WBBBEaBBBBCTiPJIifgg^ ,^^o/>afid^aaoQOi0^of>'-/^o< -,- i , J&MadKxa^ '.j a a, o p o r ,i '" n < i < < f ^ > i - ?: i^MMpp^s^ss^ M$s$M^^ ^ Pliw^4?^'^3^waSWS^ $ ao' ' ^ lOOp*-i 00 -,-. P.OOOOOOO'.^) )OO -^^^^4?^M^^X^^^ $$ ' i ' JOO ,*',' 'toOOOOOOOO WOOOa '. "i- O' j . x N ',---,-:-i 1 ". ., r'.(. ,-v ' -. -v -<^^ v "v_'-. % , v ' , * v ' -. - . ^ ' 000000000 OOO'OOO . o o o o o o o o'o - ^y* --** XJ-V--.. - * wiVL_V,>-.v ' v ' ^ v * -J 1 ISA l it^> ( v.* ( J V * * ^ '' I ( H ; ^0M^^^ffiM^fe]^^ MEuKS^j^'C^wOOCKTQ^O'QOfw^^O ^^^S^^rara^raOySK^cracratTO^iiicio'a'i StjIoM^s^ ^ ^ o.o'^Oi^'O'iiaooo ii cvo o o ra^g^^^H^H CTa THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES T S ARTHUR'S NEW WORKS. I. OUT IN THE WORLD. II. LIGHT ON SHADOWED PATHS. [II. NOTHING BUT MONEY. In press. All published uniform with this volume, at $1.50 each, and sent free by mail upon receipt of price, by Carleton, Publisher, York. OUT IN THE WOULD. BY T. S. ARTHUR, AUTHOR OF "LIGHT ON SHADOWHD PATHS," ETC. ETC. NEW YORK: CARLE TO 'JV, PUBLISHER, 413 BROADWAY. M DCCC LXIV. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1804, by G. W. CARLETOX, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. PS OUT IN THE WORLD. CHAPTER I. ^DISCIPLINED, wayward, some- times petulant pure, warm-hearted, loving. Life was simple feeling. Such was Madeline Spencer when she took upon herself the vows of wifehood. Her husband, Carl Jansen, was older by five or six years ; a young man of placid exterior and thoughtful habits, but sensitive and proud. He had, by long continued effort, learned to gov ern himself; or, in exacter phrase, to hide what he felt from observation to maintain a calm outside, even under strong interior excitement. He was considerate of those around him, as well from naturally kind feelings as from a certain ground of principle ; but, there was also in this consideration, a desire to stand well in the opinion of others: This love of approbation had been, in fact, a strong element in the work of self disci pline which had for years been in progress. 6 OUT IN THE WORLD. Jansen was selfish, as are all men, no matter of what culture or training, who have simply developed on the natural plane of life under natural motives. He had con trolled his passionate impulses, not because they were evil in themselves, but because their exhibition would shadow his good name, or hurt his worldly interests. He was polite, deferential, calm, orderly, kind ; in a word, gentle manly in his whole deportment; but not from Christian ethics. It was not because he desired the well being or happiness of others, that he was so considerate of their comfort, convenience, or pleasure. It is questionable whether he ever regarded this. How will it appear? what will be thought ? Herein lay the boundary of mo tive ; but not the conscious boundary, let this be said in Jansen's favor. He thought himself better than he was. We say it not in reproach he did not know himself. No matter to what extent this culture of man's natural mind may go, the good exterior will only be an assumed beauty. The root will draw nutrition from the soil of selfishness. Out in the world, the man may counterfeit the saiutliest virtues. At home, he will be what he is ; and the reactions of home, if against his weaknesses and desires, will give another form to his life hard, harsh, angry ; it may be cruel. He will not prefer another to himself, as on the social plane, where he bids for fair opin ions ; he will not yield, in seeming bland good nature, the point of argument ; will not consider and excuse faults of character nor read human nature against himself. Undisciplined, wayward, petulant, yet pure, warm hearted and loving. Such, in brief, was Madeline Spencer when she became Mrs. Jansen. And the young husband was exteriorly placid and thoughtful, but sensitive and OUT IK THE WORLD. 7 proud. Such unions do not afford large promise of happi ness ; but they quicken all the elements of life give rapid growth of character and make men and women stronger for good or evil. They eliminate the saint or develop the fiend. An observer, writing in a kind of playful seriousness, on the phenomena of love, says that one man is enamored of a curl, another of a graceful ankle, a third of blue or brown eyes, a fourth of a swan-like neck, a fifth of a Grecian pro file, and so on ; the real character and quality of the en chantress rarely if ever coming into view, thus making marriage something akin to blind guess-work. Alas for many, when the curl loses its crisp circles ; when the an kle's fine symmetry departs ; when the blue eyes grow leaden, and the brown eyes swim in tears; when the neck shrinks into lines and angles, and the fine profile mocks an expressionless or peevish face ! It was the beauty of Madeline that first attracted Jan- sen ; the beauty of her whole face when life flowed into it the life of joy. Her complexion was of that pure, transparent pink and white, seen occasionally, and always so charming if accompanied by regular features ; in her case made more striking by hazel eyes, close brown eyebrows, and long lashes of the same color. If the eyes had been blue, Jansen might not have been captivated. The brown eyes did the final work. Love takes for granted almost everything. The curl represents grace of mind ; the blue eyes tenderness; the brown eyes depth of feeling ; the nobly formed neck dignity of character ; the clear cut pro file internal symmetry. Love takes all for granted. Nev er questions never doubts ; and goes blindly to the al tar. 8 OUT IN THE WOULD. Undisciplined, wayward, and sometime petulant, for all the pinky flesh and chestnut eyes ! Jansen might have seen this ; he did see it in fact but, in his infatuation, doubted the evidence. There was an error in the observation, he thought, some false adjustment of the instrument. It was impossible for imperfections like these to dwell in a cask et so fair to look upon. After the wedding day after the honeymoon, came the sober realities, the plain facts of married life ; arid none escape them. The worshiped divinity steps down from her pedestal and becomes a woman ; still fair, beloved, and worshipped, but not at the old distance. If she be a true, disciplined woman, unselfish (in the ordinary acceptance of the term,) and generously inclined to minister in all things to her husband's happiness, comfort, and conve nience, there will be, unless he is a tyrant or a brute, a home in which peace can fold her wings. But, if she be not so disciplined and unselfish, but petulant, wayward, thoughtless, the chances are all on the other side. If, back of this petulance, and thoughtless ^waywardness, lie purity, truth, and a generous loving nature, the husband will be equally to blame with the wife, if clouds instead of sunshine hang over their dwelling place nay, more to blame ; for by virtue of his mental constitution, he may lift himself into regions of calm thought more easily than his wife, and so, rise out of the blindness of mere impulse. She loves and feels most ; he dwells most in thought and should let reason give clear sight and a just self con trol. Now, in the case of Jansen, there was, as we have seen, a habit of self-control. But, we have seen also, that this was not grounded in any spiritual motive ; but was simply OUT IN THE WORLD. 