Book: Elinor Wyllys

S >> Susan Fenimore Cooper >> Elinor Wyllys




"I am very glad you did not, husband. I was brought up on a farm,
Miss Wyllys, and I am very happy that we have got in the open
country. Besides, Mr. Hubbard's house will be too large for
comfort."

"Ha, ha!" faintly laughed Mr. Taylor; "you seem to like room out
of doors better than within, Mrs. Taylor."

At this moment two persons walked quietly into the room, and were
received very kindly by Miss Wyllys and Elinor. One was a woman
of about forty, plainly, but neatly dressed, with a pleasing
face, remarkable for a simple expression of common sense and
goodness. Her manners corresponded perfectly with her appearance;
they were quiet and pleasant. The lad who accompanied her was a
boy of sixteen, small, and slightly made, with good features, and
an uncommonly spirited and intelligent countenance. They might
very naturally have been taken for mother and son; but they were,
in fact, brother and sister.

"Well, Charlie, my lad," said Mr. Wyllys, placing a hand on the
boy's shoulder, "I hear the important matter is at last under
full consideration."

"Yes, sir; my friends have all but consented; even sister Patsey
is coming round. It will be all settled next week, I hope."

"I wish you joy of your success, Charlie," cried Hazlehurst.

"Not yet, if you please, Mr. Hazlehurst," said Miss Patsey
Hubbard, smiling good-naturedly. "It is only a conditional
consent, Charles, you must remember." Then turning to Mr. Wyllys,
she added--"All our friends seem to agree with you, sir, and Miss
Wyllys: my uncles think Charles ought to show what he has done to
some experienced painters, and have their opinions. We feel very
anxious on the subject."

"Remember to persevere, young man, if you once begin," said Mr.
Wyllys.

"No danger but I shall, sir," said the boy rather proudly.

"I fear, Charles, that half the fault of your obstinacy is thrown
upon my shoulders," said Elinor. "Those Lives of the Painters
were an unfortunate present; they seem quite to have turned your
head; I am afraid Miss Patsey will not soon forgive me."

{"Lives of the Painters" = probably Giorgio Vasari (Italian
writer, 1511-1574), "Lives of the Most Excellent Architects,
Painters and Sculptors" (1550, rev. 1568), a famous and often
reprinted series of biographies of Italian artists, also
frequently cited as "Lives of the Artists."}

"I can't thank you enough for them, Miss Elinor--you don't know
what pleasure I have had with them."



CHAPTER II.

"We'll measure them a measure, and begone."

{William Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet", I.iv.10}

The arrival of guests again called the ladies away; they were
followed by others, until the drawing-room was half-filled with
the young people of the neighbourhood, and their parents. Mrs.
Stanley was soon talking with Patsey Hubbard, whom she liked
particularly. The tall and thin Mrs. Bernard, and her friend, the
short and fat Mrs. Van Horne, were regretting with Mrs. George
Wyllys, that she should think the air of Longbridge did not agree
with her children; and lamenting that she should not remain at
Wyllys-Roof until November, according to her first intention.
Charlie was deep in a volume of fine engravings. Young Taylor was
standing; in a corner, looking handsome, but awkward, and out of
place. Mr. Taylor, the father, was aiming at making himself
'affable' to everybody he knew; he liked to be called the
'affable' Mr. Taylor. The last of the party to arrive, were Mr.
and Mrs. Clapp; a couple, who were by no means equally liked by
their hosts. The husband was a Longbridge lawyer, whose views and
manners were not much admired at Wyllys-Roof; and he would
probably never have found his way there, had he not married one
of their old friends and favourites, Kate Hubbard, a younger
sister of Miss Patsey's--one who from childhood had always been
welcome among them. William Cassius Clapp had curly hair, bright
black eyes, and pink cheeks--and, consequently, was generally
thought an Adonis: his wife was a diminutive little creature,
quite pretty, and very amiable; a sort of mixture of Miss Patsey
and Charlie, without the more striking qualities of either. Some
of her friends had thought her thrown away upon Clapp; but she
seemed perfectly satisfied after five years' experience, and
evidently believed her husband superior in every way to the
common run of men. Holding it to be gross injustice towards the
individuals whom we bring before the reader, to excite a
prejudice against them in the very first chapter, we shall leave
all the party to speak and act for themselves; merely
endeavouring to fill the part of a 'faithful chronicler,'
ourselves.

