Miss Peyton

“ Nature has bestowed on her that somewhat unusual feminine attribute, a mind, to which art, through the medium of the various educational sciences, has added cultivation; then she has the sweetest, most lovable disposition——
“There! spare me your lovers’ raptures,” returned Lord Bellefield; “of all stale trash they are the most sickening; and tell me plainly, in five words, who she is, and what she has.”
“Laura Peyton—heiress—value unknown,” returned Leicester emphatically and concisely.
“Miss Peyton!” exclaimed Lord Bellefield in surprise. ”

“ They were so much quieter and more dignified than the rollicking busload of which I made one.
"Do you know Miss Peyton is ill and may have to take the whole year to get well?" asked Miss Sayre.
"Oh, oh! How sorry we are!" came from the whole load of girls.
Miss Peyton, the principal of Gresham, was [31] much beloved by all the pupils. She was a person of infinite tact and charm and her understanding of the genus, girl, was little short of uncanny.
"Who on earth is to take her place at Gresham?" I asked. "One of the teachers?" ”

“ Peyton had just stepped out, but might be in again at any moment, provoked a full-bodied swear. Perry confided to the tingling wires a message that he was coming out to luncheon, slammed down the receiver, and hurried for a train—which he just missed. Then he had half an hour in which to pace the platform, and each moment added fuel to his righteous anger. He had been obliged to telegraph, breaking a pleasant luncheon engagement in town; but, with this unheard-of thing on his mind, he felt he couldn't have met anybody. Mrs. Peyton was his very good friend ”

“ We talked of Miss Peyton and how much we liked her, but since Miss Ball was a member of the faculty, we refrained from our criticisms of Miss Plympton, although we knew that Captain Leahy was dying to hear all about our latest scrapes and how we got out of them and what we had to say of our stern principal. She really was not nearly so stern as we gave her credit for, but we were nothing but girls and young people are always extreme in their opinions. Everybody is either perfectly lovely or perfectly horrid in their eyes. ”

“ Mrs. Estabrook’s entrance then caused the conversation to turn upon the incidents of the trip just taken, and Persis produced the little statuette which Mr. Peyton had given her; and that night she told Lisa the story of it and of her impression of Mr. Peyton.
“Isn’t it queer,” she said, “to think of grandma’s being the heroine of a romance? I know there is one about her and Mr. Peyton, and to think that even now he feels so about her. It isn’t usual to find such constancy, is it?”
“No; I think not, nowadays. It’s more often on with the new love before you are off with the old.” ”

“ Peyton, in a tiny apartment of the Rue de Varennes, had kept house for him during his course of studies at the Beaux Arts. There were indeed not lacking critics of her own sex who accused Kate Peyton of having figured too largely in her son’s life; of having failed to efface herself at a period when it is agreed that young men are best left free to try conclusions with the world. ”

“ You are such an old friend of both."
"Not the slightest harm," says Miss Peyton, with conviction. Woman-like, she is burning with curiosity. Not [Pg 159] for an instant does she doubt that one of her greatest wishes is about to be fulfilled: Mr. Hastings, who has a small though not insignificant income of his own, independent of the Church, is about to marry her dearest Georgie.
"Her dearest Georgie," raising herself a little from her recumbent position, leans her arm upon Clarissa's knee, and looks up into her face: there is importance largely mingled with delight in her fair features. ”

“ Another minute and a feeble glare illuminated the dark interior. Pale and blue at first, it speedily gained strength and lighting power. Eagerly we scanned the two faces, now for one never-to-be-forgotten instant revealed to our gaze. One lowering, heavy-browed, coarse, and bearded; the other—ah, well I knew I had heard that voice, for there, half muffled in the heavy coat, half shrouded by the slouching hat, were the pale, clear-cut, dissipated features I had marked so keenly at Sandbrook. It was the face of Ned Peyton. ”

“ Peyton. And how have you been?"
Mrs. Peyton leaned back on her pillows, with a little laugh. "Who cares how I have been?" she said, lightly. "What does it matter how I have been? Tell me some news, Margaret. I must have news. You are alive, you move, and have your being; tell me something that will make me feel alive, too."
Margaret looked at the lady, and thought she looked very much alive. She was a vision [78] of rose colour, from the silk jacket fluttering with ribbons, to the pink satin that shimmered through the lace bed-spread. ”

