CHAPTER IX.A LONELY HOUSE.“DO you mean to desert me, Paley?” asked Lilian, sobbing bitterly.“Does it look as though I meant to desert you when I have nearly ruined myself to provide a house that would please you?” I replied, as gently as I could speak, for I was not angry.“But you say you will go to that house without me?” she added, looking up as if she had a gleam of hope that I did not mean what I said.“I did say so, Lilian. I am going at seven o’clock, when the express wagon comes.”“Don’t you call that deserting me?”“No, Lilian; it will not be that I desert you, but you desert me.”“But I never will go into that house,” said she, sharply, as she dashed away the tears that filled her eyes.“Very well; then we need say no more about it,” I answered, placing the last of my wearing apparel in the trunk, and locking it.I did not think you would be so cruel, Paley.”“Cruel, Lilian! Do I ask anything unreasonable?”“I think you do. You come home, and wish to pack me off at half an hour’s notice into a strange house.”“I think I spoke of the matter last night, and told you I intended to go. If the time is too short, you may fix a day yourself to move. Name the time you will go, three days, a week, a month hence, and I will not object.”“I shall name no time. I will not live in that house!”“Then we may as well settle the matter now as at any other time,” I replied, with Spartan firmness.“You will leave me, Paley?”“I will.”“O, Paley! Have I lost all influence over you?”“I do not believe in this sort of influence. I repeat that I have done everything to please you; and before I told you that the house was for you, were you not delighted with it?”This was a sore subject to her. I knew very well that she liked the house herself. Her mother intended to keep us in our present quarters, forthe sake of the income to be derived from us. She could board us for ten dollars a week, and make something even at that, for salt fish and round steak form a cheap diet. I estimated that it cost five hundred dollars a year apiece to clothe the two younger daughters, and the profits on my board more than paid the bills. This was the whole matter in a nutshell. I do not think that Lilian was a party directly to the conspiracy, but she knew that it would upset all her mother’s plans if we left. Unfortunately for me, I had given the impression that I was made of money; that I not only had a large salary, but that I was the heir of Aunt Rachel, whose wealth was supposed to equal the capital of the Bank of England.My wife was too proud to acknowledge that she had any interest in her mother’s scheme; it was safer to say that she did not like the house. I knew that her family was reduced to the greatest straits; that Mr. Oliphant’s income was utterly insufficient to keep up the style of former years. I knew that Mrs. Oliphant pinched herself in every possible way, that the prospects of her two unmarried daughters might not be injured. But I felt that I had done enough for the family when I relieved them of one mouth to feed, and oneform to clothe. It certainly was not fair that I should pay the extravagant expenses of making the world believe that my wife’s two sisters were fine ladies.I was fighting the battle for my own independence, and not less for that of my wife. I know that mothers-in-law are shamefully traduced, but only because such a one as Mrs. Oliphant is taken as a type of the whole class. I regard her as the exception, not the rule. Her plan required that she should hold my wife as a slave within the maternal home. In little things, I found that Lilian consulted the will of her strong-minded mother, rather than my feelings. For example, I once overheard Mrs. Oliphant tell my wife to induce me to go to a certain concert, simply because Miss Bertha desired to go. Lilian did induce me to go, and I went. She came up to the point by regular approaches. Not a word was said about Miss Bertha till I was closing the door behind me, as I went to the bank, when it was—“By the way, Paley, don’t you think we had better ask Bertha to go with us?” Of course I thought so, and she went with us. Lilian did not care a straw for the concert; neither did I.This is only a specimen of the manner in whichI was victimized. I not only dressed the two marriageable sisters, but I was to introduce them into society, by paying their bills at concerts, theatres, parties and balls. But this was not the most objectionable part of the arrangement. I could not endure the thought of having my wife made the cat’s paw for the monkey to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. She was not my wife, in the just and proper sense of the word. She did not think so much of my interests and my happiness as she did of her mother’s will and wish. Neither of us was to live for each other, but both of us for the Oliphants’ ambitious schemes. So thoroughly was I persuaded in my own mind of the justness of my position, that I was determined to stick to it, even if it resulted in a complete separation.The door-bell rang, and we heard the sound of it in our room. I looked out the window. An express wagon stood before the door. The crisis had come, but I was as resolute as ever, and I expected to spend the night alone in the house in Needham Street.“A man at the door wants to see you, Paley,” said Mrs. Oliphant, who did not keep a servant.I went down to the door, and brought the manup with me. Lilian and her mother stood aghast. They appeared to be utterly confounded, and neither of them spoke in the presence of the stranger.“That trunk,” I said to the expressman.“Is that all?” asked he.“That is all,” I replied, giving him the number of the house in Needham Street.The man picked up the trunk and I followed him down stairs. I paid him, and he went off with my baggage. I was not willing to leave my wife without saying good-by to her, for I had some hope that she would yet relent. When my hand was on the door which I intended to close, Lilian called me from the stairs above. She came down, followed by Mrs. Oliphant. I hoped that both of them would understand me by this time.