9 natural that is, selfish. He loved the good opinion of others liked to stand fair with the world ; and so guard ed himself, lest at any time he should betray unmanly weaknesses, passion, ill-nature, or hardness of character. The self-control, therefore, was not a restraint of wrong impulses, lest they should prove harmful to others ; but a restraint lest they should, through some reaction, hurt him self. Just so far, and no farther, had Carl Jansen gone in the great work of soul-discipline, at the period of his mar riage. As for his beautiful young wife, she had not yet taken her first lesson in self-command. Her impulses were her rulers. As she felt, so she acted. Her early training had not been wisely ordered. Her father had been indulgent, and her mother blind and weak. Natural ly gifted, her mind imbibed rapidly, and she was better educated than most young women of her age. For music she had a passion. She performed with a taste and skill rarely acquired, and sang with a richness of vocalization, and absorbed feeling, that always drew a crowd around her when in any large company, she sat down to the piano. In this passion for music, Carl Jansen had no share. A few notes, or a few bars, when they first struck on his ears, came in waves of sweetness ; but, like honey to the taste, this sweetness soon palled on the sense. After a few minutes, he would fail to perceive any response in his soul ; and thought would wander from the vibrant strings, no longer discriminating chords or passages, and merely dwelling, half conscious of their presence, in a maze of sound, that distui-bed rather than tranquillized his feelings. He generally experienced a sense of relief par ticularly in social companies when, to use his own 1* 10 OUT IN THE WORLD. words, " the piano ceased its humdrumming." He had never said this to Madeline before marriage. Oh no. That would have been inconsistent with his world-side character. On the contrary, he affected a polite enthusi asm for music, and would stand, as if entranced, by the piano, asking her to play piece after piece, even while wearied with the sound of jarring chords, and impatient of her long-continued beating of the keys. This he called politeness, and consideration for those with whom we as sociate. It was on the plane of his assumed gentlemanly bearing towards the world ; but its mainspring was sel fishness. He was enamored of the maiden ; he was the lover and the wooer; and every act was designed to con ciliate her favor as every act before the world was to win the world's regard. Herein lay the danger to happiness. This outside, with Carl Jansen, did not present the real man. That shrunk away and hid itself under smoother and compliant ex teriors looked out stealthily from blinds was always standing on guard. It was different with Madeline. She had no concealments never tried to veil her petulance or waywardness, more than her loving impulses. Every heart-beat showed itself in her transparent countenance. You saw the state of her feelings in her eyes. It was not a mirror only, it was a crystal window. You could look down through it into her soul. In every changing state, the past state with her was forgotten she lived so whol ly in the present. She was pure she was true ; but ignorant of the world, impulsive, wayward, and, for lack of discipline, self-willed. As to hereditary quality she was a better woman than Jansen was a man more sin- OUT IN THE WORLD. 11 cere less concealed. Yet, with all this, there lay unde veloped with her, strength of character power of en durance ; and a pride not easily quickened, but having latent elements that, once infilled with life, would make her inflexible as iron. CHAPTER II. ^FTER the wedding day after the hon eymoon came the sober reality, the plain facts of married life ; and none escape them. The worshiped divinity steps down from her pedestal, and becomes a woman ; still fair, beloved, and wor shiped, but not at the old distance. We repeat these unwelcome sentences unwelcome to many, because the words will bear to them a meaning be yond their literal sense. It was not long before the divinity of Carl Jansen's new home stepped down before his eyes, and revealed her self as human, in whom were human weaknesses and hu man faults. The all-compliant lover was not merged, gracefully, into the all-compliant husband. Why should there be wooing, after winning and possession ? A new order of things must follow marriage ; an entire change of relation between the woman and the man. Before, the will of Madeline was his law ; now, his will must be OUT IN TUE WOELD. 13 her law. There is a vast difference between the two rela tions ; and the substitution of the one for the other cannot take place without a jar. If Jansen had been less selfish, and thence clearer seeing able to change in perception, his stand point for that occupied by his young wife the shadow of a cloud, dark enough to hold a tempest in its bosom, need not have fallen so quickly upon their lives. But, he had a cold, inflexible nature, which, to the world, veiled itself under warm and soft exteriors and had so veiled itself to the maiden, Madeline. To her, he had ever seemed warm and yielding. Nothing hard, icy, or exacting, had appeared in all the happy months of waiting for the blissful day that was to make them one. She felt that he was all tenderness, all love ; and that she could rest on his manly strength, and hide herself, like a tired child, when life had weary or sad moments, in sweet aban donment on his breast. Alas for her disappointment ! She awoke with a start a shock a wound arose shuddering, yet in anger, and with a new consciousness of strength. There had been disturbances in her sleep a troubled sense of pain and wrong strange dreams that hurt and frightened her a kind of vague nightmare, changing all at once to a gib bering phantom on her breast, when she awoke with a cry, awoke, never to sleep the old tranquil sleep again ! Let us come to particulars. The awaking was in this wise. Keep in mind the two characters with which we are dealing. The one undisciplined, impulsive, self-will ed, independent ; the other cold, orderly, inflexible, and sensitive to the world's opinion. How will it appear? governed his life in its social aspect. Is it right, and agreeable to myself? governed hers. She rarely, if ever, 14 OUT IN THE WORLD. thought about what others might say or think of her while he felt himself to be under constant observation. It was five months after their marriage. During that time, the young husband had been gradually changing in the e/es of his wife, and putting on new forms of