Nothing but Money! CHAPTER 14.
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Like a true woman that she was, Diane did not falter. She was stronger in this thing than her husband. The ardor of his purpose cooled, as the excitement of feeling occasioned by that night's imprisonment died away, and he began to look more soberly at the changes proposed. Professional and social pride arose as hindrances. It is easier to go up — than to go down. The more Doctor Hofland dwelt on the issues he had looked so bravely in the face at first — the more did he shrink from encountering them. There was, in this receding from the social position he had assumed, an acknowledgment that he had overstepped his means, and been forced back into obscurity. Then taste and love of art, clung to the beautiful objects with which he had surrounded himself. How could he part from these? His rare books and coins, his cabinet of minerals, his objects in natural history — the accumulation of years — must these go also? He could not look this sacrifice bravely and steadily in the face, and said — "It must not be!"
But, Diane did not turn back. That one night of absence from her husband, and the shock that followed when the truth it involved broke painfully on her excited mind, was a trumpet-tongued argument perpetually sounding in her ears. To have the husband she so honored and loved, suffer this cruel humiliation, had dwarfed to insignificance all other things. She would never rest, until he stood beyond the legal power of any man to lay so much as a finger upon him. Debt must be extinguished, at any and every sacrifice, even to the last farthing — and that in the shortest possible time.
On the evening which closed this day, the Doctor and his wife sat alone in consultation.
"I went past the old house this afternoon," said the Doctor.
"Is the notice still up?" There was anxiety in the voice of Diane. A fear lest the house had been taken, crossed her mind.
"Yes."
"Did you see the landlord?"
"No."
"Why not? Someone else may secure it."
"The house looked very small, Diane." And the Doctor sighed faintly, as he let his eyes wander around the room in which they were sitting, and from thence into the one adjoining.
"It was large enough to hold us once, Edward, and is large enough to do it again;" said Diane, firmly.
"We have more in the family, now," rejoined the doctor.
"We are in debt," said Diane, with an emphasis that put nerve into the Doctor's failing heart. "That argument overrides all others. This morning, we decided our course of action; and now, let there be no faltering. You said that we must enter a new way; and I answered yes, and amen! My steps shall not linger, Edward. You pictured it as a hard anddifficult way. I see it as plain and easy. That way of debt in which we now tread, is hard and difficult. Every step is among hindrances and entanglements. Already there has been stumbling and falling — wounds and bruises — pains and humiliations. We must return, and get upon a smoother, an easier, and a safer road."
"You are a brave, true woman, Diane," said her husband, as warmth came back into his face. "But this going down so far, must be prevented if possible. I have been looking over my bills, and find nearly two thousand dollars uncollected, on my books. One thousand of this ought to be realized within three months. I will see my collector, and confer with him in regard to an earnest pressure for settlements. A number of accounts against people really able — but indifferent as to payment, could be sued out. A thousand dollars within three months would more than satisfy all demands against me likely to become troublesome. My practice is steadily increasing, as you know, and may yield enough beyond our expenses to liquidate all of our debt in a year or two."
"A year or two! Oh Edward! A year or two of debt and danger! No — no; not a month, say I! We thought it out all rightly this morning. Let us be just to others — and just to ourselves. Make out an inventory at once, including every article not absolutely needed, and sell to the best advantage. If you can collect a thousand dollars in three months, so much the better; but don't sue anybody — people may appear less able than they are — forgive — but don't sue. I wouldn't have you gain a dollar through constraint of anyone. Sickness often impoverishes the means, while it adds to the expenses. Let us command our own resources, and limit our own desires. This is the right way, husband; and the right way is always the safest and the best way."
And so Diane brought him back to his first best resolution. On the next day, the little house, with its sweet garden in front, was secured. Rose-bushes, which they had planted, climbed now to the upper windows, hanging green wreaths, flower-starred, above and around them. A pair of dwarf evergreens, also planted by them, nearly ten years before, stood just within, and on each side of the gate, their graceful top branches bowing in the summer airs a seeming conscious welcome. Running back from these, and grown wonderfully, like children seen after the absence of a few years, stood on each side of the walk leading to the house, a bank of dark green shrubbery. Standard roses, and fragrant honeysuckle, towered above less ambitious plants and flowers, filling the air with sweetness.
"How familiar and home-like," said Diane, as she passed through the white gate with her husband, to look at the house, preparatory to deciding on a move. "Here is the very rose bush I planted with my own hands! See how it has grown. And there is the white jessamine I left with its slender arms not six feet high, hanging now its graceful drapery around the upper windows. What a dear, sweet little spot it is, Edward. We shall be happy here again!"
The Doctor unlocked the door, and they went in. "The rooms are very small," he said, with a sigh, after pushing open the window shutters.
"They are large enough for love and duty," answered Diane, with a smile. "Better be straitened as to the body, than the mind. These smaller rooms shall be as wide palaces for our freer souls. Ah, husband, dear! — it is from within that our truest pleasures come. If right with ourselves and the world — we may be happy in the humblest cottage. But if not, no princely mansion can give peace to our souls!"
They went from room to room, with old emotions coming back into their hearts, and filling them with tenderness. In this chamber, a babe was born; in that one, a babe took its departure for the grave. Ah, the blessedness and the pain! The joy of birth — and the pangs of bereavement. Softened and sanctified by time and discipline — the joy and thesorrow were felt again.
It went hard with the Doctor to consent at the final moment of decision. Pride and principle came into strong conflict, and but for the unwavering spirit of his wife, he would have receded. But, once fully comprehending their situation — the Doctor had until now concealed from her the extent of his financial embarrassments — all hesitation, and looking to the right or the left, were gone. Back, back, quickly, from a position of danger! So her heart and her thought said; and as she felt and thought — so was she prepared to act.
Notwithstanding many suggested changes in the program at first presented by Dr. Hofland, and then approved by himself and his wife, that program, thanks to Diane's firmness, was strictly carried out; and when they were fairly domiciled in their humbler home, it would have been a hard and selfish creditor indeed, who complained of extravagance. Not a picture nor a book, outside of the Doctor's medical library, which was of value, nor anything merely ornamental, or which could be spared in housekeeping, was removed to the new abode. All were sold: and with what result? Let us see.
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