Joseph and His Friend

THE

ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics.

CHAPTER XIV.

CLEMENTINA returned to the city without having made any very satisfactory discovery. Her parting was therefore conventionally tender: she even thanked Joseph for his hospitality, and endeavored to throw a little natural emphasis into her words as she expressed the hope of being allowed to renew her visit in the summer.

During her stay it seemed to Joseph that the early harmony of his household had been restored. Julia’s manner had been so gentle and amiable, that, on looking back, he was inclined to believe that the loneliness of her new life was alone responsible for any change. But after Clementina’s departure his doubts were reawakened in a more threatening form. He could not guess, as yet, the terrible chafing of a smiling mask, of a restraint which must not only conceal itself but counterfeit its opposite, of the assumption by a narrow, cold, and selfish nature of virtues which it secretly despises. He could not have foreseen that the gentleness, which had nearly revived his faith in her, would so suddenly disappear. But it was gone, like a glimpse of the sun through the winter fog. The hard, watchful expression came back to Julia’s face, the lowered eyelids no longer gave a fictitious depth to her shallow, tawny pupils, the soft roundness of her voice took on a frequent harshness, and the desire of asserting her own will in all things betrayed itself through her affected habits of yielding and seeking counsel.

She continued her plan of making herself acquainted with all the details of the farm business. When the roads began to improve, in the early spring, she insisted in driving to the village alone, and Joseph soon found that she made good use of these journeys in extending her knowledge of the social and pecuniary standing of all the neighboring families. She talked with farmers, mechanics, and drovers ; became familiar with the fluctuations in the prices of grain and cattle ; learned to a penny the wages paid for every form of service ; and thus felt, from week to week, the ground growing more secure under her feet.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by FIELDS, OSGOOD, & Co., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

Joseph was not surprised to see that his aunt’s participation in the direction of the household gradually diminished. Indeed, he scarcely noticed the circumstance at all, but he was at last forced to remark her increasing silence and the trouble of her face. To all appearance the domestic harmony was perfect, and if Rachel Miller felt some natural regret at being obliged to divide her sway, it was a matter, he thought, wherein he had best not interfere. One day, however, she surprised him by the request: —

“Joseph, can you take or send me to Magnolia to-morrow ? ”

“Certainly, Aunt!” he replied. “I suppose you want to visit Cousin Phebe; you have not seen her since last summer.”

“ It was that, — and something more.” She paused a moment, and then added, more firmly: “She has always wished that I should make my home with her, but I could n’t think of any change so long as I was needed here. It seems to me that I am not really needed now.”

“Why, Aunt Rachel!” Joseph exclaimed, “ I meant this to be your home always, as much as mine ! Of course you are needed, — not to do all that you have done heretofore, but as a part of the family. It is your right.”

“ I understand all that, Joseph. But I’ve heard it said that a young wife should learn to see to everything herself, and Julia, I’m sure, does n’t need either my help or my advice.”

Joseph’s face became very grave. “Has she — has she — ?” he stammered.

“ No,” said Rachel, “she has not said it—in words. Different persons have different ways. She is quick, O very quick ! — and capable. You know I could never sit idly by, and look on ; and it’s hard to be directed. I seem to belong to the place and everything connected with it; yet there’s times when what a body ought to do is plain.”

In endeavoring to steer a middle course between her conscience and her tender regard for her nephew’s feelings Rachel only confused and troubled him. Her words conveyed something of the truth which she sought to hide under them. She was both angered and humiliated ; the resistance with which she had attempted to meet Julia’s domestic innovations was no match for the latter’s tactics ; it had gone down like a barrier of reeds and been contemptuously trampled under foot. She saw herself limited, opposed, and finally set aside by a cheerful dexterity of management which evaded her grasp whenever she tried to resent it. Definite acts, whereon to base her indignation, seemed to slip from her memory, but the atmosphere of the house became fatal to her. She felt this while she spoke, and felt also that Joseph must be spared.

“Aunt Rachel,” said he, “I know that Julia is very anxious to learn everything which she thinks belongs to her place, — perhaps a little more than is really necessary. She ’s an enthusiastic nature, you know. Maybe you are not fully acquainted yet ; maybe you have misunderstood her in some things : I would like to think so.”

“ It is true that we are different, Joseph, — very different. I don’t say, therefore, that I’m always right. It’s likely, indeed, that any young wife and any old housekeeper like myself would have their various notions. But where there can be only one head, it’s the wife’s place to be that head. Julia has not asked it of me, but she has the right. I can’t say, also, that I don’t need a little rest and change, and there seems to be some call on me to oblige Phebe. Look at the matter in the true light,” she continued, seeing that Joseph remained silent, “ and you must feel that it’s only natural.”

“ I hope so,” he said at last, repressing a sigh ; “all things are changing.”

“What can we do?” Julia asked, that evening, when he had communicated to her his aunt’s resolution ; “ it would be so delightful if she would stay, and yet I have had a presentiment that she would leave us — for a little while only, I hope. Dear, good Aunt Rachel ! I could n’t help seeing how hard it was for her to allow the least change in the order of housekeeping. She would be perfectly happy if I would sit still all day and let her tire herself to death; but how can I do that, Joseph ? And no two women have exactly the same ways and habits. I’ve tried to make everything pleasant for her: if she would only leave many little matters entirely to me, or at least not think of them, — but I fear she cannot. She manages to see the least that I do, and secretly worries about it, in the very kindness of her heart. Why can't women carry on partnerships in housekeeping as men do in business ? I suppose we are too particular; perhaps I am just as much so as Aunt Rachel. I have no doubt she thinks a little hardly of me, and so it would do her good — we should really come nearer again—if she had a change. If she will go, Joseph, she must at least leave us with the feeling that our home is always hers, whenever she chooses to accept it.”

Julia bent over Joseph’s chair, gave him a rapid kiss, and then went off to make her peace with Aunt Rachel. When the two women came to the teatable the latter had an uncertain, bewildered air, while the eyelids of the former were red, —either from tears or much rubbing.

A fortnight afterwards Rachel Miller left the farm and went to reside with her widowed niece, in Magnolia.

