HAWTHORNDEAN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 195, 22 December 1876, Page 6

HAWTHORNDEAN.

CHAPTER XXVII. MABBIED IN HASTE.Mb. Benton was seated under the stoop of the cottage at Inglewood in the early spring twilight, when he read this letter- he gioaned aloud as he finished it, starting Sobriety out of a nap she was comfortably taking in her chair by the kitchen fire. The girl ran to the inner room, where her mistress was quietly Denning a 'atter to her dear absent Harold. * s ' Mr. groaned a heap like a fit ? " t shelsaid, coldly. "I thimk you better Btir." "' , ., Th ,, e ,' wi^ ewa ' s by nis side inst antly> inquiring', "Are you ill Philip ? placing her hand on his forehead, which bore marks of deep distress. The look from his dark piercing eyes almost terrified her as he pointed to the letter, placing at the same time his hands over her face, he burst into an agony of tearless grief, exclaiming, "O, my child, my child ! my lost Marion, why did I suffer you to leave me!" J " J . 8 J* to ° kte to hope ? » inquired Mrs. Benton, after reading the epistle through without pause or exclamation; "this tells

nothing decided, only gives reason to fear; it. is not too late to warn, certainly." "It is all plain to me, Lucy," he replied, in a voice scarcely audible from strong emotion, which he was in vain endeavoring to control. (Philip Benton was not as proud and self-contained as of erst.) " Perfidious girl ! this accounts for the hist letter from her j how bitter is to be her punishment ! " "But is it too late?" again inquired her mother. " God knows," he said ; "if Marion with her powerful will has become entangled with this man, she would hardly be influenced by the judgment or advice of a parent. I can use authority — I can separate them — but you know well what that means." Never before had he referred to their own. very early and somewhat imprudent marriage, against the approval of parents, and with at last only a reluctant consent. " The sins of the parents I O, dreadful penance, to see our dear ones visited in this way." Mrs. Benton was silent j all the long years of their marriage were obliterated, and she remembered only the pleadings of her father as he said, " Lucy, I tremble for your happiness with this proud, haughty man." He had used his authority to prevent the union,' till he found time and separation did not change their determination, and then his consent was given under protest. " And yet," said Mrs. Benton to herself, "it was from no real evil that he knew of Philip, only an unaccountable dislike he had taken to the man." She wondered within herself, as she stood with her hand resting on. her husband's head, that he should have spoken of these things ha this connection. He seemed to read her thoughts, and recovering 1 himself, he drew her down by his side and said affectionately, " Don't for a moment think, Lucy, that I mean to compare our courtship and marriage with Marion's proceedings, if I guess the truth concerning her. Ours was the first pure generous affection of youth ; I only spoke as I did, to show how little parental authority affects in such matters, even in the most obedient; if Marion intends to put off young Leighton for that scape-grace Stapleton, it is because of a gilded bait ; she is making haste to be rich, like her father, and like him she will blast her whole life." "Do you know him ? " inquired the wife ; " the Colonel speaks of reformed habits." " I knew him well,*fifteen years since/ as a good-natured, fellow about town, fast in many ways ; he then, spent the income of a large fortune in drinking and carousing. His respectable friends tried to keep him up, and he was never excluded from society though he was often unfit to appear among ladies. He lost a part of his fortune by me," lie continued, struggling with the memory of those days; "but the Colonel thought it would be a good thing for him to lose it, and persuaded him to enter into this East India scheme, in which he has been wonderfully successful, and reformed in his habits also ; it is time for that; he must be nearly as old as Colonel Hartland. He is fine-looking, and can be a perfect gentleman, but ah ! the golden hook which he holds out to catch my child ! What shall I say to .Marion ? I have yet to answer her letter announcing a change in her toward Horatio." " I think I should write as if it were impossible she'should think of any one else; I tremble for the effect upon Horatio/ "Yes, Lucy, he will stagger under it, but I hope he will not fall ; we must do what we can for him ; many a girl has the ruin of a man, soul and body, on her conscience. Leighton will bear it better than some men would — Dr. Nelson, for instance, I think it will harden Horatio, lead him to look on ambition as bis bride, and make him thoroughly worldly; you can do much for him, my dear." It was indeed a difficult task to speak to the wounded heart of the young man, when he came to Mrs. Benton's with the lines from Marion in his hand, declaring their engagement at an end, and with a restless and unequitable movement, walked the room, begging Mrs. Benton to tell him what to do. She gave him such comfort as she could, would not allow that all hope for him was lost, and the distressed lover returned to his home, spent the night writing letter after letter to his beloved, and ended by tearing all into a thousand pieces. Seizing his portmanteau, into which he had hastily thrust a few articles of clothing, he surprised Mrs. Benton at the first dawn of day, by appearing at Inglewood, with the intelligence that he was en route for the east without delay. Night and day— sleepless nights and wearisome days in those times of slow transportation; but at the end of a week he found himself in a large hotel in the city that contained to him the greatest treasure. He hid not once reflect on his appearance— his haggard look, his disordered garments—he did not even wait for fashionable hours, but took his way at once to Colonel Hartland's mansion, with the look of an anxions speculator on his face. He inquired at the door for "Miss Benton;" the servant looked doubtful, and then replied that Miss Marion was out, but Miss Eosine was in— would he send up his name ? He hadtforgotten the existence of such a little thing as a card, but fortunately for his wits, at that moment the Colonel crossed the hall. " Bless my heart I" he exclaimed, coming forward and divine his hand cordially to the young man. " Come in, lam glad°to see you; come in here," he added, and remembering all that must necessarily follow this visit, he opened the door into his own private parlor. It was a very awkwardjiosition, and no one could feel the awkwardness more sensibly than the Colonel, and as usual he made a rush in medias res at once. "I suppose you came, principally to look after Marion "he said after a pause that was terrible to both. " I hope you maY be in time to make matters all straight again; she has gone to ride just now with— my cousin, Tom Stapleton; these constant atten. tions troubled me, but you know I felt she was safe." The hot blood mounted to the temples of the youno- man as he heard this, there was more to be feared than he had thought • he had not believed that Marion could already put another in* his place. At that moment he heard her ringing voice in the hall and.the tones of her attendant as he followed, closely upon her steps'