Mr. Taylor had been looking, with a mixed expression of surprise
and curiosity, at the person he had heard addressed as Miss
Patsey Hubbard, when the lady remarked his manner, and, smiling
quietly, she bowed to him. The bow was returned; and Mr. Taylor
crossed the room, to renew an acquaintance with the woman, who,
three-and-twenty years before, had refused to become his wife.
Mr. Pompey Taylor had, however, risen too much in the world,
since then--according to his own estimation, at least--he had
become too rich and too prosperous, not to look back with great
equanimity, on what he now considered as a very trifling
occurrence. While he was addressing Miss Patsey in his most
polished manner, just marked with an extra-touch of 'affability,'
for her especial benefit, he could not but wonder that her
countenance should still wear the same placid, contented air as
of old; it seemed, indeed, as if this expression had only been
confirmed by time and trials. He began to think the accounts he
had occasionally heard, of his old flame, must have been
incorrect; it was scarcely possible she should look so calm, and
even cheerful, if her father, the Presbyterian minister, had
actually left her not only penniless, but burdened with the
support of a bed-ridden step-mother, and a house full of younger
brothers and sisters. We leave him to satisfy his curiosity as
well as he could.

When was there ever an evening too warm for young people to
dance! Elinor's friends had not been in the room half an hour,
before they discovered that they were just the right number to
make a quadrille agreeable. They were enough to form a double
set; and, while they were dancing, the elder part of the company
were sitting in groups near the windows, to catch the evening
air, and talking over neighbourly matters, or looking on at their
young friends.

"Don't you think Elinor very graceful?" exclaimed Mrs. Van Horne
to her friend, Mrs. Bernard. "I like to watch her, while she is
dancing; her movements are all so pleasing and easy, never, in
the least, exaggerated--but, it is in her very nature; she has
always been the same, from a little creature."

"Yes," replied Mrs. Bernard; "but it is a pity her face should be
so ugly; for she has rather a pretty figure--"

"Do you think her really ugly? She does not strike me, as so very
plain--there is nothing repulsive in her face. I have known girls
called pretty, who had something far nearer coarseness in their
features. It is true, I have been accustomed to see her from the
time she was four years old; and, I know, she is always thought
very plain by strangers."

"Why, my dear Mrs. Van Horne, she has not one feature that can be
called good; and her eye-brows are so heavy, and her complexion
is so thick and dark, too!"

"Yes, it is true, she is very dark; and that is a pity; if she
were only fairer, her features would appear to greater
advantage."

"Just look at her now," said Mrs. Bernard, "as she is standing by
her cousin, Jane Graham, who is dancing with your son. Was there
ever a greater contrast?"

"But Jane is so remarkably pretty--"

"Certainly, she is a perfect little beauty; and that is one
reason, perhaps, why Elinor strikes us as so plain; she is so
much with her cousin--"

"Well," said Mrs. Van Horne, "if you are going to quarrel so
much, with my little friend's face, we had better find something
else to talk about; for she is a very great favourite of mine."

"And justly--I dare say.--But, I am a great admirer of beauty,
you know; and I cannot keep my eyes off Jane's lovely face."

The conversation then turned upon the Hubbards.

"Charlie, it seems, is actually going to be a painter," observed
Mrs. Bernard. "Miss Patsey tells me, he is so bent on it, that
she thinks there is no use in opposing it any longer; though, Mr.
Clapp says, it is a wretched plan."

"I hope Charles may succeed; he is a fine boy; and I shall be
very sorry, for Patsey's sake, if he turns out badly. She is very
anxious about him, I know."

"They have been so fortunate, with the rest of the family, that,
I hope, they will be able to keep Charlie straight. I see Miss
Patsey is talking to Mrs. Taylor; they are old friends, perhaps.
Do you know anything about these Taylors?"

"Nothing but what my husband told me. He is a merchant in New
York, and very rich;--made his money quite lately; and the
business-men think a good deal of him."

"He seems to have a great deal to say for himself. Have you
called on Mrs. Taylor?"

"We were there yesterday. She is a quiet, plain woman. The young
man is good-looking, but very shy and awkward. The daughter seems
very lively."

"Yes, and she is quite pretty, too. She will be a belle, I dare
say."

"I hope Mrs. Taylor will send her younger children to Patsey's
school."

"I wish she may; it will be a good thing for Miss Patsey, and
make up her dozen. You know, she will not take more than twelve,
as she keeps the largest room in the house for her mother."

"How kind and faithful Patsey has been to her step-mother! Just
as she is, though, to everybody else; and she does it all in such
a quiet, consistent way. I am glad to see her here to-night--she
enjoys a little society, once in a while; and yet no one can
persuade her to go out, except Miss Wyllys."

