CHAPTER VI.A FAMILY JAR.I DID not feel at all at ease when Mrs. Oliphant entered the room. I was entirely willing to be conquered and trodden under the little feet of the fair Lilian, but I was not so ready to be trampled upon by the unromantic feet of “dear ma.” I was conscious that my pretty wife was getting the weather-gage of me—that she had already got it, in fact. I was not disposed to complain of this, but I intended, if possible, to out-manœuvre Mrs. Oliphant. I regarded Lilian as “my family,” and I wished to have her “set off” from my mother-in-law.In spite of all the strong talk which my lovely wife had used in regard to the English basement house, I confidently expected that she would take her place in the new home I had provided for her. If she was dissatisfied with it, she would soon love it for my sake, if not for its own. But I was sure she did not rebel on her own account; it was the influence of her mother which hadcontrolled her. I accepted the theory that the queen’s majesty could do no wrong. If anything was not right, it was the fault of the ministers.After I had permitted her to say all she had to say, and to exhaust her vocabulary of invective, she would quietly submit to the new house, move in, be as happy as a queen in a short time, and wonder how she had ever thought the little snuggery was not a palace. I had made a fearful expenditure in preparing the house for her; I had thrust my head into the jaws of the monster Debt, and I must make the best of the situation.“Ma,” said Lilian, as her mother entered the room, “what do you suppose Paley has done?”The poor child looked at the faded carpet as she spoke, hardly daring to raise her eyes to the maternal visage. I hoped she contrasted the hueless fabric on the floor with those bright colors which gleamed from her own carpet in the Needham street house.“Why, what has he done?” asked Mrs. Oliphant, with a theatrical start, which was modified by a tiger smile bestowed upon me.“He has hired a house?” replied Lilian, with a gasping sigh, which was simply intended as convincing evidence that she was not implicated in the nefarious transaction.Mrs. Oliphant.“Hired a house!” exclaimed Mrs. Oliphant; and her sigh was genuine, and not intended for effect.“And furnished it too!” added Lilian, with horror, as she piled up the details of my hideous wickedness.“And furnished it too!” groaned poor Mrs. Oliphant, sinking into a chair, as though she had reached the depth of despair in the gulf into which my infamous conduct had plunged her.“He did not say a word to me about the house or furniture until this very afternoon!” continued my beautiful wife, holding up both her pretty white hands the better to emphasize her astonishment and chagrin.“Of course, if you desire to leave your own pleasant home, Lilian, it is not for me to say aword,” added the meek mamma, with another sigh, which seemed to measure the depth of the resignation that could submit to such an outrage.“But I do not desire to leave my pleasant home,” protested Lilian. “I never had such a thought. I am sure, I have been so happy here that I never dreamed of another home, as long as you were willing to keep us, mother.”“You have been very kind indeed to us, Mrs. Oliphant,” I ventured to remark, though I was not certain that the time had come for me to defend myself. “I feel very grateful to you for the sacrifice you have made to accommodate us; and I am sure I shall never forget it.”“A mother lives for her children alone,” sighed Mrs. Oliphant. “Even when they are married she cannot lose her interest in them.”“Certainly not, madam; especially not in so good a daughter as Lilian.”“It is hard enough to have them removed by marriage from the direct influence of a mother, and to feel that she is no longer a mother in the sense she has been.”I thought that Mrs. Oliphant had submitted to the marriage of her daughter with tolerable resignation,and would even permit the other two to go to the sacrifice without rebelling against the dictates of fate.“Of course she can never be entirely removed from a mother’s influence,” I replied, wishing that she could. “You have been very kind and considerate toward us since we were married—to me for Lilian’s sake.”“And for your own,” she interposed.“I trust I shall never be ungrateful. I feel called upon to explain my conduct,” I continued. “You remember, when we returned from our bridal tour that something was said about boarding. We could not find such accommodations as we desired, and you were so kind as to offer to accommodate us till we could obtain a house, or make other arrangements.”“Yes, I remember,” replied Mrs. Oliphant. “I don’t take boarders, but I was willing to do what I could for Lilian’s comfort and happiness.”“You were, madam; and I was very grateful to you for your consideration, both to Lilian and to me. You intimated that it would not be convenient for you to take us to board, but you were willing to sacrifice your own comfort and your own feelings to oblige us. I was very sorryindeed that the circumstances compelled us to trespass upon your kindness. You did us a favor for which I shall never cease to be grateful. But I did not feel willing to compel you to submit to the inconvenience of boarding us any longer than was absolutely necessary. My gratitude compelled me, when I found a house, to take it, and relieve you at once from all the care and responsibility which your self-sacrificing nature had imposed upon you.”“And without even permitting me to see the house in which I was to live!” exclaimed Lilian, coming to the assistance of her mother, who seemed to be thrown into disorder by my tactics.“I did not suppose it was possible for any one, even with your refined taste, Lilian, to object to such a beautiful little house. But I was obliged to hire it on the instant, or lose it. Another man would have taken it in less than half an hour. It is so near your mother’s that you can come to see her half-a-dozen times a day, if you please.”