^Jl^ MTRAND SMITH. S Q-: r.rQj|g AcjF,, -v rNUe AH, CALIF LEE AND SHEPARD'S DOLLAR NOVELS. JUST PUBLISHED. TELL YOUR WIFE. "Just the book to create a sensation." Cloth, $1.00. Paper, 50 cents. JOHN THORN'S FOLKS. By AYDNE TEEL. Cloth, $1.00. Taper, 50 cents. THAT HUSBAND OF MINE. A New Edition. Cloth, $1.00. Paper, 50 cents. BARBARA THAYER. By Miss ANNIE JENNESS. 16mo. Cloth. $1.00. Paper, 50 cents. Miss Jenness la a popular lecturer, and the critics pronounce this her first novel a success. THE ONLY ONE. A Novel by HARRY "W. FRENCH, author of " Castle Foam," " Nuna, the Bramin Girl," " Our Boys in China," " Our Boys in India," etc. 16mo. Cloth. $1.00. This work was published as a serial in " The Boston Globe," and made a sensation. It will have a large sale in its new dress. LORD OF HIMSELF. A Novel by FRANCIS H. UNDERWOOD, author of " Handbook of English Literature," etc. A new edition. 16mo. Cloth. $1.00. " This novel is one that has come into American literature to stay." Boston Pout. " Spirited, fresh, clean-cut, and deeply thoughtful." Boston Gazette. DORA DARLING: The Daughter of the Regiment. By J. G. AUSTIN. 16mo. Cloth. $1.00. A thrilling story of the great Rebellion. OUTPOST. By J. G. AUSTIN. 16mo. Cloth. $1.00. A Sequel to " Dora Darling," but each story complete in itself. NUMA ROUMESTAN. By ALPHONSE PAUDET. Translated from the French by Virginia Champlin. With ten illustrations. Cloth. $1.00. The latest work of fiction from the pen of Alphonse Daudet, and derives its main interest from the generally accepted belief that the hero ef the novel is really Gambctta, the French statesman. KINGS IN EXILE. By ALPHONSB DAUDIT. A new edition. 16iuo. Cloth. $1.00. LIKE A GENTLEMAN. By Mrs. MART A. DENISON. A Tern- perance Novel, by a well-known author. Cloth. $1.00. Mrs. DeniRon is well-known as the author of "That Husband of Mine," a summer book which exceeded in sale any thing published in America. This book is in a more thoughtful vein, but is very entertaining. The style in bright and witty. HIS TRIUMPH. By the author of "That Husband of Mine," " Like a Gentleman," etc. Cloth. $1.00. A TIGHT SQUEEZE. The adventures of a gentleman, who, on a waiter often thousand dollars, undertook to go from New York to New Orleans in three weeks, without money or the assistance of friends. Cloth. $1.00. Paper, 60 cents. PUDDLEFORD PAPERS ; or, Humors of the West. By H. 11. KII.KY. Illustrated. A new edition. $1.00. "This Is a rich book. Any one who wants a genuine, hearty laugh, should purchase thla volume." Columbus Gazette. THE FORTUNATE ISLAND, and other Stories. By MAX \Dhi.KK. Illustraied. Cloth. $1.00. " Max Adeler is a fellow of infinite humor." Albany Evening Journal. Sold by all book/tellers and newsdealtr.it, and sent by mall, postpaid, on receipt of price. LEE AND BUEPARD, Publishers, Boston. TELL YOUR WIFE /L /n^, / BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM 1886 COPYRIGHT, 1885, BY LEE AND SHEPARD. All rig/its reserved. TELL YOUR WIFE. TELL YOUR WIFE. CHAPTER I. " Youth, Hope, and Trust, These form a trinity that makes a heaven upon earth." HARRY ! it was splendid ! " That was Hester. " Old fellow, you did well ! " "You'll eat your dinner with an appetite, after that triumph ! " " The dean spoke very favorably. He's rather sparing of his compliments, you know." So said one and another of a class of thirty, as after the valedictory, which had cost me much pains and close study, I came down from my pedestal, and mingled with the crowd. Even the wheezy professor, Hester's father, with his chin on his chest, condescended to smile his approbation, and even to essay a com- plimentary sentence. But what cared I for them all, with Hester's slim white hand in mine ? Hester's brown eyes 2061875 6 TELL YOUR WIFE. worshipful, Hester's smile making my heaven ? Now very soon I could claim her for my wife. I had loved her since the first day I entered the college, and she, a shy girl of fourteen, had looked up at me with a smile in her soft brown eyes. She was then fourteen : now she was seventeen, my bonny Hester. "So you liked it," I said, with natural and perhaps pardonable exultation. " Well, I don't mind telling you that I thought it pretty good myself before I reached the platform; but, while delivering it, it seemed flat, stale, un- profitable." " I never would have dreamed it. You seemed quite lost in the subject," she made reply. " How did you like the flowers ? " "Charming although I did not examine them critically. I left them on the desk. Jen- kins will attend to them." " I'm afraid you don't like flowers," Hester said, with an incipient pout. " Because I sent them away ? I don't mind telling you that I don't like carrying a bouquet, though I adore flowers. If ever I have a church, I mean to keep the altar supplied, in season and out. " ' There grows a flower on every bough : Its gay leaves kiss I'll show you how.' " TELL YOUR WIFE. / Hester laughed. "You'll please wait till you get home," she said. " Hester, have you tied your throat up ? " asked Mrs. Vaughan, with awful dignity. " Mr. Clements, you quite astonished us. The pro- fessor says it was the best valedictory since the time of Tindell. But dear me ! Tindell is in deacon's orders yet. He married too young, Mr. Clements. It was very wilful of him, very wrong. We all warned him." Hester gave me a look that said, "Take care ! beware ! " and so spared her mother my opinion of early marriages. The dear girl had just one little fault. It had sometimes occurred to me that she was a trifle too prone to take matters into her own hands, vulgarly speaking, of " bossing." Her mother ruled the household, including the pro- fessor ; that was evident on a brief acquaint- ance. And yet the dear girl had a quick insight into things that sometimes puzzled her elders. She was electric, magnetic, and possessed of the ability to read human nature. She read me, but I was not then aware of the fact ; she read and yet loved me. Doubt- less she wished in a degree to shape my future. This, I apprehend, was one of her most cher- 8 TELL YOUR WIFE. ished ideas. She saw my enormous love of approbation ; my desire to make all men, and women too, my friends. There was the possi- bility of a downfall from just this fact, that I rated my gifts beyond their warrant, that I looked down upon the commonplace, and my vanity of race was simply stupendous. Sleep- ing in my heart of hearts was a pride, that, some day awaking, might spring upon me, and destroy me root and branch. I had noticed her ability as well as inclina- tion to rule. By the simple arrangement of putting on her embryonic attempts an arbitrary interpretation of my own, I had come to the conclusion, that in all respects, if she ever be- came my wife, she must defer to my judg- ment, not I to hers. This decision I never had