Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1881 — A. GIRL’S FANCY. [ARTICLE]

A. GIRL’S FANCY.

BY EDWABD J. SHRIVNKB. It is a quiet summer afternoon, and the valley in the Catskills where we find ourselves lies in perfect stillness; the skiff that monopolizes the little lake moving gently along without a ripple to make pretense of barring its progress. Brownfields is a delightful place, but if it were not for the visitors with whom the Peters fill their house in the summer lonely enough to be called wild. With the Peters and their friends, and with the groups of workmen that Mr. Peters’ forges have gathered in the valley, we have little to do; but will turn again to look at the fisher-boy, the solo occupant of the skiff. Jimmie Gordon is ambitious, and for the son of an Irish workman—the foreman at one of the shops—is well educated and refined. Mr. More, a city clergymen who spent some of his vacations at Brownfields, was struck with his quick native shrewdness, and, taking an interest in him, loaned him books, talked with him, helped him orally while in the mountains, and afterward by correspondence; and Jimmie’s own intelligence and earnest application have done the rest; so that when we meet him as Mr. Peters’ fisherman, he not only intends, with a true American sanguineness, to rise, but is far better equipped for the battle he has enlisted in than many even who start on a good deal higher plane. Meanwhile he attends strictly to business, and to-day, when we find. him on the lake, has finished his fishing for the day, and is idly sculling about, thinking of that better fortune that he has resolved shall be his in time, and wondering in what shape the fates will bring it to him.

Miss Etta Larton does not in the least look like a Fate as she comes down the hill-path with her cousin, George Larton, and their mutual friend, Harry Ellis; in fact, we are very much inclined to agree with George when he thinks of her to-day as much more of a Grace; but if she is not a Fate herself is certainly a notable instrument of their will. They are all three stopping with a large party at Montrose, the nearest apology for a town, and this full four miles away. Miss Larton, however, “goes in” for walking as the proper thing in the mountains, and rather against the will qf her escorts, has covere d the whole four Smiles on foot, and is still fresh and ready for adventures when she enters the little Brownsfields valley. Rather dark, of medium height, and in sturdy good health, shall be the whole of her personal description; and for her “state in life” it will be enough to say that she is the only daughter of the richest man in Cleveland, and so of course spoiled, but withal, very fascinating, as Cousin George can testify. She is given to •whims, and just now the fancy that strikes her is to have a row on the clear little lake that is. so invitingly laid out L. low. so that the one duty of her obedient companions is to find the ways and means; not altogether an easy task, seeing that all the boats are carefully locked up, except the one that Jimmie and his fish use with not the best effects as to cleanliness. Still, as it is the only one, it must be had. and Jimmie, in response t- > Larton’s request.- immediately rows up end takes the party, Miss Etta in the st. ra and in full view of the handsome boatman.

Is there such a thing as love at first eight? Surely; and before the trip around the lake is finished, Etta is completely conquered by the blue eyes of this Irish fisher-lad. On his part he felt the natural attraction toward a lovely girl that any man would; but never expecting to see her again any more than other chance visitors who have happened to row over the lake, he hardly thinks of her as more to him than a beautiful picture. If for a second anything further had entered his mind, he would instantly have dismissed it as an absurd crying for the moon. But Etta is not used to giving up her whims so easily. No sooner had she discovered that she liked his looks than she made up her mind to see more of him; and when Jimmie, after explaining all the surroundings of the lake, lands them, and somehow impresses on them the conviction that lie is not the sort of person to fee, she takes her cousin aside, and persuades him a little against his will to try and make a return for his politeness by asking him to the hop at the Montrose hotel the next week.

