Clemence rose with a quick thrill of fear. "Since you are indisposed for company," she said, "perhaps you would not care to be troubled with my little affairs at present. I can call again some time next week, if you desire it."
"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Burton, "come again, when I am feeling better.
This pressure on my brain will be relieved. Hush! do not say more, the servant will hear you. I am watched, and have no liberty to speak of my troubles without watching my opportunity. Good-bye, now, you can leave the basket until you come again, when I will remunerate you sufficiently."
"The woman must be insane; do you not think so, Ulrica?" asked Clemence of her friend, after she had concluded a narrative of her interview.
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Hardyng, doubtingly. "It looks like it, her talking about being watched, but I am of the opinion that a jealous, pa.s.sionate temper has more to do with these paroxysms than anything else. She has always had the name of ruling her husband, and her scowling, swarthy visage, and evil-looking eyes, seem to substantiate her claim to possessing strong, vixenish proclivities. I fancy they are quite well matched, however, and that clouds in their domestic horizon are of every day occurrence. Neither should I at all relish the idea of being taken into the lady"s confidence, for after they have got over their quarrel, they will be apt to lay the blame upon a convenient third, and I should not covet the distinction."
"Well, I have only once more to go," said Clemence, "and shall take care to be guarded in my remarks."
Which resolution was followed to the letter, when she found herself again in Mrs. Burton"s parlor. The lady was cool and dignified when they met, but soon relapsed into a tearful state. Clemence was again forced to listen patiently to a long recital of Mr. Burton"s shortcomings and disagreeable qualities, both of a positive and negative order, and felt sure before it came to an end, that she was much better acquainted with the dark side of that gentleman"s character than she cared to be.
Her position was a delicate one. Somehow, she could not help thinking, as she looked at the face before her, that, arrayed in its pleasantest smiles, it could, by the barest possibility, be only pa.s.sable, and now looked really hideous in its disgusting and futile rage. Really, if there could be any excuse for such domestic infidelities as had been pictured so graphically, Mr. Burton certainly ought to have the benefit of them, for he seemed to be almost as much "sinned against as sinning."
As soon as she could get away without positive rudeness, she did so.
Mrs. Burton had declined to become a purchaser of her articles, retreating from her former protestations of benevolence, under the plea that her wretch of a husband curtailed her supply of means, in order to gratify his own avaricious disposition.
"Just as I expected," said Mrs. Hardyng. "The true state of the case is this: that woman is a jealous, narrow-minded, illiberal creature, with a tongue "hung in the middle." She wanted to get you there simply to satisfy her own idle curiosity, and insult you with her insolent patronage. You have made another enemy, and that is all there is of it."
"I hope it will prove all there is of it," said Clemence, uneasily. "I am sure I owe her no ill will, and I can"t imagine why any body should wish to injure me, for I try not to offend them, but simply wish to mind my own business, and allow others to do the same."
Mrs. Hardyng laughed musically. "Why, child, that is the supreme cause of all your unpopularity. You mind your own business too much for these good people. You are not as old as I am, and you seem to have got a one-sided view of matters and things generally. I dare say, at this moment your unsophisticated mind harbors some such creed as this, that if you pursue your own poor and worthy way in meekness and humility, without obtruding yourself upon other people"s notice--in short, only ask to be left in peace to follow the bent of your own harmless inclination, that you do not ask what it is impossible to accomplish.
But you are mistaken. There is no one so poor and humble but what these little great people will find time to criticise and find fault with whatever they may undertake. So, no matter how modest and un.o.btrusive you are, by comporting yourself in a dignified and lady-like manner, you offer an affront to these people, who, though themselves deficient in every attribute of politeness and good breeding, yet are sufficiently instructed by their dulled instincts, to realize your infinite superiority, and hate you accordingly."
"Why, Ulrica," said Clemence, startled by her friend"s vehemence, "you quite overwhelm me. I wish, though," she added; with a sigh, "that I could doubt the truthfulness of the picture."
CHAPTER XII.
"What are you doing there, Clemence?" asked her friend; "not destroying that pretty article, I hope."
"Yes and no," was the reply. "Upon examination, I find that it has become quite soiled, and thought I would make another frame to put these same flowers into."
"Now, that is really too bad, making you so much extra trouble when you are feeling so ill. I noticed, though, that it had lost its freshness and purity--looking, in fact, as if some careless servant had swept on it."
"I presume that is the case," said Clemence; "any way, it is completely ruined now."
"What can this mean?" she exclaimed, a moment after, holding up a lady"s gold pin. "Is it not somewhat remarkable to find an article of this description here?"
"No," said Ulrica Hardyng, coming forward, with an expression of contempt upon her fine features. "I can"t say as I consider it so. I can understand precisely the motive that induced that woman to plot this piece of mischief. She meant to ruin you, Clemence, in the estimation of the whole community; in short, to brand you as dishonest. If you had effected a sale of the article, without examining it closely, you would never have detected the proximity of this valuable ornament, and when it was called for, which would surely have occurred, you could not, as a matter of course, have produced it. Do you not see the whole trap at a glance?"
"What have I not escaped?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Clemence, pale with agitation.
"What motive could possibly have led a comparative stranger to act thus?"