the courage to put in words. She was so lovely, so lovable, grace was attendant in all she did and said, her utterances were so pure and noble, her interest in all I did so sincere, that I kept my resolution to myself, partly, per- haps, for fear that I should not be able to carry it out. " You will come home with us to dinner, the professor says. Mr. Launce has done us the honor to accept our invitation," said Mrs. Vaughan, in her deep voice, that seemed to is- sue from the triple folds of her chin. TELL YOUR WIFE. 9 Launce was a slim, dignified dandy, the heir to hundreds of thousands. Hester, who had taken my arm, gave it a lit- tle pinch. I knew exactly what it meant, "What do I care for him, or his riches ? " He was in the parlor when we reached the professor's house, standing by the mantel, pinching his chin. He had that distinctive habit by which I should have known him in any part of the world. Slim, tolerably well shaped, with eyes that would easily have met but for the insignificant line that formed the bridge of his nose, a mouth of large proportions, a flat forehead, mutton-chop whiskers and a mus- tache, two features which saved his face from utter vacuity, he was a man incapable of attracting attention, save for his prospective millions. As it was, all the mothers were fish- ing for him, Mrs. Vaughan among them ; and all the daughters save Hester dying to receive a smile from him. Curiously enough, though Hester treated him almost with rudeness, he was more than willing to lay all his possessions at her feet. " Oh ! Mr. Launce ! " said Hester indiffer- ently. " Excuse me for a few moments I'll be back soon, Hal," turning markedly to me ; and away she tripped. I sauntered to the farther end of the room. Hope and love made me almost insolent. IO TELL YOUR WIFE. Hester came down in a few moments radiant. Never had she seemed so beautiful. A gown of blue, laces like sea-foam at throat and wrist, her eyes shining, her lovely head with its wavy, rippling locks changing from bronze to gold, her merry smile, was I some day to be the pos- sessor of all those charms ? The very thought made me shiver with a thrill of ecstasy. Am I talking nonsense ? Every honest man in love will answer, No ! The memory of that day is burned in upon my brain. For me it was supreme from the moment I had achieved the first victory of my young manhood till I parted with Hester. The professor always gave good dinners, but it was Hester's sparkling face I feasted on that day. She played the violin with rare precision and beauty if not with genius. Mr. Launce listened, simpered, and pinched his chin. He seemed to lack courage to speak to her while I was by. I fancied I held him dumb by a sort of mesmeric power. That evening I talked with the professor. Before I knew it, almost, I had asked him for his daughter. He referred me to Mrs. Vaughan, who gave a decided refusal. I was too young ; my income only enabled me to take care of my- self. The professor contemplated a visit to Europe. He had relatives there. It was an TELL YOUR WIFE. II opportunity for her darling that she dared not forego. I listened as she droned on, my heart all one dumb ache. Never having counted upon a refusal, I was like a child just beginning to un- derstand that he cannot have his own way. I protested. As well might one try to cut ada- mant with a pen-knife. Mrs. Vaughan's mind was made up, and she was granite-firm. Hes- ter knew it when she saw me. In what way, I cannot conjecture, but she had dismissed Mr. Launce. I held her two hands, and she saw all the misery of my soul. " I dreaded it would come to this ; but don't you mind, Harry. I'll be true as steel." "But to be gone a whole year!" If life had depended upon it, I could not keep back the tears. I am afraid they overran my eyes. " It does seem a long time ; but courage," said the high heart. And then the golden plaits of the high heart laid on my shoulder, and she was sobbing. It was not three minutes by the filigree clock on the mantel-piece, however. When she looked up, the soft eyes were defiant. "She knows I love you she knows she married papa when he was a poor student. She ought not to be my mother but she is, and she knows we all obey her in this house. I won't run away with you, because that would 12 TELL YOUR WIFE. be foolish, and wouldn't look respectable. Be- sides, you've got your orders to think of, and there's plenty of hard work before you. Come, now, I'll prophesy. Before the year is out, you will have your own church, marry some foolish girl"- I stopped her speech with a kiss. We sat together for a little space, then I left the house, more miserable than I had ever felt in my life, little thinking that I should not see her face again for many weary months. TELL YOUR WIFE. 13 CHAPTER II. " Not to be true in seeming, is sometimes not to be true in fact." HOW the year passed, I cannot tell. Occa- sionally came letters from friends who had met my darling ; never one came to me from her that was forbidden. Yet night and morn- ing her sweet words comforted me, "Don't you mind, Harry. I will be true as steel." I believed her. She would come home to me more beautiful than ever, she would come home of age, ready and willing to take the re- sponsibilities of life in her own hands, hers and mine together. Then came news. The professor had decided to remain another year. I was furious; for I had built up my plans, and every thing was contingent upon her coming. There were those who would have consoled me, and I was sorely tempted. Men said that Miriam, Hester's cousin, was the most beauti- ful woman in the city ; and Miriam always re- 14 TELL YOUR WIFE. minded me of Hester. Shall I tell of Miriam's weakness, and my thoughtless folly ? The girl knew my love-history Hester had confided in her; and yet perhaps she thought, hoped, or longed, that, being so far away, Hester might forget me, or I her. Be that as it may, I formed the habit of going to her for sympathy. She was different from Hester in many ways, more yielding, less aggressive, more intellectual. She lived with her parents in an unpretending house, not quite on the outskirts of the city, but far enough out to have a wilderness-garden of its own ; and the porch with its old-fashioned lounging-chairs, and interlacing branches of rose-vines, was a very comfortable place. The effect of my constant visits came to be evident in time. Miriam dressed for me, looked for me, and I was not blind to the fact. Here was my selfishness conspicuous. I could not give up my own comfort, and the comfort she gave me, though it might be to her hurt. I saw the changing color, the quick conscious- ness, the brightening of the face, as one who will not see though the fact be self-evident. I am afraid I enjoyed the knowledge, guilty as it made me feel, contemptible as it