“But I will never live in that house,” protested Lilian, with more energy than I thought the occasion required, though I could not help adoring her while her cheeks glowed and her eyes snapped.“Don’t say that, dear Lilian. You should endeavor to conform to the wishes of your husband,” mildly interposed the suffering parent. “Doubtless he has done all for the best, and perhaps you will like the house, after all.”“I know I never shall like it,” snapped the divine Lilian; which was as much as to say that she was fully determined not to like it.“Mrs. Oliphant, would you do me the favor to walk over to the house with me?” I suggested to the affectionate mother.“No; I would rather not. I never step between man and wife,” replied she, with praiseworthy resolution. “I do not wish to see the house. This is an affair between you and Lilian, and it is my duty to be strictly neutral.”“But I hope you appreciate my motives?”“I can not say that I do,” she answered. “I think a man should consult his wife before he hires and furnishes the house in which she is to spend a great deal more time than her husband.”I wish to say to my readers that I heartily endorse Mrs. Oliphant’s position. A man ought to consult his wife about the house in which she is to spend more of her time than he. It is eminently proper, right and just that he should doso; but I beg to call the attention of the critic to my unfortunate position. Lilian was an angel (in my estimation); her mother was not an angel. The daughter was a mere doll—I am writing after the lapse of years. She was completely under the control of her mother. What I suspected then, I knew afterwards—that Mrs. Oliphant intended to have us as permanent boarders.Mr. Oliphant had long been running behind-hand under the heavy expenses of his extravagant family. Something must be done to eke out his failing income, or the two unmarried daughters could no longer hold their position in society. They must dress, or be banished by their own vanity from the circle in which they moved—a circle which contained husbands. They could not take strangers as boarders, for the house was not fit to accommodate them; but a son-in-law would submit in silence, while a stranger would rebel. I was the victim.If I proposed housekeeping, my plan would be condemned, as another boarding-place had been already. Perhaps I persuaded myself into the belief, under the necessities of the occasion, that I was hiring and furnishing the English basement house as a pleasant surprise to Lilian. If I did,it was a comfortable delusion, for it was really only a scheme to escape from the clutches of my mother-in-law, and to avoid the martyrdom of my situation on Tremont street. Perhaps the reader will forgive me after this explanation. If he does not, it is not the worst of my errors, and I would thank God most devoutly if I had no graver sin to answer for.I told Mrs. Oliphant that I had hired a house which was rather better than I could afford; that I had furnished it at an expense which was beyond my means, in order to please Lilian. I said something more about the “pleasant surprise,” and was positive that no bank officer of my degree had so fine an establishment. I repeated all I had said about not imposing upon her self-sacrificing nature. But all I said seemed to fall flat upon her ear. She was not touched by my devotion to her daughter; on the contrary she was disgusted with me, as I read her sentiments in her face, for she did not utter them.Lilian felt that she had an able champion in her mother, and she said but little. Still professing entire impartiality, Mrs. Oliphant read me a lecture on the impropriety of my conduct, frequently interpolating the discourse with the statementthat it was none of her business though, as I had asked her advice (which I had not), she felt obliged to be candid with me. She and Lilian seemed to understand each other perfectly, and while the latter resolutely refused to occupy the house I had prepared for her reception, the former mildly and often declared that a wife should submit to her husband. Lilian knew what to say so as not to implicate her mother in any improper remarks. I think my wife loved me almost as much as she feared her mother. I am sure that she would have accepted the situation with pleasure, if she had not been under her “dear ma’s” influence.What could I do? I had well-nigh ruined myself in fitting up the house. I was vexed, and as the conversation proceeded I began to grow impatient. Finally I left the house to buy some cigars, I said, but in reality to find an opportunity to think over my situation. I did think it over, and I did not buy any cigars, for I was not allowed to smoke them, even in the kitchen. Lilian would yield at once, if she could escape her mother’s influence. As it was, I must fight the battle with both of them.I walked across the Common, thinking what Ishould do. If I submitted this time, I should not only be obliged to bear the privations to which the Oliphants subjected themselves in order to maintain their social position, but I must forever be the willing slave of “dear ma.” I could not endure the thought. If the family chose to live on tough beef and salt fish, it was their affair, not mine. I could not stand it, and the result of my deliberations was that I decided not to stand it. I went back to the house, stiffened for any thing that might occur, though it almost broke my heart to think of opposing Lilian.“Perhaps the person who wanted the house you have hired would be willing to take it now, and purchase the furniture you have put into it?” suggested Mrs. Oliphant, when the subject was resumed.Perhaps he would; but my idea just then was that he would not have the opportunity to do so.