Joseph and His Friend

CHAPTER XVII.

“I HAVE a plan,” said Julia, a week or two later. “ Can you guess it? No, I think not; and yet, you might! O, how lovely the light falls on your hair : it is perfect satin ! ”

She had one hand on his shoulder, and ran the fingers of the other lightly through his brown locks. Her face, sparkling all over with a witching fondness, was lifted towards his. It was the climax of an amiable mood which had lasted three days.

What young man can resist a playful, appealing face, a soft, caressing touch ? Joseph Smiled, as he asked, —

“ Is it that I shall wear my hair upon my shoulders, or that we shall sow plaster on the clover-field, as old Bishop advised you the other day ? ”

“ Now, you are making fun of my interest in farming; but wait another year ! I am trying earnestly to understand it, but only so that ornament — beauty — what was the word in those lines you read last night ? — may grow out of Use. That’s it — Beauty out of Use ! I know I ’ve bored you a little sometimes —just a little, now, confess it!—with all my questions; but this is something different. Can’t you think of anything that would make our home, O so much more beautiful ?”

“ A grove of palm-trees at the top of the garden ? Or a lake in front, with marble steps leading down to the water ? ”

“You perverse Joseph ! No : something possible, something practicable, something handsome, something profitable ! Or, are you so old-fashioned that you think we must drudge for thirty years, and only take our pleasure after we grow rheumatic ? ”

Joseph looked at her with a puzzled, yet cheerful face.

“ You don’t understand me yet ! ” she exclaimed. “ And indeed, indeed, I dread to tell you, for one reason : you have such a tender regard for old associations,— not that I’d have it otherwise, if I could. I like it : I trust I have the same feeling : yet a little sentiment sometimes interferes practically with the improvement of our lives.”

Joseph’s curiosity was aroused. “What do you mean, Julia?” he asked.

“ No ! ” she cried ; “ I will not tell you until I have read part of pa’s letter, which came this afternoon. Take the arm-chair, and don't interrupt me.”

She seated herself on the windowsill and opened the letter. “ I saw,” she said, “ how uneasy you felt when the call came for the fourth instalment of ten per cent on the Amaranth shares, especially after I had so much difficulty in persuading you not to sell the half. It surprised me, although I knew that, where pa is concerned, there’s a good reason for everything. So I wrote to him the other day, and this is what he says, — you remember, Kanuck is the company’s agent on the spot: —

“‘Tell Joseph that in matters of finance there’s often a wheel within a wheel. Blenkinsop, of the Chowder Company, managed to get a good grab of our shares through a third party, of whom we had not the slightest suspicion. I name no name at present, from motives of prudence. We only discovered the circumstance after the third party left for Europe. Looking upon the Chowder as a rival, it is our desire, of course, to extract this entering wedge before it has been thrust into our vitals, and we can only accomplish the end by still keeping secret the discovery of the torpedoes (an additional expense, I might remark), and calling for fresh instalments from all the stockholders. Blenkinsop, not being within the inside ring, — and no possibility of his getting in! — will naturally see only the blue of disappointment where we see the rose of realized expectations. Already, so Kanuck writes to me, negotiations are on foot which will relieve our Amaranth of this parasitic growth, and a few weeks — days — hours, in fact, may enable us to explode and triumph ! I was offered, yesterday, by one of our shrewdest operators, who has been silently watching us, ten shares of the Sinnemahoning Hematite for eight of ours. Think of that, — the Sinnemahoning Hematite ! No better stock in the market, if you remember the quotations ! Explain the significance of the figures to your husband, and let him see that he has — but no, I will restrain myself and make no estimate. I will only mention, under the seal of the profoundest secrecy, that the number of shafts now sinking (or being sunk) will give an enormous flowing capacity when the electric spark fires the mine, and I should not wonder if our shares then soared high over the pinnacles of all previous speculation ! ’

“No, nor I!” Julia exclaimed, as she refolded the letter ; " it is certain, — positively certain ! I have never known the Sinnemahoning Hematite to be less than 147. What do you say, Joseph ?”

“ I hope it may be true,” he answered. “ I can’t feel so certain, while an accident — the discovery of the torpedo-plan, for instance — might change the prospects of the Amaranth, it will be a great relief when the time comes to ‘realize,’ as your father says.”

“ You only feel so because it is your first experience ; but for your sake I will consent that it shall be the last. We shall scarcely need any more than this will bring us ; for, as pa says, a mere competence in the city is a splendid fortune in the country. You need leisure for books and travel and society, and you shall have it. Now, let us make a place for both ! ”

Thereupon she showed him how the parlor and rear bedroom might be thrown into one ; where there were alcoves for bookcases and space for a piano ; how a new veranda might be added to the western end of the house ; how the plastering might be renewed, a showy cornice supplied, and an air of elegant luxury given to the new apartment. Joseph saw and listened, conscious at once of a pang at changing the ancient order of things, and a temptation to behold a more refined comfort in its place. He only asked to , postpone the work ; but Julia pressed him so closely, with such a multitude of unanswerable reasons, that he finally consented to let a mechanic look at the house, and make an estimate of the expense.

