Prue

“ With which he flung a heavy wallet into the carriage and snatching the little silken trifle from Prue's hand, sprang on his horse and was quickly lost in the gloom of night.
"Insolent varlet!" cried Prue passionately. "Would I were a man to beat him to death!" And she burst into a flood of angry tears.
"Console yourself, sweet cousin," said her companion coaxingly. "You have saved our jewels for the second time to-day—first by outwitting a sheriff and now by cajoling a highwayman. After all, what is a kiss? ”

“ How should I explain or understand, I who am only an old book-keeper in a white cravat?
Yet in all history, in the splendid triumphs of emperors and kings, in the dreams of poets, the speculations of philosophers, the sacrifices of heroes, and the extacies of saints, I find no exclusive secret of success. Prue says she knows that nobody ever did more good than our cousin the curate, for every smile and word of his is a good deed ”

“ In the duchess' dressing-room a little throng of ladies-in-waiting and intimate friends welcomed her warmly. Deep concern sat upon every face as they listened to the hysterical cries and moans, in which the patient in the adjoining bedroom gave expression to her sufferings, and the broken exclamations and fierce invectives by which she called upon her doctors and attendants to bear witness to the ingratitude and perfidy of the queen, and the baseness of her minions.
While Prue hesitated about intruding, the doctor and the apothecary came out. ”

“ If I can not walk, I can wait on the roadside for some honest passer-by—"
"Never, dearest angel; never shall you leave my arms until you promise to put an end to my tortures. I have endured more from you than mortal man can be expected to brook with patience! You are in my power, sweetest Prue! A lucky chance has given you to my arms, and if I were to let you go now, I should deserve to lose you for ever."
"You lost me," cried Prue, "the day you gave me to Robin Freemantle. Now I belong to him; before God and man I am his wife."
"Tush! a felon—a gallows-bird!" cried Sir Geoffrey angrily. ”

“ As the door closed upon the parting guest, Beachcombe approached her with an air of distant respect, bowing profoundly, with his hand upon his breast.
"Pardon this intrusion, Lady Prudence, and permit me to lay my homage at your feet," he said.
Prue curtsied again. "Pray, my Lord, do not wound me by apologizing for a friendly visit," she returned, with a sweet smile. "Be seated, and let me offer you a cup of chocolate." ”

“ But do not, I entreat you, try my patience much longer."
"No doubt, Sir Geoffrey, I ought to be flattered by your persistence," replied Prue petulantly, "but if you have so little delicacy as to press one husband upon me before the other is in his grave, you surely are not anxious to inflict upon me the possible fate of a bigamist? If, perchance, one of these twenty highwaymen escaped, and that one proved to be the one you helped me to marry, your hasty wooing might cause poor Prudence Brooke to blossom on Tyburn Tree or, worse still, to end her days on a cotton plantation. ”

“ OUR COUSIN THE CURATE. “Why, let the stricken deer go weep, The heart ungalled play; For some must watch while some must sleep; Thus runs the world away.”
Prue and I have very few relations: Prue, especially, says that she never had any but her parents, and that she has none now but her children. She often wishes she had some large aunt in the country, who might come in unexpectedly with bags and bundles, and encamp in our little house for a whole winter. ”

“ What could make you imagine that he gave it to me?" she cried, in an accent of intense astonishment.
"My dear Viscountess, surely you are aware that this rascal, disguised in my mask and domino, followed you the whole evening of the masquerade-ball—"
"Is it possible?" cried Prue, with the prettiest imaginable air of incredulity. "La! what strange things happen at a masquerade!"
"Possible? 'Tis a fact," replied Beachcombe; "and 'tis easy to understand that having fallen madly in love with you—"
"The outrageous monster!" shrieked Prue. ”

“ But, try as hard as she might to look indignant, she blushed divinely and a furtive smile played hide-and-seek among her dimples. Of all Prue's many charms there was none to equal her smile. It was, perhaps, on that account that she smiled often and so maintained a reputation for good-nature that lured many an unsuspecting victim into disaster.
"That he is!" cried the messenger heartily. "For he said he'd done this beautiful lady a great injury, but for all that he would trust his life—and more than that—in her hands. Can any man be a worse fool than to trust a woman so far as that?" ”