“I think not; the party who wanted it would have furnished it at half the expense I have incurred,” I replied.“Couldn’t you let it as a furnished house?” she added.“My lease does not permit me to underlet it.”“I think it would be cruel to take Lilian awayfrom her own pleasant home, when she wishes to remain here so much,” continued Mrs. Oliphant, a little more sharply than she had yet spoken. “But, of course, it is none of my business and I do not wish to interfere between you.”After supper, I saw Lilian alone in our room. She was as resolute as a little tiger. She positively refused to go into the English basement house, or to have anything to do with it.“I think you have insulted my mother,” she added.“Insulted her!” I exclaimed, rather startled by this new charge which had evidently been put into her brain by “dear ma.”“She has made her arrangements to board us, and now you want to go away.”“She hasn’t made any arrangements at all. Not an article of furniture has been added to the house.”“She says she has; and I think she knows best,” retorted Lilian, sharply.“You have spoken to me every day for a month about furnishing our room.”“I think we ought to furnish it.”“And pay thirty dollars a week for our board! I don’t think so,” I replied; and this was almostthe first time I had ventured to disagree with her.“Mother says she boards us cheaper than any body else would,” snapped my pretty one. “Now you insult her for her kindness to us.”“I have already explained my position to her. I did not mean to insult her, and I don’t think my conduct will bear that construction. But, Lilian, the house in Needham Street is all ready for us. I have even hired a servant girl, who is there now.”“I will not go into it, Paley. If you wish to abuse my mother you can, but I will not. I am sorry you have ceased to love me.”“I have not ceased to love you, Lilian,” I replied, putting my arm around her neck and kissing her.Then I went over the whole argument again, and if I did not convince her that I had not insulted or wronged her mother, it was because her fears set logic at naught.“You will sell the furniture, and give up the house—won’t you, Paley?” said she, in her most fascinating way.“I would if I could Lilian, but the die is cast. I must go, or I am ruined.”Suddenly, in a fit of passion, she shook my arm from her neck and shrunk from me.“For the last time, Paley, I say it, I will never go into that house,” said she, angrily.“I am sorry, Lilian,” I replied, sadly. “You do not act like the loving wife you have always been.”“I will not be insulted any longer.”“Very well, Lilian; I am going to move into the new house to-morrow.”“What!” exclaimed she, aghast, for she evidently did not believe me capable of such rebellion.“I shall go to the new house to-morrow, after bank hours. If you will not go with me, I cannot help it; and I must go alone.”“Do you mean to say that you will desert me?” gasped she.“Lilian, I will not pretend to say that what I have done is right, though I did it to please you. I have provided you a house much better than the home of your parents. I have done everything I could to make it comfortable and pleasant. I am sorry I did this without your knowledge, but it is done, and cannot be undone. If you will live in the house for a year or so, and then are not happy, I will leave it. I can do no more to please you.”“I will not move into it!” said she, more bitterly than ever.I went out of the house, and walked the streets till eleven o’clock at night in utter misery. I returned home. Lilian told me ever so many things her mother had said, and was firmer than ever. The next morning when I went to the bank, I felt like a hopeless martyr.“Mr. Bristlebach wishes to see you in the director’s room, Mr. Glasswood,” said the messenger to me.The president looked stern when I entered the room, and I realized that some charge was pending against me.
CHAPTER VI.A FAMILY JAR.I DID not feel at all at ease when Mrs. Oliphant entered the room. I was entirely willing to be conquered and trodden under the little feet of the fair Lilian, but I was not so ready to be trampled upon by the unromantic feet of “dear ma.” I was conscious that my pretty wife was getting the weather-gage of me—that she had already got it, in fact. I was not disposed to complain of this, but I intended, if possible, to out-manœuvre Mrs. Oliphant. I regarded Lilian as “my family,” and I wished to have her “set off” from my mother-in-law.In spite of all the strong talk which my lovely wife had used in regard to the English basement house, I confidently expected that she would take her place in the new home I had provided for her. If she was dissatisfied with it, she would soon love it for my sake, if not for its own. But I was sure she did not rebel on her own account; it was the influence of her mother which hadcontrolled her. I accepted the theory that the queen’s majesty could do no wrong. If anything was not right, it was the fault of the ministers.After I had permitted her to say all she had to say, and to exhaust her vocabulary of invective, she would quietly submit to the new house, move in, be as happy as a queen in a short time, and wonder how she had ever thought the little snuggery was not a palace. I had made a fearful expenditure in preparing the house for her; I had thrust my head into the jaws of the monster Debt, and I must make the best of the situation.“Ma,” said Lilian, as her mother entered the room, “what do you suppose Paley has done?”The poor child looked at the faded carpet as she spoke, hardly daring to raise her eyes to the maternal visage. I hoped she contrasted the hueless fabric on the floor with those bright colors which gleamed from her own carpet in the Needham street house.“Why, what has he done?” asked Mrs. Oliphant, with a theatrical start, which was modified by a tiger smile bestowed upon me.