Margaret

“ Why, how you've grown! Is this my little Margaret?—my little pale-faced Madge, who was no taller than the table, and all legs and wings?" and leading the girl into a bright little parlor, she sank into a chair, and holding her by the hands, looked her over with that loving admiration of which only a mother or a grandmother can be capable; and the old lady was justified, for the girl, as she stood, slightly leaning forward with a flush on her face and her eyes glowing with affection and emotion, presented a picture beautiful enough to melt the heart of an anchorite. ”

“ Margaret was a beautiful girl, but she was never lovelier than when under the spell which falls upon an artist absorbed in her work.
The clear, oval face grew dreamy, the large eyes softer and mystical, the red lips sweeter with a suggestful tenderness.
It was the loveliness of the face as well as the recognition of it which struck him—Blair Leyton, of all men—dumb and motionless. ”

“ Yet, though thus frank to own to herself and to her peers her errors, Margaret cherished a trust in her powers, a confidence in her destiny, and an ideal of her being, place and influence, so lofty as to be extravagant. In the morning-hour and mountain-air of aspiration, her shadow moved before her, of gigantic size, upon the snow-white vapor. ”

“ Once, when Margaret was supposed to be dying, the queen dowager found Lewis attempting to succour her; she feared for him the melancholy sight of his wife's death, which seemed fast approaching, and, taking him by the hand, to lead him away, said, in an awful tone, "you are always here."—"Ah," cried Margaret, sorrowfully, who saw only cruelty to her in this maternal anxiety, "will you never let me see my dear lord, either in life or death?" and, on the king's leaving the room, fainted away: he was soon recalled, and Margaret restored to life. It was thus that this amiable monarch was beloved. ”

“ Sometimes I query, too, whether my love for Margaret had that flame-like quality which characterizes her love for her husband. Margaret has always been so much a part of my life that my love for her began I could not tell when, and grew and strengthened with the years. There never has been any other woman but Margaret in my life. Even if I should ever come out of this living hell, which I doubt, I do not believe there ever will be another. ”

“ Udo Brand," said Margaret, withdrawing herself and standing erect so that the generous fire in her face and voice invested her splendid figure with a dignity most queen-like; "I cannot expect the world to believe in the true nobility of his character, but I know it. Desperate he may have been—reckless, scorning, but the crisis of his sinning has passed, and the man is noble still; and Heaven will bless immeasurably the woman who marries him." ”

“ Will you marry me, Margaret? If you won’t, there will be no need for you to go, for I shall go and trouble you no more. You know what I am, and all about me, and I have nothing more to say except that, although you may find many finer husbands, you won’t find one who would love and care for you better. I know that you are very beautiful and very rich, while I am neither one nor the other, and often I have wished to Heaven that you were not so beautiful, for sometimes that brings trouble on women who are honest and only have one heart to give, or so rich either. ”

“ It was with heavy hearts that Margaret and Patty left the little attic room half an hour later. They had no clew now upon which to work, and the accomplishment of their purpose seemed almost impossible.
In the little attic room behind them, however, they left nothing but rejoicing. Margaret’s gifts had been liberal, and her promises for the future even more than that. The little bent old woman could look straight ahead now to days when there would be no bare cupboards and empty coal scuttles to fill her soul with apprehension, and her body with discomfort. ”

“ Often in the dead of night I would toss and groan upon my pillow as I thought of Margaret, a prisoner in the hands of Dunraven somewhere in the depths of the unbroken forest, cut off from the world and all help, at the mercy of one who feared neither man nor devil. My fevered brain would conjure up every taunting phantom of fear and anguish that the ingenuity of man could devise. ”

“ Francis, with his ideas of splendour and chivalry, desired a different queen for his sumptuous court. And her he found in Margaret, a woman then of three-and-twenty, both learned and witty, and with a charm more attractive than beauty in her slender carriage and tender smile—Margaret, young, de moult joyeuse vie, et la meilleure compagnie possible. Margaret was virtually the Queen of France. ”

