"No. She knows my wishes, and since she defies them, I certainly shall not condescend to open my lips to her on this subject."
"Women arrogate such marvellous astuteness in reading each other"s motives, that I should imagine Estelle"s ingenuity would furnish an open sesame to the locked chamber of this girl"s heart, and supply some satisfactory explanation of her incomprehensible course."
Mr. Murray took his cousin"s hand and drew her to a seat beside him on the sofa.
"The solution is very easy, my dear cynic. Edna can well afford to decline Gordon Leigh"s offer when she expects and manoeuvres to sell herself for a much higher sum than he can command."
As Miss Harding uttered these words, Mrs. Murray turned quickly to observe their effect.
The cousins looked steadily at each other, and St. Elmo laughed bitterly, and patted Estelle"s cheek, saying:
"Bravo! "Set a thief to catch a thief!" I knew you would hit the nail on the head! But who the d--l is this fellow who is writing to her from New York? This is the second letter I have taken out of the office, and there is no telling how often they come; for, on both occasions, when I troubled myself to ride to the post-office, I have found letters directed to her in this same handwriting."
He drew a letter from his pocket and laid it on his knee, and as Estelle looked at it, and then glanced with a puzzled expression toward her aunt"s equally curious face, Mr. Murray pa.s.sed his hand across his eyes, to hide their malicious twinkle.
"Give me the letter, St. Elmo; it is my duty to examine it; for as long as she is under my protection she has no right to carry on a clandestine correspondence with strangers."
"Pardon me if I presume to dispute your prerogative to open her letters. It is neither your business nor mine to dictate with whom she shall or shall not correspond, now that she is no longer a child. Doubtless you remember that I warned you against her from the first day I ever set my eyes upon her, and predicted that you would repent in sackcloth and ashes your charitable credulity? I swore then she would prove a thief; you vowed she was a saint! But, nevertheless, I have no intention of turning spy at this late day, and a.s.sisting you in the eminently honorable work of waylaying letters from her distant swain."
Very coolly he put the letter back in his pocket.
Mrs. Murray bit her lip, and held out her hand, saying peremptorily:
"I insist upon having the letter. Since you are so spasmodically and exceedingly scrupulous, I will carry it immediately to her and demand a perusal of the contents, St. Elmo, I am in no mood for jesting."
He only shook his head, and laughed.
"The dictates of filial respect forbid that I should subject my mother"s curiosity to so severe an ordeal. Moreover, were the letter once in your hands, your conscience would persuade you that it is your imperative duty to a "poor, inexperienced, motherless" girl, to inspect it ere her eager fingers have seized it. Beside, she is coming, and will save you the trouble of seeking her. I heard her run up the steps a moment ago."
Before Mrs. Murray could frame her indignation in suitable words, Edna entered, holding in one hand her straw hat, in the other basket, lined with grape leaves, and filled with remarkably large and fine strawberries. Exercise had deepened the color in her fair, sweet face, which had never looked more lovely than now, as she approached her benefactress, holding up the fragrant, tempting fruit.
"Mrs. Murray, here is a present from Mr. Hammond, who desired me to tell you that these berries are the first he has gathered from the new bed, next to the row of lilacs. It is the variety he ordered from New York last fall, and some roots of which he says he sent to you. Are they not the most perfect specimens you ever saw? We measured them at the parsonage and six filled a saucer."
She was selecting a cl.u.s.ter to hold up for inspection, and had not remarked the cloud on Mrs. Murray"s brow.
"The strawberries are very fine. I am much obliged to Mr. Hammond."
The severity of the tone astonished Edna, who looked up quickly, saw the stern displeasure written on her face, and glanced inquiringly at the cousins. There was an awkward silence, and feeling the eyes of all fixed upon her, the orphan picked up her hat, which had fallen on the floor, and asked:
"Shall I carry the basket to the dining-room, or leave it here?"
"You need not trouble yourself to carry it anywhere."
Mrs. Murray laid her hand on the bell-cord and rang sharply. Edna placed the fruit on the centre-table, and suspecting that she must be de trop, moved toward the door, but Mr. Murray rose and stood before her.
"Here is a letter which arrived yesterday."
He put it in her hand, and as she recognized the peculiar superscription, a look of delight flashed over her features, and raising her beaming eyes to his, she murmured, "Thank you, sir," and retreated to her own room.
Mr. Murray turned to his mother and said carelessly:
"I neglected to tell you that I heard from Clinton to-day. He has invited himself to spend some days here, and wrote to say that he might be expected next week. At least his visit will be welcome to you, Estelle, and I congratulate you on the prospect of adding to your list of admirers the most fastidious exquisite it has ever been my misfortune to encounter."
"St. Elmo, you ought to be ashamed to mention your father"s nephew in such terms. You certainly have less respect and affection for your relatives than any man I ever saw."
"Which fact is entirely attributable to my thorough knowledge of their characters. I have generally found that high appreciation and intimate acquaintance are in inverse ratios. As for Clinton Allston, were he my father"s son, instead of his nephew. I imagine my flattering estimate of him would be substantially the same. Estelle, do you know him?"
"I have not that pleasure, but report prepares me to find him extremely agreeable. I am rejoiced at the prospect of meeting him.