The day after her departure another surprise came to Joseph in the person of his father-in-law. Mr. Blessing arrived in a hired vehicle from the station. His face was so red and radiant from the March winds, and perhaps some private source of satisfaction, that his sudden arrival could not possibly be interpreted as an omen of ill-fortune. He shook hands with the Irish groom who had driven him over, gave him a handsome gratuity in addition to the hire of the team, extracted an elegant travelling-satchel from under the seat, and met Joseph at the gate, with a breezy burst of feeling : —

“God bless you, son-in-law ! It does my heart good to see you again ! And then, at last, the pleasure of beholding your ancestral seat ; really, this is quite — quite manorial ! ”

Julia, with a loud cry of “O pa!” came rushing from the house.

“ Bless me, how wild and fresh the child looks ! ” cried Mr. Blessing, after the embrace. “ Only see the country roses on her cheeks ! Almost too young and sparkling for Lady Asten, of Asten Hall, eh ? As Dryden says,

' Happy, happy, happy pair ! ’ It takes me back to the days when I was a gay young lark ; but I must have a care, and not make an old fool of myself. Let us go in and subside into soberness : I am ready both to laugh and cry.”

When they were seated in the comfortable front room, Mr. Blessing opened his satchel and produced a large leather-covered flask. Julia was probably accustomed to his habits, for she at once brought a glass from the sideboard.

“ I am still plagued with my old cramps,” her father said to Joseph, as he poured out a stout dose. “ Physiologists, you know, have discovered that stimulants diminish the wear and tear of life, and I find their theories correct. You, in your pastoral isolation and pecuniary security, can form no conception of the tension under which we men of office and of the world live. Beatus ille, and so forth,—strange that the only fragment of Latin which I remember should be so appropriate ! A little water, if you please, Julia.”

In the evening when Mr. Blessing, slippered, sat before the open fireplace, with a cigar in his mouth, the object of his sudden visit crept by slow degrees to the light. “ Have you been dipping into oil ? ” he asked Joseph.

Julia made haste to reply. “ Not yet, but almost everybody in the neighborhood is ready to do so now, since Clemson has realized his fifty thousand dollars in a single year. They are talking of nothing else in the village. I heard yesterday, Joseph, that Old Bishop has taken three thousand dollars’ worth of stock in a new company.”

“ Take my advice, and don’t touch ’em !” exclaimed Mr. Blessing.

“ I had not intended to,” said Joseph.

“ There is this thing about these excitements,” Mr. Blessing continued : “ they never reach the rural districts until the first sure harvest is over. The sharp, intelligent operators in the large cities —the men who are ready to take up soap, thimbles, hand-organs, electricity, or hymn-books, at a moment’s notice — always cut into a new thing before its value is guessed by the multitude. Then the smaller fry follow and secure their second crop, while your quiet men in the country are shaking their heads and crying ‘humbug ! ’ Finally, when it really gets to be a humbug, in a speculative sense, they just begin to believe in it, and are fair game for the bummers and camp-followers of the financial army. I respect Clemson, though I never heard of him before; as for Old Bishop, he may be a very worthy man, but he ’ll never see the color of his three thousand dollars again.”

“Pa!” cried Julia, “how clear you do make everything. And to think that I was wishing— O wishing so much ! — that Joseph would go into oil.”

She hung her head a little, looking at Joseph with an affectionate, penitent glance. A quick gleam of satisfaction passed over Mr. Blessing’s face; he smiled to himself, puffed rapidly at his cigar for a minute, and then resumed : “ In such a field of speculation everything depends on being initiated. There are men in the city — friends of mine — who know every foot of ground in the Alleghany Valley. They can smell oil, if it’s a thousand feet deep. They never touch a thing that is n’t safe, — but, then, they know what’s safe. In spite of the swindling that’s going on, it takes years to exhaust the good points; just so sure as your honest neighbors here will lose, just so sure will these friends of mine gain. There are millions in what they have under way, at this moment.”

“What is it?” Julia breathlessly asked, while Joseph’s face betrayed that his interest was somewhat aroused.

Mr. Blessing unlocked his satchel, and took from it a roll of paper, which he began to unfold upon his knee. “ Here,” he said, “ you see this bend of the river, just about the centre of the oil region, which is represented by the yellow color. These little dots above the bend are the celebrated Fluke Wells; the other dots below are the equally celebrated Chowder Wells. The distance between the two is nearly three miles. Here is an untouched portion of the treasure, — a pocket of Pactolus waiting to be rifled. A few of us have acquired the land, and shall commence boring immediately.”

“ But,” said Joseph, “it seems to me that either the attempt must have been made already, or that the land must command such an enormous price as to lessen the profits.”

“ Wisely spoken! It is the first question which would occur to any prudent mind. But what if I say that neither is the case ? And you, who are familiar with the frequent eccentricities of old farmers, can understand the explanation. The owner of the land was one of your ignorant, stubborn men, who took such a dislike to the prospectors and speculators, that he refused to let them come near him. Both the Fluke and Chowder Companies tried their best to buy him out, but he had a malicious pleasure in leading them on to make immense offers, and then refusing. Well, a few months ago he died, and his heirs were willing enough to let the land go ; but before it could be regularly offered for sale, the Fluke and Chowder Wells began to flow less and less. Their shares fell from 270 to 95 ; the supposed value of the land fell with them, and finally the moment arrived when we could purchase for a very moderate sum. I see the question in your mind: why should we wish to buy when the other wells were giving out ? There comes in the secret, which is our veritable success. Consider it whispered in your ears, and locked in your bosoms, — torpedoes ! It was not then generally exploded (to carry out the image), so we bought at the low figure, in the very nick of time. Within a week the Fluke and Chowder Wells were torpedoed, and came back to more than their former capacity ; the shares rose as rapidly as they had fallen, and the central body we hold — to which they are, as it were, the two arms — could now be sold for ten times what it cost us ! ”

Here Mr. Blessing paused, with his finger on the map, and a light of merited triumph in his eyes. Julia clapped her hands, sprang to her feet, and cried : “ Trumps at last! ”

“Ay,”said he, “wealth, repose for my old days,—wealth for us all, if your husband will but take the hand I hold out to him. You now know, sonin-law, why the indorsement you gave me was of such vital importance ; the note, as you are aware, will mature in another week. Why should you not charge yourself with the payment, in consideration of the transfer to you of shares of the original stock, already so immensely appreciated in value ? I have delayed making any provision, for the sake of offering you the chance.”