"She has come in honour of her pupil's birthday, I suppose. You
know, Elinor Wyllys was her first scholar. By-the-bye, do you
know what I heard, the other day? They say, in Longbridge, that
Mr. Hazlehurst is engaged to one of the young ladies here;
though, to which, my informant did not say."

"There is no truth in it, you may be sure--they are too much like
brother and sister, to think of it. Besides, Mr. Hazlehurst is
going abroad, shortly."

"I did not know that. Where is he going?"

"He told my son, yesterday, that he was going to Europe, for two
years, to take care of his brother, Mr. Robert Hazlehurst, who
has never recovered from the fall he had last winter; and the
physicians have ordered him to travel."

At that moment the ladies were joined by Miss Agnes.

"I hear, Miss Wyllys," said Mrs. Bernard, "that Mr. Hazlehurst is
going to Europe. He will be very much missed, at Longbridge."

"Yes, we shall miss him, here, very much," replied Miss Wyllys;
"Harry has been with us more than ever, this summer. But, his
brother is not in a state to travel alone, nor fit to take care
of his wife and children, who go with him; and, although the plan
is a sudden one, and interferes with Harry's law-studies, yet his
friends all think a visit to Europe may be a great advantage to
him."

The ladies agreed that it was a very good arrangement, and some
inquiries were made as to Mr. Robert Hazlehurst's health; and a
discussion of bruises and falls, nerves and dyspepsia, followed.

Soon after, the quadrille broke up.

"Well, Miss Jane," cried Mrs. Bernard, as several young people
drew near, "I hear that your sister, Mrs. Robert Hazlehurst, is
going to Europe; if I were you, I would not be left behind."

"I should like to go very well," said the beauty, in a languid
tone; "but, I shall be at school, in New York, next winter."

"Oh, that is a pity! I am sure, you could learn all you want to
know, much better, in Paris. Don't you think she ought to go, Mr.
Hazlehurst?"

"Certainly, ma'am; everybody should go to Paris, if they have a
chance."

"Miss Jane would be such a charming addition to your party.--Two
young people together, you would enjoy yourselves more, and make
it pleasanter for your friends."

Young Hazlehurst made a civil bow to the lady; but he looked as
if he had an opinion of his own on the subject, for comical
expression crossed his face at the moment. Jane had turned in
another direction, and was slowly lisping an answer to a very
animated question of Miss Adeline Taylor's.

"Yes; I was at Mrs. G-----'s school, last year; and, I am going
there again."

"Well, I positively think I must go there, too, for my last
winter. Mrs. G-----'s school is all the fashion, now. All the
young ladies she turns out, are very lively. Miss Hubbard, the
great belle, was there, you know, before she came out. Don't you
think it would be an excellent plan, Mr. Hazlehurst, for your
cousin and me to be chums? I declare, I wish you were going, too,
Miss Wyllys."

"Thank you. I have never been to school, in my life; and it is
rather late, to begin now."

"Never been to school! What dull times you must have had at home!
You don't know what fine fun we have, at school; it is next to
going into company. I wouldn't stay at home, for the world. Why
didn't you go?"

"Well, I really don't know why. Perhaps, I should have wished to
go, if I had thought it as pleasant as you seem to do, Miss
Taylor."

"And pray, if I may ask, what made it so very pleasant?" asked
Harry Hazlehurst. "I should like to be initiated into the
delights of a young ladies' boarding-school. Of course, they must
be very different from the rude enjoyments of collegians."

"Oh! it would take me a year, to tell you all about it."

"I shall be most happy to listen all the evening. But, let me
find you a chair, before you commence; you must be tired of
standing," said Harry, with a view to taking a seat himself.

"Me? Oh, no; I never sit down, at a party; I always stand. You
lose half the fun, by sitting down." And, having secured Harry's
attention, the half-fledged belle turned to another youth, within
hailing distance. "Now, what do you think Mr. Hazlehurst has
given me to do, for the next hour, Mr. Van Horne?"

"I am sure, I don't know. Is it something very difficult?
Listening to his pretty speeches, perhaps," said the other.

"Oh dear, no! I don't believe Mr. Hazlehurst can make a tender
speech; I don't believe he has got any heart," said Miss Adeline,
looking an attempt at archness.

"And, pray, what makes you think so, Miss Taylor? Do you judge
from my savage expression?"

"Well, perhaps, you have one;" said the young lady, looking up
bewitchingly. "I suspect, though, you take very good care of it,"

"But this is not fair; you are abusing me, instead of giving us
the delights of your school, as you promised."

