Wilford Cameron. Such pictures as Juno and I used to draw of the stately personage who was one day coming to us as Wilford"s wife, and of whom even mother was to stand in awe. Alas! how hath our idol fallen! Tell it not in Gath, nor yet in Gotham! And still I rather like the little creature, who, the very first night, nearly choked mother to death, giving her lace streamers a most uncomfortable twitch, and actually kissing father--a thing I have not done since I can remember. But, then, with the exception of Will and Jamie, the Camerons are all a set of icicles, encased in a refrigerator at that. If we were not, we should thaw out, when Katy leans on us so affectionately and looks up at us so wistfully, as if pleading for our love. Wilford does wonders; he used to be so grave, so dignified and silent, that I never supposed he would bear having a wife meet him at the door with cooing and kisses, and climbing into his lap right before us all. Juno says it makes her sick, while mother is dreadfully shocked; and even Will sometimes seems annoyed, gently shoving her aside and telling her he is tired.
After all, it is a query in my mind whether it is not better to be like Katy than like Sybil Grandon, about whom Juno was mean enough to tell her the first day of her arrival. On the whole, I would rather be Katy, but better yet, would prefer remaining myself, Bell Cameron, the happy medium between the two extremes, of art perfected and nature in its primeval state, just as it existed among the Silverton hills. From my own standpoint, I can look on and criticise, giving my journal the benefit of my criticisms and conclusions.
Very pretty, but shockingly insipid, is Juno"s verdict upon Mrs.
Wilford, while mother says less, but looks a great deal more, especially when she talks about "my folks," as she did to Mrs. General Reynolds the very first time she called. Mother and Juno were so annoyed, while Will looked like a thundercloud, particularly when she spoke of Uncle Ephraim, saying so and so. He was better satisfied with Katy in Europe, where he was not known, than he is here, where he sees her with other people"s eyes. One of his weaknesses is a too great reverence for the world"s opinion, as held and expounded by our very fashionable mother, and as in a quiet kind of way she has arrayed herself against poor Katy, while Juno is more open in her acts and sayings. I predict that it will not be many months before he comes to the conclusion that he has made a mesalliance, a thing of which no Cameron was ever guilty.
I wonder if there is any truth in the rumor that Mrs. General Reynolds once taught a district school, and if she did, how much would that detract from the merits of her son, Lieutenant Bob. But what nonsense to be writing about him. Let me go back to Katy, who has no more idea of etiquette than Jamie in his wheel-chair. Still, there is something very attractive about her, and Mrs. General Reynolds took to her at once, petting her as she would a kitten, and laughing merrily at her naive speeches, as she called them--speeches which made Will turn black in the face, they betrayed so much of rustic life and breeding. I fancy that he has given Katy a few hints, and that she is beginning to be somewhat afraid of him, for she watches him constantly when she is talking, and she does not now slip her hand into his as she used to when guests are leaving and she stands at his side; neither is she quite so demonstrative when he comes up from the office at night, and there is a look upon her face which was not there when she came. They are taming her down, mother and Juno, and to-morrow they are actually going to commence a systematic course of training, preparatory to her _debut_ into society, said _debut_ to occur on the night of the ----, when Mrs.
General Reynolds gives the party talked about so long. I was present when they met in solemn conclave to talk it over, mother asking Will if he had any objections to Juno"s instructing his wife with regard to certain things of which she was ignorant. Will"s forehead knit itself together at first, and I half hoped he would veto the whole proceedings, but after a moment he replied:
"No, providing Katy is willing. Her feelings must not be hurt."
"Certainly not," mother said. "Katy is a dear little creature, and we all love her very much, but that does not blind us to her deficiencies, and as we are anxious that she should fill that place in society which Mrs. Wilford Cameron ought to fill, it seems necessary to tone her down a little before her first appearance at a party."
