Was It Right to Forgive? Part 19

He spoke from the foundations of his being; he said: "Sir, my dear sister is on the way to mortal and immortal ruin; and both you and mother shut your eyes to the fact. I also have refused to see what others see. I have said to myself, when mother speaks, when father speaks, it will be time enough for me to do my part. Sir, Rose takes too much wine; she takes it at improper times, and with improper people. This afternoon Mr. Van Hoosen found her with that nephew of Folletts--you know the man."

"Richard Duval?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go on, Harry. Tell me all you know. What had Antony Van Hoosen to do with the matter?"

"He saw that she was taking too much. And he loves Rose better than his own life. So he invented an excuse to get her home."

Mr. Filmer bit his lips pa.s.sionately, and Harry saw that he was disposed to settle his anger upon the innocent. "Sir," he said, "Antony did our family a great kindness. I met him on the avenue afterwards, and we had a long conversation. He is coming to see you in the morning. He is anxious to have the right to watch over Rose--to protect her----"

"G.o.d in heaven! Has not Rose a father, and mother, and brother?"

"We have hitherto done nothing to help, or to save, the girl. We have each and all trusted to the power of social laws and judgments. Mother and I have certainly suspected, feared, divined something wrong for a long time; and we have both acted as if we thought by ignoring the danger we could destroy it. Antony loves her better than we do. He is ready to marry her at once. He will take her to Europe, and watch over her constantly, until the temptation is dead, and the memory forgotten by every one."

"Harry, we do not want a stranger to do our duty, do we? If Rose is to be taken away, her father and mother are the proper persons to go with her."

"Not in this case, father. When a man of Antony's spotless character, good lineage, and great wealth makes Rose his wife, every one's mouth will be shut by the honor done her. People will recall the old reports only to say, 'There must have been a mistake! Rose is so excitable!'

And no one will eventually, in the face of such a fact as her marriage, trust their own sight or memory about what they think they have seen or heard. If you are Rose's friend, my dear father, listen to what Antony Van Hoosen says, and make Rose marry him."

"Make? Who can make a woman do what she is resolved not to do?"

"Then, let us go back to Woodsome; there we may be better able to protect Rose from herself and others."

"Yes. We can go back to Woodsome."

"But even that will not be sufficient, sir."

"Do you think I am unaware of my duty, Harry? If Mr. Van Hoosen is willing to devote his life to watching and guarding Rose, what am I capable of? I, her father! I will leave my studies; I will put every thought out of mind but Rose. The Saviour who went out into the wilderness after the stray lamb shall be my example. All the other ninety-and-nine interests of life shall be forgotten, if so I may accomplish this one." He rose as he said the words, and stooping to the table, swept the slips of paper into an open drawer; and his face, though solemn, was full of light and purpose.

"We should have spoken plainly to each other before this hour, Harry,"

he said, "and you were wrong not to have come to me before. A matter of such vital importance ought not to have been trusted to the peradventures and influences of society. We ought to have looked the danger in the face; we ought to have acknowledged it to each other, and never suffered the possibility of such a sorrow and shame to have become even a probable event."

"My dear father, it is not surely too late. I will help you in any way I can." And then Mr. Filmer's eyes met his son's eyes, and, oh, how well they understood each other!

"And the way being the way of duty, Harry," he answered, "we shall not miss it; for duty is the commandment exceeding broad."

At this point Mrs. Filmer entered, and Harry, after placing her in a chair, left the room. For a few minutes she sat quiet, looking into the fire with that apathetic stare which follows exhausted feeling.

Then Mr. Filmer put his chair beside hers, and taking her hand, said:

"My dear Emma, we must bear and fight this trouble together. Harry has told me all. And I do think, if Mr. Van Hoosen will marry Rose, it is the very best thing for the dear girl. He will take her to Europe, into entirely fresh scenes,--and marriage buries so many imperfections and offences."

"Pray, what has Mr. Van Hoosen to do with Rose?"

"He wishes to marry her. He wishes to have the right to watch over and protect her."

"Mr. Van Hoosen marry Rose! What an idea! Rose is exceedingly angry at him. She says he interfered with her in the most unwarrantable manner, and frightened her until she has been quite sick from the shock."

