University of Virginia Library

4. CHAPTER IV.
The meeting and interview.

The night air served to revive the lovely
girl whom Herman had so courageously rescued
from the ruffians in the tap-room of the
Saracen's Head; and after he had supported
her a few steps along the side-walk with his
arm around her, she stopped, and drawing
back, said faintly,

`Sir, you are very kind, but I can proceed
alone. It is but a few steps. You are very
good to do what you have for me.'

`Maria, is it possible you do not know me,'
exclaimed Herman with suspicion. `It is me
—Herman.'

`Then it was not a confused dream of my
bewildered brain as I was in that horrible den.
I thought I heard and knew your voice,' she
cried with joy. `Herman it is you,' she added,
looking up into his face as the street lamp fell
upon it and revealed the look of tenderness
and love with which his eyes were bent on
her. And taking both his hands between
hers she pressed them with the warmth of
sisterly affection. `How happy you will make
your mother.'

`Is she well, Maria?' he asked eagerly.

`Yes, and lives but a few steps off.'

`I will hasten to see her. But how is it I
found you there! How is it I have met you
in this situation? Why is it you are in New
York at all?' he asked with a tone of anxiety.

`In a few words she told him the object of
her errand and how she had been insulted and
driven into the Saracen's Head for shelter and
protection.'

`Sad protection you were likely to find
there,' he said as she ended. `Thank God I
was near you to save you from these villains.'

`I can never be too grateful to you Herman,
she answered with warmth. `Come,
here is the door.'

`This? What a wretched abode! Is my
mother so poor?' he exclaimed with pain as
he surveyed the wretched exterior of the habitation.

`Yes, Herman, she is very poor! But you
shall know all when you have seen your
mother. Let me go first in and break the
news or her heart will break for joy on seeing
you.'

`That is right and prudent, just like yourself,
dear Maria,' he said pressing a kiss upon
her brow as they stood together in the doorway.
She shrunk instinctively from him so
that he could not but observe and speak of it:

`You did not once shrink from my kiss, Maria?'

`We were children then, Herman! But let
us not quarrel now,' she said with a pleasant
laugh. `I will run up and tell mother the
good news.'

`And I will go into the next shop and purchase
some candles as you say there is no light
up stairs.'

`You are very kind, dear Herman,' she said
as she tripped lightly up the dark stair way.

`Dear Herman,' he sottly repeated to himself.
`That little phrase makes all square
again! I had began to fear she might have
found somebody during my absence she loved
quite as well as Herman! Her refusing a kiss
was only maiden coyness; and as she says,
she is not a child now, she is a lovely girl indeed!
She has grown taller and fairer! I begin
to think she is too far above me she looks
so lovely and pure and good.'

Thus reflecting within himself he went and
purchased the candles, and having lighted one
he returned to the door where he found Maria
waiting for him.

`Have you broken it to her?' he asked eagerly.

`Yes; gently as I could.'

`And where is she?'

`On her knees in prayer waiting for you.'

Herman felt his bosom glow with the fire of
filial devotion and awe when he heard these
words and reverently ascended the stairs preceded
by Maria carrying the lighted candle.
She opened the door and standing aside let
him enter. Mrs. De Ruyter rose from her
knees and unclasping her hands stood gazing
an instant and then rushed towards him.

`My son! my boy! my Herman.'

`Mother, dear mother.'

For a few moments mother and son stood locked
in each others arms in silence, and both in
tears, while Maria freely wept for joy. At length
composure was restored to each and the three
sat down, the mother by her long absent boy's
side, his hand in hers her eyes on his, and the
maiden upon a low stool a little removed from
them, and gazing upon both with looks of equal
affection. They listened to his brief account
of his voyage home and his arrival that even
ing in port and then how he happened to meet
with Maria so singularly while he was searching
for them without any clue to direct his
steps.

`But it was certainly very imprudent, dear
mother, for you to let Maria go out at such an
hour in a neighborhood like this.'

`I would have gone, Herman dear, but she
would not suffer me to.'

`And I am used to being out after dark,
Herman,' said the maiden smiling.