To this Will a.s.sented, and then Juno went on to enumerate her deficiencies, which, as nearly as I can remember, are these: She laughs too much and too loud; is too enthusiastic over novelties, conducting as if she never saw anything before; has too much to say about Silverton and "my folks," quotes Uncle Ephraim and Sister Helen too often, and is even guilty at times of mentioning a certain Aunt Betsy, who must have floated with the Ark and snuffled the breezes of Ararat. She does not know how to enter, or cross, or leave a room properly, or receive an introduction; or, in short, do anything according to New York ideas as understood by the Camerons, etc.; she is to be taught--toned down, mother called it--dwelling upon her high spirits as something vulgar, if not absolutely wicked. How father would have sworn, for he calls her his little sunbeam, and says he never should have gained so fast if she had not come with her sunny face and lively, merry laugh to cheer his sickroom. Katy has a fast friend in him and Jamie. But mother and Juno--well, I shall be glad if they do not annihilate her altogether, and I am surprised that Will allows it. I wonder if Katy is really happy with us? She says she is, and is evidently delighted with New York life, clapping her hands when the invitation to Mrs. Reynolds" party was received, and running with it to Wilford as soon as he came home. It is her first big party, she says, she having never attended any except that little sociable in Boston, and those insipid schoolgirl affairs at the seminary. I may be conceited--Juno thinks I am--but really and truly, Bell Cameron"s private opinion of herself is that at heart she is better than the rest of her family, and so I pity this little sister of ours, while at the same time I am exceedingly anxious to be present whenever Juno takes her in hand, for I like to see the fun. Were she at all bookish, I should avow myself her champion, and openly defend her; but she is not, and so I give her into the hands of the Philistines, hoping they will at least spare her hair and not worry her life out on that head. It is very becoming to her, and several young ladies have whispered their intention of trying its effect upon themselves, so that Katy may yet be a leader of the fashion.
CHAPTER XV.
TONING DOWN.
_Bell"s Diary Continued_.
Such fun as it was to see mother and Juno training Katy, showing her how to enter the parlor, how to arrange her dress, how to carry her hands and feet, and how to sit in a chair--Juno going through with the performance first, and then requesting Katy to imitate her, which I must say she did to perfection, even excelling her teacher, inasmuch as she is naturally very easy and graceful. Had I been Katy I should have rebelled, but she is far too sweet-tempered and anxious to please, while I half suspect that fear of my lord Wilford had something to do with it, for when the drill was over, she asked so earnestly if we thought he would be ashamed of her, and there were tears in her great blue eyes as she said it. Hang Wilford! Hang the whole of them! I am not sure but I shall espouse her cause myself, or else tell father, who will do it so much better.
Dec.--th.--Another drill, with Juno commanding officer, while the poor little private seemed completely worried out. This time there were open doors, but so absorbed were mother and Juno as not to hear the bell, and just as Juno was saying, "Now, imagine me Mrs. General Reynolds, to whom you are being presented," while Katy was bowing almost to the floor, who should appear but Mark Ray, stumbling square upon that ludicrous rehearsal, and of course bringing it to an end. No explanation was made, nor was any needed, for Mark"s face showed that he understood it, and it was as much as he could do to keep from roaring with merriment; I am sure he pitied Katy, for his manner toward her was very affectionate and kind, and when once she left the room he complimented her highly, repeating many things he had heard in her praise from those who had seen her both in the street and here at home. Juno"s face was like a thundercloud, for she was as much in love with Mark Ray as she was once with Dr. Grant, and is even jealous of his praise of Katy. Glad am I that I never yet saw the man who could make me jealous, or for whom I cared a pin. There"s Bob Reynolds up at West Point. I suppose I do think his epaulettes very becoming to him, but his hair is too light and he cannot raise whiskers big enough to cast a shadow on the wall, while I know he looks with contempt upon females who write, even though their writings never see the light of day; thinks them strong-minded, self-willed, and all that. He is expected to be present at the party, but I shall not be. I had rather stay at home and finish that article ent.i.tled "Women of the Present Century," and suggested to my mind by my Sister Katy, who stands for the picture I am drawing of a pretty woman, with more heart than brains, contrasting her with such a one as Juno, her opposite extreme.
January 10.--The last time I wrote in my journal was just before the party, which is over now, the long-talked-of affair at which Katy was the reigning belle. I don"t know how it happened, but happen it did, and Juno"s glory faded before that of her rival, whose merry, ringing laugh frequently penetrated to every room, and made more than one look up in some surprise. But when Mrs. Humphreys said: "It"s that charming little Mrs. Cameron, the prettiest creature I ever saw, her laugh is so refreshing and genuine," the point was settled, and Katy was free to laugh as loudly as she pleased.
She did look beautiful, in lace and pearls, with her short hair curling on her neck. She would not allow us to put so much as a bud in her hair, showing in this respect a willfulness we never expected; but as she was perfectly irresistible, we suffered her to have her way, and when she was dressed, sent her in to father, who had asked to see her. And now comes the strangest thing in the world.
"You are very beautiful, little daughter," father said. "I almost wish I was going with you to see the sensation you are sure to create."
