Mrs. Leslie

“ You will be Mrs. Leslie's protege. She is one of my oldest friends, and will be like a sister to you, while you may always command me as your best friend. It will be necessary, perhaps, that you should assume some name in order to avoid censure and suspicion. The world is very hard and cold, as you may have learned ere now, and it is best to put every defense possible between you and its sneers. Let Mrs. Leslie assist you in the selection of a suitable name."
The hurried note closed abruptly with the name of Clarence Stuart. Irene raised her eyes wonderingly to the lady's face. ”

“ Leslie repeated the invitation given to Evelyn, and urged the advisability of accepting it. "It is cruel to separate you," said she; "I feel it acutely. Why not, then, come with Evelyn? You shake your head: why always avoid society? So young, yet you give yourself too much to the past!"
Lady Vargrave rose, and walked to a cabinet at the end of the room; she unlocked it, and beckoned to Mrs. Leslie to approach. In a drawer lay carefully folded articles of female dress,—rude, homely, ragged,—the dress of a peasant girl. ”

“ When Leslie learned her own story, and was brought face to face with her father, her cup of joy was full indeed. She was at anchor at last, with some one to love her beyond all others; with some one to love and to render happy.
“Oh,” she said, “to know that my dear adopted parents were after all my own kindred; my uncle and my aunt! What caprice of their evil natures prompted those wretches to do me this one kindness?”
“They knew where to find the Ulimans,” said her father, “and knew that they were wealthy. It was the easiest way to dispose of you.” ”

“ Leslie, gently; "selfish is a word that can never be applied to you; you acted as became you,—agreeably to your own instinctive sense of what is best when at your age,—independent in fortune and rank, and still so lovely,—you resigned all that would have attracted others, and devoted yourself, in retirement, to a life of quiet and unknown benevolence. You are in your sphere in this village,—humble though it be,—consoling, relieving, healing the wretched, the destitute, the infirm; and teaching your Evelyn insensibly to imitate your modest and Christian virtues." ”

“ I tell you, Lizzie, that go wherever you may, there will be something to put up with. The world isn't a bed of roses for anybody, I can tell you; and if you don't have one thing to try you, it will be another."
"Yes, I daresay it will," said Lizzie, folding over the corner of the ironing-cloth; "but still I don't see why I should have to put up with strange people's tempers when I can help you at home."
"But I don't want you at home," remonstrated her mother. "The little bit of washing I have got I can manage by myself, and I cannot afford to keep a great girl like you." ”

“ The glow faded from Leslie's face. It was always like this, the eager throb of welcome ending in the formal handshake of farewell.
"Are you going away for Christmas?" she asked.
"I shall probably pad the hoof. Moors."
"Moors! Fine. I'd love to do that. Just sun and wind and no one to see you but God."
"If you wish to test that theory, just try stealing a sheep. My word, you've a ripe, old-fashioned cold! Don't forget to take a flask of brandy." ”

“ The child filled the air with her musical laugh. "I do like to hear secrets," she said.
"Well, I'm trying to work real hard, because I want to buy mother a straw bonnet, and some pretty ribbon to put on it. It will be so nice to wear to church, you know." At this moment a voice in the hall called, "Ella! Ella!" and the child tripped away.
It seemed to Harrison as if the sun had gone behind a cloud when her laughing face disappeared from the railing; but he entered with renewed zeal into his work, saying to himself, "I wish mother could see her; she's a dear little thing!" ”

“ She held up her finger warningly as she drew near, and looked up and down the street to make sure no one was watching her, and that no policeman was in sight, and having satisfied herself that nobody was about, she darted inside the gate and carefully bolted it after her, and then followed Lizzie to the comfortable little kitchen at the side.
"Well, my dear, I've had a deal of trouble to find out all you wanted to know," she said, seating herself in the chair Lizzie had placed ready for her. "Are we all alone—is that woman who calls herself your mistress safe out of the way?" ”

