Maud Howe

“ It was merchantable, like sugar and cotton, bricks and breadstuffs. Men would exchange that which they love best after—and sometimes before—their own souls for its possession. She was an amateur no longer. She had become a money-getter, a bread-winner, a producer. The mere fact that she was to get so many dollars for fulfilling the order would not have accounted for the exhilaration of Margaret's spirits. It would be hard to imagine a person to whom the possession of wealth was of less importance. She had never wanted for anything in her life. ”

“ It is past, even as your childhood is past. You can never be a child again; you can never go back to your marbles and be satisfied. The shadow of love is upon you, and life will never be the same to you again, my poor child."
The elder woman spoke seriously and gently, as Margaret had never heard her speak before, as she touched the young girl's forehead with her lips. Then Margaret lost her composure, the tears trembled to her eyes, and the two women wept together; but whether Margaret's tears flowed for Philip Rondelet or for Robert Feuardent, her friend could not tell. ”

“ The vaulted roof is upborne by gigantesque pillars sculptured from the living crystal, and we pass down the wide aisles full of a wonder not untouched by awe. Leading the way is one slight figure, which we might well imagine to be that of the genius of the mine,—a young woman, whose graceful form assumes at each instant some new and classic pose. She now holds her lamp high above her head, to show a splendid crystal shining like a diamond on the side of the mine, and again stoops to pick a fragment of rock-salt from the floor. ”

“ If she be true to him, he will not forsake her in the darkest hour. The more homage she laid at the feet of the mortal lover, the colder he grew, perchance; but with "Mr. Toil" every sacrifice is richly rewarded, the closer the embrace in which she folds him, the stronger the support he returns.
None of these thoughts troubled Margaret Ruysdale, one may be sure, as she sat high up on her scaffolding in the dark gallery of the salt-mine. They are thoughts which do not vex children, and the young girl was, as her friend Sara Harden often said, still a child in most respects. ”

“ Of the knowledge that is had from books, Robert, thou art sadly ignorant; and in this thou art wrong. There is yet time for thee to cultivate a love of learning; thy mind is good. Like the Indians, thou never forgettest what thou hast seen or heard. I, too, have a keen memory; and how richly is it peopled with the heroes of the poets! When thou art old like me, and canst no more spend thy leisure in hunting and breaking wild horses, how wilt thou pass thy time? Do as I have done, and take from men their noblest inspirations. ”

“ O South! can there be any bitterness left in your hearts against a North which has laid so white a sacrifice before the awful demon of the pestilence that laid your fairest cities desolate? One such pure life—and there were many such given—should efface the memory of a Gettysburg and a Shiloh.
A great grief fell upon those that were left when the youngest and frailest of them was taken. Now that they had lost her, it seemed to them that Virginia had been the strongest of the four; and Madame Anna, who till then had never lost her quiet cheerfulness, never smiled again. ”

“ She had been a help to him, with her sober, conscientious work, her simple, earnest endeavor to fill the destiny chosen for her. "She does not know," thought Philip, "that such a career to a woman can only be a consolation. Women should only work when they cannot love. She knows nothing of love, and till she loves can know nothing of life."
"Have I really helped you?" queried Margaret, all the chivalry of her nature thrilling at this admission of her strength and his dependence. ”

“ Was this the fever-stricken woman who had poured into his ears the story of her broken life,—the would-be suicide he had saved from the river's fierce tide? Had she, in truth, been maddened by her grief, and was he seeing for the first time the real Therese in this dignified and beautiful woman? He asked himself these questions as he looked at her, little guessing that in himself had lain the power which had wrought the wonderful transformation.
Sara Harden was waiting for him too, very pale and pretty in her soft white morning wrapper. ”

“ And so with heavy hearts Margaret and Robert parted, each full of gloomy forebodings that they should not live to see that golden day when the virgin Atalanta should turn from the worship of Diana to burn incense before the altar of Hymen.
Ah, me! for those fond, foolish, loving days whose pain seems unendurable, those partings and meetings which tear the heart-strings, how quickly do they pass! How tenderly are they remembered in the after-time, when love has cooled, even if it has strengthened into steadfast affection. ”

“ Rex has come, and his sway is one of jollity and kindliness to all men. The sun smiles upon his coming, the earth is brave with her earliest spring-flowers, and the mighty river, tawny and swift, is ready to bear the monarch and his crew to the city on its banks. A fleet of ships lie rocking at their anchors. Yachts fluttering dainty pennants, black-hulled merchantmen, ocean-steamers, sloops, and river-boats, and a group of men-of-war, gayest of all in their holiday gear. A revenue-cutter heaves in sight far down the stream, and finally comes to anchor near the flagship. ”

“ A perfectly pretty woman is Sara Harden; beautiful, no one who knows the value of that superlative term would call her. There are no grand lines, no mysterious coming and going of light and shadow in her delicate face; no moments of loveliness obscured for a time and then shining out radiant and all powerful; nothing of the half-painful influence which great beauty holds for those who are enamored of it,—nothing of this has the bonny shepherdess, only a restful, pleasure-giving prettiness, which makes men grateful and even women glad, as they are glad of a beautiful child or a perfect flower. ”

“ By the fading light of that short winter day let us look into the face of the man who is still gazing out into the sunlight slowly waning from the square below. It is the same face as that in the picture; Hans Makart, friend to Philip Rondelet, having painted the man as he was, with that superficial resemblance to the Master which at a second glance was almost lost. The beauty, the gentleness, the love, are all there; but the power which raises these elements to achieve the salvation of man is lacking. ”

