Joseph and His Friend

CHAPTER XXIII.

IN the mean time the Hopetons had left for the sea-shore, and the two women, after a drive to Magnolia, remained quietly on the farm. Julia employed the days in studying Lucy with a soft, stealthy, unremitting watchfulness, which the latter could not suspect, since, in the first place, it was a faculty quite unknown to her, and secondly, it would have seemed absurd because inexplicable. Neither could she guess with what care Julia’s manner and conversation were adapted to her own. She was only surprised to find so much earnest desire to correct faults, such artless transparency of nature. Thus an interest quite friendly took the place of her former repulsion of feeling, of which she began to be sincerely ashamed.

Moreover, Julia’s continual demonstration of her love for Joseph, from which Lucy at first shrank with a delicate tremor of the heart, soon ceased to affect her. Nay, it rather seemed to interpose a protecting barrier between her present and the painful memory of her past self. She began to suspect that all regret was now conquered, and rejoiced in the sense of strength which could only thus be made clear to her mind. Her feeling towards Joseph became that of a sister or a dear woman friend ; there could be no harm in cherishing it: she found a comfort in speaking to Julia of his upright, unselfish character, his guilelessness and kindness of heart.

The work upon the house was nearly finished, but new and more alarming bills began to come in ; and worse was in store. There was a chimney-piece, “ the loveliest ivory veins through the green marble,” Julia said, which she had ordered from the city ; there were boxes and packages of furniture already on hand, purchased without Joseph’s knowledge and with entire faith in the virtues of the Amaranth. Although she still clung to that faith with a desperate grip, the sight of the boxes did not give her the same delight as she had felt in ordering them. She saw the necessity of being prepared, in advance, for either alternative. It was not in her nature to dread any scene or circumstance of life (although she had found the appearance of timidity very available, and could assume it admirably) ; the question which perplexed her was, how to retain and strengthen her ascendency over Joseph ?

It is needless to say that the presence of Lucy Henderson was a part of her plan, although she held a more important service in reserve. Lucy’s warm, frank expressions of friendship for Joseph gave her great satisfaction, and she was exhaustless in inventing ways to call them forth.

“ You look quite like another person, Lucy,” she would say ; “ I really think the rest has done you good.”

“ I am sure of it,” Lucy answered.

“ Then you must be in no hurry to leave. We must build you up, as the doctors say ; and, besides, if — if this speculation should be unfortunate — O, I don’t dare to think of it ! — there will be such a comfort to me, and I am sure to Joseph also, in having you here until we have learned to bear it. We should not allow our minds to dwell on it so much, you know ; we should make an exertion to hide our disappointment in your presence, and that would be such a help ! Now, you will say I am borrowing trouble, but do, pray, make allowances for me, Lucy ! Think how everything has been kept from me that I ought to have known ! ”

“ Of course, I will stay a little while for your sake,” Lucy answered; “ but Joseph is a man, and most men bear bad luck easily. He would hardly thank me for condoling with him.”

“ O, no, no ” Julia cried ; “ he thinks everything of you ! He was so anxious for you to come here : he said to me, ' Lucy Henderson is a noble, true-hearted girl, and you will love her at once,’ as I did, Lucy, when I first saw you, but without knowing why, as I now do.”

A warm color came into Lucy’s face, but she only shook her head and said nothing.

The two women had just risen from the breakfast-table the next morning, when a shadow fell into the room through the front window, and a heavy step was heard on the stone pavement of the veranda. Julia gave a little start and shriek, and seized Lucy’s arm. The door opened and Joseph was there. He had risen before daybreak and taken the earliest train from the city. He had scarcely slept for two nights ; his face was stern and haggard, and the fatigue, instead of exhausting, had only added to his excitement.

Julia sprang forward, threw her arms around him and kissed him repeatedly. He stood still and passively endured the caress, without returning it; then, stepping forward, he gave his hand to Lucy. She felt that it was cold and moist, and she did not attempt to repress the quick sympathy which came into her face and voice.

Julia guessed something of the truth instantly, and nothing but the powerful necessity of continuing to play her part enabled her to conceal the bitter anger which the contrast between Joseph’s greeting to her and to Lucy aroused in her heart. She stood for a moment as if paralyzed, but in reality to collect herself; then, approaching her husband, she stammered forth : “ O, Joseph — I'm afraid — I don’t dare to ask you what — what news you bring.

You did n’t write — I’ve been so uneasy — and now I see from your face — that something is wrong.”

He did not answer.

