**
 
 THE 
 
 ALBATROSS NOVELS 
 
 By ALBERT ROSS 
 23 Volume* 
 
 My be had wiurever books arc told at the price JOB 
 paid for thb volume 
 
 Black Adonis, A 
 Canton Bigamy, The 
 Her Husband's Friend 
 Hi* Foster Sister 
 His Private Character 
 In Stella's Shadow 
 Love at Seventy 
 Love Gone Astray 
 Moulding a Maiden 
 Naked Truth, The 
 New Sensation, A 
 Original Sinner, An 
 Out of Wedlock 
 Speaking of Ellen 
 Stranger Than Fiction 
 Sugar Princess, A 
 That Gay Deceiver 
 Their Marriage Bond 
 Thou Shalt Not 
 Thy Neighbor's Wife 
 Why I'm Single 
 Young Fawcett's Mabel 
 Young Miss Giddy 
 
 G. W. DILLINGH AM CO. 
 Publisher* :: j, New York
 
 YOUNG 
 FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 BY ALBERT ROSS, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THOU SHALT Nor," "His PRIVATE CHARACTER," 
 
 14 SPEAKING or ELLEN," " LOVK AT SEVENTY," 
 
 "WHY I'M SINGLE," "A BLACK 
 
 ADONIS," ETC., ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 eOfYRIflHT, ,.,5, BY 0. W. BILLIMOMAH. 
 
 G. W. Dittingham Co., Publishers. 
 \Att rights rntrve*.\
 
 TO MY READERS. 
 
 THE story which fills the following page* wa* wi 
 written this year, nor last ; and with one exception 
 it took more of my time than anything else that 
 bears my signature. It has long been ready for the 
 press. Why has it not been printed sooner, and 
 why is it offered to you now ? 
 
 The first reason is this : One hesitates to send a 
 favorite child, in whose merit he believes, before an 
 audience sure to be critical. "Thou Shalt Not" 
 lay in my desk four years before any publisher saw 
 it. ' ' Young Fawcett's Mabel " has been there nearly 
 as long, on account of a fear that my successes have 
 not taught me to outlive. 
 
 This is the second reason : There are certain 
 public questions ' ' in the air, " as the saying is, and 
 novelists are unconsciously following in similar 
 paths. For instance : " Out of Wedlock " had a plot 
 that was, till its appearance, unique in literature ; 
 but within a month an eminent English author 
 published a novel with the same motif, and a month 
 later another author did the same thing. I do not 
 consider it safe to leave "Mabel" out of print, lest 
 the day come when I cannot send it forth without 
 being accused of plagiarism. 
 
 2061965
 
 4 TO MY READERS. 
 
 This summer I hare spent in Western and Central 
 Europe. In the intervals of travel I have begun to 
 weave another tale, that will be yours in due time. 
 The winter I intend to pass in Rome, Naples, Egypt 
 and Palestine ; the spring in Constantinople. I 
 therefore, in my absence, commend to you this 
 favorite child of my brain, hoping she will prove at 
 welcome as her older sisters were. 
 
 ALBERT ROSa 
 
 Flortme, Italy, Nov. I, 1894.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 OHArrm 
 
 I. A Prospective Mother-in-law. ... 7 
 
 II. "If you could hare a room "~ it 
 
 III. Mabel Falls in Lore & 
 
 IV. Allan Becomes a Brother. 4* 
 
 V. "That wouldn't be nice" S3 
 
 VI. Not an Improper Liberty 6j 
 
 VII. Sadie Wears Evening Dress 73 
 
 VIII. " His wife, of course " 86 
 
 IX. A Great Deal of Sewing. 98 
 
 X. Their Wedding Journey 109 
 
 XI. " Don't speak to me I " 121 
 
 XII. A Husband's Thoughtlessness 119 
 
 XIII. " You never saw a girl !" 136 
 
 XIV. ANightatSelden's 14$ 
 
 XV. When Morning Came 15$ 
 
 XVI. "Asmall boyarrived" i 
 
 XVII. Wanted, a Divorce 179 
 
 XVIII. " He must be a paragon " 189 
 
 XIX. Coming Home Unexpectedly aoo 
 
 XX. " Will it be best ? " 
 
 XXI. Because Mattie was Lonesome ai 
 
 XXII. An Unpleasant Situation 233 
 
 XXIII. " Why did yu tell malfcs?". 344
 
 XXIY. A TorkWi Brtfc 353 
 
 XXY. M I know you have been trne ". 262 
 
 XXVL "What made 700 marry mamma?". 268 
 
 XXVIL The Act of a Dastard. 278 
 
 XXVIII. Dead, for a ducat 287 
 
 XXIX. For Their ChDd's Sake. 296 
 
 XXX,
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 A PROSPECTIVE MOTHER-IN-LAW. 
 
 I HAVE decided to write the story of the matrimonial 
 experiences of Allan Fawcett and of Mabel M. Fawcett, 
 his wife ; to tell the world, without prejudice to either, 
 the manner in which they became acquainted, the cir- 
 cumstances that led to their courtship and marriage, 
 the reasons why they found each ^ther uncongenial, 
 the way they drifted apart, and the temptations that 
 arose from the infelicity thus developed. 
 
 There are few marital difficulties, I opine, that are 
 entirely the fault of but one of the contracting parties. 
 It is the custom, in cases of doubt, to lay the heavier 
 weight upon the shoulders of the man. Possibly those 
 who read this tale may admit that the woman is not 
 always without blame. 
 
 I am to tell this story with the full consent of those 
 most interested. No one knows them better than I. 
 They have confided to me their innermost thoughts. 
 During those months when they had lost faith in each 
 other, they confided in me. I believe I am able to give 
 an unbiased account of a series of events that should 
 be of direct benefit to other people who are married ef 
 contemplating matrimony.
 
 8 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Of course the first thing necessary is to disguise the 
 personality of my characters. Readers acquainted 
 with the various branches of the highly-respected 
 Fawcett family may recognize neither Allan nor Mabel 
 as familiar names connected with that ilk. It would 
 have been quite as easy for me to call them John and 
 Rebeka Smith, for the titles used are wholly fictitious. 
 But a question of far greater importance is likely to 
 arise. It is probable that thousands will think they 
 see in these people the counterparts of others, and 
 credit me with a wider and more intimate knowledge 
 of domestic affairs than any one man could possess. 
 They will say that I must have known Mrs. Brown or 
 Mr. Robinson, of their village, and have penetrated 
 into the deepest secrets of their existence. They will 
 be wrong. Our Allan and Mabel have an entity of 
 their own. 
 
 There is a widespread opinion which this book will 
 not lessen that something is the matter with the 
 matrimonial institution. The divorce courts are choked 
 With cases. There are States in which hundreds take 
 lip a temporary residence for the sole purpose of sever- 
 ing obnoxious ties. Something is surely wrong ; but 
 whether the trouble lies mainly with the husbands, or 
 with the wives, or the climate, or the too free institu- 
 tions of the land, or the growing contempt for old forms, 
 or the increasing love of ease and luxury that I will 
 leave to the professional essayists who make a specialty 
 of such matters. It is for me merely to relate the 
 history of a special case, and allow the public to draw 
 its own conclusions. 
 
 In the days of my childhood I remember writing, 
 over and over, in my copy-book, these words : 
 
 M It is human to err."
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 9 
 
 * It is human to err." 
 
 " It is human to err." 
 
 I have something of the human quality in me. This 
 couple of whom I shall write these two who have 
 lived in the most intimate relation that God permits to 
 His creatures may come to regard each other as deadly 
 enemies ; they who have hung breathless on each other's 
 smiles may meet with frowns; they who have run 
 swiftly toward the sound of beloved steps may fly as 
 swiftly in the opposite direction. If they do, I cannot 
 help it. The more they err, the more human I find 
 them. 
 
 To begin, then, Allan Fawcett, at the age of fifteen, 
 was left an orphan and a penniless one, too. He did 
 not mind in the least, however, the prospect of going 
 out to earn his living. He had health and courage. 
 Some distant relations made vague offers of seeing to 
 his welfare. They had plenty of means to continue 
 the education which he much wanted, even to send him 
 to college, as his father would have done. But even 
 at that early age Allan had developed a pride quit* out 
 of proportion to his size. He felt in every nerve that 
 the offers of assistance were not hearty ones, and he 
 would have begged of strangers on the highway rather 
 than accept the bounty of his own flesh and blood un- 
 der such conditions. He told them he had no need of 
 help, and almost before they were aware of his intention 
 he had taken what little money belonged to him, and 
 put a thousand miles between himself and every one 
 he knew. 
 
 He never liked to talk much of this period of his 
 life. I know he worked awhile in a store for four doK 
 lars a week, sleeping in a back office as a sort of pro- 
 tection against burglars, and paying three dollars ft
 
 m YOVXG FAWCXTTS MAMML. 
 
 week for his meals at a boarding-hocse, I 
 was for a time a newsboy on a railroad, where be 
 "ran " a night train, and got his sleep after inlilB%Et 
 on a pfle of mail-bags, when he had harassed the last 
 possible purchaser into buying a paper, a book, or a box 
 of figs. Afterwards be lived in a hotel and answered 
 bells; and be went op and down one of our great rivers 
 on a steamer, waiting on table and otherwise assisting 
 fa the cabin. 
 
 A slender, deEcate lad he was then, bat with more 
 hope than many twice his size. He did not complain 
 of the longest hours, or of the hardest labor he was 
 able to perform, but would never, even when his fort- 
 unes were the lowest, permit anyone to address him in 
 an insolent manner without replying in equally cutting 
 terms. Some of his situations were lost by this trait of 
 his, for the employer of labor often believes that the 
 salary he pays entitles him to say to its recipient what- 
 ever ill-temper suggests. 
 
 Sometimes the very ludicrousness of the contrast be- 
 tween his diminutive bulk and that of his elders saved 
 him from punishment or discharge, as a laugh from the 
 bystanders would greet his indignant words; some- 
 fBMf^ again, the bully who had "nltfd hffq used his 
 superior ^*H*tti to eject of fk^yftp him, 
 
 Allan never could realize in those days that any man 
 afive was bigger or stronger than he, until it had beea 
 pot to the test. When attacked with the tongue he 
 had no difficulty in parrying the thrust with one full/ 
 as effective. When met with physical force he lost no 
 time in seizing any weapon that lay within reach and 
 returning blow for blow, BO matter when or where the 
 incident occurred. 
 
 JUdwngk a skpd^ rate pale boy, at
 
 YOUNG FA WCET-TS MABEL. \ i 
 
 at seventeen, he began to grow rapidly in his 
 eighteenth year At nineteen he was not a bad-looking 
 young fellow, though he cared little for dress and had 
 not a single air of the dandy about him. He had be* 
 gun to get on his feet, as the saying is. Though two 
 
 -^ years short of the legal age for transacting business, he 
 was already a merchant in a small way, and had a 
 capital While on the railroad he had noticed that the 
 prices of various commodities varied considerably at 
 
 '' the ends of the line, much more In some cases than 
 the price of carriage seemed to warrant. With only 
 twenty-five dollars at his command he made his first 
 venture In buying and selling, and had the supreme 
 satisfaction of seeing the twenty-five turned Into thirty- 
 eight with hardly any effort It was clear that he was 
 destined by nature to be a trader. Other ventures 
 followed, some with equally good results, some with 
 poorer, and some as is a necessity of trade with a 
 loss. But even the losses were not unproductive of 
 good results. They taught him caution. 
 
 What slight events seem to alter GOT entire lives I 
 The year that Fawcett was twenty he happened to ren- 
 der a service to a kdy on a train. She had forgotten 
 an important errand in the city they had just left im- 
 portant, at least, to her and had just discovered, by 
 asking the conductor, that she would be unable to go 
 back and attend to it without staying over night, a 
 thing she did not like to do. In the midst of her dis- 
 comfort Allan Fawcett, who sat in the seat in front of 
 her, volunteered his services. He was going back in 
 the course of two or three boors, and would be pleased 
 to step into the store and order the package she had 
 forgotten forwarded to her by the first morning train* 
 Tht Wy locked at the cud be handed btr, and res4
 
 S * \OUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 these words: ' Allan Fawcett, Commission Merchant^ 
 78 South Street" Then she looked at the young man. 
 
 " Are you an employee of Mr. Fawcett ? " she asked. 
 
 "No," he said, reddening a little. " I am Mr. Faw- 
 cett, himself." 
 
 " Oh ! " said the lady. And she was so lost in this 
 discovery, considering the youth of the commission 
 merchant, that she forgot for the moment the subject 
 which had brought on the conversation. 
 
 " I am only going to Glendon," said Allan, again ; 
 " and I shall be back to Norwood by five. I can step 
 into the store you spoke of and do your errand without 
 the least trouble." 
 
 Then the lady thanked him, and accepted his offer. 
 She handed him one of her own cards, with the name 
 of " Mrs. Lucius Morey " on one side and the neces- 
 sary words pencilled on the other. She seemed to be 
 a widow, judging from her garments, and, as he after- 
 wards learned, the late Mr. Morey had been deceased 
 for a number of years. 
 
 There was not time for a very lengthy conversation 
 before the young man reached his destination. In the 
 little that he said he impressed Mrs. Morey very 
 strongly in his favor, and she invited him to call upon 
 her should he ever visit the village of Gleason, where 
 she lived. He said he sometimes had occasion to go 
 there, and would not forget her invitation, and then 
 the train stopped and he alighted. 
 
 "He is a bright young man,'* mused Mrs. Morey, 
 when he was gone. " I hope he will come and see us. 
 He is very bright, indeed." 
 
 When Fawcett had done the errand for Mrs. Morey 
 he dismissed her from his mind. He had only accept* 
 ed her invitation out of politeness, and, in truth, sup-
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. ij 
 
 posed that the only reason she had given it. The Kfe 
 he led was a purely business one. He had never been 
 into a private residence since he left his father's after 
 the funeral, five years previous. His acquaintances 
 were mainly business men. His time out of business 
 hours was largely spent in reading, of which he was 
 passionately fond. He found the great novelists, 
 poets, and historians a grateful change after a day spent 
 in selling produce, or in seeking new customers who 
 would consign their goods to him. 
 
 Had he been possessed of a fortune he might have 
 written things himself that would have been worth 
 reading, for he had an imaginative temperament, and 
 his ideals were passionate and poetic. The necessity 
 of providing for his own needs, and more than all the 
 solitary life he led, with no one to advise or direct him, 
 kept him along the lines of trade. He had not been 
 long in discovering that God seems to help only those 
 who help themselves, and that poverty was a hateful 
 thing that men should escape as soon as possible. 
 
 Still, he had a dream that a day would yet come to 
 him when, in a library of his own, surrounded by the 
 books he loved, he might read away the days and even- 
 ings, with the price of butter and the quality of eggs no 
 longer a prime consideration. He had that object in 
 his work, that hope and belief that if he toiled faith- 
 fully an end would come to it all in time and the reward 
 be his. 
 
 There was not in these vague visions any figure of a 
 woman. Fawcett was not at that period a susceptible 
 man toward the fair sex. He seldom paid particu- 
 lar attention to the girls that he met in his travels 
 or in his walks about the streets. He went to the 
 theatre occasionally, but it was the quality of the act'
 
 14 YOUNG PAWCETT'S MAMML. 
 
 ing rather than the physical perfection of the 
 that remained in his memory. As for the church, that 
 great matrimonial agency, he did not go there at all. 
 Of a Sunday he was more likely to be found in his 
 room, buried in a volume of Thackeray, or George- 
 Sand, or Turgenieff, than anywhere else. Some- 
 times indeed frequently he forgot his dinner whilf 
 thus engaged, and more than once he found the morn- 
 ing sun peeping in at the window as he closed a book 
 he had only intended to read till eleven o'clock of 
 so. 
 
 I will not say I, who have promised to tell the 
 whole truth about this man that hen ever turned his 
 steps toward those habitations which are permitted but 
 not approved in our cities. I will not guarantee that 
 he never rang bells or entered doors at places of which 
 the least said is always considered the better. But I 
 will say that there was nothing about his life that could 
 be called dissipation, whatever be the opinion of its 
 doubtful morality in the respect just alluded to. He 
 spent little of his time or substance with women, and 
 of other vices he had practically none whatever. That 
 is to say he did not know how to play a single game 
 of cards ; he drank nothing intoxicating except a glass 
 of beer at rare intervals ; and he did not use tobacco in 
 any form. There are men who dissipate by too much 
 work he did not even do that. The occasional all 
 night at his books was the only thing that approached 
 it. His health was good, his habits were not bad, on 
 the whole, and his business friends considered him a 
 model young man. 
 
 He did not go to Mrs. Morey's, because he thought 
 her invitation a perfunctory one, and also because 
 be did not see what particular pleasure he should dt>
 
 YOUNG FA WCSTT'S MABEL. 15 
 
 rive from her society. She was evidently a lady, in the 
 fullest sense of the term, and he had a notion that he 
 would rather spend five minutes talking with one of 
 that description than any longer period. He imagined 
 that his stock of conversational subjects would run 
 completely dry in that time. He did not like to 
 answer personal questions, which she would be likely 
 to ask, nor had he any wish to propound inquiries of 
 that nature to her. 
 
 Fawcett was becoming rather eccentric, and prided 
 himself upon that fact. There was nothing about him 
 of the ladies' man, and he did not mean there ever 
 should be. He would not buy a silk hat, and very 
 seldom donned a pair of kid gloves, from a notion that 
 such things were beneath the dignity of an energetic, 
 fellow. They seemed to him an effeminate affectation, 
 an attempt to imitate the delicate attire of women. 
 He would have worn a velvet jacket on the street as 
 soon as a pair of patent leather shoes, at that time in 
 his career. And it is hardly too strong a way of 
 putting it to say that he would much rather have 
 pushed a hand-cart along the principal street at the 
 fashionable hour than to have made the same journey 
 with a lady on his arm. 
 
 It was a source of wonder to him afterward that he 
 ever was beguiled into the parlor of Mrs. Lucius 
 Morey. The process was so insidious that he could 
 never tell afterwards exactly how it came about. 
 Several weeks after that day on the railroad he saw 
 her at Gleason. They met at a corner, and there was 
 no escape when she stopped and addressed him 
 pleasantly, saying she must thank him once more for 
 the favor he had done her about the parcel. He an- 
 swered that it was not worth speaking of, and then
 
 X 6 YOUNG FA WCETT** MABEL. 
 
 paused, hoping this would end the conversation. But 
 Mrs. Morey went on to inquire why he had never 
 called, and to say that she had looked for him daily 
 for more than a week after they parted. Before they 
 separated she had inveigled him as he always put it 
 into a definite promise that he would visit her very 
 soon. 
 
 With Allan Fawcett a promise was a promise. 
 There was no way out of it, now it was made. The 
 next time he came to Gleason he went to Mrs. 
 Morey's. It was early in the evening, for he had to 
 stay in the town over night. He meant to plead an- 
 other engagement later, for this sort of polite lying 
 even he considered admissible. Nevertheless the lady 
 was so agreeable and soon put him so much at his ease 
 that the clock struck ten before he knew it was half 
 that time. 
 
 Without seeming in the least disagreeably inquisitive, 
 Mrs. Morey learned most of the facts that she cared to 
 know before the door closed after him on that first 
 evening at her house. She had found that he was an 
 orphan, than he was making a business career entirely 
 unaided, that he already had money in the bank, and 
 that his habits were exceptionally good. She could 
 see for herself that he was pleasing in his personal ap- 
 pearance, and that he was apparently destined for a 
 long life. 
 
 " And so you have no intimate friends in Norwood," 
 she said, musingly. " Excuse me for saying that is not 
 good for a young man. It is not well to be too much 
 alone during one's early years." 
 
 She was so kind in her manner that he felt, as she 
 intended him to feel, that she took a real interest in his 
 welfare.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT*S MABEL. iy 
 
 " Don't forget," she added, when he did not reply, 
 "that you are always welcome here and that I shall 
 take it to heart if you ever come to Gleason without 
 calling." 
 
 " Thank you," he said. " Have you always lived in 
 this village ? " 
 
 " Oh, dear, no ! " replied Mrs. Morey. " I came 
 here after my husband died, because well, to be per- 
 fectly honest, because it was cheaper than New York, 
 where we formerly resided. The place is a little too 
 dull. I do not think I shall stay here much longer. 
 I wonder if Norwood is much dearer." 
 
 Fawcett answered that he could hardly say as to 
 that, never having kept house. He supposed the 
 rents were higher, but other things must be about the 
 same. She secured his promise to look about and see 
 what a small house could be hired for, something with 
 six to eight rooms, and to let her know the next time 
 he came to Gleason. 
 
 " If I should move to Norwood I should be likely to 
 see more of you," said Mrs. Morey, brightly. " As I 
 have no friends there and you so few outside of your 
 business, I should hope to have you call often." 
 
 A proper reply was made to this suggestion, which 
 did not seem to mean much at the time. 
 
 " I am so glad to meet a young man, in these days, 
 continued the lady, "who is not complaining of the 
 lack of opportunities, or hanging upon relations. I 
 sometimes grow pessimistic when I look at the rising 
 generation. I have heard my young friends say that 
 the opportunities to make a living have all disappeared, 
 and that no one can get along nowadays unless he 
 has money to make a start. Your case proves the 
 fallacy of that argument. It takes nothing but push
 
 it YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABRL. 
 
 and pluck to ensure success, the same as it always did. 
 You will have a comfortable fortune by the time you 
 are forty, and be able to take your ease for the rest of 
 your life. There is only one road to success, and that 
 is work." 
 
 Fawcett had said this to himself so many times that 
 he was pleased to hear the thought expressed so well 
 by another, and he liked Mrs. Morey better from that 
 moment. 
 
 " He is certain to succeed," said Mrs. Morey, reflect- 
 ively, after he had gone. " He suits me even better 
 than I expected. I will move to Norwood, where I can 
 be near him." 
 
 " Yes," she added, " I really think he is the very 
 man I want for Mabel." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "IF YOU COULD HAVE A ROOM." 
 
 AND who was Mabel ? 
 
 Mabel Morey was her mother's only child. At the 
 time of which I am writing she was in her eighteenth 
 year. Relations better off in the gear of this world 
 had invited her to visit them, and she was now in 
 Cleveland, Ohio, where they resided. 
 
 In her plans for this daughter Mrs. Morey had no 
 intention to hasten the natural course of events, so far 
 as time was concerned. She would have been shocked 
 at the idea that Mabel would marry before she was at 
 least twenty. But she had an eye for the future. She 
 was so well pleased with the young commission mer- 
 chant that she thought it wise to cultivate him and
 
 YOUNG FAWCMTTS MABEL. 19 
 
 keep him in tow, until the right time came. She con- 
 ceived a plan of getting him and her daughter ac- 
 quainted, that friendship might ensue and gradually 
 ripen into love. 
 
 There was nothing more important in the life of a 
 young girl than that she should marry well. And it 
 was not the man who had the most wealth at the age 
 of twenty that would be certain to make the best hus- 
 band or, in the end, the most prosperous one. Habits 
 formed before that time might make or break him. 
 Allan Fawcett had as yet but little wealth, but he 
 seemed on the sure road to success. The richest men 
 of the country had started from as humble beginnings 
 as he. Some of the poorest had inherited property 
 and had squandered it in foolish speculation or in 
 riotous living. Mrs. Morey had thought a good deal 
 about these things, and when she happened to meet 
 this young fellow it came to her as by an inspiration 
 that he was the one she should select for a son- 
 in-law. 
 
 I wonder how many married men realize that they 
 were the victims of a carefully-prepared scheme on the 
 part of a managing mamma ; that the lane through 
 which they reached the gate of matrimony was marked 
 out for them in the most ingenious way by that expert 
 engineer and surveyor. Certain it is that Allan Faw- 
 cett, unversed as a babe in such things, never dreamed 
 that Mrs. Morey had any designs on him until long 
 after his scalp hung, metaphorically speaking, at her 
 belt. She proceeded with the utmost discretion. She 
 kept Mabel at Cleveland until she had engaged a house 
 in Norwood that Fawcett found for her, and had moved 
 her household gods into it and set up her new throne 
 there. Ay, until she even had him a willing slave at
 
 to YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 her chariot wheels, and had made him a member of 
 her family. 
 
 A member of her family ? Yes. 
 
 " I am afraid I can hardly afford as expensive a 
 house as this," she said, demurely, when she had in- 
 spected the premises with her future son-in-law. " I 
 did not realize that rents were so much deartr than in 
 Gleason. There was a time " and here she breathed a 
 sigh " when I did not have to think of such matters. 
 My husband never stopped to ask how much anything 
 cost that he or I wanted. Had he stopped oftener I 
 might have been richer now." She looked at Fawcett's 
 sympathetic face and then continued, " Do you sup- 
 pose it would be possible for me to secure a lodger, 
 who would take one of the rooms ? That would help a 
 great deal." 
 
 He had a thoughtful expression for a moment, and 
 ended by saying that perhaps an advertisement in the 
 local paper might have that result. 
 
 " I don't ask it for the sake of being inquisitive," 
 said the lady, after a pause, " but would you mind tell- 
 ing me what such rooms rent for here in Norwood ? 
 You hire one yourself. It would give me an idea." 
 
 Fawcett told her what he was paying by the week, 
 and she figured up the monthly rate, after the manner 
 of women, multiplying by four. 
 
 11 If I could let a room at that price," she said, " I 
 should feel that I could afford to take the house. I 
 have plenty of furniture that is very good indeed. This 
 room we are in " they stood in the best chamber 
 " is it as good as yours, do you think ? " 
 
 It was much better than his, and he told her so, in 
 the same honest way that he had always spoken. His 
 room was up another flight and in the rear at that,
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 2 | 
 
 This room ought to let for a dollar a week more, at 
 least. 
 
 " I suppose," continued Mrs. Morey, after showing 
 him the closets, and remarking that the street was ex- 
 tremely quiet, " that you wouldn't no, of course, you 
 wouldn't like to make a change ? If you could have 
 this room at the same price you are paying, or at a 
 slight reduction " 
 
 Allan paused to think before he replied. He did not 
 care particularly for the house in which he was living, 
 but on the other hand he disliked moving, that pulling 
 up of stakes that even a bachelor has to do when he 
 changes his domicile. Then again there was no 
 restaurant in this vicinity where he could get meals, 
 and he did not think it would be convenient to walk 
 half-a-dozen blocks. But the room was certainly a 
 great improvement over the one he had. It was larger, 
 and papered with bright new paper, and painted with 
 bright new paint. Each of the two closets was bigger 
 than his single one. 
 
 He began in imagination to place some of his belong- 
 ings about this room. His bookcase would go in that 
 corner very well, and his writing-desk in this one. 
 The bed, of course, would go there, and the bureau 
 there. 
 
 He did not think at all of the gain to this widow from 
 letting her room to him. It is one of the pleasures of 
 telling a true story that you do not have to ascribe 
 superior virtues to your characters. Allan Fawcett 
 was a selfish young man. He did not see why he 
 should make a change in his room merely to oblige an- 
 other person. Unless it was in some way to his own 
 advantage he would remain where he was. Contact 
 with the business world had taught him that all matters
 
 It TQVNG FA WCXTTV MABEL. 
 
 involving dollars and cents must be considered from a 
 sordid standpoint. 
 
 " The room is all right," he said, finally, just as the 
 widow was about to speak again. " I have no doubt 
 you can let it at that price to some one. If it were 
 nearer the restaurants I would say at once that I 
 would take it. All that makes me hesitate is the long 
 walk to breakfast." 
 
 Mrs. Morey was piqued for an instant at this state- 
 ment. She had thought him gifted with a little finer 
 sense of the delicacy of her situation. He evidently 
 considered the hiring of this room from the same stand- 
 point that he would have bought a cargo of butter or 
 a carload of hay. But her strong head controlled her, 
 and the engaging smile never left her countenance. 
 More diplomatic young men there might be, but cer- 
 tainly this one would have a shrewd eye to the neces- 
 sities of life, and if Mabel secured him for a husband 
 she would not be left in want some day on account of 
 his extravagance. The more she thought it over the 
 better pleased she was at his carefulness. 
 
 " I can arrange that for you, I am sure," she said 
 sweetly. " I will have your breakfast at any hour you 
 name, served in my own dining-room. As to the 
 price," for she readily guessed that this matter would 
 have its weight with him, " you shall fix that to suit 
 yourself. After breakfasting so long at restaurants it 
 may be a pleasant change to sit at the table of a 
 private house, even though the variety is not quite as 
 great." 
 
 The variety ! It struck him for the first time that 
 there had not been much variety of late at the place 
 where he took his meals. He cared little for the 
 luxuries of the table, but he recalled with no ray
 
 fO UNO FA WCE TT 'S MA BEL. 23 
 
 warm sentiments the everlasting steak, steak, steak, 
 that he had only varied by eggs, eggs, eggs, and the 
 not over-palatable beverage dignified by some strange 
 freak with the name of coffee. He pictured to himself a 
 cosy dining-room, with a table-cloth that was sure to 
 be clean, and an atmosphere that would at least not 
 be smoky or filled with buzzing flies. 
 
 " I rise very early," he answered absently. " I am 
 always down by seven o'clock." 
 
 The lady smiled approvingly. 
 
 "Your breakfast shall never keep you waiting a 
 minute after that hour," said she. " Then we will call 
 it settled. I will take the house, beginning from the 
 first of the month, and in a fortnight from to-day we 
 shall find ourselves settled here." 
 
 Fawcett was too good a man to be caught in this 
 way had he not concluded that it was for his interest 
 to make the change. He had no associates in his 
 present lodging-house that he cared much about. His 
 habits were retiring, as ,has already been stated. He 
 was confident that Mrs. Morey would make a good- 
 natured and obliging landlady. He replied, accord- 
 ingly, that he would accompany her to the agent of 
 the property to close the agreement, and in a few 
 minutes they were at the office of that functionary. 
 
 The agent had a momentary look of surprise when 
 Fawcett volunteered to be surety for the payment of 
 the rent, for the first three months, Mrs. Morey being 
 a stranger in the place. He knew the young man very 
 well, and had the opinion of him that was cur- 
 rent. He had never heard him speak of relations, and 
 wondered what there might be in this new develop- 
 ment of interest in a rather good-looking widow, even 
 though she was considerably his elder. But business
 
 24 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MAS EL. 
 
 was business with him, and he said Mr. Fawcett's word 
 was fully sufficient, and that he should consider the 
 house leased. 
 
 The fabled parlor of the spider could not have looked 
 more attractive to the little fly than Allan Fawcett's 
 chamber did to him when he next beheld it. Mrs. 
 Morey was one of the best housekeepers in the world, 
 a perfect paragon of taste and neatness. Her furni- 
 ture was much better than that at his old lodging, but 
 this was not half the change. There was an air of 
 brightness about the room that he had never known in 
 any other since the days of childhood. 
 
 The lace curtains were surmounted by white lambre- 
 quins, fringed with gold braid. Behind the commode 
 was a splasher, worked deftly in red with a representa- 
 tion of a haymaking scene. On the bureau were mats 
 as fresh and clean as could be. Over the white 
 counterpane of the bed was spread a lace covering to 
 match the shams, which though of an inexpensive kind 
 seemed to the inexperienced eyes of the young man 
 too fine for every-day use. There were mats on the 
 floor, of cheerful colors ; and a wicker-basket, to 
 receive the litter from his desk, was tied jauntily with 
 cherry ribbon. The bareness of the walls was relieved 
 by pictures in every possible place, and worked 
 mottoes hung over the doors. He sat down quite over- 
 come with all these glories, and congratulated himself 
 at obtaining them without extra cost, except for mov- 
 ing his few personal belongings from Mrs. Chapin's. 
 
 It takes very little to make a room cheerful, and yet 
 how few women are real mistresses of the art. How 
 few understand that there is nothing so cheerful as 
 light ! How few realize that things the most costly 
 are not always the most attractive 1 There were a
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 25 
 
 \undred chambers in Norwood whose furnishings cost 
 ;nuch more than the one in which Allan Fawcett was 
 to lodge, but not one, I am sure, which would have 
 suited him better. 
 
 And it was all at the price he had formerly 
 paid. The reader will pardon the young merchant, I 
 trust, for this constantly recurring thought. He had 
 Been the hardest kind of youth. He had spent years 
 <vhen cents seemed bigger to him than dollars do to 
 most people, when hardly anything stood between him 
 and hunger, from month to month. In such a school the 
 pupil learns to count the pennies and to search for 
 bargains. 
 
 Mrs. Morey wisely left him to himself a great deal. 
 She knew by intuition that he liked his room, and that 
 it must be an agreeable change from any that could be 
 found in an ordinary lodging-house. The first morn- 
 ing she did not trust her maid-of-all-work to get him 
 his breakfast unaided, but rose at five and put her own 
 hands into the flour that the biscuits might be as light 
 and the muffins as good as they could be made. She 
 fixed the table herself and put the coffee into the pot, 
 and saw that the lamb chops and omelette wer done to 
 perfection. 
 
 If this young man was to be won, much depended 
 on this first breakfast in his new quarters. Mrs. 
 Morey had done these things even in the years when she 
 had kept three servants instead of one, for her hus- 
 band had a dainty mouth and wanted his meals well 
 served. He was in the habit of saying that none of 
 his friends possessed such a chef&s he, and that there 
 was no hotel in the land where he enjoyed the cooking 
 as well as at his home. It may readily be conceived 
 that young Mr. Fawcett, used to the ordinary fare of
 
 26 YQUNC FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 restaurants and second-class hostelries, could not flW 
 much fault with what had pleased an epicure like the 
 late lamented Mr. Morey. 
 
 Allan was punctual to the minute, when he heard 
 the tinkle of the little bell that Bridget rang at the foot 
 of his stairs. He was surprised to find Mrs. Morey 
 awaiting him in the dining-room, for he knew the houi- 
 was earlier than most ladies are in the habit of making 
 their appearance. She remarked that she was natur- 
 ally an early riser, and that now she had some one to 
 keep her company at the meal she would generally 
 breakfast with him. She did not intimate that she had 
 had any hand in the preparation of the repast, how- 
 ever, and it was a long time afterward that he made 
 the discovery. 
 
 Fawcett knew that the meal was the best he had 
 tasted for a long time, but he did not understand why. 
 Surely he had eaten chops and omelettes times enough 
 and had drunk coffee and tasted muffins. He tried to 
 discover what gave the different flavor to this break- 
 fast, and decided that most of it must be due to the 
 agreeable surroundings. The silver coffee-pot, milk 
 pitcher and sugar-bowl, relics of former greatness, 
 might have something to do with it ; the vase in the 
 centre of the table, filled with fresh flowers, probably 
 did its share, he reflected. The daintiness of the china, 
 another heirloom, and the immaculateness of the linen 
 helped also. He did not believe that there could be 
 so much difference in coffee and muffins as he seemed 
 to find. 
 
 Such a room and such a breakfast he had never had 
 during those years of his independence. And they 
 cost no more ! He kept thinking of that, and it added 
 greatly to the satisfaction he flt. Had he increased
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 2 j 
 
 his expenses he would have experienced a twinge. He 
 wanted to accumulate money as fast as he could for a 
 good while yet. He meant to have a large sum in 
 hand before he began anything that savored of luxu- 
 rious living. And this was at the same price he had paid 
 before ! He decided that he had made a very excel- 
 lent bargain. 
 
 Two weeks after he entered the house as a 
 lodger Mabel came home. She was a slender girl, 
 with brownish hair and grayish eyes, that any one 
 would have been justified in calling "pretty." As she 
 still lacked several months of being eighteen, her 
 mother continued to dress her as a young girl, and her 
 gown left a good share of her boots exposed. Her 
 hair was ordinarily braided in a long plait that hung 
 down her back. She had a yet undeveloped form and 
 a precocious air, such as comes from association with 
 older people, to children who have neither brother nor 
 sister. She looked fourteen and acted twenty. 
 
 Her mother's taste was shown in her apparel as well 
 as in everything else upon the premises. In Mabel's 
 gowns and hats Mrs. Morey made a very little money 
 go a great way. 
 
 Fawcett paused at the threshold on the morning 
 when he first saw this girl in the dining-room, at the 
 punctual hour of seven, which he never failed to keep. 
 
 " Mr. Fawcett, allow me to present my daughter," 
 said the widow, in the most matter-of-fact way. Then, 
 when he had made the customary reply, she added, as 
 they all took seats at the table, " Mabel has been liv- 
 ing for some months with relations of ours in Ohio." 
 
 The young man's first impression was that he wished 
 Mabel had stayed in Ohio, or somewhere else. Things 
 were very comfortable a they were, and he did not
 
 S YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 think the addition of another person to the circle 
 would improve them any. He had been assuming a 
 sort of proprietary air over the whole place, encouraged 
 by Mrs. Morey's frequent requests for him to say what 
 he would prefer in the various departments of house- 
 keeping. This girl was not in his contract, as one 
 might say. He wondered why the mother, in all their 
 conversations, had never alluded to her. She might 
 at least have asked if a daughter in the house would 
 be objectionable to him. These thoughts ran through 
 the head of the unreasonable young man during the 
 progress of the meal ; but as Miss Mabel relapsed into 
 a state of complete silence after her introduction, and 
 as the viands seemed to have suffered no diminution 
 in quality from her presence, and as Mrs. Morey was 
 as bright and charming as ever, he dismissed his fears 
 before he rose to go to his office. 
 
 "Well, what do you think of him?" asked the 
 mother, when the boarder had gone. 
 
 " He's a little green and gawky," was the girl's 
 reply. 
 
 " Yes, but he's a good business man and doing well. 
 I have heard in a roundabout way that his check is 
 good for a thousand dollars any time, and he's only 
 twenty. If everything goes right he'll be a rich 
 man." 
 
 Mabel shrugged her shoulders, as if to say that 
 might be true and then again it might not. She leaned 
 back in her chair and yawned a little. 
 
 " It's terrible to get up at this time of day," she 
 said, stretching herseH. At Uncle Zeba's I've lain 
 till nine always." 
 
 " At Uncle Zeba's you had no business on hand,'' 
 trailed her mother.
 
 YOUtfG FA WCETT'S MASML. 29 
 
 The girl looked bored. 
 
 " You say you don't want me to marry till I'm 
 twenty," she expostulated. " Have I got to get up 
 every morning till then at half-past six ? I think that's 
 commencing a long way back." 
 
 The mother, who sat next to her, leaned over and 
 kissed the pouting mouth. 
 
 " I began earlier than that on your father," she 
 said. " I used to go to the gate and watch for him 
 when I was only ten. He was about twenty-five then, 
 and he used to stop and let me hunt in his pockets 
 for candy that he had bought for me. One day, when 
 I was seventeen, just your age, Mabel, he asked me to 
 marry him. I had been expecting it for fully six 
 years, but when it came I felt terribly frightened." 
 
 Mabel looked up with a puzzled expression. 
 
 "Frightened, mamma! What was there to make 
 you frightened ? " 
 
 " Ah, my child ! " cried the widow. 
 
 The girl shook her head decidedly. 
 
 " No man will ever frighten tne," she said. " I 
 would be willing to marry one to-day. Why do I need 
 to wait so long ? If you could marry at seventeen, 
 why can't I ? " 
 
 A little shiver ran over the frame of the mother. 
 
 " You want to get married ? " she exclaimed. 
 
 The girl nodded her head three or four times in a 
 way that indicated there could be no doubt about that. 
 
 " What for ? " 
 
 " What did you want it for ? " was the rather mock* 
 ing reply. 
 
 " Because I was a little fool ! " 
 
 " Then I must be one, too," said Mabel, laughing. 
 
 "You certainly must," said her mother, "if you
 
 $ YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 want to take on the cares of married life at your age. 
 Twenty is soon enough for any girl to marry. I would 
 go further, if I had money enough for you, and tell you 
 never to marry at all. I have no fault to find with 
 your father, though he never would give a thought to 
 the future. But marriage is nothing but a necessary 
 evil. Any woman who can support herself without it 
 is foolish to throw away her liberty." 
 
 Mabel laughed outright. 
 
 "Oh, I never shall do that!" she cried. " I shall 
 be as free to do what I please when I am married as if 
 I were the biggest old maid in Christendom." 
 
 " You don't know what you are talking about, poor 
 dear," said the mother, soothingly. "The first thing, 
 however, in the preparation of a rabbit pie, is ' catch 
 your rabbit.' Mr. Fawcett is a rather eccentric young 
 man, but his habits are perfect, and he has no female 
 associates. You will need to be very circumspect with 
 him, as his first impressions are strong. For the 
 present you must say nothing except what ordinary 
 civility requires, unless he addresses you. You will 
 have to come to breakfast, as he believes early rising a 
 great virtue, and if necessary you can take a nap in the 
 afternoon when he is out. I expect him merely to get 
 used to you this year, to grow attached to you in 
 a friendly way next year, to fall in love with you the 
 third, and marry you the year after. If you are wise 
 the programme can be carried out as I have planned 
 it, and you will thank your mamma for placing you in 
 a position where you will be assured of comfort the 
 rest of your life." 
 
 Mabel yawned again. 
 
 " It's a long programme, ma, but I'll try. I don't 
 think 111 ever learn to really like him, though."
 
 VQUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 MABEL FALLS IN LOV*. 
 
 THAT was the way Allan Fawcett and Mabel Morey 
 met. 
 
 Things progressed as slowly between them at first as 
 the mother of the young lady could have desired. All 
 that Allan was doing about Mabel was " getting used " 
 to her. She did not enter into his life any more than 
 the castor that sat on the table or the ornament that 
 hung from the little chandelier. He was very comfort- 
 able at that house. His room was cheerful, his break- 
 fasts as good as on the first day, and no one interfered 
 with him unduly. Sometimes he found it agreeable to 
 spend an hour in the parlor of an evening, talking 
 quietly with his landlady, while Mabel sat near by, 
 silent and immovable. 
 
 All this went on until Mabel's eighteenth birthday 
 came and went. On that day Mrs. Morey mentioned 
 at breakfast that it was her daughter's anniversary, 
 and Fawcett was betrayed into an audible expression 
 of surprise. He had had an indistinct idea on the sub- 
 ject, but would have guessed her sixteen, at the roost. 
 Eighteen ! She was not so much younger than himself, 
 after all, but then he was older than most men of 
 twenty. One morning shortly after this he noticed a 
 change in the girl that he could not at first understand. 
 Her gowns now reached the floor.
 
 32 YOUNG FA WCETT^S MABEL. 
 
 From that time Fawcett began to include Mabel in 
 his conversations, but, under the instructions of her 
 mother, she answered him in monosyllables at first 
 She did not mean to appear forward. It happened 
 that he was sometimes alone with her now, for a few 
 minutes, and she let him do most of the talking. He 
 began to wonder if she was a dunce, she said so very 
 little, but on the whole he was pleased much better 
 than if she had turned out a chatterbox. 
 
 He talked of little beside business, and she had the 
 hardest work to seem interested. She would listen to 
 his account of the sales he had made during the day, 
 and only respond, when there was a pause, " I should 
 think that was very nice," or " You are certainly doing 
 well." This made him feel that she took an interest 
 in him, and he got into the habit of telling her of 
 schemes that he had on foot. How he intended to buy 
 up all the butter in a certain section and make at least 
 five cents a pound on it. 
 
 " You will be very rich, by and by," she used to say. 
 
 "Yes," he would reply, "I am sure of that Any 
 man can get rich if he is determined to. All he needs 
 is pluck and push and hard work. There is the secret 
 in those three words. Some young men think they 
 have only to open a store and put out a sign to bring 
 all the world to patronize them. And there is another 
 mistake that many make. They get married too early." 
 
 The quiet little figure lifted its brows, as if to ask 
 what that had to do with the subject under discussion. 
 
 " It costs a great deal to keep house," explained 
 Allan, wisely. " My entire expenses for the past year, 
 not counting travel and hotels on the route, which is a 
 business charge, amounted to just $750. A married 
 man would find that more than doubled. I shall get
 
 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 33 
 
 married some day when I am about forty years old, 
 perhaps and then I shall have enough money and not 
 mind if it does cost." 
 
 " How little he knows what he will do ! " thought the 
 girl, as she listened to him. 
 
 Mrs. Morey noted the increased interest of Mr. 
 Fawcett in her daughter and was quite content. She 
 left them together oftener as time went on. Once in 
 awhile the young people walked down town together in 
 the evening, when they happened to both be going 
 that way. This could but attract attention from the 
 neighbors, and one of them, who knew Allan well 
 enough to speak to, joked him about it. 
 
 " You are getting along very well at the widow's," 
 said this man. " There will be a wedding there, the 
 first thing we know." 
 
 Fawcett frowned with something very like anger in 
 his face. 
 
 " You must think me an idiot ! " he answered, " to 
 couple my name with that of such a child." 
 
 " A child ! She is eighteen. Many a ' child ' of her 
 age has a husband. Look out for yourself ! " 
 
 The young man was much disturbed. For a week 
 afterwards he carefully avoided Mabel when he went 
 out of doors, and once, when he met her on her way 
 home, he made an excuse to remain down town until 
 she had gone on out of sight. She was certainly old 
 enough to marry, and he did not want people to think 
 such things in connection with him. But the girl was 
 discretion itself. She did not appear to notice that 
 anything in his behavior toward her had changed. He 
 decided finally to walk with her as much as he liked, 
 and let those who wanted to talk about it say what 
 they 
 3
 
 34 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABSL. 
 
 In this frame of mind he strolled through the town 
 with her boldly, when opportunity offered. She came 
 into his office, sometimes, on errands from her mother 
 and walked back with him, if it chanced to be toward 
 night. Before he was aware of it he had become 
 attached to this quiet girl, and looked forward to 
 seeing her face when he reached his lodgings with a 
 suppressed eagerness that he could not understand. 
 
 "Did you know I was going away for a month f" 
 she asked him one evening, as they sat alone in the 
 parlor after tea. 
 
 The look which he flashed at her was a sufficient 
 answer. He did not want her to go. 
 
 " Yes, my uncle has invited me to come to Cleveland 
 again." 
 
 " And you are going ? " he asked, with slight pallor. 
 
 " I think so. Mamma is willing." 
 
 He did not know what to say. He hardly knew 
 what he thought about it. He was surprised that it 
 made any difference to him. 
 
 4< I shouldn't think she would like to spare you," be 
 said finally. 
 
 The girl laughed. 
 
 " Oh, I am not of so much consequence as that I M 
 she exclaimed. " Nobody cares when I go or when I 
 return," 
 
 What was the matter with him ! Yes, there was one 
 person who cared, but that person would never tell her 
 so. It was too silly I If he had begun to have such 
 feelings as that, the sooner they were suppressed the 
 better. 
 
 Mabel went to her uncle's, and the house was so dull 
 that he could not atay in it evenings, as he had been ia 
 the habit doing. He remained at the office until
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 35 
 
 late at night, looking over his books, attending to cor- 
 respondence doing anything to keep his mind from 
 the missing article at his lodgings. 
 
 Mrs. Morey did not mention Mabel for the first week. 
 Then she only said that she had received a letter from 
 the girl, in which she asked to be remembered to him. 
 He nodded, intending to imply that it was of no con- 
 sequence, but the shrewd match-maker was not discour- 
 aged. He could conceal nothing from her. When he 
 left the table she smiled contentedly to herself. 
 
 " He is unhappy without her," she mused. "All is 
 going very well. Things get on fast enough. Nothing 
 can make my plan miscarry now, if Mabel acts her part 
 well" 
 
 As the end of the month approached Fawcett glanced 
 inquiringly about the parlor and into the dining-room 
 when he entered the house. He wanted to see the girl, 
 and he did not like to inquire for her. His appetite 
 was not as good as formerly. Wild horses could not 
 have dragged a word from his lipi as td what rilled his 
 mind at that period. When at last Mrs. Morey said, 
 "Mabel writes that she is coming home in a few days," 
 he bit his lips to still the exclamation that rose to them. 
 
 Mabel did not return alone. She brought with her 
 a cousin, Miss Mattie Burbank, daughter of her father's 
 sister, whom she had been visiting. Mattie was a rather 
 handsome girl, a year or two older than Mabel. When 
 Allan found the lost child at her home Miss Mattie 
 was with her, and he was presented. His manners 
 were so stiff on that occasion that the cousin had a 
 distinctly unpleasant impression of him. He merely 
 bowed to both girls, made some commonplace remark 
 and vanished toward his room. For once Mabel's 
 mnf-froid deserted her.
 
 36 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " What a bear ! " cried Mattie, when she heard hi* 
 door close behind him. " And he's your lodger, is he ? " 
 
 " He's not always like that," replied Mabel. " Some' 
 thing must have troubled him. He is devotedly at- 
 tached to business." 
 
 Mattie made a gesture of repugnance. 
 
 " I should hate to have him devotedly attached to 
 mef" she said. " Think of marrying a man like that I 
 Ughl" 
 
 " You are not likely to have that unpleasant expe- 
 rience ! " was the retort. " He never pays the least 
 attention to ladies." 
 
 Miss Burbank from Cleveland tossad her head 
 
 " I could make him crazy in a week if I liked. I've 
 a great notion to do it, too, just for fun." 
 
 " Well, you have a good opinion of yourself I n was 
 the sharp reply. " I think you'd find Mr. Fawcett 
 rather different from the empty-headed young fellows 
 you have been practising on. The best thing you can 
 do is to let him alone. We walk on tiptoe when he is 
 around mamma and I for he is a good lodger and 
 we can't afford to risk losing him." 
 
 Allan did not come down that night. He reclined in 
 a great chair, with his teeth set firmly together, think- 
 ing what a fool a slip of a girl could make of a man who 
 ought to have gained sense in his contact with the 
 world. He would see to it that the ideas which had 
 prung up in his head like a crop of mushrooms were 
 extirpated, root and branch. A good notion would be 
 to devote most of his conversation at the table to the 
 new-comer, while she remained. This notion he put 
 into practice the very next morning. 
 
 It is hard to tell which of the three women was the 
 most surprised at the new turn of affairs. Not only
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 37 
 
 fcras Fawcett more talkative than they had ever known 
 him, but he seemed hardly aware of the fact that any 
 other person than Miss Mattie was in the room. 
 Delighted at what she considered her marvellous 
 success as a charmer, the young lady from Cleveland 
 encouraged him to the utmost, with the result that he 
 was fully fifteen minutes late at his office that morning. 
 
 Though much disturbed, Mrs. Morey did not know 
 how to say anything to her niece without making 
 matters still worse. She had a long talk with Mabel, 
 later in the day, at which she learned Mattie's threat. 
 The situation was very complicated. Mrs. Morey said, 
 however, that if Mattie persisted in her course she 
 would be compelled to speak to her, as Mr. Fawcett 
 was too peculiar a man to allow any one to go too far 
 with him. 
 
 For several days the Morey household was kept in a 
 state of suppressed excitement. Miss Mattie was too 
 flushed with her victory to allow it to be crushed too 
 soon. Fawcett really became interested in her, and 
 never dreaming that he was the victim of a plot, gave 
 her the opportunities she wanted. He was glad to find 
 anything that relieved his mind of its tremendous strain. 
 
 Mattie was a very bright girl, of a type whose ac- 
 quaintance he now made for the first time. He felf 
 perfectly at ease with her. He could not tell whose 
 proposition it was that sent them out to walk together 
 on the seventh evening she appeared at the house, but 
 that is what they were doing. And it was not a walk 
 Kke those he had taken with Mabel, either. There was 
 no pretence of errands to do, or calls to make, on the 
 part of the lady in the case. It was a stroll for the 
 ordinary purpose of a stroll, to enjoy the evening to 
 gether, and to talk where there were no listeners,
 
 jg YOUNG FA WCETT^S MAMEL. 
 
 Mattie had already discovered that Fawcett was n&fc 
 as uninteresting as she had supposed. She found him, 
 on the contrary, very entertaining, and had she searched 
 her brain she would have seen that her original plan of 
 teaching him to care for her merely to laugh at him 
 afterwards had entirely disappeared. 
 
 Mrs. Morey went to Mabel's room that night, and 
 found the girl in bed, though the strollers had not yet 
 returned. Surprised at this discovery she came to the 
 bedside and kissed her daughter, and was startled at 
 the burning skin with which her lips came in con- 
 tact. 
 
 "You are ill, Mabel!" she exclaimed. "Why did 
 you not tell me ? I will send at once for a doctor." 
 
 Mabel clasped her mother's hand with a tenacious 
 grip. 
 
 " No, no ! I am well enough. Don't send for any 
 one." 
 
 " But you have a fever. You need medicine. As 
 soon as Mattie returns I will leave her with you and 
 go to the druggist's, at least for some nitre." 
 
 Mabel raised herself on her pillow and her features 
 were distorted. 
 
 " I'll never speak to that girl again ! " she said, with 
 trembling lips. " I want you to tell her to-night that 
 she cannot stay here. I will not have her in my room 
 nor eat at the same table with her I " 
 
 A look of comprehension filled the eyes of the 
 mother. It was Mr. Fawcett who had made all this 
 irouble. 
 
 " I understand,** she replied. * It is very disagree- 
 able, I know. But you must not let her see that you 
 mind it, and above all keep it from him. My poor 
 child, I did not imagine you were taking it so to heart.
 
 Y&UNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 39 
 
 In a few days she will be gone and that will end it 
 There is nothing to be jealous of in his sentiments to- 
 ward Mattie, I am certain. And I thought," she added, 
 smiling a little, " that you could never learn to lik* 
 him." 
 
 The girl shivered frorv crown to toe. 
 
 " Like him, mamma ! Oh, I love him I love him as 
 I never thought I could love any man ! I was perfectly 
 miserable all the five weeks I was away, and then to 
 return and find every word, every look given to her 
 it is killing me ! I shall keep my room till she goes. 
 Tell her I am very sick, that I have a contagious 
 disease anything you like. She must not come here, 
 even to bid me good-bye ! " 
 
 Mrs. Morey listened with the utmost astonishment. 
 How had this girl, who always told her everything, kept 
 so much back ? 
 
 " You love him, Mabel ? " she repeated. " When 
 did you learn that? And why did you not let me 
 know it sooner ? " 
 
 The girl sank back upon the bed, burying her hot 
 head in the comparatively cool pillows. 
 
 " I don't know when it began, mamma," she moaned. 
 " I didn't realize it at all until I was away from him. 
 You don't think she can take him from me, do you ? 
 I could not live if he ever became the husband of 
 another I " 
 
 The widow soothed her daughter as best she could, 
 smoothing her hair back from her forehead and mur- 
 muring soft assurances in her ear. 
 
 " Have no fear, my darling," she said. " He was 
 as unhappy as you, after you went away. He hardly 
 spoke at all, and every evening he came home late. 1 
 could read his mind, though he was too proud to say
 
 40 VOVNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 anything. Don't worry. Mattie will go in a few days 
 and we will not invite her again." 
 
 When Mabel did not come to table in the morning, 
 and the announcement was made that she was not well, 
 Mr. Fawcett looked troubled. But Miss Burbank en- 
 gaged him in conversation and succeeded in holding 
 his attention. At night he came home early, and his 
 first inquiry was for the sick girl. When he heard she 
 was no worse he looked relieved, and presently, as 
 Mattie came to the door with her hat on, he took 
 another stroll with that fascinating young lady. 
 
 " I hope the fact that you have taken one or two 
 walks with me has nothing to do with the illness of my 
 cousin," said Miss Burbank, when they had gone half 
 a mile out on the country road. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " exclaimed her companion, 
 stopping short. 
 
 " I didn't know that there was an engagement, or 
 understanding, or anything of the kind," continued 
 Mattie, with inward spite, " or I would have told you 
 at once that I could not accompany you." 
 
 Fawcett was very much troubled at her words. 
 
 " There is nothing between Miss Mabel and me," he 
 said, " and there cannot be. What gave you an im- 
 pression to the contrary ? " 
 
 She looked on the ground, and poked a little heap 
 ef dust together with the point of her parasol. 
 
 " You are asking me questions that I have no right 
 to answer," she said. 
 
 " Excuse me." He was very sober now. " You 
 said, apparently in a serious way, that Miss Morey's 
 illness might have reference to our walks. You owe 
 it to me to retract that or explain it." 
 .. Thre was a quizzical smile on her face.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 41 
 
 "Then, as the easiest thing, I will retract it," she 
 replied. 
 
 He searched her countenance narrowly. 
 
 " You admit, do you," he asked, " that you had no 
 foundation for your insinuation ? " 
 
 " Oh, you want too much now," she answered, peev- 
 ishly. 
 
 He drew himself up a little, and she conceived a new 
 opinion of his firmness. 
 
 " Then I shall be obliged to ask these questions of 
 Miss Morey," said he. " If there is anything in what 
 you have intimated I shall leave the house immedi- 
 ately." 
 
 She smiled still, and said he would be a foolish man 
 if he made so much of a light remark, but added that 
 of course he was at liberty to do as he liked. Then, 
 as he stood there, she inquired if he intended to remain 
 in that position the rest of the night, or would prefer to 
 resume his walk. Her railleries were lost on him now, 
 however. He answered soberly that he would return 
 to Mrs. Morey's, if she was willing, and they bent their 
 steps thither. 
 
 " I am going home in a day or two," said Mattie, as 
 thy neared the door. " If you still think it advisable 
 to do such a nonsensical thing as you mentioned a few 
 minutes ago, I wish you would kindly postpone it till 
 after my departure." 
 
 Fawcett said, with some hesitation, that he would do 
 this. He went to his chamber and lay awake far into 
 the night. He could not remember when anything had 
 annoyed him so, not even on that occasion when hay 
 advanced two dollars unexpectedly and he had three 
 hundred tons to deliver at the old rate.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ALLAN BECOMES A BROTHER. 
 
 FAWCETT was so reserved at the table the next 
 morning, that Mrs. Morey knew his " flirtation," if such 
 a name could be given to it, with Miss Mattie, was at 
 an end. Miss Burbank, who had never talked with her 
 aunt in relation to the young man, continued to main- 
 tain her silence in that respect. She was somewhat 
 piqued over the result of her efforts, and a little inclined 
 to wish she had let him entirely alone. She had no wish 
 to do anything disagreeable to Mabel, whom she liked 
 very well, but the temptation to see what she could 
 make out of Fawcett had proved too strong for her. 
 Now she decided to "make up " with her cousin before 
 going away, as it was quite ridiculous that they should 
 have a serious falling out over a matter of this conse- 
 quence. She asked kindly about Mabel's health, not 
 intimating that she had the least idea what caused her 
 illness, and offered to do anything in her power to aid 
 her recovery. Mrs. Morey responded that the child was 
 nervous and only wanted quiet for a short time. 
 
 When Mabel learned that there had been something 
 very like a rupture between the object of her new affec- 
 tions and her cousin she rallied rapidly. She did not 
 want Allan to go too long without her at the table, and 
 she resolved to conceal the feeling she had against her 
 cousin and pretend to be the same as usual while she 
 remained. Under her mother's tutelage she realized
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 43 
 
 the necessity of hiding her jealousy from both the other 
 persons interested, and on the second day she came 
 downstairs and answered in the ordinary way the 
 inquiries that Mattie made as to the state in which she 
 found herself. 
 
 " Such attacks are not uncommon with me," she 
 said, with direct mendacity. "I am liable to have 
 them at any time. They soon pass off, however, and I 
 feel as well as ever when they are gone." 
 