"Oh, I had forgotten that. But, I should think, you might guess
what fun we have--a set of wild girls together."

"How should I know anything about it? Pray, be more explicit."

"Well, in the first place, we make a point of getting up an
excitement, at least once a week."

"Like our unruly spirits at college, you break the windows, and
roll cannon-balls, I suppose."

"How you talk! No, indeed. Our last excitement was about the coat
of our Professor of Mathematics. It was such a quizzical cut, we
told Mrs. A., it was morally impossible for us to attend to the
lesson, and study the problems, as long as the man wore it."

"It was unpardonable, in a professor of mathematics, to wear a
coat that was not cut according to rule."

"Now wasn't it? Well, you may be sure, we can always pitch upon
something for an excitement, whenever we're in the humour for it.
And then, we have secrets to tell about our beaux--and we quiz
the new scholars--and we eat candy--and we torment Mrs. A-----;
but, I shan't tell you any more, now; for I must go out on the
piazza, and have a walk--it looks so sweet, out there. You shall
have the rest of the story, if you'll come."

And away tripped the young lady, followed, of course, by the
gentlemen.

Mr. Taylor, who had been moving about the room, making himself
popular by a very bland smile, and, what he considered very
courtly manners, still had time to keep one eye upon his son, who
after an awkward fashion, seemed devoting himself to one or two
of the ladies, and the other, upon his daughter. "Adeline will
make herself conspicuous," thought the gratified father.

"Liny seems to enjoy herself," was the observation of her mother,
who had been sitting quietly at her daughter's elbow, listening
to the conversation just related.

"Two conquests!" thought the young lady herself.

"A lively girl!" was the opinion of young Van Horne.

"Fair game!" said Harry to himself.

While some of the young people were flirting, others dancing, Mr.
Taylor and Mr. Clapp, whose acquaintance had commenced on board a
steamboat that very morning, were walking together up and down
the hall, which they had pretty much to themselves. They touched
on business, which was pronounced very active; and on politics,
which were declared to be particularly dull, just then: Mr.
Clapp, indeed, thought the people much too quiet--shamefully
blind to their own interests, which always demanded what he
called a state of healthful excitement--meaning an unreasonable
excitement upon any subject whatever. There can be no doubt that
Mr. Clapp honestly believed such a state of agitation far more
conducive than quiet to his own interest; for he was quite a
fluent speaker, and very ambitious of a seat in the State
Assembly. He belonged to that school of republicanism, which so
completely identifies the individual with the mass, that it
cannot conceive of any independent opinions, tastes, or
principles; and, very possibly, he persuaded himself the good of
the nation, as well as his personal advantage, required a fresh
brand to be thrown upon the Longbridge council-fire. Having
exchanged opinions with Mr. Clapp upon politics and the market,
Mr. Taylor proceeded to make some observations and inquiries
about the company; he evidently felt some curiosity regarding his
new neighbours, while his companion seemed well disposed to give
him all the information he desired.

"Mr. Wyllys is a man of large property, I conclude," said the
merchant.

Mr. Clapp named the number of thousands usually given to their
host; the amount was much lower than Mr. Taylor had supposed. He
had already discovered that Mr. Wyllys was highly respected by
the Longbridge community in general, and he had taken it for
granted that he must be the richest man in the neighbourhood; but
he now found that this was far from being the case. Mr. Wyllys,
though in easy circumstances, could not command half as much
money as several business men about him.

"THERE is a good fortune for you," said Mr. Clapp; "the lady on
the sofa; her property does not lie here, though. The real estate
is mostly in Carolina and Philadelphia. Did you see the young
gentleman who has just gone out on the piazza with your
daughter--Mr. Hazlehurst? At the demise of the widow, it all goes
to him; but in the mean time he has only two thousand a year--it
will be full twenty, altogether, if well managed," said Mr.
Clapp, running his fingers through the black locks which his wife
thought so handsome.

{"fortune" = short for a woman of fortune; an heiress}

"Mrs. Stanley is the old lady's name, is it not? The young
gentleman is her grandson, I conclude."

"Not at all; only a nephew by marriage," replied the lawyer,
pulling up his collar. "He may feel much obliged to Mr. Stanley
for feathering his nest so well. But Hazlehurst is a very good
fellow; I always liked him from the time he was a little shaver."

"The testator had no children of his own to inherit, I suppose,"
remarked Mr. Taylor.

"No sir; the only child of the first wife died just before his
father--the lady in the other room had no family. Mr. Stanley had
not a single near relation in the world; he bequeathed fifty
thousand dollars to an Orphan Asylum, and left his widow a
life-estate in one-half the remainder; which, at her death, goes
in a lump, real estate and personals, to young Hazlehurst, who is
the son of an old friend, and a nephew by marriage."