charac ter. The honey-moon had scarcely passed, ere a jar was felt. Pain and surprise followed vague questionings, bewilderment, doubt, Madeline pondered the fact, not comprehending it pondered it sitting in the edge of a shadow that was advancing, black and cold upon her life. Another jar more questioning deeper bewilderment strange doubts the shadow still advancing. What was meant ? What portended ? She had entered a new region, and was losing her way. The path along which her feet had moved in dancing measure, grew all at once narrower, and she began looking to her steps ; and then, as her eyes from a vague instinct of danger, ran forwards, the path lost itself to vision. She trembled and grew afraid sat 'down and wept. And this happened ere two months had passed since the bridal kiss lay sweet upon her lips. How imperfectly do we understand each other. We move side by side, dwell in the same household, commune together, enter into the most intimate and sacred relations and yet, continually misapprehend and falsely interpret one another. Each is a mystery a human temple, into the penetralia of which none but God may enter. In just the degree that we selfishly live our own lives that is, seek our own pleasures, and do our own will, are we in danger of misapprehending and misinterpreting others. Their acts, (all we really see of them,) if they fail to square with our rule of thinking if they touch our sense of propriety, or interfere with our comfort or convenience, OUT IN THE WOELD. 15 are read against them as signs of perverseness, moral de fection, wrong intent, or evil desire ; and we respond, in our action, to the assumed meaning of theirs. In so responding, were the truth really known to us, we should find ourselves wrong twice in three times. But we too rarely get down to the truth in these things. Our reactions upon assumed perverseness or evil, are met by counter-reactions, and we grow blinder and falser in our judgments. Pride and anger rise up to cloud still more our better reason, and too often, alas ! we lift the hand to punish where there has been no sin. If men and women made it a rule always to suppose good instead of evil touching the doubtful actions of those to whom they bear intimate relations, there would be peace and unity with tens and tens of thousand, who now perversely wound and hinder one another turning the honey of their lives into vinegar and gall. Both Jansen and his wife were strongly marked as to individuality of character, living so completely in their own ideas of life, as to render adequate sympathy with the peculiar ideas and sympathies of another nearly im possible. Herein lay the ground of danger. This was the barrier to unity and happiness. He was always guarding and hiding from the world his weaknesses and peculiari ties dropping down a veil when he appeared abroad questioning as to how it would sound or seem, ere the impulse to speak or act found ultimation. She, on the contrary, was a standing revelation of herself. Never on her guard never asking what this one or the other might say or think ruled by her impulses sunny, show ery, petulant, tender, passionate. Her heart beat along the surface of her life, and you might count the pulsations. It 16 OUT IN THE WORLD. was this perpetual revelation of herself that constituted the veil of mystery, beyond which the eyes of Jansen could not penetrate caused his misinterpretations, and stim ulated his impatience. He could not understand her char acter far less, sympathize with her. At the end of five months after a troubled sleep, in which strange dreams had hurt and^fi'ightened the young wife there came a full awakening. The stealthy, intru ding, suffocating, weird nightmare, suddenly revealed, as we have said, its hideous form, and she sprung from sleep, with a cry of fear. It was in this wise : Beautiful, gifted, fascinating in manner, social, and grat ified with the attentions that were lavished upon her, Mrs. Jansen was not in the least inclined to withdraw herself from the pleasant circles wherein she had shone as a star. Now, this did not please her husband. He wanted her more for himself, and felt disturbed when he saw her en joying the company of other men. Hindrances had been thrown in her way which only^fcnoyed instead of imped ing her. He watched her narrowly when in society, and she was constantly detecting the half-suspicious glances of his cold, wary eyes, a circumstance that did not cause reflection or concession, but only awakened pride, and led her farther away from the paths in which he desired her to walk. Carl Jansen was a merchant, living and doing business in the city of New York. As our story has nothing to do with his business life, we shall not weary the reader with dry descriptions of his store, his clerks, or his customers. In regard to personal appearance, a few words must suffice. In stature, he was five feet eight inches not stout straight and symmetrical. He was always well dressed ; OUT IN THE WORLD. 17 had dark, fine hair, a little wavy ; and clearly defined, smooth eyebrows, handsomely arched. Eyes nearly black. Side whiskers, just a little wavy, like his hair, and similar as to color. His profile was almost classic, and like chiselled marble in its pure outlines ; but the face itself was neai-ly as pale and cold as marble. " A perfect face," was often said, when the eyes first rested thereon ; but, the more you studied it, the less you were satisfied the less per fect it seemed. There was defect hi something that gave the sign of a true and noble manhood. You had an im pression of narrowness instead of breadth of littleness instead of grandeur. It was a face, the calm surface of which was rarely broken. There might be a tempest be low, but few signs thereof would be revealed in his placid countenance. He knew, perfectly, the art of hiding what he felt ; of restraining the flow of passionate blood ere it put a stain of betrayal on his cheek. Such men get credit for virtues not always possessed. Carl Jansen left his store one evening in November, a little before six o'clock. It was almost dark. He took a stage in Broadway, just above Wall street. Two or three vacant places remained one at the forward part of the stage, to which he passed. Before reaching John street, the stage had its complement of twelve passengers. The last man who entered, was a person well know to Jansen. A gentleman sitting next to him recognized this person as he came in and made room for him. He did not observe Jansen. There was some defect in the stage lamp, and it went out soon after passing the Astor House ; in con sequence, the faces of the passengers were all in deep shadow. The last comer had not observed our mer chant, who sat crowded into the corner of the seat, and 18 OUT IN THE WOULD. who, being a smaller man than his immediate neighbor, was quite concealed. The two men were, it soon ap peared, intimate acquaintances. The one known to Jan- sen was named Guyton. He was a small