The Haunted Homestead Part 18

"But pshaw!" he said to himself, directly. "Am I Don Quixote the younger, that I should be guilty of such a piece of extravagant generosity? Absurd! I really must begin to learn moderation at some time of my life. St. Paul says: 'Let your moderation be known unto all men.'"

Now, what on earth can the angels reply, when the other party quotes Scripture against them? Nothing, of course; and Oswald Waring had no more generous impulses that evening. But oh! if he had only listened to those angel whispers; if he had only realized poor little Fannie's romance; if he had only, for once in his life, yielded to his impulse to commit that mad, rash, extravagant piece of Quixotism, as he called the act which, for a moment, he had dreamed of performing--from what impending anguish, what temptations, crime, and remorse, would they not have been redeemed!

CHAPTER V.

A CLOUDED HONEYMOON.

It had been arranged, as the best plan for all parties, under present circ.u.mstances, that Fannie should retain her situation as shop-woman at Leroux's hair-dressing and fancy store, where they were anxious to keep her as long as possible.

With Valentine's hundred dollars, and fifty dollars that had been made in overwork by Phaedra, a room was taken in M----, and neatly furnished.

And there Valentine and Fannie went to housekeeping, after this fashion: Fannie, still tending Leroux's shop all day, ate and slept at home, where Valentine visited her once a week, or oftener, whenever he could do so.

In the meantime, as winter advanced, Mr. Waring's health was fully re-established; and, as many of his favorite boon companions, who had been absent on their summer tours, returned to the neighborhood, Oswald began to resume his former habits of extravagant and reckless dissipation. Deer-hunting, coursing, partridge-shooting, and other field sports, occupied the mornings; and dinner parties, oyster suppers, and other entertainments, accompanied and followed by wine-drinking, song-singing, card-playing, and similar orgies, at home or abroad, filled up the afternoons and evenings.

Again were Valentine's services brought into requisition three or four nights of every week, to drive his master to the city at dusk, and home again at dawn. Upon these occasions, Valentine would drive Mr. Waring first to the clubhouse, restaurant, or billiard-saloon, that happened to be his destination for the evening, set him down, take the carriage and horses to the livery stable, leave them, and then go to Leroux's and stay with Fannie until the hour of closing the store arrived, when he would take her home.

Valentine, from his "gentlemanly" appearance, dress, and address, as well as from his perfectly trustworthy character, was not an unwelcome visitor at the store, where, behind the counter and by the side of Fannie, he made himself so useful that Monsieur Leroux would often speculate as to the possibility of getting him for an a.s.sistant. This also was Valentine's and Fannie's great ambition; but it was a vain one, for his personal attendance was considered indispensable to his master's comfort.

Valentine's standing order, upon these occasions of their night visits to the town, was to be in waiting with the carriage for Mr. Waring at twelve o'clock. And the man was obliged to be punctual, though he had often to wait two or three hours for the coming of the master. And, as a general fact, the longer Mr. Waring remained among his boon companions, the more intoxicated he became; and when at last he appeared, all the old humiliations and provocations of Valentine's former days were renewed. You know what these were. It would be vain repet.i.tion to describe them again.

All this was, in every respect, very trying to the poor boy. He religiously adhered to his resolution of abstinence from all spirituous liquors, and constantly and prayerfully struggled against the ebullitions of his own impetuous temper. But the life he led acted nearly fatally upon a very fragile organization; and all individuals of antagonistically-mixed races are known to be frail. The continued loss of rest, habitual irregularity in food and sleep, affectionate anxiety upon account of his master, tender solicitude for his own gentle, little wife, frequent and excessive provocation from Oswald, all combined to wear and fret his originally excitable temperament to a state of unnatural nervous irritability, that could scarcely sustain with calmness the rudeness of the shocks to which, in his false position, he was constantly exposed; and therefore he was very frequently--to use his own expression at the "love feasts"--in great danger of falling from grace.

Reflecting upon this portion of the poor, doomed boy's life; recollecting the great, the almost superhuman struggle his spirit was making against the terrible, combined powers of evil; of his discordant organization; his fiery, impulsive temperament; his unfortunate education; his unhappy position, and his exasperating surroundings, all antagonistic, false and fateful, we find his parallel nowhere in modern times, and are forced to think of the age of antiquity, and of those mighty but ineffectual struggles of some foredoomed mortal, like OEdipus, in the power of the angry Fates.

Upon poor Valentine's silent, deadly struggle, none but the pitying eye of our Father looked. And nothing but a miracle could have averted its final and fatal issue; and miracles are not wrought at the expense of moral free agency. There came at last a day--an awful day--when the boy spoke, and others heard, of that fell struggle with the powers of darkness.

