by Marion Bryce
Miss Belinda’s eyes which were of a light grey, wholly without beauty but with strange flashes of expression in them, left the fire and fell upon his face, and a tear of real feeling gathered beneath her lids.
“I had no idea,” said he, “that you cherished any such intention as that. If I had I might have worded my apprehensions differently. The yearning feeling of which you speak, I can easily understand, also the strength of the determination it must take on the part of a man like yourself, to give up a hope of this nature. Yet—” Seeing him pause in his hurried pacing and open his lips as if to speak, she deferentially stopped.
“Miss Belinda,” said he, in the firm and steadfast way more in keeping with his features than his agitated manner of a moment before, “I cannot give it up. The injury it would do me is greater than the harm, which one of Paula’s lofty nature would be apt to acquire in any atmosphere into which she might chance to be introduced. She is not a child, Miss Belinda, though we allude to her as such. The texture of those principles which you have instilled into her breast, is of no such weak material as to give way to the first petty breeze that blows. Paula’s house will stand, while mine—”
He paused and gave way to a momentary struggle, but that over, he set his lips firmly together and the last vestige of irresolution vanished. Sitting down by her side, he turned his face upon her, and for the first time she realized the power which with one exception he had always exerted over the minds of others. “Miss Belinda,” said he, “I am going to give you an evidence of my trust; I am going to leave with you the responsibility of Paula’s future. She shall go with me, and learn, if she can, to love me and mine, but she shall also be under obligations to open her heart to you on all matters that concern her life and happiness in my house, and the day you see any falling off in her pure and upright spirit, you shall demand her return, and though it tears the heart from my breast, I will yield her up without question or parley as I am a gentleman and a Christian. Does that content you?”
“It certainly ought to, sir. No one could ask more, I am sure,” returned the other in a voice somewhat unsteady for her.
“It is opening my house to the gaze of a stranger,” said he, “for I desire you to command Paula to withhold nothing that seriously affects her; but my confidence in you is unbounded and I am sure that whatever you may learn in this way, will be held as sacred by you as though it were buried in a tomb.”
“It certainly will, sir.”
“As for the dearer hope which I have mentioned, time and the condition of things must decide for us. Meanwhile I shall strive to win a father’s place in her heart, if only to build myself a refuge for the days that are to come. You see I speak frankly, Miss Belinda; will you give me some token that you are not altogether dissatisfied with the result of this conversation?”
With the straightforward if somewhat blunt action that characterized all her movements, she stretched out her hand, which he took with something more than his usual high-bred courtesy. “With you at the wheel,” said she, “I think I may trust my darling, even to the whirl and follies of such a society as I know Ona loves. A man who can so command himself, ought to be a safe guide to pioneer others.”
And the considerate gentleman bowed; but the frank smile that hailed her genial clasp had somehow vanished, and from the sudden cloud that at that moment swept over the roseate heavens, fell a shadow that left its impress on his lip long after the cloud itself had departed.
An hour or so had passed. The fire was burning brightly on the hearthstone, illumining with a steady glow the array of stuffed birds, worsted samplers and old-fashioned portraits with which the walls were adorned, but reserving its richest glow and fullest irradiation for the bended head of Paula, who seated on a little stool in the corner of the hearth, was watching the rise and fall of the flickering flames.
She had packed her little trunk, had said good-bye to all her neighboring friends and was now sitting on the old hearthstone, musing upon the new life that was about to open before her. It was a happy musing, as the smile that vaguely dimpled her cheeks and brightened her eyes beneath their long lashes, amply testified. As Mr. Sylvester watched her from the opposite side of the hearth where he was sitting alone with his thoughts, he felt his heart sink with apprehension at the fervor of anticipation with which she evidently looked forward to the life in the new home. “The young wings think to gain freedom,” thought he, “when they are only destined to the confinement of a gilded cage.”
He was so silent and looked so sad, Paula with a certain sort of sensitiveness to any change in the emotional atmosphere surrounding her, which was one of her chief characteristics, hastily looked up and meeting his eye fixed on her with that foreboding glance, softly arose and came and sat down by his side. “You look tired,” murmured she; “the long ride after a day of business care has been too much for you.”
It was the first word of sympathy with his often overwearied mind and body, that had greeted his ears for years. It made his eyes moisten.
“I have been a little overworked,” said he, “for the last two months, but I shall soon be myself again. What were you thinking of, Paula?”
“What was I thinking of?” repeated she, drawing her chair nearer to his in her loving confidence. “I was thinking what wonders of beauty and art lay in that great kernel which you call the city. I shall see lovely faces and noble forms. I shall wander through halls of music, the echo of whose songs may have come to me in the sob of the river or the sigh of the pines, but whose notes in all their beauty and power have never been heard by me even in my dreams. I shall look on great men and touch the garments of thoughtful women. I shall see life in its fullness as I have felt nature in its mightiness, and my heart will be satisfied at last.”