“ Leslie played sad pranks in the early season of her disenthralment. She wandered far and near, and soiled her white gowns, to the despair of the Otter servant who did up the master's shirts and managed the mistress's clear-starching, but who never dreamt, in those days of frills, robes, and flounces, of styling herself a laundress. Leslie filled her apron with mosses and lichens: she stole out after the reapers had left the patch of oats which was not within sight of the house, and gathered among the sheaves like a Ruth. ”

“ Poor Leslie! You wouldn’t be much surprised if you knew what her life has been. It’s been a tragedy—a tragedy!” repeated Miss Cornelia emphatically.
“I wish you would tell me all about her—that is, if you can do so without betraying any confidence.”
“Lord, dearie, everybody in Four Winds knows poor Leslie’s story. It’s no secret—the outside, that is. Nobody knows the inside but Leslie herself, and she doesn’t take folks into her confidence. I’m about the best friend she has on earth, I reckon, and she’s never uttered a word of complaint to me. Have you ever seen Dick Moore?” ”

“ Take that horrid cap off, my dear. I do hate to see a lady who is on the edge of coming into a fortune in a thing like that," and Mrs. Stanley loosened her own bonnet-strings and unpinned her shawl by way of making herself comfortable, while Lizzie took off the obnoxious cap and put it out of sight.
"My dear, you've got lovely hair. You'll set off the jewels and satins you'll wear by and by," said the woman, apparently lost in admiration of the girl as she seated herself at the other side of the table, and prepared to listen to the further unfoldment of her "fortune." ”

“ Leslie, from the warm home-nest in which she had reposed so happily, to become the mistress of an elegant mansion. Though in age a woman, she was, in many things, but a child in feelings. Tenderly cared for and petted by her father, her spirit had been, in a measure, sustained by love as an aliment. ”

“ And poor Leslie’s has been almost all tragedy. She feels, I reckon, though mebbe she hardly knows she feels it, that there’s a vast deal in her life you can’t enter nor understand—and so she has to keep you back from it—hold you off, so to speak, from hurting her. You know if we’ve got anything about us that hurts we shrink from anyone’s touch on or near it. It holds good with our souls as well as our bodies, I reckon. Leslie’s soul must be near raw—it’s no wonder she hides it away.”
“If that were really all, I wouldn’t mind, Captain Jim. ”

“ Now, Mother, say I may give warning as soon as I go back, and let me come and help you instead of looking for another place."
But Mrs. Betts shook her head. "No, no, Lizzie," she said; "your father wouldn't like it. You must try to put up with Mrs. Spencer's temper; and be careful how you do your work, and then she will not be cross with you."
"You don't know her," snapped Lizzie; "nobody ever can please her. The girl next door told me as good as that the first day I went."
"Very well; if you knew your mistress was hard to please you should have been more careful not to offend her. ”

“ A few weeks passed, and Leslie Pierpoint had prevailed on the blushing Clara to name the day when she would redeem her pledge given in the verandah, and become wholly and irrevocably his own. It was now at hand, and Leslie counted the hours which envious Time thrust between him and his anticipated bliss. Leslie loved the chosen bride of his bosom with the most impassioned ardor. His whole heart was involved in his affection, and he had so given himself up to his passion that any revulsion promised to make him miserable. ”

“ Leslie said rather abruptly, "Is not Evelyn a delightful creature? How unconscious of her beauty; how simple, and yet so naturally gifted!"
"I have never seen one who interested me more," said Mrs. Merton, settling her pelerine; "she is extremely pretty."
"I am so anxious about her," resumed Mrs. Leslie, thoughtfully. "You know the wish of the late Lord Vargrave that she should marry his nephew, the present lord, when she reaches the age of eighteen. She only wants nine or ten months of that time; she has seen nothing of the world: she is not fit to decide for herself ”

“ The word arouses Leslie, she rises to her feet so swiftly, with such sudden strength of movement, and such a new light upon her face, that Mamma breaks off abruptly and stands staring from one to the other.
“Woman,” says Leslie slowly and with strange calm, “those are the first welcome words you ever uttered for my hearing. Say them again. Say that I am not your child.”
“I don’t see what it matters,” mutters Mamma sullenly. “You will be our’n fast enough when you’re married to Franz.”
“Eh!” Franz utters only this syllable, and advances step by step into the room. ”

