Book: Elinor Wyllys

S >> Susan Fenimore Cooper >> Elinor Wyllys




"Oh," said she, "father will be so angry! And we expect him every
day: Mother, too, I know, will think I have behaved very badly to
you."

It is probable she might not have had the courage to follow his
advice, had not Mrs. Graham accidentally entered the room at the
moment. Her attention was immediately attracted to the unusual
expression of Harry's face, and the tearful, woe-begone look of
her daughter, which she could in no way account for. Harry,
merely answering her inquiries by a bow, arose and left the room,
leaving the mother and daughter together.

Poor Mrs. Graham was little aware of what awaited her. She could
not be called a woman of very high principles, but she had more
feeling, and, of course, more experience than Jane. When she
discovered the true state of things, she was very much shocked.
She had never had the least idea of what had been going on around
her; far from it, indeed, she had never for a moment doubted
that, before long, her daughter would become the wife of young
Hazlehurst.

Little by little she gathered the whole truth from the weeping
Jane. It appeared that the two or three meetings which had taken
place between Jane and young Taylor, just before he sailed, had
been sufficient for him to fancy himself in love with her. He
made a confidante of his sister Adeline, who, as one of the older
class in her boarding-school, considered all love-affairs as
belonging to her prerogative. Her friend, Miss Hunter, was a
regular graduate of the Court of Love, according to the code--not
of Toulouse--but of a certain class of school-girls in New-York.
This young lady had gone through the proper training from her
cradle, having been teased and plagued about beaux and lovers,
before she could walk alone. She had had several love-affairs of
her own before she was fifteen. "All for love," was her motto;
and it was a love which included general flirtation as the spice
of unmarried life, and matrimony with any individual whatever,
possessing a three-story house in Broadway, as the one great
object of existence. Adeline had, of course, profited by such
companionship; and, at the time her brother confessed himself in
love with Miss Graham, after having met once on board a
steamboat, and once at an evening party, she was fully equal to
take the management of the whole affair into her own hands. It is
true, young Taylor had entered into a boyish engagement at
college; but that was thought no obstacle whatever. She delighted
in passing her brother's compliments over to Jane; in reporting
to him her friend's blushes and smiles. With this state of
things, young Taylor sailed for Europe; but Adeline gloried too
much in her capacity of confidante, to allow the matter to drop:
not a letter was written but contained some allusion to the
important subject. In the course of the year she had talked Jane
into quite a favourable state of feeling towards her brother; he
would probably himself have forgotten the affair, had not Miss
Graham arrived in Paris at the moment she did.

They saw each other, of course, and the feelings which Adeline
had been encouraging during the last year, and which otherwise
would have amounted to nothing at all, now took a serious turn.
Young Taylor was very handsome, and astonishingly improved in
appearance and manners. Jane, herself, was in the height of her
beauty, and the young man had soon fallen really in love with
her. Unfortunately, just at the moment that he became attentive
to her, Mrs. Robert Hazlehurst, who was confined to the house
that winter, had confided Jane to the care of Mrs. Howard, the
lady who had brought her from America. Young Taylor soon found
out that he was rather disliked by Mr. and Mrs. Hazlehurst, and
preferred securing Jane's favour, if possible, without attracting
the attention of her friends. Adeline, on her part, had
discovered that her own family were no favourites with Mr. and
Mrs. Graham; of course she recommended the proper degree of
mystery, under the name of prudence. Young Taylor left Paris for
England, about the time that Harry returned from his eastern
journey; but before parting from Jane, he explained himself; and
if he had not been accepted, he had certainly not been refused.
Thus matters stood when the whole party returned home. Mr. Graham
was known to be a violent, passionate man, and as he had taken no
pains to conceal his dislike to Tallman Taylor's father, the
young people had every reason to believe that he would refuse his
consent. The idea of a clandestine marriage had once occurred to
Adeline, but never with any serious intention of proposing it.
Had she done so, she would not have been listened to. Jane had
not lived so much with Miss Wyllys and Elinor, without deriving
some good from such association; besides, she did not think the
step necessary. She believed that Mr. Graham would give his
consent after a while; and young Taylor was obliged to submit for
the present. As for his college engagement, he had paid it no
more attention than if it had never taken place; it had been long
since forgotten, on his part.

