Chapter 11

WE HAVE DONE WITH TEARS AND TREASONS

"Here is a letter from Arenta!" repeated the Doctor to his wife, who was
just entering the room, "Come, Ava, and listen to what she has to say. I
have no doubt it will be interesting." Then Cornelia read aloud the
following words:
MY DEAR FRIEND CORNELIA:
If to-day I could walk down Maiden Lane, if to-day I could see you and
talk to you, I should imagine myself in heaven. For as to this city, I
think that in hell the name of "Paris" must have spread itself far and
wide. Indeed I often wonder if I am yet on the earth, or if I have gone
away in my sleep to the country of the devil and his angels. Even as I
am writing to you, my pen is shaking with terror, for I hear the tumbrel
come jolting along, and I know that it is loaded with innocent men and
women who are going to the guillotine; and I know also that it is
accompanied by a mob of dreadful creatures--mostly women--for I hear
them singing--no, screaming--in a kind of rage,
"Ca ira les aristocrates a la lanterne!"
Do you remember our learning in those happy days at Bethlehem of the
slaughter of Christians by Nero? Very well; right here in the Paris of
Marat and Robespierre, you may hear constantly the same brutal cry that
filled the Rome of the Caesars--"DEATH TO THE CHRISTIANS!" Famine,
anarchy, murder, are everywhere; and I live from moment to moment,
trembling if a step comes near me. For Athanase is imprudence itself.
His opinions will be the death of him. He will not desert the
Girondists, though Mr. Morris tells him their doom is certain. Marat is
against them, and the Jacobins--who are deliriously wicked--are against
them, and the mob of the Faubourgs is against them; and this mob is
always of one mind, always on the spot, and always hungry and ready for
anarchy and blood. Besides which, they are already accused of having
sold themselves to Mr. Pitt. Very often I have heard my dear father
talking of universal suffrage as the bulwark of liberty; well then, we
have now, and here, an universal suffrage that is neither a fraud nor a
fiction; and as Athanase says, "it is expressing itself every minute, in
the crimes of the Holy Guillotine."
And yet Paris makes a pretence of being gay and of enjoying itself. We
go to the theatre and the opera, and we dance, as it were, red, wet-shod
to the hideous strains of the Carmagnole. It is indeed a dance of death.
The other night we were at a reception given by Madame Talma to the
victorious General Dumouriez. All the Brissot party were there. Your
father will remember Brissot de Warville very well. He was greatly
petted by Mrs. Jay and the aristocracy of New York and Philadelphia.
Jefferson made a friend of him, and even Washington talked with him
about his book on our country. Then he passed himself off as a noble,
but he is really the son of an innkeeper. I had so often heard of him,
that I regarded with interest his pale face and grave, melancholy
manner. He was accompanied by Camille Desmoulins, and by Danton; the
latter a man almost terrible in his ugliness. David, the painter of
Socrates, was there; he had his hair frizzed, and was dressed
splendidly; and with him was Chenier, more tragic looking than any of
his plays. The salons were filled with flowers and beautiful women;
among them the majestic Madame Vestris, and the lovely Mademoiselle
Candeille, who was singing a song when there arose a sudden
indescribable noise, growing louder and louder, and then the cry of
MARAT! MARAT! and the "Friend of the People" entered. Now I shall spare
a few minutes to tell you, that no one has made frightful enough his
large bony face, his thin lips and his livid complexion. He wore an old
carmagnole, a dirty handkerchief twisted about his neck, leather
breeches, shoes without stockings, and a piece of red cotton round his
head, from which there hung a few locks of greasy hair. A nervous
twitching keeps him constantly moving, and he has the leprosy:--this is
well known. He walked straight to Dumouriez, who said disdainfully, "Ah!
are you the man they call Marat?" Marat immediately demanded from him an
account of military measures he had taken. They had some sharp
conversation which I did not hear, and Marat finally went away uttering
the most insulting threats, and leaving every one in a state of mortal
terror. The next day the newsboys were shouting "the discovery of a
great plot by Marat, the Friend of the People! Great meeting of
Aristocrats at Talmas, etc."