Julia was about to speak, but restrained herself with an apparent effort.

“ I should like to know,” Joseph said, “ who are associated with you in the undertaking ? ”

“ Well done, again ! Where did you get your practical shrewdness ? The best men in the city! — not only the Collector and the Surveyor, but Congressman Whaley, E. D. Stokes of Stokes, Pirricutt and Company, and even the Reverend Doctor Lellifant. If I had not been an old friend of Kanuck, the agent who negotiated the purchase, my chance would have been impalpably small. I have all the documents with me. There has been no more splendid opportunity since oil became a power ! I hesitate to advise even one so near to me in such matters ; but if you knew the certainties as I know them, you would go in with all your available capital. The excitement, as you say, has reached the country communities, which are slow to rise and equally slow to subside ; all oil stock will be in demand, but the Amaranth, — 'The Blessing,’ they wished to call it, but I was obliged to decline, for official reasons, — the Amaranth shares will be the golden apex of the market ! ”

Julia looked at Joseph with eager, hungry eyes. He, too, was warmed and tempted by the prospect of easy profit which the scheme held out to him ; only the habit of his nature resisted, but with still diminishing force. “ I might venture the thousand,” he said.

“ It is no venture ! ” Julia cried. “ In all the speculations I have heard discussed by pa and his friends, there was nothing so admirably managed as this. Such a certainty of profit may never come again. If you will be advised by me, Joseph, you will take shares to the amount of five or ten thousand.”

“ Ten thousand is exactly the amount I hold open,” Mr. Blessing gravely remarked. “ That, however, does not represent the necessary payment, which can hardly amount to more than twentyfive per cent, before we begin to realize. Only ten per cent has yet been called, so that your thousand at present will secure you an investment of ten thousand. Really, it seems like a fortunate coincidence.”

He went on, heating himself with his own words, until the possibilities of the case grew so splendid that Joseph felt himself dazzled and bewildered. Mr. Blessing was a master in the art of seductive statement. Even where he was only the mouthpiece of another, a few repetitions led him to the profoundest belief. Here there could be no doubt of his sincerity, and, moreover, every movement from the very inception of the scheme, every statistical item, all collateral influences, were clear in his mind and instantly accessible. Although he began by saying, “ I will make no estimate of the profits, because it is not prudent to fix our hopes on a positive sum,” he was soon carried far away from this resolution, and most luxuriously engaged, pencil in hand, in figuring out results which drove Julia wild with desire, and almost took away Joseph’s breath. The latter finally said, as they rose from the session, late at night: —

“ It is settled that I take as much as the thousand will cover ; but I would rather think over the matter quietly for a day or two before venturing further.”

“ You must,” replied Mr. Blessing, patting him on the shoulder. “ These things are so new to your experience, that they disturb and — I might almost say—alarm you. It is like bringing an increase of oxygen into your mental atmosphere. (Ha ! a good figure : for the result will be, a richer, fuller life. I must remember it.) But you are a healthy organization, and therefore you must see clearly : I can wait with confidence.”

The next morning Joseph, without declaring his purpose, drove to Coventry Forge to consult Philip. Mr. Blessing and Julia remaining at home, went over the shining ground again, and yet again, confirming each other in the determination to secure it. Even Joseph, as he passed up the valley in the mild March weather, taking note of the crimson and gold of the flowering spice-bushes and maple - trees, could not prevent his thoughts from dwelling on the delights of wealth, — society, books, travel, and all the mellow, fortunate expansion of life. Involuntarily, he hoped that Philip’s counsel might coincide with his father-in-law’s offer.

But Philip was not at home. The forge was in full activity, the cottage on the knoll was repainted and made attractive in various ways, and Philip would soon return with his sister to establish a permanent home. Joseph found the sign-spiritual of his friend in numberless little touches and changes ; it seemed to him that a new soul had entered into the scenery of the place.

A mile or two farther up the valley a company of mechanics and laborers were apparently tearing the old Calvert mansion inside out. House, barn, garden, and lawn were undergoing a complete transformation. While he paused at the entrance of the private lane, to take a survey of the operations, Mr. Clemson rode down to him from the house. The Hopetons, he said, would migrate from the city early in May : work had already commenced on the new railway, and in another year a different life would come upon the whole neighborhood.

In the course of the conversation Joseph ventured to sound Mr. Clemson in regard to the newly formed oil companies. The latter frankly confessed that he had withdrawn from further speculation, satisfied with his fortune ; he preferred to give no opinion, further than that money was still to be made, if prudently placed. The Fluke and Chowder Wells, he said, were old, well-known, and profitable. The new application of torpedoes had restored their failing flow, and the stock had recovered from its temporary depreciation. His own venture had been made in another part of the region.

The atmosphere into which Joseph entered, on returning home, took away all further power of resistance. Tempted already, and impressed by what he had learned, he did what his wife and father-in-law desired.

CHAPTER XV.

HAVING assumed the payment of Mr. Blessing’s note, as the first instalment upon his stock, Joseph was compelled to prepare himself for future emergencies. A year must still elapse before the term of the mortgage upon his farm would expire, but the sums he had invested for the purpose of meeting it when due must be held ready for use. The assurance of great and certain profit in the mean time rendered this step easy ; and, even at the worst, he reflected, there would be no difficulty in procuring a new mortgage whereby to liquidate the old. A notice, which he received at this time, that a second assessment of ten per cent on the Amaranth stock had been made was both unexpected and disquieting. Mr. Blessing, however, accompanied it with a letter, making clear, not only the necessity but the admirable wisdom of a greater present outlay than had been anticipated. So the first of April—the usual business anniversary of the neighborhood — went smoothly by. Money was plenty, the Asten credit had always been sound, and Joseph tasted for the first time a pleasant sense of power in so easily receiving and transferring considerable sums.