“What’s the matter, Paley?” asked “dear ma,” trying to look pleasant.“Nothing is the matter,” I replied, not caring to discuss the question with her.“Lilian tells me you are going to your new house.”“Doubtless she told you that before.”“But I did not think you would go off and leave her.”“Such is my purpose, unless she decides to go with me.”“Of course it is not for me to say any thing about it,” she added, in her magnanimous way. “But I must say I think you are a little unreasonable.”“Well, Mrs. Oliphant, I don’t care about discussing the subject any more. If Lilian chooses to desert me I can’t help myself.”“Desert you! Goodness gracious! I should think it was just the other way, and you are deserting her.”“I think not. If I provide a suitable home for my wife, it seems to me that she ought to occupy it with me,” I answered, meekly. “I do not wish to be unreasonable, but I think Lilian will admit that our plan discussed, and agreed to while we were on our bridal tour, was to go to housekeeping. I have provided a pleasant house, near yours, and furnished it in a style much better than I can afford. I have told her that, after occupying the house for six months or a year, if it does not suit her, I will conform to her wishes, whatever they may be. I think my view is a reasonable one, and I intend to adhere to it.”“Is she to go there whether she wants to or not?” demanded Mrs. Oliphant.“Am I to stay here whether I want to or not?” I replied. “In the matter of housekeeping, I consulted her, and we were of the same mind.”“You will not leave me, Paley, will you?” pleaded Lilian, satisfied that her mother was making no headway in solving the problem.“No; but you will leave me, Lilian. I am going now.”“Don’t go, Paley!”“Will you name a time when you will go with me, Lilian?”“I cannot go, Paley! Indeed I cannot.”“Good-by then, Lilian,” I replied, kissing her, while the tears gushed from my eyes.I rushed from the house, without stopping to close the door behind me. I wiped away my tears as I crossed the street at a furious pace. I walked till I had subdued the emotions which crowded upon me. It was half an hour before I dared to present myself before the Biddy I had engaged, lest she should fathom the secret that worried me. I rang the bell at my house, and the servant admitted me. She opened her eyes wide when she saw me alone.“Where is the missus?” asked she.“She has concluded not to come, to-night,” I replied, hanging up my hat in the hall.“The pretty crayture! Sure I’m dyin’ to have her in the house wit me!” exclaimed Bridget. “Is it sick she is?”Biddy.“She don’t feel very well this evening,” I replied evasively.“Sure the supper is all ready for the two of ye’s. The tay is drawn this half hour, and the crame toast is breakin’ in flitters wid waitin’ for ye’s.”“Very well; I will have my supper immediately.”The tea and the toast were certainly good enough even for Lilian; but it was the most miserable supper to which I ever sat down. My heart seemed to be almost broken. I lighted the gas in the little sitting-room, and threw myself into the rocking-chair. I looked around the apartment. Everything was neat, tasty and pleasant. Was it possible that Lilian refused to share such a palace with me? No; it was not her fault. With her mother’s permission how gladly she wouldhave taken her place by my side. Mrs. Oliphant evidently had not given me credit for any considerable amount of resolution. She was “the better horse” in her own matrimonial relations, and she found it difficult to comprehend any other than a similar arrangement in her daughter’s family.I tried to read the newspaper I had brought home with me, but my thoughts were with Lilian. I turned over the leaves of the books I had laid on the centre-table. I went into the dining-room and smoked. I was almost worn out with fatigue and excitement. I was miserable beyond description. I went to bed at midnight, and I went to sleep, but it was only to dream of Lilian, goading and persecuting me, led on by a demon who was always at her side.I rose in the morning, and found my breakfast ready at the time I had ordered it. It was such a breakfast as Lilian liked, but she was not there to enjoy it, and I groaned in spirit. I must go to the bank. I was not to see my wife, but I decided to write her a line—it was only a line:“Dearest Lilian:—I shallhopeto find you at our new home when I come up from the bank.“Paley.”I sent Biddy to deliver it, and told her not to wait for an answer.I went to the bank. Everything was “lovely” there. Even Mr. Bristlebach was “lovely;” and that was a most unusual attitude for him. Captain Halliard dropped in to see me. He was “lovely.” Tom Flynn was in excellent spirits; but he took occasion to tell me something about his business affairs, so that I could distinctly understand what a sad mishap it would be to him if I should fail to pay him the four hundred dollars I owed him on Monday. I felt that I must pay him, and I decided to visit Springhaven on Saturday, and cajole Aunt Rachel into lending me the amount.I went through my duties mechanically, but that day I lived on hope. I had ordered my dinner at home at half past three, which was the hour I usually dined. Lilian knew my habits, and I felt almost sure that I should find her in Needham Street. I believed that she loved me, and I could not believe that she would desert me. How my heart beat when I went into the English basement house! How it sank within me when Biddy failed to tell me that the “missus” was there. I dared not ask her any questions, lest she should discover the anxiety under which I was laboring.I looked into the sitting-room. It was as emptyas the tomb of all I desired