Mary Jane Holmes

“ Briefly, then, Mabel told the story of her short life, beginning at the time when a frowning nurse tore her away from her dead mother, chiding her for her tears, and threatening her with punishment if she did not desist. “Since then,” said she, “I have been so lonely—how lonely, none but a friendless orphan can know. No one has ever loved me, or if for a time they seemed to, they soon grew weary of me, and left me ten times more wretched than before. I never once dreamed that—that Mr. Livingstone could care aught for one so ugly as I know I am. I thought him better suited for you, Nellie. ”

“ In Carrie’s eyes there was already a look of weary sadness, which said that the bitter tears were constantly welling up, while on her brow a shadow was resting, as if Sunnyside were a greater burden than she could bear. Alas, for a union without love! It seldom fails to end in misery, and thus poor Carrie found it. Her husband was proud of her, and, had she permitted, would have loved her after his fashion, but his affectionate advances were invariably repulsed, until at last he treated her with a cold politeness, far more endurable than his fawning attentions had been. ”

“ Come, what do you say?”
’Lena smiled, while she disclaimed any intention toward her cousin, who, resuming the position which in his excitement he had slightly changed, continued: “I have always dealt fairly with you, ’Lena, and now I tell you truly, I have no particular love for Mabel, although I intend making her my wife, and heartily wish she was so now.”
’Lena started, and clasping John’s arm, exclaimed, “Marry Mabel and not love her! You cannot be in earnest. You will not do her so great a wrong—you shall not.” ”

“ It was strange, considering ’Lena’s uncommon beauty, that Mrs. Graham did not watch her husband’s manner, but for once in her life she felt no fears, and looking from the window, she failed to note the sudden pallor which overspread his face when Mr. Livingstone presented to him “Miss Rivers—my niece.”
Mr. Graham was a tall, finely-formed man, with a broad, good-humored face, whose expression instantly demanded respect from strangers, while his pleasant, affable deportment universally won the friendship of all who knew him. ”

“ With a broad grin Corinda followed her young mistress, while ’Lena, never having been accustomed to any negro save the one with whom many New England children are threatened when they cry, clung closer to Anna’s side, occasionally casting a timid glance toward the dark-browed girl who followed them. In the upper hall they met with Carrie, who in passing ’Lena held back her dress, as if fearing contamination from a contact with her cousin’s plainer garments. Painfully alive to the slightest insult, ’Lena reddened, while Anna said, “Never mind—that’s just like Cad, but nobody cares for her.” ”

“ Graham, who was listening. “Ah, Mrs. Livingstone, is it you. I’m glad to see you,” said she, half rising and shading her swollen eyes with her hand, as if the least effort were painful. “You must excuse my dishabille, for I am suffering from a bad headache, and when Martha said some one had come, I thought at first I could not see them, but you are always welcome. How have you been this long time, and why have you neglected me so, when you know how I must feel the change from Louisville, where I was constantly in society, to this dreary neighborhood?” ”

“ Glancing toward the person indicated, ’Lena saw that it was the same gentleman who, all the afternoon, had been talking with her uncle. He was noble looking, and she felt glad that he was the father of the boy—he was just such a man, she fancied, as ought to be his father—just such a man as she could wish her father to be—and then ’Lena felt glad that the youth had asked her nothing concerning her parentage, for, though her grandmother had seldom mentioned her father in her presence, there were others ready and willing to inform her that he was a villain, who broke her mother’s heart. ”

“ Bending forward, grandma had listened eagerly, her dim eye lighting up as she occasionally caught the meaning of what she heard; but she could not understand it at once, and turning to her son, she said, “What is it, John? what does it mean?”
As well as they could, Mr. Livingstone and John Jr. explained it to her, and when at length she comprehended it, in her own peculiar way she exclaimed, “Thank God that ’Leny is a lady, at last—as good as the biggest on ’em. Oh, I wish Helleny had lived to know who her husband was. Poor critter! ”