One result of the venture was the development of a new phase in Julia’s nature. She not only accepted the future profit as certain, but she had apparently calculated its exact amount and framed her plans accordingly. If she had been humiliated by the character of Joseph’s first business transaction with her father, she now made amends for it. “Pa” was their good genius. “ Pa” was the agency whereby they should achieve wealth and social importance. Joseph now had the clearest evidence of the difference between a man who knew the world and was of value in it, and their slow, dullheaded country neighbors. Indeed, Julia seemed to consider the Asten property as rather contemptible beside the splendor of the Blessing scheme. Her gratitude for a quiet home, her love of country life, her disparagement of the shams and exactions of “ society,” were given up as suddenly and coolly as if she had never affected them. She gave herself no pains to make the transition gradual, and thus lessen its shock. Perhaps she supposed that Joseph’s fresh, unsuspicious nature was so plastic that it had already sufficiently taken her impress, and that he would easily forget the mask she had worn. If so, she was seriously mistaken.

He saw, with a deadly chill of the heart, the change in her manner, — a change so complete that another face confronted him at the table, even as another heart beat beside his on the dishallowed marriage-bed. He saw the gentle droop vanish from the eyelids, leaving the cold, flinty pupils unshaded ; the soft appeal of the half-opened lips was lost in the rigid, almost cruel compression which now seemed habitual to them ; all the slight dependent gestures, the tender airs of reference to his will or pleasure, had rapidly transformed themselves into expressions of command or obstinate resistance. But the patience of a loving man is equal to that of a loving woman : he was silent, although his silence covered an ever-increasing sense of outrage.

Once it happened, that after Julia had been unusually eloquent concerning “what pa is doing for us,” and what use they should make of “ pa’s money, as I call it,” Joseph quietly remarked : —

“ You seem to forget, Julia, that without my money not much could have been done.”

An angry color came into her face; but, on second thought, she bent her head, and murmured in an offended voice : “It is very mean and ungenerous in you to refer to our temporary poverty. You might forget, by this time, the help pa was compelled to ask of you.”

“ I did not think of it ! ” he exclaimed. “ Besides, you did not seem entirely satisfied with my help, at the time.”

“O, how you misunderstand me!” she groaned. “ I only wished to know the extent of his need. He is so generous, so considerate towards us, that we only guess his misfortune at the last moment.”

The possibility of being unjust silenced Joseph. There were tears in Julia’s voice, and he imagined they would soon rise to her eyes. After a long, uncomfortable pause, he said, for the sake of changing the subject: “ What can have become of Elwood Withers ? I have not seen him for months.”

“ I don’t think you need care to know,” she remarked. “ He’s a rough, vulgar fellow: it’s just as well if he keeps away from us.”

“Julia! he is my friend, and must always be welcome to me. You were friendly enough towards him, and towards all the neighborhood, last summer : how is it that you have not a good word to say, now ? ”

He spoke warmly and indignantly. Julia, however, looked at him with a calm, smiling face. “It is very simple,” she said. “You will agree with me, in another year. A guest, as I was, must try to see only the pleasant side of people : that’s our duty; and so I enjoyed — as much as I could — the rusticity, the awkwardness, the ignorance, the (now, don’t be vexed, dear !) — the vulgarity of your friend. As one of the society of the neighborhood, as a resident, I am not bound by any such delicacy. I take the same right to judge and select as I should take anywhere. Unless I am to be hypocritical, I cannot—towards you, at least—conceal my real feelings. How shall I ever get you to see the difference between yourself and these people, unless I continually point it out? You are modest, and don't like to acknowledge your own superiority.”

She rose from the table, laughing, and went out of the room humming a lively air, leaving Joseph to make the best of her words.

A few days after this the work on the branch railway, extending down the valley, reached a point where it could be seen from the Asten farm. Joseph, on riding over to inspect the operations, was surprised to find Elwood, who had left his father’s place and become a sub-contractor. The latter showed his hearty delight at their meeting.

“ I’ve been meaning to come up,” he said, “but this is a busy time for me. It’s a chance I could n’t let slip, and now that I’ve taken hold I must hold on. I begin to think this is the thing I was made for, Joseph.”

“ I never thought of it before,” Joseph answered, “ and yet I’m sure you are right. How did you hit upon it ? ”

“I didn’t; it was Mr. Held.”

“ Philip ? ”

“ Him. You know I’ve been hauling for the Forge, and so it turned up by degrees, as I may say. He’s at home, and, I expect, looking for you. But how are you now, really ? ”

Elwood’s question meant a great deal more than he knew how to say. Suddenly, in a flash of memory, their talk of the previous year returned to Joseph’s mind ; he saw his friend’s true instincts and his own blindness, as never before. But he must dissemble, if possible, with that strong, rough, kindly face before him.

“O,” he said, attempting a cheerful air, “ I am one of the old folks now. You must come up — ”

The recollection of Julia’s words cut short the invitation upon his lips. A sharp pang went through his heart, and the treacherous blood crowded to his face all the more that he tried to hold it back.

“ Come, and I ’ll show you where we ’re going to make the cutting,” Elwood quietly said, taking him by the arm. Joseph fancied, thenceforth, that there was a special kindness in his manner, and the suspicion seemed to rankle in his mind as if he had been slighted by his friend.

As before, to vary the tedium of his empty life, so now, to escape from the knowledge which he found himself more and more powerless to resist, he busied himself beyond all need with the work of the farm. Philip had returned with his sister, he knew, but after the meeting with Elwood he shrank with a painful dread from Philip’s heart-deep, intimate eye. Julia, however, all the more made use of the soft spring weather to survey the social ground, and choose where to take her stand. Joseph scarcely knew, indeed, how extensive her operations had been, until she announced an invitation to dine with the Hopetons, who were now in possession of the renovated Calvert place. She enlarged, more than was necessary, on the distinguished city position of the family, and the imporlance of “ cultivating ” its country members. Joseph’s single brief meeting with Mr. Hopeton — who was a short, solid man, in ripe middle age, of a thoroughly cosmopolitan, though not a remarkably intellectual stamp — had been agreeable, and he recognized the obligation to be neighborly. Therefore he readily accepted the invitation on his own grounds.