Little by little, Mrs. Graham gathered most of these facts from
her daughter, whose weeping eyes and pale face would have
delighted Adeline, as being just what was proper in a heroine of
romance, on such an important occasion. But Adeline could not
enjoy the sight of all the misery which was the fruit of her two
years' labours, for Mrs. Graham insisted that Jane should see
none of the family until her father had arrived; and knew the
state of things.

Harry Hazlehurst, although not quite as well informed as the
reader, knew essentially how matters stood. He knew at least,
that Jane and young Taylor were all but pledged to each other; he
knew what had been Adeline's conduct--what had been his own
treatment; and as he walked slowly from one end of the Battery to
the other, his reflections were anything but flattering to
himself, or to any of the parties concerned. He blamed Mrs.
Graham for her want of maternal caution and foresight; he blamed
his brother, and sister-in-law, for their blindness in Paris;
Jane, for her weakness, and want of sincerity to himself;
Adeline, for such unjustifiable management and manoeuvring; and
young Taylor, for what he called his "presumption and puppyism."
And to think that he, Harry Hazlehurst, who prided himself upon
being clear-sighted, had been so completely deceived by others,
and what was worse, by himself! He was obliged to remember how
sure he had felt himself of Jane; it was humiliating to think
what a silly part he had been playing. Then came a twinge or two,
from the consciousness that he had deserved it all, from his
conduct to Elinor. He tried to persuade himself that regret that
Jane should fall into hands he fancied so unworthy of her--that
she should be sacrificed to a mere second-rate sort of dandy,
like young Taylor, was his strongest feeling at the time. But he
was mistaken: there was a good deal of the lover in his
recollection of Jane's transcendant {sic} beauty. He hoped that
she would yet be saved from the worst--from becoming the wife of
Tallman Taylor. He felt convinced that Mr. Graham would refuse
his consent to the marriage.

The next day, Harry returned to Philadelphia. The astonishment of
all those interested in himself and Jane, at this rupture, was
very great. If Mrs. Stanley had been grieved at Harry's
difficulties, Mrs. Robert Hazlehurst was made quite unhappy by
her sister's conduct. She reproached herself severely for her
blindness; for not having taken as much care of Jane as she ought
to have done under the circumstances. Like all her family, she
disliked young Taylor; who, in fact, had nothing to recommend him
but his handsome face, and his father's money. Miss Wyllys, too,
was much pained by the conduct of one who had been so often under
her care--one, in whose welfare she was so warmly interested. She
received the news in a note from Mrs. Hazlehurst, who preferred
giving it in that form; and as Miss Wyllys was alone with Elinor,
she immediately handed the billet to her niece.

It must be confessed that Elinor's heart gave one bound at this
unexpected news. She was more moved by it than any one; more
astonished that Jane should have refused Harry; that she should
have preferred to him that silly Tallman Taylor; more shocked at
the double-dealing that had been going on; and more pained that
Jane, who had been to her as a sister, should have been so easily
misled. Another thought intruded, too--Harry would be free again!
But the idea had hardly suggested itself, before she repelled it.
She soon felt convinced that Mr. Graham would break off the
engagement between his daughter and Mr. Taylor, and that after a
while her cousin's eyes would he opened to Harry's merits, which
were numberless in her eyes. Miss Agnes strongly encouraged this
opinion; and Elinor fully determined that her aunt's counsels,
her mother's letter, and her own experience, should not be thrown
away; she would watch more carefully than ever against every
fancy that would be likely to endanger anew the tranquillity she
had in some measure regained.



CHAPTER XXIII.

"The bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set,
May'st hear the merry din."
COLERIDGE.

{Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English poet, 1772-1834), "Rime of the
Ancient Mariner" (I) lines 5-8}

