Winnowing

“ I do not know my way through the wood, and there are bulls in all directions. I am not used to them! Lord Mordaunt, I implore you, let the tears of one but little skilled in the art of dissimulation——"
"Nay, Winnifred," said the Young Earl, "fly not. Hear me out!"
"Let me fly," begged the unhappy girl.
"You must not fly," pleaded Mordaunt. "Let me first, here upon bended knee, convey to you the expression of a devotion, a love, as ardent and as deep as ever burned in a human heart. Winnifred, be my bride!" ”

“ At the inn we found Father Owen in conversation with the landlord. He came forward at once to greet us, crying out cheerfully to the child:
"So there you are, my pet, setting out upon your travels to seek your fortune, like the people in the fairy books!"
Winifred's grief, which had been of a gentle and restrained character throughout, and unlike what might have been expected from her impetuous disposition, broke out again at sight of her beloved friend.
"Tut, tut, my child!" cried the priest. "This isn't April. Nature is smiling, and you must smile too. ”

“ His red eyes and tear-stained cheeks gave force and sincerity to his words.
"Be a man now, Barney," said Father Owen, "and just tell Miss Winifred you wish her joy in the fine voyage she's going to take. Come, Moira my girl, dry your eyes and say good-by. Look how the sun is shining, and think how the goodness of God is over those that go and those that stay, just like yonder blue sky. Hear the thrush and the blackbird in the hedges giving glory to God whatever comes." ”

“ I feel death trembling in every vein, in every nerve. I could--could--have--lived for you--Winny; but even--to--die for you--is--a blessing, because--successful. One last request--Winny, my best beloved, is --all--I have--to ask; spare me--a spot in Rathcash--chapel-yard, in the space allotted to--the--Cavanas. I feel some wonderful strength given me just now. It is a special mercy that I may speak with you before I go. But, Winny, my own precious, dearest love, do not deceive yourself. ”

“ Winny's face pressed closer and closer to the lattice. One of her little feet went tap-tapping on the gravel, beating the measure of the waltz. For at the sound of the music, at the sight of the locked and whirling couples, her memory revived; she heard again the beating of the measure old as time; she felt in her limbs the start and strain of the wild energy; and instinct, savage and shy, moved in the rhythm of her blood, and desire for the joy of the swift running, of the lacing arms and flying feet. ”

“ I went and sat down on the chair, fastened securely to the floor, which looked out upon the wintry landscape. At that moment a bird came chirping and twittering about the window-sill, and cocking his bright little eye as he looked in at us through the pane.
"He comes very often," said Winifred, regarding the little brown object with a kindly glance. "Sometimes I feed him with crumbs. He always reminds me of Father Owen's robin far away over the sea, and I wonder if he will ever fly so far." ”

“ Father Owen said quickly. "Why, even that little bird yonder has to give up his songs in the sunshine sometimes and go to work. He has to build his nest as a shelter for his family, and he has to find them food."
He paused, looking out of the window at the little workman gaily hopping about as if making repairs in his dwelling, and thus pointing the moral and adorning the tale. When the priest turned round again to look at Winifred, her face was pale but composed, and her tears were dried on the delicate kerchief she drew from the folds of her cloak. ”

“ Winwood tried to commune with the spirit of Coralie. He went out into the darkness of the mountains, and there he would sit for hours, his eyes closed, trying by the very force of his will to get into touch with her spirit. About him the darkness of the night hung in folds like a velvet canopy. Thousands of sounds echoed faintly to his ears, all in a hushed, subdued tone. Magic could have run rampant in those forests without seeming out of place. But never did Dr. Winwood accomplish his purpose. ”

“ Will you go and ride with me to-morrow, Winifred?"
"Ride?" said Winifred.
"Yes. In my carriage. We'll go out of town."
"O yes! O thank you! I should like it very much."
"You don't look very strong," said Elizabeth. "How is it that you can take such long walks?"
"O Winthrop don't let me get tired you know."
"But how does he manage to help it?" said Elizabeth smiling.
"Can he do everything?"
"I don't know," said Winnie. "He don't let me stand too long, and he doesn't let me walk too fast; and his arm is strong, you know; —he can almost hold me up if I do get tired." ”