to see. I went into the dining-room. The table was set for two, but one of the plates seemed to mock me. Lilian was not there. She was not in the kitchen. I went up stairs, but the same oppressive vacancy haunted every spot in the house. No Lilian was there, and without her the house was not home. The casket and all its appliances were there, but no jewel flashed upon my waiting, longing eyes.There was no note in reply to mine. Biddy did not deliver any message to me. It was plain enough that she had not heard from the “missus.” I was sure that Lilian loved me, and that if left to herself she would come to me, even if I had been lodged in a prison instead of the palace I had provided for her. I ate my dinner alone and in silence. The dinner was a good one, but it would have been the same thing to me if the roast beef and mashed potato had been chips and shavings, so far as I had any interest in their flavor.When the meal was finished I left the house, and wandered about the streets till tea-time. I kept walking without going anywhere; I kept thinking without knowing what I was thinking about. After I had been to supper, and Biddy had finishedher work, she came into the sitting-room where I was looking at the blank sheets of the newspaper I held in my hand. She begged my pardon for coming. She wanted to know when the “missus” was to be at the house. I evaded an answer. She told me she couldn’t stay in a house with no missus in it. She didn’t “spake to a sowl all day long,” and she couldn’t “shtop in a house wid only a man in it. She had a charrackter, and people would be talking if she shtopped in a house wid only a man in it.” Of course I was utterly confounded at this complication of the difficulty, but I told her that if the “missus” was not able to come by Monday she might go, and I would pay her wages for an additional week.“God bless your honor! but is the missus sick?” she asked.“She is not very well, and does not like to leave her mother yet.”She appeared to be satisfied, and I was permitted to spend another miserable night in the loneliness of my new home. I heard nothing from Lilian. I thought she might, at least, send me a note in reply to mine; but I knew that she acted upon the advice of “dear ma.” That strong minded woman evidently intended to bring me toterms. If possible, I was more resolute than ever.Before I went to the bank the next morning I decided to write one more note—one which could not fail to bring the unpleasant matter to an issue within twenty-four hours. It was in the form of an advertisement, as follows:—“Whereas, my wife, Lilian O. Glasswood, has left my bed and board, without justifiable cause, I hereby give notice that I shall pay no debts of her contracting, after this date.“Boston, Aug.—.Paley Glasswood.“Shall I insert the above in to-morrow’s papers?P. G.”I sent this epistle to Mr. Oliphant’s by Biddy. Though it was directed to Lilian, it was intended for her mother.
CHAPTER IX.A LONELY HOUSE.“DO you mean to desert me, Paley?” asked Lilian, sobbing bitterly.“Does it look as though I meant to desert you when I have nearly ruined myself to provide a house that would please you?” I replied, as gently as I could speak, for I was not angry.“But you say you will go to that house without me?” she added, looking up as if she had a gleam of hope that I did not mean what I said.“I did say so, Lilian. I am going at seven o’clock, when the express wagon comes.”“Don’t you call that deserting me?”“No, Lilian; it will not be that I desert you, but you desert me.”“But I never will go into that house,” said she, sharply, as she dashed away the tears that filled her eyes.“Very well; then we need say no more about it,” I answered, placing the last of my wearing apparel in the trunk, and locking it.I did not think you would be so cruel, Paley.”“Cruel, Lilian! Do I ask anything unreasonable?”“I think you do. You come home, and wish to pack me off at half an hour’s notice into a strange house.”“I think I spoke of the matter last night, and told you I intended to go. If the time is too short, you may fix a day yourself to move. Name the time you will go, three days, a week, a month hence, and I will not object.”“I shall name no time. I will not live in that house!”“Then we may as well settle the matter now as at any other time,” I replied, with Spartan firmness.“You will leave me, Paley?”“I will.”“O, Paley! Have I lost all influence over you?”“I do not believe in this sort of influence. I repeat that I have done everything to please you; and before I told you that the house was for you, were you not delighted with it?”This was a sore subject to her. I knew very well that she liked the house herself. Her mother intended to keep us in our present quarters, forthe sake of the income to be derived from us. She could board us for ten dollars a week, and make something even at that, for salt fish and round steak form a cheap diet. I estimated that it cost five hundred dollars a year apiece to clothe the two younger daughters, and the profits on my board more than paid the bills. This was the whole matter in a nutshell. I do not think that Lilian was a party directly to the conspiracy, but she knew that it would upset all her mother’s plans if we left. Unfortunately for me, I had given the impression that I was made of money; that I not only had a large salary, but that I was the heir of Aunt Rachel, whose wealth was supposed to equal the capital of the Bank of England.My wife was too proud to acknowledge that she had any interest in her mother’s scheme; it was safer to say that she did not like the house. I knew that her family was reduced to the greatest straits; that Mr. Oliphant’s income was utterly insufficient to keep up the style of former years. I knew that Mrs. Oliphant pinched herself in every possible way, that the prospects of her two unmarried daughters might not be injured. But I felt