Wall street broker, of no very fair record, but a specious, insinuating, shrewd, self-determined man, who was making his way in the world, and did not mean to fail through lack of wit and effort. He had a smooth tongue, a gracious man ner, a rhinoceros skin, and a conscience without scruple. " You will be at the club to-night ? " Jansen heard his immediate neighbor say to Guyton, as they were passing Barclay street. "No ; I have something better than the club on hand." "Ah! What?" The two men drew close together, speaking almost into each other's ears. The rattle of the stage prevented their voices from being heard by the passengers sitting opposite ; but, Guyton's face being turned towards Mr. Jansen, he by leaning and hearkening Avith an almost breathless at tention, managed to get nearly every word that was spoken. " A party at Mrs. Woodbine's. Were you not invited ? " " The Woodbines and I don't take to each other. They are very nice people, no doubt ; but, a little stuck up, since Woodbine ventured into the California trade, and came out winner instead of loser." " It's the way of the world, you know," said Guyton " But they give fine entertainments, and you meet some charming people there." "Who?" " There is one in particular. Do you know Carl Jan sen ? " OUT IN THE WOULD. 19 Of Maiden Lane ? " " Yes ; at least, I know of him." " Have you met his wife ? " " Never." "They've only been married a few months. But she is lovely ! Wears the sunniest face you ever looked upon. A perfect enchantress ! I am going to meet her." " You are ! " Jansen did not fail to note the surprised tone in which this response was made. " Yes : she's the attraction. I wish you could hear her sing. She has the most perfect voice I ever heard in a woman. It is divine." " Does the lady respond to your admiration ? " Just then, in making way for a down-coming stage, the one in which they were riding turned short towards the pavement, and the hind wheels grinding against the curb stone, drowned the voice that answered ; and so the eager, tingling ears of the surprised husband did not catch the reply. What he did hear from Guyton's companion, was not calculated to soothe his feelings. The sentence was this : "A little vanity in so good looking a fellow as you are may be pardoned. If, however, an old stager's advice be worth anything, let me suggest prudence. Trouble is apt to come of these things. Honesty is found to be the best policy in the long run, whether a man's gold or his wife be considered. You'd better come to the club." " No, thank you ! Not small beer when I can get the flavor of wine." " How is Erie to day ? " Guyton's companion changed the subject. " Flat," was answered. 20 OUT IN THE WOULD. " Hudson river ? " " Advanced a half. If you have a few thousands to spare, now is your time. It's on the upward move." Do you think so ? " *' I know so." Jansen shrunk back into his corner of the stage with a mingled feeling of pain, anger and mortification. Nothing more of what passed between the two men reached his ears. Did a suspicion touching his wife cross his mind ? No not the shade of a suspicion. He believed her to be true and pure, and it almost maddened him to think that the breath of such a man as Guyton should fall upon her cheek. The particular attentions of this man to Mad eline on two or three recent occasions had not escaped his observation. He understood something of their meaning now. But, how was he to deal with Madeline ? How save her from contact with a person whose eyes he saw, in fancy, looking at her with the greed of a sensualist and a villain ? The two men left the stage before him, and, unembarrassed by their presence, he pondered this new question, that seemed more difficult of solution with every repeated effort to reach an answer. Madeline herself had proved an enig ma. He had, so far, failed to comprehend her character. She did not seem to reflect had no worldly wisdom no suspicions no prudence. Her feelings were her lead- ders, and carried her whithersoever they would. Every effort so far made, whether gentle w firm, to hold her back from the social life in which she found so much enjoyment, had been fruitless. The feeble arguments he could educe on the side of " moping at home," as she said, we/e.to her as weak as gossamer. She blew them away at a breath. OUT IN THE WORLD. 21 "Life was given us to enjoy, Carl," she sometimes an swered him in playful seriousness, " and we cannot enjoy it alone. The heart is social. It must have friends. Home is sweet but the sweetest and purest lake that ever smiled back into the blue sky, or reflected the light of stars, will grow vile and death-breeding, if its waters be not re newed and agitated by the influx of streams. Because we have created a home, shall we retire into it and selfishly shut the door letting none pass over our threshold nor crossing it ourselves ? This would indeed be folly ! No, no, Carl ! We must not imitate the folly that is making so many homes in our land little better than gloomy cloisters. Does the marriage vow involve a renunciation of the world ? Is the wife a simple devotee ? a nun ? I must be pardoned for thinking differently." Carl might as profitably have talked to the wind as to argue against his wife. All this was, with her, a matter of perception. She saw it ; and reasons to the contrary were to her as words without meaning. In all his efforts to draw her to his way of thinking where it ran counter to what she saw and felt to be right he had, so far, en tirely failed. There was either a playful setting of him aside, or a more sober, but resolute, advance along the ways in which she saw it right to go. These were not perverse, doubtful, or dangerous ways ; but simply the old ways amid social pleasures wherein she had walked for a few bright years ; where Carl had walked also ; and where they had met as lovers. In his eyes she had graced these ways once was their most beautiful ornament but now, she seemed out of her sphere there. It had been well enough for the maiden, but was not for the wife. The conversation just heard in the stage, confirmed all his 22 OUT IN" THE WOKLD. objections to her love of society. But lie was not clear as to the propriety of reporting this conversation at least not for the present. His experience with Madeline caused him to hesitate. He was never certain of the way in which she would respond to a communication in any man ner bearing upon her conduct. In most cases, she had acted in clear opposition to his .way of thinking. Carl Jansen, on reaching home, found his wife in the midst of elaborate toilette preparations, though it was yet full two hours before Mrs. Woodbine's guests would begin to present themselves. His face did not light up with its accustomed smiles on meeting her. He was too sober too annoyed for smiles. His eyes clear and cold at all times, were particularly cold now ; his face clouded ; his lips compressed with unusual firmness. His presence, to the warm, light heart of Madeline, fell like a shade. " What's the matter? Are you sick ? " she asked, rest ing her eyes on his face, and trying to read every line of expression. He said something about a slight headache ; but his man ner was reserved. As this was not the first time her hus band had come home in a strange humor, on a like occa sion, Madeline partly guessed the cause. A state of irritation followed. Janscit saw this change of feeling writing itself in her tell-tale eyes and face, and it sobered and discouraged him still more. Excess of feeling, while it blinded her, stimulated her self-will. He had gained experience of this already. "There is no use in opposition," he said to himself. " She will go, spite of anything I can say." He might have told her of what he had heard in the OUT IN THE WORLD. 