And now opens the new era in our hero's life. He is quite good-looking enough and “nice” enough not to s&ftn out of place in a frock-coat; and T>y careful use of his own and brother’s best clothes, he is able to appeal’ at the hotel quite correctly attired for a country hop, and so far from finding Etta’s infatuantion vanished as suddenly as it was born, she seems worse than before. Going to meet him as he enters the room, with an eager, bright smile, she quickly exclaims: “Then you haven’t failed ns ?” “Why, no; surely I wouldn’t miss such a chance as this. ” And then, suddenly reflecting that it would be best to modify this, he. adds, “and of seeing yon.” A quick flush of pleasure comes to her face at this first sign of admiration from him, and all her habitual coquettery comes to abet the curious folly that has taken such a hold on her. “No,” said Jimmie, “I enjoyed my row too much the other day not to come to this hop. Do you know that I have lived by that lake all my life, and never knew how beautiful it was before last Friday?” “Then this is really your home? We were wondering whether you belonged here, or were only a visitor. ” At this palpable attempt to pump him he was silent for a moment; but thinking it best to seem candid, he answered: “Yes, T was born and raised here.” Then, smilingly, “I’m only a country boy, you know. You may be sure, though, not too much of an one to thank yon for your kindness to me. ” Little as he yet understands the full extent of his influence over her, and thinking that she only takes some such interest in him as Mr. More has, he yet feels that he must not shock this rich young lady with the full truth about himself —that he is only a poor workman’s son; and, to avoid more inquires, at once asks for the dance just commencing. When the couple follow this up by another, and still another, the Larton party begin to talk; but all look on it as a flirtation in which Etta is amusing herself at this country boy’s expense; and Mrs. Larton, an easy-going woman, not especially reluctant to see Etta—who is only a stepdaughter get herself into scrapes, makes no attempt to interfere. George Larton alone gains a little clearer sight from his intense jealousy, the natural result of his long and painful suit. Rather dissipated when very young, the father’s consent has only been won after a most earnest siege and renewed proofs of reform; ai 1 when at last obtained, has by no means brought with it Etta’s love. At thirty he is not even on trial, and has a morbid hatred for any man who seems to bo receiving the least favor,

Harrying across the room to claim the next dance, which is due him, and he is doubly infuriated at Etta’s quiet refusal. V. XV < “O George! I am very sorry, but I forgot you, and have promised this to Mr. Gordon/’ , , “I am sorry too,” was the angry reply, “to deprive Mr.’Gordon of your society, as this will be his last chance of seeing you; but I wish particularly to speak to you at once.” A little scared at his manner, she takes his arm pettishly, and turns away with him, saying: “The next shall be yours, then, Mr. Gordon.” “Etta,” exclaimed George, “you positively must not dance with that fellow again. I am acting in place of your father now, and cannot see you flirting publicly with a man not a fit associate for you, and becoming the talk of the entire room.” “Very well; I consider ‘this fellow’ a fit associate for me or for you, and as I never was kept from doing what I pleased by people’s talking, you won’t frighten me in that way. ” And so he has killed his own hopes. Rousing all her feminine and individual 'perversity, the only result of his protest is to see her spend the most of the evening with Jimmie; to see him brought up to Sirs. Larton, and capturing her as effectually as her daughter with his sunnyblue eyes and sturdy, handsome face, to hear him invited to Cleveland! In the midst of it all Jimmie’s heart is beating very fast, and his head swimming a little; but he comes through it triumphantly, and leaves for home that night with strange, new hopes of securing the wished-for wealth by an easier and a quicker route than he had even dreamed of before. That he is purely mercenary it would be hardly fair to say; for most men can be flattered into a liking, if not into love, and Jimmie certainly can hardly help being flattered. Very few young men exist but are a little inflated by the evident liking and even admiration of a pretty and attractive girl; but when there is so great a difference in social position, in wealth and every thing else as in these two, we must look for more age and experience than Jimmie had to keep his head from being turned. Being turned, it is. easy to see why it should fancy it was the heart, and almost to think itself in love as easily as Etta has been.