Then straight into his lap climbed Katy--father"s lap--where none of us ever sat, I am sure, and began to coax him to go, telling him she should appear better if he were there, and that she should need him when Wilford left her, as of course he must a part of the time. And father actually dressed himself and went. But Katy did not need him after the people began to understand that Mrs. Wilford Cameron was the rage. Even Sybil Grey, in her palmiest days, never received such homage as was paid to the little Silverton girl, whose great charm was her perfect enjoyment of everything, and her perfect faith in what people said to her. Juno was nothing, and I worse than nothing, for I did go, wearing a plain black silk, with high neck and long sleeves, looking, as Juno said, like a Sister of Charity. But Bell Cameron can afford to dress plainly if she chooses, and I am glad, as it saves a deal of trouble, and somehow people seem to like me quite as well in my Quakerish dress as they do the fashionable Juno in diamonds and flowers, with uncovered neck and shoulders.
Lieutenant Bob was there; his light hair lighter than ever, and his chin as smooth as my hand. He likes to dance, and I do not, but somehow he persisted in staying where I was, notwithstanding that I said my sharpest things in hopes to get rid of him. He left me at last to dance with Katy, who makes up in grace and airiness what she lacks in knowledge. Once upon the floor, she did not lack for partners, but, I verily believe, danced every set, growing prettier and fairer as she danced, for hers is a complexion which does not get red and blowsy with exercise.
Mark Ray was there, too, and I saw him smile comically when Katy met the people with that bow she was making at the time he came so suddenly upon us. Mark is a good fellow, and I really think we have him to thank in a measure for Katy"s successful _debut_. He was the first to take her from Wilford, walking with her up and down the hall by way of rea.s.suring her, and once as they pa.s.sed me I heard her say:
"I feel so timid here--so much afraid of doing something wrong--something countrified."
"Never mind," he answered. "Act yourself just as you would were you at home in Silverton, where you are known. That is far better than affecting a manner not natural to you."
After that Katy brightened wonderfully. The stiffness which at first was perceptible pa.s.sed off, and she was Katy Lennox, queening it over all the city belles, who, because she was married, would not be jealous--drawing after her a host of gentlemen, and between the sets holding a miniature court at one end of the room, where the more desirable of the guests crowded around; flattering her until her little head ought to have been turned if it was not. To do her justice, she bore her honors well, and when we were in the carriage, and father complimented her upon her success, she only said:
"If I pleased you all I am glad."
So many calls as we had the next day, and so many invitations as there are now on our table for Mrs. Wilford Cameron, while our opera box between the scenes is packed with beaus, until one would suppose Wilford might be jealous; but Katy takes it all so quietly and modestly, seeming only gratified for his sake, that I really believe he enjoys it more than she does. At all events, he persists in her going, even when she would rather stay at home, so if she is spoiled, the fault will rest with him.
February--th.--Poor Katy. Dissipation is beginning to wear upon her, for she is not accustomed to our late hours, and sometimes falls asleep while Esther is dressing her. But go she must, for Wilford wills it so, and she is but an automaton to do his bidding.
Why can"t mother let her alone, when everybody seems so satisfied with her? Somehow, she does not believe that people are as delighted as they pretend, and so she keeps training and tormenting her until I do not wonder that Katy sometimes hates to go out, lest she shall unconsciously be guilty of an impropriety. I pitied her last night, when, after she was ready for the opera, she came into my room, where I was indulging in the luxury of a loose dressing gown, with my feet on the sofa. Latterly she has taken to me, and now sitting down before the fire into which her blue eyes looked with a steady stare, she said:
"I wish I might stay here with you to-night. I have heard this opera before, and it will be so tiresome. I get so sleepy while they are singing, for I never care to watch the acting. I did at first, when it was new, but now it seems insipid to see them make-believe, while the theatre is worse yet," and she gave a weary yawn.
In less than three months she has exhausted fashionable life, and I looked at her in astonishment, asking what would please her if the opera did not. What would she like?
Turning her eyes full upon me, she exclaimed:
"I do like it some, I suppose, only I get so tired. I like to ride, I like to skate, I like to shop, and all that; but, oh, you don"t know how I want to go home to mother and Helen. I have not seen them for so long, but I am going in the spring--going in May. How many days are there in March and April? Sixty-one," she continued; "then I may safely say that in eighty days I shall see mother, and all the dear old places. It is not a grand home like this. You, Bell, might laugh at it. Juno would, I am sure, but you do not know how dear it is to me, or how I long for a sight of the huckleberry hills and the rocks where Helen and I used to play, Helen is a darling sister, and I know you will like her."