that I had done enough for the family when I relieved them of one mouth to feed, and oneform to clothe. It certainly was not fair that I should pay the extravagant expenses of making the world believe that my wife’s two sisters were fine ladies.I was fighting the battle for my own independence, and not less for that of my wife. I know that mothers-in-law are shamefully traduced, but only because such a one as Mrs. Oliphant is taken as a type of the whole class. I regard her as the exception, not the rule. Her plan required that she should hold my wife as a slave within the maternal home. In little things, I found that Lilian consulted the will of her strong-minded mother, rather than my feelings. For example, I once overheard Mrs. Oliphant tell my wife to induce me to go to a certain concert, simply because Miss Bertha desired to go. Lilian did induce me to go, and I went. She came up to the point by regular approaches. Not a word was said about Miss Bertha till I was closing the door behind me, as I went to the bank, when it was—“By the way, Paley, don’t you think we had better ask Bertha to go with us?” Of course I thought so, and she went with us. Lilian did not care a straw for the concert; neither did I.This is only a specimen of the manner in whichI was victimized. I not only dressed the two marriageable sisters, but I was to introduce them into society, by paying their bills at concerts, theatres, parties and balls. But this was not the most objectionable part of the arrangement. I could not endure the thought of having my wife made the cat’s paw for the monkey to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. She was not my wife, in the just and proper sense of the word. She did not think so much of my interests and my happiness as she did of her mother’s will and wish. Neither of us was to live for each other, but both of us for the Oliphants’ ambitious schemes. So thoroughly was I persuaded in my own mind of the justness of my position, that I was determined to stick to it, even if it resulted in a complete separation.The door-bell rang, and we heard the sound of it in our room. I looked out the window. An express wagon stood before the door. The crisis had come, but I was as resolute as ever, and I expected to spend the night alone in the house in Needham Street.“A man at the door wants to see you, Paley,” said Mrs. Oliphant, who did not keep a servant.I went down to the door, and brought the manup with me. Lilian and her mother stood aghast. They appeared to be utterly confounded, and neither of them spoke in the presence of the stranger.“That trunk,” I said to the expressman.“Is that all?” asked he.“That is all,” I replied, giving him the number of the house in Needham Street.The man picked up the trunk and I followed him down stairs. I paid him, and he went off with my baggage. I was not willing to leave my wife without saying good-by to her, for I had some hope that she would yet relent. When my hand was on the door which I intended to close, Lilian called me from the stairs above. She came down, followed by Mrs. Oliphant. I hoped that both of them would understand me by this time.“What’s the matter, Paley?” asked “dear ma,” trying to look pleasant.“Nothing is the matter,” I replied, not caring to discuss the question with her.“Lilian tells me you are going to your new house.”“Doubtless she told you that before.”“But I did not think you would go off and leave her.”“Such is my purpose, unless she decides to go with me.”“Of course it is not for me to say any thing about it,” she added, in her magnanimous way. “But I must say I think you are a little unreasonable.”“Well, Mrs. Oliphant, I don’t care about discussing the subject any more. If Lilian chooses to desert me I can’t help myself.”“Desert you! Goodness gracious! I should think it was just the other way, and you are deserting her.”“I think not. If I provide a suitable home for my wife, it seems to me that she ought to occupy it with me,” I answered, meekly. “I do not wish to be unreasonable, but I think Lilian will admit that our plan discussed, and agreed to while we were on our bridal tour, was to go to housekeeping. I have provided a pleasant house, near yours, and furnished it in a style much better than I can afford. I have told her that, after occupying the house for six months or a year, if it does not suit her, I will conform to her wishes, whatever they may be. I think my view is a reasonable one, and I intend to adhere to it.”“Is she to go there whether she wants to or not?” demanded Mrs. Oliphant.“Am I to stay here whether I want to or not?” I replied. “In the matter of housekeeping, I consulted her, and we were of the same mind.”“You will not leave me, Paley, will you?” pleaded Lilian, satisfied that her mother was making no headway in solving the problem.“No; but you will leave me, Lilian. I am going now.”“Don’t go, Paley!”“Will you name a time when you will go with me, Lilian?”“I cannot go, Paley! Indeed I cannot.”“Good-by then, Lilian,” I replied, kissing her, while the tears gushed from my eyes.I rushed from the house, without stopping to close the door behind me. I wiped away my tears as I crossed the street at a furious pace. I walked till I had subdued the emotions which crowded upon me. It was half an hour before I dared to present myself before the Biddy I had engaged, lest she should fathom the secret that worried me. I rang the bell at my house, and the servant admitted me. She opened her eyes wide when she saw me alone.“Where is the missus?” asked she.“She has concluded not to come, to-night,” I replied, hanging up my hat in the hall.“The pretty crayture! Sure I’m dyin’ to have her in the house wit me!” exclaimed Bridget. “Is it sick she is?”Biddy.“She don’t feel very well this evening,” I replied evasively.“Sure the supper is all ready for the two of ye’s. The tay is drawn this half hour, and the crame toast is breakin’ in flitters wid waitin’ for ye’s.”