Sweethearts and Wives CHAPTER 5.
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About the same hour that Grace Harvey was in earnest conversation with her aunt about the future, as has been seen in the last chapter — a fair-haired girl, with a light complexion, and soft, yet expressive blue eyes, sat by the window of a sweet cottage in Westbrook, over which climbed the honeysuckle and the vine, the one rich with its fragrant blossoms, and the other laden with pendant clusters. The maiden held in her hand a small volume, over which she half bent in a graceful attitude, and seemed altogether occupied with its contents. But in a little while she raised her head, with a quiet air, as a footstep caught her ear. How quickly did her soft cheek warm, and her mild eye brighten, as a well-known form entered, a moment after, her mother's beautiful cottage, and she arose to meet Henry Williams, her betrothed!
"I have just had a piece of news," he said, saluting Julia Lawson, for that was the name of the maiden, "and have made it an excuse to drop in for the second time today."
"Have you, indeed? Well, what is it?"
"Milnor is to be married to Grace Harvey on the same day we have chosen for our wedding."
"They are really engaged, then?"
"Oh yes; I thought I had mentioned this before."
"No; but I had suspected as much."
"He thinks her an angel."
"Does he, indeed?" Julia said, with a smile.
"Oh yes. I never saw a lover quite so bewitched. His eyes have become so dazzled by looking at her, that a dark spot seems to obscure the loveliness of every other maiden he gazes upon."
"He never dreams, of course," returned Julia, pleasantly, "that the obscurity is occasioned by his own imperfect vision?"
"Oh no, of course not."
"Grace is certainly a lovely girl, so far as appearances and manners are concerned. Never having met her intimately, I have not been able to make up my mind in regard to the loveliness of her disposition, though of that I have heard good report. She never seemed drawn towards me, and as she has moved in a circle somewhat above mine, and is an heiress into the bargain, I have felt a very natural delicacy about pressing forward to make her acquaintance. I have met her in company with Mr. Milnor several times, and observed that he was a most assiduous lover."
"He is truly so. I believe her very footprints are dear to him. But I am afraid he has neither been just to her, nor to himself in this matter."
"How so?"
"He has fallen into the too common fault of us tender fellows, of making her believe that she is everything — and he nothing; that her will and her pleasures are laws for his government, as immutable as the laws of the Medes and Persians."
"A fault of which you, no doubt, feel deeply guilty?" Julia said, with an arch smile.
"I have, no doubt, sins to answer for on that head as well as he."
"As, for instance, in the case of fixing our wedding-day three months earlier than I stipulated for," returned, the maiden, laughing, while her cheek deepened in color, and the moisture stood in her eyes.
"That was only to prepare you for the full assumption of my prerogative to rule. I did not wish to reverse the order too suddenly, when I came to lay aside the character ofsweetheart — and assume that of husband," was Wilson's pleasant reply to this sally.
"And so you think, I suppose, that when your friend Milnor comes to reverse this order, Grace will not take it quite so kindly as it is presumed I will?"
"Yes, that is just what I think; and I have my doubts, also, in regard to your immediate quiet submission," he added, gayly. "It is, doubtless, so pleasant a thing to rule a lover, that to resign the scepter into the hands of the husband, and sink into a passive state of obedience — must be attended with much natural reluctance. But we shall see."
"Oh yes! we shall see," returned Julia, blushing at her lover's pleasant trifling. "Then you do not seem very well satisfied with the prospects of Mr. Milnor?" she said, after pausing thoughtfully for a few moments.
"I am not very seriously concerned about him, but still I have had occasional misgivings. I am afraid of her strong self-will, especially as Milnor is by no means deficient in the same quality of mind — though he has chosen to let it remain passive during his interactions with Miss Harvey. Armstrong was not quite so willing to assume a character. He was too manly, and too honest to himself and others; and, therefore, he soon lost the favor which he at first won."
"I have always admired the manner of his fellowship with ladies. He never flatters them, nor treats them like spoiled children," Julia said.
"I wish all men were as honest as he in this respect."
"Miss Grace Harvey is said to be very rich. Is rumor true in this instance?"
"I believe it is."
"What is the extent of her fortune?"
"Some say a hundred thousand dollars."
"Indeed! So much as that?"
"Half of the sum will doubtless cover all that she is worth."
"Even that, is quite a temptation for a young man."
"To far too many young men, it is."
"How do you think Mr. Milnor feels on this head?"
"I suppose he feels not the slightest objection to the fortune; though I will do him the justice to say that I am very certain he loves Grace Harvey for herself alone. But, be that as it may, he will stand the chance of having the true foundation of his attachment, well-tried."
"How so, Henry?"
"In two ways, I am inclined to think. First, from the error he has too evidently committed, in allowing both himself and Grace to occupy, during courtship, false positions, and from the loss of anticipated wealth."
"How do you mean the loss of anticipated wealth?"
"No doubt nearly the whole of Miss Harvey's money lies invested in stocks, or some such securities. To the few far-seeing and clear-headed ones, it has become fully apparent that the present system of excessive trading and excessive banking must soon burst, like an over-inflated balloon. When this takes place, as I am sadly afraid that it soon will, thousands and hundreds of thousands of people in the United States will be involved in ruin. So fully do I apprehend the danger, from the clear exposition I have heard upon the subject, that I have already sold out the few shares of bank-stock I held, and invested the proceeds in a way to be least affected by these reverses, should they, unfortunately, come upon us."
