Mrs. Campbell

“ Campbell's affliction, than her own dangerous symptoms were forgotten, and springing up she exclaimed, "Ella Campbell dead! What'll her mother do? I must go to her right away. Hand me my double gown there in the closet, and give me my lace cap in the lower draw, and mind you have the tea-kettle biled agin I get back."
"But, mother," said Billy, as he prepared to obey her, "Mrs. Campbell is rich, and there are enough who will pity her. If you go any where, suppose you stop at Mrs. Howard's, and comfort poor Mary, who cries all the time because she and Alice have got to go to the poor-house." ”

“ Campbell asked what she wanted.
"Why, you see, ma'am, I was going to say a word about,—about that youngest Howard girl." (She dared not say Ella.) "She's got to go to the poor-house, and it's a pity, she's so handsome. Why couldn't she come here and live? I'll take care of her, and 'twouldn't be nigh so lonesome."
At this allusion to her bereavement Mrs. Campbell burst into tears, and motioned Hannah from the room. ”

“ If Christina could get any advantage for nothing, and especially from Theodora, Mrs. Campbell approved the project.
"You may go with your brother, Christina, for an hour, and make the most of your opportunities. One thing is sure, the woman ought to do something for the family, for goodness knows, we have been put to extraordinary expense and trouble for her pleasure."
A few minutes after the departure of Robert and his sister, Mrs. Campbell said: "Open the parlor door, Isabel, and let us hear the 'treat' if we can." ”

“ Campbell: "To show your confidence."
Campbell: "When I haven't got any?"
Mrs. Campbell, tearing the note open: "Well, it's no use trying any sentiment with you, or any generosity either. You're always just the same; a teasing joke is [Pg 17] your ideal. You can't imagine a woman's wanting to keep up a little romance all through; and a character like Mr. Welling's, who's all chivalry and delicacy and deference, is quite beyond you. That's the reason you're always sneering at him."
Campbell: "I'm not sneering at him, my dear. I'm only afraid Miss Rice isn't good enough for him." ”

“ Just like anything that's nice, it's ten times as nice as you expected it to be; and—"
Campbell: "But hold on, Amy!" He lifts a note from the desk. "You've sent your copy. Here's the original now. She'll think you've been playing some joke on her."
Mrs. Campbell, clutching the letter from him, and scanning it in a daze: "What! Oh, my goodness! It is! I have! Oh, I shall die! Run! Call her back! Shriek, Willis!" They rush to the window together. "No, no! It's too late! She's given it to their man, and now nothing [Pg 28] can save me! Oh, Willis! Willis! Willis! ”

“ Campbell in the face."
"But, Mr. May, you know very well that you didn't want me to say any thing against Jane to hurt her character."
"True. And it is hard to injure a poor fellow creature by blazoning her faults about. But I had no idea that Jane was such a wretch!"
"We knew that she would steal, and that she was unkind to children; and yet, we agreed to recommend her to Mrs. Campbell."
"But it was purely out of kind feelings for the girl, Ella."
"Yes. But is that genuine kindness? Is it real charity? I fear not."
Mr. May was silent. The questions probed him to the quick. ”

“ Campbell.
[Pg 229] "You are quite safe, ma'am," said Martin, "Malachi and Mr. John have both their rifles."
"Well, then, I will trust to them," said Mrs. Campbell, "but I should prefer being at home, nevertheless. What a great brute it is."
"Yes, ma'am; it is a very large animal, that's certain; but they are not very fat at this time of the year. See how he's smelling at the liquor, now he's licking the top of it with his tongue. ”

“ Thistles mean hard feelings and mean acts, and the flowers are kind words and deeds."
"Miss Edith has found the key to true happiness," murmured Mrs. Campbell, glancing out of the window at a tall, slender, gray-eyed young lady hurrying down the street, surrounded by a bevy of bright-faced, adoring boys and girls.
"Yes, she's another Saint Elspeth, isn't she? How nice it is to have her here as long as I can't have my dear Mrs. Strong! And do you know, grandma, she and Mrs. Strong were chums when they went to college? Isn't that queer?" ”