In such cases, the man who deliberates is lost.

His consent once reluctantly exacted, Julia insisting that she would take the whole charge of directing the work, a beginning was made without delay, and in a few days the ruin was so complete that the restoration became a matter of necessity.

Julia kept her word only too faithfully. With a lively, playful manner in the presence of the workmen, but with a cold, inflexible obstinacy when they were alone, she departed from the original plan, adding showy and expensive features, every one of which, Joseph presently saw, was devised to surpass the changes made by the Hopetons in their new residence. His remonstrances produced no effect, and he was precluded from a practical interference by the fear of the workmen guessing his domestic trouble. Thus the days dragged on, and the breach widened without an effort on either side to heal it.

The secret of her temporary fondness gave him a sense of positive disgust when it arose in his memory. He now suspected a selfish purpose in her caresses, and sought to give her no chance of repeating them, but in the company of others he was forced to endure a tenderness which, he was surprised to find, still halt deceived him, as it wholly deceived his neighbors. He saw, too, — and felt himself powerless to change the impression,—that Julia’s popularity increased with her knowledge of the people, while their manner towards him was a shade less frank and cordial than formerly. He knew that the changes in his home were so much needless extravagance, to them ; and that Julia’s oft-repeated phrase (always accompanied with a loving look), “Joseph is making the old place so beautiful for me ! ” increased their mistrust, while seeming to exalt him as a devoted husband.

It is not likely that she specially intended this result ; while, on the other band, he somewhat exaggerated its character. Her object was simply to retain her growing ascendency : within the limits where her peculiar faculties had been exercised she was nearly perfect ; but she was indifferent to tracing tire consequences of her actions beyond those limits. When site ascertained Mr. Chaffinch’s want of faith in Joseph’s entire piety, she became more regular in her attendance at his church, not so much to prejudice her husband by the contrast, as to avoid the suspicion which he had incurred. To Joseph, however, in the bitterness of his deception, these actions seemed either hostile or heartless ; he was repelled from the clearer knowledge of a nature so foreign to his own. So utterly foreign : yet how near beyond all others it had once seemed !

It was not a jealousy of the authority she assumed which turned his heart from her : it was the revelation of a shallowness and selfishness not at all rare in the class from which she came, but which his pure, guarded youth had never permitted him to suspect in any human being. A man familiar with men and women, if he Had been caught in such toils, would have soon discovered some manner of controlling her nature, for the very shrewdest and falsest have their vulnerable side, it gave Joseph, however, so much keen spiritual pain to encounter her in her true character, that such a course was simply impossible.

Meanwhile the days went by, the expense of labor and material had already doubled the estimates made by the mechanics, bills were presented for payment, and nothing was heard from the Amaranth. Money was a necessity, and there was no alternative but to obtain a temporary loan at a county town, the centre of transactions for all the debtors and creditors of the neighboring country. It was a new and disagreeable experience for Joseph to appear in the character of a borrower, and be adopted it most reluctantly ; yet the reality was a greater trial than he had suspected. He found that the most preposterous stories of his extravagance were afloat. He was transforming his house into a castle : he had made, lost, and made again a large fortune in petroleum ; he had married a wealthy wife and squandered her money ; he drove out in a carriage with six white horses; he was becoming irregular in his habits and heretical in his religious views ; in short, such marvellous powers of invention had been exercised that the Arab story-tellers were surpassed by the members of that quiet, sluggish community.

It required all his self-control to meet the suspicions of the money-agents, and convince them of the true state of his circumstances. The loan was obtained, but after such a wear and tear of flesh and spirit as made it seem a double burden.

When he reached home, in the afternoon, Julia instantly saw, by his face, that all had not gone right. A slight effort, however, enabled her to say carelessly and cheerfully, —

“ Have you brought me my supplies, dear ? ”

“Yes,” he answered curtly.

“ Here is a letter from pa,” she then said“ I opened it, because I knew what the subject must be. But if you ’re tired, pray don’t read it now, for then you may be impatient. There’s a little more delay.”

“Then I ’ll not delay to know it,” he said, taking the letter from her hand. A printed slip, calling upon the stockholders of the Amaranth to pay a fifth instalment, fell out of the envelope. Accompanying it there was a hasty note from B. Blessing: “ Don’t be alarmed, my dear son-in-law ! Probably a mere form. Blenkinsop still holds on, but we think this will bring him at once. If it don't, we shall very likely have to go on with him, even if it obliges us to unite the Amaranth and the Chowder. In any case, we shall ford or bridge this little Rubicon within a fortnight. Have the money ready, if convenient, but do not forward unless I give the word. We hear, through third parties, that Clementina (who is now at Long Branch) receives much attention from Mr. Spelter, a man of immense wealth, but, I regret to say, no refinement.”

Joseph smiled grimly, when he finished the note. “ Is there never to be an end of humbug ? ” he exclaimed.

