Married Life; Its Shadows and Sunshine Page 11

  “Indeed, aunt, you wrong him.”

  “I should be sorry to do so, Margaretta. But I do not form my opinions hastily. I try to look close before I come to conclusions. But I have stronger testimony than my own observations.”

  “What is that?”

  “Why, I heard this morning that he is to be married in a few weeks to Harriet Pomeroy.”

  “Indeed, you must be mistaken, aunt,” said Margaretta, suddenly rising to her feet.

  “I presume not,” was the quiet reply. “My information came almost direct.”

  The entrance of visitors now interrupted the conversation.

  “Permit me to introduce my very particular friend, Mr. Smith,” said the individual about whom the aunt and her niece were conversing, as he entered the handsome parlour of Mrs. Riston.

  Mr. Smith and Mr. Perkins were, of course, received with great affability by Margaretta, who concealed the impression made upon her mind by the piece of information just conveyed by her aunt.

  As for Mrs. Riston, she was studiedly polite, but gave the young men no very apparent encouragement. An hour soon passed away, and then the visitors retired.

  “Well, Smith, what do you think of her?” asked Perkins, as the two gained the street.

  “You’re sure she’s worth fifty thousand dollars?”

  “Oh, yes. There’s no mistake about that.”

  “But how do you know? This is a matter about which there should be no mistake.”

  “I got a friend to examine the transfer books of the bank where the stock is. Will that satisfy you?”

  “You did? And pray why did you do that?”

  “A strange question! but I’ll tell you, as you seem dull. I had a notion of her myself.”

  “You had?”

  “I had.”

  “And why did you get out of the notion?”

  “Because I saw another whom I liked better.”

  “She was richer, I suppose.”

  “How can you insinuate such a thing?” And Perkins laughed in a low, meaning chuckle.

  “Ah, I perceive. Well, how much is she worth?”

  “About a hundred thousand.”

  “Are you sure of her?”

  “Certainly! The thing’s all settled.”

  “You’re a lucky dog, Perkins! But see here, what did you mean by the premium you talked of for bringing about a match between me and Miss Riston?”

  “Oh, as to that, I was only jesting. But you haven’t told me how you like the young lady yet.”

  “Oh, she’ll do, I reckon,” said Smith, tossing his head half contemptuously.

  “Do you think you can secure her?”

  “Easily enough. But then I must get her away as often as possible from that old Cerberus of an aunt. I didn’t like her looks at all.”

  “She’s suspicious.”

  “That’s clear. Well, she must be wide awake if I commence playing against her in real earnest. I can win any girl’s affections that I choose.”

  “You have a pretty fair conceit of yourself, I see.”

  “I wouldn’t give a cent for a man that hadn’t. The fact is, Perkins, these girls have but one end in view, and that is to get married. They know that they have to wait to be asked, and, trembling in fear lest they shall not get another offer, they are always ready to jump eagerly at the first.”

  “Pretty true, I believe. But, Smith, don’t you think Margaretta quite a fair specimen of a girl?”

  “Oh, yes. And I have no doubt that I shall love her well enough, if she don’t attempt to put on airs, and throw up to me that she was rich, and I poor. I’ll never stand that.”

  “She’ll not be so foolish, I presume.”

  “She’d better not, I can tell her, if she doesn’t wish to get into hot water.” And the young man laughed at his own half-in-earnest jesting.

  “He’s a very agreeable young man, isn’t he, aunt?” said Margaretta, after the two young men had gone away.

  “Who? Mr. Smith, as Mr. Perkins called him?”

  “Yes.”

  “He has a smooth enough tongue, if that is any recommendation; but I do not like him. Indeed, he is far more disagreeable to me than his very particular friend, Mr. Perkins.”

  “Oh, aunt, how can you talk so! I’m sure he was very agreeable. At least, I thought so.”

  “That was because he flattered you so cleverly.”

  “How can you insinuate such a thing, aunt? Surely I am not so weak and vain as to be imposed upon and beguiled by a flatterer!”