 The breakfast-table did not rally from the blow it 
 had received, for a long time. Fawcett meant to find 
 out whether there was anything in the hint that Miss 
 Burbank had let fall before he became very communi- 
 cative with the family. Mattie prolonged her stay for 
 another month, though it cannot be said that she 
 enjoyed it, and the night before she was to leave she 
 intercepted Mr. Fawcett as he came up the walk. 
 
 " I am going back to Cleveland to-morrow," she said, 
 in a low tone. 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 It was his only reply, and she could not tell what it 
 meant. 
 
 " I fear you are not sorry," she went on, after a mo- 
 mentary pause. * We were getting to be good friends, 
 when an unlucky word set you against me. Having 
 done penance for my transgression, I want to know if I 
 may hope some day to receive your pardon." 
 
 The words sounded mocking, but the tone was sin- 
 cere, and Fawcett felt that she merited a serious reply. 
 
 " Perhaps it Is I who should ask forgiveness," said 
 he. " I was, I confess, much annoyed at the remark 
 you made, and it takes me a long time to recover from 
 anything like that. I do not think, now, that you 
 meant much by it, bat at the moment it struck me very
 
 44 YOUNG fA WCEST'S MABEL. 
 
 disagreeably. It must be plain to you, Miss Burbank, 
 that I am not in any sense a ' ladies' man.' I like the 
 society of bright women, but I do not think it right to 
 obtain it under false pretences, and as a consequence I 
 have had very little of it. If it were true that Miss 
 Mabel cared enough about me to mind my walking or 
 talking with you which I am convinced she does not 
 my duty would be very plain. I should get a room 
 elsewhere." 
 
 Miss Burbank shook her head sagely. 
 
 " You are wiser than most of your generation," she 
 answered. " Well, as I am going away, I am glad we 
 are still friends, for I like you too well to want to think 
 of you as an enemy. Should you ever come to Cleve- 
 land I shall be glad to have you call, and to introduce 
 you to my father and mother. When I tell them of 
 your anti-matrimonial intentions they will be all the 
 more willing to welcome you, I am sure. As for Aunt 
 Maria and my dear cousin here, I hope with all my 
 heart that nothing will cause them to lose a friend that 
 I know they both appreciate at his true worth." 
 
 He ignored the compliment and thanked her for her 
 invitation, saying it was not impossible it might some 
 day be in his power to accept it. A day or two after 
 her departure he let fall a few words to Mrs. Morey, to 
 strengthen his position, thinking it better to talk to her 
 than to her daughter. 
 
 " It may seem almost like egotism for me to mention 
 it so often," said he, " but you must have known long 
 ago my intention to remain single until my fortune is 
 fully made. I speak of this on account of some silly 
 insinuations that have been made because of my 
 passing through the street several times with Miss 
 Mabel"
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 4$ 
 
 The widow looked vaguely at him, as if ske could 
 not understand exactly. 
 
 " It was hinted, in a joking, bantering way," he 
 explained, " that I was paying addresses to her." 
 
 Mrs. Morey threw up her hands and clasped them 
 together. 
 
 " With such a child ! How ridiculous ! " 
 
 " It is indeed," he replied, " but it shows you what 
 people with nothing else to do may think. Now, it 
 would not be fair, either for me or her, to have such an 
 idea get abroad. I like your house, and both of you 
 have been very kind to me, but if I imagined " 
 
 The widow laid down the sewing that she had in 
 hand, and the moisture came into her eyes. 
 
 " I should say so ! " she exclaimed, with emphasis. 
 " I cannot believe any one has said such a thing except 
 to annoy. I hope it will be many years before my Ma- 
 bel is taken from me. She is all I have, Mr. Fawcett, 
 and I am positive her mind has never yet turned 
 toward such matters. I am more than pleased to hear 
 your views so clearly expressed. I have the utmost 
 confidence in you ; and as there is nothing better for a 
 young girl than to have a gentleman acquaintance for 
 whom she can have sentiments of friendship, unmixed 
 with anything more tender, it has been especially 
 gratifying to me that a happy chance threw you in 
 our way." 
 
 He could not help being flattered by her language, 
 but desiring to settle this matter once and forever, he 
 asked her to impress upon Miss Mabel's mind his irre- 
 vocable purpose of postponing marriage until a very 
 late period in his life. This she promised to do; and 
 that matter disposed of, he was gracious enough to 
 iepea* that he liked his home very much, and should bo
 
 46 YOUNG FA WATT'S it ABEL. 
 
 ony to have anything interfere with it* retention. And 
 Mrs. Morey said more kind things expressive of the 
 regard in which she held him, and her desire to do all 
 in her power to add to the comfort of his condition. 
 
 After this ceremonious explanation Fawcett seemed 
 to regain his old footing with the daughter. He de* 
 cided that he would ignore the baseless glances and 
 half-jesting words which his appearance on the street 
 with her were likely to call forth, trusting that they 
 would soon be exhausted. In this latter opinion he 
 proved to be correct. People came to the conclusion 
 that there was nothing in the fact that Mabel Morey 
 was occasionally seen in company with the young man 
 who was a part of her mother's household. Had he 
 taken her to church, or to places of amusement, or to 
 drive, the gossips would have been sure to notice it. 
 But to walk up or down from the dwelling, or store, 
 even the best of them could make little of that, and 
 soon they gave up mentioning it. 
 
 The sudden blooming of the flower of love in her 
 daughter's heart disconcerted Mrs. Morey. She knew 
 that it would be hard for a girl having such sentiments 
 to keep them wholly concealed from the object of her 
 affection. One instance in point had already occurred, 
 and had proved how dangerous it might become. It 
 would not have taken much to upset the entire kettle 
 of fish on that occasion. The widow used to talk to 
 her daughter in her wisest strain upon the necessity of 
 keeping the state of her feelings wholly locked in her 
 own bosom. 
 
 " We women never can make the least advance in 
 such a matter as love," she said, " without the greatest 
 danger. Even when the man is convinced, by many 
 signs, that he is certaia to be accepted when he makes
 
 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 47 
 
 his proposition, he expects a show of unwillingness, a 
 pretence of coyness, a hesitation to give him the word 
 he has asked. There are foolish girls who confess 
 their sentiments to the adored one, before he has act- 
 ually asked them, but such conduct will surely be 
 regretted in the end. It is not until the marriage has 
 actually taken place that we are free to give way to 
 our feelings, and even then a feint of unwillingness to 
 submit to caresses is the surest way to retain a hus- 
 band's regard." 
 
 Mabel listened with due attention, as a student hears 
 a professor who is adept at the science he desires to 
 acquire. 
 
 " But, mamma, you have no idea how hard it is for 
 me to treat Allan I mean Mr. Fawcett as distantly 
 as you advise. And when I think of the long years 
 you believe necessary, it seems as if it was simply impos- 
 sible to wait." 
 
 " Perhaps it will come around all right in less time," 
 said her mother, encouragingly. " I think I am learning 
 to understand him. He cares so much for business, for 
 the money there is to be made in it, that he dreads 
 above all things assuming extra expense. He is not 
 oblivious to feminine charms, as may be seen by the 
 photographs of handsome women of the stage that he 
 frequently brings home to adorn his dressing-case. 
 Now, I will get him to discussing the cost of housekeep- 
 ing, and surprise him by some of the figures I can 
 show. I will do this in such a way that he will never 
 suspect I kave a motive, and if I once get his alarm 
 over expenses out of his head, the rest will come easily 
 enough." 
 
 The girl had been growing very sober during the last 
 minute.
 
 48 YOUNG FAWCE-rT'S MABEL. 
 
 " I don't like to have him bring heme those hateful pic- 
 tures," she pouted. " Some of those girls are very likely 
 no better than they should be. If I ever do marry him, 
 I won't allow such things in his room ! How can I tell 
 that he hasn't met some of them, personally, during the 
 trips he makes to the city ? " 
 
 Mrs. Morey bowed profoundly. 
 
 "Oh, I could almost guarantee his morals," she 
 replied. " He cares too much for money to associate 
 with women who are fast. The pictures simply prove 
 that he has an eye for beauty, and that being the case 
 I am glad to see them. Mr. Fawcett will be all right 
 when the time comes, my dear. He cares much more 
 for you than he has any intention of admitting. Leave 
 him to me. By and by you must take another week 
 away, and I will watch to see how he likes to have you 
 gone. The last time he hardly ate his breakfasts at all." 
 
 Mabel rubbed her hands together nervously. 
 
 I will never go to Uncle Zeba's," she said. " Mattie 
 treated me shamefully, and I don't want to see her 
 again," 
 
 " You can go to plenty of other places," smiled her 
 mother. " Aunt Hattie has written for you often. She 
 has a fine house at Boston, and you ought to have a 
 splendid time there." 
 
 The girl shook her head slowly. 
 
 " I can't have a good time anywhere away from him," 
 she replied. " Every day will seem like three. Then 
 there is Cousin Frank, whom I never could bear. H 
 was always trying to kiss me the last time I was there, 
 though I was only twelve years old, and I don't sup- 
 pose he's improved any. " 
 
 Mrs. Morey had to laugh, the girl looked *o appre- 
 hensive.
 
 Y0tf#0 FAWCETT'S MABEL. 49 
 
 " Frank is a man now, and has probably got through 
 with his tricks," she said. " He must be twenty-three 
 or twenty-four. The best thing is for you to go there, 
 until I can watch the effect on Mr. Fawcett. I'll 
 send for you as soon as it is good policy to do so. All 
 we need now is to keep his thoughts in one direc- 
 tion." 
 
 So Mabel went away and Allan Fawcett was plunged 
 into new melancholy. As there was no one he could 
 blame for his condition of mind he bore it in silence. 
 He even tried to appear as bright as ever, when at his 
 lodgings, fearing that Mrs. Morey would notice his 
 despondency and guess its true reason. He had no 
 idea that he was in love, indeed he would have scouted 
 the notion. He began to admit that it was pleasanter 
 at the house when Mabel was there, and that she was 
 a very nice girl. If he had had a sister he might have 
 felt toward her, he supposed, as he did toward Mabel, 
 Two people did not make a large enough family. It re- 
 quired three to do that. Then the girl played a good 
 deal on the piano, and sometimes sang. As her mother 
 did not play, the piano was closed in her absence. 
 It must be the music he missed. Yes, he thought it 
 mnst certainly be the music. 
 
 He was betrayed, at the end of a week, into asking 
 when Mabel was going to return. This was progress, 
 and Mrs. Morey's heart gave a quick throb as she 
 heard his question. 
 
 " I don't know exactly," she said. " They are no 
 doubt doing all they can to keep her. Her aunt is quite 
 rich and they think a great deal of Mabel. If I con- 
 sulted my own selfishness I should send for her at 
 once. The house seems lonely without her, during the 
 long days when you are away." 
 4
 
 S o YOUNG FA WCRTTS MABEL. 
 
 He thought the house seemed very lonely during the 
 long evenings when he was not away, but he had no 
 intention of saying so. After that Mrs. Morey got into 
 the habit of telling him when letters came ; and once, 
 when he seemed more interested than usual, she read 
 him an extract in which Mabel spoke of being anxious 
 for the time when she would see her mother and Mr. 
 Fawcett, as she used. It was very pleasant in Boston, 
 but she should not stay much longer. The lodger 
 smiled unconsciously, and when he walked to his 
 office he was humming a tune that he had heard her 
 play. 
 
 At last Mabel returned, and there being no Mattie 
 there to interfere with him, he expressed his satisfac- 
 tion at seeing her, and listened intently while she re- 
 lated the manner in which she had occupied her three 
 weeks of absence. She showed him photographs of 
 her aunt, and of her Cousin Frank, the latter a tall, 
 well-made young gentleman, with an aggressive face 
 that most women would call handsome. 
 
 "How old is he?" asked Allen, with a darkened 
 countenance. 
 
 " Twenty-four, I believe." 
 
 "What is his business?" 
 
 " Oh, he does nothing but look after his property. 
 The Seldens are too rich to care for work." 
 
 Fawcett showed his dislike. 
 
 " A young man has no right to be a loafer if he is as 
 rich as Waldorf Astor," he said, snappishly. 
 
 The girl did not make any reply and, still holding 
 the picture in his hand, Allan ventured another ques- 
 tion. 
 
 44 You are very fond of him, I suppose ? w 
 
 She shook her head.
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 5 1 
 
 No. I took a dislike to him when I was a child, 
 on account of the things he used to do." 
 
 " What kind of things ? " 
 
 She blushed as she looked up at him. 
 
 " Oh, he was always running after me, and trying to 
 make me kiss him, and " 
 
 There was a perfect thunder-cloud now on the face 
 of the young merchant. 
 
 " Has he got over that habit ? " he asked frigidly. 
 
 She looked as if she had rather not answer, but, as 
 he waited, she replied, with uneasiness, that she could 
 not say he had, entirely. 
 
 " And, being your cousin, I suppose you think it all 
 right ? " 
 
 Bitter as ^all and wormwood was the tone in which 
 he uttered those words. She knew he cared for her, or 
 the simple statement she had made could not affect 
 him so deeply. 
 
 " You are not fair, Mr. Fawcett," she said, soberly. 
 11 You asked me if I liked him. I not only told you no, 
 but I gave my reason. I was glad to get away from 
 Boston, on his account, and I do not mean to go there 
 again." 
 
 He choked down the passionate thoughts that filled 
 his brain, upon hearing this straightforward reply. 
 Why did he hate the original of that photograph, as 
 men hate one who has done them a vital injury? He 
 had never seen Frank Selden. It was not probable 
 they ever would meet. What was Selden, or this 
 fair cousin of his, to him ? He was interested in but- 
 ter, and eggs, and cheese, and hay, and potatoes. 
 Business was prospering. He had laid up fifteen 
 hundred dollars that year, and new patrons were coming 
 to him daily. He looked again at Mabel, who sat very
 
 52 YO UNO FA WCE TT 'S MABEL. 
 
 still, like a child who has been rebuked by her elders 
 and hesitates to speak until spoken to. 
 
 " I don't know why I said what I did," he remarked, 
 more gently. " I am sure I have no right to criticise 
 you. But your mother will tell you that a young girl 
 cannot be too careful in her conduct toward men, nor 
 demand too much respect in their actions toward her. 
 If this Selden " he spoke the word as if it were pro- 
 nounced Snake " has attempted any liberties with 
 you of the kind you mentioned, his being your cousin 
 does not excuse him." 
 
 Mabel acquiesced without speaking, like one who en- 
 tirely agrees. 
 
 "It is natural," Fawcett went on, after a pause, 
 " that I should take an interest in you, living under the 
 same roof and being almost a part of your family. 
 There are some things which men know that young 
 girls are slow to perceive. I should be sorry to think 
 I had neglected any advice that I ought to give 
 you, for it seems to me somehow that I stand 
 toward you, in a certain respect, in the relation of a 
 brother." 
 
 The girl rose and put her hands in his, before he was 
 aware what she was about to do. 
 
 " I thank you with all my heart," she said, the tears 
 in her eyes. " Whenever you have anything to say to 
 me do not hesitate. I shall always be ready to listen 
 and to profit by your instruction." 
 
 She walked slowly out of the room, and seeking her 
 mother related the conversation word for word, as well 
 as she could recall it. 
 
 "You did exactly right, my child," said the wide*. 
 ** You could not have been more discreet." 
 
 Mabel had a wistful look in her gray eye*
 
 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 53 
 
 11 I* seems so contemptible," she said, " to act as if I 
 was trying to snare him, when I love him so." 
 
 u You will have all your life to prove that to him," 
 was the mother's reply, as she drew the shrinking gid 
 to her side and kissed her. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 " THAT WOULDN'T BE NICE." \ 
 
 BEING now installed, by his own motion, in the posi- 
 tion of " brother " to Miss Morey, Allan Fawcett found 
 his path easier. He deceived himself into the belief 
 that this justified him in being in her company a great 
 deal more than ever, and in talking with her on terms 
 of intimacy of which he had never before dreamed. As 
 no one else appeared to dispute with him the title he 
 had assumed, and as both Mrs. Morey and her daugh- 
 ter treated him kindly, he grew quite content with his 
 surroundings. A suggestion was finally made that he 
 take his dinner and supper at the house, as well as his 
 breakfast, and he accepted gladly. Those meals had 
 never seemed what they should be since his taste of the 
 superior comforts of Mrs. Morey's table. 
 
 Had he actually been her son, the widow could not 
 have treated him with more cordiality. Everything 
 soon came to be looked after in a way that was at onc 
 novel and delightful to the young bachelor. His 
 laundry arrangements were seen to, without a word 
 from him. Buttons that had previously given him no 
 end of trouble were found sewn tightly in their places. 
 Little rents were deftly mended. Some of the books 
 that he was most careful of appeared in neat paper
 
 5 4 YOUNG PA WC*TT>S MABEL, 
 
 covers. The vase on his table began to be filled with 
 flowers, culled from the garden. It was marvellous 
 how much more attractive his quarters were than those 
 he had exchanged for them when the Moreys moved to 
 Norwood. 
 
 Fawcett's temper was usually good, but sometimes 
 he came home disturbed by the vicissitudes of business. 
 On such occasions nothing was permitted to give an 
 additional jar to his feelings. Unless he set the pace 
 of conversation, only the most necessary things were 
 said at the table, and if he chose to retire to his cham- 
 ber neither of the ladies urged him to remain below. 
 It was long afterwards that it came back to him the 
 ingenious petting to which he was subjected but at 
 the time he thought nothing about it. 
 
 There are more men nagged to death by women who 
 would like to give them comfort when they seem dis 
 tressed than by all the intentional vixens in the world. 
 It is well known that one of America's chief actors had 
 to separate from his second wife because she would not 
 let him retire into a half-darkened room for a few hours 
 each day, where he could regain his nervous force and 
 strengthen himself for the labors of the evening. She 
 would come to the door and beg admittance, saying 
 that she hated to have him there alone, and that she 
 was sure she could do him good if he would let her hold 
 his head and kiss away his depression. Though lov- 
 ing her as such men love their wives, he could not bear 
 this strain, and the couple parted with mutual agony, 
 all because the woman could not be made to under- 
 stand. 
 
 Mrs. Morey committed no such error, nor did her 
 daughter, under her wise instructions. Fawcett grew 
 more and more attached to his boarding-house, as he
 
 VOUNS FA wcmrrs if AS ML. jg 
 
 termed it, or his home, as they wanted him to feei 
 it. As he went to very few entertainments, and as 
 his office-work was usually ended at six o'clock, 
 he spent most of his evenings in the house, and a 
 great deal of that time came to be monopolized by 
 Mabel. Mrs. Morey would often leave them for 
 hours, while she went out calling or on errands to the 
 stores. 
 
 His business took him away from Norwood quite 
 frequently, but he was seldom gone more than two or 
 three nights at a time. On one of these occasions, he 
 found, on his return, that Mabel was his only hostess, 
 her mother having been summoned to the bedside of 
 her sister, Mrs. Selden, by a telegram. In speaking 
 of it to me, years afterward, he alluded to the week 
 that Mrs. Morey remained away as the turning one in 
 his career. Day after day he sat at the table with 
 Mabel as his companion, their isolation being broken 
 only by the entrance of Bridget when summoned to 
 clear the plates or to bring something from the kitchen. 
 Evening after evening they occupied the parlor with no 
 interruption, or took short walks toward the wood that 
 bordered the town on their side of it. And when the 
 time came for separation, and he went to his room, he 
 had a new sense of responsibility for this quiet girl, a 
 feeling that she was under his sole protection, and that 
 if harm happened to her he would be to blame. 
 
 It was a testing week for them. Loving him more 
 strongly than ever, Mabel realized the absolute necessity 
 of hiding her sentiments until he should have fully 
 demonstrated his own. Impelled a hundred times to 
 some act that might show the more than brotherly 
 affection that was growing up in his breast, he resisted 
 as often as he felt the temptation. The very presence
 
 56 TOVNG FA WCR TTS MABEL. 
 
 of opportunity caused by her mother's absence made him 
 more guarded than ever on this point. He had a sense 
 of honor that would not allow him to take advantage 
 of any person in the slightest degree. The pressure on 
 his feelings made him glad to see Mrs. Morey's face 
 again, as a guardsman on picket who hears the ap- 
 proaching step of the relieving squad. 
 
 But the week had done its work. There was never 
 afterwards anything distant between the young peo- 
 ple. They confided a hundred things to each other. 
 He had called her " Miss Morey " till then, but she 
 suddenly became " Mabel " to him. The three people 
 in that house had become welded into one family as 
 they never had been until that week of absence on the 
 part of the mother. 
 
 " I am afraid you have not fared as well with Mabel 
 as when I am at home, " smiled Mrs. Morey, as she 
 took her seat in her old place and began to pour the 
 coffee. " A housekeeper is made by experience, and a 
 girl of eighteen cannot be expected to take the place 
 of an old woman like me." 
 
 If the meals had been poorer, Fawcett had not no- 
 ticed it. As a matter of fact they had, without doubt. 
 Mabel knew as much about cooking as she did of 
 scientific chemistry. Bridget did what she could, but 
 Mrs. Morey's oversight was lacking. 
 
 "We have done very well," was the young man's 
 reply. " I do not think I have lost an ounce in 
 weight." 
 
 The widow smiled gratefully upon him, and then 
 transferred her attention to her daughter. 
 
 "You will have to begin to learn kitchen work in 
 earnest, my girl," she said, " before you are much 
 older. Piano and singing lessons will not bake the
 
 YOUNG FA WCMTT'S MABEL. 57 
 
 brea 1 nor prepare the gravies of the household you 
 may some day have to oversee." 
 
 " I shall always have you to show me, mamma," 
 said the girl, with a blush, " and there will never be aay 
 household for me except yours." 
 
 " How can we tell that I shall always be with you ? " 
 replied the mother. " Aunt Hattie came very near 
 leaving us last week, with that sudden turn of illness. 
 What would you do, should I be taken away, unless 
 you could carry on the housekeeping ? " 
 
 It was touching to see the distress that came into 
 the young girl's face at this suggestion. Of all her 
 virtues love for her mother was most pre-eminent and 
 sincere. 
 
 " Don't speak in that way ! " she cried, reprovingly. 
 " If you were taken from me, I should not care to live 
 any longer." 
 
 Mrs. Morey looked as if she would have kissed the 
 girl, but for the presence of a third person in the room. 
 
 " Death does not come at our bidding," she said 
 gently. " Sometimes we are obliged to live long after 
 the things we prize most are gone from us. You must 
 learn to be a famous housekeeper, so that if anything 
 does happen you will be able to keep your home. 
 There are so few things that a girl can do to earn a 
 living. With the house and the furniture you could 
 take boarders and be in a measure independent" 
 - Mabel's smile returned. 
 
 " I am afraid I should not get many of them," she 
 said. " Would you still live here, if there were only 
 me to see to you ? " she asked Fawcett, with a half- 
 earnest, half-joking expression. 
 
 He replied in the affirmative in a way that set
 
 j* YOUNG FA \YCETT' S MAfML, 
 
 u But, I don't think I should want you to have any 
 more boarders," he added. " I think one like me 
 would keep you busy." 
 
 A day or two later, when Mrs. Morey and Fawcett 
 were together and Mabel had gone out, the widow re- 
 verted to this conversation. 
 
 " My sister's illness has set me to thinking seriously," 
 said she, in a sober tone. " Mabel has relations who 
 would doubtless consider it their duty to look after her 
 if anything should happen to me. But, though they 
 are people of property and standing, there is not one 
 of them who is exactly what I would choose to have 
 the oversight of the formative years of my child. The 
 ones most natural to select are her Uncle Zeba Burbank, 
 father of her Cousin Mattie, and her other cousin, 
 Frank Selden, whose picture I think you have seen. 
 Both are considered rich men, and I am sure would 
 not let her suffer, but wealth is not the only consider- 
 ation in a matter of this kind." 
 
 He felt two distinct blows when she mentioned the 
 names of Mattie Burbank and Frank Selden. If these 
 were typical of all the girl's relations, Heaven pity her ! 
 He had conceived a positive dislike for Mattie on that 
 evening when she took her last walk with him, and he 
 felt a bitterness toward Selden for which he could not 
 account. 
 
 "Frank likes Mabel better than I wish he did," 
 continued Mrs. Morey, slowly. " His mother has in- 
 timated several times that they would make a good 
 match, but I hope nothing will ever come of it. His 
 habits, I fear, are not of the best. She is not at all 
 inclined toward him, but who can tell what influences 
 might be brought to bear on a young girl should she be 
 kft without her natural protectors ? Oh, Mr. Fawcett,"
 
 YOUNG FA WCSTTS MA8RL. 
 
 she cried, growing more earnest, "if th tim 
 comes when it is necessary, use every force in 
 power to prevent such a marriage as that. You have 
 her confidence. She thinks a great deal of your 
 opinion. Don't let her marry a man who is more likely 
 to break her heart than to make her life a happy 
 one 1 " 
 
 The relation in which he stood to this family had 
 widened so gradually that Fawcett was not surprised 
 to have it take this turn. He promised, should the 
 emergency arise, to do his very best to prevent Mabel's 
 making so great a mistake as the one indicated. Then 
 his curiosity led him to inquire what Mrs. Morey knew 
 about Mr. Selden. 
 
 " He is anything but a moral young man ! " was the 
 reply. " Trouble with half a dozen girls of good family 
 have already been charged to him. His mother insists 
 that the statements are libels, but where there is so 
 much said there must be some of it true. He is very 
 fascinating in his manners, and has plenty of money in 
 his pocket and no one to restrain him. He is my 
 sister's son, and I wish to say nothing against him, bat 
 the thought of him in connection with such a pure girl 
 as Mabel is simply terrible." 
 
 It was a strange coincidence that Frank Selden 
 should come to Norwood on the very next day, to pay 
 a visit to his aunt and cousin. He had never been 
 there before, and was the last person for whom his 
 relations were looking. When the carriage from the 
 railway station left him at the door Mrs. Morey was 
 filled with apprehension, in which Mabel fully joined. 
 Neither of them knew what would happen when Mr. 
 Fawcett came home, for he was not skilled in the art 
 ! concealing his dislikes. They could not forbid
 
 60 YOUNG FA WCR TT 'S UAB&L. 
 
 Frank the house, being on snch agreeable terms with 
 his mother, and having never had the least open rupture 
 with him. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and 
 as soon as a council of war could be held it was decided 
 that Mabel should go, without saying anything to her 
 cousin, and inform Fawcett of the state of affairs. 
 
 " Put on your hat and leave by the back door," said 
 her mother, " for if Frank knows you are going for a 
 walk, he may ask to accompany you. I will tell him, 
 when he inquires, that you have gone on a short errand, 
 and will keep him in till you return." 
 
 "But what shall I tell Mr. Fawcett ? " stammered 
 Mabel, in much perturbation. 
 
 " I don't know. You must do the best you can. 
 Use your judgment. Say we did not know Frank was 
 coming, and we are not over-pleased at it, but sec no 
 way except to ask him to remain. Probably he will 
 not stay more than a day or two. I will leave it tc 
 you. Remember, much may hang on your success " 
 
 On the way to the office of the commission merchant 
 Mabel revolved various plans in her mind. But when 
 she walked in upon him and saw the smile with which 
 he greeted her, she was as far from a definite decision 
 as when she left the house. 
 
 "Ah, hal So it's you, little girl!' said Allan. 
 There was no other person in his private office at the 
 time, and they wore not likely to be disturbed. " You 
 are not looking quite cheerful. Nothing gone wrong, 
 I hope?" 
 
 She resolved to act exactly as she felt, the easiest 
 way out of what was at best an unpleasant dilemma. 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Fawcett, something very disagreeable has 
 happened." 
 
 bt trrirnvH. hoadia* tor a
 
 Yt,UNG FA fFC^TT'J MABEL- if 
 
 " Well, tell us all about it, and let us see what can U 
 
 done." 
 
 "There's nothing can be done, at least to-night," 
 she replied, frowningly. " To-morrow I hope he will 
 go away, but to-night he must stay, I suppose. He's 
 the only nephew mamma has, and of course " 
 
 He understood, and lifted a hand to show that she 
 need not finish the sentence. 
 
 " So Mr. Frank Selden is at your house ? " 
 
 She nodded three or four times. 
 
 " He came an hour ago, without the slightest warn- 
 ing. I'm almost sure he'll go to-morrow. I know you 
 won't like him, and I thought you ought to be prepared, 
 and not come upon him suddenly, in the parlor or 
 dining-room." 
 
 He thought a moment, with knitted forehead. 
 
 " I guess I'll leave town for a day or two," he said 
 finally. "I can make a business errand. I don't 
 want to meet him, that's certain." 
 
 A little sigh issued from the rounded mouth of his 
 companion. 
 
 " That wouldn't be nice of you," she expostulated. 
 " I don't like to be left alone with him. I was hoping 
 you would stay in the house about all the time he was 
 here." 
 
 This sounded pretty and his vanity was flattered. 
 His brows unbent as he contemplated the meaning of 
 her statement. 
 
 " Where is your mother ? " he asked. " You will not 
 need to be strictly alone with him a single minute 
 that is, if you don't wish to." 
 
 His face had begun to darken again. His moods 
 were instantly reflected on that mirror. 
 
 "Oil, don't intimate such dreadful ttuagsl" lU
 
 62 YOUNG FA WCE TT*S MABEL. 
 
 tried. " I am never easy when he is nenr me. I am 
 always afraid he is going to say something. Please 
 don't go away, and please stay in the house as much as 
 ever you can till he is gone." 
 
 He ground his teeth together. 
 
 "I don't see what I can do there," he answered, 
 with another frown. "He and I will be certain to 
 quarrel." 
 
 " Oh, no, you needn't 1 " said Mabel earnestly. 
 " He is the most polite man in the world, and all you 
 have to do is to say very little to him. You can talk 
 to me and I will talk to you and we will act as if he 
 wasn't there." 
 
 " A very fine plan 1 " ejaculated Fawcett. " I don't 
 believe it will work. He is your cousin, after all, and 
 your mother's nephew, and I I am nobody." 
 
 "Nobody /" She put her small hand on his arm. 
 with the action of a person who is aggrieved. " I guess 
 you are somebody. Mamma thinks more of you than she 
 does of a thousand Seldens." 
 
 He could not help it. There seemed no sense in it 
 whatever, but he could not help it. And he asked her, 
 first putting one of his hands over the one she had 
 touched him with, whether she agreed with her mother 
 in that opinion. 
 
 "Why, I don't like him one bit," she replied, trying 
 to avoid seeming to see anything special in the ques- 
 tion, "and you are just like an own brother." 
 
 There was no sense in the next thing he did, either. 
 He knew it as well as you or I, dear reader, and he 
 did it just the same. He put his arm around her, drew 
 ker to him and kissed her actually kissed her ! on 
 the cheek. 
 
 -I'll not run away, Matel," he said, in a low tone.
 
 YOUNG FAIVCETTS MABEL. 63 
 
 * I'll go up with you at supper-dine. Well be a match 
 for this fine fellow." 
 
 She thanked him warmly, and said he was as good 
 us he could be. Then, taking up a newspaper that 
 she found on the table, she went over into a corner to 
 let him finish his writing, as she had often done before. 
 And he noticed with positive exultation that she had 
 not seemed to mind his kiss any more than a child of 
 seven would have done. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 NOT AN IMPROPER 
 
 ALLAN FAWCETT was not only unused to women; 
 he was afso unused to men. He knew how to trade 
 with them, to be sure ; to take their orders and sell 
 their goods, but he was not on intimate social terms 
 with any person of his own sex. His youth had been 
 too fully occupied with other cares to leave him any 
 time for the merely agreeable things of life. The 
 prospect of meeting Mr. Frank Selden was a greater 
 lion in his path than an interview with a dozen whole- 
 sale dealers in his line of goods. He despised the 
 type of gentleman he conceived him to be, and knew 
 that Mr. Selden, in the arrogance of his wealth and 
 conceit, very probably would return the dislike in full. 
 There was nothing to be done, however, but to face 
 the music, and as he walked toward the house with 
 Mabel he summoned all his courage, and resolved to 
 tnake the best of it. 
 
 Selden had been talking with Mrs. Morey about Allan
 
 64. Y6UNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 the entire hour before his arrival, and had made up his 
 mind to treat him with the greatest consideration. He 
 felt his own superiority over that grade of person, but 
 he meant to leave a favorable impression upon him, if 
 he could. So shrewdly did he carry out this plan that 
 the young merchant was soon won by his suavity, and 
 began to wonder why he had felt such an antipathy 
 against him. Selden chatted freely with all three of 
 his companions at the supper-table, speaking least to 
 Mabel and oftenest to Allan. He laughed a great 
 deal when anything was said that called forth mirth, 
 seeming in the best of humor. He managed to draw 
 out of Fawcett some things in reference to his business, 
 appearing to be deeply interested in country produce ; 
 and he remarked, with a self-critical way, that he wished 
 he had something of use to do in the world, as he was 
 thoroughly tired of the life he was leading. 
 
 " You don't want a partner, do you ? " he said, in a 
 half-serious manner, that was not at all patronizing. 
 " If I could get into some business where a little money 
 and less brains would be of account, I think it would be 
 the best thing for me." 
 
 Fawcett replied that his business was, as yet, but a 
 limited one, and that it took the hardest kind of appli- 
 cation and the most rigid economy to get much out of 
 such a mine. Then he went into instances of the close 
 margin of profit, showing how the result of a month's 
 work might be swept away by an unexpected depres- 
 sion of prices. Selden listened entranced, putting in 
 a question now and then, as though anxions to probe 
 everything to the very bottom. 
 
 Mrs. Morey and her daughter exchanged surrepti- 
 tious glances of wonder, for this was a surprise to them 
 of the first magnitude. They had expected anything
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 6$ 
 
 else. When they all withdrew from the dining-room, 
 nearly an hour later than usual, Fawcett went to his 
 room with Selden to show him a file of the " Produce 
 Weekly," in which were certain figures bearing on the 
 points at issue. 
 
 " Did you ever in your life see anything like that ? " 
 exclaimed Mrs. Morey, when she was left alone with 
 her daughter. " I thought those young fellows would 
 be glaring at each other like bull-dogs, and one would 
 imagine instead that they were long-separated brothers, 
 What did you do to Mr. Fawcett to bring him home in 
 such a mood ? " 
 
 " / didn't do anything," replied Mabel, with redden. 
 ing cheeks. " But he did something. He drew me t( 
 him, in his private office and kissed me ! " 
 
 Mrs. Morey wore an anxious look on her pleasant 
 face. Such a look as might be seen on the counte 
 nance of a humane general when the first sound of th 
 screeching shell comes to his ears, showing that tty 
 battle has actually begun. 
 
 " I hope you were very careful, my child ; not forwar^ 
 at all." 
 
 " Not the least, mamma. I pretended not even tq 
 notice it. It was only on my cheek right here." Shi? 
 indicated the exact spot which his lips had touched 
 " It was all over in a moment." 
 
 The widow instituted a searching inquiry, after tht 
 manner of a military commission, into the minutes! 
 circumstances of the important event. Did Mr, 
 Fawcett seem excited ? Should the girl say it was a 
 passionate kiss ? Did he draw her toward him with a 
 sudden motion, or slowly like this ? She wanted the 
 affair rehearsed exactly as it occurred. Was it oaly 
 5
 
 6* JTWW fAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 one kiss, one touching of the lips to the cheek and an 
 instantaneous release of the form he had clasped? 
 Very well. There was nothing objectionable in that- 
 Mr. Fawcett deserved no undue criticism. 
 
 " Indeed, I quite agree with you, mamma," was the 
 quick reply. " So far from objecting to it, I only wish 
 I was sure he would repeat it often. It was the hard- 
 est thing I ever had to do to act as if I didn't mind 
 it, instead of turning my mouth to his, and giving him 
 one in return, full on the lips." 
 
 The mother chided Mabel gently for the freedom of 
 her expressions, and took occasion to impress upon her 
 once more the necessity of a young girl's restraining 
 her emotions to the fullest degree. 
 
 " Men never respect a woman after they had seen an 
 exhibition of her feelings," she said. " You must act 
 on the next occasion even more dignified than you did 
 on this one. A little shrinking away must be prac- 
 tised, a show of disinclination to have his arm embrace 
 you." 
 
 Mabel looked quite distressed. 
 
 " But, mamma, there is nothing wrong about a kiss, 
 is there, when one really loves a man ? " 
 
 " My dear, it is not a question of abstract right or 
 wrong, but of something hardly less important that 
 of policy. A woman's whole career may depend on 
 her observance of rules that civilization has hedged 
 about her, not the violation of one of which can be 
 stretched to the limits of a real sin. Before marriage, 
 that is the vital time. Many a bright career has been 
 rained by a failure to study the operations of the mas- 
 culine mind. For instance, the very man who will 
 attempt liberties with a girl he professes to love, will 
 her as long as he lives, if she permits them."
 
 Y9VN6 FAWCSTT'S MJLMKL tf 
 
 The girl still seemed uncertain what to make of hoi 
 
 mother's attitude. 
 
 " But you don't call a kiss an improper liberty, d 
 you ? I want to understand." 
 
 " I say," responded the mother wisely, " that such a 
 kiss as Mr. Fawcett gave you was not deserving of 
 censure, under the circumstances. Had you kissed 
 him in return, especially upon the lips, it would have 
 been a very grave fault. I put it down as a rule that 
 a girl should never permit her lips to touch those of any 
 man but her wedded husband. Perhaps I am too strict 
 in this. I do not doubt that the majority of men expect 
 such a kiss to follow the acceptance of their offer of 
 marriage. But I am sure that, whatever the man's 
 ardor, he will have a higher opinion of a woman who 
 resists, gently but firmly, the full contact of her mouth 
 with his, even at that moment, than of one who gives 
 way to the sensations that thrill her heart. And with- 
 out a complete declaration of a desire to marry, made 
 in unequivocal terms, and an acceptance on the 
 woman's part, I have no hesitation in saying that such 
 a kiss is dangerous and unmaidenly in the highest 
 degree." 
 
 The girl put an arm about the neck of her mother and 
 looked lovingly into her eyes. 
 
 " You are not sorry for the little kiss he <&/give me ? w 
 she said, pleadingly. 
 
 " Not in the least," was the affectionate response. 
 
 " And he may kiss me again, just the same way, if 
 if he ever wants to ? " 
 
 The mother smiled encouragingly. 
 
 " With a little more unwillingness on your part." 
 
 " But I'm not unwilling 1 I'm more than willing, I'm 
 anxious ! " said Mabel, hiding her face on the maternal
 
 68 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 bosom. " Oh, I wish he'd talk marriage. I can't wait 
 forever. The days are dragging too slowly. " 
 
 Mrs. Morey said "Hush ! " in a low tone, for she 
 heard the young men coming down the stairs. They 
 were talking in an animated fashion, and when they 
 appeared good humor shone on the faces of both. 
 
 " I've learned more about business than I ever knew," 
 exclaimed Selden, as he caught sight of his aunt. " I 
 really think I shall open an office and go to doing some- 
 thing. Mr. Fawcett half thinks he will take me into 
 partnership if I show a disposition to reform. " 
 
 Neither Mabel nor her mother believed this anything 
 more than a temporary mood that would soon pass 
 away, if indeed it was not merely a desire to be amus- 
 ing. But Selden repeated a dozen times in the course 
 of the evening that he was in earnest, and that if Mr. 
 Fawcett would give him. a chance he would prove his 
 assertion. Allan was almost sorry the next morning, 
 when the young Bostonian announced that he must 
 leave on the next train. 
 
 " Good-bye, aunt, " said Frank, touching her cheek 
 with his lips. " Good-bye, little cousin, " he added, 
 taking Mabel's hand and letting go of it again in a 
 quarter of a second. "Come and see us when you can. 
 I don't know how long it may be before I see Norwood 
 again, unless I get my partnership. " He laughed 
 brightly. " Come, Mr. Fawcett, there is time to stop 
 at your store before the train is due." 
 
 There was a full hour to be spent at the store, and 
 before he left town Selden made a distinct offer to put 
 some money into the concern, should Fawcett ever 
 want to enlarge the business beyond its present capacity. 
 Allen went to the depot with him, and they parted more 
 than amicably.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 69 
 
 " He's a good fellow, " thought Fawcett, as he walked 
 back to his office. " I ought not to hate him just 
 because he wanted to kiss his pretty cousin. Goodness \ 
 I've often wanted to do the same thing myself, and 
 yesterday I actually did it. He won't bother her any 
 more. As for his offer, it's worth thinking of. If I had 
 $5,000 more to work with I could double the business 
 I am doing. " 
 
 Mabel Morey could not tell what to make of her 
 mother's boarder for the next month. He seemed 
 almost oblivious of her presence when in the house. 
 He was receiving letters from Frank Selden, relating to 
 the proposition he had made, and the merchant's 
 anxiety to increase his business drove everything else 
 from his mind. One day he announced that he would 
 be gone for a short time out of the State, and taking a 
 grip-sack, with hardly a formal good-bye, he went to 
 Boston. 
 
 Mabel could not keep back the tears, though she 
 did not let him see them. She loved him deeply, and 
 his recent coldness toward her was something for which 
 she could not account. She even began to fear that 
 he had seen some other woman whom he liked better. 
 With the fullest confidence she unbosomed herself to 
 her mother, who was equally at a loss to explain Faw- 
 cett's conduct. The elder lady said, however, that she 
 did not believe there was a woman in the case ; that it was 
 more likely Allan had renewed his old resolutions not 
 to permit himself to get entangled with anything fem- 
 inine. When he returned she would talk to him. After 
 she sounded him a little she could advise Mabel better 
 what to do. 
 
 Fawcett stayed in Boston a whole week. He had 
 become possessed with the idea that he must hav th
 
 7 T*fflVff FA WCE TT S MABEL. 
 
 money that Selden offered him, and secure it without a 
 partnership, if possible. He wished to continue sole 
 manager of his affairs, but was willing to pay a fair 
 sum or share of his profits for the use of the capital 
 he wanted. The debates over these matters took up a 
 good deal of time. Besides this Selden insisted on 
 showing his guest the sights of the city, and refused 
 positively to permit him to pay for anything. Allan 
 would much rather have paid his share of the joint ex- 
 pense of the excursions, or in lieu thereof have limited 
 them to a much smaller cost. But the city young man 
 had a way of buying the tickets and paying the checks 
 before the countryman could even draw his purse; 
 and, though uneasy at the constant flow of money for 
 his expenses, there did not seem to be any way to 
 avoid it. 
 
 Up to this time Fawcetfs attendance at theatres had 
 been very limited. He had counted every dollar with 
 the greatest care. Selden took him almost nightly to 
 one of the entertainments, saying it was his invariable 
 practice to see everything that came to town. 
 
 Being twenty years of age, and having no pretensions 
 to saintship, Allan did not refuse to accompany his new 
 friend to other places of much more doubtful morality, 
 merely, as -they both said, to see what was going on, 
 and not with any intention of remaining. At all of 
 these places, Mr. Selden was greeted by the name of 
 " Frank," and fair arms were placed about his neck by 
 the frail occupants as soon as he entered the parlors 
 where they were ensconced. Allan was introduced as 
 "My friend, Mr. Smith," and Selden had to laugh at 
 the fiery glow that came into his face when one of the 
 girls, whose name was " Sadie," began to make love to 
 him. It is to the credit human nature that there is a
 
 70UN6 PA WCMTT>S MABEL. 7 1 
 
 time when even a man is capable of blushing. But 
 contact with vice soon destroys this faculty, and before 
 Fawcett left Boston he could enter a palace of sin as 
 coolly as his companion. 
 
 Those who have read the sermon that the reformed 
 roue, Hector Greyburn, delivered in Rev. Arthur 
 Reycroft's pulpit, in " Thou Shalt Not," must have been 
 impressed by his delineation of the blasting character of 
 a violation of the Seventh Command. That week in 
 Boston, under the tutelage of Frank Selden, did more 
 harm to Allan Fawcett than he dreamed of. It shook 
 the foundations he had been so carefully building. 
 He had tasted of " pleasure," he had seen money not 
 his own, to be sure, but money still wasted as if it 
 were so much water in a season of freshets. He felt, 
 as he went back to Norwood, that his business was a 
 more insignificant thing than he had supposed it, and 
 that the road he had marked out to travel was harder 
 and more dusty than he had ever imagined. 
 
 " The money is yours, whenever you choose," were 
 the parting words of Selden. " The more I think of 
 it, the less I want to tie myself up to real work, but I 
 have capital to invest and confidence in your ability 
 and probity. You can have $5,000 any time you like. 
 Whether you accept it or not, come up to the city once 
 in a while and have a little fun. I have enjoyed your 
 stay immensely." 
 
 He was certainly a very nice fellow ! Fawcett said 
 to himself a hundred times that no one could deny 
 that. His morals were a trifle lax, but and he red- 
 dened again at the thought he had no right to criticise 
 him on that score. Had he Selden's money, instead of 
 being obliged to give up the next twenty years to ac- 
 quiring a quarter part of the sum, perhaps he would be
 
 7 2 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 no better himself. Such girls as Sadie were too attract- 
 ive to spend much time in lamenting their condition. 
 Allan thought he would accept Frank's invitation to go 
 to Boston again, if only for the sake of meeting that 
 entrancing creature. 
 
 But when he entered Mrs. Morey's dwelling and looked 
 into the anxious eyes of Mabel, the contrast between 
 this pure girl and the depraved one from whom he had 
 so recently parted struck him with tremendous force. 
 He thought how abruptly he had left Norwood, and 
 how he had not written a word during his absence to 
 explain the unexpected length of his stay. Instinct 
 told him that Mabel had suffered from this neglect and 
 that his conduct was inexcusable, from whatever point 
 it might be viewed. His landlady happened to be out 
 at the moment of his arrival, and he stood face to face 
 with her daughter. 
 
 " Well, Mabel, I'm home." 
 
 He put down his bag and drew the girl to a seat 
 on the sofa, by his side. The recollection of the 
 young woman at Boston struck him again, as he did 
 so, and he released Mabel in the very act of embrac- 
 ing her. 
 
 This action distressed the girl greatly. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " she asked, in a whisper. " I 
 feel as if I had done something to make you dislike 
 me." 
 
 Forgetting everything, he caught her full in his arms. 
 
 " Dislike you ! I like you better than any other 
 person in the world ! " 
 
 She put up her lips for him to kiss, in the suddenness 
 of her delight, but remembering her mother's caution, 
 lowered them again, and received the salute on her fore- 
 head.
 
 FAWCETT'S MABEL. 7J 
 
 Then she heard a step on the walk, and hastily left 
 his side to take a chair. 
 
 " Hush ! " she said, returning the fond look he gv 9 
 her, " mamma is coming 1 " 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SADIE WEARS EVENING DRESS. 
 
 THE $5,000 of Mr. Frank Selden was soon put into the 
 business which Allan Fawcett controlled. The arrange- 
 ment by which this was made was highly satisfactory 
 to the commission merchant at the time. There was 
 not, in the ordinary sense of the term, any partnership 
 whatever. Fawcett merely gave his notes for the sum 
 borrowed, with a mortgage on everything he owned to 
 secure the lender. He was to pay ten per cent, for the 
 use of the money, and a slight additional percentage 
 on his net profits each year until he had paid it all 
 back again. 
 
 Selden had the instincts of a capitalist, and had no 
 intention of losing anything through the kindly act he 
 had done. He was willing to give Allan a lift, but he 
 realized that money was not to be obtained everywhere 
 on such security as he had to offer. He satisfied him- 
 self that his new friend was thoroughly honest and 
 bound to succeed, and discovered away to benefit both 
 parties and cause a loss to neither. 
 
 For a short time Fawcett was intensely elated at the 
 additional facilities with which he could now do busi- 
 ness. He sought for more opportunities to buy goods 
 directly, instead of relying mostly on those sent him to 
 be disposed of on commission. The first venture that
 
 74 YOUNG FA WCETT*S MABEL. 
 
 he made netted him a comfortable profit. The second 
 resulted in a loss. The third was again on the right 
 side of the ledger. The only trouble was that he could 
 not help a new feeling of anxiety, a mental unrest that 
 was not good for one of his temperament. He did not 
 sleep as soundly as he had done before. Bad news 
 from the centre of trade worried him exceedingly. 
 Good news raised his spirits to an unhealthy degree. 
 He was continually oscillating from extreme to extreme, 
 and it was nearly as bad for him to hear of a large gain 
 as of a distressing loss. 
 
 He told everything to Mabel, and to her mother ; 
 that is, after he had secured the additional capital, for 
 he kept that secret back as a pleasant surprise for them. 
 In his joy he did not notice that Mrs. Morey hardly 
 seemed to share his brilliant hopes for the future of 
 the transaction. She would certainly have advised him 
 against it, had she been consulted in time. When the 
 thing was consummated, and he had the money, it was 
 too late to say anything, and she was compelled to 
 hold her peace. She was shrewd enough to see that 
 her nephew had made a good business bargain, pro- 
 vided Mr. Fawcett's judgment held out. The interest 
 he was to get for his money was about double the 
 usual rate. She wished, for Mabel's sake, that Fawcett 
 had continued in the slower but surer path he had be- 
 gun, but she did not tell him so, nor did she even say it 
 to her daughter. She continued to hope for the best. 
 
 It was not to be denied that Allan and Mabel were 
 becoming closer friends every day. A marriage would 
 result unless all signs failed. Things had gone too far 
 now to alter her plans, even if she had desired. 
 Mabel was devotedly attached to her young friend, with 
 what Byron calls " first and passionate love." Allan
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 75 
 
 liked hor, undoubtedly. It needed only time and faif 
 business prosperity to arrange the date. 
 
 Being constantly with Mabel, every evening of his 
 Life, as well as at nearly all of his meals, Fawcett grew 
 more and more confidential with her. The attack of 
 conscience that he had had on his return from Boston 
 made her seem more beautiful and lovely in his eyes 
 than ever before. Had any one entered the parlor 
 where they were together and no one ever did, not 
 even the managing mamma, without due warning they 
 would have been taken for real lovers. Generally 
 they were sitting close together on the sofa, or her 
 chair was drawn against his, his hands holding hers in 
 a close clasp. 
 
 One cannot talk with a pretty girl day after day 
 without saying things that grow to have a meaning, and 
 Fawcett, though he tried very hard not to say anything 
 definite, felt in a vague way that he was gradually be- 
 coming entangled. And he was not sorry for it, either. 
 Mabel was still very young. There was plenty of 
 time to consider the matter, in its serious aspect. In 
 the meanwhile it was agreeable to have her near him, 
 and to see the sympathy for his aause shining out of 
 the sweet gray eyes. 
 
 If he could have read what passed through that 
 young brain it is difficult to say what the result would 
 have been. Day after day the em u^^Li ;^naill 
 in Mabel's mind was, " Why doesn't he speak ? " Was 
 he to go on forever with his talk of prices, of cargoes, 
 of good and bad harvests, of how much $5,000 at ten 
 per cent would come to in a year ? Was there never 
 to be a time when he would bend over her and say, 
 " Darling, I love you ! " 
 
 But daily talks with her mother taught her the value
 
 ; 6 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 of time in matters of war, and convinced her that the 
 enemy was surely if slowly abandoning his entrench- 
 ments and retreating into his central fortification, 
 which he would have to evacuate in turn, previous to a 
 complete surrender. 
 
 At the end of three months from the time he had 
 borrowed the money Fawcett went to Boston again. 
 He had other business there, but he thought it a good 
 opportunity to talk with Selden, whom he had not seen 
 since the cash was exchanged for his notes. To 
 Allan, who considered a dollar almost a sacred thing, 
 it was astounding that any one should lend so much 
 money and pay so little attention to it for so long a 
 time. He thought it his duty to lay before Selden the 
 entire results of his business since the additional cap- 
 ital had been paid in. Frank laughed when he heard 
 this proposition, and responded that if there was one 
 thing he hated more than another it was detail. 
 
 " Have you been doing better or worse ? That is 
 the whole question," he said. " I wouldn't listen to 
 those columns of figures you have there for a farm 
 Down East." 
 
 " But I want to show you," protested Allan, un- 
 easily. " You see, the first thing I did, was on the 
 I4th, when I bought " 
 
 " I must interrupt you," broke in the other. " I 
 don't care a rap whether you bought anything on the 
 I4thor the 24th, or whether it was hay, beans or butter 
 that you bought. If you can tell how much you have 
 made in the last quarter I am willing to listen, but not 
 to another solitary thing." 
 
 Fawcett looked dissatisfied. 
 
 **I can't tell exactly what I've made," said he, " because 
 I have a good deal of stock still on hand waiting for a
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 77 
 
 rise. When I only did a straight commission business 
 I knew pretty near where I was, my only trouble 
 being that some fellow would put me off occasionally, 
 or perhaps go into bankruptcy before I could get what 
 he owed me." 
 
 "Well, how does it look?" asked Selden, impa- 
 tiently. " You've got some kind of an idea. Or, 
 haven't you ? " 
 
 Thus compelled to answer in a way he did not like, 
 Fawcett said he had cleared $850 in the quarter before 
 he had dealt with Mr. Selden, and that if he were to 
 sell what he had on hand at present prices, reckoning 
 interest, etc., on his loan, he would come out about the 
 same. 
 
 " Not doing as well as you expected, then ? " re- 
 marked Selden, sententiously. 
 
 " But I tell you it is not a fair way of reckoning," said 
 Fawcett, " for I expect to get a substantial profit from 
 the rise that ought to take place before I sell." 
 
 " And if, instead of a rise, there should be a fall in 
 prices ? " 
 
 Fawcett grew a shade paler. 
 
 " That is very unlikely to occur," he said. 
 
 M But it may. The thing doesn't look as rosy as it did 
 three months ago, does it ? " 
 
 Fawcett was compelled to admit to himself that it 
 didn't, but he would not say so to this man. He 
 wished with all his heart that he had never borrowed a 
 dollar. It was too late to talk about that now, though, 
 and he was glad when Selden, of his own accord, 
 changed the subject. 
 
 " I've got tickets for the theatre to-night. Will you 
 go with me ? " 
 
 " Thank you. What is the play ? *
 
 78 Y9UNG FA WCETT*S MAMML. 
 
 "The Black Crook." 
 
 " I'd like to see that. I've heard a good deal about 
 it." 
 
 " Never seen it ! " exclaimed Frank. " Heavens ! 
 What a countryman you are! Why, I suppose I've 
 Been that play twenty times." 
 
 Allan, abashed, inquired what there was to make it 
 SO attractive. 
 
 " Legs, legs, legs ! Nothing but legs I The man 
 who wrote it got a fortune out of it, just because it 
 happened to be used for a spectacle and filled with 
 good-looking girls. As a literary production it hasn't 
 a particle of merit ; as a medium for the exhibition of 
 female anatomy it is absolutely without a rival. The 
 theatre-going public of the present age is demoralized. 
 It passes by the greatest actors and actresses to wit- 
 ness the nearest approach to nudity that the law will 
 permit. If you haven't seen the Crook it will be a 
 great treat to you." 
 
 That evening Fawcett, who had never seen a dis- 
 play at all approaching the one before him, justified the 
 prediction of his companion. He was so absorbed in 
 watching the fairies that he hardly heard Selden 
 whispering excitedly in his ear : 
 
 " There she is ; sixth row, to the right. She recog- 
 nizes you. Let her see that you remember her, but 
 be careful, as others here may know her." 
 
 Fawcett turned in a dazed way toward the quarter 
 indicated. 
 
 " Of whom are you speaking ? " he asked. 
 
 " Your old friend, the seraphic Sadie," whispered 
 Frank. " See her, there, with an ostrich fan. Look 
 out, don't attract attention." 
 
 Allan saw the young woman at last, and a glow of
 
 YQVNC FA WCXTT'S MASML. ft 
 
 eolor swept over his face as she smiled significantly at 
 him. The curtain was rising for the last act, and he 
 turned toward the stage with a feeling of relief. The 
 gorgeous effects of mechanic and painter, mingled with 
 the rounded forms of a hundred women lying in atti- 
 tudes of the most ravishing beauty, set his brain on 
 fire. When the great curtain slowly descended he 
 longingly gazed at the vanishing loveliness with a 
 decided tinge of regret. 
 
 " Sadie is going directly home," said Selden, as they 
 started toward the exit. " She has telegraphed me 
 that she shall expect us there." 
 
 Fawcett held back in the crowd. His head was in a 
 whirl. 
 
 " I I think I won't," he stammered. " I must get 
 up early in the morning, and I guss I will go to the hotel 
 now." 
 
 ' ' Pshaw ! Come around, if only for a minute. 
 That's common politeness. It's only a short walk 
 from here. No, I insist. After that I will walk to the 
 hotel with you." 
 
 Selden was the stronger of the twain, when it came 
 to an influence of this kind, and Allan found himself 
 yielding. He would go, he said, but strictly for only a 
 word. Nothing should persuade him to remain. If 
 she asked him to, he relied on Selden to help him 
 out. 
 
 " You will tell her it is impossible, won't you ? " he 
 pleaded. "We will go in just to speak and outagain." 
 
 Frank laughed, saying he should think Sadie was 
 some dangerous wild animal, of whose bite Allan was 
 afraid. As he spoke they ascended the steps of the 
 house and rang the bell. 
 
 Miss Sadie had been to the theatre in full evening
 
 8 o YO UNC FA WCE TT*S MABEL. 
 
 dress, and made a pretty picture as she came in to re- 
 ceive her callers. She professed to be very glad to see 
 " Mr. Smith " again, saying she had recognized him in 
 the theatre long before he saw her, and had spent most 
 of the evening with her eyes on him instead of the 
 play. 
 
 " I hope you are going to stay some time in the city," 
 she concluded, in the most bewitching manner. 
 
 " N-no," he stammered. " I go on the early train 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 She turned to Mr. Selden with an aggrieved expres- 
 sion. 
 
 " Now, Frank ! Isn't that dreadful ! You know I 
 have asked you, every time you called, when he was to 
 be here again and now to have him stay so short a 
 time ! It is outrageous ! What excuse have you for 
 such conduct ? " she asked Fawcett, putting her hand 
 affectionately on his shoulder. 
 
 " Business demands it," he told her, but already he 
 was weakening. 
 
 " Oh, you men ! How long will you live if you keep 
 on at this rate ! " she cried. " Business, business, al- 
 ways business ! " 
 
 With a show of doing as he had been asked, Selden 
 interfered, with the statement that " Mr. Smith " had 
 made him promise to remain but a moment on this 
 occasion, as he wished to get to his hotel early so as to 
 have a good night's rest before his earfy call. He said 
 this, however, with a look that showed the girl he had 
 no interest in the matter, and when he finished she 
 uttered a little scream of dismay. 
 
 " It is not true ! You would not keep me these long 
 weeks pining for you and then give me merely a word 
 and a good-bye. Com* into the next parlor where I
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL, gi 
 
 can talk to you. Wait for us, Mr. Selden. We'll not 
 belong." 
 
 And before Allen could debate the question with her 
 she had dragged him away and closed the door behind 
 her. 
 
 " Why must you go ? " she demanded of her com- 
 panion. 
 
 The poet has well said, when speaking of the bait 
 that the devil finds most attractive, 
 
 " I fish with a woman the whole year round." 
 
 Fawcett did not get the first train the next morning. 
 It was noon when he left Boston, and nearly night 
 when he reached Norwood. Never had he felt so 
 wretched, not even in those days when hardly a penny 
 stood between him and hunger, when his only bed was 
 a hard mattress under the garret roof of a farm-house. 
 