“ Don’t tell me all at once, if it’s very bad ! ” she then cried ; “but, no ! it’s my duty to hear it, my duty to bear it, — Lucy has taught me that, —tell me all, tell me all, this moment! ”

“ You and your father have ruined me : that is all.”

“Joseph!” The word sounded like the essence of tender protest, of heartbreaking reproach. Lucy rose quietly and moved towards the door.

“ Don’t leave me, Lucy ! ” was Julia’s appeal.

“ It is better that I should go,” Lucy answered, in a faint voice, and left the room.

“But, Joseph,” Julia resumed, with a wild, distracted air, “ why do you say such terrible things ? I really do not know what you mean. What have you learned ? what have you seen ? ”

“ I have seen the Amaranth ! ”

“ Well ! Is there no oil ?”

“ O yes, plenty of oil! ” he laughed ; “ skunk oil and rattlesnake oil ! It is one of the vilest cheats that the Devil ever put into the minds of bad men.”

“ O, poor pa ! ” Julia cried ; “ what a terrible blow to him!”

“‘Poor pa!’ Yes, my discovery of the cheat is a terrible blow to ' poor pa,’ — he did not calculate on its being found out so soon. When I learned from Kanuck that all the stock he holds was given to him for services, — that is, for getting the money out of the pockets of innocents like myself, — you rnay judge how much pity I feel for poor pa!

I told him the fact to his face, last night, and he admitted it.”

“Then,” said Julia, " if the others know nothing, he may be able to sell his stock to-day, — his and yours ; and we may not lose much after all.”

“ I should have sent you to the oil region, instead of going myself,” Joseph answered, with a sneer. " You and Kanuck would soon have come to terms. He offered to take my stock off my hands, provided I would go back to the city and make such a report of the speculation as he would dictate.”

“ And you didn't do it?” Julia’s voice rose almost to a scream, as the words burst, involuntarily, from her lips.

The expression on Joseph’s face showed her that she had been rash ; but the words were said, and she could only advance, not recede.

“It is perfectly legitimate in business,” she continued. “Every investment in the Amaranth was a venture, — every stockholder knew that he risked losing his money ! There is not one that would not save himself in that way, if he had the chance. But you pride yourself on being so much better than other men! Mr. Chaffinch is right ; you have what he calls a ‘moral pride ’ ! You — ”

“ Stop ! ” Joseph interrupted. “ Who was it who professed such concern about my faith ? Who sent Mr. Chaffinch to insult me ? ”

“ Faith and business are two different things : all the churches know that. There was Mr. Sanctus, in the city : he subscribed ten thousand dollars to the Church of the Acceptance : he could n't pay it, and they levied on his property, and sold him out of house and home! Really, you are as ignorant of the world as a baby ! ”

“God keep me so, then!” he exclaimed.

“ However,” she resumed, after a pause, “ since you insist on our bearing the loss, I shall expect of your moral pride that you bear it patiently, if not cheerfully. It is far from being ruin to us. The rise in property will very likely balance it, and you will still be worth what you were.”

“ That is not all,” he said. “ I will not mention my greatest loss, for you are incapable of understanding it ; but how much else have you saddled me with ? Let me have a look at it!”

He crossed the hall and entered the new apartment, Julia following. Joseph inspected the ceiling, the elaborate and overladen cornices, the marble chimney-piece, and finally peered into the boxes and packages, not trusting himself to speak while the extent of the absurd splendor to which she had committed him grew upon his mind. Finally he said, striving to make his voice calm, although it trembled in his throat: “Since you were so free to make all these purchases, perhaps you will tell me how they are to be paid for ? ”

“ Let me manage it, then,” she answered. “ There is no hurry. These country mechanics are always impatient, — I should call them impertinent, and I should like to teach them a lesson. Sellers are under obligations to the buyers, and they are bound to be accommodating. They have so many bills which are never paid, that an extension of time is the least they can do. Why, they will always wait a year, two years, three years, rather than lose.”

“ I suppose so.”

“Then,” said Julia, deceived by Joseph’s quiet tone, “their profits are so enormous, that it would only be fair to reduce the bills. I am sure, that if I were to mention that you were embarrassed by heavy losses, and press them hard, they would compromise with me on a moderate amount. You know they allow what is called a margin for losses, — pa told me, but I forget how much, — they always expect to lose a certain percentage ; and of course, it can make no difference by whom they lose it. You understand, don’t you ? ”

“ Yes : it is very plain.”