“He has hired a house?” replied Lilian, with a gasping sigh, which was simply intended as convincing evidence that she was not implicated in the nefarious transaction.Mrs. Oliphant.“Hired a house!” exclaimed Mrs. Oliphant; and her sigh was genuine, and not intended for effect.“And furnished it too!” added Lilian, with horror, as she piled up the details of my hideous wickedness.“And furnished it too!” groaned poor Mrs. Oliphant, sinking into a chair, as though she had reached the depth of despair in the gulf into which my infamous conduct had plunged her.“He did not say a word to me about the house or furniture until this very afternoon!” continued my beautiful wife, holding up both her pretty white hands the better to emphasize her astonishment and chagrin.“Of course, if you desire to leave your own pleasant home, Lilian, it is not for me to say aword,” added the meek mamma, with another sigh, which seemed to measure the depth of the resignation that could submit to such an outrage.“But I do not desire to leave my pleasant home,” protested Lilian. “I never had such a thought. I am sure, I have been so happy here that I never dreamed of another home, as long as you were willing to keep us, mother.”“You have been very kind indeed to us, Mrs. Oliphant,” I ventured to remark, though I was not certain that the time had come for me to defend myself. “I feel very grateful to you for the sacrifice you have made to accommodate us; and I am sure I shall never forget it.”“A mother lives for her children alone,” sighed Mrs. Oliphant. “Even when they are married she cannot lose her interest in them.”“Certainly not, madam; especially not in so good a daughter as Lilian.”“It is hard enough to have them removed by marriage from the direct influence of a mother, and to feel that she is no longer a mother in the sense she has been.”I thought that Mrs. Oliphant had submitted to the marriage of her daughter with tolerable resignation,and would even permit the other two to go to the sacrifice without rebelling against the dictates of fate.“Of course she can never be entirely removed from a mother’s influence,” I replied, wishing that she could. “You have been very kind and considerate toward us since we were married—to me for Lilian’s sake.”“And for your own,” she interposed.“I trust I shall never be ungrateful. I feel called upon to explain my conduct,” I continued. “You remember, when we returned from our bridal tour that something was said about boarding. We could not find such accommodations as we desired, and you were so kind as to offer to accommodate us till we could obtain a house, or make other arrangements.”“Yes, I remember,” replied Mrs. Oliphant. “I don’t take boarders, but I was willing to do what I could for Lilian’s comfort and happiness.”“You were, madam; and I was very grateful to you for your consideration, both to Lilian and to me. You intimated that it would not be convenient for you to take us to board, but you were willing to sacrifice your own comfort and your own feelings to oblige us. I was very sorryindeed that the circumstances compelled us to trespass upon your kindness. You did us a favor for which I shall never cease to be grateful. But I did not feel willing to compel you to submit to the inconvenience of boarding us any longer than was absolutely necessary. My gratitude compelled me, when I found a house, to take it, and relieve you at once from all the care and responsibility which your self-sacrificing nature had imposed upon you.”“And without even permitting me to see the house in which I was to live!” exclaimed Lilian, coming to the assistance of her mother, who seemed to be thrown into disorder by my tactics.“I did not suppose it was possible for any one, even with your refined taste, Lilian, to object to such a beautiful little house. But I was obliged to hire it on the instant, or lose it. Another man would have taken it in less than half an hour. It is so near your mother’s that you can come to see her half-a-dozen times a day, if you please.”“But I will never live in that house,” protested Lilian, with more energy than I thought the occasion required, though I could not help adoring her while her cheeks glowed and her eyes snapped.“Don’t say that, dear Lilian. You should endeavor to conform to the wishes of your husband,” mildly interposed the suffering parent. “Doubtless he has done all for the best, and perhaps you will like the house, after all.”“I know I never shall like it,” snapped the divine Lilian; which was as much as to say that she was fully determined not to like it.“Mrs. Oliphant, would you do me the favor to walk over to the house with me?” I suggested to the affectionate mother.“No; I would rather not. I never step between man and wife,” replied she, with praiseworthy resolution. “I do not wish to see the house. This is an affair between you and Lilian, and it is my duty to be strictly neutral.”“But I hope you appreciate my motives?”