When the day arrived, Julia, after spending the morning over her toilet, came forth resplendent in rosy silk, bright and dazzling in complexion, and with all her former grace of languid eyelids and parted lips. The void in Joseph’s heart grew wider at the sight of her; for he perceived, as never before, her consummate skill in assuming a false character. It seemed incredible that he should have been so deluded. For the first time a feeling of repulsion, which was almost disgust, came upon him as he listened to her prattle of delight in the soft weather, and the fragrant woods, and the blossoming orchards. Was not, also, this delight assumed ? he asked himself : false in one thing, false in all, was the fatal logic which then and there began its torment.

The most that was possible in such a short time had been achieved on the Calvert place. The house had been brightened, surrounded by light, airy verandas, and the lawn and garden, thrown into one and given into the hands of a skilful gardener, were scarcely to be recognized. A broad, solid gravel-walk replaced the old tan-covered path ; a pretty fountain tinkled before the door ; thick beds of geranium in flower studded the turf, and veritable thickets of rose-trees were waiting for June. Within the house, some rooms had been thrown together, the walls richly yet harmoniously colored, and the sumptuous furniture thus received a proper setting. In contrast to the houses of even the wealthiest farmers, which expressed a nicely reckoned sufficiency of comfort, the place had an air of joyous profusion, of a wealth which delighted in itself.

Mr. Hopeton met them with the frank, offhand manner of a man of business. His wife followed, and the two guests made a rapid inspection of her as she came down the hall. Julia noticed that her crocus-colored dress was high in the neck, and plainly trimmed; that she wore no ornaments, and that the natural pallor of her complexion had not been corrected by art. Joseph remarked the simple grace of her movement, the large, dark, inscrutable eyes, the smooth bands of her black hair, and the pure though somewhat lengthened oval of her face. The gentle dignity of her manner more than refreshed, it soothed him. She was so much younger than her husband that Joseph involuntarily wondered how they should have come together.

The greetings were scarcely over before Philip and Madeline Held arrived. Julia, with the least little gush of tenderness, kissed the latter, whom Philip then presented to Joseph for the first time. She had the same wavy hair as her brother, but the golden hue was deepened nearly into brown, and her eyes were a clear hazel. It was also the same frank, firm face, but her woman’s smile was so much the sweeter as her lips were lovelier than the man’s. Joseph seemed to clasp an instant friendship in her offered hand.

There was but one other guest, who, somewhat to his surprise, was Lucy Henderson. Julia concealed whatever she might have felt, and made so much reference to their former meetings as might satisfy Lucy without conveying to Mrs. Hopeton the impression of any special intimacy. Lucy looked thin and worn, and her black silk dress was not of the latest fashion : she seemed to be the poor relation of the company. Joseph learned that she had taken one of the schools in the valley, for the summer. Her manner to him was as simple and friendly as ever, but he felt the presence of some new element of strength and self-reliance in her nature.

His place, at dinner, was beside Mrs. Hopeton, while Lucy — apparently by accident — sat upon the other side of the hostess. Philip and the host led the conversation, confining it too exclusively to the railroad and iron interests ; but these finally languished, and gave way to other topics in which all could take part. Joseph felt that while the others, except Lucy and himself, were fashioned under different aspects of life, some of which they shared in common, yet that their seeming ease and freedom of communication touched, here and there, some invisible limit, which they were careful not to pass. Even Philip appeared to be beyond his reach, for the time.

The country and the people, being comparatively new to them, naturally came to be discussed.

“ Mr. Held, or Mr. Asten, — either of you know both,” — Mr. Hopeton asked, “ what are the principal points of difference between society in the city and in the country ? ”

“ Indeed, I know too little of the city,” said Joseph.

“ And I know too little of the country, — here, at least,” Philip added. “ Of course the same passions and prejudices come into play everywhere. There are circles, there are jealousies, ups and downs, scandals, suppressions, and rehabilitations : it can’t be otherwise.”

“Are they not a little worse in the country,” said Julia, “ because — I may ask the question here, among us — there is less refinement of manner ? ”

“ If the external forms are ruder,” Philip resumed, “it may be an advantage, in one sense. Hypocrisy cannot be developed into an art.”

Julia bit her lip, and was silent.

“ But are the country people, hereabouts, so rough ? ” Mrs. Hopeton asked. “ I confess that they don’t seem so to me. What do you say, Miss Henderson?”

“ Perhaps I am not an impartial witness,” Lucy answered. “ We care less about what is called ' manners ’ than the city people. We have no fixed rules for dress and behavior, — only we don’t like any one to differ too much from the rest of us.”

“That’s it!” Mr. Hopeton cried; “ the tyrannical levelling sentiment of an imperfectly developed community! Fortunately, I am beyond its reach.”

Julia’s eyes sparkled: she looked across the table at Joseph, with a triumphant air.

Philip suddenly raised his head. “ How would you correct it ? Simply by resistance ? ” he asked.

Mr. Hopeton laughed. “ I should no doubt get myself into a hornet’s-nest. No ; by indifference !”

Then Madeline Held spoke. “ Excuse me,” she said ; “ but is indifference possible, even if it were right ? You seem to take the levelling spirit for granted, without looking into its character and causes ; there must be some natural sense of justice, no matter how imperfectly society is developed. We are members of this community, — at least, Philip and I certainly consider ourselves so, — and I am determined not to judge it without knowledge, or to offend what may be only mechanical habits of thought, unless I can see a sure advantage in doing so.”

Lucy Henderson looked at the speaker with a bright, grateful face. Joseph’s eyes wandered from her to Julia, who was silent and watchful.

“ But I have no time for such conscientious studies,” Mr. Hopeton resumed. “ One can be satisfied with half a dozen neighbors, and let the mass go. Indifference, after all, is the best philosophy. What do you say, Mr. Held?”

“Indifference!” Philip echoed. A dark flush came into his face, and he was silent a moment. “ Yes : our hearts are inconvenient appendages. We suffer a deal from unnecessary sympathies, and from imagining, I suppose, that others feel them as we do. These uneasy features of society are simply the effort of nature to find some occupation for brains otherwise idle — or empty. Teach the people to think, and they will disappear.”

Joseph stared at Philip, feeling that a secret bitterness was hidden under his careless, mocking air. Mrs. Hopeton rose, and the company left the table. Madeline Held had a troubled expression, but there was an eager, singular brightness in Julia’s eyes.

