THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 / s2*^f^-4~4-^ 
 
 
 e. 
 
 
 .
 
 POPULAR NOVELS. 
 By fl:irioii Sl.n land. 
 
 I. ALONE. 
 
 H. HIDDEN PATH. 
 III. 1(OSS SIDE. 
 IV. NEMESIS. 
 
 V. MIRIAM. 
 
 VL THE EMPTY HEART. 
 
 vn. HELEN GARDNER'S WEDDING-DAT. 
 
 VIII. SUNNYBANK. 
 
 IX. HUSBANDS AND HOMES. 
 
 x. RUBY'S HUSBAND. 
 xi. FHEMIE'S TEMPTATION. (Just Published.) 
 
 Th novels of Marion Harland are of surpassing ex- 
 cellence. By intrinsic power of character-draw- 
 ing and descriptive facility, they hold the 
 reader's attention with the most in- 
 tense interest and fascination." 
 
 4B published uniform with this volume, at $1.50, and scot 
 by mail, free of pottage, on receipt of price, by 
 
 CARL ETON, Publisher, 
 New York.
 
 HELEN GARDNER'S 
 
 WEDDING-DAY; 
 
 OB, 
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 .A. BA.TTLE 
 
 B7 
 
 MARION IIARLAND, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "ALONE," "HIDDEN PATH," "NEMESIS," "MOSS-SIDE," "MIRIAM," "THB 
 HEAHT," "SUNNYBAKK," "HUSBANDS AND HOMES," "KUBY'S 
 HUSBAND," "PHEMIE'S TEMPTATION," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 Carleton, Publisher, Madison Square. 
 
 LONDON : 8. LOW, SON, & CO. 
 MDCCCLXX.
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
 
 M. VIRGINIA TERHUNE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
 District New York.
 
 ?s 
 
 $007 
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " YES ?" said Aunt Ruth, with kindling interest. 
 
 This important monosyllable was, in the mouth of this 
 excellent lady, susceptible of an infinite variety and number- 
 less gradations of meaning. Wooing encouragement ; hear- 
 ty and unequivocal assent ; loving sympathy; lively curiosity 
 and civil indifference; sometimes,upon sufficient provocation, 
 a mild species of sarcasm or contemptuous incredulity all 
 these were habitually expressed by the gentle spinster 
 through the medium of the little word, defined by mistaken 
 masculine lexicographers as " an affirmative particle opposed 
 to wo." Opposed to " no," indeed ! As if Aunt Ruth could 
 not, and did not, make it mean "no" and no uncertain neg- 
 ative, at that every day of her life ! 
 
 She sa*/ now in a well-cushioned Boston rocker, dressed 
 in a gray merino, and a cap trimmed with dove-colored rib- 
 bons, swinging slowly to and fro, knitting a lamb's wool 
 sock. Upon the other side of the round candle-stand was 
 her eldest nephew, Mr. Alexander Lay, yclept by his inti- 
 mates and the community in general, " Aleck," lounging in. 
 lazy content against the stuffed back of a great easy-chair, 
 
 1201578
 
 6 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 covered with black leather, polished to shining sleekness by 
 constant service during many years. His nether limbs were 
 supported by the brass fender, and a meerschaum -was be- 
 tween his teeth. He was a fine-looking young fellow of 
 four-and-twenty, with a well-developed, sinewy figure, black 
 hair, and a beard whose length, while it would have given, 
 an outre air to the visage of most men, was yet highly be- 
 coming to his bronzed complexion and marked physiogno- 
 my. He had arrived unexpectedly, but three hours before, 
 at his patrimonial mansion, after an absence of two years 
 from his native land, most of which time he had spent in a 
 German University. 
 
 "The neatest people upon the globe !" he had said, pur- 
 suing a description of a tour through Holland. 
 
 And Miss Ruth Massie, his maternal aunt, whose forte was 
 housewifery, and who was famed, far and near, for the 
 scrupulous cleanliness of her establishment, forgot the yawn 
 lodged in her throat, provoked by his incidents of travel 
 through Switzerland and Italy, and rejoined by the " parti- 
 cle" quoted above. 
 
 " I wished most for you when I visited Broek," continued 
 the tourist. " The streets are scoured as frequently and 
 carefully as you wash your plates and dishes ; the iron rail- 
 ings enclosing the little patches of brick pavement they 
 denominate door-yards, are ornamented by brass knobs, 
 brought, by dint of diligent friction, to the brightness of 
 mirrors ; and the fronts of the houses are deluged every 
 morning by jets of water from a hose or syringe. Not an 
 atom of dust or a cobweb is anywhere visible. They even 
 tie up the tails of the cows when they have combed and 
 brushed them, lest they should trail upon the ground, and 
 be afterwards accidentally used to whisk their smooth 
 sides." 
 
 "Yes?" Miss Ruth's eyes opened more widely.
 
 COLONEL FLOID8 WAKD8. 7 
 
 " The chickens' nails are cleaned and pared each day, and 
 I have heard, although I cannot vouch for the truth of this* 
 statement, that the hens' teeth are scrubbed at the same time, 
 with a brush invented solely for this purpose." 
 
 "Yes!" 
 
 The " particle," this time, was equivalent to " You don'l 
 tell me so ! I never heard the like !" 
 
 " I felt sorry for the children," Aleck went on with the 
 veracious narrative " rosy, roly-poly, pudding-faced Dutch 
 babies that they were! Fancy a childhood above all, a 
 boyhood passed in ignorance of the glories of paddling in 
 mud-puddles, with one's trousers rolled above his knees, 
 and the ddflght of manufacturing mud pies ! I never longed, 
 before or since, to be an instructor of youth, but I did covet 
 the privilege of initiating the unfortunate little wretches 
 into such practices as used to enrapture Robin's soul and 
 mine !" 
 
 " I don't believe their mothers would have thanked you ! 
 I recollect the trouble you boys used to give me by such 
 tricks." 
 
 Aleck laughed. "Don't bear malice, aunty, since we have 
 put away childish things more's the pity ! But I was go- 
 ing to tell you about the Dutch girls. Such complexions ! 
 such roses and lilies ! such plump dumplings of forms suet 
 dumplings, you could not doubt ! It made a fellow's mouth 
 water to look at the angels !" 
 
 " Ah, yes !" Miss Ruth's slight nod heightened the sig- 
 nificance of her arch, knowing tone. "Now you are coming 
 to the point !" she meant to imply. 
 
 " Then, you should see them skate in winter ! Ten or a 
 dozen miles they fly down the canals to market, to sell their 
 eggs and butter, and back again the same day. They have 
 regular balls upon the ice. Shall I ever forget a day's sport 
 upon skates, which I enjoyed with a blue-eyed beauty
 
 8 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 fleet of foot as a grey-hound ; lips like cherries ; cheeks like 
 the sunny side of an apricot, and waist like a firm roll of 
 butter! Ah, me! 'Joys that we've tasted !' That is one 
 of the never-returning kind, I am afraid !" 
 
 " The one was she ?" interrogated Miss Ruth. 
 
 " One of them !" said the male coquette, heartlessly. 
 
 " Yes ! yes !" 
 
 Which was, being interpreted " Aleck ! Aleck ! you are 
 a sad fellow!" 
 
 " Can't help it, aunty ! If the girls will be fascinating, 
 they must take the natural consequence of their behavior, 
 and endure my devotion with the best grace they can." 
 
 " I thought you were going to bring her home to America 
 with you ?" 
 
 " I would have done so, assuredly, had I known that you 
 desired it, and if I could have decided which ' her' you ex- 
 pected me to elect to that supreme felicity." 
 
 " Yes !" said Miss Ruth, in affectionate ridicule of this 
 conceited speech. " The ' her' I meant was that Gret Gret- 
 na or some such name you went crazy about, six months 
 ago. It's queer I can't remember what you called her." 
 
 " Gretna Green, perhaps ?" suggested Aleck, with praise- 
 worthy gravity. 
 
 "You didn't mention her surname, but I think it more 
 than likely that's the one the beautiful German girl, whose 
 singing and dancing, you said, had carried you into the 
 seventh heaven and all that sort of nonsense." 
 
 " Gretna Green is of Scotch extraction. Perhaps Gret- 
 chen was the word you could not recollect." 
 
 " Yes. Where is she ?" 
 
 " I really cannot say. Probably married to some lager- 
 loving Ilerr Von Something, making his sauer-kraut and 
 brewing his bier. I have not thought of her in five months, 
 that I know of. I do remember, however, since you have
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 9 
 
 alluded to the subject, that she was quite a pretty girl, and 
 Bang tolerably." 
 
 Aunt Ruth shook her head again now, in sorrowful de- 
 precation of the criminal trifling he avowed so carelessly. 
 
 " I was in hopes you meant to settle down for good and 
 all ! Not that I fancied over-much your marrying a foreign- 
 er; and of the two girls you've spoken of, I'd rather you 
 had brought home the Scotch than the Dutch." 
 
 " German !" corrected Aleck. 
 
 " It's all the same ain't it ? Aleck ! what possesses you 
 to smoke that dirty-looking pipe ? Maybe you haven't no- 
 ticed how the amber is staining it through and through ?" 
 
 " Aunt Ruth ! I am ashamed of you ! This is a genuine 
 meerschaum, and cost more money than Robin could get 
 for the best horse in his stable !" 
 
 " Yes ? Let me see it !" 
 
 She inspected the shining black bowl, with its curious 
 cloudy veins, and the curved stem. 
 
 " A mere sham did you call it ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am. There are so few of the real articles among 
 the many that pass with the verdant purchasers for valuable, 
 that the contemptuous title deserved by the counterfeit has 
 gradually been applied to all. There's a moral in the fact, 
 if you will take the pains to study it." 
 
 " It wants burning out badly !" said his aunt, disregard- 
 ing his philosophizing, and handing back the vaunted " real 
 article," with an unmistakable contortion of the nose and 
 upper lip. " It would be the sweeter, and so would your 
 mouth, for that matter, if you would leave it under the back- 
 log there, all night. I could caution Martby to be careful 
 not to crack or break it when she takes up the ashes to- 
 morrow morning." 
 
 Managing his facial muscles with considerable difficulty, 
 the fun-loving nephew explained that the discoloration she
 
 10 COLOXEL FLOYD'S WAKDB. 
 
 condemned was the prime beauty of the pipe, adding divera 
 reminiscences authentic, of course of the high estimate set 
 upon long-used and well-blackened meerschaums by discrimi- 
 nating Teutons. 
 
 "Reckon they are not such overly clean people, after all !" 
 was Miss Ruth's conclusion, enunciated with disdainful em- 
 phasis. " But seriously, my boy, what has become of this 
 girl ? not Miss Green the other one ! What broke off the 
 match ? You as good as told me you were going to marry 
 her right off." 
 
 " I did ! When and how ? 
 
 "In a letter, crammed from beginning to end with het 
 praises, which you wrote me half a year ago." 
 
 " Ah ! that was the end of the matter, I fancy. The flame 
 burned itself to ashes in that epistle. I cannot remember 
 certainly what disenchanted me. I have an idea that it 
 was Gretchen's immoderate fondness for cabbage in an ad- 
 vanced stage of decomposition so-called sauer-kraut." 
 
 " Yes !" Aunt Ruth sighed. 
 
 "You don't think that a sufficient cause for a breach of 
 promise, I see," said her nephew, in pretended anxiety. 
 
 " I am afraid you will never marry, Aleck !" 
 
 " If I ever do, my wife's favorite dish shall be neither 
 cabbage nor onions." 
 
 " You are as bad as Colonel Floyd ! When he has bacon 
 and cabbage for dinner, he won't allow Mrs. Floyd and the 
 girls to come to the table. He says it is only fit for men to 
 Brne' 1 . Once in a while he has an old-fashioned neighbor 
 there, to whom he wants to be polite ; and since his rich 
 friend must have the dish, it is prepared, and the ladies 
 don't make their appearance until the cabbage is removed. 
 I've heard, though, that Helen will not submit to this non. 
 sense since she came of age that she will take her place 
 at table and entertain the company in her aunt's absence."
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 11 
 
 "They are all well at Belleview, are they?" questioned 
 Aleck, puffing away rather faster at his meerschaum. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Mr. Lay turned at the hesitating tone, enwrapping so 
 much of mysterious meaning, and ominous of ill-tidings. 
 
 " Why, what's the matter there? Has any thing gone 
 wrong ?" 
 
 " Nothing new nothing but what has been wrong from 
 the start, and that was more years ago than most people 
 dream of. Only from all I can gather from people's sly 
 whispers nobody dares say any thing aloud things are 
 looking crooked er of late than they used to." 
 
 She stopped to count the rounds in her sock, preparatory 
 to turning off the heel. Aleck said nothing, and seemed to 
 watch the briskly-rising rings of smoke. 
 
 " This marriage is a serious business one that is gener- 
 ally entered upon too carelessly," resumed Miss Massie, 
 oracularly. " I don't know but you are right to be cautious 
 about risking a chance in the lottery ; but there are many 
 worse faults in a wife or husband than a breath scented with 
 c.-ibbage or garlic. Colonel Floyd always reminds me of 
 the men of old who used to tithe mint, anise, and cinnamon, 
 while they neglected the weightier matters of the law. If 
 he had been as careful of his wife's property and happiness, 
 and his children's real good, as he is to spare them a few 
 trifling annoyances that nobody else would ever think of, 
 they'd be better off in mind and estate. They say he 
 gambles awfully worse than ever and that if half his 
 debts were paid, he would not have a dollar or an acre of 
 land left that he could call his own." 
 
 " Nobody is surprised at that, I imagine. People have 
 prophesied that for years past; although, as you say, 
 the real condition of his affairs may be more generally known, 
 and spoken of more openly than it used to be," said Aleck.
 
 12 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABUS. 
 
 Miss Ruth's needles rattled nervously against one 
 another. 
 
 " Yes ; but there's one thiug that worries me more than 
 all the rest. While I am, of course, very sorry for poor 
 Mrs. Floyd and the children, still it's natural to feel most 
 uueasy about one's own flesh and blood, and well maybe 
 I ought not to speak of it, even to you but I'm very sure 
 that Robert has lent him money, and a good deal of it, and 
 I am doubtful whether he will ever be paid." 
 
 " You need not be. There is a moral certainty that he 
 will never see a cent of it again. No man ever did yet, who 
 was so foolish as to lend any thing to the coloneL You 
 can set your mind at rest upon that score." x 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so ; but it is a pity and a shame, Aleck ! 
 I wish you could put Robert upon his guard.. He's so soft- 
 hearted and open-handed that he can't say ' No' to any- 
 body, much less to a friend. . And he always defends 
 Colonel Floyd when he is attacked ; says he's not so bad 
 as the world is disposed to think, and has some fine traits 
 of character, and has always been very kind to him, and all 
 such talk. You know Robert, and how easily imposed 
 upon he is ; and the colonel certainly puts himself out to be 
 polite and attentive to him, and, Robert told me, gave his 
 consent in the most handsome manner to his engagement 
 with Helen Gardner. Gracious, Aleck! you might have 
 broken it all to pieces !" 
 
 Aleck stooped to pick up the pipe that had slipped from 
 his fingers, and remained in that position for a minute, 
 busily brushing the ashes from the gayly flowered hearth- 
 rug a manifestation of care and neatness which, if Aunt 
 Ruth remarked, she attributed to the effect of his resi- 
 dence among the cleanly Hollanders. 
 
 " Ugly and dirty as it is, it would have been a pity to 
 break what cost so much money, and is so hard to replace
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 13 
 
 in tHs country !" continued the thrifty housewife. "'Tisn't 
 cracked, is it ?" 
 
 " No '. But I interrupted you ! What were you say- 
 ing ?" Aleck refilled and relighted his pipe, after seeming 
 X) examine it solicitously, and stretched out his feet as 
 Before. " You were talking about the Floyds." 
 
 " Yes ! so far.as I can judge, there is no love lost between 
 Helen and her guardian. I don't think there ever has been. 
 He has always found her an unruly charge, I reckon. So it 
 isn't to please her that Robert let him have money, when 
 he asked for it. It's just his own good-nature, and he will 
 suffer for it." 
 
 "They have been engaged for some time, have they ?" 
 
 , "Who? Robert and Helen? Four or five months. 
 
 They seem very happy together, as contented a couple as 
 
 I ever saw. They expect to be married at Christmas ; but 
 
 I suppose Robert has told you all about that." 
 
 '* At Christmas ! and this is the first of November !" 
 
 There was a .dreary echo in his tone that reached even 
 Miss Ruth's apprehensions, and elicited a responsive sigh. 
 
 " Yes ! it will be a change for us all for you and me, as 
 well as them ! But I hope it is for Robert's good. He will 
 make ous of the best husbands alive ; and she has steadied 
 surprisingly sobered down more than I once thought she 
 ever could, since they were first engaged. Do you recol- 
 lect how wJd she used to be?" 
 
 " Yes !" 
 
 And after this musing articulation of his aunt's favorite 
 monosyllable, there was an interval of silence. Miss Ruth 
 plied her knitting-needles assiduously, and looked over her 
 spectacles into the crackling fire. The nephew smoked 
 slowly, and seemed to study the same blazing pile of hick- 
 ory logs. What were ho.r motherly and housewifely medi- 
 tations, it concerns us not to iuquire. The central figure iu
 
 1 { COLON KL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 his dream-pictures was a young girl, with flashing, laughing 
 eyes, and dark chestnut locks wound in heavy braids about 
 her nobly-shaped head : form erect, yet pliant ; dancing 
 feet whose rapid beat was sweetest music to his ears. 
 " Did he recollect how wild she used to be ?" 
 Mrs. Floyd, sober and shocked, had oftentimes expostu 
 lated with him for aiding and abetting her harum-scarum 
 niece in her hare-brained pranks and lawless proceedings. 
 He had taught her to sit firmly his most spirited hunter, in 
 leaping fences and ditches ; ,to fish, and, most barbarous of 
 all pursuits for a young lady to hunt ! to carry her fowl- 
 ing-piece and bring down her game with the coolness and 
 address of a veteran sportsman. This last named accom- 
 plishment was rather practised in secret, than alluded to in 
 public. It was doubtful whether Mrs. Floyd was ever quite 
 sure that Helen had really acquired it. Many a day had 
 she spent in the woods in company with Aleck and Robert, 
 when governess and guardians had granted her permission 
 to pay a proper, hum-drum visit to Miss Ruth. An unfor- 
 tunate accident finally cured her of her Nimrod proclivities. 
 The three were out turkey-hunting, one day, and Aleck, 
 having stationed Robert with Helen behind the blind of 
 brushwood and bushes, to await the coming of the fright- 
 ened and scattered flock, grew impatient of the tardiness 
 of the dogs sent to "flush" the birds, and started off him- 
 self to seek and direct them. He was not long in discover- 
 ing a fine gang of turkeys, and after assuring himself that 
 many of them had taken the direction he desired, undertook 
 to regain the covert by another route. Crouching low, that 
 his head might not appear above the undergrowth of the 
 wood, he made his way rapidly and stealthily towards the 
 ambuscade. He was within twenty yards of it, when the 
 crack of a gun rang out upon the forest stillness. Helen, 
 excited and impetuous, had mistaken the slight motion
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 15 
 
 created by his passage among the bushes, for the advance 
 of the expected game, and fired before Robert could inter- 
 fere to prevent her rash action. The charge from her 
 weapon lodged in Aleck's shoulder and the upper part of 
 his chest, inflicting a severe, and, as they, in their inexpe- 
 rience, feared, a fatal wound. 
 
 Bleeding and suffering ignorant as his companions of 
 the extent of his danger, the elder brother still retained hia 
 habitual power of resolve and command. 
 
 " Leave me here both of you !" was his order. " Robert . 
 you will see her home ! then ride over to Greenfield and 
 bring a couple of men back with you. And, my dear fel- 
 low! mind! I did it myself 7" 
 
 Helen interposed with a passionate burst of self-accusa- 
 tion. It was all her work her unpardonable stupidity! 
 her cruel, cruel blunder! and she alone should be blamed 
 for it ! She deserved the most severe things that could be 
 said of and to her ! 
 
 " Nelly !" The wounded youth looked up with his own 
 saucy smile. " Do you remember what that old Hebrew 
 king Abimelech, I believe it was said to his armor- 
 bearer, when a woman cast a piece of millstone from the 
 wall of the besieged city, and cracked his crown ? ' Draw 
 thy sword, and slay me, that men ^ay not of me 'A 
 woman slew him !' Robert, you will do as I said !" 
 
 Robert hastened away in quest of help; but Helen's will 
 was not to be borne down in this matter. For two hours- 
 long in their anguished suspense to her ; short and deli- 
 cious as a dream of Paradise to the injured boy, she lin- 
 gered beside him in the heart of that lonely forest; 
 stanching the blood with such appliances as were within 
 her reach ; making him a pillow of leaves ; fanning him ; 
 gently wiping his brow, when the pain, that could not extort 
 groan from the manly heart, or dim his grateful smile,
 
 16 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 forced great beads of sweat through the pores. Nay 
 more ! when the sound of voices was heard approaching 
 the spot, and he besought her for both their sakes to make 
 good her retreat before she was perceived by curious or 
 unfriendly eyes, she gazed long and earnestly into his 
 face, a look that awoke a new thrill of Me in the fainting 
 heart, and, the tears raining down her cheeks, bent over 
 and kissed him. 
 
 "When Robert and his attendants arrived at the scene of 
 the accident, Aleck was alone, lying quietly upon his leafy 
 couch, more than serene, with a happy light upon his counte- 
 nance that glorified and elevated every feature. It was but 
 the commencement of a splendid hunting season the finest 
 that had been known in years when he was shot, and he 
 lost the whole of it. Miss Ruth marvelled at and lauded 
 his patient endurance of his tedious confinement ; his com- 
 rades were affected with equal surprise at the cheerful 
 equanimity with which he received their raillery upon his 
 awkwardness in hitting himself, he, the best shot in the 
 country ! 
 
 " Merely a difference of game, boys !" he said, gayly. 
 " I went to look for turkeys, and brought down a great 
 goose instead !" 
 
 Robert carried daily health bulletins to Colonel Floyd's, 
 and never returned without some token of remembrance or 
 sympathizing message from Helen. Sometimes she wrote 
 to the invalid. Every one of these hastily penned notes 
 incoherent, girlish, extravagant was treasured up to this 
 day locked away, as too sacred for other eyes ; perfumed 
 with the roses she had sent by his brother's hand. The 
 three guarded well their secret ; but Helen never hunted 
 again. If she had not lost her unfeminine hankering for a 
 personal participation in the amusement, she shrank from its 
 practice with trembling.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 17 
 
 She was but fifteen then, scarcely more than a child. 
 Robert was two years older, and Aleck his senior by 
 eighteen months. He was twenty-two when he went to 
 Germany, and it was still "Aleck" and "Nelly" between 
 them. Still they laughed, danced, rode and sported to- 
 gether, the acknowledged ringleaders of every frolic 
 the wilder the better and Robert was the balance-wheel 
 to their impetuosity. He was mirthful, and loved fun as 
 deai-ly as did either of the others, but he exhibited a gentle 
 steadiness of demeanor, a graceful propriety of action, that 
 caused him to be extolled by all the matrons of the region 
 as a "pattern young man, and a safe chance for any girl." 
 Nobody called Aleck Lay an unsafe chance, yet his popu- 
 larity never equalled his brother's. He was too unscrupu- 
 lous in speech, often reckless and imprudent in manner. 
 The weak-minded and timid feared his lash of ridicule ; 
 hypocrites and pretenders, his fearless exposure of their 
 true characters. Little cared he for popular judgment, for 
 public favor, or public reprobation ! Aunt Ruth petted 
 him ; Robert loved him ; and Helen was his willing ally, 
 his fast friend, his confidante upon all subjects save one. 
 
 Their farewell, prior to his departure for the Old World, 
 was spoken in the interval of the dance, at a lai-ge party 
 given at Colonel Floyd's in celebration of Lily Calvert's a 
 niece and another ward of the colonel's birthday. 
 
 " It would hardly be honorable in me were I to say to 
 you all that is in my heart," Aleck had said, hurriedly ; 
 " for this avowal would force you to a corresponding frank- 
 ness and I shall be absent a long time and we are botn 
 very young. It would be basely ungenerous, were I to at- 
 tempt to bind you by a promise now." 
 
 His color came and went almost as rapidly as did hers, 
 and his whole behavior was oddly at variance with his usual 
 easy, self-assured bearing.
 
 18 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 "But, if my presumption in daring to speak of this mat- 
 ter to think of you, to hope and dream, as I have for 
 years, has not offended you; if you will still keep your 
 -arly play-fellow in remembrance still permit him to 
 cherish your image where he has always worn it in his 
 heart of hearts may I ask you to wear this while I am 
 away ? It is no signal of bondage, recollect ! It leaves 
 you free as air. When I return, if I do not see it on your 
 finger, I shah 1 , nevertheless, have no right to feel myself 
 ill-treated shall never molest you by demands for any ex- 
 planation." 
 
 They stood apart from the crowd, at a window partially 
 concealed by a curtain. Without a word only with ooo 
 thrilling look into his eyes, that revived the memory of the 
 forest scene, she drew off her glove his hand touched 
 hers held it for a second! The next minute a partner 
 claimed her for the ensuing set, and led her away, dreaming 
 as little of the ring hidden by the snowy kid, as did the 
 throng at large of the wild throbbings of the heart the 
 mingled rapture, pain, and unrest masked by Aleck Lay's 
 laughing face. Helen was never more gay than during the 
 remainder of the revel; and his spirits seemed to keep pace 
 with the rise of hers. Their last dance together was a 
 dashing, sweeping waltz, whose almost frantic swiftness, 
 and the length of time they kept it up, set all the prudes' 
 heads to wagging in holy horror, and drew from kind, lov- 
 ing, charitable Aunt Ruth a deprecating remark to her 
 nephew Robert. 
 
 " She's a good-hearted girl, I don't doubt, Robert ! And 
 I have great confidence in her principles ; she wouldn't 
 knowingly do a wrong thing; but it's a pity the poor child 
 has no mother !" 
 
 The rout over, the adieux were brief a single glance 
 was interchanged, and a hand-clasp, fervent, but not pro-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 19 
 
 longed ; a jesting phrase, intended for the benefit of the 
 bystanders,- ' -!";-- "*>; 
 
 " Good-by, Nelly ! Take care of yourself!" and 
 
 " Good-by, Aleck ! I suppose we shall not see you again 
 until you are a fat Mynheer, whose thick tongue will be 
 unintelligible to untravelled ears." 
 
 This was all ! As he had said, they were both very young 
 then ; it was his choice to leave her untrammelled by the 
 shadow of a pledga The ring might have been a friend's 
 parting gift. She was a woman now more grave, more 
 thoughtful, more judicious than in the days when she seem- 
 ed to prefer his society tc that of other admirers-*-even to 
 Robert's ; a woman who had chosen for herself a life part- 
 ner, and who would, in seven weeks more, be his brother's 
 wife ! 
 
 He thought all this over, without the change of a muscle 
 or an audible sigh. His will was strong, and his pride stub- 
 born ; himself one of the men who can meet death, however 
 horrible its form, with a steady or smiling front, if it be 
 proved to be inevitable, and there are others looking on to 
 mark how they sustain the trial. 
 
 His voice, cheery and unfaltering, ended the protracted 
 pause. 
 
 " Ah, well, aunty, you and I need not stay here to em- 
 barrass the movements of the rightful master and mistress 
 of this establishment. Greenfield is a dear and lovely spot 
 to us both, but duty and expediency unite in forbidding my 
 longer residence here. Maple Hill is sadly in want of a 
 tenant, and I have always looked forward to a settlement 
 of myself and worldly goods there when I should be ready 
 to begin life in earnest. But I cannot keep house by my- 
 self, you know. It would be a doleful and disgraceful Bach 
 elor's Hall, that would cause you to disown me forever. I 
 mvist have somebody to scold the maids, to pour out my
 
 20 COLCNEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 coffee and lecture me occasionally. You will not mind the 
 change of home so much as if I invited you to be my com- 
 panion in a strange neighborhood and unfamiliar house, will 
 you ?" 
 
 " I was born there, lived there until your mother and 
 grandfather died, and your father begged me to come here 
 and take charge of you boys !" 
 
 A tear found its way from beneath the spectacles. 
 
 "And you have no idea what an exemplary character I 
 mean to become," pursued Aleck. " Not quite so good as 
 Robin, to be sure, but a very decorous and decent young 
 man, notwithstanding beard and meerschaum." 
 
 Miss Ruth smiled up at him affectionately. Scapegrace 
 though she was often obliged to consider him, he had ever been 
 her favorite of her adopted children; and the vision of an 
 independent home with him was far more pleasant, more in 
 consonance with her tastes, than the thought of resigning 
 the insignia of authority, i. e., the keybasket, into the hands 
 of Robert's wife, and the meek acceptance of a secondary 
 position in the court where she had reigned supreme for 
 upwards of twenty years. 
 
 " You were always kind-hearted and generous, Aleck ! 
 one of the sort whose worst side is the outside. I hope 
 you'll get a good wife of your own some day." 
 
 " Don't trouble your brain with such useless wishes and 
 unprofitable imaginings, aunty! I do not! Why! it is 
 ten o'clock ! Is Robert generally so late in returning from 
 court ?" 
 
 " No ! Fm afraid he went home with Colonel Floyd ! 
 He often does. It is naturally har,d work for him, now he 
 is in lore, to pass the Belleview gate on his road, especially 
 when he thinks tl.at there is nobody here but me, and knows 
 that I am uevcr lonesome. We had not an idea of seeing 
 you for a fortnight to come. How stupid and selfish it was
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 21 
 
 in me not to think sooner of sending a boy to the colonel' a 
 to inquire if he was there. But, you see, I kept expecting 
 him every minute." 
 
 " Exactly ! I understand ! I am glad your after-thought 
 came so late. I would not have him disturbed from his 
 present agreeable quarters on my account. You think that 
 he will not be home to-night, then ?" 
 
 "Hardly. He usually stays at the colonel's all night 
 when he goes there from court. I suppose that, like most 
 other courting couples, they sit up till past midnight, and he 
 doesn't like to trouble me by coming in so late. I should 
 think they would have talked it all out before this time, but 
 that is always the way. Engaged people never seem at a 
 loss what to say to one another." 
 
 " Theirs is a theme which is exhaustless, until after mor- 
 riage !" said Aleck, yawning and rising. " I feel tired after 
 my journey, and it is already long past your bed-time. 
 Good-night !" 
 
 His chamber was the same he had shared with Robert 
 until their separation, two years before ; the same in which 
 he had lain, helpless and suffering, during the weeks that fol- 
 lowed the accident already described. There was a bright 
 fire on the hearth ; his mother's picture, the object of his 
 boyish idolatry, still smiled down at him from its place 
 above the mantel ; every article of the old familiar furniture 
 was endeared to him by its associations of a happy childhood 
 and joyous, hopeful youth, yet the place was inexpressibly 
 cheerless and desolate ; awoke a sensation of homesickness, 
 more acute than any he had felt in the way-side inns of for- 
 eign lands. 
 
 He looked through the window. The moon shone with 
 fitful lustre between flying clouds ; the high autumn wind 
 roared through a pine-grove to the right of the house, and 
 tore showers of leaves from other trees the dismantled
 
 22 COLONEL FLOYD S WAED8. 
 
 boughs groaning in every fibre as they gave up their summer 
 treasures. It was a weird, dreary night to a solitary and sad 
 watcher, whether his lonely vigil were kept above a dead 
 form or a dead hope ; a night to make friends draw closer the 
 ring surrounding the social blaze, and talk more earnestly 
 and frankly ; a night to cause lovers to cling more nearly and 
 fondly to one another, to feel, as they had never done before, 
 the warmth and blessedness and glory of that heart sunshine 
 which beamed the fairer for the rush and crash of outward 
 storms. 
 
 " This is my welcome home !" 
 
 He left his look-out ; went to a trunk which, with the rest 
 of his baggage, stood against the wall, unstrapped and open- 
 ed it, and took from its depths a pretty casket. The lid of 
 this was raised, and a subtle perfume stole through the apart- 
 ment the odor of rose-leaves. Then, the entire contents 
 of the box were emptied upon the table : notes, dried flowers, 
 a knot of blue ribbon lastly, a lady's cambric handkerchief, 
 with dark-red stains upon it. With this, the rude compress 
 of moss and bruised herbs had been bound upon his shoulder 
 on that memorable day. One corner bore a name. He tore 
 this off and threw it into the fire, turning his back that he 
 might not see it burn ; the rest, cambric, papers, withered 
 stalks and petals, were rent into small bits, not impatiently, 
 but carefully, deliberately, as one performs a solemn duty, 
 re-collected and returned to the casket. The November 
 blast screamed hoarsely past his ear as he lifted the sash. 
 In a second it caught the pile of fragments ; whirled them 
 aloft ; dashed them downwards ; scattered them far and 
 wide over plain, hill, and grove. 
 
 " So let it be !" was all Aleck said, as he lowered the 
 window.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WAED8. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THERE was no lack of cheerful company in Colonel 
 Floyd's parlor that evening. The colonel himself read the 
 papers he had taken from the post-office in the afternoon 
 seated by a round stand at the warmest corner of the fire- 
 place. So real was his absorbed interest in the sheet he 
 held, that his presence imposed less restraint than it was 
 wont to exert upon the innocent hilarity of the junior por- 
 tion of the party. He had enjoyed in his younger days the 
 reputation of being the handsomest man, the best rider, and 
 most graceful dancer in the county ; and the years which 
 had frosted his hair, and made rigid the once flexible lines 
 of his face, had not bowed the stately form, robbed the eye 
 of its fire, or the limbs of their strength. He looked proud 
 and resolute, and he was both of these, and more, proud, 
 with a haughtiness that inspired dislike and fear, rather than 
 respect ; arrogant and overbearing to an extent which made 
 him popular throughout the region where he would have 
 ruled with absolute sway. In his family, he was an auto- 
 crat; upon his plantation, a despot, whose laws were 
 Draconian in severity; everywhere, in theory and in prac- 
 tice, he was an aristocrat of the sternest type. It was a com- 
 mon saying among the working classes, that it was almost as 
 much as a poor man's life was worth, to press Colonel Floyd 
 for the payment of a just debt ; yet no tradesman or me- 
 chanic durst refuse him unlimited credit. It is a sight that 
 may be seen every day in other communities, North, East
 
 2-1 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 and West, where the feudal system has never prevailed JM 
 it did at the date of our tale, in this old Potomac county of 
 Maryland, I mean the supremacy accorded to a single in- 
 dividual by those, his equals and betters in all respects 
 merely because he, out of the pride and mightiness of his 
 inflated heart, chooses to proclaim himself a prince and a 
 lord over them. Some of those whom he counts his vassals 
 are too indolent, others too cowardly, others still too amiable, 
 to dispute his reign, and, unchecked, he flaunts his dictator- 
 ship in the eyes of his amused or disgusted fellow-citizens, 
 until a Tyrant, stronger and grimmer yet than he, forces 
 him to discharge the last humiliating debt of Nature ; 
 proves him to have been, after all his pomp of place and cir- 
 cumstance, but common clay. 
 
 The Floyds had, from their family seat of Belleview, 
 governed the adjacent county for three generations back; 
 and distasteful as was the bearing of the present proprietor 
 to his wellborn, well-bred, and wealthy neighbors, they 
 never thwarted, very rarely contradicted him. Behind his 
 back, he was stigmatized as violent, unscrupulous, and dissi- 
 pated a roue and a gambler; a bully and a swindler; yet, 
 not one of his uncomplimentary friends ever thought of 
 testifying his disapproval of a course so disreputable by de- 
 clining the hospitalities of Belleview, and obliging his wife 
 and daughters to do the same ; none withheld from him the 
 grasping hand and hearty salutation of delighted civility; 
 few there were who did not feel and express themselves as 
 pleased and honored by his visits to their houses. 
 
 Upon the opposite side of the hearth was Mrs. Floyd, 
 mild, inane, and faded, as might have been predicted of the 
 sweet-tempered, spiritless beauty and heiress, who had, at 
 eighteen, wedded this imperious partner. She feared her 
 husband, loved her children, and found her chief pleasurei 
 in housekeeping, gardening, and th participat'on in an occa
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 25 
 
 sional weak and innocuous dish of gossip with some con- 
 genial visitor. At the period of her marriage, she had 
 represented several ciphers, prefaced by a more important 
 figure, and these, it was surmised, had formed her principal 
 recommendation, malgre her bright eyes and peachy 
 ulooi.a, in the sight of the bridegroom. But beneath his 
 hot, hasty fingers, the sum of which she was the sign and 
 seal had melted away, until the total and her consequence 
 to her spouse had dwindled, in a like proportion, to a for- 
 lorn 0. Yet they maintained the state they had borne when 
 cash was plenty, and houses nor lands were overshadowed 
 by cumbering mortgages. In mansion and farm and sta- 
 bles, there was no symptom of the decay of wealth or gen- 
 tility. People said that they were going down hill, while 
 all agreed that, during the colonel's lifetime, his family 
 would never be allowed to soil their dainty feet with the 
 mud ; that to those, reared as they had been, lies a dread 
 and hopeless quagmire, filthy and unfathomable, in the vale 
 of Poverty. As for Mrs. Floyd, it may be safely affirmed 
 that the idea of such a descent, the bare prospect or possibil- 
 ity of this terrific fall, had never occurred to her mind. 
 
 She was half dozing now over a knitted edging she was 
 manufacturing of fine spool cotton a vacant smile upon 
 her features, a meaningless smirk, that was supposed to in- 
 dicate excessive amiability, which brightened mechanically, 
 as, how and then, a merry out-burst from the group of 
 young people reached her drowsy senses. This was her 
 usual style of entertaining her nieces' visitors. 
 
 This group, consisting of six persons, three ladies and a 
 corresponding number of gentlemen, were gathered about 
 a table in the middle of the large room, engaged, evidently 
 to their own most lively gratification, in the game of " Con- 
 sequences." The table was littered with the folded slip* of 
 paper, so well known to the lovers of the play, and each
 
 20 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WAKD8. 
 
 one held a pencil. The member of the little band who 
 would sooiiest have attracted the notice of a stranger, was 
 Lily Calvert, the younger of Colonel Floyd's wards, and 
 his owu niece. Her chair was set in the full glare of the 
 lamp that lighted the scribblers in their employment. 
 She was nearly nineteen years of age, but not taller than 
 many girls are at ten, with pale gold curls floating loosely 
 upon her shoulders; exquisitely shaped and extremely 
 small feet and hands; large, melancholy blue eyes, with 
 drooping fringes, and a voice clear and sweet as that 
 of a bird. But her complexion, to which she owed her 
 pet name, now the only one by which she was ever 
 called, formed the marked peculiarity of her appear- 
 ance. It was white as the purest wax ; never warmed by 
 a tinge of color, whatever were her feelings ; and her lips 
 had, usually, a bluish tinge. The most obstinate unbeliever 
 in the reality of such phenomena could not, in surveying 
 her, help crediting the explanation of this one, commonly 
 reported among those who were conversant with the family 
 history. 
 
 Egbert Calvert had married Colonel Floyd's only sister, 
 and settled with her upon the estate bequeathed to her by 
 her father. One night, less than a year from the wedding- 
 day, he was brought home a corpse, stark, cold, and bloody, 
 having been picked up from the roadside by some belated 
 passers-by. He had not a known enemy in the world ; no 
 man was more popular and respected, and, in the absence of 
 all testimony tending to prove human agency in producing 
 his death, the ghastly cut upon the back of his head, which 
 had crushed in the skull, was somewhat lamely accounted 
 for by the supposition that his horse a fiery and imper 
 fectly broken colt, had thrown him with violence against 
 the rocky road on which he was lying when found. The 
 poor wife never smiled again ; seldom spoke a voluntary
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 27 
 
 word after recovering from the swoon into which she fell 
 at the fatal spectacle ; but it was not until Lily's birth that 
 she manifested unmistakable signs of derangement. Luna- 
 cy was not reckoned a disgrace in this patrician community. 
 On the contrary, its frequent appearance in the best, that 
 is to say, the wealthiest and proudest classes, caused it to 
 be recognized as an aristocratic complaint, produced,' as it 
 undoubtedly was, by the need of an admixture of fresh, new 
 blood with the thin, blue current cousin had poured into 
 cousin's veins, from one generation to another, for a hun- 
 dred years and more. The Floyds had, like the rest of 
 those who plumed themselves upon being of " good old 
 stock," been pertinacious in the practice of intermarriage. 
 Grandfather, father, and son had espoused first cousins, and 
 the State Asylum was the more populous by reason of their 
 adherence to ancient customs. 
 
 So Charlotte Calvert, bereaved of husband, and, more 
 mercifully, of reason, was consigned by her affectionate 
 relatives to the safe and comfortable retreat where others 
 of her race were enjoying a peaceful home ; her brother 
 assumed the control of her property, as guardian of her 
 child and trustee for herself, and Mrs. Floyd opened her 
 motherly arms to the worse than orphaned babe. She had 
 no daughters of her own, had been, as the phrase is, " un- 
 fortunate" in her children. Her eldest boy was born an 
 idiot, and, at the time of our story, was an inmate of the 
 same asylum in which his aunt, Mrs. Calvert, was confined. 
 The second, a beautiful, intelligent child, lived to be two 
 years old, and was then snatched from her within a day 
 after the commencement of the disorder by an attack of 
 croup ; the third, a girl, died a few hours after its birth. 
 This event occurred almost simultaneously with the little 
 Lily's advent, and the latter gained, by means of this asso- 
 ciation and her own sad helplessness of condition, such a
 
 28 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 hold upon the heart of her foster-mother, that the subse- 
 quent arrival of four sons, three of whom were still alive, 
 could not dispossess her of the first place in the good lady's 
 affections. Her uncle did not pet her ; he never petted any 
 thing, not even his most valued racer; but neither did he 
 eoold and rebuff and cuff her, as it was his habit to treat 
 his own offspring, and thus she grew to regard herself, and 
 to be regarded by others, as a favorite with him. She was a 
 spoiled child from the beginning of her existence ; but more 
 self-indulgent than selfish ; exacting of notice and love, and 
 disposed to be jealous of superior attentions bestowed upon 
 others ; yet it was so natural to admire and humor her ; 
 she was so pretty and petite, and her na'ive, winning ways 
 so like those of a gleeful, graceful little girl, that it was not 
 often she had reason to complain of being overlooked. 
 
 Her supporters on either hand at the table were Tom 
 Shore and Junius Dickson, beaux from the vicinity, who 
 had made this their halting-place on the way homewards 
 from the county ceurt-house quite a fashionable practice 
 with the young men for twenty miles around. Facing her 
 sat Virginia Shore, Tom's sister, an intimate friend of the 
 cousins and a gay-spirited rattle ; next her, Robert Lay, 
 and beside him, his betrothed, Helen Gardner, looking very 
 much as Aleck's yearning heart was then picturing her in 
 his fireside visions, only with a richer maturity, a ripeness 
 of womanhood upon her, that Miss Ruth may have had in 
 her mind, when she essayed to describe the change that had 
 taken place in the girl since her engagement. Robert was 
 a trifle shorter than his brother, but still a well-made, tall 
 figure, with pleasant hazel eyes, light hair, clear com- 
 plexion, a mouth that betokened sweetness of disposition 
 and delicate sensibilities, a voice at once manly and gentle, 
 and a full, curling auburn beard. He was a handsome 
 fellow; companionable to a charm; easy-tempered to a
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 29 
 
 fault ; and universally beloved by high and low. By unani- 
 mous acclamation, he was chosen reader of the party ; and 
 in his manner of collecting the folded slips, as each writer 
 pronounced his or hers ready, there was a frank, smiling 
 courtesy, so natural and customary with him, that he was 
 unaware of its manifestation, but which wrought its effect 
 upon those he addressed. 
 
 " Are you ready, Miss Helen ?" he said to his right-hand 
 neighbor, when all the others had given in their contribu- 
 tions. 
 
 " Not quite ! I am stupid to-night !" 
 
 "I believe you are!" retorted Lily, with a slight spice 
 of pettishness in her manner. " You have been behindhand 
 in every round. If you will write what you are dreaming 
 about it will interest us, I have no doubt." 
 
 "Never mind! There is time enough, and to spare," 
 observed Robert, kindly, as Helen bent down, her face 
 crimsoning with shame or impatience, and scribbled away 
 desperately at the limited space remaining for her to fill. 
 
 He pretended, further to relieve her, to be busied in 
 sorting the narrow strips of paper deposited in his care. 
 
 "There!" Helen pushed hers towards him, and threw 
 herself back in her chair. " My invention is exhausted ! I 
 shall retire at the next round." 
 
 " Do as I do, and write whatever nonsense first occurs 
 to you," replied young Lay. "I should never progress 
 beyond a single line if I attempted to be brilliant !" 
 
 The game of " Consequences," I may as well state, for 
 the information of those who, from the misfortune of 
 ignorance, or the wilfulness of superior wisdom to such 
 frivolous amusements, need enlightenment upon the subject, 
 is conducted after this wise. A half sheet of note-paper is 
 furnished to each person who desires to take part in the 
 entertainment, and he or she writes at the top of this a
 
 30 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 character or personal description applicable to a lady as 
 ".the fair and witty," or the " homely and shrewish" folds 
 this down so carefully that no part of the writing is visible, 
 and passes it to the one sitting next the said him or her, on 
 one side, receiving at the same moment a similarly prepared 
 page from the neighbor on the other hand. Next comes 
 the lady's name, usually that of some friend or acquaintance 
 of the writer ; then, a description masculine, and a name ; 
 the place of meeting ; what he said, and her reply ; the con- 
 sequence of the interview, and, as a finale, the world's opin- 
 ion upon the matter. The best fun of the performance is 
 the marvellous and oftentimes ludicrous coherence of the 
 narrative, written piece-meal by so many hands, each scribe 
 being perfectly ignorant of a single word that precedes his 
 own addition to the story. There were a few blushes and a 
 great deal of laughter upon the present occasion, as various 
 good hits and strikingly appropriate allusions were given to 
 the auditors in the reader's best style. 
 
 At length came a tale that awoke different sensations in 
 the breasts of all, that was felt acutely by at least one mem- 
 ber of the company : 
 
 " The graceful and winning Miss Lily Calvert and the re- 
 fined and chivalrous Mr. Robert Lay met in Colonel Floyd's 
 parlor. He said, 
 
 " ' How happy could I be with either, 
 Were t'other dear charmer awayl' 
 
 " She answered, weepingly, 
 
 '"The moon looks on many brooks ; 
 The brook sees but one moon.' 
 
 "The consequence was, that the loss of her wits followed 
 upon that of her heart, and his comfort and happiness wera 
 not at all damaged thereby. The world said ' Poor thing J 
 what else could have been anticipated from her antece 
 dents P "
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 31 
 
 One or two tried to raise a spasmodic laugh, and nobody 
 looked at Lily, whose forced mirth jarred upon every ear, 
 while her taper fingers interlaced each other tightly on tho 
 table. 
 
 " Bah !" said Helen. " That is the flattest thing we hav 
 "heard yet ! Give us another, if you please, Mr. Lay." 
 
 No one, unless it were himself, in their private interviews, 
 ever heard her call him "Robert" now-a-days. 
 
 "This looks racy!" remarked he, catching a glimpse of 
 the names heading the one he was unfolding. 
 
 " The witty and accomplished Miss Helen Gardner, and 
 the learned but cynical Mr. Alexander Lay, met behind a 
 turkey-blind. He said * False as fair ! did you not plight 
 your troth to me ? Was not this ring the seal ?' She said 
 'Alas ! it is too late ! They told me you loved another !' 
 The consequence was that she married his brother, and he 
 lived and died a crusty, rusty, fusty old bachelor. The 
 world said 'It is dangerous, this playing with edge- 
 tools !' " 
 
 Robert's smile was free of all unpleasant meaning, as he 
 flashed a merry glance at his betrothed. 
 
 " Reefs ahead !" he said, in a playful " aside," inaudible to 
 others, amidst the chattering that succeeded the reading of 
 this, the last paper. "I must be on the look-out! You 
 know that we expect this dangerous rival of mine in the 
 course of a week or two, do you not ?" 
 
 " No I had not heard ! Let me look at that nonsense !" 
 
 She took the slip he was twisting between his fingers, 
 perused it scrutinizingly, probably to assure herself that no 
 two sentences were penned by the same individual, cast it 
 down contemptuously upon the pile with the rest, arose, 
 and left the room. 
 
 The entrance of a servant with a tray of refreshments di- 
 verted the attention of the others, and Robert was not long
 
 32 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 in finding and improving a favorable opportunity for follow- 
 ing Helen. They often met, when there was company in 
 the parlor, in the dining-room just across the hall, where the 
 fire was never suffered to go out in cold weather ; and since 
 he had signified to her, earlier in the evening, his wish to see 
 her alone by-and-by, it argued no unreasonable vanity on 
 his part that he fully expected to find her there awaiting 
 him. But the room was deserted. The fire had been re- 
 cently replenished, doubtless by some sagacious servant, in 
 anticipation of the conference he hoped for, and the ruddy 
 shine showed him distinctly every object in the spacious 
 apartment. An unlighted candle was on the table ; twp 
 comfortable chairs Avere set in affectionate and suggestive 
 proximity to one another, in front of the hearth. 
 
 " She will be in presently !" was his mental comment upon 
 the disappointment, and he sat down to bide her pleasure or 
 convenience. 
 
 Five ten fifteen minutes went by, and while he chafed 
 less at the delay than a more irritable man would have done, 
 he yet experienced a growing and disagreeable sentiment 
 of impatience. 
 
 " At last !" 
 
 Footsteps approached along the corridor. He stood up 
 to welcome the late-comer, with no intention of offering her 
 a reproach, or even a remonstrance. True gallant that he was, 
 he never thought of assailing her with such. If he were her 
 knight, he was her vassal likewise ; bowed to her will in glad 
 humility, as in courtly grace. His countenance changed as 
 he listened. Helen's light foot never trod the floor with that 
 lazy shuffle; nor was it her habit, even in the days when she 
 " used to be so wild," to proclaim her coming by whistliug 
 " Possum up a gum-tree, 
 Raccoon in a hollow." 
 
 Bat it was a melodious whistle, and deftly executed ; tLo
 
 COLONEL FLOYD T S WARDS. 33 
 
 original melody being artistically varied by fantastic trills 
 and cadenzas ; and it was a good-humored face which was 
 illumined by the candle borne in the intruder's hand. 
 
 " Beg pardon, Mars' Robert ! Come for Marster heavy 
 boots ! He want 'em, byme by !" 
 
 He was a negro lad of fourteen or thereabouts boot- 
 black, errand-boy, and assistant waiter ; a knowing, saucy 
 imp, who stood in awe of but two living creatures, his mas- 
 ter and his father. 
 
 "Dey ain't in here, arter all!" he ejaculated, in well-feign- 
 ed surprise, having made an exploration of all unlikely and 
 impossible hiding-places for the required articles, such as the 
 sideboard, knife-box, and plate-warmer. " Dat's too bad !" 
 
 " I saw a pair in the hall when I came through just now," 
 Baid Robert, whose instinct it was to help every one, no 
 matter how lowly his station, out of trouble, whatever might 
 be its nature. 
 
 " Thank you, stir ! I'm obleeged to you !" 
 
 He halted, in backing towards the door, as if just struck by 
 an idea. 
 
 "If you please, Mars' Robert, would you mind asking 
 Miss Helen if she will have a fire made up in de office ? It's 
 cold for her to be a-settin' thar to-night and damp besides. 
 To be sure, the chimbly has what you may call a 'different 
 deliverer, and does smoke pretty bad for a while arter the 
 fire is kindled but, ef she likes to set thar, she ought to 
 have one, and I'm 'tirely at hur survice ef you'd be so kin 
 as to say so to hur, sur !" 
 
 " I will ! Here, Gabriel !" 
 
 He tossed the boy a coin, which was caught dexterously 
 and, without advancing to hear the profusion of thanks that 
 ensued upon the receipt of the gift, Robert entered the long, 
 dark hall by which Gabriel had come to the dining-room* 
 This led to a wing of the building which was mostly taken
 
 3-i COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 np by store-rooms and closets, and at the farther end by 
 what was termed " the office." Not that any of the Floyds 
 had ever professed to practise law or medicine, unless it had 
 been some obscure younger son, whose very name had 
 passed away from family traditions.. No one now upon the 
 earth knew from what usage or circumstance the apartment 
 had derived its name only, it had always been called " the 
 office" within the memory of this generation, and innova- 
 tions upon former customs were not popular in the con- 
 nection. There were scores of ancient volumes, with yellow 
 pages and worm-eaten bindings, packed into two book-cases 
 on different sides of the room ; in one corner was an anti- 
 quated spinet, its keys dumb or discordant, its gayly orna- 
 mented top cracked and defaced ; in another a dusty spin- 
 ning-wheel, minus a leg, leaned against the wall. There 
 were chairs in various stages of dilapidation legless, back- 
 less, and bottomless ; and a spindle-shanked, rickety table 
 or two; a general flavor of mustiness and cobwebs, the chil- 
 liness of a vault and the choking dryness of a disused garret 
 pervading all. 
 
 Any thing more ill-suited to be the bower selected by 
 beauty for lovers' tryst could hardly be imagined, yet Robert 
 Lay saw and thought of nothing except the figure that start- 
 ed back from the moonlighted window, as he unclosfed the 
 creaking door. He spoke promptly, to reassure her. 
 
 "Nelly! -Darling! why are you here all alone?" 
 ,No answer ; but there was light enough for him to per- 
 ceive her further recoil into the darkness behind her ; to 
 note the drooping head and arms crossed upon her breast. 
 
 "Are you unhappy? Is there any thing which I can do 
 for you ? Or, had you rather I should not interrupt you at 
 present?" he pursued, not offering to advance from his 
 position at the entrance. 
 
 " No ! no !" she laughed, and came forward to meet him
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 35 
 
 "This is my old Cave of Melancholy the grotto of Tropho- 
 nius; ray chosen resort in my earlier and more haughty 
 days. Oh ! the tears that have watered these dusty boards ! 
 the bursts of angry and pathetic declamation to which these 
 stained walls have lent patient ears ! But you see I can 
 langh now in reviewing those my callow days !" 
 
 Robert was not deceived by this show of high spirits. 
 He had taken her hand and drawn her to the window, while 
 she was speaking. Her cheeks were flushed, her hand hot 
 in his. 
 
 " And the naughty world has dared to use you ill again, 
 has it, although you are now a full-fledged bird ?" 
 
 "Did I say so?" she asked, in quick evasion. 
 
 " I infer as much, from finding you in the depths of your 
 sorrowful grotto." 
 
 " Oh ! my visit to-night was a whim. Not that I have 
 not had a touch of the blues all day " 
 
 "I have observed this evening, that you were hardly 
 in your usual spirits a trifle below concert pitch, I should 
 say. "Will you not let me share your trouble or annoyance ? 
 relieve it, if I can?" 
 
 He ventured to steal his arm around her ! the love and 
 sympathy depicted in his countenance were plainly to be 
 read by the brightness of the moonbeams, pouring over 
 them at that instant. She did not repel him, albeit she was 
 generally shy of caresses from her betrothed. She even 
 looked up, as his soothing, lovefull accents saluted her ears ; 
 then, meeting that eloquent gaze, burst into a stormy flood 
 of tears, and buried her face in her hands. 
 
 " Robert ! Robert ! if 1 could only tell you all !" 
 
 " Perhaps that ' all' is not so profound a secret to me as 
 you imagine, dearest !" 
 
 He clasped her more firmly, as she would have started 
 from his side.
 
 36 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 " Love's eyes are very keen, and mine have discerned 
 much that you, from an overstrained, unreasonable sense of 
 Honor, would have concealed," 
 
 Her sobbing had ceased, but her head was bowed more 
 lowly still, and she trembled violently. 
 
 " In this respect, and in this alone, I have been disposed to 
 accuse you of injustice to me, Nelly. "When I gave you my 
 love, or, to speak more accurately, when you accepted it 
 for I cannot remember the time when my heart was not 
 yours ! when you accepted my love, I gave you my whole 
 confidence, and entreated that you should be equally unre- 
 served with me. While I cannot fail to admire and appre- 
 ciate the delicacy that has restrained you upon this point, 
 fof it is both a difficult and a delicate matter to bring a 
 charge of unworthiness against one who is so nearly re- 
 lated " 
 
 She threw off his arm ; raised a pale, haughty face, whose 
 flashing eyes fairly appalled him. 
 
 " You are laboring under a strange misapprehension, Mr. 
 Lay ! I have no accusation of any kind, certainly none of 
 unworthiness, to bring against the person of whom you 
 speak. Your "information is utterly incorrect, or your im- 
 agination has wandered wildly, if you believe the contrary." 
 
 " Nelly !" articulated the astonished lover, " listen to me ! 
 It is not my imagination that wanders now. Surely, the 
 bond whiph unites you to him who hopes, in less than two 
 months, to call you his wife, is as strong as that binding you 
 to Colonel Floyd your guardian, indeed, but merely your 
 uncle-in-law ! I ask your forgiveness, if I have erred in sup- 
 posing that this house was an uncongenial home, from which 
 you have often longed to escape ; if I have fancied that Col- 
 onel Floyd was, at times, a harsh, and, to one of your dispo- 
 sition, an unwelcome protector. But, while sympathizing 
 with you in the many trials you bear so beautifully, I do not
 
 37 
 
 pretend to deny that, out of this bitterness, has sprung some 
 Bweetness to me. I have loved to picture to myself how 
 different shall be your daily life when you are all mine, the 
 queen of my home, partner of my fortunes, as you are now 
 of my affections. Again let me entreat your pardon, if I 
 La- e offended or grieved you by this my first allusion to a 
 subject concerning which you have heretofore avoided speak- 
 ing. But, my pet does it not seem preposterous in us, 
 situated as we are, to cherish these foolish, petty re- 
 serves ?" 
 
 "It is I who should sne for your forgiveness. I was 
 petulant, unjust! I did not understand you! Will you 
 pardon me ?" 
 
 His answer was a fervent kiss upon the hand she ex- 
 tended. 
 
 " It is as you have said !" she continued, in the same al- 
 tered tone gentle pleading almost humble. "This has 
 never been a happy home to me. I will be as frank as you 
 can desire upon this theme; will discard the reserve you 
 deem foolish and childish. My aunt is kind and means well. 
 She could not treat any thing unkindly, you know ; but al- 
 though my father was her brother, she loves Lily far better 
 than she does her niece by blood. I try to please and to be 
 dutiful to her ; I am sincerely grateful for all she has done 
 for me ; but she and Lily assimilate more nearly to one 
 another than she and I ever can." 
 
 " I understand !" Robert smiled, a little queerly a gleam 
 that was not complimentary to Mrs. Floyd's favorite. 
 
 " I do not murmur at this," added Helen. " I have never 
 experienced a moment's jealousy of Lily. She is lovely and 
 engaging, and was born to win affection. She used to call 
 me her sister, and seemed to esteem me as such ; yet she 
 has changed greatly within the past six months. She does 
 not mean to be unjust; still, she treats me coldly, and will
 
 38 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 assign no reason for the revolution in her feelings or man 
 ner. Colonel Floyd, my uncle, never professed any re 
 gard for me ; in fact, I have seen, from the time I came to 
 live here, that he disliked me. He is more irritable now 
 than ever before sometimes says things that are very hard 
 to bear. Oh, Robert ! but for you I should be driven to 
 the belief that I have not the power of retaining the love of 
 any one ! The scanty share of this, Life's best gift, which 
 Providence ever bestowed upon me, seems all to have slipped 
 away. Nobody cares for me now nobody !" 
 
 She wrung her hands and moaned much. 
 
 It was a moment of the most exquisite pain the listener 
 ever endured. Blest rich beyond all possibility of spirit- 
 need in the consciousness of possessing her affection, he 
 could not comprehend this agony of poverty of which she 
 complained. He would fain have hoped to fill her heart, 
 if not so full as she had his, yet, so well as to leave her no 
 cause for such repinings. Repressing the expostulation he 
 felt would be selfish and cruel, he told her anew, in words 
 whose fervor was not diminished by the sadness in which 
 they were uttered, of his devotion, single and entire ; his 
 trust that coming years had in reserve for her, sunshine that 
 should beguile her into forgetfulness of the gloomy Past. 
 
 She heard him with calming pulses and more composed 
 mien. Presently, the bowed face was uplifted, and her e/es 
 sought his again a look that was reverence, admiration 
 was it love ? So it seemed to his sanguine apprehension, as 
 he laid the unresisting head upon his breast, and bent to the 
 still quivering lips. 
 
 " My own Nelly ! my precious Love ! my Wife /" 
 
 A cloud, crossing the moon's disc, wrapped every thing in 
 obscurity for some moments. The room was upon th 
 ground floor, the window-sill low, and, as the moonlight 
 broke forth again and suddenly, there fell upon, or between
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 39 
 
 the lovers, the shadow of a man a long, dark figure, with 
 a gun in its hand. 
 
 Helen started, with a terrified ejaculation. 
 
 " Hush !" whispered Robert, smiling. " You know who 
 His?" 
 
 " Yfts but it was so unexpected ! so like an evil thing ! 
 Come back here, where he -cannot see you! He may look 
 in." 
 
 " What if he does ?" returned the young gentleman, 
 bravely. " I hope he will be edified by the spectacle !" 
 
 But he retired into the shade of the interior of the apart- 
 ment at her reiterated entreaty. 
 
 The master of the mansion, for he was the startling ap- 
 parition, remained motionless and sentry-like, his back to- 
 wards the window, for perhaps three minutes, when his 
 shadow was joined by another, shorter, stouter, and less 
 erect. This belonged to his only confidential servant, the 
 head man in the field, and sub-manager of the estate, a 
 negro named Booker, who was sire to the redoubtable Ga- 
 briel, and to the rest of the slaves not only a taskmaster, 
 exacting and pitiless, but a veritable tyrant, a meet tool in 
 the hands of his unscrupulous owner. He, too, had his 
 weapon, a thick cowhide, and, after a brief conference, the 
 pair moved on. 
 
 " Do you patrol your plantation in person ?" questioned 
 Helen, abruptly. 
 
 " Neither in person, nor by proxy ! On the contrary, 1 
 have never permitted any patrolling gang to enter or search 
 my servants' quarters, except upon very rare occasions, 
 when they had a warrant to examine my premises, togethei 
 with those of others in the neighborhood, for stolen prop 
 erty." 
 
 " I am very glad ! I cannot describe to you the sensa- 
 tions of disgust and dread which I experience, whenever I
 
 40 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAJBUS. 
 
 happen to espy those two upon their nightly round. They 
 go at irregular hours, sometimes as early as nine o'clock, 
 at others not until midnight, that they may take trespassers 
 by surprise. Every person is expected to be in his cabin by 
 ten, and if a visitor be discovered, he is peremptorily order- 
 ed off if he has a pass punished if he has not. You must 
 have heard that Colonel Floyd shot a poor fellow, one of 
 the Reverdy servants, last year ?" 
 
 " I did ! But he caught him thieving, did he not ? That 
 is the popular version of the transaction." 
 
 "That was the story set in circulation to palliate the act, 
 for Mr. Reverdy is not a man to submit to wanton injury, 
 as Colonel Floyd well knows. But the facts of the case are 
 just these : The negro who was shot, a very decent, well- 
 behaved young fellow, was in love with Sally, my maid. 
 For some reason, best known to himself, Colonel Floyd con- 
 ceived a dislike for him, and forbade his coming upon the 
 plantation, ' with his master's permission or without.' I was 
 aware that they still met clandestinely, in spite of this pro- 
 hibition, and several times warned Sally of the danger they 
 incurred by so doing. One night they were straying along 
 the edge of the melon-patch, when Colonel Floyd hailed 
 them by name, and demanded what they were doing there. 
 The girl ran one way, the man another. Unfortunately, 
 he went directly across the field of melons. When midway, 
 he was fired at and severely wounded. Appearances sup- 
 ported the statement of his pursuers Booker was in attend- 
 ance upon his master that he was in the act of purloining 
 the melons, and ' on the side of his oppressor there was 
 power.' Poor Sally! it nearly killed her! She is a good 
 girl, and sincerely attached to Thomas, her admirer." 
 
 " We will make up the match again, and give them- a 
 grand wedding at Greenfield, when Christmas is over," was 
 the reply. "Would you be very seriously afflicted if some
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 41 
 
 evil-minded or careless hunter were to shoot me in like 
 manner, wing me, as a certain fair damsel of my acquaint- 
 ance once served poor Aleck ?" 
 
 " Don't, please !" she begged, in a tone whose distress 
 touched, while it flattered him. 
 
 " I am a selfish dog 1 inconsiderate and unkind, to permit 
 you to stay in this cold vault of a place so long !" he said, 
 anxiously. " Your hands are like two icicles, and you are 
 positively shivering ! There is a fire in the dining-room, and 
 I want to read you Aleck's last letter. Won't he be over- 
 whelmed by the pleasant surprise we have in store for 
 him ?" 
 
 " Do you mean that you have never told him " 
 
 "That we were engaged ? Never! It was hard work to 
 keep the delightful secret, but I could not do the subject 
 justice upon paper, and then again I owed him a Roland for 
 the Oliver he gave me, in writing the pretty tale of his Ger- 
 man betrothal to Aunt Ruth, and never whispering it to me ! 
 He ought to be shot for the trick the dear old fellow P 
 
 It was at this moment the shower of paper fragments was 
 given to the bitter wind. The brothers each took his last 
 look at the stormy moonlight at the same time.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HELEN GARDNER sat sewing with her maid, in her chamber 
 upon the following day, when Virginia Shore and Lily burst 
 in upon her quiet. They had just returned from a shopping 
 expedition to the neighboring hamlet, dignified by the name 
 of a village. 
 
 " Guess who has come at last !" 
 
 " Whom do you think we met at the Post Office !" they 
 cried in concert. 
 
 " The queen of England, or a peer of the realm at the 
 very least, if one may judge from the state into which the 
 encounter has thrown you both !" responded Helen, with pro- 
 voking coolness. 
 
 " Pshaw ! nonsense ! make a real guess !" insisted Virginia. 
 
 " The Great Mogul, or the Emperor of Timbuctoo pos- 
 sibly, the Lord High Chamberlain of her majesty, the Em- 
 press of Borrio-boola-Gha !" was Helen's next attempt. 
 "Sally! take these young ladies' bonnets and shawls, and 
 set chairs for them!" 
 
 She went on with her needlework, which was a portion 
 of her trousseau. 
 
 " A more interesting personage than any you have yet 
 named !" Lily walked up to her cousin, and slipped her 
 little hand under her chin, that she might better study her 
 expression as the news was communicated : " Alexander tho 
 Great !" 
 
 " Certainly the most distinguished /ay-man of this re- 
 gion !" Virginia supplied an additional hint. 
 
 If there were suspicious scrutiny in the gaze which Lily
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 43 
 
 would have had convey only the impression of arch mirthful- 
 ness, its end was foiled for that time. Helen calmly released 
 her face from the hold of the pretty hand. 
 
 " Indeed ! he has arrived unexpectedly ! His friends did 
 not look for him until next week, at the earliest. I hope he 
 is in good plight." 
 
 " Superb ! magnificent ! irresistible !" rejoined Virginia, 
 clasping her fingers and rolling up her eyes in tragi-comic 
 earnestness. " Oh, my poor stricken heart !" 
 
 " Let Sally unhook your dress, so that the afflicted organ 
 can thump more freely !" recommended Helen. " Or, if tho 
 palpitation is very alarming, try a little hartshorn and 
 lavender !" 
 
 " Is that what you take when you are thus affected ?" ques- 
 tioned the young lady, plaintively. 
 
 " Always !" Helen answered, gravely. 
 
 " Then, Sally ! if hartshorn be the cure of love, bring it on !" 
 She actually made the amused handmaiden pour out a few 
 drops of the sedative mixture into a glass, and dilute the 
 potion with water ; then drank it off, and executed a grimace. 
 
 "Faugh! what stuff! the remedy is worse than the 
 disease !" 
 
 Lily looked supremely disdainful of all this nonsense. 
 
 " How can you act so ridiculously, Virginia ? And you 
 have not once thought to deliver your Irresistible's message 
 to Helen !" 
 
 The needlewoman's complexion did vary slightly at this, 
 and the swift motion of her hand was less even. 
 
 " Message ! he sent none by me ! It was Mr. Robert Lay, 
 who said that they intended riding over this afternoon." 
 
 " I beg your pardon !" said Lily, positively, " but my ears 
 are unfortunately quick, and assuredly heard him begin a sen- 
 tence to you, sotto voce, with, 'And my quondam playfellow, 
 Helen' I was too honorable to listen any longer."
 
 44 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 " Indeed, my dear child, your ears deceived you for once. 
 I have no recollection of any such language, or if it was used, 
 I said that myself!" denied the rattle. " I was talking about 
 Helen, part of the time, but there was only a single sentence 
 pouen on the subject, I am sure." 
 
 " That was what you two were whispering about, at the 
 carriage-door, was it ?" 
 
 "I shall not tell you!" 
 
 Virginia's color arose suspiciously, although she still 
 laughed. Helen set her teeth and held her peace, while Lily 
 sneered significantly. 
 
 " Oh, well ! it is none of my business ! I introduced the 
 matter because I supposed that Helen would be glad to get 
 the affectionate greeting which I supposed was committed 
 to your trust by her brother-in-law, that is to be. Nelly, 
 dear ! we, Virginia and I, have been talking heresy on our 
 way home. We have decided that you did not display your 
 best taste in your selection. The elder and dark-haired 
 brother is unquestionably the handsomer man of the two." 
 
 " Tastes differ !" replied Helen. "Yours and mine often 
 do, Lily!" 
 
 There was nothing on the surface of this speech to call forth 
 the gasp and wince of surprise or pain with which Lily 
 drew in her breath, yet Helen remarked these, and also the 
 sudden quietness of manner with which she next spoke. 
 
 " I am very negligent ! I must go and see if I can give 
 mamma" (so she always called Mrs. Floyd), " any assistance 
 in her preparations for dinner. I am growing heartily tired 
 of diniug-days !" 
 
 Helen sewed on in silence when she had gone, and her 
 sedate, almost stern composure was an uncomfortable damper 
 upon Virginia's merry mood. 
 
 " Do give me some sewing, Nelly ! something that will 
 keep these idle hands out of the mischief which some-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 45 
 
 body, who must not be mentioned, always finds for such 
 to do !" 
 
 " I have nothing ready besides what we are doing, thank 
 you !" 
 
 " Your dresses are to be made in Baltimore, are they not ? w 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "That is the only decent and comfortable way of getting 
 np a trousseau to commit it to the profession." 
 
 " It is the least troublesome." 
 
 A protracted silence, ended by a desperate effort at re- 
 newed liveliness on the part of the chatter-box. 
 
 " Dear me ! I don't wonder you grow sober and thought- 
 ful and mati-only before your time, -sitting here, stitch- 
 ing eternally upon your wedding-clothes ! The very sight 
 of mine would frighten me out of courage and wits to- 
 gether ! If I am ever married, it must be upon half an 
 hour's engagement. I should change my mind, if I had 
 leisure to reflect seriously upon what was before me. Honor 
 bright, now, Nelly. (Sally! Mrs. Floyd is calling you!) 
 There is nobody but our two selves here now, dear, and I 
 can be the soul of secrecy when I choose don't you some- 
 times get a little, just a tiny bit out of the notion of marry- 
 ing even so charming and lovable fellow as Robert Lay if 
 lie does adore you ? It must be nice to be adored, though ! 
 I wish somebody would help me to a personal, experience 
 upon the subject !" 
 
 "If it were only a 'notion,' I have no doubt that I 
 should, now and then, waver in my intention," said Helen ; 
 "probably reverse it completely." 
 
 " You mean, then, that it was something more substantial 
 than a fancy for his sweet smile, his beautiful eyes and 
 matchless whiskers, that induced you to say 'yes' when be 
 popped the question?" 
 
 "I do!"
 
 46 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 Helen sustained the saucy examination imflimhingly. 
 
 " And you really excuse my impertinence ! but I am an 
 humble, sincere, and earnest inquirer after truth, particularly 
 since I have seen the resplendent Alexander and you really 
 and truly love this man, whom you are to take by the hand, 
 with all your heart, soul, and strength, and are resolved, 
 henceforward, forsaking all others, to cleave to him and him 
 alone ; to love, honor, and obey, so long as you both shall 
 live?" 
 
 " When the proper time for putting that question arrives, 
 I shall be prepared with an answer." 
 
 Another freezing silence. 
 
 " Have I offende^ you ? It is only poor, foolish, rattle- 
 pated Ginnie, remember," pleaded the visitor at length. 
 " I am going off to dress for dinner now. I have a new 
 dress which is perfectly heavenly ! The effect upon Aleck's 
 heart must be great, but I shall not enjoy it one whit 
 unless you assure me that you are not angry with me." 
 
 "Have I ever been out of temper with you?" Helen's 
 iciness thawed as she saw the half-roguish, half-penitent 
 face. " I know what valuation to put on your words, Gin- 
 nie. You would never give your worst enemy a sly thrust 
 in the dark, or stab one to the heart under pretence of a 
 friendly jest !" 
 
 " Of course I wouldn't be guilty of any such shocking 
 things ! And we are quite friends now, aren't we ? I'll 
 never try to put you through Cupid's catechism again so 
 long as my name is Virginia Shore, and yours Helen Gard- 
 ner. I will wait until you exchange it for Helen Lay. My I 
 isn't that beautiful ? Kiss me, and I am gone !" 
 
 Helen locked the door after her. 
 
 " I could not have borne it two minutes longer ! Poor, 
 weak, pitiful fool that I am ! whom straws like these can 
 pierce to the quick ! Oh ! how I hate myself!" She struck
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 47 
 
 hard upon her breast with her clinched hand. "And he 
 dared to send a light message to me ! could speak jestingly 
 of our former intercourse to that heedless, giddy creature ! 
 It was like him ! His behavior has the merit of consistency, 
 to say no more !" 
 
 She took a note from her work-box. Robert had sent it 
 to her that morning, and thereby prepared her to expect 
 the tidings brought by the girls. 
 
 " MY DEABEST HELEN : 
 
 "Picture, as your affectionate heart 
 
 will teach you to do, my surprise and happiness at finding 
 Aleck here when I returned home ! I .think I have never 
 been happier (excepting once) in all my life than I am at 
 this moment, as I scribble this, and the blessed old fellow 
 sits, smilingly, watching my nervous, wayward fingers 
 unmanageable through very joy. He is well, and better- 
 looking than ever ; true as steel ; good as gold ! the same 
 noble, generous soul whom we parted with so sadly when 
 our trio was broken two years ago. What do you think of 
 his having divined our secret so far as to provide himself 
 with a wedding-present for you before leaving Paris ? So, 
 the surprise bonbon I have treasured up against his arrival, 
 is ah 1 thrown away. I always knew that his instincts were 
 unusually fine. I suppose you will slyly insinuate that may- 
 be I am deficient in the art of keeping a secret. I do not de- 
 ny it, when the person to be kept in the dark is one I love. 
 
 " I write to notify you that you may expect a visit from 
 us to-day if agreeable to yourself. We shall probably be 
 \vith you at dinner-time. Aleck is naturally impatient to 
 see you again ; and when did I fail to avail myself of any 
 and every opportunity of seeking your presence ? 
 
 " In haste, but none the less fondly, your own,
 
 48 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 She went over it twice ; she had read it many times be 
 fore, the proud lines of her features hardening at each word ; 
 refolded it, and deliberately thrust it into the fire. Then 
 she unlocked the door, rang up her maid, and began a 
 studied toilette for dinner. 
 
 There was other company expected to partake of that 
 repast. The Floyds kept an open house from one year's 
 end to the other, and these impromptu dinner-parties were, 
 at the lowest computation, of semi-weekly occurrence. One 
 or two families from the neighborhood were bidden on this 
 occasion, as the nominal nucleus of the social gathering ; 
 and to this Lily and Virginia had, in the course of their 
 morning's drive, added several other cavaliers besides the 
 brothers "Lay. When Aleck and Robert presented them- 
 selves in the parlor, their ears were saluted by the hum of 
 many voices, and they beheld divers knots of talkers scat- 
 tered about the room. Mrs. Floyd entertained four or five 
 matrons, seated upon a sofa and in rocking-chairs in one 
 corner ; the colonel had his cluster of politicians and fox- 
 hunters upon the hearth, at. the far end of the apartment ; 
 Virginia Shore was " carrying on" in her most extravagant 
 style, standing in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a 
 bevy of beaux ; and Lily Calvert more ethereal than was 
 common, even with her, in her blue silk robe, her sloping 
 shoulders veiled thinly by a tulle cape had her coterie, at a 
 little distance from her vivacious friend. 
 
 Upon none of these personages, individually or collect- 
 ively, did the eyes of the fresh arrivals rest for more than a 
 second. Robert was quick to observe that Helen stood by 
 the western window, chatting with Tom Shore, and that 
 she was very beautiful, as seen in the rich glow of the sun- 
 shine, streaming through the crimson curtain ; and having 
 made his bow to hostess and host, waited impatiently for 
 the subsidence of the buzz of welcome and congratulation
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 40 
 
 tTi at swelled towards and around Aleck. The traveller re- 
 ceived his old friends with great apparent heartiness and a 
 subdued show of joviality ; had a cheery word and a hand- 
 grip for the gentlemen, and a pretty speech for each lady, 
 young and old. Virginia Shore began to think, as she 
 marked his progress from, one to another of the fair ones, 
 who vied with their fathers and brothers in the warmth of 
 their greetings, that she had acted very foolishly verdantly, 
 she expressed it to herself in hoarding up, as something 
 too beautiful and precious to be told to Lily and Helen, the 
 sugared nothings he had breathed into her willing ear at 
 the carriage-door, that forenoon. 
 
 All this time Robert did not approach his betrothed ; 
 made his smile and bow from afar off, the testimonials that 
 he acknowledged and rejoiced in her presence. He wished 
 to present his brother with himself before her. Nor did 
 she stir from her position, or manifest the slightest agitation 
 at their entrance. She looked at Aleck, as politeness ad- 
 vised and curiosity seemed to dictate, when Tom Shore re- 
 marked aside upon his tanned cheek and hirsute ornaments; 
 assented naturally, yet nonchalantly, to that youth's refined 
 asseveration, that "Lay was a blamed handsome fellow, in 
 spite of his dark skin and Turkish beard." This was gener- 
 ous, for Tom thought himself an Adonis, and his skin was 
 like milk and roses, his hair fair and curly, his " love of a 
 mouth" tinct as with carmine ; his cleft chin innocent of whis- 
 kers, or, sooth to say, any promise of the same. At last, pa- 
 tient Avaiting had its reward in Robert's bearing off the prize, 
 and the two neared Miss Gardner. She advanced a step a 
 queen could not have done less and held out a hand that 
 was neither chill nor tremulous, to salute the wanderer. 
 
 " We are glad to see you at home again, Mr. Lay ! You 
 have taken all your friends by surprise. Had you a pleasant 
 voyage ?"
 
 50 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 And yet she was standing, her hand in his, upon the spot 
 where she had heard his hasty, passionate farewell ; where 
 he had pressed the pledge- ring upon her finger ! Involunta- 
 rily he glanced d own. It was not there ! In place of tho 
 plain gold circlet there sparkled a diamond hoop his broth- 
 er's gift. What else could he have expected? If she no- 
 ticed the look quick as a flash of light no one else did, nor 
 did other ears detect the faintest shade of sarcasm "in his 
 rejoinder. 
 
 "Very pleasant, thank you, swift and smooth as time 
 seems to have flowed for the old acquaintances I meet here 
 to-day. I cannot realize that twice twelve months have 
 passed since I left the homestead and my boyhood's com 
 panions since the evening of our parting, Miss Helen ! By 
 the way, it took place in this identical room, did it not ?" 
 
 "I believe it did !" as calmly, courteous as himself. 
 