“I can not say that I do,” she answered. “I think a man should consult his wife before he hires and furnishes the house in which she is to spend a great deal more time than her husband.”I wish to say to my readers that I heartily endorse Mrs. Oliphant’s position. A man ought to consult his wife about the house in which she is to spend more of her time than he. It is eminently proper, right and just that he should doso; but I beg to call the attention of the critic to my unfortunate position. Lilian was an angel (in my estimation); her mother was not an angel. The daughter was a mere doll—I am writing after the lapse of years. She was completely under the control of her mother. What I suspected then, I knew afterwards—that Mrs. Oliphant intended to have us as permanent boarders.Mr. Oliphant had long been running behind-hand under the heavy expenses of his extravagant family. Something must be done to eke out his failing income, or the two unmarried daughters could no longer hold their position in society. They must dress, or be banished by their own vanity from the circle in which they moved—a circle which contained husbands. They could not take strangers as boarders, for the house was not fit to accommodate them; but a son-in-law would submit in silence, while a stranger would rebel. I was the victim.If I proposed housekeeping, my plan would be condemned, as another boarding-place had been already. Perhaps I persuaded myself into the belief, under the necessities of the occasion, that I was hiring and furnishing the English basement house as a pleasant surprise to Lilian. If I did,it was a comfortable delusion, for it was really only a scheme to escape from the clutches of my mother-in-law, and to avoid the martyrdom of my situation on Tremont street. Perhaps the reader will forgive me after this explanation. If he does not, it is not the worst of my errors, and I would thank God most devoutly if I had no graver sin to answer for.I told Mrs. Oliphant that I had hired a house which was rather better than I could afford; that I had furnished it at an expense which was beyond my means, in order to please Lilian. I said something more about the “pleasant surprise,” and was positive that no bank officer of my degree had so fine an establishment. I repeated all I had said about not imposing upon her self-sacrificing nature. But all I said seemed to fall flat upon her ear. She was not touched by my devotion to her daughter; on the contrary she was disgusted with me, as I read her sentiments in her face, for she did not utter them.Lilian felt that she had an able champion in her mother, and she said but little. Still professing entire impartiality, Mrs. Oliphant read me a lecture on the impropriety of my conduct, frequently interpolating the discourse with the statementthat it was none of her business though, as I had asked her advice (which I had not), she felt obliged to be candid with me. She and Lilian seemed to understand each other perfectly, and while the latter resolutely refused to occupy the house I had prepared for her reception, the former mildly and often declared that a wife should submit to her husband. Lilian knew what to say so as not to implicate her mother in any improper remarks. I think my wife loved me almost as much as she feared her mother. I am sure that she would have accepted the situation with pleasure, if she had not been under her “dear ma’s” influence.What could I do? I had well-nigh ruined myself in fitting up the house. I was vexed, and as the conversation proceeded I began to grow impatient. Finally I left the house to buy some cigars, I said, but in reality to find an opportunity to think over my situation. I did think it over, and I did not buy any cigars, for I was not allowed to smoke them, even in the kitchen. Lilian would yield at once, if she could escape her mother’s influence. As it was, I must fight the battle with both of them.I walked across the Common, thinking what Ishould do. If I submitted this time, I should not only be obliged to bear the privations to which the Oliphants subjected themselves in order to maintain their social position, but I must forever be the willing slave of “dear ma.” I could not endure the thought. If the family chose to live on tough beef and salt fish, it was their affair, not mine. I could not stand it, and the result of my deliberations was that I decided not to stand it. I went back to the house, stiffened for any thing that might occur, though it almost broke my heart to think of opposing Lilian.“Perhaps the person who wanted the house you have hired would be willing to take it now, and purchase the furniture you have put into it?” suggested Mrs. Oliphant, when the subject was resumed.Perhaps he would; but my idea just then was that he would not have the opportunity to do so.“I think not; the party who wanted it would have furnished it at half the expense I have incurred,” I replied.“Couldn’t you let it as a furnished house?” she added.“My lease does not permit me to underlet it.”“I think it would be cruel to take Lilian awayfrom her own pleasant home, when she wishes to remain here so much,” continued Mrs. Oliphant, a little more sharply than she had yet spoken. “But, of course, it is none of my business and I do not wish to interfere between you.”After supper, I saw Lilian alone in our room. She was as resolute as a little tiger. She positively refused to go into the English basement house, or to have anything to do with it.“I think you have insulted my mother,” she added.“Insulted her!” I exclaimed, rather startled by this new charge which had evidently been put into her brain by “dear ma.”“She has made her arrangements to board us, and now you want to go away.”“She hasn’t made any arrangements at all. Not an article of furniture has been added to the house.”“She says she has; and I think she knows best,” retorted Lilian, sharply.“You have spoken to me every day for a month about furnishing our room.”“I think we ought to furnish it.”“And pay thirty dollars a week for our board! I don’t think so,” I replied; and this was almostthe first time I had ventured to disagree with her.“Mother says she boards us cheaper than any body else would,” snapped my pretty one. “Now you insult her for her kindness to us.”“I have already explained my position to her. I did not mean to insult her, and I don’t think my conduct will bear that construction. But, Lilian, the house in Needham Street is all ready for us. I have even hired a servant girl, who is there now.”“I will not go into it, Paley. If you wish to abuse my mother you can, but I will not. I am sorry you have ceased to love me.”