Mary Jane Holmes

“ Aikenside, and school, and the Catskill mountains were easier to abandon after that prayer; but when she thought of Guy, the fiercest, sharpest pang she had ever felt shot through her heart, making her cry out so quickly that the little hired girl who shared her bed moved as if about to waken; but Maddy lay very quiet until all was still again, when, turning a second time to God, she tried to pray, tried to give up what to her was the dearest idol, but she could not say the words, and ere she knew what she was doing she found herself asking that Guy should not forsake her. ”

“ It was a gloomy prospect to exchange Aikenside for the humble home where poverty had its abode, and it was not very strange that Maddy should shrink from it at first. She did not stop to ask what was her duty, or think how much happiness her presence might give her grandparents, or how much she might cheer and amuse the imbecile, her uncle. She was but human, and so when Guy began to devise ways of preventing her going, she listened, while the pain at her heart grew less as her faith in Guy grew stronger. ”

“ It was Farmer Green’s new buggy and Farmer Green’s bay colt which, three days later, stopped before Dr. Holbrook’s office, and not the square-boxed wagon, with old Sorrel attached, for the former was standing quietly in the chip-yard, behind the low red house, while the latter, with his nose over the barn-yard fence, was neighing occasionally, as if he missed the little hands which had daily fed him the oatmeal he liked so much, and which now lay hot and parched and helpless upon the white counterpane which Grandma Markham had spun and woven herself. ”

“ With a little sigh as she foresaw the opposition she should probably meet with from Guy, Maddy went on with her toilet, which was soon completed, as it did not take long to arrange the dark calico dress and plain linen collar which she wore. She was not as fresh-looking as usual that morning, for excitement and fatigue had lent a paleness to her cheek, and a languor to her whole appearance, but Flora, who glanced anxiously after her as she went out, muttered to herself, “She was never more beautiful, and I don’t wonder an atom that Mr. Guy thinks so much of her.” ”

“ But Guy did not forget her for an instant. Through all the mazes of the giddy dance, he had her before his eye, seeing not the clouds of lace and muslin encircled by his arm, but the little figure in blue sitting so patiently at the piano until he knew she must be tired, and determined to release her. As it chanced, Maria was on his arm, and drawing her nearer to Maddy, he said, “Your fingers ache by this time, I am sure. It is wrong to trouble you longer. Agnes will take your place while you try a quadrille—I shall find you a partner.” ”

“ Agnes had finished, Maddy began to understand her position, and into her white face the hot blood poured indignantly. Wholly inexperienced, she had never dreamed that a governess was not worthy to sit at the same table with her employer, that she must never enter the parlors unbidden, or intrude herself in any way, and her cheeks burned at the degradation, and for an instant she felt like defying the proud woman to her face. But the angry words trembling on her tongue were repressed as she remembered her grandfather’s teachings ”

“ The carriage was to be at her and Jessie’s command, and Paul was never to refuse a reasonable request to drive the young ladies when and where they wished to go, while a pretty little black pony, recently broken to the saddle for Agnes, was to be at Miss Clyde’s service, if she chose to have it. As Guy’s slightest wish was always obeyed, Maddy’s chances for happiness were not small, notwithstanding that she felt so desolate and lonely when the doctor left her, and watched him with a swelling heart until he was lost to view in the deepening twilight. ”

“ There are two in one room, and the windows are like doors, with lace curtains; but what is queerest of all, the chairs and sofas are covered with real silk, just like that funny gored gown of grandma’s up in the oak chest. Dear me! I wonder if I’ll ever live in such a place as Aikenside?”
“No, no, Maddy, no. Be satisfied with the lot where God has put you, and don’t be longing after something higher. ”

“ Grandma Markham was dead, and the covered sleigh, which late in the afternoon plowed its way heavily back to Aikenside carried only Mrs. Noah, who, with her forehead tied up in knots, sat back among the cushions, thinking not of the peaceful dead, gone forever to the rest which remains for the people of God, but of the wayward Guy, who had resisted all her efforts to persuade him to return with her, instead of staying where he was not needed, and where his presence was a restraint to all save one, and that one Maddy, for whose sake he staid. ”

“ Contrary to Guy’s expectations, Agnes did not refuse to let Jessie go for a ride, and the little girl was soon seated by her brother’s side, chatting merrily of the different things they passed upon the road. But when Guy told her where they were going, and why they were going there, the tears came at once into her eyes, and hiding her face in Guy’s lap she sobbed bitterly.
“I did like her so much that day,” she said, “and one looked so sorry, too. It’s terrible to die!”
Then she plied Guy with questions, concerning Maddy’s probable future. “Would she go to heaven, sure?” ”

“ Remington nor myself are accustomed to having our governess very much with us. I suppose you have had the range of the parlors, sitting there when you liked, and all this was perfectly proper. Mind, I am finding no fault with you. It is all quite right,” she continued, as she saw the strange look of terror and surprise visible on Maddy’s face. “The past is right, but in future it will be a little different. I am willing to accord to a governess all the privileges possible. They are human as well as myself, but society makes a difference. ”