 " Here you shed the parting tear, 
 To cross the ocean foam," 
 
 said Tom Shore, who, like his sister, was addicted to quo- 
 tation from latter-day poets, or, more correctly speaking, 
 rhymesters and song-writers. 
 
 " Exactly with the trifling difference that ours was dry- 
 eyed mourning," answered Aleck. 
 
 " You cannot take exception to the concluding lines of the 
 verse," said Helen. 
 
 " 'Now, I'm once again with those 
 Who gladly greet me home. 1 
 
 Yonr ' Home again' is too obviously an occasion of unfeigned 
 and general rejoicing for you to question its heartiness." 
 
 "Thank you!" He bowed profoundly. "I do you the 
 justice to believe you sincere at all times, and in all that 
 you do !" 
 
 At this juncture, Tom Shore albeit his constitutional iu
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 51 
 
 finnily was not an overplus of modesty was seized by the 
 impression that the part allotted to him by existing circum- 
 stances, in this particular locality, was that of second fiddle, 
 and walked off in quest of less distinguished company. 
 Simultaneously with his withdrawal, Robert obeyed the 
 imperious beck of Lily Calvert's fairy forefinger, and, to 
 Helen's consternation and Aleck's chagrin, they found them- 
 selves the only occupants of the window recess. 
 
 Consternation nor chagrin outlived the shock of the 
 discovery of their situation. Both would have done all in 
 their. power, consistent with outward propriety, to avoid 
 the tete-a-tete ; but, now that it was forced upon them, each 
 experienced an interest in its progress and results, pain- 
 ful, yet not devoid of a certain strange sweetness. They 
 talked of common-place topics ; of neighborhood changes and 
 foreign travel. The most jealous lover might have heard 
 every word, noted and weighed the import of every intona- 
 tion and glance, and felt no misgivings as to the standing of 
 the colloquists with regard to one another. The past as 
 theirs was not referred to in the most remote manner, yet 
 it was not practicable for Aleck to continue the cruelly sig- 
 nificant badinage which was, to Robert and young Shore, 
 but pleasant trifling between old friends. It seemed un- 
 manly and irreverent a thing of which he was ashamed, as 
 he looked at, and listened to her ; as if, while they talked, 
 the bier, holding the shrouded corpse of his boyish hope and 
 manhood's aim, lay between them. 
 
 Whether or not the pride and bitterness passed away, 
 likewise, from Helen's spirit, all trace of either disappeared 
 from her demeanor. She ceased to question and reply with 
 the elaborate show of strained civility that had hailed his 
 approach, and characterized her conversation while others 
 were by. It was no longer easy to meet his eyes with 
 steady, haughty gaze ; to fling back retort for innuendo j to
 
 52 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 repay counterfeit courtesy with lofty indifference. The truth 
 was that neither had, in his or her anticipations of the in- 
 terview, taken into account the subtile and sure effect of the 
 personal presence; the wondrous magnetism of voice and 
 look and action ; the indescribable fascination lingering in 
 each and all of these ; every one bringing up its swift train 
 of memories, and each link in the chain reuniting, as by 
 magic, with the rest, to draw their hearts once more 
 together. The awakening, and anguish, and shame, and 
 renewed resolves for future conduct with it, would come 
 by-and-by; for the present, they saw nothing beyond the 
 tumultuous joy of being again with one another, after the 
 dreary blank of absence. When dinner was announced, 
 Aleck offered his arm, which was silently accepted. Robert 
 walked before them, in attendance upon Lily. Devoted in 
 appearance to his fair companion, he yet found a favorable 
 opportunity for throwing back a smile to his brother and 
 Helen. Its gleam of affectionate meaning, its guileless trust 
 and hopefulness, were not lost upon them. When they took 
 their seats in the dining-room, Helen's cheek had lost its 
 blush, and her eye its softness, and beyond offering her the 
 ordinary civilities of the occasion, Aleck paid her no atten- 
 tion while they remained at the board. 
 
 It was after sunset when the gentlemen rejoined the 
 ladies in the drawing-room. Robert, having seen that 
 Helen was not there, bethought himself, as was his wont, 
 of the least admired or least courted person of the com- 
 pany; and finding her in the shape of a shy school-girl, 
 ensconced in the nook between the piano and wall, sat 
 down in front of her, and tried to draw her into conversa- 
 tion. The barrier of bashfulness and nervous timidity wag 
 being rapidly undermined by his sedulous tact, when Gabriel 
 wormed his way through the talkative groups, dispersed 
 irregularly about the room, up to the two in the corner.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 53 
 
 "IVas you de lady what asked for a glass of water, 
 ma'am ?" presenting a salver, with a goblet upon it. 
 
 " No !" said the girl, in surprise. 
 
 " Beg a thousand pardons, ma'am ! sorry for de mistake, 
 I'm sure, ma'am !" 
 
 He bowed himself backwards a bit of court etiquette, 
 upon whose acquisition and practice he plumed himself 
 mightily, and steered off in another direction ; but not before 
 he had adroitly dropped into Robert Lay's hand a folded pa- 
 per. Although the latter divined intuitively and through his 
 recollection of precedents the authorship of the wee note, 
 hidden so soon as it fell in the hollow of his palm, and 
 burned with desire to learn its purport, he retained his posi- 
 tion some minutes longer, until he could signal Tom Shore to 
 come and occupy it. Tom was dandified and conceited, but 
 he was kind-hearted withal, and, to gratify Robert, would 
 have undergone ordeals yet more trying, if that were possi- 
 ble, than expending his time and fascinations upon a girl 
 who was neither pretty, witty, nor rich, nor yet "know- 
 ing" enough to appreciate him ; " smacking," as he decided, 
 " rather too much of school bread and butter." 
 
 Robert read his precious billet by the hall window. It 
 was, as he had supposed, from Helen, and a simple request 
 that he would meet her at " the spring," where she would 
 wait half an hour for his coming. Hastily taking down his 
 overcoat and hat from the row of pegs in the wainscot, he 
 \vas in the act of putting them on, when he heard through 
 the dining-room door, which was ajar, Lily's voice, sharp 
 with pettishness, yet silvery still. 
 
 " Where did you get the note I saw you give Mr. Lay, 
 just now ?" 
 
 "'Twouldn't be honorable in me fur to tell what I'm 
 ordered not to, Miss Lily !" said Gabriel, respectfully but 
 stoutly.
 
 51 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 " Don't answer me in that way, sir !" 
 
 It conflicted sorely with Robert's feelings and sense of 
 justice to leave his Eboe ally exposed to the assaults of 
 wcmanly pique and curiosity ; and, not waiting to hear 
 more of the dialogue, he stepped across the hall, making as 
 much bustle as he conveniently could, and tapped at the 
 door. 
 
 "Miss Lily!" he called. 
 
 " Come in !" said the clear tones, with a perceptible 
 change of key. 
 
 Gabriel took advantage of the diversion, and vanished, 
 like a shadow, through another portal. Lily started at 
 sight of her guest's great-coat, and the hat in his hand. 
 
 " You are not going yet, surely !" 
 
 " Only for a walk with Helen." He smiled, and hesitated 
 in pronouncing the name. " I wanted to ask you our 
 dear little sister to contrive that our absence should not 
 provoke the criticism of gossiping tongues, if there are any 
 such instruments of mischief among the good people in the 
 other room. I will do the same for you some day, when 
 you are situated as we now are !" 
 
 She made no reply, except a nod of acquiescence stood 
 looking down into the fire with her great sorrowful eyes, 
 so large and mournful and there was such an air of deso- 
 lation expressed in her fragile figure and pale face, that 
 Robert felt impelled to say some comforting or friendly 
 word before leaving her there alone. 
 
 " I am afraid that we your cousin and myself may 
 appear selfish to your apprehension sometimes, Lily ; but it 
 is only your imagination that leads you to believe that 
 there is any real diminution of our regard for you. Y ou 
 must not bear me a grudge because I am happy in the 
 thought of taking her away from you. Our home will al- 
 ways be yours ; for she loves you as fondly as ever ; and,
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 55 
 
 for myself, I can truly say that you were never dearer to 
 me than you are now, while I have in view the blessed 
 prospect of the closer tie soon to be formed between us." 
 
 Ho spoke caressingly, for he had known Lily from her 
 babyhood, arid petted her to this day and hour, as did 
 nearly everybody else. 
 
 One of her hands scarcely larger and quite as soft to 
 the touch as a petal of her name-flower lay passively 
 \vithin his fraternal grasp ; his head was bent towards her 
 in protecting tenderness, that looked lover-like, when the 
 door at the si le of the fire-place was pushed back, and in 
 walked Colo ael Floyd! 
 
 In confusion or alarm, his niece snatched her hand away 
 from Robert, with a faint " Oh !" 
 
 " I thought that you were both in the parlor," said the 
 guardian, his dark features gathering additional grimness 
 from his corrugated brow. 
 
 Robert's pleasant tones answered the reproof he knew 
 was aimed at Lily. 
 
 " So we were, three minutes ago, sir ! I was on my way 
 out to take an after-dinner stroll the ' constitutional' one 
 is apt to need after Mrs. Floyd's dinners, Colonel ! and hear- 
 ing Miss Lily's voice, as I passed that door, I stepped in to 
 engage her kind offices in covering or excusing my tempo- 
 rary absence." 
 
 " The precaution was needless, Mr. Lay ! It is my wish 
 and request that my friends should be free to come and go 
 at pleasure, in my house." 
 
 " No one knows that better than I do, sir. Still, my 
 withdrawal from society, such as is collected in the parlor, 
 might subject me to the charge of moroseness, or a want 
 of gallantry. I shall not be gone long. The bracing air 
 will soon clear my brain from the fumes of that last glass 
 of champagne."
 
 56 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 He bowed, with his frank, boyish laugh, and went out. 
 
 Lily also moved, as if to go to the parlor, but her uncle 
 prevented her. 
 
 " Lily !" 
 
 " Sir !" 
 
 " Is this fine story true, or has that smooth-tongued beau- 
 general been making love to you ? One girl at a time is 
 enough for most men." 
 
 " Love to me, sir !" Her eyes glittered, as polished steel 
 does in the sunlight. "Do you, then, think that I would 
 tubniit to that insult ? for insult it would be from an en- 
 gaged man !" 
 
 " You might do worse, girl ! Why did you let him 
 slip through your net in the first instance ? You angled 
 hadly." 
 
 " I never had any hold upon him, sir. If I had " 
 
 Colonel Floyd's smile was one of sinister gratification, as 
 ne studied her face and translated the language of the ges- 
 uire that finished the sentence. 
 
 " If you had, you are no true Floyd if you allowed him to 
 stray w r ith impunity. If you possessed your mother's spirit 
 you would not give him up alive. I have watched him and 
 her, too, and I tell you, on the authority of one who is sel- 
 dom mistaken in his judgment of character and feelings, 
 that he may still be yours, if you care to make the effort to 
 lure him back." 
 
 " Uncle ! You forget that he is to marry Helen next 
 month !" 
 
 " Tut, child ! Matches have been broken off at the altar 
 before now ! You have a stout will of your own, and a 
 quick wit and he is worth having /" 
 
 She was left alone the girl so early and so terribly 
 orphaned left with the fiery Floyd blood, of which her 
 empter had reminded her, swelling and boiling in her
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABUS. 57 
 
 reins, and his strange, artful insinuations working in her 
 mind, revolving in the brain he had truly described as quick 
 and shrewd. She had little respect for her guardian, and 
 few loved him except the wife he daily trampled in the 
 dust ; but Lily had confidence in his boasted acquaintance 
 with men and the world's ways his penetrative discrimi- 
 nation of action and motive. He had evidently divined a 
 secret she had imagined was buried from all mortal ken, in 
 the depths of her own mourning heart. Might it not be 
 that he was equally sagacious in reading those of the be- 
 trothed pair ? 
 
 She roamed up and down through the firelit room, her 
 hands chafing one another, and the colorless cheeks whiter 
 still than before if that could be under the strivings and 
 insidious promptings of the passions he had so cunningly 
 aroused. She spoke once, with energy and fire that seemed 
 to threaten the rending of the slight, shaking frame. It was 
 an appeal to Divinity not the cry of a soul that felt the 
 danger of the impending shipwreck among the billows of 
 lawless affections " Save ! or I perish !" or the lowlier 
 prayer of the tried, yet faithful heart, " Leave me not to 
 temptation !" but a sudden, insane-sounding ejaculation : 
 
 " ' Worth having !' Oh, Heaven ! do I not know that 
 too well already !"
 
 58 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " THE spring" was between three and four hundred yards 
 distant from the mansion-house, at the foot of the hill on 
 which the building was situated ; and beyond the arch of 
 rude masonry covering the fountain arose another eminence, 
 thickly wooded and cleft with ravines the outskirts of the 
 extensive forests attached to the plantation. 
 
 The night was cold, but there was no wind stirring, and 
 far up towards the zenith the moon rode in unclouded ma- 
 jesty. The frosted earth and brittle grass crackled under 
 Robert's tread as he sought the trysting place. The walk 
 was a familiar one, and a favorite with him ; doubly dear 
 since the scene of four months agone that had hallowed the 
 rustic fount forever. With the gurgling flow of its waters 
 had been blent the first vows of love he had breathed in the 
 ear of her who now sat awaiting him upon the gray stone 
 that had been their resting-place then. She was not alone. 
 Withdrawn to a respectful distance behind her mistress 
 stood a woman, whom Robert recognized with a kindly 
 " How do you do, Sally ?" 
 
 Helen rose immediately and took his proffered arm. "Until 
 lie spoke she had remained quietly seated, her head resting 
 upon her hand, apparently buried in absorbing thought. 
 
 " Have I kept you waiting ?" he asked. " I was afraid 
 tlat I should. Gabriel may have met with unavoidable de- 
 lays in delivering your note, fertile in ruses though ho is, 
 nor could I get away directly it reached me- \iuhout attract 
 ing attention."
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 59 
 
 "You came sooner than I expected. You may have 
 thought my message a singular one, but I wished to talk 
 with you, and I knew that we could not procure the oppor- 
 tunity for uninterrupted conversation anywhere within doors 
 this evening." 
 
 " Not in the 'grotto ?' " asked Robert, smiling. " Do not 
 apologize, I entreat you ! Your suggestion it was too mod- 
 est to be called a request, much less an appointment was 
 highly proper, and eminently acceptable. The most starched 
 prude in America could not condemn it, especially as Sally 
 is in attendance," casting a backward glance at the girl, 
 who, with her shawl wrapped about her head in true 
 Dinah fashion had seated herself in the shadow of the 
 stone arch. 
 
 Helen tried to imitate his mirthful tone. 
 
 "You surely know why I brought her along!" 
 
 "To keep away the bugaboos until I should make my 
 appearance, I presume," 
 
 " To prevent molestation from bugaboos, indeed but not 
 of the species which children dread. Time was when I was 
 careless of forms and customs, for I had only myself to con- 
 sider. Now, as my good aunt will certify, I am growing 
 prudent, very like other people. You and I need no one to 
 play propriety, but since others would advise the attendance 
 of a duenna a somniferous one is better than none I bow 
 to the decree. But not to postpone the discussion of the 
 subject which I wished to broach to you, I have heard two 
 pieces of news since dinner that have disquieted me. One 
 was, that your aunt intends leaving your house and taking 
 up her abode at Maple Hill. Is this true ?" 
 
 Robert fairly whistled with astonishment. 
 
 " She does contemplate such a change, but the matter is 
 yet in abeyance ; and inasmuch as the proposition originated 
 with Aleck, the thought never entered her mind until last
 
 60 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 night. It baffles me to guess how the story could have 
 reached you so soon. Why, the busiest tattler of whom we 
 have any record the renowned little bird of the air, could 
 hardly have borne the tidings in this time !" 
 
 " Mrs. Catlin mentioned it as a settled thing to another 
 lady, and in my hearing. She had it directly from Miss 
 Ruth, she stated, having stopped at Greenfield on her way 
 to Belleview. But, Robert ! please dissuade her from this 
 step ! It has been a serious and constant fear with me, that 
 I may not contribute so much to your happiness as you an- 
 ticipate, for I know my grievous shortcomings. Do not add 
 to your disappointment the loss of your aunt your second 
 mother. Beg her from me to stay with you ! You will 
 miss her more than you dream of; you will need her gentle 
 offices, her unfailing consideration for your feelings and com- 
 fort, her steady affection ! You cannot exist without these. 
 Say to her that I am miserable in the thought of causing any 
 change in her household ; that I will never interfere with 
 her plans ; that matters shall be conducted according to 
 her wishes, not mine ; that I will endeavor to accommo- 
 date myself to her just ideas in every thing ; study to be 
 dutiful I cannot but be affectionate to her if she will con- 
 tinue to live with you." 
 
 " My precious girl, what an impulsive creature you are ! 
 You plead like a frightened child, who fears to be left alone 
 with me! Am I such an ogre that Aunt Ruth must not 
 abandon you to my tender mercies ? Before we go any fur- 
 ther, dear Helen," be continued, dropping his jesting tone, 
 " I must say one thing. "Whether Aunt Ruth remains an 
 inmate of my house or not, you, and not she, must be ita 
 mistress, its irresponsible controller. She understands this. 
 It is no novel idea to her, and she has the good sense to 
 admit the wisdom of the arrangement. If she goes to Maple 
 Ilill, it will not be to avoid the necessity of taking what would
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAUDS. 61 
 
 be her proper place in my family, in the event of my mar- 
 riage, but at Aleck's instance and earnest solicitation. He 
 will be very lonely there without her, he represents, and no 
 man of my acquaintance is less fitted than he to be happy in 
 a veritable bachelor establishment." 
 
 Helen brought out her next sentence with an effort. 
 
 " But, in time, he will have no need of her in the capacity 
 of housekeeper or companion, if what we have heard be 
 true." 
 
 "An important i ifP Taking it for granted that ht means 
 to install his Fraulein as Mrs. Lay, in the course of a year or 
 less, I question her ability to undertake the charge of an 
 American menage. He has not showed any disposition to 
 speak upon this point since his return, and I would not force 
 his confidence. Aleck is a queer fellow in some respects. 
 The very depth and might of his feelings seem to deprive him 
 of the power to express them fluently. I can divine them; 
 yet, loving one another as we do, there are many reserves on 
 both sides. If he marries a true, loving woman, who can 
 enter into the peculiarities of his disposition, she may unseal 
 the tide. I hope that his Gretchim, if she be indeed his, may 
 bring him one-half the heart satisfaction, the fulness of joy, 
 that my love has brought me." 
 
 There was no " Amen" from the figure at his side. They 
 were rambling along a narrow footpath, which wound about 
 the slope of the wooded hill, and her regards were bent 
 upon the ground. 
 
 "You will speak to your aunt tell her what my earnest 
 desire and petition is, however will you not?" she said, ab- 
 ruptly recurring to the original topic. 
 
 "Assuredly, if you still wish it !" 
 
 "I do!" 
 
 They stopped under a large oak tree, whose far-reaching 
 branches cast fantastic shadows upon the whitened turf of
 
 62 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 the hill-side. Helen withdrew her hand from Robert's hold, 
 and, folding her arms, leaned against the giant trunk of the 
 forest monarch, and appeared to be lost in the contemplation 
 of the landscape. 
 
 " Colonel Floyd has the finest site for a house that can 
 be found on this side of the Potomac," observed Robert. 
 " It crowns that knoll grandly." 
 
 "That reminds me that I have another matter on my 
 mind," replied Helen, arousing herself. "I was so fortu- 
 nate or unfortunate, as the event will decide, as to overhear, 
 awhile ago, a part of a conversation between two ladies, that 
 was not intended for the ears of any member of Colonel 
 Floyd's family." 
 
 "It was delicate and kind in them to introduce such mat- 
 ters while partaking of his hospitality!" was Robert's ironical 
 interruption. 
 
 "His extravagance and gaming propensities," said Helen, 
 " were animadverted upon in one sentence, for I heard but 
 two. The other imparted the, to me, unpleasing intelli- 
 gence that he was heavily in your debt, you having, it was 
 said, lent him money at several different times. I trust this 
 is a mistake or a fabrication." 
 
 Robert laughed. 
 
 " The meddling gossip was partly correct, but I am sorry 
 that you troubled yourself about her story. We should 
 have no secrets from each other, and I do not see why those 
 pertaining to money matters should be an exception to this 
 rule. I have let Colonel Floyd have a small sum now and 
 then, but not enough to beggar me, should he never return 
 any part of the amount." 
 
 "It was very unwise in you," replied Helen, reprovingly. 
 "You should have remembered what icputation he bears 
 among his creditors. They say that he never pays debts 
 that honest men consider sacred and confidential, unlesa
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 63 
 
 forced to it by the strong arm of the law. He is thoroughly 
 conscious that you will never resort to this means of recov- 
 ering what you have advanced. Now, answer me frankly ; 
 were his .applications to you for assistance out of his difficul- 
 ties made prior to our our to the formation of our present 
 relations ?" , 
 
 " "What terrible * relations' they must be, to require that 
 tremendous amount of stammering and circumlocution ! I 
 have a wretched memory for dates !" 
 
 " I am answered ! It is as I have suspected ! He has 
 taken a base and unwarrantable, a most indelicate advantage 
 of your attachment to his ward to extort money from you ! 
 He is no stranger to your generous and pliant temper ! He 
 Beckoned shrewdly upon his customer. It is infamous!" 
 
 " Gently ! gently, Nelly, dear ! Do not tilt too ferociously 
 with your windmill before daylight is let in upon it ! There 
 was no extortion in the affair. He was ' hard up' excuse 
 the slang ! I was easy in purse, and felt it to be a privi- 
 lege, not a hardship, to help a neighbor in his embarrass- 
 ment." 
 
 " I comprehend fully ! My opinion is unchanged, Robert ! 
 I have a favor to ask of you in my turn. It is not fair that 
 Colonel Floyd should enjoy a monopoly of this kind of 
 business." 
 
 "Make it a hundred, and consider them all granted!" 
 
 Helen was not to be beguiled out of her earnestness. 
 
 " Never lend Colonel Floyd another dollar ! Learn to say 
 <No!'" 
 
 " I will to everybody excepting a little lady of my 
 acquaintance, who cannot ask an unreasonable thing !" re- 
 joined he, in playful, yet tender gallantry. 
 
 She went on, gravely as before. 
 
 "Furthermore and upon this I have a right to insist, 
 gince i", more nearly concerns me if he should propose *
 
 GJ: COLONEL FLOYD'S WABD8. 
 
 marriage-contract to you, refuse positively to accede to its 
 provisions reject them utterly !" 
 
 " Why, my beauty ! who has been vexing your brain with 
 legal lore? Don't you know that every marriage is a con- 
 tractcivil and religious?" 
 
 " I know from your tone, and evasive replies, that there 
 ha> e been intimations, if nothing more definite, made to you 
 already, touching the expediency, the moral righteousness, 
 of securing my property to myself. I know it as well as 
 that upon my twenty-first birth-day, months ago, I was enti- 
 tled to the entire control of all that I am worth ; that Colonel 
 Floyd had no further authority over it or my actions ; yet I 
 have been repeatedly put off with surly promises of settle- 
 ment at some future date, and am treated more like an im- 
 becile minor than ever before, know it as perfectly as that 
 I have rightly interpreted the drift of my aunt's frequent and 
 prosy harangues to me, within a couple of months ill-con- 
 trived expositions of her husband's tenets, respecting the 
 manifold benefits arising from contracts of marriage. How 
 I despise the name and the idea!" 
 
 " Windmills again ?" interposed Robert's gentle raillery. 
 
 " Not so ! I can tell you the exact terms which Colonel 
 Floyd has sketched to you commended to your considera- 
 tion, by appealing to your sense of honor and justice. All 
 that I have inherited from my father is to be settled upon 
 myself, and my late guardian, an incorruptible Spartan, who 
 could not be betrayed into the least violation of my rights 1 
 is to be appointed my trustee." 
 
 " You are a witch !" exclaimed the amazed listener. 
 
 " I am a woman whose training has taught her vigilance 
 and distrust ! hard lessons and hardly learned by one of 
 my age and sex. If all men with whom I have had to deal 
 were like you, I should not have mastered the alphabet as 
 yet ! You may think me unfeminine, sordid, calculating, hi
 
 65 
 
 thus obtruding pecuniary matters upon your consideration. I 
 suppose that most women leave these arrangements to parents, 
 guardians, and friends. I am an o.rphan ; I have no near rela- 
 tions; no friend, who can aid me, excepting yourself; I had 
 better never have had a guardian. You^have invited and urged 
 my confidence, and you see how eagerly I take you at your 
 word !" She broke oft' her rapid, passionate speech to say, with 
 an attempt at gayety, "Do you feel as poor Tarpeia did, when 
 she asked for bracelets and got a shower of shields instead ?" 
 
 Robert was embarrassed. " Your confidence can never 
 be burdensome !" he answered, sincerely. " But, Nell, 
 darling ! there was nothing preposterous in Colonel Floyd's 
 plan of settlement. The most affectionate fathers propose 
 the like, continually. I rather glory in the chance thus af- 
 forded me of showing that my love for you is purely disin- 
 terested. You will not discredit my declaration, that, until 
 your guardian made reference to your fortune, the thought 
 of it had never crossed my brain in connection with my at- 
 tachment to yourself Whatever is yours, now, shall remain 
 your own. I cheerfully relinquish all claim that the law 
 would give me upon it, with one proviso all that I possess 
 must be added to it." 
 
 " I believe in your sincerity, but not in the word of any 
 other man alive. I am gratefully alive to the generosity, 
 which the world would deem unsafe and romantic. But, 
 Robert ! in this one thing you must let me have my own 
 way. I have reasons, weighty and sufficient, for pressing my 
 request. I will have no deeds, no settlements ! They will not 
 be valid without my consent, and that shall never be given !" 
 
 This was a strange conversation for a moonlight tryst 
 between lovers, and she was an uncommon type of a be- 
 trothed maiden ; her every resolute lineament discernible 
 by the white moonbeams; arms sternly crossed, and feet 
 planted hard against the gnarled roots of the oak, appar-
 
 00 COLONEL FLOYD S WARDS. 
 
 ently as impassive and immovable to expostulation as tha 
 tree itself. 
 
 Some minutes of troubled reflection passed before either 
 spoke again. Then Robert resumed the discourse. 
 
 "I cannot disregard your wishes in this matter, Ilelec, 
 however they may war with my inclination and judgment; 
 for, as you say, you are the person who will be most nearly 
 affected by the disposition of your property. I did tell 
 your guardian that I acquiesced heartily in his views, and 
 would shape my course accordingly, and he may misinter- 
 pret my altered purpose ; but let that pass ! So long as you 
 and I are agreed, and understand one another, what matter 
 the opinions of others ?" 
 
 " I thank you for the sacrifice you make to please me ; 
 for, paradoxical as it would be to many to most vulgar 
 minds the acceptance of wealth with your bride, in these 
 circumstances, is a sacrifice, and no light one to you. I 
 take it upon myself to guarantee that Colonel Floyd shall 
 learn to whose influence your change of intention is at- 
 tributable upon whom he is to charge the frustration of 
 his holy design. What is it, Sally ?" 
 
 Engrossed in their talk, the young couple had not thought 
 of the girl had not seen that for some time past her mo- 
 tions had been indicative of extreme restlessness. Her 
 crouching figure had become erect ; the shawl dropped 
 from her ears to her shoulders ; her head moved uneasily 
 from side to side, as if she were watching or listening in- 
 tently. When Helen addressed her, she had arisen from 
 her seat by the spring, and approached within a few feet of 
 her mistress and her lover. 
 
 " I'm thinking you'll be missed at the house, Miss Helen I 
 I'm sure I've heard Gabriel calling me two or three timas 
 and and it's getting colder, 'seems to me." 
 
 Helen eyed her more attentively.
 
 COLONEL "FLOYD'S WARDS. 67 
 
 "It is too bad to have kept you sitting there all this 
 while, my p >or girl! We have been walking, and have 
 not felt uncomfortable ; but your teeth are absolutely chat- 
 tering !" 
 
 " I reckon I must ha' been asleep !" rejoined Sally, with 
 a foolish, ashamed laugh. " I didn't know we'd been out 
 long." 
 
 " I think it very likely !" said Helen, smiling, as did Rob- 
 ert, in recollection of the " somniferous duenna." " Run on, 
 now, and get yourself in a glow. We will follow." 
 
 As they were ascending the hill upon the other side of 
 the spring-stream, she subjoined an explanation of the re- 
 quest sho had urged with regard to her fortune. 
 
 " I v/as put upon my guard against Colonel Floyd's 
 probable machinations, by a story told me by my cousin, 
 Miss Rogers, when she paid us a visit in October. She 
 was an intimate friend of Lily's mother, and having taken 
 quite a fancy to my society, confided to me certain incidents 
 of the family history, which I had never heard until then. 
 Among others, she mentioned that Colonel Floyd, as his 
 father's executor and sister's guardian, had her share of the 
 estate secured to herself prior to her marriage with Mr. 
 Calvert, and, as seemed natural and proper to most people, 
 assumed the trusteeship of the same. Either Mr. Calvert 
 resented this as an imputation upon his honor, or an impli- 
 cation of his inability to manage his wife's property, for, 
 shortly after the wedding-day, a coolness grew up between 
 the brothers-in-law, which greatly distressed Mrs. Calvert. 
 There were serious threats made by her husband of a law- 
 suit to recover that which, he alleged in Miss Rogers's hear- 
 ing, had been dishonestly abstracted by Colonel Floyd from 
 hi& sister's portion ; proceedings which were suspended by 
 his own tragic death. It is always best to avoid litigation 
 Dy having these questions settled beforehand. 1 '
 
 68 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 " What a business head you have !" replied Robert, mucli 
 amused. "I had not supposed that you knew how many 
 cents make a dollar. Very few of the Floyds are endowed 
 with arithmetical talents. Your uncle, for example, is ut- 
 terly ignorant of the value of the prime idol of the Yankee 
 nation." 
 
 " He understands the rule of subtraction, as your pockets 
 can attest. You are mistaken as to his regard for money. 
 He is an odd compound of extravagance and covetousness." 
 
 At the yard-gate she stopped. 
 
 " Do not judge me harshly for to-niglit's talk !" she said, 
 almost sadly. " I suppose that I must appear to you wofully 
 common-place and practical; censorious in judgment and 
 rigorous in action, for you are charitable and lenient to a 
 proverb. But I have only your good at heart ; desire to do 
 that which will be best for us both. I do endeavor con- 
 scientiously to study your interests, Robert !" 
 
 He made some comforting response, and there the subject 
 rested. 
 
 He was not, however, so blindly in love, that the sub- 
 stance, no less than the tone of this last sentence, did not fall 
 gratingly upon his sensitive ear. It was, of course, pleasant, 
 or ought to have been, to know that she looked upon their 
 interests as identical; to see that her manner of speaking of 
 these was characterized by the clear-sighted zeal and pru- 
 dence of the wife, rather than the bewitching hesitancy of 
 the blushing bride. Yet, in his heart, he felt a lack of some- 
 thing, a deficiency that was at once indefinable and painful. 
 Her bearing was not too free that could never happen 
 still, a trifling diffidence, a dash of coyness would have im- 
 parted to it an additional charm. The fruit ripe, rich, and 
 found was his, and he was proud and thankful in its pos- 
 session ; but he could have wished that the downy velvet, 
 hading and softening its bloom, had not been so carefully
 
 COLONEI FLOYD S WAKDS. Otf 
 
 and thoroughly rubbed off before the treasure was given. 
 He coiild not resist a ridiculous preference for the " Loves of 
 the Angels," as a lover's text-book, above ledger or bank- 
 account, let them be never so accurately balanced, and largely 
 In his favor. 
 
 Above all, that word, " conscientiously," offended his 
 spiritual nervous organization. Regard unmeasured, be- 
 cause immeasurable, Solictiude, loving and anxious-eyed 
 Aphrodite, born out of the waves of this boundless love ; 
 these would have been to him as the waters of the river of 
 Life and the fruit that grows thereby. But he did not want 
 to be loved " conscientiously." He did not care to be inform- 
 ed that there was, on her side, a " conscientious endeavor" 
 to think of and to do whatever would conduce to his happi- 
 ness. 
 
 Moreover, but this was a secondary and very inferior 
 consideration, he could not divest himself of a disagreeable 
 expectation of an unpleasant, if not a violent scene with Col- 
 onel Floyd, when they came to the question of the final set- 
 tlement ; feared lest the retraction of his partial pledge that 
 all should be done in consonance with the guardian's desire, 
 would place him, the bridegroom, in a false and humilia- 
 ting position. 
 
 Keeping these misgivings and his dissatisfaction to him- 
 self, he parted from Helen in the hall, with the fond, gentle 
 smile she alone of all women ever had from him, and repair- 
 ed to the drawing-room, whence had proceeded the sounds 
 of music and laughter the outdoor promenaders had heard 
 ere they reached the house. 
 
 A lady, elderly, and who had never been pretty, a gover- 
 ness in one of the aristocratic families there represented, 
 was at the piano, playing a lively waltz ; and six or eight 
 couples were whirling around the room, in the exultant swing 
 of that entrancing dance. Making a wide circuit to avoid
 
 70 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDB. 
 
 collisions, Robert succeeded in stationing himself by the side 
 of the musician. The piece she was playing was an unfa- 
 miliar one to her, and, dexterous and true as were her fingers, 
 she dared not remove her eyes from the sheet. There was 
 no need for her to see his features to assure herself who 
 turned the leaves with a volte subite movement, bespeaking 
 an intelligent "eye and a hand trained to the like gallant offices. 
 She knew who had won for himself the appellation of " the 
 wall-flowers' friend," and shunned not to maintain his right 
 to the title by rendering attentions as graceful and assiduous 
 to the neglected children of beauty and fortune, as to the 
 most pampered darlings of both. Poor Miss Carter's lank, 
 starched figure and dyed silk dress covered a heart slightly 
 indurated and withered by twenty years' thankless drudgery 
 In her present profession ; but there were hidden away 
 there, in shady, jealously-screened recesses, kept green by 
 the dews and occasional freshets of sentiment and memo- 
 ry, stray blossoms and modest mosses of romance and 
 feeling, whose existence would have been scoffed at by the 
 patrons and acquaintances of the " old maid teacher." And 
 never did these bits of verdure and bloom quiver with more 
 vitality than beneath the sunshine of Robert Lay's smile. 
 She was not in love with him ; she never deluded herself 
 with the chimera that a single thought of her visited him 
 when she was out of his sight ; but in her mental, or 
 rather heart portrait-gallery how scantily furnished,' it 
 tfould have given you a heart-ache to see ! he was en- 
 shrined a stainless hero. 
 
 . He offered her a glass of water when the tiresome round 
 of variations was at an end, and advised that she should 
 rest her strained fingers for a time. But no ! the dancers 
 were ready to begin again, and so must she be also, or give 
 offence. Automatons and ill-paid governesses are not ex- 
 pected to complain of fatigue in the service of their masters.
 
 COLONEL ELOYD'S WAUDS. 71 
 
 "At least, play something that you know," said Robert. 
 "That will be less exhausting to the head only finger- 
 work! You can talk then !" 
 
 With himself, he meant, for every other available mascu 
 line specimen of humanity had a partner. He hardly 
 merited all the credit for self-denial she inwardly heaped 
 upon him, as his pleasant sayings enlivened the monotony 
 of her occupation, for it cost him little trouble to keep 
 aloof from the dancers, so long as Helena did not appear. 
 He did not witness her entrance. The first intimation he 
 had of her presence was the sight of her at Miss Carter's 
 back, when this set of waltzes was likewise concluded. 
 
 " You should not have been appointed to this work to- 
 night, Miss Carter !" she said. " You are not well enough. 
 Does your head ache very badly now ?" 
 
 " Thank you ! .it is about the same." 
 
 With a gesture and three words, Helen swept her from 
 the piano-stool and established herself upon it ; shook her 
 head in smiling wilfulness in response to the grateful lady's 
 remonstrances, and drowned their continuation in a pealing 
 march. Robert conducted Miss Carter to an easy-chair ; 
 found a fan and a bottle of sal- volatile for her, and went 
 back to the instrument. 
 
 The pale, weary governess watched the pair with deep 
 and affectionate interest. They were so young and noble ; 
 so admirably adapted each to the other, in virtues, manner, 
 and disposition, and their mutual attachment so beautiful to 
 behold, it was not marvellous that the romance into which 
 she wove their united lives had not, in its bright texture, 
 one sable thread. If the sigh which heaved her bosom was 
 an inaudible and hopeless lament over her barren life and 
 departed youth, it was untainted by envy of their different 
 and more blessed lot. Presently Helen glanced up at her 
 betrothed, and said something, briefly and positively, lie
 
 72 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 made reply, seemingly, by an interrogation, anJ upon receipt 
 of her answer turned away, and joined himself to the band 
 of revellers. He went directly up to Lily Calvert, offered 
 his hand, which was smilingly accepted, and they took their 
 position in a cotillion that was just forming. 
 
 The music flowed out in a bolder, quicker measure, and 
 light feet beat time over the floor. Still the silent, un- 
 noticed governess kept watch upon the now lonely per- 
 former free now, moreover, to indulge at will in the en- 
 chanting maiden visions that attend brilliant-winged and 
 willing sprites upon the meditations of the " young, loving, 
 and beloved." Yet Miss Carter saw the fine, mobile 
 features subside into pensiveness ; then, fixed sadness ; the 
 eye settle into melancholy steadiness a sort of introverted 
 look which told plainly enough that the source of her grief 
 was not far away, nor beyond herself. While the spectator 
 was taxing the meagre stores of her experimental knowl- 
 edge of Love's mysteries for a solution of this enigma, 
 Aleck Lay drew near, deputed by his partner to convey 
 some message to the dreaming pianist. A red tide rushed 
 over Helen's face as he spoke to her ; she started ; lost 
 time, skill, and tune, her hands crashing heavily down upon 
 the keyg ; and a harsh, loud discord from the thrilling wires 
 brought the dance to an untimely pause. 
 
 " What is the matter ?" " Go on !" cried a chorus of 
 voices. 
 
 " It was my fault !" Aleck's sonorous tones quelled the 
 Babel of inquiry. " I interrupted her and did all the mis- 
 chief. I ask a million pardons !" he pursued laughingly, to 
 the drooping and abashed musician. "It was thoughtless 
 and awkward in me to accost you so abruptly, when I might 
 have seen that you were intent upon your music. It shall 
 be a wholesome lesson to me for the future. I was about to 
 ask you to play a little faster a very little, if you please."
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 73 
 
 An irrepressible impulse of gratitude made her lift her eyes 
 to his, and he saw that they were full of tears. This might 
 be the effect of nervous agitation merely, but the sight sent 
 him back to his place with a madly throbbing heart. Helen 
 struggled valiantly with the rising softness, superinduced 
 by a passing vision of the olden days, when he interposed to 
 "ward off every annoyance from her ; met, with scathing re- 
 tort, each sarcastic or unfriendly retort that had her for its 
 object. For the rest of the evening they kept far apart, did 
 not exchange another look or wof d. " A wholesome lesson 
 for the future!" They would do well to remember and 
 profit by the warning ! 
 
 Helen refused to dance at all that Ught ; she " preferred 
 to play for the entertainment of thu rest ;" and when she 
 would not let him hover near her, Robert Lay's most fre- 
 quent companion was Lily Calvert. She was very pretty 
 and charming; so winning in her childlike, confiding ways; 
 so kind and amiable with him, and apparently so gratified 
 by his attentions, that he could not lesist the temptation pre- 
 sented by all these, and quite forgot his 'duty to the wall- 
 flowers in waiting upon a belle. She was really a sweet 
 girl, he. reflected, despite some unimportant foibles ; aad a 
 warm-hearted friend of his, who would make the dearest 
 little sister imaginable, one of these days, when she and 
 Helen understood one another again. 
 
 Aleck danced, flirted, and flattered, with a reckless grace 
 no one else could emulate ; was the life, as he was the lion 
 of the company. Half the girls in the room went home in 
 love with him ; two-thirds of the beaux wished devoutly 
 that he had never quitted the "Faderland" until he was 
 ready to bring a wife to the western continent with him. 
 
 At twelve o'clock, the last carriage, with its cortege of 
 gallant outriders, left the door of the hospitable abode, and 
 Helen, wearied and dispirited, sought her chamber. The
 
 74 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 faithful Sally was in wakeful attendance, and, disobedient to 
 her mistress's recommendation, that she should betake her- 
 self to bed without further delay, began, with alert hands, 
 the task of disrobing her. It may have been that fatigue 
 and dissipation had rendered Helen indolent, or that, in her 
 depressed state of feeling, the society of this attached de- 
 pendent was more tolerable than solitude and her own mu- 
 sings ; for she did not repeat the order : submitted languidly 
 to her maid's pleasure. 
 
 " Miss Helen !" she said, as she kneeled to untie her slip- 
 per-string ; " I hope you did not think it wnproper in me to 
 hurry you home from the spring to-night. I deceived you 
 about the reason, then. I didn't like to tell you there, for 
 fear you might be frightened, and Mars' Robert get angry, 
 and go to search into the matter, and so get you both into 
 trouble ; so I made the excuse I did, to start you up to the 
 house." 
 
 "What are you talking about, Sally?" asked Helen, 
 somewhat sharply ; " you have been dreaming, and are not 
 quite awake yet, I believe." 
 
 " I'm broad awake, ma'am, and so I was then, for all I 
 had to pretend to be sleepy and cold, to hinder you from, 
 mistrusting the truth. And I saw him, Miss Helen, as 
 plain as I do you, this minute ! I wouldn't move till I was 
 sure." 
 
 " Saw him ! Saw whom ? Why do you tell your story 
 in such a queer, blundering way ? Go on !" urged her mis- 
 tress, as the girl bent lower over the foot resting upon her 
 knee, and tugged and picked at the hard knot she had made 
 in the string. 
 
 " The man behind the tree, ma'am ! the big oak you was 
 leaning against." 
 
 " Nonsense ! you mistook the shadow of the limbs for a 
 man ! How could any one be there, and I not hear him
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 75 
 
 move or breathe ? How could he get there without making 
 any noise ?" 
 
 ( 'Tree shadows don't move of a still night, as this one 
 did," persisted the girl. " As to how he got there, I can't 
 say, nor how long he'd been standing close up against the 
 trunk of the tree when I first noticed him. I didn't see him 
 until he poked out his head this way as if to hear better 
 what you two were saying." 
 
 " Pshaw ! why should he care to hear ? why stay there, 
 if he could get away ?" 
 
 " That isn't for me to say, ma'am. I only know that I 
 saw him, and that he behaved just as I've told you." 
 
 Helen pondered for a moment upon this strange tale. 
 The maid was unusually sensible and discreet for one in her 
 station, and not superstitious or cowardly. Her mistress 
 did not question that she really believed all that she had 
 said ; but the more she thought of it, the more unlikely it 
 appeared that Robert and herself had been dogged by so 
 bold an eavesdropper, or that any chance vagrant of the 
 forest could have remained for any length of tune in the 
 position Sally had described, without being discovered. 
 
 " Could you see who he was ? or whether he was white 
 or colored ?" she inquired. 
 
 " He kept well in the shade, ma'am, and I wasn't very 
 near, you know. Maybe he was a runaway. There's a 
 good many ' out,' I hear, more than common for this season 
 of the year," returned the girl, still averting her face, and 
 putting away the slippers in a drawer. 
 
 " Perhaps it was Lem !" exclaimed Helen. " Poor fellow I 
 he need not have been afraid of us ! We would never have 
 betrayed him." 
 
 This was a field-hand of Colonel Floyd's, who had run 
 away six weeks before, goaded to desperation by the brutal 
 oppression of the driver, Booker, whose authority was iu-
 
 76 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 variably supported by the master. Lera had married Sally's 
 sister, as Helen now considered, and the probabilities were 
 manifestly in favor of the supposition that he was lurking 
 about the plantation, in the hope of seeing his wife. Sally 
 was not certain that she recognized him, yet that she had 
 some misgivings on the subject wa^ clear. She might feel 
 it to be her duty to put her mistress upon her guard against 
 a repetition of the nocturnal stroll, while she was cautious 
 not to commit her brother-in-law. Acting upon this hypo- 
 thesis, which she imagined was fully sustained by Sally's 
 silence after Lem was named, Helen forbore to prosecute 
 her inquiries, and her thoughts strayed of themselves back 
 to the more pressing- cares and disquietudes that weighed 
 heavily upon her young spirit. 
 
 In ten minutes after the servant's story was concluded, her 
 auditor had forgotten the runaway and his woes.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 77 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "AWHOLESOMK lesson for the future!" Aleck Lay had 
 said, and he conned it to such profit, that, during the month 
 immediately succeeding his arrival at home, he paid but two 
 visits at Colonel Floyd's, and they were made in decorous 
 compliance with special invitations. He spent most of each 
 day, and often stayed over night, at his plantation of Maple 
 Hill, a fine old place, which had come into the family 
 through the female line ; having been bequeathed, at his 
 grandfather's death, to his mother. Active and judicious 
 preparations were being made there now, for the reception 
 of his aunt and himself. " He went to as much pains and 
 expense in fitting it up, as if he were expecting to take 
 thither a beautiful wife, and not an old maid sobersides like 
 herself," Miss Ruth affected to complain, while, inwardly, 
 she was happy and proud that he did so. The paternal 
 mansion, Greenfield, was meanwhile in a state of disorder 
 unparalleled in the previous annals of Miss Massie's reign. 
 Cleaning, repairing, painting, and refurnishing were all 
 going forward at once, under the superintendence of that 
 painstaking housewife. Mrs. Robert Lay should find every 
 apartment in every story, every closet and stair, even the 
 " cuddy-holes" in the garret, irreproachable, if she, the in- 
 defatigable present incumbent, perished in the laudable at- 
 tempt to attain this end. She naturally believed that 
 Robert's love-making was prosecuted as diligently, and that 
 its results were likely to prove as satisfactory to all con-
 
 ,78 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 cerncd, as she hoped those of her labors would be ; justly 
 considering the sentimental in metaphysical jargon, the 
 " subjective" branch of the nuptial arrangements as quite out 
 of her province. 
 
 Mrs. Floyd pursued a similar line of thought and action., 
 as she overlooked seamstresses, laundresses, and chamber- 
 maids ; set aside a goodly reserve of her finest sweatmeats, 
 and oldest pickles and liquors ; bespoke eggs, far and near, 
 to be delivered a week before Christmas at Belleview; 
 tested the golden rolls of butter packed away for the "oc- 
 casion ;" inspected her poultry-yards, and, like the cele- 
 brated William OTrimmerty of the nursery rhyme, 
 
 " Gathered her hens, 
 And put them in pens," 
 
 to be fattened against the great day. She had private per- 
 sonal trials, in- addition to household cares, and the two 
 classes of perplexities thoroughly engrossed every faculty 
 of a mind which was none too capacious at its best estate. 
 
 Never, in the whole course of her wedded life, had she 
 beheld her lord in a worse humor than now held complete 
 possession of him. His household words were one perpet- 
 ual growl not loud, but deep ; and their connubial confabu- 
 lations, which always partook more of the nature of mono- 
 logues from him, than a reciprocation of ideas and feelings, 
 were uniformly so stormy now, that she trembled in heart 
 and body at the anticipation of them. When, with simple 
 and wifely guile, she tried to divert him from his sombre 
 brooding over his grievances, \inknown as yet to her, by 
 small domestic details, and deferentially begged his opinion 
 upon the momentous topics of invitations, and the number- 
 less etcetera pertaining to the grand wedding, for no Floyd 
 was ever married without a large and magnificent party, 
 he swore at her, at the guests, and the supper ; as Gabriel
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 79 
 
 reported in the kitchen, " cussed up-stairs and down, and 
 all 'round the lot ;" reserving his choicest imprecations for 
 the unconscious bridal pair, whom he anathematized as " a 
 brace of the most ungrateful and unmannerly villains, the 
 most barefaced cheats, that ever conspired to effect a man' 
 ruin !" 4 
 
 "But how, dear?" mildly questioned his spouse, after one 
 of these philippics. " Helen has her fits of temper, I know, 
 but she is much quieter than I ever saw her before. Yet it 
 must be confessed that, even now, she does get awfully stub- 
 born about some things. Now, for instance, I've been scold- 
 ing her to-day about a senseless notion she has taken. You 
 know that Alexander Lay brought over for her a superb set 
 of pearls, for a wedding present, and sent them to her by 
 Robert, soon after he got home. She has a pearl-colored 
 satin, trimmed with lace, among her new things, her ' second- 
 day's dress,' and anybody, with half an eye, can see that 
 it was made to go with these " 
 
 " Confoifnd your satin and pearls ! The twaddle of you 
 women is enough to drive one to distraction !" roared the 
 colonel, kicking over a stand that opposed him in his heavy 
 tramp about the floor. 
 
 " Yes, dear ! I am sorry !" Meek Mrs. Floyd let fall a 
 shivering tear upon her stitching. 
 
 Her husband muttered a dozen or so of hotter oaths be- 
 fore he dropped again into his arm-chair. When he did sit 
 down, it was with a force that made the windows rattle. 
 Then, picking up the tongs, he poked the fire furiously. 
 
 Mrs. Floyd mustered a faint heart of grace to endeavor to 
 repair her mistake. 
 
 " What I wanted to say was this, my love ; Robert Lay al 
 ways seemed to me to be a most amiable, obliging young man. 
 This is his reputation all through the neighborhood, and 
 has been ever since he was a boy. I supposed that he would
 
 80 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 do pretty much whatever you asked him to he is so ready, 
 generally, to grant favors to his friends. Hasn't he behaved 
 handsomely about the settlement, or whatever you call it ? 
 You told me you thought he would." 
 
 " So handsomely that he has backed out of every thing that 
 he promised to do, Mrs. Floyd ! He has lied like a dog, 
 madam! He is obliging enough to give me to understand 
 that he will grab every dollar of your brother's estate upon 
 the wedding-day you are preparing for^if he can ! That's 
 your amiable, popular saint, madam !" 
 
 Another volley of oaths, accompanied by a shower of coals 
 upon the hearth, and sparks up the chimney. 
 
 " You don't say so ! After all the advice I've tried to 
 impress upon Helen, about letting you manage her prop- 
 erty! I should think she might have had some little 
 confidence in my judgment, and tried to persuade him to 
 act differently ! I declare I am quite hurt by such disre- 
 spect and ingratitude !" 
 
 " It's her work ! I'll take my oath of that the brazen 
 minx ! She can twist him around her finger, if she likes." 
 
 " Well ! well ! well !" ruminated the matron, and returned 
 to her former plaint ; " I can't tell when I've been so much 
 hurt !" 
 
 " Hurt, madam ! You'll begin to know what has hurt you, 
 when you are turned out of house and home ; your last stick 
 of furniture gone ; your very clothes sold from off your back, 
 in order that your affectionate niece may flaunt in her hus- 
 band's mansion in her satin and pearls !" 
 
 "Good gracious, colonel !" The lady twitched back her 
 skirts briskly, to avoid the stream of fiery embers that 
 bounced from under the forestick in her direction, at the 
 conclusion of this comforting prophecy. " It can't be so bad 
 as that, I'm sure !" 
 
 " You are sure, are you ? Much you know about it ! It
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 31 
 
 is an easy thing for a man with an extravagant family like 
 mine, hung like a mill-stone about his neck, to hand over 
 some fifty thousand dollars' worth of property, and, may-be, 
 a matter of five thousand in ready money, upon a month's 
 notice, is it ? I would be obliged to you if you will inform 
 me where it is to come from!" 
 
 " Why, I don't know any thing about business, dear." 
 
 " You need not trouble yourself to tell me what is self- 
 evident, madam !" 
 
 " But I supposed that Helen's fortune was put away safe 
 somewhere, against she came of age in the bank, or " 
 
 " Or tied up in a stocking-foot, or carried loose in my 
 breeches pocket !" interrupted her husband, with an ugly 
 sneer. " That is as much sense as you have about any thing 
 outside of your dirty kitchen !" 
 
 He got up, still snarling, put on a shaggy great-coat, took 
 his gun from a closet, and made ready for his nightly 
 patrol. 
 
 " And see here, my lady, keep your tongue inside of your 
 teeth when you think of what I have been fool enough to 
 say to-night or it may be the worse for you !" 
 
 Mrs. Floyd gave a weak sniff of wounded sensibility when 
 the door banged to after her lawful protector and loving 
 liege ;-^-then fell to work upon a mental calculation of the 
 number and variety of the loaves of cake, whose manufac- 
 ture she was to begin the following week. 
 
 One used to ebullitions of temper akin to that she had 
 just witnessed, seasoned by years of endurance to the pelt- 
 ings and reverberant peals of such thunder-storms as were 
 any hour liable to break upon her head was not apt to 
 remark or inquire into the cause of lesser variations in the 
 family barometer. If Helen grew graver each day, and 
 was often moodily taciturn for hours together ; if Lily were 
 fretful, restless, and capriciously gay by turns, without any
 
 82 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 visible reason for these humors the good aunt winked at 
 these fluctuations of temper and spirits, and, when winking 
 did not suffice to shut out the unseemly exhibitions, closed 
 fast eyes and ears, and minded her own business. She was 
 not, therefore, the person who could have been expected to 
 discern other signs of the times such as affected her ease 
 and comfort less than the behavior of her husband and 
 adopted daughters towards her personally. She never be- 
 thought herself that Robert Lay's handsome, sunshiny face 
 was at times worn and haggard, and his manner oddly 
 distrait ; that, while he never failed to follow Helen's every 
 movement with his eyes, and sought out occasions of 
 divining her wishes and forestalling their expression by im- 
 mediately gratifying them, he as frequently had long, con- 
 fidential talks with Lily as with her, and treated the 
 younger cousin with a warmth of familiarity he had not 
 manifested formerly. 
 
 Nor did Helen's quicker vision appear to discover this, 
 change in her lover's bearing, or imagine that there was peril 
 in his increasing intimacy with Lily. Whether she had 
 other food for thought, so much more important in her esti- 
 mation, or was incapacitated from feeling jealousy, through 
 perfection of confidence, or, what was surely very unlikely, a 
 calm indifference, was not to be learned from her demeanor. 
 Certain it was that she pursued the avocations so replete 
 with stirring interest to most women with a mechanical 
 fidelity, a diligent drudgery, that looked more like a consci- 
 entious performance of allotted duty than desire ; more like 
 an abstraction of ideas and absence of feeling than loving 
 zeal. Occasionally she aroused her torpid conscience to the 
 examination of the contrariety of emotions that alternately 
 depressed and agitated her, questioned herself sharply, and 
 censured unsparingly. It might be an indication of a noble 
 trust in Robert's truth and affection that she did not object
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 83 
 
 to see him sit, for an hour at a time, beside Lily's piano, or 
 promenade with her on the lawn for the same period, both 
 talking earnestly and continuously, as friends whose interest 
 in one absorbing theme is a bond of union between their 
 hearts. But did she sin when she wondered what was the 
 source of the relief she experienced in the discovery that, 
 while his kindness to herself remained unabated, he was yet 
 less demonstrative ; made fewer demands upon her time and 
 love than of yore ; let her alone when she was inclined to in- 
 dulge in pensive revery, instead of trying by cheerful arts 
 and tenderwiles to dispel the cloud ? She had outlived her 
 age of romance, she was in the habit of saying, and perhaps 
 it Was better that he should also learn to look at Life's pro- 
 saic side ; to view feelings, as well as facts, as they were, 
 without the dangerous and deceptive glamour cast about 
 them by a loving idolatry. They would be happier for the 
 disillusion when their lots were united. 
 
 She did not palliate the folly and crime of the unutterable 
 sadness that would, combat it as she might, steal over her 
 in the contemplation of thfs prospect. Was she not going, 
 of her free will, to marry a man who" had loved her from 
 her childhood in spite of her faults, her many frailties arid 
 foibles of disposition and errors of conduct ? who loved her 
 purely and wholly, as few other women were ever esteemed ? 
 Was he not the non-such of his sex, in his spotless life, his 
 engaging deportment, perfect temper, and singleness of pur- 
 pose ? She was a fortunate, a happy woman, and, if un- 
 grateful as fortunate, unreasonable as happy, she might 
 blame herself and no one else. What if she had, in child- 
 ish folly, once hearkened and thrilled to another's vows, as 
 she had never done to Robert's manly fervor of protesta- 
 tion ? What if, for many months, she had nursed a beau- 
 tiful shadow of bliss, in the belief that this other was hers 
 hers only and forever as she was keeping herself for
 
 84 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 him ? That was a weary, weary time ago ! Il seemed as 
 if years of wretchedness had gone over her head since tho 
 summer evening but one month prior to her betrothal 
 when she had heaved, torn with desperate strength, the 
 erreat stone by the spring away from its bed, and buried in 
 the moist black mould the ring she had worn, in credulous 
 faith, for a year and a half worn hopefully, joyously, 
 proudly ! then rolled back the rock to its place a tomb 
 that hid a grave ! 
 
 These trifles belonged to the girl's history; as a girl she 
 had judged falsely of their nature, and consequently over- 
 rated their value. She had grown into a woman now, ra- 
 tional, strong, resolute ! Was she resentful and despairing 
 as well ? It might be, for she had no memory of a mother's 
 gentle rectitude of conscience and action ; a father's wise coun- 
 sels. A wild, undisciplined childhood had not laid the kind 
 of foundation from which would spring, in spontaneous 
 growth, moderation of judgment and dispassionate conduct 
 at the age of maturity. She knew her temperament, and 
 what were her besetting sins ; a"hd she firmly believed that 
 Robert Lay, of all others, was best acquainted with these, 
 and that his influence would exert the most salutary effect 
 in restraining whatever was objectionable and fostering the 
 few germs of good. He had said that she only had the 
 power of making him happy ; that Life would be bare and 
 joyless if he were deprived of the hope of winning her; and 
 with tender sympathy, born more of her own intense suffer- 
 ing, her aching, bleeding heart, than out of the sisterly re- 
 gard she had ever felt for him, she listened, and promised to 
 be his wife. 
 
 "There's many a heart caught in the rebound!" says a 
 time-honored maxim we see daily exemplified in the drama 
 of Life. With regard to the quality and volume of this re- 
 flex tide of affection the oracle is mute.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 85 
 
 I heard once of a simple, true-hearted girl, a novice in the 
 world and its ways, who was cruelly deserted by the mau 
 she had loved and trusted for years. She " bore it wonder- 
 filly," said curious lookers-on. Some went so far as to ex- 
 press a doubt whether her attachment had ever been so 
 strong as was generally supposed. Cheerfully and quietly 
 none guessed how heroically she went through her round 
 of duties ; neither in her home, nor in society, ever yielding, 
 for an instant, to visible depression of spirits. Two or 
 three years had elapsed since the event that had changed the 
 whole tenor of her inner life ; the recreant lover had wedded 
 another, and it was considered that she had, in common 
 phrase, " quite gotten over her trouble," when she was ad- 
 dressed by another suitor, a noble fellow, who could appre- 
 ciate aright her rare excellence, and was, in himself, entirely 
 worthy of her love and respect. She was greatly moved as 
 the tale proceeded, and, when he paused for her answer, hid 
 her face and wept abundantly. Encouraged by this evi- 
 dence of softness, the wooer pressed his suit yet more 
 warmly. 
 
 " Please do not," she sobbed, putting both her hands into 
 his, and looking up at him with an expression of grieving 
 pity. " Do not go on, or I shall promise that which will 
 render us both miserable for life. I know how hard it is 
 to endure the pair/ of wounded affection. Do not make me 
 too sorry for you !" 
 
 Had the nature of Helen's former relations to Aleck Lay 
 been such as could be avowed, and Robert not his brother, 
 she would have made a like answer to his confession of love. 
 
 It wanted just three weeks to the wedding-night, and the 
 I rothers had accompanied the Floyds home from morning 
 service in the church, to partake of their Sunday dinner. 
 Aleck had joined the party sadly against his will ; but Lilj 
 had seconded her aunt's invitation so pressingly, declaring
 
 86 COLONEL FLO YD 8 WAKD8. 
 
 that she believed he had some secret and cogent reason for 
 his dislike of Belleview or its inmates ; that the whole county 
 had observed his neglect of his old friends, and that divers 
 queer rumors were in circulation explanatory of his behavior 
 that he complied, to avoid discussion and check scandal. 
 Lily had a meaning accent and look, moreover, while she 
 delivered this lively tirade, that piqued and puzzled him. 
 Had such a thing been possible, he would have felt assured 
 that she was no stranger to the true cause of his consistent 
 avoidance of Helen. 
 
 He was not an admirer or friend of Miss Calvert. When 
 a boy, he had mortally offended her by pronouncing her " a 
 whey-faced witch," which observation, bv means of some 
 kind tongue, reached her ears. The feud was further in 
 creased by his invariable championship of Helen, in the 
 petty quarrels between the girls. Lily professed to like him 
 at this date. It had even been slyly and gratuitously sug- 
 gested to him, by disinterested young ladies and prudent 
 mammas, that he, the elder and richer brother, was regarded 
 by the Floyd connection as a bon parti, and probable suitor 
 of the colonel's younger ward, now that the other was " out 
 of the market." This benevolent warning he received with 
 profound carelessness, and did not trouble himself to contro- 
 vert the theory. It was not fear of these tattlers that keplr 
 him away from the home of the elfin beauty. Yet it might 
 be expedient to throw them yet farther off the right scent, 
 besides showing his contempt for their impertinent gossip, 
 by riding -fearlessly by Robert's side, behind the Floyd car- 
 riage, when it rolled away from the church door on this 
 bright day, and his officious friends were lookin^ on, in 
 rows and squads, awaiting the arrival of their respective 
 vehicle*. 
 
 For a wonder, the Lays were the only persons present be- 
 sides the family at dinner, and all found the repast a dull
 
 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WAliDS. 87 
 
 and cheerless ceremony, although the cookery did ample 
 credit to Mrs. Floyd's kitchen. The poor lady's eyes were 
 red and watery. She had a headache and catarrh, she said ; 
 but the initiated members- of the company, and this included 
 the entire number, recollecting that she had returned from 
 church in her usual spirits and bodily condition, were not 
 slow in assigning a more plausible reason for these signs of 
 discomfort, in viewing the knit brows and hearing the gruff 
 tones of her sovereign master. He carved savagely, and 
 wasted as few decent words upon his guests as he could, 
 taking no share whatever in the conversation that Lily, 
 Robert, and Aleck tried to keep up, to cover his surliness 
 and Mrs. Floyd's tremor. He broke a goblet, in pushing it 
 roughly against the dish before him ; swore audibly at the 
 quaking* servants ; and finally ordered his second son from 
 the table in a voice of thunder, for spilling water on thj cloth. 
 
 The colonel seldom went to church except in summer-time, 
 when he could pass the hours of service out of doors, under 
 the trees shading the sacred edifice, talking politics with 
 neighbors as graceless as himself. He had spent the fore-, 
 noon of this Sabbath in examining his account-books 
 "business papers," his wife styled them, in a lame apology 
 she offered in the drawing-room for his " being out of sorts ;" 
 he having finished the meal he had succeeded in spoiling for 
 every one else, and stalked off up to his chamber for his 
 Sunday afternoon nap. 
 
 " It always gives him the blues to look over these tire- 
 some papers !" she sighed, while "she tried to smile at the 
 absurdity of allowing such trifles to mar one's happiness. 
 " I often wish there were no m^ney matters in the world. 
 I don't pretend to understand them myself!" 
 
 " Few ladies do !" said Aleck. " They are among the ills 
 of life which are confined almost exclusively to us unhappy
 
 88 COLONEL FLOYD S WAKD8. 
 
 Helen met Robert's eye with a forced smile, which vvaa 
 returned by one yet more mirthless. 
 
 " Can he be so unjust, after all my frankness, as to imagine 
 me mercenary ?" she thought, indignantly. 
 
 His uncomfortable cogitations were, in reality, dwelling 
 upou the strong likelihood that the "business papers" which 
 had stirred up the colonel's bile appertained to the records 
 of his stewardship over his niece's estate, and the certainty, 
 if this were so, that there-were vexatious trials of patience in 
 store for himself, when he and the guardian came to the 
 dreaded final settlement. 
 
 The diversion was not unwelcome when Lily called him 
 into her green-house, to inspect a plant ae had sent her some 
 time before. It was drooping and yellow, from ome cause, 
 whose discovery was beyond the reach of her horticultural 
 acumen. Robert was a zealous and accomplished amateur 
 florist, and his decision, after a minute examination of the 
 flower, and inquiry into the course she had pursued towards 
 it, w:is, that she was killing it with kindness. 
 
 " You pet it too much ; water it too abundantly ; and 
 dress the earth about the roots too often. Plants require 
 rest, like animals. This needs a little wholesome neglect ; a 
 judicious letting alone, with plenty of sunshine. That will 
 bring it around, if it is not too far gone." 
 
 Lily bent over the fading favorite in silence, until the 
 large drops gathered in her eyes, and one fell upon the plant. 
 
 "My dear child!" ejaculated Robert, in surprise, " I will 
 procure a dozen more of the same kind for you, if you want 
 them, sooner than you should shed a single tear ; and this 
 may revive yet !" 
 
 " I am not a child !" said she, passionately, " although 
 everybody sees fit to treat me like one ! And it is not the 
 flower, for the flower's sake, that I grieve over ! I was just 
 thinking how every thing that I love best is taken from me,
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 89 
 
 I did care for that geranium, because you gave it to me, 
 and I have always believed that you were one of the very, 
 very few who really liked me !" 
 
 She plucked a rose and rent it apart, petal by petal, her 
 lip pouting and trembling; the tears yet hanging, like 
 pearly dew, upon the gold fringe of her eyelids. She 
 looked perilously pretty, Robert acknowledged, in his con- 
 scious innocence of every thing except brotherly kindness, 
 and his great, tender heart yearned at the sight and confes- 
 sion of her artless distress. What a guileless babe she 
 was ! How sinless aud free her attachment for her early 
 playmate ! 
 
 "And you thought right, Lily! There are not many 
 people whom I like better than I do you as I have often 
 told you." 
 
 " Only a couple of dozen or so !" returned the beauty, 
 petulantly. 
 
 Robert was obliged to laugh. 
 
 " Hardly a single couple, I can assure you ! You know 
 who comes first upon the list, and would not dispute her 
 right. Then there is Aleck ! He is the only brother I 
 have in the world." 
 
 "And Miss Ruth is your only aunt; and mamma is 
 Helen's father's only sister, so she ought to come next ; 
 and Mam' Becky is your only mammy, and Hero is your 
 best horse, and Dash your best dog and they all take pre- 
 cedence of a nobody like me, who has no claim upon you !" 
 cried Lily, snatching at another rose, and bringing it away, 
 Blem and all. "I don't thank you, or anybody else, for 
 
 seventh, or even a third rate place in his regard. Thank 
 goodness ! if I am insignificant, I have too much pride for 
 that!" 
 
 "Don't try to pick a quarrel with me, little sister! I 
 have enough sources of disquiet without this one disquiet
 
 90 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 which yonr sweet sympathy has done much to alleviate, 
 You wrong me by affecting to misunderstand my meaning. 
 You know the sincerity of my attachment for you, Lily !" 
 
 " Forgive me !" 
 
 Her head fell upon his arm. Whether he would ha" 
 released himself from this position, or awaited the reco\erj 
 of her composure, was not to be seen. 
 
 " A letter for you, Miss Lily !" said Aleck's voice behind 
 them. His face was stern his eye and accent penetrating. 
 "Your aunt was going to bring it in to you, and I took 
 charge of it to spare her the trouble." 
 
 He bowed and withdrew, before either of the twain, 
 whom his abrupt address had started, could find breath or 
 words for a reply. 
 
 He was not surprised, on returning to the parlor, to per- 
 ceive that it was deserted. The stiff and labored dialogue 
 carried on by himself and Helen, after they were left 
 together by the floral connoisseurs, was so difficult and 
 painful to both the participants, that he had seized upon 
 the circumstance of Mrs. Floyd's entrance with a note for 
 Lily as an opportune pretext for ending the miserable pre- 
 tence. Helen understood his eager politeness to her aunt, 
 and contributed her share towards their mutual relief by 
 leaving the coast clear before he reappeared. There was a 
 dark flush of passion upon Aleck's brow as he strode over 
 to the window, and his mouth worked convulsively under 
 his heavy moustache while he remained there, looking out 
 upon the wintry landscape, blasted and sere, like his own 
 hopes. He "was displeased with Robert more than dis- 
 pleased with the miniature siren, whose enticements were 
 operating upon the senses of her cousin's affianced hus- 
 band. 
 
 " He can love twenty women I but ono ! If she were 
 mine, I would have shrunk with loathing from the touch of
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAJRDS. 91 
 
 that little serpent ! Instead of enduring her subtlety and 
 fond tvvinings about me, would have cast her from me as a 
 hateful thing ! How different was the scene transpiring in 
 here ! Have I, then, more regard for his rights and honor 
 than he has himself?" 
 
 It was a hasty and unjust aspersion of his brother' 
 fidelity and Jeiicacy of affection for his betrothed ; but his 
 wrath glowed yet more hotly as he reviewed, in detail, the 
 illustration of rigid self-control, amounting to coldness, his 
 manner to Helen had afforded ; his absolute reticence of 
 even friendly warmth towards the woman he neverthe- 
 less adored; the extreme circumspection he exercised over 
 each glance and word, lest Robert's bride should chance to 
 read in any of these that which it would be dishonorable in 
 him, who was soon to be her brother, to show ; and contrasted 
 this line of conduct and principle with Robert's passive, if 
 not fond reception of blandishments, such as he had inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 He was too angry to look around when Lily's clear voice 
 was heard at the door connecting conservatory and parlor. 
 
 " Helen ! Helen ! Why, Mr. Lay, I thought she was 
 entertaining you all this time !" 
 
 " You were mistaken, you see !" he answered, curtly. 
 
 " Don't you knoAV where she has gone ?" 
 
 " I do not !" 
 
 " Then I must hunt her up ! It was very uncivil in her 
 to leave you here oil alone. I shall scold her well for it !" 
 
 Away she ran, singing in her bird-like tones as if she had 
 never shed a tear in her life. Robert, who had come in 
 with her, silently took a seat by the fire. 
 
 Without having the remotest conception of the hidden 
 reasons that exasperated into deep displeasure Aleck's 
 righteous disapproval of the supposed flirtation, the younger 
 brother yet felt that he had placed himself, or been placed
 
 92 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 by another, iu a false light in his mentor's eyes. Unwilling 
 to make a serious affair of an occurrence so trivial, or to 
 impute forwardness and levity of deportment to Lily, he 
 was nearly as reluctant to sustain hi his own proper person 
 the weight of the blame Aleck ascribed to one or both of 
 them. That he did blame somebody for what he had seen, 
 Robert did not need his present behavior to convince him. 
 lie knew his ideas of a lover's honor his delicate fastidious- 
 ness upon some points relative to this scruples for which 
 none save those who were most intimately acquainted with 
 him ever gave him credit. Gay rattle and reckless flirt as 
 he was generally esteemed, his chivalrous respect for true 
 womanhood amounted to reverence ; his recognition of in- 
 nate purity was instinctive. Had he been betrothed, he 
 would have expected not exacted a whole-hearted de- 
 votion, not of the affections merely, but of the mind. If 
 he scorned to exercise the slightest espionage upon the 
 movements of \i\sfiancee or wife, left her, as free as air, to 
 obey the bent of her inclinations, it would be because he 
 believed, with a faith more powerful than the convictions 
 produced by sight, that she was as pure as the freshest air 
 ever breathed from Heaven ; that she was his heart, body, 
 and imagination, incapable of cherishing a thought she 
 would not impart to him; and he would have given as 
 much as he asked. His teasing talk with his aunt about 
 the fabulous Gretchen, and his fine compliments to heedless 
 butterflies like Virginia Shore, were the veriest lip-play, 
 and every one who knew him understood the badinage and 
 flattery. - No girl could accuse him ot more culpable trifling, 
 of the most distant approach to unwarrantable familiarity 
 in language or touch. 
 
 Robert was conscious that he was sinless in respect to 
 khat whereof he feared his brother held him to be guilty ; 
 fet, he said to himself, that he wished, since Lily's un-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 93 
 
 guarded, because artless action, was destined to havo 
 another spectator besides himself, that it had been Helen, 
 and not Aleck. She would have judged of the case more 
 charitably, approximated the truth more nearly. But some- 
 thing must be said to undeceive the real judge, and there 
 was no time to be lost. 
 
 " Aleck old boy !" He passed his arm over his brother's 
 shoulder, who stood like a statue of ice under the embrace. 
 " Are you thinking hardly of me ? blaming me for the 
 little scene you happened to behold just now ?" 
 
 " You are master of your own conscience and actions," 
 rejoined the other, freezingly. " I do not presume to sit in 
 condemnation upon either." 
 
 " I require no stronger evidence that you have arraigned 
 me already condemned me unheard," Robert said, in a 
 hurt tone. " You should know me better, Aleck ! If you 
 had heard the rest of the conversation you would be more 
 lenient. I wish you had !" 
 
 He waited for a response, but none came. 
 
 "It was the simplest, most innocent of gallant farces, 
 Al 1" Robert resumed, in a lighter tone. 
 
 " ' When a pretty woman shows her rings, 
 What can a fellow do ?' 
 
 " That is an analogous quandary to the one in which you 
 saw me for which you are inclined to have me hanged, 
 drawn, and quartered." 
 
 " The question is," said Aleck, turning,to face his brother, 
 and speaking slowly, with no softening of his severity, " tho 
 question is, whether a man, situated as you are, has a right, 
 or ought to have the disposition, to think of the beauty of 
 any other woman ?" 
 
 " Pshaw !" replied the other, still determined to turn the 
 affair into a jest, " that dogma belongs to a former gener-
 
 94: COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 ation ; the Grandisonian race of swains and shepherdesses; 
 the age that painted Cupid blind." 
 
 " That is very possible. My ideas upon this subject are 
 decidedly antiquated, I admit ; somewhat deficient, more- 
 over, in tolerance of this * dear passion for many' that mod 
 ern lovers find so delightful!" answered Aleck, crossing to 
 the fireplace, and throwing himself upon the sofa. 
 
 Nothing further passed between them for that time. 
 Even Robert's sweet temper was ruffled by the unmerited 
 sneer. Their disputes were of such rare occurrence that 
 reconciliation was an awkward undertaking, if either were 
 disposed to attempt it. 
 
 " Excuse me for leaving you !" cried Lily, floating into 
 the room her airy motion could hardly be called walking 
 " but Nelly and I have been arranging a frolic for this 
 evening. Won't you, gentlemen, aid and abet us ?" 
 
 " The better the day the better the deed ?" said Robert, 
 playfully interrogative. 
 
 He would not allow Aleck's unjust imaginings to influ- 
 ence his demeanor to this unsophisticated, warm-hearted 
 child. 
 
 " Yes but this is really and truly a Sunday frolic. Mr. 
 Sheppard, the new circuit-rider, is to preach to the servants 
 at Mr. Shore's to-night, and Ginnie has written to say that 
 we must all come. She knows you came home with us to 
 dinner, so she will expect both of you, certainly. I dearly 
 enjoy these colored meetings don't you, Mr. Robert ?" 
 
 " That depends upon their hue. I have found them very 
 blue, and a dingy indigo at that, sometimes taking blue- 
 ness and dulness as synonyms." 
 
 " Oh ! you know what I meant ! Why will you be pro- 
 roking ? Mr. Lay, I wish you would take him in hand, 
 and teach him how to behave as you do." 
 
 Aleck did not raise his eyes from his book. He would
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 95 
 
 not be a party to this deceitful trifling. Lily gave him a 
 stare of inquiry, and returned to the more complaisant 
 Robert. 
 
 "They say this Mr. Sheppard is a stirring speaker, a 
 thorc ugh going revivalist; and the ride home by moon- 
 light will be splendid 1"
 
 96 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKE*. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SEVEN o'clock found the quartette from Belleview in the 
 revivalist's audience, at one end of Mr. Shore's long dining- 
 hall. 
 
 The white population of the neighborhood was principally 
 made up of Episcopalians, with a slight sprinkling of Roman 
 Catholics ; but Mr. Shore wedded for his second wife a de- 
 vout Methodist, whose example and precept had wrought 
 great, and, it was hoped by the reformer, radical changes in 
 the religious habits of the slaves upon her own and certain 
 of the surrounding plantations. The clergymen of her de- 
 nomination, whose itinerant habits brought them within 
 range of communication with her, were urgently invited to 
 visit at, and most hospitably entertained in, her house ; en- 
 couraged to establish meetings for public and social worship 
 among the negroes, innovations which were not opposed, 
 but rather forwarded, by her indulgent, irreligious husband. 
 The gathering on this occasion was made up, for the most 
 part, of colored people, a goodly assembly in number, seated 
 in close rows upon benches manufactured for such purposes by 
 Mrs. Shore's orders. The room was narrow in proportion 
 to its length, and had a fireplace at each end. Around the 
 upper one of these were ranged chairs, for the accommoda- 
 tion of the family and neighbors. There were about thirty 
 in a'l ; and while the younger portion of the company had 
 undoubtedly been attracted thither by the consideration that 
 had moved Lily's inclination to attend, namely, the love of
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 97 
 
 a frolic, let the day be what it might, they behaved with 
 due decorum, preserved the semblance of respectful atten- 
 tion. It would not have been safe to act otherwise under 
 Mrs. Shore's watchful eyes. 
 
 Mr. Sheppard was suffering from hoarseness, having al- 
 ready delivered two sermons and conducted a class-meeting 
 that day, besides riding twenty miles on horseback. He 
 therefore the more gladly committed the preliminary and 
 closing exercises of singing and prayer to those of the con- 
 gregation who were able and willing to lighten his labors by 
 taking their part in the same. Mrs. Shore joined in the 
 familiar choruses, endeared to her by so many early and 
 sacred associations, -and her husband, to gratify her, added 
 his assistance, which was, to say the least, of doubtful value, 
 since his voice was cracked, and he knew neither tune nor 
 words. But the best feature of this portion of the service 
 was the grand, rich tones of the negroes, surging in thunder- 
 peals of exultation, or sweetly plaintive in the pathetic 
 strains of penitential lamentation. 
 
 " Did you hear any thing finer than that in Germany, in 
 the fatherland of sacred music ?" whispered Helen to Aleck, 
 who sat a little to her right, behind her. 
 
 " Nothing that sounded so delightful to my ears !" was 
 his response. " It is like the music of Carryl and the mem- 
 ory of departed joys, pleasant and mournful to the soul." 
 
 He had leaned over, his hand resting upon the back of her 
 chair, to hear and to answer her, and in the self-forgetfulness 
 of the moment, both had looked and spoken naturally, with 
 the cordial ease that had once signalized them in their bear- 
 ing, the one to the other. 
 
 As Aleck resumed his former position, he caught sight of 
 Lily's face ; saw that she was on the alert to hear what was 
 passing ; met a covert side glance, which was quickly with- 
 drawn} and his blood boiled anew. His distrust of the girl
 
 98 COLONEL FLO YD 8 WARDS. 
 
 was becoming intense and irrational, and in exact ratio with 
 its increase was augmented his loving compassion for Helen, 
 wliow, be honestly believed, her cousin was endeavoring to 
 Bupplai. t ia ber lover's regard. 
 
 " Can it b^ that she sees nothing to excite her jealousy ?" 
 lie specu'f ie\l, and while the sermon engrossed the attention 
 of the croM'c' At large, his watch upon her was keen but fur- 
 tive. 
 
 She sat quut!y> a casual observer would have supposed 
 that her thoughts were, with her external organs of vision, 
 fastened upon th<i speaker ; but Aleck divined, or imagined 
 that he did, that iMs immobility of feature betokened tiny 
 thing but interest i.i the orator's impassioned appeals and 
 vivid descriptions ; tt>&t she found other and more prolific 
 material for reflection in ber own thoughts. There was 
 nothing to awaken surprise in this abstraction in one who 
 was to become a bride in iejs than one short month from 
 that night; but it was remarkaole that he "did not succeed, in 
 the course of that hour of clo.^o scrutiny, in detecting one 
 stolen look at Robert, who was in full view, and whose eyes 
 repeatedly wandered to her statut&pc face. 
 