 How could he ever meet Mabel ! 
 
 He went to his office and remained there after the 
 front store was closed. He had no appetite for supper, 
 and he meant to stay until it was so late that he would 
 escape seeing anybody at his lodging until the next 
 morning. The next morning ! Could he ever look 
 again into those pure eyes, after the second time he 
 had dishonored her ! 
 
 He tried to justify himself, or at least to lessen the 
 enormity of his conduct. He was neither married nor 
 engaged. He intended to lead a single life for many 
 years yet, and the common judgment of men allowed 
 some liberty to a bachelor. He was no worse than 
 others ; why need he be so severe on such an ordinary 
 fault ? 
 
 To every question, there eame clearly the one r*
 
 82 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 
 
 sponse Mabel f He had done wrong to Mabel. It 
 was not very clear how this might be, but that was 
 the accusation against him, from his conscience. 
 Mabel, Mabel! He had sinned against Mabel/ 
 
 About nine o'clock a faint tap on his window-pane 
 attracted his attention. Somebody had seen the light 
 and wanted to leave an order, perhaps. Fawcett re- 
 mained perfectly still, hoping the caller would think the 
 light an accident that had been forgotten, and go away. 
 But the tapping was begun again, and thinking it might 
 be as well to have it over, he rose and went through 
 the store to the street door and opened it. His con- 
 sternation was complete when a lithe female figure 
 emerged from the darkness and he saw before him the 
 object of his thoughts for the past ten hours. 
 
 " I supposed it must be you," said the girl, entering 
 the store, and closing the door after her. " Nobody 
 else ever lights up the private office at night. It is 
 nice I roused you, for now we can go home to- 
 gether." 
 
 She was walking along into the inner room, and he 
 followed her mechanically. As they entered she caught 
 sight of his pale face and turned to him in alarm. 
 
 " You are ill 1 " she exclaimed. " You are in soma 
 trouble ! Oh, my darling, tell me what it is ! " 
 
 Years of careful instruction by the most careful of 
 mothers had failed at the vital point. She had called 
 him by the most affectionate name known to the English 
 tongue, in that moment of apprehension, born of the 
 saddest expression she had ever seen on his counte- 
 nance. And she did still more. She put both hands 
 on his shoulders and held up to him a face it needed 
 no seer to tell him was wholly his own. 
 
 With his first thought, that of his total unworthiness,
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 83 
 
 he thrust her hastily away. Had his touch meant 
 death he would not have felt more like avoiding her. 
 
 The tears sprang to her eyes. 
 
 "Oh, what is it? Have I done anything to you! 
 Are you angry that I tapped on the window ? Don't 
 you want to walk home with me ? Tell me what you 
 wish and I will do it, only don't look at me like that ! " 
 
 He had held this girl's hand in his, he had kissed 
 her on the cheek and on the forehead. And he had 
 been with that other woman ! Could the lapse of 
 time ever make him fit to touch this one again ! 
 
 "No, Mabel," he murmured, with a gasp. "There 
 has nothing happened for which you are to blame. 
 You must not ask me questions, for I cannot answer 
 them. But this I will say you never were so dear to 
 me as you are now." 
 
 A glad smile shone through the tears as she heard 
 him. She was wise enough not to press him for a 
 further explanation, though she was " dying," as women 
 say, to know what caused his distress. She said she 
 would rather have anything else happen to her than to 
 feel that she had injured him. Each word was like a 
 stab. He thought the best way was to go home with 
 her at once, as that would the sooner place him out of 
 sound of her accusing voice, and he proceeded to put 
 away his things and lock up his desk. 
 
 Until now he had not thought to look at the evening 
 paper, but seeing it lying on the table, the business 
 side of his nature impelled him to open it, to glance at 
 the state of the market. There had been an advance 
 in the price of the articles he was holding, and so 
 great was his satisfaction at this fact that he could not 
 help uttering a cry of joy. 
 
 " Wait a minute 1 " he said.
 
 1 4 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Opening his desk, he took up a pen and began to 
 figure. Five minutes later he seemed to have forgotten 
 that he ever had cause to mourn. If he sold his stock 
 in the morning, at the prices that ruled to-night, he 
 would be seven hundred dollars better off than he had 
 told Selden ! 
 
 " Mabel," he cried, looking up with every sign ot 
 trouble eliminated from his face, "if everything con- 
 tinues as it looks now I shall have a good deal of 
 money by and by. If I should get enough so that I 
 felt justified in asking you to marry me " 
 
 He could get no further, the sudden surprise, fol- 
 lowing her pain at the reception she had met, was too 
 much for the girl. She gave unmistakable signs of 
 fainting, and he sprang up to open the window. 
 
 A few minutes sufficed to restore her, but when he 
 essayed to finish his proposition she gently begged him 
 to wait till some other time. 
 
 " Let us go now," she said. " It is late, and mamma 
 will wonder \rhat has detained me so long." 
 
 As they passed up the street she leaned rather 
 heavily on his arm, and they walked very, very slowly. 
 
 " Let me finish what I started to say in the office," 
 said Fawcett, seeing that they were quite alone. " I 
 shall feel better to have it over with. I intended to 
 remain a bachelor until late in life, because I felt that 
 it would take me a long time to get enough money to 
 support a wife without taking too much from my 
 business. I used to say it was probable I would be 
 forty years old before that occurred. Now, since I have 
 had the extra capital from Mr. Selden, I can get on much 
 faster. If I prosper it may only be a very few years 
 before I am able to marry. I don't want you to feel 
 bound to me, for you are still very young, and there are
 
 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 85 
 
 go many things that may happen ; but if everything 
 should go right, and I get the money sooner than I 
 expect well, the fact is, you are the only girl I ever 
 cared for, and the only one I should ever think of 
 wanting for a wife." 
 
 It was not romantic, this mixing of marriage with 
 potatoes, of love with the price of grain. The girl felt 
 a sense of pique at the manner of his statement, but 
 she listened with silence, clinging possibly a little less 
 closely to his arm. 
 
 " We won't call it an engagement, exactly," continued 
 Allan, as if it was a matter for him to settle alone. 
 " Only, you see, I like you immensely, and I want you 
 to understand just how I am situated. We'll be real 
 good friends, and we'll wait and see how things turn 
 out Is that all right, Mabel ? " 
 
 The girl nodded, without raising her eyes from the 
 ground, were they had rested during the entire con- 
 versation. When they entered the house they found 
 no one in the parlor, but after a moment's delay, Allan 
 went to his room, saying he was tired and wanted to 
 get to sleep. 
 
 " I found Mr. Fawcett at his office, mamma," said 
 Mabel, when she had gone to her mother's chamber, 
 " and on the way home he said the strangest things 
 to me." 
 
 " Did he ask you to marry him ? " inquired Mrs. 
 Morey, anxiously. 
 
 " I hardly know whether he did or not," said Mabel, 
 with a pout. " I'll repeat it to you as well as I can and 
 see what you think about it.'*
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "HIS WIFE, OF COURSE." 
 
 THERE were many ups and downs in the business of 
 Allan Fawcett during the next six months. Some of 
 my readers may smile at the silliness of his capital, 
 and think the loss or gain of |p-w thousand dollars 
 not a proper thing on which to found important events 
 in a novel. But such a variation meant as much to 
 this young man as a hundred times that amount means 
 to those in better circumstances. The oscillations in 
 his little bank account kept him in a continual state of 
 nervous tension, and accounted for the entire chain of 
 circumstances which brought about the results I have 
 to record. 
 
 Mabel Morey was no stranger to the least of these 
 figures. On evenings when another man would have 
 talked to her of poetry or of music, Allan rehearsed 
 the day's business. The commission orders still paid 
 him well, and his entire uneasiness came from the 
 direct purchases he made and his inability to forecast 
 the state of the market twenty-four hours in advance. 
 He was operating on borrowed money, that was the 
 trouble. Mabel listened, with patience, to every word 
 he uttered, though she grew very tired of it. 
 
 " If I could get enough together to pay Selden what 
 I have borrowed, without incommoding myself I never 
 would go into debt again as long as I live," be remarked
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 87 
 
 frequently. " And I want to tell you another thing, 
 Mabel. If I had that paid, and $10,000 on hand, I 
 would not wait long to get married, either." 
 
 She drew a deep breath, but without attracting his 
 Attention. Marriage did not seem very near, on those 
 terms. Her mother, however, still counselled her not 
 to get impatient. She seemed to feel that all would 
 come out right in the end. 
 
 There were several times when Fawcett could have 
 paid half his indebtedness, had he been willing to do 
 so; but the chance of investing a little deeper and 
 sweeping it all off at once was too much for his judg- 
 ment, and the opportunity slipped away. Then there 
 came a sort of miniature " Black Friday " to him, when 
 he would not have been able to pay dollar for dollar on 
 all he owed, had he been called upon for immediate 
 settlement. The alarm he felt was so great that it act- 
 ually landed him in bed, sick from fear that the very 
 worst was about to fall on him. Mrs. Morey, with the 
 kind interest she always showed, attended him, doing 
 everything she could for his comfort. This was on 
 Sunday, when nothing new could be learned, and he 
 passed the day as he had the night, between the sheets, 
 tossing restlessly about, and getting very little sleep. 
 
 " Is there anything more I can do ? " asked the widow, 
 sympathetically, when she had bathed his forehead 
 and taken away the remains of the food he had hardly 
 tasted. 
 
 "Yes," he said. "You can let Mabel come up 
 here." 
 
 Mrs. Morey started. But the young man was cer- 
 tainly quite ill. He was like a real member of the 
 family. It would do no harm that she could conceive 
 of. And she replied, with a few guarded expressions,
 
 88 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 that she would let the girl come up for a little while, 
 but that he ought to try and get a nap before long. 
 She went down and had a talk with her daughter, and 
 twenty minutes later the young couple were together, 
 the door being discreetly left a little ajar for the sake 
 of Mrs. Grundy. 
 
 " I am worried to death," said Allan, taking Mabel's 
 hand in his. " And I think all the time about^you, too. 
 If the market sinks again to-morrow there will be little 
 chance of my being able to provide a home for you in 
 a long time." 
 
 She patted the hand gently, and told him he must 
 hope for better news in the morning. 
 
 " And even if your worst fears are realized," she 
 added, with a blush, " you will need me all the more. 
 It is not when one is successful that he most wants 
 friends. I have confidence in your ability, and feel 
 that you will come out of this difficulty a better business 
 man than ever." 
 
 A grateful sensation stole through his veins as he felt 
 the gentle pressure of that hand and heard those low 
 words of cheer. 
 
 " I wish, ever so much," he replied, " that I could 
 afford to get married now. As you say, one needs true 
 friends in adversity more than when the best luck is 
 with him. I wanted you to come up just now more 
 than I wanted anything else, and I was half afraid 
 your mother would not think it proper. If we were 
 married you would help me over such rough places as 
 this in a way you cannot do now." 
 
 The thought of marriage always had a soothing in- 
 fluence on the girl. She leaned over the bed and 
 touched her cheek for one moment to his. 
 
 " It cannot cost 90 very much to be married," she
 
 YOUNG FA WC ETT^S MABEL. 89 
 
 stammered, looking at the pictures on the bedquilt. 
 " I know mamma's expenses are light, and we have 
 everything we need. As for me, I never want much. 
 I have clothes enough now to last almost a year." 
 
 It took the girl much longer to utter those sentences 
 than it does you to read them. Every sentence hurt. 
 But she was ready for almost anything now except an j 
 indefinite postponement of her hopes. Fawcett was j 
 the only man she had ever cared for, and his faults did 
 not seem as glaring to her as if this had not been the 
 case. If she could say anything to arouse the dormant 
 thought in his brain that he could marry without en- 
 dangering his bank balance provided there should be 
 any when the next evening's papers arrived she 
 wanted to do it. 
 
 And in this she was successful. All the pleasures of 
 being a husband, the delight of calling that pretty girl 
 his wife, stole in upon the mind of the sick man. 
 W:;th a dream of future happiness he fell asleep, her 
 hand still in his, and when he awoke, an hour later, he 
 was much refreshed. 
 
 " I must have slept a long time," he exclaimed, rous- 
 ing himself. "And you did not move, for fear of 
 waking me! What a good girl you are! Do you 
 know, Mabel, I thought in my sleep that we were really 
 married, and it seemed as natural as could be." He 
 put one arm outside the coverlet and drew her toward 
 him. " Let me get out of this trouble with the market, 
 and I will not wait much longer, dearest." 
 
 She let him steal one kiss from her cheek, and then, 
 gently disengaging herself, said she must go for awhile. 
 If he wanted anything he could ring the little bell that 
 her mother had placed on the stand at the head of the 
 bed.
 
 9 YOUNG FA VTCETT'S MAM&L. 
 
 " But I want something aow," be smiled, significantly. 
 ** I want you." 
 
 Another kiss would have followed, had she permitted 
 it, but she rose with a laugh, telling him he was im- 
 proving altogether too fast. When the market had 
 turned, she said, they would talk again. She left the 
 room, wafting a salute to him with her ringers, with 
 which he was fain to be content for the present ; and 
 having nothing to disturb him, he went to sleep again. 
 In the morning he was down to breakfast at the usual 
 hour. 
 
 The morning paper, placed beside his plate, told him 
 there had been a reaction, to some extent, on Saturday 
 evening, and that the tendency of prices was in his 
 favor. His depressed spirits began to rise, and he went 
 to his office with a good deal of courage. By the use 
 of the telegraph he kept informed of the fluctuations at 
 New York, and as soon as he could clear himself of the 
 loss that had stared him in the face he sold all the 
 stock he had accumulated, to be delivered imme- 
 diately. 
 
 " I'm out of that scrape," he said joyfully, when he 
 came home to supper. " Next time I'll be more careful 
 I have had a lot of new orders, to-day, besides ; take it 
 altogether, I am feeling pretty well/' 
 
 Mabel was glad, and he felt the effect of her sym- 
 pathetic smile. She was a nice girl. Could he not 
 manage it so as to marry without that fortune he had 
 always considered a necessary prerequisite. After 
 supper he had her to himself in the parlor and acted 
 the most like a lover since she had known him. 
 
 "I guess we'd better call it an engagement," he said 
 with his arm around her. " I want to have it under- 
 Stood with your mother. Perhaps it won't be for a
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 91 
 
 good while, but it'll have to come. I've liked you ever 
 since I came to live here, and I've tried to push away 
 the feeling, because it seemed as if I must, but I can't 
 do it any longer. I'll tell her about it to-night, when 
 she comes in and explain just how I feel." 
 
 An engagement ! Could it be possible that he meant 
 it, after all this time ! His manner of announcing it 
 was not the most polished, but he had a business air, 
 that convinced her it was genuine. Yes, it was the 
 best thing that could happen, to have the engagement 
 understood. It gave her something like a substantial 
 basis for her expectations. 
 
 When Mrs. Morey came back from the stores where 
 she had been to make some purchases, Fawcett called 
 her in and informed her of his latest intentions in the 
 same blunt way he had told Mabel. 
 
 " You know I've always said I shouldn't marry till I 
 was better off in life," he explained, " but I've been 
 thinking it over, and I don't want to wait quite so long. 
 So I would like to have it understood, you know, that 
 it's an engagement." 
 
 The widow smiled affectionately upon her daughter, 
 and paused discreetly before answering. 
 
 " Mabel is very young," she said finally. 
 
 " She is nearly nineteen," replied Allan, " and I am 
 twenty-one. We are not exactly babies, and, as I said, 
 we sha'n't get married at once. Only, I want it under- 
 stood," he added, repeating the phrase as if he enjoyed 
 the sound. 
 
 Mrs. Morey took Mabel by the hand and drew her 
 toward her. 
 
 " Do you love Mr. Fawcett enough to marry him ? " 
 she asked, exactly as if they had discussed anything 
 ke together for the last year.
 
 92 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Mabel, with red and white cheeks, answered by a 
 low bow. 
 
 "Then," said Mrs. Morey, "I cannot withhold my 
 consent. I have only one child, and my greatest wish 
 is that she may be happy. Marriage is the natural lot 
 of woman. I hope she will make as good a wife as she 
 has been a daughter." 
 
 Then the two women shed some genuine tears, for 
 their love for each other was the most real part of their 
 natures. 
 
 Fawcett fidgeted uneasily on the sofa. If he hated 
 one thing more than another it was weeping. 
 
 "I understand, then," he said, lamely, "that it is 
 understood." 
 
 The formality of the engagement did exactly what 
 might have been expected it hastened the wedding- 
 day. The conversation at table began to drift into the 
 question of household expenses. Instances were given 
 of men who had married without a penny and risen to 
 affluence by the aid principally, as it appeared of 
 their helpmeets. It turned out that it was really much 
 cheaper to feed and clothe two persons than one 
 very much cheaper. In this sort of arithmetic two and 
 two did not make four, but the product amounted in 
 some mysterious way to only about one and a half. 
 
 The next morning Fawcett was thoroughly disgusted 
 to see by the paper that another advance had taken 
 place in market materials generally. Had he only been 
 courageous enough to wait twenty-four hours longer he 
 would have been $300 ahead. The lesson he had 
 believed learned the day before turned out to be but a 
 temporary thing. He was sorry he had been so 
 precipitate, and resolved the next time to wait the
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABML. 93 
 
 inevitable turn in the tide before selling. He took up 
 a price list for the previous year, and studied out the 
 fluctuations, trying to find the rule by which they 
 were governed. In the midst of his investigations 
 a letter came from Frank Selden, advising him not to 
 sell at present, if he had any stock on hand, as a friend 
 on the inside had told him prices were certain to rise 
 rapidly soon. Fawcett could hardly contain himself 
 for vexation, as he read this letter. If Selden had only 
 known enough to telegraph, it might have done some 
 good. 
 
 It turned out as Frank prognosticated. Prices rose 
 steadily for the next month, and every day Fawcett 
 gnashed his teeth as he figured out the loss he had sus- 
 tained by disposing of his stock. The final figures 
 showed a total of $2,800, a sum of the utmost import- 
 ance to him at that time. 
 
 " If I hadn't sold till now I would have made enough 
 to feel justified in getting married immediately," he 
 told Mabel, when the time came. 
 
 These things would undoubtedly have discouraged 
 most girls beyond repair, but Mabel Morey bore them 
 all in silence. As Allan was the only lover she had 
 ever had, she could not compare him with others, to 
 his disadvantage. She still liked him very much, and 
 waited patiently, as advised by her mother, till the 
 stream should turn her way. 
 
 The climax in Fawcett's anger at his bad luck 
 came with a letter from Selden, telling him to " Sell 
 now," weeks after he had let everything go without a 
 cent of profit. He had a great notion to return the 
 borrowed money, with what interest was due, and thus 
 clear himself forever from the unpleasant alliance. 
 But the temptation to try again, the convenience of
 
 94 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 having such a handsome balance to draw on, dissuaded 
 him. 
 
 Selden came to Norwood soon after this, and when he 
 alluded to the high turn the market had made, Faw- 
 cett could not bring himself to tell him the truth. He 
 did not say he had taken advantage of the rise, but 
 neither did he admit that he had lost the chance. And 
 to add to his feeling toward Selden, the latter made 
 several days' stay at his aunt's house, seeming to find 
 the company of Mabel very agreeable. 
 
 It was not possible for Fawcett to break out against 
 this fellow, who had done him such great favors, and 
 he endured his torture in silence, though with an ach- 
 ing heart. While he was at his office, Frank was 
 around the house, saying bright things to Mabel, no 
 doubt, and trying to arouse in her a liking for himself, 
 as he had done of yore. Twenty times Allan tried to 
 tell Frank of his engagement, but the words stuck in 
 his throat, and he had to content himself with hinting 
 to Mabel that she ought to be careful with such a man 
 as she knew her cousin to be. 
 
 " I don't see what I can do except treat him well," 
 was the girl's response. " He hasn't said anything 
 really improper to me, this time." 
 
 " What does he talk about all day ? " asked Fawcett 
 crossly. " He seems to find your society very enter- 
 taining." 
 
 Mabel nodded, as if this could not be denied. 
 
 "Frank likes me," she said softly. "I wish he 
 didn't. His mother keeps writing to mine that we 
 ought to be married." 
 
 Allan started with apprehension. 
 
 " Has he said anything to you like that ? " he dd-
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 95 
 
 "N-not exactly." 
 
 " Do you think it right, when you are engaged, to 
 flirt with every man who comes along ? " asked Faw- 
 cett indignantly. 
 
 The girl raised her eyes to his. He felt before she 
 spoke how much graver his accusation was than the 
 facts on which it was based. 
 
 " I have never flirted with him, nor with any one," 
 she answered. " He is my cousin. I cannot drive 
 him away from the house." 
 
 " Very well," said Allan, determined not to be recon- 
 ciled. " I shall tell your mother what I think about 
 it. That confounded loan ties my tongue to him, but 
 she shall know my opinion. If he is going to stay 
 here and make love to you, I shall change my lodging, 
 that's all ! " 
 
 The tears rose to Mabel's eyes. 
 
 "Oh, don't do that!" cried Allan, roughly. "I'd 
 rather you'd strike me than cry. It irritates me ter- 
 ribly." 
 
 However, he did not speak to Mrs. Morey. On the 
 following morning Selden came into his office with 
 the announcement that he was going back to Boston. 
 
 "Yes, this town is too dull for me," he added. 
 * Even Boston is hardly lively enough. New York is 
 the only decent place. I think I should move there, if 
 it wasn't for mother. A fellow has to consider things 
 like that, you know. Well," he added, banteringly, 
 " What word shall I take from you to Sadie ? " 
 
 Fawcett felt a momentary shock at the commin- 
 gling, almost in one sentence, of the name of Frank's 
 mother and a woman of the town. It showed him 
 more than anything else how little true sentiment thtrt 
 was in the young man.
 
 96 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " You need not tell her anything," he replied . " I 
 shall never see her again. To tell the truth, I never 
 mean to go to such a place so long as I live. I was 
 disgusted with myself the last time. The more one 
 thinks of it, the more terrible it grows. A girl pre- 
 tends to love a man she has only known half an hour, 
 and then the next day goes through the same form of 
 affection with another ! When you stop to think of it, 
 such things are simply dreadful ! " 
 
 Frank Selden gave utterance to a low whistle. 
 
 " So you have become a woman-hater ? " he said. 
 
 " A hater of such women, yes." 
 
 " They are all pretty much alike," laughed Selden. 
 " It is mainly a matter of the degree of pretence they 
 use." 
 
 Fawcett grew sober. 
 
 " Then the right thing for a man to do is to get mar- 
 ried," said he. 
 
 " How will he better himself by that ? " came the 
 sneering question. 
 
 " He will be sure that at least one woman is true to 
 him," said Allan, gravely. 
 
 " What woman will that be ? " 
 
 " His wife, of course." 
 
 Selden threw back his head and laughed merrily. 
 
 " My dear fellow, where have you lived ? Why, 
 wives have got to be watched as carefully as chicken- 
 coops, in these days. The shrewdest men are con- 
 stantly getting fooled. We can see our neighbor's 
 house, over the way, better than we can our own. 
 Well, I must go. Good-bye. Write me once in 
 while, and look out for yourself in business matters. 
 I'll tell Sadie what you say, though it will break her 
 keart"
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 97 
 
 The commission merchant thought a long time of 
 what his visitor had said. It was undoubtedly true 
 that there were false wives in the world, though not by 
 any means as many as his language seemed to inti- 
 mate. It behooved a man who was about to marry to 
 find a perfectly innocent girl, and to lose no effort to 
 keep her so. Such a girl, he thought, as Mabel Morey, 
 who had spent her entire life at her mother's side, 
 ignorant of wickedness, pure as when she lay in her 
 cradle, one who could never go astray ; who would 
 not even understand what the would-be seducer meant 
 if he tried to exercise his arts on her. 
 
 He turned to his books. The commissions that he 
 received were of late rapidly increasing. Deducting 
 the total amount of his indebtedness, and supposing 
 all bills due him to be good, he found by an easy com- 
 putation that he was worth $4,250. And his twenty- 
 second birthday had not yet arrived. 
 
 Would marriage be a very expensive thing ? He 
 wished he knew exactly how much it would cost. This 
 idea of waiting till he was forty for a wife could not be 
 carried out. He was firmly resolved that he never 
 could stoop to an ignoble attachment again. The 
 more he reflected the more he was inclined to ask Mrs. 
 Morey's consent to the fixing of an early day for his 
 wedding. He thought of it as a matter between that 
 lady and himself entirely. Mabel had nothing to do 
 about it, in his opinion, but to get ready when she was 
 told the time had come. It was for older and wiser 
 heads to settle such matters. 
 7
 
 Y9UNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A GREAT DEAL OF SERVING. 
 
 **DiD Mr. Selden call on you, on his way to the 
 depot ? " asked Mrs. Morey, at noon. " He decided 
 suddenly to go away, and said he wanted to stop at 
 your office." 
 
 When Allan replied, the lady drew a long breath and 
 told him she hated to say it, but it was certainly a 
 great relief to her that her nephew had left town. 
 
 " His mother is my only sister," she said, " and I am 
 under a hundred obligations to her, but I have no faith 
 in Frank. I have been on needles and pins ever since 
 he came." 
 
 After dinner Fawcett asked Mrs. Morey to see him 
 alone for a few minutes in the parlor. There he told 
 her what he had in mind. He had concluded that an 
 earlier marriage than the one he had contemplated 
 would be the best thing for him. In fact, he wanted 
 no more delay now than was absolutely necessary. 
 
 Welcome as were the tidings, glad as she was to see 
 the near outcome of her long siege at this fortress, the 
 widow was obliged to temporize, for the sake of 
 appearances. She alluded, over and over, to the ex- 
 treme youth of her daughter, to her lack of acquaint- 
 ance with the world, even to her need of a longer 
 apprenticeship at the duties of a housekeeper. 
 
 " She is a veritable child," she declared. " You 
 would need the utmost patience with her. I cannot 
 imagine her at present in the guise of a wife. And
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABR&. 99 
 
 then, think of the possibilities of becoming a mother 
 at such an age ! " 
 
 A mother ! Little Mabel a mother ! Had anything 
 been needed to increase the ardor of his suit, these 
 words would have accomplished it. A vision of sur- 
 passing sweetness came to him, a little form wrapped 
 in swaddling clothes, lying in Mabel's arms ! 
 
 There was nothing so attractive to him as children. 
 He never passed one out for an airiug in its carriage 
 without stealing a peep at its little face. Liking 
 money so well, he always found his hand geing to 
 his pocket for pennies when he came upon a group of 
 little ones flattening their noses against a confectioner's 
 window. One night, on the railroad, when he was a 
 newsboy, he took a crying child from its exhausted 
 mother, " for a few minutes, " and kept it six hours, 
 while she got the first good sleep she had had for 
 days. Under his care the infant's wailings were 
 hushed, and it also sank to slumber. And when the 
 lady offered to recompense him for the long vigil she 
 had unintentionally caused him, he replied that the 
 obligation was on his part and, that he could not think 
 of accepting anything whatever. 
 
 " You are hardly consistent, Mrs. Morey," he said, 
 when he came back to earth again. " You were the 
 mother of Mabel when you were scarcely older than 
 she. And I am sure, " he added, gallantly, " you are 
 none the worse for that." 
 
 Mrs. Morey inclined her head gravely. 
 
 " That is true, " she replied, after a moment. " But 
 J seem to have been older in experience than she. 
 Years are not everything. Mabel knows no more of 
 life than most children of five." 
 
 ''And that is one of the strongest reasons why I
 
 I oo YO UNG FA WCE TT 'S MABEL. 
 
 admire her, " said Fawcett. " I want to marry a girl 
 with a perfectly innocent mind. Say that you will 
 consent, and relieve my anxiety." 
 
 Mrs. Morey finally said she would consult with 
 Mabel, and would give her answer in the evening. 
 
 "What were you talking about so long?" asked 
 Mabel, as soon as Fawcett had left the house. 
 
 " He wants to marry you immediately, " smiled her 
 mother. 
 
 With clasped hands pressed against her breast the 
 girl uttered a little cry of relief. " I hope you put 
 nothing in his way, mamma," she said. " You didn't 
 think it necessary to skirmish for more delay, did 
 you ? " 
 
 The widow shook her head in mild disapproval. 
 
 " My dear child, you shock me by some of the things 
 you say. As long as you are sure of him, I should 
 think the longest possible wait would suit you best." 
 
 " Not at all ! " was the honest reply. " I have waited 
 now until I feel like an old maid. O yes, I want to get 
 married. And no man is sure till you have him tied 
 fast by the preacher. When did you arrange it for ? 
 Not later than next month, I solemnly hope. " 
 
 A sad laugh at the girl's earnestness was forced from 
 her mother's lips. 
 
 " I left the time unsettled. Arrange it between you 
 to-night," she said. " I shall turn him over to you 
 when he finishes supper. But, let me warn you for 
 the last time, a woman must profess a desire for delay. 
 Men expect it. They are disappointed if they do not 
 have to do just so much urging. And so my little 
 girl wants to get rid of her old mother ? " 
 
 Mabel nestled close to the loving bosom. 
 
 " You are the dearest mamma in the world, but you
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. IO1 
 
 can't be a husband ! " she exclaimed. " I shall always 
 love you as dearly as ever, but a girl doesn't seem any- 
 body at all until she is married." 
 
 The mother responded warmly to her daughter's 
 caresses. 
 
 "He will require a great deal of managing," she 
 said, in allusion to Fawcett. "He is inclined to dom- 
 ineer, and would make the life of a woman a burden 
 to her if he were permitted to do so. I shall always 
 be ready to give you advice. " 
 
 An hour followed, devoted to the general subject 
 of controlling husbands and of the best methods to be 
 pursued under a large variety of circumstances. The 
 advice given by the elder lady, while it would un- 
 doubtedly interest the reader, is hardly permissible for 
 me to use, as most of it was imparted under the seal of 
 confidence. It is probably paralleled daily in similar 
 cases by other ladies who think they have discovered 
 a sovereign panacea for all the troubles incident to 
 matrimony, and the reader will have occasion to notice, 
 as this tale proceeds, how valuable it proved to the 
 young wife that was to be. 
 
 After considerable time had been consumed in 
 reasons pro and con, Mabel and Allan agreed upon a 
 date for their nuptials. Now that he had decided to 
 marry, and within a short time, he could not endure the 
 least unnecessary delay. The girl found him as ardent 
 as she could have wished. Two months were allowed 
 for preparation, each day of which Fawcett grudged 
 exceedingly. 
 
 As the slight arrangements proceeded the young man 
 seemed to change his entire disposition. He grew as 
 sentimental as any lover in poetic fiction. His departure 
 for his office in the morning was delayed beyond the
 
 1 02 Y9VNG FA WCE TT '5 MABEL. 
 
 usual hour. At noon he lingered longer than he had 
 ever done, and in the evening he never left the house 
 unless she was with him. The news of the impending 
 event spread over the town, and to all who knew him 
 well enough to allude to the subject he responded 
 proudly that it was a true report. Those who intended 
 to turn the subject into a jest were taken aback by his 
 manner. 
 
 The young business man rose in the estimation of his 
 townsmen. Not only was he one of the brightest mer- 
 chants of his age that they knew, but he had the elements 
 of a substantial man of family in his composition. They 
 said among themselves that he might have selected a 
 wiser helpmeet than that girl of the Widow Morey's, 
 but it might come out all right. There was no account- 
 ing for marital selections. 
 
 It always takes a good deal of sewing to prepare a 
 young woman for the marriage altar. There is a recog- 
 nized list of things to wear that she ought to have, in 
 order to enter on the sacred obligations she is about to 
 assume. Mrs. Morey could not do as much as she 
 would have liked for her daughter in this respect, but 
 she ran the sewing-machine day after day on such goods 
 as she could afford, until it seemed to the ignorant Mr. 
 Fawcett that a shop could easily have been set up out 
 of the result of her labors. Some of the articles were 
 exhibited to him with a sort of bashful pride by Miss 
 Mabel the gowns, the hats, and that sort of thing. 
 Some, on the contrary, were deemed too intricate, too 
 ornate, or too delicate for his inspection, and when he 
 entered the sewing-room unannounced there were 
 stifled screams, and a sudden cessation of labor, while 
 the forms of the two women were placed by a concerted 
 action between him and the woik in progress.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 103 
 
 "We shall have to establish a rule," said Mrs. Morey r 
 one day, " that you are not to enter this room without 
 knocking. " 
 
 " Is it so bad as that ? " he inquired, with a smile. 
 
 Fawcett's face always wore a smile during this period. 
 
 " I would not mind, myself, " said Mrs. Morey. " But 
 you can see how confusing it might be to Mabel under 
 some circumstances to have you enter. There are 
 many garments in progress of manufacture that are not 
 supposed to be seen by gentlemen." 
 
 The smile on the young man's face deepened. 
 
 "And yet I suppose the time will come when I 
 shall see them all, " said he. 
 
 What was it that brought the tears to the mother's 
 eyes ? She had done all she could to further this mar- 
 riage. She would not have undone it now, had she 
 been able. Why did she turn from him, at his thought- 
 less words, and pretend to busy herself over the work 
 before her, stopping furtively to press her handkerchief 
 to her face ? 
 
 Business went on just the same. With his new gay- 
 ety of heart Fawcett did not forget that produce was to be 
 sold for others on commission, and that he had nearly 
 ten thousand dollars that would eat its head off, as 
 they say of stalled horses, unless invested. He bought 
 with caution and sold when he thought it wise, and on the 
 whole did well. Some New Yorkers with whom he 
 dealt suggested to him to come on and see them. They 
 knew that he was young, and they had formed a very 
 favorable idea of his ability. One concern, Decker & 
 Co., threw out hints that he might be received into part- 
 nership if terms could be arranged. He wanted to see 
 them, but he could not leave Mabel just yet. He could 
 go there on his wedding-tour, combining pleasure with
 
 104 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 something that might prove more useful. Yes, he would 
 go to New York on that wonderful journey of which 
 he thought all day and dreamed every night, that voyage 
 compared to which Captain Cook's and Magellan's 
 were insignificant, and even the fabulous trips of Jules 
 Verne not worth talking about. 
 
 He would spend hours in the dimly-lighted parlor, 
 with Mabel's hand in his, talking, talking, talking. 
 How very happy they would always be together ! Six 
 weeks more ! How could he wait six weeks ! A 
 month ? It was a century ! The date could have 
 been set earlier, and it should have been. But each 
 day made one less, after all, and when but a week re- 
 mained between him and his bridal hour he found him- 
 self a little frightened at its close proximity. 
 
 Yes ! He used to sit in his private office, with his 
 head on his hand, his elbow resting on the desk. It 
 was a great step to take, this step of marriage. There 
 was a responsibility about it that was terrifying when 
 one approached it so nearly. Supposing things should 
 go wrong ! What if the market should take a turn to 
 the bad and everything go all at once to the bow- 
 wows ! There he would be with a double expense on 
 his hands, for in those days he ceased to believe the 
 stories of the extraordinary cheapness with which a 
 married couple could live. Five days more and it 
 would be too late to retrace his steps ! 
 
 Thoughts of closing his store and running away 
 came into his head, and held sway there for hours at 
 a time. It would be disreputable, but would it not in 
 the end prove the part of wisdom ? Ah, yes ! He 
 had been right when he said a man should have fifty 
 thousand dollars and be forty years of age before he 
 perpetrated such a folly.
 
 YO UNO FA WCE TT'S MABEL. i $ 
 
 He told Mabel and her mother that evening that he 
 had a violent headache, as an excuse for going to his 
 room and staying there. Neither of them believed 
 this statement covered the whole truth, and they com- 
 mented upon the matter when he had left them. 
 
 " It is not unusual for men to have queer spells at 
 such a time as this," said the wise elder lady. " I 
 have heard of them being so ill that the wedding had 
 to be postponed. We must deal very gently with Mr. 
 Fawcett in the matter, for it would be awkward to have 
 anything happen now." 
 
 " Awkward ! " echoed Mabel. " It would be out- 
 rageous ! Don't you think if I went to his room and 
 bathed his head it would be a good thing ? " 
 
 The mother did not agree with the idea. She said 
 it was best to leave him entirely alone for the present 
 It would not do to act as if anything was suspected. 
 She did not know that, at the very minute she was 
 saying this, Fawcett was seriously considering whether 
 to tie his clothes in a bundle and escape by the 
 piazza window, or she might have changed her mind. 
 But he did not carry out the half-formed plan. He 
 went to sleep instead and awoke in the morning with 
 the thought uppermost that he would have been an 
 idiot to have executed the scheme in his head when he 
 retired. 
 
 " I am all right now," he said, as he made his ap- 
 pearance at the breakfast-table. "I think I must 
 have caught cold or something yesterday." 
 
 He made all his preparations to be gone a week on 
 his wedding-trip. It was with positive glee that he 
 drew $200 from the bank to take with him, determined 
 to spare no expense on such an important journey. 
 What was $200 ? He made it in one day, a little white
 
 106 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 previous, by a rise in butter. A man got married but 
 once at least once at a time. He ought to do the 
 thing up in a proper way. 
 
 He was given a private view of Mabel in her wed- 
 ding-dress and afterwards in her travelling costume. 
 Never had she looked so lovely. As he was not per- 
 mitted to hug the girl for fear of spoiling her clothes, 
 he did the next best thing. He hugged himself in his 
 delight. 
 
 Was there a man in all this world with whom he 
 would exchange places ? Not one. 
 
 The marriage was t<r ake place early in the evening, 
 in the presence of only the necessary number of peo- 
 ple. Neither he nor Mabel wanted a public wedding. 
 Neither had any relations in the town, and it was 
 agreed that it would be foolish to send for those at a 
 distance. The only kin of hers that Allan knew were 
 Mattie Burbank and Frank Selden, and he was very 
 sure he did not wish either of them to see the 
 ceremony. He did not even want Frank to know of it 
 till it was over, as he had a half fear that the wealthy 
 young man might come at the last moment and snatch 
 the prize from his grasp. 
 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon the last thing was 
 done, prior to the actual saying of the words that were 
 to bind them. And then, at that late hour, Fawcett 
 felt a sudden giving way of his powers, and alarmed 
 his prospective bride and her mother by collapsing 
 upon the sofa in the sitting-room, where he lay white 
 and nearly nerveless for an hour. 
 
 Appeals of Mabel to have a physician summoned 
 were disregarded by Mrs. Morey, who administered 
 homely remedies that she had in the house, and strove by 
 the sympathy of her ministrations to restore the young
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. iof 
 
 man to his normal condition. She even whispered to 
 her daughter to leave the room for a time, so that 
 Allan might be free to say anything he chose without 
 the restraint of her presence. The poor child, over- 
 come at this state of affairs, went to her chamber and 
 cried heartily. She did not see what Allan had to 
 trouble him. If any one was to grow faint on that day 
 it ought, in all reason, to be herself. 
 
 Heavens 1 How thankful she would be when the 
 minister had done his work ! And do it he should 
 that very evening, if she had to take the vows while 
 the bridegroom lay where he then was. She had no 
 faith in a postponement. If her mother agreed to one 
 she would raise her voice in protest. There was such 
 a thing as going too far. With these thoughts she 
 wiped her eyes and bathed the lids in camphor water, 
 and put on a determined little frown, such as has be- 
 fore now altered the fates of nations. 
 
 Fawcett said many things to Mrs. Morey during 
 that hour, and she replied with great wisdom and 
 diplomacy. A less shrewd woman would have made a 
 mess of it, but she carried her points, one by one, and 
 came out wholly victorious. He wanted to wait 
 another month ; he did not feel sufficiently strong to 
 endure the railway journey ; he feared he was not 
 good enough to make Mabel happy ; he thought he 
 was taking too great a responsibility upon himself ; it 
 was better for both of them that a little more time 
 should be spent in thinking on these important things. 
 
 At every turn the widow met him wisely. Long be- 
 fore the time for the clergyman to arrive he had risen, 
 and arranged his disordered hair, showing nothing of 
 what he had passed through except by the paleness 
 that still whitened his countenance.
 
 leg YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " I shall not get into that state again," he said, 
 smiling at his nurse. " It was caused by a reaction 
 and over-excitement. Go now, Mrs. Morey, and send 
 Mabel to me." 
 
 Instructed to the fullest extent by her mother, 
 Mabel soon made her appearance. When he held out 
 his arms to her, she hesitated to go to him. 
 
 " You do not love me," she said in a low tone. 
 
 " Not love you ! My darling ! In another hour 
 you will be my wife ! " 
 
 " And you are not sorry ? " 
 
 He protested, with all the force he could command, 
 that she was cruel even to insinuate such a thing. He 
 had never been so happy. She walked slowly toward 
 him and let him draw her to a seat by his side. 
 
 " I don't think I am wise enough to be the wife of a 
 man like you," she whispered. " I know so very little. 
 Are you sure you will not scold me for my ignorance 
 when you find how great it is ? " 
 
 He exhausted words in protesting that he never would 
 speak a harsh word to her or harbor a harsh thought. 
 He would always love her for the sweetest, dearest 
 woman on earth. 
 
 " To-night," she said, " I leave my mamma, to give 
 up my whole life to you. It would take but little to 
 break my heart, Allan. I love you and " 
 
 She faltered, feeling that she was going beyond the 
 line that her mother would have considered proper. 
 The feeling was intensified a second later, when, in 
 spite of her resistance, real enough this time, he 
 pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss. 
 
 " If I ever forget my duty toward you," he exclaimed, 
 may I 
 
 She stopped him, with an expression of alarm.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MAS EL. 109 
 
 " Don't put it in that way," she replied. " You can- 
 not forget it, any more than I could forget mine toward 
 you. And now I must go to put on my gown, for the 
 minister will soon be here." 
 
 As she vanished, with a bright smile thrown back at 
 him, he felt like an ordinary mortal who had been m 
 the presence of a saint. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THEIR WEDDING JOURNEY. 
 
 THE ceremony was as simple as the law permits, but 
 how stupendous the words seemed to which he gave 
 the affirmative. He had thought more than once that 
 marriage meant all it ought to mean that two people 
 who repeat these sacred vows are barred forever from 
 all others but the solemn expression, " and keep your- 
 self unto her as long as ye both shall live," was weight- 
 ier than he had conceived. His face was very grave 
 as he answered, and his hand trembled as he placed 
 the ring on Mabel's finger. With that act he cut the 
 cord that tied his boat to the shore and let it drift 
 away on the sea of matrimony, that unknown vast 
 expanse the farther shores of which were out of view ! 
 
 Mabel had no such sentiments as these in her pretty 
 head. It was enough for her that she had won him at 
 last, that when the tiresome minister had finished she 
 would be addressed as " Mrs. Allan Fawcett." The 
 ring on her finger was the title-deed to the property 
 she had coveted so long. She had wanted to be a wife, 
 and now she was one. Her long preparation had borne 
 its fruit. Her arduous studies were to be rewarded by
 
 lid YOUNG FAWCETT' S MABEL. 
 
 the diploma made out in the form of a marriage cer- 
 tificate that would show how well she had done hei 
 task. 
 
 Allan's hand trembled, but hers was firm. It is often' 
 er the case that bridegrooms show the most trepidation 
 at this moment than most people believe. Mabel saw 
 no more reason why she should exhibit weakness than 
 if the clergyman had been presenting her with any 
 other valuable piece of property. As for a pretence of 
 bashfulness, the time for that was past. The fish was 
 on the hook and could not get away now if he tried. 
 
 It had been arranged that the couple were to go 
 away to New York for about a week and were then to 
 take up housekeeping by themselves at Mrs. Morey's, 
 that lady having accepted an invitation to make a visit 
 to her sister, Mrs. Selden. This seemed an excellent 
 plan, as everything needed was at hand, and Mabel 
 could have a chance to exhibit her capabilities before 
 Allan went to the expense of purchasing furniture. 
 Bridget was to be left in the house, but Mrs. Morey 
 would be gone when the wedded pair returned from 
 their bridal journey. There was something romantic 
 in the plan, and it pleased Fawcett well. 
 
 The parting of Mabel and her mother was most affec- 
 tionate, but neither of them intended to allow a scene. 
 They well knew that must prove disagreeable to Faw- 
 cett, and had schooled themselves not to give way 
 unduly to their emotions. 
 
 The wraps were put on, the baggage made ready, the 
 carriage taken at the door, and presently the " happy 
 pair " were riding toward the station. 
 
 Never had Fawcett felt such a sense of exultation 
 as when the carriage door closed and he was actually 
 started on his wedding-trip. With the utmost thought-
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. iy 1 
 
 lessness he was about to take a quick embrace, when 
 Mabel cautioned him that the curtains were up and 
 that people on the street were undoubtedly watching. 
 He felt an instant's pique that she should mention so 
 slight a matter at such a moment. He did not care if 
 every person in Norwood saw him, and he thought her 
 protest ill-timed. However, he said nothing, and was 
 rewarded a little later by finding her hand in his, 
 placed there of her own accord, and even giving forth a 
 fascinating little pressure. 
 
 " I think the whole town is out," she said, as they 
 passed a group. " A wedding is not so common here 
 that one ever fails to attract attention. Some of them 
 told mamma that it ought to be in the church, so they 
 all could come." 
 
 A new sense of possession came over him. He was 
 the sole owner of this sweet creature by his side. The 
 others who stood there impotently on the sidewalks 
 must be consumed with envy when they thought of it. 
 He had taken out of the village the prettiest girl in it, 
 and his rivals had not even an opportunity to spy upon 
 him when he did the deed. 
 
 Fawcett grew in the stature of a man within the next 
 five minutes more than he had grown in a year before. 
 There was something in life higher than the selling of 
 grain, something dearer than the accumulation of prop- 
 erty. What a wonderful thing it was, this joining of 
 a man to a woman, that they twain might become one 
 flesh ! He would not have exchanged places with a 
 Vanderbilt as he rode in that hired carriage to the sta- 
 tion, with the little hand of his wife think of it ! his 
 wife, in his own. 
 
 At the station there was an unpleasant occurrence. 
 When he paid the driver of the carriage three dollars
 
 1 1 2 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 the man insisted that the price was four. It was cer 
 tainly aggravating. Fawcett had taken pains to ask 
 the driver's employer a week previous and had been 
 told that the price was three dollars. He had no idea 
 of allowing any one to swindle him and, beside, he con- 
 sidered it a piece of rascality on the part of the man, 
 who doubtless thought he could exact the extra sum on 
 such an occasion, and that his passenger would pay 
 rather than make talk where people were listening. 
 
 " The fare is three dollars," said Fawcett icily. " I 
 made the price with Mr. Wyman." 
 
 The hackman struggled to win his point, for he felt 
 that he also had a reputation to sustain, and a dozen 
 people gathered near by to witness the outcome of 
 this peculiar discussion. 
 
 " There are two trunks, which are fifty cents each," 
 he said. 
 
 Fawcett was slightly puzzled by this suggestion. 
 He had certainly said nothing to the stable-keeper about 
 trunks, but he had an idea that they were usually in- 
 cluded in a depot fare. 
 
 " Very well, I will settle the matter with Mr. Wyman 
 when I return," said he, turning away. 
 
 " He told me to collect it," responded the man, dog 
 gedly. 
 
 Now, while it was literally true that Mr. Wyman had 
 told the man to collect the price of the carriage, he had 
 never intended that he should do it in this manner. 
 He had only said " Yes," when the driver asked if Mr. 
 Fawcett was to pay at the station, and had done so 
 from the fact that it was not his habit to put such mat- 
 ters on the book, except with regular customers. He 
 knew the young merchant well, and would hav gives 
 him credit for any amount.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 1 13 
 
 The driver's answer angered Fawcett thoroughly. 
 He realized to some extent the ridiculous plight he had 
 got into, and he was more determined than ever not to 
 submit to extortion. He glanced hastily at Mabel, 
 who stood there in her travelling dress, marked unmis- 
 takably as a bride, even to the three or four strangers 
 present. A bright color had come into her cheek, 
 perceptible through the thin veil. Allan thought with 
 what a good grace he could have dragged the obnoxious 
 driver from his seat and pummelled him, had he been 
 alone. 
 
 " He told you to collect it, did he ? " he repeated, 
 with rising inflection. " Well, you tell him that I have 
 three thousand dollars on deposit in the First National 
 Bank, which he can attach if he is afraid to wait a 
 week. I shall not pay you now at any rate." 
 
 He would have liked to say much more, but he re- 
 strained himself, and turning away took Mabel into the 
 ladies' room. Then, with a word expressive of his 
 regret at the incident, he went to get the trunks checked 
 for Providence, where the night was to be passed, and 
 to buy his tickets. 
 
 " You want seats in the Pullman, also, do you not ? " 
 inquired the affable agent, who knew Fawcett well and 
 also the fact of his marriage that afternoon. 
 
 Fawcett hesitated a second. He had never ridden, 
 as a passenger, in any car of that description. It was 
 a luxury which he had always associated with very 
 wealthy or very extravagant persons. While he was 
 deliberating he made room for another man, who was 
 going through to New York, and who bought three 
 Pullman berths, at $2.50 each. There was some excuse 
 for such a case, Allan thought, when one was to ride 
 all night, but just to Provident
 
 1 1 4 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 " No, I don't think I will take them," he said, put 
 ting down the money for the regular fare. 
 
 The agent opened his eyes a little wider, but gave 
 no other sign of surprise, and handed out the tickets. 
 Allan went to get the baggage checked and then re- 
 turned to his bride. 
 
 " How much time is there now ? " she asked. 
 
 " Only five minutes," he replied. 
 
 " And you have attended to everything? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " You have the tickets and the baggage checks ? " 
 
 He showed them to her with a smile. 
 
 " And the Pullman seats ? " 
 
 His countenance fell. He would have to get them 
 now. He could not go through another dispute. 
 
 " You have forgotten them ! " cried Mabel. " Well, 
 there is yet time ; but you will have to make haste." 
 
 He went back to the ticket window. Half-a-dozen 
 people were in line, and they were in no hurry to get 
 away, it seemed. At the last minute he was again at 
 the front, and telling the agent that he guessed he 
 would take the Pullman checks, after all. 
 
 " How much are they ? " he asked, as they were 
 handed to him. 
 
 " One dollar." 
 
 He put down a two-dollar bill and was turning away 
 when the agent called to him to take his change. 
 Allan had understood that the seats were a dollar ^ach. 
 He took the money handed to him with a feeling of 
 relief. Only fifty cents ! Had he known that he would 
 have bought them in the first place. He hastened 
 back to Mabel, as the train rolled up to the depot, and 
 oon they were seated in the car and off on their road. 
 
 " Seats in these cars are not very dear/' he said to
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 1 1 5 
 
 her, as they left Norwood behind. "They are only 
 fifty cents from here to Providence." 
 
 And these were the first words he had to address 
 to her, as she left the village 1 Dollars and cents ! 
 Would he never think of anything else ? Yes, he 
 should. She would take that out of him in time. 
 Quietly but none the less surely she would teach him 
 to give up his sordid views and learn how to take life 
 like a gentleman. 
 
 To his statement about the cost of the tickets she 
 only replied by a smile that indicated nothing of what 
 was passing in her mind. They were both silent from 
 then until the conductor passed along. People in the 
 car commented among themselves on the fact that a 
 bridal couple was among them, and one young girl 
 blushed at something a young man in her party said to 
 her when this was mentioned. 
 
 Mabel was thinking a good deal. The affair of the 
 Pullman tickets had made an impression on her mind. 
 She knew Allan had not intended to get them, and 
 that, had it not been for her suggestion, they would at 
 this moment have been riding toward Providence in 
 the ordinary cars, something that would have mortified 
 her to the utmost. It was evident that she would have 
 to lead him as gently as she could into spending a little 
 more money on this trip than he meant to do, if it was 
 to be at all what it ought. She realized that it would 
 require a good deal of judgment to accomplish what 
 she desired in a way that would not injure his amour 
 propre, and that each molehill of expense beyond what 
 he had decided upon would seem to him like a mountain. 
 
 " Of course you haven't written or telegraphed for 
 accommodations," she suggested, interrogatively, when 
 they were nearing the city.
 
 1 1 6 YO UNG FA IVCE TT 'S MABEL. 
 
 * No. The Narragansett is a large hotel. There 
 will be plenty of rooms." 
 
 " I think so," she answered, " but they may not be 
 exactly the ones to suit. You know there are no f 
 many bridal suites in any house." 
 
 He had a vague idea that he had heard of such things 
 as bridal suites before, apartments that princes and 
 millionaires occupied when on their wedding journeys ; 
 but he had never thought of such quarters in connec- 
 tion with himself and this little woman. 
 
 " I I am afraid," he stammered, " that the rooms 
 you speak of are much too expensive for a purse like 
 mine. They probably cost very dear." 
 
 She reached across the seat and put her hand in his 
 again. 
 
 " But you have three thousand dollars in the bank, 
 Allan, and this is only once in a lifetime." 
 
 When the hand came in contact with his, it warped 
 his judgment a little, but he tried to remain firm. 
 
 " Remember, my dear," he replied, " that though I 
 have that sum in the bank, I am heavily in debt. If 
 you will deduct from the $3,000 I have there the $5,000 
 I owe Frank Selden you will see that there is not much 
 left." 
 
 She did not answer for a moment. Then she re- 
 minded him of what he had told her a few days before, 
 about his recent profits, and said he must have con- 
 siderable stock on hand, which could be disposed of 
 for money at any time. He did not like to have her 
 take up this line of argument, for he considered busi- 
 ness matters things that men should attend to exclu- 
 sively, and he did not fancy, either, the quiet tone she 
 assumed, as she tried to argue with him. 
 
 ** * must be the judge of what I can afford, my dear,"
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. \\f 
 
 he said, squeezing the hand he held. " I will get a 
 good room, never fear for that." 
 
 She took the hand from him suddenly. 
 
 " One room ! " she exclaimed. " Oh, Allan ! " 
 
 For an instant he felt like a scoundrel, though he did 
 not know why. He began lamely to remind her that 
 they were now husband and wife, and that it was not 
 necessary to put a whole row of chambers between 
 them, but she turned to the window and gave no sign 
 that she heard. He grew provoked at her attitude. 
 This was a pleasant beginning, was it not ? He went on 
 to speak of the matter, as he had begun, repeating what 
 he had said of the necessity of keeping within reason- 
 able limits in expenses. After a while it struck him 
 that she was studiously refraining from listening. 
 
 " Mabel," he whispered, stopping short in his con- 
 versation. 
 
 There was no reply. They were entering the city 
 and she seemed occupied in watching the sights in the 
 dimly-lighted streets. 
 
 "Mabel!" 
 
 This time he spoke sharply, and the face of his wife 
 turned toward him. 
 
 " I spoke to you ! " he said stiffly. 
 
 " I beg pardon ; what did you say ? " 
 
 " It is not polite for you to turn your back to me and 
 look out of the window when I am talking," he said 
 loftily. 
 
 " Well, I am listening now." 
 
 She did not speak like a two hours' bride, but her 
 tone was subdued, for all that. She had herself much 
 better in hand than he. 
 
 " I do not care to go all over it again," he said, feel- 
 ing that she had the advantage. " The locomotive is
 
 j i8 YOUNG FA WCE TFS MABEL. 
 
 whistling for the station and we must prepare to leare 
 the train." 
 
 He rose, gathered up the things he had to take, and 
 stood in the aisle along with the other passengers. She 
 sat still, knowing that nothing would be gained by haste, 
 and that it would be some seconds before the train 
 reached a full stop. Allan construed this action as in- 
 dicating more of her rebellious spirit, and repressed 
 with difficulty his inclination to say something harsh. 
 In plenty of time to leave with the others, Mabel took 
 her place in the aisle with him, and he helped her to 
 alight from the car steps with a rather dark counte- 
 nance. Accepting the offer of the first cabman who greet- 
 ed him, he escorted his wife to the carriage, gave the 
 baggage checks to the driver, and, telling Mabel to get 
 in, waited until he saw that the right trunks were 
 strapped on behind before he took his place beside 
 her. 
 
 " Is the hotel far from here ? " she asked pleasantly, 
 peering into the street as they rode along. 
 
 " Not very," he replied shortly. He could not get 
 into a sweet frame of mind in a moment, and he thought 
 she owed him an apology for her actions of a few 
 minutes before. 
 
 "I have heard it is a very good house," continued 
 Mabel, affecting not to notice anything strange in hi 
 manner. *' Mamma has stopped there." 
 
 He dismissed the cabman without a dispute, hardly 
 knowing how much change he got back from the five 
 dollar bill he tendered him. Taking Mabel to the 
 ladies' parlor he sought the office. 
 
 " I want a suite of rooms," he said to the clerk. 
 
 The clerk had " sized him up," as the saying is, foi 
 a newly-married man, the instant he set eyes on him.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT*S MABEL. 1 19 
 
 But when he heard the short, sharp tones, he tele- 
 graphed an inquiry to the porter, who had accompanied 
 Fawcett from the street door. The answer being con- 
 firmatory of his first suspicion, he handed the guest 
 a pen with which to register, and looked over one 
 of those large cards on which clerks record the relative 
 Condition of the chambers. 
 
 " You want a suite with a bath, I presume ? " said 
 the clerk, after completing his inspection. 
 
 Fawcett glanced up quickly. Why the devil should 
 the man ask such a question as that ! Was there any- 
 thing about his appearance to indicate that he needed 
 washing? The clerk stood there, attentive and ex- 
 pectant, and the idea came slowly to Allan that he 
 might be making a fool of himself. 
 
 " What is the price ? " he asked, reddening, 
 
 " The best we have unoccupied, a suite with parlor, 
 bed-room and bath-room, is ten dollars a day." 
 
 Well, it was not so very bad. They were going 
 to remain but one night and take the next afternoon's 
 train for New York. Allan engaged the suite without 
 further parley and went with a bell-boy to take Mabel 
 to it. 
 
 When the trunks were brought in, and he had 
 unlocked them, there was a moment of embarrassment. 
 Had it not been for the little controversy that had 
 arisen on the train Allan would probably have folded 
 his wife in his arms and said a hundred pretty things 
 to her. But that affair was still rankling in his brain, 
 and he did not like to do anything in which his heart 
 was not a full partner. So he only said it was get- 
 ting late and he would go into the parlor so as not 
 to incommode her. Suiting the action to the ward, he 
 closed the door carefully sifter
 
 130 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Mabel did not know whether to laugh or cry. She 
 thought he was acting shabbily, but the resolve she had 
 formed to teach him a number of lessons before 
 he was many days older helped her to maintain her 
 dignity. She took off her hat at the mirror, and 
 removed her cloak slowly. Was this the way other 
 men acted on their wedding night ? She did not 
 believe it. And it was over the matter of a few 
 dollars to be paid for the rooms they were to occupy ! 
 She could see it in no other way. It was all on 
 account of his penurious desire to save a cent or two at 
 a time when he ought to think no sum too great 
 for the happiness of being alone with her. 
 
 She knew Fawcett was peculiar. She had married 
 him with her eyes fully open to that fact. She was not 
 at all sorry that she was his wife. She would not have 
 surrendered that position for any other of which she 
 could conceive. Only, she did wish he would act 
 a little different. 
 
 But it was rather amusing, and after a little while, 
 Mabel laughed softly to herself. Was he really angry 
 with her, she wondered ? That was too silly to think of. 
 She would stop that before it went any farther, even if 
 it was necessary to give in a little. Allan loved her ; 
 they must not quarrel so soon as this. In this frame of 
 mind she waited until he came. 
 