THE events of the next two months surprised Jane's friends in
Philadelphia, almost as much as her rejection of Harry had done.
Mrs. Hazlehurst, of course, knew what was going on in her
father's house, and from time to time informed Miss Wyllys and
Elinor of what passed. Elinor had written to Jane, but it was a
long time before she received an answer; her cousin appeared
engrossed by her own affairs; as this was common with Jane at all
times, it was but natural that she should be so, at a moment
which was of so much importance to herself. Mr. Graham arrived at
the time appointed; and, of course, he was very much displeased
by the news which awaited him. He would not hear of Jane's
marrying young Taylor, whose advances he received as coldly as
possible, and even forbade his daughter's seeing any of the
Taylor family. Jane was very much distressed, and very much
frightened. As for Miss Taylor, her indignation was so great,
that she determined to pay no respect to Mr. Graham's hostility;
she wrote to Jane a long letter, much in her usual style, giving
very pathetic accounts of Tallman's despair. This letter Jane had
not the moral courage to show to either of her parents; she soon
received another, with a note from young Taylor himself. As she
was reading them one morning, her father unexpectedly entered the
room, and was thrown into a great passion by the discovery. His
temper was violent, and he was subject to fits of passion which
terrified his children; although, in other respects, by no means
an unkind parent. Upon this occasion, Jane was frightened into
hysterics, and afterwards, owing to the agitation which had been
preying on her mind for some months, she was thrown into a low
nervous fever. During the four or five weeks that she was ill,
every morning Miss Taylor called to inquire after her friend,
although she was not admitted. By this conduct, Mrs. Graham's
heart, which was of no stern material, was much softened. At
length she went to the drawing-room to see Miss Taylor, for a
moment. Adeline improved the time so well, that she placed
herself and her brother better with Mrs. Graham than they had
ever yet been. Jane's illness increased; her parents became
seriously alarmed, and Mr. Graham expressed something like regret
that he had been so hasty. His wife often remembered his words
during her daughter's tedious convalescence, which was
interrupted by a relapse. In short, matters began to look less
discouraging for young Taylor's suit. There could be no doubt, at
least, that he was very much in love with Jane: Hazlehurst was
quite mistaken in supposing that the perfection of her profile,
the beautiful shape of her head, the delicacy of her complexion,
or other numberless beauties, could only be appreciated by one
whose taste was as refined as his own: they had produced quite as
deep an effect on young Taylor. During Jane's illness, he had
shown the proper degree of distress and anxiety, all of which was
reported in the most pathetic manner to Mrs. Graham, and
whispered to Jane by Adeline, who, having once been received
again into the house, kept her footing there and managed an
occasional interview with her friend. In short, as we all know,
tyrannical parents are very rare in America; the fault in family
discipline lies in the opposite direction.

His daughter's pale face, his wife's weakness, and Adeline's good
management, and improvement of every concession, at length worked
a change in Mr. Graham. At the proper moment, Tallman Taylor
renewed his offer in the warmest and most flattering terms;
supported by his father, and his father's hundreds of thousands,
he this time received a more favourable answer. Mr. Graham was
one of those men, who have no very high opinion of women; he did
not wish to make his daughter miserable for life; and he thought
she had too little character to conquer the fancy that had filled
her mind, and made her ill. Then, young Taylor was rich, and she
could throw away money on those knick-knacks and frippery, to
which, according to Mr. Graham, women attach such exorbitant
value. If she did not marry him, she would fancy herself a
victim, and miserable; if she did marry him, she would fancy
herself happy: that seemed to him the amount of the matter, and
with these views he at length gave a reluctant consent. Mrs.
Graham had already given hers; Tallman Taylor was certainly not
the son-in-law she would have chosen; but she was farther from
being dissatisfied, than many of her friends thought she would be
under the circumstances. Neither the story of his college
engagement, nor the unpleasant rumours respecting his Paris
career, had reached Mr. or Mrs. Graham; the first was known only
to Adeline and Jane, the last to a few male intimates. The news,
very naturally, caused a good deal of sensation among Jane's
friends in Philadelphia; it was really distressing to Mrs. Robert
Hazlehurst, who looked upon her sister as thrown away, and
reproached herself more than ever for having allowed Jane to go
out so often in Paris with their thoughtless friends, the
Howards. She could not endure to think of young Taylor, as
actually her brother-in-law, the husband of her beautiful sister.
She had not supposed that the matter would be settled in this
way; she had believed her father's opposition too strong to be
overcome.