23 stage. But, that would have been no reason for her re maining at home ; only for a guarded demeanor towards Mr. Guyton. As the communication of this incident, at the time, would effect nothing, Jansen felt constrained, still to keep it in his own possession. He would, of course, not lose sight of Madeline for a moment would linger near her as much as possible ; and watch Guyton with eagle eyes. In this spirit he went with his wife to Mrs. Woodbine's. CHAPTER HI. HEY were silent by the way he, from a brooding, questioning, bound state of feeling ; she, partly from the intrusion of his unhappy condition of mind, and partly, because she knew that to speak of her pleasant anticipations would n .eet with no cheerful response. Mrs. Woodbine's elegant suite of drawing-rooms, from the last of whh'.h opened her choicely stocked conservato ry, were almost filled with guests when Carl Jansen and his wife arrived. They had entered, Madeline leaning on her husband's arm ; been received by Mr. and Mrs. Wood bine ; and were moving down the room, amid richly at tired women and their attendants, when Mr. Guyton pre sented himself with a face all smiles and courtesy, and said, with the assured familiarity of a favored friend " Ah, Mrs. Jansen ! I've been looking for you ! Good evening, Mr. Jansen ! Let me take the care of your lady off of your hands." OUT IN THE WORLD. 25 And before Jansen had time to think, Madeline's hand had been withdrawn from his arm, and she was moving away, leaning on the arm of the very man whom of all men living, he at that time most detested. What was to be done ? Anything, or nothing? For once in his life, there were red stains of passion in his cheeks. He knew it by their burning glow ; and, in fear lest he should betray the almost maddening strife of feeling that seemed as if it would bear him beyond self-control, he moved out of the circle of observation as far as possible. But, he did not lose sight of his wife. How perfectly at home she was with Mr. Guyton ! How familiarly did she lean towards him, looking up into his face, and answering him with sunny smiles and bright laughing eyes ! He was an at tractive man ; taller in stature than Mr. Jansen, and alto gether of a more imposing exterior. His manners were polished his tastes cultivated ; and he had fine conver sational powers. Altogether he was a man to shine in society one that fascinated women. As Jansen's eyes followed them, a cold, dull sense of fear, that hurt as it stealthily intruded, crept through his heart. What did this mean ? The unhappy man looked inward, searchingly, and found a new sensation, full of pain. Love had taken the alarm ; and, suddenty, a mailed knight was by her side, with sword unsheathed. Under the half shut visor, you saw the gleam of a cruel eye. It was Jealousy. Now, in most cases, jealousy sees through an obscuring medium, and gives fa 1 so report of every act. The purest Binile is an invitation to step aside from paths of virtue ; the simplest motion a betrayal of design ; a foregone ad mission of evil distorts and changes everything. 2 26 OUT IN THE WORLD. Like a dissolving view, almost suddenly, yet by a strange, gradual blending with, and substitution of one thing for another, the scene before Carl Jansen put on new features, and a new significance. There was a dangerous tempter beside his wife she was in peril. There was safety only in her withdrawal from his alluring sphere. This "idea took entire possession of Jansen's mind. But, how was this withdrawal to be effected ? He was yet in the midst of his perplexed and troubled thoughts, when he observed Madeline and her companion pass from one of the draw ing rooms into the conservatory. As he was moving to follow them, he found himself face to face with a lady acquaintance, who said, as they recognized each other " I've been looking at your wife, Mr. Jansen. She is lovely." The lady was not a flatterer ; but a frank outspoken friend, well enough acquainted to assume liberties of speech, " I've never seen her look better than she does to-night," she continued. " Perfectly charming. Everybody is in love with her! I wonder you are not jealous. I should be, were I a man and had such a beautiful, fascinating creature for a wife." "A poor compliment to both yourself and Avife thnt would be, taking the supposed case as real," said Jansen, trying to answer indifferently. But, his voice had no mu sic in it. The tones were dull and husky. "I believe you are jealous!" said the lady, in playful banter, passing her fan lightly before his face. " For shame ! " Once more, a rare thing for Jansen, the color rose to his cheeks, and he felt that he was betraying himself. A OUT IN THE WORLD. 27 third person joining them at the moment, there was op portunity for dropping a theme which to him had proved almost painfully embarrassing. Full twenty minutes elapsed before he could disengage himself from these two ladies. During this time his watchful eyes had been upon the door leading into the conservatory ; but his wife had not yet reappeared. Jealousy moves, always, with circumspection has stealthy, but quick-seeing eyes. Veils alertness under forms of indifference. Pretends not to observe, when every sense is acute. Jansen entered the conservatory with the air of a half absent-minded person, and stood near the door, in pretended admiration of a flowering- cactus. He bent to the curious, irregular mass of vege tation touched its fluted sides felt of its prickly spines, and stooped to its crimson blossoms as if to find some odors there ; yet, thought was scarcely noticing the plant, and his eyes, as he leaned over it, were looking between its branches, and along the green-house alleys. But their search was not satisfactory. A little farther away from the entrance depended a basket, in which an air plant was imitating a butterfly ; and so perfect, at first sight, was the semblance, that Jansen was half deceived, and stepped closer to solve the illusion. The bright eyes and painted wings were but the coloring of a leaf. " Isn't it exquisite, Carl ? " . Jansen started to find his wife near him. She was still in the company of Guyton. Her face