All alike were waiting for an opportunity. And the days went by, and it did not come, because it was watched for. But suddenly Mrs. Filmer resolved to give a "Good-bye Ball," and then, when everybody"s thoughts were on the trivialities of flowers and ribbons, destiny, one morning, called them to account for the love she had given. She wanted to know what harvest of joy or sorrow had been grown upon the slopes of the sunny summer days, and whether the love that had brightened them was to be homed forever in faithful hearts; or cast out wounded and forlorn, to perish and be forgotten on the hard highways of selfish and mercenary life!
CHAPTER III
It was the morning before "the Ball," and Mrs. Filmer was busy about the packing of some valuable bric-a-brac, which was to be taken with them to the city. She went into Harry"s room, to see if the pieces adorning it had been attended to properly; and, glancing carefully around, her eyes fell upon a book of expensive ill.u.s.trations. She determined to lock it away, and lifted it for that purpose. A letter fell from its pages, and she read it. As she did so, her eyes flashed, and her face grew pa.s.sionately sombre.
"The idea!" she muttered. "The very idea of such a thing!"
She did not replace the letter, but taking it in her hand, went in search of Harry; and as she could not find him, she proceeded to Mr.
Filmer"s study. He looked up with fidgety annoyance, and she said crossly:
"Henry, I am sorry to disturb you; but I suppose your son is of more importance than your book."
"Is there anything amiss with Harry?"
"Harry is on the point of making a dreadful _mesalliance_."
"With whom?"
"That Van Hoosen girl."
"How do you know?"
"I found a letter in his room--a perfectly dreadful letter."
"Dreadful!"
"You know what I mean--a letter asking her to be his wife."
"It might be worse than that. If Harry loves her, I am glad he loves her honorably."
"Honorably! Such a marriage is impossible; and for once, you must take Harry in hand, and tell him so."
"Harry is of age. He is independent of me, in so far that he makes his own living, and has his own income. I can advise, but if you have your usual wisdom, Emma, you will not attempt to coerce him. I am sure the furnace needs attending to. This room is cold, and you know, when I am writing, I always do have cold feet." He was turning the leaves of his book with impatience, and a total withdrawal of interest from the subject of conversation. Mrs. Filmer left him with a look of contempt.
"The man has lost all natural feeling," she sighed. "He gets his very pa.s.sions out of a bookcase. There is no use in expecting help from him."
She put the letter in her pocket, and tried to go on with the domestic affairs interesting her; but she found the effort impossible. A fierce jealousy of her son swallowed up every smaller feeling; she had a nausea when she thought he might at that very moment be "making an irredeemable fool of himself." But she took into consideration what Mr. Filmer had said, and acknowledged that, careless as he seemed about the matter, he had touched its vital point at once. Harry would not bear coercion. Her tactics would have to be straightforward and persuasive.
She sat motionless, with eyes cast down, considering them; and schooling herself into such control of her pa.s.sion as would compel Harry to respect her objections. She resolved also to say nothing of her plans to Rose. Rose had a romantic fancy for the girl"s brother; and she was quite capable of justifying her own penchant behind Harry"s. As she pondered these things, she heard the carpenters from the village preparing the ball-room. They were tacking up bunting and wreaths of autumn leaves, but though the designs were her own, and she had been much interested in them, everything about the entertainment had suddenly become a weariness. She felt that until she had an understanding with Harry, she could do nothing; no, nor even care for what others were doing.
Fortunately, as she stood at the window, gloomily looking into a future her own sick fancy conjured, she saw Harry coming slowly up the avenue. He had the air of a man in suspense or anxiety, and she whispered, "There! I know he has done something awful! He looks like it. It is a shame that a strange girl should come into my home and make so much trouble. It is, really!"
Her intense recognition of Harry caused him to look up, and she made a motion which he hastened to answer. For here it must be admitted that Harry had a certain fear of his mother--a fear all compact of love--a fear of wounding or offending her--a fear of seeing her weeping or troubled--a tender fear, which was partly the habit of years, and very much the result of a generous estimate of her many excellences, and of his own indebtedness to them. And from the beginning of time, men have desired to worship a woman; some men take naturally to the worship of the Blessed Virgin; others turn their religion of woman to motherhood, and find that among the millions of earth-mothers, there is no mother like the mother that bore them. Harry was one of these disciples.
He had been insensible so long to the charms of maidenhood, because he gave all the tenderness of his nature to his mother; and even his love for Rose was not so much on the ground that she was his sister as that she was his mother"s daughter. And undoubtedly, this mother love had been hitherto the salt of his life. It had preserved him from all excesses that would grieve her, it had sanctified the idea of home in his heart; and if it had in a measure narrowed his nature, it had kept him from those gross vices men do not go from a mother"s side to practice.
He came into the room with a conscious alertness, blaming himself for not taking more interest in the coming entertainment. Yet he had felt it hard to do so; in the first place, Yanna would not be present, her father having positive convictions about the folly--perhaps the sin--of dancing. In the second place, he had really written to Yanna; the letter in the possession of Mrs. Filmer being a mild draft of the one actually sent; so that the air of anxiety was a very natural one.
He perceived at once that his mother was much annoyed, and his face was instantly sympathetic.