was. One day when she was at the piano, singing, I spoke of the song as one nobody could sing exactly like Hester. She burst into tears, TELL YOUR WIFE. 1 5 and left the room. All was revealed to me then. For a week I kept aloof from the pretty home ; for a week I was torn with doubts and fears. The girl had stirred my sympathies to such a degree, that, had I been assured that Hester had faltered once in her determination, I would have married Miriam. When I met her, she looked pale, and her eye wandered. Her manner was colder and prouder, as if she had schooled herself to composure. She would not have pity. I saw that, and made no change in my manner. Her mother spoke of her fretfully ; whether she half surmised what the trouble was, I could not tell. To hints I was impervious. " I wish Miriam could have gone with Hes- ter," she said one day impatiently. " I think her uncle might have taken her, though the outfit would have cost pa a year's profit. Still, it might have paid, Miriam is so beautiful ! The child isn't well ; something frets her ; whether or not it is Hester's letters, though that can't be ; for I must say they are perfect pictures, and well worth being printed." " She is enjoying the old country, then ? " I said. " Enjoying it ! you ought to see Miriam's letters. Now in a palace, now in some great 1 6 TELL YOUR WIFE. cathedral ; pictures, statues, fountains ; lords, ladies, balls, theatres, and parties, I should think the child would die." "Yet but just now you were saying that you wished Miriam had gone." " Oh, well ! " she colored, and cast a quick glance at me that seemed both angry and im- ploring. " Miriam is not such an enthusiast as her cousin less excitable, and more even in her temperament, as you must sometimes ob- serve. And then yes, I do wish she had gone, poor child ! " I had taken up a book, conscious that her words conveyed a covert reproach. Was it that that angered me ? or the fact that I had never seen one of those charming letters written by the hand of my dear, absent love ? An unrea- soning jealousy took possession of me. I began to rack my brain for some method by which I could get possession of them. In my course of self-instituted study, I was reading "Theodo- rus ; " and, chameleon-like, my mind took the hue of his reasoning. In his moral scheme, there is no eternal difference between good and evil ; and so insensibly do one's ideas take color from the quality of thought originated in a pow- erful and creative brain, that for the time I might have been his disciple without being aware of the delusion. Thus, why might I not TELL YOUR WIFE. I/ practice a little guile for the better consumma- tion of my object? All that remained to do was to set my wits to work, to come oftener to the cottage, to let myself bask in the smiles of Hester's cousin, and the work was done. I protest I meant no harm, either in my cogita- tions or my intentions. I had been thrown in the society of women all my life. There were no boys in my mother's family. My twin was a girl, from whom I had scarcely ever con- cealed a thought, even in my college days. I had been trained by my sisters. Dolly, she who seemed flesh of my flesh, and for whose sake I had often said I would never marry, until I met Hester, pursued the same studies that I did up to my last year at college, when illness prevented her from keeping pace with me. I was always more at home with women than with men, always happier in their society. Did the remembrance of my ministerial call- ing come to the rescue ? Yes, more times than I can count. Yet I was still a man, and not yet aware of my own weakness. My reason had not outgrown its callow youth, and I was not then in the habit of making severe requisi- tions of my conscience. The plan worked admirably. In a week or two Miriam was her arcfy beautiful self, and I was drifting out into treacherous waters. IS TELL YOUR WIFE. The color came back to her cheek, and the lustre to her eye. I thought I could ignore all my un- doing at my will which proves what an igno- ramus he is who plans without reason. There are moments in a man's career that he never forgets. All through life, in one way or another, they will be brought back to him with photographic distinctness, the careless thought, the idle action, even the unconsidered words. "By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned, is a tremendous practical law," says an old writer. I believe it, for I have experienced the fact. At last I had gained that point when I decided to ask Miriam to show me Hester's let- ters. I remember the afternoon when I locked my study-door, and set out for the cottage. It was a pleasant walk ; and all the outdoor world was a picture, high in light, beautiful in tints, rich in shadows. The sun shone softly on the old-fashioned houses standing inside of quaint gardens, for ours was a city not despoiled of nature's handiwork. Many fine old familie.s there were who made their homes after the fashion of those their ancestors had left more than a century before ; and every place one passed, whether protected by a modern iron fence, or only a well-kept hedge of living TELL YOUR WIFE. 19 green, was a study for an artist. I could have fancied myself in some lovely old English town, so exactly were such features reproduced as walls covered with ivy ; cool arbors, over-arched with elm and maple ; curious latticed windows ; mas- sive porches ; leafy coverts that led into laby- rinthine walks ; here a common, bright with grass, and clumps of bushes and well-grown trees ; there a bit of rustic woods, filled with verdure of all colors, with thousands of sprays of ferns, and gray moss clinging to every thing ; again, a mass of crumbling rocks, all their fis- sures aglow with treasures of bramble-blossoms, and wild-strawberry leaves, and a thousand dyes impossible to describe. As I neared the little cottage where Miriam lived, my heart beat faster. I knew I should find her waiting for me, a happy smile on her lips ; and I had told her I should ask a favor of her, though I had not enlightened her as to what its character was to be. Did you ever succeed in convincing yourself that you were not meaning any harm, when in your very soul you knew you were walking on forbidden ground ? If not, then you must have been born a saint. I had called Miriam sister and cousin, but my actions challenged the hypocrisy. 