 Then she forgot every instruction. She opened her 
 fair, round arms and took his face between them 
 and kissed him on the mouth. 
 
 He had anticipated anything but this, and in a sec- 
 ond all the clouds that had gathered disappeared, 
 leaving the cerulean sky, lit by countless stars and 
 a great pale moon ! 
 
 Good heaven 1 Had he harbored such hard thoughts
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 131 
 
 m reference to this angelic being, and on such an 
 inopportune occasion ? Never, never, would he repeat 
 it ! She was his to love and cherish ; to treat like 
 a wife, not like a child. 
 
 " Mabel," he began, as soon as she would let him, 
 " I was wrong to-night. Forgive " 
 
 But the sweet lips touched his again, and the sen- 
 tence remained unfinished. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 "DON'T SPEAK TO MB!" 
 
 OF all the ties that are known to men, marriage in 
 civilized lands is certainly the strangest. It presumes 
 that two persons, whose tastes and ideas are frequent- 
 ly as opposite as their sexes, are to be suddenly 
 endowed with similar opinions on the most important 
 subjects, and view life through glasses colored with 
 the same brilliancy. There is no contract in which so 
 much is demanded, none in which disagreement be- 
 tween the partners is so disastrous, none in which it 
 is so likely to occur. And yet marriages continue to be 
 made, and, more wonderful still, are found in a certain 
 number of cases sources of comfort and pleasure. 
 
 I have an opinion, though I admit that the data is 
 necessarily incomplete, that in the majority of instances 
 there occurs a time, somewhere within the first three 
 months, when one or both of the interested parties 
 would be very willing, if it could be done without scan- 
 dal, to sever the tie they have formed. In saying this, 
 I ought and intend to add that such persons, in 
 millions of cases, grow eventually to understand each
 
 1M YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 other better, and are shocked at the recollection o4 
 their former wish to separate. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Allan Fawcett thought the first week 
 of their married life a dream. Allan paid the expenses 
 that he had dreaded without a murmur, even with ex- 
 ultation. Mabel concluded that she had misjudged 
 him in some important points, and said to herself that 
 he was the dearest man on earth. In a letter which 
 she wrote to her mother from New York she declared 
 that the only perfect happiness was to be found in 
 the matrimonial state. She thought so, and Allan 
 thought so, for a whole week after the reverend minis- 
 ter of the Gospel had given them permission to find out. 
 
 But on the very first morning after their return 
 to Norwood everything seemed to go wrong. The 
 breakfast was half an hour late, and Allan fumed, 
 because he wanted particularly on that morning to get 
 to his office early and see what had happened to 
 his business during the first long vacation he had ever 
 taken from it. Bridget was unused to having the whole 
 responsibility thrown on her shoulders, and did not 
 relish being ordered about by the little girl she 
 had never till now had as a mistress. The meal was 
 eaten in silence, and though Allan went to his wife's 
 side and gave her a kiss as he left the house, it was of 
 the perfunctory order the kind of kiss that might 
 about as well be omitted. He thought it very wrong 
 of her to permit household affairs to trouble him, 
 when they were the only things she had to attend 
 to. She was equally sure that an hour more or less 
 would have no effect on his affairs, and that it was 
 brutal of him to look and act as he did when Bridget 
 was in the room. It was a part of her make-up. 
 kower*i; that things of this kind rested less heavily on
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 123 
 
 her than they did on him, and she went about her work 
 without feeling serious depression. He, on the con- 
 trary, had a weight on his heart all the morning and 
 was inclined to be pessimistic. 
 
 The market had not gone to suit him, that was 
 certain. As near as he could figure it out, he was a 
 poorer man than he was a week before, not counting 
 the hundred and sixty dollars he had parted with on 
 his journey. But had the accounts showed a large profit 
 they would not have removed the cloud from his face. 
 He believed the trouble at his home might take a long 
 time to arrange. He had distinctly told Mabel an 
 hour before she rose that it was time to do so. He 
 had expressed his disbelief in the capacity of Bridget 
 to get the breakfast on the table in the right con- 
 dition and at the proper moment. To this Mabel had 
 given dilatory replies, and had only put her arms 
 around his neck and nestled closer. Was that the way 
 to act, when important business was at stake ? She 
 had had a week of coddling and kissing, now it was 
 time to think of something with more sense in it. He 
 meant to have things his way, but he dreaded the ordeal 
 that it might be necessary to go through before things 
 were arranged. 
 
 And Mabel, she meant to have things her way, too. 
 
 For the next three days the meals were nearly on 
 time, but never exactly so. Allan would walk into the 
 dining-room when the clock struck and sit down to the 
 table, putting his napkin on, and beginning to handle 
 his knife and fork as if he expected to carve the air 
 in case nothing more substantial presented itself. He 
 would do this even at night, when all prete. & of bun- 
 ness needs were over, and Mabel did not hasten tht 
 preparations a second on account of hie
 
 1 24 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 " Why don't you have supper on the table at half-pabi 
 six ? " he asked, one evening. " That is the time set for 
 it, and there can be no excuse for this everlasting 
 delay." 
 
 " You are not going out again," she replied, " and a 
 few minutes makes no difference. The biscuit are not 
 quite ready." 
 
 He fidgeted in his chair. 
 
 " The only way to do things is to do them according 
 to rule," he said. " If you want supper every night at a 
 quarter to seven say so, and we will call that the hour. 
 Bridget has all the afternoon to cook her biscuit. The 
 trouble is, you do not go out into the kitchen and see 
 that she goes by the clock. When your mother was 
 here things were not this way. I never knew her to 
 have to make an apology for a late meal." 
 
 The biscuits were brought in at this juncture and the 
 conversation temporarily ceased. But in the morning it 
 began again. It was quite twenty minutes that Fawcett 
 at in his place after the hands of the clock pointed to 
 the breakfast hour before the eggs and coffee made 
 their appearance. 
 
 " I can't have this, day after day ! " he expostulated, 
 as he broke his eggs into a glass. " No one need tell 
 me that there is any great science in the boiling of a 
 couple of eggs or a quart of coffee that it need keep me 
 waiting." 
 
 " The trouble was," explained his wife, " there were 
 no eggs in the house. We had to send one of the 
 neighbor's boys to the store for them." 
 
 Fawcett stopped in the act of lifting his coffee-cup 
 to his mouth. 
 
 " How long do you think a man would make a living 
 if he managed things that way? " he inquired. " You
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 125 
 
 ought to have known last night whether there were any 
 eggs, if that was what you intended for breakfast. I 
 think if you looked into your pantry a little oftener it 
 would be a good idea. I have not had one meal on 
 time since we came home, and I am tired of it ! " 
 
 His tone was anything but pleasant as he said this, 
 and Mabel bit her lip with vexation. He had no right 
 to speak to her like that. She quickly resolved that 
 she would return sarcasm for severity. 
 
 " If you are in a hurry," she suggested, " why don't 
 you eat, now you have the breakfast ? You have done 
 nothing but talk ever since it was brought in.'* 
 
 Fawcett put his spoon down abruptly as he was about 
 to dip it into the egg-glass. He pushed his chair back 
 from the table, said " Well ! " in a loud tone, and 
 checked himself before adding what he evidently in- 
 tended when he began. Then, rising, he walked into 
 the hall, took his hat and overcoat from the rack and 
 left the house. 
 
 For three or four minutes he walked rapidly. He 
 was considerably excited. She had, it seemed to him, 
 insulted him deliberately. When a woman could 
 address such words to a man to whom she had been 
 married but a fortnight, what might he expect later on ? 
 But with the reflections of his wounded vanity there 
 came also a great wave of pain. He seemed to be 
 losing her seemed to see her drifting away from him ! 
 
 He stopped in the road, kicked the snow a minute 
 with his foot and then turned around. To an acquaint- 
 ance that he met he said he had forgotten something 
 at the house. He hastened back at a faster gait than 
 he had taken on his way. Yes, he must know the end 
 of this. He would talk to Mabel, kindly and firmly, 
 and see if something could not be done.
 
 j 6 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 She was on the second floor, airing the bed in which 
 they had slept. She heard him coming up the stairs, 
 but did not turn her head as he entered the chamber. 
 
 * Mabel," he said, gently. 
 
 " Don't speak to me ! " she answered, in a passionate 
 voice. " When you want to be so cross why don't you 
 wait till you get to your office ? I haven't done a thing 
 to suit you since we were married. Why did you come 
 back ? Was it to scold and find fault about something 
 else?" 
 
 She looked so pretty, and she seemed so sad, that 
 his anger evaporated completely. He went to her, put 
 his arm around her waist and drew her slightly-resisting 
 figure to a seat on a little tete-a-tete beside him. 
 
 " You had better go you are in such a hurry, you 
 know," she persisted. " Something will happen at the 
 office if you are five minutes late." 
 
 He tried to turn her face so that she would look at 
 him, but she shut her eyes resolutely. 
 
 "Mabel," he answered, "there is business right 
 here of more importance to me than that at the office. 
 I want to know if we are to have these quarrels every 
 day. If we cannot live together peaceably, we ought 
 to separate at once." 
 
 She shuddered at the suggestion, and he felt the 
 shiver in the arm that was still about her. She would 
 have endured anything rather than have relinquished 
 her title of his wife. 
 
 ' Don't talk foolishly," she said. " The whole trouble 
 is with you. You know I am young and never had 
 charge of a house before, and you expect me to know 
 everything like an experienced woman. Just on 
 account of a few minutes' time in your meals you have 
 acted like a bear for a week. I do the best I can,
 
 YOUNS FA WCETT'S MABEL. i*y 
 
 Bridget does not like to have me come into the kitchen 
 as much as I do. She spoke to me yesterday as ugly 
 as she could." 
 
 Mr. Fawcett sat upright on the tdte-d-tftc. He was 
 much moved. 
 
 "Bridget spoke cross ioyouJ" he repeated, with a 
 rising inflection. " I will go and give her a week's 
 notice this moment ! " 
 
 It is considered by many husbands a direct and un- 
 pardonable infringement on their exclusive privileges 
 when any other person uses impolite language to their 
 wives. 
 
 " No, don't do that," cried Mabel, rather alarmed to 
 think of the house on her hands without this long-time 
 retainer. " She knows you are dissatisfied, and she 
 thinks it unreasonable, and she is quick-tempered; 
 but it will come out all right." 
 
 Still convinced that Miss Bridget ought to be dis- 
 charged summarily, Fawcett inquired loftily how that 
 young woman knew that he was dissatisfied. He was 
 sure he had never exchanged a word with her. 
 
 " No, dear,'* explained Mabel, touched by his 
 defence of her from the maid-of-all-work, " you haven't 
 spoken to her, but she can't help seeing the wrinkles 
 on your forehead when she comes into the dining- 
 room. You don't know how very thick they are some- 
 times. And it is over such little things, too ! Yester- 
 day noon, when the dinner was only six minutes 
 behind time, you looked furious. I wish you would 
 try to act a little better till I can get things going 
 right." 
 
 He saw that she had made him out entirely in the 
 wrong, and perhaps he had been partly so. At any 
 rate, he was relieved when she called him " dear," and
 
 1*8 YOWG FAWCETT'S It ABEL. 
 
 he was very glad he had not gone to the office with the 
 misunderstanding on his mind. 
 
 " Very well," said he, " we'll talk it over again this 
 noon. I don't think either of us means to do unpleas- 
 ant things, I'm sure /don't, but we haven't got used 
 to each other yet. I couldn't stay down town all th 
 morning and think of you unhappy." 
 
 The glad smile that came over her face repaid him 
 for those words, and, taking a liberal allowance of 
 kisses, which she gave him with unconstraint, Allan 
 started again for his office, this time as happy as a 
 young husband ought to be. He walked briskly 
 through the snow, and though the first letter he opened 
 told him of a failure by which he would lose nearly a 
 hundred dollars, he did not mind it in the least. He 
 went on opening the rest of his mail, with the smile 
 still on his face that he had brought from the little 
 house over the hill. 
 
 '" His clerks remarked to each other that something 
 particularly agreeable must have happened that morn- 
 ing at the residence of the " old man," as they irrev- 
 erently called him behind his back, and various sly 
 insinuations as to its probable character were bandied 
 about. He had been hateful enough, goodness knew, 
 for a number of days past. Well, married people 
 would have their little difficulties, and if Fawcett had 
 got over his, why, it was all the better.
 
 YOUNG FA WCSTT'S MABSL. 149 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 A HUSBAND'S THOUGHTLESSNESS. 
 
 BUT, unfortunately, he had not got over all of them. 
 He committed the great error, the next time a meal 
 was late and some days elapsed, be it said, in justice, 
 before this happened of walking into the kitchen and 
 personally expostulating with Bridget over the matter. 
 
 " What's up now ? " he demanded. " Why isn't the 
 dinner on the table ? " 
 
 " The market man has only just brought the steak," 
 said the girl, with a toss of her head. 
 
 " It's devilish queer," he retorted, " that he always 
 brought it on time when Mrs. Morey was here. You 
 ought to keep something on hand, in case of an 
 accident like that. There is no need, especially at this 
 time of year, of buying exactly enough for a meal. A 
 ham hung up in the shed, or a piece of corned beef set 
 away cold, would provide for such an emergency." 
 
 " Tell Miss Mabel, then," replied Bridget, in a surly 
 tone. She had never been brought to call her late 
 mistress' daughter by her new name, "/doesn't do 
 the buying, sor ! " 
 
 There was so much truth in this that Fawcett said 
 no more. He had evidently been blaming the wrong 
 person. He went back to the dining-room and waited 
 with impatience till the steak appeared. That night 
 when he came home he found Mabel toasting bread 
 ver the stove. 
 9
 
 1* TQUNV PA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 "This isn't Thursday," he said, in astonishment 
 " How is it that silly girl is out again ? " 
 
 "She's left for good," replied Mrs. Fawcett, com- 
 posedly. 
 
 "Left!" 
 
 " Yes, bag and baggage." 
 
 "Without notice?" 
 
 Mabel bowed in the affirmative, as she shook the 
 toasted bread from the wires. 
 
 " She won't get any advance wages, I can tell her 
 thatl" said Fawcett, angrily. "What was the 
 matter ? " 
 
 " She said she didn't care to stay in a house where 
 the man came into the kitchen and swore at her. You 
 paid her last night, you know, and she ' threw in ' 
 to-day's work. She doesn't ask any advance pay. 
 She's gone at once to Mrs. Cotton's, on Austin Street, 
 where she is to get a dollar more a week." 
 
 Fawcett listened with growing indignation. 
 
 " She can go to the devil, for all of me ! '* he ex- 
 claimed. " She's the nearest to a born fool of any hu- 
 man being I ever knew. Says I swore at her, eh ? If she 
 repeats that anywhere in the town I'll have her arrest- 
 ed for slander. I wanted to swear at her badly 
 enough, but I didn't do it. I can get a better girl than 
 he was any day in the week, and I'll send one up in 
 the morning." 
 
 Mabel was buttering the toast, but she stopped to 
 ask him not to do anything of the kind. 
 
 " I want to try a little while to do my work alone," 
 *he said. " It seems foolish to keep a girl for just we 
 two. I can do better by myself, I am almost sure. At 
 any rate, I don't want another who will act as if she 
 fcired me instead of I her. Will you take that tea-pot
 
 Y9UNG FA WCETT'S MAJML. *}t 
 
 when you go along, and that will make supper aft 
 ready?" 
 
 With the thoughtlessness of a man the husband at- 
 tempted to comply with this request without using a 
 holder, and the result was that he burned his hand, and 
 yelled out a mixture of profanity that was quite startling. 
 
 " The d d thing is hot as sheol 1 " he cried, rub- 
 bing the palm that had grasped the handle. 
 
 " You should take something in your hand," was tht 
 quiet reply of Mabel, who considered it very odd that 
 that any one should have to be told a simple thing like 
 that. 
 
 "How should I know?" asked Allan, snappishly. 
 " It was your business to tell me." 
 
 Mabel took her apron, and doubling its folds, brought 
 the unlucky piece of culinary ware in triumph to tht 
 table. 
 
 " If I asked you to get some coals out of the stove, 
 would you take a shovel or your fingers ? " she said, as 
 an illustration. 
 
 " I might take the tongs," was his rejoinder. 
 
 She smiled at him good-naturedly, refusing this time 
 to be drawn into a quarrel. She had actually got a meal 
 alone ! She was quite proud of the achievement. The 
 toast was good Bridget had made the bread and 
 brewing tea was a simple affair. The preserves were 
 some that her mother put up in the summer. The cake 
 was also a reminder of the lost cook. 
 
 " I am sorry about your hand," she said, with sympa- 
 thy, seeing that he still " favored " it. " But you must 
 congratulate me on the supper. I'm sure it's all good, 
 and why, look at the clock ! it's actually five whole 
 minutes ahead of time ! " 
 
 Thus coaxed into good humor Fawcett forgot the Iraafe
 
 jj2 YOUNG FAWCETrS MABEL. 
 
 and when the meal was ended he went back to the 
 kitchen with Mabel, in a spirit of fun, and was taught 
 how to wipe the dishes. With the exception of the 
 fact that he broke one by setting it down too hard, he 
 did very well, and began to be rather glad that Bridget 
 had left the house. 
 
 Then he had as nice an evening with his wife as he 
 could wish. They sat in the parlor, acting a good deal 
 as they had done in the last days of their ante-nuptial 
 courtship. When he closed his eyes that night he held 
 her hand in his and thought of the time he was sick 
 and she sat so still by his bedside for fear of waking 
 him. Raising himself on one elbow he looked at the 
 sweet face on the opposite pillow and pressed a soft 
 kiss on the cheek. Was there any happiness in the 
 gift of Heaven equal to that of being the husband of 
 such a wife ? 
 
 The next noon there was scrambled eggs for dinner, 
 and when he looked inquiringly from the dish to 
 Mabel, she reminded him that he had promised to send 
 up a beef-roast and had evidently forgotten to do so. 
 
 " Gracious goodness ! " he replied. " You mustn't de- 
 pend on me for such things as that. I have something 
 of more importance to attend to. We will have the 
 market-man and grocer call every day to take orders." 
 
 " You said you would attend to it, and I kept sup- 
 posing it would come," was her answer. " If any one 
 is to blame it is yourself." 
 
 From that a long argument grew up, ending in 
 Yawcett's going to the office without kissing her good- 
 bye, and this time he did not come back to do it, 
 either. At night he ate his supper in sullen silence 
 her first biscuits were not a shining success and went 
 down to his office to do some work. When he came
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 133 
 
 home he threw open the window of their bedroom, da 
 claring that the temperature would suffocate a sala- 
 mander 
 
 " You do nothing but complain," said Mabel, from 
 between the sheets. " If it was not the furnace it 
 would be something else. You can't lay that to me, at 
 any rate, for you put in the coal yourself." 
 
 He sighed deeply. 
 
 " And because I put in the coal you must go to bed 
 leaving the drafts on and the register open I " 
 
 " It's not too warm for me / If you don't close that 
 window I shall freeze." 
 
 " All right ! " he exclaimed. " I'll close it ; and you 
 can roast here if you want to. I'm going down to see 
 that the furnace doesn't set the house on fire, and then 
 I'll go into another room to sleep, where there is a 
 breath of air that won't stifle one." 
 
 She heard him rummaging at the furnace, and then 
 ascending the stairs, and finally the door of the other 
 bedroom closing behind him. The last act, which she 
 had not believed he would perpetrate, annoyed her ex- 
 ceedingly. If there was any right which she supposed in- 
 disputable in her married relation it was to the presence 
 of her husband. It was almost as if he had committed 
 open infidelity and avowed it to her face I She had 
 never dept so nearly alone. Her room joined her 
 mother's, and the door between them had never been 
 closed. 
 
 She was a little afraid to be left by herself in the 
 stillness of the night. Allan was a brute to shut him- 
 self away from her in that way. Perhaps he would 
 return. An hour passed and he did not, and quite 
 unable to sleep from nervousness she rose and, stifling 
 her pride, wept softly to his door.
 
 IJ4 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABRL. 
 
 He was not asleep, either, though he pretended to be 
 when he heard her step, and as she spoke his name he 
 opened hL eyes languidly. 
 
 "Allan?" 
 
 "Yes, Mabel" 
 
 "I think I heard a noise downstairs. You don't 
 suppose there is a man there, do you ? " 
 
 He could hardly keep from laughing at her ingenious 
 Stratagem, for he knew if there had been any noise he 
 would have heard it as well as she. 
 
 "You've been dreaming, I guess," he answered. 
 "Burglars choose better houses than this for their 
 work. If they are down there they won't get much. 
 Better - T back to bed." 
 
 She lingered by the door. He could see her white 
 outline by the light that came in at the window. 
 
 " The the room is cool now," she stammered. 
 
 Ah 1 He had won the victory ! 
 
 "You can sleep here if you like," he said, magnani- 
 mously, making room for her. 
 
 " The other bed is much the best." 
 
 "No, I don't think so. I never slept on feathers 
 before, and I've been wanting to change for a long 
 time. This is my hair mattress, you know, and it 
 seems like old times to have it under me again." 
 
 She stood there, hesitating. She did not want to 
 give in too much, and yet she did not mean to go off 
 alone. 
 
 " I have always slept on feathers," she stammered. 
 
 " And I always on hair until the past two weeks." 
 
 " You found the feathers nice enough until you got 
 so cross," she pouted. 
 
 ** I endured them, but I never liked them. It Is all 
 right You take the room that suits you best, and PB
 
 VOU&Q FA WC&TT'S MABEL. 1^5 
 
 do the same. It is said by the best authorities thaf 
 two people should never sleep together, anyway. Good- 
 night." 
 
 Never sleep together I Never I She was possessed 
 of a sudden fright that set her teeth to chattering. She 
 crept slowly toward the bed. 
 
 " I will stay here to-night, then," she said, " and to- 
 morrow night perhaps you " 
 
 "Will stay here." 
 
 He finished the sentence for her. Now that he had 
 forced the fortress to capitulate he did not intend to let 
 her carry off even her side-arms. 
 
 She crept into the bed, all of a shiver from the cold, 
 for the room had no register on, and the mercury stood 
 far below freezing outside the house. Overcome \vith 
 momentary contrition Fawcett drew her to him and 
 warmed her in his arms. She permitted this, though 
 she did not encourage it. For the time she was quite 
 cowed by the events of the night. Soon they bot! fell 
 asleep. Their faces looked peaceful enough, but a 
 wrench had been given to Mabel's love that could not 
 be easily repaired. 
 
 In the morning she was awake before him and slipped 
 out unobserved, so as to bui'.d the fire and get the 
 breakfast. When he awoke he thought she had only 
 gone to the other bed and went in there to tell her it 
 was time to rise. Seeing that she was not there he had 
 a little shock. Could she have taken his conduct more 
 deeply to heart than she seemed to ? Had she fol- 
 lowed Bridget's example and gone away, "without 
 giving notice ? " 
 
 Hastily putting en his clothes Fawcett sought the 
 lower floor. Everything was ready to put on the table, 
 but the meal was eattn in almost total silence. He
 
 FAvrcxrrs MABEL. 
 
 Misunderstood entirely the operations of his wife's 
 mind. He said to himself, when he had touched her 
 cheek with his lips and was on the way to the office, 
 that he would make it all right with Mabel in a day or 
 two. She had tried to rule the household, and that was 
 something no woman should ever do. He had proved 
 himself the master, but he would be all the more con- 
 siderate now that was accomplished. 
 
 Days passed by, during which the wife attended to 
 her duties, as a hired servant might have done, taking 
 his impatience, when it came, with the calmness of a 
 dog, and seeming to find little difference when he was 
 jovial and full of pr?.ise for her efforts. 
 
 " We will sleep in your room, if you wish," he said, 
 at the end of a week. 
 
 u Very well." 
 
 " You would prefer it, would you not? n 
 
 " It is the same to me." 
 
 " Mabel is getting sulky," he thought, looking at her 
 impassive face. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "YOU NEVER SAW A GIRL I " 
 
 BUSINESS brightened a little with the commission 
 merchant, during the succeeding weeks, and after think- 
 ing it over he decided to go to Boston and pay Frank 
 Selden $2,000 of the sum he had borrowed. The debt 
 had worried him somewhat, for the profits accrr.ing 
 had not been large, and he feared the ups and downs of 
 tiie spring market. If the sum he owed was reduced 
 h was willing to risk the rest, and he eould spare it
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. ijj 
 
 now better than at any previous time. He tohl Mabel 
 his plan, and began to pack a valise for the journey. 
 
 " Of course I cannot stay in the house alone," she 
 said. (They had never filled the place of Miss Bridget) 
 " Some one will have to sleep here." 
 
 Fawcett thought the idea childish, but he was not 
 surprised at it, coming from the source it did. 
 
 " Oh, very well," he answered. " Get one of the 
 neighbors to come in. I shall not be gone more than 
 three or four nights." 
 
 Mabel felt a bitterness at the heart that she managed 
 to conceal. He was going directly to the city, probably 
 to the very house where her mother was living, and he 
 had not asked whether she would like to accompany 
 him I She missed her mother intensely, but pride had 
 prevented her making any sign, and in her frequent 
 letters to Mrs. Morey she had given no hint that any- 
 thing was otherwise than as it should be. She wa 
 sure that most men would have taken their wives on 
 such a journey. She would not have hinted it to him 
 for the world, however, and she saw him depart with 
 no more than the ordinary kiss, that kiss that had 
 come to mean so little to her. After she was sure he 
 had gone and was not likely to return, she went to her 
 bedroom and had a good cry, which made her feel 
 better, if it had no other effect. 
 
 Selden was apprised of the intention of Fawcett to 
 come to Boston, but he did not know the object of the 
 trip. When he was told that Allan wanted to lessen 
 the debt he owed, he objected vigorously. 
 
 " You are too flighty for a business man," he declared. 
 " Why don't you leave the thing as it is ? You are 
 doing well and your transactions are certain to increase 
 in time. If you pay this money now it may eramp you
 
 13* YOVfiG FA WCETT*S MAf&L. 
 
 in an inconvenient way. What is $5,000 in such a 
 business as yours ? Why, there are concerns here who 
 have fifty times that amount, and could find use for 
 more if they had it." 
 
 Fawcett made an effort to appear firm. He said 
 he had made up his mind and would like the credit 
 given at once on his notes. 
 
 " When are you going back? " asked Selden. 
 
 " In two or three days." 
 
 " Well, then, for Heaven's sake, let us talk of seme* 
 thing besides notes and payments to-day, at least It's 
 ;.n awful while since I saw you. Why, hang it 1 it was 
 before you were married I " 
 
 This allusion brought a shade of color to Fawcetf s 
 face. He wished that this fellow would talk of some- 
 thing else. 
 
 " Mrs. Morey is at your house still, I suppose," he 
 said. 
 
 " She's at mother's, which just now is hardly the 
 same thing. I sometimes call that my home, but I 
 have a suite over on Boylston Street, opposite the 
 Public Garden, where I am chez moi, as the French say. 
 Mother got to talking too much about the hours I kept, 
 so I thought it best to live where there would be no 
 one to tell tales. Come around there it's not ten 
 minutes' ride, unless the cars are blocked and see 
 how you like my quarters." 
 
 The two young men were not much longer in reach- 
 ing the place than had been predicted. The suite was 
 indeed a very pleasant one, with a nice panorama in 
 front and an air of cosiness that was charming. 
 
 "Who does the work, who keeps things in order?" 
 asked Allan, when he had inspected the parlor and
 
 PA WCETT'S MABRL. 139 
 
 "Gretchen. You shall see her. She's quite a 
 treasure. Neat as a pin about the furniture, and able 
 to cook a steak or chop in case I want to lunch here. 
 I often bring in a party of half a dozen after the theatre. 
 All I have to do is to open that door r,nd say, ' Gretchen, 
 there are seven of us.' She has never failed me yet. 
 The refrigerator is always supp.'ed and the wine-chest 
 contains everything from champagne to beer." 
 
 Mr. Fawcett remarked that he did not see how it 
 was possible for such preparations to be made without 
 previous notice. 
 
 "Neither do I," laughed Frank. "I consider it 
 quite miraculous. I give her carte blanche and she 
 fixes it somehow. It is rather expensive, but ft is well 
 worth the money. Why, I can do absolutely anything 
 I like, you know." 
 
 And at that he went into a minute account of some 
 things that had taken place in those apartments^ which 
 Fawcett did not enjoy hearing half as much as he was 
 expected to. 
 
 ** I forgot that you are now a sober, married man," 
 smiled Selden, seeing that his pleasantries fell on unat- 
 tentive ears." 
 
 " I never was a very wild one," responded Allan. 
 
 " No, but I remember the fair Sadie, and " 
 
 " Don't bring that up, please," was the reply, in a 
 pained tone. " I assure you I would give a great deal 
 if it had never occurred." 
 
 Selden shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "That is the way with all newly-married men, I've 
 been told," said he. " Time will bring you around, old 
 fellow." 
 
 A look containing something little short of i 
 MM into Fawcett's eyes.
 
 145 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " Do you mean," he gasped, " that I shall some day 
 be false to my wife ? " 
 
 " Of course," drawled Fr*nk. " Why not you, as well 
 as everybody else ? Damn it, man, we live in the 
 nineteenth century." 
 
 Fawcett turned pale at the thought. He had quar- 
 relled with Mabel, he had found fault with her, he had 
 wished she were different in many ways, but he would 
 as soon have cut off his hand as to have violated the 
 vows he had made in Mrs. Morey's little parlor eleven 
 weeks before. 
 
 " You have a reckless way of saying things, Frank," 
 he replied, when he could speak. " Men are not all as 
 bad as you would make them out. And when you get 
 married yourself, you will find a vast change coming 
 over your views." 
 
 Selden had lit a cigar and was puffing it rapidly, 
 sending the smoke in huge waves into the atmosphere 
 of the room. 
 
 "When I get married," he repeated, scornfully. 
 " Bless you, and begging your pardon, I never shall be 
 uch a fool ! " 
 
 It was well enough for him to say that, Allan 
 thought, now that the girl he wanted had been gained 
 by another. He remembered the things that Mabel 
 and her mother had insinuated about Frank's desire to 
 marry her, and he wondered if his disappointment had 
 been very great. He was aroused from the reverie 
 into which these reflections brought him by Selden 
 speaking again. 
 
 " I have seen lots of nice girls in my time, but not 
 one that I would have married if they had been pos- 
 sessed of untold estates. I like some of them im- 
 mensely, but to marry them, why, it's preposterous ! n
 
 YOVNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 141 
 
 A faintness struck through the entire being of the 
 listener. Was Selden lying or had some one else told 
 an untruth ? 
 
 " You never wanted to marry ? " he said vaguely. 
 " You never saw a girl that you would have made your 
 wife ? " 
 
 " Never, on my honor 1 And I have been in love at 
 least a thousand times. If it were not for that samt 
 institution of marriage this world would be a veritable 
 paradise to me. When I have won the affection of a 
 girl, when I have reached the point where her heart in- 
 clines toward me, perhaps when I have snatched a 
 kiss or two from her rosy mouth and drawn her to my 
 bosom in one fleeting embrace, there always appears on 
 the scene some elderly person who wishes to be in- 
 formed of my intentions ! Confound them, I have 
 none. I want merely to be let alone. I wish to suck 
 the honey from the delicate flower, as the bee does in 
 the garden. I want to love, and they want me to 
 marry ! I pause to inhale the sweetness of a rose, and 
 the proprietor comes out to demand that I purchase 
 the whole conservatory ! I stroke the ears of a tame 
 gazelle, and, presto, I am asked to assume the care 
 and expense of the creature, and its progeny, as long 
 as it lives ! Marriage ! The very word disgusts me ! " 
 
 Some one had lied. And Allan Fawcett did not 
 believe, as he heard this vicious harangue, that it was 
 Frank Selden. 
 
 " I wish I could convey to you how ridiculous it 
 seems to me," continued Frank, after a momentary 
 pause. "Say that I fall wildly, madly in love with 
 the prettiest and sweetest girl in the world. Say 
 she is charming, that ske makes me for the time 
 believe heaven has been let dow in a basket, and that
 
 14* Y6VN6 FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 she is its central figure. No man knows better than 
 I how infinitely sweet such a girl can be. No man 
 could be more sensitive to her excellencies, from one 
 end of the scale to the other. I could take her and 
 love her for weeks, perhaps for months I would not 
 swear it might not be for years. But look at the bar- 
 gain that is held out to me 1 * If you take this girl,' 
 say her relations, ' you must agree never to go with 
 another ; you must guarantee that your affection will 
 not be dimmed by the passing of years ; you must 
 undertake the payment of her bills, and those of her 
 children, an endless expense stretching out into the fu- 
 ture. If you take her you have drawn your only prize 
 in the lottery of life, and you must be content with it.* 
 ' Bah ! She may grow ill-tempered ; she will certainly 
 grow old ; she is liable to become fat ; her hair will 
 turn from brown to gray ; or maybe her rounded curves 
 that fascinate and stupefy the senses will disappear ; 
 the swan-like neck will become scrawny ; on the dimpled 
 face wrinkles will come ! And I must still love her, 
 embrace her, turn my eyes in no other direction 1 She 
 is the only woman for me, though a million others spring 
 up in my path as beautiful as she was when I wo 
 her ! A nice prospect, isn't it ? " 
 
 Fawcett heard this in a dim way, hardly compre- 
 hending its full meaning. He was thinking of some- 
 thing else. Had Mrs. Morey and Mabel wilfully 
 deceived him ? Was Selden an unconscious stool- 
 pigeon in their hands to hasten the proposal of the 
 desired lover ? It looked too much like it to be agree- 
 able. Except for this he might have waited some time 
 longer before entering on the matrimonial state. He 
 wished he had done so. Not that he wanted to give up 
 Mabel with all their little differences he wouM Ml
 
 Y9UNG PA WCETT'S MABEl 143 
 
 have parted with her for anything but he would have 
 taken more time. He would have waited till he could 
 boast a better bank account, till he was wholly out of 
 debt and had a good sum ahead. And the story of 
 Frank's love for Mabel had been used upon him as a 
 make-weight ! He would have a talk with Mrs. Morey 
 about this matter before he left Boston. 
 
 " Well," said Selden, after waiting some seconds to 
 see what Fawcett would say in answer to his argument, 
 " you are married and happy, and for the present that 
 satisfies you. And how is my little cousin, and why 
 did you not bring her along, that we might see how she 
 takes her new honors and responsibilities ? " 
 
 For the first time the idea entered Fawcett's head 
 that he might have brought Mabel with him. He 
 wondered, now it was suggested, that she had said 
 nothing on the subject. It was evident to him that she 
 had not cared to come, and he said so to Frank. 
 
 " She did not like to lock up the house, and there 
 was no one else to leave." 
 
 " Can't you trust your servants ? " asked Selden. 
 " They must be a bad lot ; but it's often the case now- 
 adays. There aren't many like Gretchen. I would 
 leave the key to my safe with her." 
 
 Selden reached above his head and pressed a button 
 inserted in a wall. Immediately a boy of about twelve 
 years of age appeared at the door. 
 
 " Tell Gretchen that Mr. Selden and a friend of his 
 will see her when she is at liberty." 
 
 The boy vanished, leaving Fawcett in a state of some 
 surprise. He was not used to hearing housekeepers 
 summoned in this manner. Frank went on talking for 
 the next twenty minutes, and at the end of that time 
 the door opened again.
 
 144 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MAIML. 
 
 A tall woman, unmistakably German, stood in the 
 doorway. She had an abundance of light hair and a 
 very fair complexion. Her eyes were large and blue. 
 Her figure was of the order called buxom. Her dress 
 was neat and rather expensive. 
 
 " Gretchen," said Selden, unceremoniously, " I have 
 been telling my friend, Mr. Fawcett, about you ; and I 
 thought he ought to see you." 
 
 The tall woman bowed and stood waiting to see if 
 the speaker had any further orders. Her manner was 
 dignified, almost stately. She might have been pro- 
 prietress of some large establishment, with many em- 
 ploye's under her, and not in the least what Fawcett had 
 imagined as the person in charge of Selden's rooms. 
 
 The German woman remained on exhibition, as one 
 might say, for what was probably a full minute, though 
 it seemed much longer to Fawcett, who was oppressed 
 by the strangeness of the affair, and was much relieved 
 when Frank spoke and said she might go. With an- 
 other bow she closed the door behind her. 
 
 " What do you think of that ? " asked Frank, with a 
 smile. 
 
 " I don't know what to think," was the reply. 
 
 Selden laughed. 
 
 11 1 found her in her native land several years ago," 
 laid he. " She had lost both her parents and was 
 actually begging in the streets. I was a student there, 
 and when I saw how wholesome she looked, I said to 
 myself that I would provide a much better place for 
 the pretty fraulein. But Gretchen had entirely differ- 
 ent views on that subject As the novels say, ' She 
 rejected my proposals with scorn.' I was about to 
 come home, and, as one might toss a biscuit to a dog, 
 I paid her passage ovr hero in the steerage, never
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 145 
 
 expecting to see her again. She wasn't to be got rid of 
 so easily, however. Within a week she had found me. 
 She said I was the only friend she had in America, and 
 as she could not speak the language she did not know 
 what to do. Once more I offered suggestions, and 
 quite as firmly as before she declined them. So I spoke 
 to a fellow who keeps an intelligence office, and he got 
 her a place where she learned the culinary art and 
 the science of housekeeping. When I hired this crib 
 nothing was more natural than that I should think of 
 her, and she fits the place like a glove." 
 
 Somewhat doubtful whether he had heard the whole 
 of this interesting story, Fawcett suggested that Mr. 
 Selden would have to be circumspect in the nature of 
 the company he invited to his rooms, if the fraulein was 
 so particular. 
 
 " Oh, she has sense ! " exclaimed the other. " If I 
 bring a girl up here for a supper, or several of them in 
 a party, she's blind as a bat. There couldn't be any- 
 thing nicer than the way she does things. And she's 
 as good as I tell you, on my word, though I never can 
 make the other fellows believe it." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A NIGHT AT SKLDKN's. 
 
 IT was decided that the friends would dine together 
 in a restaurant that evening and at Mrs. Selden's the 
 next day. A dinner would have to be taken at the 
 latter place some time, in order that Allan might see 
 Mrs. Morey. The time passed agreeably, and the two 
 gentlemen returned to the apartments at a wwonklt 
 M
 
 146 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 hour. On being shown to his chamber, Fawcett made 
 the discovery that the suite was larger than he had sup- 
 posed. 
 
 "Why, you've got a lot of rooms here!" he ex- 
 claimed. " What do you want with so many ? " 
 
 " They come in handy occasionally. There are ten 
 altogether, counting the servants' and Gretchen's." 
 
 Frank was certainly keeping up a very pretty estab- 
 lishment, but he had plenty of money, and it was his 
 affair. Allan could not help contrasting it with his own 
 home, where Mabel did the work. She did not need 
 to do it ; it was her own proposition, but it made the 
 contrast great, just the same. 
 
 The next morning, when he proposed to have the 
 business matter settled, Frank escaped it by pleading 
 an engagement. He said he would have to be excused 
 till lunch-time. The pair were on their way to Mrs. 
 Selden's before five o'clock, with nothing accomplished. 
 
 Mrs. Morey and Fawcett were permitted, by common 
 consent, to have a long chat together before dinner was 
 served, but little important was said. Fawcett did not 
 muster courage even to ask about the alleged proposal 
 of Selden for Mabel's hand. He concluded that he 
 would reserve that till he reached home and fire the 
 shot at his wife. He said nothing to intimate that mat- 
 ters were strained at Norwood, and Mrs. Morey was 
 well satisfied with the interview. 
 
 " I don't know how long I shall stay here," she said, 
 " but you are welcome to the household goods till I de- 
 cide where to settle. If you should want to buy things 
 I would do what is reasonable on any of mine that you 
 wished to purchase." 
 
 This struck Fawcett disagreeably, but he said noth- 
 ing. He had had an idea that the moveables referred
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S AfAtEL. 147 
 
 to were in effect already his property. He had not sup- 
 posed that Mrs. Morey ever intended to keep house 
 again. In reckoning up the cost of new carpets and 
 furniture he forgot for the moment the question that 
 had previously agitated his mind, 
 
 " Come and see us whenever you can," he said, at 
 parting. 
 
 It seemed a necessary thing to say, though there was 
 not much heart in the invitation. Not that he had any 
 objection to Mrs. Morey, but his family affairs were 
 not yet arranged enough to his liking to have him care 
 for any company whatever. 
 
 " I will come before long," said the widow. " By 
 the way, Mabe 1 writes me that she has never been ablo 
 to fill Bridget'^ place." 
 
 " No. I wish she could. But you know, Mrs. 
 Morey, Mabel likes to have her own way pretty well, 
 and she prefers the work to a girl who is not willing to 
 be managed." 
 
 There was just the least imaginable touch of criticism 
 in this, and Mrs. Morey resolved that she would give 
 Mabel a little advice in her next letter. Her daughter 
 had been so reticent about all her troubles that the mother 
 was completely deceived. She would tell Mabel that 
 the right way for a wife was to defer a good deal to hef 
 husband, or at least to have the appearance of so doing, 
 She knew that Fawcett also " liked his own way pretty 
 well," and that men who could not be dragged with a 
 cable might be led by a tow-string, if the proper method 
 was used. She had congratulated herself that her son- 
 in-law and her daughter were getting along so finely, 
 for in spite of her intimate acquaintance with Mabel 
 there were phases in that young woman's character 
 which she had never suspected.
 
 148 VO UNG FA WCE TT 'S 
 
 " Tell me everything, dear," had been her final In- 
 junction, as the carriage that was to take Mabel away 
 with her husband for the first time rolled up to the 
 door. " Tell your mother everything. My experience 
 may be of great value to you." 
 
 She supposed that Mabel had told her everything, 
 whereas she had told her nothing. 
 
 The next morning Fawcett insisted on Selden's tak- 
 ing the $2,000 he had brought for him, and after exhaust- 
 Ing all argument against it he consented to do so, and 
 credited him with the amount on the back of his note. 
 
 " It's wrong," protested Frank. " I take an especial 
 interest in you, now that you are a member of the fam- 
 ily, and I want you to get to be a rich man as fast as 
 you can. The most potent factor in the accumulation 
 of wealth is the ability to control capital. You may 
 grub along till you are gray in that confounded village 
 of yours with six or seven thousand dollars to work 
 with, and that is all it will amount to. But it's your 
 own affair. All I say is, if you ever want it back, you 
 have only to send me a line or a wire." 
 
 This looked handsome, and Fawcett felt immensely 
 relieved. Not only had he carried out his intention of 
 reducing the interest he was to pay, but he had without 
 trouble secured the right to take the other tack when 
 ever he should think it advisable. He had both ends 
 of the string in his hand. The rest of the day he passed 
 in going about, for he was to return to Norwood in 
 the morning, and he wanted to make the most of his 
 outing. At night Selden informed him that he had ar- 
 ranged a little dinner in his honor at his rooms, at which 
 three or four good fellows had agreed to be present. 
 
 Somewhat to Fawcett's consternation, when the ad. 
 vance guard arrived, he discovered that seme ol th
 
 YOUNG PA WCE rr'S MABEL. 1 49 
 
 "good fellows" were to bo of the feminine gender. 
 And it did not require any great discernment to find 
 out that they were not of the most rigid ideas as to 
 propriety, either. 
 
 The first one, Miss Dolly Johnson, left her escort as 
 soon as she crossed the threshold, and rushing up to 
 Selden, enveloped him in her arms, declaring in a loud 
 voice that she had not seen him for an age. It was 
 with some difficulty that she was disentangled sufficient- 
 ly to be presented to Mr. Fawcett. As soon as pos- 
 sible Frank whispered something in her ear that made 
 her laugh uproariously. He had told her to be a little 
 more careful, because his friend was a gentleman from 
 the country. 
 
 There was no opportunity for Fawcett to say much, 
 as the other guests arrived a moment later. But he 
 was as angry as a man could be and contain himself when 
 the latest comer proved to be Miss Sadie Reeder, the 
 young woman with whom was associated some of the 
 most disagreeable incidents in his recollection. He 
 bowed to her quite stiffly, and cast a look of indignation 
 at Selden when that young man remarked, for the gen- 
 eral information, " Of course yeu two haven't forgottea 
 each other." 
 
 The conversation took on such a brisk turn with the 
 others that Fawcett could not avoid saying something 
 to Miss Reeder without positive rudeness. It was not 
 her fault so much as Frank's that this meeting had 
 taken place. 
 
 " Excuse me for saying one thing to begin with," he 
 remarked, when she had mentioned that he was looking 
 well, and that she was extremely glad to meet him 
 "I am BOW named, and I had inttn-
 
 I 5 e YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 He paused, stuck in the middle of his sentence, 
 and with ready intelligence she proceeded to help him 
 out. 
 
 " Of renewing old friendships like mine ? " she said. 
 " I am sure you are quite right, and I will be as correct 
 as possible this evening. Mr. Selden told me of your 
 marriage at the time a cousin of his, he said, and a 
 very sweet little woman." 
 
 The hot blood surged through Fawcett's brain. This 
 creature had no right, with her soiled lips, to allude 
 even in such a manner to his pure Mabel. He wished 
 he could escape from the house without actually run- 
 ning away. Quick to perceive, Miss Reeder divined 
 the cause of his sudden flush and deftly turned the 
 conversation on to a less disagreeable channel. But 
 he could not escape the fact that in the division of 
 favors Sadie had been evidently assigned to him, and 
 he meant to scold Frank roundly for it when he had 
 him alone. 
 
 At the dinner, which was soon served in the cozy 
 salle-a-manger, Mr. Selden took occasion to allude 
 in set terms to the fact that the affair was held in 
 special honor of his friend, Mr. Fawcett, and great 
 congratulations were showered upon him when the 
 words, "who is now my cousin by marriage," were 
 uttered. The only way in which Fawcett could brace 
 up his shattered nerves was to imbibe more freely than 
 common of the beverages served, and this he did with 
 the result that he ultimately lost his fine sense of 
 propriety and became almost as gay as the others. 
 
 I do not intend to tell with anything like minuteness 
 the story of that evening. That the passing hours, in 
 which champagne was drunk freely by everybody, led 
 iaU something approaching license, I will not deny.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 151 
 
 Fawcett missed the early morning train that he had 
 intended to take, and when he went to the after- 
 noon one, it was with puffed eyelids and shuffling gait. 
 He had had an out-and-out quarrel with Selden, whom 
 he accused of having planned the whole affair in order 
 to disgrace him. Frank listened to his abuse with ap- 
 parent astonishment, declaring that he must be crazy 
 to talk as he did, and that nothing had happened 
 to him except what he had brought on himself. The 
 dinner, he averred, was intended to be a pleasant clos- 
 ing of his visit to the city. If he had swallowed a lake 
 of wine and didn't know how to carry it off, he surely 
 ought to blame some one beside his entertainer. When 
 he had pulled himself together a little he would be 
 sorry for the things he had said. 
 
 Fawcett refused to be placated. It was a question 
 at one time whether he would not vent his rage in 
 something more substantial than words. As he took 
 the train he felt that he would not care if it ran off the 
 track and broke his body into fragments. He had dis- 
 graced himself beyond repair. He had disgraced his 
 wife that innocent, pure girl, whose name had been 
 mentioned at that table amid the popping of corks and 
 the sound of indecent revelry ! How could he ever go 
 back to her ? How could he look her in the face after 
 what had happened ? 
 
 He entered Norwood, a prey to the most terrible 
 melancholy. The sun had set, and he went to his 
 office first, where he could think what it was best to 
 do. Should he tell Mabel and get the awful secret 
 from his mind ? Would she ever forgive him ? Ought 
 he to be forgiven ? Supposing the case were reversed, 
 and she ! No, such a thought would drive hiro 
 mad 1 What should he do ? What should he do ?
 
 152 YO UNC FA WCE TT 'S MABEL. 
 
 To divert his mind for a moment he turned to a 
 heap of letters that lay on his desk, which had been 
 accumulating during his absence. The first one puz 
 zled him for a few minutes. It was for the sum of 
 $98, sent by the principal dry-goods store of the town. 
 He had never had a thing charged there in his life, 
 and he wondered what they meant by sending this 
 immense bill to him. What a lot of items there were ! 
 Spools of thread, and dozens of buttons, and yards of 
 insertion ! What was this two pairs of corsets ! He 
 could not remember making any such purchase. It 
 must be a stupid blunder of their bookkeeper, who had 
 sent a bill to him that belonged to some one else of the 
 same family name. 
 
 The next envelope he opened contained another bill 
 that set him to wondering again. It was for two boiv 
 nets and a hat, and some feathers and elastic, and 
 heaven knows what all, with the sum total set down as 
 $37.50. He began to grow angry. " Allan Fawcett to 
 Mme. Celeste, Dr., to one hat lining, 25 cents." He 
 did not buy hat linings separate from the hat, and 
 he had never entered Mme. Celeste's door. Another 
 stupid blunder. 
 
 There was hardly anything in that pile of letters but 
 bills. The next one he recognized. It was from 
 the grocer who supplied him, and the only thing wrong 
 about it was the largeness of the figures. Could he and 
 Mabel have eaten all those things in less than three 
 months ? What awful appetites ! Then there was the 
 meat and butter man's bill, also astounding. Fawcett 
 added the cost of all the provisions together and 
 uttered a prolonged sigh. Those were not the kind 
 of figures Mrs. Morey had given him. It would be 
 much cheaper to board and have done with it I Mabd
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 153 
 
 must waste everything fearfully. Of course they had 
 never eaten all those things. One might have run 
 a hotel on that amount. He would have to talk with 
 her and see that something was done for the future. 
 It would simply ruin a man to have such bills sent in 
 to him I 
 
 Accustomed to place the greatest stress on items that 
 were covered by dollars and cents, Allan Fawcett went 
 home with those grocery and provision figures upper- 
 most in his mind. It was but little past nine o'clock, 
 but Mabel had gone to bed. She was alone in the 
 house, having told the friend who had stayed on 
 the previous nights that Mr. Fawcett would be sure to 
 come. When she heard his key in the front door she 
 sat up and waited with expectancy. He had been 
 gone three days, and she had thought a great deal 
 in that time. There had been too much coolness 
 between them, she had said, over and over. There 
 must be less of it in the future. They had become 
 alienated from each other, and they must grow to 
 gether again. She hungered and thirsted for love as 
 she never had done before. Her heart beat faster as 
 his step ascended the stairs. Conquering her modesty, 
 she slipped from the bed and ran to meet him. 
 
 " Allan ! " she cried, throwing both half -bare arms 
 about his neck. " Oh, I have wanted you so much 1 
 I am so glad you've come I Kiss me ! Kiss me J 
 Why what's the matter?" 
 
 She withdrew herself from him and looked piteously 
 into his eyes. He had not returned her embrace and 
 the lips her passionate mouth touched were unyielding 
 
 " Thafs what's the matter! And that!" he retorted, 
 shaking the grocery and provision bills in her face. 
 M Aren't they nice things to welcome a man home after
 
 154 yo UNG FA WCE TT 'S MABEL. 
 
 he has been out of town for a few days ! We've not kept 
 house three months yet, and that is what you've bought 
 at those stores ! Do you think I can stand it ? Well, 
 I can't ! I'm not an Astor ! What did you tell me when 
 we talked of getting married ? It was going to cost 
 next to nothing. Now take these bills, and the coal, 
 and the rent, and the and the milk," he added, striv- 
 ing to think of everything that would swell the total, 
 " and tell me how you think a man of my income 
 is going to keep up with this extravagance ! " 
 
 She stood there, paralyzed. She had run to him ex- 
 pecting a husband's embrace, and she had been struck 
 a blow as real as if he had slapped her face. She 
 looked from the bills to his lowering countenance, and 
 then, to make sure she was not dreaming some fright- 
 ful thing, she looked at the pictures on the wall, and 
 at the window, and the lamp. What did it mean, 
 this outburst ? If the bills were too large, why was she 
 to blame for it any more than he ? Many of the things 
 had been ordered either by him or at his suggestion. It 
 was too horrible to see him standing there, with that 
 dreadful expression, shaking those papers at her as il 
 they were warrants for her arrest. The tears rushed 
 to her eyes and she threw herself upon his breast. 
 
 " Allan ! My darling ! Kiss me just once that I 
 may know you are yourself, and not some judge come 
 to order me to execution ! Kiss me, for God's sake ! 
 We will talk about the bills afterwards if they are too 
 large we will make them less in the future but now, 
 for one instant, let me feel your arm* around me ! I 
 have been dying of loneliness ! I have been listening 
 the past nine hours for your step on the walk ! Kiss 
 me ! Let me feel that I am your wife, if but for one 
 second, and then you may say whatever you will"
 
 * *VNG FA WCETT>S MABEL. 155 
 
 No man not made of adamant could refuse such an 
 appeal. Fawcett suffered the clinging figure, clad in 
 those thin garments of white, to draw him toward her. 
 Finally he lifted Mabel in his arms and placed her on 
 the bed, taking a chair beside her. Fair she was and 
 sweet, and full of love for him. The reaction began to 
 set in. He gave her the kiss she asked for and a 
 hundred more ; and when she had wiped her wet cheeks 
 and wanted to have him tell her what was wrong with 
 the bills he refused to reopen the subject that night. 
 They could discuss it to-morrow just as well. If he 
 had spoken too harshly he was sorry. Yes, he loved 
 her what a question ! He was glad to be with her 
 again how could she ask so simple a thing as that ? 
 He had seen her mother, and she had promised to 
 visit them soon. 
 
 He told her about her Aunt Hattie and how things 
 looked at her house. Indeed, he spoke of everything 
 connected with his journey except Frank Selden, about 
 whom she did not inquire, and the supper given " in 
 honor of my cousin by marriage." As to the latter, to 
 tell the truth, he had for the moment forgotten it en- 
 tirely. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WHEN MORNING CAME. 
 
 WHEN the morning came Fawcett thought he had 
 been unreasonable to blame Mabel for the size of the 
 housekeeping account, though he did consider it ex- 
 orbitant. By studying the figures he found that the 
 cost of living at his house had actually increased since 
 the abolition of the servant-girl department. Mabel
 
 Ijt YOUNG FAWCETT** MA MEL. 
 
 had a good deal to learn about cooking, and doubtless 
 spoiled many things in the process of acquiring knowl- 
 edge. They had to have a woman, any way, to wash 
 and iron, and to do heavy work, and he concluded that it 
 would be best to look up a good one as soon as possi- 
 ble. If he could find one a little older than his wife, 
 who would use judgment and not get into a clash with 
 her, it would be best. 
 
 He went into the intelligence office on his way to 
 his place of business and described what he wanted. 
 He told them he was willing to pay the right salary to 
 the right person. He might as well make up his mind 
 that the old cost of living when he was a bachelor 
 would never be duplicated again. He realized 
 fully that the cooking since Mrs. Morey's day had 
 been much poorer, and that after the departure of 
 Bridget it was far from what it was before that time. 
 But Fawcett was not an epicure. It took something 
 more than a badly done steak or a burned roast to put 
 him out of temper. He had said little when things 
 were at their worst, so long as the meals were served 
 on the exact moment when they were due. However, 
 if he could get a woman to do the work who would act 
 as a sort of housekeeper at the same time he would 
 like it ; one who would know, as neither he nor his 
 wife did, whether the provision account was right. 
 
 During the day he went to the grocers and market 
 and paid the bills they had sent him. He prided him- 
 self on owing no one beyond the time when the account 
 was presented. 
 
 A week later he found the very woman for whom he 
 was searching, a Scotch widow who wanted a home, 
 and who was ready to undertake the work of his small 
 establishment at the same wages he had paid Bridget
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL, 157 
 
 It did not require much urging for Mabel to agree to 
 " try her," though she declared that no woman should 
 " boss " her house over her head, and that if Mrs. Angus 
 attempted it there would be trouble. 
 
 Fawcett was glad when the arrangement was made. 
 A state of things approaching that of the old times 
 seemed to come again with the advent of the new 
 servant. Everything about the kitchen and dining- 
 room was made as neat as a pin, and on the moment 
 when the clock announced the hour for each meal it 
 was neatly and appetizingly served. The young hus- 
 band made one or two mistakes by praising Mrs. Angus 
 too strongly to his wife, who resented the imputation 
 that her cooking had not been satisfactory, but this 
 caused only temporary friction. The interrupted 
 honeymoon was resumed with a good deal of ardor, 
 and for some weeks the Fawcett family would have 
 served for a model of good-nature on all sides. 
 
 One evening Allen found Mabel looking quite pale, 
 and reclining on a sofa. When he inquired what was 
 the cause she gave him evasive answers. To all his 
 suggestions of various remedies, or of calling the doc- 
 tor, she turned a deaf ear. There was something the 
 matter with her stomach, that was evident, and he 
 tried to make her think of what she had eaten, feeling 
 sure that the difficulty could easily be traced. All that 
 he said seemed only to annoy her, and the nausea re- 
 turned at frequent intervals. Much alarmed Fawcett 
 sought the counsel of Mrs. Angus. 
 
 " Mabel is very ill," he said, " and refuses to let me 
 get a doctor. Won't you see if there is anything you 
 can do for her ? " 
 
 The Scotch woman eyed him narrowly. It was evi- 
 dent that his anxiety was real. She wondered how a
 
 158 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABSL. 
 
 man of his size and years could be so woefully igno- 
 rant. 
 
 " Dinna ye ken what's the matter wi* her ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 There was something in the tone that told him alL 
 Quite confused he withdrew from the kitchen and re- 
 turned to his wife. 
 
 " My darling ! " he murmured, bending over her. 
 
 Mabel had taken on a new glory in his eyes. No 
 man more ardently desired fatherhood. Every child 
 in the world was to him a young Cupid ; every mother 
 a Madonna, endowed with the attributes of deity. And 
 it was to be his little Mabel who should wear that 
 crown of maternity ! He had supposed that it would 
 come some time, but the sudden revelation was nearly 
 paralyzing. She was, in truth, such a child herself 
 that motherhood could hardly be thought of in her case. 
 He reflected, with the utmost regret, that he had tried 
 to mould her too rapidly into a full-grown woman ; that 
 he had acted toward her as if she had ten years more 
 on her pretty shoulders. How sorry he was now for 
 every impatient word he had ever let fall ! 
 
 " Mabel," he whispered, " I wish I could tell you 
 how much I love you ! " 
 
 She turned her head away and cried on the pillow. 
 She was frightened at what made him so happy. Her 
 first sensations were not calculated to reassure her, and 
 for the time the girl supplanted the woman. She shook 
 her head doubtfully when he told her that she would be 
 dearer to him than she could imagine, and that never, 
 never, as long as he lived, would he speak another cross 
 syllable to her. All this was very pleasant, for Mabel 
 loved her husband, but the nausea would not respond 
 to the mental treatment, and she continued physically
 
 Y1UN6 FAWCETT'S MABEL. 159 
 
 miserable. Fawcett devoted himself to her like a lover, 
 and at the end of a few days she had recovered consid- 
 erably her drooping spirits. 
 
 Nearly two months had passed since Fawcett found 
 on his office-desk the dry-goods and millinery bills 
 alluded to in the foregoing chapter. He had enter- 
 tained no doubt that they were sent to him by mistake, 
 as there was another Fawcett in the town with whom 
 his mail had at times been mixed. Rather angry at the 
 error, he had thrown them into his waste-basket, and 
 never given a thought to them since that time. It was 
 to his great surprise, therefore, when he received a 
 polite note from the dry-goods dealer, asking if it was 
 convenient for him to settle the account that had been 
 rendered on April i. 
 
