite grand people. Babies 
 grew and multiplied : there were five now. No want or 
 trouble seemed to come near there. Mr. Churchill was 
 quite ailing now and then ; but Miss Esther would be 
 stately and elegant to the last. 
 
 " I suppose I ought to bring myself in next. We were 
 prospering, though not back to the old point. And }-et 
 we care little for that. The serenity of our souls is not 
 disturbed about money. There are a few silvery threads 
 finding their way about Stephen's temples ; but he smiles 
 over them, while his eyes still keep their kindly, half- 
 shady light. We have a wonderful little girl, who is quite 
 the family beauty. She makes us think of him hourly ; and 
 we talk about him now with a tender sweetness that leaves 
 no pain. 
 
 "Nelly eclipses us all, I think. She always was tall 
 and elegant ; but now she seems rounded out to the perfec 
 tion of sjTumetiy, and adorned with the perfection of col 
 oring. The years have crowned her with their richness ; 
 and her own motherhood glorifies her hardly less than 
 that she accepted at her marriage. It has brought its 
 own reward. She is so lovely with this grown son and 
 daughter ; she makes so much of every grace and tender 
 ness, that they unconsciously emulate her. Edgerly people 
 talk of them as being such a happy family ; and it is true 
 enough. If Dr. Kinnard's summer was late, it is none 
 the less glowing. Beside Frances, he has twin-boys, 
 pretty as pictures. 
 
 " There is Daisy and her husband, and a little daughter 
 Dais}', whose sweetness of mind and soul shines out, and 
 makes her beautiful with the something that alwaj-s 
 puzzles people. And there is radiant Bess, Queenie
 
 352 NELLY KESTNAED'S KINGDOM. 
 
 always now, bright, dazzling, stylish from the crown of 
 her head to her dainty foot, with her rippling, rapid talk, 
 her laughs of saucy, suggestive music, her piquant waj's, 
 oddly like her handsome, pink-cheeked mother-in-law. 
 They have left one little girl asleep in a grave}-ard at 
 Florence : they have another with them, and Grand 
 mother Mallory is rarely seen without it. Eugene says 
 he and Queenie have leave to go their waj-s now. 
 
 " There are two more fair girls, Gertrude, and Edith, 
 for whom Stephen stood so long ago, and who love him 
 dearl}'. We sit oat on the porch and on the grass, and talk 
 all these times over, from the beginning, our romances, 
 that will presently be our children's, the world goes on so 
 fast. The twilight falls, and finds us there. Then papa 
 leans softly over to the wife of his youth, the woman who 
 has marked her plain, daily path with jewels, that the Lord 
 will claim for his in that other country. And he saya 
 slowly, tenderly clasping her fingers in his, 
 
 " ' Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own 
 works praise her in the gates.' "
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-Series 444
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 PS 
 
 721