“ There, now ! ” cried Julia ; “ I knew you’d be impatient. You are so unaccustomed to great operations. Why, the Muchacho Land Grant—I remember it, because pa sold out just at the wrong time — hung on for seven years! ”

“ D— curse the Muchacho Land Grant, and the Amaranth too ! ”

“ Are n’t you ashamed ! ” exclaimed Julia, taking on a playful air of offence ; “but you ’re tired and hungry, poor fellow ! ” Therewith she put her hands on his shoulders, and raised herself on tiptoe to kiss him.

Joseph, unable to control his sudden instinct, swiftly turned away his head.

“ O you wicked husband, you deserve to be punished ! ” she cried, giving him what was meant to be a light tap on the cheek.

It was a light tap, certainly ; but perhaps a little of the annoyance which she banished from her face had lodged, unconsciously, in her fingers. They lett just sting enough to rouse Joseph’s heated blood. He started back a step, and looked at her with flaming eyes.

“No more of that, Julia! I know, now, how much your arts are worth. I am getting a vile name in the neighborhood,— losing my property, — losing my own self-respect, — because I have allowed you to lead me ! Will you be content with what you have done, or must you go on until my ruin is complete?”

Before he had finished speaking she had taken rapid counsel with herself, and decided. “ Oh, oh ! such words to me ! ” she groaned, hiding her face between her hands. “ I never thought you could be so cruel ! I had such pleasure in seeing you rich and free, in trying to make your home beautiful ; and now this little delay, which no business-man would think anything of, seems to change your very nature ! But I will not think it’s your true self: something has worried you to-day, — you have heard some foolish story — ”

“It is not the worry of to-day,” he interrupted, in haste to state his whole grievance, before his weak heart had time to soften again, — “it is the worry of months past! It is because I thought you true and kind-hearted, and I find you selfish and hypocritical! It is very well to lead me into serious expenses, while so much is at stake, and now likely to be lost, — it is very well to make my home beautiful, especially when you can outshine Mrs. Hopeton ! It is easy to adapt yourself to the neighbors, and keep on the right side of them, no matter how much your husband’s character may suffer in the process ! ”

“ That will do ! ” said Julia, suddenly becoming rigid. She lifted her head, and apparently wiped the tears from her eyes. “A little more and it would be too much, for even me! What do I care for ‘ the neighbors ’ ? persons whose ideas and tastes and habits of life are so different from mine ? I have endeavored to be friendly with them for your sake : I have taken special pains to accommodate myself to their notions, just because I intended they should justify you in choosing me! I believed —for you told me so — that there was no calculation in love, that money was dross in comparison ; and how could I imagine that you would so soon put up a balance and begin to weigh the two? Am I your wife or your slave ? Have I an equal share in what is yours, or am I here merely to increase it ? If there is to be a question of dollars and cents between us, pray have my allowance fixed, so that I may not overstep it, and may save myself from such reproaches ! I knew you would be disappointed in pa’s letter ; I have been anxious and uneasy since it came, through my sympathy with you, and was ready to make any sacrifice that might relieve your mind ; and now you seem to be full of unkindness and injustice ! What shall I do, O what shall I do ? ”

She threw herself upon a sofa, weeping hysterically.

“ Julia !" he cried, both shocked and startled by her words, “ you purposely misunderstand me. Think how constantly I have yielded to you, against my own better judgment! When have you considered my wishes ?”

“ When ? ” she repeated : then, addressing the cushion with a hopeless, melancholy air, “ he asks, when ! How could I misunderstand you ? your words were as plain, as daggers. If you were not aware how sharp they were, call them back to your mind when these mad, unjust suspicions have left you ! I trusted you so perfectly, I was looking forward to such a happy future, and now—now, all seems so dark ! It is like a flash of lightning : I am weak and giddy : leave me, — I can bear no more ! ”

She covered her face, and sobbed wretchedly.

“ I am satisfied that you are not as ignorant as you profess to be,” was all Joseph could say, as he obeyed her command. and left the room. He was vanquished, he knew, and a little confused by his wife’s unexpected way of taking his charges in flank instead of meeting them in front, as a man would have done. Could she be sincere ? he asked himself. Was she really so ignorant of herself, as to believe all that she had uttered? There seemed to be not the shadow of hypocrisy in her grief and indignation. Her tears were real : then why not her smiles and caresses ? Either she was horribly, incredibly false, — worse than he dared dream her to be, — or so fatally unconscious of her nature that nothing short of a miracle could ever enlighten her. One thing, only, was certain : there was now no confidence between them, and there might never be again.

He walked slowly forth from the house, seeing nothing, and unconscious whither his feet were leading him.

CHAPTER XVIII.

STILL walking, with bent head, and a brain which vainly strove to work its way to clearness through the perplexities of his heart, Joseph went on. When, wearied at last, though not consciously calmer, he paused and looked about him, it was like waking from a dream. Some instinct had guided him on the way to Philip’s forge : the old road had been moved to accommodate the new branch railway, and a rapid ring of hammers came up from the embankment below. It was near the point of the hill where Lucy’s schoolhouse stood, and even as he looked she came, accompanied by her scholars, to watch the operation of laying the track. Elwood Withers, hale, sunburnt, full of lusty life, walked along the sleepers directing the workmen.

