Cousin Maude Part 14

The necessary arrangements were quickly made, and ere a week was pa.s.sed Maude found herself in Rochester, and an inmate of Mrs.

Kelsey's family; for, touched with pity, that lady had offered to receive her, and during her brief stay treated her with every possible attention. Nellie, too, was very kind, ministering carefully to the comfort of her stepsister, who had ceased to be a rival, for well she knew J.C. De Vere would never wed a penniless bride and blind!

CHAPTER XV.

THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL.

The 20th of October came, and with a firm hand Maude Glendower arrayed herself for the bridal, which was to take place at an early hour. The scar on the end of the doctor's nose had shaken her purpose for an instant, but when she thought again of the unpaid bills lying in her private drawer, and when, more than all, the doctor said, "We greatly fear Maude Remington will be blind," her resolution was fixed, and with a steady voice she took upon herself the marriage vows.

They were to go to Laurel Hill that day, and when the doctor saw that the handsome furniture of her rooms was still untouched, he ventured to ask "if she had left orders to have it sent."

"Oh, I didn't tell you, did I, that my furniture was all mortgaged to Mrs. Raymond for board and borrowed money, too; but of course you don't care; you did not marry my furniture," and the little soft, white hands were laid upon those of the bridegroom, while the l.u.s.trous eyes sought his face, to witness the effect of her words.

The dent on the nose grew red a moment, and then the doctor, perfectly intoxicated with the beauty of his bride, answered, "No, Maude, I married you."

A rap at the door, and a note from Messrs. Barnabas Muggins & Brown "hoped Miss Glendower would not forget to settle her bill."

"It's really quite provoking to trouble you with my debts so soon,"

said the lady, "but I dare say it's a maxim of yours that we should have no secrets from each other, and so I may as well show you these at once," and she turned into his lap a handful of bills, amounting in all to four hundred dollars, due to the different tradesmen of Troy.

The spot on the nose was decidedly purple, and had Katy or Matty been there they would surely, have recognized the voice which began, "Really, I did not expect this, and 'tis a max--"

"Never mind the maxim," and the mouth of the speaker was covered by a dimpled hand, as Maude Glendower continued, "It's mean, I know, but four hundred dollars is not much, after all, and you ought to be willing to pay even more for me, don't you think so, dearest?"

"Ye-es," faintly answered the doctor, who, knowing there was no alternative, gave a check for the whole amount on a Rochester bank, where he had funds deposited.

Maude Glendower was a charming traveling companion, and in listening to her lively sallies, and noticing the admiration she received, the doctor forgot his lost four hundred dollars, and by the time they reached Canandaigua he believed himself supremely happy in having such a wife. John was waiting for them, just as thirteen years before he had waited for blue-eyed Matty, and the moment her eye fell upon the carriage he had borrowed from a neighbor, the new wife exclaimed, "Oh, I hope that lumbering old thing is not ours. It would give me the rickets to ride in it long."

"It's borrowed," the doctor said, 'and she continued, "I'll pick out mine, and my horses, too. I'm quite a connoisseur in those matters."

John rolled his eyes toward his master, whose face wore a look never seen there before.

"Henpecked!" was the negro's mental comment, as he prepared to start.

When about three miles from the village the lady started up, saying, "she had left her shawl, and must go back immediately."

"There is not time," said the doctor, "for the sun is already nearly set. It will be perfectly safe."

"But it's my India shawl. I must have it," and the lady's hand was laid upon the reins to turn the horses' heads.

Of course they went back, finding the shawl, not at the hotel, but under the carriage cushions, where the lady herself had placed it.

"It's a maxim of mine to know what I'm about," the doctor ventured to say, while a silvery voice returned, "So do I ordinarily, but it is not strange that I forget myself on my wedding day." This was well timed, and wrapping the garment carefully round her to shelter her from the night air, the doctor bade the highly amused John to drive on. They were more than halfway home when some luscious oranges in a small grocery window, caught the bride's eye, and "she must have some, she always kept them in her room," she said, and to the grocer's inquiry, "How many, madam?" she answered, "Two dozen, at least, and a box of figs, if you have them. I dote on figs."

It was the doctor's wedding day. He could not say no, and with a mental groan he parted company with another bill, while John, on the platform without, danced the "double shuffle" in token of his delight. There was a second grocery to be pa.s.sed, but by taking a more circuitous route it could be avoided, and the discomfited bridegroom bade John "go through the Hollow."

"Yes, sar," answered the knowing negro, turning the heads of the unwilling horses in a direction which would not bring them home so soon by one whole hour.

But the grocery was shunned, and so the doctor did not care even if the clock did strike nine just as they stopped at their own gate.

The night was dark and the bride could not distinguish the exterior of the house, neither was the interior plainly discernible, lighted as it was with an oil lamp, and a single tallow candle. But she scarcely thought of this, so intent was she upon the beautiful face of the crippled boy, who sat in his armchair, eagerly awaiting her arrival.