“ I knew they got it from him, and while I thought Gresham was not the place it had been under Miss Peyton's management, I did not think it should be blamed for the things that it was not responsible for.
"Sometimes I think it would have been better for them if I had married again. Some real good settled stepmother would have taught them how to behave but, somehow, I have never had a leaning myself towards real good settled persons who [146] might have been good for Tweedles. ”

“ Valentine spoke knowingly, as one acquainted by enviable experience with the measure of such love.
“As a woman loves a man!” repeated Peyton. Suddenly he turned to Valentine. “Tell me, does she love any man so, now?” Peyton did not know the relation in which Elizabeth and Major Colden stood to each other. ”

“ Kate Peyton glanced from lover to lover, and shuddered at Griffith. She was familiar with petty jealousy; she had even detected it pinching or coloring many a pretty face that tried very hard to hide it all the time. But that was nothing to what she saw now: hitherto she had but beheld the feeling of jealousy; but now she witnessed the livid passion of jealousy writhing in every lineament of a human face. ”

“ Peyton's kindliness, and, perhaps, still embarrassed by remorse, had not time to remark the girl's studied attitude. He shook hands with her cordially, and then, in the quick reaction of youth, accepted with humorous gravity the elaborate introduction to Mary Rogers by Susy, which completed this little comedy. And if, with a woman's quickness, Mrs. Peyton detected a certain lingering glance which passed between Mary Rogers and Clarence, and misinterpreted it, it was only a part of that mystification into which these youthful actors are apt to throw their mature audiences. ”

“ The very word is a charm to a woman. Elizabeth’s curiosity was touched but slightly, yet sufficiently to stay her steps for the moment.
“Ay,” said Peyton, lowering his tone and speaking quickly, “secrets not for every ear. Secrets of the heart, madam,—secrets so delicate that, to convey them truly, I need the aid of more than common tact and understanding.” ”

“ Williams departed, and Elizabeth began to make the quill fly over the paper, her aunt looking on from beside the table. Peyton opened his eyes and looked at them.
“It does seem a pity,” said Miss Sally at last. “Such a pretty gentleman,—such a gallant soldier!”
“Gentleman?” echoed Elizabeth, writing on. “The fellow is not a gentleman! Nor a gallant soldier!”
Peyton rose to a sitting posture as if stung by a hornet, but was instantly reminded of his wound. But neither Elizabeth nor her aunt saw or heard his movement. ”

“ Peyton is something of an invalid, and likes to have her come."
"Indeed!" cried Miss Sophronia. "I should hardly have fancied—Emily Peyton was always so mature in her thought, so critical in her observations; but no doubt she is lonely, and glad of any society; and sweet Margaret is most sympathetic, I am sure. Sympathy, my dear John! how could we live without it, my poor dear fellow?"
"I am going to walk," said Mr. Montfort, abruptly. "Margaret, will you come? Sophronia, you will be glad of a chance to rest; you must be tired after your long drive." ”

“ Descendants of John Peyton. Here, Peyton, are some things about your ancestors. Read them. Perhaps then instead of tearing down you will have an impulse to build up. I commend this book to you young people for study. It will do you no harm to think a little of those worthy men from whom you come.
[Marks the place with a card and gives the book to Peyton.
Jhansi
[Springing up.] I shall waste no time thinking of the worthy men from whom I come! If I am related [90] to a law-maker—I owe it to my soul to become a law-breaker!
Mrs. Root
You see, Bessie, what you have done. ”

“ Open expiation still seemed to her the only possible way of healing; but she tried vainly to think of Mrs. Peyton as taking such a view. Yet Mrs. Peyton ought at least to know what had happened: was it not, in the last resort, she who should pronounce on her son’s course? For a moment Kate was fascinated by this evasion of responsibility; she had nearly decided to tell Denis that he must begin by confessing everything to his mother. But almost at once she began to shrink from the consequences. ”