“Very well; I will have my supper immediately.”The tea and the toast were certainly good enough even for Lilian; but it was the most miserable supper to which I ever sat down. My heart seemed to be almost broken. I lighted the gas in the little sitting-room, and threw myself into the rocking-chair. I looked around the apartment. Everything was neat, tasty and pleasant. Was it possible that Lilian refused to share such a palace with me? No; it was not her fault. With her mother’s permission how gladly she wouldhave taken her place by my side. Mrs. Oliphant evidently had not given me credit for any considerable amount of resolution. She was “the better horse” in her own matrimonial relations, and she found it difficult to comprehend any other than a similar arrangement in her daughter’s family.I tried to read the newspaper I had brought home with me, but my thoughts were with Lilian. I turned over the leaves of the books I had laid on the centre-table. I went into the dining-room and smoked. I was almost worn out with fatigue and excitement. I was miserable beyond description. I went to bed at midnight, and I went to sleep, but it was only to dream of Lilian, goading and persecuting me, led on by a demon who was always at her side.I rose in the morning, and found my breakfast ready at the time I had ordered it. It was such a breakfast as Lilian liked, but she was not there to enjoy it, and I groaned in spirit. I must go to the bank. I was not to see my wife, but I decided to write her a line—it was only a line:“Dearest Lilian:—I shallhopeto find you at our new home when I come up from the bank.“Paley.”I sent Biddy to deliver it, and told her not to wait for an answer.I went to the bank. Everything was “lovely” there. Even Mr. Bristlebach was “lovely;” and that was a most unusual attitude for him. Captain Halliard dropped in to see me. He was “lovely.” Tom Flynn was in excellent spirits; but he took occasion to tell me something about his business affairs, so that I could distinctly understand what a sad mishap it would be to him if I should fail to pay him the four hundred dollars I owed him on Monday. I felt that I must pay him, and I decided to visit Springhaven on Saturday, and cajole Aunt Rachel into lending me the amount.I went through my duties mechanically, but that day I lived on hope. I had ordered my dinner at home at half past three, which was the hour I usually dined. Lilian knew my habits, and I felt almost sure that I should find her in Needham Street. I believed that she loved me, and I could not believe that she would desert me. How my heart beat when I went into the English basement house! How it sank within me when Biddy failed to tell me that the “missus” was there. I dared not ask her any questions, lest she should discover the anxiety under which I was laboring.I looked into the sitting-room. It was as emptyas the tomb of all I desired to see. I went into the dining-room. The table was set for two, but one of the plates seemed to mock me. Lilian was not there. She was not in the kitchen. I went up stairs, but the same oppressive vacancy haunted every spot in the house. No Lilian was there, and without her the house was not home. The casket and all its appliances were there, but no jewel flashed upon my waiting, longing eyes.There was no note in reply to mine. Biddy did not deliver any message to me. It was plain enough that she had not heard from the “missus.” I was sure that Lilian loved me, and that if left to herself she would come to me, even if I had been lodged in a prison instead of the palace I had provided for her. I ate my dinner alone and in silence. The dinner was a good one, but it would have been the same thing to me if the roast beef and mashed potato had been chips and shavings, so far as I had any interest in their flavor.When the meal was finished I left the house, and wandered about the streets till tea-time. I kept walking without going anywhere; I kept thinking without knowing what I was thinking about. After I had been to supper, and Biddy had finishedher work, she came into the sitting-room where I was looking at the blank sheets of the newspaper I held in my hand. She begged my pardon for coming. She wanted to know when the “missus” was to be at the house. I evaded an answer. She told me she couldn’t stay in a house with no missus in it. She didn’t “spake to a sowl all day long,” and she couldn’t “shtop in a house wid only a man in it. She had a charrackter, and people would be talking if she shtopped in a house wid only a man in it.” Of course I was utterly confounded at this complication of the difficulty, but I told her that if the “missus” was not able to come by Monday she might go, and I would pay her wages for an additional week.“God bless your honor! but is the missus sick?” she asked.“She is not very well, and does not like to leave her mother yet.”She appeared to be satisfied, and I was permitted to spend another miserable night in the loneliness of my new home. I heard nothing from Lilian. I thought she might, at least, send me a note in reply to mine; but I knew that she acted upon the advice of “dear ma.” That strong minded woman evidently intended to bring me toterms. If possible, I was more resolute than ever.Before I went to the bank the next morning I decided to write one more note—one which could not fail to bring the unpleasant matter to an issue within twenty-four hours. It was in the form of an advertisement, as follows:—“Whereas, my wife, Lilian O. Glasswood, has left my bed and board, without justifiable cause, I hereby give notice that I shall pay no debts of her contracting, after this date.“Boston, Aug.—.Paley Glasswood.“Shall I insert the above in to-morrow’s papers?P. G.”I sent this epistle to Mr. Oliphant’s by Biddy. Though it was directed to Lilian, it was intended for her mother.