“ Pa could help me to get both a reduction and an extension of time. The bills have not all been sent, and it will be better to wait two or three months after they have come in. If the dealers are a little uneasy in advance, they will be all the readier to compromise afterwards.”

Joseph walked up and down the hollow room, with his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes fixed upon the floor. Suddenly lie stopped before her and said : “ There is another way.”

“ Not a better one, I am certain.”

“ The furniture has not yet been unpacked, and can be returned to them uninjured. Then the bills need not be paid at all.”

“ And we should be the laughingstock of the neighborhood ! ” she cried, her eyes flashing. “ I never heard of anything so ridiculous ! If the worst comes to the worst, you can sell Bishop those fifty acres over the hill, which he stands ready to take, any day. But you’d rather have a dilapidated house, — no parlor,—guests received in the dining-room and the kitchen, — the Hopetons and your friends, the Helds, sneering at us behind our backs ! And what would your credit be worth ? We shall not even get trusted for groceries at the village store, if you leave things as they are ! ”

Joseph groaned, speaking to himself rather than answering her: “Is there no way out of this ? What is done is done ; shall I submit to it, and try to begin anew ? or — ”

He did not finish the sentence. Julia turned her head, so that only the chimney-piece and the furniture could see the sparkle of triumph in her eyes. She felt that she had maintained her position ; and, what was far more, she now clearly saw the course by which she could secure it.

She left the room, drawing a full breath of relief as the door closed behind her. The first shock of the evil news was over, and it had not fallen quite so heavily as she had feared. There were plenty of devices in store whereby all that was lost might be recovered. Had not her life at home been an unbroken succession of devices ? Was she not seasoned to all manner of ups and downs, and wherefore should this first failure disconcert her ? The loss of the money was, in reality, much less important to her than the loss of her power over Joseph. Weak as she had supposed him to be, he had shown a fierce and unexpected resistance, which must be suppressed now, or it might crush her whole plan of life. It seemed to her that he was beginning to waver : should she hasten a scheme by which she meant to entrap him into submission, —a subtle and dangerous scheme, which must either wholly succeed, or, wholly failing, involve her in its failure ?

Rapidly turning over the question in her mind, she entered her bedroom. Locking the door, she walked directly to the looking-glass ; the curtain was drawn from the window, and a strong light fell upon her face.

“ This will never do ! ” she said to herself. “ The anxiety and excitement have made me thin again, and 1 seem to have no color.” She unfastened her dress, bared her neck, and pushed the ringlets behind her ears. “ I look pinched ; a little more, and I shall look old. If I were a perfect brunette or a perfect blonde, there would be less difficulty; but I have the most provoking, unmanageable complexion ! I must bring on the crisis at once, and then see if 1 can’t fill out these hollows.”

She heard the front door opening, and presently saw Joseph on the lawn. He looked about for a moment, with a heavy, bewildered air, and then slowly turned towards the garden. She withdrew from the window, hesitated a moment, murmured to herself, “ I will try, there cannot be a better time ! ” and then, burying her face in her hands and sobbing, rushed to Lucy’s room.

“ O Lucy!” she cried, “help me, or I am lost! How can I tell you ? it is harder than I ever dreamed ! ”

“Is the loss so very serious, — so much more than you feared ? ” Lucy asked.

“ Not that,— O, if that were all ! But Joseph — ” Here Julia’s sobs became almost hysterical. “ He is so cruel ; I did advise him, as I told you, for his sake, and now he says that pa and I have combined to cheat him ! I

don’t think he knows how dreadful his words are. I would sooner die than hear any more of them ! Go to him, Lucy ; he is in the garden ; perhaps he will listen to you. I am afraid, and I never thought I should be afraid of him ! ”

“It is very, very sad,” said Lucy.

“ But if he is in such an excited condition, he will surely resent my coming. What can I say ? ”

“ Say only what you heard me speak ! Tell him of my anxiety, my self-reproach ! Tell him that even if he will believe that pa meant to deceive him, he must not believe it of me ! You know, Lucy, how he wrongs me in his thoughts ; if you knew how hard it is to be wronged by a husband, you would pity me! ”

“1 do pity you, Julia, from my very heart; and the proof of it is, that I will try to do what you ask, against my own sense of its prudence. If Joseph repels my interference, I shall not blame him.”

“Heaven bless you, Lucy! He will not repel you, he cannot ! ” Julia sobbed. " I will lie down and try to grow calm.” She rose from the bed, upon which she had flung herself, and tottered through the door. When she had reached her own room, she again looked at her image in the glass, nodded and smiled.