This is the kind of pleasure we have; as to religion, there is no longer
any religion. Everywhere the Almighty is spoken of as the "soi-disant
God." The monarchy is abolished, and yet so ignorant are the leaders of
the people, that when Brissot mentioned the word Republic in Petion's
house, Robespierre said with a grin, "Republic! Republic! what's a
republic?" Spying, and fear, and death penetrate into the most private
houses; above all, fear, constant fear of every one with whom you come
in contact. This feeling is so universal, that some one has conjugated
it thus--I am afraid--Thou art afraid--He is afraid--We are afraid--
You are afraid--They are afraid--For as death has been officially
declared "an endless sleep" any crime is possible; the mob have no fear
of hell, and as for the guillotine, it is their opera and their
perpetual comedy. Very soon these things must bring on France the
chastisement of the Lord; and I shall not be sorry for it.
I have told you the truth about our condition, because I have just had a
letter from my father, and he talks of leaving his business in Claus
Bergen's care, and coming here to look after me. You must convince him,
that he could do me no good whatever, and that he might do me much harm.
He is outspoken as a Zealander, and what is in his head and his heart,
would come to his lips; also, if it should come to flight, he would
embarrass me very much. Tell him not to fear; Arenta says, not to fear.
I may indeed have to take a seat in "the terrible armchair" [Footnote:
The chair in which the accused sat before the Revolutionary Tribunal and
from which they usually went to the guillotine.] but I shall not go to
the guillotine; I know that. While Minister Morris is here I have a
friend that can do all that can be done. I have had a few letters from
Rem, but they do not satisfy me. He is in love, AND NOT WITH YOU. Will
you please inform me what that means? Say to Aunt Angelica that I am
astonished at her silence; and ask our good Domine to pray that I may
soon return to a country where God reigns. Never again do I wish to
spend one minute in a place where there is no God; for whatever they may
call that place, its real name is hell. Write me a long letter and tell
me all the news of New York, and with my respectful remembrance to your
dear father and mother, I am always your loving friend, ARENTA, MARQUISE
DE TOUNNERRE.
"Poor Arenta!" said the Doctor when Cornelia had finished the wretched
epistle. "She is however showing the mettle of the race from which she
sprang. The spirit of the men who fought Alva is in her, and I think she
will be a match for Marat, if it comes to that. Suppose you go and see
Van Ariens, and give him all the comfort you can. Are you too weary?"
"I should like to see him, I am not tired now. Home is such a good
doctor."
"I think you will find him in his house. He comes from his office very
early these days."
Cornelia crossed the street and was going to knock at the door, when Van
Ariens hastily opened it. His broad face shone with pleasure, and when
Cornelia told him her errand, he was in a hurry of loving anxiety to
hear what his child had written.
"I understand," he said, when he had heard the letter. "She is
frightened, the poor little one! but she will smile and say 'it is
nothing.' That is her way. However, I yet think I must go to her."
"Do not," urged Cornelia. "France is now at war with Holland, and you
would be recognized as a Dutchman."
"That is so. My tongue would tell tales on me; and to go--even to
heaven--by the guillotine, is not what a good man would wish. No
indeed!"
"And you may see by Arenta's letter, that she does not fear the
guillotine. Come over to-night and talk to my father and mother, and I
will tell you what I saw in Philadelphia."
"Well then, I will come."
"Is Madame Jacobus back in New York yet?"
"She is in London."
"But why in London?"
"That, I know not. Two reasons I can suppose, but which is right, or if
either be right, that is beyond my certainty."
"Is her sister-in-law dead?"
"She is dead. Her husband was an Englishman; perhaps then it is about
some property in England she has gone. If it is not that, of nothing
else can I think but Captain Jacobus. But my sister Angelica had ever
two ways--nothing at all she would say about her money or her business;
but constantly, to every one, she would talk of her husband. I think
then it is money or property that has taken her to England. For if it
had been Jacobus, to the whole town she would have told it." Then he
took both Cornelia's hands in his, and looking at her earnestly said--
"Poor Rem! Impossible is it?"
"Quite impossible, sir," she answered.
"When he got thy letter refusing his love and offer, he went to Boston.
I think he will not come back to me. I am very sorry," he said simply,
and he let her hands drop.
"I am sorry also--for your sake. I hear however that Rem is doing well
in Boston."
"Better than his hopes. Very good fortune has come to him."
"And you, sir?"
"I am not doing much at present--but Smith and Warren do less. In an
hour or two to your house I will come. There is plenty to talk about."
