Lulie

“ Oh, no; it’s too late—too late!”
”Do not say so, dearest Lulie,” urged Carlotta; ”our carriage is at the door. Do not wait a moment, but come with us and leave forever this pit of perdition.”
”Would to God I could,” she said, shaking her head slowly, and speaking in the same low tone; ”there was a time I might have gone, but not now, not now.”
”But, Lulie, we are going away from this country to Cuba, where no one has ever known you. No one is with us except mother, who is even now waiting to receive you. We will forever bury the past, and look forward only to a new life. ”

“ Once upon Phlegon, my beautiful courser, flying along through grass-bordered wood paths, now reining up on some hill to get a view of the sunset, now pausing at a gurgling branch, down in some valley, to see him lower his tapering neck and dip his spreading nostrils in the bubbling waters, then on again, with freshened speed and tighter rein, I almost forgot that Lulie did not love me. ”

“ The old roguish twinkle came back to her eyes as she said:
“You can have my compassion now if you will be caught like this fish.”
[118]
“You know how quickly I would be, Lulie, but all your lines are occupied.”
“No, indeed, John, you are the one in fault; but, then, you are completely fastened by a hook baited with a pair of dark Cuban eyes.”
“Of course, Lulie, you refer to Carlotta; you are entirely mistaken; she is only a sister, and a very reserved and distant sister at that. I admire her beauty, but cannot love her.” ”

“ After breakfast I went to the library, while the girls busied themselves aiding mother in her domestic arrangements. Before leaving the table they made me promise to take them fishing in the evening, or rather Lulie did, for Carlotta expressed her preference for remaining at home with mother, and I saw in her face that her intuitive tact had taught her that I preferred to be alone with Lulie. She was tenderly devoted to mother, and would often leave gay, frolicsome Lulie to sit by her, and talk on “grown up” subjects, as Lulie would call them. ”

“ I will die!” and clasping her hands across her head, she [404] gazed at me with such intense anguish and despair in her hollow eyes, I shrank from her face.
”Lulie, Lulie, dearest, do not speak so,” said Carlotta, again putting her arms around her and trying to soothe her. ”You cannot surely contemplate self-destruction. Think, Lulie, what an awful thing it is to die. There, darling,” she continued, as Lulie’s head drooped on her shoulder, ”you were speaking wildly just now, you did not mean what you said. Come, the carriage is waiting. You must go with us; we cannot leave you here. ”

“ Sure enough, Lulie, Frank and Ned crossed over from Dr. Mayland’s and approached our stoop.
“John, I have come over to say good-bye, as you would not come to see me,” said Lulie, seating herself at Carlotta’s feet.
“‘Twas because I thought you would, of course, be engaged for to-night, not because I did not want to,” I replied, in a tone divided between a sneer and a smile.
“You know I am always glad to see you, John,” she said, rising again to her feet; “but we have not long to stay, [176] Frank, and had better go now, as he is so ungracious, even on the eve of parting.” ”

“ Frank took good care to arrange the handkerchief so that he could see, though he stumbled about enough to avoid suspicion. He pretended to single out Lulie by her laugh, and soon made her his captive. Then Lulie was blinded, and after a long chase caught one of the girls, who in her turn caught Ned. Frank this time contrived to stumble against Ned, and of course, being caught, wore the handkerchief again. Poor artless I played with all my might, and dodged and tacked with as much earnestness as Acteon did his own dogs. ”

“ It is but the result of Frank’s long studied designs of evil and Lulie’s too implicit trust and confidence.
The blow has almost killed Dr. Mayland, whose health is very feeble. Carlotta has written to the poor girl, begging her to come up here to us, as her ruin will be less marked in this retired neighborhood. Lulie’s mother was my dearest friend, and I would love and protect her child for her sake.
Alas! all the news we hear now is sad and gloomy. Fort Fisher must soon fall and Wilmington be evacuated; and I fear that even our home here will not be safe from the invasion of the enemy. ”

