"But, Mr. Rockharrt, such men were most probably brought up in wealth and luxury. They were not trained, perhaps, as I have been, in the hard but wholesome school of labor and self-denial."
"There may be something in that; but if you advance it as an argument for me to change my mind in this matter of a prudent delay, it is thrown away upon me. You should know me well enough to know that I never change my mind."
Rule did know it. But he answered earnestly:
"I accept your conditions, Mr. Rockharrt. I will wait and work as long for Cora as Jacob did for Rachel, if necessary. Cora has been the inspiration of all that I have wrought, endured and achieved--and she was all that to me long before I dreamed of aspiring to her hand in marriage, and she will be as long as we both shall live in this world or the world to come."
Rule bowed and left. He at once recounted to Cora the interview and the condition imposed on him.
When the short season ended, and the city was tilted upside down and emptied like a bucket of half its contents, the Rockharrts went with the rest.
Old Aaron was in his very worst fit of sullen ferocity. He had not been able to get a charter for clearing out the channel of the c.u.mberland River (another pet project of his), or even to form a company strong enough to undertake the enterprise.
After a while, out of restlessness, he started with his wife, granddaughter and grandson for a tour to the Northern Pacific Coast. He spent some time in traveling through that region of country, and returned East.
He stopped at West Point to leave Sylvan Haught, who had successfully pa.s.sed his examination and received his appointment at the military academy.
Then he took his womenkind home to Rockhold.
A few days later young Rothsay was elected senator.
Some weeks later Rothsay again pressed his suit on the attention of Mr.
Rockharrt.
But the old man was adamant.
"No, sir, no! You must have a firmer foundation to build upon than the fickle favor of the public. Wait a year or two longer. Let us see whether your success is to be permanent."
"But," urged Rule, "my chosen bride is twenty-three years of age, and I am twenty-seven. Time is flying."
"What has that got to do with the question? If you were to marry this morning, would that stop the flight of time? Would not time fly just as fast as ever? Suppose you should not marry for two years? My granddaughter would then be twenty-five and you thirty, and many wise philosophers think that such are the relative ages at which man and woman should marry. Then the Iron King cast a thunderbolt. He said:
"I am going to take my girl on a trip to Europe this summer. When we return, it will be time enough to talk about marriage."
Rule bowed a reluctant admission to this mandate. He knew well that argument would be thrown away upon the Iron King, and he knew that, even if he himself were tempted to try to persuade Cora to marry him at present, she would not do so in opposition to her grandfather"s will.
Mr. Rockharrt had not as yet said one word to his family concerning his intended trip to Europe, although he had been thinking of it, and laying his plans, and making his arrangements, preparatory to the voyage, all the winter.
So it was with amazement that Cora first heard of the matter from Rule Rothsay, who came to her to report the result of his last attempt to gain the consent of the old gentleman to his marriage with the granddaughter.
A few days later the family despot announced to his subjects that he should start for Europe in two weeks, taking his wife and granddaughter with him, and leaving his two sons in charge of the works.
Active preparations went on for the voyage. Mr. Rockharrt went every day to the works to lay out plans for the summer to be completed during his absence.
Mrs. Rockharrt and Cora had few arrangements to make, for the autocrat had warned them that they were to take only sufficient for the voyage, as they could buy whatever they needed on the other side.
A few days before they left Rockhold, Rule Rothsay came uninvited to visit his beloved Cora.
Mr. Rockharrt happened to be the first to see him, and received him well.
When they were seated, Rule said:
"You refused to allow me to marry your granddaughter at present, and--"
"Now begin all that over again, Rothsay. I said that in two years you can marry her and take her fortune, if you both choose, whether I like it or not. That is all."
"Do you, however, sanction our engagement, Mr. Rockharrt? Shall your granddaughter and myself be betrothed, openly betrothed, so that all may know our mutual relations, before the ocean divides us? That is what I would know now. That is what I have come down here to ask."
The old man ruminated for a few moments, and then answered:
"Well, yes; you may be, with the understanding that you will wait to marry for two years longer. These two years will be a probation to both.
If you fulfill the promise of your youth, and rise to the position that you can, if you will, attain, and if you remain faithful to her, and if she remains true to you, you may then marry. With all my heart I shall wish you well. But if either of you fail in truth and fidelity, the defaulting one, whether it be you or she, shall never look me in the face again," concluded the Iron King.
Rule"s eyes lighted up with the fire of love and faith. He seized the hand of the old man and shook it warmly, saying:
"You have made me very happy by your words, Mr. Rockharrt, and I a.s.sure you, by all my hopes on earth or in heaven, that whatever may change in time or eternity, my heart will never vary a hair"s breadth from its fidelity to its queen."
"I believe you, or rather I believe you think so."
A kind impulse, a rare one, moved the old man. Perhaps he reflected that these two young people might, have defied him and married without his consent had they pleased to do so; but they had submitted themselves to his will, and as his favorite motto told him that "Government is maintained by reward and punishment," he may have reasoned that this was an occasion for reward. So he said to the young man, who had risen, and was standing before him:
"Rothsay, we shall leave here for New York on Tuesday, to sail by the Sat.u.r.day"s steamer for Liverpool. If your engagements admit of it, and if you would like to spend the intervening time near Cora, we should be pleased to have you stay here."
Rule spent three happy days at Rockhold, and in the evening of the third day, the evening before they were to leave for Europe, he asked Mr.
Rockharrt if he might have the privilege of attending the travelers to the seaport, and seeing them off by the steamer.
The Iron King found no objection to this plan. Mrs. Rockharrt was pleased, and Cora was delighted with it.
Accordingly, on the next morning, they left Rockhold for New York, where they arrived on the evening of the next day.
And on Sat.u.r.day morning they went on board the steamer Persia, bound for Liverpool.
They bade good-by to Regulas Rothsay, on the deck, at the last moment.
The signal gun was fired, and our party sailed away to a new life, in which the faith of a woman was to be tempted and lost, and the career of a man was to be wrecked.
It was in the third year of their absence that they returned from the Continent to England. They reached London in February, in time to see the grand pageant of the queen opening parliament. After which they attended the first royal drawing room of the season, on which occasion Mrs. Rockharrt and Miss Haught were presented to her Majesty by the wife of the American minister.
Cora Haught was a new beauty and a new social sensation. She was, indeed, more beautiful than she had been when she left America. A richly colored Southern brunette was unique among British blondes. It was for this, perhaps, she was so much admired.
Moreover, she was reported to be the only descendant of her grandfather and the sole heiress of his fabulous wealth.
There was at this time another _debutant_ in society, a young man, the Duke of c.u.mbervale, who had lately reached his majority and come into his estates, or what was left of them--an ancient castle and a few barren acres in Northumberland, an old hall and a few acres in Suss.e.x, and a town house in London; but his t.i.tle was an historical one. His person was handsome, his manners attractive, and his mind highly cultivated.
Cora met him first at the queen"s drawing room, and afterward at every ball and party to which she went.
It was, perhaps, natural--very natural--that the handsome blonde man should be attracted by the beautiful brunette woman, without thought of the supposed fortune that might have redeemed his mortgaged estates and supported his distinguished t.i.tle. But why should the betrothed of Regulas Rothsay have been fascinated by this elegant English aristocrat?
Surely no two men were ever more diametrically opposite than the American printer and the English duke.