 " Perhaps love has taught her to practise concealment, a 
 prudent vigilance over look, no less than word and action !" 
 mused the spy. " Yet I should not havs expected it !" 
 
 While revolving these trifles lighter vh_iu air in his mind, 
 and more ill at ease on account of his restless meditations 
 than he was himself aware of, he omitW to pay the re- 
 quisite degree of attention to the passage of other events ; 
 . -was so lost to the consciousness of rhere he '*s, and what 
 was the nature of the services, that he sprang Cu his feet, in 
 uncontrollable bewilderment, when the sable \>agregatiou 
 fell simultaneously, and not very noiselessly, upon tueir 
 knees, at the invitation to prayer. Lily laughed. \udibi> to 
 his sensitive ear, although she tried to smother the .
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 99 
 
 tion with her pocket-handkerchief; and Mr. Alexander Lay, 
 self-contained man of the world as he was, sinking again to 
 his seat with a tingling-sensation about his . bronzed cheeks, 
 mentally and fervently devoted her to tfie infernal gods. 
 
 His confusion had time to abate during the prayer. The 
 instrument, in his own phrase, " the humble tool," selected 
 to convey the petitions of the assembly, was a servant be- 
 longing to Aleck himself, one of the field-hands upon the 
 Maple Hill farm, a pompous, pragmatical Boanerges, distin- 
 guished above his fellows by his " wonderful gift of speech." 
 He gave this talent full play now, beginning with constrain- 
 ed moderation and deliberate utterance, and gradually wax- 
 ing louder and warmer, incited to greater vehemence by the 
 groans of assent from his brethren, until the gusts of sound 
 escaping from his surcharged lungs, presumed to represent 
 equal vigor of heart, threatened to bring the ceiling down 
 upon his head and those of the audience ; as if, Samson-like, 
 he meant to involve them with himself in one common ruin. 
 He was "a mighty man in the Scriptures," said his ad- 
 mirers ; and the majority of those of his own caste heard, 
 with a glow of pride in their representative but inadequately 
 expressed by long-drawn " Amens," and sepulchral " Ahs !" 
 his mention of the preacher to whose exhortations they had 
 been called to listen on that occasion. 
 
 " Be pleased to pour out Thy plenteousest blessin's 'pon 
 de great and notable man of de Lord who has spoken to us 
 dis blessed arternoon, from de rivers to de ends of de earth. 
 Strengthen him in his weakly body and diminished mind ; 
 bless him abroad and in his home, from de rivers to de ends 
 of de earth. Grant him, in Thy mussiful and undesarved 
 kindness, a superabundance of souls as de purchase of his 
 hire. Make him fur to grow up before Thee, and in 
 de sight of all mankind, from de rivers to de ends of de 
 earth, like a calf of de stall ; dat at last he may be worthy
 
 100 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 to become meat for de kingdom of Heaven. May he soon 
 cease from his labors, and den, his works may dey follow 
 him!" 
 
 There was hardly a serious face in the semicircle of young 
 ladies and gentlemen, when this remarkable effusion was 
 brought to a peroration and final "Amen." Mrs. Shore, 
 scandalized by their irreverence, yet derived some satisfac- 
 tion from the spectacle of Aleck Lay's sombre visage. She 
 had heretofore secretly accused him of scoffing at religious 
 subjects, but she recalled now the gratifying fact that she 
 had never really heard any blasphemous talk or unseemly 
 jesting from him ; only knew that he was sarcastic, and had 
 studied in Germany, where she had been taught to believe 
 that heresy was rampant, and orthodoxy unknown. Who 
 could tell what leaven of Brother Sheppard's discourse 
 might not be working in his unsanctified nature ? Infinite 
 then was her disappointment and speechless her horror, 
 when, service being over, as the negroes were filing out of 
 the doors upon the right and left of the room, and Boaner- 
 ges swaggered past the patrician group, bowing graciously, 
 his master sternly bade him, " Stop !" 
 
 " Sar !" said the amazed orator. 
 
 " I want to know what you meant by insulting a minister 
 of the gospel to his face?" said Aleck, authoritatively. 
 
 ". Me, marster ?." 
 
 "Yes, you! Do you know, you rascal, that you have 
 not only declared here, in the hearing of us all, that Mr. 
 Sheppard's mind was failing, but caUed him a call' made 
 butcher's meat of him, and then prayed for his speedy 
 Jaath?" 
 
 The negro gaped in dumb and sheepish astonishment. 
 
 Aleck, like many other and better men, now that he had 
 found an object upon which he might justly vent some of 
 his pent-up wrath, was disposed to deal more unmercifully
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 101 
 
 with the offender against sense and decorum than he would 
 have felt in a moment of less irritation. 
 
 " All that I have to say to you is this, my fine fellow," he 
 pursued. " If I ever hear of your making a prayer in pub* 
 lie again, before you have learned to perceive that most of 
 what you say is outrageous profanity, I will have you trans- 
 ported to the South, as sure as your name is Petronius. 
 While you belong to me you shall not be guilty of such 
 scandalous impertinence in the name of Heaven, that is, if J 
 can hinder it. You can go !" 
 
 " Really, Mr. Lay," Mrs. Shore recovered herself suffi- 
 ciently to say, when the man had sought a refuge for his 
 " diminished" head outside the door ; " you were unneces- 
 sarily severe upon the poor fello\v. We all understood what 
 it was that he intended to say, and he is a person of great 
 influence among our colored people, a leader of a class-meet- 
 ing, and high authority in all religious matters." 
 
 " So much the more reason for putting a stop to such 
 balderdash, madam ! I must apologize to you, sir," address- 
 ing himself courteously to Mr. Sheppard, " for the seeming 
 disrespect of his language with regard to you. I will see 
 that the like does not occur again." 
 
 " The poor ignorant slave needs no apology to be made 
 for him," answered the minister's solemn tones, doubly 
 hoarse and deep by reason of his cold. " I would rather 
 hope that his master will make amends to him, for the mor- 
 tification he has sustained on account of his desire to perform 
 his duty in a becoming manner." 
 
 " Our ideas of becomingness differ," said Aleck, with 
 admirable temper. " I call such vile and ridiculous garbling 
 of Scripture sacrilege ; consider its effect pernicious in the 
 extreme upon the minds of his simple and superstitious fol- 
 lowers." 
 
 " It may be made, nevertheless, the sword of the Lord and
 
 102 COLONEL FLOFD'S WAUDS. 
 
 of Gideon, even in unpractised and weak hands, my young 
 friend. There is One, who is not limited by circumstances; 
 who deigns to make use of feeble instruments in the accom- 
 plishment of His work. In this land the use of the Scrip- 
 lures and the quotation of the same are aUowable to all." *- 
 
 Aleck smiled. "It is dangerous to meddle with e 
 tools !" he rejoined, turning away to end a profitless disc 
 sion. 
 
 " So the world said !" cried Lily. 
 
 Tom and Virginia Shore, Hke a couple of giddy pates, 
 burst into a fit of laughter. 
 
 " We must tell Mr. Lay that pretty story some day," said 
 the latter, merrily. " It was too funny !" 
 
 " I have the original document at home. He shall see it, 
 this very night, if he wishes to consult the Fates," replied 
 Lily. " It was the strangest coincidence I ever heard of, 
 and its happening upon the day of your return was not the 
 least wonderful part of it." 
 
 " Don't look so disconcerted, Nelly," said Virginia, teas- 
 ingly. " If one portion of the narrative is likely to be ful- 
 filled, it does not follow that the rest is not a false pro- 
 phecy." 
 
 Aleck looked from one to another, in real curiosity and 
 well-assumed indifference. 
 
 " You deal in mysteries !" he said. 
 
 "In nonsense, I should say, and very witless fun it is, 
 according to my perception of humor," returned Helen. 
 " Lily ! it is time we were gone. The carriage is ready, and 
 we ought not to keep the horses standing in the cold." 
 
 " Wait !" Lily was fumbling in her pocket. " This is the 
 dress I wore that evening, and I recollect putting that paper 
 into an envelope, that I might preserve it as a curiosity. 
 Here it is, I declare ! Isn't that splendid ?" 
 
 " Read it ! read it !" was the popular acclaim.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 103 
 
 "It is Sunday, remember!" cautioned Mrs. Shore. 
 
 "Lily!" said Helen, in distressed expostulation. "This 
 is not kind." 
 
 "Why, what a serious matter you wculd make of it !" re- 
 plied her cousin. " Of course we all understand that it is 
 pack of foolish fiction, from beginning to end. You see, my 
 friends, we were playing * Consequences,' and this is what 
 was written upon one of the papers. I shall give it verbatim 
 et literatim. You didn't suppose that I knew that much 
 Latin, did you ? Ahem ! ' The witty and accomplished 
 Miss Helen Gardner,' watch her, Mr. Shore ! don't let her 
 snatch it! 'and the learned and cynical Mr. Alexander Lay, 
 met behind a turkoy-blind ' " 
 
 " Fire !" rang out Aleck's trumpet tones in her ear. 
 " Look behind you, Miss Lily." 
 
 She gave a jump and a scream, catching hold of her skirts 
 at the same moment. 
 
 " Mercy upon us ! Where is it ?" 
 
 " In the fireplace !" returned Aleck, provokingly. 
 " Where e^se should it be ?" 
 
 There was a roar of laughter, and Lily's pout was one of 
 real chagrin when she discovered that the paper was gone. 
 Whether it had escaped from her fingers in her fright, and 
 been drawn by the current of heated air into the mouth of 
 the chimney, or been abstracted by some clever trick of 
 legerdemain, she could not determine, and no one could or 
 would tell her. 
 
 She. shook her curls in pretty viciousness at Helen ant 
 Aleck. 
 
 " I will be even with you two conspirators yet ! see if I 
 Jinx not !" 
 
 " I do not question your skill in plotting and counterplot- 
 ing," responded Aleck. " If practice makes perfect, yon 
 should be an adept in cunning manoeuvre." 
 15*
 
 104 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 Belleview was about five miles distant from Mr. Shore's, 
 and when half the distance was traversed, our party of four 
 had the highway all to themselves ; the little cavalcade of 
 horsemen and vehicles that had started from the house with 
 them having dropped off, a few at a time, at branch and 
 cross-roads leading to their respective homes. The waning 
 moon arose while they were still on their way, casting long 
 shadows from hill and tree upon the light covering of snow 
 that enwrapped the untrodden fields, showing the muddy 
 road like a black serpentine river, winding between high 
 banks and extended lines of fences, and giving to the land- 
 scape an aspect of melancholy ghostliness. The sickly rays 
 broke fitfully across Lily's face, white as a phantom's, with 
 unsteady, gleaming eyes, and Helen's, nearly as unearthly in 
 its sad fixedness of thought. It was not a social cortege. 
 The girls leaned, fatigued or out of spirits, against the cush- 
 ions of the back seat in the carriage, and their cavaliers rode 
 silently in the rear or beside the vehicle. 
 
 " What a doleful hour and scene !" complained Lily, at 
 last. " If one of you gentlemen does not summon up gal- 
 lantry enough to say something pretty, witty, or interesting, 
 I shall expire with the blues. One would think that 'Brother 
 Sheppard' had frightened all the fun out of us, Mr. Robert ! 
 are you asleep ?" 
 
 Thus challenged, the individual accosted rode up to the 
 window. 
 
 " Not drowsy, only accommodating myself to the preva- 
 lent taste for moonlight meditation, ha !" 
 
 They were upon a bridge or causeway of primitive con- 
 struction, consisting of a few rails laid upon trestles, span- 
 ning a rill that crossed the road. One of these slipped, or 
 broke under the foot of Robert's horse, and his leg went 
 through the aperture, up to the knee, so violently and sud- 
 denly as to throw the rider quite over his head upon thfl
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 105 
 
 half-frozen ground. A sLriek of anguish broke from Lily, 
 so wild and piercing that it chilled Aleck's blood, as a mani- 
 nc's scream would have done. Quickly as he alighted, she 
 reached the earth as soon, and when he lifted the head of 
 the insensible man to his knee, she was up on the other 
 side, one hand passed under Robert's neck, while the other 
 put back the hair from his brow. 
 
 " Robert ! Robert ! if you love me, speak to me, my dar- 
 ling. Don't you know me, your own Lily 1 ." she called, in 
 her frenzy. 
 
 " Is he seriously hurt ?" demanded Helen, in accents that, 
 full of feeling, were yet calm in comparison with -her cousin's 
 ravings. 
 
 She assisted Aleck to loosen his cravat and collar, and 
 chafed his temples and hands. 
 
 " He lives !" screamed Lily, rapturously, as a sigh flutter- 
 ed through the pale lips, followed by a groan. 
 
 " Where am I ?" asked Robert, struggling to sit upright, 
 holding his head between his palms, as to steady the giddy 
 brain. 
 
 Aleck checked Lily's incoherent ejaculations of joy and 
 explanation. 
 
 "Be still, Miss Calvert if you please! You have had 
 an awkwaid fall from your horse, Robert, and been slightly 
 stunned. That is all ! Can you stand ?" 
 
 " Simon ! Simon !" called Lily to the coachman, who had 
 addressed himself to the work of extricating the unlucky 
 horse, and was now examining into the nature of his in- 
 juries, " come help lift Mr. Lay into the carriage !" 
 
 " Do not make him more ridiculous than you have already 
 done, Miss Calvert !" retorted Aleck, sharply. " He is not 
 a sick baby, or a fine lady, but a man, in size and age at 
 least ! Well, Robert ! is your head strong enough for the 
 saddle? You have had many a harder fall before now,
 
 106 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 and hunted all day after it. I trust you have not degener 
 ated." 
 
 Robert's rallying senses were acute enough to enable 
 him to comprehend intonations as well as words, and a 
 feeling of shame came over him. at what sounded like tin 
 feeling sarcasm. 
 
 " I am quite well, entirely recovered !" straightening him 
 self and speaking cheerfully " I never did a more awkward 
 thing in my life ! You used the right word in speaking of 
 it, Aleck. How is he, Simon ? not lamed, I hope." 
 
 44 It's a blessed wonder he ain't, sir, for his hoof was 
 rammed tight in de hole, but he is all safe and right, 
 'parently." 
 
 " It is not right for you to exert yourself beyond your 
 strength," remarked Helen, with the gentle kindness of a 
 sister, as the horse was led up, and Robert laid his hand on 
 the pommel. 
 
 Aleck softened on the instant. 
 
 " I can easily lead your horse home, if you think that you 
 will suffer any inconvenience from the too violent exercise 
 of riding. You will certainly be more comfortable in the car- 
 riage. A little prudence may save you trouble hereafter." 
 
 " Thank you !" replied his brother, proudly, somewhat 
 stiffly. "As you say, I am a man, who has had many 
 worse falls in the course of my lifetime. It is cold for you 
 ladies to be standing here. Allow me to see you to the 
 carriage. I am more uneasy on your account than my 
 own." 
 
 When they were shut in, he mounted, rejecting Aleck's 
 offer of assistance silently, as it was tendered, aud gathering 
 up his reins, gave the signal for starting. 
 
 One would hardly have anticipated that the sequel of an 
 adventure, replete with danger to one of the actors, aud 
 which had drawn largely upon the sympathy of the others,
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 107 
 
 would be general distrust and acrimony of feeling, or that 
 the silence that resumed its reign over the party would be 
 the expression of grief in some, shame and disappointment 
 in others. Robert's emotions were a mixture of all these. 
 An expert in manly accomplishments, famed for his agility 
 and daring, he was mortified at his downfall, and grieved, 
 no less than ashamed, at "the ridiculous light in which" Aleck 
 had set his misfortune. Having been partially insensible 
 for the first few minutes after the accident, he had under- 
 stood Lily's lamentations very imperfectly ; was doubtful 
 whether he had not dreamed of her distressed accents and 
 tender adjuration. He was consequently greatly at a loss 
 what reason to assign for Aleck's cold contempt. Helen's 
 composure had struck him as unnatural, and piqued him 
 unaccountably. There were limits even to his loving 
 charity. 
 
 " If I judged from the manner of the two, I should decide 
 that Lily loved me best," he meditated, in his vexation. 
 " Presence of mind in such exigencies may be a very useful 
 virtue, highly commendable and heroic, but, to my taste, 
 there are others more lovely." 
 
 Lily was in tears all the rest of the way. She had be- 
 trayed her secret to the last persons in creation whom she 
 would have had penetrate it, Helen and Aleck ; her impru- 
 dence and lack of self-control had frustrated her cherished 
 plans by premature development. Aleck would assuredly 
 consider it incumbent upon him to impart the discovery he had 
 made to his brother unless unless she said, with tremb- 
 ling hope, Aleck himself reciprocated the sentiment she fan- 
 cied Helen entertained for him. This was but a transient ray 
 of comfort, for, upon examination, the supposition appeared 
 chimerical and preposterous. Why, if she nursed a prefer- 
 ence for the absentee, had Helen engaged herself to Robert ? 
 That she might, and would have accepted him, or any eli-
 
 108 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS 
 
 gible suitor, m a moment of pique or despair, the little 
 schemer could readily have imagined; but what provocation 
 had there been for either feeling ? 
 
 It was a tangled skein an invisible web, whose mazes 
 each of the four felt knotted about him or her, and still w as 
 powerless to break. The young men saw their fair com- 
 panions to their guardian's door, and bade them "good- 
 night" upon the porch. Lily said nothing ; Aleck only the 
 briefest and most coldly polite formula of parting ; Helen's 
 voice was sweet and steady in speaking to Robert. 
 
 " Must you go home ? Do you feel no uneasiness from 
 your fall ?" 
 
 " None whatever ; and I cannot stay thank you !" 
 " Then, at least, come in for a moment, and let me get 
 you a glass of wine, to prevent a return of faintness." 
 
 "You are very kind, but there is no danger. Good- 
 night !" 
 
 Pie pressed her hand, and perhaps Lily's likewise, but 
 held neither longer than was demanded by politeness, and 
 the brothers returned together to their horses. 
 
 They rode on for more than a mile, side by side, before 
 either spoke. 
 
 " Is your head at all affected by the shock you sustained ? 
 Were you bruised, do you think?" then queried Aleck, 
 kindly. 
 
 " I am unhurt in body I am obliged to you !" 
 The last rejoinder was indicative, Aleck knew, of wound- 
 ed feeling not temper. 
 
 " I am sorry that you have sustained injury of any kind," 
 he said. " Who inflicted it may I ask ?" 
 
 " Yourself more than any one else. I cannot be sullen 
 with you, Aleck. Your conduct towards me, this day, is 
 inexplicable to my mind. Jf you have any just grounds of 
 complaint against me, speak it out, and give me a chance to
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAUDS. 109 
 
 slear myself. At any rate, I request you, as one gentle 
 man has the right to ask of another, to refrain, in future, 
 from insulting me in the presence of others particularly 
 when those others are ladies." 
 
 Here was an opportunity for full confession, yet Aleck 
 discovered that he was unable to avail himself of it. So 
 much of his overwrought disapprobation of what he had 
 seen that day had its origin in feelings, he could not dis- 
 close, that it was a difficult undertaking to make out an in- 
 dictment against the offenders. Hampered by this convic- 
 tion, his tone was an unfortunate contrast to Robert's, and 
 jarred sorely upon the listener's heart. 
 
 " We can hardly hope to agree upon this topic, Robert. 
 Our views respecting the expediency, not to say the moral- 
 ity, of certain practices, are radically different, I fear. Not 
 that I believe that you would wantonly indulge a dishonor- 
 able thought, much less commit a dishonorable deed; yet 
 Ihere is a looseness of principle and conduct in these matters 
 whose harshest name in the vocabulary of society is ' levity,' 
 or ' flirtation,' that often works consequences as disastrous 
 as deliberate villany." 
 
 " ' Dishonor' and ' villany' are words hard to be borne, 
 even when the speaker is a brother. Please remember 
 that !" said Robert, moving restlessly in the saddle. " In 
 Heaven's name, man, say plainly what I have done, and let 
 there be an end of innuendoes ! My patience is worn 
 threadbare." 
 
 " I have no objection to plainness of speech. Unless I 
 am greatly mistaken, you have won the love of two women, 
 while you are bound by every law of honor and feeling to 
 hold faith to one alone," said Aleck, bluntly. 
 
 " I am not responsible for your visionary conclusions," re- 
 turned the other, struggling with his rising choler. " What 
 proof have you to substantiate this extraordinary charge ?"
 
 110 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 " The evidence of ray eyes and ears in the scene of this 
 morning, and in the remarkable one of to-night. Lily Cal- 
 vert would have thrown herself upon your bosom if I had 
 not pushed her back by main force. She called you by 
 name in a tone of passionate deyotion, such as a beloved 
 wife only has the right to employ, and entreated you to 
 speak to her ' to your own Lily if you loved her !' One 
 of two inferences is inevitable. She is either a criminally 
 fond and foolish woman false alike to her cousin and every 
 instinct of feminine modesty or you have trifled with her 
 affections." 
 
 " I reject the alternatives you lay down so arbitrarily ! 
 Lily is innocent and pure-minded. She is not to be judged 
 as you would other girls." 
 
 " It seems not, indeed !" interrupted Aleck. 
 
 " She is not ! She is a simple-hearted, affectionate child, 
 vhose very ignorance of evil makes her confiding and fear- 
 :ess. She has been accustomed to petting and indulgence 
 from her infancy, and her sad history, her early orphanage, 
 should commend her to the love of every feeling heart the 
 protection of every true man." 
 
 " I do not know that she is entitled to a more bountiful 
 share of these than is her cousin. She has no recollection 
 of her bereavement, and Mrs. Floyd is shamelessly partial 
 to her. She has never felt the need of any other mother." 
 
 " We will not introduce Miss Gardner's name in this con- 
 nection, if you please !" said Robert, haughtily. " If that 
 lady has any cause of dissatisfaction to allege against me, 1 
 hold myself in readiness to hear and answer it when she 
 shall bring it forward in person. I will have no go-between 
 in this matter !" 
 
 " You wrong her by the insinuation that she would stoop 
 to employ a ' go-between,' were her wrongs ever so great !" 
 Aleck schooled himself to reply quietly, but forcibly.
 
 COLOXEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. Ill 
 
 * Wrong her more foully than you do me by applying the 
 base title to me ! I am neither her confidant nor champion. 
 I deemed it my duty, when you inquired the reason of my 
 altered bearing, to utter a fraternal warning. I have done 
 so in sincerity, with a single desire for your happiness and 
 reputation. From this time henceforth, since you desire 
 it, let the subject be untouched by either of us in our daily 
 intercourse. It is devoid of charms to me, and, it would 
 seem, obnoxious to you." 
 
 " Agreed !" returned Robert, spurring on his horse. " I 
 am willing to abide by the results of my actions in this, as 
 in every thing else !" , rj ". >' 
 
 For the first time in their lives, the brothers separated 
 that night with a cold nod and lips locked in stern dis- 
 pleasure; lay down to rest heart-sore at thought of their 
 alienation; yet each smarting under a sense of injustice and 
 indignity received from the other ; each stubborn in his own 
 opinion, and unrepentant of his own hasty words and ir- 
 rational anger.
 
 112 COLONEL FLO YDS WAKDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HELEN had her explanation scene with Robert also, a 
 t& had foreseen ; but it was conducted in a spirit totally 
 diverse from the unsatisfactory and intemperate conver 
 sat'on he had held with Aleck. 
 
 Shv? had had many misgivings since that memorable 
 Sabb^.a night, she frankly avowed ; misgivings excited by 
 Lily's agitation and singular language. 
 
 "I hive doubted whether, after all, we hid not acted un- 
 tvisely in .entering into this engagement, Robert ; whether 
 you mar rot have mistaken your feeling* for me,'* she 
 said, rafsit % a clear, searching eye to his. " If this is 
 so if this uu rriage will bring sorrow to Lily and yourself, 
 I entreat you to tell me the truth now, while there is still 
 room for retie,Nt. You shall never be blamed, vour char- 
 acter suffer no (a 'inch from the annulment of our contract. 
 If you love her,- -if you would address her, were you not 
 bound by your prcnnse to me, trust me with your secret, 
 and all shall be as you wish. I have feared, among other 
 things, that you and 1 were not so well adapted to one 
 another as you suppose/' 
 
 "I am not worthy of you, Helen, yet I love you, you 
 alone ! The day in which you forbid me to hope for a re- 
 turn of that love, and the gift of your hand, will be to me 
 the darkest of my life. I r^&rd Lily as I would your 
 younger sister, if you had one, aa<?. I Vnestly believe that 
 her affection for me is of a like nature. She k aiJicted to
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 113 
 
 the use of extravagant expressions, as you know, and has as 
 little command of her feelings as the merest child. I am her 
 elder brother, her counsellor and friend. She would shrink 
 at the mention of any nearer relation. So much to exculpate 
 her ! As to yourself, " 
 
 He stopped, and a sad, wistful gaze attested the change 
 that had come over his fervent spirit. 
 
 Helen sustained the scrutiny without faltering or blush 
 ing. 
 
 " What of me ?" she asked. 
 
 " Will you imitate my candor ? Is your love for me the 
 same, in quality and degree, that it was when you first 
 pledged yourself to become my wife ? I, too, have had my 
 fears ; fancies of your growing coldness ; imaginations that 
 my society was becoming irksome to you. Helen ! my only 
 love ! my almost bride ! if you knew the anguish such 
 thoughts bring to a heart that is bound up in you ; that 
 cannot live, except in the sunshine of your smile and pres- 
 ence, you would not chide me for being jealous sometimes." 
 
 " Jealous !" Helen's head was uplifted in regal pride. 
 " Of whom have you the shadow of a right to be jealous ? 
 What room has my conduct afforded for the birth of such a 
 passion on your part?" 
 
 " None ! I own with shame that my uneasiness had no 
 foundation of that kind. Yet I find myself eying with 
 jealous apprehension every man that approaches you, ray- 
 own brother not excepted. Do not despise me, Helen !" 
 
 She withdrew from the arm he would have cast about her ; 
 her face was averted ; her breath came thick and fast. Sup- 
 posing that he had offended her, Robert implored her for- 
 giveness ; declared the complete restoration of his confi- 
 dence ; engaged that it should never again be interrupted. 
 
 " Only do not take your love from me !" 
 
 M My love !" she repeated, in a strange, far-off tone, as
 
 114 COLONEL FLOYD'S 
 
 if communing with some phantom of the past ; " you do 
 not know for how poor a gift you sue !" 
 
 He eagerly asseverated that it was to him the highest of 
 enrthly prizes ; that it alone could content a heart that nad 
 never for a moment turned to any other than herself. 
 
 " I have tried you sadly of late, dearest ; have not seemed 
 like myself to you, or to any one else," lie continued, peni- 
 tently. " But I have been on the rack many, many times. 
 I blush to confess it ! I do not deserve your esteem or 
 affection." 
 
 " There !" With a bright smile she put her hand before 
 his lips. " We will have no more self-criminations ; no 
 more cross-examinations of one another ! no more unavailing 
 pighs over the never-to-be-recalled past ! When I plighted 
 my faith to you, we said, solemnly ' until Death shall part 
 as !' I have meant from that hour to this to keep the vow, 
 and I must believe you when you assert that you have never 
 desired to violate it. A vow is a fearful thing !" She turn 
 ed paler and shuddered slightly. " An awful thing ! and 
 curs was not a light one, or lightly spoken. Mine shall 
 stand until you say to me, of your own accord, ' I wish to be 
 free !' or, as we said that day, the day of our betrothal 
 * until Death itself part us !' " 
 
 Ere the last word quite left her tongue, the shaded lamp 
 upon the table behind them burst with a report that sounded 
 terrifically loud in the quiet room, and the inflammable fluid 
 that fed the wick flew in lurid jets over the floor, the furni- 
 ture, their clothing, over every thing within a radius of 
 eight or ten feet. The explosion, and the scream Heleu 
 could not repress, alarmed the whole household were dis- 
 tinctly heard at the negroes' dwellings in the yard. In half 
 a minute the apartment was filled with a frightened, ques- 
 tioning throng. The fire had caught Helen's dress in sev- 
 eral places, which were extinguished by Robert before the
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 115 
 
 flame could spread ; the surface of the mahogany stand was 
 blistered by the blazing stream ; and there were scattered, 
 here and there, scorched and smoking patches upon the car- 
 pet and wall-paper. 
 
 When Helen recalled her senses with sufficient clearness 
 to take note of surrounding objects, several servants were 
 upon their knees, picking up bits of broken glass ; Mrs. 
 Floyd was sobbing hysterically upon the sofa ; Lily standing 
 by, laughing violently ; and the colonel was cuffing Gabriel 
 to and fro like a rubber ball, for his carelessness in having 
 left the top of the lamp unscrewed when he filled it; "else, 
 how could the fire have touched the carnphene ?" 
 
 " 'Deed, marster, and I screwed it on tight as tight could 
 be, sur, 'fore ever I lighted it, and sot it on de table thar', 
 keerful !" blubbered the boy. 
 
 " No amount of care can prevent accidents of this nature, 
 colonel !" ventured Robert, in respectful corroboration of 
 Gabriel's self-vindication. "Camphene is a dangerous in 
 vention, neither a decent servant nor a merciful master. 
 
 " Not another drop shall ever be burned in this house 
 while I am alive ! I'm determined on that !" sobbed Mrs. 
 Floyd. " It is hateful stuff, and I've always said so, for all 
 it gives a good light !" . 
 
 " You will burn it until doomsday, madam, if you live so 
 long !" was the civil response of her husband ; and giving 
 Gabriel a parting kick, responded to by a dismal howl, he 
 recommended all present to go about their business, and 
 himself set the example. 
 
 Helen acceded to her aunt's proposition that they should 
 adjourn to the parkr the accident had occurred ia the 
 dining-room but stepped back after she had reached the 
 hall, to look for a handkerchief she had lost. Two negro 
 women were still searching for fragments of glass under tho 
 table.
 
 116 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 " De mist sign dat could 'a happened !" Helen heard one 
 mutter to the other. " Death and partin', sure !" 
 
 " Dat's so !" assented her crony. " And it couldn't mean 
 nobody but one 'o dem for wasn't dey a-settin' close by it ? 
 Ah, well ! poor young things ! if so be " 
 
 The other touched her to be silent, perceiving the young 
 lady's presence, and Helen pretended not to have listened 
 to their prognostications. Nevertheless, her nerves were 
 sadly discomposed, and although devoid of superstitious 
 dreads, she could not help thinking of the odd coincidence 
 between the servant's prophecy and her own words, inter- 
 rupted in their utterance by the startling incident. So hard 
 was it to shake the impression from her mind, that she re- 
 lated the circumstance to Robert, when he was about leav- 
 ing her that night. 
 
 His spirits had arisen rapidly since the conversation in 
 the former part of the evening ; he had never been more 
 tender hi manner, more hopeful in picturing their future, 
 and his answer to her story was a hearty laugh. 
 
 " You regard this shabby trick of that detestable cam- 
 phene as an omen, do you ? * Death and parting, sure,' as 
 Nancy says ? Breaking glass signifies fractured vows and 
 what is the significance of the fiery baptism, of which you 
 had the largest share ?" 
 
 " A blazing temper, perhaps !" said Helen, saucily. " Take 
 care !" 
 
 "Then your uncle is predestined t* enact a volcano, and 
 not you ! What has gone wrong with him lately ? He has 
 not spoken a pleasant word in my hearing for a month and 
 more." 
 
 Helen shook her head. " He is angry with you more 
 incensed at me, because we will not be puppets in his hands. 
 We shall soon be independent of his humors, so we will not 
 be miserable about them now."
 
 COLONEL, FLOYD'S WAKDS. 117 
 
 " Why do you sigh ? Is the anticipation of liberty so 
 dreadful? For myself, I have not been so buoyant and 
 light-hearted in weeks and weeks if I ever was before. I 
 had hoped that you felt the same." 
 
 " I am happier ! There is always a sure peace in the con- 
 sciousness of having done right." 
 
 Whence, then, the large slow drops that followed one an- 
 other down her cheeks, when she went back to the parlor, 
 after bidding him " good-by ?" The rest of the family had 
 retired long before, and she sat down on the rug and looked 
 at the two chairs standing so close together in front of the 
 fire. Whence came the sense of desolation that crept over 
 her, in the recollection that her fate was now doubly sealed? 
 that no mortal power could prevent the consummation of 
 the engagement she had that evening ratified ? Had she 
 secretly expected guiltily hoped for a different sequel to 
 the momentous interview ? 
 
 " I have done my duty kept my word to myself and to 
 him. I only told the truth when I reiterated the assurance 
 of my attachment. I love him as much, and in the same 
 way, that I did when we were first betrothed. I have 
 counted the cost, and I will abide by my decision. After a 
 while I shall conquer this foolish weakness. Then we shall 
 be happy together quite happy !" 
 
 And at this comforting assurance she lapsed into an agony 
 of weeping. 
 
 Aleck was reading in his chamber when he heard his 
 brother gallop into the yard on his return from Colonel 
 Floyd's, and a minute afterwards his running step upon the 
 fttair, and a knock at the door. 
 
 " Come in !" he said, surprised at the unseasonable visit. 
 
 Robert entered, blithe and glowing, after his swift ride 
 in the cold. 
 
 " Al ! old boy !" he began, without preliminary, walking
 
 118 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 straight up to his brother, his hand outstretched, " I have 
 made all right with her, have told her that I have acted 
 like a brute and a villain, and she, like an angel by-the-way, 
 she doesn't fall far short of one! and now I've come to beg 
 your pardon for ray shameful treatment of your friendly ad- 
 vice to ask that we may stand once again upon our 
 old footing. Quarrelling is a new and unpleasant business 
 to us, my dear fellow !" 
 
 " It is !" Aleck wrung the proffered hand. " I thought 
 you would understand me better when you came to think 
 over the matter. You can never know how dear your hap- 
 ness is to me, Robin, or the pain this estrangement has cost 
 me." 
 
 They sat down, side by side, and talked freely and affec- 
 tionately one of them happily, until the clock struck three. 
 
 " Never mind the march of Father Time !" said Robert, 
 as the other exclaimed at the lateness of the hour. " The 
 faster he gallops, the better pleased am I ! We shall not 
 have many more such seasons of dissipation either. The hab- 
 its of a staid Benedict and householder, such as I hope soon 
 to be, must be, perforce, diametrically opposed to irregular 
 hours, and I fancy that your Gretchen will knit her pretty 
 brows at these propensities in her husband. Ah ! Aleck ! 
 you have not acted quite fairly with me in that afihir. Here 
 I have turned out the lining of my heart to you, and you 
 have been keeping your most precious secret locked away 
 from my brotherly eyes." 
 
 " I do not understand !" answered Aleck, inquiringly. 
 
 " You hypocritical rascal !" Robert collared him, and 
 searched his face with his mirthful eyes. "Do you persist 
 in your deceit? Is Aunt Ruth the only worthy depositary 
 for your confidences ? Do you dare to deny that you are 
 every whit as deeply in love as I am ? still to keep up the 
 flimsy pretence that the improvements going forward, with
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 11 'J 
 
 such un-German velocity, at Maple Hill, arc designed for 
 your personal delectation and our good aunt's comfort, you 
 dutiful dog ?" 
 
 "Solio !" Light beamed over Aleck's puzzled visage. " I 
 begin to comprehend ! And you were blessed with a peru- 
 sal of the private and confidential missive directed to Aunt 
 Ruth, and crammed with eulogies upon the little German 
 beauty ? You were so verdant as to swallow the hoax I in- 
 tended as a reward for her monthly epistles upon the dan- 
 gers to which a marriageable young man is exposed when 
 he has no aunt near to guard him from temptation, and the 
 passing importance of making a judicious choice of a 'pard- 
 ner,' as she pronounces it ? Gretchen, forsooth ! The jade 
 never cared three straws for me, nor I one for her !" 
 
 "I am glad, and sorry too!" replied Robert. "Pleased 
 that I am not to have a foreign sister-in-law ; very sorry that 
 *he high place in your heart is yet vacant. My happiness 
 makes me sympathize the more keenly in your poverty in 
 this regard. You could love warmly and truly, Aleck ; and 
 if you had that summum bonum of earthly blessings, Aunt 
 Ruth's well-chosen 'pardner,' would prove yourself a capi- 
 tal husband." 
 
 " Thank you ! If I ever summon courage to try the ex- 
 periment, I will apply to you for a certificate to that effect," 
 , Aleck promised, with a laugh, as they separated with an- 
 other warm clasp of the hand. 
 
 He was off to Maple Hill the next morning ; spent every 
 day and nearly every night there, until Christmas. 
 
 Thorough as was the revolution in the appointments of 
 the .long-disused mansion, it scarcely exceeded that going on 
 at Greenfield, or the tumult which prevailed at Belleview. 
 Seamstresses plied hot needles ; hot ovens disgorged loads 
 of cake and every imaginable species of delicious home-made 
 confectionery; the din of scrubbing, polishing, and hauanier-
 
 120 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDB. 
 
 ing, was lively and incessant ; fires burned in every chim- 
 ney all day, and piled the hearth-stones over night with 
 huge beds of live embers ; and two teams of stout oxen found 
 abundant occupation in hauling wood to feed the throats of 
 the voracious smoking monsters. Mrs. Floyd was too busy 
 to heed her husband's " tempers," and nothing can be cited 
 that would prove more strongly her absorption in the great 
 work she had in hand. 
 
 Christmas eve came. The sun set gloriously behind the 
 dark, interminable line of forest bounding the view in all 
 directions, aud the stars glittered dazzlingly as they were 
 kindled in the clear, frosty sky. Every thing gave promise 
 of a fair day for the approaching festival. In Helen's cham- 
 ber was collected a bevy of chattering girls, the bridesmaids, 
 busy in the discussion of the important duties before them. 
 Of course, all talked at once, and each strove to drown her 
 neighbor's voice, yet Virginia Shore contrived to make her- 
 self heard above the clamor. 
 
 " Isn't it a shame ?" she called in her highest key. " Helen 
 declares that she is in sober earnest in refusing to be mar- 
 ried in that elegant set of pearls Mr. Aleck Lay brought her 
 from Europe ! I tell her she had better try at the outset to 
 gain the blind side of her husband's relatives, and that 1m 
 brother will have a right to feel offended at the manifest 
 slight put upon his gift, which, every one can see, was meant 
 for a bridal toilet." 
 
 The cabal agreed that the neglect would be an insult and 
 unpardonable, even were the jewels as tasteless and unbe- 
 coming as they were handsome and suited to the owner and 
 the occasion. 
 
 " But what ornaments will you wear, Helen ?" questioned 
 one. 
 
 Virginia interposed her ready tongue. " That is the most 
 nonsensical part of the story ! Nothing but a pitiful little
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 121 
 
 tea-rose in her hair, and another in her bosom, and just be- 
 cause Mr. Robert Lay gave her the bush, and this is the 
 first time it has blossomed! Isn't that too love-sick?" 
 
 Helen remained unmoved by the ridicule and arguments 
 of her finery-loving train. 
 
 " My mind is made up !" she said, pleasantly, but deci- 
 dedly, to their varied and repeated attacks. 
 
 " She might have had orange-blossoms from Lily's green- 
 house, if she wished," pursued Virginia. " I see that you 
 have a tree loaded with them, Lily. It was very generous 
 and considerate in it to come out in full dress just now, and 
 in you to keep every flower and bud for the benefit of your 
 friends." 
 
 " Not one of them shall be gathered by you, or any one 
 else, for to-morrow's frolic !" returned the proprietress of 
 the flowers, curtly. 
 
 Virginia stared in blank astonishment. 
 
 " Why, Lily ! that is downright stinginess, and not what 
 we should have expected from you ! We girls expected a 
 sprig apiece for our bouquets, and the bride's should be 
 composed almost entirely of them. What is a wedding 
 without orange-blossoms ?" 
 
 " You will shortly have an opportunity of seeing, unless 
 you furnish yourselves from some other quarter. Not one 
 of mine shall you have." 
 
 Apparently, the diminutive beauty was what would have 
 been termed, in a larger and homelier woman, " desperately 
 out of humor." 
 
 "One would think that this tree was a present from your 
 true-love you value its productions so highly!" observed 
 another "friend." 
 
 Lily bit her lip, and her blue yes emitted sparkles of an- 
 gry light. Only Helen, of all the girls, knew that Robert 
 was the donor of nearly every rare plant in her collection ;
 
 122 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 that the orange-tree was one of his contributions, she hav- 
 ing raised it from a graft set expressly for her by his hand, 
 three years before, in a fine bush that graced the Greenfield 
 conservatory; and Helen did'not know how sedulously she 
 had tended it to its present flourishing estate ; the kisses she 
 had showered upon its glossy leaves ; the tears that had 
 lately gemmed its snow-white petals but the random hit 
 was stinging. 
 
 " Lily is quite right, allow me to say, young ladies !" said 
 the bride, coming to the help of her discomfited rival. 
 " The tree is too beautiful as it now is, to be spoiled by 
 your destructive fingers. The green-house will be lighted 
 to morrow evening, and the orange be the queen of the floral 
 belles/' 
 
 " i comprehend ! 'Touch not a single bough!'" said 
 Virginia, dramatically. " But I want to ask, my dear Mrs. 
 Lay Mercy, Helen ! don't murder me with your eyes, and 
 upon my word of honor as a lady, I won't give you the 
 title again until the minister grants me leave !" cried the 
 giddy creature, crouching behind the chair of iher nearest 
 neighbor, in aifected terror. 
 
 " What were you about to inquire ?" said Helen, recov- 
 ering herself. 
 
 " Only whether you expected Mr. Lay over to-night ; 
 whether he is so selfish and lover like as to deprive us of 
 your society on this, the last evening of your freedom ?" 
 
 "He will not be here, I think. Do you want me 
 Sally?" 
 
 "No, ma'am, but your uncle told me to say as how 
 he would like to speak to you a minute in the office " 
 
 Sally had never said " master" to or of Colonel Floyd, 
 when she could avoid it, since the shooting adventure in the 
 melon-patch. She did not belong to him, she used to boast, 
 and would not compliment him by the respactful title.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S wABie. 1-23 
 
 To the office Helen bent her way, leaving her fair attend* 
 ants to talk over and wonder at her marvellous serenity ; 
 as Virginia Shore had it, "her cool style of taking what 
 threw most girls into fits. Surely no other woman ever 
 looked and acted as she does, upon the eve of her marriage- 
 day !" 
 
 Helen crossed the dining-room, with its long table se. 
 for supper ; went along the passage beyond, to the scene of 
 the moonlight talk with Robert, on the evening of Aleck's 
 return. Upon the threshold of this apartment, the wave 
 of renovation that had swept through the rest of the 
 mansion had been stayed. There was more lumber stores 
 there, and it was overspread by a thicker coat of dust, and 
 fringod more heavily with cobwebs, than at Helen's former 
 visit, and the dark, airless smell of the place seemed height- 
 ened instead of dissipated by the fire feebly burning upon 
 the hearth. To this uninviting retreat had Colonel Floyd 
 retired with ' his tormentors the accounts of his ward's 
 estate, or papers purporting to be such. They were scat 
 tered upon a dingy table, from which hung tattered strips 
 of baize that had been green, and whereupon stood also a 
 couple of candles and an inkstand. He was bowed over a 
 great book, yellow and ink-spotted, at his ward's entrance, 
 pen in hand, his countenance grave to dolefulness. 
 
 Helen stopped in front of him, keeping the desk between 
 them. 
 
 " You sent for me, I believe, sir ?" 
 
 " I did ! Sit down !" 
 
 " Thank you ! I prefer to stand, unless our conference is 
 to be a lengthy one." 
 
 " It need not be. I assuredly have no wish to prolong 
 it. I have prepared and collected a few papers which it is 
 necessary for you to sign, in order that I may proceed in 
 the work of leg.il surrender of the charge placed in my hands
 
 124: COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKD8. 
 
 by your father the care and management of your estate. 
 There is one !" 
 
 He pushed towards her a sheet of large dimensions, 
 covered with figures. 
 
 "I will take a seat, since this is to be inspected," said 
 Helen, coolly, drawing up a chair with a broken back the 
 most secure one that offered itself among the unfortunate 
 collection and dusting it with her handkerchief. 
 
 The colonel's brows met ominously. 
 
 " You are not required to undertake that task. Mr. Lay 
 has examined it, and is satisfied that it is correct." 
 
 " I do not see how that can be. This, as I learn from its 
 caption, professes to be a report of my expenditures since I 
 attained the age of fifteen bills for clothing, board, pocket- 
 money furnished, etc., matters of which Mr. Lay is pro- 
 foundly ignorant. I am the fittest person to judge of the 
 accuracy of your statements." 
 
 Unheeding the muttered curse at her " perversity" and 
 " unbearable insolence," she reviewed the long columns of 
 numerals ; dwelt thoughtfully upon particular items, and 
 raised her eyebrows meaningly at the sum total. 
 
 "I shall not affix my signature to this, sir!" she said, 
 Jetting the sheet fall as she finished its study. " I too have 
 a statement to make, which it is proper you should hear. 
 My uncle, "William Gardner, was joint guardian with you 
 until his death, which occurred at the date when this ac- 
 count begins. Until then your reports were subject to hia 
 examination. When you assumed the entire charge of my 
 property, I opened a private expense-book. He advised 
 me to the measure, upon his death. I have kept it with 
 scrupulous exactness, in anticipation let me say of the 
 final settlement upon which we are now engaged. I can 
 prove by it that the sums disbursed by you for my ex- 
 penses do not exceed one-half of the amount yon have here
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 125 
 
 Bet down. I have taken pains to omit nothing in my 
 account. Every school-bill was copied with punctilious 
 care before I passed it to you; every sixpenny worth of 
 ribbon was registered so soon as it was procured. I cannot 
 truthfully certify, as you wish me to do, that I have re- 
 ceived, either in ready money or its equivalent, all you 
 declare has been spent by and for me. There is a mistake 
 somewhere, and a great one !" 
 
 " Girl ' do you know that you are accusing me of swind- 
 ling?" 
 
 " I have used no such word. I have said that there is 
 an error in your computation. We will therefore lay this 
 paper aside for further consideration. Did I understand 
 you to say that there are others to be inspected ?" 
 
 " Will you have the goodness to ' inspect,' since you are 
 so fond of using the word, that and let me have your 
 ladyship's judgment of it?" 
 
 He flung an envelope over to her so rudely, that it wizzed 
 past her cheek and fell to the floor. Nowise disconcerted 
 by his violent tone and action, she stooped to pick it up. 
 
 "This is directed to Lily not to me !" she said, reading 
 the address upon the back. 
 
 "I am aware of that. You will find, notwithstanding, 
 that it concerns Miss Helen Gardner very nearly. You 
 recognize the handwriting, I presume ?" 
 
 " I think that I do." 
 
 "It bears a very tolerable resemblance to Mr. Robert 
 Lay's, does it not ?" 
 
 " It does !" Helen laid the letter down with an air of un- 
 concern. 
 
 " It was written by him, and intercepted by myself " 
 
 " In that case I shall take the liberty of restoring it to 
 the rightful owner," interrupted she, stretching her hand 
 towards the letter. He secured it before she could touch it.
 
 126 COLONEL FLOYD 3 WARDS. 
 
 " You had best not be over-hasty, young lady ! Yoi 
 may reverse your decision when you learn the contents of 
 this epistle," tapping the cover meaningly. " This, which 
 came into my possession this very afternoon, confirms what 
 I have long suspected the fact of Robert Lay's infidelity to 
 my wealthy ward, and real love for her poorer but more 
 beautiful cousin. He tells Lily, here, that his heart has 
 failed him at the eleventh hour ; that he cannot and will 
 not, unless driven to it by her cruelty, carry out the pro- 
 jected union with yourself, and proposes an elopement upon 
 his wedding-day. What say you to this pretty arrange- 
 ment ? It offers quite a refreshing variety to the ordinary 
 hackneyed style of entering the hymeneal state, does it not ?" 
 
 If demon ever wore a more fiendish smile than the sneer 
 ihat curled his lip and looked evilly from his eye at that 
 moment, it must have been the prince of devils himself. 
 
 Helen's features hardened into stone beneath it. 
 
 " I have nothing to say to such a tale, sir, except to in- 
 sist, still, that the letter shall be delivered to the person 
 for whom it was intended !" 
 
 " You do not care to read it yourself?" 
 
 " Certainly I do not ! The act would be dishonorable." 
 
 " You may perhaps not object to glance at the signature? 
 It is boldly and well written !" 
 
 Before she could draw back, or divine his intention, he 
 thrust the open page abruply under her eyes. 
 
 " Forever your own Itobert" she could not help reading, 
 in the round comely characters that were traced upon many 
 a note to herself. 
 
 " You refuse to take it still ! Your principles of honor 
 are invulnerable, your curiosity stagnant ?" mocked her com- 
 panion, as she arose in offended dignity. 
 
 " I have se on no reason why I should change my mind," 
 she replied.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAJSDS. 127 
 
 " Be it as you will ! I shall not transmit this letter to the 
 lady-love No. 2 of this fickle swain shall uphold Mammon's 
 cause against Cupid's," continued Colonel Floyd, replacing 
 the epistle within the envelope, then putting it, with osten- 
 tatious care, between the leaves of his pocket-book. " It ia 
 my duty to protect your reputation and your cousin's so 
 long as you are inmates of my house, reckoned by the pub- 
 lic as members of my family. Disgrace is a word unknown 
 in the Floyd annals. Mr. Lay's disappointment at not find- 
 ing his bonny Lily at the place of rendezvous (not a eupho- 
 nious name for a romance Rock's Tavern !), his chagrin at 
 her non-compliance with his petition, may produce a reaction 
 in your favor ; so, do not despair of seeing him in his ap- 
 pointed position to-morrow evening." , 
 
 " If he comes I shall marry him, without demanding a 
 word of explanation !" said the low, determined tones he 
 had been used to hear from her, in her obstinate moods, 
 since the days of her wilful childhood. 
 
 " Very well ! What woman ever let ' a good chance' slip 
 through her fingers ? I will oppose no obstacle to your man- 
 ifest destiny, which is to show yourself to be as grand a fool 
 as he is a knave !" rejoined her guardian, contemptuously. 
 " The remainder of my business may with propriety be de- 
 layed until the knot is tied. ' There's many a slip 'twixt tho 
 cup and the lip !' I am to meet the amorous bridegroom at 
 the clerk's office at eleven o'clock to-morrow, when he ap- 
 plies for his marriage license. It will then be seen which 
 of my wards he has finally decided to promote to the dignity 
 of favorite in his harem. Fascinating creature ! what a pity 
 he was not born in Turkey!" 
 
 Nothing but Helen's indomitable pride enabled her to 
 carry an unblenching front up to the last word spoken iu 
 this unlooked-for trial, this unprecedented emergency. 
 Pride was her master-spirit. It had impelled her to the de-
 
 128 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 struction of her earthly happiness as a blind for a slighted, 
 broken heart ; had bound her fast to the fulfilment of a rash 
 and sinful vow ; it came to her aid now ; strengthened her 
 to cast back disdainfully this crowning insult. 
 
 " If, as I suppose, this is the climax uf your choice obser- 
 vations, sir, I will, with your permission, retire !" 
 
 She swept him a lofty courtesy in return for his mock- 
 ing obeisance, and walked erect and haughtily from the 
 room. Once out of his abhorred presence, she quickened 
 her stately gait to a rapid flight; traversed ball and 
 porch, avoid ng lighted apartments ; gained the little con- 
 servatory in the rear of the parlor, shut the* door behind 
 her, and sank upon a bench against the wall, panting and 
 exhausted. % ' 
 
 " Am I going mad ? What am I to think ? What can 
 I do ? GOD help me in this fearful strait !" 
 
 The glimmer of the stars through the glass roof met her 
 agonized upward glance, as the unwonted petition broke 
 from her ; the holy watchers, beyond whose shining bands, 
 HE dwelt whom she blindly invoked. 
 
 " Of purer eyes than to behold evil !" 
 
 The text came unsought to her mind, and the swift infer- 
 ence followed "Then HE has neither notice nor compas- 
 sion for me !" 
 
 They still beamed mildly, benignantly, upon her the 
 eternal sentinels of Heaven ! and she coulri not withdraw her 
 answering regards. Beneath their pure rays, as under the 
 distilment of refreshing dews, feelings trampled, soiled, and 
 crushed by the fierce rush of earth-born passions, began to 
 revive and lift themselves anew. She had sowed the wind ; 
 the whirlwind of humiliation and despair was the legiti- 
 mate harvest ; but her proud spirit prayed in its writhings 
 that she might be spared the direful punishment. Slowly 
 sinking to her knees, she cried out of the depths to the All-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 129 
 
 merciful ; with tears and sighs besought Divine succor and 
 support amid the snares that encompassed her. 
 
 " Lead me into a plain path ! however hard and thorny 
 it may bo, I will tread it without a murmur ! Strengthen me 
 to tell him the truth, and then do with me as Thou wilt. 
 Keep far from me all bitter or revengeful thoughts of him 
 for, oh ! am I not the more guilty of the two ? Did not my 
 sin of unfaithfulness and deceit precede his ?" 
 
 She still knelt still looked upward, in inaudible supplica- 
 tion, accompanied by fast-flowing tears, when the lock of the 
 door, which she thought she had made fast at her entrance, 
 was drawn back, and a figure glided in. The faint starlight 
 revealed enough of the small figure and waxen face to show 
 who was the intruder, if her cousin had not recognized her 
 by the noiseless grace of her movements. Supposing that 
 she had come on some errand that would not detain her 
 more than a minute, Helen crouched lower to avoid being 
 seen, and waited, with hushed breath, for her departure. 
 .Every fibre of her frame thrilled to the low cry of agony that 
 stirred the silence of the place. Lily was standing by the 
 orange-tree, which loomed up a pyramid of dusky white in 
 the darkness ; bent over and caressed it as if it were a sen- 
 tient thing, while sobs, mingled with incoherent lamentations, 
 attested the depths and reality of her sorrow. 
 
 Helen never afterwards inhaled the scent of orange-blos- 
 soms without a return of the heart-sickness, the deathly 
 faintness of spirit, that came over her in that season of pain- 
 ful irresolution. Lily's heart was breaking, and she stood 
 between her and happiness, she, with her empty vows and 
 ailing resolution ! and did not Robert approach the altar 
 with a divided, if not a recreant heart ? 
 
 " Oh, Helen ! if you could only know 1" said Lily, with a 
 fresh paroxysm of tears. 
 
 In the woman's crnef there was still a touch of the child's
 
 130 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 fretfuiness and impatience at being thwarted. Helen seldom 
 denied her any gratification which it was in her power to 
 afford, and this moan appealed to the sympathies of the listen- 
 er with peculiar and pathetic force. She was the elder of 
 the two the stronger and wiser; her own folly and per- 
 verseness had brought her trouble upon her ; but what had 
 this poor girl done that her life should be blighted ? 
 
 " She does know, my darling !" 
 
 Helen put her arm around her neck ; would have drawn 
 her to her bosom ; spoken words of pity and of promise; but 
 at her voice and touch Lily sprang back with a stifled shriek ; 
 in her mad alarm, struck at the speaker with all her strength, 
 and sped away like a frightened hare at the sound of the 
 hunter's horn. 
 
 The assault took Helen so entirely by surprise that she 
 staggered against the orange-tree and fell to the floor with 
 it. When she regained her feet, she was alone in the dark- 
 ness. She would not, she could not follow Lily then ! Hers 
 was a generous and not implacable disposition, but it was 
 not in it to recover immediately from the indignation awa- 
 kened by this unfeminine and uncousinly treatment. She had 
 bruised her shoulder against the flower-stand, and her bosom 
 ached intensely from the effects of Lily's blow. She had 
 not meant to hurt her, Helen knew perhaps had not recog- 
 nized the person who accosted her so unexpectedly but her 
 hand had fallen sharply. 
 
 " To morrow !" Helen promised herself. " By that time 
 sne may be ready to listen and I to speak calmly. A night 
 of sober thought will be beneficial to both of us." 
 
 Merriment and gamesome entertainment ran high in the 
 parlor that evening, for the bridesmaids were not without 
 their attendant train of admirers. Yule-log and Christmas 
 jokes and wassail-cup were not wanting to enliven the youth- 
 ful band, who watched for the first hour of the Advent-day ;
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 131 
 
 and no smile was brighter, no voice more ready in laughter 
 and song, no step more elastic in the dance than were Lily 
 Calvert's. Etiquette and inclination for once united in advis- 
 ing that Helen should not appear below, and she had no 
 fear of loneliness. She would be better satisfied if they 
 would leave her to herself. 
 
 Lily would have been as extravagantly gay, had her 
 cousin been present in the hilarious gathering, for the blood 
 that never tinged the alabaster skin yet seethed hotly in 
 her veins ; rushed, a tumultuous tide, to and from the heart. 
 Says Charlotte Bronte of a certain crisis in her heroine's 
 life 
 
 "It fryjnd her despairing it left her desperate two 
 evidently different sieges of feeling." 
 
 The second, and m,e trying of these, Lily was now learn- 
 ing- > 
 
 And thus passed the eve of the wedding-day.
 
 132 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Miss RUTH had slept but indifferently well the night be- 
 fore Christmas. Her maidenly dreams were vexed by 
 images of bridal veils ; jellies that poured from the moulds 
 in splashing, insipid liquids, when she would have had 
 them pellucid, flavorous, and firm ; torn kid gloves, that 
 could not be mended , burnt and cuvdted custairfs ; cakes 
 with sticky icing and streaky into-lors; pie-crust heavy 
 sdth rancid butter, or tough as leatte* for 1 want of the for- 
 gotten " shortening ;" nuptial benedictions ; -showers of 
 tears ; hail-storms of kisses, congratulatory and confection- 
 ery ; jumbled into a confusing, distracting medley, that al- 
 lowed her tortured brain not one hour of natural sleep out 
 of the six she spent hi bed. 
 
 "Upon my word," said the good soul, when a ray of red 
 Jight from the coming sun flecked the gray East, and ap- 
 prised her that the world would soon be awake " upon 
 my word, I don't believe I could have rested worse if I 
 were expecting to be married myself to-day and that is 
 saying a good deal !" 
 
 By sunrise she was dressed and had mustered her troop 
 of menials. The happy pair were to come home for the 
 second day's feast, the splendor of which was to suffer no 
 diminution by contrast with Mrs. Floyd's wedding-supper. 
 The same company would be present, and comparison? 
 were inevitable. The dear woman was brave and confident 
 in view of all this. She had not kept the cleanest house ia 
 three counties, and the best table in six, for twenty years, to
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 133 
 
 be appalled by the array of any odds of this kind that could 
 be brought against her no ! no ! not by the Floyds them- 
 selves, whose profuse hospitality was proverbial. So, buck- 
 ling on her armor, in the shape of an immense check apron, 
 two breadths wide in the skirt, reaching to the bottom of 
 her dress, and with a broad bib attached, which was pinned 
 up to her double chin, she walked, with her prim, but brisk 
 little pace, to her cake-room. 
 
 Cake, cake everywhere, and not a faulty crumb in the 
 collection ! Snowballs whose hearts were yellow sponge, 
 and their surfaces white satin ; loaves of " pound," smooth, 
 fluted, and beflowered, conical and hexagon, all rich enough 
 to guarantee, on their own responsibility, a fit of dyspepsia 
 to each rash taster among the expected guests ; silver cake 
 that, when cut and heaped in alternate slices with the gold, 
 should present a pleasing sight to the eye and agreeable 
 associations to the mind of the beholder ; piles of slender 
 "ladies' fingers" and macaroons, cocoa-nut and almond, 
 light as a feather and sweet as sugar ; two immense struc- 
 tures, precisely similar in size and shape, inwardly a tooth- 
 some but perilously indigestible conglomeration of currants, 
 raisins, citron, and spices, held together in a not very strong 
 union by a cement of eggs, sugar, and flour, made brittle 
 with butter, externally, twin mountains of snow, wreathed 
 with garlands of the same material as the icing ; and upon 
 the summit of each a pink Cupid the festoon of roses, his 
 insufficient tunic, offering a self-evident apology for the 
 exaggerated flesh-color of his cuticle, when the thermometer 
 stood, as it did this morning, at the freezing-point. He 
 trode with one foot upon a pair of hearts, also in sugar, 
 spitted together by a red dart, and his bow was drawn at a 
 venture. 
 
 Before these her chefs-cFceuvre, being the bride and bride- 
 groom's cakes, and destined to adorn the head and foot of
 
 134 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 her dessert-table, Miss Ruth paused in full satisfaction, 
 folded her hands upon the check apron, and set her head 
 on one side. A minute elapsed before she spoke or moved ; 
 then she inclined her head towards the other shoulder, 
 gently rubbed her fat palms together, and sighed, in sub- 
 lime content 
 
 "YES!" 
 
 A shout of laughter from the open door behind her 
 answered. Her nephews, both early abroad on this morn- 
 ing, had encountered each other in the passage leading past 
 the apartment devoted, for the time, to the genius who pre- 
 sides over " good things," and stopped simultaneously to 
 inspect the array, and the chief-priestess of the temple. 
 
 " Yes !" repeated Aunt Ruth, in an altered tone, a blush 
 creeping up to her cap-border. 
 
 The "particle," as first enunciated, denoted the height ot 
 mortal complacency : now it signified " I know you wicked 
 boys are making fun of me, but I don't care ! I am strong 
 in the consciousness of merit." 
 
 They came in Robert foremost still laughing. 
 
 " Aunty ? do you mean that Mrs. Lay, who-is-to-be, is to 
 live by cake alone throughout the honeymoon ? That would 
 be rather too impressive an illustration of the saying, ' Sweets 
 to the sweet !' Hey, Aleck ?" 
 
 Aleck smiled, but somewhat constrainedly. 
 
 " I believe that caged humming-birds are usually fed upon 
 honey-paste, as the diet best suited to their constitutions 
 and tastes, while in a state of bondage. Aunt Ruth, you 
 have excelled yourself ! -I can say nothing more complimen- 
 tary !" 
 
 " Wait until you see the jellies, blanc-manges, charlottes, 
 and ice-creams !" replied the housewife, in pardonable vanity. 
 " Or, rather, until you taste them ! My good things are not 
 show-pieces, fancy articles, to please the eye only, as you'U
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 135 
 
 find out, Robert, when you eat your second day's dinner 
 and supper." 
 
 " I do not feel, just now, as if I should ever care to eat 
 another mouthful," said the groom expectant, with a slight 
 grimace. " I was scared with visions last night ; tormented 
 by all sorts of hobgoblins, and am appetiteless this mom 
 ing." 
 
 " Yes !" retorted Aunt Ruth, slyly. 
 
 " I suppose that it is a common symptom in the circum- 
 stances !" answered Robert, coloring a little, " but I had not 
 expected to feel exactly as I do on this, my wedding-day." 
 
 " The smell of the cake is sickening to an empty stom- 
 ach !" said Aleck, retreating towards the door. "I don't 
 see how you can endure it, Aunt Ruth." 
 
 Robert overtook him upon the piazza. 
 
 " You look pale, Al !" he remarked, linking his arm in his 
 brother's, and falling into step with him, in his hurried walk 
 up and down the long porch. " I wish that I could attribute 
 my uncomfortable sensations to bodily ailment ! It may 
 sound ungallant, unloverlike, and pusillanimous, but I must 
 confess that I could, without great repugnance, cast my vote 
 for a postponement of the * happy occasion,' ardently as I 
 have desired its coming, from the earliest hour of my en- 
 gagement. I wish it were all over! I grow positively 
 nervous and tremulous in the anticipation." 
 
 His laugh did indeed shake, and his complexion, usually 
 clear and sanguine, took a cadaverous tinge. 
 
 Aleck gnawed his moustache a fierce, restless movement 
 he strove to conceal by passing his hand over his mouth. 
 
 " I suppose," he said, presently, " that, as Aunt Ruth in 
 timated, this species of stage-fright frequently seizes upou 
 men in your position, and that persons of your temperament 
 are peculiarly liable to fall victims to it." 
 
 The latter clause was added involuntarily, as it were, and
 
 136 COLONEL FLOYD S WAI1D8. 
 
 Uobcrt flushed ap at the latent touch of meaning in the 
 accent. 
 
 " It is sheer nervousness nothing else !" he returned, 
 eagerly " induced, I verily believe, by the ugly dreams 
 that beset my pillow all night. One vision haunts me wher- 
 ever I look. I thought that I sat by Helen, holding her 
 hand, and talking earnestly and happily of the life upon 
 which we were about entering, when, all at once, she start- 
 ed up and confronted me, and I saw, instead of her features 
 ugh ! I will not tell you of the horrid sight ! Yet 
 I dreamed this three times, and awoke half dead with 
 fright." 
 
 " You had the night-mare. The sights and smells of hot 
 sweets that have hung about the premises lately have been 
 enough to give any one dyspeptic visitings. Do not dwell 
 upon such fancies! You are but deepening impressions 
 unsuited to your real feelings and the actual event before 
 you. What a splendid day !" 
 
 " Is it not ?" With his accustomed elasticity of mood 
 Robert welcomed the change of theme. " Plappy the bride 
 that the sun shines on ! May this bright Christmas morn- 
 ing be an augury of good to her ! I shall try to make her 
 happy ! If zealous endeavor and ardent desire of mine can 
 do this, she will never have cause for sorrow. Yet I have 
 not been without my doubts on this head." 
 
 Aleck made no reply, and they took several turns in their 
 promenade before the other resumed : 
 
 " She is a singular girl a woman of marked character, and 
 I have often feared, recently, that we did not quite under- 
 stand one another; asked myself if we ever would attain to 
 that perfection of mutual confidence that constitutes so large 
 a proportion of the happiness of the true marriage. Thero 
 seems to be a background of motive and feeling to which I 
 am denied admittance. Yet I do love her ! I have loved
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 137 
 
 her from the time when we were happy children together 
 we three, and Lily Calvert !" 
 
 There was a slight hesitancy in his pronunciation of the 
 last name, and Aleck's eyes fell quickly burningly upon 
 the speaker's countenance. 
 
 " Is she the cause of the misunderstanding you deplore ?" 
 he asked, sternly. 
 
 " Partly and yet, no ! You wrong poor Lily, Aleck, 
 and I fear that Helen does also. I know the child better 
 than either of you can do. There are many allowances to 
 be made for her." 
 
 " You make many, I see ! But we will not revive that 
 subject on this day, of all others. A year hence these 
 trivial differences of opinion and feeling between us will be 
 forgotten, will have died a natural death and be buried 
 without parade. And sooner still will fade into empty air 
 the imaginary want of confidence and congeniality between 
 your wife and yourself." 
 
 " You are the prince of prophets the king of se^i-s ! 
 Away with bugbears and dreams! Vive 1'amour!" called 
 out Robert, swinging his hat around his head, while the 
 early sunshine wove of his fair hair a glittering crown. 
 
 Aleck looked at him with a loving, aching heart. 
 
 " You are a handsome fellow, Robert ; I do not wonder 
 all the girls fall in love with you!" 
 
 " Nonsense ! You are the right sort of man to play the 
 deuce with the softer sex ! tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and 
 bearded like the pard' ' grand, gloomy, and peculiar,' as 
 that rattle, Virginia Shore, called you in my hearing one 
 day. I have said to Helen several times that it was strarge 
 she had not taken yon- instead of me. You would have 
 made a splendid couple !" 
 
 " Don't, Robert ! it is both wrong and foolish to run on 
 in that strain," said Aleck, in grave, sad rebuke. " I can-
 
 138 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 not understand how you bring yourself to jest upon sue. * 
 theme Low you endure the imagination of resigning hei 
 you love to another." 
 
 "Because it is an imagination, and nothing else! What 
 a glorious day! Did you ever breathe such invigorating 
 air before ever see such sunlight? Every beam is clari- 
 fied to diamond purity and lustre. ' Happy the bride that 
 the sun shines on,' I say again ! What is the correspond- 
 ing adage ? There is one, isn't there ?" 
 
 " ' Blessed the corpse that the rains fall upon,' I believe," 
 responded his brother. "It runs somewhat after that 
 fashion." 
 
 " For pity's sake, man, keep your death's-heads out of 
 sight when you can !" Robert exclaimed, half-angrily. " I 
 had a surfeit of them last night. What have they to do 
 with daylight and bridals, I should like to know ? But 
 isn't that Gabriel trotting down the road? I hope nothing 
 has gone wrong at Belleview." 
 
 They walked out to the gate to meet the Cimmerian 
 Mercury. His grin and bow in nearing them, his saucily- 
 deferential " Christmas gift, my marsters !" dispelled what- 
 ever anxiety either might have experienced as to any out- 
 ward calamity in his master's household. 
 
 "All well, Mars' Robert,"" he replied to the inquiry 
 after the health of the family. " I've brung a note for you, 
 sur." 
 
 Aleck turned to go back to the house as this was pre- 
 sented, but, against his will, his falcon eye saw the address 
 before he wheeled so carelessly was the transfer from one 
 hand to the other performed. The billet was directed to 
 " Mr. Robert C. Lay, Greenfield. In haste," and the chi- 
 rography resembled Lily's, he thought. It was assuredly 
 not Helen's. He had paced the porch for perhaps fifteen 
 minutes when Robert joined him. Aleck had seen him
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 139 
 
 scribble something with a pencil upon a scrap of paper, 
 using the gate-post for a desk ; fold it, and give it to the 
 messenger; Gabriel, meanwhile, sitting still upon his horse 
 and eying the operation, from under the brim of his old 
 felt hat, with intense interest. When he had deposited the 
 reply in the crown of the said head-covering, he set off on 
 a gallop in the direction of home. Then the bridegroom 
 came slowly up the walk, wearing a very unbridegroomlike 
 aspect, re-reading the gilt-edged sheet. He thrust it in- 
 to his vest-pocket as he reached the steps ; mounted them, 
 *nd continued the exercise the boy had interrupted. He 
 volunteered no explanation of what Aleck had seen and 
 overheard, although he looked worried and perplexed, and 
 sighed repeatedly, in deep thought or sadness. 
 
 Finally, when the breakfast-bell ended their matutinal 
 stroll, and disturbed his revery, he said, with an appear- 
 ance of frankness, laying his hand upon his brother's 
 shoulder, 
 
 " I am ready to acknowledge that you know my weak 
 points better than I do myself, Al ! I wish I were more 
 like you in certain respects." 
 
 " You have chosen a sorry examplar !" replied the other. 
 " Act out what conscience and honor dictate, Robin, and 
 you cannot go wrong." 
 
 " Is the voice of feeling then to be wholly disregarded ?" 
 asked Robert, looking down. 
 
 "If it militates against the other and surer monitors 
 yes a thousand times, yes !" said Aleck, emphatically. 
 
 And, " Ah ! brother mine ! we are made of different 
 stuff! where you would be adamant, I am very soft wax 
 a fickle, cowardly dog!" ended the dialogue, for Aunt 
 Ruth, to whom every minute of daylight was now precious, 
 appeared in the house door to expedite their progress to 
 the dining-room.
 
 140 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 Robert had, as he had said, little or no appetite for food, 
 but he either was, or feigned to be, in finer spirits than he 
 had been able to summon, an hour previous. He rallied 
 Miss Ruth upon her household arrangements ; prophesying 
 all manner of failures in the delicate and critical manufac- 
 tures that yet remained to be perfected ; teased her about 
 an antiquated bachelor planter, a former beau of hers, who 
 had, he affirmed, been fitted by a Baltimore tailor with a 
 bran-new suit of clothes, to be sported that night, in the 
 hope of tempting her to a reconsideration of the discard 
 she had given him twenty-five years ago ; condoled with 
 his brother, because of the probable state of utter isolation 
 that menaced him in his sojourn at~Maple Hill, in view of 
 his housekeeper's defection and desertion ; inquired gravely 
 from whose establishment the marriage would take place, 
 and warmly advocated the claims of Greenfield to that 
 honor ; in fine, conducted himself in such a wild, incon- 
 venient manner, that his aunt was heartily rejoiced when 
 he obeyed her commands and quitted the table. 
 
 Aleck met him soon afterwards on the stairs, equipped 
 for a ride. 
 
 " You allow yourself ample time for your jaunt !" ob- 
 served the elder brother, taking out his watch. " I meant 
 to ride with you so far as our way remained the same, but 
 I have not ordered my horse yet." 
 
 " You are very kind, and I should like to have your 
 company, but I am in a hurry," said Robert', pulling on a 
 tight new buckskin glove, and studiously avoiding Aleck's 
 eye. 
 
 " It is but half-past nine, and I understood you to saj 
 that you were to meet Colonel Floyd at the clerk's ofiict 
 by eleven." 
 
 " Oh ! for that matter, twelve would do as well as eleven, 
 if the colonel is faithful to his practice of unpunctuality,"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDB. 141 
 
 replied Robert, with an indifferent effort to speak gayly 
 " But the truth is, that I have another engagement at ten 
 one that I ought not to put off. I dare say you might not 
 doem it obligatory upon yourself to keep it, you are such a 
 Btone pillar in firmness and fixity, when you will it to be 
 BO. I ought not to say more to you about this, much as I 
 would like to make a clean breast to my father-confessor. 
 I believe you never unwarily get yourself into a scrape. I 
 do ! and I am afraid I have done it now. Don't look as if 
 you thought me the worst fellow living, please ! Be as 
 charitable to me as you can, old boy ! If the right time 
 ever comes while you and I are in the flesh, I may explain 
 matters more to your satisfaction than now seems credible 
 to you. Good-by !" 
 
 Could the loving kinsman ever judge harshly of him, 
 while the image of that face, with its sweet smile and in- 
 genuous eyes, remained stamped upon the mind's retina ? 
 so long as the pleading tones, gentle and fond, yet not 
 free from mournfulness, continued to sound in his ears? 
 Adamantine pillar though his brother regarded him, Aleck 
 would, if questioned thus at that moment, have replied in- 
 dignantly in the negative. 
 
 " Robert !" called Miss Ruth, hearing the ring of his iron 
 heel upon the frozen walk outside of the window of the 
 pantry, where she was up to her ears figuratively speak- 
 ing in calves'-foot jelly. 
 
 She threw up the sash, and he leaned upon the sill. 
 
 " Where are you going ?" inquired the aunt, without 
 suspending her occupation of whipping into aggravated 
 palbr and foam the whites of a dozen eggs she had just 
 broken into a dish upon the table. 
 
 " To the Court House." 
 
 " To get your license ?" 
 
 so. You are a very Yankee at guessing."
 
 142 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 " You have put it off long enough." 
 
 " Maybe I feared that we might change^ our minds at the 
 last moment. ' There's many a slip' you recollect !" 
 
 " Yes !" intensely ironical. 
 
 " You need not speak as if that were impossible in this 
 case ! There is nothing certain in this world." 
 
 " Except death," said Aunt Ruth, solemnly oracular 
 feeling herself in duty bound not to omit an opportunity 
 for dropping in a seed of exhortation. 
 
 " And taxes," added Robert. " But I shall not believe 
 that I am really going to commit matrimony, untij I find 
 myself face to face with the parson. Aunty, you are look- 
 ing divinely, to-day ! Have you no bowels of mercy, that 
 you can coolly contemplate the certainty of driving old 
 Gales to desperation by the spectacle of your unapproach- 
 able charms ?" 
 
 " Yes !" sneered Miss Massie, in lofty incredulity ; but 
 the wintry bloom deepened in her plump cheeks, and the 
 egg-whisk flew like lightning through the stiffening froth. 
 
 " I never was more in earnest in my life !" pursued the 
 nephew. " Look at me, as at an imperfect illustration 
 of what his deplorable condition will be. Don't you see 
 that I cannot tear myself from the survey of so much love- 
 liness ?" 
 
 Miss Ruth set down the dish, and picked up a switch 
 from a bundle that lay near, to furnish rods for beating 
 trifles and creams. Robert dodged the blow not a heavy 
 one, it must be owned. 
 
 " Cruel creature ! is this the treatment which all youi 
 admirers are to receive ?" he complained, at a safe distance. 
 " Alas for Gales's new broadcloth !" 
 
 " When are you coming home ?" inquired his aunt, dignifi- 
 edly. She would have no more of this foolery. " Mind we 
 must have an early dinner at two o'clock, anyhow ! There's
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 143 
 
 a world of work to be done yet, and I can't be bothered with 
 waiting for you boys. Aleck is always up to time, and if 
 you are in love, I want you to remember old habits for this 
 once." 
 
 " I cannot promise ! My present expectation is to get 
 back in decent season for the ceremony to-night. If any 
 thing should happen to detain me beyond the hour, you and 
 old Gales must be spliced in our stead prc bono publico 
 which means for the satisfaction of your neighbors. It 
 would never dc to cheat the company out of the show they 
 have assembled to behold. They might search far and near, 
 without finding a more seraphic bride than you will make. 
 Only you ought to wear that bib-apron and enchanting cap, 
 and go bare-armed, as you are now." 
 
 A pelting rain of empty eggshells upon his head and 
 shoulders admonished him to retreat, which he did, reeling 
 with laughter, and glancing over his shoulder at Aleck, who 
 had remained upon the end of the piazza a spectator of the 
 spirited scene. How handsome and light-hearted he looked 1 
 Cravens Qnd traitors never wore such innocent and joyoua 
 mien ! 
 
 " He may be misguided by judgment, unduly swayed by 
 his pliable temper and tenderness of heart, but he can never 
 be guilty of actual and deliberate wrong !" was Aleck's con- 
 clusion. 
 
 " That boy will plague the life out of me yet !" said Miss 
 Ruth, in a tone intended to counterfeit peevishness. "-I 
 don't know what has got into him this morning. It's a bad 
 sign for a bird to sing before breakfast. The cat will catch 
 him before night, and Robert has begun the day in too great 
 a glee. I just hope he mayn't change his tune before sun- 
 downthat's all !" 
 
 " It is not likely that he will !" returned Aleck, soberly. 
 " Givyely is natural to him, and if ever man had an excuse
 
 144 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 for exuberance of spirit, he has. I am going over to Maple 
 Hill presently, aunt. Can I do any thing for you tnere, or 
 on the way ?" 
 
 " No, dear !" She petted her favorite " boy" more than 
 ever now-a-days, from some indefinable maternal instinct 
 that told her he stood in need of love and sympathy. "But 
 I would like to have you come home by two o'clock, if you 
 can, conveniently." 
 
 Her manner of suggesting the wish was very unlike the 
 imperious style in which she had laid down the law to 
 Robert. 
 
 "Do not wait for me ! If I dine here I shall return by 
 that hour." 
 
 " You ought not to go at all, I think. You are looking 
 badly. Come back early and take a nap this afternoon. 
 This evening's work will be no trifle to you, seeing you are 
 first groomsman and Robert's brother." 
 
 " You are very thoughtful, but I hope that I have strength 
 to do and bear all that lies before me," responded Aleck, 
 walking away. 
 
 He nor she dreamed what unforeseen exigencies the even- 
 ing would bring.
 
 OOLONZL FLO YD 8 WAEDS, 145 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IT was not often that Aleck Lay's eyes played him false ; 
 yet, notwithstanding their evidence in this case, Gabriel was 
 Helen's messenger. She had arisen early on her wedding- 
 morn before the herald ray that ended Aunt Ruth's uneasy 
 clumbers pierced the darkness of the night and committed 
 to paper the substance of a confession composed during the 
 many sleepless hours she had consumed in prayer and 
 thought. She no longer withheld from her intended hus 
 band the secret of her prior attachment, while she sedulous- 
 ly concealed the name of the one she had loved, and all cir- 
 cumstances that might assist in leading Robert to a correct 
 surmise as to his identity with his brother. She had suffered 
 an early disappointment, she said ; one that had, she was 
 sometimes led to fear, deprived her of the power of ever 
 loving again with equal fervor. While smarting under this 
 blow, she had precipitately and wickedly received his atten- 
 tions, and entered into the engagement of marriage now ex- 
 isting between them. 
 