was alive with beauty and feeling. She looked more Lovely than she had ever appeared. " You will find some rare and beautiful things here," she added. " I have enjoyed them so much. Be sure to look at Mrs. Woodbine's pansies, at the lower end. Such richness and variety in the coloring, I have never seen." 28 OUT IN THE WORLD. In the next moment, she had vanished with her attend ant, passing again to the drawing-rooms, and leaving her husband to the companionship of flowers. For a short time, he stood bewildered ; then advanced a little way down the conservatory stood, apparently, in admiration of a large orange tree ; and then, turning, went back to the parlors. Through these, he searched in vain for his wife. She was no where to be seen. Presently music was heard. It came from one of the upper rooms. A few, who loved music, left the crowded apartments below, and went up stairs. Jansen stood in the hall, near the stair-way, in a state of indecision. A voice, clear and sweet, stole out on the air above, and came floating down. There was a pause in the movement about Jansen a pause to listen. " That's your wife," said one who happened to be near the young man. At this moment, another voice, rich and deep, swelled out, in accord with the fine soprano. " And that's Guyton," added the same person. " He's a glorious singer. Come ! " The speaker moved to the stairs, and Jansen accompa nied him. They went up, and following the rich sounds, entered a large front chamber, which had been arranged as a music room for the occasion. The sight which there met the eyes of Jansen was in no respect calculated to soothe his disturbed feelings. The piano was so arranged that you could see the performers' faces. Madeline was seated at the instrument, and Guyton standing beside her. They were singing a duet. Guyton turned the music, and in doing so, bent, with a closeness of contact, and a familiarity of manner, that struck the OUT IK THE WORLD. 29 husband as an outrage ; sometimes dropping, during a pause in his part, a word in the ear of Mrs. Jansen. At the conclusion of the piece, Madeline, who seemed to be conscious of no presence but that of her companion, lift ed to his her bright eyes and glowing face, and received, with evident signs of pleasure, the compliments he lavished. Jansen was on fire ! With difficulty he restrained an impulse prompting him to cross the room to where the performers were engaged, and invite his wife to accompany him down stairs. The act would have been an outrage; and he was able to see this clearly enough to prevent the folly. For nearly half an hour, he was doomed to the suf ferings of a purgatory. The singers were enchanted with the music, and as he read their feelings in their counten ances, with each other also. Madeline had never looked to him more ravishingly beautiful. Light flashed from her face and eyes, and floated around her glossy curls and gemmed head-dress, like a halo. Dancing had commenced in the parlors ; and this was gradually diminishing the company gathered in the music room. TFansen was among those who lingered. A bril liant little Italian song had been sung by Madeline, and she was sitting quietly for a moment in the pause that followed, when Guyton bent down and said something. Smiles of consent and pleasure danced over her face, and she arose from the music stool and took his proffered arm. They were half across the room, when Jansen stood in their way, and looking coldly, almost sternly at his wife, said, in an undertone " I want you for a moment." Then bowing with an ex cess of formality to her companion, he said to him " Pray excuse her, Mr. Guyton." 30 OUT IN THE WORLD. Madeline looked seriously annoyed. Guyton was sur prised, and stared at Mr. Jansen with falling brows, like one offended by a rudeness. He returned the bow quite as formally as it had been given, and left the young hus band and his wife in the now almost deserted room. " You are forgetting yourself, Madeline," said Jansen, as soon as they were sufficiently alone to escape particular notice. His eyes were riddles to his wife. What new, strange, dark meanings were looking out of them ? They were full of accusation ; were sharp with anger. " I do not understand you," she replied ; and she did not. The color had almost all gone out of her face, that was rosy as blushing May scarcely a moment back. Jansen was excited and in mental obscurity. " Perhaps I can make it clear," he said, speaking in a tone of irony. " Do, if you please ! " His hardness was communicating itself. Madeline looked at him with shut lips, and cold eyes. He had broken upon her happiness too suddenly and in a way that stirred her anger. She felt that there was something of outrage in his inexplicable conduct. " There are some men with whom it is not prudent for a young wife to be seen in too close familiarity." Carl Jansen ! Is it possible ! " She was startled and indignant. " I speak soberly," he returned. " So much the worse," was answered quickly, and with a hot flushing of the face, which had grown so pale a lit tle while before. "Your wife appreciates the compli ment ! " " Don't make light of things that I regard as serious, Madeline j and, particularly, don't make light of this." He OUT rff THE WORLD. 31 spoke in a warning way. "I am in no temper for trifling to-night. What I have seen and heard, justifies me in all I am saying and doing." " And pray, sir, what have you seen and heard to-night ? " demanded Mrs. Janscn, drawing a little away from her hus band, and looking at him with flashing eyes. " Enough," he said, " to warn me of danger to your good fame." She turned from him with an offended air, and had re ceded a pace or two, when he moved forward to her side and bending close to her ear, whispered " I am going home, and desire you to accompany me." Madeline stood still instantly. She did not turn her face, nor look at him. Only a moment to reflection was given no, not to reflection, but to the hindering of quickly springing impulse. Passion had sway ; but pas sion hiding itself from common observation. She answered in a firm low voice " At one o'clock, I shall be ready to accompany you } not before." " Madeline ! " The tone was in warning. " At one. Not a minute before." And she left him and went down stairs. It was full twenty minutes before Jansen had sufficient possession of himself to venture into the drawing-rooms again. There was dancing, and his wife was on the floor her partner, Mr. Guyton. He stood looking at them, as if under a spell. Every time the hand of his wife touched that of her handsome partner, a fiery thrill would run along his nerves, and strike on his brain with a shock. She moved before him, an image of surpassing loveliness an embodiment of pleasure. There was nowhere to be read, 32 OUT IN THE WORLD. on her joyous countenance, the faintest sign of troubled thought. It seemed as if the memory of what had passed a little while before was wholly obliterated from her con