2O TELL YOUR WIFE. CHAPTER III. " The dear old home, with orchards near Of apple, plum, and downy peach." MIRIAM was waiting for me, just as I had fancied. A spray of apple-blooms at her throat made her seem an incarnation of the promised summer. The glow of cheek and throat was more vivid than I had ever noticed before ; and as in dreamland we do incredible things, so in my waking dream the impression of her beauty was so vivid, that I held her hand until she herself withdrew it, blushing and confused. " Will you sit here ? " she asked, " or go in- side ? Is it too cool for you outdoors ? " It was all glare and sunshine here, albeit the vines did their best to soften the light. Pre- ferring the shadow just then, I went inside the low-ceiled, comfortable parlor. I shall never forget it as it looked on my entrance. On the right and left of the fireplace stood immense vases, brought from China when the captain, TELL YOUR WIFE. 21 Miriam's father, was in the service. All the furniture was old-fashioned, and much worn, but in good repair. The uniform polish of the floor was broken by dainty rugs, all of them bought in foreign bazaars, and rich with the devices of Eastern looms. It was a place to rest in, and in which Miriam's beauty shone with tenfold lustre. "See," said Miriam, when we were comfort- ably seated, "what a beautiful gift to-day's mail brought me." She held up a costly dia- mond ring which sparkled on the third finger of her left hand. "People will say you are engaged," I said lightly. " It should be a rich lover would give you a ring like that." " Can't you guess ? Hester sent it," she con- tinued, the glow fading from her face. " And in my letter is one for you ; and, if .you like, you are to see all the letters she has written me, so she says." The visitation had fallen suddenly. I had been weeks industriously planning how I should consummate this matter, and here it was ready done to my hand. I suppose I looked my as- tonishment, for Miriam grew rosier yet. "You don't seem so very glad," she said. "No I that is, if you will pardon me, may I have my letter ? " 22 TELL YOUR WIFE. " Oh, certainly ! " she said, and went towards a writing-desk in the corner, took the letter therefrom, and handed it to me. " Don't ask to be excused," she said ; and her voice trembled a little. " Read it now, if you wish to. You must be anxious to hear from her." ^ " Since this is the first letter she has written me in fifteen months," I said, " I will take my time in reading it." And the missive seemed to burn me where I had thrust it, in my breast- pocket. I cannot tell what spirit possessed me, but I was kinder to the beautiful girl be- fore me than I had ever been in my life. Per- haps it was because of a consciousness that it was the last time. I cannot remember that I was troubled with any qualms of conscience; they came afterward. I do not know that I purposely demoralized myself, I think not ; but I had gone so far that it seemed to matter not what further risks I ran. I know I took home with me a face beautiful with hope, almost transfigured, in fact, and in thinking of which, my heart sank within me while I composed myself to read Hester's let- ter. Miriam > had brought me a little packet tied with ribbon as I left, and I am afraid I called her "dear" when I thanked her. In the privacy of my study I opened the let- TELL YOUR WIFE. 2$ ters, first her own to me, in which I read her noble, lofty heart. " I have come to the age of a maiden's lib- erty, Harry, and I shall begin a correspondence. If it does not seem graceful in me to take the initiative step, lay it to my unchanging love." My cheeks burned as I read her innocent revelations. How nobly true she had been ! What a heart was mine ! Was I worthy of such affection ? "After this," the letter went on, "write me as often as you will. Mamma has made many plans for me, but to no purpose, and I think she has about given it up. We shall be here some months longer, and bring home some pretty things from the foreign bazaars ; for papa has been prodigally generous, and I have spent a little money myself." I sat down that night, and wrote twenty pages. All the fervor of my early love rushed over my heart, and in that fervor I wrote. How glad I was ! how free, how happy, I felt ! Miriam's image faded out. I applied myself more diligently to my studies. I had passed a fair examination, and would soon be a full- fledged priest. I had now no longer an excuse to lead me to the house of Miriam. To tell the truth, I was thoroughly ashamed of myself when once I was in a situation to face my own treach- 24 TELL YOUR WIFE. ery. I became magnanimous, and decided that I would not even call on Miriam again, more for her sake than mine. If I could but have seen what this decision was to cost me ! I sent back Hester's letters with a note that I should be absent for several weeks on a visit to my sis- ters. My face grew hot while I was writing it. Oh, yes, I was very penitent ! and all those long weeks Miriam lay in her bed raving with fever, nigh to death's door. Meantime I had reached Myrtle Mount, the old homestead from under whose blessed roof I had followed father and mother to the grave out there in the little rustic garden of the dead at the west of the village church. Dolly was not yet quite recovered from a slight illness ; but I heard her half laughingly, half sobbingly, call my name as I stepped over the well-worn por- tals. Another moment, and she was in my arms, very pale, but very happy. God had been good to me, I thought, in giving me so many blessings. This dear little girl, so graceful and lovely, with the beauty of soul irradiating every feature, had always been one with me, and I was her idol. How she had watched me, followed me, clung to me! " We told her she was killing herself trying to keep up with you in Greek," said Anne, whose great black eyes beamed on me from un- TELL YOUR WIFE. 25 der her first pair of spectacles; "and, sure enough, she came near it." " Never mind ! I'll make it up yet," said Dolly, an arm over my neck ; and, as she spoke, she lifted the hair from my forehead, and kissed it again and again. " You are prettier than ever," I said, taking the slight figure on my knee, while she lay in my arms like a little child. " I never saw your cheeks so red, or your eyes brighter." Anne's eyes met mine, she had laid aside the spectacles, and there was a strange, ear- nest, yearning expression in her glance. Just then I remembered that our mother had died of consumption, beautiful to the last ; and a great fear fell on my heart. I forgot it, however, an hour after, when to- gether we stood looking at the grand sunset, whose splendid Tyrian dyes rolled down the hills, followed by sheets of gold, and, as when we were children, we saw islands of silver in oceans of emerald, bordered by broad-branching palms a hundred feet high. The clamor of the wild- fowl in the air, the distant music of cow-bells, the sweet fragrance of the hay, the far-off wind- ing roads, and a glimpse of the river that threaded its serpentine coils through miles of verdure, how they brought back the heart of the boy, till he forgot that the cares and trials of manhood were in his future ! 