 " I beg that you will acquit me of having, in this transac- 
 tion culpable as it was been guilty of wilful wrong to 
 you," she wrote, in continuation. " I was persuaded, when 
 I promised you my hand, as I am now, that I could give 
 you all the heart I have left to bestow upon any man. I love 
 you sincerely, appreciatively, as a friend who is nearer to 
 me even than a brother could be. I can pledge you my 
 faith without a sigh for a happier lot ; can take honestly upon
 
 146 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 me the vows of wedded fidelity. It will cost me no strug- 
 gle to love, honor, and obey one whom I know to be, in all 
 respects, worthy of my affection and duty. 
 
 " Yet before we set the indissoluble seal to a contract that 
 death only can render void, it is best, for both our sakes, 
 that the work of self-examination should be severe and 
 thorough, and its result undisguised from each other. I 
 have unveiled my past history the saddest chapter of my 
 life to you, and I have surely a right to expect, if not to 
 demand, a corresponding degree of candor in you. Robert ! 
 I charge you by every principle of truth, honor, and manli- 
 ness, to answer me plainly one question Do you love Lily 
 Calvert f I do not inquire if your conduct to her has been, 
 in every respect, consistent with your engagements to my- 
 self; if you have ever given her cause to believe that your 
 attachment for her transcended that which her old playfellow 
 and friend might innocently indulge and manifest. I look 
 deeper ; appeal solemnly to the innermost depths of your 
 own consciousness depths unknown save to yourself and 
 your God. Marriage is a momentous step. I have felt this 
 within the- past twelve hours as I never thought to do. I 
 beseech you to give the subject your most earnest consider- 
 ation. If, as I apprehend, from my knowledge of facts con- 
 nected with your intercourse with Lily, and my acquaint- 
 ance with both your characters, you decide that your senti- 
 ments for her are more like those a husband should have for 
 his wife than the love you bear me, your way and mine 
 are plain. Do not act unfairly to yourself and to me cruel- 
 ly to her, from the consideration that you have gone too far 
 to retrace your course with honor. I have excellent reasons 
 'or believing that Colonel Floyd is already cognizant of your 
 affection for his niece, and that your union with her would 
 be far more acceptable to him than the one you at present 
 contemplate.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 147 
 
 " This is my proposition, if the result of your deliberation 
 should be what I expect. Write me a line by the bearer of 
 this, advising me of your purpose : then ride over to see Lily, 
 this morning. Ask boldly for her, and if you gain her con- 
 sent to the course we have concluded to adopt, afterwards 
 keep your appointment with Colonel Floyd, and have the 
 license filled up with your name and hers. I know what I 
 say, when I assert that there is no likelihood of yoiir meet- 
 ing impediments in your path. Even if you should, it is the 
 right one the only plan you can with rectitude pursue. 
 This done, commit the rest to me. You have often praised 
 my daring and self-possession, and I engage to afford you, 
 in this instance, a notable display of both qualities. Instead 
 of frowns you shall meet nothing but smiles from the wit- 
 nesses of your marriage ceremony ; congratulations upon the 
 cleverness of the ruse that has deluded the community into 
 the belief that you were betrothed to one cousin^ while you 
 were really, with her knowledge and approbation, plighted 
 to the other. I am aware that this looks like a bold scheme, 
 and that my programme of arrangements is unprecedented 
 in the chronicles of courtship ; but, Robert, dear friend ! we 
 have had enough of half-confidences and harrowing misun- 
 derstandings. Let us, at the very base of the altar, throw 
 off the mask of unworthy deception, that must work out a 
 weary weight of misery to us in the end, and appear in our 
 real characters dare to tell the truth, and the whole truth ! 
 I plead for Lily's sake no less than for ours. 
 
 " But if, after all, my misgivings have been groundless, 
 my penetration at fault with respect to your feelings in this 
 affair; if you are still prepared to attest your love for me by 
 marrying me, I stand ready and willing to fulfil my part of 
 our agreement. A line or word sent by Gabriel to the effect 
 that 'all is right' will suffice to convey your intention to me. 
 Since I have confided to no one the step I have resolved to
 
 148 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 take in the writing of this note, there need be no inconve- 
 nient explanations. Matters can go on in their present train, 
 and I shall expect you at the appointed hour. I leave the 
 decision with you. It will be fraught with important con- 
 sequences to us, and I pray if indeed my unworthy peti- 
 tions ever reach Heaven that you may be guided aright. 
 Whatever your determination may be, believe that I must 
 ever remain 
 
 " Yours affectionately and truly, 
 
 " HELEN." 
 
 If this novel epistle strike somewhat too boldly at the 
 root of established prejudices and precedent in love and 
 match-making, the shocked reader will please bear in mind 
 that the writer was, as her betrothed had affirmed, " a sin- 
 gular girl a woman of marked character." This was 
 further demonstrated by the exclamation with which she 
 arose from her writing-table, when the departing footsteps 
 of her post-boy had died away in the corridor. 
 
 " Xow, whatever comes, I can respect myself once 
 more !" 
 
 She had borrowed Gabriel privately from her aunt an 
 accommodation arranged between them the preceding even- 
 ing and to insure secrecy on the subject of his errand, 
 rather than to enjoin him to the needful exercise of faithful- 
 ness and despatch, she had him summoned to her chamber 
 and herself gave him his orders. The imp was agog with 
 anticipations of " Christmas times," including the wedding, 
 and Helen contributed further to his exhilaration by a boun- 
 tiful douceur in honor of the day he was prepared to cel- 
 ebrate. But he hearkened with a tolerable semblance of 
 decorous seriousness to her instructions, received the pack- 
 et, and buttoned it with exceeding care inside of -his round- 
 about, and pledged himself to inviolable discretion. He
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS 149 
 
 was very fond of Helen, whose steady favor and kindness 
 were in grateful contrast to Mrs. Floyd's fidgetiness, her 
 lord's harshness, and Lily's caprices. His young mistress 
 did not doubt that she could rely upon him in a mattei 
 requiring so much zeal and intelligence. 
 
 She enacted her pait well at breakfast- time ; was not only 
 collected and cheerful in deportment, but vivacious in talk, 
 with sprightliness more real in appearance than was Lily's 
 factitious animation. The latter came down late, as she gen- 
 erally did, and, Helen fancied, avoided her cousin markedly 
 and coldly. 
 
 " By and by," was the elder's consolation, " I may bo 
 permitted to tell her all, and she will do my affection justice. 
 Until then, the less we say to one another the better. I 
 will not rush into temptation, and I must await his warrant 
 for speech." 
 
 Altogether, it was a merry party, with the exception of 
 Colonel Floyd, whose settled moroseness did not affect 
 them long, since he ate little, and withdrew from the table 
 before any one else was half through the meal. The 
 bride's room was the popular resort of the young ladies 
 during the day, and Helen could not, without positive rude- 
 ness, seclude herself for thought or preparation. The 
 gentlemen wisely dispersed to parts unknown directly after 
 breakfast, most of them not showing themselves again until 
 evening. 
 
 Helen was affecting to attend to and bear a part in tho 
 frivolous chit-chat rung into her nervous ears by the knot 
 of idle pleasure-lovers about her, when Sally opened the 
 door just wide enough to allow her mistress a glimpse of 
 her face, and made her signal, unobserved by the others. 
 Helen felt the blood curdle suddenly about her heart, and 
 numbness seize upon her limbs, at the apparition for which 
 she had watched so long. The sign notified her of Gabriel's
 
 150 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 return. "With an unintelligible murmur, intended as an 
 apology to her associates for leaving them, she walked tot- 
 tenngly into the entry, where she found her messenger. It 
 did not occur to her then that he looked or acted unlike 
 himself, although his cowed, sulky behavior produced an 
 unfavorable impression upon Sally, \\ ho was interrogating 
 him with considerable asperity as to the causes of his dila- 
 toriness. 
 
 " You stopped to play 'long the road, I'll be bound !" 
 she was saying when Helen emerged from her chamber, 
 " or, you went out of your way to go by the Court House. 
 That's always the way with you good-for-nothing chaps. 
 So sure as you get a cent to spend, you're crazy till it's 
 gone." 
 
 " That will do, Sally !" interposed Helen, faintly. " Did 
 you deliver that letter safely, Gabriel ?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am !" dropping his head, with a hang-dog 
 expression, altogether unlike his accustomed pertness. 
 
 " And you have an answer for me ?" 
 
 '* No, ma'am. He say dere was none, and tole me jes' 
 fur to tell you dat all was right," answered the page, mus- 
 tering his briskness, but forlornly enough. 
 
 " You are sure ? Have you made no mistake ? Had 
 you that message from Mr. Lay himself?" pressed Helen, 
 in the earnestness of the dying hope whose existence she 
 had not confessed to herself until this instant. 
 
 Annoyed or nerved to boldness by the implied doubt of 
 the accuracy of his repor^, Gabriel looked up straight at 
 her an exhibition of courage or forwardness bordering 
 upon effrontery. 
 
 " I done tell you de 'xact truth, Miss Helen ! He say aa 
 how you'd onderstand it, and I must be pertickler to 'peat 
 it jes' as he said it, and I s'posed you would be satisfied ef 
 he was !"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 151 
 
 " You disrespectful little vilyan ?" exclaimed Sally, lend- 
 ing him a cuff upon the ear. " Do you know who you're 
 talkin' to ?" 
 
 " You lemme 'lone, now ! you'd Letter !" growled the 
 unlucky urchin, doubling up his fists. " I won't be blag- 
 garded by women, and black ones, at dat, nohow !" 
 
 " Shame !" Helen's native dignity was aroused at the 
 disgraceful altercation. " You both forget where you are ! 
 I am ashamed of you ! Gabriel ! go down-stairs directly. 
 Sally, I forbid you to speak to him again this day !" 
 
 Gabriel was too glad to slink away, wiping his eyes and 
 nose upon his jacket-sleeve ; but Sally stopped her mistress, 
 who would have passed her by in offended silence. 
 
 " If you please, Miss Helen, I'm very sorry I've displeased 
 you 'pon your weddin'-day, but I mistrusted that boy had 
 been up to some mischief, and maybe lost your letter or 
 the answer he looked so kind o' guilty, and I spoke sharp 
 to him before I remembered myself " 
 
 " Never mind, my good girl !" Helen interrupted the ex- 
 cuse, that was fast becoming a tearful one. " I know you 
 meant it for the best. We are all apt to act hastily and 
 foolishly sometimes, and, as you have said, it is my wedding- 
 day, and I ought to overlook trifles." 
 
 Her smile was positively ghastly as she repeated, musingly 
 
 -*' Yes ! it is my wedding-day ! There is no doubt of it 
 now none ! none !" 
 
 She walked slowly away to the other extremity of the 
 hall ; halted by a window, and seemed to look out. 
 
 " It is a beautiful day !" she said at length, less dreamily. 
 " I think, Sally, that I should enjoy one more good, long, 
 lonely walk in the woods. Will you bring me my hood 
 and cloak ? and take care that nobody sees you ! I do not 
 feel like having company." 
 
 She succeeded in escaping from the house and yard with-
 
 152 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 out being challenged, and took the beaten path to the 
 spring. At the rocky seat beside it she paused a long 
 while, remembering what was buried beneath the rugged 
 tomb, and the binding words more binding now than ever 
 so soon to be irrevocable that had been spoken above it 
 "Until Death parts us!" Then, stooping and pressing 
 her hand, as in caressing farewell, upon the rough, gray 
 surface, she said firmly " Let the dead Past bury its dead 1" 
 and ascended the wooded eminence beyond. 
 
 She stopped again when she reached the great oak where 
 she and Robert had held their "business talk" on that 
 moonlight November night. The first shadow of estrange- 
 ment had fallen upon them then and there. It was all her 
 fault that the cloud arose since, while she was striving to 
 act up to the strict requirements of the duty she owed him, 
 her heart was in wild, almost unconquerable revolt. 
 
 " No wonder that he was chilled and repelled ! no wonder 
 that I have absolutely driven him from me scores of times 
 since then ; forced him to seek consolation in another's sym- 
 pathy, if not happiness in another's love ! But we under- 
 stand each other now quite well ! With our eyes open to 
 the truth, each knowing the other's peculiar temptation, we 
 are ready to unite hands and lives, ' for better, for worse.' 
 Heaven helping me, I shall try to please him. in all things ; 
 to make him content, that he may not repent his choice !" 
 
 How vividly every incident of that evening stroll was 
 stamped upon her memory ! Even Sally's sleepy approach, 
 and the reason she had given her mistress, subsequently, for 
 her interruption of the lover's conversation, were not forgot- 
 ten. The fugitive Lem had never been recovered, but the 
 dread of runaways, so common among the women and chil- 
 dren of the slaveholding States the bugaboos of nursery 
 and fireside tales had never had a hold upon Helen's mind. 
 What she most feared just now was the society of her fel-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 153 
 
 lows ; what she sought, in her feverish restlessness of body 
 and spirit, was solitude for reflection and to gain it she 
 plunged more deeply into the trackless forest. The ravines, 
 whose moss-grown depths and sides, thickly fringed with 
 brushwood, afforded cool and tempting retreats in the sum- 
 mer's heat, offered, at this season, warmer nooks than were 
 to be found upon higher ground. At the distance of near- 
 ly half a mile from the spring, Helen espied a resting-place 
 that suited her fancy and purpose. Letting herself down 
 a steep bank, overhung by dwarf cedars, she gained a white 
 stone deeply imbedded in moss and fallen leaves and, al- 
 though but a few feet above the frozen rivulet that had worn 
 the chasm to its great depth, forming a dry and comfortable 
 seat. It had been one of her girlhood's tricks to seek out 
 such nooks and take possession of them while she read, 
 studied, or dreamed, as her mood disposed her to do. 
 
 She was not studying or dreaming now, she would have 
 said, yet she had matter for thought that kept her there a 
 long while how long, she never exactly knew. She sat 
 motionless as the stone itself, leaning listlessly against the 
 stout cedar clump that kept off the wind, if there were any 
 stirring. There were not many, and they were exceedingly 
 trivial occurrences, to diversify the monotonous passage of 
 the hours or minutes, whichever they were. A torpor of 
 misery had complete mastery over her; and, with a dull con- 
 sciousness that after this woesome day it would be crime to 
 yield to its desolate enhancement, she was passive, and let 
 the gloomy spell work unchecked. The penitence and high- 
 el' resolve of the preceding night were recalled in stupid 
 marvel how she happened to feel thus what power support- 
 ed her then, and bore her thoughts and aspirations into a 
 purer, nobler sphere. She could not pray or determine now. 
 She had expended her energy in penning that useless, may- 
 be worse than useless letter, which Robert had not deemed
 
 151 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDB. 
 
 worthy of a line of reply. The die was cast by another's 
 hand, and she must abide by the throw. Ah, well ! what 
 was easier, in the abstract, than to do nothing? How 
 arduous she found the practice of quiescence, concerned 
 nobody except herself. 
 
 A few winter birds hopped from bough to bough of the 
 cedars, in quest of the blueberries that grew thereupon. 
 She smiled vacantly in perceiving that they were not scared 
 at seeing her. Perhaps their bright eyes were too intent 
 upon their search for food to observe the presence of the 
 intruder, for her green cloak and hood offered no striking 
 contrast to the dark verdure of the evergreens. Once she 
 heard a gun not very far away it seemed in the still, clear 
 day but the report did not startle her only as it served 
 to awaken more poignant reminiscences than those upon 
 which she was meditating when the sharp echo rolled 
 through the leafless woods, was caught and repeated by the 
 ravines, and died away sullenly among the distant hills. 
 Did Aleck ever think of her last hunt? of the watch she 
 had kept beside him in the Greenfield woodlands ? Was 
 the scar yet upon his shoulder ? What a cruel wound it 
 was ! how fast the blood trickled through her fingers as she 
 renewed the compress Robert had applied, when it became 
 deranged by the incautious movement of the injured lad! 
 . Had he forgotten all these things ? Did he hate and despise 
 her when he looked at the mark left by the shot ? 
 
 She wished, at times, that he did hate her, and that she 
 knew, for certain, that he felt this aversion. Any active 
 sentiment would be preferable to his unvarying coldness, his 
 studied civility, his constrained address. 
 
 " How little I imagined in the dear old times " 
 She did not finish the sentence, but a single tear forced 
 its way from under the lid and dropped upon her hand. She 
 shed but that one.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 155 
 
 Again; a crow sailed slowly between her and tie sun, and 
 the shadow crossing the gully, made her look up. He utter- 
 ed a hoarse croak, just as the shade of his black pinions fell 
 upon her brow. 
 
 " A bird of ill-omen !" she thought, languidly. " Portents 
 cannot terrify me now ! I am like the man upon the wheel, 
 to whom has been mercifully dealt the coup de grace as the 
 first blow !" 
 
 Awhile later, she did not trouble herself to think or care 
 how long afterwards, there arrived another interruption to 
 the sluggish current of ideas. This was the tramp of a horse's 
 hoofs, breaking the dry sticks, and rustling the dead leaves 
 that strewed the ground under the trees. 
 
 " It will be time enough to move, or take flight, when I 
 am seen," was her reflection ; and her indolence or listless- 
 ness prompted her to the wisest plan for avoiding discovery. 
 
 The rider was forcing his way through the undergrowth, 
 there being not even a bridle-path in that part of the forest. 
 It could not be the hunter,' whose gun she had heard, for the 
 Belleview lands were posted, and no sportsman in the neigh- 
 borhood was so reckless or intrepid as to trespass upon a 
 domain guarded by the law and a master like the proprietor 
 of this plantation. It must be Colonel Floyd himself or his 
 colored overseer, or, possibly, some other negro belonging 
 to the estate, taking a near cut to the house from the main 
 road. Yet this would be an unusual procedure. In spiritless 
 curiosity, she leaned slightly to one side, where a gap in the 
 bushes promised a sight of the equestrian. It was but a 
 glimpse, and an imperfect one, which she obtained, the head 
 and neck of the horse and the upper part of the rider's body 
 only being visible above the high bank. The animal stepped 
 proudly, and manifested some symptoms of restiveness, cur- 
 vetting in such a style as to elicit a sharp reprimand from 
 the man who bestrode him.
 
 156 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 " Go on, you fool !" he said, angrily. 
 
 It seemed that a prick of the spur or a cut from a whip 
 followed, for the mettled creature gave a forward spring aud 
 a neigh of pain or viciousness. The human brute was 
 Booker, Colonel Floyd's confidential agent. He was look- 
 ing right ahead, and was, moreover, too busy with his ill- 
 mannered steed to notice her. She was glad of this, for his 
 intolerable surveillance, and reports based upon it, were not 
 confined to the cases of his fellow-servants, as Mrs. Floyd, 
 his nominal mistress, had occasionally learned to her sorrow, 
 after having covertly transgressed some of the by-laws her 
 lord had seen fit, in his sovereign pleasure, to enact for the 
 government of the household. Helen disliked the man with 
 a heartiness she took no pains to dissemble, and, crafty as he 
 was, he had contrived to express to her, at seasonable op- 
 portunities, his reciprocation of the antipathy. It was very 
 fortunate that he had not descried her, hiding like a lost or 
 fugitive thing in that out-of-the-way spot, where no other 
 lady of the family or region would ever think of coming. 
 Her guardian would otherwise have been supplied with a 
 subject for sneering ridicule which he would have improved 
 to the utmost advantage, and whenever she least desired its 
 introduction. She waited, therefore, where she was, until 
 there was no longer any danger of encountering the spy in 
 his forest-beat, or of falling in with one she cared still less 
 to face, Colonel Floyd. Like hunter and hound, they were 
 seldom far apart in their business rounds, by day or by 
 night. 
 
 Stiff and chill, from having sat for such a length of time 
 upon the ground, she arose with difficulty, climbed the pre- 
 cipitous side of the ravine ; listened for a moment, to make 
 sure that the way was clear, and set out for home. When 
 free of the woods, she was surprised to see that the sun had 
 passed the meridian. Mrs. Floyd, like Miss Rath, had or
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 157 
 
 dered an early dinner, and Helen was not so careless of what 
 gossiping tongues might say, as wilfully to provoke the 
 hubbub of inquiries and teasing observations to which she 
 would be subjected, should she be missing from the table 
 and the house when the rest were summoned to that repast. 
 
 She found Gabriel at the spring, leisurely filling a pail 
 with a gourd. 
 
 " Is dinner nearly ready ?" she asked. 
 
 He jumped up, letting go the gourd, and it splashed back 
 into the spring. 
 
 "Oh, is dat you, Miss Helen? How you skeered me!" 
 
 She repeated her question. 
 
 " No, ma'am, not as I knows on ; leastways, marster ain't 
 come home, nohow !" 
 
 He raised the pail to his head in a mighty hurry, and 
 began his journey up the acclivity towards the house. 
 
 " Has anybody called to see me since I went out ?" 
 Helen quickened her pace to overtake him. 
 
 " No, ma'am," walking ye^ faster. 
 
 "And no letter or message sent that you have heard 
 of?': 
 
 " None as I've heerd on, ma'am !" puffing onwards, the 
 water dashing in. great streams from the brimming vessel, 
 down upon his shoulders and sooty* physiognomy. 
 
 " There is no need of such haste, Gabriel !" said Helen, 
 smiling, in spite of her heavy heart, at this ostentatious celerity 
 in one who had the reputation of being the laziest fellow on 
 the place. " I may not have another opportunity of speak- 
 ing with you alone." 
 
 Gabriel was almost running now, but she kept up with 
 him. 
 
 " I want to tell you how sorry poor Sally is for her un- 
 kindness. to you this morning, and how much I blame her 
 for it. She is disposed to be hasty, but she is a good-hearted
 
 158 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 girl, and likes you. I do not want you to bear a grudgt 
 against her or me when we are gone. You have done me 
 many friendly turns, for which I shall always be thankful, 
 and if at any time I can be of service to you, you must not 
 be afraid to apply to me. Oh ! Gabriel ! stop ! I am out 
 of breath !" 
 
 Thus adjured, the hurrying Aquarius stood- still in his 
 tracks ; but, instead of facing her in respectful attention, he 
 made a feint at digging out his eyes with his wet 
 knuckles, and burst out crying. 
 
 "Why, my boy! what ails you?" inquired the young 
 lady, in amazement. "Are you sorry that I am going 
 away ?" 
 
 " No-o-o, ma-a-a-m !" 
 
 "Indeed! I had hoped that you were 1" returned Helen, 
 laughingly. " What, then, is the matter ?" 
 
 " I don't mean I ain't sorry ! Boo-hoo !" 
 
 Rivulets of salt water mixed themselves with the fresh 
 upon his shining cheeks. * 
 
 " You scoundrel ! what are you fooling there about ?" 
 roared a voice from the houseyard, now only some twenty 
 feet distant. 
 
 " My gracious ! if thar ain't marster !" exclaimed the 
 frightened boy, and he resumed his labored flight along the 
 path, breathless under his burden, and palpitating with fear. 
 
 He was not disappointed in the reception he met. Colo- 
 nel Floyd waited for him at the gate ; bestowed a curse and 
 several blows of his riding-whip upon him as he passed 
 through ; then glowered at his wife's niece, as if anathema- 
 tizing the accident of sex that prevented him from saluting 
 her hi like manner. 
 
 " So, my young lady, this is the companv you select upon 
 your wedding-day !" he snarled. " I hope his conversation 
 has edified you !"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 159 
 
 Without deigning a reply, she trod past him with her 
 queen-like, elastic step ; not hurriedly, but as if she had not 
 seen or heard him. 
 
 " You still expect your gallant to-night, do you ?" he fol- 
 lowed her to say. 
 
 " Are you speaking to me, or to Gabriel, Colonel Floyd ?" 
 she interrogated, casting a side ray of supreme disdain at 
 him. 
 
 His complexion had a purplish flush ; his eyes a wild, un- 
 settled glare ; his articulation was thick and tremulous. 
 
 "He has been drinking!" thought his ward, in disgust. 
 " I may steel myself for any amount of insult." 
 
 " I am talking to you ! You are hoping to welcome your 
 devoted in season for the ceremony, are you ?" 
 
 " If you mean Mr. Lay, I expect him, certainly !" walk- 
 ing on. 
 
 " He was in no haste to procure his license," her tormen- 
 tor continued, still at her heels. " I waited for him a good 
 hour and a half." 
 
 " You will oblige me, Colonel Floyd, by never opening 
 your lips to me again with respect to the matter officiously 
 brought forward by you last night !" returned Helen, con- 
 fronting him courageously, and speaking with authority. 
 " I wish you to understand distinctly, now and forever, that 
 there is a complete understanding between Mr. Lay and 
 myself, upon this and every other subject. Your interfe- 
 rence is impertinent and unwelcome. I trust that I have 
 made my meaning sufficiently intelligible. Mr. Lay is com- 
 petent to the management of his own affairs and mine also." 
 
 She went into the house, without staying to witness the 
 effect of her declaration of independence. 
 
 Virginia Shore assailed her in the lower ball. 
 
 " Helen Gardner ! you strange, mysterious, provoking 
 girl ! where in the name of common sense, and every thing
 
 160 COLONEL FLOYD S WARDS. 
 
 else that is reasonable, have you been traipsing to ? Here 
 is the day two-thirds gone, and not an individual thing 
 done. And don't you think ? something or somebody upset 
 Lily's elegant orange-tree last night, and snapped ever so 
 many of the finest branches ; so we girls have been busy 
 gathering the flowers from them, and putting them in 
 n ater ; and isn't it a mercy they were so little withered, and 
 are reviving beautifully ; and we find there are enough to 
 distribute among all seven bouquets, unless you are bent 
 upon having yours composed altogether of orange-blossoms, 
 which isn't in the least necessary, it seems to me, for there 
 are white rosebuds, and candy tuft, and feather-few, and a 
 lovely camelia, if you must have all white flowers, as I sup- 
 pose you will, and geraniums and arbor-vitas for greens ; 
 then, too, I am certain that Mr. Lay will send your bouquet 
 from Greenfield ; he hinted something of the kind to me, 
 and, would you believe it? there's Lily gone to bed with a 
 bad sick headache she always picks the most inconvenient 
 season to have them ! and won't leta soul of us come near 
 her room, and Mrs. Floyd is afraid she won't be able to 
 be down to-night ; says she has fever and all that ; and in 
 that case, what will you do for a first bridesmaid? Deal 
 me ! what unlucky things do happen at weddings some 
 times!" 
 
 This breathless string of talk was rattled out while pursu- 
 ing Helen up-stairs to the chamber of the latter, where Miss 
 Shore threw herself into a chair and declared that she was 
 " fagged out half-dead, in fact !" 
 
 "I am sorry to hear that Lily is sick !" was Helen's reply, 
 while Sally divested her of her cloak and walking-shoes. 
 " She appeared quite well at breakfast-time, I thought. I 
 am afraid that she has over-exerted herself." 
 
 " Between you and me, she has fretted herself sick if she 
 f* sick about the accident in the green-house if it was an
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 1C1 
 
 accident 1" said Virginia, knowingly. "You never saw such 
 a look as went over her face when she heard of it. I found 
 it out just after you took such very cool French leave of us. 
 I was hunting high and low for you, and peeped into the 
 green-house, among other places, and there lay the stand, 
 pot and all, upon the floor ! So I tore off up-stairs to tell 
 the news. I really thought that Lily was going to strike 
 me, at first ! She grew paler than a corpse, and her eyes 
 blazed like lightning, I can tell you ! She caught her breath, 
 like one strangling, when I tried to pacify her by saying 
 that no doubt the mischief was done unintentionally, in the 
 dark, by a dog, or one of the servants. 
 
 " ' No !' she said, in a sort of choked whisper ; ' I know all 
 about it ! It was not an accident ! I will be revenged for 
 that piece of spite, if I die for it !' 
 
 " ' Why, Lily,' I said, ' how unkind and unreasonable !' 
 But she would not listen only took herself off to her room 
 and bed, and there she has been ever since ! Who would 
 believe that she could be so peppery a little vixen when she 
 is once aroused ?" 
 
 Helen thought sadly and deeply for several moments upon 
 what she had heard. In the pressure of anxieties personally 
 so much more momentous, the damage done her cousin's pet 
 shrub had entirely escaped her mind, until it was recalled 
 by Virginia's narrative. If Lily were indeed so distressed 
 at the disaster as her volatile friend represented, she might 
 be conciliated by a truthful statement of the manner in 
 which the misadventure occurred, and Helen's regret at 
 haying been innocently the cause of it. As a preliminary 
 step, she despatched Sally to Lily's room to inquire how her 
 headache was, and request the privilege of an audience for 
 her mistress. 
 
 The tiring-woman returned in high dudgeon. 
 
 " The door is locked on the inside, Miss Helen, and when
 
 162 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 I knocked, that impudent Sylvy opened it a little ways, and 
 peeped through the crack, and had the assurance to tejl me 
 that Miss Lily had just fallen asleep, and mustn't be waked 
 on no account. Then she shut too the door again, and I 
 heard her with my own blessed ears speak to Miss Lily 
 kinder easy- like, and Miss Lily answer her. Asleep ha? 
 Humph !" 
 
 "There! that will do!" Helen arrested her indignant 
 volubility, and congratulated herself that Virginia had flitted 
 off to some other part of the house before this item could be 
 added to her budget of scandal. 
 
 She did not censure Lily for averting an e'claircissement 
 that would be productive of embarrassment to them both ; 
 and, moreover, it would be of no avail now. Her destiny, 
 and, so far as a strange fatality had intertwined Lily's with 
 it, hers, also, were no longer in her hands. Robert's laconic, 
 but significant message, and his non-appearance, had settled 
 that matter. 
 
 The afternoon wore away all too rapidly to the idle, taci- 
 turn bride, as to the fussy, excited bridesmaids, and another 
 starlight evening, as cloudless and colder than yesterday's, 
 came on. The marriage service was to be recited at eight 
 o'clock, which, in the accommodating phraseology and ac- 
 cording to the pliant customs of that region, meant any time 
 from half-past eight to ten. The more unpunctual a bridal 
 procession contrived to be, the more aristocratic were the 
 performances esteemed. Nevertheless, at six o'clock Helen 
 cleared her apartment of the chattering, officious sisterhood, 
 who clamored for the honor of assisting at her toilette, .re- 
 jecting their overtures kindly, yet peremptorily ; fastened 
 the door upon the last of the reluctant exiles, who \vas, of 
 course, Virginia Shore, and sat herself down before the mir- 
 ror to have her hair dressed by Sally's skilful fingers. The 
 maid's manipulations upon the luxuViant locks were con-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 163 
 
 ducted silently. If her heart had not been too full for use- 
 less speech, a glance at the grave, settled features, so young 
 in outline and color, so old in expression, which were re- 
 flected in the glass, would have sealed her mouth. She 
 comprehended, in some dim and imperfect fashion, that her 
 mistress did not go to her bridal as most other women she 
 had seen arrayed for their nuptials had done ; that there was 
 no tremulous joy, no excess of happiness, in the suppressed 
 sighs that, ever and anon, heaved her breast ; no delicious 
 dreaming in the thoughtful eyes, that seemed to study the 
 untried Future. 
 
 The glossy hair was wound smoothly around the classic 
 head, braided and looped at the back, and Sally was obliged 
 to speak. 
 
 " You will not have the flowers put in just yet, will you, 
 Miss Helen ? They will droop and wither before you are 
 ready to go down." 
 
 Helen aroused herself and glanced at the white buds with 
 their graceful group of leaves, simply beautiful, in spite of 
 Virginia's abuse. They awaited her pleasure in a small vase 
 upon the dressing-table. 
 
 "They will! you are right. Perhaps I may not wear 
 them, after all. We will attend to that by and by." 
 
 " The young ladies all seemed to admire the pearls most," 
 suggested Sally, timidly. "And don't you think, Miss Helen, 
 that Mars' Aleck " 
 
 Helen raised her hand with a frown. " Not a word more, 
 Sally ! When I am at a loss what to do, I shall ask other 
 people's advice, not before." 
 
 Further debate was prevented by a knock at the door. 
 
 " What do you want ?" said Sally, snappishly, unlocking 
 it, and, in unthinking imitation of her favorite detestation, 
 Sylvia, opening it far enough to allow the tip of her nose to 
 be seen by the person without.
 
 Id COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 The reply was in the voice of an under housemaid, whom 
 the brisk Sally was wont to denominate a "stupid, no- 
 account body, who went through the world with her eyea 
 and ears shut." 
 
 *' Mr. Lay down sta'rs. Want to see Miss Helen, d'rectly, 
 if she can come down. He won't keep her more'n a minute, 
 he say. He in de office." 
 
 " The office ! what did you show him in there for, you 
 goose ? It's dark as pitch, and cold as Christmas, besides 
 being dirty as a pig-sty !" 
 
 " Marster made me light a fire dar, to-day, and he's been 
 a-settin' by it, constant, from dinner to supper-time," drawled 
 the woman, " and Mr. Lay, he asked Gabriel to take him 
 somewhar' whar' he could see Miss Helen by sheself. Ga- 
 briel he took him in de office, and sont me for to let Miss 
 Helen know " 
 
 " Isn't your master in there now ?" 
 
 " No he went away somewhar', 'pon horseback he an' 
 Uncle Booker, nigh 'pon half an hour ago. Dey ain't got 
 home yet." 
 
 While this colloquy was going on, Helen had thrown off 
 her white wrapper, and, with the utmost haste her shaking 
 fingers permitted her to use, put on, in its stead, a crimson 
 dressing-gown part of her bridal outfit which had been 
 hung over a chair near by. 
 
 "Let me pass!" she said, trying to knot the massive cord 
 around her waist as she spoke. 
 
 " There's no hurry, dear Miss Helen (you be gone, Judy) ! 
 there's not the least hurry in the world, my dear young mis- 
 tress !" reiterated Sally, soothingly, taking hold of the silken 
 cable, and tying it herself. " Mars' Robert know r s you've 
 got to dress, and he's one of the thoughtfullest men that ever 
 was born. It's likely he wants to ask some question about 
 the ring, or the glove, or some sech little thing, and he
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAISDS. 165 
 
 shows his sense by not trusting his message to any of them 
 harum-scarum young ladies for, if I may make so free as to 
 speak my mind for once, I never see a wilder set. Here's 
 your handkerchief; and now you are all ready, and pretty 
 as a pictur, and I'll be bound Mars' Robert will tell you so. 
 I shouldn't wonder if he begged you to be married in that 
 dress. I'll go with you to light you through the dark 
 entry." 
 
 Encouraged by this homely and cheering strain of reas- 
 surance, Helen went quickly down the stairway, and through 
 the dining-room, encountering only servants on the way, to 
 the " dark entry," which was the narrow passage connecting 
 the last-mentioned apartment with the office. The attached 
 maid stood midway between the two rooms, holding her 
 candle above her head, until her mistress, having hesitated 
 for an instant upon the threshold of the farther, to gather 
 breath or resolution, turned the bolt of the door, and disap- 
 peared from the loving eyes watching her. 
 
 There was a handful of smouldering coals and a smoking 
 log or two in the fireplace. A solitary candle was upon the 
 mantel, but its yellow flame gave light enough to enable 
 Helen to recognize the person who advanced to meet her. 
 
 It was not Robert, but Aleck Lay I
 
 166 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "ALECK!" 
 
 "Helen!" 
 
 In the agitation of the moment they forgot the more for- 
 mal style of address they had employed towards each other 
 of late. Their hands were joined, too, in a clasp altogether 
 different from the cold, passive touch they were used to ex- 
 change at their infrequent meetings. When Helen would 
 have withdrawn hers she found it held fast, nor was it re- 
 leased after Aleck had led her to a chair, and placed himself 
 beside her. Her gaze of wondering confusion was answered 
 by one so intense, so eloquent of love and compassion, that 
 her heart thrilled, while she trembled with apprehension 
 and suspense. 
 
 " My poor girl ! I am the bearer of sad news to you." 
 
 " Does it concern your brother !" There was not a par- 
 ticle of color in her cheek, and her eyes dilated, but she 
 could- still articulate the inquiry. " Is he ill ? Is he 
 
 "Heaven forgive me for saying it ! but I could wish that 
 he had died before dishonoring himself so vilely !" ex- 
 claimed Aleck, passionately. "Helen! he has perjured 
 himself brought indelible disgrace upon his own head 
 upon his family worst of all dragged down shame and 
 misery upon you /" 
 
 " No ! no !" The girl's haughty spirit sprang to its arms. 
 " Not shame ! no mortal can do that while I retain my 
 self-respect ! As to misery better so a million times
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 167 
 
 better, than if he had suspended his action for a few days or 
 months ! Now let me hear all !" 
 
 " Can you bear it !" he asked, doubtfully, looking in uu 
 spoken admiration at the noble face, tintless yet, but pure 
 and serene as a marble image of Peace. 
 
 " Yes ! unless the reality far exceeds my imagination, and 
 I do not think that it can." 
 
 " Robert left home this morning early, shortly after the 
 receipt of a letter which was brought to him by one of Col- 
 onel Floyd's servants " 
 
 " Gabriel ! Yes, I know !" she assented. " It was from 
 me !" 
 
 " Indeed ! I thought I recognized your cousin Lily's 
 handwriting in the superscription." 
 
 " You were mistaken ! I sent it." 
 
 Aleck went on. 
 
 " He ordered his horse at half-past nine, that he might 
 keep an appointment at ten. I suspected that it wan in 
 obedience to a summons from the writer of the letter,*both 
 from his behavior, and the circumstance that he had not 
 alluded to the engagement until after Gabriel's arrival. I 
 was confirmed in my surmise by a brief conversation we 
 held just at parting. He confessed that his expedition was 
 not one that I would sanction ; said he could not retreat 
 from it with honor ; entreated me to be charitable in my 
 judgment of him, and hinted at a satisfactory solution of 
 the mystery at some future day. From that hour to this 
 he has not showed himself at home but when I reached 
 Greenfield, at five o'clock, having spent the day at Maple 
 Hill, this letter was handed to me by one of my own ser- 
 vants, who had met Robert in the road about the middle of 
 the afternoon." 
 
 She took it and attempted to read, but the characters 
 were irregular and the lines blotted. The sheet had ap-
 
 168 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 patently been written upon in the utmost haste or agita- 
 tion, and folded while the ink was yet wet. Aleck brought 
 the candle and held it behind her shoulder while she de- 
 ciphered it. 
 
 " Aleck old boy ! you will never let me call you brother 
 again after you have read this, but it can't be helped ! You 
 have done your duty towards me, and the hardest struggle 
 I have had in making up my mind was to conquer my fear 
 of your displeasure. My resolution is taken ! It was 
 nailed fast to the mast by the perusal of the enclosed, which 
 you saw delivered to me this morning. The last feather 
 breaks the camel's back, and my feather was not a light 
 one, as you will see. You will agree with me or ought to 
 when you have studied this specimen of feminine com- 
 position in the opinion that she who could write thus on 
 the morning of her marriage-day was never designed by the 
 Maker of matches to be my wife never desired to be ! 
 She says, in effect : ' Be free if you long for freedom ! Be 
 happy with another if you love her better than you do me 
 and I am resigned rather relieved, if the truth must be 
 told!' 
 
 " I take her at her word* The direction of my flight I 
 cannot reveal at present, for obvious reasons. There are 
 hot-brained fellows Harvey Floyd, for example who 
 would not scruple to chase me down, and pistol me for the 
 slight offered the bride that-is-not-to-be. I am not certain 
 that you would not undertake the job yourself you have 
 sack Roman notions of honor. I may say to you confiden 
 tiallv. however, that I am not without strong hopes that 
 -"rr-#y will not be performed alone ; that, at no remote 
 otage of it, I shall be joined by a companion fairer and 
 dearer to me than all the universe beside. I commit to you 
 the awkward task of breaking to Miss Gardner and her
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 1G9 
 
 family the intelligence of this trifling alteration in the pro- 
 gramme of the play for this evening. Perhaps the easiest and 
 safest way for you to accomplish this disagreeable but neces- 
 sary business will be to forward her letter with this to Colonel 
 Floyd. Tie is the most proper person to manage the affair. 
 Shun an interview with him if you can. He has a high 
 sense of what is due himself, and all of his blood. I should 
 be sorry to have you embroiled in a quarrel with him on 
 my account. 
 
 "The 'daring and self-possession' upon which Miss 
 Gardner plumes herself will have abundant scope for dis- 
 play when the guests are convened to-night. I am not 
 racked by fears lest her heart should sustain any serious 
 fracture. Her pride may bleed a little, but depletion there 
 will do her moral system good. My respects to her, and 
 best wishes for her welfare and happiness. May I tpouble 
 you to send to Bock's Tavern for my horse ? I shall have 
 him left there until called for. If all goes well, you shall 
 hear from me again before long. Good-by ! Love to Aunt 
 Ruth. I hope her cake will not spoil for the want of 
 mouths to eat it, although I suppose the second day's feast 
 must be postponed. 
 
 " Believe me, ever (whether you will allow it or no !) 
 " Your loving brother, 
 " ROBEKT C. LAY." 
 
 " Can it be possible !" Helen let fall the letter as though 
 it had defiled her fingers, and sat transfixed ; the deep dye 
 of offended delicacy, just anger and astonishment at its con- 
 tents, and the ungenerous animus of the writer, suffusing 
 neck and temples. " Cruel ! unjust ! This insult, at least, 
 he might have spared me !" 
 
 " You are only too lenient to him," said Aleck, in stern 
 wrath. " Like yourself, I could not have credited the pos-
 
 170 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 sibility of this baseness withoat the evidence furnished Ly 
 that infamous communication. Yet I have seen very much 
 that I considered reprehensible in his intercourse with Lily 
 Calvert ; have warned him, once and again, of the evil which 
 might result from the intimacy. He had always a ready 
 excuse or evasion wherewith to ward off my attack and 
 I believed him ! He was wickedly weak she, subtle I, 
 blind ! This is the end !" 
 
 "It is !" Helen arose, erect and calm. "I thank you for 
 the gentleness the true brotherly kindness with which you 
 have discharged a trust that could not but be abhorrent to 
 you. I am especially grateful that you did not accept the 
 alternative of transferring the unpleasant duty to Colonel 
 Floyd." 
 
 " I did not entertain the suggestion for an instant. Here 
 is yoflr letter. You notice that he Robert, I mean says 
 that it was sent for my perusal. I need not assure you that 
 I have not read a line of it." 
 
 "I wish you had!" she said, impulsively then, checking 
 herself, a new flood of crimson bathed her face. She had 
 recollected the confession embodied in the earlier portion 
 of it. 
 
 "That is"-^ehe resumed, more composedly "I would 
 like to have you read certain parts. You would then see 
 how faithfully I have striven to be guiltless in this matter ; 
 whatever may be my faults, and they are many, I am not 
 habitually insincere. "Will you oblige me ?" 
 
 She proffered the open sheet, designating the top of the 
 second page as the place where he should begin. 
 
 " I require no testimony beyond what I already have to 
 convince me that your conduct in this lamentable affair has 
 been irreproachable," replied Aleck, repelling the offer by a 
 gesture. 
 
 "But I would have you acquit me intelligently. When
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 171 
 
 the tale is trumpeted abroad as it must be" her lips wert 
 whiter in saying this " as it must be, very soon, it will bt 
 a great satisfaction, the best comfort I can have, to know 
 that there is one who, with a full knowledge of the casej 
 from beginning to end, yet pronounces that I have tried, 
 and tried hard, to do my duty ; that I would have shielded 
 Robert from reproach at the same time that I secured his 
 happiness by a union with the woman he loved (for I was 
 sure that he did love Lily !) have spared Lim the 
 trouble of this flight, and myself the ignominy of being 
 publicly rejected!" She turned her head aside, too 
 proud to let him see how keen was the smart of the last 
 thought, and still extended the letter in mute appeal. 
 Aleck unclosed his lips to speak, then, changing his mind, 
 took the paper with a bow of submission to her require- 
 ment. 
 
 "Robert! I charge you by eveiy principle of truth, 
 honor, and manliness, to answer me one question !" 
 
 This was the heading of the paragraph to which she 
 pointed, and he read the letter through, from that adjura- 
 tion to the close ; with what sensations of pain, love, pity, 
 and marvel, his countenance, varied and marked as were 
 the expressions that succeeded one another upon it, but 
 feebly indicated. 
 
 "And this generosity he spurned! this angelic candor, 
 this noble self-renunciation he could despise ! could t'peak 
 slightingly of conduct that should have moved him to wor- 
 ship!'* broke forth Aleck, impetuously. "Helen! Ic:'i'jnot 
 ask you to pardon him. The man who could sin t'aua 
 grossly against the love and forbearance you have exhibited 
 towards him, merits your scorn and the "reprobation of ^he 
 world !" 
 
 "Hush ! hush ! It is not the act, but his manner of f ?e- 
 ing himself from the distasteful bonds, that I deplore. Aa
 
 172 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 he says, I offered him his freedom, and he took me at my 
 word. Only" the childlike, troubled look that he had 
 seen before, when she alluded to the public scandal men- 
 acing her, came back " will it be asking tqo great a favor 
 of yourself and your aunt, if I tell you that it will be an 
 inestimable help to me to have you remain here this even- 
 ing, and show that his friends are still mine? that they, 
 having known me from my childhood, do not cast nie off 
 as an unworthy creature, whose heartlessness has forfeited 
 their confidence ? For you must recollect that the people 
 who were invited to the the wedding, will come ; that 
 there is not time to send word to a single one of them. 
 The invitations cannot be countermanded, and I must see 
 them ! the story must be told ! He quotes correctly, you 
 observe, when he alludes to my boast of ' daring and setf- 
 possession.' Had the event been what I proposed, and for 
 a time expected, I think that he would have found these 
 sufficient for his purpose and mine. As it is, the trial will 
 be far greater !" 
 
 She faltered. 
 
 "Helen!" 
 
 She did not repulse him when he took her hand again. 
 In this dark hour of mortification and perplexity, she had 
 no other adviser; no other friend or comforter; and his 
 tenderness of sympathy was inexpressibly sweet. 
 
 "Before I answer your question, let me entreat your in- 
 dulgence while I unfold my plan of action ; that which I 
 conceived and matured while coming to you to-night. It is a 
 kindred idea to that which I find sketched in your letter, 
 recommended by you for another's adoption. The coinci- 
 dence is an encouragement tc me to proceed. "Will you 
 bear with me if it offends you? You will not shrink from 
 me in horror and loathing?" 
 
 " Certainly not 1"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 173 
 
 She gazed at him in unsuspecting wonderment. The 
 earnestness of his imploring tone ; the anxiety with which 
 lie hung upon her look and reply, were more of a mystery 
 than his words. Seeing that he hesitated to go on, she 
 added gently, almost affectionately, " Whatever may be my 
 opinion as to the propriety of adopting and acting upon 
 this unknown ' plan,' I should be unjust and unkind were J 
 to resent your goodness in presenting it. I have known 
 you too well and too long to impute to you unworthy mo- 
 tives. You could not propose any thing that would involve 
 the sacrifice of truth or honor, however distasteful its terms 
 might be to me." 
 
 " Ah ! there is the fear !" He groaned in bowing his 
 head upon his hands. 
 
 She laid one of hers on his arm. 
 
 " Aleck ! will you not be frank with me ? Is this a time 
 for mistaken delicacy false scruples ? This should be an 
 honest hour with us both. Will you not tell me what it ia 
 that you desire to say ? It is your old friend and play- 
 fellow, Helen, who asks this of you ?" 
 
 " I will be a man ! will brave every thing !" He started 
 from his dejected attitude. "At the risk of debasing my- 
 self in your eyes to the level of a selfish, unfeeling monster, 
 who would take advantage of your distress to win his own 
 ends, I will speak ! Helen ! I have loved you all my life ! 
 loved you more than I ever have done any thing else on 
 earth ! I thought I had made you understand the nature 
 and aim of this affection before I went abroad. Fervent a3 
 was my devotion, I had yet the manliness and justice not to 
 bind you by a formal pledge. While absent, I dared to 
 think and dream of you as my own mine only ; to antici- 
 pate a future spent with you as a fair and probable prospect. 
 I returned to find you betrothed to my brother. What I 
 suffered ; what I have resigned ; what concealed under what
 
 174: COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 must hare seemed to you a heartless and repulsive exterior, 
 I have not strength or time to tell you now. I do not offer 
 my love unab&ted and unconquerable, after all my bat- 
 tlings with it as a solace for the pain inflicted by the de- 
 sertion of your betrothed. But I do tender you my name 
 and my hand as a shield against calumny and insult ; ask 
 the privilege of protecting you in this hour of isolation and 
 perplexity. I exact nothing in return save that which you 
 have but this moment informed me is already mine, your 
 friendship and confidence. If you will marry me tonight 
 as my brother's substitute, I pledge you my solemn word 
 that no unreasonable or ungenerous demands on my part 
 shall ever cause you to regret the act." 
 
 He delivered this extraordinary proposal in a hard, almost 
 fiercely abrupt fashion ; the result of overpowering emotion 
 he tried ineffectually to suppress into the collected, moderate 
 show of earnestness he had resolved on. He did not look 
 at her as he brought the speech to a close. Would she flee 
 his presence as from a moral leper ? Would she strike him 
 dead with imperial scorn ? 
 
 For a whole minute there was a profound stillness through- 
 out the room, except for the quick fluttering pants from the 
 figure at his side. Had his audacity taken from her the 
 power of utterance? Then she spoke^very softly, very 
 musically to his excited senses, that had shrunk in dread of 
 accents so different. 
 
 " I thought that you were betrothed to a lady in Ger- 
 many. They your aunt and brother told me so last 
 summer I" 
 
 Aleck made an impatient movement. 
 
 " That absurd fiction again ! I never loved her never 
 thought of betrothal to any woman besides yourself; have 
 never breathed a word of affection to any other, at home 01 
 abroad. The letter from which my aunt deduced her pre-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 175 
 
 posterous conclusion was, as anybody but herself could 
 have seen, a foolish, barefaced hoax, from beginning to end. 
 I have told her this since my return, and undeceived Robert 
 also. Could I be so base as to offer you a hand upon which 
 another had a lien ?" 
 
 Still he did not look towards her. If he had, he must 
 have been at a loss how to interpret the warmer blush that 
 slowly mantled her cheek ; the fervid, yet tender sparkle of 
 the eye. 
 
 She reopened the letter^ to Robert. He heard the rustle, 
 in wondering impatience. What had they to do with that 
 part of the question, now ? 
 
 " I cannot give you a reply until you have read the first 
 page of this." 
 
 She could hardly have enjoined a more irksome task ; but 
 he obeyed her behest instantly and without a remonstrance. 
 His mind was not in a condition to be easily receptive of 
 hope, or he might have drawn all the encouragement the 
 most ardent suitor could have desired from the cautiously- 
 worded confession ; would not have looked or spoken with 
 such mournful firmness, as he ceased reading. 
 
 " I do not love you more hopelessly now than I have 
 done from the moment I heard of your engagement to my 
 brother. You say in this letter that a union with him 
 whom you first loved is forever impossible ; that you have 
 only half a heart to bestow upon any man who shall here- 
 after seek your favor. If I am personally disagreeable to 
 you ; if my presence will annoy or displease you, instead of 
 being a comfort, I withdraw my suit. Otherwise unless, 
 indeed, I can bring about a reunion between yourself and 
 your early love " 
 
 " You do not ask who it was ?" 
 
 " Nor ever shall ! It is your secret yours alone 1" 
 
 " But what if I insist upr>n telling you ?"
 
 176 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 He gazed upon her now, but in unspeakable amaze. What 
 was the meaning of the playful, yet shy intonation, that im- 
 pressed even his infidel perceptions ; incredulous to what- 
 ever seemed to bode happiness and success to himself? 
 Stranger still, she smiled in his bewildered face, a smile 
 radiant as heaven's own light. 
 
 " We have both ' played too long with edge tools,' dear 
 Aleck ? Suppose we abandon the dangerous trifling, and 
 take to truth-telling for the remainder of our lives ! I will 
 set the example, by revealing to you *,he ' dear, fatal name' of 
 him who long ago gained my whole, undivided heart ; whose 
 supposed desertion drove me to the mad, wicked step of 
 engaging myself to another. Shall I ?" 
 
 " If you will !" 
 
 He articulated the monosyllables with difiiculty in the 
 tumult that possessed his soul. 
 
 " Bow your tall head, then. I cannot say it aloud." 
 
 Still mystified, doubting, fearing any thing but hoping, 
 he bent his head to her lips. They breathed one word in 
 his ear. 
 
 Had Colonel Floyd, or his devoted servitor and imitator, 
 Booker, chanced to pass through this retired portion of the 
 grounds just then, upon his nightly patrol, and glanced in- 
 to the low window, he would have beheld an unexpected and 
 highly interesting scene; one which might possibly have 
 awakened sensations the reverse of delightful in the bosom 
 of the unseen spy. 
 
 But it happened instead, that this select and exemplary 
 body of police was, at that important instant, engaged about 
 other business, the nature of which shall be briefly explained 
 in the next chapter.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 177 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SALLY " had the fidgets" -a description of fit that became 
 more violent with every added minute of her mistress's ab- 
 sence. In the adjacent chamber, dedicated to the toilette 
 services of three of the six bridesmaids, she could hear the 
 confused clamor of busy tongues, the patter of slippered 
 feet, and frequent outbursts of such mutual admiration as 
 girls are prone to indulge to their own and one another's 
 delectation, all denoting the forward march of preparations 
 for the great event of the evening. Bells were rung from 
 divers other apartments, upon first, second, and third sto- 
 ries ; there was continual rushing up and down stairs, and 
 through entries, of valets, butlers, and ladies' maids, each on 
 the run, and all equally regardless of the danger of collisions ; 
 already several carriages had rolled around the drive in 
 front of the mansion, and discharged their freight of unne- 
 cessarily punctual revellers, mostly relatives and intimate 
 friends of the family, who liked to preface the public pro- 
 ceedings by a little social talk. Yet she, in whose honor all 
 this commotion was raised, the star actress of the promised 
 performance, without whom the play would, in fact, be a 
 remediless wreck, and a disgrace to all concerned in its an- 
 nouncement and management, was still dallying away the 
 fleeting, priceless moments in love-talk, that could be as well 
 if not better attended to after the ceremony. 
 
 "There is a season for every thing!" muttered the tiring- 
 woman, distractedly, shaking out the satin robe and lace
 
 178 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 veil for the twentieth time. " And this isn't the time for no 
 such boy-and-girl play as they're carrying on !" 
 
 Sally was in love herself, and, as a consequence, extremely 
 lenient to the delinquencies of others similarly situated, if 
 said derelictions had Cupid's warrant for their apology; but 
 there was a point beyond which delay became inexcusable 
 negligence, and this she considered, and, it must be owned, 
 with just provocation, that the bride was fast nearing. She 
 went into the hall repeatedly, and listened over the balus- 
 trades for the returning feet of her charge the increasing 
 tumult of arrival and reception below, meanwhile, aggrava- 
 ting her inquietude to the verge of frenzy ; once she stole 
 down-stairs, and into the dark passage conducting to the 
 office-door went near enough to that uninviting room, now 
 consecrated as the chosen retreat of Love, to hear the low 
 murmur of earnest voices ; finally, she resolved to sit down 
 in desperate resignation by the fire in the bridal chamber, 
 and " not budge one single inch again until Miss Helen saw 
 fit to show herself no ! not if she had to wait there until 
 midnight!" 
 
 Her waiting, albeit it was the reverse of " patient," had 
 its reward shortly after she had taken this sensible resolu- 
 tion. A light footstep her ears were quick to recognize 
 skimmed the floor of the hall, stopped at the door, and the 
 long-looked for personage appeared. 
 
 " Sally, my good child ! I have kept you waiting a tedious 
 time, I suppose, but there is no haste, none whatever !" 
 
 " It's a quarter past seven !" responded Sally, not too 
 amiably. 
 
 Generally the most docile and respectful of handmaidens, 
 she yet availed herself occasionally of the privilege, earned, 
 by years of faithful service, to lecture her young mistress. 
 
 " I know that, but the ceremony will not take place foi 
 an hour or more."
 
 COLONEL FLOYD' & WAEDS. 179 
 
 She had sunk into the chair before the mirror, and spoke 
 breathlessly. This might have been the effect of her haste 
 in climbing the stairs, and her rapid flight through the pas- 
 sages, to avoid being seen abroad at this unseasonable hour; 
 but the sparkling eyes and glowing complexion could hard- 
 ly have been induced by these influences. Resting her chin 
 in her palm, and her elbow upon the dressing-table, she 
 remained for some minutes, apparently lost in revery, fond, 
 yet agitating. Her lip trembled while it smiled ; the fire 
 in the eye shone through a soft haze ; even to Sally's un- 
 tutored sight, her aspect was refined and elevated by the 
 emotions that rapt her in silent happiness. Then, a change 
 which was even more lovely grew upon her ; a chastened 
 gravity, that mellowed every feature ; an upward glance 
 told that thought was rising to yet more exalted themes of 
 contemplation. 
 
 She turned kindly to her attendant. 
 
 " Sally ! I should like to be alone for a little while. Do 
 not be uneasy. I will be ready in season." 
 
 " Just as you say, ma'am." 
 
 Unwilling to submit to further procrastination of the 
 momentous business yet to be performed, but awed into 
 implicit obedience of action by her mistress's look and 
 manner, the maid withdrew. 
 
 Helen's -chamber was upon the second floor of the main 
 building, which formed the central pile of the large and 
 irregularly constricted old homestead ; and access was had 
 to this, not only by the wide front staircase, but also by a 
 steeper winding flight, leading down to the back door. 
 Sally was near the head of these, on the alert for the sum- 
 mons to her post of duty, when her attention was dis- 
 tracted by the rumble of wheels. This was now a frequent, 
 almost an incessant sound, but the vehicle to which these 
 belonged drove around the right wing of the house, where
 
 180 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 there was no carriageway over the lawn, and stopped at 
 the rear porch. The listener stretched her head over the 
 railing, with the curiosity characteristic of her class, to ob 
 tain a view of the back entrance. What or who was to bo 
 introduced into the mansion at such a time, and in this unu- 
 eual way ? 
 
 Colonel Floyd pushed the door open from without. He 
 was arrayed in overcoat and hat, and carried in one hand 
 his inevitable riding-whip. The other grasped, and, it 
 would seem, not very tenderly, the arm of a lady, mtiffled 
 in a large cloak and drooping hood. 
 
 " Good Fathers, Miss Lily !" ejaculated the astonished 
 Sally, under her breath. " I thought she was sick in bed !" 
 
 Behind the supposed invalid cowered the confidential 
 abigail, Sylvia. She bore a bandbox in her arms, and her 
 mulatto complexion was the hue of ashes with fear. The 
 group was completed by her husband, the family coachman, 
 who brought in a small travelling-trunk, apparently from 
 the conveyance standing without. 
 
 " Up ! that way !" The colonel thrust Lily upon the lower 
 stair. "And you had better rig yourself in your finery in 
 double-quick time, or I will be along to hurry your smart 
 waiting-maid, here !" He lent Sylvia a cut across the shoul- 
 ders with his whip, by way of further admonition. " I flat- 
 ter myself that I have spoilt your fun for this night ; and 
 the next time you undertake an elopement, look out that I 
 am not at your heels. Leave that trunk there, you scoun- 
 drel!" pointing to a corner of the entry. "I take it for 
 granted that there is no bridesmaid gear in that, and she 
 has changed her mind about playing bride, for the present." 
 
 Lily had now gained the top of the steps, leaning heavily 
 upon her maid, and Sally had retreated to a dark comer, not 
 too distant to prevent her from seeing and hearing all that 
 Finding that her uncle had not ascended be
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 181 
 
 hind her, the poor fugitive stopped, and fell back, rather 
 than rested, against the wall, as one half dead with fatigue 
 or fright. 
 
 Sylvia urged her, in a frightened whisper, to go on to her 
 chamber. 
 
 "I cannot yet! I am so faint!" sobbed the trembling 
 girl, pressing her hand tc her heart. " What will become 
 of me ? Oh ! what shall we do ?" 
 
 Low as were her accents, the sound reached the savage 
 warder below. 
 
 " Are you there still ?" He came part of the way up to 
 catch sight of the laggards. " If you want more of my help, 
 you have only to say so, and it is at your service." 
 
 The terrified women hurried down a side passage in the 
 direction of Lily's room, and at that instant Sally heard her 
 mistress's bell, and made good her escape. 
 
 Helen's pre-occupation of mind prevented her from remark- 
 ing the queer looks and behavior of her assistant. Apai-t 
 from the revolution in her position and feelings, there was 
 much that required her most serious meditation ; an impera- 
 tive necessity for self-command, and ingenuity of speech and 
 conduct. The Court House the universal name applied to 
 the shire-town of each county in the Southern States was 
 but three miles from Belleview, and the county clerk, to 
 whom application must be made for a marriage license, resi- 
 ded near his office in that village. There would be no diffi- 
 culty in obtaining this, both the parties to the contract being 
 of age ; yet Aleck had deemed it best to take into his confi- 
 dence, and secure as his companion in his nocturnal gallop, 
 Harvey Floyd, a second cousin of the colonel's, and distantly 
 related to Helen herself. He was a merry rattle of a fellow, 
 kind-hearted as quick-witted, and was to have officiated as 
 second groomsman, according to the original arrangement 
 of the bridal train.
 
 182 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 This gonleman, on being summoned from his dressing 
 room to receive the astounding news of a change of bride- 
 grooms, " supposed," when the shock of the communication 
 had passed off, " that it was all right indeed, it was a capi- 
 tal joke the boldest and cleverest thing he had ever heard 
 of this having hoaxed a whole community, the wedding 
 party included up to the very last moment! He would 
 relish amazingly carrying out the matter in good style. A 
 splendid Christmas trick!" and he laughed until the mouldy 
 walls of the office threatened to come down about his 
 ears. 
 
 This was after Helen had left the two young men to- 
 gether ; but she conjectured that his co-operation was 
 obtain'jd Avithout much difficulty, from the fact that she 
 heard the clatter of their horses' hoofs down the road in less 
 than ten minutes from her time of parting from them. 
 Harvey was to ride directly back to Belleview, so soon as 
 the license was granted ; Aleck would return by way of 
 Greenfield, and bring Miss Ruth with him. Let them use 
 what speed and diligence they might, there would still be a 
 delay of considerable length in the solemnization of the 
 marriage, and this it was Helen's object to make as little 
 noticeable as possible. By way of beginning, she must con- 
 fide that to Sally which no one else not the bridesmaids 
 themselves was to learn until the final moment. She wa? 
 explicit, but brief, in her narrative to the petrified tire 
 woman. She Helen Gardner was to marry Mr. Alexan 
 der Lay, and not his brother, as was commonly supposed, 
 but the secret was not to be divulged as yet to anv othei 
 person. Least of all must Colonel Floyd, or any member 
 of his family, receive the slightest intimation that could lead 
 to the discovery of the plot Certain preparations would 
 detain Mr. Lay for an hour, perhaps more, beyond the time 
 set for the marriage, and, to escape unpleasant comment*
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 183 
 
 upon his tardiness, the bride's toilette must not be complete 
 until nearly nine o'clock. 
 
 It appeared doubtful, for awhile, whether Sally would 
 ever be equal to the functions of her office, so staggered 
 was she by the intelligence, coming as it did, before she 
 had entirely rallied from the effect produced by the dis- 
 covery of Lily's escapade and capture. Helen laughed 
 merrily at her bewilderment so heartily, that Sally smiled 
 in real pleasure. 
 
 " I have not heard you give a laugh like that in ever so 
 many months, Miss Helen. It does my heart good to hear 
 it ; it sounds so like old times !" 
 
 " I have not been so happy for a long time, Sally. There 
 have been painful misunderstandings that are now cleared 
 away," was the response, sincere and simple. 
 
 She never imparted to any one else a more circumstantial 
 account of the dark days of her life, and the sudden burst 
 of sunshine following them. 
 
 Below, the apartments appropriated to .the use of the 
 company were filling fast ; and until some officious individual 
 had the bad taste to discover, and was guilty of the ill 
 behavior of promulgating the intelligence, that it wanted a 
 quarter of nine o'clock, and no bridegroom had yet arrived, 
 every thing went blithely enough. Colonel Floyd was a 
 conspicuous figure in the sight of every one that entered. 
 lie was dressed with extreme neatness and elegance, and 
 his commanding stature, and stately grace of bearing, re- 
 called to many of the elder guests the memory of his most 
 palmy days, when no other resident of the region could vie 
 with him in manly beauty and deportment. He had 
 deteriorated since, and, by his evil courses, had latterly lost 
 much of the prestige given him by this earlier repu'.ation, 
 and his family rank ; but, to-night, he upheld the dignity 
 of the Floyd escutcheon in a style that constrained his
 
 134: COLONEL FLOYo's WAKDS. 
 
 worst enemies to admiration. Mrs. Floyd was a cipher, 
 according to custom ; but she did her best to receive her 
 fi lends cordially and entertain them hospitably, and there 
 wcce few who were so destitute of right feeling as to be 
 wanting in appreciation of her motives. 
 
 At a quarter to nine, then, an unmannerly buzz went his- 
 sing, like a serpent, through the crowd, leaving in its track 
 dismayed silence, glances of alarmed inquiry, nods and 
 winks of malicious meaning. The knowing and observant 
 ones began to notice the fluctuations of the host's florid 
 complexion from purple to pallor ; that his face was lowering 
 and his eye gleamed ominously as he conferred apart with 
 his wife ; and that she, poor soul, looked amazed and dis- 
 quieted, and could not prevent her regards from straying 
 every instant to the door. At nine o'clock, without any 
 pretence of apology or show of concealment, Colonel Floyd 
 left the apartment, it was conjectured, to institute official 
 inquiry into the cause of the mysterious and most ungallant 
 non-appearance of the person who should have been one of 
 the earliest upon the ground. No sooner was this plausible 
 supposition reached by a majority of the assembly than 
 there was a general and palpable effort to seem lively and 
 unconcerned, a commendable and ostentatious display of 
 ignorance that any thing was wrong which deluded no one, 
 failed to impose upon the most "single minded creature 
 there, and that was unquestionably the lady of the house. 
 
 Colonel Floyd crossed the hall and entered a small cloak- 
 room, occupied, for the nonce, by four very stiff and uneasy 
 gentlemen the groomsmen who awaited the signal to 
 join their fair mates and take up the line of wedding 
 march. 
 
 " This is a very strange affair, gentlemen !" said the colo- 
 uel, gravely , " and it is my painful duty to inquire into it, 
 wittout further delay. It may have been a mistaken deli-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 185. 
 
 cacy which has kept me silent so long. Has any one of you 
 seen or heard from Mr. Lay to-day ?" 
 
 Every man looked at his fellow, and there was a unani- 
 mous shaking of heads. 
 
 " He called on me at noon yesterday, and engaged to meet 
 ine at the clerk's office this morning at eleven o'clock," pur- 
 sued the colonel, visibly moved by some powerful emotion. 
 " This engagement he saw fit to neglect. I waited for him 
 until past twelve, and since my presence there was not a le- 
 gal necessity, obeyed the call of other duties, and returned 
 home. Since then " 
 
 He was interrupted by the entrance of his relative, Har- 
 vey Floyd. 
 
 " Well, boys !" said the new arrival, gayly, " how goes it 
 with you by this time ? Tired of waiting hey ?" 
 
 "They may well be!" returned the colonel, indignantly 
 " What have you to say, Harvey, respecting this very dila- 
 tory groom ? The business begins to look very black to us. 
 He is a particular friend of yours, I believe. Are you the 
 bearer of his excuses ?" 
 
 " Well, not that exactly, sir, but I can answer for him 
 that he will be here pretty soon, sure as a gun !" thrusting 
 his hands into his pockets and strolling to the window, 
 where he commenced a careless whistle, that suddenly, and 
 without apparent cause, exploded into a laugh. 
 
 All were startled, several shocked by the sound. 
 
 " Beg pardon, colonel ! Excuse me, gentlemen; but the 
 truth is, you four look so like pall-bearers at a funeral, and 
 my respected cousin there so like chief undertaker, sexton, 
 and parson combined, that I cannot keep my countenance. 
 Haw, haw !" 
 
 He dug his hands down deeper into his pockets, and 
 stamped about the room, rolling and choking with merri 
 ment.
 
 186 COLONEL FLOYD S WARDS. 
 
 " There are some subjects, young man, that are not to be 
 jested upon !" rejoined the colonel, his brow blackening 
 with suppressed wrath, while the veins in his temples stood 
 out like cords. 
 
 " No offence intended, sir !" Harvey tried manfully to 
 swallow his amusement. " Only, when a man goes to a 
 wedding, it does seem ludicrous to see every one else behave 
 as if it were a funeral. Actually, a stranger would feel dis- 
 posed to look for crape upon the left arm of each of this lu- 
 gubrious quartette, and to listen for your official pronuncia- 
 tion of ' dust to dust, ashes to ashes.' " 
 
 " When you can express yourself in a manner becoming 
 your position as a member of the respectable family so 
 grossly insulted by the conduct of your associate, the ex- 
 pected bridegroom expected, rather than expectant, it ap- 
 pears I should like to talk with you upon this very un- 
 pleasant matter," said the colonel, with increasing choler. 
 
 He walked out with immense stiffness. The door opening 
 upon the back porch, the same through which he had con- 
 ducted Lily upon her return from her evening jaunt, stood 
 ajar, and the aperture was filled by a dusky figure. 
 
 " I would like to sp'eak to you, sir !" it said, in a guarded 
 voice, as Colonel Floyd crossed the hall. 
 
 The master started as if the word were a bullet. 
 
 " What is it ?" he asked, hastily. 
 
 Booker retired into the portico, whither the colonel fol- 
 lowed him, shutting the door after them. 
 
 "The moon will be up before we get there," said the 
 man, in the same cautious key. " It's time we were off." 
 
 " Had we not better wait until the moon does rise ? It 
 will be a dark, rough walk," suggested Colonel Floyd, 
 Blaring upward at the starry heavens. 
 
 His manner was less that of the arbitrary owner than tho 
 equal of the one he addressed. But for the absurdity of tho
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 187 
 
 idea, one might have imagined that there lurked in his accent 
 a certain degree of respect of humility. The negro's reply 
 was assuredly positive and familiar, such as few white men 
 would have dared to employ in conversation with the lord 
 of Belleview. 
 
 " So much the better ! We don't want light until we get 
 to the woods. If you are seen quitting the house when it's 
 full of invited company, folks will wonder at it, and there's 
 a chance of our being followed. Then, the ground 's froze 
 hard as a rock, and the path is a rough one, as you say, be- 
 sides being a good mile and a half long. We will want 
 every minute of our time. If I'd had my way, we would 
 have been off an hour ago." 
 
 " That could not be, you know." Colonel Floyd mani- 
 fested no anger at the imperative language of his inferior. 
 " It was necessary that I should show myself first to those 
 people in the parlors, and contrive some excuse for leaving 
 them." 
 
 " That may be so, but we ought to be off now !" repeated 
 Booker, doggedly. " There's nothing else to be gained, and 
 much may be lost by waiting." 
 
 " Are you sure that you have every thing ready ?" whis- 
 pered the master, peering over his shoulder at the lighted 
 windows, blazing all along the rear of the building. 
 
 " All's right, so far as I am concerned !" 
 
 " Then I will be with you in three minutes !" 
 
 He went back into the house, and stopped in the hall to 
 collect thoughts or courage for the next move. His face was 
 curiously changed. A leaden hue had come over it, and he 
 had to clinch his teeth to hinder them from chattering 
 probably with cold or nervousness, for no living man had 
 ever seen him show fear or presumed to accuse him of cow 
 ardice. He felt the alteration in his looks, for he stroked 
 his features to compose them ; while his hand shook from
 
 188 COLONEL 'FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 the same cause that had induced the discomposure he would 
 conceal. First, he proceeded to the dining-room, unlocked 
 the sideboard, and helped himself to a glass of strong brandy 
 and water ; waited a minute to ascertain the potency of the 
 draught, and swallowed a second. Then he again sought 
 the presence of the uneasy groomsmen. 
 
 There was a glare in his eye that looked like fierceness ; 
 and if his voice were slightly husky, and not so steady as 
 usual, it was attributed to the same, or kindred emotions, 
 and these were regarded as altogether natural and com- 
 mendable by the spectators, or by four out of the five. Har- 
 vey may have had his own ideas upon the subject. He, of 
 the number, seemed least concerned by the announcement 
 that should, in consideration of his relation to the bride, have 
 affected him most. 
 
 " Gentlemen ! you will oblige me by making yourselves 
 at home in my house, and, so far as lies in your power, allay- 
 ing the apprehensions that may have been excited in the 
 minds of others by Mr. Lay's extraordinary and utterly in- 
 excusable behavior. For myself," drawing himself up, and 
 speaking hoarsely, yet dignifiedly, " I shall go in person to 
 seek that young man to call him to account for the dastardly 
 ^slight put upon my niece. I think that I have a clue which, 
 if rightly used, will enable me to ferret out the truth." 
 
 " Better stay where you are, colonel !" interposed Harvey, 
 in some alarm ; " or, if it is necessary to make inquiiies, let 
 me go in your place. Don't be precipitate ! Things may 
 come right without your troubling yourself. Lay is an hon- 
 orable fellow, and, if he is above ground, I am willing to 
 .wager my head that he will furnish in good season a solu- 
 tion, and a satisfactory one, of this puzzle." 
 
 "Mr. Floyd !" The colonel wheeled suddenly upon him, 
 "This is my affair, and I warn you, once for all, that I will 
 not be interfered with ! The only true kindness you can at
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 189 
 
 present do your cousin, Miss Gardner, is to undertake the 
 painful office of breaking to her, as gently as you can, the 
 unexpected news of Mr. Lay's disappearance." 
 
 " Shall I find her up-stairs, sir ?" 
 
 Harvey was near rupturing a blood-vessel in his frantic 
 attempt to repress another uproarious fit of mirth. 
 
 " I presume that she has not yet left her room." 
 
 " Then I'll run right up !" said the willing bearer of the 
 afflicting intelligence. 
 
 He went up the steps, three at a leap, as the colonel sol- 
 emnly bowed around to the bewildered quartette, and left 
 the house by the back door. 
 
 It was Sally's luck, this evening, to play the undesigning 
 eaves-dropper. While Colonel Floyd and Booker held their 
 cautious colloquy upon the porch, she was within ear-shot 
 of most that was said. She had been to the kitchen upon 
 some trifling errand, and was on her way back to Helen's 
 room, when she espied Booker peeping in at the hall door, 
 either watching or waiting for some one within. Sally in- 
 stantly crouched, like a hare upon her form, and, inch by 
 inch, crept under the portico steps, not with the intention 
 of overhearing what might follow, but to keep out of the 
 man's sight, and to avoid the chance of meeting him. She 
 nated and feared him, not without sufficient cause, as the 
 reader will allow, and was panic-stricken by the thought 
 that if she encountered him at this juncture of the plot con- 
 fided to her keeping, he might drag the whole truth out of 
 her. She believed him to be possessed of the craft, as he 
 was of the depravity, of the great adversary of mankind. 
 She quaked in her shoes when the pair master and man 
 in drawing away from the door and windows, walked di- 
 rectly above her head, and there arranged the preliminaries 
 of their expedition. Some words were lost ; others but par 
 daily comprehended j still, she made out the drift of theii
 
 190 COLONEL FLOYD S WARDS. 
 
 purpose, and, while she was greatly mystified by certain ex- 
 pressions which occurred in the dialogue, she blessed the 
 business, whatever it was, which took them out of the way 
 at the moment when her mistress was expecting the real 
 groom. 
 
 " Before you get back, the knot will be tied fast and hard, 
 and then let's see you break it !" she chuckled. 
 
 Not audibly, for Booker was standing upon the top step, 
 awaiting his accomplice's return. The flight was not a tall 
 one, nor was her position comfortable or desirable, bowed 
 together as she was, and not daring to move a finger, hardly 
 venturing to draw a breath, while she could hear the creak 
 of Booker's boots as he shifted his weight from one foot to 
 the other, on the very plank against which her head rested. 
 Her imprisonment was of brief duration in reality, tedious 
 though it seemed to her. She did not quit her covert until 
 the clang of the iron heels upon the flinty spring-path quite 
 died away ; but she had one glimpse of the patrolling party, 
 as they passed through the broad stream of light pouring 
 through the dining-room window. Colonel Floyd carried 
 his gun, his inseparable companion in his nightly rambles, 
 and Booker also bore something, she could not determine 
 what, upon his shoulder. 
 
 "There you go!" soliloquized the girl, stretching her be- 
 numbed limbs. " Two as great vilyans as ever breathed ! 
 Hunting runaways, are you ? You've tracked some poor 
 fellow to his den, and mean to have him out, live or dead ! 
 'Tain't the first job you've joined hand-in-hand in but yor 
 won't go unpunished in the end, or the Scripter is mistaken, 
 which ain't likely. Bless the Lord, Lem's hundreds of miles 
 away, anyhow ! So you won't catch him ! N"ow, to tell Miss 
 Helen that the cats are away both of 'em !"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WAKD8. 191 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SALLY had no opportunity for the proposed communica- 
 tion. Outside the door of the brideJe chamber stood Helen, 
 iu close conversation' with her cousin, Harvey Floyd. Both 
 were laughing ; for if Harvey attached any importance to the 
 colonel's threat of retribution upon the sinning Robert, he 
 kindly and discreetly refrained from whispering to her a 
 syllable relating to this part of the scene, which he pre- 
 tended to describe to her with great exactness and evi- 
 dent enjoyment. The consultation was broken oif by the 
 outburst, from the adjoining room, of a figure in white 
 robes. 
 
 " Helen Gardner ! why aren't you in hysterics, or swoon- 
 ing, or something like that as is suitable and graceful in 
 the circumstances ? I should be terrified into convulsions, 
 if I were in your place. An hour after the time set for the 
 ceremony, and not a word from the bridegroom ! It's a 
 perfect scandal or, else, some terrible accident has hap- 
 pened and in either case, you ought to go crazy !" 
 
 " I have just brought her a message that obviates the 
 necessity of parting with her wits," replied Harvey. "The 
 fortunate man is now on his way to happiness. I left him 
 only half an hour ago. Aunt Ruth's newest cap was not 
 ready in season, and he could not, as a dutiful nephew, 
 leave her while she was conscientiously opposed to wear- 
 ing her second best. It was trimmed with green, which 
 she said was an unlucky color at weddings. There were
 
 192 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAJJDS. 
 
 twelve yards of white satin ribbon to be furbelowed upon 
 the new one, and the last bow but one was being sewed on 
 when I came away ; so they cannot be far behind me. You 
 are divine, to-night, Miss Virginia!" 
 
 " Humbug I" with a smile of conscious vanity. " You 
 ought to see Lily now ! She is heavenly ! So pure-looking, 
 BO ethereal, so exactly like a snow-flake, that you are pos- 
 itively afraid that she will melt away before your eyes be 
 exhaled like a dew-drop !" 
 
 u I hope she won't melt, or exhale, while I am looking 
 at her !" answered the saucy groomsman. " Where is this 
 same snow-drift, or snow-drop, or whatever you call her ? 
 I would like to take a parting look at her before she leaves 
 this world for good and all." 
 
 "In there, with the rest of them," nodding backwards 
 into Helen's room ; and Harvey, taking the hinted in 
 vitation, walked himself into the midst of the fair and flut 
 tering group. 
 
 There was a little scream of affected horror and surprise 
 at his unceremonious entry ; then the girls closed in upon 
 him on every side. 
 
 " Mr. Floyd ! what is the matter down-stairs ?" 
 
 " What makes you gentlemen so tardy ? We're tired to 
 death waiting !" 
 
 " Hasn't Mr. Lay come yet ? It's shocking !" and similar 
 inquiries pelted his ears a confusing volley, even to one of 
 his consummate impudence. 
 
 "All right! all right! He will be here shortly!" he 
 repeated, over and over, with slight variations, until tho 
 Babel subsided into a satisfied hum. 
 
 Lily had remained aloof, looking on with sad contempt, 
 that was heightened into disdain when her cousin accosted 
 her. 
 
 " Come, Lil ! stand out into the light and let me see you !
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKC8. 193 
 
 Miss Virginia likens you to snow-flakes, and dew-drops, and 
 all manner of other beautiful things." 
 