A LONELY HOUSE.
“DO you mean to desert me, Paley?” asked Lilian, sobbing bitterly.
“Does it look as though I meant to desert you when I have nearly ruined myself to provide a house that would please you?” I replied, as gently as I could speak, for I was not angry.
“But you say you will go to that house without me?” she added, looking up as if she had a gleam of hope that I did not mean what I said.
“I did say so, Lilian. I am going at seven o’clock, when the express wagon comes.”
“Don’t you call that deserting me?”
“No, Lilian; it will not be that I desert you, but you desert me.”
“But I never will go into that house,” said she, sharply, as she dashed away the tears that filled her eyes.
“Very well; then we need say no more about it,” I answered, placing the last of my wearing apparel in the trunk, and locking it.
I did not think you would be so cruel, Paley.”
“Cruel, Lilian! Do I ask anything unreasonable?”
“I think you do. You come home, and wish to pack me off at half an hour’s notice into a strange house.”
“I think I spoke of the matter last night, and told you I intended to go. If the time is too short, you may fix a day yourself to move. Name the time you will go, three days, a week, a month hence, and I will not object.”
“I shall name no time. I will not live in that house!”
“Then we may as well settle the matter now as at any other time,” I replied, with Spartan firmness.
“You will leave me, Paley?”
“I will.”
“O, Paley! Have I lost all influence over you?”
“I do not believe in this sort of influence. I repeat that I have done everything to please you; and before I told you that the house was for you, were you not delighted with it?”
This was a sore subject to her. I knew very well that she liked the house herself. Her mother intended to keep us in our present quarters, forthe sake of the income to be derived from us. She could board us for ten dollars a week, and make something even at that, for salt fish and round steak form a cheap diet. I estimated that it cost five hundred dollars a year apiece to clothe the two younger daughters, and the profits on my board more than paid the bills. This was the whole matter in a nutshell. I do not think that Lilian was a party directly to the conspiracy, but she knew that it would upset all her mother’s plans if we left. Unfortunately for me, I had given the impression that I was made of money; that I not only had a large salary, but that I was the heir of Aunt Rachel, whose wealth was supposed to equal the capital of the Bank of England.
My wife was too proud to acknowledge that she had any interest in her mother’s scheme; it was safer to say that she did not like the house. I knew that her family was reduced to the greatest straits; that Mr. Oliphant’s income was utterly insufficient to keep up the style of former years. I knew that Mrs. Oliphant pinched herself in every possible way, that the prospects of her two unmarried daughters might not be injured. But I felt that I had done enough for the family when I relieved them of one mouth to feed, and oneform to clothe. It certainly was not fair that I should pay the extravagant expenses of making the world believe that my wife’s two sisters were fine ladies.
I was fighting the battle for my own independence, and not less for that of my wife. I know that mothers-in-law are shamefully traduced, but only because such a one as Mrs. Oliphant is taken as a type of the whole class. I regard her as the exception, not the rule. Her plan required that she should hold my wife as a slave within the maternal home. In little things, I found that Lilian consulted the will of her strong-minded mother, rather than my feelings. For example, I once overheard Mrs. Oliphant tell my wife to induce me to go to a certain concert, simply because Miss Bertha desired to go. Lilian did induce me to go, and I went. She came up to the point by regular approaches. Not a word was said about Miss Bertha till I was closing the door behind me, as I went to the bank, when it was—“By the way, Paley, don’t you think we had better ask Bertha to go with us?” Of course I thought so, and she went with us. Lilian did not care a straw for the concert; neither did I.