26 TELL YOUR WIFE. " I have a letter from Hester in my pocket,"- I whispered, my arm . round Dolly's slender waist. " Is she coming home ? " asked Dolly. " I hope so, soon." "I didn't know I thought, maybe you were tired of waiting, you know," she added, looking away. " Oh, no, darling ! she is worth waiting for," was my reply. " I will let you see her letter, but none of the rest. You are my second self, you know." "I was till she came," was the answer; "but never mind, I have you a little while yet. Anne is calling me ; they are too careful of me, but of course we must go in. To-morrow we'll have a romp as in the dear old times." What change was there in my sweet little sister ? She was like, yet unlike, the merry child she had always seemed, with all her wis- dom. We all sat round the open fire that night, the apples toasting on the hearth, and the quaint old mug full of sweet cider on the stand beside us. " Have you any idea where you will be set- tled ? " asked Anne, who sat next to me, knit- ting lace. "There is a talk of my going to old St. TELL YOUR WIFE. 2/ John's," I answered. "Of course I am too young for it, but they seem to have made up their minds. The salary is small, the parish large, and the church not over-rich ; but I pre- fer to take it with all its drawbacks. I might be assistant rector of Trinity, with possibly a larger salary ; but I like being my own master too well for that. One might as well take the responsibility at once." " Yes, I think you are right," said Anne, who had been gazing thoughtfully at the fire. "And who is to be the new rector's wife ? " She never looked towards me, but plied her bright little needles. " We heard it was Miss Miriam, old Captain Hope's handsome daughter," said Dora. " What ! heard that ! away out here ? Who on earth told you such nonsense ? " I asked, feeling the blood rush to my face. "We have friends, you know, in the city," said Belle, who was herself engaged to a lawyer, a man whom I thought well off, but seldom met. "Templeton told you." Belle shook her head. " It was a woman, you might know," said Dolly sharply. "Yes, it was a woman," said Anne ; "and, by what she said, we had decided that you were off with the old love, and on with the new." 28 TELL YOUR WIFE. " Oh, nonsense ! " I was nettled, but laughed. " Yes, we really understood that you were engaged," said Dora. " Don't marry any of them," said Dolly im- pulsively. " / '// keep house for you." " I may call upon you sooner than you think," I said. " I preach my trial sermon on the thir- tieth." " Oh, it would be delightful if only I could ! " said Dolly, her beautiful eyes sparkling. "Yes, I believe she would leave us all," spoke up Anne, "and go to the ends of the earth with you." " So I would, if he needed me," was the reply. "If only we two could go off as missionaries, I'd be willing to die for the cause. Then," she added, in an undertone, "you could get mar- ried." I had no time to answer this with a little loving rebuke, as I intended ; for Belle asked me to take up the apples, offering me a little pair of silver tongs used for that purpose. " Is Miss Miriam so very beautiful ? " que- ried Anne, her keen, questioning eyes looking straight in mine. I knew my face was fever-red. I had not dreamed of being followed to this place by the ghost of my own indiscretion. " She is a very handsome young lady," I said, TELL YOUR WIFE. 2Q "but not nearly as lovely, in my eyes, as my promised wife, Hester Vaughan." " How the gossips do talk ! " said Belle angri- ly. " Here we have been suffering keenly on account of the scandal, as we thought it. Why, an old friend of mine was actually told that Miss Miriam Hope wore her engagement-ring, and that the wedding-day was fixed. It seemed to me that we might have received at least a hint of the proposed change." " Of course you would," I said, knowing not what else to say. Did Miriam's reproachful eyes look at me out of the flame ? " Sister Anne, it seems to me you ought to tell brother Harry who was our informant," said Dora. "Well, to be sure, the news came from a very ordinary source," said Anne, smiling ; " though the woman is one of the members of St. John. Her husband is a tailor, and they have a whole houseful of children. Her name is Dickory ; and the male Dickory makes clothes for Colonel Albright, our nearest neighbor, has for years. This Mrs. Dickory, a very common woman, always brings them home ; and she was our informant. I expect the male Dickory works also for Captain Hope, and that is how the news originated." " Plague take the gossips ! " I said ; but all the 3O TELL YOUR WIFE. time there was a vigorous knocking at the door of my conscience, and I would have given worlds to undo the work of the past few months. On the following day came the news of Mi- riam's illness, through the same informant. Anne met Mrs. Albright at the town-depot for gossip, the store. They had put up prayers for her at St. John : there was very little hope of her life. What my feelings were on receipt of this in- telligence, I leave the reader to infer. All the poetry of my visit to the home of my fathers was blotted out. I felt myself her executioner, and it was a bitter thought that I must lack something of the qualities of true manhood in my own eyes. I returned to the city sooner than I should, dreading to hear the worst. My fears were not realized. She was past the danger, and recovering slowly. I wrote my little sister the good news, together with the fact that I had accepted the office of rector of St. John ; that flie people had promised to build me a parsonage ; and that, if Hester staid abroad another year, she should keep house for me till my bride came, and after that make her home with us. TELL YOUR WIFE. 3! CHAPTER IV. " O Sorrow dark as death ! . . . that I had been Thy veiled prophet." THE first face I glanced at in my first ser- vice as rector of St. John was Miriam's. Very pale she was, calm, cold, disdainful, and beautiful as a saint. It was some weeks before chance threw us together again. I held out my hand. For a moment her lip trembled, and her eye flashed. She seemed at first not will- ing to shake hands, but thought better of it. " You are my pastor," she said ; and the tone was an accusing one. " And soon to hold a nearer relation," I said, quietly and firmly. The blood surged up to her cheeks. For one moment there was an expression in her face that positively frightened me, it was so intense, so evil. It was gone almost as quickly as it came. Her mother had been talking with a neigh- bor in the next pew. Now she came forward. 