CHAPTER XXV.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 192, 1 December 1876, Page 6

CHAPTER XXV.

COTTSIN TOM.

The winter of Marion's sojourn in Colonel Hartland's family was not as gay as it would have been, but for the anxiety that brooded over the society in which they mixed ; anxiety for sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers, preparing for battle ; war might commence at any moment where Aleck was, although as yet all was quiet. Mrs. Colonel Hartland prepared to give a small but brilliant party, especially, as she said, for bringing out Rosine, there were to be but few invitations and those very select ; she felt that it was due to Rosine and to society that she should make this exertion now, as circumstances might hereafter prevent her doing it at all, in her secret heart she desired that Marion and Rosa should make the acquaintance of some other marriageable gentlemen besides her son. Dr. Hartland frowned upon the whole plan, laughed at his mother's idea of bringing out Rosine, whom he had himself escorted to the naval ball ; but consented m the end to be consulted about the invitations. Mrs. Hartland, seated at the writing table in the library, had called to him as he came into the hall. " Where are the girls ? " he inquired, as he entered, equipped in furs and coats.

" Gone sleigh-riding- with your father, more than, two Tiours since." , " Just like father!" rejoined Ned, in injured tone. He had come from his office after a hard day's work, promising himself a drive with the young ladies, and had been forestalled by his paternal relative, his reply to his mother's request for help in the invitation to the party was not very cordial. " 1 suppose yon will insist upon having Laura here/ he said, pettishly, "and Tom Stapleton

has just arrived in the Belvidere from India, and will be down upon u& to-day : of course he must come. A precious couple to begin with ! " " How surly you are, Ned," said his mother, quickly, her calm self-assurance unruffled by hor son's remark ; "of course we must ask Laura, the world will expect it, and Tom will come whether we ask him or not. When did he arrive ?he has been away two years." "Yes, it is a pity the good-for-nothing old fellow hasn't staid where he was appreciated." "Ned, you talk shamefully," replied his mother in the same unruffled tone of voice ; "he is your papa's only near relative, and you and Aleck will be his heirs, in all probability." " He'd better not leave any of his tin to me, I should pass it over to Sister Agnes at once. Did you hear the Asylum was completely riddled by fire last night, the children all huddled into the new wing, but all saved by the superhuman exertions of the Sisters, some of whom are dreadfully burned ; I have been there most of the day, dressing wounds." "Was Miss Greenwood there ? " inquired Mrs. Harttand, without looking up from her writing. "I hear she spends all her leisure with the orphans." "Of course; she'll make a splendid Sister of Charity herself, by and by," said the Doctor, bitterly. "We ought to ask her to the party," said Mrs. Hartland, she is so very fond of Rosine." " She wont come, even for her love of Rosa. She might without any fear of me," he added, with a slight curl of the lip. Mrs. Hartland sighed as much as she ever permitted herself to sigh. " I wish* Lieutenant Greenwood were here," she said, after a pause. " Mr. Greenwood, if you please, mother ; there is no Lieutenant Greenwood now." "Don't you think he was quite .charmed with Rosine?" inquired Mrs. Hartland, dipping her pen into the ink for the twentieth time. The Doctor turned sharply around, and gazed at his mother a little fiercely for a moment, then suffering his countenance to relax into a smile, he said, " Women are forever making ov breaking matches for themselves or other people ; let Rosa alone in that way, I beg of you. She is the only young girl I meet who is not sure that every man she sees is wishing to- be a lover; but this sister of hers — what a contrast ! She'll put some new ideas into Rosa's head before spring. She were better in Illinois, if they expect her to marry her affiance; she is a la Laura, withtlie deviltry left out." " Hush ! " said his mother, laying her hand on his arm. At this instant the door opened, and the two girls "bounded in with rosy cheek and animated step, the Colonel following. Dr. Hartland moved one side, but did not greet them as usual ; his bad humor did not leave him till he saw Rosine pulling away at her gloves. " Here, let me help you," he said, somewhat gruffly, taking her small hands in his j " these things have nearly grown to your fingers." "She has been holding the ribands," said the Colonel; "I offered her my furs, but she declined." Ned held her hands, chafing and squeezing them alternately, till all at once the thought Marion had suggested to Rosine the previous night rushed into her head, causing her to cast down her eyes, blush painfully, and attempt to disengage her hands. A flash like an electric battery shot across the Doctor's mind, and his first impulse was to loose the handa he held, the next to retain them, and if possible, fathom the meaning of that blush. Her feeble resistance was in vain, and she was almost ready to drop tears of vexation with herself, not unmingled with anger against Marion, for the suggestions. "We came across Cousin Tom in the Park," said the Colonel, who was gradually thawing oat ; "he had the most splendid turnout in the crowd, and insisted upon my sparing one of my ladies." " You didn't do it ? " exclaimed Dr. Hartland, his countenance changing, and turning quickly to his father without releasing Rosine. "O, yes, I did," said the Colonel, in a soothing tone. "It was* Tom's first appearance on the street ; he was driving down here, » and was all right; Marion being nearest, he assisted her into the sleigh with his usual gallantry. He cuts a dash with his Indian driver and footman in livery ; and you had a charming ride I know, didn't you ? " he added, turning to Marion. She began at once to expatiate on the splendid equipage, the attention they attracted on the street, and to say that the gentleman would call to-morrow, ifc being now too near the dining hour. " I'm glad it wasn't you," whispered the Doctor to Rosine ; which simple speech renewed the blushes that had faded from her cheek, and. she wished Marion back in Illinois most heartily ; snatching her hands away, before the Doctor was aware of her intention, she was out of the room, and up stairs, weeping bitterly, and thoroughly homesick for her mother's hearb to rest upon. It is easy to plant a thought in the heart of another that will mar their happiness for life, and which all their efforts cannot root out ; but through the course of self-discipline Rosine had been taught by the Church, she had learned that evil thoughts, though they may "assault," cannot hurt the soul that has learned the true secret of daily life the constant offering of even the small trials and temptations, to be united with those of our dear Lord. With an earnest desire to do right above even the wish to be happy, Rosine set herself deliberately to think out the way to rid herself of the impression Marion had left on her mind by her ill-judged comments. " Between me and Doctor Hartland," she said to herself, '" there would always be Dora, my dear Dora, and his unconfessed but certain love for her, which I have often seen in unguarded moments." She knew he had Miss Greenwood's miniature, for once in a moment of confidence he had taken it from his bosom, to