This is only a specimen of the manner in whichI was victimized. I not only dressed the two marriageable sisters, but I was to introduce them into society, by paying their bills at concerts, theatres, parties and balls. But this was not the most objectionable part of the arrangement. I could not endure the thought of having my wife made the cat’s paw for the monkey to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. She was not my wife, in the just and proper sense of the word. She did not think so much of my interests and my happiness as she did of her mother’s will and wish. Neither of us was to live for each other, but both of us for the Oliphants’ ambitious schemes. So thoroughly was I persuaded in my own mind of the justness of my position, that I was determined to stick to it, even if it resulted in a complete separation.
The door-bell rang, and we heard the sound of it in our room. I looked out the window. An express wagon stood before the door. The crisis had come, but I was as resolute as ever, and I expected to spend the night alone in the house in Needham Street.
“A man at the door wants to see you, Paley,” said Mrs. Oliphant, who did not keep a servant.
I went down to the door, and brought the manup with me. Lilian and her mother stood aghast. They appeared to be utterly confounded, and neither of them spoke in the presence of the stranger.
“That trunk,” I said to the expressman.
“Is that all?” asked he.
“That is all,” I replied, giving him the number of the house in Needham Street.
The man picked up the trunk and I followed him down stairs. I paid him, and he went off with my baggage. I was not willing to leave my wife without saying good-by to her, for I had some hope that she would yet relent. When my hand was on the door which I intended to close, Lilian called me from the stairs above. She came down, followed by Mrs. Oliphant. I hoped that both of them would understand me by this time.
“What’s the matter, Paley?” asked “dear ma,” trying to look pleasant.
“Nothing is the matter,” I replied, not caring to discuss the question with her.
“Lilian tells me you are going to your new house.”
“Doubtless she told you that before.”
“But I did not think you would go off and leave her.”
“Such is my purpose, unless she decides to go with me.”
“Of course it is not for me to say any thing about it,” she added, in her magnanimous way. “But I must say I think you are a little unreasonable.”
“Well, Mrs. Oliphant, I don’t care about discussing the subject any more. If Lilian chooses to desert me I can’t help myself.”
“Desert you! Goodness gracious! I should think it was just the other way, and you are deserting her.”
“I think not. If I provide a suitable home for my wife, it seems to me that she ought to occupy it with me,” I answered, meekly. “I do not wish to be unreasonable, but I think Lilian will admit that our plan discussed, and agreed to while we were on our bridal tour, was to go to housekeeping. I have provided a pleasant house, near yours, and furnished it in a style much better than I can afford. I have told her that, after occupying the house for six months or a year, if it does not suit her, I will conform to her wishes, whatever they may be. I think my view is a reasonable one, and I intend to adhere to it.”
“Is she to go there whether she wants to or not?” demanded Mrs. Oliphant.
“Am I to stay here whether I want to or not?” I replied. “In the matter of housekeeping, I consulted her, and we were of the same mind.”
“You will not leave me, Paley, will you?” pleaded Lilian, satisfied that her mother was making no headway in solving the problem.
“No; but you will leave me, Lilian. I am going now.”
“Don’t go, Paley!”
“Will you name a time when you will go with me, Lilian?”
“I cannot go, Paley! Indeed I cannot.”
“Good-by then, Lilian,” I replied, kissing her, while the tears gushed from my eyes.
I rushed from the house, without stopping to close the door behind me. I wiped away my tears as I crossed the street at a furious pace. I walked till I had subdued the emotions which crowded upon me. It was half an hour before I dared to present myself before the Biddy I had engaged, lest she should fathom the secret that worried me. I rang the bell at my house, and the servant admitted me. She opened her eyes wide when she saw me alone.
“Where is the missus?” asked she.
“She has concluded not to come, to-night,” I replied, hanging up my hat in the hall.
“The pretty crayture! Sure I’m dyin’ to have her in the house wit me!” exclaimed Bridget. “Is it sick she is?”
Biddy.
Biddy.
Biddy.
“She don’t feel very well this evening,” I replied evasively.
“Sure the supper is all ready for the two of ye’s. The tay is drawn this half hour, and the crame toast is breakin’ in flitters wid waitin’ for ye’s.”
“Very well; I will have my supper immediately.”
The tea and the toast were certainly good enough even for Lilian; but it was the most miserable supper to which I ever sat down. My heart seemed to be almost broken. I lighted the gas in the little sitting-room, and threw myself into the rocking-chair. I looked around the apartment. Everything was neat, tasty and pleasant. Was it possible that Lilian refused to share such a palace with me? No; it was not her fault. With her mother’s permission how gladly she wouldhave taken her place by my side. Mrs. Oliphant evidently had not given me credit for any considerable amount of resolution. She was “the better horse” in her own matrimonial relations, and she found it difficult to comprehend any other than a similar arrangement in her daughter’s family.