“ Emily, let us have coffee on the veranda,” said Mr. Hopeton, leading the way. He had already half forgotten the subject of conversation : his own expressions, in fact, had been made very much at random, for the sole purpose of keeping up the flow of talk. He had no very fixed views of any kind, beyond the sphere of his business activity.

Philip, noticing the impression he had made on Joseph, drew him to one side. “Don’t seriously remember my words against me,” he said; “you were sorry to hear them, I know. All I meant was, that an over-sensitive tenderness towards everybody is a fault. Besides, I was provoked to answer him in his own vein.”

“ But, Philip ! ” Joseph whispered, “such words tempt me ! What if they were true ?— it would be dreadful.”

Philip grasped his arm with a painful force. “ They never can be true to you, Joseph,” he said.

Gay and pleasant as the company seemed to be, each one felt a secret sense of relief when it came to an end. As Joseph drove homewards, silently recalling what had been said, Julia interrupted his reflections with : “ Well, what do you think of the Hopetons ?”

“She is an interesting woman,” he answered.

“ But reserved ; and she shows very little taste in dress. However, I suppose you hardly noticed anything of the kind. She kept Lucy Henderson beside her as a foil: Madeline Held would have been damaging.”

Joseph only partly guessed her meaning ; it was repugnant, and he determined to avoid its further discussion.

“ Hopeton is a shrewd business man,” Julia continued, “but he cannot compare with her for shrewdness,—either with her, or — Philip Held ! ”

“ What do you mean ? ”

“ I made a discovery before the dinner was over, which you — innocent, unsuspecting man that you are — might have before your eyes for years, without seeing it. Tell me now, honestly, did you notice nothing ? ”

“ What should I notice, beyond what was said ? ” he asked.

“ That was the least! ” she cried ; “ but, of course, I knew you could n’t. And perhaps you won’t believe me, when I tell you that Philip Held, — your particular friend, your hero, for aught I know your pattern of virtue and character and all that is manly and noble, — that Philip Held, I say, is furiously in love with Mrs. Hopeton ! ”

Joseph started as if he had been shot, and turned around with an angry red on his brow. “Julia!” he said, “ how dare you speak so of Philip ! ”

She laughed. “ Because I dare to speak the truth, when I see it. I thought I should surprise you. I remembered a certain rumor I had heard before she was married, — while she was Emily Marrable, — and I watched them closer than they guessed. I’m certain of Philip: as for her, she’s a deep creature, and she was on her guard ; but they are near neighbors.”

Joseph was thoroughly aroused and indignant. “ It is your own fancy ! ” he exclaimed. “You hate Philip on account of that affair with Clementina ; but you ought to have some respect for the woman whose hospitality you have accepted! ”

“ Bless me ! I have any quantity of respect, both for her and her furniture. By the by, Joseph, our parlor would furnish better than hers ; I have been thinking of a few changes we might make, which would wonderfully improve the house. As for Philip, Clementina was a fool. She’d be glad enough to have him now, but in these matters, once gone is gone for good. Somehow, people who marry for love very often get rich afterwards, — ourselves, for instance.”

It was some time before Joseph’s excitement subsided. He had resented Julia’s suspicion as dishonorable to Philip, yet he could not banish the conjecture of its possible truth. If Philip’s affected cynicism had tempted him, Julia’s unblushing assumption of the existence of a passion which was forbidden, and therefore positively guilty, seemed to stain the pure texture of his nature. The lightness with which she spoke of the matter was even more abhorrent to him than the assertion itself ; the malicious satisfaction in the tones of her voice had not escaped his ear.

“Julia,” he said, just before they reached home, “ do not mention your fancy to another soul than me. It would reflect discredit on you.”

“You are innocent,” she answered. “And you are not complimentary. If I have any remarkable quality, it is tact. Whenever I speak, I shall know the effect beforehand : even pa, with all his official experience, is no match for me in this line. I see what the Hopetons are after, and I mean to show them that we were first in the field. Don’t be concerned, you good, excitable creature, you are no match for such well-drilled people. Let me alone, and before the summer is over we will give the law to the neighborhood ! ”

CHAPTER XVI.

THE bare, repulsive, inexorable truth was revealed at last. There was no longer any foothold for doubt, any possibility of continuing his desperate self-deceit. From that day all the joy, the trust, the hope, seemed to fade out of Joseph’s life. What had been lost was irretrievable : the delusion of a few months had fixed his fate forever.

His sense of outrage was so strong and keen,—so burned upon his consciousness as to affect him like a dull physical pain,— that a just and temperate review of his situation was impossible. False in one thing, false in all : that was the single, inevitable conclusion. Of course she had never even loved him. Her coy maiden airs, her warm abandonment to feeling, her very tears and blushes, were artfully simulated : perhaps, indeed, she had laughed in her heart, yea, sneered, at his credulous tenderness ! Her assumption of rule, therefore, became an arrogance not to be borne. What right had she, guilty of a crime for which there is no name and no punishment, to reverse the secret justice of the soul, and claim to be rewarded ? ”

So reasoned Joseph to himself, in his solitary broodings ; but the spell was not so entirely broken as he imagined. Sternly as he might have resolved in advance, there was a glamour in her mask of cheerfulness and gentleness, which made his resolution seem hard and cruel. In her presence he could not clearly remember his wrongs : the past delusion had been a reality, nevertheless; and he could make no assertion which did not involve his own miserable humiliation. Thus the depth and vital force of his struggle could not be guessed by Julia. She saw only irritable moods, the natural male resistance which she had often remarked in her father, — perhaps, also, the annoyance of giving up certain “romantic ” fancies, which she believed to be common to all young men, and never permanent. Even an open rupture could not have pushed them apart so rapidly as this hollow external routine of life.

Joseph took the earliest opportunity of visiting Philip, whom he found busy in forge and foundry. “ This would be the life for you!” he said: “we deal only with physical forces, human and elemental: we direct and create power, yet still obey the command to put money in our purses.”

“ Is that one secret of your strength ? ” Joseph asked.

“ Who told you that I had any ? ”

“ I feel it,” said Joseph ; and even as he said it he remembered Julia’s unworthy suspicion.