“ Heaven, happiness, Aikenside, and Guy, all seemed blended into one great good, just within her reach, and when the long clock below stairs struck three she did not hear it, but with the tear-stains upon her face she lay nestled among the pillows, dreaming that her grandmother had come back from the bright world of glory to bless her darling child. ”

“ The doctor did not know why he said this, unless in the first keenness of his disappointment there was a satisfaction in telling her that the objection to his age would apply also to Guy. But it did not affect Maddy in the least, or give her the slightest inkling of his meaning. He saw it did not, and the pain was less to bear. Still, he would know certainly if he had a rival, and he said to her:
“Do you love some one else, Maddy? Is another preferred before me, and is that the reason why you cannot love me?”
“No,” Maddy answered, through her tears. “There is no one else. ”

“ Yet so it was, and now he was as fully determined that Maddy Clyde should come to Aikenside as Agnes was that she should not. He knew, too, how to attain his end without further altercation.
“Very well,” was his quiet reply, “you can remain at home if you choose, of course. I had intended taking you myself, wherever you wished to go; and not only that, but I was about to ask how much was needed for the necessary additions to your wardrobe, but if you prefer remaining here to giving up a most unfounded prejudice against a girl who never harmed you, and whom Jessie already loves, you can do so;” ”

“ He wouldn’t have felt so badly, if she had not gone straight off and married a rich man who was a great deal older even than Uncle Joseph; that was the hardest part, and he went crazy at once. It has been so long that he never can be helped, and sometimes grandma talks of bringing him home, as he is perfectly harmless. I suppose it’s wicked, but I most hope she won’t, for it would be terrible to live with a crazy man,” and a chill crept over Maddy, as if there had fallen upon her a foreshadowing of what might be. ”

“ I’ve done all I can, and now, if she lives, it will be wholly owing to the prayers that old saint of a grandfather says for her. I never thought much of these things until I heard him pray; not that she should live any way, but that if it were right Maddy might not die. Guy, there’s something in such a prayer as that. It’s more powerful than all my medicine swallowed at one grand gulp. ”

“ He only knew that something affected him unpleasantly, prompting him to tell Maddy Clyde about Lucy Atherstone, who, in all probability, would one day come to Aikenside as its mistress.
“Yes, Guy will undoubtedly marry,” he began, as just as over the top of the hill they were ascending horses’ heads were visible, and the Aikenside carriage appeared in view. “There he is now,” he exclaimed, adding quickly, “No, I am mistaken, there’s only a lady inside. It must be Agnes.” ”

“ It annoyed the doctor to have Guy praise Maddy, but he would not show it, and answered calmly:
“It’s all right in you, but just because the poor girl is Maddy Clyde, folks will talk. She is too handsome for Madam Grundy to let alone. If Lucy were only here, it would be different. Why, in the name of wonder, are you two not married, if you are ever going to be?” ”

“ Unfettered by care and anxiety for sick ones, her aching heart was free to go to the stately mansion she had heard described so often, and where now two brides were busy with their preparations for the bridal hurrying on so fast. Since the letter read in the leafless October woods, Maddy had not heard from Guy directly, though Lucy had written a few brief lines, telling how happy she was, how strong she was growing, and how much like himself Guy was becoming. Maddy had been less than a woman if the last intelligence had failed to affect her unpleasantly. ”

“ To most men it would not have seemed a very disagreeable task, teaching young Madeline Clyde what amo meant, and some such idea flitted across Guy’s mind, as he thought how pretty and bright was the eager face upturned to his, the pure white forehead, suffused with a faint flush, the cheeks a crimson hue, and the pale lips parted slightly as Maddy appealed to him for the definition of amo. ”

“ But she had never dreamed of being sent to school by Guy, nor could she conceive of his motive. He hardly knew, himself, only he liked her, and wished to do something for her.
“Oh, Mr. Remington, you are so good to me; what makes you?” she cried; and then she told him how much she wished to be a teacher, so as to help take care of her grandparents and her poor Uncle Joseph. ”

“ In an evil hour Grandpa Markham had signed a note for a neighbor and friend, who failed to pay, and so it all fell upon Mr. Markham, who, to meet the demand, had been compelled to mortgage his homestead; the recreant neighbor still insisting that long before the mortgage was due he should be able himself to meet it. This, however, he had not done, and, after twice begging off a foreclosure, poor old Grandfather Markham found himself at the mercy of a grasping, remorseless man, into whose hands the mortgage had passed. It was vain to hope for mercy from a man like Silas Slocum. ”

“ Jessie, grown to be a most beautiful girl of nearly sixteen, is still a child in actions, and, wild with delight at seeing her brother again, throws her arms around his neck, telling, in almost the same breath, how proud she is of him, how much she wished to go to him when she heard he was wounded, how she wished she was a boy, so she could enlist, how nicely Flora is married and settled at the cottage in Honedale, and then asks if he knows anything of the Confederate Colonel to whom just before the war broke out her mother was married, and whose home was in Richmond. ”

