The Hallam Succession

thy life from

our altars an

green graves

your nati

r own room, and no one now disputed his right to watch and to wait for the doctors' verdict. He was very white; white through all the tan of wind and sun; and, as he paced the room, he wrung his hands in an agony beyond speech. Terrible, indeed, to both men was the silent house, with the faint noises of hurried footsteps and closing doors up stairs! What a mockery seemed the cool, clear sunshine outs

came down stairs John went to meet them, for even a minute's reprieve from his torturing anxiety was worth going for. The foremost made a slight movement, a motion of the lips a

haps it is in the want of pity that the real infernal of Satan consists; for whenever he sees us overwhelmed with sorrow, then he casts into our throbbing heart his fie

andon of his grief was terrible; then he felt something of that remorse for sin which needs no material fiery adjunct to make a hell for the soul. The Bishop watched him with infinite pity, but for several

red, "Not so, son Richard. Can you escape eternity by forgetting it? And even for this life to forget is a kind of moral forfeiture, a

God heed my pitiful

not only a sinner in the general mass, but a particular sinner under your own name and in your special person. So, then, for you he has

od would

s. He resists the proud, but he come

sure Phyllis

if

hope for this li

what seemeth

d-God seems so indi

though I love you. There are four words that you can say, which will shake the gates of heaven; which will make the Father meet you, and the elder B

of danger was the hour of his spiritual deliverance. Then a speechless, overwhelming gratitude took possession of him. He went into his room, and, amid tears and broken prayers of thankfulness, his

k and cold; but a great fire of cedar logs burned in the grate, and Phyllis had been lifted to a lounge near it. She was whiter than the pillow on which she lay, white with that p

ee the waters of the gulf. As he stood watching them, a figure came in sight. He knew well the tall erect form, the rapid walk, the pause at the gate, the eager look toward the hous

ate. John was about fifty yards away, and he went to meet him. John saw him coming and walked steadily forward.

is brown face flushed scarlet with emotion. He held Richard

ome in and

ly mean such

llis is able to see y

ture as they entered. The face was as impassive as a bronze statue. "

Phyllis's side. "Miss P

tairs, nothin' at all

ether like two lambs, a

Mass'r John a

er lips it was granted her. It was Richard, too, who brought John to her side; and he clasped their hands in his, and then went away and left them together. The solemn tenderness of such a meeting needed but few words. John thought life could hardly give him again moments so holy and

the blue of heaven, and after that her recovery was rapid and certain. The months of January and February were peculiarly happy ones, full of delightful intercou

nd then defend it until he had won it. He had lived so long the free life of the prairie and the woods, that the crowds of cities and their occupations almost frightened him. For theology he had no vocation and no "call." Medicine he had a most decided repugnance to. Law seemed to him but a meddling in other people's business and predicaments. He felt that he woul

rtitioned off into squares of mine and thine, that attracted John and charmed Phyllis: for her heart was with his. She thought of the little home that was to have a look southward and eastward, and which she was to make beautiful; and no grand dame, with the prospect of royal favor and cou

an of the onward march? Are they not the heroes of the republic? brave men of large soul

ppose

rand as the Pilgrim Fathers, every whit. The men, rifle in hand, take possession of the wilderness; the women make it blossom like the rose. No woman is too fair, or bright, or clever, or good to be a pioneer's wife. If John Millard had

as, and Houston. At the beginning of John's visit there had been present in his mind an intention of going from New Orleans to Texas at its close. He was by no means certain that he would stay there, for he mistrusted a Mexican, and was neither disposed to fight under their orders, nor to hold l

s of Humanity and Liberty," for help. Travis and his brave little band had fallen, like heroes, every soul of them at his post, in the Alamo. Fannin and his five hundred had just been massacred in cold blood, and in defiance of every law of warfare and humanity; and between the Anglo-Americans and a brutal, slaughtering army there was only Houston

uston, and defying Santa Anna to enslave them, filled his mind. He could see them retreating across the country, always interposing themselves between their families and the foe; hasting toward the settleme

a fight for religious as for political freedom. Never in old Spain itself had priestcraft wielded a greater power than the Roman priesthood in Texas. They hated and feared an emigration of Americans, for they knew them to be men opposed to tyranny of all kinds, men who thought for themselves, and who would not be

for Texas to-mo

an help it, John. I wi

acher, you would have mad

ith Balfour at Drumelog, and with Cromwell at Dunbar. I would reason with the Lord's enemies, surely, John, I would reason with them; but if they would not listen to reason, and took advantage

either of them spoke, Phyllis divined that something unusual was occupying their minds. "Wh

ohn is going to a noble warfare, and, I am sure, to a victorious one

side, and the Bishop painted the struggling little re

go, John?"

