CHAPTER XXIV.
AN UNEXPECTED CHANGE.
As time passed on, and Mose made several successive voyages, he was at length promoted to the rank of first mate, and then it was whispered among the village gossips, with some truth, that he had found favor in the eyes of Alice Smiley, the doctor’s youngest daughter. He was not indeed her equal in point of social position or education, but his frankness and manliness of character, his general intelligence and unaffected goodness of heart, had so far won upon her, that she could easily overlook all minor differences. He was also a great favorite with her father, and therefore he would meet with no difficulty in that quarter. Hesper was very much pleased with this arrangement, but the village gossips were greatly surprised, as they had already selected Juliana Grimsby for Mose. Aunt Betsey, in particular, made herself very busy about the matter, and came down one evening for the express purpose of talking it over with Hesper.
“Look here,” said she, “I think Mose is setting himself up most too high, and if I ain’t much mistaken, he’ll find it out before long. These people that are always trying to get themselves in among the aristocracy, seldom escape without punishment. They are petted and patronized for a time, and then pitched out all of a sudden, for some new favorite. I know how it is, for I’ve tried it myself afore now. If he had contented himself among common folks, and taken up with Juliana Grimsby, I should have approved of his choice, and made the bride a handsome present; but now I shan’t do the least thing in the world for him. Juliana is a smart, likely girl, and would have made him an excellent wife.”
“I have no doubt of it,” said Hesper, “but then every one has their own choice you know.”
“Of course,” replied aunt Betsey, “but it may be a mighty foolish choice though, if ‘tis one’s own. There are some people who don’t know what is for their good half so well as others can tell them, and so they often make grievous mistakes, which, with a little advice, they might have avoided. Now if Mose had only asked me, I should have said Juliana, by all means. Just think, Hesper, how handsome she is! why, there isn’t a girl in the village that will compare with her!”
“It is true,” replied Hesper, “that Juliana is very handsome—much more so than Alice; but then Mose don’t think much of beauty.”
“I think he does though,” returned aunt Betsey, “but it’s of a peculiar kind. The beauty of the doctor’s purse is far more attractive than his daughter’s countenance.”
Hesper bit her lips quickly to keep from answering, for she was greatly vexed.
“Now, as far as you and Harry are concerned,” continued aunt Betsey, “I have not a word to say. You are well matched, and I suppose, by what I hear, that he has quite a snug little fortune laid up, by this time. Let’s see; you are expecting him home before long, ain’t you?”
“I should not be surprised to hear of his arrival at any time,” replied Hesper, quietly.
“Dear me!” resumed aunt Betsey, “what a time his mother will make! She thinks so much of her Harry. Don’t you think! the other day she really undertook to pity me, because I had no children! Why, it was perfectly ridiculous! for the Searcher of Hearts knows, that I never desired them.”
Just then, in rushed Bose like a mad creature—he jumped—he howled, he barked, and then laid down on the floor and rolled with all his might.
“Mercy me!” exclaimed aunt Betsey, as she sprang upon the dining table and drew her dress close about her—“The creature is certainly mad! Hesper, put your head out of the window, and scream for help as loud as you can!”
Hesper, however, who was not so much alarmed, was regarding the dog with some curiosity, for this was rather an unusual demonstration on his part. So earnestly was her attention fixed upon him, that she did not perceive the entrance of any one, till a strong arm was thrown around her, and a warm kiss imprinted upon her cheek. She glanced up quickly, at the pleasant, manly countenance that bent over her, and exclaimed “Harry!” for the long expected one, had really returned.
“O law!” said aunt Betsey, as she descended from the table, and shook hands with the young man, “that accounts for the dog’s actions. Why, what a knowing creature he is!” She didn’t stop long, however, for she and Bose never were friends, and never could be.
“Hesper,” said Harry, “I couldn’t wait to see mother, but sent my baggage along and came directly here. I suppose, however, the good old lady will be almost crazy till I come, so I pray you put on your bonnet and shawl and go with me.”
Hesper made herself ready as soon as possible, and while she was doing so, Harry lit his cigar.
“I hope,” said he, as they passed along, “that this smoke isn’t disagreeable to you. Some women have a great objection to cigar smoke, but if you’ll just go over to the windward it won’t come so directly in your face. It’s a bad habit I know, but then if I don’t smoke I chew, and one is about as bad as the other. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.”
Hesper could not help feeling a little sorry too, but then, like many other women, she thought that if it was any pleasure or satisfaction to one who was so dear to her, she would try to overlook it. When they arrived at the house, they found Juliana, who had been passing the afternoon there. As aunt Nyna was not expecting Harry before she heard of the ship’s arrival, of course she was greatly surprised. But her surprise could not equal Harry’s, when he found that the handsome and intelligent young lady he met there, was the same Juliana who formerly lived in the house with Hesper. He had known her then, as a slovenly, disagreeable girl, against whom he had felt the greatest dislike.
“I declare!” he said, in a straight-forward manner, as he stood and gazed at her—“I never saw any one so altered in my life! and if you won’t think me impudent, I will also add, or so handsome either.”