The next day Cornelia walked down Broadway to Madame Jacobus' house. It
was closed and desolate looking, and she sighed as she compared its old
bright spotless comfort, with its present empty forlornness. The change
typified the change in her heart and love, but ere she could entertain
the thought, her eyes fell upon the trees in the garden, full of the
pale crinkled leaves of spring, and she saw the early flowers breaking
through the dark earth, and the early shrubs bursting into white and
golden blooms. In some way they had a message for her; and she went home
with hope budding in her heart. Soon after Mrs. Moran heard her singing
at her work,
                "The far east glows,
 The morning wind blows fresh and free;
 Should not the hour that wakes the rose
                 Awaken thee?
                    No longer sleep--
                      Oh listen now!
                    I wait and weep,
                      But where art thou?"
From one to another song she went, simple melodies all of them,
delightful little warblings of love, which except for their gladness and
loyalty, had nothing in them to charm.
She was a deserted maiden. Her lover had palpably and with extreme
cruelty deceived her; but she had grieved, and forgiven. And love brings
its reward, even if unrequited. Those who love, and have loved, are the
better for the revelation; for love for love's sake enriches and blesses
the lover to the very end of life. She did not forget, for love has
everlasting remembrance; and she did not wish to forget, for a great
affection is a great happiness, and the whole soul can find shelter in
it.
Neither were her days monotonous or unhappy. All the real pleasures of
life lie in narrow compass; and she found herself very often a little
hurried for want of time. She had not, it is true, the resources of the
woman of to-day--no literary, musical, social, or sporting clubs existed
for Cornelia; but she had duties and devices that made every moment
pleasant or profitable. Many hours daily were given to fine needlework--
calm quiet hours full of thought as well as work; she had her music to
practice, new books and papers to read, calls to make, mantua makers and
milliners to interview, dinners and dances and tea-parties to attend,
shopping to look after, delicate bits of darning and mending to exercise
her skill on, creams and pasties and cakes to prepare, visitors to
welcome and entertain, and many other duties which sprang up--as extras
do--unexpectedly, and yet which opened the door for very pleasant
surprises and events.
Besides which, there was her father. After her return from school she
had always driven with him to some extent; but his claim on her now was
often a little exacting. He said the fresh spring winds were good for
her, and that she stayed in the house too much, and there was no evading
the dictum that came with both parental and medical authority. Perhaps
this demand upon her time would not have been made if the Hydes had been
in New York; but Doctor Moran by frequent inquiries satisfied himself
that they were yet in Philadelphia; and for his daughter's satisfaction
he frequently said as they drove up Maiden Lane, "We will take the
Greenwich Road, there is no fear of our meeting any one we do not wish
to see." She understood the allusion, and was satisfied to escape
meetings that promised her nothing but pain.
In the month of May there occurred one of those wet spells which are so
irritating "growing weather" of course, but very tiresome to those who
felt the joy of spring escaping them. Week after week it was too damp,
or the winds were too sharp, or the roads too heavy for quick driving,
and thus the month of all months went out of the calendar with few red
letter days to brighten it. Then June came in royally, and Cornelia was
glad of the sunshine and the breeze and the rapid canter; and for a week
or two she was much out with her father. But he was now ever on the
watch, and she judged from the circumstance that the Hydes were back in
New York. Besides which, he did not any longer give her the assurance of
not meeting any one they did not wish to see.
One exquisite day as they went up Maiden Lane the Doctor said--" My
friend General Hewitt sails for England to-day, and we will go and wish
him a good voyage." So to the pier they went, and the Doctor left his
carriage, and taking Cornelia on his arm walked down to where the
English packet was lying. They were a little too late to go on board,
for the shoremen were taking away the gang-plank, and the sailors
preparing to lift the anchor; but the General stood leaning over the
side of the vessel, and exchanged some last words with his friend.