  “Some men understand how to flatter very ingeniously; and, to me, Mr. Smith seemed peculiarly adept in the art. He managed it so adroitly as to give it all the effect, without its being apparent to the subject of his experiments.”

  “Indeed, aunt, you are mistaken. I despise a flatterer as much as you do. But I am sure that I saw nothing like flattery about Mr. Smith.”

  “I am sorry that you did not, Margaretta. But take my advice, and be on your guard. That man’s motives in coming to see you, believe me, are not the purest in the world.”

  “You are far too suspicious, aunt; I am sure you are.”

  “Perhaps I have had cause. At any rate, Margaretta, I have lived longer in, and seen much more of the world than you have, and I ought to have a clearer perception of character. For your own sake, then, try and confide in my judgment.”

  “I ought to confide in your judgment, aunt, I know; but I cannot see as you do in this particular instance.”

  “Then you ought rather to suspect the correctness of your own observation, when it leads to conclusions so utterly opposed to mine.”

  To this Margaretta did not reply. It seemed too much like giving up her own rationality to assent to it, and she did not wish to pain her aunt by objections.

  On the next evening, a quiet, intelligent, and modest-looking young man called in, and spent an hour or two with Margaretta and her aunt. He did not present so imposing and showy an exterior as did Mr. Smith, but his conversation had in it far more substance and real common sense. After he had retired, Margaretta said—

  “Well, it is no use; I cannot take any pleasure in the society of Thomas Fielding.”

  “Why not, my dear?” asked the aunt.

  “Oh, I don’t know; but he is so dull and prosy.”

  “I am sure he don’t seem dull to me, Margaretta. He doesn’t talk a great deal, it is true; but, then, what he does say is characterized by good sense, and evinces a discriminating mind.”

  “But don’t you think, aunt, that my money has some influence in bringing him here?” And Margaretta looked up archly into her aunt’s face.

  “It may have, for aught I can tell. We cannot see the motives of any one. But I should be inclined to think that money would have little influence with Thomas Fielding, were not every thing else in agreement. He is, I think, a man of fixed and genuine principles.”

  “No doubt, aunt. But, still, I can’t relish his society. And if I can’t, I can’t.”

  “Very true. If you can’t enjoy his company, why you can’t. But it cannot be, certainly, from any want, on his part, of gentlemanly manners, or kind attentions to you.”

  “No; but, then, he is so dull. I should die if I had no other company.”

  “Indeed, my child,” Aunt Riston said, in a serious tone, “you ought to make the effort to esteem and relish the society of those who have evidently some stability of character, and whose conversation has in it the evidence of mature observation, combined with sound and virtuous principles, more than you do the flippant nonsense of mere ladies’ men, or selfish, unprincipled fortune-hunters.”

  “Indeed, aunt, you are too severe on my favourites!” And Margaretta laughed gaily.

  But to her aunt there was something sad in the sound of that laugh. It seemed like the knell of long and fondly cherished hopes.

  “What do you think of Margaretta Riston, Mary?” asked Thomas Fielding of his sister, on the next evening after the visit just mentioned.
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  “Why do you ask so seriously, brother?” the sister said, looking into his face, with a smile playing about her lips.

  “For a serious reason, sister. Can you guess what it is?”

  “Perhaps so, and therefore I will not tax your modesty so far as to make you confess it.”

  “Very well, Mary. And now answer my question. What do you think of Margaretta?”

  “I know nothing against her, brother.”

  “Nothing against her! Don’t you know any thing in her favour?”

  “Well, perhaps I do. She is said to be worth some fifty thousand dollars.”

  “Nonsense, Mary! What do I care about her fifty thousand dollars? Don’t you know any thing else in her favour?”

  “Why, yes, brother. As long as you seem so serious about the matter, I think Margaretta a fine girl. She is amiable in disposition—is well educated—tolerably good-looking, and, I think, ordinarily intelligent.”

  “Ordinarily intelligent!”

  “Yes. Certainly there is nothing extraordinary about her.”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Well, brother, what next?”