Lucy walked slowly along the garden paths, plucking a flower or two, and irresolute how to approach Joseph. At last, descending the avenue of box, she found him seated in the semicircular enclosure, gazing steadfastly down the valley, but (she was sure) not seeing the landscape. As he turned his head at her approach, she noticed that his eyelids were reddened and his lips compressed with an expression of intense pain.

“ Sit down, Lucy : I am a grim host, to-day,” he said, with a melancholy attempt at a smile.

Lucy had come to him with a little womanly indignation, for Julia’s sake, in her heart; but it vanished utterly, and the tears started into her eyes. For a moment she found it impossible to speak.

“ I shall not talk of my ignorance any more, as I once did,” Joseph continued. “If there is a class in the school of the world, graded according to experience of human meanness and treachery and falsehood, I ought to stand at the head.”

Lucy stretched Out her hand in protest. “Do not speak so bitterly, Joseph ; it pains me to hear you.”

“How would you have me speak ?”

“As a man who will not see ruin before him because a part of his property happens to slip from him, — nay, if all were lost! I always took you to be liberal, Joseph, never careful of money for money’s sake, and I cannot understand how your nature should be changed now, even though you have been the victim of some dishonesty.”

“‘ Some dishonesty’! You are thinking only of money : what term would you give to the betrayal of a heart, the ruin of a life ? ”

“ Surely, Joseph, you do not, you cannot mean — ”

“ My wife, of course. It needed no guessing.”

“Joseph !” Lucy cried, seizing the opportunity, “indeed you do her wrong!

I know what anxiety she has suffered during your absence. She blamed herself for having advised you to risk so much in an uncertain speculation, dreaded your disappointment, resolved to atone for it, if she could ! She may have been rash and thoughtless, but she never meant to deceive you. If you are disappointed in some qualities, you should not shut your eyes and refuse to see others. I know, now, that I have myself not been fair in my judgment of Julia. A nearer acquaintance has led me to conceive what disadvantages of education, for which she is not responsible, she is obliged to overcome : she sees, she admits them, and she will overcome them. You, as her husband, are bound to show her a patient kindness — ”

“ Enough ! ” Joseph interrupted ; “ I see that you have touched pitch, also. Lucy, your first instinct was right. The woman whom I am bound to look upon as my wife is false and selfish in every fibre of her nature ; how false and selfish I only can know, for to vie she takes off her mask ! ”

“ Do you believe me, then ? " Lucy’s words were slightly defiant. She had not quite understood the allusion to touching pitch, and Joseph’s indifference to her advocacy seemed to her unfeeling.

“ I begin to fear that Philip was right,” said Joseph, not heeding her question. “ Life is relentless : ignorance or crime, it is all the same. And if God cares less about our individual wrongs than we flatter ourselves he does, what do we gain by further endurance ? Here is Lucy Henderson, satisfied that my wife is a suffering angel; thinks my nature is changed, that I am cold-hearted and cruel, while I know Lucy to be true and noble, and deceived by the very goodness of her own heart ! ”

He lifted his head, looked in her face a moment, and then went on: —

“ I am sick of masks ; we all wear them. Do you want to know the truth, Lucy ? When I look back I can see it very clearly, now. A little more than a year ago the one girl who began to live in my thoughts was you ! Don’t interrupt me : I am only speaking of what was. When I went to Warriner’s, it was in the hope of meeting you, not Julia Blessing. It was not yet love that I felt, but I think it would have grown to that, if I had not been led away by the cunningest arts ever a woman devised. I will not speculate on what might have been : if I had loved you, perhaps there would have been no return : had there been, I should have darkened the life of a friend. But this I say ; I honor and esteem you, Lucy, and the loss of your friendship, if I now lose it, is another evil service which my wife has done me.”

Joseph little suspected how he was torturing Lucy. She must have been more than woman, had not a pang of wild regret for die lost fortune, and a sting of bitter resentment against the woman who had stolen it, wrung her heart. She became deadly pale, and felt that her whole body was trembling.

“ Joseph,” she said, “ you should not, must not, speak so to me.”

“ I suppose not,” he answered, letting his head sink wearily ; “ it is certainly not conventional ; but it is true, for all that! I could tell you the whole story, for I can read it backwards, from now to the beginning, without misunderstanding a word. It would make no difference ; she is simple, natural, artless, amiable, for all the rest of the world, While to me — ”

There was such despondency in his voice and posture, that Lucy, now longing more than ever to cheer him, and yet discouraged by the failure of her first attempt, felt sorely troubled.

