The following day I wrote Miss Wilson at length, reiterating and enlarging on all that I had said, telling her I would wait until she felt she could give me a definite answer, and begging her not to hasten her decision if it was to be negative.
If I had any fear at all it was on this point--that she might feel it imperative to decide the matter promptly, while I was prepared to wait, years if necessary, rather than to take from those lips which I so eagerly longed to press to mine own in love"s first caress, the relentless, cruel--no.
Miss Wilson"s contemplated visit to Connecticut was postponed for a while and this gave me an opportunity to see her daily.
That I laid vigorous siege to her heart was certain. I was most a.s.siduous in all those little attentions that please a woman, and as our tastes were entirely congenial our hours of companionship were delightful to both.
If I were a few minutes late in making my evening call, very rarely the case, she would remark it, and I soon realized that the feature of her day was the hours pa.s.sed with me. In fact, my presence was becoming necessary to her happiness.
As soon as this impression became fixed in my mind, I grew impatient at delay in the culmination of my desires, and felt I must soon urge Miss Wilson to relieve me of suspense by making me the happiest of men. Probably I should have done this within a few days had it not been for the fact that she left Brooklyn on her visit to Middletown, Connecticut. Then I decided to await her return.
On the morning of the sixth of September I found in my mail at the office an envelope addressed in a lady"s handwriting, postmarked Middletown, Connecticut.
It contained a brief note from Miss Wilson, stating that on that day at one o"clock she would be due at New York and was going at once for a week at West Point, and asked me, if convenient, to meet her at the railroad station to escort her across the city to the boat.
There were three significant points in that note, the first I had ever received from her.
First, it commenced with "Dear Walter." Always before I had been Mr. Stowe. Next, it was signed as "Yours, with love"; and last, but by no means least, Miss Wilson wrote, as a postscript, "I shall be alone."
Would it be convenient for me to meet that train? I should say so.
I was at the station with a carriage at least half an hour ahead of time and I walked the platform of the old Twenty-seventh Street station of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, back and forth, looking at my watch every five minutes and wondering if the train would ever come.
The train arrived on time, and as Miss Wilson alighted from the car, I greeted her. How I gazed into those beautiful eyes and tried to read there the love I hungered for.
We drove to the Hotel Brunswick for luncheon, and if "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," the luncheon, despite the good reputation of that old hostelry, then in its palmy days, must have been a poor one. Either that, or we lacked appet.i.te--more likely the latter.
After luncheon we again took the carriage, and drove to the pier where the _Mary Powell_ was awaiting her pa.s.sengers.
It was during that drive, while pa.s.sing down Fifth Avenue, that the word I so longed to hear was spoken. "Yes"--only a single word and yet it spoke volumes to my heart. It bound together for all time two beings, neither of whom had known for longer than a few months even of the existence of the other, and yet a divine power had brought these two hearts, beating in unison, to their natural mate. While the lips whispered "yes," the hand found its way to mine and the loving clasp was the only demonstration the surroundings permitted; but when the carriage had turned into a comparatively quiet side street and just before it reached the pier, I could no longer refrain.
Drawing the curtains at the carriage windows, I clasped to my heart the lovely girl who was now my very own.
Oh, what an ecstasy of bliss that moment was!
I have owned many handsome carriages, luxurious in their appointments, drawn by fine horses, but as I look back to that day of days, that shabby public hack, with its rough-looking driver, holding the reins over a pair of ill-fed animals, stands in my memory as almost ideal.
Of course I did not leave my promised wife at the boat. There was no reason I should not take that delightful sail up the river with her, and there was every reason why I should. I sought out a secluded spot on deck and there, comparatively free from observation, we let our thoughts revel in our new-found happiness.
It was possible, unseen, to occasionally clasp each other"s hand, and in this way a sort of lover"s wireless telegraph kept us in communication that emphasized to me the fact that my happiness was real and not a dream.
Our conversation was not very animated; we were too happy to talk, and the beautiful scenery of the Hudson was lost to us on that occasion.
To look into each other"s eyes and read there all that was in our hearts was the supreme pleasure and happiness of the moment.
When the boat arrived at West Point, Lieutenant Harper, then Professor of Spanish at the Academy, afterwards major, and since promoted to colonel for gallantry in the Philippines, met Miss Wilson at the landing.