  “Why, simply, Mary, I like Margaretta very much. The oftener I see her, the more am I drawn towards her. To tell the plain, homely truth, I love her.”

  “And don’t care any thing about her fifty thousand dollars?”

  “No Mary, I don’t think I do. Indeed, if I know my own feelings, I would rather she were not worth a dollar.”

  “And why so, Thomas?”

  “Because, I fear the perverting influence of wealth on her mind. I am afraid her position will give her false views of life. I wish to marry for a wife—not for money. I can make money myself.”

  “Still, Thomas, Margaretta is, I think, an innocent-minded, good girl. I do not see that she has been much warped by her position.”

  “So she seems to me, and I am glad that my sister’s observation corroborates my own. And now, Mary, do you think I have any thing to hope?”

  “Certainly, I do.”

  “But why do you think so?”

  “Because Margaretta must have good sense enough to see that you are a man of correct principles, and an affectionate disposition.”

  “Still, she may not see in me that which interests her sufficiently to induce her to marry me.”

  “That is true. But I don’t believe you have any thing to fear.”

  “I cannot help fearing, Mary, for the simple reason, that I find my affections so much interested. A disappointment would be attended with extreme pain.”

  “Then I would end suspense at once.”

  “I will. To-morrow evening I will declare my feelings.”

  It was about nine o’clock on the next evening, while Mary Fielding sat reading by the centre-table, that her brother entered hastily, and threw himself upon the sofa, a deep sigh escaping him as he did so.

  “What ails you, Thomas?” inquired his sister, rising and approaching him.

  But he made no reply.

  “Tell me, what ails you, Thomas?” Mary urged, taking his hand affectionately.

  “I have been to see Margaretta,” the brother at length replied, in as calm a voice as he could assume.

  “And she has not, surely, declined your offer?”

  “She has, and with what appeared to me an intimation that I loved her money, perhaps, better than herself.”

  “Surely not, brother!”

  “To me it seemed so. Certainly she treated lightly my declaration, and almost jested with me.”

  The sister stood silent for some moments, and then said—

  “The woman who could thus jest with you, Thomas, is unworthy of you.”

  “So I am trying to convince myself. But the trial is a deeply painful one.”

  And painful it proved for many weeks afterwards. But, finally, he was enabled to rise above his feelings.

  In the mean time, Mr. Smith had wooed the heiress successfully, and, in doing so, his own heart had become interested, or, at least, he deceived himself into the belief that such was the case. He no longer jested, as he had done at first, about her money, nor declared, even to his friend Perkins, how strong an influence it had upon his affections. More serious thoughts of marriage had caused these selfish motives to retire out of sight and acknowledgment; but still they existed and still ruled his actions.

  The aunt, when Margaretta made known to her that the young man had offered himself, was pained beyond measure, particularly as it was evident that her niece favoured the suitor.

  “Indeed, Margaretta,” said she, earnestly, “he is not worthy of you!”

  “You judge him harshly, aunt,” the niece replied. “I know him to be all that either of us could wish for.”

  “But how do you know, Margaretta?”

  “I have observed him closely, and am sure that, I cannot be deceived in him.”

  “Alas! my child, if you know nothing beyond your own observation, you are far more ignorant than you suppose. Be guided, then, by me—trust more to my observation than your own. He is not the man to make you happy! Let me urge you, then, to keep him at a distance.”

  “I should do injustice to my own feelings, aunt, and to my own sense of right, were I to do so. In a word, and to speak out plainly, he offered himself last evening, and I accepted him!”

  “Rash girl!” exclaimed Mrs. Riston, lifting her hands in astonishment and pain, “how could you thus deceive your best friend? How so sadly deceive yourself?”

  “Do not distress yourself so, aunt. You have mistaken the character of Mr. Smith. He is, in every way, a different man from what you think him. He is altogether worthy of my regard and your confidence. I do not wish to deceive you, aunt; but you set yourself so resolutely against Mr. Smith from the first that I could not make up my mind to brave your opposition to a step which I was fully convinced it was right for me to take.”