Mr. Sylvester drew a deep breath and his eyes burned strangely in the glow of the firelight. “You expect high things,” said he; “did you ever consider that the life in a great city, with its ceaseless rush and constant rivalries, must be often strangely petty in despite of its artistic and social advantages?”
“All life has its petty side,” said she, with a sweet arch look. “The eagle that cleaves the thunder-cloud, must sometimes stop to plume its wings. I should be sorry to lose the small things out of existence. Even we in the face of that great sunset appealing to us from the west, have to pile up the firewood on the hearth and set the table for supper.”
But fashion, Paula,” he pursued, concealing his wonder at the maturity of mind evinced by this simple child of nature, “that inexorable power that rules the very souls of women who once step within the magic circle of her realm! have you never thought of her and the demands that she makes on the time and attention even of the worshippers of the good and the true?”
“Yes, sometimes,” she returned with a repetition of her arch little smile, “when I put on a certain bonnet I have, which Aunt Abby modeled over from one of my grandmother’s. Fashion is a sort of obstinate step-dame I imagine, whom it is less trouble to obey than to oppose. I don’t believe I shall quarrel with Fashion if she will only promise to keep her hands off my soul.”
“But if—” with a pause, “she asks your all, what then?”
“I shall consider that I am in a country of democratic principles,” she laughed, “and beg to be excused from acceding to the tyrannical demands of any autocrat male or female.”
“You have been listening to Miss Belinda,” said he; “she is also opposed to all and any tyrannical measures.” Then with a grave look from which all levity had fled, he leaned toward the young girl and gently asked, “Do you know that you are a very beautiful girl, Paula?”
She flushed, looked at him in some surprise and slowly drooped her head. “I have been told I looked like my father,” said she, “and I know that means something very kind.”
“My child,” said he, with gentle insistence, “God has given you a great and wonderful gift, a treasure-casket of whose worth you scarcely realize the value. I tell you this myself,
first because I prize your beauty as something quite sacred and pure, and secondly because you are going where you will hear words of adulation, whose folly and bluntness will often offend your ears, unless you carry in your soul some talisman to counteract their effect.”
“I understand,” said she, “I know what you mean. I will remember that the most engaging beauty is nothing without a pure mind and a good heart.”
“And you will remember too,” continued he, “that I blessed your innocent head tonight, not because it is circled by the roses of a youthful and fresh loveliness, but because of the pure mind and good heart I see shining in your eyes.” And with a fond but solemn aspect he reached out his hand and laid it on her ebon locks.
She bowed her head upon her breast. “I will never forget,” said she, and the firelight fell with a softening glow on the tears that trembled from her eyelashes.
XIII. THE END OF MY LADY’S PICTURE.
“Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate.”
—POPE.
Mrs. Sylvester was spending an evening at home. This was something so unusual for this august lady of fashion to indulge in, that she found: it difficult not to fall asleep in the huge crimson-backed chair in which she had chosen to ensconce herself. Not that she had desisted from making every effort known to mortal woman to keep herself awake and if possible amused till the expected travellers should arrive. She had played with her bird till the spoiled pet had himself protested, ducking his head under his wing and proceeding without ceremony to make up his little feather bed, as cunning Geraldine used to call the round, fluffy ball into which he rolled himself at night. More than that, she had looked over her ornaments and taken out such articles as she thought could be spared for Paula, to say nothing of playing a bar or so from the last operatic sensation, and laboriously cutting open the leaves of the new magazine. But it was all of no use, and the heavy white lids were slowly falling, when the bell rang and Mr. Bertram Mandeville was announced, or rather Bertram Sylvester as he now chose to be called.
It was a godsend to her as she politely informed him upon his entrance; and though in his secret heart he felt anything but God sent—he was not of a make to appreciate his uncle’s wife at her very evident value—he consented to remain and assist her in disposing of the evening till Mr. Sylvester should return.
“He is going to bring a pretty girl with him,” remarked she, in a tone of some interest, “a cousin of mine from Grotewell. I should like to have you see her.”
“Thank you,” replied he, his mind roaming off at the suggestion, into the region of a certain plain little music-room where the clock on the mantel ticked to the beating of his own heart. And for ten minutes Mrs. Sylvester had the pleasure of filling the room with a stream of easy talk, in which Grotewell, dark beauties, the coming Seventh Regiment reception, the last bit of gossip from London, and the exact situation of the Madison Bank formed the principal topics.
To the one last mentioned, it having taken the form of a question, he was forced to reply; but the simple locality having been learned, she rambled easily on, this time indulging him with a criticism upon the personal appearance of certain business gentlemen who visited the house, ending with the somewhat startling declaration:
“If Edward were not the fine appearing gentleman that he undoubtedly is, I should feel utterly out of place in these handsome parlors. Anything but to see an elegant and modern home, decorated with the costliest works of art, and filled with bijouterie of the most exquisite delicacy, presided over by a plain and commonplace woman or a bald-headed and inferior-looking man. The contrast is too vivid; works of the highest art do not need such a startling comparison to bring out their beauty. Now if Edward stood in the throne-room of a palace, he would somehow make it seem to others as a handsome set off to his own face and figure.”
