The Doctor's Daughter

white and wasted still, but her old manner had returned to her in a great measure, and she laughed and chatted eagerly with us, one

green and plentiful, and the breeze gentle and refreshing. Everything in the external world temp

llness, but it was with many a parting injunction, regarding the care and attention that should be unceasingly bestowed upon her darling during her enforced absence, that the solicitous mother left me in charge. Anxious to

her in the solemn seclusion of his own apartments or out of doors. Occasionally we met going out of, or coming into, a room, going up or down stairs or passing along some corridor. We nearly always had meals together, and on a few occasions

ose deep natures that talk in discreet monosyllables and cling to the sheltering refuge of such safe subjects as are the substance of everybody's and anybody's chit-chat. Maybe I judge them harshly when I persua

this man's life for so long, I must hasten to inform them that conjointly with this feminine weakness I had a most unyielding pride, a pride that absorbed even my c

e aroused. I did not therefore intend to ask a confidence which could not be given willingly and freely. It was virtually nothing to me what t

e into the sitting-room where I was standing,

ss of his own when he went in or out of a room, I was not supposed to know that, on this particular occasion, he was making a flattering exception for me. I went on biting my lips abstra

n worlds for a pair of keen eyes at the back of my head during this artful performance, but as no such abnormal desire could be favored, I had to be satisfied with my

he table, and placing it deliberately under his arm, as if it were one of the many things that brought

you will take every care, of yourselves, an

ery politely, "there will

been ordained by nature to meet the cordial grasp of men of this stamp, and having

olitics or science or newspaper topics with me long before this. How did he know I could not match him in these being a woman? He was one of those wonderful erudites, I supposed, who think that a girl's conversational power lies rigidly between dry goods and sentiment. Poor things! What a heresy th

having closed the shutters and drawn the curtains to keep out the after

ed for the next hour, I put on my things and we

to look at, and a little farther on, the woeful panorama became still more awful and repulsive. A little passage which seemed to have strayed away from all connection with human decency or sympathy ran to the left. It was so very narrow that though the surrounding buildings straggled up to only an ordinary height, the daylight scarcely penetrated it. And indeed it is to be wondered whether a bright sunlight would not but bring out more clearl

was indeed h

cept that he Makes glo

es for melancholy When

si

e. I could not have gone away from a lively city like this, where towers and steeples of lofty and majestic buildings reared themselves in proud beauty towards heaven, without having also looked

ropy, and my sentiments exclusively sympathetic I do not know, I have, however, escaped up to this without interference from the lowly inhabitants of these obscure corners,

numents of power and fame, though the heart may swell with a just enthusiasm at sight of the marvels which have risen out of gold piles, the coffers of nations or individuals, I hold that all the majesty of the best-spent wealth has

erica's continent alone. And again, think of the waste of wealth the wide world over. Think how vice is wined and dined, and clad in the finest of fabrics, while honest humanity, in helpless hunger, cries out to ears that are deaf and hearts that have turne

e I turned my steps slowly ba

ments of their honest labor outside the corner entrance of a large but smoky row of wooden tenements that skirted one gloomy street. A doorway cut through the sharp angles of the corner of the building, allowed a small canopy to project in a triangular peak over two dirty battered steps that led into a dimly-lit room on the ground floor. Suspended from the point of the canopy was a lamp of a dull red

his ominous establishment, must have known many a tale of so

l of the Ace of Spades, doubtless was the price of many a poor man's toil, the bread and meat of his hungry children squandered and sacrificed with a fiendish recklessn

the life-blood of famishing humanity, and a pity that is akin to a most contemptuous hatred swelled my breast, when I asked myself: What

im to respectability, over these ill-gotten coins that are so ma

would our idolized and coveted honors appear, and how much more profitable would our wasted energies become! But our minds are frivolous, and easily distracted from great pursuits by petty, external circumstances. We become too readily absorbed in the study of our own selves, and those elements of experience that may yield us pleasure or pain during our sojourn among mortal men. Very often our own instability of purpose annoys and disco

ts. When I raised my eyes to look upon glittering carriages, bearing beauty and ease and comf

oble purposes, it is because I have taught myself the realization. Think you, I have stood where my brothers

onvictions upon the threshold, and bounded up the stairway with as lig

re still drawn, but her eyes were wide open, and the rosy w

her dozing, but her sleep had not left a languid trace

y truant, where

ssing her brow. "I saw you were sleeping, and having nothing to

ave discovered that that picture between the windows hangs to one side, and the table-cover i

osy and good-humored if you had been lying awake all that time. You will not make me

slowly and taking my arm affectionately, "in fact y

rted quietly, "and yet I feel

ed you are not!" she exclaimed earnestly.

