"Edward, I am only an uneducated woman; and you have spent twenty-three years in piling up learning; but listen to me this once. I was right in thinking he was trying to win her. I may be, I think I am right now. Don't say a word to him 'till you are calmer, till you have thought it over for an hour at least. If she thinks he is treated cruelly, she will take his part, poor, innocent thing. If he is a gentleman he will speak to you before long."
"You're right, Hannah;" and turning in the opposite direction, she presently saw him walking with rapid strides up the road back of the farm.
"If his mother were alive, she would go to her closet and tell her trouble to God," murmured Hannah, wiping away a tear; "and I'll do the same, for as sure as the sun will set to-night, there's sorrow before my poor, undisciplined girl, if she gives her heart to that man."
It was indeed as the good woman had apprehended, too late to interfere between the lovers. From the very hour when waking from his sleep, Paul had seen the bright vision before him, he had cast aside honor, fame, future success and every thing else, with the determination to win this beautiful creature in all her sweet fresh girlhood. He easily foresaw, that her present beauty, great as it was, only gave promise of what it would be when more fully developed; and he was certain that unless he secured her now, he would have rivals with whom it might not be easy to compete. He acknowledged that she was backward in many branches; but, then she knew so many things of which girls of her age were usually ignorant. There was not a flower in her garden; and scarcely an herb growing in the vicinity that she could not describe, and explain its uses. Then she was such an ardent lover of nature, and so enthusiastic over a fine view;—she had such wonderful power over animals;—the most stubborn farm-horse on the place, yielding readily to the touch of her slender fingers. As to learning, he reasoned with himself, that it would be a delightful task to open before her expanding intellect the gems in literature. If he had her to himself, he would educate her according to his own favorite theories, and would have no one but himself to blame if she did not make a wife to suit him.
He passed hours when every other inmate of Rose Cottage was asleep in what he called calm reflection. There was only one subject which worried him.
"If I only could ascertain," he said to himself, again and again, "whether she has any property in her own right; enough for instance to set up house keeping. Wallingford was always economical; but never pinched as I often am; and the estate here must be very valuable. I was surprised to find the style of living so far beyond ours at home."
I cannot say that he did not have misgivings: concerning the future;—that there were not moments when he realized that honor would have required him to gain the brother's consent before he confessed his love to Gertrude;—that prudence required him to establish himself in business, and be sure that he could support a family before he undertook the responsibility of one;—that he did not sometimes question himself whether he could trust his own heart with the care of one so young and undisciplined. Occasionally the recollection of his own overbearing temper would cause him to pause, before he subjected a child, he really loved, to its chilling influence; but one glance in her bewitching eyes; one tone of her clear, silvery voice would dissipate all doubt; and his resolution would be stronger than ever to win her if it was in his power.
When Miss Goldby came forth from her closet, having left her cares at the foot of the cross, she found Paul and Gertrude walking slowly back and forth across the piazza; their tones low but earnest; their attention wholly absorbed. As she busied herself in laying the table for supper, an occasional glance showed her how lovingly he bent his tall head toward her girlish form; and her heart went up to God with the petition:
"May his affection for her deepen and grow more fervent from this hour." For, understanding Gertrude as she did, she knew as well as if the young couple were already standing before their minister, that they would be married at no distant day.
Edward did not make his appearance until they were seated at the table; longer delay on his account being inexpedient on account of Gertrude's evening engagement, which as yet had never been postponed. When he did come in, he took his seat gravely; his face pale, but calm. He had been going over his whole acquaintance with Paul; and had come to the conclusion that Hannah was right, in her opinion. Dudley, though an agreeable friend to one of his own sex, was neither fitted by education nor by native refinement of feeling to make a wife happy. He was resolved, therefore, positively to refuse his consent; and if his wishes were set at nought, to appeal to her guardian, an old gentleman in New York city, one of his father's most valued friends.