Just then Will called to say the carriage was waiting, and Katy was driven away, while I sat thinking of her and the devoted love with which she clings to her home and friends, wondering if it were the kindest thing which could have been done, transplanting her to our atmosphere, so different from her own.
March 1st.--As it was in the winter, so it is now; Mrs. Wilford Cameron is the rage--the bright star of society--which quotes and pets and flatters, and even laughs at her by turns; and Wilford, though still watchful, lest she should do something _outre_, is very proud of her, insisting upon her accepting invitations, sometimes two for one evening, until the child is absolutely worn out, and said to me once, when I told her how well she was looking and how pretty her dress was: "Yes, pretty enough, but I am so tired. If I could lie down on mother"s bed, in a shilling calico, just as I used to do!"
Mother"s bed seems at present to be the height of her ambition--the thing she most desires; and as Juno fancied it must be the feathers she is sighing for, she wickedly suggests that Wilford either buy a feather bed for his wife, or else send to that Aunt Betsy for the one which was to be Katy"s setting out! They go to housekeeping in May, and on Madison Square, too, I think Wilford would quite as soon remain with us, for he does not fancy change; but Katy wants a home of her own, and I never saw anything more absolutely beautiful than her face when father said to Wilford that No. ---- Madison Square was for sale, advising him to secure it. But when mother intimated that there was no necessity for the two families to separate at present--that Katy was too young to have charge of a house--there came into her eyes a look of such distress that it went straight to father"s heart, and calling her to him, he said:
"Tell me, sunbeam, what is your choice--to stay with us, or have a home of your own?"
Katy was very white, and her voice trembled as she replied:
"You have been kind to me here, and it is very pleasant; but I guess--I think--I"m sure--I should like the housekeeping best. I am not so young, either. Nineteen in July, and when I go home next month I can learn so much of Aunt Betsy and Aunt Hannah."
Mother looked at Wilford then; but he was looking into the fire, with an expression anything but favorable to that visit home, fixed now for April instead of May. But Katy has no discernment, and believes she is actually going home to learn how to make apple dumplings and pumpkin pies. In spite of mother, the house is bought, and now she is gone all day, deciding how it shall be furnished, always leaving Katy out of the question, as if she were a cipher, and only consulting Wilford"s choice.
They will be happier alone, I know. Mrs. General Reynolds says that it is the way for young people to live; that her son"s wife shall never come home to her, for of course their habits could not be alike; and then she looked queerly at me, as if she knew I was thinking of Lieutenant Bob and who his wife might be.
Sybil Grandon is coming home in April or May, and Mrs. Reynolds wonders will she flirt as she used to do. Just as if Bob would care for a widow.
There is more danger from Will, who thinks Mrs. Grandon a perfect paragon, and who is very anxious that Katy may appear well before her, saying nothing and doing nothing which shall in any way approximate to Silverton and the shoes which Katy told Esther she used to bind when a girl. Will need not be disturbed, for Sybil Grandon was never half as pretty as Katy, or half as much admired. Neither need Mrs. General Reynolds fret about Bob, as if he would care for her. Sybil Grandon, indeed!
CHAPTER XVI.
KATY.
For nearly four months Katy had been in New York, drinking deep draughts from the cup of folly and fashion held so constantly to her lips; but she cloyed of it at last, and what at first had been so eagerly grasped, began, from daily repet.i.tion, to grow insipid and dull. To be the belle of every place, to know that her dress, her style, and even the fashion of her hair, was copied and admired, was gratifying to her, because she knew how much it pleased her husband, who was never happier or prouder than when, with Katy on his arm, he entered some crowded parlor and heard the buzz of admiration as it circled around, while Katy, simple-hearted and guileless still, smiled and blushed like a little child, wondering at the attentions lavished upon her, and attributing them mostly to her husband, whose position she thoroughly understood, marveling more and more that he should have chosen her to be his wife.