sciousness. "Is she heartless! Does she defy me! O jealousy! Blind, suspicious, cruel ; how quickly dost thou lead the soul astray ! Jansen moved back, and went into the hall, where he was out of sight of the dancers. " I said that I was going home," he spoke with himself. " and what I say I mean. She made light of it. Very well ! She shall know me better. My word is the law of my actions. I speak, and do. I said that I was going and I shall go." It was one o'clock. Half the company had retired. The drawing-rooms were no longer crowded, as few ex cept the dancers remained. For all the sunny face, and light, joyous manner of Mrs. Jansen, even as her husband looked at her in anger of this very joyousnesS, there was the weight, as of a leaden hand, lying on her bosom. And this had grown heavier and heavier, as the hours passed, until its pressure was almost suffocating. She had been dancing a set. The figures were completed, and the music ceased, " I must find my husband," she said, partly aloud, and partly to herself, gliding away from her partner, and mov ing from room to room. Not seeing him, she passed to the hall, and then up stairs. " Have you seen anything of my husband, Mrs. Wood bine ? " she asked of the lady hostess, as she met her on the landing. " No. Isn't he down stairs ? " I think not," OUT IN THE WORLD. 33 " Perhaps you will find him in the music room. There are several gentlemen there." But he was not in the music room. Mrs. Jansen went gliding down stairs, almost holding her breath. The hand that lay on her bosom grew heavier and heavier. Through the glass door of the conservatory, she saw figures moving among the plants. She went in, and along the fragrant aisles, but failed to meet the object of her search. " Have you seen anything of my husband ?" The ques tion was asked of a friend whom she met on coming out of the conservatory. " Not lately. Perhaps he is in the gentlemen's dressing- room." " If you see him, please say that I have gone for my cloak and hood, and will be down in a few moments." " Certainly." And the gentleman bowed. It took Mrs. Jansen only a few minutes to get ready for departure. Cloaked and hooded she came down stairs, eagerly searching with her eyes among the gentlemen who waited in the hall for her husband. But he was not among them. Disappointed she drew back, up the stairs. " Have you seen anything of my husband ? " Again this question was repeated. She spoke to Mr. Woodbine. " Indeed I have not, Mrs. Jansen." " Wont you be kind enough to ascertain for me if he is in the gentlemen's dressing-room ? " " With pleasure." " Say, if you please, that I am all ready." A sofa stood in the upper hall. Mrs. Jansen was feeling very weak. Her limbs trembled. She went up from the landing, on which she had met Mr. Woodbine, and sat down on the sofa. 2* 34 OUT IN THE WORLD. " Why, how pale you are, Mrs. Jansen ! " exclaimed a lady who had come up at the moment. "Don't you feel well?" " Not very," Madeline answered, fuintly. " You have danced too much. I feared you would over do yourself." The lady friend drew a bottle of smelling salts from her pocket, and handed it to Mrs. Jansen. The pungent oder, stimulating her brain, partly revived her. " You should have been more prudent. It was on my lip to suggest this two or three times. Where is your hus band ? " " I am expecting him every moment. Mi*. Woodbine has gone to the dressing-room to tell him I am ready." Two or three ladies by this time stood before Madeline. " What's the matter ? " " Is she sick ? " How very white she is ! " These short sentences passed from one to another. " I can't find anything of your husband," said Mr. Wood bine, joining, soon after, the group. One of my servants says that he went out nearly three hours ago, and that he doesn't remember having seen him since. And now that I think of it Bless me ! " His tone and manner changed instantly. Catch her ! She's falling ! " Madeline's head had dropped suddenly on her bosom, and she was slipping to the floor. Eager arms caught her, and laid her back on the sofa. She was colorless as mar ble, and insensible ! CHAPTER IV. >OR two months Madeline lay ill at Mrs. Woodbine's. A portion of the time there had been despair of her life. Then she was removed to her own home. More than one sweet hope died in her heart during these never-to-be-forgotten days. She came out of them, changed for all the time to come. What guarded ex planations of his conduct her husband un bent himself to make, in no degree satis fied her. She did not, indeed, comprehend them. She could not get to his stand-point, and from thence view herselfl Her very innocence and artlessness obscured all perception of wrong. On the part of Jansen, there was regret for the conse quences which had followed his too hastily determined withdrawal from the party, and he blamed himself for what he had done. But pride kept back from his lips and manner a confession of regret, or an acknowledgment of blame. On the whole subject, he was coldly reticent ; 36 OUT IN THE WORLD. trying, as it were to throw a veil over the affair, as some thing that could not bear the light. So far as Madeline was concerned, she was ready to answer for herself in every thing had no desire for concealment would have jus tified herself to the last particular, because she knew her self to be loyal and pure. But, her husband never gave her this opportunity. If the truth, in regard to him, could have been exhibited in clear light, it would have shown such a state of keen sensitiveness touching the world's opinion of what had taken place, as to overshadow con siderations that lay at the very foundations of peace and happiness. And this sensitiveness to the world's opinion did not regard his wife's reputation so much as his own. He wished to appear blameless in the eyes of all men; and must we say it, desired, in his secret heart, that Mad eline should stand convicted of wrong rather than him self! Always Carl Jansen was consciously in the world's presence. Keep this trait of character in mind. He was .an actor on life's stage, and the men and women he knew and mingled with socially, or in business, were the au dience. He acted badly, you will say, at Mrs. Woodbine's. So he did, and no one knew that better than Jansen him self. It was the smarting consciousness of this that made him cold and unforgiving towards Madeline. He blamed her for what he suffered; and failed adequately to pity her suffering, because he deemed it deserved and salutary. Out of sharp mental agonies most persons arise with a clearer moral vision. It was not so with Mrs. Jansen. True, her thought had a wider range ; she had developed in some directions in a remarkable degree. But, touching her true position as a wife, perception had not grown OUT IX THE WOELD. 