"Why, then, do you not open Mr. Milnor's eyes to this fact?"
"So I intend on doing, as soon after his marriage as it will be prudent to allude to the subject. At present, it could only disturb his mind, while a feeling of delicacy would prevent his saying anything either to Grace or her guardian on the subject."
"Very true; but I sincerely hope that no such catastrophe as that of which you speak, is near at hand."
"Some think it very near. There is more than one bank in Boston towards which suspicion has been excited, and particularly a bank in the direction of which the father of Grace was at one time prominent. My supposition is, that in the stock of this bank, the fortune left to his child has been mainly invested. Until very recently, it has been thought among the most substantial institutions in the country, and no doubt was when Mr Harvey was connected with it; but the knowing ones are beginning quietly to sell out their stock. Already shares have fallen one or two percent."
"If such an event as that you seem to have such good ground for fearing should take place, it will severely try both Mr. Milnor and his bride. He does not possess property sufficient to maintain the style of living to which she has been used."
"No, that is certain; but we must hope for the best, both for others and ourselves. Perhaps we shall have our own trials in this respect, though not on so large a scale. With all my prudence and forethought, I may not be able to retain even the small patrimony to which I have trusted, for many of life's blessings, in asking you to share with me in this world'sweal or woe."
"That trial, whenever it comes, will only, like the darkness of night — reveal stars in our firmament of whose existence we would otherwise have had no knowledge," the maiden said, with a trembling voice and a dimming eye.
Williams responded only by a tender salutation as he drew his arm around Julia's waist and pressed her to his side. He felt doubly blessed under the consciousness that life's changes, be they even attended with clouds and storms — would only unite them more closely.
The short intervening space of time soon passed, bringing the day that was to unite the two couples in wedlock's sacred bonds. At the house of Mrs. Ellis, a large and mirthful company was assembled to witness the nuptial rites, comprising the wealthiest and most fashionable people of Westbrook. While these were gathering below, Grace sat, all attired for the ceremony, her lover by her side, with a heart too full of joyful feelings, and thoughts too full of pleasant images, to permit her to converse farther than to make replies to the few remarks that were addressed to her. Before her, the whole world seemed as bright as the unclouded sky, and her path through it soft with thickly-strewn flowers, which loaded the air with their balmy fragrance.
A few dwellings removed from that of Mrs. Ellis, a similar scene was passing, but in a far quieter way. Julia Lawson, with three or four intimate friends, was in her chamber, and awaiting, like Grace Harvey, the moment when she should be called upon to pledge eternal fidelity to one whose virtues had won her heart. Below were assembled a few friends, but each one loved the gentle girl whose marriage they had come to celebrate as a daughter or a sister. In her own circle, she ever diffused around her, the fragrance of a sweet spirit — which sought only to make others happy; and this, whenever the thought of her was awakened, touched the inward sense with a peculiar delight. Her image, therefore, was never present to any, without a feeling of affection. It was this feeling which had drawn together the little company who had assembled to give her joy upon her wedding day.
Hearty congratulations mingled with warm kisses, and a mirthful scene of confusion, that reigned for full half an hour, followed the union of Grace Harvey with Lewis Milnor. All were delightful, and everyone happy — the lovely bride the happiest of all. And yet there was much around her that was bright only on the glittering surface. Kind words were spoken, and kind wishes offered, to be quickly forgotten, or only remembered at intervals which would become more and more distant from each other, as days, and weeks, and months went steadily by.
There is something in a mirthful wedding-party, made up of the young and beautiful, who are just entering life — and of the middle-aged and aged who have tried and proved many of its sober realities, which awakens a feeling of peculiar interest. How naturally recur our thoughts to other days — to a similar scene that passed long, long ago, to the promise of that happy hour — to the real life which has taken the place of dreamy anticipations of the future, so full of a deluding romance. And then we look at the new-made bride, and the young circle around her, and half sigh as we think of that uncertain future — of the many who have tried it, like them, with an eager confidence — and been painfully disappointed.
There were those present when Grace Harvey responded to the vows of her betrothed who felt thus and who thought thus; and there were those, also, who could never look upon a happy bride without an involuntary sigh — a sigh for themselves, springing from the remembrance of past times of trial, misunderstandings, and, perchance, open bickerings — which had poisoned the fountains from which flowed all that made life truly desirable. Like her, they had perceived no cloud above the bright horizon — had dreamed of none — far less imagined that from their own spirits would go up the vapors which would at last become thick and lowering, and from which would finally burst adevastating storm — whose marks and scars could never be effaced.
But there were few, if any, who thought thus in the select company that gathered around Julia Lawson, and listened to her vows which were meekly uttered. They were of those who, like her, had early learned to know themselves — had early practiced the higher precepts of truth, which teach this most important lesson: that man's unhappiness springs from his blind love of self — and that true happiness can only spring from a self-sacrificing spirit, a spirit which seeks to bless others. In that humble spirit, resides the secret of true happiness on earth.
A spectator, all unacquainted with the characters, history, and prospects of the two maidens, might have concluded that Grace was far the happiest bride; that there was something far too serious, even sad, he might think, in the thoughtful countenance of Julia. But he would have judged erroneously. The rays which glitter and sparkle upon therippling surface — descend not into the hidden waters. It is the placid lake which receives, even into its depths, the blessed sunshine, with its light and warmth.
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