And now we will drop the curtain for a few weeks, to raise it again during the early fall in Cleveland. In the cab that is driving up Euclid Avenue we find our hero, the same boy whom we met on the lake at Brownfields, still intent on his object, though no longer with a dreaming indefiniteness. The time since Etta left Montrose for home has by no means been spent idly. She, for the first time in her life, has found a whim to which she is constant; and in the correspondence which she grants him has, instead of dulling her interest in this latest notion, added fresh fuel to the flame. Jimmie, seeing now just how things stand, has been vigorously making preparations for appearing before Mr. Larton creditably. His first step is to borrow a little money his father has laid by, and the next to hire desk-room and an office-boy in New York, where he puts up a sign as “Broker in Iron,” this being to give color to the character he intends to assume of being an agent for Mr. Peters. And now, with all his arrangements completed, he is driving up to Etta’s home, not yet cured of all his palpitathms, but with considerably more self-possession. He feels very tremulous again as he enters the door, and as the footman with a gen de persistence, takes him to his room rather reluctant, since he cannot see what “fixing” he needs, and almost gives way when he finds himself in the most elegant room he has ever seen. Dressing and suddenly discovering that he is utterly at a loss as to where to go and what to do, his usual good luck brings Etta to his rescue on her way down stairs. Helped by the same good angel he struggles through his dinner; escapes a danger in not knowing what wine to drink by suddenly becoming totally abstinent; is fortunate enough to be drawn into a conversation on iron, and by adroitly using the little knowledge "picked up at the forges and in his reading, to gain credit for knowing a great deal. And so the days go on, Jimmie’s luck favoring him steadily until he has won Etta’s pledge of her love, her stepmothers good will, her father’s esteem. Her Cousin George had gone to California, disgusted, as soon as he got home from the Catskills, and Mr. Ellis, who is the only person besides Etta that knows anything of Jimmie’s real position, is South on a long trip. On a lovely September morning the lovers are standing at the lakeside, watching the bright sunlight that sparkles in innumerable diamonds on each little wave crest, while a great, lumbering schooner creeps lazily along with an occasional clank of its boom against the mast, and the cool swish of the water, that seems to grow deeper and darker and colder as the shadow of the hull falls across it. All around is the -dazzling sunshine, that here and there flashes white from a sail trying to coax motion from an air too hot and tired to stir into a wind. “Dear,” said Etta, suddenly, “do you know that papa goes to Europe to-mor-row for six weeks?” “No, I hadn’t heard a word of it. It must be a very sudden move. ” “Very. He only made up his mind last night.” * ‘You are not going too, as yon thought you would on his next trip?” ‘ ‘No, I can’t get ready. ” “Etta,” says Jimmie, after a moment’s pause, “have you the courage for a bold step while he is away ?” / “No—oh, no!” cried the frightened girl. “I can’t do it. Why don’t you ask for his consent ?” “Because I would never get it. He will only give you to a rich man, and that I won’t be for some time. If you marry me now he will easily give in, and will then have an interest in pushing us on, and will help us more than he would help me alone. It rests with you, and if you can’t agree to this, we may as well give up all our hopes. ” “Wait until to-morrow, and I’ll try and answer then.” Turning quickly to the carriage behind them, she adds: “We will go home now, and I will think until the morning. No, you musn’t talk to me !” imperiously, as he commences to speak. Very charming she looks, with her little, haughty air, but very commanding, and her lover very wisely leaves her to the balancing of duty and inclination, of prudence and self-will, that is so sure to turn in his favor. All through the evening and the next forenoon she is the usual bright fairy that her father worships; but hardly has the carriage left the door when she turns to Jimmie, who is standing behind her, with the words—