“ Margaret seized the letter, and breaking the seal, read these words which stained the fair paper:—
“Margaret, the blossoms of the almond tree grow in a night and vanish in a morn; the butterfly’s wings shine in the sun, and are broken in the first dew. So my love for thee would not outlive our parting. Know that I have chosen a Spanish lady for my wife, a waiting woman to Princess Elinor; a lady fair, and no less fair than thyself, rich and of noble blood. I leave thee to thy liking, and have sent thee this purse of gold to thy dowry. Farewell. Neither thine or his own, Edward Lacy.” ”

“ Margaret's heart was touched. She threw her arms around the poor woman and drew her, papoose and all, comfortingly toward her, patting her shoulder and saying gentle, soothing words as she would to a little child. And by and by the woman lifted her head again, the tears coursing down her face, and tried to explain, muttering her queer gutturals and making eloquent gestures until Margaret felt she understood. ”

“ Margaret was, to persons younger than herself, a Makaria and Natalia. She was wisdom and intellectual beauty, filling life with a charm and glory "known to neither sea nor land." To those of her own age she was sibyl and seer,—a prophetess, revealing the future, pointing the path, opening their eyes to the great aims only worthy of pursuit in life. To those older than herself she was like the Euphorion in Goethe's drama, child of Faust and Helen,—a wonderful union of exuberance and judgment, born of romantic fulness and classic limitation. ”

“ When all men were asleep,
There walkd a ghost, Fair Margaret's ghost,
And stood at his bed's feet.
Sweet William he dremed a dream, and he said,
'I wish it prove for good;
My chamber was full of wild men's wine,
And my bride-bed stood in blood.'
Then he calld up his stable-groom,
To saddle his nag with speed:
'This night will I ride to Fair Margaret's bowr,
With the leave of my lady.
'Oh is Fair Margaret in the kitchen?
Or is she in the hall?
. . . . .
. . . . ”

“ Thy smile shall never more be for him."
Margaret had grown paler, but her courage did not fail her for an instant.
"If he be dead," she replied piteously, "he was something that in thy whole life thou hast never been, nor conceived of—a brave and gallant gentleman."
"It may be so," he answered, "but I had rather be a live man with the Lady Margaret Carroll, than a dead gentleman, though he be a saint."
"Beast!" she cried, in anger and despair. "I loathe thee! Even the very savages have some mercy on their helpless victims, but thou knowest not what mercy is." ”

“ Margaret sighed. "If you could only see, my dear," she began gently, "how much happier we should all be, if you and Peggy could only make up your minds to make the best of it—"
"The best!" cried Rita, flashing into another mood, and coming to hover over her quiet cousin like a bird of paradise. "Do I not make the best? You are the best, Marguerite. ”

“ O! how these gentlemen who call themselves noble, will flatter and feign, to wrong a trusting woman’s heart!”
“On my life, on my knightly honor, Margaret, I mean no jest. I love you. At first, indeed, I laughed at the charms of woman’s face and voice. But since I saw you, everywhere, at the fair, in all our walks and meetings, I have loved you more and more. And if thou wilt, I will make thee the Lincoln Countess and my true and honorable wife.”
“Alas! Lord Lacy, I fear much that pride will never let thee stoop so low as from thee to me.” ”

“ I said, "take Lady Margaret home, and then come back again, for I have something to say to thee. Care for her tenderly," I said to him, as with the weeping lady upon his arm he turned to go. "Thou hast won the loveliest and fairest woman that I have ever known. It is a priceless jewel, Bobby—guard it well. ”

“ I loved her with a love that knew no distrust, faithfully, devotedly. The night, calm and silent, was not purer or more innocent than her soul; the stars as they peeped out from the distant sky, were no brighter than her eyes, azure, deep, serene; the gold of the sunset was like the glimmer of her hair; the fleecy clouds, white and snowy, were not lovelier than her neck and throat, and yet—yet—she weds Dunraven. Why hast thou forsaken me?—Margaret! Oh, Margaret!"
The lad looked at me, the great tears of pity running down his cheeks. ”