"He did well to frighten her. On that awful road leading down, and down, nothing but a fright will arrest attention. If Rose will not put herself in a loving husband's care, then we will shut this house and go to Woodsome to-morrow night."

"Such nonsense!"

"I say, we will leave New York to-morrow night for Woodsome, or else we will take the next steamer for Europe. There are these two alternatives; these two, and no other."

"And you will permit your daughter to marry the son of the mason who built our house?"

"The mason who built our house is of my own kindred. He is as fine a gentleman as ever I met. He is honorable and well cultured; and his son, Harry says--and he knows him well--is worthy of his father."

"Nevertheless, Rose will not marry him. And as for breaking up the house now, it is not to be thought of. People will say that we had been compelled to do so, either by Rose's misconduct or else by our own poverty. It is simply ruinous to our social standing to leave the city now."

"If Rose is not inclined to marry Mr. Van Hoosen, we shall leave the city to-morrow evening. For I do not believe I shall be able to afford the European alternative. At any rate, not for a few weeks; and those few weeks we must spend in Woodsome."

"You are simply talking, Henry."

"To-morrow, I shall simply act. I do not often go against your wishes, Emma, but in this affair, as surely as I live and love, I will take my own way! What did Rose say to you? What excuses did she make for herself?"

"I think there has been a great deal too much made of the affair.

Rose says, Adriana Van Hoosen had partly promised to go to the matinee with her, and she went to ask her to redeem her promise this afternoon, as Irving was in a Shakespearean character. But Adriana had gone out--gone to see her sister, who is married to a Dutchman keeping a little grocery on Second Avenue. So then Rose intended to come back home, but met Mr. Duval, and he persuaded her to go to the matinee with him. After they came out, they went into the restaurant for a cream and a gla.s.s of wine, and while they were taking it Antony Van Hoosen came to her in a hurried manner and told her she must return home at once. Rose was terrified about you. We are all terrified about you, when you are out of our sight--studying so much as you do, we naturally think of apoplexy, or a fit of some kind,--so the poor girl feared you had had a fit, and she was too terrified to ask questions."

"But why did she not see you as soon as she came home? for Harry says you did not know she was home until he told you."

"She says she ran upstairs to take off her bonnet, and that she felt suddenly so ill that she lay down a moment to collect her feelings before seeing any one; and that she fell asleep, or into a faint--she does not know which. She had hardly come to herself when I spoke to her. The poor child has been crying her eyes out, and for a little while she could say nothing but, 'Oh, mamma, is not this dreadful, dreadful!' And when I told her you were not sick at all, and none of us were sick, she was naturally very angry at Mr. Van Hoosen for frightening her in such a way; and I think myself it was a very great impertinence."

"Emma! Emma! You know it was a kindness beyond the counting. If Mr.

Van Hoosen had not brought her home, would Mr. Duval have done so?

Dare you think of the possibilities of such a situation? As for me, I count Antony Van Hoosen to have been a friend beyond price. A man able to meet such an emergency, and brave enough to face the responsibility he a.s.sumed, is a n.o.ble fellow; I care not whose son he is. I hope, I pray, that Rose may not fling her salvation from her."

"But, my dear Henry, if she does, it will not do; it really will not be prudent to leave New York till the proper time. I promise you to go with Rose wherever she goes."

"I shall take her out of the way of temptation. When a poor, weak soul is _in_ temptation, it is too late to reason or entreat; and Rose will not be frightened again. She must marry Mr. Van Hoosen, or else we shall return to Woodsome to-morrow. That is all about it."

"I cannot be ready to-morrow. It is impossible to move at a moment's notice."

"I was at Woodsome last week, and the house is warm and comfortable.

Every necessity can be procured in an hour. I will stay with Rose, and you can return and arrange for the transmission of your dresses and such other things as you wish to remove. You know how to manage well enough, Emma."

"To overdo is always a man's way; and I tell you in this matter, to overdo is to underdo."

"I am sure I am right, Emma. Ask your heart, and tell me honestly if you think Rose is in danger or not?"

"I will watch her carefully."

"Then you think she is in danger?"

"Oh, Henry! Henry! What can I say? How can I tell? I love Rose so dearly! I love her so dearly!"

"So do I love her! I am sorry that I have not looked better after our little treasure."