"There are numberless reasons," replied her friend. "The woman had placed herself, to a certain extent, in your power, by her uncalled for revelations of their domestic affairs, and she wished to have something to hold as a rod over you."
"Don"t you think it might have been an accident?" willing, as usual, to believe every one but herself in the right.
"No," said Mrs. Hardyng, indignantly, "it was a premeditated act, as deliberate as it was infernal. My innocent darling, G.o.d has protected you, and vanquished your enemy."
"What base, designing people there are in the world," sighed the girl, sinking down by the couch upon which her friend reclined, upon her return from a walk the next evening. "You were right, Ulrica. I read in that woman"s guilty face, to-night, the confirmation of my doubts."
"She did not admit it?" said the other, starting up eagerly.
"Not in words, but her looks proclaimed her part in the transaction more eloquently than any form of speech. She knew that I read her craven soul as I stood before her."
"This is too much?" said Mrs. Hardyng, rising and pacing the floor in violent agitation. "I will see to this matter myself, for it is too great an insult to be borne patiently without the charge of cowardice."
A few days after, as Clemence was walking, with downcast eyes, in the direction of her friend"s residence, she met in the narrow pathway two gentlemen, one of whom raised his hat respectfully, and paused to speak with her.
It was Mr. Gilman, one of the school committee. Clemence respected and venerated him, and had on many an occasion felt grateful that his influence was generously exerted in her behalf.
The gentleman paused now to say that he had nothing to do with her dismissal from school, having used every argument in her favor, in vain.
He concluded by professing himself more than satisfied with her services, and convinced of her ability as a teacher; desired her to refer to him for a recommendation to any situation that she might have in view.
Clemence thanked him gratefully, and walked on with a lightened heart.
She remembered, afterwards, that this gentleman"s companion had been introduced by the name of Burton.
This latter personage had a little burly figure, with head carried very erect upon a short, thick neck, that looked still shorter from the long, flowing beard, thickly sprinkled with gray.
He did not look like a "wretch," nor yet, as if he had sufficient energy or capacity for any deep scheme of villainy. Still she felt sure this was the individual whose shortcomings and misdeeds generally, she had heard descanted upon.
Clemence laughed, as she wondered how it was possible for any one to be so carried away by their feelings, as to be jealous of a submissive looking little man like this. Yet, having fallen in love with him once herself, and forgetting that youth had flown, and that the husband of her youth was only a plodding, middle-aged family man, it was not so very remarkable that a naturally jealous woman, like Mrs. Charles Burton, should imagine that her especial property was coveted by all those of her own s.e.x who were not similarly blessed.
"Poor woman!" thought Clemence, "she is a victim to her own unhappy temper."
She forgot the circ.u.mstance altogether, and it was only recalled to mind when the village postmaster handed her a letter, which read thus:
MISS CLEMENCE GRAYSTONE:
Miss--On Thursday, the 23d instant, you were seen by certain parties, on a secluded avenue of this village, in earnest conversation with two gentlemen,--one of whom was Mr. Charles Burton. Report gives him the character of a perfidious and unfaithful husband. How then does it look for a young lady, whose name is now the subject of idle gossip, to indiscreetly hazard her reputation still more by such intercourse. There could be but one object in this, which was, doubtless, _revenge_. But, let me ask, what will it profit you, to add still greater pangs to that already suffered by one who mourns the loss of her husband"s affections?
Know that, through all, she will cling to him, for she loves him still, and is a devoted wife and mother. Nothing of coldness or neglect on _his_ part can change _her_ feelings, or turn her from the path of duty. As a friend and a Christian, the writer of this would calmly advise you to abandon all efforts either to see or communicate in any manner with the gentleman, upon any subject whatever; not even in the presence of a third party, as there is said to be an official who watches over the interests of a wronged and heart-broken wife. WATCHER.
"Really, this is a.s.suming a tragical character," said Mrs. Hardyng, to whom Clemence went at once for advice. ""The plot thickens," as the story-books say. Why, child, take courage; you will be a heroine yet, and I shall be thrown completely in the shade--left disconsolate and forlorn."
"Don"t jest," said Clemence, shuddering. "You can"t think, Ulrica, how all this pains me. I never dreamed of such a result of my efforts, but rather supposed, if we tried to do "what their hand found to do,"
patiently, they would be borne out in their undertakings. I am innocent of premeditated wrong to any one."
"There, don"t cry!" said Mrs. Hardyng. "This is only a pa.s.sing cloud, and your future will be all the brighter for the shadow which now threatens to envelop you in its gloomy folds."
"I wish I could think so," said Clemence. She took her hat mechanically as she said this, and went out, hardly knowing whither to bend her steps, but feeling stifled, and wanting to be alone.
By-and-by she found herself seated by a new-made grave. A memory of the pale, patient little face, that used to haunt her footsteps, came to her, and she thought sadly of the child"s unhappy fate.
The daylight faded slowly out of the western heavens; the shades of evening gathered round. Suddenly, as the girl sat absorbed, a tiny hand stole into hers, and two sorrowful, tear-filled eyes sought her own. It was little Ruth, who had missed her, and whose loving heart would not allow her to rest while one she loved suffered.