The Mettle of the Pasture

nder-shower drenched the earth, and th

dary of her social world. She was dressed with unfailing: elegance-and her taste lavished itself especially on black silk and the richest lace. The shade of heliotrope satin harmonized with the yellowish folds of her hair.

her face softly. Everything about her was softness, all her movements were delicate and refined. Even the early soft beauty of her figure was not yet lost

acterizations, lest we remain infants in discernment. She allows foul to appear fair, and bids us become educated in the hardy virtues of insight and prudence. Education as yet had advanced but little; and the deep

king and peered toward the front gate

is l

was gently opened

ver her such as comes over a bird of prey when it draws its feathers in flat against its body to lessen fr

he tap of his stout walking-stick; for he was gouty and wore loose low shoes of t

ons of discomfort snipped off a piece of heliotrope in one of the tubs of oleander. He shook away the raindrops

aloud as though he had consenting

moth was gathering honey and jabbed his stick sharply at i

id; "you've had enough

over to a rose-bush and walked around tapping the roses on their heads as he counte

ifles that gladdened it; for he was one of the old who return at the e

advanced to the ed

id you come to see my flower

m," he called back. "Most of all

edly: "Still harpin

s are not necessarily old: they are all young at the be

spirit. "You give a woman a dig on her age an

ud but as though confidentially to himself. Open disrespect marked his speec

stopped and taking off his straw hat looked

med. "And what an injustice to a man wa

ways finding it hard to put up with his l

me in until I have made a speech. It never occurred t

of his deeds and to live upon them, be they sweet or bitter. One winter in which to come to an end and wrap himself with resignation in the snows of nature. Thus he should never know the pain of seeing spring return when there was nothing within himself to bu

anything as fine as that since I used t

eplied. "We forget ourselves, you kno

she suggested. "Are

And guided by your suggestio

his hat and cane on the porch and took h

ight be overheard. "I know you are sensitive in these little matters; but while I dislike to

fingers out of h

fox," she r

oes with the fox-the f

ght streamed out upon him, it illumined his noble head of soft, silvery hair, which fell over his ears and forehead, forgotten and disordered, like a romping boy's. His complexion was ruddy-too ruddy with high living; his clean-shaven face beautiful with candor, gayety, and sweetness; and his eyes, the eyes of a kind he

s, put his hat on the head of his cane, gave it a twirl, and looking over sidew

misapply it so unerringly. Their association had assumed the character of one of those belated intimacies, which s

rning his partner's fireside wretchedness during his few years of married life, he had learned to fear and to hate her. With his quick temper and honest way he made no pretence of hiding his feel

poison of rev

knew by whom. Scandal was set running-Scandal, which no pursuing messengers of truth and justice can ever overtake and drag backward along its

ather suspecting that it was she who had so ruined him. But on this night there had been a great supper and with him a great supper was a great weakness: there had been wine, and wine was not a weakness at all, but a glass merely made him more

ed enclosures. No doubt some of them consciously enjoy the contrast in their two selves-the one as seen abroad and the other as understood at home. But a wifeless, childless man-wanderi

s. She sat alone on a short sofa, possibly by design, her train so arranged that he must step over it if he advanced-the only being in the world that he hated.

sitting in the middle of the carriage cushions with one arm swung impartially through the strap on each sid

he w

he reached home that night and tho

ntfully. "The saints of my generation are enjoying the saint's rest. Nobody is left but a few long-lived si

his former associates at the bar had been summone

ommonwealth which he always insisted was the greater criminal. The young men about town knew him and were ready to chat with him on street corners-but never very long at a time. In his old law offices he could spend part of every day, guiding or guying his nephew Barbee, who had just begun to practice

ogies to his conscience regularly also; but it must have become clear that his consci

ioration. During the years between being a young man and being an old one he had so far descended t

rtain equality of bearing and forbearing, that miscellaneous comradeship becomes easy and rather comforting; while extremely aged people are a

oss at her, so richly dressed, so youthful, soft, and rosy

ul and bewitching old lady"-it was on

briskly, "have you been s

discovery eve

rget me in t

ess I am thinking of Mi

t w

Everybody must suffer if she is su

ill. She is

as done nothing to be in trouble about

ill no

ng himself gravely and

it was not by this direct route that sh

ink of the sermo

ate for such sermons to be levelled at me; and

asked the question most carelessly, lifting her imponderable handkerchief a

t my duty

lp our though

ngues," and he laughed at her very good-naturedly. "Sometim

art. And to think that his character-or the lack of it-should have been discovered only when it was too late! How can you men so cloak yourselves before marriage? Why not

er knew Rowan to drop his friends because they had fa

hink George Osborn was the prodigal aimed

he Judge to himself. He tapped the porch nervously with

utiful night! What

ed her. Irritation winged

ever held you responsib

d, "the only irreproachable husband in

these years you have not told me why

reets and observed him sitting alone in the door of his offic

question, "neither have you ever told me wh

him to leave; and still sh

. He was sitting so that the light fell sidewise on his

efused to

nd faced her with

d to se

nce that she never

ain!" he repeated the incredib

rop him from the list

impetuous sadness, "

must

's. Each of us wishes this marriage. Isabel loves Rowan. I know that; therefore it is not her fault. Therefore it is Rowan's fault. Therefore he has said something