“I have not ceased to love you, Lilian,” I replied, putting my arm around her neck and kissing her.Then I went over the whole argument again, and if I did not convince her that I had not insulted or wronged her mother, it was because her fears set logic at naught.“You will sell the furniture, and give up the house—won’t you, Paley?” said she, in her most fascinating way.“I would if I could Lilian, but the die is cast. I must go, or I am ruined.”Suddenly, in a fit of passion, she shook my arm from her neck and shrunk from me.“For the last time, Paley, I say it, I will never go into that house,” said she, angrily.“I am sorry, Lilian,” I replied, sadly. “You do not act like the loving wife you have always been.”“I will not be insulted any longer.”“Very well, Lilian; I am going to move into the new house to-morrow.”“What!” exclaimed she, aghast, for she evidently did not believe me capable of such rebellion.“I shall go to the new house to-morrow, after bank hours. If you will not go with me, I cannot help it; and I must go alone.”“Do you mean to say that you will desert me?” gasped she.“Lilian, I will not pretend to say that what I have done is right, though I did it to please you. I have provided you a house much better than the home of your parents. I have done everything I could to make it comfortable and pleasant. I am sorry I did this without your knowledge, but it is done, and cannot be undone. If you will live in the house for a year or so, and then are not happy, I will leave it. I can do no more to please you.”“I will not move into it!” said she, more bitterly than ever.I went out of the house, and walked the streets till eleven o’clock at night in utter misery. I returned home. Lilian told me ever so many things her mother had said, and was firmer than ever. The next morning when I went to the bank, I felt like a hopeless martyr.“Mr. Bristlebach wishes to see you in the director’s room, Mr. Glasswood,” said the messenger to me.The president looked stern when I entered the room, and I realized that some charge was pending against me.
A FAMILY JAR.
I DID not feel at all at ease when Mrs. Oliphant entered the room. I was entirely willing to be conquered and trodden under the little feet of the fair Lilian, but I was not so ready to be trampled upon by the unromantic feet of “dear ma.” I was conscious that my pretty wife was getting the weather-gage of me—that she had already got it, in fact. I was not disposed to complain of this, but I intended, if possible, to out-manœuvre Mrs. Oliphant. I regarded Lilian as “my family,” and I wished to have her “set off” from my mother-in-law.
In spite of all the strong talk which my lovely wife had used in regard to the English basement house, I confidently expected that she would take her place in the new home I had provided for her. If she was dissatisfied with it, she would soon love it for my sake, if not for its own. But I was sure she did not rebel on her own account; it was the influence of her mother which hadcontrolled her. I accepted the theory that the queen’s majesty could do no wrong. If anything was not right, it was the fault of the ministers.
After I had permitted her to say all she had to say, and to exhaust her vocabulary of invective, she would quietly submit to the new house, move in, be as happy as a queen in a short time, and wonder how she had ever thought the little snuggery was not a palace. I had made a fearful expenditure in preparing the house for her; I had thrust my head into the jaws of the monster Debt, and I must make the best of the situation.
“Ma,” said Lilian, as her mother entered the room, “what do you suppose Paley has done?”
The poor child looked at the faded carpet as she spoke, hardly daring to raise her eyes to the maternal visage. I hoped she contrasted the hueless fabric on the floor with those bright colors which gleamed from her own carpet in the Needham street house.
“Why, what has he done?” asked Mrs. Oliphant, with a theatrical start, which was modified by a tiger smile bestowed upon me.
“He has hired a house?” replied Lilian, with a gasping sigh, which was simply intended as convincing evidence that she was not implicated in the nefarious transaction.
Mrs. Oliphant.
Mrs. Oliphant.
Mrs. Oliphant.
“Hired a house!” exclaimed Mrs. Oliphant; and her sigh was genuine, and not intended for effect.
“And furnished it too!” added Lilian, with horror, as she piled up the details of my hideous wickedness.
“And furnished it too!” groaned poor Mrs. Oliphant, sinking into a chair, as though she had reached the depth of despair in the gulf into which my infamous conduct had plunged her.
“He did not say a word to me about the house or furniture until this very afternoon!” continued my beautiful wife, holding up both her pretty white hands the better to emphasize her astonishment and chagrin.
“Of course, if you desire to leave your own pleasant home, Lilian, it is not for me to say aword,” added the meek mamma, with another sigh, which seemed to measure the depth of the resignation that could submit to such an outrage.
“But I do not desire to leave my pleasant home,” protested Lilian. “I never had such a thought. I am sure, I have been so happy here that I never dreamed of another home, as long as you were willing to keep us, mother.”
“You have been very kind indeed to us, Mrs. Oliphant,” I ventured to remark, though I was not certain that the time had come for me to defend myself. “I feel very grateful to you for the sacrifice you have made to accommodate us; and I am sure I shall never forget it.”
“A mother lives for her children alone,” sighed Mrs. Oliphant. “Even when they are married she cannot lose her interest in them.”
“Certainly not, madam; especially not in so good a daughter as Lilian.”
“It is hard enough to have them removed by marriage from the direct influence of a mother, and to feel that she is no longer a mother in the sense she has been.”
