"Without her, how could we part with you? I do not think I could bear it."
"I shall go before you only a little while," returned Marion, "only a very little while. A few years--how quickly they will hurry by! A few more days of labour, and your earthly tasks will be done. Then we shall meet again. And even in the days of our separation we shall not be far removed from each other. Thought will bring us spiritually near, and affection conjoin us, even though no sense of the body give token of proximity. And who knows but to me will be a.s.signed the guardianship of the dear babe given to us by Anna? Oh!
if love will secure that holy duty, then it will be mine!"
A light, as if reflected from the sun of heaven, beamed from the countenance of Marion, who closed her eyes, and, in a little while, fell off into a gentle sleep. Silently did those who loved her with more than human tenderness--for there was in their affection a love of goodness for its own sake--bend over and watch the face of the sweet sleeper, even until there came stealing upon them the fear that she would not waken again in this world. And the fear was not groundless; for thus she pa.s.sed away. To her death came as a gentle messenger, to bid her go up higher. And she obeyed the summons without a mortal fear.
No pa.s.sionate grief at their loss raged wildly in the bosoms of those who suffered this great bereavement. For years, the mother and son had daily striven against selfish feelings as evil; and now, comprehending with the utmost clearness that Marion"s removal was, for her, a blessed change, their hearts were thankful, even while tears wet their cheeks. They mourned for her departure, because they were human; they suffered pain, for ties of love the most tender had been snapped asunder; they wept, because in weeping nature found relief. Yet, in all, peace brooded over their spirits.
When the fading, wasting form of earth which Marion"s pure spirit had worn, as a garment, but now laid aside forever, was borne out, and consigned to its kindred clay, those who remained behind experienced no new emotions of grief. To them Marion still lived.
This was the old mortal body, that vailed, rather than made visible, her real beauty. Now she was clothed in a spiritual body, that was transcendently beautiful, because it was the very form of good affections. To lay the useless garment aside was not, therefore, a painful task. This done, each member of the bereaved family returned to his and her life-tasks, and, in the faithful discharge of daily duties, found a sustaining power. But Marion was not lost to them.
Ever present was she in their thought and affection, and often, in dreams, she was with them,--yet, never as the suffering mortal; but as the happy, glorified immortal. Beautiful was the faith upon which they leaned. To them the spiritual was not a something vague and undeterminate; but a real ent.i.ty. They looked beyond the grave, into the spiritual world, as into a better country, where life was continued in higher perfection, and where were spiritual ultimates, as perfectly adapted to spiritual sense as are the ultimates of creation to the senses of the natural body.
THE LOVE SECRET.
"EDWARD is to be in London next week," said Mrs. Ravensworth; "and I trust, Edith, that you will meet him with the frankness he is ent.i.tled to receive."
Edith Hamilton, who stood behind the chair of her aunt, did not make any answer.
Mrs. Ravensworth continued--"Edward"s father was your father"s own brother. A man of n.o.bler spirit never moved on English soil; and I hear that Edward is the worthy son of a worthy sire."
"If he were as pure and perfect as an angel, aunt," replied Edith, "it would be all the same to me. I have never seen him, and cannot, therefore, meet him as one who has a right to claim my hand."
"Your father gave you away when you were a child, Edith; and Edward comes now to claim you by virtue of this betrothal."
"While I love the memory of my father, and honour him as a child should honour a parent," said Edith, with much seriousness, "I do not admit his right to give me away in marriage while I was yet a child. And, moreover, I do not think the man who would seek to consummate such a marriage contract worthy of any maiden"s love.
Only the heart that yields a free consent is worth having, and the man who would take any other is utterly unworthy of any woman"s regard. By this rule I judge Edward to be unworthy, no matter what his father may have been."
"Then you mean," said Mrs. Ravensworth, "deliberately to violate the solemn contract made by your father with the father of Edward?"
"I cannot receive Edward as anything but a stranger," replied Edith.
"It will not mend the error of my father for me to commit a still greater one."
"How commit a still greater one?" inquired Mrs. Ravensworth.
"Destroy the very foundation of a true marriage--freedom of choice and consent. There would be no freedom of choice on his part, and no privilege of consent on mine. Happiness could not follow such a union, and to enter into it would be doing a great wrong. No, aunt, I cannot receive Edward in any other way than as a stranger--for such he is."
"There is a clause in your father"s will that you may have forgotten, Edith," said her aunt.
"That which makes me penniless if I do not marry Edward Hamden?"
"Yes."
"No--I have not forgotten it, aunt."
"And you mean to brave that consequence?"
"In a choice of evils we always take the least." Edith"s voice trembled.
Mrs. Ravensworth did not reply for some moments. While she sat silent, the half-closed door near which Edith stood, and toward which her aunt"s back was turned, softly opened, and a handsome youth, between whom and Edith glances of intelligence instantly pa.s.sed, presented the startled maiden with a beautiful white rose, and then noiselessly retired.
It was nearly a minute before Mrs. Ravensworth resumed the light employment in which she was engaged, and as she did so, she said--
"Many a foolish young girl gets her head turned with those gay gallants at our fashionable watering-places, and imagines that she has won a heart when the object of her vain regard never felt the throb of a truly unselfish and n.o.ble impulse."
The crimson deepened on Edith"s cheeks and brow, and as she lifted her eyes, she saw herself in a large mirror opposite, with her aunt"s calm eyes steadily fixed upon her. To turn her face partly away, so that it could no longer be reflected from the mirror, was the work of an instant. In a few moments she said--
"Let young and foolish girls get their heads turned if they will.
But I trust I am in no danger."
"I am not so sure of that. Those who think themselves most secure are generally in the greatest danger. Who is the youth with whom you danced last evening? I don"t remember to have seen him here before."
"His name is Evelyn." There was a slight tremor in Edith"s voice.
"How came you to know him?"
"I met him here last season."
"You did?"
"Yes, ma"am. And I danced with him last night. Was there any harm in that?" The maiden"s voice had regained its firmness.
"I didn"t say there was," returned Mrs. Ravensworth, who again relapsed into silence. Not long after, she said--"I think we will return to London on Thursday."
"So soon!" Edith spoke in a disappointed voice.
"Do you find it so very pleasant here?" said the aunt, a little ironically.
"I have not complained of its being dull, aunt," replied Edith. "But if you wish to return on Thursday, I will be ready to accompany you."
Soon after this, Edith Hamilton left her aunt"s room, and went to one of the drawing-rooms of the hotel at which they were staying, where she sat down near a recess window that overlooked a beautiful promenade. She had been here only a few minutes, when she was joined by a handsome youth, to whom Edith said--
"How could you venture to the door of my aunt"s parlour? I"m half afraid she detected your presence, for she said, immediately afterward, that we would return to London on the day after to-morrow."
"So soon? Well, I"ll be there next week, and it will be strange if, with your consent, we don"t meet often."
"Edward Hamden is expected in a few days," replied Edith, her voice slightly faltering.
Her companion looked at her searchingly for a few moments, and then said--
"You have never met him?"
"Never."
"But when you do meet him, the repugnance you now feel may instantly vanish."