Some time ago, just before I left Paris, I received a message from him, challenging me to a flirtation at sight so soon as an opportunity presented itself."
"For your sake, Estelle, I am glad Clinton is coming, for St. Elmo is so shamefully selfish and oblivious of his duties as host, that I know time often hangs very heavily on your hands."
Mrs. Murray was too thoroughly out of humor to heed the dangerous sparkle in her son"s eyes.
"Very true, mother, his amiable and accommodating disposition commends him strongly to your affection; and knowing what is expected of him, he will politely declare himself her most devoted lover before he has been thirty-six hours in her society. Now, if she can accept him for a husband, and you will only consent to receive him as your son, I swear I will reserve a mere scanty annuity for my traveling expenses; I will gladly divide the estate between them, and transport myself permanently and joyfully beyond the animadversion on my inherited sweetness of temper. If you, my dear coz, can only coax Clinton into this arrangement for your own and my mother"s happiness, you will render me eternally grateful, and smooth the way for a trip to Thibet and Siberia, which I have long contemplated. Bear this proposition in mind, will you, especially when the charms of Le Bocage most favorably impress you?
Remember you will become its mistress the day that you marry Clinton, make my mother adopt him, and release me. If my terms are not sufficiently liberal, confer with Clinton as soon as maidenly propriety will permit, and acquaint me with your ultimatum; for I am so thoroughly weary and disgusted with this place that I am anxious to get away on almost any terms. Here come the autocrats of the neighborhood, the nouveaux enrichis! your friends the Montgomeries and Hills, than whom I would sooner shake hands with the Asiatic plague! I hear Madame Montgomery asking if I am not at home, as well as the ladies! Tell her I am in Spitzbergen or Mantchooria, where I certainly intend to be ere long."
As the visitors approached the sitting-room, he sprang through the window opening on the terrace and disappeared.
The contents of the unexpected letter surprised and delighted Edna much more than she would willingly have confessed. Mr. Manning wrote that upon the eve of leaving home for a tour of some weeks" travel, he chanced to stumble upon her letter, and in a second perusal some peculiarity of style induced him to reconsider the offer it contained, and he determined to permit her to send the ma.n.u.script (as far as written) for his examination. If promptly forwarded it would reach him before he left home, and expedite an answer.
Drawing all happy auguries from this second letter, and trembling with pleasure, Edna hastened to prepare her ma.n.u.script for immediate transmission. Carefully enveloping it in a thick paper, she sealed and directed it, then fell on her knees, and, with clasped hands resting on the package, prayed earnestly, vehemently, that G.o.d"s blessing would accompany it, would crown her efforts with success.
Afraid to trust it to the hand of a servant, she put on her hat and walked back to town.
The express agent gave her a receipt for the parcel, a.s.sured her that it would be forwarded by the evening train, and with a sigh of relief she turned her steps homeward.
Ah! it was a frail paper bark, freighted with the n.o.blest, purest aspirations that ever possessed a woman"s soul, launched upon the tempestuous sea of popular favor, with ambition at the helm, hope for a compa.s.s, and the gaunt spectre of failure grinning in the shrouds. Would it successfully weather the gales of malice, envy and detraction? Would it battle valiantly and triumphantly with the piratical hordes of critics who prowl hungrily along the track over which it must sail? Would it become a melancholy wreck on the mighty ocean of literature, or would it proudly ride at anchor in the harbor of immortality, with her name floating for ever at the masthead?
It was an experiment such as had stranded the hopes of hundreds and thousands; and the pinched, starved features of Chatterton, and the white, pleading face of Keats, stabbed to death by reviewers"
poisoned pens, rose like friendly phantoms and whispered sepulchral warnings.
But to-day the world wore only rosy garments, unspotted by shadows, and the silvery voice of youthful enthusiasm sung only of victory and spoils, as hope gayly struck the cymbals and fingered the timbrels.
When Edna returned to her room, she sat down before her desk to reperuse the letter which had given her so much gratification; and, as she refolded it, Mrs. Murray came in and closed the door after her.
Her face was stern and pale; she walked up to the orphan, looked at her suspiciously, and when she spoke her voice was hard and cold.
"I wish to see that letter which you received to-day, as it is very improper that you should, without my knowledge, carry on a correspondence with a stranger. I would not have believed that you could be guilty of such conduct."
"I am very much pained, Mrs. Murray, that you should even for a moment have supposed that I had forfeited your confidence. The nature of the correspondence certainly sanctions my engaging in it, even without consulting you. This letter is the second I have received from Mr. Manning, the editor of--Magazine, and was written in answer to a request of mine, with reference to a literary matter which concerns n.o.body but myself. I will show you the signature; there it is--Dougla.s.s G. Manning. You know his literary reputation and his high position. If you demand it, of course, I can not refuse to allow you to read it; but, dear Mrs. Murray, I hope you will not insist upon it, as I prefer that no one should see the contents, at least at present. As I have never deceived you, I think you might trust me when I a.s.sure you that the correspondence is entirely restricted to literary subjects."
"Why, then, should you object to my reading it?"
"For a reason which I will explain at some future day, if you will only have confidence in me. Still, if you are determined to examine the letter, of course I must submit, though it would distress me exceedingly to know that you can not, or will not, trust me in so small a matter."
She laid the open letter on the desk and covered her face with her hands.