like 'oth

Mon Dieu! non pas tous!" she added, shaking her he

ged suddenly, for she raised her face wit

omething to keep us al

il," I suggested; "it is recomme

no charm for me, I know," she then cried, interrupting herself, "let us go to your room, and you will

arm tenderly around her frail waist, and leading he

ng herself on a pile of pillows on the floor, insisted on being shown all th

y conscious, quite enough to provoke th

re is an undeniable gratification for every woman in the contemplation of another's wardrobe or jewel-box. It is a rest for our eyes that are wearied of gazing upon our own familiar belongings, to search among the novel trinkets

vex Mrs. Jones, their rival neighbor, and I have seen Mrs. Parvenue, time and again, indulging a magnificent caprice with some rare luxury, upon which straitened aristocracy was bestowing covetous and admiring glances. Our daily observations confirm the fact that feather brained protegees of fortune, expend much wealth, and

ons of limited observation, and there must needs be persons of a limited experience at all times who, for want of knowing the whole truth, will be tempted to pass a comprehensive general verdict where a particular one only is deserved. It is

ility of spending a very happy hour in their inspection. When one is free, as I was, to take up each pretty trinket separately and tell its little st

rings from her delicate little ears; now exclaiming over the novelty of one, now listening eagerly to the whispered account about another. At last we had emptied out the great box that held all these little cases of morocco and plush, and putting them back one by one, I turned the tiny key i

lf timidly, then looking apologetically into my fac

," said I, drawing it from its seclusion and laying

reath. "From your father," she continued, spea

lder, and returned it to me. Then peepi

t I could recognize them any where again. I like them, chiefly bec

dicule. "I keep all my odds and ends there, broken and old-fash

let me see them. I like old broken stuff, it will be

aimed in mock resignation, dragging out the shabby receptacle upon whi

ng your mind studying them, I shall just restore some order to these dilapidated quarters," I said, as

ess at first, but suddenly I looked around in questioning scrutiny. The box lay on the floor beside her, unheeded. Between her fingers was some small, shining

come

e her, laying one arm

d, hardly noticing what sh

this Amey? Do you

eading sorrowful eyes, that I snatched the trinket im

oon before the Merivales' musical. A change passed over my own face at sigh

by this. I have never seen it but on

lowly with her eyes still buried in

"It is a queer thing, is

rs and after repeated efforts managed to open it. There were two sma

Hortense's lap. She raised her solemn eyes now grown sadder and more solemn than eve

you kn

rds what I had answered to her strange question.

Mr. D

ith an expression of infinite

u a doub

moreover, I never had pictures taken like this one. If it

glance at me from under her w

gave him th

I? It never belonged to me. I never saw it in my life unt

," she muttered, half in soliloquy, with her gaze still bent upon the

e to me," I said, "and I

ange feature of the circumstance, I tur

r. Dalton were friends. I neve

," she interrupted, a little incisively, I t

I have sat upon Mr. Dalton's knee time and again, listening to

" very ind

ere is no reason why Mr. Dalton should have one and keep it secret. Besides, I ought to know" I arg

calm and friendly tone "So much so, that when I saw you for t

e seen this befo

across her face for one mom

then, and it has often puzzled me since. Now, the whole mystery is solved" she said, rising from her lowly seat, and goin

se coul

out this affair, that she was striving to hide from me, and that conviction built up an ugly barrier between our hitherto unswerving loves. I had never broached any subject to her that required to be spoken of reserve

er us as he seemed to exercise over her. We do not blush at the mention of their names, nor are we agitated by every little reminder of their lives or persons.

