The Mettle of the Pasture

the eighteenth or at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Each was set apart from each by lawns, yards and gardens, and further screened by shrubs and vines in accordance wit

ing eyes had watched the swift pageants of the earth, and the swifter pageants of mortal hope and passion. Out of the front doors, sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons had gone away to the cotton and sugar and rice plantations of the South, to new farm lands of the West, to the professions in cities of the North. The mirrors within held lo

l herself, that grandmother's idol, the only one of its beautiful women remaining yet to be married; and to celebrate with magnificence in this house Isabel's marriage to Rowan Meredith had long b

side of the house there was a single sound: the audible but healthful breathing of a sleeper lying

orld: above may be peaks, clouds, sublimity, the Transfiguration; underneath, the pursuits and passions of local worldly life-some story of loaves and fishe

print of her head on the pillow and deftly smoothed it out. The action was characteristic: she was careful to hide the traces of her behavior, and the habit was so strong that it extended to thi

lay her glasses, her fan, and a small bell. She passed her fingers along her temples in search of small disorders in the scant tufts of her hair, put on her glasses, and took the fan. Then she glided a

ng grass. On the white window-sill just outside, a bronze wasp was whirling excitedly, that cautious stinger which neve

re closed; and she formed her own pictures of how people inside were sleeping, lounging, i

undings never bored her; she derived instant pleasure from the nearest spectacle, always exercising her powers humorously upon the world, never upon herself. For lack of other entertainment she now fell u

ith Isabel until late the night before; he had attended morning service and afterward gone home with his mother and brother (she had watched the carriage as it rolled away down the street); he had returned at this unusual hour. Such eag

head and neck and bearing, stature and figure, family and family history, house and lands-she inventoried them all once m

Conyers

eplied apo

e excused to-day

en he spoke as a man long co

o see her," and without waiting to be invite

d go upstairs wit

. She brought a note and handed it to

give you this not

n, Mrs. Conyers heard him draw the sheet fr

g of this? The events of the day were rapidly reviewed: that Isabel had not spoken with her after breakfast; that she had gone to service at an unusual hour

e rubbed her eyelids and sat sleepily up as though just awakened: she remembered that she

your Mis

er room, Mis

s: it is cooler down here. And ask her whether she'd lik

te, and began to attack the minute snow mountain around the base and up the sides with eager jabs and stabs, depositing the spoonfuls upon a

id ree

n't wish any sherb

y she would

t say, Miss

down into the parlors." Then she hurried hack to the sherbe

aited. Impatience darkened to uneasiness and anger. Still she waited; and her finger nails

eached the head of the staircase; but then had faltered and shrunk back. When the message came, it rendered her less inclined to risk the interview. Coming at such an hour, that m

ntly wove themselves across her path. Conscience had promptly arraigned him at the altar of religion. It was easy to condemn him there. And no one had the right to questi

been so marked, that her grandmother had accepted marriage between them as a foregone conclusion, and in letters had disseminated these prophecies through the family connection. Other letters had even come back to Isabel, containing evidence only too plain that Rowan had been discussed and accept

of the alliances that had preceded hers. Involved in this sense of pride she felt that she owed a duty to the generations who had borne her family name in this country and to the still earlier generations who had giv

ponding resentments would be aroused among them, questions would be asked that had no answers. She felt that her life in its most private and sacred relation would be publi

e discarded; she must act

in her plans. Anything that she might do could not escape those watchful eyes long since grown impatient. Moreover despite differences o

see me about anyt

ow still: she turned softly in her chair and looked across the darkened

ood no one of them had ever crossed her will without bearing away the scars of her anger, and always of her revenge. But before this grandchild, whom she had reared from infancy, she fel

a company of ladies the grandmother, drawing the conversation to herself, remarked with a suggestive laugh that as there were no men present she would tell a certain story. "Grandmother," interposed Isabel, vaguely startled, "pl

d by this very contact grown chilled toward austerity. Thus nature lends a gradual protective hardening to a tender surface during abrasion

s confidence in regard to her love affairs-and the girl had had her share of these; every attempt to gain it had been me

see me about anyt

ckly: "I wanted to know

ell. Why did you

t seem well

en. I was not

er own. She wished to watch Isabel's face. She had be

is a breeze thr

I'd rather

pause

ow the last of M

t rememb

ny one calling on

was no

here. While I was asleep

was no

ir own misdeeds. If I have done any good in this world, I do not expect my father and mother to be rewarded for it in the next; if I have done wrong, I do not expect my children to be punished. I shall claim the reward and I shall stand the punishment, an

ld you responsib

s could wai

why did you not see Rowan when

ow that I do not ans

The grandmother awaited it now. To her surprise Isabel a

t wish to

e; then this unexpected we

enough to see

aloud though wholly to herself, "th

has happen

e room quickly and taking the chair in front of her grandmother, searched that treacherous face imploringly for somethi

I was about to come down. I wished to speak with you about a very delicate matter, a very serious matter. Y

tone of this avowal would not have escaped Mrs. Conyers. But s

or our own sakes-on account of the servants in the house-on acc

xcitedly backward and forward. Scandal had never touched her life. She had never talked scandal; had never thought scandal. Dwelling under the same roof

ons were given, would not the seeds of gossip fly and sprout and bear their kinds about her path: and

she returned

dence as far as I can; beyond that I will not go. And you shall not ask. You are not to try t

ooked her grandmother

r back as though a hand had

"do you forget to w

her words by reason of suffering, "it is too la

ide: "Do not come to me with your

room and sank into th

standing a moment and

But Mrs. Conyers had accepted this dutiful demeanor of the years as a tribute to her own virtues. Now that Isabel, the one perso

y at Isabel: the gi

eming to take a path which led to the valleys. She now crossed over and sat down with a peace-making laugh. She attempted to take Isabel's hand, but it was quickly withd

eaning of all

gain a silent, searching

that it could not be i

ng. What did I e

yers noted the indecision and shrugged her should

bject, then. Do you

come here any more." Isabel s

nderstand this at once. We must

friends, we must do what we can not to be

ust let him know that he is not on the list

wrung h

hts. For her the interview was at an end; to Mrs. Conyers it was beginning. Isabel's words and manner had revealed a situation far more serious than she had believed to e

frank and cordial interest as though the way were clear at l

to require me to be unreasonable and unjust. Do you really wish me to be kept in the dark in a matter like this? Must I refuse to speak to Rowan and have no reaso

" said Isabel with

you wish me to

hat I have

se reasons are if I must act upon

that was not to be quieted until it had been satisfied. She sank back into h

ight hav

d forward with gath

pened las

that it was of no us

se feigned the dismissal of the whole subject: "I shall pay no attentio

randmother, if you do

with hidden meaning a

f years of hope and waiting. Before such a possibility tact and coolness and apparent unconcern were swept away by passion, brutal and unre

and pausing there put out one of her hands against the lintel as if with weakness

fingers: "I have been rude to you, grandmother! Forgive me! I do not know what I have been saying. But any little t

ther's. She shrank back shuddering from what she saw there, bury

ers sat m

come to nothing? And was it true that this grandchild, for whom she had pla

You must give me your word of honor . . . it is

ght have been heard at intervals the scratching of h