 He pulled her towards him, that he might take a better 
 view. 
 
 " Don't, Harvey ! you hurt me ! Let me alone, I say 1" she 
 cried, sharply, trying to wrest her hands from his. 
 
 Ho held her tight. 
 
 "The half was not told me," said he, in mock rever- 
 ence. " You are a gem a star of the first lustre and sixth 
 magnitude but not snow! There's too much heat for 
 that!" 
 
 If Virginia's simile had any aptness, this external fairness 
 was the snowy crust veiling a volcanic heart. Lily's great 
 eyes glittered feverishly ; her skin was hot ; her lips had a 
 scarlet tinge. 
 
 " You are to walk with me, you know, Queen Mab," con- 
 tinued Harvey. " I shall watch you very closely, lest you 
 unfold a pair of starry wings and fly away." 
 
 " I know no such thing !" she retorted, peevishly, and 
 Harvey perceived his blunder when he recollected that 
 Aleck Lay, as first groomsman, was the attendant assigned 
 to her. 
 
 The sound of an arrival below relieved him from the 
 necessity of .fibbing to hide his lapsus linguae. 
 
 " There he is at last !" 
 
 He dropped the struggling hands and was off like the 
 wind. Miss Ruth passed him on the stairs, mounting to 
 the dressing-room under the pilotage of a maid. The poor 
 lady looked scared and flurried, and Harvey laughed to 
 himself, in the imagination of her amazement at the recent 
 disclosure made to her. Aleck was in the hall, handsome 
 and self-possessed a smile of heart-felt satisfaction dispel- 
 ling every vestige of cynicism from his features. 
 
 "All goes well!" was Harvey's salutation, "and I have
 
 194 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDB. 
 
 served a notice upon Chandler, to take the vacant place in 
 the train. You will find him with the rest of the fellows, 
 in the room over there." 
 
 " Thank you !" 
 
 Aleck preceded him to the apartment designated, and 
 presented himself to the anxious " fellows." 
 
 " I am sorry that I have been unavoidably detained, gen- 
 tlemen less on your account, however, I confess, than be- 
 cause I fear my delay has occasioned discontent to the ladies 
 who are awaiting you. Every thing is ready, I believe. 
 Shall we go up and make our peace, as best we may ?" 
 
 " Is your brother here?" questioned one. 
 
 "My brother was called suddenly from home this fore- 
 noon, and has not returned yet. Fortunately, his presence 
 is not indispensable, however much we may desire it." 
 
 " Not indispensable !" ejaculated Tom Shore. " What do 
 you mean ? Who ever heard of a wedding without a 
 bridegroom ? unless, indeed, you act as his proxy !" he sub- 
 joined, with a half laugh. 
 
 " I shall be married on my own account not in the stead 
 of another," replied Aleck, coolly. " This is a matter which 
 was determined upon between Miss Gardner and myself, 
 more than two years ago. Perhaps you would like to test 
 the truth of my assertion by an appeal to the lady herself." 
 
 He led the way to the floor above, and the others, includ- 
 ing the " dumfoundered" Tom, followed in his wake. 
 
 Helen did not lift her eyes at their approach, but the bril- 
 liant carmine of her cheek answered the fervent pressure 
 with which Aleck laid her hand within his arm. Never 
 were voluble girls rendered so mute by astonishment as was 
 lie knot of pretty attendants. Lily clung to Harvey for sup- 
 port ; searched his face in such agony of inquiry, that he could 
 not help whispering an explanatory sentence or two. 
 
 " It's all right ! They have loved one another for years
 
 195 
 
 and years. She was always queer, and so is he. The en- 
 gagement with Robert was a blind. It's the best joke of 
 the season !" 
 
 Honestly he believed but half of this tale ; but he was 
 pledged to carry the matter through, and he would do it 
 with a brazen face, if not with a stout heart. Lily utterly 
 discredited this account of the sudden reversal of precon- 
 certed arrangements, but it mattered little to her how it had 
 come about, while the evidence of her own eyesight showed 
 her Helen Gardner as the bride of Aleck, and not Robert 
 Lay. Divers editions of the surprising story were breathed 
 by the other gallants to their respective charges during the 
 downward march of the procession ; and it spoke volumes 
 for the self-command or aptitude in deception of the femi- 
 nine part of the baud, that when they were drawn up in 
 bridal array, confronting the crowd of gaping and aghast 
 spectators, none of them betrayed the slightest symptom of 
 curiosity or embarrassment ; each was competent to the oc- 
 casion. 
 
 Mrs. Floyd uttered an exclamation of dismay or wonder 
 as the clergyman, in obedience to a word from Aleck, and 
 after a glance at the license presented by Harvey, began the 
 marriage service. He paused longer than was needful or 
 customary after the solemn bidding of the charge; bent a 
 gaze, scrutinizing, and not altogether free from severity, upon 
 the youthful couple, while the silence throughout the room 
 became oppressive. 
 
 " I require and charge you both (as ye will answer at the 
 dreadful day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts 
 will be dislcosed), that if either of you know any impedi- 
 ment, why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matri- 
 mony, ye do now confess it : for be ye well assured, that if 
 any persons are joined together otherwise than as GOD'S 
 word doth allow, their marriage is not lawful."
 
 196 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDB. 
 
 Aleck met the penetrating eyes confidently proudly, 
 while Helen stood firm and calm beside him. The cer- 
 emony proceeded ; the responses were made promptly and 
 audibly, and Aleck's voice had never been more clear and 
 steady than in articulating the vow : 
 
 " I, Alexander, t;*e thee, Helen, to be my wedded wife, 
 to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for 
 worse ; for richer for poorer ; in sickness and in health ; to 
 love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to 
 GOD'S holy ordinance ; and thereto I plight thee my troth." 
 
 It was done ! and, regaining breath and speech with one 
 simultaneous effort, the assembly surged impetuously tow- 
 ards the newly wedded pair. Inquiries more pointed than 
 polite ; banterings of all descriptions, gay, gentle and ill- 
 natured ; reproaches that were meant to be playful, and 
 yet had an angry tone mingled with the laugh ; every 
 variety of congratulation was heaped upon the perpetrator 
 of the daring deed, in a fashion that few would have been 
 able to bear. But they were blest with dauntless spirits 
 and strong nerves, and while Helen was suffered to remain 
 by Aleck's side she did not shrink, and he was doubly 
 courageous. 
 
 Poor, poor Miss Ruth ! She slipped fast and quietly out 
 of the press after kissing her " children," and heaving one 
 little sob upon Helen's shoulder, and betook herself to the 
 darkest corner of the conservatory, where she had her cry 
 out in a comfortable style. She alone, beside her nephew 
 and his wife, knew the secret of Robert's dishonorable de- 
 fection, and the consequent denouement between the real 
 lovers ; and she acquiesced cordially in Aleck's application 
 of the good old-fashioned doctrines, that " those who truly 
 love one another ought to marry," and that " the sooner a 
 false step is corrected the better ;" yet she had been taken 
 so by surprise ; her limited range of ideas and conjecturea
 
 197 
 
 had been so abruptly enlarged ; her grief at Robert's inex- 
 plicable behavior so sincere ; her dread of compromising 
 him and annoying Aleck and his bride so great, that it was 
 no wonder she was, to use her own language, "fairly 
 upset." 
 
 Her privacy was soon invaded. She mopped up the 
 streaming tears at sight of a white dress and the sound of 
 light, hurried footsteps. 
 
 " I came to look for you, Aunt Ruth," said Lily Calvert, 
 winding her arms about the old lady's neck, and sinking to 
 her knees beside her. " I have nobody else to whom I can 
 speak and speak I must, or my brain will go wild. You 
 will never repeat what I say, will you ?" 
 
 " Yes yes dear !" murmured Aunt Ruth. " That is, 
 I would say, * No,' my love !" 
 
 " You know every thing, do you not? Robert has often 
 told me that he kept nothing hidden from you. You must 
 know why and where he is gone ?" 
 
 " Yes !" assented Miss Ruth, distressfully. 
 
 " Don't speak so sadly, please ! You wound me to the 
 quick. I had looked for charitable judgment from you. 
 Indeed indeed he could not help it, Aunt Ruth! You 
 would not have blamed him if you had known all he had to 
 bear for he saw that Helen did not love him, and that 1 
 did?" 
 
 She whispered the last three words, and buried her face 
 in the listener's lap. 
 
 " Yes !" 
 
 Despite the objurgations Aleck had, in his aunt's hearing, 
 and the early transports of his indignation, launched against 
 Lily's coquetry and treachery, the charitable spinster could 
 not discard all tender thoughts of the child she had loved 
 from the sad hour of her birth. Mrs. Calvert had been the 
 friend of Miss Massie's girlhood, and for her sake she had
 
 198 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 nrst learned to love the daughter. To her Lily was always 
 winsome and loving, and she believed in her still ; sym- 
 pathized in the emotions whose intensity she perceived 
 without fully understanding. Her motherly hand softly 
 patted the curly head as she thought how yonng the 
 weeper was how tender and delicate how unfit to hear 
 the sorrow that pressed out those great choking sobs. 
 
 " All may come right, dear, if you love one another " 
 
 "If!" Lily reared her head eagerly. "I have seen that 
 he did love me this long while, and others saw it too ! But 
 this morning there came this letter" taking one from her 
 bosom " in which he tells me how dear I am, and begs me 
 to meet him this evening to go with him to become his 
 wife ! And I would have done it by this time we 
 would have been together, never again to be parted, but 
 for my cruel, cruel uncle ! How he guessed my intention I 
 cannot imagine, for only Simon and Sylvia knew of it, and 
 they would never betray me but he overtook me on the 
 road and forced me back. I can never forgive him 
 never !" Her eyes glowed, and her fingers clutched the 
 letter tightly. " I am not his slave ! I want you to write 
 to Robert, Aunt Ruth. I shall be watched too closely for 
 me to attempt that. Tell him why I failed to join him. I 
 cannot have him think that I was prevented by cowardice or 
 indifference and say, moreover, that if my life is spared I 
 will yet escape and do as he wishes, in defiance of my 
 uncle's threats." 
 
 "Yes," said Aunt Ruth, doubtfully; "but, Lily dear, 
 there is nothing now to keep him away, since Aleck and 
 Helen are married. Doesn't it seem to you that it will be 
 more proper to wait until he comes home, and let things 
 go on naturally and smoothly ? Then again I don't know 
 where to direct my letter." 
 
 " To Washington ! He writes that he will wait there
 
 COLOXEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 199 
 
 for tidings of me should I fail to meet him. As to pro- 
 priety, I detest the word !" cried the girl, passionately. " If 
 you are hindered by such scruples, I will steal time to-night 
 to write to him. myself. Will you see that my letter is 
 mailed ?" 
 
 "Yes!" responded Aunt Ruth, yet more slowly ana 
 dubiously. 
 
 The equilibrium of her ideas was too effectually destroyed 
 by the strange events of the past few hours for her to offer 
 any decided protest against becoming Cupid's postwoman. 
 When she journeyed homeward at midnight, still dazed 
 and wondering, no one part of the performances she had 
 witnessed was more unreal to her than the fact that in her 
 pocket, nestled among the folds of her immaculate haadker- 
 chief, reposed a billet whose superscription, hastily scrawled 
 in a fine feminine hand, was, " Mr. Robert C. Lay, Washing- 
 ton, D. C." 
 
 Harvey Floyd proved himself to be the nonpareil of 
 kinsmen and groomsmen on that trying evening. Having, 
 as an indispensable preliminary, exorcised his conscience by 
 a potent adjuration in the names of expediency and good- 
 nature, he gayly assumed the role of master of ceremonies ; 
 circulated freely among the curious and suspicious guests, 
 joking, laughing, and lying as he moved ; " pooh-poohing" 
 at insinuations of unfair play towards the absent brother ; 
 declaring that he had been the confidant of all three of 
 the parties concerned in this " capital hoax" ever since its 
 inception ; had known that Robert was looking after Aleck's 
 interests, while people believed that he was pleading his 
 own cause ; had often laughed with him at the adroit man- 
 ner in which the wool was pulled over people's eyes, etc., etc. 
 
 " But how did it happen that neither Colonel nor Mrs. 
 Floyd was cognizant of the true state of the affair ?* 
 questioned the shrewd ones.
 
 200 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 "In for a penny, in for a pound!" whispered Harvey to 
 his drugged conscience, as it stirred in its sleep, and he re- 
 plied sotto voce, with a meaning wink "Colonel never 
 liked Aleck opposed his marrying his ward. My worthy 
 relative is a trifle ' kinky,' as we all know. Had no objec- 
 tion to Robert. Since he could make no legal opposition to 
 the match, both parties being of age, he vamosed so soon 
 as he was informed who the veritable Benedict was to be. 
 The thing had gone too far for him to stop it, but he 
 wouldn't look on. D'ye understand ?" 
 
 And even the shrewd ones were so verdant as to believe 
 that they did understand. Helen was voted " undutiful," 
 " unfeminine," and " fast," by the sober adherents to cus- 
 tom and form; "spunky," "resolute," and "devoted," 
 by the more youthful and romantic portion of the com- 
 pany. 
 
 "You are the biggest story-teller I ever heard of!" de- 
 clared Virginia Shore to the laughing bride. "And to 
 think of your carrying it so far as to pretend that you were 
 going to wear those contemptible rose-buds as your only 
 ornaments, when you intended to behave like a Christian 
 woman, and sport the pearls ! It must be owned that you 
 look like a queen in them. Doesn't she, Mr. Lay? But 
 for all that, if I were your confessor, I would make you 
 walV. ten miles with peas in your shoes for such abominable 
 fibbing. And, now, I am just expiring to know one thing. 
 If your tongue can speak the truth, after its long and 
 diligent practice in the other line, I wish you would tell me 
 where Mr. Robert is. It is the one unaccountable cir- 
 cumstance in the unravelled plot and excuse me, my dear 
 I mutt say that it has a queer look !" 
 
 Aleck came to Helen's relief so promptly that her hesita 
 tion at this very direct question was not noticed. 
 
 ""Cntil this morning, Miss Virginia, my brother had
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 201 
 
 never intimated an intention of absenting himself on this 
 interesting occasion. Before breakfast he received a letter 
 calling him from home upon urgent business. The sum- 
 mons was imperative, and admitted of not even an hour'd 
 delay." 
 
 Lily was passing wher. Virginia's mention of Robert's 
 name struck her ear, and she involuntarily stopped to listen. 
 Aleck gained her eye at the beginning of his reply, and did 
 not release it until he concluded held it by a gaze of such 
 significant contempt that, as he said to himself, if the girl 
 retained one grain of self-respect or shame, she must quail 
 beneath its questioning. She did indeed change counte- 
 nance, but it was a look of incredulity or surprise, not con- 
 scious and detected guilt. He let her alone after that. 
 She had no ground to lose in his estimation, and, whatever 
 might be his opinion of her course and motives, he, of all 
 the world, had least cause to murmur at the result of 
 these. 
 
 Mrs. Floyd as she was accustomed to aver in after days 
 would never have lived through that evening but for the 
 support of Harvey's unblushing mendacity and Aleck Lay's 
 ready tact. Nor was Helen backward in sustaining her 
 aunt in her difficult position. Laying aside the stiff stateli- 
 ness, enjoined by etiquette upon the bride, she deported 
 herself as the daughter of the house, who was mindful of 
 her guests' comfort and pleasure, and in considering these 
 lost sight of the novelty of her own position. She did not 
 dance, but she was careful that no lady who wished to do 
 so should lack a partner ; she chatted easily and freely with 
 matrons; replied merrily to the badinage of the elderly 
 gentlemen, who were not sparing in their comments upon 
 the extraordinary character of her nuptial ceremonies; 
 privily directed waiters, and as privately suggested forgot- 
 ten duties to the mistress of the establishment. She waa
 
 202 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 incalculably more valuable to her perplexed and worried 
 aunt than was Lily, who spoke and acted all the while like 
 one in a trance. 
 
 Never did hostess, especially one by nature and practice 
 BO hospitable as was the lady of Belleview, hail the depart- 
 ure of visitors so joyfully as did she the first stir of leave- 
 taking among those whose coming she had greeted with un- 
 feigned cordiality. The colonel had not yet returned, when, 
 at three o'clock in the morning, she threw her wearied limbs 
 and aching head upon her couch, too tired and full of pain 
 to speculate on her lonely pillow as to the causes of his pro- 
 longed absence. She slept soon and soundly, so profoundly 
 that she did not know when the absentee came in, and was 
 awakened at last by the broad light of morning. 
 
 " Bless my life, it is eight o'clock !" she exclaimed, spring- 
 ing up, " and I never even heard Amy make the fire ! When 
 did you come in, and why didn't you wake me, colonel ?"' 
 
 Her husband was at the toilette-table, shaving himself. 
 Apparently, his hand was not very steady, for the lather he 
 had scraped from his chin was streaked with blood, and the 
 razor inflicted a deep gash as his wife spoke. She had 
 scarcely expected any answer, other than the one which 
 came a bitter oath ! and, to tell the truth, she was much 
 more concerned about the wedding breakfast, and the prob- 
 able condition of the rooms used by the company the previ- 
 ous evening, than affected by his humor. 
 
 lie surprised her by a query before her hurried dressing 
 was completed. 
 
 " How did your dear five hundred friends take the news 
 that there could be no wedding, for want of a bridegroom ?" 
 he growled between his teeth. 
 
 " Sure enough ! How forgetful I am ! You were not here 
 when it all came out !" Mrs. Floyd checked herself in the 
 act of lowering her dress over her head. " I don't know
 
 203 
 
 how to toll you, or where to begin. It was all so unexpect- 
 ed, even to me! HOAV she contrived to keep it a secret up 
 to the last minute, I cannot divine ; but she did, and fooled 
 us all completely. And to think that Aleck Lay could 
 play the hypocrite as well as she did, and Robert too ! I 
 wouldn't have believed it of him ! I always thought that 
 he had such an open heart and honest tongue. I declare it 
 beats every thing I ever heard or dreamed of!" 
 
 She was interrupted by a profane ejaculation, and an 
 order " to say what she had to say, and to stop that infernal 
 gabble !" 
 
 " Why, my love, I was just going to tell you ! Did you 
 ever suspect that she was not in love with him ? that she 
 was throwing dust in our eyes all this time, even when she 
 was making up her wedding clothes and accepting her wed- 
 ding presents ? When Mr. Bradley commenced the cere- 
 mony, I really thought that I should faint outright. And 
 nobody knew it except Harvey, and I must say that he be- 
 haved very unhandsomely in not giving me a hint. Mercy 
 on us, colonel! what's the matter?" 
 
 He had turned about, his back to the table, leaning 
 heavily against it; the razor in his hand; his complexion 
 nearly as colorless as the foam yet left upon his cheeks. 
 
 " Ceremony ! what ceremony ?" he said, in a guttural 
 whisper. 
 
 "Why, the marriage service, to be sure, over Aleck Lay 
 and Helen Gardner. They were married about nine o'clock, 
 and oh !" 
 
 - She rushed forward with a scream, in season to prevent 
 Ins falling to the floor, seating him instead in an easy-chair 
 that was luckily close at hand, and supported the heavy 
 head, swaying helplessly to and fro. Her frightened crj 
 speedily brought help. A gang of bustling, terrified ser- 
 vants collected around him; stripped off his outer clothing,
 
 20i COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 loosened his collar and cravat, and bore him to the bed. By 
 the time they reached this stage of proceedings, he had re- 
 vived so far as to speak, but so inarticulate was his primary 
 attempt, that his wife begged him to repeat it. He did, with 
 an angry effort. 
 
 " Booker !" 
 
 " Run for Booker, some of you !" ordered Mrs. Floyd. 
 " Do you want him to go for the doctor, dear ?" she inquired, 
 tenderly. 
 
 He breathed hard and loudly ; his forehead was dark still 
 with the dangerous flood that had rushed up to the brain, 
 yet he scowled at her ; lifted his hand menacingly towards 
 the flock of negroes. 
 
 " Out ! every one of them !" he managed to say, more 
 distinctly now. 
 
 The violence of the attack was passing. Booker did not 
 obey the summons with especial alacrity. He was asleep 
 when it was brought to his house, and a\voke unwillingly ; 
 arose sullen. Mrs. Floyd was banished, as her menials had 
 been, at the entrance of this high and sulky functionary. 
 For half an hour she was kept waiting without the chamber, 
 while a low conference went on inside. Her lord was mani- 
 festly better when the janitor permitted her return to the 
 bedside ; better in body, but in temper as ill-conditioned as 
 mortal could well be. After an infinite amount of argument 
 and persuasion, she prevailed upon him to admit the physi- 
 cian, for whom a messenger had been despatched two hours 
 before ; and since she was not forbidden the privilege, she 
 remained in the room during his stay. 
 
 Colonel Floyd had ridden twenty miles the night before, 
 he stated to the medical man, " upon a false scent" he in- 
 terpolated, savagely had eaten nothing, and slept none. 
 The consequence was a rush of blood to the head a trifle 
 not worth naming but women were such fools !
 
 205 
 
 Convinced, upon examination, that the seizure was really 
 not severe, and his patient in no peril of his life, the doctor 
 recommended a little cooling medicine and a day's quiet ; 
 buttoned up his coat, picked up his saddlebags, and prepared 
 to go. 
 
 "The weather has moderated," he remarked to Mrs. 
 Floyd, in quitting the apartment. " We shall have snow by 
 night." 
 
 She accompanied him down-stairs ; received an additional 
 direction or two, and resought her husband's presence. He 
 had shifted his position, and dragged another pillow under 
 his head ; raised himself high enough to enable him to look 
 out of the window nearest the bed. 
 
 " Didn't the doctor say there would be snow to-day ?" he 
 asked, in ill-dissembled eagerness. 
 
 " Yes, it is clouding up fast. We shall have falling 
 weather by noon, I think. Aleck and Helen are- about going, 
 iny dear. Do you feel able to say ' good-by' to them ?" 
 
 " If I did, they should not cross that threshold !" he said, 
 vehemently. Teh 1 them I say ' begone !' and send my curse 
 after them." 
 
 Mrs. Floyd wisely and politely concluded to modify this 
 amiable message in the delivery; so the bridal pair were 
 only told how sorry she was that the colonel was too seri- 
 ously indisposed to see them, and that the doctor had en- 
 joined absolute quiet. 
 
 The dinner party at Greenfield was to proceed, as had 
 been contemplated before the late momentous changes. 
 This was decided upon, partly to gratify Miss Ruth, partly 
 to appease the suspicions of thqse who obstinately cherished 
 the idea that there was something wrong behind the 
 scenes ; the incorrigible skeptics, whom even Harvey Floyd 
 could not lie into belief of the story he promulgated so 
 industriously.
 
 206 COLONEL FLOYD'S 
 
 The fields were like unwritten white paper ; the roads 
 were growing heavy with drifts, and it was still snowing 
 hard, when, at dusk, a carriage drove up to the ancient 
 mansion of Maple Hill, and Aleck assisted his wife to alight. 
 ^ either of them would remain under Robert's roof longer 
 than was necessary for appearance's sake. Both longed for 
 quiet and home. Busy hands had been at work within doors 
 all day. The windows were ruddy with fire-light, and the 
 young husband led his bride from the raw, chill outer air 
 into a large, old-fashioned hall, well lighted and warm, where 
 were ranged a score of family servants, dressed in holiday 
 attire, and profuse of smiles and courtesies to their new 
 mistress. 
 
 "The blessin' of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be upon em!" 
 groaned a pompous voice from the head of the line. 
 
 Helen tried to say " Thank you !" but the effort expired 
 in stifled mirth. 
 
 " The egregious blockhead !" said Aleck, fretted and yet 
 amused, as, having spoken a kind word of acknowledgment 
 to his dependents, he conducted Helen into the parlor, seat- 
 ed her in a great chair, and undid her bonnet and cloak. 
 " The preposterous humbug ! A padlock for his mouth, to 
 be worn constantly, except at meal-tunes, would be an 
 admirable regimen lor him." 
 
 " Petronius, was it not ?" asked Helen, still laughing. 
 
 " Of course it was ! By the way, I must have a talk with 
 him to-morrow. It was he who brought that letter to Green- 
 field yesterday afternoon. I omitted in my excitement then 
 lo ask him at what point of the road he met Robert. I 
 would like to inquire into the particulars of their interview. 
 Why are you shivering, love, are you cold ?" 
 
 " No ! only a passing chill. I have a strange aversion to 
 speaking of yesterday, or of any thing connected with 
 with what might have happened."
 
 COLC.VEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 207 
 
 She was very pale, and trembled visibly. Aleck leaned 
 over to kiss her put his arm about her. 
 
 " Why, you dear little goose ! the danger is all over now ; 
 your fate is sealed ! You are a captive, and your jailer is a 
 perpetual institution." 
 
 She smiled mutely; then her head drooped upon his 
 shoulder, and there was silence for a while. 
 
 " Speaking of Petronious reminds me of the evening ser- 
 vice we attended at Mr. Shore's, some weeks ago," resumed 
 Aleck, cheerfully, to dispel any remnant of unpleasant feel- 
 ing that might be lingering in her mind. " Do you recollect 
 the bit of paper, the loss of which chagrined Lily so much ?" 
 
 " Yes. I knew that you had it then, although I dared not 
 thank you for the theft." 
 
 He took out his pocket-book. " See here," opening an 
 inner compartment. 
 
 " Why did you keep it ?" asked Helen, catching at tho 
 soiled and creased leaf. 
 
 " Because I read there, in your handwriting, that it was 
 ' dangerous to play with edge tools,' " responded Aleck, 
 "and my own disappointed heart responded to the truth of 
 the maxim. I preserved it as a monitor for future direction. 
 The consequence was, that I had made up my mind to live 
 and die a 'crusty, fusty old bachelor!'" 
 
 With a gesture of playful petulance, that brought back 
 to him the memory of her girl days, Helen put her hand 
 over his mouth, and tossed the paper into the fire. 
 
 " I am glad it storms !" she said presently, looking at the 
 enow-encrusted panes. " It makes our home so much the 
 more cosey and dear." 
 
 While they mused, with locked hands, tenderly-smiling 
 lips, and eyes full of happy light, upon the sweetness wrap- 
 ped up in that little phrase, " our home," Colonel Floyd's 
 chamber was dark, save for a feeble glimmer from the fire
 
 L'.>3 COLONEL FLOYD'S 
 
 he would not allow to be replenished, and the waning gray 
 light from the windows. Upon these his haggard eyes were 
 fixed, as they had beer, from the commencement of the 
 storm, gloating with a sort of greedy satisfaction, which 
 was enigmatical to his attendants, over its continuance and 
 increasing fury. Not until the last ray of daylight had van- 
 ished, and he could no longer discern the falling flakes be- 
 tween him and the leaden sky, would he listen to his wife's 
 solicitations that she might have the curtains lowered, and 
 wood and candles brought in. 
 
 At nine o'clock Booker appeared to inquire after his mas- 
 ter's condition, and receive his orders for the night. Lily 
 happened to be present at the moment. Her uncle had in- 
 sisted upon seeing her, on her return from the dinner at 
 Greenfield, as if to assure himself that she was actually in 
 the house. She was a heart-sore and peevish creature 
 throughout that lonely evening, but ungraciously promised 
 obedience to his further command that she should see him 
 again before retiring to rest. It was upon this second visit 
 that Booker encountered her. 
 
 "What of the weather?" questioned Colonel Floyd of his 
 retainer. 
 
 "Snowing faster than ever, sir. The drifts will be four 
 foot deep by morning." 
 
 " Good !" The sick man settled himself in his bed, with a 
 grunt of satisfaction 
 
 Booker continued, 
 
 " And upon ground so hard froze as it is now, the snow 
 will lie three weeks and better." 
 
 " I don't see why that should be so desirable as you seem 
 to think !" said Lily, crossly, shrugging her shoulders. "We 
 will have bad roads all spring." 
 
 "Hold your tongue, you jade, and go to bed!" said her 
 uncle, furiously.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WAKDS. 209 
 
 "That's because you don't understand, you see, Misa 
 Lily," answered Booker, demurely. "Deep snows are prime 
 for the winter wheat, and for every thing else that's in the 
 ground, for that matter. Good-night, sir ; I hope you'll 
 sleep sound."
 
 210 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARD*. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Two months bad passed since the wedding, which had 
 Bet the tongues of the neighborhood wagging, as only an out- 
 of-the-way marriage or shocking murder can do. It was a 
 mild, soft afternoon, in the latter part of February, and 
 Helen Lay stood at the front window of her pretty parlor, 
 watching the winding road that led up to the house. Aleck 
 had been absent four days, on a business trip to Baltimore, 
 and this evening was to end their first separation. How 
 keenly she had felt it, might be gathered from her restless 
 movements about the room, when her eyes became weary 
 of straining into the unsatisfactory distance ; her changeful 
 color and quickened .attention at sight of any far-off moving 
 object, or any sound that fancy could construe into the rum- 
 ble of wheels or beat of hoofs. 
 
 "He won't come while you are looking for him my dear," 
 observed Aunt Ruth, with a quiet smile, from her seat at 
 the fire. 
 
 But, placid as she looked, and steadily as grew the stock- 
 ing under her fingers, she was not free from impatience her- 
 self, and inwardly rejoiced in the signs of anxiety which the 
 young wife could not conceal. They were tributes to her 
 " boy's" worth, proofs of the affection borne him by his best 
 beloved. Helen blushed, and tried to laugh ; then came and 
 sat down beside the diligent spinster. 
 
 "I believe that I am 'fidgetty' to-night, as Virginia Shore 
 calls if but it is not altogether the desire to see Aleci
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 211 
 
 again, although I do not deny that that feeling is strong. I 
 am oppressed by the idea of some impending sorrow a 
 presentiment that something sad or disagreeable is to befall 
 me. You have felt such, Aunt Ruth, have you not ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Then you know how hard it is to shake these off." 
 
 "Yes!" 
 
 Miss Ruth sighed; a respiration telling of a volume of 
 like experiences. 
 
 "Not that I believe in omens or presentiments," contin- 
 ued Helen, bravely, " only when one is a little excited from 
 other causes, a notion of this kind fastens more easily upon 
 the mind. I have not been very happy to-day ; no't nearly 
 so buoyant of spirits as I should be. Lily's countenance, as I 
 saw it yesterday at church, has haunted me ever since. You 
 must have observed how sadly she has changed." 
 
 " Yes, dear !" Aunt Ruth said, in intonation and look ; 
 " who could help noticing the poor child ! I never saw a 
 sadder wreck in my whole life." 
 
 " I wish, for her sake, that Robert would come home," 
 Helen resumed, pensively. " His movements are a complete 
 riddle to me. They vex Aleck grievously, too. He has 
 written to Robert five or six times, but the two letters we 
 have received from the runaway, make no mention of his 
 having heard from us. The suspense is hard for the brother 
 to endure ; what must it be to Lily, poor girl ! Hist!" 
 
 The faint echo that had entered her ear grew louder. 
 
 " Yes !" nodded Aunt Ruth, smilingly, in answer to the 
 brightening eyes and uplifted fingers. 
 
 They harkened a minute longer. A carriage was cer- 
 tainly approaching. 
 
 " I will not stir until it stops !" said Helen, poutingly, 
 her cheeks one flush of crimson. " You shall see how well 
 1 can behave !"
 
 212 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 She fulfilled her promise to the letter; but there was 
 scanty evidence of the, spirit of patient awaiting in her 
 gladsome exclamation and rapid flight to the hall door when 
 the wheels ceased to move. The vehicle, a buggy driven 
 by a negro, was similar in appearance to that which had 
 been sent to the depot for the absent master of Maple Hill. 
 It had halted before the porch steps, and a gentleman was 
 alighting when she appeared at the entrance. But his was 
 not the joyous bound of a wedded lover ; nor was it Aleck'a 
 figure and features that met her dismayed vision. The 
 driver was Booker, his passenger Colonel Floyd. Chagrined 
 and disconcerted though Helen was at the unexpected and 
 unwelcome visit, she could not but remark the change in 
 his person and movements effected by his recent sickness. 
 His step was slow and languid ; his hair whiter, and his eye 
 had the furtive, uneasy glance of one disturbed by perpetual 
 forebodings of evil, or harassed by constant physical suf- 
 fering. 
 
 " Aunt was right when she told me, the other day, that 
 he was woefully broken," thought Helen, as with instinctive 
 and lady-like hospitality, she offered her hand and invited 
 him to enter the house. 
 
 Not until he had paid his respects to Miss Ruth, seated 
 himself by the hearth and removed his gloves, did he revert 
 to the errand that had brought him hither. That he had 
 an errand, and one which could not be intrusted to another, 
 Helen was assured the instant she saw him, for he had 
 never darkened the doors of her new abode until now. 
 
 " I have called to see Mr. Lay upon business," he said to 
 her. " Business which should have been settled before thia 
 late day, but for my infirm state of health." 
 
 " He left home last Friday for Baltimore," replied Helen, 
 " and has not yet returned. I atn expecting him this even- 
 ing."
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 213 
 
 She could not force herself to propose that be should 
 await Aleck's arrival. Polite insincerity could not carry 
 her to the length of deliberately concerting such a defeat 
 of her anticipated joyous meeting with her husband. It 
 seemed that Colonel Floyd was not inclined, in this respect, 
 to stand upon ceremony. He leaned back in his chair and 
 crossed his legs, with the aspect of one who had laid in a 
 sufficient stock of patience, and had no intention of remov- 
 ing immediately from his chosen position. Aunt Ruth sat 
 up stifly, lips compressed and eyes riveted upon her work. 
 Helen made another effort to do the honors decently. She 
 would not essay cordiality. 
 
 " I hope that aunt and Lily are well." 
 
 " I believe they are. I hear no complaints." 
 
 " Lily is looking badly, I think. I met her yesterday 'at 
 church." 
 
 " Humph ! Three-fourths of her disorder is imagination. 
 Her aunt tells me that she is troubled with dyspepsia and 
 blues this winter. It is fashionable for young ladies to fall 
 into ill-health." 
 
 "She is certainly very thin, and coughs a great deal," 
 responded Helen, smothering her displeasure at his con- 
 temptuous reply and there was a tedious pause. 
 
 Her face kindled presently, and glancing significantly at 
 Miss Ruth, she left the room. There was no mistake this 
 time. Another buggy had driven to the door Colonel 
 Floyd's moving on to make room for it, and Aleck Lay 
 leaped to the ground almost before the horse was checked. 
 He came directly up the steps to salute his wife ; held her 
 to him in a hasty embrace and kissed her ; but his first 
 words were abrupt, his tone harsh 
 
 "Is Colonel Floyd here?" 
 
 " Yes in the parlor. I am very sorry " 
 
 "Jam not!"
 
 214: COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 He strode into the hall ; tore off his over-coat, and tossed 
 it with his hat and gloves upon a table ; then moved in the 
 direction of the parlor without another word. Shocked 
 and chilled by his stern face and negligent treatment of 
 herself, Helen yet ventured to follow him. 
 
 "Dear Aleck!" she entreated, hanging on his arm. 
 " There is no haste about seeing him. Come to our room 
 and rest awhile let me brush the dust off! You look very 
 weary, and a bath will refresh you. I am afraid you are 
 not well." 
 
 " Oh, yes I am ! I must see this man get this meeting 
 over at once !" 
 
 Helen still hindered him. 
 
 "You know, deai-, that I could not help his being here 
 just now ! I did not dream of his coming until he drove 
 up. I am sure I wish that he had stayed away ! You are 
 not angry with me, are you?" 
 
 The question or the timid tone served to recall Aleck to 
 his senses. He looked down into the loving, pleading eyes, 
 where the tears were already welling. 
 
 " My precious wife ! could I be angry with you even if I 
 had cause? and that can never happen! Forgive me if I 
 act strangely. My mind is full of other and important 
 things matters concerning which we will talk together by 
 and by. You know that I am happy in being once more at 
 home, and with you !" 
 
 He gave her another kiss more fond than the former ; re- 
 leased her, and entered the apartment where his visitor 
 awaited him. 
 
 Plelen did not go hi directly after him. She ran off into 
 her chamber to hide the emotion she would not have others 
 perceive. It was very foolish and wrong to weep over a 
 trifling disappointment like this, but she had pictured to 
 herself such different things! the murmured words of teu-
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 215 
 
 derness ; the long, close embrace ; the thousand inquiries 
 after her welfare and occupations during his absence es- 
 pecially how she had borne that separation ; the ejacula- 
 tions of delight at their reunion that were to have filled 
 the earlier moments of their renewed intercourse. How 
 could he leave her so soon and hastily how speak so coldly 
 how plead preoccupation with more important things ? 
 Up to this hour their married life had glided on like a bliss- 
 ful dream ; the lover-husband been all that the most exact- 
 ing bride could require. Was this the beginning of that 
 settling down into the graver actualities of every day home- 
 life which every one except themselves predicted as their 
 future lot; which they had promised one another should 
 never come to them ? It had been easy to tell Robert that 
 she had outlived youthful romance ; that she was not a sen- 
 timental, unreasonable girl, but a common-sense, matter-of- 
 fact woman. If she had married him he would doubtless 
 have found her to be all that she had described. As it 
 was 
 
 She walked restlessly up and down the floor ; now letting 
 the tears flow freely, now drying them in haste, as fancy 
 deluded her with the thought that she caught the sound of 
 Aleck's distant footsteps. Surely he would come he could 
 not stay away when he observed that she had not fol- 
 lowed him ! Colonel Floyd's business was a matter of no 
 consequence after all. She was certain that it pertained to 
 the settlement of his guardianship accounts, for he could 
 have none other with Mr. Lay. Into these it may be re- 
 membered that she had advised nay, urged Robert to 
 ..o >k. The idea of being defrauded was then painful to her. 
 She wanted to bring, as her marriage portion, to the 
 younger brother, property that would justify her iu a fecl- 
 Jing of thorough independence for the remainder of her 
 days ; that should, iii plain phrase, pay her personal ex-
 
 216 
 
 penses, and never oblige her husband to lay but a dollar of 
 his own fortune to insure her comfort or pleasure. She 
 believed, then, that she was actuated, as she had said to 
 her betrothed, by a sincere desire for the advancement of 
 his interests no less than hers. She cared little whether she 
 were dependent upon Aleck or no. All that she had was 
 his, and for the rest benefits a livelihood itself from his 
 hand would be all the sweeter because she owed them to 
 his love. Total dependence upon the one truly and only 
 beloved nerer yet wounded a woman's pride. 
 
 She had time to indulge these, and many other medi- 
 tations in the wearisome half-hour consumed in fruitless 
 waiting and childish fears. Then, with a smack of the old 
 haughtiness she condemned as unworthy, even while she 
 yielded to it, she resolved to cast aside the part of the love- 
 lorn lady, pining in her bower ; to show him that she, like- 
 wise, could be oblivious of tender weaknesses and alive to 
 rational considerations, such as should govern a sober, 
 right-minded couple, from whose cup of happiness eight 
 weeks of wedded experience had puffed away the sparkling 
 foam. She bathed her eyes, smoothed her hair, added an 
 ornament or two to her tasteful home attire, that he might 
 not construe apparent neglect in dress into proof of an 
 absent or suffering mind, and betook herself, work-basket 
 in hand, to the drawing-room. 
 
 Aunt Ruth was no longer there, a circumstance Helen 
 did not discover until she had advanced half-way down the 
 apartment. But she had seen her husband start and look 
 hurriedly over his shoulder as the door unclosed, and 
 imagined that he frowned at seeing her. If her presence 
 were undesired by him, he quickly subdued any token of 
 displeasure or regret, arising to set a chair near the fire for 
 her, and bowing as he did so, as courteously as to an hon- 
 ored guest.
 
 COLOXEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 217 
 
 " Perhaps I had better not stay," said Helen, in an under 
 tone, stopping short when she perceived Miss Ttuth's empty 
 Beat. " I am afraid that you are engaged !" 
 
 " You will be no hindrance," was the reply, spoken in 
 grave politeness; and still doubting which course dignity 
 and expediency would advise, she obeyed his gesture and 
 sat down. 
 
 There were candles upon the table, so disposed that they 
 shed a strong light on Colonel Floyd's features, while 
 Aleck, by accident or design, had drawn back into com- 
 parative shadow. Helen was nearest him, but could only 
 see his profile. Colonel Floyd almost faced her, and she 
 noticed, mechanically, as it were, that he seemed to be 
 annoyed, or otherwise excited. His hand rested upon sev- 
 eral letters and other written papers lying on the table, and 
 shuffled them nervously as he spoke or listened. 
 
 "You have had no direct personal communication by 
 mail or in any other manner with my brother, since he left 
 home, I understood you to say, Colonel Floyd ?" said Aleck, 
 interrogatively, going on with the conversation his wife's 
 entrance had interrupted. 
 
 "None, whatever, sir. The last interview we had was 
 purely one of business, and took place in the forenoon of 
 the twenty-fourth of December. At that time he delivered 
 to me the cancelled bonds I have just shown you. My prin- 
 cipal reason in requesting his presence on that occasion was, 
 that I might discharge the debt long due him. He was at 
 my house from ten o'clock until one ; our conference was 
 held in the office, for want of a more comfortable place, and 
 continued for nearly two hours, as Mrs. Lay may recol- 
 lect," bowing and smiling sardonically to Helen. 
 
 Aleck waived the reference and Helen's silent bend of as- 
 Bent ; did not turn to see whether she had heard or replied. 
 
 "You had an appointment with him for the next day
 
 218 COLONEL FLOYD'S 
 
 however," he continued, in a tone that sounded dry and 
 guarded to Helen's ears. 
 
 " Which he entirely failed to keep !" interposed the colo- 
 nel, quickly. 
 
 " Without sending you any apology ?" 
 
 " I received none. I left home at ten or thereabouts, rodo 
 leisurely to the clerk's office, where Mr. Robert Lay was to 
 meet me at eleven ; waited for him more than an hour and 
 a half, as Mr. Willis can testify ; then, supposing that he had 
 been unavoidably detained, and not knowing how long I 
 might be kept there if I undertook to stay until he came, I 
 placed a certificate in Mr. Willis's hands to the effect that 
 my ward, Miss Gardner, was of age, and therefore free to 
 inarry whenever and whomsoever she pleased, and returned 
 to Belleview. Mrs. Lay perhaps remembers that I was at 
 the house when she came home after a morning walk, more- 
 over, that I informed her of your brother's failure to keep 
 his engagement with me." 
 
 Again, Helen gave a grudged and unspoken response to 
 his appeal, which was heeded as little by her husband as 
 the former had been. He sat with an elbow resting upon 
 the table ; his hand spanning his forehead, and from its 
 shadow his eyes gazed keenly, intensely upon his visitor, 
 never quitting him for a second. Colonel Floyd felt their 
 scrutiny, for he winced at each question, and carefully re- 
 frained from looking at his interlocutor during his rejoinder. 
 
 " It is growing very late !" he observed, rustling his doc- 
 uments into a bundle, and tying them together with a bit 
 of red tape. 
 
 The knot was insecure, as was proven upon trial, and 
 when it gave way at the strain intended to tighten it, the 
 loose sheets were scattered over the table. Aleck assisted 
 in collecting them. 
 
 " These are thu bonds !" he remarked, pausing in the task
 
 COLONEL FLOYD S WARDS. 219 
 
 to examine two small pieces of paper selected from the heap. 
 " Excuse me for saying it, but it strikes me that this was an 
 unbusiness-like mode of annulment merely drawing a pen 
 across the face of the instrument. I am surprised that 
 Robert adopted it. I wonder more that you did not de- 
 mand a receipt, also." 
 
 " If I recollect rightly, I did, and received one," returned 
 Colonel Floyd, very busy with the refractory package ; his 
 fingers becoming more awkwardly unsteady every instant. 
 " Have it at home I can show it to you, if you doubt my 
 word, Mr. Lay," summoning his proudest manner and ac- 
 cent. 
 
 " I have not intimated such a doubt," replied Aleck, calm- 
 ly. *' My brother's movements of late are enveloped in so 
 much obscurity, and about many of them hangs such an air 
 of mystery, that I am excusable for examining somewhat 
 narrowly into all that can be ascertained concerning the last 
 day or two which he passed at home." 
 
 " Certainly ! Certainly ! You are quite right, sir !" 
 Colonel Floyd crowded the packet into his pocket. " And 
 I assure you that any information that I can aiford you, 
 any light that I can cast upon this unhappy affair, is quite at 
 your command, Mr. Lay. But, to be frank with you, I must 
 say that his conduct is not wholly unaccountable to me. 
 Young blood is hot, and young judgment hasty and Mr. 
 Robert Lay was young, ardent, injudicious. I have heard 
 rumors of his serious losses at play, and other unfortunate 
 indiscretions, to which I would not allude in your presence, 
 but for my desire to elucidate what appears to be a puzzle 
 to you." 
 
 There was a stain of fresh blood on the lip Aleck's teeth 
 let go, at the conclusion of this speech, but he betrayed no 
 Qther sign of passion. 
 
 " If I understand you, sir, you counsel me to discretiop 'n
 
 220 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WARDS. 
 
 prosecuting further inquiries : as a friend to my brother, 
 you would perhaps recommend that I drop them entirely :" 
 he said, with the same steadfast look into the colonel's eyes. 
 
 " I ! I counsel nothing ! As I have remarked, I stand 
 prepared to render you what assistance I can. My deed* 
 are ever open to the day. The arrangement is, then, Mr. 
 Lay, that I meet you to-morrow at the clerk's office, and 
 settle with you so far as is practicable, upon so short a 
 notice. It is fortunate that I chance to have several thou- 
 sands lying in bank at this juncture, or your fair wife's pre- 
 cipitate action might have taken me at a disadvantage," 
 bowing to Helen. 
 
 " I do not see how that could be, sir !" she was provoked 
 to reply. " You had several months' notice " 
 
 He interrupted her. "Of your contemplated marriage 
 with Mr. Robert Lay, I grant, my dear lady! But there 
 were certain circumstances I will not now stop to explain 
 that made a prospective settlement with your bonaf,de be- 
 trothed and present husband a very different affair from 
 what my reckoning with his brother would have been." 
 
 Helen was literally too angry to speak too much incensed 
 to make any return to the pompous adieus that wound up 
 this impertinence. 
 
 Aleck attended her whilom guardian to the door neither 
 his wife nor himself extending to him an invitation to tea 
 and remained there after the buggy had driven away, 
 pacing hard and hurriedly to and fro upon the piazza, until 
 the bell rang for supper. Then, he made no haste to an- 
 swer the call. 
 
 " I wish Aleck would come in !" mildly complained his 
 aunt. " The muffins will get solid and the chickens cold. 
 I should think he would be hungry after travelling so many 
 hours." 
 
 Helen said nothing, but seating herself at the head of
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 221 
 
 the board began setting out the cups and saucers upon the 
 tea-tray. 
 
 "Ring that bell again!" Miss Ruth ordered, presently, 
 as the last hope of saving her hot fowls and puffy muffins 
 from woeful depreciation ; and at this second call the mas- 
 ter came. 
 
 " He might as well have stayed away for all he ate !" 
 thought Aunt Ruth, despairingly noting the untouched food 
 upon his plate. 
 
 He drank a cup of coffee ; declined his wife's coolly civil 
 offer to send him another, and sat stirring and inspecting 
 the grounds or sugar left in the bottom of the cup, with as- 
 siduity as serious as that displayed by the most accomplished 
 fortune-teller. His brows were bent into settled severity ; 
 his mouth compressed into sternness as immovable, and 
 when he answered the two or three queries with which his 
 aunt found courage to ply him, his tone was absent and 
 dreamy. Whatever might be the theme of his cogitations, 
 he studied it with every energy of heart and mind, to the 
 exclusion of every other. Finally he pushed back his chair, 
 hardly vouchsafing a brief " excuse me !" to the ladies, and 
 left the table. 
 
 "Is Petronius at home?" he demanded of the servant in 
 waiting. 
 
 " I believe he is, sir." 
 
 " Go and see, and when you find him send him to me, in 
 the library ! I have letters to write, Helen," he added, " sev- 
 eral that must go by to-morrow's mail. I am sorry to seem 
 unsocial on the evening of my return, but it cannot .be 
 helped." He went out. 
 
 Helen, too, arose. "Take more wood into the library!" 
 she -said to another domes tic. " Your master will probably 
 bit up late." 
 
 Not a tone faltered. Her lids were level and dry ; but
 
 222 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 
 
 Aunt Ruth divined something of the storm of feeling wax- 
 ing to its height, and not unreasonably associated these 
 signs of the times with Aleck's reserved, morose mood. 
 
 Left to herself to survey the slighted feast, to whose de- 
 molition she had looked forward with such lively and inno- 
 cent delight, the oll lady shook her head at the closing door 
 as Helen vanished through it, and sighed a regretful, but 
 not hopeless " yes." 
 
 Not hopeless for the dear soul had heard of lover's quar- 
 rels and the certainty and sweetness of reconciliation, and 
 believed that she read correctly the symptoms of this fa- 
 mous, but not dangerous distemper, in conduct that would 
 upon any other hypothesis have been inexplicable and unpar- 
 donable. Acting upon this persuasion, she lingered not 
 long in dining-hall or parlor. In the last-named room Helen 
 kept her company, sewing steadily, and talking, not freely or 
 continually, but pleasantly, when she did speak ; the scarlet 
 spot in either cheek and her curling lip evincing that the in- 
 ward strife was still far from being quelled. 
 
 "Proud! proud!" soliloquized Aunt Ruth, mentally. 
 " Lucifers in pride both of them ! The best thing I can do 
 is to leave her to solitary reflection for awhile ; at any rate, 
 to take my old useless body out of the way, in case he should 
 give in first as I've heard that men are apt to do and 
 come to look for her. They will never make up while there 
 are others by. Helen, dear!" sho said aloud, "I am 
 pretty tired to-night, or else it is this warmish weather that 
 makes me drowsy. I believe I will go to bed if you won't 
 mind my leaving you. Aleck will be in pretty soon now to 
 hinder you from getting lonesome. Hb bere can't keep 
 him much longer." 
 
 "If they do, I shall not be lonely, aajc. 1\> flCv let, me 
 keep you up a minute longer than i 
 for you. I shall retire early myself?"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S -WARDS. 223 
 
 
 
 Yet she sat there for two long, long hours, hoping, listen- 
 ing, longing, and resentful, sullen, desperate, by turns ; now 
 half resolved to seek him, to cast herself upon his bosom 
 and supplicate for some demonstration of the affection, so 
 freely and richly lavished upon her heretofore by eye, word 
 and caress ; now avowing that she would die of heart-break 
 sooner than she would adopt a course so humbling to 
 woman's pride. At eleven o'clock she folded her work, 
 closed the shutters, fastened down the windows and extin- 
 guished the lamp ; exercising no remarkable degree of cau- 
 tion in performing the work. The library adjoined the Bit- 
 ting-room, and although there was no door of direct com- 
 munication between the two, yet the occupant of the former 
 could not well avoid hearing and understanding the meaning 
 of the bustle prefacing her retiring for the night. If he did 
 hear it, he would, if he had any consideration for her wishes 
 and feelings, leave his employment u important" as it was 
 and come to their chamber to exchange a few words with 
 her before bidding her "good-night." Therefore, she dis- 
 missed her maid, professing that she was too wakeful to 
 sleep, and wished to read awhile ; then drew her chair near 
 the fire again to hearken for feet that did not, come, to 
 pine for loving tones and language that were not now to feed 
 her hungry heart. 
 
 The hands of her watch pointed to twelve, when, ex- 
 hausted and disheartened, she lay down upon her pillow, 
 and she tossed there a dreary while before falling into a 
 troubled sleep. Dreams connected and vivid, came with 
 more profound slumbers. She was sitting upon the great 
 rock at the spring, in the soft, summer moonlight with Rob- 
 ert. The story of his long-cherished attachment was still 
 sounding in her ears, awakening the strange, sad heart-ache, 
 the mingled pity and sisterly tenderness she remembered so 
 \rell ; his hand enfolded hers; his arm was about her waist;
 
 224 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 when sudden, stern and sad, up started the form and 
 lineaments of his brother, and the whole might of her 
 heart's love leaped out towards him. She stretched her 
 arms to him ; cried in the unutterable agony of her soul for 
 him to come and release her to take her with him, that 
 she loved him him only him, always! But he turned 
 scornfully away, and Robert's grasp was inflexible as chains 
 of wrought steel, binding her with a pressure that nearly 
 deprived her of breath. 
 
 " Mine ! mine !" he said, in fierce earnestness " until 
 death* us do part !"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 225 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WITH a smothered shriek a last, frenzied cry of " Aleck ! 
 dearest Aleck !" Helen awoke from the nightmare. 
 
 She was sitting upright ; the cold sweat dripping from 
 her forehead ; her hands clasped, and her lungs heaving 
 convulsively, as if the imaginary pressure had been real, 
 and but just removed. The room was dimly illumined by 
 the dull, red glow of the embers. She had replenished the 
 fire just before going to bed. Had it burned out so soon ? 
 Groping her way to the mantel, she struck a light and 
 looked at her watch. 
 
 Ten minutes past two ! and she was still alone ! Where 
 was he ? Was there then truth in the horrible dream that 
 had scared her native bravery from her breast, and had he 
 deserted her? Or, was he ill? Had sudden sickness, or 
 fatal accident befallen him in that far off, lonely room ? 
 
 Seeking hastily for a wrapper, she took down from the 
 wardrobe the crimson cashmere robe she had worn when 
 summoned to meet Aleck in the office, on her wedding 
 night. She thought of that interview while preparing for 
 this, and the memory strengthened her resolve. Taking 
 the candle with her, she stepped out into the cheerless hall. 
 A ray of light stole from under the library door, but all 
 was still within. Her soft step had not disturbed the 
 student. With a beating heart she turned the bolt and 
 entered. 
 
 " Who is there ?" cried Aleck, angrily springing to hi* 
 feet.
 
 226 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 Then, as his wife's pale, shocked countenan e met k\ 
 sight, he passed his hand over his eyes, as if to dispel th 
 mists of some horrible illusion, and said more gently, 
 
 " Ah ! Helen ! is it you ? You startled me a little ; is an) 
 thing the matter ?" 
 
 " Not with me, darling !" 
 
 She had seen his face, and pride and resentment fled apace 
 The terrible anguish that had ploughed those furrows in the 
 brow, and left its imprint upon every feature, should not be 
 borne by him alone, while she lived to share the load. She 
 crept up to him like a child to whom perfect love has taught 
 boldness, and wound her arms about his neck ; drew down 
 his cheek to hers. 
 
 "Aleck ! dear husband ! you cannot reject my sympathy 
 in your trouble, even while you may not think it best to 
 confide to me its nature. I wish I could bear it with and for 
 you !" 
 
 He strained her to his heart, as if he would never let 
 her go. 
 
 " Darling ! darling !" was all he could say, in accents 
 strangled by the welling of the pent-up flood of feeling. 
 
 Then he placed her in the chair from which he had arisen ; 
 knelt before her, and still holding her in his arms, buried hia 
 face in her lap, while a storm of sobs shook his whole frame. 
 The bewildered and terrified wife strove by every loving 
 art to win him back to composure. Not once did she inquire 
 into the cause of the agitation that could so master his heal- 
 tny nerves and powerful will. She only implored him to 
 be comforted, for her sake; reminded him that whatevei 
 other calamity had befallen him, they were f-till spared t* 
 one another; that their mutual affection remained un 
 changed. 
 
 "You are mine! mine only are you not?" he asked, 
 suddenly lifting himself to look at her. " You gave yourself
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 227 
 
 t< me not because you believed another unfaithful, but be- 
 cause you loved me." 
 
 " You know that I have always loved you, dearest!" 
 
 She pressed her lips to the hot eyes, laid his head upon 
 her bosom. 
 
 " Do not think me weak, unmanly," he said gratefully. 
 "But" I had sat here all the night, surrounded by images of 
 such horror ; beset by reflections so agonizing, that the re- 
 action produced by your blessed companionship was too 
 great. I shall not be overpowered again. You have done 
 me good, my comforting angel! Poor child !" he continued, 
 stroking the pallid face boAved over his. " You are worn 
 out with watching and anxiety. I am a careless brute, who 
 does not deserve such a wife." 
 
 Her hand was upon his mouth and stopped the words. 
 
 " I am not worn out ! I have had a long nap, -and. 
 awaking, was alarmed to find how late it was ; became 
 uneasy lest you might be sick, or some accident had hap- 
 pened, and came to look for you. This is the history of 
 my intrusion." 
 
 " Intrusion ! a welcome diversion ! I was under a spell, 
 and might have remained here until dawn, without moving, 
 had you not broken it." 
 
 He was sitting upon the sofa, now, and pulled her, with 
 gentle force, to his knee. As she complied with his wish, 
 she saw his eye rest upon a pile of papers heaped in the 
 middle of the table, and that a shuddering anguish, a fear- 
 ful look of sorrow and rage, went over his visage ; felt him 
 tremble violently under her weight. 
 
 ""I cannot have you stay in this haunted chamber !" she 
 said, in forced playfulness. " The influence of the unholy 
 spell is upon you still, I see." 
 
 " If I could tell you but no ! it would be cruel !" 
 
 " To me do you mean ? If that withholds you from speak-
 
 228 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WAKDS. 
 
 ing freely, I can answer the objection. How often have 
 you declared that I was the bravest girl in Christendom ? 
 and I am your wife now, Aleck !" 
 
 "Thank God for that!" was the fervent response. 
 "There have been moments to-night, when I have been 
 ready to call myself a villain an unscrupulous criminally 
 selfish villain for having married you at the time, and in 
 the manner I did. But you are my witness, dear one, that 
 passionately as I loved you, I never uttered a syllable that 
 conflicted with Robert's rights until I believed that you 
 were freed and by him !" 
 
 "Aleck! what are you saying? Did he not free me!" 
 exclaimed Helen, growing deathly pale, more at his look 
 and manner than his language. 
 
 "Hush, love! As I have said, you are mine lawfully 
 and forever ! There was no wrong in what we did, although 
 a morbid sensibility may discern cause for regret that our 
 action was so hasty; that we relied too readily upon the 
 evidence furnished us. But the result would have been the 
 same had we waited for further developments. Be assured 
 of that ! I would have made you my wife at the earliest 
 date to which I could gain your consent in spite of our 
 sorrow and the opposition of others. What should I do 
 without the consolation of your society the cordial of your 
 sympathy now ?" 
 
 " You are talking in enigmas," said Helen, colorless as 
 marble, yet speaking firmly. " And since you have said 
 thus much, I must know all. You wrong me in keeping it 
 back. Every moment of suspense causes me additional and 
 needless suffering. I cannot only be strong, but prudent 
 and secret." 
 
 She stood in front of him with composed and resolute 
 mien. 
 
 "Not so! You must come back to your old place to
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 229 
 
 your homo, dearest ! only while I hold you fast, and feel the 
 touch of your hand upon mine, can I have courage to go 
 through with the sad tale. I will tell you ! my heart aches 
 to pour out its grief before you, and the knowledge must 
 come to you sooner or later. Have you the strength to lis- 
 ten now ?" 
 
 " I have the strength for any thing for every thing but 
 this racking suspense." 
 
 Carefully and gradually as he could, in his own excited 
 state, he unfolded to her all that he had learned and sus- 
 pected within the past four days. 
 
 While in Baltimore he had gone into a jeweller's in quest 
 of some gift for her, and looking idly into a show-case of 
 watches, espied one resembling so precisely a time-piece he 
 had sent Robert from Europe, a year before, that he had asked 
 leave to examine it. His gift to his brother was inscribed 
 on the inside of the case with a peculiar cipher composed 
 of their joint initials, and, to his astonishment, he found this 
 identical hieroglyph within that he now held. 
 
 " This is a second-hand watch, I perceive," he remarked 
 to the proprietor of the establishment. 
 
 " It is, sir, but a first-class article. One seldom sees a 
 finer specimen of the kind in this country." 
 
 " I think that I recognize it as an old acquaintance," re- 
 joined Mr. Lay, nonchalantly as he could speak. " If I were 
 sure of the fact I should certainly buy it. Will it be any 
 breach of confidence if you tell me the name of the person 
 from whom you had it?" 
 
 "None, whatever, sir, provided we know it ourselves. 
 Every thing in our business is conducted fairly and above 
 board," replied the merchant, willing to secure a purchaser. 
 
 He referred to his books for the desired information. 
 The watch was brought to the store on the twentieth of 
 January by a gentleman who professed to dispose of it on
 
 230 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 belialf of another but, beyond this, Aleck could learn 
 nothing. The clerk who had concluded the bargain was 
 out, and none of the other employes retained any recol- 
 lection of the customer's appearance or name. Stipulating 
 that he should have the refusal of the watch until a certain 
 hour in the afternoon, Aleck left the shop and went to trans- 
 act some business at the bank where his account had been 
 kept ever since he reached his majority. 
 
 He was personally well known to the officials there, and 
 the cashier, while paying over the amount he wished to 
 draw, observed : " By-the-way, Mr. Lay, I hope your 
 brother has no cause of dissatisfaction with us. His deposits 
 have usually been heavy, and his drafts so infrequent as to 
 leave a large amount always to his credit. But, one day, 
 about the middle of January, he surprised us by drawing 
 upon us for every cent he had in our hands for more, in fact, 
 as he has learned from the statement of account we forwarded 
 to him by mail. He overchecked, inadvertently, to the 
 amount of five hundred dollars." 
 
 "Impossible!" ejaculated Aleck. "Who presented the 
 drafts?" 
 
 " A neighbor of yours, I think Colonel Floyd." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 "Unless I was mistaken that was the name by which 
 your brother's letter introduced him," answered the bank 
 officer, in some surprise. " I kept it as a voucher, although 
 the bearer came to us in company with a well-known and 
 highly respectable citizen." 
 
 " I should like to see both letter and draft, if you please 1" 
 requested Aleck, recovering himself. 
 
 They were quickly produced. The note was brief, and 
 dated December 24th ; and it, as well as the drafts, bore 
 Robert's signature. 
 
 * The genuineness of which I deny !" said Aleck to the
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 231 
 
 alarmed cashier. " In the first place, I do not believe that 
 my brother would have taken a step so singular and import- 
 ant without consulting me ; in the second, I happen to know 
 that Colonel Floyd would not be the individual likely to be 
 intrusted with this business. Mr. Robert -Lay is not at 
 home just now, and I ask you, as a favor, to let the matter 
 rest until I can privately investigate it." 
 
 The promise was willingly given, and the perturbed 
 Aleck directed his steps again to the jewellers, more anxious 
 than ever to obtain possession of the watch, and unriddle 
 the mystery of its present ownership. 
 
 The head clerk was in the store this time, a sharp, quick 
 Yankee, whose wits were always on the alert, and who was, 
 in this case, disposed to be very communicative. He recol- 
 lected perfectly the incident of the watch being offered for 
 sale, and the physiognomy, form, etc., of the man who 
 brought it to the establishment. His attention was particu- 
 larly drawn to these by the oddity of the proposed negotia- 
 tion on the part of a gentleman so imposing in demeanor, 
 and stylish in apparel. He could tell more; for chancing, on 
 the day after the purchase, to enter the office of a certain 
 fashionable hotel, he had seen the same person sitting there, 
 smoking in company with a party of acquaintances had in- 
 quired his name, and learned that it was Floyd. 
 
 With the watch safe in his pocket, Aleck thanked the 
 obliging salesman, and hurried off to follow-up another clue 
 to the truth of the dark surmise he yet entertained vaguely 
 almost blindly. This was an inspection of the hotel register 
 of January 20th. H<? found upon the record of the 18th 
 Colonel Floyd's name, written in his dashing hand. He had 
 been in the city at that date then, although Aleck had never 
 heard of the visit until now. He it was, beyond a question, 
 who had presented the false checks, if false they were, and 
 gold the watch. Could he be acting as Robert's agent ? ac-
 
 232 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 credited, yet secret ? If this were so, there was deep villany 
 somewhere; if not, imagination recoiled at the black abyss 
 of crime unveiled by the doubt. Still undergoing the tor- 
 uieiits of indecision and never-still suspicions, he set out 
 upon his return journey. 
 
 The nearest depot to Maple Hill was Rock's Tavern, to 
 which place Robert's farewell letter to his brother had di- 
 rected him to send for his horse. Hero had been found 
 there, securely stabled, and had now occupied his old stall 
 at Greenfield for many weeks ; but motives of delicacy, the 
 principal of which was to shield Robert from public remark, 
 had deterred Aleck from making any inquiries as to who 
 had left the animal in the hostler's care. Dismissing these 
 now as absurd, where issues so momentous were involved, 
 he, upon his arrival at the tavern, made it his business to 
 search out the negro who had charge of the stables, and 
 recalling to his mind the circumstance and the time of its 
 occurrence, asked whether he had himself seen Mr. Robert 
 Lay while he waited at the house for the afternoon train. 
 The fellow professed to recollect every thing connected with 
 the matter, and was positive in declaring that the horse had 
 not been brought to the stable until two hours after the cars 
 had passed, and when it was already dark ; that his rider 
 was a negro of gruff speecli and few words, who represent- 
 ed that he had been ordered to leave the horse in his, the 
 hostler's, keeping, until Mr. Alexander Lay, of Maple Hill, 
 should send for him, and forthwith departed upon foot. He 
 would be loath, he subjoined, hesitatingly, to get an inno- 
 cent person into mischief, but one of the stable-boys had 
 recognized the horseman by flashing a lantern into his face 
 as he was leaving the yard. He was, the groom was certain, 
 a free colored man of questionable character, who lived 
 about five miles away. 
 
 Aleck diverged from his road on the way home, to call at
 
 COLONEL FLOYD S WAKDS. 233 
 
 this fellow's abode a mean cabin, situated in a pine grovo 
 about midway botween Colonel Floyd's plantation and the 
 depot, a sequestered, ill -looking spot, fit to be the scene of 
 evil deeds that shunned the light. The owner of this choice 
 habitation was absent, but his wife appeared at the door 
 when the carriage stopped, and manifested signs of extreme 
 trepidation at beholding the visitor. Alighting with a se- 
 vere, determined countenance, Mr. Lay called her aside, and 
 boldly proclaimed his knowledge of her husband's errand to 
 the tavern on Christmas night a job that would get him 
 into trouble unless he could show that he came honestly by 
 the horse, or confessed who had commissioned him to per- 
 form the act. The woman hung back for a time. She knew 
 nothing of the matter ; she had not seen the animal ; she 
 was away from home all Christmas week, and a dozen lies 
 more, which Aleck upset as fast as she brought them for- 
 ward. 
 
 At last, as he was turning off with the warning that she 
 and her accomplices might shortly find themselves before a 
 tribunal where means would be devised to extort the truth, 
 she burst into tears, and offered to reveal all she knew, pro- 
 vided he would not betray her to her husband. A horse 
 had been brought to their house about three o'clock on 
 Christmas day, by Booker, Colonel Floyd's head man. She 
 had peeped at him through the window as he talked in the 
 yard with Jeff, her husband, had seen him hand Jeff a bank 
 note, and that the latter led the horse to the rude hut they 
 called a barn, and shut him in, locking the door and pocket- 
 ing the key. She did not dare to ask questions, or indeed 
 to mention what she had witnessed, unless Jeff should volun- 
 teer an allusion to the affair. He made but one remark that 
 could have any bearing upon the subject, and that was at 
 night-fall, just after he had despatched his supper. 
 
 "I shan't be home until near midnight," he had said,
 
 234 
 
 u and I've got one word to say before I start. Whatever 
 you've seen to-day, or may -hear to-night, hold your tongue, 
 or you'll suffer for it." 
 
 With that he went out, and she distinctly heard the 
 tramping of hoofs soon afterwards. 
 
 " While anxiety and suspense were wrought to the high- 
 est pitch by my endeavors to shape a reasonable theory odt 
 of all this," continued Aleck, "I reached home, and the first 
 object I beheld was Colonel Floyd's carriage, with Booker 
 standing by it ; heard from you that he himself was waiting 
 to see me. His ostensible business was to ask me to fix a 
 day for the settlement of his guardianship accounts. He 
 offered the intelligence that he could hand over immediately 
 that portion of your estate .which was in ready money, and 
 also render satisfactory statements of sales of property; the 
 yearly crops and servants' hire ; sums disbursed for your 
 expenses ; and a great deal more plausible talk, to which I 
 lent only half an ear. As adroitly as I could in my unsettled 
 state. I forced him to speak of his liabilities to Robert, the 
 proofs of which I told him my brother had showed me in a 
 couple of bonds, executed and signed by Colonel Floyd, cov- 
 ering an amount of nine hundred dollars. Accomplished 
 villain as I knew him to be, I was yet thunderstruck when 
 he produced from his pocket-book the identical bonds, and 
 displayed a long cross-mark on the face of each, made, he 
 averred, by Robert himself, on the day before Christmas, at 
 wliich date he had paid over the full amount of his indebt- 
 edness, and received these in testimony thereof. Now, my 
 davling, do not be too much shocked by what I am going to 
 say. At twelve o'clock, that very Christmas Eve, Robert 
 and I sat in my chamber, talking over his prospects, pecu- 
 niary and matrimonial, and he exhibited these very papers 
 uncancelled told me of the debt still due to him, express- 
 ing his doubt as to its final liquidation, and his regret for
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 235 
 
 the weakness that had beguiled him into lending money to 
 an unprincipled spendthrift." 
 
 "Can it be!" exclaimed Helen. "Yet I heard Colonel 
 Floyd tell you " 
 
 " You heard him tell me !" interrupted Aleck, with in- 
 creasing excitement " like the liar that he is, that he had 
 never held any communication with Robert since the noon 
 of the 24th of December ; that the annulled bonds were de- 
 livered to him at that time ; the papers which I stand pre- 
 pared to swear I saw twelve hours later in my brother's 
 hands. I purposely made him repeat the statement in your 
 presence, that I might have a credible witness of the as- 
 tounding falsehood. Now come several grave questions. 
 By Avhat means did he obtain possession of those bonds, and 
 Robert's watch, a prized keepsake, which I have often heard 
 him declare he would never part with on any consideration? 
 If that woman's tale be true, and it is corroborated by the 
 hostlers, Colonel Floyd's man Booker must have seen Rob- 
 ert, and had some transaction with him on Christmas morn- 
 ing ; else how came he by the horse he left at the free ne- 
 gro's ? What is it ?" for Helen clasped her hands with a 
 low ejaculation. 
 
 "I do not know that it is worth mentioning," she said, 
 " but on that day I took a long walk in the woods back of 
 Belleview, and while sitting under a clump of evergreens, a 
 mile or more from the house, I saw Booker pass on horse- 
 back. I had only a .partial view of the horse, but I remem- 
 ber he was dark bay in color, and carried his head high, 
 like a gentleman's hunter. Could it have been Robert's 
 Hero?" 
 
 " I believe it," said her husband, emphatically. " lu 
 what direction was he going along what road ?" 
 
 "That was the strangest part of it! He rode through 
 the thickest heart of the forest, where there was not even a
 
 236 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 bridle-path. I supposed that he was taking a short cut 
 from the Bryantown to the Maysville road." 
 
 " The very route he would have chosen if he wished to 
 go by stealth to Jeff Harris's house. Go on ! You heard 
 and saw nothing more while you were there?" 
 
 " Nothing the day was very still. Oh, yes, I did hear a 
 gun ! but it sounded some distance off I should say half a 
 mile." 
 
 " Was this before or after Booker passed you ?" 
 
 " Before some time before. My idea was, when I saw 
 him, that he had fired it, for there are not many sportsmen 
 daring enough to hunt on Colonel Floyd's grounds." 
 
 " Does he allow Booker to carry firearms ?" asked Aleck, 
 assuming the composure that was contradicted by the white 
 strain of the muscles on the lower part of his face. 
 
 " Not that I know of. I do not recollect ever seeing him 
 with a gun. Colonel Floyd rarely stirs from the house 
 without his. I have told you that it was by this sign that 
 Sally identified him in the eaves-dropper behind the oak at 
 the spring, one night, when Robert and myself were talk- 
 ing together." 
 
 Abandoning the effort to look and speak as if no great 
 horror were upon her spirit, she said, gazing tremblingly 
 into her husband's eyes the more fearfully as she saw them 
 try to avoid hers 
 
 "Aleck! you have not said all yet! Tell me plainly, 
 what is your fear? My brain is in such a whirl that I can- 
 not connect all the circumstances you have enumerated. I 
 only feel that there is some frightful mystery in this." 
 
 " Would it be wise or merciful in me to burden you with 
 what may be a mistaken conjecture ?" he answered, eva- 
 sively. " Here are Robert's letters or those purporting to 
 have come from him since his strange flight. Will you look 
 them over with me ?"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 237 
 
 The first was dated Washington, D. C., and contained 
 but eight or ten lines. It was, as the writer termed it, " a 
 miserable scrawl," and signed "in great haste, R. C. L." 
 The second was longer, and date and postmark were Vicks- 
 burg, Miss. In it, he spoke of himself as a man wrecked 
 in heart and well-nigli ruined in fortune, and intimated his 
 intention of seeking a residence in some distant land. Dis- 
 honored and disappointed, he could not yet face his former 
 associates. 
 
 " I have not had one word from you, or from L., since I 
 forsook home, and resigned reputation for her sake. Wo- 
 men are the most faithless of created beings, as even you 
 may find some day to your cost. Love to your wife. I 
 read a notice of your marriage in a Baltimore paper. Are 
 you not obliged to me for stepping out of the way in the 
 nick of time ? She was easily consoled, and I am not the 
 person to regret this ; yet I should have respected her more 
 if she had paid a decent regard to the proprieties of the 
 case. I wish you joy of your bargain, and often amuse my- 
 self by fancying how entirely you agree in heaping contempt 
 upon my devoted head. Ah, well ! so wags the world ! 
 and I must not complain. It is not likely that you will hear 
 from me again shortly. I leave this place this afternoon, 
 for New Orleans, Avhere, unless I change my mind, I shall 
 take passage for Europe. You don't care for me now, old 
 scamp, and I am fast learning resignation to this conviction. 
 Let Greenfield stand as it is, for a year within which time 
 I will forward instructions as to the disposition I wish you 
 to make of the property. 
 
 " Your's more carelessly than of yore, 
 
 " ROBERT C. LAY." 
 
 Aleck's earliest perusal of this epistle had been so hasty
 
 238 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 and indignant that he had failed to note its irregular char 
 acters ; been incapable of comparing its coarse, careless lan- 
 guage with Robert's gentle and habitually courteous style. 
 That his scrutiny and conclusions on this night had been 
 more searching and correct, was evidenced by his next 
 mo pement. 
 
 ' Compare them !" he said, laying down before his wife a 
 letter which his brother had written him while he was 
 abroad. 
 
 The clean, clear sheet offered at the first glance such a 
 contrast to the Vicksburg document that Helen changed 
 color with surprise and consternation before her husband 
 proceeded, word by word, letter by letter, to point out the 
 dissimilarity between the two. A general resemblance ex- 
 isted sufficient to deceive a cursory or unsuspecting reader, 
 but the longer one looked the more bungling appeared the 
 forgery. 
 
 " What does it mean ?" questioned Helen, in a suppressed 
 voice of awe or fright. 
 
 " Just this " Aleck pressed down his wrath and grief to 
 reply "just this ! our poor brother never wrote either of 
 these communications. They are part of a villanous plot 
 contrived to dupe us into a belief of his un worthiness, and 
 to hide, Heaven alone knows what degree of, treachery and 
 crime. The introductory step in the system of deception 
 that has imposed upon no one more than myself blind, be- 
 sotted fool that I was ! was that libellous letter delivered to 
 me on Christmas night which mark me ! that wretch 
 Petronius confessed to me in this room, not four hours ago, 
 he did not get from Robert ! The cowardly knave, terrified 
 by my manner into the belief that I had discovered his false 
 dealing, owned that he had cherished a grudge against me, 
 from the evening of that meeting at Mr. Shore's, on account 
 of my public rebuke to himself; that Booker had taunted
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAJBDS. 239 
 
 him with the story several times, and, meeting him in the 
 road on the afternoon of Christmas day, offered him a 
 chance of paying off the score by annoying and mortifying 
 me. The job was an easy one, and if carried through well 
 lie was to receive ten dollars. He had only to 'give me 
 this letter and declare that he had had it from Mr. Robert 
 Lay ; that he had met him at such and such a place on the 
 road, and been commissioned to deliver the envelope into my 
 hands. The rascally hypocrite did his work well. " Oh !" 
 he groaned, arising and striding through the room, " how 
 dull how madly stupid I have been !" 
 
 Helen sat like a statue. 
 
 " Dearest !" she "ventured to say, after a while, " where, 
 then, is Robert ? What has become of him ?" 
 
 He stopped letting his clinched fist fall heavily upon 
 the table. " Before Heaven I speak what I believe to be 
 the truth, when I declare that Colonel Floyd murdered him 
 either with his own hands, or by means of his servant 
 Booker !" 
 
 In his overwhelming excitement he had not made due 
 allowance for his wife's weaker nerves ; had not appreciated 
 the fact that she had had but one little hour in which to 
 receive and comprehend the dread conviction that had been 
 growing in ms mind for three days. 
 
 As the word " murdered" left his tongue, she sprang to 
 her feet with a wild, horrified stare, and when the sentence 
 was finished, gave a cry, and fell back fainting.
 
 240 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IT was not long after sunrise the next morning when 
 Aleck Lay dismounted at the Greenfield gate. Returning 
 slightly, and with an absent air, the surprised salutations of 
 the few servants who were about the stables and yard, he 
 went quickly up the walk to the house door, unlocked it, 
 entered, and shut it behind him. The confined air in the 
 halls struck coldly to his heart; the shadows lurking in 
 corners, the feeble light glimmering through the barred 
 shutters, had something ghostly about them. Unconscious- 
 ly, he trod softly in ascending the stairs ; more lightly and 
 slowly as he reached his brother's vacant chamber. It was 
 very dark, and, to his imagination, colder than the rest of 
 the house. It required an effort of courage to pass the 
 threshold, and he had to grope his way across the room when 
 he wished to draw a curtain and throw wide a blind. 
 Every thing was in perfect order. Auut Ruth had spent 
 half a day there, during the first week of Robert's absence ; 
 had arranged clothing and furniture ; swept and dusted, be- 
 fore, in obedience to Aleck's directions, she had shut up the 
 chamber and turned the key on the outside. She had per- 
 formed her self-imposed duty with many tears, but the 
 housewifery eyes were not therefore dimmed, nor had the 
 neat, swift fingers lost their cunning. Aleck's present ex- 
 pedition was undertaken at his wife's suggestion, and Aunt 
 Ruth's motherly care for her absent boy, joined to her 
 Bpmsterly particularity, was the main cause.
 
 COLOX2L FLOYD'S WAEDS. 241 
 
 When Helen was fully acquainted with the nature and 
 extent of her husband's dreads, and had regained some 
 measure of her usual firmness and penetration, he found her 
 acute intelligence and correct memory invaluable assistants 
 in forwarding his researches. She had recapitulated Sally's 
 account of the dishonorable conduct of Colonel Floyd on 
 the night of the rendezvous at the spring ; his attempts to 
 induce Robert, and then herself, to consent to a marriage 
 contract; his chagrin and rage at his failure, which, after 
 overhearing the conversation under the oak, he must have 
 known was irremediable. The maid had never dared to 
 confide the truth of her discovery to her mistress until they 
 were safely installed at Maple Hill, and, when she did im- 
 part it, had joined to the tale such confused details of Lily's 
 attempted elopement, and the scene between master and 
 man on the back porch, while she cowered under the steps, 
 as awakened Helen's amazed curiosity, but not her fears. 
 Now these were recalled, and Sally subjected to a thorough 
 examination. Upon sifting her evidence, little that was new 
 could be elicited, and she was stout in her conviction that 
 Colonel Floyd and Booker were out "hunting runaways" 
 when his ward was married. 
 