 [Illustration: "SHE WAVED HIM AN ADIEU"]
While Cornelia listened, she became suddenly conscious of the powerful
magnetism of some human eye, and obeying its irresistible attraction she
saw George Hyde steadily regarding her. He stood by the side of his
father, as handsome as on that May morning when he had first looked love
into her heart. She was enthralled again by his glance, and never for
one moment thought of resisting the appeal it made to her. With a
conscious tenderness she waved him an adieu whose spirit he could not
but feel. In the same moment he lifted his hat and stood bareheaded
looking at her with a pathetic inquiry, which made her inwardly cry out,
"Oh, what does he mean?" The packet was moving--the wind filled the
blowing sails--the hoarse crying of the sailormen blended with the
"good-byes" of the passengers--and the Earl, aware of the sad and
silent parting within his sight--moved away as Cornelia again waved a
mute farewell to her lost lover. Then the Doctor touched her--
"Why do you do that?" he asked angrily.
"Because I must do it, father; I cannot help it. I desire to do it."
"I am in a hurry; let us go home."
Filling her eyes with the beauty of the splendid looking youth still
standing bareheaded watching her, seeing even such trivial things as his
long cloak thrown backward over his shoulder, his white hand holding his
lifted hat, and the wind-tossed curls of his handsome head, she turned
away with a sigh. The Doctor drove rapidly to Maiden Lane and did not on
the way speak a word; and Cornelia was glad of it. That image of her
lover standing on the moving ship watching her with his heart in his
eyes, filled her whole consciousness. Never would it be possible for her
to forget it, or to put any other image in its place. She thanked her
good angel for giving her such a comforting memory; it seemed as if the
sting had been taken out of her sorrow. Henceforward she was resolved to
love without a doubt. She would believe in Joris, no matter what she had
seen, or what she had heard. There were places in life to which alas!
truth could not come; and this might be one of them. Though all the
world blamed her lover, she would excuse him. Her heart might ache, her
eyes might weep, but in that aching heart and in those weeping eyes, his
splendid image would live in that radiant dimness which makes the unseen
face, often more real than the present one.
Doctor Moran divined something of this resolute temper, and it made him
silent. He felt that his daughter had come to a place where she had put
reason firmly aside, and given her whole assent to the assurances of her
intuition. He had no arguments for an antagonism of this kind. What
could he say to a soul that presaged a something, and then believed it?
His instinctive sagacity told him that silence was now the part of
wisdom. But though he took her silently home he was conscious of a great
relief. His watch was over.
Now a woman's intuition is like a leopard's spring, it seizes the truth
--if it seize it at all--at the first bound; and it was by this
unaccountable mental agility Cornelia had arrived at the conviction of
her lover's fidelity. At any rate, she felt confident, that if
circumstances had compelled him to be false to her, the wrong had been
sincerely mourned; and she was able to forgive the offence that was
blotted out with tears. She reflected also, that now he was so far away,
it would be possible for her to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk, and also
upon Madame Jacobus as soon as she returned; but if Hyde had remained in
New York, these houses would necessarily be closed to her, for he was a
constant visitor at both.
She resolved therefore to call upon Madame Van Heemskirk the following
week. She expected the old lady might treat her a little formally,
perhaps even with some coldness, but she thought it worth while to test
her kindness. Joris had once told her that his grandfather and
grandmother both approved their love, and they must know of his
desertion, and also of the reason for it. Yet there was in her heart
such a reluctance to take any step that had the appearance of seeking
her lost lover, that she put off this visit day after day, finding in
the weather or in some household duty always a fair excuse for doing so,
until one morning the Doctor said at breakfast:
"Councillor De Vrees died yesterday, and there is to be a great funeral.
Every Dutchman in town will be there, and many others beside, He has
left an immense fortune."
"Who told you this?" asked Mrs. Moran.
"I met Van Heemskirk and his wife going there. Madame De Vrees is their
daughter. Now you will see great changes take place."
"What do you mean, John?"
"Madame De Vrees has long wanted to build a mansion equal to their
wealth, but the Councillor would never leave the house he built at their
marriage. Madame will now build, and her children take their places
among the great ones of the city. De Vrees was an oddity; very few
people will be sorry to lose him. He had no good quality but money, and
he was the most unhappy of men about its future disposal. I never
understood until I knew him, how wretched a thing it is to be merely
rich."
This conversation again put off Cornelia's visit, and she virtually
abandoned the idea. Then one morning Mrs. Moran said, "Cornelia, I wish
you to go to William Irvin's for some hosiery and Kendal cottons. It is
a new store down the Lane at number ninety, and I hear his cloths are
strangely cheap. Go and examine them for me."