“I will go with you to-morrow!” Poor little lips! How white they are, and how they quiver! Jimmie Gordon really loves her, and is very earnest in the ambition that first prompted him; but for a few moments he wavers in his purpose, so cruel in its sacrifice of this victim to a destiny so uncertain. He can hardly be blamed for the utter selfishness of his plan when we think of the, to him, tremendous value of the prize, and the training that has never taught him his intentions are wrong simply because it has never held up to him the possibility of them; but still he cannot help feeling his responsibility in stealing a defenseless girl from her home, and doing it by means of systematic deceit toward both her and her father. Only for a few moments does this last, and he clasps in his arms this trembling frame, so lovingly, pyeijinits terror, clinging

to the manliness that she sees in the fierce triumph shining out of his eyes. The next day all the soft beauty has gone out of Nature, and her sterner mood seems aroused by the unnatural betrayal of hospitiJity and deliberate deception instead of being allayed by the happiness of the lovers. The water that forty-eight hours before spoke only of the Skimpole side of life with its lazy accent, now lashes itself to wake to the coming storm. The gentle lapping of the waves is changed to an uneasy rush and hoarse whisper; their bright diamond points give way to a dull, leaden hue that is only harkened by the white caps gleaming with their continuous energy as far as the eye can reach. As our runaways fly along on the railway to Rochester, they see the storm-rack “Come rolling in ragged and brown,” and in that sheet of spray and rain and wind, each movement overtaking and hiding another and another sail, they think they see a shadow of the darkness lying before them and forbidding a glimpse of their future. Of this part of their story there is litto telL If we were to follow them we would see them on the wedding-tour, happy in the present, and thinking little of any trouble to come. Then came the return of Mr. Larton, his grief at his daughter’s flight and anger at her husband; his inquiries, too late, about Jimmie by letters and even detectives, with the reports of mortal turpitude and bad reputation that the detectives feel bound to give him to justify their use and their pay; and finally comes the day when, under the influence of these reports, of his hurt pride and disappointed affection, and spurred on by his wife’s cautious encouragement, he writes to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, waiting for his answer in New York, that they shall never enter his house. We will pass over the receipt of this letter, with its message of sorrow to Etta, of anger and bitter disappointment to Jimmie; over the brief year after the marriage, while they live modestly on a few thousand dollars that Etta had in her own bank account at the time of the elopement; over the awful day when, this giving out, a letter begging pardon and reconciliation is replied to with:

“Dear Sir—Your favor of tb'j 28th received. My letter to you of a year since fully covers the question upon which you touch. Please consider our intercourse and correspondence closed. “Yours truly, Henry Larton.” And the storm-rack closed down over them, driving into their very souls the mist and cold. <> The little girl born a few weeks before this is their only child, and its babyhood knows only hardship; but when, at five years old, she begins to delight her father with a miniature of Etta Larton that trouble has so quieted and changed into Etta Gordon, she has a father who is a man, instead of the selfish, lazy parasite the forgiveness by Mr. Larton would have made him. His old friend, Mr. More, long before this had got him a start in a clerkship with a very small salary; but meeting one day Mrs. Peters, who had always been fond of him, she persuades Mr. Peters to secure him another lift, by which he improves himself; so that, six years after his marriage day, he finds himself beyond the reach of want, although' still a poor man. As the little family sit on this evening, a cheerful circle, though with the cloud that recollection still casts over them, a visitor comes. So changed is he from the Henry Larton of old, that Etta pauses before she flies to his arms. “My daughter,” says this white-haired man, “lama widower again, and have come to ask you if you will come back to me.

“O papa! I love you still, and I pity yon; but I have a husband and a child.” “My dear,” smiling, “I don’t want to separate you from them. Can’t you bring them with you ?” “Excuse me, sir,” interposes Jimmie. “I cannot ‘be taken’ by my wife now: and our struggles together have at least taught me that it is better to make my own living than to live on any man’s alms.” “Mr. Gordon, I do not wish you to come for your sake, but for mine; and if the reports of your business capacity are true, I think I shall get the better of any bargain I can make with you. I have learned, in short, that you have brains, as well as a handsome face, and am prepared to be proud of my son-in-law.” Let us leave them here. This, our Jacob served his apprenticeship for only six years, and that after he got his Rachel; but it served him in good stead, and like Hopeful in the story book, he found his fortune when he had truly earned it. <