 Aleck, reverting to his impression that the note brought 
 by Gabriel to Robert, on the morning of their parting, was 
 not directed by Helen, but Lily, and coupling it with 
 Robert's declaration that he had an appointment at ten 
 o'clock, was sure that this assignation was, in some manner, 
 the plan by which he was lured into danger and destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 " If I only had that note, I feel assured that I should hold 
 the key to the whole mystery," he said, wistfully. "How 
 I wish that I had not obeyed the mistaken delicacy that 
 r orbade my questioning him as to its contents !" 
 
 " Do you remember what he did with it ?" asked Helen.
 
 242 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 *'I cannot say with certainty but my idea is that he thrust 
 it into his vest pocket so soon as he finished reading it." 
 
 " Aunt Ruth told me not long since," said Helen, thought- 
 fully, " that the hardest trial she had had, in all the sorrow 
 connected with Robert's departure, was sitting down in his 
 deserted room and mending a vest he had thrown aside just 
 before going out, Christmas morning. She met him on the 
 stairs directly after breakfast, and observing that the vest 
 had lost a button, and was frayed about the collar and pock- 
 ets, advised him to change it before he went to the court- 
 house. It was not until she visited his chamber, several 
 days afterwards, to put away his things, preparatory to 
 locking it up, that she knew how well he had obeyed her' 
 injunction. The vest lay on the bureau, where he had toss- 
 ed it upon taking it off. She was exceedingly touched by 
 this proof of his regard for her wishes. It may be that the 
 Providence who has so strangely guided your investigations 
 thus far, may lead you to further discoveries by means of 
 this seemingly insignificant incident. Say nothing to Aunt 
 Ruth about it. The trouble will fall upon her soon enough. 
 Wait for certainty." 
 
 To find this cast-off garment, then, was Aleck's object in 
 revisiting an apartment where every thing he beheld aroused 
 poignant grief and vain, bitter remorse. The drawers at 
 which he began his explorations were carefully packed by 
 Aunt Ruth's tidy hands, and his, although less skilful, han- 
 dled each article with reverent tenderness. A great change 
 had come over his thoughts of Robert. In place of the flush 
 ,of shame and anger he had been used to feel warm hi a 
 brow, at thought of his disgraceful flight, and the unmanly 
 conduct that preceded it ; his supposed infidelity and dupli- 
 city ; the old tide of fostering fondness for his young, hand- 
 some brother joined with anguish at his loss, and deep TG 
 penlance for the rank injustice he had done that gentle,
 
 COLONEL FLOYD 8 WAKi 8. 243 
 
 noble spirit, in thought and speech, and swelled his heart 
 almost to bursting. There was no time to be wasted in 
 unavailing lamentations, or he must have bowed before the 
 torrent of feeling and memory that flowed at sight of many 
 familiar, and now sacred relics. The homeliest article of ap- 
 parel Robert's hunting suit, the heavy, muddy boots he 
 had worn upon their last tramp through the low grounds 
 a stained and shapeless straw hat, discarded as past worthy 
 when the fishing season was over, and left, forgotten and 
 useless, hanging upon a peg in the closet ; these had become 
 most precious in his sight. 
 
 One master emotion drove him onward in the work to 
 which he believed destiny had appointed him ; forced him 
 forward over the graves of early and dear association and 
 later loves; forbade the burning, bloodshot eyes the in- 
 dulgence of a tear the aching heart the relief of a sigh. 
 Justice justice, swift and awful, upon the head of his 
 brother's destroyer ! He was not malignant or vindictive 
 by nature, but he experienced a savage thrill of exultation 
 in the thought that the bloodhound Detection was ready to 
 spring at the murderer's throat, ready, and straining at 
 the leash, which he the rightful avenger of blood held. 
 
 " At last !" 
 
 He had feared lest he might not recognize the garment he 
 sought ; yet he knew it at a glance, as it was revealed by 
 an opening drawer of the wardrobe. It lay uppermost, 
 smoothly folded, the wrong side out, but he recollected the 
 glossy black silk, and its tiny embroidered rose-bud, in the 
 portion of the fabric composing the collar. He snatched it 
 up, then stood for a moment, powerless to end his anxiety 
 by further examination. Pie had to summon physical nervo 
 with moral resolution before he thrust his fingers in trem- 
 bling desperation into the pocket. They touched a paper, 
 dragged it forth an envelope directed to " Mr. Robert Lay,
 
 244 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDB. 
 
 Greenfield," and bearing in one corner the words "by Ga 
 briel." He was obliged to sit down to read it, he was so uV 
 terly weak. The ink was very pale, the pen-strokes delicate. 
 An exclamation of extreme impatience escaped him at the 
 trifling delay caused by the necessity of approaching a win- 
 dow before he could decipher the few lines upon which 
 depended so much. 
 
 " Robert" he read " I am very, very sad to-day, and 
 there is no one excepting yourself to whom I can speak of 
 my great trouble. It would do me good, be an unspeaka- 
 ble comfort, if I could have one, just one more talk with you 
 before there is put between us a barrier that must last for a 
 lifetime. Believe me, I am not jealous of Helen's superior 
 claims. I pray hourly for your happiness and hers; yet I 
 cannot help feeling lonely now that I am about to lose my 
 brother my best I had almost said, my only friend ! If 
 . you have a half hour to spare this morning, will you not 
 meet me at ten o'clock under the spruce pine ? the pic-nio 
 ground, you remember ! It is not so far from the road 
 to the court-house that you will lose much time in comply- 
 ing with this, as it may seem to you, bold request. I will 
 explain my reasons for making* it when we meet. Until 
 then, trust me so far as to believe them good and sufficient. 
 What I have to say concerns you no less than myself. Do 
 not disappoint me ! I shall wait for you until twelve 
 o'clock. Your fond sister, LILY." 
 
 Five minutes later, Aleck stood upon the piazza and shout- 
 ed to a negro in the stable-yard 
 
 " Ben ! saddle Hero, and bring him around directly I 
 directly ! do you hear ?" 
 
 " Hero, did you say, Mars' Aleck ?" said the man, coining 
 nearer.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKES. 245 
 
 <k Hero ! and hurry ! are you deaf?" 
 
 The groom shook his head as he disappeared in the stable, 
 implying that he could say much more on the subject if he 
 cared to risk further parley with his impatient superior. 
 
 While he waited, Aleck walked" the porch-floor fast and 
 furiously ; gnawed his lip, as was his trick in moments of 
 intense excitement ; drew his breath in hot pants, like a wild 
 animal thirsting for prey. Hero was led around to the door, 
 a splendid creature, full-blooded and thoroughly trained, 
 etepping high and daintily. 
 
 How poor Robert loved that horse ! The brother's look 
 was not less fierce in the recollection, but the pat upon the 
 arched neck, the word of salutation " Hero old fellow !" 
 that accompanied the hand caress, were signals of the inward 
 thought. 
 
 "He's dreadful skittish now-a-days, Mars' Aleck!" cau- 
 tioned the hostler, respectfully. " Not a man on this place 
 dars to back him. Pears like he's been bewitched sence he 
 was fetched home from Rock's tarvern ! He flung Art'ur 
 three times on de way from dar as you heerd, may-be. 
 Sumthin or somebody's sp'ilt him for good an' all I'm 
 afeard !" 
 
 " He won't throw me ! Whoa !" 
 
 A spring seated Aleck in the saddle, the horse bounded 
 forward, and steed and rider swept down the lane with the 
 rush of a whirlwind. 
 
 " Thar's a par of 'em !" commented Ben, recovering his 
 breath. "How Mars' Aleck's eyes did snap! Wonder 
 what's crossed him now ? I'd rather meet de debbil on de 
 darkest night dat ever shone dan to stan in his way when 
 his blood is up !" 
 
 It so happened that the illustrious "Gabriel was at that 
 very moment sauntering along the middle of the high road, 
 in the direction of Belleview, snuffing in copious draughts
 
 246 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 
 
 of the pleasant air, and enjoying mightily the increasing 
 warmth of the sun's rays upon his back. His mother, the 
 baker of Belleview, had had " poor luck" with her last jug 
 of yeast, and designing, on this day, to repair the misfor- 
 tune, had, as he discontentedly phrased it, "rousted" her 
 hopeful son from his bed at an unconscionably early hour, 
 and despatched him to a neighboring plantation, to borrow 
 from a sister in the profession a small quantity to "raise" 
 the fresh supply. This was the meaning of the small tin- 
 pail in southern parlance, " bucket" that dangled from 
 Gabriel's hand, and was occasionally whirled dexterously 
 about his head without a drop of its contents being spilled ; 
 for the errand-boy was an adept in all arts of prestidigita- 
 tion that came within the range of his observation and 
 practice. 
 
 As he walked he sang, kicking up the loose dirt in the 
 road with his toes ; stopping, now and then, in his march, 
 never hi his song, to shy a stone at a bird, or a bushy ever- 
 green where bird or hare might be hiding. 
 
 "In old Kentuck, in de middle of a brake, 
 Dar lives a nigger, an' dey call him Jake : 
 Aroun' de wood his axe am ringin', 
 An' dis de song dat he am singin' : 
 
 Oh, whar did you come from ? 
 
 Knock a nigger down ! 
 
 Oh, whar did you come from ? 
 
 Knock a nigger down I 
 
 "Hi! what dat?" 
 
 Ballad and feet were arrested that he might hearken. 
 From afar off came to his ears the long, rapid gallop of a 
 strained or fiery horse, beating loudly upon the softened 
 ground ; ringing sharply against the stones. 
 
 " Somebody in a hurry soon in de mornin' !" and evident- 
 ly considering this a ridiculous instance of non-improvement
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 2-17 
 
 of the rights purchased by early rising, he laughed, and 
 went on iii the roundelay : 
 
 Oh, come, my lub, an' go wid me 1 
 
 We're gwine for to leave dis back country; 
 
 Hoss an' a cart for to tote you roun', 
 
 Walk up hill an' 
 
 " Lor! ef 'taint Mars' Aleck !" 
 
 There was a level and straight stretch of road before 
 him, and just entering this vista he descried a horseman bear- 
 ing rapidly down towards him. Aleck Lay had never spoken 
 unkindly to the boy; on the contrary, the graceless imp 
 had received from both brothers pleasant jests, friendly 
 notice, and donations which were innumerable by his arith- 
 metical powers. There was no conceivable reason why he 
 should fear to encounter either of them, if his conscience 
 were void of offence as was their conduct yet he stood 
 stock still for an instant, eyes starting from their sockets, 
 staring at the advancing terror ; then, seized, as braver 
 men ay, and brave armies have been since by an un- 
 reasoning panic, he darted to the road-side fence, scrambled 
 over it, and scampered across the field beyond, fast as his 
 legs could carry and fear could drive him. 
 
 "Hallo there! Gabriel! I want to speak to you!" 
 called Aleck, who by this time was near enough to identify 
 the flying figure. 
 
 Gabriel ran on the faster, looking over his shoulder to see 
 whether he were followed; and, irritated at his contumacy, 
 Aleck put Hero at the fence, cleared it, and galloped over 
 the fallow ground upon the fugitive's track. A race so un- 
 equal could not last long. 
 
 " Stop I you scoundrel ! or I will ride you down !" came 
 BO distinctly to the boy's ear that he again glanced back, to 
 calculate his chances for gaining the next and a higher 
 fence.
 
 2-tS COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 Xot a dozen yards in his rear was his pursuer ; his orbs 
 of fire seemed to scorch his sight, even in that brief glimpse; 
 before he could run ten steps further, the horse, whose 
 streaming mane, glaring eyeballs, and open mouth, gave him 
 the aspect of a demon, would be upon him. He yelled with 
 affright, and dropped prone upon the earth. 
 
 " Yon young villain !" Aleck leaned from his saddle, 
 and grasping the boy by the collar, dragged him to his feet. 
 " You audacious rascal ! what do you mean by running 
 away from me when I order you to stop ?" 
 
 " Lor' a massy, Mars' Aleck ! is it you ? I 'clar 'fore gra- 
 cious I thought 'was an evil ! I 'most skeered out of my 
 senses !" stuttered the victim, affecting the uttermost aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 His captor was in no humor to be amused. 
 
 "If I served you right, I would flog you soundly !" he 
 pursued, giving him an admonitory shake, under which Ga- 
 briel staggered more than was at all necessary. " You 
 knew me perfectly well before you started to run. If you 
 want to save your bones, tell me the exact truth in answer 
 to the questions I am about to ask you." 
 
 " Yes, sar !" Gabriel surveyed the heavy hunting-whip 
 in the rider's hand with an air of serious reflection. 
 
 " You brought a letter to Mr. Robert Lay, on Christmas 
 morning. Who sent it ?" 
 
 "How was I to know, Mars' Aleck?" whimpered tho 
 hypocrite, the picture of aggrieved innocence. "I didn't see 
 it wrote." 
 
 " Who gave it to you ?" Aleck tightened his hold on the 
 ( illar and raided his whip. "I'm not to be trifled with, boy !" 
 
 Gabriel studied the lowering visage above him, 
 
 " If you won't tell on me, sir! Dey said dey would kill 
 .ne ef I let on a word, an' what dey says, dey will do, Mars' 
 Aleck !"
 
 JOLONEL FLOYD'S WAKES. 249 
 
 " So will I ! you may be sure of that ! What did you d 
 with the letter Miss Helen sent by you, which you promise 
 so faithfully to carry safely?" 
 
 " Wasn't dat de same I gave to Mars' Robert ?" letting 
 his under jaw drop, and looking as like a fool as he could. 
 
 " I shall "have to do it, I see !" 
 
 Aleck jumped from his horse and clutched the liar's arm, 
 his mien so full of wrathful determination that the last spark 
 of Gabriel's audacity expired. 
 
 " Ef you jes won't, sir, I will tell you all every single 
 thing !'-' he begged, quaking with fear. " Marster, ho nab- 
 bed me in de stable, while I was gettin' de horse ready, 
 an says he, ' Gi' me de letter !' and fore I knowed whar I 
 was, Mars' Aleck, he had it in his hand, an says he to 
 daddy, who had come in arter him ' Keep him here till I 
 come back !' and he went to de house. Byme-by, here he 
 come, wid anudder letter, or maybe de same I can't read, 
 you member, Mars' Aleck an tells me to ride like fury 
 over to Greenfield an 'liver it, an ef I ever breathed a word 
 of what he said or done he'd make mince-meat of me ; and 
 daddy says, ' Ef you open yer ugly mouth 'bout dis I'll 
 mash it in for you;' ^an what was a poor feller to do, 
 Mars' Aleck ? Miss Helen, she can tell you how bad I felt 
 when she talked to me so kind dat day, an I didn't dar', for 
 my life, to let her know how I had 'ceived her. J'm sure I 
 allers set a deal of store by Miss Helen. ' 
 
 " And that is all you have to say ?" interrupted Aleck. 
 'To whom did you give the note Mr. Robert Lay sent 
 ack by your hand ?" 
 
 " To daddy," the boy confessed, shame-facedly. " He was 
 
 Traitin' for me at de fur gate, an I dar'sn't say ' no' to him when 
 
 he spoaks his mind. He gi' me orders as how I was to tell 
 
 Miss Helen dat Mars' Robert hadn't wrote nothin', but jes said 
 
 All's right,' an I stuck to de story, as Miss Helen knows."
 
 250 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 "That is all now, is it?" interposed Aleck, as before. 
 
 iC Every thing, sir ! I clar fore gracious I don't know 
 nothin' besides, and I never told a lie in uiy born days, only 
 "cept that once " 
 
 His auditor had other work before him than staying to 
 remind the pattern of, juvenile veracity of the array of fibs 
 he had endeavored to palm off upon him five minutes pre- 
 vious to this solemn asseveration. It was not certain that he 
 heard any part of it beyond the first section, for, before it 
 was finished, he was scouring the field, at full speed, to- 
 wards the highway. Gabriel stood motionless and agape 
 until he saw Hero leap the fence and the centaur-like figure 
 vanish, with met ^or jwiftness, at a curve in the road. 
 
 Then he remaned, wiilr philosophical coolness 
 
 "Dat ar' horse is done Sx.*ne fox-huntin' in his day, I 
 reckon !" and bethought >imself oi\Ms pail ofyeast. 
 
 Not a drop remained in i*\e fallen ,' Q ssel ; worse than 
 that ! Hero had put his iron foot upon it -a~ f l crushed it 
 to borrow Gabriel's simile " flat a*, a pan-cake,' ""over and 
 all! Here was a predicament ! Explanation of som*> kind 
 was unavoidable, and a flogging equally 'icvitable. The 
 only question that remained for his fertile geous to work 
 upon during the melancholy stroll homewards, was wheth- 
 er the aforesaid flagellation would be lighter if he made a 
 partial confession of the facts in the case, or if he plied his 
 maternaf parent with an entirely original version of the 
 accident. 
 
 To these perplexing lucubrations we are compelled to 
 leave him, that we may follow the proceedings of a more 
 interesting personage.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ABOUT noon of the same day, a party of four horsemen 
 halted in the public route to the Court House, at the 
 entrance if entrance it could be called to a disused cart- 
 road which led into the Belleview woods. " There were still 
 " draw bars," that is, rails, that could be slipped back 
 through their openings in their supporting posts marking 
 the spot where vehicles wood-carts and farm-wagons 
 were once wont to pass in, but they were now moss-grown 
 and decayed, and sumach and huckleberry bushes grew 
 thickly on the other side. None of the band hesitated, 
 however, to follow their leader when he tore the rotten 
 rails from their rests, and, remounting, rode boldly past the 
 sign-board a new and staring one, that forbade trespassing 
 " under the severest penalty of the law." One pointed thia 
 out silently to another as they entered the gap, and the 
 exchange of looks was pregnant with meaning. 
 
 " That was put up the first week in January," said a 
 third. " A quee: time to warn off poachers. ' Especially 
 when there is no game worth shooting in these woods at 
 any season !" said his companion. 
 
 The fourth man said nothing only pushed on deeper 
 into the forest. He knew well the position of the " Spruce- 
 pine" and the " old picnic ground." The tree, the solitary 
 specimen of the kind in the vicinity, stood on the verge of 
 a little glade, a natural break in the wood, turfy, and not 
 too densely shaded, where, years ago, the young people for
 
 252 COLONEL FLOVJ/8 WABD8. 
 
 miles around had held a sylvan fete a bounteous dinner, 
 and a dance on the grass that lasted until dark. Robert 
 had danced with Lily Calvert more frequently than with 
 any other girl there, and Helen was oftenest his brother's 
 partner. How strangely the vision of the holiday scene 
 arose before the latter now, bent, as he was, upon a mission 
 so fearfully at variance with the events of that midsummer 
 day! 
 
 He was diverted from his saddened musings by the ex- 
 traordinary conduct of his horse. He had ridden Hero 
 that morning at Helen's desire. She fancied that she would 
 be able to decide, upon seeing him now, whether he were 
 the animal Booker rode upon that momentous Christmas 
 day ; and although, after hearing Gabriel's story, Aleck had 
 not deemed it necessary to afford her an opportunity to 
 apply this test to her memory, he had not cared, or indeed 
 thought, to exchange the steed for his own riding-horse. 
 He had gone by the most direct road to the Court House, 
 laid his story before a magistrate, obtained a search- war rant, 
 and authority to arrest the suspected man ; collected a few 
 friends in whose zeal and discretion he could confide the 
 magistrate asking permission to be one of the number and 
 having despatched a line to Maple Hill, to allay the solicitude 
 his wife might feel at his prolonged absence, had set out 
 for the spot designated in Lily's note. They had quitted 
 the faint wheel-ruts that marked the windings of the old 
 road several minutes before, and were making their way, 
 still piloted by Aleck, in the direction of the spruce-tree, 
 when Hero stopped short, threw up bis head, and uttered 
 a shrill neigh a sound so expressive of terror, so like a 
 human utterance of fear or anguish, that it thrilled every 
 heart. 
 
 "Is this the place?" asked one of the party, in an awed 
 whisper, riding up close to Aleck's side.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 253 
 
 " No ! it is fully a hundred yards off! On, sir !" he urged 
 the animal, and mad with impatience, forgetting that it waa 
 Robert's horse, and entitled to all gentleness of treatment at 
 his hands, he struck him sharply with the whip. Hero rear- 
 ed once, then stood like a rock, his fore-feet planted deep in 
 the damp, woody soil, ears pointed forward, eyes dilate, and 
 nostrils quivering widely the picture of mortal fear. 
 
 " There is something in this, Lay !" said the magistrate 
 a grave, judicious man, whom no one had ever accused of 
 excitability of imagination or a too ready credulity. u Gen- 
 tlemen, if you please, we will examine this ground before 
 going further !" 
 
 Every man was upon his feet in a moment. The under- 
 growth was thick thereabouts, and they literally crawled 
 upon their hands and knees in their anxiety to make the 
 search thorough. Stones were upturned; leaves swept away, 
 that the bare earth might testify of any recent disturbance ; 
 broken twigs and boughs inspected ; but the keenest eyes 
 discerned nothing unusual, nothing that varied from the 
 ordinary aspect of a winter forest. 
 
 Leaving their horses, they went on foot to the natural 
 clearing marked by the evergreen spruce, and there the ex- 
 amination was, if possible, more narrowly vigilant, and with 
 a like result. There was absolutely naught to indicate that 
 any deed of violence had ever marred the peaceful quiet of 
 the pretty glade. The sun shone brightly upon the young 
 turf, already sprouting under the genial skies ; and warm 
 broczes of the past week ; there were birds twittering in 
 iht naked branches above their heads ; and as they drew to- 
 gether in the centre of the grass-plot, for conference upon 
 the next best step to be taken, a hare, the most timid of 
 forest-bred creatures, scudded by on her way to her not 
 distant form. 
 
 " We must make the arrest without additional evidence,
 
 251 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 gentlemen !" decided Mr. Reverdy, the magistrate. " Colo- 
 nel Floyd's possession of the watch and bonds must be ac- 
 counted for, and the matter of the supposed forgery cleared 
 up, before we can lawfully or conscientiously abandon the 
 task we have undertaken." 
 
 " It will be a bad business for us all if he gets clear, after 
 we have brought so serious a charge," demurred one of the 
 quartette a nervous, cautious man, and a near neighbor of 
 the Floyds. "The colonel is a troublesome customer to 
 manage, when his blood is up. I shouldn't relish being at 
 enmity with him, if he is to go at large. He never forgives 
 an affront." 
 
 " Then, Mr. Dickson, you had better not accompany us !" 
 rejoined Mr. Reverdy, in calm contempt. "For my own 
 part, I shall probe this affair to the bottom, at any and every 
 cost to myself. If no one else will go with us, Mr. Lay aud 
 myself will serve the warrant. Shall we return to our 
 horses ?" 
 
 Murmuring something to the effect that he had been 
 " misunderstood," and that he was as " little afraid as any 
 other man," Mr. Dickson walked back with the rest. 
 
 "Lay ! this is certainly very singular!" said the foremost 
 of them, going up to Hero and laying his hand upon his 
 neck. 
 
 The poor beast was covered with sweat, and shook in 
 every joint. He responded to the friendly touch by another 
 frightened neigh, wild and piercing as the former; and 
 when Aleck took him by the head to lead him on again, 
 struck his hoofs deep into the earth and pulled back with 
 all his might. They all gathered about him, in wonder- 
 ment and inquiry. Aleck was the first to remark that the 
 creature paid no attention to their movements ; that his eyes 
 were fixed upon a cluster of saplings not four feet off. This 
 they had examined more than once in their fruitless quest,
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKUS. 255 
 
 but the change in his features now directed the attention of 
 the others to the place. 
 
 " There are no pine-trees near ! Those are hickory sap- 
 lings ! Why should the ground under them be covered 
 with pine-needles !' 
 
 The exclamation acted like an electric shock. All sprang 
 forward to the work of clearing away the thick brown cov- 
 ering. It was several inches in depth, and looked as if 
 swine had been bedded there during the cold weather an 
 illusion that had completely imposed upon the search-party, 
 until they observed that the leaves could not have fallen 
 from the trees above ; and the improbability that they had 
 been brought from a Distance for such a purpose, when the 
 herd could as well have been littered under the pines them- 
 selves, presented itself to every mind. A hoe, spade, and 
 pickaxe were hastily produced from a bag which was lashed 
 to the front of Hero's saddle, and while three used these to 
 rake off the matted needles, the fourth scraped it aside with 
 his bare hands. 
 
 It was removed in less time than it has taken to describe 
 the process, and there remained exposed a considerable area 
 of lighter color than the black, rich soil around it, as if the 
 earth had been carefully spread over a wide space, to avoid 
 the appearance of elevation in any one spot. Near the 
 middle of this was plainly visible a sunken spot, long and 
 narrow, and perfectly regular in outline. Not a word was 
 uttered, of comiaand or remark, as each of the three men 
 bent to his work, and dug as if. his own life or death de- 
 pended upon his diligence. 
 
 Of the three ! The spade had fallen from the nerveless 
 hand of the fourth, and his next neighbor, he who had 
 labored with his fingers only, caught it ere it touched the 
 ground, and struck it boldly into the soil. Sick with horror, 
 Aleck leaned against a tree, and watched the rapidly
 
 256 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAUDS. 
 
 deepening chasm at his feet ; noted the signs of a former 
 excavation, in the leaves and sticks mingled with the earth 
 they cast up. Would they have to dig far down ? and if 
 BO, would his strength and reason endure this racking sus 
 pense until they reached it ? 
 
 The pit was already two feet deep, and the dirt lay com- 
 pact as ever, settled by the snows and rains of two long 
 winter months. Three feet ! they worked well ! Four ! 
 they must be nearing it. 
 
 Ha ! how carelessly that man plunged the pick-axe up to 
 the helve ! Had he no thought of what he might strike 
 into what substance the keen, cruel point might sink at any 
 moment ! Again he swung the implement in the air and 
 Aleck seized his arm convulsively when he would have 
 brought it down. 
 
 " For heaven's sake, Dickson ! be careful ! you cannot be 
 far from it now!" he cried, harshly. 
 
 None of the excited laborers had realized their exact 
 position before; but they eyed the dimensions of the pit 
 now with careful, wondering attention, and the man who 
 wielded the pick stepped one side and laid down the dan- 
 gerous instrument. The others kept on with their task, 
 but delved warily, more slowly scraping instead of dig- 
 ging. The tedious process, necessary as he felt it to be 
 their expression of watchfulness as each spadeful was re- 
 moved were more horrible than all that had gone be- 
 fore. 
 
 " This is dying by inches !" he whispered to Dickson, who 
 stood at his side ; and he put up his hand to wipe away the 
 cold beads that, dripping from his forehead, were literally 
 blinding him. 
 
 "My God!" 
 
 The low cry broke from one of the workmen, and at the 
 same instant DicKson clutched Aleck's shoulder, dragged
 
 COLONEL FLOn/8 WABDS. 257 
 
 him some paces befbrc he could recover from his surprise at 
 the movement. 
 
 " You must not see this, Lay ! indeed you must not !" re- 
 monstrated the neighbor, withstanding, with friendly 
 violence, Aleck's struggles to escape from his hold. " Sit 
 here !" He pushed him down upon the trunk of a fallen 
 ,ree " Sit here, until I go and see whether it is best for 
 you to be there !" 
 
 Misled by the apparent obedience of his charge, he ran 
 back to the grave. 
 
 A grave, in truth, it was, and within it a figure, from 
 whose features gentle hands we're that moment withdrawing 
 the only shield between it and the earth a coarse, gray 
 blanket spread over the body, after the manner of a pall. 
 Unchanged, save by the pallor of death, he slept there 
 peacefully, as if loving, and not bloody hands had laid him 
 down to his long rest; as if a costly coffin had sheltered his 
 mortal frame from the contaminating touch of his mother 
 earth, and costly marble sought to immortalize his name and 
 memory. 
 
 A hollow groan caused the beholders to look up, and 
 Aleck Lay's white face was seen leaning forward beside Mr 
 Dickson's, turned for one second to the blue, smiling heavens, 
 and his arms were tossed aloft, none doubted, in agonized in- 
 vocation of Divine vengeance upon the murderer ; then, he 
 spoke in accents more stern than sad 
 
 " Lift him out ! Mr. Dickson, your house is nearest ; will 
 you ride over and send some conveyance in which the body 
 can be carried to Maple Hill ? Frank ! you will stay here 
 until he returns, then gallop ahead, and prepare my wife for 
 what she must see that is, if I am not at home myself by 
 that time. I will exchange horses with you ; I think that mino 
 will follow him. Mr. Reverdy, if you are ready, we will 
 go direct to Belle view."
 
 258 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 They lefl the corpse upon a bed, hurriedly nv/.e of dry 
 leaves a cloak wrapped about it and concealing it, save 
 where one curl of fair liair, escaping from the folds, caught 
 the reflection of the afternoon sun Frank Travis, a cousin 
 of the Lays, and Robert's bosom friend, and the faithful 
 Hero, its only guards. 
 
 NOTE. It may interest the reader to know that nearly 
 every incident relative to Robert Lay's murder had its 
 counterpart in a case which came within range of the au- 
 thor's personal observation. The most important variations 
 in the history, as here narrated, are the needful changes of 
 dates, names, and locality. No portion of the story is more 
 authentic than the phenomenon of Hero's behavior when 
 in the vicinage of the hidden grave, and tho discovery of 
 the body as a direct sequence of the hors ;'s remarkable 
 conduct.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 COLOXEI FLOYD'S borse and buggy were at the door that 
 morning at an unusually early hour. He had business to 
 transact with a man who lived ten or twelve miles off, and 
 he grumbled loudly at his wife's negligence, and cursed the 
 cook's laziness in not having breakfast precisely at half-past 
 seven, according to the mandate he had issued over night. 
 
 " Lily, my love, you are eating nothing !" said Mrs. Floyd, 
 solicitously, as she witnessed her niece's want of application 
 to the tempting repast. 
 
 " I am doing very well, thank you, mamma !" and the 
 girl made a feint of using her knife and fork. 
 
 " Colonel ! I wish you would call at Dr. Bryan's as you 
 are passing through the village, and ask him to drop in to 
 see her," pursued the auut. 
 
 " What's the matter with you ?" snarled the master of 
 the household, addressing Lily. 
 
 " Nothing, sir. I feel quite well the warm weather 
 makes me a little languid that is all !" she answered. 
 
 But the slight agitation occasioned by his harsh, abrupt 
 query, brought a tremor to her lips and tears into the large 
 eyes, now sadly sunken and unnaturally bright. 
 
 Her uncle scrutinized her sneeringly. 
 
 " Which means that you are lovesick, and have the 
 vapors ! Vastly pretty and interesting these look to young- 
 er men, but I don't believe that Dr. Bryan will admire 
 them any more than I do. I sha'n't be home to dinner,
 
 2fiO COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 Mrs. Floyd," and having made these affectionate adieuy, he 
 stalked out. 
 
 " Nine o'clock ! What is that confoundedly slow fellow 
 lagging about now, I wonder ?" he uttered, stamping upon 
 th 5 fi-ont steps. " Dick !" he hailed a boy in the kitchen 
 doei- "Tell Booker I am waiting for him. Make haste, \ 
 yo-\ rascal ! Do you hear ?" 
 
 "<*-, sar!" 
 
 Thr 3olonel waited, nevertheless, for a quarter of an hour 
 more> wV.^n the dilatory factotum emerged from his dwel- 
 ling, at. rae side of the yard, and came towards his irate 
 master. 
 
 " Com-'}. .Looker !" called the latter, in a milder tone than 
 he would hav* employed towards any other person guilty 
 of the heia->rs offence of delaying a departure he designed 
 should have \,u>a immediate upon the termination of his 
 morning meal. 
 
 Booker drcve- Lim everywhere, now-a-days. Since his 
 apoplectic at(a-,\ in December, Colonel Floyd seemed 
 distrustful of his voi tinued physical vigor or mental sound- 
 ness. Booker Lad accompanied him during a week's ab- 
 sence in January r\ MVK.uoy whose direction and intent were 
 not revealed to his c\v.i wife which, Aleck had accident- 
 ally discovered, exten-fcu ^s far as Baltimore. The negro 
 was not remiss in the Lmoro Cement of the privileges accru- 
 ing to him from his superi-VvY partiality or conscious weak- 
 ness. He lorded it with a h'^L hard hand over his subjects 
 nominal and real upon tin ^.rtc, beginning, some were 
 bold enough to whisper, at tLe I a.\hiy proprietor of th* 
 manor. 
 
 " It is half-past nine, Booker ! ua we h.\V3 a Icn^ j?uul 
 before us." 
 
 "Yes, sir; but I should like to ba^t a word w'ta you 
 first," replied the man, coolly, motioning lr<
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAJJDS. 261 
 
 away from the porch to a position upon the lawn, whero 
 nothing they said could be overheard by the inmates of the 
 bouse. 
 
 Colonel Floyd followed, submissive as a child. 
 
 " If you take my advice, sir, you will get ready for a 
 very long jaunt," said the confidant, meaningly. " If I 
 ain't mightily mistaken, there's mischief in the wind and 
 a deal of it !" 
 
 " Mischief! of what kind ?" 
 
 " The worst that could come 'pon you, sir ; I'd better not 
 mention it, even though there's nobody near enough to hear. 
 Jeff Martin was here betimes this mornin', to say as how 
 Mr. Aleck Lay stopped at his house, yesterday, on his way 
 back from Baltimore, and scared Jeff's wife he was from 
 home himself into confessin' that I had left a strange horse 
 thar, Christmas day. The woman wouldn't allow to Jeff 
 that she had told any thing, but one of the children was 
 listcnin', and let on to his father what a fine gentleman she 
 had had for a visitor. Jeff gave her a proper lesson how to 
 hold her tongue hereafter, you may be sure, but that didn't 
 undo what was done." 
 
 " Well ?" 
 
 Colonel Floyd his complexion purple-gray was biting 
 his nails, and grinding his heel into the turf, in a frenzy of 
 anxiety. 
 
 Booker's tone and look were dull to stolidity. 
 
 " That's one item, sir. Another that I've just picked up 
 is, that Mr. Aleck Lay overtook that boy of mine, Gabriel, 
 on the road, about an hour, or may-be an hour and a half 
 ago, rid him down, and flogged him within an inch of his 
 life, till the young fool was obliged to tell him that the letter 
 he carried to Greenfield before breakfast, Christinas morn- 
 ing, wasn't the same Mr. Lay's wife that is now Miss Hel- 
 en that was had given him. The boy swears this was all
 
 262 COLOXEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 that he got out of him, and considerin' that I've been thrash- 
 in' him for half an hour, off and on, to find out the truth, it 
 may be as he says. Xow, sir, I think you'll 'gree with me 
 when I say that, in my 'pinion, Mr. Lay has struck a danger- 
 ous scent one that'll most likely bring him this way before 
 night, and you'd better not be found too easy. Eight miles' 
 ride will take you to the ferry, and by going six miles on 
 the other side of the river, you will strike the railroad. I've 
 got no more advice to give, 'cept that you'd better have a 
 few clothes and a plenty of money along. It's lucky you're 
 not short of cash just now and oh ! before I forget it, col- 
 onel you'd as well leave me a hundred or so, for family ex- 
 penses, while you're gone." 
 
 The unsurpassed effrontery of this address in the mouth 
 of a menial the fellow's bold, insolent visage, and disregard 
 of all the forms of respect he had hitherto affected to ob- 
 serve in his master's presence, passed unobserved by his 
 horror-stricken auditor. Filled with one overwhelming 
 conviction ; to wit, that his sin had found him out, and that 
 his one chance of safety lay in precipitate flight a disorder- 
 ed recollection of his conversation with Aleck Lay upon the 
 preceding day, combining with Booker's revelations, to 
 heighten his dismay, he ran up to his room, his so-called 
 servitor at his heels , with his assistance, packed a valise 
 with clothing ; took from his secretary bank-notes and gold 
 
 to a large amount how obtained, the cashier of the 
 
 bank, Baltimore, could have told secreted these about his 
 person ; in blind, obedient haste, placed in Booker's hands 
 the sum he required, and they were back again upon the 
 piazza, in the buggy, and driving off ere any member of the 
 family discovered that they had not set out at the hour 
 originally appointed. 
 
 *' Colonel !" screamed Mrs. Floyd, hastening out from the 
 dining-room.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD S WAKDS. 263 
 
 Booker reined up, and the meek spouse bustled down the 
 steps to the side of the vehicle. 
 
 " My love, Lily would like to go to the court-house this 
 forenoon, just for the ride, you know, and I think the air 
 and exercise will do her good. Can she have the carriage 
 and Simon ?" 
 
 " She and you can go to perdition, if you like !" foamed 
 her husband. " Stand back ! Drive on, Booker 1" 
 
 The whip was not spared during the earlier stages of 
 the journey, nor was there much conversation between 
 the travellers so long as they were in their own proper 
 neighborhood, regarded by them as peculiarly perilous. 
 They were within sight of the river, when Colonel Floyd 
 inquired : 
 
 " What do you intend doing, Booker ?" 
 
 " I shall go back home, sir," with a flourish of the lash 
 about the horse's ears. 
 
 " Won't that be unsafe ?" 
 
 " For me, do you mean, sir ?" 
 
 " Certainly. You may be taken up as an accomplice. 
 I lad you not better stay with me ?" 
 
 " No, sir!" returned the man, impudently. " That would 
 be the unsafest course for us both ! Why, it would double, 
 the chances of being caught ! 'Twould be the easiest thing 
 in creation to track a gentleman travellin' with a body- 
 servant. I shall go home, as I said, may-be hide for a day 
 or two, until I find out what is really in the wind, and if I 
 must clear out, I sha'n't run in the same direction you've 
 done. If I'm took, that's the worst thing that can happen, 
 you know, sir. There's no proof, sech as inconvenient pa- 
 pers and the like, against me" 
 
 Colonel Floyd writhed in his scat. 
 
 "You will not turn informer, Booker? That would be a 
 bad day for you, my man !"
 
 2G4: COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 The negro half laughed at the impotent menace; the 
 ludicrous pretence of the power of revenge from one so 
 completely in his power. The sneer made that moment the 
 most humiliating save one of Colonel Floyd's existence, 
 yet he could not resent the insult. 
 
 " As to the matter of that, Colonel Floyd, we won't argue 
 v^ho would be worst hurt by what I could tell. But make 
 yourself easy, sir. My evidence could not hang you " 
 
 "Hush!" 
 
 The other started at the word, and looked around to be 
 sure no one was within hearing distance. 
 
 " Could not injure you very badly, I mean, sir I am a 
 colored slave you a free white man" with a scornful 
 emphasis. "They wouldn't swear me in a court of justice, 
 sir." 
 
 It was pitch dark when Booker re-entered the outer gate 
 of the Belleview plantation. He had contrived his journey 
 so as to arrive at home under the shadow of night. The 
 sky was cloudy ; the air misty. Better opportunity of con- 
 cealing his approach could not have been desired ; and 
 congratulating himself upon these, he drove carefully down 
 the middle of the road, eyes and ears on the qui vive for 
 any suspicious appearance or noise. There were lights in 
 the windows of 'the dining-room, and Mrs. Floyd's chamber, 
 and from the open kitchen-door issued a stream of reddish 
 light, darkened occasionally by a moving figure within. A 
 slave in name alone, he had long cherished ambitious dreams 
 unknown by others, divined least of all by him whom he 
 styled "master." By dint of peculation and undisguised 
 extortion, he had amassed a larger sum than was possessed 
 by any other bondman in the country ; treasured it secretly 
 against such time as he should see the way clear for the 
 prosecution of his darling scheme- viz: the acquisition of 
 bis freedom, without expending one cent of his money in
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 265 
 
 its purchase. Now, he said exultingly to himself, was the 
 propitious season ! His master a fugitive under the ban of 
 the law, the hue and cry of the neighborhood directed after 
 him himself the owner, or what, in his ethics, amounted to 
 the same thing the possessor of an additional sum, sufficient 
 to carry him to Canada, if he wished to go so far what 
 remained to be done but to secure his hoard, and such valua- 
 bles as he could lay his hands upon, and flee under the cover 
 of the favoring darkness ? 
 
 " Whoa there !" said a deep voice at his very ear, and 
 betwixt him and the kitchen door he saw the dark outline 
 of a horseman ; before he could realize the fact of the ap- 
 parition, he felt the reins snatched from him on the other 
 side ; heard the trampling of hoofs and men's feet in every 
 direction, while murmurs of inquiry and consultation were 
 defined into a simultaneous exclamation as a lantern was 
 unceremoniously flashed into his face. 
 
 " We've caught one of them, at all events." 
 
 He had not expected the indulgence of sleep that night, 
 but neither had he anticipated lodgings in the county jail. 
 
 It was not often that Lily was allowed the privilege of 
 a ride without the attendance of her aunt or one of her 
 cousins, but this morning she had avowed frankly to Mrs. 
 Floyd her desire to visit Helen Lay, and asked for the car- 
 riage and driver, that she might carry her plan into ex- 
 ecution in her uncle's absence. 
 
 " He would not consent to it, mamma, and you disap- 
 prove of it, I know, but I must see Helen ! I feel some- 
 times as if I must die unless I learn something which sho 
 only can tell me. I am not so strong as I used to be, and 
 things worry oppress me more than they did when I was 
 well." 
 
 Mrs. Floyd's heart melted. 
 
 " My dear child ! I would do any thing in my power to
 
 266 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 make you happy but I really thought that you and Ileljn 
 had had some quarrel about the time she was married, and 
 not been on good terms since." 
 
 "I behaved foolishly, and, I believe, was altogether in 
 the wrong," answered Lily, sadly. "Helen used to be very 
 kind to me. I think she cared for me then. Nobody loves 
 me very long !" 
 
 This pathetic petition it was that emboldened Mrs. Floyd 
 to stay her husband's departure for the space of a whole 
 minute and a quarter, and Lily decided to avail herself of 
 the uncivil permission that responded to the request. 
 
 Pitying affection was Helen's predominant feeling for the 
 erring, cruelly deceived child, yet she had rather, on this 
 particular day, have seen a basilisk creep into her sunny 
 parlor than Lily's wasted figure glide up to the window 
 where she and Aunt Ruth sat at work ; the younger lady 
 pensive and abstracted, yet trying to appear as usual ; the 
 elder mild and sedate, quite content with the world since 
 she had witnessed the 'affection ate parting of her adopted 
 children after their early breakfast, and learned that it was 
 Helen's headache that made her so pale and her eyes heavy 
 not inward disquiet. or disappointed love. 
 
 "Yes!" ejaculated the dear old creature, dropping her 
 spectacles upon the floor, Lily's entrance having occurred 
 at the moment when she was resetting them for some super- 
 latively fine stitching upon a collar for her nephew. 
 
 Lily understood the " particle" as well as Aleck or Robert 
 could have done. " It is I, Aunt Ruth not my ghost !" 
 
 " Lily !" said Helen, rising to embrace her, " dear child ! 
 how long it is since we have seen you !" 
 
 " I know it, Nelly, but it has not been easy for me to get 
 here until now. I have longed for you lately." 
 
 Helen seated her in a lounging-chair, removed her muf- 
 flings, and smoothed the pale gold hair, gazing on the altered
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WABDS. 267 
 
 lineaments of the lately happy, thoughtless girl, with an 
 unspoken heart-ache. 
 
 Aunt Ruth picked up the key-basket and trotted out. 
 
 " Helen," said Lily, catching both her hands, and speak 
 ing with feverish energy " now that we are by ourselves, 
 tell me have you heard any news of him of Robert ?" 
 
 Helen shook her head mournfully. 
 
 " Have you no idea where he is ? "What does your hus- 
 band think has become of him ?" 
 
 " He has a variety of surmises, Lily dear. It would do 
 no good to repeat them they are all so uncei'tain, as yet. 
 We are both much distressed at his continued absence. It 
 seems unaccountable, and he was not apt to do unreasonable 
 things," rejoined Helen, commanding her looks and language 
 to the best of her power. 
 
 " Why do you say ' was ?' He is as good now as he ever 
 was. I have faith in him, although all the world may blame 
 him faith to believe that he would do nothing dishonorable 
 or unkind. Yet his silence is breaking my heart breaking 
 my heart !" 
 
 She bowed her face in her hands with a sobbing, plaintive 
 cry that sounded indeed like very heart-break. 
 
 Helen took her in her arms as she would have done a 
 child. 
 
 "Dear Lily! my sweet little sister! there is some cause 
 for the silence that we cannot now understand but it will 
 be explained in time. I have all confidence in Robert's 
 excellence and honor and so has Aleck." 
 
 "Then you don't blame him ?" Lily smiled faintly through 
 her tears. 
 
 "We do not consider that he was in fault in any particu- 
 lar. The trouble was, according to our belief, that he 
 trusted unwisely and was betrayed " 
 
 ** Not by me !" cried Lily, in alarm. " My great sin was
 
 268 COLONEL FLOYD'S \VABDS. 
 
 loving him too well and envying you because of that love. 
 I did wrong you often in thought, Helen ! There were 
 seasons when I was tempted to do it ; indeed, of many little 
 acts of spite I was guilty; but I never committed any overt 
 deed against your peace until the day you were married. 
 Then I received his letter and, dizzy with the hopes it 
 opened up to me, I forgot honor, truth, every thing except 
 him and the blessed assurance that he loved me. I would 
 have gohe to him, but my uncle overtook me on the way." 
 
 " I know !" said Helen, gently, for the girl's bright eyes 
 and rapid incoherence of speech made her uneasy. " You 
 need not enter upon a vindication of yourself, dear. Let by- 
 gones be bygones. If I have any thing to forgive, it is for- 
 given, provided you forget the heart-burnings and misun- 
 derstandings of that unhappy time. Let us keep up hope- 
 ful hearts for the future, and if sorrow should come, help 
 one another to bear it." 
 
 " Only a glass of milk punch, dear !" cooed Aunt Ruth at 
 Lily's right ear, " with an egg beaten up in it to make it 
 nourishing ! You ought to drink one every morning of your 
 life at this season. These warm days are debilitating." 
 
 She set down a salver, containing, besides the glass of 
 punch, a plate of light cakes, and a saucer of calves'-foot 
 icily with cream poured over it. "To make it more 
 strengthening," she represented. 
 
 "Ah! Aunt Ruth! you were always a sad child-spoiler!" 
 said Lily, with a flash of her old archness. She sipped the 
 creamy foam mantling the cordial. "It is the genuine 
 old receipt, isn't it ? Do you remember how often you came 
 over to Belleview to make it for me, when I was recovering 
 from the measles ? and how, after I had that tedious spell 
 of fever, you carried me off by main force to Greenfield, 
 and kept me there for a week, cosseting me with all man- 
 ner of good things ? I couldn't have been more than eight
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 269 
 
 years old then, and was such a wee thing that Robeit used 
 to draw me about in his go-cart, as if I were a baby. Aunty, 
 it would have been a happy thing for me if I had died of 
 that fever don't you think so ?" 
 
 Aunt Ruth looked thunderstruck at this, according to 
 her principles, impious observation. 
 
 " Why, my love," she commenced, when Helen spoke up 
 cheerily. 
 
 " Nonsense, little one ! you will change your mind when 
 you have finished your luncheon. You need something to 
 nv.ike your blood rich and warm, and then you will feel no 
 proneness to misanthropy." 
 
 " It is very nice to be here !" murmured Lily, gratefully, 
 obeying the injunction to refresh herself with the delicacies 
 provided. 
 
 " And here you shall stay for one while !" said Aunt Ruth, 
 energetically. " After you have drunk the punch, you must 
 come with me to my room, and lie down until dinner-time." 
 
 "Oh ! I dare not keep the horses so long !" objected Lily. 
 " Uncle is to be away until night, it is true, but he would be 
 angry if he heard that Simon had lost a whole day's work." 
 
 " If that is the trouble, we will send him home, and Helen 
 or I will ride over with you this afternoon in our carriage," 
 persisted Miss Ruth, never doubting Helen's cordial ac- 
 quiescence in the arrangement, and bent upon affording " the 
 poor baby," as she pityingly termed Lily,- a holiday and 
 trying the effect of an abundance of " nourishing" food 
 upon the wan face and attenuated frame. 
 
 Lily was evidently strongly tempted. "Would it do, 
 Helen ?" she asked. 
 
 "You are the proper judge of that, dear," said Helen, 
 vory kindly. 
 
 She dreaded lest any display of her opposition to tho 
 plan should be attributed by Aunt Ruth or Lily to an indis-
 
 270 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDB. 
 
 position to entertain her cousin in her own house yet 
 trembled at the thought of the tidings which the next hour 
 might bring. 
 
 Lily took in the manner, more than the matter of the 
 reply, and deliberated a moment. 
 
 " I will stay," she said. "It may be an age before I have 
 another such chance of happiness." 
 
 "Yes!" said Aunt Ruth, triumphantly, without in the 
 remotest degree assenting to the sentiment of the last clause 
 of her pet-child's remark. " Now when you have given 
 Simon his orders, you shall go and see what a beautiful room 
 Aleck and Helen have given me. There is a nice, soft 
 lounge, where you shall lie, and I will tuck you up snugly for 
 a fine nap. The punch will make you drowsy, pretty soon. 
 That's the good of it." 
 
 " A clear case of involuntary intoxication !" laughed Lily. 
 " Then I suppose I had better use my limbs while I have 
 any control over them hadn't I ?" and she went to confer 
 with Simon. 
 
 The lounge justified Aunt Ruth's recommendation, and so 
 did the punch. For awhile, Lily lay enveloped in the soft 
 shawls Miss Ruth had tucked about her shoulders, and 
 watching the placid, motherly countenance, whose eyes, 
 ever and anon, strayed from her work to herself, in tender 
 solicitude. There was a clear little fire upon the hearth, 
 and by Aunt Ruth's footstool, a gray cat, sleek and sleepy ; 
 the clock ticked as if it too were drowsy. Lily wondered 
 whether this were owing to some peculiar knack which Aunt 
 Ruth had in winding it, and, amused at the conceit, sank 
 into a slumber. 
 
 She seemed to have slept but a few minutes when she 
 awoke, and saw that she was alone in the chamber. The 
 clock said that her " fine nap" had lasted two hours. 
 
 "Aunt Ruth has gone to see about dinner, I suppose !"
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 1 271 
 
 she thought. " I am glad she didn't stay here on my ac- 
 count. Her lounge must be stuffed with poppies. I only 
 wish I had one like it at home !" 
 
 She sighed at the recollection of the many sleepless nights 
 that had been her portion for weeks past ; drew back a cur- 
 tain that she might have more light for her toilette ; brushed 
 her hair ; replaced her collar, and was ready to rejoin her 
 friends. There was an empty chair just outside the door 
 and, lying upon the seat, an unfinished piece of knitting- 
 work a coarse blue worsted stocking. 
 ' " Isn't that like Aunt Ruth ? She stationed one of her 
 maids as a sentinel to prevent my slumbers from being dis- 
 turbed, and the poor girl grew weary with waiting for me 
 to release her. No wonder !" 
 
 She went down a flight of stairs and through a side-pas- 
 sage, without encountering a single person. In her igno- 
 rance of the topography of the house, she had taken a private 
 way, one seldom used except by the servants in carrying 
 wood, water, etc., to the several rooms. Then she reached- 
 a porch enclosed on three sides by the wings and central 
 building, and on the fourth by Venetian blinds ; and amused 
 at her mistake, resolved to go on until she found some in- 
 habited region, unclosed the door at the other end of this 
 recess, and found herself in a small, dark entry, another 
 door just ahead of her. 
 
 This series of contre-temps Aunt Ruth and Helen had 
 done every thing that seemed necessary to prevent. The 
 maid posted at the chamber door had strict orders to remain 
 there until Miss Calvert awoke, and then to conduct her 
 to Mrs. Lay's own room, there to await that lady's coming. 
 But the girl, who had her share, and possibly more, of Eve'a 
 foible, had been seduced into a short absence. To do her 
 justice, it was very brief, for while Lily was wandering in 
 the by-ways of the rambling old house, her janitor, ignorant
 
 272 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 of the prisoner's flight, was sitting in the chair without 
 Miss Ruth's apartment, knitting and listening dutifully for 
 any sound from within. The parlor and main hall were 
 peopled with gentlemen who would inevitably have arrested 
 Lily's progress, but by her blunder perhaps we should say 
 through the design of an inscrutable and higher Will thau 
 that of short-sighted mortals she had avoided all these 
 hindrances, and now stood at the outer entrance of the 
 library, Mr. Lay's especial study. 
 
 Still smiling at her adventure, Lily laid her hand upon 
 the lock, and went in. Her motion was very fairy-like and 
 noiseless, and her approach was unheard by the occupants 
 of the room. A solemn group was collected there. Aleck 
 Lay, his features settled into stern anguish, stood with one 
 arm upholding the drooping form of his wife, who wept 
 upon his shoulder, at the back of a sofa which was wheeled 
 into the middle of the apartment. In front of it knelt Aunt 
 Iluth, hands clasped as if in prayer, her furrowed cheeks 
 bathed in tears, and eyes steadfastly bent upon the visage 
 of him who was stretched upon the couch. A black cloak 
 the same that had been thrown over him when first disin- 
 terred, hid the earth-stained garments only the face and 
 bright hair were exposed, and these, Lily's second step for- 
 ward revealed to her horrified vision.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD S WABD8. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ANOTHER Christinas Eve, frosty and starry, was upon the 
 earth and through the fading light shed from the lately 
 crimsoned West, Aleck Lay rode slowly up the winding 
 avenue leading to his home. Greenfield was his now, also, 
 but he preferred a continued residence in the house to which 
 he had brought his bride, one year before. There were 
 associations connected with the paternal mansion, that both 
 he and Helen felt would rest, a perpetual moveless shadow, 
 upon the brightness of their hearth-stone. Very rosy and 
 cheerful looked the radiance from this now, through the 
 windows of the old place, and as the smile of cheer and 
 welcome caught his musing eye, he quickened his horse's 
 gait, 
 
 " All well, Caesar ?" he asked of the man who held the 
 rein, as he dismounted. 
 
 "All well, sir!" 
 
 Aleck glanced into the dining-room in passing, and spoke 
 a kind word of greeting to the plump figure attired in 
 black, which, knitting-work in hand, was overlooking the 
 movements of the butler, while he laid the snowy damask 
 table-cloth for supper. 
 
 " Helen is in her room, I suppose ?" he added. 
 
 " Yes !" and to her chamber he proceeded accordingly. 
 
 She had heard his step in the hall, and met him at the 
 door with a smile and kiss of right wifely affection, But 
 the smile was chastened by sadness or thought a slight
 
 274 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 cloud that did not disappear even when she stood with him 
 by a cradle at the corner of the hearth, and saw him stoop 
 to leave a kiss upon the sleeping face of his first-born. 
 
 "How are you feeling to-night?" he asked, fondly, after 
 they were seated, her hand in his. 
 
 "I am very well. Aunt Ruth says I may eat my Christ- 
 mas dinner with the rest of you, to-morrow. I am quite 
 strong again now, and shall be more cheerful when I can go 
 about the house as usual, especially when I can breathe 
 the outer air." 
 
 " I am glad you are to take your old place to-morrow. 
 It will brighten greatly the gloom that must always recur 
 upon the sad anniversary sad inexpressibly mournful in 
 the recollection of one event while it commemorates to me 
 another that has proved the best blessing, the richest hap- 
 piness of my life. Joy and woe have flowed closely together, 
 yet in divided streams, in our married life, darling !" 
 
 " I have been thinking of it as I sat here alone in the 
 twilight, and reviewed the scenes of last Christmas," said 
 Helen, a tear starting in her eye. " Then, my anxiety to 
 hear the report of your visit of this afternoon has been pain- 
 ful. Was the interview a trying one to you ?" 
 
 " Are you well enough to speak of these things, love ? 
 Had we not better postpone the discussion to another day ?" 
 
 " Not on my account ! As I have said, the anxiety and 
 uncertainty do me more harm than a full knowledge of the 
 truth could. How did the wretched man appear ?" 
 
 " Like what you have called him wretched miserable 
 beyond comparison !" 
 
 *' And penitent ?" interrogated Helen. 
 
 " Not in the least ! Not that he does not express re- 
 morse for the deed, but it is palpably sorrow for the awful 
 consequences to himself, not hatred of the crime, or com- 
 passion for the grief it has brought upon others. I went to
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 275 
 
 the jail at his summons, prepared to grant the forgivenef j 
 which I supposed he, as a dying man, wished to entre. 
 from the dearest earthly relatives of his victim. Instead o 
 humble confession, I was forced to listen to a labored ex- 
 tenuation of his act, and an appeal to my sympathy in be- 
 half of himself, ' a man in the prime of his years the scion 
 of a long line of honored ancestors, condemned to perish 
 ignominiously,' as he said, ' like a common convict !' " 
 
 " Incredible ! I wonder you had patience to hear him to 
 the end !" 
 
 " It was only by bearing in mind that in three days more 
 he would be beyond the reach of human approbation or 
 censure, that I compelled myself to remain in his loathed 
 presence. He was very free in his communications. The 
 disappointment of his preposterous hope that a petition for 
 his pardon would be presented to the governor, has appar- 
 ently taken from him all desire for concealment so far as 
 the actions of his Past are concerned. I imagined that he 
 experienced some relief in the horrible recital, I am posi- 
 tive that the attempt to excuse his motives for the commit- 
 tal of these atrocities brought consolation so deplorably 
 depraved is his conscience. That his forgery of Robert's 
 name was not his first essay in that species of crime, he 
 avowed with infinite coolness. From his youth the facility 
 with which he could imitate any manuscript presented to 
 him, had been a mighty temptation to him, ' the impulse to 
 employ the unfortunate talent for some practical purpose,' 
 I quote his exact words ' had been well-nigh irresistible.' 
 , His pecuniary difficulties had proved the incentive to this 
 * error,' ui every instance, and he rambled off into an in- 
 supportable lamentation over the mortifications and hardships 
 to which these had subjected him, until their accumulation 
 and pressure drove him almost to insanity. Your fortune 
 was imprudently risked in speculations that, ' promising in
 
 276 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 their commencement, eventuated unsuccessfully.' That 
 meant, I knew, that the sacred trust had been squandered 
 at the card-table, and I told him this, with no show of 
 passion or indignation only to recall him to the facts of the 
 matter. Without pretending to deny this statement, he 
 went on to speak of his embarrassment in view of your 
 marriage ; his hope that he could prevail upon Robert to 
 execute a contract that, by appointing your former guardiar 
 the trustee of your property, would allow him an oppor 
 tunity to retrieve your losses before the deficiency was de- 
 tected ; at any rate, prevent the institution of a legal process 
 for the recovery of the missing amount. Foiled -in this 
 and as he ' accidentally discovered' unquestionably referring 
 to the conversation he basely manoeuvred to overhear, that 
 night, at the spring baffled then, as he learned through the 
 instrumentality of your influence over Robert, he devised 
 sundry other expedients for averting disgrace and ruin. 
 Among these, was his endeavor to surprise you into signing 
 the papers he presented to you on Christmas Eve, and the 
 manufacture and exhibition to you of the letter which was, 
 after the murder, transmitted to Lily in order to delude 
 her into the idea that her supposed lover had left his home 
 for her sake, and, through her attempt to fulfil the appoint- 
 ment she believed he had made for her, to mislead others 
 from the real track. Finding that you were bent upon keep- 
 ing your promise to Robert, and disdained even to examine 
 the proofs of your betrothed's perfidy which he professed to 
 have obtained, he resolved, as he would have had me credit, 
 upon a final application to Robert himself a statement of the 
 real condition of his affairs, and an appeal to his generosity. 
 "To this end he suppressed your letter to Greenfield, 
 substituted a note purporting to be from Lily, asking for an 
 interview at ten o'clock couched in language he was assured 
 Robert, could not read unmoved. Leaving his horse in
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S' WAJJDS. 277 
 
 Booker's care, at some distance from the spot designated as 
 the place of meeting, Colonel Floyd was proceeding on foot 
 towards the spruce pine, when he descried Robert mounted 
 upon Hero, slowly making his way through the underbrush, a 
 little way ahead of him. ' Like a flash of lightning,' he said, 
 ' the thought seized me how easily I could rid myself of the 
 difficulties that hampered me avoid the humbling revela- 
 tion, and abject petition, whose anticipation galled my proud 
 soul into madness. My gun was in my hand,' I stopped 
 him there I could not hear how my only brother was 
 killed like a dog ay, and buried like one! God forgive 
 me ! but I could have murdered him as he told the tale !" 
 
 He covered his face with his hands. 
 
 " God forgive him /" said Helen, by-and-by, in a voice 
 broken by weeping. "If ever man stood in need of the 
 mercy which is infinite, he does !" 
 
 " I may be able to say ' amen !' some day," replied Aleck, 
 resuming his former tone and demeanor. " I cannot yet ! 
 still less could I entertain a forgiving thought, while I saw 
 his unmoved countenance; heard his garbled representa- 
 tions. I felt as certain then, that he had deliberately laid in 
 ambush and fired upon his prey, as I did after I proved this 
 to his face, thrust the lying plea of manslaughter down the 
 villain's throat !" 
 
 "Dearest husband, remember he is, as you said just now, 
 a dying man. He will soon stand before his Judge and 
 ours! 1 ' interposed the wife, softly and sweetly. "In a very 
 short time, human justice will have its full course." 
 
 " My angel monitor !" Aleck raised her hand to his lips 
 "I have never needed you more, my precious one, than 
 during the hour I spent in that cell. Think how hard it 
 was for me to learn that the vile, odious letter to myself, 
 that, for a season, seduced me into the conviction that one 
 of the noblest bi-ings Heaven ever created, was a weak, per-
 
 278 COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. 
 
 jured hypocrite, unworthy of my love as of yours; that this 
 diabolical composition was framed and committed to pape' 
 within an hour after the murder was done ! He actually 
 penned it, sitting at Mr. Willis's private desk, Mr. Willis 
 being in the outer office, while he, Floyd, was pretending to 
 await the coming of him whose life he had taken !" 
 
 "Oh! horrible!" cried Helen, shuddering. "Was his 
 conscience then altogether 'dead ?" 
 
 " His ruling consideration then was to avert suspicion , 
 to account to the community for the disappearance of one 
 whose absence must, before many hours elapsed, excite uni- 
 versal surprise. To effect this purpose, he could imitate, 
 with a true and cunning hand, the style and writing of our 
 poor brother, append his name to the letter, and devise a 
 plan by which it should reach me, without implicating the 
 author in the remotest degree.* 
 
 " His account of the concealment of the body in the 
 bushes, and Booker's being sent off with Hero to the free 
 negro's house, as well as the large bribe paid to the latter 
 to undertake the secret service required of him, without 
 asking any questions, tallied with that given by Booker him- 
 self, and by Jeff Martin, at Booker's trial. He alluded, 
 likewise, to the circumstance of the seemingly miraculous 
 preservation of the corpse for so long a time, which was 
 owing, he supposed, to its having been nearly or quite 
 frozen when it was interred. But to these details I could 
 not listen, nor shall you." 
 
 " You said that you convicted him of premeditation in 
 what he did ?" said Helen, inquiringly. 
 
 " Yes ! I happened to mention Booker's confession. Hig 
 face darkened instantly. 
 
 " ' The cowardly knave !' he said. ' But for his treachery, 
 I should not be where I now am. He, and he only, could 
 *Fact.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 279 
 
 have put the officers upon my track ; for no one else knew 
 my route or destination.' 
 
 " You are mistaken, Colonel Floyd, I rejoined. If the 
 negro had had it in his power to give us the intelligence we 
 required, we need not have consumed months in the search. 
 A fe w days would have sufficed to find you out in your 
 hiding-place, and a glance would have penetrated your dis- 
 guise. Do your instrument, criminal as he was justice J 
 It was not until he was condemned to death as an accessory 
 in the murder, and had taken his resolution of cheating the 
 gallows by self-destruction, that he said any thing with re- 
 gard to your share in the deed. Then, I allow, he spoke 
 freely, and, I believe, truthfully. He was cognizant of 
 several things that you have not admitted as, for instance, 
 the letters sent to the post-office in Washington and Vicks- 
 burg, for remailing to my address. 
 
 " ' It would be sheer folly for me to deny that his informa- 
 tion was correct in that particular,' he remarked, without a 
 sign of shame. ' It was a needful stratagem, Mr. Lay. 
 The first wrong step involved the necessity of the rest.' 
 
 " And what do you say, I proceeded, to another part 
 of your man's evidence, wherein he stoutly affirmed that 
 although he knew that you meditated some iniquitous 
 measure, he was not aware that it was so great a crime as 
 murder, until you called him to take the horse, after you 
 had killed the rider ? 
 
 " ' It was a lie an infamous lie !' he exclaimed, thrown 
 off his guard by the question. ' The scoundrel knew what 
 my design was from the moment I summoned him to ac- 
 company me to the woods. Why, if he had received no 
 orders to that effect, did he leave my horse and hasten to 
 join me, so soon as he heard my gun ?' 
 
 t; The report of the gun was then a preconcerted signal ? 
 I inquired.
 
 280 COLOHEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 "'It was!' 
 
 "Recollecting himself, he stammered, and would have 
 added something else, but I gave him no time. 
 
 "Then, sir, I said, rising, your servant went into eternity 
 as you would wish to do, with a lie upon his tongue 
 You have declared to me, in the most solemn manner, that 
 the intention of shedding innocent blood never crossed your 
 inind until the second before the fatal shot was fired. What 
 then means this talk of a previous purpose, and instructions 
 to your accomplice ? I believed, when my agents sought 
 you in every town and city in the Union ; when I urged 
 them incessantly to greater diligence by promises of greater 
 rewards ; when I gave in my testimony at your trial ; when 
 I heard the verdict of the jurors ; when I came here to listen 
 to your dying confession, I have believed always, without a 
 second's wavering, that you murdered foully, in cold blood, 
 with malice and purpose aforethought, a man guiltless of 
 wrong against you or any other mortal, and I go away more 
 firmly persuaded than ever that my conclusion was just. I 
 can stay here no longer. It would be worse than useless, for 
 each falsehood makes heavier the load of your sin. 
 
 " ' One question more but one instant !' he begged, 
 catching hold of me, as I would have left the cell. 
 
 41 1 could not help tearing myself from his hold. 
 
 " I will hear what you have to say, I said, if it does 
 not relate to the subject of which we have been speaking. 
 
 " 'It does not !' he assured me. ' I wish to inquire after 
 my niece, who has been, since last spring, domesticated in 
 your family Miss Calvert. How is she ?' 
 
 "Her bodily health is good, I answered. In mind she 
 will probably never be better than she is now a mere 
 child! - 
 
 " 'The physicians regard her case as hopeless, then, do 
 they?'
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 281 
 
 " I replied in the affirmative. 
 
 "'It might have been expected!' he said, with no more 
 show of feeling than he had manifested heretofore. 'The 
 circumstances of her birth were peculiar, and without doubt 
 predisposed her to this malady. She is harmless, is she not?' 
 
 " She is, perfectly, I answered. 
 
 " ' But idiotic hey ?' 
 
 " Indignant at this cool questioning, I 'said that it was 
 rather a partial failure of certain powers of mind, a loss of 
 memory upon many points and a weakening of the higher 
 intellectual faculties ; repeating, in effect, my former declara- 
 tion that she was now a child, with occasional lapses into a 
 gentle melancholy, more painful to us than it appeared to be 
 to her. 
 
 " I cannot but consider her state a blessing instead of an 
 affliction, I concluded, when we remember the events that 
 robbed her of reason. 
 
 " ' Ah ! she was predisposed to it !' he reiterated. ' I 
 always dreaded some such calamity to her. Is it your in- 
 tention, may I ask, Mr. Lay, to continue to take care of her 
 or will you send her to an asylum ?' 
 
 " Neither my wife nor myself will ever consent to part 
 with her, unless her health should require a change, I said. 
 As to an asylum we are assured by the best medical 
 authorities upon these points, that no beneficial effects to 
 her could arise from her residence in one. 
 
 "Desperately hardened as I knew him to be, I was not 
 prepared for his next observation 
 
 " ' You may not be aware, Mr. Lay, that my niece has no 
 property of her own that she will be a great expense to 
 you ?' 
 
 "That does not alter my resolution, sir! I leplied 
 haughtily. 
 
 " ' You are very gcnerou* r I thought it but just to your-
 
 282 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 Belf that you should be notified of the fact of her poverty 
 My sister, Mrs. Calvert, left some little money and a few 
 slaves in my care, but I regret to say, that my own failure 
 has swallowed up the modest provision for her daughter's 
 livelihood. I was the trustee of my sister's small fortune 
 an appointment that gave her husband much discontent, 
 and, I may say to you, Mr. Lay, was productive of more 
 than one quarrel between us. Our last was a serious one, 
 and to him very disastrous !' 
 
 " He checked himself with the same expression he had 
 worn upon perceiving that he had contradicted himself, a 
 while before put his hand to his head and tried to smile. 
 Such a ghastly grimace as it was ! 
 
 " ' I think that my mind wanders slightly sometimes, Mr. 
 Lay. You will excuse any incoherence or strangeness in 
 my language or behavior. It has been long since I had 
 occasion to refer to these family affairs, and the mention 
 naturally agitates me. After all, what was done so many 
 years since, in the heat of passion, and under extreme provo- 
 cation we were both fiery tempered what was done then 
 cannot be mended now, and had better rest in oblivion.' " 
 
 " He must be deranged !" said Helen, wonderingly. 
 
 " You would have thought so, had you seen him at that 
 instant," replied her husband. " In another, he was himself 
 again ; desired me to give his love to Lily and his respects 
 to you. ' Say to Lily,' he called me back to say ' that I 
 always intended to provide for her myself if only as some 
 atonement but no ! perhaps you had better not repeat the 
 message. She might not understand it.' And thus we 
 parted." 
 
 "May I come in ?" A silvery voice at the door ended 
 the pause that succeeded Aleck's strange, sad story. 
 
 " Come in, dear !" said Helen, brightening up, and a di- 
 minutive figure in white crept forward on tiptoe.
 
 COLONEL FLOYD'S WAEDS. 283 
 
 Her beautiful hair had been shorn during the dangerous 
 spell of brain-fever that had attacked her ten months before, 
 and now clustered in short, golden curls about her colorless 
 face. Her eyes were timid and soft, like those of a shy child, 
 and her smile infantine in simplicity and sweetness of ex- 
 pression. She had taken an unconquerable fancy to wear 
 white constantly ever since her illness, and her kindly guar- 
 dians indulged her whim. To-night she had dressed herself 
 in muslin, and binding her curls was a wreath of holly-leaves 
 and berries. A knot of the same was in her bosom. 
 
 " Good evening, Aleck !" she said, putting her hand con 
 fidingly in his, outstretched with an air of brotherly fond- 
 ness he could not have shown her a year ago. " I am glad 
 that you are home again. Did you remember that it was 
 Christmas Eve ?" 
 
 " Remember !" thought he, with an inward groan. He 
 smiled pleasantly at the querist. " Is that the reason you 
 have made yourself so fine to-night, Lily ?" 
 
 " Yes ! Sally got the holly for me, for I thought I had 
 heard that people wore it on Christmas Eve. It looks pretty, 
 doesn't it ?" 
 
 " Very !" replied Helen, cheerfully. 
 
 Lily surveyed herself in the mirror with unaffected and 
 guileless complacency. 
 
 " And to-morrow night, Sally is to get me some orange- 
 buds. I made her promise, if you had no objection, Aleck. 
 There are plenty in the green-house." 
 
 " Why should I object ?" asked Aleck. " The flowers be- 
 long to you and Nelly here, not to me." 
 
 " Yes, but I had a notion that you did not like orange- 
 blossoms ; or was it you, Nelly?" 
 
 " Neither of us, I think," she responded. " It was all a 
 * notion,' little one." 
 
 " It makes me very Lappy to hear you say so, for, do you
 
 284: COLONEL FLOYD'S WAKDS. 
 
 know, I wouldn't miss wearing them on Christmas night on 
 any account," sinking her voice to a mysterious whisper. 
 ' Who was it, Nelly, that told me that it would be a terrible 
 thing not to wear orange-blossoms on Christmas ?" 
 
 " Another notion !" Aleck hastened to dispel the cloud 
 of perplexity he saw gathering upon her brow. " What 
 have you in your hand, Lily?" 
 
 " Oh !" she laughed out gleefully, " it is a pair of new 
 socks for baby. I knit them myself, on purpose to hang in 
 the chimney-corner to-night. See !" 
 
 They were united by a bow of blue ribbon, and she sus- 
 pended them upon a hook at the left of the fire-place, directly 
 above the cradle. 
 
 Helen laughed. " I will venture to say that no yovager 
 gentleman in the length and breadth of the land will hang 
 up his stockings this Christmas Eve. Why, Lily, he is but 
 a month and two days old !" 
 
 " He understands all I say to him !" retoi'ted Lily, tri. 
 umplamtly . " Look ! he is awake ! Don't you see that he 
 laughs at me !" 
 
 The little arms tossed down the covering that bound 
 them, and the babe actually smiled in the face bowed over 
 his. 
 
 " He knows me best !" She patted the tiny face. " Lily's 
 baby ! Lily's pet !" And while father and mother looked 
 on with smiling lips and moistened eyes, there came another 
 name breathed in accents of such magical sweetness that 
 one might have thought the child-woman had learned it 
 from angel teachers. 
 
 " LILY'S ROBERT!"
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER.
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "WHAT furiously hot weather ! " puffed Mr. Bell, throw- 
 ing open, yet more widely, his summer sack ; said garment 
 being after the fashion aptly named " skeleton," material 
 white grasscloth, pure and sheer as muslin. "I never felt 
 anything to exceed it." 
 
 " It is terrible ! " panted Mrs. Bell, vigorously plying a 
 palm-leaf fan. " And so debilitating ! I have not strength 
 to move ! " 
 
 " Insufferable ! One really lacks the courage, if not the 
 energy, to look at the thermometer to ascertain the real ex- 
 tent of our misery ! " sighed Miss Georgianna 'Rose, Mrs. 
 Bell's sister. 
 
 An impartial looker-on might have decided that the trio, 
 thus unanimously condemnatory of the sunny June after- 
 noon, were ungrateful for, and therefore undeserving of, the 
 surroundings, that, for them, in some measure, alleviated the 
 fervent heat, of what the ruddy farmers were then praising as 
 being " splendid growing weather." Mr. Bell had just dis- 
 patched a well-cooked dinner, served up neatly and promptly 
 to meet the call of the appetite he brought up town with 
 him from the hotter, because more compactly built, precincts 
 wherein his store was situated. The fowls were tender and 
 juicy; the vegetables the best of their various kinds; 
 
 (287)
 
 288 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 sauces, rare and piquant, were at hand ; fruits and ice-cream 
 had composed the dessert, instead of steaming puddings, 
 and oily, bile-engendering pastry. A glass of fine old wine, 
 iced, of course, put the finishing touch to his feast, and his 
 satisfaction in the same. The Bells had the reputation of 
 being good livers, and were conscious that they deserved it. 
 The husband was bountiful, the wife tasteful and judicious 
 A capital table was the inevitable result of this . combina- 
 tion. 
 
 Attired as we have described him, Mr. Bell leaned back in 
 his own garden-chair, he had tried a dozen before he found 
 one that suited him "to a T," his feet upon a camp-stool 
 worked by his pet sister-in-law; a prime Havana between 
 his lips, and gazing across intervening housetops and patches 
 of green, marking the treasured plots of turf and occasional 
 trees, denominated by deluded citizens "gardens," he sniffed 
 the faint, briny air stealing up from the bay, flashing in the 
 distance, and anathematized the weather. His station was 
 upon a piazza shaded with vines ; pots of mignonette, wall- 
 flowers, heliotropes, and geraniums were ranged around the 
 balustrade, and filled the atmosphere with perfume. Yet he 
 found the city "intolerable" in summer ! Within the door of 
 the sitting-room cool, lofty, and cheerful, without being 
 glaringly bright were two light, cane-seated sewing chairs, 
 occupied by the ladies, his fellow-sufferers. Mrs. Bell's was a 
 pleasant face, indicative alike of intelligence and amiability. 
 She was not more than thirty years of age, the mother of 
 three fine children, good-tempered and healthy like herself; 
 and made an excellent and fond helpmeet to a husband who 
 deserved and valued her, being a man of affectionate dispo- 
 sition, sound sense, and comfortable worldly means. Geor- 
 gianna Bx>se "Georgia," to her friends; " Georgie, dear," 
 to her sister and brother-in-law; "Auntie," to the little 
 Bells, was a pretty, blooming girl, of twenty, whose blue
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 289 
 
 organdie set off to the best advantage her clear complexion 
 and pale-brown hair. . 
 
 "And that reminds me," resumed Mr. Bell, after a few 
 pulls more at his choice weed, speaking with much appa- 
 rent indifference, " I had a letter from Roaring River, to 
 day." 
 
 "Ah!" exclaimed the ladies, breathlessly. "What do 
 they say ? " 
 
 Whether the subject really interested him or no, it was 
 evidently one of the highest importance to them. 
 
 "I will read the letter to you ; that is, if I have it with 
 me. I think that I put it into my pocket after glancing it 
 over. But when one has an extensive business correspon- 
 dence, minor matters are liable to be overlooked. I thought 
 that you would want to learn its contents," answered the 
 master of the house, with the characteristic equanimity of 
 his sex, when they witness any lively display of feminine 
 curiosity. 
 
 The hypocrite knew perfectly well the precise pocket, and 
 the precise comer of that pocket, in whch he had bestowed 
 the document in question. Instead of merely " glancing it 
 over," and then tossing it by to return in thought to the 
 major topic of "business," he had given it a careful perusal 
 at the store, and a second reading in the omnibus, on his 
 way up town. The subject of the communication had not 
 really left his mind for five minutes at a time since his arri- 
 val at home ; yet, with the knowledge of all this within his 
 brain, he felt a touch of compassionate amusement at the 
 spectacle of the sudden animation his carelessly-uttered 
 speech had begotten in the ladies. Without pretending to 
 analyze the motives that prompted him to adopt this line of 
 conduct, I venture to affirm, in passing, upon the authority 
 of one who has made mankind something of a study, that 
 any other gentleman with whom I have the honor of being 
 25
 
 290 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 acquainted, would have pursued the same apparently mean 
 ingless policy in a similar case. A Miss Mitford's lisping 
 baby-heroine, Dolly, summed up her experience of the class, 
 " Manth ith all alike ! " 
 
 I am not affecting to deny or excuse the fact that women 
 do, occasionally, in circumstances of great provocation to the 
 emotion, feel a thrill of curiosity, and that some of the 
 weaker vessels do, say once in a lifetime, betray this in an 
 unbecoming manner ; but I dare to state that many of us 
 could be as coolly incurious, and as dignifiedly chaiy of in- 
 quiry as are our lords, if we had their opportunities of gain- 
 ing information with regard to passing events. One who 
 has pressed up to the bulletin-board and possessed himself of 
 every article inscribed thereupon, can afford to withdraw 
 satisfied leech that he is from the eager crowd, and smile, 
 in genuine enjoyment of the fun, at the figure cut by the un- 
 happy ignoramus upon the outside ring of the throng, who, 
 by diligent pushing, frantic leapings, and abject crouchings 
 and peepings, can only make out the capital letters, and the 
 string of exclamation points like a shower of sky-rockets, 
 which may mean either crowning triumph or irreparable dis- 
 aster. 
 
 This digression has given Mr. Bell time to empty and ex- 
 plore three pockets, and examine at least two score envel- 
 opes ; Mrs. Bell has arisen, malgre her extreme debility, to 
 help overlook the pile accumulating upon his knee, saying, 
 in genuine anxiety, "O Eonald ! I do hope you have not 
 left it at the store ! " 
 
 " Wouldn't that be perfectly unbearable ! " exclaimed 
 Georgie. 
 
 " Here it is ! " the tantalizing husband thought proper to 
 remark at length, drawing forth a small envelope. 
 
 Even then he knocked the ashes from his cigar, dexter- 
 ously upset the camp-stool, and stopped to readjust his feet
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 291 
 
 upon it, before he unfolded the sheet, which was gilt-edged, 
 and scented with Lubin's extract of "new-mown hay," or 
 " verbena," or " pond-lily," or some other unidentifiable 
 odor. 
 