“ This is not the first time I have caught myself stumbling unawares on the confines of romance! Miss Lizzie, Miss Lizzie, you must not be fanciful! Do you forget that you are an old maid! Yes, an old maid. Ah, well-a-day, 'tis a very happy, contented, peaceful sound to me now; but twenty years ago,—Here comes dear old Dr. Peyton himself up my garden path! He does not seem to walk so blithely tonight as usual,—surely nothing is the matter; I wish I could see his face, but it is much too dark for that, so I'll go at once and let him in. Now I shall hear news of my opposite neighbor! ”

“ Colonel Peyton pushed back his plate, and got up from the breakfast-table.
"Well, it's a lovely day," he observed, looking out of the window. "I hope that young man will be punctual. Are you women ready?"
"Did you ever know mother late for anything, Father?" inquired Nancy calmly.
Colonel Peyton chuckled, and shook his finger at her.
"It's you I'm thinking of, miss," he said; "you're the one that will keep us waiting."
"Come along," said Mrs. Peyton, "and put your things on, darling. We mustn't keep the car standing." ”

“ And, indeed, Elizabeth had so provided. On returning to the dining-room from her fateful interview with Peyton, she had answered the astonished and inquisitive looks of Miss Sally and Mr. Valentine, by saying, in an abrupt and reserved manner, “For important reasons I have chosen not to give the prisoner up. He will stay in the house for a time, and nobody is to know he is here. Please remember, Mr. Valentine.” The old man tried to recall Peyton’s words in asking him to send Elizabeth to the parlor, and made a mental effort to put this and that together ”

“ I fear that you are not through with her, my little friend.”
“I will see General Pemberton,” declared Colonel Peyton, “and prepare him for Madame’s onslaught. Meantime, I have his permission for you and your brother to stay at sister Sally’s until your brother fully recovers. But he is not at liberty, Jeanne, because he is a prisoner, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” said Jeanne, “and I will not say a word against it. Better a prisoner of the Confederates than to be in the hands of such a woman. There will at least be some chance to exchange him. You don’t dislike me any more, do you, Colonel Peyton? ”

“ Mrs. Peyton said. “He declared afterward he had never seen the girl before—but—oh—I can’t believe she came back here that night!”
“Of course she didn’t,” Cray said. “How could she get in, unless someone admitted her.”
“There’s the French window in the study,” Mrs. Peyton suggested, uncertainly. “Doctor Waring could have let her in that way—”
“Well, he didn’t!” Miss Bascom declared. “Land! I’ve known John Waring all my life, and he’s not the kind of man that had anything to do with flirtatious young women.” ”

“ Culpeper in an unusually tolerant tone. "He has let his habit of joking grow on him until you never know whether he is serious or simply poking fun at you."
"The next thing we hear," suggested Peyton, who was quite dreadful at times, "will be that the old gentleman admires the daughter also."
"He doesn't like conspicuous women," rejoined Victoria. "He told me so only the other day when Mrs. Bradford announced that she was going to run for the legislature."
"That's the kind of conspicuousness we all object to," commented Peyton; "Patty Vetch isn't that sort."
Janet was more merciful. ”

“ Then Elizabeth called 155 Williams, who, as she had supposed, had come into the hall with the rangers. He now entered the parlor. Elizabeth, whose back was still towards Peyton, who had risen and was leaning on the spinet, addressed the steward in a low, embarrassed tone, as if ashamed of the weakness newly come over her.
“Williams, this gentleman will remain in the house till his wound is healed. His presence is to be a secret in the household. He will occupy the southwestern chamber.” She then turned and spoke, in a constrained manner, to Peyton, not meeting his look. ”

“ Peyton wretched, but it would not have killed her. And she would have taken precisely Denis’s view of the elasticity of atonement: she would have accepted private regrets as the genteel equivalent of open expiation. Kate could even imagine her extracting a “lesson” from the providential fact that her son had not been found out.
“You see it’s not so simple,” he broke out, with a tinge of doleful triumph.
“No: it’s not simple,” she assented.
“One must think of others,” he continued, gathering faith in his argument as he saw her reduced to acquiescence. ”