Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

“ But do your worst; I don't care. I would just as lief die as live. I am tired of trying to be good; tired of trying to please people; tired, oh, very tired of living!"
"Come, come," said soft-hearted Mr. Fabian; "none of that nonsense. Place yourself in my hands, to be guided by me and to work for my interests, and none of these evils shall happen to you. You shall live and die in wealth and luxury, my father's honored wife, the mistress of Rockhold."
He spoke slowly, tenderly, caressingly, and as she listened to him her sobs and tears subsided and she grew calmer. ”

“ Sylvan was the first to find his voice.
"Cora! It is an outrage! It is worse! It is an infamy!" he exclaimed, as the blood rushed to his face and crimsoned it.
Cora said never a word, but burst into tears and sobbed aloud.
"Cora! don't cry! You have me now! Oh! the old man is certainly mad, and ought to be looked after. Cora, darling, don't take it so to heart! At his age, too; seventy-seven! He'll make himself the laughing stock of the world! Oh, Cora, don't grieve so! It does not matter after all! Such a disgrace to the family! Oh, come now, you know, Cora! ”

“ Don't talk to me about love or any such sentimental trash! I am talking of good faith between man and woman—words of which you don't seem to know the meaning!"
"Oh, grandpa! yes, I do! But would it be good faith in me to marry Rule Rothsay, when I love Cumbervale?"
"It would be good faith to keep your word, irrespective of your feelings, and bad faith to break it in consideration of your feelings! But you are too false to know this!"
"Oh, sir! pray do not set your face against my marriage with Cumbervale, or insist on my marrying Rule! It would not be for Rule's good," pleaded Cora. ”

“ You look pale and tired. Ah! did not our good doctor here forbid you taking long walks or rides?"
"I know, Fabian; but sometimes a woman must be a law to herself. It was my duty to come in person and inquire after our father; so I came, even against orders," said Violet, composedly.
"Now look at that little creature, doctor. She seems as soft as a dove, as gentle as a lamb; but she is perfectly lawless. She defies me, abuses me, and upon occasion thrashes me. Would you believe it of her?" demanded Mr. Fabian, gazing with pride and delight on his good little wife. ”

“ Corona stood watching until the carriage rolled away and old John came back into the hall and closed the door. Then she returned to the library and sank sobbing into the big leathern chair. She now realized for the first time what the parting with her grandfather would be—the parting with the gray old man who had been the ogre of her childhood, the terror of her youth, and the autocrat of her maturity, and yet whom, by all the laws of nature, she tenderly loved, and whom by the commandment of God she was bound to honor. ”

“ Has not my grandfather told you anything to day?"
"Not one word."
"Then I must tell you. He has cast me off forever."
"Cora! Cora!"
"It is true, indeed. This morning he ordered me to quit his house; not to let him find me still there on his return; never to let him see or hear from me again unless it was with my consent to recall and marry my English suitor."
"But, Cora, my dear, why can you not come into his conditions? Why can you not marry Cumbervale? He is a splendid fellow every way, and he loves you as hard as a horse can kick. He is awfully in love with you, my dear. ”

“ The other thought was that old Aaron Rockharrt would never consent to live in a place which, however beautiful it might be, was too difficult of access and egress for a man of his age.
What, then, could be done to cheer the old man's solitude at his home? The only hope lay in the chance of Mr. Clarence finding a wife who might be acceptable to his father, and bringing her home to Rockhold.
The carriage drew up before the long, low villa, with its vine-clad porch, where, though the roses had faded and fallen, the still vivid green foliage and brilliant rose berries made a gay appearance. ”

“ Rockharrt went out every morning on business connected with that great scheme which was going to quadruple his already enormous wealth. He came home every evening quite worn out, and after dinner sat and dozed in his chair until bedtime.
Cora watched him anxiously and wondered at him. He was aging fast. She could see that in his whole appearance. But what a strange infatuation for a man of seventy-seven, possessed already of almost fabulous wealth, to be as hotly in pursuit of money as if he were some poor youth with his fortune still to make! ”

“ The bride's procession came slowly up under all the floral arches of the center aisle to the floral hedge around the chancel.
The bridegroom came gayly out of the vestry room to meet her, smiling, radiant, tripping as if he had been a slim young lover of twenty, instead of a tall and heavy giant of fifty odd. He took her hand, lifted it to his lips, and led her to the altar, where both knelt. The bridesmaids grouped behind them. The best man stood on the groom's right. Old Aaron Rockharrt, Mrs. Rothsay and Cadet Haught came out of their pew and formed a group behind the bridegroom. ”

“ Rose received it with a grateful smile, bade a sweet toned good night to Mr. Rockharrt and Mrs. Rothsay, and went tripping out of the room.
"I shall say good night, too, Cora; I am tired. But let me say this before I go: Do you try to take pattern by that admirable child. See how she tries to make the best of everything and to be pleasant under all her sorrows. You have not had half her troubles, and yet you will not try to get over your own. Imitate that poor child, Cora."
"'Child,' my dear grandfather! Do you forget that Mrs. Stillwater is a widow thirty-six years old?" inquired Cora. ”

“ You know, Cora, that I could not ask you yesterday while Sylvan was with us. He is in your full confidence, no doubt, and I have perfect faith in him; but for all that we cannot speak freely on all subjects before a third person, however near and dear. At least I could not ask searching questions about Mr. Rockharrt's marriage, before Sylvan. Such a strange marriage, with such a disparity in years between a man of Mr. Rockharrt's venerable age and Mrs. Stillwater's blooming youth! ”