{"personals" = personal property}

"Some four hundred thousand dollars, I think you said; that would
make a fine capital for a young man to open business with!"

"But show me the young man who, with four hundred thousand to
begin with, will not spend it instead of making more! No, sir;
give me a man with small means and a sharp wit for his stock in
trade, rather than a hundred thousand down; ten to one the first
winds up the better man by a good round sum. I should not wonder
at all to find myself a richer man than Harry Hazlehurst by the
time I am fifty."

"What splendid operations he might engage in, though!"

"If he wanted to, he could not touch the money now; it is all in
the widow's hands until he is five-and-twenty, excepting the
allowance of two thousand a year which she gives him, now he is
of age."

After a little more conversation of the same nature--in which the
Van Hornes and the Bernards came in for their share of the
appraisal, Mr. Clapp concluded by the offer of an introduction.

"Shall I introduce Mrs. Stanley to you? I am very well
acquainted. I was raised in the same part of the country she came
from. She is a very agreeable lady in conversation."

Mr. Taylor had not the least objection to make the acquaintance
of any human being enjoying an estate of four hundred thousand
dollars. He assented, and following Mr. Clapp into the
drawing-room, the introduction took place without farther
preface. Mrs. Stanley had been conversing with Miss Patsey and
Elinor; she was rather taken by surprise when Mr. Clapp,
advancing before her, said, with a flourish, "Mr. Taylor, Mrs.
Stanley." Both the gentlemen were received by her with as much
quiet coolness as was consistent with civility to her friend's
guests. She had lately been often annoyed by Mr. Clapp's
officious attentions, and was at a loss to account for them,
until she remembered he might be wishing to obtain a share in the
management of her affairs.

Having succeeded in bringing about the introduction, Mr. Clapp
turned to Elinor.

"I hear strange stories in Longbridge about you, Miss Wyllys,"
said Mr. Clapp.

There was as yet no individual in the little world known to
Elinor, more trying to her temper than the husband of her friend,
Kate Hubbard. There was a smirking impertinence in Mr. Clapp's
manner, of which it seemed impossible for him to divest himself,
for it was often most conspicuous when he wished to make himself
most agreeable; and no wonder this was the case, for it was a
quality natural to him. The simple feeling of genuine respect and
deference, so grateful to the heart where sincerely felt, was one
he had never had the happiness to know. On the present occasion
Elinor was not a little provoked with him, and something of the
feeling might have been traced in her expression. We have heard
of brilliant black eyes, that never appeared more beautiful than
when flashing with passion. Those of our friend Elinor were small
and grey; indignation, therefore, may not have been so becoming
to them.

"Scarcely worth remembering, I fancy," she replied; and then made
some observation about Mrs. Hubbard, to turn the conversation.
The raillery and pleasantry of a man with no more tact, or true
delicacy, than William Cassius Clapp, was more than even Elinor's
sweet temper could have borne.

Mr. Wyllys had taken a seat near Mrs. Taylor.

"We have not seen all your young people yet, I believe, Mrs.
Taylor."

"Oh, no, sir--I have six at home, besides the two here. Thomas
and Adeline are my eldest; the rest are hardly old enough to go
out; to parties--though Pompey is nearly fifteen."

"You must bring Mr. Pompey, too, next time. Your eldest son tells
me he has just left Yale."

"He graduated last month. I want him to stay at home now until
winter, and then go into business. But his father has taken a
nation of having him go to Europe for six months. Thomas does not
care so much about it; but husband has a great opinion of a
European journey--he talks some of going himself. Some young men
go a whaling to see the world; but Mr. Taylor thinks Thomas had
better have a chance to go to Paris."

"He will probably find Paris the pleasantest trip of the two,"
said Mr. Wyllys, smiling. "Young Hazlehurst is going abroad, too;
he sails next week, with his brother. What is the name of Harry's
packet, Nelly?" asked her grandfather, taking the young girl's
hand affectionately, as she passed.

Elinor named the vessel; and, from Mrs. Taylor's answer, it
appeared, the young men were to sail in the same ship.

"I am glad to hear that your grandson is going to France, sir; it
will be more sociable, for Thomas to have somebody he knows, in
Paris."

"They will probably meet there. Harry is not my grandson,
however."

"I beg your pardon; but, I understood, that the pretty young
lady, with the white flower in her hair, and the young gentleman
talking to my daughter Adeline, were your grandchildren."

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