University of Virginia Library

18. CHAPTER XVIII.

Henry VI.

The Wyllyses remained later than they had intended in
the country. Elinor, indeed, proposed to her aunt that they
should pass the winter at Wyllys-Roof, but Miss Agnes and
her grandfather were unwilling to do so. The variety of a
life in town would be preferable for her sake to the quiet
monotony of a country winter. They knew she had too
much sense to wish to play the victim; but it was only
natural to believe, that in a solitary country life, painful
recollections would force themselves upon her oftener than
among her friends in town, where she would be obliged to
think less of herself, and more of others.

It had been a great relief to her to find, that Jane had not
acted as unworthily as Miss Agnes had at first feared; in
spite of what she herself had overheard at Miss Hubbard's
party, Elinor threw off all suspicion of her cousin, as soon
as she learned that Jane denied any previous knowledge of
the change in Harry's feelings. Hazlehurst, himself, had
said in his letter that she was blameless.

“Then,” she exclaimed, “I shall at least be able to love
Jane as before!” She immediately sat down, and wrote her
cousin a short, but affectionate letter, containing only a slight
allusion to what had passed. Jane's answer, of course,
avoided wounding her feelings, and their intercourse was
resumed.

“The time will come, I trust,” she thought, “when Harry,
too, will be a friend again.” But she felt the hour had not
yet arrived. She could not so soon forget the past. It was
no easy task, suddenly to change the whole current of feeling
which had filled her mind during the last two years. In

spite of her earnest resolutions, during the first few weeks,
thoughts and feelings of the past would recur too often,
For some time Elinor was very unhappy; she felt that the
strongest and deepest affections of her heart had been neglected,
rejected, undervalued, by one whose opinion she
had learned to prize too highly. She wept and blushed to
think how much she had become attached to Harry, since
she had looked upon him as her affianced husband. She
could not but feel herself free from all reproach towards him;
it was he who, unsought by her, had wished to draw a closer
tie between them. He had succeeded but too well, and then
he had forgotten her. The temptation which had proved too
strong for him, would not have deserved the name, had the
case been reversed, had she been exposed to it. And yet
she did not reproach him; men think so much of beauty,
and she was so very plain! It was but natural at such a
moment, that she should be oppressed by an over-wrought
humility. She accused herself of vanity, for having at one
time believed it possible Harry could love one like herself.
But how happy was Jane!

Her efforts to struggle against low spirits were the greater,
for the sake of her aunt and her grandfather. She made it
a duty to neglect no regular task, and much of her time was
occupied as usual; but the feelings which she carried about
to her employment, were very different from what they had
been heretofore. It was her first taste of sorrow; well
might her aunt deeply reproach Hazlehurst for his versatile
conduct towards her beloved child. Elinor flattered herself
that Miss Agnes knew not half of what she felt. In general
she succeeded in being quite calm, and attentive to others;
she was always sweet-tempered, and unrepining. But she
could not read, herself, the expression of her own countenance,
so tenderly watched by her aunt. She was not
aware that the musical tones of her voice were no longer
cheerful; that instead of the gay, easy conversation in which
she used to bear her part, she was now at times absent, often

silent; she whose graceful wit and youthful spirits had been
until lately the joy of her family. Mr. Wyllys's indignation
against Hazlehurst would have been boundless, if he
could have seen him at such moments, as was often now the
case, sitting by the side of Jane, admiring the length of her
eye-lashes, the pearly smoothness of her complexion, and
the bright colour of her lips, as she uttered some very
common-place remark. Such had now become Hazlehurst's
daily pleasure, his daily habit.