`How and for what?'

`Because Maria has a place, Herman, and
she seldom leaves it till eight o'clock and
sometimes stays later.'

`A place! I don't understand you! But
now I think again where I am and look at this
wretched chamber I begin to comprehend! Is
it possible Maria works out as a servant.'

`Not that, oh no, Herman,' exclaimed his
mother.

`Then do explain one of you,' he cried impatiently,
and looking from one to the other.
`How is it you are in New York! How is it
you are so poor—so utterly destitute! I learned
something of this from Rolfe the Book-man!'

`Rolfe the Book-man,' repeated Maria in a
voice of surprise and a look of alarm, while
her color fled.

`Yes. He first told me that you were here,
dear mother, in this city, though I could hardly
believe it, and had seen you pass in the garb
of poverty; and he also described a young
girl who I know now was Maria.'

Herman did not take notice of the effect his
words in allusion to Rolfe had upon Maria,
being too deeply interested to have an answer
to his inquiries.

`There is a long and sad story, Herman, my
son! You must make up your mind to suffer
a great disappointment.'

`There is but one thing that can be a subject
of disappointment to me in this life,
mother,' he said bending his warm glance
upon the maiden, who feeling it dropped her
eyes and looked distressed. `Let your story
be short and let me hear the worst. So it does
not affect you and Maria I am careless of the
consequences.'

`Then know, Herman, that Mr. Waldeigh
has proved unfaithful! He has failed and become

bankrupt, and every dollar of your
money with the income you reserved for my
use is lost. It was this that led me to come
to New York and which has reduced us to
the indigence you find us in.'

`Is this man living?' demanded Herman
after a few moments severe thought; for the
intelligence produced no other effect upon him
than darkening his brow and compressing his
lips. `Is this man—this Mr. Waldeigh, my
trustee, living.'

`Yes; and rumour says he is still rich. I
have been several times to see him, but could
never gain admittance. He did leave the
city at one time, but returned again.'

`Very well, dear mother, let him drop just
now,' he said in a quiet manner. `Something
must be done to make you and Maria more
comfortable! This house will never do. Fortunately
I have six hundred dollars of my own
with me, and this is yours, mother? Tomorrow
I will have you out of this hole!'

`Now then, I will tell you, Herman and
mother, also, what I have been doing,' said
Maria with a brightening smile, and blushing
at the reflection of her own good act, `I meant
to surprise dear mother, but as you have come
I may as well tell!'

`Ah, something good I know that, my beloved
child,' said Mrs. de Ruyter with kindly
praise; `You are always trying to make me
happy. Well, child, God will reward you!
You will never suffer while you love so to
provide for the happiness of those around
you!'

`You think too much of the little I can do
for you, mother! I have received since my
tenth year all I have had from you! I can
repay you nothing in all that I can do. But
I see brother Herman is impatient to know
what great thing I have been doing!'

`I am most impatient to know where you
have a place, and why you have got one!' answered
Herman.

`You shall soon hear! What I have been
doing is to hire two pleasant rooms in Nassau
street with my wages, which I have furnished
neat and comfortably, and got every thing
ready for dear mother to go with them tomorrow!'

`There, Herman!' cried Mrs. de Ruyter
with the deepest admiration and gratitude,
looking first upon Herman and then upon our
heroine, `that is Maria perfectly! You see
from this what she is to me, and what she
has been to me since you left! But for her
life would been dreary. She has been an angel
beneath my roof!'

`You cannot say one word that will cause
me to think more of Maria than I do now;'
said Herman enthusiastically, and endeavoring
to pour into her eyes the floods of affection
(more than brotherly) that flowed from
his heart to her own. But she reservedly cast
down the lids, and with a deep blush, said,

`Now, Herman, I will tell you about my
place. I hope you will not blame me if you
do not like it; but then—'

`But then what, my daughter? Why do
you begin with an apology? We should have
perished, but that you took this place at the
greatest sacrifice of feeling, from a sacred
sense of duty.'

`Let Maria speak, mother! My heart bleeds
for the suffering that has driven either of you
to any sacrifices.'