But we antic.i.p.ate. The dark and trying seasons were relieved by brighter ones, alternating like night and day.

The hours spent with Fannie, either in the gay, lighted shop, among a thousand objects of taste and beauty, and occupations shared with her, and congenial to his own aesthetic fancy, or in their little home, that, despite of poverty, Fannie's taste had made beautiful, were seasons of unclouded happiness, in which all care was forgotten.

There were sunny hours, also, when Mr. Waring's better nature was in the ascendant; when he would feel like gratifying his own benevolence, and making Valentine happy, by fair promises of making him free; of setting him and Fannie up in the hair-dressing and fancy business, which he would laughingly declare to be exactly suited to Valentine; that Val could be the barber, and Fan the ladies' hair-dresser; and that they could have a nice little house in an eligible street, with the dwelling above, and the shop below. Thus he would talk, indulging his good humor at the small expense of his breath, and amusing himself with noticing the effect of his words upon Valentine's sensitive nature, playing upon its chords of hope and fear, as if his heart had been a harp, and his own the experimenting hand that tried its strings. Perhaps he intended to realize, at some future day, these expectations that he raised; at least, at the time of speaking he wished to please the boy by infusing a hope; but, alas! he only disturbed him, by exciting and aggravating his old pa.s.sionate aspiration after liberty.

But, besides those happiest hours spent with Fannie, there were other seasons of forgetfulness, and of almost unalloyed bliss. These were the Sabbath services and the weekly meetings, where the ardent, zealous soul of the young man found its expression in eloquence that reached the hearts of all who heard him, either in exhortation or in prayer.

He was very much beloved by the brethren, and especially by the sisters, of the Magnolia Grove Mission.

There was, however, two or three among the cla.s.s-leaders who objected to Valentine as being too much given to the vanities of this world, and who found great stumbling blocks in Valley's shining, black ringlets, and neat and even elegant dress. But as the fiend really did contrive to find his way into sinless Eden, so jealousy might possibly have crept into a "love feast" among Christian brethren and sisters; and Valentine's beauty, grace, eloquence and consequent pre-eminence, among the men, and popularity with the women, might have been the true ground of offense to his less gifted brothers.

However that might be, Valentine, perceiving only the ostensible matter of complaint, half resolved to give up his taste in dress and sacrifice his cherished ringlets, and seriously consulted Fannie upon the subject.

But Fannie would not listen to such a proposition with a moment's favor, and said that brother Portiphar and some of the others had such a grudge against beauty that they would turn all the Lord's fair roses and lilies into lobelia and rue, if they could. And Fannie's single opinion and vote outweighed all the others, and Valentine's hyperion curls continued to be an offense in Israel.

Thus pa.s.sed the winter and spring. This first half year, with all its shadows, was yet the fairest portion of the young pair's married life.

Toward its close clouds began to gather darkly and threateningly over their heads.

In the early part of summer Fannie was necessitated to give up her situation at Leroux's, and confine herself to such work as she could perform in the privacy of her own room, such as fine sewing and fancy work, which was not very lucrative; but even this resource in the course of a few weeks had to be abandoned, for Fannie was unusually delicate, and sadly needed rest and some one to take care of her for a while. And just about this time, late in July, Mr. Waring made up his mind to go to the North and spend the remainder of the summer in a tour among the fashionable watering-places. Of course, he designed to take his servant with him. In vain Valentine, hoping in the proverbial "good nature" of his master, proffered his earnest request to be left behind, urging the state of Fannie's health as the reason.

"Pooh, pooh, nonsense!" Mr. Waring could not spare the servant that was used to his ways. Fannie must do without her husband, and take her chance, as all those of her cla.s.s had to do. Surely she must have known what she had to expect when she married a slave man.

"And now, Valentine, don't bore me any longer with the subject. You were a great fool to get married at all; and if you trouble me further, you will make me regret ever having given my consent to that foolish measure," concluded Mr. Waring.

Valentine controlled his own rebellious emotions, and leaving Fannie as comfortable as under the circ.u.mstances he could make her, accompanied his master to the North.

They visited first the Virginia Springs, then Niagara, Saratoga, Nahant, and at the end of three months, returned home.

In close attendance upon his master, Valentine was obliged to pa.s.s through M---- without stopping to see his wife.

But the next day, at his first disengaged hour, he set out for the city, where he found Fannie the mother of a little girl of six weeks of age, and reinstated in her former position at Leroux's.