“He was right,—only too right!” muttered Joseph to himself. “ Why could I not see with his eyes? ‘It’s the bringing up,’ he would say ; but that is not all. I have been an innocent, confiding boy, and thought that years and acres had made me a man. O, she understood me, — she understands me now ; but in spite of her, God helping me, I shall yet be a man.”

Elwood ran down the steep side of the embankment, greeted Lucy, and helped her to the top, the children following with whoops and cries.

“Would it have been different,” Joseph further soliloquized, “ it Lucy and I had loved and married ? It is hardly treating Llwood fairly, to suppose such a thing, yet—a year ago — I might have loved her. It is better as it is: I should have stepped upon a true man’s heart. Have they drawn nearer? and if so, does he, with his sturdier nature, his surer knowledge, find no flaw in her perfections?”

A morbid curiosity to watch the two suddenly came upon him. He clambered over the fence, crossed the narrow strip of meadow, and mounted the embankment. Elwood’s back was towards him, and he was just saying: “ It all comes of taking an interest in what you ’re doing. The practical part is easy enough, when you once have the principles. I can manage the theodolite already, but I need a little showing when I come to the calculations. Somehow, I never cared much about study before, but here it’s all applied as soon as you’ve learned it, and that fixes it, like, in your head.”

Lucy was listening with an earnest, friendly interest on her face. She scarcely saw Joseph until he stood before her. After the first slight surprise, her manner towards him was quiet and composed : Elwood’s eyes were bright, and there was a fresh intelligence in his appearance. The habit of command had already given him a certain dignity.

“How can I get knowledge which may be applied as soon as learned ? ” Joseph asked, endeavoring to assume the manner furthest from his feelings.

“ I ’m still at the foot of the class, Lucy,” he added, turning to her.

“ How ?” Elwood replied. “I should say by going around the world alone. That would be about the same for you as what these ten miles I ’m overseeing are to me. A little goes a great way with me, for I can only pick up one thing at a time.”

“ What kind of knowledge are you looking for, Joseph?” Lucy gravely asked.

“Of myself,” said he, and his face grew dark.

“That’s a true word ! ” Elwood involuntarily exclaimed. He then caught Lucy’s eye, and awkwardly added : “ It’s about what we all want, I take it.”

Joseph recovered himself in a moment, and proposed looking over the work. They walked slowly along the embankment, listening to Elwood’s account of what had been done and what was yet to do, when the Hopeton carriage came up the highway, near at hand. Mrs. Hopeton sat in it alone.

“ I was looking for you, Lucy,” she called. “ It you are going towards the cutting, I will join you there.”

She sent the coachman home with the carriage, and walked with them on the track. Joseph felt her presence as a relief, but Elwood confessed to himself that he was a little disturbed by the steady glance of her dark eyes. He had already overcome his regret at the interruption of his rare and welcome chance of talking with Lucy, but then Joseph knew his heart, while this stately lady looked as if she were capable of detecting what she had no right to know. Nevertheless, she was Lucy’s friend, and that fact had great weight with Elwood.

“It’s rather a pity to cut into the hills and bank up the meadows in this way, is n’t it ? ” he asked.

“And to disturb my school with so much hammering,” Lucy rejoined ; “when the trains come, I must retreat.”

“None too soon,” said Mrs. Hopeton. “You are not strong, Lucy, and the care of a school is too much for you.”

Elwood thanked her with a look, before he knew what he was about.

“ After all,” said Joseph, “ why should n’t nature be cut up ? I suppose everything was given to us to use, and the more profit the better the use, seems to be the rule of the world. ' Beauty grows out of Use,’ you know.”

His tone was sharp and cynical, and grated unpleasantly on Lucy’s sensitive ear.

“ I believe it is a rule in art,” said Mrs. Hopeton, “ that mere ornament, for ornament’s sake, is not allowed. It must always seem to answer some purpose, to have a necessity for its existence. But, on the other hand, what is necessary should be beautiful, it possible.”

“ A loaf of bread, for instance,” suggested Elwood.

They all laughed at this illustration, and the conversation took a lighter turn. By this time they had entered the narrower part of the valley, and on passing around a sharp curve of the track found themselves face to face with Philip and Madeline Held.

If Mrs. Hopeton’s heart beat more rapidly at the unexpected meeting, she preserved her cold, composed bearing. Madeline, bright and joyous, was the unconscious agent ot unconstraint, in whose presence each of the others felt immediately free.

“ Two inspecting committees at once ! ” cried Philip. “It is well for you, Withers, that you did n’t locate the line. My sister and I have already found several unnecessary curves and culverts.”

“And we have found a great deal of use and no beauty,” Lucy answered.