“ Such subjects are not for the lips and ears of Beauty. Tell me, sweet Prue, when may I hope to see Lady Drumloch and implore her sanction to my suit?"
"I have already broken the matter to her," replied Prue, "but, as we anticipated, without any great success, at present. She is, as you know, an ardent Jacobite and can not be expected to approve your politics, which are considerably more important to her than my happiness. Mayhap, when she becomes acquainted with you she may blame me less. ”

“ With all their haste, it was dark before they reached Essex Street, where Prue desired them to seek out "Pip's Coffee-House," a small hostelry of retiring, not to say furtive aspect. A flickering oil-lamp hung over the entrance, and through the red-baize window-curtain a dull glimmer penetrated.
Excited as she was, Prue was not without alarms at the sinister possibilities of this adventure, so vastly different from the sparkling follies of her giddy career. But "Cowards fayle," and Prue was no coward, nor was she capable of drawing back when curiosity and inclination combined to thrust her on. ”

“ Prue glanced at her suitor, and observing his downcast eyes and the thoughtful frown upon his brow, thought the joke had been carried far enough, even for her perverse humor.
"Nay, dear Peggie, 'tis enough folly for once," she said. "Let the poor fellow die in peace. ”

“ Flinders won't do one thing extra, Prue," said Oswyth, hastily, fearing Prue might resent being called an infant.
"He could have the grass for his horse," said Prue.
"'A merciful man regardeth the life of his beast,' Prudy," said Rob. "Our grass is half daisy-stalks, half chicory, half dandelions, half some other things—pigweed, probably—and the other half may be grass." ”

“ Prue greeted the money-lender in her stateliest manner, and entrenching herself behind the little tea-table, requested him to be seated.
"This is indeed a surprise," she said. "I should never have supposed that the busy Mr. Aarons had time to spare for visiting."
"You are right, Viscountess. I never, in my life, made a visit without an object," he replied, "but the busiest of men may discover that there are other things in life besides business. I, for example, have discovered that youth, beauty and accomplishments—such as yours—may outvalue wealth and power—such as mine." ”

“ We sipped our wine after dinner, and Prue took her work. Can a man be too far-sighted? I did not ask the question aloud. The very tone in which Prue had spoken, convinced me that he might.
“At least,” I said, “Mr. Titbottom will not refuse to tell us the history of his mysterious spectacles. I have known plenty of magic in eyes (and I glanced at the tender blue eyes of Prue) , but I have not heard of any enchanted glasses.” ”

“ Sir Geoffrey, his face set in a mechanical smile, met her with a deep bow and pressed a ceremonious kiss upon her extended hand.
"Permit your slave to offer his humble congratulations, my dear Prudence," he said; "I hear that you have distinguished yourself with even more than your usual brilliancy."
"You allude to the fortunate accident that enabled me to return the lost necklace to Her Majesty, I presume?" Prue replied, seating herself and negligently pointing with her fan to a sufficiently distant chair. ”

“ Some day she will wake to find her arms empty of little Prue, whom for seventeen fond years they have girdled. That Prue has always been sickly and often forward, has from the moment of her birth caused her far more pain than pleasure, makes no sort of difference. ”

“ You, who are wise as well as witty, can well afford to be merciful—"
"Still," persisted Prue, "you are only complimenting Peggie's wit; you are not telling us what you think of her scheme."
"Peggie's scheme!—oh—" murmured Margaret, sotto voce.
"My dearest Prudence, surely I do not need to say that the idea of any man having even such a ghost of a claim upon the woman I adore, is abhorrent to me," Sir Geoffrey began, rather pompously. ”

“ Prue, without knowing why, changed countenance a little, at which her tormentor ran on still more volubly. "We were getting on very nicely without you—a little dull, perhaps, but one can live without duels, and while you stayed in the North, wives could let their husbands run alone, even if they had been your bond-slaves. Prithee, was ever General Sweeting the victim of your enchantments? ”

“ She drew away her hand.
"I should be sorry for any poor soul condemned to die," she said, with an effort at indifference.
"When last I saw her," he said doubtfully, as if reasoning out a strange problem against which his reason contended, "she was fresh and smiling, and prinked out like a princess for her marriage with a highwayman. To-day she is pale and sad," his eye ran over her somber figure, "and all in black—for my sake—"
"You run on too fast!" Prue interrupted petulantly. "Can I not wear a black dress without putting on mourning for your sake? Methinks I'll have to wear it for my own! ”

