"No. Open your own."
"That"s not in Isa"s line," remarked Arthur, "but really it is very astonishing news. What does d.i.c.k say, Wal? He went down there to attend the wedding, I presume?"
"No; didn"t know a word about it till he got there," Walter said, giving a hasty perusal to the not very lengthy epistle; "went to settle; good opening for a doctor; splendid country, everything lovely, likes brother-in-law immensely, is overjoyed at Molly"s good luck, says she"s as happy as a queen."
"Which may mean much or little," remarked Conly.
His mother cleared her throat emphatically, and all eyes turned to her.
She held an open letter in her hand, and her face looked flushed and angry.
"Isa, too, it seems, has lost her heart," she said in a bitter, sarcastic tone; "and with her usual good sense, has bestowed it upon a poor clergyman. Doubtless he has heard of her Aunt Delaford"s intentions--Elsie perhaps has given him the hint, he being a relative of hers--and thinks he is securing a fortune. But if Isa throws herself away in such fashion, Sister Delaford may change her mind."
Calhoun and Arthur both repelled with warmth the insinuation against Elsie; the latter adding that he thought Isa"s personal charms were quite sufficient of themselves to captivate a man who was not in pursuit of wealth.
"And Isa," remarked Calhoun, "is so unworldly that wealth would be a matter of small consideration to her where her heart was concerned."
"A fact that should make her friends the more careful how they encourage her in taking a poor man," said the mother; "but my father and brother are both strongly in favor of this adventurer"s suit."
"Adventurer, mother! I thought you said he was a clergyman!"
"Well, Calhoun, I don"t see any contradiction there. But his name is Keith, and that explains it all, for my father was always very partial to those relatives of his first wife. Horace, too, of course."
"But as Isa is a good deal more nearly related to them, they are very fond of her, and, men not easily deceived or taken in, I think we may safely trust to their judgment. You won"t oppose what they so highly approve, mother?"
"I don"t know; must take time to think it over. Do you and Arthur come with me to the library," she said, rising with the letter in her hand.
"I see you have both finished your breakfast."
They rose instantly, and followed her from the room, Walter looking after them and muttering discontentedly, "I think mother might take me into her counsels, too."
"You are too young and foolish," said Virginia.
"The first objection doesn"t lie against you, though the second may," he retorted. "You"d better look to your laurels. Isa and Molly are both well ahead of you."
"What of that?" she said, reddening with vexation. "Isa"s two years older than I, and taking a poor minister whom I wouldn"t look at."
"Sour grapes," suggested her brother, teasingly. "And Molly"s not a year older than you, and has married rich."
"A second-hand husband!" sneered Virginia; at which Walter laughed uproariously.
"O Virgie, Virgie, those grapes are terribly sour!" he said. "But do let us hear what Isa has to say about it."
"I haven"t finished the letter; but there, take it; what do I care about her fine dresses and presents, and the splendors of Magnolia Hall?"
"Well," he cried presently, "Cousin Elsie did the thing handsomely! and he"s a splendid fellow, if he is second-hand. No wonder d.i.c.k"s pleased.
I only wish my sisters might all do as well."
In the library Calhoun was saying, as he laid down his uncle"s letter, which he had just read aloud, "Cousin Elsie is certainly the most generous of women! Mother, you could not have read this when you uttered that insinuation against her a few moments since?"
Mrs. Conly colored violently under her son"s searching gaze.
"Twenty-five thousand is a mere trifle to her," she said, bridling, "and you perceive she promises Isa that dower in the event of her marrying that poor relation of her own."
"It is extremely generous, nevertheless!" exclaimed both her sons in a breath.
"And I do not think it by any means a bad match for Isa," Arthur went on--"a good man, of fine talent, receiving a very comfortable salary, a lovely home rent free, very little expense except for clothing, seeing they are--as uncle says--to have all the fruit, vegetables, nearly their whole living, in fact, from the Viamede fields and orchards; use of carriages and horses too, whenever they like."
"No, it isn"t so bad," their mother acknowledged, "and if she gets her Aunt Delaford"s money, she will really be very far from poor. But I dislike the thought of having her, with her beauty and talents, buried, as one may say, in that out-of-the-way corner of the world."
"But she chooses for herself, and ought to be the best judge of what is for her own happiness," Calhoun said. "So you will consent, mother?"
"Oh yes, yes, of course! But I"ll take no blame from your Aunt Delaford; nor from Isa either, if ever she sees cause to repent."
So a letter was sent that made glad the hearts of the lovers, spite of some ungraciousness of tone.
Isa"s letter, giving, as it did, a minute description of the trousseau, the wedding, Magnolia Hall, Mr. Embury and his children, and telling of the generous settlements upon the bride made by him and her cousin Elsie, was read and re-read by Mrs. Conly and Virginia with great interest, which was yet not altogether pleasurable.
They were glad that Molly had now a good home of her own, and particularly that her mother was to share it--a home so far away from Roselands that Enna was not likely to trouble them any more, for her feebleness of intellect made her something of a mortification to them of late years--yet the good fortune of the poor crippled niece and cousin was too great, too strongly in contrast with their own rather straitened circ.u.mstances, not to arouse some feelings of envy and jealousy in persons of their haughty and overbearing disposition.
"Dear me, I wonder why some people have all the good fortune and others none!" exclaimed Virginia angrily. "I should say fifty thousand was quite enough for Molly--especially in addition to the rich husband and loads of handsome presents--and that ten thousand would have been much better bestowed upon you or me, mamma."
"You"ve only to get married, sis, and probably she"ll do the same handsome thing by you," remarked Walter, who happened to be within hearing.
"Not she! I never had the good fortune to be one of her favorites."
"Well, Isa can"t say that, for she"s certainly doing the handsome thing by her."
"What?"
"So mother hasn"t told you? She"s promised that the day Isa marries her cousin, Cyril Keith, she"ll hand over twenty-five thousand dollars to them."
"That was to get mamma"s consent. Mamma, I wouldn"t be bought if I were you," Virginia said scornfully.
"You wouldn"t?" laughed Walter. "I tell you you"d sell yourself to-day to any man worth half a million, or even something less."
"Walter, you are perfectly insulting," cried Virginia, her eyes flashing and her cheek flushing hotly. "I wish your furlough ended to-day."
"Thank you, my very affectionate sister," he said, bowing low as he stood before her. "Why don"t you wish I"d get shot in the next fight with the Indians? Well, I"ll tell you what it is," he went on presently, "if I were one of Cousin Elsie"s children--Ed, for instance--I"d enter a pretty strong protest against these wholesale acts of benevolence toward poor relations."
"She can afford it," said his mother loftily, "and I must say I should have a much higher appreciation of her generosity if she had given Isa the money without any conditions attached."
"But Isa wouldn"t, or I greatly mistake."
"Do you mean to say you think there has been a conspiracy between them?"
demanded his mother, growing very red and angry.
"No, no, mother, nothing of the kind! but Cousin Elsie is a woman of keen observation, delicate tact and great discernment; and she had Isa"s happiness much at heart."
"Really," she sneered, "I have but just made the delightful discovery that I have a Solomon among my sons!"