"Very well, mother. I will also look in at Fisher's;" and it was at
Fisher's that she saw Madame Van Heemskirk. She was talking to Mr. Henry
Fisher as they advanced from the back of the store, and Cornelia had
time to observe that madame was in deep mourning, and that she had grown
older looking since she had last seen her. As they came forward madame
raised her eyes and saw Cornelia, and then hastily leaving the merchant,
she approached her.
"Good-morning, madame," said Cornelia, with a cheerful smile.
"Good-morning, miss. Step aside once with me. A few words I have to say
to you;" and as she spoke she drew Cornelia a little apart from the
crowd at the counter, and looking at her sternly, said--
"One question only--why then did you treat my grandson so badly? A
shameful thing it is to be a flirt."
"I am not a flirt, madame. And I did not treat your grandson badly. No,
indeed!"
"Yes, indeed! He told me so himself."
"He told you so?"
"He told me so. Surely he did."
"That I treated him badly?"
"Pray then what else? You let a young man love you--you let him tell you
so--you tell him 'yes, I love you' and then when he says marry me, you
say, 'no.' Such ways I call bad, very bad! Not worthy of my Joris are
you, and so then, I am glad you said 'no.'"
"I do not understand you."
"Neither did you understand my Joris--a great mistake he made--and he
did not understand you; and I do not understand such ways of the girls
of this day. They are shameless, and I am ashamed for you."
"Madame, you are very rude."
"And very false are you."
"I am not false."
"My Joris told me so. Truth itself is Joris. He would not lie. He would
not deceive."
"If your grandson told you I had deceived him, and refused to marry
him,--let it be so. I have no wish to contradict your grandson."
"That you cannot do. I am ashamed--"
"Madame, I wish you good morning;" and with these words Cornelia left
the store. Her cheeks were burning; the old lady's angry voice was in
her ears, she felt the eyes of every one in the store upon her, and she
was indignant and mortified at a meeting so inopportune. Her heart had
also received a new stab; and she had not at the moment any philosophy
to meet it. Joris had evidently told his grandmother exactly what the
old lady affirmed. She had not a doubt of that, but why? Why had he lied
about her? Was there no other way out of his entanglement with her? She
walked home in a hurry, and as soon as possible shut herself in her room
to consider this fresh wrong and injustice.
She could arrive at only one conclusion--Annie's most unexpected
appearance had happened immediately after his proposal to herself. He
was pressed for time, his grandparents would be especially likely to
embarrass him concerning her claims, and of course the quickest and
surest way to prevent questioning on the matter, was to tell them that
she had refused him. That fact would close their mouths in sympathy for
his disappointment, and there would be no further circumstances to clear
up. It was the only explanation of madame's attitude that was possible,
and she was compelled to accept it, much as it humiliated her. And then
after it had been accepted and sorrowed over, there came back to her
those deeper assurances, those soul assertions, which she could not
either examine or define, but which she felt compelled to receive--He
loves me! I feel it! It is not his fault! I must not think wrong of him.
There was still Madame Jacobus to hope for. She was so shrewd and so
kindly, that Cornelia felt certain of her sympathy and wise advice. But
month after month passed away and madame's house remained empty and
forlorn-looking. Now and then there came short fateful letters from
Arenta, and Van Ariens--utterly miserable--visited them frequently that
he might be comforted with their assurances of his child's ability to
manage the very worst circumstances in which she could be placed.
And so the long summer days passed and the winter approached again; but
before that time Cornelia had at least attained to the wisest of all the
virtues--that calm, hushed contentment, which is only another name for
happiness--that contentment which accepts the fact that there is a chain
of causes linked to effects by an invincible necessity; and that
whatever is, could not have wisely been but so. And if this was
fatalism, it was at least a brighter thing than the languid pessimism,
which would have led her life among quicksands, to end it in wreck.
One day at the close of October she put down her needlework with a
little impatience. "I am tired of sewing, mother," she said, "and I will
walk down to the Battery and get a breath of the sea. I shall not stay
long."
On her way to the Battery she was thinking of Hyde, and of their
frequent walks together there; and for once she passed the house of
Madame Jacobus without a glance at its long-closed windows. It was
growing dark as she returned, and ere she quite reached it she was aware
of a glow of fire light and candle light from the windows. She quickened
her steps, and saw a servant well known to her standing at the open door
directing two men who were carrying in trunks and packages. She
immediately accosted him.