show her how much Dora was in her youth like Harry. This was enough ; as to her own heart she felt she was free. One half -hour's quiet meditation, and with a short petition to her guardian angel for help, she returned to the library, went immediately forward with her old sisterly way to Ned, and asked him to go with her after dinner to the Orphans' Home, of which she had just heard the destruction. The Doctor looked at her a little sharply, then quizzically, but Ms only 100 happy to obey her behest. The Colonel had given each of the girls a note that morning, to procure material for a dress for the proposed party, and as Rosine held tight to Doctor ilartland s arm, hurrying over the slippery side-walks, she said, " Ned, I want to ask you something." " I'm always ready for anything you may have to say," he replied. "Do you wish to know why I was glad you did not ride with cousin Tom ?" " That was not my question," she said, " but I should like to know. Isn't he nice ? I'm sure he looks well." "He was brought up a gentleman, but is a slave to vice, .feather says he hasn't a bad heart, butl don't know how a man can make a fool of himself with drink, and not have a bad heart, but they say he has reformed ! " "And if he is reformed ? " said Rosine, gently. "You know I believe in probation; and as not many years since he was ofttimes in the gutters of this Sodom, I prefer to wait awhile before trusting pure girls in his society. He's worth a million at least, and father's his only relative, so I suppose I must endure him, and you mtist meet him. I only wished to caution you."

" Thank you, Ned; he isn't married, of course ? " "No, Heaven forbid," said the Doctor, " he is a confirmed old bachelor, almost as old as the Colonel. But you had something to tell me, and are almost at the Home. Rosa, did Sister Agnes ever ask you to join the sisterhood ? " "No, indeed, never," replied she, in a tone of wonderment; ' what could put that into your mind ? It is not my vocation ; I have too many friends, and love them too well." "Yes, it is a very unnatural state," said he, shaking his head, *• contrary to nature." " Now, Ned, there is no use in you and me controverting about this matter. I believe it to be a state higher than nature, to which not many are called. You do not believe me ? " she added inquiringly, as he did mot reply; "you have been reading those miserable books of escaped nuns." " No, Rosa, I leave that for the divines; I credited the nonsense slightly, till I was called to one of those same escaped nuns in the way of my profession. But here we are %t the very corner, and I have not yet heard your question." "O, dreadful!" exclaimed Rosine, as they came upoa the mass of blackened and still smoking ruins. "What a wonderful escape ! no life lost, and all those children to get out ! I wanted to ask you if the Colonel would much mind my not having a new dress for the party; I want to give this note to Sister Ao-nes—no-body will look at me ? " " I shall, for one," he replied, as they stood at the scorched entrance of the only wing that remained of that once noble structure; "nevertheless I will deny myself with you this time, and lose the sight of you in. a new dress." Rosine found herself amid a scene of suffering when she entered the large second floor, where she had once seen all those tiny beds with their dainty coverings, several of the Sisters being disabled, Sister Agnes most of all. A relay of nuns from another religious house were already on the spot, tending and nursin°with their gentle care : and Miss Greenwood was there, makin° herself generally useful. Dr. Hartland knew this when he assented to the walk ; he had met her in the morning, but he was not prepared to find Laura in close counsel with Dora. His face assumed at once a cold, proud look, as he bowed and passed on to the beds of the stricken ones, leaving Rosine to greet her friends as she pleased. The Doctor found Sister Agnes in a bad way; she had exerted herself since the morning for the others, till the wounds, that might with quiet have healed rapidly, had already produced »a marked fever. The physician ordered at once a separate apartment for her; but she resisted, saying she required no more than the other Sisters, and must be where she could look to 'her flock. The Doctor refused to argue the matter, but calling in the counsel of Father Roberts, who had come to give the last sacraments to one of the nuns whose long expected death had been hastened by the fright of the previous night, together they carried the day, without argument, and the Sister Superior was removed to a room by herself. Rosine left her gift in the hand of her pastor, and Dr. Hartland added a note of equal value.