“ Now, Amy, this is a little too much. You got yourself into it. You urged me to think of something—"
Mrs. Campbell: "Well, do, Willis, do think of something, or I shall go mad! Help me, Willis! Don't be so heartless—so unfeeling."
Campbell: "There's only one thing now, and that is to make a clean breast of it to Welling, and get him to help us out. A word from him can make everything right, and we can't take a step without him; we can't move!"
Mrs. Campbell: "I can't let you. Oh, isn't it horrible!"
Campbell: "Yes; a nice thing is always [Pg 29] ten times nicer than you expected it to be!" ”

“ Campbell: "Well, that's what attracted me to you, Amy; your manliness."
Mrs. Campbell: "And I liked your finesse. You are awfully inventive, Willis. Why, Willis, I've just thought of something. Oh, it would be so good if you only would!"
Campbell: "Would what?" [Pg 26]
Mrs. Campbell: "Invent something now to get us out of the scrape."
Campbell: "What a brilliant idea! I'm not in any scrape. And as for Mr. Welling, I don't see how you could help him out unless you sent this letter to Miss Rice, and asked her to send yours back—"
Mrs. Campbell, springing to her feet: "Willis, you are inspired! ”

“ You haven't the slightest evidence that it's for Miss Rice, or that it isn't intended for you, and it's my duty to find out. And nobody is authority but Mr. Welling. And I'm going to him with the corpus delicti." [Pg 23]
Mrs. Campbell: "But how can you? Remember how sensitive, how shrinking he is. Don't, Willis; you mustn't. It will kill him!"
Campbell: "Well, that may save me considerable bother. If he will simply die of himself, I can't ask anything better." He goes on eating his breakfast.
Mrs. Campbell, admiring him across the table: "Oh, Willis, how perfectly delightful you are!" ”

“ Campbell is very careful, but she canna be the same as a wife to you. You must often be very lonely here, all by yourself. But if you had a wife she would keep you from wearying, and would take all the management of the house off your hands, besides helping you with the work of the parish. ”

“ Rice's, and say to her that the letter you left for Miss Rice is not for her, but another lady, and Mrs. Campbell sent it by mistake. Get it and bring it back here, dead or alive, even if Mrs. Rice has to pass over your mangled body in the attempt."
Jane, tasting the joke, while Mrs. Campbell [Pg 41] gasps in ineffective efforts to reinforce her husband's instructions: "I will that, sir."
V
MRS. CAMPBELL; WELLING; CAMPBELL
Campbell: "And now, while we're waiting, let's all join hands and dance round the table. You're saved, Welling. So are you, Amy. And so am I—which is more to the point." ”

“ Mrs. Campbell, the chaperone to whom her father had intrusted her, was a capable New England woman who had early recognized the responsibilities of her position. [206] Mercedes, rich and beautiful, was a prize for which princes might have sued. But Mrs. Campbell had received instructions from Black Dan that he did not want his daughter taken from him by marriage with a foreigner, and Mercedes, during her year in Europe, was guarded like a princess traveling incognito. ”

“ Campbell: "Another overruling providence. Now you are in for it, my boy! So is Amy. And so am I—which is still more to the point."
Mrs. Campbell: "Well, now, what shall we do?"
Campbell: "All that we can do now is [Pg 45] to await developments: they'll come fast enough. Miss Rice will open her letter as soon as she gets it, and she won't understand it in the least; how could she understand a letter in your handwriting, with Welling's name signed to it? She'll show it to Miss Greenway—"
Welling: "Oh, don't say that!"
Campbell: "—Greenway; and Miss Greenway won't know what to make of it either. ”

“ Mr and Mrs Campbell embraced their nieces, for they were much affected by Mary’s reply.
After a pause, Mrs Campbell said—
“Now that we have come to a decision, we must commence our arrangements immediately. How shall we dispose of ourselves? Come, Alfred and Henry, what do you propose doing?” ”

“ Campbell: "No, no! Listen, Amy! You must stay and see those ladies. It's all well enough to leave it to me, but what about poor Welling? He hasn't done anything—except cause the whole trouble."
Mrs. Campbell: "I am very sorry, but I can't help it. I must go." Campbell continues to prevent her flight, and she suddenly whirls about and makes a dash at the open window. "Oh, very well, then! I can get out this way." At the same moment Miss Rice and Miss Greenway appear before the window on the piazza. "Ugh! ”