"Has madame returned at last, Ameer?" she asked joyfully.
"Madame has returned home," he answered. "She is weary--she is not
alone--she will not receive to-night."
"Surely not. I did not think of such a thing. Tell her only that I am
glad, and will call as soon as she can see me."
The man's manner--usually so friendly--was shy and peculiar, and
Cornelia felt saddened and disappointed. "And yet why?" she asked
herself. "Madame has but reached home--I did not wish to intrude upon
her--Ameer need not have thought so--however I am glad she is back
again"--and she walked rapidly home to the thoughts which this
unexpected arrival induced. They were hopeful thoughts, leaning--however
she directed them--towards her absent lover. She felt sure madame would
see clearly to the very bottom of what she could not understand. She
went into her mother's presence full of renewed expectations, and met
her smile with one of unusual brightness.
"Madame Jacobus is at home," said Mrs. Moran, before Cornelia could
speak. "She sent for your father just after you left the house, and I
suppose that he is still there."
"Is she sick?"
"I do not know. I fear so, for the visit is a long one."
It continued so much longer that the two ladies took their tea alone,
nor could they talk of any other subject than madame, and her most
unexpected call for Doctor Moran's services." It was always the Dutch
Doctor Gansvoort she had before," said Mrs. Moran; "and she was ever
ready to scoff at all others, as pretenders.--I do wonder what keeps
your father so long?"
It was near ten o'clock when Doctor Moran returned, and his face was
sombre and thoughtful--the face of a man who had been listening for
hours to grave matters, and who had not been able to throw off their
physical reflection.
"Have you had tea, John?" asked Mrs. Moran.
"No. Give me a good strong cup, Ava. I am tired with listening and
feeling."
She poured it out quickly, and after he had taken the refreshing drink,
Cornelia asked--
"Is madame very ill?"
"She is wonderfully well. It is her husband."
"Captain Jacobus?"
"Who else? She has brought him home, and I doubt if she has done
wisely."
"What has happened, John? Surely you will tell us!"
"There is nothing to conceal. I have heard the whole story--a very
pitiful story--but yet like enough to end well, Madame told me that the
day after her sister-in-law's burial, James Lauder, a Scotchman who had
often sailed with Captain Jacobus, came down to Charleston to see her.
He had sought her in New York, and been directed by her lawyer to
Charleston. He declared that having had occasion to go to Guy's Hospital
in London to visit a sick comrade, he saw there Captain Jacobus. He
would not admit any doubt of his identity, but said the Captain had
forgotten his name, and everything in connection with his past life; and
was hanging about the premises by favour of the physicians, holding
their horses, and doing various little services for them."
"Oh how well I can imagine madame's hurry and distress," said Cornelia.
"She hardly knew how to reach London quickly enough. She said thought
would have been too slow for her. But Lauder's tale proved to be true.
Her first action was to take possession of the demented man, and
surround him with every comfort. He appeared quite indifferent to her
care, and she obtained no shadow of recognition from him. She then
brought to his case all the medical skill money could procure, and in
the consultation which followed, the physicians decided to perform the
operation of trepanning."
"But why? Had he been injured, John?"
"Very badly. The hospital books showed that he had been brought there by
two sailors, who said he had been struck in a gale by a falling mast.
The wound healed, but left him mentally a wreck. The physicians decided
that the brain was suffering from pressure, and that trepanning would
relieve, if it did not cure."
"Then why was it not done at first?"
"Whose interest was it to inquire? No money was left with the injured
man. The sailors who took him to the hospital gave false names, and
address, and he received only such treatment as a pauper patient was
likely to receive. But he made friends, and was supported about the
place. Imagine now what a trial was before madame! It was a difficult
matter to perform the operation, for the patient could not be made to
understand its necessity; and he was very hard to manage. Then picture
to yourselves, the terrible strain of nursing which followed; though
madame says it was soon brightened and lightened by her husband's
recognition of her. After that event all weariness was rest, and
suffering ease; and as soon as he was able to travel both were
determined to return at once to their own home. He is yet however a sick
man, and may never quite recover a slight paralysis of the lower limbs."
"Does he remember how he was hurt?"