At length he said: "I

and as

y on his arm, "Isabel bound me to secre

to a broken confidence, "then Miss Isabel binds

ned so that he might noti

dy. Good night! Good night!" He spoke curtly o

hat Judge Morris, who was the old family lawyer of the Merediths, and had been Rowan's guardian, and had indeed known him intimately from childhood, was in ignorance of any reason for the present trouble; otherwise he would

t no especial admiration for that grave, earnest, and rather sombre lady; but neither did she feel adm

ht encounter him on the road or riding over his farm. But this visit must be made without Isabel's knowledge. It must further be made to appear incidental to Mrs. Meredith herself--or to Rowan. She arranged therefore with that tortuous and superfluous calculation of which hypocrisy is such a master-and mistress-that she would at breakfast, in Isabel's presence, order the carriage, and announce her intention

ng of this mysterious matter, she dismissed it from her mind, passed into

owly across the tow

lamp post, they added smiles. No one loved him supremely, but every one liked him a little-on the whole, a stable state for a man. For his part he accosted every one that he could see in a bright cheery way and with a quick inquiring glance as though every heart had its trouble and needed just a little kindness. He was reasonably sure t

tions: the fires which had always troubled him could not have been reached with ladder and hose. There were two or three livery stables also, the chairs of which he patronized liberally, but not the vehicles. And there was a grocery, where he sometimes bought crystallized

a certain point to have paused with the understanding that none should seek undue advantage by greater proximity. Issuing from this street at one end and turning to the left, you came to the courthouse-the bar of chancery; issuing from it at the other end and turning to t

hould be seen; the back rooms were for such as brought business, but not necessarily fame. Driving through this street, the wives of the lawyers could

had been a great lawyer and he knew it (if he had married he might have been Chief Justice). Then he turned the corner and enter

e of which, if it had no virtues, at least possessed habits: certainly everything had its own way. He put his hat and cane on the table, not caring to go back to the hatrack in his little hall, and seated himself in his olive morocco chair. As he did so, everything in the room-the chairs, the curtai

d up and said, "I'l

ays gleaned at night: he met so many of his friends by reading their advertisements. But to-night he spread it across his knees and turning t

bulldog. The eyes were blue and watery and as full of suffering as a seats; from the extremity of the lower jaw a tooth stood up like a shoemaker's peg; and over t

st him off, so settling life for him. For after that experience he had put away the thought of marriage. "To be so treated once is enough," he had said sternly and proudly. True, in after years she had come back to him as far as friendship could bring her back, since she was then

uch distress as the thought that Rowan and Isabel would never marry. All the love that he had any right to pour into any life, he had alwa

holder of the hat-rack; a soft hat was thrown down carelessly somewhere-it sounded like a wet mop flung into a corner; and there entered a young man straight, slender, keen-fa

uncle," he said

l, s

aper from between the Judge's legs and placed it at his elbow; he set the ash tray near the edge of the table within easy reach of the cigar. Then he thr

might announce to his partner the settlement of a l

on, his eyes re

. And now the joy of life is gone for me! As soon as a woman falls in love with a man, h

prac

ofession of yourself and of the great men o

t filled with t

t! Pining for a smile! Moths begging the candle to scorch them

cross the room and returning

e wished to study me to the best advantage. I try to catch her eye; she will not look at me. For three hours my eloquence storms. The judge acknowledges to a tear, the jurors reach for their handkerchiefs, the people in the court room sob like the skies of autumn. As I finish, the accused arises and addresses the court: 'May it please your honor, in the face of such a masterly prosecution, I can no longer pretend to be innocent. Sir (addressing me), I congratulate you upon your magnif

on to

s irrepressible efflux and panorama of her emotions. Watch me at that ball, uncle! M

im quietly tow

sings at heaven's gate I'll greet thee, uncle. M

only ni

eturned to

gently on the edge of the ash tray which tipped over beneath their weight and fell to the floor: he picked up his g

Lives of the Chief Justices" a bulldog, cylindrical and rigid with years. Having reached a decorous position before the Ju

get them off

in rug under the Chief Justices; and the Judge, turning off the burners in the chandelier and s