  “Ah, Margaretta! You know not what you are doing. Marriage is a far more serious matter than you seem to think it. Look around among your young acquaintances, and see how many have wedded unhappily. And why? Because marriages were rushed into from a fond impulse, vainly imagined to be true affection. But no true affection can exist where there is not a mutual knowledge of character and qualities of mind. Now what do you know, really, about Mr. Smith? What does he know about you? Why, nothing! I want no stronger evidence of his unworthy motives, than the fact of his having offered himself after a three weeks’ acquaintance. What could he know of you in that time? Surely not enough to be able to determine whether you would make him a suitable wife or not—enough, perhaps, to be satisfied of the amount of your wealth.”

  “You are unjust towards Mr. Smith,” said Margaretta, half indignantly.

  “Not half so unjust as he is towards you. But surely, my niece, you will reconsider this whole matter, and take full time to reflect.”

  “I cannot reconsider, aunt. My word is passed, and I would suffer any thing rather than break my word.”

  “You will suffer your heart to be broken, if you do not.”

  “Time will prove that!” and Margaretta tossed her head with a kind of mock defiance.

  “Have you fixed your wedding day?” the aunt asked after a few moments’ silence.

  “Not yet. But Mr. Smith wants to be married in three weeks.”

  “In three weeks!”

  “Yes; but I told him that I could not get ready within a month.”

  “A month! Surely you are not going to act so precipitately?”

  “I cannot see the use of waiting, aunt, when we are engaged and all ready. And I can easily get ready in a month.”

  To this the aunt did not reply. She felt that it would be useless.

  After this, Mr. Smith was a regular daily and evening visitor. He perceived, of course, the unfavourable light in which the aunt viewed him, and in consequence set himself to work to break down her prejudices. He was kind and attentive to her on all occasions, and studied her peculiar views
and feelings, so as to adapt himself to her. But the old lady had seen too much of the world, and was too close an observer to be deceived. Still she found silent acquiescence her only course of action.

  At the end of the month from the day of their engagement Margaretta Riston was a happy young bride.

  One week after their marriage, Mr. Smith entered the room of his friend Mr. Perkins, with a pale, agitated countenance.

  “What in the world has happened, Smith?” the friend asked, in alarm.

  “Haven’t you heard the news?”

  “No. What news?”

  “The United States Bank has failed!”

  “Oh, no!”

  “It is true. And every dollar of Margaretta’s money is locked up there!”

  “Really that is dreadful! I would sell the stock immediately for what it will bring, if I were you.”

  “So I wish to. But neither my wife nor her aunt are willing. And so soon after our marriage I do not like to use positive measures.”

  “But the case is urgent. Delay may sweep from you every dollar.”

  “So I fear. What shall I do then? To have the prize in hand, and find it thus suddenly escaping, is enough to drive me mad!”

  “Sell in spite of them. That’s my advice.”

  “I will!”

  And the half crazy young fortune-hunter hurried away. In a few minutes after, he entered the room where sat his wife and her aunt in gloomy and oppressed silence.

  “The best thing we can do, Margaretta, I am satisfied, is to sell,” he said, taking a chair beside his wife. “The stock is falling every hour, and it is the opinion of competent judges that it will not be worth five dollars in a week.”

  “And other competent judges are of a very different opinion,” replied the aunt. “Mr. Day, who was Margaretta’s guardian, has just been here, and says that we must not sell by any means; that after the panic is over the stock will go up again. The bank, he assures us, is fully able to meet every dollar, and still have a large surplus. It would be folly then to sell, especially when there is no urgent demand for the money.”

  “There is more urgent demand than you know of,” Mr. Smith said to himself with bitter emphasis. He added aloud,—

  “Mr. Day may know something about the matter; but I am sure he is mistaken in the calculation he makes. It is said this morning, by those who know, that the assets of the bank are principally in worthless stocks, and that the shareholders will never get a cent. My advice, then, is to sell immediately; a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”