 Within ten minutes he stood in front of the cashier 
 of the establishment referred to, wearing no amiable 
 look. 
 
 " What do you mean by sending me such a letter as 
 this ? " he demanded, showing the obnoxious docu- 
 ment. 
 
 "Mr. Trask wrote it himself," replied the cashier. 
 * I will call him, if you desire." 
 
 Fawcett intimated that that was what he most par- 
 ticularly wanted and when Mr. Trask made his appear- 
 ance he repeated his inquiry. 
 
 " I don't see anything wrong about the letter," said 
 the seller of cloth. " The bill was sent you on the ist 
 of April, and you have paid no attention to it." 
 
 Fawcett spoke in his most sarcastic manner. 
 
 " Do you know any reason why I should pay atten- 
 tion to it?" 
 
 Why you should ? " repeated Mr. Trask. 
 
 " Exactly. Inasmuch as I nevtr had a cent charged
 
 160 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 here, there is no reason why I should bother myself to 
 come and correct your blunders." 
 
 Mr. Trask looked at his cashier, and the cashier 
 looked at Mr. Trask. Both saw that an unpleasant 
 scene was to occur. 
 
 " Gentlemen do not usually purchase the dry goods 
 for their families," said the proprietor of the store. 
 " Those goods were delivered to Mrs. Fawcett." 
 
 At first Allan thought he should fall. Had his wife 
 bought that large bill of goods without consulting him 
 without mentioning the matter in any way ? What had 
 she done with them ? He had seen the months of 
 sewing that Mrs. Morey had gone through to prepare 
 her daughter for her new station, and had wondered 
 how one slight figure could find use for such an awful 
 avalanche of clothing. He well remembered how Mabel 
 had said, " I shall need nothing for a year or more," 
 when she was showing how very inexpensive she would 
 be to her husband, in doubt as he was whether he could 
 yet afford to wed. The mists closed around him till 
 he could hardly see ; and through it, as ships appear in 
 a fog, he discerned the figures of Mr. Trask and the 
 cashier. 
 
 "If that bill is correct," he stammered, "and we have 
 had the goods, it will be paid to-day. I never let an 
 account stand that I know about. The mistake is 
 probably on my side." 
 
 He walked out of the store and back to his office 
 with his head in a whirl. He had never felt so dis- 
 graced. He had announced to those men in effect that 
 he did not know what his wife was doing that she 
 bought things and charged them without telling him 
 which might mean more than it should to a suspicious 
 pair of fellows. Earlier than his usual hour he made
 
 YOUNG FA WCE TT 'S MABEL. 161 
 
 kis appearance at the house, and before he spoke Mabel 
 knew that something unusual was the matter. 
 
 But he did not address her as he would have done a 
 month before. His voice was merely remonstrative, 
 not abusive. 
 
 " Mabel, my dear," he said, " I was placed in a very 
 embarrassing position this morning, one in which I 
 would not have been for anything. I did not know you 
 had been buying things at Mr. Trask's. He sent me a 
 bill in April, but I thought it a mistake and threw it 
 away. To-day I got a letter asking me to settle, and I 
 went over, as I naturally would, and said I had never 
 had a thing charged there. It made me look pretty cheap 
 when he said you had got them, for he could see I did 
 not know it. Look over this bill now and tell me if it 
 is right, and please don't ever again, as long as you live, 
 get credit outside of the things for the table." 
 
 The young wife felt quite as badly as if these words 
 had been spoken in a very different key. They included 
 a complaint of her actions, and it had been 'some 
 weeks now since anything of that kind had come from 
 her husband's lips. She took the bill and tried to read 
 the items, but her eyes filled with tears, and she could 
 not make them out very well. She had no head for 
 figures, any way. 
 
 " I guess it's right," she said, in a faltering voice, 
 when she had pretended to complete the inspection. 
 
 " Did you think there was worth ? " he asked, 
 astonished. 
 
 " I didn't add it up. I only got such goods as I had 
 to have." 
 
 Fawcett wanted to impress some things on her, and 
 yet he did not intend to give the impression that he 
 was scolding. 
 ii
 
 1 62 Y9VNG FA WCR TT'S MABEL, 
 
 " That was in eleven weeks after we returned from 
 our wedding-trip, MabeL" 
 
 She bowed, like a culprit detected red-handed in his 
 crime. 
 
 He restrained himself from alluding to her state- 
 ments before marriage, and went on to the more impor- 
 tant questions in his mind. 
 
 " There was, I remember now, a bill from Mme. 
 Celeste, for $37.50. Did you get that also ? " 
 
 The slight bosom began to tremble with tke stifled 
 emotions that thrilled it. 
 
 " I I got some feathers and hats." 
 
 Yes, he owed that bill, too. He wondered if then 
 were any more. 
 
 " Have you charged goods at other places ? I want 
 to know the whole business." 
 
 She tried to think, but her mind was far from clear. 
 
 " Only some shoesand candy " 
 
 Then she broke down completely at the ignominy of 
 her position. 
 
 " Oh, Allan, don't ask me any more I Why did you 
 marry me 1 I don't do anything right 1 Oh, dear I 
 Oh, dear 1 I wish I was dead ! " 
 
 He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek, 
 wiping off the flowing tears with his handkerchief. 
 
 " You ought not to talk like that," he said, reproach- 
 fully. " There is nothing improper in my questions. 
 I care a great deal about my credit and I want to pay 
 the bills we owe, that's all. But tell me just one thing, 
 dear, and I have finished. Why didn't you ask me for 
 the money ? I would much rather you had done so, 
 for if there is anything I hate it is a running ac- 
 count." 
 
 She tried to draw herself out of his arms, for she did
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT*S MABEL. 16$ 
 
 not like to be so close to him when he was playing th& 
 part of a censor, and she finally succeeded in regaining 
 her sitting position. 
 
 " Allan, you don't understand me at all ! I couldn't 
 ask you for money, not if I was starving and that was 
 the only way to get a crust of bread. You never 
 offered me a penny, now did you ? There were some 
 things I had to have, and it was easier for me to go 
 to those stores than to hold out my hand to you like a 
 little beggar. I supposed they sent the bills to you 
 every month, and that you had paid them long ago and 
 knew all about them. We charge the provisions and 
 the groceries, and the milk and the gas, and I thought 
 it the right way to do. But I won't do it again. No, I 
 will go in rags before I'll be a cent of cost to you except 
 for what I am obliged to eat. I know you're sorry you 
 married me 1 I I " 
 
 He would not let her finish the sentence she had be- 
 gun, for her voice had risen steadily until he was afraid 
 Mrs. Angus would hear her. He did not want her to 
 excite herself in her present condition. So he folded 
 her in his arms again, in spite of her protests, and said 
 he loved her with all his heart and wanted her to have 
 everything she needed, and that from now on he would 
 anticipate her wants and see that her purse was never 
 empty. In the most delicate way he alluded to the 
 special reason why she must not give way to her 
 feelings, and finally succeeded in quieting her. 
 
 He really held her very dear at that time. She was 
 to be the mother of his child and her person was sacred. 
 Before he left the house she had resumed her ordinary 
 composure, and they parted as affectionately as ever, 
 he promising to come home early and t make no 
 arrangements to leave her that evening.
 
 164 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Fawcett went to Mr. Trask's and paid the bill there, 
 trying to act in a manner that would disarm that gentle 
 man of any ugly suspicions he might have formed. He 
 also visited Mme. Celeste and the shoemaker's and 
 the candy store, and when this was done returned to 
 his office, satisfied that he was again square with the 
 shopkeepers of Norwood. When he received small 
 bills, some days later, from a jeweller, who had mended 
 a chain, a druggist, who had supplied cologne and 
 other articles of the toilet, and a baker, who had fur- 
 nished considerable cake and bread that he supposed 
 baked in the house, Allan thought he must have reached 
 the end of the list. But later there came a bill from a 
 hardware dealer, for various things used in the kitchen, 
 from a furniture man for repairs on the sofa on which 
 Fawcett had done his courting, a carpet-dealer, for 
 several new mats that he had never noticed, and from 
 half a dozen other tradesmen, for things in their various 
 lines, Allan paid them all, without mentioning a word 
 to Mabel of the circumstance. 
 
 The total figure was not great, and the most he cared 
 for was the fact that he had been owing these bills 
 without any knowledge of it. The worst of all was 
 thirty-five cents for oranges, charged at a little store 
 one day when the regular dealer did not have any in 
 stock. 
 
 He took Mabel's purse from the table in their bed- 
 room and put twenty-five dollars in it, and from time to 
 time inspected it to see that it did not get too low, but 
 she seemed to have had enough of shopping for the 
 present. Indeed, she went out very little now except 
 when he was with her. Their lives went on as sweetly 
 as that of the proverbial kittens in the basket. And 
 about the middle of the summer, when the air of Nor-
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 165 
 
 wood was more salubrious than that of Boston, Mrs. 
 Morey came for the first time to visit them. 
 
 Mabel had hinted to her mother the condition she 
 was in, and with true maternal solicitude the elder lady 
 wanted to give her advice in person. The meeting 
 between them was very warm, and Fawcett, who had 
 always liked Mrs. Morey, expressed his pleasure at 
 meeting her. After having had a prolonged conver- 
 sation with her daughter, Mrs. Morey discussed the 
 situation privately with her son-in-iaw. She had never 
 heard the least hint of any of the disagreements that 
 had occurred between him and Mabel, and was delighed 
 at finding him so elated over the prospect. There 
 were so many husbands who heard of this sort of thing 
 with ill-concealed disgust that it was a relief to know 
 the state of his mind. 
 
 " Of course, Mr. Fawcett," she said, " /would rather 
 this had happened a year or two later. Mabel is very 
 young to pass through this ordeal and assume this 
 responsibility. However, she has been in good health, 
 and I think we may hope for the best. It is a good 
 time while I am here to make all the preparations 
 possible, and I will gladly assist in every way with 
 the sewing. Mabel seems to feel disinclined to talk 
 with you about that matter, so if you like I will go 
 with her to make the purchases, and do exactly as if it 
 was a matter of my own." 
 
 Fawcett answered to this that nothing would suit him 
 better. He would give Mrs. Morey whatever she should 
 decide was necessary, and trust implicitly to her judg- 
 ment. He handed her fifty dollars on the spot, which, 
 he thought would be a liberal allowance, and said when 
 that was expended she must tell him and he would 
 provide more. The widow smiled as she took the sum,
 
 106 JVCWV FA WCETT'S MA9RL. 
 
 remembering the time before Mabel's birth, and the 
 extravagant amounts that were lavished on the conv 
 ing infant's trousseau. But she knew that Mr. Fawcett 
 had not as yet the income that her husband then 
 had, and also that he was inclined to economy, 
 and she decided to make the money go as far as she 
 could. 
 
 " The best way," she said to her daughter, a fort- 
 night later, " would be for Mr. Fawcett to give us an 
 order on Mr. Trask to get whatever we need, and then 
 have the bill sent to him. It seems foolish to have to 
 reckon up every time to see if there is enough money 
 left for what we want." 
 
 " Allan doesn't like to owe any one," replied Mabel. 
 ** He is quite set about it. Ask him for the money. 
 He will give it to you, and then he will be better satis- 
 fied." 
 
 Fawcett was lost in wonder when he found how much 
 his future heir needed in advance of his or her ap- 
 pearance. Still, his delight at the whole affair was so 
 great that he forgot everything else, and opened his 
 pocket-book freely whenever Mrs. Morey made de- 
 mands on it. The sewing-machine whirled day after 
 day, until he thought a ship's crew could have been fit- 
 ted out with the product, supposing that such a crew 
 could have worn any of the tiny things manufactured. 
 Mabel did little except sit and watch her mother and 
 comment on the work as it progressed. She did not 
 feel like exerting herself, and now that her mother was 
 present, and that Mrs. Angus took all the household 
 work from her shoulders, she became in effect the child 
 of yore, and was quite willing to have others do every 
 thing for her. Mrs. Morey stayed five or six weeks and 
 then returned to her sister's for the present, as she was
 
 TT9UNG PAWC&TT>S AfABSL. 167 
 
 to accompany that lady to the seashore. She promised 
 to come back in the winter and " see them through," but 
 Mabel saw her depart with a feeling of some alarm, fof 
 she had constant spasms of terror, and wanted such a 
 confidential friend near by. It was agreed that she 
 would write very often and conceal nothing from her 
 mother, and with this understanding they had to be 
 content. 
 
 So the summer passed and the autumn, and Fawcett 
 grew happier as his little wife grew more low-spirited 
 and apprehensive. Business had been only fair with 
 him, and his expenses exceeded any estimate he had 
 ever made, but the coming event cast its bright mantle 
 over all. 
 
 Among the news that reached him was the marriage 
 of Miss Mattie Burbank, followed by the failure and 
 subsequent death of her father. He remembered Mat- 
 tie very well, and he had an idea that Mabel did not 
 like her, but when she told him of her cousin's fortune, 
 and later of her misfortune, she did it without any 
 apparent feeling. The one trouble between them had 
 been caused by Mattie's flirtation with the man Mabel 
 wanted to marry, and that could not occur again, of 
 course, now they were both provided with husbands. 
 Mattie's name was Mrs. Algernon Stuart. Her hus- 
 band was chiefly noted as being a son of "old Stuart," 
 who had done something or other at some distant 
 date. 
 
 Fawcett had never seen Frank Selden since the af- 
 fair of the dinner at his rooms, and he had no desire to 
 renew his acquaintance. Once in awhile the recol- 
 lection of that evening came to sting him, for he was 
 heartily sorry and ashamed on account of it. But time 
 passed on and such things wear away. He had to*
 
 i68 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 important a matter in his mind now to think of much 
 else. 
 
 Mabel and Mabel's baby! They were enough to 
 tccupy his entire attention. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " A SMALL BOY ARRIVED." 
 
 MABEL FAWCETT did not grow more angelic as the 
 month of February approached, but in the eyes of her 
 husband she was perfect. Fretful, fault-finding, suited 
 with nothing that he did, or that any one else did, she 
 might have worn out the patience of a saint, but she 
 could not exhaust that of her husband. He left the 
 house late every morning and returned early each even- 
 ing, beside taking two hours instead of one at noon, 
 only to hear the oft-repeated complaint that he neglect- 
 ed her. He never entered the door without bringing 
 something that he thought would please her a trinket, 
 a magazine, a bouquet, or a basket of fruit ; to which 
 she generally offered some objection, demanding some- 
 thing else that could not be found at that season or 
 that was not obtainable in Norwood. It was impossi- 
 ble for Allan to do anything to please her at that time. 
 She held him responsible for the disagreeable condi- 
 tion in which she found herself, and told him many 
 times each day, often with tears, that she could not 
 understand why a man, pretending love for her, could 
 be so thoughtless. 
 
 " Do you doubt that I love you, my darling ? " he 
 asked driven to desperation.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 169 
 
 "Oh, I am sure you don't ! " she answered. " If you 
 did, you would do something to make me feel better." 
 
 Mrs. Morey returned to Norwood early in January, 
 and used sometimes to commiserate her son-in-law on 
 the hard treatment to which he was subjected. She ex- 
 plained to him the irresponsibility of women under such 
 circumstances, and said he ought not to mind the cross 
 words that his wife uttered so often. To this Allan 
 replied that he was far from minding them ; that Mabel 
 was the dearest wife a man could dream of, and that 
 his only anxiety was for her safety. A medical man 
 who was called in cheered him by repeating a proverb 
 to the effect that danger rarely lies where ill-temper 
 gets control. Fawcett was much elated at this. He 
 was perfectly willing his wife should vent any amount 
 of spleen on him provided it insured her own se- 
 curity. 
 
 As in all such cases there were alarms innumerable. 
 The commission merchant hardly knew for a fortnight 
 whether hay was ten dollars a ton or twenty. His 
 household had been augmented by a tall and angular 
 nurse named Archer, who gave evidence of her inten- 
 tion to rule like a despot. He was hardly allowed to 
 kiss his wife after this tyrant entered his door, and any 
 prolonged conversation between them was peremptorily 
 forbidden. As all the others of the family were of the 
 feminine persuasion, and as he was the only one to fall 
 under the ban, Fawcett became melancholy and refused 
 to eat his meals. 
 
 The doctor, who, as is customary, was allowed to run 
 up a frightful bill long before the wildest imagination 
 could show it necessary, saw the paleness of his em- 
 ployer's countenance and prescribed beef, wine and 
 iron, which was bought, but not taken. And when tilt
 
 I ;o YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 important day actually arrived, the husband was given 
 to .understand by everybody that he had no interest 
 whatever in the affair, and that it would be becoming 
 in him to maintain a position of non-interference with 
 what was no concern of his. 
 
 But, to save his life, Allan could not help asking 
 questions now of the doctor, now of Mrs. Morey, as 
 they appeared in the sitting or dining room, from time 
 to time. Once he went so far as to address an inquiry 
 to Miss Archer, but was almost annihilated by the look 
 she gave him, while her compressed lips spoke the 
 volumes she did not utter. About eleven o'clock at 
 night he heard a long wail from the sick chamber. It 
 was the voice of his beloved, and with an anguish that 
 could have been hardly less than hers he went out 
 into the yard and walked up and down a path shov- 
 elled in the snow. 
 
 " Oh, God ! " he groaned. " If I could only take her 
 suffering on myself ! " 
 
 And at that moment, to make his agony the keener, 
 he thought of the supper in Frank Selden's rooms. 
 Perhaps God would punish him for what he did that 
 night, by taking his wife away ! Freezing at the 
 thought, though he had no sensation of the atmosphere, 
 he knelt in the snow and prayed. He was not used to 
 prayer, but a more feeling petition never was sent from 
 earth to heaven. When he rose he could not help 
 re-entering the house, though he dreaded to hear that 
 voice of pain again, and as he stepped into the dining- 
 room Mrs. Morey, with praiseworthy thoughtfulness, 
 came and grasped his hand. 
 
 " Allan," she said, " you are the father of a boy I " 
 
 It was the first time she had ever addressed him by 
 kit Christian name, and even in the flood of joy that
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT' S MABEL. Ift 
 
 swept over him he realized that fact. Throwing hif 
 arms around the lady's neck he burst into tears. 
 
 " And Mabel, is she safe ? " he asked, as soon as he 
 could command his voice. 
 
 " We have no fears." 
 
 When can I see her ? " 
 
 " That is for the doctor to say. Have patience, my 
 dear boy, and I will bring word to you." 
 
 After the tears, Fawcett felt a reaction that led him 
 into the opposite mood. The danger was really over ! 
 He was a father, and above all things of a boy 1 His 
 five feet nine inches grew to at least six feet one, in 
 the next four minutes. 
 
 He was beginning to think himself a man of conse- 
 quence in the world when Miss Archer passed through 
 the room, and by her presence reduced him to his 
 former insignificant rank. What is a newly-made 
 father compared to that awful dignity represented by a 
 nurse of her description ? The Tsar of all the Russias 
 must hide his diminished head before the nurse-extra- 
 ordinary to his empress. 
 
 It was Mabel, in her exhaustion, who thought of her 
 husband next. She whispered to the physician that 
 Allan ought to see the little bundle which had been 
 carefully attended to and was now lying in blankets in 
 the adjacent crib. The good-natured doctor braved 
 the threatening looks of Miss Archer, who glowered 
 over the infant as if she were a lioness and this was 
 her own particular cub. Taking it in his arms, he 
 walked out to the sitting-room, where Fawcett war 
 pacing up and down. 
 
 " Is that it ? " was the exclamation which the fond 
 papa made, when the image was duly unveiled. " Not 
 very large to have made all this rumpus."
 
 Bf t IW If A WE TTS MABML. 
 
 He spoke as if he thought it a very small dividend 
 to get from such a heavy investment, but he did 
 not deceive the doctor. There was a proud look in 
 Fawcett's eyes as he bent over the red-faced little fel- 
 low and tried to see if it resembled any one he knew. 
 He was not the first new father to act before third par- 
 ties as if he had had fifty children and considered them 
 very ordinary affairs. 
 
 Now that the danger was over he assumed his natural 
 demeanor. He spoke of Mabel and was assured that 
 she would be around in a week or two. The boy had 
 been weighed and, to use a sporting phrase, " tipped 
 the beam " at seven pounds and a half. He was also, 
 without doubt, to borrow another expression of the 
 fraternity, " in the pink of condition." Allan told the 
 doctor, with a smile, that he guessed he would keep it, 
 and pinched the boy's cheek softly as his bearer took 
 him away. 
 
 As Miss Archer set her foot down No. 6 D. that 
 he should not see Mabel until the next day, Fawcett 
 thought he might as well try to get a little rest. He 
 went to the room he used to occupy, the one to which 
 he had gone that night when he and his wife had the 
 difference of opinion about the temperature and threw 
 himself on the sofa. He thought it all over as he lay 
 there. He could see her again dear little woman that 
 she was ! standing in the dim light at his door, dressed 
 in her bed-gown, telling him with shivering accents 
 that she was afraid to sleep by herself, and that she 
 thought feathers the only proper thing. What a wretch 
 he was to make her come into that cold room when she 
 was not used to it, just to prove that he could have his 
 way ! Fawcett would have liked to punch such a man 
 in the head, could he have conveniently done so. But
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 175 
 
 Mabel was on the feathers now poor girl! and I 
 hard bed it had been for her, at that ! Dear child ! 
 How he loved her! And she, not yet twenty, was 
 really a mother ! 
 
 He fell asleep with a smile on his lips and rested 
 quietly for some hours. When he awoke it was day- 
 light. He rose, made his toilet, and went downstairs. 
 Mrs. Morey, who had retired later, was not yet up, and 
 Miss Archer was in command of the infantry forces. 
 Mrs. Angus served him his eggs and coffee and, as 
 there seemed to be nothing that he could do at the 
 house, he went down to his office to open the mail. 
 
 A rumor of the arrival at his residence had preceded 
 him, early as it was, for the doctor had been seen by a 
 watchman on his way home, and the clerks knew that the 
 elastic step in such contrast to those of the preceding 
 days could have but one meaning. He read his 
 letters through, including one that asked for an exten- 
 sion of time on an over-due account, without relinquish- 
 ing the smile that covered his face. He wrote the 
 necessary answers, and after he had consulted with his 
 chief employe for a few minutes about the state of 
 business he told him what had happened, leaving him 
 to tell the others if he wished. 
 
 " A small boy arrived at my house last night, Bar- 
 rett. The mother and child are doing well." 
 
 Mr. Barrett tendered his congratulations, and being 
 of a mercenary turn, managed to get a raise of three 
 dollars a week on his salary before he allowed Fawcett 
 to escape. 
 
 The first interview that Fawcett had with his wife 
 was very sweet and tender. He secured the consent 
 of the doctor to see her alone for ten minutes, promis- 
 ing to be very careful not to agitate her in any way.
 
 174 YOUNG FAWCETT'S HABEL. 
 
 Miss Archer, who allowed no person except the physi- 
 cian even to make a suggestion to her, stalked out of the 
 bedroom with an air of offended majesty, and Allan, 
 who stood by the door through which she made her 
 exit, closed it behind her. 
 
 " Isn't it funny ? " said Mabel, laughing faintly. " It 
 makes me think of Rider Haggard's ' She.' Well, what 
 do you think of my baby ? " 
 
 He drew a chair to the side of the bed and told he 
 he thought it was, on the whole, the finest child ever 
 brought into this world. He could hardly believe it 
 was really hers. It seemed as if it must have been 
 smuggled into the house, like some of those children one 
 reads of in history. 
 
 " It didn't seem that way to me," she said, with a 
 comical grimace, at the same time pulling him down 
 where she could kiss him. " But the first thing I want 
 you to do is to forgive me." 
 
 "Forgive her! What for?" 
 
 " For being so cross and hateful so long. I knew 
 nil the while I was, but I really couldn't help it Oh, 
 I felt so dreadfully! There wasn't a time, dear, 
 yhen I snapped you up that I wasn't ashamed of it ; 
 and when you answered me so nice and tried to please 
 me in every way, I loved you more than I can tell. 
 But that's over now. I'll never do it again." 
 
 He assured her that he appreciated the case fully, 
 and perpetrated a little joke anent her promise never 
 to repeat the offence. But she reiterated the state- 
 ment, and this time quite soberly, that she never 
 would no, never ! Nothing should ever happen again 
 to bring unpleasant things to her husband. 
 
 "And the baby!" she added. "You don't talk 
 enough about him I"
 
 YOVNC FA WCSTT'S MABEL. 175 
 
 He took the sleeping child from its crib, though this 
 had not been included in the permission under which 
 he was acting, and laid it by its mother, declaring them 
 the handsomest pair on which he had ever set eyes. 
 Then they talked of important things in which the 
 reader of this novel can have no interest, until he be* 
 gan to realize that his ten minutes was about to expire. 
 He put the baby back in its crib, with a lame attempt 
 to conceal the fact that he had touched it. 
 
 " Where the deuce did the doctor find that griffin ? " 
 he inquired, glancing apprehensively toward the door. 
 " She puts on more style than an alderman." 
 
 " Mamma says they're always that way," Mabel 
 laughed. " She's smart, though. One of the best." 
 
 " And how long does she consider herself entitled to 
 hang around here and spoil ray disposition ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 "A month, I think." 
 
 Fawcett put on a look of rage and was executing an 
 imaginary decapitation of the Archer when that indi- 
 vidual, stiff as ever, stalked back into the chamber and 
 put an end to the sdance. He wafted a salute with his 
 fingers to his wife, which act the nurse seemed to take 
 as a personal affront, for she turned toward him and 
 sniffed audibly; upon which he vanished from the 
 apartment without ceremony. 
 
 Before the month was over Mr. Frank Selden made 
 an unexpected appearance at Norwood. His time was 
 certainly well chosen, for it would have been well-nigh 
 impossible for Fawcett to show much resentment to any 
 one during that period. Selden had given no notice of 
 his intention to come, but dove suddenly into Allan's 
 office one morning and clapped his whilom partner oa 
 the shoulder.
 
 1 76 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 "Gad, old fellow 1 What a fatherly-looking chap 
 you are ! " 
 
 If there had been any question of his reception, the 
 form of this exclamation saved him. Fawcett took the 
 extended hand, though perhaps not very warmly at 
 first, and answered the questions that were put to him. 
 Selden was at his best, saying just the right things. 
 He even declared, with an appearance of candor, that 
 he quite envied Fawcett his happiness, and that the 
 only true life for a man to lead was that of marriage. 
 
 " Here I am," he said, " knocking around from one 
 girl to another and raising hell, and what does it 
 all amount to ? It is a thousand times more sensible 
 to settle down as you have done with one nice woman 
 and see your children growing up about you. By the 
 way, how's business ? " 
 
 Somewhat surprised at the sudden change of subject, 
 Allen replied that business was fair. 
 
 " I mat Decker the last time I was in New York," 
 said Frank, " and he told me he would take you into 
 his firm any time. I can't see why a man should 
 moon his life away in this village when he can get a 
 chance like that." 
 
 Decker & Co. were large wholesale dealers in the 
 produce line, and Fawcett had had considerable to do 
 with them. 
 
 " Mr. Decker didn't mention anything about his con. 
 ditions, I suppose," replied Allan. " He didn't say 
 that I would have to put up $25,000, did he?" 
 
 Selden shrugged his shoulders as if that was a mere 
 incident. 
 
 " You don't pretend that it would be difficult to raise 
 that amount for such a purpose, do you ? " he said* 
 "The concern is a stock company, and by pledging the
 
 YOUNG FA WCBTTS MABEL. 177 
 
 shares you could easily get the coin. Why, I'd lend 
 it to you myself." 
 
 It was a generous proposition, it seemed to Fawcett, 
 and he began to reproach himself for the hard feelings 
 he had entertained toward this man. But the thought 
 of going so deeply into debt frightened him. Even the 
 $3,000 that he still owed made him uneasy at times, 
 though he could pay it at a week's notice, and still have 
 $5,000 or $6,000 left. He told Selden that he could 
 not think of accepting such an offer, but that if Mr. 
 Decker ever gave him a chance to get in by any other 
 way he would take it. He admitted that Norwood did 
 not offer quite the field he wanted. 
 
 "You haven't asked a word about Gretchen," said 
 Selden, when they had disposed of the New York affair. 
 
 Fawcett reddened violently. 
 
 "Never speak to me about that matter," he said, 
 choking. 
 
 " About the matter no. But about Gretchen, why, 
 any one can speak about her. She has asked after you 
 twenty times. Gretchen is as good as a saint. If it 
 was Sadie, now " 
 
 Allan rose from his chair and lifted both hands in 
 protest. 
 
 " If you knew how horribly unhappy that has made 
 me you would never bring it up, Frank," he said, with 
 feeling. " Sometimes when I look at at Mabel, and 
 and the baby and think of that night, it seems as if 
 I should go mad. I thought the next day I never 
 could live long enough to forgive you ; but, after all, 
 it was my own fault. If Mabel should ever find it out, 
 what do you think would become of me ? " 
 
 His suffering was so evident that Selden soothed 
 him, thinking it the best policy not to excite him too 
 la
 
 178 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MA9E*. 
 
 far. At noon they went together to Fawcetfs house, 
 where, before the dinner was served, the baby had to 
 be brought forth and exhibited to its second cousin. 
 Frank praised the child with well-selected phrases, and 
 its fond papa forgot the unpleasant allusions of an 
 hour before. Mabel was not yet on exhibition, except 
 to her immediate family circle, but Frank sent con- 
 gratulations to her and said he would come to Norwood 
 again in a month or two to see how she looked as a 
 full-fledged mamma. He was so jolly at the table that 
 he nearly forced a smile to the face of Miss Archer, 
 and when he took the Boston train at night Allan was 
 really sorry to have him go. 
 
 " Don't entirely give up that idea of Decker's," said 
 Frank. " You can just as well make a hundred thou- 
 sand there in the next ten years, as you can ten thou- 
 sand here. You are too conservative to do business in 
 such days as these. The big firms are skimming all 
 the cream for themselves, and this chance is one in a 
 million. Decker has a high opinion of you, and he 
 only wants the $25,000 just for the looks of the thing. 
 Well, if you come around to it, remember you can 
 rely on me." 
 
 Fawcett thanked him warmly, and promised to think 
 about it, though he did not mean anything special by 
 that. It was nice to have such a good friend, with 
 such a full purse, at his elbow, in case of necessity, 
 though. Frank was not half as bad as he had pictured 
 him. If his morals would only improve he would be 
 all that could be desired. 
 
 The end of the stay of Miss Archer came at last 
 and both Mabel and her husband saw her vinegary 
 countenance disappear with great glee. Mrs. Morey 
 did not remain long after her, and by the first of May
 
 YOUNS FAWCETT'S MABEL. 179 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Fawcett were left alone in their house, 
 with their son and Mrs. Angus. 
 
 Nothing unusual happened during the summer that 
 followed. Mabel had regained her full strength and 
 looked about as pretty and young as ever. Allan 
 divided his time between his office and home, in the 
 old way. He was wrapped up in his baby, and never 
 seemed to tire of playing with it, or even of getting up 
 in the night and walking the floor with it if it cried. 
 His was the proud discovery of its first tooth ; his the 
 primary announcement that it could actually bear its 
 weight on its feet ! 
 
 Everything seemed to go as smoothly as could be 
 desired, till one day there came a letter from Mrs. 
 Mattie Stuart, & Burbank, that she was coming to 
 pay her cousin a visit. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WANTED A DIVORCE. 
 
 MARRIAGE had made little change in the personal 
 appearance of Mrs. Stuart. She might have still been 
 Mattie Burbank, for all that any one could tell by 
 looking at her. But in reality she was as different 
 from the girl of two years before as could well be. 
 Her union was in all respects a dismal failure, and she 
 had not been many days at Norwood before she made 
 Mrs. Fawcett her complete confidante in regard to that 
 matter. 
 
 Stuart was, as has been before intimated, the scion 
 of a respectable family, but without any particular 
 merit of his own. He had been educated to do
 
 j8o YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 nothing, and in that accomplishment took a very high 
 rank. His father had little confidence in his business 
 judgment and left him only a small income, of which 
 he never could touch the principal. This was unknown 
 to Mattie at the time she accepted his hand. She 
 knew Mr. Stuart, Sr., had considerable property, and 
 supposed, as a matter of course, that the son had his 
 full share. On his part, he was attracted quite as 
 much by the wealth which Mr. Burbank was reputed 
 to have, as by the charms of his prospective bride. It 
 was a not uncommon case of being deceived on both 
 sides, and neither could well task the other with a 
 fault in which both had indulged. 
 
 When Mr. Burbank went into bankruptcy, young 
 Stuart was disgusted. He told his wife, for the first 
 time, the condition of his own affairs, and intimated 
 that as there was hardly enough for himself in the 
 income he received, she must not expect that a great 
 deal of it would be lavished on her. " If there was 
 enough for two, Mattie," he said with admirable 
 candor, " I would willingly divide ; but as there is 
 only enough for one it is natural that /should be the 
 one." 
 
 The girl had never been in love with her husband, 
 and it is not likely that this increased the affection she 
 was trying to show. Stuart was not an agressively bad 
 man, he was simply negatively so. To all her indig- 
 nant speeches and to her tearful pleas that he would 
 do something to earn a living for himself and wife, 
 he made few replies and no promises. He was as 
 far from protesting against her attitude as he was 
 from doing anything to satisfy her requests. Ho 
 would not have denied that she was entirely right io 
 her position. It was merely a series of unfortuoat*
 
 FA WCE rrs MABEL. 18 1 
 
 circumstances that had placed them where they were, 
 As to seeking employment, why, of course, he couldn't 
 do it. He did not know enough even to drive a 
 horse-car. He was in a state of chronic weariness, 
 from which he could only arouse himself enough to 
 play an occasional game of billiards or poker, which 
 he invariably lost. 
 
 " I tell you, Mabel, it is a hard place to be put in," 
 sighed Mattie, her spirits crushed by her misfortunes. 
 " There have been days when he has left me without a 
 cent, and nothing to eat in the house. I have actually 
 had to go to call on friends, in the hope that they would 
 ask me to dinner. And when he comes back he 
 simply says he met some fellows in whom he got inter- 
 ested, and forgot all about me for forty-eight hours 
 or so." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett listened with deep sympathy. She had 
 had her little troubles, too, but Allan had never acted 
 like that. He had too great a regard for money to let 
 it take care of itself as Stuart did. And never had he 
 been out all night except when she knew he was going 
 and where. 
 
 a You don't think, I hope," she said, with a blush, 
 " that there is any other woman who attracts him ? " 
 
 " Oh, he doesn't know enough for that ! " retorted 
 Mattie. " I don't see what he ever got married for. 
 It must have been entirely with a view to the fortune 
 he thought he would get through me. No, he never 
 looks toward a bit of calico, as the saying is. A crowd 
 of disreputable fellows in some saloon is the highest 
 form of vice he follows. If I catch him at the moment 
 he is paid his monthly income, by the executors of his 
 father's property, I get a little of it. If I am an hour 
 late, a good share is gone. '
 
 lg YO UNO FA WCE TT*S MABRL* 
 
 Mabel realized how hard it was for Mattie to confess 
 all these things, for she had been brought up to have 
 everything she asked for, and her family had lived like 
 nabobs till the crash came. It gratified her also to feel 
 that she had been selected as a confidante, when Mattie 
 assured her that she had not even told her own mother 
 half the story. Mrs. Burbank had gone to live with 
 another married daughter in a distant part of the coun- 
 try, and if she suspected that Stuart was not what he 
 should be, she had at least only a faint notion of th 
 whole truth. To have told her would have been to 
 give her needless distress, as she was entirely pen- 
 niless herself. Mr. Burbank had made the mistake, 
 too common in the United States, of trying to double 
 his entire fortune in one move on the financial board, 
 and had seen it swept away as swiftly as if a croupier 
 at roulette had reached out his rake for it. Broken- 
 hearted at his losses he did not long survive them, and 
 there was not even a life insurance policy for the un- 
 happy heirs. 
 
 " You won't lisp a word to Mr. Fawcett, will you ? " 
 Mattie would often say, when she had finished some 
 tale of her husbacd's neglect. " I would not tell it to 
 any one but you, and I always put on the gayest ap 
 pearance before him. I am glad you and he are so 
 happy together, though it makes such a contrast to my 
 own condition. Your motlier was right when she 
 wanted you to marry a mr.n with correct habits rather 
 than one who inherited a fortune made by others. If 
 I had done the same thing I should not now be worse 
 off than either an old maid or a widow." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett said all she could to comfort her cousin, 
 but there was little of hat nature at hand. 
 
 " Will he come here to visit you ? " she asked, on
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. x fig 
 
 day, when they had been discussing the everlasting 
 subject. 
 
 " No, indeed ! It is doubtful if he thinks of me once 
 a week, even to remember that I am living." 
 
 " I can't help saying I am glad he won't come," said 
 Mabel. "I detest him so much that I'm afraid I 
 couldn't treat him decently. And yet, bad as he acts, 
 whatever he does, he is none the less your husband. 
 When Allan has to go to Boston, or to New York, for 
 just a night or two, I think it weeks before he returns." 
 
 The young wife reddened as she said this. It took 
 very little to color the cheek of pretty, modest Mrs. 
 Fawcett. 
 
 Mattie divined the thought that had nearly been put 
 into words, and a slight shiver passed over her. 
 
 " If Algy Stuart were to come here to-night," she 
 said, shutting her lips firmly together, " he could not 
 occupy the room with me. No, if there was no other 
 place, I would sleep on the parlor floor or walk the 
 kitchen till morning ! " 
 
 Mabel opened her eyes in real grief. 
 
 " Poor girl ! " she whispered. " Don't tell me any 
 more like that. It makes me feel so badly I can hardly 
 keep from crying." 
 
 " You are a happy wife," said Mattie, choking down 
 a sob, "and I am wrong to trouble you with my 
 distresses. In the future I will do it as little as I can 
 help. Ah, I hear Cecil ! He has awakened and found 
 himself all alone and wants some one to come to him. 
 No, don't move. I like to be the first one he sees 
 when he opens his eyes." 
 
 Cecil had not cried a great deal, just enough to sound 
 the only alarm that he knew how to manipulate. When 
 he saw Mattie he laughed and put up his chubby hands
 
 I4 YOUNG FA WCE TrS MABEL. 
 
 for her to take him. He was now ten months old and 
 a very lovable little fellow. I state this on the unim- 
 peachable authority of both his parents, who, with all 
 their disagreements, first and last, were a unit on this 
 point. 
 
 " Look at the young scamp ! " exclaimed Mattie, as 
 she brought him into the sitting-room a few minutes 
 later, with his face washed and his hair nicely combed. 
 "No, he doesn't want any one to take him but his 
 aunt, does you, titbits ? " 
 
 She tossed the child up and down until he screamed 
 with laughter, and then, declaring that he had a cold, 
 cruel, heartless mother, who had weaned him much too 
 soon, she went with him to the dining-room, where she 
 installed him in a high-chair and was, a moment later, 
 engaged in putting bread and milk into his mouth with 
 a spoon. 
 
 The wife of Allan Fawcett watched her cousin's 
 actions with a sad heart. Dear Mattie, how she did 
 love children ! And she never would have one of her 
 own, never 1 Mabel knew that the crown of a woman's 
 life was to see her own baby in her lap, and the atti- 
 tude that Mattie assumed toward her worthless husband 
 seemed to her the bitterest drop in the cup she had to 
 drink. To be a wife and to be no wife ; to call some 
 man " husband " and be barred by an ironical fate 
 from all that this implied ! It was simply more than 
 any woman ought to be asked to endure. If it was her 
 case, Mabel thought, she could never bear it. Allan 
 had done exasperating things during the first few 
 months of her married life, but he had always shown 
 himself a man. She resolved to advise Mattie to con- 
 salt a lawyer and see if a divorce was not practicable. 
 
 A woman did not know what life was till she had
 
 Y6U2V1S FA WCXTT'S MABEL. iSg 
 
 had a child. One was enough Mabel had no question 
 in her mind about that but every woman should have 
 one. To bear it to such a husband as Algernon Stuart 
 was not to be thought of, and Mattie was right in the 
 position she had undertaken. He was worse than a 
 highwayman who stops people on the road and takes 
 their purses. He had robbed his wife of the right to 
 love some other man he had placed her on a desolate 
 island and destroyed the boats by which she might 
 escape. Mabel wished she could talk with Allan about 
 Mattie's case, but her promise held her tongue. Mrs. 
 Stuart had said emphatically that she should sink with 
 shame if he ever heard the least intimation of it. 
 
 There was one thing that Mabel could do, however, 
 and she decided that she would do that. She could 
 go to a lawyer and put a hypothetical case to him, and 
 see if he could not suggest a remedy. And this she 
 proceeded to do the first time an opportunity presented 
 itself to get down town alone. 
 
 Squire Crue, who gave out the law to Norwood, was 
 an elderly gentleman of portly mien. He had never 
 shone as a pleader in the courts, but his task had been 
 perhaps of more advantage to the community, for he 
 had a reputation as a peacemaker, and nearly always 
 succeeded in getting his clients to settle their differ- 
 ences without resorting to a jury trial. He knew Mrs. 
 Fawcett by sight, and when she entered his office and 
 said she wanted a few minutes' conversation, he bowed 
 with the air of a very fat Lord Chesterfield, and crossed 
 his hands over his paunch in an attitude of expectancy. 
 
 " I wanted to ask you," she said, her voice shaking 
 slightly, " if a woman can get a divorce from a hus- 
 band who hardly gives her anything and spends all hie 
 time ami money with other people/'
 
 186 YOUNG FAWCETFS MABRL. 
 
 Squire Crue smiled benignantly and remarked that 
 he could hardly answer a question like that by a yes 
 or no. He said he must have a fuller statement of 
 the case. 
 
 " Well," said Mabel, gaining confidence now that the 
 first ordeal was over, " it is this way. He married his 
 wife, thinking her people had money, and when he 
 found they hadn't he said that he hadn't much, either. 
 And he neglects her, and sometimes doesn't bring any- 
 thing home for her to eat; and she goes away for 
 weeks at a time and he doesn't come to see her, nor 
 seem to care where she is nor what she does." 
 
 There was an infantile strain in this presentation of 
 the case that struck Mr. Crue forcibly. He replied 
 that the law was seldom understood by married women, 
 and that he would try to show just what it did and did 
 not provide for. Then he went on to tell her that a 
 husband could be made to support his wife, but that 
 each instance would be considered on its own merits by 
 the judge before whom it was brought. " The amount 
 she is to receive from her husband must depend en- 
 tirely," he said, in closing, " on his ability." 
 
 " But this man hasn't any," said Mrs. Fawcett. 
 
 " Hasn't any what ? " ' 
 
 " Any ability." 
 
 "In that case, supposing it to be strictly true," 
 smiled the squire, " he would probably be sent to an 
 asylum." 
 
 " And she could get a divorce ! " cried Mabel, joy- 
 fully. 
 
 " M-m, that does not follow," replied Mr. Crue. 
 " It depends on a variety of circumstances. A wife's 
 opinion of her husband's ability might not agree with 
 that of a commissioner in lunacy. I am sure, to come
 
 YOVNG FAWCETrS MABKL. ffty 
 
 down to the case in point, that Mr. Fawcett is a long 
 way from an imbecile." 
 
 At the mention of Allan's name Mabel caught her 
 breath. 
 
 " Mr. Fawcett ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " Yes. You are Mrs. Fawcett, I believe." 
 
 There was a riddle here that could not be solved for 
 the moment by the young head in which it had been 
 placed. 
 
 " I don't understand," said she, " what my husband 
 has to do with this matter ? " 
 
 It was the lawyer's turn to be surprised. 
 
 " I thought," he said, " that you wanted a divorce." 
 
 Mabel gathered up her dress and rose to her feet 
 It seemed as if some awful danger hung over her head, 
 and over Allan's, and over the baby's. Wanted a 
 divorce ! She ! What did Squire Crue mean ? 
 
 The Squire rose also, much perplexed. 
 
 " Were you not speaking of yourself ? " he asked. 
 
 "Of myself 1 You thought /wanted why, what a 
 frightful idea ! No, indeed ! It will be a long time 
 before you ever see me here on an errand like that 1 I 
 was asking for a friend of mine, who lives in another 
 city. I should think, if you knew Mr. Fawcett at all, 
 you would know I couldn't be talking of him / Why, 
 you gave me such a shock I hardly know what to 
 do!" 
 
 Quite overcome, Mrs. Fawcett sat down again to 
 compose her nerves, while Squire Crue made the best 
 apology he could command. It was very unusual, he 
 said, for a woman to ask advice on such a matter 
 for a third person. He then inquired if the friend for 
 whom the information was sought lived in that State, 
 and on finding that her legal residence was Ohio, he
 
 l8S YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 said that made a difference, for the laws of the States 
 differed materially. By the time he had taken down 
 several books and read a number of paragraphs aloud, 
 Mrs. Fawcett came to the conclusion that law was a 
 very bungling thing, and that she certainly had not the 
 head to understand it. So she told the lawyer she 
 would have to go, and that she was very much obliged, 
 and when she had paid the small fee he asked, she 
 went home and told Mattie what she had done. 
 
 " You are very kind," said her cousin, " but I looked 
 into all that before I left Cleveland. I couldn't get a 
 divorce unless he actually deserted me, and I don't 
 think he could be induced to do that. At present, it is 
 I who have deserted him. Perhaps I could get a 
 part of his income made over to me by applying to the 
 court, but it would cause a public scandal, and if mamma 
 heard of it, to say nothing of the hundreds of people I 
 have associated with, it would kill me with shame. 
 There's nothing to be done but endure my punish- 
 ment. I would give anything if I didn't have to go 
 back to him, though ! " 
 
 Mabel's sympathy was so thoroughly aroused that she 
 set her little head to work in hopes at least to mitigate 
 the trouble of her friend. Allan was perfectly willing 
 that Mattie should stay at his house indefinitely, for 
 the baby's love for her went straight to his most sus- 
 ceptible spot He did not know anything about 
 Stuart, and was unlikely ever to meet him. It looked 
 easy enough to invent a story about Algy having to go 
 to some foreign place where the climate was not suit- 
 able for his wife, and of leaving her with the Fawcetts 
 during his absence. 
 
 And this is exactly what Mabel did. She quieted 
 fctr conscience by saying it was a perfectly harmless
 
 YOUNG FA WCETrS MABEL. 189 
 
 fie, and that the case was a desperate one. If it ever 
 was exposed she felt sure Allan would say she had 
 done entirely right. No member of the Society of 
 Jesus ever argued with neater casuistry than this un- 
 sophisticated young woman. 
 
 It was delightful for Mattie to have this home pro- 
 vided for her, and she was not the one to refuse to 
 accept it on the terms offered. She wrote occasional 
 letters to Mr. Stuart, and sometimes he answered 
 them, but the burden of her communications was ad- 
 vice for him to keep away, which he religiously fol- 
 lowed. Several times in the next year he sent her 
 small sums of money, which she needed too much 
 to refuse. In fact all went on as smoothly as life 
 on a steamer that has lost its bearings and is headed 
 directly for a rocky shore. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 "HE MUST BE A PARAGON." 
 
 THAT winter business at Norwood did not go to suit 
 Allan Fawcett. It was true, as Frank had said, that 
 the big fish in this business were bound to eat up 
 the small ones. When Master Cecil was a little over 
 a year old there came a series of disasters that nearly 
 made his papa insolvent. Fawcett came home one 
 evening, pale and dispirited, and told Mabel that he 
 did not know whether he was worth a dollar in the 
 world or not 
 
 " If I were to pay Frank the money I owe him," said 
 he, " I do not think I would have enough left to buy a 
 breakfast to-morrow morning. Everything has goa*
 
 J9 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 wrong. Three or four thousand dollars more might 
 enable me to get out of my scrape, but having nothing, 
 what can I do ? " 
 
 Mabel was not as much distressed as her husband, 
 except on his account. Business had no meaning for 
 her. The entire arrangement by which men bought 
 and sold and realized profits was as great a mystery in 
 her eyes as the sharpest trick ever performed by a 
 Cazenove. 
 
 "Eat your supper," she said to him confidently, 
 " and look on the bright side. It will come out all 
 right, I'm sure." 
 
 But Allan could not muster an appetite. 
 
 " I don't care so much for myself," said he, " but it 
 will be hard for you and Cecil, if I have to come down 
 and go to work for some one. Salaries are not high 
 these days. Probably we shall have to break up our 
 home and go to some city and board." 
 
 This was something definite in the way of unpleasant 
 possibilities, and it came home to Mrs. Fawcett in a 
 way she did not like. It would mean not only a loss 
 of her pleasant surroundings, but it would fall heavily 
 on Mattie Stuart, toward whom Mabel had assumed 
 the role of a protector. Anything was better than to 
 send Mattie back to t'-c tender mercies of her hateful 
 spouse. Mabel racked her brains to see whether she 
 could not suggest something. 
 
 " I would use every cent there is left if it would get 
 me out of the scrape," she told Allan. " Frank has 
 enough money, and even if you lost it, he would never 
 know the difference." 
 
 He made a gesture of intense disapprobation. 
 
 " If I should lose that money, Mabel, and be unable 
 t pay it, I don't know what I should do. ComiaGt
 
 YOVNG PAWCETT'S MABEL. 19* 
 
 suicide, perhaps. I have never faced a man that 
 I owed and asked him to wait for his money, and 
 I simply could not do it. There is no disgrace equal 
 to that. No, the sum I owe Frank must be kept 
 intact, at all hazards, even if I go down in the crash." 
 
 With a woman's argument she met this. 
 
 " I should think, to hear you talk, that you cared 
 more for Frank Selden than for your own wife and 
 child ! He took his risk when he lent you the money, 
 and if it's lost that's his affair. You say it may save 
 you, and if you don't take it, and you lose everything^ 
 I don't see how you can pretend to love us so much." 
 
 " Mabel, my dear ! " he exclaimed. " Let me try to 
 make it plain to you. That $3poo that I have of 
 Frank's is his. It is not mine. I only have the right 
 to use it. It would be almost yes, quite as if I stole 
 the amount, if I put it where there was a risk of losa^ 
 when my own capital is used up. If I must rob people 
 I will take a pistol and go out on the highway where 
 there are strangers, instead of picking the pockets of 
 my friends." 
 
 She thought him very foolish in his view of the 
 matter, and for some time she tried to have him 
 see the way it seemed to her. 
 
 " If you lose this money and you say you don't 
 think you will if you take it they can't arrest you, can 
 they? But if you go to rob people in the street, 
 you can be put in jail. I should think that was proof 
 enough of the difference." 
 
 Despairing of conveying his ideas to one who rea- 
 soned on such narrow premises, Allan lost his temper, 
 for the first time in a year or more. He said he should 
 do what he thought right, and that Mabel would have 
 to take whatever he found himself able to give hit
 
 19* YOVN4 FA WCETT'S MAtEL. 
 
 when this thing came to a head. He had done hi 
 best to make a fortune, and if he had failed, she must 
 share his ill-luck with him. He was not going to 
 become a swindler for the sake of putting on appear- 
 ances. And when the only answer his wife made 
 to this was to cry, he got up and went down to the 
 office again, to pore over the hateful figures that 
 annoyed him, instead of getting the sleep of which he 
 stood in the greatest need. 
 
 Mabel told Mattie of what had occurred, and that 
 lady agreed that it would be very foolish for a man 
 to sacrifice the comfort of his family merely to pay such 
 a paltry sum as $3,000 to a man who had no more need 
 of it than he had of three coats at once. Mrs. Stuart 
 had, however, a good deal of the wisdom of the ser- 
 pent, and she advised her friend not to let a quarrel 
 grow out of the difference of opinion between herself 
 and her husband. She knew Fawcett well enough to 
 understand that soft words would go much farther with 
 him than hard ones. 
 
 Mabel profited by these suggestions so far as to 
 receive Allan well when he returned, and so impressed 
 him by her gentleness and sweetness that he resolved 
 to make every effort to save her. In the morning there 
 came another letter from the great produce-buying 
 house of Decker & Co., urging him to reconsider his 
 declination of their proposal, and offering as an induce- 
 ment to allow him to enter the firm with only $10,000 
 cash, the balance of the $25,000 being taken in his 
 notes of hand. A death in the partnership had 
 removed one of their most reliable men, and Fawcett 
 was flatteringly assured that he could fill the place to 
 the acceptance of the other members. 
 
 Fawcett was in a terrible quandary. He could not
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S HABEL. 193 
 
 sec any choice between accepting this offer and of 
 winding up his affairs and seeking a clerkship. Things 
 had altered since he went into business. It was 
 no longer easy for a young man with hardly a cent 
 of capital to get a foothold. As near as he could 
 reckon he was worth less than a thousand dollars after 
 paying what he owed. Three weeks before he could 
 count $8,000 easily. He wished he had someone 
 to advise with, someone whose judgment would be un- 
 biased and honest. While he sat in his office, despair- 
 ing of coming to any correct decision, the door opened 
 and Mrs. Stuart entered. 
 
 She had come down town on an errand for Mabel, 
 and Allan seized at this very flimsy straw in the ex- 
 tremity of his distress. 
 
 " You're not in any hurry," he said, when she had 
 done her errand, " and I want to talk to you about an- 
 other matter." 
 
 Mattie indicated her willingness to hear anything he 
 wished to say, and took a chair near him, looking quite 
 charming in her spring hat and gown ; a hat and gown 
 that had been paid for, by the way, out of his purse, 
 though he did not imagine that to be the fact. Faw- 
 cett then proceeded to tell her of his troubles and 
 of the offer he had had from Decker, combined with 
 the proposal of Mr. Selden to advance him the money 
 he needed. She heard him quietly, waiting till he had 
 finished, and then spoke her mind. 
 
 " You are very honorable, I am sure," said she. " I 
 am afraid there are few men equally so. It is an 
 expression often used that a husband and father owes 
 more to his wife and children than to any one else. 
 You seem to have the opportunity to pay every one 
 that you owe, and thus satisfy your conscience, and at 
 '3
 
 1 9 4 rOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 the same time get a foothold in a large concern where 
 you are sure to do well. There does not seem to 
 be much to hesitate about." 
 
 He had revolved this in his mind a hundred times, 
 but somehow it was now made clearer. 
 
 "I think you are right," he said with brightening 
 countenance. " And I shall send immediately to Mr. 
 Selden, asking if his offer still holds good." 
 
 Then they talked for some minutes about Frank, 
 whom Mrs. Stuart had never seen, and she expressed 
 the opinion that a friend like him was worth having. 
 There were many rich young men in the world, but 
 very few indeed so generous and thoughtful. She 
 developed a surprising interest in Mr. Selden, asking 
 what he was like in appearance, and a dozen other 
 questions that Allan, after the manner of men, found it 
 difficult to answer. 
 
 " So he is young, rich and good ! " she exclaimed, at 
 last. " He must be a paragon worth knowing. " 
 
 A sudden vision of a night at Selden's rooms, with 
 half-intoxicated men and women about the board with 
 one in particular leaning on his own shoulder as the 
 feast progressed struck in upon Fawcett and gave him 
 a wrench. Could he accept so great a favor from 
 one who had led him into that terrible mistake ? If 
 Mabel knew, it would be all over between them ! But, 
 on the other hand, the money that Frank was to lend 
 was really for Mabel's use and that of her child. One 
 thing would in a measure offset the other. It would 
 not do to be always blaming Frank for that thoughtless 
 net. It was long past now and ought to be buried. 
 Why was it always coming up, like the ghost of a 
 Murdered person, to annoy him ? 
 
 ** Yes," he said, " he is rich, and he is certainly gen-
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MAMEl. Iff 
 
 erons. I will write to him at once. And please My 
 nothing to my wife about my speaking of this to yon. 
 She might think I should not have troubled you with 
 it." 
 
 Fawcett's back was toward the door, and the whole 
 of the last three sentences were distinctly heard by a 
 young man who had entered unceremoniously ; no lest 
 a person, in fact, than Mr. Frank Selden himself. 
 
 " That's bad very bad," he drawled, in a comical 
 way, while Allan sprang up and grasped his hand. " A 
 man who has secrets from his wife is going the wrong 
 way. But, I beg your pardon '* 
 
 The last exclamation was caused by Fawcett's in- 
 dicating that a lady was present. 
 
 " Mrs. Stuart, let me present to you my friend, 
 Mr. Selden." 
 
 Mattie rose and greeted Mr. Selden with heightened 
 color. The first thought of that gentleman in relation 
 to her was that she was a very charming person. 
 
 u And now," said Frank, keeping up the air of 
 gayety with which he had opened the conversation, 
 "permit me to make a most impolite inquiry. I 
 overheard you say, as I entered the office, that some 
 one was ' both rich and generous.' As the individual 
 must be a genuine rara avis in these days, I want to 
 know if you will furnish me with his name, which I 
 promise, if you desire, to keep a profound secret." 
 
 Fawcett looked at Mattie and Mattie looked at him. 
 The situation was so funny that both broke into 
 laughter. 
 
 * Do you really desire to know ? " asked Allan. I 
 can show you a portrait of the person I was speaking 
 of." 
 
 "Nothing would please me better/
 
 196 YOUNG FA WCETT*S MABEL. 
 
 Frank, astonished at the merriment his question had 
 caused. 
 
 "Very well," said Fa wcett, turning the face of his 
 guest to a little mirror that hung in a corner, " there 
 he is." 
 
 Selden looked at his reflection and then turned to 
 the others. 
 
 "Ah, but this is a joke," he said. 
 
 " No," said Allan seriously. " It was of you I was 
 speaking. And to explain further I will say that I was 
 telling Mrs. Stuart about the offer Mr. Decker made, 
 and which he has repeated on yet more favorable 
 terms in this morning's mail." 
 
 Mr. Selden did not remember ever to have heard of 
 Mrs. Stuart. He wondered why that lady had been 
 the recipient of this confidence, especially after the in- 
 junction he had overheard that she should not com- 
 municate the matter to Mrs. Fawcett. He looked at 
 Mattie again in a quick, searching way, that she did 
 not fail to understand. She knew she was placed in a 
 position of suspicion, and hastened to ask Mr. Fawcett 
 to help her out of it. 
 
 " I have been advising him to accept both your 
 offer and that of Mr. Decker," she said. " I think you 
 may understand my interest in the case a little better 
 when Mr. Fawcett tells you that I am own cousin to 
 his wife." 
 
 Selden was rather sorry and rather glad to hear this. 
 He had been building up a little romance around the 
 pair that this avowal shivered to atoms. It was for 
 that he was sorry, as he had a great love for the roman- 
 tic, and he had long considered Allan an altogether 
 too slow old poke. But, on the other hand, as the 
 statement of Mrs. Stuart gave the impression that she
 
 YOUNG FAWCETrS MABEL. 197 
 
 and Fawcett were on no particularly close terms, that 
 left the gate open for the exercise of his own fas- 
 cinations. 
 
 "Why, you are almost cousins, yourselves," said 
 Fawcett, pausing to consider. " You are cousin to 
 Mabel, Frank, and so is she. You must have heard 
 Mrs. Morey speak of the Burbanks," he added, to Mr. 
 Selden. 
 
 Oh, yes, Frank had heard of the Burbanks. They 
 lived at Cleveland, he believed. 
 