“ You mistake me, Joseph,” she said, at last, “if you think you have lost my friendship, my sincerest sympathy. I can see that your disappointment is a bitter one, and my prayer is that you will not make it bitterer by thrusting from you the hopeful and cheerful spirit you once showed. We all have our sore trials.”

Lucy found her own words very mechanical, but they were the only ones that came to her lips. Joseph did not answer; he still sat, stooping, with his elbows on his knees and his forehead resting on his palms.

“ If I am deceived in Julia,” she began again, “it is better to judge too kindly than too harshly. I know you cannot change your sentence against her now, nor, perhaps, very soon. But you are bound to her for life, and you must labor — it is your sacred duty — to make that life smoother and brighter for both. I do not know how, and I have no right to condemn you if you fail. But, Joseph, make the attempt now, when the most unfortunate experience that is likely to come to you is over; make it, and it may chance that, little by little, the old confidence will return, and you will love her again.”

Joseph started to his feet. “ Love her ! ” he exclaimed, with suppressed passion, — “ love her ! I hate her ! ”

There was a hissing, rattling sound, like that of some fierce animal at bay. The thick foliage of two of the tall box-trees was violently parted. The branches snapped and gave way: Julia burst through and stood before them.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE face that so suddenly glared upon them was that of a Gorgon. The ringlets were still pushed behind her ears and the narrowness of the brow was entirely revealed ; her eyes were full of cold, steely light ; the nostrils were violently drawn in, and the lips contracted, as if in a spasm, so that the teeth were laid bare. Her hands were clenched, and there was a movement in her throat as of imprisoned words or cries ; but for a moment no words came.

Lucy, who had started to her feet at the first sound, felt the blood turn chill in her veins, and fell, rather than sank, upon the seat again.

Joseph was hardly surprised, and wholly reckless. This eavesdropping was nothing worse than lie already knew ; indeed, there was rather a comfort in perceiving that he had not overestimated her capacity for treachery. There was now no limit ; anything was possible.

“ There is one just law, after all,” he said, “the law that punishes listeners. You have heard the truth, for once. You have snared and trapped me, but I don't take to my captor more kindly than any other animal. From this moment I choose my own path, and if you still wish to appear as my wife, you must adapt your life to mine ! ”

“ You mean to brazen it out, do you ! ” Julia cried, in a strange, hoarse, unnatural voice. “ That’s not so easy ! I have not listened to no purpose : I have a hold upon your precious ‘ moral pride ' at last ! ”

Joseph laughed scornfully.

“ Yes, laugh, but it is in my hands to make or break you ! There is enough decent sentiment in this neighborhood to crush a married man who dares to make love to an unmarried girl ! As to the girl who sits still and listens to it, I say nothing ; her reputation is no concern of mine ! ”

Lucy uttered a faint cry of horror.

“If you choose to be so despicable,” said Joseph, “you will force me to set my truth against your falsehood. Wherever you tell your story, I shall follow with mine. It will be a wretched, a degrading business, but for the sake of Lucy’s good name, I have no alternative. I have borne suspicion, misrepresentation, loss of credit, — brought upon me by you, — patiently, because they affected only myself; but since I am partly responsible in bringing to this house a guest for your arts to play upon and entrap, I am doubly bound to protect her against you. But I tell you, Julia, beware ! I am desperate ; and it is ill meddling with a desperate man ! You may sneer at my moral pride, but you dare not forget that I have another quality, — manly self-respect, — which it will be dangerous to offend.”

If Julia did not recognize, in that moment, that her subject had become her master, it was because the real, unassumed rage which convulsed her did not allow her to perceive anything clear]y. Her first impulse was to scream and shriek, that servant and farm-hand might hear her, and then to repeat her accusation before them ; but Joseph’s last words, and the threatening sternness of his voice withheld her.

“ So ? ” she said, at last ; “ this is the man who was all truth, and trust, and honor ! With you the proverb seems to be reversed ; it’s off with the new love and on with the old. You can insult and threaten me in her presence ! Well — go on : play out your little love-scene: I shall not interrupt you. I have heard enough to darken my life from this day ! ”

She walked away from them, up the avenue. Her dress was torn, her arms scratched and bleeding. She had played her stake and failed. — miserably, hopelessly failed. Her knees threatened to give way under her at every step, but she forced herself to walk erect, and thus reached the house without once looking back.

Joseph and Lucy mechanically followed her with their eyes. Then they turned and gazed at each other a moment without speaking. Lucy was deadly pale, and the expression of horror had not yet left her face.

