Mrs. Preston

“ He was the only one, indeed, for whom she felt any affection.
"You won't miss me, mother. It'll be awfully stupid here, and you know you'll be coming to the city as soon as you get through with the business."
Mrs. Preston was disappointed, but she should not have been surprised. Her only son reflected her own selfishness.
"It would not look well for you to go to the theater just at the present," she said. ”

“ Kirke has promised to look into our affairs, and I shall need you.'
'Yas, master Robert,' replied the black; and, mounting the horses, Preston and I rode off to the mansion.
CHAPTER X.
Mrs. Preston and master Joe were on the piazza awaiting us, and in the doorway we were met by the younger children. Preston lifted one of them upon his shoulder, and taking another in his arms, led the way to the supper room. However disturbed might be my friend's relations with the outer world, all was peace by his cheerful fireside. No man was ever more blessed in his home. ”

“ In whom but in our child could reappear your own face, glorified, masked, by woman’s softness? Ah, Doña Isabel and this Pedro were deceived; they thought it was the beauty of Herlinda that they saw. But I knew it to be yours. Ah, in all these weeks I have taught your child how to hate you; I have plucked out that root of love; I have made more real the fancied wrongs of which she has accused you. Trifles! trifles! trifles all!—the murder of a supposed father, the torture of an old man, the death of a base lover,—yes, that Ruiz to whom from her birth you destined her. ”

“ Preston was more really true than many worthy men; who, seeking to be married, turn with careless facility from the unattainable to the attainable, and keep their feelings and fancy tolerably loose till they find a woman who consents to be their wife. But no one would ever be to Mr. Preston what Cynthia had been, and was; and yet he could have stabbed her in certain of his moods. So, Molly, who had come between him and the object of his desire, was not likely to find favour in his sight, or to obtain friendly actions from him. ”

“ The respite unnerved her, and she threw herself half fainting in a chair, as Herlinda seized the new-comer by the shoulders, gasping forth, “Feliz, Feliz, tell me! tell me it is not true! He is not dead! dead! dead!” her voice rising to a shriek.
“Hush! hush, Herlinda! O God, my child, what can this be to thee?” Doña Feliz shuddered as she spoke. She glanced at the closed window; the walls she knew to be a yard in thickness, yet she wished them double, lest a sound of these wild ravings should escape. ”

“ Dr. Gray had said that at once when Flaxie had led him out to the cage to show him the poor, stiff little body, and he saw the flakes of green soaked off from the sides of the drinking-pan and floating on the water.
So really Preston was the murderer. Poor Preston! Didn't he hang his head for shame? And, as for Bert, he hadn't been near Snowball for two whole days; he had been on the sofa all that time with earache and toothache.
"Does you feel orfly?" said little Flaxie. "You going to cry?"
"Yes, I feel orfly; but boys don't cry," replied Preston, trying to whistle. ”

“ She is in Georgetown, in a polemic—either she must marry Major Lindsay, or Mr. Mowbray be hung.”
“Good God!” exclaimed Preston, “What is it you say? Trifle not with me,” he said sternly, seizing the slave by the collar.
“As true as dare is a heaven above,” said the old butler trembling, and half frightened out of his wits; “what I say is de Gospel truth.”
He then proceeded to give Preston a more detailed account of affairs, so far as they were known to him, adhering generally to the truth, except in roundly asserting that Kate had sent him. ”

“ She fled to her wigwam in terror, and for days refused to admit the chieftain, who stood without pleading for an answer but at length she ventured to glance at him through a tiny hole in the buffalo hide that formed the walls of her tent, and in an instant all her love for her people and all fear of the warning voice vanished, and she promised to be Gervassen's bride. ”

“ My mother will never forgive me!”
“Absurd!” ejaculated the governess. “Doña Isabel, like every one else in the world, must submit to the inevitable.”
“So John said; but, Mademoiselle, neither you nor John know my mother, nor my people. She will never forgive: in her place, I would never forgive!”
“And yet you dared!” cried Mademoiselle La Croix, looking at the young girl with new admiration at the courage which stimulated her own. “Truly, you Mexicans are a strange people, so generous in many things, so blind and obstinate in others. Well, well! you shall find, Herlinda, I too can be brave. ”