 " Well, Mrs. Stuart, before her marriage, was Miss 
 Burbank. Now you know all about it." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart said she ought to return to the house, 
 but she added that she would like to know, before she 
 left the office, that the matter of Decker & Co. was 
 settled. Selden was pleased with her business-like 
 manner, and promptly said that, as far as he was con- 
 cerned, there was nothing in the way. Allan explained 
 to him in a word the new proposition of Mr. Decker. 
 
 " I am only sorry you are not to want the whole 
 $25,000," smiled Frank. " I had rather lend it to you 
 than any one else I know." 
 
 " Then you will settle up here and go into the New 
 York firm ? " asked Mattie, pausing with her hand on 
 the door-knob. 
 
 Fawcett bowed deliberatingly. It seemed the best 
 thing, and yet he dreaded so great a change. 
 
 "And I shall not tell Mabel?" 
 
 " No, I will tell her myself. She will have to leave 
 Norwood, you see, and I want to present it to her in 
 the best light." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart went her way and the two men sat down 
 to talk matters over. It did not require long to come 
 to a complete understanding. Fawcett was to pay the
 
 198 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL, 
 
 $3,000 he owed, with the interest, and take a check for 
 $10,000, for which he was to give security on his new 
 stock. Mr. Decker need not learn that this money was 
 borrowed of course it was no business of his where it 
 came from. Fawcett did not care to have his future 
 partner know of his recent losses and how badly they 
 had crippled him. It might not give Mr. Decker an 
 exalted idea of his capacity, and yet there was nothing 
 but bad luck in it. A large house could stand such 
 losses, while a small one could not. It was a good 
 thing that he was going out of business alone. Com- 
 bination and trusts were the order of the day, and no 
 one could stand against them. 
 
 The letter accepting the proposition of the New York 
 house was sent forthwith, as Selden urged that delays 
 in such cases might prove dangerous. As long as the 
 thing was decided on, the sooner it was arranged the 
 better. Then the two friends went up to Mr. Fawcett's 
 to dinner, where Mabel, having been apprised by 
 Mattie that her cousin was in town received him pleas- 
 antly. Frank was in the best of spirits, determined to 
 make an impression upon Mrs. Stuart. The baby was 
 brought forth in the arms of that lady, which gave him 
 an opportunity to say a great many complimentary 
 things to both of them. 
 
 After dinner Allan got his wife alone upstairs and 
 explained the full meaning of the course he had taken. 
 To his joy she expressed her entire satisfaction, and 
 said she would be glad to move away from Norwood, 
 so long as it was to a place in or near the metropolis. 
 
 " You will be prosperous and happy, and Cecil and I 
 will get along nicely," she added. " I am glad you 
 have got over your prejudice against letting Frank help 
 you. How soon do you suppose we shall move ? "
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 199 
 
 He told her that he was going the very next day to 
 to see Mr. Decker, and that he would be able to answer 
 all such questions when he returned. He communi- 
 cated the successful result of this interview to Mr. 
 Selden, as he talked with that gentleman at the gate, 
 before leaving for the office. Frank was going to stay 
 a little longer at the house, as he intended to leave 
 town that afternoon, but before they parted it was 
 agreed that a certified check for $10,000 should be sent 
 to Mr. Fawcett's address at New York that evening. 
 
 It was for the purpose of saying a little more to the 
 fair Mattie Stuart that Mr. Selden lingered on the 
 piazza of the Fawcett cottage. They had become good 
 friends in a surprisingly short space of time. 
 
 " Shall you go to New York with your cousins ? " he 
 asked. " You ought not to desert them at such a time, 
 for they will have absolutely no acquaintances there at 
 first." 
 
 Mattie answered that she presumed she should go. 
 Her husband, she said, was not likely to return for 
 some time, and Mabel seemed to hate to part with 
 her. 
 
 " How long since you saw Mr. Stuart ? " asked Sel- 
 den, bending his bold eyes upon his companion. 
 
 " Four or five months." 
 
 " And you do not expect him at present ? " 
 
 " No. It may be a year or two." 
 
 Mr. Selden took out a silk handkerchief and flipped 
 the dust from his boots. 
 
 " If /had a wife," he said, thoughtfully, " she would 
 go where I went." 
 
 "Ah," said Mattie, "but those South American 
 countries are so unhealthy ! " 
 
 " If she could not go, / would not," he answered.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETTS MABEL. 
 
 "But what am I talking about? I am a hopeless 
 bachelor. How can I tell what I should do if I were 
 married ? " 
 
 She saw that he was affected by her charms and she 
 liked the sensation. It had been dull enough at Nor* 
 wood, the Lord knew ! 
 
 "Why have you never married?" she inquired. 
 " You must have been in love." 
 
 He looked her straight in the eyes and told the lie 
 with beautiful earnestness. 
 
 " Never." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett came to join them, and the conversation 
 took on a different turn. He promised to come to 
 New York and see them when they got settled. An 
 hour later he gave a kiss to the baby, tossed a com- 
 pliment or two to Mabel, and lifted his hat courteously 
 to Mrs. Stuart at the gate. 
 
 " Will I visit them at New York ? " he muttered, to 
 himself. "Will I visit them! Well, I should rathe* 
 think I 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 COMING HOME UNEXPECTEDLY. 
 
 BEFORE the summer was far advanced the Fawcetts 
 had removed to New York and were settled in a house 
 in Brooklyn. It was easier to get a habitation on that 
 side of the river, at a reasonable price, than on the 
 other, and it was not more than forty minutes' ride from 
 the office of Decker & Co., using the bridge, and pro- 
 Tided that nothing in the car system was out of order. 
 Mn. Stuart stayed with them and there was no change
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL, aoi 
 
 in their household, except that an ordinary servant took 
 the place of Mrs. Angus, who could on no account be 
 persuaded to make the journey. The difference in the 
 table was at once perceptible to Fawcett, but he did 
 not say much about it. He did not see how it could 
 be helped, and, in fact, he now had things of much 
 more importance to occupy his mind. 
 
 The business of Decker & Co. was so different from 
 that to which he was accustomed that all of his energies 
 were bent on attending to their affairs. He left home 
 early in the morning, and did not return before seven 
 at night, and sometimes much later. For a while Mabel, 
 who did not like the long day without him, came over 
 to the city to lunch with her husband ; but he was in 
 such haste and the restaurants where he liked to take 
 her were so far from his office that he advised her to 
 give this up. This left her with only the baby and Mrs. 
 Stuart to amuse her, and in a short time she got into 
 the habit of going out with Mattie to spend the after- 
 noons sight-seeing, sometimes even attending matine*es 
 at the theatres. 
 
 Mabel did not intend to neglect Cecil, but the boy 
 seemed quite well and could enjoy himself playing with 
 his blocks or tin horses on the dining-room floor, with 
 Mollie close by. The expense of a nurse-girl was not 
 one that Allan would be likely to favor. He would 
 have asked what the child needed more than his mother 
 and Mattie, and it would not have been easy to answer 
 the question. Mrs. Fawcett knew that her husband 
 was morally certain never to be in the house before 
 half-past six at the earliest, and she was careful not to 
 stay out beyond that hour. So it went on for weeks, 
 she and Mattie going out nearly every day for some 
 hours, and Allan none the wiser. He would have Jud
 
 ** YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL, 
 
 a fit had he suspected that his idolized boy was left so 
 much in the sole charge of a not over-intelligent servant, 
 who had, beside, other matters to attend to. 
 
 There were other things that followed, as a matter 
 of course. It was necessary for Mabel to caution 
 Mollie not to mention the fact of her absences before 
 Mr. Fawcett, and the partnership in deceit thus estab- 
 lished gave the girl an advantage that she was not 
 slow to perceive. She slighted her work in a way that 
 she would not have dared do otherwise. She got 
 more evenings out than had ever fallen to her share, and 
 if her temper happened to get aroused she made speeches 
 to her mistress such as no servant is usually permitted 
 to make and retain her position. 
 
 Fawcett was oblivious to all these things, as his only 
 business in the house was to eat and sleep and spend 
 an hour playing with the baby. If his breakfast was 
 on the table at the right time he did not mind because 
 it was a very light one, for he was anxious to get 
 across the East River. If his dinner was not what it 
 should be, he recollected that he came at uncertain 
 hours. He made it up by a substantial lunch at noon, 
 taken with other members of the firm, at which the 
 condition of the market was the staple topic of conver- 
 sation. 
 
 Whenever Mabel asked him to take her to [a place 
 of amusement he pleaded weariness, and on the few 
 occasions when he yielded to her entreaties he fell 
 asleep in his place, and only got fairly awake when he 
 was roused by the outgoing crowd. He seemed to care 
 nothing now for pleasure, except that of increasing the 
 sales of his firm. If he sat down after dinner to talk 
 for an hour, when the child had been put to sleep, his 
 recitals always drifted to the volume of trade or the
 
 V9VWG FAWCETT* S MABEL. 293 
 
 prtee of eats or cheese. As his wife took not the re- 
 motest interest in those things, it was very dull for 
 both, and nobody objected when he yawned and said 
 he guessed bed was the place for him. 
 
 At the end of three months, passed in this way, 
 Fawcett came home one evening with a dark frown on 
 his face. A large failure had just been announced 
 that would cause a heavy loss to the Deckers so large 
 in fact as to make it doubtful whether the new partner 
 had cleared a single dollar in the time he had been 
 connected with them. Owing such a large sum as he 
 did, this occurrence was one calculated to worry 
 Fawcett exceedingly. Hardly swallowing a mouthful 
 of dinner he got Mabel into a private room and un- 
 bosomed to her his troubles. 
 
 Now, if Mrs. Fawcett had been the kind of wife 
 a novelist would like to depict, she would, of course, 
 have assured her husband that her fullest sympathy 
 and love were his in this emergency. She would have 
 told him that there were small economies in the do- 
 mestic arrangements of his house that she could make. 
 She would have led him into optimistic views of the 
 future, by reminding him that such a failure was of very 
 unusual occurrence, and that the profits of the next 
 quarter would probably far more than counterbalance 
 the loss of this one. In short, although he might have 
 argued to show that she was wrong, and have shaken 
 his head dolefully at her predictions, he would have 
 ended by deciding that a true wife was the best gift of 
 Heaven to man, and have gained courage from the 
 knowledge that whatever else was lost this fair creature 
 would press her lips to his with equal joy whether ht 
 were prince or pauper. 
 
 Bat Mrs. Fawcett was not that kind of a wife
 
 ,4 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 to put my private opinion on record, I might add that 
 she is not alone among wives in this particular. 
 
 " We must economize in every possible way," he said, 
 to her in closing. " A few blows like this and I should 
 be not only penniless but saddled with the heavy debt 
 I assumed on going into the firm." 
 
 Mabel's pretty mouth was drawn down unpleasantly. 
 
 " I don't see how we can spend any less than we 
 do," she replied, peevishly. " I have nothing at all 
 now. We never go anywhere to spend a dollar. It is 
 necessary to eat, and to have clothes that will cover us, 
 and that is all we have had." 
 
 In his distress Fawcett did not choose his words. 
 
 " If you don't have it to spend you won't spend it ! " 
 he replied, with a snap. "I've not got it, and that's 
 all there is to say! I've been giving you $150 a 
 month and all you'll get after this is $100. While I'm 
 $25,000 in debt and paying a heavy interest, and the 
 concern not making a cent, I can't do any better." 
 
 The young wife began to cry. It was getting to be a 
 great habit of hers to weep whenever anything went 
 wrong. 
 
 " I simply can't supply the table and clothe Cecil on 
 $100 a month, after the rent is paid," she sobbed. "If 
 you were not the most cruel man in the world you 
 would not think of asking your family to live like 
 pigs." 
 
 She had put him so thoroughly out of temper that 
 he ransacked his brain to think of things that would 
 be disagreeable to her. 
 
 " It would cost less to supply your table," he said, 
 * 4 if there were fewer people to eat here. I think your 
 cousin, Mrs. Stuart, might cut her visit a little short, 
 unless she chooses to pay her board. And I have
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. aoj 
 
 heard of people as poor as we where the woman did 
 her own work." 
 
 The idea of parting with Mattie oppressed Mabel 
 worse even than that of discharging the cook. 
 
 "Why, Allan Fawcettl" she exclaimed, in great in- 
 dignation. " What do you suppose I should do here all 
 day long without a soul to speak to, and you over in 
 that New York office from sunrise to sunset ? If it had 
 not been for Mattie I should have died of loneliness in 
 this place where there is no one I ever saw before. She 
 is as good as she can be to stay with me, and I will never 
 tell her to leave. As for Mollie, do you think the $4 a 
 week that we pay her is going to ruin you ? I never 
 heard you talk like this even in the first weeks of our 
 marriage, when you were running a little bit of a store 
 in a country town ! " 
 
 The more they discussed the subject the farther they 
 got from an agreement. Cross words were exchanged 
 freely, and Fawcett's nervous disposition came out of 
 the ordeal a thousand times worse than it went in. He 
 ended by repeating that he should give her just a hun- 
 dred dollars a month and no more until he could see 
 what the next quarter brought forth. 
 
 " And how about my sealskin sacque ? " she sobbed. 
 " You promised me one this winter, as faithfully as you 
 could promise anything." 
 
 " You get one, if you can ! " he retorted, savagely. 
 "You won't get it from me, I'll tell you that! A 
 woman who has no more sense than you ought to wear 
 common clothes a little longer. An ordinary sacque 
 will look well enough when you come to look at me 
 through the bars of a debtor's prison ! " 
 
 Now, out of this grew a good many things, none of 
 them conducive to the best interests of the wedded
 
 ao6 Yetrjre FA WCETTS MABEL. 
 
 couple whose life I am attempting to describe. 
 cett had become so thoroughly angry at his wife, on 
 account of what he considered her unreasonable atti- 
 tude, that Mrs. Stuart could not help noticing his al- 
 tered demeanor. His good-mornings, when he entered 
 the breakfast room, were curt enough, and at night even 
 his romp with Cecil had grown subdued, while he 
 hardly spoke to Mabel at all. There came a crash one 
 day when he returned unexpectedly in the middle of 
 the afternoon to change his clothes for a trip he was 
 obliged to take, and found no one in but Mollie and 
 the baby. 
 
 "Where's Mrs. Fawcett?" he demanded roughly, as 
 he entered the kitchen. 
 
 "Gone out, sor." 
 
 " And Mrs. Stuart ? " 
 
 " Gone out with her." 
 
 " You don't mean to say," he exclaimed, " that they 
 have left Cecil alone vi'iihyou/" 
 
 There was an innuendo in this expression that might 
 have awakened a less irascible woman than Miss Mollie 
 O'Donaghue. 
 
 "What harrum do ye think is going to happen to 
 him?" she retorted. "It's not the furst time he's 
 bin left with me, an' he's niver got hurted yit ! " 
 
 Fawcett did not mean to get into a debate with this 
 woman, and he contented himself with inquiring when 
 his wife would return. 
 
 " Faith, it's not mesilf can answer that ! " said Mollie, 
 with a toss of her head. " I suppose she comes in 
 whin she likes, the same as other folks." 
 
 Fawcett looked at his watch. It was half-past two. 
 He could take a later train than he intended, as he did 
 not tike to leav i his boy in charge of this ignorant
 
 YGUNG FA WCRTT'S MABEL. t+f 
 
 ant. Taking Cecil with him into the parlor, he got 
 down on the floor with him and attempted to amuse 
 Jie child, thinking Mabel must return very soon. He 
 had no idea she had gone ay farther than to one of 
 the stores in the vicinity, and his only criticism was 
 that she ought to have taken Cecil with her, or asked 
 Mattie to remain in the house during her absence. But 
 hours passed by and the clock struck six before either 
 of them came. By that time he was in a state border- 
 ing on frenzy. 
 
 " Well, you are home early I " exclaimed Mabel, as 
 she saw her husband. 
 
 " Yes, I am ! " he replied, between his shut teeth. 
 ' And it's very lucky I came, for otherwise I should 
 never have known the way you neglect your poor child." 
 
 Mabel gave him an imploring glance, indicating that 
 she wished he would say no more while Mrs. Stuart 
 was present, but he had been piling up his feeling too 
 long to stop now. 
 
 " A nice mother you are ! " he continued. " Leaving 
 this little fellow to a kitchen-girl while you gad the 
 streets from noon till night ! Oh, I don't care who 
 hears me. Any one who doesn't like what I say needn't 
 stay where I am. Not the first time it has happened, 
 either, Mollie informs me ! If it occurs again I'll find 
 a remedy, just remember that ! " 
 
 Her never-failing resource came to Mabel, and she 
 began to cry. Mrs. Stuart wisely went out of the room, 
 though she resented inwardly the attack that had been 
 made on her presence. As soon as she was gone Faw- 
 cett grasped his wife roughly by the arm and asked her 
 what she meant by her conduct. 
 
 " Allan," said Mabel, with distorted features, " you 
 are hurting me 1 "
 
 toS YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 
 
 * Hurting yon J I ought to hurt you ! " he exclaimed, 
 When I am worried to death over my business, when 
 
 you should be doing everything you can to make things 
 easier for me, you leave your child to a servant-girl and 
 stroll through the streets for hours at a time. Is it not 
 enough to drive a man wild ? You know the only thing 
 I care for in this world is that boy, and you treat him 
 as if he were some stranger's child in whom you had not 
 the least interest I" 
 
 Mabel shivered as though it were midwinter instead 
 of October. 
 
 ** Be careful what you say," she answered, with chat- 
 tering lips. " If Cecil is the only thing you care for, you 
 cannot want any more of me I " 
 
 When a quarrel has begun between married people 
 there is no telling where it will end. Each of them 
 thinks it necessary to go on saying the most dreadful 
 things, until one so far exceeds reasonable limits that 
 the other is outraged beyond repair. 
 
 * You are quite welcome to go any time you see fit." 
 said Allan frigidly. " But while you do remain, you 
 will attend to some of your duties. You have your 
 housework done for you, and you shall not neglect my 
 child." 
 
 Mrs Fawcett heard him with a rebellious heart 
 
 44 Take care 1 " she answered, the tears still falling. 
 * You say I may go at any time. Look out I don't 
 take you at your word ! And if I do go, I shall take 
 Cecil with me. A man so cruel as you are to his wife 
 b not to be trusted with his child." 
 
 Fawcett*s lips curled in a pronounced sneer. 
 
 "Go?" he repeated. "You? Where would you 
 go ? Why, you couldn't earn a shilling a week \ Don't 
 be an idiot 1"
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. tof 
 
 Stung by these words Mabel could not help firing 
 back her shot also. 
 
 44 There are people who have a better opinion of me 
 than you," she said scarcastically. " If I wanted to 
 leave you to-morrow I can get more than you have 
 ever given me, and not have to listen to such language 
 as you use, either." 
 
 It was absolutely horrifying to him to hear the cold- 
 blooded way in which she made this statement Some 
 one had offered to support her his Mabel his wife I 
 And she repeated the offer to him as if It was one that 
 might be accepted 1 
 
 44 There is only one way in which you could secure 
 such a very honorable position as the one you mention J w 
 he replied, bitterly. " Am I to understand that you 
 have seriously considered such an offer ? " 
 
 In spite of all she could do Mabel could not keep 
 back the flood that ran down her face. 
 
 44 1 don't know what I shall do ! " she said. " You 
 may drive me to anything. If business goes a little 
 wrong at the office you come home as cross as a wild- 
 cat and act as if I was the one to blame. We had not 
 been married a week before you began to show your 
 terrible temper, and every little while it breaks out 
 again. To-day you have gone further than ever. My 
 arm is black and blue where you pinched it. Now I 
 will tell you, once for all, that I will not live with a man 
 who is going to vent all his spite on me, and insult me, 
 besides, in the presence of my friends ! No, I won't 1 
 I'll go out in the street and beg first ! And if I can't 
 get my bread that way I will try another. And if I go 
 to the bad it will be your fault /" 
 
 All this was said between outbursts of sobbing that 
 shook the slight young frame. Fawcett was greatly
 
 9 10 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 affected by the exhibition. He pocketed his pride 
 enough to put his arms around his wife, though for a 
 long time she repulsed him, and to say that he had no 
 intention of driving her away, and that he did not mean 
 it when he said Cecil was the only thing he loved. 
 All he wanted was to feel that she did not neglect the 
 child. Perhaps he had been unreasonable. It was 
 true that business made him very nervous and irritable. 
 If Mabel would only say that she would not leave Cecil 
 without a more intelligent attendant he would be satis- 
 fied. 
 
 An hour later when they had made up, Allan asked 
 Mabel to tell him who had dared insult her with such a 
 proposition as the one she had quoted, and when she 
 begged him not to say any more about it he added that 
 it was better, on the whole, he did not know, for he 
 would certainly kill the man if he ever met him. They 
 went out to dinner together, where they found that Mrs. 
 Stuart had eaten with Cecil and had gone to put him 
 to bed. 
 
 As the air of summer is sweeter after a thunder- 
 storm, so the atmosphere of the Fawcett residence 
 seemed clearer when Allan, with another kiss for good- 
 bye, sallied off to get his train. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " WILL IT BE BEST ? " 
 
 IT was true that some one had made the offer to 
 Mrs. Fawcett that she quoted to her husband on the 
 occasion referred to in the preceding chapter. And it 
 will not take the reader long to guess that the man 
 was Mr. Frank Selden.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 2 1 1 
 
 Selden could say things that would have been offensive 
 in the mouth of almost any other person in such a way 
 as to disarm resentment, or at least greatly mollify it. 
 On one of the visits which he made to Norwood, 
 Mabel expressed apprehension as to her husband's 
 success in business. 
 
 " Oh, well, Cousin Mabel," he replied, " if Allan ever 
 has to put you on short allowance, you know where to 
 come. I have more money than I've any use for, and 
 you shall take a dip into it whenever you say the 
 word." 
 
 As a matter of fact, Selden was by no means the 
 extremely generous person that this speech might 
 make him appear. He had a pronounced business 
 instinct which made him get a quid pro quo for every 
 dollar invested, either in direct cash or in some other 
 commodity equally valuable in his eyes. He spent 
 considerable money in dissipation, and would stop at 
 nothing to attain that on which he once set his mind. 
 Mabel might have known, had she understood his 
 character better, that he would demand a heavy 
 interest on any sum he ever lent her, but she chose to 
 take the best view of his offer. Though her cheek 
 reddened a little at the time, she thanked him, saying 
 he was very thoughtful, and that if she ever got into a 
 tight place she would let him know. 
 
 At the present moment, however, it is doubtful if 
 she could have drawn very much on her cousin's good 
 nature, unless it had been in behalf of a third party. 
 Selden had not been all of this time without seeing 
 Mrs. Stuart, for whom he had conceived a violent 
 affection. Not being willing to trust Mrs. Fawcett 
 with his secret, he had contrived a clandestine corre- 
 spondence with the object of his hopes, and Mattie had
 
 212 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 already met him several times in out-of-the-way places 
 where she could listen to his delightful conversation, 
 without compromising her reputation too deeply. 
 With the skill of a veteran fisherman, he had allowed 
 her plenty of line, and had won a high place in her 
 regard by the politeness of his deportment. 
 
 The evening of the quarrel between Fawcett and his 
 wife found Mrs. Stuart much alarmed for her future. 
 She had received an intimation that her presence 
 in the house was not agreeable to the proprietor. 
 Although Mabel assured her that she and Allan had 
 parted the best of friends, and that he had disclaimed 
 all of the hateful things he had said in his anger, 
 Mattie began to wish that she had another string to her 
 bow in case the solitary one broke. The next time 
 she met Selden she confided to him a part of the truth 
 concerning her married relations. She admitted 
 having deceived him in saying that her husband was 
 in South America, and completely won his sympathy 
 by the slight glimpse she allowed him of her unhappy 
 connection with the house of Stuart. 
 
 " You ought to get a divorce from such a man as 
 that," said Frank, sympathetically. 
 
 "No," she said, "there is no way, And if 
 there were, I should dread the disgrace above all 
 things." 
 
 They were sitting at a table in a restaurant private 
 room, and the meal had just been disposed of. Selden 
 looked searchingly at the neglected wife, wondering 
 how far he dare go at present. Although she had 
 given him these stolen interviews, there had been 
 nothing otherwise unladylike in her conduct, and he 
 knew that a false step too soon might lose him every- 
 thing.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL, aij 
 
 "You have no suspicion," he said, slowly, "that he 
 IB untrue to you ? " 
 
 She answered with an impatient shake of her head. 
 
 " On the contrary " she began, and then stopped 
 short. A deep blush suffused her features. She tried 
 to go on with what she had begun to say, but could 
 not find suitable words. 
 
 *' Do you mean," said Frank, " that you would not 
 care much if he were ? You cannot have a great deal 
 of love left for him." 
 
 She indicated by a motion that he was right, and 
 then a shiver passed over her frame. She did not like 
 to think of Algy Stuart, nor to speak of him. He was 
 the most disagreeable thing in her recollection. With 
 her eyes on the carpet, she beat a faint tattoo with her 
 foot, and Selden leaned lovingly toward her. 
 
 " Mattie," he whispered, " forgive me for arousing 
 such unpleasant thoughts. But I like you so well 
 that everything about you interests me. I want to 
 know the whole of the story you have been so kind as 
 to tell me in part. You know I am your friend that I 
 would not willingly say or do anything to wound you. " 
 
 He had taken her hand in his, and the pressure was 
 very agreeable to her in her loneliness. She was 
 violating the opinions of society in coming to dine 
 with him in this secret way, and it was only a little 
 more for her to permit him to touch her palm. Friends 
 were not plenty enough to justify her in offending the 
 few she had. "I was afraid,' she murmured pres- 
 ently, " that you wou d like me less when you under- 
 stood the truth when you knew that I had been 
 deceiving you." 
 
 " No," he answered quickly. " You had a right t 
 your secret A Frenchman oace said that language
 
 ft 4 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 was given us so that we might the better conceal oul 
 thoughts, and he was quite correct." 
 
 She raised her eyes timidly to his. 
 
 And is that what you do with your language ? * 
 she asked, searchingly. 
 
 a Sometimes," he admitted, gravely. " Certainly I 
 have done so when talking with people who do not 
 interest me, about things which are not their business. 
 It is very different, however, with those for whom I 
 have an affection. In that case the full truth is the 
 right thing. Don't you think so, Mattie ? " 
 
 She acquiesced, dropping her glance again ; and for 
 minute there was no sound in the room but the tick- 
 ing of the clock on the mantel. 
 
 "Tell me," he said, suddenly, tightening the clasp 
 he had kept on her hand, "how much do you care 
 about me ? " 
 
 Her head sank until her chin rested on the bosom 
 of her dress. 
 
 " No, " he continued, fearing to let her speak just 
 yet, " you need not tell me. It is hardly fair, con- 
 sidering that you are in name at least the wife of an- 
 other man. I have been hoping that you would learn to 
 like me as well as if you had no tie of that kind. I 
 led a lonely life until I met you. It is you and you 
 alone who brought me to New York who keeps me 
 here. That is no secret to you. This has gone on for 
 months. We have met often ; and yet this is the first 
 day I have dared even to take your hand in mine. You 
 know how dearly I have desired to make you something 
 nearer ; how hard it is to me that this barrier has exist- 
 ed whose only use is to separate us. Must this condi- 
 tion continue, or is there a greater happiness for me in 
 U* future?"
 
 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. a 1 5 
 
 Prank Selden was a good deal longer in saying this 
 than the reader is in perusing the sentences. At each 
 period he paused to observe the effect of his words on 
 the young wife, and when he found that they had not 
 offended her perceptibly he drew nearer to her and 
 whispered his persuasions closer to her ear. She felt 
 his warm breath on her neck. The magnetic attraction 
 that he had for women thrilled her frame as it never 
 had been thrilled before. But though she remained 
 passive even when he placed an arm about her, and 
 touched his lips to her cheek, there was a horrible fear 
 of a great danger present, above all the rest. 
 
 " I value your friendship very highly, Mr. Selden," she 
 managed to articulate, when he had resumed his ordi- 
 nary position. " It is all the more to me now that I 
 find it unaffected by the confession I have thought it 
 my duty to make." 
 
 He drew an impatient breath. 
 
 " Friendship is not enough, my dear girl," he replied. 
 " I am a man with no other attachments, with plenty of 
 means and without a place I can call my home. To be 
 sure, there is my mother's house, but I am as much out 
 of tune in it as a bull in a china-shop. I have a suite of 
 rooms too, furnished as well as anybody's, and situated 
 in a pleasant locality. But with two homes, I have none. 
 It takes more than four walls and a lot of furniture to 
 make a home. It takes affection the presence of 
 those we love. Mattie, I have no skill in telling 
 what I want, but if you would come to Boston and 
 take that suite of rooms so that I could be with 
 
 He paused in the midst of the sentence, for Mrs, 
 Stuart had risen and was beginning nervously to pull o 
 her gloves.
 
 2 16 YOUNG ^FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 He uttered an exclamation rising also. 
 
 " I have wondered," said the woman, in a very low 
 tone, after taking a deep inspiration, " if that sort of 
 proposition might not be, after all, at the base of the 
 kind things you have done and said. I tried not to 
 harbor the thought, for you seemed so innocent of 
 wrong intent and you were so long in making advances. 
 I am not finding any fault with you, Mr. Selden. I do 
 not suppose it is easy for a man to make such a sug- 
 gestion in a more delicate way. No matter how neatly 
 the thought is concealed, its hideousness will stand 
 forth in spite of the covering. You wish me to be your 
 mistress. Well, I must decline. My only regret is 
 that in doing so I shall at the same time lose a friend- 
 ship that I have esteemed very, very highly, for it will 
 be impossible for us to meet again." 
 
 Selden's face flushed with mortification and dis- 
 appointment. He felt that his cause was in a bad way. 
 The calm, dispassionate manner in which Mrs. Stuart 
 spoke was apparently fatal to his hopes. Had she 
 sobbed, gone into hysterics, called him a bad and cruel 
 man then he would have known how to treat her. He 
 would have waited until her excitement had exhausted 
 her powers of resistance, and when she was as weak 
 as a mouse he would have told her how thoroughly she 
 misjudged him. Her head would have lain on his 
 shoulder within fifteen minutes, and she would have 
 left him with a feeling that she had done him a great 
 injustice. He was not used to the sort of reception 
 that Mattie gave him. However, he determined to re- 
 treat in as good order as possible, and trust to another 
 day to repair his shattered fortunes. It was evident 
 aboTe all else that persuasions at the present time 
 would be verse than useless.
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 217 
 
 " Mrs. Stuart," he replied, with great dignity, " there 
 is something of pride in every man of honor that will 
 not let him reply by direct denial when accused of 
 things for which he would feel the greatest contempt. 
 But this I will say, were I in search of a mistress it 
 would not take me long to find one, and I should not 
 have to make a journey out of my native city, either. 
 If I am not to see you again I shall be very sorry, and 
 I should be still more so if I felt that it was in the 
 most remote way through any fault of mine. I will 
 now escort you to your car or to any point you desire, 
 and then bid you farewell.'' 
 
 Quite sick at heart, and wishing that she had ex- 
 pressed her fears in a different way, Mattie said she 
 would go to the nearest station on the Third Avenue 
 Elevated, so as to cross the Bridge. With the most 
 perfect courtesy Mr. Selden accompanied her to the 
 place indicated, talking on the way of ordinary things, 
 in an endeavor to divert her mind and his own from 
 the unpleasant subject that had divided them. They 
 had nearly reached the railroad and were slacking their 
 pace slightly, each one in the hope that the other would 
 say something to break the bar between them, when a 
 man came around a corner, took a sharp look at the 
 pair, seemed surprised, and half stopped in his walk. 
 Mattie clung tightly to the arm she had grasped in the 
 suddenness of her astonishment, and forced Selden to 
 a more rapid pace in the hope of escaping an unpleas- 
 ant meeting. 
 
 Frank saw at a glance that his companion had a 
 strong wish not to speak to the man, and his curiosity 
 was at once aroused. He thought the circumstance 
 suspicious in itself, and an idea that there might be 
 something compromising to be discovered entered his
 
 2 1 8 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 brain. He declined, therefore, to be compelled t 
 hasten his steps, and in fact rather slackened them. 
 
 " You didn't seem to want that fellow to see you," 
 he said, pausing at the foot of the iron stairway. 
 
 " I'm ging now," she replied rapidly, not pretending 
 to answer his insinuation. " Good-bye." 
 
 She was about to ascend the steps when Selden took 
 her by the arm. She looked into his eyes and saw the 
 flames of a jealous rage lighted there. 
 
 " Don't, I beg you ! " she said, in a terrified whisper. 
 " He is coming back ! Oh, please, please, let me go ! " 
 
 The man was coming back. He had nearly reached 
 them. A train, bound for the Bridge, was thundering 
 along the track from the north. If Mattie could have 
 escaped the detaining arm on her sleeve she might 
 have caught it and have avoided an encounter she es- 
 pecially dreaded at that time. The second passed, and 
 it was too late. The voice of the man sounded in her 
 ears. 
 
 " Well, it is you, Mattie, after all. I thought it was, 
 and then I thought it wasn't." 
 
 Nothing in the presence of this third party prevented 
 the woman from darting a look of agony into the pene- 
 trating eyes of Frank Selden. It said as plainly as 
 vords, " Oh, why did you let this happen ? " 
 
 " Mr. Selden," she said, with an effort, " this is Mr. 
 Stuart." 
 
 Instantly Frank was sorry for what he had done. He 
 did not care to meet Mr. Stuart, and he did not care to 
 have Mrs. Stuart meet him. There was an awkward 
 pause of a moment, and then the two men went through 
 the conventional formality often the most disagreeable 
 of fashion's obligations and shook hands with each 
 other. Frank thought of the heroes of the
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 219 
 
 who do likewise, and comforted himself with the con* 
 viction that he would knock out this adversary yet, if 
 he were given rounds enough. 
 
 " Mr. Algernon Stuart ? " he said, to make sure. 
 
 There might be a thousand other Stuarts in the 
 world that Mattie knew. 
 
 Mr. Stuart bowed. He was not given to prolixity in 
 conversation. He turned to his wife, and seemed to 
 wait for her to begin the talking. 
 
 "Mr. Selden," said Mattie, as if she needed to 
 defend herself in advance on account of being seen 
 with him, " is a cousin of Mrs. Fawcett's Mabel, you 
 know." 
 
 Mr. Stuart said, " Ah ! " in a way that left Selden in 
 doubt whether he ought, or ought not, to kick him. 
 Had he realized the vacuity of Stuart's thoughts he 
 would have been at ease on that point at least. As he 
 appeared to a certain degree de trop, Frank began to 
 say something about an engagement that he had, think- 
 ing in this manner to take leave of them. 
 
 Mattie shot at him a look of wild entreaty. 
 
 " Have you forgotten ? " she asked. " You have an 
 engagement in Brooklyn 1 " 
 
 Selden understood. She hated above all things 
 being left alone with her husband. He pretended, 
 with a light laugh, to recollect the Brooklyn appoint- 
 ment, and stood waiting for her next cue. It was 
 agreeable to know that a pretty woman wanted him to 
 go with her so as to keep her husband away. There 
 was certainly something in that to soothe the feelings 
 that had been wounded a half hour before. 
 
 * When did you come to the city ? " asked Mattie. of 
 her other half. 
 
 * A fortnight ago,*' answered Stuart
 
 22 YOUNG FA WCETrS MABEL, 
 
 "And when are you going back to Cleveland?" she 
 inquired, with features as impassive as ice. 
 
 " Pretty soon. I was going to try and come over to 
 see you in a day or two. I I've been rather busy." 
 
 Selden was apparently engrossed in watching the 
 embarking and disembarking of the passengers on a 
 southern train, but he heard every syllable. 
 
 " There's sickness in the house," said Mattie, with 
 rigid lips. " It's the child, and they think it's conta* 
 gious. The doctor has forbidden visitors." 
 
 Stuart was evidently relieved. 
 
 " Well, in that case," he said slowly, " of course I 
 won't come." 
 
 " No," said his wife. " It wouldn't do. My train 
 will be here in a minute, so I must go now." 
 
 Mr. Stuart lifted his hat at the couple as they as- 
 cended the stairs, quite as if neither of them was more 
 than an ordinary acquaintance of his, and went on up 
 the street. Selden turned twice before he boarded the 
 train, and he saw that the husband did not look back. 
 
 " How far shall I go with you ? " he asked Mattie, 
 when the name of the third station on their way had 
 been called by the brakesman. 
 
 " You can leave any time now, if it is necessary," 
 she replied gently. " You have done me a great favor, 
 for which I cannot thank you enough." 
 
 He gave her a winning smile. 
 
 " Then we are not sworn enemies ? " he asked. 
 
 No." 
 
 " And perhaps, some day, when you have learned 
 that I meant none of the hateful things you imagined, 
 you will see me again ? " 
 
 Mrs. Stuart lowered her head and looked out of the 
 car window at the tops of the adjacent houses.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MA&EL. 221 
 
 "Will it be best?" she asked meaningly. "Of 
 what use can I ever be to you ? " 
 
 He laughed cheerfully and told her it would be f airel 
 to leave that matter to him. He liked her very much, 
 and would be content with anything except the desola- 
 tion to which she had that afternoon consigned him. 
 
 " I've had a vivid object-lesson in one thing," he said, 
 reaching over to touch her glove with his own. " You 
 have not a very deep affection for your husband." 
 
 In the spasm of pain which caught her she pressed 
 his hand till a seal-ring he wore cut the flesh. 
 
 " You can't conceive how I detest him ! " she said. 
 " I would have given anything rather than have had to 
 meet him even for that minute." 
 
 Selden put his disengaged arm over the back of the 
 seat she occupied. 
 
 " And you will never go back to him ? " said he, his 
 voice trembling slightly. 
 
 She faced him squarely. 
 
 " If there were no other choice," she said, with vehe- 
 mence, " I would go to Boston to-night with you, rather 
 than to Cleveland with him ! " 
 
 It was the time to leave her and he knew it. " This 
 is my station," he exclaimed, as the car slowed up ; 
 and there he alighted. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 BECAUSE MATTIB WAS LONESOME. 
 
 DURING the next two years a good many things 
 occurred. A good many things always do occur in two 
 years, if you stop to think about it. 
 
 Fawcett's business had a number of striking ups and
 
 2 2 YO UNG FA VTCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 downs, to begin with. At times he came home believ- 
 ing that he would have money enough to retire before 
 the next twelve-month had passed. Again, it seemed 
 impossible that he would ever get out of the concern 
 enough to pay Frank Selden his loan. Legitimate 
 transactions, even in such simple things as grain and 
 produce, are scarce in these days. Allan found 
 that his firm was merely a gambler, taking risks 
 as men do on a table at Monte Carlo, fighting with 
 what skill and luck they may have against other players 
 on the same table. 
 
 The strain on his mind did not fit him to be a better 
 husband and father. When he thought his prospects 
 improving he was ready to buy his wife and child 
 everything they might think they wanted. When he 
 experienced a reverse he doubted whether he ought to 
 eat a full meal and talked of selling the furniture of 
 the house he hired. And Mabel, not knowing enough 
 to take the average of these conditions, followed his 
 mercurial temper at one time vowing him an angel 
 and at the other declaring, always with sobs, that he was 
 unfit to live with, and she wished he would leave her 
 at once instead of complaining at everything she did or 
 did not do. 
 
 If either of them had been a little different, things 
 would have gone better. But in that case you would 
 not at this moment have been reading the story of 
 their troubles, and perhaps managing to profit by them, 
 t is an ill wind, says the old proverb, that does not 
 bring good to some one. 
 
 Among the other things that had happened was the 
 removal of the Fawcetts to a flat in Forty-second Street, 
 not very far from the Grand Central Depot. Mabel 
 had asked for the change, and it made no difference to
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 423 
 
 Allan. He could get to his office just as quickly from 
 there as from Brooklyn. On one of his waves of pros- 
 perity he had bought new furniture, selling all the old 
 to a second-hand dealer, and his home was as tasty as 
 could be desired. Mollie still officiated in the kitchen, 
 and much oftener than he dreamed of acted as nurse- 
 girl beside. There was the more excuse for this, in one 
 sense, because Mrs. Stuart no longer made a member 
 of his household. She occupied a little flat a few 
 minutes' walk away, and when Mabel was not there, 
 Mattie was at the Fawcetts'. 
 
 Mabel had done a good deal of plain and fancy lying 
 for her friend. She had crept into it little by little, until 
 she did not mind it as much as she did at first. The 
 capacity for lying can be made to grow to unimagined 
 proportions sometimes. When Mabel told Allan, nearly 
 three years earlier, that Mr. Stuart had gone to South 
 America to engage in business, she plunged at the 
 falsehood like an amateur, and had he thought of 
 doubting the story he could have made her admit its 
 untruth in a five-minutes 1 cross-examination. But he 
 suspected nothing. There was no reason to doubt that 
 his wife's, cousin was what she professed to be. Except 
 on those occasions when he felt like finding fault with 
 everything and everybody he did not at all object to 
 having her a member of his household. So far as he 
 knew she was a suitable companion for his wife, and 
 Cecil certainly had a mad infatuation for her, seeming 
 to prefer her, on the whole, to his own mamma. When 
 Cecil liked any one, she had a passport to the father's 
 favor, other things being equal. 
 
 Fawcett believed Mattie's story and though he had 
 a slight suspicion that she was not over fond of a hus- 
 band from whom she was willing to be separated so
 
 224 YOUNG FAJVCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 long, he did not think a great deal about it. She 
 behaved well enough when in his presence, and she was 
 not the only woman in the world who was not in love 
 with her marital mate. As long as Mr. Stuart and she 
 were content, he did not see how it was any business 
 of his. Algy must send her money, for she always 
 dressed becomingly. Allan might have understood 
 this better had he known that every dollar spent on, 
 her clothes came, during the first year, out of his own 
 pocket, and after that 
 
 But I am getting ahead a little too far in my story. 
 
 Twice, when Cecil had violent attacks of illness, 
 Mattie stayed at the house for days, nursing him with 
 the deepest devotion. She did not seem to require 
 rest or sleep, and the boy was content with no one else 
 when his pain was the greatest. Allan could have 
 fallen on his knees to her at those times. Her devotion 
 to the sick child made her a saint in his eyes. Once, 
 when Cecil's life hung on a thread, she came into his 
 room to tell him that a change for the better had taken 
 place and that his idol was sleeping peacefully. His 
 eyes were filled with tears and his voice choked as he 
 tried to thank her. Taking both her hands in his he 
 drew her lips toward his, and would have kissed her 
 had she permitted him. In the gentlest manner she 
 resisted the caress and glided back to the sick chamber. 
 
 He went to give the glad news to Mabel and found 
 her asleep ! To be sure, she was worn out, but he 
 contrasted the two women to the disadvantage of his 
 wife. Mattie had done enough to be worn out, too, 
 and it was she who had come to tell him that his son 
 would live. 
 
 This occurrence, as much as anything, drew him 
 away from Mabel. He used t compare her with
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT*S MABEL. 225 
 
 Mattie, and say to himself how much better mother the 
 latter would have made. He got into the habit of 
 staying in a good deal in the evening and raised no 
 objection when Mabel said she guessed, if he didn't 
 mind, she would go over to Mattie's for a little while. 
 Cecil was well again, and Allan used to think it the 
 height of bliss to undress the little fellow and see him 
 drop off to sleep. When the child was in dreamland, 
 the latest magazines or the newest things in literature 
 would occupy the father's mind till he grew sleepy. 
 He did not room with his wife now, as a general thing, 
 and sometimes he had to ask her in the morning what 
 time she came home. 
 
 " I don't know exactly," she used to say. " I got to 
 talking with Mattie, and never noticed the clock. She 
 is so lonesome that she likes me to stay as late as I 
 can." 
 
 That made it all right with Fawcett. Mabel had 
 better be with Mattie than with any other woman he 
 knew. He was glad to encourage such an intimacy. 
 
 Allan used to see Frank Selden once in a while. 
 Frank called at his rooms to talk with him on business 
 and social topics, and Allan liked him as well as ever. 
 He still had Frank's money, though he paid the inter- 
 est promptly, and the principal had, on the whole, 
 grown in size, according to the figures on the books of 
 Decker & Co. 
 
 Mrs. Stuart spent some of her evenings at Mabel's, but 
 it never happened that Selden dropped in when she was 
 there. As far as Allan knew those two people had 
 never seen each other more than two or three times in 
 their lives. It was not strange that Frank found New 
 York more agreeable than Boston. He required a good 
 deal of excitement, and the Hub was certainly the 
 S
 
 Vt6 YOUNG FA WCETrS MABEL. 
 
 duller place of the two when it came to that line of 
 amusements classed under the general head of dis- 
 sipation. 
 
 " When does Mrs. Stuart's husband intend to return 
 to America ? " asked Fawcett, one evening at the din- 
 ner-table, of his wife. " It seems to me they are having 
 a rather long separation." 
 
 Mabel glanced at him quickly to see if there was any 
 hidden meaning in his inquiry. No, there was none, 
 and she drew a little sigh of relief. 
 
 "He doesn't seem to say anything about it," she 
 answered. " She read me his last letter and he seemed 
 quite contented where he was." 
 
 " He must be a queer fellow," observed Fawcett. 
 " I don't see how a man can be content for years away 
 from a woman like her. There are some wives that 
 a fellow might consider himself lucky to be so far 
 from, but not a sweet, lovable girl like Mattie. The 
 strangest thing to me is that she stands it." 
 
 Mabel looked at him again. Could he be drawing 
 comparisons ? She dismissed the thought as soon as 
 it was formed. Allan was not one to insinuate. When 
 he had anything to say it was apt to come out like a 
 bullet from a gun. 
 
 "Mattie doesn't care for men," she said, simply. 
 And as she uttered the words her cheek grew like fire, 
 in spite of her efforts. 
 
 " What did she marry one for, then ? " he blurted out. 
 ** Oh, these modern marriages, they make me wild. 
 People marry nowadays just as they buy a ticket for 
 a theatre, and if they don't happen to fancy their seat, 
 they go out between the acts. I'd like to know what 
 the world is coming to. Now, I'd wager a dollar that 
 Mrs. Stuart is not so contented at the long absence of
 
 Y9UNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. a 7 
 
 her husband as she wants you to think. There is a 
 species of pride that will make a woman suffer a great 
 deal in such a case without admitting it to her dearest 
 friend. She was made to be loved, that girl was, and 
 it makes me sad every time I think of her living alJ 
 alone in that solitary flat." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett did not relish over-much this panegyric. 
 She remembered the time when this same Mattie had 
 caused her uneasiness, in the days of her early ac- 
 quaintance with Allan. It gave her a start to hear him 
 praising her now, in that enthusiastic way. She had 
 never had a moment's jealousy of her husband since 
 their marriage. She had a glimpse for a second of how 
 she should feel if Allan ever gave her cause for a visit 
 from the green-eyed monster. 
 
 If Mabel had been told, when her concealment of 
 Mattie Stuart's troubles began, that she would have 
 gone as far in her defence as she was now going, she 
 would have repelled the idea with the utmost indigna- 
 tion. Her loyalty to her friend was the outgrowth of 
 what was really a lovable trait in her disposition. 
 The demands upon her came so gradually that one step 
 led into another before she realized what she was doing. 
 First, it was to pretend that the reason Mr. Stuart did 
 not come to Norwood was because he had taken a 
 journey to the far South. Next, she gave Mattie little 
 things in the way of clothing out of her own stock, as 
 she found them needed. Pretty soon, when the two 
 women were shopping together, new articles for Mattie's 
 original use were purchased with Mr. Fawcett's money. 
 
 It was not so very wrong, Mabel said to herself. It 
 did not amount to a great deal, and Mattie needed the 
 things badly. She would use less that Mattie might 
 have a share. The young wife was so deeply attached
 
 228 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 to her friend that she could not bear to think of a 
 separation, and whatever was in Mabel's purse was 
 equally at cither's disposal. 
 
 Frank Selden had had his way, long before Mabel 
 had dreamed of it. Skilled in the art of winning 
 women, he had slowly but surely taught Mattie Stuart 
 to believe that the love she felt for him should be more 
 to her than the flimsy tie the law recognized as bind- 
 ing her to a man she feared and hated. The clandes- 
 tine meetings came to mean a glimpse of heaven to the 
 disconsolate young woman. 
 
 To do Frank what justice we may, he had a real 
 affection for Mattie, and from the time he could call 
 her his own he gave her the fealty that a real wife 
 might have claimed. She did not want to go to live at 
 Boston, for her attachment to Mabel was at least the 
 second strongest one she had, and Selden was well 
 pleased to remain in New York. It was at her sug 
 gestion that Mrs. Fawcett persuaded her husband to 
 remove to Forty-second Street, where their homes could 
 be adjacent. 
 
 The flat that Mattie occupied was a very inexpensive 
 one, and Mabel was completely deceived when she 
 came to her with the story that her husband had agreed 
 to send her a small sum each month, that would cover 
 the rent and an economical table. She saw no reason 
 why Mattie should tell her an untruth. Algy had a 
 fixed income and it was reasonable that he should have 
 concluded to do the decent thing and let his wife have 
 a part of it. Mrs. Stuart, acting under the direction of 
 a shrewder head than her own, bought her furniture on 
 instalments, and maintained such an air of quiet 
 poverty that Mabel offered assistance in many ways, 
 which was accepted with tb* warmest thanks. For
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 229 
 
 six months after she began housekeeping numerous 
 articles were bought on the Fawcett account and deliv- 
 ered at the other flat, with instructions to the grocer 
 not to mention it to Mr. Fawcett when the bills were 
 presented, in case he complained that they were ex- 
 cessive. 
 
 To help and protect her friend, Mabel had to dis- 
 grace her husband before many people. From the 
 kitchen-girl to the grocer and the coal-dealer there was 
 a row of individuals who knew that Mrs. Fawcett was 
 buying goods in the name of one house and havinj 
 them sent to another ; and every one of them had their 
 own suspicions as to the object which the pretty young 
 wife had in this deception. 
 
 The first thing that Mabel discovered was on a 
 winter's morning when zhe went, at an hour earlier 
 than she had ever selected, to make a call on Mrs. 
 Stuart. Something had arisen which she wanted to 
 discuss with her friend, and she ran over as soon as 
 Allan left the house. She did not ring the lower bell, 
 as a tenant was entering the hallway at the moment, 
 but walked nimbly up the stairs and knocked at the 
 parlor door of the apartment she sought. Hearing no 
 response she knocked again, this time much louder, 
 when the faint whispering of two persons inside came 
 to her astonished ears. 
 
 The whispering ceased, and after a moment's pause, 
 Mrs. Fawcett rapped again, this time in a peremptory 
 manner. Then the noise of some one moving was 
 heard, and a form approached the door. 
 
 " Who's there ? " said a voice, which she easily rec- 
 ognized as Mattie's. 
 
 " Mabel," was the answer. " Let me in. I want to 
 talk to you."
 
 30 YOUNG FAWCETTS MABEt^ 
 
 There was a new scurrying, and a delay that 
 incredibly long. But finally the door was opened and 
 Mrs. Stuart was discerned, half covered with a dressing- 
 gown that she had hastily slipped on. 
 
 "What a terrible time it takes you to open a door I" 
 said Mabel 
 
 Mrs. Stuart looked " as if she should sink," to use 
 a familiar feminine comparison. She had about the 
 limpness of a rag doll, and was totally unable for a 
 few moments to make the least reply. Mrs. Fawcett 
 saw that something unusual was the matter, and thought 
 it the part of kindness to inquire. 
 
 "You look like a ghost! " said she. Take a seat 
 and tell me what has happened to excite you so." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart accepted the suggestion and sank 
 upon the sofa. She was so evidently suffering that 
 Mabel sat down beside her and embraced her affec- 
 tionately. 
 
 " Tell me all about it, my poor child I " she said. " I 
 know you have company, for I heard you whispering. 
 Who is it, and why are you so agitated ? Your hands 
 are like ice and you are trembling like a leaf." 
 
 The hope that Mrs. Fawcett had not heard to 
 which she had clung like a drowning man to a spar- 
 deserted Mrs. Stuart. She could only cry, in a faint 
 voice, " Oh, Mabel/" and fall weeping on the other's 
 boulder. 
 
 "Wait, my dear! Don't get excited. Take your 
 time," said Mabel, soothingly. " Whatever your trou- 
 ble is, I will help you share it. I am so glad I came 
 over this morning. I had you on my mind all night 
 My dreams were filled with you." 
 
 Mattie was not in the least prepared for this visit 
 and did not know what to say. She had never calcv-
 
 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. jt 
 
 feted on Mabel's calling before afternoon, and had not 
 imagined that it was she at the door when she heard 
 the knock. She feared to speak, lest in trying to make 
 things right with her friend she might get herself into 
 a worse dilemma. She remained silent so long that 
 Mrs. Fawcett began to ask questions. 
 
 " Who slept with you last night, Mattie ? I know 
 that must have something to do with the matter." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart gave a gasp. Was there anything that 
 could save her secret now ? 
 
 " No one slept with me," she replied, as if her 
 tongue was partly paralyzed. " I didn't want to tell 
 you, for fear you would think it foolish, but I have a 
 lodger." 
 
 A lodger t To eke out her slender income ! Mabel 
 thought she saw it all now. Mattie had hesitated 
 to tell her, in the pride of her poverty. Well, it was 
 nothing to mind nothing at all. She was about 
 to say so, when Mrs. Stuart upset the whole kettle by 
 her next statement. 
 
 " I I wanted the money, you know," she went on. 
 "And he will pay well, very well, indeed. He " 
 
 She could get no farther. Releasing the hold she 
 had had upon her, Mrs. Fawcett rose, with a look of 
 horror on her face. 
 
 "A man!" she exclaimed. "A man! And you 
 were in that chamber together I heard you whisper- 
 ing with him I Mattie tell me the truth J " 
 
 The poor woman rose and stretched out her hands 
 imploringly. 
 
 "Don't be so hard, Mabel. You are not right. 
 He was in the next room, not in mine. I thought it 
 was some one for him, who knocked for I did not 
 expect a caller so early. No, you accuse me unjustly.
 
 8J2 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Believe me, Mabel I If you lose faith in me I have 
 nothing left." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett thought rapidly. She did not wish 
 to believe wrong of this woman, but neither did sh 
 wish to be deceived. 
 
 "Tell me who that man is ! " she said, in an impera- 
 tive tone. 
 
 " Ah I You can guess," was the blushing reply, 
 " But he has the further room oh, believe me, Mabel 1 M 
 
 Suddenly a light seemed to dawn on the questioner. 
 
 " It is Mr. Stuart 1 " she cried. " Well, well ! You 
 needn't act so frightened about it. And you didn't 
 mean that I should know I Poor little girl ! " She 
 folded Mattie in her arms again. " Is he to stay long? 
 I know it must be unpleasant for you. There ! Don't 
 say another word. I'll keep mum. Let me know after 
 this when he's at home and I'll never disturb you. I 
 wouldn't meet him for a diamond necklace. I only 
 came to see if you would go to the theatre this after- 
 noon, but another day will do. The best thing for me 
 Is to get out, as I couldn't possibly use him decent 
 if he should come into the room. Come over by and by 
 if you can, and send me a note next time when the 
 coast is clear." 
 
 She kissed her friend warmly, not waiting for her to 
 reply, and made a hasty exit And Mrs. Stuart stood 
 looking at the door through which she had vanished, 
 wondering at the miracle that had saved her from what 
 looked like a bottomless pit opening at her feet
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION. 
 
 FOR a long time the game of mutual deception went 
 on in this manner Mrs. Fawcett deceiving her hus- 
 band and Mrs. Stuart deceiving her. Mabel wanted 
 to tell Allan that Stuart had returned from South 
 America, saying to Mattie that this might make things 
 easier in case he should come to learn that Algernon 
 was in the city, but Mattie begged her above all things 
 to do nothing of the kind. She pretended that Mr. 
 Stuart only came at infrequent intervals, and that she 
 endured him merely for the pecuniary assistance he 
 had begun to give her. It might be weeks at a time, 
 she said, that he would be absent, and she did not 
 want Fawcett to know or think anything about the 
 matter. 
 
 Having been so near detection once, Mrs. Stuart was 
 on her guard after that day, and months went by 
 before anything more came to arouse Mabel's suspi- 
 cions. All this time she was getting used to telling 
 her husband things that were untrue, and became 
 in fact a most accomplished and smooth falsifier. She 
 and Allan got along together without much friction, 
 though his temper depended a good deal on the state 
 of the hay and grain market. They were not compan- 
 ions in the way that marriage is supposed to make peo- 
 ple, but they did not quarrel seriously. Mabel was 
 willing to get most of her amusement with Mattie, and 
 he was quite willing she should.
 
 834 Y0UNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 With Fawcett the day was divided into four parts, 
 He attended to business till six o'clock ; played with 
 Cecil till eight or nine ; read till half-past ten or 
 eleven; and slept soundly in his own room till 
 morning. Mabel spent most of her afternoons and 
 some of her evenings at Mattie's flat, when Mattie was 
 not at hers. Often she took Cecil with her. Fre- 
 quently when there was a matine'e the two women 
 attended it. Allan was little more in her life than 
 a provider of necessities. 
 
 Mrs. Morey came to see the Fawcetts once in awhile, 
 but she did not make long visits. Her sister, Mrs. 
 Selden, was in miserable health and required her con- 
 stant care at Boston. She saw nothing to cause her 
 to suspect that anything was wrong with Mattie, and 
 quite approved of the attempt on Mabel's part to make 
 her life less disagreeable. The only thing she did not 
 like was the fact that her daughter occupied a room 
 apart from her husband. 
 
 " I know it is a modern notion, my dear," she said, 
 in response to Mabel's statement to that effect, " but 
 I do not believe in it any more for that. A husband 
 and wife are in constant danger of being drawn away 
 from each other, and the first thing likely to produce 
 that effect is their separation at night." 
 
 " But Allan sleeps as soundly as a bat," said Mabel, 
 "when he is not disturbed, and he likes it better 
 this way. Sometimes I have to get up with Cecil, 
 and then it might wake him and he would perhaps lose 
 the whole of the rest of the night. And then, he 
 does not like feathers, and you know I've always slept 
 on them." 
 
 The widow shook her head gravely. 
 
 " A woman who loves her husband as she ought,"
 
 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 35 
 
 said she, "would not know whether she slept on 
 feathers or stone, so that his arms were about her! 
 Be careful, Mabel, not to let Allan get too far from 
 you, while you are young. When your hair begins to 
 silver there will come enough danger of losing him 
 for a fresher and prettier face. In that day give him 
 no excuse of previous coldness to seek another love. " 
 
 Mabel flushed at the thought the one thought that 
 could cause her heart to beat faintly. If Allan should 
 ever even look lovingly at another woman it seemed to 
 her that she should die. 
 
 " I am not cold to him, mamma," she said. " Allan 
 is a peculiar man and he gets tired out with his office- 
 work. It is his preference to secure undisturbed rest 
 I can't force myself upon him. You worry over things 
 that nobody can help." 
 
 Mrs. Morey was not satisfied with the explanation, 
 but she was too wise to press the matter. She had 
 given Mabel her ideas on the subject and hoped they 
 would bear fruit for good. 
 