This was all very wife-like if somewhat unnecessary, and Bertram could have listened to it with pleasure, if she had not cast the frequent and sidelong glances at the mirror, which sufficiently betrayed the fact that she included herself in this complacent conclusion; as indeed she may have considered herself justified in doing, husband and wife being undoubtedly of one flesh. As it was, he maintained an immovable countenance, though he admired his uncle as much as she did, and the conversation gradually languished till the white somnolent lids of the lady again began to show certain premonitory signs of drooping, when suddenly they were both aroused by the well known click of a latch-key in the door, and in another moment Mr. Sylvester’s voice was heard in the hall, saying, in tones whose cheery accents made his wife’s eyes open in surprise—
“Welcome home, my dear.”
“They have come,” murmured Mrs. Sylvester rising with a look of undeniable expectation. Had Paula not been a beauty she would have remained seated.
“Yes, we have come,” was heard in hearty tones from the doorway, and Mr. Sylvester with a proud look which Bertram long remembered, ushered into their presence a young girl whose simple cloak and bonnet in no wise prevented Mrs. Sylvester from recognizing the somewhat uncommon beauty she had been led to expect.
“Paula, this is your cousin Ona, and—Ah, Bertram, glad to see you—this is my only nephew, Mr. Sylvester.”
The young girl, lost in the sudden glamour of numerous lights, shining upon splendors such as she may have dreamed of over the pages of Irving’s Alhambra, but certainly had never before seen, blushed with very natural embarrassment, but yet managed to bestow a pretty enough greeting upon the elegant woman and handsome youth, while Ona after the first moment of almost involuntary hesitation, took in hers the two trembling hands of her youthful cousin and actually kissed her cheek.
“I am not given to caresses as you know,” she afterwards explained in a somewhat apologetic tone to her husband; “and anything like an appeal for one on the part of a child or an inferior, I detest; but her simple way of holding out her hand disarmed me, and then such a face demands a certain amount of homage, does it not?” And her husband in his surprise, was forced to acknowledge to himself, that as closely as he had studied his wife’s nature for ten years, there were certain crooks and turns in it which even he had never penetrated.
“You look dazzled,” that lady .exclaimed, gazing not unkindly into the young girl’s face; “the sudden glare of so much gas-light has bewildered you.”
“I do not think it is that,” returned Paula with a frank and admiring look at the gorgeous room and the circle of pleasant faces about her. “Sudden lights I can bear, but I have come from a little cottage on the hillside and the magnificence of nature does not prepare you for the first sudden view of the splendors of art.”
Mrs. Sylvester smiled and cast a side glance of amusement at Bertram. “You admire our new hangings I see,” remarked she with an indulgence of the other’s naïveté that greatly relieved her husband.
But in that instant a change had come across Paula; the simple country maid had assimilated herself with the surroundings, and with a sudden grace and dignity that were unstudied as they were charming, dropped her eyes from her cousin’s portrait—that for some reason seemed to shine with more than its usual insistence—and calmly replied, “I admire all beautiful color; it is my birthright as a Walton, to do so, I suppose.”
Mrs. Sylvester was a Walton also and therefore smiled; but her husband, who had marked with inward distrust, the sudden transformation in Paula, now stepped forward with a word or two of remark concerning his appetite, a prosaic allusion that led to the rapid disappearance of the ladies upstairs and a short but hurried conversation between the two gentlemen.
“I have brought you a sealed envelope from the office,” said Bertram, who, in accordance with his uncle’s advice, had already initiated himself into business by assuming the position of clerk in the office of the wealthy speculator.
“Ah,” returned his uncle hastily opening it. “As I expected, a meeting has been held this day by the board of Directors of the Madison Bank, a vote was cast, my proxy did h
is duty and I am duly elected President. Bertram, we know what that means,” smiled he, holding out his hand with an affectionate warmth greatly in advance of the emotion displayed by him on a former occasion.
“I hope so indeed,” young Bertram responded. “An increase of fortune and honor for you, though you seem to have both in the fullest measure already, and a start in the new life for me to whom fortune and honor mean happiness.”
A smile younger and more full of hope than any he had seen on his uncle’s face for years, responded to this burst. “Bertram,” said he, “since our conversation of a couple of weeks ago something has occurred which somewhat alters the opinions I then expressed. If you have patience equal to your energy, and a self-control that will not put to shame your unbounded trust in women, I think I can say Godspeed to your serious undertaking, with something like a good heart. Women are not all frivolous and foolish-minded; there are some jewels of simple goodness and faith yet left in the world.”
“Thank God for your conversion,” returned his nephew smiling, “and if this lovely girl whom you have just introduced to me is the cause of it, then thank God for her also.”
His uncle towed with a gravity almost solemn, but the ladies returning at this moment, he refrained from further reply. After supper, to which unusual meal Mr. Sylvester insisted upon his nephew remaining, the two gentlemen again drew apart.