Fannie was very happy, and gave a cheering account of all that had occurred. Everybody had been very kind to her; the sisters of the church had visited her often; Phaedra had been with her, and Madame Leroux had made her many presents.

All this relieved and delighted the youthful husband and father; and when he pressed his infant daughter to his bosom, he wept tears of joy at the thought that her mother's heritage of freedom would be hers.

Some peaceful days followed this, in which Valentine, oblivious of every cause of disquietude, enjoyed the perfection of domestic happiness.

Then, early in November, Mr. Waring determined to go to New Orleans, to prosecute his acquaintance with a young widow, a native and resident of that city, whom he had met at Saratoga, and with whom he had been very much pleased. His servant was, of course, required to attend him, and upon this occasion Valentine obeyed without a single demur.

On reaching New Orleans, Mr. Waring took rooms at the St. Charles Hotel.

Apparently his suit prospered, for their stay in that city was prolonged through November and December. And Valentine had no opportunity of visiting his girlish wife until after the new year.

Then Mr. Waring hastily, and in the highest spirits, returned home, to settle up certain necessary business with his lawyer appertaining to troublesome creditors, and give some commendable directions to his housekeeper touching the rearrangement of his disorderly bachelor's hall. This occupied two or three weeks, during which time Valentine, when not in close attendance upon Mr. Waring, found opportunities to visit his beloved Fannie, and caress the infant, of whom he was dotingly fond.

The first of February Mr. Waring went again to New Orleans to meet his engagement with Madam Moriere, his promised bride.

Their marriage was arranged to take place immediately, to save the delay of the seven weeks of Lent, just at hand, and during which no strict Catholic, such as madam professed to be, would dare to enter into the "holy state" of matrimony.

Immediately after the ceremony, the newly-married couple set out on a bridal tour.

Mr. Waring was attended by his favorite servant, and madam by her maid, a French _grisette_, who "made eyes" at Valentine, and otherwise hara.s.sed him with her coquetries during the whole journey. And this conduct of Finette first suggested to Valentine's mind the probability that, during his own enforced, long and frequent absences from home, some one as unprincipled as Finette might be making love to his own pretty Fannie, unprotected and exposed as she was in that French hair-dressing establishment. Valentine might have been sure of that; but Fannie, with her wise and affectionate consideration for him, had never troubled the transient happiness of his sojourn with her by any histories of the petty vexations that disturbed her own life during his absence. Besides, Fannie, with all her innocence, was city bred, full of experience and the wisdom it gives, and quite capable of taking care of herself. And Valentine never would have dreamed of the possibility of such annoyances for her had not the behavior of Mademoiselle Finette made the suggestion. And now the thought gave his excitable heart a great deal of disturbance, and made him very anxious to return home. Of course, Valentine's impatience did not expedite that desired event.

The bridal party were absent six weeks, and finally reached home about the middle of April--a most enchanting season in that climate, corresponding in its advanced state of vegetation with our June, but much more beautiful in the luxuriance and variety of its trees, shrubs, vines, fruits and flowers, than any season in our lat.i.tude. The Red Hill mansion was very lovely in its grove of magnolias. The internal arrangement of the house reflected great credit upon Phaedra; and madam condescended to express much satisfaction with her new home and her good housekeeper.

As upon all former occasions, Valentine had been in too much requisition, when they pa.s.sed through M----, on their way home, to stop and see Fannie; but the next morning Mr. Waring dispatched him to the city to attend to the careful packing and sending out some baggage that had been left, of necessity, the evening before, at the hotel.

And Valentine availed of that opportunity to visit his small family.

He found Fannie as pretty and as glad to see him as always, and his little darling Coralie, now seven months old, more beautiful and attractive than ever; but he could not linger with them; his duties to his master obliged him, in less than an hour, to tear himself away again and hasten with madam's trunks and boxes to Red Hill.

The necessity of leaving his treasures so soon again after so long an absence depressed Valentine so much that Fannie hastened to console and cheer him. He was not, after all, more unfortunate in that respect, she said, than sailors and soldiers, nor was she more to be pitied than their wives.

And she sent him off, comforted with the promise that she would get leave from Leroux and come out the next morning with her baby to spend the day with Phaedra at Red Hill.

Fannie kept her word, and, during her visit the next day won her way so well into the good graces of madam that that lady expressed a kind interest in her and her little child, made them some pretty presents, and promised to facilitate as much as possible the frequent visits of Valentine to his wife and child. And the lady remembered and performed her promise so well that unusual indulgence was extended to Valentine, who was by her intercession enabled to pa.s.s every night with his family.