As for Harry, he, of course, soon heard the news from his
brother. How much of love and of mortification were still
lingering in his mind, we cannot precisely affirm. His feelings
for Jane had certainly altered very much since the discovery of
the double-dealing that had been going on; but weak as she had
proved herself, she was still much too lovely, much too
well-bred, at least, to be bestowed upon one whom he disliked as
much as Tallman Taylor. There seemed to be something of the dog
in the manger, connected with his regret for Jane's fate, since
he had already decided that if she were ever free again, he would
not repeat his offer; she had shown herself to have so little
character, that he would not allow himself to be again influenced
by her beauty, surpassing as it was. In fact, Harry had
determined to give up all idea of love and matrimony, for the
present, at least. He went into society less than of old, and
gave himself up very much to his profession, or other literary
pursuits in which he had become engaged. He had been admitted to
the bar, and had entered into a partnership with his travelling
companion, Mr. Ellsworth; much of his time was now passed at his
brother's house, or at that of his friend. He liked his
sister-in-law, and he found Ellsworth's sister, Mrs. Creighton,
who was at the head of her brother's establishment, a very
agreeable woman; she was very pretty, too, and very clever. The
Wyllyses were already in the country, when the news of Jane's
engagement reached them; the winter had broken up early, and, as
usual, at the first signs of spring they had returned to
Wyllys-Roof. Of course, they regretted Jane's partiality for
Tallman Taylor; to Elinor it appeared almost as unaccountable as
her insensibility to Harry's merits. Mrs. George Wyllys was loud
in her declamations against it; next to the Hubbards, she looked
upon the Taylors as the most disagreeable family of her
acquaintance. She had a great deal to say about the dull, prosy
mother, the insufferable father, the dandy son, and the rattling,
bellish daughter. Miss Patsey, also, had her moments of wonder;
but she wondered in silence; she did not appear to have any
higher opinion of the son, than she had formerly entertained of
the father. With these exceptions, the community of Longbridge in
general, who had known Jane from her childhood, approved highly
of the connexion; both parties were young, handsome, and they
would be rich, all which looked very well at a distance.

Three months of courtship passed over; Jane recovered entirely,
and was as blooming and lovely as ever; young Taylor was all
devotion. The satisfaction of his family at this connexion with
the Grahams was very great; it gratified Mr. Taylor's wishes in
every way. It is true, Miss Graham would not have much fortune
herself, but Tallman had enough to begin life handsomely. He
hoped the marriage would take place soon, as he wished his son,
whom he had made his partner, to take more interest in the
business than he had yet done. In every respect but money, Jane
was just what he would have wished for a daughter-in-law; she was
fashionable, she was beautiful, and the position of her family
gratified his vanity. As for the plain, good-hearted Mrs. Taylor,
she already loved Jane as a daughter; and to her it appeared the
most natural thing in the world, that Tallman should marry his
sister's friend. Adeline, herself, was of course enchanted.

The wedding took place in June. Thanks to Miss Taylor's influence
with the bride, it proved quite a brilliant affair. The ceremony
was performed in the evening, and immediately afterwards the
newly-married couple received the compliments and congratulations
of their friends. Jane was attended, on the occasion, by six of
her young companions; and as many young men, with white favours
in their button-holes, were very busy all the evening, playing
masters of ceremonies, escorting all the ladies as they arrived,
from the door to the spot where the bride was stationed. Jane
looked surpassingly beautiful; it was the general remark, that
she had never appeared more lovely: the ladies pronounced her
dress perfect, and the gentlemen admired her face quite as much.
All agreed that a handsomer couple had not been seen for some
time. It was, indeed, a pretty sight--the beautiful bride, the
centre of a circle of her young friends, all, like herself, in
white, and in full dress; pretty creatures themselves, wearing
pretty ornaments of flowers and lace, pearls and embroidery. We
say they were pretty; there was one exception, however, for
Elinor was there, and many remarks were made on her appearance.

"What a pity that Miss Wyllys should be so plain," observed Mrs.
Creighton, whose husband had been a connexion of the Grahams. "It
is the first time I have seen her for several years, and really I
had forgotten how very plain she is."

"Plain, why she is downright ugly!" exclaimed the youth to whom
she was talking. "It is a sin to be as ugly as that. No wonder
Hazlehurst was frightened out of the engagement; I am only
surprised he ever got into the scrape!"

"But Miss Wyllys is very clever and agreeable, I understand."

"Is she?"--was the careless reply. "I see Hazlehurst is here this
evening."

"Yes, he came on with his sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert Hazlehurst,
and myself."

"Well, he has a fine opportunity of comparing his two lady-loves
together. Upon my word, I never saw a greater contrast. I wish
Miss Wyllys had not accepted the invitation, though; she is
enough to frighten one away from the whole set--and the rest are
very pretty girls, the whole of them."

"Can you point out Mr. Taylor?--Not the groom; I have seen him,
of course; but his father."