"He declares his men mutinied, because instead of returning to New
York, he had taken on a cargo for the East India Company; and that the
blow was given him either by his first, or second mate. He thinks they
sailed his ship out of the Thames, for her papers were all made out, and
she was ready to drop down the river with the next tide. He vows he will
get well and find his ship and the rascals that stole her; and I should
not wonder if he does. He has will enough for anything. Madame desires
to see you, Cornelia. Can you go there with me in the morning?"
"I shall be glad to go. Madame is like no one else."
"She is not like herself at present. I think you may be a little
disappointed in her. She has but one thought, one care, one end and aim
in life--her husband."
The Doctor had judged correctly. Cornelia was disappointed from the
first moment. She was taken to the dim uncanny drawing-room by Ameer,
and left among its ill-omened gods, and odd treasure-trove for nearly
half an hour before madame came to her. The rudely graven faces, so
marvellously instinct with life, made her miserable; she fancied a
thousand mockeries and scorns in them; and no thought of Hyde, or
Arenta, or of the happy hours spent in that ill-boding room, could charm
away its sinister influence.
When madame at length came to her, she appeared like the very genius of
the place. The experiences of the past year had left traces which no
after experience would be able to obliterate. She looked ten years
older. Her wonderful dark eyes, glowing with a soft tender fire alone
remained untouched by the withering hand of anxious love. They were as
vital as ever they had been, and when Cornelia said so, she answered,
"That is because my soul dwells in them, and my soul is always young. I
have had a year, Cornelia, to crumble the body to dust; but my soul made
light of it for love's sake. Did your father tell you how much Captain
Jacobus had suffered?"
"Yes, madame."
But in spite of this assurance, madame went over the whole story in
detail, and Cornelia could not help but remember that Mr. Van Ariens had
said "about her husband she will talk constantly, and to the whole
town." For however far the conversation diverged for a moment, madame
always brought it sharply back to the one subject that interested her.
Even Arenta's peculiarly dangerous position could not detain her
thoughts and interest for many minutes.
"I am sorry for Arenta," she said; "no greater hell can there be, than
to live in constant fear. But she has the gift of a clever tongue, and
every one has not the like talent; and also if a woman with the decency
of her sex may be a scholar, Arenta has learning enough to compass the
fools who might injure her."
"Marat and Robespierre are both against her husband, and she may share
his fate."
"Marat and Robespierre!" she cried. "Both of the creatures have a
devil. I wish them to go to the guillotine together, and I would bury
them together with their faces downwards. Let them pass out of your
memory. Poor Jacobus was in a worse case than Arenta. Till I be key-cold
dead, I shall never forget my first sight of him in that dreadful place--"
and then she described again her overwhelming emotions when she
perceived he was alike apathetic to his pauper condition, and to her
love and presence. There never came a moment during the whole visit when
it was possible to speak of Hyde. Madame seemed to have quite forgotten
her liking for the handsome youth; it had been swallowed up in her
adoring affection for her restored husband.
Cornelia would not force the memory upon her. Some day she might
remember; but for a little while madame had more than enough of fresh
material for her conversation. Every one who had known Captain Jacobus
or herself, called with congratulations for their happy return; and when
Cornelia made a nearly daily visit with her father, madame had these
calls to talk over with her.
One morning, however, the long-looked-for topic was introduced. "I had a
visit from Madame Van Heemskirk yesterday afternoon," she said; "and the
dear old Senator came with her to see Captain Jacobus. While they
talked, madame told me that you had refused that handsome young fellow,
her grandson. What could you mean by such a stupidity, Miss Moran?"
Her voice had just that tone of indifference, mingled with sarcastic
disapproval, that hurt and offended Cornelia. She felt that it was not
worth while to explain herself, for madame had evidently accepted the
offended grandmother's opinion; and the memory of the young Lord was
lively enough to make her sympathize with his supposed wrong.
"I never considered you to be a flirt," she continued, "and I am
astonished. If, now, it had been Arenta, I could have understood it. I
told Madame Van Heemskirk that I had not the least doubt Doctor Moran
dictated the refusal."
"Oh, indeed," answered Cornelia, with a good deal of spirit and some
anger, "you shall not blame my father. He knew nothing whatever of Lord
Hyde's offer, until I had been subjected to such insult and wrong as
drove me to the grave's mouth. Only the mercy of God, and my father's
skill, brought me back to life."