“ For travel Lulu was again wearing Ina's linen duster—the old one.
Ninian appeared, in a sack coat—and his diamond. His distinctly convex face, its thick, rosy flesh, thick mouth and cleft chin gave Lulu once more that bold sense of looking—not at him, for then she was shy and averted her eyes—but at his photograph at which she could gaze as much as she would. She looked up at him openly, fell in step beside him. Was he not taking her to the city? Ina and Dwight themselves were going because she, Lulu, had brought about this party.
"Act as good as you look, Lulie," Mrs. Bett called after them. ”

“ Cousin Becky put hers up over the front door after dinner, and it was the strangest thing in the world that Mr. Howard Colby should be the first to come in afterward. Edna decided to save hers till it was entirely dry.
"What are you going to do with it then?" asked Lulie.
"I haven't quite decided. I shall take it home, and maybe I'll pull it with Dorothy or maybe I will make a pen-wiper of it for a Christmas gift. I might give it to Ben."
"I never heard of wishbone pen-wipers," said Lulie. "Are they very hard to make?" ”

“ When we entered the house, and Ned and Frank were met by the family, I was really sorry for Lulie, so great was her embarrassment. She could not bear to torture me by greeting Frank with the cordiality their relations demanded, and she could not bear to hurt his feelings by treating him coldly without a cause. Frank noticed her confusion, and asked, in his free and easy way, “Why, Lulie, what is the matter with you. Have you become so rustic already as to be frightened out of your wits by the presence of gentlemen?” ”

“ The world has no forgiveness for my sin, and no life of penitence or purity I might lead would ever wash away the stain. I do not doubt your kindness; as God is my witness I believe that you would love me, but, do what you would to forget and conceal it, in your hearts I could never be anything but poor fallen Lulie—and the consciousness that you all knew of my ruin would make your very presence a torture to me.”
”But, Lulie,” persisted Carlotta, ”this sensitiveness would after a while pass off, and our very kindness would beguile you of your remorse. ”

“ Frank Paning! To know that he may hold your hand, and feel it throb its love to his; that he may gaze into your eyes and read your love for him; that he may know that Lulie, my darling, my idol, is his alone; while I—— Oh, Lulie, I’d rather you’d love the veriest dog that laps the dust around your door than Frank Paning.”
“Hush! hush! for the love of mercy hush!” she said, putting up her hand.
“Lulie, I cannot, will not hush. We will never talk together again as we do now; and, as that dearest friend you have termed me, I wish to warn you. He is not worthy of your love.” ”

“ Smith’s breakfast waiting; let’s go down.”
As we reached the basement stairs Lulie called me out to [129] the porch, while Ned and Frank went down. She was very much agitated as she said:
“John, I must go home to-morrow.”
“Go home, Lulie!”
“Yes; it will be a perfect torture to remain here with you and Frank. He does not know of anything having passed between us, and will be constantly rallying me about a confusion I cannot conceal, when I think that you are watching me and suffering with every smile I give him. Oh, John, I am very unhappy about it all.”
“And poor I am the cause of all. ”

“ Lulie made a cloister of her home, and would see no one but Frank, who almost lived under her roof. Of late, dark rumors began to be whispered about them, but no one believed their slanderous import. At last, however, her shame could be no longer concealed, and your once bright, [348] guileless little playmate is ruined for ever. Frank has fled, no one knows whither, though many believe he has gone to the Federal lines, which is, I think, probable. ”

“ Carlotta, I have loved Lulie since I could remember, and if ever one life can be bound in another mine has been in her’s, and yet she does not love me. From her own lips I have learned this bitter truth. I could bear up had I one gleam of hope; but all is dark, and far worse than the extinction of hope is the knowledge that she loves another. Oh, heaven! how it grinds me to the earth to feel that he, who is most unworthy, should receive her smiles; that a love I would give my life for is wasted on one who regards it as the trifle of a day. ”

“ I was to escort her that night to the “Fresh” Declamation, and when we walked up the brilliantly lighted aisle of the chapel, which was thronged with the beauty of the State, I saw many a look of intense admiration directed towards the little fairy on my arm. Next morning a score of my friends came to ask the favor of an introduction, so [276] that Lulie held quite a levee down at her hotel, though each one who called asked me in some surprise afterwards, how she came to be so intimate with “that fellow, Paning.”
Frank carried her that night to the “Soph.” ”