 " From which of the sisters is it ? " asked Mrs. Bell. 
 
 " It is signed 'Jemima Ketchum,'" was the answer. 
 
 '* Horrors, what a name ! " ejaculated the wife. 
 
 " She writes a good hand," Mr. Bell remarked. " I should 
 judge her to be a person of considerable culture. Dr. Mol- 
 eye told us, you recollect, that the ladies were educated and 
 refined, and fine conversationists." 
 
 " Dear Ronald ! wont you read the letter ? We are dying 
 with impatience ! " pleaded Georgie. 
 
 Her brother smiled indulgently, and vouchsafed to end her 
 suspense. 
 
 "ROABING RIVEB, June 10, 1860. 
 
 " ' MB. R. M. BELL : Dear Sir, Your polite favor of the 
 1st inst. was received four days ago ; but we, my two sisters 
 and myself, deemed it best to weigh your proposition seri- 
 ously, as its importance merited, and not to respond to your 
 inquiries until we could give a definite, and, if possible, a 
 satisfactory reply. Otherwise, we might excite expectations 
 which, after mature deliberation, we might find it imprac- 
 ticable or inadvisable to gratify. While we are of course 
 pleased with the favorable report of our mountain retreat 
 given by our esteemed friend, Dr. Moleye, we are not sur- 
 prised that he remembers with feelings of lively delight, his 
 sojourn in this charming region. We did all in our power 
 to render his stay pleasant, as we do with all our guests. 
 We heartily reciprocate his expressions of good will and 
 agreeable souvenirs. Please remember us most cordially to 
 him when you meet him. He is one of those rare spirits 
 that once met are never forgotten.' " 
 
 " Mercy ! " interupted Georgie. " Who would have
 
 292 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 thought that prosy old Dr. Moleye would have produced such 
 an impression ? That is a queer business letter, Ron ! " 
 
 " Don't be too quick to judge ! We are coming to the 
 business, now." And he proceeded : 
 
 l( ' As he has informed you, my dear sir, we do not keep a 
 boarding-house. Our revered and ever-to-be-lamented father, 
 one of the most respected and substantial farmers in this 
 community, and who represented our native county for sev- 
 eral years in the legislature, left v.s at his decease, which 
 occurred ten years since, in the enjoyment of a modest com- 
 petence that precluded all necessity of any exertion on our 
 part to procure a genteel livelihood. We had not been 
 brought up like most farmers' daughters, therefore had intel- 
 lectual resources that effectually warded off ennui from our 
 seclusion. But two years after the sad event that left us or- 
 phans, our eldest brother having been elected to Congress, 
 from this district, which office he filled with credit to himself 
 and his family, and at the expiration of his Congressional 
 term being appointed to a foreign consulate, the principality 
 of Smokenuff, and our younger brother leaving the paternal 
 homestead for the great metropolis, namely, New York, we 
 three sisters found the solitude of our lately merry home 
 oppressive, and the more willingly acceded to the importuni- 
 ties of an old and valued friend, Eev. Dr. W. Choken, of 
 Edenvale, that we would receive him and his lovely and 
 accomplished wife, with their six interesting children, as 
 members of our family during the summer months.' " 
 
 The reader paused. 
 
 " Georgie, dear, please hand me that glass of ice-water." 
 
 " No wonder you are out of breath ! Are you sure there 
 is not a stop in all that long sentence ? " 
 
 " Not one, except commas." 
 
 " ' We enjoyed their society so much that we allowed 
 ourselves to be the more readily persuaded the ensuing sea-
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEK. 293 
 
 son, by other friends who proposed to become our guests. 
 My sisters were growing up, and I felt the need of cultivated 
 associations for them. Thus we fell into the habit of extend- 
 ing our family circle in the warm weather.' " 
 
 " On the principle that heat expands, I suppose ! " said a 
 new voice, and the reader became aware that his family circle 
 had been enlarged by the quiet entrance of his next-door 
 neighbors, his married sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Eaiie. 
 
 " What bosh have you there, Ron ? " queried the former 
 of these two, continuing the tone of raillery that had arrested 
 the reading. 
 
 "The long-looked-for letter from Roaring River," ex- 
 plained Mrs. Bell. 
 
 " Humph ! " 
 
 " Tom ! " said his wife, reprovingly. " Don't mind him, 
 Annie ! " 
 
 " I do not ! " was the smiling reply. " I know him too 
 well to be seriously afflicted by his barking. He never bites. 
 Now, sit down, both of you, and hear this somewhat diffuse 
 epistle. It concerns you as well as ourselves." 
 
 " And having waded through such a slough of sentimental 
 reminiscences, we must be nearing solid ground now, I 
 think," said Georgie, who was not more remarkable for 
 patience than are most other spoiled children. She was 
 never cross, however, with all her sauciness, in which, it 
 must le owned, sae was encouraged by her lawful guardians. 
 
 Mr. Bell resumed : 
 
 " ' Our~airy and commodious suite of rooms is always in 
 demand. Indeed, if pertinacious solicitations could win our 
 consent to such a measure, our house would be crowded, 
 from basement to attic throughout the summer. But on 
 this point, although generally over-indulgent, we are ada- 
 mant. Our inviolable rule is, not to take more visitors than 
 25*
 
 294 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 
 
 we can accommodate with perfect and entire comfort to 
 themselves, and likewise to us. Our object, to sum up the 
 whole matter in a few words, is not to make money ; but to 
 avail ourselves of the charming society of our guests, while 
 affording them an opportunity of seeking health and recrea- 
 tion, and, through these, happiness, among our noble moun- 
 tains, and upon our fine river. Three of our apartments are 
 already engaged to friends from the city, very refined and 
 cultivated people. We have, fortunately, four others vacant, 
 which we have no doubt will meet your requirements. Two 
 of these are spacious chambers, well lighted and admirably 
 ventilated, and each capable of containing two beds. These, 
 according to our estimate, will suit yourself and brother-in- 
 law, since your sister, Mrs. Earle, would like to Tiave her 
 children in the room with herself, or in a chamber immedi- 
 ately contiguous to hers. The third is smaller, and adjoins 
 the apartment we have allotted to Mrs. Bell and yourself. 
 This we design for Mrs. Bell's sister, the young lady of 
 whom you wrote. We anticipate much pleasure in forming 
 her acquaintance. We are all three naturally vivacious, 
 and dearly enjoy the companionship of young persons.'" 
 
 " Highly honored, I am sure ! " murmured Georgie, in 
 affected humility. 
 
 " ' Your oldest daughter might lodge with her. Then, 
 upon the floor above, is a snug bedroom for your servant 
 girls. Our fare is, we flatter ourselves, irreproachable. 
 Poultry and eggs we have in abundance ; we make the best 
 and sweetest of bread and butter; raise our own lambs; 
 cultivate our own vegetables, and have a well -stocked ice- 
 hous,?, while our river supplies us with all the fish we need. 
 There are fine trouting streams two or three miles back of 
 us ; and in their proper season, woodcock and snipe abound 
 in the swamps and along the watercourses near us. I men- 
 tion these particulars as likely to interest gentlemen. We
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 295 
 
 strive to cater to the tastes of all. But we pride ourselves 
 principally upon our magnificent (I had almost said, unsur- 
 passable) mountain scenery, and the excellent roads con- 
 ducting through it in all directions. Travellers of refined 
 and ennobling tastes (such as we are assured are possessed 
 by yourself, my dear sir, and your family connection) must 
 ever experience genuine delight in traversing our elevated 
 plateau, and ascending the grand range of cloud-capped sum- 
 mits encircling it.' " 
 
 " Whew ! " whistled the* impertinent brother-in-law. 
 
 His wife tapped him with her fan as an injunction to 
 silence. 
 
 Mr. Bell laughed a little himself, and glanced down the 
 sheet, as looking for something more practical. 
 
 " Don't skip a word, I entreat ! " petitioned Mr. Earle. 
 " It is a rich composition, refreshes one on a hot day, like a 
 glass of soda-water, all bubble, and fizz, and sirup ! People 
 of refined and ennobling tastes, such as we possess, can ap- 
 preciate its beauties. That girl ought to ofier herself as 
 advertisement-writer for Hoofland's German Bitters, or 
 Macallister's Ointment. She would make more money than 
 by taking boarders." 
 
 " That is not her object in taking boarders ! " remarked 
 Georgie, demurely, the sparkle of fun in her eye abetting 
 Mr. Earle in his criticism. 
 
 " Of course not ! I wouldn't insult her by such an insin- 
 uation. But, if it is not an impertinent question, Ron, 
 what are we expected to pay ; or, as I'll wager my head 
 she phrase's it, what remuneration are we to be allowed to 
 ofler her for the unspeakable privilege of becoming members 
 of her family, dwellers in her Happy Valley ? My pocket- 
 nerve quivers at the bare suggestion." 
 
 " It need not ! " Mr. Bell named the terms in a tone of 
 suppressed exultation.
 
 296 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 
 
 Tliey were, indeed, extremely moderate, as the other gen- 
 tleman was compelled to admit. 
 
 " Too moderate ! " he said, shaking his head. " There 
 is a screw loose somewhere. The sum is a lame and impo- 
 tent conclusion to that grand, eloquent epistle. I always 
 distrust a bargain. Adjectives sell dear, generally." 
 
 " The price is low, I grant, for this latitude," replied Mr. 
 Bell ; ; ' but recollect that the cost of living in that section of 
 country does not equal the expenses one incurs here, by one- 
 half. The most pleasant summer we have ever had, since 
 our marriage, was passed in a quiet farm-house, where the 
 board was a couple of dollars less per week than the sum 
 charged by the Misses Ketchum." 
 
 " And the fare was delicious ! " said Mrs. Bell. " Geor- 
 gie, have you forgotten good Mrs. Worthley's light bread 
 and golden butter ? her gingerbread and apple-pies ? " 
 
 *' No : nor yet her broiled chicken, fresh eggs, and plentiful 
 supply of milk. What a sweet, restful summer that was ! " 
 exclaimed the world-weary girl of twenty. " I do hope that 
 we are going to have just such another ! " 
 
 "If this Miss What's-her-name is as voluble with her 
 tongue as with her pen, you will have anything but a restful 
 time, I forewarn you," growled Mr. Earle. 
 
 " It will be our fault if she gets many opportunities of 
 annoying us in this way," remarked Mrs. Bell, cheerfully, 
 " since we expect to pass much of our time out of doors. 
 Dr. Moleye says the rambles in the neighborhood are 
 delightful. And the trouting, Tom think of that ! " 
 
 "And the woodcock!" artfully suggested Georgie. 
 
 "And the boating which she says is the favorite 
 pastime of visitors," said Mrs. Earle, who had taken 
 the letter from her brother, and finished its perusal in 
 silence. 
 
 " Avaunt, all of you ! Tempters of the flesh and mind ! "
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 297 
 
 called out Tom. " How dare you basely attempt to pervert 
 a man's judgment in this style ? " 
 
 "Come, now, my dear fellow, let us be serious; examin.. 
 the matter calmly and without prejudice, " began Mr. Bell, 
 in a tone of mild argument. " We want a quiet summer 
 retreat, where the ladies and the babies can have wholesome 
 fare and out-door exercise in the mountain air; where you 
 and I can row, swim, fish, and shoot to our heart's content; 
 a place where, free from the shackles of fashion and fashion-- 
 able gayeties, we can really and truly have a holiday a good, 
 free-and-easy time, that will send us back to work in the 
 autumn, invigorated in body, thought, and heart. This 
 house is recommended to me by a physician one who has 
 made personal test of its capabilities to suit bur needs. I 
 made further inquiries, and the result is entirely satisfactory, 
 with the unimportant exceptions that Miss Jemima, the 
 spokeswoman of the three sisters, writes a needlessly long 
 letter, in rather a highfalutin strain, and that she charges a 
 low price for board. Candidly, does it not seem absurd to 
 attach any weight to objections like these?" 
 
 "Argued like a lawyer, Ronald! I have but one bit of 
 blunt, practical wisdom to oppose to all this fair show of 
 reason, and you may have it gratis. It is just this: Human 
 nature is pretty much the same, the world over ; and it is 
 human nature to get, if possible, a fair compensation for 
 whatever one has that is marketable. Viewed in this light, 
 Miss Jemima's offer of all the comforts of a home; the 
 edifying society of herself and sisters; her magnificent 
 mountains, superexcellent roads; trout, woodcock, and boats, 
 for the moderate sum she names, and the consideration of 
 our companionship, is either a piece of egregious simplicity, 
 or there will be found, upon experiment, a grievous defi- 
 ciency somewhere. Now, the woman who wrote that letter 
 does not underestimate herself nor her abode. The
 
 298 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 probability to my mind, the certainty is that she has 
 gone to the other extreme, and drawn more largely upon her 
 imagination than upon her sight in sketching her picture. 
 I distrust these mongrel establishments that are neither 
 private houses nor hotels. They are generally miserable 
 humbugs traps for the unwary, who find, when it is too 
 late, that they have sacrificed the ease and quiet of their 
 homes without gaining the independence of a public house. 
 As to taking boarders for company just for the pleasure 
 of the thing that is all bosh! " And having reached the 
 climax of his protest in this, his pet substantive, Mr. Earle 
 helped himself to a cigar from a case on the table ; asked his 
 brother-in-law for a light, and settled down comfortably in 
 a straw chair, the fellow to that occupied by Mr. Bell. 
 There was an uneasy pause, ended by Mrs. Earle. 
 
 " What a croaker you are, Tom ! You leave out of sight 
 the fact that we need not stay longer than we like, should 
 we become dissatisfied. We have always the privilege of 
 leaving." 
 
 " That is more easily said than done, after we have 
 engaged the rooms for the season, lost the chance of getting 
 in elsewhere, and transported all our baggage a hundred 
 miles or so from home, part of the way by private convey- 
 ance." 
 
 He held the letter by this time, and read aloud the 
 postscript : 
 
 "'The last twelve miles you will perform by stage; and 
 since the road is steep and rocky, you will require a more 
 substantial conveyance for your baggage. It is our custom 
 to send our own team of oxen and heavy wagon to the 
 depot for this purpose, if notified of the precise day of our 
 visitors' arrival. We shall be most happy to do this in 
 your case.' " 
 
 " Why in thunder does the woman persist in calling us
 
 A BATTLE BUMMER. 299 
 
 'guests' and 'visitors' and the like twaddle?" broke out; 
 the malcontent. "A man who hires a room of her, and 
 pays her for his breakfast, dinner, and supper, is a boarder, 
 and nothing else ! " 
 
 No one took offence at this plainness of speech, nor were 
 the Bells shaken in their purpose of rusticating at Roaring 
 Hiver. As Mrs. Bell had said, they were well acquainted 
 with their friend's eccentricities, and knew how little depth 
 there was to his apparent bitterness of criticism. They 
 laughed the matter off pleasantly, now, therefore, and during 
 his stay talked of other things. 
 
 " We may safely leave him to Kate," observed Georgie, 
 wisely, when their visitors had gone. " She lets him talk as 
 long and as loudly as he likes ; but it- always ends in his 
 giving her her own way. She wants to go with us, and, 
 however he may bluster, he will not cross her inclination." 
 
 " You understand these matters pretty well, I see, for one 
 who has had no personal experience in that line," returned 
 her brother. 
 
 She raised herself on tip-toe to pinch his ear. 
 
 " So well, Mr. Saucebox, that I tell you now, inasmuch 
 as your wife and sisters have made up their minds on this 
 subject, you may as well write at once, and engage Miss 
 Jemima's rooms. I have a presentiment that we are to have 
 great times this summer. Perhaps I may meet my fate- 
 who knows ? "
 
 300 A BATTLE SUMMEK. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THAT Georgie had prophesied shrewdly as to what would 
 be the family orders in council, was proved by a scene that 
 transpired three weeks after the reception of Miss Jemima's 
 letter. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon of a showery July day. A 
 muddy stage, built after the model of the Jersey wagon, 
 containing four narrow, straight-backed benches, toiled creak- 
 ingly up a rough mountain road. Seated within were Mrs. 
 Bell, two children, and nurse ; Mrs. Earle, with a dependent 
 retinue of like numbers and character; and Georgie Rose. 
 Messrs. Earle and Bell were on the outer seat with the 
 driver, and between his father's knees stood Master Harry 
 Bell, the eldest hope of his parents, a manly little fellow of 
 nine years, but whose present aspect was rather disconsolate. 
 Save Mr. Earle, none of the party wore a very cheerful air. 
 The ladies were tired, heated, and ' damp, besides being 
 uneasy as to the effect of the humid atmosphere upon the 
 children, who fretted and dozed alternately. Mrs. Earle's 
 babe a delicate boy just in the midst of the cruel maladies 
 incident upon its second summer was especially trouble- 
 some. 
 
 " Poor little lamb ! " said the kind-hearted nurse, trying 
 to hush the piteous wail with which he started from a fitful 
 slumber in her arms. "And is it much further we have to 
 go, ma'am ? " 
 
 "I hope not, indeed, Norah," replied her mistress; "for
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEK. 301 
 
 he is very weary and hungry. Are we nearly there, Ron- 
 ald?" she called to her brother. 
 
 "We have but one mile more to travel," was the welcome 
 response; "and the driver here tells me that there is a 
 pretty view of the house to be had from the top of the hill ; 
 so look out ! " 
 
 There was a general brightening up of sober faces and 
 straightening of bent forms ; all eyes were on the alert to 
 catch the first glimpse of the desired haven. But disap- 
 pointment awaited them instead, upon the summit of what 
 they had trusted was to be to them one of the Delectable 
 Mountains. What had appeared to be but a dense mist from 
 a distance, changed, as they entered its gray folds, into 
 a soaking shower. So sudden and violent was its patter 
 upon the roof of the vehicle, that the inmates had not time 
 to lower the curtains, although these were but imperfectly 
 fastened up, having been already unrolled three times 
 during the ride of twelve miles, to avoid similar deluges. 
 The air had remained so sultry, in spite of the rain, that so 
 soon as the showers had abated, the unanimous cry had been, 
 " Raise the curtains ! We are suffocating ! " 
 
 Now the children were hastily huddled together in the 
 centre of the startled group, and sheltered by the nurse's 
 skirts and shawls, while the ladies shrank from the spray 
 that beat in upon them through the open sides of the stage. 
 Harry Bell disappeared under the leathern apron which the 
 driver drew up as high as it would stretch, to protect 
 himself and his companions on the front seat. 
 
 "All the more merit in being jolly, Kate!" Mr. Earle 
 quoted, turning his face, bathed and streaming with rain, 
 towards his wife, she having uttered a cry of dismay. " 1 be- 
 gin to believe that I am destined to be the Mark Tapley in 
 this company of emigrants. As Georgie would say, ' I have 
 a presentiment' that I shall have occasion to 'come out 
 20
 
 302 A BATTLE SUMMEB. 
 
 strong' before our Roaring River experiences are con- 
 cluded." 
 
 " I can bear any amount of inconvenience for myself," re- 
 joined Mrs. Earle, anxiously. "But the water is dripping 
 tlirough the roof, and if the children should get wet, you 
 know that we cannot procure dry clothes for them to-night. 
 It is very strange that the team was not sent down for the 
 baggage, as was promised." 
 
 "Never mind ! " Mr. Bell said in consolation. "Thanks 
 to your thoughtfulness, in anticipating some such contre- 
 temps, their night-dresses are all in the hand-trunk, and that 
 is dry, I am sure ; I put it under the back seat myself. "SVe 
 will ask permission to take the forlorn little beings to the 
 kitchen fire. Then, dry wrappers, a cup of hot tea, and a 
 good night's rest will set them all right. Hold hard, all of 
 you ! there's a bad piece of road ahead ! " 
 
 He did not slander the portion of the route they were now 
 called upon to traverse. For half a mile rocks a foot high, 
 and ruts two feet deep, with frequent slants to the right, then 
 to the left, until those inside the wagon shrieked in mortal 
 terror of upsetting and bone-breaking, kept every muscle on 
 the strain and jarred every joint almost to dislocation. Thus 
 they reached the bottom of the hill, where the patient moun- 
 tain horses struck a trot upon a strip of level road, bounded 
 on one side by thick woods, on the other, by a rude stone 
 fence, inclosing a meadow and orchard ; turned sharply in at 
 an open gate, and came to a stand in front of a long, low 
 house, embowered in a grove of cherry-trees. Both babies 
 were crying ; both mothers examining fonder craniums and 
 soft limbs, in dread of finding bruises or fractures ; both 
 imrses soothing their hurt and frightened charges with the 
 voluble endearments of their race. So confused, shaken to 
 pieces, and generally miserable were all the juveniles, and 
 the larger passengers of the feminine gender, that none of
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 303 
 
 them appreciated the truth that they were, at last, at their 
 journey's end, until Mr. Bell opened the door of their muddy 
 cage with a j ubilant outburst. 
 
 "Well, thank fortune, here we are, and our troubles are 
 over ! " 
 
 Mrs. Bell alighted in a puddle of water that surrounded 
 the yard-gate ; but she did not hear the sullen splash, or know 
 that her ankles were wet, so eager was her survey of the 
 premises the Promised Land of Miss Jemima's epistle. It 
 was but natural that her eyes should scan, with lively inter- 
 est, the house that was to be the abode of herself and best 
 treasures for the next two months ; and it was quite as inev- 
 itable that a sensation of heart-sinking, bordeiing upon con- 
 sternation, should succeed the keen, if hasty examination. 
 The building stood upon a dead flat, that looked like a hol- 
 low, now that the eye had become accustomed to the more 
 elevated regions over which she had travelled. 
 
 It was but a story and a half high ; the parlor floor might 
 have been laid on the very ground, so near the earth did the 
 lower windows seem ; while the upper, overshadowed by the 
 sloping roof, were just one pane deep. The establishment 
 would have impressed a critical stranger as being an incom- 
 modious and insalubrious dwelling for a private family of 
 plain farm-people but a boarding-house ! 
 
 ' Mrs. Bell exchanged secret and rueful looks with Mrs. 
 Earle, as they superintended the unpacking of their precious 
 load, and Georgie whispered, covertly shaking out the folds 
 of her sodden and creased dress, "Why, the piazza is 
 crowded ! I thought there were to be only two or three peo- 
 ple here besides ourselves ! I wonder if there is no other 
 entrance ! Must we run that gauntlet ? " 
 
 This question was speedily solved, to her dissatisfaction, 
 by the appearance, on the one step of the piazza, of a person- 
 age in whom the new arrivals intuitively and simultane-
 
 304: A BATTLE SDMMEE. 
 
 ously recognized Miss Jemima. She was a would-be young 
 ish-looking woman, plain in attire, small in stature, with 
 gray eyes, a large mouth, thin lips, and a turned-up nose, 
 altogether the picture of an affected, yet shrewish spinster. 
 The rain still fell slowly, and there was another pool of 
 water, formidable in dimensions, at the base of the step ; 
 therefore she did not venture from beneath the cover of the 
 portico. 
 
 " Our guests from the city, I presume," she began, as the 
 doleful cavalcade approached. " Mrs. Earle ? " offering a 
 bony hand to the foremost lady. " No ? Mrs. Bell, then ? 
 Yes ? I welcome you to our peaceful mountain seclusion ! 
 Mrs. Earle, I take it for granted that I am right this time, 
 I am rejoiced to make your acquaintance ! Mr. Bell No ? 
 I would say Mr. Earle, then we are delighted to receive 
 you as a member of our happy family ; and you also, Mr. 
 Bell ! And these are your sweet little children ! What 
 fairies ! positively they are divine ! I must have a kiss from 
 each pair of rosy lips ! Oh ! oh ! oh ! I do so dote upon chil- 
 dren ! I can't tell you ! Oh-h-h ! the angelic little seraphs ! 
 And I am sadly afraid that you have had a dreary ride. We 
 did not dare expect you in such unpropitious weather. I 
 trust the dear babes have not suffered. That was the rea- 
 son that our wagon did not meet you at the depot to get your 
 trunks. I hope this omission on our part pardonable as 
 you must allow it to be will not occasion you any incon- 
 venience. Take seats do! This is our parlor, and you 
 must always feel as much at home in it as if it were your 
 own. We think it a tolerably well-appointed room. You 
 perceive that we have a taste for literature and the fine arts. 
 We could not exist without our piano, books, and pictures. 
 Moreover, we try to please our guests in every possible and 
 imaginable way. This is my sister, Saccharissa," as a 
 younger lady entered, Mr. Bell, Mrs. Bell, Mr. Earle,
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 305 
 
 Mrs. Earle ! I was just saying, Saccharissa, how sorry and 
 mortified we are that*the wagon did not meet our friends at 
 the depot. The stage cannot bring a full complement of pas- 
 sengers and trunks. This is our sister Hortensia, the young- 
 est, and pet of us all. There are no others of our household 
 proper at home, at the present time. Our eldest brother, 
 our comfort and mainstay in our orphanage, formerly a 
 member of Congress, is Minister Plenipotentiary to the Sov- 
 ereign Principality of Smokenuff, and, of course, resides 
 abroad. Our second brother belongs to the firm of Sellurn 
 & Co., in the great metropolis. We enjoy the society of our 
 summer visitors all the more from our comparative solitude 
 at other times." 
 
 Here Miss Saccharissa a rather pretty girl, with an elab- 
 orate coiffure of curls and roses, contrasting strangely with 
 her dress, a cotton print, that yet fitted well to a good fig- 
 ure succeeded in making herself heard ; and Miss Horteii- 
 sia the second sister's counterpart in manner and attire 
 j oining in, on a different key, the three talked all together in 
 a distracting, breathless medley of commonplaces, spiced with 
 high-sounding words and frequent exclamations, that stunned 
 the visitors into dumbness. 
 
 But for the babies independent little rebels that they 
 were ! there is no telling how long the trio of entertainers 
 would have remained there, drawn up in line of battle in 
 front of the defenceless ranks of storm-beaten travellers ; but 
 Master Charley Earle entered a vociferous complaint against 
 the fate that threatened to prolong his present state of inter- 
 nal emptiness and outward discomfort, and being promptly 
 and ably seconded by .Miss Florence Bell, who was six 
 months his junior, the two accomplished the incredible feat 
 of routing the beseigers ignominiously. 
 
 " 1 suppose you would like to go up to your rooms pretty 
 soon ? " said Miss Jemima, as if struck by a new idea.
 
 306 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 " We should, certainly ! " said Mrs. Bell, emphatically. 
 
 Mr. Bell slipped in'his word at this auspicious instant : 
 
 " And since these poor children are uncomfortable in their 
 damp clothing, will you oblige us, and benefit them, by al- 
 lowing them to dry their feet and cheer their spirits at your 
 kitchen fire?" he said, with an insinuating smile, "gotten 
 up," as Georgia afterwards told him, "for that occasion 
 only." 
 
 " We are very sorry," said Miss Jemima. 
 
 " It is very unfortunate," bewailed Miss Saccharissa. 
 
 " If you had arrived half an hour sooner," chimed in Miss 
 Uortensia. 
 
 " But the fact is that we have tea at an unfashionably early 
 Lour in this primitive region," Miss Jemima snatched at the 
 thread of discourse. 
 
 " Our guests prefer an early tea," Miss Saccharissa got 
 hold of it -in her turn. 
 
 " It gives them an opportunity of driving or walking in 
 the cool of the day, of sentimentalizing in the moonlight." 
 Miss Hortensia proved herself a match for her seniors. 
 
 " And tea being over and the evening being so sultry," 
 said Miss Jemima. 
 
 " And not anticipating the pleasure we now enjoy," Miss 
 Saccharissa pursued, winningly. 
 
 " 1 do hope you wont think us negligent," sighed Miss 
 Hortensia. 
 
 " But we suffered the kitchen-fire to go out an hour ago," 
 concluded they all in concert. 
 
 Even Mr. Earle's face lost its smile of malicious amuse- 
 ment at this unforeseen blow. Mr. Bell spoke out boldly 
 the thought of the rest, 
 
 " We can have supper, I suppose ? We have eaten noth- 
 ing since twelve o'clock to-day, and are really very hungry." 
 
 " Oh dear, yes ! why, of course ! " returned Miss Jemima,
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 307 
 
 quickly, not to say tartly. "You must not suppose us 
 barbarians, Mr. Bell ! We make it our rule to prepare a 
 nice, warm, substantial repast for those friends who have 
 travelled -far and arrived late. We regard nothing as a 
 trouble that can conduce to the happiness of our guests. 
 Saccharissa, do you see that the rooms are made ready, right 
 away, and Hortensia and I will attend to the preparation of 
 supper. We are simple folk here, Mrs. Earl, and not dis- 
 posed to trust much to domestics. We can make a charcoal 
 fire in a little while ; enough to cook what we will need." 
 
 With the magic words " nice, warm, substantial supper," 
 ringing in their ears and comforting their thoughts, the 
 travellers bore, with commendable patience, the half hour's 
 delay in the parlor. Apparently, Miss Saccharissa had a 
 great deal to do in the chambers the weary wanderers longed 
 inexpressibly to behold. The children were divested of 
 their damp hats and sacks and bidden to rest their cramped 
 limbs upon the sofa ; the nurses walked up and down the 
 room hushing their babies, and the elders fell into a quiet 
 undertone of comment and conjecture. 
 
 " There were at least twenty persons on the piazza; ladies, 
 gentlemen, and children !" remarked Georgie, upon whom 
 this circumstance had made a strong impression. " Can 
 they all be boarders here? I should not think that the 
 house could accommodate so many, unless the upper story 
 is built of india-rubber, and the lodgers remarkably Umiable 
 in disposition." 
 
 " You are verdant as yet ; do not understand how these 
 things are managed," replied Mr. Earle. " I should not be 
 suprisecl to see twenty more here in the course of the next 
 week. The season has just begun." 
 
 The ladies were not sorry that further predictions of this 
 nature were suspended by the entrance of a tall man, who 
 advanced to the centre of the room, struck a match upon
 
 308 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 his boot-heel, and proceeded very deliberately to light a large 
 kerosene lamp that stood upon the table. The glare brought 
 out into strong relief a bronzed visage, black-bearded, and 
 with large, not altogether ill-looking features. His task 
 accomplished, he turned towards the party, 'with an awk- 
 ward, yet by no means a bashful bow. 
 
 " I am sorry that you are obliged to wait a few minutes 
 for your supper, ladies and gentleman ; but it is unavoid- 
 able. We are making all the haste we can with it. You 
 found the roads in a pretty bad si ate, sir, did you not?'* 
 addressing Mr. Bell. 
 
 That gentleman replying in the affirmative, he and Mr. 
 Earle fell into conversation with the stranger, the rest listen- 
 ing attentively. They heard an enthusiastic description of 
 the beauty, salubrity, facilities for hunting, fishing, and 
 other out-door sports of Roaring River, mingled with allu- 
 sions to the refined hospitality they were to enjoy, and the 
 high standing of their fellow-beneficiaries of the present 
 season ; an account tallying so exactly in all particulars 
 with Miss Jemima's written encomiums, that an unpleasant 
 suspicion stole upon the minds of his auditors that he was 
 a partner in the concern, and had had his instructions to 
 puff it upon all convenient occasions. This fear was, by 
 and by, dissipated by his saying, 
 
 " I am only a boarder here myself; I am a resident of 
 
 , where I have been engaged in active business for many 
 
 years, retiring, during the summer, to a snug country seat 
 not far from the sea-shore. My health has become ma- 
 terially injured by close application and the raw sea-air, 
 and, by the advice of my physician, I resolved upon spend- 
 ing some months in the mountains. Friends of mine, whom 
 I knew to be good judges of such matters, recommended this 
 locality in such exalted terms, that I resolved to give Roar 
 ing River and the Misses Ketchum a trial. I consider it
 
 A EATTLE SUMMER. 309 
 
 the wisest action of my life, gentlemen ! I have been here 
 since May." 
 
 Here poor little Florence, whose sobbings had been imper- 
 fectly suppressed in her nurse's bosom for some moments 
 past, exploded in a burst of lamentation, and Charley 
 joining in, all connected talk was at an end. 
 
 " Are your children sick, sir ? " inquired the stranger, 
 coolly. 
 
 " No : only tired and hungry," replied Mr. Bell, shortly. 
 " It is past their usual bedtime." 
 
 " Their usual bedtime ! " The thought of each mother 
 flew to the cool, darkened nursery, with its small white 
 beds, and contented, healthful sleepers, as she had looked 
 upon them no longer ago than last night, and as the fretful 
 cries that were not now hushabte by any device of nurse-craft, 
 tortured her heart and nerves, the tears sprang into her eyes 
 at the contrast of the mind-picture with the present scene. 
 
 The stranger, meanwhile, unmindful of Mr. Bell's hint, 
 lounged to the window, and, leaning out, began a conversa- 
 tion with some one outside. He wheeled about quickly, as 
 Miss Saccharissa presented herself in the doorway, a lighted 
 lamp in her hand. 
 
 ft Are the rooms ready, Saccharissa ? " he asked, famil- 
 iarly. 
 
 " They are ! no thanks to you ! " she rejoined, poutingly. 
 
 " I couldn't help it ! Jemima kept me hard at work in 
 the kitchen until three minutes ago. I will make amends 
 by carrying the light up for you now," trying to take it 
 from her. 
 
 She gave him a push. 
 
 " You will do no such thing. Kee"p your help until I ask 
 for it, since you are so late offering it ! Will you please 
 walk up stairs ? " she continued to the amazed and dis- 
 gusted spectators of her behavior.
 
 310 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 Hats and -wrappings were hastily collected; the sobbing 
 infants shouldered by the much-enduring Milesians, and the 
 party defiled up a steep, narrow staircase into an upper hall, 
 surrounded on all sides by rows of doors leading into what 
 might have been closets, so near were the portals together. 
 
 "Mrs. Bell's apartment!" announced Miss Saccharissa, 
 engagingly, throwing wide one of these. "Your sister's 
 room adjoins it on the left. Mrs. Earle's is just opposite. 
 By leaving the doors of both rooms open, you can always 
 have a delicious draught of air through ; need never suffer 
 from the heat. You will find cool, fresh water, clean towels, 
 and lights in each chamber. I trust that everything is 
 arranged to your satisfaction. Supper will be served up in 
 fifteen minutes." 
 
 She said all this with the air of a princess welcoming 
 t:tled guests to her palace, and bowing at the close of her 
 speech, went smiling down the staircase, doubtless to finish 
 the love-scene, in which she had borne so spirited a part. 
 
 The Bells father, mother, three children, and nurse 
 crowded into the " apartment " allotted them, and gazed first 
 around them, and then at one another in blank astonish- 
 ment. A small, low-browed room, hardly ten feet long and 
 eight broad, with a sloping ceiling descending to within 
 three feet of the floor on one side, was ventilated (?) by two 
 tiny windows one pane deep and four in width. There 
 were two narrow bedsteads in opposite comers, covered with 
 patchwork quilts, neither new nor bright; between these 
 was a pine washstand, painted redj supporting a small basin 
 and a handleless ewer of different patterns. Two dingy 
 towels were hung on the back of the stand, and above it 
 was suspended a cheap cracked mirror. The floor was cov- 
 ered with a woollen carpet, faded and patched; a table of 
 the same material as the washstand, and even more diminu- 
 tive proportions, with a couple of wooden chairs, completed
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 311 
 
 the list of furniture. Upon the table flared and smoked a 
 tallow dip candle, set in a tin candlestick. 
 
 Harry was the first to find his tongue. 
 
 " Why, mamma, this must be Mary's and Norah's cham- 
 ber. We can't all sleep in here ! There doesn't begin to be 
 room for us!" 
 
 Poor Mrs. Bell, who had been growing hysterical for the 
 last hour, could now have sunk upon the uninviting bed 
 and cried heartily with chagrin and mortification. A pas- 
 sionate petition, born of intense homesickness, was already 
 upon her lips an entreaty to her indulgent and sympathiz- 
 ing husband to take her back to the city on the morrow; 
 but, at that instant, there came across the hall a roar a 
 shout of familiar laughter. She knew as well as if she had 
 seen him with her bodily eyes how Tom Earle was stamping 
 about the contemptible little chamber assigned to him and 
 his family, holding his sides, rocking and reeling in noisy 
 merriment at his wife's disappointment and surprised obser- 
 vations upon their quarters. 
 
 A glow arose to Mrs. Bell's cheek that dried the spring- 
 ing tears. 
 
 "I have lodged in smaller rooms than this, my son, at 
 watering-places that we^e crowded every year, and which 
 mantained a high reputation for fashion. Instead of com- 
 plaining, let us make the best of matters." 
 
 "Bravo!" said her even-tempered husband, deceived by 
 what he considered her cheerful philosophy, whereas it was 
 a flashing up of womanly spirit or spite, whichever it 
 might be called. "That is sensible! We wont trust to 
 first impressions, especially as we are unexpected guests. 
 Things may look very different to-morrow." 
 
 il They shall ! " responded Mrs. Bell, courageously ; and, 
 following out the principle she had laid down, she removed 
 her hat and mantle, and, seating herself in one of the hard
 
 312 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 chairs, took the baby in her arms and sent Mary down in 
 quest of milk for the famished innocent. 
 
 Baby Florence leaned her head against her mother's shoul- 
 der and suffered herself to be undressed, only an occasional 
 sobbing sigh testifying that the limit of her slender stock of 
 endurance was nearly reached. Mary was brave and shrewd 
 beyond the generality of her class; so ready of wit and 
 prompt in action, that her mistress marvelled at her pro- 
 longed absence. The summons to supper had sounded, and 
 Mr. Bell, like a good husband and efficient assistant in the 
 necessary nursery-work to be accomplished before the meal 
 could be partaken of, had found brushes, combs, and soap in 
 the travelling-bag; washed little Annie's face and hands and 
 smoothed her tumbled curls; then, having performed the 
 like offices for himself, and superintended Harry's efforts at 
 imitation, he took Florence, who was by this time arrayed 
 for bed, upon his arm, and, stalking back and forth in the 
 short alley between the bedsteads, sang the enlivening bal- 
 lad of 
 
 "Hey, diddle, diddle, 
 The cat and the fiddle." 
 
 Mrs. Bell had arranged her own hair and dress, when 
 Mary re-entered with a mug of milk in her hand. 
 
 "Did you have any trouble in finding the kitchen, 
 Mary ? " inquired her mistress, not noticing her heightened 
 color and worried expression. " I began to be uneasy about 
 you." 
 
 The girl was uniformly good-natured and respectful ; but 
 the native vehemence broke bounds now in the exclamation, 
 "No throuble at all in finding it, ma'am; but throuble 
 enough afther I got there ! " 
 
 Then ensued a burning account of her grievances, Mrs. 
 Bell being too much astonished at the unprecedented rush 
 of fiery words to check her at once. Mary had applied to
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 313 
 
 Miss Jemima t( the ould young leddy," as she designated 
 her for the milk, and this personage had sent a small 
 bound girl, the sole hired waitress of the establishment, 
 down cellar for the desired nourishment. Discovering, by 
 the combined aid of smell and taste, that it was sour, Mary 
 had very respectfully announced the fact to the mistress of 
 the kitchen. 
 
 "And sez she, ma'am, 'Ah!' sez she, 'it's the thun- 
 der this afternoon that has turned it, shure ! It ginerally 
 does ! ' And wid that, she wint on wid her work, leavin' 
 me a-sthandin' there wid the cup in me hand." Mary always 
 became intensely Irish in her speech when excited. "And, 
 sez I, prisently, makin' bould to spake for the sake of the 
 stharviu' darlint that was fair breakin' its heart for the lack 
 of somethin' to ate, sez I, * "Will you be so kind, ma'am, as 
 to tell me where I'll get a dhrop of swate milk, for it's sore 
 hungry the poor baby is ! ' Faith, ma'am, and she sthared 
 at me as if I had sivin heads, and sez she, raal scornful-like, 
 sez she, 'Do you always git fresh milk in the city, or shalk 
 and water ? ' ' Pure, swate milk ! ' sex I. ' Well,' sez she, 
 ' I wish you to understhand for the future, that its against 
 our rule to disturb the night's milk afther the crame has 
 begun to rise ; but seein' you are just come, I'll oblige yoxtr 
 misthress for this once.' Wid that, she took the cup her- 
 self, and wint off down cellar, and when she brought up the 
 cup, I'll be blamed, ma'am, if it wasn't half water! But 
 what could I do but ho wid my tongue and jest stay to warm 
 it the least bit over the fire, and put a grain of sugar in? 
 'Don't ye put hot wather in?' sez she. 'That's too rich 
 for a baby's stomach ! ' 'In general, I put one-third hot 
 wather,' sez I; 'but I'm afraid it might waken this too 
 much.' And as I come out, I heard her rail at me to her 
 sisters and the black-whiskered man for an impudent Irish 
 hussey ! " 
 
 27
 
 314 A BATTLE SCMMEK. 
 
 "There! there! Mary, say no more about it now ! " inter- 
 rupted Mrs. Bell, hurrying Harry and Annie from the room, 
 an order they obeyed with reluctance, so interested were 
 they in Mary's narrative. 
 
 Their father accompanied them down stairs, Mrs. Bell 
 lingering behind for a moment to give instructions as to 
 Florence's resting-place, and, as Mary cooled down from her 
 white heat, to administer a few judicious words of mingled 
 reproof and consolation. She then summoned up the most 
 cheerful look at her command, which, she was nevertheless 
 aware, was a poor counterfeit, and joined the rest of the 
 party in the dining-room. 
 
 This "apartment" to borrow the nomenclature of the 
 Misses Ketchum was according to the pattern of Barbara 
 Allen's death-couch, as ordered by that remorseful maiden, 
 " long and narrow." There was barely room for a single 
 person to pass between the wall and the row of chairs packed 
 closely together around the table. On one end of this was 
 spread a tablecloth of doubtful purity, leaving exposed a 
 cheerless stretch of pine boards, stained and spotted by spilled 
 liquids and hot dishes. A kerosene lamp, whose villanous 
 odor was peculiarly penetrating on this hot, still night, illum- 
 ined the feast. This consisted first of two plates of bread, 
 rye and wheat. Both were hard and both were heavy ; but 
 the rye was sticky and the wheat dry and sour, so there was 
 variety in that portion of the fare. These flanked a plate 
 of butter very oily, notwithstanding the well-stocked 
 ice-house, and which, before the meal was dispatched, was 
 dotted over with greedy flies and the lifeless remains of 
 rash candle-bugs ; variety there also, you perceive ! Then 
 came a dish of boiled eggs, eight in number exactly one 
 apiece for the party ; tea, remarkable neither for strength 
 nor heat, and having the unmistakable wishy-washy flavor 
 that betrays the haste or negligence of the maker in not
 
 A BATTLE 6UMMKR. 315 
 
 allowing the water to boil; a saltcellar and caster, and 
 nothing more ! 
 
 The three sisters were in obsequious attendance ; likewise 
 the man whom the guests had seen in the parlor. He made 
 ,himself principally useful by replenishing the teapot from a 
 kettle which he brought from the adjoining kitchen, and 
 alternately screwing up and screwing down the kerosene 
 lamp, thus producing an agreeable variation of light from 
 glare to gloom. The lamps were, it soon appeared, Miss 
 Saccharissa's care, and she made his officiousness in this 
 respect the foundation of another coquettish complaint. 
 
 "Be still, Saccharissa: you forget your position!" said 
 Miss Jemima, sharply. " Mr. Burley, let me introduce you 
 to the new members of our happy household. Mrs. Earle, 
 Mrs. Bell, Miss Rose, Mr. Earle, Mr. Bell ! This is Mr. 
 Burley, ladies and gentlemen ! A most important and 
 valuable ingredient of our social composition; I really do 
 not know what we should do without him. Have you 
 brothers, Mrs. Earle ? " 
 
 Mrs. Earle replied simply -" Yes, " not caring to remind 
 the querist of her relationship to Mr. Bell. She was both 
 weary and disgusted, and, as a natural sequence, wofully 
 oxit of spirits. 
 
 " Jemima, I am ashamed of you ! " interposed Hortensia. 
 " Mr. Bell is her brother ! How forgetful you are grow- 
 ing ! " 
 
 " If you had one-tenth on your mind that I have, Miss, 
 you would let a trifle slip from your memory, once in a 
 .while!" snapped the elder ; then, mollifying her tone into 
 one of pensive sentimentality, she pursued : " You can 
 hardly imagine, Miss Earle, how very desolate we felt away 
 up here, in the clouds, as one may say, with no guide and 
 protector, after being accustomed to the society and care of 
 our two brothers. When the elder left us for Washington,
 
 316 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 it was a fearful blow ; but when he accepted the foreign ap- 
 pointment, 1 thought that I could not survive it. I kept 
 my bed for a week. Indeed, my nerves have never recovered 
 from the shock. But we ought to be more patriotic, I know ; 
 ought to find consolation in the thought that he is serving 
 his country. Patriotism is a great virtue ; don't you think 
 so, Mr. Bell?" 
 
 " It is, certainly !" The unfortunate respondent looked 
 as if he thought that another egg would be a more desirable 
 thing in the then state of his physical system: but Miss 
 Jemima was obtuse to such untimely hints. 
 
 " Oh, I fairly dote upon patriotism ! So, when Mr. Bur- 
 ley came to us, it was like a gift from Heaven. He seems 
 just to fill up the vacant place in our home and hearts. I 
 never saw another man with such versatility of talent. He 
 can do anything. He made us a splendid pudding yester- 
 day, and some superb ice-cream to-day. He is a genuine 
 treasure." 
 
 " Have some more bread, Miss Rose ? I had a hand in 
 that, too ! " simpered Mr. Burley, who was evidently used 
 to this barefaced praise, and relished it amazingly. 
 
 Georgie declined the offered plate as coldly as was consist- 
 ent with common civility. She had conceived an intense 
 dislike for the man, heightened during every minute spent 
 in his presence by the bold regards he fixed upon herself. 
 He doubtless meant this for admiration; but it was none 
 the less offensive on this account. 
 
 " A vulgar, forward fellow ! " she said, mentally ; and for- 
 getting that they had, by coming hither, enrolled themselves 
 as Miss Jemima's friend and equals, she added, indignantly, 
 " What light has she to force her underbred admirers upon 
 our acquaintance ? " 
 
 " Jemima, Miss Rose will take another cup of tea ! " was 
 his next advance.
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 317 
 
 Georgie prevented him by a haughty gesture, when he 
 would have removed her cup. 
 
 " No, thank you, Miss Ketchum ! " she answered, as if 
 the proposition had emanated from that lady. 
 
 Mr. Burley understood her, for he reddened and frowned ; 
 then, leaning, in an attitude meant for negligent grace, against 
 the wall near Miss Rose's seat, he talked with Miss Saccha- 
 rissa, in a pretended ." aside " that was distinctly audible to 
 all present. The half-gallant, half-teasing strain was inter- 
 rupted by the rising of the company from table. 
 
 " Will you accompany me into the parlor and make the 
 acquaintance of your fellow- visitors ? " inquired Miss Jem- 
 ima. " We have some delightful people here ; some fine 
 conversationalists and excellent musicians. Our evenings 
 are very gay ; positively festive ! You are a musician, of 
 course, Miss Rose ? " 
 
 " I am sure she is ! She looks thoroughly accomplished !'' 
 said Miss Hortensia. 
 
 " And such a musical face !" observed Miss Saccharissa, 
 dulcetly. " We can promise you an appreciative auditory." 
 
 " Do come ! " cried they all, surrounding Georgie, and 
 moving towards the open door of the parlor. 
 
 " Mr. Norris !" hailed Miss Jemima's shrill tones to a 
 gentleman, who just then entered the hall from the piazza, 
 " we have secured such a prize to our musical circle ! Miss 
 Rose, Mr. Norris ! " 
 
 " Mrs. Bell, Mrs. Earle !" put in Miss Saccharissa. 
 
 " Mr. Earle, Mr. Bell !" finished Miss Hortensia. 
 
 " Do join us in persuading Miss Rose to indulge us with 
 some divine strains !" chorused the three. 
 
 Georgie fe].t like a hunted, worried fawn encompassed by a 
 
 pack of hounds. So rapid and clamorous was the attack, 
 
 that she nor her friends had found space to utter a word, 
 
 although both the matrons had striven to interfere in her 
 
 27*
 
 318 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 behalf. At the appeal to the passers-by, her anger reached 
 its height. " I may prepare for fresh insult ! " she thought, 
 and her every feature expressed her determination to resist 
 it by the most lofty dignity. 
 
 She stood, pale and apparently calm in her disdain, not 
 moving to shake off the hand Miss Saccharissa had laid upon 
 her shoulder, or vouchsafing a glance at the referee. How 
 soothingly fell the clear, deep accents upon her throbbing 
 pulses ! The voice was that of a gentleman, and the words 
 suited it. 
 
 " Excuse me, Miss Ketchum ! Such importunity from 
 me would be unwarrantable impertinence." Exchanging 
 his cold tone for one of cordial respect, he said : " If I am 
 not mistaken, we have met before, Mr. Earle !" 
 
 " We hate ! " exclaimed Tom, delightedly, returning the 
 grasp of the other's hand. " My dear," to his wife, 
 " you have heard me speak of Mr. Norris, one of my com- 
 panions on that trip to the Adirondacks, last year. This 
 is the gentleman, and I am right glad to meet him again." 
 
 " What a charming coincidence !" began the sisters. 
 
 Georgie waited to hear no more. Profiting by this tempt- 
 ing diversion of attention from herself, she glided unper- 
 ceived from the group and vanished up the stairway, nor 
 did she reappear below that night.
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 319 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE sun was redly visible above the brow of the mountain 
 next morning a rayless ball through the dim mist that 
 still enwrapped the valley, when Georgie and her niece 
 Annie, who had shared her chamber, descended to the piazza. 
 There was little temptation, even to tired travellers, to play 
 the sluggard upon the lumpy husk mattress and Lilliputian 
 pillows that had composed her couch. Moreover, the air of 
 her bed-closet was close to stifling, and had these things been 
 different, the incessant gabbling in the passages and lower 
 rooms would have put to flight all thoughts of sleep that 
 might have visited her after five o'clock. The unseasonable 
 uproar was the clatter, not murmur of three treble voices, 
 Miss Jemima's loudest and most piercing, and a base, which 
 Georgie knew for Mr. Burley's. Her room had a window 
 near the ceiling, a square aperture, without sash or shut- 
 ter, designed as a ventilator, and opening directly above the 
 staircase. Judging from the sounds that ascended through 
 this, she surmised that the invaluable Burley was assisting 
 his inamorata in sweeping and dusting the first floor, stairs 
 and piazza included. Finding sleep to be an impracticabil- 
 ity, and discovering that Annie was as wakeful as herself, 
 Georgie arose, dressed herself and the child, and, when the 
 voices of the quartette died away in the direction of the 
 kitchen, she ventured to leave her cell. 
 
 She was not the earliest, even of her party, on the ground, 
 for, seated comfortably upon a bench in the piazza, was Mr.
 
 320 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 Earle, in close confabulation with a young gentleman of de- 
 cidedly prepossessing appearance.* This, Georgie felt sure, 
 was Mr. Norris, although she had not seen him the preced- 
 ing evening. She made amends for her former discourtesy 
 by looking him straight in the eyes, now, as her brother-in- 
 law named him ; acknowleding secretly, as she did so, that 
 his face was as full of character and refinement as his voice. 
 Ilis countenance brightened visibly as he was presented to 
 her; but it was only the expression of pleasure one might 
 feel at the introduction to a friend's friend. There was not 
 a sign that he retained any memory of the disagreeable inci- 
 dent connected with their former meeting. The hot flush 
 passed from Georgie's cheeks, as she noticed this, and she 
 responded readily and gracefully to his efforts to engage her 
 in conversation. This was his second visit to the Ketchum 
 farm-house, she learned ; and while he could not control the 
 amused look that answered hers of inquiry, he yet spoke 
 guardedly of the indifferent accommodations, and the very 
 objectionable triumvirate that ruled the premises. There 
 were pleasant walks in -the woods and up the sides of the 
 mountain, he stated, and tolerable fishing at certain points 
 on the river. The hunting was not so good ; as to the trout, 
 he was rather skeptical ; but Mr. Earle and himself had just 
 been arranging the details of an expedition that should deter- 
 mine the truth or falsity of that theory very shortly. 
 
 Meanwhile, Annie Bell had .climbed to her uncle's knee, 
 and, too well trained to interrupt the talk of older people, 
 silently occupied herself in rubbing numerous fiery spots 
 sprinkled over her plump arms. Mr. Earle, chancing to 
 glance down at her, perceived these. 
 
 " What does this mean ? " he interrogated, taking one of 
 the inflamed members in his hand. 
 
 " They are mosquito bites," replied Georgie. " Our room 
 was full of them. Were you not troubled in the same way ? "
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 321 
 
 " They never trouble me, individually. They like me not," 
 said Mr. Earle. " Soho, mosquitoes ! Why, Miss Fol-de-rol, 
 the eldest sister, wrote to us that there never had been a mos- 
 quito seen within ten miles of Roaring River." 
 
 "You were correctly informed, sir!" said a pompous 
 voice behind him. It came from Mr. Burley, who now 
 thrust his head and shoulders out of the parlor window, 
 lounging easily upon the sill, as he continued his remarks. 
 " That nuisance is confined to the low countries and the sea- 
 coast. The creature is a lusus naturce hereabouts. The 
 eruption upon your niece's arms and face is a species of 
 rash that often appears upon the skin when one exchanges 
 an unhealthy for a pure air. It is nature's effort to throw 
 off the evil humors of the system. I notice premonitory 
 symptoms of the same breaking out on your forehead, Miss 
 Hose." 
 
 Georgie looked down in dignified silence. Mr. Norris 
 took care that she should not be obliged to speak. 
 
 " That is a reasonable theory, perhaps, Mr. Burley," he 
 responded, smiling; "but, like many other theories, it is 
 unfortunately at variance with facts." He plucked a leaf 
 from a tree overhanging the porch. " What title do you 
 bestow upon this insect, in the mountains ? If I had met 
 him in the less favored lowlands, I should not haA^e to apply 
 to you for information." 
 
 Mr. Earle's laugh was. echoed by Mr. Bell's, he having 
 just then emerged from the house. 
 
 " I should call that a well-gorged mosquito ! " said the 
 former, getting up to inspect the hapless creature, which 
 Norris held by the wings. 
 
 " I killed twenty-five of his comrades, all as comfortably 
 filled, before I left my chamber," observed Mr. Bell. " The 
 poor baby is terribly peppered. I had forgotten what a rare 
 species they are in these parts, or I would have captured a
 
 322 A BATTLE SUMLIEK. 
 
 dozen or so of the largest alive, and brought them down fur 
 exhibition." 
 
 This raillery was received by Mr. Burley with sulky ef- 
 frontery. Deigning no reply, he disappeared from the win- 
 dow, and, about ten minutes afterwards, came out upon the 
 piazza, his hands full of flowers, pinks, larkspur, and laven- 
 der, dripping with moisture. Walking up to Georgie, he 
 offered her a bunch of these, as stiff and tasteless a group 
 as could well be imagined. " We are all devotees of Flora, 
 here, Miss Rose." 
 
 Completely taken by surprise, Georgie accepted the bou- 
 quet, hardly knowing what she did. Recollecting herself 
 the next second, she dropped it into Annie's lap, transferring 
 it with a daintily contemptuous gesture of her pretty fingers 
 that made Nonis smile. It was certain that he liked her 
 none the less for it. 
 
 " Is that the major-domo of the establishment ? " queried 
 Mr. Bell, looking after the retreating Burley, as he obeyed a 
 call from the interior of the mansion. 
 
 "I have a fancy that he will become a partner one of 
 these days," answered Norris. " His present position is 
 somewhat ambiguous." 
 
 Mrs. Earle came down, heavy-eyed and pale, at the sound 
 of the breakfast-bell, and close behind her was Mrs. Bell. 
 
 " I did not sleep well, and have a wretched headache this 
 morning," she said, in reply to Georgie's affectionate inqui- 
 ries. " But I am not disheartened. When our trunks come, 
 we can arrange matters to suit ourselves. I have baby's 
 ciib-net among my things. It is three times larger than she 
 needs, and I have calculated that, by cutting it up, we can 
 furnish all our windows with mosquito-bars." 
 
 " I always said that you would be a famous manager in 
 the backwoods," rejoined her husband, patting her shoulder. 
 
 Spunky little woman ! She had reviewed the whole " sit-
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEK. 323 
 
 nation " in her restless brain, during the tedious hours of 
 that damp, breathless night, as she lay, in compulsory quiet 
 of body, upon the unyielding, uneven flock mattress, holding 
 Baby Florence tightly in her arms, lest she should roll from 
 the tall, narrow couch to the floor. Mr. Bell and Harry 
 had possession of the other bed. One of Mrs. Bell's main 
 resolutions was, that, since the ladies of the two families had 
 been most eager to try the experiment of a summer at Roar- 
 ing River, they should not be the first to complain. Like 
 most other spirited dames, she dreaded ridicule more than 
 physical inconvenience, and she foresaw that an early and 
 ignominious abandonment of a scheme she had been so for- 
 ward in advocating would furnish Tom Earle with perpetual 
 material for teasing. In imagination, she heard the whole 
 story talked over among the acquaintances to whom they had 
 described, in glowing terms, their contemplated retreat, be- 
 held herself and fellow-sufferers the mark for abundant jests 
 and unbearable pity, and she raised her little hand in a vow 
 that, what flesh and blood could endure, she would, and that 
 without a murmur. Furthermore, her sisters should do like- 
 wise ! 
 
 By some telegraphic communication, habitual to the sex, 
 these two were notified of her determination, and signified 
 their readiness to co-operate with her, ere they reached the 
 breakfast table. If the gentlemen chose to declare their 
 circumstances unbearable, upon them should rest the respon- 
 sibility of changing these, and the jeers of the public. Most 
 women could be martyrs in a cause like this ; and all three of 
 our fair Mends had rather more than the average amount of 
 wit and spirit. So each called up a smile that looked agreea- 
 ble and natural, in return for the profuse salutations of the 
 Misses Ketchum. These stood just within the dining-room 
 door, en desJiabille in calico wrappers ; en grande toilette as 
 to their hair, Miss Jemima's being puffed over her ears, Miss
 
 324 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 Saccharissa's curled, and Miss Hortensia's frizzed. Each 
 wore one of Air. Burley's bouquets. Miss Jemima's was at 
 the back of her head, Miss Saccharissa's above the left temple, 
 while Miss Hortensia's crowned the frizzled and pomatumed 
 pile on the very top of her cranium. As the other boarders 
 guests, I should say entered, they were presented, with 
 much pomp of language, if not of circumstance, to the later 
 comers. They were, taken as a whole, an attractive looking 
 company. There were half-a-dozen ladies besides those of 
 our party, and about the same number of gentlemen and 
 children, and all, with the single exception of Mr. Buiiey, 
 had the appearance and manners of well-bred people. 
 
 This last-named personage did not sit with the rest ; but 
 carved at a side-table, dispensing amazingly small strips of 
 a tough, leathery substance, complimented by the name of 
 "steak." There were, besides this chief viand, two large 
 soup plates of a mixture, suspicious in looks and odor, 
 called, " hash ; " two others of Stewed potatoes, hard, grayish, 
 aiid waxy; two pats of butter, and four piles of bread, 
 exactly similar in appearance and 'character to that served 
 up to the hungry travellers the night before. Bessie Earle, 
 a fastidious miss of six summers, turned up her nose at the 
 hash, and after a futile effort to masticate the steak, furtively 
 withdrew the gristly morsel from her mouth, and, depositing 
 it upon the side of her plate, declared to her mother that she 
 did " not feel like eating, somehow ! " Distressed at this 
 failure of appetite, Mrs. Earle turned to Miss Saccharissa, 
 who stood nearest her chair, and asked, politely, if the child 
 could have an egg. 
 
 " Certainly ! I hope you will never feel any hesitation in 
 asking for what you wish ! " replied that young lady, be- 
 nignly, and withdrew from the room to see to the fulfilment 
 of the request. 
 
 In a minute or two she was back again, and leaning over
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER 325 
 
 Mrs. Eaiie's shoulder, with unruffled urbanity of visage and 
 manner, expressed her regret that there was not an egg in tha 
 house. The last had been boiled for the late supper of the 
 previous evening. 
 
 " How, then, did they clear the coffee ? " wondered Mrs. 
 Bell, who always drank tea. 
 
 A glance at the muddy liquid in her husband's cup laid 
 this thought to rest. 
 
 " Eggs are awfully scarce ; frightfully dear ! " said Miss 
 Jemima, who had overheard the petition and reply. " And 
 in a family like ours we use an immense quantity. But I 
 think it is sinful to murmur. My brother writes me from 
 the city that they are sailing in their market for thirty cents 
 a dozen. Oh, oh, oh-h ! isn't that dreadful ! Just think 
 how the poor must suffer in those large towns ! And even 
 the middle and wealthy classes have to submit to privations 
 that we happy country people never dream of. When I re- 
 flect how many of my fellow-creatures subsist upon swill 
 milk, stale vegetables, and tasteless baker's bread, I am 
 moved to thankfulness that my lines were cast in such 
 pleasant places. Have you ever visited Washington, Mr. 
 Norris ? " 
 
 " I have, madam." 
 
 "The fare in the hotels there is abominable, isn't it? " 
 
 " It did not strike me as being unbearable." 
 
 "Didn't it? I passed one winter in Willard's, while my 
 brother was in Congress. O what a gay time I had ! I so 
 enjoyed meeting the distinguished men of the day ! My 
 brother's parlor was the favorite resort of such statesmen 
 as Clay, Crittenden, Webster, and Calhoun. I became very 
 intimate with them." 
 
 " Indeed ! I had not supposed that your brother was a 
 Congressman so long ago," rejoined Norris, with admirable 
 gravity. " I thought him comparatively a young man; your
 
 326 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 junioi', in fact. I never imagined that he was contemporary 
 with Calhoun." 
 
 " Is there nothing which that sweet child will eat, Mrs. 
 Earle ? " Miss Jemima became suddenly very solicitous for 
 Bessie's comfort. " We have such a variety that something 
 must surely tempt her. We always study to set a varied 
 and appetizing assortment of eatables before our friends." 
 
 " I will trouble you for a glass of new milk and a slice of 
 toasted bread, if you please. She is aot very well this morn- 
 ing, I think," said Mrs. Earle, in her gentle, lady -like way. 
 
 " Hortensia, give the order ! " said Miss Jemima briskly. 
 
 The milk was brought pretty soon, and, remembering 
 Mary's story, Mrs. Earle raised the glass to her own lips be- 
 fore giving it to Bessie. There was no mistaking the quality 
 of the beverage. It had been both skimmed and watered. 
 It did not even leave a white trace on the side of the tumbler 
 as it regained its level. 
 
 "I am veiy sorry," this time it was Miss Hortensia' s f 
 turn to be affably apologetic at Mrs. Earle's ear, - " but the 
 kitchen fire is so low that the cook says she cannot possibly 
 toast a slice of bread over it." 
 
 This genei:al lowness of condition was, by the way, as all 
 the boarders speedily discovered, a chronic complaint of the 
 kitchen-fire. 
 
 " It is so hot that we only kindle it up to prepare the reg- 
 ular meals," Miss Jemima explained. We could not work 
 in the room where a constant fire was kept." 
 
 Mi's. Earle had a queer sensation in her throat as she 
 broke up a piece of dry bread into Bessie's milk, and saw her 
 try, dutifully, in obedience to her injunction, to swallow it. 
 She recollected, as a morsel of consolation, that she had that 
 morning found still remaining in the luncheon-basket a store 
 of biscuits and sandwiches. How little she had known of 
 their real value when she provided so liberally for their
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 327 
 
 journey! She was glad to tliink, moreover, that there were 
 a box of crackers ; a fine old English cheese ; cakes, sugar, 
 lemons, wine, and wax candles among the baggage, which 
 would probably reach them before nightfall. Crusoe, on his 
 desert island, did not overhaul the chest cast ashore with 
 more trembling hope and anxiety than did this thrifty house- 
 wife and tender mother rehearse mentally the contents of 
 the precious boxes yet undelivered. 
 
 By nine o'clock the sun gave promise of throwing aside 
 the envious mantle of cloud, and the ladies caught with 
 avidity at a proposition broached by Mr. Bell, that they 
 should don hats and overshoes and walk to a neighboring 
 eminence, said to command a fine view. The grass was 
 high and wet in the orchard through which their way lay, 
 and the trees loaded with rain-drops ; but they were not to 
 be turned back by these trifles, remembering the ennui that 
 awaited them in the house they left behind. After ten min- 
 utes' tramp, they stood upon " Prospect Hill." It overlooked 
 meadow lands on either side of the river, in one direction ; 
 the Ketchum farm buildings in another; the view was 
 bounded abruptly upon two others by a range of prosaic, 
 monotonous mountains, with no particular beauty of outline ; 
 not high enough to be grand, nor was the forest that formed 
 their scanty covering noteworthy for aught except the fre- 
 quent black patches that interrupted the green, and the curl- 
 ing smoke, that betokened these to be the work of charcoal- 
 burners. The river was, at its broadest part, half a mile in 
 width ; a muddy, sluggish stream, wallowing between reedy 
 and marshy banks. 
 
 Georgie exclaimed with disappointment; then, remem- 
 bering the feminine compact, tried to divert her escort's 
 attention from her indiscretion. 
 
 "Why 'Roaring River'?" she asked. "It is quiet 
 enough here."
 
 328 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 " There is a tale to the effect that it is a turbulent rivulet 
 near its mountain source," replied Mr. Norris. " The Misses 
 Ketchum are eloquent in their description of the grand cas- 
 cade to be found by diligent search about twenty miles up 
 the stream. If you remain here until clear weather, Mrs. 
 Bell, we can make up a party to visit it. At this point, I 
 grant you, Miss Rose, that it ' roars you soft as any sucking 
 dove.' " 
 
 Mr. Earle ejaculated a monsyllable in his wife's ear, as, 
 warned by the darkening heavens that another shower was 
 at hand, they beat a precipitate retreat from their post of 
 observation. 
 
 " Bosh !" he said, emphatically, and she knew that the 
 scenery and the indoor accommodations flrere alike written 
 down in his books as a " sell." 
 
 It rained so persistently, for three days more, that the 
 question was gravely mooted whether the sun were here, as 
 in the polar regions, invisible for half the year. The first 
 day and a half were consumed by the Bell party in unpack- 
 ing trunks and contriving ways and means to convert their 
 cells into tenable habitations. " Stow close " was here, as 
 at sea, the imperative maxim. Trunks were summarily ban- 
 ished to the hall, even at the risk of torn dresses and bruised 
 shins. Under Mrs. Bell's strait, slender-limbed bedstead, 
 were packed, with due regard to order, first, a dozen bottles 
 of wine, and as many of porter, laid in rows upon their 
 sides ; then came a square tin box of crackers sweet, Gra- 
 ham, and butter and a round wooden one of cheese ; next, 
 a leather case of boots and shoes ; and nearest the foot a 
 covered clothes-basket. No decent mechanic in the crowded 
 streets of her native city would have endured to live in such 
 a fashion ; but the brave-souled matron said to herself and 
 others that it was absurd to expect the comforts of home 
 anywhere except at home, and made a heroic display of mer-
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 329 
 
 riment over the shifts to which they were obliged to resort 
 in order to move and breathe. 
 
 She was not singular in her philosophical principles 
 and attempted practice of the same. Yet the feeble show 
 of jollity that reigned nightly in the parlor which Miss 
 Jemima described as " the home of social mirth and intellect- 
 ual converse," deceived none of the participants therein into 
 a belief of its reality. The ladies crocheted and sewed about 
 the centre-table, conversing in subdued tones ; the gentlemen, 
 having discussed their cigars in the damp piazza, sauntered 
 in, one by one, and allowed themselves to be set down to 
 whist ; submitted to be talked to by one or the other, oftener 
 by all the Misses Ketchum, or sat gloomily apart, poring 
 over newspapers three days old ; for, among the advantages 
 of the place which Miss Jemima had accidentally omitted to 
 mention, was a semi- weekly, instead of a daily mail. The 
 triad of sisters were, we may safely say, the only ones who 
 really enjoyed their pet "evening reunions." The domestic 
 duties of the day were over ; the feeble kitchen fire allowed 
 to perish peacefully. Assisted by Mr. Burley, Miss Saccha- 
 rissa had washed and wiped the dishes ; Miss Jemima ar- 
 ranged the preliminaries for breakfast, and stored the day's 
 scraps ; Miss Hortensia scolded, while she helped the bound- 
 girl to put water in every room and towels where they were 
 due ; for these indispensable articles were, like the mail, dis- 
 tributed but twice a week, and then only one or two to each 
 room. And, decked in other and gayer robes than they had 
 worn through the hours of daylight, the Misses Ketchum ap- 
 peared in the state apartment and addressed themselves to 
 the work of entertaining their " friends." Not that what 
 Mr. Earle rudely, but confidentially anathematized as their 
 " confounded clack," was more incessant then than at other 
 times. All three talked continually, Miss Jemima especially. 
 Sleeping, dusting, cooking, serving, or waiting, her tongue 
 28*
 
 330 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 was a terrible confirmation of St. James' wisdom and knowl 
 edge of the gentler portion of mankind, when he pronounced 
 it to be an " unruly evil, which no man can tame." 
 
 But, in the social gathering after, tea, the hostesses sank 
 the kitchen and chamber-work. Belles-lettres, the fine arts, 
 fashions and flirtations were matters to which they did there 
 most seriously incline. Then would Miss Jemima beg leave 
 to delight the company with " the sweetest thing " from 
 Tupper or Willis, and enunciate astounding bits of informa- 
 tion concerning this or that author, generally a fragment of 
 personal history, she vouching for the authenticity of the 
 story upon the strength of an acquaintanceship with the no- 
 tabi'ity under discussion, formed " in my brother's parlor in 
 "Washington, while he was a member of Congress." The 
 parlors, so often aforesaid, would seem to have been an 
 omnium gatherum of celebrities, since there was scarcely 
 one belonging to this century whom she had not met within 
 its charmed precincts during that " heavenly winter in the 
 capital.' Miss Jemima was strong upon adjectives. 
 
 During these three days and nights, the most powerful 
 emotion of our city party, mastering even their extreme 
 sense of discomfort, and soreness of acknowledgment that 
 they were the victims of an egregious and barefaced imposi- 
 tion, was a feeling of overwhelming wonderment at volu- 
 bility so amazing, to them unprecedented and terrific. The 
 marvel was that the woman's vocal apparatus did not abso- 
 lutely wear out. 
 
 " Sheet-iron and steel springs would have gone to wreck 
 long ago, with one-half the friction," said Mr. Earle. " But 
 gabbling is Jemima's normal state. She does violence to her 
 whole nature whenever she shuts her mouth."
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 331 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AT last the sky really grew clear, the mists rolled sullenly 
 out of sight into their mountain hiding-places, and the 
 Ketchum house gave up its prisoners. The children, wild 
 with joy, were thickly shod and permitted to ramble in the 
 garden, a tolerably extensive plot of vegetables, bounded by 
 cuiTant-bushes ; the babies' carriages were brought out into 
 the drier, because treeless, area between the house and the 
 bam ; the gentlemen were busy with live bait and fishing- 
 tackle; the ladies dispersed in various directions some to 
 gather flowers and beriies, while others preferred accom- 
 panying their husbands and brothers in the excursion upon 
 the liver. 
 
 Mesdames Bell and Earle were adjudged by Mr. Norris to 
 be, with their respective lords, full weight for the capacious 
 family-boat they had engaged for the season. The young 
 man had, for his own use, a tight-built, jaunty little skiff, 
 that danced on the water like a cork. Would Miss Rose 
 honor his humble craft by becoming his passenger ? 
 
 With a blush and a smile that made her look prettier than 
 before, Georgie thanked him for the compliment, and, giving 
 him her hand, stepped lightly into the boat and took her seat 
 in the stern. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Norris ! " called out a sharp voice that was 
 only too familiar to the ears of all. " What a naughty story- 
 teller you are ! Didn't you declare to me, last week, when 
 I almost went down upon my knees to you to entreat you to
 
 332 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 give me a sail in your beauteous ' Butterfly,' that it would 
 not be safe for a lady to go in her ? And here you are in- 
 veigling Miss Rose into danger ! Mrs. Bell, I wouldn't 
 trust my sister alone with such a wicked, reckless man ! 
 Miss Rose, I warn you against his machinations ! " 
 
 With a movement savoring more of impatience than any 
 other that Georgie had as yet seen in him, Norris swept the 
 bow of the skiff around by a stroke of his oar. 
 
 " I said that, in my opinion, it would be unsafe for you to 
 go with me, Miss Jemima. I thought so then, I know it 
 now." 
 
 Miss Jemima commenced an energetic reply, not one word 
 of which they understood, as they moved down the stream, 
 the three pairs of oars clicking unnecessarily loudly in the 
 rowlocks, but the sound of her unmelodious tones pursued 
 them until they lost sight of her behind a bend in the river. 
 
 She presented a remarkable figure as she stood on the 
 bank watching them. On her head was a wide-brimmed 
 straw hat, yellowish brown, from the combined influence of 
 rain and sunshine. To the edge of the flapping brim was 
 sewed a curtain of green cambric, thrown back in front ; her 
 dress was a faded print, tucked up to avoid draggling, and 
 on her arm she carried a basket, she being bound upon a 
 berrying expedition. She was a homely woman at the best, 
 but, seen thus, with a vixenish look in her gray eyes, and a 
 mortified sneer she tried vainly to alter into a playful smirk, 
 curling her lip and lifting her retroussee nose, she was at 
 once a ludicrous and an unlovely spectacle. Our voyagers 
 were human, and they united in a hearty laugh when she 
 disappeared from their view. 
 
 " Grand tableau ! Dido calling vainly upon ^Eneas ! " 
 said Mr. Earle. " Take care how you handle that egg-shell 
 of yours, Norris. Who knows but she may have cast an 
 evil spell upon it."
 
 A BATTO SUMMEK. 333 
 
 " I defy her witchcraft ! " returned Norris, glancing invol- 
 untarily at the fair, sweet face of his " passenger " a look 
 of unconscious meaning, that seemed to claim her as his good 
 genius, whose pure influence would render all malevolent 
 designs powerless. 
 
 " But were you really so ungallant as to refuse her passage 
 in your fairy barque ? " inquired Mrs. Earle. 
 
 "I told her the truth, madam, that it would be a peril- 
 ous experiment for her to accompany me ; that I thought it 
 more than likely thaf one or the other of us would be at the 
 bottom of the river before we had gone a mile. She would 
 have run a great risk, for my patience is not illimitable, and 
 better men than I have been driven by a woman's tongue to 
 murder or to suicide. I can assure you that you are per- 
 fectly safe, Miss Rose," he added, lowering his voice, as the 
 boats drifted apart. " The boat is entirely staunch, and I 
 am not an inexperienced oarsman." 
 
 "I know it. I have not thought of fear," was the simple 
 rejoinder, uttered with an ingenuous trust that sent a thrill 
 to Norris's heart. 
 
 " What are you musing about, Tom ? " asked Mrs. Earle, 
 touching her husband's arm. 
 
 Her own regards being fixed upon the handsome young 
 couple, and her mind engrossed by a pleasant thought relat- 
 ing to them, that had just entered her brain, she was not 
 quite prepared for his reply. 
 
 " I was dreaming of Miss Jemima's berry-basket. I hail its 
 stained sides as the harbinger of better things for the future 
 something less odious than the pie-plant stewed in molasses, 
 with which she has physicked us for three evenings past. 
 Berries of any description, however green and sour, would 
 be an epicurean treat in comparison with that villainous 
 dose." 
 
 " Why, she recommended it as the most wholesome sweet-
 
 334 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 
 
 meat in the world, ' quite medicinal,' " returned his brother- 
 in-law. 
 
 The two ladies were instantly and gravely silent. 
 
 " So was Mrs. Squeers' matutinal potion of brimstone and 
 treacle," growled Tom, making a face. " I should not be 
 surprised, some morning, to find Jemima waiting to catch us 
 all at the foot of the staircase, with Burley standing by to 
 hold the bowl, intent upon administering to each of her 
 dearly beloved guests a spoonful of the delectable compound, 
 just to cool the blood." 
 
 "How fast that little boat goes!" Mrs. Bell adroitly 
 changed the subject. 
 
 Norris was, indeed, pulling with a will, but was not so en- 
 grossed with his work as to be insensible to the charms of 
 the pleasing picture opposite to him. Georgie wore a sum- 
 mer poplin, a silver-gray fabric; about her shoulders was 
 cast a light worsted shawl, chinchilla and crimson ; a pi- 
 quante hat, black straw, with a drooping black plume, shaded 
 her eyes. These were downcast in modesty or reverie, and 
 one delicate hand hung over the gunwale into the water. She 
 was watching the miniature waves, as they broke 'up to 
 her wrist, and enjoying their cool, rapid rush between her 
 fingers. So gleeful and full of repose were her attitude and 
 expression that she seemed to shed peace and blessing around 
 her, like the delicious quiet of a fragrant summer's eve. 
 
 " Can she and the fright we left screeching on shore 
 belong to the same sex ? " meditated the gazer. 
 
 Great is the power of contrast, and this one was too strik- 
 ing not to have a telling effect upon imagination and heart. 
 Miss Jemima never knew it, and there is reason to believe 
 that she would not have gone into ecstacies of delight if she 
 had ; but this unavoidable comparison settled a momentous 
 question ; showed Mr. James Norris that Georgia Rose took 
 rank above any other woman in his estimation and affections.
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 335 
 
 Miss Jemima had actually helped one of her " friends " to an 
 eligible wooer. 
 
 The two boats met again on the fishing-ground, or water. 
 Oars were drawn in, tackle disentangled, bait adjusted and 
 persuasively lowered, and the solemnly exciting sport com- 
 menced. For half an hour all watched and waited before 
 the ball was opened by Mr. Earle's capture of a prodigious 
 catfish. Norris next secured a fine silver perch, and after 
 that affairs assumed a more interesting aspect. Decidedly, 
 the best feature of Roaring River was the fishing. Norris 
 was a capital angler, and evinced such zeal and skill in the 
 amusement that Georgie was ashamed to confess how devoid 
 of attraction it seemed to her. She shuddered when the 
 barb was thrust into the quivering, squirming minnows that 
 did duty as bait; she grew tired of staring at the sun-bright 
 water, that made head and eyes ache, until to her dazzled 
 sight the motionless "float" changed from white and green 
 to scarlet, then to black ; then became utterly invisible for 
 one blind, dizzy second. Whenever it really disappeared, 
 she felt a nervous shock, although it was the very thing she 
 was instructed to expect and hope for, and the chief end of a 
 float's creation, and drew in her line so hastily as usually to 
 detach the fish that had laid hold of the hook, and to send 
 him flying back to his native element. She deprecated her 
 awkwardness when this happened, and perhaps felt the mor- 
 tification her looks and language expressed, but she inwardly 
 rejoiced, at the same time, at the release of the writhing 
 innocent. Her spoils were not numerous, as may be sup- 
 posed. For an hour, all that she had safely landed in the 
 boat were two small "shiners," so tiny that Norris laugh- 
 ingly seconded her motion to return them to the river, and a 
 catfish of decent dimensions. By and by, Norris heard her 
 call in a half-frightened tone, "I think that I must havo 
 hooked Leviathan himself! " and hastening to her assistance,
 
 336 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 found her tugging desperately at some heavy weight. Taking 
 the line from her, he hauled the prize to the surface : a black 
 nose, a horrid, gaping mouth, filled with jagged teeth, a long, 
 shrivelled neck and shining shelL 
 
 " It looks like a walrus ! " cried Georgie. 
 
 " It is a monstrous mud-turtle ! We have no accommoda- 
 tions for his lordship," returned Norris. 
 
 Scarcely had the mirth at her alarm and the nature of her 
 captive subsided when Georgie exclaimed, " This time it 
 is the sea-serpent ! " and, in a paroxysm of laughter and 
 fear, threw into the bottom of the skiff an immense eel, 
 twisting and floundering, and effecting such a complete tan- 
 gle of his own sinuous length and the lines as only an eel 
 can do. 
 