37 clearer. She felt that she had been wronged in her hus band's heart, and wronged by him before the world. Nothing was clearer to her than this. She could see it only in one light. What had she done ? Nothing evil. In not one line had she swerved from honorable thought or feeling. There had not been the least variableness nor shadow of turning in the needle of her love, which point ed to her husband as its polar star. As of old, she had entered with all the outflowing impulses of her nature into the night's festivities. She had sung with that sweet abandonment of soul common with those who have a pas sion for music. She had felt the all-pervading sphere of pleasure that filled the atmosphere in which she moved, as she had felt it a hundred times before. That Guyton sought to monopolize her company was something to which she had not given a thought, until summoned so harshly by her husband and virtually commanded to re tire with him from the house. Then, as a kind of eelf- justLfication, and from wounded pride, she permitted his further attentions. Had there been the feeblest motion of desire towards him of preference above her husband she would have started back from him in conscious fear and shame. But being, as we have said, loyal and pure, she did not, in imagination, invest him with any attrac tions that could hold her regard for an instant of time. He was a pleasant companion ; that was all. Alas for Madeline! Alas for her husband! that she had not come up out of the valley of pain and deep hu miliation, with a clearer vision. Alas for them, that both were blinded by natural feeling, and that, alike, they saw obscurely were alike disposed to self-excuses and mutual blame. There was no outward arraignment of each other 38 OUT IN THE WORLD. no allusion, even remotely, to that one unhappy cir cumstance, the memory of which was as an ever present cloud in the horizon of their souls, dimming the sunlight ; but, thought accused. Each began to perceive in the other a sphere of cold ness. The reserve that followed Madeline's restoration to health, increased rather than diminished. On the side of Madeline, this was attributed to a state of hardness to wards her by her husband ; on the side of Jansen, it was attributed to wilfulness and defect of love. To one thing the husband had made up his mind reasoning from his own stand-point. It was his duty to guard his wife ; to hold her as far as possible away from the allure ments of society, and the dangerous association of attrac tive, but unprincipled men, and he meant to do this. If he had really known the artless, pure-minded woman who had promised to be true to him as a wife, he would not have seen his duty in this direction. But he did not know her, and what was worse, lacked the perceptive power by which to know her. He had no plummet line that would sound the depths of her real consciousness. And so, standing side by side with her, in tjie closest of all human relations, she was yet a stranger. For all this, he judged her as inexorably as if the book of her inner life were laid open to him, and he knew every page by heart. On the return of health, the friends of Mrs. Jansen, who made up a large circle, drew her speedily back again into society. Deliberately, acting from what he conceived to be an imperative duty, her husband began throwing imped iments in her way. She stepped over them without pause, acting in part from a spirit of womanly indepen- OUT IN THE WORLD. 39 dcnce, in part from awakened pride, and with something of self-will ; yet, chiefly, from an impelling necessity of her life. She was social, and felt drawn towards society with an almost irresistible impulse. There needed to be a warmer atmosphere more demonstrative love ten derer consideration to give home the magnet's power over her. Even these could not have made her content with a semi-cloistered existence. She could love her hus band (if worthy of her love) ; be true to him in all things ; be faithful to every home-duty, and yet enjoy society with the keenest relish. But, such was the limited range of Jansen's ideas, that he was not able to understand how his wife could love society, without a decrease in her love of her husband and the love of her home. " We cannot serve two masters," so he reasoned on the subject, as he turned it over and over in the circumscribed chamber of his thoughts. " If she prefers social life to home life, then she loves society better than her home. If she prefers the company of other men to the company of her husband, does she not put them above her hus band ? " So he blinded, irritated, and hardened himself causeless ly ; and this, simply because he could not comprehend Madeline. On the other side, Madeline did not compre hend her husband. If she could have looked into his mind, and thus been able to understand something of his peculiar way of regarding things, the result of mental conformation and habits of life, she would have seen it best to deny herself in many things, in order that he might not read her actions as against honorable princi ples. Selfish and arbitrary ! Alas for domestic felicity, when 40 OUT IN THE WORLD. a wife so interprets her husband ! Madeline was not able to give any higher interpretation to her husband's conduct on too many occasions, when, instinctively, self-will, stimu lated by pride, nerved her to opposition. Carl Jansen was not what we call an emotional man. He neither enjoyed nor suffered intensely nor in parox ysms never forgot himself in the overflow of pleasure or pain ; but he was a brooding man, and would spread his wings over a false idea, warming it into vitality, and bring ing into life a host of suggestions falser than the original ; and what was worse, he too often acted on these sugges tions as if they were truths. Self-poised, quiet, firm, res olute, he was one of those persons who, after adopting a line of conduct, generally pursue it to the end, bearing down sometimes trampling down whatever sets itself in opposition. Madeline, on the other hand, was, as we have seen, emotional in a high degree. She could enjoy intensely, and she could suffer intensely ; and what was peculiar in her case, the dominant wave usually effaced all marks of that which preceded. To her husband she was, on this account, inexplicable. Things that would have set him to brooding that would have clouded him for days passed with her as the morning cloud and the early dew. Now it was a rain of tears, and now a flood of sunshine. At dawn in the valley, and at noon upon the mountain top. It was impossible for a man of Carl Jansen's range of ideas to comprehend such a woman. Narrow men are always exacting of prerogative. He was the husband and the head. Assuming this as the position of superiority he saw very clearly that it was his duty as the head, to' rule, and the duty of his wife to obey. The fact that she OUT IN TITE WORLD. 41 Lad defied his authority at Mrs. Woodbine's could never be forgotten it was never forgiven. Often since then he had laid his hand upon her to hold her back, as she was moving in ways he did not approve ; but as often, she had disregarded the intimations. Remembering the