Miss Agnes purposely left to her niece, this year, all the
arrangements for their removal to town; and Elinor was
obliged to be very busy. It happened too, quite opportunely,
perhaps, that just at that time Mrs. George Wyllys was
coming over oftener than usual, to consult her father-in-law
and Miss Agnes. Against Mr. Wyllys's advice, she had to
withdraw her eldest boy from the school where he had been
first placed, and now a new choice was to be made. Mr.
Wyllys recommended a small establishment in their own
neighbourhood, recently opened by Miss Patsey's brother;
he thought it equally good with the one she had in view,
and with the additional advantage of more moderate terms,
and a smaller number of boys. But Mrs. Wyllys had a
great deal to say on the opposite side of the question; the
low price was an objection in her eyes.

“There, my dear sir, you must allow me to differ from
you. I have always intended to devote a large portion of
my means to the education of my children; economy in
such a case, I cannot look upon as economy at all.”

“Certainly, Harriet, you are perfectly right to secure to
your children every advantage in your power. But this is
not a case in point. Thomas Hubbard, you know, was a
principal in the very school which you have in view, and
only withdrew last spring on account of ill health. He still
continues the same system, and has the same masters, with
the advantage of only four boys besides Evert, to occupy his
attention.”

This was too plain to be contradicted. “But in my opinion,
sir, a large school is very much to be preferred for a boy. I
have thought a great deal on the subject, since Evert has
been of an age to leave me.”

“But what are your reasons for preferring a large school
to a small one?”

“I think it a better preparation for their entrance into life.
And then they have the advantage of choosing their intimates
from a larger number of boys; Evert's disposition will make
it particularly desirable for him. I am sure, if he were shut
up with two or three boys only, he would find it so dull that
he would be disgusted.”

“Well, my dear, I view the matter in a different light,”
replied Mr. Wyllys, who would never allow himself to be
silenced, or forced to advise anything against his conscience;
though many men would have been worried into it by such
a woman. Unfortunately, Mrs. Wyllys was the only guardian
of her children, and Mr. Wyllys was often obliged to
see his daughter-in-law act in a manner that he thought ill-judged;
but though very good-natured, he could never be
talked into being a party to such plans. “It is precisely on
account of Evert's high spirits that I should like a small
school for him. He would be less likely to get himself and
others into scrapes; he would be more under his master's
eye.”

“I think, sir, from the conversation I had with Mr. Stone,
he is just the man to obtain an influence over Evert.”

“You would like Hubbard still better, if you knew him.”

“I doubt it very much, sir; I am sick of the very name
of Hubbard. Those Longbridge Hubbards are enough to
spoil a paradise.”

“Well, Harriet,” said Mr. Wyllys, “you seem to have
made up your mind; so have I; now what is to be done?”

“Of course, sir, your opinion has great weight with me;
you know I am always guided by you.”

“Then the matter is settled, and Evert goes to Hubbard's.”

Mr. Wyllys thought he had succeeded, on this occasion,
in gaining his point, by taking his daughter-in-law at her
word; but the very next morning she drove over to Wyllys-Roof,
with a new view of the subject; and it was not until
after half-a-dozen more conversations, that the matter was
finally settled, by Mr. Wyllys refusing to give any more
advice; when his daughter-in-law, of her own accord, determined
to send her boy to Mr. Hubbard's school. It must be
confessed that some women, endowed too with certain good
qualities, are very trying, and possess a most vexatious vein
of caprice. In the mean time the child was taken sick; he
was ill for several weeks, and Elinor assisted in nursing him.

Independently of these consultations, and cares about her
little cousin, there were other claims upon Elinor's attention
at this time, and those the least romantic in the world.
Within the last few weeks, all the men of Longbridge
seemed to have their heads full of a new rail-road, one of
the first that were made in this country. All the property
Elinor had inherited from her father was in this village, and
so placed as to have its value very much increased by this
intended piece of internal improvement. Mr. Hubbard was
one of those most interested in the project, which was of
some importance to Mr. Wyllys, also. The gentlemen had
many meetings on the subject, and Elinor was obliged to
hear a great deal that was going on; which houses were to
be pulled down, which streets widened, what engineer was
to be employed, where the rails were to come from, at what
time they hoped to get the act through the Assembly. Mr.
Taylor, of course, was not the man to allow anything approaching
to speculation, to take place in his neighbourhood
without having something to do with it himself. He came
over to Longbridge expressly to help matters on; and as
Colonnade Manor was shut up, Mr. Wyllys, always hospitably
inclined, asked him to his own house for a day or two.
With such a spirit under their roof, little else was heard of
besides stocks and lots, wharves and stores. Elinor's property