I had planned to at once take the ferry across the river--there was no West Sh.o.r.e Railroad at that time--and return to New York by train, but Lieutenant Harper insisted that I should dine with them and take a later train, which I did.
Of course the, to us, great incident of the day was unknown to Miss Wilson"s friends, and she did not enlighten them until after I had gone.
The two or three hours spent with Lieutenant Harper"s family, while I was supposed to be simply a friend of Miss Wilson, pa.s.sed quickly. I had hoped to be able on leaving to see her alone for at least a few moments, but in this I was disappointed, and while the clasp of her hand and the expression of her eyes conveyed a great deal to me, our parting that evening was in its details most unsatisfactory from a lover"s point of view.
During that first week of our engagement, while separated, we corresponded daily, and the rejoicing was mutual when, her visit ended, Miss Wilson returned to Brooklyn.
Then for two short weeks I enjoyed to the full the privileges and delights of an accepted lover. What visions of future happiness those two weeks of close companionship opened to my eyes! The refinement and natural dignity of the woman made her caresses of exquisite daintiness and tenderness. Spontaneously and absolutely without a suggestion of affectation her love was poured out generously to the man who had won her heart, and each evening it seemed as if my affection had increased a thousand fold.
Oh, what a wonderful thing is pure love! What would the world be without it?
The day of our parting was drawing nigh.
At the end of September Miss Wilson was to return to her home in Chicago. A month later I was to visit her there, but the thought of that month of separation so soon after we had become engaged saddened us and our hearts dreaded the ordeal. Still, come it did, and as I watched the train pull out of the station, carrying with it all that I loved best in the world, I felt a wrench at my heartstrings and a loneliness that was inexpressible.
For a month I consoled myself as best I could with the letters which reached me almost daily and always brought me happiness.
Then I turned my face westward.
Miss Wilson"s father had been dead for many years. She, with her mother, resided with her married sister, the wife of a general in the army during the war, and at the time of which I write, judge of the Probate Court. Until his death, a few years ago, he was one of Chicago"s best known and most highly respected citizens.
As the relatives approved of our engagement, my reception by the family was all that could be desired. As to my reception by Miss Wilson, I think it safe to leave it to the imagination of my readers.
It was entirely satisfactory to me.
My visit was of necessity a short one. For though I was not again to see Miss Wilson until the time of our marriage, a full year away, I had to return to New York after a few days and look after my business interests, which required constant personal attention.
The days of my visit flew speedily, and back in New York I settled down to business with increased ambition and the greatest possible incentive to achieve success.
CHAPTER V
WEDDING BELLS
The year in which the days had been as weeks, the weeks as months, had finally come to an end, and at six o"clock on the evening of Sat.u.r.day, October 19th, 1872, I started on my thirty-six hours"
journey to Chicago.
There was no "Twentieth Century Limited," making the trip in twenty hours, in those days, and my two nights and a day on the road gave me ample time for contemplation, which I was in a mood to avail myself of. I felt all the eagerness of youth, the power of a love that stirred my whole being, and was impressed with the solemnity of the obligation I was about to incur.
The life of a lovely woman was to be intrusted to me, to make or to mar according as I did my duty.
I pa.s.sed many hours, as the train rolled on, mile after mile, mentally reviewing the past, looking at the present, and planning for the future.
My year of correspondence with my wife-to-be had increased the strength of my affection, and to its growth there seemed no end. In a worldly way I had prospered, acc.u.mulating five thousand dollars, while my income from my business was, so far as I could see, making a steady and gratifying increase. My health was perfect, I had not a care in the world, and when I arrived in Chicago Monday morning my happiness was complete. No, not quite; but it was a few minutes later when I arrived at the home of my bride on Michigan avenue.
I remained a guest there until Tuesday, and then visited my married sister, who resided in a suburb of Chicago.
Wednesday was one of those glorious October days when, with a clear sky, the temperature is low enough to make the air bracing without being too cold. I was at the Michigan avenue home early, and after a few minutes with Miss Wilson, walking through the rooms, admiring the floral decorations, I was deserted, and felt myself for the time being as rather "a fifth wheel to a coach."