“ Mabel guessed as much from his manner, and when again he visited her, she asked him plainly what he thought.
She was young—a bride—surrounded apparently by everything which could make her happy, and the physician hesitated, answering her evasively, until she said, “Do not fear to tell me truly, for I want to die. Oh, I long to die,” she continued, passionately clasping her thin white hands together.
“That is an unusual wish in one so young,” answered the physician, “but to be plain with you, Mrs. Livingstone, I think consumption too deeply seated to admit of your recovery. ”

“ After ’Lena left Sunnyside, a misty rain came on, and by the time she reached her home, her long riding-dress was wet and drizzled, the feathers on her cap were drooping, and to crown all, as she was crossing the hall with stealthy step, she came suddenly upon her aunt, who, surprised at her appearance, demanded of her where she had been. But ’Lena refused to tell, and in quite a passion Mrs. Livingstone laid the case before her husband. ”

“ The light of a dark, cloudy morning shone faintly in at the window of Grandma Nichols’s room, and roused her from her slumber. On the pillow beside her rested no youthful head—there was no kind voice bidding her “good-morrow”—no gentle hand ministering to her comfort—for ’Lena was gone, and on the table lay the note, which at first escaped Mrs. Nichols’s attention. Thinking her granddaughter had arisen early and gone before her, she attempted to make her own toilet, which was nearly completed, when her eye caught the note. ”

“ Although her charms were as yet but partially developed, she was a creature of rare loveliness, and many who saw her for the first time, marveled that aught so beautiful could be real. She had never seen Durward Bellmont since that remarkable Christmas week, but many a time had her cheeks flushed with a feeling which she could not define, as she read Anna’s accounts of the flattering attentions which he paid to Carrie, who, when at home, still treated her with haughty contempt or cool indifference. ”

“ Knowing she had done nothing to offend him, and feeling piqued at his indifference, ’Lena in turn treated him so coldly, that even Carrie was satisfied with the phase which affairs had assumed, and that night, in the privacy of her mother’s dressing-room, expressed her pleasure that matters were progressing so finely.
“You’ve no idea, mother,” said she, “how much he detests anything like coquetry. Nellie Douglass thinks it’s a kind of monomania with him, and I am inclined to believe it is so.” ”

“ Nichols nurse him, watching, weeping, and praying that he might live, while little ’Lena gladly shared her grandmother’s vigils, hovering ever by the bedside of her grandfather, who seemed more quiet when her soft hand smoothed his tangled hair or wiped the cold moisture from his brow. The villagers, too, remembering their neglect, when once before death had brooded over the mountain farmhouse, now daily came with offers of assistance. ”

“ But what should he do with her? Should he bring her there to Woodlawn, where scarcely a day passed without some domestic storm? No, his home should be full of sunlight, of music and flowers, where no angry word or darkening frown could ever find entrance; and thus dreaming of a blissful future, when ’Lena should be his bride, he fell asleep. ”

“ Livingstone’s pressing invitation to make her house his home. This he was the more willing to do, as it threw him into the society of ’Lena, who was fast becoming an object of absorbing interest to him. The more he saw of her, the more was his admiration increased, and oftentimes, when joked concerning his preference for Carrie, he smiled to think how people were deceived, determining, however, to keep his own secret until such time as he should be convinced that ’Lena was all he could desire in a wife. For her poverty and humble birth he cared nothing. ”

“ Everett came also. Immediately remembering what he had heard, Durward, in his eagerness to watch ’Lena, failed to note the crimson flush on Anna’s usually pale cheek, as Malcolm bent over her with his low-spoken, tender words of welcome, and when the phthisicky captain, claiming the privilege of an old friend, kissed the blushing Anna, Durward in his blindness attributed the scornful expression of ’Lena’s face to a feeling of unwillingness that any save herself should share the attentions even of the captain! ”

“ At Maple Grove closets, chairs, tables, and sofas were loaded down with finery, and like an automaton, Anna stood up while they fitted to her the rich white satin, scarcely whiter than her own face, and Mrs. Livingstone, when she saw her daughter’s indifference, would pinch her bloodless cheeks, wondering how she could care so little for her good fortune. ”