“ Yet she passes for poor, and when I was—when I had the privilege of standing in your present enviable relations to Lady Prue, she assured me—yet these old women are often miserly—no doubt she will give the world a surprise when her hoards are unearthed. I congratulate you upon your prospects! A bride so incomparable and a great fortune to boot! You are indeed the favored of the gods! With such a prize in your grasp, you will scarcely think it worth while to remember our little wager."
"Five thousand guineas will come in very handy to start housekeeping!" cried Sir Geoffrey gaily. ”

“ But when you speak of my father, dear Prue, there you are wide of the mark—wide, wide of the mark; for the wizard is just such an one as he would be anxious to know and see for himself. Indeed, if my mother and Susan would have the house filled with preachers, my father would rather seek his company from any strange kind of vagrant cattle you could find on the road—ballad-singers, strolling players, peddlers, and the like ”

“ But Prue was a New Englander, and devout in the New England fashion, and she settled back on Divine Providence with great thankfulness. She argued that no scheme of things could dispense ruthlessly with so wonderful an affair as the theory of erosions. Therefore the scheme of things would take care of the only possessor of the theory. Indians lost their terrors, she and little Miss Prue fell asleep together, leaving the doctor still poring excitedly over the octavo of Professor Nincomb. ”

“ Prue is beautiful to me, and you are, and Linnet, and mother,—you see how confused I am. The girls think so much of it. One of them hurts her feet with three and a half shoes when she ought to wear larger. And another laces so tight! And another thinks so much of being slight and slender that she will not dress warmly enough in the street; she always looks cold and she has a cough, too. ”

“ The months went by, the children grew older, and they constantly loved. Now Prue always smiles at one of my theories; she is entirely sceptical of it; but it is, nevertheless, my opinion, that men love most passionately, and women most permanently. ”

“ I know that we are made of the same flesh and blood, that time is preparing us to be placed in his cabinet and upon canvass, to be curiously studied by the grandchildren of unborn Prues. I put out my hands to grasp those of my fellows around the pictures. “Ah! friends, we live not only for ourselves. Those whom we shall never see, will look to us as models, as counsellors. We shall be speechless then. We shall only look at them from the canvass, and cheer or discourage them by their idea of our lives and ourselves. ”

“ You are mine and only Death shall rob me of the dearest treasure on earth. Say no more, my lord Duke; it is settled. My wife will go to France with me. The king will welcome the daughter of his father's friend as the bride of his own faithful servant."
"If your mind is made up I have no more to say," returned the other, with a look of deep annoyance, "except that if the Viscountess Brooke—"
"Pardon me—the Lady Prudence de Cliffe," interposed a bland voice, and Lord Beachcombe stepped out of the shadow, and taking Prue's hand, pressed a respectful salute upon it. ”

“ Aarons?" she inquired flippantly. "Take my advice, and keep to your own trade; no one will ever read the verse of Shakespeare or Milton with half as much interest as the magic prose that can turn a scrap of dirty paper into golden guineas."
"Your ladyship is tired of poetry, and wishes for a little prose by way of change, no doubt," suggested the money-lender.
"Change, forsooth! That is just what I am perishing for," cried Prue. "Fate has been dealing me the scurviest tricks, and now the chance of my life has come, and I tremble lest I lose it for want of a few pounds. ”

“ I am told, however, that in the higher circles of society, it is better not to conceal the name, however unworthy the man or woman may be who bears it. Prue once remonstrated with a lady about the marriage of a lovely young girl with a cousin of Minim’s; but the only answer she received was, “Well, he may not be a perfect man, but then he is a Sculpin,” which consideration apparently gave great comfort to the lady’s mind. ”

“ I am sure you are in some danger you will not tell me of, else why should I never see you again?"
"Would you care if you did not see me again?"—he was beginning, in a passionate whisper, when Peggie, released from her sheepskin and clad in somewhat scanty drapery intended to represent springtime, pounced upon them, delighted with the semi-nudity that displayed her charming form, while the mask concealed her plain face.
"Have I been away long enough?" she cried saucily. "Have you had plenty of time to quarrel and make love? Come, Prue ”