“ Beauty ! ” exclaimed Madeline. “ What is more beautiful than to see one’s groceries delivered at one’s very door ? Or to have the opera and the picture-gallery brought within two hours’ distance ? How far are we from a lemon, Philip ? ”

“ You were a lemon, Mad, in your vegetable, pre-human state ; and you are still acid and agreeable.”

“ Sweets to the sweet ! ” she gayly cried. " And what, pray, was Miss Henderson ? ”

“ Don’t spare me, Mr. Held,” said Lucy, as he looked at her with a little hesitation.

“ An apple.”

“ And Mrs. Hopeton ?”

“ A date-palm,” said Philip, fixing his eyes upon her face.

She did not look up, but an expression which he could not interpret just touched her lips and faded.

“ Now, it’s your turn, Miss Held,” Elwood remarked: " what were we men ? ”

“ O, Philip, a prickly pear, of course ; and you, well, some kind of a nut; and Mr. Asten — ”

“ A cabbage,” said Joseph.

“ What vanity ! Do you imagine that you are all head, — or that your heart is in your head ? Or that you keep the morning dew longer than the rest of us ? ”

“ It might well be,” Joseph answered ; and Madeline felt her arm gently pinched by Philip, from behind. She had tact enough not to lower her pitch of gayety too suddenly, but her manner towards Joseph became grave and gentle. Mrs. Hopeton said but little : she looked upon the circling hills, as if studying their summer beauty, while the one desire in her heart was to be away from the spot, — away from Philip’s haunting eyes.

After a little while, Philip seemed to be conscious ot her feeling. He left his place on the opposite side of the track, took Joseph’s arm and led him a little aside from the group.

“ Philip, I want you ! ” Joseph whispered ; “but no, not quite yet. There is no need of coming to you in a state of confusion. In a day or two more I shall have settled a little.”

“You are right,” said Philip: “there is no opiate like time, be there never so little of it. I felt the fever of your head in your hand. Don 't come to me, until you feel that it is the one thing which must be done ! I think you know why I say so.”

“ I do ! ” Joseph exclaimed. “I am just now more of an ostrich than any - thing else ; I should like to stick my head in the sand, and imagine myself invisible. But — Philip — here are six of us together. One other, I know, has a secret wound, perhaps two others : is it always so in life? I think I am selfish enough to be glad to know that I am not specially picked out for punishment.”

Philip could not help smiling. " Upon my soul,” he said, " I believe Madeline is the only one of the six who is not busy with other thoughts than those We all seem to utter. Specially picked out? There is no such thing as special picking out, in this world ! Joseph, it may seem hard and schoolmaster-like in me to say ‘wait!’ yet that is the only word I can say.”

“ Good evening, all ! ” cried Elwood. “ I must go down to my men ; but I ’d be glad of such an inspection as this, a good deal oftener.”

“ I 'll go that far with you,” said Joseph.

Mrs. Hopeton took Lucy’s arm with a sudden, nervous movement. “ If you are not too tired, let us walk over “the hill,” she said ; “ I want to find the right point of view for sketching our house.”

The company dissolved. Philip, as he walked up the track with his sister, said to himself: “ Surely, she was afraid of me. And what does her fear indicate ? What, if not that the love she once bore for me still lives in her heart, in spite of time and separated fates ? I should not, dare not think of her; I shall never again speak a word to her which her husband might not hear; but I cannot tear from me the dream of what she might be, the knowledge of what she is, false, hopeless, fatal, as it all may be ! ”

“ Elwood,” said Joseph, when they had walked a little distance in silence, " do you remember the night you spent with me, a year ago ? ”

“ I’m not likely to forget it.”

“ Let me ask you one question, then. Have you come nearer to Lucy Henderson ? ”

“ If no further off means nearer, and it almost seems so in my case, — yes ! ”

“ And you see no difference in her, — no new features of character, which you did not guess, at first ? ”

“ Indeed, I do!” Elwood emphatically answered. “To me she grows less and less like any other woman,—so right, so straightforward, so honest in all her ways and thoughts ! If I am ever tempted to do anything — well, not exactly mean, you know, but such as a man might as well leave undone, I have only to say to myself: ' If you ’re not thoroughly good, my boy, you 'll lose her! ’ and that does the business, right away. Why, Joseph, I ’m proud of myself, that I mean to deserve her! ”

“Ah!” A sigh, almost a groan, came from Joseph’s lips. “ What will you think of me?” he said. “I was about to repeat your own words, — to warn you to be cautious, and take time, and test your feelings, and not to be too sure of her perfection ! what can a young man know about women ? He can only discover the truth after marriage, and then — they are indifferent how it afiects him — their fortunes are made ! ”

“I know,” answered Elwood, turning his head away slightly ; “ but there’s a difference between the women you seek, and work to get, anti the women who seek, and work to get you.”

“ I understand you.”

“Forgive me for saying it!” Elwood cried, instantly repenting his words. " I could n't help seeing and feeling what you know now. But what man—leastways, what friend — could ha’ said it to you with any chance of being believed ? You were like a man alone in a boat above a waterfall; only you could bring yourself to shore. If I stood on the bank and called, and you did n’t believe me, what then ? The Lord knows, I ’d give this right arm, strong as it is, to put you back where you were a year ago.”