A light blush quickly overspread Juliana’s countenance, as she glanced smilingly up to him, which made her appear more beautiful than ever. After this Harry paid her great attention, and when she became a little more acquainted, she grew very social and entertaining.
That night they all walked home together, loitering along in the moonlight, engaged in pleasant conversation, until they parted with Juliana at her own door.
“I declare!” exclaimed Harry again, shortly after leaving her, “what a beauty that girl is! and how charming in conversation!”
“Yes!” replied Hesper earnestly, “and what is best of all, she is good as she is handsome.”
She spoke most sincerely, for she loved Juliana much, and the charity which thinketh no evil, shut out all feelings of jealousy or suspicion from her heart. Harry listened with much interest, as Hesper proceeded at still greater length to set forth the merits of Juliana, and at the conclusion, he simply remarked, that he was glad Hesper had so good a friend.
For the first two or three weeks after his arrival, Harry was quite a constant visitor at the residence of the Greysons, but when Hesper was busy about the house, he usually took Juliana out to ride, or sail, with him, and finally this became so frequent, that the village gossips took the matter up, and aunt Betsey came down to see about it. To her surprise, however, she found that Hesper did not feel anxious or troubled in the least, and therefore she set herself to work immediately, to make her so.
“I declare!” said she, after talking some time, “I don’t see how you can be so quiet and calm about it! Why, if it was me, I’d tear that girl’s eyes out.”
“That would not mend the matter,” said Hesper, carelessly. “If he likes her better than me, let him take her—that’s all.”
“And do you mean to say, you wouldn’t care one straw about it?” asked aunt Betsey.
“If I did, I shouldn’t tell any one,” said Hesper.
“But if you don’t look out for your rights in time, you will be an old maid, certain.”
“Well, what if I am?” was the quiet reply; “that will not hinder my usefulness.”
“Why Hesper Greyson!” exclaimed aunt Betsey. “It’s a horrible disgrace to be an old maid! I tell you, if I was a young girl, I would marry an Esquimaux or a Hottentot, rather than be one!”
“And as for me,” replied Hesper, “I would sooner lie down in my grave, than marry a man whom I did not sincerely love, or who did not thus love me.”
“Very well,” replied aunt Betsey, starting up, “I see that you have some mighty fine ideas on this subject. But let me tell you that if you won’t look out for your own interest in time, and turn out a poor, miserable old maid at last, you needn’t look to my husband for assistance—that’s all.”
After thus relieving herself, she departed, leaving Hesper in rather an uncomfortable frame of mind. As matters continued, the poor girl herself could not doubt much longer, and when, one night, Harry came in and took his seat beside her, she knew the instant she looked in his face, what was the intention of his call as well as if he had already spoken it.
“Hesper,” he said, after a short introductory conversation, “I did think, when I came home, that I loved you better than any one else in the world, but now I know that I do not. I would help it if I could, and if you say so, I will still fulfil my promise, but I feel that with my heart so divided, I could never make you truly happy.”
The color faded slightly from Hesper’s cheek, and there was a scarcely perceptible tremor in her voice, but she looked him calmly in the face and said—
“Harry, if you love Juliana better than you do me, marry her. You could not do yourself or me a greater wrong, than in fulfilling an engagement which you made under a mistaken impression. I do not blame you in the least. Go your way and be happy. You have my best wishes, and I shall ever remain a friend to you and yours, so long as life and breath are granted me.”
For a few moments Harry regarded her with silent admiration. “Hesper,” he said, “you are a noble girl, and perhaps I shall live to repent the step which I now take, in sackcloth and ashes. But O!” he added, as he started up and clasped her hand earnestly, “I cannot! indeed I cannot help it! Think kindly of me, Hesper, and forgive me.”
He pressed her hand to his lips, and turned quickly away, leaving her alone with God and her disappointment. She listened to the sound of his footsteps as he went down the pathway, and then falling upon her knees beside her chair, she wept in agony of spirit. There was but one refuge for her. The arms of Infinite Love were open to her, and like a storm-beaten dove she cast herself into them, as into an ark of safety, praying only that the void in her heart might be filled with something higher and holier than aught that earth could give.
A few days after this, Juliana came, and with tears in her eyes, opened her whole heart to Hesper. She received as kind and considerate an answer as that which had been given to Harry, and she went away comforted in the thought that by accepting his offer, she was not trampling on the sacred rights of her friend.
In the course of a few weeks the new engagement was made known, and everybody expressed their astonishment. Hesper bore up bravely beneath it. There was only one thing which deeply disturbed the serenity of her soul, and that was the idle curiosity and most contemptible pity of the village gossips. Aunt Betsey raved, and advised Hesper to sue Harry for breach of promise, directly.
There was one, however, to whom this unexpected change was a cause of the deepest sorrow, and this one was aunt Nyna herself.
“Hesper, my dear girl!” she said, as she came one night, and putting her arm around her, drew her close to her bosom—“I had hoped one day to call thee my own child, but I feel it is ordered otherwise. Between thee and me, I will say, that I fear my Harry is not what he should be. God bless thee, dear one! I trust that He in whom there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning, hath reserved for thee better things.”