 One day, after her mother had returned to Boston, 
 Mabel was about to enter the building where Mattie 
 lived when she saw Frank Selden emerging from it 
 He saw her at the same moment and with the quick- 
 ness of a flash decided to tell her as much of the truth 
 as he dared, knowing that were she to become sus- 
 picious she could interview the janitor with damaging 
 effect. 
 
 " Hallo, Mabel I " he exclaimed gayly. " Why didn't 
 you come a little sooner ? I've been upstairs looking 
 for Stuart, and if you had been there your cousin 
 might have had the grace to invite me in. Algy's out 
 of tow*, she says." 
 
 Maoel looked at him with some surprise.
 
 Sj6 YOUNG FAWCETrS MABEL. 
 
 I didn't know you knew Mr. Stuart," she re- 
 marked. 
 
 "And you evidently don't think it much to my 
 credit that I do," he laughed. " A fellow is pushed 
 for good company in a town like this, sometimes. I 
 happened to meet the Cleveland gentleman at a club 
 that I frequent, and he asked me to call on him some 
 day when I had nothing else to do. It was because I 
 had reached exactly that deplorable condition this 
 afternoon that I came here. I really am dying for 
 something to occupy my time. You might ask me 
 up with you, if you are going to make a call." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett saw no objection to this and gave the 
 invitation accordingly. Selden knew that he was run- 
 ning a reckless risk to go back to Mattie's apartments 
 in Mabel's company without preparing Mrs. Stuart in 
 any way, but he liked sensational things and thought 
 it would be great fun. When Mattie came to the door 
 in response to the knock he spoke at once to set things 
 right. 
 
 " My cousin wants to have a little talk with me," he 
 said, smiling, " and she thinks you will let me come in 
 here for a few minutes." 
 
 Mattie controlled herself with a great effort. 
 
 " Certainly, she is quite right," she answered. " You 
 can have the parlor with the greatest of pleasure." 
 
 " Oh, we don't want to drive you out of it," Selden 
 said, with another laugh. " To tell the exact truth, 
 I persuaded her to let me come up, as I don't know 
 what else to do with myself. I was quite disappointed 
 not to find Mr. Stuart in when I called a few min- 
 utes ago. I did not know he had left the city." 
 
 With these few words he had given her the key to the 
 entire situation. Seeing that Mattie was not likely to
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 237 
 
 be betrayed into any exposure Frank set about mak- 
 ing himself as agreeable as possible to both of them 
 and succeeded admirably. Before he left they had 
 agreed to go with him to a play that was attracting 
 great attention and which neither had yet seen. 
 
 " Allan always puts Cecil to bed now," explained 
 Mabel, " and I am out very often till quite late. He 
 goes to sleep early and never knows when I come in." 
 
 Selden knew by the way she said this that Mr. and 
 Mrs. Fawcett were drifting a little apart, but he 
 affected to notice nothing. It was enough for him that 
 he could get out of doors with Mattie under the cover 
 of her married cousin. He had been fearful of being 
 seen with her, especially at places of amusement, lest 
 some suspicious person should notice them together. 
 Now it would be easy enough. If he could quiet 
 Mabel's notions of propriety, he could take them both 
 to a hundred places and explain everything by her 
 presence in the party. One was his own cousin 
 quite the same thing as a member of his family. 
 The other bore the same relationship to her. He was 
 greatly elated when he left the house with Mabel, a 
 little before the time that Allan was expected to din- 
 ner, and as soon as she was around the corner he took 
 out his latch-key and went in again. 
 
 " We shall have everything our own way now," he 
 cried to Mattie. " We have only to reckon Mabel one 
 of us to go where we like." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart loved this man with her whole soul. She 
 would never have sacrificed so much for him had it 
 not been for the deep affection that had moved her 
 heart. His wealth had little to do with it. She took 
 of what he offered her only enough to support the bare 
 eoessities of existence. He would have given her aa
 
 238 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 elegant house, richly furnished ; she accepted merely 
 the cheap flat with its ordinary furniture. He wantetf 
 her to wear diamonds on her fingers and the finest 
 clothing ; she persuaded him that such a course would 
 only lead to the discovery of their secret. She loved 
 him, deeply, tenderly. The contrast which his devo- 
 tion presented with the conduct of her legal mate was 
 most pronounced. 
 
 " I wouldn't get Mabel into trouble for anything in 
 the world," she replied, thoughtfully. 
 
 " How could it do that ? " he asked. " She doesn't 
 have any too much fun, with that money-grubbing 
 man of hers. Supposing we go to an occasional play, 
 and to a supper or two at a private restaurant, who is 
 it going to harm ? And it will be such a god-send to 
 us ! If the devil himself should walk in and say to 
 me, ' What are you doing with these women ? ' I should 
 only have to say, * Allow me to present my cousin Mrs. 
 Fawcett my mother's sister's daughter.' And Mabel 
 would rise with equal grace to add, And my cousin, 
 Mrs. Stuart, my father's sister's child. Why, there's 
 absolutely no flaw in it 1 " 
 
 And this is the way it came about that Mrs. Favr- 
 cett accompanied her cousin and her cousin's para- 
 mour to all sorts of places, where they were seen by 
 all sorts of people, who formed all sorts of conclusions. 
 The regard that Frank had for Mattie was too strong 
 to be wholly concealed even in Mabel's presence. In 
 the private dining-rooms to which they went she could 
 not fail to perceive the delicacy of his touch when he 
 took off her cloak or helped her on with it, the gentle- 
 ness of his voice when he addressed her the rapt at- 
 tention that he paid when she was speaking. It all 
 came in such a consecutive order that Mabel did not
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 239 
 
 mind it She was glad that Mattie had found so good 
 a friend, and that Frank had apparently changed so 
 much for the better. She was quite prepared to hear 
 without dissent what he told her once, when they 
 had gone to Mrs. Stuart's door with her, and he was 
 pretending to seek his own room in an opposite direc- 
 tion. 
 
 " Mabel, I wouldn't like you to say so to her, but if 
 Mrs. Stuart ever gets a divorce from that worthless 
 fellow who has ruined her life, I shall ask her to 
 marry me." 
 
 " I wish she could," was the reply. " Can't you find 
 out if there isn't a way ? She hates him, and there is 
 no reason why she should cling to such a worse than 
 useless marriage as hers." 
 
 *' It's an unpleasant situation for both of us," mused 
 Frank. " She can't help knowing how much I care for 
 her, and yet I am not in a position to say anything." 
 
 Mabel walked on for a short time thoughtfully. 
 
 "Don't they give divorces for desertion?" she 
 queried presently. 
 
 u Not when the husband comes and occupies the 
 flat with his wife every few weeks, I'm afraid." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett looked up eagerly. 
 
 "Oh, but that's nothing," she said. "He has a 
 
 room there, but " She paused, for the rich blood 
 
 had flooded her cheeks. 
 
 " You mean," said Frank, slowly, " that she is not 
 living with him as his wife." 
 
 " Fm sure she isn't," said Mabel earnestly. 
 
 " So am I," he replied darkly. " If I thought she 
 was, I'd go up there and land him in the back- yard 
 with a broken neck. Yes, Mabel, I will see what the 
 law can do. I will consult my own attorney to-morrow.
 
 2 40 YQ UN6 FA WCE TT 'S MA BEL. 
 
 In the meantime she mustn't know anything about it 
 She is very high-minded and might resent such inter- 
 ference in her affairs." 
 
 Mabel thought Frank very honorable. It was 
 romantic to be loved in that way by a man who held 
 his dulcinea in such esteem that he would not speak a 
 word that might lower her in her own eyes. She was 
 glad to have the opportunity of helping on that ideal 
 match when the Stuart chain should drop from her 
 friend's neck. 
 
 " Why does she allow him to come there at all ? " 
 asked Selden. " It would be better if she refused him 
 entrance." 
 
 " She would be glad to if she could afford it," ex- 
 plained Mabel, with the utmost frankness. "Mattie 
 hasn't a cent of her own, and I suppose the little 
 sums he leaves her come handy." 
 
 Frank seemed lost in thought for some seconds. 
 
 " Mabel," he said, at last, " I wish you would help 
 me to solve this matter. I am sure no lawyer would 
 expect to a get a divorce for a woman while her husband 
 dwells ever so little in the same apartment. One can't 
 explain such things to a judge. She must absolutely 
 refuse to let him come there." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett eyed him questioningly. 
 
 " I'd be glad to help you to help you both," said 
 she, " if I had the money. I have given her as much 
 as I could, but not enough to support her. I don't 
 have that amount to spare." 
 
 Selden addressed her earnestly. 
 
 " You haven't the money, and I didn't suppose yon 
 had. I didn't mean that. I meant that / could furnish 
 it myself if there was any way to satisfy her that the 
 ought to take it."
 
 tOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 2 4 1 
 
 It was a straw and Mabel grasped at it. She wanted 
 very much to see Mattie freed from Algernon Stuart. 
 
 ** How do you mean ? " she asked. 
 
 41 Couldn't I give you the money, and you let Mattie 
 I mean Mrs. Stuart have it, pretending it was your 
 own?" 
 
 Mabel shook her head. 
 
 " She knows my affairs too well. And beside she 
 has had so much from me already that it troubles her a 
 great deal." 
 
 " Well, then," said Frank, positively, " there is only 
 one other way. I must hire that room which Stuart 
 has occupied and pay a liberal price for it." 
 
 The listener had a momentary attack of real fright. 
 What was it that Frank had said ? 
 
 " I looked the ground over one day for myself," he 
 went on rapidly, not wishing to let her speak too soon. 
 u There is an entrance to that room from the hallway. 
 She can bar the middle door up with five-inch plank if she 
 chooses. With the money I pay her for that room she 
 can retain her flat till till I can gain the right through 
 the law to tear the partition down." 
 
 Mabel could not agree off-hand to this proposition, 
 and Frank did not suppose she would when he ad- 
 vanced it. It was enough for that day that she did 
 not give utterance to any violent opposition. She 
 simply shook her head with the air of one who does 
 not coincide with the views she hears. 
 
 " Well," said Selden, as they reached the corner that 
 led toward her residence, " you know my views, at any 
 rate. I am ready to do anything that is reasonable to 
 relieve her of her present entanglement, and after that 
 I will make her my own, if she will let me. When you 
 think it over by yourself you may find some better way, 
 16
 
 2 4 2 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 All I ask is that, in whatever you say to her, you wfl! 
 not compromise me." 
 
 Selden could hardly wait till he was out of sight be- 
 fore bursting into a hearty laugh. The 7ast words he 
 had spoken to his cousin appealed to his sense of 
 humor when he came to think them over. Still he did 
 care a great deal for Mattie, and he had no intention 
 of doing anything to lose her the friendship of Mrs. 
 Fawcett. He was in constant fear that Mabel would 
 learn of his presence in that house and that, in the flood 
 of indignation which would sweep over her, she would 
 withdraw herself permanently from Mattie's society. 
 
 Mabel thought about her friend's dilemma nearly the 
 whole of the night, and could arrive at no solution 
 better than the one Frank had proposed. The more 
 she thought about it the less revolting it seemed. 
 Frank had certainly changed a great deal. He was 
 not the sort of man he used to be. The plotter ended 
 by going to Mrs. Stuart the next day and advising her 
 to let Mr. Stuart's room to some one else. 
 
 " But who would hire it ? " asked Mattie, primed for 
 her work by Selden 's explanation. " There are very 
 few women who could afford to pay as much as I would 
 have to ask." 
 
 " That is true," said Mabel. " But there are plenty 
 of men. You could board up that middle door and 
 let them use the outer one exclusively." 
 
 Mattie rose to inspect the premises in question and 
 her friend followed her. 
 
 " Yes, I could do that," said Mrs. Stuart. " The 
 next thing, though, is to find the lodger." 
 
 "Perhaps Mr. Selden would know of some on^ w 
 suggested Mabel, guardedly. 
 
 Mrs. Stuart bowed assent.
 
 YOUNG PAWCSTT'S MABEL. 243 
 
 " I wffl ask him to-day," said Mabel ; " he has prom- 
 ised to meet me here at half-past two." 
 
 When Mabel came at half-past two she found Mr. 
 Selden there before her. It was not uncommon now 
 for him to precede her at these appointments and her 
 suspicions were absolutely lulled. 
 
 " I've found a tenant for my room," were the words 
 with which Mrs. Stuart greeted her cousin. She wore 
 a bright smile on her face as she said it. " Mr. Selden 
 says he will take it himself." 
 
 Although this was exactly what Mrs. Fawcett ex- 
 pected the negotiations would come to, she was rather 
 surprised to find them so quickly completed. 
 
 " I have been intending to make a change for a long 
 time," explained Frank, " and that room suits me to 
 perfection. Why, look here." He led them into the 
 chamber. "How could it be more cosy? You will 
 have to fire these traps out though," he added, to Mrs. 
 Stuart, kicking a pair of his own shoes under the bed, 
 and tossing one of his discarded collars into the closet. 
 
 She said she would pack them up and send them to 
 Cleveland without delay, and everybody seemed sud- 
 denly imbued with a spirit of joy. Frank would have 
 given a few hundred to have been able to kiss Mattie 
 on the spot, but he knew that would never do. He 
 said he would move his things in before the evening 
 was over, and in honor of the event he persuaded the 
 ladies to go out with him to a little lunch at a nice 
 cabinet particulaire a short distance away. 
 
 After Selden had gone through the pretence of mov- 
 ing into a room which he had occupied for the past 
 five months Mabel noticed at her next call that the 
 promised carpenter work had not been done on thf 
 middle doorway.
 
 244 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " I've sent for the man, but he is very busy," ex- 
 plained Mattie. " There's a bolt and a curtain thore, 
 though, for the present." 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett was lost in thought for a moment. 
 
 " I don't believe I'd put anything more up, Mattie,*' 
 she said. " He will know about it and it will look as 
 if you suspected him." 
 
 "Perhaps you are right," murmured Mrs. Stuart, 
 contemplatively. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 "WHY DID YOU TELL ME LIES." 
 
 ALLAN FAWCETT might have gone on in the way he was 
 living until old age^had he continued to enjoy the bliss 
 of ignorance. His life was neither very happy nor un- 
 happy. As far as business was concerned it worried him 
 less now that his transactions were in the hundred thou- 
 sands than when they were in the minor figures. He had 
 fallen into a certain fatalism in regard to profits and 
 losses. There seemed little probability that he would 
 ever be able to get enough out of Decker & Co. to pay 
 the debt he owed Selden, except by retiring from the 
 firm ; but, on the other hand, the security was reckoned 
 good, and he could easily have obtained the amount 
 elsewhere. Decker had looked like a very big fish to 
 the small merchant in Norwood, but in this vast mill- 
 pond of New York it was not much itseif compared 
 with the gigantic sharks and whales whose ravenous 
 maws were altogether insatiable. 
 
 He drew enough from the safe to make him comfort- 
 able, and saw his apparent balance go up and down 
 iike a column of mercury in a variable climate. It waa
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 2 45 
 
 work, playing with Cecil, reading and then bed with 
 him, and nothing else. His wife reckoned for very 
 little in his existence. He hardly thought it interest- 
 ing now even to quarrel with her, except when he felt 
 unusually cross, or something out of the ordinary an- 
 noyed him about the household matters. 
 
 There are said to be something like three billions of 
 people in this world, and why Fawcett should have run 
 upon the particular one of them who could arouse 
 him from his lethargy and stir up all that was hateful 
 in him is a mystery. He was taking a journey on busi- 
 ness connected with his firm, in the summer following 
 the events narrated in the preceding chapter, when he 
 fell into conversation with a man who occupied the 
 seat with him in the car ; and, by that odd sort of fate 
 which leads travellers on common ground, he happened 
 to mention his name and occupation. 
 
 " Well, that's odd ! " said his companion. " My wife 
 is a cousin of yours. My name is Stuart." 
 
 Fawcett eyed the man with a certain surprise. He 
 had formed a not very favorable opinion of Mr. Stuart 
 although he had never seen him before. 
 
 " When did you return from South America ? " he 
 asked, in the most natural way, for he had never 
 doubted his wife's numerous references to that locality 
 in connection with Mattie's solitary condition. 
 
 Mr. Stuart looked oddly at his questioner. 
 
 "I never was in South America in my life," he 
 replied. 
 
 " Never in South America ! " repeated Fawcett. 
 " You've been out that way somewhere, haven't you, 
 for the past few years ? " 
 
 " Not that I am aware of. My home is in Cleveland 
 You must be thinking of some other person."
 
 246 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 No, Fawcett was thinking of no other person. He 
 was thinking of this person, and wondering who was 
 responsible for the report he had so often heard. 
 
 " I had an idea that you were out of the country," he 
 said, lamely. " Your wife was at my house for a long 
 time, you know." 
 
 " And isn't she there now ? " asked Mr. Stuart. 
 
 Fawcett almost rose from his seat, in the extremity 
 of his astonishment. Didn't this man know any more 
 about his wife than that ! 
 
 " Why, of course she isn't ! " he exclaimed. " She 
 left us nearly a year ago." 
 
 Mr. Stuart seemed to take only a languid interest in 
 this disclosure. 
 
 " I never see her or hear from her," he explained. 
 " We didn't seem as well mated as we thought, and she 
 chose to go her own way." 
 
 Fawcett hated to exhibit his surprise, but there was 
 no way he could conceal it. 
 
 " You never hear from her ! " he repeated, acting as 
 if he could not credit it. " You never write to her or 
 get letters ? " 
 
 Stuart shook his head. 
 
 " Never," he said. " We both made a mistake, and 
 separation was the easiest way out of it. She thought 
 I had money, and I supposed her father was rich. 
 She wanted a style of living that I could not give her. 
 I did not tell her to go, and it was not my place to ask 
 her to return." 
 
 The eyelids of the commission merchant twitched 
 spasmodically. He wondered how it would seem to 
 have his Mabel living somewhere away from him, with- 
 out his knowing where, or what she was doing. It 
 came over him suddenly how much he really loved his
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 947 
 
 wife, for the thought of losing her made him faint and 
 giddy. His contempt for Stuart increased momentarily, 
 and he was glad when he reached the station where he 
 was to leave the train. The air of the street was grate- 
 ful after breathing the same atmosphere with such a 
 cur. 
 
 But the more he thought about it the more nervous 
 he grew. If Mrs. Stuart had left her husband because 
 she was dissatisfied with the income he allowed her, 
 how had she bettered it ? He was sure her father's 
 estate was insolvent when he died. Her mother was 
 subsisting on the charity of another child, unless he 
 had been misinformed. It took money to live in a 
 world like this. Whenever he had seen Mattie he had 
 noticed that she had not the appearance of being 
 poverty-stricken. She occupied a flat and had food 
 and clothing, at somebody's expense. Whose ? It was 
 not easy to connect her with anything disreputable, but 
 he determined to have this question answered, and with- 
 out much more delay. Mabel associated with her too 
 intimately to have doubts hanging over so important a 
 matter. 
 
 That night, when he reached home, his wife was out. 
 That was not strange enough to startle him. Mollie, 
 skilled in the art of lying from long experience, told 
 him that Cecil had been put to bed by his mother before 
 she left the house, and that she had left word that she 
 would spend the rest of the evening at Mrs. Stuart's. 
 
 Allan went into the child's room and kissed the little 
 fellow in his sleep. How like an angel he looked, with 
 his flaxen hair falling over his white forehead ! For 
 half an hour the father sat by the crib, content with the 
 sight. Then he went into the parlor, took up a nw 
 magazine, cut the leaves and tried to read.
 
 348 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Between him and the pages there came a hundred 
 things that kept him from knowing what was printed 
 there. Over the engravings crept other pictures not at 
 all agreeable. Supposing Mattie was not the kind of 
 woman she ought to be, and that Mabel too innocent 
 to suspect such evil had been associating with her all 
 this time, putting her purity so close to the soiled life 
 of her companion ! 
 
 They had been the dearest of friends. If he found 
 cause to suspect anything wrong they must be sepa- 
 rated without delay. His wife would be slow to believe 
 anything against Mattie, and it might not be easy to 
 prove his case, even it the circumstances were doubtful 
 in their character. But he would investigate the matter 
 fully. He would not run the risk of having Mabel 
 continue to go about with a woman on whom the least 
 breath of suspicion might rest 
 
 It was nearly twelve when Mrs. Fawcett entered the 
 house. She came in noiselessly, as was her wont, 
 thinking that if he had returned he would be asleep and 
 she must not disturb him. As she slipped toward her 
 room he called her. 
 
 " Why do you creep in like that ? " he demanded. 
 " Have you been doing something you are ashamed of ? " 
 
 Now, during his long wait, he had planned to open 
 the conversation in the gentlest and most diplomatic 
 manner. Her soft and cat-like steps broln this resolu- 
 tion and scattered it to the winds. Mabel entered the 
 parlor with cheeks aflame. 
 
 "What is it now?" she asked, defiantly. "Grain 
 dropped again ? " 
 
 He had been told a hundred times that he was in 
 the habit of coming home cross whenever the market 
 went the wrong way, and she culd hardly have said
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL, 249 
 
 anything more galling to him. She had, indeed, not 
 chosen the expression because she thought he would 
 find it agreeable. He had hurt her, and she took 
 the first weapon that came to hand to strike him in 
 return. 
 
 " No, it's not grain this time," he replied, with clear, 
 cutting tones. " It's something else that's fallen, a 
 good deal heavier. Look out you're not buried under 
 it. Why have you been telling me all these lies about 
 Mattie Stuart ? " 
 
 The color in Mrs. Fawcett's face left it, and she 
 stood there very white before her judge. Where had 
 he heard anything about Mattie, and what had he 
 learned ? 
 
 " Has she had any letters from South America lately ? " 
 he asked, with drawling sarcasm. 
 
 Mabel took a chair. She was becoming too weak to 
 stand. 
 
 " How do I know ? " she said. Perhaps by using 
 generalities she could compel him to reveal the exact 
 amount of his information. "She doesn't tell me 
 everything she does." 
 
 The husband paused an instant. 
 
 " Did you believe Mr. Stuart was out of this country, 
 all this time ? " he asked. " Or did you and she make 
 that story up together to deceive me ? " 
 
 Allan knew that the South American teles were false. 
 This much was evident. Mabel wanted to get out of 
 the trouble herself and yet she dreaded getting Mattie 
 into it She could easily see that the tendency was 
 toward making him unwilling the women should con- 
 tinue associates. 
 
 " You say the Grossest things when you get started," 
 he answered, knitting her brows. " What makes you
 
 250 YOUNG FAWCETT^ S MABEL. 
 
 think he isn't there ? You would believe any person 
 sooner than your wife." 
 
 " First tell me what made you suppose he was," said 
 Fawcett. " You have talked to me about it fifty times, 
 have spoken of letters from him, and of his intention 
 to remain an indefinite period. If she has told you 
 such things she is not the kind of woman I want my 
 wife going to see ; for I met Mr. Stuart to-day, and he 
 told me he had never seen South America or any other 
 foreign country, and that he had made his home in 
 Cleveland ever since Mattie left him." 
 
 The situation of the young wife was certainly embar- 
 rassing. If Allan absolutely forbade her to associate 
 with Mrs. Stuart, she would lose the pleasantest part 
 of her existence. It was better to take all the blame 
 on herself than to have him get such a bad opinion of 
 Mattie. Mabel had been so long acquiring the science 
 of deceit that the simple truth was well-nigh impossible 
 to her. She regarded Mr. Fawcett as a man to circum- 
 vent, to evade, to blind the eyes of. His wrath had 
 better descend on her than on her friend. 
 
 " You are so quick and so unreasonable sometimes," 
 she explained, " that I don't know what to say to you. 
 When Mattie first came to our house I wasn't very 
 well it was the summer, you know, after Cecil was 
 born and it did me a great deal of good to have her 
 there. You were gone all day, as you are now, and I 
 was pining for some one to talk to and be with. She 
 had left her husband for good, though she didn't tell 
 me for a long time, and I thought you would wonder 
 that he never came to see her. She didn't like to say 
 anything to you about it and so I just thought \ 
 would tell you " 
 
 " A lie I " said Fawett, to finish her sentence.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 351 
 
 The harsh expression brought the tears to Mabel's 
 
 " Oh, stop blubbering ! " he cried. " If you are able 
 to tell your husband as bald a lie as that, and stick to 
 it for years, making up new ones to help it out, you 
 ought to stand the exposure without acting like a 
 baby ! " 
 
 She tried her best to check the flow, but it could not 
 be done immediately. 
 
 " Allan, you are awful," she sobbed. 
 
 "Why, haven't I given it the right name?" he 
 asked. " What do you call telling a thing that's not 
 so, and sticking to it month after month, with detail 
 and circumstance ? You wouldn't say it was the truth, 
 would you ? And what isn't the truth is a lie. 
 Doesn't sound pretty, does it ? " 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett blew her nose and dug her hand- 
 kerchief into her eyes. 
 
 " No, it doesn't," she assented. " And you ought 
 not to use a word like that to the mother of your 
 child." 
 
 She threw Cecil in as sailors throw oil on the raging 
 waves, but the act had an effect opposite to the one 
 intended. 
 
 " How can you bring the name of that pure chfld 
 into a matter like this ? " he retorted. " Would you 
 like him to know that his mother is a falsifier? * 
 
 " I wouldn't like him to know," she sobbed, " that 
 his father calls me everything he can think of, 
 whenever he happens to come home cross and ugly." 
 
 " Have I called you anything you are not ? " said 
 he, sharply. " I depend on your own admission." 
 
 Mabel began to unbutton her dress, in her nervous* 
 ness, wanting something to keep her fingers busy.
 
 352 YOUNG FA WCEft'S MABEL. 
 
 " I didn't think it would do any harm," she stam- 
 mered. " You are not like other men ; you won't 
 listen to reason. Mattie never knew what I told you. 
 She was in a great deal of trouble, and I was very 
 sorry for her." 
 
 She pulled off her basque, and somehow the sight of 
 her arms and neck began to mollify him. 
 
 "You're pretty intimate there," said he. "Will 
 you tell me what she is living on ? And don't say it's 
 money from Stuart, for he never corresponds with her 
 in any way." 
 
 Fawcett had touched the most dangerous part of the 
 ground he was traversing, but the sight of the half- 
 draped beauty before him caused a lowering of his 
 voice and a banishing of the disagreeable element in 
 his tone. Quite unconscious of the cause, Mabel was 
 fully cognizant of the effect, and she lost most of her 
 fear. Leaning over to unlace her boots, she spoke in 
 her usual voice. 
 
 "She has relations who help her, I understand. 
 And then she lets a room or two, which pays the rent. 
 She doesn't have much, just the barest necessities." 
 
 Fawcett heard her vaguely. He was looking at her 
 with the eyes of a lover. How sweet and sylph-like 
 she was ! It was a long time since he had seen her so 
 closely. He was like one who comes upon a treasure 
 hidden away in a forgotten place. 
 
 " I didn't mean to be cross," he said, in a low tone, 
 " Only it isn't nice to learn that one's wife doesn't tell 
 him the truth. Don't do it again, Mabel. Let me know 
 everything, no matter what, for when a man loses con- 
 fidence in his wife's word, it is a terrible blow." 
 
 He came over and kissed her, something he had not 
 tor months. Delighted to have escaped the
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 25$ 
 
 threatening danger so easily, she returned his embrace, 
 and in a few moments they wore no appearance 
 of having been so recently engaged in throwing 
 unpleasant expressions at each other. 
 
 As soon as Allan left the house in the morning, 
 Mabel hastened to her friend to tell her what had 
 happened. She had to ring three times before she got 
 an answer, and with her ear to the tube she certainly 
 heard a door open and shut in the apartment. Mattie 
 explained to her afterwards that she had thrown a few 
 things into a closet, to make the bedroom look more 
 tidy. 
 
 " You're a darling girl, to do all that for me," she 
 said, when she heard the story. " And you feel quite 
 sure that his suspicions are completely quieted now ? " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," smiled Mabel, prettily. " He was as 
 sweet to me this morning as one could ask. Why, it 
 was like a piece of our honeymoon over again." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A TURKISH BATH. 
 
 ANOTHER winter passed, during which the most 
 important event that occurred to the characters in our 
 story was the sudden death of Mrs. Morey. She 
 expired at her sister's house in Boston, without the 
 least warning, there having been nothing to indicate 
 that she was in a delicate state of health. Mrs. Selden, 
 the invalid to whose care she had devoted herself for the 
 past few years, was, as is so often the case, to outlive 
 her faithful attendant Mabel mourned her mother 
 sincerely, and returned from the funeral with a feeling
 
 254 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 that Allan and Cecil were more to her now than they 
 had ever been. She spent a good deal of her time as 
 formerly, with Mrs. Stuart, for it was lonely at her own 
 house all day when Allan was not there, and in the 
 evening it was his custom to sit and read, and he was 
 not much company for his wife. He raised no objec- 
 tion when she proposed to " run over to Mattie's " for 
 a little while, and generally was sound asleep when 
 she returned. 
 
 Frank Selden still devoted considerable of his time 
 to his sweetheart, and Mabel took innumerable lunches 
 with them, as well as attended many theatrical 
 performances in their company. The longer Fawcett 
 was kept in ignorance of these things the safer they 
 seemed, and if he ever should discover it, why, what 
 great harm could result ? It was all perfectly respect- 
 able, Mabel said to herself. No one would be likely 
 to accuse Mattie of impropriety, and Frank behaved 
 nicely. The restaurants were good ones, and the plays 
 entirely proper. 
 
 Heavens ! What would have become of them all if 
 they had not happened to get into this way of amusing 
 themselves ? It was the salvation of Mattie, keeping 
 her, as it did, from that execrable husband ; it made the 
 days much brighter for Mabel; and Frank Selden, 
 who had not, she feared, always chosen the best of 
 companions, seemed a wholly changed man. 
 
 The lawyer whom he had consulted told him that if 
 Stuart remained entirely away from his wife for another 
 year he would try to get a divorce for her on the 
 ground of non-support. Then she and Frank would 
 marry, and everything be like the ending of a child's 
 tory. 
 
 But the plans of mice and men, we are assured bv
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 95$ 
 
 the poet, "gang aft agley." One of the partners in 
 Decker & Co., in a thoughtless moment, happened to 
 remark to Mr. Fawcett that he had seen Mrs. F. at the 
 theatre the previous evening with Mr. Selden. He had 
 no idea that he was revealing any secret, and men- 
 tioned the circumstance merely in the way of ordinary 
 conversation. 
 
 "That was a good play at the Union Square last 
 night," he said. He was reading a notice of it in the 
 " Tribune," and as the paper was in front of his face he 
 did not see the expression that crossed Fawcett's at his 
 next sentence. " I noticed that Mrs. Fawcett seemed 
 very much taken up with it." 
 
 The husband, who was writing at his desk, put down 
 his pen abruptly. He wondered why Mabel had gone 
 to a theatre without mentioning the circumstance to 
 him. He detested anything that savored of slyness. 
 If she wanted to see a play she knew he would not ob- 
 ject. It was getting to be too much of a habit with 
 her to act in a secretive way. However, he did not 
 intend to let Mr. Hardy guess this, and he replied, in 
 an ordinary tone, that his wife liked the performance 
 Very well. 
 
 "That Mrs. Stuart is a cousin or hers, isn't she?" 
 pursued Mr. Hardy. He knew Mattie's face, having 
 seen her at the office more than once. " Yes, I thought 
 so," he added, as Mr. Fawcett made an affirmative 
 reply " A very good-looking young widow she is, too. 
 I wonder if there is anything definite between her and 
 Mr. Selden." 
 
 Had the broad sheet of the "Tribune" been lowered at 
 that moment, Mr. Hardy would certainly have noticed 
 a very peculiar expression on the face of his partner; 
 but his eyes were now buried in the financial column,
 
 256 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Fawcett knew in an instant that Mattie's conduct had 
 in some way given rise to the insinuation that Mr. 
 Hardy made. She must hare acted like a widow 
 like a woman free to marry and in the company of 
 Frank Selden at that 
 
 Allan had never seen these two people together three 
 times in his life. He had not known that they were on 
 terms of the least intimacy. A great cavity seemed to 
 open at his feet, as he considered the simple statement 
 he had just heard. He had a cue that he must follow 
 up. If there was anything like close friendship be- 
 tween a man like Selden and a woman who was legally 
 another's wife, he would not have Mabel going to 
 visit her again. To be found in Frank's society was 
 in itself sufficient to cast a grave doubt on the charac- 
 ter of any woman. 
 
 Fawcett tried to go on with the letter he had begun, 
 but he made poor work of it, and Mr. Hardy, who had 
 turned his paper again so as to read the editorial page, 
 opened his mouth once more. 
 
 " I've always taken Mr. Selden for a confirmed 
 bachelor," he said, " until within the past year or so. 
 He's got the reputation, I know, of being a pretty gay 
 boy. The first time I saw him at the theatre with 
 Mrs. Stuart and your wife I was a little surprised. I 
 remember pointing them out to Mrs. Hardy and remark- 
 ing upon the matter. Then, when it continued to go 
 on, and we saw them so often, she said Mrs. Hardy 
 said ' I tell you, Paul, that couple must be engaged.' 
 We go to the theatre a good deal, you know, and after- 
 wards to some restaurant just as we did before we 
 were married and seeing them frequently at both 
 places made us a little inquisitive. I promised to ask 
 you a long time ago, but somehow I forgot it. Mrs,
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 357 
 
 Hardy said it must be something of the kind, for as 
 Mrs. Fawcett is always along, like a sort of chaperon 
 for her friend, there couldn't be any 
 
 " By George, he's gone ! " 
 
 The last exclamation was caused by a lowering of 
 the newspaper and a discovery that Mr. Fawcett had 
 left the room. Mr. Hardy indulged in a quiet laugh at 
 his own expense, supposing that his partner had been 
 called away by some pressing emergency in the pause 
 between the joints of his harangue. 
 
 Fawcett had picked up his hat and coat and walked 
 out of doors without taking the trouble to announce 
 his departure to any one. He was as near insane at 
 that moment as a man could well be and know the way 
 to Forty-second Street. He met people of his acquaint- 
 ance and passed without responding to their bows or 
 greetings. He did not take any kind of conveyance, 
 but walked on and on, neither seeing nor hearing any 
 of the sights or sounds of the teeming city. He did 
 not know what he intended to do when he got to the 
 end of his journey. He had a dim idea that he ought 
 to be at his domicile that there was danger to be met 
 there. It was something as if he had heard that a 
 fire had caught between the floorings, and might 
 envelop the entire edifice unless attended to with 
 promptness. 
 
 It is a long walk from the vicinity of Park Place to 
 Forty-second Street and before Fawcett had accom- 
 plished half of it his mind grew slightly clearer. Dis- 
 grace that was it ! He knew Frank Selden thoroughly. 
 If that fellow had been going about with Mattie Stuart 
 he could have had but one purpose in view. If he had 
 been going with her, as Mr. Hardy testified, for a year 
 or more, he had accomplished his intent long, very long,
 
 1 58 YOUNG FA WCETTS MABEL. 
 
 ago. And Mabel his Mabel had gone to places of 
 amusement with them, to theatres and restaurants, seen 
 by a thousand people as well as one, piling the shame 
 upon his head ! Secretive, sly, hiding her acts from 
 him in that lizard-like way she had fostered of late, she 
 had assisted this notorious rout in his liaison I And 
 her husband had gone on, suspecting nothing, playing 
 with his innocent child, reading his books and maga- 
 zines, and going to bed with the wife still out of the 
 house ! 
 
 Oh, it was beautiful ! Men were in the Tombs await- 
 ing trial for murder who had not half this provocation ! 
 
 He would see Mabel, and then he would see Frank 
 Selden. If the wealthy young rake gave him one 
 insolent word he would break every bone in his face. 
 Damn him and his money ! To take an innocent 
 woman like Mabel and drag her around with him 
 and his paramour where fools might suspect even her 
 immaculate purity it was fearful ! The lovers must 
 have been very shrewd not to arouse the least glimmer 
 of the truth in her mind. They must they must 
 they must 
 
 Fawcett stopped in the middle of the street. A 
 horrible thing had crept into his brain. He saw the 
 shadow of a black and slimy apparition across his own 
 threshold! 
 
 How was he to say which of these two women was de- 
 tcived and which was the guilty one HI 
 
 A voice at his elbow inquired if he were ill. He 
 saw that quite a number of people had stopped to look 
 at him. In a crowded city it takes but a minute to 
 make a street impassable. Fawcett nerved himself to 
 reply that nothing was the matter, and turned the 
 corner, which was that of Broadway and Twenty-Fifth
 
 YOUNG FA WC ETTS MABBL. 9& 
 
 Street. He could not go home now. If he were to 
 enter his house at this time no one could say what 
 
 might ensue. 
 
 There were stairs at his side that led into a basement 
 and he saw the words " Turkish Bath " staring at him. 
 Descending the steps he registered his name, took a 
 ticket and entered a disrobing-room. This place was 
 as good as another for the present. It would give him 
 time to think. 
 
 In a few moments he was seated in the hot room. 
 There were other men there, but he did not know them. 
 He tried to reason intelligently, but he could not. 
 Whichever theory he must accept, it was not a sweet 
 morsel to swallow. In either case could he ever 
 respect Mabel again. If it was she who had been im- 
 posed upon, she was too simple to make a safe wife for 
 any man. If she had been the cunning one and 
 Mattie had been blinded that would settle it all, of 
 course. If they had acted as covers for each other * 
 both guilty that would be quite the same. Could 
 either of them know so little of the world as to be 
 swindled in such a manner? It did not seem possible. 
 And the master-thought came and crowded out the 
 rest : If Mabel was the mistress of Frank Selden what 
 ought he Allan Fawcett to do ? 
 
 How could he blame such a man for availing himself 
 of that opportunity, if it came in his way. If a pretty 
 wife chose to violate her marriage-vows was it to be 
 expected a libertine would advise her to the contrary ? 
 It was certainly Mabel on whom the blame should fall. 
 
 Ought he to go home and kill her ? 
 
 No, he would be hanged if he did ! He would wait 
 till he felt sure he was cool enough to dismiss her with 
 nly the few words that his righteous indignation
 
 6o YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 dictated. He would tell her to go to the devil to seek 
 the class of women to which she belonged and then 
 he would take Cecil away with him and try to forget 
 the unworthy mother. That was the way for a sensible 
 man to act. Murder was obsolete in such cases, except 
 among the contadini of Sicily or the drunken negroes 
 of Texas. He would not let Mabel add anything to 
 the injury she had already done him, and he had no 
 relish for a term behind the thick walls of a jail. He 
 would wait, wait, till he was perfectly certain he could 
 control his temper, and could meet her as she ought to 
 be met. 
 
 The shampooer came to take him into the rubbing 
 room. Stretched on the marble slab, with the heavy 
 hands of the attendant manipulating his flesh, Fawcett 
 said to himself a hundred times that this was what he 
 would do. He had got to thinking of only one possi- 
 bility out of the three which he had at first taken up. 
 Mabel must be Selden's inamorata. Mattie had only 
 acted as a blind for them, a knowing one he had no 
 doubt whatever. Her flat had been their convenient 
 place of meeting. Mabel had begun this when she 
 told him the falsehood about Algy Stuart's going to 
 South America. How had he been fooled so long? 
 He should have known that a wife who could calmly lie 
 to her husband was capable of yet greater dishonor. 
 
 " Please turn over, sir," said the bathman. 
 
 Well, she would see before she died what became of 
 such wives. Her path would descend easily into the 
 slums, for her wealthy lover would tire of her as soon 
 as her charms began to fade. Fawcett recalled Sel- 
 den's expressions, long before : 
 
 " I could take her and love her for weeks, perhaps 
 for months. She may grow ill-tempered ; she will cer-
 
 YOUNG FAWCETrS MABEL. 261 
 
 tainly grow old ; her hair will turn gray ; her rounded 
 curves will disappear ; on her dimpled face wrinkles 
 will come. Marriage ! The very word disgusts me ! " 
 
 And after that, what was the next step ? Downward, 
 always downward ! A few years of misery, and then a 
 frightful death. In that day she would know that her 
 husband, hard as was his lot, had not the worst of this 
 bargain to which she had forced him. He would still 
 be a reputable citizen, regarded with honor by his fel- 
 low-men, when the wagon that bore her remains took 
 its way with galloping horses to the Potter's Field! 
 
 " Now, if you will stand up, sir." 
 
 The attendant placed him under the shower-bath, 
 which was much colder than he usually wanted it, but 
 to-day he never gave the matter a thought. His mind 
 was too excited for him to know much about temper- 
 atures. The man rubbed him down and dried every 
 drop of moisture from his skin. Then he was shown 
 to a couch, where he lay for an hour, until some one 
 suggested that it was time to dress. 
 
 When he got out on the street again he felt much 
 better. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 
 noon. Should he go home now ? No, he was not yet 
 quite calm enough. He had resolved not to enter his 
 house until he could speak to Mabel as dispassionately 
 as a judge on the bench. So he took a long walk over 
 Twenty-third Street to the river and up a lettered 
 avenue and down again. After that he went into a 
 theatre and passed three hours; and then, feeling 
 slightly faint, he got a lunch at a restaurant. 
 
 It was now past six, and he walked slowly in the 
 direction of his home. His home ! Never could it be 
 his home again ! How happy he had been there, and 
 now it was all ended.
 
 962 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL, 
 
 The pain of this reflection warned him that he was 
 not yet in a condition to confront his wife. He strolled 
 up Madison Avenue and beyond, till he saw the Harlem 
 River in front of him. Then he strolled back again, 
 through other streets. At last he entered his dwelling 
 
 Unless things were very different from usual, Mabel 
 would not be at home at that hour. (It was ten o'clock.) 
 He would go up and wait for her and talk to her in an 
 ordinary voice when she came back. Then he would 
 pack the things he wanted and take them away with 
 Cecil that very night. Yes, that was what he would da 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 "I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN TRUE." 
 
 HE went in without much noise, for he did not care 
 to meet the servant if he could avoid it. The parlor 
 was empty, as he turned up the low gas-jet in the 
 chandelier. He would go in a minute to see Cecil 
 poor, motherless, worse than motherless boy ! He 
 uttered a sob that no amount of resistance could quite 
 choke down, and immediately there came a low voice 
 from the chamber beyond. 
 
 " Is that you, Allan ? " 
 
 It was Mabel. She was in bed. When he reached 
 her door Fawcett saw by the bright light burning there 
 that she had a very white face and was undoubtedly 
 ill. 
 
 " I'm so glad you've come," she whispered. " I've 
 been terribly sick all day. Mattie stayed quite 
 late with me, and Mollie did all she could, but there 
 was no use in their sitting up. Oh, Allan, have I got 
 to go through all that again \ n
 
 YOUNG FA WC ETrS MABEL. 163 
 
 She had her handkerchief to her eyes when he en. 
 tered and she did not remove it. She was crying in a 
 subdued key, so utterly wretched that she would not 
 have believed that anything could add to her distress. 
 
 Similes fail when one tries to describe the anguish 
 that racked the unhappy husband. The idolatry which 
 he had for his offspring ; the sanctity that surrounded 
 motherhood in his estimation ; all this was met in its 
 path through the waters by the gigantic iceberg of 
 doubt ! If his wife was faithful he could fall on his 
 knees and worship her. If she was untrue the revela- 
 tion she had given only made her more infamous in 
 his sight. 
 
 There was a collision that nearly wrecked the frail 
 craft, but the ship still floated on the crest of the 
 waves. He wanted so dearly to believe in her that he 
 was willing to catch at any hope. But he must have 
 that awful question settled, and at once. He could not 
 postpone it for an hour. 
 
 " You were at the theatre last night," was the only 
 answer he made her. 
 
 She paused in her sobs behind the handkerchief and 
 stole a furtive look at him. Her heart sank when she 
 saw his face. 
 
 " Yes," she replied softly. 
 
 " With Frank Selden." 
 
 " I went with Mattie. And Frank we happened to 
 meet him, and he came along." 
 
 Mr. Fawcett caught his breath. 
 
 " Once in your life, Mabel, try to speak the truth," 
 he answered, in a low voice. " I know it is not easy for 
 you, but do the best you can. You see I know all about 
 it. It is not only last night, that you have been with 
 Selden but fifty other nights. You have been with
 
 264 YOUNG FAVTCETTS MABEL. 
 
 him to the theatre, to restaurants, and you know as 
 well as I where else. I found it out to-day. Now, I am 
 going to pack my things and get out of this house to- 
 night with my child. That will leave you free to go 
 to him with his I" 
 
 Mabel Fawcett took the handkerchief from her eyes 
 and sat up in the bed. For a moment she put both 
 her hands to her temples with the action of one partly 
 stunned. Then she got her feet on the floor and strode 
 toward her husband. 
 
 " How do you dare speak like that to me ? " sha 
 cried, with the utmost ferocity. 
 
 The astonished man saw a heavy bronze lamp seized 
 from a table and swung above his head. He knew 
 that his life was not worth a penny should it descend. 
 It was not a pleasant position, to be placed on the de- 
 fensive physically before this slender figure in its night- 
 robes. But there was a greater thing than this in that 
 pose of hers. There was every sign of outraged inno- 
 cence. 
 
 "Explain to me, then," he answered, "what you 
 have been doing in his company. Why have you been 
 to theatres and to suppers with him, night after night, 
 and never mentioned a word of it to me ? " 
 
 Mabel went slowly back to the bed, and sat down on 
 the edge of it. She still kept a grasp on the weapon 
 she had taken, though she let its weight rest again on 
 the table. Her gray eyes were like coals and her 
 nostrils were red as blood. A tremor ran over her 
 frame, but her voice was firm. 
 
 "What have I been doing?" she replied, loftily. 
 " I have been going to places of amusement. Why 
 have I gone with Mr. Selden and Mattie ? Because 
 you never have asked me to go with you ! Why have
 
 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 165 
 
 I not told you ? Because I do not consider it any of 
 )rour business ! They are respectable people and we 
 have all behaved ourselves. You say you have made 
 some great discoveries. Kindly tell me what they are. 
 But, be careful, Allan Fawcett ! " She raised the lamp 
 again from the table. " It is not necessary that you 
 should add inventions of your own." 
 
 He shifted uneasily in his chair. 
 
 " Put that thing down," he said, shortly. " YOB 
 don't intend to break my skull with it, and you may as 
 well let it alone." 
 
 She smiled satirically. 
 
 "Don't I?" she echoed. "I would break the 
 skull of any man who would offer such an insult to ma 
 as you did a moment ago, and refuse to take it back. 
 What gives you a right to outrage my feelings ? All 
 the privileges your marriage brought you have been 
 kept sacred, but they do not include such conduct as 
 you have been guilty of this night ! " 
 
 He had not been in her presence five minutes, but 
 he believed that, whatever she had done, she was yet 
 chaste. He believed that her unborn babe was his 
 untainted child. He was impatient with her for the 
 long deceit she had practiced, for the risks she had run 
 of her good name, for her reckless association with a 
 man of Frank Selden's stamp. These things he meant 
 to tell her in the future, but the load that had been 
 removed from his mind made them seem of compara- 
 tively little moment. 
 
 " Very well, Mabel," he said, in a mollified tone. 
 " I take back what I insinuated about you. You hav 
 been frightfully careless and you have done your repu- 
 tation an irreparable injury, but I am only too glad to 
 think you personally pure. Now it is your plain duty
 
 *66 Y9UNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 to tell me the whole story, as there is certainly gnih 
 somewhere. If it is not yours, it is Mattie Stuart's. 
 Frank Selden is a libertine without the least con- 
 science. I assure you I know him thoroughly. If he 
 has not been spending the past year seeking to ruin 
 you it is because he has found another victim. Let us 
 have no more evasions. I want the whole truth." 
 
 But even then she had no idea of giving it to him. 
 She did not realize the dreadful condition in which 
 things had been but a moment earlier in which they 
 still were and would be until his mind was set at rest. 
 
 " You want too much ! " she retorted. " You had 
 better go to them and try to get the facts in the same 
 way you tried with me beginning with an insult. I 
 consider Frank Selden a gentleman and Mattie Stuart 
 a lady. I have accompanied them to several places and 
 he has always acted with the utmost courtesy. There 
 is simply nothing to cause all this rage on your part. 
 You have said things to me to-night that I can never 
 forgive. I have borne you one child, but I will not 
 bear you another. No, as true as my name is " 
 
 The horrified man caught her and stopped her words 
 with his hands. 
 
 " Are you insane ? " he gasped. 
 
 " Do you think," she replied, firmly, as soon as he 
 would let her speak, " that I am going to bear children 
 when you question their legitimacy ? " 
 
 He seemed choking as he heard her. 
 
 " I don't question it ! " he exclaimed " I know you 
 have been true to me ! I was mad when I said any- 
 thing else. But I am equally sure that you are de- 
 ceived in relation to Frank and Mattie. How would 
 you like to learn that they had been using you as a 
 cover for nef ariousness ? You owe it to me, and to
 
 Y9UNG FA WCR TT'S MABEL. 287 
 
 your child and to your dead mother to have this 
 thing probed to the bottom." 
 
 The mention of her mother was the one thing that 
 could have moved Mrs. Fawcett. She broke down 
 completely and burst into tears. 
 
 "If we find that there is good cause to suspect 
 them," said Allan, gently, " you will consent to give 
 Mattie up, won't you ? That is all I ask." 
 
 " Oh, you never will find that ! " she sobbed. " You 
 don't know her as I do. But it's no wonder you talk 
 of others after what you said of your own wife." 
 
 " Don't allude to that again," he begged. " I take 
 you at your word, but Frank Selden is too deep a 
 schemer for your innocent head. He knew, if you did 
 not, that it would subject you to suspicion for him to be 
 seen at restaurants with you, and your husband never 
 there, but he cares for nothing except his own pleasure." 
 
 Mabel was thinking of her mother. Perhaps she 
 had not been entirely right in this business. She 
 would never go out with Selden in the party again, that 
 was certain. It was easier to make this resolve, how- 
 ever, than to tell it to her husband. She shrank from ap- 
 pearing like a punished child who had to promise not 
 to repeat its fault. 
 
 " Mattie is not a bad woman," she articulated. " I 
 could swear it. She has a good-for-nothing husband, 
 and she means to get a divorce from him. Mr. Selden 
 likes her, and when she is free he will marry her. 
 That's all there is to it. He has been very kind to 
 her to us both. If it makes talk, of course I won't 
 go out with him, but I don't see how it can, when he is 
 my own cousin. And if I don't go, Mattie can't go, 
 either ; and perhaps it will break it all up." 
 
 She looked so doleful that he could not help tru*
 
 *68 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 Ing her word to the full, but he did not believe in hef 
 theory of Selden's alleged intentions. Frank marry? 
 Never. He either had or hoped to gain Algy Stuart's 
 place in a simpler way. 
 
 It was two hours Later before the Fawcetts finished 
 talking. Finally they went to bed under a patched-up 
 truce, a sort of modus vivcndi that would do for the 
 present, at least. It had been a hard time for them 
 both, but the failure of Mabel to tell the important fact 
 that Selden hired a room of Mrs. Stuart left the door 
 open for another similar affair. 
 
 When Selden learned, some days later, that Mrs. 
 Fawcett could not go out with him and Mattie again 
 he lost his temper. 
 
 " Give my regards to Allan," he said to her, " and ask 
 him if he has heard from Sadie lately. He won't need 
 the other name Mil understand. Just ask him whe| 
 he last heard from Sadie" 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 "WHAT MADE YOU MARRY MAMMA?*' 
 
 FAWCETT had been feeling very tender toward b*s 
 wife during the past few days. The reaction that had 
 followed the terrible misunderstanding had had its 
 natural consequence. He thought many hours together 
 of the awful suspicions that momentarily clouded his 
 mind of the great gulf that had arisen between him 
 and Mabel, and of the happy sweeping away of the 
 object of his terror. She had been foolish to allow a 
 man like Frank Selden to impose upon her, but her own 
 conduct had been undoubtedly pure. As for Mrs. 
 Stuart, she might or might not be a virtuous woman
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 26$ 
 
 she had no business, with a husband living, to act in 
 such a way as to lead people to suppose her single. 
 
 Allan determined to gradually lead Mabel away from 
 her friend, feeling that Mattie was not the best com- 
 panion for so artless a girl as he still believed his wife 
 to be, notwithstanding the falsehood in which he had 
 detected her. He thought he could manage, by taking 
 her to places of entertainment himself, and by asking 
 her to remain in the house evenings, to wean her from 
 Mrs. Stuart without creating ill-feeling. He had about 
 as lief take a whipping as to go to the average theatre, 
 having become attached to the quiet of his parlor after 
 the fatigues of the day, but he endured several evenings 
 at the play so that Mabel might be satisfied. On the 
 odd nights he sat and talked with her, though he would 
 have enjoyed much more the reading of a newspaper or 
 book. He was willing to sacrifice a little to make her 
 future conduct surer. 
 
 Another thing Mr. Fawcett did, and this on the very 
 day after he had the interview with his wife detailed in 
 the preceding chapter. He went to a professional money- 
 lender to borrow the sum which he owed Selden. 
 When he obtained it, he engaged an attorney to pay 
 the amount and secure the note that Frank held, so 
 that he would not have to meet the obnoxious indi- 
 vidual, toward whom he now had only the bitterest 
 sentiments. One evening Allan came home with a 
 light heart, to show Mabel that he and Selden were no 
 longer in business relations with each other. 
 
 It was the very day that Mrs. Fawcett had summoned 
 courage to tell Mr, Selden that her husband objected 
 to having her seen in his society, and on which he had 
 given that sententious and to her astonishing reply. 
 
 " Ask him if he has heard from Sadie. He'll under-
 
 270 
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 It did not need the sarcastic laugh with which Frank 
 uttered these words to distress the young wife to the 
 utmost. She had never had an instant's jealousy of 
 Allan since her marriage, and the thought that there 
 could be another woman in the case was enough to 
 send the blood out of her cheeks in a wave. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " she stammered, faintly. 
 
 " Ask him," retorted Selden. " He thinks I am not 
 good enough to associate with you. Make him tell you 
 a chapter from his own experience." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart, who had long ago heard the story of 
 Mr. Fawcett's relations with the Boston woman, wore 
 a look of the greatest consternation. She would have 
 given anything could she have spared Mabel this pain. 
 
 " He doesn't mean anything," she exclaimed, at the 
 same time darting a glance of entreaty at her lover. 
 " What is the use of making things any worse than they 
 are ? Tell her you were only joking," she added, to 
 Selden, enforcing the request by facial telegraphy. 
 " Don't you see how seriously she is taking it ? " 
 
 But Selden absolutely refused to be placated. He 
 was in an ugly temper. His money had been repaid 
 to him that morning through a third party, indicating 
 the state of Fawcett's feelings towards him, and he had 
 been growing angrier all day. 
 
 " Let me tell my own stories," he said firmly. K I 
 do mean something. If Mrs. Fawcett asks her husband 
 and he refuses to tell her, she can come back to me 
 and I promise to give her the information. He must 
 have been disagreeable enough to her when he attacked 
 us. All I want him to remember is the old adage, that 
 people who live in glass houses should not throw 
 stones." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart was in despair. Her well-meant scheme
 
 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 3J I 
 
 had failed and she feared to make another attempt lest 
 she should exasperate him to say even more. 
 
 " I don't believe my husband lives in that kind of a 
 glass house ! " said Mabel, with rising indignation. " I 
 understand what you intimate, and I know he is not 
 that kind of a man." 
 
 It was a very pretty sight, Selden thought this 
 little wife, smarting under the lash herself, defending 
 the honor of the man who had administered the blow. 
 
 " Throw the stone and see," he smiled grimly. 
 "Ask him when he heard from Sadie. Make him 
 think you know, and he will let out the whole truth, 
 I'll wager. Say you mean Sadie Reeder, of Boston. 
 That will be enough. He'll fall into the trap. And if 
 he doesn't, I'll keep my word. If there- is anything 
 you don't find out from him I'll tell it to you. You 
 needn't take my word alone, either. There are plenty 
 to corroborate me." 
 
 So when Mr. Allan Fawcett came whistling into his 
 apartment that evening, and with a happy smile, shook 
 the note he had obtained from Selden in his wife's 
 face, she responded by propounding to him that un- 
 pleasant query. 
 
 She had thought, for an hour after she reached 
 home, that she would ignore the whole matter. Frank 
 was angry at Allan and in a mood to invent tales or to 
 magnify any little affair that had occurred. Mabel 
 hated to hear things to her husband's discredit. She 
 had almost rather be kept in ignorance than learn that 
 he had done anything very wrong. But when she got 
 home the poison began to penetrate her veins. 
 
 "Sadie!" 
 
 She could think of nothing but that disagreeable 
 word. Who could its owner be ? There must be some-
 
 j; 2 YO UNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 thing to it, for Frank had told her to try the effect of 
 those magic syllables on her husband, and he would 
 not have done that unless he believed their sound 
 would awaken unpleasant memories. 
 
 Could there be, at this present moment, some woman 
 with whom Allan shared his embraces ? No ! Im- 
 possible ! He was always at home in the evening, and 
 his days were taken up with the business of Decker & 
 Co. But it was evident that there was, or had been 
 at some time, a "Sadie." What a disgusting name! 
 Mabel knew she should hate any one bearing that dis- 
 agreeable cognomen. " Sadie, Sadie ! " She must, 
 she would, ask Allan the meaning of this unpleasant 
 riddle. 
 
 " Yes," she said, in reference to the note which he 
 showed her. " I'm glad you've got it again. And now 
 I want you to tell me," her voice trembled as she 
 reached the question, " if you know any woman by 
 the name of Sadie." 
 
 They were equally pale as she finished the sentence. 
 
 " Frank Selden told you to ask me ! " replied Faw- 
 cett, hoarsely. 
 
 " That statement is not an answer," she replied, in a 
 low voice. 
 
 A dangerous look came into the husband's eyes. 
 
 " What do you think of a fellow of that description ? " 
 he muttered. " After trying his best to cast reflections 
 on the character of my wife, by making the public be- 
 lieve it is she who attracts him to theatres and 
 restaurants without her husband's knowledge, he wants 
 to make trouble between you and me. I've tried to 
 keep from giving him a piece of my mind, but I shall 
 do it now. If he meddles with my affairs again, he'll 
 be sorry, that's all I "
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 373 
 
 Mabel sat opposite to him in a chair which seemed 
 much too large for her. 
 
 " Now, will you tell me what I asked you ? " she said 
 persistently. 
 
 He started, and a wild look came into his face. 
 
 " Why, there's not much to tell," he replied. " I 
 presume he has made it out already as bad as he could." 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " He has told me nothing yet. But he says he will, 
 if you refuse." 
 
 Fawcett looked very ugly as he heard this statement 
 
 Very well, then, let him," said he. " If it has got 
 to the point that you go to <tfher men and to such men 
 to get information about your husband, why, keep 
 on. We'll see how you come out." 
 
 It was the old kind of quarrel. Neither had any 
 patience, neither was ready to put into the scale that 
 slight portion of love that would have tipped the beam 
 the right way. After a little more talk of the same 
 kind, Fawcett refused to say another word. The lan- 
 guage of both had grown very warm and their tones were 
 high enough to be heard in the kitchen, but they gave 
 no thought to that. Mollie was no stranger to the 
 matrimonial episodes of this kind that had gone on for 
 so long. What was of more importance, however, 
 neither of them thought of the little Cecil, who was play- 
 ing with his toys in the next room, with the door wide 
 open. 
 
