 | CHAPTER XVII.
FRANKFORT. 'Lena Rivers |  |
17. CHAPTER XVII.
FRANKFORT.
Thursday morning came, bright, sunshiny and beautiful,
and at about ten o'clock 'Lena, dressed and ready for
her ride, came down to the parlor, where she found John
Jr. listlessly leaning upon the table with his elbows, and
drumming with his fingers.
“Come, cousin,” said she, “why are you not ready?”
“Ready for what!” he answered, without raising his
head.
“Why, ready for our visit,” replied 'Lena, at the same
time advancing nearer, to see what ailed him.
“All the visit I make to-day won't hurt me, I reckon,”
said he, pushing his hat a little more to one side and looking
up at 'Lena, who, in some surprise, asked what he meant.
“I mean what I say,” was his ungracious answer; “I've
no intention whatever of going to Frankfort.”
“Not going?” repeated 'Lena. “Why not? What
will Carrie do?
“Stick herself in with you and Durward, I suppose,”
said John Jr., just as Carrie entered the room, together
with Mr. Bellmont, Malcolm, and Anna.
“Not going?—of course then I must stay at home,
too,” said Carrie, secretly pleased at her brother's decision.
“Why of course?” asked Durward, who, in the emergency,
felt constrained to offer his services to Carrie,
though he would greatly have preferred 'Lena's company
alone. “The road is wide enough for three, and I am fully
competent to take charge of two ladies. But why don't
you go?” turning to John Jr.
“Because I don't wish to. If it was anywhere in creation
but there, I'd go,” answered the young man, hastily
leaving the room to avoid all further argument.
“He does it just to be hateful and annoy me,” said Carrie,
trying to pout, but making a failure, for she had in
reality much rather go under Durward's escort than her
brother's.
The horses were now announced as ready, and in a few
moments the little party were on their way, Carrie affecting
so much fear of her pony that Durward at last politely
offered to lead him awhile. This would of course
bring him close to her side, and after a little well-feigned
hesitation, she replied, “I am sorry to trouble you, but if
you would be so kind—”
'Lena saw through the ruse, and patting Vesta gently,
rode on in advance, greatly to the satisfaction of Carrie,
and greatly to the chagrin of Durward, who replied to his
loquacious companion only in monosyllables. Once, indeed,
when she said something concerning 'Lena's evident
desire to show off her horsemanship, he answered rather
coolly, that “he'd yet to discover in Miss Rivers the least
propensity for display of any kind.”
“You've never lived with her,” returned Carrie, and
there the conversation concerning 'Lena ceased.
Meantime, Nellie Douglass was engaged in answering
a letter that morning received from Mary Wilbur. A few
years before, Mary had spent some months in Mr. Douglass'
family, conceiving a strong affection for Nellie, whom
she always called her sister, and with whom she kept up
a regular correspondence. Mary was an orphan, living
with her only brother Robert, who was a bachelor of
thirty or thirty-five. Once she had ventured to hope that
Nellie would indeed be to her a sister, but fate had decreed
it otherwise, and her brother was engaged to a lady
whom he found a school-girl in Montreal, and who was
now at her own home in England. This was well-known
to Nellie, but she did not deem it a matter of sufficient
importance to discuss, so it was a secret in Frankfort,
where Mr. Wilbur's polite attentions to herself was a subject
of considerable remark. For a long time Mary had
been out of health, and the family physician at last said
that nothing could save her except a sea voyage, and as
her brother was about going to Europe to consummate
his marriage, it was decided that she should accompany
him. This she was willing to do, provided Nellie Douglass
would go too.
“It would be much pleasanter,” she said, “having some
female companion besides her attendant, and then, too,
accompany them, offering to defray all expenses for the
pleasure of her society.
Since Nellie's earliest recollection, her fondest dreams
had been of England, her mother's birth-place; and now,
when so favorable an opportunity for visiting it was
presented, she felt strongly tempted to say “Yes.” Still,
she would give Mary no encouragement until she had
seen her father and John Jr., the latter of whom would
influence her decision quite as much as the former. But
John Jr. no longer loved her—she was sure of that—and
with her father's consent she had half determined to go.
Still she was undecided, until a letter came from Mary,
urging her to make up her mind without delay, as they
were to sail the 15th of January.
“Brother is so sensitive concerning his love affairs,”
wrote Mary, “that whether you conclude to join us or
not, you will please say nothing about his intended
marriage.”
Nellie had seated herself to answer this letter, when a
servant came up, saying that “Marster Bellmont, all the
Livingstones, and a heap more were down stars, and had
sent for her.”
She was just writing, “I will go,” when this announcement
came, and quickly suspending her pen, she thought,
“He's come, at last. It may all be a mistake. I'll
wait.” With a beating heart she descended to the parlor,
where she politely greeted Mr. Everett and Durward,
and then anxiously glanced around for the missing
one. Mabel, who felt a similar disappointment, ventured
to inquire for him, in a low tone, whereupon Carrie replied,
loudly enough for Nellie to hear, “Oh, pray don't
speak of that bear. Why, you don't know how cross
he's been ever since—let me see—ever since you came
really wish you'd come back before he kills us all.”
“Did you invite him to come?” said Nellie.