I thought that Mrs. Oliphant had submitted to the marriage of her daughter with tolerable resignation,and would even permit the other two to go to the sacrifice without rebelling against the dictates of fate.
“Of course she can never be entirely removed from a mother’s influence,” I replied, wishing that she could. “You have been very kind and considerate toward us since we were married—to me for Lilian’s sake.”
“And for your own,” she interposed.
“I trust I shall never be ungrateful. I feel called upon to explain my conduct,” I continued. “You remember, when we returned from our bridal tour that something was said about boarding. We could not find such accommodations as we desired, and you were so kind as to offer to accommodate us till we could obtain a house, or make other arrangements.”
“Yes, I remember,” replied Mrs. Oliphant. “I don’t take boarders, but I was willing to do what I could for Lilian’s comfort and happiness.”
“You were, madam; and I was very grateful to you for your consideration, both to Lilian and to me. You intimated that it would not be convenient for you to take us to board, but you were willing to sacrifice your own comfort and your own feelings to oblige us. I was very sorryindeed that the circumstances compelled us to trespass upon your kindness. You did us a favor for which I shall never cease to be grateful. But I did not feel willing to compel you to submit to the inconvenience of boarding us any longer than was absolutely necessary. My gratitude compelled me, when I found a house, to take it, and relieve you at once from all the care and responsibility which your self-sacrificing nature had imposed upon you.”
“And without even permitting me to see the house in which I was to live!” exclaimed Lilian, coming to the assistance of her mother, who seemed to be thrown into disorder by my tactics.
“I did not suppose it was possible for any one, even with your refined taste, Lilian, to object to such a beautiful little house. But I was obliged to hire it on the instant, or lose it. Another man would have taken it in less than half an hour. It is so near your mother’s that you can come to see her half-a-dozen times a day, if you please.”
“But I will never live in that house,” protested Lilian, with more energy than I thought the occasion required, though I could not help adoring her while her cheeks glowed and her eyes snapped.
“Don’t say that, dear Lilian. You should endeavor to conform to the wishes of your husband,” mildly interposed the suffering parent. “Doubtless he has done all for the best, and perhaps you will like the house, after all.”
“I know I never shall like it,” snapped the divine Lilian; which was as much as to say that she was fully determined not to like it.
“Mrs. Oliphant, would you do me the favor to walk over to the house with me?” I suggested to the affectionate mother.
“No; I would rather not. I never step between man and wife,” replied she, with praiseworthy resolution. “I do not wish to see the house. This is an affair between you and Lilian, and it is my duty to be strictly neutral.”
“But I hope you appreciate my motives?”
“I can not say that I do,” she answered. “I think a man should consult his wife before he hires and furnishes the house in which she is to spend a great deal more time than her husband.”
I wish to say to my readers that I heartily endorse Mrs. Oliphant’s position. A man ought to consult his wife about the house in which she is to spend more of her time than he. It is eminently proper, right and just that he should doso; but I beg to call the attention of the critic to my unfortunate position. Lilian was an angel (in my estimation); her mother was not an angel. The daughter was a mere doll—I am writing after the lapse of years. She was completely under the control of her mother. What I suspected then, I knew afterwards—that Mrs. Oliphant intended to have us as permanent boarders.
Mr. Oliphant had long been running behind-hand under the heavy expenses of his extravagant family. Something must be done to eke out his failing income, or the two unmarried daughters could no longer hold their position in society. They must dress, or be banished by their own vanity from the circle in which they moved—a circle which contained husbands. They could not take strangers as boarders, for the house was not fit to accommodate them; but a son-in-law would submit in silence, while a stranger would rebel. I was the victim.
If I proposed housekeeping, my plan would be condemned, as another boarding-place had been already. Perhaps I persuaded myself into the belief, under the necessities of the occasion, that I was hiring and furnishing the English basement house as a pleasant surprise to Lilian. If I did,it was a comfortable delusion, for it was really only a scheme to escape from the clutches of my mother-in-law, and to avoid the martyrdom of my situation on Tremont street. Perhaps the reader will forgive me after this explanation. If he does not, it is not the worst of my errors, and I would thank God most devoutly if I had no graver sin to answer for.
I told Mrs. Oliphant that I had hired a house which was rather better than I could afford; that I had furnished it at an expense which was beyond my means, in order to please Lilian. I said something more about the “pleasant surprise,” and was positive that no bank officer of my degree had so fine an establishment. I repeated all I had said about not imposing upon her self-sacrificing nature. But all I said seemed to fall flat upon her ear. She was not touched by my devotion to her daughter; on the contrary she was disgusted with me, as I read her sentiments in her face, for she did not utter them.