morr

ssed him-a kiss of consecration,

live coals. "I will go with John," he said; "Texas is my neighbor. It is a

s and purse. You could not leave your plantation now without

ose six vigorous States which had grown into power on the cold, barren hills of New England. She believed that if she could induce some of their population to settle within Mexican limits, she could win from them the secret of their success. So a band of hardy, working youths, trained in the district schools of New England and New York, accepted the pledges

is new Protestant element; and, by their advice, oppressive taxation of every kind was practiced, especially, the extortion of money for titles to land which had been guaranteed to the colon

ered. Obedience to it meant certain death in one form or other. For the Americans were among an alien people, in a country overrun by fourteen different tribes of Indians; some of them, as the Comanches, Apaches,

at this time Austin returned from his Mexican dungeon. No hearing had been granted him. Every man was now well aware that Mexico intended to enslave them, and they rose for their rights and freedom. The land they were on they had bought with their labor or with their gold; and how co

lonists touched every State in the Union. There were cords of household love binding them to a thousand homes in older colonies; and there was, also

pathy which one brave man has for another, ruled John absolutely. She mingled with all these feelings, and doubtless he loved her the better for them; but she felt it, at first, a trifle hard to share her empire. Of course, when she thought of the position, she acknowledged the beauty and fitness of i

r an hour with our best ideas! to make little of facts, to take possession of ourselves, and walk as conquerors! Thus, in some blessed intervals we have been poets and philosophers. We have spread liberty, and broken the cha

of truth hat

foot in da

louds dispar

tandest ne

e soul come

ndred virt

hless doubts c

rengthening

oments, rare

out, and us

. BLA

round him. Perhaps the same thought was in every heart, though no one liked to utter it. A kind of chill, the natural reaction of extreme enthusiasm was

ng;" and the Bishop lifted a hymn book, opened

oldier's hymn, two of a

ever

Israel's hos

seek the

hy shadow

f thy prote

hy grace, our

e glory of

nerring S

t in the de

t full dire

ur provide

m danger a

almighty lov

sadness that was almost lethargy. Many crushed souls have these fits of somnolent depression; and it does no good either to reproach them, or to point out that physical infirmity is the cause. They know what the sorrowful s

en and some almond puddin', and a cup of de strongest coff

r Richard

night drive him, ef there's any thing strange 'gwine on in de cit

ay that,

at Mass'r John! gwine off all in a moment li

to fight in a

ne beat a drum a thousand miles off, an

ught Master Joh

John's rifle. Mighty onwillin' he was to put it down-kind ob slow like. I wouldn't trust de Bishop wid no rifle ef dar was any fightin' gwine on 'bout whar he wa

ter Richard

rful ob you, Miss Phill; and den he's 'spectin' a letter; for de last words he say to me was, 'Take care ob de mail, Harriet.' De letter come, too. Moke didn

ink so, als

s Phill. Moke has nothin' 't all

een sick, h

fever, h

hink I have heard you say he was 'a po

I forgot dat. Brudder Moke kin h

would feel tha

at shinin' kind ob way dan hab a

g it he was unhappy and troubled. He took an hour's promenade on the piazza, and then sat down beside her. "Phyllis," he said, "we h

izabeth and John. What ha

requent; they are shorter; they are full of Antony and his wild, ambitious s

two years sinc

es

it did, we should never forget the dead. Those who touch us mov

ou go w

the tossing to and fro for so many days, an

felt the changes more because those to whom they had come slowly and separately were hardly conscious of them. Elizabeth was a different woman, although she would have denied it. Her character had matured, and was, perhaps, less win

her air of calm authority. He forgot that when he had seen her first she was in a comparatively dependent position, and that she was now prospective lady of

ld, and had never recovered from its effects. He limped to the door to meet Richard,

d brought Phyllis, I'd hev given thee a double welcome. I'd hev liked to

ong enough to be

gun, but dash pistols! They're blackguardly weapons for a

e. That pistol-shot cost m

o suffer, too! Well, well, we

arent aquiline nose and preternaturally large eyes. Her moods were alternations of immoderate mirth and immoderate depression. "She expects too much of life," thought Richard, "and if she is disappointed, she will proudly turn away and silently die." She had no fortune, but Antony was ambitious for something mor

little cares and hospitable duties; she was often busy and often pre-occupied. It was necessary to have a great deal of company, and Richard perceived that among the usual visitors at Hallam he had more than one rival. But in this respect he had no fault to find with Elizabeth. She treated all with equal regard an

married?"

affairs much. Antony c

ds him to the vi

ht as heir of Hallam. When he was able to do this Elizabeth would be freed from the duties which specially pertained to the property. As to her father's claim up

onditions as reasonable a service as she did. "You may trust m

you now. If you loved me, you would leave all and c

uld not leave you. Men may leave father and mother for their wives, that is their duty; but women have a highe

ably restored to his son. He had fully determined that it should go to Elizabeth, unless Antony paid the uttermost farthing of its redemption; but if he did this, then he believed that

with such consolation as he could gather from this probability, and from E