"Yes, I think your father to be wonderfully skilful. He has done Jacobus
a great deal of good, and he now gives him hope of a perfect recovery.
Doctor Moran is a fine physician; Jacobus says so."
Cornelia remained silent. If madame did not feel interest sufficient in
her affairs to ask for the particulars of one so nearly fatal to her,
she determined not to force the subject on her. Then Jacobus rang his
bell, and madame flew to his room to see whether his want had received
proper attention. Cornelia sat still a few moments, her heart swelling,
her eyes filling with the sense of that injustice, harder to bear than
any other form of wrong. She was going away, when madame returned to
her, and something in her eyes went to the heart of the older woman. She
turned her back, with a kind but peremptory word, and taking her hand,
said--
"I have been thoughtless, Cornelia, selfish, I dare say; but I do not
wish to be so. Tell me, my dear, what has happened. Did you quarrel with
George Hyde? And pray what was it about?"
"We never had one word of any kind, but words of affection. He wrote and
asked me if he could come and see my father about our marriage, on a
certain night. I answered his letter with all the love that was in my
heart for him, and told him to come and see my father that very night.
He never came. He never sent me the least explanation. He never wrote to
me, or spoke to me again."
"Oh, but this is a different story! His grandmother told me that you
refused him."
"That is not the truth. Lady Annie Hyde came most unexpectedly that very
day, and I suppose the easiest way to stop all inquiries about Miss
Moran, was to say 'she refused me.'"
"And after Lady Annie's arrival, what happened?"
"I was absolutely deserted. That is the truth. I may as well admit it.
Perhaps you think it impossible for a young man so good-natured to
behave in a manner so cruel and dishonourable; but I assure you it is
the truth."
"My dear, I have lived to see it almost impossible to think worse of
people than they are; and if you can bear to hear more on this subject,
I will tell it to you myself."
"I can always bear the truth. If I have lost my heart, I have not lost
my head; nor will I surrender to useless grief the happiness which I can
yet make for others, and for myself."
"If what you have told me be so--and I believe it is--then I say Lord
George Hyde is an intolerable scoundrel."
"I would rather not hear him spoken of in that way."
"I ask your pardon, but I must give myself a little Christian liberty of
railing. The man is false clean through. He was evidently engaged to
Lady Annie when he first sought your love, and therefore as soon as she
came here, he deserted you. I will tell you plainly that I saw him last
summer very frequently, and he was always with her--always listening
with ears and heart to what she said--always watching her with all his
soul in his eyes--ever on the lookout to see that not a breath of wind
ruffled her soft wraps, or blew too strongly on her little white face."
"That was his way, madame. I have seen him devoting himself to you in
the same manner; yes, and to Madame Griffin, and Miss White, and a score
of other ladies--old and young. You know how good-natured he was. When
did you hear him say a wrong word of any one? even of Rem Van Ariens who
was often intolerably rude."
"Very well! I would rather have a man 'intolerably rude' like my nephew
Rem, than one like Lord Hyde who speaks well of everybody. Upon my word,
I think that is the worst kind of slander!"
"I think not."
"It is; for it takes away the reputation of good men, by making all men
alike. But this, that, or the other, I saw Lord Hyde in devoted
attendance on Lady Annie. Give him up totally. He is in his kingdom when
he has a pretty woman to make a fool of. As for marriage, these young
men who have the world, or the better part of it, they marry where
Cupidity, not Cupid leads them. Give him up entirely."
"I have done so," answered Cornelia. And then she felt a sudden anger at
herself, so much so, that as she walked home, she kept assuring her
heart with an almost passionate insistence, "I have not given him up! I
will not give him up! I believe in him yet."
Madame's advice might be wise, but there are counsels of perfection that
cannot be followed; because they are utterly at variance with that
intuitive knowledge, which the soul has of old; and which it will not
surrender; and whose wisdom it is interiorly sure of. And after this
confidence Cornelia did not go so often to madame's. Something jarred
between them. We know that a single drop taken from a glass of water
changes the water level swift as thought, and the same law is certain in
all human relations. Madame was not quite the same; something had been
taken away; the level of their friendship was changed; and when Doctor
Moran could not but perceive this fact, he said--
"Go less frequently to madame's, Cornelia. You do not enjoy your visits;
dissolve a friendship that begins to be incomplete. It is the best
plan."