“ She told me to come to you,” she stammered. “ She begged me, with tears, to try and soften your anger against her ; and then— oh, it is monstrous ! ”

“ Now I see the plan ! ” Joseph exclaimed ; “and I, in my selfish recklessness, saying what there was no need to utter, have almost done as she calculated, — have exposed you to this outrage ! Why should I have recalled the past, at all ? I was not taking off a mask, I was only showing a scar — no, not even a scar, but a bruise ! — which I ought to have forgotten. Forget it, too, Lucy, and, if you can, forgive me ! ”

“It is easy to forgive — everything but my own blindness,” Lucy answered. “ But there is one thing which I must do immediately : I must leave this house! ”

“ I see that,” said Joseph, sadly. Then, as if speaking to himself, he murmured : “ Who knows what friends will come to it in the future ? Well, I will bear what can be borne ; and afterwards, — there is Philip’s valley. A free outlaw is better than a fettered outlaw ! ”

Lucy feared that his mind was wandering. He straightened himself to his full height, drew a deep breath, and exclaimed : “ Action is a sedative in such cases, is n’t it ? Dennis has gone to the mill; I will get the other horse from the field and drive you home. Or, stay! will you not go to Philip Held’s cottage for a day or two ? I think his sister asked you to come.”

“ No, no ! ” cried Lucy ; “ you must not go ! I will wait for Dennis.”

“ No one must suspect what has happened here this morning, unless Julia compels me to make it known, and I don’t think she will. It is, therefore, better that I should take you. It will put me, I hope, in a more rational frame of mind. Go quietly to your room and make your preparations. I will see Julia, and if there is no further scene now, there will be none of the kind henceforth. She is cunning when she is calm.”

On reaching the house Joseph went directly to his wife’s bedroom. The necessity of an immediate interview could not be avoided, since Lucy was to leave. When he opened the door, Julia, who was bending over an open drawer of her bureau, started up with a little cry of alarm. She closed it hastily, and began to arrange her hair at the mirror. Her face in the glass was flushed, but its expression was sullen and defiant.

“ Julia,” he said, as coolly as possible, “ I am going to take Lucy home. Of course you understand that she cannot stay here an hour longer. You overheard my words to her, and you know just how much they were worth.

I expect now, that — for your sake as much as hers or mine —you will behave towards her at parting in such a way that the servants may find no suggestions of gossip or slander.”

“ And if I don’t choose to obey you ? ”

“ I am not commanding. I propose a course which your own mind must find sensible. You have ' a deuced sharp intellect,’ as your father said, on our wedding-day.”

Joseph bit his tongue : he felt that he might have omitted this sting. But he was so little accustomed to victory, that lie did not guess how thoroughly he had already conquered.

“ Pa loved me, nevertheless,” she said, and burst into tears.

Her emotion seemed real, but he mistrusted it,

“ What can I do ? ” she sobbed : “ I will try. I thought I was your wife, but I am not much more than your slave.”

The foolish pity again stole into Joseph’s heart, although he set his teeth and clenched his hands against it. “ I am going for the horse,” he said, in a kinder tone. “When I come back from this drive, this afternoon, I hope I shall find you willing to discuss our situation dispassionately, as I mean to do. We have not known each other fairly before to-day, and our plan of life must be rearranged.”

It was a relief to walk forth, across the silent, sunny fields ; and Joseph had learned to accept a slight relief as a substitute for happiness. The feeling that the inevitable crisis was over gave him, for the first time in months, a sense of liberation. There was still a dreary and painful task before him, and he hardly knew why he should be so cheerful ; but the bright, sweet currents of his blood were again in motion, and the weight upon his heart was lifted by some impatient, joyous energy.

The tempting vision of Philip’s valley, which had haunted him from time to time, faded away. The angry tumult through which he had passed appeared to him like a fever, and he rejoiced consciously in the beginning of his spiritual convalescence. If he could simply suspend Julia’s active interference in his life, he might learn to endure his remaining duties. He was yet young ; and how much strength and knowledge had come to him — through sharpest pain, it was true — in a single year ! Would he willingly return to his boyish innocence of the world, if that year could be erased from his life ? He was not quite sure. Yet his nature had not lost the basis of that innocent time, and he felt that he must still build his future years upon it.

Thus meditating, he caught the obedient horse, led him to the barn, and harnessed him to the light carriage which Julia was accustomed to use. His anxiety concerning her probable demeanor returned, as lie entered the house. The two servant-women were both engaged, in the hall, in some sweeping or scouring operation, and might prove to be very inconvenient witnesses. The workmen in the new parlor — fortunately, he thought — were absent that day.