was known to be much interested in the affair, and
Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Taylor thought it necessary to congratulate
her. Mr. Taylor, indeed, would have been much
shocked had he known how very little she cared about the
matter.

“We shall have to consult you, Miss Elinor, in our proceedings,”
said Mr. Hubbard, as they were sitting at the
dinner-table; “perhaps you don't know it, but you will be
one of our stockholders, and much interested in our success,
I assure you.”

“My grandfather tried last night to give me some notions
on the subject, Mr. Hubbard; but I am afraid he was not
very successful.”

“Oh, I don't know that,” said Mr. Wyllys; “I shall make
quite a business woman of you, yet, Nelly.” In fact, her
grandfather had taken the moment to assure Elinor that it was
high time she should have some just ideas on such subjects,
and insisted on her listening to all his explanations, and doing
her best to comprehend them. Elinor tried to be a docile
pupil, and really acquired some useful information, which
may appear singular to romantic young ladies, who set up
for broken-hearted; as her only object, however, was to
gratify her grandfather, we hope she will be forgiven for
anything so much out of character in a heroine.

“It is a beautiful speculation, Miss Wyllys,” observed Mr.
Taylor. “I suppose you know enough about these things,
to be glad to hear that in a year or two, you will probably
realize two hundred per cent. on your lots in Water-Street,
where the dépôt is to be built.”

“It all sounds very grandly, certainly,” said Elinor, smiling.

“We shall make a fortune for you, Miss Elinor,” added
Mr. Hubbard. “You will be the great lady of Longbridge.”

“I dare say, Nelly, you will find some way of spending
the money; young ladies know very well how to get rid of
it, let it come ever so fast.”

“Yes, sir, my daughters are very expert at that; Emmeline

thinks nothing of giving fifty dollars for a flimsy pocket-handkerchief,
and as much for a flighty-looking hat. But
I've no objections; I'll tell you in confidence, that is what
we make our money for, Miss Elinor—for our children to
spend,” added Mr. Hubbard, smiling good-naturedly. “I
dare say you will find a right use for some of yours. It will
be in good hands, and I hope you may long enjoy it,” said
he, making a bow to Elinor, as he drank off a glass of
Madeira.

Mr. Taylor, though he joined in the toast with some
“affable” remark, as usual, could not help regretting that so
much money, and consequently the power of making so
much more, should not be in the hands of one who could
turn it to better account than Miss Elinor Wyllys. He had
a very poor opinion of Mr. Wyllys's money-making abilities,
and thought him very “unenterprising.” That gentleman,
on the contrary, when brought in closer contact with Mr.
Taylor, began to have a clearer insight into his character,
and while he found him uncommonly clever, discovered that
several of his propositions betrayed anything but high principles.
He began to believe that Mr. Graham's dislike was
not ill-founded.

Mr. Hubbard, in the mean time, who had known Elinor
from a child, was thinking how he could say something
agreeable about love and beaux, supposed always to be
pleasant subjects to young ladies. He felt some doubts
about hinting at Hazlehurst, for he thought he had heard
the engagement was broken off. Happily for Elinor, the
party rose from table before anything had suggested itself.

At length Mrs. Wyllys's boy recovered, and was sent off
to school; and this rail-road matter was also satisfactorily
settled. As there was nothing more to detain the family in
the country, the Wyllyses went to Philadelphia, and took
possession of their lodgings for the winter.