“ Come up and see Madeline a moment, and the home she has made for me. We get on very well, for brother and sister, — especially since her will is about as stubborn as mine.”

Madeline was very bright and cheerful, and Joseph, certainly, saw no signs of a stubborn will in her fair face. She was very simply dressed, and busy with some task of needle-work which she did not lay aside.

“You might pass already for a member of our community,” he could not help saying.

“ I think your most democratic farmers will accept me,” she answered, “ when they learn that I am Philip’s housekeeper. The only dispute we have had, or are likely to have, is in relation to the salary.”

“ She is an inconsistent creature, Joseph,” said Philip. “ I was obliged to offer her as much as she earned by her music-lessons, before she would come at all, and now she can’t find work enough to balance it.”

“ How can I, Philip, when you tempt me every day with walks and rides, botany, geology, and sketching from nature ? ”

So much frank, affectionate confidence showed itself through the playful gossip of the two, that Joseph was at once comforted and pained. “If I had only had a sister! ” he sighed to Philip, as they walked down the knoll.

The friends took the valley road, Joseph leading his horse by the bridle. The stream was full to its banks, and crystal clear : shoals of young fishes passed like drifted leaves over the pebbly ground, and the fragrant waterbeetles skimmed the surface of the eddies. Overhead the vaults of the great elms and sycamores were filled with the green, delicious illumination of the tender foliage. It was a scene and a season for idle happiness.

Yet the first words Philip spoke, after a long silence, were : “ May I speak now ? ” There was infinite love and pity in his voice. He took Joseph by the hand.

“Yes,” the latter whispered.

“ It has come,” Philip continued; “ you cannot hide it from yourself any longer. My pain is that I did not dare to warn you, though at the risk of losing your friendship. There was so little time — ”

“You did try to warn me, Philip ! I have recalled your words, and the trouble in your face as you spoke, a thousand times. I was a fool, a blind, miserable fool, and my folly has ruined my life ! ”

“ Strange,” said Philip, musingly, “that only a perfectly good and pure nature can fall into such a wretched snare. And yet ‘Virtue is its own reward,’ is dinned into our ears! It is Hell for a single fault: nay, not even a fault, an innocent mistake ! But let us see what can be done : is there no common ground whereon your natures can stand together ? If there should be a child—”

Joseph shuddered. “ Once it seemed too great, too wonderful a hope,” he said, “ but now, I don’t dare to wish for it. Philip, I am too sorely hurt to think clearly : there is nothing to do but to wait. It is a miserable kind of comfort to me to have your sympathy, but I fear you cannot help me.”

Philip saw that he could bear no more : his face was pale to the lips and his hands trembled. He led him to the bank, sat down beside him, and laid his arm about his neck. The silence and the caress were more soothing to Joseph than any words ; he soon became calm, and remembered an important part of his errand, which was to acquaint Philip with the oil speculation, and to ask his advice.

They discussed the matter long and gravely. With all his questions, and the somewhat imperfect information which Joseph was able to give, Philip could not satisfy himself whether the scheme was a simple swindle or a well-considered business venture. Two or three of the names were respectable, but the chief agent, Kanuck, was unknown to him ; moreover, Mr. Blessing’s apparent prominence in the undertaking did not inspire him with much confidence.

“ How much have you already paid on the stock ? ” he asked.

“ Three instalments, which, Mr. Blessing thinks, is all that will be called for. However, I have the money for a fourth, should it be necessary. He writes to me that the stock has already risen a hundred per cent in value.”

“ If that is so,” said Philip, “let me advise you to sell half of it, at once. The sum received will cover your liabilities, and the half you retain, as a venture, will give you no further anxiety.”

“I had thought of that; yet I am sure that my father-in-law will oppose such a step with all his might. You must know him, Philip ; tell me, frankly, your opinion of his character.”

“ Blessing belongs to a class familiar enough to me,” Philip answered ; “yet I doubt whether you will comprehend it. He is a swaggering, amiable, magnificent adventurer ; never purposely dishonest, I am sure, yet sometimes engaged in transactions that would not bear much scrutiny. His life has been one of ups and downs. After a successful speculation, he is luxurious, openhanded, and absurdly self-confident ; his success is soon flung away: he then good-humoredly descends to poverty, because he never believes it can last long. He is unreliable, from his oversanguine temperament; and yet this very temperament gives him a certain power and influence. Some of our best men are on familiar terms with him. They are on their guard against his pecuniary approaches, they laugh at his extravagant schemes, but they now and then find him useful. I heard Gray, the editor, once speak of him as a man ' filled with available enthusiasms,’ and I guess that phrase hits both his strength and his weakness.”

On the whole, Joseph felt rather relieved than disquieted. The heart was lighter in his breast as he mounted his horse and rode homewards.

Philip slowly walked forwards, yielding his mind to thoughts wherein Joseph was an important but not the principal figure. Was there a positive strength, he asked himself, in a wider practical experience of life ? Did such experience really strengthen the basis of character which must support a man, when some unexpected moral crisis comes upon him? He knew that he seemed strong, to Joseph; but the latter, so far, was bearing his terrible test with a patience drawn from some source of elemental power. Joseph had simply been ignorant: he had been proud, impatient, and—he now confessed to himself — weakly jealous. In both cases, a mistake had passed beyond the plastic stage where life may still be remoulded: it had hardened into an inexorable fate. What was to be the end of it all ?

A light footstep interrupted his reflections. He looked up, and almost started, on finding himself face to face with Mrs. Hopeton.

Her face was flushed from her walk and the mellow warmth of the afternoon. She held a bunch of wild-flowers, — pink azaleas, delicate sigillarias, valerian, and scarlet painted-cup. She first broke the silence by asking after Madeline.

“Busy with some important sewing, — curtains, I fancy. She is becoming an inveterate housekeeper,” Philip said.

“ I am glad, for her sake, that she is here. And it must be very pleasant for you, after all your wanderings.”

“I must look on it, I suppose,” Philip answered, "as the only kind of a home I shall ever have, —while it lasts. But Madeline’s life must not be mutilated because mine happens to be.”

The warm color left Mrs. Hopeton’s face. She strove to make her voice cold and steady, as she said: “ I am sorry to see you growing so bitter, Mr. Held.”