“ I 've been longing for frankness, and I ought to bear it better,” said Joseph. “ Put the whole subject out of your thoughts, and come and see me as of old. It is quite time I should learn to manage my own life.”

He grasped Elwood’s hand convulsively, sprang down the embankment, and took to the highway. Elwood looked after him a minute, then slowly shook his head and walked onward towards the men.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hopeton and Lucy had climbed the hill, and found themselves on the brow of a rolling upland, which fell on the other side, towards the old Calvert place. The day was hot. Mrs, Hopeton’s knees trembled under her, and she sank on the soft grass at the foot of a tree. Lucy took a seat beside her.

“ You know so much of my trouble,” said the former, when the coolness and rest had soothed her, “ and I trust you so perfectly, that I can tell you all, Lucy. Can you guess the man whom I loved, but must never love again ? ”

“ I have sometimes thought — ” but here Lucy hesitated.

“ Speak the name in your mind, or, let me say ‘ Philip Held,’ for you ! Lucy, what am I to do ? he loves me still : he told me so, just now, where we were all together below there ! ”

Lucy turned with a start, and gazed wonderingly upon her friend’s face.

“ Why does he continue telling me what I must not hear? with his eyes, Lucy ! in the tones of his voice, in common words which I am forced to interpret by his meaning ! I had learned to bear my inevitable fate, for it was not an unhappy one ; I can bear even his presence, if he were generous enough to close his heart as I do,— either that, or to avoid me; for I now dread to meet him again.”

“Is it not,” Lucy asked, “because the trial is new, and takes you by surprise and unprepared ? May you not be fearing more than Mr. Held has expressed, or, at least, intended ? ”

“ The speech that kills, or makes alive, needs no words. What I mean is, there is no resistance in his face. I blush for myself, I am indignant at my own pitiful weakness, but something in his look to-day made me forget everything that has passed since we were parted. While it lasted, I was under a spell,—a spell which it humiliates me to remember. Your voices sounded faint and far off; all that I have, and hold, seemed to be slipping from me. It was only for a moment, but, Lucy, it frightened me. My will is strong, and I think I can depend upon it ; yet what if some influence beyond my control were to paralyze it ? ”

“ Then you must try to win the help of a higher will; our souls always win something of that which they wrestle and struggle to reach. Dear Mrs. Hopeton, have you never thought that we are still as children who cannot have all they cry for ? Now, that you know what you fear, do not dread to hold it before your mind and examine what it is : at least, I think that would be my instinct, — to face a danger at once when I found I could not escape it.”

“ I have no doubt you are right, Lucy,” said Mrs. Hopeton ; but her tone was sad, as if she acquiesced without clearly believing.

“ It seems very hard,” Lucy continued, “when we cannot have the one love of all others that we need, harder still when we must put it forcibly from our hearts. but I have always felt that, when we can bring ourselves to renounce cheerfully, a blessing will follow. I do not know how, but I must believe it. Might it not come at last, through the love that we have, though it now seems imperfect ? ”

Mrs. Hopeton lifted her head from her knees, and sat erect. “ Lucy,” she said, “ I do not believe you are a woman who would ask another to bear what is beyond your own strength. Shall I put you to the test ?”

Lucy, though her face became visibly paler, replied : “ I did not mean to compare my burden with yours ; but weigh me, if you wish. If I am found wanting, you will show me wherein.”

“ Your one love above all others is lost to you. Have you conquered the desire for it ? ”

“ I think I have. If some soreness remains, I try to believe that it is the want of the love which I know to be possible, not that of the — the person.”

“ Then, could you be happy with what you call an imperfect love ?”

Lucy blushed a little, in spite of herself. “ I am still free,” she answered, “ and not obliged to accept it. If I were bound, I hope I should not neg lect my duty.”

“ What if another’s happiness depended on your accepting it ? Lucy, my eyes have been made keen by what I have felt. I saw to-day, that a man’s heart follows you, and I guess that you know it. Here is no imperfect love on his part : were you his wife, could you learn to give him so much that your life might become peaceful and satisfied ? ”

“You do, indeed, test me!” Lucy murmured. “ How can I know ? What answer can I make ? I have shrunk from thinking of that, and I cannot feel that my duty lies there. Yet, if it were so, if I were already bound, irrevocably, surely all my present faith must be false if happiness in some form did not come at last! ”

“ I believe it would, to you! ” cried Mrs. Hopeton. “ Why not to me ? Do you think I have ever looked for love in my husband ? It seems, now, that I have been content to know that he was proud of me. If I seek, perhaps I may find more than I have dreamed of; and if I find, —if indeed and truly I find,— I shall never more lack self-possession and will! ”

She rose to her full height, and a flush came over the pallor of her cheeks. “ Yes,” she continued, “rather than feel again the humiliation of to-day, I will trample all my nature down to the level of an imperfect love ! ”

“Better,” said Lucy, rising also,— “ better to bend only for a while to the imperfect, that you may warm and purify and elevate it, until it shall take the place of the perfect in your heart.”