"I knew this thing was going to be too much for you, dear mother," he said, with an air of reproach. "I am so sorry you undertook it. It will be a bore altogether."
"Harry, it is not the ball--it is you! Oh, Harry! Harry! Look at this letter. I found it in your room. Naturally, I read it; and, of course, having done so, I think it honorable to talk with you about it."
Harry was fingering the letter his mother handed him, as she spoke, and when she ceased, he folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
"Well, mother," he said, "you have discovered what I intended to tell you as soon as this miserable ball was over. I love Yanna. I intend to marry her--if she will marry me."
"No fear of that. The girl has been doing her best to secure you all summer long."
"You are mistaken, mother."
"Oh, Harry, such a marriage is impossible! You know how I adore you!
You are my life! I cannot give you up to this strange girl. Besides, dear Harry, you have taught me to rely upon you, to trust to you, in all my cares and troubles. You have been my right hand, ever since you were a little lad. You have enabled Rose to take her proper place in society. Without you, everything must go to destruction."
"Dear mother, I do not see any reason for such calamity. You give me too much credit."
"I do not give you enough. Look at your father. He is wonderfully clever, but has he ever been of any use in business? You have had everything to attend to. If I had had the remotest idea you would marry, I should never have permitted the building of this house. We have sunk a deal of money in it. Without your income, we shall be quite unable to keep it up. Then just imagine how we shall be laughed at by the Giffords and all our set! It makes me shivering sick."
"You knew, mother, that I would be likely to marry sometime."
"Oh, yes! but not just at this time. You could not have chosen a more cruel time. How am I to manage with two houses on my hands, and no one to help me? Then, there is your little sister Rose! I hoped to give her a fair chance this season, to let her entertain, to let her realize her ideas in dress. She has been promised these pleasures; how can I tell her you are going to leave us to fight the world alone! You know, Harry--yes, you do know--that Rose gets a great many invitations for your sake. If your engagement becomes known--and such things sift through the air--farewell to the Lennox dinners and dances! farewell to the Manns, and the Storeys, and the Wolseys, and a great many others! In fact, there is no use in opening the New York house at all. We had better stay here. Thank goodness! we can make your father"s book the excuse."
Mrs. Filmer"s eyes were brim full of tears, but she bravely held them back; and this bit of self-restraint touched Harry far more than if she had flown to pieces in hysteria. He looked much troubled, and sitting down at her side, he took her hand and said:
"Do you think I will desert you if I marry, mother? You have been the best half of my life. I could not live without you."
"You think so, Harry. But I know better. When a man gets a wife, he leaves father and mother for her. But do not leave me just yet, Harry!
Do not leave me, dear boy, while I have so much to do, and to worry about! If I deserve any love or grat.i.tude from you, do not leave me just yet! Oh, Harry! Harry!"
"I will not, mother. If Yanna loves me, she will wait for me."
"If she loves you, she will be glad to wait for you."
"You do not object to Yanna herself, do you, mother? Love her, for my sake, dear mother! Let me tell her you will. Is she not all you could wish for me? Is she not good and lovely, beyond comparison?"
"Indeed, I think she is very unworthy of you. I cannot love her yet, Harry. If you were thinking of May Hervey, or Sarah Holles, I could bear the loss of you better. Either of these girls would marry you for a word. May is worth all of a million and a half, and Sarah nearly a million. In these days, matrimony ought to mean money. My dear son, do not leave your mother just yet! And if you must engage yourself to a girl so unworthy your position, at any rate keep it a profound secret. Even Rose must not be told. Rose is subject to sentimental confidences, and she is a little conceited, and will not believe me, if I tell her she is asked out for your sake, and not for her own. Harry, I love you so much! Will you help me a little longer, my dear?"
She was trembling with emotion, she was weeping very quietly; but Harry could see the tears dropping upon her clasped hands. But she did not for a moment let her feelings overstep her faculties; she knew right well that a woman ever so little beyond herself is a fool. She knew also that the modern gentleman is wounded in his self-esteem by a scene, and is not to be tenderly moved by any signs of mere pathological distress.
Her self-restraint inspired Harry with respect; and he felt it impossible to throw off the habit of consideration for "mother above all others." It had the growth of nearly thirty years; while his affection for Yanna was comparatively a thing of yesterday. He promised not to marry while his marriage would be injurious to his family; and he promised to keep his engagement a secret, if Yanna accepted him. Nor did he antic.i.p.ate any difficulty in fulfilling these promises; while he told himself that, after all, it was only a little bit of self-denial, which would be amply repaid by his mother"s and sister"s happiness and welfare.
He did not think of Yanna, nor of how a secret engagement and a delayed marriage might affect her; but he was annoyed because these conditions had not been alluded to in his letter to her. Yanna might suppose that he had purposely ignored them until her consent was gained; and such a supposition would not place him in a very honorable light.
The interview terminated in a decided victory for Mrs. Filmer, and there was something very like a tear in Harry"s eyes when he left his mother with a straight a.s.surance of his continued help and sympathy.
At the door he turned back and kissed her again; and then she went with him as far as the room which was being prepared for dancing. But she did not ask him to stay with her; she knew better than to push an advantage too far, and was wise enough to know that when necessary words have been spoken and accepted further exhortation is a kind of affront.