I tried to read the newspaper I had brought home with me, but my thoughts were with Lilian. I turned over the leaves of the books I had laid on the centre-table. I went into the dining-room and smoked. I was almost worn out with fatigue and excitement. I was miserable beyond description. I went to bed at midnight, and I went to sleep, but it was only to dream of Lilian, goading and persecuting me, led on by a demon who was always at her side.
I rose in the morning, and found my breakfast ready at the time I had ordered it. It was such a breakfast as Lilian liked, but she was not there to enjoy it, and I groaned in spirit. I must go to the bank. I was not to see my wife, but I decided to write her a line—it was only a line:
“Dearest Lilian:—I shallhopeto find you at our new home when I come up from the bank.“Paley.”
“Dearest Lilian:—I shallhopeto find you at our new home when I come up from the bank.
“Paley.”
I sent Biddy to deliver it, and told her not to wait for an answer.
I went to the bank. Everything was “lovely” there. Even Mr. Bristlebach was “lovely;” and that was a most unusual attitude for him. Captain Halliard dropped in to see me. He was “lovely.” Tom Flynn was in excellent spirits; but he took occasion to tell me something about his business affairs, so that I could distinctly understand what a sad mishap it would be to him if I should fail to pay him the four hundred dollars I owed him on Monday. I felt that I must pay him, and I decided to visit Springhaven on Saturday, and cajole Aunt Rachel into lending me the amount.
I went through my duties mechanically, but that day I lived on hope. I had ordered my dinner at home at half past three, which was the hour I usually dined. Lilian knew my habits, and I felt almost sure that I should find her in Needham Street. I believed that she loved me, and I could not believe that she would desert me. How my heart beat when I went into the English basement house! How it sank within me when Biddy failed to tell me that the “missus” was there. I dared not ask her any questions, lest she should discover the anxiety under which I was laboring.
I looked into the sitting-room. It was as emptyas the tomb of all I desired to see. I went into the dining-room. The table was set for two, but one of the plates seemed to mock me. Lilian was not there. She was not in the kitchen. I went up stairs, but the same oppressive vacancy haunted every spot in the house. No Lilian was there, and without her the house was not home. The casket and all its appliances were there, but no jewel flashed upon my waiting, longing eyes.
There was no note in reply to mine. Biddy did not deliver any message to me. It was plain enough that she had not heard from the “missus.” I was sure that Lilian loved me, and that if left to herself she would come to me, even if I had been lodged in a prison instead of the palace I had provided for her. I ate my dinner alone and in silence. The dinner was a good one, but it would have been the same thing to me if the roast beef and mashed potato had been chips and shavings, so far as I had any interest in their flavor.
When the meal was finished I left the house, and wandered about the streets till tea-time. I kept walking without going anywhere; I kept thinking without knowing what I was thinking about. After I had been to supper, and Biddy had finishedher work, she came into the sitting-room where I was looking at the blank sheets of the newspaper I held in my hand. She begged my pardon for coming. She wanted to know when the “missus” was to be at the house. I evaded an answer. She told me she couldn’t stay in a house with no missus in it. She didn’t “spake to a sowl all day long,” and she couldn’t “shtop in a house wid only a man in it. She had a charrackter, and people would be talking if she shtopped in a house wid only a man in it.” Of course I was utterly confounded at this complication of the difficulty, but I told her that if the “missus” was not able to come by Monday she might go, and I would pay her wages for an additional week.
“God bless your honor! but is the missus sick?” she asked.
“She is not very well, and does not like to leave her mother yet.”
She appeared to be satisfied, and I was permitted to spend another miserable night in the loneliness of my new home. I heard nothing from Lilian. I thought she might, at least, send me a note in reply to mine; but I knew that she acted upon the advice of “dear ma.” That strong minded woman evidently intended to bring me toterms. If possible, I was more resolute than ever.
Before I went to the bank the next morning I decided to write one more note—one which could not fail to bring the unpleasant matter to an issue within twenty-four hours. It was in the form of an advertisement, as follows:—
“Whereas, my wife, Lilian O. Glasswood, has left my bed and board, without justifiable cause, I hereby give notice that I shall pay no debts of her contracting, after this date.“Boston, Aug.—.Paley Glasswood.“Shall I insert the above in to-morrow’s papers?P. G.”
“Whereas, my wife, Lilian O. Glasswood, has left my bed and board, without justifiable cause, I hereby give notice that I shall pay no debts of her contracting, after this date.
“Boston, Aug.—.
Paley Glasswood.
“Shall I insert the above in to-morrow’s papers?
P. G.”
I sent this epistle to Mr. Oliphant’s by Biddy. Though it was directed to Lilian, it was intended for her mother.