“Hugh! Hugh! It is not for myself now so much as for you that I am ambitious. With the power this fortune would give, when joined to your talents, you could become so distinguished.”
“Again, Garnet: When Satan tempted Christ it was not through any puerile idea, but through the grandest passion of the human soul—the passion by which the great archangel fell—Ambition. But, I tell you, Garnet, that if ambition be the most glorious of human passions, remorse is the most terrible. And, too often one follows the other as surely as night follows day.”
She did not reply, and both remained silent for a few minutes, when, taking her hand, he said impressively:
“Do not think me ungrateful, dearest Garnet. Very deeply do I feel the blessing of your sweet love; very highly do I estimate the honor of your ambition for me. But listen, dearest. In erecting your edifice of earthly happiness, it would be well to lay the basement sure. You might possess and inhabit a princely palace, luxuriously furnished, yet you would not glory in its splendor, or even enjoy a moment’s repose under its roof, if you knew its foundation to be insecure; that at any instant in the midst of enjoyment it might suddenly fall and crush you under its magnificent ruins. Garnet, such an insecure dwelling-place, such a transient phantasmagoria, is any plan of earthly happiness not based upon the principles of justice. Such, Garnet, is your edifice of enjoyment; for you will feel that death, which hangs over us all at all times, may at any moment summon you from its possession to place you at the bar of Eternal Justice, to answer for the sin of your soul. And your ill-gotten splendors here will be your condemnation hereafter. Oh, believe me, dear Garnet, to say nothing of the sublime beauty of faith displayed in the sacrifice of earthly interests to heavenly prospects—of temporal pleasures to eternal joys—there is great good sense in seeking ‘first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’; for, look you; I may gain wealth and renown, but if my fortune is ill-gotten I cannot fully enjoy it, for knowing that at any time my soul may be snatched from its possessions to the bar of God, and, stained with falsehood and injustice as it is, be hurled thence to perdition. But, on the other hand, if my fortune is founded upon righteousness, and built up with the blessing of God, then I may be as rich and as great as I please, and yet enjoy this world with a surer joy for knowing that it leads to a better and an eternal one. Life, dear Garnet, is a journey to the Judgment Seat. In all your plans, therefore, of life’s journey, look to its end. If you set out upon a road that you knew was leading you to misery—no matter how fine the carriage in which you traveled, how soft the cushions on which you sat, how beautiful the country through which you passed—you could not enjoy it; for every mile that should draw you nearer to its close would increase your uneasiness, for you would know its end to be misery. Such a journey, dear Garnet, will be your life if you set out upon it with ill-gotten riches. Now, look on the other side of the question. If you should start upon a journey that you know will bring you finally to a haven of rest and honor—no matter how common your vehicle, how rough your road, how ordinary the landscape, how full of unpleasant accidents—you will endure it, and at every stage with more cheerfulness, for knowing that it brings you nearer to its end, and that its end is repose and happiness. And, if your journey should be pleasant, its very pleasures will be enhanced by the knowledge that its goal is rest, honor, and joy. Such a journey will our lives be, dearest love. You will resign this estate. We will marry, and, feeling the smile and blessing of God upon us, we will go forth strongly and hopefully and labor for our living. We shall have some early struggles, but God will be with us. He will bless our sacrifice, and we shall finally prosper. And while weeks are slipping into months, and months gliding into years, we shall really enjoy the very making of a fortune, taste prosperity piecemeal, and get the good of every morsel. Every little comfort that we may be able to add to our daily domestic life will be relished the more that we have felt the want of it, and blessed the more that it has come to us from God. And for our future years I hope highly, but may not prophesy. They are in the hands of God,” he said, raising his hat with profound reverence. Then, his tone changing to one of deep tenderness, he stretched forth his arms, and said: “Come, Nettie! Come, my darling wife. You will give up all this ill-starred wealth, and trust in God to restore you a hundredfold.”
Pale and drooping with excess of feeling she sank upon his bosom, murmuring:
“Oh, God bless you, Hugh! Large and full heart, God bless you! Where could I find my life but in you? But, oh, dear Hugh, do not be a martyr at this rational age of the world! Take my fortune with me.”
“Never, Nettie! Never, so strengthen me Heaven! When I take you I will take no sin with you.”
She started, burst from his embrace, and broke forth with passionate vehemence:
“Silence! I will not hear you. I will never give up my privileges. I will not be a fanatic to please you. Oh! look at me, Hugh; and do not think I speak from vanity, but from a war of conflicting passions, that rends my soul in twain. Do I look like one to be condemned to poverty, and privation, and domestic toil, and drudgery? I will speak out, though in your eyes I convict myself of vanity and presumption. You never called me beautiful in words, but you have said so with your eyes a thousand times. Oh, Hugh, I valued my beauty as I did my wealth, for your sake. But should I be beautiful in poverty? You know that I know what poverty is! Look at my hair, Hugh. Yesterday you took the whole mass up in your hand and looked at it as at a treasure, so proudly; then you singled out a ringlet and examined it as a strange beauty, so curiously. Now look at the ringlets again. Do you think it requires no care to keep them so soft and glossy, and in such full curl? Why, a rose-bush will not bloom in full glory unless it is cared for and tended; neither will my beauty. Hugh, I do not know why I may not venture to speak before you what I dare to think before God. I know that my soul’s habitation is beautiful; and it seems to me fit that it should be so, and that its beauty should be enhanced by rich drapery, and preserved from all uses. How could that be done in bitter poverty?”
“Garnet,” he answered solemnly, “the soul is greater than its temple. Would you preserve the temple sacred from all uses, yet degrade the greater deity within it? Would you preserve the delicacy of your beauty, and clothe your form in gorgeous apparel by an action that would stain your soul with foul dishonesty?”