The two women kissed each other, and there were tears on the cheeks of both.

CHAPTER XIX.

ON his way home Joseph reviewed the quarrel with a little more calmness, and, while admitting his own rashness and want of tact, felt relieved that it had occurred. Julia now knew, at least, how sorely he had been grieved by her selfishness, and she had thus an opportunity, if she really loved him, of showing whether her nature were capable of change. He determined to make no further reference to the dissension, and to avoid what might lead to a new one. He did not guess, as he approached the house, that his wife had long been watching at the front window, in an anxious, excited state, and that she only slipped back to the sofa and covered her head just before he reached the door.

For a day or two she was silent, and perhaps a little sullen ; but the payment of the most pressing bills, the progress of the new embellishments, and the necessity of retaining her affectionate playfulness in the presence of the workmen, brought back her customary manner. Now and then a sharp, indirect allusion showed that she had not forgotten, and had not Joseph closed his teeth firmly upon his tongue, the household atmosphere might have been again disturbed.

Not many days elapsed before a very brief note from Mr. Blessing announced that the fifth instalment would be needed. He wrote in great haste, he said, and would explain everything by a later mail.

Joseph was hardly surprised now. He showed the note to Julia, merely saying : “ I have not the money, and if I had, he could scarcely expect me to pay it without knowing the necessity. My best plan will be to go to the city at once.”

“ I think so, too,” she answered. “ You will be far better satisfied when you have seen pa, and he can also help you to raise the money temporarily, if it is really inevitable. He knows all the capitalists.”

“I shall do another thing, Julia. I shall sell enough of the stock to pay the instalment; nay, I shall sell it all, if I can do so without loss.”

“ Are you — ” she began fiercely, but, checking herself, merely added, “see pa first, that’s all I stipulate.”

Mr. Blessing had not returned from the Custom-House when Joseph reached the city. He had no mind to sit in the dark parlor and wait; so he plunged boldly into the labyrinth of clerks, porters, inspectors, and tide-waiters. Everybody knew Blessing, but nobody could tell where he was to be found. Finally some one, more obliging than the rest, said : “ Try the Wharf-Rat! ” The Wharf-Rat proved to be a “saloon” in a narrow alley behind the Custom-House. On opening the door a Venetian screen prevented the persons at the bar from being immediately seen, but Joseph recognized his fatherin-law’s voice, saying, “ Straight, if you please ! ” Mr. Blessing was leaning against one end of the bar, with a glass in his hand, engaged with an individual of not very prepossessing appearance. He remarked to the latter, almost in a whisper (though the words reached Joseph’s ears), “You understand, the collector can’t be seen every day ; it takes time, and — more or less capital. The doorkeeper and others expect to be feed.”

As Joseph approached, he turned towards him with an angry, suspicious look, which was not changed into one of welcome so soon that a flash of uncomfortable surprise did not intervene. But the welcome once there, it deepened and mellowed, and became so warm and rich that only a cold, contracted nature could have refused to bathe in its effulgence.

“ Why ! ” he cried, with extended hands, “ I should as soon have expected to see daisies growing in this sawdust, or to find these spittoons smelling like hyacinths ! Mr. Tweed, one of our rising politicians, Mr. Asten, my son-in-law ! Asten, of Asten Hall, I might almost say, for I hear that your mansion is assuming quite a palatial aspect. Another glass, if you please : your throat must be full of dust, Joseph,—pulvis faucibus hœsit, if I might be allowed to change the classic phrase.”

Joseph tried to decline, but was forced to compromise on a moderate glass of ale ; while Mr. Blessing, whose glass was empty, poured something into it from a black bottle, nodded to Mr. Tweed, and saying, “ Always straight! ” drank it off.

“ You would not suppose,” he then said to Joseph, “ that this little room, dark as it is and not agreeably fragrant, has often witnessed the arrangement of political manœuvres which have decided the City, and through the City the State. I have seen together at that table, at midnight, Senator Slocum, and the Honorables Whitstone, Hacks, and Larruper. Why, the First Auditor of the Treasury was here no later than last week ! I frequently transact some of the confidential business of the Custom-House within these precincts, as at present.”

“Shall I wait for you outside?” Joseph asked.

“I think it will not be necessary. I have stated the facts, Mr. Tweed, and if you accept them, the figures can be arranged between us at any time. It is a simple case of algebra : by taking x, you work out the unknown quantity.”

With a hearty laugh at his own smartness, he shook the “rising politician’s” hand, and left the Wharf-Rat with Joseph.

