"Ah! Aunt Hannah, they would not believe it without proof!"
"True! too true! and we cannot prove it, merely because your mother bound me by a promise never to expose the bigamy of your father. Oh, Ishmael, to shield him, what a wrong she did to herself and to you!"
wept the woman.
"Oh, Aunt Hannah, do not blame her! she was so good!" said this loyal son. "I can bear reproach for myself, but I will not bear it for her!
Say anything you like to me, dear Aunt Hannah! but never say a word against her!"
"But, poor boy! how will you bear the sure reproach of birth that you are bound to hear from others? Ah, Ishmael, you must try to fortify your mind, my dear, to bear much unjust shame in this world. Ishmael, the brighter the sun shines the blacker the shadow falls. The greater your success in the world, the bitterer will be this shame! See, my boy, it was in the hour of your youthful triumph that this reproach was first cast in your face! The envious are very mean, my boy. Ah, how will you answer their cruel reproaches!"
"I will tell you, Aunt Hannah! Let them say what they like of me; I will try to bear with them patiently; but if any man or boy utters one word of reproach against my dear mother--" The boy ceased to speak, but his face grew lived.
"Now, now, what would you do?" exclaimed Hannah, in alarm.
"Make him recant his words, or silence him forever!"
"Oh, Ishmael! Ishmael! you frighten me nearly to death! Good Heaven, men are dreadful creatures! They never receive an injury but they must needs think of slaying! Oh, how I wish you had been a girl! Since you were to be, how I do wish you had been a girl! Boys are a dreadful trial and terror to a lone woman! Oh, Ishmael! promise me you won"t do anything violent!" exclaimed Hannah, beside herself with terror.
"I cannot, Aunt Hannah! For I should be sure to break such a promise if the occasion offered. Oh, Aunt Hannah! you don"t know all my mother is to me! You don"t! You think because she died the very day that I was born that I cannot know anything about her and cannot love her; but I tell you, Aunt Hannah, I know her well! and I love her as much as if she was still in the flesh. I have seen her in my dreams ever since I can remember anything. Oh! often, when I was very small and you used to lock me up alone in the hut, while you went away for all day to Baymouth, I have been strangely soothed to sleep and then I have seen her in my dreams!"
"Ishmael, you rave!"
"No, I don"t; I will prove it to you, that I see my mother. Listen, now; n.o.body ever described her to me; not even you; but I will tell you how she looks--she is tall and slender; she has a very fair skin and very long black hair, and nice slender black eyebrows and long eyelashes, and large dark eyes--and she smiles with her eyes only! Now, is not that my mother? For that is the form that I see in my dreams," said Ishmael triumphantly, and for the moment forgetting his grief.
"Yes, that is like what she was; but of course you must have heard her described by someone, although you may have forgotten it. Ishmael, dear, I shall pray for you to-night, that all thoughts of vengeance may be put out of your mind. Now let us go to bed, my child, for we have to be up early in the morning. And, Ishmael?"
"Yes, Aunt Hannah."
"Do you also pray to G.o.d for guidance and help."
"Aunt Hannah, I always do," said the boy, as he bade his relative good-night and went up to his loft.
Long Ishmael lay tumbling and tossing upon his restless bed. But when at length he fell asleep a heavenly dream visited him.
He dreamed that his mother, in her celestial robe, stood by his bed and breathed sweetly forth his name:
"Ishmael, my son."
And in his dream he answered:
"I am here, mother."
"Listen, my child: Put thoughts of vengeance from your soul! In this strong temptation think not what Washington, Jackson, or any of your warlike heroes would have done; think what the Prince of Peace, Christ, would have done; and do thou likewise!" And so saying, the heavenly vision vanished.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII.
LOVE AND GENIUS.
Her face was shining on him; he had looked Upon it till it could not pa.s.s away; He had no breath, no being but in hers; She was his voice: he did not speak to her, But trembled on her words: she was his sight; For his eye followed hers and saw with hers, Which colored all his objects.
--_Byron_.
Early the next morning Ishmael walked over to Brudenell Hall with the threefold purpose of making an apology for his sudden departure from the ball; taking leave of the family for the holidays; and bringing home the books he had won as prizes.
As he approached the house he saw Mr. Middleton walking on the lawn.
That gentleman immediately advanced to meet Ishmael, holding out his hand, and saying, with even more than his usual kindness of manner:
"Good-morning, my dear boy; you quite distinguished yourself yesterday; I congratulate you."
"I thank you, sir; I thank you very much; but I fear that I was guilty of great rudeness in leaving the party so abruptly last night; but I hope, when you hear my explanation, you will excuse me, sir," said Ishmael, deeply flushing.
Mr. Middleton kindly drew the boy"s arm within his own, and walked him away from the house down a shady avenue of elms, and when they had got quite out of hearing of any chance listener, he said gravely:
"My boy, I have heard the facts from Walter, and I do not require any explanation from you. I hold you entirely blameless in the affair, Ishmael, and I can only express my deep regret that you should have received an insult while under my roof. I trust, Ishmael, that time and reflection will convince young Burghe of his great error, and that the day may come when he himself will seek you to make a voluntary apology for his exceeding rudeness."
Ishmael did not reply; his eyes were fixed upon the ground, and his very forehead was crimson. Mr. Middleton saw all this, divined his thoughts, and so gently continued:
"You will be troubled no more with Alfred Burghe or his weak brother; both boys left this morning; Alfred goes to the Military Academy at West Point; Ben to the Naval School at Annapolis; so you will be quite free from annoyance by them."
Still Ishmael hung his head, and Mr. Middleton added:
"And now, my young friend, do not let the recollection of that scapegrace"s words trouble you in the slightest degree. Let me a.s.sure you, that no one who knows you, and whose good opinion is worth having, will ever esteem your personal merits less, upon account of--" Mr.
Middleton hesitated for a moment, and then said, very softly--"your poor, unhappy mother."
Ishmael sprang aside, and groaned as if he had received a stab; and then with a rush of emotion, and in an impa.s.sioned manner, he exclaimed:
"My poor, unhappy mother! Oh, sir, you have used the right words! She was very poor and very unhappy! most unhappy; but not weak! not foolish!
not guilty! Oh, believe it, sir! believe it, Mr. Middleton! For if you were to doubt it, I think my spirit would indeed be broken! My poor, young mother, who went down to the grave when she was but little older than her son is now, was a pure, good, honorable woman. She was, sir!
she was! and I will prove it to the world some day, if Heaven only lets me live to do it! Say you believe it, Mr. Middleton! Oh, say you believe it!"
"I do believe it, my boy," replied Mr. Middleton, entirely carried away by the powerful magnetism of Ishmael"s eager, earnest, impa.s.sioned manner.
"Heaven reward you, sir," sighed the youth, subsiding into the modest calmness of his usual deportment.
"How do you intend to employ your holidays, Ishmael?" inquired his friend.
"By continuing my studies at home, sir," replied the youth.
"I thought so! Well, so that you do not overwork yourself, you are right to keep them up. These very long vacations are made for the benefit of the careless and idle, and not for the earnest and industrious. But, Ishmael, that little cot of yours is not the best place for your purpose; studies can scarcely be pursued favorably where household work is going on constantly; so I think you had better come here every day as usual, and read in the schoolroom. Mr. Brown will be gone certainly; but I shall be at home, and ready to render you any a.s.sistance."
"Oh, sir, how shall I thank you?" joyfully began Ishmael.
"By just making the best use of your opportunities to improve yourself, my lad," smiled his friend, patting him on the shoulder.
"But, sir--in the vacation--it will give you trouble--"