“ No doubt you suffer a good many stings of conscience for having driven the best man that ever lived—except, hem! well—to his death! But you need not on that account expatriate yourself from civilization, to go out to try to teach those red devils who murdered your husband and burned his hut, and who will probably murder you and burn your school house! You have been a false woman and a miserable sinner, Cora Rothsay! ”

“ You are as white and as cold as death. What is the matter?" demanded Violet as she led and half supported Corona to an easy chair, in which the latter dropped.
"Tell me, Cora. What is it, dear? What can I do for you? Can I get you anything? Is all this emotion caused by the announcement of your betrothal to the duke?" demanded Violet, hurrying question upon question, and trembling even more than Cora.
"Sit down, Violet. Never mind me. I shall be all right presently. Don't be frightened, darling," said Cora, as well as she could speak. ”

“ Rothsay," said the old man.
The dean bowed gravely to the young lady, who bent her head.
"And to our friend, Mrs. Stillwater," continued the old gentleman, waving his hand again. "Why, where is she? Why, Cora, where is Mrs. Stillwater?" demanded the Iron King in amazement.
"I do not know. I have just missed her," said the young lady.
"Well, upon my soul! For the power of vanishing she excels all living creatures. Pray, Cora, does she carry a fairy cap in her pocket, and put it on when she wishes to make herself invisible?"
"I think, sir, that she has been pressed away from us in the crowd. ”

“ Fabian friendly toward you?" inquired Cora, from mixed motives—of half pity, half irony.
"Fabian?" sweetly replied Rose. "No, dear. I lost the friendship of Mr. Fabian Rockharrt when I declined his offer of marriage. You refuse a man, and so wound his vanity; and though you may never have given him the least encouragement to propose to you, and though he has not the shadow of a reason to believe that you will accept yet will he take great offense, and perhaps become your mortal enemy," sighed Rose. ”

“ But I will not give up the hope that is my life—the hope that you may yet look with favor on my love. I will merit that you should do so. Cora Rothsay, I will no longer vex you with my presence in this house. I will take leave of you even now, and only ask of your courtesy the use of a dog cart to take me to the North End Hotel."
"You are good, you are very good to me, and I pray with all my heart that you may meet some woman much more worthy of your grace than am I, and that you may be very happy. God bless you, Duke of Cumbervale," said Cora, earnestly. ”

“ Cora's position was a very delicate and embarrassing one. She did not believe that this former nursery governess of hers was or ever had been a proper companion for her. She herself—Cora Rothsay—was now a widow with an independent income, and was at liberty to choose her own companions and make her home wherever she might choose.
But how could she leave her aged and widowed grandfather, who had no other daughter or granddaughter, or any other woman relative to keep house for him? And yet how could she associate daily with a woman whose presence she felt to be a degradation? ”

“ Poor Rose! In infancy, from the day of her father's death, an unloved, neglected, persecuted child; in childhood, driven to desperation and elopement by the miseries of her home; in girlhood, deceived and abandoned by her lover; now, in womanhood, as friendless and unhappy as if she had not married a wealthy man, and was not living in a luxurious home. Poor Rose! She had lost her sense of honor, or she never would have married Mr. Rockharrt, even for a refuge. ”

“ She waited on him hand and foot, helped him on and off with his wraps when he went out or came in; warmed his slippers, filled his pipe, dried his newspapers, served him in innumerable little ways with a childlike eagerness and delight that was as the incense of frankincense and myrrh to the nostrils of the egotist.
And he praised her and held her up as a model to his granddaughter.
Rose Stillwater was a proper young woman, a model young woman, all indeed that a woman should be. He had never seen one to approach her status in all his long life. She was certainly the most excellent of her sex. ”

“ Cora had become quite calm by this time, and she answered quietly:
"No; you misapprehend me, Sylvan. It was not from indignation or resentment that I cried, and not at all for myself. I grieved for him, the spellbound old man! No, Sylvanus; since we feel assured that no power of ours, no power on earth, can turn him from his purpose, we must do our duty by him. We must refrain from giving him pain or making him angry; for his own poor old sake, we must do this! Sylvan, I must attend his bride to the altar ”

“ Kennedy will be a better governor than I could have been. He is an older, wiser, more experienced statesman. I am conscious that I have been over-rated by the people who love me. I was elected for my popularity, not for my merit. And now—I am not even the man that I was—my life seems torn out of my bosom. Oh, Cora, Cora! life of my life! But you shall be happy, dear one! ”

“ Cora will be sure to marry. A young woman like Cora will not wear the willow long, believe me. And when Cora leaves you, what then will you do? You have no other daughter or granddaughter. As for my promised wife, you yourself made it a condition of our marriage that we should have an establishment of our own."
"For the dignity of the house of Rockharrt. Yes, Fabian."
"And when Cora shall have left you, you will be alone—you who require the gentle ministrations of woman more than any man I ever knew." ”

“ We disagreed, my dear Cora, but we did not fall out; we parted good friends and brothers with tears in our eyes. Poor little Violet cried a good deal. But you know she has such a tender heart, poor child!—Look at that herd of deer, Cora, standing on the top of that swell of the land to the right, and actually gazing at the trail without a motion or a panic. I hope nobody will shoot at them!" exclaimed Mr. Clarence, suddenly breaking off in his discourse to point to the denizens of the thicket and the prairie, until upon some sudden impulse the whole herd turned and bounded away. ”