“We can talk here as well as in the woods,” he said. “ Nobody ever hears anything in this crowd. But perhaps we had better not mention the Amaranth by name, as the operation has been kept so very close. Shall we say ‘Paraguay’ instead, or — still better — 'Reading,’ which is a very common stock ? Well, then, I guess you have come to see me in relation to the Reading ? ”

Joseph, as briefly as possible, stated the embarrassment he suffered, on account of the continued calls for payment, the difficulty of raising money for the fifth instalment, and bluntly expressed his doubts of the success of the speculation. Mr. Blessing heard him patiently to the end, and then, having collected himself, answered : — “ I understand, most perfectly, your feeling in the matter. Further, I do not deny that in respect to the time of realizing from the Am — Reading, I should say — I have also been disappointed. It has cost me no little trouble to keep my own shares intact, and my stake is so much greater than yours, for it is my all! I am ready to unite with the Chowder, at once : indeed. as one of the directors, I mentioned it at our last meeting, but the proposition, I regret to say, was not favorably entertained. We are dependent, in a great measure, on Kanuck, who is on the spot superintending the Reading ; he has been telegraphed to come on, and promises to do so as soon as the funds now called for are forthcoming. My faith, I hardly need intimate, is firm.”

“ My only resource, then,” said Joseph, “ will be to sell a portion of my stock, I suppose ? ”

“ There is one drawback to that course, and I am afraid you may not quite understand my explanation. The — Reading has not been introduced in the market, and its real value could not be demonstrated without betraying the secret lever by which we intend hoisting it to a fancy height. We could only dispose of a portion of it to capitalists whom we choose to take into our confidence. The same reason would be valid against hypothecation.”

“ Haveyou paid this last instalment ? ” Joseph suddenly asked.

“ N — no ; not wholly ; but I anticipate a temporary accommodation. If Mr. Spelter deprives me of Clementina, as I hear (through third parties) is daily becoming more probable, my family expenses will be so diminished that I shall have an ample margin ; indeed, I shall feel like a large paper copy, with my leaves uncut ! ”

He rubbed his hands gleefully ; but Joseph was too much disheartened to reply-

“ This might be done,” Mr. Blessing continued. “It is not certain that all the stockholders have yet paid. I will look over the books, and if such be the case, your delay would not be a sporadic delinquency. If otherwise, I will endeavor to gain the consent of my fellow-directors to the introduction of a new capitalist, to whom a small portion of your interest may be transferred. I trust you perceive the relevancy of this caution. We do not mean that our flower shall always blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the oleaginous air ; we only wish to guard against its being ‘untimely ripped’ (as Shakespeare says) from its parent stalk. I can well imagine how incomprehensible all this may appear to you. In all probability much of your conversation at home, relative to crops and the like, would be to me an unknown dialect. But I should not, therefore, doubt your intelligence and judgment in such matters.”

Joseph began to grow impatient. “ Do I understand you to say, Mr. Blessing,” he asked, “ that the call for the fifth instalment can be met by the sale of a part of my stock ? ”

“ In an ordinary case it might not—• under the peculiar circumstances of our operation —be possible. But I trust I do not exaggerate my own influence when I say that it is within my power to arrange it. If you will confide it to my hands, you understand, of course, that a slight formality is necessary, — a power of attorney ? ”

Joseph, in his haste and excitement, had not considered this, or any other legal point: Mr. Blessing was right.

“ Then, supposing the shares to be worth only their par value,” he said, “ the power need not apply to more than one tenth of my stock ? ”

Mr. Blessing came into collision with a gentleman passing him. Mutual wrath was aroused, followed by mutual apologies. “Let us turn into the other street,” he said to Joseph ; “ really, our lives are hardly safe in this crowd ; it is nearly three o’clock, and the banks will soon be closed.”

“ It would be prudent to allow a margin,” he resumed, after their course had been changed : “ the money market is very tight, and if a necessity were suspected, most capitalists are unprincipled enough to exact according to the urgency of the need. I do not say — nor do I at all anticipate — that it would be so in your case ; still, the future is a sort of dissolving view, and my suggestion is that of the merest prudence. I have no doubt that double the amount — say one fifth of your stock — would guard us against all contingencies. If you prefer not to intrust the matter to my hands, I will introduce you to Honeyspoon Brothers, the bankers, — the elder Honeyspoon being a director, — who will be very ready to execute your commission.”

What could Joseph do? It was impossible to say to Mr. Blessing’s face that he mistrusted him : yet he certainly did not trust ! He was weary of plausible phrases, the import of which he was powerless to dispute, yet which were so at variance with what seemed to be the facts of the case. He felt that he was lifted aloft into a dazzling, secure atmosphere, but as often as he turned to look at the wings which upheld him, their plumage shrivelled into dust, and he fell an immense distance before his feet touched a bit of reality.

The power of attorney was given. Joseph declined Mr. Blessing’s invitation to dine with him at the Universal Hotel, the Blessing table being “possibly a little lean to one accustomed to the bountiful profusion of the country,” on the plea that he must return by the evening train ; but such a weariness and disgust came over him that he halted at the Farmers’ Tavern, and took a room for the night. He slept until long into the morning, and then, cheered in spirit through the fresh vigor of all his physical functions, started homewards.

Bayard Taylor.