`I will speak for her, Herman, for I can
speak best of her good and noble conduct,'
answered Madam de Ruyter. `We were so
reduced, and I being sick, that I had no means
except what Maria's needle earned; and soon
the confinement affected her health; when she
would either have had to give it up, or seek
something else. Well, she saw a place advertised
in a paper, and thinking, perhaps, she
would just suit it, she applied, and engaged
herself in it without my knowledge. She has
been there now about three months and received
good wages, and the people are respectable
and kind to her. The only drawback is
that it is very public, and she has to encounter
the gaze of young men, and to stay out
late, for she is wanted evenings as well as in
the day. She doesn't, however, go till ten in
the morning, and so she helps me much at
home. You have seen already what she has
done with her wages over what we don't need
to consume.'

`What place is this, mother? a milliner's?'

`No, Herman!'

`Why this hesitation? Is it a tailor's?'

`No!'

`I will tell you, brother,' said Maria calmly,
seeing him surprised and impatient at the apparent
reluctance of his mother to reveal the
character of the situation she held. `I will
tell you, Herman, and perhaps you may blame
me, as a modest girl, for taking it; but I had

no alternative, and you may be assured that
in no instance have I been treated by any one
who has entered the shop otherwise than with
that respect modesty and a pure heart always
command! The place I am in is a retail cigar-store!'

`A retail cigar-store!' he repeated, starting
from his chair. `Maria in a place like that!'

`It is very respectable, Herman,' said his
mother. `It is on Broadway, and only resorted
to by the most genteel company!'

`Worse and worse, worse and worse!' he
repeated with an angry brow. `I don't know
what else would not have been better!'

`But how could it be helped?' said his
mother sternly. `How could it be helped,
when we were perishing for food?'

`But consider, mother, this young pure girl!
consider Maria so guileless, so beautiful placed
in a situation surrounded with such great
dangers. Consider the peril to her reputation!
Were she fair as the lily, the breath of
slander would blast her fair fame forever! Oh,
Maria! would to God you had reflected, ere
you had taken this step!'

`But, Herman, there was no bread in the
house—nay, no house to shelter us. You are
unreasonable.'

`Yes, yes, I know it. I know it, mother,'
he said despondingly and sadly. `I know it.
You were poor, and I your protector was
away. I must blame only myself. But this
is the last day she remains there!' he cried
with determination.

`Nay, dear Herman,' answered Maria mildly,
and laying her soft hand gently upon his
shoulder, for he had reseated himself, and sat
with his forehead pressed upon his hand; `I
have yet four days more to complete my first
term of engagement, which was for three
months. Then, if you desire it, prove but
your wishes to me as those of a brother, then
if you wish it I will leave. I should break my
agreement and do Mr. A—an injury by not
going tomorrow.'

`Well, tomorrow and the other three days,
and then no longer,' he said, taking her hand
in his. `You have no idea, Maria, how dear
you are to me, and how fondly I have cherished
your image in my heart. The idea of
your being exposed to slanderers, surmises,
and the rude impertinence of fashionable fops,
almost makes me mad. But I know you have
conducted yourself like yourself, and as I
would wish to have you under such trying
circumstances. But in a few days it will be
past. Pardon my quickness. Instead of censuring
you, I ought to kneel to you for your
goodness to my mother. I ought to kneel to
you as the preserver of her life!'

`Nay, Herman, your feelings with reference
to the exposed situation I hold are natural.
Any brother, and are you not my brother!
would feel as you do on making the discovery.
I have had much to try me there;
but the consciousness that I was serving her
who had been as a mother to me, kept me from
yielding to the tears that a hundred times a
day gushed upwards to my eyes!'

`Then you have often been insulted, or
your feelings have been wounded. They
must have been, though you have said to the
contrary. I wish I knew of one who had
dared to—'

`Herman, be calm!' said Mrs. de Ruyter in
a kind tone. `I know that you have no reason
to be suspicious in this way. Who, seeing
Maria's pure face, and looking into her
heavenly blue eyes, where modesty and virtue
dwell as if in their own home, would presume
to insult her?'