Lilian felt that she had an able champion in her mother, and she said but little. Still professing entire impartiality, Mrs. Oliphant read me a lecture on the impropriety of my conduct, frequently interpolating the discourse with the statementthat it was none of her business though, as I had asked her advice (which I had not), she felt obliged to be candid with me. She and Lilian seemed to understand each other perfectly, and while the latter resolutely refused to occupy the house I had prepared for her reception, the former mildly and often declared that a wife should submit to her husband. Lilian knew what to say so as not to implicate her mother in any improper remarks. I think my wife loved me almost as much as she feared her mother. I am sure that she would have accepted the situation with pleasure, if she had not been under her “dear ma’s” influence.
What could I do? I had well-nigh ruined myself in fitting up the house. I was vexed, and as the conversation proceeded I began to grow impatient. Finally I left the house to buy some cigars, I said, but in reality to find an opportunity to think over my situation. I did think it over, and I did not buy any cigars, for I was not allowed to smoke them, even in the kitchen. Lilian would yield at once, if she could escape her mother’s influence. As it was, I must fight the battle with both of them.
I walked across the Common, thinking what Ishould do. If I submitted this time, I should not only be obliged to bear the privations to which the Oliphants subjected themselves in order to maintain their social position, but I must forever be the willing slave of “dear ma.” I could not endure the thought. If the family chose to live on tough beef and salt fish, it was their affair, not mine. I could not stand it, and the result of my deliberations was that I decided not to stand it. I went back to the house, stiffened for any thing that might occur, though it almost broke my heart to think of opposing Lilian.
“Perhaps the person who wanted the house you have hired would be willing to take it now, and purchase the furniture you have put into it?” suggested Mrs. Oliphant, when the subject was resumed.
Perhaps he would; but my idea just then was that he would not have the opportunity to do so.
“I think not; the party who wanted it would have furnished it at half the expense I have incurred,” I replied.
“Couldn’t you let it as a furnished house?” she added.
“My lease does not permit me to underlet it.”
“I think it would be cruel to take Lilian awayfrom her own pleasant home, when she wishes to remain here so much,” continued Mrs. Oliphant, a little more sharply than she had yet spoken. “But, of course, it is none of my business and I do not wish to interfere between you.”
After supper, I saw Lilian alone in our room. She was as resolute as a little tiger. She positively refused to go into the English basement house, or to have anything to do with it.
“I think you have insulted my mother,” she added.
“Insulted her!” I exclaimed, rather startled by this new charge which had evidently been put into her brain by “dear ma.”
“She has made her arrangements to board us, and now you want to go away.”
“She hasn’t made any arrangements at all. Not an article of furniture has been added to the house.”
“She says she has; and I think she knows best,” retorted Lilian, sharply.
“You have spoken to me every day for a month about furnishing our room.”
“I think we ought to furnish it.”
“And pay thirty dollars a week for our board! I don’t think so,” I replied; and this was almostthe first time I had ventured to disagree with her.
“Mother says she boards us cheaper than any body else would,” snapped my pretty one. “Now you insult her for her kindness to us.”
“I have already explained my position to her. I did not mean to insult her, and I don’t think my conduct will bear that construction. But, Lilian, the house in Needham Street is all ready for us. I have even hired a servant girl, who is there now.”
“I will not go into it, Paley. If you wish to abuse my mother you can, but I will not. I am sorry you have ceased to love me.”
“I have not ceased to love you, Lilian,” I replied, putting my arm around her neck and kissing her.
Then I went over the whole argument again, and if I did not convince her that I had not insulted or wronged her mother, it was because her fears set logic at naught.
“You will sell the furniture, and give up the house—won’t you, Paley?” said she, in her most fascinating way.
“I would if I could Lilian, but the die is cast. I must go, or I am ruined.”
Suddenly, in a fit of passion, she shook my arm from her neck and shrunk from me.
“For the last time, Paley, I say it, I will never go into that house,” said she, angrily.
“I am sorry, Lilian,” I replied, sadly. “You do not act like the loving wife you have always been.”
“I will not be insulted any longer.”
“Very well, Lilian; I am going to move into the new house to-morrow.”
“What!” exclaimed she, aghast, for she evidently did not believe me capable of such rebellion.
“I shall go to the new house to-morrow, after bank hours. If you will not go with me, I cannot help it; and I must go alone.”
“Do you mean to say that you will desert me?” gasped she.
“Lilian, I will not pretend to say that what I have done is right, though I did it to please you. I have provided you a house much better than the home of your parents. I have done everything I could to make it comfortable and pleasant. I am sorry I did this without your knowledge, but it is done, and cannot be undone. If you will live in the house for a year or so, and then are not happy, I will leave it. I can do no more to please you.”
“I will not move into it!” said she, more bitterly than ever.
I went out of the house, and walked the streets till eleven o’clock at night in utter misery. I returned home. Lilian told me ever so many things her mother had said, and was firmer than ever. The next morning when I went to the bank, I felt like a hopeless martyr.
“Mr. Bristlebach wishes to see you in the director’s room, Mr. Glasswood,” said the messenger to me.
The president looked stern when I entered the room, and I realized that some charge was pending against me.