ness should be disagreeable to her. It has given me some pleasure to see this thing that only looks like me so caref

t my feet. Now that it was proven to be Ernest Dalton's, the mystery was thicker than ever. How had it come there? I asked myself this perplexing question over and over again. Perhaps it had been lying in the folds of the upholstering for days or months, and that by chance I had disturbed it when I threw myself wearily upon the sofa. Mr. Dalton often came to sit and talk with my father of an evening when we we

ring she could ever put upon her words or actions had no power to deceive me. There was no indifference in her indifferent attitudes, none at least that was real. Who could tell better than I, who had myself gone through the ordeal? I knew too well what the nature of such a conflict was,

e and figure was engraven upon my memory, the very curves of his ears, the shape of his figure, the form of his eye-brows, the fit of his collar, the pattern of his neck-ties, all were quite familiar to me. I had taken a pleasure in noticing them, and a still greater pleasure in telling them to myself over and over again. Surely then, he was more to me than all

ness. The best of us are jealous in the abstract, though even in words and deeds we are above the paltry passion; and the fear that, while we are holding our ido

ce of mind I would not stop to analyse my real feeling towards him. A passive friendship seemed to satisfy him, why should it not also satisfy me? He saw that Arthur Campbell showed a preference for me and might seriously engage my affections at any moment. But he did not care evidently

t like a wo

her dama

elf, and therefore have I little faith in timid hearts that shrink from suc

or, an unpolished exterior, an old fashioned accent, or something just as trifling which our modern propriety ridicules. It has come to this, I know, in our times, that the world expects an explanation or an apology of some kind, when people of social standing allow themselves to be wooed and won by persons whose lives are not regulated according to the popular taste. Men marry beauty and talent and accomplishments as though any of these things were solid enough to maintain their prospective fortunes and women betroth themselves to men and manners, and are satisfied that if they have nothing to eat, they will always have something to look at. The great majority of rejected m

r selves to so thankless and perishable a cause, and we would redeem them by gentle persuasion if they were willing, but there are aspects of the situation upon whic

gnates, and yet it could not be said of him, as of many another such luminary, that he paid too dear for his whistle. He had not purchased his popularity with servile adulation and at a sacrifice of his own personal dignity. The smiles of the world are to

im though he never intruded it upon others. He was affable and agreeable without that exaggeration of either quality which spends itself in profuse laudation of social comets. He was

t when we have begged and striven and pined for it, and bribed hidden forces to unite in supporting and advocating our cause. There is no f

erefore, be magnified by my personal appreciation of his true worth. I had always admired him, even before I began to think of him in any particular w

ver been more than ordinary acquaintances. This vexed me. I wanted him to show me more attention on account of our long-standing relationship. I thought he could have presumed upon our

life that enthusiasts sing about, seems nothing but a helpless repetition of jarring discords for some of us. The circumstances of our varied experience do not fit into

rt control itself with some philosophy that can despoil forbidden fruit of all its tempting qual

epoch my life. I drifted into a voluntary forgetfulness of old associations. I stifled the suggestive voice of memory, and since this is the way of the

thing that needed investigation, and might possibly in its issue, interfere with my worldly-wise policy

nd I slept the heavy, dreamless slumber of exhaustion. When I awoke again it was morning,

st in her room, she informed me, as she was feeling unusually lazy. I looked at her curi

rtense?" I asked leaning over he

dded, rising slowly and coming towards the dainty, impromptu breakfast-table which had been set for us, near the open window. Our meal proceeded in subdued gaiety. We ta

l was over H

ssed your hair this morning Amey, y

d answered i

l enough. What diff

sis. "It makes the difference that I am going to do it over. Come into t

reached nearly to the floor. Mine was a low footstool, and hers a padded chair. I threw myself down at

Islander, by appropriate arrangements of my plentiful hair; or her old partiality asserted itself as she prais

for a moment. I hear la bonne coming and I want her to see you. Here she is." There was a hurried tap at the door and la bonne came in, with

le, c'est u

ouncing her return, and quietly signing the necessar

urred before my eyes I raised my hands in distract

e cried, eagerly bending over me with qui

I moaned, "my

t? Do tell me wha

ed out convulsively. "He will be dead

ou think; These telegrams always sound so blunt and dreadful. While there's life, th

stained me greatly. I rolled my flowing hair up again carelessly enough, Go

s at bay. I gathered together only those things I would urgently req

nce of my father's sudden and serious illness, I was taking le

my neck, "and remember," she added, kissing away my fast falling tears, "if ever you have need of a fri

ered in a broken sob, "some day I ma

. "Can you doubt that my heart will ever be a refuge for you? If you

st generous human sympathy reflected on her wasted countenance. I could never doubt her again, no matter

he love and devotion of sustaining frie

en we

my enforced departure, and entreating her to come home as soon as possible lest Hortense should have an