That he had so honored her made her love him with a strange kind of grateful, clinging love, which as yet would acknowledge no fault in him, no wrong, no error; and if ever a shadow did cloud her heart, she was the one to blame, not Wilford; he was right--he the idol she worshiped--he the one for whose sake she tried so hard to drop her country ways and conform to the rules his mother and sister taught, submitting with the utmost good-nature to what Bell in her journal had called the drill, but it must be confessed not succeeding very well in imitating Juno. Katy could hardly be other than her own easy, graceful self, and though the drills had their effect, and taught her many things, they could not divest her of that natural, playful, airy manner which so charmed the city people and made her the reigning belle. As Marian Hazleton had predicted, others than her husband had spoken words of praise in Katy"s ear; but such was her nature that the shafts of flattery glanced aside, leaving her unharmed, so that her husband, though sometimes startled and disquieted, had no cause for jealousy, enjoying Katy"s success far more than she did herself, urging her out when she would rather have stayed at home, and evincing so much annoyance if she ventured to remonstrate that she gave it up at last and floated on with the tide.
Mrs. Cameron had at first been greatly shocked at Katy"s want of propriety, looking on aghast when she wound her arms around Wilford"s neck, or sat upon his knee; but to the elder Cameron the sight was a pleasant one, bringing back sunny memories of a summer time years ago, when he was young, and a fair bride had for a few brief weeks made this earth a paradise to him. But fashion had entered his Eden--that summer time was gone, and only the dim leaves of autumn lay where the buds which promised so much had been. The girlish bride was a stately matron now, doing nothing amiss, but making all her acts conform to a prescribed rule of etiquette, and frowning majestically upon the frolicsome, impulsive Katy, who had crept so far into the heart of the eccentric man that he always found the hours of her absence long, listening intently for the sound of her bounding footsteps, and feeling that her coming to his household had infused into his veins a better, healthier life than he had known for years. Katy was very dear to him, and he felt a thrill of pain, while a shadow lowered on his brow when first the toning down process commenced. He had heard them talk about it, and in his wrath he had hurled a cut-gla.s.s goblet upon the marble hearth, breaking it in atoms, while he called them a pair of precious fools, and Wilford a bigger one because he suffered it. So long as his convalescence lasted, he was some restraint upon his wife, but when he was well enough to resume his duties in his Wall Street office, there was nothing in the way, and Katy"s education progressed accordingly. For Wilford"s sake, Katy would do anything, and as from some things he had dropped she guessed that her manner was not quite what suited him, she submitted to much which would otherwise have been excessively annoying.
But she was growing tired now, and it told upon her face, which was whiter than when she came to New York, while her figure was, if possible, slighter and more airy; but this only enhanced her loveliness, Wilford thought, and so he paid no heed to her complaints of weariness, but kept her in the circle which welcomed her so warmly, and would have missed her so much.
Little by little it had come to Katy that she was not quite as comfortable in her husband"s family as she would be in a house of her own. The constant watch kept over her by Mrs. Cameron and Juno irritated and fretted her, making her wonder what was the matter, and why she should so often feel lonely and desolate when surrounded by every luxury which wealth could purchase. "It is his folks," she always said to herself when cogitating upon the subject. "Alone with Wilford I shall feel as light and happy as I used to do in Silverton."
And so Katy caught eagerly at the prospect of a release from the restraint of No. ----, seeming so anxious that Wilford, almost before he was aware of it himself, became the owner of one of the most desirable situations on Madison Square; and Katy was the envy of the belles, who had copied and imitated her, even to the cutting off their hair, which fashion may be fairly said to have originated from Katy herself, whose short curls had ceased to be obnoxious to the fastidious Mrs. Cameron, for Juno had tried the effect, looking, as Bell said, "like a fool,"
while Juno would have given much to have again the long black tresses, the cutting of which did not make her look like Katy. Of all the household, after Katy, Juno was perhaps the only one glad of the new house. It would be a change for herself, for she meant to spend much of her time on Madison Square, where everything was to be on the most magnificent scale. Fortunately for Katy, she knew nothing of Juno"s intentions and built many a castle of her new home, where mother could come with Helen and Dr. Grant. Somehow she never saw Uncle Ephraim, nor his wife, nor yet Aunt Betsy there. She knew how out of place they would appear, and how they would annoy Wilford: but surely to her mother and Helen there could be no objection, and when she first went over the house, she designated mentally this room as mother"s, and another one as Helen"s, thinking how each should be fitted up with direct reference to their tastes, Helen"s containing a great many books, while her mother"s should have easy-chairs and lounges, with a host of drawers for holding things. And Wilford heard it all, making no reply, but considering how he could manage best so as to have no scene, for he had not the slightest intention of inviting either Mrs. Lennox or Helen to visit him, much less to become a part of his household. That he did not marry Katy"s relatives was a fact as fixed as the laws of the Medes and Persians, and Katy"s antic.i.p.ations were answering no other purpose than to divert her mind for the time being, keeping her bright and cheerful.