32 TELL YOUR WIFE. " Come, Miriam," she said, almost rudely. " Is the captain well ? " I asked, determined to be friendly. "Thanks, no," she deigned to answer: "he has been ill ever since my daughter got up. He worried so over Miriam, I don't think he will ever be himself again. He's very fond of Mr. Lyon, who has administered spiritual consola- tion while you were away." Mr. Lyon was the rector of St. James, the most influential parish and church in the dio- cese, but the captain was one of the oldest members of St. John. For a moment I felt the humiliation she counted upon. But why did they not all give up their pew at St. John, and go to St. James ? I should have been better pleased, looking my own soul in the face. The sooner I forgot the past, the better, if I could j or if I could have felt sure that Miriam's feelings were altered towards me. Penitent enough. I was, but that would not undo the past. I felt sure, in the light of that experience, that I loved only Hester, that I could never have felt other than sentiments of admiration towards Miriam. The question was settled in my mind forever. But what of Miriam ? She had a certain power a power to make me uncomfortable to thrust herself upon my sermon-page, some- times, to my indignation ; for I had almost to TELL YOUR WIFE. 33 wrestle with the inclination to look at her, study her, wonder of what she could be think- ing, of how she regarded me. The old captain died in less than a month, and now the faces of the two women deeply bordered in black demanded my sympathy more than ever. In that great trouble we seemed to be brought nearer together, to forget that there had been unkind thoughts, harsh judgment. Miriam grew more like her old self: her mother came to me for advice in her business affairs, as well as for pastoral comfort. The captain had not made much money, and of course they must depend more or less on their own exertions. There was enough to keep them for a time : the house belonged to them. " Miriam might keep school," said Mrs. Hope, who possessed very little of the commodity her name implied ; "but she is so delicate since her sickness, that I want to spare her if I can". She writes a beautiful hand : if there was any way, she might make a little money by her pen as a copyist or an amanuensis." I promised to do my best. Quite sure by this time of Miriam's forgiveness, our relations as- sumed the old friendliness, if not the old famil- iarity. I went oftener to the cottage, but it was to consult with Mrs. Hope. When with Miriam, I felt like an intruder, fearful that I might, out of 34 TELL YOUR WIFE. sheer nervousness, say or do something my con- science might not approve. I was cured of ex- perimenting. I would not give it the plainer name of flirting, out of respect to my calling. Miriam seemed to me to be changed, more de- vout, more gentle. Only now and then, if I spoke of Hester, that strange expression that had so startled me once before would come into her face, and trouble me. Meantime I continued to receive Hester's wonderful letters. The dear child opened all her heart to me, unfolded her treasures of travel so vividly that it enabled me to see with her eyes, and hear with her ears. At last, the very night that the finishing- touch was put upon the parsonage, I received the letter that told of her intention to start on the following Tuesday. She must then be on the ocean. I could hardly rest, eat, or sleep. I sent the news in a note to the Hopes, and then schooled myself to wait. I passed the pro- fessor's house on my way to St. John. All the windows were open. Workmen were in the grounds, carpets on the lawn : all was in a state of bustle and activity through the mansion and the grounds. I was the happiest man alive. My love was coming back, as true to me as when she gave her last adieu. No doubt, she had met those who could and would have given TELL YOUR WIFE. 35 her station and riches. How could she help but have admirers wherever she went ? I walked on air. All heaven and earth seemed to be keeping jubilee. A black-robed figure met me. It was Miriam. A -gentle pity stole into my heart in the midst of my rejoicing. " You have heard good news," she said ; and I thought her lip quivered. " Yes : they are almost here," was my brief rejoinder. " They ? you mean she ! " was her response ; but her voice was strained and harsh. " Surely you will be glad to see her," I said, surprise nearly taking my breath away. " No I hate her ! no I hate every thing that is happy ! " she rejoined. "Then, Miriam, you hate me," I said. " Yes, I do," she said, giving way to sudden passion. " You have wrecked my life, and you know it ! You know it standing in that sacred desk ; you know it in your moments of solitude ; you will have the knowledge to make you still happier when she is your wife." "Miriam," I said gently, offering my arm, "you must not stand here: you are trembling, angry, beside yourself. Let me take you home." " No," she replied, gasping : " I don't need any help. I am going home by myself. I am 36 TELL YOUR WIFE. wretched. I may have said too much, but I felt it all." She saw perhaps the absolute horror in my face. " I know what you think of me," she said rap- idly, " but I don't care. I have wanted to tell you what I felt ever since my illness. Now, perhaps, my brain is giving way. I wish you would let me go." She put her hand to her head. "The road is open," I said, stepping aside. She started forward, but walked so unsteadily I feared that she would fall. As for me, the whole round horizon had turned dark. Had I indeed wrecked her life? That was a grave charge to a man in my position. And Hester ! What would she say did ever a knowledge of the fact come to her hearing? She would de- spise me, and yet I could lay my finger on no intentional evil deed. This interview had completely demoralized me. I went home, and threw myself on the lounge in my study, her wild eyes and haggard face a haunting memory. Then I rose, and went to my desk. An unfinished sermon lay beside an open book ; the lines, " Man is his own worst enemy" the last I had penned, star- ing me in the face. I committed the deed of a madman. I wrote TELL YOUR WIFE. 37 mine enemy a letter, a letter any innocent man might write, and yet be judged harshly by prejudiced minds in the reading. All the next day passed. Towards night came a singular note. " Please forget what I said. I have terrible headaches since my illness, and they nearly drive me distracted. You are safe with me. No one alive shall ever know what I have suffered, or have cause to distrust you. " Respectfully, " MIRIAM." I read it again and again. What had I said in my letter? Written in the half -distracted mood in which I then was, I could not recall a sentence. I knew I had not turned state's evi- dence against myself. It seemed to me that I had written frankly, but at the same time cau- tiously. How could I dream that she would ever use that letter as a weapon against me ? For a day or two I was uneasy and nervous, but the feeling wore away. Hester should never know of this one