“ Well, then, now for a race from here to the sweet-apple tree. One, two, three, begin!” And Preston started off at the top of his speed, Mary just before him, her face aglow, her hair streaming in the wind. As she skimmed over the ground, shouting and laughing, she seemed for all the world like a little girl, and not in the least like a young lady. She was soon caught and obliged to surrender the hammer, whereupon Preston nailed the curtains neatly, and went whistling about the house, giving finishing touches here and there to the rickety furniture. ”

“ If we are captured, thou wilt not be a prize worth retaining; it will be easy to induce them to take thee to Guanapila, and obtain a reward from my cousin, Don Hernando.”
“No, no!” cried the woman, brought to her senses by this quiet scorn and the startling proposition of her mistress. “Could I leave your grace? No, no! imprisonment, starvation, even to be made the wife of one of those bandits!” and a faint smile curled the damsel’s lip, for she was not ugly, and knew something of the gallantries of Ramirez’s followers,—“anything rather than desert my lady! ”

“ I am his wife!”
“This is madness!” interrupted Doña Isabel, in a voice of such preternatural calmness that her daughter turned as if awestricken to look at her. “Unhappy girl, you cannot have been that man’s wife. You have been betrayed! Child! child! the house of Garcia is disgraced!”
A chill fell upon the governess, yet she spoke sharply, almost pertly: “Not disgraced by Herlinda, Madame. She was indeed married to John Ashley, in the parish church of Las Parras, by the missionary priest, Father Magauley.” ”

“ Helen’s eyesight would never be good for much again, and as William Preston’s wife she would never need to do anything, if she chose to sit with her hands before her; and a boy was a great charge to a widowed mother; and now there would be a decent steady man to see after him. So, by-and-by, aunt Fanny seemed to take a brighter view of the marriage than did my mother herself, who hardly ever looked up, and never smiled after the day when she promised William Preston to be his wife. But much as she had loved Gregory before, she seemed to love him more now. ”

“ Preston called out, but it was of no use; there was not a man to be seen, and if there had been twenty men they could have heard nothing, while the little girls were making such a noise. He ran with all his might, but by the time he reached the bank, the baby had tumbled headlong into the river! ”

“ I can't imagine how Aunt Randolph came to let you, though."
"She let me come to take care of you."
"I'm not worth it. What's a man good for, when there is only half of him left? I should like just to get into one other field, and let powder take the other half."
"Hush, Preston! hush; you must not talk so. There's your mother."
"My mother won't think much of me now, I don't know why she should. You never did, even when I was myself."
"I think just as much of you now as ever, Preston. You might be much more than your old self, if you would." ”

“ Mademoiselle La Croix burst into tears and threw herself upon the floor. Doña Isabel, deadly pale, covered her eyes with a hand as cold and white as snow. Herlinda sank upon her knees with parted lips and straining eyes to watch the form upborne before that dark and sinuous procession; but when it became lost to view amid the throng which encircled the open grave, she fell prone to the floor with such a moan as only woe itself can utter,—a moan that seemed the outburst of a maddened brain and a bursting heart. ”

“ This conclusion presented itself with such clearness that I was on the point of submitting it to Marion when I remembered how unpleasant it was to me to listen to wholesome truths, so I merely looked unselfish and hummed thoughtfully.
My wife regarded me with suspicion, her frown deepening. "I have asked you repeatedly," she said, with frosty distinctness, "not to hum, and not to look like that." ”

“ Kate alone betrayed neither surprise nor emotion. “Ah! indeed,” was her unconcerned reply.
Preston turned pale with suppressed mortification at this indifference; mere friendship, he said to himself, demanded some expression of regret at least. His feelings were not allayed by what followed.
“You’re not going to join Marion, are you?” said Major Lindsay, in a tone of triumphant banter, little imagining how near he was to the truth. “Has he frightened you by the great oath he has sworn to revenge his nephew, who was shot for a rebel? I hear he threatens some mighty deed. ”