“ She laughs; and catching sight of Robert, greets him with a,—
"Bon soir, Robert le diable."
"She is a working-woman, as you call yourself," he whispers; "she does the work and earns the salary of a man."
A blue field-flower passes, graceful, slight, with lips that curl a little scornfully sometimes; but to-night they smile as she hums the melody of the song.
"That young girl is a musician, and earns her bread too, though she is so young."
A scarlet poppy follows. She has a fine, sensitive face, red-bronze hair, and determined brown eyes. ”

“ What did he know of love and its fierce pain, he whose life had been vowed to the worship of an immaculate goddess? Back to the city, where is no peace, no song of bird, no soft footstep of hidden wood-creature! His feet would fain tread the burning streets again because they led to her dwelling; while the odorous aisles strewn with pine-needles lose themselves in lonely thickets, fit only for happy lovers or for men wedded to their own thoughts!
After a short visit, the briefest he had ever made them, Robert left the village of his Indian friends and set his face towards the city. ”

“ But the bitterness of the sea cannot be conquered; and when the victory is complete, and the last lapse of water has dried and died beneath the sun, the land bears in its bosom a great basin of sea-salt, which testifies to those who shall come thereafter that the sea once held dominion here. But all is not peaceful yet with the conquering land. Stormy passions shake her being, and in one of these outbursts of volcanic fury the great salt basin is torn from its bed and tossed upon its side, and so lies edgewise; for the earth cannot expel, though she may distort, the legacy of the sea. ”

“ While their love was still new and strong, before the chill of the broken law had blended agony with joy, a shadow had crossed their path. A man had striven to put them apart, and in that strife Fernand Thoron had yielded up his young life. Murder, Therese called it,—foul, unnatural murder; and under the shadow of that awful crime Philip Rondelet stood to-day. He should be exonerated; he who had cared for Fernand in his last hours should not be suspected of having caused his death while his murderer lived free and unchallenged. ”

“ The old men and women in the front seats, the church dignitaries seated either side of the preacher, the younger people, who occupied the centre of the church, and the children and lovers, who lurked in the shadow near the door, all joined the chorus, swaying slowly from side to side with dreamy, sensuous faces,—
"When we get to heaben, we will part no mo',
When we get to heaben, we will part no mo'."
Margaret unconsciously lifted her voice and took up the chant,
"When we get to heaven, we will part no more." ”

“ When at the breaking out of the Civil War he had been given the commission of captain in a volunteer regiment, Ruysdale had already made some reputation as a sculptor. He had loved his profession with all the passion of a fervent artistic nature springing up in a community where art exists only in its embryonic phase. He had deemed it his mission to nourish that love of the beautiful which is latent in the hearts of men, and to develop sculpture, the greatest of the arts, in his native country, from which he held that all that is best must be evolved, and into which it cannot be imported. ”

“ The flowers are all dead, save the hardy northern roses, but the orange-trees are heavy with their golden fruit. A group of black-skinned children are playing at leap-frog, and their young voices sound cheerfully in the ears of Philip Rondelet as he sits at the window of his modest apartment high up in one of the famous Pontalba buildings. Two sides of the square are flanked by long brick houses of a somewhat imposing character, alike in all particulars to the very monogram of their owner, wrought in fine ironwork above the central windows, where the façade rises to a high peak. ”

“ The difficult poses are maintained with a grace and spirit which do infinite credit to the actors as the cars jolt along over the rough pavement. A youthful goddess, who might be the spirit of the dawn, casts flowers to the ladies in the balcony, and a red rose falls into Margaret's lap. She bows and smiles, and the youth behind the skilfully painted mask throws a kiss after the rose, while the people in the street laugh and applaud. ”

“ If he should slip and fall, or if some one should push him from behind—
"Come, mon brave!" cried Bouton de Rose, clapping him on the shoulder and drawing him back from the edge of the levee, "you are leaning perilously near that devil of a river. You look as if you were about to leap into the flood. Are you asleep, or bewitched? Upon my soul, it looks to me as if a voudou spell were on you; your eyes are starting out of your head! Has some witch willed that you should take a sudden passage to the Gulf viâ the river?" ”

“ There was none of that strife between love and work which vexes so many a woman's life, making the work seem at times a sin, and the love too great a sacrifice.
On a certain soft February afternoon, when the air which stirred the roses outside the studio door was cool and brilliantly pure, Margaret sat at her work while her father, sitting near her, read aloud. The girl had abandoned the bas-relief she had been modelling, and was moulding a bird's nest, to the delight of a small negro child seated at her feet. ”

“ Robert Feuardent felt all the beauty of his forest home because something in him claimed kindred with the wood-life. He felt but could not express the delights of an existence governed only by the laws of Nature. The priest, who was born a poet, was never weary of contrasting the peace of the forest with the turmoil of the world in which he had suffered so keenly, and which he could never quite forget. ”

“ My dear sir, it was a sad day for the negro when the responsibility of feeding and clothing himself was put upon him. My men were dressed well, sir,—two suits of clothes a year, of the best materials; good food, and all they could eat of it; doctors and medicines when they were sick; and regular work, sir. Not a spell of hard labor for two days, and then a debauch for three. Poor creatures! they are nothing but children, not fit to take care of themselves. I pity them myself; I do indeed. They were much better off before their so-called emancipation,—a thousand times better off. ”

“ M. Feuardent, I shall consider you in the light of an animated society-newspaper, through whose columns I may gather something of what my friends in New Orleans are doing," said Madame Bienveillance.
Poor Robert was at a loss to answer her. He had lived so entirely in his own emotions for weeks past that he had neither thought nor cared about the rest of the world. He only knew about Margaret; and he was on the point of yielding to the lover's impulse to talk of his beloved, even to a stranger, when a step was heard on the path and a tall, gaunt figure approached them. ”