 Georgie was really pale when Norris, with the help of his 
 clasp-knife, had freed the creature from the coil of twine, 
 and, rolling him up, unceremoniously thrust him into the 
 covered basket provided for their booty. It was plain that 
 she was too timid or too sensitive to cultivate the piscatory 
 art with any hope of success. Blaming himself for not 
 having sooner relieved her from an embarrassing position 
 and distasteful employment, Norris reeled in his line, and 
 proposed a row up the stream. There were rocky banks and 
 shady coves a mile further up, where, the channel being 
 more shallow, there was no danger of her taking such gro- 
 tesque specimens. Georgie consented with a glad face that 
 confirmed his resolve not to allow her to throw another hook 
 that day. He said, moreover, to himself, that he admired 
 her for this womanly shrinking from giving needless pain, 
 and from seeing and handling these uncomely reptiles. 
 They had a pleasant pull back, past their starting-point, 
 towards the mountain gorge that afforded passage to the 
 river. At length, Norris ran the bows on shore into a 
 thicket of flowering shrubs, and sprang out to gather a
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 337 
 
 bouquet for his companion. She watched him for a time as 
 he mounted mossy rocks and trod gingerly on marshy ground 
 to obtain the bright blossoms that grew in profusion all 
 around; then quitted the boat and joined the hunt. It was 
 a delightful ramble to both, and, tempted by one and 
 another delicate favorite and brilliant stranger, they wan- 
 dered nearly a quarter of a mile away from the landing. 
 
 In her purity of heart and thought, it never occurred to 
 Georgie that there could be impropriety in strolling from 
 bush to vine with her brother's friend, picking ' here a 
 flower, there a cluster of berries, or standing, as they 
 frequently did, for whole minutes together, inhaling the 
 spicy smell of the evergreens, admiring the rich green moss 
 that draped every fallen trunk and stone, enjoying the 
 pipings and twitterings of the birds that flew above their 
 heads in the sunshine, and speaking softly of these and 
 other beautiful things. It seemed profanation to break by 
 incautious tones the spell of holy silence nature had thrown 
 about the place. 
 
 Returning in the direction of their boat, they were 
 awakened from their midsummer dream by a sort of rhyth- 
 mical screeching proceeding from the cove where their craft 
 lay. Noriis smothered an exclamation of petulant disgust 
 as he stepped quickly ahead of his fair charge towards a 
 natural hedge of evergreen crowning the little cliff. After a 
 peep through it, he beckoned silently to Georgie, his eyes 
 brimful of fun, and his lips apart in noiseless laughter. 
 Eight beneath them, in the stern of the skiff, sat Miss 
 Jemima, her unique head-covering thrown back upon her 
 shoulders, her hair dishevelled, her eyes upturned, and her 
 self wrapped in the enjoyment of her own music. 
 
 "My skiff is by the shore; 
 
 She's light, she's freeze I 
 To ply the feathered oar 
 IB joy for me-e-o 1
 
 338 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 And, as we glide along, 
 My song shall be-e-e, 
 My dearest one I love but thee ! 
 
 Trala, la, la, la-a-a, la, la, la, lal 
 
 Tra la, la, la-a-a-a-e-e-e / " 
 
 The cadenza was absolutely frightful, and, feeling unable 
 to bear a repetition, Norris descended the shelving side of 
 the rock into full view of the songstress, and turned to assist 
 Georgie down. 
 
 " I am making myself at home, you perceive, Mr. Norris," 
 commenced the talking-machine, not offering to vacate the 
 seat that had been Georgie's." Oh-h-h! I have had the 
 sweetest time here, holding communion with nature. I do 
 so adore nature! As the divine Cowper or is it darling 
 Tupper who says 'I am never less alone than when alone'? 
 Solitude is my specialty; so is nature. I feel refreshed, 
 elevated, purified by my season of converse with the holy 
 mother. She has few more devout worshippers than my- 
 self. I was so weary! I have walked at least five miles; 
 and. chancing to espy your lovely Peri's shell lying here, I 
 formed the bold resolution of casting myself upon your 
 charity, and begging for a passage homeward in her. See 
 what splendid berries and a basketful! Wont they pay 
 for my ticket ? And your ' Butterfly ' put me so in mind 
 of that delicious little song of Moore's, ' Come, O come with 
 me!' that I could not help chanting it, and we have had 
 quite a concert I and the birds." 
 
 This was too much. Norris was vexed and Georgie dis- 
 concerted by the prospect of the addition to their load, but 
 both were obliged to laugh. 
 
 "There must be a colony of crows near by," said the 
 former, sotto voce, pretending to pluck a flower close to 
 Georgie's feet. "The insult to the feathered tribe can be 
 excused upon no other hypothesis." 
 
 But how to get out of the present dilemma was a serious
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 339 
 
 question. The idea of ending a forenoon that had been 
 elysian in its delights by a row home with this bedlamite 
 thus he termed her in his irritated musings facing him, 
 and chattering like a score of magpies, in place of the dear 
 and beauteous vision that had blessed his eyes, and the soft, 
 musical accents that had wooed his hearing for hours past, 
 was intolerable ; yet there sat Miss Jemima, a stubborn fact, 
 and one hard to rid himself of. For once her everlasting 
 tongue furnished him with a welcome thought. 
 
 " I suppose you were very successful in your fishing, were 
 you not, Miss Rose? I have no doubt that you are an 
 adept in all descriptions of angling. Don't you think so, 
 Mr. Norris ? " with a spiteful little laugh. " She angles 
 well for hearts, as we have already discovered. Are you 
 fond of water sports, Miss Rose ? " 
 
 " I hardly know," Georgie answered, not yery audibly. 
 
 Ifc would not have signified if she had said nothing, for 
 the machine was under a full head of steam, and stayed not 
 for such trifles as replies. 
 
 "Now, jTdote upon the water ! Oh-h-h ! I think aquatic 
 amusements perfectly magnificent ! Fishing, bathing, sail- 
 ing, rowing ! I can fish like dear old Izaak Walton, whose 
 poems we all admire so much; swim like a duck; sail as 
 long as a genuine Jack Tar, and row like anything! I 
 have often, after a hard day's work, pulled myself and sisters 
 three miles down the river and back, just for recreation, on 
 a moonlight night. Water is my specialty." 
 
 " In that case, I am acting a kindly hospitable part in 
 .resigning the 'Butterfly' entirely to you," said Norris, 
 politely. " Deal gently with her, if you please ! She is 
 coquettish and delicate, like her insect namesake. Miss 
 Rose and I are going to walk through the woods, in con- 
 tinuation of our botanical studies; that is, unless you are 
 tired," he added, turning to Georgie.
 
 34:0 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 She answered, rather too eagerly : " Not in the least ! I 
 shall enjoy the walk of all things." 
 
 "I cannot consent," remonstrated Miss Jemima, vehe- 
 mently. " I am shocked at the thought of doing so rude a 
 thing. There is plenty of room for us all. I am light as a 
 feather positively aerial, and " 
 
 " The last feather broke the camel's back, you remember," 
 interposed Norris. " The matter is settled, Miss Jemima. 
 Shall I have the pleasure of pushing you off?" as cour- 
 teously as he would have requested a partner's hand for a 
 dance. 
 
 Not pausing for a response, he gave the boat a shove 
 meant to be gentle but effectual, which sent the " Peri's shell " 
 rocking and pitching into the middle of the creek. 
 
 " Murder ! " screamed Miss Jemima. But she scrambled 
 over into the middle seat and seized the oars, handling them 
 like an expert in the business before her. 
 
 " J3on voyage t " said Norris, lifting his hat. And the 
 pedestrians disappeared among the trees. 
 
 A vinegar visage and a bitter heart went down the muddy 
 stream in the Butterfly. The botanists carried smiling faces 
 and buoyant spirits along the path through wood and 
 meadow. 
 
 " Are you sure that I have not wearied you ? " inquired 
 Norris, as they reached the farm-house gate. " Your friends 
 will scold me, and I shall not soon forgive myself if this 
 walk has been too much for your strength." 
 
 " The walk ! you must not think me such a fragile, fine 
 lady that a ramble of half a mile can break me down," 
 smiled Georgie. 
 
 It was nearer a mile in length, as Norris knew, but did 
 not say, however well pleased he may have been at the com- 
 pliment to his society, so innocently implied. 
 
 In crossing the lawn they had to pass the door of the
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 341 
 
 wash-house, a small building to the left of the family" resi- 
 dence. The doors, front and rear, were open to secure a free 
 circulation of air ; and between these, to get the benefit of 
 said draught, stood Mr. Burley, hat and coat off, diligently 
 turning the crank of a washing-machine. Outside, Daffy, 
 the small bound-girl, was stretching wet clothes upon the 
 line. Upon a chair in the front doorway sat Miss Saccha- 
 rissa, her hair in full curl, and, as usual, dressed with Mr. 
 Burley's floral offerings, her hands crossed idly, and her 
 smiling face turned bewitchingly towards her stalwart adorer. 
 It was a received principle among the Ketchums that smiles 
 were more easily given than shillings, and in this currency 
 the fair Saccharissa was recompensing her washer-man. 
 
 " Hercules and the distaff," said Georgia, softly. 
 
 " Mantalini and the mangle, rather," was the response. 
 
 The speaker took no pains to conceal the contempt min- 
 gled in his amusement, and Mr. Burley, who was not dull- 
 witted, detected it. 
 
 " You may consider this an unmanly occupation, Mr. Nor- 
 ris," he observed, brushing the soap-scented vapor from his 
 black moustache ; " but I rise superior to the contemptible 
 prejudice and false pride that make a man ashamed to ren- 
 der himself useful in any way." 
 
 " Mr. Burley is the soul of gallantry, the very embodi- 
 ment of high-souled chivalry, a rare combination in these 
 degenerate days," simpered Miss Saccharissa, augaredly. 
 " Daffy, lend a hand at that clothes- wringer ! " 
 
 " ' Spirits are not finely touched 
 But to fine issues, 1 " 
 
 quoted Norris, involuntarily, as the Hercules shook out the 
 wrung tablecloth and tossed it, with a triumphant air, upou 
 the heap of wet clothes in the basket. 
 
 Burley failed to take in the exact words, but he inter- 
 29*
 
 34:2 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 preted their meaning, and resented it after the manner of 
 his class, by 'a cut at the real offender over the shoulders of 
 another. It was safer to be impertinent to a lady than in- 
 sulting to a full-grown, able-bodied man. Georgie's poplin 
 skirt was looped above a Balmoral, gray and crimson, reveal- 
 ing her high, neatly-laced walking-boots. Glancing from her 
 feet to her face, where there was a merry play of roses and 
 dimples, the gentleman (?) asked, in a rudely familiar tone : 
 
 " Miss Rose, will you inform me what is the utility or 
 beauty of wearing a skirt so long that you have to fasten it 
 up whenever you put your foot to the ground ? " 
 
 Norris flushed up angrily, and would have retorted, but 
 Georgie was too quick for him. 
 
 " Not being so thorough a utilitarian as yourself, Mr. Bur- 
 ley, I do not know that I can give you a satisfactory reply. 
 I presume, however, that this very sensible fashion is an- 
 other illustration of the beauty and propriety of adaptation 
 to circumstances" 
 
 " Don't see it ! " muttered Burley, interrupting her. 
 
 " Because you did not hear me through. I was about to 
 give an analogous example. There are persons with whom 
 we feel it to be needless to practise formal reserve, as my 
 dress fears nothing from a well-swept carpet ; while from 
 others we shrink as surely and with ^ much reason as I 
 loop up my skirt lest it should suffer by contact with the 
 muddy earth." 
 
 And, having said this, with the most innocent air conceiv- 
 able, she dropped him a little bow, such as a princess might 
 deign to bestow upon a presuming boot-black, and walked on 
 with her attendant. She meant to huff one man she never 
 suspected that she elated another, but they both knew the 
 double effect produced by her repartee, and so did Miss Sac- 
 charissa. It was hourly becoming more evident that our 
 Georgie was an an incorrigible rebel to the beautiful system
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 343 
 
 of social equality which lay at the base of the Ketchum 
 domestic organization. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Earle had already returned from the fishing- 
 banks, and she upon one bed, he on the other, were resting 
 after the exertions of the morning and preparatory to dress- 
 ing for dinner. He was quite asleep ; she was half-way to 
 the land of dreams, when a hubbub in the direction of the 
 wash-house awoke her. Raising herself upon one elbow, she 
 peeped through the window and beheld Miss Jemima, bas 
 ket in hand, her hat pushed back from a very red face, dis- 
 coursing excitedly to her sisters and Mr. Burley. 
 
 " I never was so insulted in all my born days ! " was the 
 first intelligible sentence that reached Mrs. Earle ; " never ! 
 never ! never ! " beginning to sob ; " and I'll have my re- 
 venge upon him, so I will ! and I am ashamed of you, Mr. 
 Burley, that you will stand by tamely and hear of it and I 
 am disgusted with you, Hortensia, for submitting to have 
 your beau stolen right under your nose by a doll-faced minx 
 like that, and Saccharissa ! if you don't stop laughing, I'll 
 make you sorry for it ! Daffy ! what are you doing, standing 
 there, listening ? Off to the kitchen with you ! " 
 
 A cuff upon the ear enforced this order, and the termagant 
 marched off, driving the whimpering handmaiden before her.
 
 344 A BATTLE SUMMEB. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE supper, that evening, was marked by t\vo interesting 
 features : first, the substitution of dewberries for the brown- 
 ish-green mixtures whose virtues as a febrifuge were lauded 
 by the manufacturer thereof, but which commended itself 
 neither by taste, odor, nor appearance, to the fancy of those 
 for whose benefit it was prepared ; secondly, clean napkins 
 were dealt to all at the board. 
 
 I should fail in presenting to my readers a true picture of 
 this model establishment which I beg the charitable to be- 
 lieve is not sketched from the life if I were to omit men- 
 tion of the table-napkin system. A fresh supply of these 
 useful squares of napery was furnished every Wednesday to 
 the guests. A slip of paper, containing the name of the 
 owner, was carefully pinned to each, and the advice of the 
 proprietors was that all should take their napkins up to 
 their bed-rooms, at the conclusion of every meal, lest this 
 distinguishing mark should become detached and unpleasant 
 exchanges result from the loss. There was not one who did 
 not appreciate the wisdom of this counsel, when it was found 
 that there would be no more clean table-linen until these had 
 fulfilled their week. For two or three days, as the case 
 might be, the absurd and increasingly soiled little rolls were 
 carried up and down stairs, one of the children being gener- 
 ally appointed bearer for each family ; then, in very shame 
 and disgust, they were tossed into the receptacle for dirty, 
 linen, and such as had brought napkins of their own along,
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEB. 345 
 
 in anticipation of picnics in greenwood and on river, used 
 theirs, while others had recourse to pocket-handkerchiefs. 
 - But, to-night, there were clean napkins, thanks to Man- 
 tilini and the mangle ; and the Misses Ketchum felicitated 
 their visitors upon the luxury. Miss Jemima, who had been 
 snappish at dinner-time to such a degree that she felt her- 
 self called upon to remind each one of her sisters that she 
 was forgetting her position, had cooled down by sunset, or 
 had concluded to bottle her wrath. 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! oh-h-h ! " she said over her shoulder, while 
 pouring out the tea, at the side-table. " Isn't a washing- 
 machine the invention of the age ? Just think ! we washed 
 out all the towels and table-linen for the whole establishment 
 in one hour and a half! " 
 
 "Mamma!" chirped Annie Bell, "see!" poking five 
 small, pink fingers through the like number of rents in her 
 napkin. 
 
 Everybody laughed, more heartily than the case seemed to 
 warrant. 
 
 " Yes, dear," returned Miss Jemima, nowise abashed ; " I 
 meant to get some new ones this season, but they were too 
 awfully deai\ We ought to be thankful to have any. I 
 know some professed boarding-houses where such a thing as 
 a napkin is never seen on the table. Now, we don't pretend 
 to keep a boarding-house, but we do give our friends tho 
 comforts o~f a home, let it cost what it may. Everything is 
 shockingly expensive, now ; don't you think so, Mrs. Earle ? 
 I paid fifteen cents a pound for that very sugar you are now 
 putting into your cup." 
 
 " Indeed ! " answered the amiable lady addressed, with 
 equal sincerity and politeness, " I should not have supposed 
 that it cost so much." 
 
 Another, but a partially suppressed movement of applause. 
 The guests were fast learning to make common cause against
 
 34:6 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 their oppressors ; a feeling manifested only by such slight 
 and guarded exhibitions of sympathy. All were well-bred, 
 accustomed to elegance, some to luxuriousness of fare and 
 household appointments. How they bore their present 
 mode of life was a puzzle even to themselves. But there 
 were various things that rendered a change of place a matter 
 difficult of accomplishment. It was now the height of the 
 fashionable season, and watering-places and country board- 
 ing-houses had never been more crowded. It was almost 
 hopeless to think of securing lodgings for families at any of 
 these, and the extreme heat of the weather forbade a pre- 
 mature return to the city life. This location all believed to 
 be healthy, besides being so remote from all public thor- 
 oughfares as to make the removal of -baggage and babies a 
 serious undertaking. Then, again, the society assembled 
 here leaving out the Ketchums and their lover assistant 
 was irreproachable. Social and kindly, in feeling and con- 
 duct, the boarders did much towards the relief of one 
 another from the many disagreeable features of their situ- 
 ation. For example : one gentleman, the head of a family, 
 whose arrival had preceded that of the Bells and Earlcs by 
 ten days, having discovered that the scarcity of eggs was, 
 like the debility of the kitchen-fire a constitutional infirmity 
 of the menage, visited the neighboring farms and obtained 
 the promise of a liberal supply of these desirable and popular 
 edibles. Henceforward, a dish of them always graced the 
 upper end of the board, where sat the purchaser, and three 
 as invariably found their way to the plates of Harry and 
 Annie Bell and Bessie Earle, although their parents grate- 
 fully declined the polite offer of the -delicacy for their own 
 use. 
 
 For eggs were delicacies here, rare dainties upon a 
 breakfast-table where, day after day, and week after week, 
 the eyes of wistful "guests" were never greeted by a warm
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 347 
 
 biscuit or griddle-cake of any description; where the article 
 " bread " meant always the four piles of sour wheat and 
 heavy rye ; where the beef was tough beyond comparison, 
 and, to use an expressive, if a vulger term, " cowey " to the 
 smell, giving, as Mr. Earle said, " indubitable evidence of 
 having borne the yoke in a youth that belonged to the far 
 past ; " where the ham, that sometimes diversified the bill of 
 fere, was not unfrequently tainted; -where the potatoes 
 were always grayish and unpleasantly glutinous ; above all, 
 where the hash, as was discovered by the horrified Mary, 
 and testified to by the sickened Norah, was compounded of 
 the miscellaneous fragments of yesterday's feast, in plain 
 language, such portions of the scrapings from the plates as 
 were deemed suitable for this savory dish ! 
 
 " Still," says some incredulous reader, " I cannot compre- 
 hend how they endured it ! If I had been in the place of 
 Mr. or Mrs. Bell, I would never have slept a second night 
 under the Ketchum roof." 
 
 I dislike to divulge the fact, since I fear that it will lower 
 my martyr friends in the estimation of the lovers of moral 
 courage ; stamp them as arrant cowards in the minds of 
 those who have never been so unlucky as to taste of similar 
 experiences ; but I cannot withhold the statement that one 
 of the most powerful dissuasives to the immediate and indig- 
 nant departure of the dupes was the fear of Miss Jemima's 
 tongue ! I am prepared to admit the pusillanimity of this 
 course, my dear sir ; my dearest madam, I grant you that it 
 was a miserable baseness of spirit, unworthy of grown-up 
 men and women ; but, respected sir and madam, you never 
 heard Miss Jemima talk ! Especially (and I write it with 
 groanings of spirit in the retrospect) you never heard her 
 talk with a sister at each side, on the alert to dash in to 
 her help at the least signal of faltering; to cover any chaiice 
 opening in her harness caused by a momentary and provi-
 
 348 A BATTLE SUMMEK. 
 
 dential exhaustion of the wind in the bellows ! It -was 
 never your misfortune to witness the flash of the eye, the 
 twist or the viragoish upturning of the nose that accompanied 
 and intensified the fulmination of some " stunner," like that 
 hurled, on the evening of which we have just been speaking, 
 at Mrs. Bonner, a gentle, lovely lady, wife to him whom 
 Bessie Earle gratefully styled "the egg gentleman." The 
 provocation for Miss Jemima's petard would have appeared 
 very slight to a distinterested looker-on. The bitter-sweet 
 spinster, who was an inveterate gossip, pulling other people's 
 characters into shreds as publicly as she proclaimed the 
 sacred sensibilities of her own refined nature, was dis- 
 cussing the manners, appearance, etc., of a lady who had 
 passed a part of the preceding summer in the enjoyment 
 of the Ketchum hospitalities. As it happened, Mrs. Bonner 
 was an acquaintance of the party assailed, and was stirred 
 up -by the uncharitable and sarcastic remarks of the hostess 
 to defend the absentee. 
 
 " She paid her bill, I presume," said the usually quiet 
 matron, in a well-bred tone, but with a flushed cheek and 
 kindling eye. 
 
 So full of meaning was her face and intonation that all 
 felt she had made a fair hit at Miss Jemima the first on 
 record, except Norris' telling replies, which it was whispered 
 the eldest sister bore with such singular meekness in the 
 ambitious hope of securing him as a life-long partner for 
 Hortensia. Jemima was neither thick-skinned nor thick 
 of skull. Taken by surprise she certainly was, but she let 
 no one perceive this. She sat the teapot down with a thump 
 and wheeled upon the assailant. 
 
 " Paid her bill ! yes, and found lots of fault while she did 
 it ! That is a thing we don't allow in this establishment ! 
 a privilege not set down in the bill of rights ! We don't 
 invite people to come here! Thank fortune we are not
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 349 
 
 obliged to stoop to that ! We consent to receive a few- 
 friends who solicit us to do so, and when they are under our 
 roof-tree they must- be contented, or else leave ! If there is 
 one vice upon earth that I can't, shan't, and wont tolerate, 
 it is grumbling ! My rule is to put it down instanter ! " 
 
 Everybody made a mighty show of being busy with his or 
 her supper. Mrs. Bonner was intimidated. Being a lady 
 by nature and breeding, she was unfit to contend with a 
 loud-tongued shrew. The rest of the company felt, and des- 
 pised themselves for mean-spirited cravens while they did so, 
 . that she, Mrs. Bonner, was effectually "put down," and that 
 he must, in truth, be a valiant man of war who should 
 attempt, after this volley, to grumble in Miss Jemima's 
 hearing. 
 
 The latter part of that July and the first week in August 
 were known throughout the country as "the heated term." 
 The newspapers teemed with stories of the extreme heat in 
 the cities ; how the thermometer stood at 100 in the shade, 
 and eggs were baked by the sunbeams, and men fell by the 
 score in the scorching streets, dying or dead from sunstroke. 
 The Ketchum sisters were profuse and clamorous in their 
 congratulations to their captives upon their immunity from 
 these and the host of kindred disasters incident to a sojourn 
 in the "horrid, unhealthy town," and enumerated almost ad 
 infinitum, quite ad nauseam, the manifold blessings they 
 had purchased by a judicious flight to this delectable refuge. 
 And the unhappy twenty panted through the breezeless' 
 nights, in close proximity to the hot roof, vainly fanning the 
 damp or fevered faces resting on the coarse cotton pillow- 
 slips, hardly able to endure the weight even of the scanty 
 sheets ; leaving their doors wide open until driven to 
 desperation by the hum and sting of ravenous mosquitoes, 
 then shutting themselves in and a few hundred of their tor-
 
 350 A BATTLE BUMMEB. 
 
 menters out, until, again urged to extremity by suffocation, 
 they admitted all who chose to come. 
 
 Mem. Mosquitoes never molested Miss Jemima. Tom 
 Earle said it was no wonder. He was not so harsh in his 
 judgment, even of these pests, as to suspect them of the 
 depravity of taste that would lead them to eat her ! 
 
 Heavy-eyed and spiritless, the boarders met at breakfast, 
 and ate, as well as they could force themselves to do, of the 
 stereotyped abominations offered and commended to their 
 attention, airily and pitilessly, by the trio of Graces or 
 Fates ; this work accomplished, they dispersed to seek a 
 fresher atmosphere and quiet, if not refreshment, in orchard, 
 meadow, or wood. Community of suffering is a sure bond of 
 hearts, and in a marvellously short time the victims became 
 warmly attached to each other, and formed a mutual aid 
 society. 
 
 " But for our luncheons, we must have starved," said Mrs. 
 Bell, feelingly, in later months, when the thin veil of mod- 
 erate contentment with the "establishment" was rent away. 
 
 "Ah, those luncheons !" responded her sister. " Do you 
 remember how Tom, Ronald, and Mr. Bonner took turns 
 in going down to the city for supplies, and the jubilee that 
 ensued upon their return the vote of thanks, and all that ? 
 Those charming fetes champctre! Shall we ever forget 
 them?" 
 
 Mrs. Bell had a covered hand-basket ; Mrs. Bonner ditto ; 
 ditto Mrs. Earle. The place of rendezvous was a large, flat 
 stone on a hillside, distance from the house nearly a mile. 
 It was shaded by chesnuts and hemlocks, and beneath the 
 boughs one had a tolerable prospect of river and low grounds. 
 Here, at the appointed hour, were collected the three Ladies 
 Bountiful. Napkins private property, you may be sure, 
 since they were damask, and clear white covered the 
 rough face of the rock j crackers, cakes, cheese, nuts, apples,
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 351 
 
 figs, were set out in tempting array ; a spring, hard by, was 
 the wine-cooler, for it was " against the rules " for visitors 
 to invade the ice-house. 
 
 " The water from our well is so deliciously cool that ice 
 really spoils it," Miss Jemima was wont to remark. 
 
 Hither dso came punctually the hungry-eyed children, 
 who, to the delight of their parents, seemed for a time, in 
 spite of bad fare, close bedrooms, heat, and mosquitoes, to 
 thrive in the countiy, and enjoy the freedom of out-door life. 
 No royal banquet could ever bring to the partakers thereof 
 one tithe of the happiness or inspire one-hundredth part of 
 the admiration that these simple repasts excited in the 
 breasts of the little creatures. Hither came, on most days, 
 the husbands of the entertainers, hot and thirsty after the 
 chase or angling; sometimes with "spoils, oftenest, when 
 their quest had been conducted on dry land, empty-handed ; 
 for a fortnight's diligent beating of every available cover 
 within a radius of six miles resolved the interesting story 
 of the abundant game of the region into as Mr. Earle 
 conveyed the verdict of the hunting committee "bosh." 
 
 Last, not least, here met Norris and Georgia, if, indeed, 
 they did not make their appearance in company, with glow- 
 ing reports of a sail up to the head of navigation or a stroll 
 in the woods. 
 
 Lounging on the grass, eating biscuits, gingerbread, and 
 cheese, with an avidity they had never felt at any more 
 sumptuous board, sipping wine, porter, and ale from drinking 
 vessels of divers patterns and dimensions, from the babies' 
 silver mugs to a huge yellow earthenware bowl, borrowed 
 secretly by Mary from the nominal cook, the real scullion 
 of the house, a raw Hibernian, whose one recommendation 
 was her exceeding good nature, the revellers told stories, 
 cracked jokes at and with one another, and enjoyed the 
 sylvan fete until the sun, striking through the leafy can-
 
 352 A BATTLE SUMMEIi. 
 
 opy at the westerly side, warned them of the appi-oaching 
 dinner-hour; likewise that punctuality was one of Miss 
 Jemima's innumerable " specialties." 
 
 It need not be said, after describing the scene at luncheon 
 time, that the participants in the private collation brought 
 slender appetites to the principal meal of the day indoors. 
 It was well that they were not voraciously inclined, for the 
 bill of fare corresponded well with that of the breakfast- 
 table. More or less could hardly be said of either. Tough 
 beef, or underdone mutton, dubbed, par complaisance , 
 "lamb," formed the chief dish, and was carved by Mr. 
 Burley at the side-table, with a just regard to the number 
 of mouths to be provided for. By the time it came to the 
 children's turn, a triangular lump of tallow or a half-denuded 
 bone was all that was left for each. Soaked potatoes, that 
 stuck viciously in one's teeth, and oppressed the stomach like 
 hot lead ; string beans that deserved their appellation, greasy 
 and imperfectly drained; now and then a mess of onions, 
 discolored by being cooked in an iron pot, and guiltless of 
 butter or cream : these were the vegetables. As to fish, of 
 which there were several excellent varieties in the river, it 
 was an inscrutable mystery what became of the quantities 
 brought in daily by the amateur anglers, until Master 
 Harry solved the riddle by reporting that so long as there 
 was a fish on the premises the farm hands never tasted meat 
 at their meals, except, perhaps, a bit of the salt pork used 
 for frying the finny tribe. 
 
 Harry was likely to become what the French call Venfant 
 terrible to the hostesses. He it was who soonest possessed 
 himself of the details they would have kept secret pertaining 
 to the interior machinery of their vaunted housewifery; 
 dragged to light, with boyish wonder and mischievous exul- 
 tation, many a mean pretence and stingy cheat. For 
 example, it was reserved for him to walk boldly into the
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 353 
 
 kitchen, one evening, soon after " milking time," and detect 
 Miss Saccharissa in the very act of watering the foamy, 
 white contents of the pails, just set down by Daffy. 
 
 <c Why do you do that ? " he asked, directly. " Don't it 
 spoil the milk?" 
 
 From Miss Jemima he might have caught a scolding, if 
 not a push or tweak of the ear. Miss Saccharissa reddened 
 visibly, but responded sweetly: "It cools it a little, my 
 darling, before it goes on the table. The ladies don't like 
 milk warm from the cow. It is very ungenteel. But little 
 boys cannot understand these matters." 
 
 " Why don't you put ice in it, instead ? " 
 
 " Why, my dear, that would both waste the ice and dilute 
 the milk. Don't you see ? " 
 
 The poultry promised by Miss Jemima in her written bill 
 of fare was very slow in coming. For three mortal weeks 
 a crew of chattering hens, lordly roosters, and saucily piping 
 chickens strutted and strolled unmolested in the barnyard, 
 before the covetous eyes of the visitors, while upon the side- 
 'table ox relieved sheep, and the porcine species contributed 
 an occasional rasher or an unctuous chunk from the barrel 
 of pickle in the cellar. But at length, impatient waiting 
 had its reward; the day arrived when olfactories joyfully 
 inhaled the savor of roast fowl, and visual organs feasted 
 upon the remembered outlines of a goodly-sized bird, lying, 
 with trussed legs and folded wings, in the centre of the side- 
 table dish. The children tiptoed, pointed, and whispered 
 gigglingly in their delight ; those of a larger growth could 
 not restrain an exchange of amused yet congratulatory 
 glances. Harry alone remained phlegmatic, and his mother 
 noted this with the more surprise because his fondness for 
 poultry was proverbial in the home-circle. Her amazement 
 increased when, in reply to Miss Jemima's business-like 
 
 81*
 
 354 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 query, "Pork or fowl, Master Harry?" lie said, very 
 decidedly, " Pork, if you please." 
 
 Miss Jemima eyed him sharply as she passed him a plate 
 containing an oleaginous morsel ; but he held his peace, and 
 attacked the fatty slice with such energy as to consume 
 nearly half of the same. 
 
 There was only one fowl, but Mr. Burley was at the 
 helm, to wit, the carving-knife, and it "went around." 
 Wee Anne only got a merrythought with a dry piece of 
 white meat adhering to it; but her mother changed her 
 look of disappointment into a smile of grateful pleasure by 
 transferring the second joint her share of the spoils to 
 the little girl's plate, really enjoying her own dinner of 
 dressing and gravy, while her child eagerly devoured the 
 tidbit. 
 
 " We have a I'oyal dinner to-day ; postively a sumptuous 
 banquet ! " said Miss Jemima, when the plates were removed 
 to make way for the dessert. This was also dispensed from 
 the convenient side-table, the dishes of vegetables being left 
 upon the main board for the family dinner, a labor-saving 
 plan that was not very appetizing to the guests. " Fowl and 
 huckleberry pie ! Just think of it ! " continued Miss 
 Jemima, rapturously. 
 
 Lest they should not think enough of it, she actually cut a 
 triangle out of the pie and ate it, as she stood in the sight 
 of all present, before she offered to help a single other 
 person. 
 
 " Jemima," said Hortensia, distressedly, " I am ashamed 
 of you ! " 
 
 " I don't care if you are, miss," rejoined the spunky elder. 
 " Huckleberry pie is my specialty, and, for fear of acci- 
 dents, I mean to make sure of one piece." 
 
 The huckleberries were sweetened with molasses, as 
 had been the long series of dried-apple and rhubarb tarts
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 355 
 
 that had preceded this tempting dessert. Nevertheless, the 
 change of fare was rather agreeable than otherwise, and the 
 eaters would have overlooked the treacle flavor, if the pies 
 had not " given out '' before all were* supplied. Five or six 
 were compelled to partake of a tasteless rice pudding, or go 
 without any nominally sweet conclusion to the " sumptuous 
 banquet." Miss Jemima, as was now apparent, had foreseen 
 this shortcoming, and, with habitual shrewdness, looked out 
 for Number 1. 
 
 " The chicken was not very tender," remarked Mrs. Bell, 
 on the piazza, after dinner. " Still, it was pleasant to see 
 and taste poultry once again. I hope this is a beginning of 
 better days." 
 
 " That means a little more of the same sort, doesn't it ? " 
 queried her son, with comical gravity. 
 
 " Yes, my dear. We would not object to the like every 
 day." 
 
 Hearing this, Harry roared out laughing, 
 
 " Mamma ! mamma ! you will be the death of me ! If 
 you just knew all I do ! Ho ! ho ! ho ! " placing both 
 hands on the pit of his stomach, with an indescribable 
 contortion of countenance. 
 
 " Tell us what you do know, you vicious young monkey ! " 
 said Mr. Earle, laying hold of him. 
 
 "Yes, my man ; if there is a laugh in it, let us have it ! " 
 added his father. 
 
 " Maybe you wont feel like laughing when you hear it, 
 papa. But I don't mind telling, now that none of them" 
 nodding towards the dining-room, which was kept jealously 
 closed while " the family " ate " are by to hear. You 
 must know that that fat old white hen laid down and died 
 yesterday, with the pip, or colic, or dropsy, or something. 
 Joe Bonner and I came upon her just as she was giving her 
 last kick out there behind the pigsty, and we ran to call
 
 356 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 Miss Jemima. She and Mr. Burley came out and looked at 
 her, and wondered what ailed her, and said what a loss she 
 was, and we Joe and I poked at her with sticks, just to 
 make sure that she was a sure-enough 'goner,' until Mr. 
 Burley picked her up and threw her high up upon the top of 
 the ice-house, and told us to let her alone. I saw her lying 
 up there, as stiff as a poker, early this morning, and then I 
 forgot all about her until I saw that we had fowl for dinner. 
 While the rest of you were taking your seats, I slipped out 
 of the dining-room and ran to look for her. There was not 
 a sign of her on the top of the ice-house ; but on my way 
 back, I saw a heap of white and speckled feathers in a basket 
 j ust outside the kitchen-door, and as sure as I am a live boy, 
 there lay Old Whitey's head right in the midst of them ! I 
 knew it by the top-knot. So I rather thought I wouldn't 
 cat fowl to-day there ! mamma ! I knew you would feel 
 sick ! " Mrs. Bell had arisen hastily, looking very white, 
 " but papa and Uncle Earle would have the whole story 1 "
 
 A BATTLE 8UMMEE. 357 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IT was a warm afternoon about a week after Harry had 
 performed the threefold part of accuser, witness, and lawyer, 
 and which, by the by, acquired additional and alarming 
 strength from the pregnant fact that the suppositious " Old 
 Whitey " was the sole representative of the feathered race 
 that graced the Ketchum board while our party remained 
 as lodgers in the farm-house. Georgie Rose stood behind 
 the curtains of the parlor window, watching the movements 
 of a couple of equestrians just setting off for an excursion. 
 They were Miss Hortensia, looking really quite pretty and 
 graceful in her hat and riding-habit, mounted upon her pony, 
 and Mr. Norris, who had brought his horse into the coun- 
 try with him. 
 
 Georgie regarded them with interest, that had in it no 
 shade of envy. True, Hortensia was acknowledged by all of 
 the boarders to be the least objectionable of the sisters, 
 having less affectation than Saccharissa, more amiability than 
 Jemima, and better manners than either. It was true, fur- 
 thermore, that she invited Mr. Norris's attentions and sought 
 his society, and that he was too thorough a gentleman to 
 treat her otherwise than with courtesy ; but the idea that 
 their frequent rides and not so frequent strolls together 
 meant anything serious would have provoked the Bell elique 
 tc contemptuous merriment. Georgie was not a practised 
 horsewoman ; therefore, could not venture to mount Mr. 
 Norris's spirited bay, and there was no other animal avail-
 
 358 A BATTLE SUiOEEE. 
 
 able for a lady's use on the place, with the exception of Miss 
 Hortensia's pony, and this, it was understood, she suffered 
 no one besides herself to ride. Moreover, Georgie had 
 enjoyed a long sail, followed by a walk, with Mr. Norris 
 that forenoon, and could afford to be generous, particularly 
 as she had heard Miss Hortensia dexterously banter her 
 cavalier to accompany her in this expedition. The looker-on 
 smiled, in quiet amusement, at the well-contrived start of 
 the pony, whereby his mistress was, in the act of mounting, 
 thrown fairly into the gentleman's arms, and at the beautiful 
 confusion that covered her at this accident. Then, there 
 was some trouble in adjusting the foot in the stirrup, and 
 Norris was compelled to draw aside the long skirt, take 
 firm hold of the tidy gaiter and setfle it in its place. 
 
 Beneath the window, partly screened from the spectators 
 within by a climbing rose which grew over that end of xhe 
 building, sat Mr. and Mrs. Bonner and Mr. Boulby, a cousin 
 of the latter. They, too, were observing the riders ; and when 
 they had bidden them "good-afternoon" and wished them a 
 pleasant jaunt, as they cantered away, the conversation was, 
 as was natural, turned upon the departing couple. Not 
 knowing that they were ignorant of her proximity, Georgie 
 retained her position, and thus became an innocent eaves- 
 dropper to the family group. 
 
 " Ah, well, they will do it !" sighed Mr. Boulby, tilting 
 his chair back against the nearest cherry-tree. " But that 
 Norris is a fine, sensible young man altogether too good to 
 be sacrificed to that girl. 
 
 " What girl ? " Mrs. Bonner looked up quickly from her 
 sewing. 
 
 " Hortensia Ketchum, to be sure ! Whom else could I 
 mean?" 
 
 " Nonsense ! he has no more idea of marrying her than I 
 have of drowning myself in that muddy river yonder!"
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. .. 359 
 
 returned his cousin. ' He had better drown himself than 
 to do such a mad thing. What do you take him to be ? " 
 
 " Just what I said awhile ago, a sensible man in the 
 main, who has, like many others as wise, made a fool of him- 
 self in one respect. She has as much ' idea of marrying' him, 
 as you had of becoming Mrs. Bonner, after your wedding, 
 dress was ordered. You surely know that they have been 
 engaged for this year and more. They are to be marrie4 in 
 the fall, at the same time with the second sister and her 
 molly-coddle." (Everybody dealt Burley a blow in passing.) 
 " The brother from abroad is coming home to be present at 
 the occasion." 
 
 " Are you certain ? " asked Mr. Bonner, uneasily. " You 
 speak very confidently, yet it seems incredible." 
 
 " I wish I were as certain of finding a suitable partner 
 some day for your humble servant, as I am that Norris has 
 selected a very unsuitable one," returned Mr. Boulby. " I 
 did not suppose that the arrangement was any secret up here. 
 I had the tale from the other brother. He is, by all odds, 
 the best of the lot ; a quiet, unassuming, gentlemanly fellow, 
 with a creditable supply of common sense. In fact, he 
 enjoys a monopoly of the article in his family. I often meet 
 him in town, and know him to be perfectly truthful and 
 trustworthy. He has never seen Burley, but is pleased at 
 his sister Hortensia's engagement to Norris, of whom he has 
 the highest opinion." 
 
 Mr. Bonner shook his head but now in amazement, not 
 doubt. 
 
 "I have heard hints dropped by the other sister about 
 ' Hortensia's beau,' and such stuff, but paid no attention to 
 the foolish twaddle," Mrs. Bonner observed slowly, as if re- 
 luctant to admit the possibility of truth in what she had just 
 learned. " And they are really engaged ! What a pity !"
 
 360 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 " You may well say so !" replied her husband. " How did 
 it happen, Dick ?" 
 
 " He sprained his ankle, here, last season. He came to 
 this grief by leaping a fence to stop Miss Hortensia's run- 
 away pony, and probably saved her life thereby. Of course, 
 her gratitude was boundless ; equally, of course, she made 
 love to him, and being too lame to save his liberty by flight, 
 he had to submit to the soft thraldom." 
 
 " That accounts for his visit to this place, this year," said 
 Mr. Bonner. " I have not, until now, been able to compre- 
 hend how, having been here once, he could be so verdant as 
 to come again." 
 
 " I intimated my surprise at this to him once," answered 
 Mrs. Bonner, " and he replied that he had an interest in the 
 iron works over the mountain, and visited this region every 
 summer to look after his affairs in that direction. But since 
 Richard's disclosure has opened my eyes, I recollect many 
 little incidents that confirm his story. Don't you remember, 
 William, how grave Mr. Norris looked the other day, when 
 I was laughing at some of Jemima's fanfaronades ? and his 
 saying, ' It is a great pity that her youngest sister was not 
 removed from her influence years ago. She has many excel- 
 lent traits of character.' And the night I found them walk- 
 ing on the piazza., and talking so confidentially ? She wears 
 a diamond ring, too, that mav be a pledge of the engage- 
 ment. I am afraid it is too true sadly afraid !" 
 
 " She is decidedly the best of the bunch," mused Mr. Bou- 
 ner, desirous to put the best face possible upon the matter. 
 
 " That may be, and she yet be a most uncongenial mate for 
 him," returned the lady, severely. " He has made a most 
 disastrous choice. I can never respect him as I have done, 
 after hearing all this." 
 
 It was well that Georgie could not listen longer; that 
 her throbbing heart and dizzy brain warned her to mako
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 361 
 
 good her letreat while she had strength to fly. Mrs. Ban- 
 ner's next words would have nearly killed the sensitive child. 
 
 "He has been trifling in a base, unmanly way with our 
 sweet little friend, Gecrgie Rose. I feel as if I never 
 wanted to speak to him again! " 
 
 By this time Georgie was lying upon her hard couch xip- 
 stairs ; the door locked, and her face buried in the pillow, 
 lest the tearless sobs she could not suppress should penetrate 
 the thin partition to her sister's room. It was her first trial, 
 and it had fallen with the suddenness and force of an aval- 
 anche. " Perhaps I may meet my fate, this summer," she 
 had said, in talking of their coming to this hateful place 
 said it in the lightness of girlish gayety, such joyous-hearted 
 speech as she could never use again never ! 
 
 Mrs. Bell knocked at the door, an hour afterwards, to re- 
 mind her that the tea-bell had rung. 
 
 " Come in ! " called a weak voice. 
 
 Georgie had not loosened her dress, but she was on the bed 
 still, a wet handkerchief laid over her brow and eyes. 
 
 " I have a bad headache, Annie. I don't want any tea ! H 
 she said, huskily. 
 
 " My dear child ! a headache on this hot day, and in this 
 close room ! Why did you shut the door ? Wouldn't you 
 feel better if you were to come down and get a little fresh air? '' 
 
 " No, no ! please don't ask me ! " 
 
 " There ! I don't mean to tease you ! " soothed the sister, 
 moved by the distressed tone, yet attributing it to physical 
 pain. " But let me undress you, and send you up a cup of 
 tea." 
 
 Georgie submitted, as the easiest way of purchasing soli- 
 tude and freedom from questioning. While Mrs. Bell was at 
 supper, there arose to the chamber of the sufferer the sound 
 of trampling hoofs and merry voices. The affianced pair had 
 returned. 
 
 31
 
 dOZ A BATTLE 81 
 
 "Had you a pleasant ride?" called Miss Jemima, from 
 the dining-room door. 
 
 " Oh, glorious! sweet! splendid !" cried Hortensia ; then, 
 Saccharissa came in with some silly remark, and the three 
 gabbled loudly and unintelligibly, as was their wont. 
 
 " And is that the woman he prefers to " Georgie checked 
 herself in the half-uttered exclamation, and, although she was 
 alone, a burning blush mounted to her temples. " I ought 
 to despise him and I mean to ! " burst from her, in an in- 
 dignant whisper, by and by. " He is not worthy of a single 
 regret ! " 
 
 Mrs. Bell brought up the tea herself, a weak, smoky 
 beverage, the effect of which upon the racked nerves could 
 not be potent for good or evil. In her other hand she bore 
 a bouquet of wild flowers. 
 
 ' " With Mr. Norris's compliments and sympathy ! " she 
 said, laying it upon Georgie's pillow, where the cool blos- 
 soms touched the flushed cheek. 
 
 She pushed it away, pettishly, as it seemed to her sister. 
 
 " I can't bear them, Annie ! " 
 
 " Why, the perfume is not powerful ! " remarked the other, 
 surprised. " At least, look at them and see how lovely they 
 are, and how tastefully arranged ! " 
 
 She held them before the swollen, languid eyes ; butterfly- 
 flowers, orange and pink ; odorous white clematis ; life-ever- 
 lasting, with its white tufts and frosted foliage ; blue-eyed 
 forget-me-nots, smiling up in clusters between their spear-like 
 leaves ; wild roses from the river's brink, all surrounding 
 j f .he brilliant cardinal-flower, that held regal state in the cen- 
 tre of the bouquet ; while delicate ferns and, here and there, 
 a gorgeous sumach leaf, the trial piece of Autumn, lent grace 
 and piquancy to the collection. 
 
 " They are very pretty very sweet ; but isn't it a pity 
 sister, that they will fade so soon ? " said Geoi-gie, not offer-
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 3G3 
 
 ing, still, to take them. " And withered blossoms are not 
 lovely, Annie ! " 
 
 There was something desolate in the faint smile with which 
 she said this, that aroused Mrs. Bell's fears, not for her 
 young sister's happiness, but her health. She carried the 
 flowers into the other room ; then, returning, recommended 
 and administered a simple medicine ; sent Mary to the well 
 for cool water, with which to bathe the sufferer's hands and 
 head, and while awaiting the girl's return sat at the bedside, 
 fanning Georgie, and talking cheerfully to divert her thoughts 
 from the pain. 
 
 " What an absurd set these Ketchums are ! " she said 
 laughing. "I passed Hortensia in the hall, on my way 
 from supper. She was chattering to Mr. Norris, who was 
 making up this bouquet on the hall table. Her hat was off, 
 and her hair had tumbled upon her shoulders, in what she 
 doubtless considered charming disorder. He stopped me 
 and asked if I would undertake the delivery of this to you, 
 with his regards and condolences. Really, one might have 
 supposed, from her look of disappointment and pique, that 
 he was her declared lover, and had no right to show any 
 other lady even this slight proof of preference. That would 
 be too preposterous ! " 
 
 " I see nothing preposterous in the idea," returned Georgie, 
 curtly. " One hears of stranger matches every day." 
 
 " Georgie Hose ! I shall begin to think that you are deli- 
 rious, if you indulge in such fancies ! " said Mrs. Bell. " I 
 will not have you slander an agreeable and estimable gentle- 
 man by suggesting the possibility of an alliance so mon- 
 strous ! A little more talk of that sort, and I shall advise 
 a mustard foot-bath and blisters." 
 
 " A foot-bath, did ye say, mem ? " asked Mary, entering 
 with the cold water. " Sorra a spark of fire is there in the 
 kitchen range at this minit, to hate a dhrop of wather. I
 
 364 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 
 
 ask meself ivery night, And what will we do if one of the 
 children was to wake tip wid the convulsions, or maybe the 
 croup ? " 
 
 " We hope none of them will do such an inconvenient 
 thing, Mary," responded her mistress. "Now, bring up 
 Annie, and put her to bed, that Miss Georgie may not be 
 disturbed after she falls asleep. A good night's rest will 
 quite cure you, I hope, dear." 
 
 Whether the deficiency were in the quantity or quality of 
 the prescribed specific, or that Mrs. Bell had mistaken the 
 case in hand for a less serious malady, could not then be 
 known, but it was certain that the cure was not complete by 
 morning. Georgie arose, indeed, and came down to the table 
 with the rest, but breakfasting was an impossibility, tiy as 
 she might to swallow a morsel of bread and drink a few spoon- 
 fuls of the ambiguous fluid poured from the teapot. Her eyes 
 were sunken and glassy, her lips parched, and her pulse de- 
 noted fever. The Misses Ketchum were profuse in their ob- 
 servations upon her appearance, each declaring loudly that 
 she had never seen any one look worse, and Miss Jemima 
 gloomily confident in her prophecy of an impending spell of 
 illness. 
 
 " But you couldn't be in a better place, if you are going to 
 be sick. Three years ago we had, oh, such an ill young lady 
 here ! She was taken very suddenly with typhoid fever 
 Her symptoms wei - e j ust the same as yours, Miss Rose ; I was 
 saying so to Saccharissa last night, when I heard of your 
 headache. Your complexion has been bad for a week and 
 more, just as hers was. Oh, oh, oh! how she suffered, and 
 how anxious her friends were ! It all came back so vividly 
 to me last evening, when Mrs. Bell came in to supper, looking 
 worried about you. At the end of two weeks they got so 
 fidgetty they were that kind of people, you know that 
 nothing would do but they must have their own doctor, all
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 365 
 
 the way from the city. Country doctors were not good 
 enough for them. Some persons think that such and such a 
 physician holds the keys of life and death. It's downright 
 impious !. So, up he came, a pompous old fellow, full of airs 
 and whims, and he blew them all sky-high about not taking 
 her home at the beginning of the attack. As if anybody, with 
 half an eye, couldn't see that all he wanted was the chance to 
 make a plenty of visits, and pocket a big fee ! But did 
 you ever hear of anything so barbarous, Mrs. Earle ? they 
 had their carriage sent up from town, packed it with cush- 
 ions, and put the absolutely dying girl in it, and took her 
 back to the horrid, unhealthy low country ! I said to her 
 brother, as they were starting, ' I shall expect to hear of her 
 death in a week.' And I did that is, in a little more than 
 a foi*tnight. It was out-and-out murder, and I shall always 
 be glad that I told them so, when I found they had deter- 
 mined upon moving her. . At any rate, I rejoiced that she 
 didn't die here ! " 
 
 Georgie was walking, with slow and heavy steps, upon the 
 piazza, vainly seeking cooling air for her oppressed lungs, 
 trying bravely to keep up, and conceal the signs of the sick- 
 ness she yet felt was gaining upon her, when Norris joined 
 her. 
 
 " I am afraid that you are still suffering," he said, in sym- 
 pathy that was both respectful and affectionate. " Do you 
 attribute your headache to our long walk yesterday ? I was 
 troubled much, last night, by fears that this might have been 
 the case. I ought not to have let you go so far in such ex- 
 tremely hot weather." 
 
 " I am subject to severe headaches," Georgie commanded 
 her voice to say steadily, but more distantly than she de- 
 signed to speak. An unskilled actor, she overdid her part. 
 " I never trouble myself with conjectures as to the cause of 
 these attacks." 
 
 31*
 
 366 A BATTLE SUMMEB. 
 
 Norris looked down quickly at her countenance the cor- 
 rugated brow and pale, set lips. His own face was express- 
 ive of lively solicitude as he rejoined : "Can we can your 
 friends do nothing to alleviate your pain ? It is sad to wit- 
 ness suffering which one cannot relieve. Believe me," he 
 added, yet more gently, " I find the thought of yours very 
 hard to endure. We have had many joyous hours together. 
 I wish you cannot know how fervently that I could 
 bear every pang that would otherwise fall to your lot." 
 
 Georgie put her hand hurriedly to her head. In her dis- 
 tress and confusion, she really feared that he would hear the 
 beating in her temples, so fast and loud was it to her ears. 
 How dared he, the betrothed of another, address such lan- 
 guage to her ? Yet there was a convincing earnestness in his 
 tone she could scarcely withstand. 
 
 " You are very kind," she said, stiffly. " I thank you for 
 your good wishes, chimerical though they are. Excuse me, 
 but I must go in. The light here is too strong for my 
 eyes." 
 
 Norris gazed after her as she turned into the house and 
 ascended the staircase. His look betokened surprise, doubt, 
 and concern. " Can I have offended her ? or is the change in 
 her demeanor entirely the effect of physical pain ? " The 
 inquiry cost him much perturbed meditation for the next 
 hour or two. At ten o'clock he ordered his horse, and was 
 absent until dinner-time. 
 
 Georgie kept her room closely after that one unsuccessful 
 attempt to appear well. It was not altogether the fear of 
 encountering Norris's scrutiny and attentions, or dread of the 
 impertinent comments of the sisters Ketchum that held her 
 prisoner. She was forced to acknowledge secretly that men- 
 tal anguish had produced or aggravated the malady of the 
 body. She had a chill at noon not a heavy one, so she 
 concealed the circumstances from her sister, imputing the
 
 A BATTLE SU2OIEB. 367 
 
 ague, in her ignorance of the disease, to nervous excitement, 
 which she was ashamed to betray. She could not so easily 
 hide the fact of the return of fever in the afternoon. Mrs. 
 Eai-le was a homceopathist, and, like most other disciples of 
 that school, never stirred from home without her pretty 
 medicine chest. She prescribed aconite, alternating with 
 belladonna; and to this regimen Mrs. Bell adhered faithfully 
 all that night. Finding, at her early morning visit, that 
 her patient continued very feverish, asking frequently for 
 water, and complaining, when questioned, of headache, Mrs. 
 Earle advised cantharis and bryonia, substituting for the 
 latter, towards evening, chamomilla, and returning to the 
 grand specific, aconite, in place of the former. The febrile 
 symptoms were not violent, but the sick girl was consumed 
 by a slow fire that took from her sleep, strength, and appe- 
 tite. 
 
 By the evening of the third day of her illness, a fresh 
 cause of anxiety appeared. Little Annie was seized with a 
 chill, succeeded, as Georgie's had been, by a fever. Miss 
 Jemima " hoped," at supper, " that the sweet angel had not 
 caught her aunt's complaint. My own hypothesis is, Mrs. 
 Bell, that all fevers are contagious, or, I would say, infect- 
 tious, to persons who spend much time in the sick-room, 
 especially to those who sleep in the same chamber. Every 
 treatise upon hygiene will tell you how deleterious it is to a 
 child to sleep with an elderly person. Oh, oh, oh I I have 
 heard of some cases of that kind that I would so like to tell 
 you. They would make your hair stand on end and your 
 blood run cold, they are so frightful ! It always seems to 
 me like signing a child's death-warrant to allow it to occupy 
 the same sleeping apartment with a person at all advanced 
 in years." 
 
 "Miss Rose is very young," interposed Mrs. Bonner, 
 nerved by the insulting thrust at her favorite.
 
 rf(>8 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 Miss Jemima's nose turned up with infinite expression. 
 " You misunderstood me, Mrs. Bonner, if you imagined that 
 my observations were impolitely personal. We were speak- 
 ing, in a general manner, of an interesting scientific subject. 
 I never hinted an inquiry as to Miss Rose's age, I know 
 that most ladies dislike such investigations. I try to shun 
 delicate or tender points whenever I can. Hortensia, you 
 forget your position ! Mr. Boulby is waiting for a glass of 
 milk. Excuse her, Mr. Boulby ; she is young and giddy !" 
 
 " That shot was thrown away," whispered Mrs. Bonner to 
 her cousin, as they arose from the table. " Mr. Norris 
 should have been present to appreciate the insinuated com- 
 parison. Whenever I think of that affair, I groan with 
 Miss Betsy Trotwood, ' Blind, blind, blind ! ' " 
 
 The Bell party hardly heard this conversation, so absorbed 
 were they in reflection upon their real trouble. The ladies 
 went back to Georgie's room, at the conclusion of the meal ; 
 the gentlemen lighted their cigars, and paced the long piazza 
 in serious discussion of their trying situation. The night 
 was hot and airless, yet damp, with a sort of depressing, 
 clinging moisture, Like most other nights in that locality. 
 The moon hung, a wan lantern, in the midst of yellow 
 vapoi-s ; from the river and low grounds came the piping of 
 a multitude of frogs. Miss Jemima facetiously called them 
 " American nightingales," and " liked to hear them They 
 made the place quite hilarious." The Bonners had gone 
 down the road to take the exercise they could not enjoy 
 during the day, by reason of the fierce heat of the sun. The 
 house was unusually still, none of the family being out of 
 doors or in the parlor ; but there was a queer, muffled noise 
 in the cellar, like the grinding of a coffee-mill. 
 
 " If the idea were wan-anted by any precedent, I should 
 say that that was the sound of an ice-cream freezer," said 
 Mr. BelL
 
 A BATTLE 6DMMEK. 369 
 
 " You may well doubt that evidence of your own ears, if 
 it leads you to any such conclusion," growled his brother-in- 
 law. " Ices of all kinds come under the head of the wicked 
 institutions of that sink of depravity, the great city. I am 
 so abandoned to sin as to be in favor of the like naughty 
 indulgences. I don't perceive that my morals or manners 
 have improved since I have been confined to ' simple, whole- 
 some country fare, with the three sisters' refining society 
 thrown in to boot.'" He puffed away savagely at his 
 cigar. They walked for awhile in silence, when a horseman 
 galloped sharply down the hill, rode into the barnyard, and 
 called the hostler. 
 
 "There is Norris!" said Mr. Bell. "He will get his 
 supper, I suppose, rigid as are Miss Jemima's rules of punc- 
 tuality." 
 
 " She wont bring him up to the mark ! " returned the 
 other. "She is straining every nerve and sinew in her 
 ancient anatomy to catch him for her ' young, giddy' sister." 
 
 "Fiddlesticks!" began Mr. Bell, but Norris's nearer 
 approach prevented further speech on this point. 
 
 He saluted his fellow-boarders courteously, but with a 
 gravity that impressed them with a sense of coming evil. 
 
 " Another warm, close night ! " said Mr. Bell. 
 
 <{ Very sultry ! " Norris had got thus far, when a figure 
 darted from around the end of the house. 
 
 " O Mr. Norris ! just step here for one minute." 
 
 It was Miss Hortensia, who, Norris having very deliber- 
 ately obeyed the summons, whispered loudly and rapidly to 
 him for, not only one but several minutes. 
 
 " I can't promise ! " replied he, carelessly, making a 
 movement to rejoin his friends. 
 
 " Don't wait too long, or you will repent it ! " she said 
 archly, and vanished. 
 
 " How is Miss Bx>se to-night? " queried Norris of Mr. Belt
 
 370 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 " Quite sick, I fear," was the reply. " And our little 
 Annie has sickened also, with similar symptoms. We are 
 fearful that the fever or whatever the disease may be 
 is contagious." 
 
 " Has it not occurred to you that it may rather be induced 
 by local causes ? " asked Norris, so pointedly that his audi- 
 tors halted in their walk, struck with consternation. 
 
 " No ! to .what causes do you refer ? " asked Mr. Earle. 
 
 " We were assured of the healthfulness of this region by a 
 reputable medical man," returned Mr. Bell. " One who had 
 spent a summer in this very house." 
 
 " Come with me, if you please ! " requested Norris. 
 
 They followed him to a point in the yard from which the 
 river was visible. 
 
 " Do you see the sheet of white fog rising from that slug- 
 gish stream, and slowly unfolding itself over the meadows ? 
 Do you smell the rank and decaying vegetable matter, cover- 
 ing its banks ? Have you noticed that, within the past 
 week, every frog-pond in those low grounds is clothed with 
 green scum ? I tell you, sir, that this August sun is breed- 
 ing malaria and death in those confounded bogs, and I, 
 like a blind fool, selfish in the enjoyment of my own 
 excellent health, never gave these significant signs a thought 
 until within three days. I do not know the name of the 
 medical man who vouched for the salubrity of this pestilen- 
 tial atmosphere, but I happened to have heard of another, 
 a competent and worthy physician, living about eight miles 
 from this house, and, becoming ill at ease after my atten- 
 tion was called to this subject by your sister's sickness, I 
 determined to see and consult him. I failed to find him at 
 home yesterday, and the day before. This afternoon I was 
 more fortunate, and had a long talk with him. He tells me 
 that, in a hot, damp season like the present, this place is no- 
 torious for ague and fever to say nothing of frequent
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 371 
 
 cases of remittent and even typhoid. My dear sir," laying 
 his hand heavily upon Mr. Bell's shoulder, "I do not 
 repeat this to alarm you, but to urge you, hy every argument 
 in my power, to lose no time in removing your family from 
 these deadly influences. When I think of the mischief that 
 may already have occurred from my culpable negligence, I 
 am driven almost to desperation ! " 
 
 Shocked and alarmed as they were by this unexpected 
 revelation, his hearers pitied his evident distress ; were im- 
 pelled to soothe what appeared to them morbid and unwar- 
 rantable self-accusaitons. 
 
 " My dear fellow ! the fault was ours, not yours, if fault 
 there has been," remonstrated Mr. Earle. " You have but 
 yourself to care for. We ought to have kept a bright look- 
 out for anything and everything likely to affect the wives 
 and babies. The plain truth is that, from beginning to end, 
 this whole business has been an outrageous sell a pitiable 
 farce throughout." 
 
 " Pray Heaven the farce be not changed into tragedy ! " 
 said Mr. Bell, earnestly. " I thank you, from my soul, Nor- 
 ris, for your warning. I meant to call in a physician to- 
 morrow. Your care and consideration for my treasures have 
 exceeded mine." 
 
 " Ronald ! " called his wife's voice from the house. " Is 
 that you ? " 
 
 He approached her. The others, standing in the shadow 
 of the trees, remained unobserved by her, but were within 
 hearing of her agitated address, as her husband reached the 
 porch where she stood. 
 
 " Ronald, dear ! cannot we leave this wretched place to- 
 morrow ? I want to go home ! " 
 
 " Why, Annie ! dear child ! what has happened ?" 
 
 "What may seem a trifle to yqu, but which has 
 aroused me beyond control. You know that I have tried to
 
 372 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 make the best of this miserable experiment in summer- 
 boarding. I was most to blame for our coming " 
 
 " There was no blame in the case ! " interrupted her huc- 
 cand. " It was an error of judgment in us all. But what is 
 the latest enormity ? " 
 
 " Just this. Georgie craves nothing but ice, and yester- 
 day I asked Miss Jemima if I might send Harry to the ice- 
 house now and then for a little. She said ' Yes,' not very 
 graciously, but I was not inclined to be over-proud where 
 Georgie's comfort was concerned. So Harry went twice, 
 yesterday, bringing up each time a lump about double the 
 size of his fist. This morning he got another, and one again a 
 noon, neither larger than the first supply. Georgie being 
 very thirsty to-night, I dispatched Harry, about ten minutes 
 since, with Mary to hold the light for him, to get more. 
 Would you believe it ? iliat Burley and Saccharissa came out 
 of the cellar, as they were passing on their way to the ice- 
 house, and called to them that they could not go down. The 
 ice was locked up, they said; that Mrs. Bell had already 
 wasted several pounds of it in two days, and if things went 
 on in this style there would be none left before long to keep 
 the meat fresh. Harry explained that it was wanted for his 
 sick aunt, but it was useless to plead with them. But, now 
 hear the rest ! As I came down stairs just now, resolving to 
 see to the matter myself, the dining-room door was opened, 
 and DafTy came out. Miss Jemima ordered her to shut it 
 after her, and this attracting my attention, I glanced in. 
 The three sisters were there and Mr. Burley he in the act 
 of emptying an ice-cream freezer into a dish ! Then Hor- 
 tensia rushed forward and slammed the door, and I compre- 
 hended that it was a family feast, to which we were not to be 
 admitted. And this, while our poor girl is refused a bit of 
 ice to cool her parched tongue ! Dear Ronald ! if Georgie 
 can travel, I will not stay here a day longer ! "
 
 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 373 
 
 " Mr. Norris ! where is Mr. Norris ? " said the weak pipe 
 of the bound girl, as she shuffled out upon the piazza. 
 
 " Here I am ! what do you want ? " in a harsh, dry tone. 
 
 "Miss Hortensia says, 'Come right away, sir, or your 
 share will all be melted ! ' " drawled Daffy, who was either a 
 great dunce, or a knave who affected stupidity. 
 
 "Say to Miss Hortensia or stay! I will speak to the 
 ladies myself." 
 
 He entered the house. 
 
 " Ahem ! an invitation to the private ice-cream saloon ! " 
 said Mr. Earle. "Ronald! you don't ask my opinion of 
 this house, but you are welcome to it. It is a diabolical 
 hole, and fitly tenanted. I migrate to-morrow, if there is 
 a conveyance to be had within a circuit of thirty miles ! " 
 
 " We are agreed upon that," responded Mr. Bell, calmly. 
 "Annie, Mr. Norris says" Then followed an abstract of 
 their friend's sanitary report. 
 
 The story made the mother wild with remorse, anxiety, 
 and impatience to depart. Tears flowed down her cheeks as 
 she listened. 
 
 " If our darlings should fall victims to our criminal want 
 of foresight, I should never forgive myself! Poor 'Georgic ! 
 I feel like a murderess when I think of her ! " 
 
 "Mrs. Bell!" 
 
 Norris accosted her with habitual politeness, but there 
 was a tremor in his voice that told he had heard her last 
 remark. 
 
 " I hope that your sister knows nothing of the inhuman 
 answer returned to your application for ice." 
 
 " I could not bear to tell her ! " 
 
 " I am thankful that you could not. Please take this to 
 her, without mentioning how you obtained it." 
 
 He gave her a small basket, loaded with the coveted luxury, 
 and checking her ardent thanks, turned to- the gentlemen to 
 32
 
 374: A BATTLE 
 
 offer his services in procuring vehicles for the transportation 
 of the two families and their effects homewards. 
 
 Mrs. Bell was prudently silent to Georgie with respect to 
 their anticipated flitting, but in the other rooms, the work 
 of preparation went on vigorously as quietly. Before the 
 two matrons and their handmaidens lay down to nominal re- 
 pose upon their stony-hearted mattresses, every trunk was 
 packed and strapped, and the children's travelling-gear laid 
 out ready for them to don early in the morning. 
 
 " Willin' hands and glad hearts makes quick work ! " said 
 Mary to Norah, when they were shut in their hot closet un- 
 der the roof. " It's meself that's in that good humor, to- 
 night, that I hardly begrudge the mosquitoes their last male 
 
 " And it's not pity they want, the bloody bastes ! " replied 
 her less benevolent comrade. " Shure, and they're the only 
 crayturs that ever gits their full to ate in this house bad 
 luck to it ! " 
 
 Georgie slept better that night than did her sister, who, 
 the packing having been completed, relieved Mrs. Earle's 
 watch in the chamber, throwing herself down beside her 
 sick child. The short summer night was long to the moth- 
 er's anxious heart, late as it was when she sought her couch. 
 Lying there, filled with vain repentance for the mistake that 
 had entailed so much of annoyance, discomfort, and positive 
 suffering upon those she loved, she watched the gray dawn 
 grow into the clear day ; the pale mom's blush at the coming 
 of the bold bridegroom, the sun ; listened to the sounds of 
 awakening life without and below ; the twittering of birds, 
 the crowing of chickens, the hungry squeal of pigs, whose sty 
 was unpleasantly near the house, and between it and the 
 river, rendering the coolest breezes that visited the heated 
 inmates the most unfragrant. 
 
 Miss Jemima was early abroad, and in great strength, even
 
 A BATTLE SDMMEK. 375 
 
 for her. Before the sun had showed his uppermost rim 
 above the hills, she had, in Mrs. Bell's hearing, boxed Daffy 
 omse, threatened her three times with a repetition of the pun- 
 ishment, and enjoined each of her sisters separately and ven 
 omously not to forget her position. Then came upon the 
 scene of matutinal industry the invaluable Burley, to assume 
 his share of house-wifely cares. It was whispered among 
 the "guests" of the surprising elder sister that she did a 
 little, or, to speak more truly, not a little ogling of her right- 
 hand man on her own private account ; that, should he be 
 finally discarded by the coquettish Saccharissa, he need not 
 go far to seek solace for his bruised heart in another's favor. 
 It was not to be disputed that her nose regarded his approach 
 with signal amiability, and her wiry tones had a certain 
 sweetness in addressing him, meant to be engaging, but re- 
 minding unprejudiced hearers strongly of fermenting sirup. 
 How often had Georgie lain in the corner beneath the square 
 ventilator, opening upon the stair-case, and laughed at the 
 dialogues between the precious pair, as they performed their 
 joint task of setting the house in order! 
 
 " If you could only hear her quote ' I never loved a dear 
 gazelle ' ! " Georgie had once said to her sister. " It was 
 too amusing, delivered in her high key, and interpolated by 
 directions how to handle the dust-pan and broom ! " 
 
 Mrs. Bell smiled sadly, as this was recalled by the spin- 
 ster's greeting on this morning. 
 
 " Good-morrow, Monsieur Burley ! Another charming 
 day, you see ! as fair as the ' rose, newly washed by the 
 shower, which Mary to Anna conveyed ! ' You remember 
 how 'the plentiful moisture encumbered the flower, and 
 weighed down its beautiful head.' Oh, I used to think Mrs. 
 Barbauld heavenly, when I was more unsophisticated and 
 more sentimental ; before I knew the world to be so horri- 
 bly prosaic, so wretchedly deceitful, so like the dear, unhappy
 
 376 A BATTLE SUMMEE. 
 
 poet's ' hollow tree, where the blast it hollow blew, and he 
 thought of all the hollow world, and all its hollow crew 
 all hollow, hollow, hollow ! ' Daffy ! what are you standing 
 there gaping for ? Get the brush and pan for Mr. Burley, 
 right away ! I have swept the upper hall, Mr. Burley ; you 
 can take the stairs, while I get this table and hat-stand into 
 something like order. I do wish Mr. Norris would not 
 leave his boat-shawl lying here, all of a heap ; But he hasn't 
 behaved like a sane man for these four weeks ! I never saw 
 any one deteriorate as he has done lately. It is absolutely 
 infamous." 
 
 Mrs. Bell raised her head to look over to Georgie's bed. 
 She lay perfectly quiet, her face turned to the wall, appar- 
 ently in a a peaceful slumber, and her sister, fearing to dis- 
 turb her by any change in her own position, could do noth- 
 ing but lie still and listen to what followed. The colloquists 
 had either forgotten that every word must be audible in Miss 
 Hose's room, or, supposing her to be its only occupant, be- 
 side the sleeping child, were maliciously talking at her. 
 Burley was on the top step, brushing away at the faded stair- 
 carpet. Mrs. Bell could hear the heavy breatliing caused by 
 his stooping posture. 
 
 " He was off by three o'clock for a ride. Where has he 
 gone ? " he asked. 
 
 " Mercy knows ! I don't care ! I had my say out to him. 
 last night, and I promise you that he got a dose of tolerably 
 plain English. If my dear, spirited brother, who is now 
 serving his country abroad, had been here, he would have 
 had a horse-whipping as well. I imagine he has gone to 
 Jones's " (a hotel ten miles distant) " to hire a carriage for 
 his new friends. You know that our house loses its choicest 
 treasures to-day ? " in fierce irony. 
 
 " Saccharissa told me so, just now." 
 
 " And our gallant knight-errant has called for his bill, and
 
 A BATTLE StTMMEK. 377 
 
 is to act as out-rider ! " pursued Miss Jemima, more sardon- 
 ically. " A good riddance, I say ! I told Hortensia just 
 how it would turn out, the very day I found them billing 
 and cooing up there in the woods ! I said that she was a 
 sly, designing piece, the first night I saw her. I don't pre- 
 tend to be so awfully modest and fastidious; T am not a shy 
 mimosa or a shrinking dove, or any of that sort of nonsense ! 
 but I do thank my stars, that I have too nice a sense of pro- 
 priety to go boating, and rambling, and flower-gathering, and 
 flirting with a strange young man, of whose character I know 
 nothing, upon three days' acquaintance ! I mayn't be so 
 beautiful, or elegant, or accomplished, as some people think 
 themselves, but I am too much of a lady, not to say a decent 
 Christian woman, to angle for another woman's beau. For 
 my part, I had rather bob for eels and catch mud-turtles all 
 my days, much as the sight of the innocent things shock fine 
 ladies' nerves, than be guilty of so unhandsome an action, 
 such a base violation of the respect and gratitude due an 
 unsuspecting, kind, confiding, and generous hostess ! " 
 
 This preposterous climax brought Mrs. Bell to her feet. 
 She could remain passive no longer. Burley's voice arrested 
 her unwise impulse to leave the room and face the slanderer 
 of her pure, noble sister. 
 
 "How does Hortensia feel about the rupture?" he in- 
 quired. " There, the stairs are done. Will that do ? " 
 
 " Beautifully ! How expeditious you are ! This hall, 
 now. Look sharp to the corners, and brush down the cob- 
 webs. I am proud to say that Hortensia shows more pluck 
 than one would expect. She says it is, no doubt, a happy 
 escape for her ; but it is easy to see that the poor girl bleeds 
 inwardly. Ah, Mr. Burley, ' Light are the woes that to the 
 eye-lids spring ! ' Dear child ! our babe and pet, whom we 
 have never let the winds of heaven visit too roughly ! She 
 
 33*
 
 378 A BATTLE SUMMER. 
 
 is young to learn that sad, sad and universal lesson of 
 womanhood, 
 
 " ' To make us idols, and to find them clay, 
 And then bewail their worship, therefore ' 
 
 Daffy, if I have to hurry your lazy bones again, I will shake 
 the breath out of your body 1 "
 
 A BATTLE SUMMER. 379 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " I HAVE a plan to propose, Norris ! " exclaimed Tom 
 Earle, entering Mrs. Bell's parlor, eight months after tho 
 hegira from Roaring River ; " one which, I doubt not, will 
 meet with your hearty approbation." 
 
 It was a lovely, moonlight evening. Mr. and Mrs. BcU 
 were enjoying it at one window, the gas being turned down 
 to a spark, glimmering like a glow-worm through the porce- 
 lain shade of the drop-light. Within the recess of another, 
 a bay window at the opposite end of the room, were two 
 more figures, seated as closely together as was the married 
 pair. One of these arose at the abrupt address of the 
 visitor. 
 
 'I will give it a respectful hearing, at least. What is 
 it?" 
 
 " My wife and I have been talking it over, and we agree 
 that nothing could be more felicitous and appropriate," con- 
 tinued Mr. Earle, helping himself to a chair. 
 
 " Speak for yourself, if you please," interposed that lady. 
 ' Georgie, dear, don't mind his nonsense ! " 
 
 " My grand idea is this, good people ! Annie, are you 
 listening ? I move, that this twain, to be one the day after 
 to-morrow, shall perform a bridal pilgrimage to Roaring 
 River." 
 
 " Tom Earle ! if your wife doesn't feel it to be her solemn 
 duty tc box your ears, I do ! " cried Mrs. Bell, flyiug towards 
 him.
 
 380 A BATTLE SUMMEB. 
 
 In the bustle that ensued, Georgie slipped from the room. 
 Norris, seeking her presently, found her on the piazza, lean- 
 ing over the railing in an attitude of thoughtfulness. Her 
 reverie was not so deep that she did not hear his footsteps. 
 Meeting her with a mute caress as she turned towards him, 
 he drew her hand within his own, and they began to walk up 
 and down the floor, checkered by the shadows of the embow- 
 ering creepers. Norris broke the eloquent silence. 
 
 " You did not stay to vote upon Mr. Earle's motion." 
 
 "I delegated that duty to you. "Women have not the 
 right of suffrage." 
 
 " You had no fear, then, lest a lingering tendresse for Miss 
 Hortensia should bias my decision ? " 
 
 She laughed gayly. " I did not think of that. Perhaps 
 my confidence was rash, after all." 
 
 "Do you know, little one," Norris resumed tenderly, 
 while his words conveyed a rebuke, " that the sole cause of 
 complaint I have ever had against you, was your unjust 
 judgment of me in that affair? It is all a dark, sad dream 
 to me ; looking back out of the sunshine of perfect love and 
 trust in which we now live, your credence of that absurd, 
 and, to me, dishonoring report of my attachment to another, 
 and that other Miss Jemima's sister ! Then came the 
 train of painful misunderstandings brought on by that belief ; 
 doubt, and estrangement, and suffering. But for your sister, 
 I fear we would never have been reconciled. I could not 
 understand your freezing disdain, and enigmatical allusions 
 to my fickleness, and you refused to believe in the reality 
 of my devotion. She came to my relief with the story of a 
 conversation purposely held in your hearing and hers, when it 
 was positively known that the game was lost, and I began to 
 suspect the iniquitous plot. You must pledge undoubting 
 faith in me from this time, henceforth and forever, my 
 beauty, to make amends for this tremendous mistake."
 
 A BATTLE BUMMEE. 381 
 
 " I suffered, too, James," said Georgie, in a low tone. 
 
 "As you never shall again, Heaven helping me! One 
 thing I do owe Roaring River I there met you for the 
 first time. As to the darker pages of our experience there, 
 let this be the token that they are sealed fast, never more to 
 be opened." And, bending forward but, as this is not a 
 sentimental story, we will break off modestly just here, and 
 return to the quartette left within doors. 
 
 " Yes, we acted for once in our lives like unmitigated 
 donkeys ! " Mr. Earle was saying, with his usual candor. 
 "Still, except for Georgie's spell of sickness, and little 
 Annie's month of fever and ague, I would not regret the 
 lesson. It was pretty severe, but it will stick by us for 
 the rest of our lives. After this, seeing is believing with 
 me, and I will know for myself, before I go rusticating, 
 whether I am to be a bonajide boarder, who pays a fair, 
 liberal price for good fare, good beds, and good air, to one 
 who takes me with the hope of making money honestly, and 
 isn't ashamed to own it, or whether I am to enter a private 
 family where they * receive a few Mends, just for company,' 
 and am to submit in silence to detestable food, poisonous 
 malaria, musty towels and rancid napkins, and beds that 
 would disgrace a squatter's hovel, besides being bored to 
 death by a set of predestined old maids, as full of cranks, 
 and notions, and affectations as an egg is of meat, who treat 
 me as their social equal, if not their inferior, and pull caps 
 with my sister for her beau, and who, after cheating us for 
 six weeks, abuse us like pickpockets because we fly for our 
 lives from their odious den and more odious society." 
 
 " Did Norris tell you that he had picked up some ugly 
 facts touching Burley's antecedents ? " asked Mr. Bell. 
 
 "No: what are they?" 
 
 "His real profession is, it appears, that of 'confidence 
 man,' combining the characters of jockey, swindler, and
 
 382 A BATTLE SDMMEK. 
 
 blackleg generally. Happening to cast his eyes upon the 
 snug Ketchum farm, lie concluded to make such arrange- 
 ments as would secure it as a permanent summer retreat 
 when business was slack, or the public faith in him below 
 par. Norris heard the tale from Mr. Boulby. He had 
 just seen his friend, the 'brother in the city.' This young 
 man, who is, James says, really a fine, sensible fellow, paid 
 his sisters a visit last fall, and was introduced to his pro- 
 spective brother-in-law. He recognized him instantly as the 
 notorious scamp 1 have described, exposed him on the spot, 
 and ended his unflattering remarks to him by kicking the 
 gallant scullion out of the house." 
 
 " Good ! " Mr. Earle slapped his knee in applause. " I 
 always said that he was an impostor; that his talk about 
 his ' seaside home," his hints of high respectability in his 
 own neighborhood, and palaver about 'investments' and 
 ' handsome property,' while he was dangling like a low-bred 
 kitchen scrub at the heels of his dulcinea in curls and calico, 
 would prove to be, like the other pretensions of the firm, 
 nothing but bosh ! "
 
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