Beulah went back to her desk, and, with tearless eyes, began the allotted task of writing. The article was due, and must be finished; was there not a long, dark future in which to mourn? The sketch was designed to prove that woman"s happiness was not necessarily dependent on marriage. That a single life might be more useful, more tranquil, more unselfish. Beulah had painted her heroine in glowing tints, and triumphantly proved her theory correct, while to female influence she awarded a sphere (exclusive of rostrums and all political arenas) wide as the universe and high as heaven. Weary work it all seemed to her now; but she wrote on and on, and finally the last page was copied and the last punctuation mark affixed. She wrapped up the ma.n.u.script, directed it to the editor, and then the pen fell from her nerveless fingers and her head went down, with a wailing cry, on her desk. There the morning sun flashed upon a white face, tear-stained and full of keen anguish. How her readers would have marveled at the sight! Ah, "Verily the heart knoweth its own bitterness."
CHAPTER x.x.xII.
One afternoon in the following week Mrs. Williams sat wrapped up in the hall, watching Beulah"s movements in the yard at the rear of the house. The whitewashed paling was covered with luxuriant raspberry vines, and in one corner of the garden was a bed of strawberry plants. Over this bed Beulah was bending with a basket nearly filled with the ripe scarlet berries. Stooping close to the plants she saw only the fruit she was engaged in picking; and when the basket was quite full she was suddenly startled by a merry laugh and a pair of hands clasped over her eyes.
"Who blindfolds me?" said she.
"Guess, you solemn witch!"
"Why, Georgia, of course."
The hands were removed, and Georgia Asbury"s merry face greeted her.
"I am glad to see you, Georgia. Where is Helen?"
"Oh, gone to ride with one of her adorers; but I have brought somebody to see you who is worth the whole Asbury family. No less a personage than my famous cousin Reginald Lindsay, whom you have heard us speak of so often. Oh, how tempting those luscious berries are! Reginald and I intend to stay to tea, and father will perhaps come out in the carriage for us. Come, yonder is my cousin on the gallery looking at you, and pretending to talk to Mrs. Williams. He has read your magazine sketches and is very anxious to see you. How nice you look; only a little too statuish. Can"t you get up a smile?
That is better. Here, let me twine this cl.u.s.ter of wistaria in your hair; I stole it as I ran up the steps."
Beulah was clad in a pure white mull muslin, and wore a short black silk ap.r.o.n, confined at the waist by a heavy cord and ta.s.sel.
Georgia fastened the purple blossoms in her silky hair, and they entered the house. Mr. Lindsay met them, and, as his cousin introduced him, Beulah looked at him, and met the earnest gaze of a pair of deep blue eyes which seemed to index a nature singularly tranquil. She greeted him quietly, and would have led the way to the front of the house; but Georgia threw herself down on the steps, and exclaimed eagerly:
"Do let us stay here; the air is so deliciously sweet and cool.
Cousin, there is a chair. Beulah, you and I will stem these berries at once, so that they may be ready for tea."
She took the basket, and soon their fingers were stained with the rosy juice of the fragrant fruit. All restraint vanished; the conversation was gay, and spiced now and then with repartees which elicited Georgia"s birdish laugh and banished for a time the weary, joyless expression of Beulah"s countenance. The berries were finally arranged to suit Georgia"s taste, and the party returned to the little parlor. Here Beulah was soon engaged by Mr. Lindsay in the discussion of some of the leading literary questions of the day. She forgot the great sorrow that brooded over her heart, a faint, pearly glow crept into her cheeks, and the mouth lost its expression of resolute endurance. She found Mr. Lindsay highly cultivated in his tastes, polished in his manners, and possessed of rare intellectual attainments, while the utter absence of egotism and pedantry impressed her with involuntary admiration. Extensive travel and long study had familiarized him with almost every branch of science and department of literature, and the ease and grace with which he imparted some information she desired respecting the European schools of art contrasted favorably with the confused account Eugene had rendered of the same subject. She remarked a singular composure of countenance, voice, and even position, which seemed idiosyncratic, and was directly opposed to the stern rigidity and cynicism of her guardian. She shrank from the calm, steadfast gaze of his eyes, which looked into hers with a deep yet gentle scrutiny, and resolved ere the close of the evening to sound him concerning some of the philosophic phases of the age. Had he escaped the upas taint of skepticism? An opportunity soon occurred to favor her wishes, for, chancing to allude to his visit to Rydal Mount, while in the lake region of England, the transition to a discussion of the metaphysical tone of the "Excursion" was quite easy.
"You seemed disposed, like Howitt, to accord it the t.i.tle of "Bible of Quakerism,"" said Mr. Lindsay, in answer to a remark of hers concerning its tendency.
"It is a fertile theme of disputation, sir, and, since critics are so divided in their verdicts, I may well be pardoned an opinion which so many pa.s.sages seem to sanction. If Quakerism is belief in "immediate inspiration," which you will scarcely deny, then throughout the "Excursion" Wordsworth seems its apostle."
"No; he stands as a high priest in the temple of nature, and calls mankind from scientific lore to offer their orisons there at his altar and receive pa.s.sively the teachings of the material universe.