 " Papa," he said, after supper, when Allan was hold- 
 ing him in his lap, " what made you marry mamma ? " 
 
 Mabel, who was passing through the room to reach 
 her chamber, stopped as if shot. The husband and 
 wife looked at each other like people over whom some 
 great catastrophe, suddenly revealed, is hanging. 
 18
 
 274 Y0 UNG FA WCE TT ' S MABEL. 
 
 11 1 don't see," pursued the prattler, "what made you 
 marry mamma, or what made her marry you. You 
 don't seem to like each other. When you come home 
 I hear you both scolding. Folks that like each other 
 don't do that." 
 
 To save his life Fawcett could not reply. A tear 
 started in spite of him and rolled down his face. 
 Mabel took a step toward her husband, and in a sec- 
 ond more she had flung herself on her knees with her 
 arms around him and the baby, and was sobbing hys- 
 terically. 
 
 " I do love your papa ! " she cried, as soon as she 
 could control her voice. " Oh, I do love him, Cecil 1 
 It is he " the utterance was almost choked in its in- 
 distinctness " who does not love me /" 
 
 The boy, strangely calm in the presence of his 
 agitated parents, turned to his father, as if to hear his 
 reply. 
 
 " Mamma is wrong," articulated Fawcett. " She 
 does not mean what she says." 
 
 Cecil drew the sad faces together, telling them to 
 kiss and not quarrel any more. When this was accom- 
 plished, for neither of the parents dreamed of exhibit- 
 ing further feeling before him, he said he was ready to 
 be put in his bed, and Fawcett laid him there with the 
 usual good-night hug from the little arms at the final 
 moment of departure. 
 
 Mabel sat sewing on something for Cecil when her 
 husband rejoined her. He went to her side, took 
 the cloth from her lap and kissed her, sorry that even 
 for a brief half -hour he had forgotten the great need of 
 using gentleness toward his wife. 
 
 "I am going to tell you all about it all about 
 Sadie," he said, earnestly.
 
 YOUNG FAWCRTT'S MAS EL. 275 
 
 * Oh, then it is true I " she cried, with a gasp. 
 
 He hesitated a moment. 
 
 " It happened very long ago," he said, when he pro- 
 ceeded. "It gave me the most unhappiness I ever had 
 in my life. I have wished a thousand times I had 
 come to you at once and confessed everything, but 
 I was too great a coward. Frank Selden led me into 
 it, and as he has aroused your suspicions, you shall 
 know the whole truth." 
 
 The wife shook with apprehension. She almost 
 wished she had let the matter drop in the first place, 
 but her curiosity was too great now to bid him cease. 
 
 " It was when we had not been married long. He 
 was going to lend me that money, you know, and 
 he seemed awfully obliging. He lived in rooms on 
 Boylston Street, and he got up a supper in my honor. 
 I never thought of there being anything strange about 
 it, and when I found that there were women in the 
 party I couldn't very well make a fuss. They were 
 a rather hard crowd, that's the truth. I got to drink- 
 ing too much, more because I wanted to drown my 
 shame than anything else, and the affair became a reg- 
 ular revel. In the morning when I woke up I saw that 
 we were all there still. After the others had gone I 
 told Frank my opinion of his conduct, and he made 
 light of my indignation. I went home to you wishing 
 I were dead. It would not have taken much to have 
 made me commit suicide on the way. That is all there 
 was to it. I have never seen any of those people 
 since." 
 
 A numbness crept slowly through Mrs. Fawcett's 
 frame as she listened. She knew nothing of this sort of 
 thing, and the revelation seemed to her too debasing to 
 be believe!
 
 276 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " And who," she asked, " was Sadie ? " 
 
 " Oh, she was one of the women who came. Each 
 of the men brought a companion, and Frank invited 
 two extra girls to make the couples complete " 
 
 Mabel blinked. 
 
 " Had you never seen her before ? " 
 
 Fawcett had not calculated on this. There was an- 
 other and a darker chapter that he had not supposed 
 would have to be unveiled. 
 
 " Now, don't be unreasonable," he said, protestingly. 
 
 " Unreasonable ! " echoed Mabel, astonished. " I 
 certainly have a right to know." 
 
 The husband leaned back in his chair, h'mmed 
 twice, and then answered that he had seen Miss 
 Reeder before that night ; but he added also that it 
 was before his marriage. 
 
 " Tell me all about those previous meetings," said 
 Mrs. Fawcett. 
 
 " They were before I was married, I tell you," re- 
 plied Allan. 
 
 " That makes no difference." 
 
 He stared at her. 
 
 " Do you maintain," said he, " that I have no right 
 to keep to myself what I did before I married before 
 I was even engaged to you ? That is preposterous ! " 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett would not agree with him. 
 
 " Is this girl's character good ? " she inquired mean- 
 ingly. 
 
 "Well, hardly." 
 
 M And you knew her well enough to meet her more 
 than once being aware of that fact ! Do you imagine 
 I would have married a man who did such things if 
 I had known it at the time ? " 
 
 Ther* was an absence of the tears that ordinarily ac
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT*S MABBL. 177 
 
 companied strong emotion in his wife, and Fawcett was 
 struck with the fact that he had encountered a force of 
 new and uncertain strength in her character. 
 
 "Perhaps not, if you had known it thin," he 
 admitted. " But this was years and years ago. I was 
 free to do what I liked." 
 
 " Were you ? " she replied. " Supposing the case 
 were reversed, and it was I " 
 
 He drew a long breath of distress. 
 
 "You don't mean to claim that the case would 
 be identical ? " he said, incredulously. 
 
 " Precisely." 
 
 He moved his chair and struck one knee with his 
 palm. 
 
 " There is no sense," said he, " in such a theory. 
 There never was and never will be the same rule 
 for women and men. It is idle to discuss it. I was 
 drawn into that drunken revel, the thought of which 
 has caused me untold agony ; but I'll swear to you, 
 Mabel, if you wish me to, that since our marriage, 
 since our engagement, I have been true to you." 
 
 Her calmness surprised him. She acted as if they 
 were talking of some ordinary matter. 
 
 "I was duped, nevertheless," said she. "I married 
 you, thinking you a good man, and you were a bad one. 
 I repeat, were the case reversed, you would not live 
 with me another hour after hearing the confession of 
 my sin. I shall not take such a course, on account of 
 that child in the next room ; but I feel to-night that 
 the date makes little difference to me that if it had 
 happened since our marriage it would be only a trifle 
 less horrible. And you are the man who criticised my 
 cousin, Mr. Selden, because he took me with a lady 
 friend of mine to a public theatre and a respectable
 
 * 78 YOUNG FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 restaurant ! Allan, we never got drunk together. Wk 
 never had disreputable companions on those occa- 
 sions. No one can come to you and say, " Ask your 
 wife when she last saw one of her old paramours ? " 
 
 Mabel arose to leave the room. Allan had a fearful 
 feeling of uneasiness. He thought he had a little 
 rather, on the whole, that she had broken into tears 
 and reproaches of a more violent character. What 
 could he do or say to lessen her grief ? He was glad. 
 after all, that he had told his story, for now he had 
 nothing to apprehend from Selden's malignity. He 
 could not undo the old fault, which he still thought 
 Mabel took too seriously. How he wished he could ! 
 
 Were ante-nuptial sins as gross in men as in women ? 
 He went to bed and fell asleep with this question still 
 in his mind. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE ACT OF A DASTARD. 
 
 MRS. FAWCETT did not wholly cease visiting her 
 friend, Mrs. Stuart, notwithstanding all the trouble 
 their acquaintance had caused. She thought it quite 
 enough if she stopped going out of doors in her com- 
 pany when Frank Selden was of the party. It could 
 not disgrace Allan if she merely went to Mattie's to 
 pass an afternoon, even if Selden was also there, as he 
 generally was. 
 
 Frank talked occasionally of the prospective divorce 
 that Mattie was to get from Algy Stuart, but nothing 
 seemed to materialize toward that end. The truth was 
 that this idea of a divorce and a subsequent marriage 
 was only a pleasant fiction of Selden's, designed to
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 379 
 
 Calm any scruples that might arise in the mind of his 
 cousin. He was content with his present condition 
 and had no mind to exchange it for one more irksome, 
 His liking for Mattie was very strong, but he did not 
 think the ceremony of a marriage would make it any 
 pleasanter to live with her. If anything should happen 
 to cause a rupture, it was much easier to pack a trunk 
 and call a cab than to spend a year or two waiting the 
 decision of a judge, not to mention such things as 
 counsel fees and alimony. 
 
 And Mattie ? Was she also content ? 
 
 By no means. She loved Frank with all her heart, 
 and yet she never was satisfied for a single hour from 
 the time she became his unmarried wife. Her exist- 
 ence up to that time was miserable enough, and at 
 first she welcomed anything to vary the dull old round, 
 Mattie would have made a good wife to the right man,, 
 To be a mistress was not her proper avocation. 
 
 Difficulties seemed to environ her. The husband 
 the law had given her had proved himself worse than 
 none at all. This man who had crept into her heart 
 when he had no right there, had caused her to violate 
 all the moral obligations she had been educated to 
 respect. She felt that hers was an entirely hopeless 
 Case. The brightest hours in her life were those that 
 Mabel passed with her, and still she felt that even 
 this companionship was a source of danger. Had she 
 been strong enough she would have told Mrs. Fawcett 
 the truth, leaving her to take such action as she 
 thought wise. 
 
 Wh :n a woman has but one real friend in the world 
 !t is not pleasant to alienate that one. Mattie let the 
 future take care of its own troubles, the present had 
 enough for her.
 
 28o YO UNO FA WCE TT'S MABEL. 
 
 The next act in the drama for Mr. Favrcett came 
 about three months after his confession to Mabel of 
 the circumstances of the revel at Selden's. He had 
 expected to be out of town all night, but had changed 
 his mind late and returned home about ten o'clock. 
 He went into Cecil's room to kiss the boy in his sleep 
 and found, to his distress, that the little fellow was 
 tossing uneasily in a feverish condition. 
 
 " Cecil is ill," he said, going to find a servant. " His 
 head is very hot. Did you hear Mrs. Fawcett say 
 anything about it ? " 
 
 Mollie replied that the child had not acted very well 
 all day, but had not specially complained, He had 
 not eaten much and had asked to be undressed early. 
 
 Fawcett felt a tingling at the ends of his fingers, as 
 if he ought to strangle some one. 
 
 " Did she give him any medicine ? " he asked. 
 
 " I don't think so." 
 
 " Do you know where she has gone ? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 The father put on his things and went out of doors. 
 What sort of a mother did Mabel call herself ! He 
 must find her. They must have a doctor and nurse. 
 He would go over to Mrs. Stuart's flat, in the first 
 place, and see if by any possibility she were there. As 
 he walked along he struggled to suppress his anger. 
 This was not a time when he could tell his wife how 
 indignant her conduct made him. Another life now 
 depended on hers another existence was liable to be 
 injured by any pain that she felt. No matter what she 
 did he must endure it with as little protest as possible. 
 He resolved that when he found her he would use the 
 gentlest language, though his heart was ready to burst. 
 
 With a push on the electric arnunciator at the en
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TTS MABEL. 28 1 
 
 trance of the apartment house where Mattie dwelt, he 
 put his ear to the speaking tube. 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 Tt was not a woman's voice. 
 
 " I wish to see Mrs. Stuart." 
 
 " She has gone out." 
 
 "When will she return?'' 
 
 " Before long, probably." 
 
 Slowly it dawned on Allan Fawcett's brain where he 
 had heard that voice before. Unless there were two 
 men in the world who spoke exactly like each other it 
 was Frank Selden at the end of that tube ! 
 
 Fawcett turned away sick and faint, for the most 
 terrible of all suspicions had thrust itself upon him. 
 The green-eyed monster, so often driven out, had 
 made its lair once more in his brain. Mrs. Stuart was 
 not at her home, and Frank Selden was there ! Was 
 he spending the evening alone ? Not at all likely. 
 Who, then, was his companion ? Who ? Who but the 
 missing wife and mother ! 
 
 Another occupant of the building came at this junct- 
 ure and opened the door. Muttering something about 
 having forgotten his key, Fawcett entered after the man. 
 He crept slowly to the stairway, pausing many times 
 in the ascent. Now he was as weak as a child, again he 
 was strong as a lion. Anon the perspiration broke 
 out upon him until his underclothing was as wet as 
 if freshly taken from a laundress' tub. Then the 
 muscles on his arm hardened like steel cords and he 
 could have floored an ox with his bare fist. 
 
 At the end of his climb, when he stood before the 
 door of Mrs. Stuart's apartment, he was ready for any- 
 thing. 
 
 He had shrewdness enough left to tap lightly on the
 
 282 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 portal. He wanted to make the occupants think it was 
 Mattie returning. Without a question the door was 
 flung open from the inside. 
 
 Fawcett entered, closing the door behind him. He 
 not only closed it, but drew the bolt. He did not 
 mean his prey should escape him, nor that he 
 should be able to summon witnesses or people who 
 might interfere. 
 
 Frank's astonishment was extreme. He could not 
 understand how this man should be there, nor what 
 gave that awful look to his white face. 
 
 The first words explained all. 
 
 " / want my wife ! " 
 
 " You've got a d d queer way of stating it," re- 
 plied Selden, who was at least no coward. "But, to 
 relieve your mind at once, let me say she is not here." 
 
 Excited to the inmost core, Allan Fawcett preserved 
 a wonderful outward calmness. 
 
 " I shall not take your word," he said. " I intend 
 to search these rooms. And if you try to leave before 
 I have finished I will throw you out of a window." 
 
 Selden laughed ironically. He would have uttered 
 the same laugh had Fawcett been holding a revolver 
 to his head. 
 
 "Your threats are unnecessary," he answered. "I 
 should never think of leaving you here alone, as I am 
 responsible for the articles you see about you. When 
 you find that your wife is not one of them you will, I 
 presume, kindly take your leave." 
 
 He turned to the opposite side of the room and, 
 dropping into a chair, took up an evening paper, which, 
 he had put down when he heard the tap on the door. 
 Nothing more nonchalant could well be conceived. 
 
 For a few seconds Fawcett gazed at him stupidly.
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 283 
 
 Then he went through the chambers with the thorough- 
 ness of a police officer who imagines he has tracked a 
 thief. And he found nothing of what he sought. 
 
 " There is a room behind that curtain," he said, 
 u and it is locked. I wish to enter it." 
 
 Selden laid down his paper languidly. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said, in the tone of one who 
 has not heard distinctly. 
 
 " I wish to enter that further room," reiterated Faw- 
 cett, raising his voice. 
 
 Mr. Selden shook his head slowly. 
 
 " Quite impossible." 
 
 " For what reason." 
 
 " Because," and the answer came very slowly indeed, 
 "because that room is mine." 
 
 Fawcett strode forward. 
 
 " I believe," he muttered between his teeth, " my 
 wife is in that room ! If you do not unlock it or give 
 me the key I shall break in the door ! " 
 
 The other man elevated his eyebrows as if surprised. 
 
 "A devilish strange idea, and not exactly compli- 
 mentary to my pretty cousin," he replied. " However, 
 it would be a pity to break such a nice door. I think 
 you will find a key on the mantel." 
 
 Two minutes later, Fawcett came back from that 
 room also, convinced now that he had been making a 
 foolish search. But why was Selden living here in this 
 flat, if everything was as it should be ? He had seen 
 Frank's clothing in the farther room, garments that he 
 recognized. It was evident that he was at home there. 
 And of course Mabel knew this. If she was not there 
 to-night, that was no proof that she 
 
 Ah I what will satisfy jealousy when it is once 
 aroused !
 
 284 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " Well, you didn't find her, did you ? " said Selden, 
 quietly. 
 
 Fawcett's eyes were bloodshot. The strength that 
 had come to him had given place again to extreme 
 weakness. 
 
 " I did not," he answered. " If I had, you would 
 not now be sitting there asking me the question. As 
 true as there's a God on high, I would have spilled 
 your brains on this carpet." 
 
 Selden made a gesture of repugnance. 
 
 " You say such disagreeable things ! " he replied. 
 
 His companion did not seem to hear him. 
 
 " For a long time," he went on, " my wife has visited 
 Mrs. Stuart against my desire. I did not absolutely 
 forbid it, though there was something that told me I 
 should. But had I imagined that you were living 
 under this roof I should have made my command im- 
 perative. You are a libertine whose contact is injuri- 
 ous to any decent woman. How far this has gone I do 
 not know, but I shall find out. And I tell you, Frank 
 Selden, if you have done anything to disgrace me, or to 
 sully the good name of my wife, I will settle the ac- 
 count with you as soon as the fact comes to my knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 Mr. Selden bowed, with a distant savor of irony. 
 
 " Have you any explanation or defence to make ? " 
 demanded Allan. 
 
 " Explanation ? Defence ? Certainly not to you." 
 
 The husband strove to master his emotions, which 
 were becoming uncontrollable. 
 
 " Will you tell me why you have a room here ? " 
 
 Selden laughed. 
 
 " For the same reason that you have yours on Forty- 
 second Street ; because it is my residence."
 
 YOUNG FA WC ETT'S MABEL. 285 
 
 A sharp pain shot through the eyelids of the ques- 
 tioner. 
 
 " You are fully aware," he said, " that such a course 
 leaves my wife and her cousin open to suspicion. You 
 know that the result may be the breaking up of a home 
 and the ruin of more than one reputation. Now, I have 
 this to tell you, no matter what has or may happen 
 you must give up coming here." 
 
 Mr. Selden rose from this chair and seated himself 
 loungingly on the arm of it. 
 
 "My rent is promptly paid always," said he. 
 " Really, a matter of this kind should be between me 
 and my landlady." 
 
 " Not when it affects my wife and her relations." 
 
 Mr. Selden seemed to grow more interested. 
 
 " I may be very obtuse," he said, " but I cannot see 
 how my place of living can affect Mrs. Fawcett." 
 
 " You do not deny that she comes here ? " 
 
 The door that led into the hall opened noiselessly 
 at this moment, and Mattie Stuart entered the room. 
 
 " No. But I do deny that I have any control of her 
 actions. Now, let's be sensible, just for a moment. 
 My cousin Mabel is your wife. Her cousin, Mrs. 
 Stuart, is, to all intents and purposes, mine." 
 
 The brutality of the statement struck Fawcett, but his 
 main desire was to clear Mabel, and this assertion, if 
 true, seemed to do that. 
 
 " Mrs. Stuart," he responded, " has a husband." 
 
 " Theoretically, yes. Practically, no. You thought 
 your wife was here with me. Well, she wasn't. If you 
 don't want her here, why don't you keep her away ? As 
 for me and my affairs, they are not your business." 
 
 Fawcett's back was toward the door and he had no 
 knowledge of Mrs. Stuart's proximity. On the other
 
 f86 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 hand, Selden saw her plainly. He had been nursing 
 for the past ten minutes a desire to hurt the feelings 
 of some one, and the blow fell on the hapless woman 
 who had been sacrificed on the altar of his lust. 
 
 Satisfied that his wife was not the mistress of this 
 man, Mr. Fawcett's thoughts reverted to his sick child, 
 and he started to leave the house. As he turned, his 
 eyes encountered the shrinking form of Mrs. Stuart, with 
 her hand raised toward him in an attitude of entreaty. 
 
 " Take me with you ! " she cried. " Take me with 
 you ! Don't leave me here with him ! " 
 
 Her anguish was evidently intense. She would have 
 fallen at his feet in her supplication had he permitted 
 her. It was plain that she had been a listener to Sel- 
 den's exposure of the relation she held toward him. 
 Allan was very sorry for her, but he shrank from the 
 suggestion she made. 
 
 " Take you home with me ! " he repeated. " Take 
 you to my house -you ! I will help you to get some 
 place were you can find an honest living, but after 
 what I have learned to-night I could do no more." 
 
 Selden came across the room and laid his hand on 
 Mattie's arm. 
 
 " Don't make a fool of yourself 1 " he exclaimed, 
 roughly. "You're mine as much as if a hundred 
 preachers had married us. Laws are not the only 
 things that hold people together. This fellow came 
 here in a rage because he thought his wife here alone 
 with me. He found she wasn't, and in explaining 
 matters I stumbled on the truth. You never saw me," 
 he added, to Fawcett, "rushing into people's apart- 
 ments and asking if my wife was hidden there ! When 
 you intimate that this lady is not good enough to enter 
 jour door remember Sadie Reeder i "
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT y S MABEL. 387 
 
 Fawcett did not wish to get into another argument. 
 He wanted to get home, where little Cecil needed his 
 attentions. 
 
 " Take me away from here ! " pleaded Mattie, as he 
 crossed the threshold. "Take me somewhere any- 
 where away from this man ! " 
 
 Tears were running down both her cheeks. Her 
 hair was dishevelled in her distress. Her voice was 
 very low and tuned to an exquisite touch of pathos. 
 But Fawcett had no time to linger. He regretted 
 every minute his jealousy had kept him from the bed- 
 side of his boy. 
 
 " Cecil is very sick," he explained. " I was looking 
 for Mabel, and I must return home at once. To-morrow, 
 if you will send to the office - " 
 
 " No, no ! " she pleaded, struggling with the arms 
 that held her. "To-night! Don't leave me here I 
 
 Fawcett closed the door behind him and the sobbing 
 Voice was heard no more. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 DEAD, FOR A DUCAT. 
 
 MRS. FAWCETT was at home when her husband arrived. 
 She had been with Mrs. Stuart in search of a physician 
 and had been detained at his office. As she did not 
 expect Allan home that night, and as she did not care 
 to say anything of her fears to Moliie, she had gone for 
 Mattie, to consult her in relation to a doctor, without 
 leaving any word with her domestic in relation to the 
 matter. She did not believe Cecil dangerously ill, but
 
 28* YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 she knew his temperature was too high, his appetite 
 light, and that he was extremely restless. When Mr. 
 Fawcett reached the house he found Dr. Legate await- 
 ing the return of Mollie from a drug-store, whither she 
 had gone with a prescription. 
 
 It was with painfully mixed feelings that Allan Faw- 
 cett stood by the bedside of his boy, listening to the 
 voices of the doctor and Mabel, alternately. It seemed 
 as if everything he cared for in this world was at stake 
 now. He was not sure his wife was faithful. He could 
 not tell but his child had a fatal illness. And he must 
 conceal both these fears, on account of the delicate 
 condition of the mother. In these days there were two 
 lives to consider. If Mabel had been true to him his 
 regard for her unborn child was hardly less than that 
 for the one now tossing on the sick-bed. It would not 
 do to unwarrantably excite her. He must suppress his 
 apprehensions from fear of the effect on his future heir. 
 
 And he must believe Mabel true ! Yes, he would 
 believe it, until positive evidence came to the contrary. 
 She had been criminally reckless in associating with 
 Selden and his mistress, but personally he could not 
 conceive her stained. Nevertheless, the doubts would 
 recur with terrible force, like the repeated shocks of an 
 earthquake. 
 
 The doctor gave the child his first dose of medicine, 
 left particular directions, and went away, bidding them 
 call him at once on any alteration of any of the symp- 
 toms for the worse. Allan had no idea of seeking rest 
 that night, and his wife refused to accept his suggestion 
 that she lie down. She was genuinely alarmed this 
 time, and could not have slept had she tried. It had 
 troubled her exceedingly when she discovered Cecil's 
 condition, because Allan was away. Now that he bad
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT '5 MABEL. 289 
 
 eome she relied wholly on his judgment, but she did 
 not like to leave him. She took a chair and drew it 
 close to his, and together they watched each rise and 
 fall of the little bosom. 
 
 " You don't think he's very, very sick, do you ? " she 
 whispered. 
 
 She knew that her husband's brow was dark, but she 
 ascribed that to his worriment over the child. She had 
 no idea that he had recently been to Mrs. Stuart's flat 
 and learned that Frank Selden had a room there. And 
 she would have been more surprised than he to hear 
 of his subsequent discovery. 
 
 " I I don't know," replied Fawcett, constrainedly. 
 
 After that the conversation ceased, and except for a 
 necessary word now and then, neither spoke until nearly 
 daylight. At that time Cecil awoke and looked so badly 
 that Mollie was roused and sent for the doctor. 
 
 Another examination, more medicine, wise looks on 
 the physician's part, and similar phenomena, known to 
 all who have ever had anything to do with such cases, 
 followed. Cecil was very fretful and rejected the offers 
 of both his parents to hold him, although he insisted 
 that he wanted to be taken up. 
 
 " Won't you let papa take you ? " asked Fawcett. 
 The boy had always been very partial to him. 
 
 " No, no ! " replied the little fellow. 
 
 " He wants mamma," cooed Mabel, holding out her 
 hands to him. 
 
 The boy did not reply to this suggestion in words, 
 but he drew away as if repugnant to the idea. 
 
 " Shall I call Mollie ? " asked his mother, and this 
 was received even more pettishly. 
 
 The doctor said the child ought to get up for a little 
 while, as a change of position would be beneficial, but 
 19
 
 190 
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 it was evident that Cecil would not let any one in the 
 house touch him without a struggle. 
 
 " What do you want ? " inquired Allan, bending orer 
 the child. 
 
 "I want Aunt Mattie." 
 
 Fawcett straightened himself up with a jerk. The 
 blood rushed to his brain and made him dizzy. 
 
 " Whom does he speak of ? " asked Dr. Legate. " If 
 it is any one you can get easily, you had best do so. 
 The less he is agitated the better." 
 
 Knowing nothing of what tortured her husband, Mrs. 
 Fawcett turned to him inquiringly. 
 
 " Shall I run over for her ? It will only take fire 
 minutes." 
 
 " No ! " he answered, abruptly. 
 
 The doctor saw that something not plain to him was 
 the matter, and said no more on that point. They 
 managed with a good deal of coaxing, and not without 
 a flow of tears, to get the boy into his father's arms 
 while his bed was being changed. At last Dr. Legate, 
 with renewed injunctions to be sure and call him if any- 
 thing occurred, and with a promise to come back at noon 
 anyway, left the house. 
 
 " If you know of any person the boy likes, who can 
 come and help you take care of him, you ought to send 
 at once," were his last words. " He will not be able 
 to be left alone for several days at least, and you and 
 your wife will have to take some rest before long." 
 
 Mabel had not failed to note the peculiarly savage 
 tone with which her husband had declined her sugges- 
 tion that she should go for Mrs. Stuart. She knew he 
 did not like to have her associate intimately with Mattie, 
 though he had not positively forbidden it. She said 
 nothing, however, till when, after another nap, Cecil
 
 YO UNG FA WCE TT 'S MABEL. 29 1 
 
 awoke and began again to sob, over and over, that he 
 wanted his Aunt Mattie. 
 
 " Won't you let me go for her ? " Mabel asked, finally. 
 " Cecil was always very fond of her, you know, and she 
 would make the best nurse we could get. I know you 
 don't like her very well, but this is a special case. She 
 would come, I'm sure. Last night, when she went with 
 me to the doctor's, she was almost as much distressed 
 as I." 
 
 Last night ! Fawcett did not want to think of last 
 night. How could those tainted hands touch his 
 innocent boy ? He shook his head impatiently and 
 began to pace the room, trying to think what he ought 
 to do. Mrs. Stuart was a guilty woman. Undoubt- 
 edly his wife knew all about her amours, had helped 
 to shield her in them. He could not allow her to 
 enter his door. It would be condoning her great 
 offence. 
 
 " Oh, papa," wailed Cecil, again, for the tenth time, 
 " I want Aunt Mattie ! " 
 
 Frantically Fawcett turned to his wife. 
 
 " For God's sake," he exclaimed, with a man's un- 
 reason, " why doesn't some one go for that woman 1 " 
 
 Mabel joyfully started to get her hat. 
 
 " No, not you /" he cried. " Mollie ! " 
 
 How strangely he acted ! But he had been out of 
 his bed all night, and worried extremely over his idol- 
 i2ed son. Mrs. Fawcett did not think his conduct 
 meant anything unusual. 
 
 " What shall I tell her ? " asked the domestic, ap- 
 pearing at the door. 
 
 " Wait a minute and I will write a note." 
 
 He had no doubt that Mollie knew what was going 
 n at Mrs. Stuart's. Everybody in New York knew it,
 
 292 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 probably had known it for months ; everybody ex 
 cept him. 
 
 Going to a desk he wrote these lines, sealed and 
 handed them to Mollie : 
 
 u MRS. STUART : Cecil is dangerously ill. He cries for 
 you continually. The doctor thinks you can do him a 
 great deal of good. I told you last night I did not 
 wish you to enter my house, but this is an unforeseen 
 emergency. Come if you will, and do what you can 
 for him. Do not think, however, that this exception 
 alters in any way the stand I am compelled to take 
 toward you. A. F." 
 
 When Mrs. Stuart received this note she was alone 
 in her apartments. Selden had gone out early, after an 
 unpleasant night and morning, during which Mattie 
 had passed most of the time in tears. She told Mollie 
 to say that she would be over immediately, and went to 
 her dressing-case to remove as far as possible the traces 
 of suffering from her face. Then she wrote a brief note 
 to Selden, explaining the cause of her absence, and 
 went out. 
 
 When she came into Mr. Fawcett's presence he 
 bowed with cold formality. As soon as he could he per- 
 suaded his wife to go to her chamber and take the sleep 
 she needed, saying he would follow her example in a 
 short time. He wanted the two women together as 
 little as possible. It was a most disagreeable neces- 
 sity that had brought Mrs. Stuart there, and he meant 
 to reduce the pain to the lowest possible compass. 
 
 Cecil nestled in the arms of his new nurse, and when 
 Dr. Legate next came he was please <". to see this new 
 assistant. But the disease was not taking the course
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT' S MABEL. 
 
 293 
 
 he had hoped, and he answered the father's queries 
 with a very grave countenance. The boy acted as if in 
 a partial stupor, from which it was not easy to rouse 
 him even temporarily. The physician did not leave 
 the house all that afternoon ; and when it was nearly 
 sunset he told Fawcett that no skill on earth could 
 save the life of his child. 
 
 Stupidly the father listened to the medical terms 
 that rolled from the doctor's tongue. He understood 
 but on thing the terrible fact that this child, in whom 
 his life was bound up, was slowly but surely dying ! 
 
 They stood by the bedside in which Cecil lay Mrs. 
 Stuart weeping, Mr. Fawcett with dry eyes. 
 
 "You had best call the mother," suggested the doc- 
 tor, quietly. " It is a matter of only a few minutes 
 now." 
 
 Fawcett beckoned him into the next room and told 
 him of his wife's situation. 
 
 " Urn ," replied the mdical man. " In that case 
 perhaps it is safer to let her finish her sleep. Then, 
 when she awakes, break it to her as gently as you can." 
 
 Heart-broken, the father returned to Cecil's chamber 
 and watched the gradual extinguishment of the bright- 
 est light that had ever shone along his pathway. His 
 despair was so great that he seemed stony to those who 
 looked at him. There are griefs where the ordinary 
 tokens of sorrow fail utterly to bring relief. 
 
 " I will break it to Mabel, if you wish," said Mrs. 
 Stuart, timidly, when all was over. The tears had not 
 ceased to course down her cheeks. 
 
 He did not care now. It could make no difference. 
 He had wondered in what terms he could convey the 
 news, tortured as he was. Yes, he said, she might tell her. 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett did not awake for several hours, and
 
 294 
 
 YOUNG FA WC ETrs MABEL. 
 
 when she heard what had happened she sobbed bitterly 
 for a long time. She lay in Mattie's arms, soothed by 
 her cousin, but the tears of the women continued to 
 mingle. At midnight, exhausted with her grief and 
 previous labors, Mabel fell asleep again by Mattie's 
 side. Nature was bound to assert itself. 
 
 As for Allan, he could not yet resign himself to 
 slumber, though he tried several times to do so. He 
 walked about his rooms restlessly, after everybody else 
 had retired, going in and out of the chamber where the 
 dead child lay, and still without visible tokens of the 
 loss he had sustained. 
 
 At about one o'clock there was a knock at the door 
 that sounded startlingly loud in the complete stillness 
 that surrounded it. 
 
 He went to the door and flung it open. Frank Selden 
 stood there, more or less under the influence of liquor. 
 He had followed some belated occupant of the building 
 and ascended to the fourth floor where the Fawcetts 
 lived. 
 
 " Tell Mattie I want her," he said, in a rather thick 
 voice. 
 
 All the outrage of the intrusion, all the shame of the 
 message, came over Fawcett, but he restrained himself. 
 
 " Mrs. Stuart has gone to bed," he said. " She is 
 very tired. I should not like to call her." 
 
 Selden realized little except that he was being frus- 
 trated in his desires, and he responded in a louder voice 
 that he wanted Mattie, by G d ! and he proposed to 
 have her ! 
 
 " I've been alone in that d d flat all the evening," 
 
 said he, " and I'm d d sick of it. You tell her to get 
 
 up and come along. It's none of your business what 
 I do, by G d."
 
 YOUNG FAWCETrs MABEL. 393 
 
 Selden had passed the threshold, and it seemed to 
 Fawcett that his ribald utterances insulted the still 
 form that lay in the room beyond. Catching the in- 
 truder suddenly by the shoulders he rushed him out of 
 the apartment and down half-a-dozen stairs. 
 
 " If you know what's good for you, go ! " he said, in 
 a harsh whisper. 
 
 Had Selden been perfectly sober he could have 
 seen by the dangerous light in the drawn face above 
 him that he had best obey the injunction ; but the 
 liquor he had taken weakened his powers of observa- 
 tion and reason. Fawcett had taken several steps 
 back toward his own door when Frank began to fol- 
 low him. At the top of the flight the foremost man 
 paused. 
 
 " Did you hear me ? " he asked, quietly. 
 
 In a perfect rage Selden started toward him, strik- 
 ing a wild blow at the air as he pressed forward. 
 Then, in some way, difficult to account for, he lost his 
 balance so completely that he fell over the balustrade. 
 It was all a matter of four seconds and Fawcett heard 
 the body strike with resounding force on the tiled 
 floor, forty feet below. 
 
 The commission merchant turned and saw that his 
 door was still open. He waited a few moments to 
 learn whether the fall had aroused any other occupant 
 of the house. As it did not seem to have done so, he 
 entered his apartment, went to a lounge and fell asleep 
 
 upon it. 
 
 ****** 
 
 The coroner that was summoned by the janitor, five 
 hours later, decided that death was instantaneous. 
 He also reported that deceased had been drinking and 
 had met with his fate from an accident, to which ther
 
 396 YO UNG FA WCE TT*S MABEL. 
 
 was no witness. When Mr. Fawcett was told of this 
 during the morning he merely elevated his eyebrows 
 and remarked " Indeed ! " 
 
 But when Mattie Stuart learned of her lover's death 
 she went into fainting fits, and for days it was a ques- 
 tion whether she would survive the shock. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 FOR THEIR CHILD'S SAKE. 
 
 ALLAN FAWCETT has since said, more than once, 
 that he lived the five months that ensued in a daze. 
 Everything was colored with a heavy tinge of gray. 
 The loss of his child would have been, in itself, suffi- 
 cient to have given him a severe strain, had there been 
 nothing else to bear him down. He had literally wor- 
 shipped Cecil. No shadow of the grave had crossed 
 the dreams he knew, the bright castles he had 
 builded with the little fellow as their central figure. It 
 all came upon him with hardly any warning, and at a 
 time, too, when there were other things only less pain- 
 ful to keep them company. 
 
 He went about the business of Decker & Co. in 
 much the old way. His partners believed that he was 
 recovering very well from his bereavement. He 
 bought and sold grain, took orders on commission, 
 gave advice to customers, just as before. At night he 
 went home with a set face, climbing the familiar stairs 
 over the balusters of which he had, unmoved, seen 
 frank Selden fall to his death. He entered his 
 apartment, said " Good-evening " to his wife, ate his 
 upper, took up his newspaper, read an hour or two
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 397 
 
 and went to bed, wearing the external appearance of a 
 man who has nothing special on his mind. 
 
 Mabel did not know exactly what to think of him. 
 She remembered how calmly he carried himself at the 
 funeral, how collected he was when she was convulsed 
 with her grief. She knew he had loved the child de- 
 votedly, and she could not understand his reserve. 
 
 Finding that he continued as sphinx-like as he began 
 she relapsed into melancholy and brooded a great 
 deal, which was very bad for her health, and for the 
 child that was yet to be born into that household. 
 
 It was this child that made Fawcett continue to treat 
 his wife with respect. It was this that made him refrain 
 from any allusion to what he had discovered in Mrs 
 Stuart's apartment, that night when he learned that 
 Selden claimed her as his mistress. He could not dis- 
 cuss that matter with his wife without endangering the 
 well-being of another whose existence was the only 
 thing he lived to conserve. No provocation could 
 have induced him to speak an impatient word to her 
 while her nerves were connected so intimately with tho 
 growing existence. He had not enough deceit in him 
 to pretend a deep affection that he did not feel, but h 
 treated Mabel kindly and waited for the time when he 
 could unbosom his trouble to her with no danger 
 except to herself. 
 
 Ten days after Cecil's funeral Mrs. Stuart was able 
 to leave the house, and she did not wish, even had 
 he asked it, to remain longer than was necessary. 
 She knew, without a word from him on the subject, that 
 he had said nothing to his wife in relation to what he 
 had learned about her. Mabel would not havo 
 treated her in that polite manner if she knew. 
 
 Doubly a widow, though she had a husband livfatf*
 
 2^8 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 friendless and alone in the world, Mattie might have 
 gone to the end of her natural career had not Fawcett 
 voluntarily taken upon himself her necessary expenses. 
 The day she was to leave he put a hundred dollars into 
 her hand telling her to call on him by mail for more 
 whenever she needed it, and by all means to live 
 thenceforth a life of honor. 
 
 The poor woman burst into tears, but she could not 
 answer him in words. The money seemed to burn her 
 fingers, coming from him, but it was better than the 
 alternative that had arisen dimly in her mind, at which 
 he hinted. She went back to her flat, where every- 
 thing reminded her of her happy though guilty past 
 and in a month sold the furniture and took a quiet 
 lodging in a remote part of the city. Then she tried 
 to find some employment that would relieve her from 
 accepting beyond the briefest time the charity of the 
 man she had wronged. 
 
 The death of Frank Selden, coming in such a sud- 
 den and shocking manner, proved too much for his 
 mother, and within a few days she followed him to the 
 grave. Mabel excused herself from attending the first 
 funeral, on account of her own bereavement, but she 
 went to Boston to the second, accompanied by her 
 husband. That evening, the lawyer who attended to 
 the legal affairs of the Selden family sought Mr. Faw- 
 cett at his hotel. 
 
 " Excuse me for coming to you so soon about a bus 
 iness matter," he said, to Allan, as soon as he had pre 
 sented his card. "It seems necessary, however, tc 
 inform you that as both Mr. Selden and his mother 
 died intestate their property will all fall to your wife.'- 
 
 Neither Mr. Fawcett nor Mabel had thought of this. 
 Allan ran it over in his mind and concluded that the
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 999 
 
 lawyer was right. He had never heard of any near 
 relations of the family except Mabel and her mother, 
 After a little further talk he went to ask Mabel to 
 come into the room, and the facts were repeated to her 
 by the legal gentleman. 
 
 " Very well," she replied, simply, not seeming to be 
 moved in the least by the news. " Mr. Fawcett will do 
 whatever is necessary." 
 But Allan shook his head. 
 
 " Let it be understood," he corrected, " that I shall 
 have nothing whatever to do about it. Mrs. Fawcett 
 must do her business entirely with you. The property 
 will be hers, not mine, and I refuse to take any part ia 
 the affair." 
 
 The lawyer smiled obligingly. 
 
 " As you please," he said. " Under the law a man 
 
 and his wife are held to be one, and " 
 
 " Not in a matter of inheritance," interrupted Faw- 
 cett. 
 
 It was suggested that Mrs. Fawcett had better remain 
 for a few days at Boston, to attend to the more press- 
 ing matters, but Mr. Fawcett objected. He said she 
 could sign an application for a probate of the estate 
 and that nothing else would be required at present. 
 The lawyer must take things into his own hands. 
 Fawcett would not leave his wife, and he wanted to get 
 back to his office as soon as possible. And this was 
 the way matters were arranged. 
 
 " How much do you think there will be from both 
 estates ? " Fawcett asked quietly, as he stood at the 
 door of his parlor, after his wife had left the room. 
 " Something like four hundred thousand dollars." 
 Fawcett bowed thoughtfully and the visitor withdrew. 
 Three months later Mrs. Fawcett came to speak to
 
 joo Y6VNC FA WCE 7W T&ABE1. 
 
 her husband one evening, as he sat, according to his 
 custom, with a newspaper in his hand. He was not 
 reading it, but he used to sit for hours with it before 
 his face, absorbed in thought. 
 
 " I want to ask your permission to do something with 
 a part of my money," she said, almost timidly, taking a 
 chair close to him. 
 
 "You do not need my permission," he replied, 
 gravely. 
 
 "I know I don't in law," she said, for the full 
 rights of a married woman in such cases had long since 
 been explained to her by her attorney. " But this is 
 a matter that I want you fully satisfied about. It is 
 something I shall not do unless you approve of it." 
 
 Wondering what she was about to say, he waited for 
 her to proceed. 
 
 "I have been thinking of poor Mattie," faltered 
 Mabel. She had not uttered the word when his brow 
 clouded as she had feared it would. " She has had a 
 great deal of trouble. Some time ago she she lost 
 her lodger. Now I hear she has broken up her little 
 home and gone into one room. She is even trying to 
 get work in a shop." 
 
 She paused again, thinking it would help her if he 
 would say something, no matter what, but he did not 
 change his attitude or look. 
 
 " I got my money," Mabel went on, " from my aunt 
 and cousin. It is very much more than I have any use 
 for. You have refused to take it and put it into your 
 business, as I wanted you to do. Now, if I should 
 send a little of it to Mattie, say five or ten thousand 
 dollars, it would be a fortune for her, and she would get 
 along very well indeed." 
 
 Still he did not move or speak, and after a few mo-
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MAMfL. 30* 
 
 ments she asked again whether he saw any reasonable 
 objection to her plan. 
 
 " I told you, in the first place," he replied, rousing 
 himself slightly, " that I never should take your money, 
 and never should dictate to you what disposition to 
 make of it." 
 
 She looked troubled, though his tones were kindly 
 enough. 
 
 " I do not ask you to dictate, nor even to advise, it 
 you do not wish to," said she. " I only want to know 
 whether you would care whether you would rather I 
 did not do it." 
 
 He shook his head slowly. 
 
 " I do not care," he answered. 
 
 " And you are quite willing ? I would not for the 
 world do a thing you would not like, if I knew it." 
 
 He raised his eyes slowly till they took in the whole 
 of her face, but she was not looking at him now. She 
 was gazing at a distant point in the room, in her aber- 
 ration. 
 
 " I think the idea a good one, if that is what you 
 wish to know," said Fawcett. "When Mrs. Stuart left 
 this house I gave her money to live on temporarily, and 
 I have sent her some twice since then. I am glad you 
 think of aiding her." 
 
 Mabel turned toward her husband with a displeased! 
 expression. 
 
 " I don't see why you did that," said she. 
 
 " Some one had to do it. I knew she hadn't a penny. 
 I knew she," he hesitated a second " had lost her 
 lodger. I knew she could not afford to keep her flat. 
 You had no money of your own at that time. So I 
 gave her a hundred dollars, and I have sent her at 
 much more."
 
 02 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MAKEL. 
 
 Mrs. Fawcett did not like this, and a half-formed 
 resolution came into her head not to carry out her plan 
 of helping her cousin. 
 
 " I don't quite see what you did it for," she pouted. 
 
 " Mabel 1 " Fawcett cried out the words in agony, 
 " she held my dying boy in her arms ! She had no 
 one else to look to ! I know the natural fate of women 
 well brought up, educated and refined, in such a city 
 as this, thrown on their resources, with no trade or 
 profession ! Could I have risked letting the lips my 
 boy had kissed ! ! " 
 
 He stopped suddenly, for his wife had slipped 
 from her chair to the carpet and was sobbing frantic- 
 ally. He had lost one child, he must not imperil the 
 second. So he ceased to talk of Mrs. Stuart, and 
 raised Mabel to a sofa, where, in a short time, he saw 
 with satisfaction that she seemed quite recovered. 
 Nothing was worse, a doctor had told him, for his 
 coming infant than over-excitement on the mother's 
 part. He must be careful that nothing of the kind 
 occurred again till all danger was past. 
 
 And at last the day came. In such matters there is 
 seldom any postponement on account of the weather. 
 Reprieves by the governor or a stay of proceedings by 
 order of the court of appeals are not to be counted on. 
 Into that awful valley of the shadow from which each 
 little sun has to rise descended the pretty wife of Allan 
 Fawcett for the second time. 
 
 But oh ! the pity of it ! there was a cloud across 
 the face of nature and the young luminary came forth 
 with life extinguished. The anxious father, pacing the 
 floor of the room beyond, heard the news that a 
 daughter had been born, whose slight bosom had never 
 drawn even one breath of the air of earth.
 
 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 303 
 
 twcett put on his bat and went out of doors. Well, 
 It was over, at last. 
 
 He knew now what he should do. One thing could 
 have saved his wedded life, that hung by such a 
 slender thread ; one thing would have made it possible 
 for him to forget and forgive. As a mother of a living 
 child Mabel might again have taken her place at his 
 side, from which he had excluded her so long. Now 
 his hope of happiness was ended. All he had dreamed 
 of being would be buried in the lot at Greenwood 
 where his Cecil lay. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 "CAN YOU EVER LOVE ME." 
 
 FAWCETT spent a good part of the next fortnight in 
 disposing of his interest in the concern called Decker 
 & Co. Business had taken a better turn of late, and 
 there was a fairly good sum to his credit in addition to 
 the amount he owed. His partners pleaded with him 
 not to desert them, and asked in vain the reason for 
 his sudden announcement of an intention to give up 
 the place he held. He would only say that he wished 
 to make a change and that time was pressing. 
 
 He inquired of the doctor who attended his wife 
 how soon she would be able to hear some disagreeable 
 news that he was obliged to impart to her, without in- 
 jury to her health. The medical man suggested that 
 another month had best be allowed, as Mrs. Fawcett 
 was recovering slowly. Fawcett said nothing until the 
 thirty days had expired. He went out every day at the 
 usual hour and returned at night so that nothing in his
 
 j04 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 conduct aroused the least suspicion. He intended to 
 make one blow, when the time came. 
 
 On an afternoon when, for want of something better 
 to occupy his time, he was strolling in the Park, he 
 came across Mrs. Stuart, walking, like himself, alone. 
 He would have avoided addressing her had she not 
 stopped abruptly in his path, so that he could not help 
 acknowledging her presence without a kind of dis- 
 courtesy that he did not like to use. 
 
 " I have been wanting a few words with you, Mr. 
 Fawcett," murmured Mrs. Stuart, " and I shall hardly 
 find a more auspicious time than the present. I know 
 you hate me, and I will not deny that you have some 
 cause, but there are things which, if you will let me ex- 
 plain them, may mitigate your anger. There is no one 
 here who knows us, and I will delay you but a few 
 minutes." 
 
 She was looking at him wistfully, for there was the 
 darkest cloud on his face she had ever seen there, a 
 cloud that seemed absolutely impenetrable. 
 
 "There is nothing that you can say," he replied, 
 " which will be of the least value to either of us. If it 
 is in defence of yourself it is unnecessary, as you are 
 not in any way responsible to me. If it relates to my 
 own family it is equally useless. My life is broken be- 
 yond repair. I have sold out my interest in my busi- 
 ness and shall soon leave this part of the world." 
 
 Mrs. Stuart started at his last words. 
 
 "With Mabel?" she asked, earnestly. 
 
 A shiver passed over him. 
 
 " Is it likely ? " he demanded, with a shade of haughti 
 ness. 
 
 - : And why not ? " cried Mattie, her voice in a tremble. 
 'No matter what you have thought, I swear to you
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 305 
 
 that she has been an honest wife that never has she 
 been or dreamed of being untrue ! " 
 
 He controlled himself with an effort, and asked if 
 she thought he had any doubt of that. 
 
 " I am glad if you have none," she replied. " But in 
 that case how can you speak of going away and not 
 taking Mabel with you ? " 
 
 He drew a long breath and shut his lips together for 
 a moment sharply. 
 
 " Do you not realize," he said, " that there are things 
 a wife may do that are no less terrible in the sight of a 
 husband than actual infidelity ? " 
 
 " What things ? " asked Mrs. Stuart, dropping her 
 eyes before the blackness of the gaze he bent upon her. 
 
 " For instance, associating intimately with women of 
 loose morals," he answered, bitterly. 
 
 She shrank, as if the blow had been a physical one. 
 
 " You mean me ? " she said, interrogatively. 
 
 " Yes, I mean you." 
 
 She cleared her throat of something that impeded 
 her attempts to answer. 
 
 " Then," she said, huskily, " I swear to you that she 
 never knew, never even suspected my guilt." 
 
 " In that case she is too simple to be a safe wife for 
 any man," he answered, tartly. " If she could see you, 
 day after day, so intimate with such a man as Frank 
 Selden " 
 
 Mrs. Stuart raised both her hands pleadingly, while 
 hot tears rushed to her eyes. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Fawcett, remember ! He is dead!" 
 
 " That does not relieve him of criticism," he replied, 
 
 roughly. "But, let me say again, Mrs. Stuart, this 
 
 conversation can have no good end. As I said in the 
 
 first place, you are not responsible to me for your ac- 
 
 to
 
 306 YOUNG FA WCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 tions, so far as they concern your individual conduct 
 You have made it impossible that I should again evef 
 be a husband to Mabel Fawcett, and I am only await- 
 ing the passage of a few more days to tell her so. 
 When I am out of the way it is probable she will send 
 for you, so that your old friendship is likely to be re- 
 newed. I must now bid you good-afternoon.** 
 
 He had turned, and was about to walk away, when 
 Mattie spoke again. 
 
 " I shall never lead her into such dangers as might 
 come from companionship with me," she said, chok- 
 ingly. " She has been kind enough to give me money 
 and I can get along now ; but I will not let her injure 
 herself farther, much as I would like her society." 
 
 Fawcett had not turned his face toward her. He 
 listened with no sign of relenting, and when she finished 
 he said 
 
 "Good-bye, Mrs. Stuart." 
 
 She would have liked to say much more to him, but 
 she saw that he was adamant. The death of Mr. 
 Selden had given her a shock from which she had neve* 
 recovered, and she was in no condition for a contra 
 rersy with one so set as he appeared to be. 
 
 At the end of the month Fawcett came into his house 
 one morning only an hour after he left it, to the great 
 astonishment of his wife, who had never known a similar 
 instance since they had lived in New York. 
 
 " Is anything the matter, Allan ? " she asked, anx- 
 iously, coming toward him with the timid air she 
 always wore in his presence of late. 
 
 He took a chair and braced himself up for his un- 
 pleasant task. 
 
 "Yes," he said slowly. "Something is th matter. 
 Very many things are the matter."
 
 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 307 
 
 Mrs. Pawcett savr that it was no ordinary affair that 
 was on his mind. She sat down opposite to him and 
 Waited for him to continue, with a feeling of deep ap- 
 prehension. 
 
 " Is it about your business at the office ? " she 
 asked, as he did not speak. 
 
 " No. I have no business at the office. I sold out 
 a month ago. " 
 
 * Ah I H She heaved a sigh. " Things had gone 
 wrong there again ? " 
 
 He took out a penknife and began to cut his finger- 
 nails, which did not need that attention in the least ; a 
 fact she was quick to observe. 
 
 " On the contrary," he said, "things have gone re- 
 markably well there for some time back. In fact, when 
 things went the worst elsewhere they improved at the 
 office. I have thirty thousand dollars in the bank and 
 I owe no man a cent." 
 
 It was something about herself, then. She had feared 
 at the first that this was it, but she hoped otherwise. 
 What new fault had she committed, she wondered. 
 She puzzled her tired brain over this conundrum, but 
 could find no solution to it. It was a long time since 
 she had been beyond her doorstep, and she had had 
 literally no visitors but Dr. Legate and her nurse. 
 
 " The fact is, Mabel," said Fawcett, forcing out the 
 words with difficulty, " I am going away." 
 
 " Going away 1 Where ? " 
 
 " I am going away," he repeated. " Too many 
 things have made New York unpleasant to me." 
 
 She waited a few seconds for him to explain. 
 
 ** Where are we going ? " she asked finally. 
 
 He twisted a number of times the only ring that he
 
 308 YOUNG FAWCETT'S MABEL. 
 
 " It is only / who am going," he said, slowly. 
 
 " And shall you stay long ? " 
 
 He raised his eyes to hers, and she understood everyi 
 thing before he spoke. 
 
 " As long as I live." 
 
 For a moment the shock was substantially the same 
 to her as if he had suddenly died in that chair in which 
 he was sitting. She had had no preparation for this. 
 She had known that he was likely at any time to find 
 fault with her, to complain of things she had done, to 
 warn her against their repetition. But that he intended 
 to sever their marital bonds fully and immediately 
 for that she had not the least premonition. She could 
 not utter a word, so great was her surprise, so intense 
 her pain. After waiting a moment he proceeded to 
 explain. 
 
 " I want to say just as little as I can and have no 
 misunderstanding. That matter of Frank Selden and 
 Mattie Stuart settled everything for me. They were 
 living in open adultery. You were their almost con- 
 stant companion, visiting them at their residence, 
 accompanying them on their walks, to places of public 
 resort. Mrs. Stuart swears you did not know what was 
 going on, and I do not dispute her. The disgrace was, 
 however, just as great to my name. Had you been 
 possessed of as much sense as you ought to have you 
 would have known by instinct. Had you confided in 
 your husband instead of concealing all your acts from 
 him, he would have been able to tell you that you were 
 in dangerous society. You chose your own path. If 
 you ever have a regret for our separation, it is them 
 you may blame. 
 
 " So long as I had your child to think of, I was 
 obliged to forgive and try to forget many things. H
 
 YOUNG FAWCETrS MABEL. 309 
 
 Is not here. So long as there was another life 
 that seemed about to owe its existence to us I held my 
 peace as well as I could. Now nothing stands in my 
 way. There is no reason why you and I cannot sepa- 
 rate, cannot give up a married existence that has had 
 more than its share of unhappiness for both. You 
 have a much larger fortune than I. There is no prob- 
 ability that you will ever be in want. If you ever are, 
 I will share all I have with you freely. As to a divorce 
 a legal affair I leave that to your pleasure. I shall 
 never wish to marry again. Should you ever have such 
 a desire, I will not oppose you. There is only one 
 thing more that I wish to say, and that is, I accuse you 
 of nothing worse than blind folly ; I do not think you 
 have been guilty of personal faults. We are thoroughly 
 incompatible, that is all" 
 
 There was a quality in this little woman difficult 
 to comprehend, a quality that made strength out of her 
 very weakness, in such an emergency as this. She 
 had recently risen from a sick bed. At her best she 
 was no match for a strong man like him. The few 
 things she had to say, however, came straight from her 
 lips, without a tremor or sign of cowardice. 
 
 "I have listened to you, Allan," she answered, 
 "without interruption, and if you will do as much, I 
 will be very brief. I never knew, never conceived that 
 anything was wrong between Frank and Mattie, until 
 she wrote me In response to the donation I sent her, 
 Confessing all and begging my pardon. I was inex- 
 pressibly shocked, for nothing but her own admission 
 would have made me believe so frightful a thing of 
 a woman who seemed so pure and innocent. You 
 Chink it strange, but reflect a little. There was no way 
 that I should know. I have not had your experience.
 
 3io YOUNG FA WCRTT*S MABEL. 
 
 /never went to a house of ill-repute, never drank to 
 
 intoxication in company with a courtesan, as you have 
 done. If I misjudged my two cousins, my ignorance 
 of such matters is my sufficient excuse." 
 
 Fawcett winced severely under the thrust, but he let 
 her go on without reply. 
 
 " You speak of our children. Do you think they 
 were dearer to you than to the mother who carried 
 them next her heart for long months, bore them in 
 anguish such as no man ever endures, and nursed 
 them at her breast? I have not your facility of 
 expression, Allan, but the loss not only of Cecil, but 
 of that little girl on whose face you did not even deign 
 to look has made me suffer intensely. The trouble is 
 that you have never really loved me; you have looked 
 on me as something to preserve for the sake of your 
 offspring, something to be treated with special con- 
 sideration as long as their lives were dependent on 
 mine, and to be thrust aside when that necessity no 
 longer exists. Now, Allan, before you say good-bye, I 
 want to own to you that I have not done everything 
 as I should, nor as I would if I had them to do over 
 again. I have learned from dear experience. But 
 I cannot help adding that you have not been perfect, 
 either. You married a child, and it was your duty 
 to guard her closer than you did. You could have 
 passed a little more of your time with her, you might 
 occasionally have taken her to walk, or a place of 
 amusement, instead of leaving her to find other people 
 more willing. Had you done your whole duty, I might 
 have been a little nearer to performing mine." 
 
 The husband waited a moment, but she seemed to 
 have finished. 
 
 "The things I wish to take are packed in my trunks
 
 YOUNG FA WCMTTS MAM ML. ^ 
 
 and bags," he said, quietly. ' I will bring an express 
 man for them. I wish you well, MabeL" 
 
 " Thank you," she answered, calmly. 
 
 "Good-bye." 
 
 Good-bye." 
 
 An hour later Fawcett returned with an expressman 
 for the baggage. Before the man came upstairs, Allan 
 went in search of his wife to give her the key of 
 the flat, as an indication of his final departure. He 
 found her in a dead faint on her own bed, with two 
 photographs clasped tightly in her hands. 
 
 His first thought was to call the servant, but on con- 
 sideration he decided that this would have a heartless 
 look, and he applied himself to restoring animation 
 in the still form. Within a few minutes Mabel was 
 breathing more naturally, but she was not yet in 
 a condition to recognize him. He did not want to 
 go till he had completed his task. 
 
 Suddenly he noticed whose pictures his wife had 
 clasped to her breast when she "lost consciousness. 
 They were those of Cecil and himself. Both were wet 
 with tears. 
 
 A dizziness came over the husband. 
 
 " I had best go now, before she fully awakes," ht 
 thought. 
 
 Then he looked at Mrs. Fawcett again. In her pallor 
 she appeared five years younger. It was the face of 
 his child-wife that stared at him. It was the face he 
 had joyed to find on his pillow in the days of their 
 honeymoon ! How the memories thronged upon 
 him ! 
 
 The eyes of the wife opened slowly and drank in the 
 sight before them. The arms opened to their fullest 
 extent and closed around his neck. What had hap
 
 jl t YOUNC FA WCE T7 'S MABEL, 
 
 pened to the years ? Surely he was again in the bridal 
 chamber of the Narragansett House at Providence ! 
 
 There was a mighty struggle in his mind, and the 
 woman conquered. 
 
 "Mabel," he whispered, "can you ever love me 
 again?" 
 
 And she murmured 
 
 " When did I cease ? " 
 
 He took up one of the photographs that lay by her 
 fide. 
 
 " You had Cecil's picture here," he said, tenderly. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, " and yours." 
 
 The expressman was surprised when he received 
 word, some minutes later, that there was no baggage to 
 remove, after all. 
 
 "You are not going to-day?" he said, interrog* 
 atively. 
 
 " No, " responded Fawcett, dreamily, " not to-day.*
 
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