“ We know what these are to us; but we cannot know the secret pleasures God gives to Winny, nor the opportunities of usefulness that comes in her way. I happen to know that, by her patience and her firm belief in what I have just said to you, Winny is exercising an influence on her friends and neighbours that makes her life one of the most useful as well as the most happy, for she is quite sure that she is doing God's will as she lies there on her couch, and what higher life can anyone desire? Our Winny is one of the happiest girls I know," concluded the lady.
"She always seems happy," said one. ”

“ With these words a tall, athletic young man, attracted doubtless by the girl's cries, leapt into the corridor from the street without. His figure was that, more or less, of a Greek god, while his face, although at the moment inflamed with anger, was of an entirely moral and permissible configuration.
"Save me! save me!" cried Winnifred.
"I will," cried the Stranger, rushing towards Lord Wynchgate with uplifted cane. ”

“ Winnie's extraordinary power made it all the easier to forgive her son Godfrey. Probably few young men would have resisted, and (this deep down in the mother's heart) not so very many had occasion to resist.
Then came the thunderbolt—from which jubilation fled shrieking. Who hurled it? Human nature, Winnie, Lady Rosaline Deering—little as she either had meant to do anything unkind to the household in Woburn Square? Surely even the high moralists—or shall we say the high gods, who certainly cannot make less, and may perhaps make more, allowances?—would have pitied Mr. Ledstone. ”

“ Then at last, one morning when Winnifred's temperature had fallen to ninety-eight point three, the Marchioness spoke.
"Miss Clair," she said, in a voice which throbbed with emotion, "Winnifred, if I may so call you, Lord Muddlenut and I have formed a plan for your future. It is our [Pg 35] dearest wish that you should marry our son."
"Alas," cried Winnifred, while tears rose in her eyes, "it cannot be!"
"Say not so," cried the Marchioness. "Our son, Lord Mordaunt Muddlenut, is young, handsome, all that a girl could desire. After months of wandering he returns to us this morning. ”

“ Winthrop.
"You haven't."
"How do you know?"
"I don't know, but I think so," said Winifred, touching her hand to his cheek, and then kissing him.
"What's your weak point?"
"They're all over," said Winifred, with a little change of voice; "I haven't a bit of strength about anything. I don't think anybody's weak but me."
"Nobody ought to be weak but you," said her brother, with no change in his.
"I oughtn't to be weak," said Winifred; "but I can't help it."
"It doesn't matter, Winnie," said her brother; "you shall have the advantage of the strength of all the rest." ”

“ Winona loves the Eagle; she knows that his heart belongs to the beautiful one, and that he will fly far away with her to his wigwam. Shall Winona go to eat out her heart with sorrow at the bliss she cannot share? No, she returns to her own. Thou art near thy journey's end. Two days more and thou wilt stand on the Island of Roanoke—Winona would leave thee now. ”

“ She was long past the age when her companions had wedded. Why did she still remain alone? Here was Chawanook, who would some day be a great chief. Why not go into his wigwam and cook his venison? It was of this that Winona spoke as she finished one moccasin, and laying it aside, began to embroider the other with the bear claws.
"Do the maidens beyond the seas go into the lodges of the braves so soon?" she asked, with a bright smile at me.
"Some," I answered, smiling gently at her question. "Many of them do not go at all." ”

“ Winifred flew to the Breviary and with a joyful cry brought out a lovely picture of the Sacred Heart. The sugar-plums, however, seemed to choke her, and she put them in her pocket silently.
"When will you start for America?" asked the priest.
"The first week of August, perhaps," I answered; "so that Winifred may be in time for the opening of school."
"Well, then," said Father Owen, "it will be time enough to begin to cry on the 31st of July, Winifred my child; and you have a whole month before then."
Winifred brightened visibly at this; for a month is very long to a child. ”

“ Ay, we know you are a suitor, sir; Win and I both wish you well: By this license here, would you had her, that your two names were as fast in it as here are a couple! Win would fain have a fine young father-i’-law, with a feather; that her mother might hood it and chain it with mistress Overdo. But you do not take the right course, master Winwife.
Winw. No, master Littlewit, why?
Lit. You are not mad enough.
Winw. How! is madness a right course?
Lit. I say nothing, but I wink upon Win. You have a friend, one master Quarlous, comes here sometimes.
Winw. Why, he makes no love to her, does he? ”