“ If she were poor, he was rich, and he possessed too much good sense to deem himself better than she, because the blood of a nobleman flowed in his veins. He knew that she was highly gifted and beautiful, and could he be assured that she was equally true-hearted, he would not hesitate a moment.
But Mrs. Livingstone’s insinuation that she was a heartless coquette, troubled him, and though he could not believe it without more proof than he had yet received, he determined to wait and watch, studying her character, the while, to see if there was in her aught of evil. ”

“ Graham? What will she say?” timidly inquired ’Lena, involuntarily shrinking from the very thought of coming in contact with the little lady who had so recently come up before her in the new and formidable aspect of stepmother!
Mr. Graham did not know himself what she would say, neither did he care. The fault of his youth once confessed, he felt himself a new man, able to cope with almost anything, and if in the future his wife objected to what he knew to be right, it would do her no good, for henceforth he was to rule his own house. ”

“ Livingstone had purchased ’Lena two or three dresses, which, though greatly inferior to those worn by Carrie and Anna, were still fashionably made, and so much improved ’Lena’s looks, that her manners improved, also, for what child does not appear to better advantage when conscious of looking well? More than once had her uncle’s hand rested for a moment on her brown curls, while his thoughts were traversing the past, and in fancy his fingers were again straying among the silken locks now resting in the grave. ”

“ Meantime a new idea had entered ’Lena’s mind. She would write to Mr. Everett. There might yet be some mistake; she had read of such things in stories, and it could do no harm. Gradually as she wrote, hope grew strong within her, and it became impressed upon her that there had been some deep-laid, fiendish plot. If so, she dared not trust her letter with old Cæsar, who might be bribed by his mistress. And how to convey it to the office was now the grand difficulty. As if fortune favored her plan, Durward, that very afternoon, called at Maple Grove, being as he said, on his way to Frankfort. ”

“ One day when, as usual, he sat whittling and thinking, ’Lena approached him softly, and laying her hand upon his knee, said rather timidly, “Uncle, I wish you’d tell me something about my cousins.”
“What about them,” he asked, somewhat gruffly, for it grated upon his feelings to hear his daughters called cousin by her.
“I want to know how they look, and which one I shall like the best,” continued ’Lena.
“You’ll like Anna the best,” said her uncle, and ’Lena asked, “Why! What sort of a girl is she? Does she love to go to school and study?” ”

“ Instantly forgetting his resolution of not returning for a year, he came home with headlong haste, determining to start immediately after his cousin.
“I reckon if you knew all that has been said about her, you wouldn’t feel quite so anxious to get her back,” said Carrie. “For my part, I feel quite relieved at her absence.”
“Shut up your head,” roared John Jr. “’Lena is no more guilty than you. By George, I most cried when I heard how nobly she worked to save Anna from old Baldhead. And this is her reward! Gracious Peter! I sometimes wish there wasn’t a woman in the world!” ”

“ On this occasion, every servant at Maple Grove was remembered, for Anna and ’Lena had worked both early and late in preparing some little present, and feeling amply compensated for their trouble, when they saw how much happiness it gave. Mabel, too, while she stayed, had lent a helping hand, and many a blessing was that morning invoked upon her head from the hearts made glad by her generous gifts. Carrie, when asked to join them, had turned scornfully away, saying “she’d plenty to do, without working for niggers; who could not appreciate it.” ”

“ That night Anna saw the moon and stars go down, bending far out from her window, that the damp air might cool her burning brow, and when the morning sun came up the eastern horizon, its first beams fell on the golden curls which streamed across the window-sill, her only pillow the livelong night. On ’Lena’s mind a terrible conviction was fastening itself—Anna was crazed. ”

“ Oh, John, my boy, how could you do so? ’Twas a good name—my name—and you the only one left to bear it. What made you do so, oh John, John?”
Mr. Livingstone did not reply, and after a moment his father again spoke; “John, lay your hand on my forehead. It’s cold as ice. I am dying, and your mother will be left alone. We are poor, my son; poorer than you think. The homestead is mortgaged for all it’s worth and there are only a few dollars in the purse. ”