The curse of gold

by Ann S. Stephens

“De Marke and Elsie were married,” continued the old man. “Elsie was our only one, and all that we possessed was hers, even then, had she desired it. We only stipulated with her husband, that, during a portion of the year, they should make their home with us, here in the old family mansion, which Elsie would some day have entirely to herself.

“De Marke would have consented to anything, in those days; but this proposition pleased him greatly. Alterations were made in the east wing. The library was added, and De Marke brought the choicest of his books from town, that his young wife should blend thoughts of himself even with her studies. It was settled that one half of the year should be spent with us, where Elsie should go on with her studies, and that they should occupy her husband’s town-house during the other six months.

“It was a sad day for us when the darling gave her young life so completely to another. Yet, socially speaking, the match was a good one. Elsie was never entirely our own, after that; the intense affection which she gave to her husband was too absorbing for the milder and calmer love that had grown in her heart for us.

“For a year they were very happy. In my whole life, I have never witnessed bliss so absorbing and complete. The joy of a common life-time was concentrated into those twelve brief months. The mother and I forgot our partial isolation, in witnessing a happiness so complete for our child. You have seen the library, and perhaps wondered at the disuse into which it had fallen when you first came to us. That room De Marke fitted up for his bride. In it they studied together, for Elsie was no common girl, and all that her husband knew she was resolved to learn.

“It was in the latter part of this first year that the two portraits were taken. That of Elsie, in the flush of her joy and beauty, may give you some idea of what she was then. I believe that of De Marke was equally faithful. You have seen them. You have sat in the room which was for a time their Eden. De Marke was a young man, ardent, rash, and inflated, by a premature acquaintance with the world, with a false idea of woman. He had no real faith in the sex. Of French descent, he had naturally spent much of his time in Paris, that hot-bed, in which so much that is pure and great in our young men is almost certain to perish.

“It was more than a year before Elsie left our house. Her child was born here, and directly after that De Marke was absent two or three months on a pleasure excursion.

“Elsie, who had been studying the languages with him, being still imperfect in the French, consented to receive a person of that nation into our house, during her husband’s absence, as a companion and teacher. I am not sure that De Marke ever knew this person before; but it was through his means that she came to the house.

“She was quiet enough, this strange Frenchwoman, and devoted herself to Elsie and the child with great assiduity. We saw little of her, for she took her meals in Elsie’s apartments, but it was impossible to doubt that she soon gained a remarkable ascendency over her young mind. But as our child was won from the loneliness, which fell upon her after De Marke’s absence, by this companionship, we were grateful to the woman.

“At last, De Marke returned. He was evidently very glad to see his wife and child, but the reaction of an ill-regulated nature was upon him, and Elsie took this to heart as an estrangement. Her health had not returned entirely, after the birth of her boy, and she was the more susceptible on this account. For the first time in her life, our child became irritable and sometimes unjust. De Marke resented this; and at last came struggles, reproaches, and those sullen hours that eat into the happiness like a rust.

“Elsie was only struggling for her husband’s love, and he could not comprehend that the deepest love can be tortured into bitter words.