cloud that had darkened the serenity of my life. Why should she ? I reasoned. She had, no doubt, leaned on other men's arms, looked into other eyes, perhaps unconsciously formed liking into love by their magnetic glances. I asked for no confessions, neither did I, in my heart, be- 38 TELL YOUR WIFE. lieve she had done these things, I would make none. Miriam's anger had worn itself out, a merely selfish anger, a fierce protest against herself, and made against her will, so I chose to think. That night Miriam sat in her pew : she did not often come on week nights. I had been having some trouble with the choir : my mind was wandering, and her face made me more helpless still. She sat there like a fate the woman in black perhaps a fixed hate in her heart for life. How I got through the services, I scarcely knew. I went home, and read all Hester's letters, and, in recalling her lovely presence, grew calmer and happier. Surely all would be right, when, that dear face near to mine, we sat together, and talked of the past, and looked forward to the future ! TELL YOUR WIFE. 39 CHAPTER V. " A cottage home, a lowly place, Painted by vines and climbing roses, Nestled beyond a woodland space." " TAEAREST Harry ! " LJ With these words she greeted me, com- ing forward with hands outstretched, with eyes shining, the whole face transfigured into an almost unearthly beauty. I could not realize that my dear love sat by my side after almost two years of absence. The professor and his wife, submitting to the inevitable, greeted me pleasantly, but without demonstration ; while Hester, dear child, let her heart speak. " It's so good to be back ! " she said at our second meeting. " I am more in love with my own surroundings than ever. And I've brought home such stacks of pretty things ! And you really think me improved ? I'm glad of that. Do you want to know what I think of you ? To use an Americanism, you are positively splendid 4O TELL YOUR WIFE. with those lovely whiskers. My dear Hal, you are quite too handsome for a clergyman ; though I don't doubt you look like a saint in your robes at dear old St. John's. How I long to see you in them ! To think you should have such an important charge as the old mother church ! And the rectory is that completed ? " " Quite finished, " I said. " I hope it will please you. The plans I superintended myself, remembering your wishes ; and it is as conven- ient as pretty." " Poor mamma ! " laughed Hester. " She had such high hopes for me ! She counted so much on this European tour ! But I would be a poor minister's wife in spite of the honors that were within my reach ; and I assure you there were several," she added seriously. "However, one of them, a Russian count, had a terribly red nose, and was almost three times my age. His castle was a horrible old barn of a place, and he had six married daughters. And then there was a German baron with a square chin ; but he was so dreadfully cross-eyed, that I never could look at him without laughing. And O Harry ! there was one, that had I not been very much in love, and honorable to the last degree, I might have been tempted to flirt with. I am afraid I did, just a little." I laughed outright at her comical assumption of penitence. TELL YOUR WIFE. 4! " You are forgiven," I said ; but a slight twinge of jealousy followed the admission. " He wasn't quite as handsome as you are ; but he was nice, and so attentive ! I thought I had best tell you that, though I was as true as steel to you. I did perhaps allow him to think a little more of me than he should, and I was well punished for it." " Dear heart, how ? " I asked. " By my own self-contempt when I realized what I had done. I assure you I prayed heart- ily for forgiveness, but prayer and penitence seldom efface results of that kind." Here was my opportunity for confession, but my proud man's will rebelled. The conflict within made me assume a sterner demeanor than was usual with me, even when offended. But confess to a woman ! never ; particularly the woman who was to be my wife. "I see what you think," she said, "and it overwhelms me with confusion. But you are my rector, and I thought the confession due to one who was to be my second self. Ought we to have secrets from each other ? " she asked sweetly. "By no means," I answered eagerly. "I would have all your love, all your heart, all your life. What became of this young man ? " " Oh ! Lord Glenlynn a beautiful name, 42 TELL YOUR WIFE. you observe. Well, he didn't die, that I know of. He only pulled his mustache till I thought it would come out, and with a few bitter words took his leave. I was really very sorry for the whole thing. And mamma ! Heavens ! how she did storm about it ! She has never forgiven me." Should I tell her of that little episode ? It is not the woman only who is lost if she hesi- tates. I was on the point of speaking, when a lovely child came dancing into the room. She looked like one of Correggio's angels : a sweet and sublime beauty played over her expressive face. Her every motion was grace itself. " Come here, Marguerite," said Hester. "This is my little English cousin, Hal. She took a great fancy to us ; and, as she was an orphan, her uncle consepted that she should come to America. Mamma wanted some one to take my place, you know by and by." A blush heightened the brilliant complexion. She kissed Marguerite as she led her to me. "This gentleman is going to be your cousin, also," she said, smiling. "She is only nine years old, Hal : isn't she lovely ? " I took the little white hand in mine. Her eyes were blue, her glorious hair fell in waves of gold below her belt. In a brief time we were TELL YOUR WIFE. 43 acquainted. She had displayed all her little treasures, her chatelaine watch, a turquoise ring, and a locket containing her mother's hair. "My sweet mother is in heaven," she said; " and I will show you her picture, sometime, when every thing is unpacked. Papa was a curate; are you one ? " " I am a clergyman," I said. " I am glad of that. I used to love papa so well in his white robes ! I expect he looks like that in heaven. I know exactly how mamma looks, because I see her very often." I turned to Hester, who lifted her eyebrows. " It's a little fancy she has," she said a min- ute after, in an aside. " It seems to make her happier, so we don't meddle with it." " You mean you dream of mamma," I said. " Oh, no ! you mistake me if you think that," said the little one, with a wise shake of the head, and a wondrous light in the depths of her blue eyes. " I see her just as I see you. She comes in the room ; and sometimes she sits down, and sometimes she stands ; but she is always so happy ! I used to think she was really dead, but I don't any more." " What does this mean ? " I asked of Hester aside. "The child is not quite right in her