" Will you see her here ? " said the Cvlone 1 ., "or Tvill you go f o the library/ "I will meet" them together," he said very angrily : " I will know in his presence the result of my coming-" The Colonel stepped across the hall and ushered him into the room unannounced. Here was a rencontre indeed. Stapleton, the thorough good-natured man of the world, with his nonchalant air, his courteous manners, and (I must say it, shocking- as it is, it is the truth,) his recherche dress, perfect even to the very tips of his boots, had a decided advantage over the plain, straightforward, somewhat diffident manner of our western hero. Marion gave a little scream of surprise as he entered, but she was not abashed, for she had neither the stern eye of her father, nor the cold, cynical sneer of the Doctor to meet ; she expressed her -wonder very naturally, and eagerly inquired if there was any trouble at Inglewood, that was the cause of his unexpected presence. Let not my readers suppose that Marion was entirely heartless, she was only weak and vain. It would have been impossible for her then to have loved any man simply for himself ; over her soul, capable of great things but for this shadow, had grown up the upas of ambition to "be rich, to have position; the roots were imbedded in her very nature, and they had grown with her growth, in spite of the careful weeding of a mother's hand; nothing but the spade of affliction, sorrow,, mortification, digging down deep into her soul, could tear out and root up this deadly plant that fed on the " right choice food" of her affections. As Leighton pleaded •with her that night, opening before her the rich treasures of his love, and telling her what he would do for her, and of his high hopes for her sake j of political advancement, Congress, the Cabinet, even the White house, passed in review before her, but these were only possibilities : while Mr. Stapleton, as he had told her often, was ready to make her at once mistress of as fine an establishment ; as the city could furnish, with every thing money could buy, and a | voyage to Europe as a wedding tour ; these were tangible certain- ■ ties. Let us hope it was the touc of Europe, and nob the filthy j lucre decided her. Leighton was seen no more at Colonel Hartland's, and in less than two weeks she allowed her new lover to } inform the Colonel that they only waited the consent of her father I to_ their betrothal. The consent was not given, neither was it ' withheld. Mr. Benton warned hia daughter of the possible consequences of- her folly, in words that made her tremble and weep over the beautiful set of diamonds her lover had that day brought her. He did not order her to come home, he laid no command upon her as she feared, hut he did not give her his blessing, or ■wish her happiness j he simply said, "- My daughter, if you have deliberately chosen this lot — God help you ! " Marion's energy and determination came to her assistance, she did not give way to grief, she rode rough-shod over her own better nature, to the accomplishment of her ambition. BTr. Stapleton was impatient; why should a man of fifty years defer his marriage ? Matters were perhaps hastened by a repoi't which Dr. Hartland mischievously brought home, that a former flame of cousin Tom's had just arrived in town, in the person of a rich and charming widow. It may be said to Marion's credit -perhaps, that j although her external manner was bright and gay as ever, she ! could not go through the preparation the Catholic Church requires I even of her negligent children for the reception of the sacrament of i marriage, -without much interior suffering and many misgivings. She did not care to meet Father Itoberts, but a stranger might be found to perform the marriage ceremony. It was the closing eve of the month of May, the day before the wedding ; a tender letter from her mother was in her hand, couched in those terms which only a mother can use. Marion had asked to he allowed to return home with her husband before their foreign tour, and it had been Mrs. Benton's hard task to say, that for the present she must spare them, the wound was too recent. It would he small satisfaction to either herself or her parents to come to them now ; and then in the close there were so many affectionate heart-yearnings for her wandering child, that even Marion wavered, asking herself almost with anguish, if it a were best thus to grieve and wound those who loved her so dearly." It was dusk of a^moonlight eve, the lamps'weie not lighted, and there -was great quiet in the room, a silence' almost ominous ; ! no one observed the terrible anguish that crossed her brow as she sat gazing into the street, wholly unconscious of what was passing without, until she saw her lover alight from his carriage, and run up the steps. The splendid span of mottled bay horses pranced and champed the bit with impatience ; he had. come for a last drive together before leaving the country. Just for one instant she wished the horses, carriage, servant, footman in livery, and the master of the establishment with Pharaoh's lost chariots; the next she was arraying herself for the drive, scattering all her better thoughts to the wind.