“ Telepathic waves reached him from Hometon. He saw Frankie's face clearly outlined inside the Little Dipper. He remembered his words to her, words containing a promise. Yes, indeed, he would be true—
But still he felt the warmth of Julia's hand. Why had he taken it in his, and why had he felt buoyant when she blushed?
He was vaguely conscious of a conflict in his heart. Yet he swore to himself that everything would be all right. Young men are usually quite sure that nothing unpleasant can come of anything.
Bill Watson was sitting in the manager's office when Evan entered. ”

“ Miss Preston stood in the doorway, and, standing beside her, with one hand resting lightly upon his hip and the other raised a little above his head, and resting against the door-casing, stood a tall, remarkably handsome man. His attitude was unstudied, but brought out to perfection the fine lines of his figure.
Hastily exclaiming: “Oh, please, excuse me, or else come with me,” Toinette glided between the whirling figures, and, forgetful of all else, cried out in a joyous voice: “Papa, papa Clayton, where did you come from?” ”

“ Preston keeping guard, as it were, over the seats which Molly and Cynthia had just quitted. He was looking so black that, if their eyes had not met, Mrs. Gibson would have preferred not speaking to him; as it was, she thought it unavoidable.
'The rooms are not well-lighted to-night, are they, Mr. Preston?'
'No,' said he; 'but who could light such dingy old paint as this, loaded with evergreens, too, which always darken a room.'
'And the company, too! I always think that freshness and brilliancy of dress go as far as anything to brighten up a room. ”

“ The yellow boy, Ally, was heaping wood on the fire.
'How do you do, aunty?' said Preston, as we drew up at the rickety gate.
'Right smart, massa, right smart,' replied the woman; then turning round and recognizing the Squire, she added: 'Oh, massa Preston, am dat 'ou? Oh! I'se so 'joiced 'ou got Ally; I'se so 'joiced! De Lord hear my prayer, massa—de Lord hear my prayer. I feel like I die wid joy, de Lord so good ter me. Oh, He'm so good ter me!'
'The Lord is good to all who love Him; He never fails those that trust in Him,' said Preston, solemnly. ”

“ It was not so with thoughtful Milly. She snuggled down on the piazza beside Julia, and looked on quietly.
“I’m glad Preston was so good,” thought she; “perhaps he wouldn’t have been so very good if he hadn’t had those blind eyes and spectacles. How God must love him! Papa says Julia is like a little candle, and I’m sure Preston is like a candle too. Why, where is Flaxie going now?” ”

“ What more natural than that her daughter should do the same? And what more natural than that the mother should raise her who had fallen?—for fallen indeed, in spite of the ceremony of marriage, would the world think Herlinda. But why should the world know? ”

“ Chinita ran up the stairs, and Doña Isabel stood rigid with a face like death. Her eyes were resting however on Chata’s countenance.
The young girl had shrunk within Doña Feliz’s protecting arm. Had Doña Isabel turned her eyes upon the woman’s defiant yet apprehensive face, it might have been a revelation to her; but she looked at Don Rafael.
“Your daughter has a strange face and strange ways for a ranchero’s daughter,” she said, with an attempt at irony; but it failed. Her face worked painfully as she added, “She reminds me of those I would forget. We have strange fancies as we grow old.” ”

“ If not—”
“I will yield neither the girl nor the money;” replied Don Rafael. “They are neither of them mine nor yours; but I have possession of both, and will keep them.—Surely Rita has both girls in the secret recess, as we have always planned in such a case as this,” he thought, with a qualm at the remembrance of his wife’s treason, as revealed by Ramirez. “Surely at such a time she will protect a young damsel, even though she be not her own child.”
Ramirez looked at him with a lowering brow, repeating again, “If not mine, whose child is she? By Heaven, I know she is mine! ”

“ Alice regarded the opals on her fingers (she was born in October) with a pleased yet humorous smile.
"Accepting your inference, what chance has an elderly widow against a young and lovely actress?"
Preston started. She had played trumps when he was least expecting them. "Then you know—" he said.
"That Miss Fuschia Fleming is a star that will shoot madly from her sphere to brighten the firmament of New York this spring." ”