University of Virginia Library

9. CHAPTER IX.

The beautiful ideal of Wordsworth seemed realized in
Mrs. Carlton. She was by nature impetuous, and even
irritable; but the careful training of her deeply pious mother
early eradicated these seeds of discord and future
misery. She reared her “in the way she should go,” and
taught her to “remember her Creator in the days of her
youth.” Crushing vanity, which soon rose hydra-headed
in her path, she implanted in her daughter's heart a sense
of her own unworthiness, and led her to the “fountain of
light and strength.”

Under her judicious care, Ellen's character was moulded
into perfect beauty. She became a Christian, in the purest
sense of the term. Hers were not the gloomy tenets
of the anchorite, which, with a sort of Spartan stoicism,
severs every tie enjoined by his great Creator, bids adieu
to all of joy that earth can give, and becomes a devotee at
the shrine of some canonized son of earth, as full of imperfections
as himself. Neither did she hold the lighter and

equally dangerous creed of the latitudinarian. Her views
were of a happy medium; liberal, yet perfectly orthodox.

Ellen married early in life, and many were the trials
which rose up to test her fortitude, and even her reliance
on Almighty God. Of six beautiful children that blessed
her union, four went down to an early tomb. Though
bowed to the earth by the weight of her affliction, she murmured
not against the hand that chastened her; but as one
by one was snatched from her warm embrace, she poured
out the depth of a mother's love on the remaining two.

One stroke of fortune reduced her, in a day, from affluence
to comparative penury; and leaving his luxurious
home, Mr. Carlton resolved to seek his fortune in the Western
World. Hither she had accompanied him, encountering,
without a murmur, the numerous hardships, which
those who have not endured can never fully realize. They
had preceded Mr. Hamilton but a few months, and joyfully
welcomed him as an agreeable acquisition to their little
circle.

Mrs. Carlton found in Mary a real friend; one who
sympathized with, and assisted her in her many benevolent
plans for ameliorating the condition of the destitute Mexicans
around them.

With Florence, the former had little affinity, and, consequently,
little intercourse. Their tastes were directly opposite;
and though they often met, there was no interchange
of the deep and holier feelings of the heart.

Frank Bryant was the orphan-brother of Mrs. Carlton,
and almost as dearly loved by her as her own darling Elliot.
A few months before St. —'s day, he reached San

Antonio, on a visit to the sister, from whom he had been
separated several years. Soon after his arrival, an epidemic
made its appearance among the lower order of Mexicans;
and as there was no resident physician at that early
time, his services were speedily in requisition. The Padre,
who numbered among his many acquirements a tolerable
knowledge of medicine, viewed with indifference the suffering
around him; and was only roused from his lethargy by
discovering the flattering estimation in which Frank was
held. Fearing so formidable a rival in the affections of his
people, he left no means untried to undermine the popularity
so deservedly acquired. But gratitude is a distinguishing
trait of Indian character; and though apparently obeying
the injunctions of their Padre, to follow no directions
save his own, they reverenced Dr. Bryant as a being of
superior order.

It was beside the bed of a dying friend that Inez first
met him. One long, weary night they watched together,
and when at last death freed the sufferer, with mingled
emotions of admiration and gratitude she thanked him for
the attentions conferred with such disinterested benevolence.
She could not avoid contrasting the conduct of the cold and
calculating Jesuit with the warm-hearted kindness of the
noble stranger.

In a few days it became evident that she had herself imbibed
the disease, and her terrified father brought the young
physician to restore her. With unwearied patience he
watched over the beautiful Señorita, whom Mrs. Carlton
and Mary most carefully nursed, and was rewarded by the
glow of returning health.

The idols of her youth were neglected and forgotten; one
image filled Inez's heart, and before it she poured out all
the passionate love of her ardent nature; hence her aversion
to a union with Mañual Nevarro.

Dr. Bryant early perceived her attachment; and knowing
full well that he could never return it, avoided her society
with a delicacy peculiarly his own. When thrown
accidentally into her presence, his manner was frank, kind,
and brotherly.

Inez did not deceive herself for a moment by supposing
that he would ever return her love. She knew too well
the nature of the barrier which intervened. To remain
unfettered, to see, to love, and one day to serve him, was
her dearest wish; and for its gratification she dared the
rage of her father, and the hatred of her Padre. She fancied
he loved another, and with the characteristic jealousy
of her nation, an aversion to that object settled on her
heart.

Dr. Bryant had nursed the last patient into convalescence:
still he lingered, and at the close of St. —'s
day, announced his intention of remaining until the difficulties
with Mexico were either amicably arranged, or
war declared. Mary and Florence he often met, for he
was a constant visitor at Mr. Hamilton's. His manner
toward them was very different; with Mary he ever assumed
the light bantering tone of brotherly freedom; with
Florence he was always grave and earnest. Their conversation
was generally upon literary topics, of which
she was fond. Many were their discussions for and against
their favorite authors and philosophers. In these arguments

Mary seldom took part, though fully qualified to do
so. Occasionally her cousin asked her opinion on various
topics; at such times she gave them clearly, yet modestly,
and with a gentle digmity peculiar to herself. The
earnest attention with which Frank listened to her views,
and his happy smile, when they coincided with his own,
somewhat puzzled Mary; yet she welcomed his repartees
with the same bright smile, and allowed distrust and jealousy
no room in her heart.