“ Husbands and wives, like children, have their streaks of being "good"; this was one of Winifred's. She had a carelessly proud, unalterable faith in her husband's faith, too intimately personal to be formulated: he was Leslie! Exasperating as the situation was, she felt a tender, half-humorous, half-admiring indulgence of his state of mind, even though she could not sympathize with it; she knew that Leslie's friend had to be sacred! ”

“ Nature had perhaps intended Leslie to be plump and ruddy, but modern fashion had decreed otherwise, and, with half the girls of her own age and set, Leslie took saccharine in her tea, rarely touched sweets or fried food, and had the supreme satisfaction of knowing that she was actually too slim and too willowy for her height, and interestingly colourless into the bargain. ”

“ Leslie seemed always to enjoy those lighthouse carousals very much, and bloomed out for the time being into ready wit and beautiful laughter, or glowing-eyed silence. There was a certain tang and savor in the conversation when Leslie was present which they missed when she was absent. Even when she did not talk she seemed to inspire others to brilliancy. Captain Jim told his stories better, Gilbert was quicker in argument and repartee, Anne felt little gushes and trickles of fancy and imagination bubbling to her lips under the influence of Leslie’s personality. ”

“ Luddington,” explained Leslie, wrinkling up her nose in a grin of merriment. “Isn’t it cute? Wait till you see him, and you’ll see how it fits. He’s round and bald with a shiny red nose, and spectacles; and he doesn’t mind our kidding at all. He’d have made a lovely father if he wasn’t married, but he has a horrid wife. We don’t like her at all. She’s like a frilly piece of French china with too much decoration; and she’s always sick and nervous; and she jumps, and says ‘Oh, mercy!’ every time we do the least little thing. ”

“ Sister is now as excitable as she was impassive. She laughs so merrily that the sound rings through the house. Then with as little reason, she weeps violently. I led Pauline to the cottage to try and amuse the poor girl; but the little creature was afraid of her aunt, and clung convulsively to me, if Emily tried to force her from my arms. There is a dreadful wildness in her eye, which alarms me.
Squire Lee is so much better, Frank is of opinion that, if he has no relapse, he will soon be able to leave his bed. Lucy is with him constantly; indeed he cannot bear her out of his sight a moment. ”

“ The lower floor was at least wrapped in silence—even little Matilda was in bed—when Winifred, in the pretty coral gown that set off her dark hair and eyes, ran down at last at the sound of Leslie's step, to greet a short, veiled lady.
"Here we are, Win—Della and the boy, and all. She wants to go straight to her room, first."
"Yes, indeed! I'm very glad to see you, Mrs. Bosby. You'll have to step on these boards to reach the stairs. Will you come right up?"
"It is very good of you to have us," said the visitor, in a sweet, low voice. "I trust you won't take any trouble for us." ”

“ She was too wretched to cry and sob, or indulge in any outward manifestation of sorrow, but her heart ached with a sense of desolation that well-nigh overwhelmed her.
The voices ceased outside, and her companions snored, and groaned sometimes as the clumsy vehicle lurched on one side as they passed over an extra rough piece of the road; but smooth or rough, it made no difference to Lizzie. The blessed relief of sleep came not to her that night. ”

“ No man asked her as a partner a second time; but Leslie fox-trotted with her heroically and sat out the intervals, affectionately conversational, the smile she always had for him lighting her pale face.
The pile of magazines lay untouched on the table at home; the intimate, haphazard intercourse with the Wilmers and Bannards and Silvertons was imperceptibly cut off. Sometimes Mrs. Bosby took Major to town for the day, and they seemed to make a tour of the shops; but he was usually left in Winifred's hands except when kind Mrs. Brentwood helped her out. ”

“ This kindness only made Leslie feel more inclined to cry, but repressing his tears, and placing one hand in Mrs Price's, he said, as they walked to the parlour, "You are very kind, ma'am, and your voice is as soft as my own mamma's; thank you very much."
"There, that is a brave boy; you must not let Maud see you cry."
"No, but I could not help it, I did so long to go home, and it is such a disappointment to be kept at school."
"My dear child, the world and life are full of disappointments." ”