"Don't you know the boss? It is that tall, stiff-looking man,
talking to Mrs. Stanley. You see he is trying to look very
amiable."

"Yes--that is he, is it? Much the sort of man I should have
supposed him. And now, which is Mrs. Taylor?"

"Mrs. Taylor--let me see; there she is, in grey satin and
diamonds. I never saw her but once before in my life. She is a
very quiet sort of a body, and keeps out of sight most of the
time."

"Very different from her daughter then, for Miss Taylor always
put herself en evidence, I believe. If one don't see her, they
are sure to hear her."

"To be sure, Miss Taylor is all life and spirits. She is the most
lively, animated girl I ever knew. By-the-bye, I think it an odd
fancy in Hazlehurst to show himself here to-night; for there was
a great fuss last winter, at the blowup--all the town was talking
about it."

"He is a very near connexion, you know; I suppose his absence
would have been more remarked than his being here. Besides, if he
was in love once, he has had time to get over it, in the last six
months. He does not look much as if he wore the willow still."

{"wore the willow" = grieved for the loss of a loved one}

"Hazlehurst is very clever, I am told; I don't know him much,
myself."

"Oh, yes--very clever. But I am not a fair judge, perhaps; he is
my brother's friend, and I may be prejudiced in his favour. How
very warm it is! can't we find a seat near a window?"

The gentleman offered his arm with alacrity, and the speakers
moved away.

The seats they had left were taken by Mrs. de Vaux and Colonel
Stryker: the lady, a middle-aged woman, fashionably dressed; the
gentleman, rather more than middle-aged in his appearance, and
decidedly less so in his dress and manners.

"Young Taylor is a handsome fellow, and looks the bride-groom
very well!" exclaimed Mr. Stryker. "How these Taylors have pushed
upwards; I never heard of them before I went to Europe this last
time, five or six years ago."

"That is just about the moment they first burst upon the horizon.
Mr. Taylor seems determined to make up for lost time. He is very
disagreeable to us ladies; but the gentlemen like him on account
of his cleverness; they say he is a genius in all business
matters."

"To judge by his expression, the man seems ambitious of 'les
succes de salon,' also. Where did he import his manners from, I
wonder?--they have a sort of bright, new look, as if he had not
yet worn the gloss off."

{"les succes de salon" = drawing-room victories (French)}

"Don't laugh at him;--he gives excellent dinners."

"Does he? Can't you introduce me, immediately? 'Ici l'ont fait
noces et festins.' I seem to smell the turtle-soup, already."

{"Ici l'ont...." = wedding feasts and banquets given here
(French)}

"I doubt whether you taste it, nevertheless, until next autumn.
Everybody is going out of town; they say that is the only
drawback to the satisfaction of the Taylors at this wedding."

"What is the drawback, pray?"

"They cannot have as many grand parties as they are entitled to,
on account of the season."

"That must be distressing, indeed, to the brides-maids.
By-the-bye, I see Miss Wyllys is one of them. She is going to
turn out a fortune, I hear;--do you know her?"

"From a child. Last year no one dreamed of her being a fortune;
but within the last few months, Mr. de Vaux tells me, she has
inherited a very handsome property from one of her mother's
family; and, in addition to it, some new rail-road, or something
of that kind, has raised the value of what she owned before."

"What is the amount, do you know?"

"Upwards of two hundred thousand, Mr. de Vaux thinks."

"Miss Wyllys is certainly no beauty; but, do you know, I think
there is something decidedly distinguished in her appearance and
manner! I was only introduced the other day; I did not happen to
know the Wyllyses."

"I have known them all my life, and like them all very much. I
rather wonder, though, at Miss Elinor's being here as
bride's-maid. But it is a reconciliation, I suppose. Perhaps she
and young Hazlehurst will make up again, and we may be invited to
another wedding, before long."

"Perhaps so. How long does it take a young lady to resent an
infidelity? A calendar month, I suppose; or, in extreme cases, a
year and a day. By-the-bye, the pretty widow, Mrs. Creighton, has
thrown off her weeds, I see."

"Yes, she has come out again, armed for conquest, I suppose. What
a flirt she is! And as artful as she is pretty, Mr. Stryker. But
perhaps you are one of her admirers," continued the lady,
laughing.

"Of course, it is impossible not to admire her; but I am afraid
of her," said Mr. Stryker, shrugging his shoulders. "I am
horribly afraid of all pretty widows."

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