“ Margaret, don’t look at me as if you thought I was a fiend incarnate. I regret this sort of thing as much as you do. Indeed I do. But my hands are tied. I am simply a part of a great machine—a gigantic system, and I must run my mills as other men do. Surely you must see that. Just think it over, and give me the credit at least for knowing a little more of the business than you do, when I and my father before me, have been here as many years as you have days. Come, please don’t let us talk of this thing any more to-night. ”

“ Margaret paced over the crisp brown leaves, whirling round her footsteps in the bleak November wind, her eyes ever and anon turning upon her companion in troubled scrutiny, her ear intent to catch each syllable.
"How these old creaking oaks bring back to me my boyhood! What bright dreams of glory filled my brain! What a life mine was to be! I was to go forth and conquer; all men were to bow before St. Udo Brand; beauty was to melt and find its level at my feet. ”

“ Udo Brand was walking with Margaret over the rustling leaves of the Norman oaks, and beguiling the time by recounting his adventures in the American war.
How minutely he described his small part in the great wild drama of carnage! How feelingly he touched on the sorrows of war; how enthusiastically he extolled the valor of his Vermont boys!
The whole tissue of events reproduced with such marvelous accuracy, that Margaret was dumb with secret wonder.
How could one living being rehearse so faithfully the part of another? ”

“ During the battle Margaret did not know that her husband was on the ground. But at night, as soon as Henry's keepers had abandoned him, a faithful serving-man who remained with him ran into Margaret's camp, and finding one of the nobles in command there, he informed him of the situation of the king. The noble immediately informed the queen, and she, overjoyed at the news, flew to the place where her husband lay, and, on finding him, they embraced each other with the most passionate tokens of affection and joy. ”

“ The carriage rolled through the pretty woods of Fausses Reposes, and the sweet spring breeze fanned Margaret's cheeks in the shade. But she felt fever in her blood and her heart beat fast and angrily as if it were a conscious creature imprisoned in a cage. She was angry with herself and with every one else, with Logotheti, with Mrs. Rushmore, with poor Lushington for making such a fool of himself just when she was prepared to like him better than ever. She was sure that she had good cause to hate every one, and she hated accordingly, with a good will. ”

“ When Margaret was not more than fourteen or fifteen years of age, she began to be very celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments, and for the charming vivacity of her conversation and her demeanor. She resided with her mother in different families in Lorraine and in other parts of France, and was sometimes at the court of the Queen of France, who was her near relative. All who knew her were charmed with her. She was considered equally remarkable for her talents and for her beauty. ”

“ SIR WALTER
Some riddle, Margaret?
MARGARET
No riddle, but a plain request.
SIR WALTER
Name it.
MARGARET
Free liberty of Sherwood,
And leave to take her lot with you in the forest.
SIR WALTER
A scant petition, Margaret, but take it,
Seal'd with an old man's tears.—
Rise, daughter of Sir Rowland.
(Addresses them both.)
O you most worthy,
You constant followers of a man proscribed,
Following poor misery in the throat of danger;
Fast servitors to craz'd and penniless poverty,
Serving poor poverty without hope of gain;
Kind children of a sire unfortunate ”

“ Just then Margaret raised her eyes from her book and saw his face, and he did not know that she was looking at him. For the first time since she had met him she understood a little of his real nature, and guessed the reason why he could write so well. He was a man of heart. She knew it now, in spite of his faults, his shyness, his ridiculous over-sensitiveness, his detestable way of blurting out cutting speeches, his icy criticism of things he did not like. ”

“ But the centre of attraction was Margaret herself, still only a girl of twenty, with a beautifully clear complexion and bright black eyes full of fire and spirit. She was truly a royal bride, gracious, dignified, queenly Magnificent brilliants sparkled in her glossy hair; her stomacher was set with lustrous pearls; her dress was of cloth of gold, and gold lace fringed her dainty handkerchief and gloves.
"A magnificent creature to look at!" grunted the man next to me, "but I would prefer my wife to be a trifle more womanly." ”