“ He was hurriedly withdrawing, but Miss Phipps called him back.
“Come in, Mr. Bangs,” she said. “I think Lulie would like to talk to you. She said she would.”
“Yes. Yes, I would, Mr. Bangs,” put in Lulie, herself. “Could you spare just a minute or two?”
Galusha cheerfully avowed that he had so many spare minutes that he did not know what to do with them.
“If time were money, as they say it is,” he added, “I should be a—ah—sort of mint, shouldn't I?” Then he smiled and added: “Why, no, not exactly that, either. A mint is where they make money and I certainly do not make time. ”

“ I simply wish to present an idea of one of those faces we sometimes see—faces that, strive how they will, by word and look, can never express all their meaning; faces that, from their very [68] secrecy, so to speak, possess a power we either dread or love. Lulie’s power over me I loved; and loving, hoped one day to attain to the love of her inner soul.
Mr. Cheyleigh possessed a beautiful residence on the Sound, about eight miles from Wilmington, and Ned invited Frank and myself to spend the vacation with him. ”

“ Most folks would have been proud to be offered such a chance. But that Nelse Howard's queer, anyhow. Stuck-up, I call him; and Lulie Hallett's the same way. She nor him won't have anything to do with common folks in this town. And it'll be worse NOW.”
This was quite untrue, of course, for Lulie and Nelson were extremely friendly with all except the Blounts, Marietta Hoag, and a few more of their kind. The solid, substantial people in the village liked them, just as they liked and respected Martha Phipps. ”

“ After a rather long pause Carlotta spoke again, in a low impressive voice:
”Lulie, hear my last appeal. For the sake of the long ago, when we were innocent happy children, and our hearts were bound with ties of love which have never yet been broken; for the sake of those dear old days, I beseech, I implore you to leave these unworthy associations, and seek with us a better life. Aye, Lulie, for the sake of your dead mother, I beg you to come. If a heart can be sad in Heaven, hers is bleeding now to see you thus; her precious little Lulie in such a place as this! ”

“ While he was hesitating Martha Phipps finished the sentence. “To what they put people in asylums for,” she said, emphatically. “He was, there is no doubt about that. It's a mercy he didn't find you, Nelson. And if I were you I wouldn't take any such chances again.”
“I shan't, you needn't worry. When Lulie and I meet after this it will be—Humph! well, I don't know where it will be. Even the graveyard doesn't seem to be safe. But I must go. Tell Lulie I got away safe and sound, thanks to Mr. Bangs here. And tell her to 'phone me to-morrow. I'm anxious about Cap'n Jeth. ”

“ Coming, like a boy, bluntly to the point, I asked:
“Lulie, do you like Frank Paning? I do not, he tries to be so smart.”
“Why, yes,” she said, coloring a little, and biting the tip of her fan, “I do like him some; surely you don’t dislike him for being smart.”
“I don’t mean smart that way; but there’s another bigger reason than that: he is always with you when I want to be.” ”

“ Lulie is about as loony over getting married as ever I see anybody unless it was you and Mr. Bangs, Mrs. Martha. I seen Raish Pulcifer down street yesterday and he said give you his love when I wrote. I told him I guessed likely you could get along without any special love of his and he said never mind I could keep it myself then. I told him I could get along without it a considerable sight bettern I could with it. He is as sassy and fresh as ever and more so to on account of Mr. Cabot paying him so much money for his stock. ”

“ If he wants a thing, everything else must give way. He is unconventional and lawless. He cares nothing for appearances,—why, look at him! He’s practically living with Lulie Lloyd,—”
“Oh, that’s all right,” Elsie broke in, “he merely took rooms in that same house, to be quiet for his work and to have the services of Lulie. I went there, you know. Mrs. Lloyd lives with Lulie,—and, too, there’s nothing that interests Wallace Courtney but his play. He is bound up in it, and, as Gerty says, he would sacrifice everything,—his reputation, or Lulie’s either,—if it would help him along with his work.” ”

“ Martha drew her aside and questioned her concerning her father. Lulie glanced toward the parlor door and then whispered:
“I don't know, Martha. Father seems queer to-night, awfully queer. I can't make him out.”
“Queer? In what way? He is always nervous and worked up before these silly affairs, isn't he?” ”