"This is Louis," the father said: and the scornful eyes which with one rapid glance had scanned the whole apartment filled with tears as they, turned toward the boy.

Dropping on one knee before him, the lady, parted the silken hair from his forehead, saying very gently, "You must be like your mother, save that your eyes are brown, and hers were blue. May I be your mother, Louis?"

Very wonderingly the child gazed into her face. It was radiantly beautiful, while the dreamy eyes rested upon him with such a yearning look that his heart went out toward her at once, and winding his arms around her neck, he murmured, "I shall love you very much, my mother."

For a moment Maude Glendower held him to her bosom, while her thoughts went back to the long ago when another face much like his had rested there, and another voice had whispered in her ear, "I love you, Maude Glendower." That voice was hushed in death, but through the child it spoke to her again, and with a throbbing heart she vowed to be to the crippled boy what Matty herself would well approve, could she speak from her low bed beneath the willows.

"What of your sister?" the lady said at last, rising to her feet.

"Is she recovering her sight?"

"Nellie writes there is hope," said Louis, "though she did not receive attention soon enough, the physician says."

There was reproach, contempt, and anger in the large black eyes which sought the doctor's face, but the light was dim, and he did not see it.

"It will be a great misfortune to her, and very hard on me if she is blind, for of course I must take care of her," he said at last, while his wife indignantly replied, "Take care of her! Yes, I'd sell my diamonds rather than see her suffer!"

Supper was now announced, and in examining the arrangement of the table and inspecting the furniture of the dining room, the bride forgot everything save the novelty of her situation. Mentally styling the house "an old rookery," she forced back the bitter feelings which would rise up when she thought how unlike was all this to what she had been accustomed. It needed but one glance of her keen eyes to read the whole, and ere the close of the next day she understood her position perfectly, and summoning to her aid her iron will, she determined to make the most of everything. She knew the doctor had money, aye, and she knew, too, how to get it from him, but she was too wary to undertake it in any of the ordinary ways. She did not tell him how desolate the old house seemed, or that she was homesick because of its desolation; but after she had been there a few days she sat down by his side, and told him that with a few improvements it could be made the most delightful spot in all the country, and she was glad she had come there to help him to fix it up. She knew he had exquisite taste, and as he was now at leisure they would contrive together how their parlors could be improved. She didn't quite like them as they were, the window lights were too small, and they must have the large panes of gla.s.s. Then satin paper on the walls would look so much better, and the carpets, though really very nice, were hardly good enough for a man of Dr.

Kennedy's standing in society.

"But," gasped the doctor, "the one in the back parlor is brand new--has scarcely been used at all and it is a maxim of mine--"

"Your maxim is good, undoubtedly," interrupted the lady, "but the chambers all need recarpeting, and this will exactly fit Maude's room, which I intend fixing before she returns."

The doctor looked aghast, and his wife continued: "The season is so far advanced that it is hardly worth while to make any changes now, but next spring I shall coax you into all manner or repairs. I do wonder what makes that spot on your nose so red at times. You are really very fine looking when it is not there. It is gone," she continued, and smoothing away a wrinkle in his forehead, she said, "We won't talk of the future now, but seriously, we must have some new Brussels carpets, and a furnace to warm the whole house."

Here she shivered and coughed quite naturally after which she returned to the charge, saying, "her family were consumptive, and she could not endure the cold."

"But, my dear," said the doctor, "it will cost a great deal of money to carry out your plans."

"Oh, no, not much," she answered, "give me five hundred dollars and I will do everything necessary to make us comfortable for the winter."

"Five hundred dollars, Mrs. Kennedy!" and the doctor's gray eyes looked as they used to look when Katy and Matty asked him for five.

"Five hundred dollars! Preposterous! Why, during the seven years I lived with your predecessor she did not cost me that!"

From old Hannah Mrs. Kennedy had, learned how her predecessor had been stinted by the doctor, and could he that moment have looked into her heart he would have seen there a fierce determination to avenge the wrongs so meekly borne. But she did not embody her thoughts in words, neither did she deem it advisable to press the subject further at that time, so she waited for nearly a week, and then resumed the attack with redoubled zeal.

"We must have another servant," she said.

"Old Hannah is wholly inefficient, and so I have engaged a colored woman from the hotel; and did I tell you, I have spoken to a man about the furnace we are going to have, and I also told Mr. Jenks to buy me one hundred yards of Brussels carpeting in New York. He's gone for goods, you know."

"Really, Mrs. Kennedy, this exceeds all. My former companions saw fit to consult me always. Really, one hundred yards of carpeting and a black cook! Astonishing, Mrs. Kennedy!"

The doctor was quite too much confounded to think of a single maxim, for his wife's effrontery took him wholly by surprise. She was a most energetic woman, and her proceedings were already the theme of many a tea-table gossip, in which the delighted villagers exulted that Dr. Kennedy had at last found his match. Yes, he had found his match, and when next day the black cook, Rose, came, and Mr. Brown asked when he would have the furnace put in his cellar, there was that in the eye of his better half which prompted a meek submission.