`I know it, mother; but there are brutes!'
answered Herman, in a deep tone. `But let
this pass. We will have all things smooth
again soon. In four days more—nay, perhaps,
tomorrow, for I can buy off your time,
Maria, I dare say.'

`I would rather remain till it is out,' said
Maria. `Mr. A—has been very good to
me, and I ought to give him time to get some
person to supply my place.'

`You are right, Maria, I dare say. Then
let things remain as they are. Tomorrow I
will assist mother to move into your nice
rooms. I can go for you at night to come
home with you. You have not come alone,
and into such a quarter as this, I hope?'

`No, sometimes Mr. A—came with
me, and sometimes—sometimes—' here Maria
hesitated, and then added, `a friend walks
with me to the door.'

He loved Maria with the deepest passion.

Herman was of a quick, jealous temperament.
He did not like the word `friend,' and
was about to put some searching inquiry to
her touching her friends, when a low tap was
given upon the window; for, although the
room was in the second story of the house, the

street had been so raised that one passing on
the walk, could with ease rap upon the window-panes
with a stick. It was in this way
the knock was given.

`Who can that he?' said Herman rising,
and looking out. By the faint glimmer of a
street lamp in the next corner, he recognised
the figure of Wilkins Wild who had followed
him from the Saracen's Head Wild beckored
to him on seeing him.

`Excuse me, I will return in a moment,' he
said, and went down to meet him.

`Ah, me! How that secret knocking outside
reminds me of old times when Herman
was at home,' sighed Mrs. de Ruyter. `I
trust he has not already fallen in with any of
his old associates. Ah, Maria, I look only to
you to save him from temptation! You heard
now he said he had never ceased thinking of
you, and how your image was graven on his
heart, and how the thought of you kept him
from wickedness when he was tempted to it!
I am so happy to see that he loves you so.
This love for you will be his salvation! All
I wish is to see you married and happy before
I am removed! Did you see how calmly he
took the loss of his money, when I thought he
would rave and storm; and then how beautifully
he said, only one thing would disappoint
or make him unhappy; and, while he spoke,
he fixed his eyes on you full of hope and love.
I am glad you both love each other, and that
you will, for your own sake too, try to keep
him from temptation now he is back again.'

`I love Herman as a brother, dear mother!'
said Maria, evidently pained at the words of
Madame de Ruyter, and looking distressed.
`I trust he only regards me as a sister.'

`Yes, as a sister, dear, and also as a wife!'

`I can never love Herman other than as a
sister loves a brother, dearest mother!' said
the maiden firmly, but very pale. `If I
thought he regarded me with any tenderer emotions
than should find a place in a brother's
bosom, I should feel unhappy. But, alas! I
fear he does, and that I shall find unhappiness
and sorrow follow from his error!'

`But Herman looks upon you only as his
future wife, dear Maria! He loves you devotedly.
He believes you love him!'

`Then he must be deceived, mother,' answered
she, with calmness and decision.

`Never breathe it to him, never! If your
feelings are such, never let Herman know
them, child! It would be terrible! I don't
know what he might not do! The idea that
you love him is all that, with his fierce and
intractable nature, that keeps him under any
restraint. But for this belief, I have no doubt
he would have become a pirate in distant seas!
but for it to cheer him now, he will be a desperate
man! To hear you say what you have
said makes my heart bleed, and wrecks all my
hopes! But, perhaps, you will feel differently
by and by!'

`Never, dear mother! I love Herman as a
brother! I am grateful to him for his kindness
and attachment to me. But I can only return
him a sister's affection!'

`Then, if you love me, child, keep Herman
ignorant of this. To know it would drive him
to some desperate act! But have you not another
in your heart, Maria?' she asked, with
sudden questioning of the lovely and embarrassed
girl.

She was about to make some confused reply,
when Herman entered and said he had to
go away on some business, and as he could
not be lodged there, he would return and see
them early in the morning. He then hurriedly
departed, and the next moment the steps of
two men were heard moving up the street.