Lucy Henderson, dressed for the journey, sat in the dining-room. “ I think I will go to Madeline Held for a day or two,” she said ; “ I made a halfpromise to visit her after your return.”

“ Where is Julia ? ”

“ In her bedroom. I have not seen her. I knocked at the door, but there was no answer.”

Joseph’s trouble returned. “ I will see her myself,” he said, sternly; “she forgets what is due to a guest.”

“ No, I will go again,” Lucy urged, rising hastily; “perhaps she did not hear me.”

She followed him into the hall. Scarcely had he set his foot upon the first step of the staircase, when the bedroom door above suddenly burst open, and Julia, with a shriek of mortal terror, tottered down to the landing. Her face was ashy, and the dark-blue rings around her sunken eyes made them seem almost like the large sockets of a skull. She leaned against the railing, breathing short and hard.

Joseph sprang up the steps, but as he approached her she put out her right hand, and pushed against his breast with all her force, crying out: “Go away ! You have killed me ! ”

The next moment she fell, senseless, upon the landing.

Joseph knelt and tried to lift her. “ Good God! she is dead ! ” he exclaimed.

“ No,” said Lucy, after taking Julia’s wrist, “it is only a fainting fit. Bring some water, Susan.”

The frightened woman, who had followed them, rushed down the stairs.

“ But she must be ill, very ill,” Lucy continued. “ This is not an ordinary swoon. Perhaps the violent excitement has brought about some internal injury. You must send for a physician as soon as possible.”

“ And Dennis not here ! I ought not to leave her ; what shall I do ? ”

“ Go yourself, and instantly ! The carriage is ready. I will stay and do all that can be done during your absence.”

Joseph delayed until, under the influence of air and water, Julia began to recover consciousness. Then he understood Lucy’s glance, — the women were present and she dared not speak, — that he should withdraw before Julia could recognize him.

He did not spare the horse, but the hilly road tried his patience. It was between two and three miles to the house of the nearest physician, and he only arrived, anxious and breathless, to find that the gentleman had been called away to attend another patient. Joseph was obliged to retrace part of his road, and drive some distance in the opposite direction, in order to summon a second. Here, however, he was more fortunate. The physician was just sitting down to an early dinner, which he persisted in finishing, assuring Joseph, after ascertaining such symptoms of the case as the latter was able to describe, that it was probably a nervous attack, “ a modified form of hysteria.” Notwithstanding he violated his own theory of digestion byeating rapidly, the minutes seemed intolerably long. Then his own horse must be harnessed to his own sulky, during which time he prepared a few doses of valerian, belladonna, and other palliatives, which he supposed might be needed.

Meanwhile, Lucy and the women had placed Julia in her own bed, and applied such domestic restoratives as they could procure, but without any encouraging effect. Julia appeared to be conscious, but she shook her head when they spoke to her, and even, so Lucy imagined, attempted to turn it away. She refused the tea, the lavender and ginger they brought, and only drank water in long, greedy draughts. In a little while she started up, with clutchings and incoherent cries, and then slowly sank back again, insensible.

The second period of unconsciousness was longer and more difficult to overcome. Lucy began to be seriously alarmed, as an hour, two hours, passed by, and Joseph did not return. Dennis was despatched in search of him, carrying also a hastily pencilled note to Madeline Held, and then Lucy, finding that she could do nothing more, took her seat by the window and watched the lane, counting the seconds, one by one, as they were ticked off by the clock in the hall.

Finally a horse’s head appeared above the hedge, where it curved around the shoulder of the hill: then the top of a carriage, — Joseph at last! The physician’s sulky was only a short distance in the rear. Lucy hurried down and met Joseph at the gate.

“No better, — worse, I fear,” she said, answering his look.

“ Dr. Hartman,” he replied, — “ Worrall was away from home, — thinks it is probably a nervous attack. In that case it can soon be relieved.”

“ I hope so, but I fancy there is danger.”

The doctor now arrived, and after hearing Lucy’s report, shook his head. “It is not an ordinary case of hysteria,” he remarked ; “let me see her at once.”

When they entered the room Julia opened her eyes languidly, fixed them on Joseph, and slowly lifted her hand to her head. “ What has happened to me ? ” she murmured, in a hardly audible whisper.