“I don't think it is my proper nature, Mrs. Hopeton. But you startled me out of a retrospect, which had exhausted my capacity for self-reproach, and was about to become self-cursing. There is no bitterness quite equal to that of seeing how weakly one has thrown away an irrecoverable fortune.”

She stood before him, silent and disturbed. It was impossible not to understand, yet it seemed equally impossible to answer him. She gave one glance at his earnest, dark gray eyes, his handsome, manly face, and the sprinkled glosses of sunshine on his golden hair, and felt a chill strike to her heart. She moved a step, as if to end the interview.

“ Only one moment, Mrs. Hopeton — Emily ! ” Philip cried. “ We may not meet again — thus — for years. I will not needlessly recall the past. I only mean to speak of my offence, — to acknowledge it, and exonerate you from any share in the misunderstanding which—which made us what we are. You cannot feel the burden of an unpardoned fault; but will you not allow me to lighten mine ? ”

A softer change came over her stately form. Her arm relaxed, and the wild-flowers fell upon the ground.

“ I was wrong, first,” Philip went on, “in not frankly confiding to you the knowledge of a boyish illusion and disappointment. I had been heartlessly treated: it was a silly affair, not worth the telling now ; but the leaven of mistrust it left behind was not fully worked out of my nature. Then, too, I had private troubles, which my pride — sore, just then, from many a trifling prick, at which I should now laugh — led me to conceal. I need not go over the appearances which provoked me into a display of temper as unjust as it was unmanly, — it is enough to say that all circumstances combined to make me impatient, suspicious, fiercely jealous. I never paused to reflect that you could not know the series of aggravations which preceded our misunderstanding. I did not guess how far I was giving expression to them, and unconsciously transferring to you the offences of others. Nay, I exacted a completer surrender of your woman’s pride, because a woman had already chosen to make a plaything of my green boy-love. There is no use in speaking of any of the particulars of our quarrel ; for I confess to you that I was recklessly, miserably wrong. But the time has come when you can afford to be generous, when you can allow yourself to speak my forgiveness. Not for the sake of anything I might have been to you, but as a true woman, dealing with her brother-man, I ask your pardon ! ”

Mrs. Hopeton could not banish the memory of the old tenderness which plead for Philip, in her heart. He had spoken no word which could offend or alarm her : they were safely divided by a gulf which might never be bridged, and perhaps it was well that a purely human reconciliation should now clarify what was turbid in the past, and reunite them by a bond, pure though eternally sad. She came slowly towards him, and gave him her hand.

“ All is not only pardoned, Philip,” she said, “ but it is now doubly my duty to forget it. Do not suppose, however, that I have had no other than reproachful memories. My pride was as unyielding as yours, for it led me to the defiance which you could not then endure. I, too, was haughty and imperious. I recall every word I uttered, and I know that you have not forgotten them. But let there be equal and final justice between us : forget my words, if you can, and forgive me ! ”

Philip took her hand, and held it softly in his own. No power on earth could have prevented their eyes from meeting. Out of the far-off distance of all dead joys, over all abysses of fate, the sole power which time and will are powerless to tame, took swift possessions of their natures. Philip’s eyes were darkened and softened by a film of gathering tears: he cried in a broken voice : —

“Yes, pardon! — but I thought pardon might be peace. Forget ? Yes, it would be easy to forget the past, if— O Emily, we have never been parted until now ! ”

She had withdrawn her hand, and covered her face. He saw, by the convulsive tremor of her frame, that she was fiercely suppressing her emotion. In another moment she looked up, pale, cold, and almost defiant.

“ Why should you say more ? ” she asked. “Mutual forgiveness is our duty, and there the duty ends. Leave me now ! ”

Philip knew that he had betrayed himself. Not daring to speak another word, he bowed and walked rapidly away. Mrs. Hopeton stood, with her hand pressed upon her bosom, until he had disappeared among the farther trees : then she sat down, and let her withheld tears flow freely.

Presently the merry whoops and calls of children met her ear. She gathered together the fallen flowers, rose and took her way across the meadows towards a little stone school-house, at the foot of the nearest hill. Lucy Henderson already advanced to meet her. There was still an hour or two of sunshine, but the mellow, languid heat of the day was over, and the breeze winnowing down the valley brought with it the smell of the blossoming vernal grass.

The two women felt themselves drawn towards each other, though neither had as yet divined the source of their affectionate instinct. Now, looking upon Lucy’s pure, gently firm, and reliant face, Mrs. Hopeton, for the second or third time in her life, yielded to a sudden, powerful impulse, and said : “ Lucy, I foresee that I shall need the love and the trust of a true woman : where shall I find it, if not in you ?”

“ If mine will content you,” said Lucy.

“ O my dear ! ” Mrs. Hopeton cried ; “ none of us can stand alone. God has singular trials for us, sometimes, and the use and the conquest of a trouble may both become clear in the telling of it. The heart can wear itself out with its own bitterness. You see, I force my confidence upon you, but I know you are strong to receive it.”

“ At least,” Lucy answered, gravely, “ I have no claim to strength unless I am willing to have it tested.”

“ Then let me make the severest test at once : I shall have less courage than if I delay. Can you comprehend the nature of a woman’s trial, when her heart resists her duty ?”

A deep blush overspread Lucy’s face, but she forced herself to meet Mrs. Hopeton’s gaze. The two women were silent a moment ; then the latter threw her arms around Lucy’s neck, and kissed her.

“ Let us walk ! ” she said. “ We shall both find the words we need.”

They moved away over the fragrant, shining meadows. Down the valley, at the foot of the blue cape which wooed their eyes, and perhaps suggested to their hearts that mysterious sense of hope which lies in landscape distances, Elwood Withers was directing his gang of workmen. Over the eastern hill, Joseph Asten stood among his fields, hardly recognizing their joyous growth. The smoke of Philip’s forge rose above the trees to the northward. So many disappointed hearts, so many thwarted lives ! What strand shall be twisted out of the broken threads of these destinies, thus drawn so near to each other ? What new forces — fatal or beneficent — shall be developed from these elements ?

Mr. Hopeton, riding homewards along the highway, said to himself: “It’s a pleasant country, but what slow, humdrum lives the people lead ! ”