You are fortunate."
"I thanked my stars that Antoinette was not in the carriage; for most certainly she would have made matters worse, by screaming like an idiot and jumping out. Beulah taught me common sense," answered Cornelia, unclasping a bracelet and tossing a handful of jewelry across the room to her dressing table.
"You underrate yourself, my dear," said her mother, a little proudly.
"Not at all. Humility, genuine or feigned, is not one of our family traits. Mother, will you send up tea for us? We want a quiet time; at least, I do, and Beulah will stay with me."
"But, my love, it is selfish to exclude the balance of the family.
Why not come down to the sitting room, where we can all be together?" pleaded the mother.
"Because I prefer staying just where I am. Beulah, put down that window, will you? Mary must think that I have been converted into a Polar bear; and, mother, have some coal brought up. If there is any truth in the metempsychosis of the Orient, I certainly was a palm tree or a rhinoceros in the last stage of my existence." She shivered, and wrapped a heavy shawl up to her very chin.
"May I come in?" asked Eugene, at the door.
"No; go and sing duets with Netta, and amuse yourself downstairs,"
said she shortly, while a frown darkened her face.
Nevertheless he came in, shook hands with Beulah, and, leaning over the back of Cornelia"s chair, asked tenderly:
"How is my sister? I heard on the street that you were injured."
"Oh, I suppose the whole city will be bemoaning my tragic fate. I am not at all hurt, Eugene."
"You have had one of those attacks, though; I see from your face.
Has it pa.s.sed off entirely?"
"No; and I want to be quiet. Beulah is going to read me to sleep after a while. You may go down now."
"Beulah, you will be with us to-morrow, I suppose?"
"Yes."
"I am sorry I am obliged to dine out; I shall be at home, however, most of the day. I called the other evening, but you were not at home."
"Yes; I was sorry I did not see you," said Beulah, looking steadily at his flushed face and sparkling eyes.
"Dine out, Eugene! For what, I should like to know?" cried Cornelia, raising herself in her chair and fixing her eyes impatiently upon him. "Henderson and Milbank are both here, you know, and I could not refuse to join them in a Christmas dinner."
"Then why did you not invite them to dine at your own house?" Her voice was angry; her glance searching.
"The party was made up before I knew anything about it. They will all be here in the evening."
"I doubt it!" said she sneeringly. The flush deepened on his cheek and he bit his lip; then, turning suddenly to Beulah, he said, as he suffered his eyes to wander over her plain, fawn-colored merino dress:
"You have not yet heard Netta sing, I believe!"
"No."
"Where is she, Cornelia?"
"I have no idea."
"I hope my sister will be well enough to take part in the tableaux to-morrow evening." Taking her beautifully molded hand, he looked at her anxiously. Her piercing, black eyes were riveted on his countenance, as she answered:
"I don"t know, Eugene; I have long since abandoned the hope of ever being well again. Perhaps I may be able to get down to the parlors.
There is Antoinette in the pa.s.sage. Good-night." She motioned him away.
He kissed her tenderly, shook hands a second time with Beulah, and left the room. Cornelia bowed her head on her palms; and, though her features were concealed, Beulah thought she moaned, as if in pain.
"Cornelia, are you ill again? What can I do for you?"
The feeble woman lifted her haggard face, and answered:
"What can you do? That remains to be seen. Something must be done.
Beulah, I may die at any hour, and you must save him."
"What do you mean?" Beulah"s heart throbbed painfully as she asked this simple question.
"You know very well what I mean! Oh, Beulah! Beulah! it bows my proud spirit into the dust!" Again she averted her head; there was a short silence. Beulah leaned her face on her hand, and then Cornelia continued:
"Did you detect it when he first came home?"
"Yes."
"Oh, it is like a hideous nightmare! I cannot realize that Eugene, so n.o.ble, so pure, so refined, could ever have gone to the excesses he has been guilty of. He left home all that he should be; but five years abroad have strangely changed him. My parents will not see it; my mother says "All young men are wild at first"; and my father shuts his eyes to his altered habits. Eugene constantly drinks too much. I have never seen him intoxicated. I don"t know that he has been since he joined us in Italy; but I dread continually lest his miserable a.s.sociates lead him further astray. I had hoped that, in leaving his companions at the university, he had left temptation too; but the a.s.sociates he has found here are even worse. I hope I shall be quiet in my grave before I see him drunk. It would kill me, I verily believe, to know that he had so utterly degraded himself."
She shaded her face with her hands, and Beulah replied hastily:
"He surely cannot fall so low! Eugene will never reel home, an unconscious drunkard! Oh, no, it is impossible! impossible! The stars in heaven will fall first!"
"Do you believe what you say?"
"I hope it; and hope engenders faith," answered Beulah.
A bitter smile curled Cornelia"s lips, and, sinking back in her chair, she continued:
"Where excessive drinking is not considered a disgrace, young men indulge without a thought of the consequences. Instead of excluding them from genteel circles, their dissipation is smoothed over, or unnoticed; and it has become so prevalent in this city that of all the gentlemen whom I meet in so-called fashionable society, there are very few who abstain from the wine-cup. I have seen them at parties, staggering through a quadrille, or talking the most disgusting nonsense to girls, who have long since ceased to regard dissipation as a stigma upon the names and characters of their friends. I tell you the dissipation of the young men here is sickening to think of. Since I came home I have been constantly reminded of it; and oh, Eugene is following in their disgraceful steps! Beulah, if the wives, and mothers, and sisters did their duty, all this might be remedied. If they carefully and constantly strove to shield their sons and brothers from temptation they might preserve them from the fatal habit, which, once confirmed, it is almost impossible to eradicate. But alas! they smile as sweetly upon the reckless, intoxicated beaux as if they were what men should be.
I fancied that I could readily redeem Eugene from his dangerous lapses, but my efforts are rendered useless by the temptations which a.s.sail him from every quarter. He shuns me; hourly the barriers between us strengthen. Beulah, I look to you. He loves you, and your influence might prevail, if properly directed. You must save him!
You must!"
"I have not the influence you ascribe to me," answered Beulah.
"Do not say so! do not say so! Are you not to be his wife one day?"
She stood up, and heavy drops glistened on her pale forehead.
"His wife! Cornelia Graham, are you mad?" cried Beulah, lifting her head proudly, and eying her companion with unfeigned astonishment, while her eyes burned ominously.
"He told me that he expected to marry you; that it had always been a settled thing. Beulah, you have not broken the engagement--surely you have not?" She grasped Beulah"s arm convulsively.