“ You had a fainting fit,” he answered, “ and I have brought the doctor. This is Dr. Hartman; you do not know him, but he will help you : tell him how you feel, Julia ! ”

“Cold ! ” she said, “cold! Sinking down somewhere ! Will he lift me up?”

The physician made a close examination, but seemed to become more perplexed as he advanced. He administered only a slight stimulant, and then withdrew from the bedside. Lucy and the servant left the room, at his request, to prepare some applications,

“ There is something unusual here,” he whispered, drawing joseph aside. “ She has been sinking rapidly since the first attack. The vital force is very low : it is in conflict with some secret enemy, and it cannot resist much longer, unless we discover that enemy at once. I will do my best to save her, but I do not yet see how.”

He was interrupted by a noise from the bed. Julia was vainly trying to rise : her eyes were wide and glaring. “ No, no ! ” came from her lips, “ I will not die ! I heard you. Joseph, I will try — to be different — but—I must live — for that ! ”

Then her utterance became faint and indistinct, and she relapsed into unconsciousness. The physician re-examined her with a grave, troubled face. “She need not be conscious,” he said, “ for the next thing I shall do. I will not interrupt this syncope at once ; it may, at least, prolong the struggle. What have they been giving her ?”

hie picked up, one by one, the few bottles of the household pharmacy which stood upon the bureau. Last of all, he found an empty glass shoved behind one of the supports of the mirror. He looked into it, held it against the light, and was about to set it down again, when he fancied that there was a misty appearance on the bottom, as if from some delicate sediment. Stepping to the window, he saw that he had not been mistaken. He collected a few of the minute granulations on the tip of his forefinger, touched them to his tongue, and, turning quickly to Joseph, whispered: —

“ She is poisoned ! ”

“ Impossible ! ” Joseph exclaimed ; “ she could not have been so mad ! ”

“ It is as I tell you ! This form of the operation of arsenic is very unusual, and I did not suspect it; but now I remember that it is noted in the books. Repeated syncopes, utter nervous prostration, absence of the ordinary burning and vomiting, and signs of rapid dissolution ; it fits the case exactly ! If I had some oxy-hydrate of iron, there might still be a possibility, but I greatly fear — ”

“ Do all you can ! ” Joseph interrupted. “ She must have been insane! Do not tell me that you have no antidote ! ”

“We must try an emetic, though it will now be very dangerous. Then oil, white of egg,”—and the doctor hastened down to the kitchen.

Joseph walked up and down the room, wringing his hands. Here was a horror beyond anything he had imagined. His only thought was to save the life which she, in the madness of passion, must have resolved to take : she must not, must not, die now ; and yet she seemed to be already in some region on the very verge of darkness, some region where it was scarcely possible to reach and pull her back. What could be done ? Human science was baffled ; and would God, who had allowed him to be afflicted through her, now answer his prayer to continue that affliction? But, indeed, the word “affliction'’ was not formed in his mind; the only word which he consciously grasped was “ Life ! life ! ”

He passed by the bedside and gazed upon her livid skin, her sunken features : she seemed already dead. Then, sinking on his knees, he tried to pray, if that was prayer which was the single intense appeal of all his confused feelings. Presently he heard a faint sigh ; she slightly moved ; consciousness was evidently returning.

She looked at him with half-opened eyes, striving to fix upon something which evaded her mind. Then she said, in the faintest broken whisper : “ I did love you — I did— and do — love you ! But— you — you hate me ! ”

A pang sharper than a knife went through Joseph’s heart. He cried, through his tears : “ I did not know what I said ! Give me your forgiveness, Julia! Pardon me, not because I ask it, but freely, from your heart, and I will bless you ! ”

She did not speak, but her eyes softened, and a phantom smile hovered upon her lips. It was no mask, this time : she was sacredly frank and true. Joseph bent over her and kissed her.

“O Julia!” he said, “why did you do it ? Why did you not wait until I could speak with you ? Did you think you would take a burden off yourself or me ? ”

Her lips moved, but no voice came.

He lifted her head, supported her, and bent his ear to her mouth. It was like the dream of a voice : —

“ I — did — not — mean — ”

There it stopped. The doctor entered the room, followed by Lucy. " First, the emetic,” said the former. " For God’s sake, be silent! ” Joseph cried, with his ear still at Julia’s lips.

The doctor stepped up softly and looked at her. Then, seating himself on the bed beside Joseph, he laid his hand upon her heart. For several minutes there was silence in the room.

Then the doctor removed his hand, took Julia’s head out of Joseph’s arms, and laid it softly upon the pillow.

She was dead.

Bayard Taylor.