“To be sure we did,” answered Carrie, “and he said,
`anywhere in creation but there.”'
Nellie needed no further confirmation, and after conversing
awhile with her guests, she begged leave to be
excused for a few moments, while she finished a letter of
importance, which must go out in the next mail. Alone
in her room, she wavered, but the remembrance of the
words, “anywhere in creation but there,” decided her,
and with a firm hand she wrote to Mary that she would
go. When the letter was finished and sent to the office,
Nellie returned to her visitors, who began to rally her
concerning the important letter which must be answered.
“Now, coz,” said Durward, pulling her down upon
the sofa by his side, “now, coz, I claim a right to know
something about this letter. Was it one of acceptance
or rejection?”
“Acceptance, of course,” answered Nellie, who, knowing
no good reason why her intended tour should be
kept a secret, proceeded to speak of it, telling how they
were to visit Scotland, France, Switzerland, and Italy,
and almost forgetting, in her enthusiasm, how wretched
the thought of the journey made her.
“And Miss Wilbur's brother is to be your escort—he
is unmarried, I believe?” said Durward, looking steadily
upon the carpet.
In a moment Nellie would have told of his engagement,
and the object of his going, but she remembered Mary's
request in time, and the blush which the almost committed
mistake called to her cheek, was construed by all
into a confession that there was something between her
and Mr. Wilbur.
“That accounts for John's sudden churlishness,” thought
'Lena, wondering how Nellie could have deceived him so.
“Oh, I see it all, exclaimed Mabel. “I understand
now what has made Nellie so absent-minded and restless
these many days. She was making up her mind to become
Mrs. Wilbur, while I fancied she was offended with
me.”
“I don't know what you mean,” answered Nellie, without
smiling in the least. “Mary Wilbur wishes me to
accompany her to Europe, and I intend doing so. Her
brother is nothing to me, nor ever will be.”
”Quite a probable story,” thought Mr. Everett, without
forming his reflections into words.
Toward the middle of the afternoon, a violent ringing
of the door-bell, and a heavy tramp in the hall, announced
some new arrival, and Nellie was about opening the parlor
door, when who should appear but John Jr.! From
his room he had watched the departure of the party, one
moment wishing he was with them, and the next declaring
he'd never go to Frankfort again so long as he lived!
At length inclination getting the ascendency of his reason,
he mounted Firelock, and rushing furiously down
the 'pike, never once slackened his speed until the city
was in sight.
“I dare say she'll think me a fool,” thought he, “tagging
her round, but she needn't worry. I only want to
show her how little her pranks affect me.”
With these thoughts he could not fail to meet Nellie
otherwise than coldly, while she received him with equal
indifference, calling him Mr. Livingstone, and asking
if he were cold, with other questions, such as any polite
hostess would ask of her guest. But her accustomed
smile and usual frankness of manner were gone, and while
John Jr. felt it keenly, he strove, under a mask of indifference,
to see him, and for want of something better to
do, he devoted himself to her, calling her Meb, and teasing
her about her “Indian locks,” as he called her straight,
black hair. Could he have seen the bitter tears which
Nellie constantly forced back, as she moved carelessly
among her guests, far different would have been his conduct.
But he only felt that she had been untrue to him,
and in his anger he was hardly conscious of what he was
doing.
So when Mabel said to him, “Nellie is going to Europe
with Mr. Wilbur and Mary,” he replied, “Glad of it—
hope she'll”—be drowned, he thought—“have a good
time,” he said—and Nellie, who heard all, never guessed
how heavily the blow had fallen, or that the hand so suddenly
placed against his heart, was laid there to still the
wild throbbing which he feared she might hear.
When next he spoke, his voice was very calm, as he
asked when she was going, and how long she intended to
be gone. “What! so soon?” said he, when told that
she sailed the 15th of January, and other than that, not
a word did he say to Nellie concerning her intended visit,
until just before they left for home. Then for a moment
he stood alone with her in the recess of a window.
There was a film upon his eyes as he looked upon her,
and thought it might be for the last time. There
was anguish, too, in his heart, but it did not mingle in
the tones of his voice, which was natural, and, perhaps,
indifferent, as he said, “Why do you go to Europe,
Nellie?”
Quickly, and with something of her olden look, she
glanced up into his face, but his eyes, which would not
meet hers, lest they should betray themselves, were resting
upon Mabel, who, on a stool across the room, was
Nellie answered, “Because I want to; what do you
suppose?”
Without seeming to hear her answer, the young man
walked away to where Mabel sat, and commenced teasing
her and her kitten, while Nellie, maddened with herself,
with him, with everybody, precipitately left the room,
and going to her chamber hastily, and without a thought
as to what she was doing, gathered together every little
token which John Jr. had given her, together with his
notes and letters, written in his own peculiar and scarcely
legible hand. Tying them in a bundle, she wrote with
unflinching nerve, “Do thou likewise,” and then descending
to the hall, laid it upon the hat-stand, managing, as he
was leaving, to place it unobserved in his hand. Instinctively
he knew what it was, glanced at the three words
written thereon, and in a cold, sneering voice, replied,
“I will, with pleasure.”
And thus they parted.
| CHAPTER XVII.
FRANKFORT. 'Lena Rivers | |