“ Very adroitly the doctor managed to draw Jessie aside, while as well as he was able he gave her a few hints with regard to her intercourse with Maddy, and Jessie, who seemed intuitively to understand him, went back to the weeping girl, soothing her much as a little mother would have soothed her child. They would have such nice times, when Maddy got used to their ways, which would not take long, and nobody would laugh at her, she said, when Maddy expressed her fears on that point. “You are too pretty even if you do make mistakes!” ”

“ As in Honedale, so in Sommerville Maddy was a favorite, and those who interested themselves most in the matter never said anything worse of her and Mr. Guy than that he might perhaps be educating his own wife, and insinuating that it would be a great “catch” for Grandfather Markham’s child. But Maddy never dreamed of such a thing, and kept on her pleasant way, reciting every day to Guy, and going every Wednesday to the red cottage, whither, after his first visit to Uncle Joseph, Guy never accompanied her. ”

“ Guy for your goodness, only my prayers, and them you have every day. We all pray for you, lady, Joseph and all, though I doubt me he knows much the meaning of what he says.”
“Who, sir? What did you say?” and Agnes’s face was scarlet, as grandpa replied, “Joseph, our unfortunate boy; Maddy must have told you; the one who’s taken such a shine to Jessie. He’s crazy-like, and from the corner where he sits so much, I can hear him whispering by the hour, sometimes of folks he used to know, and then of you, whom he calls madam. ”

“ Guy, yourself, Miss Jessie, and Miss Clyde,” was Flora’s reply, while Agnes continued haughtily, “Remove Miss Clyde’s plate. No one allows their governess to eat with them.”
“But, ma’am,” and Flora hesitated, “she’s very 150pretty and ladylike, and young; she has always eaten with Miss Jessie and Dr. Holbrook when he was here. He treats her as if she was as good as anybody.”
In her eagerness to serve Maddy and save her from insult, Flora was growing bold, but she only hurt the cause by mentioning the doctor. ”

“ The good woman could not refuse, and going out, she left Maddy by the window, watching the sun as it went down, and then watching the wintry twilight deepen over the landscape, until all things were blended together in one great darkness, and Jessie, seeking for her, found her at last fainting upon the floor. ”

“ Noah replied; while Guy continued:
“I know you are right; that is, I do not wish to do Maddy a harm by placing temptation in her way, neither will I have anybody meddling with my business. I tell you I won’t. I don’t mean you, for you have a right to say what no one else has,” and he glanced half angrily at Mrs. Noah. “Pity if I can’t take an interest in a girl, because I once wronged her, without every old woman in Christendom thinking she must needs fall in love with me, and so be ruined for life. Maddy Clyde has too good sense for that, or will have when I tell her about Lucy.” ”

“ Guy’s project appeared to him at first a most insane one, but as he 180continued to enlarge upon it, and the advantage it would be to the doctor to travel in the old world, a feeling of enthusiasm was kindled in his own breast; a desire to visit Naples and Rome, and the places he had dreamed of as a boy, but never hoped to see; and Guy’s plan began to look more feasible, and possibly he might have yielded but for one thought, and that a thought of Maddy Clyde. He would not leave her alone with Guy, even though Guy was true to Lucy as steel. ”

“ Now that Maddy was away, Guy missed her terribly, wondering how he had ever lived without her, and sometimes working himself into a violent passion against the meddlesome neighbors who would not let her remain with him in peace, and who, now that she was gone, did not stop their talk one whit, for the people marveled more than ever, feeling confident now that he was educating his own wife, and making sundry spiteful remarks as to what he intended doing with her relations. ”

“ Guy rejoined, “you cannot go to-night. The roads between here and Honedale are one unbroken snow-bank. It would take hours to break through; besides, you are too tired. You need rest, and must come with me to Aikenside, where you are expected, for when I found how late the train would be, I sent word to have your room and the parlors warmed, and a nice hot supper ready for us. You’ll surely go with me, if I think best.”
Guy’s manner was more like a lover than a friend, but Maddy was in no state to remark it. ”

“ The reception of Agnes’s note produced quite a commotion at the red cottage, where various opinions were expressed as to the prime mover of the plan; grandpa thinking that as Mrs. Agnes wrote the note, and was most interested in it, she of course had suggested it; grandma insisting that it was Jessie’s doings, while Maddy, when she said anything, agreed with her grandmother, though away down in her heart was a half belief that Mr. Guy himself had first thought of having her at Aikenside, where she would rather go than to any other spot in the wide world ”

“ Recurring again to Agnes, Maddy said: “I wonder why she married that old man. It is worse than if you were to marry Jessie.”
“Money and position were the attractions, I imagine,” the doctor said. “Agnes was poor, and esteemed it a great honor to be made Mrs. Remington.”
“Poor, was she?” Maddy rejoined. “Then maybe Mr. Guy will some day marry a poor girl.”
Again the doctor thought to tell her of Lucy Atherstone, but he did not, and as he saw that Maddy was growing tired and needed to be at home, he turned his horse in the direction of the cottage. ”