mind." " Best not notice it, dear : we don't. In fact, /[/} TELL YOUR WIFE. we knew nothing about it till we were on the ocean, when one night a very stormy night I heard her talking, and, on asking her who was there, was startled by the answer, " Only mamma ! " I knew mother was in the next stateroom, and it puzzled me till she spoke again. " I was terribly afraid," she said, " the boat spills over so ; and it seemed to me we should go down : so I prayed ; and God sent mamma, who told me there was no danger. God would take us safe to America." I assure you I felt very solemn for a moment. " Has she gone ? " I asked. " Oh, yes ! she often comes and goes that way," was her reply. "A strange child," I said, "but exceedingly beautiful. We must try and get this fantasy out of her head." "Maybe you can, though I doubt it," said Hester. " But I am anxious to see the rectory. Can we go now ? " " Certainly," I said : so Hester sent the child to her mother, and we were soon on the way. TELL YOUR WIFE. 45 CHAPTER VI. " And the marriage bells they merrily rang, While the maiden sang, ' Heigh-ho ! My harp so still on the willow I'll hang : He should have married me O. And now I must sorrow alone, alone, While she sits and sings by her ain hearthstone.' " MY love was in a mood to be pleased with every thing she saw. Still, the rectory left nothing to be desired. I had studied her con- venience, and followed wishes that I had treas- ured up when they fell like chance words from her lips. "Papa bought me three perfect pictures," she said, when we stood in the pretty parlor. " How lovely they will look in this light ! That arch, too, is exactly what I wanted ; and some stamped velvet I bought in Genoa because it was awfully cheap, will be just the thing for a por- tiere. You know papa insists upon furnishing, so I shall give him carte blanche. I think he is secretly pleased that I resisted all mamma's attempts at match-making. In his dear big 46 TELL YOUR WIFE. heart he thinks the world of you, I know he does. Besides, I should have disappointed him if I had been fickle." " By the way, we are not far from there," she added, as we left the rectory, and I turned the key : "won't you go with me to Miriam's ? Poor cousin Miriam ! it was such a sorrow to lose her father ! they were all the world to each other." I caught my breath. " I hope you were very kind to Miriam," she went on, looking up the street. " Of course you were with them in all their trouble." "I was there some of the time," I said in measured words. " But are you really anxious to call to-day ? " " Really and truly I am," she said, and stepped firmly on towards Miriam's house. "Why don't you want to go ? Am I taking you from any work ? You said you would give me to-day and" "Of course I am yours to command," I said, and walked on beside her. I had not seen Mi- riam since I had met her that last memorable time on the street, and sent her the letter. Her mother was not well, I learned ; but I had not yet had the courage to call. I excused myself by thinking, that, if my services were needed, I should be sent for. Miriam came to the door, pale and wan. The TELL YOUR WIFE. 47 meeting between the cousins was very touching. She hardly noticed me, and I was glad that she felt it her duty to be formal. Then- Hester went up-stairs to see her aunt, whom she found worn and ill. " How strange it all seems ! " said Hester, when we were again on the sidewalk. " Miriam and auntie are both so changed ! And don't you see them often ? They spoke of you as if you had been a stranger. I thought I laid my commands on you to be very cordial," she added playfully. " I tried to be, I assure you," was my reply. "But there's a sort of antipathy between you, or rather towards you. I can see it in every thing," said Hester. "What is the matter? Auntie said she shouldn't think of sending for you if she were ever so ill ; and Miriam said, sternly, ' Hush, mother ! ' and there the matter dropped. Are they angry with you ? " "Not that I am aware of," I said. It was not to be expected now that I should tell my little story : Miriam and her mother had put that out of the question. " Since the captain's death, Mrs. Hope has been very cool," I added, at a venture. "We can make that all right in time." Hester seemed satisfied. " Auntie always was a little cranky," she said, 48 TELL YOUR WIFE. " and Miriam has often had to apologize for her. Uncle Hope, it seems, left them almost poor ; but I am certain father will do all he can for them. Now tell me about your sisters : are they all well ? " I told her of my visit home, and how Dolly wanted to keep house for me. " And so sHe may : let her come, the dear lit- tle thing ! How I should love her ! It would do me good to see her sweet face about the house. And you know we can afford it : I have a little purse of my own." " We will see what Dolly says," was my an- swer, blessing her in my thought. "Dolly must say yes," said Hester emphat- ically : and how precious she seemed to me, thus taking the initiative in a matter that was very near my heart ! for I felt that Dolly needed the influence of younger and merrier life than she saw at the old homestead ; needed to be won from her scholarly ambition to read Hebrew and Greek, and plod through the dusty, musty old folios in my father's library. Hitherto she had lived only in the realm of the imagination ; and her affection had centred itself upon her twin brother, to the exclusion of every outside friendship. One little line in one of her letters will give the reader stronger evidence of this than all I could say. TELL YOUR WIFE. 49 "Dearest, if there were no Christ, I should worship you." Love was an innate quality of her being ; and I longed to have her meet with some kindred nature, upon whom she could pour out the rich treasure of her innocent heart. "We won't be selfish in our new life," said Hester, looking up sweetly. " It is not in you to be selfish, my love," I said fervently. " How shall I tell you what a treasure you are? " " How ? why, in any way you please : it is only the matter of when. Wait a while till the metal is tried, and we are some years older. Then you shall tell me," she said. Time passed on. The wedding was quietly celebrated at St. John's. We were married by the rector of St. James, the reverend Archibald Lyon. Mrs. Vaughan shed real tears, regret- ful ones, no doubt, that her daughter should have thrown herself away on a poor minister ; but we were happy. Hester looked radiant, and beautiful as an angel in the loveliest wed- ding-dress that ever came from the hands of a French artist in bridal trousseaus ; and Dolly, in her delicate beauty, suggested an attendant seraph. My sisters were all there ; and, when I faced the throng, did Hester feel my nervous start, the trembling of my arm, as my eye en- 5