“ The girls could hear talk of champagne-cup and curry, and suddenly a voice sounded which made them look at each other.
"That is Mrs. Campbell," said Hope. "What is she doing here?"
CHAPTER XXII. IN ELEPHANTA'S CAVES. As she spoke some of the party began to descend. A man's voice, with a drawling accent, made some remark about its being "a beastly hole," and another, of a heartier bass tone added,
"You've hit it, Campbell. It is a 'beastly hole,' and the beasts are cobras, at your service. They kill a dozen or so a day, here." ”

“ Welling. Do you happen to know where I laid my revolver?"
Mrs. Campbell: "Oh, Willis, what are you going to do? You see it's a mistake."
Campbell: "Mr. Welling has got to prove that. I'm not going to have young men addressing my wife as Oh their darling, without knowing the reason why. It's a liberty."
Mrs. Campbell, inclined to laugh: "Ah, Willis, how funny you are!"
Campbell: "Funny? I'm furious."
Mrs. Campbell: "You know you're not. Give me the letter, dearest. I know it's for Margaret Rice, and I shall see her, and just feel round and find out if it isn't so, and—"
Campbell: "What an idea! ”

“ Campbell hastily, for when the missionary spirit seized this restless, active body, it never ceased working until she had given away not only all her own [Pg 36] treasures, but all those belonging to her sisters which chanced to fall into her hands.
"Scrapbooks!" cried Peace scornfully. "No one but babies cares for them. Why, even Allee hasn't been int'rested in such things for ages."
Mrs. Campbell smiled inwardly at Peace's contempt, but gently persisted, "Sadie is too weak to hold heavy books yet, dearie. ”

“ Campbell’s province as an actress is more particularly that of dangerous love. That voice of hers, though it has but little sonorousness, power, or richness, produces in one a sense of disquiet and distress, straitens the heart with a kind of fascinating delicious fear that I would describe as the curiosité de souffrir. You feel that if you love her you are lost, but once you have seen her it is too late to attempt resistance. The generations which believed in the human will, which asked for simple tenderness, pert coquetry or imperious passion in a heroine, would never have understood her. ”

“ Mr Campbell wrote a letter to Mr Douglas Campbell, thanking him for his kindness and consideration to them, and informing him that they should leave Wexton Hall on the following day. He only begged, as a favour, that the schoolmaster and schoolmistress of the village school should be continued on, as it was of great importance that the instruction of the poor should not be neglected; and added, that perceiving by the newspapers that Mr Douglas Campbell had lately married, Mrs Campbell and he wished him and his wife every happiness, etcetera, etcetera. ”

“ Mr and Mrs Campbell lived to a good old age, respected as long as they lived, and lamented when they died. They had known prosperity and adversity, and in each state of life had acquitted themselves with exemplary propriety, not having been elated by the one, or depressed by the other. They knew that this world was a world of trial, and but a preparation for another ”

“ There was in my heart a real intention to marry Mary Campbell. I am your son, do you think I would plot shame or sorrow for any girl?”
“Does she love you?”
“I cannot tell—sometimes I fear so.”
“Allan, there are few loves that conquer life. Life would be a hurly-burly of unbridled passion, if we had not the power to control our likes and dislikes. We two cannot quarrel. You are my one child. The sole desire of my heart is your welfare and happiness. ”

“ The question and the way it was put were so unexpected that Campbell was abashed. The next moment the accumulated wrath of years welled from his heart, and he cursed the family and the son of the woman whom he had loved in his youth.
"That patched an' gangling boy of yourn'll shore git hurt if he don' keep away from my gal!" he exclaimed. "I get betteh ideas than havin" her marryin' inteh side-hill pone-eaters, an' I tell ye naow. my gal's got a sweetheart as has money an' clothes an' sense, he shore has! An' you keep that Clint Tazewell home, I tell ye!" ”

“ Claire, we can stand no more revelations concerning the bride's perfections! Robert Campbell is only a master of iron workers and coal miners, and I fear he will feel painfully his inferiority to such a marvellously beautiful and intellectual woman. As for myself, and my poor girls, I can only say—grant us patience! ”

“ After several sessions of attendance at college, Paul became tutor to a family in Argyleshire, and Campbell obtained a similar situation in the island of Mull. They entered into a humorous correspondence in prose and [Pg 122] verse. "Your verses on the Unfortunate Lady," writes Campbell to his friend, "I read with sweet pleasure; for there is a joy in grief, when peace dwelleth in the breast of the sad.... Morose as I am in judging of poetry, I could find nothing inelegant in the whole piece. ”