“ The river-side rocks are very grand, and one has obtained the dignity of being called the Lurley of the Moselle.
A still finer walk is up the walnut-shaded valley of the Enderbach to the top of the height crowned by the Castle of Winneberg, the ascent commanding a grand view of gabled hills with purple rocks, interspersed with foliage. A patriarchal walnut-tree, as at Cochem, keeps the gate of the mighty ruin. In the fourteenth century, Cuno II., Lord of Winneberg, married Lysa, only daughter of Gerlach of Beilstein, and thus received the possessions of his family. ”

“ Nothing—a fool—take no notice. Only—thank you again, my dear. You are as sweet as you are lovely. Now let’s forget it. I know who you are, I think. Miss O’Wynn, isn’t it? Mr. Archer didn’t expect you till eleven. He’s just popped out. I am his secretary, Miss Allen. Won’t you sit down, Miss O’Wynn?”
She had a charming voice, with a faint, unfamiliar accent that puzzled Winnie for a moment. She made a mental effort—and caught what she wanted. Mr. Boldre had a similar faint accent—odd. Filed for consideration. She smiled at Miss Allen—a slow, delicious, friendly smile that was irresistible. ”

“ He worked so hard that drops of perspiration stood on his forehead, but he was so proud that he never grumbled at all.
"You are a good husband," Winnie said.
"But just think how patiently you have sat on them," he answered smiling at her with his head on one side. I can tell you they both had to work before the baby rooks were fledged. They were restless, kicking babies, and Winnie had to fuss and fuss and tuck them in every few minutes to keep them from falling out of the nest and tumbling from the tree top. I used to send a guard of my Working Fairies to stand round the nest and help her. ”

“ Up to that moment Winnie's text had entirely left her mind, and she recited it with a feeling of shame as she remembered the contrast between her morning conduct and the somewhat puffed-up feeling with which she had selected it: "He that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." ”

“ Dwelt with her people here unknown to fame.
Sweet word, Winona, how my heart and lips
Cling to that name (my mother’s was the same
Ere her form faded into death’s eclipse) ,
Cling lovingly, and loth to let it go.
All arts that unto savage life belong
She knew, made moccasins, and dressed the game.
From crippling fashions free, her well-knit frame
At fifteen summers was mature and strong.
She pitched the tipi, [3] dug the tipsin [4] roots,
Gathered wild rice and store of savage fruits. ”

“ As we hurried home to make up for our little escapade, Winnie amused us all by asking us how we thought Wilhelm would grace a princely station. "Just imagine, for an instant, that he was the lost Prince Para [Pg 112] diso! What a figure he would cut in chain armor, or in a court costume of velvet and jewels! Did you notice the elegance of his manners and the brilliancy of his wit?"
"Winnie, Winnie, have you gone wild?" Adelaide asked. "Why do you make such sport of the poor fellow? He is well enough where he is, I am sure." ”

“ He cast a despairing look about him as though meditating flight, gulped, and——
“I love you,” he said in even, emotionless tones like one talking in his sleep, and he reached over and seized her hand as though it were a foot-ball which the opponents had fumbled. The girl’s face was suddenly averted and her shoulders trembled.
“Will you marry me?” continued Winnie, pale, determined. Then he dropped her hand, emitted a monstrous sigh of relief and awaited the storm. Mildred turned. Her cheeks were crimson and her lips were trembling, but her eyes never faltered. ”

“ A chorus of voices arose. "The Eagle had struck down Chawanook. Winona had given to the pale one the blue wampum belt. Could the Cherokees stand by and see such deeds as this? Then, when they would have slain the Eagle, Winona caught Mountawk's hand, and finally threw herself upon the Eagle, to protect his life at the risk of her own." And they pointed to the girl, who, pale beneath her dusky skin, had arisen and stood with bent head near the old chief.
Windango with a wave of his hand silenced them.
"Leave the girl to me," he said hoarsely. "I am a man, and can deal with my own lodge. ”