Tells us,"
""Our meddling intellect Misshapes the beauteous forms of things,""
"and promises, in nature, an unerring guide and teacher of truth. In his lines on revisiting the Wye, he declares himself,"
""Well pleased to recognize In nature, and the language of the sense, The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, The guide, the guardian of my heart and soul, Of all my moral being.""
"Quakerism rejects all extraneous aids to a knowledge of G.o.d; a silent band of friends sit waiting for the direct inspiration which alone can impart true light. Wordsworth made the senses, the appreciation of the beauty and sublimity of the universe, an avenue of light; while Quakerism, according to the doctrines of Fox and his early followers, is merely a form of mysticism nearly allied to the "ecstasy" of Plotinus. The Quaker silences his reason, his every faculty, and in utter pa.s.sivity waits for the infusion of divine light into his mind; the mystic of Alexandria, as far as possible, divests his intellect of all personality, and becomes absorbed in the Infinite intelligence from which it emanated."
Beulah knitted her brows, and answered musingly:
"And here, then, extremes meet. To know G.o.d we must be G.o.d.
Mysticism and Pantheism link hands over the gulf which seemed to divide them."
"Miss Benton, is this view of the subject a novel one?" said he, looking at her very intently.
"No; a singular pa.s.sage in the "Biographia Literaria" suggested it to me long ago. But unwelcome hints are rarely accepted, you know."
"Why unwelcome in this case?"
She looked at him, but made no reply, and none was needed. He understood why, and said quietly yet impressively:
"It sets the seal of necessity upon Revelation. Not the mystical intuitions of the dreamers, who would fain teach of continued direct inspiration from G.o.d, even at the present time, but the revelation which began in Genesis and ended with John on Patmos. The very absurdities of philosophy are the most potent arguments in substantiating the claims of Christianity. Kant"s theory that we can know nothing beyond ourselves gave the deathblow to philosophy.
Mysticism contends that reason only darkens the mind, and consequently, discarding all reasoning processes, relies upon immediate revelation. But the extravagances of Swedenborg, and even of George Fox, prove the fallacy of the a.s.sumption of continued inspiration, and the only alternative is to rest upon the Christian Revelation, which has successfully defied all a.s.saults."
There was an instantaneous flash of joy over Beulah"s troubled face, and she said hastily:
"You have escaped the contagion, then? Such exemption is rare nowadays, for skepticism broods with sable wings over the age"
"It has always brooded where man essayed to lift the veil of Isis; to elucidate the arcana of the universe, to solve the unsolvable.
Skepticism is the disease of minds which Christian faith alone can render healthy."
The thrust showed she was not invulnerable; but before she could reply, Georgia exclaimed:
"In the name of common sense, Reginald, what are you discoursing about so tiresomely? I suppose I am shamefully stupid, but I don"t understand a word you two have been saying. When father and Beulah get on such dry, tedious subjects I always set up an opposition at the piano, which in this instance I am forced to do, from sheer necessity."
She raised the lid of the piano and rattled off a brilliant overture; then made Beulah join her in several instrumental duets.
As the latter rose, Mr. Lindsay said, somewhat abruptly:
"I believe you sing. My cousins have been extolling your voice, and I have some curiosity to hear you. Will you gratify me?"
"Certainly, if you desire it."
She could not refrain from smiling at the perfect nonchalance of his manner, and, pa.s.sing her fingers over the keys, sang a beautiful air from "Lucia." Her guest listened attentively, and, when the song was ended, approached the piano, and said, with some interest:
"I should prefer a simple ballad, if you will favor me with one."
"Something after the order of "Lilly Dale," Beulah. He hears nothing else in his country home," said Georgia teasingly.
He smiled, but did not contradict her, and Beulah sang that exquisite ballad, "Why Do Summer Roses Fade?" It was one of her guardian"s favorite airs, and now his image was a.s.sociated with the strain. Ere the first verse was finished, a deep, rich, manly voice, which had sometimes echoed through the study, seemed again to join hers, and, despite her efforts, her own tones trembled.
Soon after Beulah took her place at the tea table in the center of the room, and conversation turned on the delights of country life.
"Reginald, how do you manage to amuse yourself in that little town of yours?" asked Georgia, drawing the bowl of strawberries near and helping him bountifully.
"I might answer that I had pa.s.sed the age when amus.e.m.e.nt was necessary, but I will not beg your question so completely. In the first place, I do not reside in town. My office is there, and during the day, when not absent at court, I am generally in my office; but evening always finds me at home. Once there, I have endless sources of amus.e.m.e.nt; my mother"s flowers and birds, my farm affairs, my music, and my library, to say nothing of hunting and fishing.
Remember, Georgia, that, as a cla.s.s, lawyers are not addicted to what you call amus.e.m.e.nts."
"But after living in Europe, and traveling so much, I should think that plantation would be horribly dull. Do you never suffer from ennui, cut off as you are from all society?"
"Ennui is a disease of which I am yet happily ignorant. But for my mother I should feel the need of society; in a great measure her presence supplies it. I shall tell you no more, cousin mine, since you and Helen are to spend a portion of your summer with us, and can judge for yourselves of the attractions of my country home."